The Golden Rule

Beer and Swings! Nuts and Gum!
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

Sometimes there are problems in translation, problems that arise from the inability to directly take a word or concept from one language to another. These problems are certainly not rare, and though at times may be frustrating, really don't surprise anyone.

Then there are other problems that might at first seemed to be mired in silly translation, but are frighteningly deeper than that.

For any number of reasons I was discussing "The Golden Rule" with a few Chinese recently. They all claimed familiarity with the maxim but kept saying it wrong. I was expecting "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (or something to that affect) but instead I kept getting "Do to other people what they might do to you."

Now, the difference in words was slight, and I had them write out the phrase in Chinese so I could check it myself, and a better translation might be "Do unto others what they wish to do unto you before they can do unto you themselves."

Which, is pretty scary.

I read an article today about the Chinese government injecting steroids into chickens to build their immunity to avian influenza. As a highly adaptable (and inter-breedable, if that is a word) as influenza of any form is, and coupled with the high turnover and contagion rate in chickens, this could easily lead to a stronger strain of influenza that could pose a serious threat to humans, as the avian flu has jumped species in the past and could easily do so again.

Not to puff myself up too much, but I've spent more than perhaps the average amount of time on infectious diseases, bioterrorism, and microbiology. Plus I've studied government reaction to scenarios such as outbreaks and mass hysteria. Plus I've studied the Chinese reaction to the same disasters. I'm not an expert, but I award myself the right to be worried about this. Back off man, I'm a scientist.

Today one of the universities I teach told me my 2 hour exam had to be cut down to 30 minutes, and also that I need to coordinate and produce a joint exam with 3 other teachers, all of us having taught totally different material.

At the moment, despite all this silliness around me, I am in a fantastic mood. I'm sitting in my newly acquired monk's shirt sipping my LaoShan tea from my hand painted porcelin tea pot. I am listening to Styx.

(In the picture above you'll see my office manager Renee, who is one month younger than I and in charge of my schedule. She is also, maybe, half my size.)

Feelin' Alright

If I Wasnt From Jamaica Why Would I Wear This Silly Hat?
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

Today was a long day. It was Saturday, which makes it my longest, busiest day, but today didn't seem too long or too busy. It just felt good. And its probably only half over.

To begin with, any anger in my last post has totally disippated not only through vindication from my coworkers but also through recent success in my chinese study. So hooray for me. Plus I've found a solution to my jammed disk drive along with a compatable external dvd burner at a reasonable price. Oh, and I stumbled onto season 5 of South Park and season 4 of the West Wing on the same day. Dorkiest of all, I finally started reading Kissinger's "Diplomacy," a little over 4 years since first assigned by Dean Krogh.

Anyways, I'm beginning to line up as much as my future in Harbin as I can right now... well, at least the next six months at my school. The schedules are about to change in about 3-4 weeks, so I'm pushing all my favors to work a more condensed schedule that will open up more time for travel and study. I need to work 24 hours a week, and I'd to just run the gauntlet over three days, but we'll see.

Consecutive days off will be great, if at the least for meeting up with Jay and Kelly in Beijing. The capital is only an 8 hour sleeper train away, but I'd really need to be there for 3 days to make that worthwhile. I'll skip out on work if needed, I can get a replacement, but it'd be cool if there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

I've got a lot of ideas plopping around in my head about bigger issues in China other than my silly life, and I plan on writing them soon, but... er... well, I'm lazy sometimes. Oh, and I shaved my beard. Take a look at its prior glory in the attached photo, taken only minutes before I shaved. I kept the beard trimmed while I had it, so I was never anything wild, not like 1997's attempt. Eee. JP Chisholm didn't let me live that one down for a while. Anyways, this pic was taken in my school's lobby, right behind us is the teacher's office. Vivian is standing there with me, she's one of my TAs. I got another photo or two I'll put up, all in good time. Now it is time for a little TV and a little Dewars and then the HIT Bar. I don't have any commitment prior to 1:30 tomorrow.

Hooray!

Proud to Be an American

I Forgot for a Second That I Was in China...
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

Eeee. I don't usually like to blog about crap like this, but something really got under my skin today. It was one of those classic Bill moments where you can tell I'm just about to explode with a rant that may have no end, in this case bolstered with the fact that it concerned the very nature of everything I have studied since I entered high school. Somehow I was able, uncharacteristically, to quiet up and walk away. But you all know I was right.

Living in China isn't for everyone, especially those who rely on the comfort of other people, or those who get tired of others fast. There are not too many foreigners running around, and those that are don't always fall into the "dependable" catagory. This means that one might be constrained for a very limited community, and outside of them all you got is yourself, so you gotta keep everyone happy.

Either way, I hate damn, dirty, blind-to-the-real-world hippies.

Another Weekend

A Real Waterfall. Not.
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

Well, its Monday where I am, which means the weekend proper is over, which means I can rest again. Working at a private school means that weekends are our busiest times, so I now look forward to Monday.

This past Saturday was the Dragon Boat Festival, which I'm pretty sure they celebrate one month earlier in the south of China. Anyways, its a celebration in honor of a poet/govenor who flung himself into a river because, even though he was very intelligent and benevolent, the emperor and his fellow govenors refused to heed his sage advice. So he died a martyr, and now the Chinese race dragon boats (kinda like a crew skull) and wash their faces with the morning dew by the riverside in memoriam.

It is not very interesting, and as the action takes place at dawn, which is around 330 AM, I did not join in the festivities. I slept. I have no regrets. The only Westerners I know who did go to the riverside said it was crowded and they didnt really understand why so many people were there, as it seemed like there wasn't really anything to do.

Right now the resteraunt outside my window is having a celebration of its own, complete with some dude murdering currently popular Chinese songs over a blaring sound system, a big rainbow arch, and canons. The canons are the funny part, as everytime I've seen these puppies in action something/someone has caught fire and when the blast echo down the street the noise tends to set off every car alarm around. General mass confusion and silliness, a specialty here in China. Really, you can not see anything like it back in the West.

Hooray for the West.

City Signs (A Branch of City Wok and City Airlines)

City Signs (A Branch of City Wok and City Airlines)
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

Sirry Mongorians.

After Chinese class yesterday (I got a 95% on my test! It was the highest in the class!) I met up with coworkers/good friends Jason and Dan. The three of us are the only ones with any Chinese ability, and both Dan and Jason have been in Harbin a while.

We headed out to Sun Island, a local "scenic spot." It was fun, full of beaches of faux sand and deer beatings. Plus this sign, which is now my favorite in Harbin, beating out the cornerstore who's awning reads "Synthesize the Market!"

An odd item of the park is how very unnatural the entire place was. Instead of winding paths through grove and over dale we walked wide boulevards of granite. The lake and the waterfall that fed into it were all manufactured, but not so well that we couldn't easily se the pipes emptying out over the rockface and the "shore" was slick concrete. The entire place felt like a much less imaginative, much more poorly funded Disneyland.

The chili was deliciersh.

School Spirit

HaGongDa
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

I started my Chinese classes today. Its amazing how much a teacher (or department) can influence your interest in a subject. My four years studying Chinese at Andover were great: I loved learning the language, I was willing to put the effort in that was needed, I participated in class, and I even became the president of the Chinese Club (along with Mr. Max Sung, wherever he is).

Then I got to Georgetown. Ugh. The Chinese department there was a total oriental trainwreck. I had one teacher there in all four years who made any sense, one teacher who inspired me. He was white, and understood where I, one of the lone whiteys studying the language, was coming from. He eventually quit because the rest of the department drove him crazy with their insanity.

But now I'm on my own, working one on one with a tutor for 6 hours a week. She's a grad student studying to be a Chinese teacher and she doesnt know too much English. But I didn't want my teacher to know much English, I only want to speak Chinese in class, and that is all we do. She gives me homework and quizzes, and I've been happily studying all afternoon.

I might not need a tutor, I could probably learn on my own, but I appreciate the discipline that only a teacher and a classroom setting can give. Plus its extremely cheap. And I came here to gain fluency before anything else, so now I feel like I'm truly following my higher purpose. And that is fulfilling.

Right up the road from my apartment is Haerbin Gongye Daxue, aka HaGongDa, aka Harbin Institure of Technology, aka HIT. Oddly enough, this is where I lived and studied back in 1997, so its as if I'm back in my old stomping grounds. In a way. Apparently the main building, pictured above, is the spitting image of Moscow U. If there are any Muscovites reading this, I'd be interested in a comparison. Either way, HIT is one of the top universities in China, so telling people I studied there earns a bit of surprise and respect.

I have chili cooking. Hooray!

Hoya Hoya Saxa!

Dear Old Blue & Gray
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

I met a Georgetown SFS alum tonight. He graduated in 1969 and has taught English in many a land. During college he participated in some of the larger rallies in DC, plus lived in DC long enough after he graduated to know about Bill Sr.'s bike lock stunt on Lauinger's first day open to the public. (Anyone want to verify this?) Either way, I thought this would be an interesting post, seeing as how tonight could easily be regarded as a crossing of fates, one just a bit earlier than the other.

The adjoining picture is another not-so-fresh one, almost a year old really, but its full of Georgetown-y goodness. Plus I was acting in pretty much the same behavior tonight. Clare and Alicia, you'd be prouod.

He'll Always Be '03 In My Heart

Dan's the man.
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

This needs attention called to it. I'm not sure how many actually witnessed it, but I'm sure many more understand its significance.

For those that know Dan Wintermantel, this needs no explanation. For those that don't know Dan Wintermantel, there is no way for me to explain.

Congrats, Dan. Wish I could have been there. Stop by in China if you get bored.

Take that, Blumpkin!

Since You Asked...

HongBo Square
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

I got a few emails in regards to that last post. To answer your questions:

1. That last picture was taken in a hole in the wall karaoke joint. Sometime in March. Santa does come to China, apparently for 5 months (the decorations didnt come down till April) but he nods his head to Beijing, never to Rome or any other Western religious center. Holidays, like religion, are state-controlled here.

2. As far as the weight loss goes, I think it is a combination of eating nothing but fresh foods and not too much meat or carbs. Everything I eat usually comes straight from the fields that day, and a lot of dishes are vegetable-intensive. But it isnt odd that I'll go a few days eating nothing but green beans, eggplant, and rice. On top of that, I've pretty much cut all sugar out of my diet (aside from coffee) and when I do go out for food, all the portions are smaller here. Supersize at McDonald's and it is the size of a small back in the US. Plus I do walk a lot, at least on my days off, as I like being on the ground exploring. Also, it takes a lot of energy to keep up with some of my students.

3. I have a fan on Flickr who has been adding some funny comments to my pictures. His name is "Uterus Chewer," I have no idea who he is, but I enjoy his work.

This picture is of HongBo Square, the "center" of Harbin. Below the monument you'll find two levels of sparwling tunnels converted to house heaps of cheap clothing. I've been buying more clothes lately, as the weather is getting hot, so I've been found here more than once trying on shirts and pants. Oddly, they dont have dressing rooms, so I have the chance to show off my very much not-Chinese bod. However, some stores won't let me try on clothes, as they are afraid I'll rip right through them, Hulk-style. Sounds like a Saxa-Center episode.

Important Lessons About Holes

SunGe, Stacie, Jolin, and Yours Truly
Originally uploaded by billmcgonigle.

1. I am now down to the last hole on my belt. In a good way. I've lost enough weight since I arrived in China that I've moved 3 holes down to the last. Hooray for me.

2. Something is jamming my CD drive, which doesnt really affect any of you at all. However, I am learning how to construct DVDs, and once I figure out one last issue, I'm going to purchase a DVD burner (they are really cheap here, not surprisingly). People who are probably angry because they are expecting pictures, this is the medium I want to deliver them in. You'll be able to watch the pictures on your TV and listen to my commentary. Or mute me. Either way, I got some gifts I am going to be sending back West, and that will all ship out when I resovle this DVD issue. Hold tight.

Off topic, the picture above is probably over 2 months old. You'll see our driver SunGe, Stacie from Saskatchewan (its somewhere in Canada), Jolin the Staff Member, and me. This was taken after a couple of hours in the karaoke parlor, an embarassment that has become a guilty pleasure. Just last night I gave an oddly heartfelt rendition of "New York, New York" only to subsequently butcher "The Sound of Silence." Oh well.

I have a beard now.