Travels with Sammy

BenBang Cai - Shanghainese local food... sweet and sour

2009-05-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

So my aunt Catherine - who has taken a youthful interest in China since visiting here just two months ago reminded me of what is called BenBang cai - or the shanghainese local food. It is typically a bit sweet, and usually not spicy. I've been to a few and I think, like everything in China (or everywhere) there is the authentic and the perverted version. One was a really dingy place with little to no seating. our friends booked a table for becca and i a week in advance and we ate up on the third floor. you had to climb up stairs that were more like a string of ladders and the ceiling, which was nearly touching our heads was covered in grime from stir-fry. the room we ate in had a large window looking down on the street, which was suprisingly quiet - except for two men that were fighting over the price of fruit. food was great - and we even found some decent veg dishes.
the other place i went to was called 'shanghai uncle', and it was much more upscale, very clean, and expensive. i thought the food was awful, and i'm willing to bet the first ingrediant in each dish was sugar. we had some pork ribs that were doused in what amounted to sweatened ketchup, and their specialty - a $10 plate of crunchy eal - tasted like cardboard covered in carmel. This is ironic because a running joke in china, especially among westerners, is that a lot of the low-cost eateries may try to pass off a mix of pork and cardboard as real food. This high-end restaurant, has a clientelle that is mostly western or high-income chinese, so reputation seems to be much more important than actual quality: I've never found the street food to be as disgusting as what we got at 'shangai uncle', and usually you can watch them prepare it.
I'll be posting more pictures from Becca's visit to picassa. We had a most wonderful time together.

Springtime

2009-04-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

I'm going to say it : it's finally really spring. After a few weeks of stable 50 degree weather (which actually wasn't that enjoyable because it was so wet), and now 60 and 70 and even 80 degree weather, I'm finally feeling comfortable with the temperature. Unfortunately, in another month or two it will be nearing 100 degree weather, with 100% humidity. So I'll try to soak up the good weather while I can.
Flowers have been blooming here. Two weeks ago marked the opening up of cherry blossoms, which the Chinese say are here one week and gone the next - they're mostly gone now. And last week the peach trees were in bloom. Most of the magnolias bloomed 3 or 4 weeks ago, although it seems the purple ones are just finishing up. Also red-buds are in bloom or finishing up - this reminds me of home. Finally the great sycamore trees that line almost every street in Shanghai are finally budding out. To me this is most significant, as they have been a looming naked presence, reminding me that it was in fact still not quite spring. So since they're willing to open up I will too.
It's also tea season and the first crop of tea came out two weeks ago in SuZhou and HongZhou (the two cities near Shanghai). I have a small bit of what is called qingming tea - the cream of the crop - or the smallest leaves that have just shucked thier outer buds. On Sunday I got to witness and play a part in this whole process. Two friends an I traveled first by train to Suzhou, and then climbed onto a packed bus where we spent the next two hours jostling for space and some sort of handle to keep ourselves upright amid unannounced stops and sharp turns. We finally arrived on the third of three islands that skip out into Tai lake - which is an extremely large lake that a number of cities feed off of. We found the farmer that had been recommended to us by a local we met at the train station and then sat down for lunch at a large inn that hosted both men, women and animals. The chickens were mostly kept in a caged area. The food actually wasn't the best, even though it was extremely fresh and locally grown - he liked his oil and sugar just a bit too much.
Afterward we headed to the tea fields where we we're instructed on how to quickly pick with our forefinger and thumb. The owner came with us, and showed off his lightening fast picking style which he had cultivated over the last 30 years. He had what I call the 'black thumb' because of it - a blackening just below the face of the thumb that is caused by the natural dyes in the tea leaves. I imagine they probably have some sort of tea owner's guild and the black thumb is a prerequisite for entering.
After we labored, for an hour or so in the fields we went back to roast the tea in a huge wok especially made for the tea. There are three steps - the first is to just roast the tea in the pan while churning with your hands (wearing gloves), this step is actually called 'kill green' because it gets rid of the really fresh green look... as a side the green actually returns when you brew your tea and magically the tea leaves look almost the same as when you picked them!!! The second step is actually very similar to kneading of bread and it rolls the tea while also pushing our moisture. Finally the last step is more rolling between your two hands to give the tea a wirey look ... at this last stage the hair of the tea become apparent. The tea from Suzhou is know for its hair which is really just natural fibers in the tea which only become really visible when it dries to a certain degree.
so that's Suzhou tea..... Other tea's like LongJing or DragonWell in HongZhou require a different process and therefore taste completely different. Pretty amazing.

Family come and gone - but I am still here

2009-03-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

So there has been a lot that has happened in the last month since I last wrote, but I don’t think I’m going to get to all of it…. First my parents and Aunt came to visit during the last week of February, which was pretty exciting. They brought lots of reminders and tastes of home with them – including three floyds beer, hafner wine, California cheese, coffee and chocolate. Somehow nothing lasted long though…. The wine was more or less finished in one day, and the beer took 2 days. But it provided immense pleasure. We tried to supplement the great western treats with equally satiating Chinese edibles… we weren’t always successful and I think sometimes I walked them to death before any sort of carrot was reached, but all in all we had a decent taste of Chinese food. Of course dad claims that the best meal he had in all of China was when we just cooked at home but a severe prejudice against anything not homemade…

We spent most of our time in Shanghai and Hangzhou, took pit-stops at cafes and tea houses to dry from the rain and visited the restaurant recently featured in the New Yorker. I personally thought the experience was one of the best culinary experiences I had, but very different from what you would expect in a western venue.

Finally we went to Beijing, saw the great wall and the forbidden palace, and met up with one of my former Chinese teachers. She treated us to one of the best meals we had while in China.

The day after everyone left I went to Hong Kong for a 4 day Fulbright conference. It went well and gave me a chance to meet all the other Fulbrighters, and see how their work was coming along. My only complaint was that they over-scheduled us with extremely boring lectures. Even the historians in the group found the content miserable. They also took us to Macao, which is now the world’s largest casino location, but what I found fascinating about Macao were the small communities that were far removed from the glamour of the casinos. We walked through areas where the shop owners all spoke Portuguese, and little else. Amazing considering more than 95% of the people that live in Macao are Chinese. We also enjoyed some really good sea food in small two story restaurants, tightly packed with tables.

Since then I’ve been finally getting some work done. On Monday I visited the company that we’re helping develop a TB diagnostic with. I was absolutely amazed by the sophistication of their technology, the positive attitudes of their employees and the willingness to collaborate of the company owners. We’ll be helping them design new methods for collecting sputum from patients and then process it (meaning clean it more or less) for diagnosis. This is actually one of the major hurdles for developing a diagnostic that can reach rural clinics or even patient's homes (point of care), because the collection and processing of sputum requires lab equipment and can negatively affect diagnosis. Hopefully we’ll have something working by the end of my time here.

I also started a small cooking class for my lab mates. It’s not only an opportunity to eat some good food but I also make them speak English so that they have an opportunity to improve a bit. Each week I usually prepare a dish and then ask one or two of my colleagues to prepare a dish as well and teach the rest of the group in English. This week I made a mix of Indian and Chinese stir-fry, one colleague made a meatball soup, and another made a certain dried fish that is a specialty of his home-town. It was a bit crowded but we made it informal enough that as dishes were prepared and finished we could begin having samples.

That’s the short story of what’s been going on the last month. I’ll hopefully get another post out this week that will fill in some details or at least give you a closer look at my week.

Routine... Kind of

2009-02-17T06:16:00.000-08:00

I guess it's been a bit too long sense I last wrote, and a lot has probably transpired... but you wouldn't know because I didn't write it down. Well I guess I'll start with today then.
Life is slowly moving into a routine. I woke up arou 830, had a breakfast of zhou (which i think we call congee), which is a pretty rich meal of (in this case) rice (different kinds if you're feeling a bit crazy) and I through in some beans as well (small red beans). Then you cook it like you would rice, except you use a lot more water... I use chicken stock because it makes it so much more tasty. It's actually very similar to the Italian dish risotto, except a lot easier because you just let it simmer for an hour letting the stock slowly seep into the rice (and beans). Then you can top it with veggies or some meat. This morning I just added some pepper/salt and some spicy oil. But I had it again tonight for dinner and added some heated Duck confit (which also easy to make and good - duck cooked and stored in its own fat!!!). So it's a pretty easy but tasty and potentially diverse dish.
After breakfast I went into the lab where I'm working. Right now I dont really have any labwork but am helping write a few papers and doing some background research on potential projects that I may be initiating. We're working mainly on diagnnosing TB and because of my relatively amazing skills in English (actually everyone in the lab has pretty amazing reading and writing english skills), I get to be apart of a lot of different projects, helping to write up reviews and analysis of data. I personally want to work with a company that has been developing with potentially our help a new TB diagnostic for under-served populations. It looks pretty promising and I'm hoping to help them analyze it and redesign if necessary.

For lunch I had some small wontons (pasta wrapped meat, like dumplings, in a simple broth), and some steamed dumplings (which are basically like wontons without the soup). After that I took one of my lab friends to a cafe to give them a taste of my work ethic - which during my Northwestern years involved many hours at Peet's coffee. Although the coffee shop was not quite Peet's it had it's own flavor. In fact it's owned/run by a young Chinese man that I think just loves coffee and wanted to start something unique. It is American or European in coffee only but represents a Chinese spin on the small cafe that we see (although more seldomly) back home. It's in an old shanghai neighborhood of completely brick houses that were likely built by the british in the 1930s. Down one of the alleyways in thsi neighborhood there is a small sign that reads 162. It only differs slightly from anyother address indicating set of numbers and I'm not really certain that it has any other meaning than an address. But it distiguishes the shop from residences around it and that is the only way I find it evertime I swing by. Inside is just one room large enough to fit a small barista bar, a couch one large table and two small tables. The large table is usually occupied by a large group making cookies, which is the breilliant bit about this cafe. Because Chinese do not typically have an oven the cafe offers groups the chance to come in and make cookies using an oven that they placed in a retrofitted shack outside the cafe. Brilliant really. So that's where I like to go when I have a bit of computer related work to do.... Its a taste of home through the coffee but authentically china.
Dad, Mom and Aunt Catherine will be here on Friday!!!! Should be pretty fun!!!

Bombs Bursting in Air

2009-02-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

I’m sitting in my kitchen waiting for my stew, made of practically every remnant of food that I had laying around. Actually not quite as spontaneous as it sounds. I had some hongshao duck (dug legs stewed in a aromatic soy sauce base), a potato, some duck wings, half of a small bright orange pumpkin, some threaded chicken and chicken stock… that combined with some salt pork I bought and some big white beans (and other odds and ends) is going to be my supper…. Hopefully it turns out… As it stands now it’s a bit too sweet…but full of flavor. But I guess that’s Shanghai style… My hope was for a rough Chinese-style cassoulet – the French would not be happy.

Last week was the Chinese new year – the year of the Ox (or cow as I’m more fond of cows and the word in Chinese could go either way). I spent the 24^th and 25^th at a friends house in Northern Shanghai. Her parents were kind enough to let me crash the family celebrations and the mother of the house let me hang out in the kitchen while she prepared the New Years eve meal. Reminded me of home. She continually commented on her particular technique - why she cut the fish the way she did, how to fry the shrimp etc. and also why she didn't use MSG. MSG came into use shortly after the 'Great Leap Forward', when Mao sent rural farmers into factories to make China an industrial superpower. Everyone was forced to eat at large cafeterias, where simple food with basic dietary requirements were dished out with robotic expediency. Unfortunately, because farm efficiency and production dropped China experienced a horrible several year famine where whole towns were decimated by starvation. I believe that i read somewhere MSG started in this era where it gave a meaty taste to an otherwise tasteless meal. So not only were lives lost during this period but also a cultural heritage of eating and cooking. Restaurants were seen as a luxary of the upper-class and were closed or forced to serve basic meals to the masses. Luckily not all of China has forgotten the culinary style of the past.

On the 26th I got to see an old roommate of mine Lily who is from Shanghai and was visiting during the holidays. Her father cooked us a meal with several dishes, but the highlight was stewed pork and tofu, that was slowly stewed throughout the whole day. I actually first met her family 3 years ago on my first trip to China and they nursed me through one of the worst bouts of food poisoning I've ever had - luckily her father is a doctor and gave me special privileges at the hospital he works at. Dont let that scare you about the food though, I haven't been sick in China ever since.

Fireworks have been going off for the last 2/3 weeks. A hallmark of the new year, they are becoming quite annoying but should be over soon. For some reason people think it's a good idea to shoot them off all day but especially at 6 or 7 in the morning! Doesn't make a whole lot of sense because they spend a decent amount of money on extravagant, professional grade fireworks and then shoot them off in the day when you can't see them....

New Years Eve was a most exciting display of the power of firworks but also of private over public funds. As it turned over to the new year at midnight the frequency and number of fireworks and fire-crackers reached a level that was almost unbearable. There are 20 million people in Shanghai and I would imagine there were very few who did not take part in the celebration. I lit a few fire-crackers with my friend and her dad, but quickly returned to the apartment in fear of being consumed in the colorful madness. Instead I stood on the 6th floor balcony watching the spectacle explode around me. Every alleyway and street is fair game to create your own fire-works display, and as I walked out the next morning, I fond the main street near their house completely covered in the read wrappers and colorful boxes that had been decimated in the display of fire-power wielded by every day citizens. I'd love to see how much money is spent on fireworks every year by the Chinese.

It's been a little warmer here, and I think today some of my colleagues will return fromt he holidays, which is good because I'm getting a bit bored. Then it will be time to do some work!

The New (niu or cow) Year and some carpets to muffle the noise

2009-01-20T00:29:00.000-08:00

My last lab mate will be leaving today, so we’re going to have breakfast to send her off and then I’ll be on my own. In case I didn’t mention it before it’s coming up on Chinese New Years, the year of the Cow, and since I’m quite fond of cows I feel this new year will be a good one. There are large red and gold cows all over the city. Paper cut-outs sport multiple floors near the shopping districts and banners, lights, and slogans are draped along streets competing for attention against the backdrop of the thousands of pairs of drying clothes that always seem to be present. I wonder how the Chinese would feel if they only knew that across the border, the Indians (from India) do a much better job with the cow decorations, allowing real cows to walk and wonder the streets (see the picture that tops this page). India probably makes the Chinese feel a little sheepish about their worship of the cow, but I guess you do what you can with the resources and society you’re given.

I’ve decided to stay in Shanghai for the break, partly because I just got here and also because a friend Lily who was one of my roommates in undergrad will be coming to visit her parents, who live in Shanghai. It will be nice to relax a bit and not have to worry about travel, but also get to experience a little bit of tradition. So on the 25^th which is the day leading up to the New Years I’m going to have dinner with my friend Jenny’s family (who are also Shanghainese) and then the 26^th, which is New Years, and probably a few other days I’ll be with Lily’s family.

I recently bought a small hand-made rug from a small shop that I discovered. Actually I’ve been to the shop before to chat and have tea with the store-owner. So two days ago I stopped by and told him it would be lovely to have a small carpet to put in my room, so I gave him my price and we picked one out. I came across his store while walking the neighborhoods and almost decided not to go in but I had never really seen quite a carpet store like this before. The store was a bit small for the number and size of carpets he had, and attempting to roll out a carpet to show a customer was a bit of a challenge. In fact on entering I again almost left because the door seemed to be locked, but the lively shop-owner quickly moved carpets out of the way freeing up the path of the door and it quickly swung open. Carpets were strewn everywhere, so that it was impossible not to try them out a bit and stomp around. Hanging on walls and in piles above on second floor loft were more beautiful carpets. Aziz, the owner said that eventually he wanted to move to a large place where he could have an area to sit down and drink tea, the windows, walls and floors would all be decoratively displaying carpets and customers could come chat have tea and buy carpets if they chose. It turns out Aziz comes from Xinjiang, which is the western semi-autonomous region of China where there have been some crack-downs of supposed anti-government terrorist organizations. One of the main Muslim populations the Uighers are mainly targeted in these anti-terrorist campaigns and recent laws have limited the length of services at Mosques and the gathering of Muslims. The Uighers are actually probably a lot more Turkish than anything of Chinese decent, in fact a recent discovery of human remains dating back to the pre-Roman area suggests that it was not the Chinese that first entered this area but was traders from the West. This research is very controversial because it invalidates the historic claim to the land that the Chinese maintain control of. While there is little information about what is actually going on in the West, it does appear that there are some violent pro-independent factions that the government probably does have reason to be silencing, but I still don’t agree with the measures that infringe on people’s right to practice religion and customs and live relatively normal lives.

As for Aziz when I asked him about his situation, he claimed that he came here for work, after spending a few years in Shenzhen. He married an Itialian and opened his carpet store in the French concession of Shanghai. The art and craft of carpets have always been a passion of his and willingly explains the meanings of different symbols and styles. Many of his carpets are from Afghanistan (he joked that I should join the army so that I could get some nice carpets! bad joke), but he also has some from his home in Xinjiang, which is what I decided to buy. They are a little more simple than those from Afghanastan but have a rustic feel that which may represent the dry dessert area of Xinjiang. (I’m probably delusional though).

An interesting and unfortunate aspect of life as a Chinese citizen is that is often hard to switch your official residency or hukou. Aziz owns a house in Shanghai, is married, and owns a viable, legal business, but he still does not receive any benefits of being a Shanghai citizen, including certain health rights and schooling for children (I believe he still has access to health and education but it is not covered by his residency). Therefore his attempts to travel with his wife to Italy have been impossible because he cannot get a passport. Because different regions have their own governmental bodies he has to apply through the Xinjiang government which he claims is non-functional. Being from Xinjiang, likely doesn’t help with his efforts to convince Shanghai or National government bodies to help him, as people from Xinjiang are usually associated with drug-dealers and thieves. In fact Aziz himself reiterated this position to some extent – saying that many of those from Xinjiang that come to large cities get involved in illegal business’. In fact my experience with people from Xinjiang has largely been positive. They usually man roadside meat kabob shops that while questionable in hygiene are extremely tasty. So it’s tough to tell what to believe. However I do think the stereotype has truth behind it, but like any stereotype it cannot be extended to all from Xinjiang (i.e. Aziz himself).

I told Aziz I'd likely be back, although I will probably not buy another carpet, your welcome for tea anytime he said and he also invited me to come by the Mosque to enjoy the scenery and the many different types of food that have integrated themselves into the life of the Mosque. And I hope to go to Xinjiang someday, so I might tap Aziz for suggestions. As I left the shop I greeted him happy new year, and he replied in a tired look : I dont know how I'm going to make it through this new year, it's too too loud... at least these carpets will muffle the sound. This just shows how different Xinjiang actually is from the Han majority Chinese. In bed that night I was startled by loud explosion and colorful lights... now I new what he meant. The new year has started... I'm actually a little excited...

Lively chickens and a cold but bearable kitchen

2009-01-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

I’m sitting in bed under covers and a lovely warm cup of peet’s coffee. Next to me is a radiator I bought recently, which gets my room to a bearable temperature. I’m actually getting used to it all – the cold that is. Yesterday I made some soup, and found that at least in the day light the kitchen temperature quickly warms with both the sunlight and the heat of the pan. The night before one of my colleagues took me to the local fresh foods market – like a farmers market but found daily from sunrise to sundown in every area of shanghai. Not sure how they’ve changed since big supermarkets likes Carrefore (French) and it’s Chinese competitor Jiadeli have moved in. Maybe I’ll turn it into a side project of mine – to understand where food comes from in China, particularly the food sold by these fresh food markets and small informal vendors that spot the city. The chicken I bought was a small, young male – looked healthy and the lady told me he’d be good in a stock. She grabbed him as he squawked and fluttered pointlessly and then as he calmed down quickly weighed him, brought him to the side of the room and over a bucket away from costumers quickly and cleanly snipped the neck with a pair of scissors and sent his lifeless body away to be cleaned. The process wasn’t without some gory bits, because as she handed me my change I got a small piece of bloody flesh hanging onto what seemed to be baby feather. After I was given my once very lively chicken, now stripped of his clothes and all individual characteristics, we grabbed some very nice looking vegetables, including leeks, fat healthy carrots, scallions, and some tasty shitake mushrooms. My colleague now friend shared small bits of wisdom about how her mother picked certain ingredients – how the shitakes must not be pulling away from their edges revealing the underside ribs, how ginger is better when it’s old but with very fresh almost transparent skin, and of course her favorite type of chicken. There seems to be a great difference in chickens. The chickens you buy at the fresh market are of course alive, but they also have many different types, which at this point is lost on me, and color of the meat and fat is completely different – yellow fat and more pale brown never completely white flesh. I’m guessing it has something to do with the process, the diet, environment etc. The fact that we produce millions of chickens, who have probably been genetically modified or at least selectively breed, in factories may be the biggest difference. In supermarkets like carrefore you do not find the fresh market chickens, only the prepackaged very white and sterile chickens, with choices of tote sized bags of wings or just legs, and sometimes the whole bird. I’m not saying one way is better – because although my stock was amazingly delicious, I wasn’t sure the meat tasted any better – but there are certainly differences.

I’m off to try something out in the kitchen and then head to work.

Back... physically... trying to find a warm community in Shanghai

2009-01-12T02:33:00.000-08:00

So it's been a month or so since my last post (my friend Jon pointed this out from Uganda), so if you do actually like to read my scattered thoughts, I'm sorry....

I’m back in Shanghai, not settled – neither mentally or physically – and hopping from café to café searching for a place to access the internet, get work done and rest out of the cold in between my walks through Shanghai neighborhoods. Shanghai has turned out to be a lot colder than one would expect. Or maybe it’s just the experience of the Shanghai cold. Although the coldest days only ever slip into the high 20s it’s difficult to ever find a place where you can thaw out. Your body is constantly in life-saver mode, neglecting the extremities so that fingers become num and lose dexterity. I’m over-stating this of course, but even now as I type away in a supposedly heated café, a feeling of Russian Siberia has seeped into my brain (and fingers). I’m still wearing my large winter coat, under which I have two layers of long-sleeved shirts, one a thick woolen sweater. I warm my hands every so often on a glass of hot water and slowly sip on a coffee (although not to slowly otherwise it will turn cold). I have visions of Ivan Denisovich, scratching away (or in my case typing) at a cold piece of paper chronicling his days activities. Ok, so I’m not jailed in Siberia and my walking, apartment shopping, and researching is not quite as tiresome as what Ivan discovered in the labor camp, but by being a little dramatic I might just give you a picture for how cold it can feel.

As for apartments, I did finally find one and moved all of my stuff – two big heavy bags worth – into a completely empty but extremely spacious apartment this morning. I am far from settled – there are still things like beading, furniture, cookware that need to bought, and then cleaning to be done, but I’m looking forward to being a little more dependant. I just need to get some internet and then I’ll be nearly satisfied. I did buy a 2500W electric heater that will hopefully make me less conscious of my breathing which is currently very visible. My worry is that the apartment, which is very drafty, will not be able to contain the heat, that it will all just float away out of the porous walls and doorways. Enough of the negative lens though. The apartment is actually extremely spacious and relatively cheap. In a city where space is limited and prices are among the highest in the world, I really lucked out. It’s in an old retiree community, speckled with some younger families. I soon found that foreigners either like the new high-rises where they can live in a world much like the one they came from, or in re-buffed European style housing that was constructed by the French or English back in the colonial days (for Shanghai this was the 1930s). I was looking for some quaint old house, because they are quite cute and cozy but discovered that demand had pushed the prices up a little too far. So the best bet if you actually want to live in a Chinese community that still has a feeling of community is to find a 小区 (xiaoqu – literally small area/community but meaning neighborhood) built in the 60s or 70s. These consist of 5-6 story apartment complexes that while not designed for optical pleasure are havens for Chinese community life (at least from the brief perspective of a short-sited foreigner). Ever morning the elderly walk about, some practicing taichi, other chatting or yelling at each other, but most doing daily chores. The buildings and telephone wires are nicely decorated with hanging/drying clothes, and public spaces quickly fill up with a vender or two, a poker table, a small make-shift garden, drying vegetables, hanging/curing meat… etc. (I’ll add to this list as I get more familiar). So like any good community, it’s not the architecture or beauty that makes it livable, it is the people. My hope is that I can truly become part of this community (to the extent that a very different ‘other’ can). As I dragged my very big black travel bag through the middle alleyway that serves as the entrance and meeting place of the community it was hard not to notice the stares and suspicious glances that I received. Not sure if this will ever not be the case but maybe someday, I will walk through and receive one or two hellos. A final thought – as I walked towards my apartment for the first time as a card-carrying tenant I noticed that I was following an all too large rickshaw filled with condoms which then stopped at the small community service station to unload. Just a few years ago this site would have also been followed by questioning, suspicious eyes. Change is possible, and luckily I have my own voice to use in changing the minds of my neighbors.

The Retired

2008-11-30T01:20:00.001-08:00

Woke up with the sour thought that I was being required to attend a 3 hour class on a Saturday! What an absurdity! They were forcing us to meet with some old retired teachers, supposedly to cheer them up under the guise of ‘improving our Chinse’, hit two birds with one stone sort of thing. So I grumpily got out of bed checked email, made tea and ate some cookies that I had made the night before with real butter and vanilla!! (a rarity in Haerbin). I waited until the last possible minute to leave the dorm without being too late (fashion can only get you so far), and walked over to the one western restaurant on campus, oddly called ‘Family’, which serves the worst food on campus (another reason for my building anger).

I arrived with teachers greetings at the center of the floor and a groups of ‘Old people’ sitting to the left, students huddled to the right. It was like those 6^th grade dances where the boys crowd to one side and the girls crowd to the other, and a few brave or maybe just ‘nothing to loose’ sorts dance a bit, awkwardly in the middle.

I sat and then decided to actually say hi to these Oldies and was surprised to find one of them to be in the shape of my Cooking class teacher. In fact it was my teacher, mouth gaping in between words and eyes twinkling. I said hi and he gave me some pictures that we had taken last week. The night before he had mentioned that his wife had not done a very good job at the taking the picture and someone might have been missing a arm or half a body. Of course she thought she did a splendid job, and went as far as to say that it was very artistic! In fact it wasn’t poorly shot… but on closer look there was something missing, not just a arm or part of one’s body but all but a few strands of hair from Nicholous, one of the students. And it wasn’t because the camera view was too small, because instead of Nick there was a nice empty space of wall on the opposite side of the picture, just big enough to fit a full grown person… so I guess she just decided to make an artistic decision and take poor Nick out of the picture.

After Ma Laoshi got me warmed up to talking to Old folks, the Teachers introduced themselves and told everyone how great we were and then explained that we needed to pair up. I chose a old but not too old lady who to my surprise was very energetic, expressive and very willing to give out compliments. We talked nonestopped for over an hour and in fact she had me talk for most of the time, just about life in America, in China etc. But I did get her to admit she likes to cook, so we discussed our favorite tastes and ingredients. Oh it turned out to be a blast and I was so close to being a complete grentch about it…..

Skiing in Haerbin is not just about skiing....

2008-11-30T01:02:00.001-08:00

It’s been a while since I last wrote. I guess I haven’t been terribly busy but have been going out more trying to enjoy the last few weeks we have in Haerbin. Last week I went skiing for the first time in my life. Jon and Amy (two fulbrighers), one our teachers that we call FangZi (which means house) and I all took a 3 hour train ride to a small skiing mountain called Yaboli. It was the first weekend of skiing for Haerbin so the train was packed with families (really mostly men) and their ski or snowboard gear. The train was extremely festive with groups of people playing cards, eating breakfast and generally making lots of noise. My first time up on skis, before I even got up on the chair lift, I slid down a small slope and in an attempt not to hit other tourists I fell to the ground desparately grabbing at snow to slow my speed. After that I was mostly alright, I learned how to stop and even made it up to the higher slopes. The hardest part was after falling and tumbling down a particularly steep slope you got up to find your skis 20 feet above you left on the top of the slope! Then trying to put the skis back on while balancing with one foot in the air. At one point a Chinese woman spent at least 10 minutes with me helping to get my skis back on. She had lots of suggestions but I was pretty useless and I think it made her quite frustrated.

Our first night at the slopes we went to a restaurant with a group of loud and fraternity-like middle-age men. We ended up staying at the same hotel as them and they insisted that we spend some time talking and drinking with them. Every few minutes they lifted they’re small glasses of beer and cried out ‘ganbei’ the equivalent to our ‘cheers’ except that it is expected that you down your drink. This is perhaps why they use smaller 3-shot glasses to drink beer with – in order to limit the amount of beer they consume. Whether that is really the reason or not it doesn’t seem to work because they still went through a few cases of large 40oz bottles of Harbin beer. One of the negatives about being a foreigner in China is that you’re always receiving requests for ‘ganbei’ and usually those that are most drunk are most eager to talk and most difficult to understand. Despite all of the excitement and attention I retired early and ducked out on a number of ‘ganbei’ opportunities.

Baked potatoes, stir-fry and arranged marriages

2008-11-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

The weeks seem to be going by rather quickly - which I'm happy about. I'm ready to move on to life where I'm not stuck in a dorm with 30 University students and no kitchen!! Also looking forward to a visit home over the Christmas holidays. I miss wine, beer, food and mostly friends and family. Luckily I had a small taste of home this past week when I received a small package from my parents containing a bottle of Three Floyd's Alpha King beer which never tasted so good, and who knew you could send beer through the mail!!
Other than dreaming about home-cooked meals I've been continuing my studies in Chinese in a snowy, icy Haerbin. Yesterday I woke up to fresh sheets of ice covering the streets and the sidewalks and the realization that while the Chinese are a bit too eager to put an extra helping of salt on their stir-fry there seems to be a shortage for preventing hospitalizing slips and falls. Or maybe they just have a good sense of humor - as I walked... or skid rather, to class I was amused at the hundreds of students, some wearing high heels slowly making their way through the icy terrain all wearing a look of concentration and fear! Later-on I found that not all walkways were left untouched. Outside of our dormitory I found our small Ayi scraping ice off of the sidewalks with a small ice-pick.... And on other sidewalks there were signs of efforts to scrape the ice away - small scratches at the ice surface that looked like dug into the side walk leaving small animal looking hieroglyphics.
So it has been cold here but apparently not as cold as recent years. Haerbin receieves cold winds from the Siberia and has an average winter temperature of -18 degrees celsius which is about 0 degrees Fahrenheit. But it's probably only about 0 Celsius right now (32 Fahrenheit).
The food hasn't been bad here but I am looking forward to some good home cooking. Lately I've been eating a lot of baked sweet potatoes for breakfast or lunch and for dinner finding small stir-fry stations who usually cook something up using fresh vegetables and a simple homemade sauce. There's a small potato bake near my school so every morning I visit the two women who run the stall and pick from a batch of piping hot fat sweet potatoes! They've come to expect my visit and are now concerned if I don't show up at my normal time. The trick is to show up right when they're pulling the potatoes out but before a crowd rushes down to consume them all! Which is often difficult in a country with 1.5 billion people!
The stir-fry stations are also quite amazing. There is one that makes stir-fried noodles - whole made noodles with vegetables and a stewed beef. As a chinese roadside chef there is little time to rest. Throughout the day it is one dish after another and the speed at which two or three men/women can make a dish is quit amazing. One cutting vegetables and preparing small oils or sauces to be used in the dish when ready, another kneading the dough, then pounding it into a long strip, pulling at it to make a arms length rope, folding it and pulling again so that it is now two long ropes, folding and pulling again until there is a pile of noodle that in under a minute were transformed from a blob of dough! I wonder if the italians have any sort of methods like that when they make their noodles? I always thought they rolled the dough flat to cut strips. Actually the proper name of the above chinese noodles is lamian meaning pulled (la) noodles (mian). The young chef that I like the most does this process with extreme vigour and excitement (he must love his job). After pulling the dough to his wingspan length he slabs the rope of dough down on to the table giving it and those around him a shock! He quickly then makes the noodles tosses them in the already blazing wok and engages in a fiery battle of producing the meal. The fire envelops the whole wok at certain points in the process as he waves his wand like metal ladle! It's almost like Harry Potter, and reminds me of when Tom used to carry around a ladle that he claimed was his wand or weapon of some sort. In the end it's a pretty decent meal, fun to watch simple but good. When I went this past week he had been replaced by a grumpy looking large boned lady. I inquired after him and found that he had taken a 3 day train back to his hometown in the South of China. His parents had arranged a meeting for a perspective wife. If they like each other he may never come back! Hopefully he will make her happy with some good cooking!
Arranged marriages are still very common in rural areas although nearly unheard of in the cities. While many city-dwellers were once from the country-side there is a huge gap not only in material wealth between urban and rural but also a gap in cultural ideas and practices. The rural poor have never had proper land rights that would allow them to organize cooperatives or lease land for the more efficient production that could then be used to enter food markets. Because of this many are tied to the land and if there is low production many farmers seek jobs in the burgeoning construction or manufacturing industry often leaving families back in the countryside. China recently changed land rights so that farmers can now lease, subcontract or trade their land that the government has partitioned for them. Not sure if this will change things but if may lead to larger profits in the rural areas but could also lead to pooling of money and land into fewer and fewer hands... And perhaps the end of the rural culture, heritage and way of life. I'll have to get out there before it does!

Russian experiences in China

2008-11-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

Hello!!
It's been an exciting week, what with the election and all. I had a very hard time getting work done but I think I did well on my test yesterday morning and am now ready for my weekend. We're going bowling in a little more than an hour which will be really exciting. I've been missing home a lot lately so I think bowling will provide a bit of that American lifestyle that I've been missing! And who can forget Raffie's great song 'I like to go bowling with my friend Burt'.
Besides the election this week was pretty normal. It has become extremely cold lately with last night getting down close to zero!! I've been slowly adding layers and layers of clothing and have now found that I can barely move when I get outside. Still have not bought mittens though.
Last week we went to the Russian area of town, which has also been turned into the tourist district. I think you can see some pictures of it on picasso (see the link to the right). Besides the colorful neon Chinese signs it really feels like you're in a European pedestrian walkway. Old architecture, spiraling towers and detailed statues staring down from the three/four story buildings. We decided to try out the 'best' Russian restaurant in town which was situated in a beautiful pre-war Russian building. Inside had a 1960s-bar and the waitresses were dressed in a strange almost Polish looking formal dress. When I asked them what they were wearing they explained that it was in fact Haerbin dress - which I guess is a mix of Russian and Chinese influence. Well I wouldn't be got dead in it... After walking past the bar we went up a staircase, the walls covered with old-timey photographs. The decor fit together really well.... until I noticed the huge fake tree that split through the staircase... I never have quite understood Chinese ideas of decoration, they always come off as being a littlle bit of an overkill. Well I guess I should explain that this is mostly in areas that cater to toursits - they must have a very skewed view of us.
Actually I'm finding this to be more and more true. For instance the few Muslims I've come across in China think that we equate Mustlim with terrorist - which is a pretty understandable viewpoint given our countries actions and the media coverage of America.
We finally ordered food at the Russian restaurant, and after all that fanfare I was quite dissapointed. The food would compare to a normal diner in the states. We had salmon that was overcooked and everything was doused in Mayonaisse!!
Ironically when I got to back to the dorm and went to make some coffee (Peet's!!!) I found some Russians (Palin would not have been happy) in our kitchen cooking up a storm. There were about 15 bottles of empty Haerbin beer but only two people in the kitchen.... but they seemed quite sober still. One of them was quite fat and the other lean very European looking, with a face covered in red pockmarks. The skinny one made the food while the fat one watched, ate and drank.... probably a common scenario. they offered me food and even Russian cheese - which also was not that good.... they seemed to like it though, and as the skinnier one continued to burn their potato and cabbage pancake-like mash I thought to myself 'I guess you like whatever you convince yourself is good'.

Left Out!

2008-11-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

Left out – so I feel left out of the events at home. As my friends gear up for one of the greatest events in American history (maybe overstated), many of them with tickets to the Obama party in Chicago after his supposed win, and as the whole world holds it’s breath, I sit here in Haerbin . It seems amazing that the whole world cares about what is going on in America. I received an email from a friend in South Africa the other day urging me to educate myself about the election, and make the right choice, which he then stated was Obama. The combination of economic crisis, nearly 7 years of war and 8 years of ‘us against the world’ policies has created a lot of resentment and fear. The world-wide excitement also has something to do with Obama’s upbringing and the way he grapples with issues that are so close to people. He represents a world which is one body of different parts all required and making an impact. This crisis is showing just how dependant everyone is. There is a saying in China, when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. I think this has shown to be true but the reverse is becoming more and more possible too. Crisis in other countries are only worsening the situation for everyone including America. And now China’s economy has slowed. The one thing that could help the situation the most is if China’s economy really started spending, if they’re population started spending.

It is scary to be seeing these changes, but the world needs it and it’s even more exciting to have someone like Obama leading it. This campaign has been unique for many reasons but I think the biggest reason is because of the mass participation in politics and the passion that has been put in by people seeking an idea bigger than either candidate. The idea that we can transform politics and politics can transform the world. Specifically I think this has represented a social change where people are beginning to realize that they must ‘think beyond our navels’ that our life is related to others lives. That the Midwest manufacturing depression is related to global events. While there are skeptics, I among them, the shear numbers of grassroots support that Obama has built, the number of donations he has received, it’s as if he has built a movement. But this movement will only really start after the election, and the supporters of this movement will be expecting a lot. They’ll be expecting to continually play an important part in politics and I’m not sure how that will play out but it will be good for a country that has not been engaged for the last 8 years (and longer really). This will also require reconciliation between the two parties and the supporters of the two parties. And this is where I’m also happy to have Obama as our candidate. I think he has a real ability to reconcile, to understand the other and find common ground.

We’re watching the election in another student’s room, who has somehow been able to get CNN through our slow internet connection. He actually voted for McCain and his whole family are big McCain supporters. So I asked him how he felt about having Obama as our next president. He said, I don’t mind, there are things I don’t agree with, but I’m mostly just afraid of who he will pick for our Justices. I’m also afraid of a Democratic president with a majority Democratic congress. With no checks and balances I think the country will become more polarized.

These concerns I really understand, and my hope is that Obama’s grassroots type of politics will continue and that he will continue to keep an ear to the ground so that we can reconcile the country and return America to a place where we can all be proud. Where other countries respect our way of life and where we respect theirs.

So I am particularly missing home right now, missing history and apparently missing hanging with Opera at the Obama rally in Chicago (Becca walked in with her!!!). And I wont be able to be apart of the day after election which may be even more important. As it looks more and more likely that Obama will win (they just announced Ohio and Penn) I wonder how the grassroots networks and the huge political capital will be spent by Obama and the democratic party. Will it be used to create a new sort of politics? Where there is more participation? It could be a real historical change and I’m not there to be apart of it. Instead I’m in Haerbin – a media dead zone. Still content but just a little lonely.

Environment and China's role - when the dust settles

2008-10-31T23:15:00.001-07:00

After a great refreshing week in Shanghai and Hangzhou I am now back in the deep cold of Haerbin. It seemed to have dropped 20 degrees since I left and it probably didn’t help that in Shanghai and Hangzhou I enjoyed sunny 70 degree weather. Today was especially depressing because the smog seems to have crept in during the day… it is 5pm and already completely dark and the air seems to be thick and soupy. On my way to class just an hour ago I had to check my glasses for condensation, finding none I realized that the whole world had turned into a hazy almost hallucinogenic scene. Were we only to add a soundtrack composed of songs like the Door’s Riders of the Storm, or Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb it could have fit nicely into a Chinese version of a 90s stoner movie. Unfortunately I live in reality, most of the time, and had to face the reality that my eyes were slightly burning from either the fact that it did feel like I was drunk or stoned, or that in fact the haze was a damaging toxin… Either way not a pretty picture, and I really shouldn’t give you such a bad picture of Haerbin. Most days are not like this, in fact the past week has been cold but bearable – sunny with a light breeze (which apparently helped with the pollution). But it did scare me a bit. It makes you wonder why humans are incapable of realizing the devastating affects that we’ve had on this earth – even when it is right before our eyes and affecting our health and wellbeing. For China’s case perhaps people are just too rapped up in the rapid change that is taking place, too absorbed in the ‘work or die’ philosophy, not a bad philosophy really, but anything that is taken to an extreme seems to end badly. China also claims that it is just following the same path as other nations including the US, which is partly true. But does that exempt them from the present, where climate change are endangering thousands of species, lives and the world as we know it? The past, present and future need to be seen as a whole piece that all affect each other and be seen as connected. We were taught in school to learn from the past, make sure autrocities such as the Great Wars never happened again, that the Hollocaust would not repeat. Yet our leaders have done a very poor job of doing this.

For China’s part they claim they are following our past – they are industrializing and in the past， industrializing countries have developed at the expense of the environment and human rights. They look to the past and say: see, you did it, we are only following your example. But examples show both want others have done and the consequences of them, they show both good and bad and we can learn off of the whole story of the past, not just take it as an example to follow but an example not to follow. Take the dust bowl during the great depression – caused by over-farming, a certain obsession with available cheap land and the prospect to make money and a certain amount of government support for this – coupled with a major drought it led to one of the largest attacks on mother earth and worsened an economic environment that turned into the Great Depression. It was said that dust from the Midwest was being blown across America and the Atlantic and could be found all across Europe. Oddly enough China has its own share of dust that has slowly turned from nuisance to a health threat. Dust from the Gobi dessert, which is the fastest growing dessert in the world, has reached San Francisco and Portland. While this phenomenon cannot be solely blamed on the Chinese many of China’s environmental problems and linked health problems have been caused by overfarming, overgrazing and a widespread destruction of forests. Some of the same causes of the Dust Bowl in

America

.

The government is paying attention, and perhaps the greatest positive impact has been the Olympics which cast a broad light on China and its affect on the world. In hopes of stemming any large dust-storm that would have disgraced China’s leaders during the Olympics, reforestation projects were a major part of the great clean-up of Beijing. But these projects must be sustained. And they cannot only focus on making things look better for an international audience. Perhaps more pressing is that dust from the Gobi dessert is combining with toxins from China’s great industrial expansion. Toxins like cadmium, lead and even arsenic are catching a ride on the flying dust that enters Beijing, and has created major health problems in areas as far away as Korea. The problem has been so pressing that Korea now has 5 seasons one being marked by huge dust-storms that create a veil over the sky. It sounds not too far off from what I have experienced in Haerbin. Although it seems to only occur once a week it still scares me to think of how it will be in the next 10 years if growth continues in China and they continue following the ‘path’ of other industrialized countries. This excuse I find very troubling and extremely pointless. China has developed faster than any other country in the world and has the largest population in the world. How can it be claimed that they are following the path of others? I don’t buy it and my hope is that China will also realize the untruths of this statement. And there are reasons why they may soon do this: one is because of the international pressure to recognize and work toward ending environmental and human rights abuses. China will receive more and more international scrutiny as it develops and attempts to be recognized as a developed country.

The Olympics was a great example of how China reacts to interest. In hoping to dispel public opinion that China is a nation out of control – unable to control a economy gone wild and the threatening environmental issues – China spent millions in renovating Beijing and reversing years of environmental neglect. The hope is that this created a sustained culture that views the environment within the goal of development.

In a years time Shanghai will host the World’s Expedition with a focus on the environment and conservation efforts. I recently visited the Urban planning museum in Shanghai where there was a three story shrine to the planning and projected future projects for the Expedition. While most of it was propaganda aimed at creating national pride and what I think is a false sense of accomplishment (again here accomplishment of economy trumping all other affects of that economic growth), some of the plans were very impressive and the attention given to green buildings and sustainability were refreshing in a media environment that only centers on China’s growing environmental problems. Over one hundred years ago another city in the Midwest hosted the Worlds Expedition and was immediately catapulted to the status of one of the World’s great cities. Hopefully Shanghai will show the world a new China that recognizes both the successes and failures of the past, understands the present age and looks to the future to create a new path for development. If China and it’s growing economic centers continue to compare themselves only to the path of other industrialized nations China will be limited by that definition both psychologically and physically. However if they create they’re own path and own up to that path I think some really positive changes in the way we view development could take place.

As I sit in my dorm room I can see a devastating future just by rubbing my hand across my desk. I cleaned just a few days ago and already there is a layer of dust that has accumulated from the outside air. When will the dust accumulate to a point where there is no reversing it? My hope is that all countries will realize we don’t want to wait for that day, and that all of us have a role to play. China has the opportunity to show the world that it's not afraid to make a new path for development, one where environment and industrialization are not seen as opposing forces.

Beauty is found in HangZhou

2008-10-22T21:47:00.001-07:00

i'm in Hangzhou a beautiful city just south of Shanghai. Hongzhou holds a special place in my heart for a number of reasons. I first became interested in the Chinese language and culture because I met Hong and Daquan at the Teashop in Evanston. Hong is actually from Hongzhou and told me stories of the beautiful scenery and women that supposedly road bicycles down the car-less lanes wearing traditional long flowing dresses. Hangzhou is along a man-made lake that was built by one of the dynastic emperors. small islands and man-made platforms are connected by beautiful rainbow shaped bridges. Mountains look down over the lake and the numerous small banana shaped boats that slowly make there way through the completely motionless water. small temples and pagodas are spotted throughout the mountainside. It's an amazing place that i can never seem to completely get my mind or heart around. That being said it has changed drastically in the last 3 years. My first visit to Hangzhou was three years ago. After a summer in Taiwan I spent 2 weeks traveling around China. Because of the stories I had heard about Hangzhou, I made it a priority to visit. After staying with a professor from Nanjing that I had met at Northwestern I traveled to Hangzhou on a 3 hour train ride. I remember being crammed into a overcrowded train, greatly afraid that my belongings would all be stolen, but feeling content that I was traveling on my own through a vast country towards the place where my interest in China originated. I don't quite remember how I made it from the Hangzhou train station to a hotel but i think somehow the professor in Nanjing had a friend who owned a business in Hangzhou and he/she arranged an employee to help me out. So two employees, one a quirky man, the other a quiet, conservative, young and beautiful looking women (the kind Hong had told me about), helped find me a very affordable hotel and then introduced me to some of there other employees. After that I somehow convinced the woman employee to get lunch with me - I insisted that she give the recommendation and I could pay, however I think she ended up paying....
The next day her and I spent the whole day walking around the West Lake. We went to one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world, ate street food and Hangzhou delicacies, took a ride on a gondola type boat, browsed the silk and pearl markets.... crossed over rustic bridges, old Chinese architectural relics, and crossed into small tea-shops. we had lunch in the mountains above the city with a small farmer who served us home grown vegetables and home-raised chicken. We drank LongJin tea (the tea that is grown in the area) while looking down on the lake and the city below. Basically had one of the most romantic days of my life with a complete stranger who I couldn't fully communicate with fully. We spoke over my broken Chinese and her Hangzhou accented Chinese. She explained the history and significance of the temples we visited and i tried to give her stories into my life. The next morning I left for Shanghai and never saw her again....
Now I'm back in Hangzhou under very different circumstances. I'm staying with another Fulbrighter - named jacob. and am a little more independant. Hangzhou has also changed, no longer rustic, all has transformed into a clean and well planned Chinese city that has notes of Europe, Chinese imperialism and overall is absolutely beautiful. The gardens are well kept and small shops poke out between the trees and shrubs. While it has lost some of its untouched feeling it has become even more beautiful but more expensive. Cars have taken over the bicycles - one of the few annoying pieces of development - but the islands are more accessible and the traditional Chinese structures have been re-built or restored. There are now dozens of houses that serve 'farm-house food', but do not live up to their precursors - which were literally farmers houses that then began serving food to those that passed by. While some of the uniqueness of this experience is now gone, it is a natural trade-off for beautification of the area. So despite the changes I would still say it is my favorite place in China and I encourage you to come visit - I will take you on a tour!

A sidenote on Shanghai

2008-10-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

After my last post I began to think that maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh on Chinese consumerism. And I don’t want to give my family, friends in America this tainted view of China. After-all I came here because of my love for the Chinese people and culture that I found in America and my previous trips to Taiwan and China. This is a culture that is still living it is just being infiltrated with a western culture of individualism and consumerism as well. All of which are not necessarily bad. I think I portray them in a negative way because I fear that the culture I love will disappear with westernization, and that the mistakes of industrial nations will be repeated by the Chinese. In a lot of ways this is true – China has polluted every river-way and water-way in the east and filled in the largest canyon in the world, all in the name of economic might. At the same time they have lifted millions out of poverty. However I don’t believe that every country has to follow the same industrialized path that America and Europe did. After-all, it was all an experiment that was not completely a success – especially considering the Armageddon like predictions that some scientists are having for our world. But because of our mistakes and path to industrialization, China now has an excuse for its disregard for environment and human rights violations. While the excuse ‘we’re just following the path you did’ leaves a sour taste in you mouth, you can’t exactly blame them for wanting to move forward at any cost. And so the consumerism that I complain or worry about is just imported from the west, so in a way it’s partly our fault!

First Impressions of Shanghai

2008-10-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Shanghai late on Friday night. I came with 4 other Haerbin students, all looking forward to getting back into a semi-western looking city. While Haerbin is very western in many ways there are some things that I’m missing about the western world: like sit-down toilets or public toilets that down smell like they’re infested with small gremlins… and some semblance of traffic control…

Well at any rate I’m in Shanghai and its pretty impressive. Masses of people, consumerism to the max… A city outrageously proud of its history and its people but at the same time obsessed with whatever is new and trendy. Shanghai’s history is marred in segregation. During the 20s and 30s the British empire constructed international zones including a British, French and American concession. Shanghai was far from a Chinese city and actually had a China town where Westerners could go for Chinese products and food. During the rise of Nazism in Europe, Jews flocked to Shanghai. There is still a small European Jewish settlement in Shanghai and numerous Jewish Synagogues. After the Mao take-over in 1949 the foreign control and influence vanished, and Shanghai was labeled as the epitome of negative Western influence that needed to be reversed. And it’s quite easy to understand this negative reaction to the west. Chinese in Shanghai were treated mostly like dogs or sub-human species. There culture and social customs were considered backwards. 50 years later a new very proud Shanghai culture has arisen and the architectural relics from the past are being reconstructed and the history is being rewritten – including the history of the international settlements . We went to an Urban planning museum yesterday and there was absolutely no mention of persecution, segregation and conflict that has marred Shanghai’s past – both during international settlements and Mao’s re-Chinification ( I made up that word). Everything is painted as ‘as it was supposed to be’, and there is immense pride in the future development of the city. It’s exciting but also a bit terrifying at the pace of development and the movement of consumerism. While it drives economies (as in the US) it also seems to promise a populace a world that is not real. Everything can be bought, including happiness, beauty and people. The world is a fairyland and all you need to do to take part in it is spend money. It will be interesting to be here for the next year and I’m hoping I will get a deeper understanding of the culture and people – for right now I think I only see the very outer layer of Shanghai social fabric.

DanDong to DaLuDao Part II

2008-10-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

After our hiking experience overlooking the Korean border we hopped on a boat that took us out to an island between N. Korea and China called DaLuDao. Apparently the name ‘Lu’ which means deer comes from the shape of the island which resembles that of a deer. We arrived at a fairly desolate island only to find a very western Japanese run hotel. Completely out of place. It’s like finding yourself stranded on a deserted island (think ‘Outcast’) only to find a complete hotel resort with a full staff waiting to take your orders. Besides some of the locals living on the island we were the only ones there. And the hotel was completely ours. Meals were provided and a warm personal shower – something that can be hard to find. These comforts however only lasted a short while as the power was turned off to the whole island during the middle of the first night we were there. I realized this while I tried to find the bathroom at 4am (among verbal attacks at the light switch) – I’m not sure if I actually did make it there…. That same night a bonfire was prepared in our honor on the beach. We had simply asked a local business to prepare this for us, and expected a simple bonfire where we could sit around talk, share stories, etc. Instead they prepared a rave-like beach party. I walked along the beach hoping to breathe in some cool sea air and listen to the waves. But as I got closer to the bonfire location all I could hear was the massive pounding of unregulated base. The bonfire party was equipped with a full DJ, karaoke and a massive fire that reminded me of the last seen in Star Wars Return of the Jedi where they cremate Darth Vader and then go party with the little fury teddy-bear like creatures – yes it was that weird. But, after we got over the initial shock of it all, it turned out to be an ok night. We watched some ridiculously large and cheap Chinese fireworks and drank some especially disgusting locally brewed beer. At the end of the night I took a long walk to the water and was surprised to find how far the ocean had receded in just the last few hours. Because the beach is so flat when the tide is out you have to walk 10-15minutes across warm quick-sand-like beach. It’s actually very nice foot therapy.
The next day 5 other students and I rented three bicycles made for two and traveled around the island played in tide pools, captured crabs (only to let them go again) and talked with some fishermen who had spent their whole lives living, fishing and surviving on the island. I met an old couple who had three kids who now all have their own families on the island. The couple’s house was atop a cliff overlooking the sea where two dozen small wooden fishing boats were anchoring. They lived mostly off of what they were growing, raising or catching: Fish, chickens, and a beautiful garden!! The garden reminded me of home. (by the way right now I’m listening to NPR ‘e-town’ and they’re honoring JFK Jr. and talking about his conservation efforts, especially the Hudson and E. Coast fishing ecosystem, his group ‘river keepers’ etc. it’s sounds pretty amazing and is about saving placed like the island DaLuDao that I’m writing about).
On that note I’m going to get going. Need to study and I’ve been spending too much time reading the nytimes and writing emails. I’ll forget my Chinese! Seems like I’ve been forgetting my English too, as there are words that just don’t seem to be there anymore…
p.s. Ate some amazing blue crabs that reminded me of Maryland!! No old bay seasoning though
Also pictures of DanDong can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/sam.pickerill

Travels to Dandong Part 1

2008-10-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

It feels like ages since I last wrote, and I think it has been almost two weeks now, but the days are so packed that I can’t keep track of which day is which and will likely not be able to remember what has passed in the last two weeks. This is probably a strength and a weakness: the ability/tendency to live and forget that we have lived. I’ll start with our trip to Dandong. Dandong is a Chinese city that is just across the river from North Korea. To get there we boarded a crowded overnight sleeper train where we were joined by a group of bus drivers all traveling to Dandong to fetch there Buses. They quickly showed us how to travel in style. Riding on a train in China is like going out for a picnic: food, drinks and loud conversations. In my first encounter with one of the bus drivers (pictured left) I received a welcoming hello followed by ‘wow you speak Chinese’ then immediately followed by a beer. The whole corridor that lined our stacked beds there were family, friends, and even strangers sitting against windows eating a wide range of Chinese snacks and washing it down with beer. The only hiccup in this moving carnival of fun was when the train stopped to let off/take on more passengers. These stops were followed by a groan as doors to the bathroom area were opened and the sitting stench slowly crept into our living area. Bathrooms on trains are a hole in the floor (more or less) and people have very poor aim (understandably especially after drinking), when the train is not moving there is no air flow to carry the smells away. After a night of festivities we arrived in Dondong. I was promised that if I’m ever on Bus 102 in Haerbin the fare will be free. We said goodbye through smiles and waves and took off our tour of Dandong.
We ended up spending only a few hours in Dandong and instead took a bus to the coast of China and North Korea where we hiked a small mountain overlooking the Chinese/Korean border. We were greeted by groups of local men scrabbling up the mountain side. They claimed that this was an everyday occurrence and that at this particular season there were hoards of nuts to be found, picked and consumed. We also ran into a number of small Buddhist temples that seemed to contain a modicum of life and perhaps even religious practice. I always have a hard time understanding the state of religion in China. Does it exist? And if it does are there remnants of the old traditions that were all but destroyed during the cultural revolution? What are the interests of those that have come back to it? Really its tuff analyze too much because what do I really know about Buddhism and Religion in China? Nonetheless it’s hard not to see it all as cultural tourism. During the Olympics China’s 40some ethnic groups were displayed in their ‘traditional’ dress. A celebration of the uniqueness of humankind seems odd coming from communist party that once sought to destroy it all. A good step forward, but was the purpose to play on the imaginations of the viewers? To sell the world a dream about China’s openness to non-Han populations and promote the reproduction of these ‘traditions’ for tourist purposes. When we walked up the mountain near the Chinese Korean border we were met by women handing out prayer strings to tie to the trees, and then teaching those willing how to prey. A beautiful moment, until you realize that they are hostile to those who refuse to participate. Why? Because they expect pay for service. Something is lost in this transaction. It become impersonal. It’s hard to say who’s at fault here, the complicated history and the recent surge of economic thinking and power in China make it impossible to point fingers, and perhaps I’m just being naïve about religious tradition, but it does make one feel a little disheartened.

I'll have to write another post on the rest of the trip, which was very enjoyable.....

More food... and preparations for a trip to the N. Korea border

2008-09-28T03:47:00.000-07:00

This post was from Sept. 24 my internet access was down so is only being posted now... I have since returned from the trip to DanDong and have stepped into N. Korea territory.... I'll write a post about this later - have to study now.

In less than an hour I will be taking an overnight train to DanDong which is a stones through away from North Korea. We're spending our 4 day break there and will be visiting some nature sites (a forest) and some small beach resorts. Apparently the bridge that was used to ship military equipment from China to North Korea during the Korean war is still partly intact - half of it was destroyed by an American bomb....
I'm looking forward to the break from class and student life and will hopefully get to enjoy a bit of the outdoors before it because frigid. Haerbin is only getting colder from here on out. Today was a nice day but still colder than I'm used to for the end of summer.
Today after class a friend and I decided to break from tradition and skipped the cafeteria lunch and found a small restaurant with a large stream of people flowing in and out, shouting orders, prices and comments. We got caught up in the stream and decided to stay. Turned out to be a good decision because the food was excellent. Usually if there is a large crowd in/around a restaurant in China it means that either the food is excellent or extremely cheap.
We order two plates of xiaolongbao - which turned out to be the only thing they were making and selling. Xiaolongbao is basically stuffed dough that is steamed, kind of like Runza (if you've had one) but steamed, and there are different types of stuffing (rarely do you find the original xiaolongbao which is from Shanghai and stuffed with crab meat! and is very pricey). We ordered two different plates one with shitake mushrooms with pork and one with shitake mushrooms with a lovely leafy vegetable. You can then make your own small sauce of chillies, vinegar (yes Catherine vinegar is the key here!!) and soy sauce and dip the small dumplings in the sauce. It's delicious, but only if they're being made in front of you... They have nearly the same thing at the cafeteria and it tastes like a combination of soggy cereal and overcooked ground round. I still think the Chinese cafeteria's are a slight step up from those in America (although Tom would probably disagree).
We're about ready to leave now and I have not yet packed!!

How to Cook!!

2008-09-23T05:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had two cooking experiences. The first was part of a small and informal Chinese cooking class that my program is offering. And the second was at the house of a young family in Haerbin. The class was particularly interesting because of the old man who taught the class. Oddly enough, all of the participants of this class are male. There are five of us in total and every Friday night we walk over to our teacher’s house to learn a different dish. This past Friday was our first class, and we prepared a fairly simple stir-fry. Our teacher is a Chinese relic – he must be 80 plus years old and speaks and acts exactly how you would expect an old wise Chinese man to speak and act. He speaks slowly in short concise phrases that seem well thought out. It’s as if he’s reading from a prepared poem – poetic cooking instructions (my next book). The emphasis he puts on the tones in the language produces a rolling melodic feel which draws you in more in more – whether you understand what he’s saying or not. Perhaps it calls back to a time when spoken word was at the heart of society – meaning story telling, lesson-giving etc. Not to say that spoken word has lost its importance, it just seems like it’s been a while since I was sitting around a camp fire sharing my experience through crafted spoken word, or sharing knowledge that had been passed down to me. Seems to me like there is a lack of that kind of sharing of knowledge these days. In a knowledge rich and hungry world, have we forgotten the most basic tradition of passing on knowledge? That of story-telling? (Becca loves story telling and this week was at a workshop on story-telling, so it has been on my mind.) It seems as though story-telling hasn’t completely died out, at least not in China because our cooking teacher is a master of it. His crafted instruction was accompanied by very crafted and careful preparation of the meal.
We began the lesson with tea and a brief introduction on the ingredients: the importance of good quality fresh ingredients and preparation techniques – use of the knife, types of slicing and chopping, washing of vegetables, and order of preparation. He then began the preparation and frying of our dish. The dish took less than 10 minutes to prepare – we had stir fried bean-sprouts, with thinly sliced pork, and green onions, in a “special sauce”. He came close to us and said in a mysterious whisper (which is funny because he’s 90% deaf) “ Do you know why when I make this dish it always tastes better than the restaurant’s”, we all shrugged, obviously not knowing why, and crowded around him waiting for the answer. He then said triumphantly “It’s because I add the right amount of vinegar!.... and my ingredients are of better quality”. I thought to myself, not much of secret culinary weapon… vinegar? But his preparation of this seemingly simple dish did seem to have a higher goal than just a preparation of a meal. Each step was carefully measured, not with a measuring cup or any sort of units, but with care, experience and commitment, so that not only the proportions were correct but the sizes, shapes, placement, and finally most importantly the timing was correct. After three other students, hurriedly prepared the same dish we then discovered the importance of his magical ‘vinegar’. None of ours tasted as good as his…. Although simple, his trick to making a great dish is something that requires more than just getting the ingredients together. It requires the right preparation, proportions and timing. One flavor cannot overpower the others, an ingredient added too late leaves that flavor lacking and brings out other unwanted flavors. All pieces are important to the meal and when carefully measured produce great food:
‘for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.’ (I believe this is in the Bible somewhere)
And I guess we shouldn’t be surprised by any of this. ‘Of course, isn’t it obvious that patience, time and effort produce something of quality?!’ Yes, but it does seem that humans are very good at getting the proportions wrong (whether in cooking or in life) and putting emphasis in the wrong place, and over-looking events, details, people….
If it is patience and an even temperament that produced the most beautiful and full flavors, why are we humans so drawn to the extremes? This imbalance can be as obvious as religious extremism, (in America the Middle East, Europe… etc), and as subtle as a ‘bad taste’ in our daily lives…. And we’re probably not really aware of it… we’re not paying attention. I don’t know how this culinary story turned into a sermon…. But I’ve always thought that the preparation of food was something quite special and this old man reminded me how good food should be prepared: with a bit of love!
Thats why mom’s food is so damn good!

An average day.... in the life of Sammy

2008-09-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my 1:1 class (the public health professor). Another pretty interesting class – we spent an hour discussing AIDS and prevention methods, how migrant workers receive and use information, who the waitresses are and where they’re from… etc. It appears that just like America a wide range of birth-control practices are used and condom use (which is the only method that protects against disease) is high is some populations. As I said earlier the cost of condoms is often prohibiting as is the use of other birth-control methods, but the fact that condoms are sold at pubic locations is also prohibiting, especially for people from more traditional societies (as is the case of workers from rural areas). Even when given away free, as is done during AIDS information sessions, servers/workers shy away from taking any. My professor also doesn’t seem to know which birth-control method is used by the waiters/waitresses that she surveys (I would think that would be part of her survey). She suspects that if a waitress becomes pregnant and is not married she secretly has an abortion. So maybe little birth-control is used? I’ll have to look for a study on this. After discussing these issues for a while we went to a tea shop for the second hour of our class. I’m really beginning to enjoy her, in all her quirkiness – for instance she has false teeth and often plays with these with her tongue, and has a very interesting/ slightly wicked laugh. So after all my complaints I’m beginning to like her and she is beginning to like me. She even gave me some Chinese herbal medicine that I think is helping my sneezing fits that plague me every morning. There must be something in the air – I think it’s just dirt because one day of no dusting leaves a layer of dust/dirt on my desk, computer, etc.
It’s also suddenly become cold here, sweater/jacket weather. Cold enough to get you sniffing. I’ll have to buy a specially made goose-feather coat!
I have little else to say… I did find an organization that does some community volunteering so hopefully that will give me a good opportunity to get a deeper look into the Chinese life-style/ society and also give me Chinese practice!
Going to work the rest of the night on some homework and maybe some ping-pong if time allows!

China Public Health - surveys of health knowledge

2008-09-21T01:25:00.000-07:00

It’s been an eventful week, and I have yet to put any of it down in words. On Tuesday night I received a call from my public health teacher inviting me to take part in her/their AIDS education and survey activities. The next day directly after class I met her and 10 of her students and then drove to a large hotel/banquet hall in the middle of the city. Once inside the building we were taken to a large hall where four different platforms were set up, two of which looked like they would be hosting weddings and two others that were either birthday parties or some other festivity. Looking down on us were balconies that reminded me of an opera house. Hanging and crisscrossing in all directions were streamers and other superfluous decorations. We were told the hall staffed nearly 200 waiters/waitresses. We were there to provide health information regarding sexually transmitted diseases. Apparently, (and I was told this by some of the students) service work and especially waiting/staffing large restaurants/banquets is linked to a lack of general health knowledge and specifically health knowledge relating to HIV/AIDS. As we walked in the servers were lined up in an army style line while their boss – a very young and cosmopolitan looking man with cell phone in hand and sunglasses propped over gelled head – gave orders. This scene was followed by disappointment because of the 200 or so servers only 20 had shown up. My professor assumed that the owner may have had an impact on the turn-out (perhaps because of the loss of work-hours). After passing out a survey testing current health knowledge and some pamphlets about prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, we had a discussion with the manager and decided that we would come back later that afternoon when more of the servers would be able to join us. I unfortunately had class so I was not able to go. However this was my first insight into how surveys and public health research is done. My discussions with students on the way home unveiled that there really isn’t a study of anthropological health or ethnographic studies. Most of the health research is based on pointed surveys of populations. Maybe it’s the naïve idealistic American in me but all I feel like doing is asking people about their life… where did you grow up? When did you come to the city? How did you find your current job? Do you have kids? I guess that my assumption is that with a little time and effort, issues about HIV/AIDS and general health will eventually come out of those discussions. It’s been fun and useful to watch how surveys are done, and I will continue to work with that group (I still think this is an important part of health research) but I’m eager to utilize some Mandarin and see what’s on the mind of the ‘Fuwuyuan” (server) that serves the masses and then thank him/her for doing so.

Differences of Opinions - Public Health in China

2008-09-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

Since I last wrote my relationship with my one-on-one Chinese public health teacher has improved. She has started to share with me more nuanced information, and a slightly deeper analysis of some of the situations in China. For instance yesterday we talked about the affect of the one child one family policy on the use of condoms which also protect against sexually transmitted sexual disease. The name of the policy is a bit contentious because it assumes that children are only born within wedlock - I’m still not clear about how children are classified if they are born outside of wedlock i.e. whether this counts as a child for both the father and the mother, or whether they are forced to marry(by society, family or government) etc. These are things I’ll have to ask her to speak more clearly about. However, the policy has had devastating affects on the use of condoms because it stresses childbearing as the most important event to prevent. Not disease. The cheapest and most effective way to prevent childbearing is not condoms and therefore they are not commonly a first choice among sexually active adults. Additionally, rural married peasants receive subsidized IUDs (Intrauterine Devices) from their local family planning center. They do not receive condoms. This would not be a problem if all families were completely faithful. But like many societies undergoing economic change, husbands are migrant workers and work half of the year (the warm half) in the cities, and some (fathers and mothers) are tempted by other interests. I have not yet seen any stats on extramarital affairs, so I’m not sure how often this occurs.
My time spent with this professor has been more and more useful and interesting, and I’ve enjoyed hearing her analysis. This analysis has not been without an occasional generalization/stereotype, or what I see as oversimplification of the issue. For instance, last week I gave an oral summary of a report published in the Journal of Infectious Disease (one way that I’ve been able to gain her trust and support is by sharing information with her that she would otherwise not have much access to i.e journals written in English). The article was on internet sites that target homosexual men and are used to find friends, partners, and sex partners. It linked the use of these sites to a heightened risk of HIV infection. While there many reasons why this may or may not be true and why it is popular among homosexual men to use websites as a primary social/sexual network (the least among them the secrecy that is required to be homosexual in China), the reason my professor gave for homosexual men having a heightened risk of infection was an inability to control their sexual desires, and an inability to care or listen to advice about how to protect oneself and others from harmful sexually transmitted diseases. Now, I write this in translation so I don’t think her viewpoint is as harshly critical of homosexual men as it sounds in English, but this viewpoint I did disagree with. She did admit that a large problem is that they don’t think they’re at risk (which I think is common in America as well), but she didn’t think more information would necessary help, or that they would listen to advice from health experts. I don’t know much about the HIV epidemic that hit largely gay men in America but I know that the homosexual population organized and responded very effectively to the situation with the popularization of how to protect one-self and others. It makes me think that things are not as hopeless as she puts it here in china.
This is one area where we have disagreed; another is the usefulness of different types of research and information. Her bias is towards statistical information. This bias is understandable because she is an epidemiologist and statistician so her work deals largely with the use and production of statistics. While I agree that stats are important and can reveal useful information about a population, it fails to show the intricacies of the lives represented by numbers. Furthermore statistics in China can (not always) be used to control or to advance a national interest or stereotype. When stats are steeped in prejudice and stigma they only serve to reinforce those stigmas in the mind of a larger public. For instance surveys used to monitor populations would see the gay men in the paper above as first in foremost gay men. This determines their risk of infection and little else matters. However, the survey cannot uncover the daily economic toils, or psychological encounters that may or may not be more important in determining access to health information and the use of that information. My point is, is that I think you need both.
Although everything I have written so far about this professor seem terribly critical, she is actually quite wise and I’ve enjoyed our discussions. Her viewpoints also have there underlying reasons too, which I’m slowly uncovering.

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I’m sorry for talking so much about access to health, etc. But it’s been on my mind. Not much else has been happening here. It feels like fall (which it basically is) and I’m enjoying myself for the most part. Also, my dad is volunteering for the Obama campaign which I think is cool and I’m currently wearing my Obama/WhiteSox T-shirt… and the white sox beat the Yankees today 6-2. All is well.

A lesson on relationships

2008-09-13T03:21:00.001-07:00

I’m enrolled in 4 classes currently. One is focused on improving our fluency in Chinese, meaning that we’re learning more complicated grammar and a higher level of vocab. I’m also in a ‘reading newspaper’ class, where we read shortened newspaper stories, and discuss them. My third class is focused on improving/correcting our pronunciation. Chinese has four different tones that can change the meaning of the word depending on the tone. So you could think you’re saying something very clever when in fact you’re saying something very stupid – it all depends on the tone. OOOooohhmmmm!!
The final class I have is a one-on-one class with a professor of epidemiology and public health. This class aims at improving my vocab in the field I’ll be studying in China, and also serves as an introduction to public health in China. This is two hours of just her and me, with not much of an agenda other than having a conversation about the state of China’s public health system. It’s actually been quite difficult to navigate. In China there is a very different teaching philosophy and culture than in America. In America we’re encouraged to question, to answer questions, to expound our views as much as possible. So much so that there’s always that kid in class that you wish would just shut-up. In China, you listen, you take notes, and you do the work you’re told to do. There is little in the way of a relationship with the professor. I think this is changing in some of the major Universities like Beijing University, or Fudan University, but for the most part the professors words are not to be questioned. My roommate, who is Chinese, expressed this teaching culture to me and we discussed briefly what the teaching philosophy is in America. I think/hope that University is not to train someone to do a specific thing (it’s not a vocational school), but more importantly its purpose is to prepare a student for a life of learning and creating. My professor and I are working through these differences and I think we are slowly discovering how to make it work. I do not refrain from asking questions in any way, but I restrain myself slightly when I have differences in opinion and find ways to probe the issue without pushing my opposing opinion down her throat (which is really how discussions should be carried out in the first place). She also has adjusted, and I think in order to adjust she views me as a part professional (which I sort of am) and part student (which is also true). Our first meeting went far from well and exposed two other large gaps in our communication. The first was language. Yes, I’m becoming more and more proficient in Chinese, but understanding a woman with a different accent than I’m used to, and an advanced and sometimes specialized vocab (which I’m slowly learning) hasn’t been completely easy. She speaks little to no English which means every word that I don’t understand she has to wave hands, and talk in circles. This of course is frustrating for both of us. However this has not been the end to our frustration. Our very first meeting she had prepared a small introduction to epidemiology and public health in China. The introduction was cursory at best. I with my American mindset, insisted on a more in depth discussion of the subject – give me the juice, what’s really happening or not happening on the front-lines of the war against deadly infectious diseases, where’s all the drama I’ve been reading about. This was probably not the best way to navigate our relationship and she became defensive, and I became ever-more angry. And I think because of this she was not willing give the slightest bit of criticism of China, its government or the way infectious diseases have been handled. She claimed HIV was not a problem in China… the government hands out free drugs, services… everywhere. TB? The same. And migrant workers? The millions of rural peasants who crowd into the city to take part in the largest mass construction project the world has ever seen – that is the building of a 1.3billion strong nation – they’re all fine too. “No their life isn’t so good as mine, but they’re easily pleased.” “There are no problems in China.” Now I had read different and I “knew” better. However, knowledge is irrelevant if someone holds the key to furthering that knowledge and you haven’t yet convinced them to let you in. So I was taken aback, and then finally realized and learned/re-learned a lesson about the humility and trust that is necessary to build a positive relationship. We’ve moved past, or have found ways to deal with these differences, and I am continually building her trust in me and we have finally found ways to talk about sticky somewhat contentious health issues. For instance, I often start off discussing problems in America which by no coincidence also happen to be problems in China. It’s still a struggle because we have different ideas about what is ok to discuss, different opinions on the nature of disease and what forces (whether structural: poverty, or behavioral: drug use, selling of sex) are important in studying a disease. However, I’m enjoying it and have fond that the more effort I put in, the more effort she puts in and the more she is willing to discuss. It’s a pretty simple lesson, but it’s one that I/we sometimes forget in the US-culture of immediate access to information. The sharing of information demands a relationship, and a relationship demands attention, patience, and understanding.

Young at Heart... and currently young in general

2008-09-12T18:35:00.001-07:00

I’m currently living and studying at Haerbin Institute of Technology. Before my Fulbright grant starts I wanted to improve my Chinese a bit and so I’ve been spending most of my time in classes through the CET language program. We have roughly 25-30 students 8 of which are also on Fulbrights. Besides the Fulbrights, most of the students are study abroad student from American Universities. I was reminded yesterday how unique of an experience it is for me to be grouped with college students who have a very different prospective and goal for their study here. I had dinner with four other students, all Undergrads and mostly sophomores. We had just finished our first 'Chinese cooking' class, where we will be learning some of the techniques and styles that have sustained millions of people for the last few hundreds of years. After we ate, they were eager to go out, eat and drink in Haerbin's food culture. I decided to go home, because I had some work to do, but I was a little suprised by their excitement and almost Disiney style twinkle in their eyes. Just two semesters ago I was teaching University students, now I’m in class with them and some of them have better language skills than I do which completely flips the power dynamics that would be in place in any traditional society. Yes I’m only two years out of University myself, but for many of these students it’s there first time to China and their first time abroad. Most of them are 18/19 years old, nearly just out of high-school. I often find myself, smiling and remembering my time in University – oh I’m such a wise old man now. As a minority (age-wise) in the group I sometimes play the part of a younger student - excited, maybe slightly reckless. Other times I play the part of the older more experienced student (not that this is always the case), listening, understanding and giving advice. Its botha humbling and youth-feeling experience.
However, I'm by far not the youngest of the group. There are two Fulbrighters that are 30 and 32 years old, yet they are not given special ‘middle age’ treatment. They are as young as the rest of us, as the youngest of us, and in many respects they are more youthful. For instance Jon, is a 30year old Biology Phd student. He’s studying turtles in the Southwestern China. He is more open and inclusive than most of the other students, and is often more eager to go out, whether it’s volleyball, ping-pong or drinking. It’s always reassuring to meet someone like Jon, because he’s not following the traditional path/career. We’re all so eager to get into the real-world, but it turns out we’re already in the real-world. Sure I’m (we’re) not working a 9-5 traditional job, instead I’m navigating along a path that I’ve helped shape. And who says 9-5 is going to be the norm in the next 10-20years. It’s enlightening to meet people like Jon because it releases a bit of the tension felt from the pressures of society forcing traditional maturity on you. So here’s to ‘Young at Heart’, I think it’s a great goal to have.

Food is my Temple

2008-09-08T04:45:00.000-07:00

I'm slowly discovering new eatable wonders in Haerbin. Because of the Russian influence there are some very eastern European looking dishes. Probably the most unusual – at least from a Chinese prospective – are the massive amounts and kinds of sausage (Becca is squirming right now). Yes piles of mashed parts… you can be imaginative here – pressed into coils of sausage. Different colors, different sizes, different shapes and supposedly different tastes. I've actually stayed away from most of this and tried to discover what other types of dishes are being prepared. Every night, a few of my classmates and I (there are 3 other students who are also Fulbright'ers who I've been hanging out with), make a point of trying something new and venturing out away from the comfortable cafeteria food (which is actually quite good). A constant theme that we come across, which was also popular in Beijing, is 羊肉串儿 (yang rou chuar). This is basically lamb on a stick fired over a vat of flaming coals. They love to barbecue!!! Which I'm ok with. Men usually stand waving fans on the piles of coals that surround them, meanwhile adding more and more spears of food delicately placed above the fiery pits of...(think puritans), also simultaneously yelling out orders that are ready… Although I'm not sure what they're paid, whatever it is, it's not enough…. I'd compare them to investment bankers… (no offense) taking in (buying), and then immediately selling and relinquishing parts that are hot off the grill. Here the biggest mouth wins – both on the side of customers yelling orders at the nearest 服务员（fuwuyuan or waitress）, and the man behind the feeding frenzy.
Last night we had an especially interesting and tasty experience at a small roadside 新张（XinZhang) restaurant. XinZhang is China's Northwest province and is also home to the largest Muslim population in China (I think), and particularly disenfranchised and independant minority group – the Uighurs. This population is very different in appearance, background and culture from the stereotypical Han Chinese. They have also been at odds with the government of China and more recently been stereotyped as Muslim extremists. This stems from the recent terrorist attacks that occurred just before the Olympics. (Note I do not know much about this population or area yet but am interested in learning more, what I'm telling you is what I've heard so take it with a grain of salt). What is also unique about the Uighur population is that they have a rich tradition of song and dance and cultural and linguistic ties to Turkey/Turkish. This is the part that we got to experience as we ate alongside their family who also happened to be breaking their Ramadan fast!! Imagine cooking food for people all day while fasting!!! As they prepared and cut fruit for the conclusion of their fast, we horded hand made food that the whole family seemed to have taken part in preparing. The oldest of the family, donning cap, was cutting up a melon that is a specialty in XinZhang, he came over and gave us four slices with a slight grunt, then went back to the table of fruit and sat with his family prayed and began to feed the children and then slowly himself. The poor men behind the YangRouChuar (lamb barbecue) were then slowly given food as they continued to prepare our food and then woop and holler in what I can only guess was the Uighur language. In the background, or rather being loudly broad-casted into the cook-fire filled air was Turkish style club music. This combined with the roar of traffic and the movement of customers, pedestrians and little kids combined for a chaotic but very sensory experience. It's a stretch but it compares to a very intense experience at a Hindu or Jane temple where all senses must be enacted in order to become fully aware of a sixth sense – that of God. Instead of bells and incense there is a more complex (maybe slightly alarming) mix of horns, shouts, beats and the lifting smells of early evening cookfires. Combined with the colorful clothes, food and hanging smoke. Emerging Church, you've got nothing on this intense experience!!!! So I've over-dramatized it all… as travels tend to do but the point is that in my book the lives of people are God and this is small piece of how its being lived out in one part of the world. I'm slowly learning more and hopefully bridging some sort of cultural, religious and racial barriers. Needless to say, I will be returning to this small temple of experience. I've only got to learn how to say Ramadan in Chinese… and then Uighar!

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After posting this I decided to look at what Lonely Planet had to say about XinZhang. Generally they have some pretty decent introductions and this one I think is worth putting down so that you get a better idea about what XinZhang is... Because I don't really know...

Here are a few parts that I think are worth noting:

"Fiercely independent, the people f the region have never really been independent. Today Xinjian 'belongs' to China, having been inextricably tethered to the Middle Kingdom for centuries in an enless push-pull relationship, one which China today maintains in strict form.
Xinjiang is like a whole other country enclosed within China's borders. Here the language is not just a different dialect, it's a completely different linguistic family; and it's no longer about whether you dip you dumpliings in soy sauce or vinegar, it's how you want your mutton cooked."

"populated by a mixed salad of nearly 50 ethnic minorities..."

"Oh, and it sits atop 30% of China's oil reserves."

"It's also woefully underappreciated by most of the tourists..."

Hope this helps! It helped me.

Planes, trains and automobiles..... arriving and traveling in China

2008-09-06T03:16:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Beijing, China on the 26^th of August. Exhausted from an overnight trip from India, and suffering from heart ache and what I can only describe as Indian food coma: too much spicy, colorful, Indian prepared food. There’s a saying in China which I always used to describe my ability to digest food: 铁肚子（tie du zi ）meaning iron stomach. India has stripped me of that title….

Needless to say I skipped the first night of preparations for the language program that I am currently participating in. However this gave me a little more time to spend with my amazing hosts and one of my former Chinese language teachers. Part of my love for China comes from the amazing displays of hospitality that I have been fortunate to receive. It makes a mockery of the recent wave of American (Western) social networking. I sometimes feel that we (Americans) have co-opted the power of social connections and have compartmentalized them to create a game of self promotion played at bars, meetings, exclusive clubs and now internet social websites. The Chinese however (and I think most Asian countries, including India where Becca and my travels were solely dependant on connections we had made) have a society built on social ties of family, friends and extended to guests. Only it is rooted in the historical traditions, culture, religion and philosophy. In India we discovered the meaning behind the frequently used saying ‘guest is God’, in China a friendship gives you access to an extended family of family, friends and friends of friends of family….. etc. So for the second time in my travels through China (I spent two summers in Taiwan and China in 2005 and 2006) I fell sick and was cared for by worrisome mothers, fathers and friends.

After meeting an overly excited and slightly anxious group of American University students (my classmates for the language program), we took an overnight ‘soft sleeper’ train north to Haerbin. America is missing out on the joys of train travel. After a refreshing 8 hours of sleep I awoke to find myself in a completely different part of the country. All at a fraction of the cost that it would have taken to get there by air travel. Maybe they should just have beds on planes….

I awoke to the highly industrialized (although I have not yet glimpsed much of this industry) and also very agriculturally rich city of Haerbin - just south and west of Russia and north of North Korea. Because of this proximity to Russia Haerbin is a large trading hub for the movement of goods in and out of Russia and has a long history of Russian influence. In fact Russia occupied a large part of Northern China, including Haerbin prior to the era of Chiang Kaishek and Mao Zi Dong. Specks of this history can still be seen in the Russian architecture that is scattered in between communist block high rises.

Just to make the title complete, which I just now typed in .... It should be noted that in Beijing because of the Olympics and the worlds worries over air pollution, the citizens of Beijing can only drive on every other day. This is dictated by the license plates. A way to get around this, which is how the husband of my language teacher gets to work everyday, is to have two cars.... Needless to say he still drives everyday to work..... However the air quality has greatly improved, as has the general scenery of the city, sense my last visit to Beijing just two years ago.... We'll see if Beijing citizens get used to the better air quality and start demanding more lasting improvements to energy use and mass transit after the car restrictions are lifted which will be in another month....

Introduction: Literary allusions…. and delusions of grandeur

2008-09-03T02:40:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog is a direct reference to John Steinbeck's book 'Travels with Charlie'. This book chronicles Steinbeck's travels throughout a largely unseen - at least publicly - America. Charlie, of course is his dog who apparently was a good enough companion to warrant a place in literary history.
I'm not pretending to have the literary capabilities that Steinbeck has shown in this book. Nor do I pretend to be a dog accompanying you or anyone else through this journey. I just hope to be as good of a companion as was Charlie. And I hope you will join me in my travels.
I am currently writing this from my dorm room in Haerbin, in the Northwest part of China. I have already spent over a week in India, and nearly a week in China so there is some catching up to do.