Adventures in Guangzhou!

First off, I didn't think it was possible, but I'm pretty sure the air here is even worse than down in GZ. It may just be that I came here straight from the states or that the weather has been particularly bad these few weeks, but I've only seen the sun once and only seen a hint of blue sky on one occasion. Other than that, it's grey, hazy, and polluted like crazy. On the upside, the temperature hasn't been nearly as smoldering as I expected. Again, I don't know if this is typical, but we've had some semblance of a breeze almost every day. Even if it only disguises the humidity for a brief moment, it's still nice.

Second, Beijing public transportation is suprisingly awful. For a city that is hosting the olympics in two short years, the subway system is remarkably inadequate. I believe they are in the process of adding a bunch of lines and expanding the frequency of trains, but right now it's horrendous. For starters, I can't even figure out the ticket system. Much like in Guangzhou, you pay more depending on how far you're going. But unlike GZ, there are no kiosks with digital maps to show you exactly how much to pay. I tried to decipher a sign but it made no sense to me. Instead, you wait in a long line and buy a paper ticket. Some attendant then tears your paper ticket in half when you walk down the stairs. I don't know how this could possibly be more efficient than a card or token system but what do I know. What's even more incredible is that even once you get down the stairs and figure out where to go, the subway cars themselves are incredibly outdated. There is no air conditioning so you basically have to hope that the fans are working. If they're not, you're in for a hot/smelly ride. If they are, it's only mildly more palatable.

I've only taken the bus twice but I can't say it was much better. I think the buses are much more far-reaching; however, they are also not super convenient, at least where I am. This pretty much amounts to a ton of walking. Usually that wouldn't be a big problem, but in Guo Mao (my part of the city), almost half the sidewalks are under construction right now. There are so many buildings going up in the central business district here that there is huge construction pretty much anywhere you'd want to walk. It's annoying dodging cars and bicycles everyday, but I guess that's just a way of life.

Another interesting difference between here and GZ is that people seem to be much more used to foreigners. I guess there are probably quite a few more up here but it's sort of funny. My friend Dan has really good Chinese and used to get enormous compliments anytime he spoke in Changsha, his former home in Hunan Province. Over here, they don't give him a second look. They *expect* you to be fluent. Last night I was in a restaurant and managed to not only read a bunch of the menu, but also use one of the phrases I recently learned in class with the waitress. She was unimpressed.

I don't know if this a difference, but despite being comparatively well educated and cultured here in Beijing, people are still remarkably China-centric. I mentioned something to one of my teachers about everything going on in Israel right now and she had no idea what I was talking about. I watched the news on CCTV-9, the English language channel here, and it only got a small mention, sandwiched in between news of a rainstorm here and a new business deal in Hong Kong. It's really not hard to see why people have a very insular view here because they get fed nothing but China China China all the time. And what's painfully obvious to me as a foreigner is that it really is monitored and censored by the state. Not only do you not hear bad news, but you may have seen the article in the NY Times last week that publishing breaking news (without permission) now carries a hefty fine.

On a separate note, learning characters has definitely given me a new perspective on things. As a good friend told me, learning how to read and write here is like learning a secret code... that millions of people know. A lot of those little squiggles really do carry meaning so it's interesting to piece them together now, especially for words that I've known for months. It's almost like walking around a city and piecing together sections of a mental map--I can now look at some signs and figure out exactly why they use a certain character.

I'm still in the basics of reading and writing but that's just fine by me--there's a lot for me to catch up on. Furthermore, a lot of the more basic characters have some really interesting meanings: hao, the character for good, is actually a compound that combines the characters for woman and son (i.e., a woman together with her son is good). Along the same lines, the character for peace is a compound of a woman in a house. The character for taking a rest is a compound of a man up against a tree. You get the idea. Of course it also makes me chuckle to discover that the character for bed is actually a compound that sort of means "wide piece of wood." Doesn't sound too comfortable to me but, again, you get the idea. So basically I am spending hours just trying to decode these characters and find logic/meaning in a system that up til now has appeared to be completely random.

I am not being a total recluse though and have gotten out a bit this weekend. Friday night I saw a performance of Chinese acrobats and it was stunning--really defied any words. My favorite was probably the guy rolling around about twenty feet up balancing precariously on top of a few of his comrades' heads, flipping small bowls from a board on to his head. Picture that, if you can. And tonight I am heading out to catch my first Chinese Football League match (read: soccer). I'm not expecting a super high level of play but I am extremely curious to see the culture of it all. Will people be yelling and singing all game? Will they be downing lots of beers? Will there be a big police presence? I'll soon find out.