Hello World. It’s been a long Net-absence but I’m back in the US for a lavish second time in as many months, and this time for a proper holiday. Lindsay’s wedding to be precise, which simultaneously affords one week of wonderful life on Cape Cod along with a yoyo’d international group of childhood friends. It stands to be an excellent time all around.
The trip over was a hellish 28-hour odyssey starting with a delay in Shanghai and then thunderstorms upon arrival in Chicago. The delay turned into a partial blessing since I ended up arriving before my sister and Louise who had departed before me on a parallel United flight (I took AA). They arrived amidst the worst of the storms and were grounded for two hours at nearby Rochester. All of our ensuing connections were cancelled and we didn’t get to Logan Airport until 3am, 7 hours after we were supposed to be on the Cape (… still a two hour drive away). Lily didn’t make it out to DC until the next morning and “slept” on a baggage carousel.
On the upside, the car rental lady took pity on us and we drove down in muscle car style with a bright red Mustang. Would’ve made my friend Steve proud. But on the further downside, our first day was wasted since we pulled up my driveway just after daybreak and collapsed into bed until 4pm. Naturally, I’m now wide awake when I should be face down in my pillows.
A good time to blog I say. So, thusly back in a land where my favoritest sites WordPress.com and Flickr are not blocked, what do you suppose I might ramble on about (aside from my travels)?
Rats and cucarachas of course! I thought I’d briefly relate a recent ‘life in China’ story and refer you to an interesting blog posted by my friend Kaying regarding the intersection of globalization and unconscious racism in The Netherlands. You are referred.
And now the insects:
On my way to meet Lily and Liz at the Pudong Oriental Pearl Tower (yes indeedy, that’s two sister (√) and no parents (X) who have visited me in the Middle Kingdom) I walked through one of People’s Square’s many snaking exit tunnels.
Upon entry, at the first landing, I noticed a crowd of people gathered in a semi circle against one wall. Now, this typically means one of three things: there is an accident and everybody has stopped to stare (but not help), there is a fight and everybody has stopped to stare (but not intervene), or there is someone selling something very interesting.
I had happened upon the later. Draped across the ground was a printed poster depicting text I could only partially decipher and pictures of six common household pests: mice, rats, cockroaches, centipedes (see my recent Hangzhou pictures for reference), snakes, and spiders.
The sales-pitch that accompanied this unusual sign clarified all in an inhumane but extremely effective manner:
For 10rmb a piece, the vendor appeared to be turning a brisk sales of small heart shaped night-light that glowed blue when plugged into his portable generator. Six feet from the vendor was a rather large gerbil in a rather small cage spasming in awful fits corresponding to the plug and unplug.
Vendor:
“Does it work? See for yourself!” ZAP! [gerbil spasms] [Sale]
“Rats, Cockroaches, sure… it keeps them all away, just look!” ZAP! [gerbil runs to other side of cage, slams into the bars, falls on its back and spasms] [Another sale]
I know this kind of thing must be outlawed in most developed countries but it was a very convincing demonstration. Perhaps I’ve been living in this country too long, or maybe it was the two inch roach that I discovered on my towel after a shower last week but I almost found myself reaching for my wallet. Almost.
