( i wish i could add music to this thing, Intermission always makes think of some old lady kind of serenly jamming on an organ( intsrumnet, for my chinese and also my more perverted friends)
This is part of an email i wrote to my brother today. It contains much interesting( i think) information and i thought that if i added some stuff, it would make a good post. The rest of the Halloween stuff and such is coming, some of it is already written, but i noticed that i was turning what should have been a short, almost business like email into a post, so I went with it. My bother helped me out a little bit on may way over here, so I westerned unioned him some money. Others helped me out, and as soon as i am able, i will also pay them back.... anyway, i just thought someone might like to read it( except for the semi-political rant, a bad habit of mine that i think is just part of being an American.... god or whatever help me)
Steve ( iam turning this into a blog entry, besides the more sensitive personal crap, like your pimply ass and such)
today, April and i went to the post office. What a cluster fuck that was. The Chinese really fuck anything up that is even slightly bureaucratic in nature? forms over forms, poor April and i spend about 2 hours in that place( hell maybe about an hour and a half). it didn't help that we seemed to come at time when a ton of people who fucked shit up where ahead of us( MY CURSE IN ANY COUNTRY). Wherever i go, i tend to get behind the guy who has a super-complicated order or is just a douche, or the lady who fights with the sales clerk over the price of lettuce( surprisingly, this has actually happened in both China and America). And the Chinese, god bless their hearts, suck at lines. I don't know why, but they will just jump ahead of people and crowd around the window or whatever. Even though they are generally better behaved at the grocery store, i have had people just cut in front of me, or try to angle their carts in some obvious but strange angle ( which is also how they drive, as I have mentioned). Anyhoo, poor April got jumped ( line jumped that is, you pervert ) at least once. and the chinese do love to debate with company's. I think it may because haggling is part of the culture, and still is fairly huge, but you don't haggle with big companies such as western union, Mcdonalds and such. In most official type stores, you can't haggle, as in the grocery stores, malls( well most of them), restaurants, and most stores, but on the street and in booths ( and certain types of stores, less official i guess) you can and it is expected. The thing i have learned about the Chinese is that they don't just jack up the price, they really jack of the price! I also think that us foreigners get a special anti-discount because they think that all Americans are rich ( which is of course not true) and that all foreigners are clueless about their prices ( which is unfortunately very true of some of us!) So you may haggle with them and get them to cut it down by half, but find out later that you still payed 3 or four times the price a normal Chinese person would. And the Chinese are born with the ability to find a good deal, they thrive on it. It one of their strengths and weaknesses; sometimes they just seem very smart and frugal, other times, they seem damned cheap and stingy. Of course, it is probably ingrained in them due to the massive population, limited resources, historical poverty and having lived through some very though times. Even though China is ( or at least was) a socialist society, as Jessica has said ( to paraphrase my love), "in china, you watch your money, work hard, and don't waste things because if you get in trouble, no one will help you." the Government does help them out sometimes, but it seems to be fairly limited. In America, despite all of the shit people say, we are lucky that there are safety nets ( well, with some holes in them).Back to the point! Which at this point, i must admit that i have completly forget.
Oh, so anyway, after forever, everything cleared up and we got your money out. Since everything was in Chinese, i hope that their were no massive fuck ups. i hope you got the agreed upon am ount and that you receive it. All in all it was another strange, but thought provoking experience in China...
love,
you smarter, handsomer brother,
Patrick
ok, next up, Halloween part II( yes, i know, i am pat evon right)
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
FromHalloweenuntilnow part I
hello!
I have been pretty busy, but i think the main reason that i have not written on this thing that much is because I have really hit a big adjustment period. Teaching, the language, the culture, all of it can be a bit overwhelming. i still love it here, but i think i just hit a period where i needed to be.. somewhat inert, to catch up with everything. Anyway, i hope to get alot more done starting this week, including blogging at least once or a few times a week. The school week does kick my ass, but I can find some time to get things done if i put effort into it. Life requires effort.
So, lots of little things have happened, but the biggest things have been in the last two weeks or so! Halloween weekend was interesting. The Wednesday before Halloween is a "ghost day"in China. there is some debate about this actually. Some Chinese say there is only one ghost day, which is the traditional festival on the 15Th day of the seventh month. Some say there are only two; some say four. It seems that this interpretation problem may be due to different traditions; I am not sure. What I do know is that the Chinese were building little bonfires on sides of the road all over the place this night. needless to say, It looked cool as hell! I noticed that the street vendorswere selling this gold stuff and fake money, but i was not sure what it was. I thought it might be for a festival or some ritual , but in China, one never knows what the hell is going on. Later, I was with Winston, and we say the fires. At first we thought it might me burning off produce leaves ( since fall really hit, big old dump trucks full of some sort of lettuce and cabbage have been everywhere,; it seems they just sell them off the truck and the Chinese FUCKING love it!) but then i began to make the connection with the unusual stuff I was being sold earl er. We ran into a student of Winston and his father and Winston tried to ask them what was going on. The kid was just a student, so he really could not explain what was going on, but luckily, there was a guy with very good English burning some crap next to us. He was happy to explain that ghost days occur once every three months, and they burned fake money and clothes to appease the ancestors, who would in turn give them good luck. I have looked this up and it seems to be a very ancient ritual. The idea is that the heavens and earth line up at this time so that there can be some kind of communication between the realms of the dead and the living. I guess the smoke is reformed in the heavens. of course, like anything religious, there seem to be many different takes on what is going on. It seemed weird to me that this was happening to two days before Halloween. I had prepared a lesson for Halloween( more on this later in the week and had reviewed the history of Halloween. Of course , some things struck me. The fact that in ancient Samhain( Halloween) food was given to appease the dead spirits, who cam back this night. And one can think of the Egyptians. The concept of bridging the realms seem to be a human and ancient one. Maybe it is something us. Or perhaps, all of these rituals come from one very ancient, pre history ritual. who knows? But it is also interesting to notice that in the east, the dead are fairly benevolent, while in the west they are feared. It very interesting to think about.
Another point of interest is the fact that the Chinese seem to be reclaiming their past. not to be political, but it is no secret that the after revolution government discouraged ( and perhaps that is being diplomatic) any sort of religion or ritual. Now, i don't know for sure, but it seems that the government seems to be mellowing out a bit, the people are naturally reclaiming some of their rituals. While some may argue that this is bad, that humans should move away from religion and ritual ( and i generally agree) it also seems that these rituals are very much part of human, maybe on a subconscious level. In the west, we generally do not believe in evil spirits coming back ( well, many do, but culturally I would say not at this point) but we still keep the rituals associated with it, ie Halloween. I think, and of course this is mere conjecture, that maybe as the Chinese move forward, part of that process is to reclaim the past. Generally, i think this sort of thing is silly, but i think that if kept in check, it may be a good thing. ritual without religion is pretty harmless. but it has a way of getting out of control. only time will tell, i guess. Personally, one of the things i like about the Chinese is that they are generally atheists.
so, anyway, coming soon the rest of this crap....
I have been pretty busy, but i think the main reason that i have not written on this thing that much is because I have really hit a big adjustment period. Teaching, the language, the culture, all of it can be a bit overwhelming. i still love it here, but i think i just hit a period where i needed to be.. somewhat inert, to catch up with everything. Anyway, i hope to get alot more done starting this week, including blogging at least once or a few times a week. The school week does kick my ass, but I can find some time to get things done if i put effort into it. Life requires effort.
So, lots of little things have happened, but the biggest things have been in the last two weeks or so! Halloween weekend was interesting. The Wednesday before Halloween is a "ghost day"in China. there is some debate about this actually. Some Chinese say there is only one ghost day, which is the traditional festival on the 15Th day of the seventh month. Some say there are only two; some say four. It seems that this interpretation problem may be due to different traditions; I am not sure. What I do know is that the Chinese were building little bonfires on sides of the road all over the place this night. needless to say, It looked cool as hell! I noticed that the street vendorswere selling this gold stuff and fake money, but i was not sure what it was. I thought it might be for a festival or some ritual , but in China, one never knows what the hell is going on. Later, I was with Winston, and we say the fires. At first we thought it might me burning off produce leaves ( since fall really hit, big old dump trucks full of some sort of lettuce and cabbage have been everywhere,; it seems they just sell them off the truck and the Chinese FUCKING love it!) but then i began to make the connection with the unusual stuff I was being sold earl er. We ran into a student of Winston and his father and Winston tried to ask them what was going on. The kid was just a student, so he really could not explain what was going on, but luckily, there was a guy with very good English burning some crap next to us. He was happy to explain that ghost days occur once every three months, and they burned fake money and clothes to appease the ancestors, who would in turn give them good luck. I have looked this up and it seems to be a very ancient ritual. The idea is that the heavens and earth line up at this time so that there can be some kind of communication between the realms of the dead and the living. I guess the smoke is reformed in the heavens. of course, like anything religious, there seem to be many different takes on what is going on. It seemed weird to me that this was happening to two days before Halloween. I had prepared a lesson for Halloween( more on this later in the week and had reviewed the history of Halloween. Of course , some things struck me. The fact that in ancient Samhain( Halloween) food was given to appease the dead spirits, who cam back this night. And one can think of the Egyptians. The concept of bridging the realms seem to be a human and ancient one. Maybe it is something us. Or perhaps, all of these rituals come from one very ancient, pre history ritual. who knows? But it is also interesting to notice that in the east, the dead are fairly benevolent, while in the west they are feared. It very interesting to think about.
Another point of interest is the fact that the Chinese seem to be reclaiming their past. not to be political, but it is no secret that the after revolution government discouraged ( and perhaps that is being diplomatic) any sort of religion or ritual. Now, i don't know for sure, but it seems that the government seems to be mellowing out a bit, the people are naturally reclaiming some of their rituals. While some may argue that this is bad, that humans should move away from religion and ritual ( and i generally agree) it also seems that these rituals are very much part of human, maybe on a subconscious level. In the west, we generally do not believe in evil spirits coming back ( well, many do, but culturally I would say not at this point) but we still keep the rituals associated with it, ie Halloween. I think, and of course this is mere conjecture, that maybe as the Chinese move forward, part of that process is to reclaim the past. Generally, i think this sort of thing is silly, but i think that if kept in check, it may be a good thing. ritual without religion is pretty harmless. but it has a way of getting out of control. only time will tell, i guess. Personally, one of the things i like about the Chinese is that they are generally atheists.
so, anyway, coming soon the rest of this crap....
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