The Wild American Magazine Chase, The Forbidden City, and other Stories

Hello all!

It has been a while since I last blogged, in part because I have been out seeing Beijing more, which means I have to study more efficiently, which makes me pretty tired. Also, I caught a cold this week, which also kept me drinking lots of fluids and trying to take better care of myself. But now my cold is almost completely gone and my Sunday is pretty free, so I thought I'd let you guys know what I've been up to a little bit! This is the Forbidden City. As one of my lessons explains, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Beijing, so it is always crowded with people.
The Forbidden City (or Gu Gong) is huge--this is one corner courtyard but they extend almost as far as you can see. I am not sure how best to explain it. You keep walking and there are just more and more of them. Being in places like this always makes me imagine what it used to look like in its prime. What were people wearing? What did they do?
The detail on the buildings is amazing. These are animals--there is a good story behind this that my teacher told us but I usually understand about 30% of what they say, so it is not enough to repeat it for you guys.
I hardly ever give you all pictures of me, so here's one! These are classmates and friends and schoolmates, and two teachers. We have a good time.
Whenever I see beautiful gardens, I want to take pictures for my mom. I loved this one. I probably could have spent another two hours at the Forbidden City at least looking at things I didn't get to see, like more gardens, but we were tired at this point and had to go home. Next time!

There is so much more I want to tell you about. Last weekend we went to a village in the country and stayed with people there. Their houses have been converted to be able to welcome tourists. They cooked for us, and we climbed a mountain and saw pagodas. Also there were cute dogs.

Then, Wednesday was my roommate's birthday, so after class I embarked on a quest to find her an American magazine under the pretext of "going somewhere else to study." Three subway stops and two bookstores later, I found a rack with Newsweek, the Economist, Time, and Vogue.
It was a good adventure and it forced me to use my Chinese to ask for directions and help.

Finally, I started work on my research project, which involves going to historical neighborhoods and interviewing people who live there about what they think about tourism in their neighborhoods. My Chinese is good enough to ask the questions I want to ask, but not good enough to understand the responses fully, so a teacher went with me to help with the hard parts.

All of these last three adventures have pictures and more stories, so if we are lucky I'll elaborate later this week.

Disclaimer

I want to take a short short second to acknowledge that this blog is an account of my totally subjective experience in Beijing. Some of the things I talk about I could be misunderstanding, and sometimes I could be completely wrong! I hate making generalizations (all Chinese do this, that, etc., all foreigners are like this), but it's easy to do in such a strange and new situation. So anyway I'll do my best to avoid generalizations, and give you the best account I can of my experiences. One thing that I think sucks about blogging is that there is no editor. So before you publish, no one tells you whether or not you sound like a jerk or you're full of crap or it's too long or you have grammar errors. You find that out after other people read it. And I am not the best at editing my own stuff. Okay disclaimer over.

Other than that--I was able to get out a little this week. I hung out with Yanan, the girl at the donut shop, and saw a couple of games of Paralymic soccer. I have pictures, but it takes forever to put them up and we have a test tomorrow I need to study for. So this weekend expect pictures and more fun times from your friend in Beijing, Jennifer S.................M...............

Dumplings

Today I went by myself to get dumplings (or jiaozi) for lunch. I am getting less and less afear'd of talking with regular people, so I am not clinging to other students for help as much as I did last week. Anyway, at the dumpling place, a guy sitting there just hanging out told me my jeans were cool and asked me how much they cost. Now I got these jeans for around 6 dollars at a secondhand store in America and I had no idea how to explain that, or whether or not he wanted the price in dollars or renminbi. So I just stood there all speechless. Anyway eventually I managed to explain that they were very cheap because they were secondhand, and they asked me if I went to the local university (yes), and I think it all went well. But I was still really confused most of the time. I like to think that three to five months from now I will be able to sit and have lunch and chat it up with the regulars, but we'll see.

Speaking of chatting it up with the regulars, I am beginning to realize that if you let it, ACC will control your entire life, leaving no time for that sort of fun. Homework takes hours every day, and you are surrounded for the most part by other American students. If you want, they plan sightseeing on the weekends with teachers. Sometimes I don't even feel like I'm in Beijing, just this weird building in nowhereland where a bunch of people get together and study Chinese.

I get that feeling in college too sometimes--when you are so caught up in your work and never leave your dorm, you start to feel like you aren't really existing in a tangible world. It's worse in China though, because I came here to experience China, not just learn Chinese. In addition, only using Chinese with my American classmates is never going to help me improve drastically because we all use the simplest easiest language to get across what we need to say.

The point is, I think I need to get out a little more. I want to be able to use what I'm learning with people on the street, but also to taste smell touch and see a little more of Beijing than I did this past week. That is what I hate about dormitories--in Pittsburgh and here--they really inhibit the full use of the senses. So...I'll keep you updated on how this goes.

More Pictures Deng Deng

Tiananmen Square. I didn't get any really great pictures because this was the same day as the park trip and by this time I was exhausted--also there was nowhere to sit down. It's basically just a huge open space surrounded by museum-y type buildings with lots of people milling around and a big ol' picture of Chairman Mao on the front of the Tiananmen--the building in this picture.
This is part of the gardens in Tiananmen Square built for the Olympics. They are really pretty, and the reason there are not a million people in this picture is that it is actually separated off by that yellow line. In other areas the yellow line was closer, so you couldn't get a picture without a million peoples' heads in the way.
This is St. Joseph's or the Dongtang Cathedral. You can read a little bit about it's history here. It was closed when we went but I'd like to go back when it is open sometime.
Okay this is a huge statue of Yao Ming on a building. Yeah. I am thinking it is just for the Olympics, but we'll see.
And these are the infamous scorpions (and sea horses) fried on a stick. No, I did not eat them. I probably won't. But you can buy these on a street where you can buy many kinds of food on sticks, like really delicious looking roasted corn.

Well that was pictures for today. We had our first test which wasn't too hard, and then I spent today mostly resting from the long week. I also washed my clothes by hand because it seems the washing machine will stretch them out or something, so it's only good for t-shirts and jeans. My digestive system hasn't been happy for like a week now, but it's not a huge problem. I am going to cook my own food for the first time tomorrow so I can start to get more vegetables in my diet. Oh! And I am taking two extracurriculars taught by our ACC teachers--Chinese cooking and taichi. Also, we met our Chinese host mom. She was very nice but communication is kind of hard. Hopefully I'll get to do some cool stuff with her family.

This week I spent so much time in my room studying that I barely realized I was in China. I hope there will be more time for interacting with people and exploring as I get more accustomed to my work.

My Classes (this entry might be a little boring)

Hello friends:

My mom wanted to know about what classes are like so here you go:

We have four classes:

da ban ke: big lecture (10 students)

first there is a small quiz--they say words and we have to write the characters, and they can pick any of your 40-70 vocab words from the night before so you have to know them.
then they go over the material and tell you other ways to use it.

today for example, our lesson taught us how to say "chinese people fondly remember/miss the word "comrade/tongzhi" because you can use it for all kinds of people, men women old and young, and they are all equal, but now they have different words for those things."
then in class we learned how to say "chinese people fondly remember/miss/cherish the memory of Mao Zedong"

sometimes they talk quickly but if you have already studied the material the night before you can keep up pretty easily. also a lot of it is written on the board.

xiao ban ke: small lecture, call and response sorts of things (4 students)

this is like a drill--they ask questions and we answer using the last night's material
for example--we learned how to say "the word tongzhi is one of china's special characteristics"
then the teacher asked "what is one of america's special characteristics?"
and I answered "George W. Bush says that freedom is one of america's special characteristics." because we also learned how to say George W. Bush in our big lecture today.

etc etc (or deng deng in chinese)

dui hua ke: conversation class (2 students)

in this class we are given a topic to discuss with the other student and we have to use the day's vocabulary and grammar patterns. the teacher interacts with the conversation, asking some questions and correcting mistakes. today we had to pick an address like "comrade/tongzhi" that's connotations have changed in America. I chose why some women use Ms. instead of Miss or Mrs., which is really fun and hard to talk about in Chinese. but anyway i had to explain this to my partner who had actually never heard of this happening.
apparently a similar thing exists in china, where you used to call young women xiaojie (just like miss-not married etc), but now many women prefer nushi (which is more like ms.-could be married or not married, sort of neutral-less of a "young" sense to it).


dan ban ke: individual instruction (1 student)

absolutely my favorite class--you discuss with the teacher different things using the day's vocab etc. but you can also ask other questions and it is very helpful and lively. also, this is where you work on your independent project. mine is on tourism and culture. i will be interviewing people (in chinese!) who live in traditional housing areas in beijing or work in tourismy places there like hotels/restaurants about what they think about tourism there and changes in their culture because of it etc.

okay that was longer than i thought. hopefully informative. pictures next time of tiananmen square and maybe the forbidden city if i go with the school this weekend.

Donut Friend and Another Park

This is the girl who works at the donut shop I told you about. I want to go back and talk to her again, but right now my homework is taking over my life--4-6 hours a night. I'm still not quite accustomed to it and I'm really tired, so I probably won't do anything interesting for the next few days--just homework.
The next four pictures were taken at Dongdan Park. We went there Saturday (classes started today so I wasn't exhausted and busy yet). The best thing about parks is that mostly retired people (but some other people too) do all kinds of interesting exercises and other stuff--dancing, singing, playing instruments, doing all three of those at the same time. They are nice enough to let you try and they think it is hilarious. See below.
In the park there are a few (maybe four?) buildings like this. I am pretty sure they are all Buddhist shrines/temples, but it is hard to tell what things are when your teachers only speak Chinese with you. One had a big stone buddha in it, but the other ones don't, because they were taken by western troops around 1900. You maybe have seen one in a museum. I think I have. The temples all have fresh coats of paint, which some people might think is inauthentic. I probably can't say that because my research project has taught me that authenticity is kind of what you want it to be--for example, you could say an authentic temple would be one that's about to fall apart and be gone forever, or you could argue that an authentic temple in modern times would be repainted and have people selling souvenirs inside. So I don't know.
Okay this is what I was talking about before. It is a game like tug of war--these two guys are each holding one end of a long jumprope behind their back with their right hands. you can kind of see it if you look really close. They each pull as hard as they can in different directions to try to get the other guy to move his feet. If the other guy moves his feet, the first guy wins. It looks really painful because there is a rope rubbing on your skin pretty hard.
In this picture you can see one of my ACC classmates attempting to play. The guy he is playing against has his shirt pulled up, so you can see the welts on his skin that are apparently from playing this game. The judge in the middle was playing in the last picture. You can probably see that there are many many more people watching in the second picture. That is because it is really funny to watch young foreigners play games with retired Chinese men and lose terribly.

Speaking of being a foreigner, it is still pretty common to be the only foreigner on the street here. Most people don't care because Beijing is pretty connected to the outside world and foreigners come here a lot. Interestingly though, toddlers often will stare for a long period of time. I guess you learn at a pretty young age who looks like you and who really really doesn't look like you.

Language Pledge

We started the language pledge yesterday. It was exciting at first, but now it sucks.
I realized I can't say anything! I get nervous so I say hello when I mean goodbye and I didn't understand the cashier at the fast food chinese restaurant when she said 12 (the price of my food). a girl next to me corrected me in english pretty abruptly. I guess I was holding up the fastness of the food with my ignorance. Anyway everything is embarrassing. Apparently this stage lasts for two to three weeks. Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!
But I took yoga again today. I think it will bring me a little peace every now and again.
The next three days I don't have too much to do. I hope I can see some cool stuff, take pictures, and write you about it. But then I have to talk to people! We'll see :)

pictures, placement tests and kendeji

this is my dormitory and where I have classes!
ten of us went out for a "casual" lunch after our teachers took us for a tour. At Chinese restaurants you order a bunch of food and everybody shares. This place was the best tasting food so far--roasted asparagus with spicy peppers, chicken with nuts, seaweed with nuts, some potato and eggplant thing, spare-ribs, wonton soup, etc. etc. Also, we split the bill ten ways and it came down to about 20 kuai or 3 US dollars each. It is wonderful to eat so well for so cheap!
This crazy looking building is in my neighborhood. It is still being finished and when it is done it will be the CCTV (China Central Television or something) headquarters. I walk past it all the time and I still can't really believe it exists. I would like to go in that top weird corner at some point but I am guessing I will not be able to.
Chinese ad for Maidanglao--McDonalds! Note the drumsticks exploding out of the bag. I would not be sad if I didn't go to Maidanglao or Starbucks the entire time I am here, although I have already been to Pizza Hut, KFC, and Walmart. It is fun to compare and contrast. But starbucks is expensive!
This is the scene of one of my favorite China adventures so far: the donut shop. They look pretty authentic, don't they? they taste pretty authentic too. Apparently the guy who owns it is married to a taiwanese woman who learned how to make them from americans, and they make them above the store. I definitely plan to go back because I also made a friend there. I will put a picture up of her next time but this time it would only let me do five pictures for some reason.

We started the language pledge today and took our spoken placement test. written placement test and results tomorrow! I'll let you guys know.

Tonight I am going to try and take yoga at the gym. Should be interesting at least because they teach it in Chinese.

the greatest power the Internet has is to reveal just how little people care about what we write

the title to this blog entry is a quote that can be found at today's article on Savage Minds, the anthropology blog which I really enjoy reading and which I will now link to on the side of this page. It comes from an interesting blog entry that talks about how even though the internet makes writing blogs and creating groups much easier, we don't have time to really get into very much of it. i think that depends on how much time we spend on facebook, but that's just me.

today I finally didn't feel completely scared in China. I went to a store that said "Donut Shop" in English and to my surprise they had delicious american-style donuts. I spent about two hours talking to the girl who worked there IN CHINESE! I used my dictionary a lot but it was really exciting. She didn't speak much English and she was really bored because not too many people go to the "Donut Shop" (Chinese don't like things that are too sweet, and it is in an awkward location for foreigners).

I was so pumped about this that I went to the Kodak store to get passport pictures and managed to order them in Chinese, and bought some office supplies in a tiny little office supplies store.

My confidence was punctured a little when I went to join the gym and I didn't understand anything the guy said. Thankfully so many ACC students go there I knew what to do, but still, it was depressing.

My roommate and I ate at Pizza Hut tonight. It was our last meal where we could talk in English so we just decided to go for the American food too. The veggie pizza had corn, pineapple, mushrooms, tomato, and green pepper and was very very good. They had a seafood pizza too with just about any animal you can eat out of a shell on it, and escargot as an appetizer. In China Pizza Hut is a fancy affair--people get all dressed up and you sit down and they treat you very well. They also have McDonalds and KFC but those are fast food like we know it.

i have more mosquito bites than i ever have had at one time in my life. tomorrow i start the language pledge. more adventures to come!