Ok, back in Beijing...
So what to say? In order to live with Rae, I moved out of my crappy rez room into an even crappier appartment. My room doesn't even have a desk... or a table... not really happy about that situation.
Last week Rae and I were walking through campus, moving some of my things to the new apartment when a guy came up to me and asked if I was from North America. This is one of the most annoying questions... anyway, this time it turned out that there was some profit in it. He told me that he would give me RMB100 to speak into a microphone for 30 minutes to record my voice for some phone thing. I agreed and we started to walk with him.
After a short period of awkward scilence, he asked me if he could ask a question. The question, it turned out, was whether America would ever let a piece of its territory separate and declare independence (this was a clear reference to Taiwan, as Rae had mentioned that she was from Taiwan). I said of course they would and pointed to the example of Peurto Rico, which holds periodic referenda on exactly that issue. Surprised but unphased, he attributed this more liberal stance to the differences betweend Eastern and Western culture. I then went on the offenisve and brought up the independence of Singapore from Malaysia and asked him if they were infact Eastern. He shut up.
The arrogance and ignorance of people here, and university students in particular, is shocking. I know I have said it many times before, but I just can't stand people who know nothing about the world making gradiose statements about culture and countries and the like. It is people like this who know that their media is controlled and censored, but agree with it for the sake of the strength of the motherland. The thing I will miss the least when I go home, less even than the unbreathable air, is the people.
This weekend has been the Christmas weekend. Naturally, we don't get any time off, but this is still a time of year that foreigners like to have parties. On friday Rae wanted to have a big night, so she brought her friend Kimberly and got a bunch of people from my class and their friends to go out for Karaoke. The place we went, although (or perhaps because) it was Korean run, had lots of relatively recent and good English songs. I had a good time singing them as well as trying ot sing a few Chinese ones.
Saturday was a slow day of recovery from the night before, but that night I got a text message from Max inviting me to his English teacher's house for a party. It was surprisingly good. Most of the people there were young university grads from the West who had come to China to learn Chinese. Some were more or less done with their studies and had moved on to working at Chinese companies here in Beijing. It was fun to exchange stories about China and my recent trip to Taiwan etc...
Sunday my classmate Kevin had a party. It was a proper Christmas party with a Christmas tree, gift giving and even potato latkes! There, I met a French guy who went to the Lycee Francais in New York. It was fun to talk about New York. I really hope I have a chance to live there again... in the near future... Much of the rest of the party was spent watching "Love, Actually". Even though it is a hopelessly syropy movie, it was still quite enjoyable to watch. In the end after most people had left, Kevin broke out the microphone and we started singing Karaoke again. I did my best to sing Chinese songs, but not knowing the tunes and many of the characters, I can't say I did very well.
School is winding up... I am trying to get ready to go home... Of course, I am quite worried about what I will do when I get there. First, I don't have anywhere to live. Second, I don't have a job. My sister has offered me to stay at her place until I get something else, but I am reluctant to accept her offer as her hospitality has a way of turning into hostility quickly and without warning. While this still remains my default option, I will try to secure something a little more welcoming in the meantime. On the job front, I am at a loss. I don't have very much experience in anything other than teaching and I don't know if I can find a job in teaching. I think I might sign up at a temp agency when I get back and see how that works, but it of course would be better to get something a little bit more stable.
Either way, being back in Vancouver where I am not a novelty and where I can breathe without damaging my health will be nice.
lets see how it goes...
So what to say? In order to live with Rae, I moved out of my crappy rez room into an even crappier appartment. My room doesn't even have a desk... or a table... not really happy about that situation.
Last week Rae and I were walking through campus, moving some of my things to the new apartment when a guy came up to me and asked if I was from North America. This is one of the most annoying questions... anyway, this time it turned out that there was some profit in it. He told me that he would give me RMB100 to speak into a microphone for 30 minutes to record my voice for some phone thing. I agreed and we started to walk with him.
After a short period of awkward scilence, he asked me if he could ask a question. The question, it turned out, was whether America would ever let a piece of its territory separate and declare independence (this was a clear reference to Taiwan, as Rae had mentioned that she was from Taiwan). I said of course they would and pointed to the example of Peurto Rico, which holds periodic referenda on exactly that issue. Surprised but unphased, he attributed this more liberal stance to the differences betweend Eastern and Western culture. I then went on the offenisve and brought up the independence of Singapore from Malaysia and asked him if they were infact Eastern. He shut up.
The arrogance and ignorance of people here, and university students in particular, is shocking. I know I have said it many times before, but I just can't stand people who know nothing about the world making gradiose statements about culture and countries and the like. It is people like this who know that their media is controlled and censored, but agree with it for the sake of the strength of the motherland. The thing I will miss the least when I go home, less even than the unbreathable air, is the people.
This weekend has been the Christmas weekend. Naturally, we don't get any time off, but this is still a time of year that foreigners like to have parties. On friday Rae wanted to have a big night, so she brought her friend Kimberly and got a bunch of people from my class and their friends to go out for Karaoke. The place we went, although (or perhaps because) it was Korean run, had lots of relatively recent and good English songs. I had a good time singing them as well as trying ot sing a few Chinese ones.
Saturday was a slow day of recovery from the night before, but that night I got a text message from Max inviting me to his English teacher's house for a party. It was surprisingly good. Most of the people there were young university grads from the West who had come to China to learn Chinese. Some were more or less done with their studies and had moved on to working at Chinese companies here in Beijing. It was fun to exchange stories about China and my recent trip to Taiwan etc...
Sunday my classmate Kevin had a party. It was a proper Christmas party with a Christmas tree, gift giving and even potato latkes! There, I met a French guy who went to the Lycee Francais in New York. It was fun to talk about New York. I really hope I have a chance to live there again... in the near future... Much of the rest of the party was spent watching "Love, Actually". Even though it is a hopelessly syropy movie, it was still quite enjoyable to watch. In the end after most people had left, Kevin broke out the microphone and we started singing Karaoke again. I did my best to sing Chinese songs, but not knowing the tunes and many of the characters, I can't say I did very well.
School is winding up... I am trying to get ready to go home... Of course, I am quite worried about what I will do when I get there. First, I don't have anywhere to live. Second, I don't have a job. My sister has offered me to stay at her place until I get something else, but I am reluctant to accept her offer as her hospitality has a way of turning into hostility quickly and without warning. While this still remains my default option, I will try to secure something a little more welcoming in the meantime. On the job front, I am at a loss. I don't have very much experience in anything other than teaching and I don't know if I can find a job in teaching. I think I might sign up at a temp agency when I get back and see how that works, but it of course would be better to get something a little bit more stable.
Either way, being back in Vancouver where I am not a novelty and where I can breathe without damaging my health will be nice.
lets see how it goes...
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As I am sure you aware aware, at least one of Neal's girlfriends probably reads this blog.
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