Don't Leave your Camera at Home

Recently I had a stretch were it seemed as soon as I stepped out the door without my camera something interesting and especially photogenic would happen. It started last Thursday when after my first class I was on my way to make some copies when I was intercepted by Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee who I've mentioned once or twice before is a teacher who has been at this school since it opened. In fact he got his job since he was teaching at the middle school which was on this location before they decided to make a University. He's a lot of fun to hang around with as he seems to have no problem with speaking his mind on any subject and likes to tell stories about the, "bad old days." As I was walking over to the copy place Mr. Lee saw me and asked if I was going to the concert. As the school rarely deems it wise to inform me about anything happening on campus I responded by asking, "what concert." It turns out as part of some festival or celebration the school got a traditional folk band apparently made up of people who won prizes around the province. Not having anything better to do I went with Mr. Lee. The concert was being held in a large auditorium above the west cafeteria that I had never seen before so I would never have found it without him. It was a big event as the whole place was almost filled to capacity with students and school officials. Baker and a bunch of the school bigwigs were there as well and offered me a really good seat down front.

I wasn't sure what to expect since I'm not always the biggest fan of Chinese tradition music, it can be a little, how do you say, screechy. But I was pleasantly surprised by just how melodious it was. There were a number of instrument of odd design including a few things that looked like a violin but played held vertically in the lap and with only one or two strings. There was something that looked like a guitar but rounder and also held vertically. One guy had a version of a flute, and another had what seemed to be a cross between a bagpipe and a really small organ. There was even that one odd string instrument that Ken had bought and which seemed so difficult to play properly that I think Ken would have to live in China until he was 80 to understand it. The songs, while I have nothing really to compare them to, were nice and I really enjoyed the whole concert. Mr. Lee excused himself about half way though saying he had to go home and do some class preparation for the next day. The oddest song though was when the brought out an instrument that looked like a mini trumpet. It was less than one foot long, completely straight and had no visible button of valves of any kind. What was really odd though was the noise which was like some sort of loud shrill bird call. The person playing it also didn't seem to be paying any attention to what the rest of the group was doing as the was no noticeable tempo or rhythm to his performance. He seemed happy just making loud bird calls as the band played on.

The other instance where I wished I had my camera was in downtown Changzhou recently. I was doing some shopping when I saw another one of the giant mascot characters that seem to only exist in amusement parks and any Chinese store opening. I ignored it at first until I realized that it was suppose to be a big sandwich, though the costume was so beat up it just looked like a tan lump. It turns out they have finally opened a subway in downtown Changzhou. It's in the same mall as the Wal-mart, the DQ, a McDonalds, two KFC's, about three Nike stores, and Adidas store and an H&M. I'm not sure I'm ever going to need to go back to the US as the US is coming to China, foot long subs and all.