This guy’s getting a little head from his wife…
All Roads Lead To… Yantai?
Most people don’t know this, but the Romans actually colonized Yantai.
Ara Pacis Day
We went to the Ara Pacis today. I love the Ara Pacis. (Zorro, if you turn on my computer, that’s my background) My Roman history is the Julio-Claudians with some Livy stuff before and some Constantine stuff after. If Robert Graves didn’t care about it, then neither do I.
I’m exaggerating, but only a little.
I wrote a paper on the artwork of the Ara Pacis (actually, in the class in which I met Stick). There’s a whole frieze around the Ara Pacis with natural motifs, animals and flowers and fruit. Through my China eyes, I see wide-breasted birds like hanging smoked ducks, marble lizards worn by time into baobao fish. On the back is a personified wind, sitting on a weird pearl-less dragon.
We had high (nerdy) romance, then we walked around town and finally went to eat in a tiny cafe. I tried to order something with cheese (because my favorite things in Rome are Stick, the Ara Pacis and food with cheese. Oh, and being on Bejing time so I can sleep late everyday!), but the waitress told me in Italian that they were all out.
“Deng yi xia,” I began, because being told in a foreign language that the menu is wrong is not new to me. “I mean….” Why didn’t this happen when I was in Yantai, trying to keep my head above Mandarin waters? The time for my Chinese to become automatic is NOT in Rome.
Posted in Yantai
Tagged China, chinese, Chinese life, julio-claudians, mandarin, nerd, Rome, Stick, Yantai, Zorro
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Marco Polo (part 2)
Today Stick took me to Chinatown and the fish market so I’d feel at home.
Getting Rid Of My Jiao
…in the Trevi Fountain.
Roman Holiday
One my first Roman day, Stick and I went to the Pyramid of Cestius, and to the Non-Catholic Foreigners Cemetary where Keats and Shelley are both buried (not together… although both are buried next to their “good friend”) and we saw the veiw of the city from the Garibaldi Monument. Mostly, though, we walked around classics major Disneyland, catching up and talking about those days after Age of Augustus when we walked by the student travel agent and watched the prices of Rome flight fluctuate. If you have to walk around all grinning and googly-eyed, Italy is the place to do it.
You all know I’m way better with sarcasm, so this might be my last entry for a few days… or until something goes wrong.
Posted in New York City
Tagged Chinese life, classics, New York City, Rome, Stick, travel
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Beth’s Favorite Joke
Why do they polish this gate everyday?
To protect the Finnish.
High Romance
Stick took me to a little coffeeshop near the Centro for breakfast.
°Itàs been a long year.° I said, over cappucinos at a small table. °I missed this,°
°I missed you too, baby,° he said.
°I meant my sandwich.°
Posted in New York City
Tagged Chinese life, coffee, Grace, high romance, New York City, Stick
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Marco Polo
When I thought about seeing Stick again in Rome, I imagined coming off the plane, with shining hair, and possibly a cute shoulder bag, and running towards Stick’s arms. I forgot a lot of little details, like dragging all my luggage with me (Baggage Girl in Beijing: °You are overweight° Meg: °No, all Americans look like this°), and the awful sleep deprivation, and the feeling that I was just about sick of looking at icons and trying to guess which corridor I was meant to be taking. In Arrivals, I realized our reunion was not going to go quite the way I’d imagined it, but I’d see Stick in a moment, and everything was about to fall into place. If only I could find him…
In my defense, he didn’t recognize me either.
