Day 26

September 15, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Blah. Jordan is sick. I'm not, thank goodness, but I haven't been sleeping very well and his sickness isn't helping much.

I slept in today, and skipped my classes. It's not as if they take attendance, and we're still in review territory. You would just not believe how exhausting it is to not be able to actually communicate something to some one else. Ever. Even when some one does speak English, conversations can be little more than superficial. Ah, well.

So, for this Wednesday, please enjoy this Chinglish:


Jianmin. "the series high qualityfoodstuff were produced carefully.it is your firstchoice of present."

At present, I guess it is my first choice, mainly because it leads me to rather an interesting end note to a previous discussion. Jianmin is a brand of what is essentially just a very high-gluten flour they use to make cakes and that sort of thing. Gluten in Chinese is "mianjin" (面筋, lit. "bread muscle"). It's really chewy when cooked and a little spongy. One of the many ways in which is is prepared is skewered and grilled. Said skewers are spiral cut in order to allow them to cook more evenly, and then rolled in spices. The result is a spicy, chewy sort of cake. A cake, mind you, that doesn't contain ANY sheep's penis at all, and is sold by street vendors ALL over China.


Mianjin (面筋) 2. Roasted, rolled in spices, and delightfully sheep's penis-free.

Phew.

Hayden

Day 19

September 8 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Today marked the second straight day of rain. The season is turning, you can feel it all around you. Unlike in Florida, autumn may actually be here by my birthday.

I ended up going back to the room today during a break in classes. My stomach was not happy about something, and wasn't going to let me forget it. I laid down and skipped my second class.

After my nap, I got up, thinking it necessary to find dinner. I had no interest really, so I bypassed the dining hall in favor of the small campus market. The market has a little tea...counter? It's not much bigger than that. So, I decided to have a milk tea, thinking it might help. It tasted good, but I can't say it made my stomach feel any better.


Ma Qidou. I like that they translate "latte" and "mocha," but not "macchiato." Admittedly, I had to look up the spelling.

The shop was quite full, as most places are now that the freshmen have arrived. I browsed a little to see if something would arouse my appetite:


Chinese Snacks. Chicken feet anyone? I think they're BBQ flavored...

Nope. That's not going to do it.

A traffic altercation on my walk home reminded me of something I've been meaning to talk about. I know I've said a few things about Chinese driving in the past, but this is different. And the same, I guess. I've not seen a single "STOP" sign here. There doesn't seem to be any. Well, I assume that there has to be stop signs somewhere, but I've not ran into one. In fact, there are "DO NOT STOP" signs. And they are everywhere:


X-Men X-ing? Nope, its a "don't stop" sign.

It seems to me, that you can pretty much do whatever you like while driving here. If you want to stop in the middle of the highway, go for it. People are going to honk, but they'll work their way around. If you want to drive in the wrong lane because a bus isn't going the speed you'd like, so be it. You can always force your way back into the line of traffic. It's like there aren't rules here. I was standing at the bus stop the other day, looking at the madness and thinking "we (America) gave China the car. This is all our fault." Maybe that's not entirely true, at any rate the West gave the East automobiles. Traffic laws were, however, lost in translation.

Hayden

Day 18

September 7, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

The days are dissolving into classwork and sleeping. I've fallen into the routine already. Even though I'm in China, the small section of the city I inhabit has begun to feel familiar.

The freshmen arrived today. In China, they start a bit later than everyone else. I guess it allows for the endless rounds of paperwork to be spread out a little. They won't start classes just yet, however, as they are required to do (I think) two weeks of military drills. Every student in China is required to learn military drills, it's just one of their quirks.

The freshman have made this crowded campus even more so. When I first arrived, I was a week ahead of most of the other students. Shida Rd was mostly empty, save for an odd pedestrian. Now, you have to fight your way down the sidewalk. And don't get me started on the over-populated madness that is the dining hall.


Welcome, Freshmen. The inflatable banner in front of the dining hall.

Speaking of sidewalks, the Chinese don't use them. I'm not entirely sure why they have them to be honest with you. Well, they don't use them to walk on, anyway. Cars park on the sidewalk, more often than not, and people walk freely down the middle of the street. Cars and scooters honk when they want you out of the way. It just seems like they have it all backwards to me, but then again, this isn't my country.

In other news, I met Archie's Chinese cousin today. They should swap for a little while, sort of a Country Cat and City Cat deal. Chinese Archie approached me in the park this afternoon, and was vaguely interested in me. When he discovered I wasn't holding delicious fishes, he rubbed himself against a nearby tree and ignored me.


Chinese Archie. He loves delicious fishes. I'm assuming.

I named him 二乞 （érqǐ, pronounced "ar-chi"). It sounds like "Archie" AND it means "#2 Beggar."

Hayden

Day 17

September 6, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Let's get this right out there: It rained today. All day. It was that sort of day. I went to class, I came back and I...napped.

The rest of my day was...



My life. This is what my life will look like for the next few months.

...homework.

So, how about some randomness, then?

You know what's weird? Chinese toilet paper is three-ply. This is mostly weird because everything else is so...let's say cost conscious. Seriously they will hand you boiling water in the THINNEST plastic cup you've ever touched. It's micrometers between you and scalding. But, the toilet paper is thick. First of all, it's not soft, at all. Do you remember primary school and those long rolls of butcher paper teachers had in order to distract you with drawing time? It's like that, maybe slightly less thick. But its three-sheets of that. Also, it isn't perforated, so mostly it looks like our bathroom has a roll of jagged streamers sitting on the counter.

Currently, my soundtrack is Jenny & Johnny's new (also debut, technically) album I'm Having Fun Now. The Jenny is Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley/her solo career. You should listen to "Big Wave" to see if you're going to like it. It's my favorite song on the album. So far.

Additionally, I think the Chinese character for "family" 家 （jiā) looks a bit like...


家 (jiā). def. home, family, a person engaged in a certain art or profession,
measure word for stores and schools.

...Cthulu wearing a beret. This may have something to do with the fact that I'm currently reading "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft. Maybe. I'm enjoying the novella: Lovecraft manages to say so much while saying so little about saying so much. He describes everything in such detail, while simultaneously revealing nothing. It's like watching reading a magic act.

When I was searching for a picture of Cthulu, I ran across this:


Family Cthulu. Makes as much sense as the regular strip.

Yep, I think that about sums it up.

Incidentally, a search for "beret" turned up photos of...berets. (*cough*)

Hayden

Interlude - Ice

Do you know what I miss? I know I said this entry would be a tour of my neighborhood, and I'll get to that, but first a little house cleaning. Do you know what I miss? A number of things, of course. My home, my friends, having extended conversations with people where everyone knows what the subject matter is. But, do you know what I really miss? Ice. I know that seems strange, and maybe trivial, but hear me out. The last cold beverage I had was on an airplane somewhere over Mongolia last Saturday. Sure, ice isn't really all that important, I guess. I really hadn't even thought about the fact that every beverage I've had was room temperature, or hot, depending on the beverage. Until today.

I was watching a TV show on my laptop, and a character bit into a chicken sandwich. I know this seems out in left field, but it'll all come together. So, this character bit into a chicken sandwich, from some fictional, American fast food restaurant. The thing is, fast food isn't even very good. I knew I would have cravings, for spaghetti, I assumed. I love spaghetti. But, honestly, my noodle quotient is full. I can have noodles for any meal. Breakfast noodles, lunch noodles, I could have a noodle latte if I asked the right person at just the right time. But, that chicken sandwich. Well, not even that chicken sandwich. I had a chicken sandwich three days ago, albeit one that would not cut the mustard in the USA. Still, that sandwich made me want a cheeseburger. Yep. I suddenly wanted a cheeseburger, and I became very, very sad.

Cheeseburgers aren't my favorite food, they aren't even in my top 10, but they are so very American. When I went away to college for the first time, I spent the entire semester eating only dining hall food. This was Flagler College, for those of you familiar with it and its dining hall cuisine. Somewhere around the third-quarter of that semester I got a card in the mail with a $10 bill in it from my Mom. The note read something to the effect of "Go have lunch. I love you." I walked down to the Jesterville Grille, I sat at the counter and I ordered a cheeseburger. Now, the Jesterville Grille is no longer there, and that fact might have something to do with the quality of their food, but I tell you, there has never been ANYTHING in the history of time that tasted better than that cheeseburger.

So, what does this have to do with ice? Well, I figured I'd send a message to Xiao Liu tonight and ask her where to get a cheeseburger. I'm sure she'll tell me "I do not like" in that way she does. She's funny that way, but I guess when you prefer lava, a cheeseburger is less than second-rate. So, tomorrow I will have a cheeseburger, but, no ice. The drinks never come with ice here.

So, what brought this epiphany about? I walked out of the dining hall tonight after dinner. I had eaten a chicken thigh and some vegetables in vinegar. I waited patiently for the meat to be put out when I realized that the last meat I'd had, excluding sheep's blood, of course, was at KFC 3 days ago. That's just not like me! Haha. Anyway, I stepped out of the dining hall unfulfilled, not even meat would cure my longing. I walked across to the little shop thinking maybe there was something vaguely American there, a snack cake or something. Nope. But then, as I looked around for a beverage, I noticed something: There was ice build-up on the sides of the freezer! The freezer was on! The drinks were cold!

Again, this might take a little explanation. There are drink coolers all over this city in all sorts of shops, but, however, I have not yet encountered one that was actually ON! And cooling drinks! I grabbed a bottle of water, swiped my student card and stepped outside. I unscrewed the cap and took a long, cold drink. Ah, America...

Hayden