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October 1, 1949 Mao Ze Dong stood on the Tian an men Gate and declared the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Fifty eight years later...it is a national holiday during which the traffic is heavier than at any time of year other than Spring Festival. So, what does an intelligent world traveler like myself do? Join the lemmings. At five o-clock last Sunday morning, two friends and I got in a cab and went to the Airport. We got on a plane to the city of Harbin, where we got on a bus that took us into the city to the train station. At a pharmacy across the street form the train station we met up with the aunt of one of our colleagues who was going to help us get tickets to a still smaller city farther north and west called Zalantun, where my friend, M, is a teacher. Well, we were told that there were NO tickets to be found anywhere, no bus, no train. So we checked into a hotel, had a nap and went to lunch. on the way back to lunch we found a place that looked like a rail ticket agent. we didn't think much about it, but went to visit this absolutely incredible hundred year old Russian Orthodox church that has been semi-restored and turned into a museum. Really spectacular. After dinner, we went past that ticket agent again. We looked at each other and thought, "Nothing to lose by trying" and went in and got three sleeper beds to Zalantun leaving just a couple of hours later. So, we ended up in ZLT about 22 hours after we left Tianjin. Had we been able to get train tickets from Tianjin, it would have been closer to 26 hours and we would not have had the chance to walk around Harbin. Really, I want to go to Harbin again, it is a really nice city, pretty, clean, major Russian influence. You can buy amazing bread there. So, we finally get to ZLT and the skies there are clear and blue and chilly. I was expecting it to be colder, but all in all I was pretty comfortable the entire time. My friends were cold, but I am my own personal portable heater. Zalantun is a small city, about 20,000 and is nestled in a small valley surrounded by hills. Cars are not terribly common yet, and there are still donkey carts going up and down the streets. The donkeys are obviously valued by their owners. they are fat and gentle. No Mc Donald's, No KFC. There are some spectacular local dishes, (mostly made of meat) and milk tea. Milk tea can be salty or sweet. I prefer mine sweet. there is really not a whole lot to do there, so I got in a good visit with my friend, and spent some great quality time with those I traveled with. The train ride home was gloriously uneventful. we had a first class sleeper so we got to lie down the whole way. In a second class sleeper there are six bunks to a compartment so sitting can only be done on the lowest bunk. In a first class compartment there are only four bunks so all passengers can sit or lie down at will. So we chatted and napped and napped and chatted and snacked. I think we had one official meal and the rest of the time simply munched on crackers, dried fruits and nuts and drank tea or instant coffee. It was cozy. When we got to Beijing, we had to travel from the North station to the central station which is on the far side of the Subway loop line. Fortunately for us, I am quite familiar with the Beijing Subway, and we got where we were going without incident. we were able to get tickets on the new high speed train from Beijing to Tianjin and were home and in bed by eleven. What a great vacation! |
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as in the weather is turning cooler and the heat is not on yet. Funny thing about life here, you get used to, and even come to enjoy some of the odder things about life that you would NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS put up with in the States. For example: State controlled heat. In the fall, one pays for the winter heat all at once. The earlier you pay for your heat, the cheaper it is. (which reminds me...) BUT the heat doesn't come on until November 15. That is all well and good, but the temps here are already below 60 for the highs. Needless to say, long johns are out of storage and getting washed, waiting for the day of truly mind numbing cold. Once the heat is on, I come home and strip to my skivvies because the heat is so hot and DRY! Seriously, you can hang a pair of dripping wet blue jeans up in my bedroom and they will be dry in a matter of hours. I keep a bottle of saline in my room to spray up my nose to avoid nosebleeds. "Okay", I hear you say, "I thought you were gonna talk about how you enjoy this!" I do, really. The summer was long, hot and humid. I hate hot and humid. I much prefer the way I feel when I am burning calories trying to stay warm. I'm about delirious with delight at the fact that I have to sleep with a blanket! I like that cozy feeling. I also love the fact that the street vendors are selling outrageously cheap winter clothes now. Picked up two awesome zippered hoodies for about ten bucks. I like zippered or buttoned sweaters and sweatshirts for the winter here, easier to adjust to differing temperatures. I have not purchased any longies this year. Last years are still in good shape. I love getting up and having coffee and then sipping hot Chinese tea (wu long is my fave) the rest of the day. I like the way my hands are nearly always warm and I can put them on people's faces when they are expecting them to be cold. Tianjin is dreary during the winter. Not unlike most cities. But I love it anyway. The river freezes over and there is skating and ice fishing. A wonderful lack of Christmas commercialism. Tho', last year, there were more lights and trees than previously. I think Christmas is catching on here, at least as a commercial holiday. The religious significance is still lost on most Chinese. The hard part of winter in China is spending the holidays away from my family. Both the Western Holidays, and Chinese Spring Festival. Spring Festival is the big family holiday here. My students will ask me what I will be doing since I have no family here. I don't really make plans for Spring Festival, I know that one of my Chinese friends will invite me into their home to celebrate with their family. It always makes me feel loved, welcomed and honored. |
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One of the hard things about being and expatriate is that I still have to deal with things in the USA. Now granted, this has been made infinitely easier thanks to the internet. I can pay my bills on line, send instructions for how I want things done, I can even make phone calls! I can get money out if my American accounts using an ATM. Things that I would rather handle face to face, with a person whose nametag I can read, I have to either have someone else handle or handle electronically. There is a certain loss of....humanity?...personableness?...relationship? Before I became a teacher I spent fifteen years in customer service. I took pride in the fact that I was able to smooth ruffled feathers and that I had regular customers who I looked forward to seeing and who looked forward to seeing me. My last year in customer service was in a call center for an insurance company. I had no regular customers, no familiar faces, and no personal incentive to serve them well. I would never see them or hear from them again. More than that, on the phone (I'm guilty of this myself), there is a tendency to treat people as though they are some kind of obstacle. Either as the client or the server. Though, I have to admit, having a PERSON answer the phone is far preferable to having to run circles through automated answering services with incomprehensible menus. Especially when you are calling from the far side of the planet in the middle of the night. China has no real 24 hour services. Well except Mc Donald's and hospitals. There is a joke in there somewhere! I miss not having the freedom to go to Wal Mart at 3:00 in the morning as a cure for insomnia. Granted, I seldom went to Wal Mart at 3am, except when I was working second shift. But to know that If I suddenly developed a need for some kind of medicine I didn't have on hand or some other little necessity, that I could go and get it was comforting. Now the only thing I can do is satisfy the craving for an early morning French fry. Bleah. However, I find that life here, tho' inconvenient, is really quite interesting. Here I am an English teacher, and a barely passable amatuer musician, and I am teaching one of my Chinese friends how to play guitar (?!?!?!) in exchange for Chinese tutoring. What the heck is that? Tell you what though, It is forcing me to go back and review what I know about music. So, in the long run, it should be good. Destructo-kitty is crying for attention, and my laundry needs folding. Ahhhhh, the joys of everyday life come crashing into my reverie. |
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Especially when you are not feeling well and not much is going on. Well, not much exciting. We are winding down to mid term at school, which means that since my conversation classes are only ten weeks long, I will be getting new students, and possibly a new schedule. Eh, just business as usual. I'm also trying to avoid a case of the flu. I stayed home today and drank hot beverages and slept most of the day because I have been achy and dealing with a low grade fever that refuses to blow into a full blown fever, but also refuses to go away. Just barely on the pleasant side of miserable. Did I ever mention my MSG allergy? MSG is a flavor enhancer that is universally used in China. It really does make food taste wonderful, and it helps you feel full. I can eat it in small doses, once in awhile. But, lately, for some reason, I have been eating in restaurants, or, staying home and eating instant noodles. Either option packs my system with the MSG. The stuff gives me a migraine. One of which I have had for about three days. Fortunately, it was a mild one. Of course if it had been a bad one, it would have been completely debilitating and only lasted about 36 hours. No, the mild ones last forever. The bad thing about being sick in China is that they treat you in one of two ways, with massive doses of Chinese traditional medicine, (which isn't all herbal, by the way), or with IV antibiotics for several days. Given the fact that I have no faith in, or clue of what's inside traditional medicines, I would really rather not thank you very much. Really, what does snake bile have to do with curing a runny nose? I am also generally opposed to sitting in a hospital with a needle in my arm for six hours surrounded by people with whom I can't speak. Not to mention the fact that I'm not all that keen on antibiotics anyway. Since most colds and flus are viral, and antibiotics don't do much for viruses. I tend to treat most illnesses with rest and lots of fluids; give the body what it needs to fight it on its own. Tomorrow, the Korean Headmaster is buying pizza for all the teachers. Promises to be quite an experience. Pizza in China is very different from pizza in the US. Korean Pizza in China is different on a whole new scale. I once had Korean pizza that had potatoes and mayonnaise on it. It was definitely better than the spicy squid pizza. I'm just hoping that there is some pepperoni out there somewhere. |
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I've a million things to rant about. Traffic, parking, MSG headaches, my cat jumping on my desk where he knows he isn't allowed. I just don't feel like ranting. Ranting makes for good blogging, though. A blog is a place where average Zhou can vent his spleen with minimal negative consequences. But, really, what positive influence, consequence, well....anything can come out of it?? Bloggers spew forth the unexpurgated version of what they see is truth, often in an angry way. Some of it is truly funny. Some of it is merely poison laid out for world consumption. I don"t want that. This started out as a rant about a variety of things and my heart just isn't in it. I had a wonderful day. I am a member of the International Fellowship in my city, and I attended today. I heard a really good message. then I went out for lunch with some friends of mine at this small, dingy restaurant that has some AMAZING Sweet and Sour Pork. Then we headed over to the Water Park. Which is HUGE and lovely. It is not a water park in the American sense of the word. It is a park on the water where you can rent small boats and just go for a boat ride. There is an amusement park there, and a zoo, and a whole bunch of flowers. So we rented a boat and went around on the lake for a bit, and then walked around for a bit, and saw some really cool dioramas about Chinese life during the emperors. It was just really pleasant. My roommate was with me and her niece is visiting. My Chinese, as poor as it is, is still better than Roomie's, so having me along was helpful when it came to ordering food and getting around town. And they seemed to enjoy my company as much as I enjoyed theirs. Starbuck's for dessert. Then shoe shopping for Roomie. The woman had no sneakers!!! I simply cannot imagine going through life without sneakers! More to the point, she is going walking around Beijing later in the week and had no shoes appropriate for the amount of walking she is about to do. By the time we got home we had walked off the enormous lunch we had. We fixed ourselves some food, and watched "The Two Towers". Then I got to see pictures of her family and the Christmas she spent with her brother in India. the went on a Christmas Day Elephant Ride. No, Really, I saw the pictures of her brother with a Santa hat on, sitting on an elephant. They were there during the tsunami that tore across the Indian Ocean a couple of years ago. On the beach. Twenty miles to either side of where the villages and beaches were wiped out. Where she was, the waves were just a bit higher than usual. The biggest natural disaster to hit south Asia in recent memory, and she had to move her beach chair. Wild, huh? Destructo-kitty has been sweet today. He gets really sweet when it is cold and he wants help to stay warm. We are still about three weeks away from the heat being turned on. I had to get out my heavy blanket. Tonight I could hear water rattling in the radiator pipes as the building is getting ready for the winter heating season. There are men on the street selling fresh, roasted chestnuts. My city is famous for them. Winter is coming. I cannot wait. |