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...