I'll Sleep With My Machine Gun If You Let It On The Train

Sikh student banned from train for wearing kirpan

Sorry to break from my up-to-the-moment health status, but I want to lay something out there about religious tolerance. I love Canada. I love that we are a mixture of cultures. I love that this allows me to travel around the world and have most people like me because they've got family in my country or know someone who has. I like that I get to meet people that are not white, were not born in Canada and aren't Baptist Christians. I also love that there are 2nd or 3rd generation Canadians that still practice their traditional rituals and beliefs. It all just makes the place that much more damn interesting.

However, lines need to be drawn. If you read the news article above you'll see this man's argument, and indeed a common argument among Sikh men, is that Sikh tradition has it that they should carry this ceremonial small dagger-like sword.


A typical Sikh Kirpan
Now I admit, multi-cultural country or not, most people in Canada are pretty ignorant about other religions and cultures. This isn't a phenomenon limited to the white, Christian majority. The truth of it is, most Canadians just stick to their own. However, now freshly educated on the cultural importance of the Kirpan (thanks to The Kirpan in Sikhism by Santbir Singh) I can confidently say that I'm sorry, but it's time to change the tradition.

I mean, we grasp at tradition like it's this unchanging rock holding us to our past and our roots. But it's not. Tradition is created, changed and destroyed as dictated by the culture. That's how we evolve as residents of the planet.

There's no getting around the fact that the Kirpan is a weapon, and as this quote shows, one that is to be used to maintain the sovereignty of Sikhs.

The Kirpan is our way of showing to the world that we as Sikhs will never bow down to any state authority. The Sikhs of the Guru recognize only one authority, and that is God. We recognize only one throne, and that is the Eternal Throne of the Timeless one, the Takht Akal Bunga Sahib. Our Kirpans are our passports of freedom.

Americans, with the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution, have a similar Right vs. Reality situation. The simple fact is that should you have a number of people armed at all times you create a state of violence and fear. Humankind has proven countless times that their responsibility with things that can kill is pretty much akin to children not putting things in their mouths.

Now, I'm not attempting to say that Sikhs are going to go out on a wild stabbing spree, and very likely there has never been any incidences of violence occuring in Canada with Sikhs using their Kirpan as a weapon. However, it opens the door to allowing all people to argue "What's fair for one person is fair for all people."

So, just as the government, and overwelming majority of the population, in the US has decreed that the 'right to bear arms' does not include caring a Glock hand cannon to 4th period history, so should Canada's 'freedom of religion' not override everyone else's basic freedom of not fearing those carrying large weapons.

Times change, religions and cultures adjust. Get with it. Or perhaps we should also allow Muslims their religious freedom to stone women adulterers to death. Some traditions remind us of the diversity and greatness of our roots, but some have no place in the modern world and there is little need to carry a small sword on a train or into a classroom.

In other news... I'm feeling better, and despite the words of Richard Ashcroft, the drugs do indeed work. The pain in my foot is all but gone and the one in my throat has faded to a dull ache.

A Day Late And A Gold Fish Short

I always read these things after the fact:
Rome bans 'cruel' goldfish bowls

I mean, I'm not so naive to think that the fish are living in paradise, but I had no idea they were going blind and now I guess I can figure out that perhaps lack of oxygen might have been a deadly factor in the change of status of my fish.

Well, I've survived another day of what I'm now convinced is tonsillitis caused by strep bacteria. I read online (gasp!) that strep bacteria causes both tonsillitis (strep throat) as well as soft tissue infections if it gets in open sores (i.e. a blister on my foot).

At one point today I could do nothing but lay on my bed, near tears, and beg for the pain in my foot to stop. This convinced Maggie to make another trip to the pharmacy for me (her third) and get me some asprin. Well, they worked like a charm and I'm now superfantastic. I mean, the pain's still there and I have to lamely shuffle through my apartment, but at least I'm not considering using random dull objects to remove my foot.

Assuming my self-diagnosis is correct, the anti-biotics I started taking yesterday should have it cleared up in another day or two. However, if it's not feeling better late tomorrow or Friday, worry not, I'm going to the hospital.

Oh, and for crazy Chinese news of the day:
10 die as Chinese children rush to flee 'ghost' [CBC]
And for a Chinese perspective on it:
Trampling accident kills 7, injures 37 pupils in Sichuan [Xinhua]

Doctor, Doctor Give Me The News

Well, I had an absolutely horrible night last night. As mentioned yesterday, I seem to have come down with a cold. Turns out the cold symptoms (cloudy head, general miserablness) were just a hangover, but some little germ stuck in my throat and now it feels like I'm downing big chunks of glass every time I swallow. As might be imagined, this makes it difficult to sleep, especially after napping all day.

So, what I can only guess was about 2 a.m., I got the good sense not to subject Maggie to my tossing, turning and near tears and I went out to the couch to watch T.V., figuring that if anything could put me to sleep it was CCTV9, the only English channel on Chinese TV.

After finally beginning to doze off at about 5:30, I jumped back into bed and drifted off for about 30 minutes before Maggie's alarm went off to get her up to go get a health licence (more on that in a minute). I asked her to grab me some medicine on her way home because there was no way I wanted to endure another night of this (she, oddly, seemed to feel the same).

She came back a few hours later with a box of Azithromycin. I love how most prescription drugs are just over the counter here. I mean, I'm not one for self-medicating and it all makes me a bit ansy to be honest, but I trust Chinese doctors as much as I trust Chinese police. I've heard horror stories of an English teacher that broke his arm here and went to the doctor and the doctor calmly explained to him that it just has to come off. He promptly got a second opinion and cast in Korea.

Fortunately after a quick search of the Internet I discovered that Azithromycin is exactly what I need to cure my throat as well as to cure my foot. Yeah, so yesterday also brought with it a soft-tissue infection in my foot. To be honest, I wasn't (am not) certain that's what it is, as Maggie has informed me that in the walk up the steps to my apartment I took a tumble the night before (I did mention I had consumed far too much alcohol right?) and it could have been a sprain (they feel the same). But today there's no swelling, and just a lot more pain... I'm pretty sure that it's exactly what it is.

Let this be a lesson to you, should you finally find a pair of new shoes for your average (in the West) but huge (in the East) feet, and said shoes give you blisters... don't forget you have a band-aid on it for several days.

So yeah, damnit, the summer made me forget how sickly I get in China. It was nice having a bit of a holiday from always feeling like crap.

Well, not being able to sleep last night did afford me loads of time to consider a topic for my novel. Perhaps it's the toxicity in my foot, the blinding pain in my throat or the late hour at which I was putting my mind to it... but it looks like it's going to be a harrowing tale involving pirates and aliens. Yeah!

Another One Bites The Dust

May a flight of angels carry you...

Yup. After a week long hunger strike, in protest of being bowled no doubt, Fish #2 has also passed on. Now, true, the little guys didn't come with any instructions or anything, but I'm fairly certain I know how to take care of a fish, or two. I'm blaming it on being in China, I'm not sure with what justification, but well.

As he is now on the fast-track to the sea, the cause of death may never be fully understood. I had noticed that he wasn't eating his beautifully coloured blue/red food balls (as provided by the pet man in the square), but I took a page out of Parenting 101 and figured when he was hungry enough he'd get over the fact that it wasn't up to his gastronomical appreciations. I was wrong. Either that or the water was no good. Listen, this isn't CSI.

After returning this morning at 3 a.m. from a night out with the Future School crew I saw he was grasping the last few threds of his cute, if somewhat feeble, existance. I quickly, and impressively considering how much beer I had consumed, performed an emergency aquatic environment transfer and an H2O-rejuvination process. Sadly it was all for naught, and sometime between 8 and 10 this morning he made his final swim across the Styx.

And he didn't even have a name.

Well, I'm out of the caring for fish business and into the novel writing business now. I was recently passed an interesting Web site by my friend Sarah that has lit a challenge in me - I'm going to write a novel. I know, I know... many, MANY utter this phrase, but how many try to do it in 30 days or less (well, at least 42,000 people last November)?

The concept is simple, write 50,000 words in the month of November and you win. The Prize? Nada. Well I supose a great and satisfying sense of accomplishment, the ability to brag - until death - that you've written a novel, a working manuscript you can polish and actually try to get published, etc. etc. But yeah.. mostly that first thing. The whole thing is more about just taking the pressure off of writing a masterpiece and putting it all down to the single and unifying marker of word count. Quantity, not quality.

So... I've no idea what I'm going to write about yet, but with about a week until I start, I should be able to come up with something. Expect updates on my progress.

No Comparison I'll Wager

Well, I've been looking at some figures (mostly that I've guessed at) regarding Chinese wages verses Canadian wages. I've been wondering for some time how the two compare. I mean assuming anyone's checked the label on everything they own lately, it's strikingly obvious that Chinese people make shit compared to Western wages ... but what I was really curious about is how that compares to the cost of living in both places. So here's a little (unqualified) breakdown:

Note: All figures are approximate and from my experience.

Canada
Average Monthly Income (working 40h/wk. @ $7.50/h): $1,300 / 8,860RMB

Essential Expenses:
Rent: $350 / 2,380RMB
Bills: $100 / 680RMB
Food: $200 / 1,360RMB
------------
Total: $650
Percentage of Income for Essentials: 50%


China
Average Monthly Income (working 48h/wk.): $147 / 1,000RMB

Essential Expenses:
Rent: $44 / 300RMB
Bills: $15 / 100RMB
Food: $66 / 450RMB
------------
Total: $125 / 850RMB
Percentage of Income for Essentials: 85%

And for shits and giggles...
A Foreigner Teacher Working in China:
Average Monthly Income (working 40h/wk. - not common): $1,176 / 8,000RMB

Essential Expenses:
Rent: $0 / 0RMB (provide by school)
Bills: $15 / 100RMB
Food: $66 / 450RMB
------------
Total: $81 / 550RMB
Percentage of Income for Essentials: 7%


Additional Notes: Rent and bills are based on a shared apartment, and bills includes only the essentials (water, heat, electricity, gas, phone). Food for all is assuming cooking at home and budgeting.


As you can see, it's a pretty big difference. I mean, obviously the English teacher thing is going to be extremely different, but even the 35% difference between low-end Canadian jobs and low-end Chinese jobs... basically you work more for less here.

I wonder if the government is not really eager to change things here because of the whole 'idle hands' idea. But it's easy to understand why Chinese people are generally just fantastic at saving; when you're living that close to the red line, there's not a lot of forgiveness if something bad or unexpected happens.

Silver Linings And A Farewell To A Fish

Well, I'm sad to report that sometime early this morning my fish became one step closer to reaching a higher level of existence, and his mortal vessel became one step closer to reaching the sea.

Tragically the little bowl-dweller didn't live long enough for me to give him a name. Out of fear that perhaps it was a lack of identity that killed him, his surviving bowlmate will be getting a name as soon as Maggie gets home and we can decide on one.

I bought the fish on the way home from work on Saturday and was thrilled when they made it through their first night of breathing chlorinated water (I have none of those drops to add to the water to make it all cool). All was going well, despite the little guys not seeming to eat everything I threw at them, but then after doing a tank cleaning yesterday I noticed the bigger one was moving a bit sluggishly - though not quite as sluggishly as this morning.

The whole thing has me questioning my own mortality. Alright, not really. But the two grey hairs that Maggie has recently plucked from my head (not to discard them, but to dispell my disbelieve that they even existed) have forced me to realize that I can't hide behind that 'I'm still young' mantra that has kept me a good distance from any real responsibility.

I mean, a hair or two out of... well... quite a few others isn't SO bad, but upon seeing the silver strand suddenly it felt like that part in the movie where we all realize who the killer is .. and lemme tell ya folks, the baddy in this film is time.

So, as might be expected from someone who has just discovered such hairs, I've been devoting a lot of time lately to sorting out what I want to do with my life. I've not come to any concrete decisions yet, but am exploring my options with a little more long-term-idness than previously.

Now before I get a lot of comments (right, a LOT of comments, hell does anyone even read this anymore?) about being to uptight and serious about things... don't worry, I'm doing it all with a casual grace.

Oh... Maggie got a job today. Well, she technically got a job yesterday, but when a better job presented itself this morning, she nixed the first one. It looks like she's going to be working as a clerk (of some sort) for a company that deals in imported wine. It's 6 days a week, 8-5... and she only pulls in less than 1/3 of what I make for lazily working two days a week... but well, I don't make the rules. She starts tomorrow ... bye-bye day-time company. It looks like I might actually be forced to do productive things with my day, instead of the current schedule of laying around uttering the occasional, "we should really do something productive."

Fun for the Day: The Amazing Falling Junichiro
This one is for all the Chinese and Koreans that think Junichiro Koizumi can take his ancestors and his mutated sense of pride and stick 'em. Generally my views on Sino-Japanese relations tend to side towards the island people to the east, but when you're a public figure and you continue to do something you know is going to piss off one and a half billion people ... you deserve to be thrown around the screen and giggled at as you slide over spacey balls.

The High (Speed) Life

That's right folks! I'm back on top! After nearly two months without ready access to the wonders of high speed internet, this morning a young man delivered a beautiful little box that is making my shiney new laptop just that much hipper.

So the breakdown, for anyone in Dalian looking to get ADSL is such:
400 元 - 6 mo. access
100 元 - Install fee (the most I've ever paid someone to take something out of a box)
180 元 - 6 mo. rental fee for modem
300 元 - deposit (which I allegedly get back)
~~~~~~
980 元 - The total cost of heaven. Honestly, it's pricy and I hated paying it (especially that install fee), but sometimes you just have to suck it up and accept that there are costs associated with being this cool.

Like A Chinese Space Program

So tomorrow China's going to space, again. I am not sure if it's been all over the news or not as I'm still on dial-up and haven't been able to keep current with anything - but I doubt it, I mean 20-30,000 people just died in Pakistan. Two years ago China sent the first Chinese man into space, and despite being decades late for any sort of claim to fame, you wouldn't know it from the tickertape still lining the hearts of most Chinese when you mention the name Yang Liwei.

I'm guessing China will -eventually- be the second country to land on the moon, just a tad shy of four decades after Neil coined that "One small step for man..." phrase. When I asked Maggie why it was so important to go to the moon so long after it had been done, she said that China wants to be the 2nd for national pride. Now I laughed at this initially because I thought it was hilarious that it was even an issue... but then I clued in that it's not a race to be second, but a race to beat the Japanese there. Now, again, I'm not 100% on this, and it's all conjecture, but I'm pretty sure the Japanese aren't even aware they're in a space race with their big, red neighbours.

Anyway, that leads me into two things: 1) despite their best efforts to give me loads of things to whinge and joke about, I'm now officially making an active effort to stop bitching about the Chinese and the country that contains them (and me). After countless dead-end talks with the woman I love about the country she gets her cultural identity from, I've realized that it is just far too easy to spend all day focusing on the bad things in this country and I've got better things to do (like finding the good things). 2) I am really, really getting high speed. This dial-up crap sucks ass as I can never get any pages to load, I spend loads of cash just waiting for things to upload/download/load in general... and more often than not I just spend my time waiting for something to happen. Initally I hoped having dail-up would keep my tush off the computer for so many hours a day, but now I'm realizing it just bottlenecks the time I spend on the computer. I can't get new programs or new music, can't read the news or keep in touch with people, can't regularly update my blog (gasp!).. and generally it just makes me less cool.


A somewhat desolate looking Jinshitan.

So... what's new? Well... because of the National Day holiday (Happy 56th PRC!!) last week, all the kiddies had to go to school this weekend, giving us Future School teachers a rare weekend off. This motivated someone to organize a Future 4 day at the beach. After trying, unsuccessfully, to convince Maggie to come (the "I know it'll likely suck, I know no one goes to the beach in October, but c'mon..." didn't work)... about 15 of us (the foreign teachers and a load of Chinese staff as well) headed up to Jinshitan and had a wonderful day drinking in the sun. Ok, well us foreigners drank... the Chinese people did their best to hide from the sun while playing various games.




The Future 4 crew: [1] My roommate, Ryan Wang. [2] Maeve from Belfast. [3] Cam, from England, and her visiting boyfriend. [4] Scott feeding the wolf. [5] The school's manager, Esther. [6] My Chinese teacher and TA, Carol with her boyfriend.

As evening approached we headed back to the lightrail station and I got Maggie to meet the lao wai in Kaifaqu, where we had an excellent meal of North Korean food at "3,000 Miles" an excellent N. Korean restaurant I've now been to several times and not once been disappointed. It's difficult being let down by a place when they top off good food with singing/dancing Korean girls. It's a bit surreal sitting, eating your meal, and then watching your waitress strap on an electric guitar, nod to her co-worker and then start jamin' out a combination of Korean and Chinese songs.



[1] In true Chinese style, the girls were kind enough to cover him in newspaper first. [2] I'm still at a loss as to what the idea of this was, but I was game for taking a photo. [3] Now that's a skill, how many people can work an umbrella and play catch? [4] Christina and Sophie hiding from the sun - notice the long johns - it wasn't exactly cold...

The last couple days I've been doing mostly a fat load of nothing. I'm getting into a bit of a routine for practicing Chinese and I've started picking up writing. I wasn't going to focus too much on writing, as between writing, reading and speaking, it's the least needed. However, a lot of people have told me that if you can read the characters, speaking is a lot easier to understand, and to remember the characters, writing is a great way to help your memory. It's slow, but going well. There are just a load of Chinese characters, but for functional, everyday language there's about 3,000 (covers 99% of everyday language), of this about 925 construct the majority of commonly written things (about 90%). So, it's a lot of little lines to learn, but it's doable.


And we didn't even tip...

I've also finally broken down and bought a new guitar. Since my first month here I've had this crappy 200 kuai piece of junk and it's finally worn thin on my patience for playing it. So, it's taking a seat next to my old laptop and I've now got a much nicer, richer sounding Johnson acoustic. It was 600 RMB, but in my opinion worth every penny.

And the final bit of business... Dalian now has a Subway Sandwiches shop!!! After coming out of Xinhua Bookstore yesterday a big green and yellow sign beamed at me from across the street. I swear to you, I nearly fell down in a fit of happiness. Maggie must have thought I was completely mad for being so excited about some fastfood sub place, and I am sure some of you in the comforts of your western world may agree with her - but if you've had three choices for fastfood - McDonalds/KFC/random Chinese food - for the past 9 months, you might sympathize. It's only been open a little less than a month, and the girl (ahem, Sandwich Artist) said a lot of the customers are foreigners. Both her and her manager/boss/laoaban spoke great English (more than I can say for the staff at KFC), and I can see this place quickly becoming a hotspot for lao wai. Maggie seems certain no Chinese people are going to dig it, but I think as more and more Chinese people sort out that growing waists and heart disease are directly proportional to their trips to KFC and Micky Ds... Subway and other healthy alternatives are going to blossom here.

So, if that #1 thing above doesn't work out - hell, I've got a new guitar and Subway!!

Oh - here are some pics of my "new" apartment:



[1] Bedroom: a bit bigger and brighter than the last, and with a nice big bed. [2] Livingroom: alright, a bit sparse on furniture. That's Maggie studying hard at the far end. [3] The balcony. [4] The view from the balcony looks towards downtown Dalian and the sea/shipyards. [5] My new computer.

Hey, so I finally did a post up for my trip to the zoo a month ago. Check it out, there's lots of snuggly animal pics...

Dalian Forest Zoo - Caged