Up-to-date again! 68th birthday celebration, Shogun, students, language, etc

My Thanksgiving Day celebration that I had planned to indulge on with Cory has been postponed several times.  I had felt quite torn as to what I wanted to do for this festival.  Knowing that the best parts of Thanksgiving were celebrating with family I realized the obvious void which had been created by the space which separated us.  The importance of holding onto true memories came into place again as I was extremely pleased to be able to remember many Thanksgiving festivals completely in my mind’s eye.  I was even able to almost taste the food exactly as I had tasted in so many times before. 

Cory and I had the honor of attending recently a sixty-eight year old Professor’s birthday party.  I was incredibly aware of the importance which this celebration entailed by the specific arrangements prepared by the hosts.  In Chinese culture, the host pays for everyone else on their birthday.  As Cory and I neared the hotel entrance we were greeted by over twenty prior students, classmates, and friends of the host.  It was an incredible honor to have so many friends, family, and students at this birthday party.  In all, there must have been over fifty people in attendance.  The meal itself was as good as I have tasted in China.  There were more dishes prepared than previously I had seen as well as a massive four-tiered cake which was perfectly presented in the front of the dining room.

The entire dining hall was booked and left for only the guests of the host family.  Only hotel waiters and waitresses were allowed into provide refreshments and food.  The refreshments included a bottle of sweet tea, rice-based herbal tea, beer, and baijiu.  Water is never provided for at meals unless previously requested.

The food included wonderful assortments of meats dishes with vegetables.  There must have been fifteen different dishes served at each table.  Every time I eat out at a traditional Chinese meal I feel as if I was eating at a buffet style restaurant for all the variety of food served at the table.  It is always such a treat for me to be able to try an incredible variety of meats and vegetables at every meal.

The ceremony itself included many formal toasting to the host and his health.  Everything from the color, shape, and design of the birthday ornaments covering the dining hall held important meaning.  The Chinese character on the birthday banners were written in traditional not simplified Chinese characters. 

After many formal speakers came up to wish the host great health; singing began from the guests in a karaoke style manner.  People were pressured to sing as they consumed greater amounts of liquor.  Many formal pictures were taken throughout the ceremony as well as the videotaping of the celebration.  The pictures were very traditionally documented in Chinese fashion along with the pomp and pageantry associated with important birthdays.

I was honored by the guest to give a little speech in front of the guests.  I obliged and did my best to honor him using English and Mr. Tian as an interpreter.  On any other occasion I would have used Chinese; however, I felt that the situation merited a direct and fluent translation and not my attempt to show respect to the Chinese language.

This ceremony as much as anything reiterates to me the importance of ceremony in Chinese culture even today.  To forget how ancient and respected Chinese culture is in China would be a big mistake.  I was greatly honored to share in this meal as was Cory.

Living in Chinese society has the taught me the value of patience in a whole new manner.  My apartment now has a broken window, television set, and bedroom light.  Cory’s apartment’s bathroom almost collapsed on him from a leak through the roof which has hindered him for about a month now.  Cory and I have still been unable to get our flights booked yet for S.E. Asia even as we have been trying to get Mr. Tian’s niece to help us for over two months now.  It is strange to think about how something can be finished over night in the United States and take literally weeks or months to do in China.

I have been voraciously reading through the novel, “Shogun” which is based on Japanese culture in the 17^th century.  I have learned quite a bit about a culture in which I had many predisposed beliefs about.  I know much now about Shinto, bushido, Buddhism, etc.  I have also learned how incredibly corrupt some Jesuits, sailors, samurai, priests, etc were during this period of history.  I think one of the most revealing things for me was how the main character, “Blackthorne” was forced to really compare European and Japanese culture against one another as he found his love for “Mariko” growing in him.  I found that at that time there was much to be desired in Europe such as, the filthy cities, pollution, religious wars, Ottoman invaders, plague, etc.  In Japan, there were also many detestable things like murdering for pleasure, samurai, assassins, etc.  However, Japanese culture promoted things like religious tolerance during a time of religious confrontation in Europe.  Even if the main reason for such tolerance was that Jesuits priests acted as intermediaries between Japan and foreigners. 

Today, western culture has taken many things from Japanese culture such as the importance of staying clean.  In Europe, bathing was extremely uncommon for people due to their belief that bathing hurt a person’s health.  Japanese culture also promoted clean cities; whereas, European cities were detestably foul in the 17^th century.  Japanese culture was also extremely open in the forms of sexuality during this time period compared with European views on the body, sex, etc.  Women in Japanese culture held an incredibly important position as they took care of all the financial burdens of the household.  They were important advisors to the men as well as physically able to offer combat as some where samurai as well.

There are many clear examples also where Japanese culture honored things which were incredibly revolting, such as the sanctity of life itself.  Death was ritualized in a manner in which the lust of killing and battle was found extremely preferably to life itself.  Shame and honor were the two greatest pieces of Japanese culture which I have learned from so far.  Their importance today I am sure is still very crucial in understanding Japanese society today.  In the novel, a person will commit instant seppuku if they feel that they have betrayed their honor or shamed themselves beyond hope of repair.

The last piece I found incredibly interesting was that the author referred to samurai as having three hearts.  The samurai have one heart for their men, another for their family, and a last one secret to only their inner self.  After reading this and thinking about it some time I believe that most people have this three-tiered heart as well today.  I believe that most people are not true to and keep their inner heart trapped away from anyone who is actually willing to help.  It is important I think to sometimes let go of that inner heart to open yourself up to the possibility that someone can actually make that difference in your life.

    

A backlogged and forgotten blog... still illuminating I hope!

Sunday morning came upon me abruptly as I was jolted out of a nice morning’s dream from a phone call.  Mr. Tian voice announced that both Cory and I were invited to interview a special student looking to study in the United States next year.  We were both asked to communicate with him and write recommendations on his behalf  to complement his high test scores.  Upon arriving at the beautiful and traditionally decorated tea house we were both introduced to the prospective student’s parents.  Mr. Tian also had some special high school classmates with him who were mutual friends of the family.  As the parents began chatting Cory and I began our interview.

We discovered that not only was this student quite intellectually gifted but also had an impressive English vocabulary.  His worldview was quite interesting also as we asked him to explain why he wished to study in the United States to receive a master’s degree.  His answer was simple and yet profound for its impact on me remains as I am writing today.  He wished to come to the United States to learn some new ideas and perspectives of the world.  He expressed his love for his country, but he also expressed a rare desire to take some unique ideas learned abroad to promote efficiencies in China.  When I talk to Chinese students about studying abroad they often express a desire to experience American culture, find freedom, or a variety of other more scripted responses.  I have never heard a student so eloquently state that exchanging ideas was the most important reason for studying abroad.

I found it incredibly fascinating that I shared many of this student’s initiatives when I came to China.  I find it reassuring that there are other people who also care about learning from other cultures.  Promoting transparency and openness to learn with other cultures is the only way to true cultural awareness.  If I came disingenuously to China I know that I too would have been part of the problem and not solution.  Still, I know that this hope of mine is important and relevant today.  In a world filled with war, death, famine, etc it is those who that continue to work for a better tomorrow that matter.

A modern day example of this kind of tireless fight comes from the democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi.  She continues to fight for the ability of free and transparent elections in a country dominated by a military regime for decades.  She continues to fight for change even while being under house arrest since 1989.  She was even denied the ability to see her husband in a foreign hospital for fear that the military would never let her re-enter Myanmar.  These are the kind of people who give strength to me when I start to feel like things are not going well in my life.  I think it is always important to be able to look up to people who promote ethical values regardless of who they are.  

I made an observation while reading the wonderfully interesting novel, “Shogun” the other day that I thought I would share with you all.  While reading Shogun it dawned on me that western cultures value time so much more than eastern cultures do.  Shogun is written about Japan in the late 17^th century; nonetheless I think I can find some correlational similarities between other Asian cultures.  In my experience, people in China could really care less about making solid plans for the future.  I believe this to reflect in part the importance of Buddhism on eastern cultures.  If a person is going to be reborn anyways what is the rush to get this life over with anyways?  I have often received very passive responses from people when I try to get things moving forward and details made regarding the future.

For example, Cory and I are planning on traveling to South East Asia following the end of the fall semester here in China.  Mr. Tian’s niece has been working to try and get us a ticket for S.E. Asia for over two months with no success.  The reason why?  Apparently tickets have not yet been pre-arranged for the trip we wished to take.  As frustrating as this can be at times Cory and I actually were very lucky to have such a protracted delay.  We had decided that we wanted to travel to Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam this winter.  Thailand is suffering the worst flooding in fifty years right now which has caused us to forgo Thailand, unfortunately.  However, we both feel fortunate due to the fact that if we would have been in the States we would both have already had tickets months earlier making our situation even more precarious now that we would want to dump them…  karma perhaps?

Regardless, compared with eastern cultures people in the west have always been very concerned with time ever since the dawning of Christianity.  In Christianity, people feel that there one life is a complete gift and that they must not miss a second of it in order to take full advantage of it.  Some Christians are afraid of the consequences of their actions; whereas, others are just more concerned with having fun and avoiding work in this life.

In my experience the strangest manifestation of differences in time value is the two and a half hour siesta break which perpetuates Chinese culture.  The other day I was trying to set up a tennis match with a friend and she reminded me that she would not be able to play at one in the afternoon.  The reason?  Her tennis instructor who was going to play with us would be sleeping.  What college coach in America  would be talking a nap at one p.m. in the afternoon on a Tuesday?  I can think of none unless they were on vacation.

In the 21^st century technology, foreign politics, and an incredibly interconnected world has brought these two vast dichotomies of thought together.  I believe that in order to promote cultural understanding both ways of thought are going to need to find a way to work together.  That is one of the major reasons that I am here and I was reminded of it the other day by a new friend.

A message was left for me on Facebook the other day by a person looking to befriend me based only on my experiences in China.  She had noticed that I was messaging a friend using Chinese and was curious about my experiences in China.  During a pre-arranged Skype conversation I discovered that she was incredibly interested in finding a teaching job in China following graduation.  I learned that she had already been to China and just wanted to get some ideas and contacts regarding employment in China.  I was incredibly drawn by her passion and excitement.  I enjoyed laughing together regarding common experiences, ideas, and passion for China.  It was an overall re-affirming conversation for me to have at that time.  I have since become reinvigorated and driven to re commit myself to my goals in China.

One such goal has always been the creation of a comprehensive Chinese to English dictionary.  I have been spending a great deal of time on it recently and successfully added a great amount of information.  I was happy to have Cory’s wealth of knowledge and notes from his previous Chinese college courses to help me in this pursuit.  I have since added situational experiences and key words, phrases, and ideas to my dictionary.  Some of the concepts I have included are going to the restaurant, shopping, activities, feelings, expressions, verbs, animals, foods, plants, sports, buildings,vehicles, etc. 

One of the most interesting things that I can never underestimate is the importance of eating in Chinese culture.  I was told once that China is a “table” culture and I left wondering what exactly that meant.  I can safely say that after spending nine months here that I believe every word of it to be true.  Great decisions are constantly being made while in the midst of eating.  The importance of upholding proper table meal protocol is strictly enforced in these types of meals.  The guests are expected to sit on the left side of the host who sits facing the door.  On the host’s right side are close friends and family members.  In these types of meals there are quite a lot of libations being served.  The featured spirit is “baijiu” which is as fierce of liquor as “ever-clear”.  After a dozens of toasts from the host, guests, family members, etc only the fierce, brave, or clever are able to leave feeling level headed.  The food itself is quite delicious; however, the host continues to have food brought at an incredible rate even though maybe half of it will get eaten.  At all meals of this type of magnitude there are always leftovers.  In my experience, most meals have more food left un-eaten afterwards than the actual food consumed during the meal itself!

Business is decided and arranged during meals.  There is no traditional meeting setting such as we have back in the United States to negotiate deals.  All important meals will include business discussions where the final decision is a binding resolution sealed through a round of toasting.  I am certain that it is very wise to come prepared in these meals with exactly you need to say beforehand.  In my previous twenty-three years in America I have never seen as many formal meals end in almost drunken oblivion before.  As an outsider I try my best to only drink when supposed to.  My only real goal is to never get intoxicated in this type of setting even if it is the norm for many of the other guests.  In a worst case scenario, it is always better to have your wits about yourself especially in a foreign country.

In class recently we have been discussing different relationships and comparing them between the two cultures.  Overall, it has been a very good lesson and I have learned a lot more about Chinese culture by discussing with my students.  China is a guanxi culture which emphasizes maintaining specific relationships.  If you are able to build strong relationships with the right people you are cemented in your position forevermore.  Confucius’s role in Chinese culture is still very strong even today and the importance of honoring fililal relationships is incredibly important.  For example, the naming of new born children is still decided by the grandparents and not the maternal parents.  The new parents are only able to offer some choices for their kin to select from. 

I am sorry for the delay of this blog as I fogot to publish it a few weeks ago!

Best,

E.K.

Experiencing changes, Chinese culture, The "Real People", and future!

The difficulties associated with growing pains in life only come when a person encounters a situation in which they are forced to change.  Each person adapts to these changes over different rates of time.  Sometimes these changes come gradually and people have a lot of time to adapt to them in order to live.  In other times life through stone walls in front of you in which you are utterly paralyzed in front of.  Change is forced upon a person at such times in life.  My life has reached one such moment and it has caused me great pause for consideration.

After a few weeks of discussions I reached a contract extension offer from Southwest University.  In it I would commit to another year of teaching with the guarantee that I would be fully reimbursed for my airfare to the United States and back to China next summer.  After much deliberation I accepted it hoping that I would feel a sense of accomplishment and drive to continue my interesting experience living and teaching in Rongchang, China.  However, after adding the weight of losing possibly both Cory and Ali next year (Ali because she is not enjoying her experience in China) I have come to a realization that life would be difficult without a foreign presence here.  Also, Cory is quickly becoming a great friend of mine and the thought of losing him has forced upon me new ruminations.  These ruminations leave me with many options that I am currently thinking about.  They have also forced me to re examine my inner self.

I have always known that I am a different and unique person who has specific goals, values, and morals in what I place my faith in life.  Fortunately, living abroad has opened me up to the reality that things go certain ways in life in which we have no control over.  I know now that I can try my best, but will never be able to fit into Chinese society.  The one question which I know people are thinking in the back of their mind is: “why China in the first place?”  I felt then as I still do now that not one society has all of the right answers, and my Chinese history course professor, Richard Bohr, electrified me in choosing this off-the-beaten-path destination.  After eight months living here I can safely say that people in China are no more exempt from this vocational strain than I was while living in the United States.

I tried my very hardest to adapt to Chinese society, but found that even with the greatest attempts a person cannot hide who they are.  In my case, it was even more of a strain on my inner self because people judged me wholly on my outer American appearance.  People continually tell me how cool, handsome, tall, etc I am without really caring to get to know me as a person.  I found this to be another piece of Chinese cultural which is ephemeral in nature.  Chinese society puts so much self worth based on appearances that people who can barely afford to put their kids through school will try their best to have an iphone to impress people with.  This need for material status is another reason why the marriage between China and the United States will continue to grow in the next century. 

My soul was feeling quite empty in coming to China.  One thing I really wished and wanted to learn was how to find happiness in my vocational life.  Not the kind of short-sided happy feeling you get after a night of partying, but a lifelong realization that what you have done in life matters.

Know I would call the later a sense of fulfillment rather than happiness.  I was looking for the kind of fulfillment that Jean Valjean grasps at his dying bedside next to his beloved Cosette and Marius.  I was searching haphazardly in the United States to find this in some way, shape, or form.  My whole life through my time in college I thought I know where that path would lead me.  I thought I would find fulfillment from teaching high school students.  I realized pretty early on through my student-teaching experience that this longing would not be meet through teaching high school.  I was extremely frightened because I had placed all my life’s vocational value into a profession which left me feeling more frustrated than valued.

After analyzing the different cultures for the past eight months I believe that I have come up with a correlational point to measure both systems with.  I discovered that free will versus destiny was one foundational difference between the two cultures.  In China, people go to the schools in which they are fortunate enough to get into based upon test scores.  Either they get in or they become life-long workers, farmers, etc.  In high school, student test score decides if they can get into a college or university.  There is no student decision process, campus visiting, nor freedom in choosing a university to study in. 

If a student is fortunate enough to get into a college or university they will do their best to succeed in whatever major they are given to study.  I have a student in Rongchang who I am currently working on his graduate application for studying in the United States.  From talking with him I gathered that he never once wanted to be a biological science major in college.  He always wished to study literature and be liberal arts major.  Due to cultural expectations in China liberal arts are looked down upon heavily as a field of study.  Therefore, he took the advice of his high school teacher and decided to study bio sciences.

After a student finishes the major in which they were chosen for they will enter a job using a very complex system of guanxi relationships.  If that person is lucky enough to know people in the industry in which they are applying into they will get that job.  It does not really matter how well they earned their marks in school.  Guanxi relationships have modeled Chinese society ever since the dawn of Confucius teachings.  Filial piety is a central piece of guanxi relationships.  A post-graduate is always bound to listen to the advice of their parents in choosing a career.  Usually, a relative is the best hope for getting a good job due to their bonded relationship.

The role of filial piety does not end there for a recent graduate looking for a job.  In most cases graduates cannot move far away from their hometown in order to find a job.  I have a friend in Chongqing who is a very talented T.V. host for a children’s show.  She wishes desperately to be able to apply to work full time in Beijing as a T.V. host.  Her parents have forbidden this indefinite absence from her hometown of Chongqing.  Due to cultural expectations she cannot take the job and must remain in Chongqing.  These are but a taste of the role which guanxi and the importance of good relationships plays in Chinese society.

I like to always balance things in life in order to get a fresh perspective on them.  Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.  In this case, I shall forge ahead to galvanize the reader towards the power of freedom to make decisions in life.  Yes, the average United States citizen has none of those cultural constraints placed upon them in school.  Once a post graduate from college a person can do whatever they like.  We are even legally emancipated from our parents at the age of eighteen.  In order to be fair to myself I already knew most of these things before coming to China.  The thing which really interested me was experiencing this culture in order to make real valued inferences regarding choices.

I like to give examples as much as possible to keep myself focused on what is the central topic.  For example, I have always enjoyed hot-showers growing up in the United States.  In China, there are times when after ten minutes of trying to get the water-heater work that I finally managed to get the water temperature just right.  Afterwards I sit for about a minute or two in perfect revery; however, after a while I still find myself not satisfied.  I discovered that I wanted to make the temperature warmer.  Why could I not find happiness in this perfect temperature?   

At this point, you might be wondering as to how in the world does this relate to me coming to China, freedom versus destiny, and all of the other things I mentioned in the passage above.  Do not fear.  This was no mere digression.  I discovered that even though I could get the darn water-heater just right I soon became dissatisfied with this perfection and wanted to change the temperature again.  I discussed recently how I believe that humans lack the ability to discover what perfection is in life.  I now know this to be true in my own life from the experience of living in China.  This discovery has led me to analyze and balance my decisions process differently.

People in the United States have complete freedom to decide upon most things.  The real crux is that once they reach that thing in which they believe will make them happiest they rarely discover that the job, person, or thing turned out to be what they thought it would be.  People in China have so little freedom in which to choose things that they rarely even worry about such decisions.  However, I have found that people in China are in many cases as happy as people in the United States even without this freedom to choose.  They are happy for the little things in life that do truly matter in the course of a lifetime.  They are happy for their family, food, work, and shelter.  They enjoy an easy-going pace of life which allows them the freedom to spend time staring at rivers for hours.  I know because I have seen some people do this for hours.

How does this relate to my life?  I guess I finally am letting go of trying to reach perfection in life.  My sense of perfection is no less real than anyone else’s; therefore, there is no one positive perfect form.  Even in a religious sense I still like to think that this world was created perfectly for all creatures on earth.  I now feel comfortable in my own skin and relish this liberation from a self-worth built around walls of material things.  In my past life I believed that these things would make me happy.  I know now that they will only break me down as a person and work to diffuse the things that really do matter in life.  In many ways material things become a divisive breach against the people who do really matter in life.  When the two different things come into conflict in my lifetime I pray that I will always remember to choose the one that really matters.

In the vocational sense I believe that discovering that I do not need perfection will also help me.  I blamed myself after student teaching for not being able to relate to my students.  I left student teaching feeling great shame and a sense of failure.  Looking into the future I felt very confused and convoluted as to what job would help me find fulfillment.  In coming to China, I hoped to discover any of their tricks related to discovering what true happiness in life is. 

After some examination I believe that finding that the perfect job, girlfriend, body, mind, soul, etc does not exist in this world.  Sometimes people are able to find whatever they seek by dumb luck; however, the majority of people probably feel as frustrated as I did while searching for the perfect career teaching in high school.  Others suffer from the same sense of further desire to keep turning the temperature higher on the faucet while taking a shower.  The different circumstance are relatable because they both are things which at one time people wanted but soon discovered left them feeling unsatisfied.

 I believe now that true happiness does not come from things.  Happy people just live enjoyable lives, and true fulfillment can come in many different shapes and forms.  Jean Valjean certainly did not lead a happy life but was the most fulfilled individual on earth at the time of his death.   Placing value in perfect ideas that do not yet exist is not a wise thing to do.  I am a happy person and believe that in order to find fulfillment I should only look to lead a life which allows me to be happy.  If this means that I should follow Cory to teach in South Korea, stay another year in China, or look elsewhere for employment I will do so.  As long as I am happy I believe I will look back and find fulfillment in my life.  Suffering for no reason is masochism and I certainly have already felt like I did that enough to myself in my lifetime.  It is always better to value what we are now and do our best to remember it.  Regardless of freedom of choice or not people in China find many ways to live very happy and rewarding lives.  I discovered that I can live a much happier life by trying things out and seeing what happens.  I may not have that “destiny” career, girlfriend, etc, but I know now that this is okay!  I can be happy in life just by the way I live it and that will last me a lot longer than any job, rewards, money, things, etc.

On the very real and positive side of things I truly am enjoying teaching this semester.  I am finding that my improved Chinese language communication has helped me clarify things for my students.  I also believe that I helping them by seeing how difficult it is for me to try and speak Chinese with them.  Together, we are working in an environment of positive cultural exchange.  I feel that these positive experiences are helping me with my students’ attentiveness this semester.  It is most certainly improving their focus in the classroom.

I am learning a lot about Chinese culture through the eyes of their language.  People keep to themselves things that I and my friends would clearly voice.  Holding onto a person’s inner feelings is a critical piece of understanding Chinese culture.  It reflects there shame based cultural principles by demonstrating that it would be shameful to admit that there was something to worry about.  It is It is interesting to see that they have three different ways to say that something “does not matter” in their language.  This helps me in the classroom by helping my students to understand that in this situation my intention is honest.  I want them to work on speaking English and that is the only way in which they will be able to improve.

On the running front I am enjoying much more happiness by limiting the amount of time in which I go.  My runs are faster now and consume less time spent running which helps me enjoy more activities each day.  This one change in my everyday life style has allowed me to feel like a more balanced person.  Limiting my exposure to over training has also improved the strength of my body. 

When it comes to my improvements in using Chinese it is hard to impress upon the reader the strides in which I have made these past two months.  My Chinese has literally improved through perseverance as I have attended in that time period only three classes of Chinese instruction.  This along with my reinvigorated enjoyment for doing things which make me feel happy has allowed me to become a much friendlier person.  It has also allowed me to really focus on improving the one thing that still separates most from my Chinese culture, communication.  I am finding that communication is quite difficult even with a much improved vocabulary and sense of context because the Chinese speak their quite fast.  They also speak using their local dialect more often than using mandarin Chinese.  This leaves me often chasing my own tail when I am trying to converse with people.  It also allows me to appreciate the level of difficulty it takes to live in a world where you would be unable to communicate with people.  I am very thankful that I have Cory to chat with on a daily basis using English like I could communicate with an American back home.

I have recently read several great books.  I finished “Les Miserable’s” and “Mutant Message Down Under”.  Both books were great for different reasons.  “Les Miserable’s,” portrays the classics western cannon novel in a way which brought ever character to life for me.  I personally related to many of the personality traits which made Jean Val jean, Javert, and Father Gilormarand, such interesting people.

The novel, “Mutant Message Down Under” made me questions my values.  I believe that the lessons taught by the aboriginal tribe, “Real People”, relate correlational issues which current human society as a whole has missed.  These pieces relate to what I believe is the heart of the problem of finding happiness in life.  The Real People emphasis that all people are inextricably linked together by one central thing: Earth. 

The Real People live around the jaws of a vicious world each day.  This world for the Real People includes sweltering temperatures in the rugged Outback of Australia.  The Real People know that their survival is linked to the goodness of the earth.  They feel that humans most learn to conserve in order to have a healthy ecosystem.  That means that they only eat as much as they can at a time, pack light, and use their feet for transportation.  Far from fearing for their survival, the “Real People” frankly feel a great sense of peace in their life.  Their happiness comes from knowing that they live life to the fullest each day through non-competitive games, sharing, and enjoying the Earth’s natural beauty.

These people have no need for time as we know it.  They do not have important things that must get finished outside of daily life.  The Real People neither celebrate holidays or birthdays.  They do put an important emphasis on celebrations.  Every person in their tribe is known for some unique skill that they have acquired.  They will celebrate these skills with their group members at points in their life when they feel they have made an important addition to their skill. 

What a remarkable idea.  Celebrations when people feel generally happy to celebrate.  I also found it extremely interesting to discover that people change their names periodically throughout their life time to represent a new important aspect in their life.  For example, a “story teller” might add a title of “great” to their name if they have done some magnificent in their life.  A person might even want to add another talent to their repertoire making them a completely new expert in their community. 

These people have no need to be competitive within their own tribe and have no need for clothing.  Why hide who you truly are?  They also find it extremely revolting to think that a doctor could actually heal a person.  Only the body, God, or in this case “Eternal Oneness” would be able to heal a person.  A doctor can merely do what they can to try and help that person lessen their symptoms and suffering. 

They share so many interesting differences with normal human culture and yet they are extremely human at root.  They have taught me to remember each day that life is a miracle.

Possession and materialism are also quite strange ideas for these people.  I think that the history of the world has reached a unique point in time where these aboriginal people could no longer fit into our human society and co-exist.  I believe that neither group is correct in the manner in which life is experienced.  Rather, I feel that as a person it would be wise of me not to disregard their civilization’s 50,000 year old tradition as merely archaic.  I know that both groups are human and can learn from each other.

I think it would be wise to remember some of their advice regarding living everyday life.  Recognizing that each person has many unique gifts, that people are not supposed to dwell on negative things, and that life was not ultimately our choice, for example.

I am currently reading the novel, “Shogun” and am completely fascinated with Japanese society.  I will follow-up this blog with more interesting things that are happening right now in my life.  I am pondering the future and different possible routes to travel in life.  Currently, I am glad to have a strong support system in China as well.  Cory and I have truly become great friends during this experience and will continue be as we are both making important decision regarding our future. 

       

       

Attempting to upload photos from Chengdu trip

Happiness, Chengdu vacation, relationships, ideas, and more!

·        Benefits of active living

Being active in my everyday life has invigorated my personality and love of life again.  On a daily basis I am finding that I am experiencing a much greater sense of balance which has positively contributed to my constitution.  These changes I can attribute to discovering that it was okay to admit to myself that I have problems with anxiety.  I believe that I can find a correlation between my negative disposition at times and the mishandling of anxiety.  This enlightenment has contributed to my belief that understanding oneself is essential to leading a healthy lifestyle.  I am conscious now of when I am getting anxious, situations that cause anxiety, and better preparation for these situations.  These have all greatly helped me dealing with my anxiety of late.  I am currently working on Dr. Weil’s breathing techniques and centering my mind while stretching following running to help relax myself.

My greatest gift and greatest curse in my life is anxiety.  It captivates me to push myself to do things which seem impossible to an outside observer.  It also pushes me to fulfill designs too great for myself at times and leaves me feeling hopeless and alone.  I am driven to depression when I feel like I am unable to meet these goals and propelled to great heights at the same time.  This juxtaposed biological existence has taught me to analyze everything in life.  I think constantly about everything which drives me to great discoveries as well as leaves me feeling hollow and not human in the same light.  These great discoveries alone have re-shaped my life as I work to find positive means for managing my anxiety at present.

My daily diet and exercise regiment are now in harmony once again.  The cooling of the weather here in Rongchang has really helped a great deal with my overall health as well.  I know that I have become quite a hypochondriac these days. I feel that this condition is necessary in China due to their overall lack of proper sanitation, poor air quality, dietary differences, etc.  With my mind and body in harmony I have found that my personality has also stabilized which has made social interaction better as well.  Basically I needed to discover that I cannot control my life and everything in it.  It is much more desirable to lead a balanced, happy, and goal-orientated life in harmony.

·        So much for teaching in September!

As for teaching I am sorry to say that I have not done very much of it lately.  To my chagrin the month of September only allowed me four total classes.  The termination of the freshmen military training and beginning of my normal teaching schedule should allow me to have a more stable teaching schedule.  The one upper-classmen class that I have been teaching thus far has been very enthusiastic to learning.  Their English level is advanced and I believe that we can touch on advanced topics and dialogue together which I look forward to.

·        Chinese holiday trip to Chengdu!

The Chinese national holiday afforded Cory and I time to travel to Chengdu for a four day vacation.  It was a trip that I was extremely looking forward to as it included an excursion to the Giant Panda research base.  Our journey to Chengdu began with a three-hour bus ride from Rongchang to Chengdu.  On the way an interesting American movie was shown that neither Cory nor I recognized at all.  The movie was probably from the early eighties and had something to do with an African safari which went wrong.  When we arrived we had to wait for about an hour to find someone who would take us from the bus station to the hotel.  After several credible taxi drivers balked at our request for a ride we were forced to take an undisclosed taxi who charged us 50 kuai for a ten minute ride.  The adventure did not end there as our hotel in which we booked our stay informed us that we had made an improper reservation because Cory used hostelworld.com.  After a little finagling we were able to get our four nights anyways which was a fortunate end to an interesting day of travel.  Just another adventure in China!

That night we walked around Chengdu city for a few hours.  I was shocked at the ease and slow pace of life for a city of over ten million inhabitants.  It almost felt like I was in a much larger Rongchang at times.  I went on a few runs from our hotel to the suburbs of Chengdu and was amazed at how quite it was on the edges of the city.  A totally different experience than I had previously known in any large city in China where the pace of life is as quick as back in the United States.

The next day we met up with Cory’s good friend Allen.  Allen was a previous acquaintance of Cory’s from his time studying abroad at Southwest University in 2008.  Upon meeting Allen we were both shocked to learn that he had married since 2008 and now was planning his wedding.  It is always interesting for me to experience the different life expectations between my peers in the United States and contemporaries in China where marriage is seen as a pre-requisite to adulthood.

Afterwards, Cory and I went walking around Chengdu’s city center where we took some pictures in and around Tianfu square.  We walked over and checked out the enormous People’s park adjacent to Tianfu square before returning to hotel to take a break.  We went to bed early that night in order to get up early for the following days’ Panda park tour.  That evening we enjoyed a delicious Pizza Hut pizza.  I have never been in a Pizza Hut in the United States that was as elegant as the one we went to in Chengdu.  I felt like I was eating at Maynard’s restaurant off the shore of Lake Minnetonka back in Minnesota.  The ambiance and service was quite astounding to me as I had yet to go to a Pizza Hut in China before.

The next morning we awoke early as we needed to travel across town in order to get to the hostel.  The early nature of our trip afforded us great timing to see the pandas actively eating and engaged.  Cory had previously been to the park and not witnessed the same kind of activity level that we were able to see on that morning.  Overall, it was a great success and I enjoyed being able to see both the giant and red panda’s eating.  The red panda adults also displayed an interesting mating and / or territorial display which I tried my best to catch on video.  The three hours that we spent at the park were utilized to the utmost as we explored great distances around the protected enclosure.

That afternoon we strolled back around Tianfu square and the very modern parts of Chengdu.  The design of the area was similar to Shanghai’s Nanjing shopping street except that there were twice as many people in Chengdu as in Shanghai.  I believe that the fact that we were traveling during the Chinese national holiday definitely contributed to the overcrowding of the area.  Still, besides the Forbidden City in Beijing I have not been surrounded by as many people in one place as I was in Chengdu at the time. Next, we explored a great distance by walking for the next three hours down to the majestic Chengdu river area.  As the day was beautiful I was struck by how peaceful everything seemed down in this very modern area of Chengdu.   That night Cory and I met up with some friends from the United States we met at the Panda Park for a little fun at the foreign bar, “Jellyfish”.

The next day was already our last in Chengdu. We took a little walk around the city and some local smaller parks on the way to getting directions for our return bus ride to Rongchang.  Even though we came into Chengdu at one bus station we were unable to use that same station for our return voyage.  Chengdu is a large city with many different bus lines; therefore, we needed to find the line that was furthest from the city proper running east.  We enjoyed an afternoon of shopping at one of the most unique small grocery stores I have seen in China.  “Sabrina’s” catered to Americans consumers specifically by having only exported American goods.  Cory and I both bought food items which we have never been able to find in China before.  That night we went out for one last night out with some friends from Rongchang who were staying with relatives in the Chengdu area.  An overall fun way to end a great trip!

That next day we went to the bus station a little tired and worn out from two nights’ worth of fun.  We found that the next available bus to Rongchang was not going to leave for two hours.  We spent the next two hours basically twit-tiling our thumbs at the bus station.  Living in China has taught me to be extremely patient with a transportation system which is not nearly as efficient as that in the United States.  Managing to get a bus ride back to Rongchang can be an arduous task as nearly fifty people usually line up at the counter entrance to the buses all ready to race for their seat.  Self-preservation over-rules order, politeness, and respect for others.  Nothing is routine in China.  I guess if I had to always fight in order to make sure that I got a seat on the bus I too would be extremely pushy, anxious, and ready to fight for my right my seat too.  Make no mistake, everyone already paid for their tickets beforehand but that does not mean you are guaranteed a seat on that fair. 

The bus back to Rongchang was completely full and Cory and I were unable to sit next to each other in our purchased seats.  I sat next to a small Child whose English name was Mary.  Over the course of the bus ride back we enjoyed a conversation in mostly Chinese because she was such a small child.  She struck up the courage of introducing herself which took me aback.  Most Chinese children will never do that because they are very shy and brought up with different cultural expectations.  I enjoyed helping Mary with her English homework and showing her my pictures I took in Chengdu.  Her father works in Chengdu and her mother lives in Rongchang which is why she was traveling on the national holiday.  I was amazed at the fact that no parent was on the bus with her and she was probably seven years old only.  There is a high level of comfort in China and there really is not a sense of crime which creates a false sense of security at times too.  I am sure that child-trafficking and other related crimes occur; however, these activities do not seem to manifest themselves into taking any extra precautions on the part of people here in Southwest and South-central China.  This is neither the last nor the first time that I have seen small children riding alone on buses in China.

·        Contract extension with Southwest University

The advent of a possible contract extension teaching with Southwest University has forced me to re-evaluate my life goals.  As I am in the process of trying to decide my future right now I am forced to ask myself many questions about what I want in life.  I feel that one year in China is truly not enough to understand the culture, language, and maximize my experience.  As all decisions have many unintended consequences I try to use different perspectives when analyzing things.  I know a few things for certain which finally helped me decide upon what I wanted to do.  I now have made so many friends, experienced so much, and believe that I am the luckiest person almost every day here which is great.

·        Opposite-sex relationships in China

Recently, Cory and I have been having issues dealing with the realities of the differences between China and American culture relating to relationships.  We have two friends who in the traditional sense of the way are looking to pursue boyfriend / girlfriend relationships with us.  The convoluted nature of the male brain at our age produces difficult choices when dealing with the fairer sex.  In one sense I enjoy Xiao Tang’s company which makes me want to pursue a relationship with her.  However, the reality is that I know that we both have different expectations in what a relationship should be which leaves me feeling like we should just be friends.  The matter gets more confusing when you add in the fact that Xiao Tang’s English is worse than my Chinese.  Along with other issues I feel that it is best that we both stay friends.  Cory and I will always enjoy both girls’ company but with barriers kept in mind!

This difficult communication has brought me to conclude that I really need to improve my Chinese language acquisition which I have been doing lately.  Even since my parents visited me in China I have been making great strides in sentence structure formation, vocabulary acquisition, and Chinese listening skills without formal classes.  Today my supervisor performed my first Chinese language class this year which raised my spirits tremendously.  I am proud of my strides I have made in the language and will continue to work at improvement.  The question is do I want to pursue the language to the level of proficiency or further?  Today, I believe that I want to achieve as high a level of Chinese language skills that I can in order to maximize my experience in China with a future career in mind.

I am very interested in learning more about how relationships between men and women have changed in China over the past one-hundred years.  In 1911, arranged marriages were made illegal for the first time in Chinese history.  Even one-hundred years later, signs of the pervasive nature of arranged marriages remain in Chinese society today.  Women and men remain connected to a neo-evolution of the traditional Chinese dowry.  B.M.W.  This phrase speaks volumes to the courtships process between men and women in Chinese culture. “B”, stands for “be”; “M”, stands for “my”; and “W”, stands for “wife”.  Showing a woman that you are a worthy husband includes owning a home, car, and a steady source of income.  Chinese women hold on to a very grandiose delusion of true love at first sight which is palpable in all forms of popular culture from music to fashion.  However, in order to fulfill that fantasy a proper male candidate should demonstrate their potential first with the proper pre-requisite ephemeral objects of affection.   

In Chinese culture the motivation for a relationship with the opposite sex is marriage.  A person must put in a lot of work ahead of getting into a relationship in China due to cultural expectations.  Both partners know what is at stake and truly believe that they are both looking for true love.  The manifestations of these deeper physical emotions remain hidden in order to save face in the hope of avoiding shame.  It is quite interesting for Cory and I to witness this phenomenon due to our different cultural expectations regarding opposite-sex relationships.

These ruminations and more are a taxing process at times and are causing me to want to unwind a bit.  I am finding that I again am going out with Cory and having fun which is great.  My greatest challenge is how to manage having fun while drinking only a little alcohol.  Chinese culture does not understand drinking in moderation.  It is all or nothing habit when it comes to alcohol and it is tough for me to explain why I do not like drinking that much.  Therefore, when I go out with Cory I drink and can maintain a balance which helps me to not reach a level of too much inebriation.  It is something that has greatly improved my emotions lately and I believe be a good way to have more fun.

·        A narrow world view

When analyzing a group of people one has to be hesitant to make generalization in fear of stereotyping.  In my time in China I have witnessed one single characteristic which inhibits close-mindedness to its zenith.  When a Chinese person sees an example of one thing they use it as a barometer to gauge all things.  It matters not what thing you are speaking about when analyzing this phenomenon.  For example it could be a specific type of person.  As people in China recognize me as a foreigner automatically they percolate to me like water leaking from a faucet onto the floor.  It is strange for them to try and break free of this very simplified analytical level of understanding when it comes to analyzing who is a foreigner in China. 

Nowhere is this more prevalent then with differences between Cory and me in the eyes of a Chinese person.  It does not matter how old, wise, or worldly the person maybe before first seeing Cory and I.  Their automatic first assumption is that he is 100% Chinese.  Now I can understand if you make a misjudgment.  I do it all of the time even when I try my best to not say something ignorant or arrogant.  However, the misunderstanding induces the effect of being incredulous of Cory and his background to the point that it becomes uncomfortable.  I have no other way of trying to describe the lasting influence of object permanence in the mind of a Chinese person.   Even after Cory and I both verify that he is American 99% of the people look at us like we are crazy, lying, or possibly even spies.

·        Tow ruminations of late

I have made two great analytical jumps the past two weeks which I would like to share which I find fascinatingly simple yet remarkably important.  The first is the idea of being magnanimous in defeat.  I realize that it is very easy to be magnanimous in victory and the true testament of a person is how they behave in defeat.  In defeat, a person is forced to reflect on their current situation and either change or revert back to their past ways.  The people in the world who overcome great obstacles have this one trait of perseverance which was omnipotent to their future success.

The second thought I had recently while running was that technology is going to reshape the world in ways in which no one will fathom in the future.  Even the brightest minds will be unable to know for certain in what ways technology will work for good or evil purposes.  I for one believe that technology is a double sword interweaving both great innovation and corrosive effects on society.  The reality is that it is impossible to remove the negative effects without tampering with progress and change.  My great hope is for intelligent people to be clairvoyant and do their best beforehand in adapting technology to everyday life in positive ways.

  It is really the unintended consequences of relying too heavily on technology which can leave the greatest effects on a person.  These effects are what concern me the most in regards to the well-being of humanity.  It may be something as unavoidable as going to work and sitting on a computer for eight hours a day.  All I hope is that people will adapt with technology by keeping in mind what is truly important in life.  I for one believe that human interaction tops any short of technologic manifestation on the market today. 

I am most interested in how technology has, is, and will change culture in the world today.  The advent of accelerated technological advancement has brought vastly different cultures into greater contact faster than in any other time in the history of mankind.  I believe that our existence is totally shaped by our inherent culture, family, friends, socio-economic status, and has been for our entire human history.  The greatest change to this pervading trend has been technology in the past fifty years.

  People have access to what is hip and trendy across the world today.  Ideas are spreading and changing places as vastly different as America and China with the speed of a mouse click on the computer.  How these changes are currently influencing culture is what I am greatly interested in studying in the future.  Will cultures becoming more similar?  Or will these changes cause people to break further apart in a hope to maintain anonymity?  Examples of both can be seen in the world today.  Understanding why these two extremely different solutions to technology occur can be the difference between peace and war and that is why it matters to me.

·        A happy arrival!

On another happy note my parents sent me an enormous package filled with clothes, supplies, food, etc.  This parcel filled me with great joy and a brand new wardrobe which I was in dire need of.  My clothes here in China had seen their better days and I was extremely pleased to be able to once again choose between different clothing options.  I have found that diversity in food, clothing, ideas, etc are some of the greatest differences between Chinese and American culture.  This is something which is unique to American culture and totally shapes the way that I see the world in every sense of the word.

Best,

E.K.

           

An unexpected month, healthy concerns, teaching, Chongqing weekend, jotings, personal discovery and more!

Introduction

I had an absolutely rollercoaster month thus far in September.  I have been quite busy and feel that I have much I would like to share with all of you.  As always my blog will feature the people, thoughts, and important things which encapsulated my most recent experiences.  I had a rough and good month for growing as a person.  I suffered two physical setbacks which allowed me to grow immensely as a person.  I also made an important discovery which I believe is the key to understanding myself as a person.  Everything in my life is connected to this single aspect.  Finally realizing the reality of my existence has major ramifications for my future.  I also have been starting up teaching this September with a bang and enjoying the ride.  I am very excited about this next semester and have made adapted my syllabus to feature some important modifications for teaching this year.  Cory and I also had a great trip into Chongqing this past weekend where we greeted some great friends from our past while building new friendships in the future!

Focused teaching: Curriculum changes and adaptations to meet student needs

Reflection usually follows a period of convalesce in life.  In my case, two cases of heat exhaustion in a week forced me to truly take a long look at myself.  I focused mainly on my mental, physical, and spiritual state at present.  During this down time from physical activity I took time to reconnect with friends and co-workers at school.  The advent of fall brought with a new steady stream of eager and curious students and the impending new semester of teaching.  These forces created in me a great desire to improve my teaching and units from the previous year.  Due to the intense mandatory freshmen military training for I have only had one class thus far of sophomores to teach.  Therefore, I have been really able to focus on improving my units, taking input from students, and adjusting my curriculum in favor of my students’ goals this semester. 

My students really wanted to learn as much as they could regarding a variety of topics which I will duplicate in list form: Minnesota (local customs, daily life of parents, typical food), eating etiquette, friendship, dating, relationships, marriage, travels I have taken in the world, recent U.S. history, economy in U.S., veterinarians in U.S., animals, pets, and environmental protection, U.S. geography, national parks, and vacation locations in U.S., College life in U.S., education differences between U.S. / China, popular culture, and U.S. culture.  I am extremely pleased to have this variety of topics to cover in my class this year and look forward to working with my sophomore class especially.  The sophomore class is full of marketing majors, business, and others who are preparing to take a test to measure their English ability this year.  I believe that I can best help them in doing this by offering them extra help outside of the classroom.  With the addition of one of our PCV’s, Ali, we are going to be trying to get an “English corner” up and running at our University.  Hopefully, this will become a place where students can feel safe and comfortable practicing their English with other friends outside of the classroom!

Introducing a new semester!

The arrival of the new semester culminated in three different faculty, staff, and department dinners with the University.  In each meal I enjoyed the palpable excitement from attendees present.  Knowing dinning etiquette, toasting expectations, the food, and different cultural aspects greatly enhanced my understanding of how I should interact with each member from the University.  I refrained from drinking alcohol from a fear of the negative reactions I might have with my health and recovery.  This with drawl from a major aspect of male Chinese celebration did not limit my experience in the least bit as I was toasted with tea and water often enough.  Cory and the new foreign P.V.C, Ali, were also in attendance and both had great experiences as well.  During this period I had an important reverie which forced upon me to accept a few things in life again.  My selfish idealism exacerbated by my idleness and isolation this past summer created in me a fixation with reaching my goals. 

Retrospective look on summer

I discovered that my priorities had become unbalanced during my summer alone in China.  I do not blame myself for focusing on my running, reading, and writing too much.  I know that at the time I felt that these were all worthy goals and deserved a great deal of attention to be paid to them.  Unfortunately, I became obsessed with the steady progress of these goals which began to cost me in my experiences this summer.  I lost sight of what was important in my life and found that I could not have focus myself completely on reaching my goals at the expense of my personal happiness.  My periodical depression this summer drove home this point to me clearly enough.  However, I was still unable to understand why I was focusing so greatly on my goals and not on experiencing China and all of the wonderful things I have enjoyed here.

I soon realized that I was using things like excessive running to calm myself.  With advice from family and friends the prevailing advice was that I was a person who has a great deal of anxiety in life.  Finding ways to positively release that energy without harming myself in the future became one of my major tasks to work on.  Being able to finally realize and start understanding my anxiety has made my life happier.  I now finally am starting to realize situations when I become anxious and ways of actively alleviating the stressors which are obstructing me.  This fresh lens into my personality has been a great break through for me.  I am now able to understand myself so much greater as a person and appreciate why I truly need to work on finding ways of balancing myself and stress in my life.

 

I would rather not dwell on the past and re-construct all of the many impediments which I encountered along the way to this great breakthrough.  I am pleased to have finally put an important piece in the puzzle regarding my personality in place.  I believe that summarizing what I discovered regarding living for only selfish goals in life will do enough for my reader.  Living with goals in life are great and a worthy way of reaching successes in life.  However, when these goals become the single greatest fixation a person has in life they must take a moment to look at things in a greater picture in life.  My heat related exhaustion forced me into a deep period of reverie.  I would suggest avoiding any and all physical ailments if possible.  Going just a little too far can be the difference between life and death in some cases.

Heat Related illness or diabetes?!?!

The greatest reason why I took a long time to continue my chronicles here in China was fear that I might actually have suffered an attack of hypoglycemia caused by adult onset of type one diabetes.  Mr. Tian took me to one of the best hospitals in Chongqing (xi nan yi yuan) which measure my blood glucose levels after taking a glucose powdered substance.  Yesterday, I went back ready for any news.  I really did not know whether my condition was related to heat exhaustion or the beginning of type one diabetes.

            The Xi nan yi yuan is a daunting building to enter for any foreign.  Upon entry a person becomes completely surrounded by hundreds of Chinese residence.  I had to re register in order to have my results read by the doctor.  I brought with my passport, residence permit, hospital ID card, and personal medical history in case of the worst.  After registration a process of health care so different from any experience I had had in the States was about to turn me into a reality game show contest in nervous anticipation from my resultant examination.

After Mr. Tian checked me into the blood examination center we were handed the results from my test to take to the doctor’s office.  After waiting for about three minutes we entered the doctor’s office in front of a group of five.  After we exchanged pleasantries the doctor looked over my paperwork.  My anxiety could not have been greater.  I literally felt like I was waiting to hear if I won a million dollars or would be sentenced to prison for life.  It is truly hard to fathom how extremely different healthcare is in the U.S. from China.

The doctor looked over my results and quickly retorted that, “I was fine, no diabetes”.  I threw my hands in the air and said, “Yes”!  My excitement soon turned to horror as he still needed to read the following four sheets of paper.  What if the other results were bad?  At the end he told me that I was fine and needed to balance my diet and exercise around the weather conditions.  Five minutes with the doctor and basically complete closure was reached from his analysis.  Back in the U.S., I would have had to wait in the doctor’s lobby, had my vitals checked, and had a ten minute discussion with the doctor on my results.  The doctor would have come prepared already knowing my results and not felt in the least inclined to share them with anyone else.  In China, healthcare maximizes efficiency at the cost of all personal pleasantries, comforts, psychology, etc.

Chongqing weekend!

We left Rongchang for Chongqing Saturday following my tutoring session.  I have found that tutoring has been a positive way for me to help someone in need, teach, add income, and learn more about Chinese culture.  Afterwards, Cory and I took the bus into Chongqing to being our three day visit.  Cory and I had an unbelievable time last weekend in Chongqing which started out with a mysterious new twist.  After being dissatisfied with our last hostel experience in Chongqing we located another one with an even closer proximity to Jai Fang Bei.  We arrived but were unable to find our hostel for about forty minutes due to its isolated location!  Fortunately, we endured and finally met our objective only to discover that in the beginning we were less than 100 feet from our hostel from the opposite entrance!  Happy to have finally arrived checked in to start out another great weekend in Chongqing.

            We stayed at a new hostel which was tucked into one of the smaller residential areas near the old city wall.  We meet up with friends every day and experienced a nice break from our routine schedule back in Rongchang.  Saturday evening Cory and I went out to dinner with two friends.  One friend Cory had known for over four years since their last encounter while studying abroad in China!  Her friend was named Star (xing).  Because she was quite small her nickname was (xiao xing).  I enjoyed walking with her and telling her to be careful which would translate (xiao xin, xiao xing)!  Afterwards, we meet up with our two old friends Jack and Lance for a night of downtown entertainment.

The next afternoon we enjoyed a KTV singing, drinking, and eating afternoon with my good friends Emma and Michael.  Emma brought with her roommates who also enjoyed the festivities and dinner following our exhausted voices.  Nothing compares to the endurance of trying to pace yourself during a five hour KTV singing afternoon!  That evening Cory and I went to bed early which allowed us to read and watch Pirates of the Caribbean at our hostel.

We really had no plans on Monday which allowed for us to enjoy a nice period of rest and relaxation walking in and outside of malls in the Jai Fang Bei city center.  Our enjoyment was high when we went to our old bowling spot at the fifth floor of the Metropolitan mall.  Nothing beats being inside on a rainy day in Chongqing.  By this point the weather had cooled significantly as well which left me totally unprepared by not packing any warm clothes.  Cory sagaciously had brought jeans and a long sleeve shirt with him.  I unfortunately was left tucking in my shirt and wearing a baseball cap for warmth.  That evening we had an awesome meal with Cory’s longtime friend, Lili.  Afterwards we shared a nice beer and called it quits early due to walking up early for my morning doctor’s appointment at the Xi nan yi yuan.

Les Miserables: class conflict in America and the world today

I am currently reading Les Miserables.  The book is such a masterpiece that I want to soak in every idea, situation, and feeling which Hugo pointedly portrays.  I am constantly thinking about how the book relates to other societies in the world today.  Reading this book has captured my imagination and allowed me to make correlational inferences with the pending debt crisis’ ramifications for Americans.  I am currently very troubled by the lack of compromise in the U.S. right now due to the extreme polarization of opinions. 

Les Miserables covers a point of French history dating from the post 1789 revolution.  The chronology recounts period of the White Terror of 1793, the rise of Republicanism, Napoleon, the Restoration, and post restoration tension in French society.  Clearly, Victor Hugo portrays societies down-trodden as lacking necessary financial support from the state.  Without such welfare the French lower classes fell into destitution, decay, crime, and starvation.  Hugo is another author in the wake of the existential era in Europe.  He believes that people are products of their own situation and truly anyone would go to such lengths in they were forced into such plights.  Hugo also believes in rehabilitation through religious awakening as his main character, Jean Valjean, turns his life around after he meets a monk following serving nineteen years in prison in Toulon, France.  Hugo elucidates his beliefs that the French people have forgotten their morals and have failed to recognize that the richest class does not have the best in mind for the whole of France’s society.

When thinking about how this might impact my opinions regarding America today I am forced to ask this simple question.  Who is an America?  If the American constitution states that every America citizen has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness than I take those words at face value.  I also feel that if the constitution believes that government should be the right of the people than our politicians have a duty to honor all of their constituent’s voices.  Since we do not have a direct democracy and our country is over 310,000,000 people this becomes an arduous task.  However due to technology today this task may not be as difficult as I make it out to be.  If modern polling can predict the ideals of Americans today than a cross-sectional analysis should provide a clear picture of what needs to be done.    

Clearly, when people forget what made us a great country America will exist in name only.  I do not believe that anything less than a compromise can achieve some sort of balance between the many different groups of Americans who live today.  If a person looks objectively at some of these questions they are forced to realize that they alone do not have all of the answers.  I believe that these types of exercises are healthy in creating a wider view of the world today.  Surely, we cannot speak for all in the world today.  Therefore, can one group speak for all in the U.S. leaving everyone else to become mere obstructions?  If the majority of people polled today are asking for their politicians to come up with a compromise should they be denied by selfish leaders who are only concerned with winning another election?  Where has the vision for our great nation gone?  Can one group be all right while the other one is all wrong?  The real question that people should be asking is what forces are really causing this tension within America and who are supporting them and who is founding them?  Clearly, the groups funding them must have an inherent bias to do so with an invested interest which is probably related to saving their own skin.

When looking into many of these rhetorical questions I feel disheartened to think that some people today still believe in enforcing universal rights.  If people in the same country cannot even agree on something as important as its future than how can people across the world agree on binding resolutions?  One of the great problems which come out of any conflict which is meaningful is that people attempt to place blame on others.  I often want to put some blame on someone too so I can feel that I have washed my hands of it all; however, blame never solves problems and leads to greater conflicts later on.  Blaming people is also a very shallow pursuit because it usually revisits the past in a revisionist manner.   In an effort to paint a new narrative of the past authors paint a picture of the past usually without mentioning the extenuating circumstances, the poor decision making beforehand by previous leaders, and the actually benefits of the decision which was made at the time.  I never have known anyone to make a decision which they actually felt would hurt their own invested interests.    

Another factor which is bothering me in America today is the fact that people still want to argue over whether trickle-down economics or welfare programs are better in solving an economic crisis.  Obviously, neither one works that well because we find are selves back looking at the same problems again and again.  Instead of always looking at are problems in a vacuum a person may find better answers as to why the economy became stagnant in the first place.  Those responsible tend to get away with their greed, excess, and exploitation in the world.  It is unfortunately a story as old as time.   

Capitalism in excess: can resources maintain such usage?

My experiences walking around the Chongqing malls this past weekend induced me to ask a question which has drastic ramifications in our changing world today.  Can people today really believe that unbridled greed is good?  Walking across various Cartier, Louis Vutton, and many other fancy stores I felt a sense that I was in anyone other area of Western Europe or America.  I know realize that even a place like China will soon become as greedy as the Western world has.  With countries like India, China, and Brazil all picking up the reins of the failing world economy they have found that they too are strong and can demand the same resources as the Western world has for centuries.  

It dawned on me that the world can probably not handle another half of the total population consuming as the United States is today.  With all of these forces at play I believe that our world may turn into one filled with pollution, wars of resources, massive inequalities, starvation, and even possible extinction.  There is probably enough food in the world to feed everyone, resources to help the needy, and technology to improve our ways of doing the first two necessary services to achieve balance.  If we do not meet those needs than there are going to soon be much worse problems than a little class warfare back in America.  Those people who have in the world today should become mindful of the billions that are without any of their everyday luxuries such as safe drinking water, electricity, safety, transportation, etc.  Without such changes I fear that we may destroy ourselves in our own greed.

Ending on a positive note:  The greatness of people!

            I am extremely happy that I am able to sit down and write all of these things.  I know that I may not ever become a great person today, but I am living satisfied that I am writing and living my life as I have always wanted to.  Being alone in a foreign country is a tough thing to do and forces a person to really understand survival.  I have learned a lot of things about myself and the world and am looking forward to even better experiences tomorrow!

            I am always constantly amazed at how my life and experiences have shaped my own existence.  My Chinese friends ask me so many questions about what it means to be an American today and how my everyday life is like back in the states.  Even with many of their dreams being repressed such as (travel, society without major responsibilities as a young adult, and society without guanxi limitations) they want to learn all they can about me.  Even with being terribly afraid that they will make a mistake in the classroom they still perform with courage and show great character in their determination to one day visit or study in the United States!


Best,


E.K.