a big let down

I have been living my life in a bit of a bubble...

Eating at the same gaifan restaurants, hanging out with the same laowai people, trying to find jobs in the same foreign places.

After the horror that was 2 weeks ago--post still to come--I was excited to get out of the doldrums.

I have been teaching, in some form or another for going on 4 years. Tonight was the first time I had a student ditch--Now for you students out there, block your ears--and it was nice and liberating. I knew I was getting paid, and I had an extra free hour and a half on my hands.

So I went to my favorite, nay, the most convenient restaurant near my apartment. I finished my gaifan, and prepared to leave. On my way out, a group of five laoren came in, and invited me for a drink.

Those who know me, besides my parents, and dare I say it, though I know it will know it will do no good, block your ears, you parental units, you who of all things knowledgeable are known, block your ears. As I was saying, you who know me, who are not related to me by blood, know that I am not one to turn down a drink, a strange smelling pot of soup, an elephant ball full of strange meat, and by ball, I mean sack. (With this distinction, I have to ask...what is an elephant ball, if not an elephant sack? A small plastic sphere, where tiny elephants are contained? Whereby these tiny elephants are able to roll themselves down to a basement darkness unknown by almost all normal-sized pachyderms? I realize now that I may have digressed.)

I sat to drink. After my time in Ningxia, I had been prepared. I could drink beer before Ningxia, but Baijiu was a learned skill from that time in my life. Say it with me, as would Shakespeare, learn ed. Not learned, by any means...but learn id.

We sat, we drank. One of my hosts pointed out that our boss host was a policeman. By the revealer's face, I can only assume I was supposed to be shocked and disgusted by this...but nay, my father is a judge, and you need to muster something much higher than a simple policeman to shock this one.

So I drank with the policeman, acknowledging that we had lived in the same building for 6 months without me knowing. After this fact came to light, I spent a huge amount of time, relative to drinking, remembering all their faces.

I kept trying to secure their phone numbers. To know a policeman, who works in my neighborhood, is a huge windfall. (Oh, you're robbing a liquor store? Oh, but you know Policeman Wang? No problem...we'll see you at the gaifan place.) But they protested. If you have a problem, all you have to do is knock, they said. As a fairly Buddhist fellow, I could not help but to agree.

So we sat and drank, and drank and sat, and only since sitting is more comfortable, we sat as much as we drank, and it all turned out about equal.

Then we said "Zouba!" and turned to leave, as that is what zouba means.

We reached the intersection in the road where we would all turn the same way. It was at that point I realized that racism cuts both ways. Negative and positive. They clearly thought that I was a laowai from their building, while in fact I was a laowai from another building. So we walked apart, most likely never to see another again, since there is roughly a million people in my block.


God, let that policeman remember me.



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Glossary

gaifan (n)--literally left-over rice, refers to a single serving of Chinese food served over a bed of rice.
laowai (n)--literally old foreigner, somewhat derogatory term for...you guessed it...foreigner. 'Cause we look so old.
laoren (n)--same lao...old people.
baijiu (n)--literally white liquor, most likely the worst alcohol on the planet. Made from sorghum, once one has had a hangover from this nasty stuff, they are able to smell a bottle being opened from 100 yards.
zouba (interjection)--let's go!

guess who's back

I had a psych professor in college who dubbed me "Slim Shady" the first day into freshman orientation. Thank god it never stuck. To be honest, I feel I don't feel either of those words fit me. Well, definitely not slim...

But I am back, after an extended hiatus. My lack of posts were due to a few things over the past few months...stress at work, stress about quitting my job, stress about finding a new job, stress about visas. Even though my troubles are not yet over (God willing, they will be resolved by the end of the day), I decided to get back on my horse and write.

So let the muses descend, and I will have a new, more interesting post by the end of the day.

rush hour

I might take some flack for saying this, but I feel that you don't really know what rush hour is until you feel some guy's heart beating against your back. Until somebody in a yellow windbreaker comes up and pushes you and another 15 people further onto the train from the platform. Until you don't have to move your hands to hold on (in fact, you can't move your hands to hold on) because the mass of people leaning against you is too great.

This is crazy, but I don't really mind it. Everybody's pretty chill, and we all just lean and sway as the train goes along. I can't help but be pretty deep into community, at that point--anonymous, crushed, and surrounded by hundreds. I feel pretty safe, too. There's no way a pick pocket is going to get anywhere in the crowd, even if he had room for his hands to get into my pocket. If the train derails, there is the padding of the crowd to save me.

The worst part comes when you leave the train. If you're not at a big stop with a lot of others getting out, it's swimming up stream. A sea of people try to get on, and you have act like a running back doing drills to get out. It can get pretty brutal, but there are never any complaints. Get shoved by a woman getting on the train? So be it. A goofy looking white dude carrying a book didn't spare a second thought knocking you out of the way? Take a number. It's get off the train or don't get off the train out here.

I miss nature, but I am getting the hang of this city thing.

chinese new year's eve

Zhang Sheng, one of my colleagues at work, invited us to his house for Chinese New Year. We left Beijing at 2:15, and arrived in Tianjin at about 3:30, via the nicest train I've ever ridden in China. Not only was there a ton of leg room (my long, long, incredibly long, legs demand it), there was also the wings that you can lean your head on when you pass out. It was great.

Tianjin was nice, too. Comparable population wise to Beijing, it seemed much more open. Zhang Sheng's family was incredibly nice, and we ate the entire time we were there. First it was peanuts and candy, then oranges. Then it was dinner time with about 15 courses. Tianjin is near the ocean, and known for it's seafood. The fish, whole deep fried squid, and oysters were all delicious. The pork was great too. Zhang Sheng's father is a wonderful cook, and his family wants him to move to the States and open a restaurant. Possibilities lie all around.

We ate all we could, the retired to the guest room to play some Monopoly. It was great. I would have won too, if we had not been called to "bao jiaozi" or make dumplings. Dumplings are the traditional food you eat at midnight of the lunar new year. We made a ton, and didn't think much of it.

We then went outside at midnight. The block was a warzone. I've heard multiple reports of people from war torn countries (Israel, Iraq) who leave the country for this holiday season. (Right now, there are explosions outside my window.) It is nonstop for a week before and a week after, but at this time it seemed to come to a head. Everyone was outside lighting strings of firecrackers and bottle rockets. Zhang Sheng's father had a string of m-80's he lit.

The noise the firecrackers make are supposed to scare the ghosts away, and therefore bring good luck, at least as I understand it. GD...these people must be lucky. It was cool though, and when we headed back inside, we all smelled of gunpowder. Which made me feel badass (I mean, more than usual).

By the time we were back inside, the dumplings had been boiled and set out. We ate a few plates, and then Zhang Sheng's family stopped. That left the Laowais. Known for my ability to eat under the eyes of someone who wants me to eat, I was a champ. I told Zhang Sheng's mother that I couldn't eat any more, her children couldn't eat anymore. She responded, "They are not polite. You are polite. Keep eating!" And so I picked up my chopsticks. I think I stopped around 75.

At that point, I was pretty tuckered out. We passed out, only to wake up 4 hours later to catch our train back to the city. I mean, the other city.

It was short, but great. Last Chinese New Year's Eve, I was by myself in Guilin, watching large families through plate glass windows eating massive amounts of food. It was nice to be inside.

quirkiest part of the bj subway

I see this every day on my way to work. It cracks me up. Everybody sees what I'm talking about, right? (click to enlarge)

new year's at the people's congress

I may not have guanxi (relationships/influence), but I know people who do. That's why I was invited to Chinese New Year celebration at the People's Congress Hall off of Tiananmen Square.

It was amazing.

This part of the year is the only time that the building is open to the public. It is a grand place. I'm sure I just saw a small portion of it, but it was mostly giant hallways with marble columns and floors.

Inside, there were a variety of things to do. In the main lobby, when you come in the door, there were two bouncy castles setup. The kids were in the lobby of the main legislative building of the CPC, jumping up and down to their hearts content. You could play ping pong against people I imagine were on the national team, and use an exercise bike to power video games as you played them.

There were puppet shows and comedians, and on the main stage, in a giant hall with 3 balconies, there were famous people singing folk songs. It's interesting to see such a focus on culture. I feel like there is no way that people would go to see folk songs sung in the States. I imagine...who is it nowadays?...[insert popstar here] singing Yankee Doodle Dandy to a crowd of thousands. I guess it's the depth of culture, but it's fairly impressive.

While people sang on stage, the audience, as usual, babbled like a brook. You could still hear the music, but I was surprised when a man sitting next to me asked to be quiet, as he couldn't hear the singing. I will easily grant I can be a bit loud at points, but we were in an auditorium with three thousand other people talking. Give me a break. Needless to say, however, I spoke much more quietly.

At the end of the night, I was excited to get back home. This working stuff is hard.

pricing craziness

Back when I lived in Chengdu, I didn't have to worry about housing. My school provided me with a palatial apartment in the suburbs. Still I quickly noticed the difference in pricing in China.

For example, while I could spend about 20 kuai (a little less than $3) on a dinner for 2 with a few beers, I would have to shell out about 200 kuai (a little less than $30) for a pair of pants. In the US, the price of dinner and a pair of pants (for someone as cheap as myself) is often pretty comparable. This made it very difficult for me to buy clothes in China...not to mention the problem of finding pants that fit.

In Beijing the disparity can be even greater. For instance, I found an unfurnished apartment (which I guess is virtually unheard of in Beijing) for fairly cheap. That was great. What killed me is that I had to pay about $100 dollars more for my bed (mattress included) than one month's rent.

I've decided it's a really cheap apartment instead of a really expensive bed.

back in the china

Well, I have arrived. You must forgive me a short sabbatical, as I was back in the States for a bit.

I took a red eye from LAX at 12:40, and arrived in Beijing, my new home, at 5:40 the next day. I showered and shaved then rolled into work. What a day. Thankfully, I had caught some sleep on the plane, so I wasn't too bad.

After getting acquainted with my co-workers for the morning, I went out on my first apartment search of my life. At the ripe age of 25, every job I've had and every school I've attended has provided housing. So I've been freaking out.

I may have found the one I want this afternoon, after only seeing three places. While three's the charm, I'm a bit nervous about biting the bullet so early.

Who knows, but it's nice/weird to be back in China.