Thursday, July 3, 2008

An early Morning walk

Early the next morning, 29th may 2008, we had enough time to go for a leisurely walk. We would only be meeting the GSPS trio at our hotel lobby at 10 am. So, armed with my trusty digital camera as usual, we decided to walk in a large concentric circle from our hotel as starting point.
Checking out the walking boulevard, I chanced upon these little ones from a playschool or nursery nearby. They were led by 2 teachers and told to sit at the benches underneath some trees. There were about 6 other kindergarten teachers with older kids at the open area. The teachers were marking out the ground and measuring certain distances with cones, raffia string, etc..for some outdoor games for those kids. I was enthralled. Here was my chance to observe some PE related activities in Wuhan. Just when I thought the action was to start, since all the kids were placed in 4 lines, like for a game relay race,
2 of the teachers kept on disagreeing about where the starting line should be. While this arguing continued, the kids were baking under the hot sun. The older kids soon broke ranks and ran about creating their own playful mischief. Finally, more for the safety of the younger kids, the two nursery teachers led their kids away. Probably in disgust with their own lack of control, failure and co-ordination, the remaining teachers all did the same.
It was not a healthy spectacle that I saw.
Nevertheless, it was a vivid reminder to me about the importance of a little give and take attitude. Neither of the 2 teachers relented. Both stood her ground over such an incredulous thing as where to start. All suffered....the children more than the adults. Such things also happen back home.


Along the busy road, many people were moving about on this day. We chanced upon this elderly couple. She was blind and holding a black walking stick. He, likely her husband, was playing on an "erhu".
There was a bowl near her. Looking closely at the couple, I could see that despite what they were doing, they had dignity on their faces. So it was only right we did our part.

D2 placing a donation.

No comments: