Enjoying Yongzhou

My student Edward was Jesse's mike stand
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Hello everyone! Although we didn’t travel to anywhere exciting this month we still saw and did a lot of interesting things. Our friend Joan invited us to go to the countryside to visit her family and celebrate her mother’s uncle’s 89^th birthday. Dong’an is in Yongzhou prefecture, about 2 hours from our city. We took a bus halfway, then as we were waiting for our transfer bus Joan talked with her mother and found out that she was coming by car and we could wait to join her. [A note here from Jesse about the bus trip: Imagine the worst road you have ever seen in the states. I hope your thinking dirt road. Now add 2 foot deep wheel ruts to it and imagine that you, slightly hung over, are speeding along it in a bus whose suspension was long ago removed to make additional seats. Although it is a very small bus, there are quite a few seats because they are tiny. Furthermore, you’re crammed next to an old man with a chronic cough who keeps hacking and spitting on your shoes. That’s pretty much how I spent the bus ride.] We spent about an hour hanging out in a pharmacy. The proprietor was kind enough to let us go behind the counter and take a look the ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine. In most pharmacies you’ll find these dried plants are sold along side aspirin and drugs that we’re more familiar with. We were able to see the pharmacists fill a prescription for a tinnitus medication. The ingredients are measured out for the number of days prescribed. They are boiled for about 2 hours then strained and drank. It’s hard to imagine how leaves and sticks can cure ringing in the ears but I figure that China has had quite a long time to perfect their medicine and they must have learned a few things.

We kept picturing daggers flying out like in Kung Fu Hustle (awesome movie)
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When Joan’s mother and cousin arrived we crowded into a little car for the rest of the journey. When we got near to her family’s home the car couldn’t handle the bad roads with our weight in it and we had to walk the last mile or two. It was beautiful, and people we encountered along the way were very friendly and polite. We didn’t hear any shouts of “Hey look! A foreigner!” Joan’s family seemed very pleased to have us, even though our conversational skills are limited. They tried to offer us the seats of honor at the table but we refused. There was no way that we would take the place owed to Joan’s great uncle. Eighty-nine! Can you begin to imagine all the changes that he has lived through? I would have loved to have heard some stories but even Joan has a difficult time communicating with him because of his bad hearing and his country dialect. The food was beyond delicious; we didn’t have to fake our enthusiasm for anything. As usual, the meat had a lot of skin and fat to pick around. The Chinese clean the bone of everything so I feel a bit wasteful that I can’t manage it, but no one noticed because there was a roaming dog to snatch up the scraps that we spit on the floor. Dong’an is known all over Hunan for a chicken dish with spicy peppers that tastes pickled with vinegar. We had tasted it had a restaurant in our city but the real thing was much better.

Wherein Carrie does all the writing

This kid is locally famous for his skills on this traditional instrument
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In the country we drank rice liquor with the men, played with the kids, and complimented the women on the cooking. We learned that the family home was over 200 years old, and while I can’t say that it looked any younger I was impressed. Our country isn’t much over 200 years old! [Jesse again: At the home we were invited to marvel at their modern conviences, including a hand-pump well that had been installed around the time people in America enjoyed watching Miami Vice and their new telephone.] I wish that we had gotten a photo of the toilet - it was a giant wooden barrel with two thin boards over it to stand on and a flimsy shack built around it. It seemed as if the old boards holding us up over a few years worth of waste would break, and I could clearly see just how unpleasant that would be. After eating we took a walk in the beautiful mountains then had a bumpy ride home. [In the mountains I made an amazing discovery! For some reason I was under the impression that crabs do not only live exclusively in salt water, but also detest altitude. So imagine my surprise when half way up the mountain Joan’s mother showed her country roots and rolled up her sleeve to fish a live crab out of a mountain stream. Carrie also neglected to mention that on the car ride home we passed out drunk only to be awakened by the gentle cacophony and subtle odor palette of downtown Yongzhou.]

Drawers at the pharmacy
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The next week we had dinner plans with our fellow teacher and friend Jack. He is funny and kind, he loves to drink, and he understands that we want to see what normal Chinese people do. Basically his friendship has been a wonderful treat. For dinner we had hot pot which is what it sounds like, a hot pot of broth in the middle of your table that you throw whatever you want into. Always considerate, Jack had a divider put in the pot so he and his Chinese friends could have theirs spicy and Jesse and I could be big babies. [For those of you considering a visit, when people in Hunan say something is hot THEY ARE NOT MESSING AROUND!] We learned that the other dinner guests were dance instructors and after dinner we headed to the local dance hall. It was hidden on a back alley that we never would have found on our own but its size was impressive. It is open every afternoon and evening, the entrance fee is 2 yuan (27 cents US), and the music spans a range of Chinese and ballroom styles. Christmas lights and disco balls flashed on the ceiling as couples and girl friends danced around the floor. Jack figured that we’d just want to sip tea and watch but his friends offered to teach us some moves and we happily accepted. We are doing all kinds of crazy things that we never would have done before. Our attitude has become – everyone’s looking at us anyways so we might as well have a good time. Plus the room was pretty dark and we had professionals to help us look good. We ended up being the last ones to leave and we thanked the owner but he apologized for the humbleness of his establishment. Being there was a real “I love China” moment. Why can’t Americans dance without shame? Why can’t we gather together to do anything other than drink? Why do we have to be so isolated from each other? [I have to second Carrie here, for all my wry comments about China there are moments where you are absolutely enchanted by this country. The ballroom was one of them. We being full of good food and a copious amount of rice liquor, it was hard not be lulled by the gentle sounds of a Chinese cha-cha and the hypnotic swirling of the dancers.]

Filling a prescription
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I know you’re still reeling from the news that Jesse danced in public but I’ve got an even bigger shock for you. On Saturday we sang on a very brightly lit stage in front of about 4000 people. Most of those people were our students, who think we’re pretty cool no matter what we do, but it was still terrifying. We had been told on Tuesday that there was an art show organized by the student union coming up and would we like to be in it. My students had seen Jesse caring his new guitar (600 RMB = $81 US) to class to teach The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry” and wanted to see what he could do. We didn’t realize was a huge extravaganza it was going to be or I think we would have passed. We decided that no one was going to be able to understand the words no matter what so we should sing a song we like. We ended up going with The Decemberists’ “Yankee Bayonet” which is a cheery-sounding song about a lover dying during the Civil War. We practiced a handful of times and showed up on the school field on Saturday shocked at the size of the stage they had constructed. There were some excellent performances before us but it was hard for me to pay attention. We managed through it, while the students clapped along and shouted who-knows-what at us. It was pretty bad, one of our foreign teacher friends offered “well, you’re not professional singers… but you did fine!” hahaha But our sweet students keep telling us we were great. I figure that it’s like when we hear traditional Chinese singing – it’s high-pitched and nasally and we don’t care much for it but we’ve never thought to blame that on the singers lack of talent. Our audience probably assumed that our off-pitch and shaky music was an acquired Western taste.

Dong'an bus station. Garbage in China is almost guaranteed to not be in the trash can or dumpster but no one seems to mind.
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So I have had a cough for about a month now. It started as a cold but when my sinuses cleared my chest didn’t. I haven’t felt all that bad it’s just that I cough the most at night when I (and Jesse) would prefer to be soundly sleeping. Jack took me to the hospital a few weeks ago where I spent almost 2 hours on Saturday and again on Sunday in the IV room with a drip in my arm. On Monday I wasn’t any better, so Jack suggested traditional Chinese medicine. After checking out the pharmacy in Dong’an I was a bit afraid to taste whatever concoction they would make for me but I was really sick of coughing and knew that it would at least be an interesting experience. I absolutely love my doctor; he is a sweet old man with international awards for traditional medicine all over his office. I felt comfortable with him immediately. It’s a family business and there are always cute children around who want to practice their English hellos and goodbyes with me. I have spent quite a bit of time there and am currently on my third round of treatment. My Western body isn’t responding like the Chinese, apparently. My cough has finally improved but it’s not completely gone. Perhaps that’s because I can’t seem to avoid all the things I’m supposed to – fried food, spicy food, roasted food, and smoking. The smoking I can understand why it’s a problem and I’ve really cut back but many of you can sympathize with why I can’t manage to cut it out all together. The roasted food ban is pretty weird to me. I’m told that my Hot is too strong and that my medicine is strengthening my Cold so it can fight off the Hot. Roasted food feeds the Hot, but I grew up on a steady diet of roasted food and I can’t see what the big deal is. The medicine is about as nasty-tasting as I thought it would be. My prescriptions have about 20 ingredients in them of which the only one I could recognize was dried orange peal. The rest just looked like leaves and sticks. Since I’m an incompetent foreigner they have been boiling my medicine for me and I go every day at 9:30am to pick it up. I drink half then and the other half at home in the afternoon. I guessed that the characters they wrote on my bottles said "American" or "Foreigner" but a student told me they say "Beautiful Teacher." Awwww. It tastes like bitter dirt but I’m getting used to it. The hotter it is, the better I can manage it. I miss the Western method of taking something to suppress your symptoms and getting on with your life despite whatever illness you’re dealing with but I suppose the Chinese attitude is better for me in the long run. [She’s not kidding, that stuff is vile, it’s like someone shoved dirt and coal in their underpants, ran a marathon wearing them, and then used it to make you tea.]

Walking alongside our car, trying not to trip over chickens
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Last week we had dinner at Jack’s house. The food was great and his 12-year-old daughter Betty is delightful. She goofy, curious, and sweet and reminds me in many ways of my sisters. After dinner we took a short walk to the river to see people dancing and doing Tai Chi. Once again I was struck by the true sense of community I get from this town. People are so much more open to sharing public space together and enjoying time with their neighbors. One of the Tai Chi instructors was happy to see our interest and we have worked out private lessons on Monday and Wednesday nights. She is the mother of one of my better students and her friends all want to join in to help. We had our first lesson yesterday and it went pretty well despite language barriers. Mrs. Liu knows a bit of English and we know a bit of Chinese and we get pretty far on gesturing. After our lesson I felt sore but happy. I think that these lessons are really going to improve our physical and mental health. I would love to reach a point where they’d teach me the forms that use a sword or a fan. After five years of Tae Kwon Do while growing up I think that more aggressive styles would come easier to me but it’s probably best to start with the basics. [There is something slightly off-putting about seeing a pleasant and tiny middle aged woman in a pink track suit wielding a sword with astonishing grace. In other words, if pressed, said middle aged woman could probably carve you up pretty quick. That was my immediate attraction, but also taking Tai Chi is great excuse for me to buy a traditional Chinese outfit. And frankly, I’ve been dying to get one.]

Farmers at work
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So we’ve been getting along pretty well just chilling in Yongzhou. We’ve also managed to save a lot of money – woot! Next weekend we’re off on a 3 hour bus ride to visit another teacher with our company. OH- I swear next blog we’ll get some apartment photos up. We finally got our bicycles and a sofa. Well, it’s more of a wooden bench than a sofa, but it’s better than nothing. We think of you friends and family often and we hope you’re all well! xxoo