(Sandy)
Let me begin by saying that each day is filled with new adventures and often we are not made fully aware of exactly what they may be until we arrive at "the sight". It is my belief that our hosts know the daily plan so we all just go with the flow. Sometimes, for me anyway, the plan includes being passed off to the next family in the middle of the day. I am forgetting how to think for myself and how to organize a day. We are sooo busy, that I have had no time to sketch...thank goodness for cameras. The hospitality and friendliness is "over-the -top". We are all thinking that it may be difficult to return to reality after being treated like royalty for two months!
This morning's CCTV9 news station had an interesting piece about Chinese weddings. There was a huge wedding expo held in Shanghai and it appears that weddings no longer reflect those of just thirty years ago when one black & white photo and a ring were the necessities. Now, weddings can cost between 80,000 and 100,000 yuan and bring in 2.5 per cent of the GNP of China. Each year for the last two years, over 10,000,000 registered to get married. During the course of our stay here, we have seen many couples getting their pre-wedding photos taken at some of the picturesque places we've visited. The pre-wedding photos are quite a production with the future bride and groom dressing in many different oufits and posing for what could be a Style or GQ magazine cover...some actually quite provocative!
As I was heading for my morning pick-up at the school's front gate, there were as usual, many many orange-clad workers using their long bamboo tongs to pick up rubbish and to keep the streets free of any unsightly refuse. Sometimes, they are hooded, masked and gloved and resemble a neon Darth Vader! They work hard and do a great job!
Boy have we had some unusual dishes while in Hangzhou and for the most part at least a few of us have tried everything. I definitely have my "never-try- again" list but am glad that we were offered turtle meat and shell, duck tongue, jellyfish, chicken feet, teeny little fish that look like a 2-inch portion of a round shoelace and a variety of vegetables that I have not seen before. My personal favorite food is the sweetened lotus root, bamboo shoots in all it's forms, and a clear gelatinous soup with dropped egg and tiny sweet marble-sized bean-paste filled dumplings...often used as a dessert.
I was asked to participate in the school's noon-time student-run radio broadcast. It was a lot of fun and the girls who run it are quite professional. One in particular wants to be news commentator an I believe that she will succeed. She reminds me of Katie Couric. I was asked to speak about DS, my family, my favorite Chinese foods and....why I think art is important!!! Those of you who know me can imagine my impassioned delight to have to speak about that subject. After they restled the microphone out of my hand...(just kidding)...! I referred them to the Internet, to Eliot Eisner and the Ten Things that the Arts Teach...it was all very interesting. This Friday, I believe Alaina will join me for another radio interview.
Lauren and I and her host family visited the Tie Sha River area...a man-made canal at the sight of the old East Gate of old Hangzhou. There is a replica of the gate that also houses a small museum exhibiting a variety of items from that era as well as the original base structure. The Mom is a history teacher, so there was an abundance of information being disseminated with great energy. The Tie Sha River connects Beijing with Hangzhou and was used by the emporer to visit Hangzhou during the spring and to oversee the planting. We also climbed Jade Emperor Mountain (a guzzillion more stairs) which is the highest peak in Hangzhou and offers a great view of West Lake and the eight-sided planting fields that the emporer visited. We walked all around it and through the gently curved walkway that divides the yin/yang tree-filled design in the center of the fields. The locals and tourists enjoy the park and fields...some future brides and grooms were having their photos taken there...and some children were playing ball over a large replica of the "farming calendar" invented by Wang Zhen in 1313.
We also visited the pottery and kiln museums that displayed the ancient processes as well as both original and contemporary pottery made only in Hangzhou...the Southern Song Dynasty Guan Pottery. Because Jade was and is still admired, the potters attempt to replicate the beauty and characteristics of jade in the pottery glaze. I will end as I began...everyday there are new and wonderful adventures to experience!
Best, Sandy
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