red china
Post by Jeff on 4/22/02
my hands are numb. apparently this is the second time in 2002 that it's rained in beijing--perfect for an outdoor tai chi lesson. great lesson in spite--just onika & me and our 60? 70? year old teacher, who despite the biggest language gap i've faced in years, managed to guide us, almost gracefully, through the 'commencing movement,' 'parting a wild horse's mane on both sides' and 'a white crane spreading its wings' in our first hour together. the next class is tomorrow from 9 to 11. these knees are just a touch..mm...wary, if not actually concerned. we're staying in an apartment intended for locals, but rented by supergirl (aka tomoko-san) for her fiancee, who's currently in canada. one bedroom, big living area, hot water, fridge, tv, stereo, washing machine... like i said, supergirl. we're a good bit northwest of the city center (which, 2 days after arriving, we have yet to see), just outside the gates of the beijing language and culture university. over half the students are foreign, and at least half of those are korean. other nationalities run the gamut; the cafeteria looks like the u.n. in high school. speaking of the cafeteria: lunch! dear, dear god. the menu is divided by price, from 4 yuan to 12 yuan choices. 8 yuan is about a dollar. i would do the math, but, you know, why bother? dinner for 7 last night--supergirl, the fantastic four, nikki and me--had us in a private room in a chinese 'hot pot' restaurant for a few hours, and the bill came to 191 yuan. no, total. and this included not only all the vegetables, pork and pork brain (yes, we did) that we could boil in our individual pots, but endless free beer to boot. if it weren't for a birthday party on may 5th in new york, y'all wouldn't see me for months.
blcu
Post by Jeff on 4/22/02
the university near the apartment:beijing language and culture university
sightseeing
Post by Jeff on 4/22/02
look! look! communism!and over there--socialist repression!
day 2
Post by Jeff on 4/23/02
tai chi, day two, kernel of wisdom one: heel first. always heel first. why? one inquires. come at me, and i'll stomp your toe.
where's beijing?
Post by Jeff on 4/23/02
off to the city center for the first in the three days i've been here.sure to be yet another semi-literate, deaf-mute conversation, involving lots of pointing and nodding and writing characters on hands.
deaf-mute
Post by Jeff on 4/23/02
point-point-nod-nod-grunt-smile-smile-laugh. hope. somehow managed to arrive at tiantan, a huge park in the southeast of the city. the emperor would come here just before winter solstice, change his clothes (reiterated so often as to command inclusion), and perform ceremonial rites for the new year. he'd have to pray too that none of his ministers or clerics screwed up even a single detail; one error could foretell a poor harvest, signifying the failure of the son o' god to communicate with the land, and therefore with his constituency. all these commoners he was maintaining communication with were--obviously--locked indoors during this event. heaven forbid they see it, right? must've been the clothes.
cotton balls from heaven
Post by Jeff on 4/23/02
apparently may is much worse. for now, the falling white tufts are simply silly, and rarely get in your nose. willow droppings
day trip
Post by Jeff on 4/24/02
to tanjiang today for the factory where they make the famous new year's pictures celebrated all over china. v cute. the only four (officially recognized) guys anywhere that still make the woodblocks for these watercolor prints.on the way, the train ride proved this country to be eerily flat (and sanitarily wanting), and the return bus ride proved that shepherding can indeed be done on a freeway, and slapstick remains universal. enthusiastic 4' 10" hero, greasy moustache partner guy and ninja-type high society babe take on the man to a soundtrack full of pleasing waltzes and a titillating tango. and thus, i've been reading. yeah, yeah, mass transit'll do that to me, even if unemployment don't. learned something: apparently my university was founded on the lungs of the people of china. (among others--just a lot of lungs out this way.) according to duke's autobiographer and quoted by this courtwright fellow, j. b., through his british american tobacco company, created "the nearest approach to a world trust organized in any industry." ouch. what do you say to these folks while walking around here? "thanks."
"you can stop now."
"yeah, sorry. now quit making copies of our intellectual property--n sync has rights, too, you know."
"would you like fries with that?" further suggestions welcome.
locked out
Post by Jeff on 4/26/02
not actually; nikki left this morning to finally submit her IESE application, and locked the door on her way out. not that i expect you to believe this, but that left me unable to get out. the door simply won't open from the inside if locked from without. bars on the windows, second floor room. this is as close as i ever plan to come to incarceration over here. unable to get to our 6:30 tai chi lesson, i'd've been more upset if it didn't just feel like a stock looney tunes scenario. after a few phone calls and eighty four attempts at forcing the lock, i threw a passing local a key, and luckily, he chose to let me out. rather grateful, seeing as how we're illegally staying in a complex reserved exclusively for chinese nationals. 25 minutes of tai chi later, it's off to the great wall.
where the hell did you go?
Post by Jeff on 4/28/02
in these 66 waking, 6 sleeping hours:checked out prince gong's old palace. gong: forced to give the british the run of beijing after the 2nd opium war. first, an opium war? and what, the first wasn't good enough? visited the forbidden city and tianamen square. was told of a starbucks in the former. maybe in the throne room? surprisingly lost on the buses. wound up at the american embassy, repeating to the guard that i did not actually need to speak with my ambassador at this hour. just a cab. [retro flash to randy quaid and quick change] had peking duck--mmmmm. and ate well in an old style beijing restaurant ate a lot, for that matter. saw just about every bar on bar street with tara tranguch. climbed the great wall, and practiced the missed tai chi lesson ourselves at the top. all night clubbishing finished all basic 24 forms of tai chi! (crowning glory of the week, hands down) lucky: moved my flight to tokyo to monday am, and to d.c. to thursday am. see japan.licious. faced the downtown market, and its frenzied haggling. concerned, in that think i bought a lot of purses. note to self: may not be as good at negotiation as previously thought. in the end, one of the best weeks in memory. till tokyo, clubbishing
last night in beijing
Post by Jeff on 4/29/02
a night to rival daydreams of catalunya: belly dances with live snakes, ultra-genki men in count dracula capes, intense guitar, a touch of audience call and respond, and a shining moment of yours truly performing on stage, dancing on tables with the whole rest of the restaurant, and the and the and the just the ultimate goodbye party and one that i will do my utmost to top in barcelona and one that i will definitely remember for a very very long time. sunday the 28th was an incredible day. tomoko, mamadu, and gunji are simply extraordinary hosts. so was masaki, sorry he missed this last one. and o couldn't be a better woman.
photographic tour
Post by Jeff on 5/03/02
northeast china, the visual tour:downtown "i'd heard of red china, but i didn't quite picture it like this..." shave & a haircut: 2 yuan the university crew chinese sign language for "back off or i'll wing chun your ass clear to mongolia." still keeping the little man down in tiananmen square.
keeping him down, i tell you. the little man fighting back what with mao gone, this red army has just gone straight to hell after stalking her prey for nearly a half hour...
victory is at hand The Great Wall at Simatai, and the way to Watching Beijing Tower
Tai Chi on the Great Wall
the river valley turning and kicking with the left heel pushing down and standing on one leg serpentine belly dancing saying goodbye Note: 'View Original Size' if the quality is somewhat grainy.
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