Eth-Noh-Tec

Getting Out There in China

Nu Wa China Storytelling and Cultural Exchange has launched! And once again, it’s a wonderful group of diverse Americans!

Tea Time & More

We went to a Tea House today and saw some amazing performances – magic with live fish appearing on the end of fishing poles, in bowls and more; storyteller using song and drum; repartee – like a stand up comedy routine (and one of the guys was really handsome!); tea ceremony and dance; an amazing balancing act using these large porcelain jugs and a large garden planter pots thrown up in the air and caught on shoulders, his head, rolled from arm to arm, tossed from fist to fist and so much more; shadow puppet story; and the most fascinating was the face pushing or face smear – the instantaneous changing of masks with dance/opera movements. If you haven’t seen the Chinese movie “King of Masks” – definitely check it out and you’ll know what we saw.

On the Square

Also walked around Tiananmen Square replete now with 2 gigantic digital screens with scenery and dances from throughout China, along with this majestic music that makes one?s experience of the square bigger than life – like you’re in a movie!

The Cuisine is Mean!

Of course the meals have been plentiful with at least eight different dishes, quite different than all our other tours. Less Americanized. Well, we have had sweet and sour chicken at lunch and dinner today. One tour it was kung pao chicken every day. But tree ear fungus? Tea eggs? This is exotic for westerners. First day and we’re already too full!

Exhausted after walking, eating and in 90 degree weather, everyone has gone to bed early.

Us, too. Goodnite from China!

Nancy and Robert

A Return Journey In Many Ways

As many know, I was commissioned by Sue O’Halloran of Race Bridges to write and perform my mother’s story titled ‘Bittersweet’. It was performed in Chicago twice this past April and on Orcas Island as part of the Smithsonian’s Journey Stories traveling exhibit. Soon, I will perform it at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough in October.

How fitting it was, then, that I was traveling to China for Eth-Noh-Tec’s ‘Nu Wa Storytelling and Cultural Exchange’ program. I brought the 2nd half of my mom’s ashes to be scattered here where the happiest part of her life was spent, and particularly at her Yenching University, now called Beijing University or Peking University in Beijing.

And so, Robert and I came early and found our way by bus and subway to the famous landmark lake and water tower within the campus. Robert, carrying and rolling his video camera and photo camera, along with mom’s ashes, we roamed the shore of the lake looking for the perfect spot. We found it!

Full Circle of The Spirit

My Mom’s ashes are on the island within the lake in an opening left of a marble boat. The view takes in the lake, the many willow trees along the shore, the sitting gazebo, the water tower that is built like a pagoda, and of course, the marble boat. I placed her ashes along the roots of a beautiful willow tree that leans over the water’s edge, and then continued pouring the ashes to make a path along the rocks and shore of the lake until I made 2 circles of her ashes: full circle for her trip to China as a young girl for her education, and now back to China, and full circle for her birth and then her death in America. It was perfect weather. A mild 76 degrees, a lovely breeze, and we actually saw some blue sky and clouds vs. smog.

The lake and the trees were so green and lush. A white butterfly with black markings kept us company for the hour it took to give her family messages, to scatter her ashes and to reflect. Perhaps you might know that white butterflies are symbols of the departed spirit of those who have passed. I also, like the butterfly, wore the same two colors: I wore white – the Chinese color of mourning and respect, as well as black – the Western color of mourning and respect. The white and black butterfly flitted and flirted all around us during this time.

Ash To Ash…

As we sat afterwards, a young girl had her picture taken against the willow tree and as she left, tracked some of mom’s ashes as she continued her walk along the lake. Then a dog came and lightly stepped on one circle and then tracked some more of mom to walk along the path of the island. This will keep happening while some ashes will sink into the ground; the ashes along the tree roots will become part of the tree forever.

It was such an honor to do this for my mom, as it was to care for her in her final months and to write her story. And if she can know what is happening, and I believe she can, she is happy and content for how it all turned out – this her story, her life of bitter and sweet. It was all very lovely and quite extraordinary.

On Day #6 our storytellers went to the Irula Tribal Herb Center.  This NGO is dedicated to the preservation of folk knowledge of the bio-pharmacopoeia of the forest.  Through millennia, the indigenous Irula people learned of the countless herbs and medication found naturally in their environment.  One “hands on” activity included helping to plant several saplings of Rosewood in their orchard.

STORYTELLING! MADE IN THE SHADE! Later on, the Irula women would introduce us to several of their villages where we would be engaging in cultural exchange through story-swapping.

Jeeva Raghunath, local Tamil storyteller was our liaison between two worlds: Americans and Irula tribes-people as we discovered our common ground: STORYTELLING!  It was as we had imagined, listening and telling stories under the shade of a large banyan tree.  Around us were children, teenagers, parents and elders.  Storytelling is alive and well here in rural India!