Brookline High School in China

China 27: Recount

Number of days in a row I've worn these pants: 8 (I becoming more and more Chinese)
Hair Status: It's growin' on me

Today we finally decided where we will be going on our trip at the end of our stay here in Xi'an. At the beginning of the week we took a priliminary vote to see where we at between Yunan province and Shanghai and it's surrounding cities. The prilim turned out 6-2 in favor of Yunan. Isaiah and I were the only ones to support the Shanghai trip, and I was very borderline. Yesterday, Wednesday, was the final vote, and we hadn't discussed the topic at all since the prilim vote. So as we put our heads down to vote, Isaiah and I resigned in defeat. Gaelen called out who was in favor of Shanghai, and then who was in favor again. Then she called again for people to raise their hands; I figured she was just making it seem suspensful. When we lifted our heads Gaelen was amazed that our decision had been reversed! 5-3 in favor of Shanghai!

The fact of the matter is, the only people who really had strong opinions were Celine (Yunan) and Isaiah (Shanghai). So for a lot of us it was pretty much random. Sara flipped a coin to make her final decision. Ian and Edna switched for some unknown reason. And I think we were all stunned because we had sort of already counted on Yunan. I have to admit I was even a little disappointed for some reason; all of a sudden Yunnan seemed more attractive to me.

After a little more discussion today, we decided that b/c there was such a change in opinion perhaps voting wasn't the right way to go about it. Only Celine and Isaiah had a solid opinion and the rest of us wavered back and forth. So we decided to flip a coin for the whole thing. So much for the democratic process huh?

We're going to Shanghai in May.

posted by dAVID @ 5:07 AM 0 comments

China 26: Images

Weird food:Chicken Heart
Weather:Beautiful

Some Images from my stay in Xi'an so far:

- A family of four squeezed onto a motocycle sputters by as fireworkds explode over every building in Xi'an.

-The underwearless toddlers with a huge hole in the butts of their pants to provide immediate relief.

-The guards at my apartment complex's south gate standing erect, swiveling to face our approaching car, and the robotic salute followed by a swivel back to regular position.

-6 am. Dark. Barren, travelled street. Hot iron sparks falling from construction on the 27th floor of the shadow of a building. I think they are like quiet fireworks or even a waterfall of fire.

-The squatting men.

-The daily car accidents.

-A knocked over fireworks box furiousling spinning around shooting red, blue, and green missiles at everyone around.

-An entire basketball team sobbing after losing their one and only tournament.

-Outdoor pool tables among the stands of fruit, meat, and spices.

posted by dAVID @ 5:13 AM 0 comments

China 25: A Homesick Haircut

Price of a haircut in Xi'an: 10 yuan = $1.25
Price of the german hair gel bought to fix the haircut: 80 yuan = $10

After being told to shave off my goatee by GaoXin High, I woke up today and decided that in the few hours I had before the group met up I'd walk around Xi'an on my own to look for a hair cut. Well I easily found one. Beauty Salons are everywhere with prices ranging from 3-10 yuan (.37-1.25 dollars. Being an American, I decided I could go for a little decatance and go for a 10 yuan cut. The place looked pretty nice, and the guy giving haircuts was surrounded by assistants in lab coats. His own haircut looked alright so I stepped in.

I sat in the chair and told the guy to do as he wished as long as it was "shui" (hot). So I sat and watched my beautiful long brown hair turn into a mop. I looked at the mirror and I couldn't even think of anything I could say to make the mess cleaned up. (If only I went to beauty school instead of BHS!) So I asked him how he felt about the cut, and he said he liked it. So when I tried to pay they didn't have change, so they said I could come back later and pay, but I saw the shelves of hair products and decided that if I was going to bear this animal on my head, I'd have to work a little of my own magic. So I bought a bottle of German hair gel which cost me eight times the haircut, and then they had enough change. I walked out of that place looking like a 12-year-old kid from the 70's. But worse. And even my German gel couldn't make a asthetic appealing shape out of the pieces of hair on my head.

I can't believe how much I miss my haircut guy that I've had since 7th grade when he professionally bleached my bangs. From then on he cut my hair in whatever the "shui" style was, to perfection. I'd do anything to fly him hair to fix the threads spinning out of my dome.

Other than Clyde though, I think I'm finally beginning to feel the effects of homesickness. And it's odd because at the same time, I'm having the best time in Xi'an now that I've settled in. I miss how when I come home late at night back in the US my dog has beat me to my own bed so that I have to find a little corner to curl up on while he sprawls out on my pillows. I miss making breakfast for myself on Sundays with REAL coffee. I miss my parents and brother. I'm not homesick but all of a sudden I think I've realized that all those things are pretty far away not in distance but in time. These days I could return home in two days from Xi'an; the distance is certainly not a worrisome thing anymore. It's the time that matters. I mean by now everything could be different. Wow! I like the way that sounds. By now everything could be different.

I mean my hair is different, right? Sorry I don't have any pics yet. And you might never see any b/c I'm considering slaughtering this beast that rides my head. ;) Love.

posted by dAVID @ 9:15 AM 3 comments

China 24: Re: emailing in China (very little to do w/ China)

posted by dAVID @ 8:39 PM 1 comments

China 22: Buddhism and Meat

School Rule: Though I haven't posted any pictures of it, I've grown a nice little goatee in the past two weeks. However, Gao Xin High apparently discourages the physical maturation of their students and have, as of today, required me to shave it off. My girl-like long hair is still up for discussion. (for pics of the soon to be shaved goatee go to the bottom)

Today after school, I went straight home after a call from host mama. I was a unsure what the deal was though the call wasn't totally unexpected because she had metioned something about something yesterday. Nonetheless, I was still pretty irked when I got the call after my 10 hour school day. Going out with only my host mom can be pretty exhausting, and I was wiped after playing a lot of bball under today's hot sun.

So I went home on this beautiful day to go somewhere with my host mom. As we drove off in her white Kia, I finally understood that we were on our way to Qing Long Si (Clear Dragon Temple) where we'd been before. It'd a Buddhist temple on the top of a big hill in Xi'an overlooking the apartments and shacks. Like the two times before, we drove up to the closed gates of this peaceful oasis and my mom blasted the horn impatiently expecting a mond to have anticipated our visit. Though I have a continuing interest in Buddhism, I was thankful that the monk she wanted me to meet wasn't there. We turned the car around, and went back down the hill.

I don't feel right walking around with my mom in this temple which isn't on those tourist places. The times I went there before were both in the dark of night. Only the light of the surrounding city meandered in and out of the carved holes in the wall. The monks care for three dogs who each wear a cow bell around their necks which constantly rattles as they'd chase us around making the sure the serenity doesn't tranquilize you but rather cleanse you. A monk led us around to different symbolic Buddhas and I touched my head to the ground in front of their chubby, chuckling, golden faces. Fragrant incense burned standing upright in a giant mound of ashes. Truly, this place was peaceful. It is during times like these that I am reinspired to drive forward with my absorption of the Chinese langauge. Not that I really had much to say to the monk or my mom during these trips, but how much do I miss not knowing the langauge when I'm at a place like this?

So I was relieved to be turned around this time. Perhaps, it's simply my narrow mindedness about Buddhism and its role in modern life that makes me think that the way my host mother acts at this monastery is inappropriate, but I am very embarassed to be with her there.

So instead of going home, my mom took me out to dinner outside the city. For some reason as we drove away from the monastery and the limbless trees lining the street, I got a second wind. The buildings we were passing started to deconstruct until we came to a few goats and their kids leisurely traversing the road and the lush green fields. The sun was beginning to set, and it made all those beautiful colors through the foggy pollution. The tree's stubs of limbs were also sprouting that sprout colored light green. Some city workers were wheeling their bieks up the hill returning home as we sped by. When we arrived at the top, I felt an overwhelming breath of fresh air as I saw kites flying above a little "kao rou" restaurant. Even more impressive, was that through the haze I see the buildings we'd come from clustered together. So we sat down and ate this delicious, juicy, spicy goat meat on metal spikes watching a setting sun and an awakening moon. I think I really needed a breath of fresh air like that. But don't we all? I mean that's what Bhuddism is about right? Eating meat on top of a hill in the country when you've been stuck in the most crowded place you've ever been for 1 and a half months eating "xi fan" (a tasteless rice porridge w/ a couple beans here and there.)


here's the goatee:




At the aquarium in Xi'an w/ the host mom.



Outside the aquarium w/ a "host cousin"

posted by dAVID @ 8:16 AM 1 comments

China 22: Schedule

Dangerous food: Sichuan food, known as the spiciest in China, is.
Group Members in Xi'an: 8 by tomorrow

So tomorrow Christina gets back to Xi'an and we'll be completely back to normal schedule and routine. We'll shift the circle of desks in our classroom into a bigger circle, and maybe the group won't be as fluid with more members. I realize that I still haven't described exactly what the most of our lives consist of in Xi'an, school.

For me, I wake up at 6 am, and run with my mom. I end up leaving my apartment at 7:10. Walk to Class 8 and sit down in the back of the room with my alternating deskmates.

7:20-7:55 am School begins with a little circus tune on the speakers. This period is the "reading period" where supposedly students are allowed to read and do homework. But Gao Xin High uses this as a front for teachers to add an extra lesson here and there. Sometimes I'm asked to go to the front of the classroom and read english words outloud while they repeat them.

7:55-8:00 The speakers annouce the end of reading period with the same circus tune, and we have a five minute break in our classroom, before the next teacher circulates into our room. In between each class we have these breaks where kids get off their hard wooden stools and talk and joke.

8:00-8:40 Class 1. We have four official classes in the morning in a Chinese classes. The teachers move from class to class as opposed to the student going from class to class. Everyday seems to have a different class schedule, but there must be some kind of pattern that I haven't noticed yet.

8:50-9:30 Class 2. There are many different teachers that come into my room. I've had Chinese, English, politics, history, geography, chemistry, bio, physics, math, art, music, art, and physical ed.

9:30-10:00 Morning Exercises. The entire school goes outside onto the basketball courts and does a kind of choreographed dance thing. Of course, we were never taught this dance, so I stuggle to follow the person in front of me. I've gotten to the point where I'm at least not the only one standing when the rest of the school is ducking.

10:00-10:40 Class 3. The classes are more or less incomprehensible. And the few things that I catch here and there are things I've already studied since I'm in the U.S. equivalent of a sophomore and I'm a senior. I usually spend the time during class doing my homework or chatting with my deskmate. I'd love to sleep like a lot of the kids in the class do with amazing skill, but I feel I'm too conspicuous. Since there are almost 60 kids in my class it's not hard to hide behind a pile of books and nap.

10:50-11:30 Class 4.

11:00-1:00 Lunch/Break. The food at Gao Xin is AMAZING, especially coming from a US high school cafeteria. They have actual cooks who make the food as opposed to simply microwaving frozen food. It's delicious. Then if it's sunny out we, the American students, usually hangout outside or go into our personal classroom to check email. I use this time to play basketball with the other chinese kids, but they have to go in around 12:30 for "study time."

1:00-3:00 Our class. The eight American students and our teacher gather in our own room for what has become Chinese/American lit., discussing our experience in Xi'an, and researching the modern history of China. I really like this class b/c it's much more participation based than the morning classes. The lectures we have been researching and giving to our follow classmates haven't been the funnest. It's in this class that we sometimes end up having some intense discussions, and when we walk out with good new ideas about life and approaching Xi'an.

3:00-4:30 "culture class." This is really just a time for us to relax after a long day. All the classes are fun but in different intensities. Everyday it switches between kung fu, chinese, sewing, painting, caligraphy, paper cutting, singing, and cooking. Personally, I enjoy painting the most b/c I usually finish early and can paint w/e I want. Our classroom has been filled with ugly paintings we've made of chinese cabbages and lillies.

5:00 We usually don't get out of the school until at least 5 because we clean up and just talk. The Chinese students don't get out till 6:30, so we get out earlier than them. After school, most of us try to get back to the house by 7 the very latest, so we don't have enough time to really go downtown and explore, so we sometimes go to the market nearby or to AiJia the local grocery store. I like to come home early b/c this is the only time I really have to go online.

posted by dAVID @ 4:16 AM 1 comments

China 21: Oh Rwanda, Rwanda

Saturday, March 19th, 2005
10:39 AM Xi'an time

Last night, Friday night, we had what is becoming to be our weekly movie night. The six students and the teacher gathered at Edna's house. And as the day came to an end we prepared ourselves to watch "Hotel Rwanda" (newly arrived at our pirated DVD store). The atmosphere seemed odd; I mean here were 7 Americans and two Chinese hosts watching a movie about a Rwandan genecide in Xi'an China. Truly the distance of a miles have grown gradually smaller with each year of the past thirty. Thirty years ago, we could not have been in that apartment, the Chinese host mom and sister would not be allowed to watch this film even if they had a TV, and I couldn't instantly publish my reactions to becoming aware that 1 million people were slaughtered during MY lifetime.

I'd already seen "Hotel Rwanda" right before I left, and was extremely affected by it. However, watching the movie with these 6 other people who are quickly becoming my family with each day and being in China only heightened the power of the film.

After the movie ended, the credits began and rolled by w/o a word from anyone. Looking around the room expressions flickered with from frowns to struggling eyes to blank stares. Sara, and I hope she doesn't mind me saying this, was in absolute tears.

One scene in particular resonates with the icy guilt of responsibility, or lack there . The terror had taken full control of the city as the civil war escaladed, and European forces sent in troops under the pretense of an intervention force to protect the millions of refugees who each day only wished they wouldn't have to watch their friends dying around them by the machetes of the crazed Hootu rebels. The "intervention force" came to the protagonist's four-star hotel, but only to take their citizens out of harm's way and back to their country. The Rwandans who celebrated when the forces arrived watched as they were carefully divided from the foreigners and then watched all the "intervention" leave the entire country. They were left alone as machine guns hissed just outside the hotel's walls. The entire international community turned their eyes away from Africa once their valued citizens had escaped the terror.

The best movies are those that make you think after. The best movies are those that inspire you. The best movies are those that can make you laugh, smile, swear, grit your teeth, and cry. And yet, as I walked out of Edna's apartment the movie's message did not seem as applicable as it did when I saw it in the States. Why didn't I blame China for not noticing Rwanda either? It wasn't that I wasn't a Chinese citizen; I felt angry at the European nations that failed to acknowledge genocide in front of them. And the thought came to me, perhaps I didn't feel angry at China for the same reason Americans in '94 could watch Rwandans killing each other as they ate dinner. Because they are not part of what we, the Western powers, consider civilized. Despite the economic boom and increasing amount of press China recieves they are still do not represent the "democracy" that the US wants to instill in all nations around the world so that we, the US, can control them. Why is it that I consider it solely the job of these primarily white powers to control and "protect" the world? Are we "protecting" Iraq? Shouldn't I be just as pissed at places like China for not helping Rwanda? Or is it just the guilt of being entirely unaware of this tragedy that happened while I was playing video games, makes me want to say, "Well, this isn't entirely my fault look how many other nations could have done something."?

I guess what I'm getting at is who is China in our minds as a global being? To put it in 2pac's words do Americans see China as "a rose that grows in concrete" and is bound to die because they don't follow our prescribed democratic republic? Maybe China is not responsible b/c the American film producers who made "Hotel Rwanda" think that when it boils down to it the US is simply watering China's growth picking the roses as they sprout.

but today is saturday, such thoughts aren't comforting. I'm off to an American steak lunch

posted by dAVID @ 9:38 PM 2 comments

China 20: Sunny Days

weird food: Sting Ray (Celine tried it)
weather: Sunny, 50's, bright

So today things are much better. In fact, I'm very excited for what the future will bring. Gaelen did an amazing thing with my frustration yesterday. She was able to use what I said yesterday about how frustrated I was with the group and make it productive. First of all, she's decided that we should have more Chinese class which will help us out a lot more and make school feel like it's worth it. But more importantly after I explained to her that I felt like the group was lacking a goal or purpose of being in Xi'an, she posed the question to the class of how they felt about the goal of this trip.

Isaiah was the first to speak. He suggested that we write a guide book of Xi'an, or more like a collection of info for the next year's group and for ourselves. The benefits of the group making this guide together was that it'd allow us to explore Xi'an, we'd be doing productive, and best of all the entire group was very enthusiastic about it. We immediately began having ideas about writing top ten restaurants, what to do about Chinese crushes, where to buy the cheapest DVD's, etc. And that kind of tangible goal that could get the entire group excited and eager to be working on something really inspired me and made me feel better. Finally, we're moving beyond the simple HW of reading and discussing; there will be something to show for our being in Xi'an.

That is if we get it all together. This is a big project to embark on, but as long as we keep the group momentum I think it'll be very fun and rewarding.

Anyway it's sunny today.

posted by dAVID @ 5:11 AM 1 comments

China 19: Rainy Days

Chinese Food Theory: According Mama Host, spicy food ("la jiu") is bad for the stomach (ya think?), gives you big, beautiful eyes (hmm), and gives you zits if eaten to often. (good to know)
weather: high 50's, showers, gloomy

It's raining today in Xi'an. I guess after so many dry days we need a little rain to settle all the dust that floats around this city. The rain was odd because it started as a shower and stayed a constant shower throughout the entire day. Usually, if it rains all day the rain will pick up at certain points but today was just constant showers. And the group was in a lazy, cranky, rainy mood.

At the beginning of the trip we were told we would have our ups and downs. I thought Gaelen, our teacher, told us this so that people wouldn't freak out when they got homesick, and those who weren't homesick would be udnerstanding of those who were. I thought I wouldn't have to experience these downs since homesickeness has never been a huge problem for me.

But rainy dys tend to expedite the downs before you have a chance to react. Today in class, Gaelen asked us how we felt about people leaving the group for periods of time since Celine and Christina have left Xi'an for a week. (Celine w/ family to Shanghai and Christina to UVA for a very important scholarship interview.) So we stated out talking about whether or not it disrupted the group dynamic and our ability to gel. We never really came to a conclusion partly because I digressed by asking the question I've been frustrated w/ since school started. I complained that even without these people leaving the group wasn't gelling as well as I'd like because we had to go to school all day which left the group with very little opportunity to do much besides shop for DVDs together occasionally or talk about which boy likes which girl among the the Chinese students. So, I said that I felt the group needed more time to do "more productive things together."

I said this in the spirit of helping us as a group, not because I was frustrated with the group; in fact, I think the people in this group are some of the best people I've met in high school. However, to make this story shorter, things eventually evolved in the discussion or in my comments to paint the picture that I didn't feel connected to the group and that we weren't a very tight knit group. Needless to say, this picture wasn't pretty to everyone in the group nor would it have been to me if someone else was saying that. They took offense b/c they felt that "we really were really tight, and just b/c we weren't doing 'meaningful' things didn't mean we were any less of a group." And it was after this comment, which I couldn't agree more with, that I just shut up. I felt like everything that I had said had been completely reversed and misinterpretted, and if I were to say any more it would just get me in a deeper whole. So I just shut up, and took a few more comments. Finally Gaelen, suggested we write down what we wanted to say before we went any further.

I began scribbling my protests, but that wasn't enough. I broke. I watched myself furiously trying to explain that all I had wanted to do was make this group even better, the best group that had ever gone to China, but instead I felt as if I was being isolated and thrown out of the group simply because I wanted to help. I watched myself as tears began to fall on the ink-filled paper. I was really breaking down.

So I took a bathroom break and went out into the rain and added my frustrations to the water running down the drains. I went back to the classroom swollen eyed and sniffling, and we easily worked everything out after people saw me. (What a caring group.)

But questions arise from my experience today:

1) I never cry especially about things like this, why was I so emotional today? Could it be more than today? Maybe this is the culmination of all the frustrations of being in China that I've turned a blind eye to? Or perhaps this is an effect of being away among only 8 people who can really understand you?

2)Did I come to China to bond with this group? What exactly are my responsibilities to the group? What are the group's responsibilities to me? Thinking quite honestly I think one one of my main reasons of coming was to be in a close knit group of friends that didn't have to fall victim to the ever changing social scene of Brookline High.


Mais c'est la vie. Tomorrow's supposed to be sunny I think.

posted by dAVID @ 8:52 AM 1 comments

China 18: Girls, and boys

weird food: a fish eyeball (hard and tasteless) and fish gills (too fishy)
DVD count: 52 dvd's (after an excursion with my host dad to the cheap place he knows where they have millions of DVD's old and new. I was even able to find Before Sunset/Sunrise. Each DVD: 65 cents)

So as school in China has progressed into routine, we've all been making friends with the Chinese students at Gao Xin High. For me, the experience has been fun though hasn't improved my Chinese much. Thanks to basketball I've been able to meet a good amount of boys, and they've invited me out on the weekends to play sports. I pretty much hang out with the same group and make all my rendez-vous through my friends Kobe and Jimbo, whom I named. As for Ian and Isaiah, they also have a lot of friends but of a slightly different kind since they choose not to play bball. They've been able to befriend boys and girls in their classrooms, and are also being invited out every weekend to do stuff other than sports.

However, our popularity has been trifled by the girls'. They've managed to have worked up quite the following of admirers, female and male. The girls they've met are no different than the guys me, ian, and Isaiah have met; they are simply interested in the foreigner. But the thing that is really attractive about the girls in our group is they are beautful, so both girls and boys are in awe of them. Because the standard of beauty is so surrounded by images of foreigners Celine, Sara, Lauren, and Edna are automatically put on a pedastal, and then being attractive girls they're raised even more. Christina, one might think might not have the advantage of automatic pedastal placement b/c she doesn't embody the typical foreigner, however Koreans are considered the ideal in Asian beauty now, so she actually does have that leg up too. The girls in our group are quite literally super models at Gao Xin High.

So it is with this in mind that trail of boys the girls have accrued has become a constant topic of discussion. It all really started with my friend Jimbo who is my deskmate. He was probably my first friend at Gao Xin, and as I was trying to get as many friends as possible I decided upon Jimbo's request to give him Celine's cell phone number. The next few days sucked because Jimbo, who had been text messaging me, decided he'd rather be Celine's friend than mine. I was used.

Celine was later asked out by Jimbo, and he was sadly turned down, but I'm happy to say he's my friend again.

Since then every girl in our group has collected a club of admirers. Lauren was and is being walked to school everyday by a Chinese boy we affectionately named Peter Rabbit. Sara officially has a shadow named Justin who is at her side whenever I see her. A boy named Boat for his unusually pointy shoulders (like the two ends of a boat) has given Celine two of his pictures and some text messages. An admirer of Christina has gotten so jealous that anyone who talks to Christina is immediately reprimanded and instructed that only he is allowed to talk to Christina. Edna, who has been deemed "exotic" many times since we've arrived, has a very shy guy that always sits at the table next to her if he gets the chance; we call him "Blue Glass" for his very cool blue glasses. Lauren also has a admirer from the bball courts. We call him "Bags" b/c he wears his jeans baggy. I could keep going but it's a long list.

As for us, the guys, Ian has one girl who is constantly inviting him places, but other than that the girls are pretty much scared of us. I've tried talking to many girls but they aren't very welcoming. C'est la vie, non?

posted by dAVID @ 4:33 AM 0 comments

China 17: Dumplings and Hospitality

time since we arrived: 1 month 1 day
time till we leave: 2 months 17 days

It's not that I'm counting down the days before I have to leave Xi'an; it's that, like a kid on Christmas day, I'm trying to relish as much as I can before it's over and I have to wait till next time which might be a while.

Today, I went out with Zou Leyang, my brother who I hosted in the US, and his family and cousin's family. This little excursion seems to be a perfect example (though perhaps a little on the extravagant side) of Chinese hospitality. They invited me to go out to dinner with them to eat dumplings. However, we arrived early to the restaurant and we had to wait for his cousin's family. Knowing that I had been shopping for clothes earlier in the day (a suit to be more specific which I actually found a lot of though my experience in buying is negligible compared to my ability to buy jeans and kicks), Leyang's parents took me to a shopping mall near the restaurant to "kan yi kan" or look around a little. So I went with them and looked at some clothes.

We ended up at a sports store looking at basketball shoes. Leyang pointed out the pair that he liked to me and his parents and asked what I liked. Sensing an ambush of genorosity, I claimed that they were all very nice. As I was congratulating myself on my quick thinking, Leyang's dad decided to intensify the attack head on. He said, "Wo mai ni ti shu he qiu xie," "I'm gonna buy you a shirt and shoes, you just pick which ones." Well, I picked up the defence a notch too making excuse after excuse to his dad like "I don't need shoes," "I don't want shoes," "In american, these same shoes for much less." But in the end I was defeated when he told me that he was going to buy Leyang shoes to and buy us matching T-shirts b/c we were brothers. I managed to convince them I didn't want a shirt, but they made me pick a pair of shoes that I liked.

I did, and they didn't have my size. I said "too bad" and got up to leave. Well, of course that didn't work. Leyang's dad simply picked out the shoes that Leyang was going to get and asked the guy for those. So I gave up and got the shoes which turned out to be $130. Walking out of the store, Leyang's mom, who covertly snuck off for her own mission, handed me a bag w/ a VERY nice basketball shirt in it which was about $40.

Then we went to dinner. Dinner at one of the nicest places in Xi'an with the BEST dumplings in the world with his cousins family. I had a great time joking around with Leyang and his cousin both of whom speak amazing English, though I personally spoke chinese the majority of the time. At the restaurant, we all sat in our own private room complete w/ TV and ancillary bathroom. I think my chinese might have actually improved just a little since I've been here b/c I was able to distiguish words in the conversations and peice together the conversation and even make my own comments. That alone was amazing enough for me.

But then, in our little private world, which came with a servant or two as well, came DINNER. The centerpeice came first. It was a platter with coldcuts and vegetables and roses shaped in two interlocked circles. I made the mistake of picking up my chopsticks at this point and was quickly laughed at a corrected. Apparently the food sitting in front of us was for decoration and not to be eaten.

Then the appetizers came along with the tea and drinks. In front of me I was given three different beverages to drink at my whim, Coke, Apple Juice, and a rare mountain tea which tasted very good. The appetizers I was advised not to eat to much of too b/c we'd were apparently going to eat 22 different kinds of dumplings next. So I dabbled in the cold beef, pickled carrots, and duck liver while I hungrily waited for the dumplings. (I hadn't really eaten all day.)

The dumplings came and they, for lack of a poet's imagination, were beautiful. Each kind of dumpling was served after the one before it was finished by our two very sweet and helpful waitresses who explained each dumpling before its demise. The 22 dumplings came in different shapes, sizes, and flavors. I had dumplings exquistly crafted to resemble ducks, fish, pigs, boats, and sea barnacles. One dumpling was folded with 13 round pinches in it to symbolize the 13 dynasties that Xi'an graced as capital; this dumpling was apparently the hardest to make and most time consuming. Looking at it, I'd guess even the most deft dumplings folder spent at least three minutes on one while if I made one it'd probably take three hours and a lot of dough. The dumplings were stuffed with pork, beef, shrimp, crab, fish, persimmon (which I can still feel on my tongue), red bean, chicken, vegetables, duck, and lamb. EVERY SINGLE ONE was, (again I lack the talent of tongue to properly describe the sensation that took place), Delicious.

We ended the meal with the 22nd kind of dumpling which were very small. Each one was no bigger than the size of my little finger's nail. A hotpot was brought into our room and to a boil. the uncooked microdumplings were thrown into the pot and the lights were dimmed to allow us to see the glowing flames licking the sides of the pot. The waitress proceeded to tell us the history of these dumplings which were created by a chef in the Tang dynasty for some empress. The cool part is that after the dumplings are finished they are scooped into a bowl along with their milky broth so that the little dumplings are invisible. According to superstition, the number of dumplings you end up in your bowl tells you about your future. If you get one then nothing that special happens. If you get two, your pleasure in life will double. If you get three, I forgot but it's something good. If you get four you will be VERY rich. And if you got none you'd never have to worry again in life. I ended up with one, but I plan on revisiting till I recieve a diffrent number.

And so our night ended. Leyand and his cousin, who wants me to call him Double, invited me to play basketball tomorrow (which I'm beginning to think is the only langauge besides English which I'm fluent in), and his parents invited me to dinner AGAIN tomorrow and then some show consisting of Chinese dance and music.

How do I take this much hospitality? When saying "no" only makes your host fuss over you MORE, what can you say? The Chinese so far have have taken me in as a "WANG" or a king. I look back at how the Chinese who came to the US were treated by their high school and their families, and even at other guests my families hosted throughout the years, and I wonder how welcoming did we really seem?





Here's some pics from a WHILE ago, when we all gave speeches in Chinese to the entire school:

posted by dAVID @ 8:54 AM 4 comments

China 16: I think I forgot a "china 14:" entry.

ripped off: Ian and I went out for dinner yesterday at some small little place were charged 35 yuan for the two of us. Thinking the price was a little steep (for the whole group of 8 to eat its usually only 45 yuan. We asked our cab driver on the way back his advice. He told us that we got ripped off and should've paid no more than 10 yuan for both of us. He than continued to make friends with us and told us if we ever thought we were getting ripped off to give him a call (he gave us his card) and he'd talk to them. He also offered to take us out drinking which we considered and declined. I don't think we were ready to take our relationship to that level yet.
weird food: pig brains (I haven't had the priviledge of tasting it yet but Ian has.)

Well, I've been bereft of anything interesting to say by my wandering mind, but as it is Saturday and I finally get a good opportunity to use the computer I figured I'll make a entry.

Isaiah's been sick. To what degree I'm not really sure, but he went to the hospital for an IV and was there 'till 3 AM. He was throwing up a lot and ran out of our classroom a couple times to allow his stomach to disengage, and apparently that night he was no better so they took him to the hospital. Gaelen went along with him and his host family, but I got the impression that they were just being VERY cautious. The next day Isaiah stayed home from school and chilled. I think he's a lot better.

Last night the group got together and watched "I heart Huckabees." However, of course Isaiah didn't come, and Celine's older brother is in Xi'an so she didn't chill with the group last night either, and Lauren was at some concert, and Gaelen was too tired from staying up w/ Isaiah last night. So it wasn't really the whole group.

Today, I'm gonna play soccer w/ some kids from my school. Then I'm going with my dad to look at suits. Then I'm going out to eat dumplings with Zou Leyang, the kid I hosted in the US. So I got the day planned. I also have 100 pgs of "Family" to finish. I've really got to take piss right now after one of my first cups of coffee in China. (It's that instant coffee, not that great. Starbucks could really make a killing in China, as could a good burrito shop. Damn it I want a steak burrito w/ gauc, hot sauce, sour cream, and lettuce SO BAD) I do get to look forward to some sour patch kids though b/c Celine's parents are coming on Monday w/ a little candy from my parents.

To be honest, I actually don't miss American food that much. Thinking about it now, Chinese food is much more flavorful. Of course, like everything else in the world, a lot of flavor needs to be balanced out with blandness sometimes but I haven't reach that point yet.


Here's pic of the group outside the Terracotta Warriors

posted by dAVID @ 9:58 PM 0 comments

China 15: BBall Jones II

weird food: red carrots (These are truly carrots except as red as a raddish with a white inside too, but the taste is entirely carrot.)
interesting topic brought up in eng. lit: TIME. For most of us it's been both an incredibly long time and a surprising short time in China. It's been almost a month here, and we've begun to develop into daily students and citizens in Xi'an. However, we still can't put our lives on autopilot. The amazing thing is the variety of attitudes about home at this point. For some, they miss home and they're family, but love Xi'an. Then there are some who would are completely at home in their new enviroment, and to some extent would even want to remain here. Then there are those who can't figure it out, like me. We are just living.

Yesterday was the first and last real basketball game I'd play at Gao Xin High because we lost in the first round. The game was very close; it even ended up going into overtime with the score tied 18-18. (Quite a low scoring game.) To put it bluntly, my team would've been slaughter had I not been on it. I scored probably 14 of the 18 points. Everytime I'd pass the ball to a fellow teammate they'd either drop it or shoot it in the direction of the basket. The latter of the two options was actually the uglier because their shots would entirely miss the basket and rebound off a teamates head. Don't get me wrong though, this wasn't a nonbasketball team. They loved the game. We ended up losing the game 23-20 in overtime after the other team triple teamed me.

Yet I wrote an entry about a week ago, that said how much I loved how the Chinese kids played here because they played with the love of the game, not individual glory. And here I was, yelling at my teammates and thinking in my head, "Why don't they just give me the ball instead of shooting these airballs?" For some reason, even in the US, I've always believed I was above that selfishness.

The captain (who I call Kobe) of our basketball team was bawling after the game. Apparently this game was very important not only to him, but to the whole team. I mean, all the classes in the school come out to watch these games. They're a big deal. I was able to decipher among Kobe's sobs something like he only got to shoot the ball once. I went up to the class room and found the entire six person team crying. Needless to say, I felt very at fault for losing the game. I even began to feel tears in my eyes, not because we lost an extremely close game, but because the rest of the team was upset. I went up to a couple and hugged them, telling them in broken Chinese they shouldn't feel bad, but they kept on saying "I only had one chance."

I came to China and discovered that I am the best basketball player at the Gao Xin High School, and I have disappointed myself. Not because I failed to win. Because I did not carry out my position as the most talented player with the respectibility I've always dreamed of carrying it with. I came to this school at another level of basketball than everyone else, and yet here I was playing with this class as if it was my game to play. In fact, I'm 18 and they're only 15 or 16. What right did I have to interfer with their team, their game, or their tournement. Maybe it would've been better to not have played and let them lose their own game. Just b/c I was better than everyone else did not mean I could simply make myself the key component of the team. Perhaps I stole their "one chance."


Here are some pics of me and my various hair styles over the past few days. I had my braids for the basketball game, so i looked like a true baller.

Getting Braided






Braids


Taking Braids out

posted by dAVID @ 11:55 PM 1 comments

China 13: Everyone

weird food: Duck feet
days running with host mom: we haven't run since last wed. but she wants to run tomorrow :(

You should've seen our group this past Monday. We were SO colorful. Everyone had a different color on. I was wearing blue, Edna pink, Celine yellow, Isaiah green stripes, Ian reddish orange, (the others I can't remember but they were colorful.) I wish I had a picture to show you.

Something that I've been working over my mind for a long time is whether or not I should include comments or stories about the other people in this group. It's not that there's anything bad I have to say. In fact, I feel like the group has become very close, so much so that I know things that I'm not sure people would be comfortable with on the internet. But here's everyones basic situation:

Isaiah: Seems happy to be in China. The other day he was talking to Gaelen about the opportunities in Xi'an or China for work or study. He's a very independent guy, and I pretty sure he's glad to be away from Brookline High and all that work.

Edna: Edna has had a little bit of homesickness when she's alone, but when she's with the group she's always in the midst of the conversations. Here family is apparently not the greatest. They haven't even given here her own key, so she really has to rely on her evil mother to let her in late Friday nights.

Celine: Celine has picked up Chinese with incredible ease. Already, she has surpassed me. She seems to be fine in Xi'an and having a great time. Her parents and brother are coming for a visit next week, too, which even though she's not homesick is always a comfort.

Sara: Sara's doing great. In Eng Lit class she always has the best journal entries. They've been very descriptive and show that she has a optimistic view of her experience in Xi'an.

Lauren: Lauren's family is apparently very quiet, so she hasn't been doing much with them which she isn't enjoying. She's been playing a lot of basketball, but didn't get to play much in the tournement although she score half her teams points. She's become good friends with Celine since they're in the same class, and me and her have become good friends b/c we play bball together so much.

Ian: At first, I thought he wasn't having a good time, but it turns out he's just naturally a quiet kid. Me and him have been chillin' a lot. We started out playing a lot of pingpong together and have cooked dinner together and gone on some exploration missions. He's also been having a good time here.

Christina: I'm not entirely sure what exactly she's been up to, but Christina has been consistently confident and cheerful on this trip. In fact, I think she's the one who I feel most natural around in what used to be a group of strangers, at least for me.

Gaelen: As the teacher, she's been kind of separated from us. We've been trying to invite her to hang out with us more just b/c we feel like she might be a little lonely with noone to hangout with. However, whenever we see her she seems tiptop. I think she's really enjoying being back in China, and b/c she knows so much Chinese it's a lot easier to be w/o the group.




As for me. I'm having a great time in Xi'an. I feel a lot like a little kid again b/c the world has an overwhelming amount of things to be awed by still, and I can't speak a word of communicable langauge.

posted by dAVID @ 5:42 AM 2 comments

China 12: On Friends, Family, and Dinner

weird food: "orange juice" (Despite having an abundance of oranges here, orange juice consists of pulp and a Tang-like mixture. Why they couldn't keep the pulp with the natural orange nectar beats me.)
that sucks: My video camera, which I'm using to document this trip, is not working. Which sucks very much b/c one of my main goals of this trip is to film and edit a video of it like I did before for my bike trip in France. This time it was going to be a lot better though b/c I've got a tripod and a little experience under my belt. So any donations for a new camera would be welcome, but of course prayer and incense burning for my camera's revival are also accepted.


After my short little entry yesterday, I feel obliged to explain how our little American dinner went. Lauren, Ian, and I went to the grocery store and immediately realized that being in China meant every single food in the store had to have that Asian taste to it. I dunno what we coulda been thinking when we thought we could just go to the grocery store and buy the ingredients needed for an American taste. The fact is Asian cuisine has little to no resemblance to it Western counterpart besides the fact that the majority of it is cooked.

I mean, today I made breakfast for myself. Nice and simple, eggs and potatoes. Now, I've got some breakfast potatoes that I really like and only I can make, so I wasn't surprised when my potatoes came out Asian in the absence of butter, onions, milk, and pepper. (milk's my secret ingredient). But honestly, EGGS! The universal staple of protein. Eggs which have not even had a chance to see the sun of their respective continent. They go straight from menstruation to mouth without feeling the world's air for a time longer than 30 minutes. How in the world could EGGS taste different in China?!!! But they did. I tried to pin it on the lack of pepper and too salty salt, but nevertheless the eggs have their own flava.

Anyway, back to yesterday's account. We managed to find among the three hundred shelves of soy sauce and chinese noodles, a foreign section consisting of peanut butter, Heinz ketchup, and Italian pasta. We decided the pasta would be the best bet for dinner since peanut butter sandwiches can get irksome without a nice glass of milk. We inquired about the possibility of tomatoe sauce and learned that all the foreign luxuries weren't gonna be there till April. (That's when all the foreigners come.) So we decided to make our own sauce. We got some flour and eggs to make pancakes. We decided that in place of syrup we'd throw in some M&M's Lauren had brought. And the ever so American, mashed potatoes. So, I then took off to meet up with my Chinese deskmate, while Ian and Lauren filled the shopping cart with Chinese semi-equivalents of various American ingredients.

A little digression. I met up with Sun Fan, my deskmate and aspiring friend, and four of his friends to go to a internet cafe and play Warcraft III. We got kicked out of the first internet place b/c they weren't 18. The second place we went was pretty sketch. It was hidden in a maze of allies and in front of its door there were a bunch of live chickens squawking. We had to climb 3 flights of stairs in the broken down building to a paint chipped door behind which was a series of computes wired together in a network. We paid and started playing Warcraft I had told them I knew how to play but I guess that was a bending of the truth b/c I've only really seen the game not really played it. So as I tried to figure out the chinese explanations, I gradually gave up and just surfed the internet while they slaughtered each others armies. Around me, the other people in the room were mainly playing computer games or watching pornography (thus the +18 rule I assume). I took off a little early to start dinner and went out by myself into the maze of allies where little kids stared at me and followed like I was the messiah or something. I had a nice little converstaion with on of them who seemed to have some sort of speech impediment which actually made him a little easier to under.


So anyway we began to make dinner, and I'm gonna have to make this story short b/c Edna just came over for lunch and I don't wanna strand her w/ my mom. So last night me, Ian , Edna, and Lauren made dinner and a mess. But it turned out alright and we actually enjoyed our semi American meal. We had a good time making fun of my mom in Chinese. Anyways, I gotta go.

so peace out

posted by dAVID @ 10:18 PM 1 comments

China 11: Saturday

Good Food!: Niu Rou Pao (It's a soup w/ beef and bread)
DVD Count: 20 (although one I bought yesterday was 46 yuan as opposed to the usual 7)

Even in China, Saturday is an amazing day. On a scale of 1 to Amazing, it's amazing. I don't have much time right now, but just felt like jotting down my plans. Right now it's 11 am and I've got a day planned.

First, me, lauren, and ian are going to do some grocery shopping b/c we're making dinner tonight for my family. I should actually be already gone for that. Then I'm going out with some kids in my class who I don't know to well to play computer games somewhere. Then I'm making dinner for my family. So I got a good day planned.

Today, I made breakfast for myself with eggs and potatoes but I can't get it to taste right. C'est la vie, non? I don't think anything will taste right till i get back.

One more thing, I think my host mom, Ms. Piggy, and my host dad were having a little too much fun last night. I came home last night around 1130 after watching a movie and their was a lot of giggling and screaming coming from their room. I resorted to putting my headphones on and listening to Alanis Morissette.

posted by dAVID @ 9:56 PM 0 comments

China 10: I Got The Basketball Jones

weird food: i'm not sure if I already said Pig Ears, but if I did I'll throw in the boiling milk that they give me every morning for breakfast. I think somebody told them Americans like milk but forgot to tell them we like it cold.
Chinese Medicine: Very spicy soup. One of my biggest mistakes so far is admitting to my host mom that I had a little bit of a cold. (And if my Mom is reading this, it truly is only a LITTLE cold!) First of all, they blame my cold on the weather and my eating habits, and when I disagreed saying that it was because there are germs (a very difficult word to explain w/o a dictionary) in China that I'm not used to, they all cracked up. Secondly, they gave me this very spicy soup as a remedie which made me sweat my ass off and they wouldn't allow me to take off my sweatshirt.

So I've joined my class's, Class 8, basketball team. There's a basketball tournament next week in which all the classes take part. This seems to be the only real sporting event the school has to offer, which, compared to American schools, is an atrocity to seperate athletics and academics. First of all, I was recruited because apparently Class 8 was the worst class out of the 10 classes in grade 1. According to the student I hosted in the US, Zou Leyang, with the addition of me the team is all of sudden in the running.

We started practicing today, and I followed some plays that the team captain had created. The team captain is about 5' 3" and wears a rubber bracelet that says Kobe Bryant in purple letters. His plays were pretty basic, so I added my own ideas to them which was a bad idea because our team couldn't even run his plays w/o mixing it up. Nevertheless, I'm confident in my team's ability, and if that doesn't come through, I'm confident in myself.

As I am in China, I feel obliged to compare some sort of cultural difference between the US and China in these entries. I've played basketball since I can remember at many different levels, and at this point in my basketball career I feel more than able to recognize the subtleties of the sport even though I quit competitive basketball two years ago. The only difference between Chinese basketball and American basketball is the motivation behind both games. (Now I apologize to the non-basketball enthusiast at this point realizing this topic is only for a select audience which probably doesn't even read this blog.) In the US these days, basketball has become a mark of, for lack of a better word, "coolness." Basketball superstars attempt to rap, sell Sprite, and buy flashy cars. Even the American game of basketball has more than enough evidence of the machoism that has become the main reason for playing the game. Slam dunks, slick cross-overs, and the amount of points one man out of a team scores are the most important things to look for whether watching Sportscenter or playing at the park. Needless to say, China's level of talent is lightyears behind the US. This isn't b/c of a lack of enthusiasm, but rather it's because of a lack of coaching. What I do find in China is a pure love of the game that resembles what the 1980's and early 90's were to basketball in the US.

The kids I play with here aren't trying to impress anyone; they're trying to win. Just like in the 80's in the US, the game here in China is focused around including the team. Now, the talent level of the kids I play with here has not reached the level of effective passing yet, but even still every kid is not afraid to take a shot if he's open, and even though I usually am the best player on the court, I'm not always passed to. Maybe I could win the game every time if they passed the ball to me for every shot, but where would be then. We'd be where the NBA and American kids are, where 4 kids on the team are afraid to do anything but pass it to the "best" player and play 1 ON 1!

I'm at a much higher level than these kids, but I'm also 2 or 3 years older then all of them. The fact is, I love playing with them because even though they haven't had the coaching and can't keep up with me, they are playing for the right reasons. They aren't playing for the reasons I quit playing AAU and high school basketball. I even have to admit that sometimes I feel guilty of playing too much like an American doing flashy moves and stuff. The other day I dribbled through this guys legs and got a lot of applause, but the guy wasn't embarassed or anything, he was just impressed I could do it. Without out doubt Chinese basketball will progress to where American basketball is very soon, but right now I think it's at the opitimy of what basketball should be.

Speaking of progression in basketball, Lauren, who's 15, has decided to take steps to break the sex divide in sports at Gao Xin High School. She joined her team today, and is actually better than a lot of guys on her team. People have been amazed to see a girl who can play sports. Me and her (I know it should be She and I) play bball all the time during our break, and I think if she has a good day she'll really tear it up. If she does, who knows, maybe some Chinese girls will consider taking up the sport.

posted by dAVID @ 5:48 AM 2 comments