Today it’s pretty cool and wet outside – apparently it’s like 95 degrees in Cincinnati lately, so the Dalian weather is very pleasant in light of that fact. I was watching some of the news and they said that Liaoning province – where we are – has been having one of the worst droughts in thirty years. So the raininess has been good for the area. Ooh today is my half-birthday. My parents used to make a bit of a deal about it…
Today is the first day in a while that my health finally feels sorted out. Something I noticed is while I was sick, I only drank water – so I had no caffeine from tea or coffee – but I didn’t really have the caffeine withdrawal headaches. Huh. I doubt I kicked it for good, because I’m back on Team 茶, but maybe if I ever decide to get off caffeine (hahahahahaha) it won’t be so bad. What am I talking about? Every time I go without coffee back home I’m in agony. Everything is topsy-turvy in China. Actually I lied – I did have a cup of coffee whilst sick, the day we went into Dalian and found the Starbucks. Hmmm…
I think it’s wonderful how crazy the entire country is going for the 2008 Beijing Olympics – there was just a commercial on CCTV9 (the English language channel) that ended with “Beijing 2008; 407 days to go!” We passed by some of the facilities in Beijing – including the big stadium that looks like it’s wrapped in bandages – I wonder if that’s where the opening ceremonies are taking place? You see it in a lot of advertising – on one of the billboards I saw in Beijing, there was a big car driving in front of the bandage stadium. Even Tsingtao cans have the Beijing logo on it – while I’m here, I need to find out what kind of paid jobs or volunteer positions are available for foreigners connected to the Olympics – after I graduate next spring, I need something to do.
There is an American (well, born in Ghana) guy here named Alfred who has been here for a couple of months. He has been teaching some classes at the university as well as learning Chinese – he’s going back to Atlanta (where he lives) but he’s been a fascinating person to talk to. We sat in on one of his classes recently and it was really quite interesting. He had breakfast with us this morning (we’ve invited him to be our guest, since only about five of us show up to breakfast on a regular basis) and he told us about how he tries to get the Chinese students in his class to think globally in terms of their education. Apparently there is almost zero government financial assistance for college students, which I find absolutely frightening (though I guess it shouldn’t surprise me). Jade was telling us that she was having a conversation with one of the school officials recently, and he was expressing his frustrations that the Chinese government is not making the financial commitment to education the way it’s pouring money into development and construction projects. Local officials are more willing and eager to finance construction because they can see the results quickly, but education is still very, very expensive and out of reach for a lot of Chinese. No matter what your point of view, this country is pretty fascinating. It reminds me of the US, in many ways – it is so big sometimes all it can see is itself, and even then sometimes it cannot see its own problems.
Aside from the obvious missing of family and friends, there are a gazillion things I miss from home/the US. Most of them are food/drink related. A list:
*An actual variety of beers. I’m sorry, but Tsingtao is actually a pretty shitty beer, I never even liked it much back in the States. But the worst thing about Tsingtao is it’s the best beer of maybe three choices of other domestic beers (in the nearby stores that is – no imports). If we have enough time during our layover at O’Hare, I’m going to an airport bar, where there’s a Sam Adams with my name on it.
* Fresh, yummy healthy food. I’m so tired of the grease and the ungodly amounts of meat we’ve been eating. I would probably piss myself if I could eat a Dewey’s house salad right now – field greens, goat cheese, dried cranberries …. yum. I mean, I’m not a vegetarian but good God I am so tired of so much meat.
* Less censorship. The boys have been buying a lot of DVDs here, and almost every one of them has been cut in some way – sometimes it’s just titty scenes, but sometimes completely random scenes are cut out for no apparent reason. If any place has made me feel privileged and blessed to be an American, it’s China.
* The diversity – I can appreciate how having a homogenous (compared to the US) population can be a great strength for a country, but it’ll be nice to go back to a place that has people of all colors. Not that Cincinnati is the most diverse place, but we look like Epcot Center compared to most places in China.
* No more staring. Most of the time it doesn’t bother me, and I try hard to remember most people are simply curious, but sometimes it makes me really uncomfortable. My Westernized etiquette kicks in, and I want to be like, “Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s rude to stare?” Except mama’s probably staring at us, too.
* Western conveniences. Getting water out of the tap that you can drink (though I’ve been living life on the edge and brushing my teeth with water from the tap). Pedestal toilets everywhere.
* Copies of the New York Times. I. Want. It. So. Bad.
Something I will miss about China: the ridiculous cheap stuff (viva exchange rate!) we can buy. Chris and I stopped by the student store on campus, and I got the following: two packs of ramen noodles, plastic pair of chopsticks, roll of cookies, two funky plastic mugs (for gifts), one lunchbox-bowl thingy, three decks of playing cards, and one popsicle… all for 23 yuan. Which is slightly more than $3. Awesome. Today’s exchange rate is about US$1=7.54 RMB
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