MAGGIE IN DALIAN

My Last Entry

2010-07-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Hi all! If anyone is still checking this blog, I want to thank you for reading all year and keeping up with my adventures. I'm back in America and I'm going to keep blogging at:

Maggie in America

再见！

DMZ July 2010

A few thoughts on teaching.

2010-06-19T01:35:00.000-07:00

"How do I reaaaach these keeeeeeds?"

So, my semester is over. My students have taken their exams. I've submitted my grades. I am officially done teaching at Dalian University of Technology! So, how do I feel? Tired. I've traveled a lot in the last month, which was great, but also exhausting. However, it's given me some good distance in order to reflect on my role as a teacher here. I'm going to break down my thoughts into a few categories:

1. Disappointment with my department.
By luck of the draw, the other PiA teachers were placed in the English Majors department, and I was placed in the College English (non-majors) department. The benefit of my department is that it was a 12-week course, so I got lots of time off to travel. The drawbacks were:

a) I had to use a textbook
b) I couldn't create my own exams
c) I had limited control over their final grades
d) Since my students were non-majors, some were less enthusiastic about English

I was really frustrated by some of these things, and while the textbook wasn't horrible, it was completely inappropriate for their level. The chapters consisted of complicated and sometimes obtuse articles, and while some of my students could comprehend and synthesize the information, some of my other students looked at me like a deer in the headlights when I asked them questions like, "Hi, how are you?" These students weren't about to wax poetic on the American welfare system or the information superhighway.

2. Disappointment with my own teaching
I think I did a decent job as a teacher, but I have some really concrete disappointments with my curriculum, and I wish I could go back in time and do it over. Even though I think I'm moderately intelligent, I've realized I have a particularly slow learning curve and by the time I realized that it wasn't necessary to do the textbook in class (a colleague said to me, "Just assign it for homework!") it was already December. I didn't really know how to incorporate the textbook into the course and so every week was like a new experiment in trying to make the reading class interesting. The curriculum for my speaking class was equally incoherent - just a series of fun-but-unconnected activities, games, and projects every week. My lessons themselves were well-planned and well-executed, but they didn't add up to a larger picture in any way, and that made progress difficult to gauge.

The second semester I was a much better teacher. I tried to create some distinct units, which was mostly successful. One was a debate unit, which incorporated lots of related activities, like in-class impromptu debates, planned debates, games involving stating your opinion, and watching clips from the Denzel Washington movie "The Great Debaters." It wasn't a perfect unit - the people in the film talk way fast and I should have done much more pre-teaching on the South, Jim Crow laws, racism, etc. But overall, the unit was successful and some of the students really enjoyed arguing about topics ranging from school curfews to gay marriage.

In-class mini-debates

That being said, I still cringe when I think about mistakes I made and how I laid my first semester curriculum out so haphazardly.

3. A few things I'm proud of.
I do possess a few characteristics that make me a good teacher. I like public speaking. I speak very clearly and articulately (but sometimes too slowly), and I generally have a positive, cheerful demeanor that puts students at ease. I try to make everyone speak in class. I try to include things that I find interesting, because passion is very easy translatable. For instance, two successful lessons included a discussion and writing assignment on the Human Flesh Search Engine, which I find fascinating, and a lesson where I told them to be the teachers and teach me something about China.

4. I'll truly miss my students
While a few of my students didn't care about English and preferred to sleep in the back or play on their cell phones, the majority of my students were attentive, sweet, respectful, punctual, and enthusiastic. It was a pleasure getting to know some of them and I'm kicking myself now for not doing social things with them earlier in the year. I thought I had to be really professional and keep all these boundaries, but I realized too late that it's much more beneficial (in these circumstances) to be friends with one's students. It's a very different relationship than at a college in the States, and I wish I had taken advantage of it earlier. You live, you learn! The last day of class was really bittersweet for me - I rarely cry, but I teared up a bit in some of my classes. Many of the students bought me gifts, like calligraphy sets or teacups or Mao paperweights. One students even sang me a song: "You Are So Beautiful (To Me)." I was very touched.

Huang Xiaokang, Near, and Jennifer bought me
a traditional Chinese wall hanging and a puppet
(the character is from a famous Chinese book, "Journey to the West")

My biggest class (40 people)

Joy, Ang Qi, and David took me out to lunch on our last day

Be back in a week!

2010-06-06T23:06:00.000-07:00

I know I've been lacking in blog department - I promise I have lots of thoughts that I plan on divulging when I get back from my week-long trip to Xinjiang. No guarantees, but a quick Google image search turned up this photo:

I'll let you know if it's really that magnificent! I plan on eating a lot of chuar and experiencing Uighur culture. I'll return on June 15th.

The People Who Feed Me: Shanghai Dumplings

2010-06-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned, Jessica and I are lucky enough to have a great neighborhood of street food: fruit stands, lamb skewers, naan, vegetables-on-sticks, fried rice, baozi, etc. There's so much food that it's easy to overlook small treasures. Luckily, our friend Kailey pointed out this tiny Shanghai Dumpling stand. For 1 kuai, you can get three deliciously fried mini-dumplings. Not particularly healthy, but wonderfully tasty.

Profiles in Awesome: Jordan and Meredith

2010-05-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

Again, I don't mean to minimize the individuality of these folks, but ohmigosh it's almost June! Time is flying.

Jordan is another treasured MOMI educator who I met when I first started working at the Museum. I'll admit I was initially intimidated by her style and coolness, but we became friends quickly and she's great to talk to about most anything, from film to education to celebrity gossip. I was also jazzed to find someone who appreciated blog culture the way I did, and who wrote an awesome blog herself. And lastly, she's always been extremely generous - helping me find jobs, inviting us over to her Brooklyn apartment for parties, "and so on" (as my Chinese students are fond of saying).

I didn't meet Meredith until later on in the year, since she was doing PhD work in California, but I had heard so many good things about her from the other MOMI staff that she was sort of the stuff of legend. Also the author of a terrific blog, Meredith is creative, artistic, smart, and really, really funny. Whenever I've hung out with her, she always makes me laugh, and then I try to cut down on my laughing, which never works and just sort of makes my laughter more shrill. Meredith also sent me my first snail-mail letter in China, which earns her a special place in my heart.

In addition to being a generally fantastic couple, Jordan and Meredith brought Sprout into my life, who (aside from Java, R.I.P.) is probably my favorite dog ever. I know she gets around town and has affection for anyone in her general proximity, but I'll ignore that fact and just hope I get to romp around Prospect Park with her (and her owners) this summer. Thanks for all the thoughtful commenting and online support, J & M. I've really appreciated it while I've been away.

杭州 (Hangzhou)

2010-05-29T01:02:00.001-07:00

After a few days in Shanghai, I hopped on a train and headed for Hangzhou, a city about an hour and a half away. I had heard lots about Hangzhou from Hannah, who had lived there for a semester, and from other friends. I also wanted to visit my friend Chandler and the other PiA-ers who live/work there.

Hangzhou was just as delightful as Shanghai, but smaller and more relaxed. It's famous for the enormous, beautiful West Lake, so Chandler and I spent a good deal of the afternoon walking around the lake and relaxing and talking on park benches.

We also walked around the old district and checked out the street food, which was refreshingly different from Dalian street food.

The bottom sign reads "Dong Po Rou," a famous Hangzhou dish, involving fatty pork belly

上海 (Shanghai)

2010-05-27T23:25:00.000-07:00

This week I took a break from cold, gray Dalian and headed down to Shanghai and Hangzhou for a mini-vacation. While I haven't submitted my grades, I'm pretty much done teaching and I wanted to take advantage of my dwindling time here. My main reason for going to Shanghai was pretty minor - I wanted to see the Propaganda Poster Art Center, which is a small gallery featuring original posters from the 1950's through the 1970's. There's something about Communist-era art and propaganda that I find really fascinating, so I was jazzed about this idea. What I didn't realize is that I would completely fall in love with Shanghai as a city. It's a really amazing mix of new and old, and it's full of narrow, leafy streets and 1920's architecture and alleyways and bizarre skyscrapers on the river.

I also stayed in a great neighborhood, which was the former Jewish ghetto. (Many Jews fled to Shanghai during World War II). The area is called the Hongkou district and it was full of busy streets, old architecture, markets, and friendly people, who complimented me on my awful Chinese.

(China in a nutshell: a woman cleans and slices eels in front of a local cell phone shop)

And of course, the Propaganda Poster Center did not disappoint. I was surprised how anti-American some early posters were, and how beautiful some of the later posters and woodcuts were. A few unique highlights:

Work together to smash Russian revisionism!

Carry out birth control for revolution!

Q: Rock Star or Student?

2010-05-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

A: Student. (Wearing my sunglasses)

Zoo.

2010-05-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, a bunch of us went to the Dalian Zoo, which was a lot of fun. Zoos are fun in general, not only because of the animals, but it also gives you a chance to just walk around in the sun with your friends and talk. It was especially interesting in China because, as you can imagine, you can get dangerously close to some of the animals and, sadly, the conditions aren't always that humane.

And of course, the signs! I should have submitted these to the Sampling of Chinglish.

And our favorite:

Teaching

2010-05-11T05:16:00.000-07:00

A few thoughts/experiences from my little world of teaching. And yes, I'm exactly like Robin Williams's character in Dead Poets Society.

1. MAKE THEM DO MORE WORK! One of my big realizations as a teacher is that I do too much work and the students don't do enough. I'm not talking about preparing for class, because that's important, but rather creating environments where they are working and inventing. In ESL-speak, I should be the "scribe on the side" instead of the "sage on the stage." This is difficult for me, because in addition to enjoying hearing myself talk, I tend to get anxious when I'm not talking. It makes me feel like I'm not "teaching" enough, even though I was told that in an ideal speaking class, the students should be talking 80% of the time, and the teacher only 20%.

A beautiful example of this is a recent conversation I had. I wanted to improve my students' pronunciation, so I was planning a lesson centered around a traditional method: tongue twisters. I wanted to make it more interesting, so I asked Jessica for advice. She suggested, "Why don't you have them make up their own tongue twisters?"

Success! Instead of a dry, rote class where I introduce tongue twisters and they repeat after me, like zombie robots, I had a really fun, dynamic, student-centered class where they created the content. Most of them came up with funny and well-thought-out tongue twisters, and even a few weird/provocative ones. ("Nick thought a sick thought when he saw a hottie on the Theodore Shore")

On a related note, I'm forever halfway through Paulo Freire's "The Pedagogy of the Oppressed," but I feel like in a small way, this is an example of the liberationist education he's going for. The "banking method" of teaching involves the teacher having all the knowledge and depositing it in the students' brains like empty bank accounts. The point of "liberationist education" is to encourage students to have a role in creating their own realities. I have a long way to go, but I am always trying to be the type of teacher who can facilitate that process.

2. SCAVENGER HUNT! Because I am actually a glorified camp counselor, and the weather is finally getting nice, I created a scavenger hunt for my students. It involved answering some questions and riddles and finding objects. One of the riddles was the following: Bring me the object that solves this riddle: What Has A Neck But No Head?

About half the students got it right ("A Bottle") and a bunch more said "A Shirt" which is sort of right, and I said it was okay. Some wrote "Teapot" or "Vase" which was less correct. But my favorite group of all presented me with this object:

Yep, that's a duck neck. They went to the store and bought me a duck neck to solve the riddle. While not technically correct, I thought it was such a creative answer that I gave them a million points. Only in China!

The People Who Feed Me: Bowls of Rice

2010-05-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am capable of eating the same thing over and over again, almost forever. Another delicious example of this is a local student cafeteria, 大服楼 (Da Fu Lou). I like it because it's cheap and you can eat your own individual portion, as opposed to the ubiquitous family-style.

Last semester, the Woman Who Fed Me was this awesome, friendly lady who I really bonded with. These semester, she's gone! I asked where she went, and I was told she moved to Taiyuan. I was pretty bummed, but the new woman is just as sweet.

She also knows my "usual," which is rice with vegetables and chicken. I don't know what the name of the actual dish is (Tae, do you know?) but it's very tasty and costs 8 kuai, which is about $1.25.

Delicious flat egg on top

All mixed in

This is the incorrect way to position one's chopsticks, because it's reminiscent of the incense sticks used to commemorate the dead, as seen below. Instead, just rest your chopsticks on the top of your bowl.

Wedding Madness

2010-05-04T04:16:00.000-07:00

Warning: this is a LONG post with lots of photos.

So, this weekend was a holiday and while my lovely friends went to Shanxi Province to frolic, I went to Yantai for my friend Jean's cousin's wedding. It was really generous of her to invite me and I had a great time: my first Chinese wedding, and a whirlwind mix of family, friends, food, and Western/Eastern traditions.

Yantai is a city just south of Dalian, over the water. We took a six-hour boat ride early on Saturday morning. The boat was huge, and featured an endless amount of small, eight-person rooms with beds. There was also a deck, where people threw pieces of bread and sausage in the air for the seagulls to catch.

When we arrived in Yantai, it was warm and breezy and balmy and I immediately regretted only bringing my Dalian-weather wardrobe: sweater, jacket, skirt, boots. We were met by Jean's relative and then drove to the hotel to meet up with her gugu (father's sister) and gufu (father's sister's husband). Gufu and Gugu's daughter was the one getting married, but I forget her name, because Jean mostly referred to her as Jiejie (Older Sister). Gufu's mom owns a barbecue restaurant in Yantai, so we went there for a great meal with the family. Everyone spoke in Chinese and I tried to catch up, but it was hard. It was a very "off" weekend for me and Chinese.

The next morning, Jean and I woke up at 4 a.m. to go help the bride get ready for the wedding day. I'm not a fan of rising before 9 a.m., but the city was beautiful and empty that early in the morning.

We spent the morning helping prepare, but I'm using the term "we" loosely. I kept trying to help, and everyone kept telling me to sit down. I was trying to be polite by helping, and they were trying to be polite by refusing my help, and it just ended with me hovering awkwardly and moving things unnecessarily from one place to another.

Additionally, during downtime Gufu would entreat me to "perform" for everyone in the form of a song or dance. Everyone stared as I, sleep-deprived, tried to politely decline. Jean looked at me expectantly. "Just express yourself," she said. I didn't know how to explain that my singing voice would majorly bum everyone out. As for dancing, nobody wants to see me perform one quarter of a hip-hop routine I learned in a dance class sophomore year.

Jean and her cousin LeLe decorate the apartment

Gufu is given a fancy red tag identifying him as Father of the Bride

Fireworks are arranged in a heart shape

The musicians eat a quick breakfast of dumplings

Luckily, I was saved by the fact that the bride was ready (in the first of FIVE outfits she would change into over the course of the day) and it was time for the groom to arrive. In a Shandong Province tradition, he had to follow the ritual of arriving at her parents' house to pick her up. However, the bride is hidden in a room, and he is thwarted at each entrance, forced to answer riddles and pay money to advance. It's like a video game!

Jean asks the groom a riddle.

He attempts to get invited into the apartment. "Ba! Ma!"

Once in, he gives money to his parents-in-law, and serves them tea.

A lot more happened inside the apartment, but we missed it because our job was to wait outside, armed with flower confetti, for the precise moment the bride and groom left the building. I didn't mind - I was happy to have a task.

Jean and LeLe wait for the bride and groom

Celebration!

After leaving her parents' house, the next step was to go to their new apartment, across town. More fireworks were set off, and the crowd and musicians followed them.

The next location (seriously, it felt like a music video shoot) was the beautiful Yantai beach. Now, this wasn't a typical Chinese wedding: it was much more extravagant than most, according to Jean. Aside from the fact that Jiejie is their only daughter, they're also fairly wealthy (although their apartment was modest by Western standards), and they've had some family problems that might have inspired them to make this affair more special. That being said, the extravagance was all very...Chinese.

For example, to celebrate Jiejie's talent for piano, they set up a large, white piano on the beach for her to play. But in (modern) Chinese fashion, she wasn't actually going to play, but instead was going to fake it alongside a recording, while singing into the microphone. But the host started the music too early, and so she just sat there, frozen, until the groom led her offstage. It was weird. By the way, in this photo, she is wearing Outfit #2.

Even though I couldn't really understand the vows, which were set to loud, cheesy music, they seemed pretty heartfelt. At one point he mentions Er Ling Yi Er Nian (Year 2012), and says that even if the end of the world comes, he'll still be there for her, or something along those lines. Then, Wo Ai Ni (I love you). Strangers gathered, the wind blew, Jean cried tears of happiness.

After the ceremony, it was time for lunch! It was a delicious meal of seafood and it included some famous, expensive delicacies.

Featured: Sea Cucumber (black, spiky) a piece of chicken, and a spoonful of Shark Fin Soup

Jean's grandfather was a superb drinker. That man downed an impressive amount of wine and baijiu. A few relatives came over to talk and, again, I had to politely refuse to sing for everyone at the wedding.

The couple entered again, walked down the "runway," and addressed their parents. The bride was on Outfit #3.
And, after lunch, Outfit #4.

Then we went back to the hotel to take a shower and a nap. Weddings are exhausting! When six o'clock rolled around, it was time to meet up with the bride and groom, and all the cousins, for a low-key meal. It was just the "young people" (I don't know how to say that without sounding ancient) and it was really fun.

In Shandong Province tradition, the table has two "hosts" and the most important people sit next to the hosts. They put me next to the groom, solely because I was the American guest, and I felt awkward about it. But the awkwardness abated after many Tsingtao beers and toasts, and what I lacked in Chinese language skills, I made up for with my ability to open a beer bottle with wooden chopsticks. Thank you Chris Hildner!

After dinner, we stumbled back to the bride and groom's new place. Tradition dictated an evening of playing "tricks" on the bride and groom, or, rather, challenges. The final decision included: having the bride lay down on the couch with an egg in her mouth and making the groom roll the egg down her body using his chin, suspending an apple slice from a string and seeing who could bite it first, trying to pop a balloon between their bodies, and balancing chopsticks above their lip without laughing at the ridiculous face the other was making. I contributed the idea of blindfolding the groom and having a Marco Polo-style search for the bride, which went over well. Note: we are now on Outfit #5.

The next morning, we had a delicious breakfast of dumplings, which I could eat all day, every day, can't-stop-won't-stop. There were also some pig's ears, which I ate out of politeness, but were mostly tasteless. Around 8 a.m., we set out for Dalian. I was immensely grateful to have been invited to the wedding, and Jean's family was really welcoming, generous, and patient with my awful Chinese. All in all, it was a great holiday weekend. And I didn't have to sing!

Maps 'n More

2010-04-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

In talking to Sophie, I realized that I have never given a good overall view of Dalian. Partly it's because my sense of geography is so rotten that it took me months to even understand the layout of our campus. But since you, dear readers, might fare better in that department, here's a map:

If you look in the bottom left-hand corner, you'll see my school, (Dalian) University of Technology. I live down there as well, and while it's far away from downtown, it's a wonderful neighborhood. We're surrounded by other universities, so it has a little bit of that college-town feel, with lots of cheap restaurants and cafes, and even a bar or two. I really dig it.

Xinghai Beach is close by, and farther east is the beginning of Bin Hai Road, which I blogged about earlier this year.

Northwards is "downtown," featuring Zhong Shan Square, which is the main center square, and is close to places like Dave's Bar and Free Club. Close by is the train station, the post office where my packages end up sometimes, and Victory Plaza, which is a large, underground shopping area. And, of course, in between us and downtown there are a ton of neighborhoods and markets and residential areas and places I have yet to explore.

Meanwhile, I'm leaving for Yantai early tomorrow morning, to go to my friend Jean's cousin's wedding, and I have been terribly sleep-deprived (completely of my own doing), so to sleep I go! I look forward to a lovely ferry ride and lots of Chinese family members who I've never met. Will report back soon.

The People Who Feed Me: Gimbap

2010-04-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

While I've gotten a bit better at cooking for myself, I still eat out pretty often because it's cheap, convenient, and tasty. So, in the tradition of Tae's "What I Eat Here," here's "The People Who Feed Me."

My first edition will be concerning gimbap, which is a Korean snack food. It's a bit like sushi, since it involves steamed white rice and dried seaweed, but it's served warm and the contents include vegetables like cucumber and pickled radish. It costs 5 kuai, which is about 75 cents. It's filling and fairly nutritious.

The stand is run by a very friendly woman and her daughter, who is pictured below. We converse about basic things, like the weather and what we're doing for vacation.

I'm still not quite sure how to say gimbap in Chinese, but when it comes to ordering, my interaction is pretty standard:
1. I ask for 鸡肉 jirou ("chicken").
2. I point to the meat that looks like SPAM and say, "我不要这个" Wo bu yao zhe ge ("I don't want this"). I don't know exactly what it is, but I know I don't want it.
3. She asks, "辣的不辣的?" La de bu la de? ("Spicy or not?")
4. I respond, "一点儿辣的." Yi dianr la de. (A little spicy).

I know my friends are a bit horrified by my ability to eat the same thing over and over again, but it's just my nature. I'm less picky than I used to be, but I still enjoy the comfort of a familiar meal. And I haven't gotten tired of gimbap yet. Here's a photo of the finished product, which I happily ate tonight in my living room.

Tomb Sweeping

2010-04-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month was a holiday called Tomb Sweeping Day, commemorated by leaving food and alcohol at the graves of your ancestors, and burning paper gifts in order to pay respects. Religious activity was discouraged under Communist rule, but a few years ago they've reinstated Tomb Sweeping Day as an official national holiday.

Vendors outside my apartment, selling fake money and paper gifts.

The holiday was on a Monday, and while I relaxed on my day off, the roads were filled with cars heading to cemeteries and grave sites before noon. At night, the streets were eerie and beautiful with the sight of so many tiny bonfires.

Profiles in Awesome: Jamie & Ned

2010-04-21T00:29:00.000-07:00

I honestly don't mean to discount the separate and unique qualities of these two individuals, but I've just realized that I have four weeks left of my semester (seriously) and loads to blog about, so I'm going to combine forces on this one.

One of the best things about working at the Museum of the Moving Image was the opportunity to meet such wonderful people. In retrospect, I'm a little embarrassed by how often I was probably talking (as opposed to "working") but I just felt so lucky to stumble into this group of folks, and we always had so much to talk about. I had a girl-crush on Jamie immediately, due to her artistic sensibility, humor, wit, fashion sense, and our mutual love for Michael Cera. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, which, for some reason I always associate with summertime: ice cream cones with old racist ladies, 4th of July rooftop parties, birthday picnics in Prospect Park.

I felt equally comfortable with Ned when I first met him, even if his interest in Michael Cera was more platonic. He's very smart, easy to talk to and there's a genuine kindness about him, which makes him a great friend (and educator). Both of them are always up for something fun and interesting, like experimental film screenings at Light Industry or dancing up a storm to Fischerspooner or humoring me when I want to ride the tram to Roosevelt Island. (FYI, it moves very slowly).

So here's to you, Ned and Jamie, readers of my blog, dear friends, and a great couple. Thanks so much for the support while I've been gone and I look forward to more city fun this summer.

Birthday drinks at LIC Bar on my birthday. The first and only time I've had Patron and it was delicious.

Passover in Dalian

2010-04-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Happy belated Passover! I had a lovely Pesach in Dalian, and I hosted my first-ever seder for Jessica, Tae, Chris, and Lucy. It was fun, but surprisingly nerve-wracking. I'm not used to explaining the holiday (I'm the only Jew of the group) and it made me view it through fresh eyes. For example, why does Elijah show up and why do we open the door for him and why does he drink the wine? I had no answers for these questions. But with the help of the WJC Women's Seder Haggadah (thanks Mom!) I think I did a fairly good job in leading the seder and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Jessica helped decorate by arranging a Mantel of Plagues. It turned out great, featuring plastic frogs, rubber insects, beasts (stuffed tiger), lice (salt), darkness (sunglasses), hail (cotton balls), and boils (acne medication).

She also helped me make the food. It all turned out well, except for the matzah balls, which were very dense. We also realized that we don't own any plates, which shows you how often we entertain. We've spent the year eating out of very shallow bowls, which is fine, but it gets tricky when you're trying to serve a meal with a soup course. So, after the soup, I washed the bowls, and gave them back to people. Nor did we have enough spoons, so Jessica and I drank from our bowls. It was all a little makeshift, but good.

I was also able to assemble a pretty decent seder plate, as seen above. I am most proud of my horseradish addition (the gloop of green on the left) because I really persevered in finding it. I went to Trust Mart, which is a large supermarket nearby, and asked many unfriendly salespeople where the 辣根 (la gen) was. There was lots of vague pointing and rows of mystery jars, but finally I insisted someone show me exactly where it was, which was on the bottom shelf in a little bucket. I was very happy.

Everyone at the seder was exceedingly polite and respectful and serious, which was wonderful, but it also filled me with anxiety. "Just relax!" I pleaded with my guests. "This is a fun holiday!" However, the more I talked about bitterness and oppression and blood and plagues, the less fun the holiday seemed. Passover has never struck me as sad - it's all story-telling and thoughtfulness and ritual and matzah - but it was hard to inject a sense of liveliness into my own seder. I will say, though, that I hid afikomen for all my guests and they ran around like kids, which was fun to watch. Also, my friends love any holiday where it is required to drink four cups of wine.

My favorite quote of the evening? After a night of eating, drinking, and really driving home the oppression of my people, I tried to start cleaning up. Tae stopped me. "Oh, no, no." he said. "We'll do it. You've suffered enough."

Next year in Jerusalem!

MALAYSA TRAVEL PART 1: (Not really)

2010-04-16T00:40:00.000-07:00

In order to get the cheapest possible flight, I flew home by way of Malaysia. I landed in Kuala Lumpur around 8 pm, and my flight back to China was the next morning at 8 am. I had a hostel recommendation, but I realized that by the time I took a taxi to the place, it would be late and expensive. I inquired about hotels near the airport, but they were mostly filled. "But the airport terminal is open all night," said the friendly guest services man. Fantastic!

So I spent the night in a McDonalds at the Kuala Lumpur Low-Cost Carrier Terminal, which sounds disgusting, but was actually sort of enjoyable. Given the fact that it's a popular hub, tons of people were doing the same thing and it was a good opportunity to people-watch.

I also played hours of Bananagrams by myself.

People around me were sleeping, but I couldn't bring myself to. So I drank my fifth cup of Diet Coke and wrote in my journal.

By 5 a.m. I was feeling pretty crazy but finally, finally, it was time for my flight. When I had booked it online, it said it went to Beijing, but in actuality, it went to Tianjin, a city about an hour away. Air Asia is tricky. I arrived in the afternoon and went immediately to the train station to book a ticket for Dalian. They only had soft sleepers available, which was fine, but it didn't leave until 10 pm. So, again, a sleepless Maggie loitered in restaurants and terminals and on chilly train platforms until the train came into the station. I had been awake for over 36 hours, so my night ride on the soft(ish) bed in my private(ish) compartment felt incredible.

Then, I was back in Dalian, which felt familiar and strange, comfortable and new again, and mostly cold. I had had a really exciting and lovely time traveling, but at my core I'm a homebody, so I was happy to putter and nest until my friends came back.

I've left some things out because I'm too mentally tired to do them justice, but I wanted to say "thanks" to you all for reading about my travels - I had no idea it would take me so long to recount. Now I can get back to writing about my life in Dalian: eating, teaching, learning, spending time with friends, attempting to speak Chinese, hosting seders, and freezing in my apartment. Strange thought: I'll be back in the States in 3 months! Time is flying by a little too fast.

CAMBODIA TRAVEL PART 5: Kampot

2010-04-11T03:12:00.000-07:00

My next stop was Kampot, a seaside town in the south. In the past, Cambodia had been under attack from both Thailand and Vietnam, so eventually France offered protection in exchange for control over the country. Cambodia agreed, and thus began years of French influence, which is most noticeable in towns like Kampot. One of the strangest and coolest things I saw in Kampot was the Bokor Hill Station. It was established in the 1920's as a kind of resort for the Europeans who were living in Cambodia. There are other hill stations in places like India and Africa, but what is unusual about the Bokor Hill Station is how often it's been taken over and used by guerrilla fighters, first when Cambodia fought an independence war in the 1940's, and later when the Khmer Rouge were fighting in the 70's, 80's, and 90's.

First, we hiked up part of the mountain, in the foggy jungle.

On the way, we checked out the former vacation residence of King Sihanouk, although he never actually used it. Notice the strange red moss growing on the walls, and the bullet holes.

Then we kept hiking, until we reached the actual hill station, which was a grassy area surrounding a reservoir. This picture isn't too impressive, but I thought it would be good to give a general idea of the area.

We ate a quick lunch at the station (we = myself and a bunch of sulky Europeans) and then went off to explore on our own. The buildings right near the lake are a bunch of small, abandoned hotels, like the one below.

The insides are covered with moss and rust. There is broken glass and dirt everywhere, with weeds and flowers growing in every crack. It's a pretty incredible sight. Here are some more remnants of a small, colonial resort town:

Hotel

Post Office

Church

In the distance, up a winding road, is the main attraction of the hill station - a large, opulent former casino. I've tried to find some photographs of what it looked like in its heyday, but a cursory internet search turned up nothing. You'll have to use your imagination. Below are some photographs of the burned-up casino exterior, the ransacked ballrooms, and the battle-wrecked walls.

In addition to the fascinating clash of Colonialism and Communism, it was just a very eerie and atmospheric place to be. I know this is going to sound melodramatic, but it smelled like death. At this point, I've been in fairly close quarters with dead animals and a dead body, and I know what it smells like. I'm sure, in this case, it was due to something animal-like, but still - it lent a sense of morbid reality and history to the place. I was standing where people lived, and probably where people died.

After our trip to the Hill Station, and a sobering talk with a Cambodian man who had lost his father during the Khmer Rouge, we took a boat ride down the river. It was very, very beautiful and we stopped at a tiny inlet at sunset. I thought a lot about things I've since forgotten, but I mostly just felt lucky to be there.

CAMBODIA TRAVEL PART 4: Last Day(s) in Siem Reap

2010-04-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

On my last day in Siem Reap, I took Hanna's advice and tried to look for ways to volunteer. It's one thing to funnel money into the economy and eat at restaurants that give a portion to charity, but giving time and resources might be more useful. Despite having more infrastructure than Laos, Cambodia is still an extremely poor country.

Now, a quick note about my Princeton-in-Asia orientation. During one session, they asked us to write down occasions where we had done some sort of service work. It was pretty easy for most of us, including myself. In high school, I tutored Spanish-speaking kids in an after-school program called Amigos, I built houses over the summer with the American Jewish Society for Service, I co-led Michigan's Darfur activism group in college, and so forth. Then they asked us to write down a time in which we had genuinely sacrificed for someone else. This was much, much more difficult. It made me realize that, while I had done some good service work, it was all pretty fun and it never required me to give a lot of myself. Yes, my grades dipped a bit in college when I was juggling a bunch of activities, but that hardly makes me Joan of Arc.

The reason I bring this up is because I'd never given blood before, and I read that Cambodia's hospitals needed donations. I'm only squeamish about a few particular things, and VEINS are one of them. It's hard for me to even type this because it grosses me out so much. The idea of sitting somewhere while blood leaves my body is...yucky. But I figured that I should make some sort of sacrifice that actually feels like a sacrifice. So I did, and it wasn't bad at all. After I read testimonials to make sure the facilities were clean and professional, I headed down to the Angkor Children's Hospital.

Wait, an activity where they give you Coke and cookies and tell you to relax afterwards? How great! I'm reminded of a snippet of dialogue between Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock:

Jack: Uh, a cookie in the middle of the day?
Liz: I gave blood.
Jack: Does that burn calories?

So maybe it wasn't the grandest sacrifice of all, but I'm glad that I did it and now I'm no longer nauseous at the thought. I plan on giving blood quite a bit in the future, as long as I bring something to distract me.

I also volunteered for an afternoon at a school, called Savong School, on the outskirts of Siem Reap. A high schooler picked me up on his motorbike and brought me to the school, where they pretty much stuck me in a classroom and said, "Teach." Granted, I should have prepared something, but I naively thought someone would give me a bit more introduction. I taught three classes, and it was definitely a case of me learning more from the students than vice versa. My favorite was the huge class of kids, ages 7 through 15. It's such a different context of teaching when you're doing numbers and animals and you can ask, "How many pigs does your family have?" and get answers like "My family has four pigs." Also, one older student asked me how to practice English and I said that listening to English music or watching English movies is helpful. I asked if he had access to English movies, and he said no. Then I asked him if he had ever seen a movie. He said no.

On my last night in Siem Reap, I took a break from eating my favorite dish (chicken and fried ginger) and tried the local delicacy, amok, which was amazing. It's fish, cooked in coconut gravy, and wrapped in banana leaves. Here is my blurry photograph:

Next stop: Kampot and Kep.

CAMBODIA TRAVEL PART 3: The Temples of Angkor

2010-04-07T07:39:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I was ready to be underwhelmed by the Temples of Angkor. I'm generally interested in modern history and anything before 1900 puts me to sleep. But Angkor Wat is one of the main prides of Cambodia and it seemed silly and embarrassing to skip it. Ultimately, I'm so glad I went. It was really, really magical. Straight from Wikipedia and condensed for your reading pleasure: the Angkor area was the seat of Khmer power from roughly the 9th century through the 13th century. Many kings oversaw the building of the temples over time, but the Donald Trump of them all was King Jayavarman VII, who created a ton of temples, and most of the cooler ones.

There are a couple ways to make your way through all the temples, some of which are spaced out pretty far apart. The first day, I walked from temple to temple, which was long and sweaty, but peaceful. The second day, I biked, which is by far the best way to do it. It's simple and breezy and good exercise. The third day, I hired a tuk-tuk to take me around.

Angkor Wat (the biggest and most famous temple) was my least favorite. It's set apart by a moat, I didn't think it was that beautiful, and part of it was under construction. Nothing takes you out of historical reverie like bright blue scaffolding. However, all the temples had fascinating and intricate carvings to look at while wandering around.

The next day I saw temples that I loved, most notably Bayon and Ta Prohm. Bayon is a temple filled with over two hundred large, smiling faces. The rumor is that they are representations of King Jayavarman himself. I can understand that. If I were Queen, I'd probably erect tons of sculptures of my likeness as well.

Then I biked over to Ta Prohm, which is amazing because they've left it pretty much in its original state. Huge tree trunks and vines have grown over the ruins and, aside from the crowds, it's possible to feel like an old-fashioned explorer who has stumbled upon an ancient city. Like I said, magical.

Even if the temples were a bit crowded, my bike rides and walks were really peaceful. Traveling alone from temple to temple was probably my favorite part. There were different routes to take, but no way to get lost - which is my ideal situation.

The last day in Siem Reap, I shared a tuk-tuk back to town with a Chinese woman. Like almost all Chinese people, she complimented me on my Chinese after I said two words to her. (可以？ Keyi? Meaning "Can I?") And like almost all American people, I thought she was much younger than she was. I asked, "Where are you studying?" and she said, "I'm an oncologist." Anyway, she mentioned that she had gotten up before dawn to see the sun rise at Angkor Wat, and while I am not an early bird by nature, I sort of wish I had done it. She showed me some really beautiful photos - but admitted that she was jostled by hundreds and hundreds of people who joined her at 4 a.m. to see the sun rise.

Overall, it's a pretty special historical site and I'm very glad I went. I wish my dad had been there with me, because I know he would have found it really fascinating. But I was happy to be myself, walking, thinking, listening to music. As Jessica says, it's important to have Tunes to Keep You Alone and Wandering.

CAMBODIA TRAVEL PART 2: Siem Reap

2010-04-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

The next day, I headed up to Siem Reap, the site of the Angkor Temples. To give you some idea of where I was, here's a map:

As you can see, Siem Reap is north of Phnom Penh, but not too far. Cambodia is not a huge country, which is nice: travel felt much easier and more manageable than China or even Laos. I really enjoyed my time in Siem Reap - it had a little bit of the bustle and rough edges of Phnom Penh, but not nearly as frenetic and overwhelming. Even though the economy is obviously bolstered by the tourist industry, it seemed like there was a city life apart from that.

Old liquor bottles re-used for motorbike gasoline, available to buy on many street curbs.

That being said, there was definitely quite a nightlife and tourist scene in Siem Reap. Sometimes it felt like Disneyland, with so many European children and their parents, and sometimes it felt like a slightly classier version of Bourbon Street, full of backpackers and frat boys. My favorite place to go was a bar called Laundry. They played the perfect music and I went there almost every night for a glass of wine and the occasional Khmer lessons from the nice bartenders. It was usually empty, except for a few people playing pool.

Outside, people were cavorting and drinking and eating, or getting their feet gently massaged and cleaned by little fish. This has become strangely popular.

Also, I'm sure others were out doing more unsavory things. Cambodia has a very serious problem with child prostitution and trafficking. It made me hyper-sensitive to every transaction I saw between older white gentlemen and young Cambodian women. Everything about it gave me the creeps. In most places like Siem Reap, you come across couple public service billboards addressing the issue.

CAMBODIA TRAVEL PART 1: Pnom Penh

2010-04-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Cambodia on February 11th and got in a tuk-tuk headed for Number 9 Guesthouse, which I picked because it was cheap and it was surrounded by other equally cheap places in case it was full. I paid $3 for a room and while the picture below makes the place look quite nice, let's just say that I got what I paid for. It was the kind of room you see in newspapers to show where they found the victim.

I dropped off my stuff, ignored the harassment of the tuk-tuk drivers, and went out to explore Pnom Penh. I liked Laos, but it was such a relief to be in a real city, where there is clearly economic life and business parallel to the tourist industry. I felt less like an invader and more like an observer. I walked all over, which was difficult considering it's not very pedestrian friendly. The traffic is never-ending and fast, with no crosswalks. In order to cross the wide boulevard, you simply have to start walking and hope that the traffic flows around you. Or in my case, I just stood there awkwardly for a good ten minutes until a police officer took pity on me and helped me across the street.

I wandered through the streets, happily sweating. I came across a market, where people were selling fruits and vegetables and chopping the heads off chickens.

A little while later, I saw a monkey hanging out on the street. I can't tell you how much this unnerved me. I grew up feeling jealous of my sister's affinity towards animals, but now that I'm older, I can admit to myself that I am Not An Animal Person. I would have gotten a better picture of it, but I was far across the street, afraid of rabies or whatever else a monkey could give me.

A Few Thoughts On Traveling

2010-04-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

To be blunt, at times traveling makes you feel like a total asshole. You feel this way when you speak English all the time, because you don't know the local language. You feel this way when you haggle for a dirt-cheap moto ride. You feel this way when kids try to sell you things and you say "no" or just ignore them. You feel this way when you see other foreigners acting in ugly ways. You feel this way when you arrive in Pnom Penh and the tuk-tuk drivers run up to you eagerly, saying, "Killing Fields? Tuol Sleng?" like it's Disneyworld or the Louvre. You feel this way when you realize you came to Pnom Penh to see these things, like many other people, and it suddenly feels like a perverse kind of genocide tourism. You feel this way when you realize you are an unwelcome presence, while at the same time a booster of the local economy.

I have to say, I don't feel this way often in China. For one, very few people speak English in Dalian, so I'm constantly making a fool of myself in stores and restaurants and taxicabs. I attempt to speak the language and people are equal parts helpful and unhelpful. And I think that's how it should be when you live in another country. It should feel different and you should feel a bit like an outsider. Even when buying bus tickets or train tickets, I don't have the luxury of using English, like I did in Southeast Asia. Additionally, China is zooming ahead like a bullet train, so while I definitely come from a place of privilege, I don't really feel the way an American might have felt in China fifteen or twenty or thirty years ago. While no pioneer in democracy or human rights, China is still surpassing the States in many other ways. And although I know there's still poverty and hunger in China, even the poorer kids I saw in the rural areas looked healthier and better cared for than the ones in Laos or Cambodia.

That's not to say I felt like a jerk all through Southeast Asia. I had some wonderful times and some genuine interactions and in Laos I attempted to learn a bit of the language. I think my favorite word for "hello" is in Lao. It's "sai-ba-dee" and since the language is tonal, it's said in a nice, musical way. Everyone says saibadee to everyone else all the time and so it became very natural to me. I learned a bit more as well:

Goodbye - Lai 'Gon
Thank you - Kwap Jai
Thank you very much - Kwap Jai Lai Lai
Great - Kak' Lai
Go - Bai

In Cambodia, my traveling was very different because I was alone. I had more time to think and reflect about where I was and why and how it felt to be there by myself. And I have to say, I experienced things on a much deeper level because of it. I tend to be slightly paranoid when by myself, but I actually think my anxiety is good because I am so much more aware of my surroundings and the world around me. I pay attention to directions so I won't get lost, I read maps, I'm hyper-aware of every smell, every sound, every person, every animal, every look. It's pretty awesome, even if it's a bit overwhelming and taxing. When I'm with other people I get distracted and lazy. When I'm alone, I can't help but to be completely and utterly present in a new place. It was a little exhilarating.

And last meta thought on traveling? I suck at bargaining. I got better after traveling with Hanna and watching her expertly do it, but I still start out too high and give up too quickly. Luckily, I felt slightly excused by the Lonely Planet guide book. The authors had this to say:

Try to remember that the aim is not to get the lowest possible price, but a price that is acceptable to both you and the seller. Remember back home, we pay astronomical sums for items, especially clothes, that have been made in poorer countries for next to nothing, and we don't even get the chance to bargain for them, just the opportunity to contribute to a corporate director's retirement fund. At least there's room for discussion in Cambodia, so try not to become obsessed by the price. And also remember, in many cases a few hundred riel is more important to a Cambodian with a family to support than to a traveler on an extended vacation. After all, nobody bargains over a beer in a busy backpacker bar, so why bargain so hard over a cheap bottle of water?

LAOS TRAVEL PART 8: Back to Luang Prabang & Vientiane

2010-03-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

We returned to Nong Khiaw and I still wasn't feeling great, so I lay down while Hanna checked out the local hot sauna. At night, we walked around in the dark to look at the stars. In my entire life, I have never seen stars like this. Since it's already a small town, if you walked even a few yards out of the light, you were in pitch-black darkness and the sky was filled completely with stars. It was pretty unbelievable, and I wish you all could have seen it. Especially my dad, as I know he enjoys a good star-gaze.

The next day we headed back to Luang Prabang. We biked around, saw some more temples, and checked out the French Language Center's Biennial. As I've said before, my life in Asia is pretty lacking in "culture," or whatever would define culture in New York. I miss contemporary art museums and galleries and homey bookstores and independent films. I'm happy to give those things up for a year here, but when I come across the stray cultural institution, my soul is always a bit quenched. The exhibit at the Center was great. It was called Tele-Spectators and it was a series of photographs about how we watch television. It touched on the vulnerable physical and mental positions we end up in when we're consuming media. I thought the photographs, which were taken all over the world, were unexpectedly beautiful. Pardon the quality, since these are pictures-of-pictures:

Eventually it was time to leave Luang Prabang and our cheap, lovely guest-house, with its long list of rules on the back of the door. Numbers 5 and 6 were the hardest ones to follow.

I didn't think it was possible for our bus back to Vientiane to be worse than our bus from Vientiane, but it was! We got on, and immediately the driver gave everyone two plastic bags. Curious. We hadn't even left yet, and already the woman ahead of us was opening her little jar of smelling salts. These seemed to be ominous signs. And indeed, without exaggeration, more than half the people on this bus spent the ride vomiting. The road was pure switchbacks and curves and turns and it was just awfulness. Hanna and I didn't throw up, luckily. We have iron stomachs. Finally, the road straightened out and we entertained ourselves by recounting the entire script of "When Harry Met Sally" and singing Dar Williams's Greatest Hits. Our fellow passengers might not have been overjoyed, but I had a lovely time.

Then, it was back to Vientiane. We stopped at an internet cafe so I could buy plane tickets and check my bank account, and who should walk in but Ross and Kelsey, from our Luang Prabang cooking class! It was a funny coincidence. Later that night, they met up with us for a drink at Makphet, perhaps one of the best restaurants I've ever been to. It's run by a nonprofit organization and all the waiters are former street children, who are being trained in the service/hospitality field.

The next day, Hanna and I went our separate ways, sadly enough. I had a wonderful time with her. Next adventure: a solo trip to Cambodia!

LAOS TRAVEL PART 7: The Village

2010-03-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

After trekking through the jungle, we arrived in the village where we were to stay for the night. I've sadly forgotten the name of it, but it was very small and rural. Hanna had been to villages like this before, in India and Ghana, but I had never been to a place so tiny and poor. I guess I could figure out a more politically correct word, but "poor" sums it up pretty well. Rural poverty feels very different from urban poverty.

It was still a while until dinner, so Hanna and I walked around and explored the village. Onh told us that the children used to be very afraid of foreigners, but by now, they're used to it. You could have fooled me - they quickly formed a tiny mob and stared at us, looking at turns petrified and suspicious.

We finally won them over, sort of, by playing some games. In my experience of teaching kindergarten, the Hokey Pokey is always a hit. Hanna and I demonstrated, but only one girl was brave enough to participate. (She's the one in the pink dress, in the middle). She was by far the smartest and most outgoing.

Then Hanna had the idea of playing Tic-Tac-Toe in the dirt, which was also successful. Most of the kids preferred to watch. I was a tiny bit dumbfounded by the amount of babies-carrying-babies. And bonus points if you find the kid with the machete in background.

The gender roles were also kind of interesting. Yes, for the most part, girls seemed to be responsible for the children, but at one point I noticed a young boy take a baby from his friend. He threw the baby on his back as gently as he could, and tied a cloth around himself. There didn't seem to be any gender-based stigma in terms of taking care of the little ones.

Then it was time for dinner. Onh had picked some green plants on the trek, which he cooked deliciously, alongside some sticky rice and spicy chicken soup and green beans. We ate by candlelight in the home of a man, his wife, and son. I never caught their names.

It was a great meal, and I ate voraciously. I also smiled a lot, which was commented on by the family members. And I drank quite a bit - this is where the lao lao comes into play. The father had some homemade rice whiskey and offered it to us. Onh told us about the Lao drinking traditions, which involve pouring a shot for oneself, and then "showing" it to the group. Then you drink it, and pass it onto the next person. Also, when you drink, each drink represents a part of your body that you are now developing. As in: now you have arms! Now you have a leg! Now you have a nose! I guess it was the combination of experiencing new things and feeling hardcore about drinking with the village dad, but in total, I grew two arms, two legs, two ears, two eyes, a mouth, and a nose. That's a lot of lao lao.

After dinner, the little boy's parents sat with him and helped him with his homework, since school was starting the next day. Some of the children in this village looked a bit sickly, but this little boy seemed really well-cared for. He read from a thin, worn textbook, featuring images of Lao people, farms, rice baskets, and houses on stilts. His father encouraged him in his reading, then rocked him in his arms as it grew later in the evening. Oh, nothing touches my cold, jaded heart like fathers and sons.

In the morning, we woke up and my stomach was very, very angry with me. "Why did you drink so much lao lao?" it said. "Also, why do you refuse to poop for days on end? That can't be healthy." "Be quiet," I said to my stomach. But it gurgled all day. Also, my appetite was totally shot. I couldn't eat anything all day, and if you know me, you know that's a rarity. Despite my nausea, soon it was time to bid goodbye to our host family (dad below) and continue on our hike.

We stopped by the school and said goodbye to the kids. They didn't seem heartbroken to see us go.

Ultimately, it was a really unique experience. I have some more analytical thoughts about my time in the village, involving class and poverty and development and travel and Southeast Asia, but I'm getting over my flu and I can't really put anything together coherently. Luckily, I kept a journal in Cambodia that sums up my thoughts in a better way. So, stay tuned. Goodbye, village.

LAOS TRAVEL PART 6: The Trek

2010-03-20T07:01:00.000-07:00

I've completely lost track of the days at this point, but the next day (whenever that was), Hanna and I set out on a trek to a small village. Because Laos is still littered with land mines, and my sense of direction is terrible, we were accompanied by a guide, whose name was Onh. He told us he was tired because he had been to a wedding the night before and his friends made him drink too much. He was our age and we liked him a lot.

The trek was really so much fun. I had been told that flip-flops were good footwear, but a healthy amount of the hike involved clambering up slippery, mossy rocks, which wasn't easy. The flip-flops came in handy later, when we waded through rivers and pools and mud. Once in a while, Onh would find something edible and show us how to cut it open and eat it.

We stopped for lunch at a small hut, belonging to an old woman and her many pigs. We ate sticky rice and meat and chatted a bit. I felt I knew Onh well enough by that point to ask him about Lao attitudes towards America, since we are directly responsible for it being the most bombed country ever. In history. "What do your parents think of America?" I asked him. "Oh, they hate America!" he replied cheerily. Fair enough. Then Hanna rested on the porch for a while, as did Onh, who was sleeping off his hangover. I wandered around the dusty yard and checked out the animals.

After lunch, we kept walking - through thick jungle with cut-down banana trees, and quiet villages and quiet-er rice fields. I've never seen rice growing so close up, and since Hanna did some backbreaking rice farming in India, she explained to me how it works. I won't bore you with the details. (Translation: I don't really remember, except that you plant the rice in the muddy water, they grow little rice grains in the green shoots, then you take out the rice, and - voila! - it ends up at my table).

LAOS TRAVEL PART 5: Boat Trip Up The Mekong

2010-03-18T05:27:00.000-07:00

Our next stop was Non Khiaw, a small-ish town north of Luang Prabang. We decided to travel via the Mekong, so we headed down to the riverside in the morning to get on a boat. Because I've developed an almost debilitating fear of lateness when it comes to travel, we got there really, really early. Hanna likes to get to places at the last minute, so for rest of the trip we combined forces and usually arrived at places at a normal hour.

After waiting around for a bit, we boarded a narrow wooden boat along with some older French people in nice sweaters, carrying expensive snacks. (Is that enough cultural stereotyping for you?) As I've said a million times in this blog: the scenery was amazing. It was an eight hour boat ride, but it never felt a minute too long. We read, we thought, we ate little pieces of Hanna's crackers, we waved hello to fisherman and kids, we looked at the mountains and the water, and once in a while we got out to stretch our legs.

In addition to the spunky French folk, there was also a quiet Polish woman, a Brit, and a dreamy Israeli guy. We chatted for a bit and he asked me for some Yunnan travel advice. Then I took surreptitious photos of him and daydreamed about our future children. This paparazzi shot doesn't really do him justice.

When we arrived in Nong Khiaw, the sun had already begun its slow descent behind the mountains. It was a really beautiful time of day. I felt lucky to be there.

LAOS TRAVEL PART 4: Cooking Class!

2010-03-16T05:17:00.000-07:00

One of the touristy-but-totally-worth-it things we did in Laos was take a cooking class. They're pretty popular and for good reason - I learned a lot about Lao cooking and culture, and the food we made was delicious, if I may say so myself.

The class was held at a restaurant called Tamnak Lao, which also housed a bookstore that benefited a nearby orphanage. It was run by an older Australian woman named Ruth. She was such a character - holy cow, I could not get enough of her. First of all, she clearly enjoyed making people uncomfortable. When asked an innocuous question about Laos, she would smile bitterly and say things like, "Well, they're starving to death in the countryside" or "tourism is ruining this country" and then luxuriate in the awkward silence. She also would make vague references to her inclusion in the Lao people. Naturally, tourists would ask, "How long have you lived here?" and she would reply in her really strong accent, "Well, we came back in '95." And that was it. Oh, my brain was going nuts. Came back from where, and when did you leave, and why? But she clearly liked being an enigma, saying things like, "We had no money back then," referring to herself and the people of Luang Prabang. Oh, she was a weirdo. But fascinating.

Anyway, we joined a few Chinese and Americans in this class. There were about eight of us in total. First we watched the teachers, Leng and Phia, as they demonstrated the dishes. Lao people eat a lot of sticky (or "glutinous") rice and it's unlike any other rice I've known. You eat it with your hands, by rolling a small ball of it in your palm and then use it to pick up other food or dips. First, you have to wash it and then soak it for several hours, or overnight. Then you put it in a woven steamer and steam over boiling water, like in the picture below:

After watching the demonstration, it was time to make our own dishes!

Oh, the glory of it all!

I think our food turned out quite nicely. If my memory serves me correctly, from left to right we have: Tofu Laap (traditional cold salad), Tom Chaeow Pha (fish with eggplant), and Luak Puk (mixed vegetables with spicy tomato jeow/dip)

When the food was finished, we all sat down outside and ate together. It was really nice. My favorite people were Kelsey and Ross, a couple (our age) from Portland. They currently live and teach on a South Korean island where they are the only foreigners. They were generally awesome, and after the class and the meal, the four of us went to get drinks at a very French bar, where we shared funny stories about living in Asia and teaching and traveling. Here's a very bad picture of my drink - lemon and lao lao, a traditional Lao rice whiskey. It was yummy. Stay tuned! Lao lao does not treat me so kindly in the future...

LAOS TRAVEL PART 3: Exploration

2010-03-13T00:24:00.000-08:00

To be honest, both Hanna and I were a little disappointed with certain elements of Luang Prabang. Yes, it was pretty and on a river and had some sweet French touches. But the main area of town was populated almost completely by tourists. There wasn't much of a local feel to any of it and instead of peeking in on a community, I felt more like we were the community. The restaurants, shops, bookstores, and cafes were all for tourists. It felt like a strange little bubble at times. There were some exceptions, though - we explored the morning market and rented bicycles and rode them out of town and took off our shoes down by the riverside.

After a semester of living in a largely bicycle-less city, it felt amazing to get on an old-fashioned bike and ride on dusty roads through little farm villages and wooded swamps. Supposedly there was a waterfall, but we never found it.

The river looked pretty dirty, but it was peaceful. Children were bathing in it and a few tourists were swimming.

I think this picture proves it: I was adopted and my real parents were midgets.

LAOS TRAVEL PART 2: Luang Prabang

2010-03-12T05:47:00.001-08:00

The night bus to Luang Prabang was probably one of the strangest journeys I've taken. We were told we were taking the "VIP" Bus, but we quickly learned that we must not be Very Important People because the bus had seats that didn't recline and seemed to make a stop every twenty minutes. I tried to sleep, but it was almost impossible, and every time I opened my eyes I saw something strange: a bizarre carnival, a gruesome motorcycle accident. I felt like I was in a David Lynch movie.

So Hanna and I arrived in Luang Prabang in the early morning a bit tired, but happy. The entire city is actually a World Heritage Site due to its many Buddhist temples and colonial French architecture.

After picking a random cheap guesthouse, we wandered around the historic areas. I was surprised by how affected I was by the temples (also called wats). They are very ornate and beautiful and small and, as I'm sure you can imagine, there is an emphasis on quiet. Ducking out of the sun and stepping into these dark, intimate, gold-flecked little rooms, I could see why people are drawn to Buddhism. The Buddha statues, the incense, the altar - it all seemed to have been created with a great deal of love. Also, while religion has historically been the cause of some horrific shit over the centuries, it has also inspired some magnificent art. In the past when I've seen gorgeous cathedrals or eerie Jesus paintings, it's always given me a sense of awe, but with the Buddhist wats I was left more with a feeling of quiet wonder and introspection. The last Jewish thing I did was taschlich in the beginning of the year and I had sort of forgotten how nice spirituality can be.

Be Patient, Friends!

2010-03-08T07:24:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a few days since I wrote last. I promise I'm going to keep updating you on my travels, but I want to do it when I'm awake and alert. The combination of starting class again and celebrating Chris's birthday (a great weekend-long affair) has kept me in a haggard state.

I'll just leave you with these two photographs for now. I'm so thrilled that Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Directing - but Monique's acceptance speech is what brought tears to my eyes. A great year for women in film.

LAOS TRAVEL PART 1: Hanna and Vientiane

2010-03-04T23:16:00.000-08:00

On February 2nd, I arrived in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. I stepped off the plane and was greeted with wonderful, balmy air. "I remember you!" I whispered (to the air). "China tried to tear us apart, but hello 'warmth.' We meet again." It felt humid and great. Hanna and I planned on reuniting at the Saysouly Guest House, so I dropped my stuff off in the room, put on a skirt, and hung out on the balcony. A few hours later, Hanna arrived. "You look exactly the same!" she said. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, we hadn't seen each other in seven or eight years.

We spent a short time in Vientiane checking out the city. It's very quiet and peaceful, and while people often use those words to describe Laos, I wouldn't say it's necessarily a positive thing. At times, it's peaceful because the river is beautiful and the air is soft and the sun feels nice. At times, it's peaceful because it's a poor country and there's not a ton of commerce or entertainment or city life going on. So, it's complex, like anywhere. But for me, being somewhere not-China was enough. It was full of religious temples, monks, and old edifices. I really liked the hundreds of small alcoves in this temple, each containing two miniature Buddhas.

We also visited Laos's most famous stupa (a structure containing Buddhist relics or remains). It was very gold.
We walked around a bit more, checked out a local market, bought some jackfruit, and then: no time to waste! We hopped on a night bus headed north for Luang Prabang.

Profiles in Awesome: Peppi Glass

2010-03-04T02:07:00.000-08:00

I know, you were all expecting a blog post about Laos. But that's me - full of surprises and keeping you all on your toes. I've realized that my time here is short and there are still many supportive people who have not received a proper Profile In Awesome. One of these is my lovely great-aunt, Peppi.

I consider myself really lucky to have Peppi in my life. She is great at keeping in touch and has always kept in contact throughout college, New York City, and especially my time in China. She's smart, thoughtful, and worldly. She's always seen the latest independent, cutting-edge film before I have, and she's full of book recommendations on every topic imaginable. And somehow, in between raising a family and substitute teaching, she's also an accomplished sculptor. I think my favorite piece of hers is the one in my grandmother's house, but here she is with another beautiful one, called "In-Decision," which won a prize.

But aside from the cultural cool factor, I think what I love most about Peppi is the fact that she treats everyone, regardless of age, like a peer. I remember feeling this way about her when I was very, very young. And last year I watched her interact with Delilah, my little cousin, and it only confirmed it further. It's a trait I really respect and I can only hope to emulate in my life.

So, here's to you, Aunt Peppi! I love you and thank you for all the support you've given me this year.

CHINA TRAVEL PART 7: On the fringes of Kunming

2010-03-02T23:05:00.000-08:00

While the city itself is cool, the area surrounding Kunming also had a lot to offer, so we spent time checking out those sights too. There were some historic Buddhist temples not far away, so we spent a few peaceful hours there.

It was all very classic, traditional Chinese, which was kind of fun. I don't get much of that in Dalian, which has been controlled by the Russians and Japanese in the past and doesn't have that "right-out-a-Zhang-Yimou-movie" quality that the South seems to have. We also did a fun hike up the Western Hills, that afforded a beautiful view of the city and some old temples. The breeze was lovely.

There were a fair amount of Chinese tourists there and traveling with Nick (tall, blonde) meant that we got more looks that I usually do alone (short, brown hair). They didn't just look, they gawked. I think I captured a particularly good moment in this photo below. This is a picture of a little girl catching her first glimpse of Nick.

We also saw the old city of Kunming, which was interesting, but far away. The bus ride was interminable and we realized our directions were wrong ("Get off at the last stop and then follow the donkey carts") when the bus let us out at some sketchy electronics expo in the middle of nowhere and totally lacking in donkey carts. Finally we made it to the historic district, which was nice but tourist-y. The next day, Kim and I went to the Stone Forest, which we both liked, but was much cooler before the hordes of visitors.

"dear friends, now you know"

I'm sort of rushing through China a bit, because I'm most excited to write about Laos and Cambodia. They were just really different, and that was great for me. Next up: Vientiane!

CHINA TRAVEL PART 6: Exploring Kunming

2010-03-01T20:22:00.001-08:00

So, it was back to Kunming! I really enjoyed this city, and Kim & Nick did as well. The weather is nice and the air is unusually clean. The city itself is a nice mix of modernity and narrow, old-fashioned streets. Like this, the funky Flatiron Building of southern China:

There was also a district called The Bird and Flower Market, which did literally sell birds and flowers and a bevy of other small animals.

We explored the beautiful, beautiful park and lake on the north side of town, as well as Yunnan University, which was founded in 1922 and has very classic-looking university architecture (unlike most Chinese colleges, which were founded after the revolution and look how you'd expect). The nice thing about cities in the south is the outdoor street culture. People, mostly elderly, are often outside, playing cards or mah jongg and I really like that aspect of city life.

At night, we checked out the bar scene and found some really nice, trendy, low-key places that made a decent drink.

Unless you ordered a mojito, like Nick. It involved a lot of mint removal.

I ordered a nice G&T and admired the revolution-era postcards Nick and I bought.

CHINA TRAVEL PART 5: A short journey to Shaxi

2010-02-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

After Tiger Leaping Gorge, I parted ways with my friends to check out the town of Shaxi, an historic market town. According to an exhibit there, Shaxi was an important stop on the Tea and Horse Caravan Trail, "which existed as a commercial lifeline between Yunnan, Tibet, and beyond for over 1,000 years. Similar to the more highly acclaimed northern Silk Road, the Tea and Horse Caravan Trail acted as a breeding ground for cultural exchange and fiscal barter, facilitating trade in tea, horses, and other goods between diverse ethnic groups residing along the eastern edge of the Himalayan massif."

Now, usually I'm not interested in anything that happened over a hundred years ago. I'm just a modern type of gal. But after seeing so many fake-new Chinese cities in the South (old things repainted garish colors, construction, high-rises), I was interested to see what an authentically old town looked like. First, it involved taking a bus to Jianchuan, and then a smaller bus to Shaxi.

People really packed that bus full. Also, they smoked a lot. After a while, the guys sitting next to me told me that we had just passed Shaxi, so I hopped off and walked back into town. It was a very pretty and fairly isolated walk.

When I got into town, I was immediately disappointed. It just looked like any other gross Chinese town: little stores selling cell phones, dusty streets, someone fixing a motorcycle. Was this it? It couldn't be. So I asked around and finally made it to the historic part of town, which was just as "historic" as promised.

I also befriended some kids in the main square. They were busy throwing stray branches up at a large tree, causing edible seeds to fall down. Then they all scrambled to collect them.

A couple of them spoke Mandarin in addition to the local dialect, so I chatted feebly with them. I love talking to kids because they e-nun-ci-ate every syllable and they're sweet and non-judgmental. I gave them my camera for a bit so they could take photos too.

I checked out the old temple and theater, as well as the Shaxi Rehabilitation Project, which described the work they're doing for the area - a combination of tourism for economic reasons (it's a poor province) and sustainable community-building stuff like micro-credit.

Then I went to get myself some food. If you're wondering if I'll be coming back to America looking really svelte, the answer is in that giant bowl of rice.

After spending some more time with the local kids, I went back to my little guesthouse, which was a perfect place to spend the night. I read a while downstairs, and then went back to my beautiful dorm room with Japanese-style futons on the floor and powerful electric blankets.

All in all, it was a very peaceful day and night in Shaxi. The next day I got on a bus, headed back to Lijiang, and then, back to Kunming to meet up with Kim and Nick.

CHINA TRAVEL PART 5: Obstruction (of justice!)

2010-02-27T07:43:00.000-08:00

So we were done with the hike! What a joyous occasion. We got on a little minivan headed back to Lijiang and got ready to lean back and enjoy the ride. Right? Wrong!

It turns out that our ride was interrupting some very important road construction, which involved blowing up rock wall and then slowly removing the huge chunks with one of those wheel loader things. While it was sort of fascinating to watch, it took forever and our driver kept nervously looking up at the rock wall. It was becoming clear that being near exploding rocks in a rock-slide prone zone was not the smartest thing.

Somehow Kim and Nick managed to look very glamorous in the midst of all this rubble and slow-moving chaos.

Finally we were moving again. Our driver drove at an alarming speed, very close to the edge, and Kim was not happy. He also drove through a little waterfall, similar to the one that we clambered over on the hike. But we survived and made it safely back to Lijiang.

Next up: I take a solo journey to Shaxi!

CHINA TRAVEL PART 4: The Descent

2010-02-27T05:07:00.000-08:00

After the 28 bends and some gorgeous scenery, we arrived at the Halfway (Guest) House. We read and relaxed outside, while Nick tried to sleep off his ailments.

We spent the evening playing cards and drinking tea and eating baba (Naxi flat bread, pita-like), and reading under our electric blankets. I should also mention that the guesthouse had one of the best bathroom views I've ever seen.

Well-rested, we continued on the next day. The hike itself wasn't dangerous, but one part was potentially treacherous: it involved walking over running water on the side of a sheer cliff. Above you was a waterfall rushing down, and below you was the waterfall continuing, and your job was to navigate the flat trail in between. I don't have any photos of the cliff because I'm not crazy, but you can use your imagination:

My friends opted to carefully cross on the dry rocks, but I decided I didn't want to be anywhere near the edge. I just walked right through the waterfall, soaking my shoes. Everyone was very concerned about my damp feet, but those New Balance sneakers I bought in tenth grade must be made of magic or something. My feet were dry again in minutes. It helped that the sun was coming out. In the early morning, we had to pray to the Sun God to hurry on up.

And when we weren't doing that or chatting or daydreaming, we were temporary goat herders, which was loads of fun. Goats are both goofy and surprisingly agile.

CHINA TRAVEL PART 3: The Ascent

2010-02-25T08:02:00.000-08:00

Lijiang had been lovely, but soon it was time to bid farewell to the old town and to Mama Naxi, proprietor of our hostel. We couldn't quite make up our minds about Mama - she was an aggressive businesswoman, happy to assist you only if it benefited her, but also friendly and sweet and hardworking. She's on the left here, flanked by her equally hard-working staff. (Naxi or Nakhi is the name of one of the many Chinese ethnic minorities.)

We were ready to set off for our main adventure, which was hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge. Unfortunately, one of the Lijiang eateries had not been kind to Nick's stomach, so he spent a good portion of the hike feeling ill. He was a trooper, though, and we all took it slowly and enjoyed the scenery. We had also picked up a Brit at this point, a very nice guy named Chris, who joined us for the multi-day hike. The scenery was spectacular.

The toughest part of the hike was something called the 28 Bends. It's a very steep incline that has many twists and turns (28, in fact) up to the top. I had heard so much about it from friends that I mentally prepared for the worst. But in the end, I had built my expectations up so much that when I was almost finished, I thought we hadn't even started it! (Not that it was easy, don't get me wrong). It was immensely satisfying, despite being out of breath most of the time.

Me on the mountaintop with "Portraits of Chinese Women in Revolution," a terrific book that Amy Jo gave me.

CHINA TRAVEL PART 2: Exploring Lijiang

2010-02-25T05:16:00.000-08:00

After Dali, Sarah flew back to Kuala Lumpur to be with her parents and get treatment for her arm. We soldiered on, sadly one member short of our crew. Despite being just as tourist-filled, we ended up liking Lijiang more than Dali. The old town was full of winding, narrow, cobble-stoned streets, with blue skies and snow-capped mountains in the distance. Granted, they had suffered a major earthquake in the past and I think most of the old town was a reconstruction, but I didn't let that stop my imagination from enjoying itself.

In addition to bumming around the town, we took a bicycle ride to Baisha, a small village a few miles away. It probably used to be fairly quiet, but an influx of tourists has created a street full of hawkers and trinkets. Still, we were able to do a bit of exploring on our own.

We also stopped in at a little place where Kim and Nick ordered their favorite dish: egg-and-tomato. Most of my friends like it and it's a pretty popular Chinese meal, but I am not a fan.

One of my favorite parts of Lijiang was just sitting in the center square, writing in my journal, talking to some of the locals, and people-watching in the sunshine. While the throngs of Chinese tourists can be annoying, often I find it interesting. Travel is a luxury and with the rise of the middle class and general standards of living, I imagine domestic tourism is reaching unprecedented levels. (Note: I have zero statistics to back this up). Anyway, I enjoyed hanging out and absorbing the scene. Also, as this province is the home to many of China's ethnic minorities, there is a large focus on that part of the culture for the benefit of tourists, such as these women folk dancers in the square:

CHINA TRAVEL PART 1: Kunming/Dali

2010-02-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

After a boring, lonely week in Dalian and a mad dash to grade exams and submit them electronically on the university's finicky server (a minor nightmare), on January 15th I was finally free! I boarded a plane for sunny Kunming in Southern China to meet up with my friends Nick, Kim, and Sarah. I even overlapped with Tae for a day, which was great. We sat outside on the deck of our hostel and had a few beers and attempted to catch a glimpse of the solar eclipse.

The next day, we boarded a bus for Dali, farther north. A popular backpacker's haven, I had heard a lot about this place and how cool and funky it was - but it ended up being a bit too touristy for my liking. I also associate it with Sarah breaking her arm and so perhaps that has tainted my memory.

Nonetheless, it's a beautiful area.

The Old Town is filled with little shops...

...and markets

...and mushrooms

...and peaceful parks filled with old people playing Mah jongg

...and adorable children doing potentially dangerous things

Overall, we had a pleasant few days there, punctuated by the stress and trauma of a broken arm. Kim has some fantastic pictures of our hospital visit, which I'll have to insert into another blog post. Next stop: Lijiang!

Profiles in Awesome: Freya Bellin

2010-02-24T06:57:00.000-08:00

February 25th (which is tomorrow in China) is the birthday of my lovely grandmother and my dear friend, Freya, who is long overdue for an internet shout-out.

Freya and I met in math class in 7th grade at Hommocks Middle School, a prison masquerading as a learning facility. We also did something called "Reading Advantage." I don't quite remember the point of it, but it was some sort of elective and it gave us the opportunity to become better friends. Then came 8th grade, where we were both had the illustrious teaching team of McCurdy and Ahern. Ostensibly we were learning English and Social Studies, but we also spent ample time creating nicknames for the boys we had crushes on. And there was a lot of giggling. I actually remember running out of my history class because I was laughing so hard. Oh, middle school.

The point of all that is to say that I met Freya at the height of my awkwardness and somehow she saw through that and became one of my closest friends, someone who I've always had a deep respect for and known I could count on. I've gone to her with many relationship problems, whether they involve parents or boyfriends or roommates or certain cast members of the sitcom Scrubs. She's smart, thoughtful, and a good listener - but most of all, she's extremely non-judgmental and I find that to be a rare quality in most people. And despite the fact that she now wears high heels and has a Real Job, she has a terrific sense of humor that's always been the mainstay of our friendship. (If you need proof, I have a few choice videos from tenth grade, including a J-Lo video remake and a trippy Chanukah-related murder mystery. Katie is implicated as well.)

So here's to you, Fritabean - I hope you have a joyous birthday with all the Manhattan trimmings. I miss you lots and look forward to a New York reunion this summer.

Southland

2010-02-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

It's my last night in Siem Reap, which has treated me pretty well as a funky, pretty, tourist-y city. While Americans aren't heading to Cambodia in droves, the Europeans are here in full force, with their families (adorable) or their much-younger Southeast Asian girlfriends (creepy). Most people come here to see Angkor Wat, like me, which turned out to be fascinating and really fun. Photographs to come next week!

Anyway, I celebrated my last evening here by trying a classic Cambodian dish, called amok. It's fish cooked with coconut oil and served in banana leaves. Delicious. Tomorrow I am heading south, to a place called Kampot, and then to a smaller beachside town called Kep, which I heard good things about from other travelers. The bigger beach is called Sihanoukville and I was thinking of going there originally, but from what I've heard, it's super touristy and maybe kind of gross. My bus ride tomorrow is a good eight or nine hours, so maybe I'll finish the depressing book I bought: The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79. My feelings about America are constantly vacillating, but this book is definitely making me hate us right now. Here's an excerpt:

"Although it was indigenous, Pol Pot's revolution would not have won power without U.S. economic and military destabilization of Cambodia, which began in 1966 after the American escalation in next-door Vietnam and peaked in 1969-73 with the carpet bombing of Cambodia's countryside by American B-52s. This was probably the most important single factor in Pol Pot's rise."

Argh.

Alive and Well in Phnom Penh

2010-02-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

Hello all! A quick update to say that I've arrived safely in Cambodia and am now faced with the exciting prospect of creating an itinerary for the next ten days. In terms of the last ten, Laos was beautiful, interesting, strange, poor, peaceful, unsettling - many, many things, and I experienced them all with a wonderful traveling partner. Hanna and I had a great time together.

But now I'm solo, which is also cool, and I'm looking forward to beaches and temples and a bustling city. Not sure in which order. Happy upcoming Spring Festival & Valentine's Day, and hope you're all enjoying the snow on the East Coast. Even though I'm soaking up the Southeast Asia sun, I'm a bit jealous. Wish me luck on my journeys!

From Taos to Laos!

2010-02-02T03:57:00.000-08:00

Currently in Laos, with my friend Hanna, who I met when I was sixteen when we were building houses with the American Jewish Society for Service in New Mexico. Now, we're here in beautiful, hot, humid Vientiane. It feel so good to wear a skirt and the ugliest flip-flops in the world (the only ones I could find in Kunming were bright orange and green).

I can't wait to see what this week holds for us. Tonight we're going to sit down with her bootleg Lonely Planet and map it out. Now that I'm in firewall-free Southeast Asia, I may be able to update a bit more frequently. I miss you all!

Update from Southern China

2010-01-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hello loyal readers!

I'm writing to you from Dali, in Yunnan Province, in Southern China. The skies are blue, the mountains are tall, the air is clear, and the sun feels wonderful, especially after months and months of cold, windy weather in Dalian.

So far, we've been taking it easy: lots of reading, studying Chinese in our little hostel courtyard, exploring the Old City, and meeting other backpackers. Unfortunately, our relaxing little vacation took an unfortunate turn when a member of our crew, Sarah, fell off her bike and hurt her arm badly. We then experienced the Chinese hospital system, which was fascinating unto itself, but is an entry for another day. Long story short, her arm needs surgery, so we had to scramble to get her onto a flight to Kuala Lumpur, where her parents live. This girl was such a trooper, I can't even tell you. She was in major pain, but stayed in fairly good spirits until her departure.

So now our group is smaller, sadly, because Sarah is awesome and we were all getting along well. But! Onwards to Lijiang. Aside from blogging and checking Facebook, internet access in the hostel means looking at the news and all the photographs from Haiti, which is devastating. It feels awful that one can't do anything but give money, but it sounds like that's what they need right now. My friend Alice works for the American Jewish World Service, and they do very good work in Haiti - so I encourage you to donate to them (or any other aid organization) if you haven't already.

Profiles in Awesome: Adria Pass

2010-01-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

Another long overdue blog post of appreciation, which is especially timely because I'm about to leave for a month-long travel adventure. I'll be away from my computer, my bed, my cozy apartment, and my favorite "home" memento: a beautifully crafted cloth scrapbook my aunt Adria made for me before I left.

It's an amazing book, filled with collages and photographs and messages from my family. I was so moved when she gave it to me - I honestly forgot that my leaving affected anyone but myself. A selfish thought, I know - but this book reminded me of the family I'm so lucky to have, especially my aunt. Adria is so modest about her skills, but she is an incredible photographer, chef, quilter, craftswoman - the list goes on and on. She's also a very genuine and thoughtful person and whenever I'm at her house (which is awesomely close to my parents' house), I feel a sense of safety and warmth. I definitely miss that while being in China.

So, thank you Adria: for both your beautiful quilts and your constant support. I miss and love you.

The Founding of a Republic

2010-01-12T03:28:00.001-08:00

A while back, I went to 和平广场 (Peace Plaza) and saw "The Founding of a Republic," a big, long, epic movie commemorating the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. I was so pumped about it afterwards - not because it's an especially great movie (it's not), but because I'm always interested in how countries view themselves and their histories. Especially China. Especially today.

Last year, I contributed to a film site called "Critic's Notebook" with some other fine writers. Martin Tsai, the editor, has kindly kept me on, despite being in Dalian. He posted my review here: Bullish In A China Show. Upon second reading, I realized that I need to re-acquaint myself with punctuation. My run-on sentences are terrible! And I'm an English teacher! What a pity.

Martin had some really nice things to say about my review, but mentioned that the scene involving Soong May-ling might be more of a comment on the Western objectification of Asian women than one about the libido of black men. It's a good point and I should have acknowledged it.

That being said, I'm fairly satisfied with the piece and I welcome any and all comments and criticism!

A Note About Christmas

2010-01-10T07:25:00.000-08:00

I know Christmas has come and gone, but I've been meaning to address the topic for a while and I think we're all still in the holiday afterglow anyway. My friend Ned asked what the representations of Santa and other Christmas-related things are like in China and it's actually pretty interesting.

This season, at least in Northeast China, Christmas paraphernalia was everywhere. I found this odd, seeing as most of the people I meet are either Buddhists or non-religious. I asked Lucy about it and she said it's a modern, youth-driven desire to adopt Western customs.

Teachers at the DUT Kindergarten decorate their Christmas tree.

Santa Claus on a bicycle in Harbin.

Truthfully, I think being Jewish gives me a different perspective on this phenomenon. While many young Chinese (and probably most Americans) view Christmas as a commercialized, secularized, holiday-for-everyone, I've never felt that way. I really enjoy the Christmas season (snow! music! magic! "It's A Wonderful Life"!), but I never believed in Santa Claus as a child and I always viewed Christmas as a religious holiday. A fun, wintry holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. So in a nation of non-Christians, it does strike me as a little bizarre.

That being said, Dalian and Harbin are both cities with a fair amount of expatriates and cosmopolitan influence so the cities might be catering to that. I'd be curious what it's like in the rest of China. Hannah, any comments on the Hangzhou Christmas scene?

LOVE MOVIE: The Fiasco.

2010-01-07T03:40:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, Jessica and I were judges in an English competition on campus. The student organization hosting the contest approached Jess about a possible movie night and discussion. Jessica generously referred them to me, as I have a film background. "Sure," I said. "That sounds like fun. Just tell me what you want me to do."

"Anything!" they said excitedly. "We were thinking you could show clips of different movies."

"Okay," I said. "Do you want me to talk about film history...or film analysis...or...?"

"Anything!" they said (again).

Total freedom, I thought. So I went about gathering clips for the presentation, which I conceived of by mentally walking through the Museum of the Moving Image . I ended up with a short silent film, a clip from "Singin' in the Rain" to talk about the transition to talking pictures, a video about foley artists, a clip from "Goodfellas" to talk about cinematography, a not-too-overly-quirky Miranda July film to talk about shorts & independents, and a clip from "Mean Girls" because it's awesome.

Then I get a text message from the organizer: "Can you make the presentation about how to learn English from movies?"

Uh, I guess so? It's pretty self-explanatory, I think: Watch English movies with subtitles. Try them without subtitles. Read about the movie beforehand to get a sense of what it's about. But I wrote back, "Sure!"

Another text message: "Can you send me a photo of yourself for the propaganda?" (Their neutral word for posters and advertisements). I looked through photos of myself and I realized I don't have any professional-looking ones, but I did the best I could do.

The lecture was supposed to start at 7:00, so I got there at 6:30 because I know technology has a way of working against me. Everything looked okay, until I started the presentation, and suddenly the sound didn't work. Since the whole shindig revolved around showing movie clips, this was going to be a problem. The organizers just stood there helplessly, while Jessica seemed to be the only person trying to find a solution. I riffed for a while (not my strong suit) and then went over and asked, "Um, should we move this to another night?" The organizer looked at me and said, "Maybe you can just talk about Christmas? They're all really interested in Christmas!" Jessica's eyes were shooting daggers at this girl, which I appreciated.

After some more yammering on my part, the team's solution was to put microphones up to the laptop that was connected to the screen, so that the audience could (kind of) hear what was happening. Since I am a film school snob, this was tearing at the essence of my soul. Post-college, I've become the kind of person who needs a film viewing experience to be as close to perfect as possible (lights out, high volume, correct aspect ratio) and this was just torture. Finally we ended it and the poor students were allowed to leave. I got a weird little notebook as a gift (the cover says: "Life is a sweet thing for one who has a pure conscience") and some weak apologies from the organizers. It was a shame, because it was going to be a fun and interesting presentation, at least from my perspective.

On the plus side, Lucy and Jessica and I found some remaining propaganda on a bulletin board outside. So we stole it. It's now decorating our apartment. And that's the end of LOVE MOVIE: The Fiasco.

新年快乐！ (Happy New Year's!)

2010-01-05T08:25:00.001-08:00

Happy (belated) 2010! I had one of those great New Years celebrations that only happens when you have low expectations and zero plans. NYE is one of those holidays that has so much hype that it can often be a letdown, but our night ended up being a nice mixture of low-key family fun and typical alcohol-fueled expat shenanigans.

First, our friend Lucy generously invited us to her mom's apartment in Dalian for dinner. We got the opportunity to make dumplings, which I've wanted to do for a while. Lucy's aunt showed us how - Jess caught on quickly, and I eventually got the hang of it as well.

Once we were done making some weird, misshapen dumplings, we sat down to a delicious dinner, complete with tons of fresh Dalian seafood.

Lucy's family is...wonderful. Sometimes being with family, even if it's not your own, feels really good. Also, they didn't speak much English, so I got a chance to practice my Chinese, which was fun.

Next stop: Hopscotch, a local bar that we've been to a bunch of times. It was packed and full of cigarette smoke and weird music and a mixture of Chinese people and ex-pats and classmates from the international school.

We danced, we drank, we created our own countdown. It was great.

What could make this evening better? Getting home at 3 a.m. and reading an e-mail from my cousin, Jen, telling me that she's engaged! I think my reply e-mail just said "AHHHHHHHHHHH." (I love love). Congratulations Odie & Jen! What wonderful New Year's news.

!!!!!!!!!! (I'm still kvelling).

HARBIN Part 5: The rest of it!

2010-01-04T03:10:00.000-08:00

We went skiing! (Well, we did a few runs. It was icy. )

We went to the 731 base, where the Japanese performed horrific germ warfare experiments on POWs and civilians alike.

And lastly, we went to eat some delicious Russian food at a warm, cozy cafe downtown.

Piroshkis, which were delicious.

So that was Harbin! It was a jam-packed, beautiful, cold, interesting, exciting, tiring, light-filled holiday weekend with my ladylove. Next up: New Year's recap!

HARBIN Part 4: The Jews of Harbin

2010-01-02T03:54:00.002-08:00

In addition to being a beautiful and interesting city, Harbin also has a very Jewish past. About 20,000 Jews used to live there, as they viewed it as a safe haven from the discrimination and pogroms that plagued Eastern Europe and Russia in the early 20th century. While the last Jew of Harbin died in the 1980's, the old synagogues and schools still remain. Additionally, they fixed up the "new" synagogue in 2004 and included a full exhibit on the Harbin Jewry.

One of the first pieces of Jewish history we spotted was close to our hotel: the former Jewish Middle School.

Across the street was the old synagogue - another beautiful building that now houses a cafe and clothing shop.

I took a peek inside. Irony of ironies? A Christmas tree!

Inside the other synagogue, a few blocks away, was the exhibit on Harbin's Jews. It was really impressive - three floors & nice and quiet. I was the only person there.

After working at a few museums, I view all exhibits in a much more academic way and I question why certain things are included or excluded. This exhibit had some life-size plaster figures to represent Jewish life in Harbin. It was a little strange and wax museum-ish, but probably more interesting than just a room full of furniture.

Most of the English explanations were clear and easily understandable. Except this one below. If you can decipher it, you get a prize.

Most of the text was full of praise for the Jewish residents (for bringing a lot of commerce and art to Harbin) and for the city of Harbin (for welcoming Jews and not discriminating). It was pretty much a total lovefest, which I enjoyed. I also liked this wall of photographs and the description.

Overall, I would have liked to see more photos of intermingling between the Chinese and Jewish people, but the Jews of Harbin seemed to be a pretty insular community. However, there were a few exceptions:

It was a pretty interesting exhibit and it made me want to do more research on the Harbin Jewry, as some of the explanations were a little lacking (there was a large emphasis on one "hero," Jacob Rosenfeld, and very little details on what he actually did). In terms of human rights, China doesn't have the best record --- but overall there seems to be very little prejudice towards 犹太人 (youtairen). Which, from my perspective, is cool.

UPDATE: Hannah made a good point in the comments. There are pretty widespread stereotypes here about Jews - for instance, I've been told numerous times that we're all accomplished and smart, like Einstein. I think I was blinded by the fact that these are positive attributes, but it's good to remember that stereotypes are stereotypes. Even positive generalizations can be harmful at the end of the day.

HARBIN Part 3: Ligers, and Tigers, and Jaguars (Ai-ya!)

2009-12-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

One of the coolest things we did in Harbin was go to the Manchurian Tiger Park. I felt kind of guilty, because animals in captivity are always a bit depressing, but these kind of tigers are going extinct -- so, on one hand, it's good that they're being bred. The park has about 500 tigers currently.

When you first walk in, you are given the option of buying food for the tigers. A live chicken is on the cheaper side (40 kuai), while feeding them cattle is a little bit pricier. One of my regrets is that we didn't buy any food. The perverse side of me thinks it would have been so much fun to watch a tiger tear apart a live pheasant.

Jess and I piled into a little bus with a bunch of other Chinese tourists. Here's her "we're going to go see some tigers!" look.

And see tigers, we did! They were so close, it was pretty amazing.

Lest you think they are just chilling in the unspoiled wilderness, here is a more realistic view of their habitat.

We also saw some ligers. I thought Napoleon Dynamite made those up, but it's true: you can cross a tiger with a lion and you get a "liger"!

After thoroughly bothering the tigers, we got out and walked through a pathway full of other animals in higher states of captivity.

While the tigers have quite a bit of space to roam, these animals were caged up in pretty small areas, which was lousy. As I said, animals in captivity are always a little sad, because they lack a life purpose (protecting themselves from predators, hunting for food) and so they end up just pacing endlessly. Moreover, while the tigers are well-suited for the cold weather, there were some animals in the park that are definitely indigenous to warmer climates and I'd hate to think how uncomfortable they must be in temperatures well below freezing.

But selfishly, I must say: it was awesome. I'll end with a few more awesome tiger shots, courtesy of Jess. Her photos turned out gorgeously.

HARBIN Part 2: Ice Lantern Festival

2009-12-29T02:47:00.000-08:00

One of the main reasons people go to Harbin in the winter is to see the Ice Festival. The opening ceremonies are in early January, but when we went, most of the sculptures were already up. It was awesome. Also, it was COLD.

This is what I was wearing:
- Tank top
- Turtleneck
- Faux-fur-lined thick long underwear shirt
- Sweater
- Black jacket
- Purple jacket
- Blue vest

I was pretty comfortable overall, but my fingers and toes were suffering a bit. The sculptures themselves were really great - it was like a surreal city of ice. I've never done any hallucinatory drugs, but I imagine it's a lot like this: crazy bright neon lights everywhere and Michael Jackson singing "Beat It" on repeat over the loudspeakers.

The pièce de résistance? The Forbidden City! In ice!

HARBIN Part 1: Exploration.

2009-12-27T19:50:00.000-08:00

Jessica and I arrived in snowy Harbin early on Christmas morning. We walked about 3 kilometers to our hotel, and by the time we reached the Tian Lun Fasion Hotel (do they mean "Fashion"?), both of us were a little bit in love with the city. It's a fairly walkable place; it has colorful, Russian-inspired architecture --- and it's always romantic to spend Christmas in a winter wonderland.

One of the most beautiful buildings we sought out was the Saint Sophia Cathedral, a huge Russian Orthodox church in the center of the city. I personally think it would be classier without the giant, inflatable Santa Claus, but what do I know? I'm just a kid.

We kept walking. I saw some happy red boots in the snow.

...and some workers preparing for the ice festival.

...and some early-evening snacks being purchased.

...and some eerie, beautiful lights on the frozen riverbank.

Leaving For This Place

2009-12-24T04:16:00.000-08:00

Jessie and I are off to a winter wonderland trip in Harbin (current temperature, 100 below zero. Just kidding. Sort of.) We're going to see the ice sculpture festival and see some old synagogues and churches and perhaps ski at China's best ski resort. I'll be back Monday to report.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Food I've Eaten Recently

2009-12-23T08:24:00.000-08:00

sea urchin with egg custard

Birthday Weekend

2009-12-21T04:13:00.000-08:00

I don't think I've ever had such a terrific birthday. Truly. Even though my friends were all stressed with grading finals and packing up to leave the city/country, they all made the weekend so special and wonderful. I'm still kind of blown away by it.

BIRTHDAY PART 1:
On Saturday night, Jess and I opened up a nice bottle of red wine that she'd been saving, and we just hung out and talked. Red wine is very conducive to long talks about what we want and why we want it and family dynamics and love and my future husband, Astronaut Mike Dexter. It left me feeling warm and cozy.

BIRTHDAY PART 2:
After we finished the bottle, it was time to head downtown. The only thing I specifically requested on my birthday was a trip to Brooklyn, that classy restaurant that serves pizza and hamburgers and salads and whatnot. We all met there around 8 pm and had a nice time talking and drinking margaritas and wheat beers and other lovely Western specialties. Some toasts were proposed, the owner of the restaurant gave me a complimentary chocolate-y shot, and my friends sang "Happy Birthday" to me over a delicious slice of cheesecake. Perfect, no?

After Brooklyn, we headed to KTV to do my other favorite thing: sing badly to classic songs.

It was grand.

BIRTHDAY PART 3:
The next day was my actual birthday. I spent it laying around in bed being incredibly lazy. Also, I ate a lot of chocolate. But soon, it was action time! One of my Belarusian classmates, Alex, has the same birthday as me and so we decided to have a joint party. Alex was much more ambitious about this shindig and arranged the whole thing at Black Beans, a cafe right by my apartment. It turned out to be a fantastic party. Lots of really nice people and games and food and drink and music. People complimented my DJ skills and everyone had a great time.

Alex & I. Can you tell I have a crush on him? I know, I'm pretty subtle.

BIRTHDAY PART 4:

I know you're asking yourself: how could it get any better? Good friends, wine, music, love, laughter. Well, after the party, a bunch of us came back to our apartment to hang out. Jess had decorated the apartment with balloons; Alex had bought me beautiful flowers, which I promptly put in water. And then: my friends gave gifts. Yes, after treating me to a night on the town and generally showering me with birthday attention, I also got presents! A beautiful scarf, earrings, chocolate, a thermos, and a photo collage.

Oh wait - AND an amazing present that references my favorite show: 30 Rock. Specifically this episode. I mean, I'd rather have a framed ticket of The Gender-Blind Crucible, but I suppose a drawing of a frog & a coffee mug filled with bath salts will suffice.

When people know you well, it feels great. So thanks, friends. You made me feel really special on my 24th birthday. I think I'm ready to start ushering in my mid-twenties. I love you lots.

Profiles in Awesome: Hannah (Baron von) Harrison

2009-12-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

This is a way overdue post for Hannah Harrison: long-time friend, devoted reader of my blog and former China resident herself. I feel really indebted to her for the support I get while I'm here - it's heartening to know that there's someone out there who checks in on me and understands all the quirks and tribulations of living in China. And who understands all my Michael & Michael & David references. (And my Arrested Development references, 30 Rock references, early Family Guy references...). And she likes SET. And she had an incredibly beautiful, fun, and special wedding last summer that I had the privilege of attending. I could write a whole post about it, but in short: it was in Austin, she looked radiant, we had a miniature Michigan reunion, the country music band was great, the margaritas were flowing,she was marrying an awesome dude, and the next day, everyone (including her really terrific parents) spent the whole day at the best water park in the world.

But before any of those things came to light, we were just two fresh-faced young women sharing a hallway in East Quad (which is how we met). We both took Chinese classes together and I was grateful for a friend, because those classes are usually populated with - for lack of a better word - weirdos. Then we would go back to our dorm and study and watch television and roll around on the floor. Hannah would make some popcorn and I would eat it. But eventually, she would venture to the library to study organic chemistry for hours at a time because she's one of the most hardworking people I know. Then we all grew up, kind of, and moved to the city, where would meet at our favorite cheap bar filled with NYU students and talk about our jobs and life and Wet Hot American Summer. After spending two years teaching in the New York City public school system, she's changing her focus to medicine, and I know wherever she ends up, she'll do great. While I hope that we can live in the same city again, if she does end up in Texas I'll secretly be glad because it'll be an excuse to visit her and eat delicious barbecue and savor the South. 我爱你！我也想你！你是很好的朋友！我知道你考 MCAT 的时侯，你会考得非常好。 (Totally grammatically wrong, but you get my drift...) Miss you, H-Bar!

Journalistic Crush

2009-12-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

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I finished China Wakes! And it only took me four months. Blergh. It's not a difficult book; it's just that I would put it down and forget to pick it up for weeks at a time.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it highly. Both Kristof and WuDunn are great writers and thinkers - plus, the fact that they're married and clearly have the utmost respect and love for each other adds a nice "awww" factor. And while it's a serious book, they aren't afraid to throw in some humor now and again:

"I'll never forget my first glimpse of Taiwan as a journalist. It was late November 1986, and I had just arrived from Hong Kong to cover the legislative elections. I stepped off the plane and saw hundreds of riot policemen in the immigration area. They were lined up in rows, looking like Nazis, and periodically, a row trotted forward in perfect union. Through the window, thousands more were visible in the parking lot beyond, surrounded by military vehicles and coils of barbed wire. As a perceptive journalist, trained to pick up the most delicate signals, I concluded that something might be up."

In addition to interesting anecdotes and colorful descriptions of their time in China (mostly in the 80's and early 90's), their book answered a couple of the questions I posed in an earlier blog post.

"When I say that China is fascist, I mean that it is a one-party dictatorship with a market economy and a large number of state-controlled corporations...Obviously, no label fits China perfectly and I don't want to stretch the fascist analogy too far. But whatever China is, at this moment it is not a Communist country. No Communist country has ever owed so much to capitalism, or ever reduced central planning to such a marginal role, as China has in the 1990's. No Communist country has ever enjoyed such a profusion of photocopiers, satellite dishes, private schools, talk shows, karaoke bars, hula hoops, and sex shops. No Communist country has ever opened itself up so much to trade and foreign investment, given out passports to its citizens so easily, or so gleefully sent tens of thousands of its students to the West..."

What The World Eats

2009-12-18T02:12:00.001-08:00

Lots of interesting things happen in my little neighborhood. My neighbors keep hens in their alleyway garden, and the local store owner keeps two roosters in a ramshackle enclosure made from corrugated cardboard and old pieces of wood. I often hear the roosters crowing in the wee hours.

On this very cold day, I walked outside to see some fish drying on a wire outside my door.

Then I went to class to teach about "Changes In The Balance of Nature" and showed my students photos from this TIME essay, called What The World Eats. They loved it. And they taught me how to say "Ecuador" in Chinese. (Eguāduō'ĕr)

China Post: My NEMESIS!

2009-12-17T02:18:00.000-08:00

So, my parents sent me a package for my birthday, but it ended up at the post office near the train station, which is a hassle. The bus downtown takes about 40 minutes and I only have time to go on Thursdays or Fridays. Today I bundled myself up (it's below freezing outside) and headed down. I went to the usual customs office, but today they directed me elsewhere. Blergh. I walked outside to another office, and they kept pointing in the same direction, "Keep going, keep going." So I kept going. I found myself in a big loading dock area, which felt sketchy. How is this the right way? I kept walking, until I got to a customs/lobby type entrance. Luckily, this was the right place. Time for my adventure to begin.

First, they took my package slip and checked my passport. Then they brought out my box and opened it and started going through the items one by one. I had to open all my birthday presents that my mom had so sweetly wrapped in scrap cloth from my old curtains. After they examined everything, I thought I was home-free. Nope! They took the package back, and directed me to another person. I figured I'd get a signature and the all-important red stamp that is used for official documents. Instead, I encountered a very pleasant woman at the desk and the following conversation ensued, partly in Chinese, partly in English:

Woman: You pay 4,000 kuai.

Me: WHAT.

Woman: You pay...customs...something something something...China...something something something.

Me: Why? Before I have package, I never give money. My parents always give me package. Why this package?

Woman: Blah blah blah bullshit blah blah blah.

Helpful Man (in English): It's a customs tax!

Me: I know. But I've never had to pay before, so why do I have to pay for this package?

Helpful Man: Uh...

Woman: Your parents blah blah blah package blah blah blah.

Me: I have no money. Why this package? I don't understand. Before, I have package, I never pay.

I actually wasn't too concerned - perhaps I misheard and she said 400 kuai, but either way, there was NO WAY I was paying anything to pick up a package. I wasn't exactly sure how to play it, so I called my Chinese friend Lucy. She didn't pick up the phone, but apparently the mere act of calling someone was enough to make these bureaucrats buckle. After my fruitless phone call, I began to text someone, but the woman beckoned me back over. "Are you a student?" she asked. "No, a teacher," I said. I showed her my Foreign Expert's Visa (which looks pretty hardcore) and she signed something and motioned that I should go to yet another desk. At this station, I finally got the glorious red stamp, and then it was back into the package room. The little man at the package desk had me write my English name, my passport number, and my Chinese name in characters, and then said I had to pay 8 kuai - which was still dumb, but I figured I'd pay the equivalent of $1.50 to leave with my wonderful birthday box, full of Velveeta Mac & Cheese and chocolate and...a new camera! Thanks parents. You are great. Check out the inaugural photo (ignore the huge bags under my eyes).

I've read a lot about Chinese bureaucracy and saving face, but I hadn't experienced it too much on my own. Clearly they had to at least attempt to extract an absurd amount of money from a foreigner, but it didn't take much for them to give up. I wouldn't call it corruption, but it's all in the same family. Bargaining a 4,000 kuai "tax" down to 8 kuai - it was an interesting experience.

Strange

2009-12-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

On my walk to class the other day, I spotted a man riding a camel. It seemed like a fancy camel, too.

Profiles in Awesome: Talia Kahn-Kravis

2009-12-14T02:14:00.000-08:00

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Today at 10:30 a.m. (my time) and 6:30 pm (Talia's time), our paths crossed digitally and we talked for a while, which was so nice. She really brightens my day. Our friendship is not usually so Jew-y, but at the time this picture was taken we had just finished wishing one another a happy Chanukah, which led to symbolically lighting a candle, then having a Skype singalong. We did "Chanukah, oh, Chanukah" and "S'vivon, sov sov sov" and "Not By Might, Not By Power" for the Debbie Friedman fans. I know there's a song about Macabees but I can't remember it. (Anyone know?) All I recall is a 1990 home video of me singing it, and then telling my mother and sister that they could only sing along if they did so quietly. I was such a little emperor.

Back to my Profile: Talia and I met in third grade, when she moved from the hard streets of Brooklyn to the slightly softer streets of Larchmont. She was such a tomboy and I could barely kick a soccer ball, but we bonded over performing weird little plays and taping music videos in her basement. Our relationship has had a lot of incarnations and ebbs & flows over the years - she started listening to Hot 97 in 7th grade, while I was pretty content with my cassette of the hit single "Alone" by the Bee Gees - but our friendship has only gotten stronger, especially after we lived together in Astoria and experienced all the joys of piecing together underpaid, part-time jobs in our fields of interest. Although we're miles apart, I am always grateful for her love and support. 我爱你！

Weekend of Exploration & Song

2009-12-13T00:27:00.000-08:00

After a few weekends of laying low, I had a really fun, interesting time this past 周末.

FRIDAY - Jess and I hosted Part III of Women's Group, for the upperclassmen. On Tuesday, we held Part II: about 20 freshmen came to our apartment, ate snacks and asked questions mostly pertaining to sex (and Christmas). It made for some interesting discussion, although we tried to emphasize that our experiences and perspectives were not representative of all Americans. We talked about attitudes towards premarital sex: in China, it's generally frowned upon, and I think young people tend to be more chaste, whereas in America there might be lip service paid to abstinence, but more than 80% of people have sex before marriage. The "he's a stud/she's a slut" double-standard seems to transcend culture, unfortunately. One girl talked about how unfair it is for a man to sleep around and gain respect, whereas if a woman does it, she's "crazy."

Next time the group meets, I'd like to bring up gender presentation. Two girls in the group are so butch that they could easily be mistaken for boys, and they're not shy about it all. When we first held the group, one girl popped up and said, "My name is Wendy! I bet you all thought I was a boy - but I'm a girl!" Everyone laughed good-naturedly. This time, another androgynous girl showed up with her friends, who jokingly called her their "boyfriend" and nicknamed her "Superman." I'm curious if they feel pressure to act or dress in a more feminine way, but since China doesn't really acknowledge homosexuality, perhaps acting like a boy doesn't mean you'll be labeled a lesbian, like you might in the States. Curious.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON - On this cold and pretty day, I took the bus downtown, stopping at a bookstore I'd noticed in the past. It said BOOKS AND TEA (and then some random words like "peace" and "chance") so I was sort of hoping it was an English-language bookstore. It wasn't, but it was still a really tranquil spot that I hope to return to. I was browsing the books when I heard a squeaky voice say, "Ni hao!" I turned to the store owner and asked, “有没有鸟?” which means, "Do you have a bird?" (I learned this word from my kindergarteners). Indeed they did! A really cute talking bird! I had a nice conversation with the store owner, in which I only understood about 50% of what she said, but nodded and smiled anyway.

SATURDAY NIGHT - The four of us went out to dinner at some weird German buffet at 黑石礁。 The staff all wore dirndls and fake blonde braids and I ate something called "beer-pickled chicken heart." It was nice to have a family dinner again and catch up. Then we went to KTV karaoke, which was great. I love singing, even with my terrible voice, and we just all acted dumb and sang and danced to great songs like "Lola" and "California Dreaming" and "Semi-Charmed Kind of Life" and "Folsom Prison Blues." It was grand.

SUNDAY - Another freezing, beautiful day in Dalian. I explored a new-ish part of the city on the way to meet Wang Xiao Ni, who I know through Lisa, my friend and quasi-mentor (and writer of this fantastic book). She treated me to lunch at a place called 大地春饼, which literally means Big Earth Spring Roll. It was crowded and the food was great and I had a really nice time with her. Hopefully we'll hang out again at some point. Then I took the bus back. I just looove public transportation. I especially enjoy taking the bus in Dalian through all the different neighborhoods: it's a medley of narrow tree-lined streets and wide thoroughfares and modern high-rise buildings and Russian-style architecture and old brick courtyard-style houses that are (unfortunately) being torn down. I just throw on some Passion Pit or Magnetic Fields on my iPod and watch the city go by. It's nice.

OH, AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST: Happy Chanukah! Happy Amazing Christmas Episode of 30 Rock! (Creativity to me is… just like…like a bird… like a friendly bird… that embraces all… ideas… just like shoots… out of its eyes all kind of beauty...) Thank you to Jordan for your wonderful blog post, which contains irrefutable evidence that I should come back to New York. And congratulations to Nick & Amanda on your engagement!

Wednesday, December 9th

2009-12-09T03:10:00.001-08:00

Dear readers! I've been neglecting my blogging duties lately, mostly because my internet is always causing me grief, but I've also been busy with lots of things - like being a judge for an English competition and going to Chinese student talent shows. (As evidence of my laziness, I'm just linking to Jessica's and Tae's posts on these events). I feel like the past week has been filled with an endless amount of good news/bad news moments. As Grizz Chapman would say, "It's just a roller coaster ride of emotion in here." The good news? I'm going to travel to Laos this winter with my friend Hanna, an all-around awesome person who I haven't seen in years. The bad news? I found out I have to stay in Dalian later than I thought, while most of my friends leave me for sunnier and more exotic climates. Meh.

More good news has included receiving wonderful packages (my sweet cousin Julie sent me DVD box sets of The Wire), and talking to friends back home online and on Skype. Chandler came to visit this weekend, which was great. I've successfully infected Jessica with a love for "30 Rock." The kindergartners finally respect me and we have had some awesome, funny classes lately.

Bad news? Personal relationship problems. Having NO idea what to do next year (stay in China? move back to NYC? Try California?) Being invited to English departmental meetings where everyone only speaks in Chinese. WTF.

...it's pretty obvious that I'm not in the best mood today, but luckily these sorts of days have been few and far between in Dalian. I think with the semester wrapping up, lots of things are coming to a head and I'm just letting them all get to me. Time to take a deep breath and grade some papers! Westward ho the wagons!

"Hello, Teacher!"

2009-12-04T02:26:00.000-08:00

Maggie, can you tell us more about your classes and what you do with them? Either here or on the blog? I feel like I still don't have a good sense of what the teaching part of your trip is like. Is grading papers as fun as it sounds? Because it sounds AWESOME.

Ask, Freya Ariel Bellin, and ye shall receive!

I realize that aside from talking about my student crushes, I haven't done too much reporting on my teaching life here. Mostly it's because I'm still feeling my way through it. I've only been doing this for about a month and a half - and while I teach eight classes a week, I only teach two lessons (Speaking and Reading) and I've spent most of the time trying to figure out how to be sorta kinda effective.

So far in my speaking/listening class, we've done a variety of things: introducing your classmate, speeches on your favorite musician, a mock job fair, an activity where one person describes a criminal & one person draws the police sketch, dictation exercises, songs, tongue twisters to work on pronunciation, discussions about the differences between Chinese and American university systems, a movie, and a few games. So far, so good.

In my reading class, it took a little longer to get the swing of things. We have a textbook, which I hate, and the classroom is not conducive to reading nor discussion. (It's pretty much a language lab with computers) Plus, I view reading as a solitary activity, so how do you build a class around it? It turns out, you get your act together and figure out the computer situation in the room, and make Power Point presentations that correlate with the readings. I like this, because I make really beautiful Power Point presentations.

This week was probably one of the best reading classes I've taught. The text was on American symbols, such as the Statue of Liberty, and what makes something or someone "typically American." I began by asking them to name some qualities they consider to be typically American or typically Chinese. It was easy to get them to name positive Chinese traits: "Hard-working!" "Humble!" "Peaceful!" "Friendly!" "Unified!" They seemed less enthusiastic to name negative qualities, but some of the more advanced students took a gander at it. "Rigid." "Bureacratic." "Selfish." It was interesting to see what they came up with.

They view Americans as hard-working and creative, but also "aggressive" and "racist." I wrote "fat" on the board and they laughed. Ho ho ho obesity epidemic. While discussing the State of Liberty, I showed them a clip from The Immigrant (thanks MOMI!) and we talked about what the statue represented. Symbol #2 was Barbie, and I had some photographs of the original dolls and some of the newer ones. They all knew what Barbie was, although few of my students had them as children. The text mentioned that the doll was modeled after a German joke doll that looked like a "woman who sold sex."

Me: "What's another word for 'woman who sells sex'?
Student: "...Bitch?"

Well, not quite, but thanks for playing. We talked about prostitution for a little bit, where it's legal, and where it isn't. They thought the term "sex worker" was pretty funny. I talked about why Barbies are sometimes considered controversial, which they seemed to grasp. ("Math class is tough!") The next symbol was the "American Gothic" painting, and they loved the parodies of it. Symbol #4 was the buffalo nickel, which I had never heard of, but I guess it's around, and memorializes the destruction of both the buffalo and the Native American people at the hands of the settlers. One student asked if Native Americans are still around, which led to a long ramble on my part about reservations and the government and casinos and alcoholism and poverty. Straight up: I really enjoy hearing myself talk.

We had a quick discussion of Symbol #5 ("Uncle Sam") and I showed them some depressing political cartoons that I had hastily added before class.

Then I passed back their quizzes, which are always too easy for them, and collected the final drafts of the scary stories I told them to write. Some of them forgot to attach the rough draft, and I tried my best to act like a real teacher. "Well," I sighed. "I guess if you don't have it, you don't have it." A couple more students came up to me to tell me they also forgot. "I'm really disappointed," I said. They all looked stricken, but I'm a terrible actress, and I think they knew I was bluffing.

There's more, but I'll stop my rambling for now - our friend Chandler is coming up from Hangzhou to hang out for a few days, so I have to get out of my pajamas and into something presentable. Thanks for following along, dear readers. Shabbat Shalom!

Art and Gender at 798 Art Zone

2009-12-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

I know I posted about 798 a while back, after my trip to Beijing, but I was going through my photos and realized there was some more cool art that I wanted to share, specifically about gender. I'll try not to ramble, but just quickly: in the past few years, feminism has had a big, big impact on me. It grew slowly, from taking courses at school and meeting people like Helen O'Connor and Alice Mishkin, who grew up with feminism in their lives & souls, to centering my film thesis on some of these issues, to reading feminist books and blogs, and working on women's issues documentaries, et cetera.

I get nervous when I talk about this stuff, because it begins to sound really evangelical. I start using phrases like, "When I found feminism..." and I feel like the word "Jesus" is just going to slip in there accidentally. But I'm sincere! For me, it was like something clicked - so many parts of my (limited) life experience suddenly made sense. Feelings I didn't have a name for suddenly had a name. Things that I just assumed were part of life suddenly seemed absurd. 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime? How is that a statistic that we're okay with? How is that not considered an emergency?

Okay, off my soapbox! (I think 1:15 a.m. is not the best time to write blog posts) Anyway, I find all these things really interesting, when not infuriating. 798 had some cool art about gender issues. One exhibit was a pair of photographs by Jeong Meyoon, a Korean artist. One was called "Tess and Her Pink Things." The other was called "Terry and His Blue Things."

Isn't there something both unsettling and pleasurable about those photographs? You can see more on her website, where she also notes: Pink was once a color associated with masculinity, considered to be a watered down red and held the power associated with that color. In 1914, The Sunday Sentinel, an American newspaper, advised mothers to “use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention.”

The other piece of art that I liked was in a little gallery with only a few items, the main attraction being two large metal cutouts of the classic male/female shape.

Guests were welcome to climb into the shapes and stand there. The gallery owner helped me into the female shape, but I was too short for it, so it was really uncomfortable and awkward. The rest of the gallery was filled with photographs of people doing the same.

I thought it was a really fun and clever way to demonstrate the difficulties of fitting into a prescribed idea of "male" and "female." I got a kick out of it.

(Okay, I should go to sleep now. Ah, the life of a night owl. 我要睡觉)

Thanksgiving Recap

2009-11-30T02:30:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! My internet has taken a break from hating me, and I'm using this opportunity to recap our holiday, which was really nice.

First, we got all dressed up and went to the New World Hotel, downtown. There were a bunch of other Westerners there and while they're perfectly nice, we were all feeling horribly anti-social and sat at our own nice little table and drank red wine and ate delicious Western food and mostly ignored everyone else. The food couldn't compare to my aunt Adria's cooking, but it was still pretty good - turkey, lamb, pasta, vegetables, sushi (!), bread, cake, and so forth. I think we were all really happy with the whole meal.

After the food and the red wine I was feeling tired, but luckily for me, my friends have lots more energy and force me to do things that I'm later grateful for. So it was onwards to a jazz bar, which turned out to be awesome. It was a weird, dark, oddly romantic place with lots of bizarre old-fashioned furniture and paintings and expensive drinks.

And of course, since this is Asia, they had to add flat-screen TV's and neon lights - just in case the room was too classy or something.

To add to the fun, the saxophonist came over and chatted with us (well, mostly Tae) while his son crooned English songs and his wife played piano. We all just hung out and drank and felt very old-fashioned with our high heels and martinis. This photograph doesn't even capture it, but Chris looked 100% like he could have walked off the set of Mad Men.

While parts of me really wished I could have been in New York or Maine (Andy, that whole thing looked amazing! I'll blow out some metaphorical turkey candles in your honor), I had a very nice Thanksgiving. Next celebration I'm excited for? 我的生日！

Some Thoughts, Courtesy of Nicholas Kristof

2009-11-27T09:26:00.001-08:00

I've been having some conflicting thoughts lately, about the Chinese people and repression and government and the private thoughts of everyone around me. I asked my students whether they considered American cities to be safe or dangerous, and they all shouted in unison, "DANGEROUS!" My instinct was to disagree, to tell them that they've been swayed by the media, but then I thought: well, in comparison to many Chinese cities, they're right. Some American cities are much more dangerous. So whose perspective do we privilege here?

Luckily I'm reading a book now that articulates my thoughts better than I can. Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn wrote "China Wakes" in the early 90's, but I think a lot of it still applies. It's a great book, very smart, and has Kristof's trademark sense of childlike wonder, combined with some fairly scathing criticism. Today at lunch I was reading a chapter that seemed to glorify capitalism too much for my liking (a free market is not the answer to all of life's problems!) when then I came across a passage that really resonated with me:

"I couldn't help thinking what would happen if a Chinese journalist roamed the United States reporting about crime. He would travel around, visiting the urban slums, entering the crack dens, interviewing the rape victims, consoling the children of the slain. No doubt he would be indignant at the senselessness of the crime, at the government's failure to control guns, at society's inability to confront the drug problem. And his passion would come through in his articles. His material would be accurate, and it would leave his Chinese readers feeling that America is a violent, dangerous, uncivilized country. Talking all the time to crime victims, he might well conclude that the United States is a society reverting to the jungle. The government would seem fundamentally immoral for looking the other way as people are gunned down in the schools and the streets.

But when this reporter dropped by ordinary middle-class homes - like those of the Kristofs in Yamhill, Oregon or of the WuDunns in New York City - he would find conversations a bit puzzling. The Kristofs and the WuDunns would certainly agree that crime is terrible, but then they would cheerfully move on to other topics. The reporter would single-mindedly bring the conversation back to crime, asking how they could live with the knowledge that they might be shot down any time they walked on a public street. The Kristofs and WuDunns would shake their heads soberly and grumble that the streets really are awful, and then they would move on to discuss the day's news or some recent book or film. The reporter would ask about rape and burglary and bank robbery, and a few awkward silences would result. If the Chinese reporter asked whether the United States government would collapse in the next few years from the crime problem, he would get funny looks. And when he left, the Kristofs and the WuDunns would say to each other, "This guy may know his crime statistics, but he sure doesn't know America."

As I flew back to Beijing from my interview with Boss Zhang, I wondered if that was the kind of role I was playing. Was I so obsessed with human rights violations that I missed the rest of the tableau of China and the buds of a civil society? Was my writing so focused that, however accurate, it was misleading? Was I deceiving myself?"

While there are some fundamental problems with China, for sure, I sometimes wonder how much of a double standard I have about my own country. Anyway, "China Wakes" is great food for thought. (Oh, and Freya, I plan on reading River Town very soon! Thanks for the recommendation!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T22:17:00.001-08:00

Even though it's the middle of the night in The States, it's officially Thanksgiving Day in Dalian, China! As my sister says, I am the future. Tonight we're going to a hotel, where we all plan on eating a disgusting amount of food, in the American tradition. I'm going to borrow Jessica's royal blue dress and just live it up. The dress sort of makes me feel like her.

So what am I thankful for, this Thanksgiving? Many things.

1. Wonderful family and friends back home.

2. My health, and the health of my loved ones.

3. Having the opportunity to travel abroad.

4. The community of people I lucked into, here in Dalian.

5. Access to good movies, books, newspapers - free of censorship! (At least when I'm in America).

There's a lot more (mostly involving food) but that's enough for now. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

A Conversation with my Speaking Partner

2009-11-24T23:43:00.001-08:00

Last week I met up again with Anne (not her real name) and we had a nice time, as usual, practicing our respective foreign languages. During our English time, we talked a lot about President Obama and his recent trip to China. She's a pretty big fan of Obama's, as am I, and so we chatted about why we like him. She is optimistic that he won't interfere in China's business, and I like that he's smart, thoughtful, and a good communicator. I also mentioned that I liked him much more than his predecessor, and an interesting conversation ensued. (Keep in mind that these issues are still very sensitive here, and that they don't have freedom of information or press).

Anne: Why don't you like President Bush?

Maggie: I didn't like President Bush because I didn't like a lot of his policies. Also, we went to war in Iraq, and during that time there was a lot of torture and human rights abuses.

Anne: Do you think China has human rights abuses?

Maggie: Well, I think a lot of countries do, including America. But yes, I think China does have some human rights abuses. For example, people being in prison for a long time without a trial -

Anne: But, have you seen the movie - the Shank...?

Maggie: The Shawshank Redemption? Yes, I have.

Anne: Well, that man was in prison for a long time and he was innocent.

Maggie: Absolutely, it happens in America as well, and it's terrible. But I think it also happens in China.

Anne: Perhaps there are a few cases, but I think the news you get is not always right. It's not always accurate. Do you read the BBC news?

Maggie: Not really, I mostly read The New York Times.

Anne: Well, sometimes one event will happen, and they will take a photograph of another event, and use that photograph in the story. It happened this summer, with Xinjiang. It makes me so angry! China is not an aggressive country. When there are problems in Xinjiang or in Tibet, they have to go in there, just to...I'm not sure how to say...

Maggie: Keep the peace?

Anne: Yes! To keep the peace. China just wants to have harmony. Tibet, Taiwan, Xinjiang - it is all one China.

[Awkward pause]

Maggie: Well, that's why it's good for me to talk to people like you, and see what you actually think. Because you're right, the news I get in America is not the same news that you get.

We talked some more, but that gives you the main idea - I still think she's super smart and spunky and awesome, but as an official member of the CPC, she clearly believes the party line. I may not be an expert on the country, but I do know that China has lots of human rights issues. I would check Amnesty International to give you some cold, hard facts, but the website is blocked - of course. Oh, China!

We Are Sinking!

2009-11-19T15:04:00.000-08:00

About a quarter of my students have a lot of trouble pronouncing certain sounds in English, especially "v" and "th." I'm trying to work on it with them, but I figure this is a good way to bring some humor into the situation. I showed it to one class yesterday and they really got a kick out of it.

40 Hours in Beijing: Part 3

2009-11-18T21:42:00.000-08:00

After I left 798, it was time to catch a cab and head to the Silk Market. I didn't think it would be a problem - in Dalian, there are taxis everywhere and they're pretty cheap. However, as the sun was setting and traffic was piling up, there were no cabs to be found. It was dark and bitterly cold and far from the subway - I was not a happy camper. There were buses, but I didn't know which one to take, so I kept trying to hail a cab, and 30 minutes later, I finally got one.

By the time I made it to the Silk Market and met up with my friends, it was almost time for dinner. I was okay with that - I hadn't planned on doing much shopping anyway, plus the vendors are pushy and aggressive, and I'm not really in the market for a fake Louis Vuitton bag or Prada sunglasses.

We then made our way to a restaurant to eat duck, that classic Beijing dish. Kim and Nick joined us, as well as a bunch of Pat's friends and Jess's friend. It was a really nice mix of people, delicious food, good conversation. We took a lovely group photo, in which I am the only one making a ridiculous face. (I was mid-laugh).

After dinner, about half of us went over to a cozy little bar close by, where there was live music. We went upstairs and sat in a warm, smoky room on pillows and bean bags, and drank White Russians and chatted some more. It was the ideal bar for the mood I was in, and I think everyone had a really nice time.

Us at the bar. I really like this photo, despite my nose, which seems to have decided to assert its Jewish pride in the last couple years. How does that even happen? Oy.

40 Hours in Beijing: Part 2

2009-11-17T07:27:00.000-08:00

Ah, internet, you saucy minx! Now that you're working again, here is part two of the Beijing adventure:

After wandering around the hutongs, I took a subway and then a cab to meet up with my friends at 798, a contemporary art zone. I know most people attribute these feelings to mountain-climbing or meditating in a forest, but visiting 798 rejuvenated my soul. First of all, the space is incredible. It's an old factory complex that has been re-purposed into a sprawling art center, featuring tons of galleries and cafes, mostly housed in the old factory buildings. Like P.S. 1 or Dia: Beacon, the space alone was worth the visit.

I stole Jessica's camera and took some photos.

They've kept many pieces of the original factory machinery as part of the exhibition space:

A smaller gallery:

Some of the art was patriotic...

Some of the art was edgier:

Some of the art was incomprehensible - even to me, and I usually love that kind of weird, avant-garde stuff.

Also, this wasn't art, but it was still pretty confusing:

Anyway, the whole experience just felt really good. It's not like I spent all my NYC time at art museums, but I tended to visit The Whitney and P.S. 1 pretty regularly, and MoMA once in a while, and I took that easy access for granted. My friends had left at this point, but I stayed to check out some more galleries. I was so high on my art experience that I felt compelled to take a cheesy self-portrait. Here I am...jazzed!

40 Hours in Beijing: Part 1

2009-11-16T01:57:00.000-08:00

Back from my weekend jaunt to Beijing! There's lots to tell, so I'll break it up into a few entries, as not to overwhelm my loyal readers.

Friday night was spent eating Xinjiang food (spicy, noodle-y, delicious) with other PiA-ers and then going out to a bar, which I was not in the mood to do. I had been up since 6:30, taught two classes, took a plane to Beijing, and had all my stuff for the weekend in a backpack, which was awkward to schlep around. I really just wanted to relax and socialize, not get drunk, plus the bar we went to was like a terrible overseas version of Rick's. The neighborhood seemed filled with the stereotype of obnoxious, inebriated, young American ex-pats. It was gross. I was not feeling it.

However, Saturday I woke up with a spring in my step, and went out to attack the city. It was a cold, but beautiful day. I took the subway from Wu Dao Kou, where I was staying, to Zhang Zi Zhong Lu. The subway system is easy to navigate, but it still took me a while, since Beijing is pretty spread out. Once I hopped off at my destination, I went looking for some hutongs to wander around in. Hutongs are little narrow alleyways, courtyards, and residences, mostly found in Beijing. They're hundreds of years old, and while many have been razed to make room for developments, many still exist.

It was a quiet walk through the historic hutongs, and I didn't spot too many tourists, which was nice. The only indication that it's a real hotspot were the public restrooms that dotted the streets,. They're squat toilets with no doors, which meant I walked in on a bunch of middle-aged women hanging out, peeing together, but that's pretty par for course here in China.

Next up: I visit a fantastic art space! Eat classic Beijing food! Make new friends! And more!

Warmer Days

2009-11-12T01:49:00.000-08:00

Today was cold and rainy and gloomy. I was tired. No caffeine for days. Sort of dizzy from the antibiotics for my UTI, which I've successfully overshared about with everyone. A PiA director is in Dalian for the day, and he sat in on my class, which definitely wasn't the best class I've ever taught. So I felt sort of down about that.

On the plus side:
1. One of my favorite students gave me a candy bar.
2. I had a long-awaited Skype session with Talia. It felt good.

So I thought I'd post a little video that I took back in September, just to remember the warmer days in Dalian. This is a campus road near North Gate - it features a funky barbershop, copy shop, dumpling place, etc. I tried not to make it too shaky, but I don't know how successful I was. So here is a small piece of my leafy, green, pretty campus: enjoy!

The Only Warm Place In My House

2009-11-10T08:57:00.001-08:00

My room! It's cozy and toasty - unlike the rest of the house.

The weather in Dalian has turned cold, very suddenly. After a mild weekend, the week started off with chilly temperatures and strong winds. I've never lived in Chicago during the winter, but I imagine it's a lot like this. Michigan had its windy days as well, so I think I'm well-equipped to handle it, but it's a rude awakening after months of sunny Dalian weather. Oh, and the heat officially does not turn on in this city until November 15th. So, there's that. Luckily, my room has a space heater and it's very effective, but the rest of the apartment is pretty cold and unpleasant.

Today was long, but my students are continuing to be my daily elixir. This week we talked about jobs and interviews and work vocabulary - I made half of them "employers" (bakery, law firm, university, construction company, etc) and half of them applicants. Then we had a mock job fair, where the applicants had to go find jobs and ask questions about salary and work environment and promotions. They enjoyed the activity and had a lot of fun ("He's going to clean the toilets in our restaurant!" "We will give him a high salary - and a car!") But by this afternoon, it was my fourth time teaching the activity and I was sort of tired, so when a student presented his job and said he wasn't going to get paid as much as his friend, I looked at him quizzically and said, "为什么?" (wei shenme?) which means, "Why?"

The reaction I got from them was totally insane - they just could not handle it, they were so amused. I don't know if it's because I have a terrible accent, or if they didn't know I spoke some Chinese, but either way, they loved it. I tend not to use Chinese in the classroom very much, but it's a good way to break up the tedium and make them laugh. Then I put on my semi-serious face and moved on to our next project, which was filling in blanks I had made in the lyrics of the song "Mad World," the Gary Jules version. Then I made them all sing it a couple times. Operation: Turn My Students Into A Bunch of Hipsters is underway!

Lastly, some important events that happened recently: Aebra Kelsey Coe - poet, journalist, rugby player, ginger kid, friend - turned 24 a few days ago. Happy birthday, love! I miss you so very much.

My former boss, rad feminist, and the woman who taught me everything I know about pelvic exams and patient's rights, Amy Jo Goddard, director of At Your Cervix. Happy Birthday AJ!

And lastly, not a birthday, but my mom went to an event commemorating Leora Kahn's service as President of The Blue Card. Not to harp on something superficial, but Charles Grodin was there. Who is he? He played C.C. Hill in Rosemary's Baby, the movie I've watched on repeat for days and am mildly obsessed with. Oh, New York. I miss you. But seriously, Leora is awesome. Congrats!

Back In Action

2009-11-08T07:11:00.001-08:00

Now that my internet is functioning, sort of, it's time for an honest-to-goodness update. Things are going well here! I had a very busy week, full of teaching and learning and not sleeping and watching "Rosemary's Baby" over and over. I love that movie. Also, it was my wonderful papa's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday Robert Jay/J. Glass! (The famous Jay/J. controversy - just a little family inside joke). I miss you lots and I hope you had a beautiful day.

Some points of interest from my week:

SPEAKING PARTNERS: I had a second session with my lovely speaking partner, who I will call Anne. She's very smart and I felt badly because halfway through the English part of our session, she asked me to speak faster. I tend to fall into two modes of speaking, Normal Speaking and Teacher Speaking - and since I have freshmen, my Teacher Speaking mode is very slow and very articulate. But Anne is a junior, and she's really intelligent, and therefore doesn't need my drawn out, over-enunciated Teacher Mode of speech. Some interesting facts: she watches Gossip Girl to improve her English (I felt compelled to tell her that the show does not even closely resemble reality), she has a boyfriend, takes yoga once a week, and is a member of the Communist Party. It turns out Party membership is very competitive, and as an undergraduate you have to be at the top of your class to even be considered. At that point, a teacher has to recommend you, and other party members must vouch for you. I just assumed that membership was either open or even mandatory, so I found this to be very interesting.

QUIET WEEKEND: Jessica and Tae are both in Shanghai/Hangzhou this weekend on a traveling jaunt, which left Chris and I to our own devices this weekend. It was actually somewhat of a relief - our weekends are often a little too high-octane for me, plus we'll be going to Beijing next weekend. So I just relaxed and took care of some business, and Chris and I got dinner at the Xinjiang restaurant and watched "No Country For Old Men." I thought I would understand that movie on the second go-around, but...no. I like it for the atmosphere and the acting, but I can't say I totally get it. Chris and I started to talk about it, but I was distracted by the fact that I had to go to the bathroom every five seconds. Which leads to...

BLADDER INFECTION? I think I have a bladder infection. Or a UTI or whatever. I tried to hunt down some cranberry juice today, as I think that usually solves the problem, but it turns out Chinese stores don't carry it. Sure, they carry plum juice and blackberry juice and pear juice and jujube juice, but cranberry juice was nowhere to be found. I schlepped down to Trust Mart, but they didn't have it either. Frustrated, I left the store, and passed a little pharmacy-type place. I decided to give it a go, and asked for cranberry pills or something of the sort. She handed me blueberry pills, gesturing to my eyes. "眼腈?" No, no. "小便," I said, which means "to pee." She didn't understand that, so I awkwardly said in Chinese, "我想去厕所，可是我不能" which roughly means, "I want to go to the bathroom, but I can't." Or more likely, "I want to visit the restroom, but I can't." There was a glimmer of understanding in her eyes. She asked me if it was for men or women. "Women!" I said joyfully. Then they handed me a bottle of imported New Zealand cranberry pills that were so unbelievably expensive that I can't even tell you the price. Because I bought them. Because I decided that peace of mind was worth every penny. I just hope they work. Because tomorrow I have to teach my...

STUDENTS! I continue to love my students, while mixing up their names and being a generally disorganized teacher. Why do I love them? Because they say things like, "Martin Luther King once said, 'I had a dream.' And today, I too have a dream" when talking about the possibility of co-ed dormitories. Because they describe the experience of listening to the Backstreet Boys as magical and life-changing. Because they express genuine concern for me if I am sick, and sometimes laugh at my jokes. Because, for the most part, they are very smart and hardworking and sweet. Perhaps my feelings towards them will change in the coming months, but I'm going to enjoy this honeymoon period while it lasts.