The Canning Room

already packing

Ughh, the heat and humidity is setting in. As crazy as it sounds, I got out one of the two suitcases I'm allowed to bring back to the states and started packing this morning. I still have over a month to go here, but that time is already filling up with tests and papers to grade and a final weekend-horrah trip to Shanghai with Kate (we managed to find really cheap tickets there for June 14-17). As I'm deciding what must physically stay in China and what I'll bring back, I'm also taking inventory of what it is that I've been doing here for the past 10 months, what I've learned, what I haven't, and the gazillion pieces and experiences that I'll mentally pack up and say "Come on, whatever you are, get in the bag, I'll make sense of you later". Most of my mental luggage will be like that, I think. We'll see what comes of it. An art show? A book? A collection of digital stories? A couple of hours over coffee with friends? Who knows? I'm trying hard not to focus too much on what I haven't done here...like learning the language. I could give a whole list of circumstances that prevented me from learning more Chinese this year...then in the same breath, I could provide another list of things that I could have done to learn it anyway, but didn't. There are so many other things I have learned, though. So many.

Today, I had lunch with Peter Arnett, who of course had lots to say about the way media is handled in the world today. He's an amazing storyteller. Tonight, I'm giving a training for some law school students, then I'll be camping at the beach with some of my former and current students tomorrow and Sunday.

Just another crazy night

First of all, Happy Belated Mother's Day to all and big congrats to 2 of my favorite women who recently announced that they're pregnant: Jenn and Tasha! Woo-Hooo!!

Tonight was one of those nights in class that I REALLY wished I could get my hands on that video tape taken from the ceiling corner of the classroom. The kids did role-plays today about women at war. I won't go into too many details, but I'll just try to paint a mental picture...it was surreal.

One group got up and started throwing chalk at each other(bullets/bombs), while opening and closing umbrellas all over the room. A guy, playing a female soldier, kept screaming "It's sunny! It's raining! It's sunny! It's raining!" (That woman's job was to predict the weather, apparently.) Another group's woman announced in a loud dramatic voice "I'm so grateful that my children are in the loving hands of their father!" while the "father" was asleep in a chair and the "kids" were beating each other to a pulp.

Meanwhile, I spent most of the class tonight trying to maintain my composure at the back of the room while laughing hysterically with the students, swatting at the mosquitos swarming around my head and feet, and mumbling to myself something about hating Dengue Fever.

Back from Beijing

Last week was the May Holiday week and I met my Dad and Mary Beth up in Beijing. Kate and her parents went there too. Poor Dad didn't do so well with the food, but apart from that, we hit all the major Beijing sights- Forbidden City, Great Wall, a Kung-Fu show, a Tea ceremony, Pandas in the zoo, temples and old neighborhood streets. Check out Flickr (under links) for photos!