Something to hold you over

So I have been fairly busy with work and planning my next adventures and then big move to Shanghai for the remainder of my Chinese Adventure.

I have been keeping up with some issues in the US and wrote a quick post about it. Please read and leave your feedback on the issue. I'm very interested in other's opinions on the matter!

So I've had some planning convos and was told that being "negative" will not help anything get done in creating better cities. While this is true, I see myself as more critical. It comes off as negative because its in opposition to the convention. To attain really good design, we should be honest and critical about our designs.

In China, my views have really changed from believing everything I have been taught as the right way, to questioning implementation and use of some of our most fundamental theories; how are we serving the end user? We must challenge our ideas to go further than what we previously have.

I feel that well thought out and creative projects are wonderful and very much needed, but they are completely useless if they do not help everyday people. The projects might be beautiful, but if you ask the average city dweller in the area what they fell about it, what would they say?

My views on Detroit fall in line with this thought. All jargon aside, what do the people want? What do the people have that they can capitalize on? Many projects have been proposed to serve a very specific demographic and have left others out of the conversation; I've seen this in other cities as well.

I was very happy to find a Huffington Post article, as it really inspires me as a planner and landscape architect. We not only have a duty to make new and exciting work, but it should always be useful to those living in the area. I believe the major factor will be what the local people can bring to the table. It helps when you ask them, but is even better when they are willing to do it for themselves.

I'm not saying that we should abandon all conventions; they are definitely here for a reason. I'm just saying we should constantly be asking, "Are we really doing what we claim to be doing with our projects?"

Find the Huffington Post article HERE

Wuhan: My City of "Firsts"

A classmate from grad skoo, Li, is from Wuha, in Hubei province, and invited the group up to be shown the city by a local. While the planning aspect of this trip completely broke down- imagine a bunch of future urban planners being able to coordinate a trip- I was still able to take Li up on her offer. It was a bit stressful due to the fact that the internet went down in our building the day before I was scheduled to depart. That's right, I had almost no communication with Li while I still figuring out where to go to pick up bullet train tickets, planning my metro trip, and making sure I could get through the station without being able to read the signs.

Fast forwarding past the journey (described in previous posts) we have my actual arrival in Wuhan. There was no greater sight than a familiar face to meet me at the train station. I think Li and I were both surprised at me making it there and ran to hug one another. I could already tell I was going to enjoy whatever happened that weekend. My first excursion was underway!

An Instagram post of me and Li from my trip! Follow @Simoniesees for frequent China updates

I was told that Wuhan was a very old city, so my expectation was to find a city that was stereotypically traditional, but was met with a huge and busy city; I was in love. It's much like Guangzhou in many aspects, but bigger and hotter! (I later found out it is one of the 3 brick ovens of China, 100% sure if thats correct but yeah, it was hot) This being only my second full week in China, my understanding of Chinese cities in general is quite poor, but Wuhan is very nice and busy!

Wuhan City Center around 5pm

Li has arranged for us to meet with several friends who are more familiar with this city, as it has changed a lot from when she was last there. It's still early evening when we arrived to meet Li's friend, so we stop at an arcade. Like most things, Chinese arcades are on another level. The prizes are bigger and better, there are tons of people- always a surprise to me to see so many people interacting in a downtown- and it's connected to a underground mall!

We don't stay long but walk around and see everything. Li informed me that she spent a lot of time and money at these arcades when she was younger and  I can definitely see why!

There was a line to play what we call Dance Dance Revolution

The awesome prizes!

Me after finding some tickets on the ground!

After goofing around for a bit, it's time to meet our first tour guide, a childhood friend of Li's, for dinner. It's good because all I had to eat up until that point was my traveling schnacks and was starving. We meet and they ask me if I like spicy food, which I love, so we cross the busy street- crossing the street more or less resembles a life size game of frogger- and go to a hotpot restaurant. I have never heard or tried a hotpot, but figured why not?!

For those who are like I was, then you need to try a hotpot as soon as possible. It was amazingly delicious! Its basically seasoned "broth" that you place on a burner at your table and cook thinly sliced meats and veggies. You order several things to "cook"in the hot broth and share with the table. It was so cool that they chose to take me there because it was my first time trying a hot pot and they went all out! I will say this about the Chinese; they really love to entertain guests! I have had some of the best hospitality here, and Wuhan was my first taste of this; very Typical Chinese. We had quail eggs -my first time trying, but delicious-, crab, lettuce, beef...you name it! It was sooooo much food but I will never forget my first experience. It was nice to meet new people, talk, and joke around!

During our conversation we swapped our language barrier horror stories. Mine all started and ended with...I said this...no one understood me...so I sad Xiexie (sorry) and walked away. My new friend went into one of his stories and it really made me think. I put this next part as a Facebook post recently, so feel free to skip ahead if you've already read this, but here is the post again for those who have not:

How many of us actually listen to others? Like listen, not wait to find an opening to talk again, or offer an answer based on what we assume is coming next, but listen?

A friends I met in Wuhan told me a story of how he always believed his English was so terrible. It was to the point that he stopped practicing it for a long time, and eventually forgot a lot of it entirely. It was based solely off of 1 incident. He was waiting for his friends to arrive from American at the airport and saw a lady, who was very clearly American, and most likely to be coming on the same flight, He politely walked up to her and said, "Excuse me, are you coming from New York." She replied, "No, thank you." He then went into a very funny story as he thought to himself, "Oh my Gosh. My English is so bad, she couldn't understand me!"

It was quite funny, but quite sad at the same time. He went around for years, thinking that he had a problem, when really she just was not listening. Grant it, she didn't expect it, but I always notice when someone speaks more than a "Halllooooooo!" to me when I go out.

This rally made me think about myself. How often do we turn away someone without helping them because we simply did not listen to their need? Or, how many times did we "help" someone according to out limited understanding, but not give them what they actually asked for?

I'm not deep

Just food for thought.

Speaking of food...

Hotpot food! (The picture doesn't do it justice, I was too busy eating to get a good shot)

After dinner, we walked off some of those very yummy extra calories from dinner. We walked back through downtown, which seems to have transformed into an even more lively area after the sun went down. With bright lights and people everywhere, its nothing like any American downtown I've experienced. We then headed towards the waterfront and then took a shuttle along the water. Apparently Wuhan's waterfront park is one of the longest in the world; it would have taken hours to walk the entire thing!

Some of the few pictures I got on a very smoggy night

In the morning, we start out fairly early to grab some breakfast at an awesome bakery before heading to Li's undergraduate university. Breakfast was very yummy as we walked and ate on our way to Wuhan University!

Some of the tasty treats at the bakery and our yummy breakfast (above)

At Wuhan University, we met several other students. Some are planning on coming to Georgia Tech in the fall and some of them were friends, both old and new. We toured the campus as a group and saw so many places that it would take too long to mention them all. While in Wuhan, I tried many local food items, including the hot, dry noodle, of which, Wuhan is famous.

Since this post is getting fairly long, I will just post the some of the pictures I got before I filled my Sim card, enjoy!

Some of the beautiful scenery on Wuhan University's campus

The campus was very busy with families and graduates taking pictures

The group headed to visit the library

Some of the historic architecture on campus; these are dorms

Before we went to the highest and oldest part of the campus

As you can see, my trip to Wuhan was a whirlwind of excitement! I saw and experienced so many firsts from travel to food. I am so happy to have made a friend like Li at Georgia Tech. She was so hospitable and accommodating during this trip, and thus, was what I have also learned to be very Typical Chinese. It was truly an experience of a lifetime. I'm actually sad that I will miss out on our second year of grad school together as she will be going back to Tech and I will go to Shanghai. Thank you again Li, I had a blast!

My Little Friend Lena

So in my previous post, I mentioned making a new friend. This little girl was hilarious. I thought I would share a few of the stories and our interaction in greater detail, as it sticks out as one of my favorite memories while in China.

After we spoke about our striking physical differences, Lena mentions that she has an American English teacher. They call him Snider and he is her absolute favorite teacher because he is fun. This is in opposition of her Chinese English teach who Lena described as "being bad for her health!" (I literally laughed out loud)

This little girl is so outgoing, a little mischievous, but very sweet; we are kindred spirits for sure! Her English is very good and she explains that they receive a currency in her class called "Snider B's" for getting good grades. With this money they can buy things. Lena had 2,000 Snider b's but had spent 200 on chocolate, 400 on poker cards, and 700 on something else, but she couldn't remember, and lost 400 in the washing machine when he mother washed her shorts. She was real torn up about that loss. She wished that she could go back in time and remember that it was laundry day so she get could that money out of her pocket. I understand completely!

Lena then goes into her love of chocolate pudding and how Snider has some that he is unwilling to sell to his students for any amount of Snider B's. Her situation led to some desperate measures on her part, as she explains the discovery of Snider's unlocked office. In his office the chocolate pudding is very visible on a very high up shelf, deemed unreachable by the 9 year old. Before leaving, she noticed 300 Snider B's on his desk that she admittedly took and then fled the scene of the crime before he came back. With the new potential to make a quick economic come back, Lena recruited more of her classmates and the later returned to Snider's office. This time they found 500 Snider B's on the desk, but they had been glued to the desk. She said she noticed a huge stack of Snider B's placed beside the unreachable puddings and realized the trick that had been played. She and her friends ran before he came back, and she made me promise not to tell Snider if I see him when I go back to America. I have a feeling that unless he reads this blog, my promise will be kept.

Snider's class is her favorite for 2 reasons: 1. It is fun and 2. they are only given 1 homework assignment, while her Chinese English teacher gives 3 each night. She describes Snider as a bald man that attempts to hide this baldness under a hat!  She also says he has an ugly mustache and very blue eyes. If you know me, then you know the struggle it was to not laugh at this description. She is a very observant young lady, to say the least.

Lena has been to 4 countries, one of which was Singapore. She told me it was very beautiful and clean. It was for this reason she did not like it there, explaining she like places that were very dirty "with a lot of soil so she could play in it."

We talked for about an hour straight as everyone, including her parents stared in amazement by this very rare sight.  She reluctantly says good bye as they go to catch their train. It was quite a shock to hear her playfully yell "hello" in my ear 5 minutes later. Haha! She takes her seat right next to me and explains that how their train had been delayed 31 minutes.

She gets a bit sad because she says she wants to be my friend, but that we had only met once. I explain that technically we had met twice because she left and came back meaning that we were indeed friends. She laughs but finds my explanation satisfactory; we're definitely buddies! She then asked for my phone number, which I gave her as well as writing my name, email address, and the city and state I live in back home so she can find it on her globe at school. I now have a Chinese BFF that is 9 years old and in the 3rd grade; this is typical for me. This random conversation is also Typical China.

She told me she liked my brown skin, as we measured our hands against one another and she enjoyed running her hands along my "soft" arms. Despite her not really understanding "why" I was this way, it didn't stop her from touching my "curly" locks. She was truly disappointed that my 26 year old hands were bigger than her 9 year old hands, but her curiosity turned to enjoyment. She also told me she liked how white my teeth were, and proceed to point and yell that her mothers were yellow. She then said her father looked like a dog and I, at that very moment, hated that I was an adult because as much as I wanted to laugh, I had to look disappointed because it was rude. I had to turn away so she wouldn't see the laugh I had inside, but mannnnnnnn!

She told me she had a brother who lived in Singapore, which was a shock to me. Thinking back to how astonished my workmates were when I told them about my 2 sisters. I'll have to ask someone later because I find some people in China have siblings while others do not. I know there are a lot of restrictions here, but some are more flexible then others.

After showing me some Chinese characters and speaking a few new words, we take some selfies on her mother's iPhone her parent's invite me to Foshan, which is very close to Guangzhou, and we say goodbye. I did bump into her again in the restroom before boarding the train. She yelled thats 3 times, meaning that we had met each other 3 times. I understand this meant we were not the very best of friends, lol!

This was just a nice experience in general because I actually had a nice conversation in English, but did not feel like I didn't belong. I really hope that Lena will contact me one day so I can go and visit her. She was a lot of fun, and I would love to see another city in China. I gave her some of snacks cakes, despite her mother motioning no to her. She at first says no because her mother says she's too fat, but I look directly at her mother as I hand it to her and put her on the spot. I say, "It's ok to have just one snack, right?" She couldn't say no at that point, but Lena is turned up an gets to arguing. *I exited stage left*

My Journey to Wuhan

One of my Chinese classmates, Li, invited me to her home town of Wuhan before heading to Atlanta for an internship. Wuhan is located in Hubei province, just north and a little west of Guangdong province where Guangzhou is located. One of my workmates is from there, and told me it is very beautiful and older than both Shanghai and Beijing. I'm always up for an adventure, so I book spot on my first bullet train; the trip will 4 hours each way. Because I booked my tickets online, I paid some service fees, making my trip $150 total. I was willing to pay that on my first time because of the convenience. It was even better because I was very unfamiliar with the process and was unsure how many English speakers, or even English signage, would be available. The station is far south of Guangzhou city center, and the further from the center you go, the less English is used and spoken. Despite plans for the group -me and my 3 classmates- falling through, I looked forward to seeing and old friend, in a new city with a new adventure ahead of me!

I got up extra early to make sure that I could travel to the train station, wait in line to pick up my tickets and find my way to the train platform. My ride on the metro was much of the same- a lot of shameless staring- but there were more children on board so their parents had to pay more attention to them running and screaming than they could to me. One child was very entertaining as he Karate kicked his way down the train.

Ok so Now I'm going to digress a bit to tell you about my Little Friend Lena through the conversation we had at the departure terminal. She was like a kindred spirit and kept me entertain for and hour and a half! She was 9 years old and her English was very good and she very smart and slightly mischievous- basically me at age 9! I will gloss over the conversation now, and save the many funny things we went over for another post. To date (July 6th) this was one of my best memories in China (May 24).

My Little Friend Lena:

A little girls sat next to me at the train station. She was very cute with very short hair and cute white dress with polka dots- pink and green of course! She was very quite and unsure when she first sat down, but her mother spoke to me in English, asking me where I was from. Many Africans live in Guangzhou, so anyone who leaves the "village" areas on the outskirts will be less shocked at seeing a black person. I believe she is well traveled, but was very surprised to find that I was from America. It was very nice of her to speak, as most people simply stare and try to avoid touching me or being to close to me. I think her English was very limited, so our conversation did not last very long.

A few moments later, the little asked, "What is your name?"We the talked for the next hour and a half! We went from my name to, "Why is your skin darker"? and "Why is you hair not straight like mine"? It was nice! I appreciate her asking me about the things she did not understand, as apposed to treating me like a unicorn, so to speak. Needless to say, we were buddies! We eventually parted ways as we headed towards our train platforms.

Seated, ready to take off!

Leaving the station

My travel schnacks: Wasabi Shrimp flavored Lays, Vanilla Coke, and swiss rolls

China is the most peculiar place; one can go from extreme density/chaos to lush, green hills and mountains just 30 minutes outside of the city. I really enjoy the rural landscape with its winding rivers, unique agriculture patterns due the rice paddies, and villages dotting the countryside; China is the Yin Yang concept realized.

Several images take from inside bullet train

While having the top economy globally, living conditions and standards are somewhat low. It has larger natural resource capital, but very heavily industrialized. It's funny though. I find that, untouched, this country is amazing, but its manufacturing has made it an amazing place. I could not stop looking, filming, and taking pictures during most of the 4 hour ride. I can't wait to see what Wuhan has in store!

My Office Friend

KK is my office friend. e talks to me the most and has been very helpful and friendly since I arrived. He was out of the office for a few days after the first week I worked, but invited me to dinner with Simon and Qing Qing (Ching Ching), our other workmates. I assumed we were going to stay in the village and get noodles, we actually took a cab. The restaurant was 30 yuan away. I have to use this metric as I have no real sense of direction here, but know that the same amount can get me to the central part of the city. That distance can be reached in  hour on the metro.

We arrive around 7pm, so it is getting dark, to find what appears to be a roadside garden with an informal market.  It is a very peaceful and mysterious setting, which very ironic because upon leaving I find that we are under an overpass.

We walk back through some low trees and Chinese lanterns to find outdoor seating under a tent. As they decided what to order (we order several dishes for the table and share, family style) they are amazed when I told them no meat. I'm a fake vegetarian here, (too picky about the kind and quality of meat), and we decide on sheep, chicken, veggies, and noodles. It was very good and you simply cannot tell the Chinese no when it comes to food, so I try a little of everything. I get very full, very quickly with these types of meals.

We talked about basic things because my workmates are a bit shy about speaking English, and my non existent Mandarin make for some interesting convos. I ask some basic questions and they teach me how to count to 10. It is a good dinner, but a better feeling to be accepted.

After dinner we walked across the street to an art market. Though it was closed by time we got there, we were able to walk around many of the shops. Most owners were enjoying tea and watching television or talking. There was one shop, however, that allowed us to come in and look at some paintings. There were a lot of paintings, all on canvas and appeared to be watercolors, though I am unsure of the medium. There was on black and white piece that is very large, but very expensive. My willingness to pay has decreased significantly since coming here and realizing the power of a dollar and some good bargaining. So far I have purchased tennis shoes for ~$40 and a dress for $4.14. The painting itself was $150, much more than I had on me, but I was willing to pay. It was a one of a kind. I will go back and buy it. If take home a souvenir, it will be that! It was all so beautiful and they were so hospitable. The artist, a woman, even invited us to stay and have tea!

Random Act of Kindness

So one of my classmate's brother came to visit before he headed back to the states. He has been living in China since the summer of 2010 (WOW). It was funny because thought they are brothers, they look nothing alike, but after a few minutes of being around them I determined that they are in fact brothers. They act similar it's scary, both hilarious and sarcastic so, obviously, we got along great!

We had planned on doing a river tour, but after being a bit late and meeting at the wrong metro station, we decided to go straight to dinner. The restaurant was fairly nice and very different from anything I've ever been to; we were seated at a nice table towards the back and there was nothing but large, bright sights.  As we walk back, I immediately see some of the first black people that I have seen in China, so I decided to speak and find out where they are from.

They are both from Africa (Ghana) and had been living in Guangzhou for about a year. After the basic chat, I sit back down and look at the menus. It was crazy; there was dim sum, a regular menu, and then a fresh market with tanks where can pick fresh sea food to be cooked and brought to the table. I will say I wasn't particularly adventurous, but chose some steamed oysters and went back to the table. We ordered a few basic dishes and chatted a while. We got some beer and waited for our food. After a while we noticed more bottles kept being brought to the table and we tried to explain we did not want to buy more. They explained that our African friends bought it just as food we did not order was brought; also purchased by our friends. After some Taro ice cream and more tea we decided to go. Unknown to us, our friends ended up buying our entire dinner and a case of beer for us before leaving, despite our protests. It made for a very nice evening. We all decided to hang our by the river for a few hours before going home. A really nice and random evening that made me see how nice it is to be in such a new and exciting place.

Getting Lost

Metro stations in China are so much better than in the US. They have stores, food shops, people selling fruits and electronics. I saw a McDonald's, a Starbucks, the Converse store, the Vans Store, a 7 Eleven, and various other local shops. Very convenient.

After leaving, we went through People's Park which was nice and active despite the rain (that none of us were prepared for).  We went to Beijing Road, where there is a ton of open air strip mall shopping, restaurants, street performers, and vendor's who automatically yelled "Cheepah! Cheepah!"as we walked by. Really (I've noticed) that they yell any bits of English they know as I walk by. It's slightly amusing, but mostly annoying. It makes you very self conscious to know that it's so obvious that you do not belong somewhere when people stop dead in their tracks and stare, laugh, point, and yell.

So here's a tangent called Out of Place:

I can honestly say that I have never felt that there was a place in the US that I just "belonged." This even more painstakingly true in China. I get stared at by everyone. Not just a glance, but a cold stare lasting as long as I am visible. Sometimes they stop if I look back, but many times they will walk right up to me and stare. It's curiosity most of the time, but the looks of disgust or the people who jump back because someone describes whats behind them, is often unsettling. It stinks to know that my very presence is enough to make people jump back and avoid touching me because they want no part of whatever it is that they are seeing; at the very least, it's annoying.

I have never been more self conscience. Luckily, I've always been fairly self conscience, but have a personality that has let me do things that made me uncomfortable. I would say that I am actually pretty unsure of myself and my abilities in general; it serves as my reasoning to just try anyway. I've got nothing to lose, but a new experience.

Now back to our adventure.

We had a nice time and walked around, but my exhaustion level made me less than adventurous. All I wanted was a bed and time to sleep. We stayed out so late that it seemed inevitable that I would be sleeping on our classmates' couch, which was less than attractive, but better than nothing. We had fun and chatted and checked out their awesome "penthouse" apartment on the 43rd floor. Fun, fun, fun, but after getting about 5 hours of sleep my body decided that it was time to wake up. I was up at 6am and didn't have a clue on how to get home. So I waited...

I was able to Facetime my neighbor's and one of my friends which helped to pass the time, but I was ready to chill and I needed to get something prepared for work the next morning. 

We eventually get out and walk towards food, but as everything goes, it took forever. We walked and walked and walked, found a dim sum place, but my appetite wasn't feeling it. I really am not a huge fan of Chinese food in all actuality and eating noodles and rice and beef platters for breakfast is not my cup of tea. I actually tried a few things and drank some tea, and we left just in time to catch a downpour. We walked and walked and walked some more as we got rained on...NICE

We finally catch the metro and get back to the hub and we cannot find the bus we took. We see it, but it doesn't stop. We can't read any of the sign or schedules and have no real way to find how to get home. It's still raining. Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I'm not a very social person when I'm tired. I was very much less inclined to be social as we are now lost and stuck in the rain. 

We find someone who works at the station who speaks some English we show her our address and she writes down the bus we need. Perfect! Except it was not the bus we needed. In fact, I have idea where it took us, but we rode it to the end of the line before the bus driver turned off the bus and got out. Cool. With a few text messages to our friend and following the crowd we got back to another metro station and got to Lijiao station, which is the closest one to our building. From there, we paid a bike taxi 6 yuan (about  a dollar) and get home...3 hours later...soaking wet! With our first "adventure" in the books, I figured things could only go up...