August 24th, 2006 Chris
I’ve spoken more Italian since I came to Beijing than at almost any time since I left Europe three years ago. Why? Because I’m white, and I don’t speak Chinese.
My hosts this week, Lindsey and Alex, warned me my first night here about two common scams used to separate foreigners from their money. One involves inviting the unsuspecting laowai to tea, where everyone orders and the new guy is stuck with an exorbitant bill. I haven’t run across this one, yet, but give it time.
The second trick, and the one I ran into at least a dozen times my first day, involves an English-speaking Chinese offering to show the cash-laden tourist some “Chinese art.” Unfortunately, the art is crap and over-priced.
How does this lead me to speak Italian, you ask? Because very few Chinese people speak it, and it’s really hard to scam somebody who doesn’t understand what you’re saying. After the third or fourth offer to see a special art exhibit, I switched to my Italian alter-ego. As soon as I heard the telltale “halloo,” I’d respond with “Ciao, come stai.” I told my new pseudo-friends in a Senese dialect: “Mi dispiace, ma non parlo cinese. Non ti capisco. Sono di Siena, vicino Firenze. Lo conosci?”
At this point, the puzzled predator would slink off in search of someone more pliable. It even got fun for a while. I invited several art enthusiasts to come visit Italy and see some fine works. Only one man persisted through our apparent language barrier (he barely spoke English, so I guess it wasn’t an issue) and somehow corralled me and two Canadians into a room lined with cheap paintings of tigers and water lilies. We looked around, then ducked out quickly.
My second encounter with my old second language came at the Yonghe Gong lama temple. While wandering between giant Buddhas and watching faithful pilgrims burn incense and bow in prayer, I heard a familiar-sounding tongue in the same courtyard. I stumbled into a group of middle-aged tourists from Perugia, a cosmopolitan town in central Italy.
The language came back to me quickly, and I spent about an hour exploring the shrine with the Italians. Giaccomo, the group’s leader, named off 20+ countries he’d seen in a lifetime of traveling, including most of East and Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and elsewhere.
It’s easy to forget just how good my Italian was, and how far I have to go in Chinese. I’m so much more confident, and I know how to ask questions when I don’t know a word. I haven’t practiced seriously since my study-abroad in Siena, but it’s still there.
But the fact that my Italian is still functional after three years makes my lack of Chinese all the more frustrating. As China has gotten tough, I’ve caught myself reminiscing about Italy and how easy it was. I even briefly pondered just boarding the Trans-Siberian Railway and heading for Europe, where at least I can communicate, even if I can’t afford anything. I have to remind myself that I’m in China for a reason, and the challenge is part of that reason. I want to know what I’m capable of, and if Beijing scares me off, then I’ve really fallen short.
Posted in mess of a language, roadside blogging | 3 Comments »
August 20th, 2006 Chris
I made it to China. Part of me almost didn’t think it would happen, but it did, and I’m here in Beijing. Wow.
I don’t know what to make of this city yet. It’s not as overwhelming as I expected, nor does it feel as foreign. I have to remind myself that I’m halfway around the world from everything familiar.
The honking didn’t wake me up, but now that I’m paying attention, it’s hard to ignore. I’m staying with my friend Lindsey, who has lived in Beijing for more than two years now. This part of town, near Beijing Normal University, doesn’t seem especially busy, judging by the traffic below. Cars and bikes seem to share lanes amiably, and there aren’t as many of either as I thought there would be.
I’m starting to wonder what I was expecting when I came to Beijing. Whatever it was, it doesn’t seem to be what I’ve found so far. But I’ve barely seen anything, and I’ll be here for a while.
There’s a pale blue sky outside my eighth-story window, not a cloud in sight. The blue seems a little off, though, not quite as deep and bright as other places. Maybe it’s the smog, which I’m starting to notice in my lungs and eyes. Maybe it’s just my imagination.
I woke up to another suprise, this time a pleasant one. My blog is no longer blocked. A friend on the Dalian XPat forum noticed it last week, and I thought maybe it was a glitch, but it seems Blogger is no longer banned. I probably shouldn’t type that with too much enthusiasm, lest I jinx myself, but yeah, I’m typing free in Red China. Steve in Dalian just noticed, too.
So I guess I’ll stay with Blogger, which is what I wanted to do anyway. I’m still planning on changing the blog’s name, though, most likely to eyeseast.blogspot.com. That way I’ll be covered if I leave Dalian (still haven’t been there yet).
More to come, starting with photos. Stay tuned.
Posted in roadside blogging | 1 Comment »
August 17th, 2006 Chris
For much of the past two years, all six members of my immediate family—Mom, Dad, Katie, Nick, Mike and myself—have lived under one roof. We’ve coexisted in cramped but usually calm quarters.
That all ended today, though, and in a few days the house population will be reduced to half.
Mike and my parents hit the road early this morning, bound for Phoenix where my youngest brother is moving into a dorm at Arizona State University.
Nick took off a few hours later (after breakfast) on a three-day road trip through Las Vegas; Grand Junction, Colo.; and coming to a screeching halt in Bloomington, Indiana, home of the Hoosiers.
I fly one-way to China on Saturday.
Katie hasn’t locked in any escape plan, yet, but she’s been talking about Australia lately, so it’s likely her time at home is short. Within a few months, I suspect my parents will have a genuine empty nest.
Posted in roadside blogging, self-indulgence | 1 Comment »
August 16th, 2006 Chris
Missed catches and uncoordinated plays, punctuated by fleeting moments of magic on the softball field. The Granary Square Grizzlies were at their finest——one last time.
For the uninitiated, adult C-league slow-pitch softball is a comedy of errors, a lot of errors. Its a game where an easy out pop fly can turn into a single, then a double, then an in-the-park home run. The neon yellow ball can dance along the rim of a Grizzly glove, tempt you into thinking there might be a play, and still drop unceremoniously into the dirt.
The Grizzlies opened strong with a four-run first inning. They closed strong, too. It was the between where they bobbled and stumbled their way to ten runs down. Grounders rolled from infield to grass and fly balls fell just short of outstretched gloves.
A late inning rally brought the Granary boys closer, and the other team proved they could commit just as many mistakes, and our guys got back a few free runs.
“The humiliation is almost over,” said Weston Armstrong, the George Steinbrenner of slow pitch, at the start of the game’s final inning.
“It’s like tee-ball,” an exasperated Travis Armstrong (the team’s designated hitter) said from the stands, watching another simple play turn to utter chaos.
Despite their skill at having no talent for this game (its not really a sport, per se), the Grizzlies seem to be the only team with a dedicated cheering section. Mostly its parents, siblings and girlfriends of the 18 to near-30-year-old players, yet the boys on the field revel in devotion of their loyal-but-distractible supporters.
So they’re not the original Bad News Bears. Hell, they’re not even the remake. But for one glorious year, well, they’ve been something.
And its not that the Grizzlies are bad at this game. Most of them were high school athletes. A few even have college sports scholarships. But this isn’t a game to be taken too seriously. Regular practices, uniforms comprised of something more formal more than matching t-shirts and bright yellow tube socks, or a consistent roster would only lessen the enjoyment that comes with watching the guys in green and gold.
Go Grizz.
(My brother Nick was the Grizzlies’ pitcher. He played his last game Monday night before heading out to Indiana this morning. This isn’t China-related in the slightest, but that’s the wonderful thing about blogging.)
Posted in self-indulgence | No Comments »
August 14th, 2006 Chris
I guess I won’t be watching one of my all-time favorite TV shows in China. The Communist Party reportedly told local broadcasters to keep foreign cartoons — including the Simpsons — off the airwaves between 5 and 8 p.m.
This follows earlier moves to block shows that mix cartoons with live action, so “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is out.
“The ruling Communist Party is said to be worried about the effects of foreign culture on Chinese children,” BBC reported. “Foreign cartoons, especially from Japan, are hugely popular with China’s 250 million children and the country’s own animation studios have struggled to compete.”
I’ve been running across China’s police-state antics a lot lately, and I’m really no closer to understanding the mentality. I guess I’ll have to resort to buying bootleg VCDs and illegal downloading to get my Simpson’s fix in the Middle Kingdom.
Thanks James for the story tip. The images came from Taiwan Independence.net.
Posted in News | 1 Comment »
August 11th, 2006 Chris
I seem to have a knack for leaving the country at exactly the wrong time to board an international flight.
I’ve been glued to CNN this week, since Brittish law enforcement arrested two dozen suspected terrorists apparently plotting to blow up passenger jets bound for the United States. As a result, the airline industry and Transportation Security Administration officially shat a brick: no liquids of any kind brought on board, longer waits, more security checks and a general headache all around. At least I’m not coming from the UK, where you can’t even bring a laptop or iPod in your carry-on luggage. This is Code Red, so, be scared.
While I’m hopeful that all this helps (really, I have no desire to be blown up for someone’s obscure political statement) it’s frustratingly familiar.
When I flew to Europe three years ago, it was only a few days after the US, UK and others (don’t forget Poland) invaded Iraq. I’ve never seen an airport so empty. Los Angeles International is usually the fifth-busiest in the US, but with terrorism on everyone’s minds, I think a lot of people decided it was a bad time to fly.
I don’t know what to expect this time around. Everyone seems to have gotten used to a little extra scrutiny, but this looks like a new level.
Just to be prepared, I went to check Air China’s website. No confidence there. This is what I found:
Error 403–Forbidden
From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol — HTTP/1.1:
10.4.4 403 Forbidden
The server understood the request, but is refusing to fulfill it. Authorization will not help and the request SHOULD NOT be repeated. If the request method was not HEAD and the server wishes to make public why the request has not been fulfilled, it SHOULD describe the reason for the refusal in the entity. This status code is commonly used when the server does not wish to reveal exactly why the request has been refused, or when no other response is applicable.
The Humanaught ran into the same thing yesterday.
Posted in News, roadside blogging | 1 Comment »
August 9th, 2006 Chris
So, I’m thinking of renaming this blog. I’ve been on here since June, blogging about a city I have yet to set foot in. I like the name, but there are two obvious problems with it.
First, it’s taken. From the Lion’s Mouth was the title of a 1981 album by The Sound. Not much of an intellectual property issue, but still, I would rather be somewhat original. I could just change to From the Lion Mouth, which would also be more historically accurate, I think, but that leads to issue number two:
It’s city-specific. I’ll be in Dalian for at least a year, but I don’t plan on writing about just Dalian. For starters, I’m spending a few days in Beijing and then going to Tibet. Those places have little to do with the Lion Mouth. I kind of want something more global.
So I’m reaching out to whoever reads this blog. I’m looking for new name suggestions. Post them as comments and I’ll pick the best one. Think of things about traveling, journalism, or East Asia more generally.
Also, the name change will probably involve changing the BlogSpot link, so I’ll send an announcement if I do change.
Some names I’m considering:
eyeseast.blogspot.com
viaggiatore.blogspot.com (Viaggiatore is Italian for traveler or wanderer)
friendinchina.blogspot.com (a play off my last name, Amico, which means friend in Italian)
I checked the above links, and they’re free for now.
Posted in self-indulgence | 4 Comments »
