(posted by Dave)
Found on the internet - chock full o-stereotypes, but still worth thinking about.
“There are different species of laziness: Eastern and Western. The Eastern style is like the one practised in India. It consists of hanging out all day in the sun, doing nothing, avoiding any kind of work or useful activity, drinking cups of tea, listening to Hindi film music blaring on the radio, and gossiping with friends. Western laziness is quite different. It consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so there is no time at all to confront the real issues. This form of laziness lies in our failure to choose worthwhile applications for our energy.”
– Sogyal Rinpiche
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
All kinds of Lazy...
Monday, October 26, 2009
Introducing our water heater
(posted by Dave)
Hi everyone - This is our water heater. (Water heater, this is everyone) Our water heater is our friend, even if it sounds like a small Saturn V rocket going off in the corner of our kitchen every time you turn on the faucet. Notice the lack of a tank, by the way - that's because, like most of the world, it only heats the water on demand, as you need it.
Well, usually heats, I should say. This weekend, our water heater had a little time off. Not because it wasn't working, but simply because there was no water to heat. Because of (local construction? a water main break? a visiting herd of elephants all taking a shower at the same time?), we had zero water from about ten on Saturday morning to sometime around nine Sunday night. Not enough to make life utterly impossible, but enough to make it interesting in a way we wouldn't have chosen ourselves, especially since our country director was visiting at the time.
Fortunately, the water was running in the public restrooms of the building next door, so we schlepped a big bucket of water up our five flights of stairs, which worked to wash hands and flush the toilet. And Kathi, our MCC country director, has been living in China for many years, so she was quite unfazed by the whole thing, and we had a very pleasant and informative visit with her.
Still, there is nothing like a big nasty growing dirty pile of Every Single Eating Utensil In the House Covered With Food by the Sink to make you appreciate the everyday miracle of hot running water that most of us take for granted. So, everyone, as you take your piping hot showers this winter, stop and turn off the water every once in a while as you soap up, and count your blessings, gol darn it. Who knows, it could even turn into a habit...
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Thingzi on my mind...
I don’t know if you knew this, but China is in the midst of a serious word shortage. At least that’s how it appears to this humble reporter trying to learn the language. Consider the example of the character “zi” (pronounced “zuh”). The character itself means “child”, but added to another syllable, it usually means “thing”. Or, “hey, this word’s a noun, in case you didn’t notice...”
Herewith, for your edification as well as mine,
a list of all of the words I know (and some that I looked up) ending with “zi”. Read it and weep...
baozi (bag thing) - steamed bread with filling
beizi - glass
chazi - fork
chongzi - bug
daizi - bag
erzi (child thing) - son
guazi - pumpkin seeds
huzi - (reckless or barbarian thing) - beard
houzi - monkey
jiazi - shelf
jiaozi - boiled dumpling
kuzi - pants
lizi - plum. (Or is it chair?)
luzi - pomelo, grapefruit
haozi - mouse or rat (more on that later)
juzi - orange
kuaizi - chopsticks
maozi - hat, cap
qunzi - skirt, dress
shaozi - spoon
shizi - lion
shuzi - comb
tanzi - blanket
tuzi - rabbit
wazi - socks
xiazi - shrimp
xiezi - shoes
yezi - leaves
zhuozi - table
Friday, October 23, 2009
Photographic Proof...
... that people here are serious about their chili paste. This picture from an open house and organic farm tour that we went to last Sunday. The pot in question is about the size of your average American kitchen sink, and I'd guess there's about 40 pounds of ground red chili in it. Over 100 people showed up for the event, which also included a humungous lunch for everyone in the courtyard of one of the farmer's houses. That's a lot of forehead sweat!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
From the “probably not funny to anyone else but me” department:
Found on the internet, the Zombie Protest Chant, as follows:
“What do we want?”
“BRAAAINS!”
“When do we want it?”
“BRAAAINS!”
Another find (not having anything to do with zombies, btw) - the ever popular “baby in a bucket” home swimming pool. (Baby sold separately...)
Friday, October 16, 2009
A guaranteed morale booster
(posted by Dave)
Take a class of around 42 Chinese college sophomores. Add the Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four” (with printed lyrics).
Play song, encourage everyone to sing along loudly.
Repeat.
(Oh, and guess which song will be going through my head for the next month or so...?)
My Ankleodyssey
(posted by Dave)
(Image: One of my acupuncture sessions, complete with burning coals on the ends of each needle, mid-August or thereabouts)
Those who have seen me since mid-June may know that I’ve had chronic pain in my right ankle. I’ve come up with various theories about the cause. Bruised achilles tendon? Stress from carrying Ysa in a poorly adjusted backpack carrier? Bad shoes? Wearing my flip flops too much?
I’ve likewise tried various remedies to fix it, from ice to acupuncture to elevation to traditional Chinese medicine, but nothing seemed to work long-term. Just recently, thanks to the help of two large two-by-fours that fell crashing onto my right toe, I decided to stop procrastinating and finally get an x-ray or two.
While my toe is just bruised, the x-rays confirmed what I had started to suspect: I have a new little friend - a bone spur on my ankle, somewhere near my achilles tendon. Think of the achilles tendon as being about the same width as the hair on the bow of a violin. If you then put nerve endings in the bow, and rub it back and forth repeatedly over a small pointy rock, you’ve got some idea of what’s been going on with my ankle lately. Not that I’m complaining, but - oh, wait. Yep, I am complaining. It really stinks. In the spirit of sharing my misery with the world at large, following are some insights I have gained from my experience.
Acupuncture doesn’t hurt, because the needles are super thin. Unless of course, you have some swelling in the part of the body you are treating. Then it hurts like crazy when the needles go in, and then changes to a strange dull throbbing that gradually calms down to a relieved numbness that changes back to a sharp pain if you move your foot more than a sixteenth of an inch. Oh, and then another sharp sharp pain when the needles get yanked out. Later your foot feels better. (Maybe because there are no longer needles stuck in it?)
Chinese doctors can and will laugh at you, especially if you present your own theory of the cause of your problem. Bone spur? Ha ha, heavens no. Silly foreigner - your heel joint was dislocated. I fixed it! Just walk around for a bit, you’ll see. To be fair, the doctor in question did entirely eliminate all traces of pain from my heel with three or four precisely timed sharp and painful tugs on my foot. (“Tugs” meaning that she grabbed onto each side of my heel and pulled backwards at approximately 94 mph with all her body weight.) The pain in my ankle soon returned, as did soreness in my arch, but the pain in the heel took off running and hasn’t been heard from since.
You can get X-rays in China for RMB 100 (approx $14.61) apiece. For that price, they’ll throw in a couple of long waits in line, receipts that show you’ve paid for your appointment, receipts that show you’ve paid to get your X-ray, receipts that show that you have an appointment to interpret your X-ray, and receipts for your prescription. You also get staff that are helpful and courteous, plenty of scuffs and streaks and just plain dirt on the waiting room walls, and scary looking lead-lined doors in X-ray room that slide ominously closed and remind you of the scene in the Watchmen where Dr. Manhattan gets every atom in his body pulverized. Oh, and a nifty plastic bag with all sorts of Chinese writing on it that contains the only copies of your X-rays. Don’t lose these.
(Image: One of my acupuncture sessions, complete with burning coals on the ends of each needle, mid-August or thereabouts)
Those who have seen me since mid-June may know that I’ve had chronic pain in my right ankle. I’ve come up with various theories about the cause. Bruised achilles tendon? Stress from carrying Ysa in a poorly adjusted backpack carrier? Bad shoes? Wearing my flip flops too much?
I’ve likewise tried various remedies to fix it, from ice to acupuncture to elevation to traditional Chinese medicine, but nothing seemed to work long-term. Just recently, thanks to the help of two large two-by-fours that fell crashing onto my right toe, I decided to stop procrastinating and finally get an x-ray or two.
While my toe is just bruised, the x-rays confirmed what I had started to suspect: I have a new little friend - a bone spur on my ankle, somewhere near my achilles tendon. Think of the achilles tendon as being about the same width as the hair on the bow of a violin. If you then put nerve endings in the bow, and rub it back and forth repeatedly over a small pointy rock, you’ve got some idea of what’s been going on with my ankle lately. Not that I’m complaining, but - oh, wait. Yep, I am complaining. It really stinks. In the spirit of sharing my misery with the world at large, following are some insights I have gained from my experience.
Acupuncture doesn’t hurt, because the needles are super thin. Unless of course, you have some swelling in the part of the body you are treating. Then it hurts like crazy when the needles go in, and then changes to a strange dull throbbing that gradually calms down to a relieved numbness that changes back to a sharp pain if you move your foot more than a sixteenth of an inch. Oh, and then another sharp sharp pain when the needles get yanked out. Later your foot feels better. (Maybe because there are no longer needles stuck in it?)
Chinese doctors can and will laugh at you, especially if you present your own theory of the cause of your problem. Bone spur? Ha ha, heavens no. Silly foreigner - your heel joint was dislocated. I fixed it! Just walk around for a bit, you’ll see. To be fair, the doctor in question did entirely eliminate all traces of pain from my heel with three or four precisely timed sharp and painful tugs on my foot. (“Tugs” meaning that she grabbed onto each side of my heel and pulled backwards at approximately 94 mph with all her body weight.) The pain in my ankle soon returned, as did soreness in my arch, but the pain in the heel took off running and hasn’t been heard from since.
You can get X-rays in China for RMB 100 (approx $14.61) apiece. For that price, they’ll throw in a couple of long waits in line, receipts that show you’ve paid for your appointment, receipts that show you’ve paid to get your X-ray, receipts that show that you have an appointment to interpret your X-ray, and receipts for your prescription. You also get staff that are helpful and courteous, plenty of scuffs and streaks and just plain dirt on the waiting room walls, and scary looking lead-lined doors in X-ray room that slide ominously closed and remind you of the scene in the Watchmen where Dr. Manhattan gets every atom in his body pulverized. Oh, and a nifty plastic bag with all sorts of Chinese writing on it that contains the only copies of your X-rays. Don’t lose these.
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