Notes

I wanted to jot a few things before I forget them:

-Chinese characters are more like music than words. They stand for stuff, and you probably can't tell by looking what they will sound like. However, once you know what they sound like, they flow. Also, each character is a piece of a thought. It could be a combinable piece to make a word, like "天" in "明天." The first part is ming, which in this case is next or upcoming. The second part is tian, which is day or sky. So next + day = Tomorrow. Glad you followed along. Each character is an idea, not a letter in a word, and generally each one is only one syllable. Not so in Japanese (those dirty rotten scoundrels!), and thankfully I don't speak much Japanese at all, so it's really not my ball of wax.

-I got hit in the face by a chunk of wind with sand in it tonight whilst riding my bike. (The Chinglish there would be "Qizi-ing my xingche" and that's only funny to me.) It was gross and reminds me why I think China is dirty. Also, I am pushed to wonder where the wind originates, because within less than a half hour I rode to an ATM and then back the direct other way home. The wind was against me both times. Is this a conspiracy? Is it because I'm white?

-Which brings us to the segment I like to call "Ease on down, ease on down the 马路." The Professor and I were in Zhongguoncun area yesterday doing some shopping for electronics-y stuff. I was a big spender and bought some headphones, because mine broke a week or so ago. Anyway, we wanted to head from there to dinner at friends' house right along the Fourth Ring. This was at about 5 p.m. and so traffic was beginning to pick up. We tried and tried to hail taxis, but none wanted to 1.) take us to the right place or 2.) stop for a couple of young white guys. Now I wouldn't normally jump to this conclusion, but it's fairly evident when the cars slow down, look at you, pass by, and stop 50 meters down for Asians that there is discrimination going on. It's cool, I'm a minority. Finally, after I argued with one poor soul who did pull over, a Chinese man with his family who spoke English helped us. He wrote out exactly what we wanted to do on a paper in Chinese, and then he, too tried to hail taxis for us. He was very polite and even suggested that all the drivers were wanting to go to dinner at that exact moment. Dubious. Finally someone who realized it is, indeed, his job to take people places pulled over. Our godsend friend talked to the driver for us, and away we went. At least 8 taxis later.

-Now I totally understand the movie The Wiz. Well, I mean, except for why Michael Jackson is in it, and why the Twin Towers change colors while people dance around them.

-As I was riding against that solid wind, I kept reminding myself "Tomorrow Thailand, Tomorrow Thailand" and ignoring the numbness in my fingers. Currently we're seeing Beijing 21 degrees, Bangkok 88. You do that math, please.

-T