Tiananmen Square

Posted on September 30, 2006 by Meg

In between making my parents take me to an Outback and a Pizza Hut, we visited Tiananmen Square. Last week when Zorro and I were in Beijing, the taxi driver told us to go see the flowers in Tiananmen Square. Once Zorro reassured me that I’d heard and understood, I rolled my eyes and pointed out (in sarcastic English) that Tiananmen is paved and what, does he think we’re stupid or something?

Or something.

As you can clearly see, there are lots of flowers in Tiananmen Square. This is a model of the Three Gorges Dam, made of flowers and potted trees and a fountain. There was also a flower Potala Palace and of course the ubiquitious Olympic Mascots doing weird athletic something or other.

As we walked around, I kept having my photo taken. This is endlessly amusing to my parents, especially when turn around and I’m arm-in-arm with a random tourist or seven.

We also were approached by some really agressive vendors. This is less amusing to my mom. I don’t mind telling a postcard hawker to take a hike or walking away from the “art students”, but my mom wasn’t so comfortable with aggressive selling tactics. Helloyoubuy!

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Persephone in Yantai

Posted on September 29, 2006 by Meg

If I eat these pomegranate seeds, will I spend half my life in China and half in America?

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Water Poets

Posted on September 29, 2006 by Meg

I took my mom and dad to Beihai Park on their first real day. It’s always beautiful but it was decorated for National Day and looked ever better than last time.

On the sidewalk by the south entrance, a man was writing water poems. These poets use giant brushes and buckets of water to write poems on the ground. I wanted to take some pictures because I thought Marcus would love the idea of poems designed to be lost.

A crowd soon formed, watching me watch the water calligrapher. The poet saw me, smiled and began to write a poem involving the characters America and China. I thanked him, said it was beautiful, but had to tell him that, um, I can’t read.

My dad watched in surprise, as Chinese tourists snapped covert cellphone pictures of me or openly asked me to take photos with them.

“Not your typical day in Montclair,” my dad said.

But it is my typical day.

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My Parents In China

Posted on September 28, 2006 by Meg

So my parents were the very last people off their plane, which leaves me standing at International Arrivals frantically texting my sister to say clever things like “Mom and Dad did get on the plane, right? They’d have told us if they didn’t, right?”

Then I finally saw my mom! And I started screaming and crying and knocking people out of my way. It was very mature and dignified and I’m sure I made my parents proud.

Seeing my parents in China is really strange. It’s weird to be the navigator and translator. Even with my bad Chinese I can get my mom a coffee or find a Western bathroom. I’m really proud of how my Chinese is improving. I can now hold actual conversations, although they’re usually short conversations.

We took a taxi to the hotel, and my parents were really jetlagged their first night, so we ate some Western food in the hotel’s cafe. Well, actually, my parents ate some food. I sprinted off as soon as I heard “buffet” and tried to inhale everything in the room. (Later I took my parents to look at the menu at the restaurant next door, but they only made it as far as my sea cucumbers explanation before deciding it was time to leave)

The hotel turned out to be international adoption central. Everyone else we saw was a Spanish couple with a new Chinese daughter. It was great to be around so many happy new parents, and adorable babies, but strange to be surrounded by Spanish in China. Stranger to imagine all those Chinese girls growing up as Susanas or Gabrielas.

In the elevator, my dad used a Columbian colloquialism to tell a new mom how cute her daughter is, and I realized again how far I need to go with my Chinese skills.

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Why Travel In China Is Like Being the Protagonist In A Fantasy Novel

Posted on September 28, 2006 by Meg

Andrea just sent me a bunch of fantasy books and I’ve noticed a certain similarity between my reading matter and my life. Some of the reasons overlap with Sinoplice’s brilliant “Why China Is Like An RPG”. Travel in China, like fantasy books, offers an escape from a monotonous life. Money is counted in “pieces” and dragons are real.

1) The way is fraught with peril. There’s no quick travel, the path from point A to Point B is always full of adventures. Come on, Frodo couldn’t just hop on the next plane to Mordor!

2) Dire predictions of doom. In fantasy stories, the protagonists are constantly warned about their destination, just like in China. “I heard of a foreign traveler who tried to reach Penglai by bus. We never saw him again.” or “You seek to visit Beijing? In October? Turn back while you still can!”

3) Searching for rare artifacts. The quester can’t just walk into the blacksmith’s and say “Good morning, I’d like to purchase the ancient, elf-made enchanted sword of the shadowlands, please.” and expect to get what he wants. Where’s the challenge there? Where’s the character development? In China, I can’t just walk into a shop and say “Good morning, I’d like to purchase some deoderant, please.”

4) Adventurers form a traveling party, using their disparate skills to work for a common goal. In my travels, Fresca can read pin yin, Dave can bargain, Will knows everyone in Yantai… (I guess I can make bardic knowledge checks, once in a while? Wait, I’m the protagonist! I don’t have to be useful!)

5) And finally, everyone speaks Common (Pu Tong Hua). Except me, my attempt at Chinese is more like a bad Renn faire accent.

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October Holiday

Posted on September 27, 2006 by Meg

My parents are arriving in Beijing tomorrow! I can’t wait to see my mom and dad!

Anyway, I probably won’t be posting when they’re here, unless they’re sleeping off their jet lag or something. So my blog is going to be semi-operational, probably closed for a couple days, maybe a few days.

Hey, my blog’s celebrating October holiday the way the rest of China does!

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The Last Adventure Of The Three Amigos

Posted on September 27, 2006 by Meg

Dave came back to Yantai for a day before heading home to New York.

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Girl WoW Players

Posted on September 27, 2006 by Meg

There’s another ‘net manhunt in China. On WoW. Look what happens when girls game. Personally, I think anyone lucky enough to get a girlfriend over WoW and meet her in real life and find out she really is a cute 18-year-old girl should be thanking the Nerd Gods instead of taking advantage of her.

In other news, anyone who gets kicked out of a teenage WoW guild for being annoying probably isn’t the best boyfriend material ever.

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Wai Guo Ren

Posted on September 26, 2006 by Meg

So when Zorro and I went to Beijing, I was recognized by the girl checking us in at the airport! (Hi Echo!) In case you were wondering, getting spotted by a reader is the coolest thing that could happen to a blogger.

Anyway, Echo left a comment to let me know she saw us, and in the course of our messages, Echo mentioned she thought Zorro was Chinese, until she saw his American passport. Interesting observation. China does not allow dual citizenship, so there’s no gray area about Chinese-Americans. There are notable exceptions, but it seems like most Chinese are so proud of being Chinese that there’s not really any room for a second nationality.

Most Americans see ourselves as having ethnic identities besides just American, and it’s not confusing or unusual to meet someone with multiple nationalities. I definately see myself as Italian and Scottish as well as American… or I did before I came to China and became Foreigner.

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Secretly Playing Dolls

Posted on September 25, 2006 by Meg

I hate to admit how much I like this doll game. I really want to fight the idea that girl gamers like to play dress-up games and dollmakers, because it seems like there’s already an assortment of games based on that premise and aimed at girls. (ok, ok, so I did play an excessive amount of Princess Maker 2 but that’s only because my guy friends put it on my computer.)

But once I started playing with the dollmaker, other people in my office came over to see what I was giggling about. They tried to offer their fashion advice, and it was pretty addictive. Thankfully, no students stopped by while we were saying things like “Look at my cute doll!” and “Ooh! Pirate clothes!”

You can use the dolls to chat from the Dollhouse site, but you can chat over Civ4, too. Talking AND conquering the world!

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