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.

 

   

       

 



               

Brevity may be the soul of wit but it is surely not the soul of my pen!

Part I: Family!

It seems like an eternity since I posted last.  I believe that the enormity of events which has passed in this time encapsulates many of humanities strongest emotions: love, family, friends, and fear.  With so much passing in such a short time it will be a challenge to keep the events to a minimum and in brevity.  I will do my best to proceed accordingly in a sequence of five major themes which do not follow in chronological order.  I am sorry for those who have trouble sometimes following my abstract random thinking process.

I became very excited towards the end of summer as my long awaited reunion with my parents drew near.  I realized that it was going to be an incredible reunion even though it had only been six months.  After being separated from each other for the longest times in our lives I knew that it would be an emotional experience.  Upon seeing my parents for the first time in the Beijing Marriott my heart started beating quickly as we meet for that first time together.  Seeing them safe and sound really made things easier for me and allowed myself to relax. 

Experiencing one another at the physical level was a little strange at first.  Having a relationship exclusively through a computer for six months tends to become quite impersonal.  Seeing reactions and experiencing things together as a family was quite pleasant and not trivial.  Strangely enough near the end of the two weeks I started to become a little hesitant to want to communicate with them.  Not for a lack of wanting.   The imminence of nine months away from one another would be extremely tough on both of us.  I found it emotionally very stressful saying goodbye at the end.  Strangely enough saying goodbye to loved ones never does get easy.  I actually felt that it might have been harder the second time knowing how long it would be until I saw them again.  The naivety of not knowing what a long separation would feel like made our first goodbyes seem trivial at the time for me.

In any event we had a great last day together in Shanghai.  Being that I had just been in Shanghai two months ago I knew the areas of the city we were visiting pretty well.  Having our tour guides accommodate a free day in Shanghai was the optimal location for me.  Due to their flight being delayed at the Shanghai airport I was able to say goodbye over that period of time which was easier than having to do it in a rush or in the prescience of the group.

With all of that fear of the unforeseen also came great hope and light for the future.  Being that my Chinese mandarin has improved greatly in the last few months I am able to have a lot more communication with the locals in town.  Now that I have Cory back with me from America I have my Minnesota connection back again.  Having a lot of new friends in Rongchang makes everything a wonderful experience.  Most of all I will finally start teaching again.  Gearing up for this semester is getting me excited again to teach.

Part II: Zhong Gou jia qi!

The vacation itself was amazing.  I really loved every place we went including Shanghai for the second time.  I was fortunate enough to be able to meet some interesting and wonderful people on the way from Beijing to Shanghai.  Our main group tour guide, Lynn, did an absolutely amazing job of aiding the American tourists the entire trip.  Having a friendly, energetic, and English fluent tour guide truly is an added bonus.  The hotels, food, and service included were all five stars in my book!  I have never stayed in nicer hotels and been treated like a king before.

At each location our tour group also had a local expert guide in the areas we would be traveling.  Jack, Connie, Sue, and Suzie May all did excellent jobs.  I felt that the whole experience was unbelievable from the standpoint of service.  The only low point for most of our group was our hotel in Yangshuo.  Besides this point everyone was overall pretty happy I thought.  Our last tour guide also had some anachronisms in her facts, but all in all a tour service I would recommend to my friends.

I cannot exactly say a favorite place or thing I did.  I would say that I would rank Beijing as my number one, Guilin; two, Shanghai; three, and Xi’an four.  The only reason why Shanghai is ahead of Xi’an is because we also went to Suzhou and Tongli while in Shanghai which I really enjoyed.

The majesty and power of Beijing is clearly present with the CPC’s presence and splendor.  The scale of the Gu Gong (Forbidden City) really left an impression on me after seeing South Korea’s counterpart which seemed almost a miniature fit to scale.  One of my highlights of the entire tour was climbing the Chang Cheng (Great Wall) with my parents.  My Dad and I basically went up as high as we could in the time which the tour allotted for us.  Seeing the wall stretch for miles as far as the eye can see leaves one with a sense of the infinite continuity of its design.

Guilin strikes me as landscape not of this Earth.  It is completely apropos to say that the Chinese are correct in saying that Guilin is the most beautiful place on the Earth.  Reaching the top of the Yao village presented our group with an incredible view of the mountain terraced landscape.  Another highlight of the entire tour for me was the Li River boat cruise.  It truly was an hour of constant picture taking.  I almost did not want to go down for lunch as I rested alone on top of our boat starring at the magnificent view of Guilin’s Karst topography. 

I enjoyed Shanghai better than in June.  I assume that it is because I had become a much more seasoned traveler in China at that point.  It also did not hurt that our less than one year old Sheraton hotel was probably the nicest I have ever stayed in.  Having the opportunity to cruise on river Gondolas down the quiet and tranquil Tongli river town allowed for peaceful repose.  I also enjoyed Suzhou’s silk factory along with the Ming and Qing dynasty gardens we visited.

Shanghai itself was exactly how I remembered it except this time I knew more from experience.  Being able to bargain in the Yu Garden bazaar was an interesting experience.  By this time Dad and I had a couple of strategies which were working very well.  First, always walk away from the street vendor after they give you a price.  They always lower it.  Next, have a real price in mind before you go.  Know the conversion rate and use that to establish what you think is reasonable.  Third, knowing Chinese is a nice tool to have.  I learned not to come out and start with Chinese because they will take advantage of your language ignorance.  Using Chinese is a situational weapon because if you hear them offer a local Chinese a lower price you can call them out on it.  I did this a couple of times and they quickly lowered their first prices.

The only reason that I placed Xi’an lowest was because I was not as impressed with the Terra Cotta soldier exhibit as I thought I was going to be.  The scale, size, and design are completely amazing; however, the exhibit does not allow for one to really view them on the personal level.  I like climbing the Great Wall and hiking up the Yao villages better.  I enjoy activity and scenery much more I guess.  Overall, I really did enjoy the Bell and Drum towers along with the Muslim mosque we went to though.  The synthesis of Islam and Chinese artwork really was quite interesting to see.

Overall I had a great time but there remain some frustrating question marks for me as well.  First, I had trouble going from living in China to having the “foreign” treatment in China.  This encapsulates in my mind several things.  First, the experience of a “foreigner” in China is much different than living in China every day.  I realize that being able to do this is impossible with only a two week tour.  Nonetheless, it is sometimes frustrating to think that many foreigners will come to China and think that they understand China now after such a short period of time. 

In my opinion that is one of the reasons why people around the world do not like some Americans.  Some Americans will come home and say to their friends, “I can’t believe what these so and so people do”, “they are so ____ fill in the blank”.  The truth is that no foreigner can ever truly understand China or any other place for that matter in two weeks.  To actually be able to understand China you must yourself be Chinese.  Even after being here six months I know that I will never understand what it feels like to be Chinese.  I would never attempt to tell someone that I “know China”, or “understand this or that about China”.  It would similar if a Chinese person came to America and said to their friends: “Ni ji dao Mei Guo da xuexeng wanr de cai xingqisi.  Zhen qi guai?”  and made some kind of a comment to the fact.

The one nice thing also about experience is that many in our group will probably go back and talk about all of the great things that we did on the tour.  They will promote better understanding in their own lives by knowing that China is a very complex place with lots of aspects to it just like America is.  Overall many will even recommend a trip to China to their friends.  Greater experience comes from greater understanding.  With understanding come equitable solutions for the future and a brighter tomorrow for all of us.

Secondly, I had a little trouble dealing with what I thought was a little excessive pejorative and degrading statement regarding translation troubles from our guides.  Yes, they have trouble saying the letter “L”, but that does not give a person the right to make fun of it.  If I could tell you how many times I have screwed up communicating in China I would need to write an entire book.  Quite honestly I have never had one of my Chinese friends make a joke of me to my face regarding my poor translation.  I spent two weeks with thirteen Americans and heard several comments of that nature.

The positive with this experience is that people will also come back with greater appreciation for how difficult it is to speak the Chinese language.  It clearly is a double flip of the coin here as well with the “foreign” treatment.  Some of the people on the trip were even trying to learn more about the culture as well.  Together each thing offsets the other to complete a whole experience which develops better bounds between people.

The last sad observation which I made is regarded to cultural egocentrism.  If I could have received a quarter for the number of times I heard people in our group make comments regarding how China was wrong on something I could have a good amount of yuan to spend (6.4 yuan to one U.S. dollar)!  I know that China has quite a few issues to deal with but guess what so does America.  Making comments to the group about those kinds of comments are unbecoming to a culture that values respect and keeping your ideas to yourself.  Those are the kind of ideas that are probably best left unsaid.

I talked with the tour guides regarding what kind of things they had learned from Americans in the course of their careers.  One of the things echoed by several of the tour guides was that Americans are all very different and have quite interesting experiences, backgrounds, and opinions.  It really echoes my experience in China as well.  The lives of the farmers and people from Beijing and Shanghai are quite different.  The experiences and perspectives of each group truly reflect their personal situations in life.

Part III: Cory’s back, hui jia Rongchang!

Getting back to Chongqing and greeting Cory for the first time in two months was great.  Being able to have a friend back who really relates with me is extremely beneficial being half way around the world.  As we got back to Rongchang that night we talked about all of our experiences.  Clearly both of us had great summer breaks.  Looking forward we started to discuss our future plans which have opened us both up to some interesting options.  Being that we are both in China until next year we had previously thought that we would want to teach the following year in South Korea.  As time has passed neither of us are exactly certain as to what road we will choose next.  We discussed teaching in China and possibly remaining in Rongchang as well.  Overall, we both want to play it by ear and see how things are progressing as the year moves forward.  Seeing that I have improved my Chinese is also driving me towards possibly staying longer in China.  I feel that it would be such a great tool to have in life and am having fun learning and using it as well.

Part IV: Danger came when it was least expected; Xiao xin!

Yesterday started off as any normal day for me.  It would be a normal day in the sense that I was going to go on a run.  As I got near the end of my nine mile run something strange happened.  I became quite slow and almost considered stopping.  Now, I have run this route very often and even during times of greater heat so I thought nothing of it.  Finally, I had to stop near the end which struck me as very weird.  When I got back I immediately started hydrating.  Knowing that I was a little less hydrated than normal did not enter into my mind.  Usually I spend all night hydrating when I run in the morning but did not this time.  Maybe I chose not to hydrate while Cory was sleeping in the room too in order to not wake him.  Maybe it was because I was used to running inside for the past two weeks in air conditioning and I forgot to remember that I really needed to pre hydrate in the Chongqing heat.  In any event, after my run I went about working on my daily plans without thinking much of it.

I took not that I was unable to urinate after several drinks of water and gatorade.  Still I went about cleaning, organizing, and un-packing from my trip.  I was upset because my place looked like a pig sty last night.  Cory had to sleep on my futon because he was with a sufficient power supply at his apartment.  All of a sudden I started feeling really disoriented.  I soon realized I must be having a migraine.  I took two Excedrin migraine headache pills and continued hydrating.  As things were getting worse quickly I realized that I had not eaten anything but an apple that morning and quickly grabbed some small snacks to try and help my stomach.  I was not hungry but I realized that things were deteriorating quickly so I tried everything I could think of. 

I finally caved in and put on the air conditioning in my apartment.  With day time temperatures into the one-hundred’s I have still managed to keep my air conditioner off during day time hours in an effort to conserve energy.  As things got worse and worse I realized that I might have suffered some kind of heat related illness.  I was surprised that I was not feeling any sensation in my body as I took a cold shower in an effort to cool down.  Finally, I resorted to putting ice bags on my head and around my neck to do what I could to help.  I soon became delirious and unable to think at all.  My thoughts went strangely between some kind of alternative reality and my current condition. 

I literally thought that I was having an outer body experience.  As things got to the point of completely exhaustion I started to panic.  Shock took over me as I called Cory to my aid.  Thankfully he was there to answer my call.  I am very lucky to have such a great friend who could calm me down and talk me through what was going on.  I was completely lost to what was happening and his guidance was a gift to my weak constitution.

Two days later I am very thankful that I am completely feeling normal and have no further complication from this terrible ordeal.  It is always a gift in life to be able to see how fortunate we are when things are going well.  I know now that I cannot underestimate the power of the Chongqing summer.  I know now that I will always need to be on my guard when training in the heat.  Even with drinking all of the water I do a couple of weeks off of my routine completely through my system off.  Not to mention lack of regular sleep hours, stress, and a cold on my vacation.  Altogether the body is the sum of all parts.  Losing a bunch of small functions is usually less obvious than having one big issue arise at once.  In the case of my heat exhaustion the sum of all parts ended in a much larger catastrophe that could have been prevented.

Part V: Future

Being able to teach again will be something that I am extremely looking forward to.  It has been a long and eventful summer break.  I was able to have great travels, improve my Chinese, meet new friends, enjoy my independence, and re unite with my family.  All in all it was my favorite summer of my life.  With this in my past I am even more certain that this next semester is going to be much better than my first.  Nothing substitutes the lessons learned from genuine experience.  Talking with Cory about are ideas for the future reinvigorated my passion for teaching.

Cory and I are excited to welcome a new American teacher from the Peace Corps.  Allie from Pennsylvania will be adding to our cohort new ideas and background experience.  Judging from our brief encounters I believe that the group will work well together in the future.  I am hoping for the best for all of those in Minnesota as you gear up for a wonderful transition into a beautiful fall season!

Erik