The Recycling Program and Education

There are different recycling systems here, depending on the size of the city, it seems. In ZJ, the most effective way to get your bottle recycled was to give it to a kid scouring the streets for bottles. They'd carry plastic bags in their hands or big baskets on their backs to collect bottles for recycling. In return, they get some cash from the recycling depot. Kids would operate either individually or in packs. Sometimes they'd argue over who gets to have a bottle. Lesson learned, never give your bottle to a kid in the presence of other bottle searchers.

In Xichang, kids were competing with adults for the bottles. Both kids and adults would roam the city in search of that special used plastic that could bring income. Kids would operate in packs, but adults would operate individually.

Here in Chengdu, it seems to be only adults. And not only do they collect bottles, they also collect paper. I presume that Chengdu has a paper recycling facility that ZJ and Xichang do not. It is quite funny to see them hanging around the computer stores. When you walk by the computer or mobile phone stores, there are often people handing out flyers to anyone they see. Walk a few more steps, and there is someone collecting those same flyers from people for recycling.

We have bottle collectors in Vancouver too, but they operate with shopping carts, not baskets on their backs. It's kind of weird to compare how it all works. And with all these bottle collectors, I wonder if something's actually left in the recycling half of the trash bins on the sidewalk when the official garbage people come around to collect the trash.

What's crazier is the kids. I don't ever recall a kid being a bottle collector before. But here they are, collecting bottles for either their families or for themselves. It'd be much better for these kids to be in school, but until last year, it'd be too expensive. Finally, last year, education was made mandatory (and therefore free) for nine years. It's still not the full 13 years we'd get in Vancouver (Kindergarten, plus grades 1 to 12), but it's a start.

The Chinese really value education. When we were in Xichang, there was a kid who had been accepted into China's #1 or #2 university. They had banners celebrating this kid's entrance into university. Like the CITY had banners. That's crazy.

However, it's a little different in ZJ. Many parents can't see the point of their kids going to school, it seems, for several reasons. Firstly, when you graduate, what are you going to do with all the stuff you learned? There are hardly any jobs that you can get and apply yourself. What's the point of preparing for a bleak future? Secondly, you can help out your family right now, on the farm or in the shop, or whatever it is your parents do. And that help is really needed. And thirdly, is all the stuff you learn really necessary? It seems many of the parents believe that all the education is good for their kids. But many more do not, simply because of the environment in which they live. We're talking about ZJ here, not Xichang or Chengdu. Please keep them in your thoughts. This mandatory 9-year education thing is a major step forward.

We're not in Zhaojue anymore, Toto...

Yesterday morning, we left Zhaojue by bus to come to Xichang. Then we took the overnight train to arrive in Chengdu at 5:30 am today.

Our last week in Zhaojue was spent doing a variety of things. One of those things was helping out at the Sunshine Farm, a place run by MSI to grow many different things. These vegetables and animals are then sold throughout Zhaojue, or something like that. I don't have all the details. Many agricultural students learn how to farm here, I think. Or rather, there (we're in Chengdu now).

The team did everything from building and painting fences to picking vegetables. One really interesting part was cutting the grass and then bringing it to feed the pigs. Watching the pigs eat was interesting to me, mainly because of their eyes. While they were eating, they would sometimes look at you. A pig is a large animal, and they have large eyes. Plus, their eyes seem to have an intelligence that they know that you're looking at them, so they are in turn observing you to see what you are doing. It was a little unnerving. The farm will start breeding the pigs soon.

Something I ate during our last night in Zhaojue doesn't sit very well with me. But I think I'm nearing the end stages of my sickness. One of my team members gave me a lot of advice as to what to do. I'm going to now go out and find some Gatorade to drink with some of these Loparamide Hydrochloride Tablets (that's what it says on the back).

We'll back in Canada soon, Toto. Kind of strange to think about it. We're probably most worried about decompression now. Back in Canada, we'll be out of the greenhouse, and we have no idea how we'll react, being off the field and back into normal life. Please think about that for us.

Conversations with a 5-year old

Guess who was waiting outside my door this morning? A former student, and two others. The youngest was five years old.

Kid: Bobby-wawa!
Me: Wo bu shi wawa!
Kid (clinging to my leg): Wo de Bobby wawa!
Me: Wo bu shi ni de wawa! Ni shi wo de wawa!
Kid: Wo de Bobby wawa!
Me: Wo yao zou la!
Kid: Bu yao! Wo bu yao Bobby wawa zou la!
Me: Wo bu shi ni de wawa!!

Kids are too cute to be strict. :(

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

Hannah ate a fly today. It was gross. I don't know she swallowed the fly. OK, I do, but I would never do it. :p

We went to a hair salon to get a shampoo and head massage. 5 yuan, right? Sounds good. :)

/after massage
Hair stylist: Blahblahblahblah
Me: Keyi (OK)
Hair stylist: Blahblahblahblah
Me: Keyi (OK) (yes, I didn't know what she was saying)
Hair stylist: Blahblahblahblah
Me thinking: Um, maybe I better get a translation first.
Me: David! Ni fang yi xia keyi ma? (David, can you translate for me for a second?)
Other hair stylists: /laughing
Me: Duibuqi! Wo shi hanguoren. /big smile :) (Sorry, I'm Korean)
Hair stylist: Blahblahblahblah
David: Ah, she wants to know if you want gel. Gel, ok?
Me: Hao, keyi. (OK, good).
Hair stylist: /starts cutting my hair
Me thinking: Uh, what is she doing?
Ruth: Bobby... ni xiang jien toufa ma? (Bobby... you intended to get your hair cut?)
Me: /nodding
Ruth: /puzzled

During post-analysis, David and I determined that when the hair stylist heard David say gel, she thought he said jien. She then repeated jien to me, and I gave the OK signal to go ahead. @@

It's not a horrible cut, you know.

Our last day of classes are tomorrow. Then we have closing ceremonies on Saturday. So tired... but ok. :) Many of our team members are healthy again, so looking good. Big daddy gave us lots of help for many things.

Our kids have to make up a presentation for the closing ceremonies, just like the other classes. So far we have... Hot Cross Buns? We'll see what happens. :)

I got really angry today. These kids that we've been trying to teach about good values made one of their classmates feel so horrible that she didn't want to come to class anymore. That student's younger sister is in my class. Normally, she's very happy (today, we gave her an award for having "The Biggest Smile"). Today, she was crying, and wouldn't explain what was going on. Found out that these kids that we've been working so hard on were the cause of it all. I was very upset. It was hard to control my anger for a while. But big daddy didn't come here to help those who needed no help, right? He came here to help those who had problems. These five kids have major behaviour problems. And others too. Four of these are the ones we caught smoking. I get to see these guys when it's their class's turn to come to Game Period (Bryan, Tim, and I manage Game Period).

We had several rounds of talks with them. In my round with them, I told them many things. I told them how angry I was. I showed it. I went through everything. Why did they want to attend these classes. Why is respect important. How is responsibility distributed among culprits. What is chivalry supposed to be. How could they have such a lack of self-respect. Why did they insist on acting like trash. What kind of trash did they have in their lives that influenced them to become this way.

I think I did some things that I shouldn't have done. Like explicitly state what I felt like doing to them. Maybe calling them trash. I'm not sure. I was very angry, but I'm sure that is no excuse. Big daddy's anger is carefully chosen and revealed only when it is necessary. Was it necessary for me? I don't know. The only thing I had going for me was that they sometimes respected what I said and therefore valued whether or not I respected them. But I had lost all respect for them today. After so many sessions of talking with them, they finally got around to hurting one of my own students.

They decided that they would make a public apology in front of the whole school. They said they wanted to do this because they felt regret and wanted to be people of value, not trash. It's very nice to hear, but who knows if they can keep it up? I know with many of my own personal problems, it's not easy. That's why grace is so important. The short-term outcome of this whole thing was perhaps good, but this incident has only made it clear to me as to how unconfident I am in my abilities to say and do the right things in resolving conflicts and applying discipline. It scares me. Big daddy is smart. I hope he teaches me. Please keep these troublesome kids in mind. I don't know how many chances they will get to have some sort of good foundation in place for good values. If this little thing can spark a yearning in them to search for how to become good people, and realize that it is not possible, and that is why big daddy does what he does, then I will be thankful. We can only plant seeds here and think hard about them.

Remember that second name of mine? It's Bobbydoe. I couldn't figure out for the longest time what the kids were saying until finally I realized that they were saying Bobby Wawa in English.

Still a wawa.....

Bobby Wawa