A Day at Wangjianglou Bamboo Park, Chengdu

Ode to Bamboo

Ode to Bamboo

in honor of my walking friend, Liu Juhua

The peasant farmer harvests slender young bamboo for his garden

while new beans sprout from the moist soil of Jincheng Mountain.

Must the bamboo’s destiny be a stalk for the climbing bean, partner to maturing corn?

This, perhaps, is interdependence.

Nonetheless, I fear for the bamboo forest that is our home, our comfort, our serenity.

I mourn for the emerald bamboo that has not yet grown to see the sun.

-rick, june 2013

Learning Prepositions of Place in 7th Grade

Today we had a fun class in 7th Grade learning prepositions of place - next to, in front of, behind, across from, near, (go) along.  The students love anything that's "kinesthetic" and allows them to move around.  I placed images on the blackboard (it's easy to pull these off the internet, print them in color and have them laminated) and told them a story about "asking/giving directions" from point A (the stoplight) to point B (the post office).  Then, in groups, they had to recreate the story while discussing it in English.  Then a group member was asked to come to the blackboard and tell their story to the class.  The trick is to see which group uses the most prepositions.  This kind of activity gets them speaking in English and using the new vocabulary.  The strategy doesn't always work because they sometimes can't understand my instructions, but they caught on quickly today and did a great job!

Yantai, Shandong Province & Yantai University

I've decided to spend another year teaching in China.  I have a great opportunity to work with university students in China's northeastern province of Shandong, in the coastal city of Yantai.  Classes will be small, about 30 students, all of whom will be preparing for graduate studies abroad in North America or other anglophone countries.

Shandong is situated about 1200 kilometers southeast of Beijing on the Yellow Sea, facing the Korean peninsula and Japan.   While I'll miss Sichuan in the heartland of China, especially the warmth of her people and the idyllic countryside, I look forward to experiencing another region of this incredible country.

Why not come visit?

Return to the Countryside

I planted beans near the Southern Hill
But grew more grass than beans.
At sunrise I go weeding my fields,
I come home, hoe on my shoulder,
In darkness lit by the moon.
The path is narrow,
The grass is high.
Dew wets my clothing.
It's fine, it's all right,
I'm doing exactly what my heart desires.

by Tao Yuanming (365-427 AD)
from An Anthology of Chinese Poetry, edited by Ding Zuxin (2000, Liaoning University Press)

Springtime in Rural Sichuan

The long, cold Sichuan winter transitioned to beautiful springtime with glorious weather and these scenes of the countryside.   I walk every chance I get, usually for an hour in the morning and then longer walks on the weekend.  These photos reflect what's nearby -- the beauty is other-worldly!   After a dark and overcast winter, the spring pallet of yellows and greens is never-ending.  It's so great to live in the heartland of China and to see traditional life as it's been for generations.

If I've not posted to my blog for so long now, it's because I have all these distractions.