The world of tomorrow
Yesterday morning, I read an interesting blog
post on
Antigravitas about a concept which Jack called "neuva-vu": "The sudden knowledge that you are somewhere doing something you have never done before, but that you will continue to do until it becomes an everyday experience and you stop noticing." As a child of the twentieth century, I could relate to the concept, though as a cheapskate, my moments of neuva-vu tend to happen much later than the common herd. Anyway, I enjoyed the post and tucked the concept back in the recesses of my brain. Then, in a strange coincidence, we ended up having a neuva-vu moment that very evening.
This is how it came about. Yau Neih's mother and sister are in town, visiting us for Christmas. The other day, as I was reading the Seattle Times online, I saw an article about Yau Neih's childhood (and my adulthood) hero,
J. P. Patches. The article said that there was going to be a Christmas special featuring J. P. airing on
The Seattle Channel. Yau Neih and her sister were quite disappointed as they were
not in Seattle and the show wasn't scheduled to play on
The Yunnan Channel. Well, the article listed a URL for
The Seattle Channel, so I loaded it into the browser and discovered that the show was available for
viewing online. I mentioned this to the ladies and the result is that we decided to hook the laptop up to the TV set and watch the program, even though we might lose the internet connection in mid program.
So last night we took the plunge and watched our first program delivered online rather than being broadcast or played off of tape or disc. A true neuva-vu moment. Of course, I don't know about other folks, but my neuva-vu moments don't always turn out to be golden. While we were able to watch the entire program, we could only watch the in small increments. The computer would download about 30-50 seconds of video, play it, and then pause while it downloaded the next chunk. It was a trifle annoying limitation, but we adapted. (Actually, the breaks added a few unintentional laughs, like the time someone onscreen said, "Wait a minute," and the video stopped.) Conversation was limited to the download breaks and we managed to follow the show despite the delays.
Afterwards, I was considering this neuva-vu event and realized that it proved the old adage, "the more things change, the more they stay the same." This was the first time I have watched a whole program streamed online, but it was hardly the first time I enjoyed a television program that was handicapped by technological shortcomings. I've watched TV with bad reception. I've watched color programs on a black and white set. I've watched airline movies without sound. I've even set the alarm to wake me up so I could watch a movie airing at 3 a.m. (I'm really dating myself with all these revelations.) So catching a show in 45 second chunks is just a new way to watch the tube under less than optimal conditions. Still, I have to agree with Jack, it is "a bit of a thrill". It's good to be living in the future.
Deck the walls
Of course, maybe
encouraging the child to decorate was not the best idea in the world. I mean, we're not picky with our decor. Never have been. We started out decorating our home with an Early American Dorm motif. As we got older, we then left such childish tastes behind and moved up to more of a Colonial Thrift Store style of decor. We certainly appreciate a home that's artistically decorated, but we're too cheap to do likewise. Besides, if someone gives us a wall hanging or knickknack, we want to hang it up. Anyway, home decor took a hit when we came to China. The kids brought a few pictures, but most of our stuff stayed behind. This bothered Ga Dai, the artist, somewhat. She found the bare white walls depressing. So when she asked to add some color, we acquiesced. She painted a few pictures and taped them to the walls. When the year ended, she cut apart the old calendars and taped those pictures to the wall also. The Dorm motif returned. We got into the spirit as well, adding a few local wall hangings and taping some snapshots to the door. (I also really regressed and taped up a few funny drink coasters we picked up in a restaurant in Thailand.)
So now Christmas comes, and Ga Dai has injected our decor with new life. Mostly that's been good. I especially like her Wa Nativity Scene:
But some of the other decorations are not so delightful. I know it's my fault that I let her tape up the Death Star "costume" she had made for Halloween, but I wasn't expecting it to get into the Christmas spirit:
And I certainly wasn't expecting Darth Santa, led by Rudolph, the Red-Nosed TIE Fighter:
Ah, well, Christmas only comes once a year... thank goodness.
Silver and gold
We got a good lesson in the importance of procrastination last week. (Though I doubt my wife paid heed to it.) The occasion was my daughter's birthday. For many months now, maybe even since last Christmas, she's been dropping big hints that she'd like an artificial Christmas tree for her birthday.
Now, maybe it's because of her birth month or something, but the child has always loved Christmas. Coming to China posed a hardship for her, as we were
not going to shlepp an extra suitcase full of tinsel. But, creative child that she is, Ga Dai managed to start amassing craft materials and cobbled together a nice bunch of decorations, including a Christmas tree made of posterboard. We were delighted with it, but the child wasn't satisfied. In her opinion, it looked too much like
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Hence the desire for a "real" fake tree for this year.
Well, loving parents that we are, we both decided that we would get her a Christmas tree. Fortunately we still communicate with each other after many years of marriage, so we didn't get two trees. Yau Neih opted to get the tree, I decided to spring for the decorations. Like I mentioned last year, the Christmas shopping season comes a bit later to this part of the world, but we had a vague recollection that we had seen some holiday decor for sale around this time last year. Of course, something happening last year doesn't always guarantee a repeat performance. We kept an eye out for the first signs of Christmas, but they weren't coming. Our regular supermarket, which had decked the halls last year, wasn't showing any holiday cheer. They were, however, rearranging all the shelves and adding new infrastructure, so we figured that maybe they were just to busy to haul out the tinsel.
So as the final week before B-day approached, we made it a point to extend our regular grocery runs to visit other supermarkets and stroll down different streets, all in hopes of finding a place selling Christmas decorations. Alas, day after day, like Yukon Cornelius, we came up with nuthin'. It was very discouraging. We had a dim hope that there would eventually be
some decorations on sale
somewhere, so Yau Neih decided to wrap up an I.O.U., and I planned to purchase the camera I had promised the child along with a mess of film. So, the day before Ga Dai's birthday, we headed towards the camera store. We strolled up the hill, past the pharmacy, the little grocers and the gift store, and there in an office supply/toy shop--behold!--we saw a rope of tinsel. Upon investigation, we found a nice little stash of Christmas decorations. With eager delight we pulled out the phrase book and asked if they had any trees.
May yo--no. But they pointed down a cross street, indicating that we try there. We hurried up the street and, sure enough, we saw the store. The shopkeeper was setting up a bunch of trees out front. We made our selection and happily headed on to the supermarket, tree in hand. (Well, actually it was in a box, but you know what I mean.) On the way we passed three other stores setting out there Christmas decorations. For once, it seemed, waiting until the last minute paid off.
Defend Federation Space
I know I've not been faithful in posting, but I have a good excuse. You see, our internet connection has been funky these past few weeks. You log on and are surfing away and
bam! suddenly your browser is not connecting to anything. I don't know if it's a network problem or a firewall problem or what. What I do know is if I'm looking to relax and the internet is not working, I can always start up
Escape Velocity Nova and make a few deliveries in my spaceship. The problem is, once I start playing EV Nova, I tend not to check when internet access gets restored. So I find myself neglecting such online recreational tasks such as blogging, visiting message boards and paying my credit card bill. (Just kidding on the last one.)
Believe what you read
One of the oddities of life here in China is the attempts at bilingual packaging and signage. There are many times when we see English words here. Sometimes it is a genuine attempt to offer a bilingual package. Other times it seems to be more of a fashion statement. In either case, the quality of the English used is... well, unique. I mean, it may not necessarily be inaccurate, it's just definitely not something written by a native speaker. One recent example is a menu we were using in Kunming the other week. Our group went to a place called Stone House Restaurant. (Good place. Beijing Lu, No. 427, in case you're interested.) The treat was that they offered Italian food. It wasn't an Italian restaurant--they had just bought the recipes from one--but, hey, in these parts you learn to appreciate "close enough". Not being a pizza person, nor in the mood for a mound of spaghetti, I was trying to decide between some chicken dish or Italian sausage. I was leaning toward the sausage, but the menu said that it came with "potato salad". Not what I'd choose for a side, if I had a choice. In the end, I figured to go ahead and order it. We were ordering some bread and salads for the entire group and I figured I could always fill up on those. Anyway, I did, and when my dinner arrived, I was surprised to see on my plate sausage, french fried potatoes and a salad. Potato. Salad. What a difference a comma would have made. (Well, actually not, I guess, since I ordered it anyway.)
It's this lack of accuracy (and illiteracy in Chinese) that leads us to trust our instincts more than what's written here. Of course, sometimes our instincts let us down. Earlier this week we were in the supermarket looking for some chicken. The place we usually patronize used to carry frozen chicken bits as a staple, but within the last few weeks they haven't had any. We were at a different store and were perusing their freezers to see if they had any. We didn't find the chicken legs for which we were searching, but we did find a package that had the English words "chicken breast skin" on it. We thought, "hey, breast fillets with the skins attached" and bought it. Surprise! A couple of days later, when Yau Neih was starting to make dinner, we discovered that we had purchased exactly what was advertised: a pack of chicken skin. sigh. Sometimes you really should take people at their word.
Breaking news
As I write this, there is a science class being held outside our apartment window. We first heard the sound of people gathered when we were having our own school lessons. When I peeked out, I saw groups of people gathered around tables and a woman in a lab coat. Mobile medical clinics are a common sight around here, so I thought it was one of those. The next time I looked, however, it didn't seem like the kids were being checked or treated or anything. I watched for a moment and saw that the students around the closest table were cutting into something with white fur. Ulp! Who needs a laboratory when you've got a big open field outside of campus?
Give thanks
Sheesh, almost a week into December and I still haven't blogged about Thanksgiving? How lame. But then again, there's not much to report. On Thursday we went to "The Farm"--a little place that's about 18 km outside of town. It's a place that does agricultural development, so they have all sorts of test plots and things like that. There are a few foreign families and a bunch of local folks who live there and they always throw a good party. There were a number of us "city folks" invited. There was our family, our neighbors Joan and Michael, the lady who runs the neighborhood English corner, a couple of students who help out in the aforementioned corner, and another foreign teacher in town named Emily. The English corner folks traveled separately, so us foreigners coordinated efforts so we could take a
mien bao che--one of those little vans that look like a loaf of bread. Actually, Michael stayed home since he felt obliged to offer the regular Thursday night English corner on campus.
As is typical, the folks at the farm had quite a spread. There were the typical turkey, stuffing and sweet potato dishes, as well as a few unusual offerings such as pumpkin with curry and
lumpia made with sweet potato. As we were eating, Emily and I tried to explain what constitutes a "typical" Thanksgiving dinner to Joan, who's British. It was a difficult task, as one thing we've learned out here is that different regions of the U.S. have different staples in their meals. It seemed quite odd to me that we weren't serving mashed potatoes with our turkey, for example, while our Southern hosts served up heaping helping of sweet potato. After discussing some of the regional variants, Emily finally distilled the typical Thanksgiving dinner to turkey, accompanied by dishes that are pretty much bland and sweet. With a football game playing afterward.
So dinner was nice and tasty. Afterwards, we all gathered around and had the obligatory "say what you're thankful for" session. I was mostly thankful for all the nice folks we had met out here. It seemed odd that I was in a room full of people, most of whom I had known less than a year, yet felt right at home among good friends. I think there's something about being a stranger in a strange land that helps one make connections quicker. Or maybe I was just blessed to fall in with the right group of people. I don't know. Anyway, about a third of us voiced our thanksgivings, and then, all too quickly, it was over. Since we weren't in America, most folks had to get back to work. I suppose it was just as well. We would have had to wait until the middle of the night for the football games.
Bleh
Warning: The following post contains brief descriptions of minor gastro-intestinal disorders. I tried to think of a pleasant way to report this, but given the nature of the ailments, the post would have been reduced to the sentence, "I was sick." This would have been unacceptable to my natural verbosity, so I chose to write a more detailed description with this warning attached. So you have now been warned and may quit reading if you don't want to read about my health issues. Thank you.
P.S. I have been requested by family members to refrain from mentioning their participation in this epidemic, so all the names have been omitted to protect the innocent. Thank you again.I would've written more this week, but I've been in the middle of a epidemic. We spent the weekend in Kunming, returning home on the sleeper bus. That left us spending Monday feeling lethargic. I think the first digestive problems were felt by the family by Monday evening. Early on Tuesday morn, I was awakened by the sounds of someone
varfing. Later in the morning, I was feeling nauseous and, despite my efforts to resist it, by the evening it was my turn to retch. I really hate doing that. Anyway, three of the four of us were declaring ourselves to be ill. It was a minor illness, however, for we all seemed to be on the road to recovery on Wednesday. We felt bleh, but were able to function. On Thursday, I either had a relapse or a new ailment. Whichever it was, it struck lower in the digestive system. Friday, saw me with a tender gut, but able to get through the day without excessive trips to the bathroom. Today I felt fine, albeit a little more tired than usual after hiking.
Add to the above discomfort a cold apartment and the hot water going out for two days and I was longing for home. But I suppose I could take some comfort in knowing that I wasn't alone. Not only was my family stricken, but a number of folks on campus have reported that they had their own bouts of sickness this week. At least that rules out something we ate in Kunming as the cause. We had a delicious time and I'd hate to think I'd have to avoid such cuisine in the future.
