Hey, if you're looking for the China pics, I'm sorry... I just don't have them up yet. If you're looking for Alberta pics, perhaps you don't know where I am - it's not that scenic. But I'm going to upload some of those too, when I get around to it. If you're looking for a generic update, well, that I'll give you right now.
I last wrote anything while super-stressed in Beijing, faced with having to deal with switching rooms, lack of language skills (mine!), being responsible for two other people who were not there yet but who had to be kept informed as to where to find me using only sporadic email access (mine and theirs), the uncertainty of Rick actually making his amazing flight connections... I didn't sleep much that night.
The previous entry includes a picture of Rick, so obviously that worked out. Actually, it took me more than half the next day, but all that I had control over worked out. I did need to communicate that I needed technical support when the Chinese computer they supplied with the internet connection would do nothing but spit out Chinese porn and the connection didn't work with my laptop, and it did take about an hour to get me checked into the new place (and another hour to get the refund and checked out of the other one), but yes, it all worked. And yes, at the end of that, I felt like crashing - but I didn't, I went exploring, hoping that Eliezer would find me and Rick made his flights. At 7 p.m., I found Eli in the hotel lobby (it only took *him* two or so hours to make it there from the airport), and while we were studying menu pictures trying to figure out which of the pictures might *not* be a) turtle, b) intestines, c) innards, d) spicy (Eli can't eat spicy), Rick emailed saying he was checked in at Shenzin. It all worked out. Though perhaps I shouldn't say that until I have a chance to scrutinize my credit card statement...
I have a pile of pictures of Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City, and from the temple on the hill just north of there. I don't really have much commentary to go with them - I don't know *what* I can say about Tiananmen Square, really. It wasn't easy standing in that sea of red, with monuments to the marvel of Three Gorges and some railway in Tibet, and the Mao portrait, and think about things like the value of a break with the past. I'm not going to get into that sort of commentary, I don't know enough about it and gut reactions are something else entirely. It's not the sort of thing I can lightly poke fun at.
The Forbidden City was fun, because Rick and Eli made it fun. We rented audio guides - one in English, one en espanol. We learned about the significance of things like the little animals (animalitos!) on the roofs, and which parts of the complex were used for what (broadly, to be cheeky, the audio guide devoted a lot of time to explaining which areas were no-sex zones populated by eunuchs and which parts were for prolonging happiness - seriously, that was the phase used!). The funnest part of the Forbidden City was the Starbucks right at its heart. Think about it. The heart of imperial China...
Having Rick around was fantastic, particularly so since he did some research while Eli and I were doing our conferencing thing. As suggested by a commenter on this blog, he ended up using a youth hostel to arrange a super wonderful wall adventure. We went to the least-visited and still developed part, and got to hike along the wall (up down up down up up up down down down!) for 10km, and then catch a ride at the other end. It was a full-day adventure, primarily because it was far away and Beijing traffic is everything you've heard and worse. The wall trip was the absolute highlight of the entire China trip.
Eating in China was harder than I anticipated. I'm not picky, really, by North American standards. But the menus were not easily intepreted... if we hadn't had Rick, Eli and I would have ordered all of our meals by pointing at what other diners were eating... fortunately, Rick could order rice and translate "no have", and he recognized a few of the pictures. Still, the night we came back from the wall, I went out to get us Domino's pizza (we couldn't call for it, no language skills!), and on our last night, Eli was out and about and ended up at KFC and Rick and I got takeout that resembled U.S.-style Chinese food (it included egg rolls, fried rice and dumplings). We also got foot massages, but that was a whole other event (I fell asleep. And, according to Rick, snored. How very charming. And what a great friend, that he doesn't *wake* me when I am not only missing the fun but making a fool of myself! Grrrrr.)
That was China. Pics to come.
As for Alberta... I'm in southeastern Alberta, in what is known as the "Special Areas", doing some field research. The work is terribly interesting, but the landscape and current weather are a bit of a challenge. I miss trees. I miss above freezing temperatures. I miss elevation change. However, the people are incredibly friendly, and on chinook days I realize that the flatness and the big skies have grown on me. Especially when the light is low and the prairie is golden. Gwen and I have been taking many pictures of abandoned farmsteads, we are utterly fascinated by them. By now, we could put out a coffee table book. Though since the chinooking is all done now and it is really really cold again, we prefer to stay in the car. We've been spending many hours in the car, because the field work involves agricultural producers, and this is an area of huge (by Ontario standards) farms in terms of areal extent. So lots of driving. And long hours - we are out and about most every evening, and I'm not caught up with work email, so the thought of writing on the blog and sorting through pics is unappealing.
This weekend, we're escaping to the mountains to soak our frozen bodies in some hot springs. At the end of next week, we go to Lethbridge for a workshop, and then it's back to Toronto. We're already scheming about how we return to here. Like I said, the work is terribly interesting. If only it weren't so cold and dry. My skin is itching it's so dry.
Posted by Johanna at November 24, 2006 02:22 PM