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
Second to last day studying Chinese - Shanghai + Chengdu + Tibet
+ Chicago
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.
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. =)
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!!!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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. =)
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.
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Qian Dao Hu visit Flickr set