The DAO

Education (Knowledge), though a necessary evil, is still a stain upon the primal soul. This is what my DAO book says. I kind of believe this is true. Of course education is a great and important thing because it lifts people out of ignorance and gets them to think for themselves, but it also can prevent you from seeing other knowledge clearly. The logic that "this is this, so this must be this" when nothing is so black and white. Also the more you know, ....the less is certain. We can be either lead to over certainty or complete distrust. I myself have experienced both extremes and think I am finally leveling out somewhere towards the middle.

At first I had complete faith that there was a way things were and should be. Then that illusion violently shattered and I completely lost faith in people and the things around me. That illusion is slowly crumbling as my personal philosophy and sensibilities mature. Life is all part of the process. You don't know something until you have lived it, and I have certainly lived quite a few things recently and while here in China. You need a good essential foundation to start from and build on. With that, though your personal structure may crumble from time to time, you will always have something left to go off of. That foundation is your primal soul. You are born with it and nothing can ever destroy it. Sometimes you just need to sweep away everything else to remember that it is there. Creation and destruction. Yin and Yang.

Random Notes of a Random Mind

-Foreign language might be a lost art on me. I don't like speaking

-Waffles....in China? Apparently they are filled with chili and all kinds of random assortments

-Sometimes I really don't know what I'm doing with my life

-Taken a recent interest in Japanese anime movies (GHIBLI!)

-I have not drank enough tea lately

-Sometimes I mix English, Spanish, and Chinese together in my thoughts (Spaneseish?)

-Trying to find my Dao. It actually makes sense in a lot of ways.

-Still forming my resolve on life.

-I love mountains

-Clean water and air are nice things to have. Kind of missing that...just a little

-Keep thinking about how I've come to have certain things and securities that people from other countries don't have and feel guilty about wanting clean air and water.

-Does anybody else have an existential crisis pretty much every day of their life? or is that just me?

-Trying to act normal makes my brain hurt

-What's the deal with the platypus, whales, and time?

-China is shaped like a Chicken

-I think I'm going to run away and live in the woods... John Muir style......grizzly bear style

-First need survival classes. I wonder if I actually have the guts to kill a fuzzy little bunny for dinner.

-I'm gonna go eat me some freaky waffles

北京欢迎你！Beijing!....

It's been a few days and now the group is back in Hangzhou with the humidity and rain. Beijing was wonderful. We arrived Friday morning and went straight to Tiananmen Square (where what happened there is still pretty obscured) and the Forbidden city where once only the emperor and royalty walked. We saw the dragon carved path down the middle where only the emperor could walk and many treasures of the past. The architecture was wood of vibrant reds, blues, greens, and golds. It was crazy to think of all the important people's footsteps we were walking in, and to see the absolute lavishness of their lives Then we took rickshaws through the little alley ways of Beijing to a traditional style house. For dinner we checked out a street full of food stands containing all sorts of every day food as well as odds and ends. Jack was brave enough to try some scorpion which apparently tastes pretty good. I went with fresh strawberries and grilled corn. ....Not so brave. Later we took the metro and arrived at our hotel on 体育馆路(the street). It was very nice and the beds were much softer than our ones here at school. I was pretty thankful for that after an exhausting few days of travel.

Saturday was The Great Wall (长城). It was absolutely breathtaking!... in more than one way. The part of the wall we visited was very hilly and very broken down in parts....not the really touristy part. The sun beat down on us as we climbed up and down that great symbol of Chinese history. It is an adventure in itself. You can't help but stop and stare in awe and enjoy the challenge it poses. It was really hot and at one point all the guys had their shirts off. Quite a hilarious sight for some Chinese tourists. It was tiring work, but after a while I caught my second wind and was able to make it back to civilization. We were then welcomed back with a dinner of Beijing roast duck, chrysanthemum fish, and an assortment of other fine Chinese dishes. It was one of my favorite meals so far. After that we had the night to recover from our physical exhaustion and sunburns.

Sunday was The Sumer Palace, the former summer palace, hot pot, and a Kongfu show. The Summer Palace is where we learned about Empress Dowager Cixi, or the Dragon lady. She brought ruin to many Chinese people with her careless spending and ruled through young emperors by sitting behind a screen and tapping on their shoulders with a stick during political meetings. Not exactly someone to admire. We then went to the former summer palace which I enjoyed much more. It was full of natural beauty and of course the ruins. For some reason ruins are much more interesting to me than something perfectly preserved. We quickly ate at a hot pot restaurant where you cook your own food in a hot flaming pot of soup. Quite delicious. Then at the kongfu show we saw some amazing feats of the human body, including a man balancing a child on top of a ladder on top of his head. My favorite part was the ribbon dancing where sheets of fabric hung from the ceiling and actors suspended themselves with them.

Monday was our last day and we managed to fit in seeing Pandas at the zoo and the Temple of Heaven which apparently contains the center of the universe..... As with much Chinese architecture, numbers have great symbolic significance there. Especially the number nine that symbolizes the emperor being the son of god or otherwise a perfect being. The closest you can get to god. There were nine steps to each of the levels of the platforms and so on. There is also the echo wall that is supposed to be so perfectly round that it amplifies the voice of the emperor for all to hear. It actually works pretty well! As for the Pandas, well they were absolutely fricken adorable. Even the manliest of men could look at them and not melt into a puddle. That was all we got to see of the zoo, because of course we needed some time for some last minute shopping! I managed to blow a lot of the money that was so hard to spend previously. Still not a terrible amount, but I managed to find clothes that fit me and I've got a few nick nacks to bring back for people! So don't worry, you will get your little piece of China if you are on my nice list ;P. Anyways, it's good to be back and we had a lot of fun. I think the trip will be winding down from now on with a few smaller trips and finishing up classes. But we will see.

Life Is Good

China is just a place like any other. Sometimes I think I make things out to be more different than they are just because I'm in a different place. For a while I dreamed it up to be some remnant of the past. Historical and cultural landmarks unmarred by present day people. Then I had the audacity to think I could blame the nature of things on being in China rather than that just being the nature of things. Does that make sense? Some things truly are different, but you can't think of everything in the context of cultural differences. It's best to start off unassuming and then assess things. That way you are less likely to see things that aren't actually there. Your attitude does a lot to form the world around you.

In the states, for a while I had a pretty bad attitude. I didn't really understand what was going on around me, because I kept looking for something to blame and kept avoiding issues. Here in China I got a new start, and a new perspective. I find I've been really happy here, but it's not so much because anything is better in China. Being in a new place just forced me to look at things more objectively since I didn't know my surroundings. The nature of people is for the most part the same no matter where you go and you have the ability to shape your surroundings no matter where you are.

For some reason, I think being here has made me forgive myself for my shortcomings and accept the reality of things. I know myself and trust myself more than ever. Things will always change, but we can find comfort in some familiar things. We can become familiar with change. We can take the situations that come our way and add a special flair to them. The things we do may have little importance, but it is still important that we do them. We can discipline ourselves to forget our pride and be calm in the face of adversity. The only thing that gives negative influences power in your life is how you react to them. If you really think about things, you will often see that something you are upset about or is getting in your way is really not that important. In the big picture, life goes on. We can still be passionate about things without being foolish.

Those are just my thoughts lately. Because of this new perspective, I fear nothing, I enjoy life more, and make more out of it. Speaking of which:

-千岛湖(thousand island lake) was gorgeous. The boat ride was amazing and I once again got to enjoy the company of my classmates and of course Jack

-On one island there was a "grass slide" you could take a sled down. It was the fastest way down the mountain and so exhilarating!

-On another island we got to see peacocks and feed birds right out or our hands

-I was tempted to jump right into the water after our hike, but unfortunately no swimming

-I'm having fun in class again. good sign

-I'm a terrible tourist. I haven't really taken any pictures myself. I steal them from everybody else. Though I am enjoying living a generally normal Chinese life.

-Speaking with people is getting easier

-Finding clothes and understanding what things are worth is still difficult. But I feel good about the fact I'm not tempted to take part of the consumer lifestyle so much. Sorry if you are into knick knacks, I probably won't be bringing many back. I will still be rich with stories to tell!

-I enjoy simplicity

-More after Beijing!

Etc.

Well Last night was my class dinner, which was pretty fun. My mashed potatoes were a success and there wasn't anything left at the end. Not bad for my first time making them on my own. I was the only one to actually bring any food, so brownie points for me! The class "president", the guy who's place we had the dinner at, made us Sangria. YUM! I think I would have been happy going to Spain as well. Any who, it was nice to just hang out with my classmates outside of class and kick back. The only thing that bothers me is that soooo many people smoke! Before class, inbetween classes, one cigarette after the other. I either have to suck it up or avoid it. Sometimes the second one isn't possible. I miss Iowa's law. Apparently there is no smoking in public in Australia as well, so my classmate David sympathizes.

Tomorrow I'm finally cashing in on the photo shoot I won a while back. So Jack and I are getting official pictures together! Him somewhat reluctantly, but he can suck it up for a little bit. It will be worth the memories. The photo place also wants to use our pictures as a display at their studio. Not sure what to think of that. I guess I don't really care either way, I just want the pictures for myself. Hopefully they will come out well and we will have some fun doing it.

The day after tomorrow Is the class trip to the Thousand Island Lake. Turns out Jack and I won't be able to ride on the bus together since we are divided by classes, but we should still get to hang out on the islands. Hopefully it's not so terribly hot. Today is a little bit cooler than the past few days. But it's like one day here, it just decided to stop raining and be summer. Scorching hot and dry. Now I kind of miss the rain. The dryness makes the air feel much dirtier here and my throat has been bothering me. My room, being on the 6th floor is suffocatingly hot, even at night. Looks like I'm going to be having to use a lot more electricity during the summer on air conditioning.

Also the bugs are running rampant and I've become a human smorgesboard. Not only do I have a lot of bites, but some of them are huge! I think I might be allergic to something here. Or I'm just scratching them too much. Luckily today when I met with May, she noticed my itching and got me some salve that is supposed to keep the bugs away and heal the bites. It was funny how quickly she went into mommy mode. I told her a little bit about Iowa and Pella, but I think she was a bit distracted today because she seemed to understand me less than usual. Her son had surgery on his throat a while back so he has been having to stop in the hospital every few weeks. Also she has been very busy with her research. Guess I can't blame her. But I think I convinced her to come see Pella when she comes to the States. :)

As for class....my break wasn't long enough. Definately not motivated to go to classes, even though we only have three school days this week. Luckily another long weekend coming up and then Beijing. Hopefully I'll come back revitalized.

notes:

-excited for the Great Wall!

-Jack and I are going to try and plan a trip to see the terra cotta soldiers sometime soon!

-going to have to find a swimming pool