Well to answer the first question that your probably not wondering about, I have now found myself to be in what I know now as my current home city. "Karamay". Ahhh, sweet sweet Karamay, there are so many things to see. Why will you never leave me be? Just enough time to have a pee. He He He he
Well what do you think of my latest hit song, I just wrote it now. ppbbbtt
After leaving Dali I headed straight to Shanghai, in the past nicknamed "whore of the orient". A place of riches beyond belief and technological center of the universe! Upon arrival my first mission was to navigate myself to the very center of Shanghai and locate proper living quarters. Jumping on a bus at the airport and asking them if the bus is headed to the river side I made myself comfortable for the long drive through skyscraper mania. I'm not kidding, Miles and miles upon more and more miles of skyscrapers. I have never seen anything like this in my life. For those who are familiar with star wars think of Currisant. Currisant is one huge city that covers an entire planet. Anyways,.. Hey I've noticed something in my writings, I say "anyways" quite a bit don't I. Maybe that's my word for moving on to the next topic I don't know. From now on I will use "moving on to the next topic". Sound good.
Moving on to the next topic, oh yes the river front. This is the very essence of Shanghai. Anybodys who has been or wants to go and has seen pictures knows that this is the reason. The river front architecture has you thinking that you have past through some rift in time and space, you find yourself thinking am I in another Country? The buildings are lit up in the evening as you stroll peacefully by the river. Listening to the sound of the boats and the cars and the current of the river sort of pulls your mind into a state of bewilderment, expecially when you open your eyes to see the great skyline. The old european architecture grabs ahold of your soul and your jaw hangs down drooling at the craftmenship. The clock tower rises highest and between the buildings lye narrow alleyways and streets, with people fighting for their share of space. Quite spectacular actually.
So I found my lodging (very expensive) and met some dudes, We had a couple beers and talked a bit about our things and ate some dinner. Quickly after dinner I wanted to take the tourist tunnel underneath the river to the new district of Shanghai. What a trip man, Trippy music and a well done laser light show takes your mind through a bit of a journey through paradise and hell and suddenly you arrive on the other side. And What did I find on the other side? Skyscrapers!
The next night I went to visit a great friend of mine named Ivan. Ivan was a student in Yantai, where I first started out working here in china. We had a great dinner together and we had many things to talk about as we hadn't seen eachother in a long time. So over several beers Ivan and I got caught up on each others life and we both realised that we had learned many new things since we last parted. Ivan told me all about our friends from the first school I worked at and what was happening with them. I ended up crashing at his pad and in the morning we said goodbye. I tryed to arrange another meeting with some other friends but it seemed impossible as I was leaving that evening .
So once again I am at an airport getting ready to return home. By home I mean Xinjiang province, not my working city but my girlfriends home city. Where her parents live to celebrate the Chinese new year. A 15 day festival but we would only be there for seven days. I didn't really know what to expect so I just decided that whatever happens happens, and I would try to just go with the flow and ride the wave. After seven long hours on the plane and feeling quite exhausted, it being three in the morning and all I grabbed my bags and gave my sweetheat a nice hug and I was happy to be home. Maggie let me know previously that I should refer to her mom as my aunt. So I call her Aiyi and her father Shushu, which of course, means uncle. This is chinese culture and it must be done this way as the roots are very deep. Many different customs to be learn't over the most important chinese festival. We got back to her place and had some light conversation and a little bit to eat before heading off to dreamland.
Ahh yes New years eve! When all the action begins. This day was spent mostly resting eating and talking and oh man did we have a lot to talk sbout. Maggie had mentioned previously that her mom would want to ask me many questions about, well y'know. That fact that her only child was dating a foriegn man, that's kind of a big deal over here. And I mean that in a difficult way, not an easy way. So much stress is place on being proper and right and a foreign man and a chinese woman is not so widely accepted over here. So the questions came and they had me feeling quite nervous and flustered as I knew they would. Apparently I answered well though and I passed. But yet still there were more but I would have to wait as celebrations were underway.
12:00 was approaching and we were all done our dinner so we started getting ready for the fireworks that we would set off on the roof of Maggies place. (by the way Maggies dad keeps carrier pigeons up there and are they ever cool.) So we get up to the roof at about the time the first couple fireworks are set off. Bang Bang Bang Boom Boom Boom, a constant stream of fireworks were being set off in all directions, smoke is rising and I am awestruck once again. Standing at the top of this apartment building my gaze shifts from north to east to south and west and surrounding us for miles and miles were the sounds and sights of fireworks. All different shapes and colours and loud bangs to scare off the demons from last year and start again anew this year. "Tai hao wanr le" That means great fun by the way. We set off our share of fireworks as well and although we went back in to talk and play games the sounds of fireworks lasted all night, untill the sun peaked its face up over the horizon to bring in the first day of our 7 day feast.
Oh yeah! Chicken feet. Well, as many of you may find this to be a repulsive thing to eat, I must say, slowly over the past 6 months I have started to develop a taste for these little guys. Not only do they taste really good but there fun to play with too. A chinese delicasey they are, and as far as my taste buds are concerned."yum yum yummy yum"
I realize that I have gone on for quite a while now so I will try to wrap it up soon. For the next five days or so we spent eating and celebrating at all of Maggie's different family members houses. There's even customs for the order in which houses you visit and when your house should invite the family over. You must eat untill your full, and then eat some more. Maggies family members were all so very kind to me.Something particularly interesting were the certain titles that I must call them by. For example. Maggies cousin whom she refers to as "Ge Ge"(Older brother) is 2 years older than Maggie and 2 years younger than me. But according to custom, since I am Maggie's boyfriend I must follow her. I also must refer to him as "Ge Ge". This goes on and on with the different family members.
So I guess now I will come the the conclusion of this entree. I hope you all enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing. And please give me some responces I like them too. To all my family and friends I'm thinking of you often and look forward to seeing you in the summer. I will be back in July and August.
Peace&Love in Heart&Mind.
Patrick
