So, Beijing is like the land of plenty when it comes to imported food. Now, mind you we can't get EVERYTHING, so we still love the care packages, but compared to what we were able to get in Guyuan, we're rolling in food wealth!
The local shop really close by is called, My Shop. They have a nice variety of food, that is keeping me well stocked with Dr. Pepper and granola bars. A little while back they started carrying a very exciting new item, Queso Dip. Not just any queso dip but a name brand cheese dip (name brand meaning that I recognize it).
I have found that my relationship with this particular food product almost borders on obsession. One time, I bought 6 jars of it at the same time just because if they sold out, I wanted to have my little stock, safe at home. But the problem is that I don't want to eat it right away. Because what if I crack open the jar, consume and then can't buy more? But at the same time the cheesy draw is just such that I can't quite keep away from it. So it is always on the brain. I think about during class. I think about it while walking around. I think about it when I am eating other food - "stupid, sweet and sour pork! You could be tangy, creamy cheese dip right now!"
So, the hoarding is a little pack rat-ish and the mental obsession is a little bit Smeagol-ish, but one of the worst things is that one the safety button is popped, there is no hope for the contents of the jar lasting the week in our household. It's like you just start to eat it and can't and don't want to stop. It's just too good! One time when I was eating some with Matt we just both couldn't control ourselves - granted this was the first jar opened post-discovery and I wound up eating it a little too far past the point of the cheese sicks. In the rare event that we are able to hold off full consumption, it goes in the fridge. Then I speaks to us. "Moooooly!!! Moooooooly!!! How about just a little taste? A little taste won't hurt you. Don't you like me anymore? Just take a peak, just to make sure Matt didn't gobble me up in the middle of the night...." NOOOOOOO cheese dip, NOOOOOOO!!! You will not trick me again this time!
They might as well just rename it cheese crack. Once all of the zesty goodness is on tortilla chip, I am just so focused on getting it in my mouth the rest of the world just drips away. And when the jar is gone, I feel a little sad and wired and I can't help but think about getting my next dose.
I'm thinking about it right now.
I can't stop.
Mmmmmmmmm...cheese dip.
*drool*
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Say what?
So another blog check-in. Nothing really special going on for my classes. Just trying how to best talk to a fairly good student about an attitude problem and come up with a lesson plan for Yan Qing. I have been trying to wrap my head around what I would like to do, but am having trouble starting. But not a whole lot other than that.
Today Matt and I went out to a Mexican restaurant with Naree and Alby! We had a great time with some good food and topped it off with a Black Forest chocolate cake. Yum!
Uh, I have been spending some more time down in the studio and have another little recording tidbit for you from yesterday.
"Oh good! The blacks are going back to their own country! I'm so happy!"
Uhhhhhhh....
Uhhhhhhh....
Uhhhhhhh....
Well, I assume and hope that they meant "The Blacks" as in a family name like "The Browns" or "The Greens" as there were other color themed surnames on the page. But this was the only one where the color was not capitalized.
So, I'll leave you with that.
Today Matt and I went out to a Mexican restaurant with Naree and Alby! We had a great time with some good food and topped it off with a Black Forest chocolate cake. Yum!
Uh, I have been spending some more time down in the studio and have another little recording tidbit for you from yesterday.
"Oh good! The blacks are going back to their own country! I'm so happy!"
Uhhhhhhh....
Uhhhhhhh....
Uhhhhhhh....
Well, I assume and hope that they meant "The Blacks" as in a family name like "The Browns" or "The Greens" as there were other color themed surnames on the page. But this was the only one where the color was not capitalized.
So, I'll leave you with that.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Lines. It All Comes Down to Lines.
It looks as if they seem to know that the current system leaves much to be desired and now that the world will be watching soon, they have decided to try to change hundreds of years of rudeness.
Don't worry. Nect month I will be getting some photographic evidence of this occurance (maybe even a video if you are lucky!)
Beijingers Urged to Queue on Monthly "Queuing Day" - Xinhua
The girl carefully pasted the card with her signature on an exhibiting board. On the card, the four-year-old Liang Miaozhu vowed to queue in the public and respect order.
Liang, accompanied by her mom, is among hundreds of Beijing citizens who participated on Sunday in activities in Beijing's busy Wangfujing Street to promote the city's first "queuing day".
The 11th day of every month is chosen as the promotion day for queuing up as part of a drive to improve the city's image before next year's Olympics, according to Zhang Huiguang, director of Beijing's Capital Ethic Development Office earlier this month.
The number 11 resembles two queuing persons, according to Zhang. "That means that even if there are only two people, they should wait in line," she said.
People expressed their support for the move. "The Beijing Olympic Games is drawing near, but bad behaviors still exist in the city," said 63-year-old Liu Chun'e," we should display to our foreign guests the courtesy of Chinese people."
Although netizens voiced their doubt on the Internet and large numbers of bus passengers made it difficult to keep order, Zhang noted that it was important to create an environment where the wrongdoing was a shame. "
The Chinese people don't like to lose face," she said.
Before the Olympics, the city is also determined to eradicate bad habits like spitting in the public and littering.
Don't worry. Nect month I will be getting some photographic evidence of this occurance (maybe even a video if you are lucky!)
Beijingers Urged to Queue on Monthly "Queuing Day" - Xinhua
The girl carefully pasted the card with her signature on an exhibiting board. On the card, the four-year-old Liang Miaozhu vowed to queue in the public and respect order.
Liang, accompanied by her mom, is among hundreds of Beijing citizens who participated on Sunday in activities in Beijing's busy Wangfujing Street to promote the city's first "queuing day".
The 11th day of every month is chosen as the promotion day for queuing up as part of a drive to improve the city's image before next year's Olympics, according to Zhang Huiguang, director of Beijing's Capital Ethic Development Office earlier this month.
The number 11 resembles two queuing persons, according to Zhang. "That means that even if there are only two people, they should wait in line," she said.
People expressed their support for the move. "The Beijing Olympic Games is drawing near, but bad behaviors still exist in the city," said 63-year-old Liu Chun'e," we should display to our foreign guests the courtesy of Chinese people."
Although netizens voiced their doubt on the Internet and large numbers of bus passengers made it difficult to keep order, Zhang noted that it was important to create an environment where the wrongdoing was a shame. "
The Chinese people don't like to lose face," she said.
Before the Olympics, the city is also determined to eradicate bad habits like spitting in the public and littering.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Tying up loose ends
Just letting you all know that I have been going through my archives and finishing up some posts that I had started but never finished. I still have a couple to finish up from my vacation (I know, I know, get it done already) and I still have some pictures to get up (can't spoil y'all too much).
I just finished up a post way back from Jan. 1st. So if you want to hear about our New Year's day, check it out! It's real easy - just look to the right and click on my archives for January 2007.
Enjoy!
I just finished up a post way back from Jan. 1st. So if you want to hear about our New Year's day, check it out! It's real easy - just look to the right and click on my archives for January 2007.
Enjoy!
Back off BSB!!!
No, I didn't have a typo incident mistaking PSB for what I wrote. I really do mean back off BSB! What is BSB might you ask? Why, it is a 5 member group that has had an international presence for the past 10 years in Asia. It is responsible for making my auditory enjoyment of my surroundings a little more unpleasant than it would normally be if I didn't have them around.
Yes, yes. I am talking about the Backstreet Boys.
Seriously, I can't seem to escape them. Their musical stylings have followed me throughout Asia. I'm not kidding. Don't laugh. They sorta creep up on me when I least expect it. I'm savoring the spicy pepperoni in my American Classic pizza from Pizza Hut and all of a sudden, BAM! It hits me. "Backstreet's back, alright! BAMP-BAM-BAMP-BAMP-BAMP!" I'm listening to the Backstreet Boys, again. And then I promptly start to pound my head on the table, eventually in perfect rhythm with the annoyingly catchy pop back beat.
I go to a DVD shop and am flipping through all of the brand new, still in theaters titles and then I will hear something strangely familiar in the background. This eventually gets louder and louder until it is resonating in my head - "I'll never break your heart. I'll never make you cry...." ARGH! Inevitably I wind up stopping my DVD bin flipping on a movie title like, White Chicks or Strangeheart or, gasp, Crash or some other stupid shitty movie. At that moment I absently mindedly pick up the movie and put it into my stack, so yes, we own these movies. The Backstreet Boys actually deaden all of my senses at the same time so I have absolutely no discretion or taste from the first recognized lyric to the very last note. Or, in the case they are on a loop, until I temporarily regain some shred of composure and flee the store.
The last example I can bear to tell you was when I was in the middle of freaking nowhere. There was a large speaker in a field for the call to prayer. When it wasn't being used to gather the devout, guess what it was used for? Yup. Unfortunately. Sigh, "I don't care who you are, where you're from, don't care what you do as long as you love me." I am sorry to say that I don't really have an Indo memory divorced from that tune. It was one of the first things I heard when I came to from my surgery!
KEEEEE-RIST (christ, but drawn out in that exasperated way)!
After I came back home from Indonesia they just released their "As Long As You Love Me" single, so I got to hear it at home incessantly as well. Also mirrored was one question asked by Indo-gals on both sides of the Pacific, "which Backstreet Boy do you pretend you pillow is at night?" This was the question that I have been asked most frequently by Indonesian girls from the ages 12 to 24.
So far I have encountered their lovesick pining in Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, China, Tibet (hee, hee - that one IS for the PSB), Mongolia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. So, like, everywhere I have been in Asia. I can't shake them. I know all of the words to the songs and not because I want to. I am being stalked by new releases (which are only released overseas) and greatest hits albums.
If I ever were to meet AJ, Brian, Kevin, Howie and Nick (yes, I know their names), I don't even know what I would say. I would probably just start crying. Not out of reverence and/or girlish glee but for their constant and irritating infiltration of my Asia experiences.
And then I would slap them.
Yes, yes. I am talking about the Backstreet Boys.
Seriously, I can't seem to escape them. Their musical stylings have followed me throughout Asia. I'm not kidding. Don't laugh. They sorta creep up on me when I least expect it. I'm savoring the spicy pepperoni in my American Classic pizza from Pizza Hut and all of a sudden, BAM! It hits me. "Backstreet's back, alright! BAMP-BAM-BAMP-BAMP-BAMP!" I'm listening to the Backstreet Boys, again. And then I promptly start to pound my head on the table, eventually in perfect rhythm with the annoyingly catchy pop back beat.
I go to a DVD shop and am flipping through all of the brand new, still in theaters titles and then I will hear something strangely familiar in the background. This eventually gets louder and louder until it is resonating in my head - "I'll never break your heart. I'll never make you cry...." ARGH! Inevitably I wind up stopping my DVD bin flipping on a movie title like, White Chicks or Strangeheart or, gasp, Crash or some other stupid shitty movie. At that moment I absently mindedly pick up the movie and put it into my stack, so yes, we own these movies. The Backstreet Boys actually deaden all of my senses at the same time so I have absolutely no discretion or taste from the first recognized lyric to the very last note. Or, in the case they are on a loop, until I temporarily regain some shred of composure and flee the store.
The last example I can bear to tell you was when I was in the middle of freaking nowhere. There was a large speaker in a field for the call to prayer. When it wasn't being used to gather the devout, guess what it was used for? Yup. Unfortunately. Sigh, "I don't care who you are, where you're from, don't care what you do as long as you love me." I am sorry to say that I don't really have an Indo memory divorced from that tune. It was one of the first things I heard when I came to from my surgery!
KEEEEE-RIST (christ, but drawn out in that exasperated way)!
After I came back home from Indonesia they just released their "As Long As You Love Me" single, so I got to hear it at home incessantly as well. Also mirrored was one question asked by Indo-gals on both sides of the Pacific, "which Backstreet Boy do you pretend you pillow is at night?" This was the question that I have been asked most frequently by Indonesian girls from the ages 12 to 24.
So far I have encountered their lovesick pining in Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, China, Tibet (hee, hee - that one IS for the PSB), Mongolia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. So, like, everywhere I have been in Asia. I can't shake them. I know all of the words to the songs and not because I want to. I am being stalked by new releases (which are only released overseas) and greatest hits albums.
If I ever were to meet AJ, Brian, Kevin, Howie and Nick (yes, I know their names), I don't even know what I would say. I would probably just start crying. Not out of reverence and/or girlish glee but for their constant and irritating infiltration of my Asia experiences.
And then I would slap them.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Speaking to you from the future and past!
I haven't felt like blogging a whole lot, but I just added a post earlier in March, so there will be some posts to scroll down for. Sorry to make you all work, but I want to try to keep things and thoughs in order. But I will also add new posts from the top when I feel like it.
So, not much else to report on right now. About my last post, thanks for everyone for being so supportive. I'm sure that once I remove myself from the situation and when I refelct on my time here, I will be able to look through a nice, fashionable pair of rose tinted glasses rather than the muck colored ones as of late. And as far as my posts are concerned, I'm sure I will be back to toilet humor in no time, not to worry. (see my latest March 4th post).
Really, no need to be concerned, I really wanted my weblog to be an honest assesment of how I view and interpret things, because nothing is rosy all of the time and I realize that. I want to honest to myself and not just write about a bunch of happy bullshit all of the time to keep up appearances. Some times things just suck. If something kicks ass, I will make sure to tell you all. Just as if something makes me want to kick ass, rest assured that my comments will reflect that as well.
But, thank you to all of my readers who have kept up with all of the ups and downs of this journey. I appreciate it!
So, not much else to report on right now. About my last post, thanks for everyone for being so supportive. I'm sure that once I remove myself from the situation and when I refelct on my time here, I will be able to look through a nice, fashionable pair of rose tinted glasses rather than the muck colored ones as of late. And as far as my posts are concerned, I'm sure I will be back to toilet humor in no time, not to worry. (see my latest March 4th post).
Really, no need to be concerned, I really wanted my weblog to be an honest assesment of how I view and interpret things, because nothing is rosy all of the time and I realize that. I want to honest to myself and not just write about a bunch of happy bullshit all of the time to keep up appearances. Some times things just suck. If something kicks ass, I will make sure to tell you all. Just as if something makes me want to kick ass, rest assured that my comments will reflect that as well.
But, thank you to all of my readers who have kept up with all of the ups and downs of this journey. I appreciate it!
Friday, March 09, 2007
Getting back to it
So, I have my first week of teaching out of the way. I can't say that is it exactly good to be back, but it is nice to set the pack down for a little while. I was reading some of the other blogs and emails that others have sent out post vacation. Many of them said that they are glad to be home and it feels good to get back to their respective nooks in China. I don't and have never felt this way about China.
China doesn't make me feel good. Don't get me wrong, I am actually happy that I have had this experience, and I don't regret it for a single moment, but I can honestly say that I don't really like the person that China turns me into (note: I have not used, "has turned me into" as I fully expect my Chinese funky state to be completely reversible). It's not culture shock, but something different, more deeply rooted and undefined.
I honestly feel really bad about some of the feelings I have about this place. I feel bad that I don't smile and coo over the Chinese babies. Instead, the first thought that pops through my head is more like, "Christ, another one of these people?" My tolerance is basically shot to shit. I really don't care about your "face" or mine for that matter and I really won't go to great lengths to preserve either. I am just to the point where I just don't care. That worries me. I have made attempts to care, but I was just kidding myself. I mean, I was forcing myself to care, thus, I knew I was pretending to care and therefore I was fully aware of this truly manufactured "caring" act that just emphasized even more that this was fake, and an untrue emotion. Ugh.
I just feel pretty hollowed out slowly being filled with tar and bile. After I got elbowed in the face at the train station, again, I just about lost it. After we tried to load our bags on the bus, only to have a dozen Chinese people shove their way in and push us out of the way I kind of did. It's ugly. I feel really weighted down.
China doesn't make me feel good. Don't get me wrong, I am actually happy that I have had this experience, and I don't regret it for a single moment, but I can honestly say that I don't really like the person that China turns me into (note: I have not used, "has turned me into" as I fully expect my Chinese funky state to be completely reversible). It's not culture shock, but something different, more deeply rooted and undefined.
I honestly feel really bad about some of the feelings I have about this place. I feel bad that I don't smile and coo over the Chinese babies. Instead, the first thought that pops through my head is more like, "Christ, another one of these people?" My tolerance is basically shot to shit. I really don't care about your "face" or mine for that matter and I really won't go to great lengths to preserve either. I am just to the point where I just don't care. That worries me. I have made attempts to care, but I was just kidding myself. I mean, I was forcing myself to care, thus, I knew I was pretending to care and therefore I was fully aware of this truly manufactured "caring" act that just emphasized even more that this was fake, and an untrue emotion. Ugh.
I just feel pretty hollowed out slowly being filled with tar and bile. After I got elbowed in the face at the train station, again, I just about lost it. After we tried to load our bags on the bus, only to have a dozen Chinese people shove their way in and push us out of the way I kind of did. It's ugly. I feel really weighted down.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Going back in time
Hello! Just wanted to let all of you know that I have loaded some of the pictures from Laos and China. It will be a little bit longer for the Vietnam and Cambodia pictures because I have to wait to get my guidebooks back so I can group them appropriately.
Also, I have been adding to my blog, but I have been adding entries in the February section on my blog. So, keep scrolling down or click on 'February' on the right had side of my blog.
But just to be even more haphazard, I will also be posting current entries as they come to me.
Anyhow, I hope you are well!
Happy year of the golden pig!
Also, I have been adding to my blog, but I have been adding entries in the February section on my blog. So, keep scrolling down or click on 'February' on the right had side of my blog.
But just to be even more haphazard, I will also be posting current entries as they come to me.
Anyhow, I hope you are well!
Happy year of the golden pig!
Sunday, March 04, 2007
The Trench
On one of the multiple bus trips that we took to get back up to Beijing we stopped off at a rest stop to grab a bite to eat and to go to the bathroom. Now, since being in China I have been exposed to many kinds of toilets. The one at this particular stop was the trench style. There is a trough running down the center and a stream of water that flows down the trench to clear out the waste. There are also little half partitions up on the platform to give the illusion of privacy. You squat over the trench and let loose.
One of the 'good' things about China is that I am no longer pee shy. I can pee with or without an audience, although I still prefer without (imagine that). So I was waiting in the pseudo-line and finally it was my turn. I got up on the platform - luckily my spot along the trench was near the head of the line so I didn't have other people's waste passing below me. I assumed the position and noticed that there was a little toddler watching me.
So, I have been watched before, more as a form of entertainment than anything else, but this little girl was quite transfixed on my squat. When she stopped staring, she decided to climb up on the platform with me and squatted down behind me over the trench. So I was concentrating not to miss and squirt the kid and she reached out and put both hands on my bare bottom and started to squeeze and play with her hands while she and I went to the bathroom. This all was of course a riotously funny to the mother, and even more so when she found out that I was a foreigner. But apparently, this was the first time that she had done this kind of activity on her own so mama was proud and happy and I got goosed by her daughter.
Good times!
One of the 'good' things about China is that I am no longer pee shy. I can pee with or without an audience, although I still prefer without (imagine that). So I was waiting in the pseudo-line and finally it was my turn. I got up on the platform - luckily my spot along the trench was near the head of the line so I didn't have other people's waste passing below me. I assumed the position and noticed that there was a little toddler watching me.
So, I have been watched before, more as a form of entertainment than anything else, but this little girl was quite transfixed on my squat. When she stopped staring, she decided to climb up on the platform with me and squatted down behind me over the trench. So I was concentrating not to miss and squirt the kid and she reached out and put both hands on my bare bottom and started to squeeze and play with her hands while she and I went to the bathroom. This all was of course a riotously funny to the mother, and even more so when she found out that I was a foreigner. But apparently, this was the first time that she had done this kind of activity on her own so mama was proud and happy and I got goosed by her daughter.
Good times!
Thursday, March 01, 2007
ARRRRGH!!!
I know that I have promised all of you some travel reports and random thoughts, but China has yet again locked me out of my blogger account. So I have to post via email, and I can't get to all of the posts that I have started. SUCKS!
So, be patient and you will be rewarded with more than you could possible want!
But to pass the time, I will have some pretty pictures up soon and this time I will try to caption them!
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