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Sunday, May 20, 2007
Mistake
All future posts about China will appear on Cute Qubit (cutequbit.blogspot.com). Sorry for the confusion.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
CHINA
I have now spent five nights in China, and it feels about time to write my first "Gaven in China" blog post. I've found out that Xanga is right now being blocked in China, but the weird thing is, I also found out that I can post to my blog. I just can't see my blog (so weird!). So I'm just hoping this thing turns out properly, because I have no way of knowing.
Anyway, back to China. Though I'm significantly far from Canada, this place doesn't feel all that foreign. Sure, very few people speak English, but that's the biggest difference. Of course, there's a bunch of little interesting things to say about this place, and that's why I'm writing this post.
My trip here was long; took about 24 hours to get from Toronto to Qingdao (that's including the stop-over in Hong Kong). I had some worries about travelling alone, but it was about as hard to travel by plane alone as it is to travel by bus alone -- not that hard! I sat with a retired doctor on the way down, and we shared some fun conversations.
When I got to Qingdao, I toured the school campus there (the sister campus is in Huandao, where I teach) and noticed that there was a Tsingtao brewing building directly across from the school! Eventually I got back to my place, which turned out not to be half bad (though it's only temporary). Here's a photo of my living room and my balcony.
I also have two bedrooms, but they just look like bedrooms.
Over the next few days, I got to meet the teachers, all of whom are (to my surprise) great people. Canadians dominate in numbers (there's 3 of us), but Aussies and New Zealanders are close behind. Luke (from NZ) has two very cute daughters who attend the school. Unfortunately, being a white kid in China, especially with red hair, makes you a ridiculously huge magnet for attention. I've been out with the kids once, and I already found it to be annoying, though Luke has only lost it once on a crowd who were oogaling his kids.
Oh, here's a pictures I took of the kids.
School, and that whole teaching thing is a story of its own, but much too long to tell. The important thing to know is that so far, I love it! I feel blessed to be able to teach science to little kids (they're in level 7-9, which is equivalent to grade 6-8) since they get so excited about the smallest of things. We were learning about the ear drum, and I had the kids put together "drums" made out of plastic wrap and an empty margarine container (held together by an elastic band). Anyway, I put rice on the drum, and them had a speaker play different frequencies. This makes the rice "dance" quite violently, and when the kids saw this, the "wow's" started coming out. If that's not enough, I get to play with the kids at recess and lunch! I can't express how cool this is! I've always wanted kids, but screw that, I have a whole school of kids to play with!
Anyway, like I said, too long to tell, but I'm sure I'll talk about it more in future posts.
The other fun thing this weekend was that my brother Darryn and his friend Mao Li came down to visit me. You've seen me and likely Darryn before, so here's a photo of Mao Li:
The two of them came late on Friday night, so we really only had time for eating some street meat (so cheap!) and do some street wandering, which was great since I'm still trying to get my directions down here. And since I can't find a map of Huangdao, I've started drawing one, which has proving itself helpful.
On Saturday, we all went down to Golden Sands Beach, and here's my proof.
The last picture of me is in one of the many "rubble zones" that you can find around any urban area of China. It's the physical representation of "out with the old, in with the new," and also the closest I'll ever be to something that looks like a war zone.
We next took a ferry to Qingdao for a little more action. Proof:
An interesting, though not uncommon thing happened to me while I was on the ferry. A man came up to me and asked for me to take a picture for him. This was partly unusual, as the vast majority of people here speak little to no English. I thought he was asking me to take a picture of him and his family, but he wanted me to be in the picture with his family. Then, just one with their two or so year old kid. I put my arm around the kid; they really liked that. But that's just China, you can be a celebrity for just not being Asian. And of course, if people want to take pictures of me with their kids, imagine how hard it is to do anything remotely unusual without a crowd developing. I made up a game with magnets which I was trying to play with Mao Li. Anyway, a larger than comfortable crowd appeared, and I had to put an end to it.
The day in Qingdao was pretty good. We met up with some of Mao Li's friends:
And the English speaking went from 50% to 2% of the time (Darryn and I were the only strong English speakers. Mao Li could only speak a little English, but much more English than I can speak Chinese). The most interesting place we visited was what I called "Love Land." This is where couples (who are already married) come to get their "wedding photo's" taken. It was weird to see so many brides, but kinda cool. Here's a barrage of pictures:
Oh, and here are a bunch of brides on a rock:
Later that night, Darryn, Mao Li, and I went out for dinner. The notable thing was the famous "beer in a bag" that you could buy at a TsingTao restaurant. Seems ridiculous, but it actually worked really well. Here's Darryn posing with his:
We stayed at some hotel for under 100rmb (less than $15CAN). The next day we went to a radio tower (not all that interesting, I have no pictures to prove my time there) but the walk in the adjacent park was quite fun. I found this odd picture which I'm still trying to figure out:
Also, we had to climb some gate, which many Chinese people were doing too (I think it was to avoid some fare, but it was just a shortcut for us), but when we climbed it, out came the crowds. I guess things are more interesting when a foreigner does it.
We all hung out for a little longer, and then I went to take the ferry back to Huangdao while Darryn and Mao Li went to the airport. This was a little worrisome as I was on my own, and my CHinese was horrible, but I had been practicing "how much money" and stuff like that, so I figured I could get a Taxi when I got to Huangdao. Though that's not what happened. As I walked out of the ferry terminal -- pretending to know where I was going, some Chinese woman asked me if I needed any help. I was blown away, her English was great! Then, she paid for my bus fair (I payed her back), gave me information about where to go to meet other foreigners, and (you're not going to believe this) literally walked me to my apartment building door! Definitely out of her way, but she thought I might get lost, and insisted on helping me. I'm pretty sure that was the nicest stranger interaction I've ever had!
So that's how the last few days have so far shaped up. My Chinese (which is only 4 days old) is still painful for people to hear, but I'm putting a strong effort forward. And every morning, I practice speaking the words with one of the support staff that works at the school. Hopefully soon I will have enough skill to practice with strangers.
And lastly, before I go. So far I've been really bad with responding to emails/messages. I will get on top of that when time flies into my hands. And since I can't see this blog, if you want me to see a comment, please don't put it on this blog -- I won't be able to see it for 14 or so months if you do.
Talk to you all soon!
Anyway, back to China. Though I'm significantly far from Canada, this place doesn't feel all that foreign. Sure, very few people speak English, but that's the biggest difference. Of course, there's a bunch of little interesting things to say about this place, and that's why I'm writing this post.
My trip here was long; took about 24 hours to get from Toronto to Qingdao (that's including the stop-over in Hong Kong). I had some worries about travelling alone, but it was about as hard to travel by plane alone as it is to travel by bus alone -- not that hard! I sat with a retired doctor on the way down, and we shared some fun conversations.
When I got to Qingdao, I toured the school campus there (the sister campus is in Huandao, where I teach) and noticed that there was a Tsingtao brewing building directly across from the school! Eventually I got back to my place, which turned out not to be half bad (though it's only temporary). Here's a photo of my living room and my balcony.
I also have two bedrooms, but they just look like bedrooms.
Over the next few days, I got to meet the teachers, all of whom are (to my surprise) great people. Canadians dominate in numbers (there's 3 of us), but Aussies and New Zealanders are close behind. Luke (from NZ) has two very cute daughters who attend the school. Unfortunately, being a white kid in China, especially with red hair, makes you a ridiculously huge magnet for attention. I've been out with the kids once, and I already found it to be annoying, though Luke has only lost it once on a crowd who were oogaling his kids.
Oh, here's a pictures I took of the kids.
School, and that whole teaching thing is a story of its own, but much too long to tell. The important thing to know is that so far, I love it! I feel blessed to be able to teach science to little kids (they're in level 7-9, which is equivalent to grade 6-8) since they get so excited about the smallest of things. We were learning about the ear drum, and I had the kids put together "drums" made out of plastic wrap and an empty margarine container (held together by an elastic band). Anyway, I put rice on the drum, and them had a speaker play different frequencies. This makes the rice "dance" quite violently, and when the kids saw this, the "wow's" started coming out. If that's not enough, I get to play with the kids at recess and lunch! I can't express how cool this is! I've always wanted kids, but screw that, I have a whole school of kids to play with!
Anyway, like I said, too long to tell, but I'm sure I'll talk about it more in future posts.
The other fun thing this weekend was that my brother Darryn and his friend Mao Li came down to visit me. You've seen me and likely Darryn before, so here's a photo of Mao Li:
The two of them came late on Friday night, so we really only had time for eating some street meat (so cheap!) and do some street wandering, which was great since I'm still trying to get my directions down here. And since I can't find a map of Huangdao, I've started drawing one, which has proving itself helpful.
On Saturday, we all went down to Golden Sands Beach, and here's my proof.
The last picture of me is in one of the many "rubble zones" that you can find around any urban area of China. It's the physical representation of "out with the old, in with the new," and also the closest I'll ever be to something that looks like a war zone.
We next took a ferry to Qingdao for a little more action. Proof:
An interesting, though not uncommon thing happened to me while I was on the ferry. A man came up to me and asked for me to take a picture for him. This was partly unusual, as the vast majority of people here speak little to no English. I thought he was asking me to take a picture of him and his family, but he wanted me to be in the picture with his family. Then, just one with their two or so year old kid. I put my arm around the kid; they really liked that. But that's just China, you can be a celebrity for just not being Asian. And of course, if people want to take pictures of me with their kids, imagine how hard it is to do anything remotely unusual without a crowd developing. I made up a game with magnets which I was trying to play with Mao Li. Anyway, a larger than comfortable crowd appeared, and I had to put an end to it.
The day in Qingdao was pretty good. We met up with some of Mao Li's friends:
And the English speaking went from 50% to 2% of the time (Darryn and I were the only strong English speakers. Mao Li could only speak a little English, but much more English than I can speak Chinese). The most interesting place we visited was what I called "Love Land." This is where couples (who are already married) come to get their "wedding photo's" taken. It was weird to see so many brides, but kinda cool. Here's a barrage of pictures:
Oh, and here are a bunch of brides on a rock:
Later that night, Darryn, Mao Li, and I went out for dinner. The notable thing was the famous "beer in a bag" that you could buy at a TsingTao restaurant. Seems ridiculous, but it actually worked really well. Here's Darryn posing with his:
We stayed at some hotel for under 100rmb (less than $15CAN). The next day we went to a radio tower (not all that interesting, I have no pictures to prove my time there) but the walk in the adjacent park was quite fun. I found this odd picture which I'm still trying to figure out:
Also, we had to climb some gate, which many Chinese people were doing too (I think it was to avoid some fare, but it was just a shortcut for us), but when we climbed it, out came the crowds. I guess things are more interesting when a foreigner does it.
We all hung out for a little longer, and then I went to take the ferry back to Huangdao while Darryn and Mao Li went to the airport. This was a little worrisome as I was on my own, and my CHinese was horrible, but I had been practicing "how much money" and stuff like that, so I figured I could get a Taxi when I got to Huangdao. Though that's not what happened. As I walked out of the ferry terminal -- pretending to know where I was going, some Chinese woman asked me if I needed any help. I was blown away, her English was great! Then, she paid for my bus fair (I payed her back), gave me information about where to go to meet other foreigners, and (you're not going to believe this) literally walked me to my apartment building door! Definitely out of her way, but she thought I might get lost, and insisted on helping me. I'm pretty sure that was the nicest stranger interaction I've ever had!
So that's how the last few days have so far shaped up. My Chinese (which is only 4 days old) is still painful for people to hear, but I'm putting a strong effort forward. And every morning, I practice speaking the words with one of the support staff that works at the school. Hopefully soon I will have enough skill to practice with strangers.
And lastly, before I go. So far I've been really bad with responding to emails/messages. I will get on top of that when time flies into my hands. And since I can't see this blog, if you want me to see a comment, please don't put it on this blog -- I won't be able to see it for 14 or so months if you do.
Talk to you all soon!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Slap Costume
Artist: Duffy
It’s not easy to tell, but this pastel was part of a game. Well Duffy invented the game, and actually he was the only one that ever played the game, but it was an excellent pastel drawing game, and I simply have to share it with you.
The game is actually pretty simple. You take a dictionary and flip to a random page. On that page you’re allowed to pick any word you want (aside from the words in the definitions), but you must stick with the page you flipped to. You repeat this for a second page, which leaves you with two words. Your job now is to draw your interpretation of those two words. In Duffy’s case, he got the words slap and costume, which left him with a boy trick-or-treating in a giant hand costume. People being shocked at the ridiculous costume gave the kid little candy, and thus the text at the top of the drawing.
This isn’t the first mention of a pastel drawing game on House of Pastels. I also talked about another game in the post You Suddenly Realize that you Need to see a Psychiatrist. Duffy actually invented a second game during the same pastel drawing session, but we never had a chance to play it. The game involves one person drawing on one half of a piece of paper, and then covering that half, except for a small band which will connect to the other half. Next a second person continues drawing on the second half making sure to connect to the small band that the first person left visible. Once the second person is finished, the entire drawing is revealed to both artist.
It’s not easy to tell, but this pastel was part of a game. Well Duffy invented the game, and actually he was the only one that ever played the game, but it was an excellent pastel drawing game, and I simply have to share it with you.
The game is actually pretty simple. You take a dictionary and flip to a random page. On that page you’re allowed to pick any word you want (aside from the words in the definitions), but you must stick with the page you flipped to. You repeat this for a second page, which leaves you with two words. Your job now is to draw your interpretation of those two words. In Duffy’s case, he got the words slap and costume, which left him with a boy trick-or-treating in a giant hand costume. People being shocked at the ridiculous costume gave the kid little candy, and thus the text at the top of the drawing.
This isn’t the first mention of a pastel drawing game on House of Pastels. I also talked about another game in the post You Suddenly Realize that you Need to see a Psychiatrist. Duffy actually invented a second game during the same pastel drawing session, but we never had a chance to play it. The game involves one person drawing on one half of a piece of paper, and then covering that half, except for a small band which will connect to the other half. Next a second person continues drawing on the second half making sure to connect to the small band that the first person left visible. Once the second person is finished, the entire drawing is revealed to both artist.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Hockey Game
Artist: Hunter
During my most recent visit to Waterloo, I had the chance to meet Chantal’s boyfriend Hunter. After about a few hours, Hunter was giving me piggy pack rides while encouraging me to cause trouble. It was obvious that Hunter and I were soul mates, but as Chantal is a good friend of mine, I figure I’ll just have to get over my feelings.
If Chantal’s on your Facebook, you might immediately recognize what event Hunter is paying tribute to with his drawing. As I understand it, Chantal and Hunter went to a hockey game together...well I’m sure there’s more to the story than that, but I’ll just ruin it if I try to explain it. So just talk to Chantal about it, or read her blog, or at the very least, check out her Facebook pictures.
During my most recent visit to Waterloo, I had the chance to meet Chantal’s boyfriend Hunter. After about a few hours, Hunter was giving me piggy pack rides while encouraging me to cause trouble. It was obvious that Hunter and I were soul mates, but as Chantal is a good friend of mine, I figure I’ll just have to get over my feelings.
If Chantal’s on your Facebook, you might immediately recognize what event Hunter is paying tribute to with his drawing. As I understand it, Chantal and Hunter went to a hockey game together...well I’m sure there’s more to the story than that, but I’ll just ruin it if I try to explain it. So just talk to Chantal about it, or read her blog, or at the very least, check out her Facebook pictures.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Curious Robot
Artist: Gaven
This is actually a remake of a previous drawing of mine. I first drew this picture about a year ago, but it was nearly impossible to tell what the picture was about. I liked what the picture was about so I held onto it, but I was disappointed that my message hadn’t had a proper chance to be communicated. So when I sat down one afternoon to draw with my sister Faria, I decided to take the opportunity to redo the picture. In the end, I decided my second picture, though far from perfect, beat-out the old one which will most likely find its way to a recycling bin.
In this picture, the “curious robot” is investigating what’s behind a pair of shutters. Though he doesn’t realize it, it will result in its death as the light will melt through the block of ice and the robot will fall to its death.
The theme: some things hurt to find out.
When I drew the first version, I had learned something which I realized would have been better left undiscovered. Sometimes I look back at pictures which I drew when I was upset and deem them as “whiny”, but this one serves as a reminder that not all information is wanted information, and thus, the reasons for why I first drew the original drawing has merely become a historical footnote for the drawing.
This is actually a remake of a previous drawing of mine. I first drew this picture about a year ago, but it was nearly impossible to tell what the picture was about. I liked what the picture was about so I held onto it, but I was disappointed that my message hadn’t had a proper chance to be communicated. So when I sat down one afternoon to draw with my sister Faria, I decided to take the opportunity to redo the picture. In the end, I decided my second picture, though far from perfect, beat-out the old one which will most likely find its way to a recycling bin.
In this picture, the “curious robot” is investigating what’s behind a pair of shutters. Though he doesn’t realize it, it will result in its death as the light will melt through the block of ice and the robot will fall to its death.
The theme: some things hurt to find out.
When I drew the first version, I had learned something which I realized would have been better left undiscovered. Sometimes I look back at pictures which I drew when I was upset and deem them as “whiny”, but this one serves as a reminder that not all information is wanted information, and thus, the reasons for why I first drew the original drawing has merely become a historical footnote for the drawing.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
“Do You Think” ... “He Knows?”
Artist: Matthew
Matthew is the eldest of my two brothers. When I went to live with him for my final practicum, I decided to bring with me as little as possible. I left my computer at home, along with most of the odds and ends that usually follow me around. I only brought clothing, some science fiction stories, and of course, my pastels. When I brought out my pastel drawings to show Matthew and his wife Faria (I usually leave “law” out of “sister in law” when I refer to Faria, as “sister in law” sounds far too technical), Matthew immediately wanted to draw his own pastel drawing.
Now you probably don’t know Matthew, so I should first say a few things about him. He’s definitely smarter and more creative than me. That sounds sad [for me], but it really isn’t as he’s on my side (that is, if there’s ever an intergalactic war of the families, I’ll be on a pretty good team). He currently is a writer, which means it probably causes him considerable pain to read the many errors that I make in writing my blogs (I’m not going to pretend my blogs aren’t full of errors as many people have already given me lessons on the usage of English after reading some of my posts).
Anyway, I’m pretty sure that when Matthew put pastel to paper, he hadn’t an idea what would come of it. The impressive thing is that something did come of it.
The picture is of two headless men assembling a Mr. Potato Head. During the constructive of the potato’s face, the two figures wonder whether the potato knows that he is constructed by them.
If you think a little deeper, this picture says a lot more, but I will leave it to you to make your own interpretation of the picture.
Matthew is the eldest of my two brothers. When I went to live with him for my final practicum, I decided to bring with me as little as possible. I left my computer at home, along with most of the odds and ends that usually follow me around. I only brought clothing, some science fiction stories, and of course, my pastels. When I brought out my pastel drawings to show Matthew and his wife Faria (I usually leave “law” out of “sister in law” when I refer to Faria, as “sister in law” sounds far too technical), Matthew immediately wanted to draw his own pastel drawing.
Now you probably don’t know Matthew, so I should first say a few things about him. He’s definitely smarter and more creative than me. That sounds sad [for me], but it really isn’t as he’s on my side (that is, if there’s ever an intergalactic war of the families, I’ll be on a pretty good team). He currently is a writer, which means it probably causes him considerable pain to read the many errors that I make in writing my blogs (I’m not going to pretend my blogs aren’t full of errors as many people have already given me lessons on the usage of English after reading some of my posts).
Anyway, I’m pretty sure that when Matthew put pastel to paper, he hadn’t an idea what would come of it. The impressive thing is that something did come of it.
The picture is of two headless men assembling a Mr. Potato Head. During the constructive of the potato’s face, the two figures wonder whether the potato knows that he is constructed by them.
If you think a little deeper, this picture says a lot more, but I will leave it to you to make your own interpretation of the picture.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Hearts and Brains
Artist: Gaven
If you’ve been a long-time reader of my Cute Qubit, the meaning of this picture might clearly jump out at you. Actually, if you’ve listened to me while I’ve vented about my body not being on my side, then you certainly should know what this picture is about.
Since I’ve talked about the conflict between my mind and heart far too many times, I’m not all that keen in getting into it again here. The basic idea is that I mark a clear division between my thoughts and my feelings, and the two groups don’t always agree (I’m sure this isn’t a unique action). Luckily I’m pretty good at figuring out who’s saying what, though this hasn’t prevented the heart from having its way when the brain had strongly opposed an action. Usually the heart waits for the brain to make a logical error that it can exploit. The mistake might only last a few seconds, but that’s plenty of time for all sorts of trouble to follow.
I began drawing this picture one night when Stella and I had particularly poor days. She suggested the marvellous idea of “having a beer and drawing with pastels at midnight,” an activity which I can see having no flaws.
The heart and brain were drawn by first drawing a solid heart and a solid brain each in a light colour. Then the two were coloured over with a darker colour, and the details of the two characters were created by scratching out lines using a pen lid.
The picture itself is of a heart who wants to pull a reluctant brain along its own path.
If you’ve been a long-time reader of my Cute Qubit, the meaning of this picture might clearly jump out at you. Actually, if you’ve listened to me while I’ve vented about my body not being on my side, then you certainly should know what this picture is about.
Since I’ve talked about the conflict between my mind and heart far too many times, I’m not all that keen in getting into it again here. The basic idea is that I mark a clear division between my thoughts and my feelings, and the two groups don’t always agree (I’m sure this isn’t a unique action). Luckily I’m pretty good at figuring out who’s saying what, though this hasn’t prevented the heart from having its way when the brain had strongly opposed an action. Usually the heart waits for the brain to make a logical error that it can exploit. The mistake might only last a few seconds, but that’s plenty of time for all sorts of trouble to follow.
I began drawing this picture one night when Stella and I had particularly poor days. She suggested the marvellous idea of “having a beer and drawing with pastels at midnight,” an activity which I can see having no flaws.
The heart and brain were drawn by first drawing a solid heart and a solid brain each in a light colour. Then the two were coloured over with a darker colour, and the details of the two characters were created by scratching out lines using a pen lid.
The picture itself is of a heart who wants to pull a reluctant brain along its own path.
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