First off, wow. The food is pretty good here. But it will catch up to one day. Or like once a week. And when it does, make sure your in a private bathroom, with an actual toilet and plenty of toilet paper. Cuz those shitty little flat ones you squat over (even in the guys public rest rooms) will NOT cut it! And if you forget to bring toilet paper, your shit outta luck. Did anyone else notice the two references to shit in there? Quite the clever pun, eh? Anyway, back to whatever it is that I do. I'm still not quite sure yet.
I bought a new camera finally. And I think I chose an ideal time to buy one. I mean, hello! Where have you been? I'm in China! And my other one, god bless it, is about to bite the dust. The screen gets these scratchy digital marks and has very few functions, unlike my new baby. It's got functions out its ying-yang, which no doubtably has its own functions coming out of their ying-yangs! 6x optical zoom, 3x digital, face detection, anti-shake (cuz no one could take straight pictures with my camera but me) As you can tell, I did a lot of research (I told you I had a lot of free time) I did some shopping at Hong Qiao market, which I noted for its aggresive sales people and possibly cheap merchandise. But I looked at the very one I wanted, it came out of a box, had all the right stuff, including a salesman who spoke english. The thing at that market, is that almost guaranteed, if you walk away, they drop the price. I just didn't have enough money for the 1800 yuan, so "Dian" dropped it to 1520. The next day, I came back and bought the camera, a 2gig memory card (come the great wall, that puppies getting filled up!) and a case and lens cover that good ol Dian threw in last minute. All for 1650 yuna, or about $220 canadian, which I think is decent. The camera is fairly cheap, but that price would have only covered the camera, not the memory card. Gary thinks I could have got it cheaper, but I wanted it now and wouldn't know where to shop for a cheaper, possibly knock off version. So Devon wins! Because I said so! Yay!
I put it to a good use the day after, where we went to Stephane and Andy's EAD. Now, if you haven't read my first couple of entries on entering Beijng, do so now.
Okay. I promised myself I wouldn't do it. I told everyone I wouldn't do it. I'm still AMAZED that I did it. I don't think I want to do it again. Sigh. I rode a bike. Here! Amidst the crazy Beijingers. I'm sure that it qualifies as the Chinese version of screeching. You're now one of them. Gary unliked a bike to get to the EAD and said "okay Devon, get on." I'm like, "WHAT?" "Your riding the bike this time." At that point, I thought I was riding on the back of Gary's like ?I usually do. No. This time, I was riding his colleagues. I was not aware of this. Oh, and you want to know what the EAD's topic was? TRAFFIC! Irony's funny. It wasn't that bad. Considering that when I go like 45kph in Kelowna traffic where I thought the drivers were bad, I was on full alert here. It wasn't that bad. Just had to keep a sharp eye out. I think my group was a little surprised that I met them at the traffic control center on a bike. But I don't think I'll do it again. Not because it's scary or dangerous, but because it made me miss biking at home, where I could go fast. This was faster then walking, but I'd rather take the bus. So we went into the traffic control center, which I kept getting confused for a police station. It was a bit blurred. We met in this board room where we were photographed and filmed (I'm not sure what for, news?) A speaker was translated for, who welcomed us. We were explained to a bit of the traffic control in the Chongwenmen District. They pulled back a curtain and showed us this hi-tech control room full of computers and on the wall, many monitors showing traffic, roadways and different systems. It was pretty fancy. Like a war room or something...on traffic! We left soon after that and went for lunch. Upon returning to the office, we were surprised to see Director Wang there. Maxime wanted to talk with the Canadians. I'm sure enough, many of us were thinking "oh shit, what did we do now?" Actually, no. I was surprised to hear Maxime tell us Director Wang was giving the Chinse a speech on their lack of participation with the group. No one had really said anything about this, as I guess most of us were used to it, and just thought the Chinese participants were busy with their job and families, a viable excuse. But it upset Director Wang, and he had a talk with them. This was actually good news, because lately, it has been the Canadians going out with the Canadians. So we continued on with the EAD, learning about Beijing's bus system and brief history on it. It was a very quick EAD, but we were cut for time and didn't learn about the subway or even the bikes, and where the hell the millions of them come from! I'm gonna have to ask Stephane and Andy out of my own self interest, because I really want to know! That night, the Canadians went out to the well talked about bar street, Sanlitun. Except a sick Sadie, we went out to the bar street intent on a "mandarin lesson" Basically, ordering food and alcohol in chinese. But oh, I must work on my spanish, because we went to a tiny Mexican restaurant. Oh good lord, nachoes never seemed so appealing and never tasted SO delicious in my life. And the burritoes! The marguitas and daquiries and other drinks were good too. It really made me miss the variety of food back home in Canada. [Little excerpt here. Gary was asking me about the food at my host families house, if it was good, did I like it, etc. I began to talk to him about food. He, obviously, likes Chinese food and mentioned how it has such a deep history in different areas of China. Bluntly, but respectfully, I told him most people in Canada don't care about the history of their food, they just eat it because it tastes good. I was a bit saddened by the fact that Canada doesn't really have a signature food. I will disclude all things maple that come from Quebec, because that hardly represents Canada. We create other cultures food, they don't make ours. We make mexican food, we make french food, we make greek, indian, chinese, italian. When's the last time a Greek woman make Canadian food? Never!] So back to the night out. We decided to look for "The hidden tree" another well talked about visit. We found it, ironically, hidden in a quiet, turning alleyway, through a small unexpecting door. It was filled with ex-patriates, foreign people living in the country, if that is the correct term (FIX) Jammed pack. I guess it could have been a family establishment as well, because I saw children seated. However, we actually felt out of place and that we should be with Chinese people. Funny how that works. We found a less crowded bar, had a few cheap drinks and then most of us went home.
The following afternoon was also Canadian oriented. We decided it would be a good day to go to the Forbidden City. Ooooh! Revere in awe! Even with only half the group, it was still tough organizing everyone to be on time and meet at a place. Good thing we started "early" The Chinese participants had already been there before, as I'm sure most of us have been to the tourist attractions in our own home towns. We played it smart and split the cost of a tour-guide ear piece, having one person at a time play tour guide and telling the rest what was being said. It worked, but not as well as I had hoped, although Jamie and Heather had a blast. I was a bit preoccupied as my cameras batteries were dying and I was desperatly seeking a geocache. I never did find the geocache, instead being lost from my group (my decision though) It wasn't that great of a attraction, as many of the places were under construction. We were told we need several days to fully explore it. It's not just a temple, it's a city. Although we did explore a good 3/4 of it, I think we were rushed and didn't really get to take in a lot of things. I might go back again, with Felix and Sadie who were MIA. And go at my own pace. And bring fucking batteries! But it made me realize how I prefer natural attractions, that more specifically appeal to my adventurous side, like climbing mountains, unspoiled by people (mostly) Or hiking trails, national parks, lakes. That sort of thing.
I did a bit of bonding time with my host brother and sister. I taught them crazy eights; simple, yet fun. I also read my host brother the English off of his text books. I've accepted that I may not learn as much Mandarin as I like, despite how much I try. So the next best thing, if you can't learn, is to teach, right? Although I will admit, he's as impetious as his father when it comes to teaching. Almost shouting the chinese word does nothing! I don't know why they can't understand this. If I have a blank look on my face, I don't know what the hell you are trying to say. I can fill in the blanks sometimes, but not always. I'm not HOPELESS.
After reading a second book, entitled Cradle 2 Cradle, I've done a bit of reflecting. Actually I did even more reading Why I Hate Canadians. That's right, I've read TWO books! Look what boredom has reduced me to! Anyway, it's just gotten me thinking about Katimavik and CWY and even just everything after that. I read the second book of the author of Why I Hate Canadians, Will Ferguson. It was I Was a Teenage Katima-victim. Perfectly set, the author was in both, Katimavik AND Canada World Youth. I think I read the books at appropriate times. I really think that Katimavik made me appreciate my community and home, where as CWY is making me appreciate my culture and identity. Who knows what my bike trip will do for me. [It's this kind of reflecting that is prevalent in these volunteer programs]
I had no one interested or able to go in search of another geocache, so I did what I do in Hazelton a lot. I went by myself. I miss out on so many things just because of a lack of other enthusiasm, can I? I cranked my mp3 player and took the subway up north towards the Llama temple and Temple of Confucius. Walking along a strange street, I actually found the Temple of Confucius quite quickly. I paid a small fee to get in and explored at my own pace this time. It couldn't have been a better setting if it was planned. It was so quiet and peaceful there, barely a sound of the outside world seeping in. I walked around, took pictures and enjoyed myself, learning the history of Confucius and his teachings. A great place to reflect if there ever was one. And I found the geocache! Unfortunately, the other one nearby was closed for construction.
I can't remember what we did Monday. It get back to this.
But YESTERDAY! I'll be brief about my day at work. I played my DS, for almost the entire morning and afternoon. There. After, I met the Canadians at the library. We were to go to a government building and teach english apparently. We went there and met a group of executive directors, managers or something. I was completely out of the loop as to who these people were. They managed...stuff. And coordinated...things. But they were very nice and extremely pleasant about how good looking we were and being friends. I kid you not. We played a game where we had to see who could remember the most about other people, including family, name, and major in school. It was a mix of feelings, telling people I don't really have a major. They always take a bit of surprise to this. But after the game, that was it. We didn't teach anything or do any more activities. It may have been because of our time restriction. We had to go for supper before we went to a Chinese war movie, called Assembly. Damn Korean restaurants take forever! We were 15 minutes late for the movie. Luckily, I was told, there were no previews. It was a good war movie. Typical, but good. I swear though, the "American" soldier they had was TOTALLY a canadian! We laughed. Was a good night
Damn blog. I'm expecting a few emails or comlaints that "Devon, your blog is too damn long, blah blah blah." Haha, I gotta learn how to say, "Go to hell" in Mandarin!
I bought a new camera finally. And I think I chose an ideal time to buy one. I mean, hello! Where have you been? I'm in China! And my other one, god bless it, is about to bite the dust. The screen gets these scratchy digital marks and has very few functions, unlike my new baby. It's got functions out its ying-yang, which no doubtably has its own functions coming out of their ying-yangs! 6x optical zoom, 3x digital, face detection, anti-shake (cuz no one could take straight pictures with my camera but me) As you can tell, I did a lot of research (I told you I had a lot of free time) I did some shopping at Hong Qiao market, which I noted for its aggresive sales people and possibly cheap merchandise. But I looked at the very one I wanted, it came out of a box, had all the right stuff, including a salesman who spoke english. The thing at that market, is that almost guaranteed, if you walk away, they drop the price. I just didn't have enough money for the 1800 yuan, so "Dian" dropped it to 1520. The next day, I came back and bought the camera, a 2gig memory card (come the great wall, that puppies getting filled up!) and a case and lens cover that good ol Dian threw in last minute. All for 1650 yuna, or about $220 canadian, which I think is decent. The camera is fairly cheap, but that price would have only covered the camera, not the memory card. Gary thinks I could have got it cheaper, but I wanted it now and wouldn't know where to shop for a cheaper, possibly knock off version. So Devon wins! Because I said so! Yay!
I put it to a good use the day after, where we went to Stephane and Andy's EAD. Now, if you haven't read my first couple of entries on entering Beijng, do so now.
Okay. I promised myself I wouldn't do it. I told everyone I wouldn't do it. I'm still AMAZED that I did it. I don't think I want to do it again. Sigh. I rode a bike. Here! Amidst the crazy Beijingers. I'm sure that it qualifies as the Chinese version of screeching. You're now one of them. Gary unliked a bike to get to the EAD and said "okay Devon, get on." I'm like, "WHAT?" "Your riding the bike this time." At that point, I thought I was riding on the back of Gary's like ?I usually do. No. This time, I was riding his colleagues. I was not aware of this. Oh, and you want to know what the EAD's topic was? TRAFFIC! Irony's funny. It wasn't that bad. Considering that when I go like 45kph in Kelowna traffic where I thought the drivers were bad, I was on full alert here. It wasn't that bad. Just had to keep a sharp eye out. I think my group was a little surprised that I met them at the traffic control center on a bike. But I don't think I'll do it again. Not because it's scary or dangerous, but because it made me miss biking at home, where I could go fast. This was faster then walking, but I'd rather take the bus. So we went into the traffic control center, which I kept getting confused for a police station. It was a bit blurred. We met in this board room where we were photographed and filmed (I'm not sure what for, news?) A speaker was translated for, who welcomed us. We were explained to a bit of the traffic control in the Chongwenmen District. They pulled back a curtain and showed us this hi-tech control room full of computers and on the wall, many monitors showing traffic, roadways and different systems. It was pretty fancy. Like a war room or something...on traffic! We left soon after that and went for lunch. Upon returning to the office, we were surprised to see Director Wang there. Maxime wanted to talk with the Canadians. I'm sure enough, many of us were thinking "oh shit, what did we do now?" Actually, no. I was surprised to hear Maxime tell us Director Wang was giving the Chinse a speech on their lack of participation with the group. No one had really said anything about this, as I guess most of us were used to it, and just thought the Chinese participants were busy with their job and families, a viable excuse. But it upset Director Wang, and he had a talk with them. This was actually good news, because lately, it has been the Canadians going out with the Canadians. So we continued on with the EAD, learning about Beijing's bus system and brief history on it. It was a very quick EAD, but we were cut for time and didn't learn about the subway or even the bikes, and where the hell the millions of them come from! I'm gonna have to ask Stephane and Andy out of my own self interest, because I really want to know! That night, the Canadians went out to the well talked about bar street, Sanlitun. Except a sick Sadie, we went out to the bar street intent on a "mandarin lesson" Basically, ordering food and alcohol in chinese. But oh, I must work on my spanish, because we went to a tiny Mexican restaurant. Oh good lord, nachoes never seemed so appealing and never tasted SO delicious in my life. And the burritoes! The marguitas and daquiries and other drinks were good too. It really made me miss the variety of food back home in Canada. [Little excerpt here. Gary was asking me about the food at my host families house, if it was good, did I like it, etc. I began to talk to him about food. He, obviously, likes Chinese food and mentioned how it has such a deep history in different areas of China. Bluntly, but respectfully, I told him most people in Canada don't care about the history of their food, they just eat it because it tastes good. I was a bit saddened by the fact that Canada doesn't really have a signature food. I will disclude all things maple that come from Quebec, because that hardly represents Canada. We create other cultures food, they don't make ours. We make mexican food, we make french food, we make greek, indian, chinese, italian. When's the last time a Greek woman make Canadian food? Never!] So back to the night out. We decided to look for "The hidden tree" another well talked about visit. We found it, ironically, hidden in a quiet, turning alleyway, through a small unexpecting door. It was filled with ex-patriates, foreign people living in the country, if that is the correct term (FIX) Jammed pack. I guess it could have been a family establishment as well, because I saw children seated. However, we actually felt out of place and that we should be with Chinese people. Funny how that works. We found a less crowded bar, had a few cheap drinks and then most of us went home.
The following afternoon was also Canadian oriented. We decided it would be a good day to go to the Forbidden City. Ooooh! Revere in awe! Even with only half the group, it was still tough organizing everyone to be on time and meet at a place. Good thing we started "early" The Chinese participants had already been there before, as I'm sure most of us have been to the tourist attractions in our own home towns. We played it smart and split the cost of a tour-guide ear piece, having one person at a time play tour guide and telling the rest what was being said. It worked, but not as well as I had hoped, although Jamie and Heather had a blast. I was a bit preoccupied as my cameras batteries were dying and I was desperatly seeking a geocache. I never did find the geocache, instead being lost from my group (my decision though) It wasn't that great of a attraction, as many of the places were under construction. We were told we need several days to fully explore it. It's not just a temple, it's a city. Although we did explore a good 3/4 of it, I think we were rushed and didn't really get to take in a lot of things. I might go back again, with Felix and Sadie who were MIA. And go at my own pace. And bring fucking batteries! But it made me realize how I prefer natural attractions, that more specifically appeal to my adventurous side, like climbing mountains, unspoiled by people (mostly) Or hiking trails, national parks, lakes. That sort of thing.
I did a bit of bonding time with my host brother and sister. I taught them crazy eights; simple, yet fun. I also read my host brother the English off of his text books. I've accepted that I may not learn as much Mandarin as I like, despite how much I try. So the next best thing, if you can't learn, is to teach, right? Although I will admit, he's as impetious as his father when it comes to teaching. Almost shouting the chinese word does nothing! I don't know why they can't understand this. If I have a blank look on my face, I don't know what the hell you are trying to say. I can fill in the blanks sometimes, but not always. I'm not HOPELESS.
After reading a second book, entitled Cradle 2 Cradle, I've done a bit of reflecting. Actually I did even more reading Why I Hate Canadians. That's right, I've read TWO books! Look what boredom has reduced me to! Anyway, it's just gotten me thinking about Katimavik and CWY and even just everything after that. I read the second book of the author of Why I Hate Canadians, Will Ferguson. It was I Was a Teenage Katima-victim. Perfectly set, the author was in both, Katimavik AND Canada World Youth. I think I read the books at appropriate times. I really think that Katimavik made me appreciate my community and home, where as CWY is making me appreciate my culture and identity. Who knows what my bike trip will do for me. [It's this kind of reflecting that is prevalent in these volunteer programs]
I had no one interested or able to go in search of another geocache, so I did what I do in Hazelton a lot. I went by myself. I miss out on so many things just because of a lack of other enthusiasm, can I? I cranked my mp3 player and took the subway up north towards the Llama temple and Temple of Confucius. Walking along a strange street, I actually found the Temple of Confucius quite quickly. I paid a small fee to get in and explored at my own pace this time. It couldn't have been a better setting if it was planned. It was so quiet and peaceful there, barely a sound of the outside world seeping in. I walked around, took pictures and enjoyed myself, learning the history of Confucius and his teachings. A great place to reflect if there ever was one. And I found the geocache! Unfortunately, the other one nearby was closed for construction.
I can't remember what we did Monday. It get back to this.
But YESTERDAY! I'll be brief about my day at work. I played my DS, for almost the entire morning and afternoon. There. After, I met the Canadians at the library. We were to go to a government building and teach english apparently. We went there and met a group of executive directors, managers or something. I was completely out of the loop as to who these people were. They managed...stuff. And coordinated...things. But they were very nice and extremely pleasant about how good looking we were and being friends. I kid you not. We played a game where we had to see who could remember the most about other people, including family, name, and major in school. It was a mix of feelings, telling people I don't really have a major. They always take a bit of surprise to this. But after the game, that was it. We didn't teach anything or do any more activities. It may have been because of our time restriction. We had to go for supper before we went to a Chinese war movie, called Assembly. Damn Korean restaurants take forever! We were 15 minutes late for the movie. Luckily, I was told, there were no previews. It was a good war movie. Typical, but good. I swear though, the "American" soldier they had was TOTALLY a canadian! We laughed. Was a good night
Damn blog. I'm expecting a few emails or comlaints that "Devon, your blog is too damn long, blah blah blah." Haha, I gotta learn how to say, "Go to hell" in Mandarin!
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