A Few Fun Facts About Luzhou:

(Although I've been a very negligent blogger lately, I've had a good reason--life has been busy here!)

I recently discovered that Luzhou is home to a population of 4 million. This means I seriously erred in giving my Dad the estimate that Luzhou was comparable in size to Rochester. The entire metropolitan area of Minneapolis has 2.9 million people, so I received a whole new perspective on the city when I learned the latest stat. Though, in relative terms, the Luzhou-Rochester comparison is maybe valid, in that Luzhou is really considered a small-to-medium size city. It is growing every day, however, as Chinese flock from the countryside to cities all over Western China.

This last week has also provided me with increased chances to orient myself in the city, so I now have a much better understanding of where I am at a given time. My PCV friend Ian visited me from Neijiang (a closely neighboring city) last weekend and I was a pretty sorry tour guide. After that I resolved to dedicate myself to knowing all the local destinations, and by the time any of you arrive, I should know this city like the palm of my hand...

After being awoken at 4 AM this morning by a massive round of firecrackers echoing around the mountainside, I asked my friend Xiang Bing just what exactly that could have been. I thought maybe it had something to do with National Day (see below)? In fact, a tradition exists here where firecrackers are lit off to commemorate a birthday or a death. So at 4 AM today, perhaps someone was either born or died, and our entire side of the mountian knew it. I thought that was cool.

This afternoon, on my way home from lunch after my first Chinese haircut (a success, I think), I encountered my first Westerner on the street in Luzhou. And it turns out that I was again incorrect in my assumption: there are actually 15 foreign teachers in Luzhou, from all over the world. The man I met, Geoff, is from Australia and is on a year-long contract with a school of foreign language in the city. He was quite jolly, and we exchanged phone numbers. So that was interesting.

I made my debut at English Corner last night. English Corner is a phenomenon that is common throughout Asian countries, I believe, where students get together to speak English together. I had thought there was more structure to the format, but it is indeed just students sitting around, talking about what they did that day, what their favorite food is, etc. The Luzhou English Corner is located on the campus of my school, in a garden near the gate. It happens once a week, in the evenings and apparently sometimes lasting until 11 pm. This all changes with the presence of a native speaker (me), however. As soon as I arrived, I was the center of a large group. I was seated and most of the people just stood in a large circle around me in the dark. It is somewhat reminiscent of being subjected to interrogation. A sampling of the questions: What is college like in America? Do American students smoke drugs? Do you like spicy food? What do you think about the Chinese education system? Do you like China? What do you think about Michael Jackson? People say Elvis lives, do you believe that? Do you like spicy food? And so on. At ten pm, I begged leave, as I was truly exhausted by my full Thursday of classes. I think I'll only be able to bear one English Corner a month.

Starting today, I have an early-term vacation. October 1st is China's National Day, commemorating the day in 1949 that the People's Republic of China was founded. Then to celebrate, mostly everyone has a week off of work. Imagine that--wouldn't it be nice if July 4th lasted all week? From the locals I've spoken with, it sounds like it is a pretty low-key holiday. Some of my students will go home, others will stay on campus. Some will study intensely the whole week (but probably not the English majors..), and everyone will go shopping. Tomorrow is evidently similar to the US' day after Thanksgiving extravaganza--huge sales and huge crowds at the stores. While crowds, especially here, aren't my favorite thing, I do actually have some shopping to do. Plus I suppose I should see what it is like, from a sociological perspective. However, I'm using a little "strategery" of my own: I'm going to hit the shops at noon, and beat a retreat back home at 2:30, so as to capitalize on the highly honored lunch/rest portion of the day. We'll see how it goes, wish me luck.

I'll buy a battery charger for my camera tomorrow, then one of my goals for the next week is to turn a photojournalist's eye to my surroundings. Look for pictures to follow. So, until next time...