...who don't have any good tricks.
I got two very frantic emails today saying that Stacey from the Bank of Scotland had been on the phone because people were hacking into my online banking. So they shut it down.
I know who was accessing my account.
Me.
That's who.
But due to the Data Protection Act, they can't talk to anyone in the UK about it. So I have to phone from China, which is 8 hours ahead. And stupidly expensive (not by UK standards, but to phone for 2 minutes costs the same as dinner). So I have to phone after 5pm. No big deal, you'd think, but on Wednesday and Thursday I have classes 'til 6pm. Then tomorrow night we're going out because Rachel's visiting boyfriend is returning to the UK on Friday morning. Thursday night I'll be tired and forget, so it'll be Friday before I can phone.
So I email my mum to this effect, and she tries to phone and explain the situation.
And lo, the stop on my online account was removed! And Liam was pleased. Fools. And also, if they can't speak to her about it, why di they let her speak to them about it? Pffft. I don't care, I can see my online account now :D
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Day 94: Weather
Okay, so today's post was going to be about this:
But the pollution is way less interesting than this:
YAY. SNOW. YAY.
That is all.
But the pollution is way less interesting than this:
YAY. SNOW. YAY.
That is all.
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
Day 91: Hungry anyone?
So, every day when we finish class at 2, we go for lunch (with occasional exceptions, but for the most part). So today, we went to a restaurant that is quite classy and expensive, for a change really, because we always eat at the same places.
So we get there, and we order a weird yoghurt-fruit salad type thing, some Japanese style tofu (which is apparently nothing like tofu in Japan, and is not nice), strips of meat that come with the world's smallest steamed buns to make sandwiches and a beef steak in sauce thing. And rice, obviously.
So the food arrives, and we begin eating. The first three dishes were good, the beef steak thing was weird. For one, it wasn't beef, the meat was paler and didn't taste like beef. But we ate it anyway. The place is also Halal, so it can't be anything to bad.
Then I look over by the big floor standing air conditioning unit, and see a rat. Literally. A huge rat, about 8 inches long. How horrible. We tell a waitress, who laughs and says '不好意思' (sorry) and walks away. And does nothing. Then I see another rat. "Isn't it the same one?" I was asked. Nope, it was shorter, and the tail was grey, where on the first one it was pink. Horrible.
We'd all stopped eating by this point, and were just watching now. I reckon there must have been at least 6-8 rats living there, if not more. And absolutely nobody in the restaurant did anything about it. And other customers that had seen the rats didn't seem to care. Alas, I won't be going there again to find out if they do anything about it.
For those in/going to Urumqi, it's the big one that's part of a hotel on 新医路 with the green sign that specialises in fish, I have no idea what it's called. But avoid it.
So we get there, and we order a weird yoghurt-fruit salad type thing, some Japanese style tofu (which is apparently nothing like tofu in Japan, and is not nice), strips of meat that come with the world's smallest steamed buns to make sandwiches and a beef steak in sauce thing. And rice, obviously.
So the food arrives, and we begin eating. The first three dishes were good, the beef steak thing was weird. For one, it wasn't beef, the meat was paler and didn't taste like beef. But we ate it anyway. The place is also Halal, so it can't be anything to bad.
Then I look over by the big floor standing air conditioning unit, and see a rat. Literally. A huge rat, about 8 inches long. How horrible. We tell a waitress, who laughs and says '不好意思' (sorry) and walks away. And does nothing. Then I see another rat. "Isn't it the same one?" I was asked. Nope, it was shorter, and the tail was grey, where on the first one it was pink. Horrible.
We'd all stopped eating by this point, and were just watching now. I reckon there must have been at least 6-8 rats living there, if not more. And absolutely nobody in the restaurant did anything about it. And other customers that had seen the rats didn't seem to care. Alas, I won't be going there again to find out if they do anything about it.
For those in/going to Urumqi, it's the big one that's part of a hotel on 新医路 with the green sign that specialises in fish, I have no idea what it's called. But avoid it.
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Day 84: Observations
Today's post is mainly observations and amusing things (or at least, things I consider amusing) about China.
Firstly, food. Food here is incredible. Before coming, I was convinced I would be eating the same couple of dishes every day, and get so sick of Chinese food, because the only Chinese food I've been exposed to in the west has, quite frankly, been very same-y. And while there are dishes I eat fairly often here, they aren't many, and I eat them because they're seriously good. For example, 抓饭 (Uyghur: polo, I think that's what it's called in English too, but I'd never heard that before coming here). It sits in big dishes outside restaurants, and is really quite amazingly good. I will learn to make it before coming back to the West, and will make it for people regularly :D
Also, rice. It doesn't get as boring as you think, and in the North, they eat more noodles than rice anyway. I've become less fussy since being here too, it's quite good. I now cannot get through the day without tea, and things that I didn't eat before, I tried again here, and now eat (so there's a chance I won't like the western version, but still). Examples include Brocolli, Aubergine (eggplant), Fatty meat (yum), various vegetables I don't know the name for etc. This came largely from one of the games we like to play at dinner: Me: "What's this?" Dinner Parter: "I don't know." Me: (after eating it) "Huh, me neither." Happens a lot.
Another change I've noticed I no longer care about a lot of the things I used to care about. For example, for lunch yesterday, we went to a little Hui restaurant which was, to put it nicely, somewhat dirty. But we still ate there with no issue. And at lunch today, there was a dog running around the restaurant, and nobody batted an eyelid. The only thing I can't get used to is the spitting. It's constant, and it's everywhere. Although it is now quite amusing, as it's much colder, so now the spit on the streets freezes. I realise that's quite disgusting, but it amuses me nonetheless. My attitude to public toilets is also considerably different. Before coming here, I was like, squats I cannot cope with, nor dirty toilets. But since getting here, I no longer care, and in a lot of cases, I prefer the squat. And toilets that I once would have considered completely ferral I now consider really quite nice. If there's soap and doors, it's luxury. Bodily substances everywhere, a smell so bad you can taste it and flies are 可以 (not bad, okay, passable).
I had heard that there is quite a lot of racism and discrimination in this part of China, but I have to say, it is exaggerated. I mean, it does tend to be Han people in the 'better' jobs, but on the streets, you don't notice it. And it's not just Han people being anti-Uyghur, Uyghur's are also quite anti-Han and make racist comments too (although it's only around people they know, or at least people I don't know don't tend to make anti Han comments around me).
Also, the employment issue here is very noticeable. Almost every restaurant and shop is overstaffed ridiculously, meaning every time you walk in anywhere, you get a chorus of 欢迎光临 (welcome to shine your light), and some people are employed purely to open a door. In department stores, you have to take a little slip of paper from the bit from which you want to purchase something to a cashier, then take a slip back. Which makes sense in the big department stores in a way, but then when they do it in the very small stationery shop opposite the university, you know there's an issue. But in this stationery shop, if they're all standing next to each other and someone wants to buy something, they move so they are further apart. Literally. Also, street sweeping is different here. There are no machines, it is people with little brushes doing it. Loads of them. It's very strange.
The attitude to personal space is also very different here. In that, they just don't care. On buses for example, it's perfectly normal to have people pressing against you on all sides. When I first got here, I found it weird, but now it's actually somewhat comforting, especially with the way the buses drive here - if it crashes, there are 143695 people between you and the windscreen, even if you're near the front. When people walk down the street, it's not uncommon for friends to walk with their arms around each other and things, regardless of age/gender, which is quite nice. I have now realised that western people are way too prudish and precious, so now we talk about "having a western concept" which loosely translates to requiring personal space.
Firstly, food. Food here is incredible. Before coming, I was convinced I would be eating the same couple of dishes every day, and get so sick of Chinese food, because the only Chinese food I've been exposed to in the west has, quite frankly, been very same-y. And while there are dishes I eat fairly often here, they aren't many, and I eat them because they're seriously good. For example, 抓饭 (Uyghur: polo, I think that's what it's called in English too, but I'd never heard that before coming here). It sits in big dishes outside restaurants, and is really quite amazingly good. I will learn to make it before coming back to the West, and will make it for people regularly :D
Also, rice. It doesn't get as boring as you think, and in the North, they eat more noodles than rice anyway. I've become less fussy since being here too, it's quite good. I now cannot get through the day without tea, and things that I didn't eat before, I tried again here, and now eat (so there's a chance I won't like the western version, but still). Examples include Brocolli, Aubergine (eggplant), Fatty meat (yum), various vegetables I don't know the name for etc. This came largely from one of the games we like to play at dinner: Me: "What's this?" Dinner Parter: "I don't know." Me: (after eating it) "Huh, me neither." Happens a lot.
Another change I've noticed I no longer care about a lot of the things I used to care about. For example, for lunch yesterday, we went to a little Hui restaurant which was, to put it nicely, somewhat dirty. But we still ate there with no issue. And at lunch today, there was a dog running around the restaurant, and nobody batted an eyelid. The only thing I can't get used to is the spitting. It's constant, and it's everywhere. Although it is now quite amusing, as it's much colder, so now the spit on the streets freezes. I realise that's quite disgusting, but it amuses me nonetheless. My attitude to public toilets is also considerably different. Before coming here, I was like, squats I cannot cope with, nor dirty toilets. But since getting here, I no longer care, and in a lot of cases, I prefer the squat. And toilets that I once would have considered completely ferral I now consider really quite nice. If there's soap and doors, it's luxury. Bodily substances everywhere, a smell so bad you can taste it and flies are 可以 (not bad, okay, passable).
I had heard that there is quite a lot of racism and discrimination in this part of China, but I have to say, it is exaggerated. I mean, it does tend to be Han people in the 'better' jobs, but on the streets, you don't notice it. And it's not just Han people being anti-Uyghur, Uyghur's are also quite anti-Han and make racist comments too (although it's only around people they know, or at least people I don't know don't tend to make anti Han comments around me).
Also, the employment issue here is very noticeable. Almost every restaurant and shop is overstaffed ridiculously, meaning every time you walk in anywhere, you get a chorus of 欢迎光临 (welcome to shine your light), and some people are employed purely to open a door. In department stores, you have to take a little slip of paper from the bit from which you want to purchase something to a cashier, then take a slip back. Which makes sense in the big department stores in a way, but then when they do it in the very small stationery shop opposite the university, you know there's an issue. But in this stationery shop, if they're all standing next to each other and someone wants to buy something, they move so they are further apart. Literally. Also, street sweeping is different here. There are no machines, it is people with little brushes doing it. Loads of them. It's very strange.
The attitude to personal space is also very different here. In that, they just don't care. On buses for example, it's perfectly normal to have people pressing against you on all sides. When I first got here, I found it weird, but now it's actually somewhat comforting, especially with the way the buses drive here - if it crashes, there are 143695 people between you and the windscreen, even if you're near the front. When people walk down the street, it's not uncommon for friends to walk with their arms around each other and things, regardless of age/gender, which is quite nice. I have now realised that western people are way too prudish and precious, so now we talk about "having a western concept" which loosely translates to requiring personal space.
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Day 81: How time flies
Long time no post, but not many hugely important things going on anyway. On Thursday morning, Michele (one of our neighbours) went back the US, leaving her partner here to still be our neighbour. So on Wednesday night, we all went out for Sichuan food, then a nightcap as a goodbye thing.
When we first met Michele, I wasn't sure if I liked her, as she seemed to not like us very much. But the more we saw her, the more we realised she was actually just really shy, and was a really nice person. This realisation came a few weeks before she left. But at least we realised, and weren't celebrating her leaving.
On Friday night, we went out (not uncommon) to Fubar (福巴，公园北街), where we played Absolute Balderdash, had a few drinks and chatted away. Then a guy we know came over, Will, and he met Paul and Tobin, who he hadn't met before (he had met Tobin very very briefly outside a class, but that doesn't count). Within a matter of minutes, Will and Tobin were in the middle of a very heated argument about International Relations, and the world's view on Jewish people. We saw Will's true colours at this point, he was constantly, "We Jewish people think this" or "We Americans believe that" etc. He also refused to listen to anyone else's point of view, and if someone proved him wrong, he wouldn't accept it, and would just keep repeating his argument (which was invariable flawed). It gets worse.
Saturday, we went to Nolan's house, as he is organising a Speaker Series (getting people to talk about their specialist subjects because we don't know anything about it) and yesterday, Eric talked about Language Planning Policy in Xinjiang in the 30s and 40s, which was really interesting. I didn't understand everything, as it was a paper he wrote for his masters, and I'm not a linguist nor do I know huge amounts about Xinjiang in the 30s and 40s. But it was interesting, and I learned something. Afterwards, he said that comments and questions would be gratefully received. The questions I expected were things like, "Could you give me some background about this one thing? I'm still slightly unclear" or "So what was the role of this person in this area?" And from Tobin and Nolan, that's what the questions were (I felt too uneducated to ask questions, as did Nikki and Catherine). But from Will, he basically critiqued the presentation (saying it was waffly, unfocussed etc. And to be fair, had it been a proper presentation at a conference, he would have been 100% correct. But for sitting in someone's living room talking to your friends about something you know and they don't, I don't see the problem), then he mentioned certain sources that Eric should have used (at which point Eric butted in, saying he had read the sources and thought they were crap) and then started basically trying to be his tutor. The best line was: "I wrote a paper on this I think you should read."
So we don't like him. But Eric's presentation really did spark my interest - I never even knew that was a possible field of research (possibly because no one has actually done any work on the topic of his presentation except Eric). So I might do some more research into it myself (not like academic research, just finding out what more there is on the topic), and consider going down the linguistics route as opposed to T&I. But then, we were told by the head of our school that we should look for cohesion in our degrees, and I did a literature module and an extra language last year. But the literature module was basically a culture and society module, but with the information coming from novels, and the language one included history of the language, so I suppose if I did a culture or a linguistics module(s) next year, there is still cohesion. And it works with the linguistics and history (including political history) modules I did in first year. Huh, I think I'm on to something.
When we first met Michele, I wasn't sure if I liked her, as she seemed to not like us very much. But the more we saw her, the more we realised she was actually just really shy, and was a really nice person. This realisation came a few weeks before she left. But at least we realised, and weren't celebrating her leaving.
On Friday night, we went out (not uncommon) to Fubar (福巴，公园北街), where we played Absolute Balderdash, had a few drinks and chatted away. Then a guy we know came over, Will, and he met Paul and Tobin, who he hadn't met before (he had met Tobin very very briefly outside a class, but that doesn't count). Within a matter of minutes, Will and Tobin were in the middle of a very heated argument about International Relations, and the world's view on Jewish people. We saw Will's true colours at this point, he was constantly, "We Jewish people think this" or "We Americans believe that" etc. He also refused to listen to anyone else's point of view, and if someone proved him wrong, he wouldn't accept it, and would just keep repeating his argument (which was invariable flawed). It gets worse.
Saturday, we went to Nolan's house, as he is organising a Speaker Series (getting people to talk about their specialist subjects because we don't know anything about it) and yesterday, Eric talked about Language Planning Policy in Xinjiang in the 30s and 40s, which was really interesting. I didn't understand everything, as it was a paper he wrote for his masters, and I'm not a linguist nor do I know huge amounts about Xinjiang in the 30s and 40s. But it was interesting, and I learned something. Afterwards, he said that comments and questions would be gratefully received. The questions I expected were things like, "Could you give me some background about this one thing? I'm still slightly unclear" or "So what was the role of this person in this area?" And from Tobin and Nolan, that's what the questions were (I felt too uneducated to ask questions, as did Nikki and Catherine). But from Will, he basically critiqued the presentation (saying it was waffly, unfocussed etc. And to be fair, had it been a proper presentation at a conference, he would have been 100% correct. But for sitting in someone's living room talking to your friends about something you know and they don't, I don't see the problem), then he mentioned certain sources that Eric should have used (at which point Eric butted in, saying he had read the sources and thought they were crap) and then started basically trying to be his tutor. The best line was: "I wrote a paper on this I think you should read."
So we don't like him. But Eric's presentation really did spark my interest - I never even knew that was a possible field of research (possibly because no one has actually done any work on the topic of his presentation except Eric). So I might do some more research into it myself (not like academic research, just finding out what more there is on the topic), and consider going down the linguistics route as opposed to T&I. But then, we were told by the head of our school that we should look for cohesion in our degrees, and I did a literature module and an extra language last year. But the literature module was basically a culture and society module, but with the information coming from novels, and the language one included history of the language, so I suppose if I did a culture or a linguistics module(s) next year, there is still cohesion. And it works with the linguistics and history (including political history) modules I did in first year. Huh, I think I'm on to something.
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