What is it to travel well!

What is it to travel well? The best trips aren’t those with the best hotels, the most magnificent meals or when we see the greatest number of sites. The best trips are those when we experience that long moment of delicious disorientation, one that strips us of our usual habits and patterns, and we yield with a soft openness to the new experience life is offering. It is a moment that  brings us so close to the place that the tantalizing aromas, colors, tastes and sounds that surrounded us there live on in our memories for years to come.

Steve has now been in China for 5 weeks, long enough to have experienced those moments of disorientation, and long enough to drop some old habits and pick up some new. One of them appears to be that he now smiles for the camera. Have you noticed this? He's smiling in nearly all the pictures!

Why is Steve the only one smiling? What does he know? Will he let the others know?

Steve and Qiang have moved out of their bachelor pad at Tsinghua University and traded it for hotels "on the road". Last week, they went to Shanghai and the beautiful lake town Hongzhou (which is also the hometown of our Chinese tutor, Xin). Hongzhou is also known as China's happiest city. Quite a distinction. (For more on that auspicious sobriquet, click here.)

Surrounded by students (notice the smile)

Shanghai University "Canal"

After returning to Beijing, Steve had a little down time and learned what it might be like to be a tourist in China. Since every tourist needs a little shopping spree, he decided to go to the flea market of all flea markets, the lollapalooza of flea markets. Really, I think this might, in fact, be the world's largest flea market. So many wonderful and beautiful things.

Here are Steve's feet as he gazes at a painting of the Buddha.
Although you can't see his face, you should know that he's smiling. 

Beautiful ink brushes

Lounging on sacred sculpture

Chen-Chen accompanies Steve to the world's largest flea market

Miles of garden sculptures

Steve and Qiang are finishing up their final lectures in the cities of Nanjing and Changchun over the next several days. I leave this Wednesday and will be meeting up with the boys in the Beijing airport on Thursday afternoon. I can't wait! Next blog post I'll be in China! 

Sites Most Excellent, a Continuing Lecture Schedule and (gasp!) a Close Call with Poison Mushrooms

Steve's teaching schedule eased a bit recently, and he and Qiang were able to get out into the city of all cities, Beijing, and do a little site seeing.

Buddhism arrived in China around 3rd century B.C. and flourished alongside Daoism, which both influenced Buddhism and was influenced by it. Religious practice got a little "sticky" during the Mao years, but has revived to some degree in the post-Mao years.

Okay, history lesson over, since that's about all I know (and perhaps all you want to read). In any case, there are some big-ass and beautiful Buddha sculptures and temples throughout China, and Steve and Qiang visited a few of them in Beijing. Here are some photos of where they went.









In addition to their on-going work with the art students at Tsinghua, Steve and Qiang continue to on their lecture circuit. Last week, they went to the China Fashion Institute, where Steve presented another one of his red Wisconsin baseball caps to Professor Shun Du Du. She looks charming in it.

Professor Du Du Displaying the Royal Badger Crown

And, she and Steve posed for a picture in front of another poster announcing the lectures he and Qiang are doing. Steve pointed out that he wore his "dress" pants for the lecture at the Fashion Institute. Can anyone guess what brand they are?

They also lectured at the prestigious CAFA (China Central Academy of Fine Art) and toured some of the studios there.

Over the weekend, Qiang left Steve to go visit

his family who lives in one of China's western provinces. One of Qiang's friends, Julia, and her boyfriend scooped up Steve for the weekend. They treated him to a little more site-seeing and much needed dog exposure. To the right are Julia and Steve and Julia's sweet Akita, who seems to be fixated on Steve (I had to hide this picture from Lucy.)

Julia and her boyfriend treat Steve to some fun

And, they treated him to almost a non-stop English conversation, which made him almost as happy as being with a dog, and a delicious hot-pot dinner, featuring mushrooms that must be boiled in the hot-pot for a prescribed amount of time or they will be "poisonous". I guess that was pretty wonderful too.

"Poison" Mushrooms

 Qiang returns to Beijing this week and their travel schedule really accelerates. They'll be going to Changchun City in the northeastern corner of China, then to Shanghai and on to the historic and beautiful Nanjing. I leave in just about 2 weeks to join him, and because of a schedule change, Steve, Qiang and I are all going to go to Guangzhou City, where the boys will be lecturing and I'll be able to listen to their lecture for the first time and recuperating from the time change. I can hardly wait!

Lost in Translation

John Fairbank, Chinese historian and scholar, observed that the Chinese adapted Buddhism in ways that reflected the need to change the subtleties inherent in Sanskrit to the less nuanced Chinese language. I was reminded of that story when I talked to Steve last week about the assignment he gave his art students at Tsinghua. His challenge to them was this: create work that  deals with the obscured or partially hidden image. By creating an image that reveals part of the image or changing the nature of the image one can often reveal a hidden meaning, or further the expression to represent a deeper spiritual nature.  Love the magic of the mystery. Glass has a special ability to achieve this. Through light, transmission, reflection, and distortion, glass is inherently a material that is physical yet is also transparent or ghost-like. This material can speak of the unseen or the “other”.

After he gave them this assignment, his students disappeared for several days. Rumors flew. They did not know what this professor from the U.S. wanted from them. Why didn't he just teach them some nice glass making technique? What was this thing they were supposed to do to find the expression of a deeper spiritual nature? Whaaaaat?

Steve began to wonder if he had any students. Would they return? How would he find them? Were they his hidden image? But, what was lost was found, and by the end of the week, Steve and Qiang had gathered the students together again and spent 3 hours discussing the assignment with them, answering their questions and setting them on their way to discover hidden meaning in the obscured.

Qiang surrounded by the students 

Last week, Steve and Qiang also began their first lectures at surrounding universities on Steve's public art and the glass art movement in the U.S. Qiang had said he had made a poster for the lectures, so Steve thought it would be some small 8 by 11 inch posting, the kind that gets scattered on kiosks all over the UW campuses. But, no. It was a huge, beautiful poster that used one of Steve's public pieces,  "The Life Expressive". I thought it was so cool, I asked him to send me a copy of it so you could see it too:

Toward the end of the week, Steve got to visit some of the studios belonging to the Tsinghua professors and see their work in progress. Here's a beautiful carpet sculpture (is using carpet and sculpture in the same phrase even allowed?) that one of the textile professors did.

Woven Textile Sculpture at Tsinghua

The head of the glass program at Tsinghua is Professor Wang Jiang Zhong. Steve got to present him with a UW baseball hat so he would feel right at home when he comes to visit us in Madison. Here they are looking happy and handsome in their Wisconsin hats:

In addition to glass work, Wang Jiang Zhong creates traditional tea making sets in his studio. Here are some photos of one of his students at work, a finished pot and gift that Professor Zhong gave to Steve.

Our boy is making his way. He has started riding a bike around campus, he's adjusting to the 13-hour time difference, he's figuring out how to moderate those wild 3 to 4 hour mid-day meals and he's starting to engage (and I'm guessing charm and continue to scare, a little bit) the students. All seems good. I'll finish this post with an image of one of the students and her sketch of Steve. Kind of says it all.

A Full First Week

Steve arrived in Beijing a week ago today. Qiang and several grad students from Tsinghua met him at the airport and whisked his groggy, jet-lagged self back to the university to get settled in his apartment where he'll be Qiang's roomie for the next five weeks. Then off they went to meet one of the art professors and some of the graduate students he'll be working with while he's at Tsinghua.

Steve and Qiang Flanked by one of the Tsingua Professor and Art Grad Students

This cordial meeting, where Steve got to test out his nascent Mandarin (apparently to the delight and giggles of those around him. Xin, our Mandarin tutor, would be proud of him.) was followed by a meal in one of the many student dining rooms. I wish we had a Chinese restaurant in Madison like this:

Yum!

This was followed by several shots of a fiery Chinese liquor called, Guaidon, which, after sampling it at a dinner in Madison, I have affectionately dubbed "Draino".

Our friends, Laurie and Joe Dennis, have assured us that it is not a sign of dishonor for a woman to decline shots of Guaidon. However, men aren't so lucky.

The next several days were a blur of activity, including meeting more professors and students, touring artists' studios, touring the art building, touring one of the art districts in Beijing and a tug-of-war between two groups of art students (not sure if this was designed for Steve's entertainment, or simply something the students do from time to time to maintain their arm strength).

One of the Tsingua students with his work

Greeting of the Masters

Hallelujah! at the Art District

Some kind of fun

Over the weekend, Qiang's father traveled 12 hours by train from his province in the northwest of China so he could spend a couple of days in Beijing to meet Steve. Pretty cool. At the end of their time together, they were calling each other "brother". Steve and Qiang also got to watch the Badgers in the Final Four at an Ethiopian sports bar in Beijing, where they were joined by other Bucky alumnae and two Kentucky fans. 

A brother by another mother

A spate of red in China, but not for the reasons you might think

Okay, almost done. This week began with a 20-course (or some crazy number like that), four-hour meal, preceded by a tea ceremony (one of the professors invited Steve and Qiang to join her at her club)....

Tea and more tea

Food and more food

....and, a lecture and the art students receiving their first assignment from Professor Steve (more on that as work progresses).

Planning Planning Planning

Since last spring, we have been planning a trip to China. Well, in truth, Steve started planning a trip to China, and I sort of, kind of invited myself along, particularly after I got a fortune in a fortune cookie that read, "The rubber bands are headed in the right direction."

After that encouragement, how could I resist? Although I do admit a certain trepidation about China. It conjures up images of people wearing grey clothes, food heavily influenced by rice and animal organs, smog, and the crackdown at Tiananmen Square. For those of you who know me, and you do since this blog is only for family and friends, you know that I like colorful clothes, good food, clean air and speaking my mind, so the travel match-up didn't seem very promising.

But, the more I learned about the country, its history, its inventions, its odd claims to fame--like the creation of the civil service system--and the beauty and cultural richness it has to offer, the more curious I became. The sweet clarion call of travel began to beckon. Moreover, my sweetie would be there for 2 months and there was no way I could NOT go there to discover the country with him.

Steve and Qiang Looking Very Handsome and Ready for Their  Lecture Circuit

So, off we go. Today, Steve left to start his teaching and lecture circuit gig with his travel and teaching partner, Qiang Liu. In addition to teaching at Tsinghua University in Beijing, they'll be traveling to 8 other cities to do lectures on Steve's public art and development as an artist, and the glass art movement in the U.S. I leave on May 7th to join Steve in Beijing, and we'll travel together until the end of May.

Steve at the Airport (very early)

Starting with Steve's departure, I'll keep a blog on this adventure to keep our friends and family up-to-date on our travels with photos and postings. Please follow along and comment along the way. I want to keep this lively.