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.
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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.