This was my first Christmas season away from home. In the past years, my time at home during December and January had been shrinking. Freshman year of college, I think I was home for an entire month. By sophomore year, maybe 3 weeks, but still a legitimate amount of time. Junior and senior year were the years of ski teaching, and Christmas means money if you're willing to carry 3 year olds up icy slopes after they wet themselves in their snow suits, so my time at home shrunk even more. But, regardless of the draw of ski school hourly wages and over priced ski-bar beer, I always made it home. Not this year.
I didn't really get into the Christmas spirit this year, and I'm alright with that. I think my lack of red-and-green cheer stemmed from the weather, the surroundings, and the repression of happy memories that would make me sad.
The weather here in Xingyi is great, hovering around the high 40's to 50's at night and sometimes rising into the 70's during the days. We're nearly the same latitude as Key West, so the warmth is to be expected. The weather deceived me numerous times; I caught myself thinking Shit! Its almost Christmas! alot.
The surroundings also through me off. The commercialized Christmas is creeping towards China, but not so much here in this city. I think Xingyi's sparse westerner population is part of the reason. I heard no commercials screaming "Try Dunkin' Donuts' new Rudolf flavored cappuccino! And while you're here, sample our Santa style breakfast croissant, complete with real elf meat!" With less emphasis on Christmas, I felt less obliged to... to do whatever it is that the free market economy wants me to do.
So, Christmas was special in its own special way. I talked to my parents, opened a few real neat gifts, and relaxed. I watched a play competition that ended up being a little comical. But really, it was a normal day, and that lead me to thinking...
Screw this prescribed holiday stuff. Christmas is hyped up to be a special day; our expectations are blown out of proportion and our psyches bruised if we come up short. It wasn't a special day for me, I'm not too thrilled with people telling me that one of my special days will fall on December the 25th of every year. It won't, and don't make me feel like a bad person when I feel no better, or worse, than on any other day. One of my special days, my holi-days, will be January 16th, when I see some friends from China that I haven't' seen in a while. Another will fall on January 30th when I start my much anticipated vacation down south. Some day in August of 2011, when I return stateside, there will be a very special day when I see my family again. Those are my days. Those are the days that stay with me forever. Those days are more important than any other day, and coffee retailers worldwide haven't dedicated a line of flavored products to celebrate. Come on Dunkin' Donuts, you're missing out on the days that really matter.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Jet fuel
A few years ago, while living in a little yellow bungalow in western Maine, my housemate Wil introduced me to the term, and therefore to the idea of "buying jet fuel". If I remember correctly, he purchased a round trip ticket to Alaska to taste the sweet winter nectar of the PNW, and was rightly excited. He had bought jet fuel, and with that fuel he bought possibilities, adventures, and of course, travel.
What impressed me, and eventually brought about my current train of thought, is that Wil didn't see himself buying a ticket or a seat. For him, it wasn't about the adventure had while covering the distance, it was about the destination. If you want adventure while on route, you don't take a commercial air line, you road-trip, or you get a dogsled, or you walk. I imagine that most adventures had involving a commercial air carrier either involve stewardesses with loose morals OR searches for black boxes and inflatable life vests. I am interested in neither.
And so, Wil's diction and my recent purchases from Air Asia bring me to this: I am not interested in comfort, swaddling, legroom, in flight movies, and in flight meals. I don't give two damns what color the seats are, what magazines are provided, or whether I can get another pillow. Today I realized I want to arrive at my destination safely and quickly, and thats about all I want. In all truth, I'd rather not pay for all the ammenities. I'd rather take a dirty, noisy cargo plane, because it probably costs less and I wouldn't have to wait at a carousel for my baggage.
So, why don't more people like me book dirty noisy cargo planes? Why don't I? Because commercial air carriers are more convenient to book, or at least that is the assumption. Take Air Asia for example. To book my tickets, all I had to do was...
1.Go online, create an account with Air Asia, search for my flights, and enter all my information for the billing.
2.Then create a Visa Online account, with all the same information.
3.Then, after the Air Asia window closed because I took too much time setting up the account with Visa, I only had to log back into Air Asia, and create my booking again, enter my payment information again, and pay, then log into my new Visa Online account to authorize the payment, and have my credit card denied.
4. DENIED!?! There's no balance! I cleared it to work overseas! WTF?
5. Then I had to call my bank, check to make sure my card was cleared for overseas purchases (which it was) and that my line of credit was active and in good standing (which it was).
6. Then I repeated the routine with Air Asia's website, including and up to the 2nd denial of BOTH my Visa debit and credit cards. It was at this point I slammed my laptop shut and walked away.
7. Later, I called Air Asia booking in Malaysia, waited for an english speaking salesperson, and created my entire booking again, only to be denied again, and told by a nice man with a thick accent to call my bank.
8. Called the bank, who said there as no activity (read: no attempted and denied purchases from Air Asia) on my card in the recent past. They told me to call back the nice man with the thick accent.
9. Called Air Asia, waited, got a salesperson, booked a flight, card denied. "No-can-do" said the nice man with the tick accent.
10. Cried a little.
11. Called Air Asia one last time after being tipped off by a friend that Visa and Air Asia aren't best friends. Dug up an old credit account that was Mastercard, not Visa, and finally, finally, finally booked a flight. Thank God almighty in heaven above.
In the time it took me to go through these steps the price of the ticket more than doubled from 358 RMB to 780 RMB. Awesome. Super cool.
What have I learned from this debacle? Three distinct things:
- Air Asia has cheap flights, a terrible billing service, and no more than three very busy English speaking salespeople.
- Visa, its everywhere you want to be, except you can't use it with one of the largest air carriers serving south east asia, the pacific rim, and Australia/NZ. But its everywhere else, they swear.
- I want jet fuel. I do not want candy coated customer service, extra pillows, or free in-flight movies.
What impressed me, and eventually brought about my current train of thought, is that Wil didn't see himself buying a ticket or a seat. For him, it wasn't about the adventure had while covering the distance, it was about the destination. If you want adventure while on route, you don't take a commercial air line, you road-trip, or you get a dogsled, or you walk. I imagine that most adventures had involving a commercial air carrier either involve stewardesses with loose morals OR searches for black boxes and inflatable life vests. I am interested in neither.
And so, Wil's diction and my recent purchases from Air Asia bring me to this: I am not interested in comfort, swaddling, legroom, in flight movies, and in flight meals. I don't give two damns what color the seats are, what magazines are provided, or whether I can get another pillow. Today I realized I want to arrive at my destination safely and quickly, and thats about all I want. In all truth, I'd rather not pay for all the ammenities. I'd rather take a dirty, noisy cargo plane, because it probably costs less and I wouldn't have to wait at a carousel for my baggage.
So, why don't more people like me book dirty noisy cargo planes? Why don't I? Because commercial air carriers are more convenient to book, or at least that is the assumption. Take Air Asia for example. To book my tickets, all I had to do was...
1.Go online, create an account with Air Asia, search for my flights, and enter all my information for the billing.
2.Then create a Visa Online account, with all the same information.
3.Then, after the Air Asia window closed because I took too much time setting up the account with Visa, I only had to log back into Air Asia, and create my booking again, enter my payment information again, and pay, then log into my new Visa Online account to authorize the payment, and have my credit card denied.
4. DENIED!?! There's no balance! I cleared it to work overseas! WTF?
5. Then I had to call my bank, check to make sure my card was cleared for overseas purchases (which it was) and that my line of credit was active and in good standing (which it was).
6. Then I repeated the routine with Air Asia's website, including and up to the 2nd denial of BOTH my Visa debit and credit cards. It was at this point I slammed my laptop shut and walked away.
7. Later, I called Air Asia booking in Malaysia, waited for an english speaking salesperson, and created my entire booking again, only to be denied again, and told by a nice man with a thick accent to call my bank.
8. Called the bank, who said there as no activity (read: no attempted and denied purchases from Air Asia) on my card in the recent past. They told me to call back the nice man with the thick accent.
9. Called Air Asia, waited, got a salesperson, booked a flight, card denied. "No-can-do" said the nice man with the tick accent.
10. Cried a little.
11. Called Air Asia one last time after being tipped off by a friend that Visa and Air Asia aren't best friends. Dug up an old credit account that was Mastercard, not Visa, and finally, finally, finally booked a flight. Thank God almighty in heaven above.
In the time it took me to go through these steps the price of the ticket more than doubled from 358 RMB to 780 RMB. Awesome. Super cool.
What have I learned from this debacle? Three distinct things:
- Air Asia has cheap flights, a terrible billing service, and no more than three very busy English speaking salespeople.
- Visa, its everywhere you want to be, except you can't use it with one of the largest air carriers serving south east asia, the pacific rim, and Australia/NZ. But its everywhere else, they swear.
- I want jet fuel. I do not want candy coated customer service, extra pillows, or free in-flight movies.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Contact with questions
Only a few months ago I was a nervous PC applicant with invitation in hand, awaiting my departure date and my conformation as a PC trainee. Back then I received loads of help and encouragement from individuals from previous PC China groups. This help came in the way of packing lists, tips for travel, and conversations on what to expect.
So now, I want to offer my help, I want to be available to pay it forward. If you're out there, and you're looking to transfer or apply, or if you've been invited (although I don't think PC China 16 invites have been mailed yet), please feel free to contact me.
Christian.p.tuttle@gmail.com
China is calling, how far will you go?
So now, I want to offer my help, I want to be available to pay it forward. If you're out there, and you're looking to transfer or apply, or if you've been invited (although I don't think PC China 16 invites have been mailed yet), please feel free to contact me.
Christian.p.tuttle@gmail.com
China is calling, how far will you go?
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
It's begining to feel nothing at all like Christmas.
Its 60ish degrees (F) here, the sun is out, I'm wearing my Chacos, and a white Christmas is about as far away as possible. With the exception of the street cleaning trucks playing Jingle bells (they do that all year long) and the Christmas poster at Dico's (Chinese fast food joint), this city hasn't quite caught the western holiday fever.
Truthfully, this doesn't bother me at all.
Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Christmas. Great holiday, great season. Families come together, love is shown, and people get drunk on eggnog. That said, I don't miss the stupid, commercialized, in-your-face American approach. There's a fine line between celebration and exploitation, and that fine line was crossed decades ago in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Back to China, though. The decorations are slim here, although when I was in Guiyang for Thanksgiving I did notice decorations (trees, tinsel, posters, etc) in store windows the weekend after the 3rd Thursday of the month. I think there will be a celebration on the day itself; I have heard there is dancing in the street, even. Maybe a banquet or a feast, well-wishes from friends and faculty, and a present or two from back home. That's what I'm expecting. And, in a way, doesn't it seem more like a proper feast day, a proper holi-day, than what we've done in the past?
Truthfully, this doesn't bother me at all.
Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Christmas. Great holiday, great season. Families come together, love is shown, and people get drunk on eggnog. That said, I don't miss the stupid, commercialized, in-your-face American approach. There's a fine line between celebration and exploitation, and that fine line was crossed decades ago in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Back to China, though. The decorations are slim here, although when I was in Guiyang for Thanksgiving I did notice decorations (trees, tinsel, posters, etc) in store windows the weekend after the 3rd Thursday of the month. I think there will be a celebration on the day itself; I have heard there is dancing in the street, even. Maybe a banquet or a feast, well-wishes from friends and faculty, and a present or two from back home. That's what I'm expecting. And, in a way, doesn't it seem more like a proper feast day, a proper holi-day, than what we've done in the past?
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