The Train, Mimis, and Massages

My brain is fried and I am so exhausted. This afternoon while grocery shopping I accidentally put two jars of jam in my purse instead of my basket (realized my mistake a split second later, though only after noticing a fellow shopper glare at me). Later, at Starbucks, I tore open my packet of Equal and proceeded to pour its contents into the rubbish. I'm sure it's also pretty blatantly obvious from my redundancy and horrible grammar in my earlier post that this guy needs to sleep. But there's still so much to tell, so I figure photojournalism is the way to go.

This was our train cabin...yes, those are beds. Really hard "beds" that came with sheets. I was thoroughly grossed out. Who the hell knows whether or not those sheets had been washed???
We had a photo shoot in the smelly, disgusting train toilet. We were also completely sober. I don't have an answer, so don't ask:


Once back in Hangzhou (another 5.30am arrival) and after a much-needed nap, lunch at the Hyatt, and Starbucks, we treated ourselves to massages. All of us, in one room. They gave us jammies.

It was our little mimi:
Pardon the Geisha hair. Sunday was a great escape from China.
Doesn't polyester look great on me?

The weekend

As much as it pains me to say it, this past weekend was amazing. Even the slumber party on the train, albeit slightly traumatic in the moment, has left me with fond memories. Mostly of being the only girl with enough courage to participate in the booze fest that was happening in the next car. It's always hilarious to watch Bi Nike and Jin Biao, his roommate, and a bunch of other boys get absolutely plastered off baijiu (a rice liquor that is China's stomach-burning, single-distilled answer to vodka). I, personally, could not bring myself to have more than a few sips of the treacherous liquid.

So, we got to Wenzhou at 5.30am on Friday, hopped on a bus that drove us through town, past an airplane that now serves as a restaurant on the side of the road, to our ferry to Nanji Island. This was the first time that my roomie had a) seen a plane, and b) been on a boat. She had enough Dramamine to immunize all of China.

The beach was rather beautiful, shockingly...

Me and Alex (Liwei):

Beach:
The Chinese asshole who screamed and yelled at us for daring to put our stuff under the "canopies." It was probably 110 degrees that day. Heartless.
Lunch was really interesting. Lots and lots of fresh seafood - I indulged in freshly shucked oysters (and live to tell the tale). Here is Caili teaching us the snail sucking technique.
Here is Alex trying. And failing.

That night we headed back to Rui'an, another city, and stayed in a pretty comfy hotel - probably the only hotel in the city that caters to foreigners (who, btw, are not allowed to stay in anything below 3 stars). The Rui'an International Hotel of course had a revolving restaurant on the very top floor, obliging the Golden Rule of Chinese 4 star hotels, and yes, we ate there. Wasn't half bad. Our midterm "skits" were next... I'll spare you the details, but there were a lot of laughs, and I won the CET equivalent of an Oscar - a box of cookies, some of which were chocolate, all of which melted by the time I got back to Hangzhou. The night ended with a terrifying stint at a local disco/KTV (karaoke) club where some of our group seemed to get the impression that we were herded into a private room because they wouldn't serve foreigners at the bar. I am more inclined to believe that they just wanted to capitalize on this golden opportunity to rip us off. Which they nearly did, until I put my foot down (aka threw a fit) and we ended up having a better time drinking 40s of Tsingtao (and some shotgunning) on the sidewalk.

Saturday's creek swimming was awesome. We hiked up about a billion stairs to reach the highest (ok, the second highest) of the 9 pools, then gradually made our way down. Ok, we also took a break for lunch - see photos below of our lunch; "to go" has a pretty interesting interpretation in China) - and swam around in one of the lower pools. I was one with nature and - waaaait for it - kind of liked it. Except when the teeny tiny little fish started nibbling at my ankles. I did not like that.


Liwei and lunch:Us (Liwei (Alex), Tongtong (Antony), Baini (Jamie), Nike (Nick), and myself) at the beginning of the hike...
This was at the Pipa pool. Number 6, was it? That waterfall in the back was supposed to be a "massage" feature. We had a lot of fun saying, would you like to play with my pipa?
More Pipa...
Sports Illustrated photo shoot: Chinglish. The first line reads: "All the pools in this scenic spot have no bottoms with very cold water in it. Never enter them to swim." Oops.

Besides all of this outdoorsy stuff, the weekend was brimming with laughter, adventure, misadventure, mimi's (secrets), learning new Chinese slang, and butchering the language to make our own. Did you know that, in Chinese, to eat somebody's tofu means to flirt with them? Yeah, we got a HUUUUGE kick out of that one. Did you know that when you abbreviate Chinese words, like saying duibooch instead of duibuqi, you can speak Chinese without any local actually understanding you? Ni buzhid? Meiguansh.

So. Much. Fun.

Another Escapade

In just over an hour, all 32 of us vibrant CET-ers and our roommates are leaving for our midterm/long-weekend trip to Nanji Island, where we will frolic in the East China Sea (and, apparently, (others will) burn under the East China "Caribbean" sun) and explore creeks and crystal clear fresh spring water swimming holes.

Only after, of course, the 8 hour overnight train, the 1.5 hour ferry ride, and the 1 hour coach ride to our destination.

I showed my roommate my bathing suit and she was in such shock that I would wear such little clothing in public. This weekend is going to be fun.

I am pretty proud of myself for packing so lightly - my carry-on roll-y bag is barely full. Caili's luggage? A plastic bag.

See you guys on Sunday.
x

Alex's Amazing Adventures

I have writer's block. So here is a long ass snipet from an email Alex (Liwei), rising senior at Tufts, wrote to her friends (and cc-ed me an Antony on. No I'm not a creep who hacks into and pilfers from others' outboxes...). It's fun and definitely offers a slightly different perspective about being a 老外 (foreigner) in 中国...

I cannot stress enough how different this place is from anywhere I've been to before. The language, the food, the culture, and overall, how the Chinese go about doing things. I know this sounds vague, I'll explain later. The city I'm living in ( Hangzhou) is quite big, like most Chinese cities. It has a downtown area, the rich areas, the poor areas, etc. The city itself isn't anything that different from maybe an industrial American city or a polluted Latin American one. It's not like I live near rice paddies or anything. There is also this beautiful lake that sits in the middle of the city called West Lake. There are some really nice cafés nestled around the lake, and at night its beautiful. We spend so much time studying during the week (and traveling on the weekends) that I don't think I've spent more than 20 min there total. One of my goals is definitely to go back and just sit and take some pictures (which I am notoriously bad at doing, I promise I will work on that and post them online….) Whenever I do venture out into the city, its with a purpose, and only from the window of my cab do I see Hangzhouren (the citizens) floating by. I don't really feel like I live here because I haven't yet had time to just explore.

I mentioned earlier about "how the Chinese go about doing things." I apologize for my language being sub-par, but you must remember that I haven't written an English essay in about 9 months. Two funny things that stick out:

1. KTV night- One night, I tagged along as some Americans and some Chinese kids went to a KTV bar. The last time I sang karaoke was in Germany in a loud, boisterous, beer-splattering atmosphere. I figured it would be more or less the same thing, with no one really knowing who was singing and who was just slurring. Wrong wrong wrong. We walked into the KTV place, which was a MASSIVE hotel like building with a front lobby. Like a hotel, you had to reserve a room. At this point, I realized that my hopes of a returning octoberfest were dashed. Our party was led into a private, very modern room. We had a long, black, wrap around sofa, a karoke machine, and a plasma TV. Did I mention that I can't sing (too embarrassed to do it in the shower), quickly read Chinese characters on a screen, and o, wait, speak enough Chinese? Yes. One by one, my "friends" (I use the term loosely) picked up the microphone and started belting away at the newest Chinese hits. I did't know any of them. I had no idea how many Chinese pop sensations there were. I had no idea how much people LIKED this crap. Finally, there was a knock at the door and the waitress came in to get our drink order. Whew! Now was the time to really get going. I ordered a beer, and expected everyone to follow suit. I AMERICA and GERMANY people are a few beers in before they even step up to the stage. Wrong, again. Everyone else ordered hot tea. HOT TEA???? Hot tea really gets them going on a Saturday night. Woooohooo. So much fun. Lets sip some hot green tea and sing along. Everyone, please join in. Anyone bring mahjong? Needless to say, I was relieved when the night ended. Chinese college students, unlike American students, don't really go out much. Going to bars is seen as a trashy, lower class thing to do. Especially the girls, like my roommate for example. On a Friday night, it would never cross their minds to get dressed up and go to a bar. Nope. KTV and hot tea all the way. When we (the Americans) go out as a group, we try to drag the Chinese guys along. For the most part, their first drinking experience has been with us. There you go: building international bridges between once tense countries. Good old fashioned ambassadors.

The second slightly amusing you-had-to-be-there situation was when I went to the doctor's for a mild cold. Let me just add that the facilities were really great because I went into the foreigners VIP section. They are really into the whole foreigner thing. I also mentioned that I am lactose intolerant and whenever I eat dairy, I feel really sick. There is no dairy in Chinese cooking, so I had to explain that I only eat dairy when I eat western food, and I eat as much of it as possible because I really don't like Chinese food (I kinda rushed through that part). I showed him my pack of Lactaid-pills (which I don't find work) and he just laughed.

He: when do you take this?

Me: before I eat pizza, for example.

He but if your stomach doesn't hurt yet, why do you take it?

Me: it's a preventative

He: why are you taking extra medicines

Me: to prevent. In America, its over the counter

He: if you cant tolerate it even when you take the medicine, why eat the pizza?

I was stumped.

He prescribed me some western and Chinese medicine for my cold.

I also realized how ridiculous the pack of lactaid pills looked in the room. It's big and blue and has big red letters "Lactaid" splayed across the front and a picture of a huge ice cream cone and some weird psychedelic pattern in the background. I don't know why, but all of a sudden, I realized how much time and money is spent on designing medicine boxes to make them more attractive, where in the rest of the world, its just a small white box with the general and scientific name and ya esta. In India, there wasn't even a box. Just some pills in the shrink wrap thingy in a make-shift stapled-together magazine envelope. The box was as loud and obnoxious as me saying: I want to eat pizza because I hate the food here, can you please give me some pills?

Then, I went to Carrefour (the French chain supermarket) and stood in the imported foods aisle for a bit. That was fun. There are so many people pushing and shoving that I normally just put in my ipod headphones and shop away. I like the juxtaposition of laid-back Spanish music while the following scene takes place: eight people all grabbing at the same box of knock-off brand Tide detergent. When I went to go buy a mattress pad (because in the dorms, I might as well be sleeping on a wooden plank), I had to ask the assisting lady some questions in Chinese. She rattled on about size, shape, depth, etc of the mattress pad. Another worker overheard and came to help (this is very typical, you can't just browse alone) and they started talking to me as if I understood. I meekly smiled as I placed the mattress pad into my cart. As I walked away I heard "For a foreigner, she understands very well." I wanted to turn around and yell "No I don't. I have no idea what youre saying. I have no idea how to say featherweight, down, quilted or twin size." They speak too fast for me! And from some people (like in the hospital) I still get this jaw-dropping look. What is this white girl doing here? Although we are only about 3 hours from Shanghai by train, there aren't many expats in Hangzhou. Around the university though, we (more or less) fit in a bit more. What makes it more obvious is that it is perfectly acceptable to stare and comment when we walk by. A few weeks ago, for instance, I was at a fruit stand, about to pay, when the cashier and her friend started to loudly discuss the length of my foreign eyelashes. A second later, a male friend of theirs stuck his face about 1 cm from mine to get a closer look. Perfectly acceptable.

Okay, I think that is where I will leave things for now. This weekend, my class is taking a trip to the beach and then some mountains for some swimming in the creeks. I'm really excited. I'm also excited to get out of the heat of Hangzhou and of the overly-helpful Carrefour ladies.

Until next time,

Love

Liwei

ALSO

IF THERE IS ANYBODY OUT THERE READING THIS BLOG

LET ME KNOW

A LITTLE POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT NEVER HURT

THERE ARE COMMENT BOXES FOR A REASON

A few other thoughts

1. I've linked Antony's blog to mine for those of you craving more funny anecdotes about China. I can't guarantee that he is anywhere near as insightful or witty as I am (har har) but I can guarantee that you'll like it.
2. I bought so many great DVDs in Shanghai - I will not say where I bought them or for how much, for the sake of my safety - but I will say that I am beyond bummed that my Order of the Phoenix is such shit quality. Hopefully Transformers will be a little better.
3. Speaking of HP, I am riddled with anxiety that my book, being express mailed to me from Hong Kong, will either get lost in the mail, or stopped in customs. Please please please please please ensure dear Harry's safe arrival to room 304 of the foreign students' building.
   

A breath of Shanghai

The best way I can describe my past weekend in Shanghai is not with an actual description but with the proclamation that I just can't bloody wait to live there.

Rewind to last Thursday, when Caili and I were braving the 100+degree heat to make the trek alongside half a mile of road, construction, and rubble to the local train ticketing office. Blinking away sweat, and thanking higher powers to still have my head on straight after a 15-foot-long pole toted on a worker's shoulder unexpectedly swung my way, I silently cursed China for their lack of an answer to amtrak.com. Hey, at least I was getting exercise. And purging all the toxins out of my body (read: sweating, a lot). The ticket office was an exposed store-front lined with indecipherable train schedules and a service window. The young Chinese woman behind it met me with scorn when she realized she'd have to put down her cell phone and have to do her job. 2 tickets to Shanghai, please. 30RMB each, including 5RMB service charge; great.

Spencer, a new pal here at CET, and I got on the train and realized simultaneously that Chapter 3's vocabulary about public transport in China was going to be really useful. We hassled, pushed, and elbowed people to get to our reserved seats, from which we obviously had to vacate other hopeful occupants, and all hell did NOT break lose. This is the Chinese way, and feeling rather proud of our Sinification (another vocab word from Chapter 3), we eased ourself into our hard seats (i.e. "second class," as opposed to the "soft seat" class, which is about 10RMB more) in what can only be described as a human cattle-car. Poor Spencer had some standing man's unmentionables grazing his shoulder for the entirety of the ride.

So I laugh and I joke and I poke fun at Hangzhou a lot. I notice here the things about China that will "never change": the bad teeth, the omnipresent smell of sulfur, and the true belief that flesh-colored, ankle-length-stockings are, especially when worn with sandles, invisible and thus OK to wear. Shanghai transcends these stereotypes. As my taxi driver drove away from the very modern Shanghai South Station, the city that Shanghai has become took my breath away. The lights, the buildings, the highways, most of which were constructed in the past five years, and the energy were a comforting reminder of Hong Kong. I screamed in delight when I got to Christina's - my great friend and former boss from last summer's internship at mcgarrybowen - and saw that I'd be able to shower in a real shower.

My weekend in Shanghai was everything I expected it to be and more - sadly I opted to not participate in too much cultural exposure and rather spent time catching up with old friends and meeting a plethora of new ones. I feel no guilt as my belief, however, is that Shanghai in fact offers little in terms of real Chinese history, culture, etc, and rather more broadly offers a fascinating tangibility to the pace of China's development and the social, cultural, and economic compromises the country is making to keep the grindstone grinding. Shanghai is one of the most fascinating cities in this respect. Fascinating, but sobering if you are thoughtful enough to absorb the dichotomy of lives that exists there. Seeing a mother wrapped around her child and sleeping on the street and having many beggar children follow me and my friend Julian as we bar-hopped along the Bund - one of the most affluent areas in Shanghai - was... well.. I think you can figure it out.

Food for thought, eh?