Well, that was stupid.

So long story short, a tragedy brought me back to NC for about two weeks. A lot occurred during that homecoming, most of which is simply too sensitive to talk about right here. However, one spectacular instance of misfortune is simply too ridiculously stupid not to complain about.

So here goes-- during this time circumstances left me de facto in charge of the Youngblood Family Farm. One day I made the boneheaded move of agreeing to move our great tax deductions, aka the cattle, to a low-lying field next to the river which we endearingly call "the bottoms." Unfortunately neither I nor my reliable help, Bobby and Harris, anticipated the amount of rain we would be getting over the next few days and on Sunday night it rained so much that the river crested and turned "the bottoms" into a new pretty lake.

Thus that morning we discovered the cattle trapped in about 3-4 feet of water. Ok, we made a mistake (#1 of 2), but we were confident we could get them out, we just weren't sure how. We called them, but the stubborn bovines wouldn't move, even though it was perfectly calm, allowing them to wade through it. I''d also like to add that these wusses were the same polled herefords that had, only 2 days earlier, happily rushed into a pond while we were moving them down there in the first place.

But no, we had to go and get them. Now, we didn't want to just wade out there, so another friend brought a boat. But here's where more stupidity ensues. Some tractor repair guys (don't ask me how they came to be there) suggested we ride one of the John Deere tractors out to them. I agreed, even though 4 people could have probably fit on the boat. So I went and got the tractor, which turned out to be tragically undersized (though it was one of our biggest)

I drove the tractor into Bottoms Lake, with the repair guys riding on the back, taking care to not get stuck in the ditches (ironically meant to drain the fields when it rains). We got within about ten meters of the herd, when boom, we hit a sudden deep spot and the engine, now partly submerged, stalled.

So we ended up swimming anyway.

We got them out, but by that point the cattle were the smaller problem--the water was getting rising and soon the tractor would become a freshwater coral reef. The repair guys, feeling just a bit guilty I think, offered the best solution: go get a bigger tractor.



Fortunately, they had one (I'm sure they'd planned this all along). Within a half-hour, they had brought a massive, thrice-as-big Ford, rather dubiously named "Deere Slayer." It took them about 15 minutes to rescue the JD.

Sighhhh....leb wohl

Dispatches from the Quarantine Zone

I am reporting now from Ground Zero of the Changzhou Swine Flu Epidemic. Sources tell me that 16 students have confirmed cases of H1N1 and that 300 more are being kept in isolation.
Classes have been canceled until next week. For comparison around 100 cases have been reported at Wake Forest University and classes are continuing as usual...Ok, so the Chinese may be a little more paranoid about the flu. Either that or my alma mater's response to a pandemic is about as slow and plodding as their offensive game in football.

I wouldn't exactly call the Chinese reaction to the H1N1 outbreak hyperbolic. There are naturally contributing factors unique to China that lead to a heightened awareness when it comes to disease. First, the student's live in rather squalid 8-person dorm rooms. Second, sanitation tends to be more of a luxury around here.

And this is China--anything disruptive, be it intellectual or biological, is viewed as a potential seed of mass dissent. But I'll admit, when it comes to my health and the health of those around me, I don't mind the extra security. Still, when the authorities go beyond reasonable caution they run the risk of breeding the paranoia and fear they hoped to avoid.

And the fear is certainly there. My students (for the brief time I've had with them) asked me several times if I was afraid of H1N1. I've simply shrugged and downplayed the hysteria as best I could. However, after hearing about the conditions some students are facing in the quarantine location, I've grown a tad more apprehensive. If I caught it they probably wouldn't just let me "chill" in my penthouse apartment for a week.


Leb Wohl (und Gesundheit)

Back in the Orient

I'm back in China. It hasn't really changed much over the past two months (aside from blocking more websites). Of course I'm at a new school, which means I have new people and places to acquaint myself with AND it means the locals aren't used to me and will stare for the next few weeks. Other than that Changzhou (henceforth called the Cz) isn't that much different from the Jx. Just another relatively unremarkable prefecture-level city. But there is a pretty tall Pagoda in this one. And an H&M.

One interesting feature of my new apartment is that it overlooks (being on the 14th floor) a vast sprawling landscape of apartment blocks and the skeletons of future apartment blocks. Oh, and a Honda dealership. So basically I get a front-row seat to China's impossibly rapid development. In fact, my side of Changzhou is littered with the ruins of half-demolished buildings soon to be replaced by concrete monoliths of progress.

For a low-tier school, Jiangsu Teacher University of Tech. is itself quite impressive. The buildings are quintessentially Chinese--futuristic, but with every angle conformed to the harmony of socialist feng shui. The new library they're building is quite daunting--more like a modernist palace for party higher-ups than a place for reading books (even if said books are are about Marxist-Leninism).

I have already been accosted several times by students and teachers eager to practice English. One of these days I'm going to be cruel and respond in German (then again, my beloved Fremdsprache just so happens to be the second most-popular foreign language at this school) The competitiveness amongst the English majors here is staggering; Yesterday, a very nice junior named Jason was giving me a tour of the campus, when suddenly a senior with naturally better English butted in trying to steal my attention. I felt bad for Jason, and did my best to stear the conversation back to him. Another instance: Today someone at McDonald's (yeah, I ate there, what of it?) sat down at my table, asking me my preference between Amway and Herbalife--apparently he aspires to work for a direct-sales company and needs career advice. Being far from the strangest question I have ever been asked, I simply broke out the ever-handy "Wo bu zhidao." It did not stop there. Later he texted me about three more--Avon, Nuskin, and Mary Kay.

I told him I preferred Mary Kay--I have connections.

Leb Wohl