Weekend of Friday, October 24, 2008 to Sunday, October 26, 2008:
衢州 Day 1-3
中国 Day 43-45
Asia Day 46-48
Friday: Tire attacked after Rabies shot. Went to Quzhou. Dinner.
Saturday: Breakfast, bus to Datou. Settled into guesthouse, ate lunch. Went out after lunch. Climbed 'shan qiu'...almost died. Came back down and ate sweet potatoes. Chilled awhile. Ate dinner. Walked outside with friends. Came back and played Tarot/question game.
Sunday: Yayyyyzer..nesses...ate breakfast, went back to Quzhou, ate lunch. Came back to Hangzhou. Studied.
Today's theme: Effin' ridiculous!! How can they un-cancel classes?
...Sorry, been so busy that I haven't updated in a long-ass time :( May finally get to that this weekend! Promise :) All I do is study all day, sigh...
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Shanghai Experience
Friday, October 17, 2008: 杭州 Day 33
中国 Day 36
Asia Day 39
• First time riding bike long-distance. Rabies shot.
• Visit to company! Strangeness.
• Stressory to train.
• First time on train alone.
• Picked up by Amy & Sina, food.
• Homework night with Amy.
...
Saturday, October 18, 2008: 上海 Day 1
中国 Day 37
Asia Day 40
• Shanghai Old Street. Ripped off and took many pictures. ABC Couple.
• Shanghai stadium, stole camera.
- Reference to Jingy's post.
• Haggling after concert. Ayu's fans. Coldstone. Girl trippin'. Windows Scoreboard with Daniella and Karol til 3am.
...
Sunday, October 19, 2008: 上海 Day 2
中国 Day 38
Asia Day 41
• Hot pot with Karol, Amy, Darleen. Music and picture transfers.
• Got home.
中国 Day 36
Asia Day 39
• First time riding bike long-distance. Rabies shot.
• Visit to company! Strangeness.
• Stressory to train.
• First time on train alone.
• Picked up by Amy & Sina, food.
• Homework night with Amy.
...
Saturday, October 18, 2008: 上海 Day 1
中国 Day 37
Asia Day 40
• Shanghai Old Street. Ripped off and took many pictures. ABC Couple.
• Shanghai stadium, stole camera.
- Reference to Jingy's post.
• Haggling after concert. Ayu's fans. Coldstone. Girl trippin'. Windows Scoreboard with Daniella and Karol til 3am.
...
Sunday, October 19, 2008: 上海 Day 2
中国 Day 38
Asia Day 41
• Hot pot with Karol, Amy, Darleen. Music and picture transfers.
• Got home.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
杭州 Day 28-30
Sunday, October 12, 2008:
杭州 Day 28 - West Lake Solo Photographic Tour
中国 Day 31
Asia Day 34
• Today, I woke up (as you may have guessed) LATE. I got up around 1:30pm after being half asleep when I should have gotten up. I did laundry, planned my lesson for the next two days, and hung my laundry once it was done washing. I boiled some dumplings (wtf, there's some sand in 1 out of 5 dumplings) and wontons (omg, delicious). They were store-bought, by the way o_O.
• Even though I was hours behind schedule, I was adamant about going to West Lake on a solo photographic tour. So, after all my errands were finished, I left the house with a backpack and my fanny pack. My face was covered in SPF 70 sunblock and I sprayed some DEET to avoid getting touched by mosquitoes. Also brought two bottles of water, an umbrella (which I decided not to use), and plenty of tissues.
• From where I live, all I have to do is turn right and walk 45 minutes to reach West Lake. I timed myself; between waiting for traffic lights to turn green and some of the distractions around me, it did only take 45 minutes. I left around 4:05pm and got to West Lake around 4:50pm.
• On the way, I saw some interesting things. I need to remember to take a picture of this, but near the daycare center (next to my school), there's a condom dispenser. I walked a few blocks and heard the siren of firetrucks. One after another, they kept passing me; I think I may have seen three total. I also saw this traffic sign with a man who looked like he was walking. It was a blue sign that I have never seen before - I should get a picture of it because it's quite odd - one of his legs are raised and there is an arrow under it. I think it is a sign dictating where a pedestrian should walk, but a CAR had parked under the sign o_O. After walking about 25-30 minutes, I saw a place where the firetrucks congregated. I saw no smoke nor flames, but there were groups of people watching and taking pictures with their camera phones and cameras. About 6 firetrucks were parked, along with a few police cars. I knew I was getting close to West Lake when I saw a pagoda nearby. I walked a bit more until I saw the lake.
• There's a dramatic change in scenery from the school to the lake. First, an observative walker will witness shops upon shops in an urban setting with few trees. Twenty minutes of walking brings the pedestrian to a more shaded area with many trees and more stores. After walking in this shaded area for another twenty minutes, the walker will finally see willow trees and other signs (i.e. water) that he or she is close to West Lake.
• I crossed the crosswalk and smiled with a sense of achievement as I made my way near the edge of the lake. I turned left and sauntered around the lake. On the way, I saw:
- People, lots and lots of PEOPLE.
- People that weren't couples sitting on the benches.
- Some historical statues.
- Lotus leaves in the lake, next to a Chinese-architectural building.
- A man with a Polaroid company jacket squatting over to take pictures of this lady and her kid. It must have been the father, but I thought it could have also been a random guy whose purported skill in photography is illustrated by his brand-name jacket.
- Statues of a couple.
- About 8 girls eating black corn. To be more specific, it was probably blue corn that was given a black eye. The corn is almost a dark indigo color and its color made me curious about its taste...
- Starbucks. There's one next to a lake. I saw a laowai sitting there, as well as a Caucasian lady with some foreigner friends.
- A West Lake sunset! It was beautiful!! What more can you ask for? Mountains, water, boats, and greenery - all were present at West Lake's splendid sunset. Ah, if only there were fewer people :P
• My feet were starting to hurt. To be more specific, my left foot was hurting (felt like it was starting to get blisters), while my right foot felt just fine. Around 5:10pm or so, after the sun had set, I decided to head back the way I came. I pondered two modes of transportation to get back to my school (via taxi, or via bus), but I thought it'd be really cool to just walk back all the way, for the experience.
• I gave in to my desire to try something new. I bought a black corn on the cob! I asked the man how much it was and he said, "五块" while using his hand to show me "five." I thought it was kind of expensive, but I bought it anyway. He told me I could choose which cob I preferred. When I bit into the corn, it tasted like Chinese corn - it's not crunchy or sweet, but it's quite chewy.
• After I walked away from the stand, I was puzzling over why he had made the hand motion in addition to telling me how much it was. I thought, maybe he thinks I'm a tourist so that he can overcharge. However, I also guessed that most of the Chinese there were tourists. Yet, did I somehow act in a way (by how I walked or asked the price) that told him I was a foreigner tourist, instead of a Chinese tourist? What a conundrum.
• On the way back, two women asked me for directions and I had to tell them I didn't know. -_-. I stopped by a store, whilst still chewing my corn. I bought some bread, when one of the cashiers said to her co-worker, "啊，她的玉米是黑的！" (Her corn is black.) Then, they talked to each other about corn. I was amused.
• I got a text asking if I wanted to join some of the foreign teachers for dinner. I texted back, "Yes."
• Around 6:30pm, I stopped by the local fruit/produce store and saw the chestnut man. This man roasts chestnuts and keeps them warm under a red blanket. I was craving chestnuts, so I bought a small bag for 7块. Thanks, Chestnut-man!
• I got back to my apartment and rested for a bit. Around 7pm, I joined Romaine, Vanessa, Thomas, Jason, and Zicheng for dinner. We saw a set of open-air stalls selling food at Jiaogong Lu awhile back, so we returned today to try some of this greasy street food. In Hong Kong/Guangzhou, they call the street food stall "dai pai dong" (大排档), while I think the Taiwanese call it the night market (though Taiwanese food is a whole different cuisine). So, the guys chose a place and I ate duck fried rice and rib soup (pai2 gu3 tang1 => 排骨汤) for 13块. Not bad, but it was a bit greasy.
• On the way back, I was conversing with Zicheng in Chinese. It was funny because we were talking about terms such as "吹牛皮"/"吹牛." I kept having to toss in some English (shows I'm not fluent yet -_-). It was funny because he brought up whether I knew the meaning of "拍马屁"...I said yes. I told him I thought the "屁" meant fart, as in 放屁, but he said something about pi4gu3 (屁股), or butt. This led to a hilarious conversation about fart.
• Z: *Sniffs*, as there is something stinky in the air (not love).
J: 这是什么味道？ 是不是你？
Z: 不是我。 是他。 *Whispers* 老外放屁。
J: 啊，中国人放的屁是香的。
*Romain looks backwards and gives me a look.*
Z： 不是，人放的屁都是臭的。
J： 你怎么知道？。。。是不是有经验的？
Z： 你从来有没有闻过香的屁？
*Jing cackles wildly, whilst Zicheng stares, bemused.*
• Came back to read for a bit.
• Today was such a great adventure!! Yes, I walked to West Lake and back...and explored alone!!! :D. 'Twas about approximately 45 minutes each way (I just had to reiterate that). Next time, I'm thinking of going by bike...
...
Monday, October 13, 2008: 杭州 Day 29, - Teaching Day 11
中国 Day 32
Asia Day 35
• I got my second rabies shot. I walked all the way from my apartment to Wulin (武林) Road because three taxis rejected me (and I did not feel like waiting around). The trip took approximately one hour (hehe, I navigated with my online 3D map before I made the trip)!!! I explored a lot of the city and felt accomplished when I made it to my destination. At the health clinic, a different healthcare worker injected me with the shot, so the stab of the needle was not as bad. I took a taxi home afterward...
...
Tuesday, October 14, 2008: 杭州 Day 30 - Teaching Day 12
中国 Day 33
Asia Day 36
• I bought a bright yellow shiny bike from the man on Wenyi Rd. It was 314块 with the accessories (basket and lock), 298块 without. I awkwardly rode it through the streets and back to my apartment. It was a scary adventure.
杭州 Day 28 - West Lake Solo Photographic Tour
中国 Day 31
Asia Day 34
• Today, I woke up (as you may have guessed) LATE. I got up around 1:30pm after being half asleep when I should have gotten up. I did laundry, planned my lesson for the next two days, and hung my laundry once it was done washing. I boiled some dumplings (wtf, there's some sand in 1 out of 5 dumplings) and wontons (omg, delicious). They were store-bought, by the way o_O.
• Even though I was hours behind schedule, I was adamant about going to West Lake on a solo photographic tour. So, after all my errands were finished, I left the house with a backpack and my fanny pack. My face was covered in SPF 70 sunblock and I sprayed some DEET to avoid getting touched by mosquitoes. Also brought two bottles of water, an umbrella (which I decided not to use), and plenty of tissues.
• From where I live, all I have to do is turn right and walk 45 minutes to reach West Lake. I timed myself; between waiting for traffic lights to turn green and some of the distractions around me, it did only take 45 minutes. I left around 4:05pm and got to West Lake around 4:50pm.
• On the way, I saw some interesting things. I need to remember to take a picture of this, but near the daycare center (next to my school), there's a condom dispenser. I walked a few blocks and heard the siren of firetrucks. One after another, they kept passing me; I think I may have seen three total. I also saw this traffic sign with a man who looked like he was walking. It was a blue sign that I have never seen before - I should get a picture of it because it's quite odd - one of his legs are raised and there is an arrow under it. I think it is a sign dictating where a pedestrian should walk, but a CAR had parked under the sign o_O. After walking about 25-30 minutes, I saw a place where the firetrucks congregated. I saw no smoke nor flames, but there were groups of people watching and taking pictures with their camera phones and cameras. About 6 firetrucks were parked, along with a few police cars. I knew I was getting close to West Lake when I saw a pagoda nearby. I walked a bit more until I saw the lake.
• There's a dramatic change in scenery from the school to the lake. First, an observative walker will witness shops upon shops in an urban setting with few trees. Twenty minutes of walking brings the pedestrian to a more shaded area with many trees and more stores. After walking in this shaded area for another twenty minutes, the walker will finally see willow trees and other signs (i.e. water) that he or she is close to West Lake.
• I crossed the crosswalk and smiled with a sense of achievement as I made my way near the edge of the lake. I turned left and sauntered around the lake. On the way, I saw:
- People, lots and lots of PEOPLE.
- People that weren't couples sitting on the benches.
- Some historical statues.
- Lotus leaves in the lake, next to a Chinese-architectural building.
- A man with a Polaroid company jacket squatting over to take pictures of this lady and her kid. It must have been the father, but I thought it could have also been a random guy whose purported skill in photography is illustrated by his brand-name jacket.
- Statues of a couple.
- About 8 girls eating black corn. To be more specific, it was probably blue corn that was given a black eye. The corn is almost a dark indigo color and its color made me curious about its taste...
- Starbucks. There's one next to a lake. I saw a laowai sitting there, as well as a Caucasian lady with some foreigner friends.
- A West Lake sunset! It was beautiful!! What more can you ask for? Mountains, water, boats, and greenery - all were present at West Lake's splendid sunset. Ah, if only there were fewer people :P
• My feet were starting to hurt. To be more specific, my left foot was hurting (felt like it was starting to get blisters), while my right foot felt just fine. Around 5:10pm or so, after the sun had set, I decided to head back the way I came. I pondered two modes of transportation to get back to my school (via taxi, or via bus), but I thought it'd be really cool to just walk back all the way, for the experience.
• I gave in to my desire to try something new. I bought a black corn on the cob! I asked the man how much it was and he said, "五块" while using his hand to show me "five." I thought it was kind of expensive, but I bought it anyway. He told me I could choose which cob I preferred. When I bit into the corn, it tasted like Chinese corn - it's not crunchy or sweet, but it's quite chewy.
• After I walked away from the stand, I was puzzling over why he had made the hand motion in addition to telling me how much it was. I thought, maybe he thinks I'm a tourist so that he can overcharge. However, I also guessed that most of the Chinese there were tourists. Yet, did I somehow act in a way (by how I walked or asked the price) that told him I was a foreigner tourist, instead of a Chinese tourist? What a conundrum.
• On the way back, two women asked me for directions and I had to tell them I didn't know. -_-. I stopped by a store, whilst still chewing my corn. I bought some bread, when one of the cashiers said to her co-worker, "啊，她的玉米是黑的！" (Her corn is black.) Then, they talked to each other about corn. I was amused.
• I got a text asking if I wanted to join some of the foreign teachers for dinner. I texted back, "Yes."
• Around 6:30pm, I stopped by the local fruit/produce store and saw the chestnut man. This man roasts chestnuts and keeps them warm under a red blanket. I was craving chestnuts, so I bought a small bag for 7块. Thanks, Chestnut-man!
• I got back to my apartment and rested for a bit. Around 7pm, I joined Romaine, Vanessa, Thomas, Jason, and Zicheng for dinner. We saw a set of open-air stalls selling food at Jiaogong Lu awhile back, so we returned today to try some of this greasy street food. In Hong Kong/Guangzhou, they call the street food stall "dai pai dong" (大排档), while I think the Taiwanese call it the night market (though Taiwanese food is a whole different cuisine). So, the guys chose a place and I ate duck fried rice and rib soup (pai2 gu3 tang1 => 排骨汤) for 13块. Not bad, but it was a bit greasy.
• On the way back, I was conversing with Zicheng in Chinese. It was funny because we were talking about terms such as "吹牛皮"/"吹牛." I kept having to toss in some English (shows I'm not fluent yet -_-). It was funny because he brought up whether I knew the meaning of "拍马屁"...I said yes. I told him I thought the "屁" meant fart, as in 放屁, but he said something about pi4gu3 (屁股), or butt. This led to a hilarious conversation about fart.
• Z: *Sniffs*, as there is something stinky in the air (not love).
J: 这是什么味道？ 是不是你？
Z: 不是我。 是他。 *Whispers* 老外放屁。
J: 啊，中国人放的屁是香的。
*Romain looks backwards and gives me a look.*
Z： 不是，人放的屁都是臭的。
J： 你怎么知道？。。。是不是有经验的？
Z： 你从来有没有闻过香的屁？
*Jing cackles wildly, whilst Zicheng stares, bemused.*
• Came back to read for a bit.
• Today was such a great adventure!! Yes, I walked to West Lake and back...and explored alone!!! :D. 'Twas about approximately 45 minutes each way (I just had to reiterate that). Next time, I'm thinking of going by bike...
...
Monday, October 13, 2008: 杭州 Day 29, - Teaching Day 11
中国 Day 32
Asia Day 35
• I got my second rabies shot. I walked all the way from my apartment to Wulin (武林) Road because three taxis rejected me (and I did not feel like waiting around). The trip took approximately one hour (hehe, I navigated with my online 3D map before I made the trip)!!! I explored a lot of the city and felt accomplished when I made it to my destination. At the health clinic, a different healthcare worker injected me with the shot, so the stab of the needle was not as bad. I took a taxi home afterward...
...
Tuesday, October 14, 2008: 杭州 Day 30 - Teaching Day 12
中国 Day 33
Asia Day 36
• I bought a bright yellow shiny bike from the man on Wenyi Rd. It was 314块 with the accessories (basket and lock), 298块 without. I awkwardly rode it through the streets and back to my apartment. It was a scary adventure.
Monday, October 6, 2008
杭州 Day 22-27
Monday, October 6, 2008: 杭州 Day 22 (Teaching Day 7)
中国 Day 25
Asia Day 28
• Went to sleep really late (3am!! UGH) and woke up really early (7:30am). Now, why would I do that? I was still worried about the monkey bite, I suppose. Oh, and yesterday, all of a sudden, it got cold. I carelessly used a thin blanket to cover up at night, when I should have used something thicker.
• Taught a class in the morning - did a lot of listening exercises today. The funniest thing to happen in the morning class happened during one of the listening exercises. I had three students draw pictures of things that happened in my story.
• It was an interesting story about a king named Tamerlane. Whilst he was away fighting battles, his youngest, most beautiful Chinese wife built him a mosque. However, the builder had fallen in love with the young wife. Since the builder did not finish the mosque and would not continue to build it unless the Chinese wife allowed him to kiss her, she let him kiss her. However, the kiss was so strong that it left a mark on her face. The builder was killed and king Tamerlane wanted all women to wear veils, lest they tempt men with their beauty.
• One student drew a building and a W.C. (restroom) next to it. I had the drawers select someone to interpret the drawing and retell the story. The student said something about how a man once had to use the W.C., but realized it was out of toilet paper. Then, he fell in love with a girl who gave him toilet paper to use. Then, she kissed him. The other two people who drew had wacky interpretations of their drawings, but not as crazy as this one.
• I went back to nap/rest for three hours. I put on long sleeves/pants and snuggled under the thick comforter. Sigh. I woke up and it was still chilly...
• Minor setback in second class. The key lady told me that the key was upstairs with the cleaning lady, so I went upstairs with the mic. I went upstairs to find that the room was still locked. So, some students went to find the janitor lady, while I whispered for my students to be quiet and to huddle in the corner near the door. Well, it was only minutes later that the janitor lady rushed over and said sorry as she hurriedly unlocked the door.
• The afternoon class was a little less attentive. I caught a student sleeping and another student was not paying attention (he was writing in his book). I asked him what he thought of the story and he said it was "interesting." One of his classmates sneered, "Interesting 你的屁！ 你根本没听。。。" (Interesting? Yeah right, you didn't listen to the story!) The non-attentive student said, "Shut up!" and then I told them to behave -_-. By this time, because I was reading to the class, my throat was getting quite dry. Kept reading to the class, as the speed on the audio tape seems a bit fast.
• Came back and felt like doing nothing. Honestly, I just went online, read a bunch of articles/news, checked email, and just sat on my ass. I didn't feel like eating or doing homework.
• Went to bed really, really early - 8:30pm.
...
Tuesday, October 7, 2008: 杭州 Day 23 (Teaching Day 8)
中国 Day 26
Asia Day 29
• Woke up several times during the night. Finally got up at 8am to blog. Finished in three hours. Also needing to journal...
• Went to class today and there was a minor technical difficulty. Well, there were several. I didn't know there was a switch for the mic, so I thought the mic was broken. I ended up reading the text again (lucky students, for me having to waste my breath). Well, the computer also wasn't working, so again, I read...
• I felt a bit annoyed today. My students usually converse in Chinese because they are not skilled in English. They would lose their main mode of expression for group-work, if it weren't for Chinese. I don't know quite what to do.
• Also, I went around to ask some students questions based on the listening exercise. Most of them had this nonchalant attitude as they said, "I don't know." I felt like I had to grill them for understanding. I asked why they didn't know and tried to decipher ways for them to actually KNOW or UNDERSTAND the exercises done in class. There's a lot of stuff that's just translated to them via friends, which hurts part of the cause and helps the other part. Anyway, some of them claimed they didn't know because they weren't listening. C'mon male students, do you think I WASTE my breath so you can whisper to your friends and pretend to listen? I'm a sick woman here...and I'm not getting paid to read you some fairy tales. Well, perhaps I am, but if it were up to me, I'd rather have you use your breath than have me waste mine. Others didn't really understand, due to my reading pace or their own lack of English knowledge. What are you in the class for, then? Why don't you go back to your lower levels so you can learn the basics? I tried to slow down my reading pace, so that the students could understand. Another factor that I can't control is the student's past experiences with other accents - because they got used to the fobby Chinese accent for beginning levels (most likely), they copied this and this bad English proliferated into an uncontrollable level that teachers like me are struggling with right now.
• However, not everyone is a terrible student. For the most part, the female students, while shy, are very, very attentive. Most understand what I'm saying. I'm less frustrated about this. Shyness can be overcome with encouragement.
• At times, though, I don't feel like a very encouraging person. Heh. I should encourage and compliment more in daily life.
• After my classes today, I went home and munched on peanuts and then went up to Jessica's for the potluck. I brought dragon eye and grape juice. It was a good time.
• Jamie is so hilarious. He said, "You know, the walls were so close that you could hear them change their minds." He also said (of Foster's Australian beer), "You know what the truth is? With native beers, they don't export it...they DEport it."
• Sigh...time to do homework, even though I don't want to...*whine*...make-up classes tomorrow, as well...
...
Wednesday, October 8, 2008: 杭州 Day 24 (Make-up Teaching Day 9)
中国 Day 27
Asia Day 30
• Got up so late because I slept 10 hours. Went to take the bus at 12:20pm. I was freaking out a bit because it was already bordering on 1:20pm and I saw some of the teachers who work on my campus getting off at the first stop. I hurriedly followed them and then called to ask Michael if he knew if there was more than one Xiasha East stop. Well, the minivan ended up going to the East campus. I was so relieved. The hardest part of the day (transportation) was taken care of...by the admin.
• For the makeup schedule, I had my second class first. Patricia was next door. I began to stress out. Why? The guys with their little girlfriends and some guys in the left corner...would not stop talking! It would not bother me as much if they talked in English, but it was all in Chinese. I had to shout a few times to get them (those talkers) to be quiet. To add to that, the microphone would not work in my room. There were also some students who didn't understand the words that were coming out of my mouth. Sigh. I don't know why...or HOW they got in that class. Some of them look at me with faces like, "DURRRH?" Sigh. I was extremely annoyed and my voice had wasted away.
• I went to wait for the bus around 4:50pm. When it didn't look like the bus was coming, I called Michael. Later, I found out that there were no buses running on Wednesdays because teachers usually didn't have classes. Well, Michael tried to hail a cab to bring me here (a supervisor of his would cover the fee up to 80块, but there were no taxis to hail). Thankfully, I got back to Xiasha via university car. Michael and I had dinner in the student cafeteria (not too bad, about 5块) - was just two sides and rice. At 6:30pm, I took the bus back to Wenyi.
• I did all the lesson planning whilst I was waiting around. When I got home, I did a lot of nothing. Ate some more food/fruit and then read for the rest of the night (whilst chattin'...heh).
...
Thursday, October 9, 2008: 杭州 Day 25 (Teaching Day 10)
中国 Day 28
Asia Day 31
• Wow, I've been in China for a month (really hasn't felt that long). This morn, I woke up at 7:30am so I could arrive on the Xiasha campus bright and early. I caught the 8:40am bus and arrived around 9:40am. Michael met me at the hospital, where I had a second opinion on my monkey bite wound. (Actually, the wound scabbed over a long time ago and it fell off today!!)
• The female doctor that examined me took a brief look at my wound, while Michael explained to her what happened to me. He asked her whether I should consider getting rabies shots and she replied, "It's best if you do." Later, we went upstairs to see the male doctor. Michael explained the same things and then the doc touched my green-tinted bruise as I exclaimed, "Eh? It's gone..." I think at his point was when I noticed my scab was gone. Thus, this male doctor thought there was nothing to worry about. He said something about drawing blood and seeing if there was anything in the blood, but Michael explained that they wouldn't find anything if the virus had not already spread. From this conversation, I could see that I was more well-versed in rabies than he was.
• Later, I was explaining to Michael that I did some obsessive research on rabies, that I knew if I got shots, they would have to be in different intervals. He was amazed I knew so much, since the first time he heard that was when he called the clinic recently. Indeed, there was a moment where I said, "Yeah...if I don't get the shot..." And Michael continued, "...you are dead." HAHAH. I also mentioned to him how males just shrug off stuff like this, while females seemed more concerned. My point was proven when Michael called his lady boss and told him the situation (that he wanted to go with me to the clinic to get the shot) and she sounded very concerned. Yes, I will get my first shot tomorrow (and I need to be prepared to get sick from the shot, sigh).
• After getting prescriptions, we went to the library for a bit and perused books. There's quite a few finance books. I also found the English classical novel section...I'm hoping to maybe read "Journey to the West" if I have any time available. After going to the library, we went to the teacher's cafeteria. Even though teachers are thought to be more civil, it was mayhem. Teachers didn't line up to get food - rather, they crowded and grabbed at what looked delicious. Lunch this time was 7.6 块. Of course, this is cheaper than eating out. I got rice, tofu and various veggies, fish (with smallish bones -_-) and white carrot dish, and three fried dumplings with a wrapping-covered sticky rice thing. I already forgot what it was called. Lunch was pretty good. Had a fun conversation.
• There was one point where I was complaining a bit about the student's attitudes and Michael reminded me, "Remember what I told you - if you can teach this group of students, you can teach ANY group..." Those are inspiring words. I really want to help the students...but guess what. Hah, none emailed me yet! WTF.
• Went to class and did a lot of listening exercises today. Honestly, I've been a bit sicker than usual since Monday, so I didn't want to talk more than I had to. Avoided straining my voice further by using a lot of listening exercises. In the first class, the students are more well-behaved. One of the students, though, said he wished there were films shown in class. I said I'd consider that, but I wanted those at the lowest levels to be able to understand it at first. Then, this student commented that one could turn on the subtitles. The phrase he used specifically was, "Chinese words on the bottom."
• In my second class, because of the fallout from yesterday, I felt like a dictator. The lights were off for most of the class because I had the projector on. I went over the vocabulary somewhat quickly. I tried to make sure people knew what was going on. Afterward, the students did some listening exercises. Two people fell asleep! Unacceptable! At the end of class, one of the better students passed me a note saying: "Can we have some interesting things like watching flims. pictures or listening musics next week. The class seems a little boring. Thank you." I received it and didn't know what to make of it. Of course, I want to make the class as student-centered as possible, but I also have to follow a syllabus. I have to admit, maybe I made it more listening-exercises-oriented this week due to fatigue/illness, but I will try to engage the students a bit better for next week. The class turned out to be a bit quieter because I threatened to move students. Plus, I patrolled the area that got loud. One audacious kid kept listening to his music from his phone. I walked over because he looked asleep, just to find him listening to his stuff...I walked away, and a few minutes later, he was doing the same thing. Then, he felt embarrassed and had this expression like, "Okay, okay, I give up." At that point, he put it away for good.
• I rode the bus back and got back in time for dinner with Jason, Romain, Vanessa, and Jason's friend and former HDU teacher Jackie. Pretty good dindin, though some dishes were quite spicy :/...
• Went on a random-reading spree. -_-. Wasted over 5 hours reading articles having nothing to do with my life. Mostly crime mysteries...
...
Friday, October 10, 2008: 杭州 Day 26
中国 Day 29
Asia Day 32
• In the morning, I woke up at 7:45am, when I went to sleep around 3:30am (because of my reading spree). I was super-tired.
• Michael met up with me around 8:30am so that we could go to the disease control center for my first time. Thus, we took a taxi to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (疾病预防控制中心 [ji2 bing4 yu4 fang2 kong4 zhi4 zhong1 xin1] or 疾控中心 for short). We went to the clinic for animal bites and scratches (动物咬伤门诊), where I registered via telling them my name. Then, the doctor recorded what happened to me, whilst Michael talked about all of it. The little girl before me got bitten by a dog.
• There were three types of shots - first two were made in China, whilst the last one was made in Germany. The first one was cheap (~200 Yuan), the second one was stable (~250 Yuan), whilst the last was manufactured out of the country and stable (~630 Yuan). I chose the second one...heh. Well, I had to pay 53 Yuan for each shot (a series of 5 shots) and 1.5 Yuan per needle (yes, clean). My school insurance MAY cover it...hooray?
• So...I glanced over to my right and saw the nurse stab the needle into the little girl, who cried for about 30 seconds before she realized it didn't hurt anymore. That was a bit traumatic for me, since I didn't know whether she would stab me, too. Well, when it was my turn, she put iodine on my right arm and then stabbed the needle into it (>_<). It didn't hurt too much, but I could just feel the intense pressure of stabbery. Afterward, she talked of disinfecting the wound, but I told her it was in the arm that was just stabbed...and she looked like, ?_?, since I also told her...oh, heh, it's GONE.
• Nursey lady spoke to the next customer, as Michael told them I'm a foreign teacher. The nurse lady was talking to me like I was a kid! "Ni zai na ge xue xiao...XUEEEEE XIAOOOOO...jiao shu?"/"你在哪个学校。。。学校。。。教书？" I told her Hangzhou Dianzi Keji Daxue. She was impressed I could spit those words out that quickly. I fumbled my words a bit when she asked where I was born. She then said to the next customer, yeah, her Chinese isn't THAT great. T_T...grr!!
• Five Days of Rabies Shots:
1: Friday, 10/10
2: Monday, 10/13
3: Friday, 10/17
4: Friday, 10/24
5: Friday, 11/07
• After going to this clinic, I went to a drugstore with Michael. He told me, "I have to go to the drugstore to buy some medicine to kill crocodiles." I initially thought, hmm, didn't know there were crocodiles in Hangzhou. Then, he corrected himself and said, "Oh, I meant cockroach." We had a little laugh.
• Then, I saw a sign and asked Michael what the words were. It said fu4yin4 (复印), but I thought it said, xia4yin4 (夏印). As you can see, the words look the same. We had another little laugh.
• Michael was chuckling, and I was asking him if he was still laughing about the crocodiles...and he said, no, I'm still laughing at xia4yin4.
• After I came back, I went on the computer for awhile, then took a nap. When I woke up, I read some more random articles...and that was basically my day. No Friday night parties, nope.
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Saturday, October 11, 2008: 杭州 Day 27
中国 Day 30
Asia Day 33
• I read so late into the night last night that I woke up really late today. It was about 2pm when I got up. I started doing my Ethnography homework (watching television and recording the types of ads that were shown on television). Honestly, some of this time was wasted. I watched a dumb teeny bopper show about some kids going to try on new fashions and going to karaoke. I could neither relate to this nor understand what was going on. I saw a news report featuring only four main stories. I turned off the television for a bit and then started to do more homework. Blahhh...I watched more television and this time, it was more interesting. I watched a television drama featuring a man who had divorced his wife and now he lives with her new husband and his ex-wife. Something like that. After that, I watched a talk show.
• The talk show was pretty colloquial and easy to understand; it featured the main characters from that drama I was just watching (omg, the middle-aged manly actor was hawt). The lady had asked her co-worker actor why he had gotten into film, since he was not good looking. She commented about his bravery, since he has small, not-film-worthy eyes. I thought it was hilarious. Only on Chinese television can one say this.
• Later, this lady talked about her son and how she raised him. Now, he's 18 and in college. She said, "I gave him life and wings to fly. I told him, 'from this day on, you will be able to take care of yourself. I will no longer be responsible for you, you can do whatever you want.'" It was really inspiring because she talked about the years she spent teaching him, raising him, letting him know what's good/bad and right/wrong. Basically, she gave him all the tools he needs to survive in the world and now he can spread his wings and fly. After this, I turned off the television.
• During my television watching, I noticed an ad that played two times. It was mysterious and interesting! I think it was a detective ad. The guy was using his magnifying glass to examine some details that were out of place. The show is on Friday evenings at 10pm or so...and I don't want to miss it!
• Also, I wrote down many vocabulary words that I want to learn. Some of them are used in common language, so I want to make sure I know what's going on the next time I hear such words.
• I briefly worked on a report and replied to two discussions. Went to bed around 3:30am. I was planning on going to West Lake early next morning...
中国 Day 25
Asia Day 28
• Went to sleep really late (3am!! UGH) and woke up really early (7:30am). Now, why would I do that? I was still worried about the monkey bite, I suppose. Oh, and yesterday, all of a sudden, it got cold. I carelessly used a thin blanket to cover up at night, when I should have used something thicker.
• Taught a class in the morning - did a lot of listening exercises today. The funniest thing to happen in the morning class happened during one of the listening exercises. I had three students draw pictures of things that happened in my story.
• It was an interesting story about a king named Tamerlane. Whilst he was away fighting battles, his youngest, most beautiful Chinese wife built him a mosque. However, the builder had fallen in love with the young wife. Since the builder did not finish the mosque and would not continue to build it unless the Chinese wife allowed him to kiss her, she let him kiss her. However, the kiss was so strong that it left a mark on her face. The builder was killed and king Tamerlane wanted all women to wear veils, lest they tempt men with their beauty.
• One student drew a building and a W.C. (restroom) next to it. I had the drawers select someone to interpret the drawing and retell the story. The student said something about how a man once had to use the W.C., but realized it was out of toilet paper. Then, he fell in love with a girl who gave him toilet paper to use. Then, she kissed him. The other two people who drew had wacky interpretations of their drawings, but not as crazy as this one.
• I went back to nap/rest for three hours. I put on long sleeves/pants and snuggled under the thick comforter. Sigh. I woke up and it was still chilly...
• Minor setback in second class. The key lady told me that the key was upstairs with the cleaning lady, so I went upstairs with the mic. I went upstairs to find that the room was still locked. So, some students went to find the janitor lady, while I whispered for my students to be quiet and to huddle in the corner near the door. Well, it was only minutes later that the janitor lady rushed over and said sorry as she hurriedly unlocked the door.
• The afternoon class was a little less attentive. I caught a student sleeping and another student was not paying attention (he was writing in his book). I asked him what he thought of the story and he said it was "interesting." One of his classmates sneered, "Interesting 你的屁！ 你根本没听。。。" (Interesting? Yeah right, you didn't listen to the story!) The non-attentive student said, "Shut up!" and then I told them to behave -_-. By this time, because I was reading to the class, my throat was getting quite dry. Kept reading to the class, as the speed on the audio tape seems a bit fast.
• Came back and felt like doing nothing. Honestly, I just went online, read a bunch of articles/news, checked email, and just sat on my ass. I didn't feel like eating or doing homework.
• Went to bed really, really early - 8:30pm.
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Tuesday, October 7, 2008: 杭州 Day 23 (Teaching Day 8)
中国 Day 26
Asia Day 29
• Woke up several times during the night. Finally got up at 8am to blog. Finished in three hours. Also needing to journal...
• Went to class today and there was a minor technical difficulty. Well, there were several. I didn't know there was a switch for the mic, so I thought the mic was broken. I ended up reading the text again (lucky students, for me having to waste my breath). Well, the computer also wasn't working, so again, I read...
• I felt a bit annoyed today. My students usually converse in Chinese because they are not skilled in English. They would lose their main mode of expression for group-work, if it weren't for Chinese. I don't know quite what to do.
• Also, I went around to ask some students questions based on the listening exercise. Most of them had this nonchalant attitude as they said, "I don't know." I felt like I had to grill them for understanding. I asked why they didn't know and tried to decipher ways for them to actually KNOW or UNDERSTAND the exercises done in class. There's a lot of stuff that's just translated to them via friends, which hurts part of the cause and helps the other part. Anyway, some of them claimed they didn't know because they weren't listening. C'mon male students, do you think I WASTE my breath so you can whisper to your friends and pretend to listen? I'm a sick woman here...and I'm not getting paid to read you some fairy tales. Well, perhaps I am, but if it were up to me, I'd rather have you use your breath than have me waste mine. Others didn't really understand, due to my reading pace or their own lack of English knowledge. What are you in the class for, then? Why don't you go back to your lower levels so you can learn the basics? I tried to slow down my reading pace, so that the students could understand. Another factor that I can't control is the student's past experiences with other accents - because they got used to the fobby Chinese accent for beginning levels (most likely), they copied this and this bad English proliferated into an uncontrollable level that teachers like me are struggling with right now.
• However, not everyone is a terrible student. For the most part, the female students, while shy, are very, very attentive. Most understand what I'm saying. I'm less frustrated about this. Shyness can be overcome with encouragement.
• At times, though, I don't feel like a very encouraging person. Heh. I should encourage and compliment more in daily life.
• After my classes today, I went home and munched on peanuts and then went up to Jessica's for the potluck. I brought dragon eye and grape juice. It was a good time.
• Jamie is so hilarious. He said, "You know, the walls were so close that you could hear them change their minds." He also said (of Foster's Australian beer), "You know what the truth is? With native beers, they don't export it...they DEport it."
• Sigh...time to do homework, even though I don't want to...*whine*...make-up classes tomorrow, as well...
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Wednesday, October 8, 2008: 杭州 Day 24 (Make-up Teaching Day 9)
中国 Day 27
Asia Day 30
• Got up so late because I slept 10 hours. Went to take the bus at 12:20pm. I was freaking out a bit because it was already bordering on 1:20pm and I saw some of the teachers who work on my campus getting off at the first stop. I hurriedly followed them and then called to ask Michael if he knew if there was more than one Xiasha East stop. Well, the minivan ended up going to the East campus. I was so relieved. The hardest part of the day (transportation) was taken care of...by the admin.
• For the makeup schedule, I had my second class first. Patricia was next door. I began to stress out. Why? The guys with their little girlfriends and some guys in the left corner...would not stop talking! It would not bother me as much if they talked in English, but it was all in Chinese. I had to shout a few times to get them (those talkers) to be quiet. To add to that, the microphone would not work in my room. There were also some students who didn't understand the words that were coming out of my mouth. Sigh. I don't know why...or HOW they got in that class. Some of them look at me with faces like, "DURRRH?" Sigh. I was extremely annoyed and my voice had wasted away.
• I went to wait for the bus around 4:50pm. When it didn't look like the bus was coming, I called Michael. Later, I found out that there were no buses running on Wednesdays because teachers usually didn't have classes. Well, Michael tried to hail a cab to bring me here (a supervisor of his would cover the fee up to 80块, but there were no taxis to hail). Thankfully, I got back to Xiasha via university car. Michael and I had dinner in the student cafeteria (not too bad, about 5块) - was just two sides and rice. At 6:30pm, I took the bus back to Wenyi.
• I did all the lesson planning whilst I was waiting around. When I got home, I did a lot of nothing. Ate some more food/fruit and then read for the rest of the night (whilst chattin'...heh).
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Thursday, October 9, 2008: 杭州 Day 25 (Teaching Day 10)
中国 Day 28
Asia Day 31
• Wow, I've been in China for a month (really hasn't felt that long). This morn, I woke up at 7:30am so I could arrive on the Xiasha campus bright and early. I caught the 8:40am bus and arrived around 9:40am. Michael met me at the hospital, where I had a second opinion on my monkey bite wound. (Actually, the wound scabbed over a long time ago and it fell off today!!)
• The female doctor that examined me took a brief look at my wound, while Michael explained to her what happened to me. He asked her whether I should consider getting rabies shots and she replied, "It's best if you do." Later, we went upstairs to see the male doctor. Michael explained the same things and then the doc touched my green-tinted bruise as I exclaimed, "Eh? It's gone..." I think at his point was when I noticed my scab was gone. Thus, this male doctor thought there was nothing to worry about. He said something about drawing blood and seeing if there was anything in the blood, but Michael explained that they wouldn't find anything if the virus had not already spread. From this conversation, I could see that I was more well-versed in rabies than he was.
• Later, I was explaining to Michael that I did some obsessive research on rabies, that I knew if I got shots, they would have to be in different intervals. He was amazed I knew so much, since the first time he heard that was when he called the clinic recently. Indeed, there was a moment where I said, "Yeah...if I don't get the shot..." And Michael continued, "...you are dead." HAHAH. I also mentioned to him how males just shrug off stuff like this, while females seemed more concerned. My point was proven when Michael called his lady boss and told him the situation (that he wanted to go with me to the clinic to get the shot) and she sounded very concerned. Yes, I will get my first shot tomorrow (and I need to be prepared to get sick from the shot, sigh).
• After getting prescriptions, we went to the library for a bit and perused books. There's quite a few finance books. I also found the English classical novel section...I'm hoping to maybe read "Journey to the West" if I have any time available. After going to the library, we went to the teacher's cafeteria. Even though teachers are thought to be more civil, it was mayhem. Teachers didn't line up to get food - rather, they crowded and grabbed at what looked delicious. Lunch this time was 7.6 块. Of course, this is cheaper than eating out. I got rice, tofu and various veggies, fish (with smallish bones -_-) and white carrot dish, and three fried dumplings with a wrapping-covered sticky rice thing. I already forgot what it was called. Lunch was pretty good. Had a fun conversation.
• There was one point where I was complaining a bit about the student's attitudes and Michael reminded me, "Remember what I told you - if you can teach this group of students, you can teach ANY group..." Those are inspiring words. I really want to help the students...but guess what. Hah, none emailed me yet! WTF.
• Went to class and did a lot of listening exercises today. Honestly, I've been a bit sicker than usual since Monday, so I didn't want to talk more than I had to. Avoided straining my voice further by using a lot of listening exercises. In the first class, the students are more well-behaved. One of the students, though, said he wished there were films shown in class. I said I'd consider that, but I wanted those at the lowest levels to be able to understand it at first. Then, this student commented that one could turn on the subtitles. The phrase he used specifically was, "Chinese words on the bottom."
• In my second class, because of the fallout from yesterday, I felt like a dictator. The lights were off for most of the class because I had the projector on. I went over the vocabulary somewhat quickly. I tried to make sure people knew what was going on. Afterward, the students did some listening exercises. Two people fell asleep! Unacceptable! At the end of class, one of the better students passed me a note saying: "Can we have some interesting things like watching flims. pictures or listening musics next week. The class seems a little boring. Thank you." I received it and didn't know what to make of it. Of course, I want to make the class as student-centered as possible, but I also have to follow a syllabus. I have to admit, maybe I made it more listening-exercises-oriented this week due to fatigue/illness, but I will try to engage the students a bit better for next week. The class turned out to be a bit quieter because I threatened to move students. Plus, I patrolled the area that got loud. One audacious kid kept listening to his music from his phone. I walked over because he looked asleep, just to find him listening to his stuff...I walked away, and a few minutes later, he was doing the same thing. Then, he felt embarrassed and had this expression like, "Okay, okay, I give up." At that point, he put it away for good.
• I rode the bus back and got back in time for dinner with Jason, Romain, Vanessa, and Jason's friend and former HDU teacher Jackie. Pretty good dindin, though some dishes were quite spicy :/...
• Went on a random-reading spree. -_-. Wasted over 5 hours reading articles having nothing to do with my life. Mostly crime mysteries...
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Friday, October 10, 2008: 杭州 Day 26
中国 Day 29
Asia Day 32
• In the morning, I woke up at 7:45am, when I went to sleep around 3:30am (because of my reading spree). I was super-tired.
• Michael met up with me around 8:30am so that we could go to the disease control center for my first time. Thus, we took a taxi to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (疾病预防控制中心 [ji2 bing4 yu4 fang2 kong4 zhi4 zhong1 xin1] or 疾控中心 for short). We went to the clinic for animal bites and scratches (动物咬伤门诊), where I registered via telling them my name. Then, the doctor recorded what happened to me, whilst Michael talked about all of it. The little girl before me got bitten by a dog.
• There were three types of shots - first two were made in China, whilst the last one was made in Germany. The first one was cheap (~200 Yuan), the second one was stable (~250 Yuan), whilst the last was manufactured out of the country and stable (~630 Yuan). I chose the second one...heh. Well, I had to pay 53 Yuan for each shot (a series of 5 shots) and 1.5 Yuan per needle (yes, clean). My school insurance MAY cover it...hooray?
• So...I glanced over to my right and saw the nurse stab the needle into the little girl, who cried for about 30 seconds before she realized it didn't hurt anymore. That was a bit traumatic for me, since I didn't know whether she would stab me, too. Well, when it was my turn, she put iodine on my right arm and then stabbed the needle into it (>_<). It didn't hurt too much, but I could just feel the intense pressure of stabbery. Afterward, she talked of disinfecting the wound, but I told her it was in the arm that was just stabbed...and she looked like, ?_?, since I also told her...oh, heh, it's GONE.
• Nursey lady spoke to the next customer, as Michael told them I'm a foreign teacher. The nurse lady was talking to me like I was a kid! "Ni zai na ge xue xiao...XUEEEEE XIAOOOOO...jiao shu?"/"你在哪个学校。。。学校。。。教书？" I told her Hangzhou Dianzi Keji Daxue. She was impressed I could spit those words out that quickly. I fumbled my words a bit when she asked where I was born. She then said to the next customer, yeah, her Chinese isn't THAT great. T_T...grr!!
• Five Days of Rabies Shots:
1: Friday, 10/10
2: Monday, 10/13
3: Friday, 10/17
4: Friday, 10/24
5: Friday, 11/07
• After going to this clinic, I went to a drugstore with Michael. He told me, "I have to go to the drugstore to buy some medicine to kill crocodiles." I initially thought, hmm, didn't know there were crocodiles in Hangzhou. Then, he corrected himself and said, "Oh, I meant cockroach." We had a little laugh.
• Then, I saw a sign and asked Michael what the words were. It said fu4yin4 (复印), but I thought it said, xia4yin4 (夏印). As you can see, the words look the same. We had another little laugh.
• Michael was chuckling, and I was asking him if he was still laughing about the crocodiles...and he said, no, I'm still laughing at xia4yin4.
• After I came back, I went on the computer for awhile, then took a nap. When I woke up, I read some more random articles...and that was basically my day. No Friday night parties, nope.
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Saturday, October 11, 2008: 杭州 Day 27
中国 Day 30
Asia Day 33
• I read so late into the night last night that I woke up really late today. It was about 2pm when I got up. I started doing my Ethnography homework (watching television and recording the types of ads that were shown on television). Honestly, some of this time was wasted. I watched a dumb teeny bopper show about some kids going to try on new fashions and going to karaoke. I could neither relate to this nor understand what was going on. I saw a news report featuring only four main stories. I turned off the television for a bit and then started to do more homework. Blahhh...I watched more television and this time, it was more interesting. I watched a television drama featuring a man who had divorced his wife and now he lives with her new husband and his ex-wife. Something like that. After that, I watched a talk show.
• The talk show was pretty colloquial and easy to understand; it featured the main characters from that drama I was just watching (omg, the middle-aged manly actor was hawt). The lady had asked her co-worker actor why he had gotten into film, since he was not good looking. She commented about his bravery, since he has small, not-film-worthy eyes. I thought it was hilarious. Only on Chinese television can one say this.
• Later, this lady talked about her son and how she raised him. Now, he's 18 and in college. She said, "I gave him life and wings to fly. I told him, 'from this day on, you will be able to take care of yourself. I will no longer be responsible for you, you can do whatever you want.'" It was really inspiring because she talked about the years she spent teaching him, raising him, letting him know what's good/bad and right/wrong. Basically, she gave him all the tools he needs to survive in the world and now he can spread his wings and fly. After this, I turned off the television.
• During my television watching, I noticed an ad that played two times. It was mysterious and interesting! I think it was a detective ad. The guy was using his magnifying glass to examine some details that were out of place. The show is on Friday evenings at 10pm or so...and I don't want to miss it!
• Also, I wrote down many vocabulary words that I want to learn. Some of them are used in common language, so I want to make sure I know what's going on the next time I hear such words.
• I briefly worked on a report and replied to two discussions. Went to bed around 3:30am. I was planning on going to West Lake early next morning...
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
More October Holiday: Kuala Lumpur, 广州 & 杭州
Wednesday, October 1, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Day 1
Asia Day 23
• Woke up hecka late today. I went to bed around 4am in the morning and got up around 11am or so. Baba's business associate (another one) picked us up from the hotel and took us to his company. Baba and his business associates (2 of them) talked business for about 2-3 hours, whilst I was journaling.
• Condition of my stomach wasn't good. Last night, I found out that codeine had the unfortunate side effect of making one not able to poo (fact was from a friend, but I noticed this in my daily rituals, as well). I actually took codeine on an empty stomach last night (before I feasted on McDonald's). This morning, when I woke up, it felt as though my stomach had been bleeding and my breath smelled like the codeine pill. Not enjoyable. I didn't eat breakfast today, so my stomach was hurting.
• Baba's business associates treated us to lunch. It was quite yummy - standard Malaysian fare, with minimal veggies. We had green beans, pork ribs, fish curry, rice, and chicken. The fish curry tasted almost like Thai food - I could somewhat taste the coconut milk. Had pink milky-flavored jelly for dessert. Oh, I saw a random faucet outside of the open air restaurant (I mean, it's not THAT random in the context of being near the restaurant...but people usually place faucets indoors).
• After eating the splendid lunch, Baba's business associate drove us everywhere to go sightseeing. Well, not everywhere. During the drive, I saw so many different cuisines and languages plastered over ads. Arabic, Malaysian, Chinese, Korean...these were all prevalent. Also saw a few mosques.
• Baba's business associate asked us if we wanted to go to an Indian temple. I asked him if it was Hinduism and he concurred. Thus, we went to the Batu Cave ("to the Batcave!"). Immediately after I got out of my car, I started to snap pictures of the sacred limestone mountains and Hindu statues. There was this HUGE golden Hindu god that was almost as tall as the mountain; next to that was a set of 272 steps leading to an open cave. I eagerly ran up the steps and waited for the older men (Baba and his business associate) to follow me. Inside the cave, there were many displays with Hindu statues and scenes, as well as souvenir shops. Going further, I found a few steps leading down to another set of Hindu scenes. I found a monkey (long-tailed macaque) eating a bag of fruit that someone had tossed it; it was sitting on the stair banister. As it was super-busy feasting, I had the chance to take pictures, but it wouldn't look at me. I made some distracting noises (eek, psst, tsk) to see if I could get it to look at me, and when it finally did, the monkey's expression looked like, "WTF?"
• After I snapped some good pictures of the monkey, I walked further and saw a larger group of monkeys with pink buttcheeks running rampant. There were younger ones that screeched because they were hungry. The monkeys kept playing with each other and climbing poles. I snapped pictures, but those monkeys were too fast for my camera. When I was tired of looking at these semi-wild monkeys, Baba, his business associate, and I headed back.
• When I got to the place with 272 stairs, my fear of heights started to kick in again. Baba told me to hold the stair banister, but I wouldn't, since
fear of germs > fear of heights. I went down the stairs slowly, due to my fear of heights. Then, I paused for a moment and saw a few monkeys standing on a distant stair banister on my right side. By this time, I had already walked down to the halfway point.
• There was a monkey making some screeching noises, and since I wasn't thinking, I also made some noises back at it (no, I wasn't harassing it!!). That wasn't a good choice, because I think that monkey was pissed. All of a sudden, the monkey quickly jumped to the banister next to ME and grabbed/scratched/bit me on my upper arm, next to the place where one would usually find a fob mark (erm, to be politically correct - polio vaccination site). I freaked out and my fight-or-flight response instantly kicked in. In no time, my fear of heights/germs were overridden by my fear of monkey attacks.
fear of heights < fear of germs < fear of more monkey attacks
I held the banister and ran down the last half of the stairs. I was temporarily not afraid of germs. I got to the place where Baba and his associate were standing and Baba was chuckling about my predicament. I looked back and the monkey was glaring at me (it didn't chase, thank the Hindu gods - or, were the Hindu gods punishing me today for not being Hindu??). My heart wouldn't stop beating and my face was flushed. Baba seemed amused, and in my heart, I was amused, but fear told me not to be entertained and to take care of the situation.
• Baba and his business associate told me not to worry about the bite/scratch marks. Upon detailed inspection, I had three different wounded areas. There were two minor scratchy looking marks (though they could have easily been bite marks). There was a third mark with a deeper protrusion (but it wasn't very deep - perhaps less than a millimeter at most. Oh, and as time wore on...I found out I got this hip bruise from kinda falling down once the monkey grabbed moi.
• We went inside the Kuala Lumpur Petronas Twin Towers, but we couldn't go up today, due to the new year's holiday. However, we did walk through the mall and get to the side with the small lake. It was quite nice.
• Baba and I returned to our hotel, where I obsessively researched diseases in monkeys (especially macaques); the more information I found, the more I became concerned for my well-being. Baba was sound asleep.
• Around 7pm, Baba's other business associate Sally and her husband invited us to dinner. We ate at this Chinese place. Had watermelon juice, Peking duck (modified Malaysian version), shark fin soup (pretty good - never had it before; 'tis full of shark fin, crab, and Chinese mushroom); pork-mushroom-lettuce wraps, rice, and some type of fish-tofu-mushroom curry. It was soo good. I became full quite fast and suffered profusely from food coma. I was falling asleep at the dinner table.
• After dinner, Sally promised to take me to get a shot (since I had whined a bit to Baba). We had to wait in the clinic area for maybe 1-2 hours. I got my heart rate measured. The doctor took a look at my wound and then recommended I get a tetanus shot (if I hadn't had one in 5 years, which I hadn't) and put some antibiotic cream on it. (Hrm, I was wondering whether he saw the mark very clearly, as he was sometimes cross-eyed.) I asked him about rabies and hepatitis B for monkeys and his general attitude was not worrisome at all, as my arm just had a simple scratch/wound that barely broke my skin. Well, I got a tetanus shot over there. Baba paid about 157 RM :/ and we spent a lot of time waiting >_< However, it brings me peace of mind to know that the matter is taken care of...but if you find out later I died, that means other people didn't do enough :P...I did everything I could personally do to make sure I was good and well ^^U...
• Sally's husband drove us a bit around Kuala Lumpur's tourism area, then dropped us off at the hotel. Baba waited another hour or so for the wife of one of his business associates to come pick up a package. Then, Baba and I went to walk in the streets for a bit.
• Baba wanted to buy some coconut milk, so I went off to a little flea-market-style vendor area and took a look around. Most of the vendors are Indian, with a few Chinese vendors. I looked at some of the wallets and they were made in Guangzhou, so I could probably get it supercheap there. Every time I passed an Indian vendor, they would greet me and say, "Hello Miss" or, for one of them, he asked me, "Where you do come?" I thought he asked me about the gum I was chewing. o.O
• I looked at another vendor's wallets and the vendor saw me and came around (after I had inspected two wallets and put one down). Er, I had NO money on me and I didn't really feel like buying anything, as I was really just LOOKING AROUND. The vendor started to talk to me (which reminded me of the Russell Peters sketch about haggling with the Chinese vendor, as well as the fact that Chinese and Indian people can't do business together - *chuckle*). Anyway, the vendor and I had the following convo:
Vendor: This usually costs 45.50, but I will give you the special price of 35.50.
Jingor: Oh, but I'm just looking...
Vendor: Yes, yes, I understand that you are just looking. How about 30?
Jingor: Er, I don't have money on me...my dad has it. Perhaps I can look around some more and get back to you.
Vendor: I know that you're just looking, but the other shops have already started to close down...
Jingor: Uhmmm...I can get this from where I'm from...
Vendor: Where are you from?
Jingor: China...
Vendor: This one is made in Korea - it's better quality.
Jingor: Err...
Vendor: 20. I'm giving you this good price because I am going to close shop.
Jingor: Err...I'll have to come back tomorrow. I have no money right now...sorry...
*Vendor gives Jingor a slightly dirty look*...
SIGH. LOL.
• Baba and I went home and then got ready for bed ^^.
...
Thursday, October 2, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Day 2
Asia Day 24
• Day of nyar-ness. I woke up after Baba got a call from his friend/business associate. We met up with them for lunch (ate tofu, yow-zah-gwai, and some other Malaysian food). I had little to no appetite, so I just ate a little bit...in actuality, I was a bit nauseous every time I put food into my mouth. I felt like if I ate much more, I would throw it all up...
• Afterwards, I was feeling a bit sickly, so I slept in their car whilst they drove to Genting, a casino up in the mountain. It was quite cloudy there. I was feeling dehydrated, so I asked for a bottle of water. My un-hungry symptoms did not go away. I was wondering why I felt nauseous...and I thought that either:
1) the monkey bite was causing this symptom
2) the pills I took for my cough hadn't been taken during the best time (i.e. before I ate my first meal and therefore disrupting the happiness of my stomach)
3) or it was all in my head.
Anyway, I drank some water and walked around, when I felt a sudden urge to faint. I was getting light-headed and panicking a bit, but then I asked to sit down. Immediately after finding a seat, I laid my head down for several minutes (on each side).
• Later, we (me, Baba, Baba's business associate and her husband) went up to the casino. They only allow access to kiddos 21 and up with VIP cards. It was interesting watching some of the games. Roulette. Blackjack. What the hell is baccarat?? Pai Gow was interesting to watch, but I didn't understand it. What was more interesting was how the dealers, after taking the chips, and spreading them for the patron to look at (making sure that the correct number of chips was given), the dealer would make a palms-up motion. It bothered me a little because it felt like there was an OCD-complex with these dealers...like they HAD to do it every time. However, I believe the practical reason for this is to show that the dealer didn't snip a few chips from the pile. Well, we left the casino and headed back to the hotel.
• I slept on the way back to the hotel. Baba and I went back to the room, rested up for a few minutes, then headed to a seafood restaurant. I wasn't feeling 'hungry' at this time, but I did feel a sharp mild pain in my stomach (are these hunger pangs??), though I didn't feel like I had an appetite. We went to this restaurant and ordered lots of peanuts as appetizers. Then, Baba also ordered one veggie dish (gai lan), pork ribs, and fish. The fish was really good - had really large bones and its flesh was supple and smooth. However, at this time, I was still not that hungry, so I tried to shove this food down my esophagus, knowing I might starve later...
• When we got out of the restaurant, it was raining. Baba and I waited under the roof for 10 or so minutes until the rain got less severe.
• Then, I did some more obsessive research on monkey bites. So...at this moment, I'm feeling a cloudy feeling in my head (is this what one calls "malaise"?). My bite area was red and it hurt today. There are no raised bumps or any severe signs. Later in the day, the red area around the "bite" mark (or scratch mark?) turned somewhat tan; perhaps what hurts is a bruise and not much else. I also had a feeling of numbness on my upper arm, but that went away temporarily...
• Well...only time will tell (whether a disease progresses or I go crazy). I stopped taking my codeine pill today because it hurt my stomach. I will probably not take any meds before I eat tomorrow...because it's annoying to have a hurting stomach.
...
Friday, October 3, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Day 3
Asia Day 25
• Breakfast with Baba and his two business associates (ah Dee and Sally) in the hotel. Then, we went back to the room temporarily. I went to the hotel and went online for a few minutes and then slept for two hours (lack of sleep and trying to cure my malaise-ia in Malaysia). Around 2pm, Baba called and had me come down.
• Delicious western-styled lunch in a bistro. I had fries, grilled chicken, salad, and two crepes with berries in them. Yummers.
• Went to Baba’s business associate’s company and chilled for awhile. I read some magazines and then went back to sleep…for an hour or two. I woke up for a few moments when I heard my dad talking about how "business stuff doesn't really interest me" (in the context of automobile business) and then I, in my half-asleep state, was like, "Yeah, you're right". Then, we headed out again…to eat more food -_-.
• Drove to another open-air establishment with delicious seafood specialties. Had oyster-omelet, authentic fried calamari (omgggg, YUM), fried and steamed crab, steamed fish, and a few other seafood dishes. Best meal in Malaysia, probably. However, my stomach felt full early on, so I ended up not eating so much. Tried a coconut juice & Guinness Beer concoction and drank some coconut juice. Even that was too much @_@.
• Afterwards, we went to take pictures in Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka Square (Sally described it as the independence hall). Bright lights everywhere with a pretty fountain. Baba said his business associates knew how to “pauk lei geh mah pei” – hit your horse’s fart…kiss my ass?
• Went back to the hotel and rested. Went online and then slept around 12:30am…
• One insight: I now know what they mean by Moor architecture - the houses with such architecture have an arch-shaped window or doorway.
...
Saturday, October 4, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Morning & 广州
广州 Day 3
中国 Day 23
Asia Day 26
• Woke up around 5:30am to pack my stuff and prepare for trip back to Guangzhou. We got to the airport and checked in by 7:00. Made it to the gate once most people were on the plane. Slept on the plane for most of the time. Ate breakfast of chicken noodles, jelly dessert, and three pieces of fruit. Kept the pastry for later. I woke up a few times and saw this guy on my right who vaguely looked like Yishu, but much skinnier. I think there was once when someone smacked my face when it was oriented to the right side….they just walked by and whatever it was – their hand, shoulder, or big ass, somehow slapped me. One of the man-flight-attendants woke me up to tell me to put the sunshade up. I don’t really understand why they want to do that o_O…anyway, got to Guangzhou and Gu Jaung picked me and Baba up.
• Ate a hot-pot sort of lunch. Had noodles with beef and veggies, fish and beef meatballs, pieces of beef, corn, and some other veggies. It was good, but once again, I was full early on. I felt sick of eating meaty meatballs.
• Went to Baba’s company. Baba had lots of stuff to do. Internet connection wasn't working well at the company or at home :( I took another nap at Baba's company ^^U
• Lacking appetite again...sigh.
...
Sunday, October 5, 2008: 广州 Morning & 杭州
杭州 Day 21
中国 Day 24
Asia Day 27
• Got up at 8:30am and took care of some stuff, before I went back to sleep. Baba woke me up around 10am and I packed. We left for the airport. Baba bid me farewell, but didn't give me a hug (hmph!!) :'S. I had a can of Coke in my backpack, so I gave that back to Baba...haha.
• Waited for an hour, before the flight gates opened. Departed around 12:50 today. Ate lunch on airplane (crappiest airplane food I've had thus far). Airplane was really ghetto. Every 15-20 minutes, I would hear, "The airplane is experiencing some turbulence. Please go back to your seats and avoid using the lavatory until the seatbelt sign has been turned off." Hah, that's bull @_@. At least we landed safely :D
• This time, I was allll alone. I got back around 2pm and called Michael for guidance. Hah, some people were staring at me as I spoke in my perfect English o_o.
• Left with my luggage and went to the airport shuttle booking office. There, I bought a bus ticket for 20块; this would take me to the train station. Sat on the bus for about an hour, pondering about nothing. The guy next to me was reading some Chinese publication. La la laaa...
• Once I got to the train station, I took my luggage out and waited to hail a taxi. Why am I not pro at this? Well, it's my second time. It took about 8-10 minutes this time. I was rejected (*gasp*) a few times, since the place I asked to be taken to was probably really far away, or some cabbies were not very familiar with the street -_-. I should have said "文一路" instead of "保諔北路." When I finally got a cabbie, he asked me where that was, and then when I didn't reply right away, he was like, "Oh, you don't know either??" I then told him it was by 杭州电子科技大学 (that's a MOUTHFUL -_-) next to 文一路. I got to my destination and paid 25块. I was quite proud of myself for having traveled alone (well, I wasn't completely alone, thanks to Michael - he offered to talk to the bus lady, but I didn't need all this hand-holding :P).
• I unpacked a bit, when Baba called. I told him I took the bus to the train station, then got a taxi to go back home. Baba said, "Haha, gnaw geh gwai lwei sic haun cheen!" (My obedient girl knows how to save money.) Then, he chuckled some more. This is because (20+25)元 < 150元. (Prices for bus+taxi versus regular taxi, from the airport.)
• I went to do some housework. I admit it, I'm lazy :(...but I somewhat mopped the floors and scrubbed the sink...when I heard a knock on the door. My apartment complex mates invited me out to eat, so I went, even though I had no feeling of hunger in my stomach :/. I did not feel hungry, but I knew I had to eat -_-. We went to the restaurant in front of the school, where Patricia's 'bf' is. Ate with Jessica, Patricia, Jason, and Romain. Good meal.
• Around 7pm, I went up to Zicheng's with Patricia and Romain. We watched "Old Boy" (I heard about this film LONG, long ago...back in college); Zicheng said it was so satisfying, that it was like "eating a really good meal," that it has everything a movie should have. Agreed. It was amazing, but I kind of knew what to expect. Wish I didn't. Nonetheless, the plot was awesome and the cinematography (lighting, angles, shots, etc.) was soo good.
• Did homework, planned my lesson and then went to bed.
Asia Day 23
• Woke up hecka late today. I went to bed around 4am in the morning and got up around 11am or so. Baba's business associate (another one) picked us up from the hotel and took us to his company. Baba and his business associates (2 of them) talked business for about 2-3 hours, whilst I was journaling.
• Condition of my stomach wasn't good. Last night, I found out that codeine had the unfortunate side effect of making one not able to poo (fact was from a friend, but I noticed this in my daily rituals, as well). I actually took codeine on an empty stomach last night (before I feasted on McDonald's). This morning, when I woke up, it felt as though my stomach had been bleeding and my breath smelled like the codeine pill. Not enjoyable. I didn't eat breakfast today, so my stomach was hurting.
• Baba's business associates treated us to lunch. It was quite yummy - standard Malaysian fare, with minimal veggies. We had green beans, pork ribs, fish curry, rice, and chicken. The fish curry tasted almost like Thai food - I could somewhat taste the coconut milk. Had pink milky-flavored jelly for dessert. Oh, I saw a random faucet outside of the open air restaurant (I mean, it's not THAT random in the context of being near the restaurant...but people usually place faucets indoors).
• After eating the splendid lunch, Baba's business associate drove us everywhere to go sightseeing. Well, not everywhere. During the drive, I saw so many different cuisines and languages plastered over ads. Arabic, Malaysian, Chinese, Korean...these were all prevalent. Also saw a few mosques.
• Baba's business associate asked us if we wanted to go to an Indian temple. I asked him if it was Hinduism and he concurred. Thus, we went to the Batu Cave ("to the Batcave!"). Immediately after I got out of my car, I started to snap pictures of the sacred limestone mountains and Hindu statues. There was this HUGE golden Hindu god that was almost as tall as the mountain; next to that was a set of 272 steps leading to an open cave. I eagerly ran up the steps and waited for the older men (Baba and his business associate) to follow me. Inside the cave, there were many displays with Hindu statues and scenes, as well as souvenir shops. Going further, I found a few steps leading down to another set of Hindu scenes. I found a monkey (long-tailed macaque) eating a bag of fruit that someone had tossed it; it was sitting on the stair banister. As it was super-busy feasting, I had the chance to take pictures, but it wouldn't look at me. I made some distracting noises (eek, psst, tsk) to see if I could get it to look at me, and when it finally did, the monkey's expression looked like, "WTF?"
• After I snapped some good pictures of the monkey, I walked further and saw a larger group of monkeys with pink buttcheeks running rampant. There were younger ones that screeched because they were hungry. The monkeys kept playing with each other and climbing poles. I snapped pictures, but those monkeys were too fast for my camera. When I was tired of looking at these semi-wild monkeys, Baba, his business associate, and I headed back.
• When I got to the place with 272 stairs, my fear of heights started to kick in again. Baba told me to hold the stair banister, but I wouldn't, since
fear of germs > fear of heights. I went down the stairs slowly, due to my fear of heights. Then, I paused for a moment and saw a few monkeys standing on a distant stair banister on my right side. By this time, I had already walked down to the halfway point.
• There was a monkey making some screeching noises, and since I wasn't thinking, I also made some noises back at it (no, I wasn't harassing it!!). That wasn't a good choice, because I think that monkey was pissed. All of a sudden, the monkey quickly jumped to the banister next to ME and grabbed/scratched/bit me on my upper arm, next to the place where one would usually find a fob mark (erm, to be politically correct - polio vaccination site). I freaked out and my fight-or-flight response instantly kicked in. In no time, my fear of heights/germs were overridden by my fear of monkey attacks.
fear of heights < fear of germs < fear of more monkey attacks
I held the banister and ran down the last half of the stairs. I was temporarily not afraid of germs. I got to the place where Baba and his associate were standing and Baba was chuckling about my predicament. I looked back and the monkey was glaring at me (it didn't chase, thank the Hindu gods - or, were the Hindu gods punishing me today for not being Hindu??). My heart wouldn't stop beating and my face was flushed. Baba seemed amused, and in my heart, I was amused, but fear told me not to be entertained and to take care of the situation.
• Baba and his business associate told me not to worry about the bite/scratch marks. Upon detailed inspection, I had three different wounded areas. There were two minor scratchy looking marks (though they could have easily been bite marks). There was a third mark with a deeper protrusion (but it wasn't very deep - perhaps less than a millimeter at most. Oh, and as time wore on...I found out I got this hip bruise from kinda falling down once the monkey grabbed moi.
• We went inside the Kuala Lumpur Petronas Twin Towers, but we couldn't go up today, due to the new year's holiday. However, we did walk through the mall and get to the side with the small lake. It was quite nice.
• Baba and I returned to our hotel, where I obsessively researched diseases in monkeys (especially macaques); the more information I found, the more I became concerned for my well-being. Baba was sound asleep.
• Around 7pm, Baba's other business associate Sally and her husband invited us to dinner. We ate at this Chinese place. Had watermelon juice, Peking duck (modified Malaysian version), shark fin soup (pretty good - never had it before; 'tis full of shark fin, crab, and Chinese mushroom); pork-mushroom-lettuce wraps, rice, and some type of fish-tofu-mushroom curry. It was soo good. I became full quite fast and suffered profusely from food coma. I was falling asleep at the dinner table.
• After dinner, Sally promised to take me to get a shot (since I had whined a bit to Baba). We had to wait in the clinic area for maybe 1-2 hours. I got my heart rate measured. The doctor took a look at my wound and then recommended I get a tetanus shot (if I hadn't had one in 5 years, which I hadn't) and put some antibiotic cream on it. (Hrm, I was wondering whether he saw the mark very clearly, as he was sometimes cross-eyed.) I asked him about rabies and hepatitis B for monkeys and his general attitude was not worrisome at all, as my arm just had a simple scratch/wound that barely broke my skin. Well, I got a tetanus shot over there. Baba paid about 157 RM :/ and we spent a lot of time waiting >_< However, it brings me peace of mind to know that the matter is taken care of...but if you find out later I died, that means other people didn't do enough :P...I did everything I could personally do to make sure I was good and well ^^U...
• Sally's husband drove us a bit around Kuala Lumpur's tourism area, then dropped us off at the hotel. Baba waited another hour or so for the wife of one of his business associates to come pick up a package. Then, Baba and I went to walk in the streets for a bit.
• Baba wanted to buy some coconut milk, so I went off to a little flea-market-style vendor area and took a look around. Most of the vendors are Indian, with a few Chinese vendors. I looked at some of the wallets and they were made in Guangzhou, so I could probably get it supercheap there. Every time I passed an Indian vendor, they would greet me and say, "Hello Miss" or, for one of them, he asked me, "Where you do come?" I thought he asked me about the gum I was chewing. o.O
• I looked at another vendor's wallets and the vendor saw me and came around (after I had inspected two wallets and put one down). Er, I had NO money on me and I didn't really feel like buying anything, as I was really just LOOKING AROUND. The vendor started to talk to me (which reminded me of the Russell Peters sketch about haggling with the Chinese vendor, as well as the fact that Chinese and Indian people can't do business together - *chuckle*). Anyway, the vendor and I had the following convo:
Vendor: This usually costs 45.50, but I will give you the special price of 35.50.
Jingor: Oh, but I'm just looking...
Vendor: Yes, yes, I understand that you are just looking. How about 30?
Jingor: Er, I don't have money on me...my dad has it. Perhaps I can look around some more and get back to you.
Vendor: I know that you're just looking, but the other shops have already started to close down...
Jingor: Uhmmm...I can get this from where I'm from...
Vendor: Where are you from?
Jingor: China...
Vendor: This one is made in Korea - it's better quality.
Jingor: Err...
Vendor: 20. I'm giving you this good price because I am going to close shop.
Jingor: Err...I'll have to come back tomorrow. I have no money right now...sorry...
*Vendor gives Jingor a slightly dirty look*...
SIGH. LOL.
• Baba and I went home and then got ready for bed ^^.
...
Thursday, October 2, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Day 2
Asia Day 24
• Day of nyar-ness. I woke up after Baba got a call from his friend/business associate. We met up with them for lunch (ate tofu, yow-zah-gwai, and some other Malaysian food). I had little to no appetite, so I just ate a little bit...in actuality, I was a bit nauseous every time I put food into my mouth. I felt like if I ate much more, I would throw it all up...
• Afterwards, I was feeling a bit sickly, so I slept in their car whilst they drove to Genting, a casino up in the mountain. It was quite cloudy there. I was feeling dehydrated, so I asked for a bottle of water. My un-hungry symptoms did not go away. I was wondering why I felt nauseous...and I thought that either:
1) the monkey bite was causing this symptom
2) the pills I took for my cough hadn't been taken during the best time (i.e. before I ate my first meal and therefore disrupting the happiness of my stomach)
3) or it was all in my head.
Anyway, I drank some water and walked around, when I felt a sudden urge to faint. I was getting light-headed and panicking a bit, but then I asked to sit down. Immediately after finding a seat, I laid my head down for several minutes (on each side).
• Later, we (me, Baba, Baba's business associate and her husband) went up to the casino. They only allow access to kiddos 21 and up with VIP cards. It was interesting watching some of the games. Roulette. Blackjack. What the hell is baccarat?? Pai Gow was interesting to watch, but I didn't understand it. What was more interesting was how the dealers, after taking the chips, and spreading them for the patron to look at (making sure that the correct number of chips was given), the dealer would make a palms-up motion. It bothered me a little because it felt like there was an OCD-complex with these dealers...like they HAD to do it every time. However, I believe the practical reason for this is to show that the dealer didn't snip a few chips from the pile. Well, we left the casino and headed back to the hotel.
• I slept on the way back to the hotel. Baba and I went back to the room, rested up for a few minutes, then headed to a seafood restaurant. I wasn't feeling 'hungry' at this time, but I did feel a sharp mild pain in my stomach (are these hunger pangs??), though I didn't feel like I had an appetite. We went to this restaurant and ordered lots of peanuts as appetizers. Then, Baba also ordered one veggie dish (gai lan), pork ribs, and fish. The fish was really good - had really large bones and its flesh was supple and smooth. However, at this time, I was still not that hungry, so I tried to shove this food down my esophagus, knowing I might starve later...
• When we got out of the restaurant, it was raining. Baba and I waited under the roof for 10 or so minutes until the rain got less severe.
• Then, I did some more obsessive research on monkey bites. So...at this moment, I'm feeling a cloudy feeling in my head (is this what one calls "malaise"?). My bite area was red and it hurt today. There are no raised bumps or any severe signs. Later in the day, the red area around the "bite" mark (or scratch mark?) turned somewhat tan; perhaps what hurts is a bruise and not much else. I also had a feeling of numbness on my upper arm, but that went away temporarily...
• Well...only time will tell (whether a disease progresses or I go crazy). I stopped taking my codeine pill today because it hurt my stomach. I will probably not take any meds before I eat tomorrow...because it's annoying to have a hurting stomach.
...
Friday, October 3, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Day 3
Asia Day 25
• Breakfast with Baba and his two business associates (ah Dee and Sally) in the hotel. Then, we went back to the room temporarily. I went to the hotel and went online for a few minutes and then slept for two hours (lack of sleep and trying to cure my malaise-ia in Malaysia). Around 2pm, Baba called and had me come down.
• Delicious western-styled lunch in a bistro. I had fries, grilled chicken, salad, and two crepes with berries in them. Yummers.
• Went to Baba’s business associate’s company and chilled for awhile. I read some magazines and then went back to sleep…for an hour or two. I woke up for a few moments when I heard my dad talking about how "business stuff doesn't really interest me" (in the context of automobile business) and then I, in my half-asleep state, was like, "Yeah, you're right". Then, we headed out again…to eat more food -_-.
• Drove to another open-air establishment with delicious seafood specialties. Had oyster-omelet, authentic fried calamari (omgggg, YUM), fried and steamed crab, steamed fish, and a few other seafood dishes. Best meal in Malaysia, probably. However, my stomach felt full early on, so I ended up not eating so much. Tried a coconut juice & Guinness Beer concoction and drank some coconut juice. Even that was too much @_@.
• Afterwards, we went to take pictures in Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka Square (Sally described it as the independence hall). Bright lights everywhere with a pretty fountain. Baba said his business associates knew how to “pauk lei geh mah pei” – hit your horse’s fart…kiss my ass?
• Went back to the hotel and rested. Went online and then slept around 12:30am…
• One insight: I now know what they mean by Moor architecture - the houses with such architecture have an arch-shaped window or doorway.
...
Saturday, October 4, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Morning & 广州
广州 Day 3
中国 Day 23
Asia Day 26
• Woke up around 5:30am to pack my stuff and prepare for trip back to Guangzhou. We got to the airport and checked in by 7:00. Made it to the gate once most people were on the plane. Slept on the plane for most of the time. Ate breakfast of chicken noodles, jelly dessert, and three pieces of fruit. Kept the pastry for later. I woke up a few times and saw this guy on my right who vaguely looked like Yishu, but much skinnier. I think there was once when someone smacked my face when it was oriented to the right side….they just walked by and whatever it was – their hand, shoulder, or big ass, somehow slapped me. One of the man-flight-attendants woke me up to tell me to put the sunshade up. I don’t really understand why they want to do that o_O…anyway, got to Guangzhou and Gu Jaung picked me and Baba up.
• Ate a hot-pot sort of lunch. Had noodles with beef and veggies, fish and beef meatballs, pieces of beef, corn, and some other veggies. It was good, but once again, I was full early on. I felt sick of eating meaty meatballs.
• Went to Baba’s company. Baba had lots of stuff to do. Internet connection wasn't working well at the company or at home :( I took another nap at Baba's company ^^U
• Lacking appetite again...sigh.
...
Sunday, October 5, 2008: 广州 Morning & 杭州
杭州 Day 21
中国 Day 24
Asia Day 27
• Got up at 8:30am and took care of some stuff, before I went back to sleep. Baba woke me up around 10am and I packed. We left for the airport. Baba bid me farewell, but didn't give me a hug (hmph!!) :'S. I had a can of Coke in my backpack, so I gave that back to Baba...haha.
• Waited for an hour, before the flight gates opened. Departed around 12:50 today. Ate lunch on airplane (crappiest airplane food I've had thus far). Airplane was really ghetto. Every 15-20 minutes, I would hear, "The airplane is experiencing some turbulence. Please go back to your seats and avoid using the lavatory until the seatbelt sign has been turned off." Hah, that's bull @_@. At least we landed safely :D
• This time, I was allll alone. I got back around 2pm and called Michael for guidance. Hah, some people were staring at me as I spoke in my perfect English o_o.
• Left with my luggage and went to the airport shuttle booking office. There, I bought a bus ticket for 20块; this would take me to the train station. Sat on the bus for about an hour, pondering about nothing. The guy next to me was reading some Chinese publication. La la laaa...
• Once I got to the train station, I took my luggage out and waited to hail a taxi. Why am I not pro at this? Well, it's my second time. It took about 8-10 minutes this time. I was rejected (*gasp*) a few times, since the place I asked to be taken to was probably really far away, or some cabbies were not very familiar with the street -_-. I should have said "文一路" instead of "保諔北路." When I finally got a cabbie, he asked me where that was, and then when I didn't reply right away, he was like, "Oh, you don't know either??" I then told him it was by 杭州电子科技大学 (that's a MOUTHFUL -_-) next to 文一路. I got to my destination and paid 25块. I was quite proud of myself for having traveled alone (well, I wasn't completely alone, thanks to Michael - he offered to talk to the bus lady, but I didn't need all this hand-holding :P).
• I unpacked a bit, when Baba called. I told him I took the bus to the train station, then got a taxi to go back home. Baba said, "Haha, gnaw geh gwai lwei sic haun cheen!" (My obedient girl knows how to save money.) Then, he chuckled some more. This is because (20+25)元 < 150元. (Prices for bus+taxi versus regular taxi, from the airport.)
• I went to do some housework. I admit it, I'm lazy :(...but I somewhat mopped the floors and scrubbed the sink...when I heard a knock on the door. My apartment complex mates invited me out to eat, so I went, even though I had no feeling of hunger in my stomach :/. I did not feel hungry, but I knew I had to eat -_-. We went to the restaurant in front of the school, where Patricia's 'bf' is. Ate with Jessica, Patricia, Jason, and Romain. Good meal.
• Around 7pm, I went up to Zicheng's with Patricia and Romain. We watched "Old Boy" (I heard about this film LONG, long ago...back in college); Zicheng said it was so satisfying, that it was like "eating a really good meal," that it has everything a movie should have. Agreed. It was amazing, but I kind of knew what to expect. Wish I didn't. Nonetheless, the plot was awesome and the cinematography (lighting, angles, shots, etc.) was soo good.
• Did homework, planned my lesson and then went to bed.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
October Holiday: 杭州, 广州, Kuala Lumpur
Sunday, September 28, 2008: 杭州 Day 20 (Teaching Day 6)
中国 Day 20
Asia Day 20
• Today was the last day of class before the holiday. Since this class was ahead, I had a bunch of games arranged.
• When we played 2 Truths 1 Lie, some of the students said, "I am a boy" or "I like to dance" (copying me -_-). Another said, "I am handsome...I like a lot of girls...a lot of girls like me," where one girl was like, "ALL of these are lies!!"
• I had small groups form dialogues; the object was to present one in which a hero and a bad guy fight. Most just pretended their wallets/purses got stolen by a bad guy; later, they would be saved by the hero. Pretty generic, but some of the dialogues were GREAT. In one of the groups, one guy was the narrator, and the other three played the hero, victim, and villain. There was one group with three girls and one guy. The guy put on a pretty hairclip and played the victim. That was hilarious. However, the best 'group' (or lack thereof) was this ONE male student in my class that decided to do the dialogue alone. He asked me for my help (in acting out the motions). He just narrated the entire monologue and did a great job. It was also funny for the students to see their teacher portray many characters. Yes. Plus, he was the only one who did it in front of the class. Should give bonus points.
• A few kids worked alone for the dialogue (by 'working alone'...I meant they were loners who didn't end up working on ANYTHING, grr). Those individuals really didn't know what to do or say. I will make sure they get the benefit of the group experience in the future.
• I rushed some of the activities in class, so that we had lots of time left over -_-
• Some kids from the second class came to first class. The second class had about 24 people - I remembered EVERYONE's Name!! MUHAHA. Some kiddos left early for the holiday. Some kids decided to stay at school.
• After classes were over, I packed a bit more. Michael came by and asked if I was done. It was around 6:10...
• Had dinner with Michael at a nearby restaurant. Great food (tomato with eggies, taro with pork ribs, and fried tofu with veggies).
• Well...we got my luggage and were running a bit late - 6:19. We must have waited 20 minutes for an empty taxi, but we saw only one (some other group took it -_-). Saw Jamie walk by.
• Michael saw a biking man drop something, so he went to pick it up. He's a good man - he gave the newspaper object to the guy, who actually started to pedal away when he thought Michael would keep it for himself.
• We walked to the nearest bus stop and paid 1 yuan once we got on the bus.
• We got off at a stop close to the airport shuttle office. Saw Jamie walk by...err...again (thus, we'd been waiting as long as Jamie had been walking). We got to the bus depot and got tickets for $30 yuan...
• The bus took off at 8:30pm and I showed Michael my written journal and chatted about a buncn of random stuff. Ah, the entertainment of it all.
• Once we got to the airport, Michael helped me check in. I got into the security check and went to the gate. Not 5 minutes after sitting down, they (airport staff) called for departure. I boarded the plane.
• Plane tales. So, I got onto the plane and sat between two guys - one was younger, one was OLD(er). I saw him and asked if he was a college student (he looked really young!). He told me no...I asked him his age and he asked me to guess...I said 25, but he said 3 years older (!!!). I talked to him a bit more and found out that he works for market research. I said, wow, I'm interested in that as well. Also found out that he speaks Cantonese - he found out I'm Canto and wondered why my Mandarin was better than my Cantonese, hah. I told him my Canto was really bad - he said he'd help me practice my Canto so that when I landed, I'd be pro. Got to know him a bit during the plane ride. He's a Guangzhou native and he works in Hangzhou. We swapped contact info - his name is Sam. Hahah...it was a fun journey. Got food but didn't really eat it (ended up wasting most of it -_-).
• This fellow Sam offered to help carry my luggage or wait until my dad arrived before he left (since he lives pretty close). I told him it was alright, since my dad was already at the airport. He told me to call him sometime (for 'dai pai dong' or to get lunch)...lol.
• Baba picked up me up and we went to his new apartment. It's pretty huge, compared to other people's apartments I've gone to in the past. Of course, Baba gave me a tour of the house. We ate fruit (persimmons, yummy, dragon-eyes, sour, but juicy grapes). Baba also showed off his new camera.
...
Monday, September 29, 2008: 广州 Day 1
中国 Day 21
Asia Day 21
• Morning yummers. Baba definitely cooked some "good food"...three different types of vegetables, fish, and chicken. I picked my back teeth for awhile because the chicken was so fuggin' chewy/fibrous.
• We were in the car, when I asked Baba why people in China like to call people eggs or use the eggy phrases...笨蛋， 完蛋. Didn't really receive a satisfying answer, hah.
• Went to Hong Wui to get a hospital check-up. My Kow Fu, or uncle, (my mom's elder brother) asked me about my symptoms, got me a chest x-ray (okay...second one in about 2 weeks) and then prescribed me a cocktail (more like an alcoholic's fair) of drugs - 5 different types, with 1 cough syrup and 4 pills. -_-. Went with Kow Fu to his house afterwards to chill, use the internet, and converse. I was showing my aunt (Kow Ma) and my cousin (Lam-Lam) some pictures as well. Apparently, my uncle watches LOST, but is behind a few seasons. They have a Wii! WTF. Hehe...they also have DDR for Wii.
• Took off around 5:45pm to get dinner. Kow Ma told everyone not to hurry because Baba is always late ("toh lai," among other synonyms).
• Lam-Lam started to learn to drive already - he's 20 - he was backing up the car. Kow Fu drove us to the restaurant and dropped us off. He went to go pick up my grandma.
• We were waiting at the restaurant and ordered stuff. Food was good. Baba came late, hahaha. I taught everyone at the table the terms "fashionably late"...as well as "food coma"...
• Went to visit Gu Jie (Baba's younger sister, or my aunt) and stayed awhile...I was falling asleep because it was so boring listening them talk about business in the country dialect (I can't understand maybe 30-40% of what they're talking about sometimes). Ate good chestnuts. Didn't see Peach cousin...
• I thought about an interesting, but unusual concept, as I was getting ready to embark to Malaysia for the next few days.
A trip within a trip within a trip:
U.S. => Hangzhou, China => Guangzhou, China => Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
...
Tuesday, September 30, 2008: 广州 Day 2
中国 Day 22
Asia Day 22
•Woke up semi-early to the sound of my alarm. It was 8:35am. I reluctantly got up, knowing that I had to finish my business plan today (or else I’d be working my ass off in Malaysia). However, knowing that Baba is there to do business, I probably have no choice, but to stay in the room and get productive, while Baba is taking care of stuff. At 9:00am, I took some medicine for my cough (yes, the one that I have had since June/July) -_-. Almost immediately, I started to get sleepy or delirious (one of the meds I took had codeine in it). After that, my concentration was diminished. Nonetheless, I finished a few paragraphs. Baba got up around 10pm and then we tried to see if the internet was working. Nope, even after a few tries, nothing happened. I still had “limited” connectivity. During this time, I was in a drowsy, half-asleep state and I went back to bed for about 15 minutes. The minutes seemed so long…
• We got ready to go to Baba’s workplace. On the way there, we stopped by the housing office – they had kiddie game day or something, because there were boxes and boxes of kites in the office. Honestly, I wanted to jack one, but then I asked Baba to ask one of the workers if I could get one. Pfft, the lady gave me a somewhat broken, cheapy kite. Ah, I already fixed it, so it’s not a big deal.
• Baba introduced me (no, more like SHOWED ME OFF) as his “lwei lwei” to everyone he met. Once I got to his company, I set up my laptop in Baba’s office. Even though I was wearing ear plugs, I could still hear Baba conversing on the phone (and yelling for his employees to come forth). Yes, ear plugs are no match for the Cantonese voice; ear plugs cannot repress the loud, crude sounds of the Cantonese people. Not long after, I moved outside to the general office area. One of the young men who works for Baba was playing some techno. I could hear the alternating beats and his loud Cantonese dialect, even when I covered my ears sometimes. Pure misery for my concentration. Nonetheless, I typed up many a paragraph for my homework.
• I was working really hard, when Baba came over and asked if I wanted to eat (both of us hadn’t eaten all day). I told him a few more minutes, as I was still “in the zone.” Afterwards, Baba met up with some of his Malaysian Cantonese friends and we headed to a restaurant for lunch. Baba ordered many delicious dishes, but my personal favorite was a veggie dish called 豆苗 (dou4 miao2). It’s just a green, leafy vegetable with little pieces of garlic, partially cooked in oil. It’s probably my favorite Chinese vegetable. Baba also ordered chopped goose, chopped chicken, stomach of an animal (?), sugared sweet potato and taro with sesame seeds, and a fish soup. Fried fish was also ordered today – didn’t really like it, as it was way too salty. Baba also ordered some apple cider (they call it apple vinegar in China). After this delicious lunch (that left pieces of meat in my teeth), I left a bit early because I had to finish my homework.
• Oh, and it started again. Those friends of Baba who meet me always ask him:
“Does your daughter speak Chinese? If she didn’t, it’d be so sad, since she is Chinese after all.”
Nowadays, Baba offers a good reply, “Yes, she speaks a bit. You know, Jing is very brave – she came to China by herself. I didn’t make her come here. Her prime reason for being here is to learn to speak Chinese…”
They curiously ask other things, too.
“Does she know how to use chopsticks?”
“Of course…or else how would she eat…?”
Today, I demonstrated my mastery of the chopsticks via picking up some peanuts. One salty peanut jumped into my lap, though.
Baba’s friend asked, “Lwei lwei you mm you yum dee?” *Points to apple cider*. Baba refused for me, saying that the taste was really weird; he didn’t like it, and therefore, I mightn’t like it. I drank it and it was pretty decent. It’s actually sparkling apple cider, not just regular apple cider or apple vinegar cider.
Baba’s friend’s son was a little cutie. They said he knew how to speak English – all the kiddos do, don’t they? Well, it’s interesting, but a lot of people, when given the chance to practice their language skills, don’t do so with strangers, even if the stranger isn’t such a stranger. I know I don’t practice my Chinese with people who are strangers…for the most part.
• I returned to Baba’s office and then finished Chapter 1 of my business plan (*jumps for joy*). A few minutes before I finished, my uncle “gu jaung” was pestering me to hurry so that Baba and I would be able to get to the airport on time. Well…being that Baba is frequently late, after I finished my assignment (around 4:10pm), I found that Baba had his Malaysian Cantonese friends over in his office. They were all having different conversations on the phone. We probably left the office around 4:30 and got back to his house around 5:00pm. At that time, the internet man came over to fix our modem. He left around 5:30pm. Baba and I were picked up by uncle “gu jaung” and sent to the airport. We arrived around 6:00pm. Checked in (took a LONG time) within 10 minutes. X-rays were brutally thorough. I was patted down and my lip balm was questioned.
• Lady: *Sees bulge and pats pockets* “What’s in your pockets?”
Lip balm: *Is inundated with fear*…
Jing: *Takes out lip balm*
Lady: “What’s that?”
Lip balm: *Whispers, “Don’t let them take me away!!!”*
Jing: *Makes motion of putting lip balm on lip*
Lady: “…Hm, okay.”
Lip balm: *Sigh of relief…*
• Baba walked with me towards the gate. He was telling me how he had this VIP card that gave him special privileges.
• VIP, MY ASS!!
1) We got to the VIP room and Baba told the lady that I am his daughter and he’s accompanying me on a trip. The lady said that I couldn’t enter because I didn’t have a VIP card. Then, Baba said with disbelief, “So now what? What do I do? Just leave her alone outside?” The lady said that he could take some drinks with him. Baba went in and came out shortly with 2 Cokes, some crackers, a sandwich, and a dimsum pastry. Baba expressively said, “I got the dimsum just for you, ah!”
- From the looks and tastes of things, VIP treatment isn’t that awesome/exclusive. So, one gets access to entertainment on a medium-sized television screen (Detective Conan was playing), a comfy set of sofas, some drinks, and some snacks. The food wasn’t superb – it was just there to make sure patrons wouldn’t go hungry. I don’t see the point of not allowing me to sit on the chairs for a moment; the food and drink policy seems unnecessary, as one could take as many items as one could fit in his or her hands.
2) Baba had mentioned that he booked Business Class so he doesn’t have to wait to board the plane. Well, that was useless today, as we were running late. We had nary a minute to chill in the lounge, before we found out that people were already boarding our plane. We just went to the gate. There was no line for the Business Class line, so we walked in. Compared to the Business Class line, the Economy Class line was quite short, as well. In general, the plane wasn’t that full today.
3) For some reason, Baba was slightly lagging behind when he was dragging his luggage. I took both boarding passes and sat down at my window seat. When Baba didn’t appear a minute later, I went to take a gander. I saw Baba in a line to get his carry-on luggage checked AGAIN (scanned by some handheld machine). He was queue’d up. I then returned to my seat. Then, another 4 minutes later, I went to go check again. A man was scanning Baba’s bag. I looked on for 2 minutes and then returned to my seat, certain that he’d be on the plane soon enough. Well, the plane started its engine and I was getting worried. It had been 10 minutes since I boarded the plane. I had to keep bothering the gentleman next to me to get out of my seat. He is a nice Malaysian sir that works in the Guiyang tourism/hospitality industry; he is to his family what Baba is to his family. Yes, a breadwinner, but also a traveling father. The flight attendant asked me for Baba’s boarding pass and I gave it to her (she asked me again 10 minutes later, to which I replied, “我已经给了你!”). Anyway…another 5 minutes later, I went to check up on Baba. This time, Baba’s luggage was opened slightly and one of the officers was going through the stuff. I overheard something about “toothpaste” and returned to my seat. OH…I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve gotten out of my seat, but when Baba still didn’t show up, I had the funny idea of, “What if the plane left Baba behind and I were to travel to Malaysia by myself…what the hell would I do there?” I went back outside and this time, Baba was shouting at the airplane staff, asking them, “Why the hell didn’t you check it when you first x-rayed? I ALWAYS take this luggage whenever I travel.” Then, he turned to me and then said, “They said that the luggage had some kind of heat coming from it and think there is a ‘bomb.’” “Bomb” was the only English word he used. I started to laugh, albeit nervously, since I’m paranoid a lot, i.e. what if we didn’t look for a moment and someone planted something there? I vowed to Baba that next time, I will walk with him, because the flight officers probably thought it strange that a middle-aged man with tanned skin would walk alone (because he was about 10 seconds behind me after we got past the boarding gate). Baba said with fervor, “I’m not a Middle-Eastern man!” Hahaha. He told me he was following some old ladies, which probably looked strange. The men had taken Baba’s luggage temporarily to inspect it and then they brought it back. With the return of the luggage came the return of about 10+ flight officers. As everyone peeked over everyone else’s shoulder, I had the chance to count the number of people “handling” this matter – there were about 15 attendants in attendance. Ha ha. I thought it was unnecessary to have that many people. Baba said with eagerness, “Go ahead and inspect it all!!” The inspection man unzipped the main pocket, sifted through underwear and socks, as well as shirts and pants. He unzipped more pockets and checked them. Once, he took out a can of Coke and placed it on the floor, when it rolled away toward a flight attendant. The flight attendant picked up the can and gave it to me. Then, the inspector finished inspecting that pocket and then turned around to look for the can, but it disappeared. Baba and I laughed heartily. Well, by this time, it was already 7:10pm, about 5 or more minutes after the supposed departure time. Better safe than sorry, but I blame the x-ray people who did not properly check the luggage before it passed the boarding gate. I partly blame myself for not escorting my angry-looking Baba who looks like a “zong dong lo” (Middle-Eastern guy). Hahaha. This is hardly the VIP treatment you or I envisioned.
VIP? VIP is most overrated. I’d take economy flights any day.
• I’m blogging on the plane right now. As I look outside of my window, I see sudden flashes of light. At the corner of my eye, I see these flashes, but when I turn to look, it stops. Yes, it’s lightning T_T…it’s actually amazing, but it worries me. I saw lightning a few times tonight on the airplane. It looks cool when there’s no thunder; with thunder, it’s just frightening. I had a seafood and rice dish for dinner aboard the plane – ehh, not stupendous food. There’s also this interesting view of the cityscape at nighttime, but from far away in the sky, it looks as though the city functions as stars in the sky and our position up in the sky is the earth. Thus, we can see star-like depictions of cities from above.
• When we got off the plane, one of the flight attendants (a guy) chased after a patron. Attendant said, "Hey, where'd you get that paper?" The patron said, "Oh, it's mine..." Then, the attendant said, "No...it's actually mine *snatches it away*..." Baba and I saw that and laughed. I thought it was pretty weird that a passenger would jack the attendant's paper...
• So, we went through the arrival gates and picked up our luggage. Baba bought some wine at the Duty-Free shop. I took in all the sights and breathed the Malaysian indoor air. The thing that struck me the most (culture shock, perhaps?) was seeing so many Muslims wearing the head scarf (hijab) with a long, conservative dress. Most of these people are Asian/Malaysian and they wear their conservative clothing to work, which I found interesting. There were also rules posted that said Muslims could not buy liquor from the Duty-Free store.
• Anyway, Baba got us a ticket for a taxicab. It was really funny when I first glanced upon the taxis. They may be specialty taxis or something, since they looked like nice cars (inside and out). Imagine this. There was a row of shiny black cars, ready to drive you quickly to your destination. They reminded me of the rice-rockets that boys used to obsess over (just the design of the car - there were no racing things on the car itself).
• The driver started to drive us to our 5-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur...
It rained several times during this trip. The setting was very tropical, with shacks and trees/plants, as well as a more urban feeling near the city. How do I describe this, except to say that the roads had railings similar to home and there were high-rise apartments likened to China's apartments. Overall, the setting was very nice (nicer than China, and a bit newer, as well).
• The taxis here have radios. A few minutes after the driver started to drive, I noticed that his radio kept going off (the intervals were so regular that it sounded like two men having a dialogue on the radio). The driver talked into it a few times and then we noticed he was a Cantonese chap! It was funny because he just looked like an average Malaysian guy. So, there were 2-3 guys who just kept talking on the radio. Apparently, one of them got lost in the city somewhere, and our driver said, "Hey, Lam-Lam, I think you took the wrong way..." It amused me, yes. However, I was thinking, "Why are these guys talking so much?? No wonder he got lost..." The cabbie also went to fill up "gas"...the gas that powers a car (not fuel/gasoline, but gas, the non-liquid, non-solid).
• We got to the hotel and Baba met up with his friends. They had been waiting for us (poor them) and we had kept them up (it was already 1am or so, by the time we got there). We checked into the hotel and found that the bathroom has glass walls. I said to Baba, "It's a hom-sup-lo's bathroom" (pervert's bathroom), since you can see through it. Luckily, I found two curtains that pull down. Now, modesty and civility are restored. In other bathroom related news, no one could find the blow dryer – our Indian concierge kept going in and out to find the blow dryer. Finally, he saw a bag that was camouflaged against a dark wooden cupboard.
• Baba told me to take a shower first, while he went to get us some food. Afterwards, I learned that there were curtains that one could pull down. When Baba returned, we feasted on McDonald's food. The fries were a bit dry, the sandwich was a bit too spicy (yeah, it was the spicy chicken sandwich).
• I was looking up information on Malaysia and they outlaw homosexuality. Well, for males, if they engage in sodomy, they will be subject to corporal punishment or imprisonment. For females, it’s just gross and punishable by law via imprisonment. That somewhat amuses me.
Adventuresome day, eh?
中国 Day 20
Asia Day 20
• Today was the last day of class before the holiday. Since this class was ahead, I had a bunch of games arranged.
• When we played 2 Truths 1 Lie, some of the students said, "I am a boy" or "I like to dance" (copying me -_-). Another said, "I am handsome...I like a lot of girls...a lot of girls like me," where one girl was like, "ALL of these are lies!!"
• I had small groups form dialogues; the object was to present one in which a hero and a bad guy fight. Most just pretended their wallets/purses got stolen by a bad guy; later, they would be saved by the hero. Pretty generic, but some of the dialogues were GREAT. In one of the groups, one guy was the narrator, and the other three played the hero, victim, and villain. There was one group with three girls and one guy. The guy put on a pretty hairclip and played the victim. That was hilarious. However, the best 'group' (or lack thereof) was this ONE male student in my class that decided to do the dialogue alone. He asked me for my help (in acting out the motions). He just narrated the entire monologue and did a great job. It was also funny for the students to see their teacher portray many characters. Yes. Plus, he was the only one who did it in front of the class. Should give bonus points.
• A few kids worked alone for the dialogue (by 'working alone'...I meant they were loners who didn't end up working on ANYTHING, grr). Those individuals really didn't know what to do or say. I will make sure they get the benefit of the group experience in the future.
• I rushed some of the activities in class, so that we had lots of time left over -_-
• Some kids from the second class came to first class. The second class had about 24 people - I remembered EVERYONE's Name!! MUHAHA. Some kiddos left early for the holiday. Some kids decided to stay at school.
• After classes were over, I packed a bit more. Michael came by and asked if I was done. It was around 6:10...
• Had dinner with Michael at a nearby restaurant. Great food (tomato with eggies, taro with pork ribs, and fried tofu with veggies).
• Well...we got my luggage and were running a bit late - 6:19. We must have waited 20 minutes for an empty taxi, but we saw only one (some other group took it -_-). Saw Jamie walk by.
• Michael saw a biking man drop something, so he went to pick it up. He's a good man - he gave the newspaper object to the guy, who actually started to pedal away when he thought Michael would keep it for himself.
• We walked to the nearest bus stop and paid 1 yuan once we got on the bus.
• We got off at a stop close to the airport shuttle office. Saw Jamie walk by...err...again (thus, we'd been waiting as long as Jamie had been walking). We got to the bus depot and got tickets for $30 yuan...
• The bus took off at 8:30pm and I showed Michael my written journal and chatted about a buncn of random stuff. Ah, the entertainment of it all.
• Once we got to the airport, Michael helped me check in. I got into the security check and went to the gate. Not 5 minutes after sitting down, they (airport staff) called for departure. I boarded the plane.
• Plane tales. So, I got onto the plane and sat between two guys - one was younger, one was OLD(er). I saw him and asked if he was a college student (he looked really young!). He told me no...I asked him his age and he asked me to guess...I said 25, but he said 3 years older (!!!). I talked to him a bit more and found out that he works for market research. I said, wow, I'm interested in that as well. Also found out that he speaks Cantonese - he found out I'm Canto and wondered why my Mandarin was better than my Cantonese, hah. I told him my Canto was really bad - he said he'd help me practice my Canto so that when I landed, I'd be pro. Got to know him a bit during the plane ride. He's a Guangzhou native and he works in Hangzhou. We swapped contact info - his name is Sam. Hahah...it was a fun journey. Got food but didn't really eat it (ended up wasting most of it -_-).
• This fellow Sam offered to help carry my luggage or wait until my dad arrived before he left (since he lives pretty close). I told him it was alright, since my dad was already at the airport. He told me to call him sometime (for 'dai pai dong' or to get lunch)...lol.
• Baba picked up me up and we went to his new apartment. It's pretty huge, compared to other people's apartments I've gone to in the past. Of course, Baba gave me a tour of the house. We ate fruit (persimmons, yummy, dragon-eyes, sour, but juicy grapes). Baba also showed off his new camera.
...
Monday, September 29, 2008: 广州 Day 1
中国 Day 21
Asia Day 21
• Morning yummers. Baba definitely cooked some "good food"...three different types of vegetables, fish, and chicken. I picked my back teeth for awhile because the chicken was so fuggin' chewy/fibrous.
• We were in the car, when I asked Baba why people in China like to call people eggs or use the eggy phrases...笨蛋， 完蛋. Didn't really receive a satisfying answer, hah.
• Went to Hong Wui to get a hospital check-up. My Kow Fu, or uncle, (my mom's elder brother) asked me about my symptoms, got me a chest x-ray (okay...second one in about 2 weeks) and then prescribed me a cocktail (more like an alcoholic's fair) of drugs - 5 different types, with 1 cough syrup and 4 pills. -_-. Went with Kow Fu to his house afterwards to chill, use the internet, and converse. I was showing my aunt (Kow Ma) and my cousin (Lam-Lam) some pictures as well. Apparently, my uncle watches LOST, but is behind a few seasons. They have a Wii! WTF. Hehe...they also have DDR for Wii.
• Took off around 5:45pm to get dinner. Kow Ma told everyone not to hurry because Baba is always late ("toh lai," among other synonyms).
• Lam-Lam started to learn to drive already - he's 20 - he was backing up the car. Kow Fu drove us to the restaurant and dropped us off. He went to go pick up my grandma.
• We were waiting at the restaurant and ordered stuff. Food was good. Baba came late, hahaha. I taught everyone at the table the terms "fashionably late"...as well as "food coma"...
• Went to visit Gu Jie (Baba's younger sister, or my aunt) and stayed awhile...I was falling asleep because it was so boring listening them talk about business in the country dialect (I can't understand maybe 30-40% of what they're talking about sometimes). Ate good chestnuts. Didn't see Peach cousin...
• I thought about an interesting, but unusual concept, as I was getting ready to embark to Malaysia for the next few days.
A trip within a trip within a trip:
U.S. => Hangzhou, China => Guangzhou, China => Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
...
Tuesday, September 30, 2008: 广州 Day 2
中国 Day 22
Asia Day 22
•Woke up semi-early to the sound of my alarm. It was 8:35am. I reluctantly got up, knowing that I had to finish my business plan today (or else I’d be working my ass off in Malaysia). However, knowing that Baba is there to do business, I probably have no choice, but to stay in the room and get productive, while Baba is taking care of stuff. At 9:00am, I took some medicine for my cough (yes, the one that I have had since June/July) -_-. Almost immediately, I started to get sleepy or delirious (one of the meds I took had codeine in it). After that, my concentration was diminished. Nonetheless, I finished a few paragraphs. Baba got up around 10pm and then we tried to see if the internet was working. Nope, even after a few tries, nothing happened. I still had “limited” connectivity. During this time, I was in a drowsy, half-asleep state and I went back to bed for about 15 minutes. The minutes seemed so long…
• We got ready to go to Baba’s workplace. On the way there, we stopped by the housing office – they had kiddie game day or something, because there were boxes and boxes of kites in the office. Honestly, I wanted to jack one, but then I asked Baba to ask one of the workers if I could get one. Pfft, the lady gave me a somewhat broken, cheapy kite. Ah, I already fixed it, so it’s not a big deal.
• Baba introduced me (no, more like SHOWED ME OFF) as his “lwei lwei” to everyone he met. Once I got to his company, I set up my laptop in Baba’s office. Even though I was wearing ear plugs, I could still hear Baba conversing on the phone (and yelling for his employees to come forth). Yes, ear plugs are no match for the Cantonese voice; ear plugs cannot repress the loud, crude sounds of the Cantonese people. Not long after, I moved outside to the general office area. One of the young men who works for Baba was playing some techno. I could hear the alternating beats and his loud Cantonese dialect, even when I covered my ears sometimes. Pure misery for my concentration. Nonetheless, I typed up many a paragraph for my homework.
• I was working really hard, when Baba came over and asked if I wanted to eat (both of us hadn’t eaten all day). I told him a few more minutes, as I was still “in the zone.” Afterwards, Baba met up with some of his Malaysian Cantonese friends and we headed to a restaurant for lunch. Baba ordered many delicious dishes, but my personal favorite was a veggie dish called 豆苗 (dou4 miao2). It’s just a green, leafy vegetable with little pieces of garlic, partially cooked in oil. It’s probably my favorite Chinese vegetable. Baba also ordered chopped goose, chopped chicken, stomach of an animal (?), sugared sweet potato and taro with sesame seeds, and a fish soup. Fried fish was also ordered today – didn’t really like it, as it was way too salty. Baba also ordered some apple cider (they call it apple vinegar in China). After this delicious lunch (that left pieces of meat in my teeth), I left a bit early because I had to finish my homework.
• Oh, and it started again. Those friends of Baba who meet me always ask him:
“Does your daughter speak Chinese? If she didn’t, it’d be so sad, since she is Chinese after all.”
Nowadays, Baba offers a good reply, “Yes, she speaks a bit. You know, Jing is very brave – she came to China by herself. I didn’t make her come here. Her prime reason for being here is to learn to speak Chinese…”
They curiously ask other things, too.
“Does she know how to use chopsticks?”
“Of course…or else how would she eat…?”
Today, I demonstrated my mastery of the chopsticks via picking up some peanuts. One salty peanut jumped into my lap, though.
Baba’s friend asked, “Lwei lwei you mm you yum dee?” *Points to apple cider*. Baba refused for me, saying that the taste was really weird; he didn’t like it, and therefore, I mightn’t like it. I drank it and it was pretty decent. It’s actually sparkling apple cider, not just regular apple cider or apple vinegar cider.
Baba’s friend’s son was a little cutie. They said he knew how to speak English – all the kiddos do, don’t they? Well, it’s interesting, but a lot of people, when given the chance to practice their language skills, don’t do so with strangers, even if the stranger isn’t such a stranger. I know I don’t practice my Chinese with people who are strangers…for the most part.
• I returned to Baba’s office and then finished Chapter 1 of my business plan (*jumps for joy*). A few minutes before I finished, my uncle “gu jaung” was pestering me to hurry so that Baba and I would be able to get to the airport on time. Well…being that Baba is frequently late, after I finished my assignment (around 4:10pm), I found that Baba had his Malaysian Cantonese friends over in his office. They were all having different conversations on the phone. We probably left the office around 4:30 and got back to his house around 5:00pm. At that time, the internet man came over to fix our modem. He left around 5:30pm. Baba and I were picked up by uncle “gu jaung” and sent to the airport. We arrived around 6:00pm. Checked in (took a LONG time) within 10 minutes. X-rays were brutally thorough. I was patted down and my lip balm was questioned.
• Lady: *Sees bulge and pats pockets* “What’s in your pockets?”
Lip balm: *Is inundated with fear*…
Jing: *Takes out lip balm*
Lady: “What’s that?”
Lip balm: *Whispers, “Don’t let them take me away!!!”*
Jing: *Makes motion of putting lip balm on lip*
Lady: “…Hm, okay.”
Lip balm: *Sigh of relief…*
• Baba walked with me towards the gate. He was telling me how he had this VIP card that gave him special privileges.
• VIP, MY ASS!!
1) We got to the VIP room and Baba told the lady that I am his daughter and he’s accompanying me on a trip. The lady said that I couldn’t enter because I didn’t have a VIP card. Then, Baba said with disbelief, “So now what? What do I do? Just leave her alone outside?” The lady said that he could take some drinks with him. Baba went in and came out shortly with 2 Cokes, some crackers, a sandwich, and a dimsum pastry. Baba expressively said, “I got the dimsum just for you, ah!”
- From the looks and tastes of things, VIP treatment isn’t that awesome/exclusive. So, one gets access to entertainment on a medium-sized television screen (Detective Conan was playing), a comfy set of sofas, some drinks, and some snacks. The food wasn’t superb – it was just there to make sure patrons wouldn’t go hungry. I don’t see the point of not allowing me to sit on the chairs for a moment; the food and drink policy seems unnecessary, as one could take as many items as one could fit in his or her hands.
2) Baba had mentioned that he booked Business Class so he doesn’t have to wait to board the plane. Well, that was useless today, as we were running late. We had nary a minute to chill in the lounge, before we found out that people were already boarding our plane. We just went to the gate. There was no line for the Business Class line, so we walked in. Compared to the Business Class line, the Economy Class line was quite short, as well. In general, the plane wasn’t that full today.
3) For some reason, Baba was slightly lagging behind when he was dragging his luggage. I took both boarding passes and sat down at my window seat. When Baba didn’t appear a minute later, I went to take a gander. I saw Baba in a line to get his carry-on luggage checked AGAIN (scanned by some handheld machine). He was queue’d up. I then returned to my seat. Then, another 4 minutes later, I went to go check again. A man was scanning Baba’s bag. I looked on for 2 minutes and then returned to my seat, certain that he’d be on the plane soon enough. Well, the plane started its engine and I was getting worried. It had been 10 minutes since I boarded the plane. I had to keep bothering the gentleman next to me to get out of my seat. He is a nice Malaysian sir that works in the Guiyang tourism/hospitality industry; he is to his family what Baba is to his family. Yes, a breadwinner, but also a traveling father. The flight attendant asked me for Baba’s boarding pass and I gave it to her (she asked me again 10 minutes later, to which I replied, “我已经给了你!”). Anyway…another 5 minutes later, I went to check up on Baba. This time, Baba’s luggage was opened slightly and one of the officers was going through the stuff. I overheard something about “toothpaste” and returned to my seat. OH…I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve gotten out of my seat, but when Baba still didn’t show up, I had the funny idea of, “What if the plane left Baba behind and I were to travel to Malaysia by myself…what the hell would I do there?” I went back outside and this time, Baba was shouting at the airplane staff, asking them, “Why the hell didn’t you check it when you first x-rayed? I ALWAYS take this luggage whenever I travel.” Then, he turned to me and then said, “They said that the luggage had some kind of heat coming from it and think there is a ‘bomb.’” “Bomb” was the only English word he used. I started to laugh, albeit nervously, since I’m paranoid a lot, i.e. what if we didn’t look for a moment and someone planted something there? I vowed to Baba that next time, I will walk with him, because the flight officers probably thought it strange that a middle-aged man with tanned skin would walk alone (because he was about 10 seconds behind me after we got past the boarding gate). Baba said with fervor, “I’m not a Middle-Eastern man!” Hahaha. He told me he was following some old ladies, which probably looked strange. The men had taken Baba’s luggage temporarily to inspect it and then they brought it back. With the return of the luggage came the return of about 10+ flight officers. As everyone peeked over everyone else’s shoulder, I had the chance to count the number of people “handling” this matter – there were about 15 attendants in attendance. Ha ha. I thought it was unnecessary to have that many people. Baba said with eagerness, “Go ahead and inspect it all!!” The inspection man unzipped the main pocket, sifted through underwear and socks, as well as shirts and pants. He unzipped more pockets and checked them. Once, he took out a can of Coke and placed it on the floor, when it rolled away toward a flight attendant. The flight attendant picked up the can and gave it to me. Then, the inspector finished inspecting that pocket and then turned around to look for the can, but it disappeared. Baba and I laughed heartily. Well, by this time, it was already 7:10pm, about 5 or more minutes after the supposed departure time. Better safe than sorry, but I blame the x-ray people who did not properly check the luggage before it passed the boarding gate. I partly blame myself for not escorting my angry-looking Baba who looks like a “zong dong lo” (Middle-Eastern guy). Hahaha. This is hardly the VIP treatment you or I envisioned.
VIP? VIP is most overrated. I’d take economy flights any day.
• I’m blogging on the plane right now. As I look outside of my window, I see sudden flashes of light. At the corner of my eye, I see these flashes, but when I turn to look, it stops. Yes, it’s lightning T_T…it’s actually amazing, but it worries me. I saw lightning a few times tonight on the airplane. It looks cool when there’s no thunder; with thunder, it’s just frightening. I had a seafood and rice dish for dinner aboard the plane – ehh, not stupendous food. There’s also this interesting view of the cityscape at nighttime, but from far away in the sky, it looks as though the city functions as stars in the sky and our position up in the sky is the earth. Thus, we can see star-like depictions of cities from above.
• When we got off the plane, one of the flight attendants (a guy) chased after a patron. Attendant said, "Hey, where'd you get that paper?" The patron said, "Oh, it's mine..." Then, the attendant said, "No...it's actually mine *snatches it away*..." Baba and I saw that and laughed. I thought it was pretty weird that a passenger would jack the attendant's paper...
• So, we went through the arrival gates and picked up our luggage. Baba bought some wine at the Duty-Free shop. I took in all the sights and breathed the Malaysian indoor air. The thing that struck me the most (culture shock, perhaps?) was seeing so many Muslims wearing the head scarf (hijab) with a long, conservative dress. Most of these people are Asian/Malaysian and they wear their conservative clothing to work, which I found interesting. There were also rules posted that said Muslims could not buy liquor from the Duty-Free store.
• Anyway, Baba got us a ticket for a taxicab. It was really funny when I first glanced upon the taxis. They may be specialty taxis or something, since they looked like nice cars (inside and out). Imagine this. There was a row of shiny black cars, ready to drive you quickly to your destination. They reminded me of the rice-rockets that boys used to obsess over (just the design of the car - there were no racing things on the car itself).
• The driver started to drive us to our 5-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur...
It rained several times during this trip. The setting was very tropical, with shacks and trees/plants, as well as a more urban feeling near the city. How do I describe this, except to say that the roads had railings similar to home and there were high-rise apartments likened to China's apartments. Overall, the setting was very nice (nicer than China, and a bit newer, as well).
• The taxis here have radios. A few minutes after the driver started to drive, I noticed that his radio kept going off (the intervals were so regular that it sounded like two men having a dialogue on the radio). The driver talked into it a few times and then we noticed he was a Cantonese chap! It was funny because he just looked like an average Malaysian guy. So, there were 2-3 guys who just kept talking on the radio. Apparently, one of them got lost in the city somewhere, and our driver said, "Hey, Lam-Lam, I think you took the wrong way..." It amused me, yes. However, I was thinking, "Why are these guys talking so much?? No wonder he got lost..." The cabbie also went to fill up "gas"...the gas that powers a car (not fuel/gasoline, but gas, the non-liquid, non-solid).
• We got to the hotel and Baba met up with his friends. They had been waiting for us (poor them) and we had kept them up (it was already 1am or so, by the time we got there). We checked into the hotel and found that the bathroom has glass walls. I said to Baba, "It's a hom-sup-lo's bathroom" (pervert's bathroom), since you can see through it. Luckily, I found two curtains that pull down. Now, modesty and civility are restored. In other bathroom related news, no one could find the blow dryer – our Indian concierge kept going in and out to find the blow dryer. Finally, he saw a bag that was camouflaged against a dark wooden cupboard.
• Baba told me to take a shower first, while he went to get us some food. Afterwards, I learned that there were curtains that one could pull down. When Baba returned, we feasted on McDonald's food. The fries were a bit dry, the sandwich was a bit too spicy (yeah, it was the spicy chicken sandwich).
• I was looking up information on Malaysia and they outlaw homosexuality. Well, for males, if they engage in sodomy, they will be subject to corporal punishment or imprisonment. For females, it’s just gross and punishable by law via imprisonment. That somewhat amuses me.
Adventuresome day, eh?
Friday, September 26, 2008
Guangzhou Truisms
For my Ethnography class, I'm reading The Return of the God of Wealth: The Transition to a Market Economy in Urban China by Charlotte Ikels. The book is an ethnographical study on the culture of Guangzhou; it was written in 1996, but I'm sure much of the information is still relevant today. I've come across some funny/true/amusing facts, which I will list below (some facts are not verified):
• "The national perception of the quality of Cantonese cuisine is captured by the popular saying 'For eating it's Guangzhou'...What both locals and outsiders most appreciate is the freshness of the food, especially the seafood. Most Cantonese dislike purchasing fish or fowl that is not still breathing at the time of the sale. To enhance one's appreciation of this freshness, food tends to be lightly cooked and lightly spiced." (9) - See Exhibit A: Baba.
• "Cantonese are aware that outsiders, even within China, do not eagerly embrace every item of Cantonese food. They mock the more timid eating habits of other Chinese by asserting that while 'Shandong people do anything and Beijing people endure anything, Cantonese people eat anything!'" (9) - See Exhibit B: All Canto people say this.
• "When writing, a Cantonese uses what to a Cantonese are literary words - in many cases the spoken word is entirely different and not expressible in characters. Sometimes Cantonese cheat and make up characters for these Cantonese words, though this is more likely to happen in Hong Kong than in Guangzhou. The convention is to put a little mouth radical on the left side of a likely phonetic - this tactic conveys the meaning 'the word I'm trying to write sounds like this in Cantonese.'" (19)
• Boat People: known in Hong Kong as "Tanka" (literally "egg people" with the connotation that they are born of reptiles), "they lived on boats and made their living by fishing (and, depending on the times, by smuggling and piracy). Both the settled village population and government officials viewed these highly mobile people with suspicion." (22-23)
I'll have to ask my mom about that one...
• "Some workers, such as members of rural construction teams, come to Guangzhou with a job in hand, and it is the responsibility of their employers to provide them with accommodations (usually in temporary structures on or adjacent to the construction site). Others come with just the hope of obtaining a job and if unsuccessful soon move on to other parts of the delta region. At night these people sleep in crowded hotels (or, when their money runs out, under overpasses); during the day they squat beside busy roadways with little wooden signs advertising their skills and try to catch the attention of people seeking an extra hand. When their presence becomes a public nuisance, they are summarily sent back to their home districts...They are immediately distinguishable from ordinary residents of Guangzhou by their simple dress, unfashionable haircuts, slight stature (even by Guangdong standards), and suntanned appearance." (24-25)
• "During most of the day there are few trash barrels to be seen; they are hauled out of their hiding places only briefly, just in time for the daily refuse collection. If the barrels were left in the open for any length of time, they would attract many scavengers and probably create a danger to public health. Thus, anyone walking along the sidewalk (to say nothing of walking in the gutter) constantly risks tripping over damaged pavement, slipping on orange peels, or even stepping into a pile of discarded chewed sugarcane. Daily street sweeping and refuse collection keep the situation from getting out of control, but the walker must be ever vigilant." (28)
• "While Guangzhou residents are generally spared the indignity of stepping into dog excrement (dogs may not be kept as pets), in crowded neighborhoods lacking indoor toilets they face the real risk of stepping into human excrement. Rather than visit the public toilets, parents and grandparents in these neighborhoods allow and even induce their infants and small children to urinate and occasionally defecate on the sidewalks outside their entryways. Despite government efforts to eliminate spitting, the practice remains common, and people spit almost anywhere except on or directly at another person...But even among the urban born, noises issuing from the digestive tract, such as farting and belching (softly), are viewed as natural and inevitable and warrant neither embarrassment nor comment when they occur." (28)
...To be continued...
Notes to self:
• Qingping Road (Liwan district across the river from Shamian) - for buying creatures (to bargain, comment on its thinness) (10)
• Yuexiu Park - Five Rams Statue (11)
• Huaisheng Mosque (13), near junction of Zhongshan and Renmin Roads
• Shamian - near former European-esque town for trade
• "The national perception of the quality of Cantonese cuisine is captured by the popular saying 'For eating it's Guangzhou'...What both locals and outsiders most appreciate is the freshness of the food, especially the seafood. Most Cantonese dislike purchasing fish or fowl that is not still breathing at the time of the sale. To enhance one's appreciation of this freshness, food tends to be lightly cooked and lightly spiced." (9) - See Exhibit A: Baba.
• "Cantonese are aware that outsiders, even within China, do not eagerly embrace every item of Cantonese food. They mock the more timid eating habits of other Chinese by asserting that while 'Shandong people do anything and Beijing people endure anything, Cantonese people eat anything!'" (9) - See Exhibit B: All Canto people say this.
• "When writing, a Cantonese uses what to a Cantonese are literary words - in many cases the spoken word is entirely different and not expressible in characters. Sometimes Cantonese cheat and make up characters for these Cantonese words, though this is more likely to happen in Hong Kong than in Guangzhou. The convention is to put a little mouth radical on the left side of a likely phonetic - this tactic conveys the meaning 'the word I'm trying to write sounds like this in Cantonese.'" (19)
• Boat People: known in Hong Kong as "Tanka" (literally "egg people" with the connotation that they are born of reptiles), "they lived on boats and made their living by fishing (and, depending on the times, by smuggling and piracy). Both the settled village population and government officials viewed these highly mobile people with suspicion." (22-23)
I'll have to ask my mom about that one...
• "Some workers, such as members of rural construction teams, come to Guangzhou with a job in hand, and it is the responsibility of their employers to provide them with accommodations (usually in temporary structures on or adjacent to the construction site). Others come with just the hope of obtaining a job and if unsuccessful soon move on to other parts of the delta region. At night these people sleep in crowded hotels (or, when their money runs out, under overpasses); during the day they squat beside busy roadways with little wooden signs advertising their skills and try to catch the attention of people seeking an extra hand. When their presence becomes a public nuisance, they are summarily sent back to their home districts...They are immediately distinguishable from ordinary residents of Guangzhou by their simple dress, unfashionable haircuts, slight stature (even by Guangdong standards), and suntanned appearance." (24-25)
• "During most of the day there are few trash barrels to be seen; they are hauled out of their hiding places only briefly, just in time for the daily refuse collection. If the barrels were left in the open for any length of time, they would attract many scavengers and probably create a danger to public health. Thus, anyone walking along the sidewalk (to say nothing of walking in the gutter) constantly risks tripping over damaged pavement, slipping on orange peels, or even stepping into a pile of discarded chewed sugarcane. Daily street sweeping and refuse collection keep the situation from getting out of control, but the walker must be ever vigilant." (28)
• "While Guangzhou residents are generally spared the indignity of stepping into dog excrement (dogs may not be kept as pets), in crowded neighborhoods lacking indoor toilets they face the real risk of stepping into human excrement. Rather than visit the public toilets, parents and grandparents in these neighborhoods allow and even induce their infants and small children to urinate and occasionally defecate on the sidewalks outside their entryways. Despite government efforts to eliminate spitting, the practice remains common, and people spit almost anywhere except on or directly at another person...But even among the urban born, noises issuing from the digestive tract, such as farting and belching (softly), are viewed as natural and inevitable and warrant neither embarrassment nor comment when they occur." (28)
...To be continued...
Notes to self:
• Qingping Road (Liwan district across the river from Shamian) - for buying creatures (to bargain, comment on its thinness) (10)
• Yuexiu Park - Five Rams Statue (11)
• Huaisheng Mosque (13), near junction of Zhongshan and Renmin Roads
• Shamian - near former European-esque town for trade
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