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November 27, 2005
Game Day
I won't exaggerate and say that the entire faculty was looking forward to the meet or counting down like I was, but I can tell you for sure that I was not the only one. While most teachers were excited to get out and get some exercise, there were a handful of us that were going out to win--between the guys I play basketball with, the guys I play soccer with, and teachers I eat lunch with, there had been a fair amount of good-natured trash talking. They all know I ran track in high school and college and they wanted a shot at taking me down. Mr. Huang in particular, a computer science teacher and by far the best soccer player around, was jawing quite a bit about both the 100m and the 400m.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that I took the meet very seriously and was dying to win. Besides the fact that I just generally hate losing, I also wanted to represent myself, PiA, and the U.S. for these races. This, after all, is my sport. Sure I played basketball for years, soccer for a couple, and did TaeKwonDo for an entire decade, but if I had to pick, track & field would definitely be my best sport. It had better be, after all the hours I spent on the track freezing in zero degree blizzards or sweating away in one hundred degree heat. I'll be damned if I was going to let anyone beat me in my sport!
Now I can't say that I really gave my all in training for the meet. I did a handful of workouts, but I have so much else going on here that it was difficult to focus like I would have in the past. During high school especially, everything went on hold when it came to championship season. I ate, drank, and slept track. I dreamed about my races over and over again. I talked about the competition with my teammates at school. I ignored review sessions for tests in favor of spending more time on the track, even if it was only to cheer on my friends in a workout. In other words, everything revolved around that 400m oval.
I'm worlds away from that now but yet everytime I step on to the track to do a workout, I see flashes of it in my head. I have to say, I miss it. Not only do I miss the camaraderie of struggling through a tough workout together, but I also miss pushing myself to the limit. Once you graduate from university, the opportunities for competitive sprinting are more or less non-existent. Sure, I enjoy the challenge of a long distance road race, but it simply does not compare to the adrenaline of running the quarter mile.
Anyhow, ready or not, it was game day and I had to get ready to leave it all out on the track. I headed out about half an hour earlier than everyone else and took my time warming up. Though we have had a couple days of cooler weather, Saturday was back up to around 80. Well, at least I didn't have to worry about contending with the cold! I jogged a couple of laps and got a good, long stretch in. People started to filter into the stadium and eventually I walked over to join the crowd. I don't know if people thought I was being antisocial or not, but I was listening to my iPod while stretching and didn't really make as much small talk as everyone else.
One of my major concerns was locating a pair of spikes. Sure, everyone scoffed back in the U.S. when I told them I was considering bringing a pair of racing spikes, but here I was on raceday with only my trainers! At first I thought I'd be fine--that no one would take it seriously enough to wear spikes but I was dead wrong on that one. So a couple days earlier I went out in search of a pair to buy. I located a cheap pair but they were just a couple sizes too small for me. Damn my American-sized feet! Just when I was starting to panic, my friend David took me to the back room where there was a whole pile of spikes to borrow. After a few minutes of searching, I found two that were close enough to my size. Game on!
I jogged outside and saw that everyone was lined up and starting to do a big group stretch. Wow. One of the P.E. teachers ran us through a series of active stretches, which I found mildly ridiculous (click the link to my pictures below), and then we were off. I had been asking for a couple days about the order of events and no one had an answer for me. Sure enough, as I went off to do some pick-ups, I see the starting judges setting up blocks for the 100m. Well, at least there was no wait! I was excited to have the 100m first because I like having a warm-up race before my main event (in this case, the 400m). I figured I'd have a decent shot to place in top 3 or 4 for the 100m but since I never once ran the open 100m in competition, I had no real expectations. They set us up into lanes and I was slightly disappointed to have the outside line. When you're on the very edge, you sometimes can't feel where the other runners are until it's too late.
The starter called what I can only assume was "runners take your marks" because everyone started to get into the blocks. I only had a chance to take one practice start so my goal was to get out as fast as possible without falling over. The guy called what I guess was "set," and then I heard the gun. We were off! I must say, there is really nothing like the feeling of anticipation you have when you get into the set position. Your adrenaline is pumping. Your blood is flowing. You have a thousand thoughts going through your head and yet none, all at the same time.
I got out to a decent start but I could see that the two guys directly to my right got out ahead of me. No reason to panic though--the 100m is not won in the first 20m but rather the last 20. I remembered Coach Butterfield shouting out "relax!" to me. In a short sprint like the 55m or the 100m, if you tighten up while attempting to gain speed, you lose the race almost immediately. I was pumping hard and could feel my speed picking up. With about 25 meters to go I hit top speed and reached my coasting form. With about 10 meters to go, I pulled ahead and crossed the finish line about .2 ahead of Mr. Huang, my toughest competitor. Victory! I was pleasantly surprised to see that I ran 11.6, possibly a personal best in the event. It was more than I could have hoped for and I was feeling pretty good going into the next race.
I had no idea how much time I had in between so I got right into a stretch and combination cool down/warm up. Diana and Kelly came to cheer me on and came over to congratulate me on my win. I think they probably thought I was kidding when I told them I ran track and that they should come watch me race. Ha! It was great to have a cheering section though. After I thanked them for coming, David asked me if my muscles were tight and told me he had some Chinese medicine for me. Sure, why not? I rubbed some sort of ointment on to my hamstrings and was floored by the effect. It was some sort of icy-hot mixture that loosened my muscles up in a flash. Excellent!
After the women and senior division finished up the 100m, we went right into the quarter mile. I took my sweats off and approached start/finish. I was crossing my fingers that I would not be in lane 8 (the outside line in the 400m means you don't see anyone until the home stretch). Turns out I was worried for no reason because they weren't putting us in lanes at all. A waterfall start for the 400m? Umm, okay. After inquiring when I could cut in (right away) they set us up and fired the gun.
I stumbled a bit trying to cut in to lane 1 from lane 3 but I got off without a problem and took the lead right away. While it hurts like hell at the end, you have to go out with everything in 400m. You never have the energy and speed you have at the beginning of the race ever again. My strategy was to try and build an insurmountable lead in the first 200m and then hold on. I felt like I had a comfortable lead in the back stretch and attempted to accelerate into the turn at the 200m mark. About midway through the turn I sensed someone on my shoulder and could hear footsteps--a terrifying thing when you're in the lead. Coming off the turn into the final straightaway, I could not only hear steps, but could also see a shadow out of the corner of my eye. Aaah! I gave it everything I had but finally saw Mr. Huang right next to me with about 20 meters to go. Once again, I tried to stay relaxed as much as possible and just pump my arms and get my knees up.
We both leaned into the finish, but I knew I had him by a half step or so. As I crossed the line I strided out and hunched over with my hands on my knees. It had been almost three years since I raced the 400m and I forgot the pain that follows the end of the event. Not only is there tons of lactic acid buildup in your hamstrings and quads, but your brain also goes a little fuzzy due to the pain. It wasn't uncommon for me in high school or college to throw up and collapse for a few minutes after racing the quarter. Just part and parcel of the territory. When they told me my time I chuckled--56.2. That probably would have gotten me kicked off the team at Wesleyan, but what are you gonna do. At least I broke 60!
Despite the pain, I was psyched to have achieved my goal-- W's in the 100m and the 400m. It is quite satisfying to work hard for something and then have it all come together in the end. I also received hearty congratulations from both fellow teachers and students who were watching. The school track team was there as well and they came over to shake my hand which was nice. I had been chatting with them about racing over the past month or so and it was cool that they came early to watch (before their workout). Before my day was done, I was also selected to anchor the relay. At first I didn't think I could handle another race, but then David explained that it was more of a shuttle relay with a large number of participants-- you know, the ol' 16x50m coed relay. Luckily I got the baton with a comfortable lead so our team cruised to an easy victory, which was nice.
All in all, an excellent day on the track! After the meet, Meggie invited us over for a home-cooked Mexican dinner which was excellent. I brought David with me and I think he enjoyed his first taste of quesadillas. We feasted on Meggie's enormous meal and then headed out to see Harry Potter! I had high hopes since Book 4 is my favorite, but I have to say I was slightly disappointed. The book is way too long to include everything, but I was hoping for a bit more. Still fun though. And yes, you can buy it here on DVD already. Gotta love China...
For anyone interested in pics from the meet: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1409556/
Posted by awolfe at 9:54 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 26, 2005
Without Limits?
Friday had me wake up in a major Thanksgiving stupor, confused that I had to get up and work after consuming so much turkey the night before. I have to say, that's one downer here--that you don't get any time off for Thanksgiving. Then again, I just had a week and half-long vacation because my kids were away farming. Guess I can't complain.
After struggling through three lessons while dreaming of my leftovers in the fridge, I rushed out to the track to do one final pre-meet session. I warmed up, stretched, and did some pick-ups before jogging a few more laps to loosen up. Despite my best intentions, I was getting nervous for the faculty/staff track meet to be held the next day. All I really wanted to do was lounge on my couch and go to bed, but I had no such luck.
Steven and I were informed by Lisa, our foreign affairs liason, that we had to attend a ceremony Friday night. A ceremony for what? She had no idea. Hmmm, sounds... fun? Before meeting up to leave for said ceremony, I decided to continue my binge of western food and made up a huge bowl of pasta. I figured that I should bring it back to my high school & university track days and fill up on a ton of pasta the night before racing. Mmmm. Tomato sauce may be absurdly expensive here but it's well worth it.
Steven and I rushed out to meet up with Lisa who proceeded to hand us enormous gift bags, guest badges, and tickets for the opening ceremony to the International Tourism & Culture Festival, being held at Tianhe Stadium down the road from us. I immediately chuckled about how the addition of Macau makes it an international gathering. After I got over that, I began to dread the whole thing. Steven and I were less than psyched about this affair, given its potential for long-winded speeches in Chinese. We became even less excited when the bus rolled up, filled with various other westerners. I think I can safely say that neither of us have any desire to travel around with a massive horde of white people. It's frustrating to stick out like that and also annoying to have to have the same conversation with a ton of people: so what are you doing in China? how long have you been here? where are you from? blah blah blah. I don't mean to sound cynical, but the majority of foreigners here don't make any effort to learn Chinese, don't care to assimilate, and are generally not the type of people I'm excited to hang out with.
Regardless, we hopped on the bus and were off. The ride from my apartment to Tianhe Stadium should usually take around 15 minutes with light traffic. However, given the rush hour traffic and number of people going to this ceremony, it took upwards of an hour. Ugh. At least the bus was air-conditioned! We got off and joined the sea of people all heading to the ceremony. I had no idea what to expect but I was excited to get inside the stadium. Sure enough, when we got inside to find our seats, the place was brimming with people and excitement. Whatever this was, it was a big deal for sure. We were sitting 3rd row (almost) center which was also pretty cool. Even if it was going to be boring, at least we'd have great seats for the tedium.
I began to flip through the program on my seat as I waited for the festivities to begin. Again, whatever this was, it was going to be big deal. The ceremony was going to include the obligatory speeches by the bigwigs, but it was also going to include a 16-part history of Guangdong Province in song, dance, opera, acrobatics, and drama. Wow. I don't know too much about the ancient history of the place, but I do know that Guangdong has been at the forefront of economic reform and modernization over the past 25 years in China. I don't know how that translates into art, but I was getting curious to find out.
I get the feeling it was showy for the sake of being showy, but right from the get-go the ceremony was completely over the top. There were huge floats for different areas of the province, tons of fireworks, huge lasers, gaudy costumes, excruciatingly traditional music, and about a bazillion performers. I was almost too much in shock the entire time to enjoy it, but I will say this--the gong fu number performed by the Guangzhou Shaolin Gong Fu School was incredible. They put on an amazing display crowned by as musical performance from none other than Jackie Chan! Of all the times to not have my camera
The ceremony ended with one of the longest firework displays I have ever seen. It was completely ridiculous. I think I turned to Steven about 10 minutes into it and asked how many farmers in Tibet the cost of the ceremony would have fed. 10,000? 15,000? Just a guess. I'm not sure if I'm making this up in my head or not, but I have to say that despite the impressive length of the fireworks, they still didn't compare to comparable displays in the U.S. It sounds a bit ridiculous, but I think American fireworks are just bigger. Anyone with me on that?
Anyhow, before I knew it the night was getting late and I pretty much went to bed immediately upon returning back to the apartment. This was disappointing for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to go to bed early. Second, I really wanted to watch "Without Limits," the Prefontaine movie. We used to watch it before track meets in high school and I still love the movie. I decided that instead of staying up late, I would wake up the next morning and throw it in before the start of the meet in the afternoon.
It's no surprise that every single American runner in high school or university respects Prefontaine. What do you expect from someone who said stuff like this:
"Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before.' It's more than just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative."
or
"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement."
I honestly believe that you can't understand Prefontaine or his drive to win unless you are a runner. The same sentiment certainly exists in other sports, but running is just a little different. Competing in a race like the 400m hurts like hell. Your body is certainly not meant to endure that kind of punishment but people do it for the challenge. I do it to prove to myself that I can, as well as to test my physical and mental limits. Like I said, I think you need to be a runner to really get it. That being said, I walked out to the track Saturday with the line in my head from the movie where Pre says "Is there anything worse than being second best?" Hmmm. Can't think of anything...
Posted by awolfe at 2:35 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 25, 2005
Giving Thanks
Happy Thanksgiving to all! I wasn't expecting it, but I can officially say that I had an unbelievable holiday. I hope all the other PiA-ers faired as well in creating some Americana here in Asia. As the calendar pages continue to turn, I can't believe that November has virtually come and gone in the blink of an eye. That means I've been here for over three months now and that my family will be here to visit in less than a month. Crazy! Anyhow, details on GZ Thanksgiving '05...
Leading up to yesterday, I was definitely concerned that Thanksgiving would signal a lowpoint for me here in China. Everything said at orientation and written in the country guide suggested that people reach a 3 month dropoff in satisfaction and enter a new stage of culture shock around Thanksgiving. I can't really say that I've experienced any noticeable culture shock, but it was logical to me that if it were going to happen, this would be the time. Besides these forecasts, I was also worried that I would get really homesick here on the 4th Thursday of November.
For as long as I can remember, my family has been heading over to the same house for our Thanksgiving meal--the Siegel's. Todd, the middle Siegel child, is my oldest friend in the world and remains one of my best. I have always looked forward to Thanksgiving as a time to watch football over at their house, eat amazing food (7 layer bars. Mmmm.), laugh uncontrollably at ridiculous dinner conversation, watch fun movies, and generally not have a care in the world. I don't know about anyone else, but in my experience nothing bad ever happens on Thanksgiving. New Years always gets built up too much, Christmas/Hanukah is always too stressful for people, Passover involves too much ritual before eating, and even birthdays are kind of hit or miss. Thanksgiving is a given--you know where you're going to go, what you're going to do, and who will be there. You can't go wrong!
In the past six or seven years I have also developed an additional routine for before the actual holiday. Whether at school or in Boston, I usually managed to get home at some point Wednesday night in time to have a good home cooked meal with the fam' and then head out to the bars in order to meet up with my friends from home. We'd have a couple beers, see random high school kids that we hadn't seen since last Thanksgiving, and stay out late for no good reason. I would then wake up at around 7:30am or so, grab breakfast, and then meet up with the two Johns: Fraser & Castilhos, my two former track co-captains. We'd drive out to Manchester, park in the same lot as Fraser's cousins, then start to warm up for the Manchester Road Race, a Thanksgiving tradition in CT. It's about 14,000 people trudging through 5 miles (with one mile completely uphill!) starting at 10am and there are bands playing the entire way, as well as people running in costume. Without fail, these two middle-aged guys dressed up as the Blues Brothers always pass me right around the 4 mile marker.
After surviving the race, we'd catch up with old track and cross-country teammates. Another year, another race. I would also find out just how badly my old coach, now approaching 70 years old, beat me that morning (I swear that man is immortal). After wandering around and meeting up with people, we'd migrate back up to the cars and enjoy a beer or two with Fraser's family. I usually had time to shower and catch a quick nap before heading over to the Siegel's. All in all, it is an excellent tradition.
So this year I knew I would have to go without the high school friends, the road race, and the witty jokes at the Siegel's house. I had high hopes that I could have some sort of Thanksgiving meal, but I had my doubts as to what that would actually entail. First off, turkey does not exist in China. If it's alive anywhere, it's hiding from the public and probably has bird flu at this point anyway. Second, it's extremely rare to find an oven in anyone's house. They have them at some restaurants, but Chinese people as a whole don't cook with ovens, so how would we cook the bird even if we found one? Third, most of us have work on Fridays so would people even be interested in putting something together?
A couple weeks ago I was talking about Thanksgiving with the Yalies and got into a big argument. Kelly and I were adamant that if there was any possible way, we needed to locate a turkey. Everyone else said that chicken or ham was an acceptable substitute (I can just picture the horror on my mother's face at the prospect of a Thanksgiving Ham) but I wasn't going to have any of that. Thanksgiving means Turkey. Period. We chatted about the possibility of making a run to Hong Kong in order to procure a turkey and bring it back on ice. We also tossed around the idea of getting a store to special order us an imported turkey.
Last Sunday on my birthday we decided to try and firm up some plans for a Thanksgiving potluck dinner. Kelly and I once again insisted on turkey and Meggie Lu stepped up to the challenge. She called every store in the area that might have something and came back to report that it was possible, but that it would be pricey. In my mind, money was no object here--if there was any conceivable way for me to eat Thanksgiving turkey, I was willing to spend any amount. Oliver's, a small western foodstore in the city, managed to secure us an 11lb bird straight from Utah and it was game on.
Kelly and Diana have a small oven and so does Meggie, so I was hoping that between the two of them, it would get cooked. Lo and behold, they shoved it right on in and it just barely fit! Excellent. I volunteered to make mashed potatoes and found a good-looking recipe for garlic & chive mashed potatoes online. Once again though, there were some minor issues. Where in the world do I get heavy cream? Butter? Thyme? Chives? With a little help from Park n Shop and some friends I managed to pull it all together and spent about two hours making over 3kg of potatoes. In case you're curious, that is a helluva lot of potatoes. There was something a bit odd about mashing potatoes and garlic in an enormous wok, but whatever.
After picking up some wine, Steven and I braved the bus and subway holding huge dishes of food and headed over to Kelly & Diana's for our feast. People seemed to be giving us the standard looks of "who are those caucasians?" and "what are they holding?" I was so excited for the meal that I almost decided to strike up conversations with random people along the way just to show them my potatoes (I didn't). As we were walking from the subway to their apartment, I began to worry a bit. What if the turkey didn't cook right in the mini oven? What if other people didn't bring what they said they would? What if there wasn't enough food?? Those of you who know me well can attest to the fact that I eat quite a bit. Picture that multiplied by about five--that's how much I usually eat on Thanksgiving.
We walked inside and I almost couldn't believe my senses. It smelled like Thanksgiving inside! There was western food everywhere! When Meggie and Andrew arrived and everything was finally laid out on the table, I was speechless in a giddy sort of way. Steven made beer & soy sauce broccoli, as well as corn on the cob. Meggie cooked a pumpkin pie and brought bread. Andrew made a sweet potato dish. Kelly concocted a cranberry sauce and cooked an apple pie. Diana made gravy and a chicken-stuffing casserole. We had four bottles of wine. We had dozens of rolls. I was beside myself. I even had the honor of carving the turkey, affectionately named "Norbert" by Diana, which was really fun. Before I knew it, there were dishes being passed across the table, the clinking of wine glasses, the noise of forks and knives at work, and six ecstatic westerners eating an unbelievable Thanksgiving dinner in Guangzhou, China. Steven and I both agree that we have never felt more full after a meal since arriving in China. I must have had six or seven full plates of food and probably could have gone for more if I hadn't got distracted by our viewing of "Home Alone." The food here has been great but there's just something about Thanksgiving dinner that trumps everything else.
It may be a little cheesy, but I do like the idea of taking a bit of time to think about what you're thankful for on Thanksgiving. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here is some of my list. I am thankful for:
-an enormous, delicious, and memorable Thanksgiving meal
-the faculty and staff here at HSFZ, that has been nothing but supportive and friendly
-PiA, for giving me this opportunity in the first place
-high speed internet in my apartment (a little selfish, but it's true)
-hard-working students, that make my teaching easy
-the new friends I've made here in China, both expat and Chinese
-Steven, for putting up with me on a daily basis
-my friends in America who have kept in touch and seem genuinely interested in what I'm doing
-my sister Ilana, for being all-around awesome
and last, but certainly not least...
-my parents, for being so supportive of me in this wild China adventure and in everything else I've done in my life
Here is a link to a couple pictures from the night, at the end of the section from my birthday.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1409556/
Posted by awolfe at 12:23 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 21, 2005
You Know Your Students are Rich When...
...they all have personalized soccer jerseys for a basic school tournament. Yup, that's right. I headed out today to run and was confused when I saw four different teams on the two fields decked out in proper uniforms. After a quick blink, I realized they were all my students! After I finished working out I asked one of the teachers on the sidelines where they got them and they said that it was usually a combination of one student's parents fronting the bulk of the cost and the rest all contributing a bit to round it out. Wow.
I'm not talking about t-shirts with sharpie written on them either. These jerseys are waaaaay nicer than the ones my team has plus the students' are all personalized. Okay sure I didn't pay a dime for mine, but still. I inquired further as to whether each class bought new uniforms every year and the teacher said yes, with a couple exceptions. I can't remember if it's Class 2 or Class 3, but one of them consists entirely of the smartest kids from outside the city. Apparently they have a reputation for being extremely competitive inside the classroom but somewhat less capable on the athletic field. Given that they tend to come from families with much less money, they don't have high class uniforms like the rest. I couldn't help thinking to myself though--if there's a Chinese equivelant to "that's alright, that's okay, you're gonna work for us someda," these kids are definitely all over it.
One thing that is sort of cool about the school system here is that there is a healthy intra-school rivalry between all of the classes. Since interscholastic sports don't really exist like they do in the states, they get their competition within the school walls. It seems like every other week there is a schoolwide competition in a different sport that all classes have to participate in (at least in some capacity). They do swimming, jump-rope, basketball, soccer, track & field, and who knows what else. Very cool.
I mentioned that I was running around the track as this was all happening. Having written in a previous entry about the upcoming faculty-staff track meet on December 4th, this should not come as a surprise to anyone. What did come as a surprise to me today was finding out that it was moved to this coming Saturday the 26th! Oy. I had a whole workout schedule planned and everything (especially after finding out David did fifteen 100m intervals that day) but this sort of tosses that out the window. Oh well. I'm going to do my best and hope that I don't spontaneously combust after racing a 400m. It being a solid two or three years since I raced anything, I have no idea how my body will react. I have a sneaking suspicion it is going to be violently angry with me for putting it through that kind of pain. We'll see.
Besides the track meet, I witnessed an interesting conversation today between Steven and one of my football buddies (who doubles as the computer expert). The desktop computer in our study has been "acting up" so we called in the troops to deal with it. As he was reloading the system software, he was shootin' the breeze with Steven and it came up that Steven studied Japanese and lived there for a year in college. Our computer expert started going off in Chinese and I didn't catch it all at the time, but I did recognize "enough," "English," "Japan," "China," "Hitler," and "war." Wow. Not exactly chatting about the Yankees there.
After he left I asked Steven for a recap and he told me that the guy was explaining how he wants to learn enough English in order to tell all the westerners that they should hate the Japanese because of what they did during WWII; that what they did to the Chinese is what Hitler did to the Jews. Geez. I find this particularly interesting given the front page article that was in the NY Times over the weekend about the overwhelmingly popular comic books in Japan right now talking about all of Asia's problems are China and Korea's fault. There's a heckuva lot of hostility around and I tend to forget about it. What that tells me is that unless it's addressed there is bound to be a pretty serious conflict in this part of the world in the next decade or two. Scary.
On a happier note, I continued to receive birthday emails and cards which is fun. I suppose one of the benefits of being so far away (and thus in a completely different time zone) is that people are both unsure of when your birthday falls and that they're willing to just send greetings in the ballpark of the right time. Works for me! Birth-day can easily become birth-week and I'll be fine with it.
It occurs to me that I should ruminate a bit on hitting the quarter century mark. I have heard quite a bit about people even having a "quarter life crisis" upon turning 25 (which is funny because statistically our quarter life mark was probably a few years ago). Come to think of it, I even know a couple people that went through it. I can't say it's not legitimate but I think I managed to pass right on over anything like that. I am perfectly content in my life right now and have very few complaints. I am privileged enough to be exploring a fascinating part of the world, teaching excellent students, playing tons of sports, eating incredible food on a daily basis, and learning a cool new language.
I think part of it is also that I'm so far away from the familiar. In this way, it feels like out of sight-out of mind. I've never had a birthday in China before so it's very new and doesn't quite feel like a regular birthday. Like I said, shorts and sandals on my birthday? Unheard of. In the same way, I thought I'd really miss the New England autumn but I really didn't. That's not because I didn't want to experience it but rather because it's so far away and so different here that it doesn't feel like it actually happened over there in Boston or West Hartford. Sure my calendar says November 22nd, but it still feels like August or September to me! I guess that's both comforting and disconcerting at the same time. I'm not sure I can explain that any better. Regardless, life is good and I am excited for what will hopefully be a legendary Guangzhou Thanksgiving feast on Thursday night. More on that later...
Posted by awolfe at 11:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 20, 2005
Birthday, 2005
Today was my 25th birthday and I celebrated with as much gusto as a PiA-er in China can muster. It felt quite odd to be wearing shorts and sandals on my birthday, but who am I to complain, right? Not wanting to be totally worthless for class on Monday, we decided to start the festivities the night before. Saturday night, Steven and I had a quick dinner and then headed out to the Cave Bar where they have two for one drinks. A good place to start the evening, no? We then met up with the Yale-in-China kids who were right around the corner.
Yale-China happened to be having their annual conference this weekend, meaning that all 12 teaching fellows congregated here in GZ along with some trustee members, their director, and a few of the Yale-China law fellows. From what I understand, the conference included a lot of meetings, even more food, and a complete and utter lack of sleep. Good times. I am somewhat jealous that they have an opportunity to all hang out again. I guess that's the luxury of being part of such a small program. One of the things that made leaving PiA orientation so sad was that we all knew we'd never be in the same place again. Ever. With around 75 fellows spread all over Asia (East Timor to Kazakhstan to Japan to...) it's impossible to rally everyone. I'm hoping that at some point we can at least get all 15 or so of the China fellows together, even though we're quite spread out as well. China's huge. Seriously.
Anyhow, so we met up with the Yalies and proceeded to hop into a cab to go to some place for KTV. I don't know who voted for Karaoke but we were at their mercy so there ya go. It was both funny and a bit awkward to join a group of kids who knew each other so well and had been spending 24/7 together for the last few days. Besides being a fun night out, it was also a celebration for my birthday and for Kelly's birthday, one of the Yale girls here in Guangzhou who is not only a good friend of mine, but also happens to share the same birthday! Well, almost the same. She's a baby and only turned 23. Boy, twenty three seems like ages ago...
So we sang our share of karaoke, ate some food, and eventually migrated out to another bar for some late night celebrations. I think I hit my wall at around 2am and decided to throw in the towel. They were all fading anyway and I had no interest in another shot of tequila (eeew--whose idea was that anyway?). I woke up Sunday morning and was pleased to find several birthday emails in my inbox and two birthday cards in my actual mailbox. I was quite impressed--both momma Wolfe and my friend Lauren both managed to time their cards perfectly, sending them out around 10/31. Congrats! You guys rule. Yes, especially you, Mom.
I had a rather lazy morning and went out for a tasty lunch at one of my usual spots with Steven. After doing some grocery shopping, I headed back to my apartment to lesson plan for a bit. Yup, even though it was my birthday, I still decided to go out and tutor the Korean boys since I was away last week. Really, I just needed the money but it's fine--they're great kids. We had an "easy" lesson and spent a solid half hour playing "20 Questions" as I corrected their sentence structures. Most impressive moment-- Robin, the older one, got Yankee Stadium (the thing I was thinking of) after only about 11 questions. Wow.
I hopped on the bus after tutoring and came straight back to the school where I had to meet one of my students. Earlier this week Carol, one of my best students, invited me to a bbq at her house Sunday night. Hmm. I like bbq. I like free food. I like not cooking on my birthday. Of course! I told her I would love to attend, as long as she promised to sing happy birthday. She responded that she couldn't promise she'd sing, but that she would definitely yell happy birthday. Good enough!
So Carol and her father picked me up by the front gate in their rather luxurious Nissan. I don't know what model it was, but it certainly had a pretty big screen in the dash that had detailed GPS (looking for the closest KFC? No problem!) and also a camera in the rear of the car showing you where you're backing up. Pretty cool. I started chatting with the father and found out he is a professor of architecture at one of the universities here and also a member of the City Planning Bureau. Basically a V.I.P.
After climbing 9 floors to get to their penthouse apartment, I was impressed to see a huge two level home, complete with an extensive roof garden including tons of veggies and herbs. Very cool! I also met their other guests, two of which just came back from 5 years in Phoenix. Not surprisingly, they spoke very good English and we talked about the states for a while. They laughed about the American version of Chinese food and how their friends got freaked out when they served chicken complete with the head and feet. Mmmm!
Speaking of food though, from the moment I arrived until the second I left, it was a big ol' gastronomic feast. We started off with a soup with pork, apples, and pears, served piping hot. This was followed up by some sort of heavy bread with green onions (reminded me of naan bread) and an unidentifiable sauce for dipping. I couldn't really tell if this was the appetizer section or the main course so I was eating as much of everything as I could (while still being polite, of course).
I never quite figured out where the main course started and ended but that's just fine. Carol's dad grilled up some really good spare ribs, chinese sausages, and whole fish and I sampled everything. There were also some fishcakes and meatballs that were quite tasty. The woman who lived in Phoenix apparently also just got back from France and she brought a whole case of wine from some vineyard there. I heard them speaking in Chinese and apparently it was about 300 kuai a bottle (around $38) which isn't out of hand in America but it's a TON of money here. I don't have a real sensitive palate for wine, but it tasted pretty good to me! And, obviously, when there's alcohol involved, there is toasting. There were only three guys at the dinner including myself (and the women weren't really drinking) but Carol's dad did not let that stop him from cheers-ing everyone. He seemed happy to learn "l'chaim" as well.
After the bbq was finished, we went right on to some sushi that they brought in from a local restaurant. Again, what a luxury! Sushi is pretty expensive in the states and it's not cheap here either. They were amazed at how much wasabi I used and initially told me it would be too spicy to eat. Right. Chinese people so far seem to consistently underestimate both my tolerance for spice and alcohol. Have a little faith, ya know?
As we polished off yet another bottle of wine, Carol's dad decided to make it his mission to introduce various forms of Chinese spirits to me. He disappeared downstairs and came back up with about 6 different bottles of various shapes and colors. Oh boy. He went through each one and explained what region it was from, how strong it was, and when Chinese people usually drink it. Some of it was rice wine, some of it was whisky, and some of it was baijiu. I had heard quite a bit about baijiu before but this was my taste of the stuff. The rumors are true--it's vile. Not only is it extremely strong with a harsh aftertaste, but it also has an overpowering smell that kind of made me want to vomit. I drank it politely though and opted to return to the red wine. A word of advice though--if you can at all avoid the stuff, I highly recommend staying far, far away.
I didn't want to show up empty-handed to this party so I brought a handful of postcards I brought from home of CT scenery. They were super impressed with the pictures and at least acted honored to receive them. I almost felt silly giving them, but it was all I had. Carol did keep her promise though and yelled happy birthday to me, before giving me a gift on behalf of her family--a traditional Chinese fan with a picture of a famous painting on it. Very cool!
I was sorry to have to rush off, but excited because I was going to meet up with Steven, Kelly, Diana, and Meggie for a little birthday dessert. We were going to go out, but Meggie surprised Kelly and I with a pretty amazing chocolate cake. Despite being half asleep from their conference, they trekked all the way to my apartment for cake and presents which was awesome. All in all, it was a really fun day and I appreciate everyone making an effort both here and abroad. I will certainly remember 25 for a long, long time.
Attached is a link to a couple pictures from the weekend. There aren't too many and they're all annoyingly stamped with the incorrect date but whatever. Without further ado, pics from Ari & Kelly's birthday, 2005!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1409556/
Posted by awolfe at 11:41 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 17, 2005
Packages
Getting mail in the U.S. is fun but it's even more exciting when you're abroad. This week was the week of packages and I have absolutely complaints about that! Getting mail here is sort of an interesting experience on a couple of levels. For whatever reason, our mail does not come to our apartment building like the rest of the tenants. Instead, our mail comes to the front gate in the back room of the guard's building along with the rest of the students' mail. I didn't know which box was ours for the longest time until Steven pointed out that ours is the only one without a lock on it and that it says "foreign teachers" in really faded English. I guess we don't rate having our mail protected from thieves.
Though we never ordered it, we seem to be getting a subscription to the "China Daily," the English language newspaper sponsored and run by the Chinese government. Needless to say, it's a skewed perspective of current events and poorly edited. So most days our box only gets stuffed with the latest edition of the daily and that's about it. Every once in a while we get someone else's mail by accident. That's sort of an occasion because then we get to give it back to the guards (great guys) and explain that it's not ours.
This week, however, I got a novel in the mail along with a moleskin journal. What a day! Having just finished Pete Hamill's "Snow in August," I was ready for a new read anyway. I've just started Haruki Murakami's "A Wild Sheep Chase," and so far it's a really intriguing read. Good stuff. Besides a book I also got a package of necessities from my parents (hi mom! hi dad!) including duct tape, stain stick, toilet sanitizer, and some cold medicine. They definitely came through in the clutch, given that most of my clothes now have small oil stains from splattering noodles.
The bar has officially ben set though. This morning I got a call from our foreign affairs liason who said I had a package in her office. This was a bit odd to begin with because usually the protocal with packages is as such- I get a package slip in the mailbox, I go get my passport, head across the street to China Post, hand over the slip, wait a random amount of time (it's been anywhere from 45 seconds to about 15 minutes), and then happily tear open my package as I head back across to the school. As I got to the office Lisa, our liason, launched into some apologetic story about how since it was a Fed Ex package they thought it was for the director of the school.
I wish I could have seen the look on the guy's face when he opened it up to discover home-made chocolate chip cookies from my friend Caitlin. I'm just glad he didn't eat any! It's actually incredible to me that you can bake cookies somewhere in Boston, package them up in some tuperware, throw them in a box, and three days later I can eat them in Guangzhou, China. Impressive. Chocolate chip cookies are pretty incredible but there are also rumblings of Murdicks Fudge coming through the international postal system. I think that may even trump home-baked cookies...
Besides packages in the mail, I also bought a whole bunch of packages this week at IKEA. That's right, folks--Guangzhou now has an IKEA and it is all the new rage. From what I've heard, it has had a line out the door since it opened about a month ago. I was a little hesitant to venture over there and fight massive crowds, but I decided it was worth it. Looking around my apartment, I realized that it really wouldn't take too much to make it a much nicer home.
As I walked into the store with my friend Meggie (always good to have female companions when shopping), I was pleased to see that it was only mildly bursting with people. Not exactly empty, but I could breathe so it was fine. Entering the showroom, I also noticed that it was set up in the exact same way as the IKEAs I've been to in America. I've always thought it was sort of weird how they make you walk through these fake living rooms and kitchens before you get to the stuff you actually buy but whatever. I more or less sprinted through and got to the section where you actually pick things up.
One laundry basket, two candles, one picture frame, two pillows, one wok, and one bedside lamp later, I was checking out. The highlight of the entire experience (besides everything still being so cheap) was that they had hot dogs and soft serve ice cream just like in the states! For one kuai, it was far too tempting to pass up. They even had mustard! Mustard!! I may go back just for a meal since it's so inexpensive. Gotta love it...
Posted by awolfe at 11:13 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 15, 2005
Back to the Chaos
I got to my train heading back to Gunagzhou with plenty of time to spare this time. It is quite a bit nicer to not be running full speed through the parking lot in a panic, I must say. As I sat in the waiting room awaiting the boarding call, my thoughts ran back to everything from the past week. Though Kunming isn't as aesthetically beautiful as Hangzhou, I really took to the vibe of the place. I like the food. I like the weather. I like the fact that there are so many different minorities around as well. You almost forget that there is such a thing as diversity when (in places like GZ) all you see is the same Han-Chinese face over and over again. I was sad to leave Yunnan Province without seeing more but I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be back before I leave the country.
The train ride itself was pretty uneventful. I must hand it to Apple though--I played my iPod almost non-stop for the entire 25 hour ride and not only did the battery last through the trip, but it was still going strong on the subway and bus back to my apartment. Impressive, no? The only other point of note was that I attempted to make conversation with a businessman who came over to me as I was eating dinner on Monday night. He told me in broken English that he had never spoken to a westerner before but that he had studied 5 years of English.
I was happy to speak with him in both English and Chinese and thought it was a perfect opportunity to use my new phrasebook. In Dali, Lexi and I looked around a bookstore that had a really good selection of English books. I was going to buy an Amos Oz book but then saw that they had the new edition of the Lonely Planet Mandarin phrasebook. Lexi had the 4th edition which seemed like a really handy thing to have around so I splurged to purchase my own. Once I opened the plastic though I was horrified to discover that they had devised their own system of romanization and pronunciation instead of using the standard Pinyin system. After spending the last two months learning pronunciation of Pinyin, I quickly discovered that the L.P. phrasebook was almost useless to me.
Both of us got very frustrated as I butchered my pronunciation of basic phrases. Ugh. Moral of the story? Avoid the 5th edition of the L.P. phrasebook. I even emailed them to express my disappointment and it turns out they're returning to Pinyin in the next edition coming out next September. I may even be able to finagle a copy of one of the older editions too, which would be excellent. They did send me back a personalized email response to my complaint so maybe it's not such a disaster after all.
Back in GZ, I was comforted to see the familiar chaos around the metro station closest to me. It was sort of odd to notice that no one really gave me a second look walking around with my backpack but yet everyone seemed to stare quite a bit more in Kunming. Kunming, being more of a tourist destination, seems to have more westerners walking around yet they remain more of a novelty. On the flipside, GZ always has pinyin on street signs and for many storefronts whereas Kunming usually only has Chinese characters. I wonder why?
After being away for so long, a bunch of students greeted me with a warm welcome as I walked through the gate of the school. It may be a big ol' dirty city, but it's *my* big ol' dirty city. Seeing my coworker and friend David, he immediately asked if I'd be playing basketball that night. Of course! He also informed me that he did fifteen 100m sprints yesterday in preparation for the upcoming faculty-staff track meet. Geez. Well at least I don't feel silly for taking it seriously! This was a wake-up call for me that I really need to get back on the track ASAP if I'm going to represent on December 4th. David even trains with track spikes! I gotta get on that.
I am happy to announce that all of my students survived the experience on the farm and that no one got bitten by a dog or snake (as they all feared beforehand). It has been really interesting to talk to them about the week. Many reported that their families were actually quite rich and had bigger homes than most city-folk. Others reported that they slept three to a bed and were disappointed to eat the exact same dish for every meal. A bunch of the kids even taught English classes in the local primary school and told me they got very frustrated by having to scream in order to keep order. Ha! Always good to get kids on the other side to see how hard a teacher has to work. The most poignant moment by far though was when one of my girls broke into tears relating a story of how she spent a day talking to a 80 year-old blind woman who had no family left.
All in all it was an incredible vacation and I can't wait to head out and travel again. I'm thinking about doing a weekend trip to either Yangshuo, Macau, or up to the PiA girls in Jishou. We'll see. Finally, here are my photos one more time from the trip. I have yet to add in Lexi's photos but I'll get around to that one of these days so if you're really interested, you can bookmark the page and check back in sometime:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1373122/
Posted by awolfe at 12:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 13, 2005
Truly South of the Clouds
Lexi and I succeeded in waking up early on Sunday in order to get a day of hiking in before we had to head back to the big city. Okay, so maybe early is a bit of an exaggeration, but when you're on vacation 9am is the crack of dawn! We fell out of bed and were both fully clothed from bundling up the night before. Perfect--no need to waste time "getting ready." We walked around the corner to get breakfast at yet another cafe and we both ordered tea immediately to warm up.
I was never much of a tea drinker before moving to China but I must say it continues to grow on me. I suppose it's like one of those when-in-Rome sort of things. When I was studying in Scotland I acquired a taste for single malt whiskys. When I was traveling around Israel I grew an affinity for schwarma and falafel. All I can say is, it's a good thing China's off that whole opium kick or I might be in trouble...
Breakfast was rather non-descript, though I was entertained by the fact that I ordered the chicken vegetable rice soup and it arrived sans any trace of chicken but with a hefty amount of ham. I wish I could say that they just screwed up the translation but apparently even the Chinese said chicken. Whatever, it was still good. We went back to the hostel, packed up our things, packed a day bag for the hike, checked out and wandered off in search of a trail up the mountain.
There is a rather long mountain range on the western side of the city but we went in search of the section called "Zhonghe Shan" [Zhonghe Mountain] named for Zhonghe temple towards the top. My guidebook said to go to the base of the chairlift (for all those who want to "cheat"), continue on about 200m and pick any one of the random trails in the area. We started off in that direction and were harassed by a whole bunch of people wanting us to pay them to drive us out. Being the hard-core adventurers we were, we turned them down and walked straight ahead in the direction of the base.
Coming across a couple of local farmers on their way to work the field, Lexi asked for directions to the trail. They responded that we should just follow them so we did. If they were surprised that a white girl could speak in such good mandarin, they definitely hid it. I thought it was really interesting that both of the guys were heading off to the fields wearing old dirty blazers and dress shoes. Apparently that is just standard attire for the lower class--you buy one pair of clothes at some point and then you wear them everyday. Lexi made pleasant conversation with them and I just took in the sights around me.
Eventually they got to their patch of land and pointed us up in the direction of what you might consider a path. It wasn't really marked, per se, nor was it really cleared, but it was good enough. Before I knew it, I was taking enormous steps up the mountain and trying to catch my breath to keep up with Lexi. Every 15 feet or so the path seemed to fork so we were constantly forced to choose one direction. I wasn't too worried though since my guidebook said that all roads pretty much led to Rome here and that you couldn't really go wrong.
Somewhere along the way we passed through a local graveyard which was really interesting. Despite the poverty, the graves seemed to be decorated rather elaborately and kept in very good condition. Right around this area we met up with a group of Chinese tourists also hiking up to the temple. They too were hardly dressed in what I would consider hiking gear, as everyone seemed to be in button-down shirts and nice shoes. Lexi and I must have seemed very out of place to them not only because we were white but because we were in dri-fit shirts toting nalgene bottles and sunglasses. Lexi chatted with them a bit and they even gave us some tangerines to snack on.
Lexi and I are not married, though everyone in Yunnan Province seemed to think we were. This particular group was funny about it for a couple reasons. First, they assumed we were Eastern European because Lexi spoke Mandarin so well. Translation--Americans are far too stupid to learn a difficult language like Chinese. Second, they made a comment saying something like they were surpised to see two very beautiful people together, that they thought it only happend in the movies. Ha! Just goes to show how much of a novelty westerners can be in China.
Just when I was really starting to get winded we reached the gate to the temple. It was the first time I looked back down at Dali and the view was stunning. We only hiked for about an hour and half but we covered some serious ground, given how steep it was. There was hardly anyone up at the temple so it was nice to enjoy the view with some peace and quiet. After relaxing for a bit outside the temple we decided to go inside and explore.
The ridiculous-looking buddha by the inner gate welcomed us and we walked through to see the prayer hall. It was really nice but again I think I am forever spoiled by the grandeur of the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. Nothing can really compare to that, but this temple was extremely satisfying to walk around given what we went through to get there. I walked into their small store and was intrigued by the various carvings they had of some sort of blackwood. Lexi inquired for me and I found out that the wood is supposed to contain some sort of mystical property to ward off evil ghosts and spirits. Again, can't hurt right? I bargained with them a bit and then settled on one of the smaller amulets. I even took it up to one of the monks to have it blessed. He had me kneel down on the ground as he mumbled something for about a minute, then gave it back with a look that seemed to suggest it was now good to go. Sure, why not?
Outside of the temple we picked up a path that snaked around the side of the mountain. This was easily one of the highlights of my China experience thus far. The scenery and views were absolutely breathtaking and the climate was perfect. The cool mountain breezes came and went but the sun kept us warm as we walked past beautiful flowers, small waterfalls down the rock faces, and even some fall foliage. I thought I was going to miss it entirely this year but I got my fair share on this hike. The colors were great and I just soaked it all in. We stopped a couple of times to take some pictures but I knew that none of the shots could really encapsulate how beautiful it was. Yunnan literally means "southern clouds," or "south of the clouds" and I could really see why as I walked around Zhonghe Shan.
In the words of Robert Frost though, "Nothing gold can stay" and Lexi and I had to get moving in order to eat something and catch the bus back to Kunming. We opted to take the chairlift down and I was pleased. It reminded me of family vacations back when the Wolfe clan used to go up to Stratton Mountain in VT during the summer and ride the alpine slides. We even got people on the ground waving to us, taking our picture, and shouting out "hello!" which was both bizarre and comforting at the same time. At the bottom we decided to spring for the 3 kuai and pay one of the locals to drive us back to town.
In search of some snacks to keep us going during the long bus ride, we walked into one of the many Muslim bakeries. Lexi asked about a number of different items and we bought a handful of different pastries and breads to munch on, all of which turned out to be amazing. I knew I needed a full meal though so we went to one last cafe before catching the bus. I can't remember the name of the place, but we were the only ones there and they served us water with lemon which was unique in my China experience. After we inhaled the two dishes (which were quite tasty), we grabbed our packs from the guest house and were off.
Having purchased bus tickets the night before from a local travel agent, we only had to worry about finding the actual bus. Luckily though, the salesman had his assistant accompany us all the way to the long-distance bus so we were fine. As we got to the bus station and loaded up our stuff, it became clear pretty quickly that we had gotten ripped off. We paid a price that should have been for one of the bigger coach buses but we were actually on a small minibus instead, complete with a bunch of locals smoking away like chimneys. We were both far too happy from such an incredible day to let it bother us, but looking back it was kind of annoying.
The bus was supposed to leave around 5pm and arrive in Kunming around 10:30pm or so but lo and behold we didn't even take off until about 6:15pm or so. I will say this for the bus driver--he did not waste a single second once on the road. The guy was flooring it the whole way, blaring the horn at everyone to let them know he was coming through, and tailgating when anybody wouldn't move over. Including a pointless half hour stop for "dinner" at a rest stop, we still made the five and half hour trip in a little under four hours. Wow.
Back at the apartment, I finally got to meet Even and Yam Ki, the other PiA-er and her boyfriend. They were both super friendly and I'm disappointed I didn't get to spend more time with them during the week. They are threatening to crash in Guangzhou for a night before they head out though (visa issues) so hopefully we will meet again. We sat around talking as usual and before I knew it it was 2am and I had to get some sleep before getting up to catch my train home.
Posted by awolfe at 10:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 12, 2005
The Man in the Mirror
It was definitely a rude awakening when Lexi knocked on my door and kicked me in the ribs at around 6:45am. I rolled out of bed and threw on my clothes only to sort of fall back to sleep while sitting upright on the couch. We stumbled outside and hopped a cab to head to the train station. Despite only having about 15 minutes to spare, I got on line to buy my return ticket home to GZ before we left. I was pleased to discover that they understood me without any problems, whereas around the corner from my school in Guangzhou I always have to repeat things. I think it must be the result of everyone speaking Cantonese.
We boarded the train with a couple moments to spare and tried to get comfortable. It was my first experience in the hard seat section and the rumors are true--it's a rough surface surrounded by a ton of guys all chain-smoking. Ugh. Lexi and I attempted to nap but it wasn't easy. One of the redeeming moments of the ride was that they played almost the entire disc of Michael Jackson's HIStory. Brilliant! We were both rocking out to Thriller, Billy Jean, Bad, but especially Man in the Mirror. I mean with a key change like that, who can't get excited?
There were also a couple of British guys sitting behind us that personified hippie-backpackers, complete with long dreads, bob marley t-shirts, beaten-up sandals, and beatnik literature. Even though I didn't really talk to them much, they were great! It reminded me of Wesleyan and that made me happy.
We arrived around mid-afternoon and hopped on the bus to take us to the old city of Dali. We began to wander through the streets and I immediately took to the place. It had small streets with few cars. There were cute cafes and shops everywhere, as well as a mini canal of running water lining the side of each road. We booked a double at the Tibetan Lodge, a hostel-guest house, for only 50 kuai. That's only about $6! After dropping off our stuff we began to explore the area.
Lexi was on a mission for some christmas presents and I was on a mission for food (no surprise there) so we compromised and did some window shopping on the way to sustenance. Lexi was quite helpful in reading some characters on a menu and we sat outside sampling a bunch of small dishes and watching the locals play mahjong and cards. The weather was a bit more crisp being up in the mountains, but I was enjoying it. There's nothing like clean mountain air, especially in comparison to the muggy pollution of my home sweet home!
After lunch we walked around to a bunch of stores and I got a front row seat as Lexi let her shopping instincts take over. She claims she never usually makes so many purchases at once, and I believe her, but I really do think the majority of females have some sort of innate ability to shop and bargain that most males lack biologically. I was happy to tag along though as I was also on the look-out for a birthday present or two. They had some really interesting pieces of fabric with designs by some of the minorities in the province, but I had a difficult time rationalizing spending a lot of money on a piece of cloth. Am I wrong? Regardless, I opted against it.
As the sun began to set the temperature began to drop and before I knew it I was legitimately cold. It was such a foreign feeling after being so hot for months, I almost didn't know what to do! We walked around for a while longer looking at some of the older architecture in the city and eventually decided to grab some dinner. Again, everything relates to food and I love it! My Lonely Planet guide had a few places listed and we picked one called the Bamboo Cafe that was supposed to have Dai food, one of the Yunnan minorities.
Walking up to the cafe I noticed a score of handwritten signs in different languages, all welcoming us and telling us what they had to offer. Directly under the Chinese sign there was even some hebrew announcing the presence of coffee inside. Ha! I was definitely amused to see Hebrew way out in the middle of nowhere in China. And on that subject, there was also a picture and postcard by the front desk of our hostel that was hearty thank-you from a group of Israelis that had recently stayed there. I guess you can find Jews just about anywhere.
We failed in getting any Dai food since they seemed to be out of all those dishes, but we had a good meal nonetheless, highlighted by a chicken dish with papaya. I'm definitely a fan! One thing that the Bamboo Cafe (along with all the other restaurants and cafes) has down is atmosphere. They had comfortable seats, interesting decorations, and candle lighting that made everything seem really welcoming. After a lazy dinner we headed out away from the touristy streets to a random section where we could do some stargazing. You barely ever see anything at night in Guangzhou but the night sky in Dali was well lit. The moon itself was so bright that I don't think they needed any street lights in the area. I almost forgot how much I enjoy looking at stars on a clear night and it was nice to search for constellations once again.
I was definitely enjoying the feeling of a genuine autumn night but I was also a bit cold so we decided to head back. At our guest house there was a small cafe attached so we opted against the loud bars along the way and ordered hot chocolate instead. There was a really relaxed vibe to the place as small groups of people sat around sipping drinks, playing cards, and telling stories. Before we knew it it was after midnight and we decided to head back to the room in an attempt to get some sleep and be up early. The room was definitely not heated so we both crawled under the covers fully clothed and passed out in a flash.
Once again, here's a link to my pictures, but they include shots that I haven't written about yet so if you want to be surprised hold off. Otherwise, enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1373122/
Posted by awolfe at 11:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 11, 2005
Safety Advisors
I got another semi-late start on Friday but it was just fine. When you're on vacation by yourself, you can do whatever you want to do! I wandered out to peruse through the handful of bakeries around the corner from Lexi's place and settled on one that looked tasty. I had no idea what anything was so I just pointed and said, "san ge zhege," or "three of this." It turns out I picked some sort of bread with a sweet filling, though what that filling was is a mystery to me. Unidentified pastries can be quite fun to sample though and I enjoyed them as I walked along the sidewalk on another beautiful day.
I sat for a while in Government Square, a large open garden area, and watched some old guys playing mahjong. Though I have no idea what the rules are to the game, these guys certainly came across as pros. I also enjoyed the fact that I was not an attraction at all (being a white foreigner), but rather one of many spectators attempting to get a view of the table. After a while I decided it was time for food once again and I went off in search of lunch.
I walked down a side street a little bit off the beaten path and sat down at an open-air restaurant-joint. Of course their menu was entirely in Chinese characters so I had to resort to asking them if they had certain things, e.g. "you meiyou ji rou chou fan?" [do you have chicken fried rice?] Nope. I settled on ordering some jiaozi that the woman next to me was eating. As I handed back the menu, the owner of the place came over to sit down with me. We began conversing in Chinese, though I will admit--this was not nearly as successful as my conversation from yesterday. I did figure out that his cousin is studying economics at Emory Daxue (Emory University) in Atlanta and that the guy wants to visit him but can't get a visa. He was friendly enough to give me his business card and told me I should come back anytime and that he would order for me. Heh.
After lunch I hopped on a bus to head outside of the city limits toward Jin Dian Si, The Golden Temple. Purporting to have the largest bronze temple in the country, I figured it was worth a look-see. After a minor adventure trying to talk to the bus driver and explain where I wanted to go (but didn't know where to get off), I got to the base of the hill where the temple is located. After paying a hefty 20 kuai admission fee I walked through the gate only to discover that I had about a thousand steps to climb before I reached the temple grounds. Normally this would be fine, but I was still sore from capoeira!
When I finally got to the temple itself, I was somewhat flabergasted. Given that the temple consists of 260 tons of bronze it's pretty impressive, but compared to the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou it seems rather miniscule. The actual grounds of the temple are enormous though so I began to meander around looking at the different statues and buildings. I heard some chanting coming from a different temple complex so I walked up to listen. I was disappointed to discover it was only a recording, but pleased to see a bunch of monks sitting around with big smiles on their faces.
I allowed myself to be invited in and given some incense to light even though I knew there was going to be a charge somewhere down the line. They showed me how to pay my respects to the three gods in the main chamber room and then one of them sat me down to chat. Half in Chinese and half in English, the monk grabbed my hands and began to examine my palms. For the second time in my life I was informed that I have something called the "Mystic Cross" on my hand signifiying some sort of innate ability to read people. Weird. The monk then had me blow on my palms and enclose them around a pendant with a yin-yang on it. After having me repeat some Chinese line 7 times he told me to make a wish and write it down in his book. Then he pointed out how much the previous visitors contributed in order to make the wish come true. Ahhhh- there's the rub.
He wanted me to give 200-300 yuan but I explained that I didn't have that kind of money. He reluctantly settled on me giving 30 or 40 (I can't remember) and told me my wish would come true. I got the feeling that he was telling me he couldn't guarantee my wish but that he'd put in a mediocre effort for it. Eh, can't hurt. It sort of reminded me of when I was traveling around Western Europe with my best friend from West Hartford and he lit a candle in one of the cathedrals in Munich. As I gave an inquiring look (both of us being Jewish and all), he responded, "Can't hurt, right?"
I walked out with my new good luck pendant in hand and ambled through the fern garden, the plum blossom orchard, and general arboretum. As I walked under a cloister in a small enclosed quad, I heard a man playing the Chinese flute. There was no one else around and I didn't want to disturb him, but I really wanted to sit and listen. I tip-toed my way to one of the benches next to him and sat down to listen and read for a while. He noticed me after about 10 minutes or so and gave me a small smile before continuing on into the next piece. Between the weather, the music, and the quiet, it was a perfect afternoon.
When the guy finished up I decided it was time to head back to Kunming proper and meet up with Lexi. After my afternoon dose of shao kao, Lexi and I headed out to purchase some train tickets to go to Dali for the weekend. I'm not quite sure how or why, but train tickets are about half the price of bus tickets and the ride takes about the same amount of time. I certainly won't be the one to point this out to the Chinese authorities. After purchasing our seats we headed out to capoeira once again. I felt a little more confident this time with the basic moves but I still had a tough time when it came to actually "playing" an opponent. Regardless, it was enjoyable to go across the room practicing the butterfly kick. You basically get to fling your body around and swing your legs up in a kicking motion. Good times!
At capoeira class I met Jen, Lexi's safety advisor and her friend Cindy. We chatted for a while during and after class and I inquired about how she got to be in such an important position. What I really wanted to know was, do I have a safety advisor that I don't know about? And for that matter, why is there a safety advisor in Kunming, possibly the safest city in the country, and not in GZ, a city notorious for gangsters? Jen told me that her only real mission is to get Lexi good and drunk (in a safe environment, of course) and that she was happy to function as my surrogate safety advisor.
Cindy was also a fascinating person to chat with. She has worked as a chef on several hollywood films and worked with some pretty famous people like Quentin Tarantino. Her job is basically to be on site somewhere in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a couple gas burners and a supply of random necessities that will enable her to whip up whatever the actors request. Guacamole and tortilla chips in the middle of the desert? No problem. It's pretty impressive, actually.
Cindy recently landed a very lucrative gig to cook in Shanghai for an upcoming blockbuster so she decided to celebrate by purchasing an absolutely absurd amount of good (western) red wine and chocolate. We hauled it over to Salvador's, a cafe that serves western cuisine, and proceeded to have a feast. I had pasta with pesto, mushrooms, roasted chicken, and sun-dried tomatoes which was excellent. I also managed to finish off Lexi's bagel sandwich (bagels!) and Cindy's quesadilla. Yum!
Lexi had to head off and put in some face time with her boss, so I followed Jen and Cindy to a bbq being thrown by a couple of German students. After climbing up 7 long flights of stairs in their apartment building, we walked into a really fun party of random internationals all eating, drinking, and chatting. I headed up to their roof deck and was immediately offered a beer and a steak. It would have been rude to refuse, right?? I was pretty psyched to have a real steak which had been marinated for two full days in some sort of honey pepper concoction. I chatted with the hosts for a bit and also talked with a couple French people for a while about China and living abroad. For some reason it seemed funny to me to hear Chinese with a French or German accent but sure enough, there it was. I also talked to a somewhat inebriated American guy who was a bit too loud and obnoxious for my taste. It was a reminder that Americans have a questionable reputation abroad for a reason.
Before I knew it the clock was edging towards 2am and Lexi and I had an 8am train to catch. Ugh. We met up and headed home to then pack in a daze and nap for a while before heading out to Dali. I was excited to get to Dali but also a bit sad to have to leave my home-away-from-home in Kunming. I was really starting to get used to the place! Regardless, it was time for a new adventure.
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November 10, 2005
Across the Bridge to the Tea Store
I got a much earlier start Thursday and headed out once again to explore. I decided to walk around for a while to work up an appetite and then go in search of "Guoqiao Mixian," Across the Bridge Noodles. This is a specialty for Yunnan Province and I decided to see how it stood up to the other noodle dishes I've sampled. It's becoming painfully obvious that my adventure here in China might as well be culinary tour, as most days really are focused around food. Is this a bad thing? My stomach says no.
Traditionally, Guoqiao Mixian is served with a big bowl of really hot broth stewed from chicken, duck, and spare ribs with a bit of oil on top. They give you a bunch of small plates with raw meat (I think I had pork, chicken, duck, and some type of octopus-like meat), some raw veggies, the insides of two small eggs (no idea what type), and then a whole bunch of rice noodles. You dump everything into the soup and let it all get cooked in the bowl. I also decided to add some of the crushed red pepper sitting on the table and I think that was a good call. Not only is the dish really tasty, but it's sort of fun to take everything and toss it in to get cooked. Who doesn't like a little interactive meal?
After lunch I headed in the direction of Yuantong Si, the largest Buddhist temple in the city. Along the way I popped my head into a number of DVD stores to poke around a bit. I did manage to find Pulp Fiction which had proved elusive in Guangzhou, but I could not find Good Will Hunting. I've been on a mission to find this movie for the last month and have been unsuccessful everywhere. Sure, they have multiple copies of Anaconda 3 and House of Wax, but Good Will Hunting? No such luck. It really makes me wonder--what do Chinese people really think of Hollywood cinema if those are the movies in high demand? I shudder to think about it.
As I got closer to the temple, I decided to stop in a random tea store on a whim. Yunnan Province is famous for a kind of tea called "Pu er cha." Puer tea, for short, is highly regarded for its medicinal qualities as a digestive and nerve stimulant. According to what I've read, the leaves are plucked, panned, sun-dried, and steamed; after which they are either allowed to remain in leaf form or pressed into circular cakes or bricks. Caked tea is the most ancient form of manufacturing tea and dates back (at least in ancient Chinese lit) to circa 700 c.e. Unlike most other teas, Puer tea gets better with age and really old blocks of the stuff can fetch a tidy sum in auctions and stores. It's kind of like drugs, but it's only tea.
Walking into the store, the owner immediately got up and tried to sell me some tea. When I said I wanted Puer tea his eyes lit up and he took me over to the right section. After quoting (rather excessive) prices, he asked which one I wanted. I pointed to the block he quoted for 60 yuan and inquired about the taste. I'm sure my Chinese was pretty weak, but he understood enough to invite me to sit down while he prepared some tea.
Maybe it was the relaxed atmosphere of the store, the idyllic weather, or the man's friendly demeanor, but we immediately launched into an extended conversation. It took me quite some time to formulate responses, but we managed to carry on for almost an hour. I found out that he only bought the store about 3 weeks ago, that he's 29, that his wife is 25 and that their son is only 3 months old. He talked about how he was a very bad student and didn't go to university but that his wife could have if she had had the money. We talked basic politics (me- "wo bu xi huan George Bush." [I don't like George Bush]; him-
I was really proud to have successfully carried on a real conversation. It was really empowering to actually be able to understand and respond accordingly. Now, certainly, there were multiple moments where I had to shake my head and just say "dui bu qi" [sorry] since I didn't have enough vocabulary to express myself, but he understood and just seemed happy to chat. I also think I owe the success of the moment to the fact that it was quiet in the store, the fact that he spoke slowly and used basic words, and the fact that he was patient enough to allow me to fumble me words.
On a natural high from speaking in Chinese and a caffeine high from an hours worth of tea, I decided to purchase a block of tea from him. The puer tea is unlike anything I've ever had and I really like it; it's earthy and strong but not in an unpleasant way. The guy even showed me how too steep it with a couple chrysanthemum blossoms in order to mellow the taste a bit and give it a bit of sweetness. Yum. After all was said and done, I bought the 60 yuan block for only 25. I guess it pays to get to know the owner!
Eventually I made it to the temple and walked around. It was quite a bit smaller than I expected but that was just fine by me. It was a beautiful day and there was hardly anyone around, so I sat down at the bottom of the steps to the water and read my book. Glancing to my right, I noticed a whole bunch of turtles hanging out on the side right next to me. As I looked closer into the water I saw even more turtles swimming around with the carp. It was a very serene setting for a temple.
On my way back to Lexi's apartment I walked through the Muslim area once again and glanced around a few shops. I didn't buy anything but I did have some more shao kao for my afternoon snack which hit the spot. I really wish Guangzhou had more shao kao carts around the city doing bbq. It's incredibly cheap, it's fast, and it's really tasty! What more could you want? Okay, besides sanitary conditions...
My biggest purchase of the day was three pairs of socks from some street vendor. They claimed to be Nike and Adidas socks but I knew before I bought them that that was not the case. Upon opening the package later I discovered they were some sort of bizarre hybrid material between cotton and polyester and were not exactly super comfortable. Whatever. As long as I didn't have to steal another pair from Lexi!
For dinner Lexi and I met up with Mike once more and went to a random Chinese place near Yunnan Daxue, the local university. I decided to sample some of the local beers and ordered a bottle of Dali Beer. It was pretty plain but went well with our food so I was happy. After some additional (unsuccessful) DVD shopping, we headed back to the apartment to which Kill Bill 2 and go to bed.
As I was drifting off to sleep I had a small realization about Kunming. I realized that I was enjoying myself so much because people in Yunnan seem to be really laid back. The cab drivers don't drive like maniacs. People don't push and shove quite as much. People in tea stores are happy to sit down and chat for hours. I get the feeling that people are really only concerned about simple pleasures--a tasty meal, a good cup of tea, and pleasant conversation. I guess it probably helps that the weather is so good as well. Regardless, it's my kind of city.
Alrighty, here is a link to my photos. As always, this link will take you to pics from the entire trip so if you want to be surprised, hold off. I'm also going to add some photos that Lexi took so check back again later no matter what: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/1373122/
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November 9, 2005
Plates of Penne Pasta & Pumpkin Pie
I woke up Wednesday feeling incredibly sore, but so happy to be in a new place. Having stayed up late chatting with Lexi, I didn't get out of bed until about 11am, deciding that I was entitled to a late start. I'm on vacation, right? Lexi had to go to work so I was on my own which I was actually pretty excited about. While having company may have been nice, I enjoy the challenge of finding my way around a new place and not being on anyone else's schedule. So after showering and finally putting on some clean clothes, I sat down to formulate a plan. I copied out a mini map using my Lonely Planet book and the wall map in the guest bedroom and proceeded to gather my shoes.
I was all set to head out and explore when I realized I couldn't find any socks in my backpack. I'm pretty sure I wrote about this before, but this goes to show once again that I'm just not a good packer. Recreational reading? Check. USB cord for my camera? Check. Journal? Check. But socks?? Not so much. Feeling incredibly embarassed, I ventured into Lexi's room and stole a pair from her window sill. Well at least it wasn't underwear...
Now prepared to face the world, I headed out in search of the East and West Pagodas of the city. On the way I passed by a couple of high schools that were getting out for lunch break. Surrounded by a sea of identical track suits, I made my way to the food stands to grab some lunch. I had pita-like piece of bread filled with something sweet and then a bunch of shao kao (bbq). I like the style in Kunming because you can grab whichever skewers you want and hand them to the cook to throw on the barbeque. Sure the meat has been sitting out for a while but it tastes damn good once they throw it on the grill for a couple minutes with the cumin-ish spice. Still feeling a bit hungry, I added a dozen jiaozi to my stomach and went out in search of the pagodas.
I found the pagodas and was slightly less than impressed so I pressed on in the direction of a few more sights. The first thing I came across was the Nancheng Mosque. There is actually a pretty sizable Muslim population in Kunming (and China, in general) that dates back to the 13th century. Arabic is still very visible around the city, especially in this area. You can get Arabic calligraphy here as well as pictures of Mecca which seemed really out of place to me, given my familiarity with Middle Eastern Muslims. It was particularly sad to see the rubble where the powers that be in Kunming decided to level the Muslim village in favor of new developments. They basically give no thought or consideration to any of the many ethnic minorities in the area so no one batted an eye over some minor "resettlement," a.k.a. destruction.
After poking around inside the mosque (which was beautiful, if not a little gaudy from the outside), I headed out towards Cuihu Gongyuan, Green Lake Park. This is exactly what it sounds like--a big park built right around a lake with green water. The weather wasn't ideal as it was drizzling on and off, but I decided to hang out in the park for a while. I met some very friendly people and even stopped to listen to one guy play his guitar-like instrument for about an hour. There were people painting watercolors, children feeding the ducks, minorities doing traditional dances on the sidewalk, and people selling snacks. All in all, my kind of spot! And the price was right--free! A place like that in GZ would easily charge a 10 kuai admission fee just to let you see grass, but Kunming happens to be the land of eternal spring where there are flowers, grass, and trees all over the place. Seriously. Sure, there are a bunch of skyscrapers too but overall it is a *much* prettier city than GZ, a much more laid back city, and a much friendlier city.
On my jaunt back to Lexi's apartment I even passed by a random church and decided to head inside. The interior was very pretty with white-washed walls and old wooden pews. It was virtually empty except for a young Chinese girl practicing the piano. I sat in the back to listen for a while but eventually she noticed me and got really embarassed. It's too bad, because the music was great and the acoustics in the main hall were great. If there hadn't been anyone around I would have done some singing in there but others started to show up so I left.
I stopped by Carre Four, the French chain of supermarket similar to our Park & Shop, and picked up some supplies to make a little Italian dinner. One of the dishes I used to cook in America is a Penne Vodka with a spicy tomato sauce. I couldn't find all of the necessary ingredients (strangely enough, they don't carry Italian sausage anywhere in China) but I managed to throw together enough to make dinner. It wasn't exactly what I'd make in the states (especially having only a hot plate at my disposal), but it was a reasonable facsimile thereof.
Not to be outdone, Lexi came home from the office and went right to work baking a Pumpkin Pie. No joke--she went all out and used her mini oven to the fullest extent of its capabilities. Let me be the first one to say that it was *awesome*. She also invited two friends over, Wangwei and Mike. Wangwei is a former co-worker that speaks very good English and is a character. Mike is a Chinese-American graduate of Harvard working in Kunming on AIDS education and treatment and had some disturbing info to share with me. Apparently the highest HIV-positive population in China (Yunnan Province is the 2nd highest) resides in Henan Province. This particular situation is so devastating because an entire region became infected while donating blood. Apparently in order to allow people to donate more blood, the technicians pumped the plasma back into people after taking out everything they needed. This would maybe be acceptable except for the fact that they only had one large bloodbank where all donations went. One person was infected with HIV which tainted the entire supply. Thus, everyone began to have HIV-positive plasma pumped back into their bodies. Awful.
On a more positive note, Mike, Lexi and Wangwei were all speaking quite a bit of Chinese to each other and I realized that I am starting to understand conversations more and more. Without a doubt, I was left clueless quite a bit, but I am starting to pick up bits and pieces which is encouraging. And if I know the initial subject matter, I can usually follow along with a reasonable amount of accuracy. Woohoo!
Posted by awolfe at 12:36 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 8, 2005
On the Road Again
Well since my students had a solid week and a half of farming and midterms, I decided to head out to explore Yunnan Province. Lucky for me, PiA has a post right in Kunming, the capital city. As I headed out to Guangzhou Central train station, I began to mentally prepare for another marathon ride. 25 hours is not a short amount of time but I think I'm actually getting used to it at this point. I mean, once you get over about 12 hours, it's kinda all the same--really, really long. Unfortunately I had to leave from Guangzhou Central which is the really rundown station I experienced at the beginning of the National Day Holiday.
Yup, still an awful train station despite the lack of overwhelming crowds. There are no signs, it's incredibly dirty, and there is a conspicuous lack of air conditioning anywhere. Put it this way, when I finally found a seat in the waiting room, I was directly across from a man eating an orange. This is not out of the ordinary until you take into account the fact that he was tossing the peels and spitting the seeds directly on to the floor in front of him (and me). Gross. Even grosser? He was just contributing to the pile of organic waste already on the tile. I think it may just be my travel luck, but everytime I leave GZ it seems like it's 90 degrees and humid. When you're carrying a big old backpack around it seems even worse too. Sitting there dodging projectile orange seeds and sweating through my tee shirt, I could not wait to get out of the city.
Wouldja know it! For the first time I noticed that I was not the only white person on the train. I chatted briefly with a couple of backpackers from Australia who seemed like a fun bunch of people. We collectively noticed a bunch of other random caucasians as well. It's sort of funny--you can pick out Westerners not just by their skin color or dress but by their luggage. All of us non-Chinese had big hiking packs while all the "natives" had worn down suitcases. I am absolutely attached to my backpack at this point as well after so many trips. It's awesome. Anyway, Kunming is apparently much more of a sight-seeing destination because of the scenery in Yunnan Province so for the first time in a while I felt like a tourist again.
I stepped on to the train and was greeted not by crappy Chinese pop music, but by random elevator music of western tunes. First thing I heard was John Lennon's "Imagine." Next up was Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven." Great tune. I was a little surprised that they would have a song like that but I suppose it was popular enough. I was pretty surprised by the next one though-- James Taylor's "Only One." So random! I love the song though and was happily singing along at full volume as I stowed my pack, much to the chagrin of my trainmates.
I settled in and immediately took a nap. If there's one thing you have a ton of on the train it's time to relax. After I woke up I decided to meet some of the folks in my "compartment." In my crappy Mandarin I asked a guy if he knew when they would be bringing the boxed dinners around since I was hungry. He answered in almost flawless English and we got to talking quite a bit more. It turns out "Yan Xiang" is a Captain in the Army stationed in Foshan (a city right near GZ) and was traveling to see his girlfriend in Kunming, the city where he grew up. Despite having gone to a military university (notorious for the less-intelligent students), he was incredibly sharp and must have had a gift for languages since he speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, English, and French.
We chatted for hours and hours about the military in both China and America, international politics, economic policy, and even religion. He was absolutely fascinated to discover I'm Jewish and began to fire multiple questions at me regarding my opinion on the strengths of Golda Meir v. David Ben Gurion. My first thought was, who the hell is this guy?? Most Jews don't even know enough about that to give a cogent response! I enjoyed dredging up my knowledge of Israeli history with him though, among other topics. When we finally got to Kunming he even introduced me to his girlfriend and let me use his cellphone to call Lexi. What a guy!
I also met one other fascinating travel companion on the train. A college-aged woman walked over to me and Yan Xiang at one point and asked if she could join our conversation. We welcomed her into our little "English Corner" and she told us she is studying law at Zhong Da, the university where my Yale friends teach. I was really interested to hear her take on law in China so we chatted for a couple of hours as well. I explained the concept of legal precedent, why the U.S. Supreme Court is so influential, the advent of Miranda Rights, and the notion of being innocent until proven guilty. She talked about the despot-like power of judges in China, the pressure of the government on lawyers, and the lack of case studies to examine. All in all, I had hours and hours of really interesting conversation to pass the time.
A couple hours before we pulled into Kunming, we passed by something called the Stone Forest. I didn't get my camera in time to get a great picture, but basically it's a huge forest...of rocks. I wish I knew more about the geology of the area because it looked surreal to see these enormous hunks of stone all jutting out of the ground. I really have never seen anything like it. Yan Xiang told me that I could take an hour-long train ride back to the forest if I wanted to, but that it would cost me around 200 yuan to get in as a foreigner. 200 yuan is around $25 which doesn't sound like *too* much, but when your meals cost around 80 cents, it's pretty excessive.
So a quick 25 hours later we pulled into Kunming station and I hopped into a cab to meet Lexi. She gave me the directions to get out at a certain hotel and walk left past the enormous lobster. She wasn't kidding. A seafood restaurant on the corner has a ~20 ft lobster on the wall of the place and it's pretty awesome. Kunming was colder than GZ but it was a welcome change. Everyone on the train warned me that it was going to oh so cold but I just chuckled and told them I could handle it. If I can survive the last two winters in Boston, I think I'lll be just fine.
I dropped my stuff off in Lexi's apartment and without even changing we headed right out to grab a snack and go to capoeira class. For those unfamiliar with it, capoeira is a Brazilian martial art / dance form that involves really cool music and flowing movement. After spending far too much time this past spring researching Brazilian-American immigration (and thus capoeira), I was excited to participate for the first time. My years of Tae Kwon Do training were definitely an asset as I began to fumble my way around doing the "genga."
I don't know if it was the altitude (Kunming is right around 2200m above sea level) or just the fact that I had never done these exercises before, but I was getting winded! Considering that I play a sport virtually every night of the week, I assumed I would be just fine doing one class. Nope. Capoeira also uses muscles that I didn't know existed so that was an interesting experience. Upon completing (read: surviving) the class, I chuckled to myself at the irony of having to go all the way to China to practice a Brazilian sport that I researched back in Boston. What a world...
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November 6, 2005
Gender
I'm not sure why it never occured to me before, but this past week I had an interesting realization about the exercise patterns of my students. First off, compared to American high schoolers, Chinese kids are in *much* better physical shape. It's rare to see any girls or boys that are overweight. They have three mandatory exercise sessions per day: the first at 6:30am(!), the second in between 3th and 4th period around 10am, and the third coming after classes end around 5:00-6:00pm.
The first two are actually somewhat laughable in terms of effectiveness (or usefulness) since they mostly involve waving your arms around in different patterns, marching in place, and/or doing some sort of active stretching, but they're way better than nothing. On a curious sidenote, two groups in my classes debated the merits of the early morning exercise sessions (for their talk shows) and both mentioned heightened levels of CO2 as a negative. Umm, what? Is there some bizarre quality of the GZ air that involves a dangerous level of carbon dioxide that disappears after morning rush hour? I'm stumped.
The sessions in the morning last around 10-15 minutes but the afternoon exercise period is much longer. This is when the sports teams practice and when everyone else has an opportunity to play pickup games of soccer, basketball, table-tennis, badminton, or simply run around the track. This is all well and good, except for the fact that I noticed the other day that there were only about 3 or 4 girls total running on the track or playing on the field. This would be fine if there were only 5 or 6 boys around, but in reality it is in comparison to ~350-400 boys running, jumping, throwing, hurdling, and kicking.
What gives? There was an intra-class soccer match the other day and I watched the second half with my football buddies. I asked why there were no girls participating and they said that girls don't play soccer. I asked if the ladies had their own team or match and I got laughed at. Similarly, there is a school basketball team but it is strictly guys. Every once in a while a girl shows up to play some pickup but even that's a rarity. I poked my head into the badminton court and saw a much higher number of girls playing, but they were still a distinct minority. Same goes for the ping pong area. So where do all of the girls go every afternoon? I do not know but I am certainly going to ask around.
I believe this is indicative of a much larger issue here in China that relates to socially constructed conceptions of beauty and health. Admittedly, this is a major issue in America as well, but I think it's even more pronounced here and addressed even less. Chinese girls are almost all extremely skinny and have little to no muscle mass. It's not that they can't build muscle or don't want to, it's the fact that society dictates that athletic girls are somewhat ostracized. If you're a world class basketball player (for example) it's a different story, but for the average female being built is not desirable. Similarly, there is a burgeoning problem here with eating disorders. According to what I've read and seen, teenage girls are becoming more and more prone to anorexia (not bulimia as much) and no one is addressing the issue. I'm afraid that it's going to take a number of girls to die before anyone takes notice. I'm thinking about trying to do a lesson bringing these issues to light, but I'm not sure how it would be received.
On a completely separate note, I had the most eventful cab ride of my China career this afternoon. I started tutoring two Korean boys (ages 9 and 12--they rock) in English on Sunday afternoons and was running late today so I hopped in a cab. The trip started off without anything odd--basic weaving and cutting people off in congested areas. It started to get interesting when we turned on to a busy four lane street (2 lanes each way). We needed to make a right turn about 100m ahead but a red light and bumper to bumper traffic prevented us...or so I thought. Instead of waiting (and thereby following basic driving rules) the guy swung out to the left into one of the lanes with oncoming traffic.
Now this isn't the first time I've been in this situation so I wasn't panicking at the outset. The thing is, 100 meters is a long way when there are cars coming straight at you. Usually if a taxi heads out into the opposite lane, it's relatively brief and he'll nose his way back into the correct lane after a couple seconds. Not this guy though. We went the whole way and then made a hard right across two lanes of stopped cars and went through the red light to complete turn. Wow. Okay, no big deal though--I survived unscathed.
About thirty seconds later, the guy was weaving around a bunch of other cars once again when he had to come to a screeching halt. In a curious decision, a short barefoot merchant attempted to pull his goods across the street on a rickshaw-like cart in the middle of blazing traffic. My cabby started swearing in Cantonese (I'm assuming) at the guy as he finished crossing the street. The path was now clear but my driver decided he had a few things to say to the merchant before continuing on. At this point he rolled down the driver's side window and started giving the guy hell. He pulled forward about 10 feet after a few imprecations but then stopped again in the middle of the road. By now there were a number of other cars who could not pass and were getting quite angry with us for blocking the way. My first thought was, "Man, this guy is going to make me late for tutoring."
In a flash, the driver decided to exit the vehicle and confront the other guy face to face. At first he just stood by the side of the cab and yelled down the road but then they both started walking towards each other, seemingly sizing each other up. Oh boy. By now my thoughts had changed from concerns on punctuality to fearing for the life of this merchant who was tiny in comparison to the driver. They both started pointing, shouting, and kicking some dirt around. Meanwhile, I'm sitting alone in the taxi getting honked at by the increasing number of cars behind us. I started to imagine a riot ensuing and began to look around for an exit strategy. Luckily I was not forced to do my best Jack Bauer imitation as the conflict ended peacefully. The driver got back in the taxi and drove off in a huff, without so much as glancing at the red light he went through. All's well that ends well though as I got to tutoring with about 30 seconds to spare.
I am very excited to be heading out on the road once again this week to explore some more of China. Having a random week-long vacation, I decided to brave the 25 hour train ride and head out to Yunnan in southwest China. My kids are all spending this coming week learning how to farm out in the pastures of Guangdong Province so I'm free of any teaching responsibilities. I was invited to join them but opted to head to Kunming instead. Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, is supposedly a beautiful little city (of ~3 million, heh) surrounded by picturesque mountains and significant populations of non-Han Chinese. I'll let you know when I get back in seven or eight days...
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November 3, 2005
Jack Bauer, Saul Bellow, and a Marvelous Day
Okay, this is an entry that exudes random thoughts.
Steven and I recently finished watching the third season of 24 and we were absolutely floored. Sure, no television show is ever going to be as thought-provoking or stimulating as a good book, but 24 comes pretty darn close. Without giving anything away, I will say that the writers of the show went out of their way to keep the plot on a constant cliffhanger. They even managed to keep veteran viewers on their toes at all times with unrelenting plot twists and suprises. I will even go so far as to say that one scene almost made me cry. And I'm not a cryer. The moral of the story is that you should all check it out. In the words of Ferris Bueller, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking [it] up. "
Have no fear, I have not been wasting away all my days with American television shows on DVD. I think I mentioned it before, but my apartment came complete with a sizable library of English books which is a rare commodity in China. Though I have yet to put a major dent into the collection, I have gone through quite a few. Currently, I am finishing up Saul Bellow's "Henderson the Rain King." I haven't read any Bellow before this but I know he is one of the most accomplished American writers of the modern era. I must say, I have been quite pleased. The book is hilarious!
Henderson, the main character, goes on a spiritual journey of sorts in the form of an African safari. As a protagonist, he is everything that a stereotypical hero is not: he has a drinking problem, spends his money frivolously, leaves parties to use the firing range in his basement, and alienates not only both of his wives but also his children. Yet despite this all, he remains a likable character because he is real. He is driven by an inner desire for some type of truth and goes to great lenths in an attempt to find it. The civilized world has rejected his many ideosyncracies and thus he decides that he must leave the country in order to find "it" somewhere else.
While I did not leave the U.S. due to any kind of rejection, I can definitely relate to Henderson's desire to search. When he initially sets out on his odyssey, he has no idea what will fill the void. When all is said and done it turns out the simplicity and beauty of the plains are more than enough, especially in conjunction with the people he meets. China is a totally different world than America. While there are certainly similarities that transcend cultural barriers (we are all human, after all), the mystery and freshness of my life here really does put the grandeur of the world into perspective. Not that it comes as a surprise, but there's a whole lot to see, do, and learn out there. Beauty comes in many forms and sometimes where least expect it.
Finally, I received my first package yesterday and, after a minor miscue with the post office, it made me incredibly happy. Steve Roslonek, children's musician who wrote the werewolf song I used for my Halloween class, sent me his new CD entitled "Marvelous Day." I can safely say that this disc will become a regular part of my listening repertoire because it is excellent. Despite the fact that I'm almost 25, I still get incredibly excited by children's music. There's nothing like listening to "Marvelous Day" or "Let's Go Out and Play" when you get up in the morning. Trust me.
There also happens to be one track on the disc called "Bridge to Terabithia." The song is based on the Katherine Paterson book of the same name and remains to this day one of my favorite all-time books. I can still picture exactly where I was when I read the book for the first time as a 5th grader and how it was the first novel to make me cry. Yup, it's true. And I'm not a cryer! The book starts off with a kid training for a race--no surprise that it went straight to the heart. Once again, check it out if you haven't read it.
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