No earthquake troubles here; I don't think anyone even felt it in Tianjin. A former student is at her uni right now, which is near the epicenter of the quake, but she's fine too.
The only thing NOT fine is the constant noise in this building in which I live. If it's not accordion or Chinese soap operas (there's a distinctive chime that plays between scenes) or my neighbor partying, it's being awoken at 7:30AM to the sound of hammers--many hammers--rat a tat tatting on walls somewhere. Don't they realize they could just use scissors on these paper-thin partitions?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Monday Monday.
And, all the anxieties of my first few teaching days have arisen from the ashes. New students, new lessons, and a supervision on Wednesday (it's a standard, all-teachers-are-watched-once-every-two-months thing). So.
I was propositioned via text and telephone to be someone's husband-ish today. So that always feels awkward.
Things are looking up otherwise! A trip to Beijing this weekend (and a package from my parents will be waiting there for me!), perhaps one again next weekend, a gallery opening here in my actual town with an artist I actually know!, and assorted other grand plans.
And since I've vowed to never again purchase chocolate-filled Oreos (or any other cookie-resembling confection), Teh Suprfatt which I have become will soon transform into a handsomely-bodied devil.
I was propositioned via text and telephone to be someone's husband-ish today. So that always feels awkward.
Things are looking up otherwise! A trip to Beijing this weekend (and a package from my parents will be waiting there for me!), perhaps one again next weekend, a gallery opening here in my actual town with an artist I actually know!, and assorted other grand plans.
And since I've vowed to never again purchase chocolate-filled Oreos (or any other cookie-resembling confection), Teh Suprfatt which I have become will soon transform into a handsomely-bodied devil.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Teh Visa.
So, I'm a little worried about all of that right now. I'm legally allowed to be here through August 7 right now, which as we all should know is one day before the Olympic games. The plan created by my school is to renew my F visa and send me to HK for a work visa after the games (which seems realistic, since all flights into and around China are vastly overpriced right now, and will only get worse through August).
This NYT article suggests that this will be a challenge, though, if not an impossibility.
I'm a worrier, as we all know, but I think this is certainly something my school should be worrying about with some urgency, like, now. Either they need to tell me, "you're going to need to leave China the day before the Olympics and return afterwards (or never?)" or "we're going to work really hard to keep you here and should know what will happen in the next month (one month is certainly enough time, I think)," or "you'll need to live here illegally for a few weeks, which means you cannot do anything but go between your house and school since security will be so high."
I will be really angry if I cannot be in Beijing for even one day of the Olympics. That was, after all, one motivating factor for me choosing this school and city and country. I will also be really angry if they give me little forewarning about needing to leave China. The plan in my head is currently to find a 6-month contract position in South Korea if this happens.
I look forward to the day in which I have a work visa in my hands, and I can worry about other things.
* * * * *
I went on a food-scavenging adventure last night, purchasing an egg-and-mush crepe thing with peppers and a crunchy pig-ear looking thing, some delicious spicy noodle soup, and (accidentally two) sweet roasted chicken on the bone with mushrooms and rice. Today, I bought a drink that anyone who's anyone is drinking in China right now called Pocari Sweat. It's marketed as a Gatorade-electrolyte-something-or-other.
* * * * *
And it's Mother's Day, which makes me sad. Terna's mother is visiting her right now, and I met her on Friday and that also made me sad. But. It's only one Mother's Day that will be missed, and shouldn't every day be Mother's Day, after all? (Also, my father's birthday is this week, which is even more terrible to miss.)
This NYT article suggests that this will be a challenge, though, if not an impossibility.
I'm a worrier, as we all know, but I think this is certainly something my school should be worrying about with some urgency, like, now. Either they need to tell me, "you're going to need to leave China the day before the Olympics and return afterwards (or never?)" or "we're going to work really hard to keep you here and should know what will happen in the next month (one month is certainly enough time, I think)," or "you'll need to live here illegally for a few weeks, which means you cannot do anything but go between your house and school since security will be so high."
I will be really angry if I cannot be in Beijing for even one day of the Olympics. That was, after all, one motivating factor for me choosing this school and city and country. I will also be really angry if they give me little forewarning about needing to leave China. The plan in my head is currently to find a 6-month contract position in South Korea if this happens.
I look forward to the day in which I have a work visa in my hands, and I can worry about other things.
* * * * *
I went on a food-scavenging adventure last night, purchasing an egg-and-mush crepe thing with peppers and a crunchy pig-ear looking thing, some delicious spicy noodle soup, and (accidentally two) sweet roasted chicken on the bone with mushrooms and rice. Today, I bought a drink that anyone who's anyone is drinking in China right now called Pocari Sweat. It's marketed as a Gatorade-electrolyte-something-or-other.
* * * * *
And it's Mother's Day, which makes me sad. Terna's mother is visiting her right now, and I met her on Friday and that also made me sad. But. It's only one Mother's Day that will be missed, and shouldn't every day be Mother's Day, after all? (Also, my father's birthday is this week, which is even more terrible to miss.)
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Water Park.
I generally hate zoos. My already-hemorrhaging heart bleeds with greater fervor when I see wild-belonging animals caged in small spaces aesthetically designed to to reflect a zoo patron's idea of a "natural habitat." And sure, veterinarians do all they can to maintain health and happiness among the animals, but still--it just seems wrong.
Imagine how I reacted to a Chinese zoo. If their children are allowed to work 60-hour weeks in Gap factories, you can guess how well they treat animals. Jenny and I went to the Water Park today, where they have a medium-sized zoo filled with bears, monkeys, peafowl (peacocks), giraffes, and panda (singular).
While the rest of the park seemed nice (photos are up), the zoo really rubbed me the wrong way. Most people have enough decorum to not scream at the animals, or feed them horrible snacks (Jenny's menu included these crunchy red bean-paste-filled crackery things that she bought specifically for the purpose of feeding the animals). Not in China! The animals all seemed pretty out of it--and I would be too if I were in prison. Ack.
Otherwise, the day was pleasant. I think I'm finally starting to get a hang of this whole "speaking Chinese" thing. I went for a run afterwards, because I am The Fat. Happy Mother's Day.
Imagine how I reacted to a Chinese zoo. If their children are allowed to work 60-hour weeks in Gap factories, you can guess how well they treat animals. Jenny and I went to the Water Park today, where they have a medium-sized zoo filled with bears, monkeys, peafowl (peacocks), giraffes, and panda (singular).
While the rest of the park seemed nice (photos are up), the zoo really rubbed me the wrong way. Most people have enough decorum to not scream at the animals, or feed them horrible snacks (Jenny's menu included these crunchy red bean-paste-filled crackery things that she bought specifically for the purpose of feeding the animals). Not in China! The animals all seemed pretty out of it--and I would be too if I were in prison. Ack.
Otherwise, the day was pleasant. I think I'm finally starting to get a hang of this whole "speaking Chinese" thing. I went for a run afterwards, because I am The Fat. Happy Mother's Day.
An aside.
And then some middle-aged people (man and woman) start banging on my door for about 5 minutes, until I come to the door. They talk at me in Chinese for a bit, then ask for my telephone number. I give it to them, and then think, "um...what the fuck?" I start asking them who they are, etc., and they just want my name. Then they invite my neighbor to come over (all this is happening in my house, which I did not invite anyone into exactly, which is making me very uncomfortable) and sort-of translate, and they pretend to be the police? But I make the universal "show me your badge" hand sign, they laugh, and then there's some more talk between my neighbor and them, and they all leave. My neighbor tells me that he'll tell me what they were saying later. So, jesus christ this place is fucked up.
UPDATE: My neighbor told me they were from an Olympic committee, checking the "safety" of apartments or something. I'd heard about these checks before--entire buildings being turned over by military squads (squads?) in an attempt to guarantee "safety" for the Olympic games. Also, since I am white, I am clearly an obvious target for such a search since it's us silly foreigners who think for a moment that certain regions of certain countries might perhaps be granted some semblance of autonomy but ANYWAYS.
UPDATE: My neighbor told me they were from an Olympic committee, checking the "safety" of apartments or something. I'd heard about these checks before--entire buildings being turned over by military squads (squads?) in an attempt to guarantee "safety" for the Olympic games. Also, since I am white, I am clearly an obvious target for such a search since it's us silly foreigners who think for a moment that certain regions of certain countries might perhaps be granted some semblance of autonomy but ANYWAYS.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Less Briefly.
A list of Seoul-related adventures:
1. Seeing Cyndi. I think (not to start this on a low note) it was perhaps too early for me to see someone from my American life? In the film Away From Her/story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro, Grant cannot visit his Alzheimer's-addled wife Fiona in the nursing home for 30 days, to "let her adjust to her new surroundings." I saw Cyndi after a mere 27 days here, and perhaps it was too soon? I became very almost-weepy on the boat trip to China, but then arrived here and felt like I was somehow "at home" again.
2. Seoul. Seoul is a perfect city. It is a great blend of Korean culture and Western consumption. I didn't realize how much I missed things like coffee until there was a Dunkin' Donuts on every corner. I didn't realize how much I missed donuts until I ate about 2 dozen Krispy Kremes during my time there. Korean ony has 24 characters, and, while an ugly-sounding language, seems easy to learn (not that anyone does). There are bountiful numbers of foreigners (even gay ones!). It is beautifully carved into green mountains. Korean teachers make more than double what I currently make. The porcelain ballerina of Seoul has been dancing in the jewelry box of my head since I stepped foot onto its bustling streets, and I can't quite get it to stop.
3. Lantern Festival. Since next Monday is Buddha's birthday, the largest Buddhist temple in Seoul was having a lantern festival that C and I just happened to stumble upon. It was truly an amazing sight--a ceiling of small lanterns, elaborate parade floats made of wire, paper, and lightbulbs, and many practitioners performing various acts of celebration. It was so unbelievably beautiful; the photos do not, unfortunately, effectively convey how great this event was.
4. Jjimjilbang. Because of the holiday weekend (Children's Day (?)), all guest houses were booked for Saturday evening. So, Cyndi suggested we stay at a jjimjilbang, which is a bath house/dormitory that would only cost 8500 won ($8). We tentatively committed to this idea, locking our belongings in a locker in a subway station near the one we were planning on maybe staying at.
After a long, perfect day of running around Seoul, we were dining on sauteed meats and kim chee and other delicious things when I looked at my watch. It was 12:15, and the subwas closed at 12:30, meaning our locker full of our clothes and toiletries would be behind fences now. We went to the station anyways, just in case, but to no avail: our locker (#13, natch) taunted us from inside the station.
So, we went and became very drunk on beer and soju and stumbled to the jjimjilbang at around 4:00AM, at which point we were handed sleeping clothes and locker keys. There were obvs. separate bathing areas for men and women, but we regrouped to sleep on the wooden floor and wooden "pillows" of the dormitory floor. I am still nursing bruises from this experience; whole regions of my body were numb when I would periodically wake up. But! It was only $8. So.
5. Sights. We viewed two palaces, Seoul Tower (but did not ascend), the Buddhist temple, and many many many streets of shopping. It would have been great if it weren't so expensive: in Zara, the Korean prices were just stickered on over the price in Euros, and it was, in most cases, three times as expensive. So. I did not buy much--a pair of pants on super-sale, a hoodie, and a few t-shirts.
6. Food. Korean food is fantastic. There was not a single missed note in the spicy symphonies that entered my mouth. I wish I could live on the stuff.
7. Jinchon. The ship trip was quite hip. It was not "nice," but much "nicer" than I expected: there were two restaurants, a bar, a cafe, some stores, and plenty of ambling space. My bed was reasonably comfortable. I spent most of the trip to Seoul reading and writing, and most of the trip back chatting with two North American teachers who were going on months-long excursions around the Asian continent now that their contracts were over. All in all, I would highly recommend this mode of transportation, and I'm now trying to figure out where else I could go via ferry. It's only around $300 round trip to sail to Kobe, Japan...
(Actually, this trip was super-expensive, so I'm not planning any elaborate excursions for awhile. I'm thinking I'll just do some weekend excursions around China for the next few months, and then save up for my month-long trek from Beijing to New Delhi after my contract is up.)
Overall, I'm glad to be back, but I was even gladder to be in the company of Cyndi and Seoul.
(NB: I hear a lawnmower outside, and it is a very odd, home-think-y sound.)
1. Seeing Cyndi. I think (not to start this on a low note) it was perhaps too early for me to see someone from my American life? In the film Away From Her/story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro, Grant cannot visit his Alzheimer's-addled wife Fiona in the nursing home for 30 days, to "let her adjust to her new surroundings." I saw Cyndi after a mere 27 days here, and perhaps it was too soon? I became very almost-weepy on the boat trip to China, but then arrived here and felt like I was somehow "at home" again.
2. Seoul. Seoul is a perfect city. It is a great blend of Korean culture and Western consumption. I didn't realize how much I missed things like coffee until there was a Dunkin' Donuts on every corner. I didn't realize how much I missed donuts until I ate about 2 dozen Krispy Kremes during my time there. Korean ony has 24 characters, and, while an ugly-sounding language, seems easy to learn (not that anyone does). There are bountiful numbers of foreigners (even gay ones!). It is beautifully carved into green mountains. Korean teachers make more than double what I currently make. The porcelain ballerina of Seoul has been dancing in the jewelry box of my head since I stepped foot onto its bustling streets, and I can't quite get it to stop.
3. Lantern Festival. Since next Monday is Buddha's birthday, the largest Buddhist temple in Seoul was having a lantern festival that C and I just happened to stumble upon. It was truly an amazing sight--a ceiling of small lanterns, elaborate parade floats made of wire, paper, and lightbulbs, and many practitioners performing various acts of celebration. It was so unbelievably beautiful; the photos do not, unfortunately, effectively convey how great this event was.
4. Jjimjilbang. Because of the holiday weekend (Children's Day (?)), all guest houses were booked for Saturday evening. So, Cyndi suggested we stay at a jjimjilbang, which is a bath house/dormitory that would only cost 8500 won ($8). We tentatively committed to this idea, locking our belongings in a locker in a subway station near the one we were planning on maybe staying at.
After a long, perfect day of running around Seoul, we were dining on sauteed meats and kim chee and other delicious things when I looked at my watch. It was 12:15, and the subwas closed at 12:30, meaning our locker full of our clothes and toiletries would be behind fences now. We went to the station anyways, just in case, but to no avail: our locker (#13, natch) taunted us from inside the station.
So, we went and became very drunk on beer and soju and stumbled to the jjimjilbang at around 4:00AM, at which point we were handed sleeping clothes and locker keys. There were obvs. separate bathing areas for men and women, but we regrouped to sleep on the wooden floor and wooden "pillows" of the dormitory floor. I am still nursing bruises from this experience; whole regions of my body were numb when I would periodically wake up. But! It was only $8. So.
5. Sights. We viewed two palaces, Seoul Tower (but did not ascend), the Buddhist temple, and many many many streets of shopping. It would have been great if it weren't so expensive: in Zara, the Korean prices were just stickered on over the price in Euros, and it was, in most cases, three times as expensive. So. I did not buy much--a pair of pants on super-sale, a hoodie, and a few t-shirts.
6. Food. Korean food is fantastic. There was not a single missed note in the spicy symphonies that entered my mouth. I wish I could live on the stuff.
7. Jinchon. The ship trip was quite hip. It was not "nice," but much "nicer" than I expected: there were two restaurants, a bar, a cafe, some stores, and plenty of ambling space. My bed was reasonably comfortable. I spent most of the trip to Seoul reading and writing, and most of the trip back chatting with two North American teachers who were going on months-long excursions around the Asian continent now that their contracts were over. All in all, I would highly recommend this mode of transportation, and I'm now trying to figure out where else I could go via ferry. It's only around $300 round trip to sail to Kobe, Japan...
(Actually, this trip was super-expensive, so I'm not planning any elaborate excursions for awhile. I'm thinking I'll just do some weekend excursions around China for the next few months, and then save up for my month-long trek from Beijing to New Delhi after my contract is up.)
Overall, I'm glad to be back, but I was even gladder to be in the company of Cyndi and Seoul.
(NB: I hear a lawnmower outside, and it is a very odd, home-think-y sound.)
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