Duller things first. Miraculously, the ARC Micro Enterprise Development Team managed to finish the grant period successfully, meeting all of our objectives for the grant period. I wasn’t so sure we could do it when I became coordinator back in January, but some great staff hires and a lot of hard work later, we did it! We now have our offices and programs up and running full steam ahead in all 3 camps of operation. And the last coordinator said it couldn’t be done. Eat your heart out!
Exhausted, I planned a trip, a sort of reward for myself in June, once all of the reporting for the grant year was finished. I went to Beijing for a week to visit my college roommate and lovely friend Mallory who has been living and working in China for two years.
She’s awesome. Also, I was going to CHINA. This was also awesome. It was like winning the lottery twice, good friend and new travel adventure all at once.
First thing was to get my visa. If you read back over the postings on this blog from my time in Bolivia, you will see that I love bureaucracy. A LOT. The Chinese consulate in Bangkok and the visa process was no exception to any other bureaucratic circus EXCEPT that this one involved a footrace. Really. It was great. Like you do for most bureaucratic nightmares, I prepared by getting my forms in order (using the form off of THEIR website) and going early to wait in what I presumed was a line in front of the building before it opened. When 8:30 came, the building opened, and instead of proceeding down the hall and up the stairs to the second floor in a generally non-violent, non-confrontational mass, everyone took off running. Well, I’m American, and naturally competitive, and a jogger to boot, so I took off running with everyone and, though caught off guard by the whole thing and in spite of wearing heels, came in 6th out of about 30 people. Thank God, because I still had to wait half an hour. This waiting was a mixed blessing, though, because the form from the Chinese consular services webpage was incorrect and I had to fill out new forms then and there. When I got up to the service window I discovered that I needed my two forms, two passport photos, my passport, and, something that, like the correct application form, had not been listed on the website, verification of a hotel reservation in China. I cried, I complained, I pleaded with the poor girl who was very uncomfortable with my emotional outburst, but she sent me out onto the streets of Bangkok to figure it out anyway. I found an internet café, made a reservation at the Beijing Hilton, printed out the confirmation, and went back. No problem. Later that afternoon I repeated the race, this time coming in second to pick up my passport (yay me!). Then I went back to the internet café and cancelled my reservation at the Hilton. No harm, no foul.
China itself was fantastic! Mallory collected me at the airport and it was so great to see her. It had been ages and ages, since our graduation, in fact, and we’d both had a lot to share and catch up on. For me, it was also so very cool to be on her turf, to be in a new cultural environment where she could show me the ropes, feed me the food, and also, where we could just hang out.
One of our first adventures was to the Wall. You know, the Great One. It was big. I never understood about the wall. I thought you went and walked up to it and took a couple of pictures and whatever. Apparently, you hike it. I wasn’t really clear about this until we were doing it. We had the option of doing a little bit of it and then backtracking or going a full 30 towers. I can quit. I mean, I’m not a quitter or anything but I know when to say when. But this was very cool and we did, towards the middle, decide to complete the whole hike. I’m glad we did, though I was exhausted by the end of it.
One of our first adventures was to the Wall. You know, the Great One. It was big. I never understood about the wall. I thought you went and walked up to it and took a couple of pictures and whatever. Apparently, you hike it. I wasn’t really clear about this until we were doing it. We had the option of doing a little bit of it and then backtracking or going a full 30 towers. I can quit. I mean, I’m not a quitter or anything but I know when to say when. But this was very cool and we did, towards the middle, decide to complete the whole hike. I’m glad we did, though I was exhausted by the end of it.
The awesome thing about being a tourist somewhere when you know someone who actually knows something about the place you are, is that you get to see and do stuff you might not otherwise. The Wall was a great example of this. Mallory knew where to go that wasn’t very touristy and where had parts of the wall that had been restored and parts that hadn’t. It was perfect.
Mallory also fed me a lot. Like, a lot. It was really really wonderful.
We saw other stuff, like the Temple of Heaven, and I did some adventuring on my own to the Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen Square, etc. Mal took me shopping for pearls (oooooh!) and for souvenirs, but after Thailand, I found bargaining really stressful. But I think the parks in Beijing will stand out as my favorite thing. People go to parks to do all sorts of things, practice ballroom dancing, play chess and card games, practice calligraphy, anything. And you can go and sit and watch and it’s great. I really loved it. We saw another SLC grad while in Beijing and this was fantastic and really, the whole thing was just a lovefest. I also discovered my new favorite thing, Arrested Development, but that’s a whole other story. I could go on forever.
Mallory was very good at humoring me, martinis, green tea, pizza, hummus, directions in Chinese to whichever place, she was very accommodating and kind about whatever my little heart desired.
The gearing up for the Olympics was pretty incredible, though. There were big countdown clocks everywhere. Apparently, the government has put a huge effort into a propaganda campaign trying to get people to behave in specific ways that are intended to be more accommodating to foreign visitors. People are supposed to do things like not spit and stand in line. In one bizarre incident, Mallory and I saw a bunch of Chinese tourists at the Temple of Heaven discuss how they should make a line for something and then make a line and then yell at someone who tried to cut the line about how they had made a line. Mallory said that a year ago that never would have happened.
Back to Thailand was nice, each time I leave and go home to Umphang it feels more like home. Though this time it wasn’t long before some serious rumblings came up. It was a lot of turmoil, but basically one of our grants got cut and my two housemates and closest friends, supports and…family here in Thailand got laid off. They, some of our administrative staff (who I ADORE) and a portion of our camp staff all, it was announced one terrible day, would be going within a month. This was just very very harsh. Once I see my Katebug off I will go home to Seattle for a couple of weeks to make sure the family knows how I am still and I will return to figure out life in Umphang again. I’m not sure how you can do this work and live in this kind of isolation without support, though. I will do my best to negotiate it.
I suppose this is the nature of this work, people come and go a lot. It’s just the way of things. I think this feels really harsh because it was unexpected. No one knew it was coming so no one is prepared for it. Emotions are running high and those of us (very few of us) staying have no emotional contingency plan in case of our confidantes and friends being sent away.
Anyway, the show will go on one way or another. And that’s all from me for now.
LOVE!
me
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