Musings

Musings

I guess lots of new people will be coming to Nanjing in the next few weeks. Some with a purpose, others with a hope.

When I first came to Nanjing, I met a girl in a bar who asked me: "So what is it that you're running away from?"

I told her that it was a strange question. I wasn't running away from anything. In fact, I was deliberately moving forwards (to certain life goals). That challenge had brought me to Nanjing.

We got on to talking about her challenges and objectives. She came to teach "for a year or so", and didn't have any other purpose, it seemed, other than to chill out and not stress about things.

That inspired me to tell her a story:

*   *   *

Once upon a time a traveler walked along a beach. It was a sheltered cove with calm clear water.

From the banks, he could see coral in the water. There was a lot of it, mostly a soft greyish color, with the odd splash of bright blue and orange.

He walked over a hill and then came to another beach. This one was unsheltered and rocky. Huge waves crashed onto the rocks.

The traveler spent thirty minutes climbing the rocks and listening to the waves. Then, he noticed more coral in the water.

These were different though, they were brilliant: vivid hues of blue, green, red and yellow.

He squatted on a rock and stared at the coral, and then the sun began to set. He walked back to the beach. There, he saw a fisherman dragging his nets home.

They chatted for a few minutes, and then the traveler asked about the coral.

"Are those two different species? The ones on this beach are so vividly colored, but the ones on the calm beach are so dull in comparison."

The fisherman lit a smoke and then offered one to the traveler. "No, they are the same species." He waved a hand towards the crashing waves.

"That's what bring out the color. These coral here, they need to fight to survive, the surf is very choppy here."

He stuck out his chin towards the calm bay. "But those coral over there, the water is calm, it's the challenge to survive when the brightest colors come out."

*  *  *

To those who are new, welcome to Nanjing. If you rise to the challenge, I hope that you get what you came here for.

Musings

When I first came to China, I found it very rude the way people would bull me out of the way – in doorways and elevators... when I have the right of way, I never get the right of way.

After a while, I stopped getting angry about it and starting observing more.

This morning, it was raining very heavily. My nearest convenience store is across from a main intersection. On rainy days, the traffic is especially bad there. In the rain, drivers seem freaked out – then, they too will bull their way forward, their cars going herky-jerky, just trying to get through, red light or green light be damned. Mixed into that are people in ponchos on bicycles, their eyes bulging with seeming apprehension, plowing into traffic at full speed, like their minds have been blown.

After observing this for the past few months, I have developed a hypothesis, that I would like to share with you...

The Gaokao meat grinder

There are a lot of things wrong with the Chinese education system. For the first 12 years of their school life, Chinese students have a singular goal: to master the art of memorizing facts, for the purpose of getting good scores in the National Higher Entrance Exam, aka Gaokao.

Basically, this system has churned out millions of clones, capable of following orders but little else. The Government is aware of this. This year, they released a reform document which noted the following problems:

We must fully recognize that our education does not meet the country's requirements. Educational concepts are backwards, students are overburdened with homework, innovation and versatility is in short supply...

The effects of LSD

On a different but related topic, let me tell you about a drug called LSD. It is a small piece of paper that is dipped in chemicals. If you eat one of those squares, you will trip out: the walls will breathe, you will see fairy dust, people will morph into animals, right in front of your eyes... it's definitely not for everybody.

A study was done in the 1950s about how LSD affects your perception. Here are three images:

Slide #2:

Slide #3:

We see the drawings becomes more abstract, with more 'outside the box' thinking, the heavier the artist trips on the LSD.

There was another study done where spiders were given drugs and then their webs they spun under different influences was documented. You can read about that study here.

Gaokao: the reverse acid trip

...the way LSD affects your perceptions of reality, so too does 12 years of severe memorization training...Back to the topic at hand. My hypothesis is that after enduring 12 years of indoctrination and being force fed into rote learning and memorization, these students fall into a drug-like spell – the way LSD affects your perceptions of reality, so too does 12 years of severe memorization training – only in reverse. Gaokao makes you brain drive more linear, and less abstract...

Those people bulling their way past me in the elevator, the drivers and cyclists freaking out in the rain... I suggest these are victims of the Gaokao drug.

Memorization forces you to focus on a single thing over and over, while blocking out all other thoughts.

My theory is that Chinese people are educated to only be able to think about one thing at a time.

Walking into an elevator: this is a singluar action. Walking into an elevator while someone else is walking out requires a person to think about two things at once. If a person can't do that, they will likely just bull their way through.

Panicking in the rain: driving and riding a bike involves enough multitasking ability as it is. Add in the rain factor and it will spin some people out. Hence the panicked drivers and cyclists careering around at full speed... the rain is just too much for their memorization-machine brains to be able to process.

Conclusion: I think that a lot of funny actions that Chinese people do can be attributed to the lack of creativity and ability to only do one task at a time, courtesy of the National Higher Entrance exam, also known as the Gaokao.

Musings

I met a kid the other day who recently came to Nanjing from a small town in Anhui Province. It's the classic case of 'bright lights' big city: he's young, naive and brimming with hope for the future. His parents saved up to give him as much of a nest egg as they could. Their hope is that he will find a job, 'make some connections' and then one day, be able to send money back to his family.

The other day, he told me how exciting he found life in Nanjing to be, compared to his little village, where TV and the local arcade were the main social options.

"Nanjing is so exciting," he told me, "It is the big city. Here, my dreams can be possible."

I felt kind of bad for him, because Nanjing isn't a big city. Sure, there are lots of people here and western bars and big supermarkets and all of that, but it's a second-tier city well down on the list. However, coming from his background, Nanjing is the big city. 

*  *  *

A few years ago, I was island-hopping in southern Thailand. On Ko Pha Ngan island, I came across a secluded beach well away from the crowds. The entire beach was owned by a single family. They spoke English well and were very chilled out. So, I ended up staying there for a week, doing little else except for puffing fatheads and piddling around the beach.

The owner's name was Salu, I think... sometimes, I would get a beer and sit out on the beach with Salu to watch the sunset. Looking out at the surf, we could see Ko Samui (a much bigger island) off in the distance.

Salu would often look longingly over at that island and sigh. "Once a month we go over there by boat. It's amazing. They have supermarkets, department stores, even an airport. It's the big city, I love it there."

I felt bad for Salu as well. Ko Samui is not the big city. Neither is Nanjing. However, some people aren't as lucky as others.

My friend from Anhui needed a lot of help to end up in Nanjing. His dreams will probably be dermined here – I don't imagine he is likely to get further.

As for Salu, he is like a prisoner, trapped on a tiny little beach, staring longingly at an island off in the distance, which represents hopes and dreams for him.

*  *  *

Conclusion: foreigners here are luckier than many. With our passports, finances and cultural understanding, the world is ours. We can go anywhere we want.

For Salu, his entire world is within a few square kilometers. He may never get further than than.

I am not free, but I have more freedom than he does. That is all...

Musings

'Nate' was bored in America. He had a lousy job, passive aggressive bosses and a low salary. He spent his evenings and weekends either watching TV or else walking around shopping malls. 

His friend 'Peter' lived in Nanjing. Peter always raved about how great Nanjing was, how close-knit the community was, about how “everybody knows everybody”. 

Nate sold his car and bought a plane ticket to China. He spent the first week in Beijing and a Sanlitun hooker stole his wristwatch. 

 Then he met a beautiful Chinese girl at the Forbidden Temple. She told him she was a student, and she felt it ‘her duty’ to show him around, as he was a guest in her country. They went to a tea shop. A lavish fruit plate was brought out, and an elaborate tea setting. The girl excused herself and ‘went to the washroom.’ She never came back. An hour later (after much haggling) Nate finally got out there there 2,000 RMB lighter in the wallet. 

Nate was rattled. China sucked. “Don’t worry,” Peter told him on the phone. “Nanjing isn’t like that at all. You’ll love it here.” 

The bright friendly lights of Nanjing

Nate arrived. He made his way to Peter’s apartment and dropped off his stuff. Peter told him to relax – the hard times were over. “Let’s go to Jimmy’s.” 

Jimmy’s was like walking through the gates of heaven: laughing people, jokes all around, lots of beer consumed. Then he discovered Castle Bar and Talking Bar and Blue Sky and all the rest. 

In 2 weeks, Nate had made tons of new friends. It was like a sign from God: he had finally found a place where he really felt connected. 

Nate got a job and a visa at Web English. The money wasn’t great, but it was enough that he could afford to send long nights in the bars at least 4 times a week. 

Barfly

Every Saturday Nate would end up at Castle Bar. Every time he walked out of that bar, it was daylight. He would eat some McDonald’s and then spend the rest of the day in bed. 

The boozy days blurred into each other. One month became six months. Six months became a year. It was at that point that Nate finally saw behind the veil. 

Behind the boozy laughs in the bars, there was something else: backstabbing. Gossip. Rumors. Random sex among groups of friends. Threesomes. Orgies. 

When it appeared that Nate was going to get a promotion, most of his ‘friends’ seemed resentful, rather than happy for him. 

He got into a bike accident one day and had to spend a few days in the hospital. A few of the barflies he hung out with came to visit, but they didn’t stay long. 

The lonely spiral

After a while, Nate noticed that a lot of the people who he thought were ‘friends’ didn’t even know his last name. Then he noticed that people didn’t really listen to him. Rather, they would just wait for him to finish talking, so they could keep talking about themselves. 

After two years in Nanjing, Nate was completely miserable. He hated his job. He was lonely. He still spent sunny afternoons drinking at Behind the Wall. He still was a regular at Paulaner and Danny's. He still enjoyed the odd beer at Blue Sky. 

However, he found himself spending a lot of time at home, watching DVDs. On Saturday afternoons, he would start drinking at noon, just to fill the void of emptiness. 

Nate is not real, I just made up this whole story. But I wonder: is there a little bit of Nate in everyone who knows “all that glitters is not gold”, and that behind the laughs and good times in Nanjing, there are actually a lot of very unhappy people here, who get by spinning their wheels and talking about the same things over and over again, in the same bars, with the same ****ing people, while not moving forward with their lives?

NOTE: this story is not real. I used the names of all of the bars for fictional purposes, not for sake of slander, I mean no harm to local businesses, it's just a story from my head...

Musings

Yesterday, I saw my first mosquito of the year, while riding the Metro.

Where have they been ?  Have they been hiding from the up and down, cold and wet weather that we have had this year ?

Will they now come out hungrier than ever ?

Anyone any ideas !

Musings

Well, here I am again.  I just received my passport and Chinese work (z) visa.  Now I guess I really am coming to Nanjing.  I will be working for a landscape design firm located on Beijing West Road, in the Gulou district of Nanjing.  I arrive on Saturday, 19 June, I know it's going to be here quickly.

Musings

Wow, blog entry #2.  Still awaiting news on my work visa, the status shows it is still in process at the Chinese Consulate and should be completed tomorrow.  I don't think I will have any worries, but since my plane ticket has been purchased, there is going to be some bit of apprehension until I get my passport and visa in my hands.  Anyway, I am still going about getting things arranged for the move, I know it's only a 1 year contract, but still, there are lots of things to consider.  I am taking my Verizon phone, but since I cannot access the data plan I have with my Droid, I am re-activating my old Razr and taking that.  Perhaps I can find a cheaper alternative in China as far as mobile service goes.  I think at this point I am most apprehensive about not knowing Mandarin as well as not really having my accomodation arranged, although my new employer is putting me up in a hotel for my first week, and during this time they assured me I will have no worries finding an apartment.  Well, I will end this entry here, I sure hope I did not over-excite any readers with my uber-interesting musings about my impending adventures, if so I apologize.  Adios amigos. 

Musings

So here goes my first blog entry here.  I sent my passport and supporting documents for my work (Z) visa processing and hope to get it back late next week.  This impending move is stressful for sure, but I am looking forward to the new experience.  Am I really going to do this?

Musings

Nanjing Lukou International Airport (南京禄口国际机场) is located around 35 km southeast of Xinjiekou, roughly 50-80 RMB by taxi. Some of the 5 star hotels run free shuttles to there as well.

A new feature in the departures area that I didn't see the last time I was there was a nicely done display case showing off all of the things that you aren't allowed to take onto the plane with you.

Security has gotten a lot tighter, all items in this case are banned, metal detector scans are very thorough, and if you have anything suspicious in your bag they'll run it through the x-ray machine again and again and again, until it clears.

I guess we can thank Obama Bin Laden, Jack Bauer and freedom-haters everywhere for making it globally reasonable to ban stuff like dishwashing detergent, bottled water, non-alcoholic ginger beer and sealed containers of yogurt from airplanes (and metro stations too, because of the Shanghai Expo).

Thanks, Osama, for helping create stories like "Coffee, Tea, or Should We Feel Your Pregnant Wife’s Breasts Before Throwing You in a Cell at the Airport and Then Lying About Why We Put You There?"

If you want something more recent, try out this "Full Body Scanners: tighter security or Rape on the Run?"

Conclusion: while security has gotten tighter at Nanjing Lukou International Airport, I'm happy to be in China, because airport security is waaay too tight in the west. 

Thanks to Osama, and Obama as well. Note: sorry if I get those names mixed up, CNN does my head in.