Day 2 of my class will start in a few hours and I wanted to take time to share a bit about the past few days in Beijing with its range of experiences. A day or so after I arrived, the woman who is my class translator arrived. I suspect she was ‘charged’ with help me find food and showing me around, which has both benefits and also challenges.
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| Philosophers Contemplating in a Circle |
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| Older part of Buddhist Temple |
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| Renovated Buddist Templ |
The first day, we took a taxi (which I would not do on my own due to language challenges) as we boldly but slowly and pollutedly made our way toward the Forbidden City, the center of touristic old Beijing. Our goal was an incredibly fancy French restaurant in reconstructed Buddhist Temple. The site also served as a small elegant hotel and also contained several art galleries with very interesting art works. The courtyard was filled with funny, surprising and ironic (at least to me) works of art. In the photo three ‘philosophers’ all with the same body position and facial expression (well except for that one guy who doesn’t quite fit in) starting at an old carved post in the center of their circle. Other sculptures were placed on roof tops and in dark corners.
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| Fancy Temple Restaurant Food |
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| Fancy Temple Restaurant Food 1 |
However, OUR goal was the restaurant, an amazing multi-course place with multiple layers of waitstaff (reminding me of the different roles of help in royal French or British households),and a huge number of tiny ‘tasting dishes’ each requiring changes of silverware and dishes. Each dish was a work of art visually and flavorfully. Because there are a large number of foods I cant eat, my dishes were prepared separately from my meal partners but all was good. Some of the wait staff seemed to primarily be tasked with bringing food from the kitchen and holding it until they could hand it off to the table servers, someone else was tasked with explaining what the dish was… well you get the idea. The entire meal took about 3 hours (really) and the place was full. (I was the only white person there). And it was exhausting and amazing. I don’t know that I will ever experience a similar meal.. and not sure I would want to, but I was glad we did it.
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| Panda and Greens |
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| Bruce and Greens |
Following that we went to the Zoo, which is near our hotel. (Quite a change of scenery). We wandered around (not as much fun with someone who was primarily there to show me around), although most of the animals were taking refuge from the midday heat as well as the crowds. The Beijing Zoo, is more old style than the Shanghai Zoo. Animals are in cages with very sparse landscaping that did not really mimic their natural habitat. People are very close to the animals, who pace agitatedly or hide in dark cool corners far from the noise. Unlike Shanghai, I didn’t see too many people banging on the thick glass windows separating the animals from the people or shouting or throwing them food, but it still felt very invasive. I did get to see the Giant Panda (a must for Zoo visitors). The one in the photo as sitting happily munching on bamboo as cameras clicked. (reminding me of another sweet cuddly nearsighted being.. the one in the second photo). Then too full for dinner, we returned to our hotel.
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| Studio Space |
So how was the class? So far its been fun, several familiar faces and it is an easier topic- basically a personal growth focused class using movement and creative expression to increase self awareness. The space is a huge wood-floored space in a large building near one of the outer (4th) ring of Beijing. Called Shambala studio, it actually looks like it has space for the owners to live there and has a strong South Asian décor theme. (even the signage is in Mandarin calligraphy that looks a bit like Sanskrit).
Teaching, I am reminded why I so much appreciate the students I meet, despite my language challenges. They are curious, courageous and have an amazing ability to interact deeply on a metaphoric level with their personal material. The students in the class a quite varied: In addition to the normal range of Chinese students whose backgrounds range from a first timer who teaches Yoga to ‘local therapists’ (the quotation marks are because the requirements for psychotherapists in China are fairly loose. Supposedly people can take a few workshops or classes and put out their shingle). Many students come from distant towns that are multi hour train rides away. In addition, there is a Japanese woman who lives in Singapore who is a neuroscience researcher, a Philipina woman who studied DMT in the US and who moves in a large uninhibited way, but only rarely has words to share her experiences and one man (who is quite thoughtful and introspective).
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| Dinner with some Students at BBQ restaurant |
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| Dancing in the Park (of course) |
Teaching the class, I am once again, aware of the ways that Chinese people, coming from a relational culture, are easily able to connect, and empathize with others. Most of the students in this class are also comfortable moving differently from the group or following what their body needs rather than what I as the teacher suggest they do. Since the class is almost all women, I am not sure how much of these patterns are cultural and how much come from being raised female in an extremely patriarchal culture (something that would be shared by women in less relational culture). More on the class as I get to know them better. My translate is also OK, but still learning the complex role of translating in a class she also wants to be taking. Sometimes she gets so involved in her own movement work, she forgets her role in conveying my words to the students.
OK enough for now, thanks for reading.
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