The Trees of Summertime
6-1-99
@10:15a.m.
It is June. This will be our last full month here in China.
The mosquitoes gave us no peace yesterday night at bedtime. They were buzzing around our ears. Hugh must have gotten up several times in the course of the night trying to fry them with the zapper. To make matters worse we had a noisy person staying above our room. We heard furniture being moved and the sound of footsteps. It kept going until 11:00p.m. Hugh finally had enough. Hugh slammed the bathroom door once and the noise level then came down. I could hear noises until after 12:00a.m.
Today is Children’s’ Day. All the school children have a holiday today. This morning at 8:00a.m. I woke up to find that the little girl with the runny nose was outside waiting for Mahala in the yard. I told her to come back later as Mahala was still sleeping.
Jo Li came by with a box of chocolates for Mahala on this special day.
Mahala is out playing with her friends in the yard. There is a slight drizzle. The little girl with the two brothers gave Mahala a musical toy box. I do not know the tune it is playing. Another little girl gave Mahala a bracelet.
This morning I told Hugh that he needs to just take the Macintosh computer back with us. Most of everyone here is used to the IBM compatible system. The Mac would serve us better in the States. Besides we paid over US$1,000 for it. I do not feel that we should leave it here for free. I would sell it to a buyer here but not give it away for free. I know I am being selfish but hey, not a single person has been overly generous or helpful to us besides a handful of students here.
It is 3:00p.m. Gene and Jeff, both Grade 2 students are here. Because both of them have good penmanship they are writing and then painting the letters down on the bistro. The words on the bistro read Students’ English Library in Chinese and English. Wendy helped the guys with the spacing of the letters. Mark was taking a nap. Lucy was here. Hugh had her take care of the enlargement of the photos taken at the library last Friday. She is also supposed to buy a frame for the photo. After Lucy left I asked Gene if it was true that some Grade 2 students were punished for not being in their dorms. Gene told me the punishment was too severe. He told me that a girl student was expelled about 2 months ago. The girl got pregnant and apparently had a spontaneous miscarriage or gave birth to a stillborn baby boy about 5 months old. Students from the Physical Education department used the bathroom the next morning and found the baby. There were bloody handprints on the walls of the bathroom. The school authorities found out that the girl was from the Chemistry Department. There was no mention of the baby’s father.
Today (Tuesday) is the day when all the Grade 3 students have to take their Physical Education test. Both sexes have to compete in 5 events. The long jump, the 100meters, 800meters and the short putt. These are compulsory events for both sexes. Then the boys do chin ups and the girls do the sit ups. From our vantage point in the back yard we could see all the students in the field being put through the paces. Mahala and I looked out for the students that we knew. We saw Lucy, Wendy, Jenny, Linda, Mark, Elton, Apollo, Jimmy and a whole lot of others. Julia Ning did very well in the long distance run. She came in 2nd.
It is 9:05p.m. Lucy and Linda from Class 1 just left. Linda came by to tell Hugh that she is going home too. After that she will be going to Beijing. Hugh asked her why is she going there. Linda smiled and told us it is a secret. Hugh teased her then. "It must be a boyfriend secret." She just laughed. From the corner of my eye I saw Mahala walk into the bathroom. She started calling for me to come. When I got there she pointed out a centipede to me. That thing was big, about 6 inches long and as wide as my little finger. Linda counted 20 legs. Its stingers must have been at least ½ an inch long. Hugh caught it with a pair of tongs and put in into a bottle. Lucy wanted to take it to her doctor friend. She also wants to take it by Jack’s place and scare him with it. In fact this morning I killed one by the bedroom door. I used my sandals and smashed it.
6-2-99
@11:09a.m.
Today is "hump day", as Hugh likes to call it. It is Wednesday or middle of the week.
I woke up at 7:55a.m. As usual I walked outside to sweep the patio as I do every day of the week. I saw May walk out the door of the spare room. Elton was outside. May told me that the girls’ dorm was without water so she came by to clean up.
I saw her again at 10:00a.m. This time she was with Louisa outside the school gate. I asked her about the water situation. She explained that the girls were informed that the dorm would be without water and that was why she came over to the other room to clean up.
I checked with the mail office. We do not have any letters today.
This afternoon Elton told Hugh that he has found a place to put up the bistro. It is in the main lobby of their classroom building. The caretaker of the building have given them (library committee) permission to set it up. That was the good news. Another piece of news that was not so good involved the librarians that was on duty yesterday. They loaned a book to a non-member, a member of the English faculty. The librarians involved were Henry (Grade2) and Ellen (Grade1) together with 2 others. Hugh was upset that the students let the teacher get away with that. They know that the books are only loaned out to members. So he told Elton to call a tribunal meeting to figure out the solution to the problem.
Elton was complaining about how his muscles ached after the PE test yesterday. Three students failed in the chin up category. They were Jim, Apollo and Huge Mountain. Jim fell down from the bar and Apollo could only managed to do one chin up. I guess Hugh Mountain could not make the required chin-ups. The tester had wanted to give Apollo another chance but another tester said no way. That would be unfair. So Apollo and the rest who failed will have to pay a certain sum of money to retake the whole test again.
This afternoon Hugh and I were sitting outside in the yard. Suddenly I saw him do the "Italian salute". I looked at the direction it was pointed at. It was towards the boys’ dorm. I told Hugh to just ignore them and walked into the hotel. I then heard Hugh get up from the stool and walk off. A few minutes later I saw him walk by the bedroom door. Hugh told me he had been up to the boys’ dorm. A group of 4 students were sitting by their window looking across at us and laughing. Hugh got tired of their antics and stalked off towards the boys’ dorm. He was going to confront the boys. When the boys saw him walking towards them they quickly backed away from their window.
Mr. Xu was here in the evening. He spent most of the evening and part of the night drinking and talking with Hugh about e-mails and numerous other issues. He told Hugh that he could not get his e-mail message through to Ernestine. The first few e-mails went through then all of a sudden nothing. Hugh suspects that all out going e-mails are being monitored and somehow stopped by the authorities. Mr. Xu told Hugh that the principal of the elementary school is intending to invite Hugh to give a speech to the students of the school. I cannot understand why. None of the children understands English. I see no point in doing that. I am not going. Hugh can go with his interpreter if he so chooses. Hugh is thinking of going with some of his Grade 3 students.
6-3-99
9:50a.m.
We received a letter from Ann Daniels today. The letter sounded positive. She has been asking around WWC about the possibility of helping the library here. The feedback from the staff, students and faculty is real good. Everyone is enthusiastic over that idea. It looks like they have started collecting magazines and books for the library. Ann is going to send the books off to us. Hugh is feeling good about this piece of information.
As soon as Hugh received the letter he called Mr. Xu up to tell him the good news.
We know now that the librarians involved in the loaning of materials to a non-member was actually Gene and Henry who are both Grade 2 students. They had loaned an audiotape to the teacher. Helen a student from Grade 1 was also on duty then. She then told Wendy. But Wendy was in the midst of getting ready to go home so she told Louisa to handle the problem. Louisa told Elton who is in charge of trouble shooting. Elton told Hugh. Mark who is the President of the library was unaware of what had happened until Hugh informed him about it yesterday night. So Hugh was a little pissed off at Mark because he thought Mark should have handled the problem. There is a bit of a personality clash between Louisa and Mark.
Hugh had a talk with Henry about the matter of the teacher borrowing the material from the library. Henry apologized and said it was bad judgment on his part. Ellen who was in charge of the library that day had allowed it. Also the teacher did not know about the ruling that only members are allowed to access to the books and tapes. The teacher will return the Crazy English tapes and books she borrowed.
When Mark came this afternoon I told him that he was in big trouble. He asked me "How do you know about that?" I was just teasing him. I did not realize that he really is in trouble. Mark and Barney had an argument a few days ago. It was serious enough that Dan had to tell the class teacher, Mrs. Li. Mark was terribly upset that Dan did that. Mark told me that was not necessary. So this morning, Mark and Barney talked and both of them have come to an amicable settlement of their problem.
Later when Mark came in the evening being curious I asked what had happened between him and Barney. The story goes like this. Barney had ordered a magazine a month ago. But the magazine never arrived. So Barney called up the publisher’s office to inquire about that issue. The individual on the other end told Barney that the magazine had been sent off a while ago. Mark is the person in charge of collecting all incoming mail for the classes. Barney went to Mark in class and kept asking him where the magazine is and whether Mark has it. Mark even looked through his table. Mark told Barney that there is no magazine. It has not arrived. Barney kept insisting that it had to be here. Mark lost his temper then and banged the table while shouting at Barney "I do not have it." Barney got upset because he felt that Mark had not given "face" to him in front of all the other students.
Later Dan told Mark that Barney is very angry. Mark wanted to settle the matter once and for all. But Dan advised Mark that it was better to wait because he was afraid that both of them would get into a fight if they had met then. After that Dan went to talk to Mrs. Li about the matter.
I did not tell Mark about what Dan had told us. Barney was so angry that he was intending to do injury to Mark. Dan mentioned a knife on Barney. Barney, Dan and Mark share the same dorm room together with 5 other students from Class 2. All the rest of the students agree that Mark was in the wrong and all of them suspect that Mark has kept the magazine from Barney because he wanted it.
Mark and Hugh are outside talking. It is beginning to get dark. It is around 8:00p.m. Mahala is outside with them and I am inside. Suddenly I heard a shattering of glasses. I walked out immediately and Hugh was looking upward and shouting, "Don’t do that anymore." He then looked at me and said, "Let’s go." Elton came running out from next door wanting to know what was happening. I told him someone just threw glass from upstairs. By that time Hugh was walking away and all of us started to follow him. He went all the way up to the 5th floor of the hotel and walked down the corridor. He knocked on the door of the next to last room. A girl answered "Please wait". I knocked again and a girl opened the door. Hugh pointed to her and told her not to throw glass over the balcony. "My daughter is down there beside me. There are children playing. You are stupid." And a few more choice words were added to that. Hugh had totally lost his temper by then. At first the girl denied it, then Mark started to interpret what Hugh was saying. The girl looked scared because Hugh kept pointing at her. By then a male individual had joined us at the door. He is the teacher and I supposed in charge of the group of girls in that room. Mark told him what had happened and the teacher apologized on behalf of the girls. "Don’t let that happen again" was Hugh’s parting words to them. That episode set my adrenaline pumping. Hugh’s blood pressure must have gone up a few points.
We walked downstairs and swept up all the broken glasses we could see in the dark. In the morning I will look for more.
I hope that tonight all of us will have a better night’s sleep. Our neighbors upstairs kept me awake until 12 midnight yesterday. We did not hear any voices but the constant moving of furniture, footsteps going back and forth, scraping of chair legs on the floor was annoying. They kept it up until 11:00p.m. Hugh got mad and shouted at them "Shut up, fucking assholes." The noise subsided. It started up again after a while. This time Hugh went outside stood under the balcony and screamed "Shut up" at the top of his voice. I don’t think whoever was in there heard him. The air conditioner was on. The noise did not stop. Finally Hugh got up from bed and said, "I cannot take this anymore. I am going to sleep on the couch." As he walked from the bedroom to the living room he flung a wooden stool at the ceiling. The stool came crashing down and part of the seat broke off. Hugh spent the whole night there.
This morning he told us that in the middle of the night a mosquito landed on his ear. He slapped himself so hard that it hurt and he wondered why did I do that. Please note that the mosquito did not get away. It died! Hugh is still angry at the noisemakers. The couch is not comfortable to sleep on. It has a vinyl cover.
6-4-99
@8:22a.m.
This morning I heard Hugh walk over to the room next door where Elton and Mark were. I heard him knocking at the door. He was back in a couple of minutes. I was still lying down in bed. He said "May was sleeping in the room." He did not sound very pleased about that situation. After 10 minutes he walked back to the boys’ room again and when he returned May was with him. Hugh told me that May is in the doghouse. May explained that yesterday night she was locked out off the dorm. Elton had walked her back to the dorm at around 10:00p.m. She decided she had to buy something. By the time she did get to the dorm the gates were locked. The teacher told her that she was late and would not open the gate for her. So she walked back here. She did not want to bother us so the Mark and Elton let her spent the night in their room instead.
When Hugh knocked on the door this morning May rushed to the bathroom fast. Hugh saw a mattress on the floor. May was sleeping there. Hugh told May that if anyone asks where she had spent the night to just tell them that she was here with us. May left at 7:55a.m. She had to go back to the dorm to clean up and to change her clothes.
After May left, Mark came. He looked upset. He told us that it was his fault for allowing May to spend the night in their room. He had the same story as May. Hugh told him that maybe it is better that Elton and him go back to sleep in their dorms. Mark said that Mr. Xu had told them to stay here. Hugh told Mark that he would speak to Mr. Xu. Mark agreed. When Elton came in 5 minutes later Hugh told him the same thing. The boys asked if they could leave their quilts here for now. They will pick it up later. In his conversation with Mark and Elton, Hugh told them in no uncertain terms that both of them have violated his trust in them. Now we are kept wondering whether this is the first time May slept over or has it happened before. We think this is not the first time.
After buying our breakfast I collected a letter from Siew Pheng from the mail office. Siew Pheng had plenty of news. So this morning Hugh shared her letter with students from Grade 3 Class 1. If any of the students are interested in corresponding with students from Malaysia to please get the address from us. He also mentioned to most of Siew Pheng’s friends could read and write in Chinese and English. I wonder how many will actually want to be penpals with the students in Malaysia.
I was outside this morning sweeping up the yard and also trying to look for more broken glasses. I came in and little later a water bottle landed right in front of the bedroom door. I heard it hit the hard ground. I walked out and looked up to the rooms above us. A head popped over the edge of the balcony. It was the same room where the glass had come from. I shouted to her "Do not throw any more things down here!" The girl said something in Chinese. I am glad that Hugh was not here to see that otherwise he would go up there again. Both Mahala and I agreed that we would not tell Hugh until after the girls have checked out.
Diana was the only student from Class 1 that came for the address.
Mr. Xu came by after lunch with some computer disks. He wanted to show Hugh all the messages that did not go through the e-mail. He wants to see if Hugh can figure out why the messages are not going through.
After he left Louisa came by. She wants to borrow the Linda’s bicycle. She is going downtown to find some books for the library. I saw Hugh give her 100yuan for the books. I know that Hugh now has only 120yuan in his wallet. I have been keeping track of his cash. I refuse to use my money for the library. We will need my cash if his money runs out. We have another 11 days before the next paycheck comes in. It will be another tight squeeze again this month. This has to stop soon.
We walked back with Hugh from class this afternoon. We met Gene and he told us that he had nothing to do with the teacher borrowing the library material. He had no dialog with the teacher at all.
6-5-99
@11:58a.m.
I heard Mahala’s friends calling from outside this morning at 8:30a.m. Since it is a Saturday morning we were sleeping in. I opened the bedroom door and told them Mahala is still sleeping and they need to be quiet. Of course Mahala woke up then and went out to play.
Mark and Elton are still occupying the room next to ours. After the library meeting yesterday Mark approached Hugh and promised that the episode with May will not happen again. He will talk to Elton about it. Personally it is not our business if they let May spend the night in the room but what we are afraid of is that could jeopardize the future of the library. Hugh explained to Mark that there are individuals here who will use this as an excuse to make things more difficult. In future May is not supposed to be here after dark in the same room with them. I know that Mark and Elton find it more comfortable being here in the room. They have hot water, privacy and a quiet place to study.
This morning Hugh and Mark walked out together to buy more books. He came back with Star instead of Mark. Mark and Elton were sent out to buy more lumber. Hugh wants to make another sign board Total cost of lumber is 20yuan and the books came to 115yuan.
After today we will have to dig into my allowance to purchase what we need until Hugh gets paid. Hugh told me he would give me 800yuan from his next paycheck. 400yuan for my allowance, 200yuan that he borrowed form me and 200yuan interest on that.
Lucy walked up the garden at 3:30p.m. We were not expecting her until next week. Hugh asked her why she was back early. "I wanted to come back." She had bought Mahala a sleeveless summer dress. It has green apples on it with 3 sunflowers sewn across the bodice. Mahala wanted to try it on immediately. She is wearing it now. Lucy did not stay to talk. I guess she wanted to get back to her dorm to clean up.
Later Key a student from Grade 3 Class 1 came here with a little girl, about Mahala’s age, and the girl’s father. The little girl wanted to have her picture taken with Mahala. Key asked Hugh’s permission to do it. Hugh agreed as long as the photos are not used for advertisement purposes.
We walked over to the library premises. We are going to clean up the area around the library. There was only Henry, Mark, May, Elton, Hugh and myself there working. It did not take too long to gather up 2 piles of trash. The dustmen came while we were there. They collected one of the trash heap and told us that they will be back tomorrow for the pile. I was burning some trash when I overheard Mark and May. The conversation was in Chinese. I could make our a few words. May told Mark that she will not come over at night anymore and not to talk about it anymore.
It is 6:39p.m. I steamed up some pork this evening. Halfway through the steaming process the gas ran out. I had to use the coal brazier to finish steaming up the pork. Linda brought her bicycle back while we were having dinner. She bought us a roasted chicken, a packet of popcorn, a packet of "ma hua", and 3 honeydews. She did not want any money for them. I made her take back a honeydew to share with her dorm mates. Linda has been buying us a roasted chicken every Saturday since she started tutoring downtown.
Lucy came by again in the evening. I asked her about her trip back home. Before she left for home Lucy had bought herself an outfit that I thought looked cute on her. It was a pair of culottes. Her mother and sister did not like her in it. Both of them told her she looked childish in it. Lucy must have hinted at the presence of a man in her life. Her mother gave Lucy some advice about men and what to look for in a man. The mother stressed that a man should be tall and must be "manly" in appearance. He should not be a weak (wimp) man. The mother was not too concerned about whether that man should be rich. In Chinese culture a future husband should always be hardworking. He can be poor but if the man works hard one day he will be rich.
Lucy’s brother is still at home recovering from his injury. A machine cut his knee at work and he needed stitches on it. His wife is also expecting a baby. She is 3 months pregnant.
Lucy’s mother is still taking medication for her gallstones. She has lost weight. Lucy’s sister has become more mature since her breakup with her boyfriend. She still scolds her parents and treats them like little children. Lucy and her got into an argument over this issue. I think that was why Lucy cut short her visit.
6-6-99
@9:48a.m.
I woke up early again. I could hear Mahala’s friends outside. That must have been at 8:15a.m. They were talking loudly.
At 10:00a.m. we walked over to the library. Now that the trash around it has been cleared it looks real good. Hugh is still involved with the running of the library but he is slowly relinquishing his hold over it. It is time for him to hand over the reins of the day to day running of the library to the students. We have only a few more weeks here, then we will be gone.
May and Star was here looking for Lucy. I told them that they should go to Jack’s place. She might be there. When Lucy came by she told me that she was in front of the library studying. I noticed that she had a new haircut. It looks good on her. Jack did not like the new hairdo. Both Hugh and I do. She told us she is having second thoughts about Jack. When she was back home visiting she could not remember what Jack looked like at all. That is not a good sign according to her.
The bistro is ready to go. The posters are up on it. Elton and Mark carried it down to the classroom building where it is going to stay for at least till the end of the semester. Hugh put the fan that Dan had salvaged from the library together. We took the fan down to the library. Though it has only one speed it will help circulate the air in the room.
Mr. Xu called Hugh up. He is coming at 7:00p.m. He wants Hugh to go downtown to meet his friends who are interested in setting up a web site. Mahala wants to go too. I suppose I better go because as Hugh puts it Mahala will not feel secure if I stay here by myself.
This afternoon we were all busy putting up posters on the bistro. Mark and Star was here helping us. Mahala had a couple of friends playing with here. We were all outside in the yard.
I heard voices coming from a room 3 doors down from ours. They were loud and the first thing I thought of was that someone was talking over the cell phone. Then Hugh made a comment "That guy is drunk." I looked up and standing by the gate was 2 men. One of them was in his 40’s while the other was in his 20’s. I shall refer to them as "A" and "B" respectively. Both of them were drunk but "A" was really swaying on his feet. He could hardly stand and "B" was holding him up or maybe both of them were supporting each other. They were talking in Chinese. "B" was trying to convey a message across to "A". Gentleman "A" kept looking towards us and "B" kept holding on to his hand. "A" would take a few steps towards us and "B" would pull him back. "A" managed to make his way towards the BBQ stove. "B" followed immediately. "A" was trying to tell Hugh something. Finally Hugh made his way over to the stove and told both of them to leave that area. "A" said "Hello, how are you?" Mark was holding on to Hugh while at the same time was trying to mediate the situation. "A" shook hands with Hugh and would not let go. Hugh again told both men to leave as they were both drunk. "B" said "Sorry" and pulled "A" away. Both of them walked down to the gate. Star told us that "A" was telling us that he is a teacher too and that he has 2 classes tomorrow morning.
Both "A" and "B" then tottered down the steps. "A" was leaning against the wall and "B" was throwing up behind some bushes. One of the hotel workers came out and threw some sand our the vomit. She then said something to both men. Both men walked back inside their room. They could hardly walk and had to hold on to each other . Half an hour later both of them walked outside again. This time they left the hotel still hanging on to each other.
This evening Wendy gave us some smoke bombs for the mosquitoes. She had brought some from home for us. She told us how the bombs work. So tonight before we left with Mr. Xu to go downtown we lighted 2 of those bombs. When we came back at 10:00p.m. we noticed dead mosquitoes on the floor. The bombs must have worked.
6-7-99
10:57a.m.
It was hard to wake up this morning. We got back from town rather late.
We left her with Mr. Xu about 7:00p.m. Along the way we got to see a little of the nightlife in the city. Mr. Xu’s friend works as a teacher in a school downtown. He teaches General Chemistry and is supposedly a whiz with computers. He lives with his parents within the grounds of the Xinyang Teachers’ Training College. His name is Mr. Yang and is still single. According to Mr. Xu the parents are rich and owe another house in the city. Mr. Yang was waiting for us outside the school gates when we arrived. He took us down unpaved alleys until we came to a wooded door located off the main path. Walking through the gate we saw a neat little vegetable garden. The surroundings looked very clean though the presence of mosquitoes was everywhere. Mr. Yang led us to his room. It was set apart from the main house. He had his computer in there.
Hugh managed to send off 2 e-mail messages to Ann Daniels and Ernestine. We hoped that went through. We read the message that Maggie Souders sent to us. Hugh also called up the web site he built for Gordon. Some friends of Mr. Yang and Mr. Xu were also there. One of them owns a software shop and he called up his site to show us. It took so long to download both these sites.
We walked Hugh to class this afternoon. Mr. Xu came this morning. He wanted copies of our flight tickets and also copies of our passports. I took it up to him. He is going to make a phone call to the airline office in Beijing. He is trying to arrange our flight back. I hope that there won’t be any problems. I feel pessimistic about the whole thing.
I was wrong. Mr. Xu came at 12:00p.m. and told us that the flight have been arranged. Our flight date has been fixed for 7-11-99. That is a Sunday. He is leaving for Beijing tomorrow evening and he wants Mahala’s ticket and mine. He will confirm for us our departure date and time and also arrival time in LA. We are going home and leaving Xinyang. If all goes as planned we will leave Xinyang on 7-7-99.
That will give us some time to visit Beijing and do some shopping.
It is 3:09p.m. he sky is overcast. Looks like it might rain. Lucy had a piece of interesting news for us. This summer vacation Charlie, Ginger and her are planning to start an English tuition class for the local children around this area. It is still in the planning stage. Lucy hopes to be able to stay with Charlie’s parents because they have the extra rooms. Lucy is happy because this will allow her to earn some money over the break and will also mean that she gets to be with Jack.
Right now Lucy and Hugh are in the other room. Both of them are working on a letter to the President of the College. It is about the Cultural Exchange Program that Hugh and Mr. Xu are working on.
I nearly ruined the electric kettle again. I had plugged it in and forgotten about it. When I walked into the kitchen there was steam everywhere. Luckily there was still some water in the kettle. Another close call.
Mr. Xu was here at 6:00p.m. He wanted Hugh to go downtown with him again to send off more e-mails. But when he found out that Lucy was here and that both her and Hugh was working on the letter to the President he decided to stay and help Lucy too.
During that time Shirley, Elton and Mark was here. Mark was writing the words down in pencil while Shirley and Elton went over it with paint. All of them worked in the kitchen.
Around 10:00p.m. Star came by. She was looking for Mark. She had been by the classroom and had seen the bistro still outside the building. She wanted Mark to move the bistro into the building. Hugh agreed with Star, so Mark and Elton took off to take care of the bistro.
6-8-99
@12:50p.m.
What a night we had yesterday! We had a busy evening and an even busier night.
After everyone had left we finally settled in. We were laying down on the bed when we heard the furniture upstairs being moved around. It just kept going. At 11:30p.m., at 12:30a.m. and finally at 1:30a.m. we have had enough. Before then Hugh had woken up several times. Once he threw our plastic pail down on the bathroom floor. That pail broke. Finally at 1:30p.m. we woke up and went outside. The lights in the room was still on. Hugh looked up and shouted "Hey! You upstairs. Come on out." He did this a couple of times. He threw up our old broom and it landed on the balcony. That was when the lights was switched off. We walked back into the bedroom and Hugh put on his shirt and pants. I knew he was going upstairs to confront whoever was in there. Mahala woke up and wanted to follow him. Hugh told her to stay and she started to cry. I told Mahala to put on her shoes. Hugh had wanted me to stay with Mahala but I am not going to let him go upstairs alone. I never know what Hugh is liable to do when he is this angry and I need to be there to watch out for him. The bedroom door was open and I was standing by it waiting for Hugh to finish dressing. That was when I heard footsteps running down the steps. I could not see who it was because the corridor leading down to the hotel lobby was in darkness. Hugh and I made our way down to the foot of the stairs leading to the first floor. The lights were dim in the lobby but I could make out the young lady on duty at the front door. It looked to me like she was locking the door after letting someone out. Why else would she be standing there at 1:30a.m. in the morning.
Both of us made our way upstairs to the 2nd floor. We came to Room 207. Hugh knocked on the door twice. On the third try the door swung open. We peeped in but there was no one in there. We took a couple of steps inside the room. Hugh knocked on the bathroom door. No answer. We found the light switch. There was no one in the bathroom either. The bed was neat. The sheet was in its place. It had not been slept in or sat on. It looked like it had just been made. No wrinkles at all. The furniture was all in place. The only obvious signs of occupancy was the numerous cigarette butts on the floor outside the bathroom. We walked back down and this time even the dim light in the lobby has been turned off. The girl was no where to be seen.
We came back into our room and Hugh walked outside. He walked all the way to the front of the hotel. He did not see anyone except a guard patrolling the campus. All this time I was waiting for him by the gate.
It was hard for us to fall asleep after that. The mosquitoes were bothering us too much. Hugh finally got up and sat in the living room. An hour later I heard him come back to bed. He must have woken up several times after that trying to kill the mosquitoes.
This morning when I woke up I saw several places on the wall where the mosquitoes met its fate at Hugh’s hands. There was fresh blood on the bedroom wall.
Talking with Hugh about what happened yesterday and early this morning we both think that the person or persons must not have been legitimate guests. Maybe they shouldn’t even be in that room at all. Why would they have run off if they were unless of course they were afraid for their lives when they heard Hugh hurl the broom up to the balcony. Or maybe it could have been Mr. Zhao playing a mind game with us. We strongly suspect that it was a male friend of the lady who was on duty yesterday night.
Mark told us this afternoon that Elton has his eyes on a Grade 3 student from the Math department. Mark knows this individual’s name. She is Chung Li. We have decided to call her Connie. Mark tells us that she is pretty and Elton is smitten with her. For the last week or so Elton has been pestering Mark for an introduction. He has also been going to the canteen to take his meals at the same time as Connie.
This evening Mr. Xu and Mr. Yang brought some e-mail messages that they had copied onto a disk. They tried to open it on our Toshiba computer without success. Finally Hugh and Mark went downtown with Mr. Yang to read it from his computer. Mr. Xu could not go because he has a meeting with the President. I also passed him the airline tickets that he requested.
I gave Lucy some money for our dinner. She is going to Jack’s place to get us some fried vegetables. The total cost came to 6yuan. After that she left with Mark. They are going to see a car race. It is being held in the open ground beside the market.
Chris came with some old books and magazines for the library. Chris has been accepted into the Foreign Language Institute of the Peoples Liberation Army. The school is in Loyang. Chris hopes to join the diplomatic corps when he graduates from that school. We wished him all the best of luck. I do not think we will be seeing him again. Elton and Mark were here too at that time. The guys was bombing their room too to get rid of the mosquitoes that have been terrorizing them for the last few nights. That was at 9:00p.m. All of them left at 10:00p.m. I was in bed when Louisa and May came. I heard part of their conversation with Hugh. It had something to do with writing a letter to Ann at WWCC. The girls did not stay long.
6-9-99
@10:00a.m.
I slept until 9:00a.m. Too many late nights.
Hugh came back at 9:30a.m. Class 2 finished their presentation or rather they rushed through it.
I bought some fried noodles from the shop across the street from the campus. I got sick afterwards. I threw up once and had the run.
Lucy was here this evening at 5:36p.m. She was going to Jacks for dinner. She wanted to know if we would like to order any food from Jack. We asked her to get us a jin of "ji dan koa" and to give one to Jack. She told us that this afternoon Jenny did her presentation in their Methodology class. Her topic was about hobbies. One of the questions she posed was "How many kinds of coins are there?" She directed that question at Mark. Mark’s answer brought laughter to the class. Mark said that there was only 5 kinds of coins and started naming them. It was all the denomination in Chinese cents. Mark had misunderstood the question.
Mr. Lu called once in the afternoon but Hugh was still in class. He called again in the evening and this time Hugh was here. Mr.Lu was telling Hugh about the final exams.
6-10-99
@9:50a.m.
We woke up late again this morning. We had the usual problem with the mosquitoes and the noises from upstairs. The latter was the hardest to deal with. The noise did not stop until 11:00p.m. Hugh was on the verge of losing his temper again. But before that happened he went to the living room and slept on the couch there. The person occupying the room was knocking his feet against the furniture. It had a consistent rhythm. Knock, knock, and knock. It was annoying as shit. I walked out and looked upstairs. The lights were on, windows were open and voices could be heard.
This morning I cleaned up all the rooms including the spare bedroom. I did my laundry. Mahala and I walked t Class 2 and we walked back with Hugh together. Lucy came back with us and ate her lunch here.
In the course of our conversation she mentioned the fact that she had given a personal donation of 50yuan to the library and was wondering if the money had been given to Mark. She passed the money to Louisa and was not given a receipt for her donation. That did not agree with Hugh at all. Elton and Mark decided to show up then.
Hugh questioned Mark about the cash donation. Louisa did pass the money to him but she did not tell him who it was from. So Mark got upset and said that Lucy should have come to him instead of going to Hugh. Then Hugh got on Mark’s case about the accounting system of the library. The conversation then focused on Wendy and whether she has done the accounts yet. Hugh told Mark if the accounts have not been done yet to let Lucy do it because she has the experience to do it. Her parents own a business and Lucy must have some knowledge of how it is done. I do not agree with this statement because it is just like saying a doctor’s children know how to diagnose a disease because his/her parent is a doctor. Of course I kept my mouth shut otherwise Hugh will get upset with me instead. Hugh wants to talk to Louisa and Wendy to settle this matter once and for all. Both the guys took off.
Wendy and Star came together. Hugh told Wendy that from now onwards Lucy will handle the library accounts. I could see the change in Wendy immediately. Maybe Hugh was not aware of how Wendy was handling this piece of news but I could. Her facial features just changed and I could see she was on the verge of tears. She agreed but it looked like she was very upset at the idea. I know she must have felt like she is not capable. Hugh could have broken the news to her in a more subtle way. The damage has been done. I cannot help but feel that there must have been a better way to settle all of this. Hugh is letting his heart rule his head. But who am I after all. I will just get my head chewed off if I so much as mention that maybe the situation could be handled differently.
When Louisa showed up at our doorstep she was mighty upset. She told Hugh that she knew that Hugh is angry with her and so is Mark. She did not make any excuses for herself. By that time Hugh had was a bit calmer and was handling the situation a little better. He explained to Louisa that he was upset because the accounting system had not been started yet and he wanted to keep track of the library funds. Hopefully Hugh has explained enough to Louisa to make her understand. There is now tension between Lucy, Wendy, Mark and Louisa. Everyone is blaming Lucy for stirring up a hornet’s nest.
So when Lucy turned up this evening she told Hugh that she did not want to have anything more to do with the library. Neither does she want to be in charge of the accounts. Wendy is angry with her and so are Louisa and Mark.
This evening we had an interesting conversation with Charlie. He was telling us about a new movement, a form of Chinese exercise that has gained a following of about 10 million Chinese from 1992 until 1999. According to Charlie the government is trying to outlaw this movement. So the followers of the movement went to Beijing recently to talk to the authorities and to show them that the movement has no political agenda. Ten thousand followers held a peaceful rally in the "heart of the government" (Charlie’s own words). I think Charlie meant the People’s Square. The group was disappointed because no representative of the government would consent to see or talk to the representatives from the group. The rally broke up peacefully. The movement is called "Fa Lun Gong."
The movement teaches self-discipline through exercise and meditation. A disciple needs patience, kindness and truth to be a true believer. The followers do not take any form of medication even though the majority of them are old people. Charlie’s parents are keen followers of the group. A friend whom we shall call Mr. "C" introduced them to this form of exercise. Mr. "C" used to be a selfish businessman. He fell sick and could not find any cure for his sickness. He somehow was introduced to this form of exercise and started to practice it. His illness completely disappeared and he became a true believer. Mr. "C" got in touch with the founder of this movement whose name is Li Hong Zhi. Mr. Li has written a book about this movement. It is called Zhuan Fa Lun. The book by the way is banned in China. As soon as Lucy heard this, she immediately wrapped a cover over the book. Mr. "C" also believes that his phone lines are being bugged. Once he received a fax from Mr. Li who resides in the US. He kept the fax hidden away. The second fax from Mr. Li was confiscated by the police who happened to arrive while the machine was spewing out the letter.
Charlie then produced the copy of the book from his backpack. He keeps the book with him because he is afraid the authorities or police will search his parent’s home and find the book. He feels the book is much safer with him in the dorm. He asked Lucy if she wants to borrow the book and read it. Lucy declined. He continued with his story. Charlie has heard that in Nanjing and Beijing followers of this movement have had their homes searched. The authorities were looking for the banned book. In one instance the police went to the home of a member. This individual told the police where he kept the books. He then told the police that the books are not harmful to the government. He did not resist arrest either. There is the symbol of the swastika on the cover of the book. The swastika is a symbol of the Buddhist religion. Maybe that is why the government is wary about this movement. It has religious connotations and that does not go down well with the Communist doctrines. It is a form of deviation from Maoist teachings. The government is afraid of the pull it has on the masses and they want to stop it before the group turns powerful.
The government has a reward for the return of the Mr. Li Hong Zhi. It wants Mr. Li to be extradited back to China. The price on Mr. Li’s head is US$400,000,000 enough to even out the trade imbalance the US have with China. That is how much badly the authorities want him back. The rumor going around is that the Chinese government unofficially wants to squash the movement and will stop at nothing to see it get done.
Because of government clamp down of the movement the followers have to do their exercises in secret and in small groups. Before the clamp down huge numbers of people would get together and do their exercises in public. There is no more huge congregation of the members because the police and authorities will start harassing the group. As Charlie said the group is peaceful and its members are mostly old people who can do no harm to the government. The followers believe in the positive effects and benefits they derive from doing this form of exercise. Charlie himself practices this form of exercise and feels that the government is doing wrong by banning the group. He feels that there are a lot of angry people out there who disagrees with the government’s handling of the group.
The conversation turned towards the library. Charlie was the one who started it. He is a member of the library and is concerned over the problems the library is having recently. He hinted that the cause of the problem is money. Wendy’s name was mentioned. He saw her and Mark this afternoon in front of our lodgings talking. He noticed that Wendy looked upset. He told Hugh that there are a few good people that Hugh can trust to run the library efficiently and honestly. He named Lucy and Wendy as two of them. He warned Hugh to be especially careful with the others especially those who have a tendency to tattle. Hugh asked Charlie if he was referring to Mark.
Charlie then related to us the incident involving Mark and Barney about a week ago. We have heard Mark’s side of the story, now Charlie is going to tell us his version. Barney subscribes to a historical magazine and was supposed to receive 2 magazines from the publisher. He did not get the magazines. Barney then went to the mail office and was told by the person in charge that Elton had collected the magazines. When he was asked about it Elton told Barney that the magazines had been passed on to Mark. Yet Mark insisted that he does not have the magazines. An individual then told Barney that he had seen the magazines on Mark’s bunk bed. Barney got angry with Mark for lying. Who are we supposed to believe now?
Charlie told us that Barney is a strange fellow. He father died when he was a young boy and his mother raised him. He comes from a poor family. If Barney feels that if anyone looks down on him he has a knife that he uses. We are not too sure what Charlie meant by that remark. I guess Charlie is implying that Barney is prone to violence.
Charlie further told Hugh that Mark is also in charge of the class funds and a number of students feel that the total sum of money seems lower than it should be. Implication being that Mark is using the class funds for his own personal use. Hugh asked if the class have ever questioned Mark about the class money. "That is not the Chinese way" Charlie said. He said Mark is forgetful these days. Maybe because he has too much on his mind.
Charlie then told Hugh that the reason he has not donated any cash to the library fund is because he has some misgivings about where that money is going. Is it being spent on the library or going into someone else’s pocket? He implied that was the reason why more students have not given any cash donations to the library.
I think Hugh is now having second thoughts about Mark being the President of the library. He might be thinking that Mark is using the class and library funds for his own personal use. We know Mark comes from a poor family. I would not jump to conclusions too fast. I have known Mark longer than Charlie. I will not condemn Mark until he has a chance to defend himself. Innocent until proven guilty.
I think that Mark might have taken a small amount of cash. I do not think he has embezzled any huge amounts for his own gains. He might have used the little cash to buy food. I am not saying it is right to use money that does not belong to you but I an understand the temptation is there when you are the one holding on to that much cash. Maybe he spent the money on the understanding that he will return the money soon. Both Charlie and Lucy agree with me on this.
There are noises coming from upstairs again. Hugh asked me if it was unsettling for me. I am just annoyed but I can deal with the noise. I am just afraid that Hugh will lose his temper. He has decided to sleep in the next room if the noises get to be too much. It went on until 10:45p.m. I had Mark follow me upstairs to the room above ours. I knocked on Room 207 and a male voice shouted, "Come in." I opened the door and saw 4 men sitting around a coffee table. They were gambling. There was cigarette smoke and I could smell liquor. With Mark interpreting for me, I told them that I would appreciate it if they could keep the noise level down as we are trying to sleep. One of the men nodded his head and said in English "Okay." I left after that. Mark told me there are leaders of the school. I asked Mark if he recognized any of them. One of them is the vice-president of the college. It is nice to know we have V.I. P.s staying the night in the room above us.
The noises continued until 11:45p.m. It then stopped. Hugh slept on the living room couch but Mahala called him back to the bedroom after it turned quiet.
6-11-99
@12:31p.m.
It is an overcast day. Lucy is in the next room teaching Mahala.
When she came by earlier she was upset. She told us that Mark had scolded her in class this morning over yesterday’s issue about her donation. Lucy told Wendy that Hugh wanted to see her and also to bring the accounts book. Wendy acted very curt with her. Then a teacher (name not mentioned) told the class that the Americans are culturally different from the Chinese and warned the students to be careful about what they say to us. Lucy feels that her friends have alienated her. They think that because she is close to our family Lucy has divulged certain information to us. An example of that was the time the teacher, Miss Chao, borrowed library material. Wendy told Lucy not to tell Hugh. Wendy knew that Hugh would be most upset over it. Lucy explained that she did not like doing that. She felt that because Hugh was responsible for helping set up the library and had supported it financially, the committee members should not keep secrets from Hugh.
While Lucy was with Mahala, Wendy came with the accounts book. She also brought her donation book, membership book and receipts. She is coming tomorrow to help Hugh figure out the accounts. Hopefully any doubts about Mark will be confirmed or removed by tomorrow. Hugh told Wendy that Lucy is not to be blamed for what has happened. He told her not to be too angry or annoyed with Lucy. Mark was the one who has led him to believe that it was everyone’s especially Wendy’s and Louisa’s fault that the accounting system has not been done yet. Hugh explained that when Mark scolds Lucy then he gets angry because Lucy has done nothing wrong to deserve it. Lucy is our friend.
I just remembered a comment that Charlie made about Mark yesterday night. He told us that Mark is a person with 2 sides. All Mark’s dorm mates agree with this statement. The side that he shows to everyone and the darker side that has anger in it. I recall Hugh making a similar comment to Elton about Mark having an inner self within an inner self.
When Elton came this afternoon he assured Hugh that the committee members of the library can be trusted. Their ability to run the library will have to come through experience. Elton told Hugh that as students they just cannot totally devote all their time to the library. They need to concentrate on the schoolwork as well. That is why the accounting system has not been squared away yet. Hugh understands all of these.
Hugh then told Elton that the fact remains that Mark’s credibility has been brought into question and it must be resolved. Since Elton is the bailiff of the library then he is the one who will have to investigate this matter. Elton feels bad about doing this because Mark is his friend. They have grown closer together since they started sharing the room.
He told Elton that Gene has given Mark 50yuan for the library. Mark told Hugh it was only 15yuan. Where is the remaining yuan?
Mr. Xu called us from Beijing. It looks like we will be flying out from Shanghai. If we depart from Beijing both Mahala and I will have to pay an extra 900yuan each. The school will have to pay an extra 600yuan for Hugh to fly out of Shanghai. Hugh told Mr. Xu that our family will have to stay together on the flight out otherwise Mahala will "lose" it. Mr. Xu understands and will get us booked on the same flight.
Hugh told me an interesting fact about the Tien Na Men uprising in 1989. A student had told him that at least 2,600 students died and another 7,000 were injured. The statistics contradict the official numbers given out by the government.
We received a letter from Dr. Benfer. He is coming to Xian and will be here until the end of June. He has been invited to the Bampo site there. We are thinking of visiting him and maybe stay a couple of days. It all depends on his schedule and Hugh’s.
Lucy came by at 5:00p.m. She brought us the fried rice that we had ordered from Jack. We asked if some of her classmates have ostracized her because of her friendship with us? She told us that she feels sad that they are angry with her but deep down in her heart she does not care at all.
Lucy told us that the school authorities made another surprise check on the girls’ dorm yesterday night around 12:00midnight.
Diana and Jo Li came by at 6:00p.m. She came to say goodbye. Jo Li is going to Zhengzhou and then to Beijing soon. Her boyfriend from America is coming to visit. Jo Li’s sister will accompany him. Jo Li will meet them in Beijing. Then all 3 of them plan to travel to South China and then make their way west visiting all tourist sites. This is a good way for Jo Li and Jimmy to get to know each other. They plan to get married while Jimmy is here. Jimmy then goes back to the States while Jo Li clear the immigration with the US Embassy. I asked Jo Li if her brother-in-law is coming too. The answer was a no because her brother-in-law does not like China. He was here before and had his wallet picked. He lost his passport, cash and plane ticket. I guess he had a hard time replacing those documents. That episode has soured his impression of China. We gave Jo Li mom’s address and phone number and told her to get in touch if she ever gets to the States.
Star came with her membership book. She will be coming over tomorrow to help with the accounts. Lucy and Star left together.
Diana and Jo Li left after them.
Mark has gone home. He left this morning.
I saw an interesting documentary yesterday evening. It was about dogs. The first scene showed a woman holding 2 puppies. It was obvious that she was talking about the puppies. The scene shifted. This time there were several adult dogs chained up in a brick enclosure. They were all big dogs too. One dog came up to the handler’s hip. There was a man and he was having a hard time controlling one of the dogs. That dog was chained up too. It was jumping and pulling itself from the chain. It looked like the dog was trying to get away from him.
Then the viewers were shown a shop. Above the entrance there was a big sign. On it were written Chinese characters and a silhouette of a dog. Inside there was a group of men sitting around a table. A waitress came with a big earthenware pot and placed it in the center of the round table. There was steam coming from the mouth of the pot. After watching that documentary I could only come to one conclusion. The show was about a farm that raised dogs for human consumption.
6-12-99
@6:18p.m.
All of us woke up to the sound of someone playing the piano or maybe a keyboard. It was then 6:30a.m. I thought that was rude of that individual. It was coming from the room upstairs, next to our bedroom. Hugh finally got up and I went back to sleep again.
At 8:30a.m. Lucy came to tell me that she is not coming to the library meeting today. She did not want to be part of the committee anymore. She had some other business to attend to. I gave Hugh the message when he came back from next door. He was with Elton.
The meeting started at 9:30a.m. Elton, May, Louisa, Star and Wendy were all here. Hugh started by giving a speech about what was going on with the accounts and Mark’s handling of the finances of the library. He hopes that by the end of the meeting the accounting system will be settled. With all the students working together they have come up with an account of how much was collected and how much was spent. The library has a credit of 200yuan. Hugh has appointed Wendy to be the accounts clerk. She is solely in charge of all the finances of the library. Louisa will be in charge of the incoming donations, the librarians who are on duty will be in charge of issuing receipts for donations and May will be in charge of the bank account. There will be a receipt book in the library at all times and for every cash donation to the library the donor must get a receipt. Vouchers will need to be approved for any expenditure on the library. Wendy is the one who will need to approve the vouchers.
The next agenda on the list is this. If Mark has been using the class funds on the library then the library will have to repay all those debts. If any of the library committee has been using their money on the library then those people will be repaid too. Elton has spent 50yuan of his own money on the library. All they need to do is to produce a receipt. The meeting was over by around 2:00p.m. Everyone left then.
I moved the cement seats and a centipede crawled out from it. Hugh dispatched the centipede with a pair of metal tongs.
Lucy came after the meeting. We were sitting and just talking and the topic changed to religion. Lucy told us that her mother attends church every Sunday. The congregation is a small one made up of mostly older people. There are a few young people who are mostly teenagers who attend services too. The preacher is Chinese. Sometimes there is a Japanese pastor. Her mother joined the church about ten years ago when Lucy’s youngest brother got sick. Since then she has become a regular churchgoer. The rest of the family are non-believers including Lucy. Neither do they try and stop their mother from attending church. According to Lucy all students from Grade 1 onwards are taught that there is no God and spirits. There is only Mao Tse Tong and the Communist Party of China. Lucy had an interesting tale to tell. The story goes like this. In ancient China an Emperor is usually hailed by the people with these words " May the Emperor live a million, million, million years." This form of salutation is only reserved for the Emperor and no one else. All other members of royalty e.g., Empress, Prince and Princess are hailed this way "May you live a thousand, thousand, thousand years."
Now the only other person who is not an Emperor but greeted like one is the late Chairman Mao Tse Tong.
This evening we had another clean up at the library. The students did some weeding and cleared the place of trash. Mahala and some of her friends came along too. The children were digging up worms for the ducklings. It did not take too long.
The mosquitoes are bad tonight. Lucy came by again this evening and stayed until 9:30p.m. We were talking about Jack. Jack’s feeling for Lucy is growing deeper by the day. Today Jack asked her to wash his clothes for him. He told her that he is so busy that he has no time to do it and has no clean clothes to wear. Although it seemed like he was just joking when he said it Lucy knew that he was being serious. Lucy decided to make light of it and told him that she is too lazy to do it. In Chinese culture asking a woman to wash your clothes is like declaring your affection for her. If the woman does it then the feelings are mutual. Lucy is just not sure enough of her feelings to commit herself to this forming relationship. I know she likes Jack.
Lucy then told me that she would really like to help Jack but is afraid that her actions would cause more talk. As it is, the shopkeepers there are beginning to tease her and Jack. Whenever she goes there, the shopkeepers tell Jack that his girlfriend is here and how pretty and clever she is. They say it in front of her and Jack. Lucy is embarrassed by all of this. Jack smiles and tells the other shopkeepers to quit teasing.
Jack has shown his affection for Lucy in many ways. Lucy is not saying no to all of these attention. Lucy spends a lot of time at Jack’s place just talking to him. Jack cooks for her when she goes over, buys her fruits and even brings her peaches from his family farm. He knows Lucy enjoys all kinds of fruits so he makes it a point of having some on hand for her.
He has told her personal things about himself. Jack told Lucy that he left school because he was made to recite some words for the teacher. He could not remember the words so the teacher punished him very severely. He refused to return to school the next day so his father beat him up. He decided to drop out of school and has been working since that day. He was only 14 years old when he quit school. He has worked all kinds of jobs. The last one took him to Guangzhou where he was engaged as a cook. The employer wanted to promote him to chief cook but because Jack is illiterate he had to pass up the offer. That was when he decided to come back to Xinyang and start his own business.
Jack’s brother was helping him for a while but he has left. The brother was offered 600yuan to be a cook at another shop. Jack’s brother knows how to make the "loa mein" noodles. This is a highly specialized skill that is sought after. Jack also has this skill. So now the only person helping Jack is the father. The father only does the cutting, cleaning and serving. He does not help Jack with the cooking. Jack works long hours from early morning till midnight.
He has even asked Lucy to help him out in the restaurant. Lucy asked him how much he was willing to pay for her services? He teased her and told her that she has not even started and here she is asking for money. I know that Lucy helps out there. She is that type of person. Lucy feels that Jack is not a good looking man but yet she enjoys being in his company. She wants to help him out more but is afraid that her actions might be misconstrued by others. In other words "tongues might war."
6-13-99
9:43a.m.
The children are here already. Sometimes I wish they will go somewhere else and play. They leave a trail of trash here after they are gone. It is frustrating because I am the one who has to pick up after them.
For breakfast we had "chow bin." This morning while buying it I saw a large crowd beside the stall. I asked the seller what was going on. She said something in Chinese. I could not understand it. So I walked over and peeped between the people. I saw a man squatting. In front of him there was a piece of cloth and on that was dice or stones of sort. The seller’s husband came back from the crowd and I asked him why the big crowd. He gestured with his hand that it was not something good. I suspected it was a form of gambling though I did not see any money. Mahala told me later that there was money being exchanged.
This afternoon we walked to the library. Elton, May and Louisa was there. Of course Mark’s name was mentioned. Wendy and Lucy showed up too. Wendy had something to discuss with Hugh. So we came back to the hotel.
Wendy wanted to clear any misunderstanding between Hugh and her. She wanted to clear her name. She feels that her honesty has been brought into question by the events surrounding the library’s lack of accounting system. Her tears were flowing when Hugh explained why there was distrust on his part. He wants her to know that in future she should come to him if there was any problems. In the end, Wendy, I think felt that she has regained her reputation in the matter. Wendy left with Lucy.
Elton came back from the library with the box of Scrabble, which was supposed to be kept in the library. It is reference material. Hugh questioned him about the game. I do not know what the outcome is.
Linda came by to get her bike. Eldon is going to borrow it. After Linda left, Hugh told Elton what had happened with Linda’s money. The Class 2 students had started a fund for Linda after her father’s death. Linda has not seen a cent of that money. Mark is the one who is in charge of Linda’s fund. Mark is handling the class, library and Linda’s money. There is a lot of money involved here and Mark will have to face the questions when he comes back.
We had dinner with Linda, Lucy and Wendy. They stayed until 8:15p.m. Hugh was entertaining them with stories about Mahala’s birth and how he handled the event after the birth. He had the girls laughing with his stories.
Elton came at 8:40p.m. Hugh and him talked in the kitchen. When Hugh came back in he told me a little of the conversation he had with Elton. Elton has been asking questions and trying to find out where the class fund stands. No one seems to know if the class fund had been used to help the library. At one time Vicky was in charge of the class fund but because of internal class politics she gave up the position. That was when Mark took over. Linda’s fund stands at 300yuan. According to Linda besides the money we gave her she has not see any other money. The plan was to give Linda a little cash every month from her fund but since her father’s death a month ago no one has given her any money at all from the fund.
6-14-99
@11:443a.m.
The music came on soft this morning. The mosquitoes was not too bad yesterday night. The night was hot and humid.
It is going to be another hot and humid day. The wind is kicking up and blowing dust everywhere.
Mark accompanied by Elton came this afternoon. According to Mark there is over 400yuan in the library’s account. The library owes money to Mark. He had bought a few items with his own money. I was not in the living room where all the talking took place. I could hear Hugh’s angry voice. At one point Elton told Hugh to calm down.
I get upset over all this bickering. Hugh gets too involved with the students and then everything becomes a personal issue. The situation should never have escalated to this point. At first only the library funds were involved, then we found out that the class and Linda’s fund might be part of the whole problem too. When and how will it all end?
Personally I do not like all this recriminations and back talk. I like to just deal with the problem, which is at issue here? Did Mark use any of the library, class and Linda’s money for his own purposes? Mark’s answer should clear the air. Hugh wants Mark to give his explanation of the library’s account and to come clear on all the doubts that have been cast his way.
After Mark and Hugh had cooled down Mark came back again this evening. Mark explained his side of the whole story. The library fund stands at over 400yuan. The library has an outstanding debt of 209.90yuan. Out of this amount Elton gets 50yuan and the rest goes to Mark. Hugh asked Mark if the library owes any money to the class. Mark said "No." Mark was looking very disheartened about the whole situation. He told us that he is would like to join the Communist Party but a certain individual has been spreading rumors about him behind his back. The talk is that Mark is a dangerous person. That is why he has never been selected to the Party in spite of his academic performance and his extra-curricular activities within the school.
Hugh donated more money to the existing funds. He is trying to increase the funds to at least 400yuan before we leave here. Then he had May take over the money to the bank. May holds the bankbook.
It is 6:46p.m. On this day and date Hugh made a solemn vow to me. "I will not put any more money into the library from now onwards and for every time I think about doing it, I will give you 100yuan." That is a promise that I will make him keep.
6-15-99
@11:04a.m.
It has been hot and humid for the last 2 days. The floor feels damp. Yesterday night I could hardly fall asleep because of the heat and the mosquitoes.
Mark is going to give a presentation in class today. He will give an explanation of the class funds to his classmates.
Elton has told us that Mark is going to resign from the Presidency of the library. But Star the Vice-president does not want the job of the President. Elton has told Mark that if he resigns then he would have to resign his membership on the committee. Elton told Mark not to be selfish in his actions. I feel that this whole issue has been blown all out of proportion. Mark’s name has been cleared and no more should be said about it. The problem has been worked out and everyone should just continue where they left off.
The library will not be loaning out any more books for the duration of this semester. It will be opened so that books can be returned. Members can visit the library and read the books or periodicals there. The finals are only 2 weeks away. Hugh has finished with his class work. The Xian trip will probably not happen. Mr. Xu is not back yet so Hugh has not collected his pay. We are down to our last 40yuan. I hope Mr. Xu returns soon as I am anxious to know if our flight tickets have been arranged.
The last few days the students have been stringing their hammocks up in the field. There is an area where the trees grow close together where it makes it possible to string up the hammocks. The area is also shady and cool. Today I saw a young girl student just laying down on the papers she had spread over the hard ground. The ground must have felt real cool.
We swept and burnt up all the trash that had collected in the corner of the building from yesterday’s windy day. There were leaves and fallen branches. Hugh also swept and mopped the spare room. He killed another centipede in there. We must have killed numerous centipedes since the weather turned warm.
At noontime Mark came over. He told Hugh that he wanted to quit the Presidency. Hugh did not try to dissuade him from his objective. Hugh just told him that the choice is his to make. Hugh did suggest that since the library was officially closing soon and that there is nothing more to be done would Mark consider staying on till then. Mark was non-committal with his answer. Hugh told Mark that maybe it is better that he moves back to his dorm. That way Mark can begin to redefine and re-establish his friendship with his fellow dorm mates. Elton needs to move back too. Hugh also apologized to Mark for dragging Mark through all this unpleasant business. Maybe it was not the right way to handle the situation but at the time Hugh felt it was the quickest way.
I feel that Mark is still angry and harbors resentment that his integrity and honesty has been brought into question over the issue of the library and class funds. For 2 days now he has been withdrawn. He is keeping to himself all the time. He would not even stay and talk to Elton. He left as soon as Elton came. Mark is hurting and needs time to heal.
Some representatives from a private school are conducting interviews today. They are looking for teachers of English. We know of at least 2 students from Hugh’s class that are applying for the job. Diana was outside the hotel and she told me that she had been rejected for the job. The reason given was that she is too short. Hugh was surprised because Diana is one of the brightest students in her class where English is concerned. And to be rejected because of your lack of height is ridiculous. Intelligence and qualifications should matter more. Tom Liu was being interviewed while we were talking to Diana. Tom Liu will not get the job if the interviewers are smart. Tom is tall but where English is concerned he is the worst student in his class. It is a wonder that he is still in the English program. Diana told us that because it is a private school the pay schedule is goo. The starting pay is 800yuan.
6-16-99
@12:30p.m.
After a week of heat we finally had some respite. Early this morning the rain fell. It is overcast now. I turned on the air conditioner for the first time yesterday night. It helped keep the mosquitoes away.
This morning I swept and cleaned out the room that the guys have been using. They moved back to their dorms yesterday night.
When Lucy came we asked her to teach another extra week of Math. Mahala seems to have made some progress and we are trying to keep it up.
At 10:00a.m. Hill came. He has never done this before. He sat for an hour and the topic of discussion was language.
Mr. Xu is still not back yet.
Hugh had a class this afternoon and we walked back with him around 4:45p.m.
I cooked up sausages and eggs; Lucy bought fried beans and "man toa." Lucy stayed for dinner. During dinner Lucy was relating to us that when she was a teenager she fought with her sister and chased her with a knife. The younger sister was reading trashy novels. Lucy scolded her and told her sister "if you want to read, read some good novels." Her sister got angry at that remark and answered back " who are you to tell me what I can and cannot read. Even Mom and Dad daren’t do it." Harsh words were exchanged and the next thing was Lucy picked up a knife and tried to get her sister with it. The sister was smart enough to run off and hide until Lucy cooled down. Lucy also told us that her father’s youngest brother is a rich ma. He owns 3 homes and yet refuses to help Lucy’s family with a loan. The loan is for Lucy’s mother who needs surgery to remove her gallstones. Because Lucy’s family cannot come up the amount needed for surgery her mother depends on medication to relieve the pain. I packed up Hugh’s winter clothes. Lucy will come by at 9:30p.m. to pick it up. She is taking it to Jack. Maybe Jack or someone he knows can use it.
Our evening was busy. First Elton came and then Kurt. Kurt wanted to borrow our camera. He is going to a rock concert in Zhengzhou this Saturday. All the rock groups in China will be performing. He was planning to use Hugh’s camera for the occasion. The concert will be held in a large stadium. Kurt has a seat up in the balcony far away from the stage area. With Hugh’s camera he hopes to be able to take close-up pictures of his favorite rock stars. Hugh explained to Kurt that both our cameras will not be able to take close-up pictures at that range. Kurt is better off taking his own 35mm camera.
We found out that Elton had rheumatic fever when he was a teenager. He had to miss one year of school while he was convalescing at home. He also transferred to another school and that took acre of another year. It usually takes 3 years to finish your senior year but it took Elton 5 years. That is why he is older than the students in his class. Both Roy and Elton are 23 years old. Kurt told us that he was held back for a year because he failed his exams.
6-17-99
@7:41a.m.
We have another 25 days before we leave.
I walked out and bought breakfast. I also picked up a letter from the mail office. The letter was from Grandma. It is good to hear from her. We suspect that this letter has been tampered with. But since I picked it up from the mail office myself we cannot cast any doubts or suspicions on Mr. Zhao. It is possible that Mr. Zhao is in collusion with the workers at the mail office. He could have gotten the letter first, opened it, read and then resealed it and then brought it back to the mail office. Then I come along to pick it up. Hugh seemed mighty upset.
Hugh went to class as usual at 10:00a.m. He was back at 10:30a.m. I know something has happened in class. He had gotten angry in class over the tampered letter. He told the class and walked out on them. Within minutes after coming back Mark and Lucy was here. They were going to the Foreign Affairs Office to confront them with the issue of the tampered letter. Hugh lost his temper and told both of them not to interfere in our affairs. Hugh was being harsh with them. I know both of them was only trying to help. Then Vicki came and Hugh explained to her that as the monitor of the class, she should explain to the rest of the students no to get involved and to just concentrate on their studies. He should never have brought up the issue of the tampered letter in class.
In fact after all of them had left I told Hugh that it was a mistake to have brought this issue up in class. He should have just stayed home this morning. I did not realize he would get so upset and let his emotions show through in class. I wish I had not shown him the letter this morning. Then none of this would have happened. He gets upset and then flies off the handle. He can get angry but it is how he does it that bothers me. It was made worse by the fact that he lost his temper and stalked off. After all it had nothing to do with any of the students. It is just the screwed up system that they have to live with. Hugh agrees that he should never have told the class. Hugh thinks it is better if we end our friendship with some of his students especially Lucy. I disagree. You cannot turn friendship on and off when it inconveniences you. Once formed it is hard to break. Good friends are hard to come by especially one who is like Lucy.
So when she came this afternoon for her lesson with Mahala I apologized for Hugh’s outburst. I felt so bad that Hugh had shouted at her and Mark. They were just trying to help. Lucy’s feelings must have been hurt. I felt better after I had a talk with Lucy. She handled Hugh’s anger rather well. She told me she understood what we are going through and have gone through. She only felt hurt when Hugh told her he wanted to end our friendship with her. I reassured her that she would always be our friend.
Mahala has a little duckling to play with. Her friend brought it to her this afternoon. It had just hatched yesterday. At first I thought she just wanted to show it to Mahala. So when it came time for Mahala’s lesson I told her friend to take it back. The friend then told us that the duckling is for Mahala. We fed the duckling some steamed rice mixed with water. It is contented for now. Mahala is going to give the duckling back to her friend when we leave in three weeks time.
I am hoping that Hugh will be in a better frame of mind before Mr.Xu returns from Beijing. It is important that he does not lose his "cool" again. I always walk on eggshells when he is in one of his mood. He is so unpredictable then and will not even listen to any suggestion or reasons. In fact while Lucy was here he told us that he must have inherited his temper from his Grandma Ruby. It skipped his dad’s generation.
After lessons Lucy and I walked to the Cashiers’ Office. I was hoping to be able to collect Hugh’s salary. The cashier told me that I needed Mr. Xu’s or Mr. Zhao’s signature on the voucher before I can collect the money. So we walked back to the hotel and I asked Lucy if she could call the Foreign Affairs Office and ask if Mr. Xu was back. He was there and 5 minutes later all of us walked back to the cashiers’ office again. Lucy walked back to her dorm and Mr. Xu assisted me in getting the money. Mr. Xu passed me our plane tickets. It was my happiest day since arriving in China. Finally the fact that we are going home is in my hands right now. Our flight leaves Shanghai on July 11th @ 1700 hours. It is a direct flight to LA. Hugh kept his promise and gave me 1,000yuan to use as I please. I plan to use some of the money to buy some gifts in Shanghai for the family.
The first time Lucy and I walked to the cashiers’ office we passed a notice board with a job announcement posted on it. It was for the school in Zhengzhou. Lucy told me that 6 requirements needed for the job otherwise don’t bother applying.
Lucy told me her height and non-membership in the Party disqualified her from the job.
This evening Mr. Xu came to visit. He stayed for a couple of hours. Hugh showed him the letter from Dr. Benfer. Mr. Xu will contact the school that Dr. Benfer is affiliated with tomorrow. The name of the university where he is at is called Foreign Language University. Maybe Hugh will get a chance to talk to Dr. Benfer about the exchange program that Mr. Xu is interested in starting. If Dr. Benfer is free Mr. Xu would like all of us to take a trip there and personally talk to him about this program. Mr. Xu will go with us and will try and get the school to pay for the trip. It is fine with him if Mahala and I tag along. We might even be able to take Lucy with us.
6-9-99
@10:00a.m.
I slept until 9:00a.m. Too many late nights.
Hugh came back at 9:30a.m. Class 2 finished their presentation or rather they rushed through it.
I bought some fried noodles from the shop across the street from the campus. I got sick afterwards. I threw up once and had the run.
Lucy was here this evening at 5:36p.m. She was going to Jacks for dinner. She wanted to know if we would like to order any food from Jack. We asked her to get us a jin of "ji dan koa" and to give one to Jack. She told us that this afternoon Jenny did her presentation in their Methodology class. Her topic was about hobbies. One of the questions she posed was "How many kinds of coins are there?" She directed that question at Mark. Mark’s answer brought laughter to the class. Mark said that there was only 5 kinds of coins and started naming them. It was all the denomination in Chinese cents. Mark had misunderstood the question.
Mr. Lu called once in the afternoon but Hugh was still in class. He called again in the evening and this time Hugh was here. Mr.Lu was telling Hugh about the final exams.
6-10-99
@9:50a.m.
We woke up late again this morning. We had the usual problem with the mosquitoes and the noises from upstairs. The latter was the hardest to deal with. The noise did not stop until 11:00p.m. Hugh was on the verge of losing his temper again. But before that happened he went to the living room and slept on the couch there. The person occupying the room was knocking his feet against the furniture. It had a consistent rhythm. Knock, knock, and knock. It was annoying as shit. I walked out and looked upstairs. The lights were on, windows were open and voices could be heard.
This morning I cleaned up all the rooms including the spare bedroom. I did my laundry. Mahala and I walked t Class 2 and we walked back with Hugh together. Lucy came back with us and ate her lunch here.
In the course of our conversation she mentioned the fact that she had given a personal donation of 50yuan to the library and was wondering if the money had been given to Mark. She passed the money to Louisa and was not given a receipt for her donation. That did not agree with Hugh at all. Elton and Mark decided to show up then.
Hugh questioned Mark about the cash donation. Louisa did pass the money to him but she did not tell him who it was from. So Mark got upset and said that Lucy should have come to him instead of going to Hugh. Then Hugh got on Mark’s case about the accounting system of the library. The conversation then focused on Wendy and whether she has done the accounts yet. Hugh told Mark if the accounts have not been done yet to let Lucy do it because she has the experience to do it. Her parents own a business and Lucy must have some knowledge of how it is done. I do not agree with this statement because it is just like saying a doctor’s children know how to diagnose a disease because his/her parent is a doctor. Of course I kept my mouth shut otherwise Hugh will get upset with me instead. Hugh wants to talk to Louisa and Wendy to settle this matter once and for all. Both the guys took off.
Wendy and Star came together. Hugh told Wendy that from now onwards Lucy will handle the library accounts. I could see the change in Wendy immediately. Maybe Hugh was not aware of how Wendy was handling this piece of news but I could. Her facial features just changed and I could see she was on the verge of tears. She agreed but it looked like she was very upset at the idea. I know she must have felt like she is not capable. Hugh could have broken the news to her in a more subtle way. The damage has been done. I cannot help but feel that there must have been a better way to settle all of this. Hugh is letting his heart rule his head. But who am I after all. I will just get my head chewed off if I so much as mention that maybe the situation could be handled differently.
When Louisa showed up at our doorstep she was mighty upset. She told Hugh that she knew that Hugh is angry with her and so is Mark. She did not make any excuses for herself. By that time Hugh had was a bit calmer and was handling the situation a little better. He explained to Louisa that he was upset because the accounting system had not been started yet and he wanted to keep track of the library funds. Hopefully Hugh has explained enough to Louisa to make her understand. There is now tension between Lucy, Wendy, Mark and Louisa. Everyone is blaming Lucy for stirring up a hornet’s nest.
So when Lucy turned up this evening she told Hugh that she did not want to have anything more to do with the library. Neither does she want to be in charge of the accounts. Wendy is angry with her and so are Louisa and Mark.
This evening we had an interesting conversation with Charlie. He was telling us about a new movement, a form of Chinese exercise that has gained a following of about 10 million Chinese from 1992 until 1999. According to Charlie the government is trying to outlaw this movement. So the followers of the movement went to Beijing recently to talk to the authorities and to show them that the movement has no political agenda. Ten thousand followers held a peaceful rally in the "heart of the government" (Charlie’s own words). I think Charlie meant the People’s Square. The group was disappointed because no representative of the government would consent to see or talk to the representatives from the group. The rally broke up peacefully. The movement is called "Fa Lun Gong."
The movement teaches self-discipline through exercise and meditation. A disciple needs patience, kindness and truth to be a true believer. The followers do not take any form of medication even though the majority of them are old people. Charlie’s parents are keen followers of the group. A friend whom we shall call Mr. "C" introduced them to this form of exercise. Mr. "C" used to be a selfish businessman. He fell sick and could not find any cure for his sickness. He somehow was introduced to this form of exercise and started to practice it. His illness completely disappeared and he became a true believer. Mr. "C" got in touch with the founder of this movement whose name is Li Hong Zhi. Mr. Li has written a book about this movement. It is called Zhuan Fa Lun. The book by the way is banned in China. As soon as Lucy heard this, she immediately wrapped a cover over the book. Mr. "C" also believes that his phone lines are being bugged. Once he received a fax from Mr. Li who resides in the US. He kept the fax hidden away. The second fax from Mr. Li was confiscated by the police who happened to arrive while the machine was spewing out the letter.
Charlie then produced the copy of the book from his backpack. He keeps the book with him because he is afraid the authorities or police will search his parent’s home and find the book. He feels the book is much safer with him in the dorm. He asked Lucy if she wants to borrow the book and read it. Lucy declined. He continued with his story. Charlie has heard that in Nanjing and Beijing followers of this movement have had their homes searched. The authorities were looking for the banned book. In one instance the police went to the home of a member. This individual told the police where he kept the books. He then told the police that the books are not harmful to the government. He did not resist arrest either. There is the symbol of the swastika on the cover of the book. The swastika is a symbol of the Buddhist religion. Maybe that is why the government is wary about this movement. It has religious connotations and that does not go down well with the Communist doctrines. It is a form of deviation from Maoist teachings. The government is afraid of the pull it has on the masses and they want to stop it before the group turns powerful.
The government has a reward for the return of the Mr. Li Hong Zhi. It wants Mr. Li to be extradited back to China. The price on Mr. Li’s head is US$400,000,000 enough to even out the trade imbalance the US have with China. That is how much badly the authorities want him back. The rumor going around is that the Chinese government unofficially wants to squash the movement and will stop at nothing to see it get done.
Because of government clamp down of the movement the followers have to do their exercises in secret and in small groups. Before the clamp down huge numbers of people would get together and do their exercises in public. There is no more huge congregation of the members because the police and authorities will start harassing the group. As Charlie said the group is peaceful and its members are mostly old people who can do no harm to the government. The followers believe in the positive effects and benefits they derive from doing this form of exercise. Charlie himself practices this form of exercise and feels that the government is doing wrong by banning the group. He feels that there are a lot of angry people out there who disagrees with the government’s handling of the group.
The conversation turned towards the library. Charlie was the one who started it. He is a member of the library and is concerned over the problems the library is having recently. He hinted that the cause of the problem is money. Wendy’s name was mentioned. He saw her and Mark this afternoon in front of our lodgings talking. He noticed that Wendy looked upset. He told Hugh that there are a few good people that Hugh can trust to run the library efficiently and honestly. He named Lucy and Wendy as two of them. He warned Hugh to be especially careful with the others especially those who have a tendency to tattle. Hugh asked Charlie if he was referring to Mark.
Charlie then related to us the incident involving Mark and Barney about a week ago. We have heard Mark’s side of the story, now Charlie is going to tell us his version. Barney subscribes to a historical magazine and was supposed to receive 2 magazines from the publisher. He did not get the magazines. Barney then went to the mail office and was told by the person in charge that Elton had collected the magazines. When he was asked about it Elton told Barney that the magazines had been passed on to Mark. Yet Mark insisted that he does not have the magazines. An individual then told Barney that he had seen the magazines on Mark’s bunk bed. Barney got angry with Mark for lying. Who are we supposed to believe now?
Charlie told us that Barney is a strange fellow. He father died when he was a young boy and his mother raised him. He comes from a poor family. If Barney feels that if anyone looks down on him he has a knife that he uses. We are not too sure what Charlie meant by that remark. I guess Charlie is implying that Barney is prone to violence.
Charlie further told Hugh that Mark is also in charge of the class funds and a number of students feel that the total sum of money seems lower than it should be. Implication being that Mark is using the class funds for his own personal use. Hugh asked if the class have ever questioned Mark about the class money. "That is not the Chinese way" Charlie said. He said Mark is forgetful these days. Maybe because he has too much on his mind.
Charlie then told Hugh that the reason he has not donated any cash to the library fund is because he has some misgivings about where that money is going. Is it being spent on the library or going into someone else’s pocket? He implied that was the reason why more students have not given any cash donations to the library.
I think Hugh is now having second thoughts about Mark being the President of the library. He might be thinking that Mark is using the class and library funds for his own personal use. We know Mark comes from a poor family. I would not jump to conclusions too fast. I have known Mark longer than Charlie. I will not condemn Mark until he has a chance to defend himself. Innocent until proven guilty.
I think that Mark might have taken a small amount of cash. I do not think he has embezzled any huge amounts for his own gains. He might have used the little cash to buy food. I am not saying it is right to use money that does not belong to you but I an understand the temptation is there when you are the one holding on to that much cash. Maybe he spent the money on the understanding that he will return the money soon. Both Charlie and Lucy agree with me on this.
There are noises coming from upstairs again. Hugh asked me if it was unsettling for me. I am just annoyed but I can deal with the noise. I am just afraid that Hugh will lose his temper. He has decided to sleep in the next room if the noises get to be too much. It went on until 10:45p.m. I had Mark follow me upstairs to the room above ours. I knocked on Room 207 and a male voice shouted, "Come in." I opened the door and saw 4 men sitting around a coffee table. They were gambling. There was cigarette smoke and I could smell liquor. With Mark interpreting for me, I told them that I would appreciate it if they could keep the noise level down as we are trying to sleep. One of the men nodded his head and said in English "Okay." I left after that. Mark told me there are leaders of the school. I asked Mark if he recognized any of them. One of them is the vice-president of the college. It is nice to know we have V.I. P.s staying the night in the room above us.
The noises continued until 11:45p.m. It then stopped. Hugh slept on the living room couch but Mahala called him back to the bedroom after it turned quiet.
6-11-99
@12:31p.m.
It is an overcast day. Lucy is in the next room teaching Mahala.
When she came by earlier she was upset. She told us that Mark had scolded her in class this morning over yesterday’s issue about her donation. Lucy told Wendy that Hugh wanted to see her and also to bring the accounts book. Wendy acted very curt with her. Then a teacher (name not mentioned) told the class that the Americans are culturally different from the Chinese and warned the students to be careful about what they say to us. Lucy feels that her friends have alienated her. They think that because she is close to our family Lucy has divulged certain information to us. An example of that was the time the teacher, Miss Chao, borrowed library material. Wendy told Lucy not to tell Hugh. Wendy knew that Hugh would be most upset over it. Lucy explained that she did not like doing that. She felt that because Hugh was responsible for helping set up the library and had supported it financially, the committee members should not keep secrets from Hugh.
While Lucy was with Mahala, Wendy came with the accounts book. She also brought her donation book, membership book and receipts. She is coming tomorrow to help Hugh figure out the accounts. Hopefully any doubts about Mark will be confirmed or removed by tomorrow. Hugh told Wendy that Lucy is not to be blamed for what has happened. He told her not to be too angry or annoyed with Lucy. Mark was the one who has led him to believe that it was everyone’s especially Wendy’s and Louisa’s fault that the accounting system has not been done yet. Hugh explained that when Mark scolds Lucy then he gets angry because Lucy has done nothing wrong to deserve it. Lucy is our friend.
I just remembered a comment that Charlie made about Mark yesterday night. He told us that Mark is a person with 2 sides. All Mark’s dorm mates agree with this statement. The side that he shows to everyone and the darker side that has anger in it. I recall Hugh making a similar comment to Elton about Mark having an inner self within an inner self.
When Elton came this afternoon he assured Hugh that the committee members of the library can be trusted. Their ability to run the library will have to come through experience. Elton told Hugh that as students they just cannot totally devote all their time to the library. They need to concentrate on the schoolwork as well. That is why the accounting system has not been squared away yet. Hugh understands all of these.
Hugh then told Elton that the fact remains that Mark’s credibility has been brought into question and it must be resolved. Since Elton is the bailiff of the library then he is the one who will have to investigate this matter. Elton feels bad about doing this because Mark is his friend. They have grown closer together since they started sharing the room.
He told Elton that Gene has given Mark 50yuan for the library. Mark told Hugh it was only 15yuan. Where is the remaining yuan?
Mr. Xu called us from Beijing. It looks like we will be flying out from Shanghai. If we depart from Beijing both Mahala and I will have to pay an extra 900yuan each. The school will have to pay an extra 600yuan for Hugh to fly out of Shanghai. Hugh told Mr. Xu that our family will have to stay together on the flight out otherwise Mahala will "lose" it. Mr. Xu understands and will get us booked on the same flight.
Hugh told me an interesting fact about the Tien Na Men uprising in 1989. A student had told him that at least 2,600 students died and another 7,000 were injured. The statistics contradict the official numbers given out by the government.
We received a letter from Dr. Benfer. He is coming to Xian and will be here until the end of June. He has been invited to the Bampo site there. We are thinking of visiting him and maybe stay a couple of days. It all depends on his schedule and Hugh’s.
Lucy came by at 5:00p.m. She brought us the fried rice that we had ordered from Jack. We asked if some of her classmates have ostracized her because of her friendship with us? She told us that she feels sad that they are angry with her but deep down in her heart she does not care at all.
Lucy told us that the school authorities made another surprise check on the girls’ dorm yesterday night around 12:00midnight.
Diana and Jo Li came by at 6:00p.m. She came to say goodbye. Jo Li is going to Zhengzhou and then to Beijing soon. Her boyfriend from America is coming to visit. Jo Li’s sister will accompany him. Jo Li will meet them in Beijing. Then all 3 of them plan to travel to South China and then make their way west visiting all tourist sites. This is a good way for Jo Li and Jimmy to get to know each other. They plan to get married while Jimmy is here. Jimmy then goes back to the States while Jo Li clear the immigration with the US Embassy. I asked Jo Li if her brother-in-law is coming too. The answer was a no because her brother-in-law does not like China. He was here before and had his wallet picked. He lost his passport, cash and plane ticket. I guess he had a hard time replacing those documents. That episode has soured his impression of China. We gave Jo Li mom’s address and phone number and told her to get in touch if she ever gets to the States.
Star came with her membership book. She will be coming over tomorrow to help with the accounts. Lucy and Star left together.
Diana and Jo Li left after them.
Mark has gone home. He left this morning.
I saw an interesting documentary yesterday evening. It was about dogs. The first scene showed a woman holding 2 puppies. It was obvious that she was talking about the puppies. The scene shifted. This time there were several adult dogs chained up in a brick enclosure. They were all big dogs too. One dog came up to the handler’s hip. There was a man and he was having a hard time controlling one of the dogs. That dog was chained up too. It was jumping and pulling itself from the chain. It looked like the dog was trying to get away from him.
Then the viewers were shown a shop. Above the entrance there was a big sign. On it were written Chinese characters and a silhouette of a dog. Inside there was a group of men sitting around a table. A waitress came with a big earthenware pot and placed it in the center of the round table. There was steam coming from the mouth of the pot. After watching that documentary I could only come to one conclusion. The show was about a farm that raised dogs for human consumption.
6-12-99
@6:18p.m.
All of us woke up to the sound of someone playing the piano or maybe a keyboard. It was then 6:30a.m. I thought that was rude of that individual. It was coming from the room upstairs, next to our bedroom. Hugh finally got up and I went back to sleep again.
At 8:30a.m. Lucy came to tell me that she is not coming to the library meeting today. She did not want to be part of the committee anymore. She had some other business to attend to. I gave Hugh the message when he came back from next door. He was with Elton.
The meeting started at 9:30a.m. Elton, May, Louisa, Star and Wendy were all here. Hugh started by giving a speech about what was going on with the accounts and Mark’s handling of the finances of the library. He hopes that by the end of the meeting the accounting system will be settled. With all the students working together they have come up with an account of how much was collected and how much was spent. The library has a credit of 200yuan. Hugh has appointed Wendy to be the accounts clerk. She is solely in charge of all the finances of the library. Louisa will be in charge of the incoming donations, the librarians who are on duty will be in charge of issuing receipts for donations and May will be in charge of the bank account. There will be a receipt book in the library at all times and for every cash donation to the library the donor must get a receipt. Vouchers will need to be approved for any expenditure on the library. Wendy is the one who will need to approve the vouchers.
The next agenda on the list is this. If Mark has been using the class funds on the library then the library will have to repay all those debts. If any of the library committee has been using their money on the library then those people will be repaid too. Elton has spent 50yuan of his own money on the library. All they need to do is to produce a receipt. The meeting was over by around 2:00p.m. Everyone left then.
I moved the cement seats and a centipede crawled out from it. Hugh dispatched the centipede with a pair of metal tongs.
Lucy came after the meeting. We were sitting and just talking and the topic changed to religion. Lucy told us that her mother attends church every Sunday. The congregation is a small one made up of mostly older people. There are a few young people who are mostly teenagers who attend services too. The preacher is Chinese. Sometimes there is a Japanese pastor. Her mother joined the church about ten years ago when Lucy’s youngest brother got sick. Since then she has become a regular churchgoer. The rest of the family are non-believers including Lucy. Neither do they try and stop their mother from attending church. According to Lucy all students from Grade 1 onwards are taught that there is no God and spirits. There is only Mao Tse Tong and the Communist Party of China. Lucy had an interesting tale to tell. The story goes like this. In ancient China an Emperor is usually hailed by the people with these words " May the Emperor live a million, million, million years." This form of salutation is only reserved for the Emperor and no one else. All other members of royalty e.g., Empress, Prince and Princess are hailed this way "May you live a thousand, thousand, thousand years."
Now the only other person who is not an Emperor but greeted like one is the late Chairman Mao Tse Tong.
This evening we had another clean up at the library. The students did some weeding and cleared the place of trash. Mahala and some of her friends came along too. The children were digging up worms for the ducklings. It did not take too long.
The mosquitoes are bad tonight. Lucy came by again this evening and stayed until 9:30p.m. We were talking about Jack. Jack’s feeling for Lucy is growing deeper by the day. Today Jack asked her to wash his clothes for him. He told her that he is so busy that he has no time to do it and has no clean clothes to wear. Although it seemed like he was just joking when he said it Lucy knew that he was being serious. Lucy decided to make light of it and told him that she is too lazy to do it. In Chinese culture asking a woman to wash your clothes is like declaring your affection for her. If the woman does it then the feelings are mutual. Lucy is just not sure enough of her feelings to commit herself to this forming relationship. I know she likes Jack.
Lucy then told me that she would really like to help Jack but is afraid that her actions would cause more talk. As it is, the shopkeepers there are beginning to tease her and Jack. Whenever she goes there, the shopkeepers tell Jack that his girlfriend is here and how pretty and clever she is. They say it in front of her and Jack. Lucy is embarrassed by all of this. Jack smiles and tells the other shopkeepers to quit teasing.
Jack has shown his affection for Lucy in many ways. Lucy is not saying no to all of these attention. Lucy spends a lot of time at Jack’s place just talking to him. Jack cooks for her when she goes over, buys her fruits and even brings her peaches from his family farm. He knows Lucy enjoys all kinds of fruits so he makes it a point of having some on hand for her.
He has told her personal things about himself. Jack told Lucy that he left school because he was made to recite some words for the teacher. He could not remember the words so the teacher punished him very severely. He refused to return to school the next day so his father beat him up. He decided to drop out of school and has been working since that day. He was only 14 years old when he quit school. He has worked all kinds of jobs. The last one took him to Guangzhou where he was engaged as a cook. The employer wanted to promote him to chief cook but because Jack is illiterate he had to pass up the offer. That was when he decided to come back to Xinyang and start his own business.
Jack’s brother was helping him for a while but he has left. The brother was offered 600yuan to be a cook at another shop. Jack’s brother knows how to make the "loa mein" noodles. This is a highly specialized skill that is sought after. Jack also has this skill. So now the only person helping Jack is the father. The father only does the cutting, cleaning and serving. He does not help Jack with the cooking. Jack works long hours from early morning till midnight.
He has even asked Lucy to help him out in the restaurant. Lucy asked him how much he was willing to pay for her services? He teased her and told her that she has not even started and here she is asking for money. I know that Lucy helps out there. She is that type of person. Lucy feels that Jack is not a good looking man but yet she enjoys being in his company. She wants to help him out more but is afraid that her actions might be misconstrued by others. In other words "tongues might war."
6-13-99
9:43a.m.
The children are here already. Sometimes I wish they will go somewhere else and play. They leave a trail of trash here after they are gone. It is frustrating because I am the one who has to pick up after them.
For breakfast we had "chow bin." This morning while buying it I saw a large crowd beside the stall. I asked the seller what was going on. She said something in Chinese. I could not understand it. So I walked over and peeped between the people. I saw a man squatting. In front of him there was a piece of cloth and on that was dice or stones of sort. The seller’s husband came back from the crowd and I asked him why the big crowd. He gestured with his hand that it was not something good. I suspected it was a form of gambling though I did not see any money. Mahala told me later that there was money being exchanged.
This afternoon we walked to the library. Elton, May and Louisa was there. Of course Mark’s name was mentioned. Wendy and Lucy showed up too. Wendy had something to discuss with Hugh. So we came back to the hotel.
Wendy wanted to clear any misunderstanding between Hugh and her. She wanted to clear her name. She feels that her honesty has been brought into question by the events surrounding the library’s lack of accounting system. Her tears were flowing when Hugh explained why there was distrust on his part. He wants her to know that in future she should come to him if there was any problems. In the end, Wendy, I think felt that she has regained her reputation in the matter. Wendy left with Lucy.
Elton came back from the library with the box of Scrabble, which was supposed to be kept in the library. It is reference material. Hugh questioned him about the game. I do not know what the outcome is.
Linda came by to get her bike. Eldon is going to borrow it. After Linda left, Hugh told Elton what had happened with Linda’s money. The Class 2 students had started a fund for Linda after her father’s death. Linda has not seen a cent of that money. Mark is the one who is in charge of Linda’s fund. Mark is handling the class, library and Linda’s money. There is a lot of money involved here and Mark will have to face the questions when he comes back.
We had dinner with Linda, Lucy and Wendy. They stayed until 8:15p.m. Hugh was entertaining them with stories about Mahala’s birth and how he handled the event after the birth. He had the girls laughing with his stories.
Elton came at 8:40p.m. Hugh and him talked in the kitchen. When Hugh came back in he told me a little of the conversation he had with Elton. Elton has been asking questions and trying to find out where the class fund stands. No one seems to know if the class fund had been used to help the library. At one time Vicky was in charge of the class fund but because of internal class politics she gave up the position. That was when Mark took over. Linda’s fund stands at 300yuan. According to Linda besides the money we gave her she has not see any other money. The plan was to give Linda a little cash every month from her fund but since her father’s death a month ago no one has given her any money at all from the fund.
6-14-99
@11:443a.m.
The music came on soft this morning. The mosquitoes was not too bad yesterday night. The night was hot and humid.
It is going to be another hot and humid day. The wind is kicking up and blowing dust everywhere.
Mark accompanied by Elton came this afternoon. According to Mark there is over 400yuan in the library’s account. The library owes money to Mark. He had bought a few items with his own money. I was not in the living room where all the talking took place. I could hear Hugh’s angry voice. At one point Elton told Hugh to calm down.
I get upset over all this bickering. Hugh gets too involved with the students and then everything becomes a personal issue. The situation should never have escalated to this point. At first only the library funds were involved, then we found out that the class and Linda’s fund might be part of the whole problem too. When and how will it all end?
Personally I do not like all this recriminations and back talk. I like to just deal with the problem, which is at issue here? Did Mark use any of the library, class and Linda’s money for his own purposes? Mark’s answer should clear the air. Hugh wants Mark to give his explanation of the library’s account and to come clear on all the doubts that have been cast his way.
After Mark and Hugh had cooled down Mark came back again this evening. Mark explained his side of the whole story. The library fund stands at over 400yuan. The library has an outstanding debt of 209.90yuan. Out of this amount Elton gets 50yuan and the rest goes to Mark. Hugh asked Mark if the library owes any money to the class. Mark said "No." Mark was looking very disheartened about the whole situation. He told us that he is would like to join the Communist Party but a certain individual has been spreading rumors about him behind his back. The talk is that Mark is a dangerous person. That is why he has never been selected to the Party in spite of his academic performance and his extra-curricular activities within the school.
Hugh donated more money to the existing funds. He is trying to increase the funds to at least 400yuan before we leave here. Then he had May take over the money to the bank. May holds the bankbook.
It is 6:46p.m. On this day and date Hugh made a solemn vow to me. "I will not put any more money into the library from now onwards and for every time I think about doing it, I will give you 100yuan." That is a promise that I will make him keep.
6-15-99
@11:04a.m.
It has been hot and humid for the last 2 days. The floor feels damp. Yesterday night I could hardly fall asleep because of the heat and the mosquitoes.
Mark is going to give a presentation in class today. He will give an explanation of the class funds to his classmates.
Elton has told us that Mark is going to resign from the Presidency of the library. But Star the Vice-president does not want the job of the President. Elton has told Mark that if he resigns then he would have to resign his membership on the committee. Elton told Mark not to be selfish in his actions. I feel that this whole issue has been blown all out of proportion. Mark’s name has been cleared and no more should be said about it. The problem has been worked out and everyone should just continue where they left off.
The library will not be loaning out any more books for the duration of this semester. It will be opened so that books can be returned. Members can visit the library and read the books or periodicals there. The finals are only 2 weeks away. Hugh has finished with his class work. The Xian trip will probably not happen. Mr. Xu is not back yet so Hugh has not collected his pay. We are down to our last 40yuan. I hope Mr. Xu returns soon as I am anxious to know if our flight tickets have been arranged.
The last few days the students have been stringing their hammocks up in the field. There is an area where the trees grow close together where it makes it possible to string up the hammocks. The area is also shady and cool. Today I saw a young girl student just laying down on the papers she had spread over the hard ground. The ground must have felt real cool.
We swept and burnt up all the trash that had collected in the corner of the building from yesterday’s windy day. There were leaves and fallen branches. Hugh also swept and mopped the spare room. He killed another centipede in there. We must have killed numerous centipedes since the weather turned warm.
At noontime Mark came over. He told Hugh that he wanted to quit the Presidency. Hugh did not try to dissuade him from his objective. Hugh just told him that the choice is his to make. Hugh did suggest that since the library was officially closing soon and that there is nothing more to be done would Mark consider staying on till then. Mark was non-committal with his answer. Hugh told Mark that maybe it is better that he moves back to his dorm. That way Mark can begin to redefine and re-establish his friendship with his fellow dorm mates. Elton needs to move back too. Hugh also apologized to Mark for dragging Mark through all this unpleasant business. Maybe it was not the right way to handle the situation but at the time Hugh felt it was the quickest way.
I feel that Mark is still angry and harbors resentment that his integrity and honesty has been brought into question over the issue of the library and class funds. For 2 days now he has been withdrawn. He is keeping to himself all the time. He would not even stay and talk to Elton. He left as soon as Elton came. Mark is hurting and needs time to heal.
Some representatives from a private school are conducting interviews today. They are looking for teachers of English. We know of at least 2 students from Hugh’s class that are applying for the job. Diana was outside the hotel and she told me that she had been rejected for the job. The reason given was that she is too short. Hugh was surprised because Diana is one of the brightest students in her class where English is concerned. And to be rejected because of your lack of height is ridiculous. Intelligence and qualifications should matter more. Tom Liu was being interviewed while we were talking to Diana. Tom Liu will not get the job if the interviewers are smart. Tom is tall but where English is concerned he is the worst student in his class. It is a wonder that he is still in the English program. Diana told us that because it is a private school the pay schedule is goo. The starting pay is 800yuan.
6-16-99
@12:30p.m.
After a week of heat we finally had some respite. Early this morning the rain fell. It is overcast now. I turned on the air conditioner for the first time yesterday night. It helped keep the mosquitoes away.
This morning I swept and cleaned out the room that the guys have been using. They moved back to their dorms yesterday night.
When Lucy came we asked her to teach another extra week of Math. Mahala seems to have made some progress and we are trying to keep it up.
At 10:00a.m. Hill came. He has never done this before. He sat for an hour and the topic of discussion was language.
Mr. Xu is still not back yet.
Hugh had a class this afternoon and we walked back with him around 4:45p.m.
I cooked up sausages and eggs; Lucy bought fried beans and "man toa." Lucy stayed for dinner. During dinner Lucy was relating to us that when she was a teenager she fought with her sister and chased her with a knife. The younger sister was reading trashy novels. Lucy scolded her and told her sister "if you want to read, read some good novels." Her sister got angry at that remark and answered back " who are you to tell me what I can and cannot read. Even Mom and Dad daren’t do it." Harsh words were exchanged and the next thing was Lucy picked up a knife and tried to get her sister with it. The sister was smart enough to run off and hide until Lucy cooled down. Lucy also told us that her father’s youngest brother is a rich ma. He owns 3 homes and yet refuses to help Lucy’s family with a loan. The loan is for Lucy’s mother who needs surgery to remove her gallstones. Because Lucy’s family cannot come up the amount needed for surgery her mother depends on medication to relieve the pain. I packed up Hugh’s winter clothes. Lucy will come by at 9:30p.m. to pick it up. She is taking it to Jack. Maybe Jack or someone he knows can use it.
Our evening was busy. First Elton came and then Kurt. Kurt wanted to borrow our camera. He is going to a rock concert in Zhengzhou this Saturday. All the rock groups in China will be performing. He was planning to use Hugh’s camera for the occasion. The concert will be held in a large stadium. Kurt has a seat up in the balcony far away from the stage area. With Hugh’s camera he hopes to be able to take close-up pictures of his favorite rock stars. Hugh explained to Kurt that both our cameras will not be able to take close-up pictures at that range. Kurt is better off taking his own 35mm camera.
We found out that Elton had rheumatic fever when he was a teenager. He had to miss one year of school while he was convalescing at home. He also transferred to another school and that took acre of another year. It usually takes 3 years to finish your senior year but it took Elton 5 years. That is why he is older than the students in his class. Both Roy and Elton are 23 years old. Kurt told us that he was held back for a year because he failed his exams.
6-17-99
@7:41a.m.
We have another 25 days before we leave.
I walked out and bought breakfast. I also picked up a letter from the mail office. The letter was from Grandma. It is good to hear from her. We suspect that this letter has been tampered with. But since I picked it up from the mail office myself we cannot cast any doubts or suspicions on Mr. Zhao. It is possible that Mr. Zhao is in collusion with the workers at the mail office. He could have gotten the letter first, opened it, read and then resealed it and then brought it back to the mail office. Then I come along to pick it up. Hugh seemed mighty upset.
Hugh went to class as usual at 10:00a.m. He was back at 10:30a.m. I know something has happened in class. He had gotten angry in class over the tampered letter. He told the class and walked out on them. Within minutes after coming back Mark and Lucy was here. They were going to the Foreign Affairs Office to confront them with the issue of the tampered letter. Hugh lost his temper and told both of them not to interfere in our affairs. Hugh was being harsh with them. I know both of them was only trying to help. Then Vicki came and Hugh explained to her that as the monitor of the class, she should explain to the rest of the students no to get involved and to just concentrate on their studies. He should never have brought up the issue of the tampered letter in class.
In fact after all of them had left I told Hugh that it was a mistake to have brought this issue up in class. He should have just stayed home this morning. I did not realize he would get so upset and let his emotions show through in class. I wish I had not shown him the letter this morning. Then none of this would have happened. He gets upset and then flies off the handle. He can get angry but it is how he does it that bothers me. It was made worse by the fact that he lost his temper and stalked off. After all it had nothing to do with any of the students. It is just the screwed up system that they have to live with. Hugh agrees that he should never have told the class. Hugh thinks it is better if we end our friendship with some of his students especially Lucy. I disagree. You cannot turn friendship on and off when it inconveniences you. Once formed it is hard to break. Good friends are hard to come by especially one who is like Lucy.
So when she came this afternoon for her lesson with Mahala I apologized for Hugh’s outburst. I felt so bad that Hugh had shouted at her and Mark. They were just trying to help. Lucy’s feelings must have been hurt. I felt better after I had a talk with Lucy. She handled Hugh’s anger rather well. She told me she understood what we are going through and have gone through. She only felt hurt when Hugh told her he wanted to end our friendship with her. I reassured her that she would always be our friend.
Mahala has a little duckling to play with. Her friend brought it to her this afternoon. It had just hatched yesterday. At first I thought she just wanted to show it to Mahala. So when it came time for Mahala’s lesson I told her friend to take it back. The friend then told us that the duckling is for Mahala. We fed the duckling some steamed rice mixed with water. It is contented for now. Mahala is going to give the duckling back to her friend when we leave in three weeks time.
I am hoping that Hugh will be in a better frame of mind before Mr.Xu returns from Beijing. It is important that he does not lose his "cool" again. I always walk on eggshells when he is in one of his mood. He is so unpredictable then and will not even listen to any suggestion or reasons. In fact while Lucy was here he told us that he must have inherited his temper from his Grandma Ruby. It skipped his dad’s generation.
After lessons Lucy and I walked to the Cashiers’ Office. I was hoping to be able to collect Hugh’s salary. The cashier told me that I needed Mr. Xu’s or Mr. Zhao’s signature on the voucher before I can collect the money. So we walked back to the hotel and I asked Lucy if she could call the Foreign Affairs Office and ask if Mr. Xu was back. He was there and 5 minutes later all of us walked back to the cashiers’ office again. Lucy walked back to her dorm and Mr. Xu assisted me in getting the money. Mr. Xu passed me our plane tickets. It was my happiest day since arriving in China. Finally the fact that we are going home is in my hands right now. Our flight leaves Shanghai on July 11th @ 1700 hours. It is a direct flight to LA. Hugh kept his promise and gave me 1,000yuan to use as I please. I plan to use some of the money to buy some gifts in Shanghai for the family.
The first time Lucy and I walked to the cashiers’ office we passed a notice board with a job announcement posted on it. It was for the school in Zhengzhou. Lucy told me that 6 requirements needed for the job otherwise don’t bother applying.
Lucy told me her height and non-membership in the Party disqualified her from the job.
This evening Mr. Xu came to visit. He stayed for a couple of hours. Hugh showed him the letter from Dr. Benfer. Mr. Xu will contact the school that Dr. Benfer is affiliated with tomorrow. The name of the university where he is at is called Foreign Language University. Maybe Hugh will get a chance to talk to Dr. Benfer about the exchange program that Mr. Xu is interested in starting. If Dr. Benfer is free Mr. Xu would like all of us to take a trip there and personally talk to him about this program. Mr. Xu will go with us and will try and get the school to pay for the trip. It is fine with him if Mahala and I tag along. We might even be able to take Lucy with us.
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Tom and Diana. They had in their possession a letter from an individual named Miss Lee. Enclosed with the letter of introduction were 4 photographs. The photos depicted Miss Lee and some children. Miss Lee runs a tuition center for children. She teaches them English on the weekends. In the letter she described her teaching methods. She also has invited us to go on a picnic with her and her students. Hugh told both Diana and Tom that he is very reluctant to do that because of the possibility that Miss Lee might use that as a advertisement gimmick to increase the enrollment in her school. Mr. Xu had warned us previously to be aware when Hugh is asked to lend his appearance or have his picture taken at schools.
Hugh asked Tom and Diana how Miss Lee knew about him. Tom explained that Diana and him had gone to the school to apply for a job. The students obviously mentioned Hugh and that was when Miss Lee asked them to pass the letter to us. Miss Lee is a shrewd and dynamic businesswoman in Hugh’s eyes. Hugh did not tell Tom and Diana that Miss Lee is just using them to get to him.
Mr. Xu told both the students that Miss Lee should have approached the Foreign Affairs Office first. He told Diana and Tom that if they are even able to persuade Hugh to attend the picnic it is no guarantee that they will get the job. Or even if they do they are liable to lose it the moment Hugh leaves this place. After Tom and Diana left Mr. Xu continued with his dialog.
The manager of the airline ticketing office gave him a discount of 600yuan on Hugh’s ticket. A few years ago Mr. Zhao paid over 60,000yuan for 5 tickets to Los Angeles. After doing some mental calculation and allowing for inflation Mr. Xu figures that Mr. Zhao must have pocketed over 20,000yuan on that deal.
Mr. Xu also took this opportunity to visit his sister who is in graduate school in Beijing. His sister is very shy, quiet and so far have formed no relationships with any boys. He has tried to introduce her to some of his friends but nothing has come from that. His sister now has assumed Beijing resident status. That is very hard and expensive to come by but she was lucky. When she entered the college here the school gave out 50 applications for students who wanted to apply for resident status. She was one of the few that was picked. Otherwise to stay in Beijing she would have a pay a huge sum of money. For graduate students the rate is 200,000yuan, for a post graduate student 180,000yuan and for a Ph.D. 100,000yuan.
Elton came rather late. He was complaining of the heat and how hot it was in the dormitory. He told us that all the guys have stripped down to their underwear these last few nights because of the heat. Some of them even braved a cold shower including him. I asked him if he missed being here. After hesitating for a second or so he said "yes." He misses the hot shower and the peace and quiet. I told him he is welcome to come here and grab a hot shower if he wants too. I am sure he will take the offer up.
After he left all of us got ready for bed. Hugh must have killed over 60 mosquitoes tonight. He was jumping all over the bed to get the ones on the ceiling and up on the wall. He uses his hand and the zapper. We have the mosquito coils on too.
6-18-99
8:59a.m.
We had a good nights sleep with no mosquitoes buzzing around our heads. The little duckling slept in a box at the foot of the bed. It would not quit chirping until we turned off the lights.
It woke us up early this morning. Mahala took it outside and the thing just followed her everywhere. If it did not see Mahala it would start chirping. It thinks Mahala is its Mom. Mahala just takes every opportunity to cuddle and hold it. Hugh calls that imprinting.
Lucy was here bright and early. She had bought some boiled duck and chicken eggs with sweet rice dumplings. She told us today is the 5th day of the 5th month according to the Chinese Lunar calendar. On this day everyone should have the eggs, sweet rice dumplings and also "tang koa." But today the "tang koa" was all sold out. It is also a special day for the children. Mahala is wearing the special lucky charm necklace that Lucy bought for her. It is shaped like a butterfly. She has another one. That one is in the form of the monkey god. Mahala asked Lucy if she can keep the necklace. Lucy said "yes, but don’t wear it after today." Lucy also told me that yesterday was her mother’s birthday. She called but her mother was at home. Lucy talked with her sister. Lucy’s family does not own any phone so she usually calls the shop next to theirs. Lucy found out that her mother is under the weather. She has been bleeding heavily and the doctor have told her to have bed rest. She is not supposed to exert herself in any way. Lucy is concerned and I told her that it could just be that her mother is going through menopause. I was reminded of my own mother and her illness when I was talking to Lucy about her own mother. It is so strange that this triggered my own memories of my mother.
At 9:30a.m. May and Elton showed up. They were going over to the bank to open up an account for the library fund. Hugh gave both of them the money to do it with. He also paid out of his own pocket the money that was owned to Elton and Mark from the library.
Mr. Xu called Hugh up at 4:30p.m. He had gotten information on the whereabouts of Dr. Benfer. Dr. Benfer is now at the Bampo site. Mr. Xu called up there but Dr. Benfer had just left for the archaeological site. He left a message and a phone number so Dr. Benfer could call Hugh. He has obtained the phone number to Dr. Benfer’s lodgings in Bampo. He will come by after work and give the number to Hugh.
This afternoon Mahala decided to give up her duckling. She told us that it is hard being a mummy. She puts it this way. "The ducky follows me around everywhere. I cannot even play with my friends. It is too much work." So Hugh walked with her to the library and she gave the duckling to the lady who has the other ducks.
This evening Mr. Xu was here. He gave Hugh the phone number to the Bampo site. Bampo is about 11/2 hours from the city of Xian. The archaeological site is very isolated and there are no hotels in the immediate vicinity. Mr. Xu will be gone this weekend. He has a class reunion with his classmates from his college days. He has to go because he was the monitor of the class then.
Lucy brought us dinner tonight. Earlier on in the morning she had asked me if I wanted food from Jack’s. I told that would be good and I gave her some cash for it. She was upset with Jack because he had made her wait for a long time. She had told Jack earlier this afternoon that she would come by to collect the food at 5:00p.m. At the appointed time she went there but Jack was not around. His father was there. After waiting 10 minutes she heard the hitting of ping-pong balls. She located the source and found Jack playing ping pong . He kept on playing even though he saw Lucy was waiting for him. Lucy walked off in a huff. She went back again at 5:40p.m. Jack was apologetic and asked why she left. She told him "I am not waiting for you." Jack knew Lucy was angry with him and he immediately cooked up our order.
I found out that Lucy was locked out of the dorm one night. She had gone to Jack’s place and was late getting back to the dorm. The gates were locked and she could not get in. She waited and pretty soon some other girls joined her. Finally the teacher in charge unlocked the gates for them. All of them had their names taken down. That made me wonder if May was just giving us a line when she stayed here the other night with the guys in the other room.
A little later after dinner, Hugh’s students from Grade 1 Class 2 came by with more sweet dumplings. Since we have just had dinner I shared the dumplings with the girls and Lucy. Hugh told that class that he is canceling their class next Friday. It is not fair to call the whole class back just for the sake of their classmate Tom who was not prepared for his presentation. He is the only person left who have not done it yet. Tom’s grades will reflect on the fact that he did not give his presentation. The girls insisted that Hugh carry on with lessons that day but Nancy their class monitor told the girls not to talk about it anymore. At 9:30p.m. Lucy and the girls left.
6-19-99
@9:19a.m.
Hugh received a phone call from Dr. Benfer just about 15 minutes ago. Hugh talked to him for about 7 minutes. The connection was poor. This morning Dr. Benfer has plans to visit more archaeological sites. The Director of the archaeological digs will take him around. He also has plans to visit Zhengzhou next week. He is attending a convention.
Hugh killed another centipede this morning outside the door leading to the yard. It is an evil looking one with long feelers. After Hugh squashed it we took photos of the dead creature. An hour later I found another one. It had been squashed by the door and was all dried up. Mahala told us that her 6-year-old friend told her that she was sleeping and a centipede crawled over her head and down her back. Luckily her parents or an adult got it off her.
Lucy bought Mahala a hammock and brought it over to her this afternoon. She paid 3yuan for it because it was a small one. Lucy strung it across the trees in the back yard. Mahala and her friend enjoy swinging on it. I asked Lucy what she did yesterday night at Jack’s. She told me that Jack gave her a boiled egg for supper That was it. I told her about the call from Dr. Benfer and asked if she could help us make a return call to him later tonight between the hours of 8:00 and 9:00p.m. She had a prior commitment. She has promised to go the movies with a friend. This friend had invited Lucy because Lucy had helped her in the BAN-4 exam this morning. This person also bought Lucy 3 bottles of coke for her help. All non-English majors have to take a series of BAN exams at different levels. It is an English exam and is conducted by the state. This morning the students were required to listen to an English tape for one time only and then answer some questions pertaining to the topic on the tape. Lucy stressed that all she did was listen to the tape for this friend and then write down the questions for her. At no point did she tell this friend the answers. Most of the non-English majors have difficulty with their aural skills. They can handle the reading and writing part of the exam. I also understand that a majority of the students in Grade 3(the English majors) were helping the non-English majors with their BAN-4 exam this morning in one form or another. Either sitting in the exam for them or just helping them like Lucy did with the tapes.
She told us that 2 students from Grade 3 Class 1 were caught sitting in for other students. I asked Lucy what punishment will be meted out. The students involved will automatically fail and have to re-sit for the BAN-4 exam again. Lucy was not sure what will happen to the Grade 3 students. She cannot remember the girls’ names. Hugh wants Lucy to find out the names of the Class 1 students involved so as to confirm whether they are the same persons cheating on his exams. All Lucy knows about them is that these 2 students had transferred from 2-year colleges to this school. I packed up all my winter clothes and passed them to Lucy. She can either keep them or give them away.
After she left I watched a movie about ghosts and witches on TV. It is pretty scary.
This afternoon I bought 3 hammocks for ourselves. I paid 6yuan a piece for a large one. It is relatively cheap here. Elton helped me with the transaction. There were 3 vendors doing brisk business selling those hammocks. The Hugh set one of the hammocks up. After setting it up the children all wanted to sit on it. At one point 3 of the girls was swinging on it. The rope snapped and all 3 girls came crashing down on to the ground.
Hugh decided to take a nap at this point. Elton sat with me and we talked. I asked him about the BAN-4 exam this morning. He was very reluctant to tell me more. I was more persistent and he finally talked about what happened. It was what Lucy had told me this afternoon except Elton gave me names. A big number of his classmates all cheated for someone else. That meant sitting in for the other student. Elton was one of them. To name a few: Dan, Phoebe, Monica and Tom. I was glad that Mark was not involved. He has kept the promise to himself that he would not cheat for anyone again. Hugh will be proud. There were others involved too. Elton told me that he did not want to do it at all especially after Hugh had talked about how wrong it is to cheat. Even May asked him to sit in the exam for her boyfriend Jason. He had to turn her down because he had promised to help Eldom’s country a few weeks ago. So this afternoon Elton was treated to a good meal of fish, chicken and vegetables.
A number of students were caught too. Monica was one of those that were caught sitting in for another student. She was sitting in for a student of the opposite sex. Usually in those exams the students are required to place their picture student ID on the table. The examiner came around the table and asked her to leave. Elton told me that the examiner came by his table and took a long hard look at him and then at the ID. Elton was scared and just smiled at the examiner. The examiner walked away.
Elton has repeatedly told me not to tell Hugh what he did this morning. He knows Hugh will get angry and be disappointed with his students for cheating again especially after he told them not to do it anymore. He especially hates to have Hugh mad at him.
I will keep my promise to Elton but I am sure Hugh will find out sooner or later.
Linda did it again. She bought us 2 roasted chickens this evening. This is the 5th Saturday in a row that she has done it. I like eating the chickens but I wish she did not have to feel obligated to do it every Saturday. She will not even take money for the food she buys for us.
Tonight Elton helped us make the call to Dr. Benfer. Before we made the call the shopkeeper told us that we have a limit on how long we can talk before the connection is cut off. We have a 10-minute limit. Elton explained that to Hugh and I.
Hugh lost track of the time and he was cut off mid-way through the conversation. He called again and explained to Dr. Benfer what had happened. They continued the conversation for another few minutes or more. Then they both said goodbye. Later in the room Hugh told me what had transpired during the conversation with Benfer.
Last year a graduate student from the Anthropology department died while she was in Tunisia. So the department is very reluctant to send any more students abroad. Benfer did not sound very enthusiastic about the exchange program. Hugh will call Benfer again on Wednesday night. There is a possibility that we might go to Zhengzhou for a rendezvous with Dr. Benfer. That is only if he has the time to see and talk to us. Dr. Benfer is coming to Zhengzhou to study human remains that are supposedly 8,000years old that was found there recently. Dr. Benfer might be too busy to see us there. We will know on Wednesday night.
6-20-99
@9:00a.m.
Three Sundays from today we will be back in LA.
Hugh woke up this morning complaining that he had been eaten alive by mosquitoes yesterday night. We have no idea how those pesky insects get into the room. The windows and doors all have screens over them.
I found a huge bug outside the kitchen door just a while ago. It was 10:00a.m. It had horns on its head just like a rhinoceros. We took a picture of it and released it.
Linda and Lucy came at 5:00p.m. They had bought some "ping chi ling" to share with us. Linda is staying this summer to tutor. Lucy and her are going to share a room together. We told them that they could have all my kitchen utensils when we leave. Both of them were happy with that idea.
After they left Louisa came. Hugh gave her 100yuan and told her to get some books for the library with the money. She left and May showed up. She wanted Hugh to correct the American Literature paper. While here she experienced a stomach cramp and had to use the toilet. She told us she has gas and Hugh made her a glass of alka –seltzer. We also gave her some pepto-bismol in case she feels nauseous.
Louisa came back with the books. Hugh looked it them and told her to just buy 2 more with the rest of the money. So she left again.
I am keeping Hugh to his promise. He told me that he will give me 100yuan on top of every yuan he spends on the library. So today he owes me 175yuan. With him it is a matter of payable when able.
6-21-99
@8:40a.m.
This is the last week for classes. After this week there will be final exams for the students.
Before going to bed yesterday night Hugh was bitten by an unknown insect. At first we thought it might have been a centipede. We looked and shook out the quilts and bedsheet. We found an ant like insect crawling on the mattress. Could that have been the insect that bit him? He was not taking any more chances and he killed it. The mosquitoes were especially bad too. Kept Hugh awake most of the time.
This morning I posted off the letters to Grandma and Siew Pheng. Coming back to the hotel I saw Mr. Zhao standing outside the door. We exchanged "Good Mornings" and I left it at that. I wonder what he was doing here so early this morning. It was only 8:15a.m.
This afternoon Lucy came by to check on Mahala’s homework. She is not giving any more lessons to Mahala. She talked to Hugh about the Grade 3 students helping the non-English majors cheat on the BAN-4 exams. She agreed with Hugh’s punishment. Hugh will take 5 points off the final score in the exams for both Grade 3 classes. She confessed that the person she helped was not even a friend. He just happened to be her country fellow. Yet she helped him when she was asked. She made a promise to Hugh that she will never do that again.
Hugh had previously warned all his students that if he ever found out that any of them are involved in any form of cheating in any exams he will punish them.
Mark was here. Both Hugh and him are planning to box away all the books in the library. Mr. Xu has told them they could keep it in his apartment downtown. They want Mr. Xu to sit in on the meeting when this is brought up. Mark had a tape with him. He told us that Gene was late in returning it so Gene had to pay a late fee of 1yuan. Then Henry turned up and he had a tape with him too. It was overdue so Mark made him pay 1yuan too.
I asked Henry how many students in Grade 2 were involved in helping the non-English majors with their BAN-4 exams. He told me more than 6 in his class. He was one of those 6. He told us he saw several students from Grade 3 in the examination hall. Hugh seized on this and asked him for the students names. He mentioned Dan, Elton, Frank, Tom Liu (Class1) and Tom (Class 2).
Henry wanted to know when we were leaving. Hugh told him July 7th. Henry calculated and said that is only 15 days away. Wow! That is great. Only 2 more weeks to go.
This evening Hugh and Mr. Xu was discussing the library, the exchange program and the tutoring program that Charlie, Ginger and Lucy are planning to set up. Mr. Xu wants to meet with them to discuss their plans for it. He also wants to set up a meeting between himself and the library committee. That will include the librarians and assistant librarians. Mr. Xu is probably be the only individual the library can depend on for help. Mr. Xu wants to know which individuals are reliable and can be counted upon if the exchange program gets off the ground. He asked Hugh about Mark and Elton. Hugh told Mr. Xu about the problems with the library, class and Linda’s funds and the role Mark played in it. The he told Mr. Xu that Elton sat in for the BAN-4 exam for another student on Saturday. Mr. Xu had this to say. The BAN-4 exam is a National exam and if students are caught cheating they will be punished severely, maybe even be expelled from school. Mr. Xu was not too clear on the specifics.
6-22-99
@9:40a.m.
It is hot and humid.
I was just asking Hugh what Mr. Xu had planned for tonight. Mr. Xu is supposed to come by this evening to discuss the tutoring plans with the students involved. Linda’s name was mentioned. I told Hugh that Linda is not involved in the tutoring class. Hugh’s reply was "well, I want Linda in it." My thoughts then were does Linda want to be involved or do the other members of the group want Linda to be part of their plan. It was my impression that the group is comprised of Lucy, Ginger and Charlie. At no time during their conversation with Hugh, at least when I was within earshot that Linda’s name was mentioned. Is Hugh imposing Linda on them without even consulting the group first? I do not think he has asked Linda if she would like to be part of the group. At the risk of repeating myself again, Hugh has again taken the role he is playing too seriously. He is not letting the group make their own decisions. I feel that is why Charlie has not come to him sooner for help. Maybe he is afraid that Hugh will take over the decision making of the group.
I was sitting outside in the yard when I saw Elton walk up the path. I was surprised to see him here. I asked if class was over. He said "No." He had a letter with him and asked if I could read it. In it he gave reasons and excuses on why he had cheated for another student in the BAN-4 exam. I told him he should just admit his mistake and not give excuses for doing it. Elton then composed another letter and asked me if I could pass it to Hugh. He is afraid of facing Hugh. Hugh is angry and disappointed with him for his actions. Before he left he told me that he has 2 meetings this evening. He has one with the library committee this evening and will probably have to leave early for the other meeting with the Communist Party.
Hugh met with Lucy, Ginger, Charlie and Linda after class. They were discussing their plans and how they were going to set up the classes. The classes is targeted towards the age group of between 7and 8 year olds. The group will need a room on campus for a start. The group plan to charge 150yuan for each student. Classes will be held 5 days per week, lasting 3 hours each day. The classes will run for 5 weeks straight. The group hopes to share all the profits evenly among themselves. Hugh was giving them ideas on how to teach that age group. He will ask Mr. Xu if a room can be made available on campus for the group.
When Mr. arrived he told them that all the classes on campus would be closed during the summer holiday. Mr. Xu then checked with the hotel management. The hotel has a free room with tables and chairs but they are charging 60yuan a day for the use of the room. The group cannot afford that. Mr. Xu explained to Hugh that he is not keen to have this tutoring group affiliated with the exchange program. He can help the tutoring group as best as he can but it has to be apart from the exchange program. He is afraid that if the tutoring group fails then it will reflect on the exchange program. He suggested to the group that they should talk with the principal of the elementary school behind the college and try to strike a deal with them for a room. According to Mr. Xu the school can get students for the group and might even be able to give them a classroom all equipped with tables, chair and blackboards. The group will be in charge of the curriculum of the classes and also how it will be run. Maybe the school can get a cut of the profits and hopefully the group might see some money out of it. He told the group to talk to Mr. Wang who is the principal and get his response to these ideas The group then left. Mr. Xu stayed and talked with Hugh.
The committee members from the library started arriving at 6:00p.m. Mr. Xu was going to meet with them. Mark, Elton, May, Louisa, Star, Ann, Shirley, Nancy, Ellen and Collin. Wendy came 10 minutes after the meeting started. There was another young man here from Grade 1. I think his name is Steven. The meeting was conducted in Chinese. In the midst of the meeting the tutoring group returned. The group waited in the other spare room until Mr. Xu had finished with the library meeting. Hugh went over and talked with the group. After the meeting was adjourned Mr. Xu went over to the other room.
The committee members stayed on for another ½ an hour before they left. Mark stayed on and had a talk with Hugh. Hugh advised Mark not to worry about the library anymore. He has done more than his share in setting up the library and had more than his share of problems while doing that. Mark should now concentrate on his finals that are coming up very soon. He needs to put himself and his family first from now onwards. Mark realizes all these. He mentioned to us that his mother is a Christian. She does not attend regular church but instead goes to the home of a fellow member. Services are conducted there. She has tried to encourage him to attend but Mark refuses because he does not believe in God or religion. I have nothing to say to that. He is entitled to his opinions. Mark told us that the members of the group are mostly old and sick.
The tutoring group came back to our living room and Mr. Xu followed a while later. I do not know what was said in the other room. I gather that the group cannot get a free classroom from the elementary school. They have to pay to use a classroom. Another issue that cropped up during this meeting was the fact that it is rather late to be advertising for students. A lot of other tutoring centers has a head start over this group. They stared advertising a few months ago. Charlie was intending to pull his students from the children living around the campus e.g. children whose parents work for the school. Mr. Xu informed Charlie that chances are most of the children have been enrolled in tutoring classes. Some of the teachers themselves have formed groups to teach in the summer to earn some extra income.
Charlie then came up with the idea of throwing a farewell party for Mahala. We could invite her friends and maybe the group can promote their tutoring center this way. Hugh told Charlie that the children that Mahala plays with comes from the lower income bracket. Their parents work in the canteen and probably will not have that kind of money to spend on their children. Charlie then came back and told us that these children know other children. They hope to target the latter group. I told the group I was not willing to let Mahala be used in that way. Hugh agrees with me.
The decision to stop or continue with this tutoring class is up to the group. Hugh has promised to help them with ideas and materials from the library. If they still want to go with their plans the group will have to find a room, get some furniture and advertise for students. At first they were going with a small group of 15 to 25 children. They will need more children to enable the group to meet the cost of renting a room, buying some furniture and stationery. Hugh told them to price the cost of tables and chairs, and the going rate for renting a room. Is he planning to help them financially?
I do not like this at all. I have told him not to start anything new now that we are on the way out. My guess is he is going to do whatever he wants no matter what I say or how much I bitch about it. I hope he has enough sense to call it quits if the program seems like a no go. There are a few reasons why this program is going to be hard to get off the ground. It is not impossible to overcome these problems but it might not turn out the way the group envisions it. There is the matter of advertisement. A lot of other tutoring centers have promoted their schools months ago. The group has no students yet. The group cannot find a room to use for free. The group will have to buy furniture if they rent a room. The group have no money. These are the big problems facing the group right now. These are all realistic problems and it needs to be solved before the program can get off the ground.
6-23-99
@11:00a.m.
It rained pretty hard yesterday evening. The rain started at 6:00p.m. and when I woke up at 7:00a.m. this morning it was still raining. The rain has stopped but it is still overcast.
Mahala’s little 6 year old friend came at 9:30a.m. I was hoping that none of the children would turn up. Mahala will not want to finish her work now.
Hugh came back at 10:00p.m. He then went over to the library with Star. He is going to take out some books that he thinks the tutoring group will need. I still do not know the group’s plans? Are they proceeding or halting? Hugh came back with a box of books. The books will be here if the group wants them. If not he will return them to the library tomorrow. The librarians are packing up the books into boxes tomorrow and taking it down to Mr. Xu’s apartment.
I am concerned over what this tutoring group will come to mean to Hugh. Will it involve more time, commitment and money on our part to help the group set up? All these thoughts race through my mind and it shows. Hugh sees it and has told me that he will not spend any money on this group. He asks me to trust him. Can I especially after the library? I should but there are doubts. Will he change his mind and just decide to sink 1,000yuan on the group if the team decides to go ahead and rent the room and start buying furniture. That is my dilemma. I feel he needs to think of his family first. Hugh just wants to help everyone sometimes to the extent that his own family has to suffer the consequences. It is an honorable thing to do, to want to help, but he has to draw a line on it sometimes.
This morning Lucy came and told us that she had a talk with Charlie earlier on. Charlie showed lack of enthusiasm when she told him she could get a room for the free. He had nothing to say to this piece of good news. Lucy got mad at him and told him that if he does not want her in the group then to just say so. She walked off angry. Linda came right after Lucy. He told both girls that if Charlie has second thoughts about the program then maybe Lucy and Linda can continue with the plans. Both of them can start their own school. That idea sounded good to Lucy and Linda. Hugh and both of the girls them walked to the library to take out more books. Both the girls left at 3:00p.m.
Hugh was in his Grade 1 class when Lucy came back at 4:00p.m. She told me that Charlie got angry with her. She was all upset. Then Linda, Charlie and Ginger came. They sat together and was discussing ideas for the posters that they plan to do for promoting their tutoring center. Lucy started drawing. Charlie tried to help by coming up with his own suggestions but Lucy totally ignored him. Charlie apologized to her for his behavior this morning in English. Then both of them carried a heated conversation in Chinese. Linda and Ginger just kept quiet and looked on. I butted in and told both of them if there are going to work together they cannot fight among themselves. Charlie hit Lucy lightly on the shoulder. She turned around and gave punched him on his shoulder. After that the tension between them eased up and both of them started working together.
The tutoring group worked together and finally came out with a finished copy of their flyer. All they need to do now is to have multiple copies made up. They plan to distribute the flyers in the primary school, around the campus and also downtown. They have posters made up promoting their tutoring center too. Charlie returned this evening and worked on the posters.
Lucy left to get dinner for us. She is coming back to help us make a phone call to Dr. Benfer. We tried 5 times to reach Dr. Benfer without any luck. We tried at intervals of 15 minutes starting from 8:15p.m. The last call was made at 9:15p.m.
We walked back to our rooms. Lucy wanted Hugh to take some pictures of the books that the group will be using in their center. Lucy told us that Jack is helping her find a suitable room for the group to use as their tutoring center. He is trying to find a location somewhere between the school and the downtown area. While we were doing that Charlie and Ginger came by. So both of them stayed and helped.
Hugh wants the group to come back tomorrow at 8:00a.m. He wants to take pictures of the group and use those photos to promote their tuition center.
6-24-99
@8:40a.m.
I woke up at 7:30a.m. When I took my clothes out to hang, I saw Mahala’s little friend swinging on the hammock. I told her Mahala is still sleeping and she needs to go home. She can come back later.
Lucy came then. She was early because on Thursday the group needs to go the their translation class that starts at 8:00a.m. She is impatient to get the pictures taken because she wants to get them developed by this afternoon. Lucy, Ginger and Charlie were here but Linda was running late.
I was in the bathroom cleaning up when Linda came. When I came out Linda was walking away from the group. I heard Hugh tell Lucy that she needs to be more patient and to go bring Linda back. Linda walked off because of a remark that Lucy made to her. After that Hugh told the group to just come back at lunchtime and to be sure Linda is here too.
I bought 3 "peou chee mor" for breakfast. I call it "tacos". While waiting for the lady to finish preparing it for me, 3 persons walked up to the stall. There were 2 men and a woman. One of the men asked rather impolitely how much one of the "taco" costs. The vendor replied "1 yuan." The woman walked up to the stall and lifted the side of the "taco" the vendor was preparing for me. I put my hand out, shook my finger in a gesture that said no. I did not like her touching my food. The woman looked rather shocked at that.
Ginger, Charlie, Lucy and Linda came by around 11:30a.m. All of us walked out and Hugh took pictures of the group. We used the school as a background for the photos.
I gave Lucy 2yuan and told her to get us some corn. She bought us 4 ears of corn. Charlie, Ginger and Linda also came by but later. All of them listed down the titles of the books that they are going to borrow from the library. After they finished, all of them walked over to check the rooms they are intending to rent. While all of these was going on Dan came by. He wanted to talk to Hugh about the library books. He was upset because he had seen books being checked out off the library for the summer holidays. Then Vicky walked up. I went outside to join them and Dan pulled Hugh aside. They went inside the kitchen to finish their conversation.
I sat with Vicky outside. Vicky was telling me about her left ear. She has a problem with it every year since she was a little girl. She has been to numerous doctors but still the condition persists. It hurts especially at night when she sleeps. Fluid oozes out of her ear then when she is lying on her side. The fluid is thick and is yellowish in color. The doctors give her ear drops and oral medication. The drops help her the most. It hurts when she applies it but the pain usually goes away. It is a chronic infection because it occurs every year. She wanted to ask Hugh if he has any medication that can help her stop this problem from re-occurring or if he had any ideas on what she might have. When Hugh joined us again and after Vicky related to him what she had told me he had this to tell her. He advised her to see an ENT specialist. She told Hugh that one of the doctors had told her that she has a tiny pinprick hole in her left eardrum. Vicky admits that she does not hear so well. Hugh cannot help her more than that because he is not a medical doctor. Hugh suspects that Vicky has a bad ear infection and she needs to see a real specialist before she completely loses her hearing. Mark walked up and Vicky and Dan left.
The news that Mark brought was this. The librarians, assistant librarians and apprentice librarians all borrowed books from the library for the summer holidays. Hugh asked Mark who had authorized it. Was it Louisa since she is the head librarian? Did Mark know that this was happening? Mark replied that he had told Louisa to hold a meeting with the rest of the committee members to discuss this. But by this afternoon Mark found out that the books had been taken out. Hugh told Mark to find Louisa and Star and get them here. Both the girls showed up and they told Hugh that all the committee members were agreeable to the idea except Wendy. The committee decided to agree because the librarians and assistant librarians have not always had a chance to borrow the books they want. They have always allowed the members first access to the books. Hugh is not in disagreement because the committee had called a vote on the issue. It was all done properly and according to the rules of the library.
Lucy and Linda came again. They have found a place to stay during the summer vacation. The room will cost 125yuan a month. Linda is not too satisfied with the room. She wants to shop around for another one. According to Linda there is nobody else staying in that building besides another male lodger who lives upstairs. Linda feels it is not safe there. So both of them have agreed to look for another room.
Dan and Elton brought over the bistro to the hotel for Lucy. She is borrowing it for the next few days. The tutoring group wants to put their posters and pictures up on it and then take it down to the elementary school. They are also going to pass out flyers to the students there. It is all part of the promotion plan for their center. The photos taken this morning have been developed. All the group needs to do now is to get the posters ready. They need to make at least 2 to 3 posters for the bistro.
After everyone had gone Hugh related to me what Dan had told him this afternoon. It is about Mark. Mark as we know is the person in charge of collecting the class mail. Sometimes money have been found missing from the letters. The magazines that Barney ordered is with Mark and Dan suspects that Mark has used the class funds. He went home last week to get money to replace the missing cash. I wonder where Dan got all this information from and whether there s any proof to substantiate all these allegations?
Mark and Elton came by early this evening with boxes for the library. I asked them if they got the boxes for free. Elton replied that the library needs to return the boxes to the shop at the end of summer. They borrowed it from an individual who has kindly loaned it to them. Hugh told Lucy that it is better they use the smaller bistro. It is more maneuverable than the big one. Hugh and Elton set about dismantling the bigger bistro. Both of them took it back to the library to store it for the summer.
While Hugh was there Mr. Xu came by to talk to him. The President is aware of the BAN-4 cheating. He wants Hugh to provide him with the names of the students who were involved in it. Hugh told Mr. Xu that he would not divulge the names of the students. It is not right to punish just the handful when the majority of the students were involved too. Hugh told Mr. Xu that he was going to deduct 5 points off of every student’s final score in the finals. That would be his way to get the students back. All the students regardless of whether they participated in the BAN-4 cheating or not gets penalized.
At 8:00p.m. we walked up to the Foreign Affairs Office. Mr. Xu has offered to help us make a call to Dr. Benfer again. Lucy came along to help. Mr. Xu was not there. So we made the call from the hotel by using the shopkeeper’s phone. We were successful in getting through but Dr. Benfer was not in. The person who took our call told us to call back at 9:30p.m. So we walked back to the hotel. At 8:30p.m. Mr. Xu knocked on our door. He told us that Mr. Zhao was in the office and would we mind calling Dr. Benfer from the hotel. Hugh told him that we had done that and Benfer was not around. He had gone out. Hugh asked Mr. Xu when it would be convenient to transport the books to his apartment. He gave us a time, 12:00p.m. tomorrow. Mr. Xu asked Hugh if Lucy and Linda would like to stay in his apartment. Hugh told him to ask Lucy who was next door studying. After a few minutes Hugh walked over to talk to Lucy. He was curious as to what transpired between Lucy and Mr. Xu.
When Hugh came back he related their conversation to me. Mr. Xu told Lucy that both Linda and her cannot stay in our spare room so he offered them the use of his apartment. Lucy declined the offer. He has also told the tutoring group that their idea of teaching young children is not very important. Instead the group should be concentrating on the TOEFL, GRE and BCE exams. Those exams could get the students into colleges in the US and England. He is encouraging the students to take business classes. The only drawback to that is that the majority of students here just do not have the financial backing to pursue these courses. Hugh is disappointed with Mr. Xu’s behavior.
At 9:30p.m. Lucy helped us make another call to Dr. Benfer. Dr. Benfer is still out. We understand from that these days Dr. Benfer has been very busy. He leaves early in the morning and does not come back till late at night. It looks like we will not be able to talk to him after all.
6-25-99
@8:34a.m.
Today is Hugh’s last day with his Grade 3 classes. All we have to do is wait to get the exam papers back and collate them. The Grade 3 students sit for their final English papers on the following Monday. Then Hugh grades them pass it to the English department and we are out of here.
Yesterday we received a letter from Ann Daniels. In her letter she wrote that she had sent us a box of books and we should be getting it in 6 to 8 weeks.
I woke up at 7:15a.m. As usual I open up the curtains. I saw Lucy and Charlie outside. I opened the door and asked them how long have they been waiting. They did not say. They did not knock because they thought we were still sleeping. Both Lucy and Charlie came by to pick up their flyers and posters. But they needed to write down the address of their center and the phone numbers where they can be reached.
Hugh killed another centipede between the living room and the bathroom
Today is the last day of school for the elementary students.
Lucy, Linda, Charlie and Ginger came back about 20 minutes ago. They have been standing outside the elementary school distributing their flyers and promoting their tutoring center. All of them looked tired and hot. For lunch Lucy bought 5 ears of corn and Linda bought "mien boa". I gave 3 ears of corn to Mahala’s friends, Mahala had one and I threw the other away.
Mark and Elton came at 12:00p.m. That was the time when he would be here to arrange the transport of the library books to his apartment. The guys went back to their class after Mr. Xu did not show up at the appointed time. Wendy and Edward also showed up. They had gone by to the library to help with transporting the books but nobody was there. During their meeting with Mr. Xu he had told them today is the day to move the books. He never turned up.
After lunch Lucy came back with the rest of the group. They are making posters in the other room. Then both Linda and Lucy left at 3:00p.m. Today is shower day for the girls. That left only Charlie and Ginger.
Mahala finally got tired of playing with her friends. All of them have been here since 8:30a.m. It is now 4:15p.m. I told the last two girls to go home and come back tomorrow.
It is now 6:00p.m. Mahala’s friends are all back here again. I guess they have no where else to go.
Mr. Xu showed up at this time. He had just come from a meeting and wanted to know if the students still want to move their books. He has found a better place to store the books. It is in the storeroom of the Foreign Affairs Office. The President of the Foreign Affairs Office is the only person who has the keys to the room. The books will be safe from Mr. Zhao. I walked down to the classroom t get Elton. He was not there. So I left a message with Wendy and Dan.
When I came back, Hugh and Mr. Xu was having a heated discussion about the exchange program, the tutoring program and politics in China. Hugh was asking Mr. Xu about the Tien Na Men Square massacre and human rights, issues which are sensitive. The conversation then shifted to the tutoring group. Mr. Xu explained to Hugh that the reason he cannot help the group is because the Education Department has issued a directive that tutoring children for examinations during vacations is against school policies. It would be alright if it were during the school year. Also because this college produces teachers for senior schools the authorities here would get into trouble if they ever found out that the classes here are being used as a tutoring center. I wish all these talk would stop. It disturbs me because I hate seeing Hugh upset. With his temper he is liable to forget that he is in China and say something wrong.
Thank goodness that Elton and a group of students showed up when they did. Hugh, Mr. Xu and the students then took off for the library. Hugh came back 10 minutes later. Mr. Xu showed up a while after that. This time their conversation was more calm and amicable. Mr. Xu was telling us that there is internal bickering within the Communist Party. Right now the group on top is from Shanghai. They are the ones who are in charge of all the major ministries. The Education Ministry is under the leadership of a Shanghainese woman. This individual is making progressive changes to the education system in China. She is modeling the system under the Shanghai school system. Mr. Xu seems to like this new school system and we think he would like to introduce this new system to this place. The topic then shifted to the library. Mr. Xu told us that the leadership of the library is not so good. He is referring to Mark. R. Xu has never taken to Mark and vice versa. Mr. Xu does see potential in 4 students after his meeting with the main members of the library. He mentioned Star, Wendy, Edward and Nancy. He especially praised Nancy who is in Grade 1 with Edward. He told Hugh that if the library show signs of "dying" or if the students show lack of support or enthusiasm in running it, he will personally take over and run the library with the help of a few capable students.
Lucy showed up with fried "la mien" for our dinner. It was good. Hugh killed another centipede tonight. It was practically on the same spot where he killed one yesterday.
6-26-99
@9:50a.m.
So far it has been a fine morning. Charlie told me yesterday that we will have rain today and tomorrow. So far no rain yet.
Lucy came by at 10:00a.m. She wanted to use the other room to study in. But we ended up talking for 11/2 hours together. By 11:30a.m. she told me she was hungry. She then walked to the canteen to get food. She bought us corn and boiled eggs. Hugh got ready to boil up some water in our electric kettle. The kettle did not work because the cord was frayed. So Lucy, Mahala and I walked out to get it replaced. On the way Lucy bought Mahala something to drink. It was shaved ice with bits of barley, peanuts, red beans and preserved red plums scattered on top of it. A small cup costs 1yuan.
We were unable to buy a replacement cord for the kettle. Instead I bought 10jin of rice. On the way back I bought Mahala another cup of the slushy drink. I bought her a bowl ad that was 2yuan. I also bought a bottle of glue for Hugh. Lucy went over to the next room to study. A few minutes later I walked over with a jug of water for her. She was sleeping and I woke her up to give her the water. I then left.
It is now 4:00p.m. Mahala is playing with her friends outside. There is a woman outside in the yard. She has a little girl with her. The woman is trying to mediate a friendship between Mahala and the little girl. Hugh is working on his vocabulary paper for the finals. When he gets the exam papers from the English department he is adding the vocabulary paper to it. The English department has no idea that Hugh is doing this. Hugh has told all his students that there will be a vocabulary exercise in the finals. If any students have access to the exam papers then they will not bother reading through their vocabulary exercises.
This evening at 5:00p.m. Wendy and Elton came by. They told Hugh they did not agree with the decision to loan books out to the librarians and assistant librarians during the summer vacation. They gave their reasons. The decision was made solely by Louisa and Nancy. There was no meeting held to discuss it with the other members. Wendy told Hugh that he should have called a meeting if he wanted to take out the books from the library for the tutoring center. According to her, Hugh has always insisted that the library committee do things the right and proper way yet Hugh did not practice what he preaches. I agree with her on that point. Hugh did apologize to her and Elton. Hugh told both of them that Star has a list of titles of the books that the tutoring group took out. The group will be held liable for any missing books. That should safeguard the return of all the books. As to the books that the librarians and assistant librarians have taken out to just let the matter slide. Next semester the committee can start again, call meetings and amend the rules that they think are not clear or too ambiguous. He also reminded them that after he leaves Mr. Xu will be there to help but he should not have any say on how the library should be run at all. That job belongs to the committee members.
6-27-99
@9:44a.m.
We have 14 days until we leave China. This morning the rain started falling. I walked out get breakfast and met Roy, Monica and Elton all in that order. Before we left Mahala had told her 2 friends to go home as it was raining and she did not want to play. Well, when we came back we one of them was still here waiting. Those children just do not respect Mahala at all.
Mr. Xu came this morning. He had an e-mail message for Hugh. Hugh could not "open" the mail because the document had no name. Mr. Xu has to take the disk back to his friend and give the document a name before Hugh can read the message. I asked Mr. Xu what he was doing here on a Sunday. He is taking a business course. Classes are held every Saturday and Sunday, 6 hours per day. Because it is held only on Saturday and Sunday the course will take 2 years to complete. It is costing Mr. Xu 9,000yuan for the whole course.
Hugh is going over the presentation notes of the Grade 3 classes and scoring it.
Mr. Xu’s friend, Mr. Yang came over at 5:00p.m. Luckily Lucy was here to interpret for us. Mr. Yang had 3 disks with him. All of them had messages for Hugh in it. Hugh could not open a single message. It had something to do with a different operating system. Hugh told Mr. Yang that in future he should just save the messages. Hugh will find time to go downtown sometime next week and read the mail. From talking with Mr. Xu, I understand that Mr. Yang collects jade artifacts and antiques. I asked him about the jade and he showed me a piece of jade that he had with him. It is supposedly from the Ming dynasty and is about 300years old. It is shaped like a flying dragon. Mr. Yang asked if I would like to see his collection of antiques. I told him I would very much like to. He keeps his antique collection in the house that his parents just recently built, not too far from his present home. In a lower tone of voice he told me that he came by some of his collections illegally. It is not unusual in this day and age to find people who rob old tombs and graveyards seeking pieces of jade and jewelry. I asked him if he could pick out fake pieces of jade. He told us that he can but still has much to learn to be really good at it. Sometimes Mr. Yang travels into villages looking for antiques. The peasants usually part with these old pieces either because they need the money or they do not know the value of the pieces that they are selling. He also mentioned that he had a friend who could make Chinese stamps. He asked us if we wanted to have some made for ourselves. I did not give him a definite yes or no. Mr. Yang stayed a little longer talking to Hugh about computers.
At 7:00p.m. Lucy came back with the food we had ordered from Jack. We had ordered pork and beans and a dish of tofu. The total cost of those 2 dishes came to only 4yuan. Lucy explained that Jack is charging us less because we buy from him everyday. Usually the tofu dish will cost 4yuan and the pork and beans 8yuan. Lucy told us that while she was there waiting for the food she had a conversation with 2 paying students from the Foreign Language department. Those 2 students had been waiting for her at Jack’s. They had asked Jack about her so they knew that Lucy’s major is English. They wanted to ask a favor from Lucy. Both these students wanted Lucy to give them the answers to their English papers. They showed Lucy a copy of the exam paper. Wander where they got that exam sheet from. They had to read a composition and answer the questions. It was multiple choice. Lucy told them that she will help them study for the English paper but she will not give them the answers to the questions. According to Lucy she has seen those 2 students before. They always frequent Jack’s eating place. She has never seen them studying before. The answers and sentences that they wrote for her did not even make any sense at all. They will never pass the English exam. That is Lucy’s prophecy. Their English was that terrible. Lucy was very proud of the fact that she told them "No" she will not help them cheat.
Lucy is in the other room studying.
May came by at 8:30p.m. She needed help in writing an English Literature paper on "ballads". Hugh talked to her about it then looked up the information on the Encarta. We left May to copy down the information on paper. May stayed and talked to us after that. May’s mother is a hardworking woman. She sews shoes and weaves her own cloths to make into clothes for her family. She had to learn these skills because she grew up poor and had no money to buy shoes or clothes. In winter she would fashion shoes from cornhusks to keep her family’s feet warm and dry. May is the youngest child and the only one still in college in the family. She has an older brother who is married and a sister.
When May decided to continue her education and transfer to this school her parents were against the idea. They wanted her to start teaching. She had a big argument with her parents because of that. The person who supported her in her decision was her sister-in-law. Her family finally relented and so she is here now. I asked her if she would like continue into a post graduate degree after leaving here. She would like to but her parents will probably try to argue against it. There is also the financial side of it. Her parents are poor and might not be able to support her in school any longer. I understand her parents want her home and plans to marry her off as soon as possible. May does not want that yet. I asked her the reason her parents want to marry her off so soon.
When May was in her first year of college she took a summer job. She was studying in another city then. She was an interpreter for a company that was building a dam in that city. In the course of the job she met and got to know a man from Pakistan. His name is Amjad. At that time May had a different name too. She was called Mardine. Mardine was 18 and Amjad in his 30’s then. The friendship between Mardine and Amjad soon turned into a serious relationship to the point that Amjad proposed marriage to Mardine. She was agreeable to this proposal but her parents would not allow it. They were opposed to inter-racial marriages.
Mardine sought advice and help from her foreign teacher who at that time was a woman from Scotland. The teacher told her that Pakistan is a Muslim country and that there are drawbacks to being a woman there. Amjad himself told Mardine that at one time women in Pakistan had to go around in the "purdah". Amjad called his parents up to seek their consent for this marriage and also to tell them to sent the marriage papers. He was being serious in his intentions. He reassured May that they do not have to make Pakistan their home but instead stay in different countries wherever that might be. May was not too sure what exactly Amjad’s job designation is. Mardine developed cold feet and backed out off the relationship and the marriage plans. She realized too many obstacles stand in their way. The religious, cultural and language barriers. Also being a filial Chinese daughter getting her parents approval is very important to her.
After that episode May’s parents have kept a real tight rein on her. During the school vacations she is supposed to come right home. No more summer jobs for her. May tells us that she is trying hard to forget about Amjad. She is rebuilding her life without him. That is part of the reason why she decided to leave her hometown to come to school here. She dates other guys too but in her eyes the guys she dates cannot compare to Amjad. In her own words Amjad treats her like a woman. May has a bad knee so Amjad used to apply hot compress on it for her. If it is too hot he uses his hand to massage the spot. Amjad still writes to her and sometimes call her here. In his letters to her he addresses her as Mardine Amjad.
We were all sworn to secrecy in this matter.
6-28-99
@8:34a.m.
I woke up at 5:30a.m. It was hot and humid yesterday night and the mosquitoes kept us awake. I heard Hugh get up at least 4 times in the middle of the night. I am feeling sleepy right now. Hugh went back to sleep at 8:15a.m. Mahala is still sleeping.
From 7:00a.m. until 8:00a.m. I have had an earful from Hugh about starting a business when we get back. I am really not sure whether I want to go into the restaurant business. I really have to think about it. It is a commitment I am not ready to make yet. Hugh has made it known to me in no uncertain terms that if I had said yes to a business in Rock Springs he would not have decided to come to China. When he suggested the idea of starting a business in Rock Springs in the summer of 1998 to me there were certain things that had just happened in our lives. Firstly he had just stopped working for Gordon. China had rejected him twice. He was unhappy living in Rock Springs especially with the apartment. He was looking into another apartment where we could move into. And lastly what I consider to be the most important issue in every decision that we have to make our lack of money.
I liked my job and had my friends. I did not want to resign from this job even though Hugh has made it a point of telling me everytime we argue that my job has no benefits, pays me very little and that I have no future staying on with it. He may be right in all of these but has he ever considered that I might actually be happy and satisfied with it. I guess not. Secondly I do not want to take the risk of going into the restaurant business in Rock Springs. If we failed then I would be without a job, we would be in debt, and I would be stuck in Rock Springs. There is nothing worse than to be with Hugh in a place that he is unhappy with. I have been through that with him many times before. He has to be happy before we can be happy.
With Hugh you have to act fast. He allows you no time to think before you make a decision. And you have to be sure that it is the same decision as his otherwise beware. If you so much as disagree than you are against him. His tongue can cut you to pieces. I have been through that many times with him. That is why I go along with everything he suggests. Then I suffer the consequences in silence. If I show any disagreement we end up arguing and he still gets his way. Either way I still lose.
I cannot be like him. Sometimes I feel that we do not belong together. I am a slow thinker and he moves way too fast for me. I cannot be what he wants me to be and in the process he makes me feel bad about my behavior. That is not right. Why can’t I be myself? Do I need to change to please him?
Lucy is in the other room studying. She was here early this morning. Her first paper was on "Current Affairs". This is the first time all the students are sitting for this paper. For lunch Lucy ate pig’s feet. Yesterday she bought chicken legs. The feet is mostly skin and cartilage. Lucy enjoyed munching on those feet.
I took a short nap this afternoon, maybe 10 minutes or so.
Lucy came by with Jack this afternoon. I had promised Lucy my kitchen utensils. Jack came along to help her carry it back to his shop.
Edward brought us a nice gift. He is a student from Grade1. All the guys from that class wrote a personal message under their photos and had the whole thing laminated. The only guy missing from the group is a student named Tom. He is the one who did not do his presentation in class.
Mr. Xu came by this evening to discuss with us the plans for our trip to Shanghai. The school will not pay for the train tickets to Shanghai. Neither will they foot the hotel bills for us while we are there. They will only pay for Mr. Xu. We told Mr. Xu that we would prefer the soft sleeper and will pay for that. We will also bear the hotel costs. Hugh will get only a week’s pay for the month of July instead of the full month. Of course they talked about the library and the exchange program. Mr. Xu told Hugh that he will not be offended if Hugh decides not to pursue the exchange program. Mr. Xu has many ideas that he wants to pursue and the exchange program is only one of them. I am glad because then Hugh will not be worried about the exchange program constantly. Mr. Xu seemed not to be too bothered whether the program takes off or not.
Mr. Xu told us an interesting fact. We were discussing the sex lives of the students. Ten years ago, during Mr. Xu’s time all the students had to undergo a physical examination after graduation. It was noted that a high percentage of the female students were virgins. Now the majority of the female students are non-virgins. China is going through a sexual revolution of sorts among its college students.
Today Hugh found out that his intensive reading exams will be held on Monday from 3:30p.m. to 5:30p.m. He will be monitoring Grade 3 Class1 during that time.
Zola also came by to say goodbye. She is leaving for Wuhan today. Her boyfriend who is studying in Wuhan University found her a job as a teacher in a private school. He got her this job through his connections. The boyfriend’s father is the President of this college. The school where Zola will be teaching is located outside the city of Wuhan. It is in the countryside and according to Zola it is pretty and quiet there. He job is not exactly what she wants but she is happy with it. She only has 9 students in her class. She told Hugh that she enjoyed being in his class even though the majority of the other students did not. She found all his lessons interesting.
6-30-99
@9:40a.m.
It is exactly 7 days before we leave Xinyang and 11 days before we leave China.
The campus is a hive of activity. The Grade 4 students are getting ready to leave. Everyday we see taxis come up to the dorms and they drive away full of occupants. They leave on the trains or on the buses loaded down with their luggage. I see a lot of them getting together as a group and having their pictures taken before each of them go their own way.
Last Monday Walter came to say goodbye too. Walter is a paying student from Grade 3. His employees have paid him to come to school to learn English. Walter does not have to sit in any examinations. His employers want him back at his job so he will not be back next semester. He is going back to teach basic English. I am not too sure what kind of job Walter have. I would think he cannot be a teacher because his English is really not that good. He is waiting for Eliza to finish all her final papers. Both of them will leave together. Eliza is Walter’s classmate too.
Lucy has just finished her 2nd paper. It is called the "Survey of America and Britain." She is confident that she will score high in that paper.
It has rained for 4 days straight now. It started on Sunday and it is now Wednesday. My clothes are hanging inside and outside trying to get dry if the sun ever shows. All of us have been cooped up for 4 days now. Hugh sleeps most afternoon because there is nothing much to do. Earlier today we repacked our luggage. We are down to 4 bags and 2 carry-on. It will be quite a chore to get the bags on the train. This time for sure we will engage the services of the porters.
It is now 4:24p.m. It is still raining. Since we do not have any more kitchen utensils Lucy has been buying food for us from Jack. I just cook up a pot of rice with my electric cooker.
Elton came over with 2 "mien boa" and invited him to dinner. He ate a bowl of rice with us. After dinner we bought ice cream and I paid the shopkeeper the 6yuan I owed her this morning for the tissues and peanuts.
We heard through the grapevine that Amanda has a new beau so decided to ask Elton if he knew who it is. He told us that Kurt is the one. Early this week Kurt with some other friends had stood under Amanda’s dorm window and shouted for her. All of Amanda’s dorm mates and the other students heard it too. Amanda made her way downstairs. Kurt told the guys in his dorm that Amanda had told him "I should not have given in so easily" whatever that means.
Lucy had told us about that episode. One night while Amanda was in the dorm the girls heard someone calling out for her. They heard the words Amanda, I love you several times over and over again. The girls asked Amanda who went with the voice. She refused to tell and walked away. Lucy told us that there was more than one voice shouting.
It is strange to think of Amanda with Kurt. They are complete opposites. Kurt is into heavy metal rock and Amanda is Amanda. Opposites do attract. I remember asking Kurt one day who he thought was the prettiest girl in his class. He told me Amanda. That was when Elton was dating her. I guess Kurt did not know that Elton was dating her then.
Elton went on to say that Amanda is just teasing and stringing Kurt along just like she did him. He does not feel hurt or betrayed. His feelings towards Amanda is no longer the same. He has taken Hugh’s advice and gone on with his writing. Recently he submitted a poem to an English magazine called the "English Salon" . He is also using and practicing his English outside of the school context. That is good.
7-1-99
1:32p.m.
After 4 days of rain the sun finally came out. A chance for my damp clothes to dry out.
This morning at 7:30a.m. while I was outside hanging my clothes out to dry 2 of Mahala’s friends walked up. I told them to go home as Mahala was still sleeping. Five minutes later they were back. I told them to leave again. The third time they came back with another 2 children. I told them all to leave because Mahala was still sleeping. They finally walked away and after 2 minutes they were shouting for Mahala again. They were standing on the road that runs down by the hotel. I shooed them all away.
This afternoon Mr. Xu came by. He had been to Zhengzhou for the last few days. That was why he has not been around. He had some business to attend to involving the new foreign teachers. One of the teachers is intending to stay on in China after his contract with the other school is over. According to Mr. Xu all foreign teachers have to exit the country and return later.
He talked a bit about out trip back to the US. We are still not sure of the time and date of our departure from here. The heavy rains have caused flooding in some parts of China and there might be delays in the train schedule. Mr. Xu is checking on Hugh’s last pay and the bonus that he will be getting. 200yuan for each month that he is here. He told us that Hugh might also get 2 weeks pay for July rather than just 1 week.
The English department conducted an evaluation on his teaching among his students. The results of the report was not a good one. The results was forwarded to the President’s Office. Hugh is sore about that because he knows he did a good job in spite of the limitations he had to deal with. He knows that the students will not come to say farewell because they know they have stabbed him in the back with their evaluation of him.
Heidi also came by. We talked about Kurt and Amanda. All the girls seemed to think that Kurt is a brave man declaring his love for Amanda in public. They think it is very romantic. Shirley said that if it had happened to her she would thrilled and would give that individual a hug and a kiss. Hugh teased Heidi about her boyfriends and her true boyfriend. She showed us a picture of her true boyfriend. He is in some kind of program dealing with electricity. They have known each other since high school. We found out that May has a nickname among her dorm mates. She is called "Hong Niang" which means matchmaker.
Wendy and Dan came by this evening. Dan had a bag of "char pieng" and gave each of us a piece. It was good so Wendy told him to give us the whole bag.
After they left Lucy came by with our dinner. We had 2 different kinds of dishes, beef and potatoes and beans and pork. Lucy had dinner with us.
After dinner Mr. Xu showed up. He could not get to the cashier’s office so he will try to get the information tomorrow. He needs to check on the exact amount of Hugh’s last paycheck. We found out that Mr. Xu was involved in an accident in 1996. His girlfriend too. His girlfriend was riding pillion on that day. A truck coming from the opposite way hit them. The truck was overtaking another vehicle and in trying to do that it collided with Mr. Xu’s motorcycle. Mr. Xu remembers flying through the air and landing on the pavement. His helmet was cracked and that probably saved him from more serious injuries. He sustained lacerations and bruises on his face, torso and down one side of his leg. He spent one month in hospital and had to recuperate for the whole winter semester at home. He had 2 stitches on his ear that got torn as a result of the accident.
His girlfriend landed on her behind and was dragged by the motorcycle for a distance of a few yards. She sustained injuries to her right ear that needed 38 stitches. It was nearly torn from her face. She was not wearing a helmet. They were both lucky to have walked away from that accident.
As a result of that accident Mr. Xu’s mother would not allow Mr. Xu to ride on the motorcycle again.
Mr. Xu told us that next semester the enrollment of the school has increased from 3,800 last year to 5,400 this year. The school does not have enough dorm rooms to accommodate all these new students. As a result the school have been forced to seek alternative living arrangements. They are intending to rent rooms from the local residents but have found out that the people are asking too much to rent out their rooms.
Mr. Xu has planned to take us downtown tomorrow to visit Mr. Yang. Mr. Yang wants us to look at his antiques. After that we are going to the night market to have dinner together. We will be taking Lucy with us.
It has been confirmed. We are leaving Xinyang on Wednesday morning between 10:00a.m to 11:00a.m.
7-2-99
@9:35a.m.
It is a Friday morning. When I woke up Lucy was outside waiting to use the other room. I unlocked the door for her.
She told us this morning that Linda does not want to be part of the tutoring group. Ginger and Charlie have not been around either. Both of them are downtown at Charlie’s house. Lucy has to contact Charlie soon because Hugh wants the group to remove all the posters, books and equipment out of our rooms before we leave. Hopefully by Monday at the latest. After that Hugh will be too busy.
Wendy came in the afternoon. Hugh wanted to show her how to make gesso. They crushed up some white chalk and added egg yokes to it. This concoction was mixed together. This is Hugh’s homemade gesso. They painted the gesso on one of the canvas. After it had dried Hugh drew Mahala and her friend on it. Then Hugh painted the drawing. They stopped painting at 4:40p.m.
Hugh then walked over to the English department to pick up his exam papers but it was not ready yet. Mr. Lu told Hugh that he will get it tomorrow.
At 6:00p.m. Mr. Xu and Mr. Yang arrived. All of us including Lucy took a taxi to Mr. Yang’s house across the Sher Her River. His home is a 2-storey structure with a cement courtyard and plants in pots. It was not occupied because Mr. Yang’s family preferred to live in the other house at the Xinyang Teachers’ Training College. He led us upstairs to his room. There was not much in terms of furniture. I saw a desk, a chair and a bed that was elevated a couple of inches off the ground. Mr. Yang sometimes spends his nights there. He took us through another door and there were 3 huge glass cases in there. Two of them were full of books and the other one had the artifacts.
Mr. Yang unlocked the cabinet and took out pieces of jade, porcelain, pieces of silk, vases, old smoking pipes, ink wells and tools. Most of them were old. Some pieces dated back 3,000years. He showed us a piece of jade that was purported to be 1,000 years old. There was a head of a statue. It was of the Lord Buddha. Hugh could see the mark where the head had been hacked off from the body. It happened during the Cultural Revolution. Mr. Yang had obviously bought it of someone though he was not telling from whom. That piece is real old. There were also 2 old grindstones on the floor. Those must have been heavy. Before we left Mr. Yang wanted to give Mahala a piece of jade. He said it was meant for a child and he wanted her to have it. It was nice of him but we simply could not accept such an expensive piece of jewelry for Mahala. It was part of his collection. Hugh told Mr. Yang to keep it.
We decided to walk to the Sher Her River. Hugh decided to take some photos along the way. We saw cormorants sitting on the boats, ladies doing their laundry in the river and egrets feeding. We walked across a bridge and on the other side we hailed a taxi to take us to the night market downtown.
Mr. Xu ordered a lot of food. There was sausages with beans; fried bean curd noodles; tripe cooked with peppers; fried eggplant; beef with pepper; fish with bean curd noodles; pork on skewers and chicken wings. It was all washed down with bottles of Ji Gong Sheng beer. I had to buy 3 soda pops for Lucy Mahala and myself. Most of the vendors sold cooked food. There were tables and chairs laid out on the both sides of the street on the sidewalk. There were people eating and drinking the local beer. Even the women were doing it. The men were playing a kind finger game where the loser has to finish his beer in one shot.
By the time we were ready to leave Hugh was pretty drunk. So were Mr. Xu and Mr. Yang. Mr. Xu got us a taxi. That was when Hugh decided to get each of the ladies a rose. He bought 3 red roses from a woman and was charged 3yuan per rose. He gave the lady a 10yuan note but did not get his change back.
Mr. Xu told Hugh that he will be on duty over the weekend and that Mr. Zhao was up to some funny business. He was not too specific neither did he elaborate as the taxi was at that point driving away. We only had time to say goodbye.
7-3-99
@10:07a.m.
Hugh had a restless night. He woke up once in the middle of the night. I did too. We were both thirsty. At 7:30a.m. Hugh woke me up. He had hot water in the tub and wanted me to go take a bath. Mahala woke up at 8:00a.m.
Mr. Liu came by at 10:00a.m. He had the exam papers with him. After he left I walked out with Lucy. She is taking me to the copy shop that charges less than the one in the hotel lobby. I need to copy the vocabulary papers for Hugh. He is going to attach that to the finals for the Grade 3 students. The owner of the photostat shop charged me 25mao per copy. The total came to 40yuan. Lucy helped to negotiate the price.
When Mr. Xu came by at 11:30a.m. Hugh questioned him about Mr. Zhao. Mr. Xu told us that Mr. Zhao preferred that the school did not pay for the soft sleepers and for the hotel bills. He also did not want Mr. Xu to take us to Shanghai. He has also said that Hugh is allowed only a week’s salary for July rather than the 2 weeks. We told Mr. Xu that if it is going to be that way we can pay for ourselves all the expenses incurred on the way out. And if he cannot accompany us to Shanghai then we will have to manage the best we can. It will be difficult without a translator and Mahala will not be too thrilled with that idea. Mr. Xu again reassured us that he definitely will accompany us to Shanghai. He is coming again this afternoon and tell us the final arrangements and also hopefully the decisions about our train fares, hotel bills and the total amount of Hugh’s final paycheck.
At 3:30p.m.Mr. Zhao knocked on our door. Hugh wanted to know what we can do for him. Mr. Zhao just smiled and told us he wanted to pay us a visit. That was when Hugh chewed Mr. Zhao out about the financial side of the travel arrangements. Mr. Zhao walked out and did not say anything to Hugh. After Mr. Zhao left I told Hugh I felt nervous when Hugh confronted Mr. Zhao. Not that he did not deserve it but it just makes Mahala and I more nervous when we have to see it. It makes me feel more insecure than I already am. I hope that Mr. Zhao just stay away.
Elton came at 6:00p.m. He had bought sausages and told us that Linda, Apollo and Jenny are coming with more food. They bought chickens. Lucy came with "ji dan koa" and wafers. I cooked up a pot of rice for the students. Mark came by and the group invited him to share dinner with us.
Mr. Xu came after the students had left and told Hugh that Mr. Zhao was very angry. He was here this afternoon because the President of the Foreign Affairs Office wanted to invite us out to a formal dinner. Hugh told Mr. Xu to convey his regrets to the President. We felt we would not be happy or sincere in our actions if we chose to go. All we want is to leave this place. We do not need a farewell dinner.
7-4-99
@7:38a.m.
I woke up early this morning. I could see a female student sitting outside on the cement stool. She was reading and had her back turned towards our door. I walked out to the yard and there was a male student sitting outside on the stoop of the spare room. He was reading out loud in Chinese. He is lucky our air-conditioner was on otherwise Hugh would have heard him and chased him off.
The 8:00a.m. bell just rang. Even though it is a Sunday there are some students sitting for their exams today. Saturday was just the same.
At 8:30a.m. Lucy came with Jack. She has found a room to rent and she is sharing that room with her country fellow Linda from Class 1. Lucy’s share of the room will come to 335yuan. Jack came to help her move the books for the tutoring center. Jack had his tricycle with him so we loaded it up with the stuff that we were going to give to Lucy. There were pillows, quilts, cooking utensils and cutlery. She is storing all the stuff at Jack’s place. Lucy came back again and helped Hugh with the names of the students from the Grade 1, Class 1 and 2. She left to make a phone call back home.
When Lucy came back again she told us that her mother is really sick. She is bleeding and the doctor has told her that if the bleeding continues she will need to be hospitalized. The doctor wants the mother to have surgery to remove the gallstones but she is afraid. Besides the family does not have the money necessary for the operation. It will cost over 2,000yuan. Lucy is worried and is thinking of going home after the exams. If her mother’s condition does not improve then Lucy will stay home for the summer. That means that she will not be teaching here. What happens to the library books then? Who will be in charge of it then?
After lunch Mark and Henry bought us a watermelon. Lucy was here then. I cut half of the watermelon and shared it with the students. I have the other half in the refrigerator. I intend to give it to Mark when he leaves. Hugh, Mahala and I do not like watermelon.
At 4:00p.m. May came. She had some questions to ask Hugh. It was about their final exams. May did not stay long. Hugh asked her to pass a message to Elton. Ask him to come here.
Elton came at 5:00p.m. Hugh gave him a baseball bat and some balls. I gave him one of the hammocks I had bought. Lucy knocked on our door at 5:30p.m. She wants us to go to Jack’s place at 6:00p.m. Jack is cooking dinner for us. She invited Elton to come too.
At 6:00p.m. we walked over to Jack’s. The dinner was good. Lucy had cooked up some of the rice I gave her in the electric cooker. Jack had cooked up beans and pork; fried eggs and pepper and a bowl of soup. After dinner Jack and his brother wanted to have their pictures taken with us.
While walking back to the hotel both Hugh and I discovered that we had both forgotten our keys. We were locked out. Hugh had to remove the air conditioner unit from the wall, then crawled through the space and unlocked the door from the inside. By the time he was through Hugh was covered in dirt. Thank goodness Elton was here too. He helped us lift the air conditioner unit back into the wall.
Elton and Lucy stayed and talked with us for an hour. I told Lucy she can have the other hammock. I have noticed that Jack has some words tattooed on his wrist and I was curious what it meant. I have seen women with similar tattoos on their wrist too. So I asked Lucy what those words meant. She told me Jack had those words tattooed on him when he was 14 years old. The words mean "Happiness and Strength". Jack is also giving up his business. He is tired of doing it and wants to go into something else. He is thinking of going into the transportation business during the holidays. His job will be to transport bricks to construction sites here in Xinyang. Jack’s brother is not interested in taking over the restaurant. Elton told us he would be back at 9:30p.m. to pick up his stuff. When he came back at the appointed time he asked if it was okay with us to use the bathroom next door. He wanted to wash his hair. We told him to check with Lucy. She is next door studying.
It is hot and humid even with the air conditioner on. The mosquitoes are out. We watched an American movie tonight. It was Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. The reception was poor but who cares, the movie is in English.
7-5-99
@6:49a.m.
We have 2 more days here. Hugh was up early. The heat and the mosquitoes bothered him. I woke up a few minutes after he did.
I walked out to the yard and swept up all the trash the children had left behind. That was at 5:50a.m. Even at that time there was a female student sitting on the cement stool studying. I think I drove her off when I started sweeping the yard.
It is 6:51a.m. Hugh is composing a letter to the foreign teachers who are coming here next semester. The contents of the letter warn them about a certain individual who is in charge of the Foreign Affairs Office.
At 8:30a.m. I walked out to buy breakfast. Most of the food hawkers have stopped business. Mahala and I bought 3 pieces of bread (I call it "roti plata") and an egg chow bin. I gave Lucy the egg chow bin.
Lucy asked Hugh if she could spend the night in the spare room. The school authorities are not checking the dorms so she will not get into trouble. It is fine with us. Right now Lucy is in there studying for her English exam.
The test will start at 3:30p.m. on the 3rd floor of the English department building. The students will use 2 classrooms. Hugh is taking a short nap right now. He needs it.
Earlier on one of the ladies who work in this hotel brought her pet rabbit to work. She let the rabbit roam outside the yard for a few minutes. I woke Mahala up to see it. The lady finally had to keep it away after the rabbit got to close to the edge of the embankment.
The last few days the children have been digging up baby cicadas from the ground. The adult cicadas lay their eggs in the ground and it is about this time that the young appear. According to Lucy and Elton the young cicadas lay dormant in the ground for at least 6 months. Their life span out of the ground is only 2 months. The children look for holes the size of a dime in the ground. I think the hole acts like a breathing hole for the cicadas. They dig the cicadas up and because their wings are not fully formed yet the cicadas cannot fly away. It is helpless. This morning the children must have dug up over 20 cicadas and they had them in a plastic bag. Hey gave some to Mahala and I had her release them. Because they cannot fly they are sitting preys for the ants and birds. Mahala placed them on the tree trunks hoping that they can crawl away to a safe place up on the tree. Most of them fell off the trunks and were eaten by the ants. Some just stayed where they were placed. They will not survive. Some of the children would throw the cicadas up in the air thinking they would make them fly. How can I explain to them that the cicadas are still too young and their actions will only kill them? We can hear the cicadas. They are up in the trees in the yard.
A while back I asked May about her true and false boyfriends in Loyang and Zhengzhou. She has broken up with the guy from Loyang. His parents disapprove of her because she is a year older than he is and she is also from the country. This young man is from the city. The boyfriend from Zhengzhou is very nice to her. He is from her hometown. She has also broken up with Jason the guy from Xinyang Teachers’ College.
We were sitting outside this morning with Lucy when we saw one of the workers from the hotel come outside to the back yard. She was gutting and cleaning up a fish. She was the same lady who was on duty the night Hugh stormed upstairs to confront the noisemaker from the room above us. So with Lucy’s help Hugh asked the lady who was the guest staying in the room that night. She told us that it was a teacher from this school and that she does not know his name. Did he have a girl in the room that night? I heard a woman’s voice. She replied that the teacher did not have any woman with him but the voices we heard could have been the teacher’s daughter. She also told us that she reprimanded the teacher because he wanted to leave so late in the night. He had to wake her up so that she could unlock the door of the hotel. She told Hugh that the individual is a good man. Hugh than made a remark "he might be a good man, but he is not a real man" because he dare not confront us but rather ran off. Hugh told her that he did not believe her story and that he is certain she is not telling the whole truth.
We walked with Hugh to the English department at 3:30p.m. The intensive reading classes are having their finals. It is being held in 2 rooms across the hall from each other. Hugh had 3 other teachers helping him. Even with the fans on it was hot in those 2 rooms. We walked back to the rooms at 5:25p.m. We saw a number of students walking back from the exam. Most of them told me it was a hard test. Upon coming back to the hotel Hugh and I started sorting out the papers and began marking them.
At 7:00p.m. Mr. Xu came by to inform us of our travel arrangements. The school will pay for the hard sleeper and we will need to pay for the difference if we want the soft sleeper. We agreed to do that. We will leave here at 11:00a.m. on Wednesday for Wuhan. The take the connecting train from Wuhan to Shanghai. Mr. Xu’s girlfriend is coming with us. We asked Mr. Xu to invite her. That way Mr. Xu will not feel obliged to spend all his time with us. He can take her around the city and we can do our own things. Mr. Xu told us the cost of a hotel room in Shanghai. A room in a 3-star hotel will cost us 450yuan to 500yuan. So we will go with a 2-star hotel. Mr. Xu’s friends will pick us up in Shanghai.
We finished marking all the papers by 11:00p.m. tonight.
Blanket Copyright, Hugh M. Lewis, © 2005. Use of this text governed by fair use policy--permission to make copies of this text is granted for purposes of research and non-profit instruction only.
Last Updated: 03/08/05