迷失的老美

Yesterday was good. Went to the great wall at 八达岭 and played tourist for a while. I have much more respect for the wall than I ever did before. It is massive, steep, and not easy to climb at most times. The paving stones are all well worn, and if it was raining, it would have been impossible. The section were were on was about 3km long and is one of the most important strategic points to the security of Beijing. Take the pass and you control the North Gate to the city. I ran for about a km until I just couldnt go any further and then walked another half until I was spent. I forgot to charge the phone/camera the night before and only had 3 bars left, so, not too many pics, and I had to conserve battery for a call in case I got seperated from the group. 八达岭 is about 75km away from Beijing, and a cab ride home would have been painfully expensive. It was pretty touristy, but this was a good section of the wall to see. Rather restored though. The pics were pretty pointless anyways because of the fog, but here are a few that turned out okish

looking back

looking over the side at the scenery

It was too crowded and too much traffic at the really good spots to stop and take pics, and I was being careful with my stuff to avoid pickpockets, so, it was a hassle to stop, dig out my camera and take pics. Also, I was more focused on going up than I was on stopping for pics.

After the great wall venture, we drove for an hour or so to grab lunch at a farmers house. It was a pretty typical lunch and I thought it was pretty decent. Nothing compared to the buffets we got in Taiwan, but it was good. This was followed by our forced labor of picking fruit at the orchard. The fruit was free, and it was good, but damn, it was hot. And the bugs were everywhere. Glad I wore jeans for the trip.. sucked on the wall, but paid off at the orchard.

oh yea, and today is my birthday.. 21 now. Doesnt mean all that much here

Last night I ordered food again; I am getting much better at it. Ordered a “Japanese Style” Hamburger. It was odd to say the least. But, I got them to hold the mayo, and add on toppings that I liked. It had no bun, and it didnt taste like beef, but it was still good for 18 kuai at 1 in the morning. Eating a burger with chopsticks… first time for everything I guess.

It’s been 5 and a half weeks now. I finally snapped. It happened during dinner today. The food was crap, just shit+MSG=food. The MSG is no longer having an effect on me. I can see through it. This led to a mad rush to find something that resembled American food. The “American” food on campus is as bad as the “Chinese” food back in the states. It is not real. It is also filled with MSG. It was time to break out the George Foreman, this is the reason I brought him along. I searched a few stores till I found something that resembled brats. I then finally bought a travel adapter for George so he doesnt explode on the 220v here. Next, I made a rush for grilling supplies. I found most or something that was close enough to get the effect I wanted. As well as non-asian beer. I ran back to the dorm to discover that the adapter, which I spent so much time trying to get, can only handle 50W, and it has a built in safety on it. In other words, no deal. Not to be deterred, i jammed George into the wall directly… too bad he has a polarized plug which stopped this. I trimmed off the safety feature/hassle, and tried again. Success. The only side effect was that George heated up incredibly fast and I unplugged after 30 seconds. This was long enough to cook 2 brats fully. I have had my American food. I am happy now. People looked at me as if I was mad. I did not care. I was mad. I made brats and bought american beer and feasted like white trash on a sunday, only without the nascar or football.

What led up to this? Yesterday, I was talked into going to a “Cultural Festival” which ended up being a “Fashion Show” that sucked… a lot. It finally ended and I just wanted dinner. I took a gamble and ordered food. I was feeling great at this point. I had an entire conversation in Chinese that worked and managed to get fruit salad that wasn’t on the menu. I was happy. 40 minutes later, it arrives. Expensive, but I didnt care. I go for the fruit first, and it was covered in white crap. Mayo… Mayo on fruit. Mayo belongs in hell, not on fruit. I got little sleep last night and that contributed to the snap factor most likely.

Cool stuff I have done since last update:
I went to a Hutong and Prince Gong’s garden. This was all very cool and we rode around in 力車. Hutongs are unique to china and are pretty cool places. Very narrow streets, very close communities, and are great places to get lost in. My phone/camera was dead on batteries, so I didnt get any pics of it, but I bought some postcards which I will scan in if I can find a scanner that I have access to.

As for now, I have had real food, had semi-real drink that didnt taste of rice, and now have to study and sleep.

-later

Well, the intentions of this do not seem to be to cause harm to me.. of that I am now sure. The whole job does seem very shady though. I will do it once, and then go from there. If it is pure bullshit, I am done with it, end of story. There is definitely marketing involved, and it seems based on forming sentences that we know for a fact that the prospects will never get right in their first class. And focusing on sounds that we know they have problems with. The thing that bothers me the most right now is that they seem determined to get me to change my background and magically be from a different University. I’m a little afraid they are just using me, but, to a certain degree I am willing to play along as long as it is not a pure scam… I quit the second such a thing becomes definite and report them for running it. The only thing that seems to hold my confidence right now is the fact that they had some chinese with them typing up the fliers for the thing. I dont know how backstabbing Chinese are to each other… but this, for now at least, gave me some reassurances. Either way, it will be an experience to say the least.

And now, study study study for midterm tomorrow

Well, the job that actually pays starts kinda tomorrow. I tracked down another student to teach for the Russians running it. CIEE student, she, for some reason thought it was a scam. Well, I am willing to give it a shot, I have known these people for about a month now, and they seem pretty honest. Also, being students here, it would be insanely stupid of them to scam other students and risk losing their student status here. So, it seems worth while to try it out. If I suddenly stop reporting my status, I have been kidnapped by Russians in China.

It should be fine though. I foresee no problems with the situation… will report more on it tomorrow.

Well, today was actually decent. I got tired of sitting in my hot room and waiting until 9am rolled around to put on pants, have class, then go back to sleep. So, I have started to go to the office instead. It is more refreshing in the morning, and seems to be a little more effective to my efforts. Just relaxing when speaking seems to work the best. Midterm on Friday, so, yea, this is going to hurt. 11 chapters worth of vocab and grammar to go over. Finished up today with a field trip to an acrobatics show. Rather good, about on par with the show in Taibei last winter, different, but very good. Now, more study, then sleep hopefully.

New mission for China:
我想买公安的帽子

Well, my stress levels and lack of eating the stuff I need to eat finally caught up with me and I caught a stupid disease that is only suppossed to strike AIDS patients with no immune system to speak of. Oral Thrush… yay. Blood tests all came back negative for anything bad, I just have too much stress right now. I got a cool dose of anti-fungal pills that killed it all right away, and now I am just recovering from the damage the fungus did to my mouth and tongue. I started a new regime to counter the stress in my life now. First thing is to kill off what remains of this pest. So, no more yeasts or sugary drinks for a week. I am making it a point to eat kimchi at least once a day, more meats, more veggies, more garlic, and more fruit as soon as I am over this junk. Only drinking a little fruit juice that had acidity, water, and green tea right now. Also, I am now jogging 1-2 hours a night before bed around the far lake. It’s not so much that I got sick that is bothering me, but rather what I got sick from.

oh well, dinner is here, fish, fruit, rice, and kimchi