Weekend Adventures

Hello everyone! I am still having trouble accessing the internet and am incredibly frustrated by my feeling of lack of access to the world of information and e-mail and blogging and flicker. The internet is still slow in China in general and particularly in my life because it turns out that the wiring for internet in the apartments was not only done wrong, but is also in-correctable. (Cement walls and such. No way to go in and rewire?) Thus, we are now going to install phone lines instead and get our internet from the phone lines until wireless is hooked up which could be indefinite. For now, all my internet access is happening at school, but it isn’t fun to walk over to the school at night to sit at the computer and wait five minutes for each link to load. So, that is my complaint.

I had the most interesting and enjoyable last two weekends. Last weekend, I visited an orphanage in Dalian for children whose parents were incarcerated. I made pancakes, played jump rope and soccer, sang songs and played piano with 12 very grubby looking Chinese children in a cold, dingy and extremely impoverished little home. One little girl was so dynamic and charming, she was loud and happy and active. She has a very tough look about her and lice-infested hair, but was the most charming little thing. I very much enjoyed our jump rope contests together. I am planning to return to this orphanage with some art supplies to donate and some kind of art or craft project to do with the children. At the orphanage, we were told that this is one of two in the Dalian area. The other one is government operated, and this one runs on donations. There are many more children in Dalian that are without homes or parents, but I was told they live on the streets and fend for themselves. One of the boys at the home I was at last weekend has a huge circular shaped scar on the back of his head where no hair grows. I was told that before he came to the orphanage, he had lived on the streets and one day was beaten very badly. Interestingly enough, the neighborhood where the home was located seemed to be as poor as the orphanage itself. So I was thinking that it is really a matter of access for me to go to this home and volunteer (40 min away), because I could probably offer the same services to the families in my own backyard if I had an honorable way of inserting myself into the equation. I was told the government orphanage has an overwhelming number of babies under six months of age that are abandoned at birth. Sidney and I are going to go there someday with the teachers from the Canadian Maple leaf school to cuddle babies. You must have a special invitation to get into the building. We will probably do it more regularly once we are connected there.

Oh, one final thought on the subject, this past weekend in Dalian, I saw a cute little girl using a bathroom in a nice hotel I was resting in to escape the biting cold. She made eye contact and we had some non-verbal connection between us for a few minutes as she played around in the water in the sink. I was curious about where her mother might be and when I left the bathroom was surprised to find that she was riding down the escalator by herself. She looked to be about seven years old. She kept peeking up at me with sly interest. When she got to the bottom and went around the corner, I noticed through the mirrored wall that she waited around the corner for me and when I turned the corner she kept walking. One of those silent games people play with each other. More curious, I followed at a distant pace for a few minutes. The girl dawdled at a few stores in the hotel and then darted out to the street where she zipped around a few cars and then down an alleyway where she disappeared. I think she was a street child, but I don’t know.

So this past weekend, I did many fun things. On Friday night, I played a variation of the game go with an older Chinese man at a bar that I have begun frequenting. He taught me the game, and complimented my good eye for strategy. We spoke in English and in Chinese, and that is one reason I like going to this place, there are many opportunities for me to practice my Chinese. He said that I could be a master of this game if I practice everyday and he would teach me, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I don’t have long term Chinese gaming aspirations.

On Saturday I went to a local farmers market and it was amazing!! The street breakfast food was divine, and there was the freshest looking produce of every imaginable kind there. There were spices that looked really interesting too. Although the meat counters were really only interesting for their level of disgust value. I saw piles of chicken heads and chicken feet and every manner of beast chopped up and separated into piles of organs. At the entrance to the market were three very big and very plump roosters. I thought, “How many people buy live roosters on the weekend?” Sure enough, when I passed again thirty minutes later, two roosters were gone and a man was asking the price of the third. Guess that answers my question. But really, you could buy everything at this market, from cutting boards and cleavers to bras to dried octopus to children’s toys. Everything. Very cool place. I think I am going to buy my weeks produce there every Saturday, because it is close to home, and cheaper and fresher than the supermarket.

After that, I went to Dalian and found this really great place to buy bluejeans (threw out my last pair in Thailand) Plus, I have lost so much weight that all my pants are way too loose! Hurrah!! I was worried that it would be hard to find what I wanted. For three reasons: 1. Chinese people are very much smaller than me. 2. Products here seem to be either dollar store prices and dollar store quality or $500 for a pair of jeans brand name fashion for Chinese people who have struck it rich in the business boom. 3. Everything fashionable here in China looks like it was made for a 13 year old girl, with beads and sequins and heart shaped embroidered love messages or some such crazy thing. So, it was a great day when I immediately found a great jeans shop on my first try AND all the jeans in the shop were also available in my size. I definitely added that place to my mental map of the city.

Finally, I went to the shell museum, which is in the first floor of a giant castle, and looked at some amazing specimens of shells from all over the world. That was cool, but mostly I was enjoying the feeling of ultimate Saturday freedom, where the whole day is mine, and I finally have enough language and mobility that I can do whatever I want for the day. Very cool. I walked the streets for a while after that and the caught a cab to the lightrail station for my 45 minute commute back to Jinshitan to a second cab that took me home, tired and happy. The Cab, Train, Cab commute cost?: 43 yuan one way, or about 6 bucks.

This coming weekend I am taking the night train north about nine hours to Harbin, to celebrate Leslie’s birthday at the famous ice festival there. They have ice sculptures that are up to two stories high. And whole houses and bars made out of ice. They have a giant slide made out of ice. I saw some pictures and it looks pretty amazing. Oh yeah, but the temperature? Can be up to –40 degrees. So I am planning out my clothes layering scheme, and am told that you can’t stay outside for more than 20 minutes at a time. We are figuring on Whiskey as a warming agent birthday necessity as well. It’ll be me, Les, Sid, Ella, Bill and Blanca. Sounds like fun.

I really want to get pictures out to you, of Beijing, Thailand, etc… Still working on it. Cheers!
Love, Becky