I moved into a new apartment building, one of those in which is either owned or partly owned by the school I am working for.  It’s a nice place, by Chinese standards, and I am comfortable here.

As with moving into any new place, there were some “issues”. I guess it is safe to say that, having been here so long, I don’t sweat the little things that would usually freak out most westerners upon arrival in China.

It first started with the realization that there were several deceased rodents hiding about the apartment, and the fact that the sofa seemed to have been their communal bathroom/mating locale. (I’m on the 3^rd floor.)

When I was first shown the “model apartment”, on the 1^st floor, I realized that there was a problem with rats – Pieces of chewed foam, mixed with droppings was my first hint.  But I was reassured that this was only because the apartment was on the 1^st floor, and that my 3^rd floor apartment would not have a problem.  Needless to say that was not the case, and I spent two days in a hotel while they did the real cleaning and replacing the “love-nest” sofa.

If you have ever spent time in a common Chinese apartment building, it is quite hard to figure out how such a rat problem could arise.  These things are nothing more than solid, poured concrete buildings, with monstrous metal doors that make bank vaults look “flimsy”.  There are no “behind the wall conduits for wires, they are simply put in while they pour the concrete around them.  Any rewiring that needs to be done requires a dusty old man with a worn down concrete drill-bit, several days of work, and the eventuality of simply running the wires across the walls and ceiling with brackets.

Trying to figure out how rats could get into such an apartment would require Steven Hawkins involvement.

But, with all of this, I never once got upset or angry with the people, and I took it all in stride.  To be honest, I was apologetic for having caused them to go through so much trouble (silly me).

This leads to the next problem: When pipes fail.

A common sight in any Chinese building, are the unsightly mold patches, wet walls, and the “so much water damage that the walls start to crumble” areas.  This happens because most of these steel and iron pipes were never insulated before they had the concrete poured around them.  Any condensation, rusted or broken pipes are simply unknown until this decay starts to happen.

Since I moved in at the beginning of the summer break, I knew that any small problems that arose would not likely be dealt with until everyone returned from vacation.  Most of the small problems, like broken light switches, I fixed myself.  (Which brings up the question: Is it just me, or does 220v make you tingle more than 110v?) The only thing I really pressed them to fix was the cable TV.  (And that also required drilling a hole through the metal door frame and bracketing the cable along the inside walls.)

Well, it was getting close to the actual start date of vacation, and I noticed that there was a leak somewhere in the walls.  But this was a little different… it was such a big leak that there was a constant puddle of water on the kitchen floor.  I called the lady and told her about it.  I explained that it wasn’t a major problem for me, but that it might be an actual major problem with the pipes.  I told her that I thought they should check the apartment above me, but she told me that there was nothing wrong with it (as if she were standing in the apartment when I told her).

I called her again the next day, and she told me that it would be difficult to contact the “fix it guy”, because vacation was starting.  I will never see the logic of giving the apartment maintenance man the same two month vacation time as school faculty and staff.  Not that I am trying to be unfair, but there is a difference: The duties of faculty and staff end when students leave. If they don’t give security guards the same vacation, because they still need to perform their duties, why would they think the maintenance man is any different?

Anyway, I called him and sent him messages, but he never came.

Meanwhile, during the break, the leak was so bad that I could actually hear the sound of dripping, coming through the walls.  It wasn’t dripping like that in my apartment, and for me to hear it through the walls, it must have been bad.  I sent a few more messages and let it go.

Flash forward to a few days before the term starts, when the tenants in the apartment above me returned from vacation.

One day I walked out of my apartment, and there was a trail of chewed foam and rat feces making its way down the stairs. It seems they had to remove all the furniture from the apartment.

At the same time, there were several maintenance men running up and down, and several cans of paint on the stairs.  Let me put it this way – with the commonality of water damage in Chinese buildings, it would have to be pretty bad damage for them to attempt a cosmetic fix to it.  (They didn’t paint my walls, and there are some pretty rough looking places on my walls.)

Another “truth” to China, is that apartment stairwells are dirtier than sweaty wrinkles on a coal miner’s neck.  Let’s put it this way… I’ve never encountered an apartment stairwell that does not have at least one footprint on the wall, from a teenage boy practicing his “kung-fu bug kill” technique.

The reason I mentioned the filth of the Chinese stairwell, is that having seen them so often, I didn’t notice that the large black stain on the wall going up the stairs was “furry”.  Yes, the leak was that bad.  They actually came back a few days later and STARTED to… shear the walls.  It must have been so bad that they actually worried about their health (or were just slap-ass lazy), because they stopped after about 15 minutes.

The day all this started (after the vacation), I saw the same woman in the stairwell, and I said something like, “I see they have the same problem I had”, to which she replied “What problem?”  At the time, she was standing in a pile of foam and rat shit.

Then I said, “That leak seems to have been pretty bad”, to which she replied, “What leak?”  At the time, she was standing next to the furry wall, and there was a water pump service truck outside.

In other words… “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

I don’t know if it was out of fear of losing face, or the normal condition of accepting hardship without question, but this phenomenon has always bugged the crap out of me.

It is almost as if, for them, the problem itself disappears, but the results of those problems are quite evident to them. 

For those of us who were born without the ability to selectively blank out problems, it always comes off as dishonesty or “hiding something”.  This happens so often in my interactions with Chinese.

I have come to the realization that this condition is a paradox that results in exponential ignorance within China.  If all you see are the results, and not the problem, then you will only be able to fix the results, while the problem remains. – This is why, for example, bottled water has become a REQUIRED multi-billion dollar a year industry in China.

I could extrapolate, but the post would never end.

Let me close this post with a “funny”.

The other day I was walking to get some food, and I noticed three chickens walk up some stairs into a bookstore.

When I sent a phone message about this, my Chinese friend replied, “Confucius says ‘Everyone has the right to study.’”

The culture of going from dependence to independence is so devastatingly quick here. They graduate, leave home and start their first job within a matter of days.  But that is not the extent of it; they are also eagerly searching to settle down and raise a family.

I am constantly hearing the woes of students who find themselves disenchanted that life was not what they expected.  To be quite honest, most students go from what you would consider the social skills of a middle school student in the west, to that of a married couple with a home, child and career, in the space of one year.  The idea of “your whole life is ahead of you” is LOST for most young people in China.  Instead of experiencing life, in an attempt to find out what lifestyle you are looking for, they search for stability.  They would much rather find a stable job, with an incredibly low salary, marry the first boyfriend/girlfriend they have ever had, get an apartment, and have a child.

Those ideas are also goals of most westerners, but they are goals of our LATER life (and for some of US… a very late life).  But, with having these goals be the most immediate thing for young people here, it leaves them with what they perceive as a mundane life, with no later-life goals to look forward to.

Then you have to add in another phenomenon – the lack of realization that their parents worked hard to give them everything they had.  Remember, it is part of the culture here for parents to give their children everything, even at the determent of the parents.  (Sure, in the west we provide for our children, but not like this.  Rural farmers, making $100 a year, saving and borrowing money, just so that their children can have everything they ask for: Mobile phones, computers, name brand clothes, as well as a university education.)

Their thought process is, “Well, my parents never went to the university, and they could afford to give me all of these things. Surely I should be able to afford even more, now that I am better educated than them!”  They simply never noticed that their parents often worked two jobs a piece, and lived a life of near poverty to provide for them.

Adding these things together can cause some severe depression in young people here, when they actually do leave home.  First, they are hit by the fact that their income might be higher than their parents, but they are going to be living in a city, which causes their lifestyle to be greatly lower than what they expected.  Then, when you add in the fact that their social interaction with others is greatly reduced from that of a college campus, they begin to feel quite lonely and desperate.

What you end up with is 20-something year old young people whose lives are simply that of – wake up, go to work, come home to a small apartment, watch tv/computer, go to sleep, wake up, go to work.  The whole time they are seriously feeling like they have failed at life… AT 25!!!!!!

I’ve told so many students to take up a hobby, to give them something to look forward to every day, to allow them to interact with others, and to get their minds off of the “troubles” they think they have.  I give them an example of photography…  I tell them, once they start getting serious about their hobby, they are going to find people who have the same hobbies.  Going to the store to check on a new camera.  Going out into the park to take pictures.  All of these will give them opportunities to meet people.

Well… this brings me to the real point of this post:

This “over 25” young person has taken his own advice and started to learn the guitar.  In the first week of moving into a new place, I went to a music store down the street and bought a classical guitar (there was a reason), and signed up for lessons.  I am happier now than I have been in a long long long long time.  I’m excited about it, and I actually look forward to my lessons.

My teacher is actually a year younger than me, and he called me “older brother”… haha.  I told him when I went for my first lesson, “Treat me like a child who is learning for the first time”.  And, he was nice enough to teach me that way.

I’ve been following his lessons, but I have also found one online lesson on how to play one song.  I figured that if I combined both, I would have a good time studying, and I really am.  Each week he gives me “homework”, and it reminds me of my first year of studying the trumpet – learning the notes and which strings and finger placement gives each note.  I’m just glad I can still read music.

So, while he gives me “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and six pages of studying the basic notes, I also take the time to do the lesson for learning one song online.  I’ve decided to learn the Beatles tune “Blackbird”.  Sure, it is difficult, but the lesson goes a little bit at a time. – This way, I know I am actually LEARNING, when I have class, but I also can feel more of an accomplishment when I play “Blackbird”, than when I simply master “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. – To be honest, it is more difficult for me to learn that children’s song, because I am learning it by actually reading the music, not just having someone tell me where to put my fingers.

I just hope that, years down the line, I can do more than just play one song.  I remembered that my grandmother could only play one song on the piano.  I don’t know when and how she took lessons, and it was obviously before my mother was born, but she could play that one song from memory and play it quite beautifully.

To be honest… I’m sick of writing, I want to go back to practicing the guitar.

I know it’s strange for me to be writing so often about home, and even more so when it is about state politics, but seriously folks… what the heck is going on???

If there is ANYONE in their right mind who believes that Alvin Greene won the Democratic primary election “fair and square”, then you are completely out of your mind.

A lot of people are focusing on the money issue, which is a valid point:

A black man who claims to have been forcefully discharged from the military, remains unemployed for nearly a year, lives at home with his father, arrested for felony obscenity charges and is so “destitute” that he has to have a public defender represent him… yet he has $10,400 laying around that he can use for the filing fee for the board of elections?

Some people focus on the campaign issue, which is also a valid point:

A man who does not even bother to run a campaign, doesn’t show up to any Democratic Party events or meetings, or even meet with party leaders, yet he wins 59% of the vote??? Over 100,000 votes???  To become the first black candidate for the US Senate from S.C. since reconstruction (over 100 years)??? (It was for this reason that I mentioned race in the earlier paragraph.  It was not intended as a negative racial comment, but rather to show the reality of what some are asking us to believe.  Out of all of the upstanding, qualified African-American’s in S.C., this man is the first in 100 years?)

However, they seem to be missing some of the biggest points of all.

This was a PRIMARY election, not a general election.  This was to decide the candidate to represent the Democratic Party.  Let’s put aside (for the moment) the idea that he was “planted” by the Republicans, in hopes of throwing a wrench into the process, and let’s focus on the idea that this was the result of uninformed voters, unsatisfied voters, or some sort of mass effort on the part of the African-American community.

Unsatisfied:

Let’s look at his opponent: Vic Rawls, a retired Lt. Colonel, a lawyer with his own practice, a former prosecuting attorney, elected to the State House of Representatives FOUR times (member of the State Reorganization Committee and S.C. Housing Authority), a former S.C. Circuit Court Judge, was elected to the Charleston County Council in 2008, and is on the board of the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority.

It doesn’t sound to me like he’s pissed off so many people, within his OWN PARTY, that they would injure their chances of winning in the general election, by voting for a nearly homeless, destitute, unqualified black man that nobody knows about.

Uninformed:

Some have said that it might be because his name was first on the ballot, and people might not have been familiar with the candidates.  WRONG!  If it was the general election I might agree, but this was a PRIMARY election.  Who the hell goes in and votes blindly in a primary election?  There are no referendums.  And if you don’t care enough to know who the candidates are, then surely you don’t care which one of them ends up representing the party… what would be the point of voting?

The African-American issue:

Some say that his name sounded more “black”, and it caused more of African-American community to vote for him.  WRONG AGAIN! If he didn’t campaign, then the only way people would know of the “blackness” of his name, would be if they saw it on the ballot, and were also voting blindly. (Not only that, but… when did the name Green become more “black” than Rawls? I guess I’d have to ask Al Green and Lou Rawls about that.)

And, to go back to what I said earlier… if it was the African-American community that elected him, I find it hard to believe that Mr. Green would have been their first choice after over 100 years.

Sorry, but these excuses does not cut it with me.

Let’s consider the “Republican plant” conspiracy theory:

This has got to be one of the funniest explanations I have heard, even more unbelievable than the rest.

What the conspiracy theorists are asking us to believe is that the Republican Party planted him, as well as 100,000+ voters; because you cannot expect me to believe that the Republicans would plant him and expect him to win by word of mouth, or relying on the “blackness” of his name.  This man didn’t set up a web page, or even put a sign up in his own yard.  COME ON PEOPLE! WAKE UP!

Not only that, but with his win, we are talking about federal election fraud… I think they would have risked that with better plant than Mr. Green.

If you are actually going to consider that, then I think it’s just as plausible to say that the Democrats planted him, in hopes of discrediting the Republican Party and getting rid of ultra-conservative Jim DeMint.

I’d like to put a twist on the thing: Maybe it was the ineptitude of the S.C. Republicans that made them plant such an idiotic choice for a candidate, and the ineptitude of the S.C. Democrat’s voting population that caused them to elected him.

Well that… or ballot problems.

I think it’s getting close to the point where I need to hide the fact that I am from South Carolina (not originally… I had to put that in).  What in the world is going on with politicians in that state?

Gov. Sanford was a huge mess (and a good source of humor).  Now you have Rep. Nikki Haley being accused of having an affair with one of Sanford’s aides.  She denies it, but in SC politics, a denial of an affair usually means “As long as nobody can prove it, it never happened.”

But now we have an even bigger embarrassment…

This jackass, Sen. Jake Knotts.

During an appearance with a political talk show, Knotts said:

“We’ve already got one raghead in the White House, we don’t need a raghead in the governor’s mansion.”

Besides Obama, who was he referring to??

Rep. Nikki Haley (The one accused of having an affair).

The thing is, she is half Indian… but, if you can really see it, you have better eyes than I do.  To me, she looks like any other middle-aged, professional, tanned, Carolina woman.  To be honest, there’s not a lot to choose from in SC; the rest look like Miss SC wannabe’s (who probably couldn’t find the US on a map.)

Well, Mr. Knotts… we honestly don’t need another sow bellied, Jabba the Hutt/ Boss Hogg looking, racist spewing, good ol’ boy in the governor’s mansion.

And, on a different note:

The UN has identified the US as being the #1 user of “targeted killings”.

YEAH!!! We’re #1! We’re #1… we’re…

Oh, wait… that’s a bad thing.

Being in China, I have often encountered things I have never seen before… this is just normal for anyone who travels to another part of the world.  However, this past week I saw something that isn’t even normal here… and it was pretty cool.

While taking a walk on campus, I noticed a dandelion growing in one of the grassy areas.  Dandelions are just as common here as anywhere else and there is nothing “different” about them at all.  However, this one caught my eye for a different reason.

YES, it is a dandelion.  NO, it is not a “False dandelion”, or a type of white daisy that people often refer to as “white dandelions”.  The leaves are the same as any other dandelion, the stalk is the same, and the head of another flower from the same plant (different stalk) was full of seeds and ready to turn into a “puff ball” in a day or so.

The leaves and stalk all were normal color; only the compound flower was white.  Just for the fun of it, I am going to go back and get some seeds and see if I can get a few more of them to grow.

Genetic screw up?  Well, THAT wouldn’t be a first that I’ve seen in China.

It is FINALLY warm enough… no, let me rephrase that, it is HOT enough for shorts, t-shirt, and keeping the window open at night.  This changed happened in the span of two days.  I’m glad it is here.

Most universities in China have some sort of out of the way gate that leads usually to some sort of street market.  These things are the lifeblood of students eating habits, and students are the lifeblood of these small, unlicensed businesses.

I know, at some point, I have written about the “license Nazis” that inhabit China, under the guise of “law enforcement”.  They are a sort of police division who drive around in small flatbed trucks, confiscating any device used in making food, that is not licensed.

Unlicensed food markets are as common as rice in China.  The only time these men actually do their jobs, is when someone complains to them, or they are out to fill their pockets with money.

This school is no different, when it comes to the gate that leads to this type of place.  I use it often, and the best food is street food.  Every so often, the police come out and clean things out… I mean to the bare asphalt.  Where there were metal and glass structures or tents (used by unlicensed businesses), there was nothing.  I walked out to an empty road with nothing more than a few licensed restaurants.  I am quite sure it was not the licensed restaurants who called, because after the cleanup, the school was ordered to lock the gate.

Having more than enough experience in “jumping the iron”, I simply scaled the fence and went outside. .. to the astonishment of a few of the students who were standing around gawking at the fence.  (Also, off to the side, there was a student with a hacksaw, cutting his way through a partially hidden area of the fence.  I just thought it was so amusing.)

If it is like every other one of these “raids”, it will be cleared for a week or so, and then it will reopen as if nothing had happened.  This happened in Jinzhou all the time, including the raids on the pirated CD dealers.

I just want my 鸭肉串!

And, another sign of the emergence of summer… the idiots who cut in line are starting to multiply.  I had a guy do it to me tonight while I was standing in line for a 奶茶.  I simply spoke, clearly, “I guess being impolite is a part of Chinese culture” (in Chinese).  Then I proceeded to move my fat gut in front of him.  It never leads to anything else, other than a possible muttering from under their breath, but it is still something I just will not stand for… in China or the US.

Another interesting thing happened… My father always said “God gives you the wishes of your heart”.  Today, a friend walked up and handed me something.  There was no other thought behind it, other than to give me a gift, but it happened at the perfect time.

It’s not exactly the same, and I might have to let it grow on me… But it is a hat… that is what I was looking for.

The other day I started to see the telltale signs of age.  You know, sometimes you just can’t stop the process once it begins.  I tried covering it up, but I realize now that I am just delaying the inevitable…

I need to buy a new camouflage Harley cap, mine is on the verge of death.

I am fighting so hard to keep it alive.  The other day I noticed the top was worn thin, and the holes started to appear. I just hate to throw this thing away, it has been everywhere with me.

I had an embroidered patch of the Chinese flag, so the other day I went and had it sewn on the top of the cap, to cover the worn spot, and to keep it from just turning to dust.

I was just worried that someone here might consider it disrespectful.  When it comes to things that are acceptable, you must realize that acceptability can often depend on where you are from.  So, before I did it, I asked about four or five people; everyone seemed to agree that it was fine.  As long as I was not putting it on the ass of my pants, like the girl in my previous post, I think I would be fine.

Today was the first time I walked outside with the newly affixed flag on top.  My worries were soon gone when I noticed a girl walking down one of the streets on the campus… she was wearing a sweatshirt that had the US flag on the front, surrounded by the words “God Bless America!”

I have to say that this has been the longest winter I can remember.  It is already May, and it is just now getting to the point where I can go without the thermals.  When I think about May Day, I just remember traipsing around Beijing with Bry and Monkey Sister in that sweltering heat.  This May 1^st was probably the first somewhat mild day of the year; but my mid-afternoon I was scrambling for a jacket.

I did notice a few things while I was out…

I’ve known about CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) with bees, and how it seems to be a global phenomenon that people are not paying attention to, but I never really thought about it until these past two years.  These past two springs I have noticed a dramatic change in the number of bees out (not just here, I also spent some time back home last spring).  I spent a whole afternoon in a public garden park, surrounded by vast numbers of flowers and blooming ornamental fruit trees, and I honestly saw only one bee.

I have not kept up on the news on this subject, but if the numbers of hives are still continuing to decrease, there is going to be a MAJOR problem throughout the world.

Now, on to something completely different:

It’s only a fashion statement when Chinese do it to other nations.  All others are political reactionaries, in need of reeducation, or foreign scourge who have hurt the pride of the Chinese people.