What an amazing spectacle.. oh, and we also went to the Shaolin Temple, too

Yesterday was Homecoming day on the Sias campus. As that wasn’t a tradition in the UK when I wasn’t a college, I can’t really comment on how true to form the Chinese version was.  The morning started with a parade outside the main Administration Building. Each of the different Schools within Sias had been given $150 to decorate their floats, so it really was an exercise in ingenuity.

Apparently, this is a relatively new tradition on the Sias campus (last year was its inaugural year), although you wouldn’t think it from seeing the floats, as some of them were really amazing. In between many of the floats, there would be groups of students showing off their talents (singers, dancers, kung fu, more dancers, marching bands, yet more dancers). In talking with many staudents here, and from what I’ve witnessed, it just seems to be the norm that even the geekiest of students also develop the talents on the artistic side.

After watching the parade, we all walked over to the Opera House for introductions, speeches and then performances from the students, I break out introductions as its own category, as they really are almost an art form here. Even before the speeches start, we have the protocol of seating. Being a foreign guest here, you sometimes feel that relative worth is being evaluated in real-time, and compared with your peers. Based on the findings, you’ll find yourself either bumped or promoted, depending on who else was there. We’d definitely slipped down the league tables from last week (or maybe we’re considered ‘old news’ now), but we were now in the second rod seats, which didn’t offer the same amount of legroom (it was a little bit like being downgraded from economy plus down to the regular cattle car on a passenger plane. For the introductions themselves, it is important that everyone is recognized, and given an opportunity to stand up and take a bow.It’s fine if there is only a handful of visitos, but there were 100+ yesterday, so even with having people stand in groups by their delegations, it still seemed to take forever.

I thought that last week’s student performances were pretty great, but from the moment the curtain went up, it was pretty clear that they’d really only been a warm-up act. Without exception, the performances were very, very good. Many of the singers and dancers were in that ‘I’d pay money to go and see these people in concert’ category. As the sole exception to the local talent only, they’d brought in some young students from the Shaolin temple, who were pretty magical to watch. The highlight for me, however, was three homegrown tenors who performed individually and then together  (I’m seeing Simon Cowell picking them up and billing them as The Three Chinese Tenors) I don’t know why I assumed that only Caucasians sang opera, but these three soon squashed that one. Their singing was big and powerful and perfect and wonderful, and I found myself blubbering like a baby. Some music just does that to me, and on those occasions, I just let it.

One of my friends, Bridget Kelly, facilitated two of the Women’s Academy modules, and while she was at Sias, joined the students n running through the fountains opposite the Administration Building. Earlier in the week, she started a vicious rumor that I was just longing to do the same, so I countered by saying that I’d only do it if a lot of strong young women would also join me (I had this shyness that I needed help in overcoming you see). We arranged to meet by the fountains at 2pm, so I had time to go back to my apartment and change. I’d been telling the students about my Vibram running shoes, and as no-one had been up early enough to see me running yet, I decided to put them on. As you can imagine, that made for many strange looks, lots of smiles and laughter, and an awful lot of pictures. In total, there must have been about 12 of us who ran through the fountains, and I think that in total, I must have run through them, there and back, at least 20 times. Fortunately, it was a very hot day and the water wasn’t too cold, so it made for a very refreshing experience.

As we wrapped up every conceivable combination of photo opportunities, I asked who wanted to go with me to get a frozen yogurt. Some of the students replied that it was too expensive for them to go (a portion is probably equivalent to the cost of 2 full meals), but I told them it would be my treat. They got pretty excited about that (as only 2 of them had ever tried it before; out of 7 of them). We all went our separate ways to change our clothes and dry off, and then met back at the yogurt shop.  It was so much fun watching the students help themselves to the yogurt, as the majority of them filled their  large bowls with every flavor possible, and then did the same with all of the toppings. What was nice was that after we finished out yogurts, we probably all just sat there for a couple of hours and chatted. While we were in there, we were joined by a couple of the American facilitators, so we ended up asking each other really interesting questions on how we perceive each other.

At dinner-time, two bus-loads headed off to visit the Shaolin Temple, which is about 90 minutes to 2 hours away. The temple’s setting is very beautiful, and as you get out of the cities and up into the mountains, the air is just so clean and refreshing. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from a show at the Shaolin Temple….

….TO BE CONTINUED