Last week i accompanied some volunteers from computing companies to the countryside for a few days along with some academics from Stanford and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The purpose was to understand what computers rural schools have, what they do with them, what software they use/learn from on the computers, what internet connection they have and what they do with the internet if they have it. Sparing all the gory details, the trip re-emphasized that just having computers is not enough, it is much more important what you do with them -- in this case access content or use software that help children learn. And of course, if the internet can be utilized it opens up a larger range of options for content/software, allows for more interactivity, and so on. Anyway, following the trip we'll be working on some project ideas but i won't go into all the details.
What is more interesting, for the average person at least, is the perspective of what it is like going on this kind of trip into the countryside. Firstly there is a lot of traveling required. China has great roads nowadays and increasingly highways. These cut journey times but still we spent on average 5-6 hrs a day for 3 days in the car. Great chance to catch a nap though. Secondly such a trip needs to involve government officials, who are partners in the project and who showed us around and gave us lots of hospitality. And they are quite some characters.Particularly around foreigners. And particularly at meal times.
There are a lot of meals. And they always involve alcohol - specifically Chinese liquor. it's generally insanely awful stuff with an aftertaste that lasts days. I've heard the really expensive stuff is not too bad, but I'm yet to try it. Instead its the insanely cheap stuff that is packaged into a nice bottle and shared around. Most of the time one can try to get out of it by drinking beer or wine, but not all the time. There is always a lot of toasting, in fact it is sort of non-stop and makes a lot of alcohol disappear very fast. It starts off as a bit of fun but does get tiresome after a couple of days and a lot of hard work, especially when all the discussion is in a foreign language.
The food itself is sometimes good. Simple and basic. Though sometimes it's the part of the animals you don't really want to eat, or it's a strange flavor added to some vegetables that mean you can't taste the food, just the sauce. Anyway, there is usually some simple dishes towards the end of the meal to chow down on after the delicacies have come out. Some other interesting things from the trip:
- With the big political conferences taking place, all government officials, and indeed many of the teachers, seem to have been required to write essays on "their thoughts on the political conference" which were put up on noticeboards in public.
- Hosts will spend more effort ensuring you are comfortable and never run out of tea than actually talking to you.
- Chinese people are amazingly good at falling asleep in cars. It means there is not much time for awkward conversations and an easy way to get out of conversations (fall asleep or at least pretend to)
- Telecom companies in rural China are just like those in urban China and those in the rest of the world in that they promise you internet speeds you have no hope in ever achieving, yet are apparently paying for!
Back in Beijing, people keep talking all day long about the pollution. It's not good. It's also not like it was good before. A cool image of the last 14 days shows the variation: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2013-03/18/content_28277548.htm. Not a lot has changed, just a hell of a lot more media coverage and more transparency as to the numbers showing how bad it is. And that is a big deal... the data and the attention - will there be any meaningful response? it does not seem like it. It's mostly excuses and no willingness to sacrifice economic growth or lifestyles or anything else for better environment. At least not yet. But with more and more dis-satisfaction and protests, things might change.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Sunday, March 03, 2013
Inquisitive children and geological formations in Dorset
After a quick work trip to a warm hong kong, it was time to fly home for two weeks. It's always strange returning home - nothing really changes so it always seems the last trip was just a few weeks before, and that I've just popped away for a while. It's very easy to slip back in, though when I come back I know it is for a holiday and that real life (if i was back) would be different.
The difference now of course is that the trips home are more frequent - every 6 months - and of course Hannah is always changing, at least in the early years so each trip will be somewhat different. This trip will be remembered for the fancy Deuter 3 backpack that we got from ebay to carry Hannah in across fields in Hertfordshire and throughout a five-day trip in Dorset as we went from pub to pub to cream tea house. As much as she likes walking, she gets distracted a lot, is unable to manage in muddy fields, and prefers the view from up high.
Intriguingly Hannah got almost as much attention in England from strangers as she does in China. She doesn't stand out as much in the UK, of course, but I guess it's a general human thing to go crazy over small kids/big babies. I suppose everything is relative and with nothing more exciting than a small kid/big baby happening in people's lives around the time we turn up, no wonder Hannah gets attention.
Kids have this incredible ability to take everything in their stride and learn. They absorb, accept, copy, experiment. It is just the kind of things we always hear adults don't do: we don't really listen, we don't do anything out of the ordinary or risky, we tend to always question others rather than trust them and so on. Now there are good reasons for those traits, and certainly we'll be teaching Hannah to ask why as she grows up (as if we will be able to stop her asking why....) but still, it makes a nice contrast.
So Hannah launched herself up and down stairs, getting very good at going up, tending to ask for help to go down. She's begun to master picking food up from a table and putting it in her own mouth... probably using a spoon won't be far away (just a few months of messy experimentation one imagines). And most crucially she has begun to really communicate. She points at what she wants, makes choices when you give her options (e.g. three different items of food or drink), and she understands an increasing amount of instructions/questions we put to her.
Apart from walking there were some visits to friends, some of whom we met in the wonderful Museum of Childhood which is free and contains wonderful exhibits that the kids can play in and enjoy. I didn't get to actually read the displays too much since one eye was always on Hannah, but it is a place I will go back to again and again I expect. There was a trip to Bletchley Park where the German codes were broken during World War 2 which was as good as expected: some great exhibits and good guides. Highly recommended, even if the actual old house itself is more a wedding venue nowadays and the exhibits are in the old huts nearby. I suppose that is where all the work was done back then anyway, so fair enough.
There were some work events in London and the journey down to Dorset where we saw the impressive Durdle door, Lulworth Cove and Chesil Beach which gave us our geology lessons for the week. It was good to taste some local ales down there, whilst stretching the legs. We got fairly lucky with the weather and realized there's more to see that we'll go back for another time: the tank museum in particular looked interesting!
At some point I'll upload some of the more interesting photos, in the meantime, I've spent a very busy few days back in Beijing working, experiencing the first sand storm of the year, , enjoying Spring which has arrived (its 15 degrees) and now preparing to watch the big derby game which might make or break the week ahead! I hope I don't have to wait until extra time as happened 2 weeks ago against Lyon!
The difference now of course is that the trips home are more frequent - every 6 months - and of course Hannah is always changing, at least in the early years so each trip will be somewhat different. This trip will be remembered for the fancy Deuter 3 backpack that we got from ebay to carry Hannah in across fields in Hertfordshire and throughout a five-day trip in Dorset as we went from pub to pub to cream tea house. As much as she likes walking, she gets distracted a lot, is unable to manage in muddy fields, and prefers the view from up high.
Intriguingly Hannah got almost as much attention in England from strangers as she does in China. She doesn't stand out as much in the UK, of course, but I guess it's a general human thing to go crazy over small kids/big babies. I suppose everything is relative and with nothing more exciting than a small kid/big baby happening in people's lives around the time we turn up, no wonder Hannah gets attention.
Kids have this incredible ability to take everything in their stride and learn. They absorb, accept, copy, experiment. It is just the kind of things we always hear adults don't do: we don't really listen, we don't do anything out of the ordinary or risky, we tend to always question others rather than trust them and so on. Now there are good reasons for those traits, and certainly we'll be teaching Hannah to ask why as she grows up (as if we will be able to stop her asking why....) but still, it makes a nice contrast.
So Hannah launched herself up and down stairs, getting very good at going up, tending to ask for help to go down. She's begun to master picking food up from a table and putting it in her own mouth... probably using a spoon won't be far away (just a few months of messy experimentation one imagines). And most crucially she has begun to really communicate. She points at what she wants, makes choices when you give her options (e.g. three different items of food or drink), and she understands an increasing amount of instructions/questions we put to her.
Apart from walking there were some visits to friends, some of whom we met in the wonderful Museum of Childhood which is free and contains wonderful exhibits that the kids can play in and enjoy. I didn't get to actually read the displays too much since one eye was always on Hannah, but it is a place I will go back to again and again I expect. There was a trip to Bletchley Park where the German codes were broken during World War 2 which was as good as expected: some great exhibits and good guides. Highly recommended, even if the actual old house itself is more a wedding venue nowadays and the exhibits are in the old huts nearby. I suppose that is where all the work was done back then anyway, so fair enough.
There were some work events in London and the journey down to Dorset where we saw the impressive Durdle door, Lulworth Cove and Chesil Beach which gave us our geology lessons for the week. It was good to taste some local ales down there, whilst stretching the legs. We got fairly lucky with the weather and realized there's more to see that we'll go back for another time: the tank museum in particular looked interesting!
At some point I'll upload some of the more interesting photos, in the meantime, I've spent a very busy few days back in Beijing working, experiencing the first sand storm of the year, , enjoying Spring which has arrived (its 15 degrees) and now preparing to watch the big derby game which might make or break the week ahead! I hope I don't have to wait until extra time as happened 2 weeks ago against Lyon!
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