ni ge... shenme?

Sung said Korea is the next Japan.  Sung may be right... well, at least here in China.  I see a lot of Korean pop culture references here.  It's not so much that it's in your face all the time, but you'll definitely be exposed to some Korean stuff even though you may not be looking for it all the time.  For example, a lot of the trendy stores in the streets will be blasting Korean music.  On TV, Chinese game shows will play Korean songs in the background.  I remember one game show where a guy and a girl were supposed to say "I love you" to each other, but they said it in Korean "saranghae" (the subtitles were in Chinese, though), and they made that heart symbol where you stretch your hand to your head.  I'm not certain, but I think Korea popularized that agonizingly gay gesture.  Apparently Korean dramas are really popular here.  It's so weird to watch a Korean drama dubbed and subbed in Chinese.  Never have I heard so much "shi shi shi shi" in a single dialog.  I was at a bakery in one of those side alleys, buying me some 1 kuai snacks.  Here's a pic.

It reminded me of a deep fried Oreo, except it wasn't.

The snack itself was a meh.  The lady thought it was funny that I was taking pictures of what seems to be a common sight.  (She was also like, here, let me organize it so it looks pretty)  She asked me where I was from, and when I said America, she and her husband seemed puzzled.  They were like, you don't look like an American.  When I told them I'm actually Korean, their faces lit up and were like, "ohhh your'e KOREAN!"  Not just this instance, but in general I seem to be getting favorable reactions when people find out I'm Korean.  So, yeah, go kdramas and kpop.


So apparently I have some kind of an obsession with trash.  I remember when I went to Korea few years ago, I took pics of trash on the streets, and one of my cousins yelled at me cuz why the heck are you taking pics of trash to remember Korea by?  I don't know... cuz it's different?  So here I am in China, and I can't help but take pictures of more trash.  Here you go.

I mean, there are trash on the streets, but sometimes you see a huge pile of trash, and your'e like, huh?  I guess it's just a designated area for massive dumpage? 

This lady is in charge of cleaning up the trash cans and the area around it.  Usually you see more trash around the trash can than inside.

It's not like there are no trash cans; there are.  But it's just so much more convenient to toss your trash on the streets.  That way you don't have to carry it with you until you find a trash can.  I remember eating a lamb-kebab and after finishing it, I was left with a long wooden stick.  I walked around for about a minute looking for a trash can, and during that minute, looked like a total tool.  One of these days I'll be brave enough to just throw it down wherever I please, and nobody would care.

Just look at any random place next to a sidewalk and you'll see trash.  These sticks are from various street snacks that people eat.  This is what I should have done.

One last thing about trash.  At the house I'm staying at, there are these makeshift mini trash cans made from scraps of used paper.  These are placed on coffee tables, dining tables, and wherever.  Whenever you have trash or garbage, you put them in these things, and later on you dump them out.  Like if you're eating fish for dinner, you put your fish bones in these things.  Or when you're eating oranges on the living room sofa, you put your orange peels in here.  I'm still not used to this idea. 

So regarding trash in China, I'm not trying to make a social statement or pass a judgement.  I think it's just a cultural difference on how trash is managed and handled.  It's easy to pass judgement because other cultures are different than your own.  But who determines what is "right" and "correct"?

This is how you write down a go game.  I'm getting better and better at remembering the moves after the game, but still having trouble near the end.  Currently, this problem is ok, because most of the review is focused on the opening and middle game.

This weekend, at the go school, I lost my first 3 games, and managed to win my last one.  The first kid I played looked so sweet and innocent, probably around 7 years old.  I had studied what seemed to me an obscure line of joseki, and started playing it on my 3rd move, being all smug.  He looked at me with a cute puzzled look, and commenced thrashing me on the go board afterwards.  Turns out that the line of joseki doesn't work in that particular situation.  Also turns out that the kid was 5 dan. 

This is melon flavored hot bubble tea.  Yeah, I didn't know it was melon flavored, and I didn't know it was hot.  Maybe the bubbles weren't even bubbles... who knows?  Anyways, I was like, "hey, so what's the best drink here?"  and she was all "something something something fruit something drink" and i was like "ni ge... shen me?"  and she was all "something something" and "i was like i'll have this."  I think the words "this" and "that" are like the bread and butter of learning a new language.  It was 3 kuai, which is like 45 cents.  In the US they'd charge 10x that and it'd be ok.