Entry #19 -- Freeze! NEW BLOG ADDRESS!

Well, the departure date has quickly crept up on us and I leave for China in less than a week. . .

As many of you know, anything Google related -- and many other webpages -- is touch and go in China, so I've decided to leave behind the site I've spent hours designing (sigh) and migrate to a platform I will be able to access positively.

Everything but my posts will be presented in Chinese characters. Don't be intimidated! Click around and have fun. . . Or I guess if you're feeling excessively wimpy, Google might be able to translate it for you. However, be sure not of translations must you be upon receiving them English words [Translation: Chinese to English translations don't always make perfect sense when using an automatic translator].

So, if you'd like to follow me and my journey go to the following site:

www.blog.sina.com.cn/sichuanlife

Once there, I will orientate you, tell you how to post/comment. Just a note: if you do wish to comment, please be mindful with your thoughts. . . not for my sake, but for the Chinese Government's sake. It would be horrible if they censored my blog -- then how would we be able to keep in touch! Something like that would probably never happen, but after reading another student's blog -- who posted a similar disclosure -- I figured it wouldn't hurt to at least mention. Stray away from opinionated religious and political commentaries. Again, I'm not even worried about y'all :) I just want to be respectful on their turf, if you catch my drift. . .

On that note, check out the new site. And if nothing else, at least stop by to see the super fluffy panda bear animation. Yah, I'm definitely going to try and bring back a baby panda.

Entry #18: The Travelling Bowls -- my art project

As many of you know (and if I've acquired the viewer-ship of other bloggers whom I do not know on a personal  level -- which I hope is the case -- you will soon know) I attend Pacific Lutheran University and will soon be heading to China, the sole purpose of this blog. . .

Now, very rarely do Chinese people invite guests into their home -- the home is a sanctuary, a very private place, a realm of safety and security. However, on the occasion that you are given the privilege to visit their home, it's a respectful custom to bring with you a small token of appreciation. I figured, since China will be welcoming me into their country for an entire semester, it would only be right to bring along something that represents a piece of me -- a piece of culture unique to my life -- as a kind gesture of my appreciation.

So at the start of summer vacation I began working on a series of miniature, hand-thrown bowls that I fired in my kiln (a.k.a My Hot Little Nugget) to give to the people and the land that will inevitably be teaching me over the coming months. Art is a powerful medium and wields the power to shrink a massive world by connecting people through a universal language.

Documenting the travels of my bowls as they trek across the mountains of Tibet, touch the hands of a tai chi chuan master, plod across the ancient stones of the Great Wall, or respectfully hold a portion of chrysanthemum tea, I hope to explore exactly how art can bridge two very different cultures in a time when their futures appear to be so intertwined.

Where will they go? I can happily say I'm not entirely sure. How many hands will they touch? I hope many.

One thing I can say with confidence: they've stopped spinning in circles; they're headed straight for China. . .

Entry #17: Quick Little Update!

Most of my bowls have just recently exited the 2600 degree kiln in my garage, a.k.a "The Art Studio" (which is currently being overtaken by my dad's countless motorcycle parts).

I hope to get a picture and explanation of what it is I am doing tonight. The bowls took a little while longer to dry than I originally thought. Art is a process my friends! A process!

Anyway, keep checking back!

Entry #16: New Follower!

Score! I got myself an eighth follower -- welcome and thanks for joining, Cathy!

I haven't been really very good about updating my posts, but this will all change here in a month or so (given the Blogosphere is not censored of course during the time I am abroad). . . However, just to cover my basis, I will be giving my parents instructions on how to update the site. So, even if I am unable to upload my posts directly to the system myself, I will send an e-mail across the ocean and have someone in the states carry out the updates; I hope to make them daily, but in all reality, it will probably  be every other day.

Currently, I'm working on a pottery project to take over to China with me. It consists of numerous, very small bowls that I hand threw on the potter's wheel and will hopefully be able to "give to China." More on this to come by the end of the week, so keep checking back. I appreciate those who follow -- and, like I keep saying, I always want more. . . I'm jealous that way. I can't help it [shrugs].

Also: talk to me while I'm away -- or now. Comment on posts, etc. Write what you want. Post what you want. This can be your blank canvas too!

See ya soon!

Entry #15: Please Follow the Highlighted Route. . .

My departure date will be here before I know it. Oddly enough, even though I will soon be leaving for China via airplane, I wondered how long it would take me to walk/swim -- you know, the ol' fashion kind of travel that requires one to get their shoes dirty and their muscles aching to an extravagant point before realizing it's time to rest (thank the lord for modern times!). Thanks to the oh so intelligent Google Maps, I discovered it would take me approximately 127 days and 18 hours to get to my destination via the power my body produces.

Google Maps very kindly and sweetly told me to "Use Caution! This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths. . ." Really? I had no idea. 

One doesn't always need a clearly defined path to get them where it is they want to go. Whether it be a high speed thorough fare or a dirt path bruised by a horse drawn cart, one must adapt to the situation at hand and go with the flow. As I prepare for my trip and think about what it is I will eat, where I will sleep, how it is I will effectively communicate (for example, will I curl up into a ball and desperately long for my English words back?), and the inevitable occurrence of getting lost, I realize I must adapt. 

For those of you who know me well, you'll understand me when I say that my directional skills are borderline nonexistent. One might even go as far to say that I have an undesirable mental condition that prevents me from locating the correct destination, even if it is the next door neighbor's house. Not exactly wonderful for a boy exploring a foreign land. . . So we'll just see what kind of navigational dangers the winding, curving, maze-like streets of Chengdu, China have in store for me. Bring it on!

All I can do is thank the universe for Google Maps -- and the little highlighted route, which I usually always "modify." 

[Oh, wait. . . Google is censored in China still. AHHHHHHHHHHH!]

Entry #14: Biological Soup = ENHANCED

I struggle to right this, dear friends, as my left arm has fallen limp with pain from all of the required travel immunizations I received earlier today -- okay, so I kid, it's not like I was impaled with this:

I'd have a hard time saying the nurse who administered the shots was an overspilling bottle of sunshine, but she was friendly enough and now I can finally cross "get myself some vaccines!" off of my to do list before finals week pops out in front of me scaring me half to death.

If only, if only there were highly efficient immunizations that guarded against awful, mean, nasty multiple choice science examinations. If only, if only. . . [wishful sigh]

Entry #13: <--- (Oh My GOSH! Grab that Rabbit's Foot, Locate that 4 Leave Green Thing, Spin around Thrice Times To Counteract that Most Unlucky NUMBER!) Now. . . Onto The 1,000 YR. OLD EGG

So. . . as promised, I figured I'd take everyone deeper -- through mere research of course -- into the fine delicacies that are Chinese cuisine. Now, countless dishes exist in the Chinese menu that most Westerners would shy away from. I took it upon myself to seek out what, I feel like, would repulse us all the most.

It's not fried/skewered/slightly-toasty/crispy scorpions. . .
It's not regurgitated bird's nest soup. . .
It'd definitely not Beef Pizzle (fo' shizzle!). . .

It's the 

[insert dramatic, thunderous, booming, theatrical voice here] 

1,000 year old egg!

Doesn't it sound mysterious, ancient, and sage-like. I might even go as far to say it sound like something, perhaps, a wizard might consume.

Well, as it turns out, the century egg is a "side-dish" (sorry, not a full meal folks) that is made by preserving duck, quail, or chicken eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, charcoal, lime, and rice hulls. If there are any potters out there, you'll know that a few of those ingredients are primary components of glaze. The preserved egg pickles in this caustic mixture for many weeks to several months.

The chemical agent that "transforms" the egg is severely alkaline in nature, which eventually raises the interior pH to 12+ -- YIKES!

It is a dish with multiple layers of complex flavors. . . and smells like horse urine.

P.S. The recipe I viewed called for "ash of charcoal from a fireplace. . ." This egg is practically radioactive, so I'm betting on the fact that if I consume one during my time abroad I will most definitely return with super-mutant powers.