We're back in Xiamen for the remainder of our time in China (only a few short weeks).
The only classes I'm taking are Chinese painting and Chinese cooking, both of which are fantastic. I have Chinese painting at 10 in the morning. We've been working on calligraphy. It's hard. Much harder than I expected. There are very specific ways to draw each stroke, and some are quite difficult. I haven't quite mastered the whole concept of starting my stroke thin and slowly making it thicker by just pressing down harder. You don't pick up your brush from the paper very much--it's just all about the pressure you apply. Yesterday we moved onto Chinese flowers. Much easier, and more fun if you ask me. So we learned how to paint different types of flowers and how to use color on them (calligraphy is only black ink--no color). Also, with the flowers, you're allowed a little more artistic license, which I appreciate. In calligraphy, there is a very specific way to do things and any other way is wrong. I don't like that when you're doing art. That's not what art is about to me, so the flowers are much more my thing. Next class we're going to work on leaves.
This week I also had cooking in the afternoons with Yili (Dr. Jay's wife--she's Chinese and a GREAT cook). Cooking was seriously the best class I've ever had. Sadly it ended yesterday. It was only four sessions long. I was in a group with Joni, Elyse, and Bryce (a fantastic group) and we cooked for about three hours each day. I've learned that Chinese food is SO easy to make. Love it. As long as you've got rice wine and soy sauce, you're set. We made some great dishes that I can't wait to try when I get back to the States. I am now a stirfry master. Any vegitable tastes that much better stirfryed so I will be doing it all the time. I think the best thing we made were Chinese ribs. I can't even begin to describe how good they were. We also made a great shitake mushroom dish that I loved. Hopefully when I get home, I'll be able to duplicate everything...
Yili is so cool. I'm really glad she taught this segment. She knows a TON about Chinese medicine so any problem you're having, she can tell you what to eat more of and what to eat less of to help solve it. So our cooking classes were interspersed with helpful hints to a healthier life. For example, both romaine lettuce and mushrooms are anti-cancer food. Rose tea is good to drink when you're feeling extra emotional. You should eat red foods right before your period starts (as a girl, the liver is the most important organ so you need to take care of it. When it starts to work in excess, like right before your period, you need to eat red foods, like watermelon, mulberries, and wolf berries, to help calm it). When you have a cough, you need to eat white things to help strengthen your lungs. Purple foods such as eggplant and blueberries are good for your eyes. I seriously think that Yili is going to live to be 150 because she knows cures for any possible disease and how to eat correctly.
So I don't have a ton of classes to keep me busy. Now that cooking is over, classes end for me at 11:30. That's sweet, but a little boring because most of my friends are either taking Chinese II or have a business internship all day long. So I've been doing lots of sudoku (I'm getting pretty good--I'm SO cool, I know) and I downloaded Chinese chess onto my computer so I can work on my chess skillz. Really, I just want to get good enough to totally beat David. We'll see how that goes...
Today we don't have any class. I'm not sure why, but I'm cool with it. So later this afternoon I'm going to get acupuncture with Joni. She has a problem with her foot so she's already gotten it done a couple of times before we left for travel. I don't really have anything wrong with me, but I'm going to have the doctor check me out to see if I have any problems I don't know about (too much yin or yang, or maybe a chi blockage, you know the usual). I've also been getting headaches pretty regularly, so maybe they can do something about those. I'm excited.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Chinese People are Weird:
1. They don't dress weather appropriate--Before we left for the trek around China, it was becoming rather warm. In the States when the weather warms up, we start to wear less clothes. Not so in China. It was in the 60's and people were still wearing boots and jackets. When we were in Xi'an (in the north) it was FREEZING. Apparently the Chinese people didn't think so. People were just wearing light jackets. I was wearing the heaviest coat I brought and a scarf and gloves everyday. I think I saw like one person wearing gloves the whole time I was there.
2. They don't walk with purpose. I never really considered myself a fast walker till I came to China. I am constantly having to weave in and out of Chinese people to get to my destination because everyone walks so freaking slow. It seems like everyone is constantly out for a Sunday stroll. I don't get it.
3. The don't do things like form lines. One of the things that has come to bother me the most is the fact that the concept of a line, is very foreign to Chinese people. I hate it when I am obviously standing waiting to pay or whatever, and a Chinese person jumps right in front of me. Excuse me, I was here first. I think it might have something to do with the fact that there are so many people in China, that you have to fight for everything you need. But I'm telling you, if China just had lines, there would be less stress and less pushing and shoving.
4. They overuse umbrellas. This probably annoys me more than most Americans as I've gone to school in Seattle for the past couple of years. In Seattle, umbrellas are rarely seen. They are too much of a hassle, it's not worth it. In China, when it's raining like one drop per hour, the umbrellas come out en masse. Getting a little wet has never hurt anything. Today I even saw some guy on a bike holding an umbrella to shield himself from the nonexistent rain. Completely unnecessary.
5. They don't eat dairy. How can you live without cheese? 'Nuff said.
6. They don't use butter (probably because they have a vendetta against dairy products, see point 6). Now and again, we'll come across some sort of cookie or bread that tastes like butter has been used in the baking process (wishful thinking, I'm sure), to which the immediate response is "It tastes like Mei-guo (America)!"
7. They think it's ok to have fish/seaweed flavored anything. I do not want fish crackers thankyouverymuch. New things are always tried with a bit of trepidation, who knows if they're trying to get something of the ocean variety past you. Nasty surprise, that.
8. They think it's ok to ask you to sing a song when they've known you for approximately 5 minutes. Apparently such behavior is common in China because I've been asked on multiple occasions to sing. For example, when I was teaching English in Lan Tian, my students started chanting and applauding when they wanted me to sing. It was one of the first things they asked me during our "free conversation" time.
2. They don't walk with purpose. I never really considered myself a fast walker till I came to China. I am constantly having to weave in and out of Chinese people to get to my destination because everyone walks so freaking slow. It seems like everyone is constantly out for a Sunday stroll. I don't get it.
3. The don't do things like form lines. One of the things that has come to bother me the most is the fact that the concept of a line, is very foreign to Chinese people. I hate it when I am obviously standing waiting to pay or whatever, and a Chinese person jumps right in front of me. Excuse me, I was here first. I think it might have something to do with the fact that there are so many people in China, that you have to fight for everything you need. But I'm telling you, if China just had lines, there would be less stress and less pushing and shoving.
4. They overuse umbrellas. This probably annoys me more than most Americans as I've gone to school in Seattle for the past couple of years. In Seattle, umbrellas are rarely seen. They are too much of a hassle, it's not worth it. In China, when it's raining like one drop per hour, the umbrellas come out en masse. Getting a little wet has never hurt anything. Today I even saw some guy on a bike holding an umbrella to shield himself from the nonexistent rain. Completely unnecessary.
5. They don't eat dairy. How can you live without cheese? 'Nuff said.
6. They don't use butter (probably because they have a vendetta against dairy products, see point 6). Now and again, we'll come across some sort of cookie or bread that tastes like butter has been used in the baking process (wishful thinking, I'm sure), to which the immediate response is "It tastes like Mei-guo (America)!"
7. They think it's ok to have fish/seaweed flavored anything. I do not want fish crackers thankyouverymuch. New things are always tried with a bit of trepidation, who knows if they're trying to get something of the ocean variety past you. Nasty surprise, that.
8. They think it's ok to ask you to sing a song when they've known you for approximately 5 minutes. Apparently such behavior is common in China because I've been asked on multiple occasions to sing. For example, when I was teaching English in Lan Tian, my students started chanting and applauding when they wanted me to sing. It was one of the first things they asked me during our "free conversation" time.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Xi'an, day one.
Just arrived in Xi'an. First impression--I'm loving it. It's big and crazy and dirty and loud. Reminds me slightly of Cairo, but everyone is Chinese. I'm back to the whole adrenaline rush when you cross the street. My favorite. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Muslim quarter. I'm really looking forward to it. Speaking of Muslim, I am realizing, to my chagrin, that I am quickly losing my Arabic. I couldn't remember the word for 'friend' today, and a couple days ago I couldn't come up with the number seven for the life of me. It makes me sad. I wish I brought my Arabic stuff so I could review...
We are living for two weeks in one of the universities here. Our rooms are fabulous. It is cold here, but we have actual heat and it's phenomenal. Central heating. What a concept. Xian, I love you. The building we're in is basically a hotel. Our room gets cleaned everyday, beds made, etc. Beautiful. Actually, one of my favorite parts of Xi'an thus far (we've only been here for half a day so I have limited moments to choose from) is the grocery store. There is a HUGE supermarket right around the corner from the university. I've gotten SO tired of the dinky "supermarket" (thought there's nothing super about it) we go to in Xiamen. There is never anything new or exciting there. Nothing ever changes, and there isn't even that much to choose from to begin with. To be able to go grocery shopping in a store with seemingly limitless isles was quite the treat. I enjoyed every minute of it.
We are only traveling around for three weeks, but somehow I managed to fill my entire suitcase. I don't even know how that works. I used the same suitcase to go to France for 6 weeks, the same suitcase to go to China for 4 months, and now the same suitcase to travel for 3 weeks. Each time it's been filled to the brim. How does that even work? I don't know. I don't think that packing is one of my strong suits. It stresses me out and then I don't get anything done. I'm sure my mother could testify to that fact. I seem to remember that packing to come to China involved me sitting on my bed and my mom holding up, one by one, every article of clothing I owned and asking if I wanted to take it. The whole afternoon I sat on my bed answering yes or no, while my mom folded. Good times. I love my mom.
We are living for two weeks in one of the universities here. Our rooms are fabulous. It is cold here, but we have actual heat and it's phenomenal. Central heating. What a concept. Xian, I love you. The building we're in is basically a hotel. Our room gets cleaned everyday, beds made, etc. Beautiful. Actually, one of my favorite parts of Xi'an thus far (we've only been here for half a day so I have limited moments to choose from) is the grocery store. There is a HUGE supermarket right around the corner from the university. I've gotten SO tired of the dinky "supermarket" (thought there's nothing super about it) we go to in Xiamen. There is never anything new or exciting there. Nothing ever changes, and there isn't even that much to choose from to begin with. To be able to go grocery shopping in a store with seemingly limitless isles was quite the treat. I enjoyed every minute of it.
We are only traveling around for three weeks, but somehow I managed to fill my entire suitcase. I don't even know how that works. I used the same suitcase to go to France for 6 weeks, the same suitcase to go to China for 4 months, and now the same suitcase to travel for 3 weeks. Each time it's been filled to the brim. How does that even work? I don't know. I don't think that packing is one of my strong suits. It stresses me out and then I don't get anything done. I'm sure my mother could testify to that fact. I seem to remember that packing to come to China involved me sitting on my bed and my mom holding up, one by one, every article of clothing I owned and asking if I wanted to take it. The whole afternoon I sat on my bed answering yes or no, while my mom folded. Good times. I love my mom.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Too much dampness
Everything in Xiamen is quickly coming to a close. Tomorrow I have my Chinese final. I am not sure how that one is going to turn out. What's most frustrating about Chinese, is I don't think I have found a foolproof way of studying. We have a lot we need to memorize and I have yet to find a way to make all of it stick. I don't like feeling like I am wasting my time. It's not like I've lots of time to spare. Well, seeing that the test is tomorrow, I won't have to worry about such things for much longer.
Monday is another final. This time for Contemporary Society. I don't think it should be that difficult. No biggie.
I just put in a load of laundry. I don't know how often we'll have access to a washing machine on Travel Component. If it's anything like MESP then we will have zero access, so that's what I am preparing for. Doing laundry here is a pain. To start with, the washing machines don't fit that much into them. You think they do, judging by the size, but it's all a lie. The water only fills up basically to the half way point. I am using a bag from H&M to throw all my dirty clothes in. One full medium size H&M bag is just about how much will fit into the machine. Not very much at all. Laundry here is pretty cheap--3 yuan per load (about $0.40), but again, nothing is easy. In China there are one yuan bills as well as one yuan coins. You need the coins to operate the washing. I always seem to only have one or two coins. Not the required three. Lame. Also because of the lack of dryers here and the humid air, you have to make sure you leave enough time for the clothes to dry. For me it's taken about two days, but if it starts to rain, who knows...
I had one of the best meals of China today. When I first got here, I was really disappointed by the lack of variety when it came to food. Now I am discovering new and wonderful things. I don't know if that is because I've been brainwashed into thinking that rice for every meal amazing, or if I am just expanding my pallet. I think that a lot if it is truly trial and error. It helps when there is an English menu, but even then, I am never sure exactly what I am getting. Today I had sour and spicy fried eggplant. Amazing. It was basically eggplant french fries with a sweet and sour like dipping sauce. So good. I am loving all the eggplant options here. Lots of variety and all good. I think that eggplant is my new favorite vegetable. I also had tofu. Normally I am not a fan of such nonsense, but there was a vegetarian in our little lunch group. This tofu was quite good. I would get it again. It tasted like chicken. And I think it was breaded or something so it didn't have the slimy texture to it. On our way back to campus, we stopped in at our normal juice bar. All the workers recognize us. I think I go pretty much everyday. I had a watermelon/strawberry juice. Love it. Oh fun fact to know and tell, I just learned in my Chinese medicine class that because watermelon is a cooling food, you should eat it whenever you have skin problems. It cools down the fire that is creating the impurities. Just fyi.
Speaking of Chinese medicine, today we had an acupuncture lesson taught by a real life acupuncturist. At the end of his lecture he offered to do acupuncture on anyone who wanted it. Joni has a hurt food so she had some done. Another girl had some done on her knee. Bryce, one of the three guys on CSP, has neck problems so he decided he wanted some done. After the professor inserted the needles (four in total) Bryce started to look pretty pale. Then he started to look REALLY pale. The professor noticed and quickly took the needles out. By this time Bryce had lost all color in is face. And then he fainted. He was out. For like 5 minutes. I would have been worried but the professor was there and he didn't seem worried at all. He was just calmly supporting Bryce's head. And then he started to put pressure on that space between your top lip and your nose. Apparently that is supposed to bring people around. Bryce was gone. It took him a really long time to become coherent again. Apparently he's scared of needles. Best class of my life.
I didn't get acupuncture done. He did diagnose me though. He felt my pulse and looked at the color of my tongue. According to the pale color of my tongue, my qi is not as strong as it should be. Also, he said I have too much damp in me (not too sure how he came to this assessment), so I should avoid cold drinks. Interesting.
Monday is another final. This time for Contemporary Society. I don't think it should be that difficult. No biggie.
I just put in a load of laundry. I don't know how often we'll have access to a washing machine on Travel Component. If it's anything like MESP then we will have zero access, so that's what I am preparing for. Doing laundry here is a pain. To start with, the washing machines don't fit that much into them. You think they do, judging by the size, but it's all a lie. The water only fills up basically to the half way point. I am using a bag from H&M to throw all my dirty clothes in. One full medium size H&M bag is just about how much will fit into the machine. Not very much at all. Laundry here is pretty cheap--3 yuan per load (about $0.40), but again, nothing is easy. In China there are one yuan bills as well as one yuan coins. You need the coins to operate the washing. I always seem to only have one or two coins. Not the required three. Lame. Also because of the lack of dryers here and the humid air, you have to make sure you leave enough time for the clothes to dry. For me it's taken about two days, but if it starts to rain, who knows...
I had one of the best meals of China today. When I first got here, I was really disappointed by the lack of variety when it came to food. Now I am discovering new and wonderful things. I don't know if that is because I've been brainwashed into thinking that rice for every meal amazing, or if I am just expanding my pallet. I think that a lot if it is truly trial and error. It helps when there is an English menu, but even then, I am never sure exactly what I am getting. Today I had sour and spicy fried eggplant. Amazing. It was basically eggplant french fries with a sweet and sour like dipping sauce. So good. I am loving all the eggplant options here. Lots of variety and all good. I think that eggplant is my new favorite vegetable. I also had tofu. Normally I am not a fan of such nonsense, but there was a vegetarian in our little lunch group. This tofu was quite good. I would get it again. It tasted like chicken. And I think it was breaded or something so it didn't have the slimy texture to it. On our way back to campus, we stopped in at our normal juice bar. All the workers recognize us. I think I go pretty much everyday. I had a watermelon/strawberry juice. Love it. Oh fun fact to know and tell, I just learned in my Chinese medicine class that because watermelon is a cooling food, you should eat it whenever you have skin problems. It cools down the fire that is creating the impurities. Just fyi.
Speaking of Chinese medicine, today we had an acupuncture lesson taught by a real life acupuncturist. At the end of his lecture he offered to do acupuncture on anyone who wanted it. Joni has a hurt food so she had some done. Another girl had some done on her knee. Bryce, one of the three guys on CSP, has neck problems so he decided he wanted some done. After the professor inserted the needles (four in total) Bryce started to look pretty pale. Then he started to look REALLY pale. The professor noticed and quickly took the needles out. By this time Bryce had lost all color in is face. And then he fainted. He was out. For like 5 minutes. I would have been worried but the professor was there and he didn't seem worried at all. He was just calmly supporting Bryce's head. And then he started to put pressure on that space between your top lip and your nose. Apparently that is supposed to bring people around. Bryce was gone. It took him a really long time to become coherent again. Apparently he's scared of needles. Best class of my life.
I didn't get acupuncture done. He did diagnose me though. He felt my pulse and looked at the color of my tongue. According to the pale color of my tongue, my qi is not as strong as it should be. Also, he said I have too much damp in me (not too sure how he came to this assessment), so I should avoid cold drinks. Interesting.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Wrapping things up.
Things are starting to wrap up for this leg of CSP. We leave in 10 days for our travel component, or "trek" as Dr. Jay calls it. We'll be in Xi'an (home to the terracotta soldiers) for almost three weeks. There, we will be taking our Chinese History class (gag) and completing a week long service project in rural Xi'an suburb. I am not sure exactly what we're doing for that yet, but I think it something along the lines of teaching English to kids...One of my friends on the program, Joni, was in Xi'an for about two weeks last summer, working in an orphanage. So I think we'll be able to go and help out for a couple of days (In China, everything is about the people you know. So I wouldn't be able to show up at a random orphanage to help out--they'd never let me because they don't know me. But thanks to Joni, we have contacts). After Xi'an, we take an overnight train to Beijing and will be there for three or four days. Not enough time, if you ask me. Then comes Shanghai for three or four days as well. Finally, we end up back in Xiamen for the last three weeks of our time in China. When everything is so split up, it makes me think that these two months are going to go by rather quickly.
Before we leave, we have to finish up our Chinese class as well as our Contemporary Society class. This morning actually, we had to recite a famous poem in Chinese that we'd memorized. It's a good portion of our Chinese grade. This coming Friday is our final exam. I've lots of characters to memorize for that one. In a week we also have to take our Contemporary Society final. Contemporary Society is a class that has been comprised of different Chinese professors from Xiamen University (Xiada for short) giving us lectures on things ranging from Chinese education, the WTO, special economic zones, to rural reform. I've liked that the professors are constantly switched up, but I don't really know how the exam will look. It's not like Dr. Jay has been attending all the lectures and taking notes along side us...Yesterday, I had my tai chi (actually pronounced tai ji) exam. We've had three weeks of lessons, 5 days a week. Our teacher taught us a routine that anyone who has ever done tai chi knows. It has 24 steps and takes about 5 minutes to perform all the way through. We had to perform it one by one in from of everybody else. And then when you finished your routine, the teacher announced the grade to the class. Can you ever imagine that happening in the States? I don't think so. Tai chi is part of the Dimensions of East Asian Culture class I'm taking. When we get back from our travel component, we will continue to learn about Chinese calligraphy, Chinese medicine, and Chinese cooking. We've already had a couple of Chinese medicine classes, and I am in the process of reading a book on the subject for class. It's been very interesting. There's a lot of merit to Chinese medicine, I'm finding. Next week sometime we are going to an acupuncture clinic. I think it'll be really cool...
Right now, I am sitting in a little cafe with free wifi. I am on a constant quest to find decent coffee, and it isn't going so well. My intern told me that the place I'm at now, Brown Sugar, had some of the better coffee she's had. It's not great, but better than a lot of other places around here. I've run into the same problems here that were in Egypt when in comes to coffee. Lots of instant Nescafe that smells burnt when you add water. And compared to everything else, coffee is pretty expensive. About the same price would pay in the States. Lame. I have found some fantastic fresh juice/smoothie bars. I am loving the kiwi juice. They also have kiwi yogurt here (when you can find dairy). It's like in France with the pear flavored gelato and yogurt. Not something you can find in the States, but a wonderful idea. America needs to branch out when it comes to fruit flavored things...
In other news, I'm trying to figure out my summer plans. It's been stressful to work all that out from China, where I don't have limitless internet time. And I've been feeling pressure to nail things down before I leave on Travel Component--I'm sure I'll be super busy and won't have time for things like job applications. I get back to Xiamen at the beginning of April, which is much to late to start inquiries...
That's all for now, zaijian.
Before we leave, we have to finish up our Chinese class as well as our Contemporary Society class. This morning actually, we had to recite a famous poem in Chinese that we'd memorized. It's a good portion of our Chinese grade. This coming Friday is our final exam. I've lots of characters to memorize for that one. In a week we also have to take our Contemporary Society final. Contemporary Society is a class that has been comprised of different Chinese professors from Xiamen University (Xiada for short) giving us lectures on things ranging from Chinese education, the WTO, special economic zones, to rural reform. I've liked that the professors are constantly switched up, but I don't really know how the exam will look. It's not like Dr. Jay has been attending all the lectures and taking notes along side us...Yesterday, I had my tai chi (actually pronounced tai ji) exam. We've had three weeks of lessons, 5 days a week. Our teacher taught us a routine that anyone who has ever done tai chi knows. It has 24 steps and takes about 5 minutes to perform all the way through. We had to perform it one by one in from of everybody else. And then when you finished your routine, the teacher announced the grade to the class. Can you ever imagine that happening in the States? I don't think so. Tai chi is part of the Dimensions of East Asian Culture class I'm taking. When we get back from our travel component, we will continue to learn about Chinese calligraphy, Chinese medicine, and Chinese cooking. We've already had a couple of Chinese medicine classes, and I am in the process of reading a book on the subject for class. It's been very interesting. There's a lot of merit to Chinese medicine, I'm finding. Next week sometime we are going to an acupuncture clinic. I think it'll be really cool...
Right now, I am sitting in a little cafe with free wifi. I am on a constant quest to find decent coffee, and it isn't going so well. My intern told me that the place I'm at now, Brown Sugar, had some of the better coffee she's had. It's not great, but better than a lot of other places around here. I've run into the same problems here that were in Egypt when in comes to coffee. Lots of instant Nescafe that smells burnt when you add water. And compared to everything else, coffee is pretty expensive. About the same price would pay in the States. Lame. I have found some fantastic fresh juice/smoothie bars. I am loving the kiwi juice. They also have kiwi yogurt here (when you can find dairy). It's like in France with the pear flavored gelato and yogurt. Not something you can find in the States, but a wonderful idea. America needs to branch out when it comes to fruit flavored things...
In other news, I'm trying to figure out my summer plans. It's been stressful to work all that out from China, where I don't have limitless internet time. And I've been feeling pressure to nail things down before I leave on Travel Component--I'm sure I'll be super busy and won't have time for things like job applications. I get back to Xiamen at the beginning of April, which is much to late to start inquiries...
That's all for now, zaijian.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A day in the life...
Yesterday when I was at the supermarket, I saw a lady holding her child over the trashcan to pee. Chinese people are so strange when it comes to things like bodily functions. Men hawk and spit all over the place. I am constantly seeing piles of what I am pretty sure is vomit surrounding bus stops. I don't know what it is about bus stops that makes people throw up, but it must be something. Also, I have heard that Chinese children become potty trained at a very early age. And lots of toddlers where little onesies that are split in the crotchal region so whenever they have to go to the bathroom, they can just squat where ever they please. So it's ok to have children pee anywhere and everywhere, but it is a HUGE faux pas to pick a piece of food out of your teeth. I guess such a thing isn't exactly considered polite in the States, but it's really not the worst thing you could ever do either. However, if a Chinese person catches you doing such a thing, they think it is SO disgusting. Like I said, Chinese are strange.
Yesterday I also got my haircut. It was worth it for the experience if nothing else (and it was SO cheap--40 yuan or about $6 USD). I went with a couple of other girls on the program. To start, they had us lay down on a massage bed (instead of the typical chair in the States) with a basin for washing at the end. Then I was shampooed and conditioned along with a wonderful long head slash neck massage. After that, they proceeded to clean my ears with a q-tip. That was weird. I hope my ears were clean, I wouldn't wish lots of earwax on anybody. After that I was given an arm and hand massage. Then they gestured for me to flip over and it ended with a back massage. It was fantastic. Then came the hair cut part of it all. There was only one girl at the place who spoke any English. And her English wasn't up to technical hair cutting terms. The day before Luisa asked for one of their haircut books, so we had all picked out what we wanted in advance, so we were able to point to the picture. None of us have anything that looks like what was indicated. But whatever, that's all part of the experience. My hairdresser was very good and very meticulous. I ended up with shorter hair and bangs that start very far back on my head and come down to just past my eyebrows. Apparently though, my hair naturally parts in the middle. Who does that? So lame. So the bangs have a tendency to want to part down the middle. Hairspray here I come...
Today in Chinese class, we had to use our Chinese skillz to find our way to the Xiamen post office. The Chinese teacher is so cute. She is constantly bringing in little helpers (nieces and nephews, friends, etc.) so that we have other people to practice Chinese with. And she does fun little exercises like set up a restaurant in class so we can practice ordering food. Today she had her friends posted en route to the post office and we had to ask each one for directions. Love it.
In other news, I have recently seen two movies that I highly recommend. First, "Traitor" with Don Cheadle. So suspenseful. He is a bomb specialist (I guess) who supplies a terrorist organization with weapons for suicide bombings. Seriously, so good. And it was comforting to hear Arabic and understand. Second, everybody should watch "Slumdog Millionaire". It was in theatres right before I left for China, but I didn't get a chance to see it. One of the girls here bought a copy (much like in Syria) and I saw it a couple of days ago. I don't even know what to say about it--just go watch it.
Yesterday I also got my haircut. It was worth it for the experience if nothing else (and it was SO cheap--40 yuan or about $6 USD). I went with a couple of other girls on the program. To start, they had us lay down on a massage bed (instead of the typical chair in the States) with a basin for washing at the end. Then I was shampooed and conditioned along with a wonderful long head slash neck massage. After that, they proceeded to clean my ears with a q-tip. That was weird. I hope my ears were clean, I wouldn't wish lots of earwax on anybody. After that I was given an arm and hand massage. Then they gestured for me to flip over and it ended with a back massage. It was fantastic. Then came the hair cut part of it all. There was only one girl at the place who spoke any English. And her English wasn't up to technical hair cutting terms. The day before Luisa asked for one of their haircut books, so we had all picked out what we wanted in advance, so we were able to point to the picture. None of us have anything that looks like what was indicated. But whatever, that's all part of the experience. My hairdresser was very good and very meticulous. I ended up with shorter hair and bangs that start very far back on my head and come down to just past my eyebrows. Apparently though, my hair naturally parts in the middle. Who does that? So lame. So the bangs have a tendency to want to part down the middle. Hairspray here I come...
Today in Chinese class, we had to use our Chinese skillz to find our way to the Xiamen post office. The Chinese teacher is so cute. She is constantly bringing in little helpers (nieces and nephews, friends, etc.) so that we have other people to practice Chinese with. And she does fun little exercises like set up a restaurant in class so we can practice ordering food. Today she had her friends posted en route to the post office and we had to ask each one for directions. Love it.
In other news, I have recently seen two movies that I highly recommend. First, "Traitor" with Don Cheadle. So suspenseful. He is a bomb specialist (I guess) who supplies a terrorist organization with weapons for suicide bombings. Seriously, so good. And it was comforting to hear Arabic and understand. Second, everybody should watch "Slumdog Millionaire". It was in theatres right before I left for China, but I didn't get a chance to see it. One of the girls here bought a copy (much like in Syria) and I saw it a couple of days ago. I don't even know what to say about it--just go watch it.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Xiamen, week One
I've been in Xiamen for a week and a half now. Xiamen is a city of 2 million people on the East coast of China, across the water from Taiwan. I am living in the international student dorms owned by Xiamen University. There are about 30,000 people who attend. I'm not sure how many are international.
Classes started for realz yesterday. Chinese I, Intercultural Communication, Contemporary Society, and Dimensions of Culture are all packed in there. Our Chinese teacher is very cute and very excited. She is constantly very earnestly saying things like "Oh, you are very clever," "Oh, hen hao, hen hao" (very good, very good). There is a tai chi component to Dimensions of Culture. That started yesterday as well. Yesterday it was lots of fun. Today it was lots of work. If you do it right, your muscles are flexed practically the whole time. Today our teacher made us do it right. I think I am going to be sore tomorrow. Our teacher is pretty legit. He was asked to be a judo judge at the Beijing Olympics. Crazy.
I am slowly getting more and more used to China. I don't remember it taking me this long in Egypt, but that might just be me looking at my experience through rose-colored lenses. I think I was able to learn Arabic a little quicker (at least the important phrases). Here, I think they are focusing more on building a solid foundation and then moving forward. We're still in the foundational stages for sure.
Things are most frustrating when it is time for a meal. There is a cafeteria on campus, but the food is sub par like cafeteria food world wide, so I typically try to go off campus to eat. (We don't have a fridge in our room so it is impossible to just buy lunch/dinner from the supermarket.) All of the menus are in Chinese so unless a restaurant has pictures (which many of them do) I never quite sure if I know what I ordered. CSP did give us a list (in pinyin--basically a transliteration of the Chinese characters) of popular dishes that most restaurants have, so I typically end up sitting down to eat and pull out my own personal menu. Conversations with the waiter usually go along the lines of "Yo mei yo (do you have) what ever dish I am looking for?" To which the response is either "Yo (have)" or "Mei yo (not have)." Or "ching gei wo nei ge (please give me that)" and then I point. I found a noodle place that I really enjoy. It is run by Chinese Muslims and the food is fantastic. They serve all types of noodle dishes. No rice, which is a nice change of place. I have also found that I enjoy dumplings, of which I am learning there are many varieties. Who knew?
Alright, I am off to English Corner--literally a corner of campus somewhere, where Chinese students gather with English speaking students to improve their speech, so I will end here.
Classes started for realz yesterday. Chinese I, Intercultural Communication, Contemporary Society, and Dimensions of Culture are all packed in there. Our Chinese teacher is very cute and very excited. She is constantly very earnestly saying things like "Oh, you are very clever," "Oh, hen hao, hen hao" (very good, very good). There is a tai chi component to Dimensions of Culture. That started yesterday as well. Yesterday it was lots of fun. Today it was lots of work. If you do it right, your muscles are flexed practically the whole time. Today our teacher made us do it right. I think I am going to be sore tomorrow. Our teacher is pretty legit. He was asked to be a judo judge at the Beijing Olympics. Crazy.
I am slowly getting more and more used to China. I don't remember it taking me this long in Egypt, but that might just be me looking at my experience through rose-colored lenses. I think I was able to learn Arabic a little quicker (at least the important phrases). Here, I think they are focusing more on building a solid foundation and then moving forward. We're still in the foundational stages for sure.
Things are most frustrating when it is time for a meal. There is a cafeteria on campus, but the food is sub par like cafeteria food world wide, so I typically try to go off campus to eat. (We don't have a fridge in our room so it is impossible to just buy lunch/dinner from the supermarket.) All of the menus are in Chinese so unless a restaurant has pictures (which many of them do) I never quite sure if I know what I ordered. CSP did give us a list (in pinyin--basically a transliteration of the Chinese characters) of popular dishes that most restaurants have, so I typically end up sitting down to eat and pull out my own personal menu. Conversations with the waiter usually go along the lines of "Yo mei yo (do you have) what ever dish I am looking for?" To which the response is either "Yo (have)" or "Mei yo (not have)." Or "ching gei wo nei ge (please give me that)" and then I point. I found a noodle place that I really enjoy. It is run by Chinese Muslims and the food is fantastic. They serve all types of noodle dishes. No rice, which is a nice change of place. I have also found that I enjoy dumplings, of which I am learning there are many varieties. Who knew?
Alright, I am off to English Corner--literally a corner of campus somewhere, where Chinese students gather with English speaking students to improve their speech, so I will end here.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Tomorrow we are leaving for the mainland. 12 hour bus ride through the night, here we come. Dr. Jay was telling us what to expect today in class. It all sounds rather similar to the plethora of bus rides I had while on MESP, complete with the unloading of luggage on one side of the border only to load it all back up again on the other. Old hat. The only difference is that we are taking a public bus. So I could potentially be sharing my row with a legit Chinese person. It'll be interesting.
Today in class we discussed sentence formatting. Structurally, Chinese is very simple. There are no conjugations, no plurals. It's what you call a high context language--based on the whole phrase you figure out whether a word is supposed to be singular or plural, past or present. So basically I just have to get down the characters and the tones and I am golden. Haha, that'll never happen.
I did laundry yesterday and used a dryer for the last time till I get home. Bummer. It'll be like MESP all over again. The only difference is that in Xiamen it can take up to 3 days for your clothes to dry because of the humidity as opposed to the 3 hours it took in Egypt.
Today in class we discussed sentence formatting. Structurally, Chinese is very simple. There are no conjugations, no plurals. It's what you call a high context language--based on the whole phrase you figure out whether a word is supposed to be singular or plural, past or present. So basically I just have to get down the characters and the tones and I am golden. Haha, that'll never happen.
I did laundry yesterday and used a dryer for the last time till I get home. Bummer. It'll be like MESP all over again. The only difference is that in Xiamen it can take up to 3 days for your clothes to dry because of the humidity as opposed to the 3 hours it took in Egypt.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sunday
Today was a beautiful day. I don't take such things lightly any more. Apparently in China, buildings that are south of the Yangtze River don't own heaters. The weather in Hong Kong is usually rather mild; the last couple of days have been in the 50's. However, when you never really warm up because there is no heat anywhere, it starts to get pretty cold, pretty fast. My shoulders have been aching and I realized it was because my muscles were tense all the time because I was so cold. Not the greatest experience.
This morning we went to an international church in down town Hong Kong. It was a nice idea, but a little too sermon light for my tastes. We met a very nice Chinese man, Alfred who directed us to a wonderful Vietnamese resturant. Great pho.
This afternoon we walked around one of the numerous parks Hong Kong has. Not only is Hong Kong big on public parks, but Hong Kong is also big on exotic birds in said public parks. The one today had flamingos and peacocks.
There were a plethora of Indonesian muslim women out and about today. According to Alfred, Hong Kong has a huge Indonesian population. Women come here as hired domestic help. Sunday is their day off so they all congrigate in public parks, thousands of them. Seeing all the hegebs made me strangely nostaligic for Egypt.
This morning we went to an international church in down town Hong Kong. It was a nice idea, but a little too sermon light for my tastes. We met a very nice Chinese man, Alfred who directed us to a wonderful Vietnamese resturant. Great pho.
This afternoon we walked around one of the numerous parks Hong Kong has. Not only is Hong Kong big on public parks, but Hong Kong is also big on exotic birds in said public parks. The one today had flamingos and peacocks.
There were a plethora of Indonesian muslim women out and about today. According to Alfred, Hong Kong has a huge Indonesian population. Women come here as hired domestic help. Sunday is their day off so they all congrigate in public parks, thousands of them. Seeing all the hegebs made me strangely nostaligic for Egypt.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Because it's all about the stamp in the passport
Today our group made our way over to Macau, an island about an hour off the coast of Hong Kong. The island used to be owned by the Portuguese so everything is in Portuguese and Cantonese as opposed to English and Cantonese. It was quite interesting--very European feeling, but distintly Asia. A little disconcerting.
Tomorrow we are headed to church in the downtown area (Kowloon Park if anyone is familiar wiht Hong Kong) and then maybe the goldfish market.
We have been on the move all week, from sun up to sun down. It will be nice to get settled in to Xiamen, where I think we will have a bit more free time. Not that I am complaining or anything. Hong Kong is one of the coolest cities I have ever been to. Most def in the top 5...
Tomorrow we are headed to church in the downtown area (Kowloon Park if anyone is familiar wiht Hong Kong) and then maybe the goldfish market.
We have been on the move all week, from sun up to sun down. It will be nice to get settled in to Xiamen, where I think we will have a bit more free time. Not that I am complaining or anything. Hong Kong is one of the coolest cities I have ever been to. Most def in the top 5...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.
First day in Hong Kong!
This has been the longest day of my life. Literally. Flew all night and arrived here early this morning. Already I think this group is not as fun as MESP.
My whole travel adventure got off to a wonderful start when I was able to go out to coffee with Noelle in LA. I loved being able to see her and catch up. Best three hours of my life. Fantastic. She dropped me off at the airport in time to meet the rest of the group. No problem. When I got to the gate, I did a last check of all important things to find that, low and behold, I had no wallet. I called Noelle in a panic. I mean back sweat, upper lip sweat, I had it all. Thankfully, my passport was not in my wallet so that was safe. Noelle didn't see it in her car, but she said she would check more thoroughly when she arrived home. She called my back 5 minutes later and started with "Grace, I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but in 5 years you'll look back and laugh..." Apparently my wallet was hanging by its strap outside of her car during the whole hour drive from the airport to her apartment. Ridiculous. At least I knew where is was. So she is going to send it to me here in Hong Kong. Fab. At the moment I am minus a debit card and a student id card, both things that I can live without for a couple of days. They give us money for food here and I have American dollars I brought with me...
Get on the plane. They had personalized tv screens for everybody. Lifesaver. I sat next to this kid David, a fellow CSPer, and we played hours of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Litterally.
It was definately very clear that we where on our way to Asia. The salad they served us for dinner was called a seafood something or other. In the States that would mean there are shrimp scattered sparsly overtop. On Cathay Pacific it meant that the salad included things that looked like miniature squid and osysters. Yum.
I arrived in Hong King only to find that my bag was missing. I then realized I am the smartest person I know by making the clever choice to pack my hairdrying in my hand luggate. I might not have clean clothes, but I will have good hair! At first it looked like I wasn't going to get by bag till tomorrow morning at the earliest. But as it turns out, by suitcase was only sent to Bangkok as opposed to being left in LAX, so it was delievered to my doorstep this afternoon. Good news. No luggage would be a bad start.
We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon getting settled into the YMCA camp we will be staying in while in Hong Kong and getting semoi-acclimated to everything (aka moving around to stay awake). Hong King is beautiful in a very different way. I have never seen anything like it. The biggest skyscrapers everywhere you look. Mountains and water everywhere you look. Interesting juxtaposition...I am in this bungalow thing with the 10 other girls on the program and our intern. I am sharing a room with the two most promising girls on the program. Good thing. Pickings are slim.
This has been the longest day of my life. Literally. Flew all night and arrived here early this morning. Already I think this group is not as fun as MESP.
My whole travel adventure got off to a wonderful start when I was able to go out to coffee with Noelle in LA. I loved being able to see her and catch up. Best three hours of my life. Fantastic. She dropped me off at the airport in time to meet the rest of the group. No problem. When I got to the gate, I did a last check of all important things to find that, low and behold, I had no wallet. I called Noelle in a panic. I mean back sweat, upper lip sweat, I had it all. Thankfully, my passport was not in my wallet so that was safe. Noelle didn't see it in her car, but she said she would check more thoroughly when she arrived home. She called my back 5 minutes later and started with "Grace, I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but in 5 years you'll look back and laugh..." Apparently my wallet was hanging by its strap outside of her car during the whole hour drive from the airport to her apartment. Ridiculous. At least I knew where is was. So she is going to send it to me here in Hong Kong. Fab. At the moment I am minus a debit card and a student id card, both things that I can live without for a couple of days. They give us money for food here and I have American dollars I brought with me...
Get on the plane. They had personalized tv screens for everybody. Lifesaver. I sat next to this kid David, a fellow CSPer, and we played hours of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Litterally.
It was definately very clear that we where on our way to Asia. The salad they served us for dinner was called a seafood something or other. In the States that would mean there are shrimp scattered sparsly overtop. On Cathay Pacific it meant that the salad included things that looked like miniature squid and osysters. Yum.
I arrived in Hong King only to find that my bag was missing. I then realized I am the smartest person I know by making the clever choice to pack my hairdrying in my hand luggate. I might not have clean clothes, but I will have good hair! At first it looked like I wasn't going to get by bag till tomorrow morning at the earliest. But as it turns out, by suitcase was only sent to Bangkok as opposed to being left in LAX, so it was delievered to my doorstep this afternoon. Good news. No luggage would be a bad start.
We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon getting settled into the YMCA camp we will be staying in while in Hong Kong and getting semoi-acclimated to everything (aka moving around to stay awake). Hong King is beautiful in a very different way. I have never seen anything like it. The biggest skyscrapers everywhere you look. Mountains and water everywhere you look. Interesting juxtaposition...I am in this bungalow thing with the 10 other girls on the program and our intern. I am sharing a room with the two most promising girls on the program. Good thing. Pickings are slim.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Almost There
Almost all packed. It's been a painful process. I hate packing. I still just have to find my mysteriously missing favorite black tank top...
But somehow, miraculously, I've been able to fit everything into my ONE allowed suitcase and my piece of hand luggage. What did I even take to Cairo that filled up two bags entirely?
Tomorrow on the 11th, my flight leave at 12:30 out of Dulles and I don't get into Hong Kong till 7:45 am on the 13th China time (Keep in mind that China is 13 hours ahead of the East coast so that's really 6:45 pm on the 12th--any way you slice it, it's still an extremely long day). Jet lag is going to be a killer.
But somehow, miraculously, I've been able to fit everything into my ONE allowed suitcase and my piece of hand luggage. What did I even take to Cairo that filled up two bags entirely?
Tomorrow on the 11th, my flight leave at 12:30 out of Dulles and I don't get into Hong Kong till 7:45 am on the 13th China time (Keep in mind that China is 13 hours ahead of the East coast so that's really 6:45 pm on the 12th--any way you slice it, it's still an extremely long day). Jet lag is going to be a killer.
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