Exploration

Diego and I set out from our hotel today to see the Nanjing Museum. After a 15-minute, 2-dollar taxi ride, we were there. The museum, most of which was under construction and therefore unexplorable, was situated around a large grassy courtyard. We entered the only building open to visitors and were immediately met by a metal detector and two employees. I was waved through without taking off my pack or anything. The metal detector went off. The lady in front of me just ignored it and told me it was fine. White kids are always full of metal, and nothing ever comes of it, as everyone knows. Diego came through after me, but he was a little behind because he was made to take everything out of his pockets. He went through the metal detector and passed, but was made to leave his water bottle at the desk. I had two water bottles in my pack which I forgot to mention to the guards. My mind began to roam to all the evil I could commit with two full bottles of this highly dangerous substance. It was exciting; intoxicating even. I should have turned in the bottles right then and there, but I could sense their power, and I just couldn't give them up. Their hold over me was terrifying....

Etc. I'm sure I could go on forever in this vein, so I better move on. For the record, I committed no crimes with my bottles of water. Oh, but if I had.... Nevermind. We walked around the museum and were pretty happy with its exhibits. There were exhibits on silk, bronze, earthenware, folk art, and my favorite, the life of Matteo Ricci. Apparently he is regarded as the man who began the cultural exchange between the Eastern and Western worlds. He was born in Italy and died in Beijing, in 1610. It was very interesting to read about his work since Diego and I are cultural exchanges, ourselves. I also enjoyed some old drawings they had of the Parthenon and the Coliseum. Because I've been there! Wow. I was also struck by a warped painting. You could see the paint and the paper it was painted on, and for some reason it really brought the history to life. You could imagine someone working on it four hundred years ago and imagine the places its been since that moment. For those who love history, this feeling must be familiar.

After the museum, we took another taxi (a buck and a half) to this popular area called 1912. We had heard about it a lot from various people. It has lots of clubs and attracts young people. Diego and I had heard lots of foreigners hang out there, and though we have no problem with Chinese people, we sometimes like to see people who look like us. For me, 1912 was a little disappointing because it was a place I had seen before, but hadn't had a chance to explore. Diego and I walked around it for awhile looking for a restaurant. Our routine in this situation involves entering restaurants and asking for menus. If the menu doesn't have pictures, the place is out. If the menu doesn't have pictures of food that looks good, it's also out. And finally, if the good-looking food isn't cheap, it is out. This doesn't leave a whole lot of restaurants. We had gone into four or five before we ended up in one which served us tea as soon as walked in. We were both hungry and willing to work with whatever they could offer. The menu didn't have pictures (tisk tisk), but they had an English version for us to look at. The waiter kept pointing at some item on the Chinese menu and insisting we order it, but we didn't know what he was talking about so we tried to ignore him, but he was insistent. The restaurant was a special kind, I know now, where you order a big bowl of soup, then order stuff to put in the soup and get spices and stuff to make the soup how you like it. Trying to grasp this concept, explained in Chinese, on an empty stomach, was not fun. Finally we ordered some food and he brought us our big bowl of soup. Our waiter put it on a heater in the middle of the table, then brought the rest of the things we ordered: potatoes, corn, pork dumplings and a bowl of rice each. He also brought us tofu, ham and lettuce for free, since he could tell we were having a hard time. He threw it all into the bowl for us and turned it on, then we waited patiently. Well, not very patiently. We stared at the bowl. Diego was pissed. Our food was a foot away, but we couldn't eat it yet because it wasn't cooked. It was pretty lame.

But after five minutes, the pot was boiling and we asked our neighbors if we could eat it yet. They said ya. So we carefully, skeptically, began to eat. We had been told the Chinese soup shouldn't be eaten since the water in China is questionable, but I was so hungry I didn't care. And the food was really good! I thoroughly enjoyed the meal and soon forgot about our momentary difficulties. But Diego is pretty picky about his food, and he was not happy. He ate three pieces of corn and only looked skeptically at the soup. To make matters worse, it started to rain outside. And I should specify, he doesn't like rain. I like rain. After the meal, he decided to go take a nap in the hotel while I explored some more.

I walked around 1912 some more in the rain. I wore my rain jacket, but it wasn't raining hard so I didn't put up the hood. Diego and I had seen a DAIRY QUEEN earlier, and I headed there now. I bought a Tiramisu Blizzard for 17 yuan. And so it was that I wandered through the rain eating a DQ Blizzard in the Chinese city of Nanjing.

I decided to walk back to the hotel, and I stopped in a foreign language bookstore on the way. This is the one thing Nanjing has been lacking thus far: a good bookstore. This one was indeed good, good enough for me at least. They had a collection of English classics, and I bought Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, a nonfiction book on Tibetan culture and the original story of Sweeney Todd, called String of Pearls and published in London in 1846. I'm going to need something new to read during all my upcoming travels, I think! Haha, I found a Chinese book on traveling to America. I opened to a page: at the top it said 'Culture Shock' and on the page, amidst Chinese characters, were the words 'a Catholic mass,' 'a justice of the peace,' and 'the City Hall.' It made me laugh that Chinese people are culturally shocked too.

To be perfectly honest, China has been very difficult thus far. Diego and I are lonely with only each other for company, and its clear we have no definable purpose at the company. I apologize for the gloominess, but I should tell the truth. This is the first summer of my life I wish I could spend back in school. But clearly, traveling in China is an opportunity available only to a precious few, and I have an obligation to remain curious and open-minded here. I'm tremendously lucky to be here, and though its not always fun, it is always surprising, always foreign, always challenging. And there is much to be gained. Especially during our upcoming jaunt through the countryside.

Once again, thanks to everyone who reads my blog for providing me some much needed support. I talked to my mom and dad and grandma Rosemary today, which was really nice. Grandma Carol, every time I try to call you, I get this message which thinks I'm a telemarketer and I can't get through! I'm not a telemarketer!

Ok, I've been rambling a little bit. I guess that's the end of this blog. Aaaaaannnnnddddd....the end.