Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween, which I sort of forgot about until someone reminded me late this evening. I had been counting down the days until today, but for a rather different reason - rumor has it that the heat will be turned on tomorrow!!! Though I love sleeping on my electric blanket which warms up beneath me when I switch it on at night, the current temperature is an inappropriate indoor temperature. I don't want to wear my coat and gloves in class. I hope the rumor are true and it really heats up tomorrow. Meanwhile I hope lots of you are dressed up as witches and eating candy.
Numbers
Math, and numbers in general, are really interesting to observe in another culture. I guess it's because while I've known all along that languages are wildly different around the world, I somehow thought that counting should be the same. I got some feeling for this kind of difference in France where, possibly along with most of continental Europe, for example, the decimal point and comma have exchanged functions - a dot marks off the thousands place etc., and a comma separates the units from the tenths position (e.g. 1,300.5 in France would be written as 1.300,5).
Chinese has even more numerical surprises. First of all, it uses Arabic numerals, but when numbers are 'written out,' they of course get written in Chinese. 1, 2, and 3, correspond to 一, 二 and 三, for example, which is all very well and good. Even four through ten, now, are easy (4,5,6,7,8,9,10 are 四,五,六,七,八,九,十）. From then on Chinese is extremely systematic, using a simple combination of the digits from 1-9 with ten (two tens through nine tens, or 二十through 九十, and then a simple combination with 100 (百), and one thousand (千). For example, the number 3,846 would be written 三千八百四十六, or 'three thousand eight hundred four ten six.' The difficulty begins with 10,000, because instead of starting over after 1,000 and so grouping the powers of 10 into groups of three, Chinese has a word for 10,000 (万,another term akin to thousand, hundred, and ten) and groups the numbers ever after by fours instead of threes. So instead of saying one-hundred thousand, you have to say ten ten-thousands, and instead of one million, it's one-hundred ten thousands. And is 100,000,000 ten ten-thousands? No, a new term, 亿, is introduced. What about 1 billion then? Ten 亿, of course. It's not like they're using some other base or anything, but it's surprisingly difficult, at least for me, to quickly convert, and I can't yet understand large Chinese numbers without writing them down.
Another numerical difference is just the pronunciation of numbers in different contexts, such as in phone numbers, in dates, or in bus lines. In most cases the Chinese like to say the numbers each individually, such that bus line 82 is not eighty-two but eight two. and I was born in eight four year, not nineteen-eighty-four. This year is two zero zero seven year, not two thousand-seven. And yes, age is often asked by what year you were born, I think mainly because it lets people know your Chinese zodiac sign.
Tally marks are also not the same. At the gym today, I noticed a sheet of paper on the main desk filled with the character '正.' I had already kind of guessed, but asked about it to find that indeed they were keeping track of the number of people using the gym at various times with these 'tally marks.' Instead of drawing four lines and then crossing them like we do, they were writing a stroke of this chacter zheng, which has a total of five strokes, for each person who came in.
Hand signals for numbers are also different in different countries. I already knew that some places tend to use the thumb and idex finger to indicate 'two,' instead of the index and middle finger that I am used to. Chinese also has a system for indicating numbers greater than five, such as that putting up the thumb and pinky means six (such as when the bank teller asked me to create a six digit pin number), and putting up a hooked index finger means nine (such as in a giant advertisement for alcohol on a screen in town, because the pronunciation for the number nine is exactly the same as the pronunciation for the word 'alcohol'...but that's all a little complicated).
Finally, the last numerical difference I've noted so far is the presence of abaci/abacuses. They're not that common, but they're around -- they're sold in the store in the school supply section, and I've seen them in the bank, and in some stores to help the attendant count back change.
This is all very simple numbers and mathematics, and I am curious what kind of differences there are between higher levels and more complicated concepts. Maybe I'll be inspired sometime to ask around.
Chinese has even more numerical surprises. First of all, it uses Arabic numerals, but when numbers are 'written out,' they of course get written in Chinese. 1, 2, and 3, correspond to 一, 二 and 三, for example, which is all very well and good. Even four through ten, now, are easy (4,5,6,7,8,9,10 are 四,五,六,七,八,九,十）. From then on Chinese is extremely systematic, using a simple combination of the digits from 1-9 with ten (two tens through nine tens, or 二十through 九十, and then a simple combination with 100 (百), and one thousand (千). For example, the number 3,846 would be written 三千八百四十六, or 'three thousand eight hundred four ten six.' The difficulty begins with 10,000, because instead of starting over after 1,000 and so grouping the powers of 10 into groups of three, Chinese has a word for 10,000 (万,another term akin to thousand, hundred, and ten) and groups the numbers ever after by fours instead of threes. So instead of saying one-hundred thousand, you have to say ten ten-thousands, and instead of one million, it's one-hundred ten thousands. And is 100,000,000 ten ten-thousands? No, a new term, 亿, is introduced. What about 1 billion then? Ten 亿, of course. It's not like they're using some other base or anything, but it's surprisingly difficult, at least for me, to quickly convert, and I can't yet understand large Chinese numbers without writing them down.
Another numerical difference is just the pronunciation of numbers in different contexts, such as in phone numbers, in dates, or in bus lines. In most cases the Chinese like to say the numbers each individually, such that bus line 82 is not eighty-two but eight two. and I was born in eight four year, not nineteen-eighty-four. This year is two zero zero seven year, not two thousand-seven. And yes, age is often asked by what year you were born, I think mainly because it lets people know your Chinese zodiac sign.
Tally marks are also not the same. At the gym today, I noticed a sheet of paper on the main desk filled with the character '正.' I had already kind of guessed, but asked about it to find that indeed they were keeping track of the number of people using the gym at various times with these 'tally marks.' Instead of drawing four lines and then crossing them like we do, they were writing a stroke of this chacter zheng, which has a total of five strokes, for each person who came in.
Hand signals for numbers are also different in different countries. I already knew that some places tend to use the thumb and idex finger to indicate 'two,' instead of the index and middle finger that I am used to. Chinese also has a system for indicating numbers greater than five, such as that putting up the thumb and pinky means six (such as when the bank teller asked me to create a six digit pin number), and putting up a hooked index finger means nine (such as in a giant advertisement for alcohol on a screen in town, because the pronunciation for the number nine is exactly the same as the pronunciation for the word 'alcohol'...but that's all a little complicated).
Finally, the last numerical difference I've noted so far is the presence of abaci/abacuses. They're not that common, but they're around -- they're sold in the store in the school supply section, and I've seen them in the bank, and in some stores to help the attendant count back change.
This is all very simple numbers and mathematics, and I am curious what kind of differences there are between higher levels and more complicated concepts. Maybe I'll be inspired sometime to ask around.
Street food: fried noodles
I used to have the idea that street food was dirty and cheap and something to avoid at all costs. But in fact I'm started eating it regularly, now that I feel my stomach has mostly adjusted to Chinese microbes, and I'm becoming convinced that it's one of many alternative, tasty ways to eat in this country. Even rather upstanding Lanzhou denizens, and especially college students, enjoy it. Just outside the university gate nearest to where I live lies a street lined with carts and cooks at most hours of the day. In the morning it's filled with 'breakfast' carts - e.g., people selling steamed or fried buns, egg and scallion crepes or thicker 'pancakes', rice porridge and soy milk. Over the course of the day, the composition of the carts changes, and slowly (at least I think it's slowly, but I am still getting a handle on the operating hours of the various carts) these become replaced with carts serving up fried rice or fried noodles, dumplings, cold thick rice noodles, lamb kebabs (a bit of meat grilled on a stick), or offering grilled corn or sweet potatoes. There's also a common type of stand with many types of vegetables and meats on sticks, which you select and then get fried , spiced, and chopped up for you to fill that bread which resembles pita but is much denser than pita. These kinds of stands aren't everywhere, and there are certain intersections where they congregate and create a rather lively atmosphere and quite a lot of choice for dinner:
The noodles are in to boil.
Fellow customers
Various spices in the bowls on the left, the raw ingredients
(e.g., cabbage, beans, peppers, onions, tomatoes) in the baskets.
The chef fries the raw ingredients up with the noodles and flavors them with who knows what, though I know the ingredients include tomato paste, oil, soy sauce, and likely MSG (see video 2)
The table is set with everything I might need: the white kettle contains vinegar, the metal kettle contains 'soup' to drink, the white jar with lid has a hot pepper sauce, the blue container has single-use chopsticks, and the green bin has a roll of toilet paper serving as napkins.
My noodles arrive in a bowl covered with a clean plastic bag so that after I finish the bowl can be reused right away without washing, and if I want to take my noodles away I can easily transport them in the bag. The small bowl is my 'soup' to drink.
Sorry the videos are sideways, but I can't figure out how to rotate them. And please don't laugh at the first, the lady just happened to choose the moment I was filming to ask where I was from and to compliment my Chinese...
I guess I try to be careful to only eat at stands which look clean and where other people are eating, and eat food which has just been cooked. In any case, tonight I ate fried noodles on the street near the gym I've joined (more on that in some future post). It's pretty cold these days, and so I hesitated, listening to the nearby KFC also calling, but the prospect of those steaming hot, just cooked fried noodles drew me nearer. I ordered my small bowl and sat down, while waiting, to be served, a small bowl of 'soup' which I'm pretty sure is the water previous customers' noodles were boiled in (strangely ok...). Feeling a bit warmer, I decided to photograph the production process:
Cutting strips of dough, this lady hand-pulls my noodles
and chats with me at the same time (see video below).
Cutting strips of dough, this lady hand-pulls my noodles
The noodles are in to boil.
Fellow customers
Various spices in the bowls on the left, the raw ingredients(e.g., cabbage, beans, peppers, onions, tomatoes) in the baskets.
The chef fries the raw ingredients up with the noodles and flavors them with who knows what, though I know the ingredients include tomato paste, oil, soy sauce, and likely MSG (see video 2)
The table is set with everything I might need: the white kettle contains vinegar, the metal kettle contains 'soup' to drink, the white jar with lid has a hot pepper sauce, the blue container has single-use chopsticks, and the green bin has a roll of toilet paper serving as napkins.
My noodles arrive in a bowl covered with a clean plastic bag so that after I finish the bowl can be reused right away without washing, and if I want to take my noodles away I can easily transport them in the bag. The small bowl is my 'soup' to drink.Sorry the videos are sideways, but I can't figure out how to rotate them. And please don't laugh at the first, the lady just happened to choose the moment I was filming to ask where I was from and to compliment my Chinese...
Friday, October 19, 2007
Toilet talk
Maybe this is a gross topic, but I think it's actually interesting, and something I didn't give much thought to before I left the US. There were the automatic toilets that first appeared in Pennsylvania when I was little and especially scared my sister ;), but otherwise all toilets I'd seen looked pretty much the same, and were used the same way. I have since truly learned not to take for granted the pleasant omnipresence of bathrooms (free, clean ones at that) in the US. In at least some other countries, it is not so. From my first experience with 'female urinals' and paying for the use of public restrooms in France, to the lack of any plumbing in many places in Madagascar, I thought maybe I'd seen it all. Not so.
First, China takes the 'female urinal' - which I use to refer to a bathroom stall with no toilet, just a place to stand (or rather squat) and a built-in basin which can be flushed - to a new level. Usually in France, it was just an option alongside 'normal' toilets. Here, it's frequently the only choice. Next, you always have to bring your own toilet paper. I've gotten used to always having some in my pocket, and to squirreling away the paper napkin packs given at many restaurants for future use. What's more, you're not supposed to flush your toilet paper. To be frank, the first thing I did when I arrived in my room at the university was stuff the toilet and have to call in the janitorial staff - I didn't know you were supposed to deposit the used toilet paper in a trash bin next to the toilet. Apparently the plumbing can't take the paper. Once the bin gets full, you take it to the garbage chute yourself. Doesn't it smell? Strangely, not really. It gets emptied farely frequently.
I'm in fact quite spoiled, living where I do. I have an actual toilet, a shower with hot water, and only one roommate. Chinese students generally have shared toilets, no shower, and at least 5 roommates. They have to go to another building which has large public showers in order to bathe. I just have to wait until 6pm.
The toilets in the building where I have class are similar to what what they have in their dorms. There's basically a tiled trough sectioned off to make 'stalls' with no doors:
View walking into the women's bathroom down the hall from where I have class. There's a sink with cold water and no soap on the left, and six or so 'stalls' on the right.
Here's what the 'stalls' look like - no doors... you put one foot on either side of the 'trough' and squat... the red basket is for your toilet paper.
It's not the cleanest or most pleasant situation, but when this is what you have, you deal with it. I already don't even blink twice when confronted with a dirty, un-private, squatting bathroom. Just don't touch anything, go fast, and use your chopsticks to eat, not your hands :)
First, China takes the 'female urinal' - which I use to refer to a bathroom stall with no toilet, just a place to stand (or rather squat) and a built-in basin which can be flushed - to a new level. Usually in France, it was just an option alongside 'normal' toilets. Here, it's frequently the only choice. Next, you always have to bring your own toilet paper. I've gotten used to always having some in my pocket, and to squirreling away the paper napkin packs given at many restaurants for future use. What's more, you're not supposed to flush your toilet paper. To be frank, the first thing I did when I arrived in my room at the university was stuff the toilet and have to call in the janitorial staff - I didn't know you were supposed to deposit the used toilet paper in a trash bin next to the toilet. Apparently the plumbing can't take the paper. Once the bin gets full, you take it to the garbage chute yourself. Doesn't it smell? Strangely, not really. It gets emptied farely frequently.
I'm in fact quite spoiled, living where I do. I have an actual toilet, a shower with hot water, and only one roommate. Chinese students generally have shared toilets, no shower, and at least 5 roommates. They have to go to another building which has large public showers in order to bathe. I just have to wait until 6pm.
The toilets in the building where I have class are similar to what what they have in their dorms. There's basically a tiled trough sectioned off to make 'stalls' with no doors:
View walking into the women's bathroom down the hall from where I have class. There's a sink with cold water and no soap on the left, and six or so 'stalls' on the right.
Here's what the 'stalls' look like - no doors... you put one foot on either side of the 'trough' and squat... the red basket is for your toilet paper.It's not the cleanest or most pleasant situation, but when this is what you have, you deal with it. I already don't even blink twice when confronted with a dirty, un-private, squatting bathroom. Just don't touch anything, go fast, and use your chopsticks to eat, not your hands :)
When it rains it pours. Or, my worldy items turn to dust and back again
What I mean is, when things start going wrong, it really does seem they all do so in quick succession. Over the past two weeks, I have managed to lose the use of my phone, my computer, and my money. The good thing about blogging is that I can wait until I've sorted through everything, which is basically now. In this way, on here, everything has a happy ending though while the events are occurring it does not always feel so. I'll give away the ending first, just because I can: I've since regained all of these items (almost).
I'll start with the computer. I had heard that viruses were common in China, and my neighbor claimed to have had one attack his computer within hours of opening it in China. But for me, over a month had gone by with no problems, and I stopped thinking about it. I thought, the internet is the internet is the internet, why should it be different here? But I guess it is...
Slowly things started malfunctioning. This program would't open. That one crashed. I restarted but just got a blank screen. Each of these on it's own might just be a fluke, but put together there was a problem. Conveniently, Iluk's computer (that same neighbor) had crashed as well. One afternoon we determinedly set off to solve these problems, maybe once and for all. The first stop was the technology market, where at least a hundred different sellers had booths set up with digital and electronic items for sale, such as mp3 players, computers, cameras, and external hard drives, our target. After at least an hour of shopping around and trying to bargain the price down, I ended up with a 60G hard drive for about $6 less than the initial price I was quoted. I'm not sure it was worth that exhausting hour of my time .
Iluk was an old hat at this and found the Samsung fix-it place with no problem. I set to work transferring all my important documents to the hard drive, and he tried to explain his problems to the Samsung employees. After about an hour, I'd finished, and they were still working on his computer, so we left. Asking at several stores selling HP, we were directed to walk for several miles (or so it seemed) down a street lined to bursting with stores selling computers and shouting out with big dirty signs which models they offered. I kept getting excited to see the HP logo but no, there were still more miles to go to get to the one that would actually have a look at mine.
The HP fix-it place was full, but somebody still managed to get to work on mine right away. I figured maybe the Chinese would be experts on fixing Chinese virus problems, but they gave up quite quickly and just reset my system. At least it was free, and they even refurnished me with a version of Office when it was done (though entirely in Chinese). I asked what I could do to try to avoid viruses in the future, but my friendly technician said there was nothing to be done. Next time I could reset the computer by myself.
The next story is of my wallet. Last weekend I took a trip to Yinchuan, an 8 hour sleeper-train ride traveling northeast from Lanzhou. Yinchuan is the capital of Ningxia autonomous region, which is meant to be the region home to a Muslim Chinese ethnic groop. It turns out Yinchuan isn't really a tourist destination, and though it was nice to go somewhere other than Lanzhou, there wasn't much to see. We visited a very empty lake resort on the edge of a very small piece of desert, which looked like it would be decent fun in summer but mostly enjoyable for its off-season calmness during our visit. We ate steamed lamb dumplings, and strolled around Ningxia University. It was about this time that I noticed my wallet was gone. It can't have been more than an hour since I last used it, since which I had gotten off a bus and eaten dinner. After confirming three times that I did not have it anywhere on my person, I wailed in distress but then calmed down. It was 5:30 AM in the US, and so I called my parents with instructions about which credit cards I needed to cancel. I wasn't too concerned because I hadn't even yet been successful at using them in China (though I'd only tried a couple times).
I lost about 500 yuan. In China, that's a lot of money, and people felt quite bad for me, assuring me that not all Chinese were like that. 'There are so many Chinese people, naturally there are more Chinese thiefs too,' they said. The whole trip was a bit frustrating in this way - my friend lost/had his cell phone stolen as well, and we were lied to countless times by taxi drivers who whole-heartedly told us that there was no bus going to our desired destination, when the Rough Guide (correctly) asserted otherwise. I consoled myself by converting the amount I lost to British pounds (about £33), which I find an extremely effective strategy whenever I think I have been cheated.
I've since arranged to have most of my wallet reconstituted, meanwhile borrowing the kuai necessary to keep eating. I even had a kind of fun trip to my Chinese bank to request a new ATM card. First, I went to the branch where I'd opened my account only to find that it had disappeared overnight. It was covered in a red and blue striped tarp, apparently under total reconstructive surgery. I walked down the block to the next branch. Taking care of this type of official business in China can be very confusing. I walked in, and people were queuing up in several different lines, but I had no idea which one was appropriate to me. I asked the security guard, and he directed me to a desk on the side, which is where you seem to go first to fill out paperwork and have your ID photocopied. The attendant at this desk was particularly helpful - the form was entirely in Chinese and he helped me by writing out each of the characters I was worried I'd write wrong on a scrap piece of paper and letting me copy it to the form. It's funny how under pressure it's harder to be confident that each stroke of the character is remembered correctly.
Finally I joined a queue with my completed paperwork and photocopy. After initial confusion about whether my account could be found associated with my passport number, my visa number, or my residence permit number, I was reassured that my account had even more money in it than I had thought (must have received this month's stipend). Eight days later, I could go back and pick up my new card for a 5 yuan fee, back in business!
And last but not least, my cell phone:
I don't get a whole lot of calls/messages, but after a few days receiving nothing, I became suspicious. My roommate told me she couldn't get through. After struggling through the prompts on the China Mobile info number, I enlisted the help of a Chinese friend and she reported that i had a 144 yuan charge and so currently had been cut off from receiving calls or messages. After more discussion, it turned out that, basically, this was an additional roaming fee for using my phone in Yinchuan, and especially for using my phone from Yinchuan to call the US. If I call from Lanzhou, it's only 1.2 yuan a minute, which is not that expensive. If I call from outside Lanzhou (or maybe from outside Gansu province, still not really clear on that) it's five times that. There are all kinds of international and roaming fees that get added. Now how was I supposed to know that? So I just swallowed my frustration, paid it off and then some, and chalked it up to more money generously donated to my wallet stealer.
Finally, as of today, I can use my computer, my phone, and have the promise of being able to access my money in less than a week. Am I happier for it? I'm a little more relaxed, but otherwise about the same. One more reminder that between me and the one small suitcase I brought with me to China, those goods aren't nearly as valuable as myself and my experiences that I brought with me and will have here. All the rest is fluff and details, necessary but not so meaningful support.
I'll start with the computer. I had heard that viruses were common in China, and my neighbor claimed to have had one attack his computer within hours of opening it in China. But for me, over a month had gone by with no problems, and I stopped thinking about it. I thought, the internet is the internet is the internet, why should it be different here? But I guess it is...
Slowly things started malfunctioning. This program would't open. That one crashed. I restarted but just got a blank screen. Each of these on it's own might just be a fluke, but put together there was a problem. Conveniently, Iluk's computer (that same neighbor) had crashed as well. One afternoon we determinedly set off to solve these problems, maybe once and for all. The first stop was the technology market, where at least a hundred different sellers had booths set up with digital and electronic items for sale, such as mp3 players, computers, cameras, and external hard drives, our target. After at least an hour of shopping around and trying to bargain the price down, I ended up with a 60G hard drive for about $6 less than the initial price I was quoted. I'm not sure it was worth that exhausting hour of my time .
Iluk was an old hat at this and found the Samsung fix-it place with no problem. I set to work transferring all my important documents to the hard drive, and he tried to explain his problems to the Samsung employees. After about an hour, I'd finished, and they were still working on his computer, so we left. Asking at several stores selling HP, we were directed to walk for several miles (or so it seemed) down a street lined to bursting with stores selling computers and shouting out with big dirty signs which models they offered. I kept getting excited to see the HP logo but no, there were still more miles to go to get to the one that would actually have a look at mine.
The HP fix-it place was full, but somebody still managed to get to work on mine right away. I figured maybe the Chinese would be experts on fixing Chinese virus problems, but they gave up quite quickly and just reset my system. At least it was free, and they even refurnished me with a version of Office when it was done (though entirely in Chinese). I asked what I could do to try to avoid viruses in the future, but my friendly technician said there was nothing to be done. Next time I could reset the computer by myself.
The next story is of my wallet. Last weekend I took a trip to Yinchuan, an 8 hour sleeper-train ride traveling northeast from Lanzhou. Yinchuan is the capital of Ningxia autonomous region, which is meant to be the region home to a Muslim Chinese ethnic groop. It turns out Yinchuan isn't really a tourist destination, and though it was nice to go somewhere other than Lanzhou, there wasn't much to see. We visited a very empty lake resort on the edge of a very small piece of desert, which looked like it would be decent fun in summer but mostly enjoyable for its off-season calmness during our visit. We ate steamed lamb dumplings, and strolled around Ningxia University. It was about this time that I noticed my wallet was gone. It can't have been more than an hour since I last used it, since which I had gotten off a bus and eaten dinner. After confirming three times that I did not have it anywhere on my person, I wailed in distress but then calmed down. It was 5:30 AM in the US, and so I called my parents with instructions about which credit cards I needed to cancel. I wasn't too concerned because I hadn't even yet been successful at using them in China (though I'd only tried a couple times).
I lost about 500 yuan. In China, that's a lot of money, and people felt quite bad for me, assuring me that not all Chinese were like that. 'There are so many Chinese people, naturally there are more Chinese thiefs too,' they said. The whole trip was a bit frustrating in this way - my friend lost/had his cell phone stolen as well, and we were lied to countless times by taxi drivers who whole-heartedly told us that there was no bus going to our desired destination, when the Rough Guide (correctly) asserted otherwise. I consoled myself by converting the amount I lost to British pounds (about £33), which I find an extremely effective strategy whenever I think I have been cheated.
I've since arranged to have most of my wallet reconstituted, meanwhile borrowing the kuai necessary to keep eating. I even had a kind of fun trip to my Chinese bank to request a new ATM card. First, I went to the branch where I'd opened my account only to find that it had disappeared overnight. It was covered in a red and blue striped tarp, apparently under total reconstructive surgery. I walked down the block to the next branch. Taking care of this type of official business in China can be very confusing. I walked in, and people were queuing up in several different lines, but I had no idea which one was appropriate to me. I asked the security guard, and he directed me to a desk on the side, which is where you seem to go first to fill out paperwork and have your ID photocopied. The attendant at this desk was particularly helpful - the form was entirely in Chinese and he helped me by writing out each of the characters I was worried I'd write wrong on a scrap piece of paper and letting me copy it to the form. It's funny how under pressure it's harder to be confident that each stroke of the character is remembered correctly.
Finally I joined a queue with my completed paperwork and photocopy. After initial confusion about whether my account could be found associated with my passport number, my visa number, or my residence permit number, I was reassured that my account had even more money in it than I had thought (must have received this month's stipend). Eight days later, I could go back and pick up my new card for a 5 yuan fee, back in business!
And last but not least, my cell phone:
I don't get a whole lot of calls/messages, but after a few days receiving nothing, I became suspicious. My roommate told me she couldn't get through. After struggling through the prompts on the China Mobile info number, I enlisted the help of a Chinese friend and she reported that i had a 144 yuan charge and so currently had been cut off from receiving calls or messages. After more discussion, it turned out that, basically, this was an additional roaming fee for using my phone in Yinchuan, and especially for using my phone from Yinchuan to call the US. If I call from Lanzhou, it's only 1.2 yuan a minute, which is not that expensive. If I call from outside Lanzhou (or maybe from outside Gansu province, still not really clear on that) it's five times that. There are all kinds of international and roaming fees that get added. Now how was I supposed to know that? So I just swallowed my frustration, paid it off and then some, and chalked it up to more money generously donated to my wallet stealer.
Finally, as of today, I can use my computer, my phone, and have the promise of being able to access my money in less than a week. Am I happier for it? I'm a little more relaxed, but otherwise about the same. One more reminder that between me and the one small suitcase I brought with me to China, those goods aren't nearly as valuable as myself and my experiences that I brought with me and will have here. All the rest is fluff and details, necessary but not so meaningful support.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Black like me
Who's that girl? What girl?That's me. I dyed my hair black last week. Initially it was just for fun - Yuri wanted to dye hers brown, so I joked that we should trade. The joke turned into reality for 2-3 hours and $20 at the salon. It also turned into a surprising effect when I walked out on the street.
There aren't very many foreigners in Lanzhou. There are the students studying Chinese at the university, but even among these, a good number are Asian. There are a few foreigners teaching English in the local school systems or in private schools. There's an occasional tourist. Other than that, everyone is Chinese, and everyone has dark hair. Most are black, though some approach a dark brown, and dying brown or reddish brown is relatively common.
My friend noticed it first. "You know, Ellen, people aren't staring at you now." I had kind of stopped noticing - my adaption to being stared at was not to look at people. If I didn't see them staring at me, then they weren't, right? At the beginning it was strange, but people didn't stare in a bad way, more in a marveling way, like they couldn't get enough of seeing something unbelievable. Some days I sure got frustrated - I wanted to go out and get something to eat, or go shopping, and mind my own business while doing it. I wanted to blend in. I thought of walking on the streets of New York, where you can do anything and not get stared at. I thought of how I missed people-watching, since half the people I looked at here were already looking at me. I thought of walking in Cambridge, or pretty much anywhere else I've lived before, where I blend in so completely it's kind of a pleasure when someone notices something particular.
But my friend was right. In the few days that have passed since I dyed my hair, it is clear that the stares I get are remarkably fewer than before. I still don't blend in, and people still look, but there's no red light flashing from a mile away to say that I'm a novelty. It's only when people are close and happen to look my way that they see. I don't catch attention from the corner of an eye anymore. From the back, you can't really tell at all.
I like this change. I have wanted to try out black hair before (I've done very short-term dye before). It's not that I'm trying to be Chinese, obviously that's silly. And I dont even mind being stared at that much - I actually hope it might help people realize that foreigners aren't that foreign after all (I'm eating, shopping, walking, riding the bus, just like anybody else...). But I like this change - it relaxes my everyday life, let's me walk around that much more peacefully. It's kind of ironic how what would make me stick out more at home - having an unnatural hair color - helps me fit in here. I'm thinking about keeping it all year. What do you think?
Yuri
The switcheroo is complete
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Mountain bbq and ma jiang
This past weekend, Yuri's friend invited us along on an outing with her fourth-year accounting class at the university. To celebrate the start of the Chinese national holiday (because of which I have no class this week), they had planned a bbq on top of a mountain just outside of town. Of course this wasn't your American burgers and hot dog bbq. It was a Chinese version roasting a huge variety of things, from meat to tofu to lettuce, which we first all worked together to put on metal skewers.
Climbing Xujiashan
Preparing eggplant and potato skewers
Cutting tofu skin
Wrapping tofu skin around lettuce and skewering it just right
So that it looks like this
And this
Finished skewers of lettuce wrapped in tofu skin, plus rice cakes
Tofu and potatoes
Waiting for the coals to get hot
After dipping them in oil and various spices, including hot pepper, everyone grills at once
Most of what's on the side looks like tofu, with some rice cakes and hot-dog like meat in the center
After most of the food had been eaten, we started grilling bread and then spreading a spicy oily paste inside. The girl on the right is Yuri's friend Zhouye.
Yuri enjoying a grilled, spicy crab stick
Learning ma jiang, with the help of the guy on my right
After the meal, everyone relaxed to play games of cards and ma jiang. I can't tell you how excited I was to find out that ma jiang is basically a complicated rummy-like game. It's so nice to learn a new game/skill that you know you'll enjoy working on and getting better at for many times to come.
View of the Yellow River and power lines on the way down
Finally back at the bottom, taking a rest with Bin gui
Climbing Xujiashan
Preparing eggplant and potato skewers
Cutting tofu skin
Wrapping tofu skin around lettuce and skewering it just right
So that it looks like this
And this
Finished skewers of lettuce wrapped in tofu skin, plus rice cakes
Tofu and potatoes
Waiting for the coals to get hot
After dipping them in oil and various spices, including hot pepper, everyone grills at once
Lots of hands :)
Most of what's on the side looks like tofu, with some rice cakes and hot-dog like meat in the center
After most of the food had been eaten, we started grilling bread and then spreading a spicy oily paste inside. The girl on the right is Yuri's friend Zhouye.
Yuri enjoying a grilled, spicy crab stick
Learning ma jiang, with the help of the guy on my right
After the meal, everyone relaxed to play games of cards and ma jiang. I can't tell you how excited I was to find out that ma jiang is basically a complicated rummy-like game. It's so nice to learn a new game/skill that you know you'll enjoy working on and getting better at for many times to come.
View of the Yellow River and power lines on the way down
Finally back at the bottom, taking a rest with Bin guiMonday, October 1, 2007
Random photos and Bing Ling Si
I'm sure I haven't put up enough photos yet, so here are a few more from the past couple weeks.
Mainly pedestrian bridge over the Yellow River
Overlooking the Yellow River at night. Next to me is my neighbor Yiyu
The entrance to Zhuan jia lou, the place I'm living.
In my room, hard at work
Yiyu walking in front of one of the first 'restaurants' I went to when I first came, inside the university campus, specializing in beef noodle soup (牛肉面 - you can see it says this in the big lettering above the door, towards the right) as well as fried noodles and fried rice dishes.
Yuri and I
Out to dinner: drinking chrysanthemum tea and waiting for our food.
Mmmm
One early morning at the Yellow River
Bing gui and I in front of a well known statue in Lanzhou known as the Yellow River mother, I think supposed to signify the importance of the Yellow River in supporting the Chinese people over the years.
I like seeing the different traffic signs in different countries. China is
particularly good for this. The above has the Chinese character for yield on it.
Last weekend, Yuri, Bing gui and I took at trip to Bing ling si caves, which is the one place near Lanzhou which my guidebook says is a must-see. Indeed it was lovely - the weather was great and the scenery was impressive. We made it a day trip, leaving very early in the morning (though had to wait until after 9 to depart, it turned out, seeing as we didn't have bus insurance). The travel was fun, first on a bus winding through the mountains, and then on a long speedboat ride across the liu jia xia reservoir, chatting with fellow passengers. I don't think I was able to appreciate the caves and cave art as much as I might have because I didn't really understand the background of how old it was and what purpose it served, but it certainly was interesting, and the scenery seriously great. There were a bunch of foreigners there on a guided tour, and I was excited to join in for the explanations, but it turned out they were all being given in German.
Lanzhou West bus station, point of departure
Yuri on the speedboat crossing the Liujiaxia reservoir
At Bingling si
Me with giant buddha carved into the hillside
Mainly pedestrian bridge over the Yellow River
Overlooking the Yellow River at night. Next to me is my neighbor Yiyu
The entrance to Zhuan jia lou, the place I'm living.
In my room, hard at work
Yiyu walking in front of one of the first 'restaurants' I went to when I first came, inside the university campus, specializing in beef noodle soup (牛肉面 - you can see it says this in the big lettering above the door, towards the right) as well as fried noodles and fried rice dishes.
Yuri and I
Out to dinner: drinking chrysanthemum tea and waiting for our food.
Mmmm
After dinner posing with the wait staff in their pretty uniforms outside the restaurant
One early morning at the Yellow River
Bing gui and I in front of a well known statue in Lanzhou known as the Yellow River mother, I think supposed to signify the importance of the Yellow River in supporting the Chinese people over the years.
I like seeing the different traffic signs in different countries. China isparticularly good for this. The above has the Chinese character for yield on it.
Yuri, Bing gui and I at Bing ling si
Last weekend, Yuri, Bing gui and I took at trip to Bing ling si caves, which is the one place near Lanzhou which my guidebook says is a must-see. Indeed it was lovely - the weather was great and the scenery was impressive. We made it a day trip, leaving very early in the morning (though had to wait until after 9 to depart, it turned out, seeing as we didn't have bus insurance). The travel was fun, first on a bus winding through the mountains, and then on a long speedboat ride across the liu jia xia reservoir, chatting with fellow passengers. I don't think I was able to appreciate the caves and cave art as much as I might have because I didn't really understand the background of how old it was and what purpose it served, but it certainly was interesting, and the scenery seriously great. There were a bunch of foreigners there on a guided tour, and I was excited to join in for the explanations, but it turned out they were all being given in German.
Lanzhou West bus station, point of departure
Yuri on the speedboat crossing the Liujiaxia reservoir
At Bingling si
Me with giant buddha carved into the hillside
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