I'll have the soup with a side of DEET, please.

One of the things that attracted me about China was the food.  I feel like If you're not interested in the culinary experience of eating in China, you're only experiencing half the country.  So, naturally, I eventually found a better solution to my stomach's desires than the bag of soup from the local neighborhood, and that is the campus cafeteria.  There are actually two of these on campus, and they are both quite huge, and usually very busy.  Don't let this picture fool you into believing in orderly queues, though.  Such a thing does not yet exist in this country.   

(Edit: Thanks to Ali for pointing me in the vague direction of this article about recent humorous efforts made to change this fact!)

One interesting thing about life here is they way the free market has been so strongly embraced.  The cafeteria system itself probably contains at least 100 small, privately owned shops and restaurants, crammed into the same two buildings.  This is fairly representative of the attitude in the rest of the city.  Also, meals here are super cheap (I don't think I've ever spent more than $1 US on a meal here), and the folks are usually very nice and patient with me as I struggle to learn the language.  Especially the two pictured above, who work at the "fruit water" stand, and are helping me learn the names of all of the fruits.  I successfully named all of them today, but my final fruit exam isn't until Monday, so I have to make sure I don't forget any before then. Overall, a great place to hang out every day.

And it all seemed so perfect, too.  Nice little cafeteria, nice people, relatively comfortable access to food...  but then this guy walked in:

I'm in the middle of a conversation, nomming on a late breakfast, and all of a sudden this dude walks in with a super-loud, gas-powered blower on his back, and starts spraying chemical bug spray everywhere!  While I was eating! What?!  No warning, all over the cafeteria.  Out of control.

What did you do this morning?

Oh, not much, you know, checked my email, had some amazing cultural experiences.  No big deal.  (I am so lucky!!)

So, yesterday I woke up a bit earlier than normal (6:30am-ish), and went through the usual morning routine, trying to hack my way through the internet and whatnot.  Pretty much standard program.  However, around 7am or so, some fireworks started going off near my apartment.  Now, this in itself is not so strange; I hear someone setting off fireworks for one reason or another almost every day.  Weddings, store openings, funerals, whatever; every occasion calls for fireworks!  Especially, it seems, during the wee hours of the morning...

So, it was a few minutes before I became actually curious about what was going on, and realized that they were being ignited inside my apartment complex, and I could hear someone talking excitedly over a microphone.  So, grabbing my trusty camera, I went out to see what was going on, and this is what I came upon:

I got to see a Chinese wedding!  Right outside my apartment!  Who saw that coming?

(For more, you may either keep reading the long-ish post, or you can just look at the pictures on flickr. However, I don't feel like captioning the pictures right now, so you'll just have to guess at what's happening.  Of course, that's what I had to do at first anyhow...)

"Military Week"

One of the things you sortof just have to get used to here is the presence of the government.  Restricted internet, propaganda, etc..  I just try to be interested for the most part, and try not to judge, because it's my understanding that the average person here doesn't usually care too much one way or the other.  They're just trying to live their lives.  So, imagine my surprise when last Tuesday I woke up to uniform shouts, and upon investigation found literally thousands of students, trooping around campus in parade ground unison, led by military personnel in full fatigues.

 

My first thought was that there were two possibilities here:  either A) there is just a very strong interest in the Chinese version of ROTC here (unlikely), or B) I had stumbled upon a secret military training facility.

Luckily, there was an option C).  As it turns out, all first year students here are required to go through (lit.) "military preparation" before school starts each year (affectionately known as "military week").  I have yet to figure out exactly why, but I think it has to do with discipline, or somesuch.  Before I knew that, though, I wasn't completely discounting option B), so while I was trying to take pictures of the whole thing, I was actually a bit worried that some Chinese army official was going to smash my camera on the ground or something else crazy, so I had to be really subtle about the whole thing.  So most of my pictures here come from either very far away, or were shot from the hip.

And they wonder why Chinese students have such a hard time speaking up in Language classes...

Welcome to Xuchang University!

So it turns out, XCU (you don't mind if I call it that, do you?) is pretty awesome.  It's a university of about 13,000 students, outside the city of Xuchang, Henan.  And when I say outside the city, I mean it!  It was a day or two before I realized that the few shops and buildings in our neighborhood were not downtown, as I suspected.  In reality, downtown is huge, and crazy.  More on that later, of course =).

Campus itself is actually quite beautiful (especially compared with the rest of the town), with a hint of Chinese-ness everywhere.  It's actually quite a bit like UF, other than that they are completely different.  The school has been super nice to me since I got here, too.  For example, because (surprise!) the freshmen here don't start class until October 9th, neither do I.  And not only that, but since my contract said I would start today, they've already started paying me.  So I'm essentially on a 3-week paid vacation.  Awesome.

For more pictures of life here, if you like, you can feel free to browse my Flickr account, which will hopefully be updated occasionally with photos of various sorts.  For now, it is primarily populated with shots around campus.

Ohmygodijustmovedtochinawhat?!

At the point of leaving the airport, I still had not really grasped at all what my trip was going to be like.  It dawned on me soon after that I had just moved.  To China.  Whoah.

The craziness that I witnessed merely on the car ride from the airport to Xuchang is nigh indescribable (although I will certainly make an effort in future posts).  3-wheeled cars, chickens running around, shopfronts with two tons of corn piled outside.  And people everywhere.  That's really the most striking feature so far: everywhere you look, no matter where you are, there are Chinese people everywhere.


For the first day-and-a-half or so, I didn't see a single other foreigner, and my sort-of boss (who spoke some rusty english) was gone for a few days.  Which meant I was on my own as far as figuring out how to eat, which at about 6am on the first, rainy morning (I was still on US time) became a very critical need.  Unfortunately, I had essentially no idea how to get food, and couldn't yet get it on campus.  So, fueled by starvation, I set off from my apartment in a random (wrong) direction, hoping /someone/ was awake to help me out.

I soon found myself in a small, crammed, muddy rural neighborhood, barraged by unfamiliar sights, sounds, and most of all, people.  Although I am glad I did not have my camera with me (I was getting enough stares as it was), I wish that I could somehow express the experience, but alas I am not sure even how to begin.  Perhaps I shall return one day with a camera, or a journal, and document this strange and wonderful place to share.  Eventually, though, I managed to find a woman with a large pot of soup in front of her house, which I managed to get in a plastic bag (not what I wanted, but I took what I could get) for 1 kuai (about 15 cents).  I was so proud =).

Luckily, everything became a bit easier after this experience, and I am slowly adjusting to my surroundings.

We interrupt this blog posting...

...for an important announcement:

The Onion: China is hilarious.  Sponsored by the glorious Yu Wan Mei corporation.

Interestingly, the onion has no problem getting through the web blanket.  I theorize that the government simply doesn't get the joke.  And what joke is there to get?  None; this is a fine and accurate news service.

The Last Leg

Getting off at the Beijing Airport was surprisingly easy, and not really intimidating at all.  It was still dark, so I couldn't see much, but it seemed like most other airports I've ever been in.  I think they must try to lull foreigners into a false sense of security, though, because it didn't take long for things to rapidly get crazier and crazier.

The first thing I had to do was figure out which line I needed to stand in.  This turned out to be fairly easy, as it rapidly became Almost-Uncomfortably Clear that I was most definitely in the category of "foreigner".  I didn't realize at the time just how true this was, and how much I really am delineated from the rest of society.  Not to worry, though: the next sign I ran into that I could actually understand was very helpful. 

(I think they should append ", you're going to be here for awhile".)

After ages of waiting here and there, though, I finally managed to get on my flight to Zhengzhou.  At the gate, however, the kind gentleman informed me that "you need to exchange seat".  I acquiesced to the change, wondering if I would get to sit by a local this time.  Instead, I found they had moved me to the very back corner of the airplane, with no less than twelve empty rows between myself and the next person.  I think they must've thought I had swine flu.  Who knows.  I did, however, get to catch some snapshots as we flew over the mountains and the sun finally rose.  I quickly learned two things: 1) taking pictures out of an airplane window sucks. 2) once you're up that high in the air, pictures of mountains really just look like the satellite view on google maps.  Ah, well, they were mountains anyhow.

Once I arrived in Zhengzhou, and said goodbye to the last foreigners I would see for awhile, I was faced yet again with a choice:

It's like a choose-your-own-adventure, but only one choice is an adventure.

Welcome to China!  Which one would you have picked?

Arrived, safe, and sound.... FOR NOW! ...(just kidding, mom.)

(Note: Due to the unfortunate unavailability of certain websites in my new host country, I was dropped off of the social scene for a bit.  While I have managed to regain access to Sinocopia (more on that later), I am still without Facebook, so you'll have to find another way to get in touch with me!  Also, the next couple of entries are from a few days ago.)

Whew!  Boy, are my arms tired!

Well, I finally made it to China.  And when I say finally, I mean finally.  All said and done, my journey from Tallahassee, FL to Xuchang, China was about 9,500 miles long, and took about 35 hours.  This seemed like a long time when I read about it, but I had no idea what that amount of time spent traveling actually felt like.  Now I know.  ...It feels like a really long time.

The Prep

First things first, though, I had to get ready to go.  Deciding what to bring on such a journey, particularly with the stringent packing requirements, is no easy task.  However, the Jackson Davis way of course prevailed, and by the time 1AM came 'round the night before, I had almost started unpacking my stuff from camp.  Needless to say, I did not sleep that much that night (or the subsequent two days, for that matter), but eventually, looking as dorky as ever, with everything I was bringing in tow, I was ready for the 3 hour drive to the airport. This was largely spent attempting to both sleep and console my teary-eyed mother at the same time.  NBD.

Leg One : Tallahassee>Jacksonville>Chicago

When I got to the JAX airport, I was a bit worried, as it seemed someone had tipped off the airlines that I was coming, and put out the alert.  Luckily, after 8 million security sweeps, checks, bugs, and unreasonable searches, they figured out I wasn't a terrorist, although I can see how I might seem suspicious.  Actually, I was amazed I got all my stuff on the airplane at all without a hitch; my backpack weighed exactly 49.8 pounds (the limit being 50), and the woman didn't charge me extra for the oversized guitar/camelback combo.  Awesome.

My good fortune kept up through the Chicago airport, where I came upon this wonderful family of Chinese natives jabbering away to each-other. At least, I think it was a family; I didn't ask. Anyway, I was very eager to meet some of my future compatriots, so I was able to overcome my shyness and talk to the daughter (incidentally nice, friendly, foreign, and pretty...) , and boy am I glad that I did.  The whole family was super nice, and eager to chat with this strange Chinese-speaking foreigner.  They are visiting a few cities in the US before heading back to Shanghai, and even told me if I ever went there, I should visit them!  So nice.  And then, as we left, the older gentleman, 张幼君 (lit: Young Lord), gave me his calling card, which apparently is something everyone here does.  As I would soon learn, this meeting was similar to most of the interactions I would soon have with the wonderful people of China, and I'm not just saying that for the internet censors.  I was sad to see them leave, and soon settled in for an absurdly long night.

Leg Two : Chicago>L.A.>Beijing

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot to say about leg two.  It was dark, for a really long time, and everyone working there was bilingual, so I didn't even really get to practice my Chinese.  And, on my next two flights, to my great disappointment, I didn't get to sit next to anyone, much less anyone Chinese.  So sad =(!  One bonus of flying forever on Chinese airplanes, though:  they feed you Chinese food.









And at long last, after a painful 12 hour plane ride, I finally set foot on real Chinese soil. Or, at least, real Chinese airport tiles. But they were dirty tiles, so it totally counts.

(Note: that was totally a lie, the airport was super clean! -Ed)

F1RST POST!!

Ticket: Check.  Visa: Check.  Packing: Questionable.  Blog: What?

Welcome to Sinocopia, my personal travel blog and experience-based guide to life in China (and, perhaps, everywhere else).  While there will certainly be entries that are less thrilling/amusing/awful than others, and while I cannot, at this juncture, reasonably speculate on post frequency, I hope everyone occasionally finds at least something mildly interesting about my life.  Personally, I find it enthralling =).  But, without further ado, a little background is in order:

The Man Behind the Curtain
"Man", of course, being a loose term here.

I am Jakisan, and this is my blog.  In case you don't know me (unlikely, I know, since that would mean you're here for the "content"), this seems like a good time to tell you everything about me you ever wanted to know, and probably quite a bit more.

<--- This is me. Hi!


         
(P.S. I got a haircut!)         
       I like drawing, and learning Chinese. --^

I also like riding bikes, and climbing rocks. (And taking pictures =))

And, of course, I have an impeccable sense of fashion.  You might say I'm a trendsetter.






Well, that seems satisfactory.

The Journey

On Friday, I will be traveling from Tallahassee, FL to my new home in Xuchang (许昌), China (中国).  Lots of people ask me where that is, but I'm unsure what to tell them.  Kind of... north-east-central-ish?

It's by that other city you've never heard of.

While there, I will be teaching English at Xuchang University, with a contract ending on June 30th, 2010.  My plans to return to the US after that are undetermined.  Other than that, I know very little about my position, or soon-to-be lifestyle.  Which is fun, because you'll get to discover it with me!


The Blog 

To understand what to expect from the blog itself, perhaps we should start with the title.  Sinocopia?  What?  Yeah, I made that up.  A small, elite number of you (DG) might have already gotten it, but for the rest of you:


Sinocopia is a portmanteau of the abbreviation Sino- and the word cornucopia. It is pronounced "Sign-oh-co-pee-uh." (Or ['saIno'ko:piǝ], for those in the know.) 


And if that wasn't enough, the latin sino copia loosely translates as "allowing abundance/prosperity," a potential wish for good fortune that I'm sure the Chinese would approve of.  The overall meaning of the word "Sinocopia", then, is left as an exercise for the reader.  As for the other bit, I almost went with "Life, Love, and Language with chinese characteristics", but I decided "in the Middle Kingdom" was perhaps a bit less obscure.  In retrospect, who knows, but that picture took a long time to make, so I'm not doing it again.

As far as what to expect here, your guess is as good as mine.  As well as my usual goings-on, it will probably contain plenty to do with linguistics, wacky culturisms, food, and photography, with a few unfortunately geeky references (see post title) thrown in for good measure.

So check in every so often, bear with me, and I'm sure we'll both make it through this together.  Probably.  But I'm not guaranteeing anything.