Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sounds of the City

*** Note to self: Remember to buy your sister a VERY nice present, as I am sure when she took on the task of posting your blogs for you she had no idea how much you would actually blog***

In light of the Lantern Festival, not only is the sky strewn with festive paper lanterns but every inch of available sidewalk space gives way to the firecracker! I have literally heard hundreds of thousands of firecrackers and small "sonic boom" explosions over the past 24 hours. As night begins to fall they are more frequent and much louder. I can only imagine what it is actually like on the day Chinese New Year is celebrated!

I have noticed that since my first visit to China back in 1988 that the vehicle now outnumbers the bicycle about 100 to 1. It saddens me, for I miss the ding,ding,ding of the small bicycle bell that every bicycle was so appropriately equipped with. What I do enjoy though is that both the pedestrian and the motor vehicle give preference to the bicyclist. It is wonderful to see that which was so predominately chinese, although fading away, is still honored as the way in which the people moved so rapidly and efficiently throughout the city.

Crossing the street here is a daunting experience. I have learned in the past 24 hours to stand on the corner, look for a group of men, and when they begin to move I tunnel into the middle of the group and cross with them. Some look surprised to see me practically grasping their coattails, while other never notice I was there. Tonight for example, I was waiting and then when I crossed a man came up along side of me and said, "OK!" I laughed and said, "OK!" He just chuckled and walked away. I guess he knew I depended on him to guide me safely across.

Tonight I had my first dinner. I feasted on a local fried rice dish made with an egg I can't identify. It WAS tasty though. I also had steamed loofa sponge in garlic sauce. All I can say is, "Why do we choose to bathe with them when they are so good in garlic sauce?" They served me complimentary lemon green tea. I drank three glasses, 6-8 oz each. Combined with he cups in he tea shop today I think I will fall asleep in a tea induced coma. The tea "high" has passed and I am starting to get sleepy.

I also noticed that with Mandarin being a tonal language, no matter what people are saying to each other - whether it be angry or joyful, everything sounds like mad confrontation. It sounds as though they are constantly fighting then you see one smile and they walk away happy. It's an interesting language, possibly not my favorite to hear. There were some men on the airplane coming here, they were East indian and spoke Bengali. Bengali may be one of my favorites because of the sing-songish nature of the language, it sounds happier.

I did have one more really cool experience today. I hopped a cab to Tian'anmen Square this morning. I had a really nice cab driver. Towards the end of my day a man in a covered pedicab started to approach me, he followed me for a block or so. I thought, "Great, this guy is going to pester me to take a ride!" He kind of had me backed into a corner then he stopped. He threw open his little door and said "Hello", not Ni Hao. I smiled and was about to wave him off when he looked at me again and said, "Hello!!" It was my cab driver from earlier in the morning. I smiled, told him hello and he smiled back, closed his door and drove away. It was rather endearing to me, for in a town of 22 million people - I saw the same person twice in the same day, and he went out of his way to say "Hello."
*** Sister left the message on for the world to see just in case she forgets the gift!***

2 comments:

  1. LOL "yellow haired girl"!!! LOVE the blogs and your asventuresome spirit... Be safe!

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  2. oh Robin I bet the glow of the lanterns was unbelievable, i must see pics!

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