Datong (June 2018) — Brigg + Janet

Mar 27

Mar 27 Datong (June 2018)

Brigg and Janet

One quick weekend trip before the end of the school year took us on a nice bus drive through the countryside of the Shanxi province to Datong, on the northern border of Inner Mongolia. What began as an idea to spend the weekend with a couple of friends expanded to include a few more . . . and then a few more . . . until we had about 7 couples who wanted to join in. It seemed that everyone who heard about our plans wanted to know if they could come along. We upgraded from a van to a small coach to, eventually, a bus with a private driver. The more the merrier, right? First stop, the Hanging Monastery (Xuankong Temple) — pretty amazing!

Leaving the Hanging Monastery, we drove to the city of Datong, where we checked into our hotel with plenty of time left in the evening for exploring. Brigg and I took a walk down to the city walls and drum tower. As often happens, we stumbled upon a couple of photo shoots — probably wedding photos.

The views were pretty nice — and the sheer size of the wall provided a perfect evening stroll.

The next morning, we awoke early and walked through the small city (I know . . . 3.31 million people . . . but the downtown area seemed small . . . ). We visited a small temple that we ran across and the famous “Nine-Dragon Screen.” The late spring/early summer air was crisp and clean, and peonies were still in bloom everywhere! I was quite fascinated with a little music shop that we passed by . . . and, yep, he’s playing a saxophone — in spite of all those beautiful Chinese instruments in the shop. Go figure . . .

As we were walking back towards our hotel, we passed a large courtyard where some sort of celebration/fair was being held — merchant booths, a talent show on stage, lots of people. We wandered through, smiling at people, taking pictures, and communicating a tiny bit with our limited Chinese. We attracted a bit of attention, as we were the only non-Chinese there, and before I really knew what was happening, a camera crew from a local television station approached and wanted to interview me. They did not have anyone with them who spoke English, and I explained that I spoke very little Chinese (wo buhui shuo zhongwen), but we somehow completed an interview. With my newfound celebrity status in Datong, I found myself surrounded by merchants who wanted to give me their products, including a local medical clinic that had set up a booth at the fair. With many camera-pointing Chinese on my tail, I was escorted to the medical booth, where I received a variety of scans and even some acupuncture, right there in the middle of the square. Kind of crazy . . . but another one of those nonscripted and unpredictable moments! This is China!

Last stop, the Yungang Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites in China. Just FYI (and to brag a bit, of course), the other two sites are the Mogao and Longmen Grottoes, and we traveled to all of them!

Begun in 460 A.D., the massive statues in the Yungang Grottoes were cut into the rock over the course of 64 years . . . . And no, I don’t know that Chinese family posing so nicely in the last photo, but hey, you have to snap the pictures when you have the chance, regardless of the people in the background, right?

Beautiful, ancient country — with a surprise waiting around every corner . . .

We’re Back!!

I can’t believe it, but at the invitation of PKU and with the encouragement of BYU, we returned to Beijing for the 2018-2019 teaching year.

Brigg continues to teach some of the most popular classes on campus — this, at least, according to many of my students who are hooked into PKU social media during registration time. It seems that there is continuous chatter about how to get into one of Mr. Steele’s Business English classes. The students have an allotment of “points” they can use to “bid” for priority in registration, and many students report using ALL of their points just to get into one of Brigg’s classes! He teaches these Business English classes on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and again on Wednesdays at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.

I continue to teach four sections of Critical Thinking/Academic Writing — Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and again on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Both Brigg and I teach a section of Oral English for English Majors on Tuesday mornings at 8 a.m. We enjoy teaching the same course, although in different buildings, and have even switched things up on occasion, sharing our “expertise” with each other’s classes.

We were asked this year if we would teach an additional children’s oral English class, available only to those affiliated with PKU. We were told that this was a request from parents who wanted to enroll their children, but only if we were going to be the teachers. I know! Flattering! How could we refuse?? So we’re teaching the same Grade 2 class we taught last year (with a few new faces) on Wednesday evenings, but we’re also teaching a group of “beginners” (mostly 6-year-olds) on Monday evenings. We’ve had a lot of fun sharing American culture with them, including the carving of Halloween jack-o-lanterns in October and the decorating of various holiday-themed treats.

I continue to tutor my 9-year-old Thomas as well, sometimes twice a week. He loves to come to our apartment even when not having a formal lesson just to play games or read stories. Brigg has to hide his treats, though, because Thomas eats EVERYTHING he can find!

We love our continuing relationships with our former students and friends, especially our BYU China Teacher colleagues, who are our “family” while we’re so far from home!