June 20, 2007
Dalian (CHINA)
Watching Dalian's Football Team, Shi'de
Today didn't start off all that exciting, but luckily things picked up in the afternoon. I am still building the oil platform's pipeline structure using CAESAR II software, but I also spent a large part of the day going over a soon-to-be published research paper prepared by my graduate student. While it would be harsh to say the paper is infested with grammatical errors, seemingly each sentence needs to be reworded and modified so it flows better.
Growing up in an English speaking country has its advantages and disadvantages: on the one hand I am incredibly fortunate to have a strong grasp on the increasingly pervasive English language, but on the other hand I was never in an environment where learning a second language was particularly advantageous. I have since come to the conclusion that it is better to be be 100% fluent in English, 90% fluent in an additional language, and 25-50% fluent in as many additional languages as possibly (to "get by" or show respect, when necessary). Outside of these bounds, the efforts of learning a new language can be better applied elsewhere.
I got a call in the early afternoon informing me that Dalian's local football team, Shide, was playing a home game later in the evening. Although it has been raining all day (the first such day since I arrived several weeks ago), I jumped at the opportunity to see China's most accomplished team playing live. So, at 5:30pm I met Wang Bo in downtown Dalian, and we boarded a bus full of supporters for the 45 minute drive to the stadium.
En
route, I learned the team's fight song and although my
tones were probably off, I was happy to have something
to sing with everyone on the bus. For anyone who speaks
the Dalian dialect, here are the words: Da Lian Shi de
dui, da de ya zhou zhuan chan chan! Translation:
Dalian's shide team destroys everyone in Asia (including
poor teams like Jinan).
As expected, there was a light drizzle for most of the match, but that didn't stop the 15,000 or so fans from coming out and cheering noisily. Despite their best efforts, all the support couldn't turn Shide's domination into a goal, and the match ended in a 0-0 draw.
One thing that got on my nerves was all the cigarette smoke in the stadium, but it is the same everywhere in China. I am curious to see what happens at the Olympics - obviously smoking is outlawed, but enforcing such rules will be nearly impossible.
The night ended with on last bit of excitement (if you can call it that): I was trying to catch a bus to my apartment from downtown Dalian, but it was quite late and as I began crossing a street I stepped into 6 inches of sewage water. My jeans and sandals were immediately soaked, and I could see the muck seeping out from the open sewage grate.
Obviously I decided to pay the few bucks for a taxi ride home, but I had to keep the window down the entire time because of the smell. Despite experiences such as this, I still love China.