There is a full-on rant in this entry. I have just woken up (you will see why) and, not for the first time, I am PISSED OFF.
Okay, I realise the Chinese don't have a proper concept of the weekend like we do, and that Saturday isn't a day off anything very much for most people, and that 0915 is not particularly early for a lot of them, and that it's my fault for going to bed late if I'm annoyed at being woken up now, but here it is:
WHEN SOMEONE IS LATE TO MEET YOU IN YOUR CAR, DO NOT SIT OUTSIDE SEVERAL BLOCKS OF FLATS AND JUST BEEP YOUR HORN LOUD AND LONG AND INTERMITTENTLY FOR SEVERAL MINUTES (often more than ten) YOU DUMB SONOFABITCH.
AND YOU, THE LATE PERSON, GET OUT OF BED, GET DOWNSTAIRS, AND GET TO THAT CAR AS FAST AS YOU DAMN WELL CAN, YOU INCONSIDERATE, SLOW, LAZY ARSEWIPES.
This happens several times a week and it is not only annoying as hell (because it invariably wakes me, yes even me the one who can sleep for Great Britain, from my slumber) but is the mark of an incredibly backward society. Car horns are for alerting drivers to danger; they are not there to express annoyance when stuck in traffic jams (every country has these morons though), and they are certainly not there to get your friend out of bed when he's late in the morning.
Saturday, 27 December 2008
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Exams
See below this post for another post I only just uploaded (can't have the praise for my Mum go unnoticed!). Yesterday marked the start of my exam season, and today marked the end. Yes, just two days. Argh. Last week I was supposed to revise myself silly but I just couldn't find the motivation and ended up doing not as much as I'd hoped. This led to lastminute cramming, and a bit of worrying, but ... that's my own fault. So how were they?
Listening - awful. My worst area by far. I barely heard some of the dialogues, and just guessed most of the answers. I'll be lucky if I got even 20% correct. I wish they'd give us individual tapes, I might stand more of a chance then. Incidentally, anyone in first or second year at Newcastle care to comment on whether or not they've started to do that back home? We complained about it last year, European language students all get that opportunity, why should we be made to sit in a big room and listen to one tape at the front which is played just twice when other students get to play it as many times as they want in their time limit? Hmm.
Speaking - considering I didn't have a clue what was going to happen, I think I did alright. You choose a sheet (without seeing the content, there are 2 to choose from) and then have a few minutes to prepare. Unlike the UK though, you are preparing in the same room as other candidates who are taking the exam. It's annoying, but that's how it is so deal with it. First you have to read a passage, then answer questions on the passage. The third part involves completing sentences using the stuff provided in brackets as a guide. And the final bit is 4 questions, you choose one and just launch into an answer. I don't know if it was recorded, there was the teacher's phone on the desk but I'm guessing that was in case she got a call and not because she wanted to record my answers, but on a related note, it would help if the teacher showed some INTEREST in the student while they are being examined and didnt just look at her lap when the bumbling English idiot stumbles over some words in the passage. Still, I think it went better than Listening by far.
Last night I slept for about 4 hours. This was nowhere near enough (not my fault per se, I just couldn't sleep it was infuriating), so today's exams were tedious. Not SO hard, but tiring and an irritation to say the least.
Grammar - three or four sides, lots of questions, just hammer through and answer them. Based on the books you've been using all along, so just hope stuff you looked at comes up and you can make educated guesses at the stuff you don't know!
Reading - as with grammar, and much the same; really you either know something or you don't. It's all in your books. I was lucky enough to have skimmed over a couple of passages this afternoon which came up in the exam. Without them I don't know if I would even have known what the passages were about. Real planning would have been to actually revise all the (MANY) passages we looked at. Ah well, I got lucky, hurray for me.
So exams are over, and I'm monstrously tired. But before I complete this post, a word on taking exams in XNU. It's a disgrace. I know this doesnt happen with the Chinese students, because they are behaved, and their teachers come down on them like a ton of bricks if they step out of line, but with all these foreign bastards, it's a joke. Whispering and casual glancing at papers is rife, as are stupid childish antics that I would expect from a 13 year old trying to be the "cool kid" and not a 27 year old mother-of-three (so I am told) ... Guys came in almost an hour late. Lucky for them the exam was 2 hours long and the paper was short enough that it could be completed in under an hour with ease. At one point I saw this imbecile sitting in front of me turned round about 170 degrees just looking at my paper. I glanced up, gave him a look, and told him (verbatim) to "fuck off", before folding my paper up and hiding my answers from his nosy gaze. Some of the teachers are just as bad, either they'll not tell people off immediately for talking, or they'll just walk over to someone and then give them an "alright-I-caught-you-using-your-electronic-dictionary-so-just-stop-using-it" nod and it's like some huge joke to the student. The uni must be seriously hung up on getting these foreigners' cash because in the UK it doesnt matter where you come from or who you are, if you're cheating (even a bit) there's a disciplinary procedure and you can fail the module or even be asked (read told) to leave the uni.
No wonder people don't trust some Asian countries' exam certificates. It's an absolute joke.
Listening - awful. My worst area by far. I barely heard some of the dialogues, and just guessed most of the answers. I'll be lucky if I got even 20% correct. I wish they'd give us individual tapes, I might stand more of a chance then. Incidentally, anyone in first or second year at Newcastle care to comment on whether or not they've started to do that back home? We complained about it last year, European language students all get that opportunity, why should we be made to sit in a big room and listen to one tape at the front which is played just twice when other students get to play it as many times as they want in their time limit? Hmm.
Speaking - considering I didn't have a clue what was going to happen, I think I did alright. You choose a sheet (without seeing the content, there are 2 to choose from) and then have a few minutes to prepare. Unlike the UK though, you are preparing in the same room as other candidates who are taking the exam. It's annoying, but that's how it is so deal with it. First you have to read a passage, then answer questions on the passage. The third part involves completing sentences using the stuff provided in brackets as a guide. And the final bit is 4 questions, you choose one and just launch into an answer. I don't know if it was recorded, there was the teacher's phone on the desk but I'm guessing that was in case she got a call and not because she wanted to record my answers, but on a related note, it would help if the teacher showed some INTEREST in the student while they are being examined and didnt just look at her lap when the bumbling English idiot stumbles over some words in the passage. Still, I think it went better than Listening by far.
Last night I slept for about 4 hours. This was nowhere near enough (not my fault per se, I just couldn't sleep it was infuriating), so today's exams were tedious. Not SO hard, but tiring and an irritation to say the least.
Grammar - three or four sides, lots of questions, just hammer through and answer them. Based on the books you've been using all along, so just hope stuff you looked at comes up and you can make educated guesses at the stuff you don't know!
Reading - as with grammar, and much the same; really you either know something or you don't. It's all in your books. I was lucky enough to have skimmed over a couple of passages this afternoon which came up in the exam. Without them I don't know if I would even have known what the passages were about. Real planning would have been to actually revise all the (MANY) passages we looked at. Ah well, I got lucky, hurray for me.
So exams are over, and I'm monstrously tired. But before I complete this post, a word on taking exams in XNU. It's a disgrace. I know this doesnt happen with the Chinese students, because they are behaved, and their teachers come down on them like a ton of bricks if they step out of line, but with all these foreign bastards, it's a joke. Whispering and casual glancing at papers is rife, as are stupid childish antics that I would expect from a 13 year old trying to be the "cool kid" and not a 27 year old mother-of-three (so I am told) ... Guys came in almost an hour late. Lucky for them the exam was 2 hours long and the paper was short enough that it could be completed in under an hour with ease. At one point I saw this imbecile sitting in front of me turned round about 170 degrees just looking at my paper. I glanced up, gave him a look, and told him (verbatim) to "fuck off", before folding my paper up and hiding my answers from his nosy gaze. Some of the teachers are just as bad, either they'll not tell people off immediately for talking, or they'll just walk over to someone and then give them an "alright-I-caught-you-using-your-electronic-dictionary-so-just-stop-using-it" nod and it's like some huge joke to the student. The uni must be seriously hung up on getting these foreigners' cash because in the UK it doesnt matter where you come from or who you are, if you're cheating (even a bit) there's a disciplinary procedure and you can fail the module or even be asked (read told) to leave the uni.
No wonder people don't trust some Asian countries' exam certificates. It's an absolute joke.
Supplies
No, not that old joke about the guys who organise an army camp and leave it to the Chinese guy to do the food (email me if you need your racist curiosity satisfied).
Instead, here's a collection of things I have courtesy of my Mum. Over the last few weeks I've received about a dozen parcels, and credit is due. This is a brief list of the stuff I have left (some things have been eaten of course, or used as small presents to friends).
* 9 cuppa-soup sachets, three different flavours
* 5 and a half white chocolate slabs, various brands
* 2 packs of Rolos (I ate the other one in just one sitting I was that greedy)
* 6 packs of Polo mints
* 1 pack of Fruit Polos
* 14 sachets of hot chocolate / coffee drinks
* 7 sachets of Fybogel for my poor insides (let's hope it works)
* 2 packs of stock cubes (and then some)
* TOO MUCH CINNAMON, STOP SENDING IT! (I mean that in a good way, but really, three or four boxes is enough for now!)
* Multiple packs of chewing gum
* 24 Werther's Originals (plus a couple in my jacket pocket for use in exams today)
* A couple of ready-made reheat-style meals.
So, other Year Abroad students, as they say in cards, I see your parents and I raise you my Mum.
Instead, here's a collection of things I have courtesy of my Mum. Over the last few weeks I've received about a dozen parcels, and credit is due. This is a brief list of the stuff I have left (some things have been eaten of course, or used as small presents to friends).
* 9 cuppa-soup sachets, three different flavours
* 5 and a half white chocolate slabs, various brands
* 2 packs of Rolos (I ate the other one in just one sitting I was that greedy)
* 6 packs of Polo mints
* 1 pack of Fruit Polos
* 14 sachets of hot chocolate / coffee drinks
* 7 sachets of Fybogel for my poor insides (let's hope it works)
* 2 packs of stock cubes (and then some)
* TOO MUCH CINNAMON, STOP SENDING IT! (I mean that in a good way, but really, three or four boxes is enough for now!)
* Multiple packs of chewing gum
* 24 Werther's Originals (plus a couple in my jacket pocket for use in exams today)
* A couple of ready-made reheat-style meals.
So, other Year Abroad students, as they say in cards, I see your parents and I raise you my Mum.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Season's Greetings
One nice thing about Urumqi (possibly China as a whole, I'm not sure about the more Westernised parts) is that Christmas and New Year are Ronseal Events, that is to say, they do exactly what they say on the tin. None of this Christmas-sales-in-August nonsense that the UK goes in for, no tinsel up in July, and certainly no October mince pies (though I'm rather partial to a mince pie, if anyone would care to send me some I would be more than happy). I started to notice these decorations going on display in very late November, if not early December, which seems a reasonable time-frame in which to prepare for a present-giving event you've known was coming all year anyway! As for New Year, well that's not even so important here, they just go through the motions, the really important event being Chinese New Year (or Spring Festival) which takes place around a month after the Gregorian one. I digress. Next to my gym there is a fast food store, the owners of which have seen fit to wish everyone all the best for December 25th. Sadly whoever got the coloured pens that day didnt know how to spell. Happily, this makes me smile :) I hope you do too.
I hope that's clear enough to read; if not, Merry Chirstmas everybody!
Another classic, not festive though, is this one, proudly declaring that the store either does, or wishes everyone else to "Sweve In Sincerity" - this isn't just for Christmas (or even Chirstmas), it's up all year on the store front, and I still don't know what it means, because I've been lazy and not translated it. Answers on a postcard.
And finally, my own festivities, Chanukah is upon us :) Hurray. I may be a terribly unobservant Jew, but I do like Chanukah. Unfortunately with various exam preparations (my exams are tomorrow and Tuesday), and vast amounts of time being spent at home (not necessarily revising but not doing Chanukah-related stuff either), I only got round to making my chanukiah this evening. Originally it was going to be made of beer bottles, except I don't drink very often so I'd have to have 8 beers this evening just to make it possible ... Instead I have a series of empty tuna tins with plastic bottle caps superglued inside, and one tall tomato tin for the Shamash (lead candle, which must be raised above the others). I am aware of the equation [ plastic + fire = noes! ] so I am sitting here with the makeshift chanukiah in front of me, to prevent such an occurrence. It may have cut my finger (washing one of the tins out) and be a little more basic than what I've used in the past, but it's doing the job. At the moment, it is looking very good :)
And in other news, Lucy finally told her parents that she's going to visit me in China in February, so I no longer have to keep it a secret. 59 days to go! (I have waited quite some time to say that!)
I hope that's clear enough to read; if not, Merry Chirstmas everybody!
Another classic, not festive though, is this one, proudly declaring that the store either does, or wishes everyone else to "Sweve In Sincerity" - this isn't just for Christmas (or even Chirstmas), it's up all year on the store front, and I still don't know what it means, because I've been lazy and not translated it. Answers on a postcard.
And finally, my own festivities, Chanukah is upon us :) Hurray. I may be a terribly unobservant Jew, but I do like Chanukah. Unfortunately with various exam preparations (my exams are tomorrow and Tuesday), and vast amounts of time being spent at home (not necessarily revising but not doing Chanukah-related stuff either), I only got round to making my chanukiah this evening. Originally it was going to be made of beer bottles, except I don't drink very often so I'd have to have 8 beers this evening just to make it possible ... Instead I have a series of empty tuna tins with plastic bottle caps superglued inside, and one tall tomato tin for the Shamash (lead candle, which must be raised above the others). I am aware of the equation [ plastic + fire = noes! ] so I am sitting here with the makeshift chanukiah in front of me, to prevent such an occurrence. It may have cut my finger (washing one of the tins out) and be a little more basic than what I've used in the past, but it's doing the job. At the moment, it is looking very good :)
And in other news, Lucy finally told her parents that she's going to visit me in China in February, so I no longer have to keep it a secret. 59 days to go! (I have waited quite some time to say that!)
Thursday, 18 December 2008
It's Hip to be a Cat
Ouch, bad pun in my title (you'll see), but not as ouch as Lusya, Tanya's kitten (cat?) who followed some meat out of a window which happened to be on the 5th floor of a building and ended up on the pavement below. Two trips to vets later and Lusya's been X-rayed a number of times (the first lot done by incompetents who didnt see any break, and the second by an apparently much better vet who managed to show a distinct fracture), and had her hip put back together with metal plates, yay for surgery! She's doing okay now, despite some interesting wound management (they didn't fully close up, instead she's had a swab sewn in - what? I thought that just HELPED infection? it has something to do with fluid buildup I'm not sure - and Marta's been giving her injections three times a day, until last night, because today she goes back to the vet and they'll examine her / hopefully close her up properly for a few months until they need to remove the metalwork) - but she's chirpy enough and doesnt seem at all bothered by the whole healing process, apparently feeling no pain in the op site, but with no apparent nerve damage either (she can definitely feel tweezers pulling at the fur around her foot!) - kittens' pain self-management must be awesome.
There is one funny side of this - she sometimes has to wear a protective collar to stop her licking at her wound, and the Chinese for this collar is an "Elizabeth", a direct reference to the ruffs worn in "olde England", which we all thought was really quite amusing.
Oh wait, not as amusing as this (not cat related, and I got her permission before posting) - Marta lost her phone. Hmm, that doesnt surprise me anymore, but HOW did she lose it? "In the toilet at the uni". I could see where this was going before she even finished the story. See, they don't do seated things here, they have squatters. And poor Marta left her phone in the back pocket of her jeans (big mistake anyway, thieves love that), so while she was taking her trousers off, the phone slipped out and fell into the ceramic basin, slid down it and plooooop! Right into the vertical hole, where everything else goes. Nice one, Marta!
No way to get it back (and would you want to, even if you COULD?), but at least is gives a classic Tale of Urumqi for my blog :)
There is one funny side of this - she sometimes has to wear a protective collar to stop her licking at her wound, and the Chinese for this collar is an "Elizabeth", a direct reference to the ruffs worn in "olde England", which we all thought was really quite amusing.
Oh wait, not as amusing as this (not cat related, and I got her permission before posting) - Marta lost her phone. Hmm, that doesnt surprise me anymore, but HOW did she lose it? "In the toilet at the uni". I could see where this was going before she even finished the story. See, they don't do seated things here, they have squatters. And poor Marta left her phone in the back pocket of her jeans (big mistake anyway, thieves love that), so while she was taking her trousers off, the phone slipped out and fell into the ceramic basin, slid down it and plooooop! Right into the vertical hole, where everything else goes. Nice one, Marta!
No way to get it back (and would you want to, even if you COULD?), but at least is gives a classic Tale of Urumqi for my blog :)
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Circadian
For once, not a complaint anyone can really do much about, so it's more of a factual observation. For this entry, and any others in future, times are given in Beijing Time (BJT) which is 2 hours ahead of local time (XJT), due to Beijing's somewhat controlling nature. The passage of the sun is destroying my ability to feel right some days; class starts at 10, so on an average day I try to wake up around 0815 so I can potter about the house getting my stuff together, go and have breakfast at my leisure, and maybe walk to school if I'm not too late (catch a bus if I am). Right now official sunrise is about 0915, so I'm getting up in the dark. It's impossible. My whole body is just screaming "stay in bed, go back to sleep, idiot, the sun isn't even up!" ... I can only imagine what it will be like in January when sunrise is around 0945 according to online predictions I have read. I realise this is nothing compared to people who routinely work night shifts at their job, but it's a new infuriation to me ;) Then of course there'll be the happy midway point in about May when the sun rises at an appropriate time and sets likewise, followed by the month and a half where I'll no doubt be complaining that there's too MUCH sun in my day. Haha, no winning here :P
Friday, 12 December 2008
Summing Stuff Up In One Word
A nondescript (read I'm not entirely sure what I was eating) piece of fish tried to kill me today by wedging at the back of my mouth and choking me. Fortunately I managed to breathe in just enough to knock it down the right pipe and I'm here to tell the tale. I'm also here to tell you about two things - Urumqi's buses, and Chinese pop concerts.
When I travelled on Shanghai's buses (or in fact, on any of Shanghai's public transport vehicles) I immediately had to give up personal space, and get used to having my face in close proximity to several people's armpits / chests / faces / other body parts. Here the problem is less pronounced, but still exists, especially at rush hours (whereas Shanghai has PERMANENT overcrowding on public transport) ... I can think of three solutions:
* Use more buses. Clearly there are too many people for some routes, so put more of those buses on the road.
* Change your bus style - another reason they appear horribly crowded is for the most part there are only rows of single seats and a massive aisle space for people to pack into. Put more of the double-seat styles on the road and limit the number of "standers" and you'll find it a lot nicer.
* Invest in LONGER or TALLER buses, like other countries. Another way of maximising the amount your vehicle can carry. Maybe make them WIDER too.
Oh, and at some point, whenever you reach "developed country" status (instead of leaning on your "progressing" crutch, despite having hosted the Olympic Games, honestly what a ridiculous farcical situation), your population will have to learn some basic manners and common courtesies such as saying "excuse me", queuing rather than barging, and not coughing / spitting / sneezing on the buses.
This is irrelevant to my post, but I dearly needed to exercise my complaint gland. What's INTERESTING about the buses is that on the more well-funded routes (the buses from different routes, or maybe their parent companies, I'm not sure, are easily distinguished by colour and state of dilapidation) have TVs on them, at the front, broadcasting songs, adverts, and insane drivel. This brings me onto point two, about Chinese pop concerts.
Sometimes they show these on the TV - the singer is modern enough, snazzy haircut, silly designer clothes, a dancing troupe surrounding him / her putting down their funkiest moves (often not so funky, but what do I know) ... and the audience going wild. Except here's the thing. They are cheering / clapping / whatever FROM THEIR SEATS. The entire auditorium (many thousands) is seated and the people remain in their seats, waving these giant lance-looking wands above their heads in time to the music. Maybe 10 000 people all cheering and waving these things together. What on earth is that about? Where's the freedom of expression? Where's the liberty to get up and dance / mosh / whatever these kids call it?
Ahhhhhh yeah.
China.
When I travelled on Shanghai's buses (or in fact, on any of Shanghai's public transport vehicles) I immediately had to give up personal space, and get used to having my face in close proximity to several people's armpits / chests / faces / other body parts. Here the problem is less pronounced, but still exists, especially at rush hours (whereas Shanghai has PERMANENT overcrowding on public transport) ... I can think of three solutions:
* Use more buses. Clearly there are too many people for some routes, so put more of those buses on the road.
* Change your bus style - another reason they appear horribly crowded is for the most part there are only rows of single seats and a massive aisle space for people to pack into. Put more of the double-seat styles on the road and limit the number of "standers" and you'll find it a lot nicer.
* Invest in LONGER or TALLER buses, like other countries. Another way of maximising the amount your vehicle can carry. Maybe make them WIDER too.
Oh, and at some point, whenever you reach "developed country" status (instead of leaning on your "progressing" crutch, despite having hosted the Olympic Games, honestly what a ridiculous farcical situation), your population will have to learn some basic manners and common courtesies such as saying "excuse me", queuing rather than barging, and not coughing / spitting / sneezing on the buses.
This is irrelevant to my post, but I dearly needed to exercise my complaint gland. What's INTERESTING about the buses is that on the more well-funded routes (the buses from different routes, or maybe their parent companies, I'm not sure, are easily distinguished by colour and state of dilapidation) have TVs on them, at the front, broadcasting songs, adverts, and insane drivel. This brings me onto point two, about Chinese pop concerts.
Sometimes they show these on the TV - the singer is modern enough, snazzy haircut, silly designer clothes, a dancing troupe surrounding him / her putting down their funkiest moves (often not so funky, but what do I know) ... and the audience going wild. Except here's the thing. They are cheering / clapping / whatever FROM THEIR SEATS. The entire auditorium (many thousands) is seated and the people remain in their seats, waving these giant lance-looking wands above their heads in time to the music. Maybe 10 000 people all cheering and waving these things together. What on earth is that about? Where's the freedom of expression? Where's the liberty to get up and dance / mosh / whatever these kids call it?
Ahhhhhh yeah.
China.
Monday, 8 December 2008
Disruptions
I've moved back to Intermediate Class 2 until my exams (which take place in two weeks), mainly because the exams are all based around the books and vocab we have been learning, and if I take Intermediate Class 1's exams I will surely fail, having been in that class a mere three weeks or so. If I stay in Class 1 and take Class 2's exams I will have to do double work at home. Ergo, I've moved myself temporarily back into Class 2, so I at least stand a reasonable chance on these papers (except listening, I really think I am going to fail listening, and this worries me).
I headed along to room 417, where we used to have class, only to find we've now moved to 511. No problem, I nip up the stairs and after a couple of attempts in which I walked right past it, I find this new classroom. It's tiny. Maybe some of the class dropped out or were moved, and this meant room 417 (which really was quite big, easily seating 50 I would guess) became obsolete for the remaining few. I don't know. Either way, we're now in this small room. A couple of things happen when you downsize your classroom - it's warmer (yay, don't want to be cold in Urumqi), and it's noisier because things are so much closer. Allow me to paint a picture. This classroom has two columns of desks in it, two desks wide, so each row is 4 desks, and there are maybe five rows. A total of 20 desks. An aisle space about one and a half people wide, if that. There's a small space at the front for the teacher, and a whiteboard propped up against the window. There is no extra space; this is SMALL.
So what happens when there are eight students in the room, and one person comes in late (door at the back by the way) - anything this person does to change the atmosphere becomes immediately noticeable, that's what. Joy of joys the latecomer (seriously, why do you turn up half an hour late, and just barge your way in? It's not cool, clever, funny, and it certainly isn't mature), is the annoying kid (I refuse to call anyone who barely looks 18 an adult here) who doesnt bring any books and thinks he can just chat to his neighbour. Except there's a problem. This isn't the big room in which your piddling chat sort of murmured away in the corner. And your "mate" (who is actually hardworking and should have the balls to tell this idiot to piss off) isn't next to you, he's across this aisle. Oh, and you're not being discreet at all, in fact the sound of your voice is in direct competition with the teacher (who, bless her, is a really good teacher, but not so hot on the discipline and just tries to talk over this dick). Well, after about 10 minutes of this, I'd had enough. Actually I've had enough for a few weeks now, because so many of these damn Kazakhs are rude and discourteous, and I've wanted to just turn around and give them a mouthful. (One guy I know, an American in the Higher Class, told me in his first year here he actually got in fistfights with a couple of them over similar behaviour).
I turned around in my seat and, looking straight at him, said: "Will you close your mouth?" only it wasnt a question, it was a statement. I turned back. There was an audible silence. I'm the guy that sits quiet in class and speaks only when it's to answer a question. Then he speaks, in heavily accented (and by the sound of it, shaped by too much American gangsta music) English - "What you say to me?" ... on the second prompt I turn around again, and put it a little more forcefully, "Will you SHUT UP" and in return I get "Woah, what he say? [To me] Heeeeeeey, this is not America, this is Wulumuqi" - two things to note here, first of all I am NOT AMERICAN. DON'T GET IT WRONG, ESPECIALLY IF YOU KNOW I AM BRITISH. I can take it as a misconception, but this fool knows I'm not from that side of the pond. And secondly, I don't care if this is Urumqi, we're in a school situation, not in your back yard, homie, and I'm here to learn not smoke dope with you and your smacked-up crew. Oh and thirdly, with his manner of speaking he reminded me of someone I used to know (Mum, you know exactly who I'm talking about), and this just doesnt go down well. Seconds from making my next move (a response in Chinese, to make sure he understood, and failing that a response from my fists), and with the classroom quiet as anything now, save for this squirt's goads in whatever he thought was English, and something changed.
Nargiz, one of the bubbliest girls, bright too, and a friend of mine brought about by her younger brother speaking reasonable English and thus we have lunch together most days, turns around in her seat and starts giving this kid an earful. In Kazakh. Fast, loud, to the point. He starts arguing back, perhaps he figures she's just a girl. But then she gets up, and she's easily as tall as, if not taller than him, she comes out from her desk and goes round to him, and argues him right back into whatever cave he crawled out of (because I sure as hell wouldn't want to think people like that come from wombs), just in time for break. The bell goes, he leaves (and didnt come back for the remaining three lessons) and I am totally indebted. After that, she and a couple of the others told the teacher they didn't care much for this guy, that his first impression is bad, and that he's always smoking weed (why does this not surprise me?) - and when I said thanks, she said not to mention it because if I dealt with him there'd be trouble (I think she could see where it was going to go) but if she handled it there wouldn't be ... local knowledge I guess. The next three lessons were silent, it was awesome.
All I can say is, he'd better not be coming back to those classes until I'm back in Class 1, where, to put things fully in perspective, there are a lot more students (anywhere between 25 and 40 depending on the class), and in an average class there is no competition to hear the teacher. Teacher speaks, you listen. Simple as. Why can't it all be like that?!
In other news, I am thinking about compiling a list of current prices and useful places for people to go, something to help next year's students (if there are any, someone mentioned problems with the Urumqi-Newcastle connection), this sentences is partly a reminder to myself to actually do this, and partly a request for people to say what kind of things they think should be on this list :) Customer participation and all that.
I headed along to room 417, where we used to have class, only to find we've now moved to 511. No problem, I nip up the stairs and after a couple of attempts in which I walked right past it, I find this new classroom. It's tiny. Maybe some of the class dropped out or were moved, and this meant room 417 (which really was quite big, easily seating 50 I would guess) became obsolete for the remaining few. I don't know. Either way, we're now in this small room. A couple of things happen when you downsize your classroom - it's warmer (yay, don't want to be cold in Urumqi), and it's noisier because things are so much closer. Allow me to paint a picture. This classroom has two columns of desks in it, two desks wide, so each row is 4 desks, and there are maybe five rows. A total of 20 desks. An aisle space about one and a half people wide, if that. There's a small space at the front for the teacher, and a whiteboard propped up against the window. There is no extra space; this is SMALL.
So what happens when there are eight students in the room, and one person comes in late (door at the back by the way) - anything this person does to change the atmosphere becomes immediately noticeable, that's what. Joy of joys the latecomer (seriously, why do you turn up half an hour late, and just barge your way in? It's not cool, clever, funny, and it certainly isn't mature), is the annoying kid (I refuse to call anyone who barely looks 18 an adult here) who doesnt bring any books and thinks he can just chat to his neighbour. Except there's a problem. This isn't the big room in which your piddling chat sort of murmured away in the corner. And your "mate" (who is actually hardworking and should have the balls to tell this idiot to piss off) isn't next to you, he's across this aisle. Oh, and you're not being discreet at all, in fact the sound of your voice is in direct competition with the teacher (who, bless her, is a really good teacher, but not so hot on the discipline and just tries to talk over this dick). Well, after about 10 minutes of this, I'd had enough. Actually I've had enough for a few weeks now, because so many of these damn Kazakhs are rude and discourteous, and I've wanted to just turn around and give them a mouthful. (One guy I know, an American in the Higher Class, told me in his first year here he actually got in fistfights with a couple of them over similar behaviour).
I turned around in my seat and, looking straight at him, said: "Will you close your mouth?" only it wasnt a question, it was a statement. I turned back. There was an audible silence. I'm the guy that sits quiet in class and speaks only when it's to answer a question. Then he speaks, in heavily accented (and by the sound of it, shaped by too much American gangsta music) English - "What you say to me?" ... on the second prompt I turn around again, and put it a little more forcefully, "Will you SHUT UP" and in return I get "Woah, what he say? [To me] Heeeeeeey, this is not America, this is Wulumuqi" - two things to note here, first of all I am NOT AMERICAN. DON'T GET IT WRONG, ESPECIALLY IF YOU KNOW I AM BRITISH. I can take it as a misconception, but this fool knows I'm not from that side of the pond. And secondly, I don't care if this is Urumqi, we're in a school situation, not in your back yard, homie, and I'm here to learn not smoke dope with you and your smacked-up crew. Oh and thirdly, with his manner of speaking he reminded me of someone I used to know (Mum, you know exactly who I'm talking about), and this just doesnt go down well. Seconds from making my next move (a response in Chinese, to make sure he understood, and failing that a response from my fists), and with the classroom quiet as anything now, save for this squirt's goads in whatever he thought was English, and something changed.
Nargiz, one of the bubbliest girls, bright too, and a friend of mine brought about by her younger brother speaking reasonable English and thus we have lunch together most days, turns around in her seat and starts giving this kid an earful. In Kazakh. Fast, loud, to the point. He starts arguing back, perhaps he figures she's just a girl. But then she gets up, and she's easily as tall as, if not taller than him, she comes out from her desk and goes round to him, and argues him right back into whatever cave he crawled out of (because I sure as hell wouldn't want to think people like that come from wombs), just in time for break. The bell goes, he leaves (and didnt come back for the remaining three lessons) and I am totally indebted. After that, she and a couple of the others told the teacher they didn't care much for this guy, that his first impression is bad, and that he's always smoking weed (why does this not surprise me?) - and when I said thanks, she said not to mention it because if I dealt with him there'd be trouble (I think she could see where it was going to go) but if she handled it there wouldn't be ... local knowledge I guess. The next three lessons were silent, it was awesome.
All I can say is, he'd better not be coming back to those classes until I'm back in Class 1, where, to put things fully in perspective, there are a lot more students (anywhere between 25 and 40 depending on the class), and in an average class there is no competition to hear the teacher. Teacher speaks, you listen. Simple as. Why can't it all be like that?!
In other news, I am thinking about compiling a list of current prices and useful places for people to go, something to help next year's students (if there are any, someone mentioned problems with the Urumqi-Newcastle connection), this sentences is partly a reminder to myself to actually do this, and partly a request for people to say what kind of things they think should be on this list :) Customer participation and all that.
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Have I Made A Mistake?
101 days into a 333(ish) day project is probably not the time to be having second thoughts. Or maybe it's just normal, I dont know. I had thoughts like this earlier on (anyone reading my blog must have been blind not to notice), maybe I reckoned they would subside by now. But no, it STILL riles me when something ridiculously "normal" and "simple" by any other country's standards can be messed around horribly in China. Today features that bastion of Chinese idiocy, the Post Office. Again. Yes, it's not enough that I had troubles with them in the past (and the last time I was in China as well, both the PO and Banks seem absurdly run) - it seems they are destined to cause trouble.
I want to send my friend something very simple. She like brown pens (and has probably twigged I am talking about her just now), and I managed to find some brown felt-tip-style drawing pens in Urumqi. Dead cheap, so I got her two. I myself have identical pens in purple and green, and my housemate has one in red and one in purple too - they're nice to use, if anyone wants them ... well I'd offer to send them to you, but as you'll see, that might be harder than I first thought. I decided to take a risk. I put them in an envelope, just a normal brown envelope. So there's a sheet of paper and two slimline brown pens in an envelope, which has been sellotaped shut because otherwise it just wont close (and also because the system here is not to use lick-and-stick envelopes. Peel and stick is probably a development reserved for next century) ... "Two to England" (yes, Great Aunt Judith, I have finally sent my reply to your letter! Mum please pass that along. And yes, Marilyn, your mail is also on its way!) and "one to America" ... Oh what's that? You can't send it? Well why not? Oh because it's not a letter? Yeah well that's none of your damn business, if I want to send 2 pens in an envelope, what's it to you? Yeah you have your regulations but they are ridiculous. Why is it that I have been to about 12 other countries and NEVER had a problem with their postal service? Just CHINA.
She got her boss. Who was equally useless, just repeated the situation. The solution is to buy a box. Yeah, a BOX to send 2 pens. I asked her, "What? So if I want to send my friend a small present, it has to be in a box?" and the answer was a resolute "yes" which means two things:
1) China Post has a racket on boxes and is using them to keep profits up (heaven forfend you should use another box, also things have to be packed in front of them, yet another bane of my existence)
2) The system is (as I have stated before) seriously retarded.
I left, livid, and am still ragey. Also, I still have an envelope with two brown pens in it :( Sorry Lari.
The actual point of this was - every time something like this happens, I question my decision to learn Chinese (even more so than normal, my original reasons for choosing it no longer existing), and I am seriously put off the idea of having ANYTHING to do with China. Ever. So I lose even more motivation for yet another day, and all I can think is, "This is a poor excuse for a country and I want nothing more than to come home". Yes it's needlessly complainy and I can think of a lot worse places to be, but sadly, I can also think of a lot BETTER places to be.
I want to send my friend something very simple. She like brown pens (and has probably twigged I am talking about her just now), and I managed to find some brown felt-tip-style drawing pens in Urumqi. Dead cheap, so I got her two. I myself have identical pens in purple and green, and my housemate has one in red and one in purple too - they're nice to use, if anyone wants them ... well I'd offer to send them to you, but as you'll see, that might be harder than I first thought. I decided to take a risk. I put them in an envelope, just a normal brown envelope. So there's a sheet of paper and two slimline brown pens in an envelope, which has been sellotaped shut because otherwise it just wont close (and also because the system here is not to use lick-and-stick envelopes. Peel and stick is probably a development reserved for next century) ... "Two to England" (yes, Great Aunt Judith, I have finally sent my reply to your letter! Mum please pass that along. And yes, Marilyn, your mail is also on its way!) and "one to America" ... Oh what's that? You can't send it? Well why not? Oh because it's not a letter? Yeah well that's none of your damn business, if I want to send 2 pens in an envelope, what's it to you? Yeah you have your regulations but they are ridiculous. Why is it that I have been to about 12 other countries and NEVER had a problem with their postal service? Just CHINA.
She got her boss. Who was equally useless, just repeated the situation. The solution is to buy a box. Yeah, a BOX to send 2 pens. I asked her, "What? So if I want to send my friend a small present, it has to be in a box?" and the answer was a resolute "yes" which means two things:
1) China Post has a racket on boxes and is using them to keep profits up (heaven forfend you should use another box, also things have to be packed in front of them, yet another bane of my existence)
2) The system is (as I have stated before) seriously retarded.
I left, livid, and am still ragey. Also, I still have an envelope with two brown pens in it :( Sorry Lari.
The actual point of this was - every time something like this happens, I question my decision to learn Chinese (even more so than normal, my original reasons for choosing it no longer existing), and I am seriously put off the idea of having ANYTHING to do with China. Ever. So I lose even more motivation for yet another day, and all I can think is, "This is a poor excuse for a country and I want nothing more than to come home". Yes it's needlessly complainy and I can think of a lot worse places to be, but sadly, I can also think of a lot BETTER places to be.
Sunday, 30 November 2008
My Century
Einstein once made the observation that a minute spent on a hot plate could feel like an hour, while an hour in the arms of a hot woman (presumably looks and not temperature) could pass in a moment. I've now spent 100 days in China (not a cause for celebration) and it feels like an eternity. I'm not even 1/3 of the way through my adventure (roll on December 11), which is really quite depressing. I suppose I'll feel better when I get a small break - one of the major problems is that all of our classes are Chinese here - in the UK I would study maybe three or four different topics per semester, and I'd have a workload for each of them which would mean I'd be busy, but at least I could change subjects if one was getting a bit boring, or if I'd worked for five hours solid on it ... here though, what is there to do? Learn vocabulary (writing it out lots, looking at flashcards, etc), practice a bit of grammar, do some reading, but it's all basically the SAME - look at Chinese characters for EVERYTHING. No wonder I am suffering a lack of motivation and severe apathy towards my course.
Then there's exams coming up and I found out I at least have to PASS (that's getting 40 on a Newcastle scale which I think means getting about 47 on the Xinjiang Scale, at least if my maths is halfway correct) - so I've decided to enter myself for the lower intermediate class, not because I think I'm really that level but because all the exams here are based on the books we use, and I've only been in higher intermediate a week or two so there'll be loads I don't know. Also, because maybe, deep down, I think my level probably *is* closer to that of lower intermediate (I just don't want to go back in that class). So I don't want to do any work, but I do want to pass these exams / improve my Chinese (by osmosis?) - it's a bit of a Catch 22.
On the plus side I went out the other day - taught a bit of English in the morning, fun fun, I even have a job offer for my winter break, if I'm around I can have a class of my own in my friend's school, maybe 50 students he said, and he'll make sure I'm paid for this work. Hmm beats sitting around doing nothing else! I have other winter plans of course, so it all depends on availability but I definitely intend to take him up on this offer. After teaching, I went out with my friend Doris (I dont know where they choose their English names either), who is coming to the UK next year to do a MA in Teaching English (she's currently completing a BA in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language) ... we went shopping for flashcards and then some stuff for me to send people at home - I can't really say much more or it'll spoil surprises but I got myself something nice as well and I feel good about that.
Oh and I picked up all 4 seasons of Prison Break on DVD for a total of £2 - and even that was probably a rip off because we didn't haggle but hell if I'm complaining. So far, so good - perfect quality episodes and I'm kind of hooked, approximately three years after everyone else I know :P That's about news for now, I know it's not terribly interesting, but there ya go.
Then there's exams coming up and I found out I at least have to PASS (that's getting 40 on a Newcastle scale which I think means getting about 47 on the Xinjiang Scale, at least if my maths is halfway correct) - so I've decided to enter myself for the lower intermediate class, not because I think I'm really that level but because all the exams here are based on the books we use, and I've only been in higher intermediate a week or two so there'll be loads I don't know. Also, because maybe, deep down, I think my level probably *is* closer to that of lower intermediate (I just don't want to go back in that class). So I don't want to do any work, but I do want to pass these exams / improve my Chinese (by osmosis?) - it's a bit of a Catch 22.
On the plus side I went out the other day - taught a bit of English in the morning, fun fun, I even have a job offer for my winter break, if I'm around I can have a class of my own in my friend's school, maybe 50 students he said, and he'll make sure I'm paid for this work. Hmm beats sitting around doing nothing else! I have other winter plans of course, so it all depends on availability but I definitely intend to take him up on this offer. After teaching, I went out with my friend Doris (I dont know where they choose their English names either), who is coming to the UK next year to do a MA in Teaching English (she's currently completing a BA in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language) ... we went shopping for flashcards and then some stuff for me to send people at home - I can't really say much more or it'll spoil surprises but I got myself something nice as well and I feel good about that.
Oh and I picked up all 4 seasons of Prison Break on DVD for a total of £2 - and even that was probably a rip off because we didn't haggle but hell if I'm complaining. So far, so good - perfect quality episodes and I'm kind of hooked, approximately three years after everyone else I know :P That's about news for now, I know it's not terribly interesting, but there ya go.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Weather Report
I want to see if this HTML sticker thing works ... it's a weather report (that should update itself when the page loads) from a website with access to local information courtesy of Urumqi Diwopu Airport. If I like it, it may become a feature of the blog, so you can see what I put up with here. That being said, although it is GETTING cold, from the accounts gathered from everyone who was here last year, it is nowhere near as bad as last November / December.
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Friday, 21 November 2008
Things I Have Seen
Some things from the last day or two that stick in my mind:
* The Urumqi Splatter
Okay, let's imagine you have a blocked nose, or a slight drip, or something similar. It's winter time, most people will be having this kinda problem around now. How do you deal with it? Tissues? Hankie (a personal hate of mine but hey) ... Not in Urumqi you don't. As with other places, I imagine this is a popular method, but I've only seen it here, so it's the Urumqi Splatter. Take your thumb and forefinger. Pinch your nose a bit, and lean forward slightly (or lots, if you are worried about spray) and exhale forcefully through your nose. This may be done over pavement, roads, or (if you're classy) flowerbeds and grassy areas. It saves tissues and to some extent therefore the environment. It remains absolutely disgusting and I never want to find myself doing it. Do the people here seriously wonder why chest infections and colds and general illnesses spread so rapidly? It's because you all lack basic hygiene, common sense, and civilised behaviour.
* Strange Child
I saw a kid today, scuffling through some leaves like most of us do, crunching away, then he paused and let out some kind of cry. The only thing I could think of was "Pterodactyl". Why a child felt the need to make such a scream, I dont know. Only in China.
* Change of Scenery
I've voluntarily moved myself up a class - I'm now with people who have been learning Chinese considerably longer than I have, in fact I think one of them was with LAST YEAR'S Newcastle lot. The reasons for the move were (a) my friend said she wanted to move and didnt want to go alone, (b) I agreed with her points for wanting to move - the pace of the class was sluggish, the atmosphere in the class was often disruptive, and (to a lesser extent for me) the material was too easy. Now personally I thought the material to be okay for me, but the pace to be the main problem. Anyway, I've spent about a week in the higher class now, and the material for grammar and reading really isnt SO hard, just a lot of vocab to look up, and the pace isnt so much faster but the ATMOSPHERE, now that is different. This class is larger, maybe double the other class, and yet it's mostly quiet, the questions are sensible, there's no misbehaviour, in short .... it's just a good atmosphere! And this, I've found, has helped my learning considerably. I prepare for classes more, the words are sinking in better, and I've had just as much chance to practice in class, despite the larger size. So, I've decided to stay - I think I can hack it. The listening is hard, but ... I'm sure I'll get better (I'm going to buy a radio and listen in the evenings, lord knows the TV is useless, I don't even watch English TV in the UK so why I would start here I dont know). My teachers worried this morning that I would flunk on the exams, but I said that's okay because Newcastle really dont care. So they asked if I care. And I suppose, actually, I dont. As long as my Chinese improves, I dont give a damn about some exam result in China that no one will look at in the UK.
* Homesickness
This has subsided since last weekend, when I was DISMAL. I spent a day just sitting in the house, mostly on my bed, watching English and American movies and TV shows, feeling like doing NOTHING even though I had plenty to do. Sunday was better, I got out the house and saw a friend for lunch, but still didnt want to DO anything. This week I feel heaps better, though I still wish I was at home, and I'm trying to work out where my life is ever going to go :(
That's about it for the time being. Next update when I can really be bothered, lazy creature that I am!
* The Urumqi Splatter
Okay, let's imagine you have a blocked nose, or a slight drip, or something similar. It's winter time, most people will be having this kinda problem around now. How do you deal with it? Tissues? Hankie (a personal hate of mine but hey) ... Not in Urumqi you don't. As with other places, I imagine this is a popular method, but I've only seen it here, so it's the Urumqi Splatter. Take your thumb and forefinger. Pinch your nose a bit, and lean forward slightly (or lots, if you are worried about spray) and exhale forcefully through your nose. This may be done over pavement, roads, or (if you're classy) flowerbeds and grassy areas. It saves tissues and to some extent therefore the environment. It remains absolutely disgusting and I never want to find myself doing it. Do the people here seriously wonder why chest infections and colds and general illnesses spread so rapidly? It's because you all lack basic hygiene, common sense, and civilised behaviour.
* Strange Child
I saw a kid today, scuffling through some leaves like most of us do, crunching away, then he paused and let out some kind of cry. The only thing I could think of was "Pterodactyl". Why a child felt the need to make such a scream, I dont know. Only in China.
* Change of Scenery
I've voluntarily moved myself up a class - I'm now with people who have been learning Chinese considerably longer than I have, in fact I think one of them was with LAST YEAR'S Newcastle lot. The reasons for the move were (a) my friend said she wanted to move and didnt want to go alone, (b) I agreed with her points for wanting to move - the pace of the class was sluggish, the atmosphere in the class was often disruptive, and (to a lesser extent for me) the material was too easy. Now personally I thought the material to be okay for me, but the pace to be the main problem. Anyway, I've spent about a week in the higher class now, and the material for grammar and reading really isnt SO hard, just a lot of vocab to look up, and the pace isnt so much faster but the ATMOSPHERE, now that is different. This class is larger, maybe double the other class, and yet it's mostly quiet, the questions are sensible, there's no misbehaviour, in short .... it's just a good atmosphere! And this, I've found, has helped my learning considerably. I prepare for classes more, the words are sinking in better, and I've had just as much chance to practice in class, despite the larger size. So, I've decided to stay - I think I can hack it. The listening is hard, but ... I'm sure I'll get better (I'm going to buy a radio and listen in the evenings, lord knows the TV is useless, I don't even watch English TV in the UK so why I would start here I dont know). My teachers worried this morning that I would flunk on the exams, but I said that's okay because Newcastle really dont care. So they asked if I care. And I suppose, actually, I dont. As long as my Chinese improves, I dont give a damn about some exam result in China that no one will look at in the UK.
* Homesickness
This has subsided since last weekend, when I was DISMAL. I spent a day just sitting in the house, mostly on my bed, watching English and American movies and TV shows, feeling like doing NOTHING even though I had plenty to do. Sunday was better, I got out the house and saw a friend for lunch, but still didnt want to DO anything. This week I feel heaps better, though I still wish I was at home, and I'm trying to work out where my life is ever going to go :(
That's about it for the time being. Next update when I can really be bothered, lazy creature that I am!
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
A Friend In Need ...
A combination of what I think must be lack of sleep, poor dieting habits, and the change in weather (combined with the social effects of cold temperatures such as more people using buses ergo more germs being shared in close proximity for prolonged periods) have recently conspired to take their toll on my body. This afternoon demonstrated to me that having friends and a small network of known places around a city, or on a particular route can be invaluable.
I've not been feeling so well, on-and-off for a couple of days. A couple of weeks ago at the gym I felt quite bad but continued my workout and came away feeling much much better - you know the sweaty, dizzyish start-of-illness phase ... well that workout must have done something (sweated it out?!) because I perked right up. However the weather changed recently, from being just a bit cold to starting to snow. Apparently it's late for this year. Well equally late is my uptake on buying winter clothes; the problem is I was told it would get cold but there were just no SIGNS of it. In fact on Sunday afternoon I looked out of my window around 1500 and observed the builders working away next door, and I thought to myself "wow they must love this weather, they can build later into the year" ... about three hours later, sitting in my room, curtains closed, and I heard Marta on the phone to someone telling them it was snowing. "Snowing?", I thought, "Not when I last looked!" ... But she was right. In those three hours about two or three centimeters of snow had fallen!
Monday I went to school, my layers being a thermal top, tshirt, and jumper. Not even a very thick jumper at that. I was pretty cold. The weather warmed a little in the afternoon, and also it helped that I came home in my gym clothes, mmm tracksuit bottoms, so I didn't feel the FULL effects. Nonetheless I didn't feel 100%, and I couldn't help thinking the weather was to blame. I stayed up late last night, and woke this morning feeling tired and with an aching neck and shoulders (could have been part of my gym workout yesterday but really I was hitting the chest so those parts shouldnt have hurt so much). After a lie in (okay I turned off my alarm instead of putting it on snooze, I'm so lazy) I rushed my waking up, and didnt have enough time for proper breakfast. I made it through my first class, but only just, I was definitely zoning in and out, just about to conk out on the desk, luckily the teacher didnt ask me anything! ... In the break I went to the shop and did something very stupid (but necessary) - I got a can of Red Bull, a bar of white chocolate, and a cake. I thought it was a jam roll but it turned out to just be some kind of sponge roll without the jam (boo, China, do SOMETHING right goddammit!) ... these were devoured over the next two hours (while I had a reading test, only got 66%, so room for improvement think I).
I met with my friends - Anwar and Ava - and together we decided to go shopping for some winter clothes for me. This is related to the title of this post, there's really no substitute for some local knowledge and experience when it comes to things like clothes to protect you from winters where the temperature regularly hits -20C ... I'll cut this a bit short, we went to a dept store, found some jackets I liked, then went to another one just to compare them. The second place was closing down, but it had only recently gone bankrupt so neither of my friends knew it wasn't fully stocked with goods! So back to the first place where I got a jacket (hurray!) ... It's a bit puffy, but very light, filled with down (90%) and feathers (10%), with a couple of pockets and a hood too ... and room for some winter clothes like a jumper underneath. Wearing this, we all headed to Da Bazaar (Da means Big in Chinese, I am not speaking "ghetto" thank you very much), to see if there were thicker trousers and maybe some more jumpers I could buy. We had tea in a Uyghur shop (Anwar's choice), a bowl of soup with some noodley type bits of pasta-esque stuff in it, a tiny bit of beef, and a couple of eggs, nom nom nom. Tasted good anyway! Then we browsed some stores (and I made my mind up, I want some corduroy trousers, when I have time to go search for ones in my size / the right colour). We got to some second hand stores (with some nice looking clothes, I want to go back) where everything was significantly cheaper, but I started to feel (again, and not for the first time today) not quite right. I told Anwar and Ava that I just didnt feel so great and maybe we should call it a day. To be fair it was about 1820, time to be going home really.
Heading for the bus my stomach decided it would play nice for a bit, but once ON the bus (and with a good 20 - 25 minute journey ahead of me) it started to act up. I could feel gurgles and cramps and I knew this was not going to be pretty. After about 15 minutes (yeah I managed to hold my composure that long!) I told them I felt sick (I didnt want to tell them which end it was actually going to come out of) and they asked the guy sitting in front of us - we were standing - if I could have his seat. He obliged. I guess he didnt want me to be "sick" on him. Sadly, within a few seconds of sitting down it became apparent my bowels just were not going to hold. This was going to get messy fast, and I didn't want to be around for it. Kind of a shame that, it being my body and all. I told them I had a brainwave, I would go to the gym (it was right opposite the next bus stop) and just use the toilet there. They were really concerned for me, asked if I needed one of them to go with me, but I think the people at the gym know me well enough by now, so I thanked them but said no, I just need to get there fast.
Getting out the bus, I realised I didnt want / have time to take the underpass (ie "safe" route) across the road, and would instead have to go with the ordinarily riskier method of just crossing the six-lane road topside. The traffic thinned a little (or my eyes have just got good at spotting gaps in the traffic flow) and I made it across in record time. I got to the lift to the gym just in time. In time to see it ASCEND that is. Aaaaaaargh, what the hell was I going to do, about to colour the pavement a new shade of Urumqi brown (the other shades including mud, dirt, and winter grunge). Think calm thoughts. I ran out of the lift waiting area and gulped down fresh air as I tried not to think about the possibility that I may need to drop trow on a street corner. Thoughts of my brother, Mark, and his time in India filled my head. The time he'd had a bug so bad he had literally 5 seconds to jump to the roadside and squat. This was getting ridiculous. The lift was at the 6th floor and not coming down. By the time it reached the ground, I'd been joined by another man, who watched as I implored the lift's occupants to vacate quickly because I was feeling ill. I dont even know if what I said to them made sense, all I knew is there were toilets on floor five and I need them yesterday already. Reaching the fifth floor he had the decency to let me out first, and I rushed to the receptionists. Luckily my English student (Gu Li) was on the desk, at least I know her better than the others. I managed to blurt out "Gu Li I'm just in to use the toilets, I have a really bad stomach ..." before she nodded and watched as I sprinted down the length of the gym to the mens room.
Ah but what a dilemma when I got there. Where to put my coat and bag?! This was a brand new coat, I did NOT want to be leaving it on some crappy (literally) floor! Fate must have been smiling today, as one of the gym instructors (one of the nicer ones in my opinion, not at all hindered by his lack of English) entered the room, obviously about to go himself. He saw my situation and instantly offered to take my coat and bag. My brain overrode my bowels for one brief moment and I was able to ask "but what about paper?!" seeing there was none in the cubicle. "Don't worry, I'll sort it out" ... ahhhhhh thank heavens. Inside the cubicle, memories of the Great Train Ride came flooding back - longterm readers will remember my ordeal with the toilets on the Shanghai-Urumqi express train. Another squat toilet. But really, what other option was there? And you know what, it's REALLY not that bad. It could definitely be worse. If there's one good thing to come of today, it's finding out definitively that I will never be put off in future by using squat toilets. But I will definitely be carrying tissues ON me, it was just good fortune that the gym instructor went through my belongings and found my half full pack which he passed to me under the door. I emerged several minutes later, my quadriceps burning, my stomach still not quite right, and my Britishness returning with disgust for their lack of soap (what I need to carry THAT with me now?)
The point of all this is, you never know when you are going to need / want / appreciate a friend, contact, or just place you are known. Especially when your world is turning brown fast.
[[This happened about an hour ago. Since then I've had to go again (felt ill on the taxi ride home, but luckily my flat has a "normal" WC), and I'm just going to stick to lots of plain food, plain warm fluids, and get some decent rest, hope this passes. Mum, thanks for the smoked salmon, cheddar cheese, and so on which all arrived today, but I don't think I'll be eating them for another couple of days! ^_^
EDIT: all conversations in inverted commas here actually took place in Chinese, but since my audience is mostly made up of non-Chinese speakers I've put everything in English!]]
I've not been feeling so well, on-and-off for a couple of days. A couple of weeks ago at the gym I felt quite bad but continued my workout and came away feeling much much better - you know the sweaty, dizzyish start-of-illness phase ... well that workout must have done something (sweated it out?!) because I perked right up. However the weather changed recently, from being just a bit cold to starting to snow. Apparently it's late for this year. Well equally late is my uptake on buying winter clothes; the problem is I was told it would get cold but there were just no SIGNS of it. In fact on Sunday afternoon I looked out of my window around 1500 and observed the builders working away next door, and I thought to myself "wow they must love this weather, they can build later into the year" ... about three hours later, sitting in my room, curtains closed, and I heard Marta on the phone to someone telling them it was snowing. "Snowing?", I thought, "Not when I last looked!" ... But she was right. In those three hours about two or three centimeters of snow had fallen!
Monday I went to school, my layers being a thermal top, tshirt, and jumper. Not even a very thick jumper at that. I was pretty cold. The weather warmed a little in the afternoon, and also it helped that I came home in my gym clothes, mmm tracksuit bottoms, so I didn't feel the FULL effects. Nonetheless I didn't feel 100%, and I couldn't help thinking the weather was to blame. I stayed up late last night, and woke this morning feeling tired and with an aching neck and shoulders (could have been part of my gym workout yesterday but really I was hitting the chest so those parts shouldnt have hurt so much). After a lie in (okay I turned off my alarm instead of putting it on snooze, I'm so lazy) I rushed my waking up, and didnt have enough time for proper breakfast. I made it through my first class, but only just, I was definitely zoning in and out, just about to conk out on the desk, luckily the teacher didnt ask me anything! ... In the break I went to the shop and did something very stupid (but necessary) - I got a can of Red Bull, a bar of white chocolate, and a cake. I thought it was a jam roll but it turned out to just be some kind of sponge roll without the jam (boo, China, do SOMETHING right goddammit!) ... these were devoured over the next two hours (while I had a reading test, only got 66%, so room for improvement think I).
I met with my friends - Anwar and Ava - and together we decided to go shopping for some winter clothes for me. This is related to the title of this post, there's really no substitute for some local knowledge and experience when it comes to things like clothes to protect you from winters where the temperature regularly hits -20C ... I'll cut this a bit short, we went to a dept store, found some jackets I liked, then went to another one just to compare them. The second place was closing down, but it had only recently gone bankrupt so neither of my friends knew it wasn't fully stocked with goods! So back to the first place where I got a jacket (hurray!) ... It's a bit puffy, but very light, filled with down (90%) and feathers (10%), with a couple of pockets and a hood too ... and room for some winter clothes like a jumper underneath. Wearing this, we all headed to Da Bazaar (Da means Big in Chinese, I am not speaking "ghetto" thank you very much), to see if there were thicker trousers and maybe some more jumpers I could buy. We had tea in a Uyghur shop (Anwar's choice), a bowl of soup with some noodley type bits of pasta-esque stuff in it, a tiny bit of beef, and a couple of eggs, nom nom nom. Tasted good anyway! Then we browsed some stores (and I made my mind up, I want some corduroy trousers, when I have time to go search for ones in my size / the right colour). We got to some second hand stores (with some nice looking clothes, I want to go back) where everything was significantly cheaper, but I started to feel (again, and not for the first time today) not quite right. I told Anwar and Ava that I just didnt feel so great and maybe we should call it a day. To be fair it was about 1820, time to be going home really.
Heading for the bus my stomach decided it would play nice for a bit, but once ON the bus (and with a good 20 - 25 minute journey ahead of me) it started to act up. I could feel gurgles and cramps and I knew this was not going to be pretty. After about 15 minutes (yeah I managed to hold my composure that long!) I told them I felt sick (I didnt want to tell them which end it was actually going to come out of) and they asked the guy sitting in front of us - we were standing - if I could have his seat. He obliged. I guess he didnt want me to be "sick" on him. Sadly, within a few seconds of sitting down it became apparent my bowels just were not going to hold. This was going to get messy fast, and I didn't want to be around for it. Kind of a shame that, it being my body and all. I told them I had a brainwave, I would go to the gym (it was right opposite the next bus stop) and just use the toilet there. They were really concerned for me, asked if I needed one of them to go with me, but I think the people at the gym know me well enough by now, so I thanked them but said no, I just need to get there fast.
Getting out the bus, I realised I didnt want / have time to take the underpass (ie "safe" route) across the road, and would instead have to go with the ordinarily riskier method of just crossing the six-lane road topside. The traffic thinned a little (or my eyes have just got good at spotting gaps in the traffic flow) and I made it across in record time. I got to the lift to the gym just in time. In time to see it ASCEND that is. Aaaaaaargh, what the hell was I going to do, about to colour the pavement a new shade of Urumqi brown (the other shades including mud, dirt, and winter grunge). Think calm thoughts. I ran out of the lift waiting area and gulped down fresh air as I tried not to think about the possibility that I may need to drop trow on a street corner. Thoughts of my brother, Mark, and his time in India filled my head. The time he'd had a bug so bad he had literally 5 seconds to jump to the roadside and squat. This was getting ridiculous. The lift was at the 6th floor and not coming down. By the time it reached the ground, I'd been joined by another man, who watched as I implored the lift's occupants to vacate quickly because I was feeling ill. I dont even know if what I said to them made sense, all I knew is there were toilets on floor five and I need them yesterday already. Reaching the fifth floor he had the decency to let me out first, and I rushed to the receptionists. Luckily my English student (Gu Li) was on the desk, at least I know her better than the others. I managed to blurt out "Gu Li I'm just in to use the toilets, I have a really bad stomach ..." before she nodded and watched as I sprinted down the length of the gym to the mens room.
Ah but what a dilemma when I got there. Where to put my coat and bag?! This was a brand new coat, I did NOT want to be leaving it on some crappy (literally) floor! Fate must have been smiling today, as one of the gym instructors (one of the nicer ones in my opinion, not at all hindered by his lack of English) entered the room, obviously about to go himself. He saw my situation and instantly offered to take my coat and bag. My brain overrode my bowels for one brief moment and I was able to ask "but what about paper?!" seeing there was none in the cubicle. "Don't worry, I'll sort it out" ... ahhhhhh thank heavens. Inside the cubicle, memories of the Great Train Ride came flooding back - longterm readers will remember my ordeal with the toilets on the Shanghai-Urumqi express train. Another squat toilet. But really, what other option was there? And you know what, it's REALLY not that bad. It could definitely be worse. If there's one good thing to come of today, it's finding out definitively that I will never be put off in future by using squat toilets. But I will definitely be carrying tissues ON me, it was just good fortune that the gym instructor went through my belongings and found my half full pack which he passed to me under the door. I emerged several minutes later, my quadriceps burning, my stomach still not quite right, and my Britishness returning with disgust for their lack of soap (what I need to carry THAT with me now?)
The point of all this is, you never know when you are going to need / want / appreciate a friend, contact, or just place you are known. Especially when your world is turning brown fast.
[[This happened about an hour ago. Since then I've had to go again (felt ill on the taxi ride home, but luckily my flat has a "normal" WC), and I'm just going to stick to lots of plain food, plain warm fluids, and get some decent rest, hope this passes. Mum, thanks for the smoked salmon, cheddar cheese, and so on which all arrived today, but I don't think I'll be eating them for another couple of days! ^_^
EDIT: all conversations in inverted commas here actually took place in Chinese, but since my audience is mostly made up of non-Chinese speakers I've put everything in English!]]
Sunday, 9 November 2008
A Lazy Update
It's Sunday morning and I should probably be doing some kind of work ... but I'm taking some time to stay in bed a bit longer and generally laze if not sleep in (the Chinese for which is 睡懒觉 in case you were wondering, I know you weren't), while I try to recall some of the week's events. Also, there's no way I can leave the house right now - Marta went out last night and hasn't come back, and my crappy excuse for a main door key broke off in the lock yesterday evening (fortunately i was able to salvage the actual key part so the lock itself is still okay to use). Lucy had a front row seat to that event, being on the phone to me at the time; I could not believe that the key just sheared off in the lock. Oh wait, I COULD believe it because this is CHINA. That's fast becoming synonymous for "I've never seen this happen before, in quite this way, but it doesn't surprise me that it's happening to me here". I recall this happened the last time round as well, Sam and I came to the conclusion that "Nothing is impossible, you just haven't seen it yet" meaning you had to be in China to witness such an "impossible" event. Whatever the chances of it, having your front door key snap off in the lock is a damned irritation. I want Marta to get back here soonest so I can go and get another key cut, but since she was (presumably) on the lash last night I might be waiting some time.
I don't think so much has been going on recently. Or maybe it has and I've just not taken it all in - this is a problem when trying to document your life, some things happen that may be considered amazing or abnormal to people who don't experience them, but when you live it everything sort of blurs into "normality" ... I suppose one thing I look forward to every week is my Tai Qi class - not only is the teacher really good, but it's free (well for the students anyway, apparently our school pays the teacher, but free at the point of consumption is basically free as far as I'm concerned!) ... Every Thursday afternoon for about 90 minutes we knacker ourselves. I personally think the teacher's idea of a warm up is more work than the exercise itself! A quick run (no, that's not the knackering part) followed by several stretches, mostly for the legs, though after this week I will be adding some arm stretches too, and then some exercises. The first is okay - put your arms out to the sides and goose-step 10 - 15 paces (each foot, so 20 - 30 total). Then it gets a bit harder. With your arms still out to the sides, step forward, as you do so bring your leg up to kick your outstretched hand (same side). Do 10 - 15 paces. Finally, repeat but kick the opposite outstretched hand. Do all of these twice. Sound hard? Well it was to begin with, but now, about a month later, I am finding I CAN do this. Then there's some kicking practice, and a couple of routines (ah, I dont know the Chinese for any of this, I'm useless), which looked complicated when we first saw them, but are less so now we've done them a few hundred times. I can't wait to add breathing to it all, slow it right down and get a work out (holding some of those positions will be "fun"). This week was extra fun though because the teacher decided it would be good for us to box a little. So out came the gloves (I've never worn boxing gloves before) and some training. I would like to do more of this, I have a feeling for all my time in the gym my punches are still weak. Or maybe they're not. I should find someone to experiment on ;)
So Thursday was enjoyable. However, by Friday I found myself so knackered (I seem to have been burning the candle both ends for a few weeks now, I'm trying to regulate my body clock to something sensible but it's not happening so easily) that I stayed in bed most of the day, getting out only to shower and go to the gym (not for a workout, as I normally would, but instead to teach one of the receptionists some English - for free? maybe. Why? Well I wouldn't ordinarily, but since I'm in the gym on a Friday mostly anyway, it's not a problem to spend an extra hour there before / after working out which would otherwise be spent at home doing nothing). This week was slightly different though, because the Tai Qi from Thursday managed to strain my right tricep - all those punches! - and the inner side of my left thigh - all those kicks! I don't recall doing anything much on Friday apart from that.
Saturday I got up stupidly early (my friend texted me the wrong time to meet, fortunately I decided he had made a mistake and got up when I felt was suitable, but it was still early!) to go and give a talk at an English school. Well to be precise, a Uyghur school for teaching English. It's called NSP (Never Stop Program) and the guys that run it are now friends of mine. I'd offered to give a talk, about me, about England, about anything really, and play some language games with the classes, so I did. My morning session lasted 3 hours. That's a long time for a relatively unprepared class. The guys had got all of their morning students together, there must have been easily 150 people in the room, most of whom had reasonable English but had never used it with a foreigner before. So they were understandably delighted. We had lunch and then I was going to go to the gym but I needed time to digest (lag maan goes down slowly) so I did another hour in the afternoon, mainly questions and answers from the guys' more advanced students. It was fun, but wholly tiring! And to top it off, of course I went to the gym later, not going to miss THAT!
Coming home from the gym my key sheared off in the lock and I think that pretty much brings me full circle for the time being :)
Oh and Mum, I know I never reply to your emails and I've not written anything to you in a while, but thanks for all the letters, the bank card, the aid package and so on that have arrived this week :) Dad, I've written you a letter but it'll have to wait for posting. Lucy I'm in the middle of a letter to you. Other people, I need to write more I know!
I don't think so much has been going on recently. Or maybe it has and I've just not taken it all in - this is a problem when trying to document your life, some things happen that may be considered amazing or abnormal to people who don't experience them, but when you live it everything sort of blurs into "normality" ... I suppose one thing I look forward to every week is my Tai Qi class - not only is the teacher really good, but it's free (well for the students anyway, apparently our school pays the teacher, but free at the point of consumption is basically free as far as I'm concerned!) ... Every Thursday afternoon for about 90 minutes we knacker ourselves. I personally think the teacher's idea of a warm up is more work than the exercise itself! A quick run (no, that's not the knackering part) followed by several stretches, mostly for the legs, though after this week I will be adding some arm stretches too, and then some exercises. The first is okay - put your arms out to the sides and goose-step 10 - 15 paces (each foot, so 20 - 30 total). Then it gets a bit harder. With your arms still out to the sides, step forward, as you do so bring your leg up to kick your outstretched hand (same side). Do 10 - 15 paces. Finally, repeat but kick the opposite outstretched hand. Do all of these twice. Sound hard? Well it was to begin with, but now, about a month later, I am finding I CAN do this. Then there's some kicking practice, and a couple of routines (ah, I dont know the Chinese for any of this, I'm useless), which looked complicated when we first saw them, but are less so now we've done them a few hundred times. I can't wait to add breathing to it all, slow it right down and get a work out (holding some of those positions will be "fun"). This week was extra fun though because the teacher decided it would be good for us to box a little. So out came the gloves (I've never worn boxing gloves before) and some training. I would like to do more of this, I have a feeling for all my time in the gym my punches are still weak. Or maybe they're not. I should find someone to experiment on ;)
So Thursday was enjoyable. However, by Friday I found myself so knackered (I seem to have been burning the candle both ends for a few weeks now, I'm trying to regulate my body clock to something sensible but it's not happening so easily) that I stayed in bed most of the day, getting out only to shower and go to the gym (not for a workout, as I normally would, but instead to teach one of the receptionists some English - for free? maybe. Why? Well I wouldn't ordinarily, but since I'm in the gym on a Friday mostly anyway, it's not a problem to spend an extra hour there before / after working out which would otherwise be spent at home doing nothing). This week was slightly different though, because the Tai Qi from Thursday managed to strain my right tricep - all those punches! - and the inner side of my left thigh - all those kicks! I don't recall doing anything much on Friday apart from that.
Saturday I got up stupidly early (my friend texted me the wrong time to meet, fortunately I decided he had made a mistake and got up when I felt was suitable, but it was still early!) to go and give a talk at an English school. Well to be precise, a Uyghur school for teaching English. It's called NSP (Never Stop Program) and the guys that run it are now friends of mine. I'd offered to give a talk, about me, about England, about anything really, and play some language games with the classes, so I did. My morning session lasted 3 hours. That's a long time for a relatively unprepared class. The guys had got all of their morning students together, there must have been easily 150 people in the room, most of whom had reasonable English but had never used it with a foreigner before. So they were understandably delighted. We had lunch and then I was going to go to the gym but I needed time to digest (lag maan goes down slowly) so I did another hour in the afternoon, mainly questions and answers from the guys' more advanced students. It was fun, but wholly tiring! And to top it off, of course I went to the gym later, not going to miss THAT!
Coming home from the gym my key sheared off in the lock and I think that pretty much brings me full circle for the time being :)
Oh and Mum, I know I never reply to your emails and I've not written anything to you in a while, but thanks for all the letters, the bank card, the aid package and so on that have arrived this week :) Dad, I've written you a letter but it'll have to wait for posting. Lucy I'm in the middle of a letter to you. Other people, I need to write more I know!
Friday, 24 October 2008
Thank Yous and a General Update (October)
I tried posting a special Thank You blog last week (when I received certain goods in a yellow box) but this website didnt seem to like the idea of me uploading photos ... sorry, Mariamelia, I got your parcel, the coffee and card were both very warmly accepted! Now all we need are some filter papers for our cups, we don't have a machine or anything fancy for this non-instant (ie: proper!) stuff ... I'll email you photos when I dig your address out - I've hidden it somewhere, oh no! The Rio card is on my wall though - my collection is growing (thanks Mum, Lucy, Sheila) and it really takes attention off the filthy walls (which I am NOT cleaning because they are covered in some kind of plaster and it will just come off). I've rambled. The point is, THANK YOU :)
In other news, I can't remember where I got to last time with this blog, so apologies for repetition.
* The heating came on - yay! - the evening of October 14th the pipes finally started to warm up and by the 15th they were well and truly hot. Now we've kind of got used to the ambience, the temperature varies depending on the time of day, the pipes will be hot at one point and drop down to just warm at others, though we're not really sure how it is determined ... sometimes it's tropical (especially in my room, which is very small) and other times it's just NICE. I like nice. Sorry mum I know it's a silly word, I shouldn't use it, but I just have, twice. Anyway, we're not freezing yet!
* The weather on the other hand is definitely pushing that way. Frost in the mornings on some of the plants and the ground, puddles that ice over a bit, a distinct chill in the air, and a certain need to wear layers of clothing and keep moving in an attempt to stay warm. I've even bought gloves! Yeah, it took me that long. But there was no need to worry about prices, as usual Xinjiang came through with some mega-cheap stuff, in fact of the two pairs I bought the cheaper one is probably the warmer (though made of woolly stuff, so not great when it gets wet) - these are basic winter gloves, not going to stop the supercold temperatures we will face later in the year, but great for now. RMB 7.50 (that's something like 70p, my how the pound has fallen, but still it's cheap) - in fact there are some I have considered getting for other people ...
* I've started my Tai Qi classes at the university - I enjoy them way more than learning Chinese, but I suppose I know why I am here (grumble mutter groan complain) ... still, it's nice to have this break for an hour or ninety minutes on a Thursday afternoon. The warm up is the worst bit, I don't mind the gentle jog or the basic stretches we do, but some of the more advanced stretches are beyond me at this early stage. Having jogged a bit, and stretched your legs and back sufficiently, stand upright with your arms at ninety degrees to your body, hands all the way outstretched, parallel to the ground. Now walk along but as you "walk" be sure to kick your outstretched hand with the foot of the same side. A real kick, a nice smack sound. I can barely touch my hand and that's with leaning forward a bit. My teacher (and his student of three years) can both kick their hands really quite hard and walk ten paces like this while making it look easy and graceful. And if you thought that was going to be a long way to come, try kicking the opposite hand while doing this "walk" ... it's HARD. Once that's over with though, we can learn Tai Qi, forms, movements, etc. I think breathing will follow soon, but I'm guessing you need to know how to stand and move a little before you can add breathing in (please, people with experience correct me if I'm wrong). I'm adding advancing in Tai Qi and general fitness / flexibility to my list of things to achieve before coming home.
* I bought slippers for the house. Despite the heating being on, our floor is COLD. Also it's dirty and this saves my socks getting covered in dust ... can I have a pipe now?
* Every time I go to the shops and read the Chinglish on the front covers (and insides) of various notebooks and paper, I crack up. I need to take a camera, some of this is priceless. My favourite today was either the one that read something like "I am XXXX, this is my friend, XXXXX, together we are the Piano Rabbits" (I'm as baffled as you are!), or the book which had lots of soppy stuff about love written on the front, along with a picture of a couple of love-heart sweets containing the words "YOU SLUT". Saw one for you two Lucy, but I thought you might be a bit upset they'd misspelt something terribly famous.
* I came top of my class for a recent test. What makes this worse though, is (a) "top" was only 81% (and there are some people there who must be better than I am) and (b) I didn't even know we were going to have a test, whereas some of these people DID. Oh, and (c) the teacher was going round helping people (wtf? it's a test!) - to my credit I wasn't among those asking for help, but she did come over and just force it on me. Oh well. I think if I score higher on the next test (which I KNOW about) they might consider moving me up a class, at least for grammar. I can hope.
* I've not written anyone letters for a while. This must be amended. Hopefully by Monday I will have something to put in the post for a number of people ... no promises though!
That's it for now I think. Anything else happens, it'll just have to wait.
In other news, I can't remember where I got to last time with this blog, so apologies for repetition.
* The heating came on - yay! - the evening of October 14th the pipes finally started to warm up and by the 15th they were well and truly hot. Now we've kind of got used to the ambience, the temperature varies depending on the time of day, the pipes will be hot at one point and drop down to just warm at others, though we're not really sure how it is determined ... sometimes it's tropical (especially in my room, which is very small) and other times it's just NICE. I like nice. Sorry mum I know it's a silly word, I shouldn't use it, but I just have, twice. Anyway, we're not freezing yet!
* The weather on the other hand is definitely pushing that way. Frost in the mornings on some of the plants and the ground, puddles that ice over a bit, a distinct chill in the air, and a certain need to wear layers of clothing and keep moving in an attempt to stay warm. I've even bought gloves! Yeah, it took me that long. But there was no need to worry about prices, as usual Xinjiang came through with some mega-cheap stuff, in fact of the two pairs I bought the cheaper one is probably the warmer (though made of woolly stuff, so not great when it gets wet) - these are basic winter gloves, not going to stop the supercold temperatures we will face later in the year, but great for now. RMB 7.50 (that's something like 70p, my how the pound has fallen, but still it's cheap) - in fact there are some I have considered getting for other people ...
* I've started my Tai Qi classes at the university - I enjoy them way more than learning Chinese, but I suppose I know why I am here (grumble mutter groan complain) ... still, it's nice to have this break for an hour or ninety minutes on a Thursday afternoon. The warm up is the worst bit, I don't mind the gentle jog or the basic stretches we do, but some of the more advanced stretches are beyond me at this early stage. Having jogged a bit, and stretched your legs and back sufficiently, stand upright with your arms at ninety degrees to your body, hands all the way outstretched, parallel to the ground. Now walk along but as you "walk" be sure to kick your outstretched hand with the foot of the same side. A real kick, a nice smack sound. I can barely touch my hand and that's with leaning forward a bit. My teacher (and his student of three years) can both kick their hands really quite hard and walk ten paces like this while making it look easy and graceful. And if you thought that was going to be a long way to come, try kicking the opposite hand while doing this "walk" ... it's HARD. Once that's over with though, we can learn Tai Qi, forms, movements, etc. I think breathing will follow soon, but I'm guessing you need to know how to stand and move a little before you can add breathing in (please, people with experience correct me if I'm wrong). I'm adding advancing in Tai Qi and general fitness / flexibility to my list of things to achieve before coming home.
* I bought slippers for the house. Despite the heating being on, our floor is COLD. Also it's dirty and this saves my socks getting covered in dust ... can I have a pipe now?
* Every time I go to the shops and read the Chinglish on the front covers (and insides) of various notebooks and paper, I crack up. I need to take a camera, some of this is priceless. My favourite today was either the one that read something like "I am XXXX, this is my friend, XXXXX, together we are the Piano Rabbits" (I'm as baffled as you are!), or the book which had lots of soppy stuff about love written on the front, along with a picture of a couple of love-heart sweets containing the words "YOU SLUT". Saw one for you two Lucy, but I thought you might be a bit upset they'd misspelt something terribly famous.
* I came top of my class for a recent test. What makes this worse though, is (a) "top" was only 81% (and there are some people there who must be better than I am) and (b) I didn't even know we were going to have a test, whereas some of these people DID. Oh, and (c) the teacher was going round helping people (wtf? it's a test!) - to my credit I wasn't among those asking for help, but she did come over and just force it on me. Oh well. I think if I score higher on the next test (which I KNOW about) they might consider moving me up a class, at least for grammar. I can hope.
* I've not written anyone letters for a while. This must be amended. Hopefully by Monday I will have something to put in the post for a number of people ... no promises though!
That's it for now I think. Anything else happens, it'll just have to wait.
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Various Happenings from the Last Few Days
i've given up trying to remember what happened recently and when, if it was that important i'd be writing about it ... here's some events from the past couple of days though.
My Residency Permit
Getting this piece of golddust was like ascending Everest, or attempting to find Nirvana. Seriously, the Chinese system is shit. About two weeks ago we applied for our permits (this was after getting the temporary permit from our LOCAL police station) from the main office in Urumqi. This took two days, because on day one we were turned away at 1330 when everyone buggered off to have lunch. At the same time. I got annoyed about it in a previous blog, so I'm not going to waste breath here. The receipt they gave us said to come back on the 30th of September, no problem, so we did. Only it was closed. So we went the whole of our week off school without our main form of ID. What would have happened had we needed to leave the country in a hurry for whatever reason, I don't know. We went back the other day (October 7th) to get them ... easier said than done. First we needed to take a ticket to determine our place in the queue (and hope the chinese would play nicely!) - but which one? Miss Stone-Face on the desk was very little help but she did show me which ticket I needed, and so Marta and I got numbers 4007 and 4008. Fortunately the queue was at 4003, and moving relatively quickly, so we didn't have too long to wait. While sitting there Tanya turned up and took ticket 4011, so at least she wasn't too far behind us. Approaching StoneFace I handed over my receipt. She didn't seem in a good mood, so I didnt bother with pleasantries, I'm growing quite calloused to public service officials here, if they're not interested in being polite, neither am I. She found my passport and then motioned me to her colleague at the next counter (literally 6 feet along the desk), who took my receipt, ran it through a machine, stamped it, and gave me two of the carbon copies back before telling me I needed to pay the 400 RMB fee at the bank next door. WHAT?! Do it over the damn counter, woman. (Tanya said the last time she did this, she just paid over the desk, none of this bank malarky). But that's how it works, so off we went and got one ticket for the three of us at the bank. It didnt take too long to get to our place in the queue (about 15 minutes) and there was minimal fuss with the actual payment. Back to the PSB, where the bank-charge woman stamped our receipts AGAIN, and then motioned us back to StoneFace. This is a really good example of Chinese stupidity. Finally we got our passports pretty much chucked at us by this unpleasant dour woman, and with that we were free to go, legal residents of Urumqi, Xinjiang. At last.
Buying a Mattress (YAY)
I think everyone will be pleased to know that I finally found time (and could be bothered) to go and buy a mattress. I didn't think it would make THAT much difference - given that I've got used to sleeping on my makeshift bedding for the past 5 weeks - but it really does. And it was worth the slight hassle involved. In Urumqi there is a GIANT SHOPPING MALL - more of a market place but I digress - it's ridiculously large, the building from the outside is impressively massive in itself, and inside it stretches on as far as you can see ... not just this, but the site is split over two sides, it's incomprehensibly huge. Our first attempt, we went in the wrong side, and spent a while browsing what looked like very upmarket stores, not at all what we had been led to imagine it was like. We tried the other side however, and found an emporium of low-cost high-quality goods, all of which can be haggled over (joy). Although I found a mattress stall very quickly, I didnt have the exact measurements for my bed (d'oh!) and I couldn't risk it being too long, since my bed is a TIGHT fit in my room ... So we had to come back the next day, except I left my measure-strings (I dont have a tape measure, so I cut lengths of string, one for width and one for length, clever eh?) at home, which necessitated an extra taxi journey. Oops. Finally we made it, and I found a mattress I liked - in retrospect I could have had the cheaper, slightly more compressible one, but I didnt think it would fit on my bed, and this one felt nice so I just went with it. Like I say, my back is much harder and stronger than when I came here. They didn't hike the price up massively like friends said they would - actually they seemed really quite nice. There was some mild haggling, but I actually asked first if I could negotiate, and the owner of the store agreed, but within reason. We came to 550 RMB including delivery. Fair enough really. I was prepared to pay more than that overall!!! :) Getting it in the house was a struggle, because there was some car jam created by my driver arriving outside my flat, so he had to leave sharpish (in fairness I told him it was okay and I could manage) - but I underestimated the weight of this thing! I was struggling it inside when an old man came in the stairwell and offered to help; I turned the offer down because the guy was OLD, we're talking late 70s early 80s here ... but he insisted and together we got this thing inside my house (he offered to move it to the bedroom but I said a firm no, because my room wasn't tidy enough to get it in there, and also because he had more than helped!) - but the surprise came when I went to the stairs to get my water bottle, and picked up his bags for him. The old guy gamely walks with these HEAVY bags of shopping at least twice a week from what I can work out. Each carrier bag must have been about eight kilos, minimum. And this guy is not even uncommon around here - certainly the older generation in China knows how to look after itself!
Long story short, my room is now a lot more comfortable, the mattress is covered, I have a second, Chinese style thin mattress, also covered on top of it to make it cushy, and a duvet on top ... it's all bright colours (orange bunnies on the duvet and bright pink flowers on the Chinese mattress) so my room feels a lot warmer, and of course I now enjoy spending time in here. Viva Winter.
Settling Down A Bit
I sometimes got really homesick being here. It's never happened before, so I'm quite unused to dealing with it. But anyway, yesterday I had a wonderful day, which made me forget (mostly) about not being with people I love in England. As I went to my first class, a Chinese girl stopped me and asked if I spoke English (I love it when they ask that, as if they think I'm not a native speaker, I get a kick out of saying that not only do I speak English, I AM English) ... she wanted help with something, so I said okay (not even sure what she needed help with!) but please meet me after my class. 1200 and she was there, almost on the dot, thanking me in advance - haha, I didn't even know what I was supposed to be doing! We found a classroom that wasn't being used, and she introduced herself (Ava) and explained the situation. She's an English student, and there's a national English competition taking place, but to select people from each province there are obviously local rounds to take part in. Makes sense really. There are 3 parts to this competition - a prepared speech delivered from memory, an impromptu speech (not sure how it works), and a Q+A session at the end. Everything is done in front of an audience (both Chinese and native English speakers), and a panel of judges (of course!). She needed help tweaking her prepared speech before the competition (at the weekend!!! So soon!), and would I please assist? Haha, sure! I thought I was going to have to translate an email! Phew! Turns out there are no native speaking foreign teachers at XNU this year / semester, so unlike other universities she'd desperately been trying to find a foreign student. I spent an hour sorting her stuff out - her topic was nice and abstract so there was a lot of imagery to work around ... and finally it was done and she was happy, but would I also do her friend's work? Yeah, alright. Fortunately her friend (Annie) had chosen a much more literal topic and the writing was more straightforward, I only had to spend about 30 minutes smoothing it out and making sure she understood why I was changing bits and bobs. Mint, job done. They thanked me and I've now made 2 new Chinese friends (yay) - I hope they do well this weekend!
I then had lunch with another Chinese friend, a guy I met in a mobile phone store when I was buying my Xinjiang SIM card, who I had given my number to (wasn't sure about it but I figured I needed friends!) ... and so we met for the first time in a month and a half, and it turns out I made a really good decision giving him my number. The guy (Fei) is really nice. He's local, so I'm guessing he knows all there is to know about Urumqi, he's patient with my Chinese, and he's easy to get along with, which is good since I'm meeting up with him partly to improve Chinese and partly to help him with his English ... We had a really good lunch, and have plans to make this a weekly thing, with some topics to discuss so we can focus our learning. After this, as if I'd not done enough already, I went to the gym, had a good workout, and generally felt much better about being here. So maybe I'm settling in after all.
Thanks and General Appreciations
I'd like to thank some people without whom my trip so far would have been pretty much unbearable. Sorry if I miss you out, this is being done off the top of my head:
Mum - for the numerous letters, photos and aid parcels (more on that next post). I've not received your cake yet, but I live in hope!
Lucy - for writing at least 10 sides of A4 every time you send me a letter, which comes at the ridiculous cost of £1.22 each time (I wonder how the recession will change that?!), for the emails, texts, and long phone calls, even the ones that wake me up in the morning.
Nana - I know you don't read this, but your letters and that phone call are all very much appreciated. :) I've replied too!
Mariamelia - for the comments and postcard that now forms part of my growing wall decorations! My regards to your daughter, wherever she's got herself now ... !
Fiona - who would have thought I'd still be in touch with someone I lived with for just 3 months in first year at uni? And who would have thought the same person would be sending me coffee and chocolates from Northern Ireland to China?! If I've got money next summer (and I hope I do), I'm coming over NI for sure, let me know if there's something Chinese you want! I can't wait for your parcel :)
My Postman
- Zhou Qi Ming is a godsend. The guy calls me when there's a package for me, arranges a time to meet me at the depot, has a chat, speaks nice and slow, helps my friends out when they don't know where their depot is (because the postmen scribble Chinese on their missed-call slips), and seems easy going with a sense of humour!
Anyone Who Is Going To Send Me Stuff - I can't wait! Thanks in advance!
My Residency Permit
Getting this piece of golddust was like ascending Everest, or attempting to find Nirvana. Seriously, the Chinese system is shit. About two weeks ago we applied for our permits (this was after getting the temporary permit from our LOCAL police station) from the main office in Urumqi. This took two days, because on day one we were turned away at 1330 when everyone buggered off to have lunch. At the same time. I got annoyed about it in a previous blog, so I'm not going to waste breath here. The receipt they gave us said to come back on the 30th of September, no problem, so we did. Only it was closed. So we went the whole of our week off school without our main form of ID. What would have happened had we needed to leave the country in a hurry for whatever reason, I don't know. We went back the other day (October 7th) to get them ... easier said than done. First we needed to take a ticket to determine our place in the queue (and hope the chinese would play nicely!) - but which one? Miss Stone-Face on the desk was very little help but she did show me which ticket I needed, and so Marta and I got numbers 4007 and 4008. Fortunately the queue was at 4003, and moving relatively quickly, so we didn't have too long to wait. While sitting there Tanya turned up and took ticket 4011, so at least she wasn't too far behind us. Approaching StoneFace I handed over my receipt. She didn't seem in a good mood, so I didnt bother with pleasantries, I'm growing quite calloused to public service officials here, if they're not interested in being polite, neither am I. She found my passport and then motioned me to her colleague at the next counter (literally 6 feet along the desk), who took my receipt, ran it through a machine, stamped it, and gave me two of the carbon copies back before telling me I needed to pay the 400 RMB fee at the bank next door. WHAT?! Do it over the damn counter, woman. (Tanya said the last time she did this, she just paid over the desk, none of this bank malarky). But that's how it works, so off we went and got one ticket for the three of us at the bank. It didnt take too long to get to our place in the queue (about 15 minutes) and there was minimal fuss with the actual payment. Back to the PSB, where the bank-charge woman stamped our receipts AGAIN, and then motioned us back to StoneFace. This is a really good example of Chinese stupidity. Finally we got our passports pretty much chucked at us by this unpleasant dour woman, and with that we were free to go, legal residents of Urumqi, Xinjiang. At last.
Buying a Mattress (YAY)
I think everyone will be pleased to know that I finally found time (and could be bothered) to go and buy a mattress. I didn't think it would make THAT much difference - given that I've got used to sleeping on my makeshift bedding for the past 5 weeks - but it really does. And it was worth the slight hassle involved. In Urumqi there is a GIANT SHOPPING MALL - more of a market place but I digress - it's ridiculously large, the building from the outside is impressively massive in itself, and inside it stretches on as far as you can see ... not just this, but the site is split over two sides, it's incomprehensibly huge. Our first attempt, we went in the wrong side, and spent a while browsing what looked like very upmarket stores, not at all what we had been led to imagine it was like. We tried the other side however, and found an emporium of low-cost high-quality goods, all of which can be haggled over (joy). Although I found a mattress stall very quickly, I didnt have the exact measurements for my bed (d'oh!) and I couldn't risk it being too long, since my bed is a TIGHT fit in my room ... So we had to come back the next day, except I left my measure-strings (I dont have a tape measure, so I cut lengths of string, one for width and one for length, clever eh?) at home, which necessitated an extra taxi journey. Oops. Finally we made it, and I found a mattress I liked - in retrospect I could have had the cheaper, slightly more compressible one, but I didnt think it would fit on my bed, and this one felt nice so I just went with it. Like I say, my back is much harder and stronger than when I came here. They didn't hike the price up massively like friends said they would - actually they seemed really quite nice. There was some mild haggling, but I actually asked first if I could negotiate, and the owner of the store agreed, but within reason. We came to 550 RMB including delivery. Fair enough really. I was prepared to pay more than that overall!!! :) Getting it in the house was a struggle, because there was some car jam created by my driver arriving outside my flat, so he had to leave sharpish (in fairness I told him it was okay and I could manage) - but I underestimated the weight of this thing! I was struggling it inside when an old man came in the stairwell and offered to help; I turned the offer down because the guy was OLD, we're talking late 70s early 80s here ... but he insisted and together we got this thing inside my house (he offered to move it to the bedroom but I said a firm no, because my room wasn't tidy enough to get it in there, and also because he had more than helped!) - but the surprise came when I went to the stairs to get my water bottle, and picked up his bags for him. The old guy gamely walks with these HEAVY bags of shopping at least twice a week from what I can work out. Each carrier bag must have been about eight kilos, minimum. And this guy is not even uncommon around here - certainly the older generation in China knows how to look after itself!
Long story short, my room is now a lot more comfortable, the mattress is covered, I have a second, Chinese style thin mattress, also covered on top of it to make it cushy, and a duvet on top ... it's all bright colours (orange bunnies on the duvet and bright pink flowers on the Chinese mattress) so my room feels a lot warmer, and of course I now enjoy spending time in here. Viva Winter.
Settling Down A Bit
I sometimes got really homesick being here. It's never happened before, so I'm quite unused to dealing with it. But anyway, yesterday I had a wonderful day, which made me forget (mostly) about not being with people I love in England. As I went to my first class, a Chinese girl stopped me and asked if I spoke English (I love it when they ask that, as if they think I'm not a native speaker, I get a kick out of saying that not only do I speak English, I AM English) ... she wanted help with something, so I said okay (not even sure what she needed help with!) but please meet me after my class. 1200 and she was there, almost on the dot, thanking me in advance - haha, I didn't even know what I was supposed to be doing! We found a classroom that wasn't being used, and she introduced herself (Ava) and explained the situation. She's an English student, and there's a national English competition taking place, but to select people from each province there are obviously local rounds to take part in. Makes sense really. There are 3 parts to this competition - a prepared speech delivered from memory, an impromptu speech (not sure how it works), and a Q+A session at the end. Everything is done in front of an audience (both Chinese and native English speakers), and a panel of judges (of course!). She needed help tweaking her prepared speech before the competition (at the weekend!!! So soon!), and would I please assist? Haha, sure! I thought I was going to have to translate an email! Phew! Turns out there are no native speaking foreign teachers at XNU this year / semester, so unlike other universities she'd desperately been trying to find a foreign student. I spent an hour sorting her stuff out - her topic was nice and abstract so there was a lot of imagery to work around ... and finally it was done and she was happy, but would I also do her friend's work? Yeah, alright. Fortunately her friend (Annie) had chosen a much more literal topic and the writing was more straightforward, I only had to spend about 30 minutes smoothing it out and making sure she understood why I was changing bits and bobs. Mint, job done. They thanked me and I've now made 2 new Chinese friends (yay) - I hope they do well this weekend!
I then had lunch with another Chinese friend, a guy I met in a mobile phone store when I was buying my Xinjiang SIM card, who I had given my number to (wasn't sure about it but I figured I needed friends!) ... and so we met for the first time in a month and a half, and it turns out I made a really good decision giving him my number. The guy (Fei) is really nice. He's local, so I'm guessing he knows all there is to know about Urumqi, he's patient with my Chinese, and he's easy to get along with, which is good since I'm meeting up with him partly to improve Chinese and partly to help him with his English ... We had a really good lunch, and have plans to make this a weekly thing, with some topics to discuss so we can focus our learning. After this, as if I'd not done enough already, I went to the gym, had a good workout, and generally felt much better about being here. So maybe I'm settling in after all.
Thanks and General Appreciations
I'd like to thank some people without whom my trip so far would have been pretty much unbearable. Sorry if I miss you out, this is being done off the top of my head:
Mum - for the numerous letters, photos and aid parcels (more on that next post). I've not received your cake yet, but I live in hope!
Lucy - for writing at least 10 sides of A4 every time you send me a letter, which comes at the ridiculous cost of £1.22 each time (I wonder how the recession will change that?!), for the emails, texts, and long phone calls, even the ones that wake me up in the morning.
Nana - I know you don't read this, but your letters and that phone call are all very much appreciated. :) I've replied too!
Mariamelia - for the comments and postcard that now forms part of my growing wall decorations! My regards to your daughter, wherever she's got herself now ... !
Fiona - who would have thought I'd still be in touch with someone I lived with for just 3 months in first year at uni? And who would have thought the same person would be sending me coffee and chocolates from Northern Ireland to China?! If I've got money next summer (and I hope I do), I'm coming over NI for sure, let me know if there's something Chinese you want! I can't wait for your parcel :)
My Postman
- Zhou Qi Ming is a godsend. The guy calls me when there's a package for me, arranges a time to meet me at the depot, has a chat, speaks nice and slow, helps my friends out when they don't know where their depot is (because the postmen scribble Chinese on their missed-call slips), and seems easy going with a sense of humour!
Anyone Who Is Going To Send Me Stuff - I can't wait! Thanks in advance!
Desert Tripping in Tulfan - A Short Photo Sequence
i wanted to include a shot of the wind farm, but blogspot had a hard time understanding me, so i gave up. here are just a few photos from our day out in turpan (tulfan) and the surrounding area. sorry the quality is a bit low, i had to compress them for uploading. if you desperately want to see more (and i have some really good ones, i might upload them specially later) in hi-res, let me know, and i'll see what i can do about sending some e-mails.
vineyard
comic donkey picture. no idea why.
raisins, very popular in this region and famed for their quality, along with the grapes from which they are made.
houses cut into the hillside, really impressive stuff.
hillsides in the afternoon autumn sun, slight editing with the use of a camera mode, but otherwise authentic
sunset, a beautiful end to the day
vineyard
comic donkey picture. no idea why.
raisins, very popular in this region and famed for their quality, along with the grapes from which they are made.
houses cut into the hillside, really impressive stuff.
hillsides in the afternoon autumn sun, slight editing with the use of a camera mode, but otherwise authentic
sunset, a beautiful end to the day
Monday, 6 October 2008
So Much Has Been Happening Part 2: Discovering Urumqi and a Trip to Tulfan
Okay, a lot of other stuff happened in the last 14 days or so, but unfortunately I've been so lazy I didn't write down even snippets of what went on, so I've forgotten a lot of events. Oh well, here's some stuff I CAN remember!
We've just been on an 8 day break (back to school tomorrow, supposedly, more on that later), and one of the things we wanted to do was go to Tulfan (aka Turpan), the lowest point in China and one of the hottest summer destinations (literally, they recorded a temperature of 59C there once, that's one of the hottest temperatures on earth let along China), but in autumn and spring it's supposed to be very nice. How convenient for us that it's autumn now (though some days it really doesnt feel it, far more summery). However, we had thought we might want to stay a night there, and see the place properly, so maybe having our passports back from the PSB would be useful. That and they were supposed to be ready for collection on the 30th, which is quite long enough without my main form of international ID thank you very much! So on the 30th we went to collect them. Now to his credit, the taxi driver did try and tell us when we got into his vehicle that the office was closed, but we had our receipt and we were sure this meant they'd be open to return our passports. After all, why issue a returning date on the receipt if you'll be closed? Banks don't tell you to come in on Christmas Day or a Bank Holiday do they? It's stupid. So off we went; when we got there however, the place was clearly closed. Despite Anniwar's sage advice that "the 30th is not a holiday, but you have the day off uni", we were once again disappointed and appalled with the Chinese system. The lesson to be learnt here is NEVER TRUST THE CHINESE ON ANYTHING THEY SAY, DO, OR PRINT. What made it worse is some people from Marta's class had been back before their due collection date (knowing that the place would be closed) and their passports had been ready for them. This is a seriously messed up country.
With not a lot else to do, Marta and I took a wander around the local area, the PSB office is not in our neighbourhood and we were curious to see what was to be seen ... not a lot really, what with it being a holiday and all. Drat. We did find a nice restaurant though, and it was exceedingly cheap (I'm going to be used to having meals for about 5 RMB and find myself totally out of my depth when I get back to England - "what? that costs how much? i'll have you know in CHINA i could eat for a tenth of your price, good day sir!") ... and then we went for a stroll. But quickly wished we hadnt. We took a gander down a small alley kind of road, hoping it would lead out the other side to another main road to see what there was, but no, it was a dead end. And this was kind of awful because it meant coming back down the same alley to get out. The alley that contained seriously dilapidated run-down buildings, small shops selling tatty looking veg, TV and electrical goods shops thrown in there too (as if to highlight the difference in the quality of goods, the veg being poor, the TVs looking actually very nice), animals in dire states (the treatment of cats and dogs in China is for the most part abysmal - the 2 cats in this alley were tied on cords that wouldn't even let them get off the box they sat on unless they wanted to be hanged, and the rabbits down the end of the alley were in a cage that just about kept them off the ground which was covered in their urine stains), but the worst sight was probably the man with disfigured hands (a lot of people seem to have strange mutilations, most likely from some kind of radiation poisoning) dejectedly sifting his way through a skip of raw throwings-out and general crap (literally in some cases). It was disgusting.
We left the alley quite quickly, but it didn't get better. To one side of us was a restaurant with a load of dogs chained up outside, and as we walked by it was obvious that (a) they were on chains all day long, poor things, (b) the restaurant was most likely one that served dog, and (c) a beautiful large dog was being taken inside the restaurant. We got a taxi home and didn't feel so much like exploring again that day.
Later in the week we took a trip down to Da Bazaar (the Grand International Bazaar to give it it's full title), on the recommendation of previous students and also because we wanted to see where we could get some delightfully cheap stuff for winter, even if we didn't buy on the spot. Well, Nikki, I have to say I'm disappointed. This isn't a dig at you by the way, but maybe you and I get our kicks out of different things, possibly the fact you never left Europe before you came to China the first time gave you different perspective. Also I don't know if you've ever been to the Middle East (or indeed WHERE in the Middle East you might have been to get the impression that it was akin to the Bazaar) ... well anyway, I digress. I personally didn't like it so much. It just felt like every other damn place I've been to in China where they have a large market. Lots of people, lots of shouting, lots of haggling, lots of watching your wallet and phone, rows of shops selling the same old stuff that you probably don't want to buy anyway, and lots of people using their halting broken English to attract your attention. It was like ShangYang market in Shanghai but ... dare I say it ... worse?! True, they had some good stalls, the mens's clothes section on floor 3 will get another look later in the year for winter clothes, and the alcohol store will also be revisited because of it's ridiculously cheap foreign imports (assuming they are real! but they look it) ... but in general the atmosphere was horribly samey, just like all the other large Chinese shopping places I have been to recently and in 2006. Worse though, was the proliferation of beggars. I thought beggars in other parts of China were bad, with their approaches and touching (nay grabbing) you, but here it's not their approach (which is actually non-existent) but their appearance. These people REALLY NEED HELP. Deformations and disabilities abound. It's horrible, and shocking to see a society that just doesnt care, especially in this area because I always had this view of Muslim communities that there's a sense of just that - community. Sticking together a bit in your area. Charity laws in Islam. Who knows, whatever I thought, I'm not seeing it here. And what's even worse is that my giving these people any of my money isn't really going to CHANGE anything for them. It might make things better for a brief moment but it isn't going to lift them out of their misery and poverty-stricken lives. Really, I came away from Da Bazaar with a very negative impression of things.
To break up this slightly negative tirade, I also found a couple of DVD stores this week. Thank god. I was wondering where all the fake DVDs in Urumqi had got to. Now I know at least 2 places where I can waste some cash on some semi-decent copies of movies of TV series' I may want to see. Anyone want anything? I can have a look for it and maybe get you it if you pay me. It's silly-cheap though. Around 8 - 10 RMB for a DVD, usually this DVD will have anything from 4 - 12 films on it, not all of them in great quality, but hey, you are only paying about 80p what do you expect! In Shanghai a lot of the DVDs were similar price and perfect quality, but this isn't Shanghai :P
Ah where was I, yes, negative things ... our trip to Tulfan wasn't REALLY a negative experience (actually very positive) but some ASPECTS were less than good. Tanya made the bookings for us all, through some company whose brochure she had acquired from somewhere - 220 RMB for a day trip to Tulfan, excellent. Meet at 0820 by her gates, where we will be collected? Great. So at 0820 we're standing there and no one has phoned. We call the company and they said something about meeting later. Er, right? How about now? 0845 someone turns up and takes us to some buses, about a mile away. Why not just tell us to meet you there?! We pay our 220 RMB and get on a coach. It drives to the Sheraton and we have to get off and board another coach (so why not tell us just to meet at the Sheraton?! Idiots, we could have had another hour in bed!) ... We set off on this coach and the tour guide comes round and says it'll be another 110 RMB each if we want to go INSIDE the attractions we are due to visit today. Sorry what? 220 wasn't enough? And what's this about attractions, I thought we were just going to Tulfan?! Ah no, we have it all wrong, this is a day out seeing various sights AROUND Tulfan. And to get into those sights we ... yes yes we need to give you 110 RMB. Thanks. So now we have bugger all money left to do anything else with all day, and I ended up lending Marta ANOTHER 100 RMB. That's not a complaint by the way, Marta's Mum, it's just a statement of fact. For anyone planning to come to China, read what I said above about NEVER TRUSTING THEM ON ANYTHING, THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF AND THEN SOME. THERE IS ALWAYS SOME STUPID HIDDEN CHARGE, SOME COST YOU DIDNT KNOW EXISTED, SOME THING THEY JUST "FORGOT" TO TELL YOU ABOUT. That's a complaint.
Well, to cut things short, so I can get back to complaining again, the day out was marvellous. We didnt understand the guide very much (hence us overstaying 20 minutes at the first location, a big vineyard with underground tunnels, much to the annoyance of the rest of our group), and she did talk A LOT - all the way to Tulfan she was reeling off information over a microphone, while the coach (which had no suspension at all) bumped its way for 2.5 hours from Urumqi to the vineyards. She was actively encouraged (I'm sure) every time she finished a massive speech about the area, by the Chinese people on board clapping enthusiastically at her fluent knowledge. Oh well, it's her job, it's a tour bus I suppose we ought to have expected this! The weather was very good - blue skies, 30C, could have done with more breeze, but made for spectacular views, and I think an excellent time was had by all. Not to labour a point though, but I would like to return to the whole not trusting the Chinese tour people thing. We were having lunch at some place, a very basic affair that couldnt have cost more than 3 RMB each, and for which we probably paid 20 as part of our package deal, and the guide started to kick up some fuss about us 3 eating. We hadn't paid or something. Tanya was busy with some problem that had arisen on the phone concerning some Russian students in another part of Xinjiang, Marta didnt know what was going on, and I had only the vaguest of ideas but I was hungry and just kept eating despite the guide. She rang her boss and put him on the phone to me, so I asked him what the hell she was on about? Not being allowed to eat when we paid the same 220 as everyone else. Well you should have seen her face change as soon as I said "not allowed to eat" - "oh no no no no, that's not what I said", she started out with ... "well what DID you say?", I queried, but was unable to understand her answer. Anyway, this Australian professor was there with a former student (Chinese) and they said the guide was just being stupid and that we'd all paid the same money, and not to worry about it, they didnt understand what she was on about either and they were fed up because there'd been talk of honeydew melon that hadn't shown up (there was a reason for this we found out later, but not a great one, and the guide said she'd buy us all some later, but that never happened either) ... tsk.
I took my pleasure that day in the landscapes and the times we were allowed off the coach to get away from some of the Chinese (except this one kid who took to trailing me a bit and talking some English, though a lot of the time it was hard to understand him). The sunset was brilliant. The ruins out in the desert were delightful. With the exception of the tour company attempting to rip us off, the day out was well worth it, however next time we do something like this we're going to get a group of five and hire a jeep plus driver for the day - which apparently can be got for about 400 RMB total, as opposed to the 990 RMB we ended up giving as a threesome going on this tour - and having a customised day out to ourselves. But you live and learn and as experiences go it was a good one. I've now seen Asia's second largest wind farm, some vineyards, underground tunnels, gorgeous sandy orange mountains against powder blue sky, clear night skies (wow), and houses cut into the landscape like I wrote about in an essay back in Newcastle but never actually SAW before
It really was fun.
EDIT - i tried to upload pics, but it wasnt liking it. maybe i'll post just a picture blog as my next entry.
We've just been on an 8 day break (back to school tomorrow, supposedly, more on that later), and one of the things we wanted to do was go to Tulfan (aka Turpan), the lowest point in China and one of the hottest summer destinations (literally, they recorded a temperature of 59C there once, that's one of the hottest temperatures on earth let along China), but in autumn and spring it's supposed to be very nice. How convenient for us that it's autumn now (though some days it really doesnt feel it, far more summery). However, we had thought we might want to stay a night there, and see the place properly, so maybe having our passports back from the PSB would be useful. That and they were supposed to be ready for collection on the 30th, which is quite long enough without my main form of international ID thank you very much! So on the 30th we went to collect them. Now to his credit, the taxi driver did try and tell us when we got into his vehicle that the office was closed, but we had our receipt and we were sure this meant they'd be open to return our passports. After all, why issue a returning date on the receipt if you'll be closed? Banks don't tell you to come in on Christmas Day or a Bank Holiday do they? It's stupid. So off we went; when we got there however, the place was clearly closed. Despite Anniwar's sage advice that "the 30th is not a holiday, but you have the day off uni", we were once again disappointed and appalled with the Chinese system. The lesson to be learnt here is NEVER TRUST THE CHINESE ON ANYTHING THEY SAY, DO, OR PRINT. What made it worse is some people from Marta's class had been back before their due collection date (knowing that the place would be closed) and their passports had been ready for them. This is a seriously messed up country.
With not a lot else to do, Marta and I took a wander around the local area, the PSB office is not in our neighbourhood and we were curious to see what was to be seen ... not a lot really, what with it being a holiday and all. Drat. We did find a nice restaurant though, and it was exceedingly cheap (I'm going to be used to having meals for about 5 RMB and find myself totally out of my depth when I get back to England - "what? that costs how much? i'll have you know in CHINA i could eat for a tenth of your price, good day sir!") ... and then we went for a stroll. But quickly wished we hadnt. We took a gander down a small alley kind of road, hoping it would lead out the other side to another main road to see what there was, but no, it was a dead end. And this was kind of awful because it meant coming back down the same alley to get out. The alley that contained seriously dilapidated run-down buildings, small shops selling tatty looking veg, TV and electrical goods shops thrown in there too (as if to highlight the difference in the quality of goods, the veg being poor, the TVs looking actually very nice), animals in dire states (the treatment of cats and dogs in China is for the most part abysmal - the 2 cats in this alley were tied on cords that wouldn't even let them get off the box they sat on unless they wanted to be hanged, and the rabbits down the end of the alley were in a cage that just about kept them off the ground which was covered in their urine stains), but the worst sight was probably the man with disfigured hands (a lot of people seem to have strange mutilations, most likely from some kind of radiation poisoning) dejectedly sifting his way through a skip of raw throwings-out and general crap (literally in some cases). It was disgusting.
We left the alley quite quickly, but it didn't get better. To one side of us was a restaurant with a load of dogs chained up outside, and as we walked by it was obvious that (a) they were on chains all day long, poor things, (b) the restaurant was most likely one that served dog, and (c) a beautiful large dog was being taken inside the restaurant. We got a taxi home and didn't feel so much like exploring again that day.
Later in the week we took a trip down to Da Bazaar (the Grand International Bazaar to give it it's full title), on the recommendation of previous students and also because we wanted to see where we could get some delightfully cheap stuff for winter, even if we didn't buy on the spot. Well, Nikki, I have to say I'm disappointed. This isn't a dig at you by the way, but maybe you and I get our kicks out of different things, possibly the fact you never left Europe before you came to China the first time gave you different perspective. Also I don't know if you've ever been to the Middle East (or indeed WHERE in the Middle East you might have been to get the impression that it was akin to the Bazaar) ... well anyway, I digress. I personally didn't like it so much. It just felt like every other damn place I've been to in China where they have a large market. Lots of people, lots of shouting, lots of haggling, lots of watching your wallet and phone, rows of shops selling the same old stuff that you probably don't want to buy anyway, and lots of people using their halting broken English to attract your attention. It was like ShangYang market in Shanghai but ... dare I say it ... worse?! True, they had some good stalls, the mens's clothes section on floor 3 will get another look later in the year for winter clothes, and the alcohol store will also be revisited because of it's ridiculously cheap foreign imports (assuming they are real! but they look it) ... but in general the atmosphere was horribly samey, just like all the other large Chinese shopping places I have been to recently and in 2006. Worse though, was the proliferation of beggars. I thought beggars in other parts of China were bad, with their approaches and touching (nay grabbing) you, but here it's not their approach (which is actually non-existent) but their appearance. These people REALLY NEED HELP. Deformations and disabilities abound. It's horrible, and shocking to see a society that just doesnt care, especially in this area because I always had this view of Muslim communities that there's a sense of just that - community. Sticking together a bit in your area. Charity laws in Islam. Who knows, whatever I thought, I'm not seeing it here. And what's even worse is that my giving these people any of my money isn't really going to CHANGE anything for them. It might make things better for a brief moment but it isn't going to lift them out of their misery and poverty-stricken lives. Really, I came away from Da Bazaar with a very negative impression of things.
To break up this slightly negative tirade, I also found a couple of DVD stores this week. Thank god. I was wondering where all the fake DVDs in Urumqi had got to. Now I know at least 2 places where I can waste some cash on some semi-decent copies of movies of TV series' I may want to see. Anyone want anything? I can have a look for it and maybe get you it if you pay me. It's silly-cheap though. Around 8 - 10 RMB for a DVD, usually this DVD will have anything from 4 - 12 films on it, not all of them in great quality, but hey, you are only paying about 80p what do you expect! In Shanghai a lot of the DVDs were similar price and perfect quality, but this isn't Shanghai :P
Ah where was I, yes, negative things ... our trip to Tulfan wasn't REALLY a negative experience (actually very positive) but some ASPECTS were less than good. Tanya made the bookings for us all, through some company whose brochure she had acquired from somewhere - 220 RMB for a day trip to Tulfan, excellent. Meet at 0820 by her gates, where we will be collected? Great. So at 0820 we're standing there and no one has phoned. We call the company and they said something about meeting later. Er, right? How about now? 0845 someone turns up and takes us to some buses, about a mile away. Why not just tell us to meet you there?! We pay our 220 RMB and get on a coach. It drives to the Sheraton and we have to get off and board another coach (so why not tell us just to meet at the Sheraton?! Idiots, we could have had another hour in bed!) ... We set off on this coach and the tour guide comes round and says it'll be another 110 RMB each if we want to go INSIDE the attractions we are due to visit today. Sorry what? 220 wasn't enough? And what's this about attractions, I thought we were just going to Tulfan?! Ah no, we have it all wrong, this is a day out seeing various sights AROUND Tulfan. And to get into those sights we ... yes yes we need to give you 110 RMB. Thanks. So now we have bugger all money left to do anything else with all day, and I ended up lending Marta ANOTHER 100 RMB. That's not a complaint by the way, Marta's Mum, it's just a statement of fact. For anyone planning to come to China, read what I said above about NEVER TRUSTING THEM ON ANYTHING, THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF AND THEN SOME. THERE IS ALWAYS SOME STUPID HIDDEN CHARGE, SOME COST YOU DIDNT KNOW EXISTED, SOME THING THEY JUST "FORGOT" TO TELL YOU ABOUT. That's a complaint.
Well, to cut things short, so I can get back to complaining again, the day out was marvellous. We didnt understand the guide very much (hence us overstaying 20 minutes at the first location, a big vineyard with underground tunnels, much to the annoyance of the rest of our group), and she did talk A LOT - all the way to Tulfan she was reeling off information over a microphone, while the coach (which had no suspension at all) bumped its way for 2.5 hours from Urumqi to the vineyards. She was actively encouraged (I'm sure) every time she finished a massive speech about the area, by the Chinese people on board clapping enthusiastically at her fluent knowledge. Oh well, it's her job, it's a tour bus I suppose we ought to have expected this! The weather was very good - blue skies, 30C, could have done with more breeze, but made for spectacular views, and I think an excellent time was had by all. Not to labour a point though, but I would like to return to the whole not trusting the Chinese tour people thing. We were having lunch at some place, a very basic affair that couldnt have cost more than 3 RMB each, and for which we probably paid 20 as part of our package deal, and the guide started to kick up some fuss about us 3 eating. We hadn't paid or something. Tanya was busy with some problem that had arisen on the phone concerning some Russian students in another part of Xinjiang, Marta didnt know what was going on, and I had only the vaguest of ideas but I was hungry and just kept eating despite the guide. She rang her boss and put him on the phone to me, so I asked him what the hell she was on about? Not being allowed to eat when we paid the same 220 as everyone else. Well you should have seen her face change as soon as I said "not allowed to eat" - "oh no no no no, that's not what I said", she started out with ... "well what DID you say?", I queried, but was unable to understand her answer. Anyway, this Australian professor was there with a former student (Chinese) and they said the guide was just being stupid and that we'd all paid the same money, and not to worry about it, they didnt understand what she was on about either and they were fed up because there'd been talk of honeydew melon that hadn't shown up (there was a reason for this we found out later, but not a great one, and the guide said she'd buy us all some later, but that never happened either) ... tsk.
I took my pleasure that day in the landscapes and the times we were allowed off the coach to get away from some of the Chinese (except this one kid who took to trailing me a bit and talking some English, though a lot of the time it was hard to understand him). The sunset was brilliant. The ruins out in the desert were delightful. With the exception of the tour company attempting to rip us off, the day out was well worth it, however next time we do something like this we're going to get a group of five and hire a jeep plus driver for the day - which apparently can be got for about 400 RMB total, as opposed to the 990 RMB we ended up giving as a threesome going on this tour - and having a customised day out to ourselves. But you live and learn and as experiences go it was a good one. I've now seen Asia's second largest wind farm, some vineyards, underground tunnels, gorgeous sandy orange mountains against powder blue sky, clear night skies (wow), and houses cut into the landscape like I wrote about in an essay back in Newcastle but never actually SAW before
It really was fun.
EDIT - i tried to upload pics, but it wasnt liking it. maybe i'll post just a picture blog as my next entry.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
So Much Has Been Happening Part 1 : National Day Awards
I've done it again - I've left blogging for so long that I don't know where to begin any more ... damn. I'm currently in the middle of an 8-day break, which is really strange because: (a) in order to give us this break we had classes at the weekend, to make up for what we would "lose" during this holiday, (b) we've only been at uni for a month and already we're having some kind of half-term time off, and (c) perhaps most annoying, our next proper break isn't until January 15th. I don't count the one day that we get off for New Year's Day. What this adds up to is that this weeklong holiday (for National Day? The PRC is 59 years old now) is our last break for the next 14 weeks. By UK standards that's a ridiculous length of time not to have a break while in education. By the standards of other countries close to China, however, it's pretty normal, as my friend and classmate Tanya (she's Russian) confirms. Anyway, while I'm on this holiday I thought I should update the blog, and see what's been happening in the past 10 days or so (from memory, so things might not be totally chronological). Also, it's quite long, so I think these updates will have to be in sections.
National Day Foreign Experts Award Ceremony
When I was brought into the corridor during a lesson-break to have a chat with one of my teachers, I really had no idea what he was on about when he said that a few of us foreign students (one from each country?!) would be having a party ... I thought maybe Xinjiang Normal University had finally got its act together and was organising something for its foreign guests to do so they would get to know one another ... well, I was wrong. But as it turns out it wasn't entirely bad. The downside to being invited to this party was the question of attire. I was told I couldn't wear casual clothes at all, it was a formal thing. Damn, why did I leave all my smart clothes back in the UK - oh yes that's right, because I am a STUDENT and not some kind of ambassador businessman. Smart people will say I should always have at least one set of good clothes with me, and pedantic people will add that I am an "ambassador for Newcastle University", but to be honest, when I was packing these were not on my mind. More pressing was how I would lug my life around Shanghai, on a train, and across Urumqi. And to that end I kept things as light as possible. So, cue me having 24 hours to find "good" clothes, having just decided on a weekly budget, which would now get shot right down because of this impromptu party that I wasn't so much invited to as told to attend.
I'll cut my frantic searching short by saying that I tried the "normal" shops first, and didnt see anything I liked especially and that it was all quite expensive by Chinese standards (though cheap as chips by Western views). I wandered desolately home and on the way I saw a building I'd never been in (but passed many times). Turns out it's a huge indoor market, so I spent some time trawling round there - they had everything, jackets, coats, gloves, shirts, food, crockery, you name it. Eventually I found a stall with some good quality trousers at a reduced price (which meant the owner wasn't willing to bargain over them, which I thought was a shame because they could have been cheaper - yes, China has made me that tight already), but two pairs of good trousers (sort of thick, like denim, but not quite like jeans), one brown and one black, for 100 yuan (about 8 quid). Not the best deal in the world but not the worst either, and look I was pressed for time here, I still didn't even have a shirt or good shoes!
The shirt I acquired from a supermarket, for 40 yuan, yes yes it's most likely a phenomenal rip off, but I didn't have the time to be running around markets or whatever finding the "best deal". It took about 30 minutes to buy it though, because there's no place to try on the item you want to buy, and the store muppets were so gormless they didnt measure me until right at the end, when all I had been asking them to do before was measure me, so I could see what Chinese size I was. Really, shopping in this stupid country gets me down. It did in 2006 and it does now. I really hate it. The shoes were a story in themselves, after trying some local stores and not getting anything I wanted (I actually had to argue with one shop assistant who kept giving me sizes smaller than UK 9 that I COULD NOT FIT IN THE SIZE 8.5 SHOES BECAUSE I AM AT LEAST A SIZE 9 AND STOP GIVING ME SMALLER SHOES THEY WILL NOT WORK), I took a bus about three stops further than I'd ever been before, just to see if there was anything I could see, a bit of an adventure and also because my local area wasn't offering anything decent by way of shoes. I ended up in a place called Bei Men (北门) or Northgate if you want a literal translation. I wandered around a bit there, not seeing anything great until I chanced on a military surplus store. Heck, if theyre anything like in England, you can surely pick up something half decent looking which will also double as casual shoes AND be alright for the beginning of winter (ideally I wanted a pair of Converse (or lookalikes) but they didnt have my size in any stores) - I was trying to save money here, I don't need / want three pairs of shoes for different things, I just wanted one all rounder that would stop me using my gym trainers as casual wear. Anyway, I went into this store, and they had some alright looking stuff, and it was all dead cheap compared to my budget and what I had seen in other places. They didn't have smart shoes in this first store, but they had boots, and I was thinking ahead for when winter comes, should I just get some military boots, slightly large so I can whack two layers of socks in them, and be done with the funny looks I might get? So I asked to try them on ... and the woman had to (oh no) get off her arse and go out to a storeroom and come back with a pair of boots for me to try. Well, they fit alright, but I suddenly realised they weren't quite what I wanted for a formal dinner, and also they would need some breaking in, which is fine but takes time and hurts and I didn't want to be doing it now. But for 185 RMB it was worth bearing them in mind. I said I didnt want to buy them. Or rather that I wanted to buy them but I had no money on me, I was just looking. This SERIOUSLY PISSED OFF the women running this shop, but I've become quite callous when it comes to shopping in this damn country - if you run to "assist" me when I enter your store, I will leave. If you get offended at something trivial, I will leave. I HATE "customer service" in the UK, I've worked for companies where you have to "greet" (even if this is just acknowledgement, like "hey") the customer within X seconds of them entering the store, and then approach them for a sale after a couple of minutes. They at least had some "research" behind their methods, but it was still annoying as hell for both us and the customers I'm sure. Here it's a bit like that, but there's no slowly slowly approach, it's full on pouncing on the customer the minute they enter. Or, as with this case, feeling really put out if the customer doesnt want to buy after you've helped them find something in their size. What? Like you were doing so much before? I came in your shop and you were SAT ON YOUR BACKSIDE WATCHING TV. I think that's what annoyed her most, is she had to get up. So I left, because I couldn't be bothered with her attitude, and if I want the boots maybe I'll go back there.
Maybe. Except when I got out of the shop I looked down the street and it was another case of Chinese idiocy - they don't put one store selling an item and then the next store a distance away so there is some kind of competition and maybe someone will make a profit. No, they take a store selling an item / type of item and then put seven of them right next to each other. So I basically had my pick of all the military surplus stores, right down this road, and I felt really not bad at all about ditching the first one because in some of the others the people were a lot nicer! It actually happened that in the second store I found a pair of shoes that would have been good, but the bloke didnt have my size (shame, because he was really nice). And it was actually the LAST store I got to that said they had my size, but fetching my size came with a strict proviso. If they fit me, would I buy them? (the implication being that they wouldnt go fetching them for me just to try on, maybe the store down the other end had telephoned everyone to say watch out for the white bastard). By this point I was quite sure I liked these shoes, and I NEEDED some for this dinner, so I said yes, they got my shoes, they fit, and I bought them. 85 RMB for a pair of shoes that feel like slippers on the inside, look smart enough on the outside, and will probably be fine until the weather gets much wetter and then I'll need something a bit more waterproof and above the ankle, like boots.
So now I had my "formal" wear, it's a shame we don't have an iron so the shirt had the lines from where it was in the box, and I didnt have a smart jacket or jumper but you can't win them all. I went to the dinner with a shirt that had box-creases, trousers that were brand new, and shoes that passed at a glance for formal wear. Was it worth it? Sort of. The award ceremony itself was OKAY (it was the Tian Shan awards for outstanding contributions by Foreign Experts for the economic and social development of Xinjiang Region), the reason we were there was because one of the lecturers at XNU was receiving an award, and we were foreign students (so, maybe they thought the next generation of people to potentially receive this if we helped Xinjiang later in life), but there were some rather simpering speeches made, notably by one of the award recipients (a Brit I think, though his accent was strange), who has either been brainwashed, had a VERY PRIVILEGED look at Xinjiang, or was simply paid to say some nice stuff, who knows, he sounded sincere anyway. That aside, it was really the entertainment and food that got me. This meeting was held in the Sheraton, and it didn't disappoint - courses upon courses came to our table, tea and wine flowed freely (though they kept filling the glass only about 1/3 of the way up, which was annoying because if I'm going to have wine I want a full glass, not to have to keep asking for more), and there were several Uyghur dances and songs performed. All the while I was chatting with newfound foreign student friends, and it was actually a very good night out (Nikki I know you are reading this, Gregg says hello).
I didnt have my camera, so I cant put photos up, but maybe there'll be a couple from the night, because one of our teachers was there with a v snazzy camera and he took some group photos while we were at the table together. It was interesting, and kind of worth the rushing around buying clothes ... well I think that's enough to write about for the moment, I'll keep updating throughout the week.
National Day Foreign Experts Award Ceremony
When I was brought into the corridor during a lesson-break to have a chat with one of my teachers, I really had no idea what he was on about when he said that a few of us foreign students (one from each country?!) would be having a party ... I thought maybe Xinjiang Normal University had finally got its act together and was organising something for its foreign guests to do so they would get to know one another ... well, I was wrong. But as it turns out it wasn't entirely bad. The downside to being invited to this party was the question of attire. I was told I couldn't wear casual clothes at all, it was a formal thing. Damn, why did I leave all my smart clothes back in the UK - oh yes that's right, because I am a STUDENT and not some kind of ambassador businessman. Smart people will say I should always have at least one set of good clothes with me, and pedantic people will add that I am an "ambassador for Newcastle University", but to be honest, when I was packing these were not on my mind. More pressing was how I would lug my life around Shanghai, on a train, and across Urumqi. And to that end I kept things as light as possible. So, cue me having 24 hours to find "good" clothes, having just decided on a weekly budget, which would now get shot right down because of this impromptu party that I wasn't so much invited to as told to attend.
I'll cut my frantic searching short by saying that I tried the "normal" shops first, and didnt see anything I liked especially and that it was all quite expensive by Chinese standards (though cheap as chips by Western views). I wandered desolately home and on the way I saw a building I'd never been in (but passed many times). Turns out it's a huge indoor market, so I spent some time trawling round there - they had everything, jackets, coats, gloves, shirts, food, crockery, you name it. Eventually I found a stall with some good quality trousers at a reduced price (which meant the owner wasn't willing to bargain over them, which I thought was a shame because they could have been cheaper - yes, China has made me that tight already), but two pairs of good trousers (sort of thick, like denim, but not quite like jeans), one brown and one black, for 100 yuan (about 8 quid). Not the best deal in the world but not the worst either, and look I was pressed for time here, I still didn't even have a shirt or good shoes!
The shirt I acquired from a supermarket, for 40 yuan, yes yes it's most likely a phenomenal rip off, but I didn't have the time to be running around markets or whatever finding the "best deal". It took about 30 minutes to buy it though, because there's no place to try on the item you want to buy, and the store muppets were so gormless they didnt measure me until right at the end, when all I had been asking them to do before was measure me, so I could see what Chinese size I was. Really, shopping in this stupid country gets me down. It did in 2006 and it does now. I really hate it. The shoes were a story in themselves, after trying some local stores and not getting anything I wanted (I actually had to argue with one shop assistant who kept giving me sizes smaller than UK 9 that I COULD NOT FIT IN THE SIZE 8.5 SHOES BECAUSE I AM AT LEAST A SIZE 9 AND STOP GIVING ME SMALLER SHOES THEY WILL NOT WORK), I took a bus about three stops further than I'd ever been before, just to see if there was anything I could see, a bit of an adventure and also because my local area wasn't offering anything decent by way of shoes. I ended up in a place called Bei Men (北门) or Northgate if you want a literal translation. I wandered around a bit there, not seeing anything great until I chanced on a military surplus store. Heck, if theyre anything like in England, you can surely pick up something half decent looking which will also double as casual shoes AND be alright for the beginning of winter (ideally I wanted a pair of Converse (or lookalikes) but they didnt have my size in any stores) - I was trying to save money here, I don't need / want three pairs of shoes for different things, I just wanted one all rounder that would stop me using my gym trainers as casual wear. Anyway, I went into this store, and they had some alright looking stuff, and it was all dead cheap compared to my budget and what I had seen in other places. They didn't have smart shoes in this first store, but they had boots, and I was thinking ahead for when winter comes, should I just get some military boots, slightly large so I can whack two layers of socks in them, and be done with the funny looks I might get? So I asked to try them on ... and the woman had to (oh no) get off her arse and go out to a storeroom and come back with a pair of boots for me to try. Well, they fit alright, but I suddenly realised they weren't quite what I wanted for a formal dinner, and also they would need some breaking in, which is fine but takes time and hurts and I didn't want to be doing it now. But for 185 RMB it was worth bearing them in mind. I said I didnt want to buy them. Or rather that I wanted to buy them but I had no money on me, I was just looking. This SERIOUSLY PISSED OFF the women running this shop, but I've become quite callous when it comes to shopping in this damn country - if you run to "assist" me when I enter your store, I will leave. If you get offended at something trivial, I will leave. I HATE "customer service" in the UK, I've worked for companies where you have to "greet" (even if this is just acknowledgement, like "hey") the customer within X seconds of them entering the store, and then approach them for a sale after a couple of minutes. They at least had some "research" behind their methods, but it was still annoying as hell for both us and the customers I'm sure. Here it's a bit like that, but there's no slowly slowly approach, it's full on pouncing on the customer the minute they enter. Or, as with this case, feeling really put out if the customer doesnt want to buy after you've helped them find something in their size. What? Like you were doing so much before? I came in your shop and you were SAT ON YOUR BACKSIDE WATCHING TV. I think that's what annoyed her most, is she had to get up. So I left, because I couldn't be bothered with her attitude, and if I want the boots maybe I'll go back there.
Maybe. Except when I got out of the shop I looked down the street and it was another case of Chinese idiocy - they don't put one store selling an item and then the next store a distance away so there is some kind of competition and maybe someone will make a profit. No, they take a store selling an item / type of item and then put seven of them right next to each other. So I basically had my pick of all the military surplus stores, right down this road, and I felt really not bad at all about ditching the first one because in some of the others the people were a lot nicer! It actually happened that in the second store I found a pair of shoes that would have been good, but the bloke didnt have my size (shame, because he was really nice). And it was actually the LAST store I got to that said they had my size, but fetching my size came with a strict proviso. If they fit me, would I buy them? (the implication being that they wouldnt go fetching them for me just to try on, maybe the store down the other end had telephoned everyone to say watch out for the white bastard). By this point I was quite sure I liked these shoes, and I NEEDED some for this dinner, so I said yes, they got my shoes, they fit, and I bought them. 85 RMB for a pair of shoes that feel like slippers on the inside, look smart enough on the outside, and will probably be fine until the weather gets much wetter and then I'll need something a bit more waterproof and above the ankle, like boots.
So now I had my "formal" wear, it's a shame we don't have an iron so the shirt had the lines from where it was in the box, and I didnt have a smart jacket or jumper but you can't win them all. I went to the dinner with a shirt that had box-creases, trousers that were brand new, and shoes that passed at a glance for formal wear. Was it worth it? Sort of. The award ceremony itself was OKAY (it was the Tian Shan awards for outstanding contributions by Foreign Experts for the economic and social development of Xinjiang Region), the reason we were there was because one of the lecturers at XNU was receiving an award, and we were foreign students (so, maybe they thought the next generation of people to potentially receive this if we helped Xinjiang later in life), but there were some rather simpering speeches made, notably by one of the award recipients (a Brit I think, though his accent was strange), who has either been brainwashed, had a VERY PRIVILEGED look at Xinjiang, or was simply paid to say some nice stuff, who knows, he sounded sincere anyway. That aside, it was really the entertainment and food that got me. This meeting was held in the Sheraton, and it didn't disappoint - courses upon courses came to our table, tea and wine flowed freely (though they kept filling the glass only about 1/3 of the way up, which was annoying because if I'm going to have wine I want a full glass, not to have to keep asking for more), and there were several Uyghur dances and songs performed. All the while I was chatting with newfound foreign student friends, and it was actually a very good night out (Nikki I know you are reading this, Gregg says hello).
I didnt have my camera, so I cant put photos up, but maybe there'll be a couple from the night, because one of our teachers was there with a v snazzy camera and he took some group photos while we were at the table together. It was interesting, and kind of worth the rushing around buying clothes ... well I think that's enough to write about for the moment, I'll keep updating throughout the week.
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