Hodge-podge Hedgehog -- no Point, but lots of points

I do believe I've found an activity that is even more of a waste of time than running into Walmart for a single item (you know, between parking, hiking in from the parking lot, going to the very back of the store, hunting around for it, standing in the one open check-out line behind the person buying forty cans of tuna fish which the clerk must scan individually, paying, and hiking back out to the car, altogether it takes half an hour to buy a single pack of batteries). What is it? Why, going to the bank in China, of course.

I'm pretty sure I've griped about this before now, but I'm too lazy at the moment to check. But, banks here are slooooooowwwww. Today I went in to wire some money home. It was mid to late afternoon, as I had several other errand to do today, and I met some friends for a late lunch after my morning class. I got my ticket and sat down to wait. There were only four people ahead of me. When my number was called, FORTY-FIVE minutes later, I was very politely (you have to give them that, they're very polite) told that the hours for wire transfer ended at 4:30. What time was it at that moment? 4:32. Needless to say, I was extremely aggravated.

At least she gave me some helpful advice at the same time, which was that when I re-attempted my transfer,  I needed to go to the service desk first and get the form typed up. This is interesting, as I did the exact same thing yesterday at a different branch of the same bank, and there, they gave me a write-in form at the service desk, and then had me take that to the window where they typed it up (twice incorrectly, which involved a fun explanation about how I have two first names and no, you can't smoosh them together).

The nice teller also told me I should return at the start of business tomorrow to do my transfer. Well, this is unhelpful for two reasons. One, as a foreigner without a special form issued by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, I can only transfer 500 US Dollars per day out of the country, and due to my own negligence and laziness about wiring money home throughout the year, I sort of need all of the business days between now and my departure to get my money home (yes, I am planning on spending an hour or more at the bank every day for the next week. Doesn't my life in a foreign country seem so glamorous sometimes?). Also, I'm leaving for Nanjing tomorrow morning, before the banks open, so short of attempting this in Nanjing (I am horrified by the thought. That would be adding inter-province bank branch fees and processing to the whole affair.), this was a bust. Well, at least I got in forty-five minutes of reading today.

Speaking of reading, I finished the Bible! Cue the streamers, confetti, and balloons! Okay, so it's not that exciting. Having finished, I am left with two impressions. One, I need to reread it, this time with a highlighter and a pencil for marginalia and a notebook for making comparative lists, charts, and diagrams. I've read accounts of the Warring States period that are less complicated than trying to keep track of Old Testament chronology. Two, John was a little bit ... off his rocker, wasn't he? I mean, Revelation reads like the dream of a man on acid, but even his regular correspondence is a little off from center. Actually, concerning all of the letters between the Gospels and Revelation, I'm suddenly much more curious about the history of in-fighting in the early church. I'm thinking it would make a good reality tv show.

I had my last days of work this week. On Monday, I officially became a tourist. My flatmate has already departed for America, and I have about a week and a half now before I head home. I keep looking around at all the things I've acquired in my year here and then eyeing my suitcase dubiously. I feel like there are some hard decisions facing me in the week to come, primarily concerning shoes and books (they're bulky and they're heavy).I've already relinquished my Apples to Apples game, since I know very well that I can easily replace that back home. The biggest issue is what do do with all of the things I know I'm not taking, like my little flower vase, my desk lamp, a couple of bookends, and a Christmas tree that is shoved into a cupboard but not forgotten. I doubt my landlady would be particularly happy if I were to attempt to leave it all here. Ah well, these are problems for next week, after Nanjing.

You may have heard of Nanjing. It's a city on the Yangtze River, in Jiangsu Province. It was the capital of China for two short periods in Chinese history, once during the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and then again during the Republic of China period (ahem. It was also the capital of parts of China during periods of the Three Kingdoms and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but that is a chaotic mess almost to the level of the aforementioned Warring States, so let's just ignore them). The legacy of these times can be seen in the Nanjing Ming-era city wall, and the abundance of Republican-era architecture. Nanjing is also well-known as the site of the Nanjing Massacre (aka the Rape of Nanking, and which is the subject/setting of Zhang Yimou's most recent film, The Flowers of War), during the Second Sino-Japanese war (aka World War II) when occupying Japanese forces killed upwards of 300,000 people in the city. I am quite looking forward to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. Well, perhaps 'looking forward to' is the wrong phrase. I expect it to be harrowing. There are a number of other sites to visit in the city, and I will have two and a half days to see them, so honestly I haven't decided yet. I've booked transport to and from the city, and reserved a spot in a hostel for the nights I'll be there. I think that might be a good life philosophy: secure the basics and decide the rest when you get there. What do you think?