Sinonor 08/09 - An adventurous year in China

Back in Norway

2009-06-09T05:48:00.000-07:00

09.06.09
For thoose of you who have visited the blog frequently you have probably noticed that we have not updated our blog in a long time now. The reason for this is that Blogspot was blocked so we could not open, or update it the last weeks we were in Ningxia. We are sorry for this.
So now we will write about some of the things we did the last weeks we had in the Middle Kingdom.

In the beginning of May we held exams at the schools we worked. The last month in Ningxia we also spent time preparing for the follow up work that we have now started in Norway.
The last period in China we went on a couple of trips in the Ningxia area. In the May holiday we visited Sha Hu (Sand Lake), a beautiful site outside Yinchuan, where the desert is right next to a big lake. It was cool to see desert and water this close. It makes you think about the closeness of fjord and mountain in Norway and why it is so extraordinary. Along with Sand Lake we also visited the famous Helan Mountain rock carvings.

The 18th we got to go with the Red Cross to visit a school they help to run in the Tongxin district in Ningxia. The school is situated in one of the poorer areas in Ningxia, where water is scarce. It was an interesting visit for us to the school, and for the pupils, who probably hadn't seen to many foreigners around, it also seemed interesting for them to have us there. The Ningxia Red Cross is giving away different materials to help supplying the school in Tongxin.

The 17th of May (Norway's national holiday) we celebrated with both Norwegians (Tom and Karen from Norway) and Chinese, and we made pancakes in the evening.

The last week in China, we said goodbye to everybody at work and that we knew. We attended some farewell banquets with our Chinese class, and with The Foreign Affaris Office at Ningxia University. We also bought our last gifts and finished our packing.

We came back to Norway in the end of May, and the temperature was about 20 degrees lower than we have gotten used to this spring. In that way (one of a few:)), we knew we had arrived back home. The rain also helped to convince us we had arrived back home.

It is good to be back, with all the things we have missed while in China. The food, our families and friends and the chilly weather.
But we cannot guaranty that we woun't miss China, Ningxia, the people we meet there and the travelling in the future. We had a fantastic time in the Middle Kingdom, a year we will most likely never forget.

Now we are in Flekke working on our follow up work. We want to send a great thanks to all who made this year possible, to Fredskorpset, Red Cross Nordic United World College, Ningxia University and the Ningxia Red Cross. Also we want to thank those at home and thoose who have followed us.

Chris and Tom

The 5th FK China Network meeting

2009-04-28T18:05:00.001-07:00

Last weekend (25th-27th of April) we attended FK China's network meeting in Kunming, a beautiful city in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. Saturday we had a social trip that involved former and new network members, and Sunday we had meetings where both FK partners and participants attended.

On Saturday we visited Jiu Xiang – some awesome caves south west of Kunming. These caves are on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The caves had underground rivers and waterfalls and the walk through them was fascinating.

After that we visited Shi Lin (The Stone Forest). In addition to enjoying the scenery all the participants had a meeting where we talked about what we had been working on since the last FK meeting in Beijing.

On Sunday we had meetings and discussions with all the partners. It was nice to meet the people we met on the last meeting, and to meet new participants and partners.

We had a great weekend in Yunnan. When we came Friday we visited a café that had western food, and we decided to try it. The pizza was good, but we especially liked the menu they had there.

Yunnan is known for its many minority groups, and beautiful clothing. These nicely dressed women we encountered at Jiu Xiang. We also saw people walking in Kunming city with colourful dresses.

It was a very interesting city, and the surroundings, with red iron-rich soil, rice patties, and water buffaloes was quite different from what we are used to from the northern part of China. Getting to know other FK people and exploring different areas of China are things we really will miss when we leave for home within a month.

The networks homepage;

http://www.fkchinanetwork.org

Interviews with some of our students

2009-04-01T03:02:00.001-07:00

We would like the readers of our blog to get to know some of the people we work with a little better. Therefore we have interviewed some of our students from the different places we work. Meet Tao Jun, He Qing, Yong Hui, Qiao Xiao Hui and Yu Ji.

The Ningxia Red Cross:
Tao Jun (James)

What is your name?

- My Chinese name is Tao Jun and my English name is James

How old are you?

- I am 30 years old.

Where are you from?

- I am from Yinchuan, in the Northern part of Ningxia.

What is your job at the Ningxia Red Cross?

- I work as a district communicator.

How long have you been working at the Red Cross?

- I have been working here for seven years

How long have you been learning English?

- I have been learning English for ten years.

What is your favourite food?

- My favourite food is porkmeat.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

- I like to do outdoor activities and especially fishing. I am also found of tea culture.

He Qing (Anne)

What is your name?

- My Chinese name is He Qing and my English name is Anne.

How old are you?

- I am 27 years old.
Where are you from?
- I am from Zhongwei in Ningxia province.

What is your job at the Ningxia Red Cross?

- I am in charge of the volunteers.

How long have you been working at the Red Cross?

- I have been working four years at the Ningxia Red Cross.

How long have you been learning English?

- I have been learning English for fifteen years.

What is your favourite food?

- Boiled chicken with sauce.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

- I like to play badminton and to travel.

Yong Hui (Peter)

What is your name?
- My Chinese name is Yong Hui and my English name i Peter
How old are you?
- I am 30 years old
Where are you from?
- I am from the city of Zhongwei, in the Western part of Ningxia province.
What is your job at the Ningxia Red Cross?
- I do advertisements among teenagers, and recruit volunteers for the Red Cross
How long have you been working at the Red Cross?
- I have been working at the Red Cross for two years now.
How long have you been learning English?
- I have learned English for ten years.

What is your favorite food?
- Small peeled noodles.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
- I like to watch movies, TV and to play basketball.

Xinhua College:

Qiao Xiao Hui (Alice)

What is your name?

- My Chinese name is Qiao Xiao Hui, my English name is Alice.

How old are you?

- I am 20 years old.

Where are you from?

- I come from Guyuan, in the South of Ningxia.

What do you study?

- I am majoring in English.

How long have you been learning English?

- I have been learning English for eight years now.

Why did you choose to study English?

- Because I like English, and in the future I hope to become an English teacher.

What is your favourite food?

- Rice, fruit, potato and meat.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

- I like reading, go shopping, sleeping and to write in my diary.

Prep School for Ethnic Minorities

Yu Ji (Robert)

What is your name?

- My Chinese name is Yu Ji and my English name is Robert

How old are you?

- I am 20 years old.

Where are you from?
- I come from the city Yantai in Shandong province

What do you study

-I am majoring in Science.
How long have you been learning English?

- I have studied English for ten years.
What is your favourite food?
- My favourite food is watermelon.

What do you like to do in your sparetime?

- In my sparetime I go to the internet bar, I read books and play basketball.

Too tall for China...

2009-03-24T05:20:00.000-07:00

With his 188 cm above the ground Tom rules the basketball court in the University. Well, at least he would've if height was all that mattered. Everywhere he walks he also get a pretty good view of the crowds, which helps when you lose your friend and just have to look for the only blond guy among ten thousand people.

But being taller than the average Zhou is no laughing matter. Not when you are travelling by public transport, and the expected public is way smaller than you.

For when do you know that you're too tall for China? When your kneepad is flat after sitting in a bus or an airplane? When your elbow hurts after the shopping cart constantly bumping into you while passing down the aisle? When your head aches after crashing into doorways, signs, lamps, roofs, all of them hanging too close to the ground? When your feet are hanging out of every bed there is? When you want to buy clothes, but no stores have your size in shoes, and no sweater arms are long enough? When your best hope of buying clothes is to get them tailor made? If you cover at least three of these, you can surely, with Tom's guarantee, apply for the title; "Too Tall for China".

That said, the young generation in China seems to be much taller than their ancestors. Seeing grandparents, parents and kids walking side by side, it seems like each generation are growing over ten cm. If that's the case, we're looking at the Chinese National Team in Basketball with an average height of 250 cm twenty years from now. Good luck to the rest of the world! So, next time Tom comes to China, he'll probably feel a lot more normal. And maybe public transport is more suited for people like Tom. One can always hope.

Our last semester in China starts...

2009-03-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

Teaching has started. Students have found their pencils and sharpened them thoroughly. And we are ready to continue what we started last semester. Or, at least we thought so.

Much remains the same, Red Cross teaching started again two weeks ago and Christian's school has started. Well, Tom's school has started as well. But the difference is that Christian has started teaching. And Tom is still waiting. Tom went home from Beijing two weeks ago and thought that his teaching would start the following Tuesday. But no, on the contrary. When he finally got to Yinchuan, his superiors tells him that teaching is not in another two weeks. Kind of a bummer when you have your family visiting and you could have stayed longer in Beijing.

Anyway, after having been in China for over half a year, you get used to "expect the unexpected". So instead of asking why, Tom decided to tell you about the changes made to his subject.

It seems now that Tom has the same amount of teaching. But what used to be two classes have now doubled. So Tom is going to teach two lessons a week in four different classes. And where he had students who were randomly chosen last semester, he now has all new students who had to apply for a seat. Big changes. But foreign teachers in China are really popular. So I guess they had to be made to make more people happy.

So now he is just preparing for next weeks lessons, and waiting eagerly to hold the white chalk again.

Enough about the teaching, today is Women's Day, worldwide. And we would like to congratulate all women, young and old. We would not have been here if it were not for you! Thank you all for giving this world more than we men could ever give.

Last thing, thanks to family members for coming to visit during our holidays. We really appreciated it, and promise to repay you with dish-washing when we return to Norway. =)

More pictures from our backpacker journey

2009-03-02T05:25:00.000-08:00

Pictures from our backpacker journey

2009-03-01T07:14:00.000-08:00

We decided to put up a lot of pictures in one post instead of adding to the numerous texts we've been writing. So here they are, directly from Tom's camera, some of the things we saw during our one and a half month through China. Enjoy!

Wuhan and Shanghai - two cities on the Yangzi River

2009-02-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

08.02.09
We arrived the capitol of Hubei province, Wuhan early in the morning. We spent two days here in a great hostel. We walked around quite a bit, exploring the city. The first day, we had our first encounter with the Yangzi River. This river has been and still is very important to many regions in China, and we have heard and read about it, so we were looking forward to seeing it. It is incredebly wide, and the bridges crossing it quite impressive. The city reminded us abit about Lanzhou, an industrialized city and quite big. We saw some pretty nice buildings in Wuhan the few days we were there. We visited the Hubei Provincial Museum and a place where Mao Zedong lived a while during the 1960s.

10.02.09
Arrived Shanghai in the morning (as always when taking our favorite hard sleeper night trains). Found the hostel, and went with map in hand to explore this famous city. We stayed here for enough days to find the local restaurant with the best pulled noodels (la mian) in Shanghai City (atleast so we believe). We stayed there for 6 days.
Here is a list of things we saw and did:
The Bund, The Astor Hotel, Jinmao Tower, East Nanjing Road, People's Park, The French Consession, The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, The Shanghai Museum, took the subway alot (ALOT), ate icecream, played pool and checked out some very nice art galleries.

Guangzhou, Macau and Hong Kong - 3 cities in the South

2009-02-06T04:28:00.000-08:00

02.02.09

We arrived in Guangzhou by bus the 2nd. The city is situated by the Pearl River. It was quite strange for us to come down here after having been in the cold North of China. The temperature down here now is similar to the temperature in Norway during summer. In February! This is a weird feeling, but we enjoy it alot. We stayed at a nice hostel in Guangzhou, right next to the Pearl River. We visited the market, The Guangdong folk art museum, Shamian Island and walked alot during our stay there. The metro system in Guangzhou looked brand new, and it was awesome to use. We enjoyed it there.

04.02.09
After having spent a couple of days there we sat on the bus to Macau. After a warm busride, and some time spent in the waiting hall at the border, we finally set our feet in Macau. It is a compact, nice, multicultural city, with loads of history. And as historybuffs, we wanted to rediscover some of it. At the good Macau museum we got to understand more about this city. We also saw the old ruins of The Church of St.Paul, aswell as the Largo do Senado square in the city. Macau is famous for it's many casinos, so we dropped in at one, but it was to expensive for us to place bets there, so we just hung out and tried to learn. Macau is on the coast and facing the South China ocean. It was really nice to finally get to see the ocean. We don't get to see much of that in inland China.

05.02.09
After having stayed in Macau, we took the boat to Hong Kong. The trip took about an hour. It was overwhelming to come to Hong Kong. The city is very compact, with numerous huge skyscrapers. Finding cheap accomodation is not easy in Hong Kong, so we had to settle on a tiny room on the 15th floor in a shabby block. Even though we are used to taxi-dodging from the mainland, dodging pushy salesmen was even harder. The way they grab you and hold can be scary at times, but luckily, we survived. We walked the streets alot because this is a very expensive city, visited the Victoria peak, took the worlds longest escalator and visited the good Hong Kong museum of history. It seemed like a dynamic and multicultural city. We left Hong Kong by train for our next stop, Wuhan by the Yangzi River.

Guilin - it's getting warmer

2009-02-03T02:32:00.000-08:00

28.01.09
We arrived by bus from Guiyang in beautiful Guilin. This is a city that is known for it's surrounding mountains. We saw the elephant trunk mountain. It is situated next to the Li River and is shaped like an elephant that has it's trunk in the river as if drinking from it. During our stay here, we also went by bus to a city closeby called Yangshou. It is smaller than Guilin and is called backpackers heaven by some. We liked the atmosphere there, and the fact that we did not have to pay to hike up a mountain there made us like it even more. In Guilin we had to pay to hike the mountains. Sometimes the price was as high as 50 yuan (approx 50 kroner or 5 pounds). Both Guilin and Yangshou has familiar food for people from abroad, maybe this is one of the reasons why so many come from other countries to visit these places. We meet many nice people there and had a great stay on both places. The 1st of February we took the night express bus to Guangzhou (Guangdong province).

Guiyang - The capitol of Guizhou province

2009-01-29T02:18:00.000-08:00

28.01.09
We arrived in on the train from Chengdu to Guiyang early in the morning. The city is surrounded by beautiful hills and the city itself is pretty compact. We visited the Guizhou provincial museum (a fairly new museum that displayed many nice and colourful costumes from the 17 different minority groups that live in the region) and Qianling park with many hills. On one of the hills we climbed we saw a bunch of wild monkeys. We also walked around the city and tasted some "small food" from the street vendors around town. In general we liked the city, but we saw quite alot of beggars compared to other cities we have been in so far. We got a night sleeper bus to Guilin the day we arrived, so we only spent one day in Guiyang, before we went on.

Chengdu - Panda City

2009-01-26T18:38:00.000-08:00

27.01.09
We have stayed in Chengdu, Sichuan, from January 19th to 27th. It all started with the train ride from Lanzhou, where we had to stand on the train for twenty hours. After a trip like that we figured we should take a longer rest. We haven't regretted it so far, and we take off towards Guiyang in just a few hours.

First we have to mention our hostel; Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel. It's among the best hostels we've ever seen, with an incredible atmosphere and smiling staff. We have changed some of our books with books from their library, we've eaten excellent burgers and in general we felt at home here. I'm now sitting at the hostel's internet bar and smiling when I think back to what we have done.

We have visited a Panda Research Breeding Centre, which was very cool. They really treasure these furry bears down here, and the centre was of good quality. We've also gone to see the world's largest Buddha statue in Leshan and visited and ancient Chinese town in Huanglongxi. Other than that we've just strolled around Chengdu city, visiting parks, temples, museums and tasting Sichuanese food.

The last thing worth mentioning here is the Chinese New Year Celebration. Chinese uses a Lunar Calendar, which means they have a different year count than us in the West. In 2009 the lunar year of the ox starts on the 26th of January. And we have celebrated this, in the streets of Chengdu! Even though the reckless use of fireworks caused some concerns we had a great time with other people from the hostel. What remains now is to say Chun Jie Kuai Le, a Happy Spring Festival to all of you! (We will definitely enjoy it, continuing our travel through China)

Lanzhou - The capitol city of Gansu province

2009-01-16T05:48:00.000-08:00

16.01.09

We arrived after having spent the night on the train from Jiayuguan. Lanzhou is situated in the South of Gansu, by the Yellow River (Huang He). It is a fairly big city with around 2,8 million inhabitants. According to the Lonely Planet China book, this city was at one point during the 1990s considered to be the world's most (air) polluted city. But no problem, we have bought these nice "cotton covers" for our mouths.

We quickly noticed that Lanzhou is a city full of sights. There are many things to see here. The Gansu Provincial Museum is really cool. It is loaded with Silk Road history, and with an awesome paleontological department. The last one is very interesting because of the many discoveries in this province.

We also visited an old Taoist temple close to the bank of the Yellow River. White Cloud Temple was beautiful, but it looked kind of lonely and malplaced because of all the skyscrapers surrounding it. Also we saw a beautiful mosque that is situated in the center of the city. Lanzhou has a lot to offer. It is surrounded by hills, and has a lot of parks. We hiked to the top of White Pagoda Hill. It has many nice buildings and a white pagoda on the summit. Unfortunately, the visibility was a bit like Lonely Planet warned us about.

Lanzhou is famous for it's beef noodles (niu rou mian). We decided to go to test them, and we see why. They were delicious. We ate them again a couple of times before we set off towards our next target on this journey: Chengdu in Sichuan Province.

Jiayuguan - The Westernmost part of The Great Wall

2009-01-14T21:14:00.001-08:00

15.01.09
We left Dunhuang the morning the 13th by train, for the city of Jiayuguan. We were here until the evening the 15th when we jumped on the train to Lanzhou in the South of Gansu province. In Jiayuguan there are only 130000 people. But that doesn't mean the city cannot offer a lot.

An ancient fort, restored by the government, now serves as a museum and cultural park for tourists. Jiayuguan Fort is also the Westernmost part of The Great Wall. There were some great photos to be taken there, even though camel owners and shop keepers can be quite pushy at times. In addition we met a delightful young guy, at the age of seven, who had the best English we've heard so far in China. And yes, he was Chinese. He really astonished us and we had some fun, except from the fact that his mom continuosly asked about whether they could guide us somewhere in the district.

We also tried some exciting food here. Jiayuguan Bazaar really showed us that the point-and-taste tactic actually works. At least for most dishes, while others were a little bit too spicy for delicate Norwegian tummies.

That being said, the city also had some unpleasant experiences in store for us. The hotel room we stayed in, no name of hotel mentioned, was not cleaned and rather dirty. And that comes from Norwegians who like youth hostels and are used to sleeping in nature. But the fact that the floor had several used cigarettes and a lot of ashes. We also stayed next door to the common toilet, with screaming pipes and people coughing and spitting day and night. Last drop was spilled when we got a mysterious phonecall when we were going to sleep, someone asking if we wanted something that sounded suspiciously like massage. And with brothels just next door, we could only imagine what else is included in a massage.

But the room was only one part of it. Taxi drivers in the city gave us another surprise. Not only were they more noisy and persistent than in any other Chinese city (so far), but they also refused to use the meter even though we insisted several times. But it's not often as bad as it seems, and that goes for this trip as well. Because hard feelings towards the taxi drivers made us take more buses, and that gave us amazing experiences when it came to meeting people and discovering a cheaper way of sightseeing a city.

Even though we might be a little bit harsh here, we have no hard feelings at all. You have to experience both good and bad to really get a feel of an area, and we are still smiling when travelling through China.

Dunhuang - an oasis far away

2009-01-14T21:13:00.001-08:00

11.01.09
Arrived this morning in Dunhuang, in Gansu province. A famous laid back oasis, with surrounding desert and many historical buddhist caves and grottoes. Dunhuang is a nice little city, and we will stay here for two nights, heading for Jiayuguan on the 13th.
Walking in the desert, riding camels, and looking at the oasis from afar was a really nice experience. The fact that we are doing this in an area that was a part of the old Silk Road makes it even more exciting. There was a bit of snow in the desert when we visited it, which made it look different from anything we have ever seen before.
We also visited The Thousand Western Buddhist Grottoes, which was situated alongside a beautiful river canyon just outside Dunhuang. The grottoes were closed when we came there, but the sights were amazing.

Urumqi - The city that is furthest away from any ocean in the world

2009-01-09T18:26:00.001-08:00

10.01.09
We are in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Trying to get a drift of the Uighur way of life. Went to Turpan yesterday. Nice little town with a great mosque and bazaar. Stayed in Silver Birches Youth Hostel, cozy and cheap. Leaving for Dunhuang tonight.
Urumqi is the capital city of Xinjiang province, and is situated in the North Western corner of China. The city has a population of approximately 1,5 million inhabitants (The whole region has approximately 20 mill. inhabitants). Urumqi is about 100 meters under sea level and is 2250km away from the nearest ocean.
Of things to see in Urumqi is the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum and the Erdaoqiao market.
The city of Turpan that we visited had an old beautiful mosque and minaret. Visiting the bazaar in Turpan was also a cool experience. The bread in this region is very tasty. We have tried out some of the different types of food like samsas (baked mutton dumplings), girde nan (nan tasting bagel), polo (a rice dish with fried meat rice and pumpkin) to mention some. Travelling here offers great views (mountains, plains, desert).
As long as one brings enough clothes, travelling here in January is no problem weatherwise.

Happy New Year

2009-01-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

We, Christian and Tom, have had a wonderful semester in Yinchuan. We have seen a lot and experienced even more. Now we look forward to the next semester, which will bring us even more joy and happiness. But first we will have a vacation. Chinese people celebrate the new year when the lunar calendar says it's time. So we also look forward to the 25th of January, when there will be celebrations all over China. That's what they call Spring Festival, which is a holiday spent with family. But since we don't have that much family in China, we decided to travel instead. So here comes our current travel schedule; Yinchuan - Ürümqi - Dunhuang - Jiayuguan - Lanzhou - Chengdu - ?. The question mark means that we haven't decided where to go after Chengdu. But every decision, every experience will be noted down here on the blog. Maybe just in short words, and definitely without pictures. All the most interesting pictures will be posted when we come back from our one month journey through parts of China. So all that remains is to say; happy western new year!

But for your pleasure, here are some pictures so you wont forget us while we are gone;

The ancient tombs of the Xixia dynasty

2008-12-30T01:43:00.000-08:00

The region we live in have traces from a history way back. Right outside Yinchuan there are tombs from one of the oldest dynasties in China, the Western Xia Dynasty (2200-1700 BC) We went there with our cameras and here's the result...

Banquets

2008-12-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

This fall we have experienced many things. Both work related and related to our spare time. Earlier we wrote about concerts we were invited to. One of the things related to work we have not told you about so far is the many banquet we are and have been attending. Since we came we have probably attended between 20-30 such events. The latest two was on Thursday 18th and Friday 19th of December. On Thursday we were invited to Ningxia University's and the School of International Education's Christmas Banquet/Party for their Foreign Students.
On Friday we were invited to a banquet sponsored by the Ningxia People's Government,and arranged by organizations that deals with foreigners here in Ningxia, like the Ningxia Personnel Department, The Ningxia Foreign Affaris Office and The Ningxia Foreign Expert Bureau. This was a banquet for the Foreign Experts in Ningxia, and held as a thanks to all of them, for their contributions to the developement of Ningxia.
Thanks alot for inviting us to all these occations. We meet people on these dinners, get to learn more about Chinese culture, and we get to try many interesting and delicious types of Chinese food. Sometimes at these dinners there are also different kinds of performances, from singing and dancing to acrobatics. We think it is interesting to see and hear, and feel priviledged to be invited and to take part in these events.

SYCNNO's Deaf Cafe

2008-12-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

Saturday the 13th of December we attended the first SYCNNO, Shou(w) Y(o)u China Norway, Deaf Cafe in the old city in Yinchuan. This is a cafe where the deaf can meet, communicate together, play games and relax. In the future the cafe will be open to everyone who is interested in joining. It was really fun to see that so many could come. We were between 30-40 people and the ones who showed up seemed to have a great time. It was also a great opportunity for us to learn a few words in Chinese sign language (shou yu). The organizers of this cafe is Alexander Sløk Mjelde and Qin Wen. Both Alexander (2006-7) and Wen (2005-6) are former participants on the Sinonor project. They have together with Tora Hope (2006-7) formed the organization SYCNNO, which is a result of the Sinonorproject. If you are interested in learning more about this organization you could visit the website www.sycnno.no

The Sinonor project has during it's 6 years had different partners. The first 5 years the project partners were RCNUWC, Ningxia University, the CDPF (China's Disabled Persons' Federation) in Ningxia and Fredskorpset.
The cooperation meant approx half and half teaching for CDPF related schools and at the Ningxia University.
The places where the participants taught were The Ningxia Special Education School (for deaf students and also blind students), The Kindergarten for Hearing Impaired Children, The Mentally Disabled School and The Blind Massage Institute.

Chinese classes

2008-12-06T00:29:00.001-08:00

Last month we wrote about a trip to the desert with the foreign students of Ningxia University. But what we forgot to mention was that these lovely guys are our fellow students. We are lucky enough to have the time and opportunity to follow the Chinese lessons for full time students. In our class of Chinese Made Easier you can, besides the two crazy Norwegians, find two diligent students from Romania and five nice people from the US. Unfortunately, we can only follow 9 out of 15 hours a week, but we still feel that we manage to keep up with their pace of learning. At least that’s the current situation. Since we rarely have the time to study at home, I guess that they will lose us at one point. But luckily for us, the teacher, Diao Laoshi, is very skilled and he takes good care of us. Hopefully we are good enough to pass our Chinese exam January 5th.

The Chinese language is very different from the languages we know and have been taught; Norwegian, English, German, French and Russian. So the characters are very difficult to learn, and we kind of gave them up. We focus more on the oral part of Chinese so we can communicate with people when we are travelling on our own in the Winter Holiday.

We still don’t know if we can follow Chinese lessons next term, because we don’t know our schedule yet. But our fingers are crossed and we hope for a positive message from our schools. Why? Aren’t we busy enough already? Yes, definitely very busy, but learning Chinese is an important part of this exchange, and we really want to learn as much as possible.

Trip to Xiji with Teachers Training Center

2008-12-01T00:48:00.000-08:00

The last weekend in November(29-30th) we went to Xiji in the south of Ningxia with Teachers' Training Centre. We went by car for about 4 hours to get there. We met with teachers from the rural areas in the south, who had come to Xiji, both Saturday and Sunday. Had a class on Saturday and a meeting on Sunday. We learned a lot from them, about their work and they said that they had learned a lot from us as well. Listening to the teachers describing their work situation was very fruitful for us.
The south of Ningxia is home to the Hui moslem minority group. Xiji's surroundings was quite different from what we are used to, so it was an interesting experience. Ningxia is a poor region in China, and we were told that the south is some of the poorest parts in Ningxia. The landscape in the south was amazing, and we got to see some cool sights as well. One particular sight was a huge Buddha statue in the Xumi Mountains north of Xiji.

Visit from Sogn og Fjordane University College (HSF)

2008-11-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

Christian and Tom are now officially famous. Or at least a little bit. They've made it to the official pages of Sogn og Fjordane University College (Høgskulen i Sogn og Fjordane) in Norway. How on earth did this happen, you might ask. Well, I'll tell you.

It all started when we on the 11th of October got a visit from HSF. Two lovely ladies, Åse Løkeland and Helga Kalhagen, came to visit Ningxia University to see whether there are possibilities of an exchange program. They have heard nice things about our Sinonor project and wanted us to tell about our experiences so far. And since we both did our teacher training in Sogndal we were more than glad to help.

So we went with them to an amazing mosque (looked kind of like Taj Mahal) and told them how nice Yinchuan is. We also got to watch some calligraphy art, and got two master pieces of the artist (who looked remarkably like a chinese Jahn Teigen). There we told them about our follow-up work, that we would like to spread the word of our project and the work we do here in China. They were really nice ladies, so they asked us if we wanted to write a web letter to their web pages. We said "definitely, yes" and sent our little letter. And now you can read the letter for yourself. Unfortunately for you English speakers, this is only in Norwegian.

http://www.hisf.no/no/internasjonalisering/nyheiter/reisebrev_til_hsf_laerarjobb_i_hjartet_av_kina

What does the Ningxia Red Cross work with?

2008-11-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

Two of the main things the Ningxia Red Cross work with is teaching first aid to people, and stem cell research. Teaching first aid is an educational part of their work, and working with stem cells is the research part of their work. They make people donate blood to use in research, to help people with leukemia (blood cancer). The Red Cross in Ningxia have been doing this since 2003. They also have other focuses but these two are the most important. Here you see pictures where we are joining the Red Cross in their work - first aid course in the old city of Yinchuan, and getting students to donate blood for stem cell research at North Campus og Ningxia University.

Teaching at the The Ningxia Red Cross Society

2008-11-03T05:58:00.000-08:00

Between 15.00 and 17.00 every Wednesday we teach the staff at Ningxia Red Cross's administration building. The students we have are members of the staff at the Red Cross administration. They're a group of between 10 to 15 people, varying from one week to the next. Aged between 21 and 50 makes them a diverse class. They are a busy crowd, often picking up their phone in class and running out in the hallway to talk. This is because we teach them during their working hours. The first time we had to start from scratch. Some of the younger members know a little bit of English, but most of them know next to nothing. But they are very eager to learn, and they see that in order to get connections with other Red Cross Societies around the world, they need to learn and improve their English.

We have started the teaching by letting them learn single words, which are important for their work, and personal interests. They are learning to count, to greet and to introduce themselves. And we are trying to learn them simple, but useful sentences. When we teach there we have an interpreter with us, Jia Lei. He is crucial to us now in the beginning because of the language barrier. Teaching there is fun, and we learn about the Red Cross and their work here in Ningxia. We are dreaming about being able to join them for an excursion to the more rural parts of the region during this year. Their building is situated in the Old Town of Yinchuan.

The Ningxia Red Cross Society's homepage: http://www.nxredcross.org.cn

FK Network Meeting in Beijing

2008-11-02T04:46:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we went to Beijing on the night train. 19 hours and hard sleepers again, but it's always fun so we didn't mind much. We travelled through the desert lands of Inner Mongolia, through Shanxi and Hebei, saw a lot of beautiful scenery, until we finally arrived at Beijing Railway station.

In Beijing we had two free days before the show (network meeting) started. We decided to be crazy tourists and went to the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Jade Factory, Tea House, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Beihai Park and Jingshan Park. All this in just two days. Imagine how tired we were of all the walking. Especially the day we ran to the top of the Wall. But it was definitely worth it. We got to see a lot of China in two days, and had a lot of fun.

But after the fun started the work. The reason for travelling to Beijing was that we were to attend an FK Network Meeting for FK China. It lasted for one and a half day, but it turned out that it wasn't half bad after all. We discussed and shared experiences and from the looks of it it was rather successful. One of the best, some people said. So with a satisfied smile on our faces we flew back to Yinchuan on Thursday to plan Friday's teaching. It was a hasty but fun week in Beijing. Looking forward to going back there some day.

Link to Fredskorpset's coverage of the meeting (in Norwegian):
http://www.fredskorpset.no/no/Fredskorpset/Media/NyheterPressemeldinger/Nettverksmote-i-Beijing/

Welcome Party for freshmen students at Xinhua

2008-11-01T03:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday 16th of October the teachers and students at Xinhua invited me (Chris) to attend the annual Welcome party for the freshmen at the college. I was there together with the rest of the freshmen's teachers. It was a 3hours lasting fun event, with singing, roleplays, acting and breakdancing. Many of my students attended the singing, acting and dancing on stage. One of the things I liked the most was when a group were doing tai chi with chinese fans while two famous calligrafers were painting on stage. The local TVstation was there, and my name was annonced in public together with the rest of the teachers, The concert hall at school was as full as could be, people were standing everywhere and all seats were taken.

Ningxia University's foreign students trip 08

2008-10-24T04:32:00.000-07:00

Thursday the 23rd of october we were invited to attend a trip for all the foreign students studying Chinese at the university. We had a fantastic time. The day started with museums, and after lunch we ended up in the desert, near the Huang He (The Yellow River), outside Yinchuan. We got to try a lot of fun stuff. Both of us tried "Desert Surfing". The surfing started already when we entered a crazy machine, a kind of desert bus, that took us up to a steep sandhill next to the Yellow River. The vehicle and the ride was awesome and thrilling. Until that day we didn't know that you could surf the sand, but it's possible. We also tried a ziprope which was fun, the view from the top was stunning, and the end of the ziprope was just by the river. After that we saw camels and sheepskinfleets. After a while, most of the students and some teachers joined desert-volleyball or desert-football.

The day ended in an Inner Mongolian restaurant close to the Yellow River. It was a round big hut, with great food. Grilled lamb (the whole animal on a plate) was served as the main course, which this region is famous for.

There were musicians and we helped to serve, which was fun. Those who wanted could entertain after eating. Both teachers and students entered the stage to a lot of applause.

After the entertainment was over a big bonfire was made and we stayed outside in the cold night, dancing and having fun.

All in all it was a great day in a great place with a lot of great people. Great!

Preparatory School for Ethnic Minorities

2008-10-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

This school is a preparatory school for those of an ethnic minority whose education has not been sufficient to the demands of the Chinese government.

"Ethnic students whose literacy level is not up to the standard will be enrolled first in preparatory classes to receive one or two years' up-grading training. After passing the qualifying examinations, these students will be transferred to the regular classes. " (China Education and Research Network, www.edu.cn)

So after this one year of preparatory education, they can finally enroll into China's different Universities.

The students at this school chooses a major, for example Liberal Arts or Science and Technology. I have one class from each of these two majors and teach eight lessons a week. Each class consist of about 50 students. In Norway you normally teach classes of 16-24 students, so this is a challenge. But it is also very fun. The students are really eager to learn English. Even though my class of Oral English is just a bonus class for the students, they really put their mind into it and try their best. And, really, that's all I can demand from anyone.

Even though this is a Hui minority region, it doesn't mean that my classes only have Hui people. As a matter of fact, I only teach one Hui. But I have lots of people from all over China. They live in campus, but their hometowns are in Shan Dong, Shan Xi, Sha An Xi, Chong Qing, Ji Lin, Yun Nan, Gui Zhou, Guang Xi, Ning Xia, Hei Long Jiang, Fu Jian, He Nan, Hu Nan, Liao Ning, Si Chuan, Gan Su, Inner Mongolia and Xin Jiang regions, which means 18 of China's 34 in total. So through these classes I meet a lot of China, and it's a great experience.

My classes consist mostly of communicative activities, and different ways of making them speak English. This is partly because these are good ways of promoting oral English, and also because my classes don't have a textbook. So I have to start from scratch every day, finding new and exciting ways of learning English. This is also a challenge, but a very fun challenge. It's definitely worth all the work.

Our trip to Xian during the October holiday

2008-10-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

During October holiday we went to the city of Xian, in Shaanxi province. This was one of the old capitols in ancient China, during the famous Qin-dynasty (221-207 BC), the Han-dynasty (206-220AD) and the Tang-dynasty (618-907AD). It was a beautiful city, but quite big for two western Norwegians with its 3,2 million inhabitants. We heard there that during the holiday it is supposed to be exceptionally crowded, which we found out was true. Crowded it surely was:)

We took the night train from Yinchuan to get there. This was the first train experience in China for both of us, and we enjoyed it alot. We had hard sleepers, in an open wagon, which was surprisingly comfortable. Except for Tom who for some reason never fits into China's when it comes to doorways, lamps, and in this case, beds. Travelling with the train ("firewagon") in China is a social event and it was a great opportunity for us to practice our Chinese. The journey took approximately 13 hours.

In Xian we visited the Shanxi History Museum, The Terracotta Warriors, The Calligraphy Museum, A Silk factory, The City Walls,The Big Goose Pagoda, The Muslim Quarter and The Bell Tower to mention some of the sights. Xian is a more Chinese town as we know it from movies and books, with the typical traditional architecture and ancient tourist sites. It is a city with a lot of history and many of the places preserve history very well.

We had a great time during our first Chinese holiday trip. Xian is definitely a city worth visiting. Drop in at the city's home cozy youth hostel if you are there, a really neat place with people from all over the world. Highly recommended by Chris and Tom.

Xinhua College

2008-10-04T05:17:00.000-07:00

8 hours a week I (Chris) teach at Xinhua College, a part of Ningxia University. The school was build in 2002.The whole school has approx. 4000 students and around 200 teachers. The school has it's own cantine, dormitories for the students, a student information center and good sports facilities.

Here I teach 3 classes with approx. 30 - 35 students in each class. The classes consist of students who each will take an English major, and the classes I'm in are 1. year students. I teach Oral English there. We have a textbook that the class has to follow, but it is filled with alot of good communicative activities. In the beginning the students seamed unfamiliar with talking in the class, but they are slowly getting more used to having conversations in class. They also seem to understand better the importance of speaking as an English skill aswell as writing, listening and reading. The fact that they now have to use spoken English to communicate with their foreign teacher is a motivation factor for the students at Xinhua. Alongside the book, I also use communicative activities I was tought back home.
6 hours a week I teach single classes, and 2 hours a week I teach all three classes together. This is a new experience for me as a newly educated teacher because when I have all three classes together they are over 100 individuals. Teaching at Xinhua is challenging but very fun. Most of the students are higly motivated, and want to become eighter English teachers or interpreters.

Chinese medicine

2008-09-22T02:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from a traditional Chinese pharmacy we visited in Yinchuan. It is not exactly like walking in to an average pharmacy back home. In the counter we found mostly dried animals, insects and plants. China is famous for it's medicine so putting out these shots feels natural. Being in here was a very interesting experience. In China it is believed that poison can be used to get poison out of the body, therefore they have some poisonous insects and animals that is used as medicine.

Celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ningxia University

2008-09-16T06:56:00.001-07:00

It was a wonderful celebration with impressive performances. We congratulate Ningda (Ningxia University), and best wishes for the future. Here are pictures from the celebration

Traffic in Yinchuan

2008-09-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

The traffic in Yinchuan is quite different from the one we are used to back home. Huge roads in the city, 4-8 lanes, lot’s of cars, tricycles, motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles. And because of that as a pedestrian we have to pay really close attention before and when crossing the road. There is also two lanes outside campus next to the road, for bicycles and the smaller vehicles mentioned above. The Norwegian way of looking left – right – left is not sufficient here. When crossing the road, we constantly have to look left and right, fast, use all our senses and stop several times on the way over the broad roads.

The roads here are well maintained, newly build, and has capacity for alot more cars. They are obviously built for the nextcoming years and generation(s). Owning a car in China is not something anyone can do. It is to expensive for the normal family here. If a family owns a car, it means that they have solid and above the normal level of income.

In general the drivers do not pay as close attention to the pedestrians as home, and as a pedestrian we enjoy less respect than at home. As a consequence of that we have to keep our senses sharpened when being out in the traffic.

The collective transport here in Yinchuan is busses, minibuses, taxi and tricycle (rickshaw).

Tricycle(rickshaw)

Am I healthy?

2008-09-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

Some days ago I was struck with a troubled stomach. If it was mild food poisoning or just Traveller's Diarrhoea, I don't know. But at least the Oriental bacterias did their job and made one day out of hell for me.

I've also been a bit harassed by mosquitos. For some reason they really like me, and on one arm only I had about 17(!) mosquito bites. While Christian (that lucky bastard), got none. The rest of my body also got their share of bites, but 17 on one arm is a record for me.

But I don't mean to share all my hypochondriac worries here with you. The real reason why I'm writing this is because of the Chinese and their ways of handling such happenings. In this country it is common to offer advice whenever you think you have something to contribute, and most Chinese can contribute in most cases. And when it comes to a common disease like with your stomach, advices, tips and tricks rain over you. People from the office, who normally shows us around, even came to our apartments and started preparing food for me. Now that's what I call a caring employer.

The focus on health in this country is rather amazing. And it has probably been like that for centuries. Everyone knows a lot about what's healthy and not, and it may be the biggest issue of their lives, from cradle to grave. When we were at the airport we found a hand-out called "The 3 Fives". "Five keys to safer food. Five keys to a healthy diet. Five keys to appropriate physical activity." And in this country it seems like everyone follows these keys, as they are of such importance.

For starters, we had to take a full health check when we were in Norway to get a resident permit. The Doctor had to clarify whether we had Syphilis, STDs, back trouble or other scary illnesses. He even needed to give the form an official stamp. But when we came here, they weren't pleased with what the doctor had done in Norway. Because of other focuses, we had to take more blood tests and even an ultrasonic(!) test. This was a new experience for us two Norwegians, but we can assure everyone back home that none of us are pregnant.

In almost every block there are some red and yellow apparatus. These are for exercise, mostly used by elderly people. Just like an outdoors gym, where you can show off your muscles to anyone who's passing by. I think Christian and me will try them out soon, who knows, maybe we will fit in just perfectly.

But the old people also have other ways of staying fit. Every morning we can see people practicing their Tai Chi, which is a kind of Martial Arts dance performed slowly. It's graceful and impressive, at least when you see the synchronized movements between all the participants. Tai Chi is a dance/exercise which is a part of the legendary Martial Art of Kung Fu. Maybe I can write more about Kung Fu another time, but not in this article.

In his article about food, Christian mentioned something about healthy food. The Chinese think that everything they digest should be healthy. That's why even snacks are made out of dried fruits and vegetables, without adding sugar or anything artificial.

We have also noticed people with face masks, both here and in Beijing. Some of them say that they wear them to protect their skin, something which is quite understandable here in the dry and sandy desert landscape. But during football practice it started raining and everyone ran away to find shelter. We couldn't see why, because in Norway we are so used to the rain, but the reason was that they were afraid of the rain. It is actually dangerous to drink it. So another reason for the health focus and face masks might be the polluted air. Close to the University there is a big chimney that sends out tons of smog from a rubber factory. And it makes me think, maybe I should buy me one of those masks.

About the project - Sinonor

2008-09-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

The Sinonor project is an exchange between China and Norway. Here they exchange experiences, ideas and, maybe most importantly, people. We are a part of the teacher exchange, where Ningxia University in Yinchuan gets English teachers from Norway, and the Red Cross Nordic United World College in Flekke gets Chinese teachers from NU. The exchange has existed for six years now, and it seems like we are in the final year. That's why we are just three participants this year, compared to around seven the other years (5 Norwegians and 2 Chinese). So we, Christian and Tom Christian, are the Norwegian participants. At the same time a really nice young lady called Li Dan stays at the RCNUWC.

Now there is a new project from RCNUWC called Sahanor. It will be the new focus for the next five years. It's an exchange project between RCNUWC and Polisario, who runs the West Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria. This year there will be six young norwegians who work for the refugee camps. You can read more about their lives in Algeria at http://sahanor.blogspot.com

If you have any questions about these projects, feel free to ask the writers in both blogs. We'll answer as soon as we can.

Chinese trucks

2008-09-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

When we were in Flekke for our training we heard about some Chinese Dong Feng trucks being used in the civil war in Darfur. For those of you who don't know, Darfur is the western region of Sudan where several non-governmental military groups have been killing each other and civilians for quite a while. We heard about the trucks when we learnt about using sources critically, and we saw the news from both BBC and Chinese media.

That's why it was weird to suddenly see that the same kind of trucks were standing in line in front of the administration building. Even though it might look scary at first, the reason for it is quite harmless. These trucks are used by the military for the university's 50th anniversary, which is due on the 15th of September. Lots of students have been practicing different dances and shows, many of them in military costumes. At first it was weird to see girls in camouflage suits and pink caps. But when we heard that all students have to do military training during their bachelor's degree, and that camouflage clothes are big in the fashion industry, it doesn't seem that weird at all.

The Chinese surely knows how to celebrate. As most people know, they were the ones who invented the fireworks. So we are really

looking forward to the 50th anniversary celebration and will come back with lots of pictures from the 15th.

A country of thousand tastes

2008-09-07T20:57:00.001-07:00

One of the first things that impressed us when coming to China in general, and Yinchuan in special, is the enormous varieties of tastes and flavours. This goes for both food and drinks. It didn't take us many days to understand that China is paradise to food lovers.

Woman eating at a marketpalce, using chopsticks (kuaizi).

When we eat here, we use the same cutlery as the local inhabitants. For those who don't know they use chopsticks, made of wood. We must admit that this is the first challenge we meet. The first times we ate with these, our fingers hurt, and we lost alot of food on the table and in our lap. The good thing though is that since we are foreigners it's not considered such a big of a deal. The way we use our chopsticks so far seems quite amusing to the locals. They look, laugh and smile, which we think is fun. They are very helpful when it comes to giving advice about how to use them. Luckily for us the Chinese people are very friendly and polite.

Unlike in the country we come from it is accepted to eat loudly and noisy in China. It seems that people enjoy the food alot and they can eat it the way they want to. To understand how important food and the meal is to the chinese we can just look at a common way of greeting: ni chi le ma (have you eaten)...

All the meals that are served are hot, even breakfast. It is considered to be better for the digestion than eating cold food. This does not mean that it is not possible to get cold dishes as well, like vegetables. But warm food is common to every meal.

When we are served soup in China, we are given a small porcelain spoon to use. Soup is also a very important dish, and very often served with all of the daily meal.

Rice is an essential part of a meal, as long as you don't eat dumplings. Those two dishes rarely come together in the same meal. Cooked is the most common way to both prepare and eat rice in China.

Dumpling come both cooked, steamed and fried. The number of fillings they have witness how much effort, pride and creativity they put into making food. Amazing mixtures between vegetables and meat and vegetarian dumplings. To mention a few, dumplings with lamb and carrot, beef and onion, mixed vegetables, seafood and vegetables.......(i'll stop there, because it makes my mouth drool)

Dumplings are rarely eaten alone, usually they are eaten together with fried, raw or cooked vegetables, and different spices and sauces. Usually people dip the dumplings in a spice mixture and add soy oil and vinegar to the spice. Really tasty...

This man is making noodles

In the North of China noodles is also very common for people to eat. The North is famous for it's spicy food, noodles and mutton (lamb meat).

This man is making hotpot

Huo Guo (Hotpot) or directly translated Firepot is a spicy meal made of mutton in iron pans over open fire. This is a dish for those with strong stomachs....

China also has an amazing variety of tea. The tea is usually with water or milk. In the Ningxia region you can get tea of all kinds.

Ningxia is famous for their wolfberries, which is thought to be very healthy, among other things for it's high level of antioxidants.

Two newly educated teachers on their way to China

2008-09-06T22:31:00.001-07:00

Tom Christian (right) is a smiling and nice guy from Isfjorden in Romsdalen. He is 24 years old, interested in movies, reading and football. He is an educated teacher with English and Theatre as main subjects. His favourite teams are Fredrikstad FK and Liverpool FC, and he knows a lot about these teams. He is full of knowledge and loves to meet new people.

Christian (left) is a just as nice guy from the innermost part of Sognefjorden, Gaupne in Luster. He is just as old as the one mentioned above, and he loves to kayak and everything else that involves the nature. He has a bachelor's degree in Russian studies from the University of Tromsø, one year of Comparative Politics from the University of Bergen, and took Pedagogy last year at Sogn og Fjordane University College. He is hard working and loyal, and he misses his girlfriend a little bit as well.

This is our blog which we will use during our year in China. Due to a busy schedule during the introduction weeks the content of our blog will be quite limited. More will come eventually, and we hope you are patient and will visit our blog every now and then...

Best regards,
two good neighbours (in China)