I took many pictures today but this connection is too slow to upload anything. I just wanted to say I am safe and having a good time, but also anxiously awaiting Tuesday.
I will write a blog with pictures tonight and post it when I have a faster connection, probably Friday in Shanghai.
Love, Jamie
Dear Panda Advocate,
Thank you for your kind retort. I agree completely with what you are saying, you misunderstand my point. No, I am not impressed by pandas, really, but that does not mean that I think they are less worthy of life. I am not so anthropocentric. They are, no doubt, wondeful in their own panda way that I do not recognize. However, after going to this panda preserve, it became quite clear to me that human beings are not the only reason that pandas are going extint. Yes, we are taking their habitat for urbanization and tea farming, and this is unfortnuate. It does become our responsibility to stop and reverse this practice. My point is that this is not the only reason pandas are having problems! Their lifestyle is such that natural selection is killing off their species. Even when a male and female find one another while the female is in estrus, they have problems figuring out what goes where. If they do, the chance of pregnancy is very low. This is NOT due to human beings and so I believe we should not be knocking them unconscious so we can extract sperm, refine it and then artificially inseminate a female panda after doing a paternity test to eliminate inbreeding! I feel that this is “messing with nature” just as much as destorying their habitat. There were nearly 100 pandas at this site, and I heard nothing of reentering them or their offspring into the wild. They are unnaturally creating more pandas just to have them around, not to restock the Chinese countryside with them. I agree that we should do our best to not destory the panda and to undo any damage done, but the practices at this place seemed creepy and unnatural. I hope you better understand where I am coming from. I appreciate and respect all animals and I think they have just as much a right to live as we do. My only apprehension is stopping a natural extinction because we think the animal is cute. How is it different from turning a blind eye to an extermination because we think the animal is a nusance?
Please reply,
Jamie
I am allowed to use the computer for another three or so minutes. I don’t know if I’ll get to use it again until I make it to America… That is 9 days (I think?) This is not desirable because I took wonderful pictures and hilarious videos yesterday that I would like to share. Also, I would like to call my parents before I can’t anymore and would like to hear a certain life story from a certain recently beardless gentleman.
I will do my best to get back here tomorrow or the next day. If I don’t, love and well wishes to everyone and I look forward to hugs and stories upon my arrival.
Today marks the third time I have been told I owe money to some one for something that I wasn’t consulted on. And once again, the plans have been finalized and I have little choice but to pay and attend. This time it is the Peking Opera. Not that I don’t want to see it… I was simply under the impression that the school was taking us. Suddenly I am being asked for 140 Yuan for a ticket that has been purchased on my behalf. Granted, it is only $20, but is quite nearly my very last $20. I had to give up $60 (USD) earlier today in order to go on a tour of the Ming Tombs. Once again this is something I want to do, but I was not consulted about the schedule or pricing, simply told how much to pay and when to show up where.
I am quite miffed about this. I thoroughly appreciate being consulted about what I’d like to do with my money before it is promised to people without my knowing. I might not have decided to attend the Opera (which I will understand scarcely a word of) if I had known I had to pay to go. I might have liked to participate in deciding which tour and what transportation to take to the Ming Tombs. It isn’t that the wrong decisions were necessarily made on my behalf, it is that they were made at all. Okay, I am done with my complaining.
I am going to write about what I did today and post pictures tomorrow morning to get myself back on my regular blogging schedule. I leave Beijing in four days and I do not expect any internet access until I reach Washington D.C. a week later. My plan is to write and archive pictures every evening using my laptop and then post it all in the correct order once I arrive home. It is sure to be quite an adventure.
