Day 9, March 25, 2020
Day 9, March 25, 2020
I made a pandemic panic purchase a week or so ago. I've been trying to be good and restrain any sense of panic or fear, so when I went to the grocery store, I bought only one package of toilet paper. When I was at CVS, I only bought one bottle of Tylenol... but sitting a home on the evening of our first work-from-home-night, scanning Facebook I saw an ad for the complete collection of Studio Ghibli films and my mind raced.... What if I have so much time on my hands I don't know what to do? What if I run through the entire catalog of television shows and movies available online? What if I read all the books on my bedside table? What if I break a string on every guitar I own? So, I discreetly pulled out my credit card and placed the order.
Now, I think I have to be a responsible citizen and tell you, do not order things on adds from Facebook. A larger percentage of Facebook ads are too good to be true, are scams, or at the very least, what might seem like a good deal, is revealed to be overpriced when researched further. That said... my box set of Studio Ghibli films arrived today. And while, I haven't had any down time to watch a film, or even really play much guitar, if that time comes, I am fully stocked with 25 classic anime films like Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and many more! Debbie inspected the package like it was a package of Almost Butter, and I have to admit the printing on the DVDs are a little less than professional (slightly sketchy), but I am hopeful that they will work!
Years ago, Abbie Jenks made it her mission to have GCC send a delegation to China on a community college conference/research trip. The Chinese government was eager to learn about the community college model because, as they opened their economy to become more market driven, they were finding that large segments of the population were being laid off, or placed in early retirement, and similarly, the traditional educational routes for scholars often left out for the masses. So, along with a large group of presidents, academics, and international recruiters, GCC sent Abbie Jenks, Gretchen Watson, Ginny Wahl, and myself. We spent a large chunk of time in Beijing learning about the Chinese educational system and sharing presentations about our own, then traveled to Xi'an, Guilin, and Shanghai. I could spend a long time writing about each of those locations, and someday I will tell you about getting Shanghaied in Shanghai, but that's for another time.
Whenever I travel I like to explore the markets and neighborhoods and try to break away from anything resembling a tour group (which the conference definitely did). The end result is that I often get lost, I often discover some really friendly people, and in a Shanghai street market I bought a few DVDs that looked only superficially legitimate. So when you come to my house and ask to watch the DVD of Kill Bill, you will hear an audio beep every 15 or 20 minutes. I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to be there. I don't remember what the other video was, but the disk didn't play.
In Xi'an I met a wonderful woman in an antique store who worked at the terra-cotta warrior museum and helped translate what I was looking for to the store clerk. She then gave me a tour of Xi'an including the older Muslim quarters where a young boy sold me a flower to give my "girlfriend." We walked the streets and she taught me the Chinese word for things, and told me about her life, the apartment she lived in, and how she missed her parents. Everyone I met in China seemed to be from somewhere else, a nation of displaced people. Eventually, it was time to part and she hailed me a cab and sent me off into the night. That cab ride back to the hotel was like the old school cab rides you used to see in movies where the cab driver did his best to impress his passenger by whizzing down cobblestone streets, riding curbs to avoid pedestrians, and screeching to a stop at the proscribed destination.
In Guilin, I rode a ferry down the Li River through an incredible landscape of tightly peaked mountains that made me realize that the brush ink paintings I studied in college were not stylized at all, but very realistic. A young woman named Cloudy explained the differences and conflicts between the Han Chinese and the other ethnic minorities. She spoke cautiously, as if she might disturb my sensibilities, or someone might overhear. I played for her the song "Cloudy" by Simon and Garfunkel on my iPod. When we arrived back at the dock it had started to rain and all the street vendors pulled out big plastic sheets to throw over their stands and wares, and it in the wind it looked like the street had transformed into a landscape of dancing jellyfish. Cloudy left skipping down the street in the drizzling rain.
On our last day in Beijing, Abbie, Gretchen, and I (I think Ginny was off with other nurses), weary from our long explorations and side trips (to the Great Wall, an oyster farm, a jade stone cutter, and many educational facilities), decided to treat ourselves to a foot massage. I had never received a foot massage before, and I've never had one quite like that since. First, we were led into a soothing dimly lit room with plush recliner chairs. They placed a pot of hot oil at each of our feet and for a good long time we soaked our feet in the pots. Then a trio of masseuses came and worked on our feet in spectacular ways. I felt like new doors of perception were opened in my mind. It is probably good that we did that on our last day in Beijing, otherwise, I probably would have gone back every day.
I hope all these people I met are doing ok... the bus driver who survived the cultural revolution as a child working on a rice farm; the woman who fell asleep on my arm as we traveled from site to site, and practiced salsa dancing with a group under the overpasses on the weekend; even the sneak who Shanghaied me in Shanghai, I hope he is well and safe.
It is getting dark as I write this, the glow of the snow outside and the light from my monitor the only illumination, the kitchen and living room all bathed in shadow. I love that I had the opportunity to visit the world in this way. That GCC was able to give me the gift of an adventure. I love that the world is full of fascinating, kind, and lovely people, and some rough and a little nasty ones too. They all make for good stories, and wonderful memories. As we are all stuck in homes for this time, it is nice to remember those times when we were not, and strangers could fall asleep on your arm, or share what Chinese pop music I should buy, or teach me how to say bicycle.
Stay safe, and be well,
Leo
Shared by Our Friends:
Linda McCarthy shared a delicious looking recipe:
Christine Monahan shared two farm delivery services:
and
Lillian Ruiz shared a wonderful video staring Biscotti the Pug:
Tony Reiber shared flower seeds for the GCC beds are germinating!
Today's Online Teaching Tips
For Musicians Looking to Collaborate
A free platform called JamKazam seems to be used for giving lessons, playing in real time with other musicians, and learning songs.
Google Apps
Today I explored Google Chat and Google Meet (similar to Zoom). They seem like tools with great possibility and Google Meet does not have the time limitation that the standard Zoom license has. It also has a great closed caption function that transcribes what you are saying in real time. Wow!
FYI, it took me a little bit to figure it out, but you can schedule Google Video conferencing through the Google Calendar app.
We (faculty and staff at GCC) all now have access the Google education suite. You can sign into your account at Google.com using your GCC address and password (look in the top right corner of your screen).
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