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Sunday, October 22, 2006 - "Gay" in Chinese (and other less interesting things) So even though my long-ass post about Xiangshan got no comments… here’s another one, because I feel a little OCD about my lack of posting this week. Monday I woke up completely disoriented after less than four hours of sleep, which in my opinion is the worst amount of hours ever. Above four hours – the more the better, naturally – but around three hours or less will get you through 2-4 hours of school, and then drop you dead. But four hours will leave you slightly nauseous, weak, shaky and dazed, and it doesn’t get better until you’ve had some extra sleep. Trust me, I speak from experience. A lot of experience. Very few people know this about me, but when I’m in a state where it’s nigh impossible for me to stay awake, let alone get up, there’s only one thing that’ll drag me out of bed. Choosing what to wear. Isn’t that the most ridiculous thing ever? Perhaps, but as long as it’s working… appealing to my shallowness works without fail every time, which in the worst case leads to me being late but very dressed up, and in the best case to me being on time and very dressed up. Either way, sometimes, that truly is the only way to get me out of bed. (Unfortunately, I’ve had an unusually difficult time to get up in the mornings this week – it could have something to do with the weather turning cooler – so I’ve arrived clip-clopping on high heels and out of breath almost every morning class this week. Brilliant.) My main memory of Monday is that I had the worst muscle ache ever in my thighs and butt after climbing Xiangshan. Last time I had it that bad was probably after snowboarding last winter. Augh! My first class, Business Chinese, was pretty uneventful. The vocab we learn is useful, but the class itself is pretty standard. My second class was Oral Chinese, easily my favourite course because of the teacher. We learned useful words like 同志 (comrade, literally “same aspiration”), 断袖 (cut-off sleeve) and 分桃 (to share a peach), all slang for homosexuality. All this was inspired by a comment from Nico (the American who knows more Chinese than I do, or should I say, one of them) about “Boys’ Town” in Chicago, where a lot of gays hang out. As he mentioned more and more Chinese slang words for homosexuality, our teacher’s eyes widened in surprise, complimenting him on his thorough knowledge of Chinese and wondering where he’d learned all that. By this time, I was fighting not to burst out in laughter, cuz our teacher doesn’t know that Nico’s gay. (he speaks a little Swedish from having had a Swedish boyfriend, a little Norwegian from having had a Norwegian boyfriend – we joked about him working his way through Scandinavia. He might pass on Denmark though; Danish people aren’t considered very pretty in Scandinavia, whether unfounded or not) It’s most likely better that way – Chinese are more aware of homosexuality today, but still very weary of it. This despite the fact that it’s quite accepted for Chinese people of the same gender to have a lot of physical contact – it’s common to see girls skipping around holding hands on campus, or guys walking with their arms slung across each other’s shoulders. I was a little taken aback at first when girls I’d just met hooked their arms in mine when walking, but it’s just a sign of friendliness and affection. Of course, it would be completely unthinkable for friends of the opposite gender to do the same. After school, I had SUSHI at a place in Wudaokou with QQ and two of her friends. The exterior is crummy and nondescript, but inside, it’s very high-class Japanese. The sushi wasn’t too expensive – 6 RMB/salmon piece, quite reasonable in a country reputed to have no good sushi – and incredibly good. Big chunks of salmon and good rice. Nothing like Swedish sushi of course, but still, a good place to know should the sushi craving become too much. Tuesday started off well I thought – I was up in time, would be a teensy bit late for class, but that was it. Um, yeah. Somehow, I had managed to not only bicycle to the wrong classroom in the wrong building, I had also brought the wrong books. Great way to start the day. (Business Chinese class – an American-Asian girl and an American guy are told to act out a sketch involving haggling between a Chinese and an American company) Teacher: “Who’s the American and who’s the Chinese?” American guy: “Guess!” (Chinese Media Reading class – we’re told to construct sentences using specific words. A guy who talks a lot, usually without thinking, raises his hand) The guy proceeds to spell out a long-winded, boring, badly pronounced sentence, and people quickly lose interest. Finally – Guy: “OK, I’m done.” Teacher: “I didn’t listen to the end of your sentence, but the beginning was wrong already.” (Hannah describing her ritual of buying noodles at that noodle shack, bringing it home in a plastic bag – soup and all – and then pouring it into her bowl. Hard-core take-away, especially since Chinese plastic bags can break if you blow too hard on them) Hannah: “For me, there’s just something immensely satisfying about bringing home my plastic bag and pouring the noodles in my bowl, and see how the bowl is just big enough and fits perfectly. I can’t think of a better feeling.” Me: *arched eyebrow* Hannah: “Shut up.” Three good things happened today (Sunday): 1: I met the lady who’s complained twice about us (read: Patrik) being too loud, and we actually had a nice conversation. I didn’t broach the noise issue, but I’ll try next time. 2: The jiaozi place people uh, long-changed me? Gave me too much change back, because they didn’t have the proper amount. When I insisted on tipping them instead, they firmly declined. Wow! First time a Chinese business establishment has declined my money! I’m going to go there more often. Also, their jiaozi is delicious and cheap – 4 RMB for a whole plate. And they’re nice too! And also, I’m getting a little tired of baozi. 3: My bicycle has already started to rust. This in itself is not a good thing. But it’s uglier now and therefore less likely to be stolen, which is a very good thing. Patrik got his jaunty, cherry red mini-bike stolen from our place last time he was here, so it does happen. Then again, that bike was beautiful (despite the pedal, saddle and left brake falling off within a week) and much more eye-catching than my discreet, metallic blue one. |
i just wanted to remind you that your not blogging for the replys or responses or knowing that ppl are reading it... your blogging for your own point of refrence in the future, if you forget that it changes the whole dynamics, i forgot all that stuff when i was at the peak of my flickr, all i wanted to know whos looking and how many and who would comment, i forgot that it was making art for me... first and formorst...
just thought you ought to be reminded.
anyways getting up to choose what to wear is better than downing 4 caffeene capsules, which leaves me a little dizzy and sick, but awake... for the next 2 days :D
and the "gain-pain" is never the next day, but mostly the day after, or for the whole week after that...
i love that your learning such "colourful" things in class... and that the people you are "socialising" with are just as "intresting" no im kidding, for the longest time i was a certain somebody's fag hag... ;D
the social norm is quite an eye opener... like i left you that out of context note... hidden somewhere in your blog which you havent responded to... wink wink nudge nudge...
i was quite ataken when i was push around by the crook of my elbow... and holding hands, fingers locked... that was farily unsetteling also...
Waaahhhahaha, swedish sushi... altho that would make sence now that i finshed laughing, seeing as how you have some pretty good salmon... but as you know i think your mother would disapprove of you eating anything raw out of the sea in china... :S
i think you should have a seperate space for your "chinglish-isms" some are really funny... and a space for "hannah-isms"
uh... how can you be tired of baozi? btw you know that in one years time when your home, your going to crave it like hell and will be prepared to drive all the way to your mums just to have some! you know it!!
btw just fyi i rekon that jiaozi is like the chinese version of sushi! something to behold in one simple mouthful, full of flavour and to be dunked generously in vinagar/soy MMmmmm
It's funny -- the Chinese used to be pretty accepting of homosexuality. It wasn't until the early Qing (I think -- my history is embarrassingly lousy) that attitudes started to change, though even then, you have cases like Heshen, the Manchu official who rose to power - allegedly - because the Qianlong Emperor had a crush on him. The famous Qing novel 红楼梦 also features quite a few references to characters getting it on that way.
The story behind 断袖 (or 断袖之恋) is allegedly that some emperor's (or possibly nobleman's -- like I said, my history blows) male consort had fallen asleep on his arm, and rather than wake his beloved up, the emperor/nobleman cut off his sleeve. Kind of a nice story, compared to 龙阳君, whose name ended up becoming synonymous with keeping catamites.
Lil: Thanks, it's a good reminder, though I must say comments and views brighten up my day. What can I say, we're all a little narcissistic, your flickr maybe more evidently so =P
Haha, choosing clothes is just to get me out of bed (esp now that it's suddenly turned very, very, very cold - it's kind of hard to deliberate carefully when you're shivering and hugging yourself to stay warm. Incidentally: hugging yourself repeatedly and energetically in order to stay warm is a specific noun in Swedish - it's called "åkarbrasa", lit. meaning a "horse driver bonfire", the only way the horse drivers could stay warm. Anyhoo..) In order to stay awake, I have to down a caffeine pill as well, otherwise I fall asleep in class. 21 years old, and I still need sleep like a baby, otherwise I'm a wreck.
I will get to the social norm thing don't worry, but there's a whole list of China things I want to blog about and it's on that list. Patience, grasshopper =D (I think that's a cute expression for some reason)
And re: sushi, the first thing my Mom said when she heard was: "Are you feeling okay?" But I've been here a while now and frankly, if I can eat from street vendors, I can damn well eat sushi at a classy restaurant, right? And as much as I love jiaozi and baozi, I've had baozi for lunch almost everyday for two months now. I'd probably be tired of even sushi then. Just as well, the baozi place (which was an open outside stall) seems to have closed for the season - it's really cold in Beijing now. And as for jiaozi, it's delicious, but the Chinese version of sushi?! As much of a 东北人 as I am, I'd take sushi any day *cringes in shame from my forefathers' disapproving looks*.
Brendan: And here I've been putting off reading 红楼梦. I gotta get me one now. (vastly simplified, possibly kiddie book) Also, do you know if 金瓶梅 is really as scandalous as my Chinese Culture and Literature teacher hinted, or is the censoring unnecessary today? He also said it's still sold restrictively in China, which just makes me all the more curious.
And yes, the 断袖之恋 story (it was a Han emperor, I think) is kind of cute, in a cute-but-i-can't-stop-thinking-about-the-waste-of-silk kind of way. 龙阳君 seems to have been pretty shrewd though with his fish analogy. Now I gotta go ask my gay friend if he knows that one =D
Btw, the fact that I had to run to dictionary.com ("catamites") made me skip a little. Instant happiness!
abrakadabra? what? hahaha, thats cute, i like that one now i just have to find out how to say it property...
how did it get so cold already? it was sweltering when i saw you last... sheesh... its not even properly summer here yet, we spent the last three days (long weekend, remember those?)couped up inside due to the rain... grrr...
your right you can eat just about anything now, but how right was i? i know your mum... i knew she would say something along those lines... waaaahahaha...
werid... i wonder why baozi is closed for the winter, you should ask around... i know that the you-tao (the deepfried sticks of batter... you like?) ppl have to get up MUCH eariler to get the batter made up just right or something, and thats why they charge like 2cents more in the winter.... or something... at least in TJ
are you wearing the pants under your pants yet? i still find that fasanating... as i come from a pretty mild climate system...
well i think if you were japanese you'd say the opposite about sushi and jiaozi...
herregud doesn't anyone leave brief comments anymore?
Since when can you raise your eyebrow? Is this something you've developed in China?
And I think it's funny you think Swedish sushi of all things is so good. But I'll give you that it was pretty tasty.
I trust you no longer think the same of Swedish nachos?
Lil: I've yet to see a single you-tiao place in Beijing. Isn't that sad?
Kevin: I like lengthy comments. It feels like people are actually responding to my thoughts and opinions, and Lil's never fail to make me laugh. And I can so raise my eyebrow, I never said I didn't raise the other one at the same time.
kevin, you never know, she might even be able to roll her tounge... or perhaps you just wernt paying attention... that was a punch for not likening my style of commenting....
screw you, its not like you have to read them all.. and im not going to save you the scroll... you deserve to scroll for the rest of your life... or at least untill your finger falls off... between the popcorn and the eyebrows... my perceptions is you make to many asumptions...
okay so i dont have enough time to email each and everyone, and answer each and every stupid question or pretend to be englightened on the weather happenings... or other such mundane things.... so i find it much more appealing to respond to blogs that way the writer gets to say what they want to and i get to respond to what i wish to... which maybe everything or nothing at all.. without any feeling of obligation seeing as the writer has not put aside time to write to me personally...
now that i've had my rant...
OMG WTF! no you-taio? are you sure your in china?
the clearest recall of breakfastes in china from our last visit is fresh you-taio hot out of the oil.... ala grand-pa's (hopefully) short trek down the street before we even awoke....
but my clearest memory is everyone complaining of being kicked though-out the night sleeping next to me in the kang... ehhehm... (subsitute everyone for you) waahahaha
Lil: you're crazy, and I love you for it =D No, I don't write for anyone personally, but I must say that your comments are absolutely lovely. They never fail to make me chuckle or laugh out loud - I made a habit before out of reading your comments before going to school in the morning, just a good way to start the day, you know?
About the you-tiao *sigh* it really is sad. They sell it in cafeterias in Beida, but none on my way to school (and believe me, I sure as hell don't have spare time in the morning to trek around for food. I don't eat breakfast anymore, I know I know, I should.. Hannah found a place the other day though with WESTERN CHEESE, CEREAL, REAL WHITE BREAD and not the sickly sweet stuff they make here.. I'm tempted.)
Ah, that kang. Good times, Lil, good times, even though you refused to go to the bathroom for two days after we got there =D
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