Chapter 1 pt. 2 Welcome, My American Adventurer.

So let's see... I was picked up by a Chinese girl I barely new and was making my way to a hotel located somewhere in this foreign city. I felt a little uncomfortable as I realized  I left my Chinese speaking capabilities in a pile of introductory textbooks on my garage floor.  

Cherry and I continued to attempt a tangible conversation, and I managed to ascertain that Joe, my professor, would be meeting me the next morning at the hotel, and I would be meeting her tonight and the next morning for food…as my Chinese was not up to the level to where I could walk down the street and grab a bit to eat by myself. Well at the time I did not think getting food in a city would be hard at all, I would only have to walk inside the nearest restaurant door, point my finger at a picture of the food on the wall that I wanted, and be good to go.

After 30 minutes of driving, we turned into the exit lane, and passed through the tollbooth, onto the street that took us between dozens of tall buildings and inside traffic. The streets are riddled with taxis and bicycles (motorized mostly),  and barely any car owners. It has only been in the past 10 or so years that owning a car started to become a more common trend. This is due to the recent growth of the middle class in Chengdu. As citizens in industrializing countries cannot afford their own car, however, they still need transportation from A to B, cheap transportation is the only option available.  However, as GDP fluctuates and the middle class starts to grow, convenience starts becoming a purchasable good. Which is exactly why we are starting to see less motorized bikes and more cars on the streets. This increase in purchasing power by Chinese citizens is a good sign of economic growth, just as the sheer amount of infrastructure construction is signified by the cranes along the highway Cherry and I were cruising. China, though, in the 1990’s had a taboo against private ownership of a car since it seemed to be too capitalistic and western, a belief that has disappeared as the  people now need cup holders to put their KFC drinks in while driving to see Star Trek at the movie theatre . Now for myself, I love industrialization as well, but not fried chicken (sorry mom).

The hotel we pulled up to belonged to the local government officials, and cherry being a DA, was able to pull strings for me to get a free room in.  The lobby was adored with gold and red ornaments (the artsy side of Communist nationalism), Chinese characters, statues of past war heroes, and 4 bug eyed Chinese women staring at me who probably felt like Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray when they saw the giant marshmallow monster in Ghostbusters.

After checking in, Cherry needed to make a call to her office and “check on things”, so she pulled out a cell phone that honestly looked like a gadget from a James Bond movie.

Most Chinese people (from all demographics), own cell phones since a good number ofwireless companies directly invest into the country, making ordinarily high-tech and expensive models cheap and highly available to the general populous.

I sat that in front of the check in desk, holding onto my luggage, and trying to sport that same goofy smile during awkward silence that existed between the receptionists and I (who are now giggling).  Cherry hangs up her phone and immediately explains to me how she has to return to the office, which made me become just as bug eyed as the receptionists before. I was hungry, un aware of where the hell I was, and most of all, white and unable to speak Chinese. 

“Cherry?” I calmly asked, as I nervously began to count the protein bars in my back pockets “What am I going to do for dinner…and breakfast…or second breakfast?” I eat a lot. My friend of a friend of a friend Cherry, smiled, put her phone back into the bag, and explained to me how I will be ok, and how the people will be very welcoming and helpful to me, and if all else fails, I should just wait it out till my professor arrives the next morning. Unknowingly, I believed her full heartedly, and waved goodbye as she walked across the massive red carpet and out through automatic door which was constructed to look like a Daoist shrine.

This is the part of the story where the American Adventure was a lone for his first time.

---End of Chapter 1---

Chapter 1

Hello!

    After a few days of R&R, I am proud to say I survived the horrendous plight we call jet lag. If any of you have been on cross seas trips (especially across the pacific), you can relate with me!

            As I said, I needed a few days to gather my thoughts and “discover” how to articulate and share my experience in the Beichuanese Earthquake region perfectly. Yeah…about that…no dice. I have never been a stickler for proper organization, unless I needed to attempt it for schoolwork or impressing any girlfriends who happen to be English majors, and as this is MY story, I will tell it MY way. In the words of my very blunt (and intelligent!) father, “Warren, the best place to start something is at the beginning” and also “Warren, go play in the road” but that’s a quote for another story! Moving on! For the next few weeks I will detail my adventure on this blogsite, by using personal experience and analyzing it with International political, Economic, and cultural concepts that I used in my journals while abroad. At  some points I might even compare to historical or other modern day instances., which should be intriguing and even thought provoking if you don’t agree! I hope you find it interesting, and I hope you give me a sympathy laugh when I try to be funny…please!

Ok, so here we go.

Chapter 1 (pt. 1) – Arrival

            If you have a mental picture of China as country that is only worth its manufacturing  plants and the robust economy that exist in the Eastern port cities…you’re wrong, dead wrong.

“Holy Crap” I said to myself while my 747 prepared for landing on the Chengdu airstrip, looking at a landscape of colossal skyscrapers and the rustle and bustle of city life. I never expected what I saw. Pure, achieved, industrialization. Chengdu is the capital city of the Sichuan province, located about 2,000 miles away from the much visited cities of Beijing , Shanghai, Xian, and Hong Kong. It hosts about 6 million citizens, and an increasingly fervent economy based on white collar jobs in the banking and commercial sector. It also is the key place for transfer flights in the western side of China, an easy comparison to Atlanta Georgia in respect of  urban qualities. However, since the vast majority of foreigners go to the usual cities when they visit China, anyone who is not Han Chinese is a rare sight. Which I could tell instantly as all the passengers stared at me with their surgical masks on, frightened I would bring the epidemic of  the swine flu to their home.

            Sitting in the landed plane, waiting for the ability to get off and head to baggage claim was a terrifying experience. Once the engines began to cut off, the captains voice came over the speakers in Mandarin telling us it is required by the Chinese government that all passengers must be screened for a high temperature, in order to test for any symptoms of H1NI, thus began my first struggle with the Swine Flu in China. Immediately after the captain finished talking, two very serious Asian police officers walk in wearing rubber gloves and carrying these plastic guns that looked very similar to price scanners at a grocery store check out line. The cops began to go down the two separate aisles, place the scanners on each passenger’s head, and get a temperature reading from each person. They were muttering something to us as they were walking, but my Mandarin was pretty rusty from taking my last exam in Chinese 122 about 3 weeks prior (you will be able to tell this on many occasions throughout this memoire). I was, however, able to get the jest of what they were saying – if you’re over 99 degrees, you go with the China popo/fuzz. So I’m freaking out, worried that maybe I I’ve got a cold, I’m too hot because I was wearing long pants (which, people you have to wear crossing the pacific, because 747’s are flying icicles) , or maybe it was a bad idea to drink 2 cappuccinos’ in Hong Kong airport and get hyped up on Caffeine (but my caffeine addiction won’t let me admit there is anything wrong with coffee). All I could do (as the pessimists that I sometimes am) is wait for the radar gun to come and tell me this trip is over, and these kids in Beichuan will not see their first white giant.

            As I stare at the policeman, adorned in a red  and tan uniform, and sporting a stoic emotionless expression, he begins to point the white gun over my scalp, I’m sweating now trying to control my breathing, and pulls the trigger.

            “Hao” he says, and moves to the next person! This American is pig free, and allowed to head to baggage claim; I officially am in China baby.

            As you may know the spread of the H1N1 has been rampant. It managed to reach the Asian countries within weeks of the original outbreak in Mexico. The WTO classified it as an epidemic, earlier this summer. Now we as Americans have had our fair share of cases, but many highly populated countries are taking very precise measures in preventing a large-scale outbreak. The Chinese, due to their prodigious population of almost 2 billion people, are very susceptible. As a virus is even more deadlier by the numbers of possible hosts to infect, we as an international society are only as protected by the efficiency and strength of our cooperation. Unfortunately the WHO (world health organization) is unable to control safeguards and testing procedures in each country, just as any International Regime cannot autonomously control any sovereign process in countries. Some regimes have been highly successful, like the FAO or UNESCO, but when it comes to regulations and responsibilities traditionally taken up by domestic governments…even the procedures to fight a virus are only suggestive, not enforceable. That is why I have the Chinese wonder twins holding the plastic pistols in my face, and why much of my legality to stay in China was almost revoked, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Anyways, after the Chinese police let us leave, I grabbed my carry ons, and proceeded through baggage claim and immigration, to wait for my ride to pick me up in front of the airport.  Even though the outside was humid, the landscape was beautiful. The Sichuan region is located near the Himalayas, so the mountains are always apparent.. I want you to imagine the airport, with dozens of taxis lining the lanes in front of the entrance ,and hundreds of Chinese businessmen, businesswomen, families, students flooding out of the doors towards the entrance. Now imagine, a pasty 6’6’’ American wearing a John Lennon t-shirt awkwardly waiting with his bags, hoping that his friend of a friend of a friend remembers to pick him up  as the Chinese children line up to stare at him as though the zoo just came into town.

After a few minutes of waiting, a white Volkswagen pulled up in front of the airport, and the words “HALLO!” are blared at me through the window. … or Cherry is an old high school friend of Professor Chen (who you will meet later on in my story) and offered to escort me to the temporary hotel I’d be staying at upon my arrival to China. After putting my bags into the car, we pulled out of the parking lot and sped off down the Chengdu highway.

            I was very appreciative of Cherry’s attempts to promote small talk between us, despite her broken English and my far less capable broken Chinese. The topics, though, we managed to convey between each other were universal. We talked about my family, my girlfriend missing me back home (which I was able to get a congratulatory message out of Cherry for having such a pretty girlfriend by the use of my iPhone – way to go technology), and especially academics and professions. Cherry began to explain to me how she worked for the Chengdu DA’s office, and I explained to her how I was an international studies student. It’s funny to point out, but skepticism is universal as well, as she hysterically asked “So, what do you DO with an international studies major?”. Now I could have said “grad school”, but out serendipitous occasion I had the opportunity to point to my oversized travelers backpack and camera and say “This” while sporting a goofy smile.

----

That’s all for right now, I need to head off to celebrate my friend’s birthday in downtown Aiken, but I’ll get back to finishing Chapter one soon, continuing my story of getting to the airport and having HUGE trouble finding food in a street corner for dinner on the night of my arrival to Chengdu. Also I will analyze the sheer amount of construction apparent through the streets of Chengdu while providing a first person perspective. The Picture above is the center of Chengdu, where modernization is symbolized by the large amount of skyscrapers and cranes spread throughout the city.

Until next time - peace!

~WD

An optimist's words

Hello there! I am finally outside of China's Internet restrictions in Hong Kong, and able to update this page. My apologizes for lack of contact, but those who were able to talk to me through facebook, will vouch for the difficulties I encountered to be in contact at all.

I want to first say, thank you. For you all who have made this trip possible. The events of the past month have culminated into an eyeopening experience. Many of my goals, and beliefs were reaffirmed, yet I have gained new perspective on so much. I have been through a lot. I have experienced more in one month than I expected I would experience in a life time. I can easily say it has been a happy, depressing, exciting, scary, but most of all an amazing experience. I am now more confident in my ability to pursue and achieve whatever I lay out in front of myself for the good of humanity.  This trip, was a success. 

As i have been through so much, I need time to process it. In the coming weeks I will be begin to articulately write and explain what has happened in my adventures through China, and how it reflects the need and possibility of goodwill between our nations. I am now more optimistic than ever. 

However, today is a special day that I feel is pertinent to comment on, given the amount of personal growth and perspective that I have ascertained from my travels. It is the 20th anniversary of Tienanmen square.

I am only a few miles away from a 10,000 candle vigil dedicated to our dark moment in history. 20 years ago, still whispers on, and should not be ignored. Yet we must not let diatribe undermine multilateral, even bilateral relations. This week, China and the US sided together against an authoritarian's exhibition of an ICBM. This coalition between us maybe prove the strength of peaceful pluralism and that the UNSC maybe prove effective, thus peace may thrive in this nuclear age.  

We must not let ideological, political, or cultural perceptions legitimize this increasingly important bond between our nations. I say this for us as Americans, and my friends as the people's republic. Much remains for both countries to work on, but we have an a distinct opportunity to learn from each other. Whether learn from China's superior crisis management in light of US's folly with FEMA , or how China can learn from our mature system of developed industry (and the political maturation that follows) in light of their rapidly growing middle class.  

There is an opportunity for peace, as I just lived it through many different types of Chinese demographics. If peace were not plausible, we would stick to our Unitarian measures, but more importantly - if it were not possible, I would not have experienced this miraculous one month journey of mine. We are all independently democrats, republicans, Baptists, Evangelicals or Buddhists, Muslims, Confucian, communist, PRC or ROC... but we are all Human, together. This is a time for mourning, not hate, as the time will come to test the strength of our bond. The road will be hard, as we have much to tread. However, now we must continue making our steps... together

That being said, I am off on my departure to LA! I am very excited to see my family and girlfriend, also to drink milk that is not warm! 

I thank you all who have kept an eye on this blog, and I hope you continue to over the next few months, as I have a lot to share!

Xie Xie (Thank you),

~WD

Chilaxin' in Hong Kong

Hong Kong - 7:49 AM (7:49 PM your EST)

If you ever have to go on a 16 hour flight over the pacific, wear something warm. The ride was comfortable, but I felt as though I was going to freeze to death entire time. 

I cannot complain much though, the airline provided me with over 30 hours of scrubs and the office to watch on the little view-screen. 

Hong Kong is beautiful, outside of the airport I can see three or four dragon pan ships floating in the water (not sure if thats for the tourists or the people here really style up the shipping yards)

I cannot stay here too long, since my flight to Chengdu leaves in about two hours, but I'm going to make an effort to come back here at some point in my life.

Bad news, the internet situation in the camp might not be what I expected, it could be a bit until I post something else up - but bear with I'll try to find a way to get back on here ASAP.

Now I am off to Chengdu, and then my long motorcycle ride to the earthquake zone starts!

Peace,

~WD

Departure.

Can't say too much else,

Jet lag is going to be the bane of my existence...

*My Mother and I before she sees me off, gotta love the glasses-ness goin on*

Either that or fact I'm going to miss the Terminator movie

If anyone spoils the ending, I'm going to throw a shoe.

I'll try to post something once I get situated at the camp!

Until Then consider me "en route, and out of reach"

~ WD

Succeed and Proceed

The plans are official, I will be departing this Sunday to head to the earthquake zone in Beichuan on the eve of the 1 year anniversary of the May 2008 earthquake.

I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am. My bags are packed (1 week a head), and my smile seems to be permanent at the moment!

**The picture effectively details how I look right now***

Today was brilliant on its own. As I was clumsily stuffing a sleeping bag into my backpack, a UPS truck brought me a pleasant surprise. Three enevlopes were shipped overnight the past weekend to me, containing 274 letters written by American children. I am now proud to say we have met our goal of 742 handwritten letters for the refugeed children, also in the envolopes was a total of $300 to contribute to the toy fund, that we will use to purchase toys in Chengdu for the young students who had lost their lives one year ago. 

After all of the frustration in the past few weeks, courage and patience held its ground. These are both qualities I will need to use in many years to come, as the pursuit of peace and diplomacy is never an easy task. 

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of those who were involved in order to make this trip possible: The schoolteachers and their students, who took the time to write a few hundred letters for the Chinese children to inspire them to continue their English proficiency and studies, (2) The University of South Carolina and Dobson Foundation, without the considerate financial support their would be no trip to begin with, (3) All of the private donors who have contributed to the toy fund, with your help we are able to purchase one toy for each student in the camp, (4) The Red Cross for your guidance and cooperation to help plan and harbor this trip to Beichuan, (5) And all of my loved ones who, without your support, I would not be the man that I am today as I will share the same love you have shown to me to this dark world. 

Your help has cleared the path, and now it is time for us to take our first step.

Stepping through walls.

The past week has been a culmination of frustration and craze. I was unsure as to if i were going to China or not, BUT everything has been cleared through the efforts constant patience and dedication. 

      I am going to China.

Just one week later! The Red Cross has been understanding and very helpful in this process, and managed to pull a few strings for me to stay a while longer in the camps, plus I may get a better flight out of this turn of events. 

More letters for the children are coming in, and I appreciate every one's support for this project. I feel as though now I should give some background information as to why i am going, and the best place to start in any personal explanation...is with a little personal philosophy.

Samuel Huntington, an accomplished political scientist once said, “Future International conflicts will be a direct result of the cultural, historic, ethnic, and religious differences that make civilizations unique” that “the most important conflict of the future will occur along the cultural fault lines separating these civilizations from one another”.yet I cannot sit here and accept that stigma as truth. The world is becoming smaller, and civilizations are encountering each other day by day. However,  His history was only partly representative of civilizations that came together, but there are varieties of outcomes that are not always clash and conflict; history has proven something grandeur has arisen from plurality rather than homogenized policy. . Many of the worlds technological revolutions, medical advancements, and humanitarian accomplishments could have only be brought upon by the culmination of lateral efforts from peoples belonging to all sorts of not just civilizations, but cultures as well.

Even though we are 7,000 miles away from China, my heart still is torn from the silence of 60,000 voices from the Sichuan earthquake.  I have no ties, no relations, no bond with these people.; but as a human, I find plausibility in my efforts to help ease the suffering that has occurred.  My career goals are uncertain, but I do know that whatever field I end up in, it MUST lead to or consist of working towards the goal of peace, possibly achieved through humanitarian assistance or diplomatic relations. In respect of my International Studies major and Chinese language experience, this opportunity will be positively influential for my academic background. More importantly, being able to utilize my compassion and drive can help inspire the future development of positive interaction between cultures of all backgrounds, as It is in a crisis that we all mourn together, but it is also in a crisis that we work and grow closer than ever before. 

This will not be an easy task. This is an objective that many individuals have spent their entire lives working towards, but history proves their efforts are not in vain. Whether it is on micro levels such as Picasso’s Guarencia or Macro levels as the UN’s economic sanctions that led to the fall of the Apartide policies of South Africa, hope remains universal amidst the divergence of homogenization. I am not scared, I am ready to take this step.  

 For information on the earthquake, and where I will be going (the epicenter) ->http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357066,00.html, http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7590000/newsid_7591100/7591152.stm