There once was a little boy,
who always smiled and was filled with joy.
He would play with his toys and make loud noise.
His parents would gather and grin
at the beautiful boy who could not sin.

Afterwards came a troubled youth
with greased hair. It was only by fluke
that he did what he did. Spare him yet,
everyone understood, but for him.
Innocent, but whats within.

Later, there was a disheveled man
who many enjoyed but few could withstand.
From rapidfire tongue and mind, he created his
place upon the world. Yet still he could not find
it. Again, the man demonstrated his soul.
And again, and again and again.

Agitated Poise

Upon his hardened throne, besodd'd
with doubt and shame, and bitter thought
of most disgraced, scorned, applause,
a man of meager means distraught.

"For what hast thou departed clean
all for what thou canst but have seen,
and duly known to be so dear?
Thou surely hath an answer clear."

Within the cutting draft he shrugged,
and did resume his pensive way.
'twere true that he did not conceive;
yet such he shan't quite yet betray.

On Becoming a Resident of Beijing

The last few days I have been exploring the city in fairly small groups. On Tuesday night, Rio, Lily, and I went to Wudaokou and scoped out some bars, looking for pool tables. We settled on one near a club we had gone to the week prior. There was only one table, and a 10RMB fee per game, but it was a nice table, and we wanted to play pool.

So we played pool. I ordered a burger that tasted pretty good. It was a nightly special: 10RMB burgers from 11PM-3AM. We talked to some of the others at the bar that night. For our last game we played partners. The fourth player was a local Chinese girl who absolutely could not play pool. She was cool, though, and we gave her our numbers.

Last Thursday, Lily and I went to the Beijing Zoo. It was much like a zoo in the United States. Animals were in cages, and grouped into themes. Pheasants were together. Large cats were together. African animals were together. The pens even looked similar to those you would find in America. But it is amazing how a little local spice can completely change the atmosphere.

People in China do not take the same precautions as Americans do. For example, windows in tall buildings do not have screens or any sort of safety against defenestration. Cars weave in and out of traffic, coming within inches of other cars - and pedestrians. And children walk around with holes in the back of their pants so they can take a crap no matter where they are at the time.

So, naturally, Chinese do not tend to follow regulations about animal-patron interaction. The black bears sat on their rumps and begged for the little bits of sausage that people were throwing them. A golden Yunnan monkey stuck its arm out of its cage to catch a bag of chips that a child had thrown to it. It shuffled off and picked at the bag in a corner. A child nearly had his fingers bitten off by an ostrich and I got to pet a zebra. They feel just like regular horses.

Yesterday Ben, Donghwan, and I went to Wudaokou and got pizza. It was a nice place. The employees spoke Chinese almost exclusively, but they had an actual stone oven in the corner of the place. We watched the cooks make the pizza from scratch. We then went to this DVD store that sold pretty much any recent movie and TV show (and plenty of not-so-recent DVDs. They had the complete series of Ally McBeal). We then shopped around the area. I bought a (faux) leather jacket. It looks quite nice and will hopefully keep me warm throughout my stay here.

I think I'm starting to get - if not comfortable - accustomed to life here. I still complain about parts on a daily basis. But what coalesced all these events together into a wider picture was something that happened this morning. I usually eat breakfast around 9AM. Today I got a fried egg, baozi, and a chunk of fried bread. I was thirsty after so I got myself a drink. The normal drink station is closed in the morning, and they usually only sell a soy milk drink and a yogurt drink. Given that I did not want to deal with chunky yogurt in a straw, I got the soy milk, as I usually do for breakfast.

On my way back to my bike I started sipping my drink. It was tepid, neither hot nor cold. What I said did not immediately strike me as odd, but when I realized what I had said, I was quite taken aback. To myself, I wondered: why is this milk so cold? I wish it were warmer; I like it better that way.

Success is Well-Defined Change in Circumstance

Sunday was a good day. I got breakfast at the dining hall. I ordered to perfection.

"I want this, and this."
"This?"
"Yes."
"Do you want rice?"
"Yes. One thing of rice."

Later, I went to the nearby grocery store in Wudaokou. I bought water, snacks, hangers, and a notebook. The checkout girl asked if I wanted a bag. I said I wanted one. Then I biked back and played Starcraft 2.

I guess it is the little things that make or break you, as cliche as that sounds. I was happy all day because I understood that the cook was asking me if I wanted rice as well. Other days, I'm in a foul mood because I can't communicate properly. I lost my bike keys a while back. I asked the front desk of my dorm building if anyone had turned in a pair of black keys. They said no. So, naturally, when I just so happened to be behind the desk two days later, I saw my keys with a note, saying that they had been found and turned in.

Chinese class is good. My class is starting from the basics, but is moving quickly. It's an elementary class, but it's kept in mind that most of the students have prior Chinese experience. That way, we make sure our fundamentals are good while still learning new stuff.

I have more time than I thought. I end up trying to avoid eating, though. I still don't like the food much, although I have reached an unstable truce with it. Still, eating three meals a day is hard when you have to bike through the rain.

Oh yeah. It started raining last Wednesday. And it hasn't stopped. It's rained every day since. Also, it was 85degrees Fahrenheit last Tuesday. Today it was 55degrees Fahrenheit. I guess fall is here.

Culture Shock

So Wikipedia - the source of sources - defines culture shock as the difficulty people have adjusting to a new culture that differs markedly from their own. Frankly, I always thought culture shock was a more explosive thing, involving tears, shouts, and fights. I went into this semester fully expecting culture shock, and was surprised that, after a few weeks, I was pretty much alright.

But then it hit. It wasn't like a sledge hammer in the face, or a spike into my foot. Elliot, Ben, Ariyo, and I were talking, hanging out. Somehow the topic of dinner came up.

"What did you have for dinner, Rio?"

"We ate at this one local restaurant. Noodles and this vegetable dish."

"How. Original."

And then it hit me. The food here is all the same. Rice, noodles, spice, salt, and a little bit of meat - enough to get the flavor but never enough to get any respectable amount of protein. I'm tempted to import protein powder and start drinking shakes just to make sure I don't keel over from this carb-loaded diet. There is some small variation in the dishes: tomato in one tastes juicy and tomato-like, while the spicy chicken and peppers dish has a little kick. But by and large my breakfast tastes and looks the same as my lunch tastes and looks the same as my dinner.

You know what I miss? Toast. Crispy, crunchy, flaky, buttery toast. I think that might be the problem. There is no variation in texture. It's all this mushy-ish noodle/rice like composition. There is no chewy like steak, no crunchy like toast, no mushy like yogurt. Maybe I'm just eating the wrong dishes. Oh, I had warm milk today during lunch. At least, I hope it was milk.

Besides that, I'm generally ok with China. The sanitation bothers me sometimes. In Chengdu, we were having dinner at this local place that had some pretty good dumplings (still all the same texture). This one guy at this one table started chewing his food. I guess he didn't like what he was tasting because he spat it out. Onto the floor. Just.. bloop - right underneath him. When we left after dinner the chewy mass was still there.

I'm also frustrated that I can't communicate effectively. I lost my bike keys a few days ago. I asked the front desk at my building if anyone turned in a pair of black keys. They said no. Two days later, when I was helping my teacher get something behind the desk, I saw my keys with a little note saying that they had been found in the building. Those fuckers.

On the Daily Life of a Expat

I've been back in Beijing since Wednesday night. This here is a picture of my laundry pile. Note how I have organized it into colors and whites. I have not done real laundry since arriving in China. A week into my traveling seminar I did soak some clothes in the hotel tub and hung them to dry. The clothes weren't dry until the last couple days of our travel. Plus they were wrinkled, and smelled a little bit like mildew.

Now, one might ask, why isn't Peter doing his laundry? Well, I'm afraid to. There is a small little washer down the hall that students can use. You need a keycard thinger dinger to use it; I got one just last night after having my friends take me there. I don't have laundry detergent and I haven't gotten around to asking someone if I could use theirs. Also, the only dryer in the (14-story) residence hall is on the 4th floor. And rumor has it that it doesn't dry very well. Most are hanging their clothes to dry. I don't like that. There is also a laundry service that will wash, dry, and fold your laundry for 15RMB/load (about $2). I'm afraid to use that because I'd have to walk with an armful of laundry into a building and hope I can gesticulate and use what little Chinese I have to get them to understand that I want this shit washed. Hopefully, I'll end up in the right building.

I'm lucky that I found a secret stash of clothing in my luggage. I actually had to buy underwear twice already because I've run out. One pair has a scorpion on it. I also did not pack towels; we were advised not to. I should have. The towels here are expensive - relatively. 15RMB for a crappy towel, and I bought two.

But I think I realize how scary it must be for immigrants - and how important, really, it is for them to learn the language. There has been an ongoing conversation about Hispanic immigrants (legal or otherwise) and their increasing prevalence. It is so comfortable when I can speak in English here. But I can't everywhere. And when I can't, I feel incredibly uncomfortable. Scared. I started sweating in Dico's (sort of like a Chinese McDonald's/KFC hybrid) because my food took a long time to cook. I wanted to ask about it, but how could I? I can tell them what I want: Wo yao zhe ge, yi ge. But if they ask a follow-up, I'm screwed. So, yeah, people need to learn the Lingua Franca. No excuses.

Alright, I'm out. I need to find a way to watch the Giants game by 1AM Monday.

Reestablished Contact

As you may or may not know, the Chinese government has blocked internal access to some websites. Mostly, they're social networking sites - Facebook, Twitter, and more importantly for this blog, blogspot. So, no, I did not abandon the blog for greener pasteurs as soon as I reached China. I only yesterday bought access to a proxy server that allows me to access these sites (props to Oriana are due for that).

I will confess that I have very little time to blog at the moment. So I will keep it brief. After arriving on Tuesday, August 24th, we stayed in our Tsinghua University dorms and oriented ourselves somewhat. We bought phones, bikes, and learned how to get around campus. Friday the 27th we left for our travel seminar. This would be a 13-day journey across Southern and Western China, in Yunnan and Sichuan province. We visited Kunming, Dali, and Lijiang. Currently I am in Shang-ri La. Tomorrow we will leave for Chengdu.

Things are, as to be expected, a grab-bag of awesome, terrible, alright, and mundane. It is very hard to work and keep in contact with the States, however.

I'll see you all later. I need breakfast.