内蒙古: Learning

Tuesday, 5:20 PM, on the bus

Wow. Right before we arrived at Genghis Khan’s mausoleum, I finished the most extraordinary book called The Shadow of the Wind. It was incredible. I can’t describe exactly why, but I know it’s been some time since a book made me feel this way. I feel like, ever since high school, I stopped making time just to read good books, and I let the world of literature slip away. I now feel like a careless friend, one who neglected one of her greatest childhood companions. Yes, I know this has absolutely nothing to do with China… oh well. That book, as one critic describes, is truly a “love letter to literature,” a tribute to literature. It’s obviously got my mind all worked up. It made me think about things like destiny, aging, and true love, and it gave me a connection to old España, confused and scarred España. I wish my Spanish was good enough to read and appreciate this book in its original language. I tried, but it was so difficult. Add in the complicated plot and absurdly decorative language, and I had no hope of getting through the original as it was written by Zafón. Someday. Just like someday I’ll read Harry Potter in Chinese. I will, you know.

Anyway, China.
I sadly realized today that the Age of Information has influenced me with unexpectedly negative consequences. While in Genghis Khan’s mausoleum, I caught myself thinking I could read about all this on Wikipedia for a fraction of the inconvenience of coming to this obviously trussed-up tourist trap. I regretted my thought instantly, because I knew that this tourist spot, trussed-up or not, would still give me a deeper understanding of the idea of Genghis Khan than a website ever could.

With that general conviction established, I would like to offer a few observations about that place. One, it was a tourist attraction, nothing more and nothing less. It had a couple of places for the devout to burn incense, but other than that, the only legitimate thing was a Genghis Khan family tree picture reputably discovered at his tomb or something. To be honest, I’m not even sure about that. Two, it had a very interesting clientele. Most of the tourists I saw were wealthy Chinese who seemed to find the place more novel than we did. Of course, that was just my impression. Three, Chinese signs translated to English are just strange. I would see more of this later.

Tuesday, 10:10 PM, in my bed, same hotel

Chinese characters are so interesting. They tell you so much about the culture, about China’s history, about the many complex relationships among things in this world. Take, for example, 湖。It means “lake.” When you break it apart, you get the three dashes on the left, which signify droplets, or water, and you get 月 on the right, which means “month.” The radical 月 is also part of the word 月亮 or “moon.” Historically, the Chinese follow the lunar calendar, so naturally, “moon” and “month” are related. What’s more, countless societies around the world have recorded the unique and powerful relationship between moon and water, so it’s no surprise that “lake” carries the 月 radical. It’s much like Justin’s habit of tracing English worlds back to their Greek or Latin roots, except with Chinese there are pictures to help instead of stems.

We had an amazing dinner today. I’m so stuffed. I’m really getting used to the (well-prepared) food here. Chinese fast food is still a little bit of a struggle, and their obsession with eating carb-filled bread all the time is going to be the death of my ambitions to lose weight. It’s also just overwhelming my digestive system. My body is unhappy, and uncomfortable, much of the time. I don’t think I’ve eaten a meal that’s left me feeling both full and refreshed since I got to China.

When I get home, I’m having a Dr. Pepper.

And taking stock of my life.

And watching mind-numbing amounts of TV.

Maybe not in that order.

I taught some friends how to play Spades today. It felt so good not struggling to come up with interesting conversation in Chinese; I let my wicked (<- for Kaitlyn) card skills do the talking. I really like the friends I’ve made on this trip. I’ve become really close to two freshmen, but it’s weird how the single year between us is such a gap in experiences.

I’m almost 21. Make it stop.