Sunday, October 30, 2005
CHINESE WRITING, A SATURDAY WITH MY HOMESTAY & POLICE
I now know 175 characters. Today was the first time I tried to write sentences using the words I know. It was tough with a limited vocabulary but here are a few I came up with: "Today I have 4 black cows; tomorrow it will snow; Kunming is too big; I love your girlfriend, and many others. These are for the most part useless sentences, but I was proud of my efforts nevertheless.
Today I went out for the day with my family. Our first stop was lunch at "Cowboy" American Restaurant. A venture by some entrepreneuring Chinese who watched too many Westerns, Cowboy was an interesting place. Despite the fact that the staff wore plaid and cowboy hats, I was the closest thing to a cowboy there. Everyone was Chinese and eating "American food"...I don't know, I've never seen a cowboy eating fish heads or cow tails but I've only been living in Colorado for 2 years.
After that, we went to "Century City" a housing complex under construction where my family planned to buy a 2nd home. When finished, Century City will contain over 200 buildings, 23,000 apartments and the largest mall in Kunming (a town of 4 million people.) We arrived and my family has dropped 360,000RMB ($35,000) on a new apartment. So, apparently my family here is rich, since the average income in China is $250/month. The apartment is nice but not totally completed, some internal work still needs to be done. It is on the 17th floor which is really the 14th. Now some of you may be thinking "How can 17 be 14?" This fuzzy math (which might make sense to George Bush) is very logical to the Chinese. 4 sounds similar to the word for death so you can't have a 4th floor. 14 has 4 in it so scratch that too. 13, is just plain unlucky.
We then went to the Hongta Cigarette Sports Arena, because all the best athletes are sponsored by cigarette companies (at least in China.) There were a few things that shocked me. First was when my family said “do you want to go skiing?” because this is Kunming, there is no snow. The next few shocks were when we got to a large ice skating rink. “Go skiing” said the dad. Those who know me know that I do not Ice Skate. Mercifully, the largest skate they had was a size 46 and I’m a size 48. The final shock came when I saw an advertisement for Kunming’s Ice Hockey team from the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association. I miss hockey and might have to go watch them play. After the rink we walked downstairs and went bowling, where the dad proceeded to destroy me, first by 70pins, then by 50pins. Finally was a few games of Ping Pong. The US-China Series was tied 1-1 when we left (21-16, 10-21.)
So that way my Saturday, I still dont know what to make of the Cowboy Restaurant.
On a different note, I wanted to express the sentiment about police here that Ive been hearing. My homestay father says “all they do is bring trouble with them, we only like them if we need to call them for something.” In China, policemen are referred to as “hei mao” (black cats.) No one has been able to explain why they are black, but they are cats because “we are the mice, they are the cats, they go around trying to catch us,” explained my teacher. I guess as a policeman being called a cat is better than being called a pig. The character for policeman is 2 mouth radicals under a roof because “officers need 2 mouths, one to yell at people, the other to ask for bribes.” Thats it for now. Happy Halloween, I think I'll go as Chairman Mao.
I now know 175 characters. Today was the first time I tried to write sentences using the words I know. It was tough with a limited vocabulary but here are a few I came up with: "Today I have 4 black cows; tomorrow it will snow; Kunming is too big; I love your girlfriend, and many others. These are for the most part useless sentences, but I was proud of my efforts nevertheless.
Today I went out for the day with my family. Our first stop was lunch at "Cowboy" American Restaurant. A venture by some entrepreneuring Chinese who watched too many Westerns, Cowboy was an interesting place. Despite the fact that the staff wore plaid and cowboy hats, I was the closest thing to a cowboy there. Everyone was Chinese and eating "American food"...I don't know, I've never seen a cowboy eating fish heads or cow tails but I've only been living in Colorado for 2 years.
After that, we went to "Century City" a housing complex under construction where my family planned to buy a 2nd home. When finished, Century City will contain over 200 buildings, 23,000 apartments and the largest mall in Kunming (a town of 4 million people.) We arrived and my family has dropped 360,000RMB ($35,000) on a new apartment. So, apparently my family here is rich, since the average income in China is $250/month. The apartment is nice but not totally completed, some internal work still needs to be done. It is on the 17th floor which is really the 14th. Now some of you may be thinking "How can 17 be 14?" This fuzzy math (which might make sense to George Bush) is very logical to the Chinese. 4 sounds similar to the word for death so you can't have a 4th floor. 14 has 4 in it so scratch that too. 13, is just plain unlucky.
We then went to the Hongta Cigarette Sports Arena, because all the best athletes are sponsored by cigarette companies (at least in China.) There were a few things that shocked me. First was when my family said “do you want to go skiing?” because this is Kunming, there is no snow. The next few shocks were when we got to a large ice skating rink. “Go skiing” said the dad. Those who know me know that I do not Ice Skate. Mercifully, the largest skate they had was a size 46 and I’m a size 48. The final shock came when I saw an advertisement for Kunming’s Ice Hockey team from the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association. I miss hockey and might have to go watch them play. After the rink we walked downstairs and went bowling, where the dad proceeded to destroy me, first by 70pins, then by 50pins. Finally was a few games of Ping Pong. The US-China Series was tied 1-1 when we left (21-16, 10-21.)
So that way my Saturday, I still dont know what to make of the Cowboy Restaurant.
On a different note, I wanted to express the sentiment about police here that Ive been hearing. My homestay father says “all they do is bring trouble with them, we only like them if we need to call them for something.” In China, policemen are referred to as “hei mao” (black cats.) No one has been able to explain why they are black, but they are cats because “we are the mice, they are the cats, they go around trying to catch us,” explained my teacher. I guess as a policeman being called a cat is better than being called a pig. The character for policeman is 2 mouth radicals under a roof because “officers need 2 mouths, one to yell at people, the other to ask for bribes.” Thats it for now. Happy Halloween, I think I'll go as Chairman Mao.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
CIGARETTE FACTORY, HOT SPRINGS, NEW TEACHERS AND LUCKY THE PUPPY
Well, Ivan, our language teacher left for graduate school in Holland leaving us with a new teacher. She had lots of experience teaching but was lacking in one important aspect - a command of the English language. Not only did she not speak English she felt that by repeating herself 10 times in Chinese - each as fast as the previous time - we would be able to understand her better. Sorry teach, do not pass go, do not collect 200RMB. After 3 painful lessons we made a group decision to get a new teacher. This one speaks English and starts tomorrow.
I went with my homestay family to the bird and flower market to buy a puppy. After looking through about a dozen cardboard boxes of puppies we found one we liked, a small white dog about 1 month old. The family asked me to name it. I chose Lucky. They thought it was great since Lucky is also the nickname of the daughter. Yeah, that's nice but I was going more along the lines of the dog is lucky for not being eaten. We had Lucky for 2 days. I returned home to have the father tell me 'Lucky is not so lucky.' Apparently, 1 month is too young to be feeding a dog rice...welcome to China, where everyone and everything eats rice. However, 2 days was not enough time to get really attached and we're trying again, this time getting a 1 year-old dog.
Yesterday we went to a 'hot springs' on the edge of Kunming. Chinese attitudes towards nudity and modesty were sharply contrasted by what we saw there. The first thing we saw as we stepped into the men's locker room was a giant statue which for all intents and purposes we will just consider to be an 8ft tall mushroom; with a lot of veins. There were more locker room attendants than people at the hot springs and apparently it is their job to stand next to you and watch you change. That was the wierdest it got for me...I passed on the being toweled down when stepping out of the shower, having them put on my underwear or getting a naked massage from a Chinese businessman but the businessmen seemed to be enjoyinbg all these 'services.' I hear the womens side had 'flavored' swimming pools - strawberry, lemon, milk, alcohol. That might have been preferable.
This morning we went to the Kunming Cigarette Factory [http:www.kmcf.com] We were shown the commune on which its 3000 workers live and were told about production there. KMCF is a small factory here, making 10 billion cigarettes per year. This may seem like a lot until you realize there are 400 million smokers in the country. Assuming the average citizen smokes 10 cigarettes per day that is 1.5 trillion ciarettes per year consumed in this country. They took us to the room with 30 German machines each producing 7000 cigarettes per minute. I had no idea how cigarettes were made but the process is really cool. We then got about 10 'free samples' and a free zippo lighter each. Even the nonsmokers in the group had one, an amusing sight. My Marlboros came in handy and made a great gift.
Well, Ivan, our language teacher left for graduate school in Holland leaving us with a new teacher. She had lots of experience teaching but was lacking in one important aspect - a command of the English language. Not only did she not speak English she felt that by repeating herself 10 times in Chinese - each as fast as the previous time - we would be able to understand her better. Sorry teach, do not pass go, do not collect 200RMB. After 3 painful lessons we made a group decision to get a new teacher. This one speaks English and starts tomorrow.
I went with my homestay family to the bird and flower market to buy a puppy. After looking through about a dozen cardboard boxes of puppies we found one we liked, a small white dog about 1 month old. The family asked me to name it. I chose Lucky. They thought it was great since Lucky is also the nickname of the daughter. Yeah, that's nice but I was going more along the lines of the dog is lucky for not being eaten. We had Lucky for 2 days. I returned home to have the father tell me 'Lucky is not so lucky.' Apparently, 1 month is too young to be feeding a dog rice...welcome to China, where everyone and everything eats rice. However, 2 days was not enough time to get really attached and we're trying again, this time getting a 1 year-old dog.
Yesterday we went to a 'hot springs' on the edge of Kunming. Chinese attitudes towards nudity and modesty were sharply contrasted by what we saw there. The first thing we saw as we stepped into the men's locker room was a giant statue which for all intents and purposes we will just consider to be an 8ft tall mushroom; with a lot of veins. There were more locker room attendants than people at the hot springs and apparently it is their job to stand next to you and watch you change. That was the wierdest it got for me...I passed on the being toweled down when stepping out of the shower, having them put on my underwear or getting a naked massage from a Chinese businessman but the businessmen seemed to be enjoyinbg all these 'services.' I hear the womens side had 'flavored' swimming pools - strawberry, lemon, milk, alcohol. That might have been preferable.
This morning we went to the Kunming Cigarette Factory [http:www.kmcf.com] We were shown the commune on which its 3000 workers live and were told about production there. KMCF is a small factory here, making 10 billion cigarettes per year. This may seem like a lot until you realize there are 400 million smokers in the country. Assuming the average citizen smokes 10 cigarettes per day that is 1.5 trillion ciarettes per year consumed in this country. They took us to the room with 30 German machines each producing 7000 cigarettes per minute. I had no idea how cigarettes were made but the process is really cool. We then got about 10 'free samples' and a free zippo lighter each. Even the nonsmokers in the group had one, an amusing sight. My Marlboros came in handy and made a great gift.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
MEGAN'S DAD, COMMUNIST DINNER PARTY & SOME VALUABLE LIFE LESSONS
a few days ago, Megan's dad Joe Schoendorf, a Venture Capitalist was in Hong Kong on business and decided to visit Kunming. He took us out to a steak dinner in a fancy hotel and we discussed business in China, technology, bird flu and a wide array of other topics. He also brought 50lbs of chocolate. A brief summary (all of which he has cleared for my posting on the internet):
Business & Technology in China: His firm is expanding into the Chinese market. Though most things are still state-owned, the Chinese government is very happy for capital investment projects. He see's China's growth remaining at 7-8% per year with an eventual fall-off year to 4-5% which China will see as a recession. Despite the US Media portraying China as ripe for a collapse, the economy is stronger than ever (at least since Deng Xiaoping.) Technology is restricted here but people get around that through proxy servers (I can now access my blog.) We discussed the Yuan (Kuai/Renminbi/RMB/Chinamoney) If the Yuan appreciates more (as expected when China removes their peg) China will no longer be a source of cheap labor - which would then move to other Asian countries. While it would help the US trade deficit it would make things more expensive for the US consumer. That's all I understood from the economics. Afterall, I only got a B in my Econ class.
Bird flu: As a member of the World Economic Forum and with friends in the World Health Organization, he is privvy to the most up to date info on bird flu. It may not happen this year but it will happen. When it does transfer from human to human it will take 96 hours to encompass the globe. While Australia and the US plan on shutting their borders entirely - which might be effective for the Aussies due to their isolated location, - many lesser equipped countries (i.e. China) would take days before realizing what had occured and alerting the world (taking a sizeable chunk out of the 4 day period.) If taken immeadiately, Tamiflu (thanks Uncle Lee) will lessen the impactslightly. On the bright side, a virus that multiplies that quickly will lessen its severity and the death rate should only be around 20% (a marked improvement from its current 50%.)
Yesterday we had history class with Eric the Canadian. Mid-lesson he digressed into a conversation about saving/losing face in China (i.e. doing everything in your power to not make other people look bad and making it so that everyone wins. He discussed a certain brand of Chinese cigarettes costing roughly 80RMB per pack (10$) that all Communist party officals smoke but none of them ever pay for (given to them as bribes.)
Julia's homestay family then invited us to a dinner party there. Her homestay father is a high ranking Communist party official and the Vice-Minister of Culture for Yunnan. He was a tad bit insane, giving a thumbs up and shouting "WAAAAAH" every time he got excited (which was every few minutes.) he brought some English speaking colleagues with him for our benefit and we played majiang. After dinner he wanted to take us do the disco to dance and I told him I liked singing more than dancing. He asked me to sing an American song. I chose "Country Roads" because all billion people here know it. They loved it. I was told they were going to put me on Kunming Television (KTV.) I doubt anything will come of it but it was flattering. Then the father gave both a leader and I 2 packs of the 80RMB cigarettes. I figured they must be made of 100% real panda and wrapped in gold for that price. I tried one. They taste the same as my 5RMB cigarettes. Image is everything in China.
Lessons I have learned these past few days:
1) No matter how skilled you are, playing with swords is a bad idea. My kung fu teacher had a big gash on his hand from training with swords. He's been doing this for 10 years and still hurt himself.
2) It's better not to ask what you're eating. This has been demonstrated through my eating goat's blood, chicken heads and a powder that looked like heroin. I asked my homestay family what the powder was and they said "drug, Chinese drug." I looked at it, rather concerned and wishing I hadn't asked. Then the daughter corrected them and said "traditional Chinese medicine." Despite some further questions I wanted to ask I tried it. Chinese medicine doesn't taste very good.
3) We have no reason to be afraid of China (except maybe bird flu.) There are so many things that they need to take care of here that they will not be a threat to the US. Everything you hear about China in the US is propaganda. Donald Rumsfeld came to Beijing and spoke at the Communist Party School. He criticized the government for restricting people's liberties and berated the Chinese for underreporting their defense budget which incidentally, even according to Rumsfeld's numbers is 10x less than the US budget. Thanks Don, I needed a good laugh.
a few days ago, Megan's dad Joe Schoendorf, a Venture Capitalist was in Hong Kong on business and decided to visit Kunming. He took us out to a steak dinner in a fancy hotel and we discussed business in China, technology, bird flu and a wide array of other topics. He also brought 50lbs of chocolate. A brief summary (all of which he has cleared for my posting on the internet):
Business & Technology in China: His firm is expanding into the Chinese market. Though most things are still state-owned, the Chinese government is very happy for capital investment projects. He see's China's growth remaining at 7-8% per year with an eventual fall-off year to 4-5% which China will see as a recession. Despite the US Media portraying China as ripe for a collapse, the economy is stronger than ever (at least since Deng Xiaoping.) Technology is restricted here but people get around that through proxy servers (I can now access my blog.) We discussed the Yuan (Kuai/Renminbi/RMB/Chinamoney) If the Yuan appreciates more (as expected when China removes their peg) China will no longer be a source of cheap labor - which would then move to other Asian countries. While it would help the US trade deficit it would make things more expensive for the US consumer. That's all I understood from the economics. Afterall, I only got a B in my Econ class.
Bird flu: As a member of the World Economic Forum and with friends in the World Health Organization, he is privvy to the most up to date info on bird flu. It may not happen this year but it will happen. When it does transfer from human to human it will take 96 hours to encompass the globe. While Australia and the US plan on shutting their borders entirely - which might be effective for the Aussies due to their isolated location, - many lesser equipped countries (i.e. China) would take days before realizing what had occured and alerting the world (taking a sizeable chunk out of the 4 day period.) If taken immeadiately, Tamiflu (thanks Uncle Lee) will lessen the impactslightly. On the bright side, a virus that multiplies that quickly will lessen its severity and the death rate should only be around 20% (a marked improvement from its current 50%.)
Yesterday we had history class with Eric the Canadian. Mid-lesson he digressed into a conversation about saving/losing face in China (i.e. doing everything in your power to not make other people look bad and making it so that everyone wins. He discussed a certain brand of Chinese cigarettes costing roughly 80RMB per pack (10$) that all Communist party officals smoke but none of them ever pay for (given to them as bribes.)
Julia's homestay family then invited us to a dinner party there. Her homestay father is a high ranking Communist party official and the Vice-Minister of Culture for Yunnan. He was a tad bit insane, giving a thumbs up and shouting "WAAAAAH" every time he got excited (which was every few minutes.) he brought some English speaking colleagues with him for our benefit and we played majiang. After dinner he wanted to take us do the disco to dance and I told him I liked singing more than dancing. He asked me to sing an American song. I chose "Country Roads" because all billion people here know it. They loved it. I was told they were going to put me on Kunming Television (KTV.) I doubt anything will come of it but it was flattering. Then the father gave both a leader and I 2 packs of the 80RMB cigarettes. I figured they must be made of 100% real panda and wrapped in gold for that price. I tried one. They taste the same as my 5RMB cigarettes. Image is everything in China.
Lessons I have learned these past few days:
1) No matter how skilled you are, playing with swords is a bad idea. My kung fu teacher had a big gash on his hand from training with swords. He's been doing this for 10 years and still hurt himself.
2) It's better not to ask what you're eating. This has been demonstrated through my eating goat's blood, chicken heads and a powder that looked like heroin. I asked my homestay family what the powder was and they said "drug, Chinese drug." I looked at it, rather concerned and wishing I hadn't asked. Then the daughter corrected them and said "traditional Chinese medicine." Despite some further questions I wanted to ask I tried it. Chinese medicine doesn't taste very good.
3) We have no reason to be afraid of China (except maybe bird flu.) There are so many things that they need to take care of here that they will not be a threat to the US. Everything you hear about China in the US is propaganda. Donald Rumsfeld came to Beijing and spoke at the Communist Party School. He criticized the government for restricting people's liberties and berated the Chinese for underreporting their defense budget which incidentally, even according to Rumsfeld's numbers is 10x less than the US budget. Thanks Don, I needed a good laugh.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM, SOME LESSONS & A GOAT DINNER
Imagine a country where the words for logic, humor & personal space had to be imported into the language. How about a place where collectivism is so ingrained that people won't help someone being attacked on the street because they would have to step out of the group. Where a man responsible for at least 40million deaths is hero-worshipped and the word for their country means middle of the world. Can you picture it? You're starting to get an idea of China.
Over the weekend my Chinese family took me out to a hotpot dinner. Hotpot is a Szechuan dish - a big bowl with soup divided into one side not too spicy and another hotter than hell. As the liquid comes to a boil we add whatever food ingrediants we want. My family wanted to have a goat meal. Sliced goat was very tasty. Then they decided to have a treat: goats blood. It was congealed and when cooked (albeit minimally) turned into a greyish-brown jello. I ate one piece to try it and so as to not offend the family. When the put 4 giant pieces on my plate it took everything in my power not to vomit. It was interesting but I don't EVER feel a need to do it again.
Kungfu is going well. In practice I put my teacher on the ground for the first time. He laid there stunned for a few seconds and I thought he would be mad. Then he stood up and told me what a good job I had done. Despite previous desires to do so I have never thrown a teacher, let alone on concrete. It made my day. My kungfu is rapidly improving but it will be 3-5 months of daily stretching and practice before I can kick my leg over my head.
My writing teacher is named Money. While this is an unusual name it is just an english translation of his family name. Most Chinese have an English name they choose or recieve in school. Some are combinations of names (Wincent) while others are products or "pretty words" (Apple, Nokia.) Others are from a failed attempt at English by their parents (Erect.) I have speculation as why this name was given but I think it's more fun to leave it up to your imagination. Money taught me 40 characters in 2 hours. At this pace I will be literate in 2 years. I can already write simple phrases such as zao shang hao (good morning) and Tian'anmen (like the square, but it means sky peaceful something.)
Tonight, Megan's dad, a Venture CAPITALIST is coming to Kunming for a day. He has been in China on business and he's taking us out for dinner and talking about business in China. I assume here he's a business man as opposed to a venture capitalist because the latter word is quite taboo here.
Imagine a country where the words for logic, humor & personal space had to be imported into the language. How about a place where collectivism is so ingrained that people won't help someone being attacked on the street because they would have to step out of the group. Where a man responsible for at least 40million deaths is hero-worshipped and the word for their country means middle of the world. Can you picture it? You're starting to get an idea of China.
Over the weekend my Chinese family took me out to a hotpot dinner. Hotpot is a Szechuan dish - a big bowl with soup divided into one side not too spicy and another hotter than hell. As the liquid comes to a boil we add whatever food ingrediants we want. My family wanted to have a goat meal. Sliced goat was very tasty. Then they decided to have a treat: goats blood. It was congealed and when cooked (albeit minimally) turned into a greyish-brown jello. I ate one piece to try it and so as to not offend the family. When the put 4 giant pieces on my plate it took everything in my power not to vomit. It was interesting but I don't EVER feel a need to do it again.
Kungfu is going well. In practice I put my teacher on the ground for the first time. He laid there stunned for a few seconds and I thought he would be mad. Then he stood up and told me what a good job I had done. Despite previous desires to do so I have never thrown a teacher, let alone on concrete. It made my day. My kungfu is rapidly improving but it will be 3-5 months of daily stretching and practice before I can kick my leg over my head.
My writing teacher is named Money. While this is an unusual name it is just an english translation of his family name. Most Chinese have an English name they choose or recieve in school. Some are combinations of names (Wincent) while others are products or "pretty words" (Apple, Nokia.) Others are from a failed attempt at English by their parents (Erect.) I have speculation as why this name was given but I think it's more fun to leave it up to your imagination. Money taught me 40 characters in 2 hours. At this pace I will be literate in 2 years. I can already write simple phrases such as zao shang hao (good morning) and Tian'anmen (like the square, but it means sky peaceful something.)
Tonight, Megan's dad, a Venture CAPITALIST is coming to Kunming for a day. He has been in China on business and he's taking us out for dinner and talking about business in China. I assume here he's a business man as opposed to a venture capitalist because the latter word is quite taboo here.
Friday, October 14, 2005
ACCUPUNCTURE, KUNG FU & A NEW HOMESTAY
John, an Australian originally from Iowa came and taught us about Chinese Medicine. We learned about traditional herbs, yin & yang and qi (chi.) He then demonstrated accupuncture. I volunteered to be his victim. He put 5 needles in the ankle that I hurt in February. It made my foot numb which was the "qi circulating through my body." It was almost entirely painless, except for the needle in my tendon, which hurt a lot. I also got a few in my thighs to help the muscles sore from Kung Fu, and one on my wrist and forehead to relax me (which really did work...I fell asleep.)
We started contact in Kung Fu. A few moves from "pushing tai chi" that can block a punch and then throw the person who threw the punch. The first time I tried, instead of pushing the teacher with my left hand I smacked him on the back. He laughed. The next few times were better, though I worried about hurting the teacher (being twice his size.) I then had the realization that with all his training, nothing I could do could hurt him. Once I stopped worrying I started to get it right.
I have a new homestay family. Maggie, who works at the language school hooked my up with her sister. There's a mother, fater and 15 year old daughter. The daughter is very shy and doesn't talk much. The dad works for China Unicom and the mom is a doctor. I asked what kind and found out "geneology and obstetrics." It's always interesting when Chinese people speak English. They have a huge (by Chinese standards) house and I have my own room. They have a western toilet and are right by SueyHu (The Green Lake downtown.)
Today I got a writing tutor. His name is "Money." We start tomorrow.
John, an Australian originally from Iowa came and taught us about Chinese Medicine. We learned about traditional herbs, yin & yang and qi (chi.) He then demonstrated accupuncture. I volunteered to be his victim. He put 5 needles in the ankle that I hurt in February. It made my foot numb which was the "qi circulating through my body." It was almost entirely painless, except for the needle in my tendon, which hurt a lot. I also got a few in my thighs to help the muscles sore from Kung Fu, and one on my wrist and forehead to relax me (which really did work...I fell asleep.)
We started contact in Kung Fu. A few moves from "pushing tai chi" that can block a punch and then throw the person who threw the punch. The first time I tried, instead of pushing the teacher with my left hand I smacked him on the back. He laughed. The next few times were better, though I worried about hurting the teacher (being twice his size.) I then had the realization that with all his training, nothing I could do could hurt him. Once I stopped worrying I started to get it right.
I have a new homestay family. Maggie, who works at the language school hooked my up with her sister. There's a mother, fater and 15 year old daughter. The daughter is very shy and doesn't talk much. The dad works for China Unicom and the mom is a doctor. I asked what kind and found out "geneology and obstetrics." It's always interesting when Chinese people speak English. They have a huge (by Chinese standards) house and I have my own room. They have a western toilet and are right by SueyHu (The Green Lake downtown.)
Today I got a writing tutor. His name is "Money." We start tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
INTERESTING CLASSES, CELL PHONE COMPANIES & A FAILED HOMESTAY
After arriving at 7am in Kunming we spent the day preparing for our homestays. We were told when to be back and sent out to buy cell phones. As terrible as American cell phone companies are, somehow the Chinese managed to make it an even more painful experience. After giving me the wrong phone and filling out the forms incorrectly, the saleslady had to call over 3 managers to correct her mistake. Then they gave me a battery that didn't work. 3 hours later it was all taken care of. If anyone wants to call me, my number is 13678792844 (i don't know if a country code is needed.)
I then went to my homestay. The mom and dad were professionals of some sort and they had a 7 year old son. They were rather unfriendly when I arrived. I then had a new experience despite my 10 years and dozens of previous homestays. I was returned. This morning they brought me back to the program house because I was "tai da le" (too big.) I was later informed they had been looking for a way to back out of the homestay and so they said "they had been expecting someone younger." Maybe I should shave. Anyways, I'm now living at the program house until further accomidations can be arranged.
Despite my vagrancy today was a really neat day. In the morning we had a Chinese lesson from a new teacher who opened a language school recently. He helped us a lot with our speaking and learning about the culture. After Chinese we had a Chinese history lesson taught by a Canadian because "we Canadians don't have a bias. We don't give a damn either way." We learned about early Chinese civilization and then about Marxism, why it doesn't work in China and how China practices "Coca-Cola Communism" (i.e. really being capitalist and not giving a damn about social inequalities but still indoctrinating everyone to hate capitalism and pretending to be communist.) I then began Kung Fu. My teacher Peng Yang is in his mid 20's but a master. He started by teaching the 8 basic moves or positions which included punches, kicks, blocks and some positions in which my legs do not naturally go. He spoke very little English, but enough to explain a bit of what we were doing. I also very quickly learned some Chinese commands such as ting (stop,) cuo (wrong) and dui (correct.) Endurance was fine, I kept up. It was my legs that gave out after 2 hours. I am already very sore and he said I would have trouble walking tomorrow but that it would get easier. The last exercise we did was one in which I kick my leg up in the air to where my hand is, above my head. I then slap my foot. I had some trouble with this one (flexibility issues.) He then demonstrated the exercise while leaping around in circles...kung fu style. Maybe one day i'll be able to do that, but for now it seems a long way off.
A sidenote: there's something quite satisfying about smoking with one's teachers (chinese during break, kungfu after lesson.) I don't know, maybe its because that wouldn't happen in America. Also, in an ironic twist, today I caught the leader who has been hassleing me about smoking enjoying a few cigarettes of his own. Needless to say, he's done giving me a hard time and I won't tell the group.
Tomorrow we have a Chinese medicine lesson where I may get accupuncture (much needed after today) and hopefully we will find a home which would want to take in a vagrant such as myself. In the words of The Simpsons: "Nothin' beats the hobo life, stabbin' folks with your hobo knife."
After arriving at 7am in Kunming we spent the day preparing for our homestays. We were told when to be back and sent out to buy cell phones. As terrible as American cell phone companies are, somehow the Chinese managed to make it an even more painful experience. After giving me the wrong phone and filling out the forms incorrectly, the saleslady had to call over 3 managers to correct her mistake. Then they gave me a battery that didn't work. 3 hours later it was all taken care of. If anyone wants to call me, my number is 13678792844 (i don't know if a country code is needed.)
I then went to my homestay. The mom and dad were professionals of some sort and they had a 7 year old son. They were rather unfriendly when I arrived. I then had a new experience despite my 10 years and dozens of previous homestays. I was returned. This morning they brought me back to the program house because I was "tai da le" (too big.) I was later informed they had been looking for a way to back out of the homestay and so they said "they had been expecting someone younger." Maybe I should shave. Anyways, I'm now living at the program house until further accomidations can be arranged.
Despite my vagrancy today was a really neat day. In the morning we had a Chinese lesson from a new teacher who opened a language school recently. He helped us a lot with our speaking and learning about the culture. After Chinese we had a Chinese history lesson taught by a Canadian because "we Canadians don't have a bias. We don't give a damn either way." We learned about early Chinese civilization and then about Marxism, why it doesn't work in China and how China practices "Coca-Cola Communism" (i.e. really being capitalist and not giving a damn about social inequalities but still indoctrinating everyone to hate capitalism and pretending to be communist.) I then began Kung Fu. My teacher Peng Yang is in his mid 20's but a master. He started by teaching the 8 basic moves or positions which included punches, kicks, blocks and some positions in which my legs do not naturally go. He spoke very little English, but enough to explain a bit of what we were doing. I also very quickly learned some Chinese commands such as ting (stop,) cuo (wrong) and dui (correct.) Endurance was fine, I kept up. It was my legs that gave out after 2 hours. I am already very sore and he said I would have trouble walking tomorrow but that it would get easier. The last exercise we did was one in which I kick my leg up in the air to where my hand is, above my head. I then slap my foot. I had some trouble with this one (flexibility issues.) He then demonstrated the exercise while leaping around in circles...kung fu style. Maybe one day i'll be able to do that, but for now it seems a long way off.
A sidenote: there's something quite satisfying about smoking with one's teachers (chinese during break, kungfu after lesson.) I don't know, maybe its because that wouldn't happen in America. Also, in an ironic twist, today I caught the leader who has been hassleing me about smoking enjoying a few cigarettes of his own. Needless to say, he's done giving me a hard time and I won't tell the group.
Tomorrow we have a Chinese medicine lesson where I may get accupuncture (much needed after today) and hopefully we will find a home which would want to take in a vagrant such as myself. In the words of The Simpsons: "Nothin' beats the hobo life, stabbin' folks with your hobo knife."
Sunday, October 09, 2005
MAJIANG, DALI & THE LAST TRAVEL DAY
I recently discovered that I am amazing at the game Majiang. It seems to be a combnation of my incredible luck and my skills at board games. I've begun beating Chinese people at their national game. However, once I return home, my special talent will not be realized by anyone except old Jewish ladies.
Dali has been rather dull and quiet but sitting around playing majiang and eating western food was a much needed break. Tonight we board an overnight train to Kunming where tomorrow we begin homestays and start our Independant Study Projects (ISPs.) I have a teacher, Yang Shifu, a local martial arts master who will teach me over the next 5 weeks and if I enjoy it I will continue after program for my next _?_ months in China. Kung Fu will be a crash-course in getting in shape. This should be interesting.
I recently discovered that I am amazing at the game Majiang. It seems to be a combnation of my incredible luck and my skills at board games. I've begun beating Chinese people at their national game. However, once I return home, my special talent will not be realized by anyone except old Jewish ladies.
Dali has been rather dull and quiet but sitting around playing majiang and eating western food was a much needed break. Tonight we board an overnight train to Kunming where tomorrow we begin homestays and start our Independant Study Projects (ISPs.) I have a teacher, Yang Shifu, a local martial arts master who will teach me over the next 5 weeks and if I enjoy it I will continue after program for my next _?_ months in China. Kung Fu will be a crash-course in getting in shape. This should be interesting.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
ZHONGDIAN, A CRAZY GUESTHOUSE, A NIGHT BUS & BEN BECOMES LITERATE
After leaving Deqing we took a bus to Zhongdian (aka Shangri-La.) Zhongdian means "middle of nowhere" which wasn't really attracting the tourists so in 1997 the Chinese government changed the name of the town to Shanggelila (Shangri-La.) Now it's a large tourist town with western restaurants and a disco. The "new" town was built 15 years ago while the "old" town was built 6 months ago. They tore down the old town and rebuilt it completely - westernized, with every house now a bar or shop. Onj the bright side, for the first time in a month I had western food. I ate more pancakes, eggs, fries, coffee & real chocolate - Chinese chocolate ranks somewhere between food poisoning and stinky tofu for me, - than I thought I possibly could.
Our guest house was quite interesting. The first thing I noticed was a sign on the door that said "ri ben ren" with a line through it. This translates to "no Japanese" or more accurately,"no people of the sun." I know the Chinese hate the Japanese for the atrocities of the past, but the sign seems a bit harsh. The Japanese tourists I've met are some of the nicest of all travellers...even if they do love eating human hearts (isn't propaganda fun?) Before I get angry emails, read the Chinese Propaganda posting. The guesthouse only got stranger. Despite the existance of the death penalty here for possession of 100+g. of cannibis somehow people have overlooked the existance of a 7ft. tall marijuana plant in the courtyard there. I am baffled both by how it could exist there and how I could not notice it for 2 days.
Last night we took a sleeper bus to Dali. It left at 7:30pm and as we were leaving we realized that despite our buying 9 tickets they gave us 8: Seats 1-7 & 9. One of our leaders had to stay behind and come today. Our bus was supposed to arrive at 6am. After stopping for dinner at midnight (Chinese busses and time don't run on the same system) we continued on to Dali. At 3am we arrived. With nowhere to go at that time we spent the next 4 hours sleeping on the bus. Haven't seen too much of Dali yet, will post more about it later.
I did get to buy a Chinese language writing book. I have learned to write woman, baby and good (the first 3 in the book.) The written Chinese language is very interesting. There are pictographs and phonetic sounds that combine in the characters. One can infer many things from the characters. Good is a combination of the characters woman and baby because it is good if a man has a wife and child. Jealous is woman sick woman oven because it happens between 2 women and jealously makes you feel both sick and hot like an oven. Language is fun. The feminists in our group hate how "chauvenistic" the language is but I find it a fascinating insight into the Chinese mind.
After leaving Deqing we took a bus to Zhongdian (aka Shangri-La.) Zhongdian means "middle of nowhere" which wasn't really attracting the tourists so in 1997 the Chinese government changed the name of the town to Shanggelila (Shangri-La.) Now it's a large tourist town with western restaurants and a disco. The "new" town was built 15 years ago while the "old" town was built 6 months ago. They tore down the old town and rebuilt it completely - westernized, with every house now a bar or shop. Onj the bright side, for the first time in a month I had western food. I ate more pancakes, eggs, fries, coffee & real chocolate - Chinese chocolate ranks somewhere between food poisoning and stinky tofu for me, - than I thought I possibly could.
Our guest house was quite interesting. The first thing I noticed was a sign on the door that said "ri ben ren" with a line through it. This translates to "no Japanese" or more accurately,"no people of the sun." I know the Chinese hate the Japanese for the atrocities of the past, but the sign seems a bit harsh. The Japanese tourists I've met are some of the nicest of all travellers...even if they do love eating human hearts (isn't propaganda fun?) Before I get angry emails, read the Chinese Propaganda posting. The guesthouse only got stranger. Despite the existance of the death penalty here for possession of 100+g. of cannibis somehow people have overlooked the existance of a 7ft. tall marijuana plant in the courtyard there. I am baffled both by how it could exist there and how I could not notice it for 2 days.
Last night we took a sleeper bus to Dali. It left at 7:30pm and as we were leaving we realized that despite our buying 9 tickets they gave us 8: Seats 1-7 & 9. One of our leaders had to stay behind and come today. Our bus was supposed to arrive at 6am. After stopping for dinner at midnight (Chinese busses and time don't run on the same system) we continued on to Dali. At 3am we arrived. With nowhere to go at that time we spent the next 4 hours sleeping on the bus. Haven't seen too much of Dali yet, will post more about it later.
I did get to buy a Chinese language writing book. I have learned to write woman, baby and good (the first 3 in the book.) The written Chinese language is very interesting. There are pictographs and phonetic sounds that combine in the characters. One can infer many things from the characters. Good is a combination of the characters woman and baby because it is good if a man has a wife and child. Jealous is woman sick woman oven because it happens between 2 women and jealously makes you feel both sick and hot like an oven. Language is fun. The feminists in our group hate how "chauvenistic" the language is but I find it a fascinating insight into the Chinese mind.
Monday, October 03, 2005
TIBETAN DISCO, A FAILED HIKE & BEN RENOUNCES MAOISM
First off, let me say how much I hate bedbugs. Somewhere over the last few weeks they have decided to inhabit my sleeping bag. I'm all bitten up but fortunately I don't need to use my sleeping bag before I return to Kunming in a week. Then its time for a thorough washing.
That having been said, L'Shana Tovah. To celebrate erev Rosh Hashanah we had apples and honey. Regular honey was unavailable so we settled for honeycombs fresh from the hive. There were still bees in it, though dead. A neat Chinese twist on the Jewish New Year.
Chinese Independance Day turned out to be quite interesting. People wound up circle dancing in the streets which was interesting for a bit but then we got bored and went to a Tibetan disco. With techno blaring and strobe lights flashing it was hard to take in our surroundings at first. Then people realized that there were foreigners and the dancing abruptly stopped. Everyone looked at us for a few minutes then we joined them in dancing. The disco was full of young Tibetan people wearing MTV influenced clothes (i.e. 50 Cent t-shirts) yet they were all circle dancing (step step step kick.) I can only imagine what the reaction would be if I attempted to start a circle dance in an American disco.
Today we left Deqing to hike up to Yubeng and see Kawagarbo (Meili) mountain. At 21,000ft, Kawagarbo is one of the highest unclimbed mountain in China. Halfway up the 1000m vertical hike we talked to a few Chinese tourists who told us that there were no more rooms in Yubeng and people were camping in the streets. For Chinese Independance Day everyone is given 3 days off and apparently the whole country came to see the mountain. We turned around and came back to Deqing. Tomorrow we go to Shangri-La then Dali a day after that.
After reading a book on CHina here, I've come to the conclusion that despite all the "good things" he did, Mao was a crazy bastard. That a billion people could hero worship him and overlook the tens of millions of people he killed (or deaths he was responsible for) astounds me. I still like many the things the Chinese government provides (such as healthcare, nationalized education, pandas and Mao hats) but I can rule out becoming a Maoist while I'm here. I will still discuss Communism here later.
Some rants:
Sports: Is anyone really surprised that the Phillies blew it and missed the playoffs for the 12th straight year? I know I'm not. Now I have to hear all the Yankees fans here...until they lose. All my football teams are doing well. Penn State, ranked for the first time in 3 years is well on their way to a bowl game. I hope that everyone who called for Joe Paterno's resignation is enjoying eating their words.
Supreme Court: John Roberts, I can deal with. Miers, we'll see. I am deeply troubled by W's glowing recommendation of her. On the bright side, a few conservative groups have decried Bush's "steath nominees" and claimed that Mier will be as liberal as Souter. I fully expect that by the time I return, America will have been set back socially 50 or more years. Oh well, my Supreme Court nominees will fix the problems these create.
Bird Flu: The UN seems to be panicking about it proclaiming that up to 150 million people might die. 30 million doses of Tamiflu have been ordered by the US Government. It is not in the news here. People do not discuss it. All I have heard about the bird flu here is that the only humans who acquire it are the ones who drink duck's blood. I plan on paying a little more attention to this than the general population of China but I think I'll pass on the duck blood, tasty as it sounds.
First off, let me say how much I hate bedbugs. Somewhere over the last few weeks they have decided to inhabit my sleeping bag. I'm all bitten up but fortunately I don't need to use my sleeping bag before I return to Kunming in a week. Then its time for a thorough washing.
That having been said, L'Shana Tovah. To celebrate erev Rosh Hashanah we had apples and honey. Regular honey was unavailable so we settled for honeycombs fresh from the hive. There were still bees in it, though dead. A neat Chinese twist on the Jewish New Year.
Chinese Independance Day turned out to be quite interesting. People wound up circle dancing in the streets which was interesting for a bit but then we got bored and went to a Tibetan disco. With techno blaring and strobe lights flashing it was hard to take in our surroundings at first. Then people realized that there were foreigners and the dancing abruptly stopped. Everyone looked at us for a few minutes then we joined them in dancing. The disco was full of young Tibetan people wearing MTV influenced clothes (i.e. 50 Cent t-shirts) yet they were all circle dancing (step step step kick.) I can only imagine what the reaction would be if I attempted to start a circle dance in an American disco.
Today we left Deqing to hike up to Yubeng and see Kawagarbo (Meili) mountain. At 21,000ft, Kawagarbo is one of the highest unclimbed mountain in China. Halfway up the 1000m vertical hike we talked to a few Chinese tourists who told us that there were no more rooms in Yubeng and people were camping in the streets. For Chinese Independance Day everyone is given 3 days off and apparently the whole country came to see the mountain. We turned around and came back to Deqing. Tomorrow we go to Shangri-La then Dali a day after that.
After reading a book on CHina here, I've come to the conclusion that despite all the "good things" he did, Mao was a crazy bastard. That a billion people could hero worship him and overlook the tens of millions of people he killed (or deaths he was responsible for) astounds me. I still like many the things the Chinese government provides (such as healthcare, nationalized education, pandas and Mao hats) but I can rule out becoming a Maoist while I'm here. I will still discuss Communism here later.
Some rants:
Sports: Is anyone really surprised that the Phillies blew it and missed the playoffs for the 12th straight year? I know I'm not. Now I have to hear all the Yankees fans here...until they lose. All my football teams are doing well. Penn State, ranked for the first time in 3 years is well on their way to a bowl game. I hope that everyone who called for Joe Paterno's resignation is enjoying eating their words.
Supreme Court: John Roberts, I can deal with. Miers, we'll see. I am deeply troubled by W's glowing recommendation of her. On the bright side, a few conservative groups have decried Bush's "steath nominees" and claimed that Mier will be as liberal as Souter. I fully expect that by the time I return, America will have been set back socially 50 or more years. Oh well, my Supreme Court nominees will fix the problems these create.
Bird Flu: The UN seems to be panicking about it proclaiming that up to 150 million people might die. 30 million doses of Tamiflu have been ordered by the US Government. It is not in the news here. People do not discuss it. All I have heard about the bird flu here is that the only humans who acquire it are the ones who drink duck's blood. I plan on paying a little more attention to this than the general population of China but I think I'll pass on the duck blood, tasty as it sounds.
Saturday, October 01, 2005
TREKKING, DANTE THE GOAT & A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
It has been a while without electricity, let alone technology so here it goes.
Last Sunday, in the Lisu village of Dimaluo I went to a Protestant church service. The whole village attended, men on one side women on the other. They sang in Lisu and Mandarin. Using all my years of choirboy experience I was able to sing along. We then came across Dante the goat.
Dante was born in a little village in western Yunnan to a peasant family. As a kid he joined the Communist party and quickly rose through the ranks. One day it was discovered that Dante was running a factory and exploiting his workers. He was exiled from the party for being a capitalist and sent to live in the foothills of Tibet. For many months he battled the yaks and wild goats before sneaking back into Yunnan. We came across Dante and brought him up the mountain with us on our trek. On the second day we ate him. He shall ever be remembered as Dante the delicious imperialist goat. But back to the trek.
The trek took us from Dimaluo in the Nujiang (Salween) valley to Yongzhi by the Mekong. I am estimating the we hiked 40ish miles over the 4 days. This was the only was to get across the mountains without driving 400+km. We hired a guide to take us and also got some horses for our packs & food (otherwise I suspect it would have taken much longer) We hiked up to 9000' the first day and stayed by the side of a river. Day 2 we crossed the summit at 13,000' and then descended to an abandoned yak herders camp. We ate lots of delicious goat. Day 3 was a two hour hike then a rest for the day. We explored the wilderness and went off on our own for a few hours. Finally we arrived in Yongzhi, a tiny Tibetan village without electricity. The town was neat except most of us got sick from the food and there were no bathrooms. This morning we caught a ride to Daqing where we're spending the night.
Today is the 56th Anniversary of the founding of the PRC. People are given a 3 day holiday and Daqing - normally a small Tibetan town is filled with Chinese tourists. Today is Nationality Day and tonight the streets will be filled with drunk people partying and dancing in the streets. That's all for now.
It has been a while without electricity, let alone technology so here it goes.
Last Sunday, in the Lisu village of Dimaluo I went to a Protestant church service. The whole village attended, men on one side women on the other. They sang in Lisu and Mandarin. Using all my years of choirboy experience I was able to sing along. We then came across Dante the goat.
Dante was born in a little village in western Yunnan to a peasant family. As a kid he joined the Communist party and quickly rose through the ranks. One day it was discovered that Dante was running a factory and exploiting his workers. He was exiled from the party for being a capitalist and sent to live in the foothills of Tibet. For many months he battled the yaks and wild goats before sneaking back into Yunnan. We came across Dante and brought him up the mountain with us on our trek. On the second day we ate him. He shall ever be remembered as Dante the delicious imperialist goat. But back to the trek.
The trek took us from Dimaluo in the Nujiang (Salween) valley to Yongzhi by the Mekong. I am estimating the we hiked 40ish miles over the 4 days. This was the only was to get across the mountains without driving 400+km. We hired a guide to take us and also got some horses for our packs & food (otherwise I suspect it would have taken much longer) We hiked up to 9000' the first day and stayed by the side of a river. Day 2 we crossed the summit at 13,000' and then descended to an abandoned yak herders camp. We ate lots of delicious goat. Day 3 was a two hour hike then a rest for the day. We explored the wilderness and went off on our own for a few hours. Finally we arrived in Yongzhi, a tiny Tibetan village without electricity. The town was neat except most of us got sick from the food and there were no bathrooms. This morning we caught a ride to Daqing where we're spending the night.
Today is the 56th Anniversary of the founding of the PRC. People are given a 3 day holiday and Daqing - normally a small Tibetan town is filled with Chinese tourists. Today is Nationality Day and tonight the streets will be filled with drunk people partying and dancing in the streets. That's all for now.
