More Rice in China  by Brian Rice

We love China!  Ever since my family of four first visited Tianjin in the summer of 2000, we knew that we were supposed to live in China.  When we first arrived, my wife and I began teaching English at Li Gong, a technological college in Nankai District. Our children, Caleb and Rachel, were six and three years old.  They sat in the back of our classes and read books, colored pages in coloring books or listened to stories on cassette tapes to pass the time away.  Many times Rachel would climb up on one of my student’s laps and go to sleep during class.  We quickly learned that Chinese people are some of the kindest in the world, and we made many new friends.  Some of those friends have moved to Canada, but most of them are still living and working in Tianjin.  This year, over the National Holiday, we were especially delighted because two of our closest friends from Tianjin came to visit.  They enjoyed a three-day cruise admiring the beautiful scenery along the Yangtze River before joining up with us.

We enjoyed living in Tianjin for the last two years.  I was teaching at an international school and Mrs. Rice was a homemaker and full-time language student.  While living there, we went to the local water park, Shuishang Gongyuan, saw an amazing alligator show, visited with our good friends and ate the local fair, especially the Goubuli baozi!  There are many great restaurants in Tianjin, like The Rib Place, Three Sisters Restaurant, Fridays, and the Museum Restaurant.  (These are not the official names, rather, how foreigners refer to them.) 

My family studied the Chinese language at the international school and at another school, New Century Language and Culture Center headed by Teacher Li and Charlie Pine.  Teacher Su patiently taught me Chinese at the international school.  She is an excellent teacher.  Many Chinese teachers at the international school, like Yang Dong Yi and Yang Ke helped us, too.  The Wang Ding Di taxi drivers and the Jin Sha Li guards also taught me some practical Chinese.  We were surrounded by kind people who were all excited to see us learn Chinese and fit into our new culture.  Once, my New Century class went on a field trip to Tang Gu, the Port of Tianjin.  We spent the day speaking Chinese, walking on the beach and swimming.  It was a fun adventure.

We were very excited when we saw our first snow in China.  We woke up one morning and saw all of the bicycles covered with snow.  Then we were surprised to see people go out and dust off their bicycles and ride them to school or work as usual.  In America people would not ride bicycles in the snow, but after a few tries, we realized that we could ride in the snow, too.  We have always been impressed with the local people’s ability to use bicycles to move huge loads and to travel in any kind of weather.

After two years in Tianjin, we were looking for a smaller city where we could relocate and be more immersed in the local culture.  We traveled to many cities to investigate teaching opportunities.  We saw the beautiful seaside and German architecture of Qing Dao.  We walked along the shore and saw the beautiful sunsets of Bei Dai He.  We visited Dalian and saw a replica of an ancient castle along the coastline, but when we saw Yichang and met the kind people there; we knew that Yichang was supposed to be our new home. 

The first person we met was a student who willingly stopped everything he was doing to direct us to his father, an English teacher at the school.  Then, we were introduced to Robert, Helen, and Dollar.  They were all so incredibly friendly and helpful and excited for us to work at their school.  They formally invited us as a family to come to Yiling Senior Middle School in the fall to be their only foreign teacher.  They had not employed an American in the past so we were honored to be the first, and hoped to give them a good impression. 

In May of 2003, we packed all of our belongings into boxes and shipped them by train to Yichang.  We also bought an oven and sent it to Yichang so we could cook American foods for our Chinese friends.  We never could have made the move without the capable help of Mrs. Li (Helen).  She received all of our belongings and made sure that our apartment was ready for us.  Helen arranged for many workers to carefully transport our things, including a piano, up five flights of stairs to our new apartment.  We were happy to find that everything arrived in tact.

After visiting our friends and relatives in the United States during the summer of 2003, we were excited to come back to Yichang and to get settled into our new home at Yiling Senior Middle School.  We are truly enjoying life in Yichang.  I think it is the most beautiful city in the South of China, even more beautiful than Guilin. 

Since we moved here, we have seen the beautiful Yichang Square with all of its colorful lights and crowds of people at night, the Yangtze River Dam Project and the Three Caves.  We were able to tour the caves with two of our dear friends from Tianjin.  We didn’t even know that these caves existed until a local foreign friend told us of them the day before.  It was a short city bus ride away!  In the first cave, I was surprised when our friends took the freedom to climb right up onto the stalactites!  We took some interesting pictures, and then at the end of this cave we watched a couple of brave (or crazy) souls bungee jump from a crane extended out over the river.  Next, we were whisked away in a van to cave #2 where we then had to ride a cable car over a busy freeway in order to get to the cave entrance.  The views were spectacular as we rode over a thickly vegetated valley surrounded by mountain peaks where clouds and mist gave it a surreal feeling.  A fierce looking dragon met us at the entrance and once inside, we had to be careful to watch our step as we walked across boards that were widely spaced.  It made for quite an adventure.  It was nice to enjoy the local flavor at the restaurant by cave #2.  We sent the cook into the cold water to catch us a fresh fish.  It was deliciously prepared.  Our kids enjoyed the little souvenir shops along the way and are becoming quite adept at bargaining.  Although each cave had its unique traits, they progressively got more beautiful.  In order to enter the third cave we had to board a gondola type boat and be maneuvered in across the water by a man holding a long pole.  I imagined that I was in Venice, Italy being escorted along the canal.  At the end of the third cave we climbed some steps that afforded us the most beautiful view we have seen of the Yangtze River, so far.  Again, we took some wonderful photos and have some lasting memories.

We are delighted because Yichang is clean and orderly.  The people in Yichang are very friendly, generous and helpful.  Even strangers are willing to stop and help us find stores or goods that we need.

The staff at Yiling Senior Middle School is exceptionally great.  They have done everything possible to help us to feel comfortable and be successful in our new city.  Mrs. Li, Mr. Pei and Cai Li always seem to be thinking about how they can help us.  Even though we have not known each other for a long time, they have become good friends.  On the night of the Moon Festival, Mr.Pei invited us to celebrate the night with his family.  He led us up to the roof of his apartment building where we sat at a low table, complete with candlelight and music.   We enjoyed delicious moon cakes and watched the rising moon while Mr. Pei explained the meaning of the festival and recited classical poetry.  It was a night we shall never forget. 

On another occasion, the principal of the school and her husband took my entire family out to lunch at a very nice western restaurant.  The food and atmosphere were wonderful, but best of all was the company of the principal and her husband, Rose and Frank.  They are both very skilled English conversationalists.  We had a relaxing time with them as we enjoyed our delicious meals.  Even though Rose is the principal of the best senior middle school in Yichang, she wasn’t too busy to spend some quality time getting to know my family. 

On another night, Mr. Pei invited us to go to dinner at a country restaurant so we could sample some of the local farmers’ cooking.  We drove out of Yichang and then off of the main road, down by a fishing pond.  Just when I was sure that there wasn’t anything there, we rounded a corner and a restaurant appeared.  It had beautiful red lanterns all lined up in neat rows.  We were led upstairs where many of Mr. Pei’s friends were already visiting with each other.  We enjoyed all of the country food that was served.  It was quite a bit spicier than Yichang’s city food.  We stayed and ate and talked until quite late that night, and as I remember, Rachel fell asleep in the car on the way back home.

When we needed our medical examinations, two very kind teachers from our new school, Reedy and Gloria came to our rescue.  We weren’t sure where the clinic was or how to go through the examination process in China.  We got ourselves a bit lost trying to find the right place, but Reedy helped us get where we needed to be, and Gloria spent hours of her own valuable time taking us from room to room, translating for us and helping us to get through our examinations as efficiently as possible.  I had my first, and hopefully my last ultrasound examination that day.

Our new school is a real gem.  It has a very modern and clean campus.  The school is always making improvements so it is even nicer every day.  The property is beautifully landscaped with grass, bushes and trees of various sizes and colors.  There are inspirational plaques placed throughout the campus to help everyone remember the importance of being good people and respecting each other and nature.  The school is in the process of putting the finishing touches on their new sports stadium.  It is a beautiful outdoor facility with artificial grass.  They have gone the extra mile to supply outdoor exercise equipment at one end of the field so that we can all keep in shape.  Once the running track is completed, I plan to jog around it every morning.  Yiling also has a great cafeteria that serves many delicious dishes.  We especially enjoy eating the fish and freshly baked sweet bread.  It is obvious that the staff and students all take pride in belonging to Yiling Senior Middle School. 

The students at Yiling are excellent.  They pay attention in class and ask many questions.  All of my English students in Grade One are creating their own English dictionaries so that they can study and remember new English words and phrases.  I have never taught students who were more courteous; they clean the chalkboard for me.  If we run out of water, they run downstairs to get a replacement bottle.  They always stand up to ask a question or to give an answer.  When comparing them to typical American students, they are very ambitious and respectful.  They all study for long hours into the night.  They all work very hard at school to make the most of the opportunity that has been given to them to attend such a fine school.  I feel honored to be able to teach such wonderful students.  One of my foreign friends told me that Yiling Senior Middle School students are the best in all of Hubei Province.  I believe he is right.

One of our concerns in moving to a new city was how our children, Caleb (almost 10 years old) and Rachel (seven years old) would make new friends and learn Chinese. We are no longer concerned; rather we are delightfully surprised at how many great friends they already have.  Since Caleb and Rachel’s friends all attend Chinese schools, they are very busy at school all day long, and they have a lot of homework each night and weekend, but when they have free time, they come knocking on our door to see our children.  This makes Caleb and Rachel feel special and honored, too.  They like their new friends very much.  Rachel just celebrated her seventh birthday at McDonald’s with many of her girlfriends.  They had a great time.  Sometimes in the afternoon, the children and their friends enjoy playing baseball or a game of catch on the new field behind our apartment.  There is also a nice hill just outside of our apartment that leads up to the school.  Caleb and Rachel both enjoy riding their scooters down the hill.  Caleb and Rachel have learned a lot about friendship from their new Chinese friends.  We see how generous and kind their new friends are toward them.  They are adjusting to Yichang very quickly and feeling at home, partly because of their new, wonderful friends.

China is a great place to live and raise our children, and Yichang is an especially beautiful city within China. Yiling Senior Middle School has been a great workplace for me and provided my family with an experience rich in culture. We are delighted with our new life in China.