My birthday, a party, and a museum

Sorry for the picture quality on this one. Most of these were taken with my pocket camera.

From 16 Nov 08

Some students have been reading my recent writing, instead of describing my comments as some would, as a jingoistic diatribe, they, universally, agreed with the accuracy of my comments and observations. They recognized the, ,near universal, disrespect for historic places and things. While recognizing that the attitudes look wrong when phrased the way I do, they see them as, just the way things are.

They found out that this week was my birthday. My Internet connection in the flat was not working (again) so I logged into my e-mail in the classroom, before class. As I was reading it several students arrived quite early. They happened to see the letter from Ken Lowdermilk and quickly passed the word.

That group of students then sent a member to purchase flowers, which are now in my classroom. In the next class a group of the students invited me to lunch and I ad a very good time. It does seem a bit odd to have students invite me to lunch, here it is not considered uncommon or unethical at all. They also purchased a small cake and a singing candle bomb (a candle thing that unfolds and lights more candles as it plays an electronic version of happy birthday).

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

My first class today then threw my schedule by bringing in a large cake which we shared at the beginning of class. As this had thrown my schedule I started a movie instead of using mu planned lesson (the lesson will keep, at least all but the daily news, which we did use) . I had a lot of reservations about this movie Tristan & Isolde; but, it seems to be going over very well. As my classes are about 20-1 in favor of the girls (and they prefer, “girls,” getting offended when I say, “women,”) I was mostly concerned as I see this as more of a, “guy film.” I will have a better idea next week when we do the discussion portion of the class.

We will include that in the stuff that we will cover in class on Monday through Wednesday, when we talk about the movie. I also have the stock, “describe the characters of ...,” and, “did you like, would you recommend the movie, why?,” question. Ten is the killer question of, “did they do the right thing why or why not, explain your answer, “ stuff. The real purpose is to get them talking and to keep the discussion focused and to have a topic. Many of the students want to talk but feel that they have nothing to talk about, in some of these cases, movies can help.

Then, on Friday, after school, the girls (about 42 of them) in a couple of my classes had a party. I was rather pleased to be invited and, of course I did attend. The class parties are generally held in an unused classroom. It still seems to be a bit odd to me; but it is just the way. That did give them use of the audio-video equipment for karaoke, which there was a lot of. They also held several impromptu dance competitions.

Most of the girls do take a dance class as part of the PE curriculum. Asa result, most of them are pretty good dancers and can, quickly, put together a ,synchronized, group dance for a variety of types of music.

On Saturday He Zhi Qing came over and we went to the museum. It struck me as interesting, when I asked my student's if there was a museum I got a universal answer of, “no, there is not one,” from them. Then, I was out with the riding club and I asked what a particular, odd looking, building was. They told me, “it is the museum.” At that point I not only knew there there was one; bit, I also knew where it was.

From 10 Nov 08

Then, on my riding trip to Ling Shan, I found the one last bit of information that I needed. I found its name, Historical Museum of the Revolution of Xinyang, The Martyr Commemorates The Wall. I then asked some questions about it and was told that it is always open.

He Zhi Qing and I got to the museum and found that was not quite the truth. It was not open on Saturdays. She asked and was told that they would have people to open it for us on Sunday. At that point we returned to my flat and worked on material for my class. I played with the 'never ending story game' see if she would get the idea. If she, or Gao Jing, does not understand an instruction, then it is pretty sure that my class will not either.

We then went to Dio's for dinner. This is one of the more expensive restaurants in town. We usually go to noodle shops and such. That night I just felt like going somewhere nicer. It was a bit strange to me to have a person stand by the table the entire time I am eating just to make sure that my glass is never empty and that I have all I need. It was good; but, like I said, I usually eat at cheaper places.

From 16 Nov 08

I did try to make He Zhi Qing use a fork. It went reasonably well; however, it was obvious that she was more comfortable with chopsticks (kuaizi 筷子).

The next day we returned to the museum at the time they had given us. The person that we needed to pay to get in was at home so we had to wait about a half-hour. We spent the time walking around this, rather industrial, part of the city.

There was a lot of construction at one place and He Zhi Qing described it as, “a hospital, like in that movie 'flew over the co-co birds nest.” She agreed that this meant a psychiatric hospital, one would hope that it would not be like the hospital in one flew over the co-co's nest.

We then walked back to the museum, just as the person who was supposed to take our money was arriving. I wanted to take some pictures of the mock airplane in front; but the guard wanted to make sure that we would not get lost on the way to the entrance. The courtyard was quire large; but there was no way we would get lost.

From 16 Nov 08

I think he was also in a hurry to get us to the door so that he could unlock it and return to his heated guards room. This is the thing that was most noticeable, not that the heating and AC were turned off, not even that most of the lights were off; depending on the skylights for lighting instead. No, what was noticeable was that other than employees, and us, there was not one there. Even the guest book, which I signed, showed that there had never been many visitors.

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

Everyone who has read this far knows that I am a Museum lover. I make an effort to visit the museums in every city I go to (yes, I missed the Museum of Sexology in Wuhan). My criticisms of this museum need to be considered against the reality that it is a new museum; and as such, it does not have a large collection artifacts (interestingly, the word, “artifacts,” does not seem to translate, well, to Chinese). It also seems to lack focus. This is apparently a result of an effort to use whatever artifacts that they have on hand.

The purpose of the mock airplane in front was to recognize that the first airplane in the Peoples Army had crashed here. He Zhi Qing insisted that the information board said, “landed;” but when you land and lose the wings and landing gear, as shown in the pictures, I feel safe in calling it a crash.

From 16 Nov 08

The number of artifacts was disappointing. Further, they were often representative artifacts; such as, not the lamp use by a famous general, but a lamp 'like the one' used by a famous general. In general. The museum featured photos and a small number of assorted artifacts from the late 1800's to the mid 1950's. These were supported by a number of dioramas, some of which seemed unfinished. Even HZQ seemed a bit disappointed that the hall of Martyrs, the last exhibit on the museum, principally featured people who were not from the local area, or even province (state), and many of them had died well after the revolution.

My suggestion, one made in the guest book , was to increase the number of locally significant artifacts, And, to include more information on both the history of Xinyang and its significance, both to China and the revolution.

After the museum we went and did some shopping and returned to the college. I had a “meet the Foreigner” lecture scheduled for the math department at 19:00 so we ate at a shop that I have never tried (and liked well enough that I will return to it) near the main gate of the school. I then returned to my flat and left HZQ there and hurried off to be taken to the math building.

From 16 Nov 08

I returned just as HZQ was finishing watching Mean Girls; which she then recommended for my, nearly all girl, classes. I gave her a gift (some flowers) to be taken to Gao Jing, and she wandered back to her dorm.

And with that, another week has passed.

A place I often eat breakfast

Walking to the College this week