Day 5: Breathe Easy

The air doesn't look so good today.
Didn't smell anything, but it's kinda thick and hazy, and you can feel it in your lungs a bit.

In spring my cousin had a baby, and we were talking about life in bj.

She was born here, and loves living in bj (even though she's out a ways even farther from dntn than me). She's comfy here,and doesn't want to live anywhere else.

i like it too, and neither me nor the other beijingers seem to be suffering from toxins, but still everybody knows it ain't good for you.

However, if i were a parent, the cause for concern would obviously be higher. (my cuz said the pollution is the ONLY reason she'd want to leave BJ. i kinda agree).

Especially since, did you know that of all the toxins accumulated in the human body, the highest concentrations of those toxins is found is... mothers' breast milk?

This phenomenon has been demonstrated in dolphins' high calf mortality rate, from high mercury levels. The most safe and natural seeming activity killed them. That's pretty depressing.

Anyhow. Nonetheless, i don't want to waste too much time on the internet, hence i will presently make an effort to exit the premises, hop on a bike, and get some fresh air.

Day 4: Time (same old same old)

Every day i wake up at 7:04am.
1st class at 8.
Last class done at 2:40.
Dinner at 5.
Usually home before 6.
Usually kill 2 hrs or more on the internet doing stuff like
writing a blog
checking a news site or 2
wasting time on FB, and Youtube
(thx to my newly acquired from UBC VPN,
which also allows me to blog)
and other possibly unmentionable websites
possibly marking some student work
possibly watching a bit of a video
etc
etc.

But then virtually every night i hope to get in bed by 10:30.
Considering how hard it is to wake up in the morning each day.
But it never happsns.

right now it's 23:02.
And i still need to brush.
And do my daily meditation,
which is about a measly 8 min
before i decide that sleep is the priority
to enlightenment.

Repeat.

Day 3: Adventures in Democracy

I'm a bit surprised that i find this Confederation stuff rather interesting.

And teaching it in China is more interesting.

However, you may consider from time to time, that teaching this stuff in China is... different.

For example:

In one class i was teaching the kids about how in early canada (pre confederation), the govt was shitty, so the people protested, and then the govt shot the protesters. "Actually this has happened in many countries. It happened here in Beijing even, not long ago."

Some kids were like "what? i've nver heard that!"
Others said, "It's true!"

Then they started blabbing in Chinese for a couple seconds before i said,"Ok ok, let's just keep going w/ the book. i pbly shouldn't even say anything about that."

Then the nxt day the principal individually talked to all staffers, to say that our official position, in the foreign, Canadian-styled school, if it comes up, is that we can and will talk about it, but w/out judgement. Which was a pretty bold stand for him to take in dealing w/the chinese admin, methinks. Apparently the chinese govt's official position is that It Never Happened. i mentioned my previous classroom discussion to him, to which he responded, "Really! Funny, i thought this stuff would never come in your class." He obviously doesn't know me that well.

I've discussed the T-incident w/ a small handful of folks, and some have awareness about it, (occasionally first hand!), and some donet. However, H and her bf were surfing Wikipedia one time, and H clicked on the Tian o men link, and could hardly believe that it connected. Her bf, it turns out, had never heard of the event, and was quite sickened to read about it.

As the govt manages to keep the incident out of the history books, it's interesting to see how it seems to have become an oral history. Of course, it's also a history that will be largely limited to the educated and urban. However, i've been told that younger students aren't as likely to know anything about it, and it doesn't seem like the older students are all hype to stir the pot either.

Well, at least there's Hong Kong, where they have their T-anniversary candle light vigils, and open letters to the PRC govt, and ongoing calls for the release (still!) of imprisoned dissidents.

Note: the title of this post is a bit tongue in cheek. Although i do feel that democracy is generally a pretty great (ahem) idea, i don't necessarily feel like its the holy grail of political systems. Well, not yet, anyhow.


Picture from www.uppercanadahistory.ca.

Day 2: Halloween Catch up

Generally, Halloween's not so big in China. However, in Beijing it's bigger than most places around here. If you hang out in the right spots.

So this year, Halloween was on a wkend, thus i figured i'd do it up for the 1st time on this here continent. Me and some coworkers hit up an 80's night Halloween gig, which did deliver up free mystery shots and highballs for those in costume, though the place wasn't super-populated.

Then we hit up another bar which was pretty full of young drunk people, but hardly a costume in sight. Oh well. 1/2 a beer there on top of the previous mystery drinks was a groggy enough of a mixture to convince me to have a quick puke as soon as i flopped out of the taxi outside my apt building.

Which is a bit odd, considering i didn't even feel so drunk beforehand. Then i promptly brushed my teeth and passeed out immediately in bed, and had a great sleep.

That was ok, but really the funnest part of the night was when we were all throwing our costumes together, papers and tape and scissors and makeup all getting their workouts, music rumbling, and a sip of gin here and there.

Not quite as epic or as underground as Halloween gets in Van, but not so bad either. Better than staying at home watching Twilight, anyhow.

Day 1: Oh the Weather Outside

Considering how i often feel like a lazy ass re: blogging, i'm going to try the post-a-day-for-a-month thing again.

Expect short, concise blogs about potentially mundane topics, which occasional flashes of brilliance.

Today is Nov 1st. It's Beijing's first snowfall which i'm taking in presently. It's also kinda screwing up the family lunch which i'm hosting today, and the table for 12 is pbly just going to be a table for 7. Maybe they can ditch the minimum charge.

How to Force Kids to Love the Dalai Lama: And Like It!

My students all researched and wrote speeches about Heroes. Mostly the usual suspects, ie, Ghandi, Mother Teresa, and the likes. I also squeezed in edgier Malcolm X. A little Oprah Winfrey and Al Gore for the sake of keeping current.

In retrospect, i'm disappointed i didn't get some kids to write about Bob Geldoff or gay politician Harvey Milk. Ah well, next time.

After quick perusal of the Nobel Peace Prize winners, i realized it'd be interesting to have a true life Chinese girl write about the Dalai Lama.

The girl studiously did her research and noted some appropriate facts from websites which were not blocked for their dangerous information. She showed me, before adding: "But I don't think he's a hero."

"Oh? Why not?"

Thus followed a conversation where i had notable difficulty in listening to reasoning which i deem to be the result of PRC brainwashing. But how fair is it to suggest that Sorry kid, China's media doesn't have much reputation for telling, like, the truth. (which isn't exactly secret, though the kids don't seem to see that as a particular problem).

Anyhow, she would mention things like, he's tricked people into believing he's like a god, he's tricked people into giving him riches and valuable jewels, he wants to use people as slaves, and other Wolf In Sheep's Clothing tinged sentiments.

She also made some plausible comments such as, he doesn't want peace because he disturbs China by promoting independent Taiwan, or by trying to get more independence for Tibet.

Later she tried showing me some websites to show me how bad he is. Fortunately, the websites were all in chinese, and the translator function wasn't working so well.

Nonetheless, i will grant that the region now called Tibet has a complicated history, w/ Chinese folk having considerable influence bk even way back in the 13th century.

After our initial discussion, i calmed down and asked her to write about why he isn't a hero.

So.

Today she talked about why people like him, and how he got that Nobel prize, before delving into her true sentiment (and notably became a much more effective presenter). Interestingly, she slipped in this tidbit: "China is an autocracy [a few people with all the power] and many people think this is bad, but China is too big. We need the autocracy to keep control." Hm!

Afterwards, i graciously commended her on tackling the most difficult hero in the class.

Then I drew a happy face and a frowny face o the board. "Some people think the Dalai Lama is great. Some people thing he's very bad. Where is the truth? Is it on this side? Is it over there? Or is it somewhere in the middle? How can we know?"

I mentioned that English speakers have access to WAAAAAY more info than Chinese speakers, especially when it comes to the internet, blocked or not. i hope it wasn't too obvious that the idea was that Western info is better than Chinese info.

But that's kinda what i was saying.

Anyhow, she deserved her pretty good mark, and also made a surprisingly happy and colorful poster that looked like good ol' DL propaganda, if you didn't read the fine print.


Image from tk30.blogspot.com. And, btw, that's kungfu action hero Jet Li on the left there. It's true. I gave the students a glimpse of this picture, just to put a positive spin on the Leader of the Dalai Clique.

A Study of Societies

Teaching Social Studies is cool, 'cause you get to talk about stuff like... history, and social issues. Ok ok, it's horrible when you have to teach words like Legislative Assembly and Confederation to ESL kids, but in context, there's also a lot of pretty crazy issues i get to indulge with. Well a little bit crazy to talk about in the western world, and rather crazy to talk about in China.

For example:

I talk a lot about changing the law, because sometimes the law is bad. Such as in racist laws or sexist laws. And breaking the law in order to challenge the law. And the criminals who broke the law are now considered by all to be heroes.

Chinese kids find this to be rather foreign. "What? The government was wrong? What breaking the law is good?" So i get to toss out ideas (not in a lot of depth necessarily, but still...) like

Was Prohibition in the USA good or bad? Should people break that law?

If most Canadians smoke marijuana, should that law be changed? (most Chinese folk think mj is very very VERY bad, having been sold the same stories as the western statusquo, but without much access to contrary info, let alone access to people who have, like, tried it.

The Canadian govt GUARANTEES people the right to PROTEST against the government! How fucked up is that? From within the PRC, it's pretty fucked.

And then... sometimes [in the context of APEC protests, etc] the police and the government break their own laws! How fucked up is that?
"Yeah, some police officers are good, but others are not so good. Are there any bad police officers in China?" The kids look at me and each other curiously: "No," they reply.

I also have had opportunities to mention the Nike boycott, and why lots of people think that Nike is shit. Pretty interesting, 'cause in brand-name-loving China, these kids have certainly never heard a negatively connotated word about Nike, or the likes.

Good stuff!

And it's like, oh yeah, isn't this why i wanted to be a teacher? and the answer is... yes! So that's good.

However.

Also... i have a reduced workload from last year, thank god. In fact, considering all the above, it's a wonder that i'm not more satisfied w/ my job than i truthfully am. God, what a complainer.

Still waiting?

If you expected a postcard from me this summer, and didn't get one, i just want to say that i DID send out all intended postcards, though have since realized the likelihood that a bunch of them got tossed in the bin, while the precious stamp money got pocketed by some horrible post office worker who's trying to feed her kids or something.

If you never got one, drop me a line, and i'll send you a few funny sentences in lieu of said missing postcard.

All New, All Incredible, All Videos!

Ok, you may have heard that the PRC has stepped up its internet firewall considerably in the last month or so. As such, the likes of Facebook and Youtube have been inaccessible. Which is actually pretty annoying. Not that any blocked sites have really been so necessary for me, but how would you feel if somebody took your car keys, even if you didn't really need to drive anywhere?

Anyhow, to celebrate my newly refound access to Youtube, i thought i'd share a couple vids w/ you. In fact they are the two most memorable videos i have ever seen online. (admitting that i consciously chose to steer clear of Two Girls One Cup)

Ironically, however, this first video turns out to be unavailable on Youtube! Such is life. Here it is anyway for your viewing pleasure. No description necessary. Enjoy!


Zuiikin English - Sankakukin Trouble -


And for this clip, i admit i was quite disturbed after i saw it the first time. The second time i watched it, almost a year later, i found it totally hilarious, and saw the art of the whole episode: the kind of art that reality can amazingly pull off now and again.

Xi'an

filled
Originally uploaded by statusqphotos

Yeah, so, like, in China we get like a week off in October. That's great. Just great. You can use this week to celebrate China's 60th birthday and enjoy the grand parade which is closed to the public. But available for viewing on tv. The highlights more than suffice for me. i don't think i need 5 hours of tanks and marching soldiers and dancers and coordinated flipping of coloured cards.

Asides from missing out on the parade, me and my bro skipped out of town in an impromptu trip to Xi'an, where the Terracotta army are hiding. I'd heard mixed reviews of this spectacle, from unbelievable to wuliao (boring). In the end, i squeezed in among the other thousands of visitors to observe the terra cotta gang in an environment that could potentially be a touch creepy, if not for the bustling hordes and their cameras.

We also went to Hua Shan, a mountain outside the city, which was pretty epic. We hiked 7.5 hrs, but didn't quite get to the uppermost peak for fear of missing our return trip bus. The mountain is famed for its vertical slopes, and ubersteep staircases, which require chains to hang on to.

However, near the top you will encounter the lazy gang who opted to take the gondola up, the gang who will destroy the serenity you strained so hard to reach. "kinda makes you appreciate Canada's solitude," commented my brother. Not to complain. We were nonetheless stoked to have made it up as far as we did, and to actually get a bit of exercise in finally.

And the last point of interest was our return trip home. As we had planned our trip mere moments before we departed, we were super lucky to have found beds for the overnight train trip to Xi'an. However, for the return trip there were zero tickets available to be found anywhere.

But we went anyways.

Only from Xi'an were we able to discover the Standing Room Only tickets for the return trip. 6:30pm -6:30 am.

But we bought little mini folding stools for $1.50 each, which we were extremely happy with. You manage to find a spot in the aisle, and plop down. Then every 4 minutes you pick up and squeeze into some seated people's laps so the workers selling beer and instant noodles out of trolleys can pass.

We met some people and chatted some which was pretty fun. Though i was a bit annoyed when they told us that the stools should only cost 75 cents. Ha, oh well.

Eventually it was night, some lights dimmed, and the trolley convoy eased up. People were crashed all over the aisle, on the sink, crammed in next to the less than tidy bathroom stalls. And yes, some people stood for the full 12 hrs. Crazy.

I did manage a few hours of sleep, though D managed zero. I was kinda surprised when upon our arrival he said, "well, that was a lot more interesting than the trip out."

I also rather dug it, though i don't think i'd want to do it on a regular basis. Or with my girlfriend. Or parents.