Courthouse and Paintings

Thursday morning was awesome. I got to spend all morning at the courthouse. We were originally supposed to go to the jail too and when we got their Chainlon (the GSE chair) told Mike that we only had 1/2 hour at the courthouse and then we needed to leave to travel the 30 minutes to the jail so we could be there by 10. Mike and I had previously talked about how I would get more out of the courthouse than the jail so he went to battle for me and we ended up canceling the jail house appointment.

Many things are different in the legal systems. First they are a civil law country - no case law, which leads me to wonder why their judges write such long (20+ page) opinions for each case. The judge escorting us said it was stupid that they wrote such long opinions but that was just the way it was. I will not bore you with all the details of the court visit as I could go on for hours but it was interesting to watch part of the hearings and to see the judges questioning the witnesses and everyone dressed up like graduation day. Everyone (judges, prosecutors, lawyers, notaries, clerks, etc. all where robes.) Of course some people had an attitude that we were at the courthouse and not doing what they wanted but I shoved them out of my mind and made the most of my professional day. (They have had their turn it was my turn.)

Then we gave our last presentation. The rotary meeting was short (1 1/2 hours) because everyone had to get to a funeral. We spent the afternoon at a museum that taught us more about Chinese culture, medicine and history.

We finally got to spent some time with host families yesterday evening. My new host took me to dinner with his family and some others from his rotary club (10 people in all). My new host is Tom and he owns and runs a factory that makes plastic tool cases. (i.e. the case a socket wrench set would come in.) Tom's whole family speaks some English. His wife is Carol and they have 2 kids at home: Jessie (she is 16) and Brian (14).

This morning was a whirlwind of events - 3 places in three hours (the new city hall construction site, jade market and an orchid garden.) This afternoon we went to a Rotarian's art shop. He is apparently a very experienced painter and his well known in China. We checked out his studio and then he painted us all a picture. I was amazed at how fast he could paint the flowers, trees, insects and birds (especially since he drank multiple glasses of 58 proof liquor during the process.) I was amazed at how he could get so many different colors on the paint brush to create a depth in each stroke. He truly has a gift that I don't have. Tom took me to dinner at Subway tonight. It was awesome - no big meal. It is amazing at how welcome that little 6 inch sub sandwich was. Then Tom, Jessie and I went to the night market. We ended up in some tea shop where a man taught me how to make tea and all the while served me water because Tom explained I couldn't drink tea. This man went to school for 2 years after high school to learn how to make tea. I never knew there was so much to making tea - but it is not only in the making of the tea, it is in the presentation. I would say that it is almost an art form.