I <3 Sichuan.
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The earthquake is big news here (obviously). The story becomes more tragic by the day. The other night I skipped out on a group excursion so I could have a leisurely shower and a cup of tea, and turn in early. As I was getting into the shower, I heard an interview begin on the television (which I had on in the background). The first question the interviewer asked was whether it was lucky that the epicentre wasn’t in a more populated area, such as Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. The answer (just as earnest as the question) was, yes, it was lucky.
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For breakfast we go to another hotel, where they serve a multitude of Chinese dishes, most of which wouldn’t be considered breakfast food in the West (dumplings, spicy noodles, fried rice, fried bread, and my personal favourite, watermelon). They are lined up in silver catering trays and refilled constantly for us and the hungry Chinese businessmen who (I presume) stay at the hotel. A few days ago, one of my classmates had picked up a little pot of something jelly-like to try. When he tasted it, it was completely disgusting. Several days later, he found out it was fuel, used to keep the trays warm.
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I find it annoying that I can read my blog very easily, but it’s a bitch to post anything.
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I think they’re onto some of my tricks. As you may know, I have a serious and long-standing addiction to reading recipe blogs. Most of them are blocked here. I do not see how a discussion about the virtues of using Greek-style yogurt in a cupcake recipe (or an AOL article entitled “How to Make Iced Tea”, for that matter) is a threat to the social order. But I’m stretching the limits of my computer knowledge, and possibly some internet monitor’s patience. Occasionally my tricks will stop working for a time, and I’m not sure if it’s just the idiosyncracies of the internet, or that someone is throttling my traffic. I think it’s best to err on the side of paranoia. As of now, I can’t even access my Gmail, but the China Daily is loads mockingly fast.
***
Speaking of paranoia, I’m beginning to wonder if we’re under surveillance. People keep taking pictures (and video) of us for no reason. And they’re not subtle about it, either. Some guy stood around us for about 8-10 minutes the other day recording video. He would move around a bit, but always stayed within 5-15 feet of us, at one point approaching the three-foot personal space boundary that almost caused me to freak out. At other times, people will pretend they’re texting or doing something with their phones, and take pictures. It’s not like foreigners are such a rarity here anymore, so my blonde hair isn’t much of a novelty.
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Sorry I haven’t posted much. Like I said, it’s really, really, annoying. I guess I should just declare blog bankruptcy, and switch platforms. That doesn’t appeal to me.
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Several months ago, with the help of my amazing friend P, I purchased a digital SLR. It was shiny and wonderful. Then, also with P’s encouragement, I made my very first eBay purchase: a 4GB compact flash memory card, shipped directly from Shanghai to my door for a grand total of about $23 Canadian. I began shooting in .raw format (which I couldn’t do before, with only a measly 16MB memory card). Then I discovered that my computer wouldn’t recognize the .raw pictures — but I kept taking photos in the hopes that I’d be able to solve the problem. And I did. The other day I went to the largest electronics mall in Asia and for a whopping 25 kuai, bought myself a compact flash memory card reader. (It reads other cards as well, but I don’t care about those.) Afterwards we got mobbed by Olympics mascots and introduced to a crowd by some guy with a microphone as Jianadaren (Canadians), but that’s another story.
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(Interestingly, I wasn’t able to find even a 2GB memory card at that electronics mall for the same price as my eBay purchase. I guess because this mall is all legit and stuff, it’s way more expensive.)
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All that said, I haven’t uploaded any photos yet… I’ll get on that soon.
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Today was a good day, funny in a you-had-to-be-there kind of way, so I won’t get into it here. Needless to say, I <3 Beijing.
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I also <3 comments. Ahem.
7 responses so far ↓
Pete // May 19, 2008 at 7:10 am
I think you are a lot less… uptight about the spying than I would ever be.
I’m not not commenting, I’m choosing my words carefully.
fahim // May 19, 2008 at 4:00 pm
“Speaking of paranoia, I’m beginning to wonder if we’re under surveillance.”
welcome to my world.
also, i eat leftover chinese for breakfast all the time. part of a nutritional diet.
staffeen thompson // May 24, 2008 at 1:52 am
Omigosh, no gmail?! Sorry about your annoying time with access…
So glad to read your adventures…mmm there’s nothing like some spicy noodles for breakfast!
x
Stephen // May 24, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Is there an option to post blog entries by email? With Blogger, you can create an email address, and anything sent there gets published so you don’t have to log into blogger except to edit. Maybe look into that the next time the Great Firewall lets you access your wordpress settings.
fahim // May 26, 2008 at 8:18 pm
you need to blog more. it’s hard to procrastinate without new content.
Sabine // May 27, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Jealous about the breakfast variety (my all time favorite is pineapple)… well, except for the fuel gel
As for spying, what could potentially happen if you went up to one such inconspicuous guy and confronted him? Would we need to pool money to pay your bail?
Is it warm enough for you to hide behind an ombrelle?
Alternatively, start filming him?
(keeping myself busy with electrical hazards today)
A. // June 3, 2008 at 5:09 pm
” I do not see how a discussion about the virtues of using Greek-style yogurt in a cupcake recipe (…) is a threat to the social order.”
Actually, my very ironic friend, you should know that a guy who threw 2 rotten yogurts on Sarkozy’s car (when he was minister of the interior -Sarko not yogurt guy) was sent to jail for a 7 months period. See the very subversive potential of transformed milk in France (!)