People are blown away by the fact that I can speak Chinese. And it's great because it's an easy segue from Mandarin to missionary work in Taiwan. Yesterday in an English class, I had DK mode turned on high. I had the students laughing and engaged and asking questions. They were asking about my religion and what I did in Taiwan. I basically ended up teaching them the first lesson about the Restoration. It felt so good and they were listening so intently. They even asked for a story from the Bible. I told them about Joseph in Egypt interpreting Pharaoh's dream because he was a prophet and Heavenly Father wanted to help all of his children, not just those who believed in Him.
Another experience was on the bus to Kaiping yesterday. I sat next to one of the university's teachers who came with us. The usual questions came up about how I learned Chinese. We spoke for 30 mins or so about believing in God. She doesn't, but can understand better because of our conversation how important a belief in God is. I think she was a party member by how adamant she was about not believing God.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
My Chinese Girlfriend
Hopefully telling all you about this will make it not such a big deal.
One reason I was excited to come to China was because I would be able to completely cut out a piece of my life that has been the biggest part of my life for the past 9-10 months: girls. For the past 10 months, I have been noticing girls; and whether or not I'm really interested in asking her out, I turn the knob from DK mode to flirting mode. DK mode is the friendly, congenial, bubbly Derrick that you have all come to know and love. All the girls here in my group, however, sort of burned out the flirting mode before I could even click that knob over from DK mode.
Before I came to China, Rick (the teacher in whom I'm daily losing trust) gave my email to one of the brighter of his students. It took me a few days, but I finally found some time in my busy schedule away from taking naps and watching the $.60 movies to give this student a call and meet face to face.
Well, turns out this student, who's a girl by the way, is a stud. She's very intelligent and mature. She makes all these other students look like... not very intelligent or mature people. Not only that, but a buddy of mine in the group from the US has been hanging out with us and another girl, and he DID come here to find a girlfriend. So he's pressing me to be more friendly to my email partner. Luckily, he's also not very intelligent or mature, so I don't listen to him. Also luckily, I'm in frickin' China with 2 weeks left. That's a big safety blanket.
So, Mom, don't worry. I'm not going to bring home a Chinese girlfriend.
One reason I was excited to come to China was because I would be able to completely cut out a piece of my life that has been the biggest part of my life for the past 9-10 months: girls. For the past 10 months, I have been noticing girls; and whether or not I'm really interested in asking her out, I turn the knob from DK mode to flirting mode. DK mode is the friendly, congenial, bubbly Derrick that you have all come to know and love. All the girls here in my group, however, sort of burned out the flirting mode before I could even click that knob over from DK mode.
Before I came to China, Rick (the teacher in whom I'm daily losing trust) gave my email to one of the brighter of his students. It took me a few days, but I finally found some time in my busy schedule away from taking naps and watching the $.60 movies to give this student a call and meet face to face.
Well, turns out this student, who's a girl by the way, is a stud. She's very intelligent and mature. She makes all these other students look like... not very intelligent or mature people. Not only that, but a buddy of mine in the group from the US has been hanging out with us and another girl, and he DID come here to find a girlfriend. So he's pressing me to be more friendly to my email partner. Luckily, he's also not very intelligent or mature, so I don't listen to him. Also luckily, I'm in frickin' China with 2 weeks left. That's a big safety blanket.
So, Mom, don't worry. I'm not going to bring home a Chinese girlfriend.
Pictures from Kaiping
Bamboo forest.
I guess the dude thinks he's Rocky or something.
Windows from the outside.
They're like little castles sprinkled across the countryside.
Sister City
Yesterday we went to Mesa's Sister City of Kaiping. Because it was a visit to a sister city, we basically ended up staying up late, watching chick flicks, doing each other's nails and talking about our respective husband cities. It's nice to get together every once in a while, though. You know, to catch up. We went to a community that was built in the '20s. They built these houses as protection. They came in very useful during WW2, apparently. Afterward, we went to have lunch with the Vice Mayor of the city. She and the foreign affairs officer wanted to speak to me in Chinese. I was the only one who got to meet them. I got their cards and stuff. I'll end up sending them an email, thanking them or something. They had a TV camera there, and they recorded me, another student, and the 2 teachers. It was hot and humid, and I took a wicked nap on the 1.5 hr bus ride home.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
May 25, 2007: Beijing to Jiangmen
This is not going to be a very happy post.
Most of my life I’ve lived in a bubble. I’ve never hung out with any women who I had to pay for (I only paid for her dinner or price of admission, not her presence); I’ve never put any kind of crushed, dried vegetation that was then rolled up in a piece of paper into my mouth, much less proceed to light it and inhale the resulting fumes; I’ve never drunk any kind of previously mentioned vegetation, in a fermented or otherwise form or anything comparable to it, unless you count the other night at dinner when I put a little Coca-Cola in my hot water, making it look closer to the beer that everyone else was drinking. I got a pretty smooth amber-to-stout color out of the recipe. But I only attempted it because I was feeling edgy.
The other students in my group, as they get to know me better, are seeing my bubble more and more clearly. They like to give me a hard time about it. I’m not sure if they are trying to just be funny or if they are serious about their criticisms of my puritan lifestyle. I would guess the preliminary of the two is the object of their comments because oftentimes I’m better at making fun of myself than they are. They appreciate and even compliment my wit in these circumstances. And sometimes, if I’m lucky, the situation will proffer an opportunity to satirize both my naïveté and the shady, sad lifestyle of many of the individuals in the group.
After mixing my Coke and water and drawing the attention of the group, I took a sip. “Oh, I feel happy and worry-free,” I said with all the soberness and innocence I could muster. “I’m supposed to act like a jackass now, right? Quick. Somebody think of something stupid for me to do before this goes away.” So amidst the giggles that my comment solicited, people started throwing out…stupid ideas. “Clear off the table! It’ll hold you while you dance.” “That waiter is just waiting to be told that he’s loved!” “I’ll bet you could do at least 2 full flips off of the roof outside!” “Where’s the karaoke machine?” Later on, the headliner of the hecklers, as he retells the story, states how my reaction is unfortunately very accurate to some peoples’ experiences when drinking.
So, basically, we all make fun of each other.
The last night we were in Beijing, a whole big group of people went to a club. They had a pretty rough time of it, from what I could tell. My roommate went and never came back to our room. A few had to be carried back to their respective dorms because they were ‘too wet to walk.’ Turns out everybody made it back in as many pieces as they left, just the pieces that came back were mangled and not pretty. I really didn’t care that much. Am I terrible because of that? I had given them all a hard enough time the previous 9 days, hoping to help, that I was just too tired to give them more grief/grace, depending on how you want to look at it.
I didn’t care, that is, until we got to the Beijing airport and I had one girl in front of me pushing a laden luggage cart with all of her hung-over might and another one half walking, half being carried by me, having to stop every so often to stuff her head into a garbage can so that she doesn’t start retching all over the hallway. And yes, everyone else was half an airport ahead of us, so we were the last ones to the check in counter. We got there as all right as was possible. After I got my canned co-ed situated, I went straight over to have a talk with Rick, one of the teachers. “Looks like your little ‘remember we’re ambassadors and don’t let it get out of hand’ speech you gave yesterday morning didn’t quite do the trick,” I report.
“What do you mean?” comes the query.
“I just walked all the way through Beijing airport carrying a hurling, hashed female while trying my best to encourage another one to keep going so we don’t miss our flight; and this because they decided to go get tanked out of their took us last night, and no one could help me with them because they were just as smashed!” I didn’t want to get too excited before he gave me some explanation. Rick is a scientist—maybe he wanted to study the effects of traveling tankards. He’s somewhat of a moralist—maybe he wanted them to get so hosed that they would never want to try it again. Ignorant, naïve me could not have been prepared for the answer:
“If you’re in Ireland, you think you can get a good perspective of the culture unless you go to the pub?”
I just stood there speechless. I tried to bring up some nonsense about how I know the culture better than anyone else without ever getting close to the bottle; and I mentioned, silly me, an MCC policy about alcohol consumption. I’m pretty sure the rules limit a student’s sobriety somewhere between stone cold and dry as a bone. I didn’t memorize any book of rules or anything, but I have heard from more than one teacher about a student on a different trip losing a $15,000 scholarship because of one beer. But rules and cultural understanding are beside the point, in my legitimate albeit old-fashioned opinion. Common sense, responsibility, and not making a jackass out of oneself seem a little more significant to me in the long run.
Hopefully my classmates will decide to adopt heretofore-mentioned basic human characteristics. Until then, I’ll stick to my milk and occasional Coke and water.
Most of my life I’ve lived in a bubble. I’ve never hung out with any women who I had to pay for (I only paid for her dinner or price of admission, not her presence); I’ve never put any kind of crushed, dried vegetation that was then rolled up in a piece of paper into my mouth, much less proceed to light it and inhale the resulting fumes; I’ve never drunk any kind of previously mentioned vegetation, in a fermented or otherwise form or anything comparable to it, unless you count the other night at dinner when I put a little Coca-Cola in my hot water, making it look closer to the beer that everyone else was drinking. I got a pretty smooth amber-to-stout color out of the recipe. But I only attempted it because I was feeling edgy.
The other students in my group, as they get to know me better, are seeing my bubble more and more clearly. They like to give me a hard time about it. I’m not sure if they are trying to just be funny or if they are serious about their criticisms of my puritan lifestyle. I would guess the preliminary of the two is the object of their comments because oftentimes I’m better at making fun of myself than they are. They appreciate and even compliment my wit in these circumstances. And sometimes, if I’m lucky, the situation will proffer an opportunity to satirize both my naïveté and the shady, sad lifestyle of many of the individuals in the group.
After mixing my Coke and water and drawing the attention of the group, I took a sip. “Oh, I feel happy and worry-free,” I said with all the soberness and innocence I could muster. “I’m supposed to act like a jackass now, right? Quick. Somebody think of something stupid for me to do before this goes away.” So amidst the giggles that my comment solicited, people started throwing out…stupid ideas. “Clear off the table! It’ll hold you while you dance.” “That waiter is just waiting to be told that he’s loved!” “I’ll bet you could do at least 2 full flips off of the roof outside!” “Where’s the karaoke machine?” Later on, the headliner of the hecklers, as he retells the story, states how my reaction is unfortunately very accurate to some peoples’ experiences when drinking.
So, basically, we all make fun of each other.
The last night we were in Beijing, a whole big group of people went to a club. They had a pretty rough time of it, from what I could tell. My roommate went and never came back to our room. A few had to be carried back to their respective dorms because they were ‘too wet to walk.’ Turns out everybody made it back in as many pieces as they left, just the pieces that came back were mangled and not pretty. I really didn’t care that much. Am I terrible because of that? I had given them all a hard enough time the previous 9 days, hoping to help, that I was just too tired to give them more grief/grace, depending on how you want to look at it.
I didn’t care, that is, until we got to the Beijing airport and I had one girl in front of me pushing a laden luggage cart with all of her hung-over might and another one half walking, half being carried by me, having to stop every so often to stuff her head into a garbage can so that she doesn’t start retching all over the hallway. And yes, everyone else was half an airport ahead of us, so we were the last ones to the check in counter. We got there as all right as was possible. After I got my canned co-ed situated, I went straight over to have a talk with Rick, one of the teachers. “Looks like your little ‘remember we’re ambassadors and don’t let it get out of hand’ speech you gave yesterday morning didn’t quite do the trick,” I report.
“What do you mean?” comes the query.
“I just walked all the way through Beijing airport carrying a hurling, hashed female while trying my best to encourage another one to keep going so we don’t miss our flight; and this because they decided to go get tanked out of their took us last night, and no one could help me with them because they were just as smashed!” I didn’t want to get too excited before he gave me some explanation. Rick is a scientist—maybe he wanted to study the effects of traveling tankards. He’s somewhat of a moralist—maybe he wanted them to get so hosed that they would never want to try it again. Ignorant, naïve me could not have been prepared for the answer:
“If you’re in Ireland, you think you can get a good perspective of the culture unless you go to the pub?”
I just stood there speechless. I tried to bring up some nonsense about how I know the culture better than anyone else without ever getting close to the bottle; and I mentioned, silly me, an MCC policy about alcohol consumption. I’m pretty sure the rules limit a student’s sobriety somewhere between stone cold and dry as a bone. I didn’t memorize any book of rules or anything, but I have heard from more than one teacher about a student on a different trip losing a $15,000 scholarship because of one beer. But rules and cultural understanding are beside the point, in my legitimate albeit old-fashioned opinion. Common sense, responsibility, and not making a jackass out of oneself seem a little more significant to me in the long run.
Hopefully my classmates will decide to adopt heretofore-mentioned basic human characteristics. Until then, I’ll stick to my milk and occasional Coke and water.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
May 25: Last Days in Beijing
The past few days haven’t been so amazing. We’ve spent a lot of time in classes talking with students. It was a lot like other time I told you all about a week ago, but more boringer. I don’t know that some of those students really care about anything at all. They don’t pay attention to their teacher in class; they give me one word answers to my questions; reminds me a lot of some students in the States. I’m not saying that I’m any better than anyone else, or that my goals are any more noble than any others, or that I’m a better student than anyone else; I’m just making an observation. It’s completely fine for some people to memorize facts and puke ‘em back up for the test.
Went to a separate class that was not in English. I wanted to go to an International Economics class, but they cancelled it last minute. So I sat in on an accounting class. The girl I sat next to was neat to talk to. She let me borrow her electronic dictionary and I spent most of the class time looking up the words that I couldn’t understand. That was actually a pretty fun class. During the break, a few of the students in my immediate vicinity and I had a little chit chat. They get so tickled that I can speak Chinese as well as I do, which really isn’t all that well. But I try to put on a show, anyway.
Went to a separate class that was not in English. I wanted to go to an International Economics class, but they cancelled it last minute. So I sat in on an accounting class. The girl I sat next to was neat to talk to. She let me borrow her electronic dictionary and I spent most of the class time looking up the words that I couldn’t understand. That was actually a pretty fun class. During the break, a few of the students in my immediate vicinity and I had a little chit chat. They get so tickled that I can speak Chinese as well as I do, which really isn’t all that well. But I try to put on a show, anyway.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
May 22nd: Buying Stuff
They have a lot of cheap stuff here. I wish I knew better how it works. How do they make and sell this stuff for such a low monetary cost is not something I can tell you. Maybe I should tell you first what I bought, and then tell you about buying it. Hopefully you’ll be more impressed that way. I bought a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses for $4, a Calvin Klein watch for $6, ties for cheap but I won’t tell you because I want to give them to some of you; I got a North Face snow pack for $15, I can buy DVDs for 60 cents a piece. They were selling Armani suits for $70 before I started haggling the price. I don’t need a suit, though. I didn’t buy one. I could’ve had a suit tailor made just for my curvy frame shape for even cheaper.
The great thing about all this name brand stuff is that it’s all genuine! That’s right, everybody. A real Armani suit. I’d put my Ray Bans up against any pair out there, on or off the black market. And they were made in the US. You know how I know all this? Because it is printed right on the property itself. And they wouldn’t print it on the frame if it weren’t true, right? I mean property rights are something that everybody everywhere pays attention to. People in China are bound under the same laws protecting human capital as everyone else. I suppose all these manufacturers just must like Chinese people more than westerners and so they are will to give them a better deal on their products.
The place that we are able to buy all this legitimate stuff is amazing. It’s 4 or 5 stories tall and jam packed with sellers, buyers, and merchandise. They don’t mess around with open walking spaces like an American mall. Benches and ferns mean nothing to them. Why take up space with a piece of art or a map of the complex if you could put stuff to sell there instead? I had a blast haggling the price of stuff! Everyone was blown away that I spoke Chinese, so I got a killer price on everything. I want to go back and offer my services to other foreigners, buying stuff for them with their money. I would keep half of the leftovers, and those using my services would save at least 2 or 3 dollars. Ok, maybe not so worth it.
Before we went to Ye Olde Cheape Stuff Mall, we were in downtown Beijing where the really nice malls were. That’s going to be very attractive come this time next year during the Olympics. One dept. store was selling an elephant tusk for $224,000. Taking pictures of it was forbidden (there’s the word again); but it’s still interesting to think about, how a safari visiting the elephants could fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars. Too bad wildlife rights aren’t protected as stringently as property rights. $4 Ray Bans. $.60 Hollywood blockbuster. Oh, wait a sec…
The great thing about all this name brand stuff is that it’s all genuine! That’s right, everybody. A real Armani suit. I’d put my Ray Bans up against any pair out there, on or off the black market. And they were made in the US. You know how I know all this? Because it is printed right on the property itself. And they wouldn’t print it on the frame if it weren’t true, right? I mean property rights are something that everybody everywhere pays attention to. People in China are bound under the same laws protecting human capital as everyone else. I suppose all these manufacturers just must like Chinese people more than westerners and so they are will to give them a better deal on their products.
The place that we are able to buy all this legitimate stuff is amazing. It’s 4 or 5 stories tall and jam packed with sellers, buyers, and merchandise. They don’t mess around with open walking spaces like an American mall. Benches and ferns mean nothing to them. Why take up space with a piece of art or a map of the complex if you could put stuff to sell there instead? I had a blast haggling the price of stuff! Everyone was blown away that I spoke Chinese, so I got a killer price on everything. I want to go back and offer my services to other foreigners, buying stuff for them with their money. I would keep half of the leftovers, and those using my services would save at least 2 or 3 dollars. Ok, maybe not so worth it.
Before we went to Ye Olde Cheape Stuff Mall, we were in downtown Beijing where the really nice malls were. That’s going to be very attractive come this time next year during the Olympics. One dept. store was selling an elephant tusk for $224,000. Taking pictures of it was forbidden (there’s the word again); but it’s still interesting to think about, how a safari visiting the elephants could fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars. Too bad wildlife rights aren’t protected as stringently as property rights. $4 Ray Bans. $.60 Hollywood blockbuster. Oh, wait a sec…
May 22nd: Pictures
They're repelling down the side of a skyscraper to wash the windows. Mom, why didn't you make chores that much fun?
The cheap stuff place
Cool pirate ship.
They're everywhere!Monday, May 21, 2007
May 20th: Bejing Mall
Sunday we went to visit some pretty amazing places. First, the 24 of us students and about a dozen, no… make it a baker’s, loaded onto a bus to go be tourists. First, we went to the Temple of Heaven. It’s this place 4 times the acreage of the Forbidden City, which is 160 acres big. So, 4 times 160: 4 times 0 is 0; 4 times 6 is 24, drop the 4, carry the 2; 4 times 1 is 4, plus the 2 that was carried over from the previous operation (just a reminder in case you forgot) making that 6; quick recap- 6 hundreds 4 tens 0 ones equals 640. So this place is 640 acres. It’s just massive. We saw only a small part of it. And of course the small part we saw was the exact same small part that all the other thousands of visitors also saw. So it was pretty crowded. From what I got of the Temple of Heaven, it was built during the same century as the Forbidden City. They said the year 1420, but I doubt that it only took a year to build both. Heaven’s Temple’s purpose was for ceremonies the emperor held. It wasn’t so much for religiosity. It was amazing to walk inside history. But the whole time I was inside, I kept thinking about how fantastic the grass lawns looked and how someone really needed to pull the weeds from the rocks. Thanks to Dad for 10 years of Saturday lawn mowings.
Afterward, we mosied on over to Tianenmen Square and the Forbidden City. Here we were walking around the Square and it hits me that I’m in the Washington DC of China, only on a much larger and more significant scale. I don’t even know very much of the history of the place, and I’m still walking around reverenced, really, by just being there. It’s going to be interesting to learn more about it. The party building was almost as big as the Congressional Hall, or whatever they call it. It was neat to imagine what it would have been like to be present at the student’s revolt where they were killed. I felt almost like my purpose for being there wasn’t noble enough, or not far-reaching enough. I suppose telling others about it will only help my purpose reach beyond my own self. Not that I have a grand desire to spread the word of demoncracy or that everyone needs to know this stuff in order to be a legititmate human being. I’m just sayin’…
The Forbidden City is across the street to the north of the Square. I’m so glad someone decided to give it such a cool name. All my life I haven’t been able to enjoy those things that are forbidden: rated R movies, beer, illicit drugs, Dad’s binoculars, Christmas presents before December 25, the Simpsons. But here I am walking into a city where a mere 500 years earlier would’ve earned my neck an intimate meeting with the exocutioner’s blade. Before they opened it to visitors, they only allowed unichs in, besides the royal family. I’ll tell you that it was a pretty cool place, but definitely not worth becoming a unich over. I’ll keep my un-unich status, thanks. They have some major renovating going on right now, I guess in preparation for the Olympics. Notwithstanding the unsightly scaffolding and dust covers, exploring the inside was quite remarkable. There were thousands of visitors, but the place is so huge that it wasn’t much of a problem. I tried to take pictures from spots that most people wouldn’t go to, like corners and nooks; even a few crannies were taken advantage of by my presence. I picked up a piece of chipped flooring for Uncle Rick. Did you already have a piece of the City? My Uncle Rick has tons of little pieces of things from all over the world. Now, the city is mostly used as a huge museum. There was an art gallery where I spent a chunk of time. That was all really neat to see. I think it would be really awesome to live there for a semester, studying Chinese history and government, or something like that.
All in all, Beijing certainly has a different type of history than we have in the US. I am certainly learning tons.
Afterward, we mosied on over to Tianenmen Square and the Forbidden City. Here we were walking around the Square and it hits me that I’m in the Washington DC of China, only on a much larger and more significant scale. I don’t even know very much of the history of the place, and I’m still walking around reverenced, really, by just being there. It’s going to be interesting to learn more about it. The party building was almost as big as the Congressional Hall, or whatever they call it. It was neat to imagine what it would have been like to be present at the student’s revolt where they were killed. I felt almost like my purpose for being there wasn’t noble enough, or not far-reaching enough. I suppose telling others about it will only help my purpose reach beyond my own self. Not that I have a grand desire to spread the word of demoncracy or that everyone needs to know this stuff in order to be a legititmate human being. I’m just sayin’…
The Forbidden City is across the street to the north of the Square. I’m so glad someone decided to give it such a cool name. All my life I haven’t been able to enjoy those things that are forbidden: rated R movies, beer, illicit drugs, Dad’s binoculars, Christmas presents before December 25, the Simpsons. But here I am walking into a city where a mere 500 years earlier would’ve earned my neck an intimate meeting with the exocutioner’s blade. Before they opened it to visitors, they only allowed unichs in, besides the royal family. I’ll tell you that it was a pretty cool place, but definitely not worth becoming a unich over. I’ll keep my un-unich status, thanks. They have some major renovating going on right now, I guess in preparation for the Olympics. Notwithstanding the unsightly scaffolding and dust covers, exploring the inside was quite remarkable. There were thousands of visitors, but the place is so huge that it wasn’t much of a problem. I tried to take pictures from spots that most people wouldn’t go to, like corners and nooks; even a few crannies were taken advantage of by my presence. I picked up a piece of chipped flooring for Uncle Rick. Did you already have a piece of the City? My Uncle Rick has tons of little pieces of things from all over the world. Now, the city is mostly used as a huge museum. There was an art gallery where I spent a chunk of time. That was all really neat to see. I think it would be really awesome to live there for a semester, studying Chinese history and government, or something like that.
All in all, Beijing certainly has a different type of history than we have in the US. I am certainly learning tons.
May 20th: Pictures
I like to sneak up on people and take their picture. What can I say? I'm sneaky.
Me reading the Book of Mormon in a place not many others have read it.
Hansen, Mao, and Me
The upper left image on my shirt is the boy running out to stop the tanks in Tiananmen Square. And I was standing on Tiananmen Square, with Mao's monument off my right shoulder.
The Chinese Capitol, where 3000 lawmakers meet
The largest temple of the Temple of Heaven. It's great and spacious in one!
The beautiful lawn.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
May 18th: China's Great Wall
We just got up and went. We all loaded onto a bus and went off to one of the 8 Wonders of the Known Universe: China’s Great Wall. It was about an hour bus ride there and 3 hours back because of traffic. On the way there, we drove past the new Olympic stadium, or where they’re building it. It’s huge and really nice to look at. On the way, Victoria told us some about the Wall and a couple of stories having to do with the Wall. Victoria is one of two students from the college here to help us out. She speaks really good English, but she’s a terrible storyteller. Hence the absence in this post of the two stories she told. (Or, am I leaving them out because I’m too lazy to just write about them in? The first. Know why I’m not lazy? Because I’m taking the time to write this explanation of why I’m not writing the stories. Ha! I’m not lazy at all. Well, sort of. I’ll keep going now.)
Victoria explained that we’re going to a section of the Wall that is the most popular. Judging by the pictures, you can see that she meant ‘popular’ very literally. Plus, talk about perfect competition. I would be exhaggerating to say that there were hundreds of people selling stuff, and it was all the same stuff. The thing is that there is no equilibrium price because you could haggle anything, which I will talk about a little later. Rick was telling us that we were going up the side that’s not so steep, but it was jammed packed with people. I tried to be very clear that I support him and his authority and didn’t want to undermine him or go over his head, and that in spite of that I would not be joining them on the crowded side. A few others felt the same way, and we went up the steep side.
Steep here means that you walk with your body at a 45 degree angle to the Wall in some places. I felt like pulling out my climbing harness and gear, clipping in and making the climb that way. I would’ve looked really silly, but at least I wouldn’t have brought all that gear for nothing. I felt like a wuss as I had such a hard time scaling that thing, yet old grandmas were running up and down it chasing after tourists, yelling “Hallo! Hallo! Vewy chee foh you! Hallo!” But after 2 years of chasing people down trying to get them to listen to me, the table were turned and I knew exactly what to do. You say “You’re very hard working,” or you just keep walking pretending you don’t here what they have to say. I was thinking about how maybe I should’ve been that aggressive and bold in Taiwan, running after people and grabbing onto their arms and shoving a Book of Mormon in their face. But I don’t want to give my testimony to someone who doesn’t want it. What am I going to do? Haggle the amount of commandments the person has to keep down to get them to want to be baptized? Of course, we would ask people for their time and these people on the Wall were asking for our money, and time is money. Anyway, I’m done talking about that.
We went all the way to the end of the section they had repaired and redone for tourists. All in all, it was very cool to see. I’m very glad I went depite the crowds. I still don’t know, though, which number wonder The Great Wall of China is. That was the first wonder that I’ve been to, so I guess it should be #1.
Victoria explained that we’re going to a section of the Wall that is the most popular. Judging by the pictures, you can see that she meant ‘popular’ very literally. Plus, talk about perfect competition. I would be exhaggerating to say that there were hundreds of people selling stuff, and it was all the same stuff. The thing is that there is no equilibrium price because you could haggle anything, which I will talk about a little later. Rick was telling us that we were going up the side that’s not so steep, but it was jammed packed with people. I tried to be very clear that I support him and his authority and didn’t want to undermine him or go over his head, and that in spite of that I would not be joining them on the crowded side. A few others felt the same way, and we went up the steep side.
Steep here means that you walk with your body at a 45 degree angle to the Wall in some places. I felt like pulling out my climbing harness and gear, clipping in and making the climb that way. I would’ve looked really silly, but at least I wouldn’t have brought all that gear for nothing. I felt like a wuss as I had such a hard time scaling that thing, yet old grandmas were running up and down it chasing after tourists, yelling “Hallo! Hallo! Vewy chee foh you! Hallo!” But after 2 years of chasing people down trying to get them to listen to me, the table were turned and I knew exactly what to do. You say “You’re very hard working,” or you just keep walking pretending you don’t here what they have to say. I was thinking about how maybe I should’ve been that aggressive and bold in Taiwan, running after people and grabbing onto their arms and shoving a Book of Mormon in their face. But I don’t want to give my testimony to someone who doesn’t want it. What am I going to do? Haggle the amount of commandments the person has to keep down to get them to want to be baptized? Of course, we would ask people for their time and these people on the Wall were asking for our money, and time is money. Anyway, I’m done talking about that.
We went all the way to the end of the section they had repaired and redone for tourists. All in all, it was very cool to see. I’m very glad I went depite the crowds. I still don’t know, though, which number wonder The Great Wall of China is. That was the first wonder that I’ve been to, so I guess it should be #1.
May 17th: English Classes
We sat in on some English classes yesterday and this morning. The teacher of the class was very nervous-looking as he was explaining that “our distinguished American guests” were going to talk to his students all about life in America compared to life in China. He would use his hands in funny ways that had nothing to do with what he was saying. The 4 students that me and my buddy Rob were paired up with like to make fun of him and his hand gestures.
They basically put us all in a room together and said “Ok, talk.” The class period was an hour and 45 mins long. The best comparison that I can make is that it was like an awkward date. We didn’t really know what to expect out of our talk. The conversation was very superficial. It was a crowded room, so I couldn’t really hear the other person who was talking. We got stuck in traffic, and lost on our way there. She is vegetarian, but didn’t tell me until after we arrived at Ruths Chris. The waiter was making lame date jokes. We got a ticket afterward. I really need to figure out what I want out of a classroom-discussion relationship, and then think of corresponding questions to achieve my goal. If I don’t know what I want, then I’m just going to end up an lonely old maid for the rest of my life.
In the class yesterday, we were supposed to help the students read a talk by George Bush the Elder and answer some questions on the reading. The talk was really boring, though. Something about Bush eating ‘fragrant meat’ that is actually the upper lip of a dog and also undermining Henry Kissinger in order to take over diplomatic relations for China on behalf of the US. I don’t know exactly. I wasn’t really paying attention. Instead, my other buddy Tucker and me just started talking to the 3 students paired up with us. It was just a lot more natural than being forced into a relationship like in the other class with Hands Man. I don’t care how many dozens of times he referred to me as ‘distinguished.’ He didn’t take the time to Rob and me flow easily into the situation. We had so much in common with the first group. I really think there was real chemistry. I’m thinking of taking it to the next level, which would be… writing emails back and forth? I don’t know what the next level would be. Is the baseball analogy also applicable to week-long, academic-exchange relationships? I guess ‘study a broad’ takes on a whole new meaning when you combine the 3 words into 2. In the two classes combined, there was about 45 students, 2 of which were dudes. Kinda interesting.
I’ve really learned a lot talking with these students on different levels: politically, socially, familially. One of the girls this morning was explaining her family situation. She is the oldest of 2 children. She’s 21, her younger brother is 14. That’s a pretty big age difference, first of all. But what made me more surprised is why her parents were allowed to have another child. It’s because their first was a girl. Now, having a second child under the One Child Policy can cost the parents a one-time fine of anywhere from $700 up to $2000US. Money, of course, go a lot farther here where the CPI is a lot lower. That is a LOT of money. But having a son is so important that the government will waive that fine to give the parents a chance at a namesake. How would that feel, being one of those two children and knowing quite obviously who the favorite is?
They basically put us all in a room together and said “Ok, talk.” The class period was an hour and 45 mins long. The best comparison that I can make is that it was like an awkward date. We didn’t really know what to expect out of our talk. The conversation was very superficial. It was a crowded room, so I couldn’t really hear the other person who was talking. We got stuck in traffic, and lost on our way there. She is vegetarian, but didn’t tell me until after we arrived at Ruths Chris. The waiter was making lame date jokes. We got a ticket afterward. I really need to figure out what I want out of a classroom-discussion relationship, and then think of corresponding questions to achieve my goal. If I don’t know what I want, then I’m just going to end up an lonely old maid for the rest of my life.
In the class yesterday, we were supposed to help the students read a talk by George Bush the Elder and answer some questions on the reading. The talk was really boring, though. Something about Bush eating ‘fragrant meat’ that is actually the upper lip of a dog and also undermining Henry Kissinger in order to take over diplomatic relations for China on behalf of the US. I don’t know exactly. I wasn’t really paying attention. Instead, my other buddy Tucker and me just started talking to the 3 students paired up with us. It was just a lot more natural than being forced into a relationship like in the other class with Hands Man. I don’t care how many dozens of times he referred to me as ‘distinguished.’ He didn’t take the time to Rob and me flow easily into the situation. We had so much in common with the first group. I really think there was real chemistry. I’m thinking of taking it to the next level, which would be… writing emails back and forth? I don’t know what the next level would be. Is the baseball analogy also applicable to week-long, academic-exchange relationships? I guess ‘study a broad’ takes on a whole new meaning when you combine the 3 words into 2. In the two classes combined, there was about 45 students, 2 of which were dudes. Kinda interesting.
I’ve really learned a lot talking with these students on different levels: politically, socially, familially. One of the girls this morning was explaining her family situation. She is the oldest of 2 children. She’s 21, her younger brother is 14. That’s a pretty big age difference, first of all. But what made me more surprised is why her parents were allowed to have another child. It’s because their first was a girl. Now, having a second child under the One Child Policy can cost the parents a one-time fine of anywhere from $700 up to $2000US. Money, of course, go a lot farther here where the CPI is a lot lower. That is a LOT of money. But having a son is so important that the government will waive that fine to give the parents a chance at a namesake. How would that feel, being one of those two children and knowing quite obviously who the favorite is?
May 17th: Pictures
the audience for whom I played the cello for a little talent show.
the lunch with the higher-ups at the school. They killed the fatted calf for us!
the school b-ball team.
the b-ball game with the school b-ball team. We got worked. I got a bad blister. But I controlled the post and pulled down some boards. I'm shooting the free-throw.
the English class we visited where we were 'distinguished American visitor
Monday, May 14, 2007
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