Bit of a weird day today. After the spectacular weather yesterday, Qingdao returned to
the cool, foggy weather we’ve been experiencing in the last 3 weeks. It got downright chilly mid-afternoon,
darn it. Good thing we took our
outing yesterday while the taking was good.
Julia had art today and violin yesterday. In art class, she seems to have lots of
opportunities for creativity and hands-on activities. In violin, I think we are seeing the ‘classic’ Chinese
‘cram’ method. There are a good
handful of kids in this beginner class (which started about 2 weeks, or 4
lessons, before we got here). So
it’s not possible to do a significant amount of one-on-one instruction. Instead, the approach seems to be
‘everyone follow the demonstrating teacher.’ If you don’t get it, just keep trying. Needless to say, this method does not
meld with Julia’s personal style!
It’s driving her crazy that she doesn’t know how to hold the bow and no
one is spending more than 3 minutes showing her how. There seems to be no thought that a child might need
something demonstrated more than once, or, heaven forbid, many times! Yesterday, she opened her violin box to
find the bow broken; the teacher put it aside, and …that was that. No violin playing for Julia that
day. Ha! I’m glad I’m not spending money on this!
I was told late yesterday afternoon to expect a classroom
observation visit from the team which is helping the school to work toward
Montessori certification—agghh!
Did I want this information sooner? Maybe, maybe not! The aides were clearly concerned about
it; I decided I have to be impervious to this experience—I can’t really be
responsible for the long term Montessori standards of this classroom! Heck, I’m not a Montessori
teacher! I’m not even a certified
school teacher! Hush, don’t tell!
In actuality, the team didn’t make it today; they will be in
the class all day tomorrow. Oh
joy, oh bliss. The aides scrubbed
the room today, after school. The
dividing line between the Chinese staff and the western teachers was more
uncomfortably apparent today. No
one suggested that I stay and scrub; nor did they tell me the aides were going
to do so. These two women have had
a challenging year, and they have worked very hard under less than ideal circumstances. I hope their boss, who is a Chinese
person (not the principal), recognizes all they’ve done here.
Every so often Julia appears in my classroom—often when she
needs to know what to do at a break time (this child is not a threat to ‘go
over the wall’ or start a revolution!).
Today, I looked up, and my first thought was, ‘who is that?’ caused, I believe, because she blends
in so with the population. It’s a
curious experience for me, like seeing my child through a different set of
eyes. She had a stumbling
conversation with me this evening about the 3 other 2nd grade
girls. There is a duo who runs the
show, and one of them is the ring leader of all. Julia felt her way through the way this makes her feel, and
her assessment of the ‘power’ this girl is wielding over the other half of the
duo. It was an interesting
experience, to listen to her try to express and understand human dynamics. It is lucky there is a 4th
girl; I pointed out to her that that girl might turn out to be a lot of
fun. She expressed the desire to
have a friend ‘like Olivia’ in China.
I suggested that Alex might be that friend; shock! A boy! She mulled this over, and the
information that Elinor’s best friend was a boy for a long time. The need for companionship is so fundamental. She really enjoys zipping around the
hill of the community on her scooter, but she’d enjoy it more if there was a
kid to share it with. She wants a
small toy car to send zooming down the hill, since she saw another child doing
that.
While I knitted (and she zipped), I was approached twice by
interested pairs of women. So
funny to conduct a conversation with no shared language but a shared
interest! I figured out that the
first pair, actually young women, were knitters and wanted to get a clear
understanding of the pattern. We
counted rows and stitches and repetitions; they examined the 2 feet of scarf
minutely. It was great! Later, two grandmothers, pushing
strollers, stopped to admire, and to quiz Julia. It sometimes takes a while for someone to understand that
Julia ALSO doesn’t speak Chinese.
These ladies needed to establish her relationship with me—was it my skin
or my gray hair that gave them pause?
It is clear, at some point, in these conversations, that the Chinese
person wants to know where she is from.
Luckily that is easily communicated—Hangzhou means something to
them. What, though, I wonder. Does it tell them her ethnic heritage?
Or just place her as a native Chinese?
Alas, I managed to lose her mp3 player and earbuds in the social
whirl. I hate doing stupid things
like that. Even though, as Joe
pointed out, I can probably buy a knock-off iPod for less than nothing right
here! As one of the aides said
today, the plastic animals in the classroom were made in China, shipped to the
US company, bought by the school, and shipped back to China. It’s a wacky manufacturing world.
The roses in bloom all around the city are wonderful; here
at the community, right around our building No. 20, they are magnificent! These are flowers being grown by
apartment owners, not landscaping.
I love this wild rose bower, with three colors intertwined. I want this when I get home!
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| Such a beautiful bower! |
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| All three colors combined |
Another feature of the community (and throughout the city)
is the mixed nature of the infrastructure. Lots is modern and up-to-date, but there are also plenty of
examples of things falling apart.
One example is the pathway and sidewalks in the community. In fact, Julia and I identify our
entrance stairway in part by a broken tile (we have twice gone to No. 19 by mistake!).
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| Our identifying broken tile - and Julia's great, colorful, fashion sense! |
Well, today, repair work was being
done! On sidewalks that look like
they’ve been broken for decades! Julia’s
feet identify the now repaired entrance to our section. Quite a surprise. Julia, true to form, needed to watch
the process for a while; note the simplicity of the workman’s tools. Nothing upscale or modern about
it. And, notice that when the job
is finished, he leaves a pile of broken stones and rubble on top of the
repaired tiles, kind of like weights or barriers to keep the drying stones away
from foot traffic—how long will that rubble stay there?!
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The work was done with the simplest of tools
|
Down by the hill, there was more construction going on. When these fellows left for the night,
yesterday, they left shards of glass and metal right out on the sidewalk! I had
to laugh; remember the glass and used scraper pads on the playground. I’m curious to see tomorrow what this
spot looks like.
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| Repair work on Julia's scooter-ing hill |
Julia played follow-the-leader through the large water
course that runs down the middle of the community hill. It looks like it would be a great
visual element in the center of the community; alas, there’s been no water in
it so far. Will there ever be?
When last was it in use? It’s a
great design, a downhill water course that flows, a bit like an infinity pool,
down the hill through terraces.
There are bridges periodically to enable people to cross over. I hope it will be running before we
leave.
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| Following down... |
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| And coming back up! |
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