Tuesday, October 01, 2002

 
Arrived home safely on Saturday evening. My cousin picked me up at Kennedy airport and drove me home. I'm endlessly grateful for that.

My domestic flight (San Fransisco to New York) was really interesting. I ended up sitting in a group of non-english-speaking chinese people (TOTALLY coincidental! With it being a domestic flight, the chances of there being 8 non-english speaking chinese on board was slim, let alone the chance of me being seated in the middle of them!). So of course I struck up conversations with them and they doted on me for the entire flight. I now have a pile of their business cards, and I've promised them that I'll write to all of their kids in china (in fact, one woman gave me $20 and told me to send her son that amount's worth of postcards... which i need to get around to doing really soon). Halfway through the flight, one woman tried to get me to understand what exactly they do for work. I caught that they were in the states for a conference, and that they all do something for the government, but that was as far as I understood. So she spelled it out for me. "You know New York City? You know Giuliani? That's what we do." And the number of people in her city was six million.

So now about 8 Chinese large-city mayors love me and want me to be their American Kid. Huh. Talk about connections.

Upon returning home, my stepfather mentioned to me that the chinese restaurant in town is looking for help. So Sunday morning I wandered over there to inquire. I told the manager I had just come home from China and was looking for work. I spoke to him in Chinese for a bit, we talked about my trip and the restaurant, and he asked me to come in Monday to "watch the staff and learn how to waitress" (as i am completely inexperienced). Monday I went in, and was immediately thrown onto the floor to waitress on my own. I picked it up and had a good time. Then worked the dinner shift. Then did the same thing today. That's right, folks. Sarah just flew halfway across the world and has NOT YET taken a day off to rest. I'm surviving just fine, though, and I couldn't have asked for a better job. My manager is a wonderful man from Shanghai who used to be a teacher, and he insists on helping me learn chinese. "And you don't even have to pay me!" he says.
posted by sarah 12:30 PM

 
What would have been posted Friday, Sept. 27th at 12:15 pm if China had let me access blogger.com....

I have about 3 hours left to play, but nowhere really to go because my luggage is stashed in the hotel and i can't venture too far from it. After that, I get on a bus, and then another, and hope to end up at the airport. And from then, it's roughly 48 hours of never leaving aiports and airplanes. Sounds like fun, eh?

This hostel has been a lot of fun. By the end of my time, I was friends with all five of the other people in my room--the Swiss guy I met at Bard, his girlfriend, an english fellow named adam, a japanese guy who is really excited to practice his english, and a friendly english girl named Haley who helped me pack (and gave me the "you don't need that" advice i needed to hear). Chinese backpacker hostels can be a really enjoyable experience--everyone's travelling, many on their own, and it becomes a supportive, friendly community, ever-changing with people coming in and out--friends you're close to for 48 hours and then never talk to again. Lotsa fun.

I liked the hostel more than beijing, actually. Beijing is dirty and crowded, and transportation can be quite a pain. The northern section, where all the universities are, is a bit nicer, but i've been staying in the farthest south section, and having to navigate everywhere. Also, the treatment of foreigners is different here. In shanghai, foreigners are business people, and the chinese ignore them. In Qingdao, foreigners are teachers and students, and the chinese are very friendly and excited to talk to them. In Beijing, the foreigners are rich tourists, and the chinese treat them as sources of money. In the university area, I was treated like I was in Qingdao, but anywhere near the center of the city i'm treated like a dollar sign.

I've gotten a few different opinions on study in beijing, but nothing decisive. Right now (meaning February), I think Beijing Language and Culture University is the place to go, and probably only as a short-term program. I'm still considering getting the degree in China (cheapest and most thorough chinese education possible), but someone recently pointed out that an american degree is worth far more. So we'll see how things go. If anyone wants to send me any "here's what you should do for the rest of you life" proposals, I promise to read them.

So that's all for now. Time to seek final chinese souvenirs and prepare for airports. Next communication will [hopefully] be from the states. Over and out.
posted by sarah 12:12 PM

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

 
ahhhhhhh.....

For four months i've been wearing the same pair of leather tevas. they're great sandals, but they've been the same open-foot shoes for four whole months. Buying other shoes has been in vain--and i've gone through 4 others. Only my Tevas have survived the troubles of my feet. My teva-tan is rich. My feet are perpetually dirty. And oh, the they have come to ache from spending hours and hours wandering cities.

Today, we reached a breaking point. After 3 and a half hours of wandering beijing looking for a museum, my feet informed me that they were done. They would continue no more in China. We argued a bit, and then they just quit. In order to resolve said issue, i crawled my way to a cab and found the nearest foot massage clinic. An hour and a half for 68 kuai and my feet forgave me. I am pleased to report that they have agreed to help me get home. Clean, relaxed, and rubbed to a tender happiness, they are once again my friend.
posted by sarah 5:13 AM

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

 
Okay, eventful travel has begun again. The last night in Qingdao was spent out on the beach all night around an impromptu campfire with a pile of friends... and did not include any sleep, so i'm back to no-sleep travelling--so reminiscent of kunming and shanghai! Arrived in Beijing safely and found a decently cheap way from the airport to my nice cheap backpacker's hostel--which is comfortingly reminiscent of dali. A six-person hostel room for 35 kuai a bed. A cool american guy joined me at the hotel restaurant for a chat-about-china moment, and then the most bizarre thing happened... i noticed a blonde long-haired guy speaking german who looked strangely like my good Bard friend Jen's ex-boyfriend from switzerland. I was going to let it go, with the knowledge that nothing so absurdly coincidental could happen, like meeting the same guy from switzerland in two different countries... but then when i turned in for the night, he happened to have the bed right next to mine, so the conversation went as follows...
me: "hi"
him: "where are you from?"
me: "the states, and you?"
him: "switzerland."
me: "really... you look very familiar to me. have you.. um.. ever been to new york state?"
him: "yes i have."
me: "to.. um.. bard college?"
him: "yes i have."
me: to... see a girl named jen."
him: "yup."
me: "okay, i know you. that's weird."

and so went the first day. the second day i woke up with the intention of wandering and accomplishing nothing. 3 days to see 2 schools is a lot of time. so i started walking, but then saw a bus headed to beijing university and got on. then passed by the zoo and got off. saw the pandas and giraffes and looked really hard for the hippos but they weren't there. i really wanted to see a hippo. had been warned earlier about the quality of the zoos in china so took extra notice of the animal cruelty, but really it wasn't that bad--any way a zoo is run it's cruel to animals, so ya just gotta deal.

the got in a cab and wandered beijing university. talked to their office, got some info on the short-term programs. have to go back tomorrow for the long-term because that office was having a meeting. wasn't too thrilled about the school--so damn big! but probably really good if i want to major in something other than chinese in china. went next to beijuing language and culture university next cause hey, it was right down the street, and got a really good feeling from that school. Really set up with a focus on learning chinese as a second language. huge majority of their students are korean, though, and i'm not sure why that's a disappointment to me. maybe cause it reminds me of qingdao university... but seems like the school might be a good bet.

a fluent-in-english-and-really-friendly chinese guy helped me figure out what the buses were doing at the bus stop, and i stopped into a cafe to have a glass of juice with him. now i have a chinese friend in beijing, so that's cool. he works as an english-to-chinese interpreter and has a bunch of foreign friends. That type. Yeah, that's definitely a 'type' around here.

okay, so i've actually done everything and more that i need to do in beijing and i still have 2 and a half days left. i guess what i'll do now is explore some more. and maybe get some more of that famous roast duck.
posted by sarah 5:35 AM

Sunday, September 22, 2002

 
Last night was the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival. This is a festival that happens every fall on the day of the big full moon we call the Harvest Moon. It's comparable to our Thanksgiving. The Chinese get together with their families, have a big meal outside, eat mooncakes, and look at the moon.

Mooncakes are these round cakes, maybe 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch high (but they vary), with a breadish outside and some kind of fruit or nut filling. Some are really yummy. Some are really gross. Every grocery store and bakery in China has been selling them for a month. I became quite addicted to the cheap 1-kuai ones at Carrefour, and found that i liked those much better than the fancy expensive ones (whos fancy fillings taste quite bad to me). Carrefour, and other stores, all have rows and rows, piles and piles, of these mooncakes. I thought it was impossible that they could sell out. People have been buying them for a month--and at first i thought they'd been eating them for a month, but now i think they were just hoarding them for the festival. I went into Carrefour last night (about just before them chinese would be sitting down to dinner) and the place was an absolute zoo. And not a mooncake in sight. See, the Chinese, they know they all sell out on the festival day and they buy them in advance. But poor Sarah, who has been enjoying mooncakes every evening for the past month, could not find a single mooncake to eat on the day of the festival.

My Moon Festival was spent at Luigi's new restaurant, which officially opens tonight (for my goodbye party). Dalin invited Sally and I. The place is absolutely beautiful--right on the sea, with a bunch of outdoor tables with umbrellas, and beautiful garden to dance around, and an adorable setup inside with a bar. Really classy. It belongs to a barbeque restaurant/bar who has agreed to share it with Luigi and have a joint restaurant. I think Luigi is actually doing more of a favor to this place, because has has so many customers. It's going to be great for both of them. They had a big buffet of chinese food and barbecue set up for free for the festival, and Sally and I dined with Dalin, Luigi, the new business partners (a husband and wife), and some other friends whom I met for the first time. It was a lovely evening.

Afterward, I went to the Jazz bar for my last time and saw the band. My chinese teacher, Chen Laoshi, also went (she's a wonderful dancer!!) and we had a great time. There are so many good friends I'm about to leave, and all of these people I've only met in the past month!! I really love the friendliness of the foreigner/chinese culture here in china. Frankly, it's a lot nicer than in the states.

So tonight's my goodbye party and tomorrow I get on a plane to beijing. And from there, zombie-dom begins.
posted by sarah 12:35 AM

Friday, September 20, 2002

 
For clarification (I just noticed I never mentioned this on the site), I'm not leaving because I have to. Yes, I have a Visa problem, but I have a handful of friends who've offered to ring up their connections and fix it for me. At this point, I'm choosing to leave because I've decided for certain that I want to return next semester to study at a school in Beijing; if I go home now I'll have time to prepare mentally and financially. So send me no pity, and be waiting for me with gifts of fresh orange juice, ice cream, and cheese (cause really, that's all i'm coming home for).
posted by sarah 1:40 AM

 
Alright, here's my plan for the next week. I've pretty much covered all my planning, and now i can just move through it like a travelling zombie...

I'm leaving Qingdao this Monday night to fly to Beijing. Sally will take me to the airport. First I bought a train ticket--a hundred kuai to sit on a hard seat for 12 hours--but then i found out i could get a plane ticket for only 300 kuai, so i went ahead and did that. it'll make my travelling a hell of a lot nicer.

In Beijing I have reservations at a nice backpacker's hostel for only 35 kuai a night, which is quite good. I've contacted a former bard student i knew from last year who's now studying chinese in beijing, so i'm going to meet up with him and he's going to get me in touch with friends who are in the various programs i'm looking at. I've contacted the offices of Beijing Lang. and Culture Unvirsity and Beijing University so I will go get info from them when i go wander around their respective campuses. They didn't seem to be all that "tour-friendly". They were just like, "yeah, sure, you're welcome to walk around,and our office closes at 5 so you can stop by if you like." i'll force them to give me info. So that's what I'll do from Tuesday to Friday.

Friday night I'll take a plane to Shanghai. I'll get there about 10:30 pm, and my plane leaves at 11:30 AM the next day, so I think I'm going to try to just stay in the airport. The airport is so damn far away from the center of the city (and consequently any affordable hotel) so it's not worth it to leave. Moreover, I shouldn't sleep anyway, because I'm about to change 12-hour time zones again. So I'll just lock up my luggage and try to find some coffee and a book. I've made reservations at one of those damn-far-away-hotels anyway, just in case staying at the airport won't work out.

And from there, I go the San Francisco, get off the plane, stretch, get back on another one, and go to New York City. Unfortunately, I do not live in New York City (or state), so it may be another adventure trying to get home....

Yep... this is all going to take me a week. A total zombie I will be.
posted by sarah 1:33 AM

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

 
Just had an interesting conversation with a chinese friend/waitress at the jazz bar. She doesn't speak English, so it took some back-and-forth questioning to get down to her meaning, but basically her opinion is this:

Because America's history is so short, Americans work hard and truly, and their opinions/thoughts/intentions are honest and simple. Because Chinese people's history is long and complicated, their opinions/thoughts/intentions are complex and dishonest. For example, an American will invite someone out to dinner because they like them, because they are good friends, and that can easily be the only reason. A Chinese will not invite you out to dinner for such a simple reason--they will want something from you, in some way or other. They will certainly have ulterior motives. Qingdao people, she says are good in the way that Americans are, because their history is also short and simple. By Chinese, she meant Shanghai and Beijing people--the people with the really complex histories.

*(Just to clarify those terms above, because they're so key to the opinion... by opinions/thoughts/intentions I'm translating a chinese term that literally means "thought methods", and by "honest and simple" I'm referring to a chinese word that's often translated as "easy".)

Her statements about the Chinese matched up to what I've noticed. Everything about what they say and do is complicated and full of hidden meanings. It's absolutely impossible to get honesty out of them in business matters, however they'll call you "fat" or tell you your chinese is bad without batting an eye. It's incredibly frustrating to get to the core of what they're doing, thinking, meaning, saying... However, I'm not sure if Americans are the complete opposite. I would say, though, that Americans are a bit easier to deal with. Maybe that's just because it's my culture.

The history element though, is fascinating. This woman says that world history is her favorite subject--she studies it quite passionately. Because the history is complicated in China, the people match that quality. Because American history is still so simple, the people still have a good degree of innocence. Australia (which is even younger than the U.S.) was mentioned for that category as well.

Just think about it for a minute, and start applying it to the rest of the world. It's a real interesting way of looking at things.
posted by sarah 7:31 AM

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

 
Whee, the past 30 hours has been an ongoing small party for the most part. It started as Dalin's birthday party at luigi's--pizza, dancing, gifts, people, and going crazy. Lots of fun. (Character Check: Dalin's the real attractive chinese pizza boy i've been dating on and off but haven't been so interested in lately--cause he's pretty damn self-centered. does that inherently come with being gorgeous?) I spent a lot more time dancing with Fox than Dalin--but that was all well and good because Dalin was passed-out from an expensive liquor gift most of that time.

Then we moved the party to a private room at a karaoke bar and proceeded to sing very poorly. I was so exhausted I could only stand up to sing Aqua's "Barbie Girl" and then collapsed back on the couch to sleep. The group dwindled down to 4 people--me, Dalin, Fox (Dalin's best friend, only speaks chinese), and Yeli (adorable Korean girl, speaks Korean and Chinese) and our common language was chinese. Good practice for me. :) We all climbed into the beds, couches, and floors and Dalin's apartment and crashed around 3 AM, but didn't sleep too much. Got up around 10... wandered around the apartment for about 7 hours... watched a few movies... one was japanese with chinese subtitles (yeah, really understood that one... uh-huh...)... made some yummy chinese noodle-and-a-whole-bunch-of-other-stuff soup... left about 5 pm to take a shower and get some sleep at home.

went home, ate a great sushi roll dinner that i bought at carrefour for less than your pathetic American dollar.... didn't sleep... did laundry instead because i suddenly realized i had no clothes at all (and that means handwashing, so there went an hour)... went to the jazz bar for movie night... came lazily to an internet cafe.... yeah, that pretty much brings us up to date, doesn't it?

Tomorrow i have to go deal with that whole work-thing, so today was well-deserved. Yeah.

Oh, and umm... had some mild moments of mutual affection with Fox. Is it bad to be dating best friends at the same time? Hmm... is it worse to start seeing the second one on the first one's birthday? Perhaps it is a good idea to leave the country soon.
posted by sarah 9:38 AM

Monday, September 16, 2002

 
stuff happens quickly, doesn't it? just looking over the other entries in this page. Within 7 entries, I moved into an apartment, got a new job, got a chinese tutor, decided to leave the country, and quit all my jobs.
posted by sarah 2:27 AM

 
Pulling out of work commitments does a number on your guilt levels. Yesterday I said goodbye to the Korean family I teach. Today I informed the middle school that Wednesday would be my last day. It's not so much an issue of "Oh, sarah, we love you so much, don't go." It's more an issue of, "Ah? What? So who's going to teach our kids next week?" And because all my foreign friends these days are teachers at English schools already, I'm not able to fill my own shoes with someone feet.

Hey, when I come home, I can buy shoes that fit. Wow. Cool. I've been wearing the same damn pair of Tevas for 4 months now, and they're just not very attractive with nice skirts.

Tonight is Dalin's birthday party. I'm looking forward to the evening full of friends, especially after all of this quitting work stress. It'll be held at Luigi's, even though the restaurant has technically been shut down for a week. I've heard that the government actually shut it down because they were ashamed of it. All of those foriegners eating outside, in such a dirty place full of rocks, they must think all of china is that awful! They don't understand that that's why we loved it so much. Not to worry though, they've found another location and will be reopening in a month.

As an unplanned adventure Sally and I ran off to House Disco with some friends at 1:00 AM last night, totally disregarding the fact that we both had to work today.

I have too many clothes to bring home.

I apologize for the lack of cohesion in this passage. However, i think it accurately represents my state of mind.
posted by sarah 2:13 AM

Saturday, September 14, 2002

 
okay. fei ji piao mai dao le. wo jiu yue ershiba hao hui jia. cong shanghai zuo feiji dao niuyue. bu guo, wo zou yihou, wo bu neng shuo zhongwen, wo bu neng he jiu, wo bu neng gen zhongguo pengyou wanr, wo bu neng gen zai qingdao de waiguo pengyou wanr. danshi mei guanxi. zai meiguo wo keyi gongzuo, sheng qian. yihou, wo yiding hui zhongguo lai.

new set of chopsticks to whomever can translate that. see you soon. i'll fly into new york city the 28th.
posted by sarah 10:19 PM

Thursday, September 12, 2002

 
Wow. And it just had to be Friday the 13th. This is unbelievable.
posted by sarah 9:54 PM

 
Living in China is a game. As the player, my objective is to get the most out of the country while giving it the least. I really thought I was winning! I had this great year-long visa, a beautiful apartment, and a wonderful tutor, all for pennies! Not to mention the easy work that pays hugely. And every day i skipped down the street, whistling and thinking about how great everything was, and how much i was winning.

And if you're an astute student of English, you will have picked up on the unexpected use of past-tense in the previous paragraph by now. This is because out of pure boredom this morning, i picked up my passport and browsed through it, only to find that my Visa expires on Sept. 30, 2002... and not 2003 as i thought it did. I can't be particularly upset about this, because i only have my own stupidity to blame. I thought I was smarter than China. I thought Qingdao University was actually dumb enough to give me a year-long student Visa before taking my tuition. They only gave me a two month visa to hold me over until I enrolled. huh. Look who's winning now.

Alright, so now I have 2 weeks to leave the country or find another way to stay. Wish me luck.
posted by sarah 9:44 PM