Today I saw someone sending a text message while riding their bicycle. I seemed to remember some sort of law in Eau Claire against having a passenger on a moped as I saw a moped carrying three people and a small ladder fly by. I've been in a very good mood lately- which is probably attributed to a variety of things. Fall is in the air, my students are great, my Hangzhou adventure (aka cheese in my fridge), and the highly anticipated Halloween festivities this weekend.
Most the largest contributing factor is probably the advent of my class beginning to sing. To learn rhythm and to give me yet another excuse to make fun of the boys. We have been singing "Take Me Home Country Roads" by John Denver. I really think singing this song makes me radiate good karma. After I leave a John Denver inclusive class I interact with everyone- I must appear very approachable. Immediately after I left the foreign language building random boy left his freshman boy posse to ask where I was from and attempt conversation before awkwardly taking a few steps away from me to join his group. Then some girls I was following started talking to me because they wanted to 'communicate' with me. We sort of talked for awhile. Then I hopped into the cafeteria, got some noodles to go so I could eat by the lake (I hate eating alone in the cafeteria- esp. when its so nice outside!) and as I left random dude said "hello" to me to which I almost excessively cheerily replied "Ni hao mao?!" (how are you?). He apparently wasn't expecting me to respond at all, so he murmered "hao bu hao" (ok) and his friend informed me that he was very shy. Then I attempted some responses in Chinese- "mei guo- wo sho han yu bu hao-" (America.. I don't speak Chinese well) to which he said my Chinese was very good, to which I said he was wrong, to which he said they needed to walk another way, bye bye.
The students here live 4 people to a dorm room with no mattresses, just bamboo mats. If they are freshmen then they live 6 to a dorm which has no hot water. If they are freshmen, they also are not allowed to have a personal computer. Just the same, I cannot re-enforce how much I am impressed with the character of the students at this university. I probably want to be best friends with all of them, so it is unfortunate I have to grade them and all that.
I have officially finished the first level of Rosetta Stone Mandarin! I can text message a few phrases in characters and can pick out random bits of conversation I evesdrop on. I feel now that I have a base to work off of new things will start to click more quickly. Its crazy to think how much more I know than I did 2 months ago. I also pretty much am in love with China, even though I know I am definitely seeing it through tinted lenses.
PS- As I was lugging up my laundry to the fifth floor I heard "Country Roads" by John Denver playing somewhere in the distance...
Monday, October 27, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
the flowering of Hangzhou
Hangzhou has tended to leave a bit of a bad taste in the mouth with our previous experiences there. Medical exam, confused taxi drivers yelling at us, Morten had his cell phone stolen. But that totally changed this weekend.
Hangzhou is big. Real big. About 6.4 million people. And downtown is about 1 hour from Lin'an. I feel like the quaint hamlet of Lin'an has a lot to offer with its 600,000 people- but people go to bed very early and they do not sell solid cheese. One of my students was going back to Hangzhou with her parents so she invited me to come along. I needed to go to Hangzhou to try to pick up some things for our Halloween party next weekend- plus I am HORRIBLE at shopping for myself, so I was hoping this trendy, hip 19 year-old student of mine could help me. Instead, she gave me a huge bag of oranges, a bunch of nuts and I was sent to fend for myself on the streets of Hangzhou with no real knowledge of where I was (well, she was home to spend time with her family...). Morten was going to Hangzhou via bus and we'd talked about meeting up later and maybe booking a hotel so we could take the bus back the next day. Unfortunately, when I attempted to call Morten, a message flashed across the screen that his account was disabled. I later found out that his phone had run out of money and he was flying around town trying to figure out how to re-load it. I felt nervous, freaked out, lost. I was in a city of 6.4 million people- who all spoke this weird language with funny writing and had been plopped in front of this big store full of high-end shops (Prada, Fendi, ect). There had been some kind of mis-communication here. I had said I needed a western store. One where they potentially had the goods for celebrating Halloween. This kind of store was intimidating- full of high priced goods I knew they would try to sell to me at a higher price because I was completely unfamiliar with the concept of bargaining. Plus, it seemed as though the escalators wound like some kind of corkscrew through the building- only leading up. After bee-lining to the bathroom and making a hasty get away down a dirty back staircase I realized I just needed to relax and decide what I was going to do. I bought a map from a dude on the street. I sat on some steps and ate one of my oranges. Morten still wasn't answering. Well, I just needed to find another place to chill for awhile. I could have a relaxing evening on my own in the city if I wanted- I could find a hotel, soak in a tub, eat some western food. So I hopped into the nearest Starbucks, ordered a tall latte and some rasin-pudding-torte thing. I think it boils down to wanting to feel competant, but things can be so scary if you don't reach out to other people for help.
When I walked in, the place was coated in a layer of foreigners- hailing (I believe) from Britian. And you know, they weren't very friendly- not to the staff- not to me when they cut in line ahead of me. There's some kind of un-spoken code amungst foreigners- to never really acknowledge each other. Everyone came to China to see a sea of black-haired people, not whitey apparently. Maybe tourists are the same everywhere; annoying. Anyway, after some time and attempting to ask the only person in the Starbucks who didn't speak English where I was on my map, Morten finally calls. We eventually find each other and make our way down to West Lake.
Everything is so pretty in Hangzhou at night (well, save perhaps the crippled beggars). Fountains come out of the lake and change colors and dance to classical music. The mountains and pagodas are lit up and boats shaped like dragons coast across the glassy water. We had some dim sum and found a hotel for the night. Nice hotels- are kind of becoming this guilty pleasure. Its SO nice to be able to take a bath! and eat toast in the mornings! I was pretty tired, but we decided to check out the Hangzhou night life before calling it an evening. And we were not disappointed.
Only a block or so from our hotel was this hopping club with neon lights and a large group of police officers about to enter. We followed them in, down a yellow and orange flashing corridor to a table where it appeared people were talking loudly and paying a cover fee... we stood confused and were ushered inside. Lots of lights- walked into this bar area where scantily clad women were dancing on little platforms. See, that's my fear about going in to loud places with lots of flashing lights. Brothel. But alas, this was no brothel (*whew*).
I like dancing. And the crazy techno bars in this country I've seen are very expensive and play music its almost impossible to dance to. This was the first place I've ever been in this country where lots of people were dancing. And the music was good enough to dance to. And people somewhat knew how to dance. In fact one boy even knew how to dance. When I dance to club music, I like to have fun- swinging each other about and so on. When I tried to dance like this with a boy in Lin'an he left me standing alone on the dance floor shortly after. This boy didn't! And that's how I met my "Chinese boyfriend" that max knows about 20 English words. He is my height, black hair, brown eyes. Slightly dark complexion. We send text messages. In Chinese. Its much faster to send messages in characters... except for the whole - trying to translate words I dont know into Chinese. We actually convey messeges. In Chinese. Sometimes I don't have to use a dictionary. Even though I really can't "talk" to this person, its given me a great incentive to learn more Chinese. Having to actually apply my new words to come up with sentences is wonderful. So, boyfriend may be the wrong word now, but just you wait till my Chinese improves a little.
Today- slept in- took a LONG bath- went to the western grocery store where they sell ACTUAL LITTLE BRICKS OF CHEESE, sliced ham, and french bread. Morten and I were pretty happy campers. And then walked in the rain around West Lake- for what must have been a solid 6-7 miles to the bus station. SO MUCH WALKING IN THIS COUNTRY.
Okay, with that I want to share a quote from one of my student's essays. I've been grading these forever and will finish up this weekend:
"If Obama wins the election, it would be a slam dunk against racism!" - from one of my student's essays about who they would vote for in the American election.
Hangzhou is big. Real big. About 6.4 million people. And downtown is about 1 hour from Lin'an. I feel like the quaint hamlet of Lin'an has a lot to offer with its 600,000 people- but people go to bed very early and they do not sell solid cheese. One of my students was going back to Hangzhou with her parents so she invited me to come along. I needed to go to Hangzhou to try to pick up some things for our Halloween party next weekend- plus I am HORRIBLE at shopping for myself, so I was hoping this trendy, hip 19 year-old student of mine could help me. Instead, she gave me a huge bag of oranges, a bunch of nuts and I was sent to fend for myself on the streets of Hangzhou with no real knowledge of where I was (well, she was home to spend time with her family...). Morten was going to Hangzhou via bus and we'd talked about meeting up later and maybe booking a hotel so we could take the bus back the next day. Unfortunately, when I attempted to call Morten, a message flashed across the screen that his account was disabled. I later found out that his phone had run out of money and he was flying around town trying to figure out how to re-load it. I felt nervous, freaked out, lost. I was in a city of 6.4 million people- who all spoke this weird language with funny writing and had been plopped in front of this big store full of high-end shops (Prada, Fendi, ect). There had been some kind of mis-communication here. I had said I needed a western store. One where they potentially had the goods for celebrating Halloween. This kind of store was intimidating- full of high priced goods I knew they would try to sell to me at a higher price because I was completely unfamiliar with the concept of bargaining. Plus, it seemed as though the escalators wound like some kind of corkscrew through the building- only leading up. After bee-lining to the bathroom and making a hasty get away down a dirty back staircase I realized I just needed to relax and decide what I was going to do. I bought a map from a dude on the street. I sat on some steps and ate one of my oranges. Morten still wasn't answering. Well, I just needed to find another place to chill for awhile. I could have a relaxing evening on my own in the city if I wanted- I could find a hotel, soak in a tub, eat some western food. So I hopped into the nearest Starbucks, ordered a tall latte and some rasin-pudding-torte thing. I think it boils down to wanting to feel competant, but things can be so scary if you don't reach out to other people for help.
When I walked in, the place was coated in a layer of foreigners- hailing (I believe) from Britian. And you know, they weren't very friendly- not to the staff- not to me when they cut in line ahead of me. There's some kind of un-spoken code amungst foreigners- to never really acknowledge each other. Everyone came to China to see a sea of black-haired people, not whitey apparently. Maybe tourists are the same everywhere; annoying. Anyway, after some time and attempting to ask the only person in the Starbucks who didn't speak English where I was on my map, Morten finally calls. We eventually find each other and make our way down to West Lake.
Everything is so pretty in Hangzhou at night (well, save perhaps the crippled beggars). Fountains come out of the lake and change colors and dance to classical music. The mountains and pagodas are lit up and boats shaped like dragons coast across the glassy water. We had some dim sum and found a hotel for the night. Nice hotels- are kind of becoming this guilty pleasure. Its SO nice to be able to take a bath! and eat toast in the mornings! I was pretty tired, but we decided to check out the Hangzhou night life before calling it an evening. And we were not disappointed.
Only a block or so from our hotel was this hopping club with neon lights and a large group of police officers about to enter. We followed them in, down a yellow and orange flashing corridor to a table where it appeared people were talking loudly and paying a cover fee... we stood confused and were ushered inside. Lots of lights- walked into this bar area where scantily clad women were dancing on little platforms. See, that's my fear about going in to loud places with lots of flashing lights. Brothel. But alas, this was no brothel (*whew*).
I like dancing. And the crazy techno bars in this country I've seen are very expensive and play music its almost impossible to dance to. This was the first place I've ever been in this country where lots of people were dancing. And the music was good enough to dance to. And people somewhat knew how to dance. In fact one boy even knew how to dance. When I dance to club music, I like to have fun- swinging each other about and so on. When I tried to dance like this with a boy in Lin'an he left me standing alone on the dance floor shortly after. This boy didn't! And that's how I met my "Chinese boyfriend" that max knows about 20 English words. He is my height, black hair, brown eyes. Slightly dark complexion. We send text messages. In Chinese. Its much faster to send messages in characters... except for the whole - trying to translate words I dont know into Chinese. We actually convey messeges. In Chinese. Sometimes I don't have to use a dictionary. Even though I really can't "talk" to this person, its given me a great incentive to learn more Chinese. Having to actually apply my new words to come up with sentences is wonderful. So, boyfriend may be the wrong word now, but just you wait till my Chinese improves a little.
Today- slept in- took a LONG bath- went to the western grocery store where they sell ACTUAL LITTLE BRICKS OF CHEESE, sliced ham, and french bread. Morten and I were pretty happy campers. And then walked in the rain around West Lake- for what must have been a solid 6-7 miles to the bus station. SO MUCH WALKING IN THIS COUNTRY.
Okay, with that I want to share a quote from one of my student's essays. I've been grading these forever and will finish up this weekend:
"If Obama wins the election, it would be a slam dunk against racism!" - from one of my student's essays about who they would vote for in the American election.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
pi jiu in the rain
I write this with a sigh and a throbbing head. It was a hard night here in Lin'an. Life, was difficult as usual.
Morten and I headed to this restaurant up the street where we would always see tables out on the sidewalk and a large crowd in the evenings. We ordered a bunch of lamb on sticks and the green vegetable I really like. We were greeting by "hellos" from most of the patrons when we arrived, and shortly thereafter the owner of the restaurant came out to tell us he wanted to be our friend and he was very glad to meet us. The food was wonderful, and was periodically interrupted by patrons asking us to 'geng bei' a beer with them (drink a small glass) - which did lead to my favorite green vegetable being coated in beer. After the meal the owner came out again and offered us cigarettes and more beer. Then a bunch of the other patrons sat at our table too and after a few beers I began to understand what they were saying! And then a beer later could not understand anything...
Around 9:30 or so many of the guys had to leave. A police car pulled up to the restaurant and two of the guys climbed inside. Indeed, our newly aquired friends all seem to be members of the local police force! Then a new crowd came in, more geng bei's, I said we didn't have any beer, only to be told that they had brought out a full case which was sitting directly behind me. Morten needed to work at 8 this morning. Shortly thereafter (I think..) the owner brought out a tiny bird that had been seasoned and cooked over an open flame. I kept telling Morten, I did not want to eat the bird. So he pulled off its head, beak and all, and popped it in his mouth. I think we can all agree that bird head is not good for healthy.
I would also like to mention at this point the further respect we have for this wonderful restaurant by the fact that they actually have a western-style toilet. You could go to like a KFC downtown and they would have squatters, but this was a straight up western toilet. Which after a few beers I was probably using every 30 minutes.
It was probably around 11 by the time we sauntered back to the apartment. The people at the restaurant would not allow us to pay for our meal. I have some photos on my mobile phone.. but I can't seem to find the right cord and my head weighs approx. 1000 pounds right now so perhaps ill hold off for a bit.
(Revision: after actually talking to Morten, the Dane, this morning he went to pay but was forced to geng bei a beer instead... so I guess we really do need to go back and pay this evening, probably)
Morten and I headed to this restaurant up the street where we would always see tables out on the sidewalk and a large crowd in the evenings. We ordered a bunch of lamb on sticks and the green vegetable I really like. We were greeting by "hellos" from most of the patrons when we arrived, and shortly thereafter the owner of the restaurant came out to tell us he wanted to be our friend and he was very glad to meet us. The food was wonderful, and was periodically interrupted by patrons asking us to 'geng bei' a beer with them (drink a small glass) - which did lead to my favorite green vegetable being coated in beer. After the meal the owner came out again and offered us cigarettes and more beer. Then a bunch of the other patrons sat at our table too and after a few beers I began to understand what they were saying! And then a beer later could not understand anything...
Around 9:30 or so many of the guys had to leave. A police car pulled up to the restaurant and two of the guys climbed inside. Indeed, our newly aquired friends all seem to be members of the local police force! Then a new crowd came in, more geng bei's, I said we didn't have any beer, only to be told that they had brought out a full case which was sitting directly behind me. Morten needed to work at 8 this morning. Shortly thereafter (I think..) the owner brought out a tiny bird that had been seasoned and cooked over an open flame. I kept telling Morten, I did not want to eat the bird. So he pulled off its head, beak and all, and popped it in his mouth. I think we can all agree that bird head is not good for healthy.
I would also like to mention at this point the further respect we have for this wonderful restaurant by the fact that they actually have a western-style toilet. You could go to like a KFC downtown and they would have squatters, but this was a straight up western toilet. Which after a few beers I was probably using every 30 minutes.
It was probably around 11 by the time we sauntered back to the apartment. The people at the restaurant would not allow us to pay for our meal. I have some photos on my mobile phone.. but I can't seem to find the right cord and my head weighs approx. 1000 pounds right now so perhaps ill hold off for a bit.
(Revision: after actually talking to Morten, the Dane, this morning he went to pay but was forced to geng bei a beer instead... so I guess we really do need to go back and pay this evening, probably)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
pronunciation.. yes, that's how you say it..
Its TUESDAY- you all must know by now that that means I am doing everything in my power to procrastinate working on my lecture tomorrow that covers American history from World War 2 to current events!
Its hot again. Things are blooming. My sinuses were really congested but they are much better now. I really like my freshmen and we're starting to sing a little John Denver to get the students more familiar with rhythm. It makes me leave class in a good mood and give me energy to enjoy the walk home instead of taking the bus.
Things that used to seem so surprising here are becoming less-so. I find it odd if I don't see a truck/modified bicycle with 'truck' bed piled with double its volume of bamboo, paper, garbage, computer parts, ect. Or a baby peeing on the sidewalk. Although the water buffalo in the stream under the bridge on the way home was a little unexpected. What I mean to say is that I need to write down all my observations of odd happenings in China, before I forget that the rest of the world isn't like that. I'd really like to say I'm getting in a groove- you know, things gradually becoming less confusing- but it really depends on the day. Last night I was pumped up after John Denver so I was excited to try out my new Mandarin at the little restaurant by the gate to get some bamboo fried rice to-go. But other days I just want to boil my own jiao zi- because doing that is something I almost understand. Hole away in my wonderful safe apartment and curl up with Rosetta Stone (my Chinese Language program) until everyone outside says something that makes more sense than blardy blardy blardy. Crap, blardy is totally British English. Gahhhhh.
So in this pronunciation class we are working on vowel sounds. Perhaps you are not aware, but compared to the Brits, the American accent has extremely flat vowels. So when my students try to hear the difference between land and lend my students have major trouble. Also- does anyone know if we say merry and marry differently? Because I don't think I do. I feel a lot of pressure on myself when I teach this class... I mean I am teaching the students to talk like me. I am teaching them my specific dialect of English. That's what they will sound like. With all my Wisconsin bagels and all.
This weekend I went with a bunch of Morten's students to some little mountain village. They were very nice, things were very pretty- but as I said before, I was very congested. We played games around the campfire, ate bbq, hiked around, and I played with Sarah and Elisabeth's puppy. He is cute. Good times all around.
Last Sunday I finally went to Qian Wang's tomb- which is literally right behind where I live. One of my students offered to come too- it was really nice having someone along to help translate. I also found out I'm still pretty good at shooting bow too :) I won two bottles of water by getting two bullseyes with a recurve bow :) They randomly had these games set up- as well as old timey Chinese clothing you could get your picture taken in- which certainly will happen eventually.
So, the students are great, I'm just staying extremely busy. We're getting ready for Halloween, so Morten and I are planning on going to Hangzhou to pick up some goods. The English association on campus is sponsoring a Halloween party- and we are probably going to have one too. Its just a matter of finding the perfect costume....
Its hot again. Things are blooming. My sinuses were really congested but they are much better now. I really like my freshmen and we're starting to sing a little John Denver to get the students more familiar with rhythm. It makes me leave class in a good mood and give me energy to enjoy the walk home instead of taking the bus.
Things that used to seem so surprising here are becoming less-so. I find it odd if I don't see a truck/modified bicycle with 'truck' bed piled with double its volume of bamboo, paper, garbage, computer parts, ect. Or a baby peeing on the sidewalk. Although the water buffalo in the stream under the bridge on the way home was a little unexpected. What I mean to say is that I need to write down all my observations of odd happenings in China, before I forget that the rest of the world isn't like that. I'd really like to say I'm getting in a groove- you know, things gradually becoming less confusing- but it really depends on the day. Last night I was pumped up after John Denver so I was excited to try out my new Mandarin at the little restaurant by the gate to get some bamboo fried rice to-go. But other days I just want to boil my own jiao zi- because doing that is something I almost understand. Hole away in my wonderful safe apartment and curl up with Rosetta Stone (my Chinese Language program) until everyone outside says something that makes more sense than blardy blardy blardy. Crap, blardy is totally British English. Gahhhhh.
So in this pronunciation class we are working on vowel sounds. Perhaps you are not aware, but compared to the Brits, the American accent has extremely flat vowels. So when my students try to hear the difference between land and lend my students have major trouble. Also- does anyone know if we say merry and marry differently? Because I don't think I do. I feel a lot of pressure on myself when I teach this class... I mean I am teaching the students to talk like me. I am teaching them my specific dialect of English. That's what they will sound like. With all my Wisconsin bagels and all.
This weekend I went with a bunch of Morten's students to some little mountain village. They were very nice, things were very pretty- but as I said before, I was very congested. We played games around the campfire, ate bbq, hiked around, and I played with Sarah and Elisabeth's puppy. He is cute. Good times all around.
Last Sunday I finally went to Qian Wang's tomb- which is literally right behind where I live. One of my students offered to come too- it was really nice having someone along to help translate. I also found out I'm still pretty good at shooting bow too :) I won two bottles of water by getting two bullseyes with a recurve bow :) They randomly had these games set up- as well as old timey Chinese clothing you could get your picture taken in- which certainly will happen eventually.
So, the students are great, I'm just staying extremely busy. We're getting ready for Halloween, so Morten and I are planning on going to Hangzhou to pick up some goods. The English association on campus is sponsoring a Halloween party- and we are probably going to have one too. Its just a matter of finding the perfect costume....
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
la vida loca
The above picture is from this weekend at the People's Square. Morten and I were quietly enjoying a PBR I'd discovered at a nearby grocery store (honestly, why is that beer here? furthermore- how bad is Chinese beer if we were both really impressed with the smooth taste of a luke warm Pabst Blue Ribbon?) and enjoying the lights from the fountains going off around us. Kids and adults were playing badminton while children scooted around on rollerblades, randomly saying hello. It was very cute and wholesome. Then some of children got a little more ballsy and started saying more - "pleasure to meet you" "what's your name?" "what's your cell phone number?" Suddenly, 25 kids around age 8-12 were hoarding us, asking out shoe size, asking where we from surrounded by a layer of high school students surrounded by gawking parents. The children wanted us to write down our names (literally- we were handing out autographs) and asked Morten to draw different kinds of fruit. An apple and an orange. A watermelon and a banana.I am now teaching pronunciation. Which, if nothing else, has made me annoyingly aware of what it means to have a yankee accent. Saying rest-rant instead of rest-au-rant. Gla-cier instead of gla-ci-er. We make all our words shorter and cut out syllables. I'm afraid after enough time and limited contact with Americans and Canadians I'll come back to the US referring to men as "chappy" and fully pronouncing all my vowels. What a bloody waste of time!
Now for an apartment update. The soy sauce stain has seemingly absorbed through the first layer of carpet and is no longer quite as visible. The 15 yuan lamp I bought kept smoking whenever I turned it on after I replaced the bulb- so I replaced the lamp for 45 yuan. (if you're curious, 15 yuan = $2.195, 45 yuan = $6.59 on 10.14.08)
Vincent, the boy I helped with his speech, won second place at the English Speaking Competition. My absentee ballot arrived today so I can vote in the presidential election- but the people in the international office seem to have a lot of trouble reading cursive and somehow confused "Galston" with "Morten" - even though it definitely had an American flag on it and Morten is very much Danish. Its chilly in the mornings, hot in the afternoon, and cool in the evening - the end of skirt weather is upon me. I'd like to write detailed character descriptions of everyone I've met - as there really are some characters - but that seems a bit tacky for an online blog eh? I'm sure I have much more to write, but I have already committed to a 5AM phone call back home (aka: 6PM). Oh, I would like to mention a little but more about how friendly people are here- I was sitting by myself reading on a bench by the lake on campus when this boy went by on his bicycle and stopped to ask if I spoke Chinese (in Chinese). I attempted to say I didn't and he either asked where I lived or where I was from- to which I fumbled around and I don't think answered- then he said "thank you" and left. A few minutes later he was back- which was good because after he left I thought of a bunch of Chinese phrases and he'd thought of an English phrase- he sat down- he gave me his card- I told him I couldn't read characters- only pinyin - and that was pretty much our conversation. I was waiting for someone I was having lunch with- he arrived- I akwardly said goodbye and that was that. I NEED TO LEARN MORE CHINESE.
Ok, zai jian for now.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
workin lady
As cushy as it was to only work 8 hours/week last month, now that the freshmen are done with their military training I have more than double the classload to make up for it. Eight hours of class Monday- so tired. On that note though, when I'm busy - and stay busy - I think it makes my work better. For my American/British study class things went very well in the first section. Usually I need one class to iron out the wrinkles and it goes much better for my Friday classes. Maybe it went well because they were so fearful after my half hour lecture on plagarism and how I would fail anyone who submitted work they didn't write. (oooh, this subject gets me riled up and spurred a discussion on how I was personally offended if they questioned my intelligence enough to think I would not notice that those were not their own words) This also lends itself to another important issue.
The quest for a Chinese boyfriend. This may be hampered by the fact that it is the girls who are much better students and most boys cannot communicate well in English. Well- if he's handsome right? (hehe, kidding.... )
The Chinese language study needs to intensify but Morten (the Dane) wants us to read and discuss classic English novels and apparently start our own bluegrass band (I can buy a violin/fiddle much cheaper here than having it sent from the US). Add to that the extra class load, and I'm not really sure how I have the time to be typing this blog right now. If I can play bluegrass though, it won't matter if I can speak Chinese as music is universal. I can simply saw I light flowing melody at the restaurant and the fu yuan will know I want to eat fried noodles, bu laode (not hot). Also, by being so removed from people who have my same accent I am worried about 1. losing my accent or 2. forgetting how to speak English. I guess this is where the classic English book club comes in to play.
Alright, back to the grindstone. Essays to grade (more red pens to buy), lesson plans to work out, and showers to take (it really is about time).
The quest for a Chinese boyfriend. This may be hampered by the fact that it is the girls who are much better students and most boys cannot communicate well in English. Well- if he's handsome right? (hehe, kidding.... )
The Chinese language study needs to intensify but Morten (the Dane) wants us to read and discuss classic English novels and apparently start our own bluegrass band (I can buy a violin/fiddle much cheaper here than having it sent from the US). Add to that the extra class load, and I'm not really sure how I have the time to be typing this blog right now. If I can play bluegrass though, it won't matter if I can speak Chinese as music is universal. I can simply saw I light flowing melody at the restaurant and the fu yuan will know I want to eat fried noodles, bu laode (not hot). Also, by being so removed from people who have my same accent I am worried about 1. losing my accent or 2. forgetting how to speak English. I guess this is where the classic English book club comes in to play.
Alright, back to the grindstone. Essays to grade (more red pens to buy), lesson plans to work out, and showers to take (it really is about time).
Friday, October 3, 2008
a world away
Walking Nanjing Street in the Bund district of Shanghai - during National holiday. This is easily the most number of people I've ever seen in my life.
Every day I think I become a little more Chinese. It began innocently enough by using an umbrella when it was sunny out. Then one of my Chinese friends offered me a ride on the rack on the back of his bicycle- which is what all the other Chinese kids were doing- so I wobbled along the mile or so as he pedaled to the gate. Then I watched the Sex and the City movie for free from a Chinese website. I've had my first complete conversation via text message. I am currently sipping my strawberry-banana yogurt through a straw they gave me at the supermarket. And soon I will have a charm to dangle from my cell phone.
Chinese-fication is a gradual process I readily am embracing (except for the tendancy to throw trash everywhere... grrr) but the last few days were a complete and total break from that.
Last night I returned from Shanghai, land of Pizza Huts on every corner, English bookstores selling copies of National Geographic, Starbucks, KFC, skyscrapers, business deals, money, poverty, constant heckling, beer on tap and posh hotels. Everything is so westernized, foreigners everywhere. We'd stopped in Hangzhou on the way to catching the train to Shanghai and at the West Lake (which was CRAZY with tourists) waves of people would say "hello" sometimes followed by a "Welcome to Hangzhou!". My experience has been that most Chinese think America is a wonderful, beautiful place full of nice people. Maybe part of this is their familiarity with American corporations which have provided more jobs, but they really do view America positively. Shanghai was this break from being the white celebrity as white people were so common. Everyone spoke a little English, it had permeated society so fully. Spent lots of money on some clothes, nice hotel, purse, earrings. In Lin'an there isn't a whole lot to spend money on- so I got some of that out of my system. But it also made coming back into Hangzhou kind of a harsh reality when the daunting language barrier was raised again and we had trouble even telling our cab driver where we wanted to go.
On a TOTALLY unrelated note, I found this Japanese TV show when watching Chinese music videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua6LLcqmDnQ
Watch.. if you dare.
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