shamu

Many Americans have guilty pleasures. So did I, although for me they mean different things from most Americans.
Where should I start? Even though there are not that many, it’s a good number. And the more I thought along this line, the more I discovered that can be sorted to this category.
OK, let’s start from things I really miss if I could not have it in an extended period of time. As I mentioned before, the No. 1 thing I craved for when I was outside America is nothing but a common drink you’ll find almost in every corner store–Dr. Pepper.
I’ve seen two types of people when it comes to preference of Dr. Pepper–they either like it to death or can’t stand it. I’ve yet to know anyone in the middle. What’s more interesting is a lot of the Chinese I know who, like me, loves it, all began as a hater. A number of tries after (for whatever reason), they became hooked, and could never let go. For me, Dr. Pepper is the only suger liquid (otherwise known as carbonated) I drink.
I don’t remember when I got fixated to this brownish liquid with a weird flavor (pepper is not a good description), but I guess living in Texas for six years didn’t hurt. Teenage girls walking around holding one of those 32-oz jumbo size seven-11 cup full of DP are as common as grandmas driving in 4×4 Ford F-150s.
So now, even after moving up to the mid-west for so long–a lifeless region from my standpoint, where DP is hard to find, I’m still holding on. And have no plan to let go, even being as health-conscious as I can be.
This thing is too good to resist.

Since we were at the topic of learning English, I might as well recall some issues faced when I was in middle school. One issue that I had thought a lot about was the accent. Let me explain. It was in the mid-late 80s and back then, the British accent was the only accent taught in middle schools. Since I already started listening to VOA, I was deeply fascinated by the American accent. Growing up in Beijing, I like the American accent better than the British one as it is closer to the Beijing dialect of mandarin. To be clear, I’m not a big fan of 京片子, especially the “blurry” nature of its pronunciation. But I like the northern dialect of Chinese (I guess I should call it 北京普通话 to avoid confusion), which features a “clearer” pronunciation than its southern counterpart. I found two things American English is similar to the Beijing dialect: 1) The “er”s at the end of a word are pronounced like 儿话音; 2) Both pronounce every bit of a word clearly, no matter how fast spoken. (Again, don’t confuse北京普通话 with 京片子); 3) Both use the stomach more to generate the sound, as opposed to speaking shallowly from the upper throat. So I began following VOA and learned to speak the American way. I was one of only two people speaking with an American accent. (The other student was, interestingly, a rock band guitarist, whose interest was probably sparked by his exposure to the popular American culture.) It was a little rebellious for a kid like me that usually went with the norm, but nonetheless cool and satisfying.
For a long time, I mimicked the VOA anchor of Special English down to every detail of their pronunciation. I can bet if you listen to both the real broadcaster and me, you will not be able to tell which is which.

托的’s blog on language and the ensuing discussion make some interesting points. It reminds me of my personal experience of learning English.
When I first learned to speak English in the mid 1980s, I tried hard to imitate the American accent. Back then, the only resource (and a very good one) was the Voice of America. I started with Special English, a program targeting beginners using a small set of words and broadcast very slowly but clearly. To this day, I still think this is the best resource for English pronunciation. I was lucky to find it as early as I did. I loved to listen to programs such as Words and Their Stories, the American Mosaic. Words and Their Stories are made up of stories about American slangs. The American Mosaic depicts life and social phenomena in the US. Not only did I learn many English words through these programs, but I also, as a boy in a faraway nation who is strongly interested in the American culture, got a close and vivid look at what it was like to live in America. While there were other controversies on VOA offerings, as an English learner, I am greatly appreciative of the English programs it broadcast. I am glad to see now it all the programs available online. With the convenience of listening to it any time anywhere, today’s English learners probably cannot picture what it was like for me to wait on a certain time, search through the noises on a short-wave radio on countless nights, and the joy of discovering the most authentic pronunciation.
Thank you, VOA.

The coffee shop I like to frequent, a Panera Bread (more for their free WiFi than drinks), did something unfathomable to me.
This morning, while it was not that cold outside, they had the heat on, apparently responding to the overnight low temperature people just endured. It was a little uncomfortably high—at I’d say around 78 degrees F. Which I did not give much thought to. What amazed (and annoyed) me was when I stepped into the same coffee shop this afternoon, it became freezing code! It must be 65 degrees, at most! I was already without my sweater and did not really anticipate the sudden change. After all, even after living in this country for almost ten years I would never have expected something like this to happen to me. No wonder the United States is consuming more energy per capita than any other country in the world. And there is no sign of changing.

… in Chicago.
I have been driving to Chicago every weekend so far. As everyone knows, parking is hectic in the loop. To help my wife’s move-in and settling down, I paid for the first month’s parking in the apartment’s garage. At $210 a month, it’s still below the market rate. Now that we are settled down, and decided not to pay the exorbitant charges, so looking for a parking space has become our favorite pastime (with monetary reward). This weekend we had to do it twice, on Friday night and Saturday night. Fortunately, there are a few street parking spaces that open up for the weekend. Boy, did they fill up fast! Also, near where we live, there are a couple of streets with free all-time parking, a rarity in the loop. I even saw a space open today after I parked my car on my way home. Within 10 seconds, a car pulled over and backed into the parallel space. I figure for every ten cars in the area, there must be nine looking for parking, and the remaining one just pulling out. Garage parking costs over 30 dollars for 24 hours, and meters are a quarter for five minutes. No wonder people are willing to circle around forever to find a free spot, and stay there as long as they can.
For us, instead of paying the garage, we decided to park on the street. There’s always one available on weekends if we are willing to go farther. It just means a little more exercise. For us, this is the perfect solution.
If you ever need to park in the loop in Chicago, let me know and I’ll share with you my experience.

Today is the Moon Festival. I don’t even remember when I last celebrated. I mean, real celebration. Sure, I have managed a few bites of moon cakes, but since I’ve never really enjoyed this part of the Moon Festival, it should not count. Being with my parents and sister. The last time this was even possible was 1994. Ten years ago. It’s been a long journey.
People say the Mid Autumn Festival (the literal translation of 中秋节, the Chinese name) to Chinese is what Thanksgiving to Americans. But from my memory, the Festival is always more associated with distant love than family reunions, right from the origin of the story. The image of 嫦娥 (Chang E) waving to the husband in the moon forever etched in my mind. Being physically apart, yet never closer in heart–it is type of romance we understand all too well. Not the chocolate, flower, fragrance type the westerners are more comfortable with.
When I drove back from Chicago last night, the full moon was hanging above in the sky, pouring the silver light all over the prairie. With me being one of the few cars traveling on the highway, cruising at 80 miles an hour, and Chinese pop music playing in my CD, I felt like I’m in another world. It is a strange feeling, but at the moment I enjoyed it. Being oneself and enjoying oneself in such a setting does not happen often, and I made sure I treasured the moment.
Happy Moon Festival, everyone!

Today I went to Starbucks and bought a cup of coffee. Man, it’s like 100% caffeine! I had the coffee at around 3PM, and even now at 10:20 I feel like I’m going to be up all night! When I think how many people come in here and get their fix every day, this is kind of scary.
Which reminds me of my most favorite comedian, Bill Maher. (He is the best, period.) He’s an avid supporter of the legalization of marijuana. To him, smoking marijuana is no different from smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol or drinking coffee. Each is addictive, makes people high and does not harm others in any way (except second-hand smoking, which is why it’s banned indoors almost everywhere). It should be each adult’s own responsibility to not abuse them.
If I visit Starbucks, I’ll be in for the T-Mobile HotSpot wireless connection, not the coffee. Maybe a cup of tea, at most.

I’ve been adjusting to the weekly commuting life for the past three weeks. It’s not easy, but I got something positive out of it—the switch of cities and atmosphere is a nice reward for the time spent on the road.
The next few weeks will be adjustment for me again—I’ll be taking public transportation (Amtrak) instead of driving. The inhibitive parking expenses are just too much, at more than $200 a month. The advantage of public transportation is obvious: I can do something on the train, like blogging. The price is the loss of my flexibility.

Tuodi made an interesting comparison of Chinese and American stereotypes in his blog. One of the issues that has no Chinese explanation was this one:
“Visiting prostitutes is probably 10 times more common in China than in the US.”
Even though I’m not exactly sure if that’s the case, I want to offer my explanations:
1) Let’s face it, there’s just not enough supply in the US. To make it up instead, America has many more adult shops than China does. (But we are catching up on this one.) More DIYs, I guess.
2) American men have their fair share of indulgence when they are young. To poor Chinese men, they can only make it up when they have money. Sad but true.
3) Americans just have different taste than Chinese. They like to frequent so-called gentlemen’s clubs, while Chinese like to go for the “real thing”. I assume you’ve been to a gentlemen’s club, Tuodi. Oh, on that note, I like the way Americans refer to this sort of things, like “gentlemen’s club”, “bachelor party”, “escort”. They sound so romantic!
That said, I must also say prostitution does not threaten marriage, but the out-of-marriage relationship. Prostitution is the exchange of money for sex, but out-of-marriage relationships involve emotions and are the most dangerous.

Alright, I guess by now everyone has guessed this bigger city I’ve been referring to is–Chicago. Chicago is a great city, especially in summer. And I’ve only recently discovered its beauty.
Today’s Friday, and I’m back in Chicago again. Wife is too tired from working to do anything other than sleep after dinner (talk about life of a consultant!). And that left me with the empty living room with a notebook on top of my lap, facing the well-lit skyscrapers out of the windows, blogging. The small city where I was earlier today (I’m going to keep this one secret for now) seems so far.
On a side note, these two days this site has been spammed pretty bad–I got about 10 junk postings every day. Extremely annoying. The originating IP address kept changing. All I could do was deleting each post individually and banning each individual IP. Does anyone know how to block this? I need your help.