When you listen to God/Instincts/that inner voice inside of you, there's no way you can be wrong.
What I hoped would happen in regards to my finances has happened because, well, I trusted in that inner voices, and out of nowhere, a way has been made without a refund check. A man who labors will reap the rewards he seeks.
I'm re-reading Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin because the first time I read it, I was too young, and while I remember it being greatly influential at the time, I didn't have the life experiences to really put what I learned into practice. The desperation the main characters feel when they must confront how to best handle their worldly instincts with those aligned to a higher purpose is present to me in several ways, currently my battle with quitting smoking, which I've failed to do. Although I know that in the long run smoking has no positive benefits whatsoever, it's remarkable that the urge to puff is so ingrained in my daily rituals that a day without cigs is unthinkable. Quite literally, a strong agitation grips me when I see the last two or three cigs in the box, and I start to calculate whether the final ones will get me through the night, whether I'll have to run by the store, or just how long will I have to wait before lung cancer/emphesyma/poverty force me out of my habit.
The higher purpose of what I should do is without a doubt more beneficial, yet the pull of the nicotine, the image I can project, and the habits reinforced by the cigarette are so alluring it's hard to put them down. A similar instance takes place in the book where John, a young boy brow-beaten by his parent's religious fanaticism, stands on top of a hill, gazing down at the city before him. He sees the perils of Hell throughout the city, but cannot resist descending into the belly of the town, watching a worldly moving, and identifying so deeply with the woman in the film who so proudly sticks it to everyone who knows her. I so got it, and James Baldwin's queerness saturates his writing, crafting beautiful scenarios and descriptions with which I easily identify.
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I'm trying to learn Korean, but dammit, I have trouble remembering the vocab. This has never been a problem in the beginning stages of any language I've studied. Any suggestions on what I should do?
+_+_+
Showing posts with label Shenzhen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shenzhen. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Saturday, November 29, 2008
i'm a sensitive kinda brutha...
Miso soup--fermented goodness.
Knowing that there's Carmex in Asia brings me a step closer to making this place a home after graduation.
Fried Udon dish at a random Japanese restuarant.
Would you tell me how to get, how to get to Nathan Street?
I'm a sensitive kinda brutha, ladies. Ask about me.
(Try me out. Put me in your mouth.)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Shenzhen Part 2
Diadra and I went out today. We were going to check out the zoo that’s close to our area, so we got up fairly early and headed out to the bus stop that would take us closer to the zoo.
We couldn’t find the bus stop.
But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Diadra had a good idea of where it was, so we went to that one first. After some time, we asked a man near the place whether were at the right one. He said we had to go to one further down the road. So, we asked a policeman, who confirmed what the man had said. We went to the suggested one, and once there was asked a very smug gentlemen who sounded like a freaking alien (or Lil’ Wayne) were we at the right stop, but he told us that such a bus didn’t come by that area (he then followed up by asking me where I was from…like every person in the damn world). We went back to the first one, and after about 20 minutes of waiting for the bus that’s supposed to come every 20 minutes (like the P2P), we gave up.
There was a park/conference center near the bus stop, so we took pictures in front of a man with a hammer, then bought an Ethernet multi-port for Diadra’s house (fun in Chinese), then went shopping for groceries and other lovely necessities. We ate lunch at a big ass ritzy coffee shop in the neighborhood and ate a stew of cabbage, tofu strings, mushrooms, and other goodness from the earth. Diadra had a taro drink, which came out in a pleasant shade of lilac. After that, we came back and rested up for dinner. Naps were to be had by all. Dinner was at a shop near her apartment, and by that time my insides were back to normal (thanks Korea~!) and I could enjoy the excellent service and big ass bottle of Tsingtao. Pleasant conversation, Hong Kong television, and this bomb-ass soap called 情锁 (Love on Lock?) where I learned how to refer to a man a generation my senior, or as Diadra put it, “the man who your mom is screwing” （叔叔）all in one evening.
So, a lazy day after a week of headaches and heartbreak. This is what vacationing is all about. We would be preparing for Hong Kong today, but Daegan has a case of the hibbie-jibbies or something, so she and Ben cannot make the flight down here from Shanghai (poor thing). No biggie—today, Diadra and I are going to find the bus stop to get to Hong Kong, without our luggage in tow, so we won’t have the Bus Stop Blues. Hong Kong tomorrow come hell or high water.
Apparently, in this little section of Shenzhen where nothing happens, I really stand out. What’s really cute is that around here is that at the elementary school where Diadra teachers they have English classes, so every time I see a group of children, they say “Hello~!”…and nothing else. Or, like the ones at the restaurant last night, they say, “Hello! How are you? I’m fine, thank you! Bye-bye” which is adorable when you’re not trying to eat, and when they say it once or twice, not 27 times. But, it’s even cuter when they follow up with “哇！他那么黑啊!” (Wow, he’s so black~!). Kids in my city, Xiamen, can’t say shit, and kids in America can barely speak English, so I’m proud of this little hellions and they’re burgeoning multi-culturalism, and the fact they find me neat as opposed to averting me.
We couldn’t find the bus stop.
But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Diadra had a good idea of where it was, so we went to that one first. After some time, we asked a man near the place whether were at the right one. He said we had to go to one further down the road. So, we asked a policeman, who confirmed what the man had said. We went to the suggested one, and once there was asked a very smug gentlemen who sounded like a freaking alien (or Lil’ Wayne) were we at the right stop, but he told us that such a bus didn’t come by that area (he then followed up by asking me where I was from…like every person in the damn world). We went back to the first one, and after about 20 minutes of waiting for the bus that’s supposed to come every 20 minutes (like the P2P), we gave up.
There was a park/conference center near the bus stop, so we took pictures in front of a man with a hammer, then bought an Ethernet multi-port for Diadra’s house (fun in Chinese), then went shopping for groceries and other lovely necessities. We ate lunch at a big ass ritzy coffee shop in the neighborhood and ate a stew of cabbage, tofu strings, mushrooms, and other goodness from the earth. Diadra had a taro drink, which came out in a pleasant shade of lilac. After that, we came back and rested up for dinner. Naps were to be had by all. Dinner was at a shop near her apartment, and by that time my insides were back to normal (thanks Korea~!) and I could enjoy the excellent service and big ass bottle of Tsingtao. Pleasant conversation, Hong Kong television, and this bomb-ass soap called 情锁 (Love on Lock?) where I learned how to refer to a man a generation my senior, or as Diadra put it, “the man who your mom is screwing” （叔叔）all in one evening.
So, a lazy day after a week of headaches and heartbreak. This is what vacationing is all about. We would be preparing for Hong Kong today, but Daegan has a case of the hibbie-jibbies or something, so she and Ben cannot make the flight down here from Shanghai (poor thing). No biggie—today, Diadra and I are going to find the bus stop to get to Hong Kong, without our luggage in tow, so we won’t have the Bus Stop Blues. Hong Kong tomorrow come hell or high water.
Apparently, in this little section of Shenzhen where nothing happens, I really stand out. What’s really cute is that around here is that at the elementary school where Diadra teachers they have English classes, so every time I see a group of children, they say “Hello~!”…and nothing else. Or, like the ones at the restaurant last night, they say, “Hello! How are you? I’m fine, thank you! Bye-bye” which is adorable when you’re not trying to eat, and when they say it once or twice, not 27 times. But, it’s even cuter when they follow up with “哇！他那么黑啊!” (Wow, he’s so black~!). Kids in my city, Xiamen, can’t say shit, and kids in America can barely speak English, so I’m proud of this little hellions and they’re burgeoning multi-culturalism, and the fact they find me neat as opposed to averting me.
Shenzhen Part I
A month and a day in China. What’s going on?
I’ve traveled and have made it successfully to Shenzhen. After sleeping only an hour or so, and after having a thrilling late night conversation with Phebe on the balcony facing the mountains about Koreans, drinking, and life in general, I chugged some of Luke’s Pepto (I’ll owe him about 4 bottles by the time we get back to America), and stood outside and hailed a taxi to the Xiamen International Gaoqi Airport.
Sidenote: If you have to do extensive traveling, take care not to eat spicy Korean food the night before. While you may be able to stand the taste and don’t have problems getting it down in that regard, it’ll really impede your mobility for the next few hours/days. It’s a lesson learned, and Korea has officially smacked me in the face.
The more I travel and the more I get out and about the more I notice that China is a multi-lingual society. I mean, I always knew that China was multilingual and technically multiracial, yet on the surface most of the people look similar to each other in that they’re all Asian. The difference isn’t as stark as it is in the US. Moreover, when I was Beijing, since the standard language is also the city language (the standard language around China, also known as “Chinese”, is the language of the capitol), I didn’t really notice a difference between the language; furthermore, I didn’t know enough Chinese at the time to realize that people were speaking something besides what I learned in the classroom whenever they did speak a dialect—I just assumed they were speaking too fast.
At the airport there were three announcements in Standard Chinese, English, and Minnan (a language closely related to what the people in Taiwan speak when they don’t speak the Standard Language). I would listen to the language, and it sounded like “Chinese” in that it has tones, follows and similar structure, and has some words that are familiar to one another; however, I couldn’t understand it. Later, after I got on the plane, the languages were English, Minnan, and Standard Chinese until we got closer to Shenzhen, where the languages switched to English, Standard Chinese, and Cantonese.
People speak Cantonese here, and they only whip out the Standard Chinese when they are conversing with people from outside of the area including foreigners, tourists, people from other provinces, and strangers. I got an earful of it when I took the 1 hour, 150 kuai cab ride from the airport to my friend Diadra’s home. The driver would speak to me in Standard Chinese, but when he was talking to his superior to determine the route to this relatively unknown area of the city, he would switch to Cantonese when he didn’t want me to hear something. I have a special affinity for the language since it was in movies from this region (South China and Hong Kong) that first created in me a love of Chinese culture. If not for films, notably by Wong Kar-Wai 王家卫, and the themes presented that are unique to these locales, I would be well into my 6th year of Japanese and not be working for this Chinese major. Even though I’m not learning the language spoken here and the in the movies, Cantonese, because it’s a) impractical outside of this area and b) its not taught at UNC, I can still go to these areas because in Hong Kong they speak English (more or less) and Standard Chinese from school…just like Americans can speak Spanish…
So, I met up with Diadra and, after talking for a moment with her, went and took a nap on her full-sized, fairly soft bed (I sleep on a hard, twin-sized mattress at school). Five hours later when I woke up, I promptly locked her out of her home because of my super paranoid yet wise nature (a great way to greet an old friend). We at some KFC (fries since she’s a veggy-head), did a little shopping at this complex I’ve never heard of called Jia-hua 佳华, and came back and looked up places to go since she lives in the middle of no-where and there really isn’t much to see here. We went to dinner at a little Chinese restaurant near her apartment and were surrounded by cute annoying children. They said “hello” a lot. And “how are you.” And referred to me, in Chinese, as “Mr. America.” The kids were probably some of the ones who go to the school across the way, and while I enjoyed their love of English and innocent curiosity of me…I was freaking eating dinner with a friend. And they kept saying “bye-bye” with a wave of the hand and all that like they really were going to leave…but they didn’t. Damn.
Tomorrow we plan to hit up a zoo—excuse me—a wildlife refuge, and will see a Buddhist temple in order to go to their vegetarian restaurant.
Pictures…not many yet. When I’m lazy or anxious, I don’t take out my camera. I’ll make up for it tomorrow with pictures of giant pandas or something along those lines. Oddly enough, the lesson in the Chinese book is about giant pandas, and the refuge they mention in the textbook is photographed in my travel book. The name of the professor who conducted research of the panda’s has the character 石 in his name, which is also in the first part of Diadra’s address. So, the lesson here is that when I go to class, I learn shit.
I’ve traveled and have made it successfully to Shenzhen. After sleeping only an hour or so, and after having a thrilling late night conversation with Phebe on the balcony facing the mountains about Koreans, drinking, and life in general, I chugged some of Luke’s Pepto (I’ll owe him about 4 bottles by the time we get back to America), and stood outside and hailed a taxi to the Xiamen International Gaoqi Airport.
Sidenote: If you have to do extensive traveling, take care not to eat spicy Korean food the night before. While you may be able to stand the taste and don’t have problems getting it down in that regard, it’ll really impede your mobility for the next few hours/days. It’s a lesson learned, and Korea has officially smacked me in the face.
The more I travel and the more I get out and about the more I notice that China is a multi-lingual society. I mean, I always knew that China was multilingual and technically multiracial, yet on the surface most of the people look similar to each other in that they’re all Asian. The difference isn’t as stark as it is in the US. Moreover, when I was Beijing, since the standard language is also the city language (the standard language around China, also known as “Chinese”, is the language of the capitol), I didn’t really notice a difference between the language; furthermore, I didn’t know enough Chinese at the time to realize that people were speaking something besides what I learned in the classroom whenever they did speak a dialect—I just assumed they were speaking too fast.
At the airport there were three announcements in Standard Chinese, English, and Minnan (a language closely related to what the people in Taiwan speak when they don’t speak the Standard Language). I would listen to the language, and it sounded like “Chinese” in that it has tones, follows and similar structure, and has some words that are familiar to one another; however, I couldn’t understand it. Later, after I got on the plane, the languages were English, Minnan, and Standard Chinese until we got closer to Shenzhen, where the languages switched to English, Standard Chinese, and Cantonese.
People speak Cantonese here, and they only whip out the Standard Chinese when they are conversing with people from outside of the area including foreigners, tourists, people from other provinces, and strangers. I got an earful of it when I took the 1 hour, 150 kuai cab ride from the airport to my friend Diadra’s home. The driver would speak to me in Standard Chinese, but when he was talking to his superior to determine the route to this relatively unknown area of the city, he would switch to Cantonese when he didn’t want me to hear something. I have a special affinity for the language since it was in movies from this region (South China and Hong Kong) that first created in me a love of Chinese culture. If not for films, notably by Wong Kar-Wai 王家卫, and the themes presented that are unique to these locales, I would be well into my 6th year of Japanese and not be working for this Chinese major. Even though I’m not learning the language spoken here and the in the movies, Cantonese, because it’s a) impractical outside of this area and b) its not taught at UNC, I can still go to these areas because in Hong Kong they speak English (more or less) and Standard Chinese from school…just like Americans can speak Spanish…
So, I met up with Diadra and, after talking for a moment with her, went and took a nap on her full-sized, fairly soft bed (I sleep on a hard, twin-sized mattress at school). Five hours later when I woke up, I promptly locked her out of her home because of my super paranoid yet wise nature (a great way to greet an old friend). We at some KFC (fries since she’s a veggy-head), did a little shopping at this complex I’ve never heard of called Jia-hua 佳华, and came back and looked up places to go since she lives in the middle of no-where and there really isn’t much to see here. We went to dinner at a little Chinese restaurant near her apartment and were surrounded by cute annoying children. They said “hello” a lot. And “how are you.” And referred to me, in Chinese, as “Mr. America.” The kids were probably some of the ones who go to the school across the way, and while I enjoyed their love of English and innocent curiosity of me…I was freaking eating dinner with a friend. And they kept saying “bye-bye” with a wave of the hand and all that like they really were going to leave…but they didn’t. Damn.
Tomorrow we plan to hit up a zoo—excuse me—a wildlife refuge, and will see a Buddhist temple in order to go to their vegetarian restaurant.
Pictures…not many yet. When I’m lazy or anxious, I don’t take out my camera. I’ll make up for it tomorrow with pictures of giant pandas or something along those lines. Oddly enough, the lesson in the Chinese book is about giant pandas, and the refuge they mention in the textbook is photographed in my travel book. The name of the professor who conducted research of the panda’s has the character 石 in his name, which is also in the first part of Diadra’s address. So, the lesson here is that when I go to class, I learn shit.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Shenzhen --an interlude--
If all goes according to plan, and the recently appeared, strong as hell Typhoon Jiangmi ("rose" in Korean) doesn't send me back home, I should be in Shenzhen to see Diadra (and Ben and Daegan, but since I'm crashing at her pad, she gets first billing) in 4 hours.
It's 4AM, and I'm still awake from last night. I'm still awake from last night, unless you count that one hour nap.
Lesson learned: I'll no longer book flights for 7:55am. I'm such a chronic oversleepaholic that I can't afford to sleep (literally; I paid for a plane ticket and gosh-darn I'm going to be on it).
updates coming soon~!
It's 4AM, and I'm still awake from last night. I'm still awake from last night, unless you count that one hour nap.
Lesson learned: I'll no longer book flights for 7:55am. I'm such a chronic oversleepaholic that I can't afford to sleep (literally; I paid for a plane ticket and gosh-darn I'm going to be on it).
updates coming soon~!
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