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.

Amo, Amas, Amoy!

Xiamen, also known as Amoy, is one of the two main cities we will visit during the Horner Exchange. As an important port for centuries, including one of the first to trade with the West, and as a winner of environmental and urban planning awards, Xiamen has a fascinating story that I'm looking forward to learning more about.

For those playing along at home, today I've been exploring this quirky website: Amoy Magic

Part personal travelogue, part book promotion, part community report, it reminds me of what people (myself included) with a handful of html used to do before Facebook.

Review: Travelers' Tales China

Traveler's Tales China
edited by Sean O'Reilly, James O'Reilly, Larry Habegger

Bras, buddhas, and beers. This is exactly the sort of book I love for travel prep. 

A collection of stories, essays, and excepts, peppered with sidebar quotations, it covers a wide range of topics, from various perspectives and time periods. Plenty of flavor without the bulk of readings lots of different books.

Portland's Chinese Garden - Summer

Summer took a long time to arrive in Portland. So JW and I quickly took advantage of a lovely summer evening, and the garden's policy of closing late on Monday nights.

It was a special treat for me because I've never been there in summer.  Perhaps I was expecting the austerity of a Japanese garden, but it was all lush, life, and color. Gardenia, dragonflies, and rainbow koi.

And no kids!

Horner Exchange blog

13 weeks til departure. 13. Pause for a moment and think about how fast one week flies by.

After the lull -- that time before a trip where it's too late to do anything that requires long-term preparation (I think I'll lose 40lbs and become fluent in 2 dialects), but it's too early to begin doing all the little stuff (the black bag with the red details, hmm, or the red bag with the black details??) -- we are beginning to gear up.

First, we've created an official blog for the Horner Exchange 2010 (this here mercatorial blog is my personal travel blog and will cover old trips and new adventures too).

http://horner2010.wordpress.com/

Second, ... well, my half-page To Do list turned into 4 pages. Our group had a nice lunch meeting yesterday where we compared notes, made plans, and reviewed information regarding the presentations we've been asked to make. My topics are RFID, and the management of electronic resources.

Third, I have begun the preliminary packing list. My light packing foo is legendary, but could not be possible without the packing list, the clothes matrix, and several other mystical logistical charts and forms. I'll post more about that soon.

Or, maybe I won't. A girl has to have some secrets.

....

**Update: the final packing list

Poll closed

Thanks for participating in my "After China?" poll.  The results are:

• Hawaii - 7 votes
• Vietnam - 6
• Macau - 5
• Brunei - 1
• Portland - 1

I guess everyone wants me to take a break after three weeks in China. I'm inclined to agree -- though the one Brunei vote was mine.

Here is my current thinking. Given that I will likely use Hong Kong rather than Shanghai as my gateway, how about getting over my jet lag before the Horner Exchange for a few days on Lantau Island (where the HK airport is)? If I'm feeling adventurous, I can pop over to Macau from there.

Then after the exchange, stop over in Hawaii for a few days to relax before coming home. Perhaps I can talk some friends into joining me? It's sort of near-ish my birthday -- the last year in my 30's!

Portland's Chinese Garden - Spring

JW and I hurried to Portland's Classical Chinese Garden -- which seems to have been quietly renamed the Lan Su Chinese Garden -- for our Spring visit this weekend. With Portland's very early warm weather, we might have missed real Spring if we waited for calendar Spring.

Nearly all the plants that can were blooming: daphne, quince, cherry, edgewothia, camellia, and more. The Lunar New Year celebratory red lanterns added more color.

The garden seemed excessively crowded today. Winter's quiet emptiness was more a treat than we realized, and have decided to plan our Summer and Fall visits at times when we can hope for more solitude -- which is really a polite way of saying times when swarms of screaming, running children will be less likely.

Review: River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
by Peter Hessler

Within days of announcing this trip, four different people suggested this book, and I wasn't disappointed.

Written as narrative non-fiction, the book covers two years when Peter Hessler taught English in Fuling as a Peace Corps volunteer. I was a little slow to get into the story, which in part reflected the experience of the author. It takes him some time to hit his stride in Fuling, and once he does, the story picks up too.

Although I won't be going near Fuling, general lessons can be learned from Hessler's experiences. For example, here are his two very useful ways to handle any questions or topics that might be sensitive.

"Americans do not have much information on this subject. I would like to learn more."

"I do not know if it is true, but I have been told..."

 I also recommend the book if you have any interest in the topic of damming the Yangtze. I do not know if it is true, but I have been told the dam may cause environmental problems.

Good luck with that

Another ah-ha moment, thinking about the trip to China. Chopsticks.

Chopsticks, chopsticks. Maybe I should practice that. I could get a lot of practice in the remaining 8 months before departure. It's not like I'm a complete loser with them.

In fact, I'm quite adept -- for the first 30 seconds. Then like the Coyote running in air after the Road Runner, some how I see the world dropping away below me and it all falls apart.

Practice will help me not overthink it.

Or, I could take JW's suggestion, and wear a big fork on a ribbon around my neck. Can I get one with an American flag?

San Fran anyone?

Spent the better part of tonight wading through the labyrinth of online info regarding the entry visa to China. Apparently, there's an exit one too, but I'm still working on that. Good thing I left crumbs to find my way out (not good for the laptop).

Conclusion: I must present myself to the Chinese Consulate which has jurisdiction over my state of residence -- that would be San Francisco. Not Seattle, no, not that lucky this time. Or, even Los Angeles, where my parents live. Nope, San Francisco, Oro en Paz, Fierro en Guerra.

Although I could use a visa service, the money kind of comes out even if I take into account frequent flyer miles and other deals I could leverage.

Visas must be obtained no more than 90 days from departure, so.... sometime in late July... anyone want to go to San Francisco?

A gift for you

I need your collective brain power again my friends.

It is customary on these professional exchanges to give and receive gifts. So I'm puzzling over gift ideas. Here are the complicating factors that stymie me. The gifts need to be:

• Within my budget (maybe $100?)
• Small, lightweight, and preferably flat (packing)
• Nice, something a person might actually like
• Reflective of Oregon
• Not "Made in China" because, I mean, c'mon!

Help ?

(At this point, I don't know how many gifts I should bring. 30, probably, -ish.)

Now... or not

Sunday found myself and JW combining our stupendous (or perhaps some other word that starts with "stup") brain power to figure out how to actually get inside the China Design Now exhibit at the Portland Art Museum.

Two entrances and four lines later, we climbed a staircase through a blindingly (cliche alert) red light towards the red lanterns marking the entrance along the big red wall.

I had been super excited about this "Now" exhibit of contemporary design since many of the materials I've found so far in my research are dated from 2007/08. Not quite good enough, imo, to examine a society that's changing so rapidly (ask me about the difference between Bulgaria 2000 and Bulgaria 2002 some time).

Unfortunately I must admit to being disappointed. Two medium-sized rooms of exhibits. Two. One is devoted to art & design from Shenzhen, which was a little interesting. The other room was divided between Shanghai and Beijing, with the Beijing exhibits largely turned over to information about the Olympics.

Considering the expense, logistical hurdles, and paucity of the exhibits, I say save your time and your $16 and look at this art and design on the web.

Review: Lost on Planet China

Lost on Planet China: One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation
by J. Maarten Troost

The first book I read for this trip, before I even knew I had been selected for the exchange, almost... well, it gave me pause.

Troost's book is an informal and exceedingly honest account of his recent exploration of China. As I read, I thought of the ways I would have edited the same experiences, would have tried to be polite or worried about offending my hosts. Yet, I appreciated the honesty, and Troost does a good job of not allowing his open treatment to become negative or overbearing.

And, he's hilarious.

That said, I am concerned about some of the difficulties he experienced, namely pollution (general air quality, pervasive cigarette smoking), crowding (personal space, spitting etc), and the eating of live squid ("live" as in "alive and squirming").

No one ever said adventure was easy.

Citation Surfing 2.0

You're familiar with the concept of citation surfing? Yes, skip ahead.

In research, if a book is useful for your needs, pay attention to its "Works Cited", footnotes, or bibliography, etc. Why? Because this author you find so useful didn't invent his book all by himself. He used other resources which are potentially useful to you. Use his research, follow the trail, surf the citations from resource to resource to aid your research.

Here's my 2.0 twist. I also look the useful book up on Amazon.com. Not for the obvious "also bought" and "also searched" features. That data is too often muddied by gift purchases or tangential info-meandering. Instead, I search the Listmania. These lists are deliberately put together for a described purpose by people who offer up some idea about who they are via their profiles.

If the vagabond physicist/gardener put said useful book on a list called "Essential China for Travelling Smartypants", then I suddenly have a whole list of books from someone who I like or respect (in that special Internet way) to review for my trip.

And this is just one example. You can also mine Goodreads.com (all the good stuff is behind a (free) membership) or other social networking sites with book/info components.

My first read for this trip was Troost's Lost on Planet China. His brief bibliography also gave me:

• Mao: The Unkown Story - Chang & Halliday
  
• The Search for Modern China- Spence
• Mr. China - Clissold

I've put all three books on hold at my local library. Using the Amazon List method with Lost on Planet China, I found these lists to explore further:

• Books for Teaching in China
• Travel East Asia
  

After I've reviewed the three books from the library, I'll check the sources for the ones I like, place more holds and do more citation surfing 2.0 to lead me to more resources to put on hold. And so on.

The trick is to do this part quickly so I have plenty of time to actually read all the cool stuff I find.

And then what?

The Horner Exchange is 3 weeks of travelling and working around Southeastern China. After the exchange program, what do I do next? I'm already there, and I've never been one to waste a grueling 18-hr flight, replete with airport hassles and really-super-fun security measures.

Planning the after trip before I've planned the actual trip may seem a little cart before the horse, but with rough dates chosen, researching plane tickets is a logical next step.  So, I need to know where I'm going.

I have no idea.

Considerations:  Cost, of course. Climate, if I want to pack light I need to stick to one kind of weather. Comfort, after working for three weeks, I'll want something relaxing, easy, with a little rejuvenation before I dive back into my woefully neglected job.

A stack of travel books from my local library have helped me winnow the choices -- though I am still open to other ideas. Help me out! Comment on this post or take the poll. I know how you love polls.

p.s. Portland is on the list as a kind of recover-cation choice.  Be home. Do laundry. Deal with jet-lag. Smooch JW.

Portland's Chinese Garden - Winter

In preparation for the trip to China, I plan to visit Portland's own Classical Chinese Garden once during each season -- also known as another excuse to look at plants and drink tea because I am an old lady librarian.

JW (my boyfriend) and I braved rare bitter winter weather for a Sunday visit. A strong wind pushed ripples across the part of the pond not yet frozen over. A persimmon added color to the dormant garden, and I sipped a Strong Fire Oolong in the teahouse.

Brainstorm

Ever since I got the call -- "Brandon, this is Captain Panda. Do you? Bamboo?" -- I've been carrying around a piece of paper to jot down all the things I need to ponder, figure out, plan, and strategize before the trip to China. Gave me something to do during those enraging meetings that go on and on blah blah snore...

Here it is. The List. In no particular order. Imagine my scrawled penmanship, coffee stains, voodoo doll doodles:

• language
• research/prep
• books about
• books to read there
• work etc proposal for Multnomah
  
• cell
• blog, twitter -> bamboo curtain?
• clothes, shoes
• gifts
• Kaiser travel clinic/shots - NO LARIUM
• snacks
• stickers for kids
• camera tech, wireless memory card, backup
• self defense
• travel insurance
• savings account - my expenses (SmartyPig?)
• sightseeing/vacation afterward (meet brother?)