Sichuan

I left Beijing several days ago to come to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. In a couple days I will head to Kunming, which is a little further south.

Chengdu has an incredible vibe that I really enjoy. The food is delicious, and the culture is really laid-back. Buying street food at 2am, even on a weekday, is no problem since people stay up so late. Also, everything is much cheaper than in Beijing.

I've been really impressed with some of the expats here. Freelance musicians, magazine creators/editors, and others who have started small non-profits. All of these people are in their mid-twenties--not much older than me. It takes creativity and courage to invent a job for yourself in an unfamiliar country.

I went to a small, earthquake-stricken village about two hours outside of Chengdu today. I met some people who had been going there every Sunday for the last 5 weeks to play with the kids. There were about 20 foreigners in the group this week.

Many of the homes in the village had been completely destroyed by the earthquake, so lots of people stayed in tents next to the rubble. A depressing scene. Nonetheless, hanging out with the kids for a few hours was a lot of fun. Being able to speak some basic Mandarin also made my experience much more enjoyable. I'll eventually put up a couple pictures.

I think Chengdu ties Beijing as my favorite city in China. ASU has an exchange program with Sichuan University (located in Chengdu), which I'm definitely considering for the future. This city would be a great place to live.

Many more stories, but I lack the time and discipline to write them out. Perhaps I'll get in the mood once I stop travelling and settle in Beijing.

Alive and Kicking

So what have I been doing lately?

After finishing my teaching gig at Nanjing Medical University, I spent a little more than a week traveling to some big cities in Eastern China. These included Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai. I stayed in a youth hostel for one night, and the rest of the time I stayed in people's homes using the website Couchsurfing.com. This was an incredibly positive experience for me.

-Met some awesome people from all over the world. Musicians, intellectuals, world-travelers, country folks, common people, socialists, missionaries, artists, etc.
-Heard some unbelievable stories involving trans-continental hitchhiking, underground churches, the Chinese mafia, etc, etc, etc.
-Spent hours discussing Chinese politics, society and language. This country holds a very complex political and sociological environment.
-Ate some great (and not-so-great) food.
-Improved my Mandarin by wandering through old neighborhoods and talking to the residents.
-My iPod has been invaluable to me. I listen to lots of music, podcasts, and sermons as I travel by foot, bus and subway.

I am currently in Beijing taking care of some administrative details involving my school, which starts July 21st. In a few days, I will go to the deep (and not-so-deep) South to do some hiking, biking and exploring. The SD-card slot on my computer seems to be broken, so I have only been able to upload a few pictures and no videos. I am trying to remedy this somehow.

Olympic Torch Relay

Here is a video from when I saw the Olympic torch.

The Olympics are a major force in advertising in and out of Beijing and many Chinese people are kind of obsessed. I saw a grown man on the bus who had a cell phone decorated with the Olympic mascot cartoon characters. The equivalent would be a man carrying around a cartoon-themed lunchbox. This kind of enthusiasm is so strange to me.

I think the hypefest surrounding the Olympics is both a result and a cause of hyper-nationalism. Not to say that all Chinese are hyper-nationalists, but there are lots that are. This makes conversation very interesting at times.