Perma-Culture Shock

Eggplant!

This past weekend, I enjoyed a quick jaunt to 西安 (Xi'an). Unbeknownst to me, the Xi'anites (Xi'anians?) have a self-satisfying motto that appropriately summarizes my own first-hand exposure to Chinese history: "If you want to study 100 years of Chinese civilization, go to 深圳 (Shenzhen). If you want to study 1,000 years of civilization, go to 北京 (Beijing). But if you want to study 5,000 years of civilization, go to 西安."

As the motto would indicate, 西安 is a city filled with relics and preserved buildings from various dynasties. 西安 was one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, and China has done a surprisingly outstanding job of preserving and restoring the city's value. (China is infamous for destroying historical districts and old buildings for the sake of development.)

Thai/Tie Pun II: El(i)es and Wats' Wat

After a two month hiatus from blogging, I am returning with recollections--recollections of the two month hiatus from blogging. I do not feel like my vacation was a "whirlwind" or that it "flew by." Actually, eight weeks of vacation feels exactly like eight weeks of vacation when entire weeks are defined by a specific activity, reunions, and locations. This is the fourth and final entry of journal "highlights"--here is the first entry, the second entry, and the third entry (which was the first half of my time in Thailand). These are excerpts from what I wrote while I was in or around Chiang Mai and Cambodia. Hereafter, I promise my blog's contents will shift from personal journal regurgitation.

Eyes of the ele

***

01/28

I slept terribly last night; I woke repeatedly to mosquitoes biting my face. At least they weren't bed bugs.

Our cubby in our train car sleeps four passengers. Coincidentally, I bump into a fellow alum from my childhood summer camp--he sleeps two-cubbies-down.

01/29

"Good morneen," the car manager calls as she walks the aisle. "Brekfest fifteen minoots."

I slide open my lower berth's curtains. The air-con reasserts its unforgettable presence without the poor shield that was the curtain; I've been freezing for the nearly nine hours of Benadryl-clouded sleep. At some point in the night, I wake to put on my flannel; the cotton blanket does not match the pillow in comfort-level. 

While eating my rice soup with chicken, I join our cubby's roommates (a body-odor-plagued French couple) in watching the hills covered in tropical forest--not quite rainforest. We rumble past a pineapple orchard, and I wonder if I'm not stationary while everything crashes past.

Thai/Tie Pun.

After a two month hiatus from blogging, I am returning with recollections--recollections of the two month hiatus from blogging. I do not feel like my vacation was a "whirlwind" or that it "flew by." Actually, eight weeks of vacation feels exactly like eight weeks of vacation when entire weeks are defined by a specific activity, reunions, and locations. This is the second entry of journal "highlights"--here is the first entry and the second entry. These are excerpts from what I wrote while I was in Thailand's south and Bangkok. More soon, friends and family!

Thai style

***
 
01/17
 
I watch the sunset beyond the backside of the wings. Because of visa restrictions and unexpected inquiries at the ticket desk in Hawaii, I'm not even sure that I can enter Thailand without an onward ticket--I just have the plan to walk across the border to Cambodia.

After reading last year's journal entries, I begin a line of questioning about my direction and my context. I come to a conclusion that I do not feel lost, but I am certainly not feeling as engaged in my daily life as I would like to be.

Confertzel Cookbook: Mocchitashen

So thin...Eat! Eat!

The "Confertzel Cookbook" should serve as documentation of one Jew-in-China's attempts to make "soul food" using what is available at local Chinese wet markets and corner stores. I intend to keep the recipes fairly low budget and to use methods that most people in China (or with limited resources and kitchen facilities) could accommodate. If I offend anyone with how heinously I drift from traditional recipes, let me apologize preemptively. Specifically, I apologize to my Jewish grandmother.

***

Firstly, I want to wish a Happy Purim to friends and family: I hope you had a festive if not inebriated holiday. חג שמח. In my stead, I hope everyone consumed at least half of an apricot hamentaschen and half of a poppy seed hamentaschen. I usually only eat about two bites of each variety before I remember that I only enjoy four-bites-worth of hamentaschen per annum.

For those unfamiliar with the traditional Purim treat, hamentaschen (or, oznei haman) are representative of the Purim story's villain's ears. Carbohydrate-packed, doughy, apricot-filled ears.

And yet I digress (II)...

Instead of bringing me an apple, one of my freshman students brought me a bag with other edible plants--I would have said vegetables, but I am not sure that seaweed is technically a vegetable. She asked me how to say each one. They were, in order of inquiry:

1) Seaweed
2) Spinach
3) Cauliflower

This student actually asked (about the cauliflower), "This is a muffin, yes?" I then explained the difference between a head of cauliflower and a muffin. Somehow, though, my words were not enough of an explanation. I then used my creative talents to help elucidate the differences between a cauliflower and a muffin. Mostly, the explanation involved the key detail of what happens in an oven.

I suppose a cauliflower could go in the oven...

Practice Mahalo

After a two month hiatus from blogging, I am returning with recollections--recollections of the two month hiatus from blogging. I do not feel like my vacation was a "whirlwind" or that it "flew by." Actually, eight weeks of vacation feels exactly like eight weeks of vacation when entire weeks are defined by a specific activity, reunions, and locations. This is the second entry of journal "highlights"--here is the first entry. These are excerpts from what I wrote while I was in Hawaii. More soon, friends and family!

Waving

01/06

I woke up about 24-hours-ago, but not a minute has moved on the clock. As the airport P.A. says, "Mahalo for your cooperation," I indulge a hot cup of $2 Starbucks and an invigorating second chance on the day. I'm excited to be surrounded by diversity and English; adrenaline and caffeine will need to power me through the remaining twelve-to-fourteen hours of the day. I took a two-hour nap on the plane, but I couldn't sleep more (despite hitting international coach jackpot with an empty row).

There are no knock-off "Beats by Dre" headphones.

Women bare skin while reading a newspaper on an outdoor bench in a garden in the middle of the airport.

Golf clubs spill onto the baggage claim belt.

*

The first drive after six months was refreshing: the azure gleam of the ocean, humpback whales spouting, sheer cliff-faces, coves, slow speed limits, and lowered windows.

Fish tacos.

Clouds billow into the West Maui crater as if they were volcano plume billowing out. Palm fronds whisper softly in the breeze.

As my eyelids start to feel heavy at just 2 pm, I check into the condo my family has rented for the week. A cleaner is there, so I leave for a quiet cup of iced coffee.

So many board shorts.

***