The Foreigners' Curse

I bet you have hot showers all the time, don't you? Every time you turn the shower on, hot water comes out. It's not something that you have to cross your fingers and hope for. I can see you smiling at the computer, I know what's up. Well, you are all lucky. I am not a member of the exclusive "Always have hot water" club. All of last week, I only had luke warm showers. There is something to be said about hot water for mental health. It can completely wake you up and get you ready for the day in the morning, or it can calm you down and get you ready for bed at night. Hot showers keep me sane. Thankfully, I my hot shower numbers have finally started to increase, meaning that I actually have hot water again. It's a miracle.

Well, this morning, it was only luke warm. But still. It gives me a reason to move more quickly in the morning, so I am not freezing my ass off for quite so long. And this morning, I had a reason to get out the door quickly: Beijing Dirt Market.

No, it's not a market that sells dirt. Wouldn't that be silly. No, it's the biggest outdoor flea market in Beijing. It's huge, and a complete rip off. True, there are a lot of foreigners there, but a lot of Chinese people there to actually do some serious purchasing. It is completely massive, and you can get anything you want there. Jade, wooden statues, books, posters, vases, tables... it has everything. I went there once last year when I was living here, and I had a great time. It also happens to be a great place to pick up presents for people back home. Yes, all of you, I now have presents. You know who you are.

I left my room at 9:45, planning to get there at about 10:30. I went on my own, because everyone else was working on writing their paper. Never have I been so happy that I finished that paper on Thursday. As it turns out, the trip took way longer. I was taking the subway, and it took me an hour. AN HOUR. Of riding a Beijing subway. They are actually very nice, the subways. Very clean, and air-conditioned. Well, most of them are, anyway. Just boring. And some of the people on the subway smell like they don't shower very much. Lovely.

Not to mention the fact that it was batshit hot today, and I had to wear a sleeve shirt because of the cupping bruises. Getting out of the subway, and walking 15 minutes to the Dirt Market was not a happy time for me. I just kept telling myself not to think about the sweat. Maybe, just maybe, I can imagine it away. There's a first for everything, right?

I fully intended to enjoy myself once I got to this market, and I definitely did. I walked around, looking at all the stalls, and brushing off the sales people who tried to grab me and drag me to their stalls to buy things. I wanted to look around first, and not buy anything and regret it later. Unfortunately, I didn't last for long. My first purchase? A small wooden monkey figurine. So cute. Second purchase? String of pearls and a Buddha statue. And so on. Every girl has to have a string of pearls, right? I whole-heartedly agree.

I bought other stuff as well. Don't think I stopped there. And now onto the reason behind the title. Here in China, whenever you buy anything (well, almost anything) you have to haggle. If you are a foreigner, the price doubles. If you are a foreigner and you don't speak Chinese, well, then the price quadruples. I can speak Chinese, so I don't get ripped off quite as bad, but still. The prices that I pay would probably make any other Chinese person cry. Well, maybe not cry, but get depressed at least. But the kicker is that Chinese people are not even ashamed of this fact. When you are haggling, Chinese people will tell you that the price is already low, because I can speak Chinese. They will freely admit that the fleece unsuspecting foreigners on a regular basis.

Today was no different. Looking back on all my purchases, I definitely spent too much. Not as much as it would have cost in me in America, probably, but still. Too expensive. I did my best to haggle, but when trying to stand up to professionals such as these sellers, I just don't stand a chance. My best just is not good enough.

When I got home, I was tired, hungry, and covered in sweat. Needless to say, all that I wanted to do was grab a quick lunch, and head back to my room for the rest of the afternoon. And just relax. Possibly shower. But definitely be in the air conditioning, and gloat over my new purchases (conveniently forgetting the prices that I paid for them). So I read my textbook, did my homework, watched a movie, and read. And it was just the day that I wanted. I was absolutely and completely happy with myself. I had gone out in the morning, and come back to relax for the rest of the afternoon. For once, I was content. It is a rare feeling for me, believe me.

At 7:30, I had one more appointment to keep. I had to go meet my teacher to go over my essay that I wrote for Social Studies project. And boy, there was a lot of small editing to be done. Not huge problems, as she said that I expressed myself well, more just problems that have to do with me translating things from English into Chinese. We spent an hour going over it, before the head of our program, Feng Laoshi, came over to chat with us. He grabbed my essay, and read it, while my teacher kept working on it with me, using my computer.

I was super nervous while he was reading it. Bloody hell, he is the head of our program. I get to be nervous. But he liked it. He said that I expressed myself well, and it was mostly well written. And he thought it was interesting. I was insanely happy. He asked me a couple of questions about when I had gone to get acupuncture and cupping done, and then proceeded to talk to me about Chinese medicine, and his own experience with it. It was a pretty amazing conversation. There are some miracle stories about Chinese medicine, honestly. He had a bone spur in his foot, and with Western medicine, it was going to take 5 years to fix. But with Chinese medicine, it took him a week. And even though it was in 2000, he still has no problems. It's things like that that make me believe. I don't really know what I think about Chinese medicine still, but I am starting to believe in it. It definitely has some help, I think.

And that, my friends, was my Sunday. My last day of freedom before going back to class. Time to go back to reality.