Revisiting goals for 2010

These were my goals for 2010. How much have I accomplished?

 Make my own money
-Yes
Not lose interest in scuba
-Went scuba diving twice!
Go to these places:

Thailand
-Went!
Mongolia
-Nope
Philippines
-Yes!
Phase out flannel and bangs
-No comment.

Speak Chinese
-Technically, yes.
 
Its been a good year!
 
2011年的愿望
1。养一只猫 （最重要的!)
2。跟研究所有关的事 (是个秘密!)
3。存钱（不可能!）

笑话

This is a joke my 16 year old student told me. Her English isn't very good so her translation of it wasn't very clear, but it was good enough for me to get the gist of it.

Q. Why didn't [a famous terrorist's name] try to attack China?

A. Apparently he did.

He sent four men to do his dirty work for him. The first man is was told to blow up some famous bridge (I don't remember the name) but there were too many bridges and could not find it. The second man was sent to set a bomb off in a public space but before he did, someone stold his bag. The third man was to blow up a bus but failed to do so because there were too many people inside for him to even get on. The last man was sent to blow up a coal mine. This man was successful but no one heard about it because these coal mine explosions happen too often to be worthy of news.

-

Statistics show that the number of people who use the internet in China has reached over 450 million people, almost a third of the country's population. The Chinese government, notorious for its censorship, is scrambling to come up with ways to control what can get published on the internet. My teacher has told me that for every major city, there are thousands of people that monitor messageboards or forums and promptly delete or pursue these 'dissidents' to uphold 社会和谐- or social harmony. However, with the growing number of users online in China outnumber the number of people keeping them in line and news travels fast. I frequently visit a number of websites that are translated from Chinese to English (such as this and this) and while there are still some things posted by these netizens that make me uncomfortable (nationalism and gay issues), its refreshing to see that people have the ability and access to the social injustices that occur everyday. Its something I guess.

The popular catch phrase and story behind"我爸是李刚" or "my father is Li Gang" is an excellent example of the power of people online. Check it out!

称呼

称呼 cheng1hu (n)- form of address

In China, it is considered impolite to refer to a person's name directly so it is more common to attach a title or "称呼" before their name, or even just calling them with a "称呼".

Here are some common ones

服务员  fu2wu4yuan2
waiter/serviceperson

小姐 xiao2jie3 
Chinese equivalent to "miss", except that in the South, it can refer to a prostitute

老板 lao2ban3
boss (only for men); can refer to a man working in a shop

小朋友 xiao3peng2you3
"small friend"; refers to children
(my personal favorite)


阿姨 a1yi2
auntie, but usually refers to an older lady, as well as a cleaning lady/nanny

师傅 shi1fu
master, but refers to anyone with a skill. I've heard it commonly associated with taxi drivers.

大姐 da4jie3
big sister; an older lady but not that old. I call my landlord "大姐" because I don't know her real name.

heard it through the grapevine

According to my Chinese source (aka a real Chinese person), if one was interested in purchasing a new car, whether it is domestic or imported, it would be impossible due to high demand and production constraints. Instead, one can make a deposit on the car and wait for three to six months for your desired car to be available. She also says that the demand for cars was a result of some sort of government regulation that will prohibit cars currently on the road from driving everyday. Current regulation says that on one day out of the week, depending on the last digit of your car's license plate, you cannot drive or else you will be fined. New legislation will increase the number of days to two days a week so, because the car lifestyle has made it into China, car owners are scrambling to buy a second car to insure that they can drive everyday.

I find this amazing- China with their unprecedented manufacturing ability and status being unable to satisfy domestic demands for cars. At the same time, cars in China are significantly more expensive than the rest of the world, even if they are local brands. And, according to "my source", these local brands are much poorer in quality despite being comparatively priced with their international counterparts.

But I'm sure your biggest concern is not China's car policies but this- what kind of car is "my source" in the market to buy?

She and her husband are planning (or have already bought?) a new Mini Cooper, which is appropriate since they both lived in England for a signficant amount of time.

And how much is she going to pay for this car (or have already paid?)?

Before tax, 290,000 RMB (about $45,000). And of course, since it is China and places extremely high taxes imported goods (according to some quick research, the tax on imported cars could range from 13-33% of the base price) , the price will have dramatically increased by the end of the transaction. This makes you wonder how people are able to buy a car, a house and pay for all that entails when average yearly salary is around 36,000  RMB/$4,500 (according to some quick search online).

Of course she and her husband didn't have to pay a dime, the car is a wedding gift from her husband's family. They're generous.

Wikileaks

US embassy cables: African countries prefer Chinese aid to US-China cooperation

"Sunkuli claimed that Africa was better off thanks to China's practical, bilateral approach to development assistance and was concerned that this would be changed by "Western" interference. He said he saw no concrete benefit for Africa in even minimal cooperation. Sunkuli said Africans were frustrated by Western insistence on capacity building, which translated, in his eyes, into conferences and seminars (REF C). They instead preferred China's focus on infrastructure and tangible projects."

Since they seem to be a crowd favorite in Africa, I won't be surprised if China becomes the new hot thing in international aid. I could only imagine what goes on in meetings between aid recipients and US aid organizations- a lot of buzzwords, synergy and empowerment workshops coupled with feasability reports and market research  while China has built roads and power lines.

看热闹儿

看热闹儿 kan4 re1nao er - "To watch the fun". Usually used in reference to an event in which people crowd around to watch.

I’ve seen more street fights in a month in China than I have ever witnessed my entire life. The reason could come from many things- perhaps people in the States are more discreet about their first fighting or resort to passive aggressiveness (the spirit of the Northwest). What is more interesting than the fist fights, however, is the crowd that forms around these fights. From petty shouting matches to actual bloody fist fights, people have no shame in gathering around with their hands behind their backs and casually watch, spending a few minutes watching and then shuffling off with their miniature dogs. In America, this type of event would rarely happen, possibly because we are conditioned to believe that it is not polite to stare and that we should help those in need. So when encountering a fight, more often than not, bystanders become empowered with the spirit of the love for mankind and quickly put an end to these blasphemous actions. It’s another thing for the men of the law. In America, who isn't afraid of the cops? But in China, I’ve noticed the nonchalance as well as the blatant disregard by the police when it comes to disorderly conduct. Is this a no man’s land? Without guns, that is.

“你不像“

Here is a typical conversation I have with older Chinese people:

“你是哪国人”？

Where are you from?

“我是美国人”

I'm from America.

“你不像”

You don't look like an American.

Fair enough.

I also look like I fall under the following ethnicities:

1. Indian

2. Mexican

3. Every single South East Asian country

4. NW Chinese/Central Asia (I think this is a stretch, but it has come up several times)

a sample of Chinese people going abroad for school

A: 16 years old. Highschool sophomore.

She lives in a small, average apartment in northwest Beijing with her mom. Her mom, who works sporadically, and seems to spend a lot of her time watching TV and napping. When asked what she likes to do in her spare time A responds "I like to stay home, watch movies, read books and sleep". Her mom decided that she will spend the rest of her highschool, and perhaps even her college, in Australia. She will be leaving Beijing indefintely in January. Her mom recently took her out of school in order to focus on improving her English before leaves. One day, her mom asked me to look over some documents for her study abroad program. It cost over $18,000 Australian dollars. I asked A how she feels about leaving the country and whether or not she is excited to be in a new place. She responds, "I just want to stay home."

B: early 30s. Some type of manager in small company.

She studied in a small school in some college town in England. B talks about how she had a hard time adjusting to the culture. At that time, the exchange rate from RMB to GBP was 17 RMB to a pound. Remember in China you can have a full meal for around 8 RMB, probably even less than that at that time. B couldn't get a cell phone because in order to do that, she would need to get a credit check. Of course, as a foreign student, she had none. She said that she was spit on and chased by kids who lived in the town (she says the town was very blue collar working class). In order to save money for a trip around Europe, she slept on the floor in a one bedroom apartment and never bought anything that cost more than a Pound.

C: mid 20s. Work at the same company as B. Watches movies all day.

Spent some of his high school (perhaps he was 17) and college in England. Gentle giant (he is really big!). He had a great experience in England. He drove a second hand BMW, had a lot of friends, was part of a basketball team, had a part time job and probably was never spit on or chased because he was so large.

D: 18 years old. Just started college in Philadelphia.

D comes from a very wealthy family from the Liaoning Province (not very far from Beijing). Apparently, D was one of the best in his class academically except for English. His mother took him out of class in order to improve his English before he left for the US, spending at least 100,000 RMB ($15k) for a month's classes (English schools make a killing here in China) in Beijing. For a month, he lived in a hotel by himself while meeting with a tutor for three hours a day. At the end of all this, he gave his tutor a framed fossil that, according to D, is a famous export from his province because some mountain near his home is full of fossils.

E: Around 16 years old.

Like D, comes from Liaoning Province. His family moved to Beijing because the schools are better here.  His family has two homes in the city, one is modest apartment in central Beijing (near our place) and the other, according to his tutor, is practically a palace in north Beijing near the Olympic Stadium. His family lives in the smaller apartment during the week because its near his school. I have a feeling he is the son of a coal mine owner. According to his tutor, he does nothing except study for school and go to a number of mandatory extracurricular activities. However, he does have all the new technology- iPhone, iPad, nice bike, etc. I'm not exactly sure if he/his parents are going to send him abroad for school.

F: 18+, maybe started college in Virginia.

Son of a coal mine owner (the "new rich"). Drives a nice car, has a lot of money, according to his tutor, all he wants to talk about is cars. He wanted to go to school in L.A. but did not have grades good enough to make it and was instead accepted to the University of Virginia. English was terrible but didn't care.

Stuff I Like: Electric Hot Water Bottles

After our down comforter, this is my only source of comfort in this house. Since the comforter can only provide me warmth while I'm in bed, this allows me to function around the house like a real person! The best part about the kind I have is that it is a belt/fanny type model, which makes doing things around the house a [warm] breeze! Until I have to plug it in again, that is. 

Tokyo Subway System

What were they thinking? Is this some kind of a joke?

(Please click here to see how amazing it is.)

Stuff Frances Likes: The Beijing Subway

How can you not be impressed by something that came from this (such humble beginnings)

and will transform to this



in less than five years from now?

The first image shows the development of the Beijing subway, the first railway system in mainland China. Line 1 and 2 were open to the public since 1984 and remained unchanged until the construction of Line 13 in 2002.* Winning the Olympic bid for 2008, as we all know, prompted an explosion of city-wide construction, which is when the Beijing Subway got its big break. Between 2001 and 2008, seven new lines (4, 5, 8, 10, airport express and the Batong Line) were created covering Beijing's sprawl and in the next 5 years, in addition to the extension of some pre-existing lines, another 8 new lines will be created.

As we've seen with the 2008 Olympics, I think we can all agree that Beijing has the capacity in all respects to make this possible. Its also fair to say that the government is doing this for the greater good. After all, has mass transit ever been unpopular? The Beijing metro, I feel, is probably one of the more impressive feats of power that the Chinese government has implemented. Aside from the fact that they had the extra money to finance these immense projects, they were done in a short amount of time. Remember, this is one of the more populous cities China, and there are a lot of people and their homes that needed to be bought off, relocated or forced out. It is especially interesting when you think about how long it takes to approve similar type (or even less intrusive, sometimes) projects in the States. For as long as I've lived in Seattle (8 years since I left last year), the Viaduct has always been a hot topic - but the Viaduct still exists in the same physical state today. Who knows what could've happened if the government (whichever one) had taken control of the project with benevolence in mind and just did it.

I guess that's why the States are the States and China is China. And I guess having some excess money in the government wouldn't be so bad either.

*I was told by my Chinese coworker (who we like to call a real "Beijing-ren" or Beijing person) that the subway was put on hold for a long time because of the underground city )

归园田据-陶渊明

种豆南山下， 草盛苗稀

晨兴理荒秽，带月荷锄归

道狭草木长，夕露沾我衣

衣沾不足惜，但使愿无违

Stuff Frances Likes: Cats

Was this really a surprise?



My earliest memories of cats was when we would visit my grandmother's house and she would feed her (the community's?) cats leftovers. She would call out "ming ming ming" and it would be the cats' cue to come and eat. Paulo, my brother, is also very fond of cats. It is probably because of him that I have this anthropormorphized, very romanticized view of cats. I feel like maybe sometimes I want to be a cat- they are cool, calm and collected, mysterious, good looking and everyone wants to hang out with a cat! And if the cat didn't want to hang out, no one would care because its a goddamn cat and thats what cats do.

This article best illustrates how I feel: Million Dollar Question: Why does the web love cats?

Stuff Frances Likes: Doing things the hard way

Or: In my defense of my actions


Perhaps the best and most recent example is manually copying pictures of various sea creatures for my students. I could have easily had them photocopied somewhere but, of course, when it comes to doing things in China, one (me) would often opt for doing things themselves rather than having to interact with a real Chinese person. I spent a good two hours meticulously tracing sharks, turtles, whales and penguins and fish onto colored paper and then carefully cutting 6-7 of each animal. There was also some home laminating going, using packing tape to "laminate" each animal and again re-cutting the animal's outline. Did my students appreciate my hard work? For a moment, until they ripped the heads off.

Another good example was my controversial (to some) move to China. I could've easily stayed back in Seattle and found a "real" job and do my part pushing papers, contributing to a retirement program and taking the occasional exotic vacation wherein I binge drink and go clubbing. Instead, I moved to China, the place where the world loves to hate, a country full of superlatives and continues to make global headlines. However, if there are millions of people learning Chinese, I must be doing something right.

Living in China has not been easy for obvious reasons- culture, language, people, climate, customs, etc. Finding an apartment, navigating public transportation, eating food or shopping all runs the risk of us being cheated or ripped off because we are foreigners. Knowing that we have overcome all of this, as cheesy as it sounds, shows the ability to overcome ambiguity. Especially if learning a second language is involved. If I can do it in China, where it is impossible to do anything the easy way with a limited knowledge of the language, I can do it anywhere!

Doing things the easy way can materialize in a certain demographic; I like to think of my peers who work to make money and spend it on frivolous things like the newest iPhone, expensive clothes, drinks at the club or vacations to Vegas (notorious for spending money faster than you earn it). At some point, they will settle down and start a family, unless the baby comes first and then the plans are mixed up. It makes me uncomfortable thinking of pursuing a lifestyle like this knowing I am capable of other things. What, exactly? That's what "doing things the hard way" is about, I guess. Something more relevant, more worthwhile and something that contributes to society, more than just the immediate economic effects that occur when I buy and consume.

Stuff Frances Likes

1. Chips

People who are close to me may have witnessed my fierce passion for all things thin, seasoned, crispy and deep fried. My relationship with chips best illustrates my lack of self control- there is no way I can eat just one. Instead, I will most likely consume an entire bag in a short amount of time. I also refuse to share. Of course I would not explicitly say it, but instead opt not to ask or simply move elsewhere to privately indulge.

Some of my favorites:

I don't necessarily "like" eating chips. Or, I do but I just feel like a monster when I do eat them. I can't ration them and save them for a period of time, considering I attempt to break world records for shoveling handfuls of chips into my mouth. Is this what the relationship between obese Americans and heavily processed foods looks like? Luckily, my access to chips has been stifled by the lack of big grocery stores and is instead replaced by barbecued kebabs, roasted duck pieces and fresh noodles. You know, real China.

Posture

We've all heard this one before: parents trying to get their children to do something to enhance their lives. The children -taking their parents' benevolence as a form of dictatorship- will do everything in their power to refuse. Their acts of protest? Crying, whining, running away and faking illness. Of course, I was that kid, truly believing I was a free thinker and exempt from "those" things. I was the prototype of a modern woman (not really). If I had listened to my mom, I could have been a Chinese speaking ballet dancer who played piano recitals on the weekends. At home, I would've been able to sew curtains, a nice party dress all while preparing a three course meal.

I've tried to make up for lost time by learning how to cook. I can still sew with a needle and thread, make a skin tight tube dress to hit up the clubs but definitely no gown for a ball. I can speak just a little Chinese and if you consider the cha cha to be similar to ballet, then I'm not so far off from those idealistic dreams of my mother.

My latest attempt at reverting/reclaiming my mom's life tips is trying to improve my posture. Lately, I've been attempting to sit up straight for as long as I possibly can but find that it is very similar to being punished or exercise, which I avoid at all costs. I like to attribute my terrible posture to the way I sleep at night. I would describe my sleeping similar to how a hedgehog might look like, curling myself into a ball as a last defense if ever someone tried to attack us at night.

When I was younger, my mom used to receive catalogues that sold those products "as seen on TV", like those magazines that sold pre-seeded mats that, when watered, would grow a beautiful flower patch (I really wanted one) or novelty clocks or utensils. While looking through this magazine, my mom used to threaten me by telling me that she would purchase this bra-type thing that somehow improved posture by keeping your shoulders back. Maybe she should've gone through with it. I could've been a Chinese speaking, ballet dancing, piano playing, excellent hostess/seamstress with good posture. What a catch!

Alternatives to the beach

After living in medium to large cities like Seattle and Beijing, I find it hard to believe that I spent a significant amount of my life on Guam. I often wonder about what I did as a kid, what did I do in my spare time on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. People find it odd that I didn't spend my time at the beach, or hiking in the lush tropical forests or singing praises to the nature gods for a good harvest. I did, after all, live on a tropical island. Don't all island people do that? It's an island in the Pacific! 85 degrees EVERY SINGLE DAY.

It's actually more common than you think for people on Guam to not spend time at the beach and take part in water related activities. There is a fair share of old wives tales and real stories about people dying or losing limbs because of one thing or another related to the power of the currents and tides, so going to the beach was out of the question for most kids. Then again there is the case of getting dark which is absolutely forbidden for little girls, so asking to even play outside before 6pm was considered suicide. Remember, the goal is white porcelain and you, and definitely not your future husband, wouldn't want to jeopardize your future for that golden glow caused by cancer causing sunlight.

My brother and I turned to the arts when we were kids. We dabbled with landscaping, utilizing recycled (read: things we stole from the abandoned house next door) materials and native plant species, as well as interior design with again, recycled materials (cardboard boxes), and working with our client's -our mom- existing furniture to fit our small budget. One of our biggest and most successful projects was the Amazonian rainforest inspired front porch we designed and built, complete with working fountain. We've experimented in fashion design where inspiration was drawn from dominatrixes, superheroes and science fiction. I would say we were very minimalistic in our approach, only using scissors (think of a lot of tearing with our hands), recycled clothing (have you noticed a trend here?) as well as random pieces of fabric intended for curtains that we stole from our mom to create a look. Many of the outfits that we've produced were one of a kind pieces, often being constructed to fit the body, or Barbie's body, perfectly and is intended to be thrown out afterwards. Our venture did not last long due to the lack of public interest, considering Barbie and I were the only clients. I'd like to think it was because my brother was too much of a forward thinker in his vision and the public was not ready for it.

We also made home movies, specializing at both live action and stop and go animation. Some of our work includes a live action remake of The Little Mermaid, with Ursula recast as an evil and larger than life bulati (sea cucumber) and short film of a day in the life of Barbie and Ken which was probably one of the most difficult movies to produce. Probably the most work intensive and most rewarding of all is Faces of Fri, which is the only film that is available for viewing today, only in VHS form. Written, directed and produced by my brother and starring me (as all roles), Faces of Fri is a three part short film series of a trio of friends -Susan, Roman and Faludi each with their own "unique" personalities. Susan is the aspiring model, Roman is the academic, and Faludi seems to be the empowered female with an agenda. The film follows the girls on seemingly normal adventures- sleepovers, meeting a new friend and a day outside in the yard- but things go awry when they discover that the house is haunted which, for some reason, gives them special powers, the new friend is an English bitch and playing in the yard is actually more dangerous than you think. The film was produced on a very low budget but my brother did a remarkable job filming and editing and I am still impressed with the quality of the film.

While my landscaping, interior design, fashion design, and movie making would be nothing to write home about today, I believe I was at my creative peak at eight years old. Maybe the island was my muse and if I head back then I could channel some of that creativity again. I'd rather not take that chance though. It's an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for crying out loud.

Dreams about my old house (on separate occasions)

A freewrite

One

The house looked like this in my dream, except that it was located in a dense neighborhood, where you could see into people's houses from one's window. My family was moving back in, but while they were transporting things, I had to stay and wait in the house by myself. The house had no doors or windows and plants were growing into the house. It was a little scary, so I called my friend Tom to come stay with me while my family was away. Tim and Liz were my neighbors -they called me from their window- and they told me I could stay with them until my family got back, and that they had eggplants growing (the thing about this detail is that Tim said that they had "qiezi", which is what "eggplant" is in Chinese) and that I could eat with them.

Two

I came back home for vacation. I remember the people next door -when I was growing up- had a nice, big yard. In my dream, the people next door had a huge swimming pool in their backyard. Instead of twins (who were my neighbors in real life), they were some kind of Western European expats. There were several kids, and they all had blonde hair. I later discovered that my mom had become some kind of animal enthusiast while I explored my house -the house was huge and castle like for some reason. She had an indoor pool dedicated to aquaculture. Our yard was a complete opposite of the house next door with their clean pool and well manicured grass- it was an "organized jungle" with distinct areas for plants and garden sculptures. There were exotic big birds in the yard, and even monkeys. I remember finding some kind of animal -I think it was a dog- that was hidden in plain view, like it was camouflaged in the foliage, because my mom wanted to hide it. I kept thinking how surprised I was that my mom changed her opinion in regard to animals (she never really liked keeping them). The next door neighbors came over and we all explored the house together. My room was in the basement (which we didn't have).

Three

There were kids with me (maybe around 9, 10 years old) in the house. Our family had moved out of the house, but for some reason I came back with these kids. I think we were going somewhere. Or meeting someone. Being back at the house happened by chance, and I was excited to tell the kids about it. I told them about all the secret rooms in the house, which weren't really secret, like the 1/2 bathroom downstairs that we never used (in real life, we never used the downstairs bathroom, I don't know why). The pantry (which we never had), was blocked by a desk of some sort. I needed to move it so we could get to the food inside. I remember opening it and seeing a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese.

---

Why have I been having all these dreams about this house? This house was always special to me because its the one place where my family lived in the longest. My brother and I filmed many home movies here, unfortunately only one -Faces of Frances- survived. I am convinced it is haunted (a story for another time). It makes me sad to see it in this state.

The Loft

When my brother moved away from Seattle, he was unwilling to let go of his catch of an apartment. Like a prized heirloom, he wanted to keep the place in the family. Luckily for him I needed a place to stay once I got back from China. After graduating from the UW dorms and a brief stint in First Hill where I lived in fear that I would be abducted by the homeless people living in the camps by the freeway every night, my brother's apartment was the Renter's version of the American Dream. The apartment was two story one bedroom loft with huge windows facing 15th Avenue on Capitol Hill. The neighborhood was super hip and comfortable. Aside from that, I won't get into details and specifications of the apartment and neighborhood because it will just emphasize how much I didn't deserve living in that apartment. Also, I do not want to instill feelings of resentment and bitterness towards me.

Because of the way the apartment was laid out, I couldn't really have any roommates, or I could except that I would have no privacy. I opted for privacy. A lot has been said about a person being by themselves, and so of course hilarity ensues. I stopped working because I started taking 18 credits a quarter, which meant I spent more time at home. I confined myself to my bedroom upstairs, except for the occasional back to back Seinfeld and Frasier from 10-12pm. I bought plants (for decorative purposes, not to improve the air quality) and knick knacks, in attempt to "tie the place together" and less like it was put together with clipart*.

I soon filled the place up with stupid shit like candle holders in the shape of a chicken, oil lamps, wooden fruit, excessively large glass vases and ceramic owls and fish plates. Say what you want but I didn't purchase them with the intention that they were ironically hip. Then, through a combination of reintegrating back to Seattle life and the depression that follows and the fact that I can be a little weird sometimes, I started to develop some OCD like behavior. For one, I was truly convinced that I was going to burn the apartment down somehow so everytime I lit candles, blowing them out wasn't enough so I would put them in the freezer, of course, making sure that they were really out and not one of those trick candles that lit up again. If I had used the heater the night before, I would check the thermostat before leaving the house, which meant that I would be at the door and wasn't quite sure if it was off so I would go upstairs and check it again. The same went for checking to see if the door was locked. All the freedom and luxuries of living by myself was lost because I felt that everything I did would destroy the apartment, including turning the volume up on my speakers.

In retrospect, I wish I had moved out of the place. I would've saved a lot of money, and would have probably had one of those enriching college-aged experiences through interacting with real people. Then again I wouldn't have a fun story to tell.

*We accumulated a lot of furniture from various people -other college students- and places so nothing really matched. It was a very utilitarian aesthetic.

Beijing Subway

Wudaokou is one of those places that one never has to leave. Fortunately for me, I have to leave this (practically) Western sanctuary for work and venture out into the unknown of Beijing sprawl. To do this, I spend a lot of time on the Beijing metro and it encompasses all the elements of a love hate relationship. It is an incredibly cheap form of transportation, costing only 2 yuan (or $.30) a trip to anywhere in the city. The extensive and efficient system allows me to rub elbows (and even more than that during rush hour) with a decent sample of Beijing- migrant workers with their dusty toolboxes, highschool students in their matching jump suits, hip kids with big hair and studded boots, white collar workers, etc. And everyone, of course, is on their cellphone. Texting, sexting, playing games, watching movies, anything a cellphone is capable of doing. Transfers from one line to the other act as a form of exercise for me as I find myself going up and down stairs, speed walking to avoid the impenetrable wall of people and the occasional use of brute force -think of football training- attempting to enter and exit a crowded compartment (it gets really crowded). The experience is also a time for me to exercise my underutilized brain by listening to podcasts or doing some crossword puzzles. Since Chinese people often think I am also Chinese, I get a lot of curious stares when they see me writing or texting in English (because it is both crowded on the train and Chinese people have no shame about snooping). On days when I am tired and search of a rare, coveted seat, I gauge each seated passenger's likelihood of getting off at the nearest stop or transfer and hover over them in hope that I was right and they leave at the next stop. More often than not I am wrong and spend the entirety of the trip bitter and angry. Maybe I shouldn't look so eager when I hover.

cats

"How to store & organize cats"

I have to do everything against my will to stop myself from getting a cat/a real friend when Alex and I have our own place in Beijing.

bioshock

The weather on Guam everyday

What we will be experiencing in Beijing

A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves

"Deprived of their father while sustained by his wages, the Comodas children spent their early lives studying Emmet’s example. Now they have copied it. All five of them, including Rowena, grew up to become overseas workers. Four are still working abroad. And the middle child, Rosalie — a nurse in Abu Dhabi — faces a parallel to her father’s life that she finds all too exact. She has an 18-month-old back in the Philippines who views her as a stranger and resists her touch. What started as Emmet’s act of desperation has become his children’s way of life: leaving in order to live."

From the New York Times

Is it already February?

I apologize for the lack of posting. I've been conducting mental ethnographic research of the people of Guam but had been so overwhelmed by the amount of information that I cannot properly process and produce any kind of substantial material. I assure you- time and energy permitting- the content would be groundbreaking and sensational. However, it is hard to really have any personal projects realized when I am wrangling a terrible two, driving the Princess around (Alex) and working on various projects for my family (like I said, I am multipurpose). Alex had previously made a comment about how babies are good sleepers through their ability to sleep through being moved in an out of temperature and light controlled areas. I am finding myself to be the same way between the hours of 10-11:30pm, nothing can prevent me from sleeping. What do you know, its about that time again. This is nonsense.

I used to live here

This was the house that we lived in from ~1994-2000, which is the longest period of time we stayed in one place (I can think of at least seven places on this island we lived in). Doesn't the house look scary? I am convinced it is haunted. My brother and I had a lot of fun in this house- it is where my starring role was filmed, DIY landscaping (including a fountain!) as well as raising several generations of dogs.

I wonder who owns the house now, and if the guava tree in the backyard is still there.

babysitting tactics

some of the hits






my personal favorite






Alex loves this song
Of course

Straight from the horse's mouth

Taking care of kids should be a capstone on a resume.

广州

From China Hush, but was first translated from Netease-

At the end of 2008, Guangzhou was identified as a pilot city for the construction of democracy and the rule of law. And on January 1st, this was put into practice. This means that in administrative areas, water, electricity, gas, the price adjustments of public services, matters of emergency response, the central government will report to the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Congress. In the event that the central government makes decisions that exceed their power, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress can revoke those decisions according to law. Waste incineration, power generation and other livelihood issues are now to be decided by the People’s Congress.

While 关系 fueled local politicians and their friends will still run the government, this is something.

This dog

I read an article in the China Daily relating the Tibetan Mastiff to be a symbol of the monied class. LOOK AT THAT FACE!