Sunday, July 11, 2010
Shenzhen, China
We have received many hour-by-hour schedules of our activities. We keep receiving them because they keep changing. Often, they change before we get a new schedule. This morning at 8:30, we gathered in the lobby to get on our bus to go to a tea ceremony. At 8:40, with no bus in sight, Beth (one of our program directors) put in a call and found out we were not to leave until 9:30, because we were now going somewhere closer. I was happy to take the extra time to do some yoga in my room.

So, originally on our schedule as a tea ceremony, sparking images of gongs, wooden gates, or at least cucumber sandwiches and a variety of tea, we arrived at an office-looking building with an arch made of twisted pink saran wrap in the lobby for a dim sum lunch. We took the elevator to the 2nd floor and entered a room full of fish tanks.
The dining room looked a lot like Emerald in San Diego, but fancier. Our table was right next to a window into the kitchen, where we watched a cook split open a durian fruit. Many of our group also jumped up to peer at baby pigs cut in half on the range, and their were about five cooked ducks displayed near the top of the kitchen window as well. Rather than the “I’ll have one of these, not one of those,” picking from the carts and trays circling the restaurant that I’d experienced before, a pre-selected assortment of things arrived on the spinning tray in the middle of our table. I’m trying to be really good about tasting a lot of things, but this lunch wasn’t a huge challenge in that department. Most things were fried or boiled rice dough, including fried dough wrapped in boiled dough. There were also several kinds of sautéed and marinated greens, like bok choy or broccoli rabe sorts of vegetables, which were very welcome after all that dough. I did have the first thing on this trip that I was actively sorry I bit into: a fried durian ball that I did not like the taste of at all.

It was certainly a nice lunch, but it was a bit of a letdown on the exciting new experience scale.

We returned to school in the afternoon to set up our classrooms, but most of our materials were still not available. Then the families came to an orientation that did not go as we had expected. Luckily, teachers are usually pretty good at making things up on the spur of the moment.

Then we had a meeting where I was flabbergasted to learn that many in our group wanted to use stickers or treats or star-counting systems to encourage student participation. Our program has a stated goal of education for a sustainable future, which I love. That is a goal of Xara as well. But at Xara we worked really hard to have educational strategies that were consistent with that goal. This program does not really have consistent educational strategies yet. It’s still in development, which is fine, but a little uncomfortable when it’s been stated that we’re here to teach exciting American methods, but then it’s not totally clear which methods those are. Or maybe they are not the methods I would choose first, as a progressive educator. I feel pretty strongly that extrinsic motivators are not consistent with education for a sustainable future. Some teachers tried to make the argument that it was just practical, doing what works. Creating long-term problems with short-term rewards, I would be happy to tell anyone who will listen. A number of other teachers did tell me privately later they also agreed.

This evening, my roommate Patti and I finally made it to Walmart! Most of the rest of our group has been there nearly every day since we arrived, but we held out. It was crowded! It was two stories! There were live fish in tanks downstairs! (So you could pull out fish with your bare hands and take it home to cook!) The grocery aisle was labeled “Dry Droceries.” (Yes. With a D.) There were food demonstrations in the housewares area. There was a whole aisle of just chopsticks! There was a DIY craft fair just outside! Where I got a backpack vest! They did not have blue painter’s tape. They did have fountain pens, and a lot of gel in tubes to eat. The greeters wore pastel green jumpsuits. Many people sat around reading in the book area. On the floor, leaning against the shelves—seriously engrossed. We bought some school supplies, bottled water and some mystery flavored yogurt, but I was so bedazzled, I left the yogurt at the checkstand, which we discovered only after we’d arrived back at our hotel.

Walmart is right next to the Garden City Mall food court area. We almost gave in and got French fries at McDonald’s, but, convinced by the heat, decided to try the fruity drink place instead. I had pineapple with yogurt and glutinous rice balls. I thought the rice balls might be sort of like boba. They were smaller, and sweeter, and mushier, but same concept. The pineapple juice and regular (not frozen) yogurt were in layers.

I know this is very common, but it’s always funny how, no matter what you think of places like McDonald’s and Walmart at home, they become totally fascinating when you are traveling internationally. It’s interesting to see something familiar in a new light, as well as having a little piece of home in a new place.

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