Monday 16 September — Reflections and cinema
The construction of the cable car continues.
Reflection on how sport is a means of initiating intercultural relations. And how swimming here could be a good example of this.
Money transfer with a Russian friend living in Paris.
Watching Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears - 1979. Reading Tolstoy's Confession - 1887.
I help a drunk man who has urinated on himself out of the hostel, trying to prevent anyone from getting hurt, including him.
Tuesday 17 September — Library and politics
Heading to the library. I finish reading Tolstoy's confessions.
There is a presentation taking place in the conference room. Mostly women are attending. A man in a blue suit accompanied by two women. He looks like some kind of official. Isn't the blue suit an international sign of "I'm a bit important"?
On the first floor, there is a model of the riverbank renovation project, which includes the cable car. You can see the names of two companies, one Russian, one Chinese. I know that the Russian company is a group of companies.
Wednesday 18 September — Crossing to China
I leave the Russian hostel and cross the border.
I run to the neighbouring exchange office to get cash yuan before crossing the border, so that I can pay for the boat ticket once I arrive on the Chinese side. The price from Russia is 2000 roubles.
Many Chinese, heavily loaded with wrapped goods.
I am late for my boat. When I arrive at the boarding gates, there are many people ahead of me. The guards see my sweaty face and let me through, cutting the queue of Chinese people.
While I go through the various baggage and paper checks, I recognise a border guard, and she apparently does too. I arrive at the boat two minutes before it leaves.
As I get off the boat, on the Chinese banks of the river, a young Russian woman strikes up a conversation in English. She is staying in the city for a few days. We exchange contact details.
Going through Chinese customs and their usual questions: What am I doing? Where do I live? What is my plan? How long am I staying? He insists on the following question: How do I earn money? I have savings.
Taxi to the hotel. There, once again, they take photos of my passport stamps. Everything is normal.
In the evening, meeting up with the young Russian woman at the restaurant and the club. She speaks fluent Chinese. Early in the conversation, I mention that I am in a relationship with someone. She imports goods from China to Russia, she lives in China, and she was a competitive swimmer in the Blagoveshchensk team.
She goes back to her hotel; I go back to mine.
Thursday 19 September — Swimming and encounters
Hangover. We meet up in the afternoon to eat.
Then we go to the riverbanks. I want to see if people swim there. And they do swim. She helps me explain that I would like to join them tomorrow. One of the swimmers takes us to the neighbouring place where they change and warm up. It is a very friendly encounter; we take photos and are invited to come swimming the next day. They are a different group from the first one I had met. They are a few hundred metres from each other. I am added to their WeChat group.
We browse the two-yuan shops. Then we part ways; I rest at the hotel.
We go to play billiards. We become friends with the owner's son. He shows me his airsoft equipment after asking me what I think of America.
Friday 20 September — Shopping and swimming
I wake up only to stay stuck for hours on those short WeChat videos.
I go to the Хуафу shopping centre to look for jackets. The shopping experience is a bit different from what I know. If you are caught slowing down in front of an item, a salesperson approaches and starts talking. I am the worst negotiator in the whole world and perhaps the biggest "sucker" of all time, so they don't have much trouble walking me around the shop until I start to like a jacket. No price on it; I ask. There, I remember how the guy typed a random number on his calculator, with just a slight moment of hesitation after typing the fourth digit, which brought the price up to the equivalent of 600 euros. He must have thought something like: "Do I really type this last digit and multiply the price by a hundred? Risky... Ah, whatever; this son of a bitch is French, boom." I left shortly after. That's when I realised that I should be aggressive the next time I want something — no smiling and throwing absurdly low prices in their face — and whatever language I speak, I will do like them and speak loudly in my own language, fast, while making dramatic movements, frowning and typing prices on his calculator. Then I became internally sinophobic for an hour and sulked in my hotel room because I liked the jacket.
A short nap cured my sinophobia.
I meet up with my friend and yesterday's swimmer at the "changing room" where he had taken us yesterday. We then go swimming in the river for a short period, about ten to fifty minutes.
The guy wears a swimming cap with a Chinese flag. It says "border guard" on it.
On the way back to the hotel, there are dancers and musicians that I had seen before. They have characteristic fans. Today, their costumes are more elaborate than on other days.
Saturday 21 September — Gloom and transfers
In Heihe, the socialisation work is a bit harder since I have far fewer reference points than in Russia. Some days, I don't have enough courage and I brood in my room, stuck on stupid videos. But they are stupid videos from Chinese social networks so, in a way, I am still learning about "their nonsense" and comparing them to European ones. Their nonsense is just as bad as the nonsense that floods us Westerners in our morbid scrolling. Stuck in the shit, we all are and we all look alike. Long live shit.
Money transfer with a Chinese friend living in France.
We go out with my Russian friend.
Sunday 22 September — Film and organisation
Watching Интердевочка - 1989.
Tidying up my room and my mind. Ordering a new Russian electronic visa.
