Apparently they were having a performance. Slowly, the other kids who normally stay at the dorm all day long started arriving as well, so that eventually all of the kids in the program were all at the school. A cameraman with a fancy video camera arrived and began taking footage of the kids who first sang the songs we had heard before to the drums and tambourines with the kids from the dorm holding hands and walking around the school kids in a circle. Then, the kids began rehearsing and then performing for the cameraman something we had never even seen before. It was some kind of play set to music. "Jackie Chan" (Liu De Xia) starred as some kind of red bird with a cape over his head and shoulders and the others wore panda, bird and elephant hats on their heads. The music teacher held a huge book which contained what I think was the play script and basically read the whole thing as it looked like the kids had not really rehearsed it thoroughly before or at least did not remember it. Needless to say, the cameraman continued filming and a huge crowd of grandparents and babies and some local salespeople gathered to watch. The kids who normally would have been staying at the dorm also sat on chairs on the side watching the chaotic performance. When the performance was over the kids had lunch and we went to our normal hang-out at the coffee shop during the nap time. Afterwards, we heard that some of the teachers were planning on taking the kids to the park. We followed the lady who originally planned the trip to the supermarket the week before (and who did not know the way there either) and sure enough we got lost at this little pagoda near where we take the road back to our hotel. Eventually, the music teacher/director arrived on her little scooter and brought us to another place (still not a park) under an overpass. There were people selling watermelons and cherries, the two fruits that seem to be most abundant out of the backs of trucks and out of baskets attached to bicycles. There were some salespeople selling little colorful birds in small cages. And there was a group of older, retired people spending their afternoon playing big red drums like the ones at the school. Naturally, the kids wanted to join in and the people gladly played with them and let the kids play on their drums. What is interesting is I find that here, people are very friendly to the kids. Sometimes, the kids will salute policemen or guards near buildings and the policemen will be very kind back. The same thing happens on the street with storeowners and pretty much everywhere we go. So, at any rate, even though we did not end up at the park, the kids still had a very good day. We walked them back to the dorms and some of them back to the school and then headed to the hotel.
That night many of us desperately needed to do laundry but there was really no set up for us at the hotel and for days we had searched for laundromats only to find out that each one we located was only a laundromat who charged roughly 1 or 2 USD for each piece of clothing (socks counted as one piece each). The problem is that there are no real laundromats because most people obviously have their own washers and dry their clothes on clotheslines to dry. It is very rare to see a dryer. For those people who don't have washers, most of the clothing is just washed by hand and, if for example, people were to take a trip like us, they would be used to doing their clothes by hand. Eventually, William and Charles, two university students who are practicing their English and who work for David and help us if we need help on things, offered to let us wash clothes in their dorm washers. So on Monday night we all made the trek to their university (near where we walk to the dorms for the special needs center). It was pouring down rain the whole way and very dark. We made it to the dorm where there were only four washers (and thankfully, all were open even though it was a huge dorm). Jeff went to wash his clothes at Charles' dorm. We waited an hour and once the clothes were washed, I packed tons of wet clothes into my backpack and into my laundry bag and we walked to the nearest bus station and made it back to the hotel, soaked with a bunch of soaked clothes. Most Chinese people have places outside to hang their clothes and if there is no room outside, they have clothes lines on their ceilings. They then open the windows to let the clothes dry. We had neither a place outside nor a clothesline, so our clothes had to be draped on the bed and chairs and lamps and the shower curtain rod. It took several days for mine to dry but it was definitely an experience.
On Tuesday, there was still not very good communication and we got increasingly frustrated. It just seemed like we weren't being told what was going on on purpose and what resulted was us just sitting around, sometimes playing games, sometimes watching the kids do things, just waiting for the time to pass until lunch time and then again until 4:30 or 5:00 when we left to go back to the hotel. There is not a lot to do, though since we didn't have a lot of control over the situation. Even Sherry felt like they did not tell her things even though they knew she could speak Chinese. So, we just decided to make the most of our situation and do what we could. I played badminton and basketball with Li Jiang, Wang Xia Hen (which sounds a lot like Wang Zi Hao) and Jackie. We helped them draw pictures and had short little conversations through the language barrier. On one morning, the female teacher had all the students circle up and talk about what they did during the weekend. They had all of us stand up as well. In as much Chinese as I could, I told the kids about our weekend to see the terra cotta warriors and the rest of Xi'an. I am not sure if they understood it, but they clapped. At some other point, one of the teachers led the kids in a discussion talking about what they wanted to do when they grew up. Zhou Ming (who is already in his 20's, the one who calls me Mei Lao) said that he wanted to be a bus driver and everyone laughed, which was sad.
When we were at the dorm we still spent time walking the kids around the outside courtyard and around the room, playing ball and keep-the-balloon-up and also watching movies and listening to music.
On one of the many days this week, we were introduced to the music teacher's son who occasionally shows up for the program, but not always. He is very skittish and also very uncomfortable to be around. He seems kind of unstable and also seems to like to be around the girls. He walks around saluting people and acting very silly and also continually saying "Ni Hao" (hello) and "Xiexie" (thank you). He also calls me Gege (older brother) over and over. One of the days, when we were leaving he came running after us even though we were way down the street. He told Sherry that she did not tell him goodbye and so we all said goodbye but then he said he wanted a kiss. And he gave a huge kiss to Lisa and Sherry. He just shook my hand (and they both told me I was really lucky). Then he wanted kisses back. They both got really uncomfortable and told him we needed to leave. And Sherry faked a kiss which he believed and we were on our way. It is interesting how there are two sides to every coin though. Even though he has so many problems and he makes people really uncomfortable so that they err on the side of being aggressive and telling him to go away, he is obviously really talented despite all of his problems. On the days when there were either performances or rehearsals for the Children's Day performance, he practiced his piano. He was able to play many classical pieces I have heard from memory really really well. He is pictured below.
On Wednesday during nap time, Lisa and Sherry and I decided to test our directional skills and walk back to the supermarket we had walked to with the kids the week before and to this really huge intersection we had passed with four way overhead pedestrian walkways. We made it and made our way back again. This is pictured as well. We also passed by a small temple, the same one I had seen before on the way back from the supermarket, in the middle of a construction zone with tons of skyscrapers in the background. Here, the traditional and the contemporary are mixed together everywhere.
Even though the last three days had been kind of frustrating because of the lack of communication with us on the part of the teachers, we all knew that we wanted to reverse this trend for Thursday. For one this would be our last day working all together as I was leaving early Friday to fly to Wuhan to see a friend and Sherry and Lisa's last day of work was Friday and they would both be leaving Sunday (Sherry was staying in town with her parents for a few days but would be busy touring). We also wanted to just prove to ourselves that we could come with a plan and make ourselves useful. So, we decided that in the morning we would take at least the school kids to William and Charles' university which had many basketball, badminton, tennis and ping pong courts and a huge soccer field and a running track. We brought sidewalk chalk and treats for the afternoon. Sure enough, when we got there in the morning, we found out that we couldn't take them to the university in the morning because there would be another performance. We could, however, take them to the university in the afternoon. We walked the school kids to the school and watched them rehearse for a few hours. We helped them practice, clapping and moving with them to the songs we have heard so many times. Eventually a large group of nicely dressed people, maybe from a wealthier, corporate family, arrived with lots of bags of rice and jugs of oil and other food including tons of snacks. They had several personal photographers and videographers who were constantly snapping shots of them with the children. The kids put on several songs for them and the music teacher's son played several songs. They asked Lisa and Sherry and I to get up and teach everyone, including the corporate people, how to do the chicken dance and so we did, linking arms with whoever these people were and dancing around and around in a circle. They then handed out snacks to all the kids and took a tour of the school. Wang Zi Hao filled his shirt with little candies and breaded snacks and looked very satisfied. Ya Qi (the girl who would always ask us for snacks) grabbed handfuls of the snacks and stuffed her face. And then, when someone asked her if she had gotten any, she said no and took some from another kid.
Eventually, the corporate people left and soon after, David arrived bringing Daniel Radcliffe, the founder of IVHQ (the organization who partners with David in order to arrange for international volunteers to come to Xi'an) who was in town for a few days from New Zealand inspecting the program with another IVHQ staff member, Claudia. We went to A Hui, a nice local restaurant with them for lunch and talked to Daniel about how the program was and the parts of it we enjoyed and the parts we found challenging. After lunch, we walked to the university (as it was then nap time) to make sure we knew how to get there from the school. We then walked back to the school to pick up the kids and take them to the university with the female teacher. The kids really enjoyed walking around and playing soccer and basketball with some of the students. Some locals helped the kids do sidewalk chalk and play ping pong. The kids really enjoyed it and were exhausted by the time we were ready to walk back. We rounded all of them up with some oreos and walked part of them to the school and the rest to the dorm.
When we got back to the hotel, we waited for everyone to get back from their sites and then went out to eat at a restaurant called Hot Pot, which is David's favorite. We sat at a big round table with little stove top type things at each place under the table cloth. At each of these was a little pot filled with broth and some simple vegetables. First, we all went to the front of the restaurant to pick out our sauces. There were about thirty options including some of the usual Chinese options at American Chinese restaurants, such as soy sauce, stir fry and teriyaki as well as some not so traditional options such as mushroom, pumpkin, raspberry and peanut. David, the program director here, told us to make our own combination of all the different kinds of sauces mixed all together. When we returned, each of our pots was boiling. A huge “lazy susan” in the center of the table was filled with raw beef and lamb, raw slices of pumpkin and potato, various types of mushrooms, yams, different lettuces, cauliflower, lotus root, and many different types of noodles made from rice, sweet potatoes, celery, eggplant and other vegetables, all different kinds of colors and textures. There were also huge shrimp, larger than any shrimp I have ever seen before. We took some ingredients and put them in our individual hot pots to cook. After each was done, we dipped it in our own sauce combination. It was pretty amazing. After everything was done, we drank our soup broth which was also really good.
After getting back to the hotel, we spent some time playing cards and talking and taking pictures. Since it was Sherry and Lisa’s last night, I told them goodbye and got ready to fly to Wuhan to see Karen early the next morning.
Circle time where everyone talked about their weekends. The woman on the right is one of the teachers.
Ding Hui, circle time on Monday.
Wang Zhen
Wang Zi Hao (aka Howie)
Lunch at the school
One of the books at the school was Shakespeare....in Chinese. This is Much Ado About Nothing.
Liu De Xia (Jackie) and Wang Zi Hao (Howie) at their practice for the Children's Day Performance
This is the Director's (of the special needs program) son who has graduated from the program but still comes to visit occasionally. At some points he seems very unstable, but during the practice for the Children's Day performance he sat down at the keyboard to practice and it was amazing to hear what he was able to perform from memory.
Bathrooms at the special needs school...and in much of China. And it's for sure not the worst option.
Maidanglao. This became our ice cream hang-out since it was so nearby while we were waiting for the long nap time at the school to finish up.
Visit to the park.
Massive intersection with four-way pedestrian overpass crosswalks. Lisa and Sherry and I saw this while helping to escort the kids to the supermarket and decided to walk back and look a little more.
A temple we stumbled upon with traditional Chinese architecture in the middle of a construction zone.
Liu De Xia and Wang Zi Hao
Wang Zhen cleaning up around the school without even having to be asked.
Xia Wei, Zhou Ming, Liu De Xia and I
Children's Day Performance at the school.
Children's Day picture with Sherry, Lisa and I and the small group of wealthy people who came to donate food and other things and who brought their own camera to come and document it.
Walking the more severely challenged students around in the apartment courtyard for their daily exercise and to allow them some time outside.
The kids doing sidewalk chalk during the outing we planned to Xidian University.
Xidian University where the students who provide support to us for IVHQ attend.
The massive series of basketball courts for the students at Xidian University.
Sherry and I.
Wang Zi Hao going through my pictures.
This happens every single day.
Ya Qi stuffing her face with treats that the corporate donors brought.
Just another day at the special needs center.
Daniel Radcliffe, director of IVHQ and Claudia, also IVHQ staff, happened to stop by one day to check out the center on a trip from the New Zealand headquarters to inspect the China program.
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