Canadian Songwriter, Performer and Audio Professional; living an exciting story in Asia.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
China; like an RPG.
Living in China as a foreigner can be like living in an RPG. Let me count the ways…
- It offers an escape from an ordinary, monotonous existence.
- It appeals to nerds.
- Rules of the road… just don’t hit anything.
- Money is counted in “pieces” (块)
- The fast way to do things is “on horseback” (马上)
- Dragons are real (恐龙, lit. “terrible dragons”)
- Players usually enter the game with special abilities (e.g. English, foreigner charm).
- It’s really fun at first, but can get old pretty fast.
- It takes place in a magical world where people believe in mystical concepts like qi and fengshui.
- The people take legends very seriously (even 5,000 year old ones).
- The word “peasant” doesn’t seem out of place.
- There are plenty of barmaids in the taverns and women of ill repute on the streets.
- The background story: a legendary kingdom has fallen under the control of a powerful, malevolent force, and heroes are nowhere to be found…
(Source: sinosplice.com)
My glorious new phone; the story:
I stepped out of my taxi late last night outside my apartment complex and shut the door. Immediately, the thought crossed my mind, “I didn’t get the receipt”. It’s good practice to always get receipts from taxi’s in China, if not for reasons of business, they can help you in a case of lost-and-found. Just as the thought passed through my mind, I watched the taxi pull away. It wasn’t until I stepped into my apartment on the 16th floor that I realized my phone was not in my pocket, not in my hand, not in my backpack… “Ah, crap!”.
And so the episode began. Lesson learned (again). I spent all day today calling the taxi company; giving up hope; searching for the China Unicom office; getting a new SIM card; and finally scoring a deal on the worlds worst phone…
I’m not thrilled. This evening I’m very comfortably relaxing in one of Kunming’s many western cafe’s and finally taking a run through the inbox which I’ve neglected all day long. That phone is my lifeline around here. I don’t know how I’m gonna get around without that thing!
As a side note, I have a new addition to my Christmas list: A new iPhone.
Sabotaged again…
Another day in China:
I was scheduled to do a one-over on a sound system for a local venue in Kunming this afternoon. I got to the venue, and soon found that there was no lights, no power at the sound desk, in the hallway, in the building… This is China. This is the reason things that should take 3 hours take the whole day, and things that should take a day take a whole week. No matter, that’s not my problem. So, I get the afternoon off.
I decided to spend the rest of my afternoon by going to the farmers market for the first time. I just haven’t found my way over there since getting here, though I have been meaning to all along. It was about what I expected; quite a bit cleaner, in fact. The dirt road which leads behind an apartment complex makes it look a lot less pleasant from the outside. That’s probably partly why I hadn’t been all too excited about going there.
I spent about ¥40 all together. That’s the equivalent to about $5.50 in Canadian Dollars. I bought a red onion, some green onion, sprouts, fresh garlic, a crap load of parsley, a slab of beef, and some chopped up beef. I was going to buy some fresh eggs, but I decided not to get them today.
As I drove my scooter away from the market, a stone flew right by my face. In America, kids have these things called ‘Nerf Guns’; here, kids throw stones. I shook my head and laughed as I drove back down the dirt road.
Analog Sunday is an informal idea to encourage people to take a day off away from all things digital. Any or every Sunday can be an opportunity to unplug, get off the computer, relax, recharge the batteries and take a break from usual computer based routines by engaging with the world in a different way.
I really like this idea. This Sunday, I’m gonna do it.
