Notes

Time and energy are at a premium this evening, so instead of whipping up a post complete with linear story-telling and a punctuating moral takeaway, this evening will be a collection of random notes I have typed into my phone while on the go. Some are from months ago, some from last weekend.

-Just walked by a four piece doo-wop band practicing under a streetlight on campus. They were singing the Backstreet Boys’ “Tell Me Why.” China.

-Catching a cab home one notices the seemingly endless march of unlit, empty monoliths that fill the landscape. [More on the possibly impending house bubble and housing market another time.]

-IP rip-offs range from subtle to blatant. Li Ning’s [athletic apparel brand] “Anything is Possible” falls somewhere within that spectrum. Shoes and home appliances branded with an apple and "iPhone" belong firmly towards the blatant end.

-Sometimes being the benefactor of hospitality backfires. I was given the front seat as I was the guest, but the seat was pushed so far up my legs were jammed against the dashboard for an hour while the five-foot (maybe) lady sat comfortable in the back. Discomfort was not the intent, merely the result.

-Public observation is a legitimate form of entertainment here. Whether watching to people put on a spectacle of an argument (for the crowd’s sake as much as anything else), or standing around and commenting on people working, observation is a Chinese pastime. [I’m a big fan of standing on the outside of these gatherings. Invariably, some local will notice me, take interest, and start explaining the goings on in the local dialect as I dimly smile and nod; something at which I've grown quite adept.]

-Chinese cities tend to be much prettier at night.

-[Talking to a Russian friend of mine about why her family gave her the nickname Monaco.] Very matter of factly: “Because I’m small and I speak French.”

-People’s reception of the foreigner in their midst varies greatly. Some days I have more strangers wanting to talk to me than I can handle. Other days, people would sooner stand on a packed subway than take a seat next to me.

-Ping pong gangsters at the gym. Old guy fella with half his dyed, jet-black comb over jutting straight up as he dusts off moves you can't imagine. The grip, the spin, the leg kick: A combination that is unhittable. Like an old knuckleballer when he has his pitch working for him. 

-Little old lady in the ubiquitous red, knit hat spilled broth on me at one of the local restaurants. Spent two straight minutes wiping my side with a little napkin. Standing, she was as tall as I was when sitting on a little plastic stool.

-Imagine being surrounded by people that look nothing like you. But they all look like each other. All the time. Not a xenophobic comment; just stating my reality. It's simply unusual for me.

-[Talking about ghosts and superstitions in class, one girl explains her position as]: “But I don't believe in that because I know biology.”

-I find myself getting annoyed with Chinese people for simply doing what is their habit though it may opposed to ours. Because I'm here, I am the one in the wrong.

-Traveling makes you face the contradictions and hypocrisy in your own life. Getting indignant about a guy flicking a cigarette butt into the river then thinking about the thousands I've thrown away in various inappropriate places.

-Being able to view things like traffic jams on buses and shitty hours for train trips through the lens of adventure make mind-numbing inconveniences easier to swallow. Like the chocolate on the pill in The Princess Bride.

Some of these thoughts I may have posted before, but as I stated at the beginning of this post, time and energy are in short supply right now. That’ll do it.