After class Ben Malki and I went to the electronics superstore to buy him a new charger for his computer. I was blathering on in Chinese about how "this object does not work and he would like to buy a new one" and then the salesman busted out with perfect English, saying "Yes, your charger is not functioning and you would like to purchase a new one!" Oh well! We chatted with him for a while and it turns out he is from Urumqi, which is in far western China, Xinjiang Province. Ben and I also swung by the Off Price Mart (doesn't it just sound full of bargains?) which appears to be a sort of super ghetto department store, which is full of racks of clothes, shoes, appliances, etc., all on sale. Some group members had purchased some fly football [soccer] jackets at Off Price and we wanted to scope out the selection. The authentic Adidas section was somewhat paltry, only having one Bahamas jacket, which Panos already owned, and a Rio de Janeiro one that Ben rejected on account of it having a silkscreen of Jesus. Ben being a Jew but one inherently suspicious of all religions (including his own), he did not feel comfortable wearing Jesus around. Apparently he is not a Jew for Jesus.
We decided to try the fake Adidas section, and found two options that intrigued us, a bright orange jacket with the name Robben on the back and a mysterious man's face on the front. We called Panos and learned that Robben is a Dutch player who is currently on Real Madrid. I rejected it on the basis of Robben's Dutch-ness and checked out the other option, a white and red number mimicking a retro jacket from the Egyptian soccer team Zamalek. Ben rejected it on account of funny construction ("Your shoulder pads look like Star Trek" was his reasoning). I finally found a jacket I liked in the Arsenal section (English premier league fans will be intrigued to know that there was no Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur, just Arsenal) and got it for 180 Yuan. I have no idea if it's real or fake, but it's sharp looking and appears well constructed. Finally I have bought something in China!!! (yay) Ben was joking that now I'm fully invested as a (long suffering) Arsenal fan and I'd better get cracking on their statistics. Looks like their next match is today (Saturday) vs. Newcastle United, but due to the magic of China being ahead of Europe, it will take place at like 1am Beijing time.
After shopping we met up for a dinner/lecture at the hotel restaurant so that Goddard could give us a breakdown of how to behave at a fancy Chinese banquet. It was an interesting and informative lecture, some of the more useful tips were to just push things around on your plate if you don't like it, no one will notice, and to claim you are on medication if you don't want to drink. There is much importance given to the retention and potential loss of face, and how the guest must ensure that the host does not lose face in front of his/her peers. We have a fair number of Mormons at Thunderbird, most of which are cool, but some insist on rubbing in EVERY TIME that they can't drink and it gets very tiresome. Hopefully Goddard's little lecture will make some impact on them. The food was pretty good, too, not too oily and fresh vegetables. I found this surprising, especially given the fact that this was a hotel restaurant.
Today was the last class of RBE: Asia, hallelujah! The focus shifted to India, which was interesting as I know a lot less about the country than I probably should. Some of our Indian students (who not surprisingly are all from the top echelons of Indian society both caste-wise and income wise; we have all Brahmins except one Sikh) got quite argumentative about some topics, such as the issues with poverty in India. One student tried to claim that the poor people are happy in their situation, which sounded rather fishy. I kept thinking of my friend Christy's work rescuing prostitutes in Calcutta, where they had some girls whose villages were so poor that the life of a prostitute was preferable than living in the village--the girls had 3 full meals a day, new clothes, their own room and didn't have to work. If there are people in your country who would rather sell themselves than live in their hometowns, there is a serious problem with poverty! Compared to China, India has a much lower GDP per capital and a higher percentage of people living below the poverty line. Additionally, even though very high quality education is available to those who can pay for it, the literacy rate is not that high (60% compared to China's 90%). India still has a lot of growth potential in the world economy. The government's protectionist policies and perceived corruption have been retarding the countries growth, so Goddard emphasized those factors as a reason why India has not grown as quickly as China.
We finished up class FINALLY and broke for the weekend (what's left of it). Tonight I plan to hit up the Wudaokou area with Mike Logan and maybe some karaoke later. Tomorrow we have an arranged tour of the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square. I figure since they are providing transportation and I paid for it, I will be going. More updates to come later!
Here are some photos to tide you over:
The crepe master outside my hotel.
Beijing biker gang! Nikhil and I show off our student bikes. Dig my pink Chuck Taylors!
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