Put It into Perspective

Today was pretty chill. Breakfast at 8, class at 9. Jeremiah had us develop working definitions of 'modern' and 'China.' This created a lot of discussion about how the two seemed to go together before we actually saw China. Yes, they've got the world's best airport and a mighty fine subway system. However we must not begin to internally criticize modern China from a modern West point of view. For example modernity for China consists of getting rid of all the open-air markets, shrink wrap all the food, then put it on shelves in a store. Our definition is not buying stuff off of supermarket shelves but rather go to the local farmers market to purchase produce. In a sense, China is trying to make a name for itself in the world for pushing this modernity. But it's like forcing a nickname.

For the second half of class class, a professor emeritus spoke to us on the development of Beijing. It's been a city for 3000 years, and the capitol of China for about 800 years! Talk about old. He laid out the city as a chessboard grid with a center of symbolic power to go along with the fengshui of tradition. This is where it gets good. He then described Washington D.C. in an extremely freemason style, going through all these combinations of buildings and drawing shapes in the city plan. We just sort of giggled to ourselves. But I mean most of what he said was thought out and presented in a unique way. 

The rest of the day was free. I did some writing for class then went out to do field notes. This involved buying fruit from a fruit stand on the street then taking notes on what was good or what could have been done better. Pretty simple. Actually, I bout two really good apples, a big orange, and a dragon fruit for 17 元 which comes out to be $2.70. It was all fresh, but needed to be washed because of the air quality.

At 4:30 I headed past my apartment building to snoop around the neighborhood. I ended up finding this tea shop and went in. I had to do more field notes on what will help you know China more deeply. I figured a teahouse would do the trick. I stepped in and the owner was asleep in front of his TV, because no one else was there. I asked him if I could have tea so he proceeded to get the stuff ready for me. There were a bunch of things at my table for the tea making process: a pot to steep the tea, a strainer and pot for the tea water, my cup, and small statues of a mouse and tiger. All these things were made of clay and each had special name and purpose. The guy sat down across from me and did everything. We chatted, meaning I'd ask a question or mention something and he'd rant on and on not knowing that I only understood about 20% of it. But it was fun and the atmosphere gave me the impression that this is where all the old retired guys came to catch up. Walking back home, I stepped into a tiny grocery store to check it out. Talk about compact! This place had just about everything under the sun and in the space of a tennis court. I ended up buying some REALLY cheap tea there.

Tonight was the first interview with a Chinese resident, my Baba. First we ate a dinner of what seemed like a bottomless dumpling bowl. Baba asked me how many dumplings I could eat and apparently 10 means 25 over here. I was stuffed after dinner because he kept ushering me to eat more. Who would pass up home made dumplings? Our interview was at home and Baba did a great job. I couldn't tell if he was nervous or not because he turned really red and smiled. He also had a great way of explaining things that we couldn't understand. No surprise, for the rest of the night he watched the soap opera "给你生命给我爱“ which translates to "Give You Life Give Me Love." Actually watching primetime TV here goes uninterrupted by advertisements due to recent government policy, so I see the increase in 'addiction' to television.