In my previous post I wrote about the school I attended back in China (which actually is still there and educating young minds) and about the fun things my friends and I used to do. If you haven't read the first post about my two best friends I encourage you to read it to get some background info. Click here.
The school was located on a smaller road that branched off the major road in my city, Taiyuan, Shanxi. There were a few shops on street corners that sold toys, food, and school supplies, and there were also tarp shops. Tarp shops are people who sell the same things in smaller quantities off tarps in the street. The merchant sits on the ground behind their tarps and sell things to students (I will refer to them as tarps). Our teachers would always warn us to stay away from them; not to buy anything. We always heeded their warnings...but we bought things anyway.
There was this beef jerky they used to sell that I was addicted to. I loved the spicy sauce, the tough beef and the saltiness, but I never had any money to buy it. So when my friends had some cash we would all share in the deliciousness. The tarps also sold BB guns, small toys, big toys, race cars, school uniforms, hats and handkerchiefs. In my school we had to wear a uniform, a yellow hat and a small red handkerchief we tied around our necks to signify that we were students (as if the uniform wasn't enough). Often times students would lose a hat or handkerchief which would result in big trouble with our teachers. The smart tarps would sell these things at ridiculously high prices, but we had no choice; either cough up the money or suffer the consequences. Once a parent and a tarp started arguing about returning the hat. The tarp would not admit to selling it and the parent would not relent from returning it. She ended up throwing the hat at the guy and sent her son to school. Soon a teacher was brought out, but the tarp still stuck to his guns. I don't know what happened, we had to go to class. I would have loved to see how that went down.
There was also a street vendor a block from the school who sold shiskabobs. We choose the vegetables, meat, or whatever else they had and cooked it on either salty or spicy pots of water. This was our after school snack and it was extremely cheap. We would buy at least 10 every time. Eventually, a bunch of our friends got food poisoning from it and our parents forbid it. We also heeded their command but we continued to eat it anyway.
One of the three amigos always had some money to buy stuff. He once bought a BB gun, cocked it on his belt and walked into school. I thought he was dead for sure but the teacher never caught him. The other amigo didn't really care, but he bought stuff every now and then. I never had any money to buy stuff. I was tired of bumming off my friends for food so I decided to take some money from my parents. They kept a stash of 10 cent currencies in the drawer so every morning I took a few of those while they were cooking so I can buy a few small toys. This went on about three days. One morning my mother sent me to school and before she left she saw me buy a toy from a tarp (I thought she left already). So naturally she asked where I got the money...uhhhhhh crap. I said that I was late to school and ran to class. Never have I ever been so relieved to hear the school bells ring and never thought I'd dread the end of school till that day. When I got home my mother and father had a serious face and talked to me about stealing. I thought I would surely be punished severely, but to my surprise they sat me down and talked to me politely, lovingly. I appreciated that. So I showed them all the toys I bought, half of which I had already lost, haha. I was so stupid.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Book Review: A Game of Thrones
A Game of Thrones by, George RR Martin.
I'm confident most of you have seen or heard of the HBO series "Game of Thrones." The show is engaging and gruesome, the perfect recipe for entertainment if you ask me, which is why I've picked up the book and finished it recently. I will start by saying that the show follows very closely with the movie, highlighting all the important parts and showing very acute detail for all the characters. I also benefited from watching the show first. Some might argue the opposite but watching the show gave me a face to every name. The casting for the show was spectacular. As I read descriptions of each character in the book, the corresponding actors' faces, clothing, personality all appeared in my thoughts. I was very excited to begin the book but soon realized it is 800+ pages. However, this did not hinder my progress.
The story takes place in a fantasy world probably during the Middle Ages or even before that, I'm not sure. Here, The Seven Kingdoms is ruled by King Robert Baratheon who overthrew the previous king, the Mad King. Robert's right hand man, Jon Arryn, died of sickness so he looks to his friend Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, to replace Jon. Stark soon finds out that Jon Arryn was poisoned and sets out to find out who killed him and why. All the while a mysterious threat broods in the North and the offspring of the Mad King is preparing to come back and reclaim the throne.
What I thought: The writing is very detailed with descriptions of characters and precise in keeping track of lineage of each name. It is at times explicit in presenting gruesome or sexual events. Sometimes a little too much detail is shared. But this is part of why I liked it so much, the unapologetic style of writing that is able to paint a picture in your mind as you read each word. When the author describes the mountains, the plains and the king's city my mind creates worlds based on the words, almost like Inception when DiCaprio created his own world with his wife. It's almost like I'm directing my own movie based on the book and creating landscapes as I see fit. A great book can free the mind. Overall the book is wonderfully written and the action is nonstop. I had a hard time putting down the book at chapter ends but loved the exhilaration of picking it back up and reading on.
I’ve gotten a lot of views from searches for ‘Christian reviews of Game of Thrones’ so: With respect to Christian themes being portrayed in the book, I believe it was present in some parts but to say that this book is purposely written for a religious audience is at best a stretch and at worst dead wrong. That being said, I believe there are Christian themes like the obvious unknown evil that broods beyond The Wall. To me The Wall is something that blocks people from things of the past: Evil things that used to be relevant but no longer are. They are easily blocked away; out of sight and out of mind. This could represent sin and humans’ desire to escape it. They build a wall to block it away but don’t realize that sin cannot be caged. This is evident through the unending feuds, war, hatred and rivalry displayed in King’s Landing and elsewhere. While the focus of the people turn to their own desires they are blinded of the sin that they have blocked away, but is rising yet again. This is the most I could get out of the book so far, and the comparison is a stretch. However, this is only book one. Perhaps as more of the story is unveiled we will see more clearly what George Martin is getting at.
I'm confident most of you have seen or heard of the HBO series "Game of Thrones." The show is engaging and gruesome, the perfect recipe for entertainment if you ask me, which is why I've picked up the book and finished it recently. I will start by saying that the show follows very closely with the movie, highlighting all the important parts and showing very acute detail for all the characters. I also benefited from watching the show first. Some might argue the opposite but watching the show gave me a face to every name. The casting for the show was spectacular. As I read descriptions of each character in the book, the corresponding actors' faces, clothing, personality all appeared in my thoughts. I was very excited to begin the book but soon realized it is 800+ pages. However, this did not hinder my progress.
The story takes place in a fantasy world probably during the Middle Ages or even before that, I'm not sure. Here, The Seven Kingdoms is ruled by King Robert Baratheon who overthrew the previous king, the Mad King. Robert's right hand man, Jon Arryn, died of sickness so he looks to his friend Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, to replace Jon. Stark soon finds out that Jon Arryn was poisoned and sets out to find out who killed him and why. All the while a mysterious threat broods in the North and the offspring of the Mad King is preparing to come back and reclaim the throne.
What I thought: The writing is very detailed with descriptions of characters and precise in keeping track of lineage of each name. It is at times explicit in presenting gruesome or sexual events. Sometimes a little too much detail is shared. But this is part of why I liked it so much, the unapologetic style of writing that is able to paint a picture in your mind as you read each word. When the author describes the mountains, the plains and the king's city my mind creates worlds based on the words, almost like Inception when DiCaprio created his own world with his wife. It's almost like I'm directing my own movie based on the book and creating landscapes as I see fit. A great book can free the mind. Overall the book is wonderfully written and the action is nonstop. I had a hard time putting down the book at chapter ends but loved the exhilaration of picking it back up and reading on.
I’ve gotten a lot of views from searches for ‘Christian reviews of Game of Thrones’ so: With respect to Christian themes being portrayed in the book, I believe it was present in some parts but to say that this book is purposely written for a religious audience is at best a stretch and at worst dead wrong. That being said, I believe there are Christian themes like the obvious unknown evil that broods beyond The Wall. To me The Wall is something that blocks people from things of the past: Evil things that used to be relevant but no longer are. They are easily blocked away; out of sight and out of mind. This could represent sin and humans’ desire to escape it. They build a wall to block it away but don’t realize that sin cannot be caged. This is evident through the unending feuds, war, hatred and rivalry displayed in King’s Landing and elsewhere. While the focus of the people turn to their own desires they are blinded of the sin that they have blocked away, but is rising yet again. This is the most I could get out of the book so far, and the comparison is a stretch. However, this is only book one. Perhaps as more of the story is unveiled we will see more clearly what George Martin is getting at.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)