Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Sometimes having too much time on your hands can be a bad thing. Now, for example, I am sitting here in the office with no real projects to work on, looking up things on the internet and refilling my mug with hot water every hour or so.

So far today I have researched the health benefits of green tea and tried to determine if a PB&J is, in fact, good for you. The consensus is that you can use the internet to support any claim you would like, so yes, it is.

You hear so much about what is and isn't healthy every day, especially living in China. I don't have any kind of science background to speak of, no way to determine the validity of any given nutrition-related claim, so what happens is that all these bits of so-called information float around in my head bouncing off of each other, waiting to be accepted or rejected. There's a saying in Chinese: "Walk one hundred steps after each meal, and you will live to be ninety-nine years old." Vexingly, there is another saying: "If you want to live to be ninety-nine years old, do not take a walk after a meal."

I, for one, would like to live to be ninety-nine years old and I would appreciate if someone would tell me which of these two actions will guarantee my desired outcome.

Besides these pearls of wisdom concerning post-digestion ambulation, I have also heard a great deal about weight loss, including (sometimes conflicting) opinions about when it is best to drink liquids, the ideal temperature of those liquids, what time of day to eat sweets and when to eat salty things, when larger and smaller meals are appropriate, and how you can shed weight by softly and repeatedly hitting the area from which you desire to lose it.

It's impossible that all of these things are true, because many of them are conflicting. Now, I have over the course of my life picked a few sources I trust (friends, news sources, wikipedia etc) so when I didn't know or understand something I could at least decide whose opinion I trusted most. I don't really have a reliable framework like that set up here yet. So I think what I've gained from this is that, barring a sudden and dramatic increase in brain functioning on my part (a la John Travolta in Phenomenon), I have no reliable way to determine what's true and false.

I think I'll keep drinking green tea and eating PB&Js at least. And of course, jian bing -- the green onions and cilantro count as a serving of vegetables, right?
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Sunday, March 22, 2009

One birthday down, another couple hundred to go. Someone (whom I'm too lazy to look up) said once, "I plan to live forever: so far, so good." Honestly I'm feeling pretty smug about having avoided death thus far, but I'm not above knocking on wood -- I'd like to see the next 23 years.

The end of this particular segment of 23 years was marked in grand style, with hot pot, karaoke, and dancing (oh dancing). I've never had so lavish a birthday party, made possible in part by a lower cost of living I'm sure. Plate after plate of delicious beef for hot pot, a couple hours of singing in a private karaoke room, and a cake with rocket candles. My only regret is I didn't count the empty beer bottles on the table before we left the restaurant. And that the DJ at the bar did not have the song "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada. Disappointment I can live with.

I heard somewhere that drinking to fill an emptiness is a sin, but drinking to celebrate a fullness is a mitzvah. I can't seem to get the internet to back me up on this one, but I'll believe it all the same. Now that I'm in my mid-twenties I no longer need to verify something on Wikipedia before believing it to be true right? Right. Well, onward with life! Unless we can figure out how to go in the other direction.
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Sunday, March 08, 2009

Been a good couple of days!

Spent most of Friday translating for once. I had bought Zhu Wen's book, 《什么是垃圾，什么是爱》 (What's Love, What's Trash) a while back and I set out translating it chapter by chapter for fun and practice (alternatively, for shits and giggles). Zhu Wen is the author of I Love Dollars, a cool book of short stories. I've only read the English versions, but thought they were pretty cool. This is his only full-length book, though, and it's broken down into 3-5 page bits of chapters (a format I happen to like). I wonder if the English-language version could be released gradually as a serial in some periodical. There's some precedent there.

I had originally set out to translate Mo Yan's 《丰乳肥臀》 (Big Breasts and Wide Hips) but it's just too much book for me to handle at this point (nothing to do with the title, just the writing style which is very dense and descriptive). I ended up reading the first chapter in the Chinese version and then buying Howard Goldblatt's translation at the Bookworm to see how the professionals do it. After the first chapter I just kept on through the second and third, so he must be doing something right. There were some really well-written (and well-translated!) parts where I just ended up wincing or jumping or laughing out loud. Don't wanna give anything away so no details, RAFO!

And the awesomeness continued! Jason got me to come down to the Jianwai SOHO office of New Oriental where he was working yesterday for coffee but when I got there he surprised me by showing me my book! Which I have seen before, obviously, but the surprise was that his coworkers had been using the book in the classroom, teaching people English from it. All the excitement got me good and red in the face for about the next twenty minutes. There was a fun house-warming party that night and then Sunday was nice and relaxing: tried a new dumplings place (A++++ would eat there again). I read for a long time and watched Tropic Thunder with a friend. Now, I don't usually watch Tom Cruise movies because I don't want to support his craziness (gotta stand for something, right?), but since he didn't benefit financially from my viewing I didn't feel too bad. Worth watching the whole movie just to see the very last scene.

And what happened this morning, you might ask? Oh, you know, UNC beat Duke 79-71. Then a nice long nap, because due to daylight savings time the game started at 4 AM instead of 5 AM. I guess some bad things did happen this weekend: my phone charger broke, I failed to get tickets to an event I wanted to go to at the Bookworm, I was unable to order free water at the dumplings place (boooo), but overall I would give this weekend a 97. On a 1 to 98 scale.

The month isn't looking too shabby either. Well, time to go knock on wood. Hope (but sincerely doubt) that your weekends were as enjoyable as mine!
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Saturday, February 21, 2009

A quick blurb - Clinton was in China a day or two ago and talked with Wen Jiabao about, what else, Sino-American relations. Compare and contrast news reports!

These two articles talked a bit about what went on in the meetings. The first is interesting as an analysis of the aims behind the Secretary of State's visit to Asia. The second is especially worth checking out because it may contain the worst picture of Hillary Clinton available on the internet.

This English-language piece from Xinhhua covers some of the same ground. It has some extras, though, specifically mentioning that Clinton quoted a Chinese proverb about digging a well before you are thirsty to emphasize the need for protecting the environment. All three articles mention her use of the proverb "同舟共济" or crossing the river in the same boat, to show that the US is committed to working together with China. The well bit, though, is missing from the two Chinese-language reports.

To be honest I only looked up the Chinese articles to learn the idiom "You should dig a well before you are thirsty" in Chinese. It remains a mystery...
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Friday, February 20, 2009

Why is it that I travel to a foreign country only to end up watching old American movies. And why, in old American movies, are the protagonists always Americans living in foreign countries? And why are they always watching old American movies? OK, that last bit is a stretch. But both of the movies I've watched while here center around the lives of American ex-pats in Paris.

Which is something you would expect from the first: An American in Paris. Although for some reason I had thought the protagonist would be a woman. Despite some interesting song-and-dance sequences, the only thing I learned from this movie is that Gene Kelly is kind of a douchebag. And also that women apparently found that appealing at some point, or at least acceptable. Sometimes you see things that men do in these old movies and you just sick up a little.

The other movie I've seen before, actually the last time I was here in Japan. Audrey Hepburn plays an out-of-work translator (well, simultaneous interpreter) in Charade. Our shared vocation and joblessness make me really want to like her in this movie, though I find other parts of her character off-putting. A fun movie, though, which has inspired me to go out and buy sunglasses like these:


Of course, she wore them for fashion's sake and I will be wearing them to protect my eyes from dust storms in the coming spring. Still, these giant safety goggles are not without their glamour (or is it glamor?). They make people-watching a bit easier as well, not that I would be the type to stare at strangers...
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Sunday, February 15, 2009

We had teriyaki pizza, potato salad, and banana cake for dinner a couple days ago. Afterwards, I was full -- not uncomfortably full, but decidedly so. Last night was another winner with eel-flavored tofu (which may be in the running for my new favorite food). I had what amounted to a sumo-sized portion I'm sure. Needless to say (but what is life if not full of contradictions, and therefore I will say anyway) I've been sleeping well.

It wasn't until breakfast this morning, while eating freshly prepared French toast, that the thought occured to me: I don't deserve to eat this well. Not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the quantity and quality of the food I have eaten to this point makes me feel a little bit ashamed about all of the petty things I've done in the course of my life. Not ashamed enough that I wouldn't ask for seconds, but ashamed enough to pause for a moment, skewered morsel half-raised, and reflect on all the things I might have done differently, had I known at the time that this food was waiting in my future.

Or maybe that's not quite how things would play out. I can also imagine all the terrible things I might have done, if I had known that no matter what I would be eating this delicious food about this time in my life. At any rate, the French Toast is now off the plate and safely hidden away from such speculations and subjunctive musings.

I feel compelled to add here that, while important and enjoyable, eating food is not the only thing I'm planning on doing during my visit here. Being back in Japan for a few days has given me the opportunity to practice a bit of Japanese, even though I feel like I've forgotten more than I ever knew. Still, there are some useful phrases that it turns out were still hanging out in my brain somewhere. I know the construction "I'm sorry that...": "I'm sorry that I ate the last slice of apple cake." Or, "I'm sorry that I can't speak Japanese well." Or, "I'm sorry that I ate the last slice of banana cake."

Another useful construction is the verb ending -chau (present) or -chatta (past) for when something has been done completely or represents an epic fail. Like, "I ate it all." Or, "I drank the last of it." Or, "I spilled my frappucino all over the floor." Most of these phrases go well with the above construction as well.

Also, were you aware that if you spill your drink at a Japanese Starbucks they give you a new one for free? You learn something new and wonderful every day...
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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

I feel bad for joking yesterday about dying in a fire, because a pretty big building went up in flames last night some hours later. It was the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. First I heard the CCTV Building, which is the crazy-looking one next to it, but apparently that one wasn't damaged. The hotel, on the other hand, is no more.

So far, one is dead - a firefighter named 张建勇. One article reports that he would have celebrated his 30th birthday this month. Six others were also injured, but I think are doing fine at local hospitals.

I wonder what kind of impact this will have on fire-safety regulations and laws about fireworks during the Chinese New Year. During the CNY no one needs any kind of permit to set off even fairly large-scale fireworks, although most people confine themselves to sparklers and mid-range explosions. This is how Chinese traditionally celebrate the holidays, so outlawing the fireworks would almost be like outlawing Christmas trees because they were fire hazards. But of course, fireworks are a bit more dangerous...wait and see, I guess.
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