Regular poker game last night was fun. Only seven handed, but had a good time. Looking forward to ladies poker night next Friday.
Up early and out the door to play a round of expensive golf. Hoping for the best with a different shaft in my driver. My golf bag fell over and when it hit the ground the head of my driver snapped off. One of the driving ranges I go to has a repair shop. For 600 RMB (just under $100 USD) a nice dude put an old used shaft in it for me. Hope it doesn’t snap off when I swing it for the first time.
Got my 18 holes in. Caddie today was Xiao Zhang. Nice kid. She was probably the least helpful caddie I’ve had. I’m guessing she’s new to the job. She didn’t lineup my putts like most caddies do, but she did always carry all the clubs. Raked bunkers. Drove the cart. And mostly importantly smiled. Played with a tiny little man named Kevin. His English was much better than my Chinese. Very polite. Didn’t play well, but still he smiled a lot too. 8 Pars. 3 doubles. 7 boagies. 85. Not great. Terrible off the tee again. Actually went to the range and hit a bunch of driver after the round. Took some good notes and feel ready for the next time. I’ve spent a lot of practice time on my irons and that’s been a solid aspect of my game lately. Happy about that. Really though, just happy to be on the course.
I’ve been mostly having every other weekend to myself this school year. Aiyun teaches every other weekend. It’s been a nice mix. I’ve been asking myself how different life would be when we are eventually together full time. We’ve talked about it. We will both still need our own private time. It’s been a good flow of open and honest communication. Something I really love and appreciate about her. I spent 30 years in a relationship with stifled communication. Not pointing fingers. We were both to blame. Just a bad mix. Feels refreshing to know there’s better fit for me out here in the world. The most time we’ve spent together is about a week. We’ll get three weeks together when she visits Washington this summer.
Got together with my buddy Zach at Amber Bar Saturday night. Wanted to bounce some questions off of him with regard to what I wrote about yesterday. I want to see if my perceptions about the media here jive with his thoughts. Love Amber Bar. Quiet. Chill music. Can have a conversation. Absolutely my vibe.
Zach has lived in China for quite some time. He met his wife Gillian here and has lots of knowledge about life in China. We talked about freedoms and liberties that Chinese citizens have and don’t have. First of all, he believes that life for the average Chinese citizen isn’t much different than life for the average American. Yes, Chinese citizens lack the right to vote and own guns, but the majority of American citizens also live without these things because they choose not to excercise those rights. He stressed to me that life in each country is way more similar than different. However, he did bring up another big difference that I didn’t know about. The Hukou.
The Hukou is a special form of household registration that designates a city or province where a Chinese citizen can live. If someone wants to live to another city they have to get a new Hukou. It’s sort of like an in country passport that’s built into their Chinese ID card. From what Zach tells me it’s not difficult for adults to get a new Hukou, but it can be difficult for their kids due to their educational system. At times it forces people to leave their children behind with grandparents when accepting a new job in a different area. Go earn money in a city and send it back home to the family.
The Hukou represents yet another thing I had no idea about, and I’ve lived here two years now. Honestly, I’m in a bubble of sorts living here in Hangzhou. It’s a super modern city. Further, living on the campus of HIS is another bubble in that Hangzhou bubble. Zach stressed to me that being here as an expat people might be blinded into thinking that life here is without flaws for most Chinese people. Obviously not the case the more I learn. I linked the Wikipedia page above in the Hukou above if someone wants to read more about it. When you read about it reinforcing a caste system here in China those invisible (to me) challenges become apparent.
Last thought to share. My sister in law Marie pointed out to me there’s no Christianity allowed. Technically, the state won’t authorize religion to have places designated as churches, but there are groups that gather to worship together. They just can’t have a building to use permenantly. Pew research identifies 8% as the total of self reporting Chinese citizens as Christians, but also report there could be dramatic differences in reality as sampling isn’t something they can do with any sort of reliability here. Big thanks and shout out to Marie for pointing out that glaring difference that I hadn’t noticed. Out of pure curiousity I did a TaoBao search (Chinese version of Amazon) for bibles. Nothing. No bibles available for sale. Was surprised to see that. I’ve been able to buy other banned books (Animal Farm and Wild Swans) on TaoBao, but no soup on a bible. I asked Aiyun about the church thing and she was surprised. She said there are several Christian churches in Wuxi. When I’m there in three weeks she said we could go check one out.
A different kind of week coming up. Wednesday is Labor Day here in China so no school. Maybe another round of golf? Will be weather dependent. Might opt for screen golf if my buddy Ian is up for it to save a buck or a hundred.