Ha Luo Wei

DISPELLING A MYTH:

While it may be the case living in an undeveloped country that one finds him- or herself living without some of the comfort foods of one's home country, China suffers not from this lack of foreign food stuffs.  In fact, the foreign community--be they North American, South American, European, African, Asian, or Australian--is so well established in Kunming, that most of the large supermarkets (Carrefour, Walmart, and Metro) all have sections of their food aisles designated to for the sale of imported goods.  I found early on that I really can live without many of the Western foods I was used to in the United States.  That said, I also learned early on that I enjoyed the fact that each of these stores sells peanut butter.  Along with these stores, Kunming also has a number of wonderful foreign food restaurants, not the least of which is the Wicker Basket.  During my eight years in Kunming, I have seen this establishment grow from one location to three locations--west, north, and south--always situated near a substantial number of Western expatriates.  Below you can see part of the menu.  Occasionally, our family will get hamburger and some french fries, but mostly we just eat Chinese food, either what Suli makes at home or what we can get at the always-available Chinese restaurants.

MY PERSONAL DAILY DUTY:

Each morning, I arrive on campus around 07.00h.  There is usually only one other staff member at the school at this time.  Both of us greet the guard who has been on campus all night.  Then, after unlocking my room, use a length of PVC pipe to make certain each of the flags on the fifth floor are hanging properly.  Our floor hosts banners of Austria, South Africa, Indonesia (at least twice), Mali, Japan, Italy, and Norway.  While flags are flown on each level of our school, I have decided to make certain that each of the flags on my own floor are not wrapped around their pole.  Our floor used to have the United States flag, and I think that is how I got started with this routine.  When I saw the U.S. flag twisted about its own pole, I felt the need to make it right.  However, I felt I was being a bit arrogant if I did not fix each of the flags.  Now, even though the U.S. flag no longer waves outside my classroom, I feel compelled to make certain each country represented on the fifth level receives the honor it deserves by having its flag wave freely and correctly.

HA LUO WEI:

During my first trip to HeKou, Suli's hometown, I found out that plenty of Chinese people believe in spirits and believe these spirits need to be appeased.  On that trip, during an excursion into the rubber tree terraces surrounding Suli's village, we came across a very tall, large, old tree.  Because the rubber trees are generally no bigger around than my arm, I knew right off that this particular towering greenery was not part of the rows of trees having their gummy sap harvested for processing.  As I drew closer, I realized that numerous tiny shrines and sacrifices had been placed at the foot of the giant tree.  That is when the "foreigner" in me kicked in.  I reached for my camera and focused on the large tree, trying to get as much of the monster into a picture, while still being able to make out the various offerings at its base.  That is when my future mother-in-law began speaking, what is for her, rather animatedly with Suli.  "She doesn't want me to take a picture of it, does she," I asked.  "No.  She even wants us to move away from it."  I found out later that the tree had been allowed to stand because so many of the local people believe it houses a spirit who blesses them for their care of its home, the tree.

Maybe it is because of this belief in spirits, or maybe it is because the Chinese people love "ri nao," celebrating All Hallows' Eve has become a bit of a tradition.  The local people and their children still do not Trick-or-Treat, but they do love all the decorative trappings of Halloween.  The mall near where we live even had a "haunted castle" that cost 28rmb (approximately $4.60).  We did not go to the haunted castle, but we saw the signs that told us if we purchased a certain amount worth of merchandise at any one of the shops in the mall, we would get a free ticket to the attraction.  We saved our money, but we still went and looked at the outside of the castle.

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE:

Even though the Kunming International Academy Annual Junior/Senior Spring Banquet is several months away, the grade 11 students, the class who is in charge of hosting the banquet and the class for whom I am a class adviser, have started looking for an appropriate site for the event.  Thankfully, we have a student Noel (pictured below) whose parents are high-rollers in the local business scene.  Noel's father offered to let us use one of his company's business meeting rooms . . . for free!  So we had to check it out.  While a bit small, the amenities--sound system and projection system--work well for us.  Plus, it's free!  We will have to arrange for catering, but that should be made easier by the fact that the site itself is FREE, meaning we can put more money into the food.  The picture below is of the entryway to the meeting hall.  It has a small fish pond, creating a cozy atmosphere.  Once we are done decorating, I think this could be a very enjoyable event.

THIS MONTH'S ODDITY:

Outside the office building we are considering as a possible site for the spring banquet, I saw two Jeep Willys parked outside an adjacent jade market.  Naturally, the color of the jeeps goes along with the jade motif.  However, it just struck me as odd to see these two Korean War era vehicles standing guard at a Chinese jade warehouse.  Both were in great condition, and I really wanted to jump in and see if one of them would turn over.  Sadly, neither vehicle came equipped with keys, so I would have had to try to jump start it, and there were a few too many guards milling around the business.  Anyway, that was one of the strange sightings for the month of October.  Hope your Halloween was fun, and I praise the Lord for all the saints that we celebrate on 01 November.