Healing, facing facism, and the mystery of China.
Hi, friends,
Where to begin? I'll start by saying that it took me a full week before I began to warm up to China. Which is weird, because everything was pointing to an awesome time.
Upon arrival I met up with a wonderful singer and songwriter named Jess Meider. Check her out at http://www.blog.jessmeider.com. Careful, you might think you're falling in love with her, her songs are so good. :)
Jess was good enough to host me on my first night, and hooked me up with a few great musicians, and we played a lovely concert at a nice place in town, and also went and sat in at a few clubs, most memorably the East Shore Live Jazz Cafe. Hanging out with them has been wonderful, and Jess also teaches yoga. Most of you know that I like meditation and (sometimes) exercise, but NOT put together. Jess is such a brilliant teacher that she changed all of that, mostly due to the fact that she herself is so keenly aware that she's able to communicate in a really beautiful way to her students the importance of mindfulness and bringing the mind back to the breath, where other teachers just tell you to breath without explaination.
If everything's so awesome, then why did I start out hating China? A few days into my stay here, I was walking along street and looking at some of the jewelry people were selling on the street when all-of-a-sudden the police came by and everyone went in a mad dash to clear up their things. Most of them didn't get it all, and the police confiscated it. Yelling, anger, crying, begging, and pleading ensued. I got some of this on film until a policeman made me stop. Then there's the fact that the Chinese government blocks the use of Facebook, Youtube, Picasa, Blogger (hence the lack of photos and blogs for so long), Twitter, and of bunch of other useful websites that we Americans consider a human right to use on a daily, if not hourly basis. Basically there's a HUGE firewall that you can't get around unless you have a proxy, but most proxies are taken down within just a couple of days. Oh, and no one here speaks English. That wouldn't be a problem, but China is also very self-centered, much like the U.S., and people here really couldn't care less about tourism and tourists. The economy's booming, so there's no need for tourism money or learning English. Which, of course, puts me in a awkward position. Walking happily around a shop getting ready to take photos of all the different kids of ginseng and being angrily gesticulated at that no photos are allowed. All this was coupled with bad smog, huge bustling city with everyone pushing and shoving, and I was NOT a happy camper. Since then, several people have told me stories, one of which was that this guy Carl couldn't get out of the train station for so long (it was so packed) that he finally had to start pushing people out of the way (something I've seen people do a lot here--it's very much move or get moved). After a few minutes of trying to do this, the police came over. Carl thought he was in trouble, when the people began to beat people who weren't getting out of the way fast enough with their batons.
Then last night people at my guest house told me that they were at a tourist site and were approched by an old woman begging for money. They were taking out their wallets when the police came up and arrested the woman. Apparently it was a place where begging isn't allowed. So, friends, this is the face of facism, real, and true, grim and relentless, as you literally never know when it might strike.
Nonethless, I tried to be positive. Moved from an awful hostel to a lovely Hutong Guest House (see photos). I saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the 798 Arts District (thanks for that suggestion, Gurri), all of which were super interesting. The 798 arts district in particular is a huge district FULL of modern art galleries, installations, museums, shops, and cafes. Everything is stone, glass, and concrete, and well--you can see why I liked it.
I met up with some Americans at the Wangfujing market and together we ate scorpions and seahorses. I say together, but really I was the one who bought them and they only tried it because I think otherwise they'd had felt like real wussies after watching me try them. Then we tried a skewer of something that someone later told us was dog. This did NOT make me happy, and I prefer not to know whether it was a joke or wasn't.
Then I began to take Beijing at my pace. I feel like a bit of an old lady, but Beijing is so overwhelming and the smog and pollution is so tiring that I'll often find myself coming back home for a respite after only a few hours. What's warming me up to China, then? Well, in unexpected places people are very nice. Like in tea shops. And nail salons. The guy who owns my guest house, Bobby, has been writing everything down for me in Mandarin so the taxi drivers know where I want to go. Also, his English is good, so we've had some good conversations and he's been able to explain things I haven't yet been able to understand, like why people even still so love Chairman Mao, despite the 30 million people dead (most people who died were of the upper clsses, and since he did good things for the poor, the general population still reveres him as their quality of life has increased tremendously).
I've tried roasted goose, hot pot (but Paul, it wasn't as good as your family's), Sichuan food (delicious, but not as spicy as people would have you think, at least after just having been in Thailand), took a cooking class (you can expect a dinner party when I get back) AND went to the Din Tai Fung *IN* China! That's 3 continents, now, and the best dumplings in the world (even the NY Times says so).
But I think the thing that's turned me around the most is this. The most I could ask for from this trip was to have my faith in the human spirit restored, after what was the most painful time in my life thus far. But through Jess and her amazing music, plus the little crush I developed here (just a crush, nothing to write about), I was reminded of my faith in myself, and able to revel in the glory of feeling emotions that I'd thought were gone forever.
So, it looks like I'll be adding a stop in Greece to my trip, which is really exciting. So, for now, China shall remain a mystery. My little tiny glimpse of China was just that--a glimpse. It's not the first on my list to return too, but I'm sure one day I'll back. Off for now...and if you know anyone in Rome, I donät know anywhere and Iäd love to have a friend. Let me know!
here the the pics of China:
http://picasaweb.google.com/leibolicious
love,
sar
Where to begin? I'll start by saying that it took me a full week before I began to warm up to China. Which is weird, because everything was pointing to an awesome time.
Upon arrival I met up with a wonderful singer and songwriter named Jess Meider. Check her out at http://www.blog.jessmeider.com. Careful, you might think you're falling in love with her, her songs are so good. :)
Jess was good enough to host me on my first night, and hooked me up with a few great musicians, and we played a lovely concert at a nice place in town, and also went and sat in at a few clubs, most memorably the East Shore Live Jazz Cafe. Hanging out with them has been wonderful, and Jess also teaches yoga. Most of you know that I like meditation and (sometimes) exercise, but NOT put together. Jess is such a brilliant teacher that she changed all of that, mostly due to the fact that she herself is so keenly aware that she's able to communicate in a really beautiful way to her students the importance of mindfulness and bringing the mind back to the breath, where other teachers just tell you to breath without explaination.
If everything's so awesome, then why did I start out hating China? A few days into my stay here, I was walking along street and looking at some of the jewelry people were selling on the street when all-of-a-sudden the police came by and everyone went in a mad dash to clear up their things. Most of them didn't get it all, and the police confiscated it. Yelling, anger, crying, begging, and pleading ensued. I got some of this on film until a policeman made me stop. Then there's the fact that the Chinese government blocks the use of Facebook, Youtube, Picasa, Blogger (hence the lack of photos and blogs for so long), Twitter, and of bunch of other useful websites that we Americans consider a human right to use on a daily, if not hourly basis. Basically there's a HUGE firewall that you can't get around unless you have a proxy, but most proxies are taken down within just a couple of days. Oh, and no one here speaks English. That wouldn't be a problem, but China is also very self-centered, much like the U.S., and people here really couldn't care less about tourism and tourists. The economy's booming, so there's no need for tourism money or learning English. Which, of course, puts me in a awkward position. Walking happily around a shop getting ready to take photos of all the different kids of ginseng and being angrily gesticulated at that no photos are allowed. All this was coupled with bad smog, huge bustling city with everyone pushing and shoving, and I was NOT a happy camper. Since then, several people have told me stories, one of which was that this guy Carl couldn't get out of the train station for so long (it was so packed) that he finally had to start pushing people out of the way (something I've seen people do a lot here--it's very much move or get moved). After a few minutes of trying to do this, the police came over. Carl thought he was in trouble, when the people began to beat people who weren't getting out of the way fast enough with their batons.
Then last night people at my guest house told me that they were at a tourist site and were approched by an old woman begging for money. They were taking out their wallets when the police came up and arrested the woman. Apparently it was a place where begging isn't allowed. So, friends, this is the face of facism, real, and true, grim and relentless, as you literally never know when it might strike.
Nonethless, I tried to be positive. Moved from an awful hostel to a lovely Hutong Guest House (see photos). I saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the 798 Arts District (thanks for that suggestion, Gurri), all of which were super interesting. The 798 arts district in particular is a huge district FULL of modern art galleries, installations, museums, shops, and cafes. Everything is stone, glass, and concrete, and well--you can see why I liked it.
I met up with some Americans at the Wangfujing market and together we ate scorpions and seahorses. I say together, but really I was the one who bought them and they only tried it because I think otherwise they'd had felt like real wussies after watching me try them. Then we tried a skewer of something that someone later told us was dog. This did NOT make me happy, and I prefer not to know whether it was a joke or wasn't.
Then I began to take Beijing at my pace. I feel like a bit of an old lady, but Beijing is so overwhelming and the smog and pollution is so tiring that I'll often find myself coming back home for a respite after only a few hours. What's warming me up to China, then? Well, in unexpected places people are very nice. Like in tea shops. And nail salons. The guy who owns my guest house, Bobby, has been writing everything down for me in Mandarin so the taxi drivers know where I want to go. Also, his English is good, so we've had some good conversations and he's been able to explain things I haven't yet been able to understand, like why people even still so love Chairman Mao, despite the 30 million people dead (most people who died were of the upper clsses, and since he did good things for the poor, the general population still reveres him as their quality of life has increased tremendously).
I've tried roasted goose, hot pot (but Paul, it wasn't as good as your family's), Sichuan food (delicious, but not as spicy as people would have you think, at least after just having been in Thailand), took a cooking class (you can expect a dinner party when I get back) AND went to the Din Tai Fung *IN* China! That's 3 continents, now, and the best dumplings in the world (even the NY Times says so).
But I think the thing that's turned me around the most is this. The most I could ask for from this trip was to have my faith in the human spirit restored, after what was the most painful time in my life thus far. But through Jess and her amazing music, plus the little crush I developed here (just a crush, nothing to write about), I was reminded of my faith in myself, and able to revel in the glory of feeling emotions that I'd thought were gone forever.
So, it looks like I'll be adding a stop in Greece to my trip, which is really exciting. So, for now, China shall remain a mystery. My little tiny glimpse of China was just that--a glimpse. It's not the first on my list to return too, but I'm sure one day I'll back. Off for now...and if you know anyone in Rome, I donät know anywhere and Iäd love to have a friend. Let me know!
here the the pics of China:
http://picasaweb.google.com/leibolicious
love,
sar
posted by sara leib at 1:57 PM
1 Comments:
saraits me sajju
i am so damn happy
u inspire me .. 8th sept . enjoy .. to the fullest ... this is sajju ehhe :P
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