The Cold War Gym

Today I went to the cold war gym. It's called that because it is... well, very basic. You have a room for ping-pong, you have a room for free weights, and there's a giant room for the women's shower (over in a tiny corner), about 7 multipurpose machines, and for a dance class. No treadmills (walk outside), stationary bikes (bike outside), or stairs (no elevators, those muscles are already working) to help us. The weights are all rusted, the benches are torn up from use, but I rather like it.

It reminds me a little of the gym in Central Campus for being so cozy. (Ah, Central Campus! I haven't thought of that commute since... ever! What has happened to you? Am I allowed to keep using the gym there? Do you still have a sauna, do you still have a pool, you you still have that dark scary underground gym (under the pool) we met kendo masters in?) For anyone in Beloit, it's about a third a size of the weight room. None of the fancy machines, no music playing, nothing but rusted metal and students and occasionally one older man in a green shirt.

Would you like to see it? Well, too bad-

Oh. Well, there it is then. Alexis came with us to see what it was like. It wasn't as bad as I had been told it would be, but I don't know if she'd go again.

Thinking of the future

It has now become official that I am the only one staying next year. What a strange feeling; Ben and Adam will be back home in the States, Ann will be in Shenzhen, Will will be...somewhere close, and I will be here.

In Kaifeng.

I'm not sure that I thought I would be here again this year when I first signed up- I never really thought I'd be here in college when I decided to just switch to a Japanese major because it'd be easier than learning Chinese (I'd never need to know Chinese, right?) And yet here I am, in China, trying to plan my future in a place where I might never be. Right now I feel settled, more and more like I'm at home. But I'm not sure if I can stay here, or if I want to be home, or what I want to do.

Wondering about the future

There are these bell-like purple flowers on the trees. I was only aware of where they were coming from the other day, when I had one fall in front of me. I hardly expected flowers like this on the tallest trees, but there they are. It's rather... beautiful, I guess. The purple-pink against the green of evergreens is extremely pleasing; even more so when the sky is not full of dust and is instead clear.

Currently in my range of wants is not speakers, a tv or anything- I'm looking at buying free weights, like dumbbells and barbells. I can buy a set of 30kg (60 pounds) for rather cheap, so I'm looking around. The punching bag is well on it's way to being well-used, but I need a vacuum to accompany it- it sheds everywhere. Maybe I am punching to hard?

Also at this time I'm trying to figure out what I want to do two years from now- do I want to go to grad school to focus in teaching in English, or do I want to settle down and refocus on Japanese? There are a lot of options. Currently the one that's easiest to see is what I'm already doing- going around the world and teaching English. It's... a strange sort of dream, and I'm aware of the consequences that come with a job where I'd move around constantly. Other dreams are things like giving exams around the world, or focusing on accents in other languages (curse you IPA, you are the most useless idea when Asian languages are involved).

There are so many things to wonder, so many places I could go. I'm still young.

On the upside, I know what I'm focused on for the next two years. That's already been set into motion.

Vacations

There are always some fun things that deal with scheduling in China. China is always last-minute. Do you know when your breaks are?

I don’t. There might be three days off next week, and I still don’t know. Some of my students tell me it is next week, some tell me it has been postponed. I probably won’t know until the day of.

That’s how China rolls. It’s the sports meeting. If it was next next week, I’d have a nine day vacation. If it is next week, I only have a five day vacation. As I’m not sure on which one, nor is anyone, I cannot really plan a vacation in advance- I can only go on vacation via seat of my pants. It’s kind of interesting how vacations work.

Because the breaks are not really planned and just happenstance, when they’re announced everyone rushes off at the same time to enjoy their vacation. Good luck getting anywhere, and good luck coming back- you’re usually traveling with millions of other people. Only during spring festival is it much worse, as then you are traveling with a billion other people.

Not knowing concretely when vacations are have definitely upset some of the teachers here, and those that have concrete lesson plans. Anyone who wants to travel is left thinking in very short term, maybe less than 36 hours at best. And most foreigners here, I have found, enjoy planning things well in advance.

Internet slowdown

So today as I was trying to finish my usual Thursday presentation (it’s like I’m a guest lecturer), the internet kicked off. I wasn’t sure why, and then I realized I can go to Chinese websites just fine, but all the foreign ones are not… working. It’s kind of scary to realize just how much internet can be blocked (and will be) on any random whim.

This includes e-mail; I can’t actually get to my e-mail account so I’m typing this, waiting for my internet to behave itself. I don’t know why it’s suddenly slowed down so much.

Especially as today was my internet day- for pictures, for research, to purchasing a desired good, to making sure that I sent out notes to my students- the internet is needed for all of these projects.

Once I get back home, I think I am going to just load up on possible subjects and take them with me so that when the internet goes out like this again, I’ll be prepared. Gah.

Stuffs

The VPN works off and on, which is a shame- I'd rather it work all the time. As such, that's why I haven't updated in a week, plus I'd forgotten I had the e-mail set up because of it. Whoops.

Last week was a break, but I stayed in Kaifeng and chilled out there. Today I helped Will by being the evil stealing villain for a project he's giving his conversation students. Well, they'll at least see funny faces.

This time I'm realizing I don't have much time left this year, but I do. Already the cogs of next year have been set in motion- it's coming with or without me, honestly- and I've seen the e-mail of all the people coming next year. The teachers here still need to talk to Jackie if they're in or out- I'm the only confirmed one staying. Most of them are women, though, and there's one person I'm looking forward to working with, because I know she is awesome. But you'll have to wait until next year to hear about her!

We have finals June 30th, about a month and a half after my siblings finish, and from then I'll have to pass blood tests and health checks. But I am mentally planning to be home at least the second week of July. And home doesn't sound all that relaxing to me- instead, it sounds like I'll have to get a bunch of stuff done that I can't do here.

Internet Troubles and Updates

Sorry I haven't blogged lately- I've been having VPN troubles on top of internet troubles. For about a week, my internet was out- when I went to talk to the internet people they said their computer reported nothing wrong, so the wires were old and needed replacing in my apartment. Ann's was fixed lickity-split, but mine was fixed after about an hour and a half.

It was no fun. On the upside, to keep myself occupied, I was Queen Victoria in a video game and took over the Russian, American and Aztec empires to keep myself happy. I won the game (before I could crush the Aztecs, sadly), and after the Aztecs would have been the Greeks and Japanese. The Romans had a nice set-up, and the Chinese and Spanish were on islands making them much more difficult to raze.

Alright, enough game talk. Let's see. The weather is quite warm outside, and inside my apartment is cool. This building, being painted white, keeps the cold that was gained in the winter and it takes a long time to warm. The side effect is a nice cool place in the spring, when the weather is really warm.

With the warm weather, the plum blossoms have bloomed. Their sent wafts around the campus. It's quite beautiful, but the scent of human fertilizer for the plants is a more prominent one.

Currently we are on break, which has been fun. The nights have been spent cooking, watching bad movies and playing Mario Cart Wii. I might try to make grilled cheese sandwiches tonight. Even though we're at home, not traveling like Adam and Will or Ann, things have been rather pleasant and enjoyable, which is all a vacation needs to be, I think.

Well, most things. Having bottles break and spill all over Tim's floor are some of the less enjoyable moments.