9. Teaching in China
Here is another example of Chinese hospitality.
Alice arranged a birthday party for Lennie and I (his birthday is the day after mine). She invited some of her good friends and we went to a classy hotel/restaurant managed by another of her friends. The manager is a young woman who joined us for a time and proved a real livewire. Alice and her friends, who had never met us before, gave us birthday gifts. I received a wallet, a CD of Christmas music and a beautiful long scroll painting of a Han Dynasty river and market scene. It was a print of a very famous original. I was warmed by the generosity of these people to someone they had never met. Alan and his beautiful girlfriend also gave me a gift, a small vacuum flask. There are shops selling these everywhere. Alan is a very nice young man who was raised on a farm in
New South Wales. His girlfriend seems to have a lovely nature too.
The others went bowling and I walked back to the school. I wanted to rest for my Sunday excursion and have tired of the heavy drinking of some of my companions. They are happy in their cups but it is not my scene. I am determined to widen my circle of friends and acquaintances.
I am experimenting with listening to Chinese music. There are a lot of bad Western crossovers around but there are plenty of CDs of traditional instruments in traditional arrangements. I think I am not too far off the mark in calling this Chinese classical music. It is not homespun folk. This is very beautiful music and we ought to hear more of it in the Anglo world.…….Today I went to a large arcade of shops selling electrical and electronic goods. Two shops have a large selection of DVDs. I went into one of the smaller shops that sell DVD players and the person who came over to help me was the wife of the shop’s owner, and an English teacher. She wants to keep in touch and ask my advice on problems which arise in her understanding of English.
I tried to get a cab to the old city but they must have very defined territories as he looked bewildered by my request and eventually pulled over and ushered me to a bus stop where he pointed at a sign. I didn’t understand his gestures so gave up and just walked around the inner city area. This time I ventured into People’s Park, the central park and square of the city. Many people were strolling around, including a lot of parents and their brightly clad toddlers. There are three or four different children’s play attractions on the park, a thing like a “bouncy castle”, dodgems where they probably train for driving in Chinese traffic, and other things. A number of parents and children were using cloth whips to spin tops, something I haven’t seen in the Western world since my childhood.As I often do, I am writing this in an eating place. It has the surprising name of “The NIEC Joss Stick Becomes the Steak House”. It is next to the park and advertises a variety of cuisines including Western, and the magic word ‘coffee’ enticed me in. I am seated overlooking the park. I expected the prices to be high but they are good. I had a ‘steak’ (tenderised till it resembles a rissole) and egg, two rolls, soup, coffee, a thimble of something like Port, and a glass of sweet flavoured tea for under $6.00AU.
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