Alright, well at this point, I certainly owe a post. Idleness only begets laziness. We had about two weeks off of class because of the H1N1 outbreak. While I had set some personal goals for myself during that time, it’s amazing how fast the time goes when there is so little to do. I got most of my homework done, saw the Siberian Tiger Park, visited the New Modern Synagogue and explored (what was once) the Jewish part of Harbin. Classes started up again on October 12 with finals scheduled to begin about a week later. So, we had one week of mostly review classes before final exams and our departure from Harbin.
The two weeks off couldn’t have come at a worse time for me psychologically. With only two weeks remaining, I got lost in half-hearted preparation for finals, spending time with friends, and packing. I wrote my final paper on the impact of social factors on languages of varying speaker populations, focusing primarily on Mandarin and Yi (the language I’ll be researching in Yunnan). My Chinese composition skills seem to have improved immensely through the CET Harbin program (as have my listening and speaking skills) and it didn’t take me long to crack out the 2500-character Chinese paper. While I was consciously unaware of how much I have improved since I got to China in July, my vocabulary, listening, speaking, pronunciation, and writing are all better now than they were three and a half months ago. Unfortunately, my tones do still have a lot of problems, which sometimes makes it difficult for people to understand me. I think that I will motivate myself to continue practicing pronunciation in Kunming.
Final exams finished on Friday, and it was an amazing feeling to be done with the last exam that I will have to take in possibly a very long time. The weekend was spent packing, celebrating, and trying to organize myself. I have obtained quite a few odds and ends while in Harbin, which made it difficult to fit everything in my bags. So, I mailed myself a package to Kunming. Since 3 of my 4 Fulbright friends in the CET program with me will be researching in Beijing, and the 4th wanted to go on a trip, we all planned to head down to Beijing together. We’d purchased 5 hard-sleeper tickets the previous week. We’d showed up 20 minutes after the tickets went on sale, and 5 of the trains had already been sold out. We ended up with a slow train, 15 hours south, arriving at 5:30am Monday. With so much luggage to move, we decided to check some bags. When you check bags on trains in China, they may or may not be sent on the same train that you’re on. You pay by weight and speed of delivery.
We got into Beijing right on time (trains in China are almost never late). It was easy to find taxis at such an early hour, and we all headed up to Wudaokou together. Two of my friends are staying in an apartment there, and my other friend and I found a hostel close by. We put our bags down (at least the ones we hadn’t checked), and then regrouped for a Western breakfast (3-egg omelet, iced coffee, and a side of sausage for me). In the afternoon, I headed over to Beiwai to say hi to some friends and teachers at IES. My friend hardly recognized me—since I last saw her in July, I grew a beard, lost 30 lbs, and improved my Chinese pronunciation. She said I was a completely different person. (I made some of my typical jokes to show her I hadn’t changed that much.)
Every time I return to Beijing, there seem to be new subway lines to explore. This time was no exception. The new Line 4 in Haidian (north-west Beijing) adds subway access to a number of the universities (including a stop near Beiwai) and Zhongguancun, the technology area. However, the system is still overcrowded and there seem to be countless new lines under or scheduled for construction. By 2015, the entire city should be reachable by subway.
It feels good to be done with the CET program and be back in Beijing, but there is still so much uncertainty about what comes next. I fly down to Kunming this Sunday. Sunday night I’ll have to find a hotel, and Monday I should probably start looking for apartments. What’s more, I’ll have to register for classes, and start the paperwork to get a residency permit (this involves time, patience, a medical exam, and a fee—from what I’ve been able to discern). In the meantime, I’m just laying low in Beijing—planning some reunions with old friends, and continuing to have fun with new ones. I know I’ll be busy over the next week or two, especially after getting to Kunming, but I’ll try to write another post. If you didn’t notice, my photos from Dandong are now available, and I have a ton of random photos to sort and upload when I get a chance.
Showing posts with label Harbin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harbin. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Outbreak in Harbin & Teasing North Korea
I set out last weekend on a trip with the whole of the CET program here to a city called DanDong, across the Yalu River from North Korea. On Friday, before we left, rumors were flying that H1N1 had been confirmed at our school (HIT). Some people said classes were being canceled by professors, while others claimed that the H1N1 that was at our school was more resilient and people were getting sicker. Still others said that our campus didn't even have H1N1, and it was the other campus that had an outbreak. There were no public notices to confirm or deny anything, and we were off on our trip anyway. The program outfitted us all with cloth face masks and advised us to wear them in the train station and other public places.
We had a hard sleeper heading east--a slow train. It took us about 12 hours to get to DanDong, and we set out immediately for some group touring. I'm not used to traveling with so many people, and the pace was certainly far too slow for my tastes. After spending some time by the river and visiting a half-bridge, which had been dismantled by the North Koreans, we headed a few hours inland to a somewhat touristy Manchurian village to spend the night. It is interesting to see the resources of your surroundings so directly turned to nourishment. Walking around, I saw ducks, corn stalks, the skins of a recently-slaughtered lamb. It was easy to see what would be on the menu that night.
But there were also some surprises. DanDong and its surrounding area are known (sometimes infamously) for their seafood. We were also served tiny shrimp-like things, fried and served whole, and a local fish. After dinner and a performance, they roasted the lamb over a bonfire, and had us pull pieces right off the spit. The next day we visited a lake and then went hiking.
After enjoying nature, it was time for a 3.5 hour bus ride back into DanDong. We made it in just after dark, and just in time to be dazzled by the nighttime spectacles of this border city. I should note that most Chinese cities are abound with flashing lights and weird sculptures, but from my experience so far, DanDong takes the cake. As the city came into view, fireworks sparkled in the distance. The first buildings to zoom by were high-rises, black against the night's sky with horizontal flashing white bars like some great mainframes out of the Matrix. Driving along the river, we saw that the dark and empty space above and beyond the North Korean riverbank was being teased by the thriving Chinese city. A tower in the middle of the city, shone a thick green laser beam out as far as the eye can see, rotating out over the city, across the river, and into the black expanse of North Korea. One can't help but think that it is an intentional jab at the North Korean people living in poverty in the shadow of Chinese development.
We strolled along the river, where children were running with sparklers, men were setting off flying lanterns, and small stands were pushing North Korean cigarettes and money. There is one bridge across the river in this part of the city, a suspension bridge, which is immediately beside an older half-bridge. Like the other half-bridge that we'd visited, this one had also been dismantled by the North Koreans. Interestingly, however, prior to being dismantled, the bridge had been accidentally bombed by the US Air-force during the Korean War. By the bridge, a ragged man with very plain clothes came up to us, and asked us to take his picture with North Korea in the background. He apparently spoke no Chinese, and his camera was an old film camera. Supposedly thousands of North Koreans attempt to cross from North Korea into China every year, and we wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if this man was a North Korean who had made it across successfully.
The next morning we set out on a boat to approach North Korea, and took a bunch of photos of men and women working outside of factories, children playing by the river, fishermen on small boats, and a Ferris wheel, motionless (I've read that the Ferris wheel is only used a few times per year). Later that day, when I was resting in my hotel room, I heard a series of loud bangs immediately outside my window--my window was open, and I could hardly hear myself say "what the F*** is that?!?". What had startled me out of my sleep as some sort of imagined attack by the North Koreans turned out to be fireworks and firecrackers set off in honor of a wedding being held at the hotel.
On our way back to the train station we were informed (in English, signifying the importance of the news) that while H1N1 had originally only been on our secondary campus, that a number of people on our campus had been confirmed with the virus, and that classes would be canceled for the rest of this and the following week. The train got back into Harbin at 3:30am, and we piled out onto the platform with our masks on. Upon returning to our dorm, the security guard checked all of our temperatures with an infrared thermometer. New signs on our doors advised us not to visit anyone who might be sick.
Anyone with a fever is being unconditionally quarantined in the building next door for at least a week. We've been told that if we're quarantined, food and drinking water will be provided, but that there is no access to the internet or a shower. I've been wearing my mask in crowded places, buses, etc. to hopefully avoid any quarantining.
In the meantime, this week was also 10/1, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Chinese flags and red lanterns are in every direction, and a lot of people have gone home. In honor of the holiday, I went to see the new movie "建国大业" ("The Founding of a Republic"). It is a very long movie about the power struggle between the KMT and the CPC, and the eventual founding of the People's Republic. There's not quite as much propaganda as you might expect in the film, seeing how it was a national effort, but it does typically glorify Mao. The film is full of cameos by famous Chinese actors, the only one of which I recognized was Jackie Chan, who showed up as a mustachioed Hong Kong reporter. Overall, the movie seemed as if it was not ready to be released, and it was forced out of production in time for the holiday.
While I don't have class for the next week, my teachers have all loaded me up with homework. Still, I plan to take the time to explore some of Harbin's sites and relax. This weekend I'll head to the Siberian Tiger Park, the Jewish synagogue and cemetery, and possibly to 731 - the Japanese germ warfare experimental base. I have only three weeks till my program here is over, and I'm still looking for an apartment in Kunming. So, it seems I have have plenty to do to fill my time. While I'm glad to have a little more time to relax, I can't help but feel that one of my three remaining weeks wasted is anything but counterproductive. Still, there's not much I can do about that.
I will be posting photos from DanDong and North Korea soon, along with some random videos, so check back!
We had a hard sleeper heading east--a slow train. It took us about 12 hours to get to DanDong, and we set out immediately for some group touring. I'm not used to traveling with so many people, and the pace was certainly far too slow for my tastes. After spending some time by the river and visiting a half-bridge, which had been dismantled by the North Koreans, we headed a few hours inland to a somewhat touristy Manchurian village to spend the night. It is interesting to see the resources of your surroundings so directly turned to nourishment. Walking around, I saw ducks, corn stalks, the skins of a recently-slaughtered lamb. It was easy to see what would be on the menu that night.
But there were also some surprises. DanDong and its surrounding area are known (sometimes infamously) for their seafood. We were also served tiny shrimp-like things, fried and served whole, and a local fish. After dinner and a performance, they roasted the lamb over a bonfire, and had us pull pieces right off the spit. The next day we visited a lake and then went hiking.
After enjoying nature, it was time for a 3.5 hour bus ride back into DanDong. We made it in just after dark, and just in time to be dazzled by the nighttime spectacles of this border city. I should note that most Chinese cities are abound with flashing lights and weird sculptures, but from my experience so far, DanDong takes the cake. As the city came into view, fireworks sparkled in the distance. The first buildings to zoom by were high-rises, black against the night's sky with horizontal flashing white bars like some great mainframes out of the Matrix. Driving along the river, we saw that the dark and empty space above and beyond the North Korean riverbank was being teased by the thriving Chinese city. A tower in the middle of the city, shone a thick green laser beam out as far as the eye can see, rotating out over the city, across the river, and into the black expanse of North Korea. One can't help but think that it is an intentional jab at the North Korean people living in poverty in the shadow of Chinese development.
We strolled along the river, where children were running with sparklers, men were setting off flying lanterns, and small stands were pushing North Korean cigarettes and money. There is one bridge across the river in this part of the city, a suspension bridge, which is immediately beside an older half-bridge. Like the other half-bridge that we'd visited, this one had also been dismantled by the North Koreans. Interestingly, however, prior to being dismantled, the bridge had been accidentally bombed by the US Air-force during the Korean War. By the bridge, a ragged man with very plain clothes came up to us, and asked us to take his picture with North Korea in the background. He apparently spoke no Chinese, and his camera was an old film camera. Supposedly thousands of North Koreans attempt to cross from North Korea into China every year, and we wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if this man was a North Korean who had made it across successfully.
The next morning we set out on a boat to approach North Korea, and took a bunch of photos of men and women working outside of factories, children playing by the river, fishermen on small boats, and a Ferris wheel, motionless (I've read that the Ferris wheel is only used a few times per year). Later that day, when I was resting in my hotel room, I heard a series of loud bangs immediately outside my window--my window was open, and I could hardly hear myself say "what the F*** is that?!?". What had startled me out of my sleep as some sort of imagined attack by the North Koreans turned out to be fireworks and firecrackers set off in honor of a wedding being held at the hotel.
On our way back to the train station we were informed (in English, signifying the importance of the news) that while H1N1 had originally only been on our secondary campus, that a number of people on our campus had been confirmed with the virus, and that classes would be canceled for the rest of this and the following week. The train got back into Harbin at 3:30am, and we piled out onto the platform with our masks on. Upon returning to our dorm, the security guard checked all of our temperatures with an infrared thermometer. New signs on our doors advised us not to visit anyone who might be sick.
Anyone with a fever is being unconditionally quarantined in the building next door for at least a week. We've been told that if we're quarantined, food and drinking water will be provided, but that there is no access to the internet or a shower. I've been wearing my mask in crowded places, buses, etc. to hopefully avoid any quarantining.
In the meantime, this week was also 10/1, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Chinese flags and red lanterns are in every direction, and a lot of people have gone home. In honor of the holiday, I went to see the new movie "建国大业" ("The Founding of a Republic"). It is a very long movie about the power struggle between the KMT and the CPC, and the eventual founding of the People's Republic. There's not quite as much propaganda as you might expect in the film, seeing how it was a national effort, but it does typically glorify Mao. The film is full of cameos by famous Chinese actors, the only one of which I recognized was Jackie Chan, who showed up as a mustachioed Hong Kong reporter. Overall, the movie seemed as if it was not ready to be released, and it was forced out of production in time for the holiday.
While I don't have class for the next week, my teachers have all loaded me up with homework. Still, I plan to take the time to explore some of Harbin's sites and relax. This weekend I'll head to the Siberian Tiger Park, the Jewish synagogue and cemetery, and possibly to 731 - the Japanese germ warfare experimental base. I have only three weeks till my program here is over, and I'm still looking for an apartment in Kunming. So, it seems I have have plenty to do to fill my time. While I'm glad to have a little more time to relax, I can't help but feel that one of my three remaining weeks wasted is anything but counterproductive. Still, there's not much I can do about that.
I will be posting photos from DanDong and North Korea soon, along with some random videos, so check back!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Quarantine, High Holidays, and PHOTOS!
Time seems to be flying by since I got back from my trip. My class schedule has been pushed back to the afternoons (after a bit of complaining), and now I can stay up late and still actually sleep.
We were told last week that there was an H1N1 outbreak at Heilongjiang University (HeiDa), which is only about two miles from HIT, where I'm studying. Apparently, a Canadian brought it to Harbin, where it quickly spread due to the close living quarters and poor circulation in the dormitories. (Some dorm rooms are shared by 8 or more students.) HeiDa responded by quaranting all students with any signs of illness or fever, canceled classes, and sealed off their campus. HIT, wary of the possibility of the virus spreading to our campus, put a partial quarantine in place, only allowing people with university IDs to enter the premises. Additionally, the Chinese students will no longer be allowed to return home for the upcoming Chinese National Day, being given only one day off (a Thursday), rather than Thursday through the following Wednesday.
As I'm living in one of the foreign student dormitories, we also encountered some new restrictions. They pasted a large notice in the lobby of our dorm informing us that no one not residing in the building would be allowed in, and that we'd be required to take our temperatures and report them each day. They provided one used thermometer for every two roommates and pasted a report sheet on everyone's door.
The weather has been getting colder here, which doesn't help the spread of illness, whether it be H1N1 or the common cold. At night the temperature's been dropping down to near-freezing. I felt like there's been a great deal of overreaction to H1N1 here, but perhaps that's just my American perspective as most of the Chinese people I've talked to seem to be fully accepting of the measures that have been put into place. And, I suppose better safe than sorry.
Since we're in the midst of the Jewish High Holiday season, I've been having a bit of difficulty reconciling my current lack of Jewish community. Even when I was at the U of R, despite being away from home, I still had plenty of Jewish friends and a Hillel and Chabad to choose from for religious services. Out here in Harbin, however, this city, which once was home to a thriving Jewish community of over 20,000 Jews, has been left vacant of true Jewish culture and religion, only a synagogue-turned-museum, some Jewish stars on buildings, and a Jewish cemetery outside the city left to signify that there was ever any Jewish presence here.
I considered traveling down to Beijing for Rosh Hashanah, as there's a fairly active Jewish community and a Chabad there, but the price of the ticket and my lack of time dissuaded me. So, I spent Rosh Hashanah on Saturday going through a short service on my own, and performing Tashlich on Sunday with a friend. I also took it upon myself to make a honey cake, which was certainly a task, since some ingredients are hard to come by in China, never mind the complete lack of measuring utensils. You certainly need to be resourceful to bake successfully here, but the cake came out moist and tasty.
Yom Kippur will be a little bit more difficult since I will be traveling this weekend with my program. We will be leaving tomorrow night for DanDong, a city in Liaoning province, across the YaLu river from North Korea. It should be a good trip, but I'll get into that in a later post. In any case, I'll figure something out, and I should probably stop procrastinating my homework, since it seems that tomorrow is bound to be a long day.
Below are three of the panoramas that I took on my trip to Western Inner Mongolia. I have a few more, and I've also uploaded all of my photos. Check them out in the 'photo gallery' section, or by clicking here. (ALSO, check out the "open in fullscreen" button for a slide show of my photos, but be wary if your computer doesn't have much RAM.)
Finally, please notice that by clicking on any of the photos below (or any of the photos from my last post), you can see a larger version of the photo in a lightbox.
[caption id="attachment_162" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Fresh Water Lake in the Badan Jilin Desert"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_163" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Twin Lakes in the Badan Jilin Desert"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_164" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Plateau at Nansi in Western Inner Mongolia"]
[/caption]
I have some videos to post as well, but not really any time to play with them. So look forward to them in an upcoming post!
I should also mention:
[This is not an official Department of State website or blog, and the views and information presented are my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.]
We were told last week that there was an H1N1 outbreak at Heilongjiang University (HeiDa), which is only about two miles from HIT, where I'm studying. Apparently, a Canadian brought it to Harbin, where it quickly spread due to the close living quarters and poor circulation in the dormitories. (Some dorm rooms are shared by 8 or more students.) HeiDa responded by quaranting all students with any signs of illness or fever, canceled classes, and sealed off their campus. HIT, wary of the possibility of the virus spreading to our campus, put a partial quarantine in place, only allowing people with university IDs to enter the premises. Additionally, the Chinese students will no longer be allowed to return home for the upcoming Chinese National Day, being given only one day off (a Thursday), rather than Thursday through the following Wednesday.
As I'm living in one of the foreign student dormitories, we also encountered some new restrictions. They pasted a large notice in the lobby of our dorm informing us that no one not residing in the building would be allowed in, and that we'd be required to take our temperatures and report them each day. They provided one used thermometer for every two roommates and pasted a report sheet on everyone's door.
The weather has been getting colder here, which doesn't help the spread of illness, whether it be H1N1 or the common cold. At night the temperature's been dropping down to near-freezing. I felt like there's been a great deal of overreaction to H1N1 here, but perhaps that's just my American perspective as most of the Chinese people I've talked to seem to be fully accepting of the measures that have been put into place. And, I suppose better safe than sorry.
Since we're in the midst of the Jewish High Holiday season, I've been having a bit of difficulty reconciling my current lack of Jewish community. Even when I was at the U of R, despite being away from home, I still had plenty of Jewish friends and a Hillel and Chabad to choose from for religious services. Out here in Harbin, however, this city, which once was home to a thriving Jewish community of over 20,000 Jews, has been left vacant of true Jewish culture and religion, only a synagogue-turned-museum, some Jewish stars on buildings, and a Jewish cemetery outside the city left to signify that there was ever any Jewish presence here.
I considered traveling down to Beijing for Rosh Hashanah, as there's a fairly active Jewish community and a Chabad there, but the price of the ticket and my lack of time dissuaded me. So, I spent Rosh Hashanah on Saturday going through a short service on my own, and performing Tashlich on Sunday with a friend. I also took it upon myself to make a honey cake, which was certainly a task, since some ingredients are hard to come by in China, never mind the complete lack of measuring utensils. You certainly need to be resourceful to bake successfully here, but the cake came out moist and tasty.
Yom Kippur will be a little bit more difficult since I will be traveling this weekend with my program. We will be leaving tomorrow night for DanDong, a city in Liaoning province, across the YaLu river from North Korea. It should be a good trip, but I'll get into that in a later post. In any case, I'll figure something out, and I should probably stop procrastinating my homework, since it seems that tomorrow is bound to be a long day.
Below are three of the panoramas that I took on my trip to Western Inner Mongolia. I have a few more, and I've also uploaded all of my photos. Check them out in the 'photo gallery' section, or by clicking here. (ALSO, check out the "open in fullscreen" button for a slide show of my photos, but be wary if your computer doesn't have much RAM.)
Finally, please notice that by clicking on any of the photos below (or any of the photos from my last post), you can see a larger version of the photo in a lightbox.
[caption id="attachment_162" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Fresh Water Lake in the Badan Jilin Desert"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_163" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Twin Lakes in the Badan Jilin Desert"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_164" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Plateau at Nansi in Western Inner Mongolia"]
[/caption]I have some videos to post as well, but not really any time to play with them. So look forward to them in an upcoming post!
I should also mention:
[This is not an official Department of State website or blog, and the views and information presented are my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.]
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Avoiding Plague and Adventure Planning
In between studying for midterms, planning a trip for my inter-semester break, and trying not to be sick, there hasn’t been much time to write.
My roommate starting coughing violently throughout the night about two weeks ago, and I figured it was just a bad cold. But after he went to the doctor and told me it was fèi yán (pneumonia, lit. “lung inflammation”), I started asking questions. It turns out he had mycoplasma infection—a bacterial infection in the lungs, which is apparently fairly contagious. So, after some minor freaking out (including wearing a mask in my room for a night), I realized if it really was a mycoplasma infection, it was probably too late to avoid getting it, and I should just minimize its effects. I got the name of an antibiotic from an American doctor, translated the name into Chinese, and headed to the pharmacy. One good (?) thing about China is that you often don’t need a prescription to pop some pills. Instead, you just walk into the pharmacy and either point to what you want, or tell them what your symptoms are and have them recommend (usually incorrectly, from my limited experience) a drug. They tell you that the more expensive brand is of course better, you pay, and walk out with a week’s supply of antibiotics. (For the record, I don’t know if it’s the same process for more serious medication.)
In any case, the experience of living with a sick Chinese roommate raised some concerns about general health sanitation in China: coughing without covering one’s mouth, coughing into one’s hands and then handling other people’s chopsticks, spitting (as usual), sharing food, going out as normal instead of isolating oneself, and so on. In addition, the question of what a cook or a fuwuyuan (waiter) in a restaurant would do if they had a similar infection came up, to which the response was, “probably just go to work anyway.”
Despite my concerns about getting sick, I, like a sick cook in a restaurant, had no choice but to go about life as usual. Actually, I normally wouldn’t be that concerned over getting sick, except that my midterms were approaching this week, followed by a week-long vacation next week. And fortunately, while I definitely think I did get sick, my friends doused me with Chinese medicine and vitamin C, and it’s been rather mild.
Midterms haven’t been too bad. All essays here have to be hand-written, so I spent the weekend writing a 9-page essay about linguistics. Then on Wednesday, I gave a presentation on language contact and evolution (in Chinese, of course) to a panel of teachers, and answered their questions. I think that my Chinese has definitely already improved, and I have about two more months to make even more progress.
We have this upcoming week off to travel before getting back to class, so a few friends and I are planning to go to western Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. I went to Inner Mongolia last year to see the desert and the grasslands, but this trip (since we have a full week) should take me a bit farther afield. We’ll take the train from Harbin down to Beijing this weekend, and then fly out immediately the next morning to Yinchuan, Ningxia. Ningxia is a small province in what is actually China’s northern mid-west, but which is considered the country’s north-west. As far as I’ve been able to discern, in China Ningxia is known for two things: being somewhat barren, and hosting the largest group of Hui (Muslim) Chinese in the country.
In any case, it should be a real adventure. We’ll land in Yinchuan, and then take buses across the southern portion of the Gobi desert. From there, we’ll hire a driver to take us into the Badain Jaran desert for a couple days, including hopefully an overnight stay in a Mongolian yurt and some camel riding.
The Badain Jaran desert seems to be a truly remarkable place. In addition to boasting the world’s highest sand dunes, some reaching higher than the Empire State building, spread throughout the desert are hundreds of salt- and fresh-water lakes and several Buddhist temples. It should make for some beautiful sites and great photography. I’ve seen it described as both “awe-inspiringly beautiful” and one of the most mysterious deserts in the world.
From Badain Jaran, we’ll head back towards Yinchuan, spending a few days exploring the Helan mountains and the Western Xia Tombs at their feet (pyramid like tombs of the Tangut Empire), the Tenggeli Desert (and Moon Lake), partaking of some Hui cuisine in Yinchuan, and perhaps riding horses on the grasslands.
I went to the train station a couple nights ago to buy our return tickets from Beijing to Harbin. I know it’s been said over and over again, but it’s amazing how many people there are in China. The train station seemed busier than if the entire state of Rhode Island were evacuating. I waited in line to buy tickets, only to be told that I had to go downstairs to get the tickets we wanted. So, I went downstairs, asking several guards for directions along the way, since the train station is huge. When I got to the main ticket hall, I found that it was even more crowded. So, rather than wait in the wrong line, I waited in the line for the Information Desk, to ask which line I should wait in. The rather overwhelmed fuwuyuan told me any line would do, so I picked a “shorter” one and waited. And waited. While waiting, I took it upon myself to count how many people were there. I would say that there were on average a constant 15-20 people rotating through each line. Multiplied by the 30 lines in the hall, this means that there were roughly 450-600 people at any given time waiting to buy tickets. Add to that the small children running around, and the fact that this was 8:30pm on a Wednesday evening, and China was truly showing itself. It should be said, however, that despite the huge numbers of people, and the poor lining up skills, the Chinese really do handle it well—the next time you’re waiting in line at the DMV or cafeteria think about how much quicker things could go if the Chinese were managing that few people.
Needing to relax and pack, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll write more about what we actually do on our trip after the fact, and provide some more information about the places and things we see. And hopefully, some amazing photos.
My roommate starting coughing violently throughout the night about two weeks ago, and I figured it was just a bad cold. But after he went to the doctor and told me it was fèi yán (pneumonia, lit. “lung inflammation”), I started asking questions. It turns out he had mycoplasma infection—a bacterial infection in the lungs, which is apparently fairly contagious. So, after some minor freaking out (including wearing a mask in my room for a night), I realized if it really was a mycoplasma infection, it was probably too late to avoid getting it, and I should just minimize its effects. I got the name of an antibiotic from an American doctor, translated the name into Chinese, and headed to the pharmacy. One good (?) thing about China is that you often don’t need a prescription to pop some pills. Instead, you just walk into the pharmacy and either point to what you want, or tell them what your symptoms are and have them recommend (usually incorrectly, from my limited experience) a drug. They tell you that the more expensive brand is of course better, you pay, and walk out with a week’s supply of antibiotics. (For the record, I don’t know if it’s the same process for more serious medication.)
In any case, the experience of living with a sick Chinese roommate raised some concerns about general health sanitation in China: coughing without covering one’s mouth, coughing into one’s hands and then handling other people’s chopsticks, spitting (as usual), sharing food, going out as normal instead of isolating oneself, and so on. In addition, the question of what a cook or a fuwuyuan (waiter) in a restaurant would do if they had a similar infection came up, to which the response was, “probably just go to work anyway.”
Despite my concerns about getting sick, I, like a sick cook in a restaurant, had no choice but to go about life as usual. Actually, I normally wouldn’t be that concerned over getting sick, except that my midterms were approaching this week, followed by a week-long vacation next week. And fortunately, while I definitely think I did get sick, my friends doused me with Chinese medicine and vitamin C, and it’s been rather mild.
Midterms haven’t been too bad. All essays here have to be hand-written, so I spent the weekend writing a 9-page essay about linguistics. Then on Wednesday, I gave a presentation on language contact and evolution (in Chinese, of course) to a panel of teachers, and answered their questions. I think that my Chinese has definitely already improved, and I have about two more months to make even more progress.
We have this upcoming week off to travel before getting back to class, so a few friends and I are planning to go to western Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. I went to Inner Mongolia last year to see the desert and the grasslands, but this trip (since we have a full week) should take me a bit farther afield. We’ll take the train from Harbin down to Beijing this weekend, and then fly out immediately the next morning to Yinchuan, Ningxia. Ningxia is a small province in what is actually China’s northern mid-west, but which is considered the country’s north-west. As far as I’ve been able to discern, in China Ningxia is known for two things: being somewhat barren, and hosting the largest group of Hui (Muslim) Chinese in the country.
In any case, it should be a real adventure. We’ll land in Yinchuan, and then take buses across the southern portion of the Gobi desert. From there, we’ll hire a driver to take us into the Badain Jaran desert for a couple days, including hopefully an overnight stay in a Mongolian yurt and some camel riding.
The Badain Jaran desert seems to be a truly remarkable place. In addition to boasting the world’s highest sand dunes, some reaching higher than the Empire State building, spread throughout the desert are hundreds of salt- and fresh-water lakes and several Buddhist temples. It should make for some beautiful sites and great photography. I’ve seen it described as both “awe-inspiringly beautiful” and one of the most mysterious deserts in the world.
From Badain Jaran, we’ll head back towards Yinchuan, spending a few days exploring the Helan mountains and the Western Xia Tombs at their feet (pyramid like tombs of the Tangut Empire), the Tenggeli Desert (and Moon Lake), partaking of some Hui cuisine in Yinchuan, and perhaps riding horses on the grasslands.
I went to the train station a couple nights ago to buy our return tickets from Beijing to Harbin. I know it’s been said over and over again, but it’s amazing how many people there are in China. The train station seemed busier than if the entire state of Rhode Island were evacuating. I waited in line to buy tickets, only to be told that I had to go downstairs to get the tickets we wanted. So, I went downstairs, asking several guards for directions along the way, since the train station is huge. When I got to the main ticket hall, I found that it was even more crowded. So, rather than wait in the wrong line, I waited in the line for the Information Desk, to ask which line I should wait in. The rather overwhelmed fuwuyuan told me any line would do, so I picked a “shorter” one and waited. And waited. While waiting, I took it upon myself to count how many people were there. I would say that there were on average a constant 15-20 people rotating through each line. Multiplied by the 30 lines in the hall, this means that there were roughly 450-600 people at any given time waiting to buy tickets. Add to that the small children running around, and the fact that this was 8:30pm on a Wednesday evening, and China was truly showing itself. It should be said, however, that despite the huge numbers of people, and the poor lining up skills, the Chinese really do handle it well—the next time you’re waiting in line at the DMV or cafeteria think about how much quicker things could go if the Chinese were managing that few people.
Needing to relax and pack, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll write more about what we actually do on our trip after the fact, and provide some more information about the places and things we see. And hopefully, some amazing photos.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Getting to Know Harbin
The past few weeks have flown by. I long for boredom. My classes aren’t that difficult, but the work seems to be incessant. The majority of my time recently has been spent doing homework and studying, procrastinating doing homework and studying, and trying to get online (which I finally figured out this past week).
In addition to my four academic classes, I’m also taking a badminton class and a cooking class at night. The badminton is a lot of fun, and I enjoy the exercise, even if our teacher does constantly criticize my technique. Still, it’s a good replacement for racquetball, and helps me stay sane amidst so much work.
Our cooking teacher is an 86 year-old Harbin man with poor hearing, stubby fingers, and a passion for story-telling. We met with him for the first time this past week to make introductions and discuss what we want to learn to make. After evaluating all of our Chinese names (as Chinese people often seem to do), he proceeded to explain how cooking is more than just preparing food; rather, that our class will incorporate history, culture, art, and science. He then told us all about the history of Harbin—how it went from being a simple Manzu (as in Manchurian) village to an international city. Apparently, in helping the Chinese fight off the Japanese at the end of the 19th century, the Russians built railroads into China, coming in droves to Harbin as an outpost. He said that by 1920, there were over 30 nationalities of people living in Harbin, including Romanians, Turks, French, and Russians. While other Chinese cities had been strongly influenced by one nationality of people, ‘invaded’ as some sort of colonies (Qingdao had the Germans, Hong Kong had the British, Shanghai had the French, Macau had the Portuguese, and so on), Harbin was China’s first real international city. This hodgepodge of influences is visible in the city’s architecture, strewn with hints of Baroque and Roman style, as well as in the city’s cuisine.
I should also mention that our teacher is a linguist, and apparently studied Russian at some point in his life. Throughout our conversation he sporadically broke out of Chinese into Russian, as well as using Russian words like czar and army. He told us about how Harbin was the first city in China to get taxis (Shanghai being the second), and how early in the 20th century 16 countries had established consulates here. After this very long, but quite interesting and entertaining, description of Harbin’s history, we discussed what types of food we wanted to study, deciding on about 10 or 11 dishes, most of which are DongBei specialities (from China’s Northeast), including DiSanXian (made with eggplant, potatoes, and peppers) and BaSi DiGua (fried potatoes in a caramel sauce).
While Harbin does seem to be somewhat developmentally behind compared to cities like Beijing and Shanghai, it is still certainly an international city. Since I’ve been here, I’ve encountered countless Russians and Koreans, as well as Australians, Ethiopians, Algerians, Pakistanis, Indians, Germans, and French. Last weekend, in search of a change of scenery, my friends and I studied in a French café complete with wine, cheese, and real coffee. Of course, the French proprietor and his wife looked a bit disconcerted when I asked them to make me an iced coffee, but I suppose that’s to be expected.
Last Saturday we took a day trip to a small mountain about an hour away to do some hiking. The weather was nice, and despite the trails being made up of neverending steps (as Chinese hiking so often involves), it was nice to get out. The air in Harbin isn’t nearly as bad as in Beijing, but you can still tell the difference between the city and the countryside. I’m looking forward to my time in Yunnan, where I’m hoping I’ll get to do a bit more hiking.
Yesterday we went on a ‘field trip’ to old Harbin, to explore the Muslim area, centered around a large blue mosque. The streets in the area are decked with aged buildings, interesting architecture, and alleys with fat, shirtless Chinese men playing MaJiang, Chinese poker, and Chinese chess. Near the river we encountered an animal market with rabbits, birds, crickets, chickens, and fish. It was an interesting day, and I got some cool photos.
I always forget how different life in China and life in the US can be. For instance, in the US, you would never see a 6 or 7 year-old girl squat by the side of the road in a busy city to pee, or two little girls cheerfully pushing around a dead rat with a broom. But, these things don’t seem to be so out of the ordinary here.
Well, that’s it for now. I’ll try to write again next weekend, but hopefully I’ll be busy since its my birthday. I’ve been putting photos up on facebook, and I’ll add them to this site as well, in addition to a few videos. So, check back soon!
In addition to my four academic classes, I’m also taking a badminton class and a cooking class at night. The badminton is a lot of fun, and I enjoy the exercise, even if our teacher does constantly criticize my technique. Still, it’s a good replacement for racquetball, and helps me stay sane amidst so much work.
Our cooking teacher is an 86 year-old Harbin man with poor hearing, stubby fingers, and a passion for story-telling. We met with him for the first time this past week to make introductions and discuss what we want to learn to make. After evaluating all of our Chinese names (as Chinese people often seem to do), he proceeded to explain how cooking is more than just preparing food; rather, that our class will incorporate history, culture, art, and science. He then told us all about the history of Harbin—how it went from being a simple Manzu (as in Manchurian) village to an international city. Apparently, in helping the Chinese fight off the Japanese at the end of the 19th century, the Russians built railroads into China, coming in droves to Harbin as an outpost. He said that by 1920, there were over 30 nationalities of people living in Harbin, including Romanians, Turks, French, and Russians. While other Chinese cities had been strongly influenced by one nationality of people, ‘invaded’ as some sort of colonies (Qingdao had the Germans, Hong Kong had the British, Shanghai had the French, Macau had the Portuguese, and so on), Harbin was China’s first real international city. This hodgepodge of influences is visible in the city’s architecture, strewn with hints of Baroque and Roman style, as well as in the city’s cuisine.
I should also mention that our teacher is a linguist, and apparently studied Russian at some point in his life. Throughout our conversation he sporadically broke out of Chinese into Russian, as well as using Russian words like czar and army. He told us about how Harbin was the first city in China to get taxis (Shanghai being the second), and how early in the 20th century 16 countries had established consulates here. After this very long, but quite interesting and entertaining, description of Harbin’s history, we discussed what types of food we wanted to study, deciding on about 10 or 11 dishes, most of which are DongBei specialities (from China’s Northeast), including DiSanXian (made with eggplant, potatoes, and peppers) and BaSi DiGua (fried potatoes in a caramel sauce).
While Harbin does seem to be somewhat developmentally behind compared to cities like Beijing and Shanghai, it is still certainly an international city. Since I’ve been here, I’ve encountered countless Russians and Koreans, as well as Australians, Ethiopians, Algerians, Pakistanis, Indians, Germans, and French. Last weekend, in search of a change of scenery, my friends and I studied in a French café complete with wine, cheese, and real coffee. Of course, the French proprietor and his wife looked a bit disconcerted when I asked them to make me an iced coffee, but I suppose that’s to be expected.
Last Saturday we took a day trip to a small mountain about an hour away to do some hiking. The weather was nice, and despite the trails being made up of neverending steps (as Chinese hiking so often involves), it was nice to get out. The air in Harbin isn’t nearly as bad as in Beijing, but you can still tell the difference between the city and the countryside. I’m looking forward to my time in Yunnan, where I’m hoping I’ll get to do a bit more hiking.
Yesterday we went on a ‘field trip’ to old Harbin, to explore the Muslim area, centered around a large blue mosque. The streets in the area are decked with aged buildings, interesting architecture, and alleys with fat, shirtless Chinese men playing MaJiang, Chinese poker, and Chinese chess. Near the river we encountered an animal market with rabbits, birds, crickets, chickens, and fish. It was an interesting day, and I got some cool photos.
I always forget how different life in China and life in the US can be. For instance, in the US, you would never see a 6 or 7 year-old girl squat by the side of the road in a busy city to pee, or two little girls cheerfully pushing around a dead rat with a broom. But, these things don’t seem to be so out of the ordinary here.
Well, that’s it for now. I’ll try to write again next weekend, but hopefully I’ll be busy since its my birthday. I’ve been putting photos up on facebook, and I’ll add them to this site as well, in addition to a few videos. So, check back soon!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Re-Acclimating
It’s a strange feeling, re-acclimating to a different culture, a different way of life. It’s all of the little things that take some getting used to: remembering not to drink tap water or flush toilet paper, having to air-dry your clothes, not having air-conditioning, showering directly on the bathroom floor, limited and restricted access to the internet. Of course, these ‘little’ things seem much bigger and more important when we’re forced to live without those luxuries, which we tend to take for granted.
I flew out of Philadelphia about two weeks ago to Washington D.C., then directly to Beijing. It wasn’t a particularly strenuous flight—the 14 hours—but it certainly could have gone faster. The flight from the East Coast to Beijing heads north, almost directly over the North Pole. I took some cool photos over the Arctic Ocean just past the North Pole and again approaching the northern coast of Siberia. It seems odd to seemingly so simply view such remote places, but ever the more amazing.
On the plane, we were instructed to fill out a health form along with the usual customs entry form. Then, upon landing in Beijing, we were told to remain in our seats; that health inspectors were going to board the plane and take everyone’s temperature before allowing anyone to deplane—overreaction to H1N1. A team of 5 or 6 Chinese inspectors, men and women, boarded the plane wearing lab coats, masks, and goggles, and proceeded to quickly take everyone’s temperature by pointing infrared guns at our foreheads. I really wanted to take a photo, but didn’t want to attract any unneeded attention, so refrained. The whole process only took about 10 minutes, and then we were allowed to leave, entering the airport through a maze of checkpoints armed with infrared cameras looking for any swine flu-indicating elevations.
I had forgotten about the pollution. In the taxi on the way into the city, the Beijing haze was more than noticeable, showing only the closest of buildings. I settled into my hostel and went out for a walk, not really sure what to do with myself for my three days in Beijing. I didn’t much feel like being a tourist, and some of the friends who I’d expected to be there weren’t. So, I just walked. I think I probably walked a good 20 miles during my three days in Beijing. Just walking, and exploring.
The second day, I visited IES out in Haidian. I said hello to the teachers and staff, had some reminiscent looks around, bought some Y5 bootleg DVDs from the same old DVD guy, noticed that the phone card lady had a new hat, and then went back to my hostel. I’m not sure what I had expected to do in Beijing for three days, but I felt a bit displaced being back with nothing to do and living out of two very large suitcases. Still, it was somewhat nice to be back, and I had a very nice dinner with a friend, and met another friend for a stroll around a new shopping center out in Chaoyang.
The fourth day, I woke up early and hopped a cab back to the airport for my flight to Harbin. They hit me with a nice fee for my “overweight” bags, since the flight was domestic and the weight limits were lower. In Harbin, I took a taxi to the hotel that the CET program was putting us up in—the Harbin Institute of Technology (GongDa, for short), where I’ll be studying till the end of October, said that we had to be quarantined for 5 days before entering any buildings on campus, including the dorms. I checked-in and called the residential director, who informed me that the other 4 students in my program wouldn’t be arriving till 9pm. Since it was only 3pm at the time, I went for a walk, first around the campus, and then about 4 miles north to the river.
The architecture in Harbin is quite peculiar, a mix of Russian-influenced buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and typical modern Chinese buildings piled acceptingly next to each other. What’s more, especially near GongDa, many of the older buildings seem quite dilapidated, a combination of lack of maintenance and one brutal winter after another pounding against their exteriors. Still, this aged look gives the buildings, and the city, character. (I’ll take some photos when I get a chance.)
We began classes last Monday after taking a language pledge. The language pledge here seems fairly strict: the first time you speak English, you get a written warning; the second time, they write a letter to your home institution (in our case, since the 5 of us are all Fulbrighters, Fulbright and the US State Department); and, the third time, they kick you out. Since a US government CLEA grant is paying for me to be here on the condition that I successfully complete the program, getting kicked out would mean paying back a lot of money to the government. So, I’ll do my best to stick to the language pledge.
Since there are only 5 of us, the classes are very small (my largest class has three students). I have a Composition class, an Advanced Conversation class, a 2-on-1 class with one classmate and a teacher to fix my pronunciation, and a 1-on-1 class focused on preparing me for my Fulbright linguistic research. For my 1-on-1 class, they hired a local linguistics professor from a nearby university to come twice a week for two hours at a time to teach me linguistics terminology in Chinese and to get me to a point where I am able to discuss my research and linguistics in Chinese in an academic setting. While I enjoy most of these classes, the workload is very intensive. We have an essay due every Composition class, and an oral presentation every Conversation class, as well as a lot of vocabulary and reading for every class. On the plus side, I can’t imagine that my Chinese won’t improve.
My dorm room is fairly small and apparently, since I have a 64-bit operating system, I can’t connect to the Internet here. But, my roommate is very nice and goes out of his way to help me, and I’m working on figuring out my Internet problems. (For now, I’ve been going to a local café to shang wang, as they say in Chinese—that’s a long ‘a’, as in kong, by the way, before you start laughing.)
The weekend couldn’t have come sooner. I had 8 hours of class on Friday, and spent the three hours in between studying for the quizzes in the next classes. After day upon day of passing rainstorms, it was also nice to finally get some sunshine. We tried to go see Harry Potter this evening, but they didn’t have an English showing tonight. So, we’re going to try again tomorrow, in between studying for the test that I have on Monday and the reading that I have to do for my 1-on-1 class. I’ll write another post when I get the chance, but I’m sure I’ll be busy. Check back at some point for photos!
I flew out of Philadelphia about two weeks ago to Washington D.C., then directly to Beijing. It wasn’t a particularly strenuous flight—the 14 hours—but it certainly could have gone faster. The flight from the East Coast to Beijing heads north, almost directly over the North Pole. I took some cool photos over the Arctic Ocean just past the North Pole and again approaching the northern coast of Siberia. It seems odd to seemingly so simply view such remote places, but ever the more amazing.
On the plane, we were instructed to fill out a health form along with the usual customs entry form. Then, upon landing in Beijing, we were told to remain in our seats; that health inspectors were going to board the plane and take everyone’s temperature before allowing anyone to deplane—overreaction to H1N1. A team of 5 or 6 Chinese inspectors, men and women, boarded the plane wearing lab coats, masks, and goggles, and proceeded to quickly take everyone’s temperature by pointing infrared guns at our foreheads. I really wanted to take a photo, but didn’t want to attract any unneeded attention, so refrained. The whole process only took about 10 minutes, and then we were allowed to leave, entering the airport through a maze of checkpoints armed with infrared cameras looking for any swine flu-indicating elevations.
I had forgotten about the pollution. In the taxi on the way into the city, the Beijing haze was more than noticeable, showing only the closest of buildings. I settled into my hostel and went out for a walk, not really sure what to do with myself for my three days in Beijing. I didn’t much feel like being a tourist, and some of the friends who I’d expected to be there weren’t. So, I just walked. I think I probably walked a good 20 miles during my three days in Beijing. Just walking, and exploring.
The second day, I visited IES out in Haidian. I said hello to the teachers and staff, had some reminiscent looks around, bought some Y5 bootleg DVDs from the same old DVD guy, noticed that the phone card lady had a new hat, and then went back to my hostel. I’m not sure what I had expected to do in Beijing for three days, but I felt a bit displaced being back with nothing to do and living out of two very large suitcases. Still, it was somewhat nice to be back, and I had a very nice dinner with a friend, and met another friend for a stroll around a new shopping center out in Chaoyang.
The fourth day, I woke up early and hopped a cab back to the airport for my flight to Harbin. They hit me with a nice fee for my “overweight” bags, since the flight was domestic and the weight limits were lower. In Harbin, I took a taxi to the hotel that the CET program was putting us up in—the Harbin Institute of Technology (GongDa, for short), where I’ll be studying till the end of October, said that we had to be quarantined for 5 days before entering any buildings on campus, including the dorms. I checked-in and called the residential director, who informed me that the other 4 students in my program wouldn’t be arriving till 9pm. Since it was only 3pm at the time, I went for a walk, first around the campus, and then about 4 miles north to the river.
The architecture in Harbin is quite peculiar, a mix of Russian-influenced buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and typical modern Chinese buildings piled acceptingly next to each other. What’s more, especially near GongDa, many of the older buildings seem quite dilapidated, a combination of lack of maintenance and one brutal winter after another pounding against their exteriors. Still, this aged look gives the buildings, and the city, character. (I’ll take some photos when I get a chance.)
We began classes last Monday after taking a language pledge. The language pledge here seems fairly strict: the first time you speak English, you get a written warning; the second time, they write a letter to your home institution (in our case, since the 5 of us are all Fulbrighters, Fulbright and the US State Department); and, the third time, they kick you out. Since a US government CLEA grant is paying for me to be here on the condition that I successfully complete the program, getting kicked out would mean paying back a lot of money to the government. So, I’ll do my best to stick to the language pledge.
Since there are only 5 of us, the classes are very small (my largest class has three students). I have a Composition class, an Advanced Conversation class, a 2-on-1 class with one classmate and a teacher to fix my pronunciation, and a 1-on-1 class focused on preparing me for my Fulbright linguistic research. For my 1-on-1 class, they hired a local linguistics professor from a nearby university to come twice a week for two hours at a time to teach me linguistics terminology in Chinese and to get me to a point where I am able to discuss my research and linguistics in Chinese in an academic setting. While I enjoy most of these classes, the workload is very intensive. We have an essay due every Composition class, and an oral presentation every Conversation class, as well as a lot of vocabulary and reading for every class. On the plus side, I can’t imagine that my Chinese won’t improve.
My dorm room is fairly small and apparently, since I have a 64-bit operating system, I can’t connect to the Internet here. But, my roommate is very nice and goes out of his way to help me, and I’m working on figuring out my Internet problems. (For now, I’ve been going to a local café to shang wang, as they say in Chinese—that’s a long ‘a’, as in kong, by the way, before you start laughing.)
The weekend couldn’t have come sooner. I had 8 hours of class on Friday, and spent the three hours in between studying for the quizzes in the next classes. After day upon day of passing rainstorms, it was also nice to finally get some sunshine. We tried to go see Harry Potter this evening, but they didn’t have an English showing tonight. So, we’re going to try again tomorrow, in between studying for the test that I have on Monday and the reading that I have to do for my 1-on-1 class. I’ll write another post when I get the chance, but I’m sure I’ll be busy. Check back at some point for photos!
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