Reading Your Way through Winter

I know that it has been a while since I last wrote, but no one reads this thing anyway.  Over the last few months, I did some traveling, moved apartments, and applied for graduate schools.  I also became addicted to reading over the last few months.  Pathetically, I plan my social and lunch schedules around reading, but everybody has got to have a hobby.  I finished the fifth Dune book last night.  It is quite good, especially considering the travesty that was God Emperor of Dune.  Read that one a few years ago.  It was so boring that it took me years to get the resolve to read this one.  Frank Herbert is really philosophical in this one as the Bene Gesserit attempt to continue humanity’s journey down the “Golden Path”.  I am still not entirely certain what this “Golden Path” is, but the jist of it is keeping humanity from destroying itself in a feudalistic future.  In this one, the citizens that scattered throughout the universe during the first four novels’ Imperial Age return to t 
he core systems.  Think of it like post-colonialism in space…with giant sandworms.  I know, I know….heavy stuff right?

 All this reading has resulted in some great literary finds and some disappointments.  After finishing Lonesome Dove, currently my favorite book ever, a few months ago, my grandfather warned me never to read the sequel, Streets of Laredo.  Long story short, I should have listened.  The first two thirds of the book are really amazing.  Who doesn’t want to read about Woodrow Call chasing outlaws across west Texas with an out-of-place railroad accountant from New York?  Sounds like a recipe for success, right?  However, the story shifts its emphasis to the relationship between Joey Garza, the outlaw who the railroad hirers Call to kill, and his mother.  I imagine the author gets a lot of hate mail for the book, but I say cut him some slack.  Yeah, the ending of the book is about as disappointing as your ice cream falling off the cone, but he did write Lonesome Dove.    

Jan Morris’s portrait of Hong Kong made for a great read.  It’s amazing how she/he (that’s right, the author had a sex change) managed to make the history of this former Crown Colony into a narrative driven pseudo-story.  Gotta give her props.  I like it so well that I loaned my copy to someone getting ready to visit the city.  There is a lot of interesting stuff in this one, and Morris does a reasonably good job analyzing China’s relationship with the world outside the Middle Kingdom.  Although this stanch Welsh republican’s presentation of contemporary China is a little too idealized for me.  She overlooks the effects of the Cultural Revolution Other than its effects on mainland immigration to Hong Kong.  Overall, the book proves another amazing work by the woman who gave us the Pax Britannica trilogy.  

                

Back in Beijing

Returning to Beijing resulted in mixed feelings. I spent three months trying to make this

place my home, and just when it starts to feel normal I return to the America for three weeks.

However, nothing feels like getting to sleep in your own bed and lounge on your own couch.

It is also badass to have a roommate again. One of the unexpected downsides of living out

of hotels is the loneliness. I was hoping for more of a Dunsten Checks In kind of vibe. My

journey to the United States did allow me to stock up on some things that I cannot find in

China including music, books, and cloths. I haven’t been able to stop listening to the new Arctic

Monkeys album AM. It’s awesome. I couldn’t find it in Beijing so I picked up a copy while in

America. Also I gained back some of the weight I lost. I didn’t realize how much I missed cheap

Mexican food and Americanized Chinese food. Traveling to America also meant that I could

binge on American sports. Because of the time change (12 hour difference with the east coast),

Chinese bars don’t often show American sporting events live. I took the opportunity to enjoy

the life of the armchair athlete. How about that MLB postseason, right? I’ve some photos of my

trip to pre-government shutdown DC. But after all the traveling, it’s nice to return to my exile in

Beijing.

Real or Real Fake: Booze in Beijing

The first time someone in Beijing warned me about fake alcohol, I thought they were kidding.

You really mean that bars willing knowingly serve their patrons “fake” alcohol to save money?

You bet. One of my friends explained me the difference between the normal alcohol you drink

and the “fake” stuff shady bars occasionally serve. Both will get you drunk, but the fake stuff

we leave you with the worst hangover of your life. Out with friends, I once only consumed

three beers only to awaken the next day with a hangover so terrible it made the room spin.

The “fake” phenomenon quickly explained the Chinese preference for bottled over draft beer.

Also it reinforces the west’s caricature of China as the world’s provider of counterfeit goods.

Sometimes in China, even the beer is fake. But trust me the hangover is all too real.

Great Reads in the Red Capital

While in China, I have been catching up on my reading.  Like many of you, I neglected reading for pleasure in college due to a lack of free time and sobriety.  Now that I have learned firsthand just how boring the working world is, I have filled my free time with some great books from the Bookworm here in Beijing.  I just finished Lonesome Dove, and I can safely say that it is the best book I have ever read.  If you haven’t read this one, do yourself a favor and go pick up a copy from your local library.  Hell, I’ll give you mine if you promise to read it.  My feelings toward Lonesome Dove came as a relief because two of the “classic” novels I read preceding Lonesome Dove disappointed me.  I finished Midnight’s Children in the beginning of July and The Master and Margarita in August.  Both are widely regarded as classics, but I just couldn’t get into the whole magical-realism vibe and I fear that many of the Indian political references in Midnight’s Children went over my head.  I noticed a copy of tMaM on a friend’s family bookshelf while I was staying with them in LA.  His mother couldn’t stop applauding the book, which leads me to believe I missed something while reading.  Or maybe I just didn’t like it.  I started the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy yesterday just because it is so different from Lonesome Dove.  I bought the book years ago at a used bookstore and have always intended to read it.  As I continue my exile here in Beijing, I know I’ll burn through quite a few books this winter while keeping warm (literally and figuratively), and I definitely plan on reading some books by Chinese authors.  Let me know if you have any suggestions.    

Beijing's Smog: Fact and Fiction

The western media tends to over exaggerate Beijing’s smog.  You’ve probably seen it on the news with photos and video of people wearing masks on their way to work, but the truth is it rarely gets to that point.  Before coming to Beijing, I thought I needed to wear a mask every day to stay alive.  Beijing was sort of like a less hospitable version of Mars in my mind, filled with dust storms and no breathable atmosphere to speak of.  Some days are pretty bad, but those wearing masks are definitely in the minority of the population.  Most of autumn has been clear skies with occasional showers.  I think western media’s relationship with Beijing’s smog is representative of Sino-American relations in general.  Alarmist journalists in the United States love to chronicle the rise of the menacing dragon.  Many in the United States view China as this oppressive, amorphous entity bent on suffocating its way to global dominance.  I do believe the PRC needs to change in open, particularly economically, if it plans to continue its rise on the global stage.  However, like the smog, this might be more of a gross over exaggeration.        

Beijing's sky on a smoggy day 

A beautiful day in Beijing

American Vacation

It is strange to tell people that I am traveling in America for business.  Returning to my home nation has proved an interesting experience.  There is so much about the United States that I have missed while living in China.  I am taking the opportunity to watch as much baseball as possible.  How about that NL Central people?  It is crazy.  I am currently in DC for a few days enjoying all of the capital's tourist sites.  Like all mid-westerners, I am programmed to think of the nation's capital as a den of corruption, excess, and incompetence, but the truth is much more complex.  I have found the tourists in the city to be a reflection of the nation as a whole.  You cannot go anywhere without seeing people sporting jerseys of their area's professional sports teams.  The tourists come from all this great nation.  They represent different races, ethnicities, and religions.  They are proud of their home, and they show it by letting everyone in the capital know where they come from.  Seeing the monuments is cool, but being here only makes me more excited to visit Indiana.  Enjoy the photos.  Sorry the Washington Monument is under restoration   

Events and Occurrences from the Past Week

I haven't posted in a little while.  Sure no one really reads my blog anyway, but I like to stay consistent.  Monday, I started tutoring my first English student.  We spent the last 20 minutes of the lesson talking about American baseball (that's right, I get paid for it too).  It turns out my student owned a Yankees hat, he just didn't know what the symbol meant.  During my time here, I have also been lucky enough to visit some of Beijing's great tourist sites.  Included in this post are pictures from the Summer Palace, because I know my only follower is a big fan of pictures.  Other than that, I really haven't been doing too much of anything except working.  My life is slowly devolving into a Chinese language version of the television show The Office.  I like to think of myself as Ryan the Temp.