Studio Ruthe

Of many things, including that Chinese visa

Fencing for the nonexistent crowds was gone, but there were twice as many people milling around inside the consulate when I arrived to pick up my visa. Despite the seeming chaos I was out in minutes, passport and visa for 60 days in hand. Whoopee! Now I can continue making plans without changing my plane tickets. Stay tuned for more details.

After this most important task we went to the Museum of Biblical Art and looked at a spectacular Durer show. I am amazed at the wonderful condition of these 500 year old prints.

My medications finally seem to be properly adjusted. I haven't had any palpitations for the last four days; the longest stretch I've had since all of this began. I'm now taking twice the amount of both meds as I began with, but it's still not much.

Monday was optician day. I went to see my contact lens doctor in the morning. She's the only doctor I still see in New York. I wasn't happy with the person I was referred to in Pittsburgh. The lenses she was prescribing would have cost more than my going out of network and returning to New York. I asked the Pittsburgh doc if I would see any better with the more expensive lenses and was told they would be the same. Returning to NY seemed a no brainer to me.

When I went to that Keratoconus meeting last month I found out about a study of possible genetic links in KC being conducted at Columbia. In the afternoon I went through an hour of testing and donated two small vials of blood to be part of the study. Since my mother also had KC I felt I might make some kind of contribution.

I loved Hillary's speech last night. Too bad she didn't have that same positive approach during the campaign. I really had no preference going into the campaign--only for the person who would unseat the Republicans. When Hillary became so nasty toward Obama I felt I couldn't vote for her. I particularly liked her saying: her mother was born before women were able to vote--her daughter was able to vote for her for president. Let's hope the next president will be a woman, but right now I still feel the most important thing is to get the Republicans out.

More China censorship stuff

Here's a column by Nicholas Kristof from today's New York Times with more about blogging and censorship. I don't think it applies to my problem. All I can do is wait and see what happens when I get there.

I was able to see the Acer ultra light laptop at Best Buy today. It's slightly larger and looks much better than the Asus I looked at before. The keys are more comfortable. I hope I can make a decision on it soon. There's one more I'd like to see.

Blogging from China

I followed the China link from the Swarthmore page and found that their blog is from Wordpress, so maybe there is hope. Or maybe someone here is posting for them.

Where did the week go

I thought I was going to have lots of time in New York, but half my time is gone and I've hardly done anything. Our supposed arrival on Monday night became Tuesday morning instead. We remained near Philly on Monday and spent much of the day at Swarthmore, one of the colleges Charna wanted to visit. I can't believe she'll be going to college next year. I knew less than nothing about Swarthmore--what I thought I knew was wrong. I didn't walk around the campus with them--still avoiding sunshine--but happily sat through the info session and was hugely impressed. It sounds like a great place, although I suspect these info sessions always make the schools sound great. But they talked about things I think are important and skipped all the other things they could have said.

I got dropped off at Renee's apartment about noon on Tuesday. The Chinese consulate website said Monday and Tuesday were bad days to come, too busy, so I opted not to go. I walked down to 86th St., stopping for frozen yogurt for lunch (bad move, but one of my favorite lunches), finally getting to Best Buy where I had hoped to find the ultra light laptop I want to buy. They had one, not for sale, the last time I was here, but no more. Since then a number of others, slightly larger but no heavier, different processor, have been announced, but no one seems to have them in stock. Robin recommended this one, but I'm not happy about ordering unless I'm sure I'll get it quickly. I'm also not sure what the delay is about. My former husband was an electronics engineer. Sometimes whatever company he was working for would announce a new product and take pictures of an empty box. This is known as vaporware (love that word) and I'm a little concerned these computers are really vaporware.

Tuesday night Renee and I went to see Woody Allen's new flick. She was bored; I rather enjoyed it. There was a lot in it I related to. Wednesday morning you know about. By afternoon, somewhat cooled down, we went to the Bronx Botanical Garden. It was a wonderful day--sunny, not too hot--perfect weather for walking around. We looked at the Henry Moore sculptures and took two rides on the tram, we like it so well.

Today we will be going out to Long Island for Hannah's Bat Mitzvah, another one of those where did the time go moments. We'll be staying until Sunday afternoon.

Back to the Chinese consulate and other ways I've been spending my time

Third time's the charm, I guess. I got to the consulate about 9:40 am, all my documents in hand, walked down the half block of fencing to control the non-existent crowds, passed the bag inspection, showed my passport, took my number, which was called in 5 minutes, presented everything to a different officer who didn't smile, but didn't scowl either, but who made lots of marks on the papers then disappeared for a few minutes, came back, made more marks, then handed me a receipt and told me to return on Tuesday. I was out of the building before 10, walked past the still empty fencing, J-walked across 42nd St. to the bus stop and watched Falun Gong as I waited. They are across the street from the consulate protesting every day. I found another blog about jumping through hoops for a Chinese visa. Interesting story.

I had a lot of time to kill before my afternoon date so I sat in Bryant Park and read the free Daily News that was handed to me when I entered the subway, then went to the library and looked at a show of contemporary photos about the city. After that down to Chinatown.

Lunch was in an amazing place where you get a choice of 5 items from a huge buffet for $4.50. I don't like eating alone in restaurants; this makes it easier because I don't have to wait around to be served, to say nothing of appreciating the price. This is the season for lichee, longans and rambutans, amongst other exotics. I wandered around looking, smelling (not always pleasantly), and appreciating all the food for sale. If I could live anywhere I wanted, it would be in Chinatown.

I was meeting Shirley Sun at 2 at the Confucius statue, but they've fenced off the statue and taken away the benches. With 40 minutes before my date I was getting tired and wanted a place to sit. I found a "bakery" with a few seats and rented one for $1.50 for an iced coffee. I was determined to sit for at least 20 minutes, but even with an interesting view out the window it was hard for me to stay there. Finally it was time to go find Shirley. It's been a year since I've seen her. She's still working with bus advertising, but now she's designing the ads and posters, instead of selling. I think she's having a very hard time here and is planning to return to China. When I first met her she said she loved it here because the sky was blue. So I asked here if she will miss the blue sky. She said it was too high. 

Visas and other irritations for China

This morning I went to the Chinese consulate, located at 42nd St. and 12th Avenue, right at the West Side highway. It's a funny place for a consulate, most of them look for more prestigious addresses. They are prepared for an onslaught of hundreds of people, but, in fact only about 25 were there at any one time. I thought I had all my documents in hand, but the officer insisted I had to have an internet confirmation from my hotel. (I don't have a hotel, just the CCS apartment address, which was on my application.) So I left, fortunately not having had to wait too long, walked one long block to Starbucks and started making phone calls.

Cross Cultural Solutions told me they would fax a letter to the consulate; I could go back there and this would work. It didn't. I was told, in no uncertain terms, I had to carry the paper in to them. I gave up, came back to the apartment, printed out the letter from an email they sent me, and couldn't bring myself to go back. I'll try again tomorrow. I haven't been so annoyed in a long time, although I suspect dealing with our consulates could be even more frustrating.

I've been doing a lot of reading about China. Had I done all this reading before I committed to going I suspect I might have chosen some other place to go. Some of it is a little scary.

Ronni Bennett had a post about her blog being blocked in China. Someone commented it wasn't only her post, it was all of Typepad. Subsequently, I found out most blogging hosts, and Flickr, from outside of China are blocked. It's possible I won't be able to post from there. If that is the case, I'll work out something with Robin or Carol, assuming I'll still have email. I will want more than ever to be able to keep in touch.

Questions about China

I've been spending a lot of time reading China Wakes by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. It's an easy read--lots of stories about how they got the job done as New York Times correspondents and stories about how people are living in China. All of those stories are used to illustrate the point that all is not well in China. Interspersed with the stories is speculation about the end of the Communist Party, because of corruption, peasant uprisings, various other disasters. The book was written around the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre, certainly reason to think about these kinds of things. But it hasn't happened yet, and the Party is probably as strong as ever. To give Kristof credit, he says it could take a very long time.

It's a scary book to read. He makes the point, and I know this from my study of Chinese history, that sometimes dynasties have fallen because of natural disasters, such as that earthquake. He was actually talking about a previous earthquake. The book was published in 1994. My inner voice of gloom is speculating about what might happen if the Olympics are not a huge success. I was left with lots of questions about China's stability, and also about Kristof.

In his most recent column about China he is much more optimistic and tempers his criticism in ways he did not do in the book. Have things improved, or is Kristof older and wiser?

My biggest question is why the book is on the reading list I got from CCS. If their concern is that we might all be starry-eyed idealists then a better and more recent book with more narrative and less prognostication is Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China by Kang Zhengguo. His terrifying picture of life in Communist China comes from his own experiences and reads less like propaganda, although I had to wonder about his naivete. So I am not going to China because I think I will change anything. I am going because I had a Chinese pen pal, Laura, when I was 13 or 14, who had to stop writing because of the Communist take-over. I am going because my interest in Japan constantly leads back to China. And more than anything, I am going, as I used to tell my mother, because it is there.

Preparing to go to China 2

My chickens are beginning to come home to roost. I may have sublet my apartment. I don't want to do it sight unseen (on everyone's part) so I have agreed to wait until August 12 or 13 to meet the two women who want it. I've been getting a lot of response from people who want it immediately--it will be OK with me if immediately is October 1, so I figure I can afford to wait.

I received a packet of information and a bunch of emails from CCS and I'm busy working on my China trip. In addition to forms to fill out, money to send them, info about health insurance  and getting my visa, they sent me a reading list. One of the books is filled with dry facts and statistics, one I read before and one I'm really enjoying: China Wakes by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn, a very personal look at China. I've read a number of books that weren't on the reading list: two by Peter Hessler, more personal observations of China, Legacies, by Betty Bao Lord, and several books of Chinese art history. Most of the books paint a somewhat grim picture of China, and with all the stuff going on because of the Olympics, I'm beginning to wonder why I'm doing this. Don't worry, I won't back out. But it's certainly giving me a lot to think about.

It looks like I will certainly find out how the Chinese live. CCS has two floors of an apartment building and I'll be sharing a room with three others. I don't really mind; the important thing is how far away the toilet is.

I am flying from here to China on a frequent flier ticket, but I still have to figure out how I'll get from Shanghai to Xian. Buying the ticket online looks very expensive. The guidebooks say you can get tickets easily and inexpensively in China. It makes me a little nervous to wait. I have to see if one of my Chinese friends can help me with this.

Preparing to go to China

I am now 275 tax deductible dollars committed to going to China. I got my frequent flier ticket a couple of months ago. If necessary, I can make changes in travel dates, which may have to happen. At the same time I reserved a hotel room in Kyoto, again not much of a commitment. I've been reading about China and today I decided I have to do it: I made application and sent a deposit to Cross Cultural Solutions, the group I will volunteer with. I feel like I'm doing it while all around me crumbles--the country, my retirement funds, etc.--but that's probably all the more reason to have a goal and stick with it. I guess I can go back to work when I finish my year of traveling.

I still haven't found anyone to sublet my apartment. I will post it again on Craig's list and also on a UPitt housing site Carol found for me. She's a great researcher. If I don't manage to sublet it, I'll just leave it locked up; much easier, but I could use the money.

I haven't decided what to do about mail. Most of it is instantly recyclable, but there are always a few critical things like the gas and electric bills. I may have to cave in and go on the budget plan so I can pay them automatically.

I bought a walking stick and am practicing stepping down from a step stool. Even just going down one step I still want something solid in my other hand. The walking stick is not as assuring for me as being able to hold on to someone else's arm. I know, I'm phobic.