To the editor:
Have you ever taken a shower in a parakeet cage? Have you ever roller skated in a buffalo herd? Those who may remember my father may have heard him sing this and some other lines from Roger Miller’s song, “You can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd!” as he went down the corridors of the hospital checking on his patients. The key refrain was something like: “you can have fun if you’ve a mind to.” This is useful philosophy for living and teaching here in China.
From the moment you step off the plane and read your first poorly translated English sign to understanding that the taxi driver does not speak Mandarin, he speaks Shanghainese, (Think of the difference between a person from New York speaking and one from the deep South, both speak English but one can not understand the other.) China is a puzzle that makes Rubik’s cube look easy.
There are hundreds of shoe stores here in Shanghai. Next to the cheap restaurants, the next most common store is a shoe store. In the U.S., if you walk into any shoe store you are able to select from a vast assortment of styles, sizes, shapes and colors. Same here. To make the orthopedists cringe, the Chinese prefer the slip on shoes to the tie on shoes. There probably is a good, logical reason for the preference.
Shoes that tie to the foot are recommended by orthopedists because they help provide stability for the foot. And most shoes that need to be tied come with laces. Do you remember the time your parents took you to a shoe store to get your Sunday shoes? You went in and the salesman hauled out the shoe measure and checked your foot size then went and got a few samples in your size.
Here there is a different method. You walk into the store and the clerks try to convince you to buy whatever shoe they have on special. It is most amusing to see them stunned when they learn I take a size 50 shoe. (size 14 in American size) But the selection is pretty good and as I have learned it is typical to have 10 or 12 shoe stores on a street. With 19 million people in the streets of Shanghai there are 38 million soles to be saved with new shoes. (recognize the opening dialogue to “Julius Caesar”?)
So soles are not a problem. The issue is how do you attach these shoes to the feet. Most as I said are slip ons. However, for those that tie to your feet with a simple shoe lace, the issue is one of what is missing. No shoe laces. If you buy a new pair of shoes they come with laces. But woe to the individual who breaks a shoelace. Almost no shoe store carries shoe laces! That’s right, its get out the bailing twine and make your own shoelace!
Needless to say I am quite the comic relief for the Chinese when it comes to buying shoelaces. My broken Chinese, gestures, and size all add up to one large banana peel under the foot of progress! After seven stores, success! One young man was able to replace my shoelaces with new ones! Yes, It is an adventure. What teacher’s learn is that if we laugh at ourselves we also laugh with our students because in the end it is what we learn not how we learn it.
Orpheus Allison
orpheusallison@mac.com
Shanghai, China
