Life is good

Okay, so I have been in Xian, China about a week. The weather is better here and much more pleasant than Beijing. The people? Verdict is still out. But I believe the little kids are calling me something along the lines of "black devil". I can't make out the words. Anyway, I am living in a room with 4 other college age girls. Two who are in a sorority, one who is quiet and the other one who feels like an outcast. I am sitting back watching all these personalities try to navigate their way around each other as well as in the country. It's funny. Because on the first day, I made a bet with a guy to see who would be the first to break down due to culture shock. So far nobody, but the bitchin and moaning is beginning to come out. Two people have already had it out (my bet and her roommate) So, we have another bet going on. My Chinese is improving and I am feeling good about that. It's just I need practice speaking with someone. You know, just conversation. Tomorrow I am going to see a Faye Wong concert, which should be interesting. It will be like being a fly in the middle of butter cream. If I have any problems with being stared at I will have to get over it real quick. But maybe luck will have it out for me and there will be other foreigners there. As for other things about China, it’s smoggy as hell, I haven't seen the sun in a week. It's dusty from all the smog. The bathrooms are rank as hell. And people here need to USE mouthwash in a serious way. OH MY GOD, have I encountered some of the foulest breath in my life. I mean this is breath that is beyond halitosis. It's shit that gives me a headache on contact. It's shit that would scare Satan. It's that bad. Otherwise, the food is great. I am scared to go back to Taiwan and eat the food there after eating it here. Cause it's that good. Other good things about China are the fact they put their bootlegs on DVD’s and they cost about a $1. And Yes I have plenty. It's almost better than going to the movies. And music here is less than a dollar. Life is good.

Lookie, Lookie

Okay, so anyway, I am having problems checking my web log in China, I am assuming that it's being fire walled. Dammed Commies.:) So, if I seem redundant in my regurgitation of my life events, forgive me. So, I took a cab over to a shopping area, called Yan Yung. It’s basically a flea market with all kinds of knock off shit. Here's the problem with shopping in china. Everyone had the same shit to sell, so eventually after 5 minutes you have sensory overload because you keep seeing the same old stuff. And forget telling the boss that you can get it for a cheaper price because they will gladly tell you to go back. So, while I’m walking around, I get assaulted a bunch of times, with "lookie, lookie. Lady you want watch?" 'I got bags, lady' I even had a midget come up to me and ask for money. He didn't look like he was starving or anything. So, I took the train back to the hotel. The train in Shanghai is ten times smaller than Taipei, and funkier. Hello can we say ban? I got off and get back to the hotel. Off to catch my train to Beijing. The train ride turned out to be rather romantic in my mind. The room I stayed in was for four persons. Luckily I had only one person. He was very kind in wanting to help me put my suitcase on top. But you know me, too damm heavy. So, for 12 hours, I rode in peaceful silence. I decided to journey to dinning car. I met two Indians from Punjab who lived in Canada who were here to import something. I was seated across from Mr. Slurpie who sounded like he hadn't been fed since, the last Chinese revolution. Once I got to eating and matching his slurping and letting out a good ole Taiwanese belch, he got the message.
I got into Beijing; I had to find a taxi.....to be continued......

Finding the way

I can't remember where I left off in Shanghai. The internet service here is slow. It’s supposed to be broadband but it's more like dialup. I can forget playing spades; it would take to long to refresh itself. So, on my full day in Shanghai, I decided to venture over to the Jewish quarters to see the synagogue called the Ohsel Moshie synagogue. Trying to get there by cab was a no-go; the taxi driver didn't know how to get there, so basically he kicked me out. Luckily I didn't have to pay him. So, I decided to use the bus. While trying to figure out, how to take the bus, I met a really nice brother from Baltimore. We sat for a moment and swapped stories on how living overseas has been for both of us. Of course, we had a crowd gather around us because we were black, and their aren't many blacks in China. Or maybe because we are just foreigners and that’s different for them. I didn't really care given that I deal with that everyday in Taiwan. In fact, I expected the Chinese to stare at me more, but they look and then go on their business. Unlike the Taiwanese where they stare as if they are going to be able to tell your whole life story by your actions. I have had soo many staring contests in Taiwan. They always end in a hello, but its fun to see who will smile first. Here in China, it's like they don't give a damm. I have yet to encounter any xenophobia, unlike the Taiwanese at times, but give it time, it will show it's asre. So, the brother and I are yapping away and some guy actually wanted to take a picture with us. Since we both speak a decent amount of Chinese, we tried to get him to pay us. That was a no go. But fun to see his reaction. The brother and I talked about being black in a foreign country, and both agreed that it's not that big of a problem or hurdle to over come. In fact, we both agreed that being black in America, and having to deal with its racism and such actually prepared us to be able to handle the aspects of living overseas. In fact, I believe that the second class mentality and slave mentality that we tend to have and pass on, has enabled me to be able to live a very good and blessed life and have great experiences in China, Japan, and Taiwan. I have no illusions about how they are to treat me, and no expectation. It also helps that I have been the only black in many of my educational experiences, and life experiences. It has enabled me to be able to see people as people and not have an expectation of them as to how we should interact. It's a bit of irony because you see many whites, especially males, struggle with this when they come over. The little everyday things you would even encounter at home become blown out of proportion. And I am not talking about attitudes they have because they are living outside their culture. Some of those are warranted, but I am talking about attitude about their views on the culture they live in and the illusions they harbor. This is one good thing about living overseas. Your illusions about life, the longer you live overseas become nothing as you begin to see how life is the same anywhere you go. It's a Buddhist belief that life is just an illusion, given that everything changes.
Once I got on the bus. Beware there are two buses to take. One has a star-meaning aircon and the other doesn’t. Take the air con bus. Keeping with current Chinese tradition-it's loud on the bus also. You'd think that these people are hard of hearing, Nope they just like noise, lots of it. So, it's good to get a CD player with some dj-like headphones and play lots of classical music to drown out the noise. Eventually you get used to it, but I still crave peace. In fact, I value it more after having my senses assaulted on a daily basis. All that noise really can jar the nervous system. But I have also, learned to turn it all out, and keep my mind on nothing. Gotta have lots of white noise in your head on some days or else you will go cookoo for coco puffs.

Every journey starts with 1000 miles of red tape…..

Hello everyone, I am back online. Well, that only applies if anyone out there is visiting my blog. :) Let's hope so. Things should really be getting better. After leaving the States, I came back to Taiwan, and felt like I had been hit with the culture shock stick. I couldn't get to grounded, as I zipped around town trying to get things done. It hit me as I arrived that my trip to China a week early was a waste of money because I could have applied for a 14 day visitor visa and stayed in Taiwan. Oh well, then I also realized that I am paying for two months on an apartment that I wont be using. God!! I could have placed all my stuff in storage at Bike Farm. ARGGGHHH!! It seems as if I have a leak tied to the relation of money somewhere in my spiritual area. Anyway, I got on my plane to China, and 1st I had to stop in HK. I thought that would be able to get a visa and then hop on the plane. NOT. I found out that I had to stay overnight and then pay for a hotel. So that was more money out of pocket as well as a lost day in Hong Kong. I think I have been in Hong Kong about 9 times now. So, I stayed in the hotel, got some Popeye’s at the airport,(don't eat it ) and relaxed. Then I got up and got my visa the next day. What was so frustrating about this whole trip was the attitude I was getting from the women. I know I was jet lagged and full of attitude myself, but these women seem to be on life long PMS. And it didn't quit when I got to Shanghai. I was like okay; I am not spending 2 months of my life dealing with PMS. So, I just prayed on it and chilled.

The next day which was the full day I had in Shanghai, I walked around,which is the best way to see any new place you are in. I get that you can really walk all over Shanghai to see what most of it is. To me, Shanghai is like Hong Kong, just smoggy as hell. What Beijing has as big, Shanghai has tall. It probably will be similar to HK in 15 years. The only thing I noticed was that not everyone here was attached to a cell phone. People don't stare as much and they aren't as friendly as you would be told to believe. In fact, you get 'hello' a lot, but that is about it. I only found one place that was worthy of shopping. On Nan(4)jing(2)dong(1)lu(4)and sha(4)shi(4) lu there was a street with junk goods and knock off North Face stuff. They were very aggressive about bargaining and I guess that's the norm. On Nanjing Dong lu, a main street in Shanghai, has a lot of Western things. It occurred to me that the more globalized we become, the less of our uniqueness is available. It's a shame, because then traveling will be pointless. I think the point of traveling, is to be able to see things that one would not be able to see, eat, or buy in one's home country. But that's not the case anymore, as I see the same fashions and styles here as I have in Taiwan, and America. You would have to really look deep to see what is left of what is 'China' or 'Shanghai' as it seems there is the trend to be like 'Western'. I have a couple of hours to spend in Shanghai and will be trying to squeeze in more stuff. Then it's off to Beijing.
Oh if you wonder how my Chinese is holding up? Its gone! 2 weeks in the states seems to have erased all that I learned and reading here! I feel illiterate. Oh well, time to study hard!!!