I've not talked much about the primaries here, even though there's been a lot of discussion at chez figcookies. I've been supporting Hilliary Clinton, quietly, from the sidelines the past few months because I believe she is the better candidate. I however do not agree with the tone her campaign has taken of late (same goes for the Obama campaign). Do I think she should pull out? No, this is democracy in action. The New York Times has a wonderful editorial that I wish I had written.

Sen. Clinton and the Campaign

Two nights ago dreamt that Leo McGarry was a Trill and had died, but before he died told me that he wanted me to be host to his symbiont.

Read into it what you will.

I think I'm watching too much Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and West Wing, and need to find some new shows to watch.

The woman who runs the school I teach at Tuesday mornings is looking for a foreign teacher or two for her school. Details about the school can be found here. The school's great, she's an awesome boss and the teachers are wicked friendly. I wish I had known about it last year at this time when I was looking for new employment. Working at her school is one of the things I'm going to miss about living in China. You can also contact me if you're interested.

An couple interestings pieces in this week's Newsweek.

Tibet Through China's Eye

Chinese Nationalism and Tibet

Yes, I know I'm linking to a lot of China related articles recently. But I'm trying to come to terms with my love/hate relationship with this country and reading articles is helping. Plus if I can share what I find to help give perspective on China's perspective then it's all good. Right?

It's been 10 years, this week, since I moved away from Buffalo. I still miss it terribly but it was a necessary move. I still try to read the Buffalo News online once or twice a week. More often than not I get depressed by the headlines, but the headline today made me all teary-eyed, in the good way.

Animal Lover Gives Buffalo Police Dogs Their Own Body Armor

It's so hot, too hot for the beginning of May. It's 82 and is supposed to reach 85 at some point today. We only have AC in the bedroom and I'm trying my best not to turn it on and hide in there all day. But it is tempting. It's supposed to cool off a bit tomorrow and I'm hoping it does. I can't stand this weather, it's too hot, too soon. All I want to do is nap, but I can't, I've a list of things I need to do and since Niels is in Qingdao for the weekend I really should get my butt moving, instead I'm reading this week's Economist.

Dear Party Leaders,

Are you really surprised by this? Do you not realize that if you ban something when people stumble upon it they'll be clueless to its meaning, and when they get caught with it are befuddled why they're in trouble? And then a whole new set of problems is created for you in trying to explain the situation.

Also, if you want students living overseas to help bolster China's image you may want to let them know that throwing things at people or harassing them won't help. 

figcookies

P.S. I'd appreciate it if you'd stop interfering in my email. I do like being able to read, write and send emails and you've been making things difficult for me the past month and a half. You know I'm leaving soon and never was a threat to your hegemony, so cut it out.

Niels and I have been talking about going to Qingdao. Ok, I've been talking to Niels about how I really want to go to Qingdao, but after reading this article, not so much anymore.

Passenger Trains Collide in Eastern China

I didn't realize human rights had a sliding scale. The Bush Administration and the Justice Department make me sick.

Just got back from our outing to Carrefour, where there were lots of "policemen" and few customers. I've to say the boycotts have made my grocery shopping experience much more enjoyable. Although I will be avoiding it this Thursday (May 1) due to the scheduled protests.

We bought chicken, spinach, cauliflower, red cabbage, tea, sugar, milk, red pens, and oatmeal. All of which are Chinese made products, except for the oatmeal which is from Australia. So really, who are the boycotts hurting? Not the French, that's for sure.

There's an interesting article in this week's Time Magazine about Chinese nationalism, go check it out.

The foreign teachers had a meeting with the vice-president (who once again called me fat, I found this out afterwards because none of the teachers translating would translate his meanness) about our experiences here as well as our suggestions for improvements. Lots of notes were taken by the Chinese staff, but nothing's going to come of any of our input, so it was a big waste of time. Although it did get me out of having to go to the New Campus for English Corner, so that was a bonus.

Towards the end of the meeting Niels brought up safety concerns because of the Carrefour protests and if they could please let us know of places to avoid because of the ant-foreign sentiment that's going on. The Chinese teachers all laughed and said there was nothing to worry about. Needless to say we all got annoyed and Niels called them out, in a very polite way, and informed them that we as foreigners are nervous and they should take that seriously. But they brushed him off and said that the protests are over so there was nothing else to worry about. One of the other foreign teachers asked if someone could talk to the security guards and tell them they shouldn't tell people where we live because she's tired of having random people knock on her door. That got their attention, but will they act on it, doubt it, not unless something happens to one of us, then they'll still someone brush it off.

There are more protests scheduled for next week, I doubt we're going to be told about them.

On the upside of all of this, we did have a nice dinner with some friends last night and were able to have a really good discussion about the current mood in China and the difference between their reactions to that of our school's was like night and day.

I've been on a reading kick which is bad, since our selection of books is very small and I've read pretty much all of them except for the two law school related books Niels wants me to read and the Lovecraft book, which I won't read because I don't need more things for my imagination to latch on to.

I did however finish reading The Time Traveler's Wife, which was really quite lovely. It did take me a bit to get into it, I had tried reading it a few months ago but couldn't get into it, but once I did I couldn't put it down. I'm excited it's being turned into a movie and am looking forward to seeing it when it comes out later this year.

Niels & I returned a few hours ago from our weekend away in Shanghai. It was wonderful. The city's modern, clean, and so the opposite of Zhengzhou. I was really sad to leave. I took a bunch of photos while we were there, and you can bet I'll be looking at them longingly for the next couple weeks.

Niels and I are off, as he reminded me for our last trip while in China, to Shanghai very early tomorrow morning. I promise to take lots of photos and post them upon my return.

I'm really excited to get out of Zhengzhou, I think it'll do my psyche good to be in a modern city for a few days. I'm not sure what I'm more excited about going to Shanghai or the Indian restaurant we're going to go to while we're there.