Day 32

September 21, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

We were allowed to pick up our new residency visas today, so Jordan and I went out to Chang An to throw ourselves at taxis in hope that one might stop. One did, eventually, and we made our way back to the security bureau, where, in a matter of five minutes, our journey's mission was complete.

Jordan and I split up to find a taxi to take us home: We figured that it might be easier if we were risking our lives separately. I got a taxi and called out to Jordan to come. Then I yelled again. Then again. And all of China turned to look at me. I told the driver in my best Chinese that I would give him 20RMB for the ride if he waited. The ride costs about 11RMB, so it was a tip of around 9RMB (or, $1.45). He waited as I made my way down the corner for half a block yelling for Jordan. Apparently, he was able to get two taxis to stop, but both refused to take him. This, however, put him well out of earshot. We're lucky my taxi guy was so nice, or else we might still be out there.

When we arrived back at the school, I handed the guy a 20RMB note and he tried to give me change. Jordan and I both motioned for him to keep it, but he wasn't getting it. Jordan finally told him that today was an American holiday and the guy smiled strangely and shrugged his shoulders, keeping the change.

I made a video of the taxi ride, but Youtube doesn't work here and I'm not sure if Youku (the Chinese equivalent) works there. On that note, here's a random photo from my trip to the store today:


Garfield. In China, Garfield is an orange lion, apparently, and he's friends with an elephant.

Hayden

Day 27

September 16, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Sigh. Today was exhausting. With our visa deadlines quickly approaching, Jordan and I made plans to go to the security bureau to drop off our passports and paperwork. Jordan picked up his documents from the Foreign Student's Office yesterday, so I stopped by to get mine today. The office is always full of people, and the one or two people who are actually working there are stressed out beyond belief. I sat down with one of the counselors, the other was out, and she thumbed through my paperwork:

"Did you turn in four photos?"
"Yes, almost a month ago."
"Copies of your passport?"
"I turned them in at the same time."
"A copy of the receipt for your housing?"
"Yes."
"None of that is in here. Can you just come back next week? When does you visa expire?"
"Monday."
"Monday?!"

Yes, Monday. Which wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that your office lost everything I had already turned in. It's not as if I could do any of this earlier, since I didn't get my health exam results until last week. So, I spent the morning running back and forth from the school to my room trying to find the items I needed to complete my visa documents. I missed one session of my second class (we have two sessions per class per day), in order to accomplish this. After I got everything I needed, I sat down in a chair while she v-e-r-y s--l--o--w--l--y c---h---e---c---k---e---d o----v----e----r t-----h-----e f------o------r------m------s....I was worried that her speed would cause me to miss the second half of my class. Luckily, she finished just after the bell rang, 15 or so minutes later.

This would be mirrored in my later experience at the security bureau. Let's cut past the fact that we left two hours late, and that I didn't get to eat lunch because we were waiting on others to go to lunch who were apparently at lunch and didn't bother to mention it. We'll also cut past the 20 minutes it took us to get a taxi during this sudden September heatwave, and my complaining about how they won't pick up foreigners. We'll cut right to the security bureau, where we waited in the un-air conditioned building in a long line while one woman poured over every single person's documents. ONE! This is so typical of China, there are 8 million people here, any given store employs 30,000 of them to jump on you if you seem remotely interested in buying something. But banks? Or government offices? There will be dozens of desks and one person running the whole show. If you need to get something done, it's probably not happening today. Other employees even came in while we were waiting, made a joke to/at the lady and then walked off. AND she took, like, three phone calls while we waited. You know, just hanging out in a line sweating to death.

God we were sweaty. Anyway, the actual document "interview" consisted of sitting in a chair while she looked to make sure everything was in order. It was, so we went downstairs and paid (400RMB, by the way, on top of the fact that we paid $200 to get our visa already).

We hunted for food or water or a taxi, and found water. Then a taxi. This driver was actually quite a change for the better. He was so friendly. And, he explained to Angel, our Chinese friend, that he had been going on his lunch break but decided to take pity on us.

We ended up eating at Subway, which was not my choice, but I was starving. I ordered a foot long, and they cost about the same comparatively. I got somewhere around 2/3 of the way into it and didn't think I could make it. Chinese food has shrunk my stomach.

"Come on, finish it, you wimp." Angel said.

Hayden

Day 20

September 9, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence - China

The school arranged to take the foreign students for their medical exams today. I had already gotten mine, of course, but decided to go along in order to (finally) pick up my results. I was informed on the bus that the school would have picked up my results for me, but by that time it was already too late.

We arrived, I got my results, and then I left on my own, as it would probably take two or three hours for everyone else to finish. The results of the medical exam, in case you were curious: Perfectly healthy. Well, it said something about a slight "sinus arrhythmia," but also that I was free of any disease that would require quarantine or deportation. So, you know, that's good.

My plan was to take the bus back, but as I was walking to the bus stop, a taxi pulled up and let a lady out. So, I had my first ever taxi ride.


Taxi Driver. Only about $1 to get me all the way back to school.

The taxi dropped me off at the gates of the school, so I did a bit of walking around. Nearly three days without an appetite, I thought I'd try to find something to eat on my walk home. A street vendor was grilling up some skewers and I stopped to ask him what it was, assuming it was spiral cut potatoes. I said "这是土豆吗?" ("this is a potato?") to him, and he responded with some word I didn't understand ending in "肉" ("meat"). I thought "oh, well" and bought one. It was chewy, so "organ meat" was my first instinct. I ate the not-a-potato wondering the whole time what it might be.

((NOTE: You might not want to read the rest of this misadventure. I'm just saying, it goes to a weird place. Maybe you could just go Google "fluffy kittens." That will turn out better than this.))

I meant to ask Xiao Liu about it, but never remembered. I brought it up in class while we were on the subject of restaurants. One of my classmates, he's from Indonesia, told me that he had been told that those spiral skewers were dog meat. My teacher said "no, no, no!" emphatically. They were NOT dog meat. I was relieved, but what were they? The texture had been weird and spongy, so I suggested “豆腐" ("tofu"). She said that sounded right and the conversation ended.

Cut to the internet: I searched and searched for the answer, mostly because I wanted a picture to post on my blog. And, unfortunately, I finally found my answer:


Street Vendor. Picture stolen from http://www.livingstupidly.com/?cat=1&paged=2.

It was sheep penis. Grilled. On a skewer.

It seems weird to say this, but somehow, this was bound to happen sooner or later...

Hayden