It's that time of year, where if I were still a Stanford student, I would have just finished finals and would be at home sleeping in, frantically looking for Christmas gifts for family, and spending time with old friends. The Christmas season has, in many ways, hit China. I was in Walmart the day after Thanksgiving, and they were selling Christmas decorations and playing carols. Malls and restaurants have Christmas decorations up, just like in the States. I'm sure I could easily find a tree to put up in my apartment if I wanted to but getting it up 6 flights of stairs would be quite a task. Still, in China, Christmas is a work day. It's a Tuesday, so I don't have to teach but all my friends are still at work, and the plan probably consists of just a dinner out, which is how young Chinese people celebrate Christmas anyway.
I've been teaching a Christmas lesson this week during which the most interesting discussion question asked about whether its a good thing that Christmas is becoming so popular around the world, even in non-Christian countries. Most students said yes, citing the happiness and love that holidays inspire, as well as the cultural connection it could provide They also inevitably mentioned that businessmen profit greatly from Christmas and that the more days for rest and relaxation, the better. Most classes usually had at least one person who saw a downside. One girl called it "cultural invasion" (and she has a point - globalization brings a lot more of Western culture to China then Chinese culture to the West), while most others emphasized the importance of remembering traditional Chinese festivals instead.
Still, just as America changes its imported holidays, food, traditions, etc, there is a Chinese version of Christmas. Like in the US, it's highly commercialized and people love to shop, though it seems like usually on Christmas Eve. However, for young Chinese, Christmas is about spending time with friends, not family, since their parents do not normally celebrate the holiday and Spring Festival is right around the corner anyway. And most interesting of all (at least for Chinese learners/speakers) is the tradition of giving people apples and oranges. It comes from a play on words in Chinese - apple (苹果) stands for peace (平安 their first syllable is pronounced the same way), while orange (橙) stands for success (成功 ).
See this article for similar insights: http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=10118
Friday, December 21, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Chinglish
I have encountered two definitions of the word "Chinglish": 1. the ridiculous English mistakes that appear on various signs throughout China due to poor translation. Currently the Beijing government is working to get rid of such mistakes, at least within the capital, much to the dismay of most foreign residents, who actually find them amusing and endearing. 2. the Chinese spoken by many Chinese Americans, which often includes English grammar and random English words thrown in.
However, I propose a third: the intentional mixing of Chinese and English (somewhere around a 50/50 split) for the purpose of communication as well as learning the other language. I have three graduate students who I have eaten lunch with a few times now, and this is our preferred language of conversation. It's a lot of fun and at times funny - out of spoken English practice for many years, they aren't as adept at changing languages as I am and have more than one occasion said something in English to a Chinese person.
For a good part of the month of November, I stopped actively studying Chinese out of frustration with myself and what I saw as my lack of progress. However, first of all I realized that I often set bars for myself that are unreasonably high. Second, I've had more "good Chinese days" then bad recently - they include my Chinglish lunches, a 10 minute conversation with another student in Chinese, a developed friendship with my tutor (we talk about lots of random things ranging from politics in both the US and China, random stories, etc), and a conversation with a Chinese professor, in which I mostly listened but also mostly understood what he said.
Anyway, I'm back studying, back blogging, and of course still teaching. Oh and working for the NGO I worked for last summer that has a relationship with the Carter Center and therefore meeting Jimmy Carter on Friday :)
However, I propose a third: the intentional mixing of Chinese and English (somewhere around a 50/50 split) for the purpose of communication as well as learning the other language. I have three graduate students who I have eaten lunch with a few times now, and this is our preferred language of conversation. It's a lot of fun and at times funny - out of spoken English practice for many years, they aren't as adept at changing languages as I am and have more than one occasion said something in English to a Chinese person.
For a good part of the month of November, I stopped actively studying Chinese out of frustration with myself and what I saw as my lack of progress. However, first of all I realized that I often set bars for myself that are unreasonably high. Second, I've had more "good Chinese days" then bad recently - they include my Chinglish lunches, a 10 minute conversation with another student in Chinese, a developed friendship with my tutor (we talk about lots of random things ranging from politics in both the US and China, random stories, etc), and a conversation with a Chinese professor, in which I mostly listened but also mostly understood what he said.
Anyway, I'm back studying, back blogging, and of course still teaching. Oh and working for the NGO I worked for last summer that has a relationship with the Carter Center and therefore meeting Jimmy Carter on Friday :)
Thursday, November 8, 2007
因人而异
I'm very interested in talking to people who have very different lifestyles from mine - hearing their opinions or just talking about random things - but more often than not i'm too shy, embarrassed or don't know what to say to start a conversation. I'm trying to get better at this and also put myself in more situations where random people will start talking to me.
Today I arrived at the school early and picked a random place off campus to eat breakfast. The Western campus is kind of on the Southwestern outskirts of Beijing; it seems as if it was built on what used to be its own small town, where they are now building expensive high rises. I picked a cheap (1 kuai for 豆浆油条), dirty place, and people who came in almost immediately started talking about me to the store owner (though they didn't think I was Russian, Alex), which makes it much easier to start talking *to* them. The one man I talked to had the common misconception that everyone in the US is rich. He thought there were no beggars there, and mentioned the big gap between rich and poor in China, thinking the US was not the same (China's gini coefficient is higher that American's but not by much). They asked me my monthly salary - something apparently everyone shares in China - and were amazed that I had 3 siblings (America doesn't have a one child policy?).
Conversations with my students are interesting too, both during and after class. As an interesting anecdote, many of my students are quite liberal - most are for gay marriage. Though they still hate the Japanese.
Today I arrived at the school early and picked a random place off campus to eat breakfast. The Western campus is kind of on the Southwestern outskirts of Beijing; it seems as if it was built on what used to be its own small town, where they are now building expensive high rises. I picked a cheap (1 kuai for 豆浆油条), dirty place, and people who came in almost immediately started talking about me to the store owner (though they didn't think I was Russian, Alex), which makes it much easier to start talking *to* them. The one man I talked to had the common misconception that everyone in the US is rich. He thought there were no beggars there, and mentioned the big gap between rich and poor in China, thinking the US was not the same (China's gini coefficient is higher that American's but not by much). They asked me my monthly salary - something apparently everyone shares in China - and were amazed that I had 3 siblings (America doesn't have a one child policy?).
Conversations with my students are interesting too, both during and after class. As an interesting anecdote, many of my students are quite liberal - most are for gay marriage. Though they still hate the Japanese.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Random Interesting Anecdotes from Class...
~I did a lesson that included a list of letters to an advice column about family problems that the students were supposed to come up with solutions to. In one of my graduate student classes, one groups of girls performed a skit, where they suggested sending the rebellious teenage boy down to the countryside so he could learn to appreciate the benefits he had in life. For whatever reason, my immediate thoughts were "how very Chinese." However, many other groups thought that his parents should try harder to understand where he was coming from. I had more than one group devise a "Parent Trap"-like plan to stop two parents from fighting.
~I did a lesson in class today on describing people. The guy I asked to describe Hu Jintao stood up and said "He is cool. That's all."
It's interesting how each class of students has a different feel and leaves me with a different impression. Thankfully the class I was a bit anxious about in the beginning is turning out better than expected.
~I did a lesson in class today on describing people. The guy I asked to describe Hu Jintao stood up and said "He is cool. That's all."
It's interesting how each class of students has a different feel and leaves me with a different impression. Thankfully the class I was a bit anxious about in the beginning is turning out better than expected.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Autumn in Beijing
During my four years at Stanford, I tried to appreciate how lucky I was weather-wise, even while biking back to the dorm on a chilly, rainy winter evening. I never had to trek through the snow to class and rarely wore gloves and a hat. The one season I did miss, however, was the autumn. And now I finally have my autumn weather back in Beijing. The feel, the smell, the sight of autumn weather makes commuting in the city at least slightly more pleasant. The hints of colder weather to come, however, are making me anxious about the winter to come. As is the cold I caught that kept me at home drowsy and sneezing at the end of last week.
But for the most part, I'm enjoying my autumn - the weather, Mid-Autumn Festival and the yummy (though horribly fattening) mooncakes it brought with it, national week and Camille's visit, teaching, which is at the same time entertaining, frustrating, rewarding, and a headache. Though I'd like to say i'm getting the hang of it. Kind of.
This autumn also brings with it the 17th CCP Party Congress, which means hundreds of party delegates have descended upon Beijing to meet and discuss the party's trajectory, most importantly its hierarchy that will eventually determine Hu Jintao's successor. Hundreds, maybe thousands - i dont know the number - come; few make the decisions.
For the record, I find the whole thing as ridiculous as the next person. I have no idea where they found the people I heard quoted on the news saying the party congress would bring prosperity and harmony, as if the party bigwigs sitting around talking and spending the people's money on travel to Beijing and expensive food and drink will do that. But I also find the NY Times report (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/world/asia/16china.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin) on the meeting a bit excessive. First of all, the title is flat out deceiving. Yes, Hu Jintao did rule out any political reform that would undermine the party's grip on power, but first of all, did this actually surprise anyone? Please raise your hand if you were expecting earth-shattering reforms that made it not only legal to form new political parties but also legal to compete with the CCP for power. Yeah, I didn't think so. He did *not* rule out smaller reforms, including intra-party democracy, which, as Joseph Kahn so bluntly points out, does not do much to promote real democracy, but it is a step in the right direction. No one should be expecting the PRC to reform overnight. Baby steps, people.
On another note: I can now read my own blog online legally. The whim of whoever has his hand on the buzzer, censoring subversive sites such as wikipedia and blogspot, has now decided that blogspot is not a threat to harmony and order in the PRC.
But for the most part, I'm enjoying my autumn - the weather, Mid-Autumn Festival and the yummy (though horribly fattening) mooncakes it brought with it, national week and Camille's visit, teaching, which is at the same time entertaining, frustrating, rewarding, and a headache. Though I'd like to say i'm getting the hang of it. Kind of.
This autumn also brings with it the 17th CCP Party Congress, which means hundreds of party delegates have descended upon Beijing to meet and discuss the party's trajectory, most importantly its hierarchy that will eventually determine Hu Jintao's successor. Hundreds, maybe thousands - i dont know the number - come; few make the decisions.
For the record, I find the whole thing as ridiculous as the next person. I have no idea where they found the people I heard quoted on the news saying the party congress would bring prosperity and harmony, as if the party bigwigs sitting around talking and spending the people's money on travel to Beijing and expensive food and drink will do that. But I also find the NY Times report (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/world/asia/16china.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin) on the meeting a bit excessive. First of all, the title is flat out deceiving. Yes, Hu Jintao did rule out any political reform that would undermine the party's grip on power, but first of all, did this actually surprise anyone? Please raise your hand if you were expecting earth-shattering reforms that made it not only legal to form new political parties but also legal to compete with the CCP for power. Yeah, I didn't think so. He did *not* rule out smaller reforms, including intra-party democracy, which, as Joseph Kahn so bluntly points out, does not do much to promote real democracy, but it is a step in the right direction. No one should be expecting the PRC to reform overnight. Baby steps, people.
On another note: I can now read my own blog online legally. The whim of whoever has his hand on the buzzer, censoring subversive sites such as wikipedia and blogspot, has now decided that blogspot is not a threat to harmony and order in the PRC.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Left Behind?
It's been a little bit since I've written a real entry...I've probably spent way too much of my online time waiting for www.espn.com to load, which for some reason is consistently slow in China. For those of you are aren't as big of a sports fan as I am, in the past week, the Philadelphia Phillies won the NL East after being 7 down a mere 17 games before but then lost in 3 to the Colorado Rockies, the hottest team in baseball. So Philly will - once again - have to wait til next year. Additionally, Stanford's football team - which espn described as "lowly" on their website - beat USC, the #2 team in the nation 24-23. It was USC's first home loss since 2001 when they were beaten by, you guessed it, Stanford.
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Camille, my friend from high school who is currently teaching in Hunan, came to visit this past week, as the PRC celebrated its birthday (and we celebrated having a week off from work). We went to all of the requisite sites, including the Great Wall, where we did a exhausting 10km trek from 景山岭 to 司马台. Both sites are farther from Beijing than the place where most tourists go and the views are even more impressive. (see pictures on facebook, once i get around to posting them).
Anyway, at the Great Wall, there are local women who spend their days pestering tourists to buy various souvenirs. A group attached themselves to Camille, Zi and I, one of which even walked with us for what had to be a few kilometers. She told us about random things, and at the end, we were expected to buy something from her - T-shirts - which we knowingly paid way too much for. She said she was a farmer from a local village, trying to put her two kids through school, in a place where you can't make enough money farming. This very well could have been true, especially since in most places in China, you can't make enough money just farming. Stories of people left behind as China has rapidly developed always sadden me, and, like in this case, make it more likely that I will feel sorry for them and spend more money, as this woman knew.
I thought about it later, though, especially the paradox. I had described this woman to myself as "being left behind as China has developed," but she has also greatly benefited from this development selling her souvenirs to tourists. And she probably makes a decent living, especially by the standards in her village, doing so. China is such a complicated place.
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Camille, my friend from high school who is currently teaching in Hunan, came to visit this past week, as the PRC celebrated its birthday (and we celebrated having a week off from work). We went to all of the requisite sites, including the Great Wall, where we did a exhausting 10km trek from 景山岭 to 司马台. Both sites are farther from Beijing than the place where most tourists go and the views are even more impressive. (see pictures on facebook, once i get around to posting them).
Anyway, at the Great Wall, there are local women who spend their days pestering tourists to buy various souvenirs. A group attached themselves to Camille, Zi and I, one of which even walked with us for what had to be a few kilometers. She told us about random things, and at the end, we were expected to buy something from her - T-shirts - which we knowingly paid way too much for. She said she was a farmer from a local village, trying to put her two kids through school, in a place where you can't make enough money farming. This very well could have been true, especially since in most places in China, you can't make enough money just farming. Stories of people left behind as China has rapidly developed always sadden me, and, like in this case, make it more likely that I will feel sorry for them and spend more money, as this woman knew.
I thought about it later, though, especially the paradox. I had described this woman to myself as "being left behind as China has developed," but she has also greatly benefited from this development selling her souvenirs to tourists. And she probably makes a decent living, especially by the standards in her village, doing so. China is such a complicated place.
Monday, October 1, 2007
I'm taking a time out from our regularly scheduled program...
to congratulate the PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES on WINNING THE NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST after a tumultuous season.
Sorry Mets, there's always next year. Trust me, we know how that feels.
Sorry Mets, there's always next year. Trust me, we know how that feels.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
我就喜欢。。。
I love: autumn days that remind me of home, students who can get me free tickets to the China Open
I am not a fan of: teaching 6 hours in one day
I hate: a bus ride that is supposed to be 30-45 min taking 1.5 hours
*edited*
I am not a fan of: teaching 6 hours in one day
I hate: a bus ride that is supposed to be 30-45 min taking 1.5 hours
*edited*
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
胡说
(this post is actually going to turn into 3 different posts that i've been meaning to write lately).
In Beijing, you pass red banners everywhere. If you can't read Chinese then you probably just shrug, having no idea what the characters on the banners are saying. When you slowly learn the characters that are printed on the banners, you are amazed at the variety of aspects of daily life that they comment upon: the environment, traffic, safety on construction sights, the Olympics, etc. The fun part about the banners is that they always use propaganda-ish words. Hu Jintao's recent favorites are: construction a harmonious society (建设和谐社会）and being civilized (文明). Especially recently, some have advocated people's contributions to the Olympics, a la: 我参加，我奉献， 我快乐。 Anyway, there's a good recent article on Yahoo news on slogans in Chinese society and their importance: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070907/lf_nm/china_party_slogans_dc
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Jen's stupid moments
It's easy to stand out in China. As a foreigner who doesn't look at all Chinese, I have grown accustomed to the stares. However, I do try to minimize unnecessary attention, and having a decent level of Chinese usually does that. But sometimes my Chinese just doesn't work. On the bus the other day, the next stop was broadcast over the PA system, and I thought I might have read the schedule wrong and missed my stop. So I tried to ask the bus lady (there's a lady on most buses who takes tickets and makes sure people swipe their cards) what the stop following the next stop was. But I could not come up with how to phrase this question. Even if I don't know the exact words, usually I can get my message across. But this time, all she kept doing was repeating what the loud speaker said, and she even said it in English. Meanwhile, every person on that bus was staring at me, while my face turned bright red. Finally I got my point across, and thankfully, the next, next stop was the right one, and I quickly ran off the bus.
My other "stupid moment" was when I went to the gym the other day. I stood on the treadmill for a minute, trying to figure out how to use it, since this was the first time I was using this gym. After about 20 seconds of staring at it, the woman next to me points to the button I'm supposed to press. The stupid part is that all of the instructions on the treadmill were in English.
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Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy sucks in every country, but I think it's particularly bad in China. I went to the bank today to open account, and knowing I would have to wait a long time, I took my Chinese book with me. After taking my number and seeing that, yes indeed I had about 80 numbers in front of me, I decided to run to the post office. Even at the post office, the line was out the door, but I sighed and joined it. However, once we actually got into the building, I realized that there were two windows with no lines. I couldn't read the Chinese above the 4 windows, but I had an inkling that I could go to one of the open windows to buy my postage and mail the postcards. I asked a lady next to me, and she said that yes, I could. I noticed that everyone in the long lines had a slip of paper in their hands, but I had no idea what they could be waiting for. I kind of wanted to ask, but my eagerness to get out of line trumped my curiosity.
Back at the bank, I studied Chinese while waiting, and thankfully many with numbers before mine left. While I was sitting at the counter opening the account (which I did in Chinese without any problems!), a guy came up to the counter and said to the teller, "Why don't you open more windows? Everyone's waiting so long, and I'm wasting my time here." Almost every time I have been to a bank in China there has been a long wait, so I've learned to plan on it. Still, almost every time I have been to a bank in China, there has been someone complaining or making a big fuss over the wait. One time I took a few kids to cash travelers checks during EPGY; the wait was somewhere around 15 minutes, which is like a gift from God. But there were still two people behind us arguing with a bank employee. While I'm amazed that so many people have not grown accustomed to/begun to plan around waiting at the banks here, there arguments also provide me with an opportunity for Chinese listening practice as well as general amusement.
In Beijing, you pass red banners everywhere. If you can't read Chinese then you probably just shrug, having no idea what the characters on the banners are saying. When you slowly learn the characters that are printed on the banners, you are amazed at the variety of aspects of daily life that they comment upon: the environment, traffic, safety on construction sights, the Olympics, etc. The fun part about the banners is that they always use propaganda-ish words. Hu Jintao's recent favorites are: construction a harmonious society (建设和谐社会）and being civilized (文明). Especially recently, some have advocated people's contributions to the Olympics, a la: 我参加，我奉献， 我快乐。 Anyway, there's a good recent article on Yahoo news on slogans in Chinese society and their importance: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070907/lf_nm/china_party_slogans_dc
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Jen's stupid moments
It's easy to stand out in China. As a foreigner who doesn't look at all Chinese, I have grown accustomed to the stares. However, I do try to minimize unnecessary attention, and having a decent level of Chinese usually does that. But sometimes my Chinese just doesn't work. On the bus the other day, the next stop was broadcast over the PA system, and I thought I might have read the schedule wrong and missed my stop. So I tried to ask the bus lady (there's a lady on most buses who takes tickets and makes sure people swipe their cards) what the stop following the next stop was. But I could not come up with how to phrase this question. Even if I don't know the exact words, usually I can get my message across. But this time, all she kept doing was repeating what the loud speaker said, and she even said it in English. Meanwhile, every person on that bus was staring at me, while my face turned bright red. Finally I got my point across, and thankfully, the next, next stop was the right one, and I quickly ran off the bus.
My other "stupid moment" was when I went to the gym the other day. I stood on the treadmill for a minute, trying to figure out how to use it, since this was the first time I was using this gym. After about 20 seconds of staring at it, the woman next to me points to the button I'm supposed to press. The stupid part is that all of the instructions on the treadmill were in English.
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Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy sucks in every country, but I think it's particularly bad in China. I went to the bank today to open account, and knowing I would have to wait a long time, I took my Chinese book with me. After taking my number and seeing that, yes indeed I had about 80 numbers in front of me, I decided to run to the post office. Even at the post office, the line was out the door, but I sighed and joined it. However, once we actually got into the building, I realized that there were two windows with no lines. I couldn't read the Chinese above the 4 windows, but I had an inkling that I could go to one of the open windows to buy my postage and mail the postcards. I asked a lady next to me, and she said that yes, I could. I noticed that everyone in the long lines had a slip of paper in their hands, but I had no idea what they could be waiting for. I kind of wanted to ask, but my eagerness to get out of line trumped my curiosity.
Back at the bank, I studied Chinese while waiting, and thankfully many with numbers before mine left. While I was sitting at the counter opening the account (which I did in Chinese without any problems!), a guy came up to the counter and said to the teller, "Why don't you open more windows? Everyone's waiting so long, and I'm wasting my time here." Almost every time I have been to a bank in China there has been a long wait, so I've learned to plan on it. Still, almost every time I have been to a bank in China, there has been someone complaining or making a big fuss over the wait. One time I took a few kids to cash travelers checks during EPGY; the wait was somewhere around 15 minutes, which is like a gift from God. But there were still two people behind us arguing with a bank employee. While I'm amazed that so many people have not grown accustomed to/begun to plan around waiting at the banks here, there arguments also provide me with an opportunity for Chinese listening practice as well as general amusement.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Impressions from the First Week (and a half)
I began my teaching job last Monday and have so far taught 6 classes, 2 hours each. As the first class filed in, I felt that I should be with them sitting in a seat, looking up at the teacher/blackboard expectantly. After being a student for so long, standing in front of a class is a weird experience, especially since I was given no training what-so-ever and just told to teach. Thankfully, one of the other English teachers has been teaching in China for 3 years already and has even more years of ESL teaching experience, so the rest of us (three recent graduates from the US) have been stealing ideas from him.
So far I have taught 4 sections: 3 are made up of sophomores and business English majors while the other one is made up of juniors who study human resource management. This week and next, I add 3 more sections of graduate students. The 3 sections of English majors all have a decently high level of English and have been, for the most part, engaged. I'm actually really looking forward to having interesting discussions with them. The juniors have not taken any English in college, so their level is much lower. The lesson I had planned for this week (geared more towards the higher level students) fell totally flat in today's class of the juniors, so it seems as if I'll have to plan at least two lessons for each week.
However, despite my occasional stumbling through class, there have already been rewarding and amusing moments. When I them in small groups discussing a question, I usually wander around to listen in and help out, and they often have interesting questions. I've already been invited two places by students: a rock concert last saturday (i didnt go because it was too expensive) and a museum this saturday, which i probably will go to. Furthermore, when I told my class of juniors today that I was looking for a Chinese tutor, more than a quarter of the class stayed after to volunteer.
Probably the most amusing moment so far was when I had my first class brainstorming ideas for things they wanted to learn about, one girl wanted to learn how to meet foreign guys. In another class, the boys wanted to learn dating skills. Chinese students are almost always not allowed to date in high school, so when they get to college, they become like American 16 year olds - only interested in sex.
So far I have taught 4 sections: 3 are made up of sophomores and business English majors while the other one is made up of juniors who study human resource management. This week and next, I add 3 more sections of graduate students. The 3 sections of English majors all have a decently high level of English and have been, for the most part, engaged. I'm actually really looking forward to having interesting discussions with them. The juniors have not taken any English in college, so their level is much lower. The lesson I had planned for this week (geared more towards the higher level students) fell totally flat in today's class of the juniors, so it seems as if I'll have to plan at least two lessons for each week.
However, despite my occasional stumbling through class, there have already been rewarding and amusing moments. When I them in small groups discussing a question, I usually wander around to listen in and help out, and they often have interesting questions. I've already been invited two places by students: a rock concert last saturday (i didnt go because it was too expensive) and a museum this saturday, which i probably will go to. Furthermore, when I told my class of juniors today that I was looking for a Chinese tutor, more than a quarter of the class stayed after to volunteer.
Probably the most amusing moment so far was when I had my first class brainstorming ideas for things they wanted to learn about, one girl wanted to learn how to meet foreign guys. In another class, the boys wanted to learn dating skills. Chinese students are almost always not allowed to date in high school, so when they get to college, they become like American 16 year olds - only interested in sex.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Communists
The girl who I would consider my best Chinese friend from when I studied abroad last year is a Communist. Or rather she's a party member. In fact, she's not just a party member but she works for the CCP in the party's equivalent of the foreign affairs office, a job she started this summer. Now, I hadn't actually heard her say that she was a member until very recently (see later in the entry) but I had basically figured it out last summer when I found out that a different girl, who i worked with, was one. The Communist Party in China is not what it used to be, in that it really is only communist in rhetoric only. In fact, many people join the party for the reasons that my former co-worker gave: job opportunities and connections, both of which are pretty darn capitalist. I haven't asked my good friend why she joined the party, but I'm guessing that her reasons would be similar though probably not identical. She's smart and ambitious (the party recruits and only accepts the best and the brightest) and also interested in government and international relations. From conversations, I've gathered that she also has faith in the party's governing ability. (While the CCP has done some really horrible things in the past and continues to do some less horrible things, they have also helped raise tens of millions of people out of poverty - the largest number in the shortest amount of time in human history).
I brought all of this up because I had dinner with her and Jason this past weekend. We caught up and then went to our favorite place to hang out from our time together at bei da - a tea house where you pay 18 RMB for all you can drink/eat, though it becomes increasingly difficult to get the attention of the waiters and waitresses the longer you have been there. They also screw up your orders frequently, but it's fun to see what you actually end up with.
Anyway, one of Jason's other friends met us there, and we, again, told each other what we were doing. When she found out that my friend was a party member, she exclaimed, "you're a Communist?!?!" in shock. Her shock was rather shocking to the rest of us, as I'm pretty sure this girl attends Bei Da, which of all schools in China, should have one of the highest rates of party membership amoung its student population (second only to Qinghua, oh and the party's graduate school if you count that). Awkward silence follows of course, and I, also somewhat awkwardly, tried to brush it off by saying something along the lines of "you really can say anything in front of her, she's not going to report you or anything," which is true. I've had many conversations with my friend about topics that would be considered sensitive both before and after realizing she was a party member.
Two minutes later, at least a partial explanation for her shock/outburst is given. Jason's friend asks my friend if she knows why the government is recently cracking down on house churches and deporting foreigners who preach at them. As a Christian in China, she has two options; she can either attend state-sanctioned churches or churches held in people's houses, which are illegal but often permitted as long as they don't cause political trouble. Of course, my friend, a very new employee of the party's foreign affairs office, has about as much information on that topic as you or i do.
I brought all of this up because I had dinner with her and Jason this past weekend. We caught up and then went to our favorite place to hang out from our time together at bei da - a tea house where you pay 18 RMB for all you can drink/eat, though it becomes increasingly difficult to get the attention of the waiters and waitresses the longer you have been there. They also screw up your orders frequently, but it's fun to see what you actually end up with.
Anyway, one of Jason's other friends met us there, and we, again, told each other what we were doing. When she found out that my friend was a party member, she exclaimed, "you're a Communist?!?!" in shock. Her shock was rather shocking to the rest of us, as I'm pretty sure this girl attends Bei Da, which of all schools in China, should have one of the highest rates of party membership amoung its student population (second only to Qinghua, oh and the party's graduate school if you count that). Awkward silence follows of course, and I, also somewhat awkwardly, tried to brush it off by saying something along the lines of "you really can say anything in front of her, she's not going to report you or anything," which is true. I've had many conversations with my friend about topics that would be considered sensitive both before and after realizing she was a party member.
Two minutes later, at least a partial explanation for her shock/outburst is given. Jason's friend asks my friend if she knows why the government is recently cracking down on house churches and deporting foreigners who preach at them. As a Christian in China, she has two options; she can either attend state-sanctioned churches or churches held in people's houses, which are illegal but often permitted as long as they don't cause political trouble. Of course, my friend, a very new employee of the party's foreign affairs office, has about as much information on that topic as you or i do.
Friday, August 31, 2007
China Moments and Communication
As of the time I am writing this, I have been in my apartment now for a week (by the time this is posted, it will have been over a week). With no job yet to do and with many of the people I know here not currently in Beijing, it's been a rather quiet and sometimes lonely week. I've bought some things for the apartment, wandered around the area, slept a lot, finished the book I was reading as well as the season of west wing i was watching, and worked on learning Chinese vocab for two hours everyday. The one thing I have not done a lot of has been talking to people. (This is not inherently a bad thing, just an observation). I've talked briefly to any number of service people at restaurants and stores and had two longer conversations with workers at two of those restaurants. (at one, a young guy who was making the 串儿, or meat sticks, tried to sell me one made of some animal's kidney. thankfully, even though i didnt know how to say kidney - its 腰 in case you ever need to know - I didn't take him up on the offer). I've also texted and im-ed pretty often, and two nights ago, I had a rather long phone conversation with Camille (a high school friend currently in Southern China).
Otherwise, the one major exception to my week of "silence" was last Saturday when I met up with Jason (friend from college in Beijing for the week for job training). We picked a random restaurant near the drum tower and ordered what we knew to be way too much food, but we were both really hungry. Last year during my study abroad program, a bunch of us noted the alarming frequency with which things in China turned out drastically different than we expected. The end result could be good or bad and was obviously due to the language and cultural barrier, but we termed these instances "China moments." (I may have not remembered our exact phrase for them but close enough). My number of "china moments" seems to, so far, be drastically fewer this time around, but Jason and I definitely had one at dinner, possibly as a throwback to last year. One of the dishes we ordered was 饺子or dumplings, and they didn't arrive until much later than the rest of the food, so we thought they had been forgotten, which we were quite ok with considering the quantity of food we had ordered. But when they did arrive, they arrived in such large quantities that we almost fell over in our seats.
Jason: I'm sorry, we only ordered "yi liang" (the term usually given for a set of dumplings)Server: Oh, we don't count in "liang" we count in 斤 (term for 500g).
Jason/Jen: Oh!
We had ordered half a kilogram of dumplings! This would have been great, especially since the dumplings were so good, if we hadn't ordered 3 other dishes as well. Thankfully, we were able to unload much of our 500 g on three French guys who showed up at the restaurant shortly afterwards in need of translation help.
Thankfully, today I met one of the other teachers and my next door neighbor who had moved in the day before. In him, I get to see an exaggerated version of what I must have felt/looked like when I landed in Beijing for the first time a year a half ago (thankfully I had such a good support system then in the form of the program administrators and friends who spoke much better Chinese than I did). He's taken a year of Chinese but it was a conversational class, so he recognizes very few characters. I had forgotten what it felt like to look at a Chinese menu w/o pictures for the first time. Even with pictures, it is quite a daunting task, especially with the server standing at your table waiting for you to order. So I now have someone else to talk to, and I helped him order lunch and buy a cell phone. The other teachers should be arriving soon, and classes start on Monday, so things should pick up.
Otherwise, the one major exception to my week of "silence" was last Saturday when I met up with Jason (friend from college in Beijing for the week for job training). We picked a random restaurant near the drum tower and ordered what we knew to be way too much food, but we were both really hungry. Last year during my study abroad program, a bunch of us noted the alarming frequency with which things in China turned out drastically different than we expected. The end result could be good or bad and was obviously due to the language and cultural barrier, but we termed these instances "China moments." (I may have not remembered our exact phrase for them but close enough). My number of "china moments" seems to, so far, be drastically fewer this time around, but Jason and I definitely had one at dinner, possibly as a throwback to last year. One of the dishes we ordered was 饺子or dumplings, and they didn't arrive until much later than the rest of the food, so we thought they had been forgotten, which we were quite ok with considering the quantity of food we had ordered. But when they did arrive, they arrived in such large quantities that we almost fell over in our seats.
Jason: I'm sorry, we only ordered "yi liang" (the term usually given for a set of dumplings)Server: Oh, we don't count in "liang" we count in 斤 (term for 500g).
Jason/Jen: Oh!
We had ordered half a kilogram of dumplings! This would have been great, especially since the dumplings were so good, if we hadn't ordered 3 other dishes as well. Thankfully, we were able to unload much of our 500 g on three French guys who showed up at the restaurant shortly afterwards in need of translation help.
Thankfully, today I met one of the other teachers and my next door neighbor who had moved in the day before. In him, I get to see an exaggerated version of what I must have felt/looked like when I landed in Beijing for the first time a year a half ago (thankfully I had such a good support system then in the form of the program administrators and friends who spoke much better Chinese than I did). He's taken a year of Chinese but it was a conversational class, so he recognizes very few characters. I had forgotten what it felt like to look at a Chinese menu w/o pictures for the first time. Even with pictures, it is quite a daunting task, especially with the server standing at your table waiting for you to order. So I now have someone else to talk to, and I helped him order lunch and buy a cell phone. The other teachers should be arriving soon, and classes start on Monday, so things should pick up.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
EPGY: How do you measure four weeks?
I came to the EPGY program viewing it as a job, nothing more. The first meeting of the counselors at Stanford had left me with a very lukewarm impression, and the administrative issues with the program had been evident from the beginning. However, once you got past those persistent admin problems and the general chaos created because of them (especially during the first two weeks), the EPGY program was much more of an experience than a job, and i think most if not all of the other counselors and i got almost as much out of it as the kids did. Sure it was a job. During the first week, we literally worked from 9am until 11pm, and there was often a stack of papers to grade or research to do for Matt. And the trips to Silk Market did get tedious. Even so, it was definitely the most fun job I have ever had, and I learned a lot about what it's like to be a Chinese high schooler and what it would have been like to be an American high schooler in China without knowing much about the country or language.
Undoubtedly, the group of kids made the program amazing. Sure, integration was difficult at first, and there were more than a few moments when i wanted to knock some sense into a few of them. But by the last week and a half, it was evident that some sense of integration had been achieved and cross-cultural friendships had formed. Still, for me, it was the fun moments spent with the kids that I will remember. There was ping pong and capture the flag, chatting in Starbucks, our weekend addiction to mah jong, Karaoke, "chao er," truth or dare as well as a debate with a few of the Chinese kids - both in Chinese.
Then there were the other counselors/staff members. Working so closely together, even though it was only four weeks, I got to know all of them very well, and I couldn't imagine a better group. There was mafia and poker, fun nights out at hou hai and san li tun, gossiping like high school girls again, and wonderful (and wonderfully silly) conversations. Now we're all going our separate ways - some of us staying in Beijing, others returning to Stanford, others off to Paris and Tokyo - but I hope we'll see each other again some day. At times, the four weeks seemed to last forever, but now that they're over, it seems as if they flew by. I met so many amazing people, both among the kids and the staff members, and I made some great friendships, that I truly hope will continue.
Undoubtedly, the group of kids made the program amazing. Sure, integration was difficult at first, and there were more than a few moments when i wanted to knock some sense into a few of them. But by the last week and a half, it was evident that some sense of integration had been achieved and cross-cultural friendships had formed. Still, for me, it was the fun moments spent with the kids that I will remember. There was ping pong and capture the flag, chatting in Starbucks, our weekend addiction to mah jong, Karaoke, "chao er," truth or dare as well as a debate with a few of the Chinese kids - both in Chinese.
Then there were the other counselors/staff members. Working so closely together, even though it was only four weeks, I got to know all of them very well, and I couldn't imagine a better group. There was mafia and poker, fun nights out at hou hai and san li tun, gossiping like high school girls again, and wonderful (and wonderfully silly) conversations. Now we're all going our separate ways - some of us staying in Beijing, others returning to Stanford, others off to Paris and Tokyo - but I hope we'll see each other again some day. At times, the four weeks seemed to last forever, but now that they're over, it seems as if they flew by. I met so many amazing people, both among the kids and the staff members, and I made some great friendships, that I truly hope will continue.
"It is clear in Beijing"
As my plane from Shenzhen is about to land in Beijing, they go through the usual "thank you for flying with us," "wait until the fasten seat belt sign is off to get up," and local weather report in two languages. I was not really paying attention, as I was still half asleep, but then as they were giving the English weather report, the flight attendant said "It is clear in Beijing." Now, I did not hear the Chinese report, so I don't know whether they just meant to say " It's not raining," which is true, it wasn't. However, as I looked out my window, it was anything but a "clear" day in Beijing. There was the usual haze that encompasses the city on most days, and i had an inkling that in Chinese government think, "not raining" had suddenly become "clear."
There have been two recent NYtimes articles that relate to this story. The first is about the country's severe pollution problems (here). (now to anyone related to me who reads that story, Beijing isn't as bad as many other cities in China, and one year here won't kill me). The second is about the government's efforts to "beautify" the city in preparation for the Olympics (here), a project which includes getting rid of Chinglish, bad weather, and anything that could reflect poorly upon the city, and thus the country. I find this more than a bit 过分 (excessive), as its the imperfect things about China and Beijing that make the country so endearing to me. (minus the pollution - i would be perfectly happy if the government could solve that problem - actually solve it, not paint over it).
There have been two recent NYtimes articles that relate to this story. The first is about the country's severe pollution problems (here). (now to anyone related to me who reads that story, Beijing isn't as bad as many other cities in China, and one year here won't kill me). The second is about the government's efforts to "beautify" the city in preparation for the Olympics (here), a project which includes getting rid of Chinglish, bad weather, and anything that could reflect poorly upon the city, and thus the country. I find this more than a bit 过分 (excessive), as its the imperfect things about China and Beijing that make the country so endearing to me. (minus the pollution - i would be perfectly happy if the government could solve that problem - actually solve it, not paint over it).
Sunday, August 26, 2007
From the "Path of Wisdom".....to Craziness
August 21, 2007 - Day 3 in Hong Kong/Day 1 in Shenzhen
The great thing about hostels, even the one in HK that was lacking in basic necessities such as food, is that you meet young people from all over the world, which is particularly cool if you're traveling alone. The first night, I talked for awhile with two girls, one from the UK and the other from Greece. The second night, I hung out with three Aussies, a German guy, and two Dutch girls, and got up before 8am the next morning with two of the Aussies to walk the "Path of Wisdom," which we had all seen signs for on the path up to the hostel.
I'm not sure what it says about the pursuit of wisdom that the path was rather short, but it ended at a point with lots of tall, thin, pole-like pieces of wood with Chinese characters carved into them (see pictures on facebook). I'm sure the view would have been magnificent if the mountain hadn't been enshrounded in fog. It still allowed for some cool pictures. Anyway, after reading the tourist information, we learned that the characters were the text to the Heart Sutra, which is a holy text of Buddhism I believe. The text sounded interesting, but it was overshadowed in my mind by the fact that these wooden poles were created in 2002 if I remember correctly by some guy from Hong Kong who found the Heart Sutra interesting. He also layed them out in the shape of an infinity sign (yes, the math one that looks like an upside down 8). I was less than impressed by the results of my quest for wisdom.
I spent the rest of the day seeing other tourist attractions on Lantau Island. I saw the 天坛大佛, the largest sitting Buddha in the world. This Buddha was also created rather recently - the early 1990s - and while I'm very skeptical of tourist sites that I assumed to have historical significance that were created during my lifetime, the Buddha seemed more authentic, as it housed a relic of the real Buddha, donated from another monastery. I also ate at the vegetarian restaurant at the monastery on the mountain. While it was expensive, each person is given a ton of food - spring rolls, vegeatables, and tofu - all of which was delicious. Finally, I took a bus with the German guy and Dutch girls to a fishing village on the other side of the island (pictures also on facebook). We paid for a boat ride that promised us dolphin sitings that of course did not occur, but the ride was fun anyway, as the scenary was beautiful and they toured us through parts of the fishing village, which provide a great contrast with life on Hong Kong island and Kowloon, which are both full of high rises of expensive apartments and even huge houses if you go far enough out. The houses in the fishing village are built on stilts above the water but out of thin material which barely looks like it could stand a thunderstorm let alone a typhoon. Hong Kong may have a per capita GDP to rival most developed countries and an image of a cosmopolitan city, but that does not mean there was no one left behind.
My Peter Hessler Moment
After taking the light rail across the border to Shenzhen, I had what I call a "Peter Hessler moment." Hessler was a Peace Corps volunteer in the mid-1990s in central China, and he has since written a book about his experiences as well as another book about life in China. I measure the "China-ness" of my experiences by how many "Peter Hessler moments" I have. To me, he is the source of all wisdom for foreigners living in China; it was in his book that I learned that the people outside subway stops saying "fa piao" are asking for receipts that they can sell to party members who can get reimbursed for the receipts.
Anyway, I was sitting outside of the Shenzhen train station, trying to figure how to get to the hostel that I had booked. An older man sat down next to me and started asking me questions. Then he told me that his wallet was stolen and he needed to get back to Hong Kong. He didn't outright ask for money, and as I was pretty tired, I didn't even really catch on that that was what he wanted. He did ask to borrow my phone, which I let him do, but when I still didn't give him money, he said, "Oh you must not have much," and then finally left. Half a minute later, a woman who had been sitting nearby asked if I had given him money. When I said, "no," she said, "Good, he's a liar. He hangs around here going back and forth telling people stories to get money from them." The reason this is a Peter Hessler moment is that he mentions that on multiple occassions, he has had people tell him "Oh that was a thief," after the person leaves the vicinity. So while Chinese people warn him about thieves (or warn me about pian ren, or liars), they do so after ther person leaves, which is helpful...but not really.
However, the craziness that I refer to in the title does not refer to the guy at the train station, but a woman in my hostel room. I was warned about her by the third resident - a Chinese American from California. This woman is probably in her late thirties and planned to stay in the hostel in Shenzhen for a month, which was evident by the fact that she had basically moved into the room. The whole idea of staying in Shenzhen for a month is beyond me; Shenzhen is a soul-less city where Chinese migrants go for jobs that pay better than the ones they can find back home. I have now spent about a total of about 18 hours there and have no desire to spend more, even though the city does have a distinct influence from Hong Kong, in that the subways are clean and an almost exact copy of the HK MTR, people generally dress better, and are more polite (at least on the subway). Anyway, my only interaction with the crazy woman was brief, but basically confirmed what the girl had told me. The woman banged furiously on the door around 1:30am, waking me up because her key didn't work. She then preceded to tell me about one of the former residents of the hostel room, a Chinese girl, who this woman claimed was her one Chinese friend even though she had spent two years in China. Apparently this girl, used to boil water from the tap to drink, which appalled crazy woman, who claimed that no one in Shanghai boiled tap water to drink because they knew it was not safe. (I can assure you that there are people who drink boiled tap water in Shanghai, though they might not have been a part of this woman's ciricle of ex-pat friends. Furthermore, I survived five months last year of drinking 开水，boiled water, in Beijing). This whole one-sided conversation took place in a frenetic voice that quickly jolted me out of my sleepy state and made it impossible for me to go back to sleep for another half hour. Thankfully, I had to leave Shenzhen early the next morning.
The great thing about hostels, even the one in HK that was lacking in basic necessities such as food, is that you meet young people from all over the world, which is particularly cool if you're traveling alone. The first night, I talked for awhile with two girls, one from the UK and the other from Greece. The second night, I hung out with three Aussies, a German guy, and two Dutch girls, and got up before 8am the next morning with two of the Aussies to walk the "Path of Wisdom," which we had all seen signs for on the path up to the hostel.
I'm not sure what it says about the pursuit of wisdom that the path was rather short, but it ended at a point with lots of tall, thin, pole-like pieces of wood with Chinese characters carved into them (see pictures on facebook). I'm sure the view would have been magnificent if the mountain hadn't been enshrounded in fog. It still allowed for some cool pictures. Anyway, after reading the tourist information, we learned that the characters were the text to the Heart Sutra, which is a holy text of Buddhism I believe. The text sounded interesting, but it was overshadowed in my mind by the fact that these wooden poles were created in 2002 if I remember correctly by some guy from Hong Kong who found the Heart Sutra interesting. He also layed them out in the shape of an infinity sign (yes, the math one that looks like an upside down 8). I was less than impressed by the results of my quest for wisdom.
I spent the rest of the day seeing other tourist attractions on Lantau Island. I saw the 天坛大佛, the largest sitting Buddha in the world. This Buddha was also created rather recently - the early 1990s - and while I'm very skeptical of tourist sites that I assumed to have historical significance that were created during my lifetime, the Buddha seemed more authentic, as it housed a relic of the real Buddha, donated from another monastery. I also ate at the vegetarian restaurant at the monastery on the mountain. While it was expensive, each person is given a ton of food - spring rolls, vegeatables, and tofu - all of which was delicious. Finally, I took a bus with the German guy and Dutch girls to a fishing village on the other side of the island (pictures also on facebook). We paid for a boat ride that promised us dolphin sitings that of course did not occur, but the ride was fun anyway, as the scenary was beautiful and they toured us through parts of the fishing village, which provide a great contrast with life on Hong Kong island and Kowloon, which are both full of high rises of expensive apartments and even huge houses if you go far enough out. The houses in the fishing village are built on stilts above the water but out of thin material which barely looks like it could stand a thunderstorm let alone a typhoon. Hong Kong may have a per capita GDP to rival most developed countries and an image of a cosmopolitan city, but that does not mean there was no one left behind.
My Peter Hessler Moment
After taking the light rail across the border to Shenzhen, I had what I call a "Peter Hessler moment." Hessler was a Peace Corps volunteer in the mid-1990s in central China, and he has since written a book about his experiences as well as another book about life in China. I measure the "China-ness" of my experiences by how many "Peter Hessler moments" I have. To me, he is the source of all wisdom for foreigners living in China; it was in his book that I learned that the people outside subway stops saying "fa piao" are asking for receipts that they can sell to party members who can get reimbursed for the receipts.
Anyway, I was sitting outside of the Shenzhen train station, trying to figure how to get to the hostel that I had booked. An older man sat down next to me and started asking me questions. Then he told me that his wallet was stolen and he needed to get back to Hong Kong. He didn't outright ask for money, and as I was pretty tired, I didn't even really catch on that that was what he wanted. He did ask to borrow my phone, which I let him do, but when I still didn't give him money, he said, "Oh you must not have much," and then finally left. Half a minute later, a woman who had been sitting nearby asked if I had given him money. When I said, "no," she said, "Good, he's a liar. He hangs around here going back and forth telling people stories to get money from them." The reason this is a Peter Hessler moment is that he mentions that on multiple occassions, he has had people tell him "Oh that was a thief," after the person leaves the vicinity. So while Chinese people warn him about thieves (or warn me about pian ren, or liars), they do so after ther person leaves, which is helpful...but not really.
However, the craziness that I refer to in the title does not refer to the guy at the train station, but a woman in my hostel room. I was warned about her by the third resident - a Chinese American from California. This woman is probably in her late thirties and planned to stay in the hostel in Shenzhen for a month, which was evident by the fact that she had basically moved into the room. The whole idea of staying in Shenzhen for a month is beyond me; Shenzhen is a soul-less city where Chinese migrants go for jobs that pay better than the ones they can find back home. I have now spent about a total of about 18 hours there and have no desire to spend more, even though the city does have a distinct influence from Hong Kong, in that the subways are clean and an almost exact copy of the HK MTR, people generally dress better, and are more polite (at least on the subway). Anyway, my only interaction with the crazy woman was brief, but basically confirmed what the girl had told me. The woman banged furiously on the door around 1:30am, waking me up because her key didn't work. She then preceded to tell me about one of the former residents of the hostel room, a Chinese girl, who this woman claimed was her one Chinese friend even though she had spent two years in China. Apparently this girl, used to boil water from the tap to drink, which appalled crazy woman, who claimed that no one in Shanghai boiled tap water to drink because they knew it was not safe. (I can assure you that there are people who drink boiled tap water in Shanghai, though they might not have been a part of this woman's ciricle of ex-pat friends. Furthermore, I survived five months last year of drinking 开水，boiled water, in Beijing). This whole one-sided conversation took place in a frenetic voice that quickly jolted me out of my sleepy state and made it impossible for me to go back to sleep for another half hour. Thankfully, I had to leave Shenzhen early the next morning.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
"Elevator safety is easy to learn and easy to remember"
August 20, 2007 - Day 2 in Hong Kong
Because I chose a hostel far off the beaten path, I had to take around 1.5 hours worth of public transportation to get to the PRC's visa office (though I'm pretty sure I still saved money, if not time, by not staying on Kowloon). Hong Kong's public transportation system is the opposite of Beijing's (and of most cities') in that it's clean and pleasant. Like Beijing's, HK's city government is working to make its city clean, safe, and orderly past the point of ridiculousness. The hefty fines for smoking in non-smoking areas are great because of their effectiveness. On the other hand, when you're passing through an MTR (subway) stop, you hear instructions on elevator safety announced to you in three different languages. It's great that they don't want anyone getting hurt, but MTR seems to think that "Grandparents" can't handle escalators and should instead take the elevator. I saw many a grandmother and grandfather manage to take the escalator without killing themselves.
Once I arrived at the visa office, I spent a good 2.5 hours of my morning waiting to apply for my visa and hand over the hefty sum of money that Americans must pay to get a visa for mainland China. (The PRC uses reciprocal prices for visas, so because the US government charges so much for visas, Americans get charged multiple times more than citizens of any other country). Thankfully, even though it was past noon, I could still have my visa processed by 4:30.
Understanding without words
While wandering around Wan Chai (the area of HK where the visa office was), there were two moments of note. The first was on a second story passageway above one of the streets, I walked right into the middle of a F*l*n G*ng protest (fill in the vowels yourself). They had posters condemning the Chinese government and were passing out leaflets. I passed by hours later and they were still there. While the CCP has certainly been expanding its reach into HK's political affairs since 1997, the party has still have left the city's dwellers with a much greater degree of freedom than their mainland counterparts. Such a protest in China would have been broken up within two minutes. Additionally, I could get on to BBC news in the internet cafe without any problems.
My second moment of interest was more anecdotal and amusing. I had been on my way to McDonalds to use the bathroom when I had run into the protest. Apparently, many other women had the same idea, as there was a line of about 10 Chinese women of all ages when I got there. As we waited, them chatting in Cantonese, me standing silently, we all eventually noticed that not only was there no line in the men's room, but the men's room had two stalls, while the women's room had one. Seriously, who builds more stalls in the men's room than the women's? It really doesn't make any sense. At one point, when there weren't any men inside, the two older Chinese women start pointing and talking, and everyone begins to laugh, including me as I totally understood their plan without understanding any of their words. One went into the men's room while another guarded the door. When the second woman went in, a line of men actually did start to form. When she came out, I understood my first sentence of Cantonese, "不好意思," which had only slightly different tones than in Mandarin. (There's no direct English equivalent, though it's close to "sorry, I'm embarrassed.").
Because I chose a hostel far off the beaten path, I had to take around 1.5 hours worth of public transportation to get to the PRC's visa office (though I'm pretty sure I still saved money, if not time, by not staying on Kowloon). Hong Kong's public transportation system is the opposite of Beijing's (and of most cities') in that it's clean and pleasant. Like Beijing's, HK's city government is working to make its city clean, safe, and orderly past the point of ridiculousness. The hefty fines for smoking in non-smoking areas are great because of their effectiveness. On the other hand, when you're passing through an MTR (subway) stop, you hear instructions on elevator safety announced to you in three different languages. It's great that they don't want anyone getting hurt, but MTR seems to think that "Grandparents" can't handle escalators and should instead take the elevator. I saw many a grandmother and grandfather manage to take the escalator without killing themselves.
Once I arrived at the visa office, I spent a good 2.5 hours of my morning waiting to apply for my visa and hand over the hefty sum of money that Americans must pay to get a visa for mainland China. (The PRC uses reciprocal prices for visas, so because the US government charges so much for visas, Americans get charged multiple times more than citizens of any other country). Thankfully, even though it was past noon, I could still have my visa processed by 4:30.
Understanding without words
While wandering around Wan Chai (the area of HK where the visa office was), there were two moments of note. The first was on a second story passageway above one of the streets, I walked right into the middle of a F*l*n G*ng protest (fill in the vowels yourself). They had posters condemning the Chinese government and were passing out leaflets. I passed by hours later and they were still there. While the CCP has certainly been expanding its reach into HK's political affairs since 1997, the party has still have left the city's dwellers with a much greater degree of freedom than their mainland counterparts. Such a protest in China would have been broken up within two minutes. Additionally, I could get on to BBC news in the internet cafe without any problems.
My second moment of interest was more anecdotal and amusing. I had been on my way to McDonalds to use the bathroom when I had run into the protest. Apparently, many other women had the same idea, as there was a line of about 10 Chinese women of all ages when I got there. As we waited, them chatting in Cantonese, me standing silently, we all eventually noticed that not only was there no line in the men's room, but the men's room had two stalls, while the women's room had one. Seriously, who builds more stalls in the men's room than the women's? It really doesn't make any sense. At one point, when there weren't any men inside, the two older Chinese women start pointing and talking, and everyone begins to laugh, including me as I totally understood their plan without understanding any of their words. One went into the men's room while another guarded the door. When the second woman went in, a line of men actually did start to form. When she came out, I understood my first sentence of Cantonese, "不好意思," which had only slightly different tones than in Mandarin. (There's no direct English equivalent, though it's close to "sorry, I'm embarrassed.").
Friday, August 24, 2007
No food? In Hong Kong?!
August 19, 2007 - Day 1 in Hong Kong
This was my second trip to Hong Kong because of visa issues, the first taking place last June when I flew down to Shenzhen, crossed the border, spent a day and a half there, crossed the border again, and then took a train back to Beijing. I had a double entry visa and had to leave the country to activate the second 3 months of it. This time, I had to actually apply for a second visa, but first I had to find my way to the hostel I had booked. Last year, I had wandered around much of Kowloon and part of Hong Kong Island, so I decided I wanted to see a different island. I booked a hostel on Lantau - the island where the airport is - that is next to the Tian Tan Da Fo, the largest sitting Buddha in the world.
After asking many different people about buses, I finally got on the last bus up the mountain to my hostel. There were two others on there, a couple from Nanjing. The bus ride was 45 minutes up a road that is sometimes two lanes sometimes one, so there were more than one precariously close moments with vehicles driving in the other direction. However, the view is beautiful at many different points along the way, despite the dense fog. I trekked with the two Nanjing-ers up to the hostel, which is basically in the middle of nowhere. It was 7pm and I didn't bring food because I assumed there would be something near the hostel. Nope. It's on a hill, by itself, and the closest restaurant, a tea house, is barren (I never did see it open, though another resident of the hostel claimed he ate there).
Hong Kong is supposed to have some of the best food in the world, both in terms of variety and quality. Hong Kong dim sum and rice noodles are to die for, and yet, at around 7:30, I realized that I did not have any food. Not even a bag of chips or a bottle of water. I had ventured down the mountain slightly in search of food but was a little freaked out by the barren-ness and darkness of the place. Thankfully on the way back up, I met up with the two from Nanjing and felt a little safer walking further with others. When we hit the "town," if you can call it that (it's basically a tourist strip of souvenir shops and places to eat, which is why nothing was open), thankfully a single light was on, and we got a couple who ran a souvenir shop to make us 方便面(instant noodles). They did put eggs and bok choy in them, and I have to say, it was some of the best 方便面I've ever had.
An interesting anecdote that I learned from hanging out with the Chinese couple: you can usually get by with Mandarin in Hong Kong. I had heard not to try speaking Mandarin in Hong Kong unless you want to get laughed at. However, most Hong Kong-ers learn it in school and some speak it better than they speak English, for example the couple at the souvenir shop. I had moderate success with Mandarin - probably better success than I had with English the time before - with one exception. At a restaurant the next day, I tried to ask for a menu in Mandarin. The guy looked at me strangely as I repeated "cai dan" to him. The others at my table (it was a place where they seat you at big tables with other people) laughed and translated for me.
This was my second trip to Hong Kong because of visa issues, the first taking place last June when I flew down to Shenzhen, crossed the border, spent a day and a half there, crossed the border again, and then took a train back to Beijing. I had a double entry visa and had to leave the country to activate the second 3 months of it. This time, I had to actually apply for a second visa, but first I had to find my way to the hostel I had booked. Last year, I had wandered around much of Kowloon and part of Hong Kong Island, so I decided I wanted to see a different island. I booked a hostel on Lantau - the island where the airport is - that is next to the Tian Tan Da Fo, the largest sitting Buddha in the world.
After asking many different people about buses, I finally got on the last bus up the mountain to my hostel. There were two others on there, a couple from Nanjing. The bus ride was 45 minutes up a road that is sometimes two lanes sometimes one, so there were more than one precariously close moments with vehicles driving in the other direction. However, the view is beautiful at many different points along the way, despite the dense fog. I trekked with the two Nanjing-ers up to the hostel, which is basically in the middle of nowhere. It was 7pm and I didn't bring food because I assumed there would be something near the hostel. Nope. It's on a hill, by itself, and the closest restaurant, a tea house, is barren (I never did see it open, though another resident of the hostel claimed he ate there).
Hong Kong is supposed to have some of the best food in the world, both in terms of variety and quality. Hong Kong dim sum and rice noodles are to die for, and yet, at around 7:30, I realized that I did not have any food. Not even a bag of chips or a bottle of water. I had ventured down the mountain slightly in search of food but was a little freaked out by the barren-ness and darkness of the place. Thankfully on the way back up, I met up with the two from Nanjing and felt a little safer walking further with others. When we hit the "town," if you can call it that (it's basically a tourist strip of souvenir shops and places to eat, which is why nothing was open), thankfully a single light was on, and we got a couple who ran a souvenir shop to make us 方便面(instant noodles). They did put eggs and bok choy in them, and I have to say, it was some of the best 方便面I've ever had.
An interesting anecdote that I learned from hanging out with the Chinese couple: you can usually get by with Mandarin in Hong Kong. I had heard not to try speaking Mandarin in Hong Kong unless you want to get laughed at. However, most Hong Kong-ers learn it in school and some speak it better than they speak English, for example the couple at the souvenir shop. I had moderate success with Mandarin - probably better success than I had with English the time before - with one exception. At a restaurant the next day, I tried to ask for a menu in Mandarin. The guy looked at me strangely as I repeated "cai dan" to him. The others at my table (it was a place where they seat you at big tables with other people) laughed and translated for me.
Hello and Welcome
I am setting up this blog to satisfy requests for updates from both family and friends. I will try to update as frequently as possible with both stories and anecdotes about my life in Beijing as well as thoughts about China in general. You're welcome to post comments, but it's difficult for me to see them (because of the Chinese government's internet restrictions), so it's best if you email them to me (i'll also be more likely to reply).
I'm going to first post some updates from my trip to Hong Kong as well as on EPGY and moving into my apartment in Beijing, so for a week or so, they might not be in chronological order, but i'll most dates on the entries.
Hope you enjoy!
I'm going to first post some updates from my trip to Hong Kong as well as on EPGY and moving into my apartment in Beijing, so for a week or so, they might not be in chronological order, but i'll most dates on the entries.
Hope you enjoy!
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