Hu Tong

For those of you who dont know a hutong is an area where the poor live in beijing. It is king of the projects of this city. Of course they used to be really nice neighborhoods and each building was a single family residence with the courtyard and all, but that all changed with the "liberation". At any rate I was in a neighborhood like that last night hanging out with my friends and getting drunk while sitting on some folding stools on the sidewalk. This is what can pass for an al fresco bar here in beijing. At any rate I think I had too many and then I had to go home. I made it back just fine and when I arrived home the foreign students of the college I work at were having their own party. I felt so old it was only 2 and I was annoyed because I wanted to go to sleep and they had the music up and were talking and dancing. I thought to myself if I were just 5 years younger and had about 7 less beers I would go and join them, but I am just too old now and like I said I had had way too many on the sidewalk. Sucks to get old. I advise strongly against it.

life

Not that I am complaining but next week looks like it should be an easy week. I have to watch some students give presentations and hand back some mid terms and teach about metaphor and simile. After that it is just sit around and collect some money. I cant believe how fast the days and weeks are going by. Already it is week 9 of the semester and this one is only 16 weeks long. I am officially on vacation in 7 weeks. Madness. To boot I have been told that there is a strong possibility that I neednt start again until October. So that makes what 15&1/2 weeks of paid vacation. Like I said I am not going to complain. But I truly dont know what I will do either.

things we do

Right now I am trying to find a way to bring up the fact that the excuse of "there are too many people" is just that, an excuse. I have tried to come up with so instances of where "too many" people can be turned into a reason of productive change and not into a hindrance for development. When I talk to the people here it is a common refrain. If you ask why there is no change in X it is because "too many people" the only things I and those I talked to about this have found to refute this idea is a more responsive government and volunteer service. If everyone agrees that the government should be more responsive to the will of the masses then why isnt it? If there are truly are "too many" how come they dont use that vast weight to better their condition? And If there are "too many" what do they do to better their neighbors condition? Other than that I cant really think of any ways to get around the argument. What else is there to say. If I ask about education of course I get a canned response of it is changing. And that in the future it will be better. I think I will bring this up in the next classes that I have in the teacher class I teach. I may ask as an opening question what do you do to benefit the society that you live in? And further what does the official policy say about it. I might get myself kicked out of the country but isnt questioning your leadership to ensure the best possible country that is possible a sign of patriotism? Is blind following a good thing? If it is then what country is the model? Who follows blindly? Who doesnt question? And what does that allow the establishment to get away with in the name of you?

taxes

Hey Hey kids. It is tax day in the US. My favorite day of the year, the day I get to give my government some money and wonder what it is that they do with all of my and your money. What I want you to do is to look around, what did the government do for you today? Did you take public transportation? Subsidized. Did you drive to work? Subsidized. Is your workplace safe and you need not worry about a steel I-beam falling on you? Paid for by the government (OSHA). Is your water ok to drink? EPA. Did you take any medications today? FDA. Is your home occupied by soldiers? Really it is? I dont think they are allowed to do that. I will check it out but I am almost certain that quartering soldiers is a no go in the US. So I guess what I am saying is that while I dislike the vast majority of what my government does I do appreciate that I dont get all the government that I pay for. So when you pay the piper for the year and file those taxes be thankful that the government is working for you. If it isnt, well I dont really have any options for you. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

banks

This week I am teaching about the economy...UUUGH....I dont even really like money that much and I think we might be better off in a feudal barter system but I digress. Anyways instead of talking about how the american economy has changed throughout our history I decided to focus instead on the economic crisis that is happening and thus I must understand the root causes the possible ways out and what the hell went wrong. Not only that but I have to be able to distill it (um mm distilled) into a coherent presentation for the students to understand. I think I have gotten a handle on it for the most part. I get the homes and the toxic assets and the short selling, what I am having trouble getting a hold of is why did the home prices collapse so far? Were they just overvalued to begin with? Did the buyers decide that 1.5million for a studio was nonsensical? What exactly caused this problem of home prices falling? Is it simple supply and demand? I know there is some simple reason out there but I cant locate it. As soon as I do that I will be golden and then me and the sec. of the treasury can solve this mess.

exam

Ok pop quiz.
1.)What do you get if you build a house from chinese sheet rock?
A.)Poisoned
B.)Cheap materials that are poisonous
C.)Crappy materials that are cheap and poisonous
D.)all of the above
It seems that every time any tests are done on any goods brought from china into the US there are problems. I dont care so much that the businesses here are cutting corners and adding lead to toys and chemicals to pet food. What gets me is that the US has such shit enforcement of safety standards. Is the government not charged with labeling the contents of goods sold in the US. I remember there being a tag on the mattress of my bed when I was a child that said "under penalty of law no person shall remove this tag" or some such nonsense. I still use that tag as a bookmark in case you were wondering. What happened guys? The US can waste billions a year fighting drugs, but cant spend 10 minutes with a home chemistry set making sure the materials used to build homes are safe to be around. I have a fantastic idea. Press all your heroin and cocaine into sheet rock slap a made in china sticker on the back and walk that shit on in. I mean really american government you claim to be in the business of protecting americans from harm, well from my perch it seems like you either are not trying very hard or are almost completely incompetent. Either way it makes me sad. We should just let china take over already and then we can sell tainted goods to ourselves and cut out the middleman. If we eliminate the shipping cost I bet we could even make poisonous sheet rock at even cheaper prices than they already do.