Took a walk around the grounds of Zhanshan Temple on Monday with a couple Bavarian friends from the building and came across the above sandal and Buddha aficionado. The process he's undertaking in the photo is remarkable, and although I stopped short of asking the sale price of those straw woven sandals next to him (because I don't know how to ask that in Chinese and the pair looks a bit too small for me anyway), I thought it'd be nice to at least take a picture. Others, I believe, had asked him if they could, but since I haven't the faintest idea how to ask I just tried to be discreet by holding the camera at waist level, looking up at the sky, and snapping away from the belt in hopes that I'd come away a winner. As fate and a little luck would have it, this is the forth or fifth photo I took and the only one that came out. His scowl shows that he clearly caught on to my gimmick by this point, and boy did my little indiscretion jar the tranquility right out of him. If I'd had the gall to take pictures of the ensuing scene, you would've seen a shouting Monk in a really sore and fiery state. Maybe next time.
Other than the shame that comes with disquieting the most peaceful man I've maybe ever been in the presence of, I've been having a big time becoming acquainted with the city and making friends around campus. I have a good oldfashioned red-as-a-boiled-lobster sunburn from swimming too long at the beach, I've made my feet sore from walking along the piers and marketplaces, and I've given myself a headache trying to learn the language. Yesterday was the first day I received tutoring from one of my neighbors, a Russian exchange student who's working on her master's in Chinese. She told me she thinks it's a good idea to learn the characters alongside the pinyin; I told her I didn't have much faith or interest in learning characters, but who am I to disagree and turn away her kindness? Accordingly, I bought a very elementary Chinese character workbook that allows me to trace the most basic of characters about twenty times over. I suppose the idea is that tracing builds muscle memory or something, but so far I've rendered that theory bunk. Wait till my Russian friend comes back today and sees the disaster I've made in the workbook. Also, I find it both funny and bizarre that I'll be speaking Chinese with a Russian accent.
With the semester fast approaching, I'm feeling very grateful for the transitional period I've had. Classes start this coming Monday, Sept. 2, and I'm anxious to meet my students. The Dean of the International School stopped by my place yesterday morning to give me the low down on my teaching assignment. I've been assigned to teach three sections of reading and three of writing, and while I don't know how many students are in each section, I'm guessing I'll have around 150. Anyway, exchange and foreign instructors don't teach from textbooks here, so I'm at liberty to choose all of the course reading materials. I couldn't be happier about it.
That's about the size of it. Zai jian and until next time.
Love the pics! Is this second picture taken out your window? If so, I hope it's a big window because that's an incredibly beautiful scene. Miss you. Thanks for the view of your world!
ReplyDeleteNi Hao Kevo!
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling awfully sore for just now getting around to responding to your blog and your email. I've been caught up with teaching etc. etc. My students are unburdened with any kind of genius--nothing unusual there. They can't so much as scribble a predicate much less produce an entire paper that bares any kind of meaningful fodder. I do have one student who likes to talk exclusively about the Bikram Yoga classes she's taking. I sense she fancies herself the poor girl's version of Gwyneth Paltrow. She's taken to wearing bracelets and headbands and she folds her hands in front of her chest in the semblance of prayer while reciting "Namaste" when she greets people for the first time. This caused a great painful embarrassment for me the first and sixth times I saw it.
I'm thrilled to see you getting some writing out, your blog has been a blast to read. I'm particularly taken with Herbert from the first post. I hope you have the energy to keep the posts coming. I hope, too, that your semester is off with a bang and you're enjoying yourself.