Law Internship

I was doing research on law firms and came across a small, though very experienced one, that attracted me. So I sent an e-mail to the big laoban (boss), asking if there was a position or internship available. Next thing, I got an e-mail and I was on my way to an interview. Basically, it was founded in LA and has opened up two offices in China. Their focus is Immigration, IPR, and Amercan and China business law. Most of our lawyers are from CA. Anyhow, after the interview I questioned whether or not I would get the internship. I have no experience, nil, none, zip, zero and I am probably not the youngest candidate. The interview went okay, I felt, and I was redeemed by the simple fact that they had an intern last year who, luck would have it, was also a UCLA grad and is now at UCLA law (who I will also hopefully be following...). For obvious reasons it would be no less than a huge boon, increasing my experience, meeting people, and helping my resume for when I apply to law school this October. Well, I just got a call from the Beijing office and I will be starting next Monday! They've provided some leeway as well, deferring my full-time internship until after I take the LSAT, before which time I will be interning part-time; I assume that means training. This is the good news.

The bad news is that the pay is not as great as one would like it to be. Given what normal interns, that is, Chinese interns (and even lawyers), are paid, it is not bad. Enough to live on (as an expat in China barely). Given my salary at Qinghua though, well, let's just say I am going to have to cut down on play time, sushi, and snacks. But is it worth it? I think so. And I negotiated during tonight's phone call that in the contract on Monday we amend a stipulation or clause that after a preliminary period (perhaps two months), it could be, but not guaranteed to be, renegotiated. Well, then, wish me luck!

A good respite

What a week it was! I was able to get away from the LSAT for about a week since (a much needed reprieve) Alec came through Beijing on his way home from Mongolia with his fiancee, Tozga. We had a blast together. Alec and I were in the Peace Corps together, though our sites were, one could say, a bit far from each other. I always admired Alec for his unfettered energy and sheer courage, as well as his quick wit and intelligence (not to mention his ability to drink ANY of my other friends under the table!). We had some fun-filled adventures together, needless to say.

I think the highlight of his coming to Beijing was seeing him happy with his fiancee, and showing her around a city that dwarfs her capital at least 10 times. She experienced for the first time with him flying on a plane, witnessing a pellmell skyline with perhaps most of the buildings being far taller than any in UB (in fact, I live on the fifteenth floor and their first stop was my place where he remarked that it was her first time being so high in a building), giving her scorpions, crickets, seafood (the Mongolians in general shun seafood for obvious reasons), and other goodies like Beijing roast duck. She is a wonderful woman, who loves Alec dearly and has that wonderful and unique ability to make people feel very comfortable around her.
Another highlight was finally hanging out with the legendary Oyuntamen, a contemporary national boxing hero in Mongolia. He happened to be in Beijing and is perhaps Alec's best Mongolian friend. Well, being Mongolian, he has an innate ability to drink heavily and being a boxer (an internationally known as well) is not really scared of anyone or anything. I should mention also that he is not the most modest man I've ever met and proved to be a funny and inspiring guy to hang out with because of his energy and lack of super-ego mannerisms! We had a great time. I also got a kick out of seeing him interact with other Mongolians, who, because of course they know who he is by name and face, did their absolute best not to offend him by a wayward smile, wrong word, etc!

(no need to point out who is who I suppose)

I was also entirely touched by what Alec did for his research as an MIIS grad student this summer: collected data and put together a report about human traficking in Mongolia. A saddenning and perhaps bleak analysis of the situation in Mongolia. Well, thanks to his research and perhaps the work of some NGOs and PCVs the situation might improve. Let's hope.

Huamachuco Textiles and the Coya/Sarita Belt

Some good news from home: my uncle along with Anne Meisch were just published in one of the foremost and renowned international magazines on textiles for the discovery of what are now called the Huamachuco textiles and Coya belt. The article, "A Tale of Survival" featured in Hali magazine, basically gives a synopsis of everything my uncle has been working on, together with a few other experts and professors, for the past 30 years. An incredible and inspiring tale that hopefully one day will be told in all its intriguing adventure....Back in the late 70s my uncle, as a geologist, stumbled (perhaps literally) into a small village, Huamachuco (only accessible by horst at the time), in the northern Andes of Peru researching minerals whereupon, thanks to his uncanny clairvoyance, he immediately recognized the unique qualities of a textile unlike any he had seen. Long story short, he, along principally with Anne Meisch, made leaps and bounds in their research of the area and history of the textiles within the last five years. Well, what is so amazing about the textiles and belt?

Perhaps the most startling and exciting aspect of their research is that the Coya belt is the only extant weaving tradition directly descended from the Incas. Read that again. This find is so incredible it's unbelievable. The Incas, at the height of their civilization, weaved what are regarded as some of (if not the) the finest textiles in the world (called qumpi), primarily to be worn only by the coyas or Inca queens and princesses, the belt only being worn during corn festivals (Sara in quechua means corn) . Unfortunately, the Spanish conquistadores came and wiped out or inexorably influenced the native traditions of the Incas in practically all facets, including weaving. How this unbroken tradition continued is part of the ongoing research. Why this area, which is relatively far from the Inca capital of Cuzco? How was it not influenced as substantially and extensively as the other areas? And why this belt when there were myriad other types of textiles?

Add to this the super complexity of weaving this belt (multiple heddles, warp-faced and double-sided with geometric motifs in four colors), and one has quite a tale to tell. The historical documents and chance-like provenance that enabled them to make the identification were such auspicious and coincidental finds (a Divinci Code-like tale) that one has only fate to thank for pointing (and of course, good research!) in the right direction.

The textiles, or blankets, originating in the same area, one must conclude then, are part and parcel of this weaving tradition. Their history and development of motifs, patterns, symbols, borders, warp v. weft faced, etc. is different than that of the belts and has all been miraculously documented. Of course, this all never could have happened if it weren't for the Huamachucans themselves (some of which have been my uncle's best friends for thirty years), and so my uncle has dedicated his book, in part, to them in his ongoing effort to make sure that out of all, they benefit the most.

It's been a bumpy road full of pot holes, ditches, ambiguities, hazards, driving sometimes in pitch black darkness--things that would make most people give up or lose hope and turn back around.

Congratulations Uncle Joe on all your hard work. Upward and onward.

Diplomacy

I had to post this article, from the Russian Newspaper Kommersant:

Aug. 18, 2006

China’s UN Ambassador Asks the US to Shut Up
Official Opinion
China’s Ambassador to the UN Sha Zukang admonished Washington yesterday of interfering in Beijing’s domestic affairs, particularly in its military program. Asked by a BBC reporter about China’s growing military budget, Sha Zukang did not contain himself and shouted out: “The population of China is six times as much as that of the United States. So, it’s time for Americans to shut up and keep quiet. They will be better off like this.”
“The United States have the right to settle domestic problems on its own, so let them not pry into China’s internal affairs,” the Chinese diplomat said. Sha Zukang also warned that if Taiwan declares independency and any country recognizes it, China will apply military force. “It is not a question of how big Taiwan is. Each centimeter of Chinese land is more important to us than lives of our soldiers,” the Chinese ambassador to UN stated openly.

China has not spoken so harsh on the Taiwan issue for a couple of years. These blunt words may cost Sha Zukang his post and career but the speech of China’s ambassador to the UN shows the hardening of the Chinese leadership’s stance on the Taiwan issue and possible conflict with the United States.

Alexander Gabuev

The generation gap and cultural revolution in China

Was reading an article from CNN about the generation gap between Boomers (in their 40s now) and Xers (b. 65-79), who seem to be more quixotic and short-term minded re: long-term commitment in the workplace, and how to overcome differences. Well, the last sentence had this to say: "Compared to the generation gap in China, what we have here is nothing."

So true. I never cease to be amazed at how those people who lived or were brought up during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution (often with siblings) differ so much between their children (all "Little Emperors", or single children). The former conserve and save everything, don't waste a shilling, a drop of water, a piece of plastic, or a grain of rice. The latter inherently believe that everything should be done for them, that they have little responsibility, and that they are entitled to this right, among other things.

Though the gap is HUGE, and arguably the older generation does have some comendable qualities, there are some other aspects of the cultural revolution that just ruined China as a civilized country. Take for example this news from an article in a Chinese newspaper regarding "The official Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee's 'Campaign to Promote Civilized Chinese Travelers'" :

"The committee cited some Chinese tourists' lack of concern for appearance, hygiene, courtesy, the law, the environment and public infrastructure, as damaging "the image of China as a civilized country" and generating "widespread attention and criticism domestically and overseas.

Many tourists clear their throats loudly and spit, take off shoes aboard planes and trains, squat and smoke in public places, and often appear uncouth," the China Daily said.

I am convinced that it was the cultural revolution that literally turned China upside down for just one decade that precipitated one of the largest reversals in at least some aspects of the culture in China's recent history. For a wonderful, even psychological, account of the intricacies how this happened, read the enchanting, engaging, and touching book, "Wild Swans", written by the first Chinese woman to get a PhD in Britain.

conspiracy theories...

Hi Justin,

Thanks for your reply. We're afraid you fell victim to a bug in our
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which occasionally loses template data. Fortunately, when this happens
your posts are still safe, it's just the template that is lost. You did
just what we recommend, however, and saved your own copy of a template.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,
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The Blogger Team


Perhaps it wasn't tampering after all. But I still have my doubts! Funny, I read a book here taking an objectivist approach to American 'culture' and one of the quintessential traits of a trained American is to always be suspect about conspiracy theories!!!

Tampering?

As some of you know, all of a sudden my blog just wasn't appearing. In its stead there were various encryptions of some sort that I eventually figured were some of the various commands in my template. My template looked fine last time I checked (less than two weeks ago) and when I checked again today, I found that somebody had to have done some major tampering or something. VERY luckily, I happened to e-mail myself a copy of my template when I first started the blog! Otherwise, I would have had to start all over again. That this happened is very strange. First, somebody had to know my password. Second, they had to have a reason. Third, why would somebody be doing tampering with my blog? Perhaps I wrote something inappropriate about a certain person or country? And who knows what kind of deal google signed with uncle sammy, or rather, uncle who for access to this market. Who knows. But whoever did it: HA HA. Back up and running lil' bitch. And good luck getting passed my new password. Unless of course, it was my mistake?

I FINALLY moved into a new place! Yep, and it's really nice. Had to ditch my roommate for good and have some peace of mind (that is, no treading dirt, no cockroaches, no clogged toilet, no nasty smells, no dirty basin, no tatooed and pierced gangster-garbed kids coming to my home late at night and staying there the whole next day, no constant break downs of anything, no bad breath, no inconsiderateness, a reliable air conditioner, an elevator, trash system, modern amenities, good clean smells, a nice view, a living room, not as much dust, a reliable lock on my door....). Okay, so I think you get the point. The downside: costs about $100 more per month. But is it worth it? You bet your ass it is.

Today I met a Korean girl who is one of five volunteers for the UN in Beijing. A little extraordinary she is I must say, having volunteered for two years in Sri Lanka (she was there when the tsunami hit), a couple of months on the island of Hainan, China, and is now here for two years in Beijing with the goal of eventually getting permanent UN employment later on in either Calcutta, NY, Geneva, etc. Well, an anomaly indeed. She is from Korea's biggest island, Je-ju, which happens to have deeper historical links to Mongolia than mainland Korea, and also explains how we fortuitously met. She was looking for some Mongolians online, I told her I knew some, yadda yadda yadda...Anyhow, George, if you are reading this, we might go to Mongolia together for your wedding!

the LSAT (Least Satisfying of All Tests)

What a bitch this test can be for those of us who aren't endowed with the wonderful gift of extremely quick analytical reasoning and an 80% retention rate or more. You know, there is good reason why law schools weigh the LSAT score more heavily than any other aspect of your application: it is statistically proven that those that do well on the LSAT do well in law school. Pushing that a bit further logically, it wouldn't be hard to see how there also happens to be a strong correlation between one's LSAT score and future salary! So far in practice I am doing pretty well. I intend to get a 163 or higher, which would rank me in the 90th percentile. We'll see though. See how easy it is to fall in the LSAT score defining who you are trap! I hate that! And so I make this oath here, that, just as in law school I will never reveal my grades to anyone, I will also not reveal my lsat score to anyone. Sounds like a good plan, right? Well, it isn't my idea. I got it from "Law School Confidential"--a super informative book written by a team of recently graduated lawyers offering tips on everything from first applying to your third year. Highly recommended as a companion for law school.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the daunting bastard, it's about a three hour test with five sections. One section is unscored because it is used to pretest new questions (unfortunately it is difficult to tell which section is the unscored section and no one would waste their time trying to figure it out anyway). Each section is 35 minutes in length with between 24 and 26 questions (that leaves about 1.25 minutes per question, including filling out the answer sheet). Out of the four that count towards one's score, two are logical reasoning, one is reading comprehension, and the other is analytical reasoning, or logic games. In all, there are 100 or 101 questions (and a written section that is not scored and rumored to not even be read by law schols). Not only does each question have a difficulty level (1-5, five hardest), but each LSAT test has it's own level of difficulty. Everything is weighed so that if I want to get a 165 (92nd percentile or so), depending on the test I can get at most 22 wrong and at the very least 17.

Anyhow, here's a real example (Feb. 1996 LSAT) of a level 5 logical reasoning question:

23. Since the zoo has more animals than enclosures, and every animal lives in an enclosure, it must be true that at least one of the enclosures contains more than one animal.

The argument above exhibits a pattern of reasoning that is most closely paralleled by which one of the following:

(A) Every person has two biological parents, so some people who have no brothers or sisters have more parents than their parents have children.
(B) Since every year there are more marriages than divorces, there must be some marriages that will not end in divorce.
(C) Since boys under ten slightly outnumber girls under ten and since some families have more than one child under ten, it follows that at least one girl under ten has more than one brother under ten.
(D) At least one of the families in Herndon has more than one child, since in Herndon, there are fewer families than children and every child is a member of a family.
(E) There must be fewer families that include teenagers than there are teenagers belonging to such families, since there is at least one family that includes more than one teenager.


Now, there were 25 questions in this section, the last three all being level 5! When time is running out, and you're faced with questions like these, then the true feelings of stress are felt!

Take the New Yorker's "Bush Quiz"

This is great! Just stumbled onto it today, wish I had when they first began. It's the every "Hundred Days" quiz of Bush's presidency. It's friggen hillarious! Try it out, see how you do HERE. Here is a question or two:

2. Who is Peter Wallsten?

(a) The partially blind reporter whom George W. Bush mocked (“Are you going to ask that question with shades on?”) for not removing his sunglasses while addressing the President.

(b) The wheelchair-bound senior citizen whom George W. Bush mocked (“You look mighty comfortable”) for not standing in the presence of the President.

(c) The C.I.A. employee who, after delivering the “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” briefing, was told by George W. Bush, “All right, you’ve covered your ass now.”

(d) The Iraq-war amputee with whom George W. Bush tried to bond by telling him about a scratch he got during “combat with a cedar” while clearing brush.

Match the number with what it quantifies.

3. At least 30,000.

4. More than 5,000.

5. Zero.

6. Around 200.

(a) Dollars’ worth of merchandise that the former Bush domestic-policy adviser Claude Allen was alleged to have stolen from Target and other stores through a phony refund scam.

(b) Shotgun pellets embedded in the face and upper body of Harry Whittington by Dick Cheney.

(c) National monuments or icons that Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said there are in New York City.

(d) dollars donated by Barbara Bush to a hurricane relief fund with the stipulation that the money be spent on software bought from a company run by her son Neil.

2.(2) a, (3) d, (4) a, (5) c, (6) b

THANKS NEW YORKER! What a great magazine. And, for those of you who don't read it, I highly recommend it. Their articles are super in depth, very intelligently written, and highly illuminating. AND, they're all for free online online, except the cartoons. Anyhow, enjoy!

Smoking wrinkles!

That's hardcore! Take a guess, Is this:
a. a "harmful effects of smoking" ad
b. My host great, great, great grandmother (born c. 1889)
c. An undercover Hezbollah fighter hiding out in southern lebanon
d. None of the above

Inc...!

Yep, for all of you three (?) who regularly visit my blog, and others who just happen to pass on through, I've been seriously incognito, incommunicado, but not incapacitated. Yeah, enough of the "time flies by" bs. Thing is, I'm just lazy and life always seems to have certain, though unpredictable, trends for me (and seemingly for everybody). One season I feel prolific, the other indolent. What can I say. It is strange though how at times spontaneity, surprise, soliloquy (that is a bastard of a word to spell!) seem laden in everything I do; then at others life is riddled with unease, uncertainty, and a bit of apathy.

Life certainly hasn't gotten any duller though. Since, when was my last entry, April? Yeah, since April I've been in Beijing most of the time, decided to sojourn in the land of the brave for a brief month in July, seeing friends and relatives. Man, we Americans just eat too friggin much! I have to check myself every time I go out to eat for god's sake. (Norton just detected a godam worm trying to invade my computer!). Land of the 48 oz. Or however big it is. Anyhow, back to the point. Yeah, good seeing family, spending time with some friends, and re-re-readjusting my friggen colon. Yep, not only can you get reverse culture shock but also reverse bowel movements. At least they are all one wipers more or less whereas in this land laden with lard and oil (Beijing) I go through bundles of that soft cardboard stuff. Hmgh, and you thought you had it bad. Not good. Nope, especially when you have a hairy.....well, I won't go there. But just to prove my point, there were the few of us in Mongolia who secretly were members of the "hairy ass club", a support group nicknamed SpreadEagle where we met monthly to commiserate and shave. Some diehards even waxed! What times those were! Not for the lighthearted, no siree.

Otherwise, I have postponed going to law school (that's twice) in order to retake the LSAT (an excuse) and continue studying Chinese (another excuse). HOPEfully I will make to law school in Fall 2007 to commense a gruelling three years, after which I will not only have a JD but less hair and eyeglasses. Can't wait....

Unfortunately, there seems to be so many things to keep aware of these days. It's incredible how hard it is to really get to the bottom of an issue. I mean, I only realized the true history, complexity, and depth of the UN Sanctions on Iraq (while Saddam was still in power) after legion hours of research and a 12 page paper. Now with Israel and Lebanon, Iran, North Korea, etc., Who has the time? Anyhow, yeah, so many issues to be aware of these days, most especially nationally. Some examples: Reporting is going down hill, too much nepotism, environmental catastrophes and insouciance, severe and egregious abuse of so-called presidential powers to cut and paste bills as so desired (but the BAR is on his/their ass!), taxpayer money thrown away (i.e., $34 billion squandered by the Homeland Security Department http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072706O.shtml ) while student loans, awards, and grants decreased and borrowing rates increased (from 2.5 to 6% or more! just this july!). Iraq is in a civil war practically (about 100 people dying each day) while the Taliban are retaking southern parts of Afghanistan. Proxy wars in Somalia, offering India loads of nuclear fuel (arguably beginning some sort of proliferation war). Israel and Lebanon, and then there's North Korea and Iran.....Not to mention that in Southern China there was just a Caninocide. What? Yep, go check out at CNN. A few rabies cases and the local gov't decides your dog (actually, about 50,000) be taken away, beaten to death in front of your eyes and guess what, you have no recourse or redress. I think it was Paul Theroux (btw, Thanks Alec, I did read it and it was awesome!) who mentioned China's iron fist policies.

Chinese is going pretty well. I will be posting some more Cheng Yu's soon. Also thinking about applying to that Fulbright I always wanted...We'll see...