Jodi in China

Views from apartment - yes that's our complex's pool.

After Jamon’s crash survival course, he took off, and I have to say I was a little bit uneasy about finding my way around. Although people can mostly understand what I am trying to say if I repeat it a few times, I am really not able to understand hardly anything that anyone says to me, no matter how many times they repeat it. Just the very very basics. So, I can ask for directions, but I can’t understand when they tell them to me. I can’t read anything at all, including street signs or menus. Pretty crazy. But armed with a piece of paper with the apartment’s exact address printed out on it in Chinese characters, and a big wad of cash (money talks!), every day I head out into the world. And I have to say, the past few days of doing this I’ve really had a blast! True, I haven’t accomplished much in terms of “work”. It took me two entire mornings just to find the University and register for Chinese tutoring. But I’m learning my way around, getting a little better at the basic communication, trying lots of tasty new foods that, if I was able to order what I wanted, I would never have tried. For example, here is how I got lunch yesterday:

Me: Do you have eggplant?

Waitress: what?

Me: Eggplant.

Waitress: oh, do you mean eggplant?

Me: Yes, eggplant.

Waitress: babble babble babble babble babble babble (I think she is probably asking me which eggplant dish I want)

Me: I want a delicious eggplant dish.

Waitress: babble babble babble babble babble babble (I think she probably still wants to know which eggplant dish I want to order).

Me:  I don’t understand you, but I want a delicious eggplant dish. Please.

Waitress stares at me, and then goes over to another waiter and says something to him and points at me. New waiter comes over to me.

Waiter: What do you want?

Me: Do you have eggplant?

Waiter: What?

Me:  Eggplant.

Waiter: oh, do you mean eggplant?

Me: Yes, eggplant. Do you have eggplant?

Waiter: Yes, we have eggplant.

Waiter hands me a menu full of Chinese characters

Me: I’m very sorry, but I can’t read Chinese. I want a delicious eggplant dish.

Waiter: babble babble babble babble babble babble.

Me: I don’t understand you, but I want a delicious eggplant dish.

Waiter: OK

So guess what I got? Yes, a delicious eggplant dish. It was sliced eggplant and garlic sautéed in who knows what kind of spices and sauce, over white rice. It was yummy. After eating, I asked the waiter what it is called, so that I can order it again someday. He told me shao cao qie zi, which according to my dictionary translates to “Fuck Less Eggplant”. Do you think he was playing a trick on me? Maybe I didn’t really hear him right. Well, I guess I’ll find out next time I order it.

China definitely is its own place, with its own culture and norms and habits and routines. One great place I’ve hung out in my first couple of afternoons is Green Lake park, a big park with ponds and marshes in the middle of the city. At all times of the day there are tons of people there, couples strolling about, old folks playing serious games of croquet and mah-jong, and always there are amateur musicians – regular people who bring their instruments (many traditional instruments I’d never seen before) to the park and with their friends play and sing Chinese music. Very fun to just walk around there – the people watching is endless.

View of pond in Green Lake park with downtown in background.

Yesterday was a Saturday, and my main goal was to ride the public bus to downtown. Until then, I have relied on taxis to bring me from the far west where the apartment is into the downtown/University area (about $3/way), and then I walk and wander all over from there, and then I take a taxi home. (The piece of paper with my address printed on it really comes in handy). But I wanted to see if I could do it by bus (two different buses, 1 transfer). The bus ride went fine, and so my second goal of the day was to find the Yuantong Zen Buddhist temple. It is in the city, over 1200 years old, and one of the most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites in this region. When I finally found it, I was so glad I had! A huge complex, 2-3 blocks big, with several different temples, elaborate stone and wood statues, vendors selling super-cheesy kitsch, funny Chinglish signs, beautiful brass Buddhas, burning incense, colorful pagodas, fountains spouting greenish water, chanting monks, and an endless stream of normal everyday people bowing to the Buddhas. There was definitely a certain happy, serious-but-not-somber, energy there that I definitely could appreciate. I spent a good two hours there just taking it all in.

entrace to temple

funny chinglish

video of buddhist chanting

posted by JodiBolivia  # 7:45 PM