Bejing Buddy
Nathan is originally from San Fransico. I met him this summer at the Organic Garden Interniship which we both did in Quebec this summer. He’s been studying Chinese in Bejing for the last 5 months.
Nathan: merry xmas, philibiuster!
me: happy solstice my chinese-speaking american friend!
Nathan: how are things out in the Nova of Scotia?
me: Relatively warm for this time of year, the atmosphere feels almost omniscient. Though I finished up my school term and came back to Ottawa to see my family and childhood friends for a while.
I start school again on the 3rd, which is right around the time you finish exams I think?
Nathan: yeah, I finish on the 5th
then I don’t have school again til the 26th of feb
that’s great you got to go back home and see folks
me: Yeah, not to brag or nothion’
Will you return to the states for a bit? Or maybe do a little tour while you’re out there?
Nathan: I’ll be back in the states for about a month, then back to china by way of Japan for a week
me: Cool dude! You must be stoked!
Have you met any friendly comrades over there?
Nathan: totaly
definitely made a few friends
me: Any Chinese ones?
Nathan: unfortunately, two of the closest were only here for the semester, and they left already
I’ve actually found it kinda hard to make friends with the locals beyond just making polite conversation
btw, on a totaly unrelated note
http://heliocide.livejournal.com/36706.html
Sent at 12:29 AM on Friday
me: haha, that’s fucked!
Nathan: other than that, life is good
heh
thought you’d like that
btw, I don’t know if you’re planning on being at the ashram again anytime soon, but I think one of my dearest friends is going to be an ashramite
me: So Leandra is leaving for New Orleans to teach the "Breath Water Sound" course on the 25th of Dec.!
wow! cool!
have they taken the courses?
Nathan: double cool. that’s great that leandra’s doing the course
she’s taken the basic
Sent at 12:33 AM on Friday
Nathan: she met most of the Amhearst crew when she took the YES course, actually, a few months ago
me: wow, is she a youth?
Nathan: she’s about 22. I think it was the YES+ course, or something
don’t remember the details
me: say, how’s Whitney doing?
Nathan: she’s been pretty crazy lately. work and school and ever-busy social life, and on top of it all, one of her friends commit suicide last week
so it’s been tough not really being able to be there for her beyond what little I can do from so far away
me: wow, pretty tough stuff. What was the friend so depressd about?
Nathan: don’t know
I didn’t know her that well, and I haven’t really had much chance to talk about those details with Whit
me: Yeah, being in China an’ all
Nathan: I think the death of a parent was involved, though
yeah, being in China…
me: Say, are you in the largest city in China?
Nathan: umm, I think Shanghai is larger, in terms of population
but beijing is pretty huge in terms of size, regardless
me: My father told me yesterday that every year a city the size of Ottawa is built on the outskirts of Bejing because it’s just Hoppin’ with life
Nathan: I’d believe that
this place is unbeliavable huge
to take the subway across town is like an hour
have you seen any of the pics I’ve posted of beijing?
me: not in a long while, but I"d like to go see them now
Nathan: http://www.flickr.com/photos/icarus_with_a_tan/323753092/
if you look at this one closely, you can see a person at the base of the dome for scale
you’ll probably have to push the "all sizes" button
this thing is effin huge!
me: what is it?
oh, the national grand theatre
Nathan: http://www.flickr.com/photos/icarus_with_a_tan/322240520/
or there’s me on campus
where the lake froze over
we’re gonna ditch class on xmas morning, go get german food, see the forbidden city, then go back and ice skate on the lake on campus
me: ahah, good to see your firm stance again my friend
Nathan:
I think this guy is the Chinese Santa Clause
http://www.flickr.com/photos/icarus_with_a_tan/295227772/
me: the forbidden city?
Nathan: only, that actually is his beard
yeah, forbidden city
where the emperors of China lived
a huge walled compound in the heart of Beijing, a city within a city
me: woah, sweet!
are you allowed in?
Nathan: yeah, especially since the fall of Imperial China, the relics of that time are largely tourist attractions now
me: how many people in your class?
Nathan: started out at about 25, but now it’s down to about 4 or 5
me: My goodness, is it that hard?
Nathan: partly it’s that
partly it’s that a lot of people were only here for the one semester, and they had to leave early
all the norwegians and CIEE kids
me: CIEE?
Nathan: Council on International Educational Exchange
me: (wow, nice gongs in that market)
Nathan: god, they have everything there
I did all my xmas shopping there
me: What did you get for everyone?
Sent at 12:51 AM on Friday
Nathan: scroll paintings, little canvas book bags with Mao on the front, communist propaganda posters, an ancient, copper combination lock for my friend who’s an archaeology major, some jade carvings, some photo
photo’s of himalayan mountains and giant buddhas
paper cuttings
etc
me: are things cheap there?
Nathan: absurdly cheap
I can eat for about 3 dollars a day, if I want to economize
a years gym membership is about 200 dollars
me: was the guy that was drawing pictures of kittens and bamboo reeds selling his work ?
Nathan: yeah, he had a whole stall of his art
me: that’s beautiful stuff
Nathan: if you have the vocabulary to communicate with him, he’d probably do requests, too
yeah, that market is about the size of two or three football fields
me: Jumpin’ G willikers
Nathan: I bought all those presents for everybody for a total of about $150-200
and that’s 1-2 presents for about 15 people
me: good lord
Nathan: including some really nice, very large scroll paintings
that is one thing I’ll miss about this place
everything is so damn cheap
me: My roomate’s friend just came back from there and he says that a lot of the population is oblivious to antyhing that exists outside of China or chinese history. For example, they didn’t even know there was a lunar landing
in your opinion, is this prevelent?
Nathan: hard to say, honestly
I wouldn’t be at all surprised
but I haven’t talked in depth with enough chinese people
I sure as hell don’t know how to say Lunar Landing, yet
my chinese isn’t that good
me: haha
That guy with the backwards feet is incredible!@
Nathan: yeah. he has no legs below the knee, so he wears backward shoes for balance
there’s also the pic of the armless beggar
me: haven’t gotten to that one yet
Nathan: the beggars and the homeless out here are pretty intense
it’s hard to see them, sometimes, and not want to do something
me: I’m at these huge glass towers, there’s about 5 all clumped together. Are those apartments?
Nathan: but like with homeless everywhere, the problem is not whether they have an extra dollar today, it’s that they’re never going to leave the streets…
I think so, yeah
that’s across the street from where I live
me: Is it because there’s nowhere they could go live if they actually had any money?
Nathan: partly that, yeah
it takes a lot of momentum to get out of the streets anywhere
and as a begger in china, there’s not many places you can go
me: nice rooves, all curvy n’ such
Nathan: yeah, the architecture here still blows me away
especially when I think how old some of it is
and how new some of the stuff 10 feet away is
Sent at 1:03 AM on Friday
me: I guess if you build something incredibly beautiful and strong, the manipulation of time will unphase its existence.
Nathan: that sounds like the premise for some good sci-fi
me: I’ve been watching a little of that lately
Nathan: cool
Sent at 1:05 AM on Friday
me: Btw, the friend I have who reminded me of you (in the sense that you both have made fictional DND style characters who kick ass in mystical fantasy battles) now lives in my house
Nathan: nice
very cool
would love to meet him some day
me: I’m helping him a bit with ideas for him trying to write a book about his imaginary adventures.
Nathan: nice
me: The story you told me that day of the tents still sticks in my mind
Nathan: tents?
I don’t remember
me: our task was to set up tents and take them down as means to organize them. for an hour we just stood there and you told me this incredible story
Nathan: oh yeah, I remember the tent fiasco
I wish I could remember which story I told you, but I’