Meeting With Alan 7: Spring Festival

Alan and I had a bit of trouble thinking of what to talk about for our final conversation.  I think that both of us were feeling stressed and distracted by the end of the semester, and the whirlwind of work that comes with it.  We talked a little bit about summer break, and it seemed lie Alan does the same things with his friends at home that most people here do: hang out, listen to music, go see movies, etc.

We were both at something of a loss after that, until he asked whether he’d told me about Festival.  I was confused at first, so I asked what festival he meant.  He explained that he was talking about Spring Festival.  I still had no idea what he was talking about.  After a bit of confusion, I realized that Spring Festival is the celebration for the Chinese New Year. 

Alan told me that they get a break for Spring Festival instead of for Christmas.  This made sense to me, since Christianity is far from the majority religion in China.  That said, it’s difficult for me to imagine going through school without a winter break.  I also found it odd that it’s called Spring Festival, when it takes place anywhere from late January to mid-February.  To me, that time of the year is definitely winter.  But I suppose that the definition of seasons can be cultural as well.  Or perhaps it’s just a name and I’m overthinking.

People in China celebrate this holiday by eating special foods, cleaning the house to remove bad luck, and by decorating their doors with couplets printed on red paper.   One similarity to New Year’s celebrations here is that they ring in the new year with firecrackers.

Parting with Alan was an odd feeling, with him going back to China for the summer while I go back to Midland.  It’s pretty certain that, even though we’ll both still be at TCU, we won’t talk and may not even see each other anymore.  This assignment has been an interesting one, and it’s been fun to learn a little bit about a country that I previously knew very little about.

The Parten Family Dinner: An exercise in humor

Last weekend, I went home for the first time since Spring Break.  I know that that doesn’t sound like a long time, but the past few weeks have been so stressful for me that it seriously felt like months.  After I made the four hour drive back to Midland on Friday morning, I paid a visit to my dog, a 15-year-old blue tick hound named Daisy, in the backyard, and collapsed on the couch.  My family was still at school and work, so I did a bit of homework and waited.

Fast-forward a few hours.  My parents and brother are home, my dad’s made steak fingers and gravy (From scratch. Sorry, had to brag.), and we’re gathering around the table to eat dinner together.  This is how my family has always eaten, aside from nights when orchestra or sports have caused someone to be absent.  Growing up, I was always amazed to learn that some of my friends often ate in front of the television, or at different times than the rest of their family.  I consider myself incredibly lucky to have grown up with the tradition of sitting down and talking with my parents and brother every evening over dinner.

My favorite part of eating with my family has always been the conversation.  We typically start out by simply telling everyone how the day went, but as the meal progresses, things always get more fun.  This is where the humor comes in.  The atmosphere is completely informal, and the conversation turns into something of a free-for-all, with jokes and witty exchanges (usually at each other’s expense, but always in good spirit) flying in every direction.  At least once a week, I’ll find myself laughing so hard that tears are streaming down my face by the time the meal ends.

My all-time favorite memory of family dinner, however, is the time that my dad, my brother, and I had a food fight, much to my mother’s frustration.  Even though it happened years ago, many of the details are still fresh in my mind.  We were eating meatballs with potato dill sauce, and my dad had jokingly flexed the serving spoon back, threatening to fling some of the sauce across the table at me.  The fight began when the spoon slipped, and potato dill sauce splattered both me and my brother.  After that, and despite my mother’s protests, it was time for revenge.  I won’t bore you with all of the gory details, but suffice it to say that eventually, bananas that had gotten just a bit too soft to eat came into play.  Cleaning up afterwards was a relief, and my mother saw to it that we did so thoroughly.  We still all love to laugh about that night.

I love eating and talking with my family because they all share my sense of humor.  It’s always a good time because we all understand what sort of things make the others laugh.  Whether it’s everyday conversation or a food fight, dinner with my family is definitely one of my favorite things.

Mark Twain

“Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.”

I chose this quotation to write about because I feel like it is still relevant today.  People often accept ideas without ever stopping to question them.  Change is what freed the slaves, gave women the right to vote, and got rid of segregated schools and restaurants.  If no one ever questioned the generally accepted ideas of their time, none of these changes would have taken place.  I try to constantly ask myself why I believe what I believe, and how those beliefs could potentially affect others.  I encourage those around me to do the same.  There’s nothing wrong with questioning what you believe.  It’s often one of the most effective ways of strengthening your beliefs.  And if your beliefs change as a result of this questioning, maybe it’s because they needed to change.  Maybe it’s for the better.  Politics, religion, social values…Do you know why you believe what you believe?

Juha, Part 3

I think that the last third of Tales of Juha was actually my least favorite.  There was less variety in these anecdotes, especially in chapter seven (“A Witty Rogue”) and chapter nine (“Justice and Generosity”).  The tales in both of these chapters took place nearly exclusively in court, and though I thought that some of them were clever, I felt like it got redundant after a while, especially since many of them started similarly, either describing the judge or telling us that Juha himself was the judge.  A few started out describing the crime that led the people to go to the judge, but regardless, they all wound up in the same place.

A tale that I did enjoy was the one where Juha told the man to take his nothing and be off.  The whole situation was absurd, with a man going to court in order to get paid the nothing he had been promised.  It’s the sort of situation that can only be setting you up for a punchline.  When Juha had the man find nothing under the book, then instructed him to take it, the situation became even more absurd.  As far as I’m concerned, everyone wound up happy.  One man got his nothing, the other didn’t have to pay it, and Juha got an interesting story to tell.

My favorite chapter in the last third of the book was chapter six, “Boastfulness and False Pride.”  I enjoyed it because we all know at least one person who just can’t resist any opportunity to brag.  Because that sort of behavior can annoy us and grow very old, very quickly, we can’t help but laugh when someone like that gets knocked down just a notch (though they’re usually back to their original state in no time).  I loved it when Juha was building up a grand tale about his horsemanship, and a friend of his cut in and told Juha’s audience that Juha had actually fallen off of the horse.  I love the mental image of Juha getting the crowd excited, and preparing himself to put them in awe of him, only to be humbled by someone who knows him too well to fall for his tales.

Another false pride tale that I enjoyed was the one where Juha fell off of his donkey, with his foot still stuck in the stirrup, but tried to play it off as intentional nonetheless.  I’m pretty sure that most people have done something similarly clumsy and then (jokingly or not) said something along the lines of “Uh…I meant to do that” as they pick themselves up and/or gather their scattered belongings.  I can’t count the number of times that I’ve stumbled and then just tried to play it off as though nothing happened or laughed about it to try and appear confident in my walking abilities (despite the evidence that I could use some work).

The last chapter, “Critic of Despotism,” was even more political than the stories about corrupt judges.  I won’t lie; I had to do an internet search to find out who Tamerlane was.  Once I did, the tales started to make sense.  They were, perhaps, a coping mechanism for the oppressed people who lived under him.  I enjoy learning about how people use humor to deal with adversity, so it was neat to see that it was done even long ago.

Meeting with Alan 6

Alan and I met for the second to last time today.  We sat at Bistro Burnett in the library and talked about school.  We compared our experiences here at TCU, and we also talked about how our high school experiences differed.

As far as out TCU lives go, things are pretty similar.  We’re both really busy right now, and both sort of amazed that the semester’s almost over.  One thing he did mention is that his psychology class seems to be more difficult for foreign students than native speakers of English, because the reading is more difficult for them, and they have to look up more words.

When Alan talked about how high school is in China, my mind was blown.  I’d always heard that it’s more difficult there than here, but I don’t think I’d quite grasped it before.  He said that typical high schools start around six in the morning, don’t finish until about ten at night, and still assign homework every day.  I have days when I’m not even awake as long as Alan was in school on a usual day.  I’m not sure that I could have handled it without just collapsing from exhaustion.  Maybe if it were normal to me I would have just dealt with it without question, but I’m a product of Texas schools, so the whole idea just sounds insane.  In the end, we’re both at the same school, and I don’t feel like whatever advantage I may have gained from such intense prior schooling would have outweighed the costs, both in time and in sanity.

He also said that in China, universities are easier than high school, and are a time to relax and enjoy a lighter workload.  I thought this was interesting, as here it’s the other way around.  High schools are easier than universities, and are typically the stepping stone to them.

Alan went to a special program his last two years in high school in order to prepare him to come abroad for college.  I mentioned that several of my friends were looking to spend a semester abroad, and his response was interesting.  He wanted to know why anyone here would want to study abroad when the United States is the most powerful and has the best schools.  I feel like this gave me an insight into his worldview and his reasons for coming here to study.  It seems that the cultural aspect of living abroad isn’t nearly as important to him as the education itself, whereas most people here who study abroad do it for cultural enrichment.

We also chatted just a bit about summer.  He asked if I’m going to do summer classes, and I told him that no, I’m going to go home for the summer and spend some time with my family, especially since I’ll be looking to have an internship next summer.  He said that he’ll go home for the summer as well.  I think we’re both ready to spend a few months de-stressing.  It’s hard to believe how quickly this semester’s flown by, and that Alan and I only have one meeting left.

Tales of Juha: Wit and Wisdom

I feel like Juha is a “John Doe” sort of character.  Generic.  A blank slate.  It’s easier to tell a story about a man if that man has a name, and so Juha exists.  Though the introduction to the book mentioned that Juha takes on many professions and many attitudes, I was still a bit confused as I read the first few anecdotes.  I realized that my problem was that I was trying to make a character out of Juha, one with specific traits and habits.  It was only after I allowed myself to think of Juha less as a character, and more as a name that can be applied to a range of characters, that I was able to relax and enjoy the humor.

The humor itself, however, was also sometimes problematic.  While I thought most of the anecdotes were either funny, clever, or both, some left me a bit confounded.  I feel like cultural differences, the differences between now and the time that the tales take place, and translations may have contributed to this.  Usually, I could see where some people may find something funny, or where the cognitive shift occurred (even if I wasn’t amused myself), but a few times, I found myself somewhat mystified.

An example of this was the one about selling the donkey that had wandered off.  Maybe the humor was that he wound up asking a higher price than he had originally stated.  But since he was also selling the cat, I’m not sure that it would benefit him.  Part of the problem is that I have no concept of the money used in the tale.  And why is he selling the cat, anyways?  What did the cat do wrong?  I digress.

Another interesting thing that I noticed was that the cover of the book seems to depict a story I’ve heard before.  Since the introduction mentioned that some of these stories are similar to Aesop’s Fables, I think I might be right.  Time will tell.  :)

I think I’ll finish this post off with my favorite quote from Juha so far:

“And what, after all, does man take with him at last, when he dies?”

“Nothing.”

“…And this ‘nothing’ is the hard, high price people don’t gain until it’s too late.”

ZOMBIES - Meeting With Alan 5

This week, Alan and I met in the library once again.  At first, we were unsure of what to talk about.  We got through the usual small talk, asking how each other’s weeks were going.  Then there was an awkward pause.  Alan then told me that he’s doing a presentation over Chinese zombies for Toastmasters, and asked if I would like to hear about it.  It sounded fun and interesting, so I agreed that we could talk about it.

First, he gave me a physical description of Chinese zombies.  They tend to have skin that has a green or blue color to it, and are somewhat decayed but not gory.  They move around by hopping, but some can jump so high that they’re practically flying.  Their arms are stiff and stuck in an outstretched position.  They are blind and rely on their senses of hearing and smell to find prey.

Alan told me that there are three types, or stages, of zombie.  He referred to them by the color of their “fur,” but after a little explaining I realized that the word that he was looking for was “mold.”  The first type has white mold, and is pretty harmless.  It’s alive, but still in its coffin and not really causing any harm.  The next type has green mold.  These zombies still aren’t a threat to humans.  They eat small animals instead.  The final, most dangerous stage of zombification is the black mold zombies.  These are the zombies that can fly and prey on people.

Chinese zombies are difficult to kill.  Alan showed me a picture of a wooden sword, and told me that only peach wood through the heart would kill a zombie.  I thought this was interesting, because it reminded me of how a wooden stake through the heart is one of the traditional vampire-killing methods that I’m used to hearing about.

He said that part of his presentation was about American zombies and vampires.  He included vampires because Chinese zombies share some traits with them.  He was surprised that I wasn’t interested in Twilight or True Blood.  He thought that all the girls here loved them, or at least loved some sort of vampire…romance…stuff.  I told him it’s just not exactly my preferred genre.  I also found out that he watches The Walking Dead.

All in all, it was a fun and interesting talk.  I learned a lot that I hadn’t known about Chinese monster stories, and it was neat getting to see the similarities and differences between the Chinese zombie tales and the zombies that I’m used to seeing in popular culture.  It was also fun because it was a topic that we both had something to add to, and that we were both genuinely interested in.