2006-01-30 - 5:13 p.m.
Happy Chinese Lunar New Year to everyone out there.
The chinese (among other cultures) use a lunar calander. So their new year is based on the cycle of the moon around the sun, and is not tied to anything as arbitrary as a simple 12 month calander. They use the precise movement of the moon around the sun. Because of the inherent precision of the celestial movments, they are much more "accurate" than our simple calander, and that is why their new year moves as much as a week each and every year compared to last years.
It is really very neat, but not my cup of tea. But it is really nice to be able to say happy new year 2x a year. So welcome in the year of the DOG.
Here is a short list of things to do, and not do according to the students I nkow.
don't
wash your hair within 48 hours of new years, or you will wash away your luck
use scissors within 2 days because you will cut your luck
cry within 2 days or you will cry for the whole year.
do
eat dumplings becuase they look like gold ingots, and it will bring you wealth
eat dumplings because it reminds you of your family
spend time at home, and do NOTHING that is not family related. they are your best link to your past, and your heritage.
shoot off fireworks because it scares away the evil spirits and ghosts, and scares away the devils and dragons.
clean your house, you should pay attention to your home at the start of the new year.
some of those are good pieces of advice anytime.
Will
Monday, January 30, 2006
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Voice of Will: Traveling for the New Year
2006-01-21 - 10:38 p.m.
I am so tired. Exhaustion appears like someone who has had 6 cups of espresso right now.
I may have mentioned how Chinese Lunar New Year/Spring Festival is a very big deal right? I may not have explained it enough. Take fourth of july, thanksgiving, christmas, new years and roll them all into one holiday that lasts about a week. Ok? Alright. Now take people travling like it is thanksgiving and christmas, where everyone MUST get home for the holiday. Have you visualized that yet? Ok. Now make the number of people travelling the WHOLE population of the US. Are your eyes staring to water? Is blood starting to come out of your ears at this mind boggling visualization yet? No. Ok, now take away 1/2 of all the air flights, and 2/3 of all the rail traffic, and make the roads the consistency of a bad dirt road in a pouring rain.
That is spring festival in china. You may ask the whole population of the US seems a bit large. But consider this 30% of the chinese population will travel over 50 miles to see friends and family for the spring holiday. That is over 300 million people.
Right now in Zhengzhou there are 60,000 people who are camping at the train station trying to get train tickets. The ticket booths are refusing to sell any tickets because there are NO trains. The same thing is happening in Beijing. I wish I would have been informed of this before I snuck on a train to zhengzhou yesterday morning.
Yes you read that right. Yesterday, me and some friends go to the train station thinking "a week before spring festival, and a fweek after school got out, perfect time to travel." Well when we try to buy tickets, they tell us NO zhengzhou, and refuse to sell us tickets. Huh? so we go to the waiting area and ask if the train to zhengzhou is operating. They tell us yes they are getting on. Ok. So we get in the line and no one looks at a ticket.
Sweet. ONly one problem, you have to have a ticket to get OUT of the rail station on the other side. We decide we will deal with that problem when we get there.
the train pulls up, we get on, and there ARE NO SEATS anywhere. NOt just that, it is SRO (standing room only) in the aisles, and all the way out to the smoking platform (which is where you get on the train), and we are squished there. Ok. No problem. the train trip to ZZ is only an hour. No problem.
We go for about 15 minutes and the train comes to a slow stop. This is not a scheuled stop. By nwo we are talking to the people who in some countrys would be engaged to us because of their extreme closeness to us. We ask them (in chinese) what is happening. they reply "don't know, but this is common" We wait. and wait. and wait. after 30 minutes the train slowly starts back up, and goes at about 1/2 the normal speed. Ok. We go.... for about 15 more minutes, and we stop.
I look out the windows on the left and see a "parked" train with people on it. I look out on the right side of the train, and see another train pull up next to us in about 10 minutes and also STOP. Not good. Not good at all. we sit (actually, no place to sit, and the ground of the carrage is disgusing) for over an hour. They don't open the doors, and if the windows are open the temperature drops to under -5 Celcius.
Needless to say I was reallllllly wishing I had my spray on deodorant. Not for me, but for my new "friends". AFter an hour the train starts and gets back to full speed. YYYAAAAAYYYYY!!! and it goes until we get to the outskirts (not even 5 mintues from teh station) and we STOP. By now I am ready to kick open the door (I tried the handles already) and just jump the fence to take a taxi. noooooo. Another 35 minutes. So a simple easy 1 hour train trip took almost 4 hours.
We get off at the platform, and I make my way with a friend (drew) to a back exit I know of. And we get stopped by the chinese police and the station guards. (there weren't any there before.... no really) and they tell us that xinjiang is a 350 RMB train ride to buy a replacement ticket. We didn't come from xinjiang, but from xinzheng. but because the tones are wrong, they sound similar. xinjiang is a province in the far western part of china. We have to try not to get arrested for having no ticket, to not get ripped off with a ticket that is not from where we are at, and to get out of the station.
This is where I found out that there are 60,000 people there because one of my best chinese friends, and former student was trying to get to us, and couldn't. the guards were keeping people back 50 meters from the exits and the entrances, and using their clubs to make sure that happened.
Well we did manage to talk our way out, and went to where my friend was, and got it sorted out, but that was just the start. The day didn't get better.
It ended with us in a hostel for the night because the chinese are afraid of driving on icy roads (they should be, no snow plows) and taking a taxi back to SIAS the next day.
I will leave you with this thought. No snow plows, and a city of 6.5 million people. They physically dug the city out of the snow and ice. Apparently about 50,000 people work construction to clear the roads of snow and ice in the winter. How would you like that job? using a pick and a shovel in the freezing cold for less than $.30 an hour.
Will
I am so tired. Exhaustion appears like someone who has had 6 cups of espresso right now.
I may have mentioned how Chinese Lunar New Year/Spring Festival is a very big deal right? I may not have explained it enough. Take fourth of july, thanksgiving, christmas, new years and roll them all into one holiday that lasts about a week. Ok? Alright. Now take people travling like it is thanksgiving and christmas, where everyone MUST get home for the holiday. Have you visualized that yet? Ok. Now make the number of people travelling the WHOLE population of the US. Are your eyes staring to water? Is blood starting to come out of your ears at this mind boggling visualization yet? No. Ok, now take away 1/2 of all the air flights, and 2/3 of all the rail traffic, and make the roads the consistency of a bad dirt road in a pouring rain.
That is spring festival in china. You may ask the whole population of the US seems a bit large. But consider this 30% of the chinese population will travel over 50 miles to see friends and family for the spring holiday. That is over 300 million people.
Right now in Zhengzhou there are 60,000 people who are camping at the train station trying to get train tickets. The ticket booths are refusing to sell any tickets because there are NO trains. The same thing is happening in Beijing. I wish I would have been informed of this before I snuck on a train to zhengzhou yesterday morning.
Yes you read that right. Yesterday, me and some friends go to the train station thinking "a week before spring festival, and a fweek after school got out, perfect time to travel." Well when we try to buy tickets, they tell us NO zhengzhou, and refuse to sell us tickets. Huh? so we go to the waiting area and ask if the train to zhengzhou is operating. They tell us yes they are getting on. Ok. So we get in the line and no one looks at a ticket.
Sweet. ONly one problem, you have to have a ticket to get OUT of the rail station on the other side. We decide we will deal with that problem when we get there.
the train pulls up, we get on, and there ARE NO SEATS anywhere. NOt just that, it is SRO (standing room only) in the aisles, and all the way out to the smoking platform (which is where you get on the train), and we are squished there. Ok. No problem. the train trip to ZZ is only an hour. No problem.
We go for about 15 minutes and the train comes to a slow stop. This is not a scheuled stop. By nwo we are talking to the people who in some countrys would be engaged to us because of their extreme closeness to us. We ask them (in chinese) what is happening. they reply "don't know, but this is common" We wait. and wait. and wait. after 30 minutes the train slowly starts back up, and goes at about 1/2 the normal speed. Ok. We go.... for about 15 more minutes, and we stop.
I look out the windows on the left and see a "parked" train with people on it. I look out on the right side of the train, and see another train pull up next to us in about 10 minutes and also STOP. Not good. Not good at all. we sit (actually, no place to sit, and the ground of the carrage is disgusing) for over an hour. They don't open the doors, and if the windows are open the temperature drops to under -5 Celcius.
Needless to say I was reallllllly wishing I had my spray on deodorant. Not for me, but for my new "friends". AFter an hour the train starts and gets back to full speed. YYYAAAAAYYYYY!!! and it goes until we get to the outskirts (not even 5 mintues from teh station) and we STOP. By now I am ready to kick open the door (I tried the handles already) and just jump the fence to take a taxi. noooooo. Another 35 minutes. So a simple easy 1 hour train trip took almost 4 hours.
We get off at the platform, and I make my way with a friend (drew) to a back exit I know of. And we get stopped by the chinese police and the station guards. (there weren't any there before.... no really) and they tell us that xinjiang is a 350 RMB train ride to buy a replacement ticket. We didn't come from xinjiang, but from xinzheng. but because the tones are wrong, they sound similar. xinjiang is a province in the far western part of china. We have to try not to get arrested for having no ticket, to not get ripped off with a ticket that is not from where we are at, and to get out of the station.
This is where I found out that there are 60,000 people there because one of my best chinese friends, and former student was trying to get to us, and couldn't. the guards were keeping people back 50 meters from the exits and the entrances, and using their clubs to make sure that happened.
Well we did manage to talk our way out, and went to where my friend was, and got it sorted out, but that was just the start. The day didn't get better.
It ended with us in a hostel for the night because the chinese are afraid of driving on icy roads (they should be, no snow plows) and taking a taxi back to SIAS the next day.
I will leave you with this thought. No snow plows, and a city of 6.5 million people. They physically dug the city out of the snow and ice. Apparently about 50,000 people work construction to clear the roads of snow and ice in the winter. How would you like that job? using a pick and a shovel in the freezing cold for less than $.30 an hour.
Will
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Voice of Will: You didn't show up
2006-01-17 - 12:15 a.m.
So I was asked by a friend to arrange to pick her up from the airport tonight at 10 pm our time. This involved contacting one of our staff members brothers who owns a van (and is a complete imbicle btw).
She didn't show up. Wasn't on the plane, and I only found this out after waiting for her NOT to get of the plane. Here is my email to her, that I just sent
How are you? (It is will btw.)
Where are you? Because you weren't on flight 3761 out of beijing tonight at 10pm, because I was there. It was cold, and lonely. Joesephs brother doesn't speak enough english, and boy do I smell of cigarette smoke.
I'm assuming you missed the flight (you were probably stuck in beijing, and are now are the hotel, and will arrive here tomorrow at about 10 am)
Needless to say it was interesting. Taking the van (which has no heat btw, and no air sealant because it is a cheap chinese POS) through nice wind, at all of 20 kph so the 30 minute trip to the airport took almost an hour. But that was ok because your flight was over an hour late landing. Ah at least the timing was ok, I was worried you'd take a taxi and we'd pass each other.
I was then pushed and prodded like cattle when people ran to the railing to meet their "loved ones" that I finally pushed back with my elbows, and boy did it really clear out around me. I think it was my deodorant.
I waited 40 minutes after "your" plane landed, and finally gave up when they stopped the luggage rack for the flight and there was no luggage left over, adn they then started unloading a flight from Harbin. I even waited until that was through on the off chance you had stopped, fallen into a coma, and were being resucitated via yak breath. But still nope. You didn't show up.
Joesephs brother thought it was funny when I came back out w/out you and he tried to ask where you were. After the 3rd explaination he didn't understand, i told him you had been eaten by a pack of wild chipmunks who were even now descending on zhengzhou like locusts. He gave me a puzzled look and said "ting bu dong" then smiled like a maniac. I think he was envisioning what a horde of wild chimpmunks bent on locust like apocalyptic proportions would do to zhengzhou.
We had another 45 minute long cold van ride back while I determined that no one in this god forsaken country knows how to drive at night, or over rough surfaces, or around corners. But I can also tell you every single pothole on the road to and from the airport because my knees definately know where they are.
That would qualify as an experience that only cost me 80RMB. And to think there are people who pay LOTS OF MONEY for this experience. And I got off so cheaply, just my time, my body heat, my wonderful stench, and of course part of my sanity.
How has your trip been?
Will
So I was asked by a friend to arrange to pick her up from the airport tonight at 10 pm our time. This involved contacting one of our staff members brothers who owns a van (and is a complete imbicle btw).
She didn't show up. Wasn't on the plane, and I only found this out after waiting for her NOT to get of the plane. Here is my email to her, that I just sent
How are you? (It is will btw.)
Where are you? Because you weren't on flight 3761 out of beijing tonight at 10pm, because I was there. It was cold, and lonely. Joesephs brother doesn't speak enough english, and boy do I smell of cigarette smoke.
I'm assuming you missed the flight (you were probably stuck in beijing, and are now are the hotel, and will arrive here tomorrow at about 10 am)
Needless to say it was interesting. Taking the van (which has no heat btw, and no air sealant because it is a cheap chinese POS) through nice wind, at all of 20 kph so the 30 minute trip to the airport took almost an hour. But that was ok because your flight was over an hour late landing. Ah at least the timing was ok, I was worried you'd take a taxi and we'd pass each other.
I was then pushed and prodded like cattle when people ran to the railing to meet their "loved ones" that I finally pushed back with my elbows, and boy did it really clear out around me. I think it was my deodorant.
I waited 40 minutes after "your" plane landed, and finally gave up when they stopped the luggage rack for the flight and there was no luggage left over, adn they then started unloading a flight from Harbin. I even waited until that was through on the off chance you had stopped, fallen into a coma, and were being resucitated via yak breath. But still nope. You didn't show up.
Joesephs brother thought it was funny when I came back out w/out you and he tried to ask where you were. After the 3rd explaination he didn't understand, i told him you had been eaten by a pack of wild chipmunks who were even now descending on zhengzhou like locusts. He gave me a puzzled look and said "ting bu dong" then smiled like a maniac. I think he was envisioning what a horde of wild chimpmunks bent on locust like apocalyptic proportions would do to zhengzhou.
We had another 45 minute long cold van ride back while I determined that no one in this god forsaken country knows how to drive at night, or over rough surfaces, or around corners. But I can also tell you every single pothole on the road to and from the airport because my knees definately know where they are.
That would qualify as an experience that only cost me 80RMB. And to think there are people who pay LOTS OF MONEY for this experience. And I got off so cheaply, just my time, my body heat, my wonderful stench, and of course part of my sanity.
How has your trip been?
Will
Monday, January 9, 2006
Voice of Will: burned by a friend
2006-01-09 - 9:47 a.m.
Ok. I have been a bit slow updating my journal and for that I apologize.
Where to begin? This has been the semester from hell. NO doubt about it, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Thank the maker it is over.
We have been on winter break for 2 weeks now, and I'm just finally getting to relax.
To top all things off, I get yelled at at the end of term for something I didn't do, and had no control over.
Let me explain. I invited my friends to come to SIAS and teach. I never thought any of them would take me up on it, but one of them did. He was not very happy here this semester, and had made that fact very well known. He also had a tendency to try to fight other peoples battles, so he would see somethign that would bother him, and let it bother him, and go around with a chip on his shoulder.
So he decided not to come back to sias and break his contract. Ok. It happens. He leaves a week early when all the teachers are supposed to be turning in their grades. Ok that happens also. He doesn't turn in his grades. So where does everyone come to look for them? Me. I get blamed for "allowing this to happen" by 3 different people in the administration of the school. I am supposed to have provided better leadership to my friend. They even tell me they are thinking of cancelling his visa to have him arrested at the airport before he leaves.
Now let me explain how things work in china. Your reputation is all you have. People get to know you and get a relationship with you (they call it guanshi, think of it like networking but much bigger). Now because of my friend, my name is MUD. My recommendations are for shit, and when I open my mouth no one listens. A year of building relationships, and gaining respect gone because a friend of mine could not do the things he was supposed to.
To finish the story, I had to track this friend down in beijing, where another friend of mine was doing me a favor by showing him around before he left (you know never coming back so might as well see the forbidden city, the great wall, tiannamen square, etc...) and they wouldn't let him go on a tour until his grades were finished. apparently he yelled at my friend who was doing me a favor, and was then complaining bout having to spend money to move his bags, and other things to the airport.
All of this for friendship. Too bad my name is now mud, and I can't buy a friend when I need one now.
Will
Ok. I have been a bit slow updating my journal and for that I apologize.
Where to begin? This has been the semester from hell. NO doubt about it, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Thank the maker it is over.
We have been on winter break for 2 weeks now, and I'm just finally getting to relax.
To top all things off, I get yelled at at the end of term for something I didn't do, and had no control over.
Let me explain. I invited my friends to come to SIAS and teach. I never thought any of them would take me up on it, but one of them did. He was not very happy here this semester, and had made that fact very well known. He also had a tendency to try to fight other peoples battles, so he would see somethign that would bother him, and let it bother him, and go around with a chip on his shoulder.
So he decided not to come back to sias and break his contract. Ok. It happens. He leaves a week early when all the teachers are supposed to be turning in their grades. Ok that happens also. He doesn't turn in his grades. So where does everyone come to look for them? Me. I get blamed for "allowing this to happen" by 3 different people in the administration of the school. I am supposed to have provided better leadership to my friend. They even tell me they are thinking of cancelling his visa to have him arrested at the airport before he leaves.
Now let me explain how things work in china. Your reputation is all you have. People get to know you and get a relationship with you (they call it guanshi, think of it like networking but much bigger). Now because of my friend, my name is MUD. My recommendations are for shit, and when I open my mouth no one listens. A year of building relationships, and gaining respect gone because a friend of mine could not do the things he was supposed to.
To finish the story, I had to track this friend down in beijing, where another friend of mine was doing me a favor by showing him around before he left (you know never coming back so might as well see the forbidden city, the great wall, tiannamen square, etc...) and they wouldn't let him go on a tour until his grades were finished. apparently he yelled at my friend who was doing me a favor, and was then complaining bout having to spend money to move his bags, and other things to the airport.
All of this for friendship. Too bad my name is now mud, and I can't buy a friend when I need one now.
Will
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