Understanding the Complexities of Modern China

Ecuador is currently undergoing a bit of a tumultuous transitional period. Transition into what, I am not entirely sure about, but it is nonetheless a transition. It started last September with the 30-S riots. It is the fourth major political upheaval the country has seen in the past 16 years. And the fourth Coup d´Etat as well. Yes. It was a Coup d´Etat. I will firmly maintain that it was a Coup d´Etat - it did not start as one, but the President turned it into one. I´m not a fan of the President. His methods are questionable, and he surrounds himself with a bunch of sniveling weasels that really are the problem with the government. I think that he has good intentions, but also remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions - and with that in mind, the whole country is being led down into mouth of Erebus itself. Also, the man has an attitude problem that often gets him into trouble. I don´t particularly agree with his political ideologies (I don´t particularly agree with most political ideologies in fact) but I´m not that militant about disproving their validity as a lot of people I know are.

That being said, I am most certainly am not in favor of all the stuff going on right now. A journalist and the newspaper he wrote for were just sued for $45 million and 3 years in prison, and found guilty, by the president for defamation of character and disrespect for the office of the presidency because the journalist wrote a piece criticizing the government. The event echoes the feeling of experiencing 30-S from my house - information filtered through the national channels that were suddenly all overridden by the one government-controlled channel, who cried against the rebels curtailing their "freedom of speech" when they cut the wires that allowed them to override all the other channels. Part of me is kind of scared. Rumors are flying around about the government monitoring Facebook posts and blogs and even emails for stuff that could be potentially volatile. But then, part of me reminds me that, well, this isn´t exactly a first-world country, and judging by other rumors, I doubt they can really take in such a huge scope. That being said, it still feels like it is the death of free speech here. And that in itself is tragic.

However, I get mad when people start comparing what is going on here with China´s (and by China, I mean the part of China known as The People´s Republic of China) recent (the last 100 years, which in the scope of Chinese history is very recent) history. Today I read a comment on Facebook about how what is happening here is even worse than what happened in China. There was also someone else back in October that made a careless remark about Mao Zedong and how he seems tame in comparison to the President. This makes me mad because that comment was made out of ignorance of the complexities of the rise of the modern PRC. Yes, freedom of speech is dying here, but it is nothing, and I do mean NOTHING in comparison to what happened in the 50´s, 60´s and 70´s in China. I love China, don´t get me wrong, there are many many good things about it, but that being said, it has gone through one hell of a transformation to get where it is, and is still continuing on that path. We cannot even begin to really understand what it was like for the people of the time to go through ages such as The Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. We cannot even begin to understand what it was like to recover from that, to be reborn from that, to carry those traumas in our modern personal and cultural identities. We cannot even begin to understand the mindframe of Chinese culture. So radically different than our own Western standard, but just as immensely rich and complex. All it takes is to stand in Confucius´s tomb, or the Longmen Grottoes or any other of the many cultural landmarks traumatized by these periods and stare at the 2000-year-old decapitated Buddhas and 1000-year-old graffitied grave markers and feel the weight of that destruction, feel the weight of the decisions behind that destruction, and the people behind those decisions. All it takes is to talk to the ordinary Chinese middle-aged guy who cannot stomach Xiao Baicai (Little Chinese Cabbage) because that is all he ate for 2 years during his childhood. All it takes is to stare at the way parents cherish their one child as they play among the spring peonies.

I am not saying that the PRC´s tumultuous modern history didn´t have its good aspects too. It did. In a bizarre way, it opened up a lot of opportunities for a lot of the Chinese population that would have not had access to them otherwise. But the opening of these opportunities came at a huge cost, one we cannot even begin to fathom. It is a complex issue - the rise of modern China. Full of ups and downs. And it is weighty and huge.

So no, our problems are not in any way comparable to China´s, just as China´s problems are not in any way comparable to ours. It feels like a 10-year-old child comparing their problems to and claiming to understand the problems faced by a 60-year-old adult. So, at the risk of sounding a little crass, to all of you making careless remarks about this issue: get your ignorant asses to a Chinese History course and get some perspective.

Categories: China, pet peeves, politics

God Bless You JK Rowling

I was perusing around JK Rowling´s official site (don´t ask me how I got there, let´s just chalk it up to a similar situation in which I ended up spending 4 hours on Wookiepedia) and came across this post:

"Being thin. Probably not a subject that you ever expected to read about on this website, but my recent trip to London got me thinking...

It started in the car on the way to Leavesden film studios. I whiled away part of the journey reading a magazine that featured several glossy photographs of a very young woman who is either seriously ill or suffering from an eating disorder (which is, of course, the same thing); anyway, there is no other explanation for the shape of her body. She can talk about eating absolutely loads, being terribly busy and having the world's fastest metabolism until her tongue drops off (hooray! Another couple of ounces gone!), but her concave stomach, protruding ribs and stick-like arms tell a different story. This girl needs help, but, the world being what it is, they're sticking her on magazine covers instead. All this passed through my mind as I read the interview, then I threw the horrible thing aside.

But blow me down if the subject of girls and thinness didn't crop up shortly after I got out of the car. I was talking to one of the actors and, somehow or other, we got onto the subject of a girl he knows (not any of the Potter actresses – somebody from his life beyond the films) who had been dubbed 'fat' by certain charming classmates. (Could they possibly be jealous that she knows the boy in question? Surely not!)

'But,' said the actor, in honest perplexity, 'she is really not fat.'

'"Fat" is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her,' I said; I could remember it happening when I was at school, and witnessing it among the teenagers I used to teach. Nevertheless, I could see that to him, a well-adjusted male, it was utterly bizarre behaviour, like yelling 'thicko!' at Stephen Hawking.

His bemusement at this everyday feature of female existence reminded me how strange and sick the 'fat' insult is. I mean, is 'fat' really the worst thing a human being can be? Is 'fat' worse than 'vindictive', 'jealous', 'shallow', 'vain', 'boring' or 'cruel'? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I'm not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain...

I went to the British Book Awards that evening. After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn't seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? 'You've lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!'

'Well,' I said, slightly nonplussed, 'the last time you saw me I'd just had a baby.'

What I felt like saying was, 'I've produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren't either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?' But no – my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate!

So the issue of size and women was (ha, ha) weighing on my mind as I flew home to Edinburgh the next day. Once up in the air, I opened a newspaper and my eyes fell, immediately, on an article about the pop star Pink.

Her latest single, 'Stupid Girls', is the antidote-anthem for everything I had been thinking about women and thinness. 'Stupid Girls' satirises the talking toothpicks held up to girls as role models: those celebrities whose greatest achievement is un-chipped nail polish, whose only aspiration seems to be getting photographed in a different outfit nine times a day, whose only function in the world appears to be supporting the trade in overpriced handbags and rat-sized dogs.

Maybe all this seems funny, or trivial, but it's really not. It's about what girls want to be, what they're told they should be, and how they feel about who they are. I've got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don't want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I'd rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before 'thin'. And frankly, I'd rather they didn't give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons. Let them never be Stupid Girls. Rant over."

All I can say is, AMEN Mrs. Rowling. Couldn´t have put it better myself.

Categories: harry potter, stupid girls, weight loss

College Dorm Nostalgia

My old dorm is on the Vassar homepage today! I miss it! I miss living in an Architectural landmark.

Noyes house pride! :D (because REAL dorms have curves)

You can see it much bigger and in better resolution at www.vassar.edu.

Disclaimer: Pic isn´t mine. Don´t sue me!

Categories: college, dorm, nostalgia

Restaurant Review #2: Alma

Restaurant Name: Alma

Location: El Monitor 188 y Quiteño Libre, Quito, Ecuador (+593) 22252248

Kind of Food: Contemporary / Latin-American Haute Cuisine

Price Range: I honestly have no idea since we were invited to dine there as guests. But TripAdvisor says $18-$35.

What I ordered: We had a especially created 10-course gourmet meal designed to be paired with 7 different wines. Among the dishes served were Duck Carpaccio with Passion Fruit Sauce and a side of goat cheese, Grilled Octopus, Crayfish-Avocado Salad, Grilled Tuna with Sichuan Peppers and Passion Fruit Sauce, Duck Confit, Taxo Sorbet, Swordfish with Pineapple served over White Carrot Chips, Chilean Sole and Oysters with a light lemon-garlic sauce, Shrimp Ravioli, Chocolate Mousse with Raspberries and Dark Chocolate sauce, Passion Fruit Creme Brulee, Apple-Caramel Spring Roll.

Comments: I think I died and went to heaven after last night´s meal. We joined some American friends that were leaving today for a last meal in Quito at Alma Restaurant. They brought the wine, Alma provided the food. I will begin by saying that our hosts´superb wine selection set aside, the experience at Alma was marked because of its perfect (and I do mean perfect) wine and food pairings - a feat remarkable in itself when the Chef had not opened any of the bottles for inspiration and did the pairings on sheer culinary knowledge. Unbelievable. As for the dishes, they were all fantastic. My personal favorites were the Duck Carpaccio with Passion Fruit Sauce and a side of Goat Cheese as well as the Passion Fruit Creme Brulee. The Duck Carpaccio simply made my day because I haven´t had the chance to have Carpaccio in over 6 years because of a pork allergy, and so being able to savor it again (albeit made from Duck) sent me over the moon. The Passion Fruit Creme Brulee was a delightful surprise - I´m not a huge fan of Creme Brulee as it tends to be far too sweet for my taste, but the Passion Fruit infused it with a shot of acidity that gave it a much more complex (and less sweet!) flavor. I also had a ball with the Tuna with Sichuan Peppers and Passion Fruit Sauce. The roasted Sichuan Pepper gave it a smoky, hot, and slightly oriental flavor that reminded me of cooking dumplings in Beijing and that flavor was complicated by the sweet undertones of the Passion Fruit. That paired with a peppery Syrah was just absolute heaven. Admittedly, dinner was a blur (7 wines do take their toll) but I would say it is one of the best meals I´ve had ever. So if you are ever in Quito and in the mood for some fine Latin American Haute Cuisine, Alma is a definite must.

Categories: foodie, Quito, Restaurant Review

The End of Childhood

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was released in cinemas worldwide a week ago on Friday July 15, 2011. A 11-year story finally came to an end, and with it, the absolute end of childhood. I feel that it was the last threshold, the last marker that I needed to pass before full-fledged adulthood. It ended. Therefore I am, much like Harry, Ron, and Hermione, finally an adult. I´ve seen the film 3 times so far. Once on the Midnight Premiere, one a day later, and one last sunday. Last Sunday I saw it in Spanish. Which wasn´t bad. Haha. In any case, the film is good, and solid, although I feel Part 1 is the stronger of the two overall, there are moments in Part 2 that simply take the cake. The Prince´s Tale sequence is my favorite. All three times, it has had me in tears by the end of the 5-minute interlude, with Alan Rickman simply stealing the movie with it. Another of my favorites is this little action sequence where the trio runs across a courtyard. In the span of two minutes, the film pays tribute to all the 7 other films in a very elegant and emotional way. My whole adolescence, and Harry´s journey, passed before my eyes in a flurry of magical moments.

What will we do without Harry Potter?

Many people of my generation are asking themselves the same question.

For me, the answer is simple. I have experienced, thus now it is my turn to create.

Categories: harry potter, job

Some Spiritual Uplifting

I´ve been feeling a lot on the downside lately. Arguments with my family have been escalating and reached a climax recently. Among the things I discovered is that apparently, I´ve messed up my relationship with my dad a bit. It is a two-way street mind you, but it is there. And I´m angry and irritable and cold. I try not to be, but a lot of things have happened recently that have sparked those reactions. More notably, the fact that it seems like everyone has an opinion on the weight loss process I´m going through and they don´t hesitate about telling it to me (I even had the trainer at the club gym make some really unnecessary and hurtful comments to me and my mother will also make a comment if I go for another slice of toast, for example). These experiences, coupled with the fact that it is becoming increasingly psychologically difficult to function in Quito, have understandably made me emotionally fragile and sensitive. Being essentially bullied by pretty much a whole system because I am not a size 2 while I am trying to lose weight to be healthy is not an easy storm to weather. I consider myself to have thick skin, which is really hard to get under. But sometimes even the thickest of skin feels thin.
Before I went to China, I was practicing Kudalini Yoga twice a week with a friend of my mother´s. I must admit that practicing Kudalini yoga was really helping me with the coping process since it helped me balance out some negative feelings I experienced. I stopped when I went to China because I honestly forgot. I was having so much fun and felt happy and balanced that in a way I didn´t feel the need for it. A week ago, the teacher sent me an email about a 4 hour chakra cleansing masterclass with this big Chilean yogi. It was only $20 to attend and I figured it would be worth it, all things considered. So yesterday, armed with all of the anger and frustruation and sadness I´ve been feeling lately, I marched myself to the masterclass with my yoga mat. A lot of really questionable new-age muble-jumbo aside (I can´t really take anyone claiming to know the purpose of life very seriously) it really did me a lot of good. There was this part where she had us do a meditation to let go of our anger. It basically consisted of pretty much punching the air as we repeated a mantra. But it went on forever and she encouraged us to get angrier and angrier and say the mantra faster and faster. I released so much energy in that meditation alone that I could hardly go through with it at the end. A lot of the physical pain I had at different points in my back were gone afterwards and I felt balanced once more. The depressive feelings, the anger I had been bottling up for months and months, were all gone. I did not feel at peace. I did not feel happy. But the anger was gone. And for that, I am thankful. The air in that room after that meditation was charged and heavy. Thick with stagnant qi that had suddenly been forcefully expelled from 35 bodies. I felt it float away harmlessly.
Meditating in a roomful of people, especially when a mantra is involved, is always better in my opinion. Maybe because I one of the ways I meditate is through auditive concentration. Meaning that I keep my mind focused on the duality of unity and division of voices and harmonies in a chant. It feels like a wave and multiple waves - it reminds me of the very nature of the universe itself in that everything is unique but also part of a greater whole. Feeling 35 of the more devoted yogis in Ecuador tune a mantra together feels as incredibly powerful - like being in the middle of a giant tuning fork trying to tune into the frequency of the planet. Hard to explain, I know, but something ethereal and beautiful to experience. Meditating as a group I think is preferable because you are there for yourself, to work on your own problems but you draw strength from the other people there too (the Yogi yesterday correctly pointed out that how can we heal the world if we cannot even heal ourselves? How can you understand the world if you cannot understand yourself? By understanding yourself, the world becomes clearer. Because we are a reflection of the universe. We are a microcosm that is a reflection of the macrocosm). It emphasizes that aspect duality of individuality and the greater conscience. The feeling of interconnectedness with the world. We are part of the planet and the planet is part of us.
Of course, at the end of the masterclass, we were told to go eat light and go to sleep.
I, having eaten a very light lunch, did nothing of the sort. I wolfed down a hamburger with curly fries and root beer (yes, I found root beet in Ecuador!) from "Las Hamburguesas de Rusty" and immediately regretted it. It was my first hamburger and piece of meat in 5 months. My stomach, unaccustomed to eating meat, decided that it hated me and hated hamburgers. I think I don´t like the taste anymore.
Mehr.
I guess you could call it karma for disobeying the yogi.
Oh well....

Categories: angry, anxiety, Ecuador, foodie, hamburgers, meditation, yoga

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

What a beautiful line...

Categories: music