Yang Shuo - last day

 

I did another tour by bike in the area.

I am surprised that the burial places are sometimes garbage place.

River Town ” is written by an English teacher in a small town in center of China.When I sow written “Foundation” on the wall of a school, I stopped there, hoping that I’ll meet someone likewise. The classrooms had the doors opened, so the moment I stepped in the courtyard, I saw agitation of the children.
 

I tried to keep a low profile, to wait for the pause, so I went as far as I could from the school building, but it was impossible. I was Gulliver. I don’t know how it is an orphanage, but the overwhelming reaction made me think about this.

Finally the class ends, I spoke a little with a Math teacher, who forwarded me to the English one. After 2 minutes, she asked me if I want to hold the class. 

I told them a little about my country. And then I answered their questions about my height and age. I remember me being the same, having a lot of questions, but due to the language blockage, the only things I could manage were the stupid questions, so I understand them.

I asked them about their games. After I started to tell them about my volley-ball invention specially designed for in-classroom use, the teacher asked me to work on the manual. For the third year of English, and considering the distance between languages, I found their level very good 

After the class finished, the Math teacher offered me the pupil’s lunch: only beans and rice, but very well cooked, and a lot. I ate it in the courtyard, with the chopsticks, surrounded by the children, who were saying: “Hello, Hello, Hello”. Only two could tell me their names. 

                                                  Dragon’s Bridge

I am about to leave the bridge, when I hear a couple speaking in French. The guy tells me he’s German, and his girlfriend Belgium.

- Belgium ? I live in Brussels

she steps back, but her boyfriend continues:

-         She is from Brussels as well

-         Where from ?

-         Actually outside of Brussels

-         Yes, of course, only Marrocans and Romanians live in the city

-         Now I live in Shanghai for the next 6 months.

My point is that some Belgians are very closed, afraid and they just hide, don’t get too close, because they might run away.

I was just about to say “Bye-Bye”, when the guy says that he wants to jump over the bridge, because it is written in Lonely Planet, that you can do. 

I was riding the bike in Yangshuo region. I had seen the Dragon’s bridge and going back to home, through the rice fields. I got the impression that I took the wrong road, continued a little because, it was so beautiful. From the other side came 3 bicyclists, who told me that after the little mountain there is a highway. So I joined them. 

It is amazing to ride a bike through the rice fields of China and to speak about Bach with a Composer. The construction is simple, you find a theme, 3-4 notes, and then you play with it obeying the grammar rules, it is like the grammar in computer science. In the opening you presents all the themes, after you change a little the theme, you mirror it, put in an upper key, there are standard procedures. Hey, I am a programmer, I know grammar, so I can be myself a Composer!

This photo is taken when, like a “Manelist”, I put Peer Gynt on my phone. Ted was commenting like Karajan the music passages: theme, counter-theme, re-statement of the theme, modification of the theme, the theme using a solo, and so on. 

Heather, Ted’s girlfriend studied Mathematics. Because she had studied a lot the piano, she wants to study composition. She inspired me, to have the following idea.Artists have a big ego. This is opposite with the humility and enjoyment of life of Buddhism, which I feel closer. The Artist must change the world. I found that my place is to discover artists, “to steal” their ideas, and to help them to promote, to find them projects.  

That evening I had dinner with Molly, the English teacher. All her 2 brothers entered an university, when it was really hard, only 5-10% succeeded. Now 50% of high school graduates go to university, so the level dropped. No cousin went to university, because their parents didn’t push them to study, but all her 4 uncles helped her family to pay the taxes for education. In country side people still value more the education than the money.

Her values are:

1. freedom – to have the money to travel
2. happy life: sport, dance
3. friends, family
4. job – no stress, money, balance between time and work

The current generation is spoiled, comparing with her, but not much more than they should.

In school for each field there are 3 notes, for example for math:

• Creative thinking: usage of a theorem in daily life
• Logical reasoning: solve problems
• Knowledge connection: working in a group to solve a problem, and explain the theorem to others

If someone cheats is warned, second time has to take again all the exams on that field, and third time has to take admission again to the school

The same evening I ran to go to the spectacle of Zhang Yimou, the director of the opening of Olympic games. This was recommended by Ted, the composer. If you arrive there, you must see the show.

As I said, I discovered and practiced travel surfing. On the way to the show, I spoke with Xavier, a businessman on cleaning materials from Barcelona, who went to the Canton fair. He told me that I must spend a night at “Dragon’s back’. This is the next post.