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.