Tidbits From the World

In the Christmas Season, in downtown Xi’an, lights are everywhere: on fake trees, real trees, on buildings,…

These two pictures are not particularly spectacular, but they are the only ones I have of the lights downtown… my batteries went dead right after I took those two pics. Too bad, one particular scenery around the Bell Tower would have made for a very nice picture.

Of course, I could go back there and take those pictures of the beautiful night scene and post them here for you all to enjoy… but this is not an option, and unless you know what China (or any other chaotic country) is on rush hour, you might find it difficult to understand the reason. I was there on Christmas day. And what do the Chinese do on Christmas day in Xi’an? They go downtown, and they walk… So the place was packed with people. Getting on a bus packed to maximum capacity is possible, but undesirable; getting on a taxi is impossible and if, by any chance, there is finally one that stops near you, your place WILL be taken by someone else who thinks he wants the ride more than you, and that we are living in a jungle where the survival of the fittest is the only rule. On that day, it took us nearly two hours to get out of this place, at that pace it would have been faster to walk all the way home. Sorry, you won’t see photos of the beautiful sceneries from Downtown Xi’an on Christmas day.

Since last week, I have been looking for some Christmas-themed chinglish (mangled English) and here I found one good example! I wish you all a MARRI CHIRMS!!

There is a construction site not far from my University. When I started attending classes last year, there was an old house standing in the middle of nowhere. It had a banner on top of its front façade which read something like “I want to tell everyone about government corruption…” The house was eventually demolished and a couple of months later, slowly but surely, the first steps for the construction of the twin towers were underway (the digging of two holes). I have taken photos of all those steps which I will publish in the future, once the two towers are completed (probably by the time I will be completing my studies).

When I closed the door of my bathroom, the handle detached itself from the door…

When door knobs self-destruct, when water and gas leak from anywhere, when paint starts to decay and fall off the walls, you know this apartment is not going to last forever. I would doubt it will last even one more decade. Now let’s just imagine: all buildings in my neighborhood were built hastily (that means that 20-to-30-floor buildings are being built in only one year, whereas in Canada for example, a 7-floor building could take up to five years or more to be completed, or an even more extreme example: in NYC, the new World Trade Center started its construction in 2006, that is five years after the attacks, and when I visited the place, in 2007, it was still a big hole in the ground..), the obvious consequences for those shoddy constructions: they won’t last a long time. Some apartments that were built a mere two years ago are already showing signs of wear: broken water pipes, regular electricity shortages, bad heating in winter, ineffective insulation, … how will that neighborhood look like in 20 or 30 years from now? Will the people who purchased their apartment on a very long-term mortgage (75 years) be frustrated to live in their sub-standard, jerry-built apartment whose value is constantly declining? Will social issues arise from these problems? Will this neighborhood become worse than or comparable to the Parisian banlieues? It is difficult to imagine it could be worse… but yet, it might be the future for this neighborhood, which nonetheless remains, to this day, a pretty nice place to live in.

Laoshu now knows that everytime he’s being put in one of my reusable shopping bags, the ones made of cotton, and he is being carried out of the apartment, he’s in for a visit to the veterinary clinic! He understands very well this world he lives in. When he sees me coming with the bag and trying to grab him to put him inside (I have no leash, so my only way to walk him is inside a bag), he starts running for his life, but I eventually always catch him, and then he starts trembling in fear. The poor little bastard (litteraly) knows what is awaiting him: pain inflicted upon him by a devil in white suit. What he actually doesn’t know is that he is being slowly disfigured by a fungus growing on his forehead. And that the vet is actually trying to help him save his face!

Laoshu bit Ying by accident while they were playing together. There was some mild bleeding. We didn’t take any chance: Ying went to the hospital to get a shot against rabbies. You never know.

I like the translation of the name “Walmart” in Chinese, which is pronounced “Woerma” 沃尔玛. Exactly what I was looking for when I started learning Chinese! Sounds pronounced without using your teeth or your tongue or any muscle in your mouth… which would sound to anyone not familiar with the language as just random mumblings.

I like those self-portraits on curved mirrors, they give a special feeling.

“Rebel Army.
1966, the Rebel Workers Army from Wuhan.
LONG LIVE THE RED TERROR!

Red Posters
5元 each”

I would like to make a series of photos in a “first-person” view. Looking at the photos would be like looking through the eyes of a person… but I have a great deal of trouble trying to get my whole torso, my legs and feet, my hands and the tip of my nose (which I always see, yes I know i am a 高鼻子 (big-nosed foreigner)…). I think I will need the super wide angle lens that can fit on my camera. I am looking for a lens called “Fisheye”. I can’t wait to get back to Canada, earn a salary, and offer myself a treat buying this lens and finally start my series!

In real life, I can see my whole arm, and my torso all the way up to my neck, but not on this photo. A wide-angle lens should correct that problem.