Every time a report comes out that American students are falling behind their peers around the world on standardized tests, or some survey shows that less than half of young Americans cannot find Iraq on a world map, television and the Internet is cited as one of the causes for our stupidity.
An article in The Atlantic Monthly describes how the Internet is diminishing our need for critical thinking better than I can say it. We really do think differently when we have a vast and instant database of facts and knowledge at our fingertips. It can improve the speed and reach of our research and makes tracking down a famous quote or obscure fact really simple and quick. But our thinking and reasoning becomes more shallow and sporadic. It’s much easier to be lazy and spend less time and energy doing critical thinking when the Internet is now an extension of our brains. One of the reasons historians provide for Abraham Lincoln’s intelligence was the fact that he holed himself up with books as a student and young adult and spent long hours writing, thinking, and developing his own thoughts and opinions. I try to do the same, but there’s so many more distractions in our world today.
I depend on the Internet for everything. It is invaluable when you live abroad and have no other access to news from home, and when e-mail and voice chats are the cheapest and easiest ways to keep in touch with people are far ways. I have little need to make international phone calls, but when I do, I use Skype and call the U.S. for pennies a minute. And when I need to look up a word or grammar rule, or I run out of ideas for my 150th class, the Internet is where I turn to. But it means I sit and think less, and depend too much on external thoughts and do not develop enough of my own. My students are so addicted to their cell phones and electronic dictionaries. Some of them simply cannot read an English book or essay without their dictionary at hand, and they are reluctant to guess new words from context.
In an unrelated note, I noticed a review of 25 root beers in the New York Times, and Sprecher’s root beer came out on top!
...
Consider this blog post evidence of the merits and drawbacks of instant access to everything on the Internet. In between writing this post and trying to think deeply about the connection between knowledge and our new digital world, I read some news headlines, listened to part of an audio book that I downloaded last night, checked my e-mail, and learned about the world of specialty root beers. Multi-tasking probably slowed me down, but all that information got my brain going at 7 a.m. and kept me up-to-date on the world. No where else could I get such breadth and variety of information.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
End of the school year
I officially finished the school year when I turned in the last of my grades at 3:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday (the school year is nearly 10 months long!). My final final exam was that morning and later I took the final exam for the beginner Chinese class in between grading the last of my exam papers. It was hard to write so many characters and I did pretty poorly on some of the grammar and vocabulary – I just could not recall quite a few characters.
I wanted to study for the Chinese exam but revising and editing my English reading exams took longer than expected and I was locked out of my apartment for a couple hours last night. I went for a run and my key broke in two when I tried to unlock the door. Lately, it had become more and more difficult to get the key in and out of the lock because I think it was starting to rust inside the keyhole. Every time it would stick and I had to pound on it to get it in, I would think, “please don’t break on me!” Well, it finally happened that night.
I went upstairs to another teacher’s apartment and called someone at the school. They searched but could not find the spare key, so they sent a locksmith. By sliding a stiff, thin square of plastic along the door frame, the locksmith was able to pop the latch open. It was a good thing I didn’t lock the deadbolt or the entire door would have had to be taken out. The door handle and lock was replaced pretty swiftly, and it is now much easier to unlock the door with the new lock and key.
I now have two days to pack and clean up my place before moving out on Saturday morning. We have a few last events at school – a basketball game this afternoon, a party for the high school class tonight, lunch out with all of the teachers tomorrow, and an assembly with some awards and final remarks. On Saturday I’ll go to Changzhou with some of the Chinese students to say goodbye to a few teachers there who will be leaving China and stay for the weekend and leave for Beijing on Monday.
I wanted to study for the Chinese exam but revising and editing my English reading exams took longer than expected and I was locked out of my apartment for a couple hours last night. I went for a run and my key broke in two when I tried to unlock the door. Lately, it had become more and more difficult to get the key in and out of the lock because I think it was starting to rust inside the keyhole. Every time it would stick and I had to pound on it to get it in, I would think, “please don’t break on me!” Well, it finally happened that night.
I went upstairs to another teacher’s apartment and called someone at the school. They searched but could not find the spare key, so they sent a locksmith. By sliding a stiff, thin square of plastic along the door frame, the locksmith was able to pop the latch open. It was a good thing I didn’t lock the deadbolt or the entire door would have had to be taken out. The door handle and lock was replaced pretty swiftly, and it is now much easier to unlock the door with the new lock and key.
I now have two days to pack and clean up my place before moving out on Saturday morning. We have a few last events at school – a basketball game this afternoon, a party for the high school class tonight, lunch out with all of the teachers tomorrow, and an assembly with some awards and final remarks. On Saturday I’ll go to Changzhou with some of the Chinese students to say goodbye to a few teachers there who will be leaving China and stay for the weekend and leave for Beijing on Monday.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Lots of rain
It has rained just about every day for the last ten days.
Here is a pond on the school's campus that is now overflowing. The satellite dish used to be next to the pond, now it's well within the water.
Here is a pond on the school's campus that is now overflowing. The satellite dish used to be next to the pond, now it's well within the water.
Bottled water
Reading a review of a newly published book on the bottled water industry got me thinking about the water problems in China and how bottled water has become so widespread in this country.
Many people say that clean water will likely be at the center of many conflicts in the 21st century, and its production is closely tied to another precious resource – oil. According to the book review linked above, manufacturing a plastic bottle, pumping and treating the water that goes into the bottle, and transporting it uses enough oil to fill roughly one quarter of the bottle.
Places like the southwest United States, southern Spain, and northern China are quickly drying up. China’s densely populated areas have probably faced problems with clean drinking water for decades, but now so many rivers are polluted by factories and industrial agriculture, its population produces increasing amounts of trash, and municipal water systems are under the strain of transient residents living without access to running water or modern sanitation. Northern China is facing acute water shortages and the Yellow River, the cradle of civilization in northern China for 5,000, is so dry that water fails to reach its end on most days of the year.
I drink only bottled water from the water coolers at school or from the cooler in my apartment. The coolers are everywhere and small shops run a brisk business delivering water by moped and buying back the empty jugs. I also drink bottled water or ice tea drinks when eating out and I’ve tried quite a few of the Chinese brand sports drinks. The tap water is not recommended for drinking, although I do shower in it, brush my teeth and rinse with it, and wash dishes with it and have never had a problem.
There seems to be a market cycle for bottled water in the United States. American’s average annual consumption of bottled water rose from 5.7 gallons in 1987 to 27.6 a decade later (and a commensurate increase in marketing), but now there is a predicted backlash against the industry. I wonder if China will follow a similar trajectory. Bottled water and tea drinks are rapidly replacing the traditional method of boiling local water to make tea. And, yes, you can buy imported Evian water here for about 10 times the price of local bottled water. Bottled water doesn’t have the same hip cachet here as it has in the States but iced tea and iced coffee in bottles and cans are certainly the things to drink and be seen with in your hand.
There may be more dry rivers and more landfills overflowing with plastic bottles in coming years.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Good eats
On Friday afternoon I went to Changzhou and ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Other than the sushi I had once in Hong Kong and a few times from supermarkets here, I had not eaten Japanese food, let alone a complete meal.
It was a cool little restaurant that had only private dining rooms that you enter shoeless through bamboo sliding doors. We went all the way and did the all-you-can-eat-and-drink option. For about $17 each, we could order anything from the extensive menu and drink as much beer and saké as we wanted. We just pointed at the menu and asked for "two of this and two of that…" So we stayed for several hours talking, drinking, and munching on sushi, grilled beef, tuna salad, fried chicken, fish eggs and cold vegetables. It was all really delicious and what we ate and drank probably would have cost us twice as much as what we paid had we ordered a la carte. There’s nothing better than high quality Japanese food at Chinese prices.
Speaking of food, an article by a Chinese-American writer, Jennifer 8. Lee, who came out with a book on Chinese food in the U.S. called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, wrote about the official English translations of Chinese dishes (released for visitors to the Olympics). Anyways, it shows you how difficult it can me to figure out Chinese menus. Now I know why when I ordered a dish of “fragrant fish” one time it had no
In short, Chinese menus can be cryptic, fortunes cookies are not Chinese, and Chinese food in the U.S. is nothing like real Chinese food - it’s more bland, less healthy, and not nearly as diverse. It’s so much better (and cheaper) here – a paradise for epicures like me.
The link on numbers and what they mean is really fascinating, too. It’s a good primer on how widespread superstitions are and how language – like Chinese homophones – plays a role.
Sometimes the superstitions go too far. A popular one this year is connecting bad events in the first half of 2008 to the five Olympic mascots.
It was a cool little restaurant that had only private dining rooms that you enter shoeless through bamboo sliding doors. We went all the way and did the all-you-can-eat-and-drink option. For about $17 each, we could order anything from the extensive menu and drink as much beer and saké as we wanted. We just pointed at the menu and asked for "two of this and two of that…" So we stayed for several hours talking, drinking, and munching on sushi, grilled beef, tuna salad, fried chicken, fish eggs and cold vegetables. It was all really delicious and what we ate and drank probably would have cost us twice as much as what we paid had we ordered a la carte. There’s nothing better than high quality Japanese food at Chinese prices.
Speaking of food, an article by a Chinese-American writer, Jennifer 8. Lee, who came out with a book on Chinese food in the U.S. called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, wrote about the official English translations of Chinese dishes (released for visitors to the Olympics). Anyways, it shows you how difficult it can me to figure out Chinese menus. Now I know why when I ordered a dish of “fragrant fish” one time it had no
In short, Chinese menus can be cryptic, fortunes cookies are not Chinese, and Chinese food in the U.S. is nothing like real Chinese food - it’s more bland, less healthy, and not nearly as diverse. It’s so much better (and cheaper) here – a paradise for epicures like me.
The link on numbers and what they mean is really fascinating, too. It’s a good primer on how widespread superstitions are and how language – like Chinese homophones – plays a role.
Sometimes the superstitions go too far. A popular one this year is connecting bad events in the first half of 2008 to the five Olympic mascots.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Tea bags
Tea was first drunk in Chttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhina thousands of years ago. According to popular legend, the simple drink was discovered by accident when the wind blew some leaves into a pot of boiling water.
The tea bag was invented 100 years ago in the United States and also came about by accident. An from The Times in London describes how a simple misunderstanding of a tea vendor's free samples brought about the teabag and changed the way the world drinks tea.
The tea bag was invented 100 years ago in the United States and also came about by accident. An from The Times in London describes how a simple misunderstanding of a tea vendor's free samples brought about the teabag and changed the way the world drinks tea.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Carbon emissions
China surpassed the United States in carbon dioxide emissions as early as 2006, according to a recent study by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.
“[China’s] emissions increased 8 percent in 2007. The Chinese increase accounted for two-thirds of the growth in the year’s global greenhouse gas emissions, the study found.”
China now produces nearly 15% more carbon dioxide than the United States, although the U.S. still far outpaces China and the rest of the world in emissions per person.
“The average American is responsible for 19.4 tons [of carbon emissions per person]. Average emissions per person in Russia are 11.8 tons; in the European Union, 8.6 tons; China, 5.1 tons; and India, 1.8 tons.”
There are good and bad days here regarding air quality. The sun just came out after hours of steady rain and the view from my window is unusually clear and farsighted, which is not the case when it has not rained for a while.
Speaking of carbon emissions, the other day I watched an impressive talk by John Doerr, one of the most successful venture capitalists in the world, about the climate and energy crisis. He addresses China and notes that its size and pace of development is cause for alarm. It is a motivating and emotional speech. You can stream or download the video here.
“[China’s] emissions increased 8 percent in 2007. The Chinese increase accounted for two-thirds of the growth in the year’s global greenhouse gas emissions, the study found.”
China now produces nearly 15% more carbon dioxide than the United States, although the U.S. still far outpaces China and the rest of the world in emissions per person.
“The average American is responsible for 19.4 tons [of carbon emissions per person]. Average emissions per person in Russia are 11.8 tons; in the European Union, 8.6 tons; China, 5.1 tons; and India, 1.8 tons.”
There are good and bad days here regarding air quality. The sun just came out after hours of steady rain and the view from my window is unusually clear and farsighted, which is not the case when it has not rained for a while.
Speaking of carbon emissions, the other day I watched an impressive talk by John Doerr, one of the most successful venture capitalists in the world, about the climate and energy crisis. He addresses China and notes that its size and pace of development is cause for alarm. It is a motivating and emotional speech. You can stream or download the video here.
Friday, June 13, 2008
A few interesting developments
This past week there have been some massive protests in South Korea. Many people are upset about the economic and health care policies of their recently elected president, Lee Myung-Bak, and one of the more controversial issues is the importation of American beef because mad cow disease turned up in a few of our cows (or as my students say, “America has crazy cow!”). South Korea was, believe it or not, the third largest importer of American beef at one point (last weekend, two of the Koreans with whom I went out for lunch ordered steaks and were elated to eat one of their favorite foods that they don’t get in the school cafeteria.) One of my Korean students went home last weekend to get a few things done before going to study in New Jersey and told me about what was going on in Seoul. I have had a few long conversations some of the students who follow current events and they have told me how most young people in Korea feel. One of their biggest concerns is affordable and universal healthcare and, as a matter of fact, Michael Moore’s movie Sicko was a hit in the country. So I’ve learned that hamburgers and healthcare are two problems that we share in common.
MasterCard produces quite a bit of research – I’ve noticed that they put together timely reports on consumer spending based on purchases using MasterCard credit cards – and one of their reports is an annual list of the most influential cities in terms of business. New York and Chicago rank in the top 10, while the other eight of the top ten cities are in Asia and Europe. China is striving to make Shanghai the leading financial center in Asia and it came in at 24 this year (I came across this because it was featured in the local news). As one of the largest ports in the world and the focal point for the Yangtze delta economy, the city ranks high as a center of trade and exports and also benefits from a huge labor supply, but it still has a long way to go in the other criteria. It looks like it won’t be 24th for long:
“Dr. Michael Goldberg, Program Director, MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce, points to Shanghai as a city on the path to global leadership. ‘Shanghai, which rose in its ranking to the number 24 position this year from number 32 last year, continues to
leverage its historically strong position as the financial and logistical hub to Asia. Shanghai
is well positioned to assume its place among the top three cities in the world within the next
15 to 20 years,’ said Goldberg.”
It’s hard to think of Shanghai in the same league as London and New York in just 20 years, but then again, the city was probably nothing like it is now only 20 years ago.
I was listening to an NPR podcast the other day and at the end of a report about the tough job market in the U.S., a few Americans working in Shanghai were interviewed about how they are doing well here, where they are untouched by the foreclosures, high gas prices, and layoffs that are hurting so many people in the U.S. One of the people interviewed was someone I know of through CouchSurfing. It was weird to hear a familiar name on the podcast. And it’s true – I feel none of the pain in the U.S. economy here – I don’t buy gas and don’t have a mortgage and there is no shortage of job opportunities. After nearly ten months I’ve saved a comfortable sum of money (for living standards here). To be fair, many Chinese are hit by high inflation (7-8% this year) and all the small time investors (there’s a lot of them now, it’s almost a pastime for many retired people) have taken hits in the stock market, which is down 44% so far this year.
Finally, officials from Taiwan and China are meeting in China. Airline flights between Taiwan and the Mainland may soon be allowed.
MasterCard produces quite a bit of research – I’ve noticed that they put together timely reports on consumer spending based on purchases using MasterCard credit cards – and one of their reports is an annual list of the most influential cities in terms of business. New York and Chicago rank in the top 10, while the other eight of the top ten cities are in Asia and Europe. China is striving to make Shanghai the leading financial center in Asia and it came in at 24 this year (I came across this because it was featured in the local news). As one of the largest ports in the world and the focal point for the Yangtze delta economy, the city ranks high as a center of trade and exports and also benefits from a huge labor supply, but it still has a long way to go in the other criteria. It looks like it won’t be 24th for long:
“Dr. Michael Goldberg, Program Director, MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce, points to Shanghai as a city on the path to global leadership. ‘Shanghai, which rose in its ranking to the number 24 position this year from number 32 last year, continues to
leverage its historically strong position as the financial and logistical hub to Asia. Shanghai
is well positioned to assume its place among the top three cities in the world within the next
15 to 20 years,’ said Goldberg.”
It’s hard to think of Shanghai in the same league as London and New York in just 20 years, but then again, the city was probably nothing like it is now only 20 years ago.
I was listening to an NPR podcast the other day and at the end of a report about the tough job market in the U.S., a few Americans working in Shanghai were interviewed about how they are doing well here, where they are untouched by the foreclosures, high gas prices, and layoffs that are hurting so many people in the U.S. One of the people interviewed was someone I know of through CouchSurfing. It was weird to hear a familiar name on the podcast. And it’s true – I feel none of the pain in the U.S. economy here – I don’t buy gas and don’t have a mortgage and there is no shortage of job opportunities. After nearly ten months I’ve saved a comfortable sum of money (for living standards here). To be fair, many Chinese are hit by high inflation (7-8% this year) and all the small time investors (there’s a lot of them now, it’s almost a pastime for many retired people) have taken hits in the stock market, which is down 44% so far this year.
Finally, officials from Taiwan and China are meeting in China. Airline flights between Taiwan and the Mainland may soon be allowed.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
The university entrance exam
Last Thursday and Friday, 10 million Chinese high school students took the infamous national university entrance exam. Their score not only determines whether they can go to college (the universities can take only about 5.7 million new students) but also decides whether a student can pursue their preferred major – everything rests entirely on their exam score. An article in Slate describes it as “China's SAT—if the SAT lasted two days, covered everything learned since kindergarten, and had the power to determine one's entire professional trajectory.”
The exam is certainly one reason why I’m glad I’m not Chinese. People tell me that childhood is much more stressful than adulthood in China. The work culture is pretty laid back in most places, and seniority, not merit, determines your career progression, so the world of work is not so competitive. But high school certainly is full of stress and cutthroat competition. Classes are divided into different levels by academic results early on and there are so many students competing for so few spots at the top universities, and then so many graduates competing for the best white-collar jobs. Those who go to universities abroad need not only academic talent but also money and face other obstacles.
The exam is certainly one reason why I’m glad I’m not Chinese. People tell me that childhood is much more stressful than adulthood in China. The work culture is pretty laid back in most places, and seniority, not merit, determines your career progression, so the world of work is not so competitive. But high school certainly is full of stress and cutthroat competition. Classes are divided into different levels by academic results early on and there are so many students competing for so few spots at the top universities, and then so many graduates competing for the best white-collar jobs. Those who go to universities abroad need not only academic talent but also money and face other obstacles.
Cooking, rapping, and eating
Last Saturday another foreign teacher and I went shopping with some of the kids at the new supermarket in Taicang. We planned to spend a couple hours with all the high school students cooking and eating food in the school’s cafeteria and we wanted to make pizza but the supermarket did not even have flour, not to mention yeast. So we went with our backup plan of making sandwiches. We grabbed 12 loaves of their only good white bread (i.e. not full of eggs and sugar), some canned tuna from Thailand, a Japanese brand of mayonnaise, a few packs of Hormel ham, some packs of cheese slices from Germany, Chinese peanut butter, and an American brand of jelly to make tuna salad, ham and cheese, and PB&J sandwiches. We also got a bunch of fruit for a fruit salad, cucumbers and garlic for a Chinese dish, and eggs, ham, and vegetables for a Korean rice dish.
We spent most of the morning in the cafeteria cutting fruit and vegetable and making sandwiches. The kids had all had fast food hamburgers and chicken sandwiches before, but for some of them it was their first sandwich with sliced white bread. We explained and demonstrated how to make the three types of sandwiches. But when we divided the kids into two groups, one to prepare ham and cheese sandwiches to then grill in the kitchen, and the other group to make tuna sandwiches, they naturally wanted to be creative and sample everything, so they put ham, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, tuna, tomato, and cucumber all on the same piece of bread. They insisted that being forced to do it “my way” was unfair and that they really wanted their tuna with jelly so I gave in and let them make it their own way. And they did think it was delicious; the only complaint was that the sandwiches were too difficult to keep together and eat when stacked so high.
A couple Korean students put together a fried rice dish called kimbob (I think the full name has another word or two), which was made with rice and kimchi (picked cabbage with chilies) from the kitchen and the ham, eggs, carrots, onions, and garlic that we bought. It was really good – spicy and flavorful.
On Saturday night, after we all went shopping, the Korean students made some Korean dishes in the kitchen and invited me to join them. They made a soup called “budae jigae” or “Army base stew” which is a mix of Spam or hot dogs, Korean vegetables, ramen noodles, and sometimes American cheese. It is named after the large stews that the Korean and American soldiers made from whatever food was readily available during the Korean War. The also made a dish of glutinous rice cakes (which has the look and texture of gnocchi, only stickier and sweeter) in a spicy red chili sauce, and some six inch long rice rolls filled with tofu, bacon, and vegetables (like Japanese sushi rolls, only this kind had rice outside of the seaweed, not the other way around).
On Friday afternoon, the school had a “Golden June” assembly, which went along Children’s Day, which was June 1st. There was a lot of karaoke style singing of Chinese songs by students of all ages and a few teachers. The performances were punctuated with a few rousing, patriotic appeals for Sichuan and the Olympics. Some Chinese boys performed a funny dance and three Korean boys did a rap song. There were also two English songs – Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and a rock song by Muse, performed by four Korean students and a Thai student. And then Pong and I did our rap song “Living at North Shanghai.” We got a huge reaction and parts of our lyrics were printed on the back of the program. I’ve never written or performed a rap song before but when word got out that I was going to do one, my reputation was instantly inflated to that of a professional rapper in the eyes of everyone at school.
The assembly shortened Friday’s schedule, and we now have a three-day weekend because the Dragon Boat festival is Monday. People welcome the beginning of summer by eating zongzi – sticky rice cooked in bamboo leaves – and racing dragon boats (look it up, they are really cool looking).
On Saturday I went to Shanghai with a group of the Korean students (most of the Chinese students are at home this weekend). We went straight to “Korea Town” and had lunch at a Korean-Chinese fusion restaurant. Everything we had was excellent – appetizers of kimchi and vegetables with a thick, dark sesame sauce, platters of sweet and sour pork and spicy fried pork, and several different noodles bowls – one with onions and a dark sauce, another with seafood and a spicy red broth.
Down the street was a massive fake goods mall that was the best one I’ve been to yet. They had more than the usual bags, watches, and clothing. There were toys, luggage and leather goods, and even golf clubs and golf bags. It’s amazing how much attractive and popular western brands are here, yet the trademarks and IP rights of those brands are completely disregarded. So the result is a huge alternate economy of fake stuff and the irony of women wearing Chanel sunglasses and shirts that say “J’adore Dior” that are most likely illegal copies that diminish those brands and hurt the companies. I bought three pairs of athletic socks – two with the Adidas logo and one with the Puma logo. I noticed later that they are exactly the same socks, just with different logos inscribed on the sides. I'll see how long they last – each pair was less than a dollar.
I’ll post some pictures later today. I’m heading out for a run and then to meet some students for lunch.
[UPDATE] Pictures are now online.
[UPDATE] More pictures were added to the photo album linked above.
We spent most of the morning in the cafeteria cutting fruit and vegetable and making sandwiches. The kids had all had fast food hamburgers and chicken sandwiches before, but for some of them it was their first sandwich with sliced white bread. We explained and demonstrated how to make the three types of sandwiches. But when we divided the kids into two groups, one to prepare ham and cheese sandwiches to then grill in the kitchen, and the other group to make tuna sandwiches, they naturally wanted to be creative and sample everything, so they put ham, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, tuna, tomato, and cucumber all on the same piece of bread. They insisted that being forced to do it “my way” was unfair and that they really wanted their tuna with jelly so I gave in and let them make it their own way. And they did think it was delicious; the only complaint was that the sandwiches were too difficult to keep together and eat when stacked so high.
A couple Korean students put together a fried rice dish called kimbob (I think the full name has another word or two), which was made with rice and kimchi (picked cabbage with chilies) from the kitchen and the ham, eggs, carrots, onions, and garlic that we bought. It was really good – spicy and flavorful.
On Saturday night, after we all went shopping, the Korean students made some Korean dishes in the kitchen and invited me to join them. They made a soup called “budae jigae” or “Army base stew” which is a mix of Spam or hot dogs, Korean vegetables, ramen noodles, and sometimes American cheese. It is named after the large stews that the Korean and American soldiers made from whatever food was readily available during the Korean War. The also made a dish of glutinous rice cakes (which has the look and texture of gnocchi, only stickier and sweeter) in a spicy red chili sauce, and some six inch long rice rolls filled with tofu, bacon, and vegetables (like Japanese sushi rolls, only this kind had rice outside of the seaweed, not the other way around).
On Friday afternoon, the school had a “Golden June” assembly, which went along Children’s Day, which was June 1st. There was a lot of karaoke style singing of Chinese songs by students of all ages and a few teachers. The performances were punctuated with a few rousing, patriotic appeals for Sichuan and the Olympics. Some Chinese boys performed a funny dance and three Korean boys did a rap song. There were also two English songs – Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and a rock song by Muse, performed by four Korean students and a Thai student. And then Pong and I did our rap song “Living at North Shanghai.” We got a huge reaction and parts of our lyrics were printed on the back of the program. I’ve never written or performed a rap song before but when word got out that I was going to do one, my reputation was instantly inflated to that of a professional rapper in the eyes of everyone at school.
The assembly shortened Friday’s schedule, and we now have a three-day weekend because the Dragon Boat festival is Monday. People welcome the beginning of summer by eating zongzi – sticky rice cooked in bamboo leaves – and racing dragon boats (look it up, they are really cool looking).
On Saturday I went to Shanghai with a group of the Korean students (most of the Chinese students are at home this weekend). We went straight to “Korea Town” and had lunch at a Korean-Chinese fusion restaurant. Everything we had was excellent – appetizers of kimchi and vegetables with a thick, dark sesame sauce, platters of sweet and sour pork and spicy fried pork, and several different noodles bowls – one with onions and a dark sauce, another with seafood and a spicy red broth.
Down the street was a massive fake goods mall that was the best one I’ve been to yet. They had more than the usual bags, watches, and clothing. There were toys, luggage and leather goods, and even golf clubs and golf bags. It’s amazing how much attractive and popular western brands are here, yet the trademarks and IP rights of those brands are completely disregarded. So the result is a huge alternate economy of fake stuff and the irony of women wearing Chanel sunglasses and shirts that say “J’adore Dior” that are most likely illegal copies that diminish those brands and hurt the companies. I bought three pairs of athletic socks – two with the Adidas logo and one with the Puma logo. I noticed later that they are exactly the same socks, just with different logos inscribed on the sides. I'll see how long they last – each pair was less than a dollar.
I’ll post some pictures later today. I’m heading out for a run and then to meet some students for lunch.
[UPDATE] Pictures are now online.
[UPDATE] More pictures were added to the photo album linked above.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Chinese names
In a bookstore I came across a used copy of the Lonely Planet guidebook for the United States. It was the Chinese language version, so I flipped through it to see what I could recognize in the section on Wisconsin. Many major cities have Chinese names, and for Milwaukee it is
密尔沃基 , which is spelled “mì ěr wò jī” in Pinyin, which is more or less pronounced as “me are whoa gee.” Milwaukee has always seemed to be a somewhat funny word but the Chinese name sounds even sillier. It’s a rough transliteration of the English name, which is a transliteration of a Native American name (I found three different origins for the city's name on the Internet).
The individual characters don’t make any sense together:
mì – intimate, close, dense
ěr – thus, so
wò – rich, fertile
jī – base
But together they do sound sort of like Milwaukee and I guest that's the point.
The Chinese name for Waukesha County is also a mouthful: 沃基肖县 – wòjīxiāoxiàn (whoa jee she ow she an). The last character means “county.”
Madison has a Chinese name that works well: 麦迪逊 – màidíxùn (may dee shoon).
There is no Chinese name for many of the sites highlighted in the Lonely Planet guidebook. Interspersed among the Chinese characters where English names like “Leon’s Custard” and “Kopp’s Custard.”
Now the name “mì ěr wò jī” always pops into my head whenever I think of home.
Speaking of Chinese names, mine is 山姆 or “shan mu” which uses two characters commonly found in names and sounds similar to my Spanish name “Samú.”
密尔沃基 , which is spelled “mì ěr wò jī” in Pinyin, which is more or less pronounced as “me are whoa gee.” Milwaukee has always seemed to be a somewhat funny word but the Chinese name sounds even sillier. It’s a rough transliteration of the English name, which is a transliteration of a Native American name (I found three different origins for the city's name on the Internet).
The individual characters don’t make any sense together:
mì – intimate, close, dense
ěr – thus, so
wò – rich, fertile
jī – base
But together they do sound sort of like Milwaukee and I guest that's the point.
The Chinese name for Waukesha County is also a mouthful: 沃基肖县 – wòjīxiāoxiàn (whoa jee she ow she an). The last character means “county.”
Madison has a Chinese name that works well: 麦迪逊 – màidíxùn (may dee shoon).
There is no Chinese name for many of the sites highlighted in the Lonely Planet guidebook. Interspersed among the Chinese characters where English names like “Leon’s Custard” and “Kopp’s Custard.”
Now the name “mì ěr wò jī” always pops into my head whenever I think of home.
Speaking of Chinese names, mine is 山姆 or “shan mu” which uses two characters commonly found in names and sounds similar to my Spanish name “Samú.”
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