Pudding and Chopsticks

There is someone literally hammer drilling or jack hammering or doing something really annoying right behind my head in the apartment. This s woke me up and if I could cus someone out in Chinese I probably would. If he wanted to fight as a result of my cussing him out. I probably would and would win. Good chance I would jack hammer him. You ever see a Chinese dude. Really, wouldn’t matter much.

I suppose that it’s my own fault that I haven’t gotten out and taken any serious photographs yet. But today finally I got up early and headed out. I was supposed to meet and friend so that he may so graciously help me send some money but that didn’t work out. So I ventured out alone. There are things that I find interesting all over. The photo below is of a old dude fixing a bike. You see these bike fixing mobile shops are all over. I got to thinking about the US and how we are a disposable society. I don’t know if I agree with that. My whole life I have been fixing things. Not unlike China where everything is old. Mostly because they fix it. Bikes in particular are the most noticeable. I think I saw a bike the other day that was dug up from a archaeological dig aging back 3000 years. In other words they fix their bikes for a long period of time.

The next photos are from a bridge near my house. They happened to be doing some kind of repair or maintenance of the railway system. It looked pretty cool. So of course I took a couple photos.

I recently, before I left Colorado, purchased a used lens, a 24mm Nikon. This babies tack sharp. My Sigma pos on the other had, well, I might as well chuck it in front of a speeding dump truck, because it works that good. But what’s a poor man to do. So to the seller of this lens, Thank you.

So that’s about it. After that I put a hot foot  to the black market money exchange place. Yeah, the type of place where you put your money on the table and then they put their money on the table, you make sure it’s real then trade. Got to love it.

I suppose that’s it for now. Until I think about something else I can write about, which I think might be soon, as only one can hope.

I often head over to a friends apartment to, well you know, chew the fat, and I often take a taxi back to my apartment. In doing so sometimes I have the taxi guy trying to talk to me. Most of the time I can’t understand. Yes it’s Chinese, but more so because these guys are gnarly old timers with a hell of an accent. Think, gnared up old western Texas grandpa on Valium speaking English. That’s close. But tonight I actually had a conversation. I think. I strolled up to the cab with my usual swagger, you know the kind you have from just being bad ass all the time, and hopped in. I told him the district I live in and the street. He said ok. Then he asked me what country I was from. I told him I was American with a black belt in whooping Chinese ass. Ok maybe whooping Chinese ass was a little too much. He then proceeded to say something about how many of something. Then it hit me, he was asking me how long I had been in China. I told him 5 years and I was really slow at learning Chinese. No really I said four months. He complimented my speaking abilities, I wanted to compliment him on his fine selection of dash ornaments but lacked the words to do so. We then passed the prostitution street. It must had been happy hour because there were cars lined up all over. He said the Chinese word for young lady. Yeah dude, I got eyes too you know. However some of these “young ladies” seem a little too lady like. I’m betting they’re young guys. But right, thats neither here nor there. I told him that they don’t have those in America. No not the young ladies but the “working young ladies.” He rattled off something really fast and I tried to ignore it. Really I didn’t understand a bit. That didn’t work, so I had to tell him that I only understood a little. I then tried my best with the help of my phone to tell him that in America prostitution is illegal. He said that’s wasn’t good. I told him I agreed. I think we had a moment. He then said that it is all over in China. I told him I know and that it was great. I then told him to take a right and a left. He then told me 10 bucks.

Rad.

I just had an awkward moment by any countries standards. An elevator ride. Yeah they’re a little uncomfortable. I like to think they’re not but they are. Elevator rides here are interesting to say the least. The Chinese don’t have much the way of respect when it comes to staring. I’ve said something to that effect before. This combined with the confines of a small space is usually a bunch of awesome. So basically it went down like this. I walked through the doors of the elevator room and two individuals were in there already. A man and women. The door opened just as I arrived. They got in first and I last. They pushed 7 and I pushed 10. Then they just stared off into whatever. At least  think, I was busy myself. I suppose that it was awkward for them trying not to look at a foreigner. I myself had an awkward time trying not to stare at the hot girl standing next to me. Yes it probably was her boyfriend with her. So yeah, it might have been a little awkward. But hey, it made for something to blog about.

So I promised myself that I would try to write something here everyday. It takes a lot. I’m busy. But then again how busy can one person be. I suppose that I’m not that busy. I work, study, and then try to fill the gaps in between with fun stuff. Hasn’t been happening lately though.

I got to thinking the other day about when I was in English class. Yeah, I didn’t like it. I had to quick make up a bunch of stuff just to pass. But now, I kinda enjoy writing. I suppose that if my English teachers could read this now, most of them would be laughing. In fact their probably surprised that I can eve read and write. But nonetheless I’m typing away on this thing called the internet.

I was also thinking today about the wondrous thing we call language. When you are in America, depending where you are, you don’t really have a concept about what language really is, the importance of it, nor do you really need to think about those things. I grew up in a town that was 99.9 percent white and spoke English. Others may have grown up in a town that contained more than one foreign language speaking group of people. I had a revelation about what language really is. Well a revelation for me, for the world it’s probably old hat. But I got to thinking that noises don’t mean anything, but the meaning we assign these noises is what we call language. To see a different language everyday makes you open your eyes. Everyday I deal with three languages. Although I have chosen to learn one of them, it’s interesting to see something that means the same thing expressed with three different sounds.

That’s about all I have currently completed thinking about, at least until I get around to thinking about it some more. I did have another thought. This one about my childhood. I grew up doing everything airplane. I loved airplanes. I wanted to marry one. Well no actually not marry, but to fly yes. So naturally I had the dime store plane, paper planes, and those big foam planes from Walmart. I got to thinking the other day that if I could get my hands on one of those foam bad boys, I would chuck it off my building. A meager 20 stories. But, I bet that sucker would bullet to somewhere. Get a good thermal and just never touch the ground again. I watched a plastic bag the other day fly for ten minutes. I bet a purposely built flying machine would beat feet in the air.. As far as littering goes, have you ever been to China? Another piece of foam is the least of their worries. From now on I’m on a hunt for a foamy airplane. If luck has it one with flames.

So I basically got the weekend off, which was pretty awesome. Saturday I just sat around, studied a bit, watched a bit of tv, and did all the laundry I had. However awesome that maybe, Sunday was the best. I went over to a friends apartment and we headed out to a street called 3 good street. Weird. But what’s more interesting is what we saw. Don’t underestimate what I am going to say next. They have, in one building, every single laptop on the market right now. I mean everyone. Dell, Asus, Lenovo, everything. Pretty impressive. The only problem is that they cost money. Almost what they cost in the states. Which puts most if not all of it out of the reach of most Chinese workers. But hey, I’m not a Chinese worker.

I have been looking for a netbook. Oh boy do they have them there. I found a couple I like but alas they are a little spendy. 300-500 US dollars. 300 is good but I’m still not sure what I want to do. I really want a cheap Mac to carry around. The only problem is that Macs are not cheap. Thus, a little problem festers. To buy a cheap netbook or an expensive one. Hum…  Basically all I want is something to carry around to check email, show photos, get online, etc. Why you may ask, well, I have a Mac book Pro that I love dearly, possible more than life. Maybe. But nevertheless, I don’t want it to get stolen, lost, and or damaged. The solution? A netbook, carry this little bad boy around and bam; I can solve a lot of problems. But how much to spend. Well, I really like the Mac operating system. I don’t really like Microsoft. I could buy a Dell and install OSX on it. Or I could wait and see what the new netbook from Mac will be like. From what I hear it might be worth it. But then again if it’s 800$ I could just save a little more and get a Mac book, 999$. Make sense? If the price is around 600$ or less, it might be logical. So.. I wait. At least till Apple decides what they want to do.

You ever wonder where all are the big tall craney things that they used to build big tall square living deals.. In China where else.

After checking that out we headed to get something to eat. Subway here I come. It was good. Mostly like in the US. But what happens next is the important part. I might have mentioned it a few times. Possibly more than once. A foot massage.

We walked over to the place. I have not a clue what it was named. We headed in. Right after the electronic spinning door we had to take off our shoes and slip into some slipper like contraptions. A visit to the counter, some fast Chinese, and we headed to the male side of the building. A short walk up some stairs, 3 naked pot bellied Chinese men, all with towels mind you, and we were escorted to a room with four beds. Took our socks off and two younger Chinese girls rolled in with tubs of hot water. They threw our feet in and let them soak for a bit. We had chosen the 1-hour foot rub down. While our feet were soaking they mounted the bed behind us and proceeded to beat the shit out of our backs. At least that’s what my beefy girl did. Oh did it feel good. More than a year from my last massage, this one didn’t come soon enough. After soaking for a bit they started to do work on the feet. I don’t really know how to explain how it feels. Heaven, yeah, heaven. Sooo good. Nothing like getting my paddles rubbed down. My Chinese really sucks so my friend did most of the talking. They asked a bunch of questions like, what would a massage cost in the States, how much other things are, etc. They said I had beautiful eyes, I blushed. Nothing out of the ordinary.

What can I say. I forgot to bring my camera for such an important occasion. Lapses in my memory happen often. I’m used to it. So we get to fest our eyes upon a photo from a phone. Yay…

Death by hitting your head on what appears to be a electrical transformer of some kind. Would Tesla approve?

After the wondrous hour of a girl totally destroying my walking implements, I put my socks back on and proceeded to walk on air for the rest of the day. The cost for such a feeling, 88 yuan or 12.85$. Times like there that I heart China.

Hey check this out. An Amway store? Maybe. A sign using power to advertise something no one probably cares about in China, likely.

So right now I am not feeling up to par. A little under the weather you could say. Something of a sore throat. Nothing to worry about I should be feeling fine soon. With feeling sick I called it an early night and headed home to chill and watch a movie. Batman from the early nineties. It’s funny when you get old enough you can look back and remember things. I remember seeing Batman when I was a kid. The special effects were pretty awesome. Now I watch it and think, man, how did I ever watch this stuff? This is amateur. But I suppose things advance including special effects.

This brings me to my real point. I had a car three years ago. I don’t remember driving it. I wonder if other people remember something about their past that was a big thing, and can’t think of it. I drove it everyday for 6 years or so. I don’t really remember it. I can think of specific times but really I can’t remember how it was. Is this weird? Maybe. It actually was a cool car. I just can’t remember how cool it was. Now that I think of it, I can’t really remember what I did before I moved to Colorado. I wonder if that is how the mind works. I think when we get older we start to realize this. You can’t really ponder it when you are a kid. You can’t fathom the fact that you don’t remember things. It doesn’t really matter anyway. But when you get old enough to think back to when you were an adult, not a kid, and still don’t remember, things get interesting. It is the same as when you were a kid. Which means you can’t remember things not because you were a kid, but rather because it was a certain time frame in the past. Interesting.

So yeah, my mind wonders. So today I was also thinking to myself, wow, I’m in China. Is that weird? Possibly. Then I got to thinking about what I am doing with my life. Not much. Yes I am becoming cultured, obtaining facts about the world, whatever you want to call it. But really I haven’t done much. Then I think to myself, yeah actually I have done a lot. I’ve done things most people can’t say they’ve done. I’ve lived in Vail; I’ve seen the sun rise at 10,000ft. I’ve seen the most beautiful sunsets, seen every star in the sky, I’ve photographed some of the coolest things, been in magazines, football cards, newspapers, websites, met the coolest people, made life long friends, done the craziest things, shredded mountains, drove the gnarliest roads through snow, hung out with strangers, walked down the road in China eating popsicles at 3 am, woke up on someone’s floor in Denver late for work and can’t find anyone after a night at a Lucero show. So yeah I guess I have done a few things. I am happy for that. As for the future, I’ve haven’t the slightest clue. I’m just along for the ride. Which I guess is what we really remember in the end. Not what we bought, drove, but rather what we did, the journey. Yeah the journey, which is kinda what’s important I suppose. I just hope I can remember mine when I am old and decrepit. Oh, I just had an awesome thought about another move.. Grumpy Old Men.. One of my favorite movies. I remember watching it with my Grandfather. It totally reminds me of him. He loved it. My man-size manicotti…. Yeah.. Awesome..

You know how you sometimes stare off into the distance thinking about something. I do that a lot, and in doing that I usually forget where I am. After the wheels inside my precision machined brain wake up and realize where I am, I get freaked out. At least sometimes. For instance last night when I was at a establishment where cool social people like me hangout. I was staring off at something when a group of Chinese girls walked by. I had a mini freak out in my head. I was like wait what, why are all these Chinese people here..? Where am I? Then it hit me, yes I am still in China. Maybe I am losing my mind but sometimes it just happens. Just imagine if I kidnapped you and brought you here to a Starbucks, you woke up and where like, oh Starbucks, nice, then, bam… 20 Chinese people come in and each order a venti vanilla chi dirty with two shots and cinnamon on top. You would be freaked out, right? Because you feel like you are home, or in the States, then you realize your not. When you aren’t paying attention it can really sneak up on you.

And the other point or topic I wanted to talk about was bras. Yes people bras. Why would I want to talk about that. I don’t know. Here we go, in America women hide their bras, or at least try to. Dark shirts, or at least bras that have a neutral color or match what they are wearing and they might show a little. Here in China, nope. I see more see through shirts than blue sky. Actually that is true. Sky is looking a little gray again. But you get my point. So, women in the USA hide their bras and match them with things, women in China wear see through shirts and colored bras that everyone can see. Interesting when you think that pornography is banned here in China. Chinese girls are conservative (generally speaking), don’t really know what the San Bernardino Valley is really is for, but show their bras off like war heroes coming home from an epic battle. American girls are less conservative, can watch late night skinamax, but hide their bras as if they had bulls eyes for paint ball guns on them. Interesting. I don’t care either way. I just had the thought the other day while I was walking behind a girl where I could count the stitches on her… ok never mind. The point is how can a society that is conservative show so much skin. Beats me.

Well. I am not really sure if this is something that I have written about before or not. I’m too lazy to really check. But any who, drinking in China. Oh yeah I remember what I wanted to say. Girls get judged on how good they look. Other girls look at other girls and think, am I hotter than she is? Guys on the other hand judge each other on drinking. Yes guys do think, can I beat this guy up, but really in business it comes down to drinking. When you do business here or anywhere for that matter you better know how to drink and get good at hiding trying not to drink. I went out to a place that young socialites like myself usually frequent. I met a friend and we sat and drank a little. Girls in China traditionally don’t really drink. This girl does. But we weren’t really getting what some would call “ham boned.” Some of her friends arrived. This got interesting. My friend is Chinese, her friends are Korean and learning Chinese. Why was this interesting? Because these dudes were pretty friendly and spoke Chinese really clearly. Perfect for trying to listen and learn. That night I learned a lot….. and ate chicken heart.. It’s a little chewy. But more importantly I made some new friends. Their English sucks but their drinking was admirable.

This is not the girl that I was with, but, rather a random Chinese girl I work with.. Thought you might like to see what Chinese people look like up close..

So to make some sort of point, guys base respect on how much you can drink. Not all respect but some yes. Business, new friends, friends of friends, if you can’t drink we are going to have some issues. It’s sad to say but hey.. I didn’t invent this social construct. So when in China drink.. If you can drink more then your host. Not so much to put them to shame but enough to let them know that you mean business.

Now a few tips if this gets out of hand. Water looks like Bajiu, drink water, puke and then drink more (don’t make it obvious), throw shots under the table, over the shoulder, mix shots with other liquids, spit it out. My advice is to think outside the box when trying to dodge drinking. But remember to not let your host know what is going on.. If they catch you all hell will break loose as well as you losing a s ton of face, and in China you want to lose a limb, rather than lots of face..

The moral of the story is…

Everyone worldwide will be your friend if you drink with them. It’s pretty much law. It will always be this way. Who am I to argue with this? I’m just along for the ride.

This guy sleeps here every night.. No I am not kidding..

So I am sitting here munching on some breakfast biscuits. They are basically like graham crackers, but Chinese of course. They’re not bad. I got to thinking while I was taking the elevator up how much I really like the elevator. Last week or the week before, I can’t remember, the darn thing didn’t work. So for about a week I had to chuck it up 18 flights of stairs. Although I live on the 9th floor the floors are double or something. If anything I know that they are higher than regular floors. That was not a good week.

I had a discussion with a student who actually lives in the major city I grew up next to. She has been there for two years going to high school and whatever else exchange students do in America. She grew up in Korea but is doing an exchange program in Michigan. Lucky for her. I asked her a few questions. Let me break it down for you.

America sucks at school. Our math really blows. Why? We don’t study and the fact that our standards in schools are sub par. You have no idea what the kids here do. No idea. The Korean kids I teach learn, Mandarin, Korean, English, get tutored for all of them, then study on weekends, afternoons, it’s just crazy. She was telling me that no one in America studies, and I was like, yup. No one studies in America. We got better things to do like, um, I forget.

Maybe that’s why Asians are going to take over the world. They actually study. There is one thing that American schools have going for it. Free thought. In China and Asian they tend to just teach to memorize the material. You have to learn a few thousand Chinese characters, you memorize, not use. The same with most all of the subjects. In America, the teachers try to get you to think. This could be why Americans are free thinking individuals and Chinese can’t think for themselves. Who knows.
Just some thoughts that I was having. Nothing big. Hell it’s probably not even true. On a side not my brother is back from boot camp and has shot more guns then I have in the last three months. I am totally jealous.