Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Speech Contest and other wild adventures
As every English teacher in China knows, it is pretty much impossible to avoid certain things (crowds, pollution and 'the Chinese Way' being among the most obvious). The dreaded Speech/Singing Competition should definitely be added to this list. Every university seems to hold numerous English-speaking contests, and for some reason they are taken rather seriously. I am constantly amazed at how much energy and effort is put into the learning and promotion of English around here, so much so that it seems to dominate the lives of more than a few students (Consider the contrast...did your language class in school every become the center of your social life? I remember taking Spanish, but I don't remember wanting to learn Salsa or stalking Spanish foreign exchange students to improve my spoken Spanish)
However, back to the point: as an English teacher, you are pretty regularly approached by students asking you to be a judge for some English contest or other. You really wish they could consolidate everything into one giant, mega-blowout English contest weekend; instead, it seems all the departments/classes/campuses insist on holding their own events, assuring you of numerous annoyances throughout the year.
Speech competition: Usually lasts a few hours, with a huge number of students reciting a short prepared speech from memory. Topics are usually related to some aspect of university life. Presentation style can range from completely monotone through to ridiculously over-acted. Always one or two students with astounding English, leading you to think they are really Chinese-American even though they claim to have never left the country.
Singing competition: Usually lasts a few hours, with a number of students performing 'Western' songs to the crowd's delight (or blatant indifference if they suck, more on that later). Now as any foreigner in China quickly realizes, the Western music played in public has astoundingly little variety, meaning they play the same damn songs ALL THE DAMN TIME!
And a strange mix of culprits it is: Westlife, Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, Bryan Adams, The Eagles, The Carpenters and, God save us all, Kenny G. You can try a little experiment: next time you see me, make sure 'Hotel California' is playing on a sound system nearby. Then, clock how many seconds it takes before I recognize the tune and promptly smash said sound system in a fit of uncontrollable rage. It's that bad. And the worst part is they seem to think that foreigners enjoy these songs being endlessly replayed, because it seems that no matter where you go ( stores, restaurants, bars), you might hear the same horrible notes drifting specifically towards you. So at these speech competitions, it's always the same songs being performed. I'm not joking, you could write a set list and it would apply to any singing competition at any university in China (except they might trick you and switch up the order).
Thankfully, on Saturday I was only judging a speech competition (definitely the lesser of two evils). The topic was My University, seeing as how my institution has just celebrated its 50th birthday. One of the more interesting parts of these events for the foreign judges is hearing the new and creative uses of our dear language. The speeches are usually grammatically sound (tons of preparation work I'm guessing..or they just conned an English teacher into correcting it for them), and the pronunciation is pretty decent. The fun part comes with vocabulary and word choice: they really want to spruce up their performance with heavy use of expressions, and the results are unavoidably hilarious.
So, here are some absolute gems from last Saturday (thanks to Kristina, who also attended the contest and noted these down while trying to suppress her laughter):
"Such a clean piece of floor makes me so happy!" (I think the student was talking about how environmental protection is important)
"1 plus 1 equals everything. 2 minus 1 equals nothing." (We initially thought he was professing his love to his new girlfriend...but it turns out he was talking about the university!)
"like hot milk running all over me." (Don't even ask, I have NO CLUE what that one was about, hard to imagine any sort of context making this statement appropriate)
In the end, these kind of things almost make attendance worthwhile. As well, you are given a prize for your patience (and random, arbitrary marking): this time I got a set of chopsticks, which are actually pretty nice.
End note: It is very interesting to observe Chinese crowd behaviour. During these performances, many in the audience are openly chatting and making noise, especially if they deem the performance to, well, suck. Some foreigners have concluded that this sort of behaviour comes from the basic fact that in a place with 1.3 billion people, you can never get complete silence. People have just gotten completely used to constant background, and sometimes very foreground, noise. So giving a speech while a room is noisy is no big deal; neither is conducting class with massive (construction/ sports meets/fireworks) taking place right outside the window, nor is falling asleep absolutely anywhere. Of course, you can't forget the absolutely ear-splitting volume level that music is played at, nor the constant honking at all times. This place is a constant racket, and they just adapt.
However, back to the point: as an English teacher, you are pretty regularly approached by students asking you to be a judge for some English contest or other. You really wish they could consolidate everything into one giant, mega-blowout English contest weekend; instead, it seems all the departments/classes/campuses insist on holding their own events, assuring you of numerous annoyances throughout the year.
Speech competition: Usually lasts a few hours, with a huge number of students reciting a short prepared speech from memory. Topics are usually related to some aspect of university life. Presentation style can range from completely monotone through to ridiculously over-acted. Always one or two students with astounding English, leading you to think they are really Chinese-American even though they claim to have never left the country.
Singing competition: Usually lasts a few hours, with a number of students performing 'Western' songs to the crowd's delight (or blatant indifference if they suck, more on that later). Now as any foreigner in China quickly realizes, the Western music played in public has astoundingly little variety, meaning they play the same damn songs ALL THE DAMN TIME!
And a strange mix of culprits it is: Westlife, Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, Bryan Adams, The Eagles, The Carpenters and, God save us all, Kenny G. You can try a little experiment: next time you see me, make sure 'Hotel California' is playing on a sound system nearby. Then, clock how many seconds it takes before I recognize the tune and promptly smash said sound system in a fit of uncontrollable rage. It's that bad. And the worst part is they seem to think that foreigners enjoy these songs being endlessly replayed, because it seems that no matter where you go ( stores, restaurants, bars), you might hear the same horrible notes drifting specifically towards you. So at these speech competitions, it's always the same songs being performed. I'm not joking, you could write a set list and it would apply to any singing competition at any university in China (except they might trick you and switch up the order).
Thankfully, on Saturday I was only judging a speech competition (definitely the lesser of two evils). The topic was My University, seeing as how my institution has just celebrated its 50th birthday. One of the more interesting parts of these events for the foreign judges is hearing the new and creative uses of our dear language. The speeches are usually grammatically sound (tons of preparation work I'm guessing..or they just conned an English teacher into correcting it for them), and the pronunciation is pretty decent. The fun part comes with vocabulary and word choice: they really want to spruce up their performance with heavy use of expressions, and the results are unavoidably hilarious.
So, here are some absolute gems from last Saturday (thanks to Kristina, who also attended the contest and noted these down while trying to suppress her laughter):
"Such a clean piece of floor makes me so happy!" (I think the student was talking about how environmental protection is important)
"1 plus 1 equals everything. 2 minus 1 equals nothing." (We initially thought he was professing his love to his new girlfriend...but it turns out he was talking about the university!)
"like hot milk running all over me." (Don't even ask, I have NO CLUE what that one was about, hard to imagine any sort of context making this statement appropriate)
In the end, these kind of things almost make attendance worthwhile. As well, you are given a prize for your patience (and random, arbitrary marking): this time I got a set of chopsticks, which are actually pretty nice.
End note: It is very interesting to observe Chinese crowd behaviour. During these performances, many in the audience are openly chatting and making noise, especially if they deem the performance to, well, suck. Some foreigners have concluded that this sort of behaviour comes from the basic fact that in a place with 1.3 billion people, you can never get complete silence. People have just gotten completely used to constant background, and sometimes very foreground, noise. So giving a speech while a room is noisy is no big deal; neither is conducting class with massive (construction/ sports meets/fireworks) taking place right outside the window, nor is falling asleep absolutely anywhere. Of course, you can't forget the absolutely ear-splitting volume level that music is played at, nor the constant honking at all times. This place is a constant racket, and they just adapt.
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
An Ode to Chinese Traffic
Having been here for a bit more than a year now, I finally feel somewhat qualified to provide a foreigner's take on the traffic situation. It's one of the favourite laowai topics of discussion, the source of many jokes, laughs and, unfortunately, near-death experiences. Using my keen sense of observation (carefully tuned by four years of partying at college), I have come to understand the basic principle of the Chinese traffic system: there is no system. You quickly realize that all your attempts to see structure are the result of a feeble Western mind having spent too many hours in sociology courses. Trying to see order where it can't possibly exist: among 1.3 billion people jostling to get from point A to point B.
However, I have still worked out some rules of the road in my head, not so much to make order out of chaos but rather to prevent myself from getting killed everytime I step out the door! So here it goes:
1) Variety is NOT the spice of life: One of the bigger road worries for the intrepid foreign pedestrian is the fact that there are so many different types of vehicles cruising the roads around here. While at home you get the SUV and car crowd, here you have the various industrial trucks, taxis, private cars, carts, tricyle bike carts, motorcyles, scooters, electric bikes, pedicabs, bicycles and finally several types of hybrid tractor/carts/smoke-belching machines that are basically impossible to describe to the Outside China crowd. That's a lot of movement on the road.
So what is the problem, you ask? Well, all these different vehicles create quite a few lanes of traffic that necessitate crossing. A stroll across a big boulevard often requires weaving through a bike lane, a median, two to four lanes of big vehicle traffic, another median, another bike lane, and then finally the sidewalk on the other side...where there is often a car driving way too fast. ( parking on the street is pretty much voided by all the bike traffic; so sidewalks are really wide and cars just cram up against the restaurants/buildings, parked pretty much anywhere)
2) Biking on a higher plane of existence: A big issue is that most bicyclists seem completely oblivious to the fact that there are thousands of cars moving at rather high speeds around them. Chalk it up to the relatively recent appearance of cars in significant numbers on the road? Perhaps. Whatever the case, bikes have free reign. They go any which way in any which lane, cross intersections through oncoming traffic, ignore traffic lights (red seems to mean "come join the fun!"),
Special Move: the Blind Lane Cross (imagine you are biking on the right side of the road with traffic zooming by beside you in the same direction; you suddenly decide that you want to be on the other side of the road, so you do a nice meandering diagonal movement across both lanes of traffic WITHOUT EVEN ONCE GLANCING BEHIND YOU. Now that, my friends, is extra-sensory perception!)
You know those annoying cyclists at home who insist on blowing through red lights without even slowing down? Now imagine it's rush hour, and there is a constant flow of hundreds upon hundreds of them. I think this place is flirting with absolute gridlock disaster (not to mention pollution overload) by pushing so hard for private car ownership, but for now a decent amount of the traffic problems can in fact be blamed on bikers completely swarming intersections.
3) Driving cars on a similarly high plane of existence: see above paragraph on cyclist behaviour, and imagine people doing quite similar things, but now they are steering vehicles that weigh several tonnes. Watch out. (i.e most drivers seem completely oblivious to the fact that there are thousands of bikes moving at rather slow speeds all around them)
Special Move: the I Can't Believe That Car Just Blew Through That Swarm of Bikes at Top Speed Without Hitting a Single One
4) Buses: see above paragraphs on cyclist and driver behaviour, apply to driving style of the throngs of city buses on the road here (i.e most bus drivers seem completely oblivious to the fact that there is anything at all moving around them)
Special Move: the jolting, the amazing, the passenger-tossing....Sudden Screeching Halt (often comboed with the Oops I Guess We Hit a Bike Again)
5) Urban vs. Rural: The sort of thing mentioned above is typical of the urban Chinese scene, small cities like Zibo as well as bigger cities like Hangzhou.
So what about rural areas/ highways, you ask? Well, I would say that these environments provide many more chances to witness death-defying maneuvers, because people have the chance to drive a lot faster. Highways and mountain roads are prime territories for perilous passing into oncoming traffic, often around a blind corner (see most of Yunnan). Rural roads have the added fun of tractors/harvesting machines chugging down the middle of the road carrying about 30 people (most of them somehow sleeping through all the racket). A long-distance bus ride MUST involve at least 3 instances where you are jolted awake in your seat by blaring horns and blasting headlights from the dumptruck coming right at you.
6) The future: It seems that car ownership is booming, especially in eastern cities like Hangzhou (but the word on the street,and in the press, is that Beijing has taken top spot in that regard..and so have its ridiculous traffic problems). For better or for worse, the number of cars seems to be growing daily. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like the appropriate infrastructure has caught up; serious lack of parking space and narrow streets are probably the biggest offenders. But do people really want to see China become a continent-wide Los Angeles, paved to the horizon? I don't think so, but that's probably what would be needed to accommodate a Western level of car ownership/usage.
There is already a maze of elevated highway lanes near my university, and more are being built. Cars of course are a status symbol and a sign of 'progress', but my personal opinion is that the population and density make a Western style car culture extremely undesirable, if not practically impossible. I get the feeling that bikes, instead of being seen as efficient and clean urban transportation, are increasingly viewed as a sign of poverty and 'backwardness'. It's kind of too bad. (it seems that with every new road the bike lanes just get smaller and smaller). And foreign car companies aren't helping any, they are absolutely DROOLING, stumbling over themselves to get market share and promote the wonders of the automotive wheel. Is it wrong of me to comment on the evils of the automobile when I come from a society where most people can't go 200 metres without driving anymore? Maybe, but hey...Canada doesn't have 1.3 billion people, and think about how much people bitch already about traffic in Montreal and Toronto. Besides, biking through traffic is much more fun than being stuck in it.
However, I have still worked out some rules of the road in my head, not so much to make order out of chaos but rather to prevent myself from getting killed everytime I step out the door! So here it goes:
1) Variety is NOT the spice of life: One of the bigger road worries for the intrepid foreign pedestrian is the fact that there are so many different types of vehicles cruising the roads around here. While at home you get the SUV and car crowd, here you have the various industrial trucks, taxis, private cars, carts, tricyle bike carts, motorcyles, scooters, electric bikes, pedicabs, bicycles and finally several types of hybrid tractor/carts/smoke-belching machines that are basically impossible to describe to the Outside China crowd. That's a lot of movement on the road.
So what is the problem, you ask? Well, all these different vehicles create quite a few lanes of traffic that necessitate crossing. A stroll across a big boulevard often requires weaving through a bike lane, a median, two to four lanes of big vehicle traffic, another median, another bike lane, and then finally the sidewalk on the other side...where there is often a car driving way too fast. ( parking on the street is pretty much voided by all the bike traffic; so sidewalks are really wide and cars just cram up against the restaurants/buildings, parked pretty much anywhere)
2) Biking on a higher plane of existence: A big issue is that most bicyclists seem completely oblivious to the fact that there are thousands of cars moving at rather high speeds around them. Chalk it up to the relatively recent appearance of cars in significant numbers on the road? Perhaps. Whatever the case, bikes have free reign. They go any which way in any which lane, cross intersections through oncoming traffic, ignore traffic lights (red seems to mean "come join the fun!"),
Special Move: the Blind Lane Cross (imagine you are biking on the right side of the road with traffic zooming by beside you in the same direction; you suddenly decide that you want to be on the other side of the road, so you do a nice meandering diagonal movement across both lanes of traffic WITHOUT EVEN ONCE GLANCING BEHIND YOU. Now that, my friends, is extra-sensory perception!)
You know those annoying cyclists at home who insist on blowing through red lights without even slowing down? Now imagine it's rush hour, and there is a constant flow of hundreds upon hundreds of them. I think this place is flirting with absolute gridlock disaster (not to mention pollution overload) by pushing so hard for private car ownership, but for now a decent amount of the traffic problems can in fact be blamed on bikers completely swarming intersections.
3) Driving cars on a similarly high plane of existence: see above paragraph on cyclist behaviour, and imagine people doing quite similar things, but now they are steering vehicles that weigh several tonnes. Watch out. (i.e most drivers seem completely oblivious to the fact that there are thousands of bikes moving at rather slow speeds all around them)
Special Move: the I Can't Believe That Car Just Blew Through That Swarm of Bikes at Top Speed Without Hitting a Single One
4) Buses: see above paragraphs on cyclist and driver behaviour, apply to driving style of the throngs of city buses on the road here (i.e most bus drivers seem completely oblivious to the fact that there is anything at all moving around them)
Special Move: the jolting, the amazing, the passenger-tossing....Sudden Screeching Halt (often comboed with the Oops I Guess We Hit a Bike Again)
5) Urban vs. Rural: The sort of thing mentioned above is typical of the urban Chinese scene, small cities like Zibo as well as bigger cities like Hangzhou.
So what about rural areas/ highways, you ask? Well, I would say that these environments provide many more chances to witness death-defying maneuvers, because people have the chance to drive a lot faster. Highways and mountain roads are prime territories for perilous passing into oncoming traffic, often around a blind corner (see most of Yunnan). Rural roads have the added fun of tractors/harvesting machines chugging down the middle of the road carrying about 30 people (most of them somehow sleeping through all the racket). A long-distance bus ride MUST involve at least 3 instances where you are jolted awake in your seat by blaring horns and blasting headlights from the dumptruck coming right at you.
6) The future: It seems that car ownership is booming, especially in eastern cities like Hangzhou (but the word on the street,and in the press, is that Beijing has taken top spot in that regard..and so have its ridiculous traffic problems). For better or for worse, the number of cars seems to be growing daily. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like the appropriate infrastructure has caught up; serious lack of parking space and narrow streets are probably the biggest offenders. But do people really want to see China become a continent-wide Los Angeles, paved to the horizon? I don't think so, but that's probably what would be needed to accommodate a Western level of car ownership/usage.
There is already a maze of elevated highway lanes near my university, and more are being built. Cars of course are a status symbol and a sign of 'progress', but my personal opinion is that the population and density make a Western style car culture extremely undesirable, if not practically impossible. I get the feeling that bikes, instead of being seen as efficient and clean urban transportation, are increasingly viewed as a sign of poverty and 'backwardness'. It's kind of too bad. (it seems that with every new road the bike lanes just get smaller and smaller). And foreign car companies aren't helping any, they are absolutely DROOLING, stumbling over themselves to get market share and promote the wonders of the automotive wheel. Is it wrong of me to comment on the evils of the automobile when I come from a society where most people can't go 200 metres without driving anymore? Maybe, but hey...Canada doesn't have 1.3 billion people, and think about how much people bitch already about traffic in Montreal and Toronto. Besides, biking through traffic is much more fun than being stuck in it.
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Well, early this morning I got some great news. I was up pretty late last night watching yet another Chinese movie streamed directly from my net provider's homepage (I think I'm starting to get addicted, Korean movies as well), so my first thought when I heard the phone ringing was "shit! I must have overslept!!!" However, stumbling to the phone, I glanced at my clock and realized that it was only 6:15 am. Relieved that I had not missed class, but also still pretty confused as to who it could possibly be, I picked up the phone. It was my sister, telling me she was coming to visit me over her Christmas holiday! WOW! That kind of news was definitely worth the sleep interruption.
Juliana is studying fashion design at Parsons in New York City, living the life in the quintessential American megalopolis. There were actually some tentative plans for her to come visit me in Zibo last spring/early summer, but I'll give you one simple guess why they got quickly shelved: that's right, a certain respiratory disease. Barring the return of another infectious fiasco, it looks like January '04 is now lined up for the Young Bennett Reunion Tour (on bicycles, weaving through traffic, no less). And if anyone could soak in the spontaneity and chaotic fun of travelling in this country, it would definitely be Juliana. I think I've spoiled her (and the rest of the family) with e-mail tales of wild taxis, 23 hour long train rides, perilous bike rides, great locales and GREAT local characters. Of course, for the Outside China crowd, you have to build it up a bit, not letting them know that you secretly spend most of your time preparing lessons, watching DVDs and writing e-mails ; )
But now the big questions arise: What are we going to do while she's here? What are we going to see? I'm still not sure how long she'll be over here; it could be 9-10 days, or 2-3 weeks. Should we stick around Hangzhou and visit some nearby sites? Should we take off to some exotic locale? Should we go lie on a beach in Hainan and sip coconuts for days on end? Not knowing exactly when my Spring Festival break begins is a problem, since in true Chinese style we never really know what is going on until a scant few days before any given event (and that's if you are lucky...sometimes you just get the "Did I mention that you have to be at an important banquet in ten minutes?" phone call)
As well, there is the demand to see some of "real" China. But what is real China? I'm well aware of the "avoid Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou,etc., that's not REAL China" mentality, and I have to admit that sometimes I also think along similar lines. Shanghai can sometimes seem more like a Development Theme Park 3000 than an actual city, and Beijing just seemed like an ENDLESS sprawl of apartment clusters crisscrossed by huge highways (oh wait, or was that Shanghai...uhhmm). However, whether they represent they rest of China or not is not really the point; they are vibrant, exciting cities all onto themselves. I don't go to Shanghai to see China, I go to Shanghai to see Shanghai. And given my personal interest in urban development and architecture, it makes for quite the interesting visit. I guess most of China still is rural and quite poor, but it's important not to dismiss the glitz of the coastal boom cities. A number of people are definitely getting wealthier around here and transforming the urban landscape, and they are just as much a part of this country as the farmer out in his mountain village.
However, since Juliana is coming from New York, she might just want to chill out in some beautiful countryside locale :) Yunnan, Guangxi and Hainan are possibilities, as well as Sichuan (although I'm guessing it could be quite a bit colder). And what about the Great North? A tour back through the old stomping grounds of central Shandong? Like it or not, dirty industrial landscapes are also a mainstay of the Chinese scene. And the people are great fun up there too!
Well, this entry is getting cut off now because, just returning from dinner with another foreign teacher, I have been informed that some sort of evaluation authority will be attending classes this week, perhaps demanding printed copies of any syllabus or class plan. Hmmm, remember what I was saying about being informed of important matters far in advance? My lesson plan is set, but I'm guessing a typed copy is needed, since my notebook is handwritten and, well, rather messy. And here I thought I was going to be able to relax tonight. Oh well, I do get paid for a reason. It's off to Microsoft Word!
Juliana is studying fashion design at Parsons in New York City, living the life in the quintessential American megalopolis. There were actually some tentative plans for her to come visit me in Zibo last spring/early summer, but I'll give you one simple guess why they got quickly shelved: that's right, a certain respiratory disease. Barring the return of another infectious fiasco, it looks like January '04 is now lined up for the Young Bennett Reunion Tour (on bicycles, weaving through traffic, no less). And if anyone could soak in the spontaneity and chaotic fun of travelling in this country, it would definitely be Juliana. I think I've spoiled her (and the rest of the family) with e-mail tales of wild taxis, 23 hour long train rides, perilous bike rides, great locales and GREAT local characters. Of course, for the Outside China crowd, you have to build it up a bit, not letting them know that you secretly spend most of your time preparing lessons, watching DVDs and writing e-mails ; )
But now the big questions arise: What are we going to do while she's here? What are we going to see? I'm still not sure how long she'll be over here; it could be 9-10 days, or 2-3 weeks. Should we stick around Hangzhou and visit some nearby sites? Should we take off to some exotic locale? Should we go lie on a beach in Hainan and sip coconuts for days on end? Not knowing exactly when my Spring Festival break begins is a problem, since in true Chinese style we never really know what is going on until a scant few days before any given event (and that's if you are lucky...sometimes you just get the "Did I mention that you have to be at an important banquet in ten minutes?" phone call)
As well, there is the demand to see some of "real" China. But what is real China? I'm well aware of the "avoid Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou,etc., that's not REAL China" mentality, and I have to admit that sometimes I also think along similar lines. Shanghai can sometimes seem more like a Development Theme Park 3000 than an actual city, and Beijing just seemed like an ENDLESS sprawl of apartment clusters crisscrossed by huge highways (oh wait, or was that Shanghai...uhhmm). However, whether they represent they rest of China or not is not really the point; they are vibrant, exciting cities all onto themselves. I don't go to Shanghai to see China, I go to Shanghai to see Shanghai. And given my personal interest in urban development and architecture, it makes for quite the interesting visit. I guess most of China still is rural and quite poor, but it's important not to dismiss the glitz of the coastal boom cities. A number of people are definitely getting wealthier around here and transforming the urban landscape, and they are just as much a part of this country as the farmer out in his mountain village.
However, since Juliana is coming from New York, she might just want to chill out in some beautiful countryside locale :) Yunnan, Guangxi and Hainan are possibilities, as well as Sichuan (although I'm guessing it could be quite a bit colder). And what about the Great North? A tour back through the old stomping grounds of central Shandong? Like it or not, dirty industrial landscapes are also a mainstay of the Chinese scene. And the people are great fun up there too!
Well, this entry is getting cut off now because, just returning from dinner with another foreign teacher, I have been informed that some sort of evaluation authority will be attending classes this week, perhaps demanding printed copies of any syllabus or class plan. Hmmm, remember what I was saying about being informed of important matters far in advance? My lesson plan is set, but I'm guessing a typed copy is needed, since my notebook is handwritten and, well, rather messy. And here I thought I was going to be able to relax tonight. Oh well, I do get paid for a reason. It's off to Microsoft Word!
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Ha Ha! Well, I guess you all thought this blog had been left for dead, what with no post since August 17th (geez, I guess that kind of was a little while ago!). But here it is, back and better than ever...from Hangzhou, China. I've actually been meaning to get back into blogging for several weeks now, but my incredible laziness beat even my best attempts.
So I guess I could write about everything that's happened since I moved back here, but I'm sure everyone reading this has also read my e-mails so I'll just take a "from this day on" approach. Right now I'm pretty excited because I finally picked up a digital camera, a spiffy Olympus Stylus 400 (4.0 Megapixels). I'm not usually one to get all excited about wasting my money on flashy trinkets, but I was really starting to feel the hurt from a lack of a camera around here. Just walking around everyday you see so many crazy/amazing things, that I really feed the need to document them in case my feeble mind decides to forget them.
I had a camera last year up in Shandong province, but it managed to get stolen just a scant few days before my return to Canada. All those "goodbye"/"last party" pictures, gone off into the smog. Take my camera? If you have to....but please leave the full roll of 36 great memories.
Getting paid more here in Hangzhou, I decided it was time for a little digital. And besides, how many people can claim that they've blown their monthly salary in one day? I can! :)...please.....don't....get....stolen (I've already had a bike stolen here, I had the stupid thing for one day and then someone decided they needed it more than me)
So I'm guessing for the next little while I'll be going a little photo crazy. I already took a little walk around my neighbourhood, snapping away at anything remotely interesting. I'm sure the euphoria will quickly wear off, but there are still tons of different scenes and places worth capturing. West Lake, that famed body of water right in the middle of the city, actually does some pretty stunning vistas. One side isn't so great, what with having a city of 5 million crammed up against it....but I have to give it to the local government, they've got most of the surroundings looking really clean and green. They are also helped by the stunning mountains that ring the west side of the lake, on a clear day it's really something to see (when they air is really polluted you see...well..you don't really see anything!)
Natural scenery: check. Crazy developing world chaos that everyone knows and loves? Well, that's pretty much the rest of the city. The downtown is certainly getting its "every building must make it look like this whole country is populated by millionaires" renovation (read big shiny towers, foreign hotels, glitzy shopping malls), but thankfully there are still tons of that great China urban scene to be found. Who flies halfway across the world to sit in a Starbucks? If you can believe it, that damn chain has set itself up right beside the West Lake.
Beautiful evening, sun setting on lake, quiet breeze, mountains in the distance, and...Starbucks, the latest virus to hit our poor planet. (sorry for ruining your cultural treasure!)
And finally, Western food mystery #2: almost every Chinese person I have talked to has stated they do not like Western food/ fast food chains (Chinese food is the original fast food anyways, they can wip up a dish like you wouldn't believe). However, everywhere you go in this country you see MANY McDonald's and KFCs, and they are almost always packed. So if no one likes this food, who is eating so much of it? I've been told the young children are the ones who love, but I'm guessing I've seen more than a few adults in there too. I'm hoping the kids don't love gorging on it that much, or this place is going to have one fat future.
Well, that's it, that's all. I have early class on the new campus tomorrow morning, which means I have to catch a shuttle bus for another adventure through Chinese traffic ( last week the bus came upon a downed wire bocking the road..the bus stopped, and some passengers just got out, GRABBED IT, yanked it until it was sufficiently out of the way, and away we went) The ride is worth it though: those classrooms are tops for us foreign teachers, brand new computer, flat screen, projector, dvd player and.....yes....a karaoke machine! That sure as hell made me laugh when I first saw it.
So I guess I could write about everything that's happened since I moved back here, but I'm sure everyone reading this has also read my e-mails so I'll just take a "from this day on" approach. Right now I'm pretty excited because I finally picked up a digital camera, a spiffy Olympus Stylus 400 (4.0 Megapixels). I'm not usually one to get all excited about wasting my money on flashy trinkets, but I was really starting to feel the hurt from a lack of a camera around here. Just walking around everyday you see so many crazy/amazing things, that I really feed the need to document them in case my feeble mind decides to forget them.
I had a camera last year up in Shandong province, but it managed to get stolen just a scant few days before my return to Canada. All those "goodbye"/"last party" pictures, gone off into the smog. Take my camera? If you have to....but please leave the full roll of 36 great memories.
Getting paid more here in Hangzhou, I decided it was time for a little digital. And besides, how many people can claim that they've blown their monthly salary in one day? I can! :)...please.....don't....get....stolen (I've already had a bike stolen here, I had the stupid thing for one day and then someone decided they needed it more than me)
So I'm guessing for the next little while I'll be going a little photo crazy. I already took a little walk around my neighbourhood, snapping away at anything remotely interesting. I'm sure the euphoria will quickly wear off, but there are still tons of different scenes and places worth capturing. West Lake, that famed body of water right in the middle of the city, actually does some pretty stunning vistas. One side isn't so great, what with having a city of 5 million crammed up against it....but I have to give it to the local government, they've got most of the surroundings looking really clean and green. They are also helped by the stunning mountains that ring the west side of the lake, on a clear day it's really something to see (when they air is really polluted you see...well..you don't really see anything!)
Natural scenery: check. Crazy developing world chaos that everyone knows and loves? Well, that's pretty much the rest of the city. The downtown is certainly getting its "every building must make it look like this whole country is populated by millionaires" renovation (read big shiny towers, foreign hotels, glitzy shopping malls), but thankfully there are still tons of that great China urban scene to be found. Who flies halfway across the world to sit in a Starbucks? If you can believe it, that damn chain has set itself up right beside the West Lake.
Beautiful evening, sun setting on lake, quiet breeze, mountains in the distance, and...Starbucks, the latest virus to hit our poor planet. (sorry for ruining your cultural treasure!)
And finally, Western food mystery #2: almost every Chinese person I have talked to has stated they do not like Western food/ fast food chains (Chinese food is the original fast food anyways, they can wip up a dish like you wouldn't believe). However, everywhere you go in this country you see MANY McDonald's and KFCs, and they are almost always packed. So if no one likes this food, who is eating so much of it? I've been told the young children are the ones who love, but I'm guessing I've seen more than a few adults in there too. I'm hoping the kids don't love gorging on it that much, or this place is going to have one fat future.
Well, that's it, that's all. I have early class on the new campus tomorrow morning, which means I have to catch a shuttle bus for another adventure through Chinese traffic ( last week the bus came upon a downed wire bocking the road..the bus stopped, and some passengers just got out, GRABBED IT, yanked it until it was sufficiently out of the way, and away we went) The ride is worth it though: those classrooms are tops for us foreign teachers, brand new computer, flat screen, projector, dvd player and.....yes....a karaoke machine! That sure as hell made me laugh when I first saw it.
