Language, culture and anonymity, a jumble of ideas and feelings

I had my first feelings of "oh, i'm going to miss this when I leave" about China. It is difficult to be here, and taxing, and frustrating, and a sort of silent erosion of energy as my head tries to take in so much, but there is something really wonderful about it too. Because I (we) look so different, there is something kind of anonymous about being here. On the one hand, everyone stares with either curiousity or disgust, or on the other completely ignores us as they do everything else. It is very much a big city culture in the way that no one looks to the side or behind them when traveling, only concerned with moving forward, in both actual and metaphorical ways. Not being able to fully understand the language also helps with this, because then I can only be concerned with what I'm doing and where I'm going out of an ignorance that I'm not used to. But, on the other hand, and China is full of these Fiddler on the Roof-a la-Tevye moments, there is a lot that can be and is communicated completely without language, as long as I keep an open mind and open eyes. It helps too that I'm learning more and more every day, even just about the tones in which people communicate different things. I find that if I look at and pay close attention to what someone is trying to tell me, I can mostly understand their meaning though their actual words hold no symbology for me. Surprisingly too, the small education I have in Chinese language (Mandarin) through OCOM has served me well, as I can communicate (in a serious american accent no matter how hard I try) things like colors and sometimes foods, and since coming I have learned my numbers, and several ways to say things like "yes, no, that is correct, good, hello, goodbye, please take me to..., pain, soreness and no pain", all handy things when you are needling people in a foreign language. But in trying to understand what is being said and what is happening around me, my brain is in complete overdrive and it's hard to relax without sleeping, if that makes sense. Once I stop, I completely stop, but even my dreams are vivid. Hearing well-spoken english is probably one of the most comforting things that will happen during my day, as much as I hate to admit it. Right now for example, I have the only english TV channel on even though they've been discussing the launch of the 3rd Chinese space mission (the first one where they will leave the ship and walk on the moon--I assume it's the moon) for about 2 hours now and I kind of hate the glow of the television.
But even so, there is a certain amount of settling in that is happening that makes me excited about my next trip to S. Korea. There, I am excited to learn the language for real and become accustomed to people, places and things, all those nouns that can make you feel as if you are at home.

Tomorrow is our last day at the clinic and with the Dr. we have been at for 2 weeks (it's been 2 weeks already!?!). Then it is on to HuangShan (Yellow Mountain) for 3 nights and 4 days, and then 5 days off during which I'll stay in Nanjing and explore some more of the city.

Last night a couple friends and I took a small trip to the Confucious temple and the Fuzimiao market, where haggling is more fun than the shopping. I got a beautiful "successful acupuncturist" jacket, as Christine calls it, and a wall scroll of Kuan Yin. We didn't go into the temple because it was a little late, but I plan on going back to go inside the temple as well as take a boat ride on the Qinhua river.

Alright, thanks for reading my ramble if you got this far. I'm excited to go home and understand more of what's going on around me, and see all you lovely people.

Playing hookey and the Yangtze river

I have been feeling pretty exhausted, and after feeling like my throat was starting to swell last night I decided to take a day off and sleep in. It was delicious, and though I'm sad to have missed a precious day of clinic in China, feel a lot better about going the rest of the week. So, about 1pm, after a leisurely morning I decided to do something with myself. After hunting down both an English and Chinese map of Nanjing, I made my way via bus numbers 18 and 117 to the Yangtze river bridge park. Despite being incredibly windy and humid at the same time, it was a lovely day, and the river was peaceful and settling for my spirit, despite the thousands of cars, mopeds, bikes, trains and people crossing it. I would say it's something akin to the Brooklyn bridge in size, but perhaps more important. Apparently, due to the width of the Yangtze as well as the turbulence of the water and the enormous amount of silt the river carries, the bridge was declared unbuildable by many engineers at the time. But build it they did, and now the bridge connects Shanghai to Beijing, as well as the two sides of Nanjing. It really was pretty awe inspiring. There were beautiful parks surrounding it, where families and groups of older men gathered to spend some time, play cards and music and hang out with their cute and funny looking chinese dogs. While getting there was an indirect bus route adventure, my transit skills came out in full force and I made it there and back with no problem. I think I felt better about the trip because I was alone, and didn't have to take other people's tired feet or anxiety about the bus into account. I figured, if I got lost, I got lost, and I know how to tell a cab driver to take me back to the hotel. I went through some new parts of town that I'm excited to explore, and found a new temple and garden that I plan to visit after I get back from Yellow Mountain next tuesday or wednesday. After getting home, I used my rice cooker to cook rice for the first time, and had a small dinner that made my belly feel good instead of slightly bloated and ill. yay! Tomorrow it's back to clinic in the a.m. and a lecture in the afternoon, and some shopping in the evening for acupuncture related things as well as some fun stuff at the fuzimiao market by the Confucious temple.

Well, once again my photo uploader isn't working for this blog, so make sure to check out the flickr page (link to the right) for photos. I've organized everything into sets under a collection, so it's a little easier to navigate.

Oh! Ok, here are the two pictures I managed to upload for you, I think the one on the left might be my favorite of today.

Observation

Laundry lines across from the hospital
a sick man in good condition
with lungs, raw, struggling to revive
is blessed by a full clean pink skirt
dancing in the sooty wind.

Sunday at purple mountain

Sunday shot my plans for a relaxing weekend out the window, but I had a wonderful time nonetheless. Tonight, I've promised myself an early bedtime, but promises are only as good as the conviction with which they're made, and so....

Sunday morning I decided to buy a new bike. I got directions to la rue du bicyclette and Diane B. and I took a bus-walk adventure over to the bike shops. I ended up buying another bike for somewhere around 200RMB, like $30, and then a slightly better lock for another $5 or so. Would you like to meet her? Ok...here you go....
This is Emily, she has promised not to stray too far from home.

She seems pretty sturdy so far, but it's only been a day. I think she might be fixed on a lower gear than Happy Bike, but it could just be me.

Diane got another bike too, which we dubbed the Silver Surfer, since it's a total beater silver cruiser with a turquoise seat. I don't think I have a picture of S.S. for you.

Then, four of us went to Purple mountain. We saw the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen mausoleum, and some of the Linggu scenic area. The park is huge, and I intend to go back during the national holiday week we have coming up soon. There's a botanical/Chinese herb garden, and a celestial observatory, and "underwater world" and all kinds of stuff. I bought the year long pass, and intend to use it like mad. Make sure to check out the pictures on flickr, it's pretty amazing. I'll try to organize my flickr page soon, I know it's kind of a madhouse right now. After a tiring day trekking around the mountain, we went to dinner at this wonderful Korean restaurant, and then shopping around Hunan Lu, where I bought some pretty awesome mistranslated T shirts including a Giraffe saying "Meaning? The What's" and "Nacho girlfriend", which I guess isn't exactly poorly translated, just funny. Then a bus adventure home, and K.O. until 6am this morning. Clinic was good today, nothing incredible but good, learned a bunch about herbs and what have you. Now we have a birthday dinner for Lindsay, and then I swearswearswear, I'm going straight to bed!

Ok, I'm going to organize my photos some now, so I don't drive everyone crazy.