The Transformation Continues . . .

The school where I work has been open for one year now, hooray! The marketing department spent weeks decorating the school with red lanterns and thousands of balloons. They even hired some people to make a balloon archway outside the entrance. The purple balloons wilted quickly in the heat, but it was very happy nonetheless. In addition, we had an anniversary party on Sunday evening after work. Because too many students wanted to come, it became an Invitation Only event. The Center Director told me she chose students based on their potential to bring even more students to the school. I'm not exactly sure how she determined their potential, but I was a little unhappy seeing how many of the students who have been at my school the longest were not invited. There were a little over forty students there, plus the head of Changzhou Education Department, the school faculty and staff, an so on and so forth.

The party was held at a restaurant in one of the nicer hotels about three blocks from my school. It was not just a dinner though, there were performances, oh yes. First, of course, there were speeches by the head of Changzhou Education Department and our own dear Center Director. The Education Department lady did her speech in Chinese and the Chinese MC translated it into English for the foreign teachers. The CD did her speech in English and the Chinese MC translated it into Chinese, which I found rather odd since the CD is Chinese.

Some of the staff sang English songs, the best being the girl Chris from marketing. Some of the students and staff translated and modernized one of China's most famous stories, The Monkey King or Journey to the West. And of course the foreign teachers must perform. Seeing how we are all busy we decided to do a Whose Line Is It Anyway kind of thing, which we found hilarious but most of the students didn't understand. (We were mostly concerned with entertaining ourselves anyway. Big Chinese dinners and parties can often be painfully boring events for foreigners. From what I gather, they are also boring events for the Chinese.)

The most important part of the even though was the lottery. Everyone got a number when they arrived.



Third prize was a bicycle, second prize was an MP3 player, and first prize was a free level of study at the school worth almost 10,000 RMB (or $1,400). When the CD was taking the bike to the restaurant I yelled at her from the office, "Where are you taking my bike?!" She said, "It's not your bike!" I said, "Yes, it is! Where are you taking it?" And she laughed at me. Lo' and behold, guess who won the third prize?

Sweet bike, huh? It even folds in half. Speed demon, I tell you.

The CD confronted me a little while after I got the bike. She wanted to know how I got the bike, how I knew earlier that it would be mine. I told her I paid off the tutor who chose the number. After the party she told me she asked the tutor and the tutor claimed I had not paid her. I told the CD that I paid the tutor well enough to lie.

I rode my bike with tiny wheels home from the party wearing my high heels. Very Chinese. (Whenever I see the women in their heels and dresses on bicycles the theme for the Wicked Witch of the West plays in my head. I can't stop it, even after all this time.) I haven't ridden a bike for a long time, and never in China, so it was a little terrifying. It was late so there wasn't much traffic. I didn't have much trouble getting on the bike, and it was easy remembering how to ride the bike, but I did have some difficulty getting *off* the bike. I blame this on Martin though, because he made the seat too high.

The next day I hopped on my bike at about 12:30 to pedal to work. About half a block from my apartment the pedal fell off. Not just the pedal but the piece that attaches the pedal to the bike.

Everyone said the same thing when I told them this story. "Let me guess, made in China?" China has a reputation for making cheap goods, though not always of the best quality. My students have asked me if it is more important to Americans that goods are cheap or good quality. I tell that most Americans think you get what you pay for. With manufacturing moving to Malaysia, Thailand, etc. I think China is going to have to step it up and start putting out higher quality products to compete with the new developing countires. Until then, I will continue to enjoy my cheap clothes and free bicycle.

I walked the bike to school on Wednesday and one of the guys fixed it for me. Hooray! So I rode it back home today. We'll see if it can make it to work tomorrow...

Preparing for the Olympics

The Olympics are now less than a month away. Preparations are in full swing with the finishing touches going on Olympic venues, traffic organization, and menu limitations.
During a conversation about car pool lanes in America, one student told me about the ingenious way the Chinese government has come up with manage traffic in Beijing during the Olympics. The goverment has decided that only cars with even number license plates can drive on even numbered days and only cars with odd numbered license plates can drive on odd numbered days. Because of this, websites have sprung up to connect odd-numbered license plate holders with even-numbered ones in the hopes of car pooling. Beijing has about 3.3 million cars, and this will take about half of them off the road. Obviously, taxis, police, and other emergency vehicles are an exception. The number of cars on the road has been limited since the beginning of this month so that these measures will have a significant effect on the pollution levels.
While browsing the news the other day I stumbled on an article about the 112 official Olympic restaurants of Beijing. During the games none of them will serve dog meat. If they serve dog meat, they will be black listed. Other non-official restaurants have been instructed that if someone orders dog meat they should politely suggest another dish. This is to avoid offending anyone and make the foreigners feel more comfortable. Soeul did the same thing during the 1988 Olympic games. Some people feel this is reasonable while others feel like the Chinese are sacrificing a part of their culture. One student pointed out that even though the Olympics are in China and it is an opportunity to showcase Chinese culture it is still an international event and everyone's feelings must be taken into consideration. Some travelers may feel they are cheated out of an authentic China experience while I'm sure others will be grateful to be spared thoughts of eating their beloved pets. My very scientific poll during English Corner on Monday revealed that about half of the students at my school have eaten dog. Supposedly, eating dog meat can help you stay warm in the winter and it is very flavorful. I've had the opportunity but I haven't eaten dog, even though I'm reassured that they only eat the ugly ones.