Thursday, March 28, 2013

Then and Now 62 - Pirate Park

Then and Now 62 - Pirate Park
Time: Mid-2007, single and at the hostel.

Jerry and I got acquainted on the internet and we met up in a part of the main city that I hadn't seen before. The train arrived in a wide, two story, indoor station which was covered with posters advertising coming events. It was also one of the few stations I had been to that had some potted plants around for decoration.

Outside, I saw a local watching me, and I knew it was Jerry. We introduced ourselves, and he asked what I wanted to do. I took out my subway map and pointed around our general area, seeing three different places that were labeled and looked interesting: a college, a park and an art expo.

The college was only a few blocks away, but it was a bit boring. It looked no different than the hundred buildings sitting around it, and its internals were blocked by the dorm rooms, so I couldn't see any courtyards, students or food courts around. So I decided to take us right on past it, and we headed farther down the road and down a few more blocks. On the way were several convenience stores and a freeway overpass that shaded us for a few seconds, but there wasn't much else to talk about.

The park was amazing. We arrived on the southeast side, which just happened to be right next to the huge art expo across the street. Jerry and I went inside and looked over a couple of swing sets and slides, but the main attraction was this huge pirate ship sitting in the middle of the park. It was constructed of polished wood, plastic and metal, and it was solid enough to climb. It even had massive cannons that looked real enough to fire pointing out of it. We weren't allowed inside, but Jerry and I looked at it from every angle while I snapped pictures, then complimented him on the craftsmanship of the people of his country to make such a great piece.

After that, we headed to the northwest, where there was a miniature forest to walk around in. The canopies were so thick that it was almost impossible to see the sun, except for a few rays that pierced the thick leaves in intermittent bursts of light. The ground was covered in leaves that crunched with every step, and we had some noisy company in the form of some kids running and laughing around us.

We left the park shortly after and headed towards the art expo. We passed under a huge overpass and over two separate, multi-lane roads with hundreds of anxious cars waiting for their turn at the green, and into a massive tent. Inside, there were hundreds of tables, and thousands of locals, eyeing and selling jewelry, plants, statues and other assorted luxuries. They were piping in some local music, and at that time, I was able to start picking out bits and pieces of the lyrics that I heard. I tried my best to tell Jerry what I thought they were saying, and though I only understood about 20% of the song, I got most of those parts right.

I guess most of the vendors there thought I was ignorant of the language because nobody tried to call me over to buy anything, so I got the chance to check out what they were selling without being hounded to actually get something. I especially liked the bunch of wooden animal statues that I saw in the back.

While walking around, Jerry and I talked about the foibles of each of our languages. I talked about there being no good reason to have to add the letter "S" to present tense verbs for he, she and it, and the foolishness of the past and perfect tenses when we could just add a separate word to the present tense to simplify the language ("I was run" being simpler than "I ran" or "I have eat" being easier than "I have eaten," for example). He told me of something silly about his language, but for anonymity's sake, I have to be vague on his point.

We were there for about an hour before we headed out. Nearing the train station, I asked Jerry if he wanted to come with me to another stop to continue traveling, but he said he had to head home. Being the master reader of tone, body language and semantics that I had become, I could tell that he was bored and wasn't expecting anything fun. I smiled and we said goodbye, then I went off to do something more exciting as a sort of quiet, sneaky payback to my new buddy.

As for today...

I woke up at 8:00.
I played video games.
My wife and son woke up, so I turned off the computer.
I took my son to the arcade, then we went home.
I ate lunch.
I did the dishes.
I roughhoused with my son.
I cleaned up the floor and table.
I went to work.
I taught students.
I came home.
I cleaned up the floor and table again.
I played video games.
I slept.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Then and Now 61 - Soccer Tour

Then and Now 61 - Soccer Tour
Time: Mid-2007, single and at my apartment.

After I had settled into my apartment, I spent the first night making a big circle to the northeast, then looping back to the west through some dark streets where I met the old man and the dogs, all so I could get to know my neighborhood a little better. This night, I headed southwest and looped to the east to see another side of my new town. My school was in this direction, so I made sure to take another route that I hadn't traveled on my way to work.

It was dark, and the city was settling down. I headed along the long and wide canal that split the residential part of town from the commercial area, and looked in here and there to see how bone dry it was; there hadn't been any rain for a while. Heading past some local businesses and a little steakhouse, I went through an alley between rows of houses towards the bustling center of town. There was a tall clock standing watch over a little park and gazebo, which were on a street island between several twisting roads. There were still quite a few vehicles heading up and down the streets, definitive proof of the many night owls that occupied my new growing city.

To my left was a farmer's market with a huge, glowing neon sign above stating its name, and there were still people moving about picking up veggies, fruit and fish for dinner. I was still dieting, so I just snapped a picture or two and kept moving. As I continued down the road from the city center and time grew later, there were fewer and fewer people around, until it was a surprise to see a car's headlights pass me by. I kept on until it was a bit past midnight, then I cut east to begin my walk back.

It wasn't long before I came across my first mega parks, the first easily three or four city blocks wide. There was nobody there, and it was serenely peaceful. The swings on the swingset moved slightly back and forth in the quiet breeze, the leaves of the trees rustled, and sparsely spaced lights threw long shadows over the grass, sandpits and little cement path that went around the beautiful city block. I spent half an hour just walking about the restful area with a slight smile of contentment on my face.

Heading down another road and past a bunch of cell phone stores, I came to another park. This one was a little smaller at only a block or two, but it had an outdoor concert stadium for sports, orchestras and other kinds of entertainment in one of the corners. Giant floodlights shone down on outdoor bleachers and on a large grassy field behind them, and an older woman was sitting up on the seats, looking down on something going on in the field.

I went around the bleachers and saw a group of foreigners playing soccer with each other. A couple of the locals walking about casted glances their way, but none of them dared to play with the foreigners (probably because of the late hour). I smiled, thinking back on the volleyball tournament that Ken, Harry, Vicki, Yuri, Elle and I played with the locals back in Then and Now 5. I have to admit, I felt a bit smug comparing that day to the lazy game my foreign compatriots were enjoying.

I wanted to do something similar while I was in my new town, and I thought about what I could do with the locals on this field. I decided that someday, I was going to play Super Soccer with anybody who wanted to, which was basically soccer, but played with a ball about ten feet tall. I played it back in school for a week or two, and it was so fun, I wanted to share it with my new neighbors. I wondered briefly how the locals would react to that ball, which was just as insanely hard to get moving as it was to stop it when it was on its way. I always barreled into it no matter the speed, but would the locals be so brave?

After watching the foreigners kick the ball around for a while, I headed back to the north until I found the canal, then followed it back to my apartment to get some rest. Another day of work was coming in just a few hours, and a weekend of fun was just beyond that.

As for today...

I woke up at 6:00.
I played video games.
My wife and son woke up, so I turned off the computer.
I played cars with my son.
I roughhoused with him.
I played video games with him.
I ate lunch.
I folded and put away dry clothes.
I did the dishes.
I did a puzzle with my son.
I watched internet movies with him.
I went to work by train, and played video games on the way.
I taught students.
I came home by train, and played video games on the way.
I cleaned up the floor and table.
I played video games with my son.
I slept.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Then and Now 60 - Odds and Ends 9

Then and Now 60 - Odds and Ends 9
Time: Before I got married.

For the sake of this Then and Now, I'm going to refer to my wife as my girlfriend.

I was at the underground mall one day on the path between two of the subway stations, and I came to a video game store. There were a couple of titles that I recognized, but most of the ones that I saw were completely new to me. There were games of all types: ones with cute characters on the front, ones with tough looking ones, ones with buildings, ones with cars. I didn't understand half of the titles, but I got the idea that I could buy one and play it at home to practice my language skill while I had fun.

I went home later to hang out with Nate and told him about my plan. I asked him what game he suggested to me, and he told me about a title that he played for years in primary school, then found a movie of it on the internet to show me. It looked kind of like a local version of Ogre Battle, and it looked really fun to play. I asked to borrow his copy, he found it for me, and I started playing a little on the weekends.

My girlfriend got pregnant shortly after and I lost the will to continue, but just thinking of the possibilities to combine two of my favorite hobbies, language and games, gives me fantasies of fun that I wish I had followed through on.

-----

I took my girlfriend to the main station to show her around a bit, because as she said, "I live here, but you know this place better than I do!" After wandering a bit around the restaurants and stores inside, we went out to check out some department stores across the way. Outside one of the big ones, there was a huge truck with a long line of people waiting outside of it. It didn't take long to see that it was a bloodmobile, and the people were waiting to be the donor that saved a life.

With my girl's happy blessing, I waited in line to do my part. There was a camera crew walking around and shooting video of the people there, including me, and I wondered if they were a news crew. In direct, and therefore purposefully incorrect, localspeak, I told my girl, "Holy s***! I'm on TV! Hi mom!" She laughed for a long time and repeated my joke several times over the next hour.

About thirty minutes later, I was inside and donating. I watched local TV for a while while my girl chatted up the nurse, then when I was done, I got a chance to get a gift. I asked for the "blood donation socks," another purposefully direct, but incorrect, phrase, and everyone laughed again. Soon after, my girl and I headed out to take a nice walk through the city on a free day.

-----

In the same general area as the bloodmobile, but on a different day, I was walking outside the main station to a huge intersection running across the massive street out front. There were hundreds of people waiting to cross, and I had stood there many times before. Out of nowhere, an old man walked up to me.

"You!" he said in English. "You! What... country?"

I grinned. "America," I answered in the local language.

He smiled a wide smile and his eyes went big. "America!" he exclaimed in English again. "President... Bush! Ah-hahahaha!"

I didn't know what to do, so I just chuckled nervously, waved goodbye and skittered away.

-----

I went out to the main city to see a concert hall, which doubled as a museum filled with DVD presentations of the country's history, statues of local heroes, official and country-sweeping documents hanging on walls, and other assorted pieces of history. I wandered around the main area with the throngs of other people, then snuck around in an area that I wasn't sure was off limits to see a few empty conference rooms.

After I had swept the area twice for interesting sights, I went back outside to spend time among the locals out with their families and enjoying the afternoon air. There was a nice little pond and a couple of trees around it in the middle of a courtyard outside of the hall, so I went over to take a closer look.

A high school student came up to me on the way, and asked in hesitant English if she could do a survey with me about my time in the country. I agreed, and answering her questions, had nothing but glowing praise for her country and people as a foreigner. Where she couldn't find the right word to ask her questions, I helped her out in the local language so we could understand one another, and though she responded with nervous smiles every time, she seemed to get more confident as time went on.

After a few minutes, we were finished, she thanked me, and I went on over to the little pond to spend some time watching the fish.

-----

Tim, Jessie and I had many classes together since I first met them while I was at the hostel. We continued our classes even after I had gotten a job and a stable source of income, and once my financial affairs were settled and I had a workable budget to carry me to my next paycheck (around early October of 2007), we had another class at an ice cream shop. It was on a street corner with an open entrance that let the warm night air in, and I got some kind of fruity shaved ice thing.

I told them then and there that I didn't want to take their money anymore, because I could support myself from then on. I thanked them graciously for their support during our tutoring, and said that from that point forward, we would meet as friends in a class-like setting. They said that they, like I, wanted to continue our class, but they still wanted to pay me somehow. They eventually came up with the plan to pay me in dinner at any restaurant I wanted to eat at. After living on nothing but the free lunches that my job provided for the previous month, I was only too happy to agree to the plan.

We ended up having our first, and last, dinner-for-English class at an incredibly delicious place that sold specially prepared local food. I wish anonymity didn't keep me from going into detail, but suffice it to say, that this place gave Mexican food an absolute run for its money. I had never eaten in a restaurant like this in my entire life, because my family never had the money to go, and I always thought it was an incredible waste when I had disposable cash, when the money I spent on one night of dinner could buy a video game, movie or music CD that would last my entire life. But that night, I had my chance: the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, the help was very accomodating, the place was brightly lit and full of beautiful pictures on the walls, and I had plate after plate of the most delicious local food I had had to that point.

Tim, Jessie and I didn't talk again after that night. I waited for them to email or call me for another class, but they never got into contact with me, so I played a little waiting game until they were ready.

A few months later, my girlfriend got pregnant, and T&J became the absolute least of my worries. They didn't enter my mind again until I had moved away from the main city and into this one, and I decided to clean out phone numbers on my phone. I deleted all of them, knowing that I would never see any of my other friends again. It was then that I truly realized just how many friends, adventures and opportunities I had lost to marriage.

As for today...

I woke up at 8:00.
I played video games.
I went to work.
I taught students.
I came home.
I ate lunch.
I watched TV.
I played video games with my son.
I went to work.
I taught students.
I came home.
I cleaned up the floor and table.
I folded and put away dry clothes.
I played video games with my son.
I slept.