LOCAL COLOR AND INTERACTIONS

I am writing this on the first of our last two days in Beijing (at least for the moment). The temps have dropped slightly but there is a stiff, steady wind that makes moving around outside challenging. Our computer weather says it is about 33 degrees F., but neither of us believe it. Walking around today I wore about 7 layers on my upper body and 2 on my lower body. It was about right. It also feels like we are figuring out how to make our way around, just as we are about to leave.  Workers where Bruce has his breakfast coffee and roll,  smile hello as he enters. This evening we went to a nearby restaurant, and even though it is only our second time there; we are greeted with smiles and the wait people give us time to slowly figure out what we want to order. We are also getting pretty savvy pushing our way into the subway during rush hour (like everyone else) and I am finding it increasingly easy to use my translation app for talking and reading menus and signs.

Dragon Building with Ethnographic Park Totem Pole

We walk around a lot, and it feels very safe. I suspect in part due to government surveillance but a student also mentioned that owning a gun is illegal. (This was part of a larger conversation where she had asked me why we don’t just make guns illegal in the US. When I explained the process for changing laws, the challenge of having the ‘right to bear arms’ in our constitution as well as the gun lobby (This student then asked if the gun lobby was like the drug mafia in Mexico. Sadly, I could see why she might ask that.)

Also, people are incredibly kind helpful, even if their English is limited. Often, a person will approach us as we stand looking at our map or trying to decipher which direction to walk, and say ‘hello – can I help you’. If their English is too limited to help, they will sometimes start accosting passers-by asking if they can speak English enough to help us.  In some ways, it feels right to be in such a large and ancient country and culture, the, English is not the default language that everyone has to learn to speak in addition to their own language. It is a good reminder too at how difficult it is to communicate and try to get around when you don’t speak the local language.

I also continue to be struck by the way that the people and culture here reflects an almost instinctive sense of metaphor and symbol.  Everything has meaning. One day, I brought Jujubes (red dates) to class and many students explained the energy, appropriate season and healing power of different foods. For example, Jujubes are good to eat in the winter because they energize the body when drunk as tea. In class, when the students practice movement groups, they create amazing magical and spontaneous stories about the movements they are leading. And one day a student explaining that the empty but opulent building where we held classes, had once been a fancy club, but it failed because next to it was a building in the shape of a dragon. She explained that dragons are powerful, and overpower anything near them. Apparently, people who get dragon tattoos also usually get very ill. This is because dragons are more powerful than humans, and so the dragon tattoo would drain their energy.