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.
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Tuesday, April 29
Monday, April 28
by
figcookies
on Tue 29 Apr 2008 07:03 AM CST
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 Sunday, April 27
by
figcookies
on Sun 27 Apr 2008 02:19 PM CST
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. Wednesday, April 23
by
figcookies
on Thu 24 Apr 2008 10:00 AM CST
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. Sunday, April 20
by
figcookies
on Sun 20 Apr 2008 11:07 PM CST
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.
Wednesday, April 16
by
figcookies
on Wed 16 Apr 2008 10:24 PM CST
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. Monday, April 14
by
figcookies
on Mon 14 Apr 2008 08:18 PM CST
I love the color brown, I think it's a completely undervalued color.
However, I do not like when the water coming out of the kitchen tap is brown, then I get a little grossed out, which is its color right now. I've a feeling there's a sewer line break somewhere. Sunday, April 13
by
figcookies
on Sun 13 Apr 2008 07:57 PM CST
It's been a rough couple weeks, since the Tibet situation began, at Chez Figcookies. I've been grieving the fact that we will not be going to Tibet for our honeymoon as well as having to deal with the rising anti-American sentiment on campus. So far the sentiment's been limited to people talking about me and bashing the States, as if I don't know what they're saying, and students asking me why Americans love war and guns, and not believing me when I say not all do.
But I know that it's not going to get any better before we leave (two months from today's my last class!). I'm not, and have never been, thick skinned, so the meanness of the teachers, whether it be in the break room (I stopped going a couple weeks ago) or on the school bus, as well as the students sniggering about how fat I am has been really hard for me as of late. And because our friends are so busy with their teaching gigs at our old school, the reminders of why we love China are fading fast. I have decided that the next time a student asks me if I find it difficult living in China, I will finally answer honestly and say "Yes and not for the reasons you think." Interesting reads from today's NYTimes. China's Loyal Youth Don't Know Much About Tibetan History Friday, April 11
by
figcookies
on Fri 11 Apr 2008 12:48 PM CST
"Not with the foreigner", heard (in Chinese of course) when the young teacher, sitting next to me, offered her seat to an older, female, teacher so she wouldn't have to stand for the 20 minute bus ride back to the old campus.
Hearing a phrase as lovely as this makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside. Thursday, April 10
by
figcookies
on Fri 11 Apr 2008 06:46 AM CST
Seriously, I think I need to create a "China's Fracked Up News Coverage" Category.
From today's NYTimes: Olympic President Makes Rare Criticism of China From CCTV-9: Rogge Hopes Relay Proceeds Smoothly Both articles are from the same meeting, watching the coverage on last night's news made me angry. China makes me nuts. And for some really great stories on what a horrible man the Dali Lama is, visit here. Do they really think English speakers buy this crap? Yes, I've a lot more to say about this. Tuesday, April 8
by
figcookies
on Tue 08 Apr 2008 04:02 PM CST
Monday, April 7
by
figcookies
on Mon 07 Apr 2008 07:31 PM CST
I made the mistake of telling my 90 students they could send me the rough drafts of their mid-term essays to me, and they being who they are waited until the last minute to send them to me. I received over 40 essays to look at between Friday and Saturday night. I spent a good 10 hours yesterday looking at some of them and a good part of this afternoon looking at even more. The end is near and I'm almost done, which is nice, but seriously it's killin' me. And the fact that my allergies have gone haywire isn't helping the concentration level. I plan on having them finished tomorrow afternoon. *fingers crossed*
But then next week, oh dear god, next week they're handing them in. It makes me want to cry. I love teaching, I really do, but god do I hate correcting homework. I uploaded some of the photos from our trip to Rooster Mountain to my Flickr account. Here is one for to whet your whistle. ![]() Back to the grind Saturday, April 5
by
figcookies
on Sun 06 Apr 2008 09:23 AM CST
I'm still here, it's been a busy week with my writing class. I'm going to be buried under papers today looking at rough drafts.
Niels, S (the foreign teacher from Sweden), and I went to Rooster Mountain this weekend. It's in the southeast corner of Henan Province. It was nice to be out of Zhengzhou, but the mountain was really, really, crowded, the air quality was bad, and it was more of a resort than a national park (which is what we were expecting), so we were a bit disappointed. I did get a couple nice photos, so I'll be posting them soon. Now back to papers. |
Contact Me figcookies [at] gmail dot com About After two years in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, figcookies has recently moved back to the States. She's looking forward to beginning the next leg in her journey as well as all the comforts of home but misses her life in the Middle Kingdom. meine freunde
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