Wal-Mart Makes Me Cry...

Beijing China is a lot different that your average Chinese city. It is very modern and very western. For instance within I can bike from my house to Wal-Mart, KFC, or McDonalds in 5 minutes! There are 7-11's all over the place, and I live in the college district which means there are a lot of poeple that can speak English. Conveniences like this have made my transition from America to China relatively easy. I have not had any catastrophically horrible experience. Ironically the closest I have been to having a meltdown occurred in Wal-Mart.

I had been in China for roughly 3 weeks when I decided that I would go and check out Wal-Mart. I walked into Wal-Mart simply for the experience. My first thought was, "Wow this seems small." I walked around and compared all of the minuscule differences to the Wal-Mart, I know and love. Finally, I decided I had had enough. I tried to walk out the door that I came in and a security guard stopped me and something in Chinese. Probably, "Young sir, this door has one purpose. It is an entrance. It is not exit.." I tried to explain to him that I did not know how to go out, in English of course. He laughed. I wondered in circles for about 15 minutes. I began to panic, I was hungry and sick of being in Wal- Mart. Finally, I came up with a plan. I put my cell phone to my ear, approached the one purpose door put my head down and walked out. I turned around and saw the security guard chuckling from door.

I would not be conquered by Wal-Mart. I returned and I discovered how huge Wal-Mart is! It is a 4 story building! I spent time mastering the escalator system and discovering the location of practical good. I compared prices, and I ventured into the food department and tried some new Asian delicacies. And then, I tried to exit. I spent at least 45 minutes trying to figure this out! I could not figure out how to get back to the street where my bike was parked. I walked in and out of many various exits. I wondered around the building. Finally I walked for 15 minutes from a strange exit to my bike.

I was miffed. I was frustrated. I couldn't understand how a store could be set up so illogically in so many different ways.

I returned a third time and at last conquered the Wal-Mart mystery. I wish I could describe to you some simple thing that I missed, but there is no simple catch. The place is huge and crazy.

Well, I am now a veteran Wal-Mart shopper. I can easily navigate the store. I no longer get overly flustered.

The last time I went to Wal-Mart. I was wondering near a group of Americans. This isn't all that uncommon in Beijing because there are a fair number of foreigners. We navigated the store together for about 15 minutes. I overheard them talking about the "ideal Wal-Mart experience" and critiquing the lay out of the store. Then I saw them venture into an employees only door. Finally, one of the men looked at me and said, "what are you doing here?" I told him that I taught oral English at a local middle school. We conversed for awhile and then he told me that he was one of the heads of Wal-Mart's international stores. His group had come to evaluate the Beijing Wal-Mart. They asked me how often I shopped at Wal-Mart and want my experiences had been like. I recounted for them an abbreviated version of what I just shared with you. I told them that it was really hard to find things because the store seemed very illogical to my mind. Then I said, "It doesn't make sense to me, but my brain works differently then a Chinese brain." They looked at me a little bewildered and said, "We are having the same experience that you had."

The Summer Palace is old but not that old…

On November 9^th 1987, I was born at Watertown Memorial Hospital to James and Stephanie Werner. I was supposed to be born on October 9^th, but I held on for another month. Anyone who is has ever doubted this tale should feel free to contact my mother, she's recently retired, and it sounds like life has become far too peaceful at Sonnenhügel. (It's a family name for our house, it means sunny hill in Deutsch)

On November 9, 2010, I was in Beijing China. I celebrated my 23^rd birthday recently. It was a great birthday. My friends helped me celebrate over the course of three days. During this time I got to eat at Outback Steakhouse, play pool at a bar, tour the summer palace, take a weeklong vacation, and talk to my love ones via Skype. I was also blessed to receive lots of happy birthday messages on Facebook. I have not been on Facebook much while in China, but it was really uplifting to read a few simple messages. It was also awesome to hear a message my sister and niece. Sometimes the simplest things are the most satisfying.

The Summer Palace was amazing! The most amazing part about the Summer Palace was the sheer amount of space. Micah and I spent 5 hours walking around and only saw a fraction of the palace. The Summer Palace made me feel the need to climb walls and jump from one rooftop to another rooftop. The design of the palace is what left a distinct image in my mind. It is all built around a lake but the buldings are set on different levels which creates many amazing views and unique staircases and towers.

My favorite part about the birthday excursion was taking pictures. Micah has amazing camera and he is a very talented photographer. He always brings his camera! Which means that the majority of my China adventure is well documented. It also means that I get an opportunity to try out a new hobby. Micah is great about offering to let me use his camera. Posing for pictures and taking pictures was a blast. The funniest picture that we captured involved an old pot.

Now, you need to realize that things in China are old, really old. Everything goes back to at least the 1500s. Well the Summer Palace is not nearly that old. Most things date to about 1900. Admittedly this is because the French burned the oringinal palace, but even that only dates to the 1700s. What I'm getting at is that most historic sites make you feel like if touch anything it's going to turn into sand. The Summer Palace just doesn't have that feel. This is why, when I saw an open pot I didn't pass up the opportunity for a photo shoot.

And this was the resulting photo. What made this photo extra fun was the laughter coming from the Chinese tourists who watched and laughed as we took these pictures.

New Skills

Lately, I have been working on acquiring two new skills.

1. In college, I took a course called "Introduction to Minority Cultures". The course is a required course at MLC. The main purpose of the class is to "raise your level of awareness". My personal interpretation of what this phrase means is gain an understanding of what it is like to be a minority culture in America.

My level of enthusiasm for this class was on par with reading a dictionary. It is one of those classes that receives a bad reputation because it's a required course on a specialized topic. Not everyone is interested in the specialized topic and the class tanks because few people have a positive attitude about anything the class offers.

I was of course suckered into doing as little as possible to get a respectable grade. One of the few things that I have retained from this class was a discussion about how different cultures viewed time.

On one hand there is American culture which is as strict about time as possible. If you are suppose to attend a meeting at 7:00, you should be there at 6:45.

On the other hand you have Hispanic culture which is rather lax about time. If you have a meeting at 7:00 its okay to show up at 7:15 or 7:30.

I focused on this discussion because I saw myself as someone who was meant to function in a culture where time was not so strict.

Well in order to be considered responsible and considerate in American culture a person must be on time!

I would like to sincerely apologize to all of the people that I have offended throughout my life. I am chronically tardy. I have been trying to improve in these area for quite some time. I would say that my problem has evolved from completely clueless and always late to apologetic and slightly late.

Recently I took huge steps towards overcoming this problem. I made myself a schedule on Microsoft Outlook! Complete with reminders which appear on my cell phone! I am quickly becoming a fairly timely person.

However, I'd like to tell you that I'm not in America anymore. The Chinese culture is about oblivious to time as a culture could possibly be. 15 minutes late is acceptable and expected. 30 minutes late isn't all that bad.

This should be a shocking picture for anyone who knows me. I show up to an empty apartment room 13 minutes beforehand. I set everything up. I patiently wait for 20 minutes and no one is present. I wait for another 10 minutes and 5 people show up. I wait for 40 minutes and as we are beginning 5 people show up!

I hope this picture of Matt Werner waiting in a room for people to show is satisfying. I know it makes me laugh.

2. I have learned how to write my bike no-hands! I love doing this. It's an obsession. I spend a lot of time on a bike and I spend a lot of time rejoicing in riding a bike with no-hands. It's an amazing thing to learn at age 22 on the busy roads of Beijing.