greetings from san jose! after hotel hassels, flight delays, & shoopping excursions in airport duty free stores, i am finally home.
friday afternoon, i went to do one last shift at the apc computer room. i thought it what be absolute chaos as people try to post one last time from beijing--it was surprisingly calm, so the apc staff spent much time on-line uploading final statements from different caucuses. several groups were thrilled that their wording had been adopted by the different un documents--i remember the "women count/count women's work network"--they were everywhere petioning many caucuses, raising consciousness about unpaid & paid women's work, vigiled & buttonedholed (actually badged) people as they went into their meetings, & uploaded many of their documents to the net--they were absolutely thrilled that their language had been adopted. women from the lesbian caucus were continuously in the apc computer room working on policy statements and uploading them to the 'net. many delegates from various african ngos came to the apc computer (initially attracted by the apc african techs) quickly mastered the intricacy of email & uploaded their documents in english & french. i predict email/internet use will explode in africa because of the delegates's positive experience with networking in beijing.
the problem, though is funding for computers & internet accounts. our head tech, spider redgold, offered the australian model--each new women's group in australia is required to submit an operating budget to the government which includes among other things funding for a computer, modem, & 1 year internet account--this funding request the gov't automatically approves as a necessary operating expense. as they say in australia "girls need modems" (thanks, geekgirl!). putting internet tools in the hands of grassroots organizations could potentially have a greater financial/social imapct than grand development project like massive dams. problems with telecom/datacom infrastucture (ie electricity & phone lines) could be solved by relying on more appropriate technology (ex: ham radio instead of phone lines, solar energy instead of ac/dc, common computers located in village offices instead of private computers, etc). a cleaning out of & redistribution of the outdated computer hardware stuck in closets & store rooms in silicon valley could get many domestic & international group started.
one can argue that computers can cause more problems than they solve: used replace human contact this is absolutely true. computers used as tools to facilitate communication must be persued--there are too many community problems that are exacerbated by lack of communication. a coordinated, multi-front approach to a common problem guarantees success.
(soapbox off)
as we were working at the final hours of the conference, bella abzug and friends stopped outside of the apc computer room for a chat. hera-struck, i went up to introduce myself, told her i had been an admirer for years, really apreciated WEDO, and was very happy that she did a chat on Women's Wire just before she flew to beijing. her assistant immediately introduced me as the moderator of BEIJING95-L. bella smiled, thanked me, and they immediately went to another press meeting.
i walked through the press room a bit later on my way to get some toner for our printer. the crowded press room consisted of a large lounge (complete with food for sale & free soft drinks), document distribution centers, a dozens of cubicles with typewriters. there was a chinanet workstation (chinanet is the chinese commercial internet service provider), but it cost at least 75 yuan to use it, it had an antiquated text processor (no word wrap), and part way through the conference, they dissallowed telnet into home mailboxes. in private conversations with various press members on the subject of chinanet, they said that they worried about monitoring and their stories not getting through or not being delivered in a timely manner. press paranoia? network bogging down under tremendous traffic? or....? many press folks were slipped into apc to send out their stories (which was really difficult because we had to give first priority to the ngo delegates). no doubt about it, there simply weren't enough networked computers & it hurt. even though apc had submitted to the coc their computer usage plan months in advance (basically we wanted to have in beijing the same set up in huairou), the coc gave us only room into which we shoe-horned 12 macs & two printers plus 4 stand-alone macs in the ngo lounge.
while in the press room, i saw the vatican delegate, coming through security as i was going out. i had seen him several times before, a very serious fifty-ish priest in full roman collar, arms full of various documents, walking intently from meeting to meeting. what struck me is that he was always alone & didn't travel in packs as many other delegates, and the documents which he carried were anotated with notes. across the xray machine i called out to him, introduced myself as jennifer, a catholic computer tech from california, & added that i was glad he was here & hoped he had a good trip. he actually smiled & thanked me (i couldn't pick out if his accent was polish or irish). if there hadn't been people pushing us both & i'm sure we would have chatted for a bit.
i'm sure that many of you our gagging by now--how could i consort with the patriarchy? was i flashing back to my catholic girlhood seeking the approval of daddy/father? as a feminist & an catholic woman i am fully aware that some catholic men (& women), particularly the vatican-identified, do not have womankind's (or my) best interests at heart. but i always remember that they are human & subject to a change of heart/conversion at any second. my whole life has been an ongoing series of conversions and at one time i was quire androcentric in my theology. one second i was quite certain i knew the truth, the next second that women & men were created in the image of God--that i as a woman am a ikon of God just as christ & all the saints are--that the images/revelations of God are limitless as God (and not just limited to human beings)--that truth can never be a thing possessed because it permeates all creation. i began to ask myself, what do i, in this body, reveal about the nature of God?
i got/am getting free. as bernice johnson reagan of sweet honey in the rock reminds us what harriet tubman said: "i got free to free others. and i would have freed more if they knew that they were slaves."
(soapbox off)
as soon as our workshift ended, the russian, zambian, sri lankan tech, & i grabbed a cab & headed to silk alley for one last round of shopping. the normal way to silk alley was blocked, so we redirected the cab driver to the beijing fiendship store & agreed to reconvene in 40 minutes. it should have been 4 later--what a great store! it was filled with the fineset of chinese craft, clothes, appliance, house goods, books, at fairly reasonable prices. after perusing each floor, stopping briefly at the silk jackets & scarves ( i left quickly because i knew i could never decide) & was dumb-strucked by the jade (i should have asked my friends before i went how to judge quality), i stopped by the paper cuts & immediately picked out a large, glorious paper-cut of the chinese moon goddess holding a bunny (there was an accompanying cut both for 30 yuan). next i asked to see the batiks, and picked out a kwan yin on horseback with firey sun in the back gound (55 yuan) for the nurse-friend who was housesitting for me, plus a batik of three dancing women (chinese graces?) for myself (47 yuan). in total i spent approx $17 (US).
we then recovened and headed down the street to silk alley. apparently the place i had been several afternoon before was not silk alley. this place was truly as alley filled with silk. my goal: a head scarf for my mom, the i could leave china in peace. but most of the scarves were shawl size, and i had a rather difficult time finding a smaller sizes. even so, the brilliantly colored scarves were half the price of the scarves in the friendship store. they also had some great cotton quilts, more choices than the "cotton street" i had visted before, but at twice the price. beautiful silk rugs were also available (again i wish i knew before hand how to judge quality. undoubtedly, when my grandmother reads this, she'll drag me back on a beijing-bound plane). finally i found some appropriately sized headscarves--grabbed a floral pattern in various shades of periwinkle blue (great compliment to my moms eyes) & one tie-dyed one pansy colors (my mom's favorite flower). also got a blue silk scarf for my dad that was lined on the otherside with wool, a multi-clored silk shawl for a girlfriend, a a white opera scarf for another friend--total 260 yuan or about $30.
as i turned, i found that i was alone & all the metal doors of the shop stalls were banging close. it was 6:15 and the sun was going down fast. as i walked to the end of the alley, i held out hope to snag another quilt--no such luck--but i did find my friends waiting for me at the other end. the zambian tech was deep in negotiations for some silk blouses, and the russian tech had already located a nearby french cafe which featured pizza (flat sourdough friend, bit of tomato sauce, bell pepper, tomatos, & cheese with optional sausage) & french pastries (apple! the others had kimi & lychee). cold pepsi completed the meal. the victorious zambian tech joined us & we had quite a feast. satisfied, we then returned to the hotel & then went back to the computer room to pick up our stuff.
by this time it was 8pm and we had fully expected that the room was packed (the room was suppose to close at 4pm & the plug pulled by 6pm). instead each computer was occupied by apc staff uploading the last bit of enough they could. as i the zambian tech & i grabbed our stuff, we were told to meet in the hotel lounge at 11pm for a last beer. we then left to pick up from the hotel craft store next to the bicc the chinese seal which i had had made (BEIJING95) in pink onyx with a dragn on top & headed back to the hotel for some serious packing.
instead of immediately packing, i got into another long, long converstion about unix, God, books, & life in general with the russian tech over coffee which she had made (i contributed chocolate). i finally i started packing while talking, dumping out the contents of everything i had onto my bed & dresser, and rearranged everything into a medium-size suitcase (clothes), carry on bag (literature--yes it filled the suitcase), a box (two quilts, batiks, & scarves), backpack (powerbook & asundries), two scroll boxes taped together (drago scroll & posters), and one small purse--everything was fairly light & manageable). i then layed out my travel clothes & stuffed my levis jacket with water & m&ms. i was obscenely well-prepared for my 5am wake-up call and most people whom i have travelled would say this was nothing short of miraculous (oh, ye of little faith).
by this time it was 11:45pm. i turned in my room key with receipt & was refunded 100 yuan. no one was in the lounge, so the russian tech said we should investigate the dining room. sure enough there was most of the apc staff sitting with the remains of a chinese dinner. we joined them for more tea & conversation & parted about an half-hour later to meet in cyberspace & hopefully in real life again.
when the russian tech & i returned to our room, we struck up another unix, God, book, & life in general conversation which lasted til 2:30am. fianlly we turned off the light & tried to sleep--of course i couldn't, and was really ready to go with the 5am wake up call. the sri lankan tech & i then hailed a cab & got into a cab, but the hotel staff didn't want us to go--they kept on demaning our hotel key & receipt for room payement--we said we had turned in the keyslast night & ask our boss for the receipt. the driver didn't want to leave until the problem sorted out. out normal gentle, sweet, kind sri lankan tech marched back into the hotel lobby & started cussing out the staff (her flight was at 8am). i stayed in the cab alone for a couple of minutes not sure what to do. i then walked into the lobby, pointed at the keys underneath the counter and as the staff started going through the pile of key, i grabbed the tech, hailed the cab, and we made good our escape.
as we drove through the airport, we saw an overturned truck & coal spilled all over the road. we made sympathetic noises & the cab driver laughed. we also pointed out two gorgeous, modern statues cast in silver metal of three women placed near the airport, obviously welcoming the un/ngo participants--how many of us saw these fabulous statues? what other art, welcome signs, and special preparations did we miss?
we were at the airport by 6pm, paid our exit fee (90 yuan), went through the first series of xray, and sri lankan tech joined the long line for her flight home via hong kong. already a fever pitch battle was being waged by members of an african delegation against the chinese airport staff over luggage. someone asked what was happening, & i said that they were still hammering out the draft paltform language--smiles lit up all around us. i stepped back away from the lines and eventually ended up being surrounded by a largechinese athletic team (both women & men) getting ready to set-off tour. i tried to pluck enough courage to ask what sport, etc, but then more team members would arrived variously attired in a mixture of team sweats and very fashionable street clothes. judging from theit physiques, i would say that it was a multi-sport team: track & field or maybe martial arts.
finally i joined a lline at the advertised gate, only to be told that the line had moved to another gate (they were still problems getting everyone on the hong kong flight). this line started 30 min late, and frankly after 2 1/2 hours in the beijing airport (yes, i realize i came way to early), i was growing impatient. my flight was leaving in an hour & half, i still had to go through another exit process, and quite frankly i had 200 yuan to spend & several gifts to buy before i got on the plane.
finally the line started moving & we were snapped though. the clerk asked my how many pieces i wanted to check & i asked how many i could--she said two & i put them on the scale. she looked at the scale, looked at my stuff, and asked again how many; i held up my carry-on bag filled with literature & she nodded ok, so i was able to check three--what a blessing! i then hit the exit queue much lighter with my backpack & scroll boxes only, offered my passport again (probably for the fifth time), and finally made it through to the chinese duty-free shop.
the beijing duty free shop was a bit differnt--usually they are filled with liquor, cigarettes, perfume, etc, but this was filled with chinese crafts--scrolls, jade, silk, etc. i snapped up three blown glass balls inside which kwan yin, pandas, etc were painted, creating a very nice crystal ball effect. also got a carved agate bunny and was then completely yuanless. i then head to my flight. produced my passport one more time & got on a plane bound for seoul. they served us a light lunch of lunch meats, fruit, & bread which we munched on while watching a canned program of short travel, fashion (many swirling blonde & euroasian models in exclusive chinese designer fashions) & music videos (soft-focused forlorn or mtv-fun perky women).
finally arrived in seoul for a five hour lay-over. as we disembarked, they were palying live gipsy kings "allegria"--one of my all time favorite songs. was escorted from one terminal to another by a very nice but overworked korean airline staffwoman who anxious to go home after working a double-shift. when i got to the the departure terminal i settled down in front of tv showing a soap opera set in a disco (many love tirangles & one girl computer geek; no commercials) & took up some knitting. this was the first time i had sat down to rest for many days. just as i got the jist of the story, someone changed the channel to a baseball game (which had commercials featuring many canned drinks: red bean, vegetable, fruit--not coke; one spokesman was an actor i recognized from hong kong movies parachutting out of a plane; others featured korean electronic goods). a nearby tv set showing a dubbed chuck norris (did he do a tv series?) was switched to a competing baseball game. it finally occured to me that i hadn't got any presents for my nieces--what? was i crazy? who else am i forgetting? and went to the duty free shop and got some drumming & dancing dolls (as oppose to the the demure doll couples) and some ginseng tea. as i came back, i spied some cartoons (the jetsons dubbed in korean & a cartoon about korean pirates).
finally it was time to board. an entire tour of korean school girls cut in front of me in line, and by this time i had realized that this was a standard practice (in america, i would have pointed the girls & anyone else to the end of the line). got in settled down, took off, & read my copy of geek girl magazine from cover to cover (a present from spider redgold along with a geek girl t-shirt which i am wearing as i type. check out http://www.next.com.au/spyfood/geekgirl/ --this is an absolute must for all cyberfeminists). was seved a delicious, hot vegetarian entre featuring croquettes. dozed occasionally, missed the midnight snack of hot noodles, was served a nice omlette, started our descent into california over the bays red salt flats, and was depositted in the san francisco airport before i was about to loose my mind.
after 20 minutes, all of my luggage emerged which i loaded onto free waiting carts. was separated out at customs because i declared i was carying some packaged glutton, was xrayed & waved though. my parents were in the front, my mom was waving a bouquette & wearing, "I'M 60!" t-shirt, my dad snapped pictures, and began a detailed inquiry into my accomodations in china (most people apparently thought we were sleeping in tents; at home he produced a photo from the paper of chinese guards bombing sweeping behind tents--i said we slept in dormitory-like suites & met in the tents--he was then satisfied). i also told my parents about the different catholics i met (many from africa), they interested, but my dad allowed little digression--he is determined to interview me on tape about my experience from a to z.
we then went back to my condo there was novio-bunny, who seemed happy to see me, but i was interrupting his afternoon nap. i then used the rest & found out i had just started my period (many women said that they had their periods abnormally early before they travelled & had come prepared as i did for its reoccurence). i then gave my parents their gifts (my mom loved the scarves & my dad wants a poster to display). they left, i put on the indigo girls & the gipsy kings live, called a girlfriend (the jackie chan fan), took a shower, almost fell asleep, and then went to my parent's house for birthday pizza & cake. my mom then showed me the messages she received (about 8)--thanks a million--they made her very happy.
came back home, fell into bed at 8:30pm, woke up at 3:30am, and will finish this so i can get go to mass. thanks to one and all for all their kindness and support. can't wait to hear from everyone else. more soon.
thanks!
jennifer gagliajn@netcom.com
