I’m going to have to put this blog down

Just end it with dignity and honor, please.

Just kiddin!!!

This blog’s got an eight-chambered heart and a double spine. Yeah.

Anyway, in case you didn’t already know, I’ve been living in Jinan, China for the past two months. Since my last entry I’ve finished my contract in Taiwan, traveled all around the island in a “Thank god it’s party!”-fest with Becky and Nemes, flew on over to Hong Kong, traveled through Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai and settled down here in Jinan for a 6-month ESL contract with Aston. Oh, and become an unapologetic socialist. ha freakin ha. I’m serious.

So I’ve been living in China for a while now and I guess I’ve been avoiding this blog, for reasons I’m not entirely sure of. Maybe I’ve been reluctant to parse my experiences here because they haven’t been entirely good ones. Not that it’s been all bad, but the inevitable comparison to living in Taiwan definitely makes China come up short, way short. I actually miss Taiwan way more than I thought possible. Apparently it got under my skin a lot more than I realized while I was there, as I find myself drifting off, closing myself off to my surroundings and reminiscing about what it felt like to just walk around my neighborhood in Taipei. The tiny details coming back stronger than if I was actually there, netted in the larger context of, well, the best damn country ever. Not that I’ve been to that many other places, but I just feel so damn lucky to have stumbled upon it, so many awesome things about life there. I can go on. But I don’t want to depress myself too much.

I don’t want to bash China either. I’ve had some good times here already. I know I need to start making record of them in some form, so I guess this is it. It’s hard for me to come up with some “china in nugget” bullshit that can accurately and effectively communicate this country and my experience of it so far. Suffice to say it’s extremely large and diverse, so there really is no one experience to be had anyway. This country is fantastic for travel and history. It’s super cheap. It’s very hardworking, tough, motivated. It’s loud, dirty, smoggy, polluted. Going more than 3 seconds without hearing a horn honking feels eerily quiet. It’s stealthily advancing. The government is supposedly building massive amounts of nuclear plants and most of the people have not a clue. Looking out the window on an 18-hour train ride, in the middle of the most rural, most pastoral landscapes, ancient chinese buildings have solar panels on the roof. Fellow teachers have told me that students in their adult ESL classes are very critical of the government. Teachers who have been away just 6 months say that Jinan has changed an amazing amount since they’ve been gone. But, kids still shit on the sidewalk. That I can attest to. In Jinan people don’t see foreigners very often, so it’s quite an ordeal for many of them. Me? I’m a foreigner all the time, so it’s not really a big deal, which creates a bit of a incongruity that is often uncomfortable for me, being the anomaly. I imagine that’s sorta kinda what it must be like to be famous. Remind me never to get famous, and if I do, to dissociate myself from the world because I would go insane if there was no escape from the constant scrutiny. uh *shudder*

Well, I guess I’ve gotten a start here. There’s loads more to say, of course. But I have a photo album on facebook that will tell you plenty. So this is it for now. Does anybody still read this? Just curious. Going to get back to my other pursuits. Besides exploring China, my priority this 6 months is getting my sluggish brain into intellectual shape for my return stateside/gradschoolside. I’m doing that with readings about the anthropological record and socialism. That’s riiiiiight. I also climbed a big famous mountain! Taishan: