Field Trip

This actually happened on Monday of this week, but here I am getting around to officially reporting on it. It seemed like a long time ago, but it has only been a few days, this time-shifting a theme likely to be repeated one way or the other, I bet.

Xi'an is full of official things to see, being an ancient capital and all, and one idea Y and I had was to take the kids to the Big Wild Goose pagoda (not to be confused with the little wild goose pagoda, which also exists). Turns out, about half of our kids had been with their host families, so we decided instead to go as a group to the Shaanxi provincial museum. I'd been there in '04, but also really wanted to go again. The Friday before we left, we'd asked one of the school officials to check on the opening times and Monday hours specifically.

Monday, we all piled into a school van and headed off to the museum. We got there, and it appeared that it wasn't open yet. There were groups of people standing outside the mechanized gate and the guard was standing inside the gate looking at every one. Y got out of the van and determined that opening time was 9:30. At 9:30, the guard stepped into a doorway and brought out a sign that said "Museum closed for repairs". With that, he turned on his heel and went away.

Bell broken please knock. Don't nobody get to see the wizard, not nobody, not nohow.

This is actually typical of China -- we saw things like this all the time last time. The person on the phone had answered our host's questions, but didn't tell her that the museum was closed the next business day, Monday. The guard knew the museum was closed, but waited until opening time to tell all the people in the drizzle about it. So, now what? Our plan was to go to the museum then into the center of town to the Muslim Quarter for lunch and shopping. We decided to just go downtown. But our driver was only supposed to take us to the museum, and refused to drive us downtown, so we had to figure out own own transportation. We walked for about 15 minutes to a main street and hailed three cabs.

The cabs did not come in rapid succession, so saying something to the drivers like, "Follow that cab!" wouldn't work, like it does in the movies, so the kids gave the drivers the name of the main tourist street in the Muslim quarter. Y and I were in the last cab, and once we were dropped off, found half of the kids easily. Apparently, the other half had been dropped off in a slightly different location. I went with a couple of the girls in search of them and found them in a McDonald's! We were all reunited in not too long a time and we sat in the land of golden arches and figured out what to do next. We decided to take the money we would have used for a group lunch and divvy it up among everyone, let people go off on their own, and gave a time to meet later that afternoon.

The fact that Y and I decided to do this without hesitation is really a comment on these kids. Neither Y or I are particularly permissive, boundary-less people or teachers, but time and time again, these kids have proven their ability to be sensible. And some of them had gone out to different parts of the city with their host brothers and sisters anyway. So we let them go with the stipulation that they stay with at least one other person. Y and I decided to split up too, figuring we could take adult privilege and break the buddy rule, I guess.

I wandered the bazaar and bought a few gifts. I had already been in the bazaar earlier in the trip, but there were a few things I still wanted to get. Bargaining is a curious process. People suggest a price, and I automatically counter with a another about one half as large. They counter, I counter, and in the end I decide if I want to pay the amount it is going to equal in American money. Sometimes, I have walked away when they refused to meet my final price and they say "OK OK". Some non-Chinese folks make a huge game out of haggling and I think it is embarrassing. I do not discuss my purchases with many Americans here because it turns into this contest about how little you can pay. I hate contests like that and I also know that in terms of my own income, I can afford to pay what I do pay, and I am getting a lower price than I would pay at home. Why be mean to the Chinese people about it? It is true that local folks assume I have a lot of money and they sometimes suggest ridiculously high prices for things. So I have to counter with another price. It doesn't always feel good because they are trying to get as much money as they can out of me, and this feels slightly sketchy. I am not a great shopper, but I don't need a lot of this stuff anyway. I also have a space issue in my suitcase and in my house when I get home. I tried to be very careful about what I did purchase. You could knick knack yourself to death. Something else to collect dust or for the cats to knock over.

I had a lot of fun on the street full of restaurants. I brought my video camera with me instead of the still camera and took some footage of all the outdoor cooking and various vehicles. I ate in a small restaurant that was managed by a beautiful but curt Muslim woman in a lovely outfit. Her workers only smiled when she stepped away from the stand to buy fresh vegetables for the restaurant. I ate noodles with spicy sauce and dumplings. I tried to be very careful in shooting pictures in that area as it was clear that many women in particular did not want to have their pictures taken. I was shooting generally and tried not to aim the camera at anyone in particular. In the food area, there were no signs for amounts, so I had to say what I wanted, then ask how much. My lunch cost me 7 yuen, or a little more than a dollar. There were many carts with vegetables and fresh and dried fruits for sale, and again, no signs for amounts. I think this was another case of where the proprietor would set a price depending upon who his customers were. As you walked further and further down the street, you saw only locals. The Muslim quarter is off one of the main touristy sections of Xi'an, but many people don't make it past the big restaurants on the square and down the side streets very far.

I also walked around the big square there. When I was here in 2004, the square was there of course, but it wasn't as polished up. This is a theme for what i have been seeing of the tourist spots in China. (The same was true of the Terra Cotta Warrior complex -- very spiffed up in the last few years.) Underneath the street in the center of Xi'an, there is a subterranean pedestrian concourse connecting the drum and bell towers and the hotels and restaurants that line the giant traffic circle. I walked through this and popped out of one exit to find a huge mall. In 2004, this same building was a very basic 2 floor department store. Now it had 7 floors with an internal atrium and there was a trick bicycle exhibition going on inside. The store sold familiar and unfamiliar brand names. One shoe company was called Senda Woman -- the bags and shoes just had a logo that said Senda. There was another shoe company called Love Cat. I don't know if this was an adjective/noun combination or an imperative.

As we thought, the kids came back at the appointed time -- we rendezvoused at the McDonald's again. A couple of them had bought knapsacks and T shirts with Chairman Mao and communist logos on them. Many had also picked up stuff for friends and family back home. It was sweet how excited they were about the things they had bought for other people. We divided kids up into groups based on the location of their host families' apartments and hailed cabs again.

Y and I rode back to school alone -- she in the front speaking rapid Chinese to the driver. I sat in the back and watched Xi'an go by. Another good day.