Hey, I swiped a service guide from the high speed train last time I rode, so... For future reference of myself and any random others who may have use of this information:
The train leaves Tanggu at... (hits Tianjin at...) and arrives at BJNan at...
C2274- 12:14pm (12:36) 1:10pm
C2276- 1:44pm (2:06) 2:40pm
C2278- 5:04pm (5:26) 6:00pm
C2280- 7:59pm (8:21) 8:55pm
The train leaves BJNan at... (hits Tianjin at...) and arrives in Tanggu at...
C2273- 10:45am (11:15) 11:39am
C2275- 12:35pm (1:05) 1:29pm
C2277- 3:55pm (4:25) 4:49pm
C2279- 6:50pm (7:20) 7:44pm
Wow... I cut it kinda close a couple of times...
Besides those, there are a butt-ton of rides between BJN and TJ starting around 6:30 am and going to 10:45/11pm.
Other useful information:
Cars 1 and 8 are 1st/2nd class cars
Car 5 is a 1st class car
Cars 2, 3, 6, and 7 are 2nd class cars
Car 4 is the bar car
Not THAT useful... but maybe you could use it.
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
re: yuanfen
I'm sure I've spoken about yuanfen before, but since I can't verify that [because I am too lazy to go through the archives], here's the "definition." Yuan is a Chinese concept, and when they tell you that there's no English equivalent to the word, they're probably correct. I haven't been able to find one yet. You come close with ideas like serendipity, fate, destiny, "meant to be," but all those are considerably inadequate. For one thing-- the way I understand it-- they're a bit too grandiose. And more importantly, yuan is more of a subcategory dealing with relationships, so these words actually have too many applications to be accurate.
Yuanfen is something that is possessed by two people whose meeting was meant to be. A lot of people mention it when they've met someone, compared notes, and found some element in the relationship suggesting that a higher power was somehow involved. In the same situation, I might say, "what are the odds," or "clearly we have some connection." Whether there is yuanfen associated with all of our relationships is not clear to me. I have just opened the wikipedia page and intend to read it, but after writing what I was ACTUALLY planning to write when I opened this window...
RE: yuanfen
Last Friday, I hopped a train to Beijing to start my search for housing in the spring. I'd been reviewing ads for the past week and trying to set up viewings for the cheaper, more conveniently located apartments even while they were being snapped up. I'd scheduled my trip for that weekend so that I could also pay a visit to Julie, but as apartments came and went, there was a point where I was afraid there wouldn't be anything to look at by the time I got there. Just before leaving though, I confirmed two apartment visits, and this is the story of those.
Friday the subways were uncharacteristically crowded for the early afternoon. I mean all 3 lines I rode from Liujiayao all the way to the Ag Exhibition Ctr. Even the bus from the train station was crowded. My train came in probably around 1, and I was rushing to meet this guy at 3. As I stood on the crowded subway and realized that I was just barely going to make it in time, it occurred to me that I probably wouldn't want to make this same trip twice a week every week until May. Anyways, I jumped off the subway at the exhibition center and checked my watch. And started the rush out.
I wasn't all that clear on where I was going. It was a 10 minute walk, and I plotted out what I'd probably have to do on the google maps satellite image of the area (the map image is... outdated? completely not what the area looks like at this point in time?) and checked it against the map in the subway, but I was positive I'd have to call him for directions at some point.
On the escalator out of the station, I ended up behind this guy. He turned around at one point and gave me the awkward "I'm on the escalator, you're on the escalator" glare, and I glared back until he turned around again. Uuh, maybe you know this look I'm talking about. If not, pay attention next time you're on the escalator and you mistakenly make eye contact with someone.
That would have been the end of that, but something about the way he was dressed sort of jogged my imagination. Striped button up, green t-shirt, old-Chinese-man cloth shoes... His face looked Chinese, but it was entirely possible that he was from somewhere else. I saw him check the face of his cell phone, which is what I had been doing, and thought, "Hm. Wouldn't it be funny if this is the guy I'm supposed to meet at 3." I mean, because he was supposed to be coming in from work or something. Anyways, we got off the escalator and he turned right. Well, I was supposed to turn right. So I started walking after him. Then he took the next right I was supposed to take as well. I thought, "So be it. I am going to tail this guy until he a) deviates or b) leads me to the Korean restaurant where I'm supposed to wait for the apartment dude."
Well, this wouldn't be a story that I associated with yuanfen if it was (a). Ok, no, I take that back, I'm sure it still could be, it'd just have to be a lot longer. He landed me at the restaurant, but then kept walking into the xiaoqu next door, which I thought could well have been where the apartment was located. After a few moments, I got in touch with the guy and let him know I was outside. You are only given one guess as to who came out to collect me.
So that was fun. The next day I had a little bit of a public transportation snafu trying to get from Julie's to the subway, but it was minor... (nothing a Y10 3-minute cab ride couldn't solve). When I found out that the second apartment was at Liujiayao, I got pretty excited. Turns out it's right by that northwest exit, immediately next to the bus that goes to the train station. As I walked up with the girl, I found out that she and her roommate are actually Baotou ren! I met her boyfriend too, and he went to college at the school by the Baotou train station-- I'm pretty sure that's where Linda was teaching. And then it came out that she and her roommate went to college in Yantai. She was born in '83, so that essentially means that we might have been there around the same time. Speaking of age though, I (born, if you recall, in '84) tell people that I am 24. Due to the Chinese way of doing things, she tells people that she's 27. Go figure.
Anyways, we had a good time sort of talking about Baotou, even though she's from the eastern half and I lived in the western half (they're practically 2 different cities), I decided I liked the place, and I put down my deposit for the room! I'm moving in at the end of the month... well sort of.
Yuanfen is something that is possessed by two people whose meeting was meant to be. A lot of people mention it when they've met someone, compared notes, and found some element in the relationship suggesting that a higher power was somehow involved. In the same situation, I might say, "what are the odds," or "clearly we have some connection." Whether there is yuanfen associated with all of our relationships is not clear to me. I have just opened the wikipedia page and intend to read it, but after writing what I was ACTUALLY planning to write when I opened this window...
RE: yuanfen
Last Friday, I hopped a train to Beijing to start my search for housing in the spring. I'd been reviewing ads for the past week and trying to set up viewings for the cheaper, more conveniently located apartments even while they were being snapped up. I'd scheduled my trip for that weekend so that I could also pay a visit to Julie, but as apartments came and went, there was a point where I was afraid there wouldn't be anything to look at by the time I got there. Just before leaving though, I confirmed two apartment visits, and this is the story of those.
Friday the subways were uncharacteristically crowded for the early afternoon. I mean all 3 lines I rode from Liujiayao all the way to the Ag Exhibition Ctr. Even the bus from the train station was crowded. My train came in probably around 1, and I was rushing to meet this guy at 3. As I stood on the crowded subway and realized that I was just barely going to make it in time, it occurred to me that I probably wouldn't want to make this same trip twice a week every week until May. Anyways, I jumped off the subway at the exhibition center and checked my watch. And started the rush out.
I wasn't all that clear on where I was going. It was a 10 minute walk, and I plotted out what I'd probably have to do on the google maps satellite image of the area (the map image is... outdated? completely not what the area looks like at this point in time?) and checked it against the map in the subway, but I was positive I'd have to call him for directions at some point.
On the escalator out of the station, I ended up behind this guy. He turned around at one point and gave me the awkward "I'm on the escalator, you're on the escalator" glare, and I glared back until he turned around again. Uuh, maybe you know this look I'm talking about. If not, pay attention next time you're on the escalator and you mistakenly make eye contact with someone.
That would have been the end of that, but something about the way he was dressed sort of jogged my imagination. Striped button up, green t-shirt, old-Chinese-man cloth shoes... His face looked Chinese, but it was entirely possible that he was from somewhere else. I saw him check the face of his cell phone, which is what I had been doing, and thought, "Hm. Wouldn't it be funny if this is the guy I'm supposed to meet at 3." I mean, because he was supposed to be coming in from work or something. Anyways, we got off the escalator and he turned right. Well, I was supposed to turn right. So I started walking after him. Then he took the next right I was supposed to take as well. I thought, "So be it. I am going to tail this guy until he a) deviates or b) leads me to the Korean restaurant where I'm supposed to wait for the apartment dude."
Well, this wouldn't be a story that I associated with yuanfen if it was (a). Ok, no, I take that back, I'm sure it still could be, it'd just have to be a lot longer. He landed me at the restaurant, but then kept walking into the xiaoqu next door, which I thought could well have been where the apartment was located. After a few moments, I got in touch with the guy and let him know I was outside. You are only given one guess as to who came out to collect me.
So that was fun. The next day I had a little bit of a public transportation snafu trying to get from Julie's to the subway, but it was minor... (nothing a Y10 3-minute cab ride couldn't solve). When I found out that the second apartment was at Liujiayao, I got pretty excited. Turns out it's right by that northwest exit, immediately next to the bus that goes to the train station. As I walked up with the girl, I found out that she and her roommate are actually Baotou ren! I met her boyfriend too, and he went to college at the school by the Baotou train station-- I'm pretty sure that's where Linda was teaching. And then it came out that she and her roommate went to college in Yantai. She was born in '83, so that essentially means that we might have been there around the same time. Speaking of age though, I (born, if you recall, in '84) tell people that I am 24. Due to the Chinese way of doing things, she tells people that she's 27. Go figure.
Anyways, we had a good time sort of talking about Baotou, even though she's from the eastern half and I lived in the western half (they're practically 2 different cities), I decided I liked the place, and I put down my deposit for the room! I'm moving in at the end of the month... well sort of.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Please prepare to get off
It's 9:10pm over here, as far as I can tell, and I'm going to bed soon without a shower. Yes, that does suck a whole lot, but there's nothing for it. I had a sense that this might happen, this being that my hosts are on their own vacation and turned off the heat for their absence-- it's happened before. This was back when I had to be over here to work on my essays every day, so I just wore lots of clothes during the day and froze my butt off during the night. This time, however, they turned the hot water off as well, which leaves me cold *and* dirty. Ah well. Technically there is another place that I live here, and there's plenty of hot water and heat there... but... I might as well admit that I don't like it there. I mean, the bed's comfy, I share the room with a nice girl but there's enough space, BUT the bathroom sketches me out. It's too bad that I have bathroom issues, but I have serious bathroom issues. Bathrooms are game-changers for me in just about every situation I can imagine. So the Baotou bathroom was grimy, but it was spacious. This too is grimy, but that's what sandals are for. What honestly kills it for me here is that to flush, the toilet fills with water almost to the rim before emptying. I'll leave the implications to subtlety. Oh it just freaks me out so much that I like to avoid it whenever possible. Ah well. Since I suspect that the key to the heating controls is sailing somewhere in the vicinity of South America right now, I'll clearly have to just let this one go.
Anyways, that's not anything like what I was planning to talk about, which was my return trip. Wednesday night, Sam stayed the night at my place and the two of us hightailed it to the airport at 5:30 Thursday morning. Roads were clear, weather was clear. Continental baggage policy is a little confusing, so I arrived thinking that I had 70 lbs clearance for my just-over-50 lbs suitcase. After being redirected to Delta to check in for my connection flight, I was informed that 50 was the limit. In the past, United and Continental agents have weighed a slightly overweight bag and just thrown the stickers on it, no questions asked. This gentleman suggested that I remove 4 lbs of stuff from my suitcase and carry it on my person. So... In addition to the load of books and laptop gear already in my carry-ons, were now even more books and also a pair of flip-flops. I don't think this backpack was meant to distribute that kind of weight that well (not to mention the satchel on my shoulder), so I actually felt, throughout this whole thing, that I was carrying something heavy. My back does sort of ache now, but that's also probably the whole awkward sleeping positions thing too.
We were a tiny bit late boarding the aircraft in CVG because of the security check, but since it was a small jet with few passengers, it didn't take long once they opened the door. They gave the security spiel and we started taxiing, when suddenly the plane stopped... and sat there. The captain came on to tell us that there was a maintenance issue, and we needed to return to the gate in order to fix it. They were expecting it to take about 10-15 minutes, then 10-15 for de-icing, and then we'd be on our way. I was a bit nervous at this point because I'd booked the flight with a decent window of layover time, but it was by no means very long. 10-15 minutes would have been ok though. Well, two hours later, we finally started taxiing out again. During those two hours, we lost several businessmen who needed to be in important meetings (at least one of them was going off to call in), we lost our first officer who timed out (whatever that means), we lost one of our attendants I think for the same reason, and our captain left the plane to bring coffee from Peet's for everyone. When the coffee came around, I declined, and this was because I was in the middle of what might have been a slight anxiety attack. It was being fueled by my recent paranoia for flight, and given that there was this mysterious "maintenance issue" that was "taking them longer than they thought to fix," there was a bit to keep me going there. Also was the fact that as time went on, the window for me to make my connection was narrowing, and I didn't know what sorts of randomness finding my gate would entail. Also, I just wasn't comfortable. I hadn't had much sleep the night before, and my morning was just very emotional-- leaving the house, the comforts of home. There was also never a moment that I just stepped back and felt, "Yes, I'm packed," or "Yes, I feel ready to go." So sitting in that cold airplane, staring at a collection of bleached dead insects trapped IN the panes of the window, wondering how the hell they got in there and whether or not the fact that they did was in any way a safety hazard, I just started losing my cool. There was a moment that I knew that I would never make my flight, and I started asking the attendant what I should do. One thought was that I could get right off the plane and deal with the agents at CVG and possibly just go home and delay until my folks got back... but she never really had a response for me. Just always "hmmm, I'll let them know" or something equally ineffectual. I asked her again at the hour and 45 minute mark, but was interrupted when they announced the completion of the maintenance work. She was just like "Well, enough said!" I'd been having this internal battle about whether or not to get off the plane, since I knew the other option was to end up having to deal with a missed flight in Newark, where I do not live. But then I figured, what the hell. Better to just see what happens this way. Well, maybe not. But whatever.
In Newark, I went straight to a gate agent to explain the deal, and a man came up behind me saying he had the exact same issue. One solution would have been to cancel and try racing over to JFK to catch a flight that we probably would never have made either. I... opted no for that one. The lady sent us over to Delta ticketing, which, in Newark, is... weird. Anyways, after standing there a long time while they tried to work things out with Continental, I walked off with a ticket for the next day, a hotel voucher, and two meal vouchers, and went looking for my bag. Lucky for me, a guy was JUST pulling it off the carousel as we got there. Unlucky for the other guy, his bag was nowhere to be seen. Also, Continental was giving some bullshit about his ticket. We ended up separating there, and I found out later that he was at the airport for a couple more hours. I got some lunch, which then became my dinner, and then went looking for the hotel shuttle.
The Wyndham Hotel by the airport is actually not too shabby. I was very impressed by their bath products, which were Bath & Body Works True Blue Spa. [Oh MAN I'm getting cold. Still can't see my breath though, which is all right]. Also, most of the people working there were really nice. I got in, got situated, and passed out until nightfall. It did me a lot of good, I think. At some point after I woke up, I realized I was sitting in a king-sized bed. I turned on all the lights, but still things seemed dim. I went for a spin, to get some ice and buy something to drink. I got some guava juice, ate the rest of my corned beef sandwich, and watched Family Guy and CNN. After a bit more time, I went to use my dinner voucher in the hotel restaurant. It was only $7, but after my sandwich, I really just wanted some soup. The split pea was pretty good. I then decided to follow it up with fruit, but the fruit salad didn't sound that great. The other option was melon, which, at this time of year, is cantaloupe. I ordered cantaloupe. I was presented with half of a cantaloupe and a steak knife. This was beyond my wildest dreams. I got it wrapped up and took it back upstairs. Back in the room, I watched a little bit of American Gladiators, and listened to my ipod through the alarm clock, read, wrote, figured out why the internet hadn't been working for me. I showered too, which was nice. Then... more sleep.
Everything went smoothly the next day, if you don't count me carrying way too much stuff everywhere. The passengers were sparse, so there was an empty seat between me and my rowmate. It was actually cramped though because the seat in front of me reclined to the point that if I sat up straight, it would have been on my forehead. So eating was ridiculous. The guy I was sitting with was nice, and before the flight ended he offered me a couple Reese's cups for the road. I finally got to see The Secret Life of Bees, which played on one of my SFO flights, but which I didn't watch then because you have to pay for Delta's headsets. It was good. I teared up.
So, obviously the multi-entry visa worked just as described. I'm presumably all set for the next 120 days. I'm going to be here less than 120 days. That somehow just made me feel a bit better. At baggage claim, I moved most of the books back into my suitcase. Then...
I wasn't 100% sure how I was going to get back to TEDA from the airport. I'd been told in the past that there was a bus, and I was hoping to just... ask a bunch of people and figure out where I could find it. FYI, girls working information at PEK don't really speak English. But one of them directed me out exit 11 to where the shuttle buses were waiting. I went to the end of the line to find the Tianjin stop and ask if there was anything anywhere going to where I was going. I am stating for the record right now, for anyone who googles "Beijing airport bus to TEDA," there is, as of February 7th, 2009, NO BUS from the airport to TEDA, or even Tanggu station. I asked what they suggested, but even if I took the bus to Tianjin, taxiing around there to get either to the light rail or just back to TEDA would have been way more than I was willing to spend. Also, I don't know Tianjin at all. Also, no way was I dragging my suitcase around any place I didn't know.
So... I turned around, and headed down to the Express Train to the subway. I figured I'd be able to make a train to Tanggu and maybe still avoid a population crush. For reference, our plane landed at about 2:45pm.
Took the express to Sanyuanqiao, and decided to just get off there. It seemed like it might be easier to navigate than Dongzhimen (where I got lost and annoyed last time) and would drop off higher up on the 5, and I wanted to get on that as soon as possible. This was not a bad idea, as it turned out, except some random girl cut in front of me to buy a subway ticket (and I HATE that shit) and I had to put all my bags through the x-ray (but one of the attendants helped me) and then one of the girls at the x-ray machine really wanted to see if she could lift my suitcase but never actually asked me-- she just took it from the guy and started carrying it away and I had to walk after her with this look on my face like "do you realize that I'm here to catch a train" and even when I finally got it back from her she didn't say a single word to me, just stared off into space with this vacuous smile on her face. Also, no down escalator in that station.
It was a bit weird on the train, this guy who'd been standing near me on the platform decided to strike up a conversation. He asked if I was coming from abroad, where I'd been, did I spend new years there, was it fun... I was like... this is not information that I feel comfortable divulging on the subway when I have so much stuff to deal with. Then came the typical "are you from the south" and I ended up just telling him that I was from the US. He complimented my Chinese, at which point I noticed a girl laughing. I have no idea either way, but I just had the feeling that she was laughing at this conversation. THEN he went and said that he felt comfortable talking to me? Like... you know when you first see someone...something something something, did I know what he meant? I said I didn't know. Cuz I only caught part of it anyways, and it just didn't seem like something I wanted to agree to. He said that I had a nice smile. And something about teeth showing. I said thanks and just... tried to avoid making eye contact again. I was really not feeling whatever this was that was going on. Anyways, as I was about to exit he started going through his wallet for his card, but, too bad, he didn't have any on him. Oh well! I rushed to transfer. No down escalator here either, but some guy behind me took pity and helped me get my bag down the steps. The train here was packed. It was on this train that I realized that I hate the general pushiness of the population here. Like... the people I'm ok with (for the most part... there have been a few so-called "customer service" agents I've wanted to slap), people you talk to are generally nice. But lordy the population, the pushing, shoving, cutting, yelling, and general disregard for others that you get at ticket counters, on subways, at crosswalks, pisses me off to no end. This is what I typically find myself complaining about at the end of a long day.
The whole subway trip from Sanyuanqiao took maybe an hour? I was so relieved to finally make it to Liujiayao, but was slightly apprehensive because I didn't know which exit to take. Last time I tried this, I took a couple different exits, and by the time I figured out which was the right one, I was completely muddled. The problem this time was that I was only giving myself one shot to get the right one. If it was wrong, the trouble it would take to either get my bags back downstairs, or across the street, or, heaven forbid, up the stairs to a skybridge, across the street, and down back to street level, would be more than it was worth to just take a taxi from any of the incorrect exits. But... man, I'm cheap here. I went with the Northwest exit. For future reference, THIS IS THE CORRECT EXIT. I chose it because it ran completely opposite to what my guess would have been. I figured I must have tried Southeast last time, and it turns out that was true. Turns out there's a part of the ascent from the station that involves stairs. There's a wheelchair lift, evidently, but I'm guessing I would have had a lot of trouble getting that operating anyways. But a girl coming up behind me offered to help. Again, awesome. Especially awesome because by this point my body had really almost had it.
When I got above-ground, my first thought was "CRAP." Then I realized that I was in the right place. Confirmed when I saw the big Suning building. Started making my way to the bus stop, and the 652 bus came right as I approached. I still had to bang on the door to get them to let me on, and at that point dragged my suitcase on like it was a piece of carrion, first heaving it onto its side, dragging it a few inches, then pulling it upright. Paid for 2 tickets-- one for me and one for my suitcase. It occurred to me that I would have thrown a tantrum if, say, the AC Transit driver demanded a second fare for a suitcase. But this did not faze me when it happened multiple times on my way through Beijing in December, and I didn't give a whit this time either.
The 652 made quick time to Beijing Nan, I got my ass up the escalator, through security, and over to an automatic ticketing machine. Hell if I was going to deal with an actual ticketing agent. It was 5:10. The only ticket available to me (or so it seemed... the machine wasn't very sensitive and I was really unfocused so I couldn't really tell what was going on) was 18:50, which I originally interpreted, incorrectly of course, as 5:50. I figured it out though. I sat around for an hour and a half, reading, kind of comfy, but slowly needing to pee more and more.
I discovered, upon boarding the train, that there was actually enough room for my suitcase in the seat with me. There was no legroom, but at least I could keep it within my sight and not have to drag it any further. So I grabbed the window seat, caused some confusion for the other two fellas in my row when they finally showed up, but no biggie. Stacked my things on top of one another. My ipod has now chosen not to play yet another one of my favorite songs. SIGH. After receiving my free bottle of Tibetan spring water, I just collapsed over my things-- basically wrapped my body around them-- and fell asleep for the ride. I woke up for a few things: the arrival in Tianjin, and several moments when the guy in front of me tried to recline his seat. Usually, whatever, but with my suitcase, he couldn't really get his seat back as far as... he would have liked it? I couldn't tell if he was just a flopper or if he was actively trying to push his seat back farther than I was letting him go. But every time he did whatever he was doing, my suitcase tilted, and world got rocked.
I was in a total daze upon exiting at Tanggu. I was also freezing. I just wanted to get in a taxi and get back to TEDA. The swarm of people grabbing taxis at the exit, though, was insane. In the past, I've either had the mobility to wander farther afield for a taxi, or have had to purchase tickets for another trip and so missed the mass exodus that I was at that moment being swept into. I'm actually not sure what happened. A man asked where I was going. I told him, and assumed that I'd be going with him. But then he asked another group of people where they were going. Then they asked him how much he was charging, and I was like, wait, I can't handle that right now. So I started walking the line, looking for the point where the number of people jumping taxis petered out. Then suddenly another man was in front of me, asking if I was going to TEDA. I'm still not sure how he knew. But he said what sounded like 10 yuan to go, and motioned me into his cab where two other women were sitting. He'd already whisked away my suitcase and I was trying to figure out in my head if I was getting ripped off or not. Well, not, I was saving at least Y1.40. I got in. Was slightly unsure if he knew exactly where he was taking me. We dropped one woman off first, then I got into the front seat and then remembered my thing about sitting in the front seat of Chinese vehicles with no seatbelts. I think I did not fasten my seatbelt. He drove me in to the complex as far as he could, I gave him a 20 just to see if he'd really said 10, and he had. I clambered upstairs, and about 5 and a half hours after touching down in Beijing, I was "home."
Anyways, that's not anything like what I was planning to talk about, which was my return trip. Wednesday night, Sam stayed the night at my place and the two of us hightailed it to the airport at 5:30 Thursday morning. Roads were clear, weather was clear. Continental baggage policy is a little confusing, so I arrived thinking that I had 70 lbs clearance for my just-over-50 lbs suitcase. After being redirected to Delta to check in for my connection flight, I was informed that 50 was the limit. In the past, United and Continental agents have weighed a slightly overweight bag and just thrown the stickers on it, no questions asked. This gentleman suggested that I remove 4 lbs of stuff from my suitcase and carry it on my person. So... In addition to the load of books and laptop gear already in my carry-ons, were now even more books and also a pair of flip-flops. I don't think this backpack was meant to distribute that kind of weight that well (not to mention the satchel on my shoulder), so I actually felt, throughout this whole thing, that I was carrying something heavy. My back does sort of ache now, but that's also probably the whole awkward sleeping positions thing too.
We were a tiny bit late boarding the aircraft in CVG because of the security check, but since it was a small jet with few passengers, it didn't take long once they opened the door. They gave the security spiel and we started taxiing, when suddenly the plane stopped... and sat there. The captain came on to tell us that there was a maintenance issue, and we needed to return to the gate in order to fix it. They were expecting it to take about 10-15 minutes, then 10-15 for de-icing, and then we'd be on our way. I was a bit nervous at this point because I'd booked the flight with a decent window of layover time, but it was by no means very long. 10-15 minutes would have been ok though. Well, two hours later, we finally started taxiing out again. During those two hours, we lost several businessmen who needed to be in important meetings (at least one of them was going off to call in), we lost our first officer who timed out (whatever that means), we lost one of our attendants I think for the same reason, and our captain left the plane to bring coffee from Peet's for everyone. When the coffee came around, I declined, and this was because I was in the middle of what might have been a slight anxiety attack. It was being fueled by my recent paranoia for flight, and given that there was this mysterious "maintenance issue" that was "taking them longer than they thought to fix," there was a bit to keep me going there. Also was the fact that as time went on, the window for me to make my connection was narrowing, and I didn't know what sorts of randomness finding my gate would entail. Also, I just wasn't comfortable. I hadn't had much sleep the night before, and my morning was just very emotional-- leaving the house, the comforts of home. There was also never a moment that I just stepped back and felt, "Yes, I'm packed," or "Yes, I feel ready to go." So sitting in that cold airplane, staring at a collection of bleached dead insects trapped IN the panes of the window, wondering how the hell they got in there and whether or not the fact that they did was in any way a safety hazard, I just started losing my cool. There was a moment that I knew that I would never make my flight, and I started asking the attendant what I should do. One thought was that I could get right off the plane and deal with the agents at CVG and possibly just go home and delay until my folks got back... but she never really had a response for me. Just always "hmmm, I'll let them know" or something equally ineffectual. I asked her again at the hour and 45 minute mark, but was interrupted when they announced the completion of the maintenance work. She was just like "Well, enough said!" I'd been having this internal battle about whether or not to get off the plane, since I knew the other option was to end up having to deal with a missed flight in Newark, where I do not live. But then I figured, what the hell. Better to just see what happens this way. Well, maybe not. But whatever.
In Newark, I went straight to a gate agent to explain the deal, and a man came up behind me saying he had the exact same issue. One solution would have been to cancel and try racing over to JFK to catch a flight that we probably would never have made either. I... opted no for that one. The lady sent us over to Delta ticketing, which, in Newark, is... weird. Anyways, after standing there a long time while they tried to work things out with Continental, I walked off with a ticket for the next day, a hotel voucher, and two meal vouchers, and went looking for my bag. Lucky for me, a guy was JUST pulling it off the carousel as we got there. Unlucky for the other guy, his bag was nowhere to be seen. Also, Continental was giving some bullshit about his ticket. We ended up separating there, and I found out later that he was at the airport for a couple more hours. I got some lunch, which then became my dinner, and then went looking for the hotel shuttle.
The Wyndham Hotel by the airport is actually not too shabby. I was very impressed by their bath products, which were Bath & Body Works True Blue Spa. [Oh MAN I'm getting cold. Still can't see my breath though, which is all right]. Also, most of the people working there were really nice. I got in, got situated, and passed out until nightfall. It did me a lot of good, I think. At some point after I woke up, I realized I was sitting in a king-sized bed. I turned on all the lights, but still things seemed dim. I went for a spin, to get some ice and buy something to drink. I got some guava juice, ate the rest of my corned beef sandwich, and watched Family Guy and CNN. After a bit more time, I went to use my dinner voucher in the hotel restaurant. It was only $7, but after my sandwich, I really just wanted some soup. The split pea was pretty good. I then decided to follow it up with fruit, but the fruit salad didn't sound that great. The other option was melon, which, at this time of year, is cantaloupe. I ordered cantaloupe. I was presented with half of a cantaloupe and a steak knife. This was beyond my wildest dreams. I got it wrapped up and took it back upstairs. Back in the room, I watched a little bit of American Gladiators, and listened to my ipod through the alarm clock, read, wrote, figured out why the internet hadn't been working for me. I showered too, which was nice. Then... more sleep.
Everything went smoothly the next day, if you don't count me carrying way too much stuff everywhere. The passengers were sparse, so there was an empty seat between me and my rowmate. It was actually cramped though because the seat in front of me reclined to the point that if I sat up straight, it would have been on my forehead. So eating was ridiculous. The guy I was sitting with was nice, and before the flight ended he offered me a couple Reese's cups for the road. I finally got to see The Secret Life of Bees, which played on one of my SFO flights, but which I didn't watch then because you have to pay for Delta's headsets. It was good. I teared up.
So, obviously the multi-entry visa worked just as described. I'm presumably all set for the next 120 days. I'm going to be here less than 120 days. That somehow just made me feel a bit better. At baggage claim, I moved most of the books back into my suitcase. Then...
I wasn't 100% sure how I was going to get back to TEDA from the airport. I'd been told in the past that there was a bus, and I was hoping to just... ask a bunch of people and figure out where I could find it. FYI, girls working information at PEK don't really speak English. But one of them directed me out exit 11 to where the shuttle buses were waiting. I went to the end of the line to find the Tianjin stop and ask if there was anything anywhere going to where I was going. I am stating for the record right now, for anyone who googles "Beijing airport bus to TEDA," there is, as of February 7th, 2009, NO BUS from the airport to TEDA, or even Tanggu station. I asked what they suggested, but even if I took the bus to Tianjin, taxiing around there to get either to the light rail or just back to TEDA would have been way more than I was willing to spend. Also, I don't know Tianjin at all. Also, no way was I dragging my suitcase around any place I didn't know.
So... I turned around, and headed down to the Express Train to the subway. I figured I'd be able to make a train to Tanggu and maybe still avoid a population crush. For reference, our plane landed at about 2:45pm.
Took the express to Sanyuanqiao, and decided to just get off there. It seemed like it might be easier to navigate than Dongzhimen (where I got lost and annoyed last time) and would drop off higher up on the 5, and I wanted to get on that as soon as possible. This was not a bad idea, as it turned out, except some random girl cut in front of me to buy a subway ticket (and I HATE that shit) and I had to put all my bags through the x-ray (but one of the attendants helped me) and then one of the girls at the x-ray machine really wanted to see if she could lift my suitcase but never actually asked me-- she just took it from the guy and started carrying it away and I had to walk after her with this look on my face like "do you realize that I'm here to catch a train" and even when I finally got it back from her she didn't say a single word to me, just stared off into space with this vacuous smile on her face. Also, no down escalator in that station.
It was a bit weird on the train, this guy who'd been standing near me on the platform decided to strike up a conversation. He asked if I was coming from abroad, where I'd been, did I spend new years there, was it fun... I was like... this is not information that I feel comfortable divulging on the subway when I have so much stuff to deal with. Then came the typical "are you from the south" and I ended up just telling him that I was from the US. He complimented my Chinese, at which point I noticed a girl laughing. I have no idea either way, but I just had the feeling that she was laughing at this conversation. THEN he went and said that he felt comfortable talking to me? Like... you know when you first see someone...something something something, did I know what he meant? I said I didn't know. Cuz I only caught part of it anyways, and it just didn't seem like something I wanted to agree to. He said that I had a nice smile. And something about teeth showing. I said thanks and just... tried to avoid making eye contact again. I was really not feeling whatever this was that was going on. Anyways, as I was about to exit he started going through his wallet for his card, but, too bad, he didn't have any on him. Oh well! I rushed to transfer. No down escalator here either, but some guy behind me took pity and helped me get my bag down the steps. The train here was packed. It was on this train that I realized that I hate the general pushiness of the population here. Like... the people I'm ok with (for the most part... there have been a few so-called "customer service" agents I've wanted to slap), people you talk to are generally nice. But lordy the population, the pushing, shoving, cutting, yelling, and general disregard for others that you get at ticket counters, on subways, at crosswalks, pisses me off to no end. This is what I typically find myself complaining about at the end of a long day.
The whole subway trip from Sanyuanqiao took maybe an hour? I was so relieved to finally make it to Liujiayao, but was slightly apprehensive because I didn't know which exit to take. Last time I tried this, I took a couple different exits, and by the time I figured out which was the right one, I was completely muddled. The problem this time was that I was only giving myself one shot to get the right one. If it was wrong, the trouble it would take to either get my bags back downstairs, or across the street, or, heaven forbid, up the stairs to a skybridge, across the street, and down back to street level, would be more than it was worth to just take a taxi from any of the incorrect exits. But... man, I'm cheap here. I went with the Northwest exit. For future reference, THIS IS THE CORRECT EXIT. I chose it because it ran completely opposite to what my guess would have been. I figured I must have tried Southeast last time, and it turns out that was true. Turns out there's a part of the ascent from the station that involves stairs. There's a wheelchair lift, evidently, but I'm guessing I would have had a lot of trouble getting that operating anyways. But a girl coming up behind me offered to help. Again, awesome. Especially awesome because by this point my body had really almost had it.
When I got above-ground, my first thought was "CRAP." Then I realized that I was in the right place. Confirmed when I saw the big Suning building. Started making my way to the bus stop, and the 652 bus came right as I approached. I still had to bang on the door to get them to let me on, and at that point dragged my suitcase on like it was a piece of carrion, first heaving it onto its side, dragging it a few inches, then pulling it upright. Paid for 2 tickets-- one for me and one for my suitcase. It occurred to me that I would have thrown a tantrum if, say, the AC Transit driver demanded a second fare for a suitcase. But this did not faze me when it happened multiple times on my way through Beijing in December, and I didn't give a whit this time either.
The 652 made quick time to Beijing Nan, I got my ass up the escalator, through security, and over to an automatic ticketing machine. Hell if I was going to deal with an actual ticketing agent. It was 5:10. The only ticket available to me (or so it seemed... the machine wasn't very sensitive and I was really unfocused so I couldn't really tell what was going on) was 18:50, which I originally interpreted, incorrectly of course, as 5:50. I figured it out though. I sat around for an hour and a half, reading, kind of comfy, but slowly needing to pee more and more.
I discovered, upon boarding the train, that there was actually enough room for my suitcase in the seat with me. There was no legroom, but at least I could keep it within my sight and not have to drag it any further. So I grabbed the window seat, caused some confusion for the other two fellas in my row when they finally showed up, but no biggie. Stacked my things on top of one another. My ipod has now chosen not to play yet another one of my favorite songs. SIGH. After receiving my free bottle of Tibetan spring water, I just collapsed over my things-- basically wrapped my body around them-- and fell asleep for the ride. I woke up for a few things: the arrival in Tianjin, and several moments when the guy in front of me tried to recline his seat. Usually, whatever, but with my suitcase, he couldn't really get his seat back as far as... he would have liked it? I couldn't tell if he was just a flopper or if he was actively trying to push his seat back farther than I was letting him go. But every time he did whatever he was doing, my suitcase tilted, and world got rocked.
I was in a total daze upon exiting at Tanggu. I was also freezing. I just wanted to get in a taxi and get back to TEDA. The swarm of people grabbing taxis at the exit, though, was insane. In the past, I've either had the mobility to wander farther afield for a taxi, or have had to purchase tickets for another trip and so missed the mass exodus that I was at that moment being swept into. I'm actually not sure what happened. A man asked where I was going. I told him, and assumed that I'd be going with him. But then he asked another group of people where they were going. Then they asked him how much he was charging, and I was like, wait, I can't handle that right now. So I started walking the line, looking for the point where the number of people jumping taxis petered out. Then suddenly another man was in front of me, asking if I was going to TEDA. I'm still not sure how he knew. But he said what sounded like 10 yuan to go, and motioned me into his cab where two other women were sitting. He'd already whisked away my suitcase and I was trying to figure out in my head if I was getting ripped off or not. Well, not, I was saving at least Y1.40. I got in. Was slightly unsure if he knew exactly where he was taking me. We dropped one woman off first, then I got into the front seat and then remembered my thing about sitting in the front seat of Chinese vehicles with no seatbelts. I think I did not fasten my seatbelt. He drove me in to the complex as far as he could, I gave him a 20 just to see if he'd really said 10, and he had. I clambered upstairs, and about 5 and a half hours after touching down in Beijing, I was "home."
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Naming conventions
Currently trying to put together an essay for UC San Diego. It's the classic problem though of just how to begin. I spent all afternoon brainstorming and harassing people for their opinions, and I think I know where I'm bound with this topic, but... that first paragraph? Elusive as ever. But in the interest of writing something somewhere, I'm going to put down something I've been giggling about to myself for weeks now.
It's always fun to contemplate the origins of the English names you encounter among friends and students in this country. Generally it's as one would expect, middle school classes where Bobs and James' predominate thanks to a hasty scan of the textbook, and your requisite Lily's and Linas thanks to their resemblance to the pinyin of the person's actual name. Among certain high schoolers you get names like "Killer" and "Wolf King" as either defiant self expression or an in-your-face to the teacher that one rationalizes with "well, at least he's using English." Among others, you meet Kobe Bryant and Alan Iverson. Then, though, you find surprisingly high concentrations of Irises and Fionas, which leads me to my favorite aspect of all this. I know I'm guilty of this too in the name lists that I've drawn up, but you can always tell a little bit about the foreigners who have preceded you in any given place by the trail of English names that they've left in their wake. I remember naming students with Russ one day and hearing a number of suggestions that might have been more en vogue in byegone days. So I was thinking, how would you feel if you walked into a room of Chinese people and discovere that their names were all...
1) a series of preppy names like "blake" and "aspen"
2) post-prep androgyny, like "bryce" and "avery"
3) of the tradition that brought us "k'neisha" and "deshawn"
4) familiars like "jim bob" and "emmylou"
5) the entire cast of the star wars films
6) disney characters
7) characters from prime time TV
8) Arthurian legends
9) from the old testament
10)brought to you by the letter "G"
11) not English
I'd be so happy.
It's always fun to contemplate the origins of the English names you encounter among friends and students in this country. Generally it's as one would expect, middle school classes where Bobs and James' predominate thanks to a hasty scan of the textbook, and your requisite Lily's and Linas thanks to their resemblance to the pinyin of the person's actual name. Among certain high schoolers you get names like "Killer" and "Wolf King" as either defiant self expression or an in-your-face to the teacher that one rationalizes with "well, at least he's using English." Among others, you meet Kobe Bryant and Alan Iverson. Then, though, you find surprisingly high concentrations of Irises and Fionas, which leads me to my favorite aspect of all this. I know I'm guilty of this too in the name lists that I've drawn up, but you can always tell a little bit about the foreigners who have preceded you in any given place by the trail of English names that they've left in their wake. I remember naming students with Russ one day and hearing a number of suggestions that might have been more en vogue in byegone days. So I was thinking, how would you feel if you walked into a room of Chinese people and discovere that their names were all...
1) a series of preppy names like "blake" and "aspen"
2) post-prep androgyny, like "bryce" and "avery"
3) of the tradition that brought us "k'neisha" and "deshawn"
4) familiars like "jim bob" and "emmylou"
5) the entire cast of the star wars films
6) disney characters
7) characters from prime time TV
8) Arthurian legends
9) from the old testament
10)brought to you by the letter "G"
11) not English
I'd be so happy.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Visa clarification
This one's for future reference.
We went to the PSB today so that I could register my presence. We didn't have all (ok, why is spell check telling me that "didn't" is spelled wrong?) the necessary materials, but the officer went ahead and looked over my passport anyways to take a look at my visa. In the process, she answered a question that had been plaguing me for most of August but which no one unofficial could answer.
For the record, my visa's an (F) type multiple entry, valid from September 19, 2008 until the same date in 2009. The duration of each stay is 120 days after entry. What this translates into is permission to enter initially at any point between the valid dates. However, once I've entered once, the 120 day countdown begins. I can exit and re-enter as many times as I want, but only until the 120 days pass. At that point, my visa is considered expired and I would need to either extend it here or otherwise apply for a new one.
The question I'd been asking before was: If one gets a double-or-more entry visa with, say, a 90-day duration, is that 90 days per entry or 90 days total? Well, it's 90 days total, which makes just slightly more sense considering that we are in fact dealing with a system, but just in case there was room to wiggle around in, I wanted to know that it was there.
Anyways, this means that my visa's only really valid until I go home for Christmas, at which point I'll have some more paperwork to muss with. Luckily it looks like things might go more smoothly now that I'm here.
We went to the PSB today so that I could register my presence. We didn't have all (ok, why is spell check telling me that "didn't" is spelled wrong?) the necessary materials, but the officer went ahead and looked over my passport anyways to take a look at my visa. In the process, she answered a question that had been plaguing me for most of August but which no one unofficial could answer.
For the record, my visa's an (F) type multiple entry, valid from September 19, 2008 until the same date in 2009. The duration of each stay is 120 days after entry. What this translates into is permission to enter initially at any point between the valid dates. However, once I've entered once, the 120 day countdown begins. I can exit and re-enter as many times as I want, but only until the 120 days pass. At that point, my visa is considered expired and I would need to either extend it here or otherwise apply for a new one.
The question I'd been asking before was: If one gets a double-or-more entry visa with, say, a 90-day duration, is that 90 days per entry or 90 days total? Well, it's 90 days total, which makes just slightly more sense considering that we are in fact dealing with a system, but just in case there was room to wiggle around in, I wanted to know that it was there.
Anyways, this means that my visa's only really valid until I go home for Christmas, at which point I'll have some more paperwork to muss with. Luckily it looks like things might go more smoothly now that I'm here.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
I have arrived
Turns out that my flight from Newark was only 13 hours.
The embraer, though small, was comfortable enough for me, and I liked not having to sit next to anyone. It wasn't a very full plane though, and the other passengers were mostly jovial suited men. I slept, obviously, and upon arrival at Newark was so dazed that I could barely follow the trail, which bent oddly, that they had set up on the tarmac. There was a man with a few pieces of paper stapled together and so I thought I had better see if he had an opinion about where I should be heading, considering I had no idea. He directed me to a small shuttle bus sitting off to the side. In it, there was a fellow passenger also on the trek to my terminal, so I decided that I must follow her wherever she went, because she was alert and I was not. I assumed she was alert because she was able to ask questions of the driver. The bus took us to another bus, which I also boarded, ever behind this other woman. That bus did arrive at terminal C.
Terminal C at Newark has to have some of the worst airport bathrooms I've encountered. Concourse C at Dayton wasn't that great either, by the way. Earlier this month I had planned on writing an entry exclusively rating the airport bathrooms I've visited recently, but never got around to it. It's on the table though.
Somehow managed to pass 3 hours there. I think a lot of it happened when I leaned over my backpack for a moment and then promptly fell asleep. I woke up just in time for them to announce that everyone needed to form a single-file line to check in again-- so that they could examine our passports.
I'd thought I'd be seated in 40E (smack center of the plane), but somehow last night I guess I managed to change my seat to 24D, which is an aisle seat in the center row. It was bizarre because when choosing seats after booking, nearly all seats were shown as occupied except for a few non-window-non-aisle seats in the back of the plane. When I unsuccessfully attempted online check-in, though, nearly all of the seats at the front of the plane were available, so I tried to switch. After my attempt failed though (they need to check your passport in person, I guess) I went to view my itinerary again and my seat hadn't changed. And then when I went to look at the seating chart again, I got the original mostly-booked chart with my original seat. So I just ignored it and moved on.
Anyways, it wasn't a very full flight so while boarding, some people got spread out a bit so that people could have more room. The center seat in my row was unoccupied, so not only did I get a second blanket, but I also got to take advantage of the tray table. This excited me.
The 777 had personal TVs on all of the seats, and while they were a pain to navigate, there were some interesting things going on. I watched two movies during the flight: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and How to Eat Fried Worms. The first one was all right... I probably would have enjoyed it a lot less if Lee Pace hadn't been in it. However, I would like to recommend right now that everyone go watch How to Eat Fried Worms. I very very vaguely remember this book from either the 3rd or 4th grade... I think it was well-recieved. The movie though is adorably funny. A lot of those "pffffft" laughter (originally typed lafter... hm) moments, and a lot of those snorkly back of the throat chuckles too.
Did a ton of sleeping. Well, not a ton, but I tried to spend most of my time in a sleeping position with the though that it wouldn't hurt to actually fall asleep. I also spent a lot of time staring at the flight show, at the little airplane making its way along our route and all the info about tail wind speeds, altitudes, and outside temperatures.
A few hours in, we started hitting a lot of turbulence. It's probably not something I would have thought too hard about before this past January, but since the wind-shear/Fresno experience, I've become really paranoid about rocking turbulence. I was wondering what on earth was bouncing such a big plane around so much, and, seeing that we were off the northeastern coast of Canada, concluded that it must have something to do with Kyle, maybe. Maybe that was not the case, but it's all I really had in terms of an explanation. Eventually it subsided, but no one else really seemed that bothered. I was getting rolled around in my seat and folks were still standing up for a leisurely stroll to the bathroom, and only one of them got reprimanded at all.
Yes we were off the northeastern coast of Canada. Our route did not take us over North America and the Pacific like I had for some reason envisioned, nor did we go by way of the Atlantic and Europe as a friend had guessed. Instead, we went straight up over the Artctic and came down through Siberia. Somewhere between 6 and 7 hours in, I got up for a bathroom break and took some pictures of the north pole (or somewhere near it) through the window in the emergency exit. Surprisingly, no one had their windows open. A few of us gawked out for a couple minutes, commenting on the sunlight, then I did my business and went to sit down again.
Meals were eh. I don't think I'll be having the salmon again, though it's partly because of a bad cilantro experience. Dinner came with Milanos though, which I saved, as well as a salad topped with smoked salmon that tasted all right. Later there was a beef and swiss sandwich (more like an oblong sparse swiss burger or LaRosas style hoagie) and a little thing of vanilla haagen daaz. Not bad (kind of a weird combination and if you're lactose intolerant you're screwed), butI don't think I will be eating a whole little thing of ice cream in the future either, because I definitely got like heartburn or something from one or both of those things. Dairy? Lastly came breakfast, which was eggs or "dim sum" and caused a lot of confusion among a lot of passengers. Eventually the attendants started asking "eggs or noodles" by way of clarification. I didn't really know which way to go this time, but ended up going with the thing less likely to make me sick later, meaning not-eggs. The noodles did in fact come with some dim sum items: a pork bun that might have been a bbq pork bun though the filling was odd, a piece of shiu mai that had a large chunk of inedible animal part within, and a leaf of baby bok choi. The accompanying fruit tasted kinda like dish detergent. I haven't had sub-par airline melon in years though, so that was a surprise.
Anyways, that was the obligatory critique of the food, though I should probably follow it by stating that I still appreciate having had the opportunity to enjoy it or not during this flight. I love being served food on the airplane.
Landed in Beijing, just as I remembered it. Entry forms are currently the most straightforward and simple iteration that I've experienced and I wasn't made to fret over an irrelevant customs form this time either.
Got my things and came to the realization that not only could anyone there have just picked them up and walked off with them, but that there's even less safeguard against that in domestic baggage claims in the US. In fact, in Dayton or CVG, anyone could really wander in through the front doors, stand by baggage claim, take however much they wanted, and walk back out through the door. Awesome, right?
Found the driver no problem. Initially I thought I'd have the task of getting on a bus to get on another bus to get on a train to get to where I was going. But my host was really cool and sent a driver to collect me. He took my suitcase and my bag and we made our way into the garage, which is also how I remembered it. I got really nostalgic in there actually. Then we sped through a pedestrian walkway and then nearly ended the life of a sprinting child. He really wasn't paying any attention, though perhaps he wasn't planning on actually running into the path of oncoming traffic in the garage. Even though he stopped in time (he was trying to get some people's attention) he gave me, the driver, and probably his whole family a good pump of adrenaline.
We chatted for a bit and then I was told to get some rest. I tried to say something along the lines of how I'd been resting for the past 13 hours, and I think it worked, but lapsed into silence anyway. I watched traffic patterns and roadside foliage and read the street signs. But then I inevitably fell asleep. I woke up once I think while we were going through Tianjin (or did we go straight to TEDA?) and thought that I should remain conscious to see the city, but fell asleep again until right at the end. The area looks nothing like I expected it might, and the place I'm staying is way nicer than I expected it to be. Mrs. L came down to get me and the two of us moved my things into her apartment.
I got a tour of the rooms and then set up my computer to let my parents know that I'd made it. And there's wireless internet. I also took the opportunity to brush my teeth. My dad was really excited that I'd get to eat his friend's food, so obviously I was excited to. Mrs. L boiled up some squash and chicken dumplings for dinner and they were delicious. Doubly delicious because there was also vinegar involved. God I was so happy when I saw that.
Afterwards, Mrs. L insisted on taking me out to get my feet massaged so that I'd be able to sleep tonight. I'm pretty sure that sleep was always on the docket, but I'll admit that I was enticed by this prospect. Well, enticed and extremely wary because I have a very low tolerance for tickling and that's all I hear when someone says "foot massage."
We walked TEDA's long blocks and she pointed out the landmarks to me. I'd forgotten how positively terrifying it is to cross multi-lane roads here. Maybe I was still in a daze, but there were a couple times that I was confident that the way was clear to walk when a car would advance from the least obvious direction with no intention of sparing anyone in its path. Fortunately Mrs. L saw them all coming.
The massage parlor I guess is run by a friend of hers? We sat down in a room in two comfy chairs and took our shoes and socks off. Two girls came in with buckets of very very hot water that I splashed around in until it was cool enough to just submerge my feet. That felt pretty good. Then the girls came back in and gave us hand and arm massages. Not being a massage person really, I liked this part a lot. My arms have been all out of sorts for months and while this probably didn't do anything to help, it did feel good. Um, it was a bit awkward though because at this point I could look my masseuse in the face and just couldn't think of anything to say to her. So I looked at the ceiling or watched the floor and a little cockroach that was traversing it. At intervals, I'd look up and see it on the wall or on the flat screen TV and wasn't as repulsed as I could have been.
Next I was moved onto a stool so that she could do my back. Ah, ok, I did not like this part. Some of it was appealing, yes, but a lot of it was just pain and her beating the crap out of my lower back. I have no doubt that most of my other friends would have enjoyed this segment of the massage, but it wasn't really for me. At one point the other girl turned around and saw me making the gritted-teeth-wide-eyed cringe and I had to turn it into a smile real fast. She asked me if I was ticklish and so I said yes. I didn't want them to know that I'm a wimp.
Last up came the feet. At first I didn't know if I could make it through without an outburst, but it actually went pretty well. For the feet-- not too ticklish though she kept hitting like a pressure point or something on my instep that was uncomfortable. Also included was a leg massage up to the thigh. I'd closed my eyes at some point and it's possible that I dozed off for a while or something.
And then it was over and we caught a taxi back. I showered, checked the blogs, and then wrote this. Sure, not a masterpiece or anything (unfortunately it looks like it's not entertaining enough to double as an e-mail), but at least now I have all the details accrued thus far.
The embraer, though small, was comfortable enough for me, and I liked not having to sit next to anyone. It wasn't a very full plane though, and the other passengers were mostly jovial suited men. I slept, obviously, and upon arrival at Newark was so dazed that I could barely follow the trail, which bent oddly, that they had set up on the tarmac. There was a man with a few pieces of paper stapled together and so I thought I had better see if he had an opinion about where I should be heading, considering I had no idea. He directed me to a small shuttle bus sitting off to the side. In it, there was a fellow passenger also on the trek to my terminal, so I decided that I must follow her wherever she went, because she was alert and I was not. I assumed she was alert because she was able to ask questions of the driver. The bus took us to another bus, which I also boarded, ever behind this other woman. That bus did arrive at terminal C.
Terminal C at Newark has to have some of the worst airport bathrooms I've encountered. Concourse C at Dayton wasn't that great either, by the way. Earlier this month I had planned on writing an entry exclusively rating the airport bathrooms I've visited recently, but never got around to it. It's on the table though.
Somehow managed to pass 3 hours there. I think a lot of it happened when I leaned over my backpack for a moment and then promptly fell asleep. I woke up just in time for them to announce that everyone needed to form a single-file line to check in again-- so that they could examine our passports.
I'd thought I'd be seated in 40E (smack center of the plane), but somehow last night I guess I managed to change my seat to 24D, which is an aisle seat in the center row. It was bizarre because when choosing seats after booking, nearly all seats were shown as occupied except for a few non-window-non-aisle seats in the back of the plane. When I unsuccessfully attempted online check-in, though, nearly all of the seats at the front of the plane were available, so I tried to switch. After my attempt failed though (they need to check your passport in person, I guess) I went to view my itinerary again and my seat hadn't changed. And then when I went to look at the seating chart again, I got the original mostly-booked chart with my original seat. So I just ignored it and moved on.
Anyways, it wasn't a very full flight so while boarding, some people got spread out a bit so that people could have more room. The center seat in my row was unoccupied, so not only did I get a second blanket, but I also got to take advantage of the tray table. This excited me.
The 777 had personal TVs on all of the seats, and while they were a pain to navigate, there were some interesting things going on. I watched two movies during the flight: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and How to Eat Fried Worms. The first one was all right... I probably would have enjoyed it a lot less if Lee Pace hadn't been in it. However, I would like to recommend right now that everyone go watch How to Eat Fried Worms. I very very vaguely remember this book from either the 3rd or 4th grade... I think it was well-recieved. The movie though is adorably funny. A lot of those "pffffft" laughter (originally typed lafter... hm) moments, and a lot of those snorkly back of the throat chuckles too.
Did a ton of sleeping. Well, not a ton, but I tried to spend most of my time in a sleeping position with the though that it wouldn't hurt to actually fall asleep. I also spent a lot of time staring at the flight show, at the little airplane making its way along our route and all the info about tail wind speeds, altitudes, and outside temperatures.
A few hours in, we started hitting a lot of turbulence. It's probably not something I would have thought too hard about before this past January, but since the wind-shear/Fresno experience, I've become really paranoid about rocking turbulence. I was wondering what on earth was bouncing such a big plane around so much, and, seeing that we were off the northeastern coast of Canada, concluded that it must have something to do with Kyle, maybe. Maybe that was not the case, but it's all I really had in terms of an explanation. Eventually it subsided, but no one else really seemed that bothered. I was getting rolled around in my seat and folks were still standing up for a leisurely stroll to the bathroom, and only one of them got reprimanded at all.
Yes we were off the northeastern coast of Canada. Our route did not take us over North America and the Pacific like I had for some reason envisioned, nor did we go by way of the Atlantic and Europe as a friend had guessed. Instead, we went straight up over the Artctic and came down through Siberia. Somewhere between 6 and 7 hours in, I got up for a bathroom break and took some pictures of the north pole (or somewhere near it) through the window in the emergency exit. Surprisingly, no one had their windows open. A few of us gawked out for a couple minutes, commenting on the sunlight, then I did my business and went to sit down again.
Meals were eh. I don't think I'll be having the salmon again, though it's partly because of a bad cilantro experience. Dinner came with Milanos though, which I saved, as well as a salad topped with smoked salmon that tasted all right. Later there was a beef and swiss sandwich (more like an oblong sparse swiss burger or LaRosas style hoagie) and a little thing of vanilla haagen daaz. Not bad (kind of a weird combination and if you're lactose intolerant you're screwed), butI don't think I will be eating a whole little thing of ice cream in the future either, because I definitely got like heartburn or something from one or both of those things. Dairy? Lastly came breakfast, which was eggs or "dim sum" and caused a lot of confusion among a lot of passengers. Eventually the attendants started asking "eggs or noodles" by way of clarification. I didn't really know which way to go this time, but ended up going with the thing less likely to make me sick later, meaning not-eggs. The noodles did in fact come with some dim sum items: a pork bun that might have been a bbq pork bun though the filling was odd, a piece of shiu mai that had a large chunk of inedible animal part within, and a leaf of baby bok choi. The accompanying fruit tasted kinda like dish detergent. I haven't had sub-par airline melon in years though, so that was a surprise.
Anyways, that was the obligatory critique of the food, though I should probably follow it by stating that I still appreciate having had the opportunity to enjoy it or not during this flight. I love being served food on the airplane.
Landed in Beijing, just as I remembered it. Entry forms are currently the most straightforward and simple iteration that I've experienced and I wasn't made to fret over an irrelevant customs form this time either.
Got my things and came to the realization that not only could anyone there have just picked them up and walked off with them, but that there's even less safeguard against that in domestic baggage claims in the US. In fact, in Dayton or CVG, anyone could really wander in through the front doors, stand by baggage claim, take however much they wanted, and walk back out through the door. Awesome, right?
Found the driver no problem. Initially I thought I'd have the task of getting on a bus to get on another bus to get on a train to get to where I was going. But my host was really cool and sent a driver to collect me. He took my suitcase and my bag and we made our way into the garage, which is also how I remembered it. I got really nostalgic in there actually. Then we sped through a pedestrian walkway and then nearly ended the life of a sprinting child. He really wasn't paying any attention, though perhaps he wasn't planning on actually running into the path of oncoming traffic in the garage. Even though he stopped in time (he was trying to get some people's attention) he gave me, the driver, and probably his whole family a good pump of adrenaline.
We chatted for a bit and then I was told to get some rest. I tried to say something along the lines of how I'd been resting for the past 13 hours, and I think it worked, but lapsed into silence anyway. I watched traffic patterns and roadside foliage and read the street signs. But then I inevitably fell asleep. I woke up once I think while we were going through Tianjin (or did we go straight to TEDA?) and thought that I should remain conscious to see the city, but fell asleep again until right at the end. The area looks nothing like I expected it might, and the place I'm staying is way nicer than I expected it to be. Mrs. L came down to get me and the two of us moved my things into her apartment.
I got a tour of the rooms and then set up my computer to let my parents know that I'd made it. And there's wireless internet. I also took the opportunity to brush my teeth. My dad was really excited that I'd get to eat his friend's food, so obviously I was excited to. Mrs. L boiled up some squash and chicken dumplings for dinner and they were delicious. Doubly delicious because there was also vinegar involved. God I was so happy when I saw that.
Afterwards, Mrs. L insisted on taking me out to get my feet massaged so that I'd be able to sleep tonight. I'm pretty sure that sleep was always on the docket, but I'll admit that I was enticed by this prospect. Well, enticed and extremely wary because I have a very low tolerance for tickling and that's all I hear when someone says "foot massage."
We walked TEDA's long blocks and she pointed out the landmarks to me. I'd forgotten how positively terrifying it is to cross multi-lane roads here. Maybe I was still in a daze, but there were a couple times that I was confident that the way was clear to walk when a car would advance from the least obvious direction with no intention of sparing anyone in its path. Fortunately Mrs. L saw them all coming.
The massage parlor I guess is run by a friend of hers? We sat down in a room in two comfy chairs and took our shoes and socks off. Two girls came in with buckets of very very hot water that I splashed around in until it was cool enough to just submerge my feet. That felt pretty good. Then the girls came back in and gave us hand and arm massages. Not being a massage person really, I liked this part a lot. My arms have been all out of sorts for months and while this probably didn't do anything to help, it did feel good. Um, it was a bit awkward though because at this point I could look my masseuse in the face and just couldn't think of anything to say to her. So I looked at the ceiling or watched the floor and a little cockroach that was traversing it. At intervals, I'd look up and see it on the wall or on the flat screen TV and wasn't as repulsed as I could have been.
Next I was moved onto a stool so that she could do my back. Ah, ok, I did not like this part. Some of it was appealing, yes, but a lot of it was just pain and her beating the crap out of my lower back. I have no doubt that most of my other friends would have enjoyed this segment of the massage, but it wasn't really for me. At one point the other girl turned around and saw me making the gritted-teeth-wide-eyed cringe and I had to turn it into a smile real fast. She asked me if I was ticklish and so I said yes. I didn't want them to know that I'm a wimp.
Last up came the feet. At first I didn't know if I could make it through without an outburst, but it actually went pretty well. For the feet-- not too ticklish though she kept hitting like a pressure point or something on my instep that was uncomfortable. Also included was a leg massage up to the thigh. I'd closed my eyes at some point and it's possible that I dozed off for a while or something.
And then it was over and we caught a taxi back. I showered, checked the blogs, and then wrote this. Sure, not a masterpiece or anything (unfortunately it looks like it's not entertaining enough to double as an e-mail), but at least now I have all the details accrued thus far.
Monday, September 29, 2008
FAQ
I’m currently about an hour away from boarding my 6:30am flight out of Dayton airport… I’m feeling good. Also, did you know that if you carry several dollars worth of spare change in your purse, it will get searched by TSA? According to the nice man who had to hand-examine my book, notebook, camera, wallet, ipod, cell phones, and various other paraphernalia, a large cluster of coins creates a dark spot that the x-ray can’t read through. WOW.
Anyways, since I’ve got all this time, I think I shall use it to answer a few Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQs, about this trip.
Q: You’re going to China again?
A: Yes.
Q: How long will you be gone this time?
A: Starting with 3 months. I’m coming back on December 22 (missed too many family holidays the last couple years) and sticking around for the beginning of January. Unless something absolutely ridiculous happens to preclude my return, I’ll then be going back until next summer, June-ish.
Q: Where in China are you going?
A: Tianjin, specifically TEDA, the Tianjin Economic Development Area. Actually I’m only guessing on what that stands for, but if I’m wrong I’m at least very close. And no, I’ve never been there before, so this should be interesting.
Q: Ok, wait… where is that?
A: Haha good question! I thought I knew, but yesterday my parents told me I was wrong. It’s a port city southeast of Beijing, and there’s a high-speed train that connects the two cities with something like a 30 minute ride.
Q: Are you going to be teaching English again?
A: That is not my primary directive, no. Honestly I think I’m more or less past that now, although I do expect that at some point over the next few months I will be helping someone with their English in some capacity. Yeah, ok, now that I think of it, there’s a very good likelihood that they’ll make me teach at the local college.
Q: So what exactly are you going to be doing while you’re there?
A: Uh, as of right now, it’s not entirely… clear. The back-story is that there’s a friend of the family who works with the TEDA Community Service Volunteer Association (they have a website in English!) who thought that I might be able to help her out. So she’s willing to take me on and keep me busy and show me how the organization operates. I expect to be volunteering with some of their projects in the city, but also hopefully getting a little administrative experience too. Most importantly though, I’m going to have a chance to observe and learn and I also get to work my Chinese more than I have before, hopefully picking up a lot more technical vocab.
Q: Hold on, does this mean you STILL don’t have a paying job?
A: That is correct!
Q: You’re not going to get robbed again are you?
A: I’m not really sure why this is so frequently-asked. I’m certainly not planning on it.
Q: What are you taking with you?
A: One medium-large suitcase of random crap that evidently weighs 53 lbs., a frame backpack full of clothes, and old faithful, my trusty backpack.
Q: Can I come visit you?
A: Absolutely! I expect to get an apartment relatively soon, at which point anyone is welcome to crash with me for any period of time. I’m an enthusiastic hostess and will stuff you with delicious foods and take you wherever you want, um, within reason. I recommend coming anytime between March and June.
Q: Are you excited?
A: Yeah, sure. I’m definitely glad to be doing something again and I can’t wait to explore more of China.
I’m flying Continental for this trip and I’m actually looking forward to a nice series of flights. First of all, since I don’t have to switch airlines, my bags are checked all the way through to Beijing. After LAX last time, and DEFINITELY after friggin JFK, I’m glad not to have to drag everything between terminals and wait through check-in a second time. Second, I get to fly in an A seat on an Embraer between Dayton and Newark. This has to be the most comfortable small plane I’ve flown so far, and A is a single-seat row. Bwahahahaha. From Newark, it’s an 18 or so hour non-stop flight to Beijing, middle seat in the middle row on a 777. Oh well, at least I’ll have options?
Is this too much information yet? Well, you can look forward to more. I arrive in China right as they kick into their national holiday! So I guess I’ll just get to hang out for a couple days and get acquainted with the city since there will be absolutely nothing for me to do since everything official shuts down for the week.
Anyways, since I’ve got all this time, I think I shall use it to answer a few Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQs, about this trip.
Q: You’re going to China again?
A: Yes.
Q: How long will you be gone this time?
A: Starting with 3 months. I’m coming back on December 22 (missed too many family holidays the last couple years) and sticking around for the beginning of January. Unless something absolutely ridiculous happens to preclude my return, I’ll then be going back until next summer, June-ish.
Q: Where in China are you going?
A: Tianjin, specifically TEDA, the Tianjin Economic Development Area. Actually I’m only guessing on what that stands for, but if I’m wrong I’m at least very close. And no, I’ve never been there before, so this should be interesting.
Q: Ok, wait… where is that?
A: Haha good question! I thought I knew, but yesterday my parents told me I was wrong. It’s a port city southeast of Beijing, and there’s a high-speed train that connects the two cities with something like a 30 minute ride.
Q: Are you going to be teaching English again?
A: That is not my primary directive, no. Honestly I think I’m more or less past that now, although I do expect that at some point over the next few months I will be helping someone with their English in some capacity. Yeah, ok, now that I think of it, there’s a very good likelihood that they’ll make me teach at the local college.
Q: So what exactly are you going to be doing while you’re there?
A: Uh, as of right now, it’s not entirely… clear. The back-story is that there’s a friend of the family who works with the TEDA Community Service Volunteer Association (they have a website in English!) who thought that I might be able to help her out. So she’s willing to take me on and keep me busy and show me how the organization operates. I expect to be volunteering with some of their projects in the city, but also hopefully getting a little administrative experience too. Most importantly though, I’m going to have a chance to observe and learn and I also get to work my Chinese more than I have before, hopefully picking up a lot more technical vocab.
Q: Hold on, does this mean you STILL don’t have a paying job?
A: That is correct!
Q: You’re not going to get robbed again are you?
A: I’m not really sure why this is so frequently-asked. I’m certainly not planning on it.
Q: What are you taking with you?
A: One medium-large suitcase of random crap that evidently weighs 53 lbs., a frame backpack full of clothes, and old faithful, my trusty backpack.
Q: Can I come visit you?
A: Absolutely! I expect to get an apartment relatively soon, at which point anyone is welcome to crash with me for any period of time. I’m an enthusiastic hostess and will stuff you with delicious foods and take you wherever you want, um, within reason. I recommend coming anytime between March and June.
Q: Are you excited?
A: Yeah, sure. I’m definitely glad to be doing something again and I can’t wait to explore more of China.
I’m flying Continental for this trip and I’m actually looking forward to a nice series of flights. First of all, since I don’t have to switch airlines, my bags are checked all the way through to Beijing. After LAX last time, and DEFINITELY after friggin JFK, I’m glad not to have to drag everything between terminals and wait through check-in a second time. Second, I get to fly in an A seat on an Embraer between Dayton and Newark. This has to be the most comfortable small plane I’ve flown so far, and A is a single-seat row. Bwahahahaha. From Newark, it’s an 18 or so hour non-stop flight to Beijing, middle seat in the middle row on a 777. Oh well, at least I’ll have options?
Is this too much information yet? Well, you can look forward to more. I arrive in China right as they kick into their national holiday! So I guess I’ll just get to hang out for a couple days and get acquainted with the city since there will be absolutely nothing for me to do since everything official shuts down for the week.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
A few observations, only not really cuz this is more of an aural thing
Some background music on CCTV programs and other commercials that were more or less unexpected.
1) Today, during a true-story program about a little jinzi monkey in Wuhan (in which it's breast-fed by a woman), aside from giving the monkey a baby voice for it to "express" it's discomfort during an illness and otherwise emote from the crib or in a car, they finished it off with a Joe Hisaishi number from... Howl's Moving Castle? It's the pretty little piano number.
2) I haven't been paying attention to the visuals, but every once in a while when Alice watches TV, I hear, very distinctly, an instrumental from Pocahontas, which mainly expresses either "Colors of the Wind" or "If I Never Knew You." I would assert that it's the "Farewell" theme, which is the best piece from the soundtrack, but I just heard it so I can't be sure that I'm not just making that up.
3) The oddest one, and therefore the coolest, has to be the commercial (can't remember for what... cell phone? car?) that actually uses music from Glory, and my guess would be that it comes from "Preparations for Battle," if only because that track has the longest sustained repetition of the theme and is very soothing until the end, which actually used to make me sob quite regularly.
There may be others, but those are the ones that came to mind just now. By the way, people who've seen both... isn't there a real similarity between the "If I Never Knew You" theme in the Pocahontas score and the Glory theme in general? I've always thought so. Also, I clearly like both.
1) Today, during a true-story program about a little jinzi monkey in Wuhan (in which it's breast-fed by a woman), aside from giving the monkey a baby voice for it to "express" it's discomfort during an illness and otherwise emote from the crib or in a car, they finished it off with a Joe Hisaishi number from... Howl's Moving Castle? It's the pretty little piano number.
2) I haven't been paying attention to the visuals, but every once in a while when Alice watches TV, I hear, very distinctly, an instrumental from Pocahontas, which mainly expresses either "Colors of the Wind" or "If I Never Knew You." I would assert that it's the "Farewell" theme, which is the best piece from the soundtrack, but I just heard it so I can't be sure that I'm not just making that up.
3) The oddest one, and therefore the coolest, has to be the commercial (can't remember for what... cell phone? car?) that actually uses music from Glory, and my guess would be that it comes from "Preparations for Battle," if only because that track has the longest sustained repetition of the theme and is very soothing until the end, which actually used to make me sob quite regularly.
There may be others, but those are the ones that came to mind just now. By the way, people who've seen both... isn't there a real similarity between the "If I Never Knew You" theme in the Pocahontas score and the Glory theme in general? I've always thought so. Also, I clearly like both.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Where to find dental floss
If ever you find yourself in a Chinese supermart on a quest for dental floss, try saving yourself some time. Rather than stalking the dental care aisles, direct yourself to cutlery and silverware. There you may find what you seek!
Granted, that's where they were keeping the toothpicks, but still...
I had a moment a few days ago where I was a little freaked out by my teeth, so I've also been drinking a bit more milk. I realized that without my regular intake of lattes, ice cream, cheese, and alfredo sauce I am getting zero calcium. So I went for the hi-cal milk, which I got accidentally on a previous trip and is actually awesome because it really tastes like it came out of a cow. China is not really the place for skim drinkers. Anyways, I sometimes get the impression that I'm drinking butter, so that can't be bad.
Got my first high school class in two weeks this afternoon. Alice is out copying our handouts now. We'll see how this first class goes... figured I'd get the lyrics interpretation/descriptive language out of the way the first week, since I don't know what kinds of things I can play on their equipment yet. After this, we'll do pop culture (music, movies, tv), education, admissions-type questions and tests (TOEFL, IELTS), cities and travel, and so on. I thought about the food thing a bit, and I'm thinking now that it might be sorta boring to do an entire class on.
Then the training center tonight, hopefully all the students will show up today. Last time, we were locked out of the room for like 30 min before one of the students busted in with a plastic card. Then a ton of technical difficulties, which I think I can overcome today. So music there, then some more Eternal Sunshine. I'll let you know how that movie goes with them.
I just watched it again to take notes-- I looooove that movie!
Granted, that's where they were keeping the toothpicks, but still...
I had a moment a few days ago where I was a little freaked out by my teeth, so I've also been drinking a bit more milk. I realized that without my regular intake of lattes, ice cream, cheese, and alfredo sauce I am getting zero calcium. So I went for the hi-cal milk, which I got accidentally on a previous trip and is actually awesome because it really tastes like it came out of a cow. China is not really the place for skim drinkers. Anyways, I sometimes get the impression that I'm drinking butter, so that can't be bad.
Got my first high school class in two weeks this afternoon. Alice is out copying our handouts now. We'll see how this first class goes... figured I'd get the lyrics interpretation/descriptive language out of the way the first week, since I don't know what kinds of things I can play on their equipment yet. After this, we'll do pop culture (music, movies, tv), education, admissions-type questions and tests (TOEFL, IELTS), cities and travel, and so on. I thought about the food thing a bit, and I'm thinking now that it might be sorta boring to do an entire class on.
Then the training center tonight, hopefully all the students will show up today. Last time, we were locked out of the room for like 30 min before one of the students busted in with a plastic card. Then a ton of technical difficulties, which I think I can overcome today. So music there, then some more Eternal Sunshine. I'll let you know how that movie goes with them.
I just watched it again to take notes-- I looooove that movie!
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Honest to goodness US citizenship
Quick update: my new passport is at last in my possession. I just signed it and everything! No visa yet though, we're taking care of that on the 8th. Interesting fact though, the photograph seems much larger than I remember. In any case, it's a more recent photo, and looks a lot more like me. Strangely enough, it's also a much more attractive passport photo, which I wouldn't have believed possible. But like, the color of the paper and then the curvy lines running through it give it the illusion of looking nicer than the same photo on other documentation that I also now have.
I was also given my foreign experts certificate, and a certificate for a clean bill of health. Apparently after all that trouble, the docs were about to certify me as a Chinese citizen, but Alice caught that mistake. One good thing that came of this: I now know my blood type. For anyone who'd care to help me remember, it's B. Also, I know that at the time of the exam, I was still disease free and unquarantinable!
I was also given my foreign experts certificate, and a certificate for a clean bill of health. Apparently after all that trouble, the docs were about to certify me as a Chinese citizen, but Alice caught that mistake. One good thing that came of this: I now know my blood type. For anyone who'd care to help me remember, it's B. Also, I know that at the time of the exam, I was still disease free and unquarantinable!
Friday, September 29, 2006
Hohhot and why I was there for 2 days
Convincing the medical staff was a complete no-go from the beginning, first of all. But that came later.
The two hour train ride went well enough. I fell asleep with my mouth wide open, but no flies landed in it, which was fortunate. The other people around me fell asleep too, and since I was window seat, I pretty much built my body into an impermeable fortress around my purse, which had many important documents in it-- not only mine, but Russ's too. And I could just envision everyone's face if I let Russ's passport get stolen too.
The Hohhot train station was insanely crowded. I guess just more so than I expected. Anyways, all the empty taxis were trapped by all these full taxis, so I gave up and walked a block to where things were less crazy. The driver I found was like... Xtreme stunt driver taxi man. I really didn't know how to communicate how impressed I was with his inter-traffic fluency, so I just mentally cheered him on from the backseat. The man had like... raptor-like problem solving ability behind the wheel. It was cool.
By the time I met Alice's friend at the university around 11, she still hadn't been able to locate the place we needed to go. She and her boyfriend had been asking people all morning apparently, TO NO AVAIL. That was initially a capslock mistake, but... i sorta liked the way it looked.
After many a phone call, the two of us asked a taxi driver, who got us there in like 2 min. About here is where I realized I had no control over whatever the situation might be, and that it's really difficult to deal with 3 screaming receptionists. They were like yelling, and I'm not really sure why or what about, but what Meng managed to explain was that no way in hell were they going to accept my documentation and it was going to cost almost twice as much as we thought to get the exam done. Because Russ and I had faxed and e-mailed everything over to save time, we had to subject ourselves to the exact same tests again.
Only Alice forgot to give me the photographs necessary to complete the process. And since they only conduct the exam between 8 and 11:30am, I'd have to wait until the next day anyway. So Alice headed to the train station to meet me, Russ was informed that he'd have to join us, and I went back to the Inner Mongolia U campus with Meng for lunch and a nap.
On the way, I watched her get mowed down by some middle schooler on a bike. I felt sooo bad for this girl, it must have been one of the most inconvenient days ever. But she wasn't injured, thank goodness.
Lunched at Yong He, which sports a Chinese lookalike of the Colonel as its spokesman. Actually, it's not even distinctly Chinese. The only thing that distinguishes it from trademark/copyright/whatever infringement (and not very well) is a slightly different perspective... and well... maybe shorter hair. Had some steamed baozi and tea eggs which all ruled.
Then a quick walk through the campus to the dorms... and it looked really nice-- yesterday was a pretty day. We passed: two white girls outside a shop speaking Chinese, the artificial lake, some nice buildings, a "slope" (a lengthy handicap entrance?), a exploded-looking sewer, and the shower building. Disembuildinged showers (indoors, but still!)... terrifying thought when you consider the winters here.
Nap. Alice showed up around 3 or 4. We went over to her dorm room and met her roommates-- one of whom is getting married in a few days. She was really cool actually, and was busy packing up all of her things. Alice is avoiding going back to school-- she's 3rd year grad so it's possible for her to do that. So we sat around there a while then waded through rush hour traffic to dinner at a Korean restaurant. They definitely served dog at that restaurant. I was really shocked. Speaking of which, I'm really gonna have to get a dog when I get home. You know how some women get baby envy when they see happy little children? I'm that way with nearly every dog I see these days... it's unusual. Afterwards, we went into a little shop, and then checked out a few things that folks were selling on the street.
Actually, Alice's dorm had dorm mothers, whose jobs were to keep non-residents from being in the building. Really lucky about that whole Chinese ancestry thing. But we were still really careful, and I didn't speak while we were walking down the first floor hall or anything. Alice's engaged roommate offered to sleep in a different room so that we wouldn't have to share a bed. Oh, yeah, it's 4 people to a room there (undergrads get 6). The rooms are about the size of a typical cornell single, and they get bunk beds, a carrel of 4 desks, two wardrobes, and some cubbies, plus a little tv above the door that was playing attractive Korean dramas that evening. So yeah, all 3 of Alice's roommates were present. So I'd just finished washing my face in the basin, when there was a knock at the door. Suddenly one of the dorm mom's burst through with her clipboard, saying something like, "Room 424 (my freshman room #... weird, huh? ok, maybe not)... 4 girls, right?" And then she launched into what sounded like a list of rules. There were definitely 5 of us in there, but one of the girls happened to be in bed in some configuration that made her invisible to this woman. I, meanwhile, just went about my business, blowing my nose, with my face hidden, etc. I was thinking of all the possible ways that I could spend the night if she caught me, among them: hanging out at the train station or scaling 4 stories of wall to come in the open window.
Oh, that open window! After we finally got to bed... Ok, well I woke up intermittently to just... scratch. I was really dry and itchy and ugh. But I woke up this morning and found that I was just lying there scratching my cheek. I was like... aw, man... a mosquito bite on my FACE. I went to splash my face in the... sink... room... and noticed not one, but 3 bites on various parts of my face. Additionally, there's an entry-exit wound type situation near my collarbone on the right and the corresponding region by my shoulder blade on my back. Meaning that I was snacked on through my clothes. Then later I discovered another bite on my neck near my jaw and one on my chin also. I look like I have the pox, frankly, it's kinda funny but also uncomfortable.
Popped two pieces of gum into my mouth, and we made it to the... place... around 8. The cashier didn't show up for another 30 min, so that sucked. But yay, I finally got to start my exam around 9ish maybe? This examination... I could compare it maybe to a scavenger hunt or a fraternity house-party... or maybe like one of those elementary school carnivals. An activity in every room! The adventure began in the blood room. I sometimes am not a morning person. Today was such a day, when the first thing I had to do = one of my greatest irrational fears. I was a meeeeess. But after that initial... stab... the rest went ok. The doc who filled out the sheet may have been even less thorough than my practitioner back home, but she was sympathetic to the whole date problemo.
Then to the ECG room, which... well, it's a good thing I'm not really modest or anything, cuz they definitely make you bare a lot more than you usually would. The lady was all like "get on the table and lift up your shirt... oh yeah, and this too" and just... took the liberty of flipping up my bra. I was all like "k..." And whereas the ECG I had in the states had like those little sticky pads... this one used a series of clamps for the ankle and wrist and a cluster of suction cups... at least three of which left a line perfectly circular hickeys along my ribcage.
Then a chest x-ray, which was really really casual. Whereas in the US it was really expensive and involved wardrobe changes and being lost in a hospital, here you could just stand there while the doctor examined someone (waaay cool, by the way), and then it was just like "next!" and then the person leaves through a door, you enter through the door, stand on a platform, breathe while the doc reminds you to do so, and you're done.
Then, the ultrasound. I don't know why we needed an ultrasound. Maybe for parasites? This was maybe the most stressful one, if only because it was in demand and people were lining up and sorta pushy about getting in. But the woman chose me, and proceeded to like... yell... in harsh fast Chinese and I wasn't 100% sure what she was telling me to do. It was over in seconds, and I didn't know if I should take the piece of paper back out with me so I stood there a sec for a clue. The woman kept telling everyone there "she doesn't understand, she doesn't understand," which she may have just figured out herself. At last, the cute doctor next to her turned around and said very sweetly " mei shi" which means that I ain't got no issues, so I left.
That concluded my part of the exam, and Alice & I bused over to the train station (really long, really crowded ride, but thank goodness we had seats) to pick up Russ. Then back for his examination, which went fast, then we were done!
There was a moment where we thought we might have to stay another night to wait for the results, but Mr. Liu said that he'd take care of it the next day since he's going to Hohhot to get our foreign expert cards anyway.
So we went to get noodles. Ever see an episode of Yan Can Cook where he makes noodles? It's like a 3 ring circus, it's so awesome. Anyway, this place Yan Can Cooked the noodles right in front of your face, then covered them in broth and dressed them with the obligatory greens and beef. Very nice. Very mesmerizing. Very hard to hide the fact that you're staring very hard.
Then walk to the bank, past some shops, back to the south gate of the university. Then... DVD adventures! What I've been waiting for! First we checked out the piles some folks were selling in an alley (a really roomy, commercial alley). I didn't get anything, but Alice got 2 Korean drama series' which look as exciting as they do incomprehensible. One of them is the one that I got in Maryland this summer, for about 1/14 of the price. I saw one episode with my mom, with every combination of Chinese Language, Korean Language, Chinese Subtitle, and English Subtitle, and neither of us understood much more than the very basics of it. Alice said she'd explain it to me, which is really really good news. The man even gave her the guarantee that if she didn't like that show, she could call him and she could return it. THEN CAKES. BOUGHT CAKES. I ate two of them already and they ruled. One of them was like... a mini-pie/turnover/pastry. Mmmmm. Then we went into a store and I went crazy go nuts. Bought a bunch of movies and some CDs... got a Chinese CD for free... and free is cool. I really wanted to build more of a collection... I mean, they had The Philadelphia Story, for goodness sakes, but I couldn't really afford many more. I know, right? I'm sort of poor.
Then back to the dorm to pick up a bunch of Alice's belongings. She's like... really good at convenience lying. By this I mean... you have to explain every time to try to remove things from the building. And a woman like yelled at her through the window on our way out trying to figure out why she had so many bags with her. So she just said that she was helping her engaged friend move out. Less trouble for everyone! I was so impressed.
Then pilgrimage to McD's to sit. I'd been wanting to go there since the day before, just because it's the place I go to drown my frustrations in french fries, which I've come to embrace as my favorite food.
We went to the train station at 4, and on our way into the ticket hall, we heard some dude lament that there were no tickets for Baotou left! So a little background: October 1 is their National Day here, it's one of their big holidays, with significance comparable to July 4 for us. Buuut, it's like a weeklong government holiday and entails a lot of travel or family reunifying, so the train was booked. Alice got us some standing tickets, just for me and Russ though, since she had just been ordered by her uncle to stay in town (which was kind of rough of him, but I guess he still didn't know that she wants to take care of her mom here). Then we went to the bus station to see if we could get a bus.
The short answer is no. The crowd at the gate was sooo thick. It was like a mosh pit, and every once in a while you could hear people screaming or like... shouting for everyone to quit pushing. I didn't really feel like insinuating myself into that. Russ, on the other hand, didn't feel like standing on the bus for 2 hrs. So? He asked if we could just make a deal with a taxi driver. Alice estimated that it'd take us $300 to get back to Baotou using this method. Which, I guess, it cheaper than certain articles of clothing. But it was worth it to Russ, so we went in search of a driver, and found one real fast. He already had two other guys paying their way, so we had a nice full car. I think these other two guys might have met on the plane. One of them was a middle aged-ish businessman type. The other was a really young looking guy in a suit with a briefcase full of people's business cards. This one sat next to me. He was real friendly though. I think the other man had offered to help pay his ride or something, but he spent a really long time trying to fix him up with one favor or another. He like... networked like crazy. I think he ended up getting the man a discount at the Baotou Hotel, which I saw tonight is really posh. He also tried telling me about some English teaching job somewhere in... Lanzhou? But ended up just giving me his business card. I'm a little confused as to what I'm supposed to do with it. I don't know if Russ and I now have some social obligation to fulfill. Because he left with a "call me, ok?" sort of statement, but I didn't really get when or why I was supposed to do so. I thought maybe he was offering to show us around, but he's only visiting for a little while I think. So then I thought his company might do something with tours, but no. It does like... consulting? Advertising? Construction? Not sure. So yeah. Impasse. I think I may have fallen asleep on him briefly though. Oops.
Got dropped off at the Baotou Dong station, which is on the waaay other side of town (it's like another 30 min by train from there to the Baotou station, which is in our district). But we cabbed with the businessman and he paid Y15 of the fare (which... may have been less than I thought he would, but whatev). This cab driver. Whoa. It's like he's not from this town. Man clearly subscribes to the anything-goes school of cab-driving. Like holy shit. So far, it's been my only experience in this town where a driver willfully crosses into oncoming traffic for extended periods of time. And it wasn't exactly like oncoming traffic was clear. I mean, it was still coming. But really, it was up to them to rearrange themselves... our driver wasn't going back over until he felt like it. Even on the right side of the road, he was like Matrix driver. Bullet-time driver. Moses-parting-the-Red-Sea driver. It was intense. And it was like he was too good for any single lane. He's all living between the lanes. Also, he was driving really fast for a town where no one utilizes reflective tape-- especially not bounding pedestrians.
Made it home! Mr. Liu stopped by to pick up my last remaining passport photo for Hohhot tomorrow. We walked over to his office at the training center to get the ATM card and credit card that arrived the other day concurrent with my new passport (best mail call ever). There was some waiting involved since the building was locked. He went to find the key, and I just stood around. Lucky I did cuz the key came riding up on a bike with this man who asked me what I was doing standing around there. Alice is coming back to town tonight after all, though she'll probably stay at home. Showered at last, and I really needed it by then, cuz whoa. And I don't mind telling you that.
And my face itches.
The two hour train ride went well enough. I fell asleep with my mouth wide open, but no flies landed in it, which was fortunate. The other people around me fell asleep too, and since I was window seat, I pretty much built my body into an impermeable fortress around my purse, which had many important documents in it-- not only mine, but Russ's too. And I could just envision everyone's face if I let Russ's passport get stolen too.
The Hohhot train station was insanely crowded. I guess just more so than I expected. Anyways, all the empty taxis were trapped by all these full taxis, so I gave up and walked a block to where things were less crazy. The driver I found was like... Xtreme stunt driver taxi man. I really didn't know how to communicate how impressed I was with his inter-traffic fluency, so I just mentally cheered him on from the backseat. The man had like... raptor-like problem solving ability behind the wheel. It was cool.
By the time I met Alice's friend at the university around 11, she still hadn't been able to locate the place we needed to go. She and her boyfriend had been asking people all morning apparently, TO NO AVAIL. That was initially a capslock mistake, but... i sorta liked the way it looked.
After many a phone call, the two of us asked a taxi driver, who got us there in like 2 min. About here is where I realized I had no control over whatever the situation might be, and that it's really difficult to deal with 3 screaming receptionists. They were like yelling, and I'm not really sure why or what about, but what Meng managed to explain was that no way in hell were they going to accept my documentation and it was going to cost almost twice as much as we thought to get the exam done. Because Russ and I had faxed and e-mailed everything over to save time, we had to subject ourselves to the exact same tests again.
Only Alice forgot to give me the photographs necessary to complete the process. And since they only conduct the exam between 8 and 11:30am, I'd have to wait until the next day anyway. So Alice headed to the train station to meet me, Russ was informed that he'd have to join us, and I went back to the Inner Mongolia U campus with Meng for lunch and a nap.
On the way, I watched her get mowed down by some middle schooler on a bike. I felt sooo bad for this girl, it must have been one of the most inconvenient days ever. But she wasn't injured, thank goodness.
Lunched at Yong He, which sports a Chinese lookalike of the Colonel as its spokesman. Actually, it's not even distinctly Chinese. The only thing that distinguishes it from trademark/copyright/whatever infringement (and not very well) is a slightly different perspective... and well... maybe shorter hair. Had some steamed baozi and tea eggs which all ruled.
Then a quick walk through the campus to the dorms... and it looked really nice-- yesterday was a pretty day. We passed: two white girls outside a shop speaking Chinese, the artificial lake, some nice buildings, a "slope" (a lengthy handicap entrance?), a exploded-looking sewer, and the shower building. Disembuildinged showers (indoors, but still!)... terrifying thought when you consider the winters here.
Nap. Alice showed up around 3 or 4. We went over to her dorm room and met her roommates-- one of whom is getting married in a few days. She was really cool actually, and was busy packing up all of her things. Alice is avoiding going back to school-- she's 3rd year grad so it's possible for her to do that. So we sat around there a while then waded through rush hour traffic to dinner at a Korean restaurant. They definitely served dog at that restaurant. I was really shocked. Speaking of which, I'm really gonna have to get a dog when I get home. You know how some women get baby envy when they see happy little children? I'm that way with nearly every dog I see these days... it's unusual. Afterwards, we went into a little shop, and then checked out a few things that folks were selling on the street.
Actually, Alice's dorm had dorm mothers, whose jobs were to keep non-residents from being in the building. Really lucky about that whole Chinese ancestry thing. But we were still really careful, and I didn't speak while we were walking down the first floor hall or anything. Alice's engaged roommate offered to sleep in a different room so that we wouldn't have to share a bed. Oh, yeah, it's 4 people to a room there (undergrads get 6). The rooms are about the size of a typical cornell single, and they get bunk beds, a carrel of 4 desks, two wardrobes, and some cubbies, plus a little tv above the door that was playing attractive Korean dramas that evening. So yeah, all 3 of Alice's roommates were present. So I'd just finished washing my face in the basin, when there was a knock at the door. Suddenly one of the dorm mom's burst through with her clipboard, saying something like, "Room 424 (my freshman room #... weird, huh? ok, maybe not)... 4 girls, right?" And then she launched into what sounded like a list of rules. There were definitely 5 of us in there, but one of the girls happened to be in bed in some configuration that made her invisible to this woman. I, meanwhile, just went about my business, blowing my nose, with my face hidden, etc. I was thinking of all the possible ways that I could spend the night if she caught me, among them: hanging out at the train station or scaling 4 stories of wall to come in the open window.
Oh, that open window! After we finally got to bed... Ok, well I woke up intermittently to just... scratch. I was really dry and itchy and ugh. But I woke up this morning and found that I was just lying there scratching my cheek. I was like... aw, man... a mosquito bite on my FACE. I went to splash my face in the... sink... room... and noticed not one, but 3 bites on various parts of my face. Additionally, there's an entry-exit wound type situation near my collarbone on the right and the corresponding region by my shoulder blade on my back. Meaning that I was snacked on through my clothes. Then later I discovered another bite on my neck near my jaw and one on my chin also. I look like I have the pox, frankly, it's kinda funny but also uncomfortable.
Popped two pieces of gum into my mouth, and we made it to the... place... around 8. The cashier didn't show up for another 30 min, so that sucked. But yay, I finally got to start my exam around 9ish maybe? This examination... I could compare it maybe to a scavenger hunt or a fraternity house-party... or maybe like one of those elementary school carnivals. An activity in every room! The adventure began in the blood room. I sometimes am not a morning person. Today was such a day, when the first thing I had to do = one of my greatest irrational fears. I was a meeeeess. But after that initial... stab... the rest went ok. The doc who filled out the sheet may have been even less thorough than my practitioner back home, but she was sympathetic to the whole date problemo.
Then to the ECG room, which... well, it's a good thing I'm not really modest or anything, cuz they definitely make you bare a lot more than you usually would. The lady was all like "get on the table and lift up your shirt... oh yeah, and this too" and just... took the liberty of flipping up my bra. I was all like "k..." And whereas the ECG I had in the states had like those little sticky pads... this one used a series of clamps for the ankle and wrist and a cluster of suction cups... at least three of which left a line perfectly circular hickeys along my ribcage.
Then a chest x-ray, which was really really casual. Whereas in the US it was really expensive and involved wardrobe changes and being lost in a hospital, here you could just stand there while the doctor examined someone (waaay cool, by the way), and then it was just like "next!" and then the person leaves through a door, you enter through the door, stand on a platform, breathe while the doc reminds you to do so, and you're done.
Then, the ultrasound. I don't know why we needed an ultrasound. Maybe for parasites? This was maybe the most stressful one, if only because it was in demand and people were lining up and sorta pushy about getting in. But the woman chose me, and proceeded to like... yell... in harsh fast Chinese and I wasn't 100% sure what she was telling me to do. It was over in seconds, and I didn't know if I should take the piece of paper back out with me so I stood there a sec for a clue. The woman kept telling everyone there "she doesn't understand, she doesn't understand," which she may have just figured out herself. At last, the cute doctor next to her turned around and said very sweetly " mei shi" which means that I ain't got no issues, so I left.
That concluded my part of the exam, and Alice & I bused over to the train station (really long, really crowded ride, but thank goodness we had seats) to pick up Russ. Then back for his examination, which went fast, then we were done!
There was a moment where we thought we might have to stay another night to wait for the results, but Mr. Liu said that he'd take care of it the next day since he's going to Hohhot to get our foreign expert cards anyway.
So we went to get noodles. Ever see an episode of Yan Can Cook where he makes noodles? It's like a 3 ring circus, it's so awesome. Anyway, this place Yan Can Cooked the noodles right in front of your face, then covered them in broth and dressed them with the obligatory greens and beef. Very nice. Very mesmerizing. Very hard to hide the fact that you're staring very hard.
Then walk to the bank, past some shops, back to the south gate of the university. Then... DVD adventures! What I've been waiting for! First we checked out the piles some folks were selling in an alley (a really roomy, commercial alley). I didn't get anything, but Alice got 2 Korean drama series' which look as exciting as they do incomprehensible. One of them is the one that I got in Maryland this summer, for about 1/14 of the price. I saw one episode with my mom, with every combination of Chinese Language, Korean Language, Chinese Subtitle, and English Subtitle, and neither of us understood much more than the very basics of it. Alice said she'd explain it to me, which is really really good news. The man even gave her the guarantee that if she didn't like that show, she could call him and she could return it. THEN CAKES. BOUGHT CAKES. I ate two of them already and they ruled. One of them was like... a mini-pie/turnover/pastry. Mmmmm. Then we went into a store and I went crazy go nuts. Bought a bunch of movies and some CDs... got a Chinese CD for free... and free is cool. I really wanted to build more of a collection... I mean, they had The Philadelphia Story, for goodness sakes, but I couldn't really afford many more. I know, right? I'm sort of poor.
Then back to the dorm to pick up a bunch of Alice's belongings. She's like... really good at convenience lying. By this I mean... you have to explain every time to try to remove things from the building. And a woman like yelled at her through the window on our way out trying to figure out why she had so many bags with her. So she just said that she was helping her engaged friend move out. Less trouble for everyone! I was so impressed.
Then pilgrimage to McD's to sit. I'd been wanting to go there since the day before, just because it's the place I go to drown my frustrations in french fries, which I've come to embrace as my favorite food.
We went to the train station at 4, and on our way into the ticket hall, we heard some dude lament that there were no tickets for Baotou left! So a little background: October 1 is their National Day here, it's one of their big holidays, with significance comparable to July 4 for us. Buuut, it's like a weeklong government holiday and entails a lot of travel or family reunifying, so the train was booked. Alice got us some standing tickets, just for me and Russ though, since she had just been ordered by her uncle to stay in town (which was kind of rough of him, but I guess he still didn't know that she wants to take care of her mom here). Then we went to the bus station to see if we could get a bus.
The short answer is no. The crowd at the gate was sooo thick. It was like a mosh pit, and every once in a while you could hear people screaming or like... shouting for everyone to quit pushing. I didn't really feel like insinuating myself into that. Russ, on the other hand, didn't feel like standing on the bus for 2 hrs. So? He asked if we could just make a deal with a taxi driver. Alice estimated that it'd take us $300 to get back to Baotou using this method. Which, I guess, it cheaper than certain articles of clothing. But it was worth it to Russ, so we went in search of a driver, and found one real fast. He already had two other guys paying their way, so we had a nice full car. I think these other two guys might have met on the plane. One of them was a middle aged-ish businessman type. The other was a really young looking guy in a suit with a briefcase full of people's business cards. This one sat next to me. He was real friendly though. I think the other man had offered to help pay his ride or something, but he spent a really long time trying to fix him up with one favor or another. He like... networked like crazy. I think he ended up getting the man a discount at the Baotou Hotel, which I saw tonight is really posh. He also tried telling me about some English teaching job somewhere in... Lanzhou? But ended up just giving me his business card. I'm a little confused as to what I'm supposed to do with it. I don't know if Russ and I now have some social obligation to fulfill. Because he left with a "call me, ok?" sort of statement, but I didn't really get when or why I was supposed to do so. I thought maybe he was offering to show us around, but he's only visiting for a little while I think. So then I thought his company might do something with tours, but no. It does like... consulting? Advertising? Construction? Not sure. So yeah. Impasse. I think I may have fallen asleep on him briefly though. Oops.
Got dropped off at the Baotou Dong station, which is on the waaay other side of town (it's like another 30 min by train from there to the Baotou station, which is in our district). But we cabbed with the businessman and he paid Y15 of the fare (which... may have been less than I thought he would, but whatev). This cab driver. Whoa. It's like he's not from this town. Man clearly subscribes to the anything-goes school of cab-driving. Like holy shit. So far, it's been my only experience in this town where a driver willfully crosses into oncoming traffic for extended periods of time. And it wasn't exactly like oncoming traffic was clear. I mean, it was still coming. But really, it was up to them to rearrange themselves... our driver wasn't going back over until he felt like it. Even on the right side of the road, he was like Matrix driver. Bullet-time driver. Moses-parting-the-Red-Sea driver. It was intense. And it was like he was too good for any single lane. He's all living between the lanes. Also, he was driving really fast for a town where no one utilizes reflective tape-- especially not bounding pedestrians.
Made it home! Mr. Liu stopped by to pick up my last remaining passport photo for Hohhot tomorrow. We walked over to his office at the training center to get the ATM card and credit card that arrived the other day concurrent with my new passport (best mail call ever). There was some waiting involved since the building was locked. He went to find the key, and I just stood around. Lucky I did cuz the key came riding up on a bike with this man who asked me what I was doing standing around there. Alice is coming back to town tonight after all, though she'll probably stay at home. Showered at last, and I really needed it by then, cuz whoa. And I don't mind telling you that.
And my face itches.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Yay more hoops!
Aaaargh, guess what wonderful new trial has sprung up on me? This one was most unexpected.
Alice called me earlier today to ask if I had my medical exam form with me, to which I said yes, because I brought copies of every damn thing with me, thank goodness.
Hours went by.
I got a call from her just now saying that her uncle told her that my med for was outdated. And I'm like... but I just got it done in July. Everyone knows it was done in July, because we had to wait until July to get it all in. I was perplexed, because all the sheets from the various tests I took read July 24 and July 26. Then I was like "shit" because she was right. Next to his signature, for whatever mysterious reasons, he'd written 1/28/06. I very nearly fell over.
So I had to call Liu himself. He said that because the government is very touchy on the truth of documents like this, I will have to go to HOHHOT and have yet another examination!
This upset me for several reasons. The first of which being the chase that resulted in my exam form getting filled out the first time. The second of which being the massive charges these cost my uninsured body this summer. The third being the desire to not have my routine interrupted again. The fourth being the face that I might not be able to explain my way out of it. Aaaah, I'm making noises but I don't know how to type them!
So I started doing my laundry.
But ok, here's another thing. Who knew that this med form would be so important? I mean, Russ didn't even bring a copy with him. No one explained to me that this would become a legal document as important as my passport. No, I was under the impression that it was just a random string of red tape that I'd have to deal with in order to get my visa. Blah. That's it. I mean, my doc wasn't aware of the importance either. It's just like... never was it brought to my attention during this entire process, until TODAY, that anyone actually cared about the information of this form.
And one slip of the hand, and it's several months out of date. My only theories... maybe it was too early? I mean, the doc was running the office himsellf that day and I showed up first thing and wasn't the only person trying to get his attention. But I was looking at the paper, and I think that what actually happened was this. He wrote 7, but with a hook on the end. And the middle bar connecting the hook with the stem didn't copy. But having a stem that looked like a / just led him to continue writing the date without a /. Why do I think this? Because, just with the hook and the / it looks sorta like a 7. And also, when writing dates, his 1's tended to be longer. Unfortunately, he didn't have a reason to write any 7's on the rest of the form, so there's no confirmation to be had.
I'm giving my mom a call in a few hours, maybe she can chew him out a bit and get a few future exams for free for m'self.
I mean, really.
Alice called me earlier today to ask if I had my medical exam form with me, to which I said yes, because I brought copies of every damn thing with me, thank goodness.
Hours went by.
I got a call from her just now saying that her uncle told her that my med for was outdated. And I'm like... but I just got it done in July. Everyone knows it was done in July, because we had to wait until July to get it all in. I was perplexed, because all the sheets from the various tests I took read July 24 and July 26. Then I was like "shit" because she was right. Next to his signature, for whatever mysterious reasons, he'd written 1/28/06. I very nearly fell over.
So I had to call Liu himself. He said that because the government is very touchy on the truth of documents like this, I will have to go to HOHHOT and have yet another examination!
This upset me for several reasons. The first of which being the chase that resulted in my exam form getting filled out the first time. The second of which being the massive charges these cost my uninsured body this summer. The third being the desire to not have my routine interrupted again. The fourth being the face that I might not be able to explain my way out of it. Aaaah, I'm making noises but I don't know how to type them!
So I started doing my laundry.
But ok, here's another thing. Who knew that this med form would be so important? I mean, Russ didn't even bring a copy with him. No one explained to me that this would become a legal document as important as my passport. No, I was under the impression that it was just a random string of red tape that I'd have to deal with in order to get my visa. Blah. That's it. I mean, my doc wasn't aware of the importance either. It's just like... never was it brought to my attention during this entire process, until TODAY, that anyone actually cared about the information of this form.
And one slip of the hand, and it's several months out of date. My only theories... maybe it was too early? I mean, the doc was running the office himsellf that day and I showed up first thing and wasn't the only person trying to get his attention. But I was looking at the paper, and I think that what actually happened was this. He wrote 7, but with a hook on the end. And the middle bar connecting the hook with the stem didn't copy. But having a stem that looked like a / just led him to continue writing the date without a /. Why do I think this? Because, just with the hook and the / it looks sorta like a 7. And also, when writing dates, his 1's tended to be longer. Unfortunately, he didn't have a reason to write any 7's on the rest of the form, so there's no confirmation to be had.
I'm giving my mom a call in a few hours, maybe she can chew him out a bit and get a few future exams for free for m'self.
I mean, really.
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