SMOKE!

21:23BST 7/23/08
MI LE - QINGLAI GAO ZHONG

remember how i said that i was in the middle of tobacco land and i wanted to learn more about it? well i did! today, walking back to my dorm around 15:30 michael g. (62YOA) shouts to me that we are all supposed to meet at the library at 17:00. okay? mike and i ended up going on this BA hike to a pagoda (more in a minute) and come back covered in clay to meet the heads of the school and program, dressed rather nice. venus, the programs main teacher liaison, tells us something about the big potato? we get in this black buick (clay covered shoes and all) and are carted off to this really nice part of town to a really nice restaurant. ive started to gauge the swank factor of a restaurant by whether or not it has a toilet and soap dispenser... check and check.

when we arrive (just a fraction of our group) we are told to sit and wait for the rest of the group and the big potato. okay? almost an hour goes by as the rest of the english teachers, school administrators, and finally, this big potato shows up. its a high level VIP of HongHe Group - tobacco conglomerate extraordinaire. we are each told to smoke one of the finest of their cigs. i was horrified when, after saying he didnt smoke, matt was told that he needed to take one to be polite. i was really conflicted, but not for long. I DONT SMOKE. the big potato (i later told venus that the phrase was big cheese) came to our table and told us a lot about the town of mi le, and also told us how his company fit into that structure. apparently a lot of the schools, roads and city projects are a direct result of honghe's involvement in the town. when he passed around a second pack of honghe's finest and all but one (the smoker) rejected, he said (translated) "if you dont smoke, dont start. but if no one here smokes, they cant tell me how to make a better product, which means we wont sell a lot and will not be able to fund schools." ... . :(. i wanted to take a shower. i know that when i come here and am treated with overwhelming hospitality, its not just because the people want to practice their english or have their kids practice - i feel like they really are excited to share their culture. this though? it really made me feel dirty. i still enjoyed the amazing array of food (including frog and pig liver), the yummy wine (before i taught class, lol), and the good company. but i really hated seeing top school officials being so close to someone like a tobacco company exec. maybe im just being narrow minded (and def biased), but i just really hate cigarettes.

this dinner adventure was but one tale in today's awesome story. i got up early enough to go running... and get chased by a big german shepard and some other large dog (at the same time... im pretty sure i was going to be mauled on the side of campus where no one would ever find me). all of a sudden, this scary ass grounds keeper lady came out of nowhere and ran after the dogs with a big garden spade. thank you qinglai for your insane groundskeeper to student ratio. :). i missed bfast but thats okay. today in class, we went over american holidays. even though i had to use a lot of chinese, i think the lesson in culture was worth it. afterwards, i went to the kids' team building exercise. they had to stand in a line facing the next person and then, keeping that formation, form a tight circle to sit down and then scoot around in a circle. it was pretty hysterical to watch.

after a subpar lunch, we all grabbed the bus (1 kuai, ahhhh yeah) to the city. robbo and i walked around and looked for stuff to buy. while i didnt find any of the tshirts i was looking for, i now know several places to buy a broom (like, 4 stores), where to find live snakes, frogs, and chickens (in this awesome side alley/market); and where not to find DVDs (on the street marked DVDs). this got boring quick to we grabbed a cab back to the school. i wasnt ready to call it quits, so mike and i decided to climb the mountainside to get to the pagoda.

overlooking qinglai is an AMAZING seven story cylindrical pagoda on the top of a hill. from what i understand, you can either walk off campus, around this mountain, and finally up this winding path to the pagoda. OR! you can brave the thicket, endure a small stretch of pretty hardcore steepness, and enjoy a quick fiver up the mountain. which do you think i chose? i know right? only the funny thing was that it had rained all day yesterday, so the ground, normally pleasant soft clay, was reeeeeallly slippery. for the first part of the climb, we were scrambling to plant our feet on a tree or root structure. throughout the rest, we just had to work to avoid the crazy spiders everywhere. the pagoda itself was AWESOME. at 214 steps, it offered a floor by floor panorama of the school and of mi le - all very beautiful. in the far distance is a HUGE golden budha. i think i would like to visit him tomorrow.

then dinner.

THEN! haha, i would say that i was near giddy off of the wine. i get back (30 min late - we were assured that our TAs were informed and would keep the class in line) to half of a class thats screaming and running around in the room. the other half? the TA? your guess is as good as mine. eventually, all was sorted out (my chinese works when it needs to), and we learned about foods today. they were really into it. i think i was finally able to engage two of the smartest girls in class. i think tomorrow we are all going to a hot spring, you must already know how i feel about that. only, all of this salty food in mi le is making me all puffy... i dont like it!

random sidenote and then bed. normally after night class, all the english teachers head to the library to get work done. i was so tired today that i came back to the dorm. ... . so ive never been to the dorm this early. GOOD GOD these kids are up screaming and yelling at 22:10! i kind of feel like waking up at four to bang pots and pans and let them enjoy the turn in kind. eh. good thing theyre all cute. night!