Nature's Candy

Our host, Guo (the husband in the Guo and Niu super-duo... man I like how that sounds!), was a communications engineer for the Party from the late 60s into the mid-90s, during which his responsibilities changed from telegraphing (I think) to internet communication. I know I'm missing some information in between (probably a whole lot that I'll be able to tease out in the near future), but his interests go way beyond farming and communication. Before Eunice and I arrived in Hainan, we had exchanged some e-mails regarding our plans. At one point he mentioned that he was writing a book that he would like some help translating.


I never fooled myself into thinking I was competent enough to translate a book, let alone a book whose subject matter was something as complex as "systems theory." "Systems theory" is something I barely understand, even (or maybe I should say "especially") after Guo's explanation: how his disagreement with Darwin's theory of natural selection and competition inspired his research; how all things in all subjects of study are governed by three "systems"; how Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and other 17th and 18th century philosophers were on-target with their theories of how things came to be; how Darwin might have unlocked the secrets of humanity if he had today's technology. Much of our conversation about systems theory (which lasted about 2 hours) was tough for me to understand, not just conceptually, but because of the partially eroded language barrier. I basically only know that systems theory can (or tries to) explain everything. Everything. This excerpt from the Wikipedia page sums up the theory's lofty goals: "Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems in all fields of research." It was a pretty draining, and my interest waned about halfway through. Such is the nature of many of our conversations, though: I only understand parts of them, and even when I think we've exhausted the topic he takes it somewhere new, probably not getting how little I'm catching.

Life is strange here. Sometimes I don't know who has it harder: me, the translator, who has to bore through all these conversations, translate what I know, admit to Eunice when I don't understand half of what they're saying (and this is awkwardly done right in front of our hosts, though they don't know that's what I'm telling her; or Eunice, who has to have these conversations filtered through a semi-competent translator, can't say what she wants to say if it's out of my ability, has to deal with my inability to take time out of their sometimes-too-engaging conversations to translate what they've said, etc. I'm also not too deft at ending these conversations (the last one, which went from Cultural Revolution/Great Leap Forward to Taiwan-China relations to American politicians Chinese people like [Nixon, Kissinger, Clinton] to Somalian pirates to North/South Korea relations and ended up lasting about 2 hours). All in all, it ain't too easy, but I guess I didn't come here for easy. In the end, though, it all makes Eunice and I laugh - the situation we're in, that is. And I'm glad we can deal with it like that. 

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Here are some selected shorts from the last couple days:

-At last, Eunice and I actually got to help pick some mangoes. We alternated climbing a ladder up to the fruits brandishing a pair of stem-cutters, often climbing through clouds of bugs or spiders’ webs. After a short photo shoot with Niu, we literally enjoyed the fruits of our labor (I promise that’s the last time I’ll say that). I’m actually in love with the egg mangoes (called such for their smaller size elliptical shape) and their delightfully sour taste.

-It rained a little bit in the afternoon. A tease - it didn’t make things any cooler. However, it was the coolest night here so far. Unrelated phenomena in my eyes.

-We made about 77 dumplings with Guo and Niu for dinner. A dumpling feast. I have yet to completely finish a meal given to us by these two - they are far too generous with the portions. For those who thought working on a farm would make me skinnier... well you’d lose that bet.

-We went to the beach the next morning - Lingao Beach. It was pretty deserted, but pleasant. Warm weather, warm water, and all at 9am. Astounding. The air was clear, the water not as much, though certainly not dirty. We threw the frisbee a bit, gathered tiny crabs to feed the ducks when we got back (both activities - catching, then feeding - immensely enjoyable).

-After swimming and crab-hunting for a bit, an encroaching tide pushed us up and off the beach, into an early lunch where we enjoyed some garlicky veggies, chickens’-leg clams, some sort of fish, and some crab. Niu impressed us with her ability to scour a single crab for the entire meal, getting every bit of meat it could have possibly provided. She had prefaced this, fittingly, with a story of a man who took a ten-hour train from Shanghai and spent the entire trip eating a single crab. I think Niu could give that man a run for his money.

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Everyday is a little different, though the skeleton of each day is the same: 

+Wake up at 7

+Eat an over-filling breakfast and talk about how Eunice doesn't eat meat, get health tips from our wise and knowledgable hosts. Today's tip: if you don't eat egg yolks, you will die young. Breakfast is invariably followed by a fruit feast of Elephant Tooth and Egg Mangoes, and today some lychee was added to the mix. (add that to the growing lists of "fruits I've eaten")

+Do about a half hour of manual labor in the garden

+Shower

+Read/study Chinese (started doing flashcards today - waddup Wang Kai)

+Lunch (again, too much food)

+Internet for way too long (often spent blogging, scouring lifehacker/kotaku/gizmodo/facebook... I've actually grown an aversion to looking at political commentary since I've gotten here... a positive development, though not helpful for discussion of current events)

+Eat dinner (my stomach is about to burst at this point)

+Take a walk around the neighborhood, start walking back as it gets too dark to see/almost get run over by a variety of automobiles on the narrow road.

+Internet and read until we're too tired to stay up any longer (this is the best method for getting to sleep in the humidity... and yes, internet is a verb now)

Oh! Before I forget, I'd like to publicly announce that you were right, mom: fruit is nature's candy. It's sweet, sour, mushy, yummy and everything good you said it would be. I never should have doubted you. Now what else have I been missing out on?