5 Months Post-Haerbin Update!

Alright, so it has been five months and I'm back to being a grad student. I have decided to peace back together some of the loose ends from the summer (stories for your enjoyment that I didn't have a chance to include earlier). To start off, some things I am missing a lot and the Chinese wedding I was lucky enough to witness. I am clearly missing the great pickup soccer and basketball games after class and picking up on trash talk in Chinese. With classes and not much free time, this just isn't possible. Of course the Chinese population in D.C. is a bit on the sparse side...unless you go out to the real Chinatown of D.C., Rockville (or Wokville as some call it). When you are back for several months from any experience abroad, there are certain things you can't replace. From time to time I need to get out the old soccer jersey dedicated to our pickup soccer team formed this summer. It is probably the one item from the summer that brings back a lot of great memories from Haerbin. I'm also missing the amazing "Dongbei hua" or Northeast accent that I just can't get enough of. I admit it will always be second to "beijing hua" or the Beijing accent but it very much has its own special points. And then there are the great Chinese and American friends from the summer that I have had trouble keeping up with as expected. Life always has to get in the way and you just can't seem to revert back to the days when things were simpler and commitments fewer. As for Haerbin food, that also can't be matched back in the U.S., as well as the amazing fuwuyuaner (service women) that always had a smile on their face and were always eager to start a side conversation with the foreigners that could speak Chinese.

Okay, enough reminiscing from me this time and onto the wedding story. So, one day in class my professor asked out of the blue if we wanted to go to a wedding. Of course we all took her up on the offer and later that week were off to her husband's friend's wedding. Now of course we were the token foreigners at the wedding out of the hundred or so guests in the hotel ballroom. Each table naturally had a "lazy Susan" (side note: I still have never used this word to call the round, spinning thing at every banquet-style table. It just sounds like a strange word to me.) so I knew that food would be had. And food there was, and by food, I mean a LOT of it. I guess a wedding in China is a huge feast. There are some amazing pictures of the plates stacked in balance, one upon the other, in perfect symmetry. It really was a work of art. Along with the food, there were the double happiness cigarettes at each table a fish for prosperity (since it sounds like the Chinese word for wealth...the Chinese are so auspicious). But aside from food on the table and whatnot, I made some peculiar observations throughout the ceremony: people were dressed very casual. The occasion could have been for anything really if you were just looking at what people were wearing. Another thing that immediately caught my attention was people not paying attention at all to the proceedings. I knew that the ceremony would lack religious aspects of the traditional American wedding since they are officially atheist, but everyone could care less and only were interested in eating and talking to their friends supposedly. I guess it didn't help that the MC was emulating the persona of a dating show host auctioning off the girl for a one-off date. Between cheesy musical interludes, the MC detailed their life stories, how they met, who there parents were and their family history. Then it was off to thank the parents for raising them well and then it was over. The bride and groom went to each table drinking "baijiu" (alcohol that tastes like pure gasoline and is in fact almost pure alcohol). They evenutally came to our table, thanked us for being there and took a drink with us. The experience was interesting to say the least and left me asking questions about what marriage means in today's Chinese society. It is fascinating that the Western culture of "weddings" can be taken and warped around a uniquely Chinese culture. I feel like this could have more repercussions than I first considered.

*Be on the lookout for another Haerbin story next week!

The Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia) Experience

For now check out a bunch of Harbin and Inner Mongolia pictures I just uploaded to my Flickr page (the first link in the links section). Later today I will finally get this blog post out of the way. Lots more on the way...

Well, that "later today" passed without a blog post...blame The Great Firewall for that. Somehow my Internet failed and did not save the post. SO I'll try to recap it here. Bright and early on Saturday morning we hopped on the night train from Harbin to Hailaer in Inner Mongolia. After a mostly sleepless night we were off to a Japanese War of Aggression Memorial, built on a former major Japanese base in the Manchuria region. You guessed it, this was not your typical museum, as most museums seem to be in China. This “memorial” had a battlefield with tanks and soldiers, actual bones of Japanese soldiers viewed through a see-through glass floor, a “magic carpet ride” tour through Inner Mongolia, a shooting range if you wanted to test out your favorite weapon, and the preserved Japanese tunnel complex deep underground. Expectedly the museum had a very anti-Japanese feel to it and detailed all of the terrible things the Japanese did to Chinese POWs. Later on we stopped by a traditional Inner Mongolia tourist attraction in the beautiful landscape of the Inner Mongolian grasslands. Just picture wild horses galloping around a never-ending plain, while cattle roam around boundless grass. After wondering around the countryside, riding horses (for the first time), and enjoying some real Inner Mongolian lamb, we stopped by a homestead right along the highway. The family there had an incredible set-up, getting most of their energy from a single windmill, which powered their TV and homemade satellite. Supposedly passersby donated most of what they had, as the mother and father’s children were off on their own in the city at this point. After busing 2-3 hours north to a border city, the distinct prevalence of Russian influence was everywhere. Even more so than Harbin, all signage was in Russian. The next day on the way to the border, our tour guide gave me a Mongolian name by the name of “ta la” or beautiful grassland. Not sure what that means but it sounds good to me. Stopping at a lake to relax and get lunch, we were able to ride ATVs and a dune buggy-like vehicle through a rocky, dried out lake…another first for the trip. At the border, the authorities were originally not going to let us up close to the border but finally relented. And I’m glad they did. From the arch of the Chinese side of the border, I spotted some Russian guards on patrol around the fence on the Russian side. Other than the nice views of Russia, other Chinese visitors wanted to get their picture taken with me and other people on the program…not surprising. Although I was thinking about at the time why they wanted pictures with us if they all thought we were Russians as everyone around Harbin thinks. Later in the day, it was off to another tourist trap, but an amazing tourist trap at that. Imagine a city of Russian babushka dolls…this is where we were. Hundreds of life-sized dolls of every great person in the world were there amazingly. Michael Jordan had grey skin with a moustache and pair of wings to give you a sense of the incredible display.

Coming up next: A Chinese wedding, Harbin, and campus living.

Harbin at the Heilongdaxue Post-Week One

(Picture: Outside my dorm)

So it has been a bit over a week so far and much has happened as far as the program goes. First, the beginning of classes has come and gone. Our schedule is 8am-noon, and then 1-3pm or some days 1-5pm in the afternoon. It is intense, but I feel my Chinese getting better every day. This is in addition to the hours of homework we have every night to memorize how to write characters, memorize entire Chinese conversations, write sentences for new vocabulary, grammar work, etc. Other than the classwork, we are basically all on a 24/7 language pledge to only speak in Chinese. At this point I'm already starting to feel like I am losing my English so it doesn't make much sense to talk in English even though we only must speak in Chinese from 8am-8pm every day.

Well, I'll try to recap the non-class stuff so far. After we made it in to Harbin all of our "julis" (class helpers/Heilongjiang University students) met us along with our teachers. The students are all really nice and have helped me try to grasp the large campus that I'm now living on. With one of the julis we've started a regular soccer pickup session that tends to attract other Heida students. The other day we ended up playing a three on three game outside some tennis courts. Some key soccer terminology I've picked up so far is "dian qiu" (juggle a soccer ball), "pan qiu" (step-over). This week I made it over to the massive shopping complex across the street from campus, which is like the Beijing Silk Market without all the drama. Most of the complex is bargain-only, which my "juli" told our class before we headed over for our "zuoye" (homework)...buy misspelled English T-shirts. I ended up talking one of the vendors down from 49 kuai to about 25, which is decent. They were much harder to bargain with I think because less foreigners traverse that area. Other than the immediate campus area I've been able to explore the city a bit. We all took a day to go to Zhong Yang Jie, a street famous for its foreign origins but now is more or less a tourist attraction full of Russian goods stores hawking everything Russian. A person in my program ended up spotting a Russian doll painted with President Obama's oversize head. Upon asking the salesperson to open it up, there was Kim Jong Il's smiling face, followed by Sadaam Hussain and Ahmedinajad. It was truely an amazing find. That night we also found Harbin's big snack street with Chuaner of all kinds, lamb, beef, pork, tofu, squid, and more (meat on a stick, Chinese BBQ-style). Last weekend we quickly went by the main town square that still hosts the Sophia Church, originally built by the Russians a hundred years ago. It really does feel bizarre how Russian this city is. Everyone thinks I'm Russian because I'm white and foreign. I never thought that I would ever see Chinese speak to me in Russian before Chinese or English. I feel like I'm living in a dream world every day. A few days back though it hit me again that I am in China. It was a beautiful day so I decided to study outside in one of the green areas on campus. I spotted some recent college grads taking pictures at one of the prettiest parts of campus when I heard behind me in Chinese, "o na shi yi ge laowai, women yinggai zai zheer pai zhao" (Oh, there's a foreigner, we should take the picture right there). I was in the background of their grad shot of course studying away. Times like these bring me back to the reality of the wacky world of China.

Lost in China...and Proxy Found

It has now been a little over a week since I got to China and much has happened that will require posts upon posts to catch up with. One reason you have not heard from me is due to the fact that proxies are a tough commodity these days. First you should go to check out some picture I posted recently here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22759391@N08/ (these are all from my phone since I had issues with plugging in my camera...those will be posted soon).

DAY 1.
Now I'll try to start with the arrival in Beijing. So after the 40 of us in the program got to Beijing after a 13 hour flight, which was only two hours in fact, we were all checked for swine flu by the government health officials with a hear seeking ray gun as found in the Jetsons. Little did we know, we would soon get to know this temperature gun very well over the next week or so. Each day we have been checked for our temperature to make sure we don't bring in another case of the swine flu. We were told to limit our interactions with Chinese students on the Heilongjiang campus once we got to Harbin and basically self-quarantine ourselves, but that started a few days later. In Beijing we stayed at Houhai, a pretty area right next to a bunch of hutongs (the famous Beijing alleyways where most people used to live) and a major bar district. So the first Beijing dinner we had was great...gongbao jiding (kung pao chicken), tieban niurou (beef in sizzling dish), a basi dish (candied floss...more like caramel sugar-like stuff covering fruit), and more. It really is great to eat real Chinese food again and makes me appreciate how much better it is than American Chinese food. At night, we had some China issues as usual. One was acquiring towels. So we asked for "maojin" which translates to washcloth and got a towel about a foot long. Then we had sink problems as it wouldn't drain and the fuwuyuanr (desk person) came over to fix it in no time at all. We didn't look too smart when we could not figure out how to push the drain in but it was our first day and all. Later that night one of the directors warned us of the danger of the "wenzi" (mosquitoes) if we kept our door open but there were none to be found. I think the Chinese have a phobia of the wenzi.

Day 2.
I woke up early to grab my first jianbing in years (literally). Ever since my program a few years ago in China I have had jianbing as my desktop background. They are that good. So a friend from the program and I found the nearest stand and discovered the word for the crunching thing that goes in the middle of the jianbing (which gives it the crunch): "bao cui" or crispy thin (cooking style) - this is what my dictionary told me at least. Still no idea what it is made out of. So then I was off on a mission to meet up with my good friend Charlie and Chengwei, a Chinese friend of mine. On the subway over to Wudaokou, I noticed a few differences right away. One was the Line 15 changes...no longer does a person have to walk a mile outside to make the transfer, but you still have to walk a mile doors on moving sidewalks. And the "fapiao" people are gone (those that asked for transfer receipts to hawk them off to their employers for a buck). The city instituted a new ticket system in the meantime, using electronic reusable cards that machines swallow at the final stop you make. Since I had some time to spare in Wudaokou I walked along the street to Beida to see my former home. I was shocked that it didn't change much in two years. Much was the same, save a few stores and restaurants here and there. Campus was the same old, great campus, except this time everyone had to show ID to get in, including Beida students. After hanging out at a lake on campus for a bit (including my first of many pictures with Chinese people) I headed over to our old favorite restaurant in the area, a Yunnan style place. The food was great, as was catching up with friends. After that it was time to check out the Bird's Nest (the Olympic Stadium) and the Water Cube (housing the swimming pool and other water events). I was blown away but how huge an area the central Olympics studiums take up. The space must be multiple times bigger than Tiananmen Square. I was wondering to myself how many people and businesses must have been displaced from the area for the massive construction project. After taking lots of pics and being asked to take my picture by Chinese people yet again (but this time with the Olympic Mascots!), it was time for Beijing Kaoya (Peking Duck) with the program. I'll say that it wasn't the best duck but still great! I did sure miss not being able to eat the Duck Heart, as it is by far the best part of the duck in my opinion.

Day 3.
The last day in BJ consisted of breakfast in rainy Beijing, the 798 modern art district, a Sichuan style lunch, US embassy visit, another visit to the Silk Market, and then Bill's BBQ. I'll always remember the guy from Bill's Texas BBQ, our last taste of the West before Haerbin. After we got settled at our table a waiter came over and said "Ni Howdy!" in a thick Beijing accent. It was one of the funniest things I have seen. Later in the night he only addressed us with "Howdy Partner." Ah China. Later that night it was time to go to our program base in Haerbin, at Heilongjiang University. After a long night train, we made it to Haerbin and were welcomed by all the staff and students that were to guide us through the summer.

So far the program has been a blast. Sure it is a lot of work and has been intense much of the time, but everyone is friendly and wants us to improve our Chinese. It's a great environment, if not bizarre one with all of the Russians everywhere. We'll just say that I've already been spoken to in Russian and been toasted to Stalin by the Harbin people. More to come soon...

One Week Away...

In the past week I have been making all the final preparations for Harbin, but I'll get to that later. A few crazy experiences in Chinese restaurants are worth noting. The first in Delaware a few weeks back and the second in DC just a few days ago (see picture above).

So my parents took me out to an "authentic" Delawarean Chinese Restaurant and they told me that I should practice my Chinese by ordering for everyone. So I went ahead and did it (they even had 铁板牛肉! - sizzling beef in a skillet, or one of my favorite dishes at a place at Peking University called the Medicine House). In short, the waitress was really impressed by my Chinese (as all Chinese are when Westerners can speak some Mandarin) and she told me that she would come back later to talk in length. Eventually she came back to the table and invited me to live with her family in Shaoyang (west of Harbin but north of Beijing). She said that she was once a professor at a university there along with her husband. I could never figure out just how she ended up at a Chinese restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware of all places. The waitress said that I could make a lot of money teaching English and living with her family. Although this sounds crazy to meet someone and immediately be invited to their home, this is quite normal with Chinese people. When I was living and studying in Beijing, once you were able to penetrate the so-called "cultural wall of separation" people were extremely open, friendly, and welcoming. Despite this, I was still surprised that a Chinese restaurant waitress would invite me to live with their family thousands upon thousands of miles away. Well, maybe this guanxi (connection) could pay some dividends in the future. To make it in China you have to "pocket" this sort of guanxi and call on it when needed. Who knows? Haha.

The second recent experience at a Chinese restaurant was, of course, at 五月花 (The Mayflower). My friend Althea, who I was in China for four months with, gave me a call and said she wanted to grab some Chinese food. So all we could think of was the terrible, well maybe not so terrible, Chinese place in Tenleytown near AU. After we tried to order "off the menu" for dishes we used to get in Beijing, to some failure and some success, we went and sat down only to find the sign (picture above) on the wall next to us! Only 30 minutes to eat our food and leave. After laughing for a while we settled that it was indeed practical given the max capacity of 10 (if that). But then how many people do you ever see inside Mayflower?? Usually no one or maybe a few high school kids grabbing an after school snack. Ahh Chinese restaurants...it will sure be nice to have the real thing all the time with a whole lot more of a selection. Only five more days...

THE FINAL HARBIN COUNTDOWN

Here is the official final countdown clock to...Harbin (actually this countdown is really the exact time I should be landing in Beijing):

BACK! And it is almost time for Ha-er-bin

Alright, so today marks the first post to the blog in 2009. This is of course because I will be returning to China this summer (Harbin specifically) and need a place to record my thoughts and experiences for my friends and strangers (you) and for myself. Hopefully I will have some time to upload pictures and write here during the intensive immersion Chinese boot camp that I am about to embark on...in about three weeks time. Check out the new YouTube feed for all that you need to know about Harbin (or what YouTube would like you to know). There's also an air pollution monitor that I added to the site out of curiosity. Harbin is in the northern most province of China, Heilongjiang. More to come soon about what I'm thinking about Harbin, this summer, and the crazy experiences awaiting me. That's all for now. Please leave me comments and I'll get back to you (and follow my blog on the right side of the blog to get updates as soon as I post!)! The language pledge is only a few weeks away now...