At the Center of the World, V. 12
The archive of the previous 11 entries can be found on my website.
I am in Mudanjiang, a city in north-eastern China, near the Siberian border. I'm a preschool English teacher, and I will be here for the next 9+ months. I have been writing a weekly update on my happenings here. I'll be trying to put them up on this site, as long as livejournal works out here. Sometimes livejournal has problems in China, but right now, it seems to be working fine.
-------
Hello, and many, many greetings.
WINTER'S bread and butter
Well, for those of you who think I'm in paradise, drinking tea, eating pot stickers, and being surrounded by lofty clouds, green hills, mountain fog, and cool air, a subtle reminder should be passed on. For the past two days Mudanjiang has been in a snowstorm, albeit a calm, polite storm. This morning on the way to breakfast, I noticed the water from the drainpipes froze so that cylinders of ice, fresh and pure, hung from the spouts of the pipes and looked like they had no intention of giving up their place. That, and I almost fell on my butt just walking to the bathroom. To the person walking beside me, I joked that perhaps I needed a new pair of shoes.
In Chicago, I remember the winters as slow, comely creatures, who snuck up in the middle of autumn and gradually grew. In China, the winter came swiftly, from one autumn day when there were still leaves on the ground, to the next morning when the ice froze and snow fell from the sky as if a bucket had been dropped.
Mr. Tau, a friend of the school, was to leave this morning for Harbin by bus, but when he left for the bus station he was informed the roads had iced so badly that he would have to wait and take a train tomorrow morning.
So far in these two days, I have seen three people "try" and ride their bicycles over the snow and ice. Of course, they fell. Those were the first three people I've ever seen in China fall from their bikes.
MOVIES for you, movies for me...
http://movie.mdj.cn/
Stunned would be a bad word to use. Aghast, flabergasted, ridden with disbelief, struck by light, hit by a train, grafted with iron... perhaps those would be better words to use, when describing this website. For me, an American, at least, because in America we take our copyrights pretty seriously. After all, if we come up with an idea and we patent it, its ours. Might as well get our name branded into the book of amazing imagineers. But a whole site, dedicated to streaming whole movies on the internet, free of charge? It's also Mudajiang's official movie website. Harbin has one as well, but the Harbin website charges a fee. This one is free. That's something else....
BABY pictures
On Friday, I was leaping up and down the stairs of the building (its a daily tactic I use to relieve energy and relieve boredom) when I had the opportunity to carry a two year old down the stairs. I was amazed, because she jumped into my arms without a hesitating cry or a fearful gaze. That, and she nearly fell asleep. I felt very special.
Later that day, I noticed a calender on the wall, and her picture was the central picture of the yearly calender. I felt like the king of the world.
Her picture is no longer there, but there are tons of really great Chinese baby pictures on this website. If you're a fan, I suggest you take a look. http://www.mdjlife.com/id/smile/index.htm
COMMUNITY and need
Over the past eleven weeks, my biggest need has been connecting with foreigners. Although being surrounded by people most of the day, the lack of similar culture is often lonely. Not being able to speak with someone who understands the concept of going out on a walk by yourself just for the heck of it, often has lead me to wondering why I was really here. It's immature, but also shows me how tied to my culture I really am.
When I do have the chance to speak with someone who understands my "being," then I am instantly revitalized. "Being," as in someone who understands where I came from, my American-ness, and my philosophy of humanism. It's all very subtle, but somehow, its been my biggest need.
JOKES on you, my friend
Cook John teased me today. He told me, over lunch, that today he was leaving for America. Susan delightfully partook in this tease, and told me he was going to Tennesee to be a cook at a Chinese restaurant. Because so much has happened to me in the small time I've been in China, I had no problem believing it.
This evening, I saw John in the kitchen, preparing dinner. I asked him why he hadn't left yet. I thought perhaps he was going to take a bus to Harbin to catch a plane, and he was still here because of the icy roads. But he told me he wasn't leaving, and then laughed. I still wasn't convinced, so I asked him when he was going to America. He told me maybe three, four years. To me, however, it's still perfectly reasonable that he could leave for America tomorrow morning, and I wouldn't be the least surprised. It seems to be the way of things around here.
PONDERING on things
I'm still in a pretty dour mood today. I watched this movie, Asoka, today. It's about an Indian Emperor who united India in what was one of the bloodiest wars in history. So I've been reeling in the question of why people even bother raising their fists against one another, when its so much easier to kiss and forgive. That doesn't have anything to do with China, persay, but as its a significant part of this letter's tone, so I felt like I should include it. But I don't want to end there.
FOOD for thought
For the past few days, I've found myself in a restaurant near the school, closing my eyes and pointing blindly to anything on the menu. I usually order a few sticks of mutton (which has become my favorite food, moving over the rank of Kansas steak), and then something random which I don't know the meaning.
The Chinese will cook anything that can be put onto a stick. And most things, they've shown to me in the past few days, can be put onto a stick. One evening, I ate sticks of pepperoni that had been cooked over an open fire, and then stuck horizontal onto two metal sticks with wooden handles.
The previous evening, I ordered what is called anchoun. When the waitress first brought out a tiny chicken stuck onto three metal sticks, with the head and feet and claws still attached, I was a bit confused. I continued to stare at the chicken for about three minutes before I finally gave up trying to maw through the skin with my teeth while the chicken was still stuck with metal, and pulled the creature off, and then used my hands, all barbarian like, until I had made a complete mess of a perfectly fine animal.
I never did eat the head.
Until next time,
Benjamin Seeberger
http://cultured.fishspeaker.com
The People's Republic of China,
Heilonjiang Sheng, Mudanjiang Shi,
Fuminjie dong xiao liu tiao Lu,
Jia Mei You Er Yuan
Cell: 011-86-1384-539-6271
I am in Mudanjiang, a city in north-eastern China, near the Siberian border. I'm a preschool English teacher, and I will be here for the next 9+ months. I have been writing a weekly update on my happenings here. I'll be trying to put them up on this site, as long as livejournal works out here. Sometimes livejournal has problems in China, but right now, it seems to be working fine.
-------
Hello, and many, many greetings.
WINTER'S bread and butter
Well, for those of you who think I'm in paradise, drinking tea, eating pot stickers, and being surrounded by lofty clouds, green hills, mountain fog, and cool air, a subtle reminder should be passed on. For the past two days Mudanjiang has been in a snowstorm, albeit a calm, polite storm. This morning on the way to breakfast, I noticed the water from the drainpipes froze so that cylinders of ice, fresh and pure, hung from the spouts of the pipes and looked like they had no intention of giving up their place. That, and I almost fell on my butt just walking to the bathroom. To the person walking beside me, I joked that perhaps I needed a new pair of shoes.
In Chicago, I remember the winters as slow, comely creatures, who snuck up in the middle of autumn and gradually grew. In China, the winter came swiftly, from one autumn day when there were still leaves on the ground, to the next morning when the ice froze and snow fell from the sky as if a bucket had been dropped.
Mr. Tau, a friend of the school, was to leave this morning for Harbin by bus, but when he left for the bus station he was informed the roads had iced so badly that he would have to wait and take a train tomorrow morning.
So far in these two days, I have seen three people "try" and ride their bicycles over the snow and ice. Of course, they fell. Those were the first three people I've ever seen in China fall from their bikes.
MOVIES for you, movies for me...
http://movie.mdj.cn/
Stunned would be a bad word to use. Aghast, flabergasted, ridden with disbelief, struck by light, hit by a train, grafted with iron... perhaps those would be better words to use, when describing this website. For me, an American, at least, because in America we take our copyrights pretty seriously. After all, if we come up with an idea and we patent it, its ours. Might as well get our name branded into the book of amazing imagineers. But a whole site, dedicated to streaming whole movies on the internet, free of charge? It's also Mudajiang's official movie website. Harbin has one as well, but the Harbin website charges a fee. This one is free. That's something else....
BABY pictures
On Friday, I was leaping up and down the stairs of the building (its a daily tactic I use to relieve energy and relieve boredom) when I had the opportunity to carry a two year old down the stairs. I was amazed, because she jumped into my arms without a hesitating cry or a fearful gaze. That, and she nearly fell asleep. I felt very special.
Later that day, I noticed a calender on the wall, and her picture was the central picture of the yearly calender. I felt like the king of the world.
Her picture is no longer there, but there are tons of really great Chinese baby pictures on this website. If you're a fan, I suggest you take a look. http://www.mdjlife.com/id/smile/index.htm
COMMUNITY and need
Over the past eleven weeks, my biggest need has been connecting with foreigners. Although being surrounded by people most of the day, the lack of similar culture is often lonely. Not being able to speak with someone who understands the concept of going out on a walk by yourself just for the heck of it, often has lead me to wondering why I was really here. It's immature, but also shows me how tied to my culture I really am.
When I do have the chance to speak with someone who understands my "being," then I am instantly revitalized. "Being," as in someone who understands where I came from, my American-ness, and my philosophy of humanism. It's all very subtle, but somehow, its been my biggest need.
JOKES on you, my friend
Cook John teased me today. He told me, over lunch, that today he was leaving for America. Susan delightfully partook in this tease, and told me he was going to Tennesee to be a cook at a Chinese restaurant. Because so much has happened to me in the small time I've been in China, I had no problem believing it.
This evening, I saw John in the kitchen, preparing dinner. I asked him why he hadn't left yet. I thought perhaps he was going to take a bus to Harbin to catch a plane, and he was still here because of the icy roads. But he told me he wasn't leaving, and then laughed. I still wasn't convinced, so I asked him when he was going to America. He told me maybe three, four years. To me, however, it's still perfectly reasonable that he could leave for America tomorrow morning, and I wouldn't be the least surprised. It seems to be the way of things around here.
PONDERING on things
I'm still in a pretty dour mood today. I watched this movie, Asoka, today. It's about an Indian Emperor who united India in what was one of the bloodiest wars in history. So I've been reeling in the question of why people even bother raising their fists against one another, when its so much easier to kiss and forgive. That doesn't have anything to do with China, persay, but as its a significant part of this letter's tone, so I felt like I should include it. But I don't want to end there.
FOOD for thought
For the past few days, I've found myself in a restaurant near the school, closing my eyes and pointing blindly to anything on the menu. I usually order a few sticks of mutton (which has become my favorite food, moving over the rank of Kansas steak), and then something random which I don't know the meaning.
The Chinese will cook anything that can be put onto a stick. And most things, they've shown to me in the past few days, can be put onto a stick. One evening, I ate sticks of pepperoni that had been cooked over an open fire, and then stuck horizontal onto two metal sticks with wooden handles.
The previous evening, I ordered what is called anchoun. When the waitress first brought out a tiny chicken stuck onto three metal sticks, with the head and feet and claws still attached, I was a bit confused. I continued to stare at the chicken for about three minutes before I finally gave up trying to maw through the skin with my teeth while the chicken was still stuck with metal, and pulled the creature off, and then used my hands, all barbarian like, until I had made a complete mess of a perfectly fine animal.
I never did eat the head.
Until next time,
Benjamin Seeberger
http://cultured.fishspeaker.com
The People's Republic of China,
Heilonjiang Sheng, Mudanjiang Shi,
Fuminjie dong xiao liu tiao Lu,
Jia Mei You Er Yuan
Cell: 011-86-1384-539-6271