Politics, Dissertation, and Shopping Hell

Some quick notes before I crash--quick lest I get terminally far behind in either sleep or blogging.

Friday--Chinese lesson! I biked there, arrived a bit late because my bike is crap. Interestingly, we ended up spending about half the lesson discussing politics. I got a real kick out of telling AL about the bumper stickers seen in various blue states across our great country, namely, "HE'S NOT MY PRESIDENT." She was truly aghast, and asked several times (in case she'd heard wrong) if this was really legal. Then she described the amazing level of corruption among officials in inner Mongolia--namely, that the money earmarked by the central government to combat the horrendous desertification going on there is going straight into the pockets of people who live in great houses, drive expensive cars, and work a few hours a day if that. (She saw it with her own eyes, because of a school-friend who works there.) She says she remembers planting trees in her childhood, part of an anti-desertification campaign. "I suppose none of those trees lived to grow up but at least we were trying to do something. The politicians now..."

She suggested that something like this couldn't happen in America right? I thought about our politicians and said of course it could, and did. The difference was that we did have guaranteed freedom of the press, if only our reporters could be bothered to use it. When outrages become widely known and widely condemned, they tend to go away. This is the way in which a free and independent press can become an essential aid in governance. Yeah, I did wax that eloquent about something I hardly knew I believed, and all in Chinese no less. I think I'm making progress!

In the afternoon I met with HJ. We chatted about various things, including another round regarding my dissertation. She remains unconvinced. I helped her alter her personal statement to apply for a German department. Based on my experience with German departments, I fear her German may not be up to it, but who knows. Then we went to the library together and she showed me how to order books from the National Library. Yep! No more trudging down there, because as it turns out, Beida can get the books for me for a paltry fee of 4 RMB (50 cents) per book, and I can check them out too! I was pretty thrilled. It takes a few days, but it's so much easier than having to deal with all the bureaucratic nonsense over there.

I spent about an hour in the library, getting started on my research for YHz. And then I went home, glorious home. There, my work for the evening turned out to be revising my one-page dissertation proposal and sending it off to HJ.

Saturday--I celebrated the weekend by picking up a 22 page piece of writing I had banged out at a smashing rate of two pages a day, a year ago, and then discarded as worthless. But talking with HJ makes me think maybe it's worth looking at it again. I looked at it. Kind of liked what I saw. Went through fixing typos and footnotes, then banged out another page or so.

I spent the afternoon Christmas shopping. My apologies to those of you who actually ought to be getting presents from me because it's already getting kind of late for sending things out. Things will probably be late. Shopping here is not expensive, but it is difficult. The things they sell here just don't suit Western tastes very well, I guess is the best way of putting it. Everything is cheap and feels cheap--cheap knock-offs of Western stuff. It leaves me uninterested.

Also, I HATE the way salespeople deal with customers. For the most part they give you a bit of space until you inquire about the price of something. (Most prices aren't marked.) Then they stand literally a couple inches away from you, talking non-stop and picking up other crappy items seemingly at random, trying to draw your interest. Unfortunately they don't have the first clue what I will find interesting. This behavior is especially severe when one is alone, because it's harder to politely indicate you're not interested in anything and just shut up please.

Those of you who know me know that I hate to shop, and this cultural difficulty just exacerbates it. The only upside--even when I'm getting ripped off because I don't bargain well, things are still not very expensive.

On the way home, I bought a big humidifier. Same irritating treatment from the salesperson. It was in my mind that I'd buy a cute animal one and there was a frog-shaped one on sale for about ten dollars. No--the saleswoman talking a mile a minute explained how that one wasn't good quality and why don't I come look at this nice plain one (no animal shape) which wouldn't leak water. Since she was practically pushing me over to the one she wanted to sell me, I went, but remained obstinately silent. She assumed I didn't understand her pitch and starting speaking in simpler and simpler words, pointing to the (completely unfamiliar to me) brand name, making hand gestures, and eventually breaking out into broken English phrases. I fumed silently for a while, and then said in the fastest and most fluent Chinese I could produce that still, I rather liked the animal ones better.

My planned effect was wasted, however, because she was so relieved I actually spoke her language that she wasn't surprised at all, and went back up to speed with her pitch. "This one won't leak at all," etc. "Does that mean that frog one will leak?" I asked as sarcastically as I could. (As in, does that mean you are selling crappy defective goods?) "Well, it could. I mean, some of them might. And this one, if you have any problems with it, you can just call this number…" Yeah right I'm going to try to get anything fixed over the phone, huh. If I have any problems with it, I'm bringing it right back here and dumping it in your lap.

Sarcasm aside, I am no match for a determined Chinese saleswoman, and ended up with the plain one. At least it is blue, my favorite color. And I have been having problems with the quality of stuff lately. My bicycle is a mess, and the zipper on my white coat first got exceedingly cranky (teeth not lining up, splitting open, etc.) and then one of the zipper heads fell off so it's completely non-functional. Stupid crap.

I was in a pretty bad mood after all this shopping. I realize why I usually have a so much better attitude about being in China than most of the other Americans I know: I almost never shop. Well, I buy books, but salespeople don't try to sell you books. They know enough not to bother! Instead, you go to them when you want them to help you find something. That's the way it should be folks!