TV Personality
The last time I blogged was the last time I’ve been online so I decided to neglect my studies for a few minutes and let everyone know we’re still alive. In Xi’an, we walked for hours looking for a cash machine hoping it would dispense some of the goodness required to ensure we wouldn’t have to take turns sleeping in the train station and protecting our belongings. In the end, Ryan found some cash reserves he’d forgotten in a pocket which meant the cash machine was optional. A story about a cash machine might not be the most interesting, but the hunt was a big focus of our day. Finally we found the ATM oasis and Ryan went to sleep off the exhaustion from his previous night dancing with the hotel manager and some other Canadians. For the record, I’d been expecting to give a speech to 7,000 people a couple days later and I skipped the dancing as a preventative measure against losing my voice to a cold I’d been fighting.
I had heard about a cool market past the South city wall, so I set course without my travelling companion and ambled my way forward. Just before reaching the South Gate of Xi’an, I could see hordes of people and umbrellas in the light rain across from where I was and I decided to detour and uncover the source of the commotion. My efforts were handsomely rewarded as I discovered the Ancient Culture Street of Xi’an. Unlike Tianjin, the buildings there have authentic character to match the shops filled with interesting and beautiful crafts. Camera clicking, the street quiets down at a certain section and the road moves to follow the inner perimeter of the city wall, which is as gorgeous as the Great Wall. The street finally connects to a street where one finds the entrance to the Forest of Steles Museum. Since I was just following my feet, I had no idea what I was paying RMB$30 for, but when people are taking photos outside the entrance one assumes there’s something interesting to see.
The beauty of the Forest of Steles is — for me — the most rewarding part of the trip. If I have the chance to return, I would bring a book and sit in the lush gardens; however, if you are even slightly (or even if you are not) interested in Chinese calligraphy, you will be greeted by a forest-worth of giant stone tablets (stele’s) with fantastically carved calligraphy in them. Despite my efforts, my Chinese handwriting is worse than a 2-year old, so I was awestruck by how perfectly the strokes seemed to be captured in stone. Everyone who visits Xi’an will see the Terracotta Soldiers, but I would tell you to make The Forest of Steles a part of your trip. Regretfully, my spare batteries had not been charged and the charger had been left behind to save space, so when I finally have the chance to upload my photos, I’ll ironically be able to share everything except what the museum is actually famous for; I suppose that means you should go see it for yourself.
It’s a curious experience to go on vacation when, to a certain degree, you already feel like you are on vacation, but returning to Tianjin the following day snapped us out of it. We studied Chinese language on the train with the help of the people around us, but October 8 and 9 were school days. Unlike Canada, they’re quite willing to move classes to a Saturday and Sunday (we already have a regular Sunday class anyway) to make up for the days lost because of the 7-day national holiday. Instead of casually reading and doing our homework, we worked hard to make sure we were ready for the classes we hadn’t realized we’d be going to. It wasn’t a big deal, but we did have to change our priorities from explorers to serious students in the blink of an eye and my mind was also preoccupied by the speech I was expecting.
Plans changed and the speech has been postponed, but somehow there is always something fill the void of spare time. It turns out the student union of our college, ICBT, had been busy preparing to host an oral English contest known as the Campus English Star competition. The 10 second-round finalists were required to present a story, answer a question drawn from a box, and finally answer questions from judges to demonstrate their mastery of English. Despite my initial protests, I’m glad my friends convinced me to host the televised competition which, unlike what I expected, only required me to give a speech to introduce the show and welcome the first competitor. It went so smoothly that I’ve been asked to host the final competition that is broadcast live on Tianjin Television (TJTV) on November 1st. Suddenly I’m a TV personality.
I’m still waiting on my student loans, but I know they’re in the works. The scarcity of currency forces me to be frugal with my purchases but also means I must limit how many calling cards I buy to phone friends and family. For RMB$70 (~CAD$10) I can call North America for 1 hour and 15 minutes. There are a lot of people I want to call and keep in touch with, but at $10 a pop, that’s an expensive habit; so if you haven’t heard from me, don’t take it personally. I’ve only had one friend phone me here, but he used Skype — a computer-based phone service — that cost him CAD$1.00 to call me for one hour. It would be great if I could get internet access in the dorm, but the campus internet people require you to install a program before you can access the net. Security of passwords is too important to risk blindly installing their software. The internet cafe is nearby, but the speed is slow and our days are always so packed that it’s not surprising I haven’t accessed email in 3-weeks. I intend to get back to regular updates of this blog. I’m going to spend some time uploading some of my Xi’an trip photos, but it’ll take too long to finish tonight — I’m just certain of it. Keep an eye out in the next week and I’ll keep them coming once the Campus English Star competition and a Halloween party are behind me.