Ric Swenson on wed 20 feb 08
Greetings from 29 degrees 21 min. North and 117 degrees 21 min. East. =3D =
JingDeZhen Town, JiangXi Province, P.R. China. (I was careful to put in lot=
s of PARAGRAPHS....so this message sould be readable!!) Two months since I =
last sat at my computer and wrote about pottery and people and places. It=
is good to be "home" in JingDeZhen once again. Although while I was away =
for 8 weeks this area had some snow and bad weather,which they are unaccust=
omed to here, the weather now is cool at night but sunny and quite pleasant=
during the days. One can see some snow damage to trees and to some awnings=
on campus. I was greeted at my South facing dormitory windows by many song=
birds. Several varieties of small birds come to the trees behind the dorm=
to snack and forage. Somehow the sky is different from the places I visite=
d while on mid year break. Clean air here. The campus is very quiet these d=
ays because most students and faculty are still celebrating Spring Festival=
. Today is Lantern Day in China. All over the country, folks are lighting=
firecrackers, watching the dagon dances, sharing white rice balls, oranges=
and kiwi fruit and lighting red paper lanterns to welcome the new year. It=
is the 15th day of the lunar calendar and the end of the New Years celebra=
tion as measured by the Chinese Lunar Calendar. My first meal in China (asi=
de from the peanuts and dried shredded squid snacks on the Shengen Airlines=
flight from ShangHai) consisted of beef and peanut soup (fantastic!) follo=
wed by rice and two delicious stir fried dishes: pork strips with bamboo sh=
oots, parsley stalks, bell peppers and some hot red peppers to spice it up.=
...and the second dish was sweet Lotus root, cut in fine strips and garnish=
ed with bell peppers and shallots. A pretty good start for the new school=
term. School starts again Feb 25th. Students will begin to reappear this =
weekend...now it is like a ghost town. I visited the supermarket and stocke=
d up on the shopping list. Supermarkets are just the same as in USA, except=
that the translations in English of what's inside the package is a whole l=
ot more humorous. "ChingLish" sometimes is quite entertaining. The Chinese =
Mandarin just sometimes defies direct translation into English. English is =
more linear (even with our thousands of idioms) and Chinese is transitive a=
nd ephemoral. Prices are up from two months ago. Inflation and some scarci=
ty from the bad weather and transportation ills I suppose? The bigger super=
markets have everything you would find in a Western supermarket with the gl=
aring exceptions of NO CHEESE and NO BUTTER. Ah well, I can live without t=
hem for another year. ( If it really gets REALLY bad I can go to Walmart a=
nd get some small pieces of Brie.) I had a pretty massive dose of cheese an=
d butter in my trip home this year anyway. After the Supermarket, I headed =
to the open market to look for some fresh veggies and roasted duck. I bough=
t oranges and a roasted duck and onions and potato(e)s and some raisens, dr=
ied fruits and nuts. I just keep enough in the dorm to snack on and fix my =
morning oatmeal...just the way Carolyn Broadwell (Napa potter) taught me to=
make it the first semester I was here. pine nuts, brown sugar, instant oat=
meal, raisens, powdered milk mixed with hot H2O. Yummmy. On my trip to the=
States this year I stayed several weeks in Atlanta (Sone Mountain-Smoke Ri=
se) to visit 93 year old mother and elder sister and her hubby. Christmas =
was Merry there....as was New Years. Neighbor there, Dennis Craig, is becom=
ing quite the good potter! He works now at Mudfire Ceramics.
=20
I then took a three week trip to Alaska to visit old high schools chums, p=
otters, artists and old colleagues from UAA teaching in Anchorage. My youn=
ger sister and her husband are thinking "retirement" and have built a beaut=
iful place on the inside beach at Seldovia, Alaska. There are 300 winter p=
eople (more in summer) and a total of 12 miles of road there. One must com=
e by boat, ferry or small plane. Originally a Russian fishing village in 18=
00, it is now a sleepy little village across the bay from Homer. Their ho=
use is post and beam...no nails anywhere...quite the Alaska Palace IMHO. Th=
e Spruce beetles have killed most of the mature Spruce trees in the Resurec=
tion and Katchimak Bay areas.... so the massive beams are all from local de=
ad spruce. The temperature dropped to -20 and the wind blew 35 MPH for part=
of the time I was there, but we stayed snug. Minnesota sounds darn warm...=
.but then I wasn't candling a kiln in 35 mile -an -hour winds at -20 !! No=
t for love nor money. The view from the deck of the house on warmer clear =
days revealed the magnificent Mt. Redoubt and Mt Illiamna. I taught a cou=
ple classes of ceramics while in Seldovia and even got written up in the lo=
cal on line newspaper. They have K-12 and 4 teachers. A nice modern schoo=
l thanks to the State of Alaska and the Alaska Native Corporation. There is=
a huge woodshop, nice ceramic studio area and a big Boys & Girls Club. The=
library in town is amazing for such a small place...volunteers man the sta=
cks. I got to meet my sister's knitting group of 8 "chicks with sticks". N=
ice folks in Alaska.
=20
www.sedovia.com
In Anchorage I stopped by West High School (1965) and visited with Becky =
Voris, the art and ceramics teacher....she took her first ceramics course f=
rom me at UAA in 1973-4. She is a fine artist and it was great to watch her=
teach and meet some of her students. I contacted potter Kris Bliss, while=
I was in town but never had time to take her up on her invite to see her s=
tudio. Next time Kris! On my way back to China, I stopped for a few days in=
San Francisco and visited with potter Barbara (and Charlie) Brown in Sunny=
vale. She has a real museum of ceramics from all over the world. Fantasti=
c historic and contemporary ceramics. They treated me to a fine Mexican mea=
l. I drove around downtown S.F., wharfs, etc. with Carolyn Broadwell and =
even went to CHINA TOWN!! We shopped for an additional piece of luggage so=
I could get under the bag weight limit back to China and she gave me a pai=
r of the neatest chopsticks....like pool ques that screw together...but muc=
h smaller a'course....and they come in a pouch for travel. (Sahalie brand.)=
Po (GuangZhen "Po" Zhou) native of ShangHai, met me at the CalTain station=
near his Chinese ClayArt store in San Jose (Cupertino, actually) He treate=
d me to a tour of his shop and I visited his home, met his two lovely, youn=
g daughters and he treated me to what else? China Buffet!! It was very go=
od too....especially the seafood dishes. Po is the potter's guide to China =
and if you ever have the chance to take one of his famous Ceramics tours of=
China, YOU SHOULD DO IT! So, now back to JingDeZhen and looking forward to=
more making pots and teaching oral English at the University here. Happy p=
otting! Regards, Ric Swenson "...then fiery expedition be my wing,=
..." Wm. Shakespeare, RICHARD III, Act IV Scene III Richard H. ("Ric") Sw=
enson, Teacher, Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Jingdez=
hen Ceramic Institute, TaoYang Road, Eastern Suburb, Jingdezhen City.JiangX=
i Province, P.R. of China. Postal code 333001. Mobile/cellular phone :13767=
818872 < RicSwenson0823@hotmail.com>
_________________________________________________________________
Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
http://biggestloser.msn.com/=
| |
|
