The Ghost of Dr. Popham

Wandering around my old haunts, I feel like a ghost watching live scientists and students discussing research, studying, and typing up papers on computers. The old coffee shops that I went to daily and just loved hanging out in hit me in a wrong way. The people watching isn't as interesting as in China and Africa. Everyone looks the same. The same clothes, the same bags, the same cell phones, and computers, the same sad lonely bubbles of one. In China and Africa it is really rare to see a person sitting by themselves. The Capitol Hill coffee shops feel full of rich yuppies, wearing their expensive clothes that are made to look worn out and it makes Seattle feel rich and privileged, makes me feel like a loser for not wanting the same things.

The best part of the coffee shop experience is the music and art on the walls. The background music in China is bland pop drivel repeating the same Chinese love and relationship vocabulary over and over again.

The gray sky is a poor motivator to get out of bed. I am cold and don't want to get up, but the gray sky is perfect weather for biking. Sweat turns the gray into yellow happiness. Riding the routes from the north past old rugby fields to the Burke Gilman passing the IMA and the stadium, riding the routes of the Seattle marathon around Lake Washington and touching base again with the Jen who went to a gym, ran, and biked felt nice.

Today while speaking French, eating Senegalese food and drinking iced bissap (hibiscus tea) a flood of images touched me in such a I miss Africa and want to go back way. I wonder why I don't mind facing the memories of Africa compared to facing the memories of the scientist who died five years ago upon graduation.

It is weird.

I ran into an old group member who had just arrived in town a few days ago from NYC where he is doing a post doc. What a coincidence. Does it mean anything?

Library and African Food

I love the place I am housesitting. It has book shelves and book shelves of books that I enjoy reading. I don't even have to go to a library. I can just sit here, drink tea, and read. My friends have the same taste of books. Currently I am reading Neil Gaiman's 2008 The Graveyard Book.

What is on today's agenda?

Bike down to Seward Island/Ranier Valley, a 26 mile trip, to eat Senegalese food for lunch.

Back in Love & Tidbits

Biking: Seattle is a biking city and I absolutely love the fact that I can bike from place to place running errands, visiting coffee shops and bookstores. I love riding a bike that is easy to get up a hill instead of a bike that I have to walk up. My friend's bike is super light. I didn't realize that my Chinese clunker goes slow and takes more effort because it is so heavy. In Seattle, I don't care that cars don't beep to warn me that they are there because if they see you most of the drivers respect you, slow down, wait for you, and go around you. The bike lanes help too. It is not the bigger animal wins mentality. The biking makes Seattle worth moving back for.

I think if I had more of an opportunity to bike in Alabama as a method of transportation, it might have changed my interest in Alabama as a place to move back to. The heat though is really hard. Seattle has great weather for sports enthusiasts. Slight cool drizzles are perfect for athletes.

Coffee: I forgot that good coffee is not bitter. My sitemate swore by Americanos so instead of the usual latte, I've been drinking a daily Americano. They are yummy. The instant nescafe of Africa and China is ugh... I can't believe I've been drinking the stuff for the past four years. No wonder I add so much milk and sugar. Americanos are delicious black.

Food: I've been having trouble spending money. In Alabama, my parents generously treated me to restaurants and let me try to eat a dent in their stockpile of food that fills two freezers, a fridge, and a walk-in pantry. Now that I am living on my own, I have a really hard time spending more than $5 on a meal. I ate pho which was relatively cheap. Instead of getting a bagel sandwich ($7), I just ate a toasted whole wheat bagel with butter along with soup ($3). I don't mind spending money on coffee though coz it feels cheap compared to buying a cup of coffee in China. I don't know why I am feeling so frugal. I have the money. Shouldn't I be eating it up while I am here?

I think food is less interesting this time because Chinese food is pretty good. After Africa, I was dying for a variety of food. This time my palette seems to only want to feast upon American bread covered with French cheese. Desserts don't really tempt me either. They just seem way too sweet and need to be shared rather than eaten by one person.

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs): I've been people watching and sometimes think, hmm... I wonder if that person is a RPCV. There is something about them that is different, a piece of clothing, a bag, jewellery. I bet Seattle has a lot of RPCVs. If we loved the fashion of the countries we lived in, how long does it take for us to totally stop wearing those clothes? In China, I tend to still wear African pieces of wrapped cloth as skirts and African shirts when I exercise. In Alabama, I wore all the sundresses I had tailored made using African prints.

Jet Lag: For some reason both in Alabama and in Seattle, I feel wide awake at midnight, wake up at 4 am and then feel exhausted by noon, taking a LONG nap.

Warming Up to Seattle

Seattle is dreary. I think it takes a little time to psychologically adjust back to the gray, but adjusting I am. Today the big plan is to bike to REI, to Elliot Bay Book Company which I rarely visited while living in Seattle because it was downtown but has moved to Capitol Hill replacing my favorite Bailey Coy Books, and back to Northgate where I am currently house sitting. It should be about a sixteen mile loop with plenty of inclines as well as bike lanes. Then maybe depending on the weather I might go to Shakespeare in the Park.

Driving and Horns

Driving an automatic car is like eating. You just do it without thought. It is like playing a video game except you don't need three extra lives coz you're careful. You've only got one life. Don't risk it by being a crazy driver.

Driving in America feels somehow simpler, easier, safer. There is an order to the driving that in China was hard to figure out. American people basically follow the laws. It feels ordered and safe like we are sheep being herded by a border collie. In China, the roads are a mess of confusion and noise making it impossible even after two years to make sense of the number of people going their own chaotic way.

Most of the time while living in China, I felt that the people are less individualistic following a mass order of things except when it comes to the road. In the USA, a major feature of our mass following culture is our cars. We may diverge from the mass with our individualistic thoughts, fashion, and politics but when it comes to cars we are united in our experience. In China, I feel that there is a mass following of fashion, politics, and thinking, a traditional culture where students' essays reflect one unified thought rather than something original or controversial; however, when driving, walking, or biking there is no mass order. Instead there is a huge population each taking their own mathematical random walk. Being on the road is hard to predict. In America as a driver I feel safer with the expected regularity of the roads.

What do you think the original purpose of a car horn was? They were used as warning devices. In America, they are used as "I'm mad at you." In China, they are used as warning devices. I feel a bit scared on bikes in America. In China cars will honk to let you know that they are there. In America, they silently pass and scare me. On a bike, I like being warned by noisy horns. On American roads, I feel a bit unsafe because of the silent moving killers.

Countryside Carpentry

After riding my bike at least three times a week for at least seven hours per week for the past four weeks, I wanted to make my fifth and final week in China the peak of my biking and wanted to bike for fifteen hours in five days. Alas, this morning I woke up to a flat tire. Not sure if it is a flat because of a puncture or because of something else, so I'll pump it up and see how it is later today. I guess I'll go for a forty minute run.

Little Farmers

These little farmers were helping their grandpa. I wanted to get a picture of the grandpa but then the brakes in my head didn't want to halt. I road past him and when I caught a glimpse of what was behind the cart, I had to stop and back peddle.

Yesterday while biking, a motorcycle road along side me and asked, "What kind of hat is that?"
I replied, "It is a hat I bought in America."
He replied, "Oh you're a girl."
I guess my biking outfit disguises me pretty well?

The bike ride yesterday was sometimes frustrating because I had to stop for traffic jams created by farmers who use up half the narrow country road that is actually a "major" highway to dry out their harvest.

Two big trucks with over thirty people sitting in the truck bed made me curious. Are they migrant workers? Prisoners? Workers being hauled to a factory? After about twenty kilometers, I found out. They were being trucked to a big empty field at the edge of a plateau to learn how to drive buses, cars, and trucks through an obstacle course.

I followed a taxi down a side road and ended up at another driving obstacle course and a "tourist" spot at least that is what the sign said. The tourist spot was a restaurant with rooms that are caves in the mountain with a great view of a valley.

I find it surprising that in the middle of nowhere, twenty kilometers in the countryside there are so many driving schools.

Brick Factory

Maybe I should bring cigarettes on my bike ride. Cigarettes are often a way to appease angry people who have a voice of authority. I got yelled at for taking a picture of this brick factory, "What are you doing? What are you doing?" But then he calmed down when he couldn't understand my Chinese, "It's interesting. I am just looking. I am just looking. Bye." I hopped on my bike and escaped.

While biking with a helmet, a bandanna hiding my hair, and sunglasses wearing African shirts, I wonder if people recognize me as a Chinese person, a strange Chinese person, or a foreigner. I feel that my Chinese features are hidden behind my costume.

One Valley

One of my favorite parts about bike riding is following a random country road to the edge of the plateau. Pushing the bike back up is fun. The worst part is going down. It is super scary. I am afraid that my brakes won't hold, and I am not exactly sure how not to ride off the cliff when free falling at a faster and faster speed around curves. Hopefully my adrenaline will kick in and my desire not to die will overcome my inexperience of being on two wheels steering around sharp and steep curves.

Useful Sidewalks

Ever wake up one morning, feel super lazy and don't want to do anything? But then you realize that there isn't anything actually to do today and the length of a day of nothing overwhelms you? So finally you are like, "Fine. I'll go on the bike ride even though I don't really want to"?

Now that the students are studying and taking finals, there isn't much work responsibility these days. Secondary projects are finished. The Tree House is closed. No one has time to teach me Chinese. Instead I am left with a TON of free time that I tend to spend alone because everyone else is too busy and will soon be going home. I really like free time, but sometimes it drags. Then I become even more lazy. Plus sitting in silence all day, having conversations in one's head, and living in virtual worlds of books, movies, and TV shows makes one feel like they are going a bit crazy.

For an education volunteer, I think summers at site during the break can be some of the most isolating, alone dragged out moments that can feel like forever in a PCV's two years.

Bike Lanes

The best thing about the city's bike lanes is they are almost as wide as country roads in Alabama. The bike lane in the picture is an old one and will soon be repaved like the rest of the lanes in the city.

This past week has been a vacation. I bike. I knit. I cook. I go to ice cream parlors. Next week I will probably spend two days giving the listening final and grading it. Then summer vacation really starts. Today though I have a book reading, a hot pot gathering of the authors and guests of the Tree House creative writing book. Tomorrow my sitemate and I will be cooking Western, African, and Chinese dishes for friends.

Market Day

It is on a bike in China that I sometimes feel the closest to Africa. Because I live in a big Chinese city, every day is a market day, but while bike riding on the same road for the past four days, this weekly market popped up just like how in my first village in Guinea, there was a weekly market. Instead of using three wheel vehicles, Guineans would on their heads carry tomatoes in buckets or would ride in the back bed of a large twelve wheel truck from the big city of Labe. School would end early, and we would all trek the five kilometers to market buying a week's worth of groceries.

Sandwich Lady

It was a strange morning. I woke up at 6 am, looked out the window, saw blue skies, and immediately got ready for a long sixty km bike ride. I was excited for sunshine because during yesterday's ride I got soaked and my whole back was covered with a layer of mud. I got dressed, washed dishes, ate oatmeal, plugged in the water heater, filled my water bottle and then lay back down for 5 minutes. The next thing I knew it was 9:30 am. Strange. I am a morning person and it is hard for me to sleep in.

I did not go on the sixty km ride. Instead I only rode for two hours because the sky grew gray and the wind was tough. I am not a fan of biking against wind.

Before heading north, I stopped at the back gate sandwich lady to get homemade bread stuffed with tofu noodles, onions, cucumbers, and radishes. She is one of the nicest people I have met. She always gives me free food, free porridge, free eggs, free sandwiches and free advice.

I waited for a fresh batch of bread and watched the playground that had people with disabilities practicing for a sports meet. The bikers were back but this time their helmets were being worn the way I would wear them. One biker was missing a leg and their coach was missing an arm.

Collision

This is what happens when a wide six lane road is blocked by a metal fence and reduced down to one bike lane that is just wide enough to fit two cars. When accidents occur in China, rarely are vehicles moved off the road. Instead they sit blocking traffic until the police arrive. I have not really seen too many accidents, just a lot of motorcycles lying on their sides in front of larger vehicles. I have somewhat gotten used to cars, motorcycles, and bicycles all on the wrong side of the road moving the wrong way. It is chaotic dodging vehicles and people coming from every direction.

When trying to get on an exercise schedule, it is frustrating when unforeseen things try to prevent you from exercising. Yesterday it was a flat tire. Today it is rain. I think I am going to bike anyways. Hopefully the rain isn't heavy or continuous.

Today is my last day of teaching and final exam dates have finally been posted. My class' listening final is the 6th of July.

Boys Playing

I woke up to a flat tire and wasn't sure if it was because the valve was loose or because of a puncture. I tightened the valve, blew up the tire and will wait to see what happens tomorrow. I instead went on a run in the rain and made my black toenail bleed.

My new project is going to translate a menu at a near by restaurant. I will go down the menu one by one, eat a different dish, and create an English menu. You may be wondering, why haven't you done it earlier like when you first arrived? Because, my spoken Chinese food vocabulary hadn't gotten old yet: eggs and tomatoes, pork and peppers, noodles, fungus and pork, green vegetables, tofu, and eggplant. As I enter my third year in China, I've been eating the same things over and over again. I want something new.

Walking to School

On my bike ride yesterday, I turned around after only thirty minutes because of construction. On the bike that I have, riding in dirt and dust is not fun. Before heading home, I took a detour and explored the new six lane roads that have recently appeared around new campus. Unfortunately I ran into more dirt roads and had to walk my bike back into the city. The above picture probably in a months time will become one of those new roads.

Bike Tour 2010

Since school doesn't start for another two weeks, I wanted to go to Xian, buy a $200 GIANT bike with 24 gears, and bike back to my site, 310 km (286 miles). I had already bought maps and on my way home paid close attention to the 6 hour bus route that was mostly flat except for one part that would be a day of biking up and down. I even saw a biker, his bike loaded back and front with panniers. He was taking a rest along side the road for a bite to eat on a long climb.

However, it is too dangerous according to our safety and security officer to bike alone, and I kind of wonder is it because I am a woman or is it really too dangerous for a biker to bike alone in China?

I had wanted to do a month bike tour in the US after finishing my PhD, but the initial cost of buying a bike and gear was too high plus my parents were not too keen on the idea. Biking alone in the US is dangerous.

I think China is an excellent place to do a bike tour.

Why?

1. Hotels are cheap (less than $20 a room, sometimes even as cheap as $3 a bed)
2. You can buy water at the many little towns that litter the roads.
3. You can eat at cheap restaurants and eat lots of noodles.
4. China is not a car country yet. Everyone doesn't own cars; therefore, the roads are pretty empty.

There are a few disadvantages.

1. Maps are difficult to read because they are labeled with Chinese characters.
2. Rain. It rains a lot.
3. Nice bikes get stolen.

I am hoping to maybe do a bike tour next summer. If you are interested, let me know.

First of hopefully many more overnight bike trips

As a Peace Corps volunteer, one must get approval from one's school for any trips away from site. My school gave me a very definite direct NO. Their reason was it is too dangerous and too far. But then Peace Corps called them and lo and behold, I got approval. My depression instantly turned into joy.

In China, ups and downs come very sudden and often come at the very last moment possible. A yes can turn into a no an hour before you are ready to leave. A no can turn into a yes the night before your trip. A command, "Come to this meeting," can be given 5 minutes before the start of the meeting. Remember the Peace Corps mantra, "Be flexible."

Xifeng to Heshui
Distance 54 km (one way)

To Heshui 4 hours
Highlights: Racing down a HUGE winding mountain praying that my brakes would hold.

Surprise in Heshui: As I was wandering the one street city, I decided to check out the bus station and lo and behold I ran into one of my students. The world is small.

Difficulty in Heshui: I woke up at 4:30 am ready to get on the road as the world becomes light around 5 am, but I was locked in. It took me 20 minutes to wake up the desk manager who had to check my room for any damages in order to give me back my 100 RMB deposit. Then she had to wake the gate keeper to let me out. I was on the road by 5:10 am.

Back home 5 hours
Highlights: Pushing my bike 45 minutes up the HUGE winding mountain praying that two trucks wouldn't come at the same moment.

Biking on pavement even with the one gear bike is faster than biking on a 21 speed mountain bike on dirt roads in Africa. I miss biking for long distances. Riding through the empty streets at 5 am this morning reminded me of the many trips in Guinea.

Enjoy the few pictures.

China

Bike Trip to a Local Lake

Friday was a holiday, May 1st, worker holiday. Caitlin and I planned on biking to Heshui, a 40-100 km distance, depending on who you talk to; however, the night before the weather had turned cold and windy. Who wants to bike an unknown distance in cold, against wind?

Instead we went on a short 2.5 hour bike ride exploring the countryside. We found this tiny neighborhood in the middle of farmland. We ate ice cream. One lucky girl got Caitlin's artificially flavored ice. We then headed back and fought an hour against wind, dust, and more wind.

When I got home, I received a text from a psychology teacher who I had just met the other night in the English library. It said, "Would you like to have a trip to the valley near the new campus by foot or by bicycle?"

I replied, "I am too tired today," but then we made plans to meet on Saturday for a bike trip and then lunch afterwards at her teacher dormitory.

In Spring, the landscape of Gansu is incredible. You will be riding along this flat road bordered by beautiful green farmland and then boom, you hit the edge of the plateau and wow. It is such a beautiful sight.

We biked to the edge and then started biking down the valley on a dirt road to find a lake.

On our way down, we collected veggies to cook.

Caitlin ground some grain.

Caitlin then wisely suggested that we park and lock our bikes. Who wants to push a bike up a mountain? We headed down by foot.

At the bottom we found motorcycles and a car owned by fishermen who had no luck today. We headed back up around noon and were treated to a lovely meal by the teachers.
It was such a lovely outing, very chill, good language practice, and plenty of exercise.