Monday, June 4

More fever, fewer children in school—we had a grand total of 7 today.  With one leaving at noon, we put 6 down for naps.  The policies in place are being implemented in something of a confusing method.  Some children are sent home the moment a slight flush is detected; others are allowed to lie on the reading couch for 2 hours.  That appears to me to be prime territory for germs to spread! But ha, who am I to say?  There are few enough children that it makes it hard to implement a structured curriculum—or to test the one that’s been in implementation for 2 weeks.  On the other hand, I can see individual examples of success, and I believe the principal is pleased with the improvement in the classroom across the board, so I am going to embrace that validation!

Julia needed to provide one last photo to officials today, necessitating a school-time trip to the district police station.  The ride, which doubled back on half of our morning commute, took about 20 minutes! There is so much traffic in Qingdao.  The process was swift and painless; because Julia couldn’t imagine going with Ms. Gao by herself, I went along.  Then they drove us back to school so that we could continue our day before returning to wait to pick up the paperwork.  The Chinese staff is amazingly kind!  About once every ten days I do something that causes some confusion or delay or costs a bit more, etc etc., and yet they are unfailingly polite and responsive.  As long as I can indicate that I am not consciously taking advantage of them, they seem to like me and want to be helpful.  Maggie walked to the post office for me the other day! And Mia took us shopping this weekend; Sabrina offered to take us to a Buddist temple this Saturday.  It’s a significant aspect of this experience:  it could be much less pleasant if there weren’t people who were willing and able to help explain and smooth the path a bit here and there. 

I must report the demise of a treasured companion:  the Qingdao scooter bit the dust yesterday.  Big surprise!  I knew it was made of aluminum foil and tin, but I hoped it would last 7 weeks; alas, not to be.  The collapse was swift; the response as swift—we headed straight to the store for a replacement right after school.  We got twice the scooter for 15 yuan less!  My shopping choices in the first 2 weeks were not always the soundest!  On the other hand, as Joe has said, based on the photos, the first scooter was worth $500 in the pleasure it gave Julia.  She has been willing to go further for longer if she can do it by scooting.  This new scooter has a much better bell and wheels that ‘sparkle’ when you go fast and glow in the dark—life is good.

Adjusting the new scooter

Julia is happy!

The new scooter tries a familiar down-slope

We went from the store up the street 3 blocks to the path that leads to a mosque.  It was a climb uphill, made manageable by the prospect of several great straightaways for the downhill ride home.  It was about 5:30, the sun was getting lower in the sky, the breeze was lovely, and the sky had spikes of blue, where the day long fog was breaking up.  We rounded a cut in the hillside to see the gold dome of the mosque glinting above us.  When we reached the level area around the mosque, it was flanked by some food stands with hanging carcasses and meat cooking on the grill.  There were a few children playing, and about 6 adults squatting by the stands, watching.  I opted not to investigate entering the mosque:  I felt too blatantly American 21^st female, and didn’t want to risk violating the sanctity of the place.  There was a plaza above the mosque, with gardens, and a basketball court in use!  The view was interesting from there—we could see our community in the hazy distance, the first set of tall buildings in the background.  And to the right is a major construction site, building impressive looking apartments, I believe.  A study in contrasts, as so much of China is.  From the rear of the plaza, a path heads up into the mountain, turning into a series of steps.  We saw a man with several jugs seeking water in the hills; apparently a steady stream of people get their water up there.  We’d like to come back for a real walk up this segment of the mountain.

Coming up the hill towards the mosque

The golden domes of the mosque against the bright blue afternoon sky 

Food stands, right up against the sides of the building

And then the construction site, with huge cranes right next to the lovely mosque

Down the hill we went, enjoying the smoothness of a new scooter.  We had a chance to investigate the Qingdao Impression Mountain organization—I can’t raise it on the internet, but it has a lovely small garden behind the building—cosmos out front that I have seen every morning on the school van ride, and hydrangeas and petunias on the side.  In the garden were evening primroses—a favorite flower of mine!—and blue salvia:  seeing both reminded me to ask of home how those species are doing in my own garden.  The flowers are in a formal setting, with fountain and pathways.  The trees were wrapped in some gold protective fabric which made the whole space look a little other worldly.  It was a lovely spot, a nice place to a read a book.   The photos don’t do the flowers credit—the colors were lovely and strong.   I wonder what’s going on inside the building.  

Some street life on our way home—this is in the area where we bought the scooter, near the grocery that Maggie introduced us to last week, a block below our community.  This fellow lifting jugs is our water delivery man—Julia recognized him instantly.  The little boy is typical in China—children don’t seem to have a life separate from their parents’ lives.  This boy’s job is to find ways of entertaining himself while his mother works in the shop behind him.  Note the outdoor restaurants in full evening swing.  There is a lot of grilling; Qingdao is known for kabobs.  This is all happening in the proximity of a 6 lane highway, on which many buses travel!   I wonder what happens to these businesses in the winter, which is supposed to be quite cold, although not snowy, here.

The familiar water vendor

A small boy entertaining himself

Can you see the smoke from the outdoor grills? 

More outdoor restaurants!

Mia told me that cars like these, which appear to be violating all parking rules, most likely have in fact paid a parking fee to have this spot daily.  So for a fee, a driver has permission to leave his/her car in the intersection!  Astonishing.   I thought the driver was risking a fine; instead, he is paying for privilege. 

I took this photo of a worker in our community because I am so interested in the idea that the Chinese keep and use materials/equipment for a long time.  There’s plenty of trash—on the street!—but they also are conservative about objects.  The broom this worker was using is an old fashioned design, and was itself visibly old. 

The baskets vendors use to present cherries for sale are also from a former era.  I have handled some yuan which are so soft and worn, one is tangibly aware of the hands that have touched this bill.  How long, in fact, does a yuan stay in circulation?  These old bills are almost layered feeling, as well as soft; layered with fingerprints and dirt.  How long indeed? How many people have handled this object?  In a country of 1 billion, the bill doesn’t have to be that old to have been touched a large number of times.