Greetings from Beijing! We arrived last night after a short four hour flight, and I sleepwalked my way to the room. Even in the night time, Beijing has a much different aesthetic than Tokyo, with shorter buildings, thin, tall trees, and a lot wider streets. There aren't a lot of lights on in the buildings at night, which is apparently due to conservation efforts as we have to put our room card in a little slot just inside the door in order to activate the electricity. This definitely speaks to the resource conservation discussions I've had about China's growth, so I'm curious to see if this is a trend that continues, especially to Shanghai.
I haven't had the chance to do much exploring yet, but in just a little bit I'll be heading out with a big group to go check out Tiennamin Square and the Forbidden City. It's going to be a little nice to go with the flow here, since I really pushed myself in Tokyo to find what I knew was there; here, I have no idea, so I'm far more open to what is to come.
One interesting thing about this whole world travelling thing is that when I sign into some websites--this one included--the language of all the menu choices changes. While I was in Tokyo, it was in Japanese, so I could navigate things like login and logout without much trouble. Now it's all in Chinese characters, which could be a bit of a trial-and-error adventure if I hadn't already located the where of the choices in Japanese. I splurged a little to get internet in the room, so I'll be able to update far more freely, and I'll be dropping some of the Harajuku pictures here this evening when I have the time.
The trip gained a little twist yesterday, as I agreed to switch my roommate. During the stay in Tokyo, one of our members became known for his partying, his snoring, and his ability to rub most everybody that he was around the wrong way. Being typecast as the social worker, one of our administrators asked me my opinion on the subject, and then later the other administrator asked if I would room with him for this week. I've heard the rumors on this guy--booze and pills, offensive passive-aggressive behavior, rude interruptions in the night--and clarified with our administrators that should this guy step over the line again in China that he would be going home, and agreed. I've known him since last year, and he's not a bad guy by any means, but it just sounds like he's getting himself into some not-so-good behaviors on this trip. I made it clear to him last night that whatever he does outside of the room is whatever he does, but it's not cool to bring it into this room. The admins will be talking with him in that 'come to Jesus' sort of way, and hopefully will make the line clear and stick to it.
So, in their words, I'm 'taking one for the team', and I'm not terribly worried about it. I've been dealing with this sort of thing for a good while now, and probably of most of the people here I can stand my ground in the face of it and handle myself well. That's not to say it makes the whole thing any more fun, but I won't be having that much contact with him, anyway. I'm not here to babysit; I'm getting paid to be on vacation from social work, not do social work, so his wreckage is his, and I'm just the messenger should it spill out of his realm. It's really just sort of continually sad, though, to see these downward spirals happen. I'm guessing I'll be a witness for a number of similar situations as I age, so hopefully I'm equipping myself well to be a positive force in some fashion. It is understandable, from my vantage point, that I would be scared and seek to shy away from such conflicts, but one thing my job has helped teach is a furtherance of compassion, though that's not to say that I will ever keep such chaos in close proximity to my life. I can support, but only as far as my needs are not infringed upon. Anyhow, that's a whole other journal entry that's been written in different ways before.
As far as snorers go, he's certainly not the worst, and as the airplane trip proved last night, those earbud headphones work on quieting the surroundings quite well when asked to.
Hooray for technology.
Time to head out. Type at you all later.
--charge standard--
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2 comments:
Alright, It's still Sunday here for another 6 minutes. I hope you're having a great time - looking at pics of Ginza and Haburkurujuku - whatever it was, I'm totally envious of being there.
Kitties miss you.
My number one question on Japan- is I guess, how much is the difference in culture setting you back? you mentioned polite service, but you speak some Japanese. Do they speak English for the most part as well?
As to the goals - I'm not generally a fan of perfection - I like life's little imperfections. But looking at the goals, they all seem so reasonable. So I say you make all 10.
Hey Ben... I found that hotels in Asia in general have that weird "need your key" to operate all things electrical thing. In Cambodia, where our 5 star hotel was covered by an associate, I must have spent like 15 minutes trying to figure out how to turn on the lights. In an effort to keep the decor of the rooms upscale, they hid that little key box. I finally had to call downstairs to get someone to show me how to turn on the lights. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Keep having a great time.
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