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Getting Settled in the City of Perpetual Gloom
A green-eyed monster was here. I knew it when another foreign teacher complimented Sarah, a post-doc student assigned to help me transition to life in one of China’s largest cities, the City of Perpetual Gloom. To me, the green-eyed monster was a minotaur which shook its head furiously and threw its horns to either side. They were big horns too. The kind that would pierce, rip, and crush if they ever connected with your heart. “Wow, your English is very good,†the other teacher said. Ingratiation oozed from his pores. He was one of those nice guys. He reminded me of myself, actually. Maybe that’s why I wanted to smack…
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Visit to a Local Shop
A walk around town to visit some local markets, noting the products they have, and to make a purchase of rice wine. The streets are noisy. Many people recognize me as a Westerner and are eager to say…
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A Shopper’s Paradise
China has meant so much to my imagination that the reality shocked me. I still cannot get the images of Shaolin warrior monks out of my mind. Or workers in Mao suits brandishing Little Red Books. Or even just old folk practicing tai chi in a public square. I half expected to find them all going about their daily lives. I remembered growing up hearing that I should eat everything on my plate because there are starving children in China. I remembered Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “Kubla Khan,†and James Clavell’s novel Tai Pan. The truth is that China is dirty, cruddy, and trying oh so hard to fit in…