Act II: Beirut

"Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. "

-Khalil Gibran




I flew into Beirut on Jan. 23 to visit my friend Tyler who is doing graduate school at the American University of Beirut. Fortuitously, he had break at the same time, but it didn't start until a few days after I arrived. It gave me time to get over the jet lag and explore a bit on my own though. We left for Damascus soon after he finished his exams, but not before seeing some sights around the town.



Beirut is an amazing city. It was engulfed in a civil war as recently as 1990, in addition to the war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah, but the city has bounced back to become a bustling, cosmopolitan city and all-together wonderful place to visit. Great restaurants, shopping, and beautiful sights to see. And incredibly fashionable people! I felt like such a bum there. Lebanese people seem to dress up to the nines just to go out for coffee.

Even now, as the city thrives in many ways, one can see bullet holes and shelled out buildings around the city. There are also policy check points on many roads, and occasional tanks maintaining a presence in the city, as a preventative measure. It doesn't faze anyone in Beirut, much like the frequent power outages. Having much more to do with Lebanese politics than a direct result of the civil war, power outages are extremely common. There are rolling blackouts, three hours every day at a shifting time, so most people have generators.




The gorgeous Pigeon Rocks (above) are within walking distance of Tyler's apartment - lucky!




They're even more beautiful at sunset.






The Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque (pictured below) was built by the late Lebanese Prime Minster Rafik Hariri. Haririr was assassinated in 2005, before the mosque opened. It's a beautiful building, and its striking blue dome was the first thing I saw as we drove through the city center the first time.











For more information on Lebanon's civil war, I recommend Robert Fisk's Pity the Nation. I managed to read a little more than half while I was visiting Tyler, and it was well worth the effort.

道县

"What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation?"
-Marcus Tullius Cicero






First stop: Daoxian to visit my friend Jason. He's a teacher there, of course Teaching is far and away the main occupation for foreigners living in China, from my experience.

I'd already been to Daoxian for October break. A dumpy small town it may be, but I like it nonetheless. It's friendly, and easy. No extensive bus system to navigate (there were two routes? I think,) no place to spend lots of money (see: Shanghai,) and, in my case, no responsibilities. It was a great place to unwind after the stress of exam week. (Did you know exams are just as much work for teachers as students? Yikes, did I learn that quickly...)

Of course, all this means that one would go stir crazy living there, but for two weeks it was just fine for me. There's a video game arcade, skating rink, and stores with cheap distractions to buy - my darts skills are much improved after nights of practice. We also discovered that a rice cooker is excellent for making mulled wine, the perfect drink on frigid nights with less than optimum heating indoors.

Small town China is very different from living in a "big" city. Dirt roads, people wearing pajamas as daily clothing, no one who speaks English, and lots of families with 2 children. (Since Daoxian's residents are considered rural residents, they're allowed to have a second child if their first child is a girl, and minorities are generally allowed to have unlimited children. I don't know how big the minority population is, but there are definitely some in the area.)

I had lots of time on my hands while Jason taught, so besides working on my Chinese and reading some old New Yorkers my cousin Amanda brought from the States, I practiced taking pictures with my new camera. A few of the results are below:






I don't know what they were playing, but it looked really neat. They ended up with a sort of mosaic on the pavement in the end.







The coal truck.




(Note that one dart is actually stuck in the other. If you play enough, I think it's bound to happen, and we definitely played enough.)

The 705 Reunion Tour

"So many worlds, so much to do, so little done, such things to be."
-Alfred Lord Tennyson


6 and a half weeks, 8 different beds, and over 1000 pictures later, I have finally returned home! This February 14 was Chinese New Year, and the break between semesters for a Chinese university for the holiday is unimaginably long. It's been forever since I've posted, but I've got lots to share. Right now: what I call my 705 Reunion Tour.




My last semester at UNC, I lived with three of my friends in the loveliest house in Carrboro (705 Davie, hence the title.) It was the loveliest house not only because it had a front porch, a piano, and bookshelves spilling over with books, but because it was occupied by the loveliest people. My friends Jason, Tyler, and Zach lived with me there (plus a constant stream of welcome houseguests,) and life was good. Very good. So much so that I miss living there and my friends.

Therefore, given that I had almost 2 months of break(!), I took the opportunity to see my former housemates, now scattered all over the world. Jason lives in China too - Hunan province, actually. I visited him for October break, and if you look carefully, is in pictures as far back as my time at Xiamen University, where we studied abroad together. Tyler is doing a program in Middle Eastern Studies at the American University in Beirut (Lebanon,) and Zach is working for a doctor's office in Hawaii.

I know - Hawaii! Sadly, I did not get the chance to visit Hawaii.... yet. The trip worked out like this: I spent two weeks in Daoxian, a small town in Hunan province where Jason was teaching last semester. Then off to Beirut to visit Tyler for almost 3 weeks, and back to China, where Zach flew in to Shanghai to meet Jason and I for a week of shenanigans. (Not really, but Shanghai shenanigans has a nice alliterative quality.)

I have, therefore, a bazillion pictures and stories to share. Watch for frequent blog updates!

中秋节快乐！

"Friends are the family you choose."

-Anna Doherty

Happy (late) Mid-Autumn Festival! During my October break, there were not one but two holidays: National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival was October 3, so I celebrated it in a small town in Hunan, where I was visiting a friend. We had the good fortune of making friends with some locals who invited us to celebrate the festival with them. That meant playing traditional Chinese music, singing, drinking tea, and eating moon cakes.

The Mid-Autumn Festival centers around the moon. One traditionally gives "moon cakes" to one's friends. Moon cakes are little cakes filled with different flavored paste fillings: fruit, bean, meat, peanut- you name it! Many of them have an egg yolk in the middle, to symbolize the moon. I'm not such a big fan of the egg yolk; I like the plain fruit-flavored ones the best.

One is also supposed to gaze at the moon on this night, and think of friends and family in other places who are also staring at the same moon. This festival then was particularly poignant for me, as I am separated from most of my friends and family right now.

Below I've posted a video from our night. You can see and hear the traditional Chinese music - be forewarned! It's very different from Western music.




This festival was a good time not only to think of loved ones in far away places, but also to appreciate the people I have around me here. For example, when my 2 day stay in Shanghai turned into 2 weeks, I felt like such an imposition on the friends I was staying with. They honestly didn't think anything of it though. My friend said to me, "So many people have helped me. I'm happy to help you out too."

I think that when you move so far away from everything and everyone familiar, you have to construct a new support structure, one that plays the role of "family" in your life. So all of us ex-pats support each other whenever we can - when I needed a place to stay, my friend in Shanghai opened her home to me without a thought.

Similarly, when I traveled to Guilin (on my way to Hunan,) a friend there let me stay with him. And when his money ran dangerously low because his employer was a week late in paying his (first!) salary, I was happy to cover meals. And when I arrived home in Quanzhou at the end of break, though they were both 2 provinces away, it was my friends in Guilin and Hunan that checked in with me to make sure I'd gotten home okay.

So don't let me fool you into thinking I'm too brave or independent, because I've got lots of help.

国庆节快乐！

Happy (belated) Chinese National Day! October 1 was the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Not long after was another important Chinese holiday, so I had a long break - October 1-8. I used my time to do a bit of traveling and visit a friend in Hunan province, west of me.


He lives in a very small town in Hunan though, so the nearest airport is five hours away by bus in a city called Guilin. Guilin is pretty famous for being beautiful, and all the pictures in this post are taken during my brief tour of one of it's parks: the Seven Star Park. I had the chance to see a little of Guilin before heading to Daoxian, the city in Hunan where I was ultimately headed. Unfortunately, all the best sites in Guilin require at least a day, if not more, to travel to and see, but this park was a good sampling. It really was quite beautiful, but it's hard to tell in the pictures, as the day was overcast and my photography skills are amateur.

Even in this little bit of preserved greenery in the middle of Guilin, there were signs celebrating the 60th anniverary. China was quite proud, and the celebrations in Beijing were very impressive. It was similar to the scope and beauty of the Olympics' Opening Ceremony. China certainly knows how to put on a show.

It struck both my friends and I as a little odd though to be celebrating the 60th anniversary of a country that was first unified in the third century BC, and has had a continuously used writing system and recorded history and culture ever since, but as it is, China is celebrating its anniversary as a nation less than half as old as the United States.

Pictured above is Camel Mountain, typical of the karst formations in Guilin (and neighboring, even more beautiful, Yangshuo.) If you ever get the chance to see a Chinese 20rmb bill, you will see Chairman Mao on the front, and Yangshuo's river on the back.

Settling In

I'm starting to get into the swing of things around here. This is my second week of classes, which I've really been enjoying. I especially like teaching writing to my undergraduates. English was usually one of my favorite classes, so it makes sense. I'm excited to see improvements in their writing - because of what I taught them!

I hope everyone is staying well; I've heard the swine flu is in full swing in the US. Here it's not yet very widespread. There has only been one case on campus, but he was immediately taken to the hospital. Now all the foreign teachers are required to have their temperature taken before we leave the building every day. I'm not sure for whose protection it is, but we can just report a tempterature that we take ourselves in our room, so it's not really any inconvenience. I heard that during the SARS crisis they completely closed campus for two weeks - no one in or out! I'm hoping nothing so serious happens for the swine flu here.

Katherine, another foreign teacher, moved in next door to me last weekend. She's from Toronto, but born in Quanzhou, so her family showed me around the city. We went to the beach for a seafood restaurant they really like, and then we visited a tea house a little outside the city proper. It was really beautiful, so I've included a couple pictures.



I've also been cooking my own meals. I love cooking, so I couldn't resist showing a few of the dishes I've tried to make. Apologies to the non food-obsessed. :)


Fish balls and baby bok choy - the first meal I made for myself here! There should be rice too. Rice cookers, I would like to add, are magic. Really. Perfect rice without any fuss.


I tried to make quail eggs into a dish. The dish didn't work so well, but i think the eggs look really neat.



Carnations - a gift from Katherine's family. They looked so neat, but when I added them to the soup...

It looks pretty good, no? But you can't see the flowers at all. The petals shrunk into near invisibility. (The soup was still delicious.)

My New Home

"Returning from seeing a friend off at the shore, one feels as far away as the horizon."
-Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi


My move is finally complete. I left behind my friends in Shanghai for a completely new life here in Quanzhou. It was hard to say goodbye, but I was ready for the change. Though I've only been here a week, it seems like I'm where I am supposed to be. I taught my first few classes(!), which were incredibly intimidating but also really enjoyable. Creating syllabi, correcting papers, teaching writing skills, and reviewing grammar: it's all kind of fun for me. I only have 10 classroom hours per week, so I also have plenty of time to work on my Chinese. I've found a Chinese tutor, and I'm so excited to start seeing some improvements!

Huaqiao university has quite a beautiful campus, of which I've included some pictures here:


This is the view from my window of campus and the surrounding area. The place where I am is set into the hills - rather picturesque, no?



One of many tree-lined streets. The buildings here tend to be rather block-like and uninspired, but there are lots of trees and gardens to make up for it.



The rather impressive entrance to the school. Note the blue skies!



There are lots of palm trees to remind me that I'm living in a tropical area, as if the heat and humidity weren't enough. I'm told that it will cool down in the beginning of October. Agh!



The following pictures probably fall into the category, "things in which only a mother would be interested." I've posted some pictures of my apartment, which, by the way, is HUGE. I have a study which I've pretty much abandoned, as I just don't need that much room. Overall though, it's a nice apartment, if rather spartan. The only downside? It's on the 6th floor, and there isn't an elevator.



Here's the entrance. I love the coat rack! My bookshelf needs a lot more books though.




My living room furniture is made of hardwood, which is lovely, but not very comfortable.




My cute little kitchen table. I'm currently using a scarf as a tablecloth until I have the money to buy a real tablecloth. It's not like I'm going to need a scarf anytime soon anyway. ;)



My kitchen! No oven, but a perfectly serviceable stove and microwave. They even provided me with a rice cooker and a wok!




My (already messy) desk. I put a map of Carrboro up above it, in case I get homesick. The desk used to be in my study, but there was plenty of space in my bedroom.



Lastly, my bed. Hard as a rock, of course, but I'm already used to it. In the background is a second desk, which I'm using as a vanity of sorts. It's also covered by one of my scarves right now...