Journal for apickard tag:blog.willamette.edu,2007:/people/apickard/journal/421 2007-12-26T11:13:19Z Movable Type 3.2 Christmas in China tag:blog.willamette.edu,2007:/people/apickard/journal//421.16511 2007-12-26T11:11:55Z 2007-12-26T11:13:19Z Well, what the crap, I am writing another update about China. Well, lets update you first on what is going on in my head. I had a dream last night that took place in Tacoma, except Tacoma was as cold... Andrew H Pickard Well, what the crap, I am writing another update about China. Well, lets update you first on what is going on in my head. I had a dream last night that took place in Tacoma, except Tacoma was as cold and icy as it is here and a little post apocalyptic. Basically it was like a mix between China and Tacoma. Anyways I was some sort of teacher or student. Anyways in the dream there was a girl that i had some sort of crazy crush on. But also there was someone else who had the same crush on her. Well, they planned on assassinating me. so i was down by downtown and Puget sound was frozen and there was a sniper up on a building. me and my troops were pinned down. then we made a sweet plan to assassinate my enemy. anyways we killed the snipper i think but then I was up top and there were some people on the ice. I realized if i peed on the ice it would melt. so i tried to melt the ice. that is about when i woke up. I think i had to go to the bathroom.

So, i was Jesus the other day. well, more like I played jesus the other day, in an interpretive dance thingy for a Christmas pageant at my church. I think it went pretty well. The Christmas season has been a weird thing here in China. I have done Christmas shopping and gave some gifts, i even went to a few Christmas parties. But, it just feels as a whole,not many people really understands Christmas here. Which makes sense considering when China looks to the traditions and things we do in the US they simply see the consumerism of Christmas. SO, the chinese Christmas traditionally looks like this. Millions of people go shopping on christmas eve and christmas day. When i say millions i that is an not even close to exagerating. I went shopping christmas eve night and literally millions of people were there, I have never in my entire life seen so many people in a crowd like that. If you would remember with me the third lord of the rings. The final battle, and the ghost army. That roughly half the size and density of the crowd i was in. So, shopping wasnt what really tipped me off that most people here have missed the point of Christmas, but the fact that there were a lot of vendors selling devil horns, and even more people who were wearing them. Now something just seems a bit off, if most people are celebrating christmas with devil horns...
So since I have moved, me and my roommates have all taken roles, that correspond to a family. I have become the father of the house (i think cause i have a job, and am a bit more busy than the others) my friend Peter is the Mom (cause he cooks a lot, and dont call me sexist) then Peters girlfriend(who doesnt live here but is here all of the time anyways) is the older sister, and the vietnamese girl is the younger sister. So this is the dynamic i am currently living with. It is fun, especially cause I dont really have to cook very often.

So, this is what sucks: bad smells, getting stabbed, thieves, itches, sulking, and most of all the banks policy when you type the wrong pin number for your debit card. I will explain the last one. It was christmas eve, my camera had broke about a week earlier, so I was checking out the deals on cameras, I found a good camera for a good price. I went to the atm to take out the the money, The numbers were in a weird order, I forgot my pin, I tried thee times, the machine ate my debit card. Ok now what. I have no debit card, and only 100 rmb. I get paid on friday, but I need my card back just to live basically. well the guard tells me to come back the next day and get my card back. I spend 15 rmb for a taxi to get back there. get my card, find out that my card has been marked and I cant use it at all now. I take my card and spend 25 rmb on a taxi to get back home. Now i have 60 rmb. about 40 of that is going to the taxi cost of getting to my job on friday. Now i gotta figure in eating, i still have some points at my cafeteria. I can live off that for a few days if need be. Ok if i can make it until friday i will get paid and things will be fine for a while, but i still need access to my money because I will be traveling in less than a month and i cant really carry around a bunch of cash. Now let me repeat why this is all happened. 3 TIMES!!! I tried three times to get my pin number correct. that is it. Now I am royally screwed and left for dead. I am glad the the bank has my money's safety in mind, but frick, i care a little more about my safety than my money. I have to wait until i can get back into contact with my family to even start getting this worked out, but i am certain it will not be easy. Why are banks stupid, did it really have to mark my card so i cant use it, just taking my card would have been good enough, i had to prove it was me to get it back from the bank. So now i not only do i not have a camera, but also i dont have much of anything i can live on for more than a couple days. Lucky i have friends i can rely on if i get into too much of a problem.

]]> Not much time, yet I still do nothing tag:blog.willamette.edu,2007:/people/apickard/journal//421.15180 2007-08-27T13:44:20Z 2007-08-29T09:40:46Z ok, I have less than a week in the US and I am just sitting here right now. I probaly should be studying Chinese, or doing my devotional, or talking to a friend before I leave. No, instead I am... Andrew H Pickard ok, I have less than a week in the US and I am just sitting here right now. I probaly should be studying Chinese, or doing my devotional, or talking to a friend before I leave. No, instead I am writing my first blog listening to Keane and being emo. interesting... so poop is funny, and I am excited to poop on another continent. probably an experience worth noting. hmmm... I still do not know what tone I want these things to be. I would like to make them funny and entertaining for everyone who will be reading, but I also want to remember what it is that I experienced as my brain can forget things quickly. in fact the summer I just spent at Firwood is already starting to fade. I got back yesterday. One day later I found myself looking at pictures from last week and saying to myself, "man, those were the days, I really miss those people." anyways I hope someone reads this. actually, it would be funnier if no one reads this and I still write it anyways. although that way is a lot more lonely. I guess I have a decission to make, funny or lonely. you will actually make that decision. well, I have no adventures to report so farewell.

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