i need my daily dose

Just about every day, I chuckle to myself thinking how this or that would be a funny insight or clever illumination of the ins and outs of life among a foreign people. Then I realize my life is rather mundane, and the people I live among are my good friends and the strangers I meet quickly become the best-est(sic) of friends.


Tomorrow we will take a trip to Xian, the big city known for it's Terracotta Warriors. This group will include Drew, Megan, and Rayleigh as we hope to meet up with old students(good friends!) and then old teachers(good friends!). We will delight in such a large city's access to the Chinese supply chain by scouring it for some much clamored over necessities:
- a professional looking one strap bag
- advice on a printer/copier/scanner
- some sort of food device that reminds me of the comfort of America
- and finally a french press, broken weeks ago(but still usable...)

the waiting makes it brighter

There are the occasional and oft-missed days in China where the outside world seems to come alive with its distinct rays of bright sunlight, where the bright blues of the sky and intense greens of the manicured grass seem to just leap out of from its long hidden location. The clear summer sky lets the eye finally peer into the usually distant unknown, and here in Qinhuangdao it is the mountains that finally make their presence known.

On those occasional mornings when this vision of all that should be seems to be clear and present, one wishes that this could be truer of most days and in most places in China.

And today I can especially enjoy this view, for I almost was denied the privileged last night. After returning from my second draining trip to Shaanxi in a week, and dealing with the local police there, I was nearly denied entry in through the gate into the teachers area where my current residence and all its belongings lay.

The older greying men guards, the odd older lady watchers, and the lone meek student, all with their different opinions and levels of power engaged in a quick but fierce battle over my entry. The walkie talkie and escalation of words seemed to point to 'bu xing' or not ok. The need for complete perfection during olympics cuts to the heart of every random worker with any sort of privilege and any person with an offical-looking job, putting a clamp down on even the basic tasks. Like access to one's own temporary apartment.

But one lone man in black, cell phone in hand, finally gave me the go ahead. Now I'm afraid to leave, for fear of not getting let back in. But at least I can enjoy the view:

identity as a minority

Oh the long post I could write about being a minority in China. Sure I'm easily spotted as different from my white skin, yeah my blonde hair garners a lot of staring, and oh the reddish-brown beard can't keep me incognito forever.

But I'm western living in a growing materialistic/Hollywood loving society, and in the traditional Confucius emphasis on respecting teachers, all the annoyances of being an outcast are tempered a bit with the attention-inducing ego-inflating side effects of people being interested and curious.

Sadly, this is not the case for foreigners and minorities living outside the bounds of traditional China. Especially around the Olympics.

“There are some words we feel in our hearts, but we cannot say,” he said.

I don't face all the normal absurd irrational and ignorant prejudices and fears mainly directed at Blacks and Muslims as here in China. Or in America for that matter.

Back in QHD, My 2nd Home

Qinhuangdao is here. Probably the smallest of all Olympic sites, most Chinese people don't even know where Qinhuangdao is. In Shandong province? No, it is not the city of Qingdao, famous for its archaic spelled TsingTao Beer. Rather, you can find me in Hebei province, the neighbor of Beijing and coastal province.

I am here. Which is actually a pretty amazing feat in itself. My 'paperwork' and 'documents' are not quite "up to date" and are "being worked on". So I am definitely blessed to be where I am, without so much as a hiccup. It helps that I am not in some gargantuan laowai sprawled city of smog and mirrors with security forces that number its visitors(Beijing).

The Olympics are here. As part of the reason I am here, I will engage in QHD's host city privilege of numerous soccer tournaments, both men and womans. This small seasonal tourist city will attempt to be a part of one of the most highly anticipated, politicized, nationalistic, zeal-infused, paranoid-security fear-prone, and downright enjoyable games. Hopefully after the Olympics, the city will get more of the street cred it deserves.

And mainly, it is a time to say goodbye. To the city I have lived in for three years, and the to friends I have gained. To the remaining friends who have been allowed to stay as Summer Olympic volunteers - a chance to catch up with my stationed friends who I enjoy dearly, it's gonna be a great two weeks.

加油中国加油！

(As you can see, my games are on August 6th, 10th, 12th, and 16th.)

The return of blogging...visually?

Visual Pilgrim is a pictorial blog covering my own personal journey; part travelogue, part emotional discharge.

This being my third(or 4th or really 5th) blog, you can search the web's treasure troves of resources to find either my livejournal blog covering college, or my xanga blog covering china. Or more embarrassingly, my previous life as a gamer(DreDog, though more TFC than CS). All in fun, of course.

Enjoy.