Revisions

Wednesday was my 100th day in Beijing. I celebrated it by making it to class on time (History and Legend class). I even brought my handout. The Tunisian girl who always sits in the front row forgot hers and had settled to wait it out with an air of dejection. Nothing makes sense if you don't have the handout. I knew just how she felt, so I attracted her attention and invited her to come share mine, which she did. We all need a little help with things now and then, and I'm always happy to give it.

I had lunch and then spent all afternoon and evening with HJ. First, we talked about my dissertation. I had asked her over e-mail about a small translation point, which she helped me with very well, but said she was guessing because she didn't know the context. I thought about it, and then decided to try explaining my dissertation to her. It was a good thing I did, because we had several exchanges about it, including on Wednesday afternoon…and I realized that because of a key methodological problem my dissertation is really two dissertations! I got a bit red in the face trying to explain my reasoning in Chinese, but in the end I had to admit she was right, and I was really going to have to do some serious thinking about my topic.

We also discussed the problem of evil, because she has a deep interest in Christianity, a sort of wanna-believer. So I thought I'd try it out on her. It turned out she already knew all about it, from Dostoyevsky, and claimed that Dostoyevsky supplied the answer. If I'm getting this right, it came down to "if there is no God then everything is permitted." I pointed out that that was a pragmatic concern completely separate from whether or not God exists. She likes Jesus and thinks that all the suffering post-Jesus is somehow related to/redeemed by the suffering of Jesus. What about the suffering pre-Jesus? It had nothing to do with God, was what she said. But understood herself to be weak on this point.

It was interesting to talk to her because she's so smart and has read so much but does not come from a Judeo-Christian background. Her arguments tend to be a bit too literature-centered and emotional, but are interesting all the same. We didn't go at it hammer and tongs or anything, just a friendly chat. I felt proud that I could do that much in Chinese!

Then I did some more corrections on her personal statement, mostly trying to cut it down to fit the word requirement. I'm pretty good at that, having always had to perform such operations on my own papers!

Also she gave me some presents: a comb made of bone, a pretty blue and green gauzy scarf. We went to her dorm--it is cozy and pleasant, also crammed with books--and I gave the party photos to her roommates and friends. Then we talked about books for some time. Then in the end we had dinner together too. She took me a new place where we had a good vegetarian dish (will definitely bring Colin there) and I got to treat finally. That felt good. But after all this intense socializing, I was deeply tired. I don't know how they manage it, being together in such close quarters all the time!

Maybe by being, like, ten years younger than me almost. Oh yeah.