It's Monday!

I didn't shower for three days, and my fellow passengers were starting to stink.

We started our trip early Sunday morning. Leaving our apartment in the dark of the morning, my roommate and I walked to the street corner where we were met by a cab. We shoved our bags in the back, and directed the driver to Sichuan University. He dropped us off a few minutes early, so Sarah took off to see if our other classmate, Matthew was awake. We'd been calling him all morning to make sure he woke up on time, but so far had no luck. A bus was waiting for us; I hopped in and pointed the driver in the direction Sarah had just run. Pretty soon we were all nestled in the back of the minibus driving around Chengdu picking up fellow passengers.

After about an hour, we pulled up to a bus stop and were directed to a larger bus. We threw our stuff underneath, and again piled into the back.

The bus ride from Chengdu to Chongqing was about four hours. Every hour or so, the bus would pull over and let everyone out for a squat pot break. The highway passed through farmland and towns, we went through small valleys and over large hills. After living in no-hills Chengdu, the change of scenery was a welcome one.

Chongqing (pronounced Chong Ching) lies sprawled out over several large hills overlooking the Yangtze. It was foggy the day we arrived, but I suspect that like all the places I've been so far, it's "foggy" most of the time.

We were met at the bus stop by an English speaking guide. In reality, she was a travel agent who was there to sell us on all the different tour options we could buy. It worked out well though, we booked a tour of the Three Gorges Dam, train and bus tickets from her. After taking care of business we left in search of Carrefour, the French version of Wal-Mart.

We bought a ton of supplies and made our way back to the travel agency where we were led down to the river by one of the agents.

Because the water level is rising, the ships are not moored onto permenant docks. Instead, there is a series of barges roped together. You must walk barge-to-barge, and then ship-to-ship until you can board your own.

We opted to take one of the cruises designed for Chinese tourists. The Westerner cruise takes place on the classy Victoria. We however, sailed on the #7.

My classmates and I booked a third-class cabin, meaning we would be sharing with three other people.

The cruise wasn't large; maybe four-hundred passengers in total. It had a small restaurant and bar that were only open at meal times. The ship was old; the steel floors were warped and uneven. One got the impression that the ship had already sunk, and was somehow hauled back to the surface to be put to use once again.

A mother, father, and their daughter whose English name was Lily were our fellow cabin mates. Lily is in sixth grade, and wants to be a singer when she grows up. At one point during the trip she even sang for us. She was good. Really good.

We left Chongqing that evening. The city's skyline was an amazing show of laser lights and neon. We all crowded out of our rooms and pushed our way out of steerage to the upper decks. I stood on the second floor deck and let the wind blow across my face.

"You can't come up here. You don't have the card." I looked to my right. A steerage cop stood there, glaring at me. She had the look of a hardened lunch lady. She'd seen all the tricks, and there was no way I was going to get past her. She stuck her hand out, "The card is 55 kuai."

I snorted and retreated back to steerage. I waited for a moment and watched as my classmates were also kicked out. We stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment before coming to a decision.

"Let's just sneak past her. I don't see why we should have to pay. Honestly, sneaking past her will make this trip all the more fun." We waited a few minutes, and then proceeded back up the stairs. This time, we were allowed to stay on deck a few minutes before we were finally sent back to steerage.

It wasn't until the next day that we discovered that we needed the 55 kuai card in order to enter the bar, have a seat on deck, go to the restaurant, or spend any amount of time outside of steerage. Eventually, the lack of seats in steerage drove us to forking over the money.

The first stop we made was at the Ghost City Temple. Here's some pictures:




The rest of the first day was spent on the boat. We were the only Americans on board. There was one other Westerner, a teacher named Jess. She's from Great Britian, and had already spent the better part of a year in China. We fast made friends.

Life on the upper decks is pretty casual. Everyone sits on plastic stools and sips tea as they watch the scenery go by.

We were pretty popular, and made a lot of new Chinese friends. Actually, if we stood around for too long, we became the subjects of people's photographs.

Everyday we were awakened early in the morning by our tour guide who rounded us like cattle and made sure we got off the boat on time.

The afternoon of the third day we went on a tour of the Little Three Gorges and the Little Little Three Gorges. That morning we had passed through the first of the Three Gorges.
We were taken off the cruise ship and led to smaller boats that would take us into the small gorges. They were beautiful! 
 
 
 On the return trip, several of our fellow passengers just had to talk with us. One man from Harbin kept asking questions about American politics. He spoke with such a heavy accent, that even if we could answer him, we still wouldn't have understood him. After about five minutes of him yelling questions about Bin Laden and George Bush at us, some other passengers came by and started "interpreting" what he was saying. Pretty soon we had a crowd of Chinese people all yelling at each other and at us. My classmates and I just sat and stared. I kept trying to look away and make it obvious I didn't want to talk, but they were having none of it. All was not in vain however, we were invited to join them for dinner on board the cruise ship.

We met the gentleman(?) in the restaurant. There was already a table full of food, and I noticed he was carrying a bottle of Chinese rice wine (Baijiu), also known as "satan's brew." I'd heard of this tradition before, and was warned that I would probably have to take part in one of these rice wine drinking banquets.

As we sat down to eat, he pulled out small plastic cups and filled them to the brim with baijiu. Then he started toasting us. I took a tiny sip of the wine and recoiled in horror. The stuff was painful. It didn't quite burn, it was almost sweet. I continued taking baby sips, each one tasting worse than the one before. Finally during one toast, Sarah and I looked at each other and gulped the entire thing.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was very near drunk. Meanwhile, our host had broken out the preserved meat products and was using his chopsticks to fill my bowl with them. The dinner went on like this for about another hour. By the time I felt steady enough to stand up, our hosts were paying the bill. I pushed away from the table, waiting for the sloshing in my stomach to settle, and walked outside.

It was strange, I was clear-headed but I could still feel the baijiu sloshing around in my stomach. I sat on the back deck amid the smokers, while the boat rocked, and my stomach churned with spam and alcohol.

We got off the boat early the next day. We had bought tickets for a tour of the damn dam. Once again, we booked one of the Chinese tours, meaning we spent the morning running around from scenic spot to scenic spot, taking as many pictures as we could manage before we were herded back onto the bus.

Here's a picture of me beautifying the dam. The last day of our trip was spent in Wuhan. We read up in a guidebook that Mao Zedong had a villa in the city. We asked our hotel clerks about buses, and headed off in search of Mao's pad. As it turned out, the place was closed. I did get some good pictures of the road to Mao's place and the city.  
 
 
 Just a side note: heres the Captain's Quarters on the #7:

You can all see the pictures of a Baijiu advertisement I saw above.

National Day

My roommate and I bought tickets for the Yangtze River cruise. We'll be traveling with one other classmate. The itinerary is as follows: On Sunday we'll take a bus from Chengdu to Chongqing. We'll arrive in Chongqing early afternoon, and be given a half-day tour of the city. That evening we'll board the boat.

My understanding is that we are going to be taking one of the cruises that are designed for Chinese tourists. I've been trying to find some information on these cruises, and so far haven't come up with much. Needless to say, blogging will be light for a few days.

We'll be on the boat for three days, making occasional stops at a few of the tourist traps along the way. On Wednesday, we disembark at Yichang. From there we must find our own way back to Chengdu. There are several possibilities: take the bus from Yichang to Chongqing and then another bus to Chengdu. We could also take the bus to Wuhan, and from there either catch a train or buy a plane ticket back to Chengdu. Wuhan isn't too far from Yichang, but traveling the further distance would require us to backtrack a bit. The third possibility is to buy a ferry ticket from Yichang back to Chongqing, and then buy another bus or train ticket.

Wish us luck. Traveling during the holiday is notoriously difficult.

Thank goodness--

We only have European toilets here.

Attention, readers:

Dear gentle readers,

If you've actually read this blog from start to finish, you need to know one thing:

I haven't forgotten.

Hot Pot

I had the following conversation with a Chinese student yesterday.

Chinese girl: So, what do you think of my English name? Is it alright?

Me: Yeah, it's a good name.

Chinese girl: What does it mean?

Me: I don't know, many English names don't have a direct meaning...

Chinese girl: Oh. I don't really like my name. I've been thinking of changing it...

Me: To what? Hey, I know a good name--Laura! It's perfect!

Chinese girl: Nah, I was thinking of Lavinsky. What do you think of that name? Is it a nice name?

Me: Lavisnky? That's a surname. I think you should just stick with your name. It's not a bad name, you know. Lavinsky-- now that's not a very good name...

Chinese girl: What do you mean Lavinsky isn't a good name? What about the president's girlfriend?

Me: Huh? Who?

Chinese girl: Lavinsky! You know that girl, Monica!

Me: Uhh...

I've met a lot of people here with strange English names. It makes me suspicious of the Chinese name I was assigned when I first started taking Chinese. The Chinese people don't laugh when I say my name, so that makes me feel a little better. I do ask them though, whether or not they think my name is a good one.

I really think the English teachers are not living up to their calling. I've heard some really strange things, it makes me wonder why nobody has said anything to them. By the time the Chinese students are my age, they've been using the same name for a long time. I feel like I ought to say something, but then I hesitate; what if it's on all their business cards?

It's not their fault that their English name is so weird (the name Tornado comes to mind), it's the fault of their teachers who don't correct the situation before they are embarassed.

And I leave you for the evening with this-

Down to business--

I wanted to let you all know that I got a new phone and phone number. I was able to buy it all by myself (no easy task!), and considering that I couldn't do that when I arrived, I'm feeling pretty proud. If my last phone number was lucky, my new phone number is pure evil.

13 666 112867. Mwahahaha! Try stealing this one!!

Also, there's news on the research front. If all goes as planned, I'll be attending a CSL class this Saturday.

I get October 1st through October 7th off. It's the National Day Holiday in China. On Friday I'll be heading to a local hostel to see if I can get tickets for a Yangze River cruise. If I can, I'll be spending my break seeing the three gorges. If I can't, I'll stick in and around Chengdu.

It's Tuesday!

I mentioned last time I posted that I might be getting a job. I haven't heard back yet, but I think it's still a go. It's pretty shameless, I'm almost embarassed to confess the details here... You probably guessed that I would be teaching English. Nope, that's not it. Translating? Nope. Restaurant work? Nope. Babysitting? Nope.

I'll be working in a night club. It's a one-time gig. We, (meaning my "Western" looking classmates and I) only have to show up, sit in the bar, and look like we're having fun. There is a row of night clubs outside of the East gate of campus. This particular club is just opening up, and they want to make it look like it's a popular place to hang out. I think this will be easiest job I will ever take. I'll look back on it when I'm 90 and wonder why life wasn't always that easy...

I really have a lot to blog about. I've been rather busy these past few days, and getting anything done has been a challenge. What follows is several day's worth of writing.

Saturday

Saturday, my roommate and I attended a Sichuan cooking class at a local hostel. You can read more about it by clicking on the link. When the cooking class was finished, we planned on going to celebrate Sarah's birthday at a local karaoke place. Karaoke in China is big. I mean REALLY big. There's a karaoke place on almost every corner. The buses are outfitted with televised karaoke, and the brand names of karaoke machines have been incorporated into everyday vocabulary. Karaoke is really serious business!

We all agreed to meet at Matthew's apartment and then walk to the karaoke place. After everyone arrived, we set off. Along the way, we discussed the differences between karaoke in our two countries. One of my classmates mentioned that she thought we should order drinks before the singing started. Ordering drinks, she argued, would make the evening ahead of us a bit more interesting. At least we wouldn't be feeling quite so horribly, painfully, excruciatingly self-conscious. After mentioning this, one of the Chinese students looked at her and dead-panned, "You like to get drunk and sing?!" We couldn't help it, we all burst out laughing.

We arrived at the karaoke place and ordered a medium-sized room. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I thought this place would be like a bar, with people sitting in dark corners sucking their baijiu. Instead we were led by an attendant up a grand staircase, through a long hallway that was painted to look like a giant fish tank. As I walked, I glanced at the giant goldfish painted on the wall.

The room was dark. Along one wall, a large television and speaker set sat perched on an ultra-modern stand. The opposite wall was lined with black leather sofas. Even though the lights were dim, I could make out the two microphones sitting in the corner of the couch. I sat on the sofa and tried to make myself blend in. This is a picture of me, trying to look invisible.
Soon the rest of our party arrived, and the singing began in earnest. The Chinese students were all very, very good. The Americans however, belted out whatever song they knew the words to. I still hid.

On a side note: I hope to make it the rest of my life without ever singing karaoke. I was successful in avoiding the mic on Saturday, I'll be successful forever.

Sunday

I spent Sunday morning at a church for foreigners. You have to prove yourself a foreigner by showing your passport at the door. It was fun, I really think I'm coming to like the people there.

I spent most of the afternoon running around. I bought some more black market dvds, and studied a short time in the library. At 75 cents, the dvds are almost impossible to resist!

That evening I met with my teacher at a local "Western" restaurant. My teacher had asked me earlier in the week if I would be willing to participate in a survey about computerized Chinese/English dictionaries. It turns out that my teacher's friend works for a company that is developing one of these dictionaries. Myself and another student were asked a series of questions regarding special requirements, color, font, etcetera.

There seems to be a real difference between Americans and Chinese people in regards to taste in decorating. It's almost impossible for me to buy something here that does not have a silly design on it. To me, it looks like "My Little Pony" has infected Chinese culture, to the point where they can't live without it. The women kept asking me what color I wanted for the dictionary, whether or not it should have a design, etcetera. It was funny, all of these things I didn't care about. I would buy an electronic dictionary if it was red, pink or black. I really feel that the less "frill" there is, the better. In fact, if the final product had any cartoon characters or silly animation, that would be enough to deter me from buying it.

I notice the same thing about clothing. Chinese clothes aren't all that bad. It isn't ugly. It's really just not my style. Everything seems to be over the top with patterns and design. Every shirt has ruffles, sparkles, stripes and plaid. It makes me wonder just how plain we Americans are in comparison.

The teacher who took me to this event has been really good to me. She and I started talking more when she found out I was an American. She has a friend who wants to practice her English in exchange for letting me practice Chinese, so she arranged to introduce us. I met my teacher's friend last night. I don't want a ton of "English" friends, so I was nervous about meeting this girl. I didn't want to end up getting into a situation where I felt obligated to befriend her.

Anyway, I met her last night. She and another friend both met me at a coffee shop. They're a bit older than me, and both speak English really well. They're both working professionals who just enjoy learning the language. It turned out to be a lot of fun. They both were really excited about speaking English, and gave me plenty of time to speak Chinese. I think we'll be meeting about once a week. Our next meeting is planned for after the October 1st break. And guess what?! She wants to teach me mahjong!

I got a job!

Guess what, folks?! I got a job! It's really late and I need to go to bed, so I'm just going to leave you all with a little clue: I get free drinks at this job.

Meanwhile, it's occurred to me that the blog isn't fully living up to its mission statement. So, in order to fulfill the "all things weird" part of the blog's mission, here's some reading materials.

A Few Announcements:

I wanted to let you all know that I have linked my roommate's, my classmate's, and my sister's blog. You'll see them all on the right hand side of this page. Sarah, my roommate, writes a great blog titled "Sarah's Year in China". Megan, my sister, recently started a blog titled "Tales of the Kingdom", and will be documenting her year in the Master's Commission Externship program. Deborah, my classmate, also has a blog focused on this year spent in China. It's called "Footprints in Asia". All three of these are highly recommended.

Besides the blogs mentioned above, there are quite a few others that you can reach via links to this page. My personal favorites are: Dave Barry's Blog, Underneath Their Robes, Powerline, and talktalkchina. If you ever have time to kill, these are great places to visit. Just be careful though, one stop could mean the rest of your afternoon.

Onto other business- After proscratinating what seems like a lifetime, I have finally bought a microphone for my computer. You can now talk to me live via AOL Instant Messenger, or through Googletalk. My AIM screenname is lldevere, Googletalk is deverel. I'm usually available in the morning and evening hours, PST. Also, if you have Googletalk, you can leave a voicemail for me and I'll check it when I'm back in.

And now for the news- Classes have been keeping me pretty busy. Besides just taking Chinese, I'm also taking Chinese History Before the Yuan Dynasty, Modern Chinese Politics, and Chinese Archeology. And did I mention research?

Chinese language classe requires at least three hours of my day. In addition to the basic three-hours of class, I also have an afternoon class once a week. I don't spend as much time on homework as I should, in part because they don't assign as much as I'd expect. I'll be meeting with a Chinese student once a week to practice my listening and speaking. We've agreed to meet each week alternating between English and Chinese. I think this is a pretty good deal; I don't feel I'm being taken advantage of because of my English, and she won't have to spend the whole time answering questions about the correct measure word for chopsticks.

The woman who teaches my spoken Chinese class put me in touch with this new language partner. There are only a few native English speakers in my Chinese class, and only a couple of those are American. I find that most of the "how would you say it in English?" questions are thrown my way. Anyway, my teacher asked me after class if I was an American, and if I would be willing to work with her friend on English if she would work with me on Chinese. Like I said, sounds like a fair deal to me. I'll be meeting the student on Monday.

My teacher also invited me to take part in a friend of a friend of a friend's project developing computer software for students of Chinese. We'll all be seeing the program on Sunday, and then going out to dinner to discuss our thoughts. If I feel that the program is good, it might be worth purchasing (or "testing"). If it sucks- Well, it was a free meal.

I've been slowly working my way through a mass of paperwork courtesy of my home university. In order to conduct my research project, I had to submit an application along with some other documentation to the university to await approval. Apparently, doing the paperwork process over several times is almost a given.

As for starting my research project, I contacted my advisor in Chengdu and asked him if he would contact the school for deaf children that I want to visit. I received an email back from him saying that I needed to contact the International Student Office, as they would be more official. I did so, and received a reply that they were working on it, but that it would take a while. I'm not quite sure what the hold up is, my suspicion is that they are making things deliberately hard hoping that I'll just stop nagging them. I'm still waiting to see what happens. I don't have to visit the school, it just sounded like a really nice jumping off point.

There has, however, been one major development in the way of research. I'm sure I've told most of you about this; I met another American who is knowledgable about Chinese Sign Language. She seemed really excited to find out that I was doing research on deafness in China, and is eager to help. She speaks way better Chinese than I do, and already is somewhat proficient in CSL. I showed her my work so far, and gave her some of the resources I had brought with me. I'm excited to have her along. It will be great having someone else's input and thoughts on this project.

And lastly, I've been thinking a lot lately about what I'm going to do when I graduate. I don't have any plans yet, but it feels as though next year is going to suddenly show up, and I need to be ready. It's a little strange, I've been in school for so long and known what the goal was from the beginning. I don't really know how to make a new plan for after graduation. I'm tempted to just apply for or test for whatever sounds interesting, and just see what sort of responses I get. Then, based on those responses, take my next step.

In reality, I have plenty of time before that comes. I just like to plan and think things way ahead...

Have a good weekend everyone!

101!

This is the blog's 101st post!

This blogger is fair and balanced.

That's why I need to counteract the blog's first picture of Mao with this:

ARRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

My cellphone was stolen today-- Well, I think it was stolen.

Today was my long day. After classes I had an appointment to speak with a coordinator at Sichuan University about my planned research project. I spent an hour making a list of points I wanted to cover at the meeting. I definitely didn't want anything lost in translation. The goal of the meeting was to convince them to make a phone call to the school for deaf children that I hope to visit. I made sure to write down all the important points that needed to be covered in this conversation, then I slowly explained them to the coordinator and her superior. After a long explanation of what exactly I wanted done, they both looked at me and said, "Well, I think we need to make the phone call first so that they let us come."

I just sat there and smiled.

I had an hour to kill after the meeting was finished, so I took off on my bike. I rode through the winding roads on campus, past groups of students playing cards by the road. I rode past the street vendors who had just fired up their barbeques, the smell of smoke and charcoal filled the air. I whizzed by as business men in their matching suits filed out of office buildings and onto the crowded sidewalks.

I manuevered into the clogged bike lane and rode for several blocks. At one point, I pulled over and made a phone call. I put the phone into my jacket pocket and took off again. A few minutes later, something told me to check my pocket. Call it gut feeling, but I just knew something was up. I checked my pockets- nothing. I checked my pack- nothing. I pulled my bike to the side of the road and sat on the sidewalk. I took my backpack and emptied the contents onto the street. No phone.

I came home and told my Chinese roommate what had happened. I'm pretty sure it was stolen, but she seemed to think I just lost it. I don't really know. It could have dropped out of my pocket, but I think I would have noticed it. Anyway, she made a phone call to a friend and worked out some mysterious deal by which I'll get a new cell phone. I'm not quite sure yet how it all works, I miss so much because of the language barrier that I feel I'm at everyone's mercy. Most of what goes on around here is pretty mysterious to me.

This is the worst--

The worst of the worst of the worst. I can't believe people actually wear these things...

Days Without SARS, Birdflu or Falling in the Squatty Potty...

24.

Just as I promised--

A picture of the stolen bike market. I tried to get closer to the Dome, but there were too many bike scavangers around.

Here you go--

The brakeless wonder!

Thursday

I've been making a point these last few days of observing the "used" bike market, just to see how it works. I'm going to have to go down there and take a couple of pictures, just so you all understand.

Now, the stolen bike market is located on a side road near campus. There are several dilapidated buildings, whose only tenants are the shop keepers on the ground floor. The bike market isn't a market in the traditional fashion. There are no bikes lined up on the street, there are no shops selling locks or baskets. When the market is in business, the street is packed with people walking their bikes, looking for buyers or sellers. When the police show up, the street is deserted, and only a few shopkeepers remain. The day I bought my bike, several police officers were sitting on make-shift stools playing cards and drinking tea. I suspect they sit there most days, enjoying themselves while the wheeling and dealing takes place just out of their view.

It's pretty interesting to watch. It makes me wonder how much more is going on that I may never be aware of. I'll try to get some pictures of the market tomorrow. If anything, I'll get one of the faux capitol dome that I told you all about earlier.

Monday

It really has been an uneventful weekend. I told you all about buying the bike on Saturday. I've been riding it around, trying to get used to the madness that is traffic. I was waiting on my bike in the middle of an intersection this evening, when a bus coming in the opposite direction clipped my backpack. I've seen three bike accidents so far. Actually, I never saw anyone injured, just a crowd of people standing around a fallen bike in the road. By the time I had stumbled upon these accidents and joined the gawkers, the rider was nowhere to be seen. Just the bike, and what I suspect were some people from the "bike market" waiting for the rest of us to look away.

Traffic here is hard to describe. Americans, by and large try to be aware of all that is going on around them while in the car. They check their rear-view mirrors, adjust their visor for a better view, watch the upcoming side streets for cars, and keep a healthy distance between themselves and bicyclists or pedestrians. The opposite is true in Chengdu. People don't drive defensively, they drive offensively. They don't hesitate while crossing the street, they don't look in their mirrors while they swerve through traffic. It doesn't matter what the guy in front of you is doing, because you can swerve around him. It doesn't matter what the guy behind you is doing; he'll swerve around you. Lanes don't matter. Riding a bike feels like a game of dodge. It doesn't matter how close I come to a person or car, what only matters is that I don't hit them. The same is true for vehicles. It doesn't matter how close they come, as long as they don't hit.

The road in front of my apartment complex is probably one of the most treacherous. When I cross it, I don't look to make sure the entire road is safe, I only look at the first lane. Can I make it? I'll walk as far as I can go (usually the center line), and then brace myself for the inevitable bus that will go speeding by behind me. I've even thought of taking off my pack so that it doesn't get caught on a speeding car. The cars speed by so fast that I have to brace myself against what I know will cause me to jump. After crossing the street, I'll step over a small barrier and into the bike lane. The bike lane is always crowded with people, motorcycles, bikes and cars. It is almost scarier than the road itself.

I want to take some video of the traffic so I can show you all what I mean. Words just don't do it justice.

I know you all have been waiting...

I promised myself that I wouldn't do this for a while. I wasn't going to be rude. I wasn't going to be offensive. I wasn't going to post anymore pictures of people's backsides. But I digress, here you all go; another fashion atrocity:

And the mustard-colored shoes that just make the outfit:

Batmobile

I haven't posted in a few days. There's a lot I want to write about, I just don't always have the time and I'm not sure you all want to hear it.

Today I bought a bike, and I call it the Batmobile. Not a new one; one from the “used” (stolen) bike market.

Earlier in the week, one of the Chinese students offered to help my roommate and I find bikes. Up until now, we had been riding the bus everywhere. The buses are cheap and easy. Unfortunately, they are often crowded and hot, and they stop running around 9:00pm.

We left the apartment mid afternoon and met the Chinese student at the agreed upon place. She was planning on selling her bike, so we lugged her bike down the road to what I thought was the legit “used” bike market. Whenever I asked about the bike market, I was told it was near the East gate of campus. I’ve been to the East gate many, many, many times and never once seen a bike market.

We exited East gate and walked down the road about five minutes until we arrived at a building that looked like a replica of the Capitol Building in Washington DC. Of course, it’s about five times smaller and pretty grimy. In front of the dingy replica were several small shops, with vendors calling out their wares.

“The bicycles are behind that building.” The student explained, “It’s forbidden.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but I did take note of the police officers across the street playing cards and drinking tea.

“Oh.”

We continued walking on until the student found a sufficiently shady looking guy to ask about bikes. He led us down a side street to an abandoned storefront. The store was on the far end of a strip of shops. The side facing the street had a seven-foot brick wall built in front of it. We ducked through a small entrance, and waited while the shady guy and several other even more shady guys ran off to fetch bikes for us. The storefront was small, and littered with garbage. The front window had been broken, and a photo hung haphazardly on the wall. We stood and waited.

A minute later the shady guys returned with three bikes for us to try. I sat on the one that had been handed to me. It felt like the right height, and the brakes seemed okay. I tried lifting it; it probably weighs in at forty pounds. The handlebars were still wet with the spray paint used to cover the rust, and the chain and fenders were orange with rust. I wanted to try it out. All three of us mounted the bikes and took off out the door. We rode maybe ten feet before the men came chasing after us and motioned us to return to the storefront.

We each paid eighty kuai. My bike is pretty good. It’s heavy, rusted, and the brakes don’t really work, but it’s just what I need. And because of the shape its in, it stands a lesser chance of being stolen in the next year.

SU and my apt.

I found my apartment and my school on Google Earth. After this I'll stop posting so many pictures and get back to writing.

This takes the cake-

There are two army girls who either live in, or work at my apartment complex. Today I was walking behind one when I noticed something strange. I wasn't close enough to take a good picture, but I couldn't resist trying. I realize you can't see it, but she's wearing these (with white socks, of course) under her army pants. Yep, her heels weren't quite this high, but this still qualifies as a fashion atrocity.

And some more pictures...

These are pictures of Guangyuan taken from the Temple dedicated to Wu Zetian, only Empress of China.

Mao

I found the statue of Mao on campus today. It's identical to one in downtown I saw earlier this week.
Sichuan University has many small gardens. Each one is meticulously well groomed, and everything appears healthy and beautiful. So I was surprised to see all the flowers under the Mao statue are either dead or knocked over. Hmm...

And now for your viewing pleasure...

A picture of the rowing champion.

"Boating"

Earlier this week I was invited by my Chinese teacher to go boating. After I let him know I wanted to go, he sent me to another teacher's office to find out the details. I went and was told we would be going boating. Getting the specifics was a bit tough because of the language barrier, but I also got the feeling she was being purposely vague with me. I was told to meet at the East gate of campus the next day at one-thirty sharp.

I arrived at East gate and met the other students who were going. They were all white females. It was clear the teachers had hand picked the most "western" looking females in class, and signed us up for a boating trip. We hopped on a bus and drove about four hours to a small city named Guangyuan. The city is only famous for one thing: being the birth place of China's only female emperor. Her name was Wu Zetian, and she ruled during the Tang Dynasty.

Anyway, we pulled into the only hotel at Guangyuan, stepped off the bus, and looked up to see a large, red banner that read, "The Welcome Foreign Friend Team to Stay at My Hotel." I knew then that we were in trouble.



I asked the coordinator of the trip, "So what exactly are we going to be doing?"

"We'll be racing the phoenix boats for the Wu Zetian festival. Don't worry, just pretend that it's a game." I got the impression that the other teams wouldn't be pretending.

The hotel was nice. Really nice. They gave us a free dinner at the western style food restaurant. The food was good, and the drinks were free.

The rooms were nice too. They were large and spacious. We were provided with bathrobes and slippers, tea and ice water. It wasn't until about eight o'clock that we noticed something was amiss. My classmate and I were sitting on the beds watching Chinese TV when we first noticed it--

Cockroaches.

They were everywhere. They were in the bathroom, climbing the walls, in our bags, under our clothes. My classmate seemed a bit annoyed at the situation; I was completely freaked out. So I did what any sane person would do; I started squishing.

I squished some here:

And here I squished a bunch:

There's one here:

Here (this one almost qualifies as Mysterious English)

There's a small one here:

At my insistence, we slept with the lights on so that the roaches wouldn't come near us.

The next morning we donned our new rowing outfits and headed out to the river. We were provided with a police escort (why?) and arrived with only a few minutes to don life jackets and jump into the boats. We realized almost as soon as we got there that our competitors were all finalists. The races had been going on for several days before we arrived.

We sat two by two in the boats. The coxswain stood in front of a large drum at the front of the boat. She pounded the drum to help us keep a steady rhythm of rowing.

It took a few minutes, but pretty soon all the boats were in place at the starting line. The gun went off and we dug our paddles into the water.

The first minute or so of the race wasn't bad. We hadn't had enough time to fall too far behind. After about three minutes, our arms felt like jelly and we stopped making much headway. The coxswain started shouting "Yi, er, yi, er, yi..." to keep us at the same rhythm. It wasn't helping. By this point we were at least a hundred yards behind. Needless to say, we lost.

After the race we were carted off to a banquet held in our honor. The banquet was really good. We ate tons of food, and thoroughly enjoyed the communist officials raising toasts to us.

It was a fun day. The weather turned out nice, and we had a good time on the water. I've posted all my pictures of Guanyuan and the Phoenix boat races to my webshots account. You can view them by clicking the link to the right. I'll be posting the best ones here later.

Mysterious English of the Weekend, So Far:

The Kindness of Strangers

Everyone here has been incredibly kind to us. My new Chinese roommate has patiently taught me how to ride the bus, how to order certain types of food, gave me tickets to a sold-out show, and shown me where to shop.

The Chinese students we have hooked up with have also gone above and beyond the call of duty to help us. They have treated us to meals, taken us to the hospital to get checkups, acted as translators, taken us shopping and sigtseeing, and even found apartments for us. I only hope I can repay the debt when they come to the US next year.

I was worried that I would come here and be alone. This has not been the case at all. The students have befriended us and shown us the ropes at SU. For that I am grateful.

Days Without SARS or Birdflu...

11.

Even Worse Fashion Atrocity!

And now for the close up:

Mysterious English of the Week, So Far:

This picture is of a small sign at my apartment complex. There are several versions of this sign, but I liked this one the best.

The Sun

This is a picture looking directly at the sun on a “clear” day. The smog here is really, really, really gross. I can’t see more than three or four blocks in any direction because of the haze.

My New Apartment

I’ve posted some pictures of my apartment to my webshots account. You’ll notice a new link on the right hand side of the page to my pictures. This is my bathroom.

I prefer to think of this as a “European toilet.”

And I’m not sure what to say about this. Freud, anyone?

Fashion Atrocity of the Week!

There is no way to describe fashion here in China. Some people dress extremely well. Some people dress extremely bad. Some dress comfortably. Some dress uncomfortably. From here on out, this blogger will be documenting fashion atrocities in China. Unfortunately, many of the extreme violators are hard to document, as it’s not always easy to look inconspicuous taking someone’s picture.

Here is the first atrocity:

Really, this is pretty mild. We can see her booty and her booties. Let’s get a better look at those babies:

What makes these so bad is that these women wear these EVERYWHERE. I was recently on a school retreat in the mountains. We hiked two hours straight up the mountain, and you know what? Women were wearing these. After two hours of hiking, women still passed us wearing these! As they say in Chinese, eek!

JDDMV (Jello, Duck and DMV)

I was just supposed to move into my new apartment and spend the evening unpacking. Instead I ended up eating turtle jello and barbecue duck with my new Chinese roommate while explaining the evils of the DMV.

Today was the first day we were allowed to sleep in, and my roommate and I planned on taking full advantage of it. We took our time getting up and ready. The foreign student dorms were empty when we first arrived, but now they were nearly full. I heard several French girls moving in next door to us. A group of Chinese men were being housed down the hall a bit. They always leave the door open, and their smoke pours into the hall. The foreign student dorms are loud and bug infested.

Shortly before noon, my roommate and I decided to see if we could find breakfast and a supermarket we had been told was nearby. We left our dorm and headed towards the West gate of the campus.

An eight-foot wall surrounds the entire campus. The main gates are North, South, East and West; each guarded by several high-school aged guards. Let me assure you, they’re very intimidating.

We exited the West gate and decided to turn left. I explored this area the night before and found both sides of the street lined with tiny shops and restaurants. My roommate had read the directions to the supermarket to me, and I vaguely remembered something about turning left. We walked about fifteen minutes to a ‘T’ in the road. Left again. And right again, followed by another left. Left. Right. Left. Left. Right. It took several hours of wandering before finally stumbling upon the supermarket.

A little later that afternoon, we stopped by a bakery to pick up a snack. None of the bakeries had any place to sit, so we again wandered off in search of rest. Eventually we stumbled upon a few benches on the sidewalk next to a drainage stream. My classmate sat down to eat her breakfast while I peeked over the guardrail to the stream below. The water flowed slowly down a paved pathway. Several rats ran through small piles of garbage, and dead plants littered the ditch. The water was white in color. Now I want to be perfectly clear here; it wasn’t white because it was reflecting the clouds, it was milky white. In fact, I think it was iridescent. Almost silver. I remembered the map of Chengdu I had seen earlier; that stream leads right into the river.

Later that evening I returned to my dorm and prepared my things to move. A few hours later, several of my classmates showed up to help me. It took four of us to carry my classmate’s and my stuff to our new apartment. We had to walk to the North Gate, about ten minutes from our dorm, in order to hail a taxi. All four of us had decided to cram into one taxi, and pile the luggage on top. We waited on the side (read: in the middle) of the road until a taxi finally pulled over. The driver gave us a disparaging look, but agreed to try and shove all our junk into the trunk. Everything fit by Chinese standards, and to my relief nothing fell out.

We arrived at my new apartment in one piece, and were received warmly by my new housemate. She kept offering us food; so I finally consented on the grounds that she just give me something small. She ran off to the kitchen and returned with a teapot, cups and a container of jello. The tea was good, although the jello was-Um… interesting.

I pulled back the plastic lid and stared at the treat. It was black. I smelled it- smelled like molasses. I took a bite- strange, but not too bad. My new housemate dug right in, all the while muttering something about it being “traditional.” As we ate, we discussed her work and my classes. We ended up talking about her driver’s license, while I explained the DMV. She talked and talked and talked, all the while shoving quivering chunks of black jello into her mouth. I stared as the concoction turned her teeth black, while wondering what it did to mine. Pretty soon she announced that she was tired and was heading off to bed. I went to my room and was soon fast asleep.

On with the show....

Sorry folks for not posting these past few days. I’m still alive and kicking. I’ve been keeping the posts on my computer, but have had little to no internet access recently. The past few days’ posts follow:

Medical Schmedical....

Today we went for our foreigner’s medical checkup. Our Chinese student guides agreed to meet us in the morning in front of the foreign student dorms and then take us to the hospital. We had tried to finish this procedure a few days ago, but were told we each had to bring passport photos in order to process the paperwork.

We arrived ready to see if we could make it through Chinese bureaucracy and into an actual medical exam. The students took the lead and quickly explained how to fill out the relevant paperwork. We then were separated into a boys group and a girls group.

Our first stop was in a small office on the ground floor. A man who was dressed in hospital scrubs motioned me to come in and sit down. He handed me a spoon and told me to put it over one eye and read an eye chart. The eye chart was unlike any I had ever seen before. Instead of letters, the chart contained a series of symbols that looked like an upper-case letter ‘E’. Each of the ‘E’ shapes was facing a different direction. At a loss as for what to do (I don’t really have a name for these symbols), I held three fingers in the air and mimicked the shapes.

Next we were taken to another room for x-rays. (Why?) My American classmate and I were taken to a room that looked like a bank vault. After handing the doctor(?) the paperwork, my classmate walked through the vault door. I could hear the muffled sounds of the doctor giving her instructions, and the next thing I knew she was taking off her shirt for him. Suddenly the doctor’s instructions became louder, and she quickly ran behind a curtain and put on a dirty bathrobe. When he placed her in the proper position for the x-ray, he ran back towards us and slammed the vault door. The x-rays were taken, and after a minute he spoke into a microphone and told her she was finished.

Our next stop was the DMV of hospitals. This was the room the hospital uses for drawing blood. Sitting behind glass windows sat several people dressed in scrubs. Patients were ordered to stand in line until one of the windows was open. Then we had to shove our arms through the glass opening near the countertop. Fortunately, the draw was quick and painless.
After everyone was finished with the blood draw, I asked the students where we should go next.

“Surgery.”

We were taken to another room where we were asked to lie down on a table while the doctor attached suction cups to our chests, and clamps to our ankles and wrists. Everything was attached to scary looking wires. The doctor pushed some buttons on a machine nearby, and soon she had a paper readout. I raised my eyebrows and looked at her.

“Normal.”

Our last stop was on the ground floor. I was taken by the doctor to a table behind a curtain and was ordered to pull my shirt up. She then gave me an ultrasound. I asked my classmates the reason for this particular procedure.

“Your liver.”

Ahh. Now why didn't I think of that?

Chengdu!!!

Yep, my new program to by pass the Great Firewall of internet censorship seems to be working! Blogger.com is a banned website in China, but as you can see I'm still able to blog.
Just wanted to let you all know that I made it to Chengdu in one piece. After passing through airport security, I ran into another classmate of mine at the terminal. It turns out that five of us were taking the same flight path to Beijing. From there we were to be on separate flights to Chengdu. The flight to San Francisco was uneventful as was the flight to Beijing. Unfortunately, I was squished in a middle seat on all three of the flights. For the long flight I sat next to a Chinese man who spoke no English except for the word “Heineken”, and I’m not even sure that’s English. The flight from San Francisco to Beijing took twelve hours. We ended up flying north over the Bering Strait and Siberia rather than just straight across the ocean.
After arriving in Beijing the five of us had to locate our luggage, take it through customs and recheck it on the other side. As anyone who saw me packing knows, my bags weighed a ton. When I got to the counter to re-check my baggage, I was dripping with sweat. Myself and another student were set to take a 9:00 flight. We ended up changing the flight to arrive earlier with the rest of the students from my class. The flight to Chengdu was quick, and I slept most of the way. Someone was at the airport waiting to pick us up when we arrived. They took us straight to the dorms where I’m sharing a room with two other girls. They have provided us with towels, teacups, remote-controlled AC, tea, a thermos, a television, and blankets. We have our own bathroom; yet the shower is cold and there are bugs.
All in all everything is good. I'm completely exhausted, but with a good night's rest I'll be fine.

Liftoff...

Today is liftoff. I'll be in the air or sitting in airports for the next twenty-four hours. I'm feeling optimistic; today is a new day and everything is going to be all right. I'll blog again from the other side of the pacific. Until then, Zaijian!

1...

Today was my last day in Seattle. My family hosted a going-away party, and everything was great. I'm heading out early in the morning, though I doubt I'll sleep much tonight. My church prayed over me in the morning, and my family prayed over me in the evening. I'm nervous, but I'm sure everything will turn out all right.

2...

This blogger really needs to work out. She packed her bags, hauled her packs on, and was tipped. Like a cow.

3...

Another bad driver.

4...

I'm still feeling a bit embarrassed about my little fender bender on Monday, so I've included these stories from a few bad drivers.
There's also this horrifying piece of
news. Why am I going to China?

5...

Finally somebody is taking this seriously!

6...

In honor of day six, I'm posting a series of articles that make me feel warm and fuzzy. You can read them by clicking the scintallating quotes below.

"...contained a chemical, diglycol, that can cause kidney failure, which a vendor had passed off as a normal ingredient."


"Officials have set up 15 animation centers to nurture the industry, invoking communist guerrilla vocabulary by dubbing them 'production bases.'"

..."people infected by the disease live in rural areas on the flood plains of the Yellow River, where sanitation is poor and mosquitos breed easily."

"It's small, it's fast, and it's bizarre-looking."

"Though I am retired, I got very excited to learn that Jiang Zemin is publishing his selected works."

"Last year, villagers in one coastal region were so angered by contamination from nearby chemical plants they said were killing their crops and sickening their children that they rioted and clashed with police, overturning and smashing cars."

So there you go, folks. Happy reading!

7...

My first day as an unemployed person made me want to go back to work. When I am working, I don't have the free time to sit around and worry. Although I have a million things to keep my mind occupied, work seems to be the easiest and most available.

I spent my afternoon eating lunch with a coworker of mine. We're not particularly close, but we made small talk and generally enjoyed ourselves. On our way home (I was driving), I rear-ended somebody. I was exiting the freeway, not paying attention, and rammed into the car that was sitting at the stop sign. I said loudly, "Shit!" And my coworker continued to sit in silence. Luckily no one was hurt, and the guy I hit was very kind to me. He shook my hand, laughed at the situation, took my information, and apologized that we had to meet under those circumstances. I was praising the Lord that I didn't wet my pants.

Overall, most of the damage was done to my pride. It's embarassing when you hit another person, even more so when you have a passenger. Had the accident happened with a family member or even a good friend, it would have just been a funny story. As it is, it's just embarassing.

8...

Today was my last day at work. Walking into the kitchen I noticed a chair shoved into the corner. It was covered with brightly colored envelopes, and a large paper bag decorated with balloon stickers. I noticed my name on one of the cards and smiled. Just then, one of my coworkers came into the room. She grinned and handed me the paper bag, insisting that I open it right away. I couldn't help but laugh with her as I reached into the bag and pulled out a freshly baked pumpkin pie. I thanked her, and set the pie down to start opening the cards. I found fifty dollars in a card given to me by a customer I didn't particularly like. I feel really blessed to have such good friends and acquaintances.

Leaving work was harder than I thought it would be. I walked out the door, and for a brief second felt fear at the prospect of being unemployed. I work hard, and it's scary to think of all the time I now have. It's also scary to think that I am now without an income.

I'm letting you all know early-

So you can buy me this for Christmas.

9...

I've been spending my tips on last minute purchases that I just can't live without. Today I bought five different lip glosses, several pairs of panties, a new jump drive (you can never have too many), hand lotion and a hair cut. My shopping is pretty much done; I just need to pack and select an outfit for the airplane.

On principal, I do not buy clothing that has a label. I won't buy anything that has a saying across the chest or a word across the rear. So it was with great surprise that upon arriving home I found one of my new pairs of panties has the phrase "Prestigious & Priveliged" written across the booty. How could I miss something like this? I hand selected each pair, and this cute phrase is written in HUGE block letters! Then I started thinking, I'm a capitalist. I like Wal-Mart. I believe in Ebay. My coffee isn't fair traded. These panties fit my bourgeoisie life. And really, I'm going to a communist country; these panties will be my little protest against the man. Take that, China!!

Hah!

These images I posted are from Google Earth. Both pictures are of Chengdu. I believe the stadium on the bottom left of the second picture is a part of the Sichuan University campus. I'll let you all know for sure when I get there.

10...

There's only ten days left until lift off. I haven't written in quite some time due to a heavy work and school load. I'm not taking any classes this summer, but have spent a lot of time on research. I won't post the entire research background here as it's a bit long and kinda boring. To summarize the plan: I'll be arriving in China on the night of the 22nd. On the 23rd I'll be taking care of the necessities (cell phone, bicycle, toilet paper, etc.) with a former exchange student as my guide. On the 24th, I'll (hopefully) be making my first visit to the school for the deaf. I am no longer looking into doing research on deaf education but rather, want to find out about the status of deaf adults in China. What do deaf people do when they graduate from school? Where are they? Do they gather in community groups? Are they isolated?
I'll be spending fall semester visiting the Chengdu School for the Deaf. The visits will help me familiarize myself with the sign language. I will also use this opportunity to seek out interpreters. I am going to interview the educators at the school to find out where their former students are. I'll be asking them where deaf adults work, if they continue on into higher education, and where they gather.
Spring semester will be spent interviewing deaf adults. I hope to make a trip to Tianjin University of Technology, which has a deaf student track. There I will interview deaf students. I want to ask them about standardization of Chinese Sign Language. I also want to speak to them about their hopes for the deaf community.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll be sure to post again tomorrow, and I promise to make it a bit more interesting...