Sep 22: Crafty Girl

Is it wrong that I get great pleasure out of making fiddly things with my hands? I swear I could spend days jumping from lace-making to origami to painting bugs (that would be paintings OF bugs, of course) and probably forget to eat.

Today the ZU fellows put on a Cultural afternoon, and it was Karen-heaven. First, I got to make Chinese knots. The fellow, Lily, who taughts us, said she'd learned all kinds of knots in Middle School, but she was only able to teach us one at the moment. I am clearly doing such an Amazon search when I get home for a book on Chinese knots. Because what I need in life is another hobby.

Next, I did paper cutting. I cut out a cute doll-like drawing of me that Wa drew with an exacto knife. This was tough, precise work. Meditative.

Then I went to the calligraphy table. I only learned one stroke the whole half hour I sat there. Wait, no, I certainly didn't learn it -- I only practiced one stroke the whole time. The teacher came around and circled the ones I did correctly and I got about three circles on three pages of densely packed horizontal lines. Those calligraphy brushes are hard to manage I tell you.

Then I went back to paper cutting, and cut out a snowflake. And then I made another three Chinese knots, and then I tried playing GO and then I got to participate in a tea ceremony and then I did tai chi and was given my own pair of tai chi pants and and and. . .

I am clearly a freak. Martha Stewart beware.

Advice for Travelers in China: Maps Redux

Ok, I officially take back the whole map thing. Or at least half of it. I still think it's necessary for walking around the city, but it's practically useless for explaining to a taxi driver where you'd like to go, or for trying to get unlost by asking a person on the street.

All my maps have had far more Chinese on them than English, so it's not a translation problem -- it just seems to be a cultural one. As far as I can tell no one I've met has a bird's eye view sense of their city. It's just not part of their consciousness. A written address they can handle. The Chinese characters for the temple you're going to, fine. But not one person has successfully been able to look at a map and tell me where I currently am, or how to get to the place I'm going. The cab drivers have pretty much scoffed, though they finally manage by reading the street names which tells them where I'm trying to go. Mind you, once they figure out the name of the intersection, they have no problem. They know their city well -- but maps are just not anyone's thing.

Instead, make sure you take a business card from any hotel at which you stay so you can hand it to a cab driver, and find a friendly person to write the characters down for any place you are trying to go.