Random Tidbits

It has been a busy week preparing for the seven week field venture I am about to undertake. Busy enough that we have had to postpone our departure date from Sunday until Tuesday. That means two less days in the field, but also means a slightly clearer conscience for everyone as the ratio of "well thought-out plans" to "flying by the seat of our pants" is a little higher. Before I leave I am going to provide a bit of geographic background (with maps!) of where I'll be going this summer and perhaps describe a bit of those aforementioned plans. However, in the meantime, I had marked on my a schedule a post for today and I thought I would offer some random tidbits of information and observations I have accumulated since arriving in China.

First I will start with a little photo montage. Beijing is infamous for its air quality (or lack thereof). It was a major concern prior to their hosting of the 2008 Summer Olympic. Back then, in order to improve upon the air quality in both appearance and in practice, the government here mandated a variety of rules, restrictions and aggressive strategies. These included a strict driving schedule for individuals with cars in order to drastically reduce motorized vehicle emissions. I am not certain as to how it was organized, but it was something along the lines as X people could only drive on Tuesday and Thursday, Y people on Monday and Wednesday, etc. In addition, multiple factories that were particularly bad air polluters had their operation suspended (who knows the costs to those industries, much less to the employees who couldn't work). There was also diligent cloud seeding to force rain and thus help to clear the air. Following the Olympics things have returned to normal, as all the various new rules were forgotten, and the smog has returned in force (providing an interesting experiment for health scientists). The photos below demonstrate that in a 24 hour period the power of a couple hours of rain and a little breeze can really do wonders.

These photos were taken from the 10th floor of a hotel I stayed at upon first arriving in Beijing. The vantage point is looking west across the Peking University campus. Top photo was taken at about 7:00 AM, bottom photo at around 6:00 AM the next day. This is definitely smog. I checked the weather and the system that was bringing in the rain was still another 10-12 hours away. Those of you who have spent time in southern California are familiar with this dichotomy.

A couple more tidbits, and I should add the disclaimer that I am in no way passing judgement on these people or this country, but rather pointing out some things that have struck me as peculiar:

1) Titanic is still pretty popular in this country. And by Titanic I mean the movie. I have seen at least a half dozen t-shirts (guys and girls); an otherwise normal dude walking down the street with a satchel over his shoulder that displayed a sequined image of Leo and Kate in passionate embrace; and I have heard that damn Celine Dion song about 1/2 the times I step into any sort of shopping area that plays music (I'm looking at you Carrefour grocery store!).

2) Women spit a lot. I don't know what else to say, but it is a phenomenon that I have continuously witnessed in all sorts of settings by all sorts of individuals. Guys spit all the time, so it's not a big deal, but in the US it seems to be such a rarity to see a woman walking down the street turn her head and, well, let the spittle fly. What's up with that US ladies?

3) You know how in big city driving, on crazy 10-lane interstates, that you have to drive bumper to bumper because if you leave any room between you and the car in front of you someone will just go ahead and use that space? It's the same thing here when you're lined up at the ATM, to get a subway ticket, really at any queue. If you're not breathing down the neck of the person in front of you, someone (men and women) will just go ahead and fill that gap. At first I was astounded at the boldness of just cutting in front of me, but it's happened enough that I now understand it's the way of the world.

4) Upon first seeing me walk by, almost everyone immediately looks down towards my feet. At first I thought people were just really excited to see the latest footwear fashion coming out the United States, but upon asking some of my Chinese friends they guessed it was probably because they're more fascinated with the fact that I have hairy legs. As such, I guess they don't see me so much as a barometer of western fashion, but maybe the missing link?

5) A second characteristic of mine that garners a lot of attention is that I'm left-handed. I have met two students who, upon this revelation, informed me that when they were children they had been left-handed before they were "corrected" (or for something more robust, try this). Given that this custom of correcting handedness continues to be practiced in China, I can only imagine what people here must think of my parents for allowing me to grow up with such an affliction. But perhaps they're coming around? Today I was signing the credit card receipt at a camera store (a new polarizing filter for my new lens!), and as soon as I started signing the woman and man attending me instantly went into a tizzy, speaking back and forth rapidly in Chinese and gesturing with their left hands. I smiled and said something stupid like "yep, I'm a lefty." After I handed back the signed receipt, perhaps feeling a little chagrined at the outburst, the woman told me it was "a handsome way of writing." So, at least I have that.

An Irish Relapse

Another random note, this one describing what I did today (remember,  I did warn it was going to be a mundane week!), here goes...

Today was a rainy and dreary day. As I sat at my desk, trying to work up the motivation to continue recrafting a PhD chapter for publication, I looked outside and was reminded of my days in the lab in Dublin. Never mind the Asian architecture, the combination of an impenetrable grey sky and the pattering of raindrops against the window might as well have been a transport back in time to the fall of 2010. By the time lunch rolled around there was no shaking the memories of Ireland and the thirst for a pint of Guinness. That was it, not only was I going to find that Guinness, I was going to make a stand for having ANYTHING other than Chinese food for the first time in a month. Within moments, thanks to the omnipotence of Google, I was checking out a subway map to navigate the quickest route to Paddy O’Shea’s Irish Pub; the only Irish owned and managed pub in Beijing! 

This was posted in the men's restroom...just in case you forget where you are when you're in there.

I have been flying solo a lot these days, as in not having a Chinese shadow to help prevent me from getting lost, insulting the locals or otherwise stumbling into deportation-worthy troubles. To be honest, I haven’t needed one given that I have been living in the same building that I work in and I spend most days at the computer (a boring existence described in the previous post). A couple of weekends ago I was invited to a special dumpling lunch, hosted at a friend and colleagues home (a topic for another post very soon!). To ensure that I made it there safely and did not get lost, I was accompanied by another Chinese friend, using the Beijing subway system. Given this experience, I knew it wasn’t an entirely scary place, but I tend to have a difficult time learning when my hand is being held through the education process, and so after that experience I was still not certain as to exactly how the subway system worked. I guess I was gawking at all the riff-raff in the subway tunnels? 

The foreignness of my surroundings sometimes intimidates me. The inability to communicate, often even at an elementary level, with the majority of people around me, imposes a force against which a particular level of motivation is required to be successful (another topic for a later post). On "down" days I don’t bother leaving the confines of my office/apartment; but on "up" days I love the challenge of going out and through whatever means necessary (often a comical combination of gestures, charades and my 4-5 words of Mandarin) interacting with my environment. Today, with a pint or two of Arthur’s St. Jame’s Gate brew on the line, it is definitely an “up” day, and so I head out, alone, to command victory over the Beijing subway system.

Queues for arriving trains are separated from the tracks by a sliding door system. Guess that makes it harder to throw yourself into oncoming traffic.

 The result, in spite of my drawn out melodrama above, was a near flawless commandeering of a mass transportation system. Surprise, surprise, one of the world’s largest cities, and recent host to the Summer Olympics, has a simple and straight-forward subway system. There really is not much to say, it’s not as putrid in odor as New York City’s MTA, but not as aesthetically pleasing as D.C.’s Washington Metro (the only other subway systems I've used more than once). Quite simply, other than the cars full of Chinese people, it could be anywhere. 

Sometimes I wish I was in Japan so as to ease the ability to throw out appropriate Godzilla quips.

 

I jumped on at the East Gate of Peking University and fifteen stations and one transfer later I found myself emerging into the rain, nearer the center of Beijing in the district that contains various embassies from around the world. This region of Beijing, partly because of this, is a popular tourist area, and offers a huge, multinational, variety of shopping and dining options. As a consequence, there is a much higher density of foreigners here than elsewhere in the city. This brings up an interesting side note that I was recently discussing over beers while waiting for hotpot with my (American) friend Jack. We had both noticed that in Beijing, and really in many foreign countries, that when you cross paths with another white person, they often act aloof, avoid eye-contact, and otherwise do their best to pretend you don't exist. We proposed that, perhaps, by acknowledging the existence of another American (for example), that that somehow is perceived as invalidating the depth of the immersion into the alien experience; kind of like when you think you're hiking through a remote forest but then emerge onto a busy freeway. Alternatively, maybe they're all Europeans and really dislike Americans, so it's just me :). Either way, I've always given a smile and nod to anyone who makes eye contact on the street, equal opportunity for all! Yet today I was surprised as I tapped into that anti-white people vibe. As I wandered the streets en route to the pub, I was distinctly annoyed at all the white people imposing upon my adventure through the streets of Beijing!

Regardless, nothing was going to get in the way of my mission, or dampen the joy awaiting me at O'Shea's. I knew from my google sleuthing that I need only to head down the road immediately outside the subway station and Paddy O’Shea’s would be waiting for me just across the street from the Australian embassy. A quick walk down the nearly empty boulevard and there it was; not necessarily the ambiance of Dublin’s O’Donoghue’s, but with Guinness on draught and a menu full of Irish classics, it was damn good enough!

Oh sweet nectar of the gods!

Right! The blog.

My first meeting with some of the students and staff with whom I will be working.

Here I sit, about four weeks since starting this blog, having failed to provide a single entry since arriving in China. Truth be told, I’ve written a couple, slept on it, and then upon waking in the morning and rereading, decided I didn’t like it. Quite a few years ago my friend Gabe asked why I don’t have a blog, saying that I seemed like a guy with something to say, so I should have one. I took that as a compliment, but as I knew then, I also know now, I’m much too particular about writing for a public audience to ever be both efficient and satisfied with the product. This could be a problem.

Just now I have been inspired on how to resolve this conundrum. A couple of minutes ago I was chatting with Julie about my lack of blogging productivity and she commiserated saying that she would also have a hard time flippantly writing and posting personal experiences. That got me thinking; I am often at my best when being flippant. Perhaps I’m just over-thinking this blog thing? When I began I had been visualizing these posts as descriptive chronicles of my fascinating and exclusive experiences of adventuring my way through the country, with breath-taking photos and eloquent prose. As I’ve sat and pondered what to write about, I feel like I have yet to do anything interesting. Since arriving in China my weekdays have been locked up in lots and lots of reading to try and get up to speed on the new study area and species I’ll be working on, as well as understanding the data needed and  the research methods and sampling design required to get that data. If not that, I have spent time with graduate students and researchers from Shan Shui (the Chinese NGO with which I will be working hand in hand). A major part of my job (scary as it sounds) is to be the scientific advisor to these people to ensure that our efforts are rooted in rigorous scientific inquiry, that our results are publishable, and that they are also applicable to key conservation questions and concerns. Then on weekends, life gets really crazy as I dig out my PhD work to try and perfect my thesis chapters for publication. These are all exciting and important activities, however, the past couple weeks of reading, writing and meetings don’t translate well into a story to share with a general audience.

I have thought about what I should write about from this first month, and I have realized that as I’ve been out and about doing normal day to day activities such as buying food, using public transportation, and riding a bike, that I find all of these activities to be fascinating as to how they contrast, or fail to contrast, as might be expected. We all know that China and the United States are two very different places in many different ways, but I find it remarkable to actually experience these differences and compare the reality to what my preconceived ideas were prior to arriving. Therein lies my new motivation on what to comment on in this blog when I’m not doing exciting things like trekking through the Tibetan Plateau, snaring snow leopards, or otherwise engaged in overtly interesting activities.

I leave for Qinghai Province, and field work, in about 10 days. Until then I will post a handful of stories about eating, sleeping, grocery shopping and riding a bike. If you happen to have some burning question, throw it out there and perhaps I can address it in a future post. I often respond well to peer-pressure and forceful guidance J

I need to just chill out and roll with it from now on, and not over-think. The writing may not be stellar, but I think adopting a natural approach will make my entries more accessible and meaningful. In that way I'm better fulfilling what my original intent was for this blog, and that is to keep in touch with friends and family who are interested in how I'm doing and what I've been doing.

Stay tuned!