WC Bob (I'm Sorry, Man)

I'm sorry to have to tell this story, but it's way too funny to keep secret anymore. I do feel bad about this, though.

Okay, so when I was in Lanzhou, I met a whole lot of people. Of course I did, China's got a ton of people, and since I was Lanzhou University of Technology's first-ever exchange student, I got a lot of attention, right? Yeah.

So, anyway, I met a bunch of dudes who were going to study abroad the next year - among them Janson and Freddy, who became my bandmates and my best friends while I was over there.

I also met Bob.

Bob was also going to study at NEIU - I didn't know him that well, and I still don't, but I liked him and still like him. Occasionally, I will still talk to him.

When I first met him, it was on L.U.T.'s West Campus, because that's where he lived. We talked, exchanged numbers, and I put him in my phone as "WC Bob" - short for "West Campus Bob", because I already had a "Bob" in my phone.

Now, here's where things get a little complicated. China has a couple of hundred years' worth of history in dealing extensively with Europeans, mainly the British and Germans. Even now, there are traces of this influence all over the country, but none more odd than the WC sign.

The WC sign is known as representative of one thing: the bathroom - public bathrooms, more often than not. It took me a long time and a lot of asking before I found out WC stood for "Water Closet," a mostly British term.

No doubt, you can see where this is going.

I had never connected the name in my phone and the sign on the streets as being the same. They were always locked away in my brain as two different things, of course. WC Bob is a cool dude, and the WC is where I go to the bathroom. I never even thought about the fact that it could be a point of embarrassment for Bob.

A few months had gone by, and I was in Guangzhou (Canton, for you historians and old-timers haha) with Bob and some of the other L.U.T. students, when we were trying to find out what Bob was up to.

Somebody's phone was dead, and I said, "Use mine, he's under WC Bob."




................................"What?"

"WC Bob. West Campus Bob - that's where he lives, right?"

................................."Dude, WC is the toilet."

And wouldn't you know it, Bob walked in right then. Perfect timing.

"HEY, WC Bob!!! We were trying to find you!" said the other guys.

He was really confused, and once the whole story emerged, both of us were quite embarrassed - me because of my ignorance, and Bob because of his newly-found nickname. I believe it's been forgotten, but just in case it hasn't, I want to take this moment and tell Bob that I'm sorry. That was my bad, dude, and I know they gave you crap about it for a little while.

Sorry, dude.

And that's the story of Bob "WC" ****, a true tale of cultural ignorance, loss of face, and forgetfulness.

Away From Isolationism and 2 New Videos

Here are two URLs for some interesting (and short) articles that reflect a growing trend in China's governmental policy.

Before:

Just picture that sign in Chinese, okay?

Now.

China is Biggest Investor in the U.S.A.

China to Help Boost African Development

China seems to have come to the point of its development where it has begun to withdraw from its traditionally more isolationist leanings and get more involved in the outside world. Since the West forced the opening up of China, China has been involved with the world as far as accepting some foreign investments domestically and exporting goods to those foreign countries.

(((((((Now - when I say "isolationist", I mean it purely in terms of getting involved in stuff outside that country's borders. Foreign investment inside and exportation from that country is just fine - but as far as foreign policy in the outbreak of war/financial/diplomatic tensions, that country doesn't really care.)))))))

However, both of those were pretty much exclusively handled within Chinese borders. In the past 20 years, and especially the past 10 years, Chinese people have come by the thousands to America, Europe, and other places to study, start businesses, etc. and the exchange has begun to level out. Over $6 billion in investments in America, thousands of exchange students and businessmen, diplomatic and aid efforts in Africa - China has begun to step outside of its box.



Guangzhou, like I said, is a nice halfway point. It's English friendly, not too dirty, and it is an air-conditioned city. However, I did not enjoy my time in Guangzhou - I tell Chinese people that I did, but I didn't. When I went places, I would always ask people stuff like directions or where to buy something or something basic, I would ask in perfectly understandable Mandarin AND English, if that didn't work....I'd ask them, and they'd just blow me off just like any New Yorker who doesn't think you're worth their time. Guangzhou people are so rude - the only friendly Guangzhou natives I met were university students. Everyone else on the street was so rude. The food is Guangzhou is okay, but I'd suggest eating food styled after other places. Sichuan food is very popular and I'd recommend that. Local Guangdong food is relatively bland or is a little sweet. The sweet is good, but bland is stupid. Guangzhou's a huge city and I'm not a huge city type, so maybe we weren't destined for a great relationship. But the White Cloud Mountain was cool!

Of course, I'll always enjoy historical sites, such as the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.

This is from the 白云山 White Cloud Mountain. This day was really hot and humid, but the view of the skyline is really cool!

The Old Summer Palace is a pretty cool place, although it suffers from the unfortunate downfall of being swarmed with tourists during the summer and winter holidays.

It's about 5 miles northwest of Beijing's Forbidden City and was the residence of the Qing dynasty emperors and the place of everyday governmental affairs, while the Forbidden City was for formal occasions. The place was destroyed in 1860 by the French and the British during the 2nd Opium War and it has never been rebuilt.

If you go during a time without a lot of people, I can imagine feeling a very strange and eerie aura coming from the place. I had never visited a set of ruins before, so my feelings were very different from what they were normally.

There's a strange feeling of sadness and mystery and grandeur all mixed together - it's sad because it's been destroyed, mysterious because we can't fully reconstruct and imagine what it was like to stand in those halls, and grand because of the sheer size of the place and the intricacy and splendor of the marble carving and natural scenery.

There's also a kind of weird emptiness that can't be described. You really really want to see what these buildings were like and you really really want to have that intimate feeling of seeing the places where the emperor walked and ate and sat and relaxed, but you can't.

The place was destroyed and all that is left are paintings, writings and memories of the dead.

"History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future."
Robert Penn Warren



Just something to think about. I'll be keeping you guys up to date - thanks to one and all who read and care about what I have to say.



Keep coming back - I'm still going to be updating. Got a lot more to come