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What
we did on the weekend Dalian integrating technology blog at DAIS
integrating technology
grades K - 12 tofu
DragonBoat
Festivals, DiscoveryLand, B’day
Qu Yuan, Dragon
Boat Festival, Discovery Land, Duān wǔ jié, Chu
region, Tong li Gong Palace, zong zi, Dalian American International School, 大连发现王国
China surely
is the champion of what is and what is not and perceptions mashed together to
morph into possibly acceptable perceptions, but not really. Reality is a
mistaken illusion – it always has been; look at religion, personal-relationships
and politics and education…. Maybe it is best not to look to see but to look to
enjoy – surely not to look to ponder or philosophize, that would be akin to giving
accreditation to what is really all just for fun. Do not take what you perceive
to be real as truth, just enjoy. This is China – I tell myself that often –
just as I would tell myself that in those psychedelic moments of the 1960s, or
in my Tarot Card readings and mystical belief system of the 1970s and
astrological interpretations of events/thoughts/life for some 40 years before
waking up one day and saying ‘this is bullshit’. Perception is just how we colour reality in front of us. To me China and the 1960s
have similarity in their un-realness. The moment is just about fun, to enjoy,
to build memories for future moments when life returns to boring, which from my
experience it always does.
A week from
today school is over and we are preparing to travel to New York, Atlanta,
Malaysia, Australia but today is a holiday; Dragon Boat Festival. Duān wǔ jié happens
on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar
and believe it or not I did not get a pop up message on my phone, ipad, computer; not from Google Calendar – which boldly
proclaimed ‘you have no new events’ – surely it could have said ‘go back to bed
it is a holiday’ but no – no reminders or messages to tell me of this glorious event.
And to contribute to all those bloody fives I was wide awake at five AM demanding
of my unwilling mind to go back to sleep because this is a holiday.
According to Chinese custom folks race boats, eat Zongzi, and
drink wine – pretty much like an Aussie Barbie celebration for anything.
Then last night we were watching that
most stupid of series (that everyone else is ranting and raving about how it is
the best series of all time; what??!!!) ‘Game of Thrones’ and that idiotic
Southern California blonde chick started season two or is it three – it is so
mindless that I am always updating my web-pages during it and forget where in
the story we are – she goes and gives birth to dragons. Good golly how could
anyone like this? Narda says we should just watch it
for a while because everyone is ranting and raving that it is the best series
of all time and maybe at some point we may like it or at least understand what
is going on. She said that about Dexter too. All that blood. We watched the
whole bloody thing – to give realism to that Australian/Pommie
saying – but of course I was updating my web-pages during all of that but at
least it was easy to follow – just find a baddie and kill him.
From an email to staff at our school
about today from our Mandarin teacher:
‘This
Festival is to commemorate an upright minister called Qu
Yuan. He
was an excellent poet and literati as well in
300BC, the end of the Spring and Autumn Dynasty. To
protect the country, Qu Yuan advised many
suggestions to his emperor. While
the emperor was irritated and Qu Yuan was put
into a river and drowned. People were sad and took boats to
save Qu Yuan, and
meanwhile they wrapped zong zi
and throwed into river, avoidding fishes
eating Qu Yuan's body.
Until
today Chinese people retain the traditions. First zong
zi was made
by sticky rice only, and gradually zong zi has different types like meat inside, peanut inside. I like the very first
type-- with rice only--and dip
some sugar on it.’
When we were asked to sign up for a
celebration of all of this last Sunday we were informed that only 20 could go
and a bus would take us to the Tong li Gong Palace in Kaifaqu. Of course I was excited being the academic
tourist that I am. I quickly sent an email to reserve seats for Narda and I. I could barely
restrain myself from running down to her room to share this wonderful news that
not only had I registered for us to go but we were accepted on the bus that
would only take 20 of us most chosen to this glorious event. Well she was a bit
less than thrilled and wanted to know why I would want to go and hear some
children singing songs. Now perhaps I had a misconception as normally I do of
the reality of the event. Dragon Boat Festival? Well it
sounded really great to me. I had no idea it could be anything else. Narda said that the Tong
li Gong Palace was not a palace but was the women and children’s centre of Jinzhouixinqu. Damn! She
had taken a first grade class there to sing earlier in the year and it is where
the owner of Dalian American International School has a language school which
many of our teachers work at in their spare time – though being a teacher at
this school I am not sure when there is spare time.
At another time in my life I would have
been disappointed but at my age everything tends to be so unlike I thought it
would be at the start that I have become immune to concepts of disappointment. I
suppose I would be surprised if anything in my life turned out to be how I imagined
it to be at the start of the process of adventure that I had hurdled myself at
before crashing into a wall of reality.
The big day arrived – last Sunday, and
dragging a complaining Narda to the lobby to mingle
with the assumed 20 teachers who were quick enough to sign up before the bus
was full we were greeted by the other three teachers who signed up to go. We ended
up going in two cars instead of a bus load of chirping, happy, Dragon Festival
celebrating mates. I like the entrance to Tong li Gong Palace which of course
by now I had realized was not a palace but as all things in China are – just a
misconstrued notion of what a palace would be if it was a four floor office
building. And yes that is a huge construct of a mother and child on top of the
building – giving away any illusion that it could be anything else. Not sure
when angels arrived on the Chinese mindset but there they are, western looking
cherubs up there with a not very Chinese looking mother. Welcome to China where
we are not quite sure of our icons or what we should believe in.
And as luck would have it – there is a YouTube
clip of this wonderful event at http://youtu.be/KO8GHLMuKFQ
- another one of those ‘gone- viral’
extremely-sought-after video clips; wait that is my illusion – now three days
later – there has been one hit to it. I think that was me looking at it on
another computer. But to save my two or
three readers who no doubt have had a gut-full and have stopped reading by now,
the thrill or agony of watching yet another one of my five-hundred plus video
clips I will simply say yes some children sang, a grop
danced; but that is not all. We made zong zi – a sticky rice, bean paste, red date in banana
wrap thingy. However, I was a total failure and after being tutored by a
patient local gal with great wrapping skills who patiently showed me over and
over how to fold the stupid things quit – or I quit – here is a photo of me
trying this – of course the YouTube video at http://youtu.be/KO8GHLMuKFQ
shows this even better.
The other highlight – other being second
to me making zong zi,
was this traditional paint dude who we were told is famous. OK I have thousands
of web pages and more than five-hundred
videos on line – I bet he has not done that – anyway, all those pesky
planets I have in Leo constantly get in my story-line; this painter dude made a
great ink drawing. I think we are taking a course with him in the fall so that
will be groovy. He did this calligraphy & Chinese zither in about ten minutes.
You can see this in the video at http://youtu.be/KO8GHLMuKFQ.
To quote
some stuff from the program list of what we saw:
· Children poetry chanting: “the new san zi
jing” – always a thrill to watch
· Children game: ”ding ji dan” (hitting eggs with others – in this game children bash
each other’s boiled duck egg and the first egg to crack is the loser – good grief)
· Children folk dance: “Xiao a’ ge” (little
brother)
· Children folk game: Shooting “five poisonous animals” (actually
throwing darts at a dart board)
· Prize-awarding ceremonies – this is where the Zongzi making ladies were awarded for their making of Zongzi and unfortunately my instructor was in the third
place category which could give credence to my belief that it was not really my
fault for being such a dismal failure at making Zongzi
but that I lacked proper instruction.
It is two days ago, Monday that I started
off talking about but having woken at five AM – it is now after 8 and Narda is still happily sleeping the holiday away and I am
fading I drifted off about what today’s holiday actually was for – a dragon
boat festival but as we are on the sea and not on a proper lake or river there
are no races.
Monday, we, well Narda
did not go as elementary stayed at school and sang or rolled about or whatever
elementary children do, took the middle school and high school children to Discoveryland (大连发现王国). Discoveryland is our province’s
concept of what Disneyland would be if created by Chinese. Yes I have a YouTube
video at http://youtu.be/lOoeM46fwl0,
and yes I do a lot of work not only at school but at home for school – I just
fit in my own personal crap early in the morning or while watching riveting TV
shit-shows like Game of Thrones. This is my early morning holiday last posting
probably before flying off to New York next week.
We were doing one of those amazing race
races. I do not agree with children doing a learning project for hours before
having time to play on their own. They pay their own fee in to the amusement
park, 100 RMB (about $15 US) – which is cheap compared to the States and to
have to do work for hours is nuts. This year we teachers each had a station
with an exercise for the students to do – my event was to take a photo of a
one-perspective and a two-perspective line up of the children. We all have an advise group and I have 10 middle school children in mine. So
my advise group started off
at my station which was an OK place as it was beneath a building providing some
shade. After my event they draw a card to see where the next exercise is and go
off to that. The important part is that they work together and stay together
and do the exercise. Well after ten minutes two of my girls come back and want
to rent a scooter to go around from event to event. Of course I said no as one
of the rules is not to run to the next event or lost ten-points. We did not
make a rule that children could not rent a scooter to go from event to event
because who would allow such a thing? So the girls run off to the principal and
ask and he says yes they can so they do. That was the end of my advise group’s cohesion and after a couple of hours the
other children in my group came back and said they could not do the events
because they could not find the girls roaring around on their scooter so I dismissed
them and said go have fun.
Frank had it more difficult as his
station was on a bridge with no shade and there he stood for hours in the hot
sun.
As it is Dragon Boat festival week holiday
the place was crowded – not sure why we would go on a holiday and not a week
earlier but such is life. Lines to rides were four hours long instead of the
usual two. Only a few children went on a ride – for the most part they wandered
around in the afternoon and the ones I saw did not seem that happy. I took lots
of photos of our students as I do to put on the TV screen in the window of my
computer lab and to have footage for my twice weekly in-house TV show that I do
with my film class so I was entertained. My favourite part is their Discoveryland Parade. As tacky as any such thing would be
this is especially strange as they have mostly non-Chinese in the parade. Most of
the participants are youthful Russians. The Egyptian group consisted of very
camp males in their twenties dressed in gold skirts and gold plastic to look
like metal tops dancing as if they were the Village People doing WMCA. On top
of the floats were youthful females with few clothes on wiggling about.
Last Saturday was Narda’s
birthday – see the wonderful clip of this most timely of events at http://youtu.be/ik8Ms09Q-NY
Narda said she just wanted to gig for her birthday
so here at Campus village cafe at Dalian American International School that is
what she did
The best of living in Campus Village, assisted
living, as we call it is that our little community tags along together. Last night
we went out to the Discoveryland Hotel for beer and food
– the people are great – the ones we work with – the beer was what it is in
China but the food was crap. I struggled to find a vegetarian dish and that
ended up being tofu with fish – so that concept got lost in the translation. For
Narda’s birthday a dozen or so old people came to our
flat for din din – we made up a
good vegetarian lasagna and some other stuff. Everyone seemed happy – a few
murmurs about ‘oh no no meat’ but that is the way it
is in my kitchen. We went the three-floors down to Campus Café and Narda with the others were happy, sounding great and
entertained us and the other twenty – thirty folks. It was by far her birthday
in the past 13 years since we left Australia. Being early June – the problem
with Gemini – we have not been around her family in so long. But with our
community and with a microphone and good musicianship her birthday came to
life.
Life is good 
contact DALIAN CHINA ~ TOFU ~ PICTURE POEMS ~ Educational blogs updated August 15, 2013 Vietnam trekking.
Blog Index updated August 15, 2013 K - 12 technology (updated August 13, 2013). Travel Site (2013) updated August 14, 2013. Videos/Blogs on Youtube, Twitter, Wordpress, Photo albums. Updated 15 Second Street, Round Lake, New York and photos from parent's 1943 wedding as well as Leigh's page. Farmville page updated Thursday, March 17, 2011 5:58 PM neuage.org updated August 15, 2013 neuage.us updated August 15, 2013 Resume updated August 15, 2013
Blog updated / Integrating Technology Blog: terrell.neuage.us and/or neuage.me, neuage.info, neuage.mobi, livejournal, Serendipity, neuage.co, drupal-gardens
Today working on picture poem links starting around "better"). Picture poems are the digital format of work I did as a street artist in New Orleans in the 1970s, as well as New York City, Honolulu, San Francisco and Adelaide South Australia. Follow @neuage.
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