Travels

Nothing and a whole lotta rain

2008-06-15T01:08:00.000-07:00

hey all,
sorry for the mysterious disappearance. not a lot has been going on recently. although, it has rained for the last day and a half like i have never seen it rain before. when i woke up saturday morning, the sky was pouring rain down like a fire hose. it slowed down to a light rain in the afternoon, but then it picked up again a bit later. and it is getting very muggy. occasionally we have a clear day or two, but mostly it's just unbearable heat.

sad news. almost all of the UW group has pulled their support from the NGO that we had going. we had personality issues with a local couple that we made the mistake of taking on as partners. they ended up threatening a couple of the members of the group with being arrested and just generally are not being very helpful (actively impeding our efforts at some points). for all those who donated, thank you. your money will still be put to good use. since all of it was coming through the UW group and was completely controlled by us, we will take the remainder and put it towards another deserving, local NGO. on the positive side, we did accomplish a couple worthwhile projects before everything went south. we managed to airlift in 100 tents to a really remote area in need.

now, it's the final stretch leading up to finals (yes, we are all still in school). we'll be out around July 15th or so. then i'm putting aside a month to work on my research project up in JZG. after all that, i am heading home. i was originally planning to take a trip through Russia and then do some rock-climbing in Europe, but i've now decided that i want to spend the rest of my summer in my native northwest forests and mountains. i'm thinking of doing a backpacking trip with the whole family. we haven't done something like that in years.

my love to all,
-DJ

Plodding along

2008-05-24T02:43:00.000-07:00

Death toll: 60,000 people

Things have been progressing well with the non-profit. We’ve gotten a lot of details hashed out so far. We’ve all been pretty stressed simply because the pace of the whole thing moves so fast. We had a single weekend to get the website up and running, so that people would have a place to visit for information or to donate. Now that that has been finished, my work at least, has slowed down. I’m currently working on a facebook group (quick, everybody join) and we’re hoping to put together a benefit concert at home. Those are my two projects right now.

As for news in the city, there has been an official warning to be wary of rats. Because of damage done to buildings, the habitat that these little rodents buggers hang out in has been increased. I’ve already heard of one person being bitten in broad daylight as he was walking down the street. The fear is that these rats may carry diseases of some sort and spread them to the population. Let’s hope that’s not the case.

-archr

We're up and running!!!

2008-05-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Good news,
our site is now up and running. if you're interested in adding to our cause, please go to chinaearthquakeaid.org and donate now. everything is pretty simple and every dollar you give us enables us to provide a substantial amount of direct help to earthquake victims. right now, there's a large focus on finding enough tents to house everyone displaced from their home (millions). we already have some very clear immediate objectives. the site should talk about this in greater detail. please help.
peace,
archr

Startup

2008-05-18T04:01:00.001-07:00

Well,
It’s 2:17am and I’m still working on the website for our soon to be created NGO (I don’t think we have any kind of official status yet. I’ll have to ask about that tomorrow), China Earthquake Aid. Like I said in my last post, we want to have the site up and running by Monday. That means plenty of late nights for the website designers. Well, not really. I was going to be up late anyways. But it makes me look better if it sounds tedious.

Moving on, so I think we’re going to have to officially declare the monsoon season open. About an hour ago, it was raining like I haven’t ever seen it rain here in Chengdu. That stuff was coming down in sheets. It was blowing in horizontally through the windows. And it was the whole nine yards too… thunder and lightning. Very impressive display of nature’s fury. There were some here worried that fires might have started somewhere within the city. Probably not true though. Though the air did smell rather faintly of smoke(when one stood on the roof of the dorms… which is entirely legal mind you). On a more serious note, this bodes rather poorly for all those caught outside in this stuff. I’m sure that the make-shift tent cities that have been forming even here in Chengdu to house refuges are going to be pure mud tomorrow. Let’s hope that this is nothing more than the front end of the season and that the heavy rains et al will hold out for another few weeks.

Yours,
archr

Relief efforts

2008-05-17T00:41:00.000-07:00

Death toll: 22,000 people
Estimated death toll: 50,000

Alright,
Some interesting new stuff is happening around here. We’ll start with the not good.

Dam update: so they have released information on the dam to the general public. They are saying that everything is entirely fine. However, out TA’s contacts have said that the danger is being a little understated. Again, understandable, as no one wants full scale panic. When I say full-scale panic, I’m talking about multiple millions evacuating an area with damaged infrastructure all at once. Probably not a pretty picture. All of us here are just crossing our fingers, hoping that nothing happens, and diverting our attention elsewhere.

One of the major concerns right now is the number of dead bodies that are coming in from Du jiang yan and other affected areas. A large number of them are being stored in the northern-most parts of the city and apparently they don’t have the resources to deal with all of them. Issue number one is that they can’t burn all of the bodies because they haven’t been identified by family yet. Secondly, they don’t have enough ice or body bags to prevent the spread of disease that inevitably happens when bodies are left on their own for too long. At least, that’s the fear. They’re not having problems yet. Just looking into the potential problems of the future.

So the only other big piece of news of note right now (that I can remember) involves the University of Washington students who stayed behind, of which I am one. We have decided to try to start an NGO to raise funds for the relief effort. It’s called China Earthquake Aid. Since the Chinese are not allowing direct foreign help (no money is allowed to change hands), the purpose of our organization is to create a “funnel” between a potential donor and a growing number of domestic relief NGO’s. The domestic NGO’s call us and tell us what they need. Example: one hundred large tents. That’s a request that we’ve actually already had. Sadly, we don’t yet have our funds transfer account thinger set up. Then we gather the funds, buy the supplies, and pass them directly on to them. As soon as we get the bank account stuff set up, we can start accepting donations. This should happen sometime around Monday evening our time (Sunday morning state-side). If you’re willing to help with a donation, please stay tuned. I will definitely be posting the info when I have it.

And PLEASE, if you can think of any companies/institutions/organizations that might be interested in donating, talk to them on our behalf or pass their contact information on to me and we can talk to them.

New Developments

2008-05-14T06:54:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I’d like to apologize. I had no idea that the blog settings didn’t allow for anonymous comments. That has been remedied. Please feel free to leave comments, questions, or concerns.

Revised death toll (NY Times): 14, 866

Alright,
There have been some really interesting developments today. I’ll tackle each one by one. The short of it is that our whole group is supposed to be evacuating Chengdu. 6 of us have decided to waive liability with the University of Washington (My university. The program that I’m involved in is through them). New developments have made the situation seem a bit more dangerous than those desk-jockeys in Seattle are able to handle. As for the developments, the sad thing is that I don’t think that the majority of the population has any idea what’s going on. The local news has denied the existence of at least the first two, but our TA has contacts who filled us in on what’s actually happening behind the scenes. I hate to ever point fingers, but it does seem like things are being covered up here.

Before I get into the new developments I thought I’d give a recent quake update. There have been a few tremors so far today. All of them were rather small and insignificant and nobody even left buildings. We do have updates on the damage. Du jiang yan, mentioned yesterday as likely having suffered severe damage, has been leveled. Friends who saw the destruction first-hand have confirmed that there is not a single building standing anywhere within the city. The body count for this CITY alone seems to be around 8,000 people.

New development:
Today, the whole city (Chengdu, where I am) suffered a bit of widespread fear and panic. It was reported (apparently in err, we now learn) that the city’s water had been deemed undrinkable by officials. There was supposedly a fear that an upstream chemical factory had blown up (that part is true), allowing its contents to leak into the nearby reservoir. As this reservoir is one of those that serves the city of Chengdu, many were afraid that water from the faucet contained at least traces of those leaked chemicals. What followed was pretty much a city-wide free for all grab n go for water. By the time myself and my friends had heard about this new development, not a single bottle of water could be bought anywhere. I went far and wide, as did a couple people that I knew. Not one of us found even a single one. I ended up buying nine bottles of juice and scavenging a half-full bottle from Roberts (our communal UW computer room, the official rally point in case of further catastrophe, and my usual haunt). I bought a couple packages of ramen noodles and I busted out about half of the mac n’ cheeses that I’d brought with me from the States (I knew I’d really appreciate those). I went home and rounded up most of my backpacking gear, promptly dropped it conveniently out of reach at a friend’s house, and am now sitting in Roberts (I live here… really). We’ve since found out that the water is drinkable and that the whole scare was just the result of a couple @*$^@&’s spreading phone text messages based on incomplete information. That, or the local officials aren’t owning up to reality.

Don’t worry, I have my water filter…

Development #2:
Here’s a big one. There is a very large dam near Du jiang yan. Apparently, it has a crack in it. Our TA knows someone who works in Du jiang yan. He (our TA’s friend) saw this crack first-hand. This is the one that I’m really angry about, and the real reason behind my feeling that some things are being covered up here. There has been nothing in the news to warn people of this. I can understand if they want to prevent a serious panic. But I sincerely hope that they are working at full capacity to get things stabilized. We heard from this same guy that they are trying to let off all the water behind the dam. But they can only move at 150%. I’ve heard the lake behind this thing is monstrous (third largest damn in China). Let your imagination fill in the rest. According to our TA, if the dam breaks, Chengdu will not be affected (for those worried about my personal well-being). However, it will undoubtedly sweep downriver, doing massive damage along the way. This would of course only add to the destruction. Likely as not, it will hit Du jiang yan first, burying both those still trapped and those attempting a rescue in a massive amount of water.

edit: the main Chinese news agencies here are reporting about the damn. looks like they've got a firm handle on what's happening there.

Development #3:
Actually, this is so much a development as it is a realization. One of the major problems facing survivors after a major catastrophe is of course the rather poor conditions of the survivors camps. Other than food and water shortages, and issues providing shelter for everyone, disease can cause quite a problem. A few occasional survivors have started trickling in from around Du jiang yan. The worry is that they could carry disease from the quake areas into the much more densely populated urban area of Chengdu. I’ve heard that in at least some of the quake areas, the bodies of people pulled from the rubble are all put together in the same room out of the way. If this is true, then the bodies are not being properly disposed of and if left alone long enough, they could cause outbreaks of disease.

Also rather interesting, the entire UW group of students, myself included, had a meeting today to discuss our options for evacuation. It is official. The UW wants all of us to leave. However, well over half of the students have opted to remain behind, for various reasons. Some want to finish their studies. Others simply find it too troublesome to have to pick up and move. Myself, I kind of want to see how this whole thing plays out. So, what happens if we stay? Basically, we have to sign a waiver saying that we forfeit all liability coverage from the UW. They are no longer responsible for our safety. It is true that this doesn’t seem like a very wise decision on the outside. But we still have not only the support of Sichuan University, but also the American Embassy. For those that are doubtlessly beginning to feel worried about me, I would like to mention that other than the fact that we have two powerful institutions (both in better positions to help than the UW), none of us here feels that the present situation necessitates an evacuation. The level at which a university decides to pull its students and the level at which a real danger is present are entirely different. I don’t feel threatened right now. So please try not to worry. If there is a serious threat, I am prepared and I will move.

Update (9:30pm): tremor just shook up the building. We’ve been seeing these all day. Everyone’s pretty used to it now. Earlier, I was in a friend’s apartment on the 6th or 7th floor (sorry, wasn’t counting. I gotta get over to the swimming pool or do some running. Chengdu just ain’t that good for a body). I could feel even the slightest tremor while I was up there. the tall buildings around here are amazingly receptive to movement.

Well, signing off for the night to sleep… on the concrete floor of my cave, the room previously known as Roberts. I’ll be on for most of the day tomorrow using skype as well as facebook. Feel free to look me up. Good night all.

Yours,
Safe,
DJ

Earthquake in China: extended version

2008-05-13T01:10:00.000-07:00

Well,
I figured that I owe everyone a slightly better, more detailed post than my last. I wasn’t sure if the dorm caretakers were going to come kick me out or not. We were supposed to have another big aftershock about three hours ago, but it never came. Probably a good thing.

Well, I’ll start from the beginning. I was in the communal computer rooms in the dorms when the first one hit. It took me about two or three second to figure out what was going on. I remember the big earthquake that hit the Northwest in 2000 or 2001 or whenever, so I had a decent idea of what to expect. It wasn’t gentle, but it wasn’t bad enough that I immediately thought the building was going to come down. When I first came intot he hallway, there was group of three frightened/slightly confused girls heading towards the stairs. One of them was a French friend of mine and the other two were Korean. One of the girls looked like she was damn near in shock and was being led by the other two. I guess they must all have been pretty scared or rattled, because as soon as they saw me, they stopped and asked what we ought to do. I told them to head straight for the stairs and get outside. I debated whether I ought to stay and help others, but I figured everybody had a pretty decent idea what the best idea was. So I headed outside at a run too.

When I got out there, everyone was just standing around. A good half of the people were looking pretty upset. The Koreans took it hardest. They’re kind of a melodramatic bunch, for the most part. They’re known for love drama tv series involving lots of love triangles, betrayals, and at least one death per episode. To be expected. The Japanese were sitting around bored. That’s one way to solve the age-old problem of differentiating between Japanese and Chinese and Koreans. If their standing around calmly during an earthquake smoking… Japanese. If they’re just staring… Chinese. If they’re going into mild hysterics… Korean. The Europeans and Americans were mostly just standing around. Slightly worried, but then most everyone was a little worried. Some people were just annoyed at the interruption to their day.

After the first (which was the biggest of the only two to hit so far), some went inside. It started with a trickle of Japanese and westerners, then turned into a steady stream after a minute or so. But the majority still stayed outside, including the caretakers, hereafter referred to as Fu wu yuan (foo-woo-yen). I was one of the ones that went inside. I had left my lap-top sitting on a chair on the third floor, in open sight. I kind of like the convenience that a personal lap-top affords and as much as I like to contribute to the common good, I’d rather it remain in my possession (and my dad would probably agree, seeing as how he paid for it).

As soon as I got upstairs, I shut down my computer and hopped online. Very soon after however, a second tremor rocked the building. It was smaller than the first, but I didn’t wait to find out if it was gonna stay that way. I grabbed my lap-top and headed outside. I figured I could power it up and dork around with stuff on battery power. Kind of a good idea, because we were destined for a whole lotta waiting. I got quite a few jealous stares for having something to amuse myself with.

After this second shake up, the Fu wu yuan closed down the building. At first no one was allowed back in. but after a short while, they began to let in people that needed to use the bathroom. I spent about an hour and a half playing on my comp until the battery dies on me. A friend had adopted the excuse of needing to use the bathroom to get into the building, and had then gone and gotten online to see what was in the news. As I said, my battery had died, so I decided to follow suit. I went up to the computer room and hopped online. I shot off a quick mass e-mail to my rents and a few others that I knew would be concerned about me (thanks Chris, ha ha). But I was quickly kicked out again as the Fu wu yuan made a sweep of the building. So started a very long night…

After about another hour spent outside, the Fu wu yuan brought out some coke, sprite, water, and juice for everyone waiting outside. They also took all of the benches from every floors common area and put those outside for people to sit on. After another 30 minutes or so, two huge boxes of noodle bowls (I hate these things) materialized and people started tucking in. they were gone before everyone had a chance to grab one. They also put crackers out, but these things are hideously nasty, so were mostly left untouched. A friend went up to his room and grabbed a guitar and five of us sat around playing guitar and talking about all that was going on. People from my UW exchange program stopped by every now and then just to see what was going on. Guess everyone figured that the dorms were the unofficial rally point during emergencies. This was actually rather helpful, as they all brought differing perspectives on the situation from their respective places of residence.

For those with apartments above the 6 floor (most everyone) the quake was a pretty frightening experience. Chengdu has never once recorded a single earthquake (from what I’ve heard), so the local buildings aren’t exactly built for this sort of thing. They swayed so badly at the higher elevations that people were hardly able to walk down hallways. I’m frankly quite surprised that no buildings have fallen down (that I’ve yet seen or heard about). There are some old brick buildings next to the dorms that really should have fallen down, given the obviously shoddy construction methods common in China. But thankfully, no one was seriously hurt in our local area. The worst that I’ve seen was an old woman with a head bandage that we saw when we went searching for a restaurant that wasn’t closed. She must have fallen down and whacked her head on something. The only other injury that I saw was a Korean girl whose leg looked like it had been thoroughly mauled by some sort of small, furry, ferocious animal. She was limping around with the help of some of her friends.

As the evening wore on, people started to realize that we weren’t going to be allowed back in for the night. Blankets and pillows and sweaters started to appear. Everyone was gathering on the lawn right outside the front gates of the dorms. It looked more like a festival (as multiple people remarked on) than a mini earthquake refuge camp. As we hadn’t seen any real damage and had only the news that people occasionally dug up to go on, the mood was pretty light all night. Some were a little annoyed at not being allowed back in, though it’s no real big surprise that they weren’t. almost everyone was bored. I spotted at least three guitars, a couple games of cards, a game of mah jong (this is a horrible miss-spelling of the actual word by the way), a soccer ball, and a whole camp of people playing with computers and PSP’s huddled around the power outlets for electric scooters.

We all slept pretty soundly up until around 12:00am or 1:00am or so. That’s when it started raining. Everybody quickly headed inside. Nobody really knew what to do after that. Some set up their sleeping stuff in the main lobby of the dorm building. Some clustered underneath the little bike shelter, despite the wet bedding that undoubtedly resulted. A few people (I would be in this category) snuck off into nearby rooms. For everyone except those with a mattress, it was a terribly sleepless night. After it stopped raining, a large number of people moved back outside onto the hard, wet pavement. I heard that around 6:00am or so, there a was another mass movement to go inside. Whether it was sanctioned by the Fu wu yuan or not, I have no idea. I was asleep at the time… comfortable in my warm, albeit relatively unsafely located bed. One other guy joined me after this second migration.

Sad for him, we were awoken around 9:00am by the Fu wu yuan knocking on every door. Apparently, they had heard that a third quake was expected to hit within the hour. So, we all got up and headed back outside, careful to bring supplies for another long wait. But that third one never happened… at least not yet. Personally, I think this whole thing is over. We have felt a couple (maybe?) minor tremors since, but only one was big enough to warrant unanimous acknowledgement.

so, what sort of damage has been done? I’m sure everyone is very interested in the answer to this question. Everyone in the group with ties to a college or university in the States has gotten offers from local news group to do interviews. I immediately deleted my own, but it seems like everyone is jumping to be the first with in-depth coverage. Sadly for them, I think everyone will just have to be patient and wait for the Chinese to sort this mess out. They’re not overly tolerant of independent reporting here, to say the least.

The truth is, what I’ve got to go is mostly hearsay or news that every already has access to. Last night, the TA for our UW exchange program contacted us with some preliminary information. He’s always glued to a computer when things are going down. When he made a report of his findings (last night around 11:00pm or so), the official death toll was 7,000 (this has since been revised. See below). almost all of that was outside of Chengdu (my city of residence). But there were about 75 deaths even here in Chengdu. I heard about a few people killed by falling glass in the fancy, modern shopping district that’s well known locally. Lots of overly decorated buildings and nowhere to run. Pretty much a deathtrap.

The low number of deaths here in Chengdu is very, very surprising. Here’s why. There are two areas that were hit much harder than all the rest. Chengdu is roughly the same distance from the epicenter as both of these areas (a friend ahs informed me that the BBC currently has an article with an attached map showing the relative locations of all the places I talk about below. Check there for a reference guide). The first, a county to the northeast called Bei chuan (bay-chwan), accounts for a huge number of the deaths recorded so far. It’s been widely reported that over 80% of all the buildings in this county have been completely obliterated. The second county is called Wen chwan (wun-chwan). Again, there are large numbers of people dead or missing within this and the other county. One city alone, Mian Zhu (as it looks), is reported to have over 10,000 trapped or missing. It’s also worth noting that a city called Du jiang yan (doo-jiang-yen), the same place where I was hired to spend a night drinking and hanging out (for those that know the story), has also suffered serious damage. We don’t yet have numbers, but those should come out within the next few days.

The official death count for today has been elevated to 10,000 people. Another 17,000 are either reported missing or believed to be trapped. This is the worst earthquake that China has seen since 1976.

Update (3:15pm): we just had another little tremor. The interesting thing is that it happened within half an hour of the same time as the first one yesterday. Probably just coincidence. We all evacuated quickly and efficiently. The whole thing was over before almost anyone was out of the building.

Update (3:20pm): just had another. It was only a single shake. A friend just found out that there have been 313 recorded tremors so far. I don’t know what counts as a tremor. But there it is. Also, the official policy is now that you are allowed to enter the building as you wish, but if a tremor starts, you are required to immediately exit.

They have mobilized around 50,000 regular army to roll into theses areas. Right now, they are expecting at least 17,000 people to be trapped somewhere amidst the rubble. So, given Chengdu’s close proximity to the epicenter, we got off extremely lucky at only 75 dead (don’t worry mom). I’m sure more details will emerge in the next few days.

Well, in light of all this tragedy, I’d like to post a few anecdotes in an attempt to lighten the mood. Not laughing is not living.

Update (3:55pm): another small series of shakes. Didn’t really go anywhere though. Here’s an interesting fact. Did you know that if what you’re experiencing is nothing more than a tremor, then it’s actually safer to be inside. This is because the first thing to go in a building is the stairways, hence running up and down them is also running through a danger zone over and over. Though the best strategy is to simply stay outside…

Update (4:00pm): as of 1:30pm, the number of people missing within the county of Wen chuan has moved up to 60,000 people. From the wording, we’re unsure whether this means they simply forgot to check in or whether they are believed to be trapped. On a positive note, the total number of people believed to be dead has been adjusted down… 9,219. something to be thankful for.

A friend of mine was in his 26th story apartment when the first quake hit yesterday. As I said above, people at that height were hardly able to walk because of the swaying of the building. He did however make it out of the building. On a side note, he told me that the outside of his building had a huge crack running along it. I haven’t sent this with my own eyes to verify, but he is a rather trustworthy sort. The funny part is that he was in such a hurry to get out that when he got downstairs, he was in his boxers, his dog held safely underneath his arm. Luckily, he grabbed a pair of shorts on the way out. Someone loaned him a shirt too.

The second story was told to me by one of my Swedish friends. A little bit of back-story is necessary here, I think. As is well known, Japan receives a huge number of earthquakes every year. On average, they get over 80 a day, though only one of those is ever strong enough to be noticed by the casual observer. Needless to say, earthquakes are a normal part of life for most Japanese. So anyway… my friend. He lives on the fourth floor. As he was evacuating for the first quake, he happened to look outside onto the roof (the roof is on the same level as the fourth floor and the access point is right next to the stairwell). There was an elderly Japanese man just standing there on the roof nonchalantly, smoking his cigarette and laughing at everyone as they ran down the stairs.

On a similar note, during the first quake that hit today, as everyone was running full tilt out of the building (bearing in mind that the tremors had stopped before I’d even exited myself), the Japanese students were already walking calmly back in. they looked rather bored.

I’ll keep in touch. Please feel free to post comments. I would like anyone wishing to contact me to please use only the comment section of my blog. I’d prefer to not have 20 e-mails when I get online tomorrow. Thanks all.

Peace,
DJ

“I guess you should just watch the Japanese; if they look worried or run outside you follow; if they are calm just chill out” –my mom

Earthquake in Chengdu

2008-05-12T20:52:00.000-07:00

for those that don't know, there was recently an earthquake that hit very close to where i'm studying.

man, there is some messed up stuff going on outside Chengdu from what i hear. 7000 dead on the initial count, and that's only 60 miles from us (the epicenter). but so far i've only heard 75 dead here in Chengdu. 7.5-8.0, most likely 7.8 at the epicenter but only 5.something here. heard about a couple people killed by falling glass in the shopping district. we had to spend all night outside. it rained. and all we have to eat is ramen noodles in a bowl. i'm a refuge. kinda interesting. last night everyone was out on the lawn of the dorm, playing guitar and talking. it was almost like a festival. the mood here is pretty light. the problem right now is finding food. not a whole lot of places open (had an ice cream and a cup of tea for lunch).

anyways, i gotta go before the dorm authorities find me. i'm not really supposed to be in the building. if anyone needs to contact me, drop my parents a line johnsrud@gmail.com or just put a comment up here on the blog. i'm fine.

peace,
DJ

2008-04-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

thanks Kadey for the comment. yeah, China is a strange and wonderful place. sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad one. but always it is surprising. i would recommend everyone visit it before they die. it's a small corner of this world that is entirely unlike any other.

well, i thought i had enough time to write today. i was apparently mistaken. i just got sucked into looking at some pictures on a friends computer for the last half hour. now i've got to head off for lunch. we're organizing a big group to all go out together. Korean food!!!! who knows when i'll write again, ha ha.

status update and a look at the Tibetan riots

2008-04-16T01:29:00.000-07:00

kind of a slow week in school this week. on a positive note, i have not missed more than two days of school this entire semester. i'm rather happy with myself. and quite honestly, i feel that i deserve a pat on the back. my attendance hasn't been this good since Bennie "corrupted" me back in high school (and yes, i do blame everything on him. cheers mate).

as some of you may have heard about, there were a whole bunch of Tibetans rioting a month back or so. it was all sparked off after worldwide Tibetan protest day, or however it's called. things started in Lhasa and a few days later, even managed to move to some other parts of China. it's strange though, because i've hardly seen any evidence of what's going on here myself. the day after the first real riot here in Chengdu, me and a couple friends went down to the Tibetan district to have lunch and see what was up (yeah, i know. bright idea, huh? whatever, we're young and stupid). there was a ton of police there. nothing was going to happen.

what i find to be even more interesting however, is people's reaction to the riots. the Han Chinese here in town got really worked up. it was amazing how many of my friends and even family members cautioned me against going into public areas. even more amazing however, was watching racism against the Tibetans soar. for those of us living amongst Chinese families, it was sometimes painful to listen to some of the things being said about them (the Tibetans). i was fortunate enough to have one of the less racist families myself. though i was surprised by the attitude of my sister. she's in middle school and i asked her if there were any Tibetan children in her school. she told me that there had been two of them, but the day after the riot they were ambushed after school and severely beaten by another group of kids. they were hospitalized. when i asked my sister what she thought of this, she said, "you're not going to like my response." and she's right. i didn't. though i didn't criticize her or anything, it was obvious that she was aware of her own bigotry.

anyways, that's my take on the whole Tibetan riots thing. your own exclusive glimpse inside the action. not much happening these days. the government cracked down... hard... and fast. hell, i kind of wonder if this blog might not disappear in a few days...

Holiday Weekend

2008-04-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I think I’m going to spend some time answering questions that people have posted in previous comments. Keep them coming…

“I’m looking forward to reading part 2”
unfortunately, I don’t think there ever will be a full version of part 2. long story short, I decided to go off and take a day hike on my own. I saw this really tall nearby mountain and decided it would be a good idea to go climb it. It was really cool to be walking through the Chinese countryside. Pretty much everything is either planted fields, fallow fields taking a year off, or pastureland. Hard to move around without stepping on someone’s toes (or someone’s yak).

Anyways, I ended up climbing the thing. It was real hard to move towards the top because of some pretty dense vegetation. I had to walk bent over along goat trails that had been “chewed” to the top. Found some goats too. They didn’t seem to happy to have me running up the trail behind them. But here’s the craziest part of that whole adventure. After successfully reaching the top, I turned around to head down but couldn’t find the exact trail that I had taken up. And the mountain was shrouded with some low-hanging clouds. Ha ha, I had my first little “panic moment” in my long history of backpacking and hiking. But I ended up circling the mountain till I found the right trail and took that down. Found out when I got back that the rest of the group that I’d gone to Yangjuan with had been really worried about me. One of them was ten minutes from mounting a rescue operation when I finally got home.

Yangjuan is in the Southwest of Sichuan Province. It’s a small town out in the middle of nowhere. It is actually a rather random set of coincidences that caused our group to be doing research there in the first place.

ok, guess there weren't as many comments to be answered as i originally thought. no worries. i've got a couple good stories to tell anyways. this is all from my recent trip southward for a holiday weekend. we got a friday off, so me and three others, Geoff (Jifu), Leif (American PLU student), and Lisa (German) decided to go see some of the local Sichuan Province attractions.

First we went to Leshan, home of the largest buddha in the world. it's carved into some softish limestone along a river bank. it was apparently built to "tame" the river's deadly currents (with good vibes or something). funny thing is, it actually did. so much silt accumulated in the river from the construction process that it altered the flow of the river, filling in the features on the riverbed that were causing the deadly currents. but we didn't actually go see the buddha. we didn't have enough time.

from here we continued on till we reached Yibin. this is a rather large city that is used as a staging point for a lot of local attractions. it's also the setting for a rather "interesting" experience. we checked into a hotel for the night and took a night on the town. getting back after dinner, we grabbed a few beers for a bit of relaxation. we sat out on our balcony together sipping and checking out commenting on the different things that we could see from our vantage point on the seventh floor. there was a dude in the building across the street from us who stared at us until we caught him doing it. then he went inside, turned off the lights and then kept staring at us through his blinds. that's just something you get used to here in China. but the most interesting thing by far was this strange room that was on the top floor of a building in the distance. it stuck out quite a bit in amongst the other sights of Yibin. it was lit up with this strange pink light. we were taking guesses as to what it was all about. we also saw people moving around in there, so we figured that some dude just wanted to "pimp out" his room to impress the girls. "welcome to the Pink Room. this is the area of the house where the magic happens" or something like that. uhh... so yeah, we were kind of having fun with our imaginations.

unfortunately we quickly worked through those weak Chinese beers and Leif and i decided that another beer run was in order (we had each had two beers or so, at around 3 percent alcohol). so we went down to the street and started walking around looking for another corner store. it was a little late and nothing was open, so it took us a while. we did finally find one guy who would sell us a few. that was after almost getting ripped off by a lady who we thought was deaf, but actually was just refusing to respond to us so that she didn't have to listen to us tell her that her goods were twice the regular price. after we found her out, we refused to be ripped off (i regularly allow myself to be ripped off by people who look like they actually need it. people selling sewing needles on the street and such. but not people as ridiculously rude as this shop owner), and she made us put all the beers back ourselves. i wouldn't have minded this except that when we asked for 6 beers total, she went nuts and started chucking every one that she had at us (she did actually throw a few), even when we told her to stop. she got out more than we wanted by a significant amount and then acted like it was OUR fault that they were there. but whatever... feel the love right?

anyways, on the way back from getting our 6 (3 a piece) beers, we walked by the same building that we had seen the pink light in before (hereafter referred to as the pink room). We said "Why not?" and hopped into the elevators up to the 16th floor. bear in mind, this decision was made in near complete sobriety (equivalent of about a single beer at home, though my tolerance is starting to slip. i don't drink much here in China). and man... we did not know what we had gotten ourselves into at the time.

ha ha, so the elevator doors opened and we're standing in front of a bar with 3 people sitting around looking bored. sorry, forgot to mention. we discovered a label next to the button to the 16th floor that read "Today Club." so anyways, as soon as the guys at the bar saw us, one of them jumped up and very excitedly (too excitedly if you ask me) welcomed us, shaking our hands and telling us to come in. then he started ushering us down a hallway to the left of the bar. we figured "why not?" and followed him. he kept saying "come play, come play" which in Chinese is the equivalent of 'come have a good time'. he lead us into a room and what i saw made me stop dead in my tracks after taking only two steps in. there were 20-25 girls in there and they all looked up at us, Leif and I, as we came in. at that point we both knew exactly what was going on and immediately turned tail and ran for the elevators, throwing polite excuses for how we "must be going now" and "our friends are waiting for us back at the hotel" over our shoulders. ha ha, unfortunately, that same man who had ushered us into the room earlier caught up to us right before we were able to press the call button for the elevator. he told us to just relax there for a while and offered each us a bit of some really expensive looking whiskey "on the house." but neither of us was having any of that. we didn't want to get ourselves into anything for which we certainly didn't have enough cash in our pockets to pay for. we declined and so they offered tea. we still said no and so they offered water. we declined that too, but they brought it anyway. then the original guy told us to sit down and started talking to us about how "America is our friend" and how much he hated Bush. we stayed for a while because we didn't want to be entirely rude and ignore him. but we had at least gotten ourselves out of the room and we figured we were safe as long as they didn't try to get us to go back in. eventually we did get out of there, but it took us a good 15 or 20 minutes to do so.

boy did we breath a sigh of relief after we made it back to the hotel. luckily we the beers that we had picked up earlier and we took a little time to chill before heading to bed. we also told our friends of our daring adventure to go seek out the "Pink Room".

Settled in

2008-03-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

so i've gotten into a routine here. it is not overly exciting, but then that's probably better for my studies anyway. a typical week:
monday through friday i go to school. i have a single class in the morning every day. it runs from 8:30 till 10:00 and those are my Chinese classes. Thursday is reading and all of the other days are the spent on grammar. i've come to like my grammar teacher quite a bit. i thinked i lucked out. she is rumored to be the best teacher in the school. she is somewhat demanding, but again, that's probably a good thing for me. she is extremely good at explaining things in depth and never wastes our time on useless excercises. she speaks using only words we should know and never speaks quickly. normally, you get a break half-way through the class period because it is difficult to stay focused for an entire hour and a half otherwise. in her class we don't get a break at all. she just keeps going. strangely, i don't mind. maybe that speaks for itself as to the merits of her teaching skills.

this is all in stark contrast to my teacher from last semester. she wasn't terrible, but man did she suck. and she's one of the slightly better teachers here. don't get me started on the incompetence of the foreign language school here (and this is supposed to be one of the best universities in China?). bah!

anyways, i also have an afternoon class on monday and thursday. the subject is industrial ecology and is taught by a Chinese professor (in english). he's quite good at what he does and has piqued my interest in the subject significantly. although i did miss his class yesterday, i normally look forward to what he has to say. he's gotten the gears turning in my head, so to speak. i may end up taking some other classes in this area when i return to the UW.

the weekends are my rest days of course. i generally put aside at least on of the days to laze around and do nothing. i feel that this is important for the upkeep of my sanity. occasionally, i go climbing. a couple weekends ago, i went with a small group of local climbers to an outdoor wall. most (all really) of it was outside of my grade, i wasn't really feeling like climbing that day, and i was tired from having climbed the day before. i did however, claim a difficult 5.10 (5.10c? d?) after three attempts and a little bit of help from my belayer. despite the rather negative appearance of the trip, i consider it a complete success. i now know two out of three of the local outdoors climbing locales, i am starting to build rapport with the local Chinese climbers, and damnit was it nice to get out of the city for a change. i'm hoping to get out climbing on a somewhat regular basis, starting sometime in the near future.

i've also decided to install a couple regular events on a weekly basis. Sunday is "dinner and a movie" night, where i get together with a couple of my wonderfully fun to be around Swedish friends, cook dinner (we takes turns alternately cooking or making fun of each others cooking), watch a movie, and then sit around discussing the movie and bullshitting till late in the night. this usually starts around 6:00 pm and ends sometime around midnight (give or take). again, an important ritual in the upkeep of my sanity here in China.

the other regular event in my life (sort of) is "shave" day. i go to my local barber, who sets up shop in this sketchy, but well lit alley nearby. he does old fashioned shaves. you know, with a straight blade. very cool. it feels good too. some people go to get massages... i go to the barber. i haven't yet decided which day i'm making the official "day" because i don't really need a shave every week. or maybe i do? i don't know. right now i just kind of go whenever i'm in a good mood and i want to be in a better mood.

back in the loop (maybe more so than before)

2008-03-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

hey everyone,
so, i'm back in China now. things are going well. it took me a few days to get back into the swing of things. i uhh... accidentally skipped my second day of classes. but i'm settling in better than i expected. i thought that it would be a lot harder making the transition from the States back into China. but hey, i'm happy with how it turned out.

for those that don't know, i'm now staying with a real Chinese family. they're great. i can already tell that my Chinese is going to be really great as a result of staying with them. the family is made up of a single mother, her 15 year old daughter, and the grandparents in the family. the mother is really nice and very accommodating. she's been more than kind about setting me up with my own room, making sure the family eats things that i can stomach (more on that some other time), and just generally being a good foster mother.

the daughter is pretty cool. she's still a little reserved around me, but is quickly opening up. i think there may be some hard feelings between us, as she got kicked out of her room (she now sleeps in the same bed with her mother) to make room for me. but it could just be my imagination.

the grandparents, the grandpa especially are also very kind. the grandma is a little pushy, but then she's part of the older generation here in China (the one where beating disobedient children was totally kosher). i'm going to remain open-minded and see what develops. the grandpa has so far been the person that i'm around the most. when i get up in the morning, he is already up and making breakfast (more on that some other time also).

so, overall i'm very pleased with them. i was expecting to be very on edge around them. Chinese hospitality can be over-bearing/over-the-top sometimes. but i'm nearly comfortable already, after only having been there a week. i have great expectations that the my future here in China will be a happy one.

more to come...

Thailand climbing

2008-02-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

Hey ya’ll,

So I’m back from my rather long hiatus from the blogosphere. Today I’ll be talking about Thailand and how great an experience that was.

First off, Thailand is definitely a place worth visiting. The people are so incredibly friendly and happy (well more so than your average person it seems). When we flew into the Bangkok airport at 2 am in the morning, we went up to this currency exchange booth. The woman there was literally asleep on her desk. But we needed money, so we had to wake her up. I expected her to at least be non-responsive, if not actually give us a dirty look for waking her up. But no. she said, “no worries, it’s early. I’m just tired. Haven’t had my coffee yet.” Who the fuck says that at 2 am in the morning!?!

The food was delicious. Unfortunately, both Geoff (one of my two traveling companions, for those that don’t know) and I were stricken with Salmonella (that’s what someone there in Thailand thought it was). It was bad! We didn’t sleep at all for a night. Every hour or so we had to scramble into the bathroom. 20 minutes in, hour in bed, 20 minutes in…

And we had to share the bathroom too. Ever had to time 20 minutes stints in the bathroom between two people? Yeah, it sucks. But we got over it enough after a full day of rest to hit the climbing wall again.

The climbing: holy crap was the climbing amazing or what. The whole place is made up of perfectly vertical or overhung limestone cliffs. They surround the beach so entirely that the only way to get there is by boat. There’s probably at least 6 months of solid climbing there. And the fun thing is that you’re always climbing in amongst vines, branches, and stalactites (those are the ones that go down, right?). we actually did many climbs that do a hanging start off of a stalactite and you climb the first ten or fifteen feet on the thing. How cool is that? Don’t worry, we got a few good pictures of this at least.

As far as my personal climbing goes, I managed to set a new hardest grade climbed. I’ve now down 5.10c on lead, no falls. I plan to keep pushing my climbing. My goal for this year is to hit 5.11 on lead. But to do that I’m really gonna have to hit the gym. There’s actually enough climbing here in China that I might be able to keep in shape. We’ll see. It took me a little while to regain my lead-head, and I still haven’t completely gotten it back to where it used to be, but it’s a start.

And now for the part where all my rock climbing friends are gonna get jealous and want to hurt me. I got to go DWS (deep water soloing). For the non-climbers, that’s where you climb out over water with no rope. If you fall… well, let’s just say make sure you cover up the ol’ boys and plug your nose well. I did one climb that I’m rather proud of. It starts underneath a roof, then moves out to the side and up a stalactite. The crux is the final move, which is a really dicey layback on a wet sloper, with a right toe hook around the lower edge of the sloper and your left toe on the smallest crimp you’ve ever seen. You sneeze and you’re going in the drink. With both hands on the wet (like I can’t describe) sloper and 35-45ft above the water, you have to shift your weight onto your right foot. As you’ll recall, that foot is actually currently employed with toe-hooking, and nothing close to solid purchase on anything resembling an actual hold. So anyways, fun as hell.

Geoff has posted his pictures of the trip.

Yangjuan Trip

2007-10-18T14:11:00.001-07:00

So this is a week or two overdue, but whatever. Been meaning to talk about my trip to Yangjuan for a while now. First let me say thank you to all those of you who posted comments. I appreciated them very much. A quick note however. Because of the great firewall here in China I am unable to view any of them. If there is any positive criticism or anything that you want me to talk about in my blog, feel free to just send those straight to me. Otherwise I won’t see them till I get back to the states.

Yangjuan… Yangjuan was very fun. First we had about 19 hours or so of travel by train, then bus, then car. 10 on the train, then a 5 hour bus ride, then a 2 hour bus ride, then a 2 hour car ride. I actually rather enjoyed the whole thing. Very beautiful landscape all the way there. Riding buses in China can be rather exciting also. Like many countries that have lax driving laws, the bus drivers here in China are effing crazy. They take blind corners at mach speed, simultaneously passing another bus or two and driving right along the edge of the road on a cliff face with a solid 200ft drop below. To their credit, I didn’t die on either the way out there or on the return trip. We did see a truck that had gone off and nose-dived into the ground though. It looked like the cab had been completely crushed between the ground and the weight of everything that he was carrying. Poor guy probably didn’t walk away from that one. Taking the bus in China is not for the faint of heart. On the positive side, you don’t have to worry too much because if you do go off the edge, you’re not going to feel much when you hit.

We got there late in the evening and were put up for the night. The woman, ZhiZhi (jhur jhur) who was to be our host for the next few days insisted on feeding us. Chinese hospitality is truly amazing. She hadn’t known that we were arriving that night and was extremely embarrassed that she didn’t have anything ready for us. So she brought us three huge containers filled with some local produce, apples, sunflower seeds, and walnuts. There was a lot because each container was the size of a washbasin and completely full. We had a lot of trouble cracking the walnuts (Geoff trying to crack them with his leatherman and damn near taking a finger off in the process will forever remain in my mind). ZhiZhi started cracking them for us and it was all we could do to get her to stop. A note on Chinese hospitality based on my own observations: if your host is behaving with proper Chinese courteousy, the only way to get them to stop feeding you is to stop eating. Also, you should stop eating a little while before you are actually full, because they will aggressively push more food on you. They’ll keep putting in your hand until they are satisfied that taking another bite will end badly.

The next day was quite fun. We all went to a local wedding. The entire thing consisted of two things eating and drinking. They alternated between the two. That’s it. In fact, there was never even an actual ceremony to signify the marriage as having taken place. First, we all spent about 5 hours sitting outside drinking and eating sunflower seeds (they eat a lot of those because they’re locally produced). Then we moved inside for food. Then back outside to let the other guests eat their share. The bride’s family was actually from a different town and had gotten lost on the way to the wedding. When they finally arrived, the drinking really started. Our TA, Eddie said that we ought to head home at that point if we wanted to survive the night, and since we were all feeling a little green after having taken a few shots obligatory shots of Baijiu (white liquor or moonshine, Chinese national hard alcohol and second worst alcohol known to man) we agreed that this was a good idea. So we started home. But as we were taking off, we started feeling like we were abandoning Eddie to a terrible fate, and decided to turn around (Geoff was the catalyst for this decision). When we got back, having only been gone 10 minutes or so, Eddie came sauntering unsteadily out of the “drinking room.” Apparently, the real purpose of the wedding is to simply get the two families to like each other, alcohol lubricating the entire process. Eddie, being a foreigner and because of this, an important person on the grooms side of the family, was socially obligated to loosen the tension between the two sides. There were about 40 people in the “drinking room” and he went around and personally toasted each and every one of them. In China if someone toasts you, you are obligated to toast back. You must also drink exactly the same amount as the other person. The idea is to have everyone important on the groom’s side of the family toast everyone on the bride’s side of the family at least once, which gets them drunk, happy, and in a much better mood for making friends. Then everyone was ushered into the “eating room” and had some food. While here Eddie again went through and toasted everyone. Mercifully, he only had to toast each table, so he only had to take 10 shots. It was at this point that Geoff and I joined the drinking. We each went around to each table and toasted. After all this, everyone again went back to the “drinking room.” So what does Eddie do? He goes around and toasts everyone again. Me and Geoff followed suit and it didn’t take long before we both were struggling to find an exit strategy, figuring that being sick in front of everyone in the room would maybe be faux paus. We needed to stop drinking immediately and so stepped out quietly now that everyone was getting too drunk to notice. I spent the rest of the wedding at a table eating because I had developed the munchies and later we went home, Eddie insisting on putting myself and Dowdy (our other companion for the night) on the back of a motorcycle that took us home while he and Geoff took the long walk home through the cornfields and potfields (they grow hemp in yangjuan). The two drunkies… ha ha. They told me later that they had frolicked in the potfields for quite some time, sniffing the plants and just generally acting like drunk people do.

Something that I found extremely interesting about the wedding was the fact that the bride had almost no role at all. When we first got there, she handed us each a small shot of Baijiu to drink in honor of the occasion. But other than that, the only thing she did was sit mostly by herself off to the side. This is a cultural thing that everyone in the group found to be quite disturbing. Later, a close friend of hers joined her in her isolation but no-one paid hardly any attention to her, other than the shot that everyone was offered by her when they first got arrived. I also found it interesting that there were absolutely no women in the “drinking room.” Dowdy, another of the UW students that came to the wedding, felt like her presence was making the situation somewhat awkward and left. We all felt bad about it, but couldn’t convince her to come back in.

The next day was a slow one for everyone. Eddie and Geoff were both nursing hangovers, but I wasn’t doing too bad. Everyone else was there to work on their research projects and so they took off during the day to work on them. I mostly just sat around. Actually, I can’t recall exactly what it was that I did for those few days.

The second exciting part of my trip I’ll talk about in Yangjuan: part two. To be continued…

The Chinese Personality

2007-09-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

China. Many people say that it is one of those love/hate things. I haven't yet decided whether I like it or not. It may be that I am not yet comfortable (in fact that probably is the case). Regardless, I’m holding off on any judgment at this point. There definitely are points when I am extremely frustrated with this country.

Part of it may stem from the lack of certain freedoms. It bothers me not in the sense of me personally feeling held back, but more so in the sense of it holding back it's own people from developing themselves (not economic or structural development. Here I’m talking on a personal level). I realize that this is a very complex issue though and that as a westerner I’m was pretty much destined to view things like this. Again, I’m holding off judgment.

People here are interesting. They're friendly and such. They take quite an interest in foreigners. Many people will stare at you as you walk down the street. What I find the most interesting is how differently they think and how that affects their personalities on a national scale. There is definitely a "Chinese" personality that everyone here has in some degree. It's very complex though, and will take me a while to unravel.

An example of this is the girls here. They have two “modes.” One is shy, quiet, and very difficult to interact with. The other is what I call “goo-goo idiot”, very obnoxious, paying way too much attention, fawning all over you, mothering you in an annoying way, and just generally being a nuisance. Ha ha, I don’t want to paint a negative picture here, but it seems like they drop in maturity by about 5 years. I had an experience with that today. I’m working with a group of 5 girls on a secondary research (as opposed to my primary one in JiuZhaiGou) project here in Chengdu and we went out to do some field work. One of the girls in the group is quite obviously in to me, and it was all I could do to avoid her all day.

I’m hoping to come away from China with a much better understanding of this “Chinese” personality.

School started

2007-09-13T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I’m back from JZG (JiuZhaiGou). Sorry it’s taken me a while to write. Life here is hectic. I’ve started school. Classes are hard, but thankfully we’re not being graded on the more difficult classes. They are apparently not required. I’m still going to go to all of them anyway.

Internet still isn’t set up in the dorms here. My roomate and I occasionally have a spotty connection, but then it will only work for a little while before cutting out. Eventually we’re all going to have internet down the hall in Roberts. That’s the room in the dorm that our program pays to keep as a storage/common space. It has a few computers, and hopefully I will be able to hook up my laptop also.

So it looks like I will have a second research project to work on. There is a local group of chuan da (Sichuan University) students assessing the spread of local invasive species. They don’t have much experience with using ArcGIS, so I’m going to help them. I’m excited because it will also be a good chance to practice my chinese. There’s only one girl in the group who can really speak english and she’s agreed to only speak chinese to me. I also have to translate all of their e-mails.

I’ve really gotten acclimated to life around here. I’ve settled into a daily routine that actually includes a fair amount of studying. I really hope to focus on cementing my chinese language skills.

From JiuZhaiGou

2007-08-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

Wow. That's all i can say about JiuZhaiGou. I'll try to get the pictures posted when I get back. This place is absolutely stunning. The mountains are huge! They almost put the gorge to shame. They're all a lot closer together though, so it gives the impression that they are taller than they are.

Also, last night I got to stay in a Tibetan village. Foreigners totally aren't allowed to, technically.
But Andrew, the guy I know here at JZG, told me to just go up to a local and ask for a place to sleep.

I ate dinner with what must have been the entire local extended family. There was the son in a nice business suit who owned a car, the daughters who ran the local tourist trinket shop, the mother, grandmother, and the son who was a local monk. All of the monks from the local temple also came over for dinner. There we all were, eating delicious home-cooked food (puts every other countries' to shame) and watching tv while trying to communicate in Chinese/English. Quite the experience.

Tonight I intend to stay in another village, this one outside the park. I think Andrew wants me to get an idea of what it's like inside and outside the park.

Out on the street in Chengdu

2007-08-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

The city of Chengdu is in my opinion just like any average large American city, except dirtier, a little more run-down, with lots of foreigners walking around, and everything is written in Chinese. the number of people is immense, but there actually aren't quite as many people as i expected. i still feel like i have personal space. Guatemala was definitely more crowded. on the street i would say about 10% of people are in cars or other vehicles, another 15% are on bicycles or motorbikes, and the last 75% are on foot. for every one person that would be assigned a task in meiguo (America), there are two or three people here. while i was walking through the supermarket shopping for the basic necessities, i was afraid to stop because if i did i felt like the fuwuyuan (service people) would take that as a sign of needing help and i would get swamp by like 10 people. the climate here is a kind of hot that i've never really felt. it's always cloudy (they say you see the sun about 5 times a year or less) and always hot. the clouds trap the heat and it is humid. the food here is bloody well amazing. dad, you would kill for this stuff. you should really come visit me over the break. because of the many cultural groups in China and the influences, you can find a huge array of food to choose from. people are just like anyone else in the world, generally friendly, helpful, and interesting. they have different customs though as far as communication though. they are very loud. two people will be shouting at each other, indoors, seeming like they're angry. but they're not, that's just how people sometimes talk to each other. my guess is it conveys emotion, but i'm still trying to figure that out for sure.

i guess that's all for today. if any of you have questions for me, please feel free to send them to me at am_johnsrud@yahoo.com. take care all.

Funny Foreigner

2007-08-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

i ate intestine today. didn't like it. the food in Chengdu is beyond to die for. every meal has been one of the most amazing we've ever had. this evening we went to a place where each table had it's own special grill and you put whatever sorts of things into that you want. yumm. we made a scrambled egg mixture using birds eggs and local vegetables. but that's totally not how you do those grills, so every person that passed us was shaking their head and laughing. hell yes!

it also started raining while we were out on a shopping trip. it freakin poured! the weather here is even more unpredictable than in the northwest. it just started dumping and everyone (which is a goodly number of people huddled under the eaves of shops. i went out and played briefly in the rain, much to everyone's amusement. hey look at the funny foreigner, ha ha. speaking of which, we definitely get preferential treatment here. we get moved to the front of lines and stuff. i don't like it. it doesn't happen amazingly often though, thankfully.

oh, btw mom. the smog was so thick coming into Beijing that you could see the pure white clouds inside of it and visibility from the plane was less than 15-20 miles or so in any direction.

zao gao

2007-08-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

finally got access to some sort of media. the e-mail in our dorms won't be up till after this week... so no skype or computer till then. man, it's been crazy. i'm a little jet-lagged, so i've been dragging my tired ass along behind the group all day. so much interesting stuff has already happened. i had a 2 1/2 hour conversation in chinese with an older couple on the plane. then we got to Beijing and were told that our tickets were no good, so we had to run from one office to another, to one that had no one around, back to the first, on to a new one, on to another new one, back to the first new one, then on through security after we realized our tickets were good after all... well half the groups anyway. the other half had to stay in Beijing and are flying in later tonight. they missed the first day of stuff. i ate pure pork fat!!! no actual meat in it... just pure fat! i was trying a dish and when i heard that's what it was, i was like "no bloody way." but then i decided that i had to follow my rule of trying everything once. it wasn't that bad. wierd. oh, and the cooking here is frickin amazing. i just couldn't keep my chopsticks out of this mushroom dish earlier today.

ahh, i don't know what else to say. uh, i'll have skype up in about a week and a half and will give everyone a call.

till then, zai jian, wo ai ni.

so it begins...

2007-08-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

well,
it's getting to be about that time. leaving for a year to study in China. can't say i'm not nervous but hey, who wouldn't be? right now i'm putting the finishing touches on my travel plans, packing, and saying goodbye to friends and family. just got done with my intensive chinese class. that was one hell of a tough class! thought the good news is that i'll probably end up with a pretty decent grade in that class.

more to come after arrival...