Thicktown, Thickania: Closer

To celebrate the 4th of July, not only did I tell countless people about random historical figures (ROGER SHERMAN!) and facts about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, I also took this patriotic picture of me next to a statue of an eagle on campus. It was the best way I could celebrate.

Happy Birthday, America! I ate this expired Happy Birthday frozen treat from China for you! Please, disregard the Union Flag on my hat. :)

I can’t explain this feeling well, but I feel like everything is closer in China. There are a lot of people, sure, so physical proximity is close. Once you leave your apartment, people are there. People are EVERYWHERE, always. Yet I’m not just talking about the physical closeness. In relationships, people in China seem closer. They are not invested in a relationship, or they are all in. I speculate that some of this comes from being in such a huge city, but families are so invested in each others’ lives (is that the correct place to put the apostrophe? I’m forgetting…), and so integrated into any decision-making. Families help decide majors and life plans and everything. Grandparents take care of grandchildren frequently, so they have a greater say in the rearing of their grandchildren than they do in America. One thing I greatly admire and love about the Chinese people I’ve encountered is their great devotion to their friends and family. Perhaps they have the opposite problem that I believe Americans have—they care too much. Places seem close here as well. There are stores and apartments and hair salons and bus stops and all of them are within the distance of a short walk. Places in Shanghai feel close even though I can travel for an hour on the metro to get to church and be in what is considered the city of Shanghai the entire time. Smells also seem closer here. It doesn’t matter that they are flush toilets- you still have to put your face two feet above a pipe leading straight down to the sewer. It’s obviously better than a hole in the ground, but the smell is a lot closer than it is in America. We don’t like to think about stuff like that, so we separate ourselves from it. Here, it is just accepted. On the street, you can tell when you are nearing that one corner that always smells of vomit, and I can certainly tell when puddles are urine. Yet the close smells are not always a bad thing. The smell of chuar (delicious-smelling grilled meat) pierces even the worst pollution. I can smell when I’m arriving at a chicken place, and when I pass by flowers. You can almost feel the smell of spicy Sichuan food. Sometimes the rain smells absolutely heavenly. Sounds also feel closer. There is constantly someone honking their horn, or ringing a bell, or shouting. Always. Sounds are close because the bikes zooming past you are close, and the children running around on the sidewalks are close, and the old people sitting outside their houses chatting late into the night are close. And those aren’t the only things that feel close. Even the air feels closer. I don’t know how to explain it… Some of it is the humidity, and some of it is the heat, but I put my hands in front of my face and I can FEEL the closeness of the air. It seems to be closer to my body. I suppose Cache Valley is full of open space, or clear air spreading out on and on. Here, the air is just full. Full and close.

A flush squat toilet in the building my classes are in

I love how this sounds like it is going to be a fun rhyming ditty, and it ends up not rhyming at all. It is also in the bathrooms at CaiDa. (That's the other way to shorten my school's name. CaiDa (which means Finance Big) or SUFE.)

Also: I feel like food is more important in Chinese culture than it is in American culture. Every region has their own style of food, and it is very important. When discussing tourist sites, Chinese people always ask about food. Interesting. Perhaps Americans just eat the food from the rest of the world, so we don’t put such an emphasis on it.

We had a cooking workshop on Saturday! These are supposed to be perfect circles. They were made by Bart. Bart was the only one with worse-looking bao zi than me, I think. But they tasted great!

Really cute bao zi we (and by we, I mean other people who are competent at creating nice-looking bao zi) made

Bart, me, and my roommate Grace

One thing that is really adorable is that like all of the Chinese girls I’ve talked to believe in love. They believe in hardcore, forever and ever, true love. They all want adorable love and they all believe in it. “I sometimes think, find a boy that loves me and live happily… that is enough.” –My roommate Yehong

Yesterday I went to church again, and it was great. The YSA ate at the Griffths’s house. Brother Griffiths works for the American Consulate. Wow, their place was nice. It was a beautiful apartment overlooking the former French Concession. It was lovely. Really nice. It almost convinced me to work for the American Consulate. Seriously. I’ve never really thought seriously about the Foreign Service until now. It is a sweet deal. They teach you and your spouse the language, give you a nice place to stay, pay for your kids’ education, and you get to go cool places. There are all sorts of jobs you can get. And despite what this blog shows, I think I can write fairly well, and if I studied, I could pass the Foreign Service exam. It is about history and poli sci and other good stuff I enjoy… Honestly, if I had a nice, clean apartment in a cute neighborhood with tree-lined streets and a metro stop nearby, I could be very happy here, I think. Very happy indeed.

Her face!

This picture actually portrays Larry, Daniel, and Huy rather well. They are just walking on CaiDa's campus.

Here, the overpasses are many. That was Chinese grammar.

Last week a waiter gave me a menu, and instead of saying “謝謝” I said “學習“. For you English-speakers out there, that means that instead of saying “Thank you,” I said “study”. Yeah… That was funny. I think the dude just thought my pronunciation was way off. Oh man. My mouth does not always do what I wish it to.

“Ni hen… sweetie pie.”

-Simon

I got a new language partner. I was sad to say goodbye to my old language partner because she was absolutely wonderful. An absolute joy to work with. I hope her life is happy. But my new language partner is also great. She likes the BBC “Sherlock”! Aw yeah. I think we shall get on quite well.

My dear friend and language partner, Kexing. She is absolutely amazing. I love her.

Farewell for now. See you soon.

"We're torn, torn, torn apart there's nothing we can do. Just let go- we'll meet again soon."

After going to the silk market, I went to the International Finance Center Mall with Larry, Huy, and Tiffany. It was INSANE! It was so beautiful and crazy-classy. The bathrooms had stalls with their own automatic sinks AND soap AND there was toilet paper! And mirrors and beautiful lights and bamboo... it was really high class.