Diaoyu Islands and being a Foreigner!

Business as usual despite the protests down the block

 I was prepared for the worst yesterday.  Yesterday was September 18th, the day of the Manchurian Incident.  An incident that the Japanese used as an excuse to invade northern China back during WWII.  So I was prepared for really terrible anti-japanese protest, but when the day came all the universities practically locked their students on campus.  Our school kept their gates closed most of the day.  Around mid-day I heard the protesters from my apartment.  They were walking up Yingpan Lou towards the huge public park, Martyrs Park.  Which makes sense, but the anger and the sheer craziness of the protests seemed a little less.  Maybe once again I was protected by the school, or perhaps I was just expecting really extreme craziness.  But needless to say, my Jiuyibashibian (九一八事变) passed without too much excitement.
That night I was speaking to a friend, he just started university in Guangzhou.  He was telling me that he wants to leave China.  He proceeded to tell me that if you have money and relationships you can do anything you want in China.  If you don't you are screwed.  He wants to leave, become a soldier in another country.  To be strong.  He thinks that the government in China needs to change.  I told him how I like China, and it has bad things and good things.   Then he said something that made me think.

"You are a foreigner, you don't feel it because of your face."

It is true, my experience abroad is my own.  I cannot possibly understand what it means to be Chinese.  I can never truly be Chinese.  I am not sure I would want to be Chinese.  But I am a guest in their country, and they treat me as such.  People can be so patient with me, but I must never forget that they give me special treatment.

I have never felt as foreign as I have during these protests.  While I vaguely understand why they are protesting, I really don't get it.  I don't think I ever could.  So today at clubs day there were students working on a sign that proclaimed their feelings about the Diaoyu islands.  I was cringing hoping they wouldn't ask me to sign the signs.

The above sign says "爱国护岛卫我主权" (aiguohudaoweiwozhuquan).  Love country protect islands guard our sovereignty.  The students all signed it, and took pictures in front of it, and were chanting anti-japan sentiments. Ignoring the fact that you can study Japanese at Yi Zhong.  I was able to stay away from it, but as Becky and I were translating the sign when the students went to eat.  Some students came up to us to ask us to sign it.  Becky smiled sweetly in her precious Becky way and answered.  "This is just for students."  "no, anyone can."  "We are not students"  Then we booked it to the safety of their office.

Later I was approached by a student of mine for last year.  This kid has amazing English, and I think of him as a worldly fellow because he has facebook.  Not because he has facebook, but he can access facebook and therefore can access news outside the "Great Firewall."  He asked me "Have you signed your name?"  Without missing a beat, I said " I am a foreigner, this is for Chinese."  It is true.  This is China's mess, if something happens between China and Japan.  I will have to leave.  It is my friends in China who will pay for whatever goes down.  Needless to say, I don't think anything will happen but I am keeping my fingers crossed that Japan and China figure their shit out in a non-violent way.

Diaoyu Protests

This is Baiyi Lou, with the protests.  They were peaceful for now...

I don't know how many of you know what the Diaoyu islands are, but I sure knew nothing about them before I came to China.  Sometimes I am surprised how ignorant you can be of the world and world issues, then suddenly you step outside of your comfort zone and realize how big and real these issues are.  In the USA, it is easy to feel like world issues are so distant and far away.

Picture from: http://www.morningwhistle.com/html/2012/Macro_0910/213955.html

These islands are claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan.  They have some prime fishing waters and access to natural gas.  For years there has been some official disagreements but no official action, as far as I can gather.   I have no real knowledge of the actual situation.  But what I do know is recently Japan somehow produced a contract saying they own the islands.  I don't know anything more than China does not recognize this contract.  The people in China have been whipped up into a very strong anti-japanese mood.  Yesterday there were to be protests, protesting Japanese businesses.  In Changsha the people were going to march from one Pinghetang (a japanese import grocery store) in the west to one in the east.  I first heard about the protests from a friend who was trying to get to the Train Station.  They had shut down Wuyi for the protests, she had been stuck on the bus for about a half an hour.  Then I was walking to a restaurant for lunch,  my friends and I were surprised to see the protest walking down the road between us and our food.  We crossed quickly, taking a few pictures.  But it was peaceful, just people walking with banners with pro-China, anti-Japan signs.  We arrived at the restaurant, I called a friend of ours to see if he was still coming.

Zhuzhou, Photo by Diana Linay Lopez Ruano

"I am sorry, I can't come.  I am stuck" was what I was able to hear over the noise of the restaurant.  It wasn't until later that night that I was able to understand what exactly that meant.  Although sitting in the teacher's office between my classes, they were all discussing the protests.  Chris helped translate some of what they were saying.  Apparently a car had been set on fire by Carrefour for being Japanese.  Then I went into class number 1.  I was teaching a lesson on "What do you want?"  "Why should you get it?"  A lesson geared towards having them tell me why they deserve to do something.  When I invited students up to the board to write what they wanted I got some cute answers.  "I want an iPhone 5," "I want to get married," and "I want to play DOTA."  But I also got some interesting answers from students.  "I want the Diaoyu Islands."  "I want to kick the Japanese president's ass."  I was surprised and totally unprepared for this.  I handled it badly, and had them practice saying them but didn't even ask them to justify why they wanted it.  But after that, I hopped in a cab and headed to dinner with Teresa and Becky.  We saw no signs of protests, but did smell smoke when we passed Carrefour.

Changsha, Photo by Phil LePoidevin

After dinner we were going to head over to the West side of Changsha and meet up with a friend of Teresa's.  This friend was afraid for her car, which was a japanese car.  Her friend's car had been flipped apparently.  So we went to the south end of Buxingjie.  I saw no signs of the protests as I relaxed and got my frozen yogurt!!  Then we went to get a massage, our masseurs asked us (of course) "Ni shi nali ren?" (What nationality are you?).  We responded "American."  They then commented to each other, "Good thing they are not Japanese."  Then we went to Mr. Beer, to have a beer.  We met up with one of my friends who had to miss lunch.  It turns out he was actually stuck in his building.  Protesters were clashing with police who were trying to contain some of the violence that had broken out.  He had amazing photos from up in his building.

This morning things have returned to normal, Pinghetang was looted.  Cars were flipped, schools are making students go to class to keep them from any further unrest.  Whether this will have an impact outside of China remains to be seen.

Zhuzhou: Photo by Diana Linay Lopez Ruano

Drinking in China

Drinking in China is very different than in the states.  In the states friends can go out grab a drink, drink it and catch up.  In China drinking is all business.  Friends will go out and drink, but only in the form of drinking games that cause people to drink waaay beyond their ability.  The most common source of drinking is a business dinner, wedding party, or banquet.  People will cheers a table, or an individual person.  First the host will propose a toast to the tables, all the ones that are there.  Then the guests will toast their host, either one at a time or a whole table at a time.  You can see where it is easy to get very smashed very quickly.

The most striking part of this drinking culture is how early they learn it.  At this particular dinner, I was sitting with the teachers and officials of the international department.  My friends son, was already well versed in making toasts.  He is 8 years old now.  He had his glass of pepsi and was cheers with everyone else.  The one thing I will say is if you are a woman, it is much easier to get away with drinking juice or tea instead of alcohol.  But then the students came in with beer, juice, and pepsi and began to toast their teachers!  In the USA this is unacceptable, these students are 15, 16, 17.  It was interesting to see the teachers reactions, or lack their of.

Drinking in China can be very fun, but is a completely different animal than in the states.

New A/C

Well my new A/C has arrived.  Three young chinese guys came in.  One carried a huge heavy box with the new A/C in it.  I gasps and said "so strong".  I think if this guy would have blushed, he looked really taken aback.  Oops cultural differences anyways.  Words cannot describe how they fixed my A/C so enjoy some pictures.  PS:  I live on the 5th floor!!

Chinese Tests of Patience and Persistence

I have been in China for a week now.  This week has been one of the most physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining weeks I have experienced in a while.  Friday, my ankle was hurting, but I dutifully ignored it and continued off having fun.  Saturday it hurt a bit more, so I got some ice.  That didn't really work and I was limping like an idiot.  Sunday I limped into Ayi's tea shop, and she asked "Did the ice help you ankle."  I shook my head pathetically and she looked at my ankle and immediately said "You have to go to the hospital."  I don't really blame her and really must thank her.  My foot was super swollen.  So Becky took me to the hospital that afternoon.

As you may or may not remember the hospital is like a giant mall.  You show up, go to one kiosk to register and pay, then go to see the doctor, then he writes instructions and you go pay for all the procedures then have to go find where you get all the procedures done.  Simple right?  Well you are wrong.  Even without the language barrier the hospital procedure is confusing and ridiculous.  4 and half hours later, I had seen a doctor, been prescribed a medicine that wasn't in the pharmacy in the outpatient side of the hospital, gone to the emergency side, been sent back, gone back to the emergency side, registered, bought medicine, carried it upstairs got an allergy test done, gone back downstairs paid.  Finally, after arriving at the hospital at 2, at 6:00 I was sitting in an iv room having some sort of medication pumped into my veins.  An Iv room is exactly what it sounds like.  A bunch of chairs that have a place to hang your IV, and everyone sitting in one room.  The nurses wheel in and out, bringing medication and sticking needles in people.  The guy sitting next to me had to get a shot in his butt, in a room full of people.  Privacy is a thing of the past, I thought as I let the guy next to me read my hospital book.

Monday, I had to cancel my classes to go get a blood test that I couldn't get on Sunday.  Then I had to do something else, but I had no idea.  Luckily, Simona, who is wonderful, came to the rescue.  Speaking Chinese and getting me my medication so I could get not one but two IV's a day.  After 2 hours I was leaving the hospital, heading to Yi Zhong's infirmary to get my injections done.  I arrived in the infirmary and was told they couldn't do it.  All the stress and anger and frustration started to pour out of my eyes.  I looked at the horrified nurses and couldn't help starting to sob.  I sobbed out "Buhaoyisi"  I am sorry/I am embarrassed.  They immediately pulled out their cellphones and called Sunny.  Then in Chinese they told me Huang Laoshi was coming, I nodded trying to stop crying.

End of the story: Sunny to the rescue!  She took me to the hospital just down the street, not as nice as Xiangya, and set up my injections for the next week.  Chris my new sitemate came and sat with me as I got my first injection of several.

  Then that afternoon I went with Papaya back to the hospital to get my bloodtest results, and have her translate between the doctor and I.

Diagnosis:  I have an infection in the lymphnodes of my foot/ankle.  They have me on antibiotics, and made me get an allergy test cause I have an allergy to penicillin.  So now I have to do this for a week and see what happens!

Result:  Thank you Ayi, Becky, Simona, Sunny, and Papaya.  And I realize now how important good friends and good people are no matter what country you are in.

1st Graders

China has tested me, and found me strong!  As a treat, today I was able to teach 4 of my new 5th grade classes!  They were all adorable and loved my stupid games!  I also saw many of my old 5th grade students, who are now 6th graders.  They are all about 6inches to a foot taller!!!  I ran into many of my old 6th graders who were coming home from military training.  Also had a student ask me:

"Are you a handsome boy, or a beautiful girl?"

As a final thought here are some pictures from my route between 长沙市一中学 and 一师二付小!  (Yi Zhong and my primary school)

Chinese Police and Little Girls

My Usual Breakfast (5 yuan)

After a late night of Tiger Beer, Foosball, and catching up, I wasn't feeling too well.  So I forwent my usual giant bowl of noodles.  I ate a banana, grabbed some yogurt and was given some pink bread.  The label just said it was bread, not sure what kind it was.  I took my yogurt and my bread to the local park, Martyrs Park.  The park was decorated with red signs all over that said something about all people harmoniously using medicine.  There was a stage that had two people talking, I can only assume about the pharmacy that had set this up.  I avoided that and went into the coolness of the trees.  Even at 9am I was dripping sweat down my back.  I sat there and quietly ate my yogurt, watching the old people gathered around the tables.  I listened to the mixing of Erhus and the dance music coming from the stage.  There was a little girl walking around me, slowly creeping closer.  She was carrying a poster advertising a kitchen, she kept hiding behind it.  Eventually she got close enough and I said "Ni hao".  She ran away, and a few seconds later came back and started asking me what I was eating.  "Mianbao (bread)"  Then she put her poster down and started talking to me, and telling me how to say the numbers.  Shortly there after two older women came over and started asking me what I was doing, where I was from and what I did.  They wandered off eventually, and the little girl just said "I am going now" and walked off.  As I walked home smiling to myself I couldn't help but think, this is China.

In contrast I woke up this morning, went to get my usual breakfast and sat down.  I was eating and chatting with an old man, who asked me how much money I made.  He was impressed by the amount, I made.  But as we were chatting two police in uniform came up and started speaking to the owners, the owners took their sign about noodles off the sidewalk outside.  Then the police started talking to the vegetable sellers who were selling their vegetables on tarps.  I kept my head down and ate, the vegetable sellers were slowly packing it up.  When another man walked in carrying a stick, he looked like the guy from Gangam Style mixed with Mao.  He started yelling and waving the stick.  I saw the communist patch on his sleeve. The veggie sales people packed it up and left.  I finished stood up to pay and the owner said to me.  "Tomorrow we will rest, don't come here tomorrow"  I wonder if the two were connected.  As I walked home, I saw all three police officers sitting at the noodle place next door.

Back Again!!!

I am finally back in the Middle Kingdom (China).  This definitely did not hit me until my 2nd day of traveling.  I slept on my way to Chicago, slept on my way to Seattle and watched the movie.  Then in the Seattle airport it started to sink in as I spoke to other waiguoren (foreigners, for those of you who may have forgotten) about why they were traveling there.  The amount of waiguoren who study and live in China is amazing.  They all have their reasons and seem to have a hard time leaving.  That flight was hard, Hainan airlines has no leg room.  But the food and flight was relatively painless, when I arrived I got my first taste of things I hate about China and things I love about China all at once.

First I spoke to a girl who was coming over to teach, she had no better instructions than "get on a bus at the airport to go to your site."  She spoke no Chinese, there was no one to meet her, no one to help her. I did my best, to call the lady and try to get better instructions.  That is so classically Chinese, at the same time here I am being given a hotel room for my 16hr layover in Beijing.  As I was herded along towards the minibus, I felt for the girl.  My desire to punch the lady only grew when she called me again while I was on the way to the hotel to ask me to help the girl get on the right bus.  Why didn't they send someone to wait for her, collect her.  Or give her really explicit directions in Chinese she could show someone.  OH CHINA!

As the minibus careened around corners, and other cars, towards the hotel, I couldn't help but relax.  I was used to this, this felt normal.  I don't know what that means but I am sure it isn't good.  The hotel staff all spoke English, so I wasn't forced to delve deep for my Chinese just yet.  I woke up the next morning went to the airport, still not feeling like it was China.  Then just before I boarded my last flight, a man with wide eyes stared at me and said "Hello!"  I smiled and responded "Hello".  He and the other people sitting all chuckled.  Then it hit me.  Welcome back to the Middle Kingdom!

The first few days of Changsha have been ridiculous.  It has been eating, cleaning, unpacking, sweating, climbing a million stairs, sweating (did I say that twice, yeah because it has been that bad), and seeing old friends.

I no longer have to pay at the convenience store apparently because I brought my favorite guy some american cigarettes.  7 cups of tea has been redone, there is room to sit and they just put Wifi in.  I almost made my Aie cry when I gave her the gifts I had brought from America.  And truly the best memory for the week so far (besides seeing all my friends), is walking to breakfast at 6:40 only to pause and watch the road completely covered in fireworks go off for Zhong Yuan Jie (spirit day).  Then I walked into my noodle place, the owner smiled and started making my usual order.

I love Changsha and look forward to another year of Chinese inconsistencies, travel, food and friends!