OK, we seem to have settled in. We had some one to look at the airconditioner and 50 Y later, he cleaned the filter. I got some more heaters and an electric blanket – but I still can’t get rid of the chill in my bones – its not cold here – it has a dampness that reminds me of my uni days in Melbourne – unheated houses, and a wet coldness. Its not cold at all – 14 degrees – and since I spent time last winter in Finland, this is just about summer. But there is no heating – so here, I am working with a blanket wrapped around me, fluffy slippers on, and a heater at my feet. Pablo doesn’t seem to be suffering – he keeps taking his clothes off and running around. The electric blanket is a winner though – I am just worried about Pablo spilling a drink on it though. When I asked the shop keeper what would happen – it was translated to me as ‘ just don’t do it’. So when he comes into our bed at 3 or 4am because he is cold, I get up and take the electric switch out of the wall and we try to make our little quilt cover three. Interestingly, the lady who sold me the electric blanket said it was such good quality, I could come in and exchange it for the rest of my life? Need a new heater already. My heater lasted about ten minutes until the top part of it didn’t work…mmm.. great quality.
So work has started, just. I have been assigned an assistant – She – a student from Sichuan University who speaks english. We went the other day to a funeral parlour to start the discussions about funeral cryers. I am after about 6 – 8 of them – but its seems this will cost around $1000AUD, money I hadn’t quite budgeted for. They want 800 Y each – we need to make a few more phonecalls to different funeral parlours. Again, I am wondering how much I push things, and how much I just be more zen to see what happens. She tends to read my emails which is great, but the messages don’t quite get understood – or more to the point, due to my lack of chinese, there is no disucssion – I guess, more just direction, which means it feels like I am having to push my ideas through.
I already feel anxious about time though – the days so so fast here – we are waking up a lot later – 10am and the day starts, I feel like a take a couple of breaths and the sun is setting. This is strange for us – we are usually up at around 6am.
I know a big part of a residency is just being in new environments – which is incredible – but it always takes a long time to settle before work can begin! When we leave our flat, we are propelled onto the street – strange smells, shouting, food – we can’t stop for long with out pablo getting crowded with mums showing their kids what a little western boy looks like. People are gambling, selling, yelling, going about business. The street life here is incredible. It will make Australia and Berlin feel like it is dead. We went to the dumpling restaurant for lunch yesterday and they bring out a little childrens book for pablo – pointing out pictures to words – in no time, we had about 25 people surrounding us, and adhoc chinese lessons and english lessons had begun.
So today, another meeting with She, and hopefully push things on a bit. Today I want to see Nikun about a potential talk/intervention at the university – I still need to spend more time thinking about things – mapping out the days and the work I hope to achieve here.
