China as the sun sets (2010)

With a Horner Exchange meeting this afternoon, I have China on my mind. Below, from an afternoon of sight-seeing, near the end of the trip.

View the Album on Flickr.

Wuyishan, China (October 2010)

Horner Exchange 2013 - Fall

foto from Horner blog

And they're off!  The Oregon delegates -- Angela Lee, Lori Wamsley, Pat French -- are adventuring in Fujian, China now.

I'm envious but excited for them. Follow their blog at:

http://2013horner.wordpress.com/ 

Horner Exchange 2013 - Spring

 

2013 Horner delegates

Our Horner Exchange delegates from China visited in April and May for an all too brief three weeks.  Thanks to a great team of volunteers, the visitors toured several different types of libraries, attended a large professional conference, and enjoyed the best Oregon has to offer in food, fun, and festivities.

For the second half of the exchange, the Oregon delegates will visit the Fujian Province in October.

More captions, again

A leadership speaker at a library conference once said, "Never apologize for being late. You're telling everybody in the room they are more important than you."

By the way, here are some more completed captions from my 2010 trip to China on the Horner Exchange:

Xiamen: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woogapdx/sets/72157625252635557/

So soon... Horner 2013

Welcome Horner 2013 applicants! Ready to walk through the door?

You'll find this blog is no longer solely about my trip to China on the Horner Exchange of 2010. Expanded to trips past and future. If you want to see my China posts, hop down to the bottom of this page and use the tag cloud.

For my other readers, it is completely unbelievable to me that the time has already come to choose the Oregon delegation and welcome our Chinese visitors again for the Horner Exchange in 2013. A welcome duty.

Also, I think this means I'm young enough to go again. Horner 2020?

More captions

Finished captions on the set of fotos from Wuyishan:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/woogapdx/sets/72157625365876056/with/5108554749/

Facts & figures

Just a quick update to let you know I have finally finished captions on one of the foto sets from China.

Hong Kong - Lantau

... Yeah, that's one of, uh ... six.

... And it took 10 months.

Hopefully now I'm in a groove, they'll happen more quickly!

Year of the Rabbit

Some months have passed since I returned home from China, and during that time two New Years' celebrations took place.

foto by Kim V.

First, a small gathering of friends celebrated the Western New Year in my home on December 31. We had yummy cocktails (thanks to Danni D.), a generous helping of sparklers (one of the few legal fireworks in Oregon), and a surprise appearance by a bottle of Moutai.

Darrell received a bottle of the well-known baijiu from two Chinese grad students a couple of years ago. It was the same brand served to us on the Horner Exchange. Baijiu is called a liquor but "moonshine" is closer to the truth. Naturally we indulged in a few rounds of toasts and cheers, but champagne is still our drink of choice for New Year's.

Second, in early February, JW and I celebrated Chinese New Year at Portland's Lan Su Garden.  Quiet, with only the tiniest signs of Spring -- an edgeworthia with a few open blossoms, daphne buds with a hint of pink showing -- the garden was decorated everywhere with red lanterns.

In addition to the traditional lanterns, a display from HiiH Gallery graced one room.

Mum's the word

Mao's Little Red Book

What surprised me most about the trip to China?  

Candor about controversial topics.  I had been told and read in various resources that the people I met in China would not talk about certain topics, and I should not ask. So, I didn't.

It's not an exaggeration to say that I was shocked when I heard some speak openly and negatively about specific government policies, about limitations on freedoms, and about the Cultural Revolution. 

No one said anything negative about Mao, but no one said anything at all about Mao. I never saw a prominent portrait of him anywhere.  That omission seemed like a criticism to me.

Home

Home. And well into autumn, chilled rain and fallen yellow leaves. A few holiday lights already shining at night.

The China trip is over.  But in some ways it never will be.  As I organize my fotos and notes, I will continue to post about the trip, and through the years this trip will reverberate through all others, just as my previous library-related trips to Nigeria and Bulgaria found their place in this one.

Was it amazing? Yes! Was it exhausting? Yes! Will I do it again? Every chance I get.

Thanks for reading!

Old vs. new vs. old

I expected the concept of time in a civilization that is quite possibly older than time itself to be different than my own. But I must confess it perplexes me here.

A grand library built in 1998 is old.
A temple built in the 1800's is new.
A hotel built in 2003 is old.
A river dammed in 1955 is new.
A poem written in 990 is.... well, that's Song Dynasty.

Time is not linear here. It's measured in relation to various milestones that shift, some personal or unique to a community. Measured against some things that have not yet happened, hoped for future events.

I don't ask if something is old or new; I ask when it was built or happened. And if dates really matter to you, learn your dynasties.

Tulou Round Houses

Horner Blog post about Tulou: http://horner2010.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/the-amazing-fujian-tulou/

Don't look down

My aforementioned health problem has mostly behaved, but developed a new symptom: mild vertigo. Fun. I'm sure, though, that Kaiser Permanente in their infinite wisdom is totally right that I just have acid reflux because I'm overweight. Certainly. Because all my other symptoms are easily explained by... pretending they aren't there.

Which is why I'm performing Canalith repositioning on a hotel bed in the middle of the night in China.

What's that you say? Why, that is a series of head maneuvers which move the loose particles that cause vertigo into an area of the inner ear where they are no longer a bother.

Yay for library databases with remote access! Yay for the awful & awesome power of the Internet! Yay! Yay! Yay!

Ooh, I'm a little dizzy.

--

p.s. Save aghast comments about the interwebs for someone who isn't a Rock Star Librarian.

p.s.s. Save comments about "advocating for yourself" re: Kaiser for the nearest pile of horseshit.

Fellow Traveller

The population is immense, no doubt, but I have yet to experience the claustrophobic crowding of bodies mentioned in all contemporary writing about China. The 200-or-more-story high rise apartments sprouting all over town hint at more people. Somewhere.

There are a very few foreigners like me. On a chance encounter in hotel lobby or incense-filled temple, we tend to politely but tensely ignore each other. So we don't shatter the notion that we're starring in the role of exotic unique foreigner in our private film.

Happy Halloween

Halloween so far in China has consisted of one department store display, accompanied by a Chimpunks-esque (with schoolgirl voices) rendition of The Monster Mash piped through the PA system. And two little kids in costumes. Though maybe those two kids just like to play dress up. Hard to tell.

The new money interest in all things American hasn't quite embraced Halloween, likely because Chinese culture does not make light of the dead, believing that unnecessary discussion of the topic might invite death to visit.

So, while my friends are carving pumpkins, I am eating them stuffed with mushrooms and pork neck.

Gulangyu - Island without cars

Gulangyu Island -- although I'm guessing some part of that word already means "island" -- lies such a short distance off the coast of Xiamen that it takes longer for the ferry to load & unload than it does to cross the water.  Once there, you will immediately notice the lack of cars, though pedestrians should still beware of motorized bikes and the army of bare-chested men carrying goods around the island in carts.

Once the preferred location for foreign embassies, the island retains a European feel but there are many Asian-style gardens, and temples. There are also a lot of pianos, from which the island derives the nickname Piano Island. I would have called it Stair Island.

We also had an opportunity to tour the Sun Yat-sen Library, and visit with staff who hosted us with cold tea (unusual in China but perfect on a particularly hot, humid day) and yummy Xiamen sweet cakes from the island's best bakery.

South Pacific

It's before dinner and we find ourselves oddly at a seashore boardwalk, complete with games and rides and slightly sweet Chinese popcorn.

That's when it hits me. That's the Pacific Ocean right there. My Pacific ocean. From the other side.

I'm running towards the water. Remembering a time when Donna and I ran on a moonless night towards the distant sound of the surf, more distant than we realized, peeling off clothes that only the best of luck allowed us to find again later, shivering.

I had to touch this water. From the other side.

It was a little warm and a little brown and I felt a little silly. But pleased.

Trash

During a visit to one library we were shown several rooms full of books that had been donated by American libraries. I was going to say "well-meaning" but deleted it. Going for the jugular instead.

I was embarrassed by what I saw. What a load of crap. Moldy books, dime-store romances falling apart, incomplete Worldbook sets from 1982, a coffee-stained Commodore 64 manual etc etc.

Are you kidding me? What consummate arrogance! That we think our trash would be someone else's treasure.

"Oh, they're just learning English so it doesn't matter."

It matters.

/end rant

Brandon jumping over the wall

So, the food. The food, the food, the food. It's a never-ending banquet of one delicious dish after another. Our hosts are making sure we have the best impression of Chinese cuisine and hospitality.

bamboo shoots, sauteed

Yeah, yeah, there was some frog soup and some turtle feet and something bearing a strong resemblance to the visage of a certain carrot-eating fuzzy friend, buck teeth and all staring at me from my plate.... but mostly it's fresh vegetables, delectable meats, and an amazing array of seafood. All local, and much of it organic. Even something as seemingly simple as broth knocks me out.

crispy duck skin

There is one local specialty we have yet to try -- "Buddha Jumping Over The Wall". The story goes that the Buddha was walking along, and smelled something so wonderful and enticing, that he lept over a wall to find it. We asked, What was in this dish?

Every delicious thing. Every one.