Yinchuan Part 3

Hello -

I don't have too much to say right now. Last Friday we went to the big city again. We needed to find a couple of DVDs that we can't get here in Guyuan. Luckily, we were successful in our pursuit.

The trip up was a little nicer this time - they have just finished the interstate, so all smooth sailing up to the provincial cap.

Pretty uneventful this time. Matt didn't get a haircut or anything. Hey, what do you expect? Can't expect a party every where we go. This may be our last trip to Yinchuan. It is a nice city to escape to every now and then. We did a little shopping for some special stone only really available there - from the Helen Shan range. Had some fun in one of the local stores. The man who owned the shop said that Americans were not good (was laughing when he said it), but then said that Koreans were very, very good. I guess we came out even in the end with him. At least my Korean status probably helped us in not getting ripped off too badly. Most of the business was conducted through his wife. For whatever reason, I feel that I am fleeced less by the women - they don't bullshit as much as the guys do.

We also went to Napoli's for a Chinese version of pizza - the closest thing we can get in the province. It is pretty good but the crust tastes kinda sweet and there is no sauce. At least there is a lot of cheese. It is also a buffet which is nice. Really good pasta salad (Chinese, but good). We met some other foreigners there. It was strange to see so many white people all in one place! Matt and I find ourselves staring at the white folk, just as much as the Chinese stare at him! When we catch ourselves doing it we always start to laugh. I must admit, it is kind of fun to look at the whiteys. I always want to point at them all yell, "foreigner!" Anyhow, so we wound up talking to a younger couple teaching at the Liupan Middle School. She is from the Milwaukee area and he is originally from around Memphis (I think) but they both went to school in Minnesota. They were nice - it is always fun to practice our English with foreigners as it is deteriorating, quickly). Later we found out that the Liupan school is the arch rival of our middle school. The other school gets a lot of its students from Guyuan. It is also a special school and new. I guess they are allowed to recruit students from the other middle schools. So what they do is go to Guyuan at before the academic year and telephone all of the top students and offer them special incentives to go to there school. Because the school that I work for doesn't have the same arrangement, they cannot do this kind of recruitment. So, Liupan steals a lot of the best students.

Anyhow, it is strange, I am losing my English to a certain extent, but I can't really communicate in Chinese at all. Kind of stuck between communication worlds. Kinda sucks. Right now I am at the point where I find myself forming sentences in my head, using about 3 different languages - when I can't find the word in one lang. I just use a different one. Poor confused kids.

What else is gong on... Oh, there is an English competition coming up and many of my students are competing. I have been trying to help them where I can, but I refuse to do the work for them. Pronunciation help, yes. Writing an essay, no. Matt mentioned that the board of education may invite us to be guest judges. I wouldn't mind going to cheer on my students, but I don't feel right about judging. The other middle schools do not have foreign teachers and have not had any help with the preparation for the contest. But, things like fairness and such don't always have a real bearing on how things are conducted here.

Anyhow, I think the contest in on the 1st or April - I'll let you know what happens. I guess that is all for now. Ta-ta!