So I've posted a new blog, but because I started it, saved it and wrote other ones since, it's down a few, just scroll down to check it out. It's titled Conservation.
-AL
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The Gym
While I am abroad, I am also still a college athlete, and therefore expected to still be lifting and getting stronger. So I've joined a gym with two other SLU football players (and a bunch of other kids who are in our program), and we lift every Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. The gym is about a 30 minute walk from my home stay, but their is always a lot to look at so I don't mind too much, granted it is a lot further than at school or even at home.
The quality of the gym is fairly high, they have all of the necessities in terms of weights as well as a big multipurpose room where we can do abs and stretch. The weights of course are all in metric, so I don't know exactly what I'm doing for weight, but 'heavy' and 'light' are international measurements.
We definitely stand out when we lift, we are certainly all a lot bigger than almost everyone else in there, and with that we're usually lifting quite a bit more. The other day when I was getting ready to squat, I picked up the bar, stepped back and looked into the mirror and saw about five or six Asian faces staring back at me... it's really pretty weird.
One of the first days I was there I wanted to use some dumbbells that someone had put down, of course I couldn't actually ask him if I could use them because I can't speak hardly any Chinese, so I just kind of gestured toward them. He was very confused about what I wanted so a kid from the program who happened to be there at the same time and speaks really good Chinese interpreted for us. Afterward they were talking and apparently the Chinese guy thought I must of been some Russian weight lifter.
Anyways, a trip to the gym is always pretty eventful.
-AL
PS. I know I wrote about being able to teach at a migrant school, and I'm going to, but so many of us signed up that they split us into two groups, and my group doesn't start till April. So when April comes I'll be sure to write about that but till then it's just 'gym' stories.
The quality of the gym is fairly high, they have all of the necessities in terms of weights as well as a big multipurpose room where we can do abs and stretch. The weights of course are all in metric, so I don't know exactly what I'm doing for weight, but 'heavy' and 'light' are international measurements.
We definitely stand out when we lift, we are certainly all a lot bigger than almost everyone else in there, and with that we're usually lifting quite a bit more. The other day when I was getting ready to squat, I picked up the bar, stepped back and looked into the mirror and saw about five or six Asian faces staring back at me... it's really pretty weird.
One of the first days I was there I wanted to use some dumbbells that someone had put down, of course I couldn't actually ask him if I could use them because I can't speak hardly any Chinese, so I just kind of gestured toward them. He was very confused about what I wanted so a kid from the program who happened to be there at the same time and speaks really good Chinese interpreted for us. Afterward they were talking and apparently the Chinese guy thought I must of been some Russian weight lifter.
Anyways, a trip to the gym is always pretty eventful.
-AL
PS. I know I wrote about being able to teach at a migrant school, and I'm going to, but so many of us signed up that they split us into two groups, and my group doesn't start till April. So when April comes I'll be sure to write about that but till then it's just 'gym' stories.
Fabric Market
Just got back from shopping at the fabric market with two of my friends from SLU and my host sister. The fabric market is three levels of stores packed with vendors selling coats, suits, dresses, silk, ties, belts, jewelry and more. I was sure to bring a limited cash supply going in, but I made out much better than I thought I would, even considering the cheap prices.
I bought... four ties (100 quai), 1 cashmere coat (500 quai), 1 grey suit (330 quai) and two shirts (190 quai). Keep in mind that all has to be tailored because I am much larger than most Chinese men. Thats a grand total of 1,120 RMB, or about 160 USD, pretty good deal.
My sister said I did a good job of bargaining down the price of my jacket, they initially offered it to me at 680 RMB, I told them I could get the same thing for 500 (truth). They then tried to convince me that theirs was of much higher quality (truth), I told them I didn't care (lie). Anyways they went from 680 to 620 to 600, to 560 to 550 to 520 and then very reluctantly to 500 (yes!). 500 RMB is about 75 dollars.
Anyways we had a good time, also got some good quality time in with my Zhong Guo chichi(China Sister).
-AL
P.S. I've been neglecting to tell you all my Chinese name, Li Anze. Li is my family name and Anze literally translates to "safe water land." There is no symbolic reason why that's my name it just happens to sound the closest to 'Andrew Leiser.'
I bought... four ties (100 quai), 1 cashmere coat (500 quai), 1 grey suit (330 quai) and two shirts (190 quai). Keep in mind that all has to be tailored because I am much larger than most Chinese men. Thats a grand total of 1,120 RMB, or about 160 USD, pretty good deal.
My sister said I did a good job of bargaining down the price of my jacket, they initially offered it to me at 680 RMB, I told them I could get the same thing for 500 (truth). They then tried to convince me that theirs was of much higher quality (truth), I told them I didn't care (lie). Anyways they went from 680 to 620 to 600, to 560 to 550 to 520 and then very reluctantly to 500 (yes!). 500 RMB is about 75 dollars.
Anyways we had a good time, also got some good quality time in with my Zhong Guo chichi(China Sister).
-AL
P.S. I've been neglecting to tell you all my Chinese name, Li Anze. Li is my family name and Anze literally translates to "safe water land." There is no symbolic reason why that's my name it just happens to sound the closest to 'Andrew Leiser.'
Friday, March 6, 2009
Conservation
For those of you who have not visited China (I think that might be everyone), I imagine that the image of China's environment you may have is not exactly flattering. You are right. Shanghai's air quality on a good day if worse than LA's on their worst (and much of that pollution is correlated to China). The poor air quality combined with the fact that the vast majority of Chinese people smoke has led to pulmonary disease becoming the number one killer of Chinese people.
But at least for my self when I think of air pollution back home I picture SUV's and pick up trucks, things that are very few in China. The pollution that China endures is mainly the product of 1) their very fast growing economy, many, many factories dot hundreds of cities along the east coast of China and with a poor incentive structure for environmental protection they are largely responsible for the gross pollution of the air and water (although tighter regulations are beginning). 2) The incredible population of China (1.3 BILLION people) has led to deforestation, causing flooding and all sorts of other problems. But the source of the problem is not individuals unlike what many would argue is the source of America's environmental woes.
Example: very, very few people drive cars. If you have a car in Shanghai, you do very well for yourself. And most of the cars that are on the road are fuel efficient, lots of VW's, Toyota's, some Chinese models and the elite drive BMW's and Mercedes.' But if you have a veihicle at all in this city it probably has only two wheels. Mopeds, bicycles, bikes with the wind up electric motors are all very common as well as fleets of motorcycle taxis (caught one on the way home from the gym the other day, beats the heck out of any roller coaster). There are very few SUV's and no pickups.
Also Chinese people generally don't heat their homes as I mentioned previously. There is no central heating system that I've been able to find yet and while homes seem to always have heaters in them, they are almost guaranteed to be off, meaning no electricity, meaning no burning of fossil fuels, meaning no pollution.
An example of Chinese conservation: In my host families home, their bathtub has a leak, rather than allowing it to drip down the drain (or fix it) they put a bucket under the faucet and catch the water. That water is then boiled and put in big thermoses around the house (probably three or for of them). The water from the thermos is then used to fill hot water bottles that we hold and sleep with to help stay warm, because they don't use any heat.
So why is it that Chinese people seem to take conservation very seriously, at least on an individual level? The simple answer is because to be wasteful is very expensive by Chinese standards. Apparently electricity rates during the day are through the roof, so the solution is to simply not use any, or as little as possible. But some would argue that there is a deeper more philosophical reason that has led to this. Confucian ideology is big into the environment, saving water, and nature, there are many sayings in Confucianism that support the protection of the environment from waste and destruction.
So is China's environment really, gross? Yes. Could it be worse? Definitely.
-AL
But at least for my self when I think of air pollution back home I picture SUV's and pick up trucks, things that are very few in China. The pollution that China endures is mainly the product of 1) their very fast growing economy, many, many factories dot hundreds of cities along the east coast of China and with a poor incentive structure for environmental protection they are largely responsible for the gross pollution of the air and water (although tighter regulations are beginning). 2) The incredible population of China (1.3 BILLION people) has led to deforestation, causing flooding and all sorts of other problems. But the source of the problem is not individuals unlike what many would argue is the source of America's environmental woes.
Example: very, very few people drive cars. If you have a car in Shanghai, you do very well for yourself. And most of the cars that are on the road are fuel efficient, lots of VW's, Toyota's, some Chinese models and the elite drive BMW's and Mercedes.' But if you have a veihicle at all in this city it probably has only two wheels. Mopeds, bicycles, bikes with the wind up electric motors are all very common as well as fleets of motorcycle taxis (caught one on the way home from the gym the other day, beats the heck out of any roller coaster). There are very few SUV's and no pickups.
Also Chinese people generally don't heat their homes as I mentioned previously. There is no central heating system that I've been able to find yet and while homes seem to always have heaters in them, they are almost guaranteed to be off, meaning no electricity, meaning no burning of fossil fuels, meaning no pollution.
An example of Chinese conservation: In my host families home, their bathtub has a leak, rather than allowing it to drip down the drain (or fix it) they put a bucket under the faucet and catch the water. That water is then boiled and put in big thermoses around the house (probably three or for of them). The water from the thermos is then used to fill hot water bottles that we hold and sleep with to help stay warm, because they don't use any heat.
So why is it that Chinese people seem to take conservation very seriously, at least on an individual level? The simple answer is because to be wasteful is very expensive by Chinese standards. Apparently electricity rates during the day are through the roof, so the solution is to simply not use any, or as little as possible. But some would argue that there is a deeper more philosophical reason that has led to this. Confucian ideology is big into the environment, saving water, and nature, there are many sayings in Confucianism that support the protection of the environment from waste and destruction.
So is China's environment really, gross? Yes. Could it be worse? Definitely.
-AL
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Funny story.
So the other night at dinner my host mother abruptly stood up and walked into the kitchen, she then proceeded to bring out a pair of my boxers. My host mother (voluntarily) does my laundry (I couldn't tell her not to if I wanted to, my Chinese isn't that good). Anyways, she had been doing laundry that day and they have a washing machine in their apartment but no dryer, which fairly typical in Chinese homes apparently. So to dry the clothes they have a clothes line set up in the living room and they also hang some things out the windows. Of course I written about how cruddy the weather has been here, with all the rain. This makes drying clothes very difficult.
Soooooo, she appears with my boxers which don't appear to look quite right and then she holds them up and I can see that one whole leg is very singed. Apparently what I gathered through charades is that because it had been raining, and the clothes weren't drying she took my boxers into the kitchen and held them over the gas stove to speed up the drying process, she then dropped them and they caught on fire.
She seemed rather distressed about the situation, I thought it was pretty hilarious. She kept say "Wo dui bu qi, wo dui bu qi" (I'm sorry, I'm sorry) and I kept responding "meguanxi, meguanxi" (no big deal, no big deal).
Anyways I think it's pretty funny. These types of stories are definitely part of the home stay experience.
-AL
Soooooo, she appears with my boxers which don't appear to look quite right and then she holds them up and I can see that one whole leg is very singed. Apparently what I gathered through charades is that because it had been raining, and the clothes weren't drying she took my boxers into the kitchen and held them over the gas stove to speed up the drying process, she then dropped them and they caught on fire.
She seemed rather distressed about the situation, I thought it was pretty hilarious. She kept say "Wo dui bu qi, wo dui bu qi" (I'm sorry, I'm sorry) and I kept responding "meguanxi, meguanxi" (no big deal, no big deal).
Anyways I think it's pretty funny. These types of stories are definitely part of the home stay experience.
-AL
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Street Food
So after the first 10 days or so of being cautious and not trying any of the food available from various street vendors around the school I have come to try and love this food option. Fearful of poor sanitation and to quell my fathers worries of me catching some food borne illness, I did not knowingly eat any street food. However, my host mother feeds me the same thing every morning with few exceptions, and it is always very good. Like clock work she leaves the house about 8:40 and is back at 9 with a piping hot breakfast consisting of a bundt (not sure how to say or spell it, but I think that's right) which is like dough stuffed with a pork filling. She also brings me something else, which kind of reminds me of Mexican food, it's a little spicy and crunchy, with like a very thin 'egg-crepe' like wrap.
Walking to school one morning I noticed that people were buying the same thing that I had just eaten for breakfast from a street vendor. Seeing this I decided that it must be ok for me to start becoming slightly more adventurous with my dining choices. So far my favorite vendor food is this dough that they fry on a skillet with an egg, then they wrap a hot dog (or something that looks like a hot dog) and brush a little bbq-esque sauce. All available for five quai, or about 75 cents.
Of course I eat two squares at least at home with my Chinese family so I don't have too many chances to indulge. And just for the record I am yet to be ill on this trip from anything that I've ate or drank.
-AL
Walking to school one morning I noticed that people were buying the same thing that I had just eaten for breakfast from a street vendor. Seeing this I decided that it must be ok for me to start becoming slightly more adventurous with my dining choices. So far my favorite vendor food is this dough that they fry on a skillet with an egg, then they wrap a hot dog (or something that looks like a hot dog) and brush a little bbq-esque sauce. All available for five quai, or about 75 cents.
Of course I eat two squares at least at home with my Chinese family so I don't have too many chances to indulge. And just for the record I am yet to be ill on this trip from anything that I've ate or drank.
-AL
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Got back from the "small" city of Nanjing this afternoon (population 5 million) I also found out the Pat's traded Vrabel. Nanjing as I mentioned previously was the former capital of China back in the day, so it has a very rich history. We left Shanghai on Friday morning and drove the four hours (I had to pee very badly for at least two of those), and arrived at the Nanjing massacre memorial hall.
In 1937 (I think) the Japanese invaded China taking over Shanghai, Nanjing and other surrounding areas. When the Japanese forces reached Nanjing the Chinese army seeing that they were no match for the superior Japanese forces had already started to retreat, leaving civillian men, women and children unprotected. The result is the Nanjing massacre, where 300,000 Chinese were killed in a six month period (it's a very gloomy museum). Saw lots of artifacts and skeletons, but it was a good experience overall.
After visiting the museum we were able to check into our hotel, which was a very nice place, and I preceded to take a very long, very hot shower. Had the evening to ourselves and went to dinner with a group of classmates.
Saturday Morning we started by getting on the bus and driving to Sun-yat-Sen's Mausoleum. Sun-yat-sen was the leader of the democratic movement in China and the founder of the KMT which is now the government in place in Taiwan. His tomb is set up in this 'mountain' that you take a bunch of steps to get to, great views from above, except we couldn't really see the city because of the weather.
After that we checked out a Buddist temple, and climbed up a big Pagoda and got an even better view. The best part about this location was it was tucked away in the woods and there was a lot of green space rather than the concrete that makes up all of Shanghai.
Overall good trip (it didn't rain or snow!) had fun hanging out with the classmates and seeing the sites but now it's back to work learning Chinese.
-AL
In 1937 (I think) the Japanese invaded China taking over Shanghai, Nanjing and other surrounding areas. When the Japanese forces reached Nanjing the Chinese army seeing that they were no match for the superior Japanese forces had already started to retreat, leaving civillian men, women and children unprotected. The result is the Nanjing massacre, where 300,000 Chinese were killed in a six month period (it's a very gloomy museum). Saw lots of artifacts and skeletons, but it was a good experience overall.
After visiting the museum we were able to check into our hotel, which was a very nice place, and I preceded to take a very long, very hot shower. Had the evening to ourselves and went to dinner with a group of classmates.
Saturday Morning we started by getting on the bus and driving to Sun-yat-Sen's Mausoleum. Sun-yat-sen was the leader of the democratic movement in China and the founder of the KMT which is now the government in place in Taiwan. His tomb is set up in this 'mountain' that you take a bunch of steps to get to, great views from above, except we couldn't really see the city because of the weather.
After that we checked out a Buddist temple, and climbed up a big Pagoda and got an even better view. The best part about this location was it was tucked away in the woods and there was a lot of green space rather than the concrete that makes up all of Shanghai.
Overall good trip (it didn't rain or snow!) had fun hanging out with the classmates and seeing the sites but now it's back to work learning Chinese.
-AL
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