Keepin' It Going

It’s much warmer here now, and I’m thankful for that. Most days, I’m not sporting my heavy jacket anymore. I don’t even bother bringing it to my afternoon school. It would just be something else to carry on the lengthy walk home. Cherry blossoms can be seen all over the city. Sometimes, I’m amazed at where I see them. Greenery is now almost everywhere. The weeping willows started the season off. They were the first to turn green. Eventually, you started seeing some buds here and there and some trees, depending on their location, had leaves on them. Next, you saw about half of the trees with just about full blown leaves on them. And then, overnight, just about all of the trees had leaves on them. It was very strange. You’re just walking down the same street you walked down the other day, and now those leafless trees are completely green. How is this possible? I’ve seen it rain once here, and it didn’t last for very long. There’s something going on here, invisible to the naked eye. Or nature just finds a way.

As for my roommates, the problem ones that is, they just left for good. (Tuesday, April 19^th) It was a little odd to see them go. I mean, they have been here for a while. I found myself questioning if I could have handled the situation differently or if there was anything I did wrong. I’m sure there was, but that’s all said and done now. It is what it is. Hopefully the next roommate we end up getting is much easier to live with. On the plus side, they threw me a bottle of wine. It looks like a fairly nice bottle. I was happy to accept and a little taken aback by the gesture. They couldn’t carry it, so it was staying behind one way or another, but even so. At least I got something for my troubles. So, thanks. The room was a disaster. They left behind a lot of things; shoes, seeds on the floor, garbage, open bottles, clothes hangers (which we took), and tons of other random junk. Strange. I’d love to keep talking about her, but I’m bored already.

I had the pleasure of going to the Great Wall (Chang cheng in Chinese) with my morning school. It was amazing. We went to a slightly more secluded part of the wall, still busy, but I’m told it gets much crazier in other parts. The bus ride was not that long, though. It was only about an hour and a half, and I slept for part of both ways, so it went rather quickly. Haha. Again, I my classes did not get to accompany me or vice versa. There were only 3 classes that went to the Great Wall, the older kids. The younger children went to nearby parks and had to attend class in the afternoon. I definitely got the sweeter deal, so I wasn’t too concerned. Besides, I was going to the Great Wall. Little kids would not be much of a joy on that kind of a trek. My roommate and I were stationed with Moon class for this expedition. It was one of his classes. When we started out, everyone in the group stuck together for the most part. That idea soon dissipated. Most children had at least one parent, but one particular girl in our group was flying solo. Tough little girl. I was impressed. At one particular junction, people started doing their own thing for the most part. Not a big deal. We just had to be back at the meeting spot by 1:30 PM. We arrived there a little after 10, so we had plenty of time. My roommate, one of the teachers, the little girl that was currently parentless, and myself all proceeded to higher ground on the wall. The teacher was watching the girl for the day. The little girl’s name was Jesse. She was one of maybe 3 children to make it up to the 13^th tower. It was a great day. Temperature was good. The sun was out with some clouds here and there to cool you off when need be. At the 13^th tower, most of our party was about done with climbing upwards. All except yours truly. The next leg was much steeper. It was the top (at least on this part of the wall). So of course, I wanted to get up there. I told the rest of party I’d be back in about 10 minutes. I hiked up the stairs fairly quickly, so I was pretty true to my word. The 14^th tower was real high up, and I was happy I went up there. The whole thing was amazing. What a sight to see. I’m very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see one of man’s greatest achievements. Jesse was very cute, and as previously mentioned – tough. We encountered a donkey at one point from a little distance. The teacher we were with pointed it out. I joked and said I would ride it so naturally, I was egged on to do so. Relax, I wasn’t about to jump on some strange donkey. I did, however, walk up to and pet it. In Chinese eyes, this was still an impressive feat. Haha. It was just tied to the ground on the outskirts of one of the sections of the wall. No big deal.

My only complaint about the adventure was having a camera. While I do consider it absolutely essential for an experience like that, it’s also kind of annoying at times. You spend so much time taking pictures and trying to recreate the experience for others and yourself to look back on; you miss some of the adventure. I was aware of this at the time, though, so I made sure to stop and acknowledge the vastness of the whole thing. Even so, the experience flew by. Like a dream. China is like a dream sometimes. I’m close to 3 months in, and I feel like I just got here. Why is it that the things you’re enjoying seem to go by so fast? Then there’s the total opposite. When you’re stuck and unhappy, time seems to slow down like a traffic jam on the way to the beach. I’m only 24, yet sometimes, I feel like my life is flying by. One day, I’m going to be looking back and wondering where it all went. It’s a sad realization to come to at such a young age. Enough melodrama for now, though.

I ended up going to the Silk Market again this past weekend (Saturday the 23^rd). Always an experience there. I went alone because I feel like I can bargain better, and I don’t have to worry about the time it takes to get the price I want. Unfortunately, this time I wasn’t so hot. I was much more casual about my bargaining. This is probably due to the fact that I got a real paycheck back in the middle of the month, so I wasn’t too worried about it. There were a couple of other contributing factors as well. I didn’t feel like messing around too much. I wasn’t looking to hang around there all day. I was looking for a jacket and a shoulder bag for school. I knew the cost of both of these items outside of the Silk Market. Prices ranged from 100 to over 5,000 rmb. You could easily pay over 10,000 for a nice jacket if you wanted to. I had looked at a few in the mall near my apartment. Most of the jackets I was looking at were between 100 and 300. This isn’t super expensive if you factor in the fact that 120 rmb is around $20.00. Even if I spent a couple thousand, it wouldn’t be ridiculous. Although, I wasn’t trying to do that. The problem with going in with that mindset and acknowledging those prices in the Silk Market is that everything is even faker than usual merchandise in China. It’s going to be cheaper, regardless.

I walked in looking for a business casual, light Jacket. But, as these things go in the market, I got dragged in the first shop I came upon. Literally. The girl there was pretty aggressive. It was interesting, and I didn’t hate it. She was pressing me to buy a jacket, but I insisted that she didn’t have what I was looking for. This shop consisted of more sporty type jackets and what not. I argued my point a few times back and forth with her, but there was a North Face jacket that caught my eye. I decided to humor the girl and try it on. I told her I was ‘just looking.’ If you’ve gotten that far though, they’ve got you. And they know it. I did like the jacket, and it fit well so I was prepared to spend around 100. It wasn’t what I was initially looking for, but I figured why not. It’s a cheap, decent jacket that could come in handy. I still had the intention of finding a business casual jacket anyways. This girl was funny. She started real high, and I laughed. That’s usually how it goes. It’s a big game. I like it. She broke down almost immediately and offered me her ‘special price’ because I was a cool and nice guy. How sweet. I get offered the special price every time, so it’s not that special. It was within reason, though. I don’t even remember how much it was. We played back and forth. She was friendly with her words. Not so much about not touching me. I tried to walk away several times. I kid you not. I couldn’t. This girl was throwing me back against her shop. I mean shoving me full force. She was grabbing my arm, pulling me back, and flirting with me. I thought it was all very amusing and couldn’t stop laughing at the way she was handling me. She enjoyed my sense of humor. We did end up talking a little bit and going through some introductions. She was cool. To finish this part of the story, I ended up buying the jacket for 110 rmb. Not too shabby. Since we were friendly with each other, I asked her what the lowest price she ever sold that jacket for was. I told her not to worry, she already made the sale, so it didn’t matter. I trusted her. I know, they get paid to lie and sell at the highest profit and just be all around tricksters, but that’s ok. She was telling me the truth. I was the lowest sale. Not bad. We parted ways.

Now. The next girl took me for a bit of ride. Speaking of tricksters. This girl owned me. I found a jacket that I was interested in. The price started ridiculously high, like around 700 or 800. Come on. I stuck with my usual routine. I played around with her a little bit, tried on the jacket, talked. She was a little feisty. Clever. Regardless, I didn’t know the actual price of what a jacket like this would retail for. I only had similar jackets I had looked at in the mall with higher prices to compare it to. Long story short, I payed 160 for it. I spend a decent amount of time at this shop, and after talking with her and asking her if I overpaid, the answer was yes. The jacket I bought was something that the factory gives them for free. I should have paid between 50 and 80 rmb. Oh well. I learned some lessons with this girl. I started too high, I wasn’t as serious about my bargaining, and I didn’t walk. But again, bear in mind, I had nothing to compare it too except my previous purchase. I was a little irritated and the girl gave me this real nasty, little laugh. Haha. She was clever, she deserved the sale. I didn’t mind too much. Things happen, and I won’t make the same mistake twice. I ended up buying a bag as well. I payed 85 for it, and the lowest the guy sold it for was 80. They purchased it from the factory for 60. So, I did well on 2 out of 3 items. Not bad. It was a good experience, so I don’t mind.

Interestingly enough, I find myself avoiding foreigners wherever I go. I don’t even like passing them on the streets. I even went as far as moving away from an older couple while riding the subway. Crazy, huh? Maybe, maybe not. Most foreigners are dumb and are the sole reasons behind stereotypes of countries that think poorly about foreigners. I don’t want to be associated with any unnecessarily. Why take my chances? Stereotypes are based on realities. That’s how they’re formed. We all know this. Besides, I like being a foreigner here in this strange place, but that doesn’t mean I want to be around other strangers as well. I’m in China. I want to see and be around Chinese people. I also like being more unique in that sense. I don’t mind standing out. I want to portray a different image and be looked at with less scorn when possible.  I’m told this feeling of wanting to keep distance with other foreigners only increases the longer you are here.

I’ve had a lot going on with various things and different arising issues. Unfortunately, I don’t really want to publicly announce some of them. You’ll just have to ask, I suppose. I need to consider the people I’m writing about and what not. I haven’t had the desire to write recently either. I have such problems with balance. Finding balance is my number problem that always seems to be an issue. I want to play guitar. I want to study Chinese. I want to hang out with people and go out.  I want to see and experience things here. I want to get better at teaching and do a better job. At times, I get so distracted and so troubled about which to tackle first and for how long, I end up doing nothing at all. It’s a problem I’ve always faced. Other times, I end up focusing so much on one thing and forgetting about the rest. Balance. Not easy to achieve.

Until next time –

Jeff