A Short Letter Home: This isn't like America

Thursday, January 19, 2006

This isn't like America

So sayeth Siu Wan. She and Yau Neih were walking through the basketball courts, which were dark and deserted. On two sides of the courts are some dorms, in a building six stories high. The light from the dorm windows illuminates the courts. But since most folks have left campus, the dorms and courts are dark. In America, of course, there would be separate lights for the basketball players--a luxury the folks here haven't decided to invest in. I'm tempted to say that I prefer Chinese frugality to American opulence. But then, I don't play basketball.

The occasion for the ladies' stroll was coming home from English corner. Since we were going to be in town, we thought we'd offer a little chat time to whichever students show up. Both this week and last we had three students show up--five total. (Emily is the one with perfect attendance.) The small group has been a nice change of pace. It has allowed us to go a bit in depth in the conversation and has been stretching the kids' language ability. Last week, instead of simply asking where folks would like to visit, we asked why they wanted to go where there. This led us to talk a bit about what being a "developed" country means. This week we talked about favorite dishes and tried to get the students to describe how to make them. Fortunately, I had eaten before English corner, because two of the dishes sounded pretty good. (Lionel described something that sounded like boiled flower blossoms. It didn't sound good, necessarily, but intriguing.)

I suppose I should attempt some grand, unifying paragraph to tie in deserted basketball courts and micro-English corners, but that's too much work. It's an interesting interlude in our journey, this holiday break. A time of quiet and solitude. (Well, until Saturday when we head to Kunming and then Thailand and will be busybusybusy.) I wonder, should we be allowed a second year here if we'll again choose to stay on campus over the break or will follow the crowd and do some traveling. Guess we'll have to see how it all plays out.