acrobatics and more class

This past Monday, we went as a group to a Chinese acrobatics show. It was advertised as something "beautiful, novel, odd and thrilling," although I have to admit the most thrilling part (in a negative way) was when one of the acrobats actually almost fell off his equipment that was suspended from the ceiling--it could have ended very badly, but fortunately it didn't. In the lobby, they had a giant poster for the movie Australia with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, which I thought was rather interesting (especially the translations of their names--Hugh Jackman's translation means (syllable by syllable): to rest, heroism, subdue, and handsome. They also had a poster for a movie that had quite possibly the cutest puppy ever on it called "10 Promises to My Dog." Needless to say, I want to see that movie!!

The acrobatics show itself was rather lackluster. What I thought was that there was zero interaction between the sexes the entire show--when women were on the stage, ONLY women were on the stage, and the same for men. The women always did something having to do with flexibility (pulling legs over their heads, fitting 12 people on one bicycle, and so on), whereas the men always had these tribal drums and almost barbaric costumes on as they performed. The acrobatics were cool, but by the end I was kind of expecting it--just thinking, yeah THAT'S no big deal...when really it was I guess. One of the pictures is of one guy being pretty much catapulted backwards up onto a chaise suspended on a pole. The other is a man balancing on some sort of tube and board, holding a younger man doing the same on the table on the bottom guy's shoulders (it's really hard to explain..), as well as two women just hanging out onto the bottom guy.

Other than that, this week has been pretty predictable: going to class. I meet for 20 hours worth of class a week. Each session is 2 hours, and on Tuesday I have 3 straight classes, which means 6 straight hours--it's rough! I'm getting 16.5 credit hours for this though, 15 of which are going toward my major (which is half of the credit requirements for the major!!), so I can finish my Chinese major here. I'm taking Readings in Chinese, Spoken Chinese, Chinese Grammar Mistakes and Chinese Pronunciation, none of which are gripping classes, but they are definitely informative.

This week I learned that, among other things, Mao is revered for his skills calligraphy. We were doing a grammar exercise using an expression to reach the peak, the very best of a discipline. Among those who have reached this status were Shakespeare for his poetry, Beethoven for his music, and...Mao Zedong, for his calligraphy.

One thing I also found entertaining in my class is how apparent the generation gap is between some of my professors. Most are using Powerpoint in class, and it is very clear which ones grasp the concept and which ones don't. My older professors don't quite understand that the point of Powerpoint is to make a presentation, not to leave it in edit mode the entire time (that is, when they can figure out how to make the computer actually connect to the projector). It's not like this is unique to China (this has happened at Notre Dame many a time), but it's just fun to see technological problems solved in an entirely new language, when the "Start" button is the "开始" button, and "My Computer" is "我的电脑".

I've found that (not surprisingly), it's incredibly difficult to blend in around here (especially with my beacon of Westernness, my blonde hair). Obviously, walking around it's hard not to notice that I look different than everyone else. It's one thing to be aware of your own differences with those around you, but to be constantly made aware of them by other people is a whole different game. Staring at foreigners isn't considered taboo here, in fact it is quite the pastime for the locals. Most of the people on campus are used to international students, so my presence is not that much of a special occasion for them, but for others it apparently is. As a group of Westerners, they will watch us do everything and we always wonder what it is that fascinates them so--how we hold our chopsticks? how we eat? how we interact? I suppose it's nice to know we're providing so much food for thought for the locals, but it's definitely quite an experience knowing that we're pretty much constantly being watched.

This weekend, I'm planning to go exploring more around the city, so hopefully I'll have more to report then!

classes

Sorry it has taken me a while to post--I've been quite busy this week with classes, and it's only going to get worse!! (no pictures this time either--sorry!!)

Well, after a 30 minute conversation of talking to the academic dean on Tuesday, I finally convinced him to let me change my Chinese Readings class. However, he made me go to a slightly lower level class than I wanted to, but that other class was far too difficult so I guess too easy isn't too bad.

So my new Chinese Readings class is mostly foreign students (whereas my former class was people who had been living in Beijing for a while). It is in one of the newer buildings on campus (called literally Fourth Teaching Building), so the classrooms are pretty nice. We use a lot of powerpoint presentations for grammar exercises and practicing reading aloud, so it is a lot like class in the States. My one complaint is how small the desks are--they are so low I can hardly fit my legs underneath them and I'm pretty short!

I think I slightly prefer my Spoken Chinese class. There are people in that class from all over the world--the U.S., Cuba, the Philippines, Germany, France, Poland, and more. (The Europeans have formed their own miniature European Union--they have their own special little corner of the room) For that class, I had to research the customs of the Tibetan people and make a presentation about what I learned--mostly, what I found was what they wore (a lot of silk), how they wore their hair (braids, no matter male or female), and that they really enjoy drinking butter tea, a beverage of their own creation that I am not sure I would want to drink regularly. Overall, it was pretty interesting. That class is in an older (but significantly more beautiful, building. It is done in a classic Ming Dynasty-style architecture, as opposed to the other teaching building that looks more like a Western class building.

Now in addition to these classes, I had to register for 2 more classes so that my total hours would equal 20 (the first classes only add up to 14 and I was busy enough this week!!). So on Friday, we had to register for our elective classes. Let me say, as much as I complain about ND's system of assigning online registration times randomly, I now appreciate it much more. Registration for these classes required us to literally wait outside classrooms in lines for over an hour!! It was without a doubt the craziest registration I have ever seen. As soon as I registered for one, I had to run upstairs to see if I could make it into my other class. Luckily, I got into both of my classes that I wanted, but it was extremely stressful!!

This week I also met my tutor for the first time. She is a senior here at Peking University, and she is studying Burmese and Psychology. The way their majors are decided here is much different than in the US. All high school students must take a test to determine if they are fit for university, and if so, which one. You write which university you'd like to attend on your test, and then afterwards you are informed if that is a possibility. For instance, my tutor wrote that she wanted to attend Peking University, and she got a phone call saying that the only way she could attend PU was if she was a Burmese major, based on her score on the placement test. Students of Chinese and English must score extremely well on the test, especially ones that want to attend Peking University (they call it the Harvard of China). So her major was predetermined for her--luckily, she had the chance to pick up a second major, one that she actually enjoys. One of my friends tutors got placed in the archaeology program and HATES it, but she just has to deal with it I guess.

One thing about the students at this university is that they incredibly hard-working. It seems that all they do is study and work--even on weekends!! The university actually turns off all electricity to the student dorms at 11:30 to FORCE them to sleep. Notre Dame is a pretty intense study environment sometimes, but it has never inspired the administration to cut electricity to force them to sleep. It is definitely a different environment over here.

Another thing I have noticed is how creative China is in their employment of their 1.3 billion people. We had quite a bit of snow this past week (or at least comparatively for China--by South Bend standards it was a light dusting), and when it melted the streets were full of puddles. Their solution? Hire people with brooms (made from sort of bamboo stick or something) to sweep the water into the drains. Their methods of shovelling snow are similar in technique. Street cleaners are people with small tongs that walk through alleyways and pick up bits of paper one by one. Deliveries also tend to happen on bicycle, which I guess hires a great many more people than a single semi-truck driver. It seems a little less than modern, but I think it's actually quite creative.

Yesterday afternoon I took advantage of my Bally's membership and went to a Min zu wu (民族舞) class, which I guess roughly translates as ethnic group dances. Yesterday was Mongolian traditional dancing day apparently. We were the only Westerners there, and I think we threw them off a bit. The class was entirely in Chinese (obviously), so there was quite a bit that was lost in translation, but it was fun to try nevertheless. I definitely now have a clearer idea of how unfit for the world of dance I am--I'm not sure there was even a moment in which all of my limbs were in the correct position. Thankfully, the old ladies and instructor were really nice to us while we were there, and spared their laughter until we were out of the room but still within earshot.

Well last night (Friday night), we decided to go to the student university hangout area, Wudaokou (五道口）. We went to a local Chinese bar called Propaganda, and since we were foreigners we got in free! (I guess having foreigners makes them look good?) We were definitely made aware of being different (especially me, being the only blonde). Staring at foreigners is definitely not taboo in China--so needless to say, we got a few stares. They were actually playing a lot of American hip-hop music, and I think the highlight of the night was a bunch of Chinese guys trying to break dance, which is approximately what it would look like if I tried to break dance (translation: horrible). But it was definitely entertaining :-)

Unfortunately, I've managed to catch a cold and have lost my voice (it's going around everyone in CIEE--it's been very cold here!!). Luckily, my roommate has been making me some good tea to soothe my throat, so I should be better in no time :-) Everyone is planning to go do karaoke tonight, which in Asia is very different than in the US (you get private rooms and everything, thus eliminating the need for public humiliation. It gives it a decidedly different feel...). So I'm bummed I've lost my voice, but hopefully I'll feel up to going to karaoke anyway!!

first class

I just got out of my first class here at Peking University. I must be an excellent guesser, because I may have guessed my way into a class that is well beyond my ability. It may be because it has been so long since I have studied Chinese in an academic environment, but that class was definitely a little difficult for me. Now the question is if it is worth it for me to stay in the class and struggle to get a most likely mediocre grade, or switch to a class that is slightly easier in which I can excel. I already have quite a bit of homework to do, and this is only one class!

This is going to be quite a semester.

[Sorry, I don't have pictures this time :-(]

Side Note: I went to my Bally's for the first time today, and oh boy was the locker room a treat. The last thing I expected was for Chinese women to be more open than Western women in the locker room, but my oh my was I wrong. I walked in and there were just naked women, young and old, just chilling out in the locker room. It was quite an experience. Next time I'll at least have time to brace myself before being bombarded by mass nudity.

tian'anmen and the forbidden city

This morning (Saturday), we took a trip to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City (where the emperor used to live). I've already been on my last trip to China, but I decided to go again because it's always worth it. I'll just post some of the pictures so you guys can get an idea of what it looks like.

statue outside of Mao's Mausoleum honoring soldiers

these hats were being sold by every vendor there was on Tian'anmen Square

outside the front gate into the Forbidden City

This is a male lion. The Chinese believe it is necessary to have balance between yin (feminine)and yang (masculine), so there is a male and female lion to have balance. This is the male because you can see under its right paw it holds a globe, indicating his power to rule the world.
This is the female lion, which you can tell because she holds a cub under her left paw.

This in the rear of the Forbidden City in the Imperial Garden. These trees are special because they have intertwined with one another, representing marriage. Because we visited this on Valentine's Day, lots of couples lined up to take a picture with these trees.

And that's about it!

our first big adventure around town

The day began with more of the same--we had textbook distribution (I placed into high intermediate classes, which is probably about right), a welcome luncheon and a group photo. When that was finally over, we were all clueless as to what we wanted to do. Finally, we decided on getting a traditional Chinese massage. Unfortunately, we had no clue where we were going.

Getting to the subway was an adventure in itself. We had been walking for quite some time in what we thought was the right direction, but we were sorely mistaken. We stopped to ask two young women where the subway station was, and they actually volunteered to walk us there. Without their help, I honestly think we would still be searching for it. When we finally got to the subway station, none of us really knew how to get where we needed to go, so that took even longer. Luckily, we finally figured it out and weaved our way through Beijing.

We eventually found our massage parlor, Bodhi. Most of us got a traditional Chinese massage, which was my first massage ever! They gave us cotton pajamas and everything, and I was so comfortable I just wanted to spend the night there. The massage was a little hard (I'm still sore in my lower back), but for the most part it was really relaxing.

The massage parlor was in the area of the Worker's Stadium, so we walked over to see that for a few minutes and got some pictures of the famous statue there. Next, we kept walking down that street and stumbled upon an area called Sanlitun, where a bunch of Western stores (like United Colors of Benetton and Apple) and bars are. We walked around for a while (it was freezing!), and then we found a noodle bar that we all wanted to try. However, said noodle bar was on the second floor, and there was no clear entrance to this place. No ladder, no stairs...hardly even a functioning front door. So after a while of staring at the place with confused looks on our faces, we decided to call them. The man came to the window and on the telephone guided us to his restaurant, which mean going into a dark, sketchy alleyway and finding the right door. There was no sign that even remotely advertised which one it was. It was definitely an experience. But the noodles were good, so I guess that is all that counts.

After that, we visited Wudaokou, a kind of student district with restaurants and bars. We didn't stay long because everything was so packed, but it was fun.

a little fall of rain

This morning (Thursday), we had our 2 hour placement test, which I'm convinced would be impossible no matter how long we had studied Chinese. Needless to say, I'm less than confident, given that probably over 50% of my responses were complete guesses. We'll see how they place me with THAT one. After that, all of us were supposed to meet our tutors, but mine didn't show. So I had a mini-tour of campus with one of the students from CIEE instead of with my tutor.
It's a rainy day in Beijing today, which is pretty rare because this city is so dry. Apparently, the rain will help with the pollution...I hope. We'll see tomorrow.


Well for lunch, we went to a hot pot place. This place had the strangest contraption for a hot pot I had ever seen--it had this giant chimney that sparks would fly out of while it was boiling. It was definitely different. Tasty, but strange.

Since it was wet and cold outside, my roommate and I had every intention of staying inside and cuddling up with our Asian Oreos and watching movies, but some girls across the hall wanted to go to dinner so tagged along. After walking around in the area a bit, we stumbled upon a Korean BBQ place that had a lot of locals in it, so we decided to give it a whirl. I know it isn't clear in the picture, but on one of the walls there were posters of Audrey Hepburn, Che Guevara, Bob Marley and The Godfather. ON THE SAME WALL. I love Chinese versions of American culture.

I had vegetarian fried rice and it was delicious. Everyone else had all different kinds of skewered meats--beef, lamb, chicken hearts, the whole shebang. I think I ate dinner for about 2 bucks, and each of the skewers for the girls was 1 RMB, which is 1/7 of a dollar. Food is just dirt cheap here--it's awesome!!

And once again, I found Santa decorations!

day 2: hutongs, bats, and smoked gouda

Well I discovered yesterday how unpredictable our internet here is...it was working one minute, and the next it decided to just not work period. For the entire day. So today, get to tell you about yesterday.

The day began with another orientation meeting (blech). However, in the afternoon, we all went on a visit to the 胡同 (hutong) area of Beijing. It's an area in which about 30% of Beijing's population lives, and basically they are just alleyway after alleyway of small "houses" (usually about 2-5 rooms, with about 6-8 families living in one compound). We got a rickshaw ride to our first destination, visiting a local.

The man we visited shared 5 rooms with himself, his wife and their adorable dog (who pretty much immediately jumped up on my lap and I petted him for the remainder of the visit). By hutong standards, his residence was very spacious, seeing that most families get only 2 rooms for many people. To give you some perspective, one of their rooms, the "kitchen", was literally as wide as the stove and had only enough room for one person to be in it. It was really more of a closet, but it technically counts as a room.

This particular man was on "welfare", meaning that the government subsidized his rent to make his life there affordable. He makes his money by selling his paintings, which are brilliant. He mixes traditional Chinese painting with oil painting techniques and the result is amazing. I really wanted to buy this painting of the cranes and blossoms, but someone beat me to it! His paintings of the lotus flower (the blue and red painting) won some national award from the government or something! (I didn't completely understand...he spoke really fast). He also had an Obama Biden pin in his cabinet and a longhorn on his wall. His wife was like nowhere to be seen the entire time.

Next, we left that place and went to another place for lunch. We had an old woman and her daughter cook us a homemade meal for lunch. They served us a TON of food, plus Tsingtao, coke or jasmine tea. One thing I have discovered is that vegetarianism is a very loose concept here. We were the vegetarian group (there were only like 5 of us so we were mixed in with the meateaters), so when we told the lady that we didn't eat meat, she asked if chicken was okay. Because it is still kind of an agrarian society, meat is viewed as a sign of wealth, so not eating it is not quite comprehensible to them. Anyway, she served us a bunch of food, including ketchup-marinated cauliflower (interesting), the REAL kung pao chicken (which I heard was tasty), and my favorite of favorites: veggie dumplings. Overall, it was a very tasty meal, and it was good to see how locals would eat/live.

After we 吃了午饭 (ate lunch...I'll have you recognizing chinese characters soon!), we went to a temple. Apparently, the temple used to be used as a private music conservatory, but recently was renovated into a public area. This temple was very much into bats--there was a bat pond (pictured...it's not actually a bat pond, but the pond is shaped like a bat), and most of the carvings on the walkways were shaped like bats. This is China, so of course there is a reason why. The reason bats are so important is because the word for bat (蝙蝠 bian1fu2), sounds similar to the word for to become rich (变幅 bian4fu2).

Inside the temple area was a government-owned teahouse, where we had a mini-tea ceremony. We got to try 5 different kinds of tea, my favorite of which was probably the lychee black tea. Here's something I learned: To drink the tea (not with our coffee mugs, but the actual small tea cups they use), you hold the cup with three fingers, with the middle finger on the bottom of the glass. Men fold their ring finger and pinky in, because this symbolizes the dragon (a symbol of masculinity and power). Women leave those two fingers out because it symbolizes the phoenix (a symbol of femininity and nobility). We took our rickshaws back to our bus stop and that was the end of our visit to the hutongs.

Last night, I went walking around the area with some other girls in the program to find a restaurant. After exploring a bit, we found a restaurant that looked tasty (i.e. lots of locals were inside), so we decided to give it a whirl. We ordered way too much food and paid about 3 dollars a piece for it. My favorite was a mystery vegetable pictured here...the only bad thing was that the tofu tasted like smoked gouda. Not my fave. But it was much better than last night's meal, so I'm happy!

first day

I'm not quite sure what day this counts as...my body is still definitely on Central time.

The plane ride was interesting--the movie selection was pretty terrible. The first movie I watched was A Body of Lies with Leonardo DiCaprio. I have to say, I wasn't that impressed. After that, I watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which was a really bad choice. It was a movie about a child who befriends another child...only the child is in a NAZI DEATH CAMP in WWII Europe. Baaad decision for a 13.5 hour flight. So I didn't watch any other movies. However, we flew over the North Pole and down through Siberia, so that provided some good window-watching. It was incredibly beautiful. I got a little concerned when I could start seeing the pollution in the air...once we started flying over the Beijing area, there was a distinct line in the sky between the blue and the more brownish air. Not exactly environmentally friendly.

When we got to the airport, we had to get our passports checked before we could really go anywhere. I loved the sign--FOREIGNERS. Not Non-Chinese citizens. Very blunt. Very welcoming. But the airport is beautiful--and brand new for the Olympics!

When our shuttle bus pulled up to where we are staying, it was to this WICKED nice lobby area with marble and chandeliers and everything and all of us were just in a state of disbelief...we were soo excited. And then the guide showed us around the back and out to another building...no marble this time.

This is the hallway to my room...

So it was a little less than inviting. But once we figured out how the lights worked (I seem to have a problem doing that in Asia...), everything was fine. My mattress is as hard as a rock, and I'm too tall for the showerhead, but other than that the room is pretty nice. My roommate (Evelyn) is really nice, so that's always a good bonus.

So today we had to wake up really early for orientation (boo). Then we sat there for 3 hours and talked about life in Beijing and adjusting to culture shock and all that jazz. The good news was that they provided breakfast (dim sum) and "grape juice"(which was actually grape, asparagus, red pepper, bok choy, apple, carrot and various other produce items' juice).

After that was over we all went to a pizza/buffet restaurant, decorated with American cultural relics (including Audrey Hepburn, Jason X and Pearl Harbor...all on the same wall). It was also still decorated for Christmas...?

After that we had to return for one more lecture on capitalizing on our experience in China. The lecture was given by the professor of Intercultural Communication here, so it was mainly focused on understanding ourselves, our culture, and Chinese culture. Overall, I was just extremely tired and didn't want to pay attention to just about anything, but I thought he said something really interesting. He had a thing for using food analogies (cultures are onions), so he decided to use food to describe American and Chinese cultures. Apparently, as Americans, we are peaches. We have a soft exterior, but a very hard center. He used the example of talking for hours with someone at the airport, someone whose name he didn't know. However, he said, our private lives are kept very secret. If someone digs too deep into family, relationships or into our core values, we are generally more tough and unwilling. On the other hand, the Chinese are apparently like a coconut--a very tough exterior, but soft on the inside. The Chinese take a while to get to know you, but once you're allowed into their world, they are much more open.

I thought that was interesting.

Also, here is a short list of things I should not do (as far as adjusting to Chinese culture is concerned)

1) make eye contact with people

2) smile at a man (they get the wrong idea)

3) initiate physical contact with a man--even a handshake (they REALLY get the wrong idea)

4) mention the three T's: Tian'anmen, Taiwan and Tibet

5) freely express my beliefs about gender relations or sexuality (the Chinese very recently removed homosexuality from their list of mental illnesses...woo boy I wonder what the Gender Studies departments would look like over here if they existed...)

After that whole session was over, we went walking around town. We joined the local Bally's and exchanged money which takes surprisingly long when you just don't have that vocablary set...

Then we were supposed to go to a certain area of town and fill out a questionnaire about it (for a special surprise...a carabiner!)

Well we decided to go on the hunt for things we actually needed--like cell phones. Two hours and 4 very frustrated people (including a poor salesman who spoke WAY too fast for any non-native to even endeavor to understand him) later, we had successfully bought phones, Sim cards and minutes. It was intense...but at least now we have phones. On our way back, we saw the venue for the Olympic ping-pong events--it was a such a mega stadium for an event like ping-pong...apparently they take that very seriously.

After that, I went to dinner and had my first epic dinner fail. I asked for whatever on the menu didn't have meat or fish. Then they brought this small plate of veggies and little shrimp. Everyone thought it was just like a snack thing before we got our food, so they dug in. I didn't have any because of the shrimp...turns out, that was my meal. Sprite for dinner!

We stopped at a baker after that... "Delicious Cake"...shaped like a skull. This is Ace of Cakes gone horribly wrong...

Last, we went to the campus mini-mart, Wumei, where I found my life's desire: a life size stuffed Fuwa (the Beijing 2008 Olympic mascots) HUANHUAN! (they also had Yingying, but he's not quite as cute)

Fortunately for my bank account, that particular stand was closed. But I cannot tell you how much I want that thing. If they had the panda Jingjing, that thing would be SOLD.

And that was Day 1 in China...More to come!!