These past few days haven't been fun. While class isn't quite in full swing (our tutoring has started yet), we had a test this morning at 8am. And as if studying and preparing to go to Yunnan isn't enough work as it is, they decided to give us a homework assignment as well. I suppose that's just one more reason why it's called an "intensive" program. Still, yesterday was also the Lantern Festival (the last day of the 15-day long Chun Jie - Spring Festival), and as such, the last day that fireworks are permitted to be set off in Beijing. So, the city was it again, lighting them off throughout the night. Firemen in typical communist attire ran through the campus (just as they did on the eve of Chun Jie), carrying fire extinguishers to prevent run away fireworks from causing problems. So, if you've ever tried to study during the siege of a city (or possibly the bombing of Dresden), you can imagine what it was like to have to study for a Chinese test during all of this. Now that Chun Jie is over, and even as it was nearing its end, the factories have reopened and the pollution is back. The difference between the "clear" Chun Jie air and the polluted post-Chun Jie air is striking. While the sun had shone bright against a clear blue sky during the holiday, now, during the afternoon, the sky becomes a pale bluish haze, leading to a thick smog at night. And you can feel it in your lungs as well. Last night, after dinner I went out with a flash light, and felt like Luke Skywalker with a lightsaber as the beam showed thick against the air.
So, what have I been up to this week? Pretty much just studying and trying to get ready for my trip to Yunnan. We leave today at 5pm, and I've yet to find hand sanitizer. My Chinese teacher said that anything you can find in America, you should be able to find in Beijing, but I'm not so sure. I've checked several of the expat supermarkets and the local drug stores, and hand sanitizer is no where to be found. You would think that in a city like Beijing, you'd be able to find sanitary products, especially with the number of people who still wear face masks to get away from the pollution and the past threat of SARS. But no. Last night in my exhausted state of studying, I even wrote an angry e-mail to the China distributor of Purell. We'll see if that one goes anywhere. :)
Last weekend we went to the Silk Market to do a little shopping. A few years back, the Silk Market, which used to be an outdoor market, was moved into a 7 story building east of Tian'an men in order to have more "regulation". The scene is like a giant flea market, except each stall has several Chinese people reaching and calling out to you in Chinese-accented English "T-Shirt, T-Shirt, you want T-shirt?--Necklace for your girlfriend--T-shirt--60 kuai", and so on. The sales people aren't afraid to get physical either, grabbing at your arm and bag, and getting in your way to try and force you into their stall. But you just ignore them, most of the time. I tried just making stupid faces at them as I passed, and got the offered price on a t-shirt lowered by 10 kuai without saying a word.
The Silk Market is a great place to go to perfect your haggling skills. Haggling is truly an art, in which I need much more practice, though I've definitely improved. The key is to realize that whatever price they offer you initially is most likely more than 10 times what they paid for it, and if you give them that much you're being a stupid tourist. So, you always return with an offer which may even be below what they paid. So, if they say 600, you say 50. And they look at you like you're crazy, and say 550. And you keep a straight face, and say, no seriously, 50. If you're skilled enough, after a while, you may be able to get the price down to 120. I bought a fake antique-looking Go board, initially offered for 320, for 140 (about $20), but I probably could have gone lower. I also managed to haggle a pair of fake "Diesel" shoes down from 200 to 60, but after trying them on realized that I'd rather not have them fall apart around my feet in the street, even if they were only $9.
At the Silk Market, you can find everything from fake Spyder jackets to fake Rolex's, Oakley's, and Prada bags, and unlike in the States, the fakes look absolutely real, including name-brand tags, and detailed information cards, as if you were at Macy's. But chances are, that Spyder jacket will come apart at the seams on its first black diamond run, and that Rolex will stop ticking after about a month.
On Wednesday, my "day off", I slept in, and then took the bus and subway across the city to Chaoyang to go to Jenny Lou's (an expat supermarket) in my ongoing quest for Purell. Of course, once I got to my destination, I couldn't even find Jenny Lou's, and none of the locals knew where it was. So finally I grabbed a cup of coffee (not bad for Beijing), and hopped in a taxi to Sanlitun (another expat area in Chaoyang), where many of the popular bars and nightclubs are located, as well as another Jenny Lou's, which I thought might be easier to find. Of course, it wasn't. So, I eventually gave up, and went and sat in the Bookworm (a great expat bookstore) for a few hours, and started studying for my Chinese test. The Bookworm seems like a great place to meet other expats. One of my secret vices, and a great way to learn a foreign language or about a foreign place, is eavesdropping. The Bookworm was full of people discussing international business ideas and expat life in China. hěn yǒu yìsī (很有意思 - very interesting).
Well, I only have 6.5 hours till I have to get on the bus to go to the airport for my trip to Yunnan, so I've got to start packing. I'm not going to have access to a computer until I get back (March 5th), so don't expect any posts until then. But I should come back with plenty of stories and photos. So, check back in a couple weeks!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Less Than Two Weeks Till Yunnan
Today was my second day of class, and already I'm bogged down with work. We have 70-100 new characters (each having 3-4 words associated with them) to learn each night and a dictation quiz each morning promptly at 8am. There are four Chinese teachers for my level (Intermediate Chinese II - 252), who rotate from class to class each day. This is a wonderful setup, since it keeps things interesting, and allows us to have only 5 people per class. I really haven't done much in the past couple days besides gone to class, but I had a little free time so I figured I'd make a post. Tomorrow, we don't have class since it's Wednesday, so I'm probably going to sleep in a little and then go explore the city.
This evening, after dinner, I went back to Wangfujin by myself to pick up a book and do a little shopping. While walking around I was approached several times by young women saying in English "Hello, where are you from?"..."Can we walk with you?"..."Do you want to go to a tea party?", etc. I had read that in tourist areas people will often try to scam you one way or another by asking to practice their English with you, and then going with you to a restaurant, and "forgetting" their wallets. Sometimes, they even have deals with the owners of the restaurants, who plan to charge you exorbitant amounts of money for tea and jiaozi. So, I continually responded "wǒ shì dé guó rén. bù shuō yīng yǔ" (我是德国人. 不说英语. - "I'm German, don't speak English"), and then walked away. Of course, they then always break out into Chinese with their same shticks. In any case, I find it interesting what types of people are going about this game. They always appear to be well dressed, and have shopping bags and nice jewelry and cell phones, etc. It makes you wonder at least for a moment if they might really just be interested in practicing their English and so on. (But of course I know better).
There are definitely certain things that I've seen and heard here that I'm not comfortable posting on this blog or discussing on the phone, but which may make interesting stories when I get back. So, if you see me when I get back in the States feel free to remind me to tell you. Anyway, since it is still officially Chun Jie, fireworks are still permitted to be set off, and the millions of people in Beijing are still apparently taking advantage of this day and night. This also means that many stores and restaurants are still closed or have limited hours, there aren't too many people around the city, and I'm still without a roommate.
Our Chinese roommates (who we've yet to meet) come back to school on February 22, which is the day that we leave for our two week trip to Yunnan (in the south of China). Yunnan is in south central China and borders Tibet, Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. Therefore, the climate ranges from that of the cool mountainous regions in the North to that of the hot jungles in the South. For this trip, we had three itineraries to choose from, and I chose the Ethnic Studies trip through Tiger Leaping Gorge (primarily in the north). This trip departs on February 22 for Kunming (the provincial capital of Yunnan), spending one day in Kunming including a discussion about nearby Tibet (which I'll be visiting in June) and a tour of a local Monastery. Then, we will be driving to Napa (pronounced Nah-Pah) Village where we will be spending 4 days living with local village families by the mountains and helping them to build a new school. After our time in Napa, we will be traveling to Baixuetai (By-sueh-tie) at the start of Tiger Leaping Gorge. Tiger Leaping Gorge is found in Northwestern Yunnan where the Yangtze River passes between Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙山 - Yùlóng Shān) andHaba Xueshan (哈巴山 - Hābā Shān), and is also consider by many (subjective to exact definitions) to be the deepest river canyon in the world. While there are some trails through the gorge, it is not considered to be largely navigable. We will be spending three days hiking through the gorge, sleeping twice at small hostel-like stops run by indigenous people. After exiting the gorge, we will then drive to Dali (Dah-Lee) just beyond Erhai Lake (so named because it's shaped like an ear) and the Jade Green Mountains (Cangshan). There, we will be spending time with locals learning some of their native practices including cheese making and tiedying. The next day, we'll be going on a 30 mile bike ride around part of Erhai Lake to Wase Market, also touring local fishing villages. After hiking Cangshan (the Jade Green Mountains) the next day, we'll be taking an overnight train back to Kunming, followed by a flight back to Beijing. This should be an amazing trip, and I'm really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I won't be bringing my computer with me, so I won't be posting from February 22nd till March 5th. BUT, I'll try to keep a journal while I'm traveling, and type it up when I get back in Beijing.
Well, that's pretty much it. I've also just posted some more photos from my orientation week so check my photo gallery (they're after the old pictures), and I'll start a new gallery once I take some more photos. Also, I've included below a video that was taken by a friend of mine from the 16th floor apartment of the family that she was visiting for the eve of Chun Jie (Chinese New Year) just in case you didn't believe me how amazing the fireworks were:
{vidavee id="5008" w="320" showtitle}
This evening, after dinner, I went back to Wangfujin by myself to pick up a book and do a little shopping. While walking around I was approached several times by young women saying in English "Hello, where are you from?"..."Can we walk with you?"..."Do you want to go to a tea party?", etc. I had read that in tourist areas people will often try to scam you one way or another by asking to practice their English with you, and then going with you to a restaurant, and "forgetting" their wallets. Sometimes, they even have deals with the owners of the restaurants, who plan to charge you exorbitant amounts of money for tea and jiaozi. So, I continually responded "wǒ shì dé guó rén. bù shuō yīng yǔ" (我是德国人. 不说英语. - "I'm German, don't speak English"), and then walked away. Of course, they then always break out into Chinese with their same shticks. In any case, I find it interesting what types of people are going about this game. They always appear to be well dressed, and have shopping bags and nice jewelry and cell phones, etc. It makes you wonder at least for a moment if they might really just be interested in practicing their English and so on. (But of course I know better).
There are definitely certain things that I've seen and heard here that I'm not comfortable posting on this blog or discussing on the phone, but which may make interesting stories when I get back. So, if you see me when I get back in the States feel free to remind me to tell you. Anyway, since it is still officially Chun Jie, fireworks are still permitted to be set off, and the millions of people in Beijing are still apparently taking advantage of this day and night. This also means that many stores and restaurants are still closed or have limited hours, there aren't too many people around the city, and I'm still without a roommate.
Our Chinese roommates (who we've yet to meet) come back to school on February 22, which is the day that we leave for our two week trip to Yunnan (in the south of China). Yunnan is in south central China and borders Tibet, Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. Therefore, the climate ranges from that of the cool mountainous regions in the North to that of the hot jungles in the South. For this trip, we had three itineraries to choose from, and I chose the Ethnic Studies trip through Tiger Leaping Gorge (primarily in the north). This trip departs on February 22 for Kunming (the provincial capital of Yunnan), spending one day in Kunming including a discussion about nearby Tibet (which I'll be visiting in June) and a tour of a local Monastery. Then, we will be driving to Napa (pronounced Nah-Pah) Village where we will be spending 4 days living with local village families by the mountains and helping them to build a new school. After our time in Napa, we will be traveling to Baixuetai (By-sueh-tie) at the start of Tiger Leaping Gorge. Tiger Leaping Gorge is found in Northwestern Yunnan where the Yangtze River passes between Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙山 - Yùlóng Shān) and
Well, that's pretty much it. I've also just posted some more photos from my orientation week so check my photo gallery (they're after the old pictures), and I'll start a new gallery once I take some more photos. Also, I've included below a video that was taken by a friend of mine from the 16th floor apartment of the family that she was visiting for the eve of Chun Jie (Chinese New Year) just in case you didn't believe me how amazing the fireworks were:
{vidavee id="5008" w="320" showtitle}
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Getting Serious
Sunday Night - Well, orientation's over, and with it goes the leisure of free time and total socialization. Last week, on the first day of the Chinese New Year, we went to a miào huì (庙会 - temple fair [see my photo gallery]) and explored. The event really had the air of a carnival with games, rides, snacks, and vendors. But, there was definitely an underlying traditional aspect to it that set it apart from similar events in the US. As much as I love American holidays, celebrating Chinese New Year in Beijing really puts to shame our New Year's and Independence Day's celebrations. It's been four days since Chun Jie began, and still there's the constant bang and rumble of fireworks and firecrackers throughout the day and night (which I might add is quite annoying now that I have to study). On Saturday we went up to the Summer Palace and Kunming Lake, which is actually only three miles north west of the Beiwai campus. Once it gets warmer, I'll jog up to Kunming Lake.
Saturday night some of my friends and I ventured out to Wáng Fǔ Jǐng (王府井), which is east of the Forbidden City and is home to some fairly upscale Western shopping as well as an infamous nighttime food market. The market at Wáng Fǔ Jǐng has everything from scorpion, bee pupae, and sea horse on a stick to fried starfish. I picked up a coconut with a straw to drink the milk inside and managed to haggle for some sort of fried potato and egg concoction. You really learn quickly, especially having some background in Chinese, that foreigners are immediately offered an outrageous price. Today, for example, one vendor, assuming I spoke no Chinese, asked one of my Chinese friends if I was American (probably trying to figure out how much money he could suck out of my wallet).
Today, we headed down to Houhai (the back sea - a lake in central Beijing, also now home to one of the central areas of nightlife in the city) to go ice skating. When we arrived, however, we realized that there were very few people actually ice skating. After paying to get access to the ice, you can then pay varying amounts of money to rent skates, a chair with two metal poles to push yourself along, an ice bicycle with three blades and a back wheel, or even an electric powered ice "bumper" car. I coughed up 30 kuai (around $4 plus a 100 kuai depost) for an hour on an ice bicycle. The scene on Houhai made me recall a statement made earlier this week by one of my classmates about the traffic, that "there is order in chaos". Safety regulations are clearly not as strict here as they are in the US, but it's amazing how few incidents there are in relation to how many possibilities for disaster are presented. You have to wonder if anyone had checked the ice for stability that day, or when the ice just might not be able to handle the weight of all those people. But, it works out in the end, and you laugh about it later. (hopefully)
When we got back from the lake, I went and picked up my class materials. As I may have mentioned earlier, in addition to my four hours of Chinese class each day, I'm also taking a sociology course called "Contemporary Issues in China" which meets on Monday and Thursday and an international business course called "Doing Business in China" which meets on Tuesday and Thursday. We have Wednesdays off from class, though I'll still have Chinese tutoring.
Tonight, we had a Language Pledge kickoff dinner with our teachers. The Language Pledge is one of the largest parts of this Language Intensive program. This pledge dictates that we must speak Chinese during class time (excluding my additional courses), around the buildings, in the bathroom, kitchens, lounges, and hallways, and in our rooms while our doors are open. The only places where we are permitted to speak English are in designated "English Safe Zones", which are primarily our advisers' offices. The purpose of this pledge is to truly nurture an environment of total immersion for both ourselves and our peers. How well we keep to this pledge is our prerogative, but is tied in to our course grades and a competition that they've put in place to further encourage us to keep to it. In honor of the upcoming Olympics, we have all been divided up into teams (represented by continents and colors), and have been given livestrong-like bracelets in our team color (mine's green). Each team starts with 100 points. Whenever a teacher, RA, administrator, etc. sees or hears someone speaking English, 10 points is docked from their team's score. If someone neglects to wear their bracelet and is caught speaking English, an additional 15 points is docked. So, the hallway was somewhat quieter this evening, and I'm very interested to see how this all works out. I'm going to do my best to hold to the Language Pledge, since I really do want to get the most out of my time here. After dinner, I spent 5 hours doing homework that's due tomorrow (the first day of class), and I don't think it's going to get any lighter.
On a side note, I heard an interesting story related to the Olympics today. One of my RA's friends, who has been living in Beijing for several years along with another one of his friends, who has been living here for over 7 years and another American, went up to see the main Olympic stadium (the "Bird's Nest"). There, they managed to convince a security guard to let them onto the grounds (I've heard that you can also pay to gain access from the guards). They snooped around a bit and snapped some photos, but on their way out, they were stopped by a few real policemen, arrested, and taken into custody. They were held for 32 hours in a small cell without any outside communications permitted, after which point they were taken to a court hearing. All three of their Visas were revoked for a period of no less than one year. After pleading with the committee that their entire lives were in Beijing, they were each granted a four-day temp visa just to gather their things, and then were deported. It makes you realize how carefully we must abide by Chinese law, even if we're able to apparently overcome it. I just found this interesting. Anyway, it's getting late, and I have to be awake in less than 6 hours. I'll post more photos when I get the chance.
Also, if you're having trouble using the interface (the airplane under the title should fly by menu buttons for the different sections of my website), it's probably because you don't have the latest Flash plugin installed. To get this, please go to http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ and follow directions to "Get Flash Player".
Saturday night some of my friends and I ventured out to Wáng Fǔ Jǐng (王府井), which is east of the Forbidden City and is home to some fairly upscale Western shopping as well as an infamous nighttime food market. The market at Wáng Fǔ Jǐng has everything from scorpion, bee pupae, and sea horse on a stick to fried starfish. I picked up a coconut with a straw to drink the milk inside and managed to haggle for some sort of fried potato and egg concoction. You really learn quickly, especially having some background in Chinese, that foreigners are immediately offered an outrageous price. Today, for example, one vendor, assuming I spoke no Chinese, asked one of my Chinese friends if I was American (probably trying to figure out how much money he could suck out of my wallet).
Today, we headed down to Houhai (the back sea - a lake in central Beijing, also now home to one of the central areas of nightlife in the city) to go ice skating. When we arrived, however, we realized that there were very few people actually ice skating. After paying to get access to the ice, you can then pay varying amounts of money to rent skates, a chair with two metal poles to push yourself along, an ice bicycle with three blades and a back wheel, or even an electric powered ice "bumper" car. I coughed up 30 kuai (around $4 plus a 100 kuai depost) for an hour on an ice bicycle. The scene on Houhai made me recall a statement made earlier this week by one of my classmates about the traffic, that "there is order in chaos". Safety regulations are clearly not as strict here as they are in the US, but it's amazing how few incidents there are in relation to how many possibilities for disaster are presented. You have to wonder if anyone had checked the ice for stability that day, or when the ice just might not be able to handle the weight of all those people. But, it works out in the end, and you laugh about it later. (hopefully)
When we got back from the lake, I went and picked up my class materials. As I may have mentioned earlier, in addition to my four hours of Chinese class each day, I'm also taking a sociology course called "Contemporary Issues in China" which meets on Monday and Thursday and an international business course called "Doing Business in China" which meets on Tuesday and Thursday. We have Wednesdays off from class, though I'll still have Chinese tutoring.
Tonight, we had a Language Pledge kickoff dinner with our teachers. The Language Pledge is one of the largest parts of this Language Intensive program. This pledge dictates that we must speak Chinese during class time (excluding my additional courses), around the buildings, in the bathroom, kitchens, lounges, and hallways, and in our rooms while our doors are open. The only places where we are permitted to speak English are in designated "English Safe Zones", which are primarily our advisers' offices. The purpose of this pledge is to truly nurture an environment of total immersion for both ourselves and our peers. How well we keep to this pledge is our prerogative, but is tied in to our course grades and a competition that they've put in place to further encourage us to keep to it. In honor of the upcoming Olympics, we have all been divided up into teams (represented by continents and colors), and have been given livestrong-like bracelets in our team color (mine's green). Each team starts with 100 points. Whenever a teacher, RA, administrator, etc. sees or hears someone speaking English, 10 points is docked from their team's score. If someone neglects to wear their bracelet and is caught speaking English, an additional 15 points is docked. So, the hallway was somewhat quieter this evening, and I'm very interested to see how this all works out. I'm going to do my best to hold to the Language Pledge, since I really do want to get the most out of my time here. After dinner, I spent 5 hours doing homework that's due tomorrow (the first day of class), and I don't think it's going to get any lighter.
On a side note, I heard an interesting story related to the Olympics today. One of my RA's friends, who has been living in Beijing for several years along with another one of his friends, who has been living here for over 7 years and another American, went up to see the main Olympic stadium (the "Bird's Nest"). There, they managed to convince a security guard to let them onto the grounds (I've heard that you can also pay to gain access from the guards). They snooped around a bit and snapped some photos, but on their way out, they were stopped by a few real policemen, arrested, and taken into custody. They were held for 32 hours in a small cell without any outside communications permitted, after which point they were taken to a court hearing. All three of their Visas were revoked for a period of no less than one year. After pleading with the committee that their entire lives were in Beijing, they were each granted a four-day temp visa just to gather their things, and then were deported. It makes you realize how carefully we must abide by Chinese law, even if we're able to apparently overcome it. I just found this interesting. Anyway, it's getting late, and I have to be awake in less than 6 hours. I'll post more photos when I get the chance.
Also, if you're having trouble using the interface (the airplane under the title should fly by menu buttons for the different sections of my website), it's probably because you don't have the latest Flash plugin installed. To get this, please go to http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ and follow directions to "Get Flash Player".
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
A New Culture, A New Year
Alright, this is going to be a long one. I've been here less than a week, and already I've seen how different living in China really is. If you've ever been stared at on a bus for 20 minutes, or while you're eating dinner, you'll have the first inkling of how it feels to live here as a tall white guy. Although there is a fairly large expat community in China (I'm using "large" here rather liberally compared to the number of Chinese), white people are still a novelty to many people. So, when you stick out as much as I do, you're bound to get some looks.
I've thus far avoided using a squatter toilet (a toilet with no seat--it's basically a hole in the ground that you squat over), but the bathrooms here are still quite different. First of all, the hot and cold water seem to be opposite what they are in the States. Next, the septic systems here aren't quite as robust as they are back home, so you're not supposed to flush your toilet paper. Instead there is a small trash can next to each toilet, and the bathrooms smell horrible.
The other morning we had an orientation activity called "Mystery Beijing", during which were put into small teams and then given the name of some location in Beijing. Our task was to get to the location (and prove we had gotten there) without using any taxis or English. Our goal was to get to "jiālèfú" (家乐福 - I've included the Chinese characters here, though many of you may not be able to see them). This task was actually much easier than expected--all of the people that we asked for help seemed to be more than willing to direct us to the correct numbered bus. We found out only once we had arrived that jiālèfú is "Carrefour", the French department store/super market. It's interesting to try to figure out how to buy things at stores in China.
It's not like in the States where you see an item, pick it off the shelf, stand in line near the door, and then pay for it. Instead, with more expensive items (I bought a cell phone while I was there) you have to first pay for the item at one of many small cashier stands around the store, and then take a ticket back to the counter where you saw the item. For less expensive items, you can pull it off the shelf and pay for it, but there's a difference between standing in line like at a super market and paying for it at one of the cashiers. (I haven't exactly determined yet what that difference is.)
The water in Beijing isn't potable. This means that at restaurants you either get bottled water or hot water, which has been boiled. Few Chinese people drink cold water, especially during the Winter. I mentioned in an earlier post how cheap the beer is in Beijing. I was later told that I shouldn't be drinking beer in the Winter, since it is cold and therefore clashes with the hot water I've been drinking. Instead, I should be drinking hard alcohol to warm me up. The head of our program said in a lecture this past week, that while he's not encouraging us to drink, that you really need to do so in order to become integrated into Chinese society. The Chinese have a drinking culture. Even in business, for example, business women are respected more if they can hold their booze. A few nights ago, we went out to a dance club called "Propaganda" which had a metal detector at the door (possibly more for appearances than anything else--but I could be wrong). My friends and I were some of the only white people in the place, and we were definitely treated differently. Several shots later, a couple of the girls I had come with, followed by the rest of us, were up behind the DJ under the dim red lights taking shots with the owner of the club. While this was a Western-style club, the experience was definitely much different than at a club in America.
Yesterday was Chinese New Years Eve. I had been looking forward to this event for a long time, but I really wasn't ready for it. During the day, my friends and I split the costs of a small box of fireworks and some firecrackers. In the evening, we were fortunate enough to get to spend the holiday with local families, who were already hosting other IES students. My family, whom I visited with two other IES students, was extremely nice. They spoke no English, but their niece (who speaks slightly more English than I speak Chinese) had come for the holiday. In preparation, we helped them wrap jiǎo zi (饺子--dumplings)
, a task that we were quickly dismissed from when they realized how horrible of a job we were doing. ("This one has too much, this one has too little--now go hang decorations", we were told through their laughter). So, we helped them hang their decorations. Then we were asked if we like music, to which we responded that we did. (They had an old piano sitting in their family room). The father asked if any of us played the piano, to which I made the mistake of responding that I did. At which point, I was told to play, which I did. Of course, I haven't practiced in quite a while, and my repertoire of songs is really quite minimal right now. So, I played the beginning of the Tempest by Beethoven and a few sections from the third part of the moonlight sonata, and then tried to remember what else I might know how to play. Every time I tried to stop, I was eagerly encouraged to continue. Finally, I told them I couldn't remember anything else, and I thought I might be off the hook. But, the father brought out sheet music, and I had no choice but to keep playing.
As dinner was just about ready, they brought out a giant jug of homemade bái jiǔ (白酒--traditional Chinese white alcohol). Their dinner was a traditional Beijing dinner, with duck, pork, chicken, many other foods, and way to many jiǎo zi. They even had fried lotus root, which reminded me a lot of latkes. The Chinese culture really does remind me a lot of Jewish culture--the food, the festivals, the traditions, it all rings close to home. I was happy with myself that I was able to express this point in Chinese to the host family. As soon as I told them I was Jewish, they were extremely interested, and I was told that Jewish people are very smart and very respectable. (To which I was entirely sure what to respond). We got into a long discussion about Jews and Israel, and the father brought out a book in Chinese about just that topic, showing me pictures of past Israeli prime ministers and other Jews who may have had some connection with China. They even told me that Ehud Olmert had spent a short period of his childhood living in Harbin, China. (I verified that this is true). So, the evening went on, and we got nice and toasty.
The city had been host to sporadic outbursts of fireworks for the past few days, in expectation of the festival. Before we left (around 10:30pm), we went outside to light off some of our own, and already the city had begun to rumble. By the time we got to campus, the sky was constantly flashing and cracking with literally millions of fireworks and firecrackers. There are roughly 16 million registered residents in Beijing, plus another 10 million migrant workers from other parts of China (some of whom do stay in Beijing for the New Year either out of necessity or bad luck), and by midnight all of them were setting the sky ablaze.
Walking through the streets, there were fireworks are firecrackers at every turn, closer and with greater power than would ever be permitted in the US. (I got hit with more than one piece of firecracker, and the fireworks were literally going off by our feet.) It really is hard to explain the magnitude of this event. It is truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. When I woke up this morning, there were still hundreds of explosions all over the city, and my friends and I are going to go out again today to try to obtain some more munitions.
Classes start on Monday, and then things get a lot more serious, but I'll explain that in an upcoming post.
By the way, I posted photos! Go check... you can navigate with your keyboard arrows, end, home, page up/down, etc. and I've included comments in the bottom left of each photo gallery. If you can't get to any other pages on this site, let me know.
I've thus far avoided using a squatter toilet (a toilet with no seat--it's basically a hole in the ground that you squat over), but the bathrooms here are still quite different. First of all, the hot and cold water seem to be opposite what they are in the States. Next, the septic systems here aren't quite as robust as they are back home, so you're not supposed to flush your toilet paper. Instead there is a small trash can next to each toilet, and the bathrooms smell horrible.
The other morning we had an orientation activity called "Mystery Beijing", during which were put into small teams and then given the name of some location in Beijing. Our task was to get to the location (and prove we had gotten there) without using any taxis or English. Our goal was to get to "jiālèfú" (家乐福 - I've included the Chinese characters here, though many of you may not be able to see them). This task was actually much easier than expected--all of the people that we asked for help seemed to be more than willing to direct us to the correct numbered bus. We found out only once we had arrived that jiālèfú is "Carrefour", the French department store/super market. It's interesting to try to figure out how to buy things at stores in China.
It's not like in the States where you see an item, pick it off the shelf, stand in line near the door, and then pay for it. Instead, with more expensive items (I bought a cell phone while I was there) you have to first pay for the item at one of many small cashier stands around the store, and then take a ticket back to the counter where you saw the item. For less expensive items, you can pull it off the shelf and pay for it, but there's a difference between standing in line like at a super market and paying for it at one of the cashiers. (I haven't exactly determined yet what that difference is.)The water in Beijing isn't potable. This means that at restaurants you either get bottled water or hot water, which has been boiled. Few Chinese people drink cold water, especially during the Winter. I mentioned in an earlier post how cheap the beer is in Beijing. I was later told that I shouldn't be drinking beer in the Winter, since it is cold and therefore clashes with the hot water I've been drinking. Instead, I should be drinking hard alcohol to warm me up. The head of our program said in a lecture this past week, that while he's not encouraging us to drink, that you really need to do so in order to become integrated into Chinese society. The Chinese have a drinking culture. Even in business, for example, business women are respected more if they can hold their booze. A few nights ago, we went out to a dance club called "Propaganda" which had a metal detector at the door (possibly more for appearances than anything else--but I could be wrong). My friends and I were some of the only white people in the place, and we were definitely treated differently. Several shots later, a couple of the girls I had come with, followed by the rest of us, were up behind the DJ under the dim red lights taking shots with the owner of the club. While this was a Western-style club, the experience was definitely much different than at a club in America.
Yesterday was Chinese New Years Eve. I had been looking forward to this event for a long time, but I really wasn't ready for it. During the day, my friends and I split the costs of a small box of fireworks and some firecrackers. In the evening, we were fortunate enough to get to spend the holiday with local families, who were already hosting other IES students. My family, whom I visited with two other IES students, was extremely nice. They spoke no English, but their niece (who speaks slightly more English than I speak Chinese) had come for the holiday. In preparation, we helped them wrap jiǎo zi (饺子--dumplings)
, a task that we were quickly dismissed from when they realized how horrible of a job we were doing. ("This one has too much, this one has too little--now go hang decorations", we were told through their laughter). So, we helped them hang their decorations. Then we were asked if we like music, to which we responded that we did. (They had an old piano sitting in their family room). The father asked if any of us played the piano, to which I made the mistake of responding that I did. At which point, I was told to play, which I did. Of course, I haven't practiced in quite a while, and my repertoire of songs is really quite minimal right now. So, I played the beginning of the Tempest by Beethoven and a few sections from the third part of the moonlight sonata, and then tried to remember what else I might know how to play. Every time I tried to stop, I was eagerly encouraged to continue. Finally, I told them I couldn't remember anything else, and I thought I might be off the hook. But, the father brought out sheet music, and I had no choice but to keep playing.As dinner was just about ready, they brought out a giant jug of homemade bái jiǔ (白酒--traditional Chinese white alcohol). Their dinner was a traditional Beijing dinner, with duck, pork, chicken, many other foods, and way to many jiǎo zi. They even had fried lotus root, which reminded me a lot of latkes. The Chinese culture really does remind me a lot of Jewish culture--the food, the festivals, the traditions, it all rings close to home. I was happy with myself that I was able to express this point in Chinese to the host family. As soon as I told them I was Jewish, they were extremely interested, and I was told that Jewish people are very smart and very respectable. (To which I was entirely sure what to respond). We got into a long discussion about Jews and Israel, and the father brought out a book in Chinese about just that topic, showing me pictures of past Israeli prime ministers and other Jews who may have had some connection with China. They even told me that Ehud Olmert had spent a short period of his childhood living in Harbin, China. (I verified that this is true). So, the evening went on, and we got nice and toasty.
The city had been host to sporadic outbursts of fireworks for the past few days, in expectation of the festival. Before we left (around 10:30pm), we went outside to light off some of our own, and already the city had begun to rumble. By the time we got to campus, the sky was constantly flashing and cracking with literally millions of fireworks and firecrackers. There are roughly 16 million registered residents in Beijing, plus another 10 million migrant workers from other parts of China (some of whom do stay in Beijing for the New Year either out of necessity or bad luck), and by midnight all of them were setting the sky ablaze.
Walking through the streets, there were fireworks are firecrackers at every turn, closer and with greater power than would ever be permitted in the US. (I got hit with more than one piece of firecracker, and the fireworks were literally going off by our feet.) It really is hard to explain the magnitude of this event. It is truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. When I woke up this morning, there were still hundreds of explosions all over the city, and my friends and I are going to go out again today to try to obtain some more munitions.Classes start on Monday, and then things get a lot more serious, but I'll explain that in an upcoming post.
By the way, I posted photos! Go check... you can navigate with your keyboard arrows, end, home, page up/down, etc. and I've included comments in the bottom left of each photo gallery. If you can't get to any other pages on this site, let me know.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Missed Connection and Low Prices
Monday Morning - For those of you back in the States right now, it's Sunday night and you're probably watching the Super Bowl. Me? It's 7:30am here. I just woke up, and I have a three-hour language placement exam at 8. Fortunately, the classrooms are one floor above my room (which I'm sure will come in handy as the semester goes on). Anyway, let take a step back.
Thursday night (the night before my flight), I decided it would be a great idea to stay up all night so that I could sleep on the plane and be in tip-top shape when I got to Beijing, hopefully avoiding too large a stint of jet-lag. This may have worked perfectly, had it not been for the fact that at 4:30am (I had intended to leave for the airport at 6), I checked the status of my flight to find that my first flight to Washington D.C. had been delayed long enough to cause a "MISSED CONNECTION". After thirty minutes trying to get through to the airline on the phone (a feat which I eventually abandoned), we headed off to the airport, hoping that they'd be able to help me out when I got there. I don't know if you've flown recently, but the new thing at the check-in for all of the airlines is this DIY check-in, like the DIY check-out at the grocery stores. I love computers, but personally I don't want to check myself out at the grocery store, let alone check myself in at the airport. There's just something about dealing with an actual human being. Anyway, I wanted to try to change my flight, so I waited in the line for the only human check-in counter. They confirmed that I was going to miss my flight to China. Fortunately, they were able to stick me on an earlier flight to Chicago with a flight from Chicago to Beijing just a little bit later. I should mention that the weather in Philadelphia at the time was miserable, and the weather in Chicago was much worse. Anyway, I got through security and my flight to Chicago ended up being delayed another two-hours. Lucky for me, the flight out of Chicago to Beijing was also being delayed due to the same weather. So, when it all came down to it, I got to Chicago just in time to get onto my flight to Beijing. The pilot said, as we were landing in Chicago, that the two flights that were scheduled to leave Philadelphia after us had been canceled.
The good news about flying out of Chicago instead of Washington D.C. is that it cut an hour off of the flight time, bringing the trip down to 12 hours. Also, somehow I ended up with an aisle seat with an empty seat next to me. I guess I really lucked out. As for the sleep, I managed to get a few hours in at one point, though as soon as I did, they began duty free shopping right behind my seat (which evidently seems to be a big thing with the Chinese). Someone had asked me before I left if the plane flies over the Pacific or Atlantic ocean. The answer is neither. The plane actually flies up north through Canada over the Arctic Ocean and then down into Asia through Siberia and Mongolia. Some flights (particularly those leaving out of Newark) to China even travel extremely close to the North Pole. While it was fairly dark over the Arctic Ocean, the views of Siberia and Mongolia were amazing.
Landing in Beijing, the first thing that I noticed was the effect of the pollution. Despite the fact that it was a bright sunny day outside of the city, the Beijing skyline seemed to drown in the haze. Still, since I've been here, the air has been fairly good. (This is due in part to the fact of the approaching Chun Jie [Chinese New Year] or Spring Festival). As the festival approaches, many businesses (including factories) stay closed. (This is also the reason why there has been so much turmoil over the transportation through the snow storms in Souther China). At night there are continual outbursts of fireworks, though I rarely actually see them in the air, only hear their whistles and pops sporadically in the dark. We will be celebrating Chun Jie with Chinese families setting off fireworks and doing other traditional celebrations. I really can't wait to see what it is like.
One of the other most striking things about China is how cheap things really are. While there has been a lot of inflation of food items over the past few months, the value of the Renminbi (the Chinese currency, aka Yuan) in relation to other currencies (even considering the present situation of the US economy) is minute. As a result, things are a lot cheaper. It cost me 150 yuan (~$21) to get a SIM card with a fair amount of time on it to put in a cell phone. We went out last night to a store and bought 18 bottles of 600 ml (almost twice the size of a normal beer bottle) Tsingtao beer for a total of 45 yuan. That comes out to roughly $0.36 per bottle. The food has been amazingly inexpensive also. The other day for breakfast I had a Jian Bing from a street vendor, which is made sort of like a crepe with a flour wrap, with Egg, green onions, cilantro, and spicy chili sauce. This cost me 2.5 yuan ($0.36)--cheaper than a Philadelphia soft pretzel.
I guess my plan of staying up last Thursday night did work in the end, since I really haven't had any jet-lag. I have so much to share, but I don't want to right a novel every time I make a post, and my time is really restricted. I haven't seen much of the city yet, as they've been keeping us extraordinarily busy with orientation events and activities. They do, however, have a number of tours around the city planned for us towards the end of the week. So, check back soon for photos and another post!
Thursday night (the night before my flight), I decided it would be a great idea to stay up all night so that I could sleep on the plane and be in tip-top shape when I got to Beijing, hopefully avoiding too large a stint of jet-lag. This may have worked perfectly, had it not been for the fact that at 4:30am (I had intended to leave for the airport at 6), I checked the status of my flight to find that my first flight to Washington D.C. had been delayed long enough to cause a "MISSED CONNECTION". After thirty minutes trying to get through to the airline on the phone (a feat which I eventually abandoned), we headed off to the airport, hoping that they'd be able to help me out when I got there. I don't know if you've flown recently, but the new thing at the check-in for all of the airlines is this DIY check-in, like the DIY check-out at the grocery stores. I love computers, but personally I don't want to check myself out at the grocery store, let alone check myself in at the airport. There's just something about dealing with an actual human being. Anyway, I wanted to try to change my flight, so I waited in the line for the only human check-in counter. They confirmed that I was going to miss my flight to China. Fortunately, they were able to stick me on an earlier flight to Chicago with a flight from Chicago to Beijing just a little bit later. I should mention that the weather in Philadelphia at the time was miserable, and the weather in Chicago was much worse. Anyway, I got through security and my flight to Chicago ended up being delayed another two-hours. Lucky for me, the flight out of Chicago to Beijing was also being delayed due to the same weather. So, when it all came down to it, I got to Chicago just in time to get onto my flight to Beijing. The pilot said, as we were landing in Chicago, that the two flights that were scheduled to leave Philadelphia after us had been canceled.
The good news about flying out of Chicago instead of Washington D.C. is that it cut an hour off of the flight time, bringing the trip down to 12 hours. Also, somehow I ended up with an aisle seat with an empty seat next to me. I guess I really lucked out. As for the sleep, I managed to get a few hours in at one point, though as soon as I did, they began duty free shopping right behind my seat (which evidently seems to be a big thing with the Chinese). Someone had asked me before I left if the plane flies over the Pacific or Atlantic ocean. The answer is neither. The plane actually flies up north through Canada over the Arctic Ocean and then down into Asia through Siberia and Mongolia. Some flights (particularly those leaving out of Newark) to China even travel extremely close to the North Pole. While it was fairly dark over the Arctic Ocean, the views of Siberia and Mongolia were amazing.
Landing in Beijing, the first thing that I noticed was the effect of the pollution. Despite the fact that it was a bright sunny day outside of the city, the Beijing skyline seemed to drown in the haze. Still, since I've been here, the air has been fairly good. (This is due in part to the fact of the approaching Chun Jie [Chinese New Year] or Spring Festival). As the festival approaches, many businesses (including factories) stay closed. (This is also the reason why there has been so much turmoil over the transportation through the snow storms in Souther China). At night there are continual outbursts of fireworks, though I rarely actually see them in the air, only hear their whistles and pops sporadically in the dark. We will be celebrating Chun Jie with Chinese families setting off fireworks and doing other traditional celebrations. I really can't wait to see what it is like.
One of the other most striking things about China is how cheap things really are. While there has been a lot of inflation of food items over the past few months, the value of the Renminbi (the Chinese currency, aka Yuan) in relation to other currencies (even considering the present situation of the US economy) is minute. As a result, things are a lot cheaper. It cost me 150 yuan (~$21) to get a SIM card with a fair amount of time on it to put in a cell phone. We went out last night to a store and bought 18 bottles of 600 ml (almost twice the size of a normal beer bottle) Tsingtao beer for a total of 45 yuan. That comes out to roughly $0.36 per bottle. The food has been amazingly inexpensive also. The other day for breakfast I had a Jian Bing from a street vendor, which is made sort of like a crepe with a flour wrap, with Egg, green onions, cilantro, and spicy chili sauce. This cost me 2.5 yuan ($0.36)--cheaper than a Philadelphia soft pretzel.
I guess my plan of staying up last Thursday night did work in the end, since I really haven't had any jet-lag. I have so much to share, but I don't want to right a novel every time I make a post, and my time is really restricted. I haven't seen much of the city yet, as they've been keeping us extraordinarily busy with orientation events and activities. They do, however, have a number of tours around the city planned for us towards the end of the week. So, check back soon for photos and another post!
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