Evan's Reeducation -- Dominating Dali

Lexi and I returned to Kunming last night after spending four days in and around the city of Dali. We journeyed north on a 4-5 hour bus ride on Monday evening, setting the stage for a true test of how I could handle the Chinese wilderness. The week included a day-long bike ride through endless fields of crops and an array of tiny villages, mostly ridden on terrain not meant for bicycles. In addition, my rented bike was more broken than Lexi's NCAA Tournament Bracket (0 for 8 among the elite 8 for Lexi Rae). But despite the challenges of the grueling ride, it was a very rewarding experience.

The basic plan was to bike around the lake, Erhai Lake, supposedly the 7th largest freshwater lake in China. It was not a small body of water, yet we were determined. Unfortunately, we did not really know where we were going, and in China, asking for multi-step directions, according to Lexi, is entirely unacceptable (more on this ridiculously inefficient cultural method and my other issues with China in another post). So anyway, despite the fact that there was something wrong with my bicycle (mainly, but not limited to, the fact that peddling did not necessarily move the vehicle), we began to traverse absurd obstacles in our quest to venture around this lake. We carried our bikes over rock piles, down steps in villagers' backyards, and during stretches where the "path"--interpret that term loosely-- was no more than a foot wide and veering inches left or right may have meant a 5-6 foot leap into a cliff of crops. We drove past hundreds of farmers working on their land, some who waved as we passed by. We sped past elephant-size piles of manure accompanied by ungodly swarms of flies who seem to like poop a lot more than I do. We would arrive at a dead-end and try something else. It was the ultimate exploration ride, with the caveat that we were mainly trying to go around this lake. And although we felt like roaming nomads at times, we almost always had the view of the city in the distance, probably no more than 3-5 kilometers away at all times. We eventually decided to turn towards the city, as we had been enduring for about 5 hours and were tired and hungry. We found some food, explored some more, and searched for a hotel to spend the night. We ended up staying at a place that was way too nice for us, but we were tired and felt we had earned it.

The following day, we had planned on riding our bikes on the road back to where we rented them from (probably 25-30 kilometers away), but it was not meant to be. After about 5 minutes, I declared that I had had enough of my crappy bicycle. Right around that same moment, Lexi tried to break. It broke, but not in a slowing down the bike kind of way. It was more of a dropping a glass plate from a rooftop onto pavement breakage. And just like that, her bike was semi-unrideable as well. Fortunately, we did find a taxi that put both pieces of junk in the trunk so we could get our substantial deposit back from the orginal rental place.

Back in Old Dali, where we stayed the first night, we walked around a bunch, found some fantastic western pizza for lunch (The establishment was called "Bad Monkey" and the sign out front red "the most pimped out pizza in China"-- Yes, there is photographic evidence of said sign and slogan), and began our trek into the mountainess wilderness. Friends of Lexi's had recommended a place called the HigherLand Inn, which is a very small place for hikers to stay on a nearby mountain. To get to the Inn, we hiked about 90 minutes up a fairly steep trail in the late afternoon (it was still scorching hot), and we discovered this incredibly awesome place (Link for anyone interested: http://www.higherland.com/eabout%20us/index.htm) I think there are only seven rooms available, yet there is basic electricity and a shower and bathroom. Everyone kinda ate together in the main cabin, where the food was almost always very tasty. At our first dinner, we shared some great conversations with travelers from all over the world. During our two days there, we had enjoyable chats with folks from Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, France, Quebec, Scotland, and England.

After a peaceful night's rest snuggled in a few different blankets to stay warm during the chilly conditions, we embarked on, quite possibly, the greatest hike that either of us have ever experienced. In majestic terms, this was not close to the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon or perhaps even some of the magnificent climbs we've conquered in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. However, never before had we started a climb at 2,600 meters, with a goal of ascending to a peak of 4,100 meters, or over 12,000 feet. Acting as our own sherpas, we began our journey a little before 9am. Despite encountering steep challenges, snow/ice covered sections of the trail, gargantuan winds near the peaks that nearly blew us away, and somewhat excruciating headaches due in large part to the elevation/lack of oxygen, we returned to the HigherLand Inn around 7:20PM. We were victorious. We summitted two separate peaks higher than 12,000 feet during our approximately 10.5 hour trek. It was an exhaustingly satisfying accomplishment, and we both slept around 11 hours the ensuing night.

The next morning, nearly afternoon following our late sleep, we descended back down the mountain and said farewell to the HigherLand Inn. With sore legs, we strolled the few kilometers back to the main town where we'd be able to find a bus ticket back to Kunming. I doubt many reading this blog will ever have the chance to bike around Erhai Lake or summit the nearby mountains that overlook it. But the entire adventure was a pretty crazy experience.

The legs are still sore. But that's ok.

Evan's Reeducation -- Good times in Kunming

Once again I say ahoy to all and one from the great city of Kunming. It is Monday morning here in the east, and I have a plethora of stories from the past 4 days, some that can be told in this space, others that you will have to hear from me directly at a later date.

Quick hits from the past 96 hours:
On Thursday, Lexi rented me a bike and we rode about 8 kilometers to the Golden Temple. It was a cool place to explore, and at one point the following exchange occurred.
Lexi: "Do you want to sit on a camel?"
Evan (speaking approximately 0.000012 seconds later): "YES"
For 5 yuan (about 70 cents), I sat on a camel roughly the size of Rhode Island. The monstrous animal smelled horrible, but hopefully the stenge won't carry through into the pictures that Lexi took. I'm sure she will post them with embarrassing captions at some later date.

On Friday, Lexi actually had some work to do (trying to convince me that she's here for an internship rather than simply playing ultimate and creating memories). She met a few people for an informal interview at a cafe nearby her apartment. I tagged along with my computer and followed as much basketball as I could. (At this point, the unfortunate shellacking of 84-69 had not occurred yet and I was somewhat excited for the NCAA Tournament... Red was right, hope can drive a man insane.) On Friday night, Lexi and her roomate Jess hosted a dinner party, which was a lot of fun. My friend Todd, who graduated from Wake in 2005 and now lives in Shanghai, came to Kunming for the weekend. It was completely absurd seeing him for the first time in a year and a half in this small city in southwest China. It was also completely awesome. Along with some of Lexi's friends we went out to see some live music after dinner. Tribal Moon was the moniker of the rock quartet that blared their sounds into the streets. They actually weren't terrible. I think jetlag finally caught up with me a little bit, as by around 11:30 or 12 I was totally and completely exhausted. Good times, though.

On Saturday, it was Lexi's 21st birthday, and as a present to her, I let her continue paying for everything. I'm quite the giver. As you might expect, she wanted to do what anyone else would want to do on their birthday: go to the zoo. And as luck had it, there was a zoo basically across the street from where she lived. Todd joined us for a stroll through some pretty interesting habitats. We saw giraffes, zebras, lions, tigers, bears, stegosaurasas, and peacocks. Lots of peacocks. It was a dandy time that was cut short when Lexi received a call asking if we all would be interested in free massages at this new massage place that is opening in Kunming at the end of the month. Basically, they needed live bodies to practice with. And after the experience, I was phenomenally grateful that I was a chosen live body. The three of us all received sensational massages, and afterwards were thanked repeatedly for letting them massage us. It was totally and utterly ridiculous. As someone who had never had a professional massage before, I am officially a huge fan.
Lexi's birthday dinner (Others payed for her, she payed for me of course) featured a diverse hodgepodge of her American and Chinese friends here in Kunming. The solid meal paved the way for other shennanigans amidst an array of card games at another venue nearby. I think she had fun. I know I did.

On Sunday, we slept in, and Lexi basically woke me up with the following words: "Do you want another free massage?" Like Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams, I was confused whether I was in heaven, Iowa, or Kunming. Around 1PM, we walked back to the magical massage place for our aromatherapy oil massage, in which we were forced to remove most of our clothing and be slathered with hot sweet almond oil. It was a completely different experience than the day before (twice as long -- two hours versus one) and it was much more intense. I'm now conditioned to expect a free professional massage every day. One of my best friends from high school is now dating a masseuse back in the states, and he's told me that it is not terrible. No kidding. Any single female professional massage therapists in Salem, Virginia reading this blog right now, give me a call. I'll be joining you in the Roanoke Valley in early April.
After having our muscles worked for two hours, we quickly sped home, collected our frisbee attire, and jolted over to the game of pickup ultimate. It wasn't exactly the thrill of Atlantic Coast regionals, but ultimate is ultimate, and I met a lot of other good people. The few hours of disc were followed by another large dinner, and then a gathering at the nearby apartment inhabitated by the aforementioned duo of frisbee playing twins from Atlanta (Padeia HS). It was an evening filled with plunks. That's right, plunks. Once again, very good times.

I think Lexi and I are off to another city to traverse and explore for the next few days. We miss everyone back in the states and hope that things are well.

One final thought: I watched pretty much the entire Wake-Cleveland State game on streaming video here in China on Saturday morning. It was an abysmal, pathetic, and disgraceful effort, that, after the fact, was not that suprising. For the past few weeks I'd been saying that Wake would either lose to a double-digit seed in the first round or advance to the final four. I had thought the odds were around 50-50. Either was possible. Crash. Burn. Destruction. Finality. Hopefully the trio of immature future millionaires stay in school for another year with a certain fire in the belly that'll transform Wake into a top 5 team in 2010. Wake fans who are calling for Dino's job are embarrassing. They sound like NC State fans who hated Herb Sendek or Kentucky fans who drove away Tubby Smith. I hope that there are better days ahead. I take back me previous statement; Red was wrong. Hope is a good things, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Thank you, Andy Dufresne.

Evan's Reeducation -- It's a Small World

First full day in China included good food, good people, and good hoops.

In the late morning, we began our tour of the city, with Lexi guiding me around town. Few observations: horn beeping is out of control. Both cars and motor scooters are constantly blaring their horns. Perhaps this is because people kind of just walk out in the road as vehicles are moving towards them. I was amazed that people don't get hit more often. Lexi says that the horn isn't an impolite 'get out of my way,' it's more of a 'just realize I'm coming,' but regardless, the shrilling horn is a ubiquitous feature of strolling through the city. Also, I found it kind of strange that a very decent percentage of the girls here are holding hands or interlocking arms when walking around. They weren't gay, or so Lexi said, but many of the girls walk in twos. That's just how friends stay together, I guess.

We had a really cool lunch, my initial meal in China, and my first attempt to conquer chopsticks. In America, my General Gao's chicken or Beef w/ Pea Pods are always consumed with forks. Here, not so much. Lexi ordered four dishes for the two of us: a sizzling beef dish, Grandma's potatoes (a type of mashed potatoes I have never had before), fried red beans, and a plate of broccoli. (These total cost: 42 yuan, or about 6 dollars!!! Food is crazy cheap!) To make my father proud, I stayed clear of the broccoli, but everything else was good/interesting. The gargantuan plate of fried beans was a strange concoction. I liked them at first, but they were very salty and it seemed strange to eat a crunchy bean, almost like a chip. The beef dish and mashed potatoes were both good. The potatoes were a world apart from typical American mashed potatoes though, seasoned w/ very different spices and other stuff. You think of mashed potatoes always containing some butter, but not these. They were really tasty though. My chopstick travails made quite a mess in front of me, and eventually I was either trying to use the chopsticks as more of a shovel-type utensil, or simply using my left hand to place the morsel of food inside the chopsticks that were in my right hand. I hope people were staring. I'm sure it was entertaining.

After lunch, we walked around the city more, browsing in and out of some shops, the most intriguing of which is a store that sells lots of American DVDs for ridiculously cheap prices. I may come home with Seasons 1-4 of Lost for less than 10 bucks. It was also cool to see The Wire, The West Wing, Mad Men, and other shows I liked available for cheap with Chinese writing on the front.

We eventually, at my urging, meandered over to the nearby university, or more specifically, the six outdoor basketball courts on that campus. Arriving mid/late-afternoon, there were tons of kids shooting around and playing pickup games. Despite my attire, jeans and running shoes, I was eager to play, and Lexi was nice enough to ask someone what the protocal was. I was encouraged to go shoot around, and about 15 minutes later, I was involved in a game of 3-on-3. Somehow, I was fortunate enough to end up on a team with two kids who could really play, and it was fantastic. At 5'10'', I was one of the tallest kids there, and really the only one who consistently boxed out. In addition, the biggest thing I saw from the Chinese players was the need to almost always double-pump when going up for a shot or layup. But it was an awesome time. With people waiting, they played very quick games to 5, winners take except when it's game-point. So if you score to go up 4-1, the other team gets the ball up top. My team won the first 6 or 7 games we played, and probably 17 out of 19 games we played overall. It helped that I was playing with the Ray Allen of China, who just kept draining outside shots. It was a really awesome time, despite our inability to communicate. We'd high-five after nice passes and good finishes, take responsibility for our mistakes, and overall the sportsmanship was excellent by everyone there. Definitely a really cool experience; I'm sure I'll play again before I leave.

For dinner, we met up w/ a very cool crew of Lexi's American friends who live here, mostly folks who she met playing frisbee. Included in the crew of 7 kids were twins who both played at Padeia in Atlanta (the top HS for ultimate in the country), one of whom played at Boston University, a team I played against when I was a freshman at Wake. He remembered the game: "I think we beat you guys," he said. Yea, you did. But we beat Duke the following game 13-11, so I remember the day fondly. I was not involved at all in the ordering of the food, but gradually a smorgasbord of dishes arrived at our table. Now, I want to be adventurous and try new things, so I was pretty open to tasting everything. My lasting perspective from the evening was how, at a single meal, there might be 8 different clashing flavors. They all were good and interesting, mostly unlike anything I've had before with differing levels of spicyness. But in China they don't give you water at a meal. They give you tea, in a cup the size of basically a double-shot glass. So at times I was reluctant to really delve into something I thought would be spicy, since I had very little to drink at the table. Following dinner, we proceeded to a trivia night at some bar. It was led by a crew of New Zealanders, and it seemed that there were "white people" from many different parts of the world in attendence. The beer was good, the trivia was challenging (particularly the questions exclusively about Kunming or China, I was completely worthless).

One day down, lots more to see. Stay tuned.

Evan's Reeducation -- A Two Week Experience

Greetings from Kunming, China...

Already, in about 18 hours in this faraway land, I am incredibly grateful to be here, and thankful to have a cultured native guiding me around. Sure, Lexi has only been reeducated for about seven months, but she seems to grasp everything around her. I, meanwhile, am like an infant again when it comes to communication. I look around, watch, listen, and rarely speak. I've never done anything like this before; it's an overwhelming but incredible experience.

The adventure began when I arrived at the Raleigh airport around 6:30 AM on Monday morning. From there, a smooth flight to Newark set the stage for a 13+ hour intercontinental journey to Beijing. Though the endless travel may have been challenging to some, after riding a bus through the South Atlantic League this past summer, it was a peace of cake, particularly with the individual touch-screen devices on the back of every single seat. With over 300 movies, dozens of tv shows, and about 25 arcade games to play, it really wasn't that bad of a time. I devoured three hour-long episodes of The Wire (the most important show ever made -- watch it if you have never seen it), an episode of Flight of the Conchords, two movies (Catch Me If You Can and Meet the Fockers), and a good portion of a Lewis Black HBO special. Combine all that with a few games of Asteroids, Space Invaders, and Mini-Golf, tell me that's not a fun way to spend to 13 hours when you can't move. Sure, you're a little confined in terms of space, but it is not hard to avoid boredom. Plus, they bring you decent food every few hours. The weirdest part was waking up the Chinese guy next to me to be able to get to the bathroom, an underratedly difficult thing to do.

I spent about five hours in the Beijing airport, including a stint in a nice coffee shop. I was planning on eating something, but on the menu everything looked more expensive than the 75 yuan that I possessed (about 10 bucks). I tried to watch Monday's episode of 24 using the wireless internet that was available, but right after hulu loaded it told me that it was not available in this part of the world. In the words of Jack Bauer, dammit.

Despite the fact that I was remarkably sleep deprived, I remained energized. Lexi's talked a lot about everyone staring at her all the time. Me, I felt like I was staring at everyone else. Not in a rude way, but just looking around and trying to understand what was going on around me.

I finally got on my flight to Kunming around 7 PM China team, or 7 AM eastern time (approximately 25 hours since I began the journey). With not much sleep in that duration, I completely passed out on the ensuing flight. I remember putting my headphones on right after we took off, and seemingly moments later my leg was tapped by an attractive Chinese stewardess, asking me to remove them cause we were landing. Fastest three and a half hour flight ever.

That was my journey. Lexi was waiting for me behind the glass with a devious smile on her face. Some might claim her smile is friendly, but I know better. This is the first time we've seen each other since one day last June. Before that, it was for two days the previous Thanksgiving. Now we got two weeks. It's pretty exciting. Much to see. More to experience.

Time to go to dinner, which will apparently be followed by trivia and drinking. Cheers!

I am a wordy blogger I know, but I will try to post more details soon about my first day in China, which included a sensational Chinese lunch, a lengthy walk around town, as well as an awesome bunch of pickup basketball games with no one else who spoke English.

My reeducation continues...

Absurd Chinese Bars

The past week or two of my life has been a nice mix of class, work, frisbee, making new friends, reading books, and eating delicious (and often times way too spicy) food. I have also gone out to a few loud and smoke filled bars, and have been thinking about how interesting it would be to study Chinese Bar/Club culture in more depth, since it is a very bizarre thing. It is a relatively new phenomenon, in which extremely wealthy, young Chinese people go out to dark, sleek clubs that have a lot of neon lights and music that is so loud that it actually physically hurts your heart (and soul) and kind of bounce around to the music and look uncomfortable. The really high rollers get their own private booths (you have to buy a certain absurd amount of alcohol in order to earn this right) and the music is generally somewhere on the "techno" spectrum. What I am describing is the "Chinese" club atmosphere. Meaning, these places are usually filled with mostly Chinese people. However, recently a lot of these clubs have created racist policies where they give free alcohol to any foreigners who show up, because they think that having white people in their bars is good for business and makes them look cool. My friend who is half Chinese and grew up in the states thinks that bars that have this type of deal are racist (white supremacist) because she is just as much of a foreigner as anyone else, but she doesn't look as much like one, and therefore the deal does not apply to her.
I am still not really comfortable with being treated like a celebrity in China (having small children point and stare, having old men greet me on the street and tell me that I should find a Chinese husband, having people ask to take my picture and having random strangers tell me that I have a really nice nose, eyes, hair texture) and so in the bar environment I try to attract as little attention to myself as possible. It is ironic though, because I know that when I go back to the states and there is no one saying these things to me or paying attention to me and yelling "hello" on the street I will definitely miss it. In the states I won't be special anymore, I will just be like everyone else.
But going to Chinese bars is a really interesting study in the surface relationship between Chinese and Foreigners. The first time that I walked into a bar with a few other white girls in China and we were given a complimentary fruit plate and a special booth just because we were foreigners, it really made me think; about what these young Chinese people think when they see a group of young white women and about what I may or may not be doing to reinforce or change their preconceived notions about who I am and what I am doing here.
A lot of the clubs are so loud that you literally have to pretty intensely scream into a persons ear in order to be heard. Speaking Chinese in such situations is hard, and can lead to some interesting misunderstandings. However, there is a "dice game" that people play that I happen to really like that doesn't involve any speaking, you just hold up different fingers and it is a fun way to bond with new Chinese friends.
I am not really sure what my point or message is in talking so extensively about the Chinese clubbing scene. I usually don't go out more than once a week, but every time I do it is generally a worthwhile, entertaining, and ridiculous experience. I am learning that dancing to techno can be fun and that people in Kunming are friendly and interesting. Plus, I never make any new friends if I just stay home.
For example, this Saturday night I went to a Purim Rave at a club across the street from Kunming's art college. It was pretty weird, in an entertaining way of course. The place had the feel of a drafty warehouse with creepy surrealist paintings on the wall, there were glow-stick Jewish stars hanging from the ceiling, Israeli flags over the walls, a bunch of Israeli men running the bar, and eerie music playing. Many people were in costumes and it was an interesting mix of Chinese and foreigners, mostly non-Jews. My favorite part of the evening was when an Israeli guy got up on stage and told the story of Purim in Chinese, especially since his Chinese was spoken with a Hebrew accent. Most of the people I was with didn't speak much Chinese and did not know the story of Purim, so they could not fully appreciate the absurdity of the situation, but I loved it.
Let the absurdity continue. In two days my brother will be here to share it with me, and I hope that by the time I send him home he will have a few bizarre stories of his own to share. Of course, they won't all be about going to bars.

I like weekends

Kunming has been really windy lately, and it rained on Sunday for the first time since I moved here at the beginning of February. It rained for maybe 15 minutes, I was playing frisbee at the time, and it was really fun, except for the slight problem of not having cleats and therefore not having any grip at all on the slippery wet grass.
On Friday I finished two big projects that I had been working on all week long. It was very satisfying. My boss also was preparing to leave to go back to the states for 6 weeks, so it was kind of a crazy day. I also went out on Friday night, which is always an absurd, silly and extremely amusing thing to do in Kunming. There is always techno music, many people creatively dancing mostly with themselves, cheap Chinese beer (大里啤酒）， and just a lot of interesting characters. Kunming is bursting with people who make me laugh. Of course, often times they are not trying to be funny. But that is not the point.
The other thing about going out in Kunming is that the "metaphorical party" does not start until midnight or so. Leaving me to always have that moral dilemma around 11:45pm when I am faced with the decision of going out or going to bed. However, interesting things tend to happen when I leave my apartment, and so I try to remember this fact when sleep seems too tempting. On Saturday I met up with a Chinese friend who I met when I was registering for my class. He is a really interesting kid. He is half Han Chinese and half Bai minority, one of his grandfathers is Russian, his parents are both artists, and he is studying Spanish. Also, each time we meet up he brings along another interesting friend for me to meet. On Saturday I met his half Chinese half Thai friend who is studying English and loves Hannah Montana. Most of the day was spent with them speaking English and me speaking Chinese. Which is nice because it puts everyone at a disadvantage, everyone sounds silly together, and therefore everyone is on an even playing field. They both speak English really well though, and like to use corny English sayings like "Know yourself" (认识自己). We also spoke some Spanish, which made my brain hurt. Some German was thrown into the mix as well. My very very limited Thai is also pretty rusty, so I embarrassed myself a fair amount with that. Then there is the local dialect of Kunming (kunminghua) which basically sounds like Mandarin that has been put through a food processor. Also, when my new friends pick up the phone, they greet eachother in Japanese. If you are curious what this sounds like, it is something like "mohshy mohshy" where the 'oh' sound is similar to the sound that seals make. I can't think of any other (possibly less offensive) way to describe it.
So all in all it was a very interesting day. We sat in a smoke filled coffee shop for many hours (nearly every male in China smokes along with the girls who think that they are particularly cool) before venturing down the street to eat some Kunming specialty "across the bridge noodles." There is a cute story about a girl carrying these noodles across a bridge to her husband who was working on the other side. They are also a fun and interactive eating experience because you are given a bowl of boiling broth, a bowl of cold rice noodles, a plate of raw meat and vegetables, and a little thing of spices and then you mix them all together yourself. They are delicious and 12 yuan (less than 2 dollars).
On Saturday night I slept 12 hours. I just wanted to brag about that.
On Sunday I played Frisbee pickup in the rain and then we all went to eat dinner together, which is so much more fun than eating in a small group, because you order lots of dishes and eat all together and you get lots of variety of deliciousness.
Now it is the work week and I am getting up early for class and running errands and getting stuff done.
Soon my brobro will be here. Who votes that I put him on a 15 hour overnight bus ride? What about a 40 hour hard seat train ride? Oh the possibilities!