Guys I am coming home tomorrow!
I've totally been meaning to post here over the past few days, but between the crunch of the final and the fervor of the Games starting and generally just trying to live up my last few days in Beijing, I haven't found the time. A full report to come once I'm safely States-side, though.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
t-10
Man, time flies. I've got less than a week and a half left to go before my flight back to the States, which is a weird thought. Plenty of things to do between now and then, though.
The past week has been pretty much the usual routine: class in the morning, lunch, language partner, internet/Everytime/nap, study, dinner, study, sleep. Luckily, the lesson topics have stayed reasonably interesting, and outside of class there's just enough variation and distraction to keep me happy.
Today I would like to introduce one of those distractions. Meet 泡泡:
(泡泡 is the fish.)
泡泡 is the protagonist of basically the best cartoon ever, 小鲤鱼历险记. Seriously. A friend and I spotted the series on DVD while out shopping a few weeks ago and bought it on a whim. The animation looked really good, and it was relatively cheap, so we bought it, despite it being entirely in Chinese. SO glad we did. It's as cute/awesome as it originally looked, and best of all -- I UNDERSTAND IT! Sure, there are things that go over my head, but I understand substantial portions of the dialogue, all the significant plot points, and even some of the more subtle jokes. It feels really good to be reaching that level of fluency.
Brief character rundown, using English transliterations because I'm lazy:
Paopao (the fish): the main character, who is ADORABLE. Recently obtained super bad-ass powers that let him turn invisible and things like that. Really loves bubbles (his name literally means 'bubbles').
Aku (the blue seahorse): a magician, who was kind of hot-headed and standoff-ish intially but has been getting more friendly over time. Also has bad-ass powers. His name loosely translates to "Mr. Cool".
Meimei (the jellyfish): a singer, who's generally very feminine and cute and helpless but also has a bit of a bitch streak when provoked. Her name is more-or-less "Miss Beautiful".
Shuang-mian-gui (the turtle): clumsy in an endearing way. He originally worked for the bad guys, but then fell in love with Meimei and switched sides. His name is actually a play on that fact: it literally means "two-sided (two-faced) turtle".
The bad guys are awesome too, and the whole show is /damn/ good for a children's cartoon, but I've given you more than enough boring info for now :P If you've got a spare minute, though, go take a quick look yourself -- it's well worth it. (I'm assuming that link will work outside of China. If not, well, dang.)
I've still got a lot of work to finish up tonight, so I think that'll have do for this post. I will leave you with this tidbit: I just checked, and I currently have 16 stickies (computerized post-it notes) on my computer monitor. I am becoming one of those people oh no
The past week has been pretty much the usual routine: class in the morning, lunch, language partner, internet/Everytime/nap, study, dinner, study, sleep. Luckily, the lesson topics have stayed reasonably interesting, and outside of class there's just enough variation and distraction to keep me happy.
Today I would like to introduce one of those distractions. Meet 泡泡:
(泡泡 is the fish.)
泡泡 is the protagonist of basically the best cartoon ever, 小鲤鱼历险记. Seriously. A friend and I spotted the series on DVD while out shopping a few weeks ago and bought it on a whim. The animation looked really good, and it was relatively cheap, so we bought it, despite it being entirely in Chinese. SO glad we did. It's as cute/awesome as it originally looked, and best of all -- I UNDERSTAND IT! Sure, there are things that go over my head, but I understand substantial portions of the dialogue, all the significant plot points, and even some of the more subtle jokes. It feels really good to be reaching that level of fluency.
Brief character rundown, using English transliterations because I'm lazy:
Paopao (the fish): the main character, who is ADORABLE. Recently obtained super bad-ass powers that let him turn invisible and things like that. Really loves bubbles (his name literally means 'bubbles').
Aku (the blue seahorse): a magician, who was kind of hot-headed and standoff-ish intially but has been getting more friendly over time. Also has bad-ass powers. His name loosely translates to "Mr. Cool".
Meimei (the jellyfish): a singer, who's generally very feminine and cute and helpless but also has a bit of a bitch streak when provoked. Her name is more-or-less "Miss Beautiful".
Shuang-mian-gui (the turtle): clumsy in an endearing way. He originally worked for the bad guys, but then fell in love with Meimei and switched sides. His name is actually a play on that fact: it literally means "two-sided (two-faced) turtle".
The bad guys are awesome too, and the whole show is /damn/ good for a children's cartoon, but I've given you more than enough boring info for now :P If you've got a spare minute, though, go take a quick look yourself -- it's well worth it. (I'm assuming that link will work outside of China. If not, well, dang.)
I've still got a lot of work to finish up tonight, so I think that'll have do for this post. I will leave you with this tidbit: I just checked, and I currently have 16 stickies (computerized post-it notes) on my computer monitor. I am becoming one of those people oh no
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
the thoughts you think become unthunk
Things that have happened:
The Chinese speech contest was cancelled! Apparently because of the Olympics, you now need to apply for a special permit for any gathering of over 100 people. Hmm. That's...mildly unnerving, Beijing. I do not approve.
In better news, though: yesterday some friends and I stumbled across a /wonderful/ little Western pizza-bar-type restaurant about ten minutes' walk from the dorms. /Amazingly/ good and cheap to boot -- I got half a Hawaiian pizza and side of fries for 20元 (about $3), which is pretty decent for Beijing. The decor's really nice, too: it's a brick place where you're encouraged to write all over the walls, so the entire building is covered in awesome Chinese graffiti. I will bring my camera next time. You will appreciate it.
As far as actual study goes...well, I've been starting to feel a leet-le bit burned out over the past couple days. I think it was a turning point when I actually had to go buy a new notebook because I'd used up the first one practicing vocab. Beh. Luckily, though, today I hit a bit of a second wind, and now I'm feeling a bit better. Hopefully it'll be enough to carry me through these last 2+ weeks :P
Actually, today I felt sort of revitalized about life in general? I thought a lot about maybe taking a year off -- spending some time in the real world figuring out what it is I want to do with this whole Yale education business. It might be good to gather my thoughts once I finish my sophomore year. I spent the afternoon researching about a hundred different things: spending a full semester in China on the Light Fellowship, apartments and jobs in various cities, how much it would actually cost to support myself out in the wild. I mean, it's just a vague idea right now (don't freak out, parents), but I like it a lot. Something to mull over the course of this year.
Finally, check out what I bought over the weekend:
an extra life! useful in china.
Yes, I /am/ just that cool.
The Chinese speech contest was cancelled! Apparently because of the Olympics, you now need to apply for a special permit for any gathering of over 100 people. Hmm. That's...mildly unnerving, Beijing. I do not approve.
In better news, though: yesterday some friends and I stumbled across a /wonderful/ little Western pizza-bar-type restaurant about ten minutes' walk from the dorms. /Amazingly/ good and cheap to boot -- I got half a Hawaiian pizza and side of fries for 20元 (about $3), which is pretty decent for Beijing. The decor's really nice, too: it's a brick place where you're encouraged to write all over the walls, so the entire building is covered in awesome Chinese graffiti. I will bring my camera next time. You will appreciate it.
As far as actual study goes...well, I've been starting to feel a leet-le bit burned out over the past couple days. I think it was a turning point when I actually had to go buy a new notebook because I'd used up the first one practicing vocab. Beh. Luckily, though, today I hit a bit of a second wind, and now I'm feeling a bit better. Hopefully it'll be enough to carry me through these last 2+ weeks :P
Actually, today I felt sort of revitalized about life in general? I thought a lot about maybe taking a year off -- spending some time in the real world figuring out what it is I want to do with this whole Yale education business. It might be good to gather my thoughts once I finish my sophomore year. I spent the afternoon researching about a hundred different things: spending a full semester in China on the Light Fellowship, apartments and jobs in various cities, how much it would actually cost to support myself out in the wild. I mean, it's just a vague idea right now (don't freak out, parents), but I like it a lot. Something to mull over the course of this year.
Finally, check out what I bought over the weekend:
an extra life! useful in china.
Yes, I /am/ just that cool.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
internet filters ENGAGE
Guess who finally had the massive Tibet/Taiwan/human rights/censorship/American views of China conversation with his language partner today?
Lots of interesting stuff to discuss, but right now I gotta study for tomorrow's test. I'll post more about it this weekend, if I decide I'm not afraid of the Chinese internet police; otherwise I can always write a nice long entry on paper :P
Lots of interesting stuff to discuss, but right now I gotta study for tomorrow's test. I'll post more about it this weekend, if I decide I'm not afraid of the Chinese internet police; otherwise I can always write a nice long entry on paper :P
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
downloading: 50% complete
Guess who's not a failure! We just got our grades back for first semester, and I managed to pass all of my classes. (Yes, all one of them.) So...I'm halfway done! w00t!
Studying for my 'final' sort of dominated my life all last week, but as soon as that was out of the way, I got to head out on a weekend trip to the glorious SHANXI PROVINCE
Check out all that...majesty.
SHANXI QUICK FACTZ:
- Name in characters: 山西
- English translation: "west mountains" (and/or "west of the mountains". I should look at a map.)
- Not to be confused with: 陕西
- Famous for: lots of cool ancient things
- Population: I don't know, I can't access Wikipedia
- Awesome?: yes
So yeah, the Shanxi trip was really good, even though I spent a good portion of the time cringing at how touristy we all looked. (I still have trouble sometimes with the fact that I'm such an obvious 白人 -- people tend to assume I'm here for tourism/the Olympics, which can get mildly frustrating.) Still, all the places we went were really interesting, and a lot more /natural/ than many of the places closer to Beijing (which is in the midst of a renovation frenzy).
The first place we went was Yungong Grottoes, which is home to a series of massive cave-shrines, mostly to Buddha, carved into the side of a mountain over the last thousand years or so. Pictures were banned pretty much everywhere, so I wasn't able to snap a picture of the 17-meter tall Buddha surrounded by dozens of other intricate sculptures and inscriptions. I did, however, snag a pic of this city wall pit for size comparison:
See the little people at the top? This pit was 15 meters deep. To repeat myself, the largest Buddha we saw was /17/ meters tall. Kinda big.
Next on the itinerary was:
Yeah, fear of heights would be a problem here.
The Hanging Monastery, which is a pretty accurate name -- it's built on the side of a cliff. I am...curious how exactly the Chinese did this, X00 years ago. I am guessing it involved some accidental death. Nonetheless, climbing up there was really nice (getting exercise in a place without horrible pollution!), and the view was pretty fantastic, even if we had to rush a bit to get back to the bus.
It was worth rushing, though, to get to the Wooden Pagoda:
Can you count all nine floors? It's pretty tricky from the outside.
This was my favorite thing all weekend, even though we spent literally thirty minutes there before leaving. To begin with: it's a 900 year-old pagoda (one of the younger sites we visited actually) that's still standing strong and still looks amazing. Secondly, it's that old and it's entirely made of wood -- no nails, no iron supports, nothing.
"But Ryan," you ask, out loud for some unexplained reason, "then why hasn't it been totally 0wn3d by insects and the like?"
BECAUSE IT'S THE MOST OLD SCHOOL AVIARY EVER.
Unfortunately you can barely see them in my pictures, and you /definitely/ can't see them once the pictures have been shrunk for the web, but the tower is surrounded by thousands of birds, flying and cawing and doing everything else that birds do. People are only allowed on the bottom two floors because the birds own everything else. Birds inhabit the top seven floors -> birds eat all the bugs and then some -> no wood damage. Sweeeet.
My pictures are not going to do it any justice, unfortunately, but it was absolutely breath-taking, gazing up at this towering, ancient thing with several thousand birds swooping around overhead, unwittingly protecting it. It was like something out of a movie with /really/ good artistic direction and a massive budget, except that, um, it exists in real life and it just sort of happened by itself. SO COOL. Unfortunately, the pagoda's started to lean to the side over the past fifty years or so, and the Chinese government is looking into restorations that might include sturdier materials than just wood. (I guess they don't want it cramping the Tower of Pisa's style, or maybe they don't want people to die or something.)
After the Wooden Pagoda, we settled in for the night at a little inn in Pingyao. In the morning we set out for Jin Ci, a famous old garden-type place with some beautiful landscapes, a bunch of ancient sculptures, and oh, you know, 3000 year-old poetry, that kinda stuff.
See if you can find the character for 'person'.
More ancient wooden things! This guy was several hundred years old.
Only complaint for the weekend: soooo much bus-riding. I expected that going in (after all, Shanxi is a province, not a city), but it's one thing to know what you're getting into and another to spend 18 hours on a bus designed for people much shorter than you. Beh. My knees are feeling better now, though.
Other late-breaking news, before I get cracking on tonight's vocab:
- I've been asked to be in a Chinese speech contest? Apparently there's some sort of friendly/rivalrous face-off between all the US-based Chinese programs every year, and 大流老师 thinks I'm the best candidate for the third-years. Fame and fortune await?
- Speaking of third-years, guess who's started reading Harry Potter in Chinese? (Or 哈利・波特, as it's called here -- hooray for transliteration.) While we were traveling this weekend, I spent about three hours with the first book and a dictionary, and managed to fight through most of the first chapter before finally setting it aside. So woo! Looks like I may have an activity for the plane ride home next month.
- I really want a hamburger -- not 麦当劳, the actual thing. I think I might scrounge some people up to go looking for the nearest Grandma's Kitchen this weekend, which would be /wonderful/.
That's it!
Studying for my 'final' sort of dominated my life all last week, but as soon as that was out of the way, I got to head out on a weekend trip to the glorious SHANXI PROVINCE
Check out all that...majesty.
SHANXI QUICK FACTZ:
- Name in characters: 山西
- English translation: "west mountains" (and/or "west of the mountains". I should look at a map.)
- Not to be confused with: 陕西
- Famous for: lots of cool ancient things
- Population: I don't know, I can't access Wikipedia
- Awesome?: yes
So yeah, the Shanxi trip was really good, even though I spent a good portion of the time cringing at how touristy we all looked. (I still have trouble sometimes with the fact that I'm such an obvious 白人 -- people tend to assume I'm here for tourism/the Olympics, which can get mildly frustrating.) Still, all the places we went were really interesting, and a lot more /natural/ than many of the places closer to Beijing (which is in the midst of a renovation frenzy).
The first place we went was Yungong Grottoes, which is home to a series of massive cave-shrines, mostly to Buddha, carved into the side of a mountain over the last thousand years or so. Pictures were banned pretty much everywhere, so I wasn't able to snap a picture of the 17-meter tall Buddha surrounded by dozens of other intricate sculptures and inscriptions. I did, however, snag a pic of this city wall pit for size comparison:
See the little people at the top? This pit was 15 meters deep. To repeat myself, the largest Buddha we saw was /17/ meters tall. Kinda big.
Next on the itinerary was:
Yeah, fear of heights would be a problem here.
The Hanging Monastery, which is a pretty accurate name -- it's built on the side of a cliff. I am...curious how exactly the Chinese did this, X00 years ago. I am guessing it involved some accidental death. Nonetheless, climbing up there was really nice (getting exercise in a place without horrible pollution!), and the view was pretty fantastic, even if we had to rush a bit to get back to the bus.
It was worth rushing, though, to get to the Wooden Pagoda:
Can you count all nine floors? It's pretty tricky from the outside.
This was my favorite thing all weekend, even though we spent literally thirty minutes there before leaving. To begin with: it's a 900 year-old pagoda (one of the younger sites we visited actually) that's still standing strong and still looks amazing. Secondly, it's that old and it's entirely made of wood -- no nails, no iron supports, nothing.
"But Ryan," you ask, out loud for some unexplained reason, "then why hasn't it been totally 0wn3d by insects and the like?"
BECAUSE IT'S THE MOST OLD SCHOOL AVIARY EVER.
Unfortunately you can barely see them in my pictures, and you /definitely/ can't see them once the pictures have been shrunk for the web, but the tower is surrounded by thousands of birds, flying and cawing and doing everything else that birds do. People are only allowed on the bottom two floors because the birds own everything else. Birds inhabit the top seven floors -> birds eat all the bugs and then some -> no wood damage. Sweeeet.
My pictures are not going to do it any justice, unfortunately, but it was absolutely breath-taking, gazing up at this towering, ancient thing with several thousand birds swooping around overhead, unwittingly protecting it. It was like something out of a movie with /really/ good artistic direction and a massive budget, except that, um, it exists in real life and it just sort of happened by itself. SO COOL. Unfortunately, the pagoda's started to lean to the side over the past fifty years or so, and the Chinese government is looking into restorations that might include sturdier materials than just wood. (I guess they don't want it cramping the Tower of Pisa's style, or maybe they don't want people to die or something.)
After the Wooden Pagoda, we settled in for the night at a little inn in Pingyao. In the morning we set out for Jin Ci, a famous old garden-type place with some beautiful landscapes, a bunch of ancient sculptures, and oh, you know, 3000 year-old poetry, that kinda stuff.
See if you can find the character for 'person'.
More ancient wooden things! This guy was several hundred years old.
Only complaint for the weekend: soooo much bus-riding. I expected that going in (after all, Shanxi is a province, not a city), but it's one thing to know what you're getting into and another to spend 18 hours on a bus designed for people much shorter than you. Beh. My knees are feeling better now, though.
Other late-breaking news, before I get cracking on tonight's vocab:
- I've been asked to be in a Chinese speech contest? Apparently there's some sort of friendly/rivalrous face-off between all the US-based Chinese programs every year, and 大流老师 thinks I'm the best candidate for the third-years. Fame and fortune await?
- Speaking of third-years, guess who's started reading Harry Potter in Chinese? (Or 哈利・波特, as it's called here -- hooray for transliteration.) While we were traveling this weekend, I spent about three hours with the first book and a dictionary, and managed to fight through most of the first chapter before finally setting it aside. So woo! Looks like I may have an activity for the plane ride home next month.
- I really want a hamburger -- not 麦当劳, the actual thing. I think I might scrounge some people up to go looking for the nearest Grandma's Kitchen this weekend, which would be /wonderful/.
That's it!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
happy belated birthday, america! happy opposite-of-belated birthday, sam!
I cracked.
A bunch of us figured that since yesterday was July 4th, it was the appropriate day to finally break our three-week streak of eating authentic Chinese food and get something a little more...American. Us being college students, the logical choice was pizza.
I love internationally recognizable logos. And blurry pictures.
Pizza Hut in China is actually a middle-to-high-brow kind of restaurant -- a nice, sit-down place with semi-fancy menus and well-dressed staff. The meal was /very/ expensive for China, which is to say it was roughly equivalent to American prices. Three pizzas and two bottles of 7-Up came out to around 350元, which is how much we get for food per week.
On the other hand: IT WAS SO WORTH IT OH MY GOD.
Pizza. Is. So. GOOD.
After we'd stuffed ourselves with pizza (seriously, China shrinks your appetite -- three 12-inch pizzas was more than enough for seven people), we headed to a karaoke bar a few blocks down, where we rented a room for three hours and belted various Chinese pop standards and American Billboard hits and about eight different songs by S.H.E. It was a total blast, though by the end of the night both my throat and my ears were shot. (Let's just say certain atonal people were reluctant to give up the mic :P) I think the highlight of the night was an emotionally overwrought rendition of 'Apologize' with everyone crooning their hearts out at the chorus.
Other things that have happened but I do not have photographic evidence for (I'm still not in the habit of carrying around my camera):
- Going to the Great Wall again was pretty cool last weekend, particular since the spot we went to was relatively tourist-free. A big group of us set out to climb the wall at about 3:00 in the morning, using flashlights, so we could watch the sunrise from one of the higher guard towers. We got there in time, but it was way too foggy to see anything. Oh well. Still completely awesome.
- I had dinner with my high school Chinese teacher! Every other year my high school does a trip to China during the summer, so it was only natural to meet up. She seems to be doing very well, as does Devon (who I didn't realize was also in Beijing this summer).
- I've almost finished a semester of Chinese! Whadafuh. Next Friday is our 'final' for first semester, which also marks the halfway point of the program, which will mean that I've already been in China for a full month. Crazy.
- I'm maybe going to my language partner's house for lunch tomorrow! That would be cool. She's supposed to send me an email sometime today confirming.
I leave you with something for my sister Sarah, or just Will Smith fans in general:
A bunch of us figured that since yesterday was July 4th, it was the appropriate day to finally break our three-week streak of eating authentic Chinese food and get something a little more...American. Us being college students, the logical choice was pizza.
I love internationally recognizable logos. And blurry pictures.
Pizza Hut in China is actually a middle-to-high-brow kind of restaurant -- a nice, sit-down place with semi-fancy menus and well-dressed staff. The meal was /very/ expensive for China, which is to say it was roughly equivalent to American prices. Three pizzas and two bottles of 7-Up came out to around 350元, which is how much we get for food per week.
On the other hand: IT WAS SO WORTH IT OH MY GOD.
Pizza. Is. So. GOOD.
After we'd stuffed ourselves with pizza (seriously, China shrinks your appetite -- three 12-inch pizzas was more than enough for seven people), we headed to a karaoke bar a few blocks down, where we rented a room for three hours and belted various Chinese pop standards and American Billboard hits and about eight different songs by S.H.E. It was a total blast, though by the end of the night both my throat and my ears were shot. (Let's just say certain atonal people were reluctant to give up the mic :P) I think the highlight of the night was an emotionally overwrought rendition of 'Apologize' with everyone crooning their hearts out at the chorus.
Other things that have happened but I do not have photographic evidence for (I'm still not in the habit of carrying around my camera):
- Going to the Great Wall again was pretty cool last weekend, particular since the spot we went to was relatively tourist-free. A big group of us set out to climb the wall at about 3:00 in the morning, using flashlights, so we could watch the sunrise from one of the higher guard towers. We got there in time, but it was way too foggy to see anything. Oh well. Still completely awesome.
- I had dinner with my high school Chinese teacher! Every other year my high school does a trip to China during the summer, so it was only natural to meet up. She seems to be doing very well, as does Devon (who I didn't realize was also in Beijing this summer).
- I've almost finished a semester of Chinese! Whadafuh. Next Friday is our 'final' for first semester, which also marks the halfway point of the program, which will mean that I've already been in China for a full month. Crazy.
- I'm maybe going to my language partner's house for lunch tomorrow! That would be cool. She's supposed to send me an email sometime today confirming.
I leave you with something for my sister Sarah, or just Will Smith fans in general:
(Now I really want to go see it in Chinese.)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
"if you come across a robber, handle it calmly (such as throw your wallet on the ground and run in the opposite direction)"
Blogspot has been unblocked! Thanks, China. I'm glad we could talk this out.
Shopping in China is different in a couple of ways. Pretty much everything's cheaper, with some imported exceptions (peanut butter is kind of ridiculous), and you have to bring your own bag or else buy one at the register. There's an entire section dedicated to cooking oil: five-gallon jugs of various brands and varieties, which I originally mistook for apple juice. And of course, there are the different food products:
tastes like...er. anyway.
Chicken Rings (the Chinese literally translates to "chicken-flavored ring") are about as delicious as they sound, which is to say I'm glad they were on sale when I bought them. That having been said, though, there are a number of /wonderful/ things I've never seen before, my favorite of which is basically spicy Chex Mix minus everything but the actual Chex. Delicious.
Last but not at all least: 物美 has an escalator without stairs? It's like a moving walkway, but at about a 20 degree angle, and the novelty of riding it hasn't worn off yet. Every time I'm on it I want to take a picture, but I'm worried someone will get mad at me. And even if I took a picture, you probably wouldn't understand how cool it is.
More adventures in wearing an OOTB t-shirt: someone noticed me in the hallway today and asked if I was from Oxford's Out of the Blue. After taking a moment to clear up the confusion, I found out he's in the SoCal VoCals! We spent a while talking about various a cappella things and made plans to hang out later this week. It was interesting to hear about the workings of another group, even if it was just a bit. (They've got a new album coming out this fall that they've been working on for one and a half years, now -- apparently competing in the ICCAs keeps a group busy.)
On a related note, I almost went and saw the Whiffenpoofs sing at the Yale Club in Beijing, but it was really expensive and I had nothing to wear and a giant pile of work to do. So that didn't pan out. Which is too bad -- I would've liked to see David.
Our text book has spanned some interesting topics this week. Recent lesson titles:
- 一次性产品
- 防盗和防火
- 我不给乞丐钱
- 打官司
I like that it's a little eccentric. The dialogues are usually a little simplistic (one person is for, and one is against), but they give enough vocab to help form your own argument. Which is very cool. It's nice to be able to have a conversation in Chinese about something like welfare reform and get your point across.
I'm having dinner with my Yale Chinese teacher tonight, and with my high school Chinese teacher (who's currently in Beijing) this weekend. Teacher madness! It will probs be pretty sweet.
Shopping in China is different in a couple of ways. Pretty much everything's cheaper, with some imported exceptions (peanut butter is kind of ridiculous), and you have to bring your own bag or else buy one at the register. There's an entire section dedicated to cooking oil: five-gallon jugs of various brands and varieties, which I originally mistook for apple juice. And of course, there are the different food products:
tastes like...er. anyway.
Chicken Rings (the Chinese literally translates to "chicken-flavored ring") are about as delicious as they sound, which is to say I'm glad they were on sale when I bought them. That having been said, though, there are a number of /wonderful/ things I've never seen before, my favorite of which is basically spicy Chex Mix minus everything but the actual Chex. Delicious.
Last but not at all least: 物美 has an escalator without stairs? It's like a moving walkway, but at about a 20 degree angle, and the novelty of riding it hasn't worn off yet. Every time I'm on it I want to take a picture, but I'm worried someone will get mad at me. And even if I took a picture, you probably wouldn't understand how cool it is.
More adventures in wearing an OOTB t-shirt: someone noticed me in the hallway today and asked if I was from Oxford's Out of the Blue. After taking a moment to clear up the confusion, I found out he's in the SoCal VoCals! We spent a while talking about various a cappella things and made plans to hang out later this week. It was interesting to hear about the workings of another group, even if it was just a bit. (They've got a new album coming out this fall that they've been working on for one and a half years, now -- apparently competing in the ICCAs keeps a group busy.)
On a related note, I almost went and saw the Whiffenpoofs sing at the Yale Club in Beijing, but it was really expensive and I had nothing to wear and a giant pile of work to do. So that didn't pan out. Which is too bad -- I would've liked to see David.
Our text book has spanned some interesting topics this week. Recent lesson titles:
- 一次性产品
- 防盗和防火
- 我不给乞丐钱
- 打官司
I like that it's a little eccentric. The dialogues are usually a little simplistic (one person is for, and one is against), but they give enough vocab to help form your own argument. Which is very cool. It's nice to be able to have a conversation in Chinese about something like welfare reform and get your point across.
I'm having dinner with my Yale Chinese teacher tonight, and with my high school Chinese teacher (who's currently in Beijing) this weekend. Teacher madness! It will probs be pretty sweet.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
now in technicolor
As promised:
artsy architectural shot! (i.e. taken out of my dorm room window)
That is, in fact, the sky's normal color. Today was the first exception -- beautiful weather, solid blue sky though still with a strong gray tinge at the bottom. I got a sunburn as a result. Need to think about that next time.
I'm horrible about taking pictures, so that's all I have for now. Other random discoveries:
- Kurt Schneider's roommate is here? He recognized my Out of the Blue shirt and asked about it. Nice to know OOTB has name recognition overseas :P
- I've had quite a few good conversations with my language partner now, probably the most fun of which was an impassioned discussion about various movies (particularly "Amelie", which we both love). Also: I tried to explain "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" in Chinese? I think I got the main idea across, but hell, that movie's hard to explain in English.
- An HTML note: I've discovered the ACRONYM tag! Basically, from this point on I'll be starting to use Chinese characters in these posts, but if you hover over said characters with your mouse, a box should pop up with pronunciation and an English translation. So...hooray!
- Not using English was hella hard for the first 24 hours of the language pledge, but has become second nature surprisingly quickly. I thought little reflexive outbursts (e.g. "Sorry!") would be hard to overcome, but I've already replaced expressions with their Chinese counterparts (e.g. 对不起). I can do this.
- The 饺子 stand down the street from here is my new favorite place. Three 饺子 cost one yuan, which is to say that each dumpling costs about a nickel, and they're absolutely /delicious/. (I've never really liked dumplings before, but these things are just too good to pass up.) It's become my default stop when I don't have time for a sit-down meal: I can assemble a tasty, filling lunch or dinner for under an American dollar. Sweet deal, that.
Anyway, that's about all for now. Some people are planning to go out later tonight; I'm pretty tired from wandering around 王府井 all afternoon, so a friend and I are planning to stay in and watch "The Fox and the Hound" instead. I hear all the cool kids are doing it.
P.S. I only just realized I'm getting comments! Forgive me if I don't reply individually -- things are a bit hectic, and I'm sure I'll have a chance to talk to you all once I get back. Love you, though :)
artsy architectural shot! (i.e. taken out of my dorm room window)
That is, in fact, the sky's normal color. Today was the first exception -- beautiful weather, solid blue sky though still with a strong gray tinge at the bottom. I got a sunburn as a result. Need to think about that next time.
I'm horrible about taking pictures, so that's all I have for now. Other random discoveries:
- Kurt Schneider's roommate is here? He recognized my Out of the Blue shirt and asked about it. Nice to know OOTB has name recognition overseas :P
- I've had quite a few good conversations with my language partner now, probably the most fun of which was an impassioned discussion about various movies (particularly "Amelie", which we both love). Also: I tried to explain "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" in Chinese? I think I got the main idea across, but hell, that movie's hard to explain in English.
- An HTML note: I've discovered the ACRONYM tag! Basically, from this point on I'll be starting to use Chinese characters in these posts, but if you hover over said characters with your mouse, a box should pop up with pronunciation and an English translation. So...hooray!
- Not using English was hella hard for the first 24 hours of the language pledge, but has become second nature surprisingly quickly. I thought little reflexive outbursts (e.g. "Sorry!") would be hard to overcome, but I've already replaced expressions with their Chinese counterparts (e.g. 对不起). I can do this.
- The 饺子 stand down the street from here is my new favorite place. Three 饺子 cost one yuan, which is to say that each dumpling costs about a nickel, and they're absolutely /delicious/. (I've never really liked dumplings before, but these things are just too good to pass up.) It's become my default stop when I don't have time for a sit-down meal: I can assemble a tasty, filling lunch or dinner for under an American dollar. Sweet deal, that.
Anyway, that's about all for now. Some people are planning to go out later tonight; I'm pretty tired from wandering around 王府井 all afternoon, so a friend and I are planning to stay in and watch "The Fox and the Hound" instead. I hear all the cool kids are doing it.
P.S. I only just realized I'm getting comments! Forgive me if I don't reply individually -- things are a bit hectic, and I'm sure I'll have a chance to talk to you all once I get back. Love you, though :)
Monday, June 16, 2008
it's taken me three days to access blogger and post this! woo!
Seeing as how I just finished my first day of classes, I suppose I should probably start blogging, eh?
Various thoughts, since I've gotten here:
- Is that fog? I hope it's fog. I mean, it has to be fog.
- It's not fog. Holy dang.
- I've had a few stunted conversations with actual bei3jing1ren2 so far, but they've all been sort of stumbling on my part. I'm hoping I come across as awkwardly endearing, but I'm guessing I just come across as awkward. Ah well. Smoothness will come with time.
- I like my roommate...even though I've forgotten his name. (Don't tell him.) He's Korean and he goes to UWash/St. Louis, which has quite a few people here. Also: he's cousins with Grace Kim, who was in my math class this year and who I pulled all-nighters with on a regular basis second semester. Small world.
- The Internet, unfortunately, is /horrendously/ slow, and since it requires a login, only one person per room can use it at a time. On the other hand: I have Internet! I can read all my favorite websites...in China! I can email my mother and tell her I'm fine, don't worry...in China! I can waste away my life on Facebook...in China!
- An addendum: Blogspot is blocked at the moment, so I'm currently using GLadder (a Firefox extension; "the Great Ladder to climb over the Great Firewall") to get around that -- hopefully that'll get me through the next two months. If this blog suddenly drops dead, that's probably why.
- Ordering food in Chinese is kind of like Russian Roulette, except that when you lose at Russian Roulette at least you know what you're getting. Everything I've had so far is pretty good, but I feel like it's only a matter of time before I accidentally order something...memorable. (Also, I feel bad for the handful of vegetarians in the group, who are basically restricted to rice, veggies, and tofu. Sorry, guys.)
- Apple Fanta. APPLE FANTA. It's three yuan, it's neon green, and it's freakin' DELICIOUS. Why does the US not have this? I don't usually drink soda, and I would buy this by the /case/. Hell, I may bring a case home with me come August. China is AWESOME.
- Classes were actually really good today, although I imagine having four to five hours of Chinese class a day will lose its novelty eventually. We're doing a lesson a day, so I have 50 or so new characters to learn tonight...just like yesterday :P
- My one-on-one teacher complimented me on my pronunciation. It made me inordinately happy.
- SO MANY BICYCLES.
- The language pledge begins on Wednesday, after which English is BANNED from the premises. As in, we reserve the right to expel you from the program if we catch you using it three times over the next two months. Mildly disconcerting, that. I imagine it'll do wonders for my Chinese, though, which is the point of this whole exercise. I'm actually looking forward to it. (Also, I got a special exception for singing alone in my room -- I know at some point in this trip I will emotionally /need/ to jam out to MEE.)
- Our initial meeting was pretty awkward, but now that I've gotten to know my language partner, she seems really nice. (She's a student here at the university; we're supposed to spend an hour a day talking in Chinese about various subjects.) Tonight we discussed: the Chinese and American educational systems, our families, a mutual love of Ireland, the name 'Phoenix', and Egyptology, among other things. Tomorrow we're meeting at 11:00 and getting jiao3zi (dumplings) for lunch while we talk. It's gonna be /sweet/.
- My foot itches.
Initial impressions: Beijing is pretty great I guess? I haven't been off-campus enough to make any real judgments about the city. This weekend we're going to tian1an1men2 (Tian'anmen Square) and gu4gong1 (the Forbidden City), which should be a pretty good introduction to the culture, and I'll build from there.
I need to go buy batteries for my camera down at wu4mei3 ("Wu Mart") sometime tomorrow, and then hopefully I'll be able to start posting pictures! That way you too can see that fog-that-isn't-fog. Hoo boy.
Various thoughts, since I've gotten here:
- Is that fog? I hope it's fog. I mean, it has to be fog.
- It's not fog. Holy dang.
- I've had a few stunted conversations with actual bei3jing1ren2 so far, but they've all been sort of stumbling on my part. I'm hoping I come across as awkwardly endearing, but I'm guessing I just come across as awkward. Ah well. Smoothness will come with time.
- I like my roommate...even though I've forgotten his name. (Don't tell him.) He's Korean and he goes to UWash/St. Louis, which has quite a few people here. Also: he's cousins with Grace Kim, who was in my math class this year and who I pulled all-nighters with on a regular basis second semester. Small world.
- The Internet, unfortunately, is /horrendously/ slow, and since it requires a login, only one person per room can use it at a time. On the other hand: I have Internet! I can read all my favorite websites...in China! I can email my mother and tell her I'm fine, don't worry...in China! I can waste away my life on Facebook...in China!
- An addendum: Blogspot is blocked at the moment, so I'm currently using GLadder (a Firefox extension; "the Great Ladder to climb over the Great Firewall") to get around that -- hopefully that'll get me through the next two months. If this blog suddenly drops dead, that's probably why.
- Ordering food in Chinese is kind of like Russian Roulette, except that when you lose at Russian Roulette at least you know what you're getting. Everything I've had so far is pretty good, but I feel like it's only a matter of time before I accidentally order something...memorable. (Also, I feel bad for the handful of vegetarians in the group, who are basically restricted to rice, veggies, and tofu. Sorry, guys.)
- Apple Fanta. APPLE FANTA. It's three yuan, it's neon green, and it's freakin' DELICIOUS. Why does the US not have this? I don't usually drink soda, and I would buy this by the /case/. Hell, I may bring a case home with me come August. China is AWESOME.
- Classes were actually really good today, although I imagine having four to five hours of Chinese class a day will lose its novelty eventually. We're doing a lesson a day, so I have 50 or so new characters to learn tonight...just like yesterday :P
- My one-on-one teacher complimented me on my pronunciation. It made me inordinately happy.
- SO MANY BICYCLES.
- The language pledge begins on Wednesday, after which English is BANNED from the premises. As in, we reserve the right to expel you from the program if we catch you using it three times over the next two months. Mildly disconcerting, that. I imagine it'll do wonders for my Chinese, though, which is the point of this whole exercise. I'm actually looking forward to it. (Also, I got a special exception for singing alone in my room -- I know at some point in this trip I will emotionally /need/ to jam out to MEE.)
- Our initial meeting was pretty awkward, but now that I've gotten to know my language partner, she seems really nice. (She's a student here at the university; we're supposed to spend an hour a day talking in Chinese about various subjects.) Tonight we discussed: the Chinese and American educational systems, our families, a mutual love of Ireland, the name 'Phoenix', and Egyptology, among other things. Tomorrow we're meeting at 11:00 and getting jiao3zi (dumplings) for lunch while we talk. It's gonna be /sweet/.
- My foot itches.
Initial impressions: Beijing is pretty great I guess? I haven't been off-campus enough to make any real judgments about the city. This weekend we're going to tian1an1men2 (Tian'anmen Square) and gu4gong1 (the Forbidden City), which should be a pretty good introduction to the culture, and I'll build from there.
I need to go buy batteries for my camera down at wu4mei3 ("Wu Mart") sometime tomorrow, and then hopefully I'll be able to start posting pictures! That way you too can see that fog-that-isn't-fog. Hoo boy.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
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