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Letter 5
Friday 16.04.10 West Qiang Homeland Hotel
I'm curious about the breakfast. The dining hall looks like it's not ready yet.
All the big round tables each with ten chairs around are there, but the tables
are covered with thin plastic, that's not removed even where the guests are. We
start with a glass of warm milk. This milk has a TASTE. The chinese haven't been
used to milk and milk products, but along with the common "westernisation"
they're emerging. Then the rest is brought: a big bowl of rice gruel, small
plates with fried peanuts, thin shredded cucumber and some shreds of tofu in a
spicy sauce (I think). Some steamed buns and two eggs. That's chinese breakfast
in a hotel.
When I get to the eggs I ask for salt. It's not there and that must be easy to
understand, when I shake my hand above the egg? No. There must be a difference
in the culture here. After a long time a girl appears with two small bowls: one
with soya sauce and one with... sugar! It does look a bit like it, right?
The buns are two of the kind without anything in the middle, "man tou" I think
is the name, and one small one stuffed with something, "bao zi", I think. The
milk is sweet. Nothing of this, except the eggs, would I eat for brekfast at
home - but it fills the stomach alright.
They are eating loudly at one of the other tables. The guests at the other
tables have shown a small note when they entered. I remember having got a note
like that too, which should be presented to the staff when... I didn't pay that
much attention. Noone has asked for mine. It's not necessary. There's no doubt
about who's the "laowei" - it's the first time I hear this word used on me.
When I leave the girl tells me it's ten yuan and show with two crossed fingers
the character for "shi", ten. Oh, so it wasn't included, I thought it usually
was such places, but my experiences on this matter isn't that big.
In the reception the manager is doing the daily peptalk to the girls that are
all lined up. I guess I'd better wait to tell I want to stay one more night.
I take a walk towards the school to look for mr. Xia Wei, but first I buy a
notebook for writing and drawing. That can often be useful.
At the school I look at the brand new school building. When I try to enter the
gate I'm stopped by the guard. I try to say "english teacher", but that doesn't
help. So I continue around the school area and up the road where my contact
person lived with her family. It looks completely different. No green trees
where a small path leads somewhere. I don't remember exactly where it was, but
it seems the farm has been levelled to the ground. Now there is a long wall
along the road and behind it a construction site. I have a picture of the family
which I enlarged and want to give to them, that might help me but not now.
I take a look in Lonely Planet and ask in the reception if there's an internet
cafe in Maoxian? The answer is yes. And when I try to make them draw a map so I
can find it, a young man offers his help. "No money", he says and that's his
only english words. He has a small red car and we go for a longer ride. He
speaks no english and neither do the others he invite on this trip. But it
doesn't matter. We go to the other side of the river. I think a bridge is
missing, because we go all the way to the other end of town to cross. The cafe
is down at the center that I don't know well. The guy pay an amount and I'm
placed at a computer. Unfortunately the machine won't allow me to install "Active
Sync", which I need to get in contact with my PDA, and the card reader, that I
couldn't use in Chengdu, I haven't brought.
Messenger is not installed like it was in Chengdu so I try my own Messenger
Portable. I succeed to log on but everytime I'm just about to send a message,
the machine restarts. After 3 attempts I give up. I want to pay him his expenses,
but he won't let me. My next project is to find a bookstore and in my own home
fabricated dictionary I've found the word: "shu dian". So we go to the bookstore
andd he buys me a map. It's turns out to be a map of the region (Aba it's called)
and among all the cities there is no Maoxian. It's only 4 RMB but I want to pay
him anyway, but he still won't let me. What's next on the programme? "Laoshi
yingyue" - english teacher. I need somebody that speaks some english.
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| A certain english teacher is on the line ... | ...and here he is, my friend from 2 years back |
It takes more than an hour. I remember looking at my watch several times,
because I reckon Xia Wei has a lunch break between 12 and 13. First we go to one
school, but it's not the right one in my opinion. So we go on to "my" one. No
luck. Later I understand what's the problem. Back to the first one again. He
keeps on phoning and we wait at different locations for something or someone to
appear. He makes some girls come close to the car but their english is too
limited. In the end we go up a dirt road to the school. Maoxian is almost one
big construction site. Houses are being torn down and houses are being
constructed. Dust and earth all over. We wait again - I don't know for what. In
the end we leave the car and walk up against the school building. There are lots
of students and they're curious and when there are enough it seems their
collective knowledge of english does it. Some wants me to join them to their
class.
It's touching so little it takes to make them happy. A foreigner in Maoxian -
and in THEIR class! The most strange is that it turns out Xia Wei is THEIR
english teacher. One of them calls him and soon after I speak to him on the
phone! I don't remember him that clearly and the conversation is a bit difficult
but we make a deal of some kind. One of the students get the phone in the end
and we start leaving the class again and walk down to the road across several
constructions. Xia Wei turns up in his little red car which he's still got, so
things can't be that bad. When I see him it all comes back. He's really not a
person that one would expect to help a foreigner like me, he seems quite
reserved. Maybe he's a little like me, even I hope to be more extrovert and
humorous. But he's stolid. Now I learn (like two years ago) a lot. The school
was actually not middle school like I thought, but highschool. But the new
school has turned into a middle school and the highschool has moved into these
new buildings.
It's actually his wife who teaches english in this class because she's a teacher
too. Would I like him to take me around town? Yes I'd like that. And we go
around town and have a look at most of the schools. I think there are 3-4
primary schools, 3 middle schools and 1 highschool.
We go to the square in front of the town hall where he took me the first day,
it's a bit more tidy today. What else can he do for me? Well, I wonder where my
contact person Sherry and her family have gone and we go there behind the new
middleschool and he tells me they're constructing the new Chiang Museum there.
The majority of the people in Maoxian belongs to the ethnic minority called the
Chiangs. The earthquake was a violent strike to them and it's been decided to
build this new museum and cultural center dedicated to them. They are of tibetan
heritage. We go to my hotel to get my picture of the family and with this in his
hand he finds out within 5 min where they live. It's an old woman dressed in the
Chiang clothes he's asking, telling me to stay in the car, a foreigner will make
her afraid I guess. It's in the blue houses. The blue houses are these temporary
houses put up shortly after the earthquake where everybody was living in the
streets. He has to make use of the picture some more times then we're outside
no. 12 knocking. We're invited inside and there sits, beside some chinese people
of which one is Sherrys sister, another foreigner, that I saw this morning, on
my way to the school. I did wonder what a foreigner was doing here then. He
turns up to be french and has a chinese wife. A lot of strange things happen in
China. There COULD be more foreigners here, but there are not many. And then we
two happen to have mutual friends here.
The connection is this: Francis, the frenchman, is married to Jeanne, whos
mother (they're from southern part of China) once made a journey to Jiuzhaigou
(the national park up north from here). There she met a young man who became
like a son to her. It's this young mans family they're visiting. The father is
manager of the hotel where they're staying, and which is in the samee street as
mine. This family is befriended with Sherrys family and now these two families
have invited Francis and his wife (who are tourists here) to a dinner party, and
as I know Sherry (who's still at work) it's only natural that I join them.
But now Xia Wei has to leave to pick up his daughter, but I get his phone number,
so I can just call him.
I accompany Francis and Jeanne, or more correctly we're driven, cause the young
man, who's her mother's "other son", take them in the hotel car. It's 16.30 now
and I've had nothing to eat since this morning, but lots of tea in no.12. I
consider walking back to my hotel, but it would be easier if I stay, then I can
join them when they're picked up for the dinner. And I can just do whatever I
like. They're staying in a suite with a living room. You get the feeling that
her mothers second sons father is the owner of the hotel. So they don't know
about prices, but Jeanne asks and I also have a look at one of the simpler rooms.
120 RMB and not quite as luxurious as mine, but all the facilities are there.
Even the electricity andd the water temporary are not functioning, but they're
maybe not at my place also?
So I write my diary, as fast as I can. I feel way behind already, so many
positive things have happend.
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| The farm has been replaced with a temporary building... | ...and there sits a FOREIGNER! |
Then it's time to go for the dinner and we arrive and I meet with Sherry again.
I soon remember her and her mediocre english. She just has to warm up a bit, and
it's not so bad. I try hard to express myself simple and clearly, but even then
it turns out wrong from time to time.
But this dinner party I'll never forget. It's the first time I'm ever inside a
real chinese home, and there are a LOT of dishes, I don't know how many. We are
served both redwine (Great Wall - so I did taste it in the end - some thin
watery stuff) and "Bei zhou" and mr. Boss, as I call the hotel manager, keeps
filling our glasses. And we talk. I have the advantage of knowing quite a lot of
french and some chinese words and of course english that I speak with Sherry adn
Francis and Jeanne. I don't understand chinese but at one moment I realize
they're speaking to Sherry and from a few words like: "yingyue" (english) and "laoshi"
(teacher) and the tone of their voices, I know they're pressing her to use her
skills and opportunities (she's working in a bank now). Her boyfriend is there
too, he's employed in the bank too. Not very ingenious maybe?
The food is special, but I'll leave it out here, just mention that the
grandfather had to have the head of the rooster - which pleased me a lot!
When the conversation goes smoothly despite age and nationalities it's mainly
because of Jeanne who beside chinese and french also speaks english and Francis
can translate from french.
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| A most surprising Dinner party... | ...where english, french and chinese is spoken |
So the farm of Sherrys family has disappeared to give room for this
new museum. So now the family stays in these temporary houses, which
houses ten families in all. Her father will have some kind of
compensation/support from the authorities and will have an apartment in
one of the new blocks being build. He's 56 years and his basis have been
taken away, but he seems to take it the chinese way (it won't help you
to complain) He's had an offer he could not (should not) resist.
The wife of Xia Wei is in Chengdu once again. Last time it was to give
birth (it was another girl) this time the youngest have been to hospital
in Chengdu, but she is now discharged. He's not very talkative on this
matter and I don't ask closer questions.
I've got important informations like those about the road. It will be
closed for some time on monday. Sunday should be the last chance to
escape. In 3-5 days the road reopens, the sources don't agree on this.
They will level the road I guess, they cannot give it a hard surface for
50 km in a few days?
I haven't asked for my bike yet. I didn't want to embarass Xia Wei today,
but I will ask later. The guards room at the gate where I left it is
there still. Now it's just for the middle school in stead. He wouldn't
let me in either. It's the guard that's the suspect!