Day 16: Beijing, en route to Xi'an (6/13/2009) - In Which I Post Recent Photos

This isn't technically written en route to Xi'an, because, well, I would be on a moving and Internet-less train if I were actually traveling. The liberties I take with the English language are hiLARious.

We had our usual editorial meeting, blah blah, we packed and ran errands, blah blah, Tracy and I had some bonding moments over The Slowest Bank Transaction In The History Of Banks (that includes the last time he tried to change traveler's checks last week), and now we're all pleasantly gathered in the meeting room trying to while away the final few hours before our departure.

Okay, so in the attached photo, not all of us are around any more. Must you be so technical??

Later this evening, we will clamber on a soft sleeper train for a 14-hour trip to Xi'an. We will share four bunks to a little room within a segment of the train car. It will look a little bit like the bunk in which Renee Zellweger's character beats up her harasser in Me, Myself and Irene.

I will be praying fervently for a ceasefire from my bowels. (As per my Twitter update, their rumbling sounds exactly like the drum rolls from Charlton Heston's Ten Commandments)

The travels will be exciting, and the rest of this post is just conjecture by now so why don't you just wait for tomorrow's post already.

I'm really just here to show you some eye candy.

Day 15: Beijing (6/12/2009)

This is a boring one...

I woke up at 5 a.m. with bad belly cramps. Went back to sleep by 7 after the pain subsided a bit.

I woke up at 8 a.m. for the meeting. Went back to lie in bed after.

Went to the clinic at noon to see what was up with me. Waited there for 2 hours until someone paid attention to me (although it was actually quite nice - Western-style and all).

Spent the rest of the day in bed after picking up my laundry and recharging my phone. Everyone else is out karaoking.

I sure hope I'm better tomorrow... this kind of travelogue is BORING.

Day 14: Beijing (6/11/2009)

According to my faithful Facebook updates, I've been in China for two weeks. Unpossible, I say! But more than that, improbable!! And yet it is probably true. Oh, well, that's that.

I finally bit the bullet and installed Hotspot Shield for its proxy bypassing abilities. And then in the process of doing so, realized that I already had it installed. D'oh. :| I am a dummy. (I always wanna spell it "Dumby," because it looks like it would be so cute) At any rate, I now have access to all the Firewalled sites in China! At least, such would be the general idea. In practice, the Internets is still slow as a snail on a hot summer day. ...I don't actually know if heat plays a factor in snail speed. I digress. The point of this paragraph was originally to point out that, well, my travel adventures belong on this site. I will have to update the past two weeks' Facebook notes here when I get a chance, but for now, the least I can do is to start posting my updates back here on Blogger.

I'm feeling mildly better. The bugs in my stomach are a little less ferocious! It could also be that I've been starving them, but they only bother me now when I eat. This won't be a problem for another few weeks, because psh, who needs food?

We actually had a very chill day today. After our morning editorial meeting, we were free until 4 p.m., when we visited the Wall Street Journal bureau. Again, swanky building - this time in the same building as a shopping center, whoo whoo. It's not like I actually did anything there besides pick up hygienic products like shampoo and lotion and soap with Tracy, but knowing it was there was half the excitement. Oh, I'm talking about the shopping, not the WSJ - which was highly interesting, although the room was very warm. I'm really enjoying all of these briefings we have. It's too bad we're not really allowed to talk about half of them. Suffice it to say, though, that I have come out of everything this past week with the following information...

To become a foreign correspondent in this day and age:
1) The financial news market booms while the rest of the industry crashes, so if you can get over your fear of business journalism, you will not have to worry that journalists are a dying breed.
2) Know the basics of journalistic writing. Think fast on your feet and learn the local house style as quickly as you can.
3) Have at least some working knowledge of how to illustrate a story visually. Multimedia experience is only going to get more valuable as time progresses.
4) Learn a foreign language, and learn it well. Most places will want you to be conversationally fluent and able to comprehend a basic news article. Bonus props if you can write in said foreign language. Obviously, this is exponentially harder in most Asian languages than in, say, Romance languages.
5) Bonus sprinkles on the top include a working understanding of economics/accounting/finance, science/math, and being well-read.
6) 10-15 minutes of research before any interview can only make you look better.

We may or may not go to a jazz club tonight. When I say "we," I make it sound like it's a group thing... but really, I just mean Me and My Stomach Bug. I think I will name him Fred.

I always forget that I can't access Xanga/Blogspot in China, so Facebook must bear the brunt of this Pepys-esque account. (I will even tell you what I had for lunch!) I'll update these to my respective blog locations later when I can. But today, it's way too late and thus no time for Pepys behavior.

I missed a chance to be an extra for Jay Chou last night + hang out with Cindy Wu at the same time, because of bad timing. That's all I have to say about that. It was disappointing.

I got on a plane for Beijing this morning! Direct flight from Taipei is awesome. Here you can see the paranoia about H1N1 (swine flu) peeking out behind me. I thought that masks, the having to wait to de-board the plane until all of our temps had been taken, and the health forms/various checkpoints in the terminal were the worst of it all. I was wrong.

One of the Maymester students ended up stranded/quarantined in Shanghai because a passenger on his flight had flu-like symptoms. I spent an hour or two in an Internet cafe looking him up on Skype/video Gchat/AIM, trying to find his hotel room/name/number (because it was all in Chinese) based on information he remembered, like what the area sounded like. It was the most frustrating thing that's happened with Chinese communications yet, and we've had a lot of those (cell phone problems, no Internet in the rooms [which we need for this program], firewalls on blogging sites and more).

We finally found him with satellite view... Huzzah for beating The Great Firewall!

I have unfortunately been forced to purchase unwanted quantities of tea at exorbitant prices in order to access this free wireless in this [nice] coffee shop a 15-minute walk away from my hotel. Rawr. This better resolve itself... I do not want a repeat of 2008. (Also, this year I didn't get a cash stipend ahead of time, so must budget... must... budget...) Also, I am being drowned in the cloud of cigarette smoke that seems to pervade China. Ew, these people and their lung-killing habits! Although the air of Beijing alone is said to be as toxic as the equivalent of 70 cigarettes every day. That's a little extreme, although my boogers prove there must be some truth to the matter.

I also had to switch hotel rooms once within 10 minutes of getting here, and spend 3 hours attempting to figure out Why I Can't Get Online In My Room (not just for my sake, but for the team's sake). Um, I need to learn a lot of things - networking (not the social kind), simplified Chinese, and the simplified Chinese characters for networking terms. I'm just guessing at "proxy" and "server" and whatnot as it is... and then you want me to read hastily scribbled simplified Chinese characters describing these things as my solution for lack of Internet? I'm not a genius! Geez. :|

OK, I have to walk home in the dark now. So I'm going to get to work on that. See you tomorrow! (I plan to get up at 6 a.m. to go running. HAHA)

This year, there are no Fuwa Olympic mascots to welcome me in the airport. Instead, I find myself filling out a wellness health form on the plane, and walking through not one, not two, but three quarantine checkpoints where masked officials primly monitor my temperature as I walk past a heat-sensing camera. Forms are checked and stamped. People around me sport masks of all shapes and styles, a talisman of protection in an atheist country. As I walk past each checkpoint, I am handed pamphlets on H1N1 prevention and isolation techniques in both Chinese and English.

My direct flight from Taipei to Beijing is a welcome convenience unheard of since 1949. Yet the mood is unexpectedly somber when upon arrival, we passengers were told to stay in our seats until airport officials take everyone's temperatures with a "thermometer gun" and respiratory masks. We were still sitting in our seats 25 minutes after landing when suddenly, several officials walk briskly toward the front of the plane and 10 rows behind me, passengers stand up and look around in confusion. "Does someone back there have a fever?" the young mother of two beside me asked with alarm.

In east Asia, previously terrorized by the fear, if not the actual scourge of SARS in 2003, Influenza A (H1N1, or swine flu) is officially perceived as a very real threat - and understandably so. In areas with the population density of Hong Kong, Beijing and Taipei, an outbreak could International travelers and their unlucky fellow passengers are being quarantined left and right in Hong Kong and Shanghai. One of our China program participants spent a night in quarantine about 60 km north of Shanghai's Pudong Airport after a passenger on his flight allegedly exhibited "flu-like symptoms." I secretly speculated about the possibility of the entire hotel's occupants manifesting flesh-eating zombie tendencies within a week. But I probably watch too many movies...

But despite the masks, thermometers, and quarantines, plenty of people here view the situation with nonchalance. A young mother one row behind me placed a perky pink cotton mask on her five-year-old daughter's face as we left the plane. "If Daddy asks you whether or not you wore this while on vacation, you tell him yes," she instructed with a laugh.

Visual definition of "splendor"

Click for larger version

Home again, home again, wee wee wee

I'm back home in Austin, whoo!! I had a great visit - and really, I'm glad for experiences that push me [way the hell {ironic}] out of my comfort zone. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known how fun ice/sleet/snow can be [not much ;p but it's pretty]. I'm usually one of those miserable humans who actually depends on that addictive substance they call The Sun to not only stay alive and warm, but also happy. So sue me.

Mmm, I took pictures with Kirstie yesterday afternoon and discovered that I don't mind being out in the cold, as long as there's sun and I have a purpose. But compared to the excitement with which I greet lounging around in hot summer, though, it has to be a damn good purpose.

I will say this: Upstate NY forces me to grudgingly acknowledge its beauty, even in its current shame at being caught half-naked between the wintry drifts of snow, and the verdant beauty of a land that actually sees something I know as "spring" by hearsay.

You see, where I come from - every place I remember "coming from," really - we know "ice" as something novel, a substance to be forced into pathetic Lilliputian snowmen, or a circumstance which allows us to skip school.

But out here, it snows at the drop of a hat (in MARCH!!), piles up in banks along the roadside, looks amazing as hoarfrost on my car until I attempt to drive it, and nearly causes me to drive off the side of the road as my mouth gapes open at the sight of an ACTUAL ICE-COVERED POND!! (Once again - say it with me - IN MARCH!!!)

To me, it's like walking into an alternate universe where gold is sprinkled around and regarded with the same kind of disgust we generally reserve for manure-like substances. I just can't wrap my mind around this fairy tale I've inadvertently walked into...

...Until my nose frosts over, and I comment on the cold* once every 3.56831 seconds.

*The average temperature was probably between 35-45 F on the "cold days." Canada dwellers, shush you.

No. You don't get it. I'm sure most of you are laughing at me, much like child Kat ignorantly scoffed at children who didn't grow up using chopsticks. Oh, the scorn I exhibited! I eat it all now.

There was one day where I actually recalled 30 Days of Night dread while walking alone (40 yards from my front door) at night. 30 Days is this wonky horror movie about some Alaskan residents who are visited by vampires hoping to wipe them out during the 30 sunless days in their winter season. Now, when I watched this movie (in the peaceful cool of a darkened home movie theater, a/c providing sweet relief from the 110-degree summer blaze), I found the townsmen's frustration with cold and dark mildly entertaining. It's not that I don't sympathize - trust me, I do - but I chuckled over their stupidity in bringing themselves to such a place to begin with.

Of course, rural upstate NY horror levels compare to 30 Days of Night terrors about as much as baby ducklings threaten raging bull demons. But the pretty snow, as well as the peaceful silence of the rural farmland during my solitary stroll, was enough to cause me to jump, stare at the neighbors' kiddie playground set with deep suspicion and superstitious horror (I mean, you KNOW the ghost of her grandfather's baby cousin once removed is going to come floating out), and flee to the "safety" of home.

Oh, wait, this was supposed to be a post about coming home.

...Texas, I am glad to nuzzle back into your familiar, overly-warm bosom. And I'm pretty convinced I'm a beach/city kinda gal.

But now you can't tell me, "Don't knock it 'till you've tried it."

This little piggy is a grade-A wuss prone to over-dramatization of perfectly enjoyable situations for the sake of, well, justifying her wussiness. It really wasn't that bad. But shhh, nobody has to know.

of new experiences

Click on my face to hear me talk about 3 new things I did today, all at once.

wide-eyed wonder

The first time I recall seeing snow outside of, maybe, Texas? Which really doesn't count, as we all know.

In the evening, we walked out to campus. Twice. The second time, we were greeted with tiny flurries of crystal.

Wish I had a picture of me running around chasing snowflakes with my mouth.

In the morning, I woke up to this:

The difference two hours makes ;p

The best way to transition between 2008 and 2009...

...Is going from awesome home to another.

I'm still a total Daddy's girl. Even if I sort of squash him. <3

Daddy spent an hour sitting with me in the airport, telling me the real story about how he and Mom started going out/got engaged while I took copious quantities of pictures and videoed him. Cutie.

I love this man.

Here's a quientessential "Kat" face.

I prefer pockets to purses

Don't you like my super-lazy way of trying on clothing? I think I look quite stylish.

The making of [delicious] beef noodles.

MmmmMMMMmmmmMMMMMmmmm

Hookah!

Olivia looks just like Oliver here - it disturbs me.

Best friends!! Can you tell why??

"Joking when you try to bite me"

Smoky love

SQUIRREL

Garrick allowed me to adorn him.

So why would I possibly pass up the opportunity?

I'd love to say that this one ping-pong ball caused the following reaction...

But honestly, I did pretty badly for my first game. Olivia, on the other hand, is quite boss at beer pong.

Another quintessential "Kat" face.

Stupid faces

This is so cute

Someone attempts to escape Sujal's seductions

Best friends <3 Laugh together all the time, no reason.

Looks like a shot for our sitcom, "A Stroke of Genius" ^_^

Kissy kissy

Puckering up sets us off

And we can't stop even when the sun goes down

Man, Garrick is so funny

Crazy boy

This is what we call a "Sujal" - way more "vodka" than "cranberry. Garrick told me not to down it. Ryammer dared me to down it. I, uh, went with the latter. :\

Direct result

Group shot! That was an awesome ...afternoon/evening

The evil perpetrator

Indirect result of the Sujal

Um, the zombie arises to attack her dare-r.

Dirty Squabble.

Bored before the wedding shooting began

Olivia and Garrick painted one of their walls. It's pretty awesome!! The wall is a tiny bit more teal than this color, but not much. They did the lines with painter's tape, although the edges are a little fuzzy 'cuz of the wall texture.

I ended up really liking this wedding ensemble. Warm, appropriate, and still forgiving of crazy photographers' antics!

The group was kind enough to come down to Fort Worth to pick me up after the wedding and chill at the Flying Saucer.

And by chill, I really meant "chill."

Garrick looks like a CK ad here.

Emo much?

That's more like it. Third quintessential "Kat" face.

Baked wings are so much more delicious than the fried ones.

So good. So. Good.

Sleepiness makes me crazy. Ask anyone who's ever seen me sleep drunk.

Nikon! He's a huge baby.

Crazy crab cannibal

Ceviche!

Steph and crab

So much carnage in one bowl

I really like sausage. ;p

And clam chowder, too!

And fried catfish fillet with tartar sauce... mmm.

Jessi attempts eating 5 saltine crackers in one minute. It was a flop, although our teasing sure didn't help.

Hammer made a posterboard version of me! Her name is Katherine 2.0. I was sort of resentful, because software upgrades always bear higher-numbered names. What, I'm inferior to posterboard? Preposterous!

Creator, created, inspiration. I dumped a sundress on her for dramatic effect. The book to my feet is a gift from Hammer, called "An Abundance of Katherines." I have a penchant for eponymous paraphernalia.

Crazy girl.

I'm a little narcissistic

Nintendo Monopoly. I am proud to say that my bad luck with this game > Hammer's (he had an unbroken losing streak until he played me). However, I did hit Free Parking something like half a dozen times in the course of our rather short game. ^_^

Olivia's an awesome cook with a terrifying face. <3

Delicious. So good. I could eat a million of these. I think I did. :D

Jessi <3

Then I got to hang out with Jess Martin and her sister Megan!! It was really sweet of them to drive over on The Most Awful Day Yet of 2009 and chill with me. This time, I really mean "chill" very literally. We went to Grapevine Mall where Jess and I shopped our hearts out and I'm afraid Megan merely endured the torture. ^_^

Jess Martin and her Frog Prince.

Hot

Group picture!!


Ah, yes. This might take some explanation.

So Hammer and I went to lunch on Tuesday afternoon alone, 'cuz Olivia and Garrick were both at work. While staring blankly at each other across the table, we suddenly formulated a plan to create them an awesome and random surprise. And random it indeed was. We sprinkled rose petals everywhere, bought 12 boxes of Christmas lights that we strung up all over the house, and left signs and a random pregnancy test around. It was great fun. ^_^ We're not sure who the pregnancy test is supposed to be for, since none of us could really be suspected of childbearing, but I guess really, we just wanted to satisfy our curiosity over how well we'd fake one. Answer: Not well... but it was a passable first-glance attempt.

Romantic much? I'm glad I don't have to worry about planning proposals.

I came home from doing a photo shoot to see a man in dress slacks, shirt, and suspenders at the front door, herding Olivia's dogs back into the house. My initial "WTF?!" reaction quickly faded to giggles once I realized it was Hammer, all spiffied up for the grand surprise. So of course, I couldn't not match his efforts.

Do we look like high-class wait staff? We even had Etta James' "At Last" playing! We sprinkled rose petals over the balcony when Olivia, and then Garrick came home. I think they were thoroughly mystified, then entertained.

Giggle giggle.

And that was the end of my time in Dallas. Thanks, Olivia, for being my best friend and everything that goes along with the title. <3 Thanks, Garrick, for being a fantastic host. Thanks, Hammer, for Katherine 2.0 and other schemes. I definitely have a Hammer story (or two, or three) now. Thanks, Sujal, for my bright red drink.