Magores has a Chinese name

I mentioned before that I wanted to figure out a Chinese name for myself.

I think I finally settled on something.

The idea that I had previously turned out not to be a good one.

I was thinking "Shu Mai Kou". My thought process was..
--Mai Kou is basically how the kids pronounce my name
--Mai Kou, according to one of my dictionaries, means "Wheat Harvest"
--Shu is half of "fathers younger brother" which is also a polite way of saying "Uncle". Men of an older generation are commonly called "Uncle" in China. It's a respect thing.

So... I was thinking Shu Mai Kou = Uncle Wheat Harvest = A decent name.

Apparently not.
-ShuShu is Uncle. Shu is not.
-"Shu" as a sound has the connotation of "loser". Ummm.. Nope. Not gonna use that.
-On top of that, ShuShu is a title, not a name. (China has about 3000 possible last names. Deviation in names is okay, but its not always "understood" as a name. It's recognized as a description.

So... I went back to the drawing board.

Basically, I went with this thought process...
-Not all chinese names are 3 characters (Ling Pu Yong, Dong Phu Yu, etc.) Many people only have two character names. 4 is less common, but not unheard of.
-The third character is what was causing me the most trouble, so if I forget about that, that leaves me with two.
-Two is easy.
-What do the kids say? "Mai Kou" (more or less)
-How is Michael Jordan transliterated? "Mai Ke"
-Basically, I figured... Why fight the obvious?

So...

"Mai Ke" it is.

In case you're curious, here's what it looks like...




And, Yes... I verified the appropriateness of the sounds, and the characters with the locals. It passes the test.

So, I now have something to write down in all the little boxes on all the forms that ask for my Chinese name.

Kind of an anti-climax to tell you the truth.

Magores is fat and happy

Magores is fat and happy

I'm feeling pretty good at the moment.

But... let me backtrack a bit...

It's been a pretty interesting week overall. I actually spent about 2 hours on this past Friday typing up what has been happening, and then guess what happened? Computer crash. Lost all two hours worth of typing

So.... Let me try again. Probably won't ramble as much this time ;)

Monday, April 17 – One week ago today.
-I woke up.
-Fiddled around the house. (Day off from work)
-Went out to buy a soda, some food, etc

I walked outside, and everything was yellow.

Overnight, Beijing was hit by the worst sandstorm it has seen in years. Sandstorm is probably the wrong word. “Duststorm” would be more technically correct.

Beijing is a very dusty place. Leave a mirror near an open window, and two days later you won't be able to see yourself in the mirror.

This duststorm was like 4 months of the normal dust all in one night.

Very weird. Very eerie.

Tuesday, April 18 – Gate Uncle passed away

A little background might be required here...

Beijing is made up ever smaller-in-size entities.

At the top you have Beijing
---Then you have districts
------Then you have neighborhoods
---------Then you have XiLi's (mini-neighborhoods)
------------Then you have buildings

My work in is the building that is the community center for the particular xili.

Each xili, and some buildings, have people that keep an eye on things.
-My apartment building has the “elevator ladies”
--My xili has the 18 year old rent-a-cops at each entrance (Rent-a-Cops are everywhere. EVERY xili has them, many buildings have them, stores have them. If you take 100 Chinese people in uniforms, odds are that 1 is a cop, 1 is a soldier, 49 work in a place that requires uniforms (restaraunts, 7-11, pharmacies, etc), and the other 49 are Rent-a-Cops.)
---If you want to enter a xili, you have to pass an entrance. Each entrance has a gate. Each gate has a Rent-A-Cop (or two). Call them “Gate Cops”.

Anyway... Because our building is a Community Center, we have something “bigger” than Rent-A-Cops. We have “Uncles”

More background...

“Uncle”, in China, is a respectful term for a man a generation or two older than you, that you are not related to.

So...

We have a couple of gentlemen in their 50's that keep an eye on stuff. They watch the gate. They hold the keys. Basically, they are in charge. They are the “Gate Uncles”.

I went to work on Tuesday (even though it was my day off) because I had some stuff to prepare for the next day.

Apparently, some time between 6am and 8am, one of the Gate Uncles had a heart attack.

Sigh.



In case you're curious....

Yes. I'm an Uncle.

I'm actually a lot of things...
--Teacher (Laoshi)
--Mai Kou (Michael)
--ShuShu (Uncle)
--DaYe (Man that you are not related to who is older than your father, but isn't quite as old as your Grandfather)
--YeYe (Specifically, your father's father. Generally, Man you are not related to that is the same age as your grandfather.
--LaoTou (Old man. This is somewhat derogatory). (This is what I call myself when I can't lift the 56th child that day above my head.)

Each group of kids see's me a little differently.
-For the 2-3 year olds, I am “Mai Kou”
-For the everyday Kindergärtners I am “Michael” and/or “Teacher” and/or “Michael Teacher” and/or “Michael Laoshi”, and/or “Laoshi Michael”
-For the other district I work at, I am “Michael Laoshi”. At one point they were calling me “YeYe”. I put a stop to that. I'm not THAT old. I thought of telling them to call me “DaYe Michael”. And “Michael Laoshi” is totally appropriate and correct.

Thinking about all this led to another thing...

I've lived here awhile now. And, I don't have a Chinese name. Most Chinese (that I've met) have an English name. The kids that don't have one yet, I designate one for them. This is kinda weird in and of itself. Future post topic.

Anyway... Ever since I realized I like this place, I've wanted a Chinese name. Half the forms I fill out ask me for my Chinese name, and my English one. I don't like like leaving boxes on forms blank, so I figured I need a Chinese name.

It's hard to come up with a good one.

-Strict transliteration?
-Something similar to the pronunciation of my English name?
-Something that has a good meaning, but is unrelated to my English name? (The Chinese are big on the name meanings.)
-First name is easy, but what about the surname?

I asked my Chinese co-workers to think of something. One girl came up with something like “Pu Mai Dong”... It had a good meaning, but... I'm sorry, I can't say “You are YuPuTu? Nice to meet you. Call me PuMaiDong” without laughing.

The problem with things that sound like my English surname is that the equivalent sounds in Chinese have generally bad meanings.

But, it gets even more complicated... One sound could have 8 billion meanings.

Point of all this is that I think I finally found a reasonable Chinese name for myself. I have to verify with the locals, but this is what I'm thinking of:

Shu Mai Kou

--
Shu is the “last name” - Means “Uncle”
Mai Kou is how the kids actually say my name
--One meaning of “mai” is “wheat”
--One meaning of “kou” is mouth.
--”Mai kou” together means “wheat harvest”

So.... Shu Mai Kou = Uncle Wheat Harvest = “Wheat Harvest Uncle”.

I have to check the written characters before I finally settle. If this is too hard to write, I may just go with “Pull My Dong”.

---
(I stopped typing at this point. It was getting late. Here is the rest, typed a day later...)

---

Friday April 21st

Interesting day this day. I went to a training session for teachers.

It was basically a sales session for a certain publisher to try to sell their textbooks. I was pleasently surprised though. It really was a training session, more than a sales pitch. On the flip side... My boss and I went their FOR the sales pitch. We wanted to learn about the books. Oh, well. More info is always available.

One mildly amusing thing... I was the only foreigner in the room (other than the trainer). 100 Chinese teachers, 5 Chinese Sales Reps, the Belgium-ese(?) trainer, and little old me. (Also, I was probably the 2nd oldest person in the room. 1st oldest was... The trainer.)

The trainer was originally from Belgium but he lives in Mexico these days

As part of his training, he taught a little bit of Spanish. I think he was a little bemused/amused when it turned out that I actually knew some of the words before he taught them. Oso= Bear, Gato=Cat, Perro=Dog. I think it threw him off for a second.

I ended up winning a bag of goodies because I “participated well.” Chalk one up for the loud American ;)

Eric (the trainer) and I actually had a decent chat afterwards. It helped that I have a background in the publishing industry. Publishing is a VERY small world. Six Degrees of Separation.

The interesting-ness goes on.... After the training, boss and I went to a Korean restaurant for lunch.

I've had a reasonable amount of Korean food in my life. One of my favorite little restaurants in SF was a Korean BBQ place. This restaurant was nothing like anything I've had before. I ended up ordered a “bowl of stuff”.

Rice, veggies, meat, and egg on top, and God knows what else. Add some sauce, and mix it all up. Pretty decent. Not enough salt though.

Speaking of salt... They don't use much of it here. Probably a good thing, but... I like salt. Runs in the family.

Speaking of Korean food... The kimchii I had that day was MILD! Boss is doing the “hand wave in front of mouth thing” and I'm thinking “Where's the good stuff?”

After lunch we went to the bookstore.

Beijing has lots of bookstores. But, we went to a particularly good one. It is on the campus of the Beijing Foreign Studies University. Basically, its a school for Chinese that are studying English, French, etc. And, for foreigners that are studying Chinese.

I like this bookstore for a few reasons. (I've been there before.)
1)If I go with the boss, I get a 20% discount
2)Good selection of technical stuff. Example: I bought...
--1.A Chinese-English Dictionary of Measure Words
--2.Writing English Language Tests
--3.How to Teach English
--4.English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course
3)Learn Chinese stuff
--1.A newer edition of a learn Chinese book that I already have
4)Fun reading
--1.A paperback book by Clive Cussler . English language spy novel type-of stuff. No social redeeming value. But, escapism is good sometimes. (Thank You Jason for introducing him to me.)

Here's a tip... If you ever decide to move to China, bring books! If you ever decide to visit China... Bring books! If you have a friend in China... Send books!

I must leave China in November. (It's the rules.) There are 4 things I will do when I get back to the US.

In order, they are:
1)Visit Family
2)Visit Friends
3)Buy Books
4)Eat salty, fatty, greasy, American food

The best part of this past Friday wasn't the training, the Korean lunch, or the bookstore. It was the 1 hour bus ride in the morning where I had to stand the whole time.

“Huh?”, you say.

First... If you have ever ridden a busy bus in SF, then Beijing isn't really that big of a deal. I imagine NY is similar. If you are from anywhere else in the US, be prepared for a shock. These things get crowded. That's not the good part though.

The good part is...

In Beijing, you have have to know the NAME of the stop you want to get off at when you get ON the bus. Knowing the cross street isn't good enough. You have to know the NAME. Here's how it works...
1)Get on the bus
2)Tell the conductor where you are going
3)Give her (or him) however much money they say
4)Get off when you are supposed to

When I first got here, I tried doing it exactly in the steps I show above. I soon learned that my Chinese skills suck, so I had to add in a few extra steps...
1)Look up the location on a map
2)Have it written for me in Chinese and Pinyin (Englishified Chinese)
3)Get on the bus
4)Say the location
5)When greeted with a blank stare, show my piece of paper with the Chinese writing
6)Give a 10 yuan bill (10 dollar bill), which is always more than the bus fare, and wait for any change.
7)Wait for the conductor to kick me off the bus.

Well... On this particular bus ride, it kinda kicked in that my Chinese is getting better. I was going to a place that I had never been. So I followed the basic steps..
1)I looked up the location
2)I wrote it in Chinese (I can do that now.)
3)I memorized the pronunciation
4)I got my paper in hand, hopped on the bus, and said where I wanted to go.
5)To my surprise, the paper wasn't needed. Conductor just said the price, I gave exact change and away we went.

Even better... One stop before I wanted to get off, the conductor came to me and said “blah blah blah Ma Diar blah blah.” I didn't understand all the words, but I understood the context enough to respond with “Bu yao. Bei Tai.” (“Not my stop. I'm going to Bei Tai.”)

So... I don't understand all the words, but I can understand the context of the conversation (in this situation at least).

And, when you think about it... Getting the point, and giving yours, is all that language really is about.

Lest you think the above situation is simple, let me add in the other wrinkle...

Ma Dian -- Beijing pronunciation= Mah Dyar, Taiwan pronunciation – Mah DeeYen
Bei Tai Ping -- Beijing pronunciation= Bay Tie PeeYar, Taiwan pronunciation – Bay Tie Peeng
PanJiaYuan – The general area where I live is: (B) PahhnJyahYouWahr, (T) PahhnJyahYouOn

---
On Saturday the 22nd, one of the parents of one of our kids brought in a newspaper. Page 4 had a nice article about our school, and a decent sized picture of me with some of the kids. The paper was from a week earlier. I'm still trying to track down extra copies so I can save them for posterity and all that.
---

Sunday April 23 was a basic day.
---

Monday the 24 was kinda cool. I went a got myself a library card.

And... I had the best meal I've had since I've been in China. Chinese food is great and all that. But, what I made for myself tops it all. I went to the “foreigner store” and got myself a nice 1 inch thick steak.

Pan fried is the only choice I have, so I slowly pan fried this hunk of cow flesh. Heated some olive oil, threw in a little butter, a splash of soy sauce. Added meat, some saurkraut. Cooked it. Towards the end, I added some salt, pepper, sliced onions, and diced jalapenos. Add in an ice cold beer... I was fat and happy.

In fact, that steak is the original point of this post. It's odd... In a land of culinary delights, the food that I've enjoyed the most of all so far, was a steak I cooked myself. Feeling Fat, Feeling Happy.

---
Postscript...

Tuesday the 25 I got offered a role in a television commerical to sell air-conditioning. Not holding out too much hope. I won't mention this again unless something actually happens.
---

So... There you go... That's life in China for the past week or so.

Boring, huh?

Magores is teaching teachers.

My work situation has changed a little.

Not much. But, its significant in some ways.

Here's what my work week is like these days...

Wednesday -
-Feng Tai District - Kindergarten level -6 classes, around 100 kids total - mostly songs and vocab
-Home base - Kindergarten level - 8 kids - lots of pronunciation practice - The 4 sounds of "A", 2 sounds of "G", etc
-Home base - Toddler - 10 kids - We play with toys.
-Preparation for the other days

Thursday -
- I teach teachers (more on this below)
- Home base - the K and Toddlers
- Prep work

Friday -
- Feng Tai again - 6 classes, 100 kids - different kids than on Wednesday
- Home base - the K and Toddlers
- Private class with kid barely K age
- Prep work

Saturday -
- 1st class - 10 kids, K and 1st grade
- 2nd class - 10 kids, all K age
- The three 13 year olds - This just ended. THey passed their exams. No more testing until Senior year.
- 3rd class - Nine 1st graders. I love these kids. They can "think" in English.
- Prep

Sunday -
- 10 2nd and 3rd graders
- Private class with the Friday kid
- Teaching English to the younger Chinese teachers.
- Teaching English to the older Chinese teachers.
- Prep

Monday/Tuesday -
-Officially days off, but I do lots of prep on these days

----

Teaching English to the older Chinese tachers is actually kind of hard.

A few of them were English majors in college. And, they aren't that far removed from college, so this info is still in their heads.

As the "teacher", I need to be able to explain what a "present particple" is to the people that have forgotten, and in a way that the others will recognize as being what they learned.

And, English really is a screwed up language. Without saying "Just because" try to explain the difference in pronunciation between:
-Though
-Thought
-Through
-Threw
-Tough
-Taught
-Ought
-Fought
-Naught
-Not
-Nautical
-Bought

It's crazy.

On top of that, add the concept of word stress...
-I signed a CONtract. But, he conTRACTed a disease.
-The PHOtographer took a phoTOgraph of a very photoGRAPHic scene.

And, there is sentence stress...

"he ran to the store"

- Who ran? "HE ran to the store."
- How did he get there? "he RAN to the store."
- Where did he go? "he ran TO THE STORE"

Let's not forget "timing" either...

-Actually, let's forget timing for NOW. It's a LARGE concept that i DON't have time for right NOW. Perhaps LATER.


---

I literally spend more time learning English than I do learning Chinese.

And, the more I learn about English, the more I like Esperanto.

Magores teaches English AND Ironing

So anyway... I have a business meeting type thing tomorrow, so I bought an ironing board.

I already had the iron, but I just jerry-rigged a board the 2 previous times I needed to iron.

When I came home, I left the board in the laundry area (it sounds bigger than it is), while I fiddled with stuff in my room. (The previous posting, specifically.) I came out to iron a shirt, and the roomies asked me, "Zhe shi shenme?" (What is this?")

Soo.... I've spent the last half hour or so, teaching three 17-19 year old Chinese girls how to iron.

I could make all kinds of jokes at this point. But, I won't.

Instead, let me explain "Zhe shi shenma?" / "What is this?"

PRONUNCIATION:

The spelling I show is the "official Pinyin" (without the tone marks). Don't worry too much about what Pinyin is, or what the tone marks mean. If you really care, you can find better explanations online than I could ever give.

In my own special, very unofficial transliteration of Mandarin Chinese, "zhe shi shenma" is pronounced "juh shr shumma". (The "u" in shumma is like the "u" in "jug", not like the "u" in "use".)

So... zhe shi shenma IS PRONOUNCED (sorta) LIKE juh shr shumma.

MEANING:

I've already given away the meaning.

"Zhe shi shenma" means "What is this?"

However, a literal translation would be "This is what?"

---
Not too hard to wrap the brain around. So, let extend it a bit...

"I want this one."

Let's say you are at the store buying a chicken.

Meat in Beijing isn't always wrapped in plastic the way it is in the US. You get to choose which dead bird you want.

There's really no better way to explain it... There is a bunch of dead birds in front of you. You choose which dead bird will become food. There is no getting around it. It's a bird. It's dead. You are going to eat it. As an American its easy to forget about the "dead animal" part. It's meat in a styrafoam tray, covered in plastic. It's food.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not a veggie-tarian. I like cooked dead birds, and cooked dead cows, and some parts of dead cooked pigs. Since I've been here, I have learned that I like some parts of dead cooked sheep too.

Nowdays, I just remember more easily what "meat" really is. It's dead flesh.

Anyway, back to the point...

5 dead birds in front of you. You tell the vendor "I want this one".

I want this one = Wo yao zhe ge

Wo = I --Pronounced "wuh"
yao = want -- Pronounced like "Oww! that hurt, but with a "y" at the front"
zhe = this -- Pronounced like "jay". NOT like "juh" as in the previous example.
ge = one (sorta. actually has a bigger meaning) -- Pronounced like "guh"

Still fairly simple?

Okay. Let's extend it a little more.

I want that one = Wo yao nei ge

Wo, yao, and ge are pronounced as in the above example. "Nei" is like what a horse says, "Neigh", or if you are voting against something "Nay"

Wo yao nei ge = I want that one


----

So there you go.... Some easy Mandarin Chinese.

1. What is this? - Zhe shi shenme - Juh shr shumma
2. I want this one. - Wo yao zhe ge - Wuh yoww jay guh
3. I want that one. - Wo yao nei ge - Wuh yoww nay guh

--

Next time you want to buy dead flesh, you can request the specific carcass you want.

Cool, huh?

Magores survived the SandPeople and the Jawas

I don't know if it was news at all back in the States, but Beijing had a HUGE sandstorm the other day.

Of course, I didn't see it actually happen. I just saw the aftermath.

Sunday was a basic day. Worked, went home. I woke up Monday and puttered around the house a little. Around noon, I left the house to get food and do some running around.

I was hit by a weird "look" as I left the building. Everything was yellow. I mean EVERYTHING was yellow. The ground, cars, the rooftops, the street, EVERYTHING.

Overnight, Beijing had been hit by a sandstorm.

Apparently the sandstorms are pretty normal in springtime here. But, from what I understand, this was the worst one in years.

It was crazy.

Apparently, the wind blows the dust from the Gobi Desert into Beijing. It happens all the time, but in springtime its particularly bad.

I imagine people that live in the desert southwest of the US know what I'm talking about. But, it has been a new thing for me.

On your basic Beijing day, you don't notice the dust. You notice bad air (if you think about it). But is it pollution or dust? Hard to say.

On a weekly basis, you definitely notice the dust. Put an item on the windowsill, with the window open, but the screen closed. After 1 week, your "thing" will be covered in dust. It's an obvious thing.

This sandstorm was like one year of dust, all in one night.

And, its not really a sand. It's dust. A very fine dust. A very thin silt.

You don't breathe sand. You DO breathe this stuff. It's pretty amazing, really.

It's common for people to complain about Beijingers hawking loogies and blowing snot. I've complained about it myself. But, after being here awhile, I can understand it. You get gunk in your lungs and nostrils. Gotta get it out somehow.

And, if you add in the cultural difference between China vs US, and even Beijing vs Hong Kong, you can understand whats going on.

Having said that... Do I blow snot and hawk loogies on the pavement?

Nope. I just "can't" do it.

My Momma raised me better than that.

Magores cleaned house today

In order to try to make up for my lack of postings recently, I thought I would describe a typical day off for me in Beijing.

---

Today is Monday. This is my "Saturday".

7:00am - Woke up. (This is late for me. Usually up by 6am.)
7:45am - Woke up again. (I loved this extra 45 minutes.)
8:30am - Got out of bed.
8:31 - 10:30 - Did a little research into advanced English grammar. I have to make a test for the English teachers of Chinese descent (from hereon out called EToCD). I was encouragaed to make it as hard as possible. It's harder than it sounds. As a native English speaker, who was not an English major, I have forgotten alot of the details. I just talk, I just write. I don't "think" about it.

Consider this... You can probably remember how to conjugate a verb in the basic forms.
-I ran (yesterday).
-I am running (right now).
-I run (everyday).
-I will run (tomorrow).

But, if you were asked to use the verb "write" in the "past perfect" or "past perfect progressive" tense, could you do it? The only I can, is because I teach this stuff. A year ago? No way.

We all speak in the past progressive and past perect progressive. We just don't know that that's what it's called.

But, my co-workers... The EToCD are expected to know this stuff off the top of their heads. Even though they are teaching children from 2 -6 years old.

Kinda crazy if you ask me.

(If you're curious, I'll conjugate "write" at the end of this post.)

10:30am - 12:30pm - Puttered around the house. A little cleaning. A little dancing in my underwear Risky Business style. You know... The basic puttering stuff.

12:30 - 1:30 - Went our for lunch from the street vendor, and the video store.

I forget what its called, but lunch was: Two bread things, with an egg cooked inside of each, smothered in spicy bean paste, and a piece of lettuce in the middle. This is good food.

Good food =
"hao3 chi1" - official pronunciation guide (Pinyin)
"how chrrr" - my very unoffical pronunciation guide for people that don't know pinyin

After food, went to the video store. Bought 3 things...
- A fantasy dungeons and dragons type movie - Watched it. Horrible
- An old kung fu flick (chop-socky). Haven't watched yet.
- Elvis CD - I plan on teaching an "American Song" to the 5 year old I work with M-F.
--I'm thinking "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis might be good. (Probably not, but I like it, and I'm the teacher so...)
--Also tempted to teach "Ob-la-di-ob-la-da" by the Beatles. (Good pronunciation practice in that one.)
--"All together now" by the Beatles would be another good one.
--"Can't buy me love" would be good, except its too fast for 5 year old Chinese kids.
--"Voulez-vous" by Abba is another option. (I love this song., but "Name of the Game " is better.

1:30pm - 4:30pm - Watched the crappy movie, cleaned house. Those of you that have lived with me know that I'm not the tidiest person in the world. In fact, I can be a down-right slob at times. But, believe it or not, I'm the cleanest person in this house.

Sure, I leave my backpack on the couch. My jacket is on the arm of the chair, rather than on the coatrack. And, The Girls mop the floor.

BUT... I scrub the corners of the bathroom/kitchen on my hands and knees. The Girls do that? Nope. I (capital/bold "I") do the toilet brush thing.

Beijing is a very dusty place. THe wind blows the sand from the (Gobi?) desert into town.

I don't mind "stuff" laying around, but "dirt" and "dust"? Nope. Not my version of clean.

Speaking of cleaning...

4:30pm - 7:30 - Typed this. And, The Girls just got home from work. So, its a good time to wrap up.

(In their defense, "The Girls" work 6 days a week minimum, and they do at least 11 hours a day. Part of their job is cleaning stuff. I might not want to scrub stuff at home, if I did it at work. But, I don't. So, I do.)


Anyway..... There's a fairly typical day off for me.
-Wake up
-Work
-Clean
-Veg

Magores Has Pictures

First, let me say thank you for bearing with me.

Hopefully, this post will make it worthwhile.

I have pictures to share....

First picture...
This is just a random Beijing street scene. I Don't remember exactly when or where this is from, but it's pretty much typical of any random road.



This was actually one oe f the first pictures I took. It's from the Panjiayuan Antique Market. Very cool thing to do. If anyone ever comes to visit, this is a place that you will want me to show you. Bonus... I live very close to here.





This is.... Um.... Me. Few months ago.


This is an example of plumbing in Beijing. Hot water heater the size of a backpack, exposed pipes. Classic. This is actually a picture of one side of my kitchen. The white thing towards the bottom of the picture is the kitchen sink. Just to the right of the picture (and out of view) is the window. I'll post more examples of Rube Goldberg plumbing in the future. For now, just remember.... I live in a decent area.


This is a view from my bedroom window. I live on the 15th floor of a 23 story aparetment builing. My window faces south.

One thing that is very hard to describe is how HUGE Beijing is.

See the 25 story buildings? My apartment complex ("xi li") has at least 215 buildings that size. Those 215 buildings are all in one "block". The place where I work is one "block" away. It has MORE buildings. (It is the largest "xi li" in Panjiyuan.) Keep in mind that Panjiayuan has 50 or 60 "xi li". Beijing has more xi li than I can count. Beijing is friggin huge!

Magores is fine. Stupid, but fine.

Long time no see. So how's it going?

I've been away from here, and from email, for a bit. There is no ONE reason for it. It's just alot of reasons that snowballed together.

No excuses. Invalid reasons. But, this is the reality...

-----
Avoid email reason #1 - Pissed off.

Awhile back, I sent an email to an ex-employer of mine in the US. I asked for the $100 that was owed to me. (It had been 4 months or so at that point.) I offered what I thought was a great deal... Don't send me cash. Just register a URL in my name, pay for the registration for the next few years, and we'll call it square. I even offered to do all the research into domains, ISPs that are accessible from Here, etc.

The response I received? "I'll wire it to you. Go to Western Union in Beijing." I grant that there are many locations for wire transfers in Beijing. But, it's not that easy. Language difficulties are just a small part of the equation. Time is a huge issue. The Post Office? 1 hour. The Bank? 1/2 hour. Paying Utilities? Hour and a half. Paying for the phone? 1/2 hour. (And, that's only becuase you can do it at the bank.) Western Union? 4 hours, if you know the language. 14 days if you don't.

Granted, $100 is nothing. But, think about it from my perspective. $100 US dollars is 800 Chinese Dollars. There are people in China that make 100 Chinese Dollars per month. I make Chinese wages. Not as low as my example, but still.

With 800RMB (chinese dollars) I could buy 4 quality mountain bikes, pay rent on a VERY nice apartment for a month, buy 400 beers, buy 800 breakfasts/lunches/dinners, buy 320 liters of Coca-Cola, buy 72 DVDs, buy 7 electric rice cookers.....I think you're getting the point.

$100 means more to me than it does to him. And, I'm offering to spend the money paying US prices, rather than Chinese prices. AND, he doesn't have to pay any Western Union fees. AND, I'm willing to round up, and call it even. AND, he's FAMILY. AND, he says NO?

I was a bit pissed off. (Still am.)

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Avoid Email reason #2 - Tired

Around that time was Chinese New Year.

China celebrates the Lunar New Year in awesome fashion. But.... After that, everyone works 7 days a week for 3 week to make up for the time lost during the Festival. "Everyone" included me.

Working 7 days a week makes you tired. I think I know this fact better than most. This is a different tired than back in the US though. One hour of 2 year-olds is enough to wear you out. Try 9 hours a day, every day. Yeah, yeah. Parents have no sympathy because they've done it. Probably laughing at me as they read this. In my defense... I'm older than most parents were when they dealt with toddlers. And, I'm not dealing with MY kid. I'm dealing with other people's kids. At current count, I deal with...
-Fourteen 2 year-olds
-Eight 5 year olds
-Eight 7-9 year olds
-Six 4-6 year olds
-Ten 5-7 year olds
-Two-hundred 4-6 year olds (not exaggerating)
-the 3 13 year old class has ended by now

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Avoid email reason #3 - Turmoil

Amidst all the work, and festivals, was the reality of my life.
-When I arrived here, I had two roommates ( I wasn't expecting any at all.)
-One roommate went home back in November/December. Two new ones moved in.
-The existing orignal roomie wanted to get cuddly. I resisted. (Damn Gentleman)
-Other roommate came back.
-Two newer roomies left.
-Cuddly roomie decided to move back to farmland
-The two newer roomies that left, came back.

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Avoid email reason #4 - Sad

I did actually login to email awhile ago. The first thing that jumped out at me was that my Grandfather had died.

This is bad. What made it worse was that I had missed the fact that it happened due to reason #1. I learned late. I'll never forgive myself for that.

I learned this fact on a Sunday (China time).

That day, it was just me and "the boss that I'm not hitting on" working. I tried to be a stoic. I tried to keep the "stiff upper lip". I admit. I was not sucessful.

I'm lucky in many ways. First and foremost, my family lives forever. Of course, this makes it harder when people do pass away. And, we're talking about MY GRANDPA. It hurt. The fact that I'm 6000 miles away, and behind the times, made it even worse.

"The boss" sent me home. I was worthless.

My walk home that day was like something out of a horror movie...

A fog made of coal soot hung in the air. My brain was muddled by the burning coal, the news I had just learned, and the fact that I was "not home!"

The walk home from work usually takes 15 minutes. That day, it took 15 hours.

Crossing the street is always an adventure. I can't tell you if I even looked at the lights or the cars that day. I just walked.

I looked at the signs on the stores around me. I looked at the people passing me.

All I could think was, "What the hell am I doing here?"

I don't speak the language. I can't read the language. I can't understand shit! What the hell am I doing here?! I should be home! Here is good, but my family is there! I should be with family!

i was ready to leave this country right then and there.

In the back of my mind though...

-Grandpa went places, saw things, did things. He told stories.
-My Dad went places, saw things, did things. He told stories. (I probably remember more than you think I do.)
-I guess my goal is to have stories to pass to my kids someday. "Grandpa did Europe. Dad did Asia. I did China. You can do anything you want. Just be silly enough to actually try."

Or something like that.

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Avoiding Email #5 - God is a fucker

So... My grandfather dies. I avoid life for a week. Finally pull myself together and go to work. What happens? I save someones life.

God is a fucker.

I had basically pulled my shit together and went back to work. It was me and "the boss I'm not hitting on" in the office.

She was muching on some corn snack things. All the sudden she starts coughing. I lean back and make a joke about "Should stop smoking". (She doesn't smoke.) Coughing gets worse. I turn around. She's purple. I grab my water and feed it to her. She's purpl-er (is that a word?). What can I do but try the heimlich?

Between the water and the heimlich she starts to breathe again, barely. After a trip to the hospital, it turns out the corn thing had lodged in her esophagus. I had saved her life with my water and the heimlich.

My grandpa dies. A week later, I save a life.

I say again, God is a fucker.

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Avoidiing email #6 - This shit is hard.

I'm rambling now, so I'll wrap up. In short, it's hard to write things here.

It's hard to think about the day, and write it down, in a hopefully interesting way, in a short time. (I sleep early most days.)

I told myself that I would write about "life in China". It's harder than you might think, and alot harder than I thought it would be, to write stuff down.

My life in China is a lot more than the details of How much does food cost? Is the Great Wall cool? And questions like that.

Life is the same no matter where you are. Details are different, but the fact is that Life Is. Doesn't matter where you are. Life Just Is.

And that's a Good Thing.