Above:The Baha'i House of Worship of Asia. Below:Life and times of your fellow World Citizen, Kolya

One Human Family Emerges!

This time we’re going to start off with what you might come across on a typical morning in Baotou. Upon leaving your home (if it’s early enough) you may come upon a few old women or men with Taiji (tai-chi) swords slung over a shoulder, by a sash connected to the scabbard, on their way to a nearby park to practice their forms in a harmonious environment. In modern times, at least, there are few young people in China with an interest in Taiji, since those interested in such things prefer the hard and fast martial arts (known in the west as Kung-fu). And so most Chinese find it quite strange/funny/interesting to see me practice Taijiquan, not only being a “Laowai” (foreigner) but because I'm young. What they don’t realize is that the continued and especially the eventual health benefits of practicing Taiji are much greater the younger you start. For example, in making your bones stronger as you get older instead of the natural process of them getting more brittle. (As long as you practice properly.)
Leaving your apartment complex you pass a Tricyclist shouting out “weishengzhi, weishengzhi” (toilet paper, toilet paper) which he is selling from the back of his tricycle. A few other things are sold by tricycle but the one that seems most common is toilet paper/paper towels. Then passing along a certain street is an open vegetable market which stands on either side of the road. Some stands also sell bread; mostly of the sweet variety. In the summer half of the year on one such street, discovered by a certain friend of mine, a retired teacher from California, there is a lady who sells freshly tossed salads, where you can pick out the different vegetables you want and the amount and then she mixes it in a yummy dressing. Interesting to note at this point is that while every time I’ve been to India I’ve had “Delhi Belly” (diarrhea and stomach pain) at least once, I’ve never had any such stomach problems in China. (Or at most only to a very, very, very minor degree [more runny than normal poo.]) Later you pass a restaurant where the entire staff (at least 50 people, mostly waitresses, cooks and some waiters) is outside on the broad pavement practicing morning exercises, i.e. Chinese aerobics following a leader and going along to some music and a recorded voice, “yi, er, san, si,--wu, liu, qi, ba” (1, 2, 3, 4--, 5, 6, 7, 8).
You’ll also see many people playing badminton on the sidewalk or in the courtyards. Many apartment complexes and parks also have exercise gadgets for adults which are often put to use, not only by the senior citizens. At a quick glance you might think they’re playground equipment (sometimes they’re in/next to a playground) but no, they are in fact exercise gadgets for adults! Very cool!—and free!
The traffic in China is not as bad as some other places in Asia (the crowded metropolises of India for example), however, it can still be quite hair-raising at times! On the one hand, because many drivers don’t follow all the road rules and like cutting corners. (Many get their licenses through bribery). But also because cyclists and pedestrians tend to go across crossings and weave in to roads without paying any attention as to whether or not there are any cars about to plow into them! It is also very common for people to carry a passenger on their bike’s luggage racks, not mention extra large boxes and all manner of other things! There are still many places in Baotou where one can find horse and donkey carts hauling long steel rods or vegetable carts. I like that a lot. And when the fossil fuels run out or if some sort of disaster were to happen if there were not by then sufficient alternative fuels, places like Baotou would have an upper hand in not being too hard hit. Another interesting thing I’ve found is that China is a place were restaurants are often just… huge! There are plenty of small family run eateries too, of course. But at the other extreme many are hotel sized restaurants. Quite literally. This is somewhat due to the popularity of private rooms. Many restaurants have basically the same layout a hotel would. Except instead of bedrooms, the rooms are all private dining rooms with 1 or 2 tables. Round tables. Almost all tables in restaurants are round, both for the symbolism and the practicality of eating with many friends or family members and to give room for a big Lazy-Susan or hotpot. This is a real necessity since in China people don’t all have their own plates but all eat from the same dishes. The hotel sized restaurant is also reflected in the language because the words for hotel and restaurant can be used interchangeably!
My business, One Human Family, has been going well, despite somewhat of a slow start but I finally got my long term business license in October (2003) and got my Residence Permit written over to my company in the first week of December and so I'm now all set to live here without worries! I don’t have as many students yet as would be best but I'm pretty confident that next semester everything will go better.
In addition to my own classes, for the sake of getting to know new people and bringing in more money I’ve started teaching 4 hours a week of German at a technical vocational college 10 minutes taxi drive from where I live (and perhaps I’ll expand that with 4 hours of English sometime). It’s been nice getting to know more college age students. (More than those I’ve gotten to know through the English corner). The class only lasted one month. But it was good, while it lasted.