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May 29, 2006
Moments
While I am hardly a "martyr" for coming to China through the incredible opportunity of PiA, I did have to give up a few things before moving overseas. I think all of us had to sacrifice certain objects and parts of our lives in order to become fully immersed in the foreign world. Most of these things are obvious (e.g. leaving friends and family) but some are more unforeseen (e.g. baby dill pickles). I consider myself rather lucky so far this year in that my family got a chance to come and visit, my oldest friend in the world was here for a week, and of late I have experienced minor miracles such as the discovery of Heinz garlic dills and the live-viewing of a Yankees game. Unfortunately, there are certain things that cannot be replaced.
Part of the fun of being here in China is not only exploring the culture, learning the language, and expecting the unexpected, but also creating the familiar out of what's available. This can mean a number of things--it can mean rallying a group of people to take over a bar in order to watch baseball; it can mean using "Great Wall" wine in lieu of "Manischewitz" on Passover; it can mean improvising in order to cook Western delicacies. Kelly recently went out of her way to cook 7 layer bars, one of the ultimate American desserts. In the U.S. this would only entail a single trip to the supermarket. You could pick up everything you needed and pretty much dump it into a pan in the oven. Half an hour later, you're all set. In China, it's not so simple.
Kelly had to look up a recipe for butterscotch because butterscotch chips are nowhere to be found. She had to manually chop up some chocolate bars in order to create chocolate chips. She had to sample a few kinds of biscuits to find a suitable replacement for graham crackers. She had to consult the calculator on her computer to figure out the exact celcius equivelant for the mini-oven. It was a major success and certainly created a real sense of accomplishment, but it wasn't easy. It was a very "T.I.C." moment, as Anastasia would call it (This is China).
When I accepted the Guangzhou post a year ago, I was 100% excited. I accepted that I would have to leave certain things behind and adapt to a new environment--it was inevitable. However, I also knew that there would be at least one moment during the year when I would miss being in the States. This past weekend was the 25th Reunion Anniversary of the Wesleyan Spirits, my old singing group from college, and I was about as far away as I could have been.
My father surprised me by heading to the reunion concert in my absence and he called me up from his cellphone. At first I was a little confused since I couldn't hear him that well but then I realized why--his voice was being drowned out by music and applause. I got to listen to almost the entire concert over the phone which was an incredible feat of modern technology. I also got to talk with some of my best friends which was incredible. In a very weird way, though, it almost made this weekend even harder. I heard some of my closest friends singing together on a stage that I should have been on. I heard them sing one of my old arrangements. I heard someone else sing one of my old duets. I heard them laughing and goofing around just like I would have been.
For the rest of the day I was just downright sad for the first time since I left Boston last August. I wasn't at home with my family for Passover but I managed to hold my own seder here in GZ. I wasn't at the Siegel's house for Thanksgiving but we managed to rally an incredible feast here. I wasn't able to watch the Yankees playoff games with my dad but I managed to follow it online and get periodic updates from him over the phone. This was the first time that I could not at least improvise some sort of replication of the event and it was tough.
I felt a bit like Alexander right in the thick of his terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. After I got off the phone with my dad at the end of the concert, I headed out to tutor, only to be caught in a major downpour. Of course one of my kids didn't do his homework for the first time all year, thereby ruining my lesson plan and forcing me to make something else up on the spot... for an hour. After I finished that I went to Chinese class where my Chinese teacher asked me every single word that I did not know. I had memorized about a hundred phrases the day before but she didn't touch on any of those.
By the time class ended I was tired, hungry, and wet. Kelly and Diana heard about my day and invited me over for dinner. After waiting about thirty minutes for the bus that is scheduled to come every five minutes, I headed over the river to the university. Once I finally made it to their apartment, I couldn't believe my eyes. Inside there were balloons, a table covered in delicious-looking food, and a big ol' sign that said "Happy 25th Birthday, Spirits!" That's right, there was a celebration right here on the Pearl River Delta to celebrate 25 years of singing and brotherhood.
I guess the moral of the story is that there are certain things that are irreplaceable but that other things come along to make up for them. I missed a chance to see some of my good friends who are usually scattered across the globe, but I had a really fun night with two of my newer friends. I missed out on being a part of the 25th chapter of the Spirits story but I created some unforgettable memories of my own that will always be a part of my China experience.
Posted by awolfe at 5:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 23, 2006
Firsts
This past weekend was another weekend of momentous firsts here in Guangzhou. I have been riding the "pickle high" for as much as it's worth and have already finished two jars. At this rate I will finish all nine before I even leave the country for the States. But I digress. I didn't think it could get much better than pickles but this weekend saw the invasion of a whole bunch of Yale-in-China fellows to our lovely home here in GZ. There were 4 from Changsha (plus 1 former PiA boyfriend) and 1 from Hong Kong (in addition to her boyfriend). Add that to the 4 Yalies here and the PiA-ers in tow and you had about 14 or 15 of us rolling around the city searching for fun.
Luckily with a group of smart, funny, talented kids like that, fun was never far away. Some minor highlights of the weekend include playing the "Share the most mundane moment of your day" game (much funnier than you'd think) and one of the most competitive games of Trivial Pursuit I've played in a while. The Elis all enjoy competition and I can't say I've ever been one to shy away from it so it worked out quite well.
Though the various card games and board games were enjoyable, they were only a bonus to the best parts of the weekend. I mentioned last week that I brought out the frisbee for the first time and was inspired. Well, the Yalies were of the same mind so we set out to throw the disc for a while out on one of the fields of Sun Yat Sen University. We found a nice open field with a bunch of students lounging around playing cards and chatting. It felt so normal to be throwing the frisbee around with a big group out on a college campus... until campus po-po shut us down. That's right--somebody must have called 911 to report the danger because a university police officer rushed over after we had been playing for a half hour. He proceeded to inform Kelly and Diana that while the field was there for the students and faculty to enjoy, it was not to be stood on. We looked around and saw various people walking across the field, laying on the field, and sitting on the field, but apparently the light jogging required to catch an off-the-mark toss was unacceptable. My favorite part is that he did say it was okay to sit down and play frisbee. Just picturing that was worth a laugh. I wondered if I could organize a whole game of ultimate that required all participants to sit down.
After our frisbee was cut short, we headed back to relax at Kelly and Diana's apartment. There I saw an unbelievable documentary which I highly recommend to all of you. Dan, one of the Changsha fellows, brought a copy of his brother's movie that was premiering this weekend on HBO called "Baghdad ER." It is a film that follows one of the medical units in Iraq caring for (mostly) U.S. and coalition forces. It was not done with any string political slant, but rather to show the horrors of a war that (I believe) we should never have started in the first place. It's extremely well done and when it ended, my first thought was that I wished it had been longer. For those of you with HBO, check it out as soon as possible. For those of you without it, track down somebody with HBO and make friends.
After the movie we mobilized for dinner to the Irish pub "Paddyfields." The Changsha contingent rarely gets any form of western food so it was a treat for them to have our meager offerings here in GZ. I myself had not been there since Halloween so I was looking forward to some western cuisine. After looking at the menu I felt I owed it to myself to have a big burger and a Guinness. I was not disappointed. My first restaurant hamburger in China was incredibly tasty and well worth the hefty price tag. The french fries also hit the spot, right along with the onion rings we shared for an appetizer. Mmmmmm. Fried food.
While this was a momentous occasion, it paled in comparison to our post-dinner plans. Andrew led us over to an honest-to-god western-style bowling alley! I can't say that I'm an avid bowler or a bowling enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination, but who doesn't like to bowl every once in a while? The whole experience was very funny though and very indicative of a western activity done in China. First off, they gave us shoes and did not require our shoes (or anything else for collateral). In the states, that alley would have lost all of their bowling shoes in about two days. Second, we got to our group of lanes and had a bit of trouble entering names into the system (though I was eventually amused by "Arster," and "Dianimal"). Next we went in search of balls. While U.S. bowling alleys rarely have top of the line offerings for the casual bowler, we had some slim pickins. There were a bunch of balls around but all of them either had bizarre finger configurations, were too heavy, had huge chunks missing from them, or were just super super dirty. We picked a few though and got under way. Unfortunately, our particular lane was a bit finnicky. After two frames it stopped lowering new pins. We called over the attendants and they seemed to fix it but then after the next toss we were back to square one. This went on and on for a little while until they called over one of the technicians.
Now in the states if your lane is not working correctly, they probably just shut it down and move you. But here in China, they sent a guy right down into the pin-moving mechanism and he manually pushed the thing down. Nobody told us to stop throwing balls or told us when it was okay to keep going. Eventually we decided it was safe to roll again but the problem kept occurring. Though the man was helping the pins down, sometimes the machine would release too early (i.e. from too high up) and you started the frame with only 7 pins on the ground. Hmmm. Eventually they did wise up and move us to a new lane, but it was pretty entertaining all around. I wish I could say that I channeled the spirit of "The Dude" and was in top form but in reality I only broke 100 once... and that was because I got a strike on the final frame.
I didn't think it could get much better than bowling but I was wrong. We finished up at about 11:30pm and I figured we would make our way home but Andrew had a grand plan. We walked over to Elephant & Castle, the local western sports bar and waited to the side while Andrew made some inquiries. E & C is known much more for it's football and rugby offerings than anything else, but we reasoned that if they had a satellite, they might just be able to pick up some U.S. sports. Specifically, we were hoping for Saturday afternoon's matinee at Shea Stadium featuring Pedro Martinez against Mike Mussina--the 2nd game of the Yankees v. Mets series. I didn't think there was a chance but Andrew worked his magic and I actually got to watch a live Yankees game!
And thus we entered a surreal world of beer, baseball, darts, and a projection screen TV. Sure, if you looked out the window there were neon signs in Chinese characters. However, with a menu offering fries, wings, and pizza to keep you company along with the sparklingly annoying commentary of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, it sure felt like home. It also worked out nicely that there were two bigtime Mets fans and two diehard Yankees fans to trade barbs throughout the game. I almost forgot how to trash-talk but rest assured, it all came back to me in a tidal wave of slang.
The first pitch was thrown at a little over 1:30am for us and we all got comfortable in our seats (assuming it was not our turn to throw darts in the ginormous 4-way team game of cricket). The game moved along a bit slowly but I was loving every second of it. Sure, they were in Queens and not the Bronx. Sure, Pedro was shutting down Yankees hitters like it was nobody's business. Sure, it quickly became reeeeeeally late at night. But this was Mets v. Yankees, live in China! I lost a bit of inspiration when the Yankees went down by 4 runs approaching the top of the 9th. Somebody must have known I was watching though because the Yankees staged an improbable comeback against an All-Star closer and ended up winning in 11 innings. We were probably some of the only people still awake in Guangzhou by that point, a little after 5am, but it was well worth it.
I woke up the next morning and honestly wondered if it had all really happened. Did I really drink Guinness last night? Did I really use a hot green bowling ball with a golf-ball sized chunk missing? Did the Mets really bring in Wagner in a non-save situation, only to have him blow the game? I'm pleased to say the answer was yes, all around.
Posted by awolfe at 11:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 19, 2006
The Pickle Odyssey
Whenever you live abroad for an extended period of time, there are certain things that you miss about home. I'm not talking about the obvious things like friends and family, but rather the unexpected ones. When I spent my first summer in Israel, I missed orange juice like crazy. When I was in Scotland I missed singing with a passion. So far in my tenure as an ex-pat in China, there are a few things I've been craving. As I've mentioned a few times, baseball is towards the top of my want-list. Warm weather means baseball and the Yankees to me and since it's never cold here, well, you get the idea. English literature is also towards the top as Barnes and Noble has yet to hit Guangzhou. The offerings here for contemporary English fiction are few and far between, not to mention ridiculously expensive. I'm almost embarassed to say, though, that what I've missed more than anything else is non other than your basic kosher-style baby dill pickle.
Anybody who has ever lived with me knows that pickles are a staple in the "Ari Diet." When I'm hungry for a snack, I tend to wander into the kitchen, open the fridge, grab a pickle, and munch down on it as I look for further nutrients. Even after I locate the snack of the moment, I tend to go back for another exit-pickle as I leave the kitchen. Pickles have almost always been a standard garnish in any of my meals. I'm not saying I have Penne Vodka topped with pickles, but they have been almost ubiquitous.
Naturally I looked for pickles when I first arrived and was disappointed by the offerings. There were various brands and denominations of gherkins and even a few jars of sweet pickles (gross) but not even a single normal-sized dill pickle to be found. My friends here quickly heard of my plight and did their best to appease this somewhat bizarre yearning. Diana brought me back a jar of pseudo baby dills from Vietnam but they were pickled with slightly different spices. Meggie offered to look up pickling recipes and help me do it from scratch. Anastasia, PiA Executive Director extraordinaire, heard of my lusting and spent an entire afternoon searching in Hong Kong but to no avail. Kelly did one better and brought back a genuine jar of baby dill pickles all the way from the states and it was all I could do to not eat the whole thing in one sitting. That jar became a treasure chest for me and each individual pickle was relished. Sadly, it was not a magical jar and it was gone all too soon.
One of my projects for the vacation a few weeks ago was to learn all the Chinese necessary to ask about special ordering pickles from one of the few western-import food stores here. While I never quite got around to it, a friend did inquire for me and they said that it was certainly possible. This news made my mind swirl. What brands were available? Could I special order a whole case or would they only procure a few jars? Would they be able to obtain those spicy dills I got addicted to last year? The possibilities were seemingly endless.
Two days ago Kelly and I decided to make dinner together and we put guacamole down as our appetizer. Guac' is another western "delicacy" that impossible to find in Guangzhou, but not all that difficult to make from scratch. There is one supermarket in the whole city that sells avocados at a reasonable price and it's not all that far away so they're easy to get. Obviously tomatoes are everywhere, along with onions and garlic, so the only things we had to buy special were the lime juice (limes are impossible to find), tobasco, and worcestershire sauce (Kelly's secret ingredient). We were all set to have guacamole and some curry Wednesday night until we realized that we had no chips. Tragic!
Now chips are a whole different ballgame over here. Pringles and lays are everywhere (though in somewhat bizarre flavors like "hokkaido crab" and "cucumber") but tortilla chips are sometimes tough to locate. They only seem to stock them at one or two of the western food stores and you never know what the availability will be. Anyhow, Kelly offered to trek out to Oliver's, one of the foodstores, and grab a bag.
As I walked into Kelly and Diana's apartment, I was made to close my eyes and informed that there was a surprise for me. I had my fingers crossed for the hint-of-lime tostitoes but I was definitely under-shooting this time 'round. I walked in, opened my eyes, and saw none other than NINE jars of baby dill pickles!! I was speechless. I almost shed a tear. I wish someone had captured the moment on film. And not only were they real American pickles, but they were straight-up Heinz kosher baby dills! Kosher dill pickles in Guangzhou, China? I guess stranger things have happened. It turns out that Oliver's was randomly stocking the item and Kelly seized the moment, buying their entire selection, sans three jars that she didn't have the hands for.
As I opened a jar and chowed down on the incredibly tasty treat, I began to wonder a bit about why it felt so special and why I missed them so much. I think the answer has a few different dimensions. First is obvious-- I like the taste. Pickles taste good so naturally I would want to have them. Along the same lines, I have a weird consistency-thing where I tend to like foods that are crunchy (nuts, pickles, etc.) and shy away from foods that are gooey (yogurt, bananas, etc.). But it has to be more than just that, right?
Second, is the concept of the familiar. Eating baby dill pickles has been a quotidian event for me and I certainly felt its absence. It is something I know well, used to depend on as a standard food item, and something that used to be a regular part of my day. Third, there's something of a cultural connection. Pickles are what I consider a kind of Jewish food along with things like bagels, kugel, and gefillte fish. Sure, others have taken pickles and modified them in various ways, but I think back to the histories I've read of the old New York Kosher delis and the large pickle barrel was always in the picture. Fourth, the human sense are extremely potent. It is well documented that music can elicit certain memories and feelings with people. I would argue that food is the same way and baby dills make me think of my apartment last year in Boston, of eating at various delis, of Jewish-holiday festival meals, and of Weshop, the Wesleyan campus market.
Whatever it is, I could not be happier. While it may only seem like a small detail to most, my quality of life here in Guangzhou just went up by leaps and bounds. That being said, I'm off to grab a pickle before hitting the soccer field.
Posted by awolfe at 4:39 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
May 17, 2006
Cheese Pizza in Paradise
Though today is raining in Guangzhou, the past two days have been an absolute paradise. We got a brief respite from the heat and humidity and were lucky enough to have sunshine, a cool breeze, and temperatures in the high seventies/low eighties. So nice!! I celebrated on Sunday by having Mother's Day dim sum (Happy Mother's Day once again, ma!) and then heading out to Shamian Island for some good old fashioned frisbee. Though I brought my frisbee with me back in August, this is the first time that I've actually had a chance to use it! Once I got the rust off my throwing arm, I was right back in the groove and loving it. Frisbee seems to be one of those all-American sort of activities that brings me back to college, good weather, and relaxing afternoons.
Besides being Mother's Day, Sunday was also actually International Austin Powers Day. Diana decided that since I had Passover and Kelly had Easter, she was feeling left out. The end result? Austin Powers Day. Diana cooked up vegetable samosa's, wheat crust pizza (from scratch!), mashed potatoes, and some other goodies. And, of course, we watched Mike Myers' modern classic. It was a really good meal, and only the second time I have had pizza since coming to China 9 months ago. Crazy.
Speaking pf pizza, my best student recently won a regional writing competition and got a 2000 kuai cash prize to go along with some chicken spices from a sponsoring company. What does that have to do with pizza, you ask? It's quite simple. 2000 kuai is about $250--a HUGE amount of money by Chinese standards. She was a bit disappointed to have been passed over for the grand prize, 6000 kuai and a 3 day vacation to Singapore, but 2nd prize is nothing to be embarassed of! She wanted to celebrate so we agreed to have lunch together yesterday. Though she selflessly wanted to spend some of her winnings on treating me to lunch, it was obviously much more appropriate for me to treat her. I asked her where she wanted to go and she said Pizza Hut. More pizza? Sure!
I had never been to Pizza Hut before but it has always intrigued me here. Whereas Pizaa Hut in the states is sort of low-end, greasy, cheap eatery, it's actually a real high class joint in China. There are fancy plates, well-dressed staff, and an extremely overpriced menu. But hey--pizza is far from ubiquitous in these parts so I was certainly willing to give it a try. We ordered two of the small 9 inch pizzas, one veggie and one spicy chicken. The menu suggested that each pizza would feed 2-3 people but I knew better. In American terms, these were individual-sized pan pizzas! When the waitress brought them over I was pleasantly surprised. They looked similar, smelled similar, and appeared to have a similar amount of grease. Though I had heard their pizza tasted radically different here, I think I have to disagree. It was far from exactly the same but the only thing that was noticeably different was the tomato sauce. Overall it hit the spot and I will definitely go back, despite the high price tag.
Meanwhile, I still have no internet in my apartment and it doesn't look like I will until September. This is no disaster, but it just makes life a little bit more difficult every time. This past Monday Steven and I had to give a presentation to a group of students traveling to the U.S. about cultural differences. Putting together the powerpoint turned into a minor fiasco because of transfering information and graphics, etc. But really what annoys me most is the lack of baseball news and highlights. MLB is obviously in full swing at this point and I'm feeling extremely out of the loop. I did, however, just read that the Yankees came back from being down 9 runs last night. That makes my day.
I hesitate to say so with certainty, but I think I actually have a new roommate for real this time! Though I haven't heard for sure, I did get a quick note from PiA that they completed their long and arduous search for Steven's replacement. For a short time there it looked like I was going to get a female roommate but I guess that never materialized. Either way, I'm excited to meet the "newbie" and show him around. Nick, if you're reading, get psyched because Guangzhou rocks.
This news of a new roommate is one of many indications that this school year is winding down, and winding down FAST. I am currently midway through my last full week of teaching before doing a week of review and then giving final. Crazy! Where has time gone? It's now a full year ago that I graduated from BU and got my masters. My sister actually graduates this week with her masters (congratulations, Ilana!!) so the entire Wolfe family is now officially overeducated. But I digress. I am getting super excited to get back home for a few weeks. I plan on gorging myself with high-fat American foods and watching baseball and sportscenter non-stop. I suppose I'll squeeze in some time for friends and family, but we'll have to see.
My Chinese course is also winding down which makes me sad. I am really enjoying the class and my teacher has been wonderful. I had a very satisfying moment over the weekend when I went to buy a flash drive from the big computer parts market down the street. I was asking around to check on different prices and finally found one that started off with a decent price. Of course I had to bargain down from there though so I had to kick my Chinese into overdrive. Though I'm sure I still got ripped off somewhat, I did manage to tell them in Mandarin that I was a poor student without any money and that they needed to lower the price. We jawed back and forth a bit but finally the lady caved and sold me a 2 gig drive for the equivelant of about $55. Not bad. Everyday though I am getting more excited to study full-time this summer. I am all set to be in Beijing from July 2-August 26th, studying about 45 hours a week. It'll be exhausting, but it's just what I need.
Finally, on the subject of Chinese, my (American) friends here have given me a new Chinese nickname which I find particularly amusing: "pangzi," or "xiao pangzi," which roughly translates to "fattie" or "little fattie." I love the idea of this catching on to the point that my co-workers here start calling me fattie. For some reason that would just make my day--I would laugh uncontrollably everytime.
Posted by awolfe at 5:12 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
May 12, 2006
Health Check
In the continuing adventures of Ari in China, today I went to my first health clinic. Nope, I wasn't sick but rather I had to get government authorization that I'm still physically fit enough to work here. It sort of makes me laugh. I was slightly nervous about the conditions and sanitation of the facilties but in the end there was nothing to worry about! It turned out to be a relatively quick and painless procedure, which is less than I can say for my physical and tests before I arrived in China.
Luckily I was not alone in this little jaunt, as Ms. Kelly Brooks also had to get "reauthorized" before getting the permit to stay another year. As we walked to the facility she gave me the nitty gritty details on what actually happens with the different forms and checkpoints. I should have known already but Hua Fu took care of all the details for me when I arrived and all I had to do was hand over my passport. I'm pretty sure that they'll do the same thing again but just in case, I got the full story.
Basically, we are both here right now under a foreign resident's permit in conjunction with the foreign expert's certificate. These will both expire in the next month so they have to get updated and extended. I suppose I understand but really--how does one lose one's "expertise?" If I was an expert before, what would have transpired in the last 9 months to make me no longer worthy of such distinction? Anyhow, once I get that certificate reissued it goes off to the resident's permit office which will just paste another sheet into my passport. This is all contingent on me being good and healthy though...
I think I detailed this back in August's blog, but before I left the states I had to have a physician fill out the visa application medical form. This includes such questions as "Are you crazy?" and "Do you have any contagious terminal illnesses?" The form also requires a chest x-ray, blood test, ekg, and a few other basics. Back in the states, I had to get the results notorized, the notorized forms authenticated with the MA state seal, and then all those forms together verified by the Chinese consulate. This whole process took a couple of days and cost a bunch of money, not to mention a whole heckuva lot of running around. And, in the end, my school never actually asked to see the final product here in Guangzhou. Oh well.
So today I set out to basically have all the same things done again, though this time I had the privilege of forking over almost 1/8 of my monthly salary. Great. I really had no idea what to expect in this whole thing but having finished it, I should've been able to picture it. Basically it was a health check factory: you arrive and wait in line to fill out the forms. After completing the initial forms you get in another line and pay the fee. They stamp your form, give you a special receipt and send you to a different line where you wait to go up to the part with the physicians.
Upstairs we got dropped off in a waiting room with one woman who checked weight, height, and blood pressure. Kelly and I had been munching on some skittles as we walked up the stairs when another foreigner mentioned that we were supposed to be fasting. Umm, oops? The first question they asked us was if we had eaten breakfast. My mother would definitely assert that skittles do not qualify as breakfast so we said no.
After we completed step 1, a doctor came and ushered us into room #2 which was kind of odd. One at a time they had us lay down and pull up our shirts, at which point they poured some goo on our stomachs and used some kind of device to look at our organs on a tv monitor. I guess they found them all in the right place because I got the big checkmark and a shove in the direction of room #3, the EKG room. The EKG took approximately 30 seconds to set up and then about 5 seconds of actual testing. Again, I guess my heart was acceptable because before we could get comfortable we were ushered out once again.
Room #4 was the X-ray room which I guess I was slightly apprehensive about. I gotta say though, before I had a chance to really think about it, they had say me down and taken the picture. It literally took about 15 seconds to walk into the room and sit in the x-ray seat and then about half a second for them to take it. They didn't position me, give me instructions, or really say much of anything. Luckily I don't have TB and was sent off to the next stop. I did have the notion that if I did have TB it would be completely China's fault and thus I should not be held responsible. Am I wrong?
Anyhow, room #5 was the actual doctor who must have spent a good 45 seconds listening to my body through the stethoscope. I asked, "mei wenti ma?" (no problems?) and he cheerfully responded in English, "Normal!" Okay then. It was off to room #6 and the eye test. They had a standard vision chart and a colorblind test. I aced the first part and pretty much guessed at the really small letters but Kelly told me I got them all right. Sweet!
Last stop was the only one I was dreading-- giving blood. They needed two vials of blood to test for HIV and syphillus so they had two nurses sticking people as quickly as possible. I guess when you do it a gazillion times a day you're good at it though because I sat down and two second after they looked at my passport they had already started filling up the first tube. It hurt a bit but it was definitely a nice new clean needle so that was nice. Nothing but the best for us here in the rich city of Guangzhou! I shudder to think about doing this exam somewhere in the rural countryside.
So that was that. I went through the conveyor belt and got fully checked in about an hour and a half. All in all, a relatively painless experience! Now if my residence permit application could be just as problem-free...
Posted by awolfe at 6:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 8, 2006
Blogging Delinquency, Part Deux
Ahh yes, my PiA blog. Have I fallen into the Zhujiang River never to be seen again? Nope. Sketchy Chinese internet strikes again! For no understandable reason, the connection in my apartment building has been down for the last 6 weeks or so. This makes blogging extremely difficult, especially given my penchant for long-winded musings. So, in an attempt to catch up to the present, here is a whirlwind update on the last month or so. Maybe I'll write without pronouns. That'll probably speed up the process...
English Festival- So back in the beginning of April was the English Festival here at Hua Fu. There were huge banners up around the school encouraging the study of the language ("Lets all become fluent English speakers!!") which were accompanied by a bunch of lanugage contests. These ranged from the run-of-the-mill essay competition to the much more creative English-movie dubbing competition. Steven and I were invited, i.e. required to be judges for these events which was just fine, especially because I was unable to judge most because I was teaching. The one I did get to go to, however, was the drama competition. The kids had to write and perform a play in English. They were judged on overall quality, costumes, pronunciation, and staging. It was pretty darn interesting but I felt super uncomfortable for two reasons. One, there was one bizarre production that was taking place in 18th century Prague and involved an evil "Jewess." I couldn't understand any of the plot so I spent the entire time trying to think of the last instance in which I heard someone referred to as a Jewess. Two, in about three different plays the students made various references and allusions to Brokeback Mountain. Now I can't say that I wouldn't have made a few gay cowboy jokes myself if I had been in the states when this came out, but these kids really don't understand or respect the concept of homosexuality at all. It's a all a big joke and I was shocked at how the administration didn't bat an eye at the kids mocking gays so blatantly.
Passover- Back around the middle of April was the Jewish holiday of Passover. I decided that I wanted to have a seder, the festival meal, at my apartment and so I invited all my friends over. I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out but it was a smashing success. I literally cooked for two days and gained a new respect for Jewish mothers all around the world. And I gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised with both my matzah balls and charoset. Yum! Anyhow, I was the only Heb around so I was pulling solo on all the songs, but my friends got into it in ways I never imagined. Lets just say that their dramatic re-enactment of Chad Gadya was priceless and that Diana is still happily referring to herself as the Angel of Death. And Ilana--I made sure to point out the section about Rabbi Jose.
The Key Incident- About a week later I came back from class and found my cleaning lady locked out of my apartment. Strange, given that she has a set of keys...and was holding them in her hand. I was feeling a bit under the weather and wanted nothing more than a bathroom and bed but I was denied. In some strange course of events my keys did not open the locks either. Eventually Steven got back and his keys didn't work either. Bizarre, huh? After about an hour of poking and shoving the door we got the school office to send a few people out. It took somebody pretty much kicking it down while also drilling the lock off to get it open. Of course the second it opened, my key worked just fine. What?! I have no idea what happened but the whole thing was strangely suspect. Was someone from the school in there? What would they have been looking for? So weird. Anyhow, they replaced the lock and it was fine. I, on the other hand, was not. It turned out that I got food poisoning and spent the next 12 hours in my own personal hell of vomit, fever and hallucinating sleep. I guess it was bound to happen at some point but I was just surprised that it didn't happen in the first week but rather in the 7th month.
James- James, PiA-er from Singapore came through Guangzhou the next week to catch up with us China kids. James is a great geat guy and it was a lot of fun to catch up with him. It blows me away that actually left for his post the day orientation ended last May and has thus been away for a almost a year now. He has had a great experience though and highly recommends Singapore. It is now on my list of destinations. His visit also made me realize that I've been away for a while. We realized that they were doing teacher training back at Princeton at the same time we were eating our lazy lunch. That means that new PiA-ers are well on their way to heading overseas and that we are no longer newbies to the abroad experience. It's a little crazy to me that my first year is winding down already. More on that later...
Vacation- I just finished an amazing 7 day vacation in which I never even left the city of Guangzhou. Some of my friends went to Vietnam, others to Hong Kong, but I opted to stick around and be as lazy as I wanted to be. Kelly and I decided to focus on food and cook elaborate meals everyday and it was a huge success! We made gnocchi from scratch (thanks for the recipe, Lauren!), slow cooked ribs, made guacamole, chicken soup, wasabi mashed potatoes, bruschetta, rasperry vinagrette baked chicken, and several other tasty concoctions. I also watched a score of movies and have recently gotten myself addicted to the Sopranos. Since I have to wait for the second half of season 5 of 24, I opted to become immersed in the life of Tony Soprano. While it nowhere near as addictive as 24, it is an awesome show that is well acted and well produced. Good stuff.
Chinese- My Chinese class has dwindled back down to 2 people given the recent Canton Business Fair and that's just fine by me. Nancy and I have been working hard and we now conduct class almost entirely in Chinese. I finally feel like I am progressing and my recent test results confirm that feeling. I have also gotten the official go to study Chinese this summer in an intensive 8 week program up in Beijing. I will be a full time student this summer and I am very very excited. Call it the inner dork in me, but I can't wait to really dive in full time on the language. I have high hopes to return at the end of the summer as a very competent speaker. Wish me luck!
Home- After jawing back and forth with the school administration a bit, I finally got the go-ahead to head home for a couple weeks. They let me out of teaching a couple of weeks early and so I will be making a brief appearance on the East Coast at the end of June. My schedule is a little rough right now but I think I'll be in CT June 17-22, NYC 23-24, DC 24-25, Boston 26-28, and then MV for a day or two before heading to Beijing. I would love to see anybody and everybody so gimme a shout!
Thoughts- I have no idea when my internet will be up and running again so I just want to remind people out there that you can always reach me on my local number: 860-967-3764. I hope all is well in the various corners of the globe...
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