Anything can be fixed or repaired.
I really do mean anything. As an American, when something breaks, my first response is to throw it away and buy a new one. My motivation isn't because I like being wasteful, but because there isn't an option to repair most things and if there is, it's often more expensive than getting a new one.
Yesterday I had the blinds in my bedroom repaired. For less than $5. One of the strings broke at the top so they were all hanging crooked and couldn't be pulled up or down. I called Tracy to go with me to buy some new ones. On the way there she asked me why I don't just get them fixed. I really didn't think it would be possible to replace that string so we went to a few places. I realized quickly buying new ones was more than I thought....all of them have to be custom measured and installed. But the lady at the shop asked what was wrong with mine and after I told her....she gave me the phone number to a repairman. It saved me about $40.
As we were on our way home I was trying to explain to Tracy about this cultural difference...we as American being affluent and at times, wasteful, so our first response is to buy a new whatever and how we don't typically even think if something can be fixed. I tried to affirm how much I appreciate that they re-use things here, but she said they only have to fix things all the time because the quality of everything here is so poor. This factor is definitely part of it. The highest quality items are shipped to countries like ours and those that don't make the "export quality" cut stay here. But even still, there are things here that can be repaired for so little and I really think all the repairmen here are very skilled individuals.
Some other examples...
Bikes. You rarely replace bike tires or tubes or brakes or anything really. The old men who sit on the side of the road and repair bikes can almost always repair the tube or tire or rim or whatever isn't at its optimum performance. If you want a new one you have to do some pretty serious convincing.
Jeans. There are some ladies who sit outside on the main strip who must be the most skilled menders in the world. When your jeans get a hole, you take them to the ladies. When you get them back, it looks like the hole was never there. They don't just sew up the hole, they actually re-stitch the tread of the clothing so that you can't even see where the hole. It's amazing. And even more amazing when they sit there and do it without gloves on in the winter when it's -20.
digital cameras. I had two fixed. That guy actually made me angry because he charged me the foreigner price and not what the price should have been, but still, it was way less expensive to repair two cameras than to buy a new one.
Shoes. There are also old men who set up shoe shine/repair shops on the side of the road. My "shop" I mean they have a trunk with their supplies, a stool for themselves and a stool and a pair of slippers for the customer. I think one pair of shoes could almost last the rest of your life here. They can just keep repairing the sole over and over. These guys can also sew up your luggage when the airlines in Vietnam rip it up. I need to visit one of these guys today to sew a couple of straps back on a bag for me. (The one I was wearing when I got hit by the bus still hasn't been fixed).
I was riding my bike to work yesterday looking for a shoe guy but because it was still nap time no one was out. But, I saw a guy with a sign that said "Furniture Repair." I'm just trying to reiterate my point that ANYTHING can me fixed. It's a great thing.
我们应该向他们学习！
2007/07/17
the day we didn't see the lunar eclipse
This is a story from back in March that I didn't get to post because of internet issues and then forgot about. This post includes a shout-out to JFJ. And now you've made the blog twice.
March 24, 2007
It was a Saturday night and I was having dinner with the guys. I mentioned that I thought there was supposed to be a lunar eclipse in the morning but I wasn’t sure when since the article I read was from
We live in a city. Lots of tall buildings block the view of the sky. We decided the best place for viewing the eclipse would the Racetrack. The track itself is a big wide open field where we will have a clear view. And it’s on the outskirts so the lights won’t be as bright.
So it’s around
I arrive first and am trying to find a good place to wait for the gentlemen. The Racetrack is a Mongolian horse-racing track and has a restaurant where you can eat in Mongolian yurts. The complex is large with some Mongolian statues, a small grasslands scene with fake sheep and such, a large stage for performances, all the yurts, and the bleachers and track. It’s not a scary place during the day. Before daylight, however, it’s quite eerie. The statutes look kind of creepy, everything is dark, and there’s a guard dog. This is the really scary part. I can hear him barking like he is ready to eat me, but I can’t see him yet so I don’t even know how to plan for an escape. I go to the gate of the track and it’s unlocked, which is great. But it’s not at a very visible location so I need to find a better place where the guys can see me. I walk more towards the restaurant and that’s when I see it….the dog. It’s huge. It’s like the dog from Sandlot, only scarier. It’s a Mongolian dog. World Domination and a desire to ruthlessly conquer all enemies are naturally coursing through his veins. He is on a chain, but he is jumping around and barking like crazy. This is the part of the story where I start contemplating what I will do when this Khan of All Dogs breaks loose from his chain. On my left are the stairs to the stadium, but he can run up stairs too, so that’s no good. In front of me is the big stage that he’s chained to, but it’s not tall enough. He could jump up on it with no problem. There are the yurts on my right, which would provide refuge from the monster, but they are all locked up tight with padlocks. However, they have a small window with an air conditioner that could serve as a starting point for climbing on top of the yurts in case of chain-breakage. Yes. That’s the plan. I decide that I can indeed scale the yurt quicker than the dog could run from the stage to where I am standing. Then I start laughing at the thought of actually having to climb up on the yurt to run from the dog and how long I would have to stay there before some form of help comes.
Enter: racetrack night security guard who interrupts my little daydream. “What are you doing here?” he asks. He too has heard the beast going crazy and has come to check things out. I answer, “I’m waiting on friends.” I know this is going to be a difficult conversation. I don’t know how to say “eclipse” in Chinese.
“Why are you waiting for them here?” he asks. Here we go. “We want to look at the moon. You can see the sky clearly here.” That’s as close to “We hope to have a good view of the lunar eclipse” as I could get. He looks confusedly at me, then motions to the sky and says the equivalent of “You can’t even see the moon.” He’s right. And I’m sure he’s very confused about why some crazy foreign girl is at the racetrack at
Then I see the security guard do something absolutely crazy. He goes over to the monster and takes it off the leash. I get closer to the yurt and prepare for my ascent. But I see that the dog appears to be staying close by the side of the guard. I’m amazed. Then I see the guys arriving in the distance. I tell them about my encounter with the dog and how glad I am to see them. They could hear the animal barking as they walked and they too saw him with the guard. One of them makes the comment that with three of us, we don’t have to outrun the dog, just the other two. I still think my plan is the best possible escape.
We proceed to the track. The only things we can see in the sky are clouds. No eclipse. While we’re at the racetrack we might as well go take a look at the horses. We can’t find them either. It’s freezing cold outside so they must be in their warm stables and not out on a cold cloudy morning trying to see a lunar eclipse.
The guys take some pictures of things that we can convince people were the lunar eclipse. They’re really funny, these guys. The pictures involved a head lamp, their head, a window with a reflection, and other such nonsense. Some of the photos were pretty convincing and all of them were funny.
No eclipse and no horses. And it’s cold. We’re chilled to the bone at this point and begin the trek home. As we near the gate I give the gentlemen a full display of my “grace” by slipping on the ice and falling onto my tailbone. It was one of those falls where your feet cartoonishly fly out from underneath you, and the moment when no part of your body is touching the ground seems like an eternity. Then, my rear hit the ice. Hard. I didn’t move for a few minutes. I just lay there, half laughing from embarrassment and half crying from pain. The guys were great. No laughter and two hands immediately extended to help me up. I just needed to sit there a minute though and make sure nothing was seriously wrong. With their help, after a few moments I was able to get up, but my hip hurt for the next week or so. I felt like I was 77 and not 27.
And that’s the story of the morning we didn’t see the lunar eclipse. Or the horses. And I fell on my rear. What a morning.
2007/07/15
the desert
I went to visit a good friend over the weekend. She went to college here, but after graduation moved out to a village near the desert. I spent 6 hours traveling there and 5 hours to travel home just to be there for about 16 hours, but it was well worth it.
We had so much fun! We got to go boating on a lake in the desert, ride 4-wheelers, slide down the sand hills on a sled, go to an ostrich/exotic bird farm, and walk around a beautiful resort while we chatted about life. (sidenote: one of the nicest tennis courts I've seen in my life...just hanging out in the middle of nowhere at this random resort).
My friend is there because this area has some of the best de-desertification projects going on and that's an area she's interested in. Large numbers of folks come from Japan to plant trees in the area. Apparently it all started with an elderly Japanese man who moved there in 1990 and literally started bulldozing sand in order to start planting trees. He passed away in 2004 at the age of 99 but had created some foundation that continues his work. His story was really inspirational. One old man with this big dream and it's actually being fulfilled. They have a small museum about him with the pictures of the landscape when he arrived in 1990 and they in 2004 and you would never know it's the same place. I'm typically not the kind of person who can look at a desert and see the forest just waiting to waiting to happen, so I'm challenged and encouraged by the folks who can. I hope to go back in September and I'll take more (and hopefully better) pictures then.
2007/07/13
the breakfast of champions
I just had a bowl of cereal for breakfast which isn't something that is so easy to come by in this part of the world. (thanks mom!) However, the local breakfast of choice is something called a bei zi. It's like a.....pastry. sort of. They come in all shapes-round, triangle, or square. They are basically a bread-like-things with all diffferent kinds of filling. Some are sweet, made with brown sugar. Others are salty, made with...salt, I guess? Others are very plain. The little stands that sell them are EVERYWHERE. Every other block you can see the little glass case and the bucket of eggs next to it. The eggs. That's the other half of the breakfast. They are "tea eggs" which means they are boiled in tea. I'm not a fan, but some foreigners do actually like them. So, next time you're in town stop by the little glass cart on the street and pick up a bei zi and a tea egg. I don't eat the eggs, so I'm not sure how much they are, but a bei zi is only a few cents.
Here's a picture:
Here's a picture:
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