(no subject)
I'm doing that thing again where I put off posting for a really long time then wind up condensing my experiences from something lucid, yet overwhelmingly long into something so vague it's nearly not worth writing.
I'm again in Chongqing, preparing to take a boat through the three gorges in about three hours. Before this I was in Guilin/Yangshuo, which may be the most DOH (or DoooOOOoooOOhHH as Ross suggests. Stupid orthography) place in the entire world. CHECK IT YO http://images.google.com/images?q=Guilin&hl=zh-CN
Being back in China kind of makes me feel stupid, as I'm doubly reminded of the things I hate here after being in Korea. I remind myself that it's nothing a little modernization won't fix, but that doesn't change the fact that it sucks now! However, being with friends like Alice makes it a lot easier even if we do tend to vent our frustrations on eachother much more than Scott and I did.
Here's the singular most lucid difference between the attitudes toward foreigners of Korea and China: in Korea in numerous places, people would be curious about me and want to know about me. So they came over and asked me. Maybe in english, maybe in Korean. I don't speak any Korean so Jung-Eun or whoever was at hand would translate for me, and translate back to Korean. However, the entire time, whatever person it was would be looking directly at me, as if I were a real, visible person with whom he was conversing. It was the translator that was invisible in those conversations. However, in China, people would rather not know than actually ask me - and I frickin' speak Chinese! They'll ask whatever Chinese person they think is most likely to know - my friends, people near me, fuckin' THE LADY WHO SELLS BUS TICKETS. If my friends tell them to "ask [me], [I] speak Chinese", they'll in general chuckle and turn back around.
Again, nothing that twenty years of modernization and entrance into the global community won't fix, but still I'm feeling a burning desire to get the Hell out of Dodge and go somewhere where I feel like a person again. I feel like I experienced reverse-culture shock coming back to China! ha ha. What does that say...
Also! To any of you jerks who like to say "after SPF30 it doesn't make a difference," I'd like you to know that it CERTAINLY GODDAMN DOES.
I usually wear 75, but when that ran out I used Alice's SPF30. I came back with burned-Ass legs, even though I reapplied every 3 hours! Muh!
Alright, off for my last Sichuan style hotpot! I'm sure I'll miss it when I go home.
Good to be me.
PS! Tonight marks the first time I've ever travelled first-class ANYWHERE. A three day trip on the Chang Jiang (Yangtze? Where on Earth did we get that??), FIRST CLASS SUCKAZZZZZZZZZ.
I'm again in Chongqing, preparing to take a boat through the three gorges in about three hours. Before this I was in Guilin/Yangshuo, which may be the most DOH (or DoooOOOoooOOhHH as Ross suggests. Stupid orthography) place in the entire world. CHECK IT YO http://images.google.com/images?q=Guilin&hl=zh-CN
Being back in China kind of makes me feel stupid, as I'm doubly reminded of the things I hate here after being in Korea. I remind myself that it's nothing a little modernization won't fix, but that doesn't change the fact that it sucks now! However, being with friends like Alice makes it a lot easier even if we do tend to vent our frustrations on eachother much more than Scott and I did.
Here's the singular most lucid difference between the attitudes toward foreigners of Korea and China: in Korea in numerous places, people would be curious about me and want to know about me. So they came over and asked me. Maybe in english, maybe in Korean. I don't speak any Korean so Jung-Eun or whoever was at hand would translate for me, and translate back to Korean. However, the entire time, whatever person it was would be looking directly at me, as if I were a real, visible person with whom he was conversing. It was the translator that was invisible in those conversations. However, in China, people would rather not know than actually ask me - and I frickin' speak Chinese! They'll ask whatever Chinese person they think is most likely to know - my friends, people near me, fuckin' THE LADY WHO SELLS BUS TICKETS. If my friends tell them to "ask [me], [I] speak Chinese", they'll in general chuckle and turn back around.
Again, nothing that twenty years of modernization and entrance into the global community won't fix, but still I'm feeling a burning desire to get the Hell out of Dodge and go somewhere where I feel like a person again. I feel like I experienced reverse-culture shock coming back to China! ha ha. What does that say...
Also! To any of you jerks who like to say "after SPF30 it doesn't make a difference," I'd like you to know that it CERTAINLY GODDAMN DOES.
I usually wear 75, but when that ran out I used Alice's SPF30. I came back with burned-Ass legs, even though I reapplied every 3 hours! Muh!
Alright, off for my last Sichuan style hotpot! I'm sure I'll miss it when I go home.
Good to be me.
PS! Tonight marks the first time I've ever travelled first-class ANYWHERE. A three day trip on the Chang Jiang (Yangtze? Where on Earth did we get that??), FIRST CLASS SUCKAZZZZZZZZZ.