I am sorry to all of you who are disappointed by the long lapse in writing. I really have just been too happy and busy and consumed by this place and my gallivanting about to sit down and write. But it is time to catch up. Usually I write my own journal first and then when I write my blog it is a somewhat more processed version of my thoughts, but this time it has also been about 2 weeks since I have written in my journal, so I apologize for any scatter-brained-ness that may be the result. I also just have so much to say.
I never know where to start. The last time that I wrote was the night before I left for Kunming, where I traveled with two friends for nine days which we spent eating different and interesting foods, drinking green tea, strolling through the city streets, trekking in one of the most beautiful places that I think I have ever been, laughing at each other(and sometimes at surrounding people), being attacked by hungry mountain goats, following arrows that led to nowhere and breathing in the wonderful clean air that Hangzhou is often lacking. To put it very simply, it was an amazing trip and I really enjoyed every single unreal feeling minute of it.
Kunming (and Yunnan province in general) has a very different feel from the rest of China because 50% of the population is made up of minority ethnic groups, as opposed to Han Chinese which make up the majority of the population. This definitely has visible affects on the type of place that it is, meaning it is a very culturally diverse place and in some ways a little more open of a place than the rest of China. At least this was my impression after spending just a few days there. We all agreed that it just felt comfortable, a littler older than Hangzhou, which sometimes can feel more man-made, manufactured, or tourist driven (if you don't know the right places to go.) But don't get me wrong, Kunming also has a fair number of white people (bai ren) also known as foreigners (lao wai). However, something that I found extremely interesting and that I liked a lot about Kunming was that as opposed to in Hangzhou, where people most of the time assume that I do not speak a word of Chinese, in Kunming people would just start talking to me in Chinese, assuming that I would understand what they were saying. It was a nice change to have people assume that I have the ability to communicate somewhat intelligently. Most of the time, I think that I didn't prove their assumption wrong. In Hangzhou there are a fair number of white tourists, but in Kunming the majority of foreigners who are in the city live there for extended periods of time, and I think that is the difference.
We spent two days in Kunming staying at a Hostel called "The Hump" which had a really cool international traveler atmosphere and a rooftop bar. It was filled with people from all over the world and I had a few surreal experiences that involved hanging out with a bunch of Israelis (not something I really expected to do in China). It was interesting because two different Israelis approached me assuming that I was Israeli (there goes my face giving me away again) and while I don't speak any Hebrew and I don't necessarily connect to Judaism on a religious level, it felt really comfortable talking to these familiar feeling people in a foreign land.
In Kunming I also have a college friend who is studying there for the semester and so he took us around and brought us to this really cool ethnic minorities dance party that happens every Sunday night under a bridge near where he lives. After the dance we ate delicious spicy barbecued shish kababs and had a really interesting conversation about the U.S. economy and role in the world, along with China's changing role in the world with a random older Chinese man who seemed just excited and interested as we were to be having this discussion with random white students who surprised him by being able to carry on an intelligent conversation in Chinese.
From Kunming we took a night bus (8-9 hours on a bus with beds like in Harry Potter) up to Lijiang where we met up with a tour guide from a really cool eco-tourism company and we spent two days trekking with her in a really remote part of the countryside. It was beautiful. The mountains where green and the sky was blue (these things are sadly not always the case in China.) It really did not feel like any China that we know, and we spent a lot of time saying "Ireland, that is what this reminds me of!" or "Africa! we are definitely in some part of Africa!" It is not important that none of us have ever been to either of those places, only that we felt like we were not in China. We spent the night in a rural village staying at a beautiful guesthouse and eating freshly harvested vegetables and possibly freshly killed meat. I am no carnivore, but the meat we ate was probably the most delicious that I have ever eaten. And at night there were so many stars!
We spent another two days hiking Tiger's Leaping Gorge, a slightly more developed (but still extremely uncrowded) path that is scattered with Guesthouses that you can stay in each night. For the cost of maybe $6-7 a person per night you can eat dinner, sleep in a bed with clean sheets, and eat a delicious breakfast (of chocolate pancakes and deep fried omelets), all the while surrounded by towering snow covered peaks that you can see out your bedroom window. Basically, when you are in such a perfect place all you can think to say is, "What did I do to deserve this? Is this real? and, If I wasn't me, I would be so jealous of me." It was the perfect break.
We hiked out on Friday (with a little bit of trouble because of a ferry that was hiding from us and the fact that Chinese people's sense of directions are a bit different from ours...for example they will tell you something is right over there which can mean anywhere from 3 minutes to 4 hours away.) But no problem! We got out eventually and got another night bus back to Kunming and arrived back at our hostel around 7 a.m. And I took a shower.
We spent Saturday eating our way through Kunming. and then Sunday we got up at 5:30 a.m. to go the the airport and did not get home to Hangzhou until 8:00 at night. But the lovely thing about it was that after traveling for a week and coming back it did feel like coming back home, to this place that I have been living for 2 months now, to my bed and my pictures and my roommate and my friends and teachers. It is pretty cool to feel that way about a place that not so long ago was completely foreign and unknown and scary.
Now I am back to classes and playing and a little homework every now and then, and sometimes I sleep. I have a lot more to say, of course, but I think I will stop there for now and maybe go grab some dinner so that I can digest before Kungfu class. I hope everyone out there all over the world is doing well. Happy Halloween!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Amusing Misunderstandings
It has been a while since my last post and I am leaving tomorrow to go on vacation for 9 days, so I figure I should probably take a minute and check in with the outside world. I had midterm exams this week, which I am very happy to be done with. Don't worry, I did not let them get too much in the way of my having fun, as I managed to still get out and finally go boating on West Lake and also had my first lovely tea house experience. The tests themselves were stressful, because when it comes down to it, Chinese is pretty much impossible...but in a really fun and amusing way. Meaning it is funny for others when you mess up and end up saying something that is completely different from what you intended to say. For example, my friend Ande asked the gym attendant if he wanted to see his bathroom, when he really meant to ask if he wanted to see his student ID (an honest mistake), and another friend Guo An was confused when he was told that a restaurant was on the 8th floor of a building. When he asked how could this be, a restaurant so high up, PeiPei told him not to worry, there was an elevator. Neither of them understood why everyone else found this interaction so funny. It is also possible that it doesn't translate that well into English, but I think it really exemplifies the hilarity of cultural misunderstanding (which is the good side of cultural misunderstanding that allows us to laugh at ourselves and gain some sort of perspective).
Last weekend I also went to my first college dance in China. Yes, they have them, and they are fabulous. Words really can't describe. When my roommate told me about this dance I tried to get her to give me some sort of insight into what kind of an occasion this was. She really gave me nothing to work with. When I asked her if she usually went to these types of things, she said no, but if I wanted to go she would go with me. A few other Chinese students that I asked gave me the same reply. Obviously, I never turn down a dance party, and so we gathered a group of people together and after a brief pre-dance dance party we set off, having no idea what to expect. Truly, anything that we could have expected would not have come close to what a great and ridiculous time it was. When we got there they were playing games that involved blindfolded people and fruit and eventually involved blindfolded boys feeding this fruit to their female partners. Seriously, amazing. After the game playing was done, a Chinese boy who could dance(kind of a rarity) taught the Chinese students how to chacha. They focused so hard on learning and it was really, really amusing to watch and ofcourse stumble around trying to learn ourselves. Then, ofcourse, the techno music came on, and I have to admit that I have done a horrible terrible thing... I brought the Macarena to China. And a little known fact is that you can pretty much do the Macarena to any techno song ever. It spread like wildfire and soon there were far too many Chinese students techno Macarena-ing. After the techno, the DJ ( called Deep Breath Lovers Space) slowed it down and the Chinese male population found this an ideal time to swoop in on the unsuspecting foreigners and invite us to dance. My dance partner was very nice, although we had a small misunderstanding when I thought he told me his English teacher's name was Loser (it was Louisa) and I could not get him to understand why Loser would be a silly name. At the end of our dance we parted ways, and when he bravely asked me for my phone number I had to honestly tell him that I don't know my own cell phone number (an excuse that would not fly anywhere else because it would generally not be true.) Overall, a great dance experience, I would highly recommend it.
Tomorrow I leave for Kunming in Yunnan province where I will be traveling this week. I am really excited to explore around and not worry about work at all and see another part of China.
Last weekend I also went to my first college dance in China. Yes, they have them, and they are fabulous. Words really can't describe. When my roommate told me about this dance I tried to get her to give me some sort of insight into what kind of an occasion this was. She really gave me nothing to work with. When I asked her if she usually went to these types of things, she said no, but if I wanted to go she would go with me. A few other Chinese students that I asked gave me the same reply. Obviously, I never turn down a dance party, and so we gathered a group of people together and after a brief pre-dance dance party we set off, having no idea what to expect. Truly, anything that we could have expected would not have come close to what a great and ridiculous time it was. When we got there they were playing games that involved blindfolded people and fruit and eventually involved blindfolded boys feeding this fruit to their female partners. Seriously, amazing. After the game playing was done, a Chinese boy who could dance(kind of a rarity) taught the Chinese students how to chacha. They focused so hard on learning and it was really, really amusing to watch and ofcourse stumble around trying to learn ourselves. Then, ofcourse, the techno music came on, and I have to admit that I have done a horrible terrible thing... I brought the Macarena to China. And a little known fact is that you can pretty much do the Macarena to any techno song ever. It spread like wildfire and soon there were far too many Chinese students techno Macarena-ing. After the techno, the DJ ( called Deep Breath Lovers Space) slowed it down and the Chinese male population found this an ideal time to swoop in on the unsuspecting foreigners and invite us to dance. My dance partner was very nice, although we had a small misunderstanding when I thought he told me his English teacher's name was Loser (it was Louisa) and I could not get him to understand why Loser would be a silly name. At the end of our dance we parted ways, and when he bravely asked me for my phone number I had to honestly tell him that I don't know my own cell phone number (an excuse that would not fly anywhere else because it would generally not be true.) Overall, a great dance experience, I would highly recommend it.
Tomorrow I leave for Kunming in Yunnan province where I will be traveling this week. I am really excited to explore around and not worry about work at all and see another part of China.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Things that make me happy
I am currently eating crackers that I bought because I thought that they were sesame flavored. Upon closer examination and tasting I have found them to also be sweet potato flavored. At first taste I found this weird and unsettling, having never eaten sweet potato flavored crackers before. But there is just something about them that is endearing, an unfamiliar tangy sweetness that for some reason has me hooked. [I wouldn't go as far as saying China is an unfamiliar cracker, but it's something to think about.]
This last week has been amazing because I have finally gotten over my original fear and anxiety about just getting out and doing things on school days. For about a month I would spend my afternoons in my room, kind of doing work, wasting time on facebook, and more often than not napping. It was a combination or lack of confidence in my Chinese, the unbearable heat, and feeling the pressure of school work that kept me indoors. Last week I went out and did something new and exciting every afternoon, and now I think there is no going back. Yes, I have a lot of work, but spending time out in the city is its own form of education.
Last Tuesday I had Indian food at a fancy restaurant by West Lake and ate with a fork for the first time in six weeks. It felt weird and cumbersome in my hand. On Wednesday we did not have classes because it was a National Holiday. In the morning I was introduced to my new favorite food/addiction in China. It is a big circular crepe that is covered in egg and then sprinkled with cilantro, scallions, and various brown and tangy sauces. Then it is rolled up with a crispy noodle in the middle and looks like an asian sandwich wrap.
On Wednesday my roommate also gave me her bike. Which has made my life infinitely better because biking is the quickest and most fun way to get around. On Wednesday I went biking and explored around West Lake. Not only do I love bike paths that are as big as cars and filled with bike/scooter commuters, but I also love cities that are set up on grids, and the fact that when I am biking people are unable to stare at me for quite as long.
On Thursday after class I convinced my Chinese friend Pei Pei to go biking and exploring with me. Our original plan was to go to West Lake, but as Pei Pei said, (I am going to make the joke even though it doesn't translate well) it looked more like ren hu (people lake) than xi hu (west lake). So we ended up biking around for a long time and discussing our families and disney movies and our desires to never grow up (in Chinese), and eventually we made our way to a park outside of the city called Xixi wetlands. The highlight of this trip was the large plastic balls that you can climb inside and then play in on the water. That may be a bad description, but just picture a person rolling around inside a big plastic bubble that is floating on water.
On Friday, I went with my friend Kayla, who is basically Chinese because she lived in Shanghai from age 4-12, and we went on various postcard, map, and food buying missions. We ate pizza (a neccessary evil that tasted beyond delicious) and went to a night market and just generally enjoyed this city and all of the bright lights and shiny objects.
After not sleeping nearly enough we got up Saturday morning to go on our weekend group camping trip in Anji. It was lovely, an actual hiking trail (most places in China are cement steps) and it rained pretty much the whole time. But really, take me to a beautiful place and give me trail mix, friends, and a comfortable, (somewhat) dry place to sleep for ungodly numbers of hours and I am a happy camper.
In other news, I have midterm exams next week (something that I don't really want to talk about), and then the week after is our fall break and I am planning to travel to Yunnan province with some friends. I am also interviewing with Where There Be Dragons (a travel company that I traveled with to Peru and Thailand when I was 16-17) about a possible position interning with them in China next semester. I am very excited about this possibility.
This has been a long information packed entry, so to sum up, I am really happy. I am beginning to really feel adjusted to this city. I have gotten to the place in my Chinese where I can make jokes on purpose, rather than accidentally. With the exception of the time when I confused the the words for toothbrush and toothpaste (the words are not that similar). So I spent a few minutes asking my Chinese friends for their toothbrushes (not a socially acceptable thing to share), and then it was pointed out that what I really wanted was to use their toothpaste. I got some weird looks for that one. They must have been wondering if in the United States it is okay to ask your friends for their toothbrushes. I often find myself trying to convince Chinese friends that the weird things that I do or say do not represent all American people, that most of the time it is just me being weird.
This last week has been amazing because I have finally gotten over my original fear and anxiety about just getting out and doing things on school days. For about a month I would spend my afternoons in my room, kind of doing work, wasting time on facebook, and more often than not napping. It was a combination or lack of confidence in my Chinese, the unbearable heat, and feeling the pressure of school work that kept me indoors. Last week I went out and did something new and exciting every afternoon, and now I think there is no going back. Yes, I have a lot of work, but spending time out in the city is its own form of education.
Last Tuesday I had Indian food at a fancy restaurant by West Lake and ate with a fork for the first time in six weeks. It felt weird and cumbersome in my hand. On Wednesday we did not have classes because it was a National Holiday. In the morning I was introduced to my new favorite food/addiction in China. It is a big circular crepe that is covered in egg and then sprinkled with cilantro, scallions, and various brown and tangy sauces. Then it is rolled up with a crispy noodle in the middle and looks like an asian sandwich wrap.
On Wednesday my roommate also gave me her bike. Which has made my life infinitely better because biking is the quickest and most fun way to get around. On Wednesday I went biking and explored around West Lake. Not only do I love bike paths that are as big as cars and filled with bike/scooter commuters, but I also love cities that are set up on grids, and the fact that when I am biking people are unable to stare at me for quite as long.
On Thursday after class I convinced my Chinese friend Pei Pei to go biking and exploring with me. Our original plan was to go to West Lake, but as Pei Pei said, (I am going to make the joke even though it doesn't translate well) it looked more like ren hu (people lake) than xi hu (west lake). So we ended up biking around for a long time and discussing our families and disney movies and our desires to never grow up (in Chinese), and eventually we made our way to a park outside of the city called Xixi wetlands. The highlight of this trip was the large plastic balls that you can climb inside and then play in on the water. That may be a bad description, but just picture a person rolling around inside a big plastic bubble that is floating on water.
On Friday, I went with my friend Kayla, who is basically Chinese because she lived in Shanghai from age 4-12, and we went on various postcard, map, and food buying missions. We ate pizza (a neccessary evil that tasted beyond delicious) and went to a night market and just generally enjoyed this city and all of the bright lights and shiny objects.
After not sleeping nearly enough we got up Saturday morning to go on our weekend group camping trip in Anji. It was lovely, an actual hiking trail (most places in China are cement steps) and it rained pretty much the whole time. But really, take me to a beautiful place and give me trail mix, friends, and a comfortable, (somewhat) dry place to sleep for ungodly numbers of hours and I am a happy camper.
In other news, I have midterm exams next week (something that I don't really want to talk about), and then the week after is our fall break and I am planning to travel to Yunnan province with some friends. I am also interviewing with Where There Be Dragons (a travel company that I traveled with to Peru and Thailand when I was 16-17) about a possible position interning with them in China next semester. I am very excited about this possibility.
This has been a long information packed entry, so to sum up, I am really happy. I am beginning to really feel adjusted to this city. I have gotten to the place in my Chinese where I can make jokes on purpose, rather than accidentally. With the exception of the time when I confused the the words for toothbrush and toothpaste (the words are not that similar). So I spent a few minutes asking my Chinese friends for their toothbrushes (not a socially acceptable thing to share), and then it was pointed out that what I really wanted was to use their toothpaste. I got some weird looks for that one. They must have been wondering if in the United States it is okay to ask your friends for their toothbrushes. I often find myself trying to convince Chinese friends that the weird things that I do or say do not represent all American people, that most of the time it is just me being weird.
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