With mixed emotions about returning to the big continent of China
(excited for Tibet, happy about returning to a place where travel could
be a bit more challenging...yet at the same time...sighing about the
fact that travel would be more challenging...in a number of different
ways), we boarded our plane from Bangkok to Kunming. We were fast and
efficient and immediately booked an onward train the following day to
Chengdu...the land of the sacred Chinese Panda.
Upon
arrival in Chengdu, we quickly phoned our friend "Nancy", aka. "Zhouli"
(Chinese name), whom we had met earlier on in our travels when in Xi'an
(home of the Terracotta Warriors). At that time, Nancy had been very
open, and kind to us; eager to hear about our teaching positions in
Korea as she ran an English school in her home town of Suining. We
explained our travel plans, exchanged emails, and promised to keep in
contact as you never know if we just might be interested in heading out
abroad again in search of teaching positions with our sights set on
China. We said "goodbye" at that point, not really expecting to see
each other again anytime soon. But, as our travel plans flipped and
flopped, we found ourselves in Chengdu approximately 1 and a half
months later, only 2 hours from our new friend Nancy's home. When we phoned
her (from Chengdu)...there had been prior
communication where the 3 of us had discussed a possible visit to Suining if we did so happen to make it to Chengdu...Nancy excitedly instructed us on how to purchase
train tickets out to her home, and told us she would eagerly be
awaiting our arrival the following day. Awesome! A few days with an
English speaking native, and we got to stay in one of the
millions...billions, of concrete highrises that tower all over the
continent!
After being scooped up in Nancy's car by Nancy, herself,
her boyfriend Twae Lee Bo (aka. "Beau" as coined by Elizabeth), and
Nancy's little bro "Jack Jake" (who goes by Jack), we all zipped off on
this fine Saturday afternoon to have a quick look at Nancy's school
prior to dropping off our bags back at her homestead and to discuss the
plans for the next few days. We briefly saw the school; one level in a
concrete building which contains a front desk, Nancy's office, one
toilet, and three humble classrooms. It was simple but we could
envision how it could evolve (with a few more teaching aids...books for
example...it could be a pretty decent learning facility). We should
mention first, that Nancy took both her school, and the students very
seriously, but unfortunately, due to the lack of evolution of English
teaching institutions in this area, coupled with the lack of knowledge
concerning how to efficiently teach English, and most significantly,
the absence of tools within the community to attain the points above,
it was challenging for somebody (in this situation, Nancy), to
spearhead an up-and-coming facility that would "hit the nail on the
head", so to speak. The two of us, of course, did not have the heart
to be forthright when asked for our opinions regarding improvements.
We gave a few simple suggestions here and there, but that was about
it. And to be fair, from all of the resources she could muster for
herself, keep in mind the small "city" in China no-less, that she was
dealing with, she was doing alright. In a matter of moments of
checking out the school, and sitting in Nancy's office, we were
suddenly surrounded with "Hello's!", and "How are you's?!" from a
gaggle of bubbling girls and boys. Grappling to adjust to the
surprising sensory overload we were experiencing, Nancy then told us
that she was conducting an "English Corner" that evening. An "English
What???"...Yeah, seriously, that's about all of the information we got
about "English Corner" until we pieced it together for ourselves over
the next few hours. To save you from confusion, it's a situation that
enables ESL speakers to have a chance (over an hour or so), to meet
with native English speakers, or fluent English speakers, in a public
setting, and practice their speaking skills. Nancy insisted that she
would pay us to partake in the "English Corner", but being that she
was putting us up in her own apartment, and was hostessing us for the
next few days, we adamantly declined any payment. After learning how
to say "I am a foreign language volunteer for Lay Eun, English Language
School"' "I like China!", and "Suining is beautiful", in Mandarin, we
lined up with about 30 bouncing Chinese kids, Nancy, Ryan (her token
English teacher who is from Holland but she tells all of the parents
that he grew up in Australia to subdue any concerns about his
accent...Ryan was a trooper about that one), James (a teacher from
Chengdu), the Stunnings, and several of the front desk staff baring a
giant red banner which advertised for Nancy's school, we set out for
the very first "English Corner" ever in Suining. Let's just say, we
had NO IDEA what we were in for. Cameras, journalists, reporters, and
about 50 additional "participants", were awaiting our arrival. We
spent the next hour speaking with children, and adults, all of whom
fell in a wide range of places on the English speaking scale. Elizabeth
had a news interview, we all signed autographs--seriously, and handed
out our emails to several beaming children. It was WILD. No complaints
out of us though, because seriously, how often does the average joe get
to feel like a celebrity?! We even got to see ourselves on the Suining News a few nights later. We lapped it up and found ourselves hanging
around until Nancy screamed (in the kindest way) at us that her friend
Danielle was celebrating her birthday that evening and we all were now
quite late to the party. "Ok...well...sorry?..I guess...we can go
now?" Sichuan hot pot awaited us in a room filled with about 20
highscool students who all bore beet red faces from the heat of the
food combined with the shotglasses of beer they were pouring down their
gullets. Danielle was one of Nancy's students, but also Nancy felt she
was one of her dear friends. We enjoyed some hot pot (full of fish,
chicken stomach, pig brain, beef, tofu, and some vegetables) hurriedly as
the whole crew wanted to get on their way to karoake. We did join them
for that experience as well, but being teenagers and having curfews,
they had to cut out early. This was fine with us because Nancy didn't
think we should drink beer while they were still around...hold
on...weren't they drinking at dinner??? Alcohol-free karoake. That's a
tough pill to swallow. Trying to be culturally sensitive and thinking
there must be an "ok to drink at dinner but not afterwards" clause for
youths in China, we bit our tongues and went on with the sober karoake
experience. No sooner had the last adolescent schlepped out the door,
then had the beginnings of, "My Heart Will Go On", by Celine Dion,
began blasting out of the speakers. Microphones were being forced in
front of our faces. This was absolutely terrifying! "No, no, no.....No,
no, no....No, no, no..." was about all we could muster to respond
with. Ryan eventually succombed, bless his heart, who was eventually
accompanied by a very guilt-ridden Elizabeth. Let's just say the three
of us very much welcomed the Budweisers that soon came to our table.
Suining
was packed full of these kinds of experiences. It was a fantastic 4 days
that we shared with Nancy and Beau. Eventually though, we did have to
return to Chengdu and prepare for our train to Tibet. Thanks to Nancy's
research, we felt fairly comfortable that we could make our way with
out permits. We piled into her car late in the evening on that fourth
day, picking up her tone-deaf aunt along the way...poor Greg; enough
said. We then experienced one of the most harrowing road trip of our
lifetimes. With her brights and hazard lights glaring all of the way, along with
a mean speed somewhere between 30 to 80 miles an hour, we finally arrived safely (being that we were still alive and uninjured) back in Chengdu.
The pandas were fluffy, playful, and
extremely cute...especially the babies we got to stare at through a
thick glass window while being ushered along. We were pleased to see
they were very well cared for and seemed quite content in the Panda
Breeding Sanctuary. They also had a sizeable amount of bamboo forest
to galavant around in and to seek some solace as well.
Wishing we
had an extra day or two to see some more of the sights in yet another
one of China's big cities, we found ourselves racing, running, down the train station platform, and hopping onto our home for the next 46 hours until we
would thankfully disembark in Lhasa.
