Some New Years Thoughts

It's pretty much a tradition for everyone to get all either happy & introspective or drunk & introspective (or I guess happy & drunk) right before New Year's Day. And I'm not one to deny tradition! It's 6:30am and I've been up since 4am (went to bed early last night at 8pm b/c I was too pooped?), so I guess now's a good time to reflect/ramble upon the year and make some mandatory conclusions/resolutions. :)

2010, you totally broke me down you mofo. The last few months have been much more settling than the last 8-9 months, albeit this is all relative. I still have no real idea as to where I'll end up in terms of job/location, but at least I'm actively pondering the situation and not just sitting on my hands. I think about my life in New York and how different things would have been if I had stayed there... only because I know that my life wouldn't be very different at all.

Gene had a revelation the other day -- he cracked open an advanced level textbook that we used at ICLP and found that he was able to read it very easily, whereas half a year earlier he'd consistently run into a lot of roadblocks. Whereas I've always felt coming to China was going to become a very important personal experience, Gene had always questioned the necessity of adding HNC to his life resume, yet even he realized gains through mere osmosis of being in a new environment. I remember clearly the day that I left New York -- it was the beginning of December 2008 and I was very very upset to be uprooted. I was a resolute and almost unbending person back then, and I had this glorious life plan all mapped out. I'm definitely a floating balloon now, and although it can be really unsettling at times (when you think about your age, or your finances), I know that I will root down somewhere in the next 2-3 years, but before that happens I should run around like the world is my buffet plate. :) Is it not?

I had a lot of ups and downs this year... in the beginning I felt like I was truly going to be screwed in life, but right now as I'm typing I feel like I definitely ended up on a high note. How do I describe this... it feels like my life currently at Christmas Eve, when you see the gifts under the Christmas tree, you're super excited but you don't know what's inside, and you can't open them yet. It's the anticipation for something great and awesome!

Because I know that luck is not given but made, I've trying my hand in pretty much everything here while in China, hoping to have an a-ha moment or some sort of serendipitous opportunity. The last semester has been exhausting because I totally overstacked my schedule, so I think I'm going to have to draw back a little so I can retain a little sanity (that's my New Year's Resolution).

Another thing: This year I've realized the importance of time. Maybe it's because I'm getting older, and time is the one resource that you can never earn back. I had once told a very good friend of mine that I wanted to become super rich and successful because: 1) I thought I could, booyah. 2) Money could give me the freedom to do whatever I wanted and provide a form of security to my loved ones. But now as a student with no incoming cash flow for the last 2 years, I don't think money is that important anymore... because if it were than why am I happier now than I ever was when I was making six figures? We don't have to load everything in the back end, because then the party will be over before we know it! I guess this break from the workforce is helping me readjust my long-term goals, and I hope that I can continue to figure things out throughout 2011.

Wishing you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

-- Cap'n Miffy, still plundering for treasure.

Merry Christmas (聖誕節快樂!)

Merry Christmas from Nanjing!

Lots of cultural exchange going on here, as you can see... haha :)

Headless Chicken

I've been MIA these past few weeks because of the huge pile of school (and self-imposed) work that seems to keep on reappearing like Sisyphus' boulder. Man, I've really overextended myself this time... and it's been making me perpetually stressed out, like a low hum in my head at all times. I think it's making my hair fall out. No joke. I can't wait for this semester to end!

To get a taste of what my life is like right now, here's a recap of this week's (very normal?) Tuesday:

6:30am: My iPod goes off with the most annoying ringtone on the face of this earth. It sounds like chalk on board. I'm pretty notorious for being able to sleep through anything, so aside from that awful ringtone (which is set right under my pillow), I also pulled my blinds out all the way for natural sunlight to kick in. Unfortunately, today was another dark and dreary Nanjing morning. FML.

7:00am: Still in zombie mode, but slowly waking up after I turn on the television and listen to a CCTV program with a bunch of Chinese housewives on how safeguard your children from household accidents. Any stimulus will do at this point. I do my usual makeup routine, and note that my face looks (and feels) pretty saggy right now.

7:45am: Make my usual morning drink/breakfast. Nestle coffee powder + Lipton milk tea powder + metal vacuum thermos. It's enough to get me through the first 2 hours of the day at least.

7:30am: Make sure that I have all my textbooks for the day (3-4 of them) and rush out of the door. The sunlight has broken through the grey mist, and I thank god that I won't have to ride my bike through the dense fog while on the road. Nanjing streets are very hazardous, I should wear a bike helmet.

7:50am: Hurdle through the doors of my first class, Game Theory. It's actually my favorite class, even though I nearly failed it in college. The Chinese professor's actually fantastic... he explains things really well, even though he sounds like Kermit the Frog. He accidentally drooled while talking today. I don't know how many students caught that, but I'd die if that were me. Like, spontaneously combust.

8:30am: Done! Now I head up to the library and print out the paper I wrote for Chinese Foreign Policy, which was finished at 3am that morning. It was a pretty mediocre piece of work IMO, had no inspiration drawing from the usual Chinese PR machine of "let's be friends and experience economic growth with everyone" schpiel. I'm getting pretty good at writing serious Chinese papers now though, and it's good that I made a good Chinese friend who's willing to revise my stuff too. :)

8:50am: Time for International Trade Theory, a class that I'm trying to get credit for at SAIS and pass out of the waiver exam. I love Professor Zhao, he calls all the kids' BS in front of everyone. He even made a girl hyperventilate once. I want him as my adopted grandfather.

11:10am: He ends class on time, thank god. My head is starting to spin out of hunger and lack of sleep. Shuffle to the cafeteria. Everyone hates the food there, but I actually don't think it's that bad at all. Small veggie plates are 1.5Y, meat is 3.0Y, fruit is 1.2Y, sometimes they'll attempt to make apple pie and brownies, but those always turn out pretty bad. The stomach flu has been making its rounds at the school, and I hypothesize it's those "environmentally-friendly" (aka non-disposable) chopsticks that we all use. I suspect they don't wash them thoroughly enough, so using those chopsticks is like frenching your classmate. Yum?

11:45am: Don't stay around to chat with people because I have to prepare for my tutoring session later that afternoon. Go to the computer lab (my second home), and read the Chinese Financial Times article that my tutor picked out for me. Usually they're pretty interesting, but this one just makes my neurons knot up. Something about "sunny" private equity funds and partnerships and selling short? I just can't link these terms together. Why am I so dumb?!!!

12:50pm: Whoops, where did the time go? Time for the 3rd class of the day -- Chinese History Since 1949. The teacher lectures well, but I feel like he talks about the psychological reasons why people were as insane as they were back in the day. Mao is definitely a psychopath. I'm glad that my family wasn't in China to experience his madness.

2:40pm: He lets us go super late but since I have some energy from lunch I manage not to pass out completely (only partially) during class. I had to play with my iPod though to give myself a little stimulus aside from listening to the same voice for almost 2 hours straight. Not to say it wasn't a lovely voice, I'm just not in the right mindset to listen to anyone at this point.

2:50pm: Straight to my last class of the day, Chinese Foreign Policy. The professor talks about China in Africa, a topic that should be interesting but I find my brain unable to wake itself from "hibernation mode". Try to play with my iPod to wake myself up, but not even my Tamagotchi pet cats can do the trick. GG NO RE.

4:30pm: He lets us out late too. Bad luck today. My tutoring session is in the student lounge at 4:30. I rush over and try to inhale some cool air as I pass through the courtyard. Nope, still sleepy. Even the fish in our pond look sleepy. I wonder how fish stay alive in water when it's zero degrees outside.

4:35pm: I'm late but my tutor is really nice. :) I like him a lot -- even though he's younger than I am, I feel like a total noob. This language thing really makes me feel like I talk at least 40IQ points lower normal. I don't strive to be "native", I just strive to be "normal". Is that too much to ask for?

5:40pm: Done! I thank him and then stagger towards the 1st floor lounge where there's a couch where I can lay my head for a little bit before Gene's Brazilian Jiujitsu class later at 7pm. I definitely need to recharge if I'm to do any sort of physical exercise, right now I feel like my brain's going to fall out of my head.

5:50pm: Just as I'm about to go into la-la-land, Gene passes by and wakes me up. He has a sandwich from Skyways, pretty much the go-to deli for expats in Nanjing. It's a salami ham and cheese baguette. I decide that sandwich > sleep right now.

6:00pm: I finish my half of the sandwich and my breath smells like onions. I'm grossed out by myself, but I lay myself back on the couch to try to catch at least a nice nap before class.

6:30pm: Wake up feeling 75% refreshed. Still really groggy though. Change into workout clothes and help putting together the puzzlemats for the class.

7:00pm: Class starts and I'm feeling pretty awake after the warm-up. Today we a half-guard pass into full-guard move, as well as something called "The Evil Backpack" where you hook your legs and arms into your opponent so that you're stuck on their back (and can essentially control their limbs). It's awesome!!! Gene is an excellent teacher, and I thoroughly enjoy watching him beat people up.

9:00pm: Class ends, we each get to roll 2x with someone. I tried "The Evil Backpack" on a guy and he escaped at one point. Not knowing wth I should be doing, I improvise and choke him out with his head between my thighs. No joke.

9:30pm: Gene and I go to the nearby Indian place for take out. It's actually really good, perhaps better than some of the places I've been in NY. It's run by some Nepalese guy, who essentially just looks Tibetan. We get butter chicken and something with paneer. Lots of naan too... carbs..... :)

10:00pm: Get home, snarf down all the food. Food coma and sleep deprivation catching up to me. I decide that I should get to bed soon after taking a shower.

11:00pm: Shit, I'm still not in bed. Instead I'm looking up fellowships for graduate school. I'm feeling really insecure about my financial situation now, and things aren't looking so good when I return to DC in the fall (and rent is around ~$1000/mo at least). Consider perhaps selling my eggs. If anyone will have a 27 year old's eggs at this point. On the other hand I am getting older, and perhaps I should just keep my eggs to myself.

11:15pm: Brush my teeth and check my email one last time. I admit, I'm addicted to checking my email. Unplug my ethernet. My internet is charged by the hour here in China. :(

11:45pm: Cuddle up with an (English) book that I borrowed from the library. The HNC library is great, I have a pile of books here next to my bed that I only have a few minutes a day to even crack open. It's sad, but the librarians said that I could borrow these books over our 5-week break too...! Right now I'm reading a book by Mao's personal doctor on his experiences working with the Great Helmsman.

12:15am: I should go to bed. I have to go to work tomorrow at 8:30am.

12:30am: I actually turn off the lights and go to sleep.

Diagnosis: Chicken with Head Cut Off.

Blue Ribbon Prize

Winner of the Flushing County Fair for Fattest Domestic Cat.

This picture makes me smile (since I'm pretty sure that's how parents hold up babies in photos)- I miss my dad and my cat!

Bali: Believe the Hype!

HNC gives us a week off for Thanksgiving but no break for Christmas or New Years. Go figure. So Gene and I took advantage of the school's creative scheduling and went down to Bali for a low-season vacay and free ourselves from Dirty China for just a bit.

It was my first time in the Southern Hemisphere! Cookie? :)

We stayed in Kuta Beach, which was your go-to area for cash-strapped beach bums -- there are a lot of what I can only describe as packs of Australian frat brothers roaming the streets, all wearing Bintang Beer tank tops and sporting tattoos. Perhaps Kuta is to Australia as Cancun is to the United States. Although we contemplated skipping around different parts of the island like Ubud, we ended up anchoring here for the whole week out of pure laziness (which is allowed in a real vacation!). Bali is also a pretty big island, and it takes about 3-4 hours just to drive from Kuta (in the south) to the northern shore. We spent most of the time by the beach just relaxing, but we also did three days of exploring/adventuring -- biking, diving, and just cultural touring. I really like Bali's community structure and spiritual devotion... it probably explains why I feel the people I met there are the warmest and most open group of people I've encountered so far throughout my travels.

Hawkers were quite aggressive at Kuta Beach, but Gene was really good-natured about chatting them up and allowing to employ their trade skillz.

Don't get used to it, buddy. :p

A pineapple lollipop for 20,000 Rp (~$2 USD)

Hindu cleansing ceremony by the beach.

Bali supposedly has 20,000+ temples on the island. Each village has 3 community temples , and each household compound has their own temple as well!

If you stay at the beach for an entire day you'll notice that Westerners dominate the scene during the daytime, sunning and surfing away. Once the sun starts to set, these people leave to grab dinner or hit the bars. By this time, all the Indonesians come out because it's not as hot and sunny out (they don't like dark skin, like all other Asian groups)... and before you know it you're the only one still sporting a bikini on the beach. And you feel strangely indecent. :p

After 3 days of pure vegetating, Gene and I went on a bike tour through Bali's lush mountainous countryside. It was a FANTASTIC experience, and got to learn a lot of about the Balinese culture... and drink poop coffee. Haha yes, Kopi Luwak, aka Coffee Made Out of Civet Poop (that normally costs $10+ a cup).

Caged civet.

You'd be pretty bummed too if all you had to eat was coffee beans all day. Poor dude must be so wired, which is probably why he was still up during the day (they're nocturnal). :(

The top two baskets are Civet Poop coffee beans (unroasted/roasted). You can see that compared to the bottom two baskets the Kopi Luwak beans look superior. Their explanation was that the civets are really choosy and only consume the top-notch beans, and then as these super alpha beans become even more awesome as they are broken down through the civets' digestive system.

Cocoa drink, Kopi Luwak, Balinese coffee, Ginger tea, Lemongrass tea.

I paid 30,000 Rp (~$3 USD) to try out the Kopi Luwak, which honestly was O.K. for all the hype.

Harvesting rice.

Rice paddies are everywhere in Bali, but none of the harvest is exported. Apparently most families cultivate their own fields purely for their own personal consumption, and take other jobs on the side as well in order to support themselves.

We did 2 wreck dives off the shore of Tulamben, which was soooo cool! So cool. ^_^ The wreck was the USS Liberty, a US Army Transport ship torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942. The whole skeleton of the ship was covered with all sorts of coral and wildlife, it's amazing how fast an ecosystem can grow under the right conditions. :) The first dive we just skirted around the ship, but the second dive we got to swim through the hull... I thought the whole thing was quite worthwhile even though it took 3 hours to drive from Kuta Beach to Tulamben.

Brushed by some fire coral. That stuff hurts. :( Next time I'm wearing gloves.

Earl Grey Martini at Ku de Ta. Posh place.

We spent another day just touring the eastern section of the island with a private tour guide, stopping by the Bat Temple, Elephant Temple, Central Ubud, the Monkey Sanctuary, and Jimboran Bay.

The only time you'll see Gene in a sarong (which is why I'm posting this online, muhahaha!), only because it's required in Hindu temples.

Hello cousin!

We actually came back to Jimboran Bay for dinner twice in one week because the seafood was so freaking delicious. I usually find it distasteful to manually disassemble crustaceans, but I totally shred my Jumbo Crab into little pieces with my bare hands like a Neanderthal. It was so nice to sit on a nicely assembled dinner table right on the beach, enjoying a beautiful sunset and delectable food. The service was amazing. It doesn't take much to live a luxurious life here in Bali....

Final lazy days at Kuta Beach -- life is good.

Yes, life is very good. :)

Balinese Dream

Just got back from Bali, Indonesia tonight. Amazing amazing amazing!!!!!!!!!! Plane tickets to Denpasar is a bit on the expensive side, but once you get there you'll find that everything is beyond reasonable (and of excellent quality). Food is great. People are great. Diving is great. Beaches, mountains, rivers, valleys... they have everything you need for a proper vacation!

Will definitely go back many times in the future. Post more soon once I get my house back in order and my brain back into Pinyin-mode.

After 8 days of bliss I'm in China-proper again -- enough play, it's game time.

My Mom's Answer for "Why Men Wear Pants"

My mom just forwarded me an email that I just HAVE to share with everyone for these compelling reasons: 1) I couldn't believe that she was spamming me, usually all her emails are like, "WHERE ARE YOU, CALL ME BACK NOW." 2) She has a sense of humor. Where was this 10 years ago when I needed it? 3) She has a dirty sense of humor. AMAZING! :) I hope it stays at little boy peepees only.

Parents really do get cooler with age. :) Here is the email in full glory, Engrish and all!

"Why Men Wear Pants" (男人為何穿褲子?...哈)

Why did men decide to wear clothes?

男人為何穿褲子？

Early experiences that convinced the male to wear clothes

(Miffy: "Because little boys were convinced in their formative years that it was just safer to wear pants.")

因為幼年的經驗，是男人相信，穿褲子比較安全。

Aw, how cute! I still can't believe my mom sent me this. o_o
I wonder if this still happens to grown men... who uses their weewee as a bookmark anyway?

Gobi Desert Camel Caravan

Day 6: Dunhuang (overnight stay in the Gobi Desert)

I decided to dedicate an entire post to our camel ride into the Gobi Desert, where we stayed overnight in tents, surrounded by sleepy sand dunes and covered by another amazing blanket of stars. We actually didn't plan on taking this tour at all, it was only when we stumbled into some random Western hostel where we discovered that it was even possible... for just 300RMB per person! Camel, food, tent, and quirky guide all included. :)

It was amazing. Even though we weren't deep inside the Gobi, we were far enough to be alone with nature... and once the silence hits you... it's easy to feel crushingly small. I couldn't stop staring at the starscape (yes I just made that up). I saw quite a few shooting stars, even satellites! If the light is blinking steadily, it's a plane. If it's not blinking and is chugging through the sky, it's a satellite. If the light darts across the sky and then disappears, it's a shooting star. Planets can be brighter than stars. If you strain your eyes too much when you're staring at the stars you can feel dizzy. And that you should have gotten a higher prescription for your glasses. Gene didn't bring his iPad on this trip, otherwise we could have used the Starwalk application, but it was easy to see how ancient people could trace figures in the sky. I saw Godzilla, giant ice cream cone, Pikachu... :)

We were invited to rest in Master Li's (李師傅) home while he was prepping the camels.

I'm guessing a typical home in the Gansu countryside. It was simple, clean, and cozy!

Off I go, on George the Camel! :D

First passing through the outskirts of Dunhuang, where we were surrounded by fields of corn and cotton.

We reached the periphery of the desert, which was a graveyard.

These people were buried under conical pyramid-like markers on very flat land. I thought mountains would have been preferable for fengshui reasons, but maybe they don't believe in it here? Almost all of these pyramids were neatly lined with brick, which was definitely the material of choice. If a visitor came then they'd leave a white strip of paper on the grave, weighted down by a stone. The ground was littered with paper. Each grave had their own plot of land, which were quite large at ~50m x 75m. There's more than enough land to go around here, at least the dry useless kind.

After passing through the graveyard (which wasn't scary in the daylight), we started climbing the sand dunes. The camels were very well-behaved and they smelled neutral too! I didn't stick my nose into their fur, but I didn't get any stinky whiffs at all unless they were pooping/peeing... But you will see later that their poop is actually quite useful! Don't jump to conclusions, just keep on reading!

Oh sweet Archibald, Gene's grey and balding camel. :)

You see the rod through his nose? That's how they control the animal (by pulling it).

After we got to our campsite, the four of us thought that it'd be a good idea to climb to the top of a nearby sand dune to watch the sunset. Was it as bad as climbing the Singing Sand Dunes the day before. No. It was much WORSE. I never want to climb another sand dune in my entire life.

Goodbye Sun!

At night Master Li cooked us a lip-smacking meal of ramen and (Chinese) Spam. Then we huddled around a fire made out of poop. Yes you heard me, POOP!!!!!!!!!!! O_O

Apparently camel poop is only like 1% "real poop" and 99% dried up grass (okay I'm making this statistic up but it's for my own peace of mind), which makes it perfect combustible material when you're in the desert and you have no wood in a 473248392 mile radius. It also doesn't stink, I swear. Nevermind Marge in the picture below. We had a grand ol' time, with wacky Jack Nicholson doppleganger Master Li singing us Cultural Revolution lullabies.

That night we just relaxed around our poop fire, listening to Master Li's weird tunes and trying to catch the satellites and shooting stars in the nighttime sky. It was lovely. We slept in tents after we started to get sleepy and it was actually not cold at all compared to Tianchi. Master Li found us a really cozy nook with giant sand dunes surrounding us, so it wasn't windy at all. Because we had to catch a 9:30am train to Jiayuguan the next morning, Master Li woke us up at 5:30am Beijing time, which is really like 4am Gansu time. Ughhhhhhh..... luckily we had these Commie-era army jackets to keep us warm.

Heading back to Dunhuang on our trusty camels.

This time it WAS a bit creepy passing through the graveyard. I wouldn't have been surprised if a mummy came out to say hello.

Communist Camel Cavalry, 1948.

(Or just a crazy bag lady)

Oh, I forgot to mention that we picked up a Japanese friend on this trip, Tatsu (far left).

He's travelling across the world for an entire year, budgeting out $20,000 only for ALL his expenses. He said that he saved up for 5 years to live out this dream but that he has a girlfriend at home. He hopes she will wait for him.

There's not much more to say about the overnight trip into the Gobi except that it was a worthwhile adventure. I know that I'm not Indiana Jones, but I know that when my kids grow up and get a chance to make it out there that this opportunity may not exist anymore, with the pace at which China is modernizing and all. Maybe it'll cost 3000RMB instead of 300RMB. Maybe there will be roads crossing through our campsite. Maybe they'll build a theme park. Some part of me feels like this was a very special experience because of China's rapid changes, and that what I've seen on this whole trip will end up only existing in my head and on this blog.