老学生（The Old Student) (lao xuesheng)

The returning students in my program are looked to as a source of knowledge the first couple days of class. They become your best friends when your realize they know where to find the closest ATM  or how to order in the local restaurant. I admit last semester I relied heavily on the 老学生。However, the tables have turned for this new semester. All of the sudden I’m the wise guy on campus. I’m the guy who ends up leading tours to Wal-mart for some necessity shopping. Its a scary thought, I know!

Returning to China for a second time has allowed me to realize the progress I’ve made studying abroad. Remembering back to the first few days of first semester is almost scary with how little I knew. I’m glad to not have to go through that intense culture shock again. Hopefully, my progress will be even greater this semester knowing that I don’t have such a steep learning curve.

Time for a funny/disturbing/unfortunate story. I left the majority of my belongings in the basement of my dorm over winter break to avoid the hassle of lugging everything back to America and then to Europe.  When I went to retrieve my luggage, I was told that there is a likely chance that all my stuff was infested with little mites.  So I was told to spray my belongings with a “safe” insecticide.  However, I wasn’t comfortable spraying down my clothes with an insecticide from China.  So I opted to pour boiling water over all my clothes, wash my clothes and then let them dry.  This process took a good four hours seeing as I had to boil the water with my teapot.  This was definitely an unwelcomed start to the semester. I can only hope now that I got rid of the little guys.

Hello Again!

On the train to Xi'an

The Chinese have a saying “好久不见” (haojiu bujian). It directly translates as “long time, no see.”  I’ve created a new saying “long  time, no write.” I think this saying accurately describes my recent blogging behavior and with that I apologize for slacking off and not keeping everybody up to date on what’s been going on in China. My plan is too crank out a few blog posts in the next couple of weeks  in order to get everyone caught up on what I’ve been up to. Let’s start with my trip to Xi’an (about a month ago!).

Xi’an is a beautiful city that acted as the capitol of China for many years. My program arranged for us to visit the history-rich city for five days. Perhaps one of the most interesting experiences of the trip was the process of getting there. Xi’an is about a 14 hour trip by train. Taking a train in China is a must. It gives you a unique perspective into the lives of ordinary Chinese people.  Here’s a quick overview of the most interesting parts of the train experience…

-The bathrooms are typical squat toilets that absolutely reek. I think it might be because there is a broom (used to help get the “waste” down the toilet) in the small stall that hasn’t been cleaned in a while.

-Boiling water is available on the train. So everybody stocks up on bowls of noodles before the trip.

- My program splurged and arranged for a soft sleeper on the way to Xi’an. The soft sleepers have four beds in a room and are actually quite comfortable. That being said, the other three times I’ve been on a train (also went to Najing) the program directors arranged hard sleepers which accommodate 6 people to a room. Let’s just say I didn’t sleep as well the last three train trips.

-Everyone passes time by playing some kind of game. Card games are the most popular. But I did see some people playing a Mahjong, a Chinese game involving domino-like pieces.

-Lights out at 11:00 pm sharp. Lights and music on at 6:00 am or 7:00 am, depending on the train.

I’m not going to bore you with all the historical sites that I visited. However, the Terra-cotta warriors were very impressive and by far my favorite attraction.

Terra Cota Soldiers

In addition to being relatively cheap, Chinese hotels have some interesting features. The two hotels I’ve been to require that you put your room key in an electricity slot while you are in your room if you want to have electricity. It took my roommate and I a little while to figure this one out and where quite puzzled why the all the lights wouldn’t turn on.

Xi’an has two speciality dishes that I ate every night I was there. The first is called yangrou paomo, crumbled unleavened bread soaked in mutton stew. The second is called roujiamo, which I refer to as the Chinese hamburger. It’s the same bread as used in the above dish. However, its stuffed with delicious fatty pork and spicy green peppers.  You can buy both of them together for about $1.50.

My favorite restaurant was called 老孙家 (Lao Sun Jia). It is famous for its authentic yangrou paomo. Also, this restaurant originally opened during the Qing dynasty! Make sure to check out some of the pictures I’ve uploaded.

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Master of Negotiation

Front Entrance to the Hongqiao Market

This Tuesday my program has arranged for me and my classmates to visit Xi’an. Since we’ll be there for almost a week, I figured I needed a suitcase bigger than my backpack but smaller than my enormous football bag. So I went shopping at Hongqiao marketplace to pick one up. Hongqiao is famous for the pearl stores in the upper levels and the live fish/snake/frog market in the basement. After I arrived, I was bummed to find that the live market had been removed. The middle floors are filled with a bunch of small vendors selling everything from Chinese games, to purses, to electronic equipment. Floors 1 and 2 would be VERY dangerous to a woman’s wallet! Fortunately, I didn’t need any shoes, earrings, or purses. So I wandered to the luggage section.

I already knew I didn’t want to buy a fake suitcase. They had a hugh selection of “Samsonite”  luggage, none of which were real. I wanted some legit Chinese brand luggage that will last for a while. One thing that is very different about shopping in China is that there is no such thing as a set price.  EVERYTHING is negotiable. For example, my suitcase “costs” 560 RMB or a little under$100 USD. I told the lady “that’s a ridiculous price.”  She conceded and said, “okay okay, I give you good price! only 400 RMB.” She was surprised when I argued back in Chinese and offered a lower price of 350 RMB. This process went on for about 10 minutes before I told her “I’m going to go to to the next vendor and give them my money just to spite you.”  As I was walking away she came running after me and agreed to the price I wanted (150 RMB or a little over $20 USD). I could tell I got a decent deal because she was a little angry with me as I walked off with my new, spiffy Chinese suitcase.

The bargaining can get to be overwhelming in China. The vendors will often start by charging you 5x the actual price of an item. They’ll charge you 10x the actual price if you look like a gullible foreigner. It’s a tiring process that I can only endure for a couple hours. In addition to the bargaining, there is just so much stuff and so many people trying to get you to buy the stuff that it really drains your energy. However; the upside is that there really are good deals to be had. Like I said before, if you are a woman and want/need the latest “designer” looking purse, shoes, jewelry or anything else, you can’t beat Chinese prices!

While at the market place, I discovered you could access the rooftop. On top of the building there was a little park with caged birds, gardens and koi ponds. This hidden oasis was really relaxing and offered a nice escape from the chaos downstairs. Thanks to the decent weather and relatively low levels of pollution the view was spectacular. It is very easy to forget how big Beijing is until you get a birds eye view. Check out the pictures to get an idea of what this park looked like.

Laoshe Tea House

My class at the Loashe Tea House

I’ll start this post off by telling you about one of my favorite dishes here in China. Its called “Dao Shao Mian.” The translation is roughly hand-cut noodles. The chef takes a knife and shaves off noodles from a big block into a boiling broth. Add a little fatty pork, some veggies and voila! “Dao Shao Mian.” Check out the video I uploaded to see the action in progress.

After lunch, my entire program took a mini field-trip to a famous tea house near Tiananmen Square. Its a place where you can drink delicious 花茶 (hua cha) Jasmine Tea, eat some traditional Beijing snacks and watch an array of performances. Its actually a pretty famous place. The walls are covered with pictures of heads of state that have visited the tea house. My two favorites were former President Bush Sr. and Henry Kissinger. The only downside was that it was relatively expensive. We sat in the very back and it still cost 60 RMB. The front tables can cost up to 150 RMB.

The performances:

• A puppet show roughly telling the story of Journey to the West.
• Traditional Chinese song (both traditional singing and instruments)
• A magic show
• An acrobatics show where the performer did some amazing balancing acts with a clay pot
• Sound imitation, sound imitation has been used in China since the warring period. These two performers could imitate everything   from a bird singing to a large army preparing for battle.
• Sichuan Opera performance where the elegantly dressed performer could instantly change the mask he was wearing.

After Laoshe Tea House, a group of students and I all went to Tiananmen Square to check out the floats and other celebration decorations on display. The crowds in the square that day put any other tour attraction I’ve visited to shame! Everyone was trying to get a glimpse of the leftovers from October 1st’s celebration. After looking at all the floats and being asked multiple times to have our picture taken, our group was ready to leave.

However, that wasn’t an immediate option. There were about10,000 people being held back by police from entering through where we wanted to exit. Eventually, the crowd broke though and put about a 10 minute delay in our departure. Check out the video I uploaded to see the massive amount of people.

China’s “Fourth of July”

China's National Day parade celebrating 60 years

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples’ Republic of China. For the last 2-3 weeks, Beijing has been preparing for the celebration. All the streets are lined with decorations and practically every store is flying the Chinese flag. Street corners are kept safe with a combination of Police, military and public volunteers. I read an estimate in the newspaper saying there are nearly 1,000,000 public safety volunteers to keep an eye on suspicious behaviour today in Beijing. I was pretty bummed that our program’s scheduled basketball tournament had to be rescheduled this week. The Police took over use of the basketball court in preparation for the parade. I tried to take pictures of them up close, but they told me I couldn’t. So I went up to an empty classroom and took pictures from a distance. You can check them out on my picture website.

Teachers and newspapers told me everyone who lives on the main parade road is not allowed to watch the parade from their balconies or open windows. No kites are to be flown during the celebration and Beijingers are encouraged to report any unusual objects in the air.

From what I understand, China has a major celebration, complete with a full-scale military parade, every 10 years. You can tell that quite a bit of time and effort went into preparing this parade. It is very well choreographed. I read that nearly 200,000 people participate in the parade. The military parade was pretty eerie in a way. It looked like something you would expect to see in 1930′s Germany. Every military person that lined the streets was the EXACT same height and build. Hu Jintao (I think it was him) drove along in a car to inspect all of the troops before returning to Tiananmen to give a speech. The later part of the celebration was the civilian parade. It was very similar to the Olympics opening ceremony. You had a ton of people moving together with some impressive choreography while carrying huge paintings of Mao Zidong and Deng Xiaoping. Fortunately, I was outside taking pictures when the flyover took place. I was pretty far away, but there are pictures and videos uploaded if you would like to take a look.

Just a minute ago, I heard a very loud noise outside my window. It sounded like a gasoline generator started up. I went outside to check it out and discovered it was a bunch of tanks cruising along the street the borders my school. I forgot my camera so I couldn’t take pictures. But nevertheless, it was pretty interesting to see full size tanks motoring through the streets of Beijing.

Individual Research Project

The questions I asked in my interviews

Every semester, my program assigns a 独立报告 (dulibaogao). Basically this is an independent research project that encourages students to use their language skills in the “real world.” The student topics range from “how the Olympics affected China’s…(whatever)” to “Chinese government’s relationship with the media.” I chose to do my first independent project (I have two because I will be here for two semesters) on “Beijing’s mindset towards working-out and the peoples’ perception of health.” My first round of interviewing people took place this weekend.

Because I am only a second year student, the program arranged for a teacher to accompany me on my first round of interviewing. We both went to a park near our school to survey some park dwellers. Most of the people there were really friendly and eager to help out. I interviewed a total of 4 people. In addition to going to the park, I also went to the local “Bally’s” (of which I’m a member) to interview some trainers. Surprisingly, their answers were strikingly similar. Here are some of my favorite responses.

Q: Does the Beijing air pollution concern you when you exercise outside?
A: No, the bad air is only in other parts of the city, not in the parks (which are located in the middle of the city).

Q: What foods do you consider to be beneficial to your health?
A: You can eat anything as long as you only eat a little bit of everything.
A: Very little meat and lots of liquid-like food/vegetables (everyone holds this belief)

Q: Can you describe the typical person who attends this gym?
A: yes, FAT

Also, I had a pretty cool experience today. My buddy and I went to a very expensive mall near our school so he could buy his Chinese friends a nice present. The mall is top notch and only filled with Gucci, Prada, Chanel, etc. In the basement, there is an upscale food court and a few more stores. We went to a tea store so he could invest in some quality oolong tea for his friends. I think he dropped about $100 USD to buy about a medium sized zip-lock bag of tea. Anyways, while he was selecting his tea. I was fiddling around with a tea set. The tea sets surprisingly are very intricate and have a bunch of tools that accompany the pot and cups. When I asked the shop attendant how to use them, she  told me to sit down and she could show me. For about two hours we sat there and talked while she brewed two sets of leaves. One set of oolong tea leaves can be brewed about 8 times. The experience was really beneficial to my learning Chinese. It also was pretty rewarding to be able to sit down with native Chinese person who isn’t a teacher and, for the most part, be able to carry on a decent conversation in Chinese. What was nice was that it was all free and I’m pretty sure she would have stayed and chatted with me for many more hours if I didn’t have to go. Perhaps I’ll return there in the future…

A visit to the Nong Cun (China’s Countryside)

Those Americans are so funny!

Yesterday, around 1:00 PM my class piled into buses to start our two hour journey to the Beijing countryside.  The drive was pretty uneventful until we reached the base of the mountains (I actually slept until then ).  After about 20 minutes of twists and turns as our bus driver tried to follow the tiny road, we finally arrived at our destination.

I should preface this experience my elaborating on what it means to go to Beijing’s countryside. According to my teacher, “Beijing’s countryside is much different than the country of more remote areas, say Shanxi province.”  What we visited was more of a small town, not very rural country-country China. However, the trip was still very exciting. Note: I plan to visit country-country China eventually!

The first thing we did when we got to our destination was unload our things. I was lodged in a very large house, it almost looked like a very small dorm. There was a central area where everyone gathered to eat and talk, and there were rooms on the outer perimeter of the house. Me and five other guys slept in the back room. The beds were your typical hard Chinese mattress, but at least we had our own beds. The four girls in my group all slept in what is called a kang. A kang is essentially a really big bed that people can share. In the winter, it can be heated with coal from underneath. These style beds are popular in Northern China.

After we settled in, we went on a hike up a nearby mountain. It took about an hour an half to climb up. I liked it because at regular intervals you could see ancient pagodas, bell towers, prayer sights, etc. Look at the pictures I uploaded to see the scenery and the amazing views.

After our hike, we returned to our respective houses for a traditional country dinner. The food wasn’t bad. Although, I do have to say I prefer the food I’ve eaten in the city. Maybe that’s because I had my first opportunity to gnaw on a chicken’s foot! Chinese people love chicken feet because they hold a lot of flavor. But I wasn’t a huge fan because it was only skin (very think skin), no meat. Next time, I think I’m going to work up the courage to eat the chicken’s head. Baby steps…baby steps.

Following our hike, we had the opportunity to sit down with some of the locals and talk about they’re lives. Many of the questions focused on how their lives in the country have changed in the wake of Beijing’s modernization. The townspeople were happy and eager to talk with us and were very patient answering all the questions.

Next, we headed over to an empty courtyard where we held a bonfire. Before the fire was lit, I knew it was going to be a ridiculously large fire. They practically had a tree sitting in the middle of the courtyard ready to burn. The festivities even included roasting marshmallows and dancing to some outdated American music.

Finally, after about two hours of being scorched by the small forest fire, I went to another family’s home and played a Chinese game called Mahjong. I still don’t quite understand all the rules.  Imagine having a foreign gamed explained to you in a foreign language  by people who weren’t too sure how to play themselves. It wasn’t easy, but I had fun and I plan to learn more about it while I’m here.

The following day, they woke us up around 7:00 am. Now that shouldn’t be a big deal if I went to bed at 12:00, right? Wrong! Around three in morning, a rooster outside my window started to crow. The damn rooster was a little too eager to do his job and couldn’t wait til the sun rose!

Funny Story – I was the first one to return to the house where we slept. I didn’t think any one else was home at the time. So I proceed to change out of my clothes and throw some water on my face before I went to sleep. I was wrong about nobody being home. The house mom, wearing her silk-like PJs and hair-curlers, walked in on me in my underoos! I don’t know who was more embarrassed - her or me.

My New Family (In China)

I had a great meal when I visited my sponsor family

Last Sunday I got to visit my Chinese family for the first time. I had met the mother the previous weekend. But this was the first time I went to their house and met the father and son. Unfortunately, they don’t live too close to my school. Me and another classmate/friend took the bus to get to there. It’s about a 30-40 minute ride depending on traffic. We actually got lost the first time. We went two bus stops too far and had to find our way back. Its rather tricky trying to figure out which stop is the correct one to get off at when everything is in Chinese.

But eventually we met up with the mother outside her apartment building. They live in large apartment complex. The buildings are probably about 10 stories tall and there are around 10 buildings in the complex. As we went up the stairs to the apartment, people peeked out through their doors to catch a glimpse at us.  Two American students in the hallways is quite unusual.  I was greeted at the door by a 6-3 250 lbs. man. Turns out, this is the family’s son. He towers over his dad and is a big guy by any standards.  Although, I’ve heard that my brother , Tyler, in Laguna Beach is growing like a weed.  The Chinese father is much smaller, probably around 45 years old. He works at a Starbucks near my school. There names are: Guo Yong (father), Sheng Ying (Mother), Guo Yu Hung (my not so little, new little bro).

After chatting for a minute and getting the official apartment tour, we sat down for lunch. The lunch was delicious. We had:

• pork fried rice
• some sort of cajun stylish shrimp. Head included!
• roasted chicken
• cucumber with a sweet sauce
• roasted peanuts
• cabbage salad
• some sort of fried vegetable arrangement
• green tea

I think the family is middle to middle-upper class. The apartment is not too large. But they have a huge flat screen TV. Guo Yu Heng is quite connected, he has a PC and a Apple laptop, along with blackberry-like phone. Everything in the apartment was very efficient. The table could fold down so the dining room could double as a living room. They were very nice people and very hospitable. They have been hosting ACC students for over 10 years. Hopefully next weekend I’ll e able to make a trip over there to see them.

Summer Palace

We found this hat farm on the Summer Palace grounds

Today, my two friends and I ventured to the outskirts of Beijing to take a look at the Summer Palace. First off, let me say that this place was huge. Just looking at the map you don’t understand the magnitude of places like this. We spent a good two hours at the Summer Palace and still probably only saw about a quarter of it (it got dark on us).

The Summer Palace is probably one of, if not the, most beautiful man-made places I’ve seen. While walking around the grounds I felt like I was living in an ancient town. All the old bridges and landscaping were very impressive. Perhaps one of my favorite parts was getting to see some of the ruins that were there. One difference I noticed between America and China is that in China I didn’t see one security guard or attendant to monitor what people were doing. I literally was able to walk all over, around and on these centuries old ruins. It really makes for a more profound experience.  Unfortunately, my camera’s battery died before I got to the ruins (remember this place is hugh!). I’ll have to make another trip to the Summer Palace to see the rest of it and take some more pictures. The pictures I took describe the experience better than my words.

After the visit to the Palace my buddies and I went to an American style pizza parlor. American pizza in China – you’ll have to wait and see the pictures – words can’t describe it.