Hanging out in Hangzhou

Tibet Trip - Chengdu

2006-09-24T02:04:00.000+08:00

Apologies for the super long delay in getting these online, I've been busy moving into my apartment in Denver and having school starting. I wrote these posts on paper when I was traveling within Tibet.

I didn't realize the Hangzhou Airport was so far away from the city itself. A 110 RMB cab ride later, the airport was easy to manage. I thought I may have a more difficult time. WHile I was sitting in the waiting area and reading Wealth and Democracy, a family sat down next to me. They gave their 2 young sons a hard time for not speaking English to me. I think I scared the older one when I rattled off something about why study if you don't want to speak it (in Chinese of course) -- his parents and the other adults around laughed.

The plane flight was hilarious. They had me seated next to a 7 year old girl named Ji Li. She spoke no English, but wanted to tell me everything about her (especially her huge fake Barbi set that she got as a gift). Dinner was fun. She wanted more beef. =) Right before we landed she passed out. I woke her up and she, like a grumpy child, "I don't want to!" -- so I left her in the responsibility of the flight attendants.

The hotel ride was quick and easy. They were amazed that I spoke some Chinese. I read some more and watched CCTV9. I just returned home from getting some food -- I needed some stuff for the Tibet plane ride so I just went to the store and bought: cherry tomatoes, green tea flavor frito lays, sausage with embedded corn, Snow beer, a pomegrante, double chocolate oreos, and 2 bottles of tea.

I won't have a chance to screw around in Chengdu too much because I have to be at the airport at 6 AM. I'm going to miss Hangzhou.

As an afterthought, there are some things about China that are amazing.

Tea. So many kinds. There is almost a whole aisle of bottled tea at the grocer.

Small grocers. I love them. Even though some try to charge the "foriegner tax"

CCTV9 and 大山 -- the English TV station and the Canadian who is the white god here. I find it amazing that the weather includes NO American cities, but everywhere else around the world. Da Shan. He is annoying, but awesome.

Staring. I apologize to everyone in advance is I stare. I've gotten used to having people do it to me openly and I stare a bit now.

Terrorism. A Chinese and a Canadian both had the same thought: Couldn't the governments of the U.S., Great Britain, and Israel be terrorist entities? I wonder if G.W. Bush knows what year 9/11 happened. Do you? Ask yourself without looking.

Cars. Driving in China is insane. I want to drive next time I am here.

Drinking. Very few people drink casually in Hangzhou

Until next time.

Second to last day studying Chinese - Shanghai + Chengdu + Tibet + Chicago

2006-08-17T19:12:00.000+08:00

So, my time has almost come to an end in China. I have been quite busy
lately. Let's start:

Shanghai last weekend. I have some photos, but I had a horrific weekend,
yet entertaining. Bob told me once that you can have bad China days and
good China days. On good China days, anything is possible. I headed out to
the bus station around 11 AM, chatted with the taxi driver and got my
tickets. After the two hour trip and researching some places in Shanghai, I
got off the bus and headed out to get lunch. After finding my way through
the subway system, I got off at my stop and went to a place called the
"Kommune". I had an expensive lunch, but it tasted so good. Ciabatta with
chicken, cheese, and sundried tomatoes. Good stuff. Afterwards, I headed
out to my hostel: the Captain's Hostel -- I had a bad feeling about it. I
was right. My passport was with the Chinese government and I had a
receipt. Well, the Captain's Hostel said it was the wrong receipt and that
nowhere in town would accept it. So, I was homeless.

At that point, I decided to take some pictures and catch the last ride out
of town. I headed down to the tourist hell called "The Bund". It was
nice, except there were too many tourists. Like way too many. I was fed
up and had some food -- got stuff I didn't order and got overcharged. After
fighting for a bit, I got it reduced, but still too much. *shrug*
whatever. I was really fed up by that time. I got myself a taxi back to
the bus station and took the last bus home. So, no staying overnight, not
much of anything. I'll be back though (more on that later).

I really like Hangzhou and China, in general. A lot of good things and some
bad, but overall, a good time.

This week has been less taxing than normal. I didn't go to morning class
once. I've been working on my spoken language quite heavily. I feel more
and more confident by the day. As I realized a few weeks ago, I need to
take a break from learning and let the stuff I've learned sink in. Wow. I
would never have believed this 15 years ago - I can speak Chinese.

Tomorrow night my classmates and I are going out for a going away party and
then Saturday, my instructor and I are going shopping one last time in
Hangzhou.

Then, my trip:

Sunday, I leave for Chengdu at 3:30 PM. I arrive there about 6 PM. On
Monday morning, I leave for Lhasa and then head out for the whole week in
Lhasa. I return to Hangzhou on Saturday night. After that I will be
staying 2 nights in Hangzhou and 2 nights in Shanghai. Then, Chicago!
Scary -- to be coming home that is.

I hope to have my Shanghai pictures up before I leave. If I don't, then I
apologize. I won't be able to update from Lhasa, so please check back
around Labor Day.

In honor of last night

2006-08-11T19:09:00.000+08:00

Go Russia!.

I wonder if the American government is going to let me bring baijiu back.
This whole terrorism thing is out of hand. Has anyone else noticed that
the only flights being targeted are the British <-> American flights. I
wonder why.

So, I've been trying to figure out what the new regulations are. I've read
the TSA notices and can't seem to figure out if they are stopping China ->
America flights and enforcing the same rules. I wonder when WWIII is
going to really break out -- I think once the current regime decides to
attempt to take out the Iranians -- China will come to their rescue. Then
we will have chaos.

Mmmm.. Chaos is good sometimes.

OK. Enough political rambling, I don't want to get myself into too much
trouble. Instead of talking about it, do something about it -- or so the
thinking goes. With that, I'll go back to doing something about it.

Off for the weekend. Shanghai. I should have a few too many pictures
after that. =)

P.S. Reuters has a good article basically giving away how to make homemade bombs Shouldn't they be considered terrorists too? Nah, just the media hard at work!

Pictures and Videos Oh My!

2006-08-10T12:24:00.000+08:00

I promised pictures and a video.....so here they are. Not much else to say right now. I'm physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted from studying so much. I can't seem to focus on my studies. I've gotten to the point of wanting to lie around and watch movies. Maybe it is the summer doldrums? The lack of a lot of social contact like I normally have? I don't know. Yesterday, I couldn't even be bother to go out and find dinner. I stayed in and ate noodles from a cardboard tub. haha As is life.

Oh. I now have direct access to this blog. The magic red firewall in the sky determined that my blog wasn't going to harm anyone..... until they see the following video of MEAT JELLO!!!!

Entire set of August 1, 2006 Birthday Dinner for me!

Entire set of August 1, 2006 Birthday After-Dinner Party for me!

Entire Set of August 6, 2006 trip to West Lake

Day much more. I think 50 something: More madness

2006-08-07T20:12:00.000+08:00

This week brings about the time where I will become the longest staying
member at the school I attend. 2 more weeks of Chinese lessons! I won't
say I will miss them, but it will be a bit of a downer. Guy and I talked
today and discussed for a second our desire for a break from Chinese. I
love studying -- I really do, but -- it is taxing on the mind. I can barely
function some days. As many of my friends and family know (sorry ladies
and gentlemen!) I haven't called or emailed as much as I usually do, nor
have I posted on my blog as much as I have wanted. I knew I needed a break,
but I slacked on getting my Tibet trip organized, so I changed that to the
last week I am in China. Overall, the experience has been overwhelmingly
positive, but I think next time I will do language courses for only 3 weeks
take a week off and then 3 more weeks.

Speaking of Tibet (西臧), I...ok back up first.

When I came to China, I was told that I needed a visa and that it wouldn't
matter if I got 45 days or whatever. The contact said I could do anything
as long as it is over 31 days. I got 60 days. Come to find out, I need to
get exactly the number of days I will be here. So, I have to get my China
visa extended. After a painful process, I now have my visa in the process
of getting extended.

Next up - to get to Tibet, I need to have a Tibet visitor's visa as well.
The travel agency is taking care of all of this process. The problem arises
that, by the time the visas get extended/completed, I will be leaving for
Tibet. The visas are supposed to arrive back the day before I leave. =)
Hopefully there will be no delays.

OK. Back to Tibet. I am leaving August 20 for Chengdu and will stay the
night. On the morning of August 21, I will leave for Lhasa, Tibet. Over
the next 6 nights, I will be traveling around Tibet with a Chinese-language
speaking tour group and guide. I expect to put my language skills to heavy
use. I don't know the exact locations of our stops, but I expect it to be
fun. There is a major festival in Tibet at that time: The Shoton Festival
( http://www.tibet.cn/english/zt/040818_xdj/200402004818170814.htm) I
won't go into details, so read the link. =) I return to Hangzhou on
August 27 via a night plane. Afterwards, I head to ???? And then I'm
headed to Chicago.

I have a bunch of photos to post online, but it has become difficult to post
them. Plus, the only pics I have to put up are those from my birthday. I
have not sorted through them, yet. =) Somebody took photos with my
camera and it wasn't me. Hahah. =) Once I get all of them organized and
back online properly, I will post them.

A couple of discussions I have been writing, but have not compelted and
probably won't until I return to America: DVDs and copyright protection,
neighborhood change, disparity between rich and poor, small culture
differences, and economic system differences.

I'll write more about my weekend when I get my photos ready.

Day 35 - Mexican food in China?

2006-07-30T19:02:00.000+08:00

The big crackdown came this week. Hangzhou police started cracking down on
pirated DVDs here. Today, they are back. I forgot the Chinese saying,
but it was pretty good about Chinese policy versus local business. I have
so many thoughts about this, but I won't go into them now.

On Wed., I organized an evening outing for our classmates to the Maya Bar in
Hangzhou. It is the only Mexican bar here. I chose the place because it
had a Chili Night. For 30 RMB, we got a huge bowl of chili. The only
disappointment was the lack of guacamole. =) We also ordered some nachos
and some of the other students had chicken burritos. Everything was really
really good. I decided to take some pictures. They turned out alright --
It was a low light situation and I hate flash. I made the best use of the
light we had, but it doesn't always work out. Sorry about the poor quality
of the pics.

height="375" alt="Judith and I!" />

The
entire set

My brain is full this week. The afternoon one-on-one lessons have been
super helpful. I'm feeling more confident every day with my Chinese
speaking and listening. A bit more details on this -- I've decided to take
the approach that I need more listening. By listening more clearly, I can
understand what everyone says -- then I can respond slowly, but I can work
on that.

I really need a nap, but I haven't been able to fall asleep lately. I've
been waking up thinking about the Chinese I've been learning, watching
Grey's Anatomy on DVD, tossing and turning, etc. Luckily there is no plans
for the weekend besides having a suit made and shopping a bit.

Until next time

This past weekend. Day many

2006-07-29T00:16:00.000+08:00

This morning, I got up a bit late. My apologies for not posting as
frequently. I have another post with pictures ready to go. Anything you
want? Any particular picture subjects?

So, this morning - after my shower, I hear fireworks. I finished getting
ready and the fireworks continued. I mean -- full blast "grand finale"
style for 10 minutes straight. I head out to school and the neighboring
building was having its grand opening. The fireworks continued until I
stopped and watched. About 20 minutes of straight firework action. Really
awesome. 8:40 AM on Monday morning.

This weekend I went to the Night Market with Simone, Judith, Guy, and
Tristan. I picked up a watch. I bargained him down a bit and got a decent
one. Pretty funny really.

Saturday, I went with Helga and Martina to the Silk Market and ended up
having a suit made. The total cost was 1060 RMB. I have to go back on
7/31 to get it adjusted. =) can't wait. Not much else this past week.
The other post will tell more.

Until next time

Day something over a month

2006-07-19T07:39:00.000+08:00

I've begun to have private lessons for 2 hours at a time in the afternoons.
I must say that these are much better than 4 hours of group lessons. My
teacher, Mike, is extremely good at getting me to understand the listening.
We discussed what kind of problems I was having and he is extremely
accommodating. The only problem is that it requires tremendous
concentration. 2 straight hours of concentration is evil on the mind.

I've also started to become more confident in speaking to non-school related
people. I even argued with the bank teller because she would not accept one
of my $100 bills to exchange - because it had writing on it (stupid American
banks). That's 800 Y!!!! So, I took the stack of RMB and went through,
grabbed all of the ones that had writing and told her that I could not
accept them because I didn't know if they were real. BTW - this was all in
Chinese. =) She gave in and exchanged the RMB for ones that weren't
written on. I feel satisfied.

This past weekend I went to Tong Xiang, about an hour away from Hangzhou by
van.bus. This is the aforementioned teacher mike's hometown. We headed up
on Saturday afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning. It was a much
smaller town than Hangzhou - probably 100K people or so. It is difficult to
tell. We had tea and dinner with his father. The food was pretty good.
Very filling. I especially liked the mushroom soup. Afterwards, we headed
out to a disco with one of his friends. This was interesting and a fun
time. Had a few drinks and then headed out to this restaurant for late
night snacks. Mike ordered this huge bowl of spicy soupish stuff with ....
Stuff in it. After digging through the mess, there were chicken feet, fish,
shrimp, frog pieces, tofu, east melon, and potato. Very good, nice and
spicy. I loved the frog the best. =)

In other news, I have 2 new roommates. Martina is a German woman that has
been speaking and studying Chinese since 1986. Helga is a Dutch woman who
has never learned any Chinese before. They are very nice. =) We have
some other new students as well. Tonight, we are headed to the Mexican bar
to have food and drink. Probably a bit too much drink, but whatever - it is
fun.

Some other things I have recently learned
- Wells Fargo Visa debit cards work here. Thank goodness
- the only bikers that wear helmets are the Pizza Hut delivery guys
- Bank of China doesn't accept USD with writing on it
- Expat magazines are the best thing ever
- Finding shirts your size takes patience, ingenuity, and money
- the decision to again become bald is a difficult one. I haven't decided
yet
- Chinese don't sweat - they just get sick.
- Bats are neat animals
- Humans are even neater
- They don't sell vinyl records in Hangzhou

Until next time

Day 29: Lotii, Lotus, or Lotuses -- you decide

2006-07-15T10:53:00.000+08:00

The lovely world of China. Life seemingly revolves around work, tea, and flowers here. Throw in a little play and you'll have a Chinese life.

Yesterday, my class and I ventured to the Hangzhou West Lake Lotus festival. The entire West Lake park was filled with lotus. The discussion in my head began to argue about "what is the plural of lotus"? Lotii? Lotus? Lotuses? According to a cooking website, the plural is Lotus. According to a car manufacturing website - Lotii. I like Lotus the best. So, Lotus it is. The lotus were in full bloom. Interesting plants really --they grow in water and we can eat their roots and their buds. Basically the flower grows, petals fall off, and the inside is edible -- There are these beans that you can eat raw or boil. I heard they are good. Street vendors have started selling them, so I'll pick a few up soon.

The entire park was beautiful. I hope you enjoy the pics.

height="375" alt="Lotus flower" />

The entire set

In other news, class has been going a bit better. I'm made my frustrations clear with the staff and they seem to be addressing it a bit. I've also changed to the following: 9-11 AM - group lesson with Mike (he speaks English extremely well) and 1-3 PM - private one on one lesson with ???? This will last until August 17. At that time, I am planning on going to Tibet for 10 days. I'm looking for a Mt. Everest base camp excursion right now. I will back in Shanghai the 28th of August and then in Chicago on the 30th.

A few interesting things happened this week. Monday or Tuesday I was walking down the street and was curious as to why the main road was pretty empty. I live right off a very busy street (4-5 lanes one way) and usually it is a huge traffic jam. I kept walking to school and discovered that water was shooting from the middle of the intersection. I've seen water mains break before -- no big deal, but what I could not understand is that there is no construction safety for the public. A large mass of people were standing around the whole checking it out. I wandered over and checked it out for a minute -- I probably could have jumped in the hole if I wanted.
Funny. It was about as bad as the guy hammering bricks into the walkway down the same road last week -- he was swinging a sledge hammer knocking down a wall into the walkway. No regard for the pedestrians -- just swinging away and bricks were flying across the walkway. The pedestrians had to manage themselves as to how to get around his swings.

Finally, last night I went to a club. My friends Lily and Jennie and I went out to eat at the Banana Leaf -- a place that supposedly has great curries. Ate there -- decent. I'm not a fan of bone-in chicken, but China is. Afterwards Jennie wanted to go clubbing. I'm up for it of course. =) We ended up at some place called the "Happy Hour". At first, I thought they were going to take me to a fancy club where everyone "looks good" and "acts worse". Nope. 10Y to get in and *bam* *bam* *bam* -- sounds like good techno. Walking in, the Communist policemen looked at me like I was out of my mind. But, I had two beautiful Chinese women with me - so I felt much more comfortable. We had a drink and then headed out to the dancefloor. I think everyone stared at me for 20 minutes. I was head and shoulders taller than most everyone. =) All of the sudden, the music moved to something really slow. It was time for a break! Seriously - they took a 15 minute intermission where people slow-danced on the dancefloor!!!! Shocked, I had another beer (I called it fizzy water - because the beer is so tasteless and weak). The dancing resumed. I had an amazing time and Jennie promised to take me back. The club reminded me of Joe Carroll's place near Milwaukee quite a few years ago. Not dirty, but not clean and fancy. Just -- raw. DJ + lights + sound + people. That's it. I was disappointed that I could not order a mixed drink. I'll be back there even though I was weirded out by the Communist policemen standing around the dancefloor randomly flashing their flashlight at people.

One final note -- I can't read my blog, so I don't know if I have mentioned this. I found beer. Decent beer. It has an odd after taste, but it is made by a German. 1828 is the name of the place and they homebrew their beer here in Hangzhou. It is very decent and they have burgers to go along with it. Paul, the manager, is super friendly. I will be frequenting this bar much much much more. =) They have both light and dark and at 55Y per 1.5 liter, it is a good deal.

Day ?? -- I think 23

2006-07-09T22:30:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the long absence - I've been sick and quite busy.

So, I've been here for just over three weeks. Is it what I expected? Yes, and a bit more. I felt slightly confident in my Chinese language skills. At least enough to order a bite to eat, use the taxi, and order a beer. Maybe have a simple conversation. After three weeks, I must say -- I am ignorant. Don't get me wrong - I have a better grasp of Chinese than, say, my mom, but I am having a difficult time.

This weekend, I have had a case of the self-doubts. It happens from time to time. I'm feeling like I am not progressing well enough in class. I'm learning words, learning characters, but I just don't have the verbal stuff down....i.e. I can't hold a freaking conversation. I can slightly get by with the taxi drivers and a few of the local shops I frequent. But in all reality - I am mute and deaf to the world here. I went to buy some movies today and felt more confident when I told the shopkeep to leave me alone. But still - the self doubt in me says "you should be much further along than this". I have a couple of ideas of what I should do -- the first being to upgrade 2 hours of my lessons to private tutoring. This will cost a bit, but whatever. I need pure verbal skills. The second is to find a language partner. The problem is that I need someone who speaks as much English as I speak Chinese. I was talking to someone for a bit -- but she speaks English very well -- and it was difficult to communicate in Chinese -- so much so, that we kept defaulting to English.

So, I'm setting up a couple of goals for myself for the next week.

1) I bought Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code". In Chinese. I am going to start translating it. Yes, it will be difficult. But I think this will enhance my reading comprehension three fold.
2) Start studying more. I'm almost done with two separate projects outside of Chinese -- once these are off the table - I can focus more on studying.
3) Learn how to use my computer to write hanzi. Sorry, Zhang Laoshi -- I haven't written yet cuz I'm dumb.
4) Eat better. I've fallen into the "buy some cheese and crackers and eat it for dinner" mode. Yeah -- not good. I just feel so sick all the time otherwise though -- western diets corrupt the body.
5) Ignore shopping. Even though I'm going to have a suit made next week. My roomie and I were speculating the cost of a custom made suit in America made from the material we found here. We estimated about $2500. I'm hoping the wonderfully, nice, old shopkeeper (he looks 110 years old) will hook it up -- he has probably been in business for 90 years.
6) start excercising. I think i might join the boxing club. it is cheaper than the workout facility. plus the workout facility has nothing more than a few hamster wheels and free weights - plus it runs $40USD/month.

Ok. Back to the regularly scheduled program.

Last Monday, my class and I went to a tea village southwest of Hangzhou. I was pretty frustrated by the whole unorganization of the process. We were supposed to leave at 1 PM to have lunch there. The van was not available. 2 PM rolls around -- we are still waiting (after having been told 1:30, then 1:45). Finally leave at 2:15. By this time, I was starving and grumpy from not eating all day. I sat in the front seat -- and low and behold - the driver doesn't know where he's going! He speaks no English, so I gave up trying to direct him via the map. After a while, we finally get there. The food was ready for us -- slightly cold of course. It was decent, nothing special though. A bit expensive for what we received. As is life. Afterwards, we all headed to the shopkeeper's place to buy some tea. Everything is sold "per jin" -- 1 jin = 1/2 kilo = about 1.1 pounds. They had 4 varieties: 800 Y; 700Y; 200Y; 100Y per jin. We decided to purchase a jin of the 200Y kind. Ian and I split this with Miikka and ended up with 5 canisters of really nice tea.

Entire Tea Village set

After the tea village, we headed to a bamboo forest. By this time, everyone was cranky -- the 8Y entry fee didn't make things better either. Luckily, I was able to go off by myself for a while and enjoy nature. This really made me miss both Denver and my hometown. Very rarely does a person get time with no one around here. I loved this place. The bamboo forest seemed slightly manufactured though. The bamboo was real, yes -- but it seemed like the forest was planted there and maintained as a bamboo forest. Regardless, it was nice.

Entire Bamboo Forest set

A bunch of other stuff to say, but I'm tired now. Hopefully will update tomorrow. Until next time.

Day 19: This past weekend

2006-07-05T14:54:00.000+08:00

This past weekend my classmates and I went to a couple of places.

Friday, we went to the Chinese National Tea Museum.

It was a tourist trap basically. They had some really neat tea-based items and a short walk through, but the shop at the end was quite expensive. It was extremely hot outside so we went home pretty quickly, especially since we all had a big weekend coming up.

Saturday, we headed to Lily's hometown near Qian Dao Hu - 1000 Islands Lake. This was another tourist trap, but it was extremely beautiful. Once you got over the heat, everything was really nice. We ate a lot of spicy foods here. One of the dishes was bone marrow. I wasn't a fan, but some of our group liked it. The hotel was quite nice too. Nothing major, just another hotel. I was surprised at the cost though -- all of 400 Y for all of the meals, bus trips, hotel, everything. Quite nice to spend 50 bucks on a weekend.

Qian Dao Hu visit Flickr set

Chinese National Tea Museum visit Flickr set

Day 18: Post 2-Recent Discoveries

2006-07-04T19:14:00.000+08:00

1) Mastercard is not universally accepted. Worldwide - my butt. I can't
even buy a cell phone at China Mobile with the credit card. Cash is king
here.

2) Cingular. I love thee. But - you are really putting a crimp in my day
to day activities. You PROMISED me to send the unlock code a week ago. You
CHARGED me about $100 for tech support since I am calling from China. I am
starting to become angry.

3) China beer is poor quality. The whopping 2.3% alcohol content is low
enough that Diet Coke has more. I admit, though, their liquors are HARD.
Most of them come in 1.5 gallon jugs of 50% liquor for 20 Y (3 bucks).
OUCH. They don't taste the best, but they don't mess around. BTW - those
of you that know me well, know that I love the taste of beer. I miss you
Colorado brewers!

4) Internet service is good, but the big red firewall blocks many sites.
I'll go more into this much later when I have more details. But, suffice it
to say - I can not read this blog easily. In fact, if I mention things
repeatedly or make a mistake - please email me. I can not check on this
every day without dealing with getting around the firewall.

5) I do a lot of reading when I don't have the pressure of homework on me.
I've finished "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life" by Walter Isaacson and
am part way through "The Singularity" by Kurtzweil. I will finish that one
and probably another by the end of the summer

6) My Chinese is getting better. I'm working hard on it, but it is getting
much better. I just need to get out more and work with someone one on one.

Day 18: Racism

2006-07-04T18:39:00.000+08:00

I almost didn't bring this up, but I must. I have been experiencing a bit
of racism directed towards myself since I arrived in China. I'm sure
someone out there will say "come on, give me a break" or "you are a white
man, how could anyone be racist towards you?"

2 Saturdays ago, I was walking down Nan Chang Lu (think North Michigan Ave.
in Chicago - but in Hangzhou) trying desperately to find groceries and this
man walks up to me angrily and spits on me. I mean, hock a loogie and spat
on the side of my face. Then he shouted something and walked past.
Normally, I would have had a slight confrontation - but I was in such shock
that I wiped it off and kept walking. I wish I could have understood what
he said -- or remembered it. I was so angry that I grabbed a taxi home at
the next block and went home. I stayed in the rest of the night. The
gentleman appeared to be a rural farmer (nongmin, which is commonly used as
a racial slur here towards rural, uneducated people - but it is the proper
name for a farmer). He did not dress like a Hangzhou-ese nor did he look
like one either. Regardless, I was put off.

The "fat and 'hen da'" comments aside (hen da = very big), I can deal with a
lot. I understand that I stand 6' 3" and weigh close to 260. I am a big
man. I am not worried when local people gawk and stare. I'm used to it by
now. Little children are the best. I usually bend over and say "Ni hao"
and they hide. I guess they aren't used to seeing a large white man say
hello? ;)

I wish I knew more Chinese slang. I am called so many names that I don't
quite understand what all of them mean. The ones accompanied by a nasty
"You must die" look are typically shouted at me. I ignore them, playing
ignorance (who wants to see me get deported for assaulting a much smaller
gentleman?), but after they follow me down the street (sometimes pushing or
poking) it does become quite irritating and frustrating.

The final "complaint" if you will, is the belief that white people are
inherently rich. I just had a gentleman try to unlock my phone and charge
me 400Y (50 bucks). I can buy a new phone for that. Merchants try to
milk every last cent from me. I have seriously argued over 2Y (25 cents) in
a price. I do it for language practice, but they are seriously trying to
milk every cent. Another merchant used to carry Diet Coke. Like the only
place within walking distance to have it. As of last week she refuses to
carry it. I asked her in my broken Chinese if Diet Coke will return. She
angrily commented something along the lines of "find it somewhere else".
Now, I love my Diet Coke (thanks mom!), but nowhere carries it. My fellow
student and I would spend many yuan at this place buying just diet coke (I
usually bought some other stuff too for school). She despises me when I
come in -- her smile turns upside down into a frown! As is life. I found
a new breakfast place where they love me.....but they just raised the price
of my normal food from 2Y 2m to 2Y 6m. No kidding. Do I buy that much?
Did they mischarge me the past week? Did I mispay? I mean -- in all
seriousness, something like this in America would be about $3 (24 Y), but
the principle of the 4m change (5 cents) is irritating.

In my lifetime, I could never understand the racism others have felt, but I
have experienced my own kind here.

I am *not* saying that all Chinese are like that. It is typically nongmin,
older ladies and gentlemen, and young men (looking like they want to start a
fight). The majority of Chinese are extremely nice and friendly. Like
the wonderful produce woman who suggests new fruit everytime I stop by. Or
the Li-Ning employee who always smiles and tries to help me find "da de"
clothes (bigger!! - I wear a 3-4X here). I love it here, and I will love
it more when I know the language better.

BTW. Happy Fourth of July to those Americans out there. We had school
today. ;)

Day 13. Class Fun and finally starting to get settled in

2006-06-29T21:12:00.000+08:00

So, yesterday I managed to get Skype working 100%. I can now call to the
US and Canada. It costs a bit, but not too much. The only difficulty is
the time difference. I'm thinking about getting a 303 number so you can all
call me and it will ring on my computer here. The difficulty being, again,
the time difference. I did have a chance to speak to my grandfather and
father yesterday though. Quite nice to hear a familiar voice. So, if you
get a weird call at a weird time. It might be me! ;)

After the "do as Romans do" comments, Kat, Zeina, and I went to Carrefour.
It is a grocery store in Hangzhou that carries western style food as well as
Chinese food. I proceeded to pick up some cheese and some western style
liquor for this weekend (I can't wait to drink a Newcastle). In addition,
I bought sheets for my bed (unusual here), some cockroach death, and a
shower curtain rod (I picked up a shower curtain the other day).

So, the little accomplishments the past two days:

1) Shower. OMG. This was the best shower ever. I can now take a
comfortable shower without water going everywhere.

2) I had cheese, crackers, and wine for dinner tonight. Wonderful.

3) Hopefully, our roommates will be gone soon.

4) Skype. What a wonderful thing. The delay is wickedly slow sometimes,
but overall -- just fine.

The next couple of days I will be out of town. Friday, I'm headed out to
Sushi with Katie and I'm also going to the Tea Museum. Saturday, I am headed
to Qian Dao (Lake of a Thousand Islands). It should be fun. We are
staying the night and heading to many islands around the lake. I'll be sure
to take pictures. =)

Not much else to report. Coming up: Tea Museum, Qian Dao, Hangzhou Beer
Festival, more school, World Cup. =)

Day 11 - Food adventures

2006-06-28T00:21:00.000+08:00

Before I get to the meat of the post - the day went better at class. I was
less frustrated, but still a little perturbed. After the third time he
said "Do as the Romans do" in reference to a something that was said, I kind
of wanted to knock him around lightly. BTW, swimming is part of most
cultures, not just Chinese.

OK. Now to the fun part. Food. Food. Food!!!!!

I've started to venture out more than the cafeteria at school. Katie took
me to a Muslim restaurant last night. It was decent. She was extremely
disappointed based on past experiences there, but I was content. For the
first dish, we had lamb kabobs. These were spicy, spicy, and spicy. Good
stuffs. I was discouraged that they were kind of oily. The next dish was
some sort of sauce on eggplant, potatoes, and peppers. This was extremely
good I thought. It wasn't spicy, but had a super flavorful taste. We also
had some sort of fruit dish. This had a weird sauce: mayonnaise and
something else. It was good, but weird. The final dish was potato fries.
Good stuff. Lots of onions and garlic, but again SUPER oily.

ive been going to multiple bakery stops on the way to school and I've
discovered a wide variety of foodstuffs. I don't really know what they are.
I had something this morning that was fried bread, cut in half and egg
inserted inside. OMG. This, along with 2 sesame seed balls with sweet
bean inside were 3.6 Y (about 50 cents). OMG. So good.

The big thing I've discovered is that the food in Hangzhou is greasy, oily,
and fried. So, basically, the opportunity to lose weight is difficult. I
must admit, I enjoy my cardboard bowl of noodles every couple of nights (3 Y
for crappy noodles with flavored water).

I also went to the grocery store today. Interesting. I made off with
some "Beijing Duck Potato Chips" and "Lemon Potato Chips". I also picked
up some Pineapple beer. The potato chips are good. Real good in fact.
Haven't tried the pineapple beer yet. The tiramisu cakes are awesome as
well. =) Good stuff.

I was just watching Ghana vs. Brazil. Tired, so I left the bar.

Until next time

Days 8, 9, and 10 - General Madness

2006-06-27T08:22:00.000+08:00

The past couple of days have been pretty straightforward. On Saturday, I
laid around much of the day and did work remotely. I made the excursion to
exchange some money at the Bank of China and then attempted to find some
groceries. It didn't work. I ended up back at my place sweaty and
frustrated. I took a nap and low and behold:

I have a roommate. His name is Michel and he's a 6'-5" guy from Finland.
Quite polite and friendly.

Saturday, I went out and met a friend of a friend, Katie. She's from
Minneapolis and has been here for a while. Had a great time hanging out and
learning many new things about Hangzhou - like where to buy cheese. Mmmm.
Cheese. Sunday, I laid around and did some remote work again. That
evening, Michel, Guy, and I went to Shamrock, "the only Irish bar in
Hangzhou". I know I've only been here a week, but American-style food was
sounding good. Ended up with some nachos and wings. The wings were poor,
but the nachos were decent. WAY overpriced though. Mei ban fa.

Monday, we had 2 new classmates: Michel and Ian. Ian is an older
gentleman from Australia. Quite nice. I became frustrated throughout
class though because he was paying attention and trying, but just wasn't
paying attention to the instructor who had to repeat things multiple times.
Maybe I was just tired, but whatever. Hopefully today is better.

Last night, Katie took me to some sort of Muslim restaurant. That's what
she called it. Great lamb sticks, decent food. We are supposed to go to
some sort of sushi on Wed. good times =)

Until next time

Day 7: Classes and Trips

2006-06-24T07:53:00.000+08:00

One week ago, I arrived in Shanghai to explore this new world. The word of
the day is humble. I feel like an incompetent man wandering around a city
of approximately 6.42 Million people in the municipality of Hangzhou and about
3.93 Million people in city proper. As previously mentioned, there are
very few people that speak English here, which is good because that is why I
am here: to study Chinese. BUT - I need a helper. Hahaha I mean -- I
didn't feel this incompetent the first time I moved out on my own in Urbana,
IL. But, challenges are made to be overcome (I keep repeating this in my
mind).

Last night, Zeina, Guy, Kat, and I went out to shop, dinner, drinks, and
World Cup. Shopping was interesting. We ended up in a 5 story building in
the center of the city with little shops everywhere. Neat place. There
were many "knock offs", but nothing of the quality we normally expect. Guy
showed me his watch and the Roman numeral for 4 (IV) was put on the watch as
IIII. And "Puma" was misspelled as "Pmua" We also found a store called
"Cavern Kernel" that represents Calvin Klein. I *am* going to try and get a
Cavern Kernel shirt. Reminds me of the Massive Magazine t-shirts (I wish I
bought a few of those. The only one I had has been destroyed by overwear).

Dinner was at some cafeteria style place. Guy and I had the "huntun"
(sorry, no accents for you!) and a cardboard cup of beer. The huntun's
were 9Y/each (about $1.15) and the beer was 4Y (about $0.50). Not too
shabby. We ended up at some bar that was showing the World Cup and they
were showing the CzechV.Italy match. Whatever. We ordered some Carlsberg
(buy 6, get 6 free!) and started playing this dice game. After a while,
these two really drunk Chinese men come over wanting to "Cheers!" us.
(Ganbei! In Chinese, but they were proud of their English knowledge =)
They kept coming back and coming back and eventually invited us/forced us to
go to their table. They kept asking me, which was funny. We found out it
was because I am one of the biggest men they have ever seen (6 ft. 3 in. 260
lbs./ 190 cm 118 kg). Pretty funny. I'm not even that big (today someone
called me "massive") -- hahahaha Regardless, many many beers later, we
still had some left, we exited the scene. He gave me his phone number so I
could call him to drink. Mind you, the only english he speaks is
"Cheers!", "you", "me", "I", "byebye". =) It was fun. This morning I
woke up with a wicked stomachache (wo tou duzi!) All day has been horrible
- don't know if it was the food, the beer, or a mix. I usually don't get
this screwy by drinking beer.

Anyways - It was fun.

You all are probably wondering about my classes. The *real* reason I am
here. I go to school at the MANDA
Center. First, I have 6, 1 hour classes a day. I start at 9 AM and go
straight through until 1 PM. We have an hour lunch and then from 2-4PM.
The morning classes are primarily language training. Evil stuff really.
There are 3 students per class at pretty much the same level in the morning.
The instructors, Mike and Lucy, speak English pretty well. I'm focusing on
my speaking ability now because I lack proper tonal pronunciation. The
afternoon class is much different -- it is more of a "fun" class. We learn
about different items (such as the World Cup) and phrases surrounding it.
We also take trips to different places. Which brings me to:

June
20th trip to the tea house

and

June
23rd trip to the China National Silk Museum

Until next time.

P.s. Blog spot is blocked in China, so if the HTML doesn't link correctly,
please email me.

Day 6: Hangzhou goodness

2006-06-23T08:09:00.000+08:00

Since the last post was kind of a "I miss home" post (and a bit of a downer
to write), this post is dedicated to all of things that make me happy here.

1) Food. Yes, I know I said I had problems with it. But, I love food.
And coming to China is an adventure. I am willing to try pretty much
anything, so the adventure aspect kicks in (think Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom - eating eyeball soup). *starts singing the Indiana Jones
theme song* The sauces are diverse, but the rest is pretty
straightforward. I've had many types of meat -- chicken (comes with bones
and skin automagically), beef, fish, etc. I don't know how a vegetarian
could survive.

2) the People. First - the produce shop has a wonderfully nice female
shopkeep. She is quite friendly and tries to help me out with my chinese
(she speaks no English). Second and most importantly - Chinese people are
friendly and curious about "white people". I use that term lightly to
describe anyone not Asian. I have been poked, touched, and stared at.
Little kids like the poking. I usually bend down and say "Ni hao" to them
-- they run away quickly. ;) I mean -- I'm 6 ft. 3 in. and about 260 lbs.
Enormous to them. Third -- I have received an enormous amount of
"hello", "thank you", "where is the bus station", and one "where is the
airport" when I am walking around. Randomly shouted from
cars/buses/people. I get confused when this happens, but I always respond
with a "ni hao" (hello)

3) money. It is very inexpensive here. Taxis are quite inexpensive. I
usually eat for $2/day. Eat well really. In fact I just bought some sweet
and sour stuff -- 15 Y = 1.875 dollars. Clothing is inexpensive. The
only things that are expensive are many electronics. Ipods and DVD players
are cheaper in the states. Weird, but even bargaining the electronics guy
down to roughly $35 for the cheapest dvd player doesn't beat the $28 Walmart
deal.

4) The city itself -- absolutely beautiful. Seriously fantastic. I'll be
taking more pictures soon I promise.

Until next time

Day 5 - LongJing Tea and much more

2006-06-21T08:01:00.000+08:00

Oh the joys of a non-Western society. I am so entrenched in the American
way of doing things that I forget other cultures do things differently. So,
today, rather than write about my class, I present to you: The things I miss
(besides friends and family of course!)

Bathrooms. I have yet to use the "hole in the floor" bathroom. It
just...weirds me out. These are still used pretty much everywhere, but the
American style of toilet is in use much more now.

My bed. No. A bed with a mattress. At first, I thought a prank was being
pulled on me -- quite the contrary! - I don't sleep on the floor! My bed is
this wooden frame with -- strong matting in the middle. Covered nicely by a
comforter-looking garment (which is pretty by the way). On top of that
there is this bamboo-ish covering. I'm confused. I want my nice comfy
bed. There is no give to the bed sadly. Hmmm.

Air conditioning. I have it. It is a luxury here, yes. BUT - I have 3 of
them. One for each room. Maintaining a constant temperature is extremely
difficult. I'm usually up 3 times a night turning one or the other on and
off. We are so spoiled in America to have central AC.

Food. Buffalo wings and real beer, how do I miss thee? ;) The food is
pretty good really -- if I knew how to order the correct things. I've
eaten pretty much everything you could ever imagine -- dumplings - they may
seem fun in America, they are fun here -- but -- SURPRISE! You don't know
what meat you are getting! ;) I close my eyes, dip it in the vinegar and
soy sauce and down the hatch. I've given up the pretension about eating
something weird (even though I skipped the chicken feet). My mate, Guy,
said he received some glass chunks in his street vended food the other day.
As is life. It is an adventure, right?

Drinks. Beer. I miss Colorado and its 4000 beers. I've settled into a
life of Bud Ultra, Heineken, Tsing Tao, and Carlsburg. All very light,
very unflavorful beers (in my opinion). Ordering a mixed drink takes
patience - for some reason they think Americans are supermen(women) and we
have ended up with some amazingly strong drinks - scorches the mouth. Oh.
They don't have Diet Coke either (or any diet soda that I can find). Plus,
the bottled tea is hit or miss -- The Oolong cold tea - ICK. The green cold
tea - not so bad. This other one in a bluish bottle - Good!

Oh. And don't drink water from the tap. Bu hao!

A real shower. I won't go into this too much, but let's say - Figuring out
the hot water heater was funny. Now I have intensely hot water. =) But
still no shower curtain. I think I'm going to see if Guy and Zena will let
me shower at their place once. They have a glassed in shower.

Clothing. *shakes head* I brought 2 shirts with me, hoping to buy some
here. If you didn't know already, I'm a large man. (my fitted shirt size
is 17-17 1/2 and 37/38) Chinese people are small. OK. Really small.
Lily (the training center's webmaster) took me shopping and -- I wear at
least a 3X, if not 4X here (XL-XXl in America). They don't make 4X. =(
I must find more shopping.

All in all, I love it. Sure, these things could be "better", but it is
part of the cultural experience. =) Time to go see the very nice
produce lady and get some "yang mei" -- there are no American/English words
for it -- kind of like a Poplar Tree Berry. =) about $0.25 for 1/2
pound. =)

I have class in a bit, I'll post more later this evening.

Day 3 and start of Day 4 - Hangzhou

2006-06-20T17:50:00.000+08:00

I've learned one thing - the World Cup starts too late here. The America
vs. Italy match lasted way too long and I stayed up way too late having a
few too many drinks with fellow Americans. The resulting tie (go America!)
and 6 AM bedtime did not work with a 8 AM train to Hangzhou. I missed the
first train, but jumped on the next train 40 minutes later.

The train was, to my surprise, quite nice. The gentlemen next to me and I
attempted to chat for a bit and I met a Singaporean man who was quite nice.
We spoke (mostly in English) about many things for the long ride. When I
got to Hangzhou, my ride was gone. Probably because I came late. =After taking a taxi to the headquarters of the language institute, I
couldn't find it. So, I ate at KFC. It was surprisingly easy and good.
The order taker didn't try to understand me - I was pretty irritated by that
-- how can someone get "er hao" (means "number 2") wrong? Oh well. I
pointed like a dumb Westerner and got my food.

Finally found the entrance to the building and met up with the staff. They
took me to my apartment and WOW. I mean this place is seriously beautiful.
3 bedroom apartment, wooden floors, washer/dryer, etc. I am here by myself
(at least this week). There are problems of course: how do I work the
washer/dryer (it is one unit)? How do I get hot water? (there is some sort
of hot water heater, but I am ignorant on how to use it) - The bed is weird.
(more on that in another post). The air conditioner works though.
Thankfully. It is HOT HOT HOT here. About 90 F? It is hard to tell since
I am in the artificial air all the time and then step into the heat.

I'll post more about class later -- It is 1 AM, just got done hanging out
with fellow students near West Lake watching football. The Swiss won and
Ukraine was on its way to winning.

Day 2 - Exploring Shanghai

2006-06-20T17:49:00.001+08:00

I'm pretty adjusted to the time change already -- Yesterday I was tired, but
today I woke up at 6 AM - like I normally do. I messed around for a bit
and watched ESPN trying to catch up on my sporting news (world cup action!)
I decided to stroll around the city early in the morning, so I started out
with my backpack and hiked on.

Since I am near the Shanghai Railway Station, I tried to go buy a ticket for
my Hangzhou trip tomorrow. WOW. Insanely packed. Confusion reigned
supreme at the ticket booth. I couldn't read the signs and didn't know where
to go, but found the closed English speaking counter. I guess I'll wait
until tomorrow.

I wandered around for about 3 hours. I didn't take any photos as the whole
city was in this weird rainy smog grossness. I couldn't see to the end of
the block and it was drizzling, so I passed on the photos for today. After
awhile I wandered into a random storefront and all of the sudden it was an
open grocery market. Odd. A lot of interesting foods. I didn't buy
anything, but once I got outside I tried to purchase some bakery from one of
the vendors. I wanted 2 rolls, but she started to give me 8. I didn't want
them all! Come to find out: 8 rolls are 1 yuan! (1 yuan = roughly 1/8
dollar). =) After I enjoyed some rolls I hiked around for a while. I
ended up at some shopping district. Interesting place: 5 floors of small
shops. Chinese women, like their American counterparts - LOVE clothes. It
was packed. 3 taxi drivers and much confusion later - I ended up at my
hotel and took a nap.

Nate called around 6. Nate and I went to Univ. of Iowa together and he
ended up doing consulting here. He picked me up due to my lack of ability
to navigate the railway station. We headed to a high end dumpling place -
great great food. A bit expensive for Shanghai, but just nice by me.
Afterwards, many drinks and many bars later - we caught up on old times, new
adventures, and China. Since he had to work tomorrow, I headed back to my
hotel to catch the World Cup match at the hotel bar. It is pretty packed
for 2 AM. Fun though. =)

Tomorrow: Train rides and finding where I will be living.

Day 1 - Shanghai

2006-06-20T17:49:00.000+08:00

So, I arrived. To great fanfare. OK. 14 hours after I left Chicago, I
was now a visitor to China. As Americans we are taught by our media that
China is an oppressive government that restricts everything -- well - they
let me in. My passport was stamped, declared nothing at customs and headed
through to catch my first taxi. I think I said 4 words to the airport
officials. Not that I was being unfriendly, they just had a big plastic
barrier between us.

The taxi ride was quite extended to the hotel (Holiday Inn downtown). In
America, it would have been about $100-125 - Shanghai: roughly $30. Got
checked in, showered, set up - headed out for a walk to maybe get some food.
Let me say: I am woefully unprepared for this. I speak Chinese poorly.
Even worse - I read even more poorly. Food was difficult, so I wimped out
and got hotel food for the first night. Too much stress.

Most people don't know this, but I am extremely fearful of new places and
doing new things. I know many of my friends reading this are not believing
this statement at all -- but I am. For example, it took me 2 weeks of
waking up early, getting ready -- to get up the nerve to go to the new
workout facility (Ritchie Center at DU). I know this is kind of weird, but
whatever - it is me! Anyways, I've taken great steps to overcome these
fears in the past - and this is another step in overcoming this fear.
Wow. This hurts. I'm thrown into a mix where basically NO ONE knows
English and I know very little Chinese. I've tried using my Chinese, but I
feel embarrassed by my lack of linguistic skill. I know. I know. Practice
makes perfect, but I feel so insecure with my language skills.

The only things I don't like so far are the 14 hour flight and the lack of
decent beer.

Until next time.

My first post - Leaving tomorrow morning!

2006-06-15T08:36:00.000+08:00

This is my introductory blog about my trip to Hangzhou, China. Not much to say yet -- I'm in a hotel in Portage, Indiana waiting for tomorrow morning to come. My family is dropping me off at the 95th and Halsted el line on the southside of Chicago early in the morning. My flight leaves at 11 AM tomorrow morning for a non-stop flight to Shanghai. I will be in Shanghai for two nights before heading to Hangzhou. Hopefully this email post works -- I'm curious to see if the XML feed to LJ works too.