It failed to make it into the blog before the story ended, but it was a story nonetheless. On perhaps the third day I was here I went with another student to the closest large convenience store and set out to buy a bike. I decided it would set me free to unleash myself on the city and see a world that no one else would get. My first adventure I set out with speed and vigor, head down pedaling hard, and then realizing that I was a few miles out in the wrong direction. I checked the map, adjusted course and set out once more for the "Forest Park" that I had picked as my destination. Several stops and a half a dozen miles later I made it to my destination.
The place looked awesome, but also looked like it was closing down. I approached the gate and asked if I could go in. The first answer was "No, were closed", but then another man spoke and said "Its, not problem go right ahead." I smiled and started to ride in -- only to have security hail me down and look at me like I was crazy.
I left the back grinning sheepishly, knowing that I had been "gotten" as good as you can get one. The crowd left at the gate had a similar expression on their faces when I came out, and I said in Chinese "You oughn't pull a joke on me like that just because I'm a foreigner". They thought they/I was hysterical, had a good laugh and I set back for home.
I decided to take a new route home to see the scenery, and managed to get lost again. This time a good 7-8 miles away from home, the pedal of my bike fell off -- right over some train tracks. I spent half an hour trying to fix it, failed miserably, spent a half hour finding a 24 hour bike repair shop and finally made it home some 4.5 hours after setting out - thrilled with my first bike experience.
In the next 2 weeks it broke twice more. Two nights ago, I went to use it, and when I turned the key in the lock -- the 'metal' of the key shredded in half leaving the already rusted lock busted. The dorm wouldn't take my bike in for the night, and by morning, my $25 falling apart brand-new bike was the treasure of some thief.
I shared the story in my "discussion class today" all had a good laugh and said in unison "Welcome to China" -- its a cool story to have. I miss my bike only because it was mine and a symbol of independence and uniqueness, people knew me as the guy with a bike, but I'm OK ... unlikely to get another.
I dared to get my haircut the other day. I walked in - used my recently looked up vocab of "haircut" and found it was a whopping $1.35 for the haircut (a pretty darn good price). I warned him (in Chinese) I may not be able to explain what I wanted to well other than that I wanted it shorter - but it turned out successful and we chatted away while I got a haircut I rather quite like. Today some 5 guys on my program stopped me and inquired where/how/and how to get their hair cut -- I like doing things first, its fun.
They have a word for people who are ABC (American Born Chinese). They call them "Bananas" because they are "yellow" on the outside but "white" on the inside. Today I learned from a classmate who has lived here for a while that he calls himself an "egg" because he is white on the outside yelllow on the inside after having lived here for a while. Apparently he tried explaining this to some people, and was met with great confusion ---- eggs in China are always brown on the outside ... people thought he thought he was "brown" and "yellow" and saw him as an American. Maybe it doesn't come out in writing, but its a hysterical story in Chinese.
The ever-present Panda has also returned! Anything with the word"Panda" --（大熊猫）prounounced [Da Xiong Mao] is by definition hysterical. We have read a few passages about Starbucks in discussion class (by far the most fun Chinese class) and from time to time in answer to a question a classmate or I will give a panda answer. Our imaginary Starbucks Panda has now found a girlfriend, been a give-away for a customer that drinks one thousand cappachinos -- drinken so much coffee that he has turned coffee colored and has unfortunately gotten the Chinese "辣肚子" or Fire Stomach which is the casual description for what happens when one eats too much Chinese street food and finds themselves spending all their time in the bathroom. Our panda stories grow ever more hilarious, and are certain to make their way back into this blog again. Coffee Panda!!!!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Holla' if ya feel me
The creature that is the street at the back gate of my university may never cease to amaze me.
Bananas took over the street today. THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of of bananas. I have absolutely no idea why, my best guess is someone delivered them, but why that happened is equally random in my mind. There have been strawberry days before. I think I've already witnessed 3 strawberry days. On a strawberry day somewhere in the range of 10 to 15 people set up a tiny kiosk or row of baskets or bowls filled with these little intensely red strawberries. The strawberries sit in their baskets and bowls and people occasionally inquire as to the price and walk away. Maybe these are only minor strawberry holidays, but today was a major banana day. Something like 60 people were spread out fairly evenly one per 100 feet along my back road. Each person had gobs and gobs and gobs of banana bunches strewn wildly across a blanket or string of towels. Each was manned by someone bored out of their mind and a sign indicating a price of either 7.1 cents or 7.5 cents or in some places just 6.8 cents per pound.
I found a hidden market. One of the holes-in-the-wall that are always 15 feet wide and 30 feet deep ended up going a good thousand feet in before making a sharp U-turn and having a similar hallway. The market was lined with whole animals, parts of animals, grains, fruits (at least 6 banana stations), and lots of unidentifiable things.
My roomate is sitting about 9 feet away from me. He is wolfing down fried rice that comes from yet another person whose life it is to stand on the street and cook things for people who want them when they want them and then go home. He eats so fast that he chokes and the snorts so violently it seems like he's trying to keep the rice from falling out of his nose. The back-street creature, you see, transforms in the night. The fruit people pack up their wares and the griller, fry-ers, and other heat-added product sellers emerge in droves. About half of the day time people sell their 'whatever' in a tiny shop the others have simply staked ground on the sidewalk. The night time is all sidewalk, and there isn't enough room so it spills over into the street. You can get a skewer (like a kebab) of anything. Everything edible has been skewered and organized on little tables that sit in front of tiny overly simple coal grills. You pick as many skewers as you want and pay somewhere between 8 and 60 cents per item and watch your food get heated, seasoned and spicied. Its really delicious, cheap, and fantastically awful for your stomach.
I have been reading in all of my classes that unemployment in China is a rapidly growing problem, because if the rate of GDP growth drops significantly below 8 percent a year jobs start going poof. I didn't understand this at all, and ventured the question in Chinese to my roomate. He drew the obvious connection that I should have realized which is that most jobs are people selling thing to other people on the street - even if people are spending enough that there is positive GDP growth then there could only be 35 banana sellers, and what a tradgedy that would be ... the job loss would be catestrophic.
This place is pretty crazy.
Bananas took over the street today. THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of of bananas. I have absolutely no idea why, my best guess is someone delivered them, but why that happened is equally random in my mind. There have been strawberry days before. I think I've already witnessed 3 strawberry days. On a strawberry day somewhere in the range of 10 to 15 people set up a tiny kiosk or row of baskets or bowls filled with these little intensely red strawberries. The strawberries sit in their baskets and bowls and people occasionally inquire as to the price and walk away. Maybe these are only minor strawberry holidays, but today was a major banana day. Something like 60 people were spread out fairly evenly one per 100 feet along my back road. Each person had gobs and gobs and gobs of banana bunches strewn wildly across a blanket or string of towels. Each was manned by someone bored out of their mind and a sign indicating a price of either 7.1 cents or 7.5 cents or in some places just 6.8 cents per pound.
I found a hidden market. One of the holes-in-the-wall that are always 15 feet wide and 30 feet deep ended up going a good thousand feet in before making a sharp U-turn and having a similar hallway. The market was lined with whole animals, parts of animals, grains, fruits (at least 6 banana stations), and lots of unidentifiable things.
My roomate is sitting about 9 feet away from me. He is wolfing down fried rice that comes from yet another person whose life it is to stand on the street and cook things for people who want them when they want them and then go home. He eats so fast that he chokes and the snorts so violently it seems like he's trying to keep the rice from falling out of his nose. The back-street creature, you see, transforms in the night. The fruit people pack up their wares and the griller, fry-ers, and other heat-added product sellers emerge in droves. About half of the day time people sell their 'whatever' in a tiny shop the others have simply staked ground on the sidewalk. The night time is all sidewalk, and there isn't enough room so it spills over into the street. You can get a skewer (like a kebab) of anything. Everything edible has been skewered and organized on little tables that sit in front of tiny overly simple coal grills. You pick as many skewers as you want and pay somewhere between 8 and 60 cents per item and watch your food get heated, seasoned and spicied. Its really delicious, cheap, and fantastically awful for your stomach.
I have been reading in all of my classes that unemployment in China is a rapidly growing problem, because if the rate of GDP growth drops significantly below 8 percent a year jobs start going poof. I didn't understand this at all, and ventured the question in Chinese to my roomate. He drew the obvious connection that I should have realized which is that most jobs are people selling thing to other people on the street - even if people are spending enough that there is positive GDP growth then there could only be 35 banana sellers, and what a tradgedy that would be ... the job loss would be catestrophic.
This place is pretty crazy.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Day I interviewed
There are always "these days". Days that have dates that I think to myself – “Oh boy, I’ll remember this date for sure ... what a turning point!”.
I can’t give you any examples, because of course – I’m just kidding myself when I say these things, its rare that a date is actually remembered. This blog is neat, it hopefully will remember dates for me.
Transitions are like this. Everyone tells you that a transition will happen, that it will be hard, that it will have characteristics X, Y, and Z. Before the transition you believe that you will be prepared for it, and believe it will occur. During the transition you scorn advice givers and sulk in your rut of difficulties. After the transition you have learned your own lessons and understand to some extant the experiences others must have had when giving you their advice. If the conclusion to this paragraph was simply “you have to live something to truly get through, past, over, or beyond it” then this paragraphs conclusion would be lame, cliché, and void of substance. To avoid this dilemma, the paragraph will instead end quite abruptly.
So as a part of my “Transition Blues” as they were so eloquently called, I decided I had no talents. I decided I wouldn’t learn Chinese, wouldn’t use it, didn’t understand economics, and that I only had hot air, charisma, and pretty rhetoric to cover up a big vacuum of person and trick others into thinking I had merits. I was pretty low self-esteem compared to my usually bloated head. An interview this evening was helpful. My biggest complaint was a lack of tangible skills and assets. I wanted to know numbers, program computers, and speak languages. I may make some improvements on these fronts, but even if these are not my forte, I think I am not for naught. It is possible that I am good and problem solving and understanding process. I think by way of analogy and at times can increase efficiency and efficacy. These are not in my mind “tangible skills” but they are certainly of merit.
I like having discovered this about me. It seems to be the sort of thing that simply need to be discovered. And so, with the help of a blog, may 2/17/09 be known as the day I interviewed.
I can’t give you any examples, because of course – I’m just kidding myself when I say these things, its rare that a date is actually remembered. This blog is neat, it hopefully will remember dates for me.
Transitions are like this. Everyone tells you that a transition will happen, that it will be hard, that it will have characteristics X, Y, and Z. Before the transition you believe that you will be prepared for it, and believe it will occur. During the transition you scorn advice givers and sulk in your rut of difficulties. After the transition you have learned your own lessons and understand to some extant the experiences others must have had when giving you their advice. If the conclusion to this paragraph was simply “you have to live something to truly get through, past, over, or beyond it” then this paragraphs conclusion would be lame, cliché, and void of substance. To avoid this dilemma, the paragraph will instead end quite abruptly.
So as a part of my “Transition Blues” as they were so eloquently called, I decided I had no talents. I decided I wouldn’t learn Chinese, wouldn’t use it, didn’t understand economics, and that I only had hot air, charisma, and pretty rhetoric to cover up a big vacuum of person and trick others into thinking I had merits. I was pretty low self-esteem compared to my usually bloated head. An interview this evening was helpful. My biggest complaint was a lack of tangible skills and assets. I wanted to know numbers, program computers, and speak languages. I may make some improvements on these fronts, but even if these are not my forte, I think I am not for naught. It is possible that I am good and problem solving and understanding process. I think by way of analogy and at times can increase efficiency and efficacy. These are not in my mind “tangible skills” but they are certainly of merit.
I like having discovered this about me. It seems to be the sort of thing that simply need to be discovered. And so, with the help of a blog, may 2/17/09 be known as the day I interviewed.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I like elevators
I can't even begin to explain how much has happened.
In short, life has begun. I've made it to Shanghai, I don't believe my blog has made it even this far. My actual program is at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and this new life of mine is in full swing.
So what exactly am I doing here?
Classes started and they are awful and wonderful in equal proportion. I have three hours of intensive Chinese every morning, and then two seperate three hour seminars one on International Finance and the other on "China: Economic Giant". Both are pretty chockful of mild propaganda. Its the most interesting phenomenon all of our teachers have PhDs from Chinese universities. They are considered extremely liberal and cutting edge if not revolutionary in how much they stray from the "textbook Chinese academian". Despite this, it is massively evident that China is still the center of the universe in their minds. It seems that the extent of their liberalism makes it so that they can recognize the failures of Mao ZeDong but insist on the immaculate perfection of Deng XiaoPing, Hu Jintao, and Wen JiaBao. They believe the statistics that the government releases quoting 6.8 percent quarterly growth for 2008Q4 and believe that while the free-market has merits, that the current transition of government-managed state-owned enterprise is a beautiful blend of power and autonomy.
It is so odd to come from Brandeis University and being inundated in "Less is More" government ideology and then come to find such a stark difference and have it heralded as daring. The actual class material is FASCINATING mixed in with the "propaganda" are critiques of government publications that come from the World Bank, Harvard Business Review and Nobel winning economists. The combination of Eastern Perspective lectures and Western Perspective course packets are giving me tremendous insight into the various lenses, differences, and understandings of International Economics from both ends of the world.
The caliber of my classmates is rather sorry. There have been questions about what the most basic of economic terms mean (and these classes are taught in English). Petty cries for extra credit, breaks from class, leiniency in assignments, and every other comfort to lessen the work load steal time from the professor and brain cells from my head. Fortunately, the system is set up to encourage those who care to be able to accomplish a lot. We are expected to complete a Capstone Project with a 5,000 minimum summary - a research report that uses primary references collected from our experiences in China as well as secondary (academic) papers. The chance to interview and survey the officials and business of China should be really neat.
I've also managed to land an internship here. I'll be working at the Chi Heng Foundation. They're a UN funded NGO that works on a village-by-village basis to directly fund the education of impovershed AIDS victims in rural Central China. I'm working at the Shanghai Office helping with Business Development, fundraising, editing and translation. I start that next week, but I'm eager for the opportunity.
Internship Applications are starting to get responses, and I have an interview with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ((in America)) for the summer within the next week or so. These sorts of "job" related things can make it feel like everything is going your way, but its just an interview and I need to not get my hopes up. (Note: Please don't tell me I'll do well and get it -- that won't let me not get my hopes up)
The campus I live on is a pretty decently famous/high quality/well known university. I'm living in a dorm with a Chinese roomate. He's pretty cool and we always talk in Chinese - he has these two friends that he always hangs out with and the three of them are like the three stooges but in Chinese ~ its a blast to hang out with them and be a part of the HIGH_POWER_FAST_PACE_GO_GO_GO_ chinese that they speak. Much of it goes over my head, but I'm glad to be included, and I get more than most would here in my program. I tested into the highest level of Chinese, there are only 4 people in my class, and of these my level is probably the lowest. One is born to Chinese parents and speaks chinese at home (and has studied Chinese for 3 years at Harvard) and the other two have been in China for the past year. Its good to be in a higher level course, because the best way to learn is by drowning.
Communication has been really troublesome, I may finally be getting somewhere on the road to fixing my computer, at which point I hope to me much more in touch with you all.
Entirely stream of consciously I want to talk about the back street behind my university. Its this mile long strip of holes-in-the wall. Everyone is a mini entrepreneur, sells their noodles or their market goods or their trinkets or has a little grill and cooks everything from bread to squid and sells them on sticks. Knowing which places are cheapest and best can make the world of difference - being intimidated by locals that speak to fast and have no mercy on your limited language skills is easy to do but can half the wonderfulness of the experience. I like the area I live in, and more than anything like feeling a little comfortable here rather than being under this massive weight of uncertainty as i was my last time in China.
My mood swings a pretty wide span over the course of a day or a week. I wish I had the opportunity to have already recorded it all in my blog, its been an important beginning to my trip. Things are going pretty well, I miss my families in Florida and Boston, and a few of the things we all take for granted. I miss them a lot, but I feel like things are going about as well as I could possibly have asked for them too here, and I'm extremely grateful for it.
I wrote a bijillion things I wanted to talk about in this post, but of course left that paper lying around elsewhere. If the post seems factual and lifeless ~ my sincerest apologies, there's just so much I've missed out on writing about that the feelings are a thing of the past.
I want to write a funny sentence for me to make a title from. I like elevators.
In short, life has begun. I've made it to Shanghai, I don't believe my blog has made it even this far. My actual program is at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and this new life of mine is in full swing.
So what exactly am I doing here?
Classes started and they are awful and wonderful in equal proportion. I have three hours of intensive Chinese every morning, and then two seperate three hour seminars one on International Finance and the other on "China: Economic Giant". Both are pretty chockful of mild propaganda. Its the most interesting phenomenon all of our teachers have PhDs from Chinese universities. They are considered extremely liberal and cutting edge if not revolutionary in how much they stray from the "textbook Chinese academian". Despite this, it is massively evident that China is still the center of the universe in their minds. It seems that the extent of their liberalism makes it so that they can recognize the failures of Mao ZeDong but insist on the immaculate perfection of Deng XiaoPing, Hu Jintao, and Wen JiaBao. They believe the statistics that the government releases quoting 6.8 percent quarterly growth for 2008Q4 and believe that while the free-market has merits, that the current transition of government-managed state-owned enterprise is a beautiful blend of power and autonomy.
It is so odd to come from Brandeis University and being inundated in "Less is More" government ideology and then come to find such a stark difference and have it heralded as daring. The actual class material is FASCINATING mixed in with the "propaganda" are critiques of government publications that come from the World Bank, Harvard Business Review and Nobel winning economists. The combination of Eastern Perspective lectures and Western Perspective course packets are giving me tremendous insight into the various lenses, differences, and understandings of International Economics from both ends of the world.
The caliber of my classmates is rather sorry. There have been questions about what the most basic of economic terms mean (and these classes are taught in English). Petty cries for extra credit, breaks from class, leiniency in assignments, and every other comfort to lessen the work load steal time from the professor and brain cells from my head. Fortunately, the system is set up to encourage those who care to be able to accomplish a lot. We are expected to complete a Capstone Project with a 5,000 minimum summary - a research report that uses primary references collected from our experiences in China as well as secondary (academic) papers. The chance to interview and survey the officials and business of China should be really neat.
I've also managed to land an internship here. I'll be working at the Chi Heng Foundation. They're a UN funded NGO that works on a village-by-village basis to directly fund the education of impovershed AIDS victims in rural Central China. I'm working at the Shanghai Office helping with Business Development, fundraising, editing and translation. I start that next week, but I'm eager for the opportunity.
Internship Applications are starting to get responses, and I have an interview with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ((in America)) for the summer within the next week or so. These sorts of "job" related things can make it feel like everything is going your way, but its just an interview and I need to not get my hopes up. (Note: Please don't tell me I'll do well and get it -- that won't let me not get my hopes up)
The campus I live on is a pretty decently famous/high quality/well known university. I'm living in a dorm with a Chinese roomate. He's pretty cool and we always talk in Chinese - he has these two friends that he always hangs out with and the three of them are like the three stooges but in Chinese ~ its a blast to hang out with them and be a part of the HIGH_POWER_FAST_PACE_GO_GO_GO_ chinese that they speak. Much of it goes over my head, but I'm glad to be included, and I get more than most would here in my program. I tested into the highest level of Chinese, there are only 4 people in my class, and of these my level is probably the lowest. One is born to Chinese parents and speaks chinese at home (and has studied Chinese for 3 years at Harvard) and the other two have been in China for the past year. Its good to be in a higher level course, because the best way to learn is by drowning.
Communication has been really troublesome, I may finally be getting somewhere on the road to fixing my computer, at which point I hope to me much more in touch with you all.
Entirely stream of consciously I want to talk about the back street behind my university. Its this mile long strip of holes-in-the wall. Everyone is a mini entrepreneur, sells their noodles or their market goods or their trinkets or has a little grill and cooks everything from bread to squid and sells them on sticks. Knowing which places are cheapest and best can make the world of difference - being intimidated by locals that speak to fast and have no mercy on your limited language skills is easy to do but can half the wonderfulness of the experience. I like the area I live in, and more than anything like feeling a little comfortable here rather than being under this massive weight of uncertainty as i was my last time in China.
My mood swings a pretty wide span over the course of a day or a week. I wish I had the opportunity to have already recorded it all in my blog, its been an important beginning to my trip. Things are going pretty well, I miss my families in Florida and Boston, and a few of the things we all take for granted. I miss them a lot, but I feel like things are going about as well as I could possibly have asked for them too here, and I'm extremely grateful for it.
I wrote a bijillion things I wanted to talk about in this post, but of course left that paper lying around elsewhere. If the post seems factual and lifeless ~ my sincerest apologies, there's just so much I've missed out on writing about that the feelings are a thing of the past.
I want to write a funny sentence for me to make a title from. I like elevators.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Entirely not about Koala bears
Preface: Nice people are the greatest invention of all time.
The past several days have been quite filled. The substance of their filling has been dramatically varied, and if I had a moment to share thoughts at various points, perhaps hundreds of different fillings, feelings, and views could have been forever preserved in the cyberworld. Those moments weren't recorded, and now we are here. So first, an abstract - a summary to let my brain have some organization, and then -- my adventures.
My internet stopped working. I went bonkers. My internet came back. I dropped my computer. The screen cracked and rendered the computer useless.
I gained a sense of perspective. I got out into the city (Beijing). I traveled to the Great Wall, to Beijing's modern art district, to an impossible acrobatics show and a little bit around the city.
I got sick of my host family. I flew to Shanghai. I've started my program now, and just one day in I have loads to share.
Beijing is really cool. I didn't get to have the Beijing experience I came for. In short-hindsight (the hindsight that is still emotionally charged, but has the element of "looking back on it" I have settled on three equally responsible culprits. The weather, my host family, and myself. It was always below 25 and always 20 mph winds or more. It was to cold to wander or stroll. My language is better suited to get goals accomplished than to wander aimlessly or inquire, and my host family enjoyed sitting on the couch until their butts were attached to the vinyl or nylon or whatever the heck couches are made of. A quick rant on the uselessness of this family.
A chinese family -- is supposed to be respectful. I am not one for characterizations of China, I try to avoid them at all costs, because they are almost always wrong or misleading -- but this one I fell for. My little brother (12 years old) in the family and his mom fought constantly. He refused to eat and she failed to make him. He refused to go out with her, to listen to her, to come when she called, to go to school, or to stay by her side. On the day I went to the art area with them they engaged in fist fights and tug of war. He punched his mother as hard and repeatedly as he could. She tried to ignore him or swat him pack. He shoved her and pulled her and when she engaged him he fell to the floor hit his knee and got up pouting and stamping before running away (one of maybe 4 times he ran away that day). The mom explained that she likes to ignore him when he does that -- no wonder he likes to ignore her. They both ONLY watch TV. They had break ... this i understand. But 8 days of TV without breath... this i don't.
My little brother, on the last day took my hair gel (a rarity in China) empties its contents, filled it with water, hid it in a sock and buried it in my bag. I probably wasn't supposed to find it until I was gone. I did find it, and I don't really care for "things" or "possessions" or even "personal space" all that much, but I thought it was the slightest bit rude. I told the mother who said quote "He probably thought it was fun ... you know?". I mean ... maybe? Maybe i know. But not really, and also ... what??? Anyhow that day at the last meal she mentioned it to him. He denied it. I thought this was funny, because there is no one else in the house. I suggested to him that maybe the mice did it, and he got guilty looking and said that mice can't do that. I nodded my head slowly, as though I was chewing on the fact that mice cannot, as a matter of fact, open a bottle, spill out its contents, replace it with new contents, and then put them in a sock and hide them.
--------------------------------
Anyway, my adventures are (believe it or not) at times significantly more exciting than socks. I hiked a good 4 hours on Sunday, with a group of 20 foreigners. We could have held a full meeting of the UN Security council, without a member missing, and had a enough to make quorum for the European Union. I shared my lunch with a German gentleman who had forgotten to bring one, and this was perhaps my favorite moment in Beijing. Just the simplest things like random acts of loving-kindness are what I miss most from feeling uncomfortable with the language, and unable to be myself.
The hike was noteworthy on its own. I don't want to exaggerate things like angles and steepness without knowing the facts, so I'll give the facts I do know, and let you feel from my descriptions what it was really like. It started off about 12 degrees farenheit with about 10-15 mph winds. A half hour into the first climb, I was wearing jeans and a short-sleeve T-shirt and sweating. at the first peak we saw the great wall some 5-6 kilometers away and on the descent we passed through brambles that hid the person in front of you, attacked you from all sides, snaked in tight turns, and as we passed into a valley that had been shielded from sun but still had altitude we walked on trails covered in frozen streams of ice (Note: this occurence in January apparently means the coming year will be good for the harvest -- thought you might like to know).
The great wall was ... great.
C'mon -- you saw that one coming. I bounded ahead of the group and while most went up to the first tower (many dozens of stairs up) I leapt across the rubble encrusted path through 4 towers to the highest peak in sight. It is an incredible thing, to know that no matter where you stand it continues futher than you can imagine. It is some 6000 kilometers long, and the portions I crossed ranged from 550 years old to 550 AD.
------------------------------------
There are many more parts and chapters to any and all of this. My computer screen shattered and my internet access is sparse. I'll try to fill in the gaps as my communicative abilities increase. But for the moment, I'm doing quite well.
The past several days have been quite filled. The substance of their filling has been dramatically varied, and if I had a moment to share thoughts at various points, perhaps hundreds of different fillings, feelings, and views could have been forever preserved in the cyberworld. Those moments weren't recorded, and now we are here. So first, an abstract - a summary to let my brain have some organization, and then -- my adventures.
My internet stopped working. I went bonkers. My internet came back. I dropped my computer. The screen cracked and rendered the computer useless.
I gained a sense of perspective. I got out into the city (Beijing). I traveled to the Great Wall, to Beijing's modern art district, to an impossible acrobatics show and a little bit around the city.
I got sick of my host family. I flew to Shanghai. I've started my program now, and just one day in I have loads to share.
Beijing is really cool. I didn't get to have the Beijing experience I came for. In short-hindsight (the hindsight that is still emotionally charged, but has the element of "looking back on it" I have settled on three equally responsible culprits. The weather, my host family, and myself. It was always below 25 and always 20 mph winds or more. It was to cold to wander or stroll. My language is better suited to get goals accomplished than to wander aimlessly or inquire, and my host family enjoyed sitting on the couch until their butts were attached to the vinyl or nylon or whatever the heck couches are made of. A quick rant on the uselessness of this family.
A chinese family -- is supposed to be respectful. I am not one for characterizations of China, I try to avoid them at all costs, because they are almost always wrong or misleading -- but this one I fell for. My little brother (12 years old) in the family and his mom fought constantly. He refused to eat and she failed to make him. He refused to go out with her, to listen to her, to come when she called, to go to school, or to stay by her side. On the day I went to the art area with them they engaged in fist fights and tug of war. He punched his mother as hard and repeatedly as he could. She tried to ignore him or swat him pack. He shoved her and pulled her and when she engaged him he fell to the floor hit his knee and got up pouting and stamping before running away (one of maybe 4 times he ran away that day). The mom explained that she likes to ignore him when he does that -- no wonder he likes to ignore her. They both ONLY watch TV. They had break ... this i understand. But 8 days of TV without breath... this i don't.
My little brother, on the last day took my hair gel (a rarity in China) empties its contents, filled it with water, hid it in a sock and buried it in my bag. I probably wasn't supposed to find it until I was gone. I did find it, and I don't really care for "things" or "possessions" or even "personal space" all that much, but I thought it was the slightest bit rude. I told the mother who said quote "He probably thought it was fun ... you know?". I mean ... maybe? Maybe i know. But not really, and also ... what??? Anyhow that day at the last meal she mentioned it to him. He denied it. I thought this was funny, because there is no one else in the house. I suggested to him that maybe the mice did it, and he got guilty looking and said that mice can't do that. I nodded my head slowly, as though I was chewing on the fact that mice cannot, as a matter of fact, open a bottle, spill out its contents, replace it with new contents, and then put them in a sock and hide them.
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Anyway, my adventures are (believe it or not) at times significantly more exciting than socks. I hiked a good 4 hours on Sunday, with a group of 20 foreigners. We could have held a full meeting of the UN Security council, without a member missing, and had a enough to make quorum for the European Union. I shared my lunch with a German gentleman who had forgotten to bring one, and this was perhaps my favorite moment in Beijing. Just the simplest things like random acts of loving-kindness are what I miss most from feeling uncomfortable with the language, and unable to be myself.
The hike was noteworthy on its own. I don't want to exaggerate things like angles and steepness without knowing the facts, so I'll give the facts I do know, and let you feel from my descriptions what it was really like. It started off about 12 degrees farenheit with about 10-15 mph winds. A half hour into the first climb, I was wearing jeans and a short-sleeve T-shirt and sweating. at the first peak we saw the great wall some 5-6 kilometers away and on the descent we passed through brambles that hid the person in front of you, attacked you from all sides, snaked in tight turns, and as we passed into a valley that had been shielded from sun but still had altitude we walked on trails covered in frozen streams of ice (Note: this occurence in January apparently means the coming year will be good for the harvest -- thought you might like to know).
The great wall was ... great.
C'mon -- you saw that one coming. I bounded ahead of the group and while most went up to the first tower (many dozens of stairs up) I leapt across the rubble encrusted path through 4 towers to the highest peak in sight. It is an incredible thing, to know that no matter where you stand it continues futher than you can imagine. It is some 6000 kilometers long, and the portions I crossed ranged from 550 years old to 550 AD.
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There are many more parts and chapters to any and all of this. My computer screen shattered and my internet access is sparse. I'll try to fill in the gaps as my communicative abilities increase. But for the moment, I'm doing quite well.
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