time for a trip

This evening at 10:30 I'm going to take a 37 hour train from here to Kunming (pronounced Quinn ming (rhymes with king)), a city in the southwest of China where the weather is perpetually spring-like. There're also lots of other natural attractions in the region, which is why I'm going: to get away from this city for a bit. It's a nice place and all, but I'd like to see some trees and mountains, and maybe a blue sky that wasn't ringed by smog. I'll post again when I get there, maybe with some more details of the area and a few pictures from the train if I can manage it. For now, I need to finish packing.

last day of school

Tomorrow's my last day of school for the semester and the next one doesn't start until the beginning of March so I finally have some time to travel. Unfortunately, I can't leave right away since my passport
is still in the possession of the government so they can extend my visa. I should have it within a week so that I can rent hotel rooms and do other such things that need identification, like maybe take a plane. I'm thinking of going somewhere south of here where the weather is nicer and the pollution not so bad - I'll let you know once I have definite plans.

Not much else is new here. Last weekend I got to go to a student's house for some good home-cooked Chinese food. We rode bikes to get there, which was a great time - it reminded me of how much I enjoyed biking around Urbana. I hope to buy a bike of my own in the next couple of days so I can explore this town and get some exercise at the same time.

Oh, the school got a new foreign teacher last week, an Australian named Wayne. He seems like a nice guy, and it might be nice to have some foreign company, though I'm not sure how good it'll be for my
Chinese. He is studying it too, though, so maybe we can find a teacher and have class or something.

Well now I'm going to get to bed since I want to be awake for my last exams. G'night.

holidays

As you may or may not have heard, a couple of weeks ago there was an earthquake off the coast of Hong Kong (or Taiwan, I forget) that broke some undersea cables, rendering the Chinese connection to the internet more or less useless. As such, I haven't been able to update you all on life here in China.

Christmas here was nowhere near as nice as it would have been in the States. On both Christmas and Christmas Eve I had dinner with some friends, which was nice, and afterwards, on Christmas, we went and wandered around the city so that I could see what Chinese people do to celebrate. There were lots of people out walking around, shopping, setting off firecrackers in the street, and there were a lot of little stands set up selling local food in one of the plazas. Basically the Chinese use Christmas as an excuse to have a party, usually with friends rather than family.

The new year's celebrations were similarly uneventful. The biggest holiday in China is the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, which isn't until next month, and perhaps because of this the solar new year is pretty much ignored, except for the three-day holiday for all students and teachers. Unfortunately, the school somehow felt justified in making Saturday and Sunday two of the three days off, even though we wouldn't have had classes anyway. Everyone was pretty angry about that trick, but there's not much we could do.

The past few days I spent being my friend Katie's tour guide. She's here on a "study abroad" trip with her school, touring China for three weeks with 31 other students. They were only in Xi'an for 3 days, but nonetheless it was great to see her. We went to a few tourist sights, drank tea, and ate some good local food. I tried to be her interpreter, but I'm afraid I didn't do that good of a job. It's really difficult to be an interpreter and participant in the same conversation, and even more difficult to interpret a language you aren't fluent in, but it was excellent practice and good for my confidence too.

I guess I could elaborate a little bit of what we did, and in doing so maybe entice you to come and visit too. On her first day in town, my friend Mr. Shi invited us to his apartment for dinner, which, since he's a chef, was amazing. We had who knows how many dishes, including soft-shelled turtle soup, which was quite delicious. Afterwards I escorted her back to Xi'an where we found a decent bar/coffee-shop with comfortable couches where we could sit and talk about this crazy country we're in. The next day she went to see the Terracotta Army, so in the evening we just wandered around the neon-lit city, enjoying the strangely warm night air. The following day she was completely free, so we wandered more extensively, making it as far as the Big Goose Pagoda which was built to house Buddhist sutras a long time ago. We also went to a few tea stores, which as you know I like to frequent, where we could try any tea we desired. Lunch and dinner were traditional local foods, mutton soup with bread in it and a hot pot respectively. I may not be a professional tour guide, and my knowledge of Chinese language and culture may be lacking, but I can guarantee that you'll understand my English.

I finally have a key to my new apartment, which was nice since the cab fare from Katie's hotel to there was about half of what it would have been to my old apartment. It's still not all fixed up, and of course only has half of my furniture and none of my personal possessions, but it's nice to have a bed there. I'll continue to have these two apartments until after the Spring Festival when I'll be forced to move everything to the new one.

My classes are coming to an end, with the following two weeks being my students' final oral exams. After that's the winter break and the Spring Festival, but I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing or where I'll be going for that. I'll let you know as soon as I do.

饺子

I forgot to mention another complicating factor in my having two apartments: I still don't have a key to the new one. When I finally do, I'll be sure post some pictures from it. It was originally designed for three teachers to share, so has some interesting features such as three toilets in the bathroom and three sinks, and also a sink in each of the three balconies. Unfortunately for me, one of the three bedrooms will be locked and used for storage. I don't really need three bedrooms, but I was thinking of using the third as a tea room, free from the electronic distractions that, while fun, prevent me from doing any of the things I want to do, like study Chinese and read Argentine short stories.

Today's the winter solstice and it is Chinese tradition to eat 饺子(jiaozi), an excellent kind of dumpling. I'd never eaten dumplings in the US, and while I'd heard the word I probably could not have drawn a picture of one. Here, however, I've been fortunate enough to eat many, and they sure are good. The ones I had for lunch today were filled with tofu and turnip, which probably doesn't sound too appetizing, but I assure you they are pure deliciousness. You usually dip them in a mixture of vinegar, garlic oil, and hot sauce. They are also eaten to celebrate the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, at which time families will make them together, sort of like making Christmas cookies. Hopefully I'll learn how to do so so I can make you some when I get back. Until then, you can eat cookies and I'll eat 饺子.

two half apartments

I'm currently the proud tenant of two half apartments. My apartment here has all the things one would want out of an apartment (tv, computer, bed, wardrobe, cooking utensils, washing machine, water cooler) but only 1 chair to sit on, and the new apartment has plenty of things to sit on and the guest bed, but nothing to do. I'm hoping that I'll be able to read and study more there without the ever-distracting internet begging for my attention. We'll see if that's true or not once I get the key sometime next week. In the meantime, though, I'll have to adapt my life to only having one chair, which, since I live alone, isn't usually too bad, but when guests come over things could get interesting.

time to get crackin'

I've been pretty busy with class and trying to speak Chinese as much as possible, so as you can probably imagine, my apartment is not the most organized. Unfortunately, I was just told now that tomorrow morning while I'm teaching they're going to move most of my apartment to the new campus. I've been wanting to move, yes, but I was hoping to at least be around when it happened. They're going to let me keep a bed and kitchen here so that I can spend the Spring Festival here instead of at the deserted new campus, so right now I have to move everything I want to keep here into my bedroom which I'll lock before I go tomorrow so they don't move/steal things I don't want moved/stolen. Good thing I just drank about 10 itty bitty cups of tea, but I can only hope that it doesn't keep me up too late since I do have to get on the bus tomorrow before 6:50 AM.

Oh, I almost forgot to post a translation of that Chinese poem, so here it is:

I slept without realizing the Spring dawn had come,
Everywhere around me I heard bird song.
Oh what a sound of wind and rain last night ---
How many blossoms had fallen?

It's not my translation, but it's the best one I could find online. In Spanish, my translation would be

Soñaba sin ver los árboles solados
Cantaban pájaros en todos lados
Anoche qué ruido de lluvia y viento
¿Cuántos son los flores afuera caídos?

That keeps the rhyme scheme from the Chinese but loses the meter. Sorry. Maybe once I learn some more Chinese I'll be able to translate it a bit better.

For now, I'd better get organizing. Take care.

Apologies for the delay in writing to you all - I'm pretty busy teaching at the moment (20 hours the past few weeks) and when I'm not doing that, I'm trying my best to speak in Chinese, leaving me little time for reading or any other kind of relaxing, and unfortunately writing here has slipped through the cracks. That's probably a good sign, though, that this world is starting to feel less foreign and I've found ways to spend my time.

What have I been doing, then? Looking back, it's hard to stay. I've been spending most of my time teaching, preparing to teach, and going to and fro from the new campus. Word on the street is that next week I'll be moving, but that's yet to be confirmed, mostly because the new apartment isn't ready yet - it's still being painted and decorated and otherwise equipped. I'm looking forward to moving, if only to eliminate the commute and allow me to spend more time with my students. Right now, I pretty much can only speak with them in English, since that's my job, but if I could see them more outside of class I'd have another opportunity to pretend I can speak Chinese.

I got a package in the mail the other day containing two of my two most missed goodies: Reese's cups and cheese. Thanks for that - it was much appreciated, and the few people I've shared the Reese's with have been quite impressed.

Last Friday evening I went to the new campus to help some of my students host an English party. It was a bit disorganized and not really effective at getting anyone to speak English, but it did seem enjoyable, and motivation is of course an important part of language learning. The highlight for most of the students was me reciting a Chinese poem to someone's four-year-old boy I was holding in my arms, and him then repeating it back into the microphone. Here's the poem for those who may be interested:

春眠不觉晓，
处处闻啼鸟。
夜来风雨声，
花落知多少。

There isn't much else new here, but if you're curious about something, just leave a question as a comment and I'll gladly reply. For now I need to get some rest to make it through the long day of studying and teaching tomorrow.

Thanksgiving

Happy belated Thanksgiving.  I wish I could have been in Cincinnati to share it with you all.  Fortunately, I did get to eat some turkey, but there's no way it was as good as it would have been shared with you at home.

Early this week, Monday I think, there was a knock at the door and I heard English voices -native English speakers- outside.  It was Keith (the Texan who's here studying English) and his first-grade daughter Génesis.  It was a pleasant surprise to see them, and it wasn't until they invited me to their house for dinner on Thursday that I realized Thanksgiving was this week.  They also invited a few other people. namely Ron, the other foreign teacher here, Sarah, their Chinese teacher and a fellow English teacher here, Nana, a Finnish teacher of English at another university, Larry, a Hawaiian teaching English in Xi'an, and Larry's wife.  We had turkey cooked in the toaster oven (the closest thing to a real oven, but unfortunately not big enough for a whole bird), cranberry sauce, cornbread, real baked bread (another rarity), and both pumpkin and apple pie.  Quite a Western feast.  The accompanying vegetables, though, were cooked in a Chinese style, which made for an interesting mixture.  The food was all very good; Mixy's an excellent cook, and I got to complement her in Spanish.   Actually, that complement unintentionally derailed a conversation she was having with Nana as, after saying a few more words in English, she unconsciously slipped into Spanish, which, as you know, is not commonly spoken in Finland.

After dinner, we had to play some games for the kids.  The first was "Pin the beak on the turkey," with children being blindfolded and adults forced to squat and waddle backwards, using only one hand to fix the beak in the (hopefully) right place.  I think I came in fifth.  Then there was an Easter-egg-hunt-esque turkey hunt, competition-style, males against females.  Of the 14 paper turkeys, we were able to find 9, and the girls fared just as well.  A draw.  Which lead to the next activity: coloring.  There were all sorts of festive pictures of cornucopias, pilgrims and Indians, family dinners, etc., and your choice of crayons or colored pencils.  I voted for crayons, and coloring outside the lines.  Someone needs to show these kids what it's like outside the box.  As we colored, instead of football, the TV showed Nanny McPhee, which, in my mind, was a poor substitute.

In all it was quite a nice evening, though as I said early, no match for Thanksgiving at home.  It did, though, beat my Chilean Thanksgiving in terms of culinary quality.



Other than the holiday, not much else has happened here.  I signed the extension for my contract yesterday, hopefully guaranteeing that I won't be teaching as many hours next semester.  This week I had 16 (plus the 8 spent going to and fro in the bus), and the next three weeks I'll be teaching 20, since the freshman started late and all of their classes need to fit 3 make up classes into the semester to meet the minimum requirements for the duration of a semester-long course.  Quite a pain, if you ask me, but again, one that won't occur next semester.  Also, I'm told that I'll be moving to the new campus on or around December 15th, which would eliminate the wasteful and boring commute.

Not much else to add, so I'm going to brave the 40 degree weather in search of a winter hat, slippers, reading lamp, and maybe some more tea.

feelin' alright, doin' okay

I've been pretty busy here these past few weeks.  I teach about 16 hours per week, and go to Chinese class for about 12, and there's also 8 hours each week on the bus going to and from the new campus, not to mention any time spent preparing lessons and studying.  Fortunately next semester I won't be teaching as many classes, so I should have time to travel and study more.

Despite being busy, I'm still enjoying myself here.  My Chinese is slowly (very slowly) improving, but as I've been saying all along, if I would put more time and effort into studying, it would progress more quickly.

I haven't really done anything out of the ordinary lately, other than going to give a speech to a student-run English Corner on Sunday.  The idea is that the students get together to practice their English, since it's hard to learn a language alone.  Unfortunately the meeting was a lot more of me speaking than them, but I suppose I was the guest speaker, so what did I expect.

Lately there's been lots of talk about moving to the new campus.  From what I understand, this year is the first year for the new campus, and it's still under construction, but by the middle of next month, they have to have all of the departments and offices moved there.  Almost all of the undergrad students already live there, but very few teachers do since their apartments aren't ready yet.  One of those apartments is apparently for me, if I want it.  I'm pretty sure I can choose either to stay here at the old campus in Xianyang or move there.  It's a tough decision.  The new campus is in the middle of nowhere, with the nearest grocery store a 20 minute bus ride away, and almost nothing within walking distance.  By US standards, that's not a big deal, but here in XIanyang I can walk to anywhere I could possibly want to go, and a 20 minute bus ride goes clear across the city.  So it is by far more convenient to live here.   On the other hand, I do have to spend an hour each way on the bus to go teach, and I can't really interact with my students outside of class since we live in different cities.  By moving there, I could probably practice my Chinese more with my students, but I'd have less interaction with teachers and other people in the community.  I'll have to think it over a while longer.

Now, though, I need to run to Chinese class.

Saturday's shows

Yesterday I did a few things for the first time ever. First, with a few friends I went to a lake/park near the new campus of the university, and it just so happened that there was a dog show there that day. A dog show is a strange thing to see, with so many well-manicured animals on display and wandering about with their owners. The lake itself was rather disappointing, and it was surrounded by an almost empty carnival-like environment, with games, a swinging pirate ship (think miniature King's Island viking ship) and other simple rides. Of course we just walked around, enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

After lunch, I knew we were going to watch a student fashion show, and one of the guys we ate with was one of the designers. I was looking forward to seeing it, since I don't know much about fashion, Chinese or otherwise. What I didn't realize was that I, along with two of my friends who are also teachers, were going to be the judges. I guess they didn't care that I have no fashion-related experience of knowledge, and weren't bothered by the fact that I couldn't even read the scoring form (my Chinese reading skills are almost nonexistent). Despite these hindrances, I did enjoy watching the show, though I must admit that all of the clothing was far from practical, held together mostly with safety pins. There were some interesting concepts, though, and, of course, a lot of failed experiments. It was also fun to see some of my students as models - their attitude was quite different than what I see in class.

In all, it was a nice way to spend a Saturday. Today I get to prepare for my classes and hopefully study some Chinese vocabulary. I'm good at using the words I know, but I know so few that my freedom of expression is incredibly limited. I've been practicing speaking plenty, but studying very little. I guess that's to be expected - homework isn't very fun - but without putting forth more effort I'll be struggling for a long time. Wish me luck.

I made it back safe and sound

Whenever I told anyone I was going to Hua Shan, they would tell me to be careful, that it was dangerous. From what I had read, though, that wasn't really the case, and fortunately this turned out to be one of the few situations in which the guidebook was right. Sure, I could have fallen off of the mountain if I had wanted to, but it wasn't likely to happen by accident. Unlike most mountains I've walked around on, this one was covered with stairs and railings and chains to hold onto, and dotted with hotels and small restaurants and souvenir vendors. Not exactly the "untamed wilderness," but there were trees and rock and some squirrels. The view would probably be excellent on a clear day, but there was dense fog all day long at ground level, so from the top I could really only see other mountains and hills poking their way through the white blanket down below, and up above there were more clouds still. It was a fun time, though, but quite tiring since like walking up any mountain, the goal is to get to the top, which inevitably takes more energy than you planned for. In fact, I'm still feeling all those steps in my calves, so I'm going to head off to bed to hopefully let them rest before standing and teaching all day tomorrow. I'll put up some pictures and more information tomorrow.

Hua Shan

Early tomorrow morning I'm going to head to Hua Shan with a friend of mine.  Hua Shan (literally "Flower Mountain") is not too far from here, maybe a 2 hour drive, and is said to have spectacular views.  From what I've been told it won't be quite as breathtaking as the Smoky Mountains in fall, but I'm positive it will be more attractive than the city, and pretty certain that the pollution will be less out there.  I'll be back probably on Sunday, so there should be some pretty pictures here for you to see on Monday.


This week has been going quite well - my classes seem to be learning things, and my Chinese is starting to improve noticeably.   Of course, I still can't say anywhere near as much as I want to, and my classes aren't quite talking as much as I'd like them to be, but things seem to be moving in the right direction.

I need to be getting off to bed now, though, since I probably have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.  Enjoy your weekend!

I realized that I've been a bit negligent with the photos, so this post is just to catch you up on things I've seen since I've been here, especially on my trip to Gansu.



The house where I stayed, Mr. Shi's younger brother's.




Some caves seen from the road - apparently people in this part of China used to live in caves, but have since stopped for the most part, mainly because there were moisture problems.





A view from the temple we visited.




This is a statue of one of the generals of the emperor who had the temple built.




Steps up to the temple





Bell




up close




and me playing a drum, just so you know I was there




What looked to me like a good place to drink tea, but unfortunately I didn't have any with me.




Incense outside the main temple




Inside the temple












A table for making offerings, supposedly the largest in China, and Mr. Shi's nephew




My Chinese teacher Mr. Shen reading a poem, and Mr. Shi's mom having her picture taken by her eldest son




Looking down on one of the temple gardens








Terraced land that doesn't seem to be used for agriculture - maybe it was terraced a long time ago?




A cave dwelling that still seems to be in use








Looking back up




Another part of the temple




A traditional Chinese doctor weighs out some medicine








Eating fresh sunflower seeds




The Drum Tower in Xi'an - sometime I'll go up it, maybe when the weather is nice




PBR: the only beer from the US I've seen here besides Budweiser




A group of kids who were saying hello to me, so I turned and said hello in Chinese and took their picture, causing a bit of mayhem




Some women playing mah jong, which is a common sight. Apparently some people get really involved and stay up all night playing.

new classes and tea

This week, as I mentioned in the last post, the rest of my classes started.  I have 4 new classes of freshman, half English majors and half broadcasting majors (though one of those classes is on the bigger side), and they seem to have gotten started on good notes.  The English classes in particular went quite well, as did my sophomore English classes this week.  The students are finally willing to talk a bit, which has been my goal since the beginning of the semester.  It's a little more difficult with the broadcasting majors, though, since their English isn't quite as good and they are therefore more reluctant to speak in class.  They are much more comfortable reading aloud or following a script than composing their own ideas.  Unfortunately, they get plenty of practice at that in their other classes, and somehow I need to motivate them to communicate their own thoughts and feelings in English, which is no easy task, but things seem to be improving at least in my sophomore classes.

This evening I finally got around to buying a proper Chinese tea set, or at least the beginnings of one.

It's pretty simple but functional, and the first tea I brewed in it turned out pretty good.

The experience of going to the tea shop, though, was by far the best part.  When you walk in, you're given a tea to try, and then usually invited to sit down and drink some more, which I did since I already knew I was going to buy something there and didn't feel bad taking advantage of their hospitality.  The tea we drank was of course very good, and it was a great opportunity to practice my Chinese, which is coming along pretty slowly, but improving nonetheless.  The conversation consisted of me often saying "Ting bu dong" (literally, "I hear, don't understand," which is the easiest and most common way to say you don't understand what's being said), followed by repeated explanations and hand gestures.  Usually I was able to figure out what they were saying without too much effort, and like I said, it's great practice.  They invited me to go back and drink tea anytime, as well as practice speaking, and of course teach them some English.  Every tea shop I've been in has done the same thing, though, so I'm not sure how sincere of an offer it is.  We'll have to see when I go back.

It's starting to get late though, so I'm going to practice writing some Chinese caracters in my hand notebook (see below) and get some rest.  'Night.

more classes

It's just about time for me to leave for Chinese class, so this post will be brief.  I'm just writing to let you all know that this week the rest of my classes started since it's the first week for the freshmen.  I'm still not sure exactly how many classes I'm teaching since there are some problems with the schedule they sent me.  Hopefully those will be cleared up today.  Yesterday I ate for the first time in the school cafeteria, and it wasn't bad, certainly much better than the food in the dorms at the U of I, but all of the students and teachers say that it could be much better, and in fact many teachers bring their own food to heat up in the microwave.  There are plenty of choices, but it's not a buffet.  Instead, there are many different windows lined up around the walls and you can order what you want from them and pay for it there with some sort of electronic card which you hold up against a card reader.  Unfortunately, I don't have such a card yet, so I had to go to the cash register, guess how much money I would spend, and then go back and order.  And of course ordering is a hectic, noisy, Chinese-language affair, so since it was my first time I had a Chinese student help me.  The chao mian and soup that I had were both, like I said, better than dorm food, but not quite as good as other food I've had here.

Time to go.  Take care.

my trip

It's pretty late here, and I need to be getting to bed, but while the New York Times articles about North Korea are loading, I should be able to give you a brief description of my trip. Sorry it's taken so long to write this, but as I'm sure you know, it's much easier to go somewhere than it is to describe a trip in words.

I went with my friend Mr. Shi, my teacher Mr. Shen and his wife to Mr. Shi's hometown, Qingyang, in nearby Gansu province. We left early Sunday morning on what was supposed to be a 4 or 5 hour bus ride, but it ended up taking 8 because it was a holiday (National Day) and there were many people on the road, and to make matters worse, the road was closed at one point so we had to double back and take an alternate route. Nonetheless, we arrived without any real problems just in time for dinner on Sunday at Mr. Shi's family's house. We had a hot pot, a common type of fancier meal here. The basic idea is that in the middle of the table there's a pot that's, well, hot (usually done with an electric hotplate underneath it) and filled with some sort of broth or soup-like liquid. You then place uncooked food into the pot and take it out and eat it when it's cooked. The flavors all mix together, and you can have your food cooked as long as you want since you're the one who puts it in and takes it out. It works great if you know how to use chopsticks, but I sometimes had difficulty with soft food breaking when I tried to take it out, such as potato noodles or tofu.

After dinner we went into downtown to a trade fair that was selling clothes and other items from all over the country, but nothing that really interested me. Then we went to a dance hall that reminded me of the past, though of course I've never really been to the past. Everyone was dancing in couples, some even waltzing, to music of all tempos played on a synthesizer. Certainly not my kind of dancing or music, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

The following day we all went to a nearby Taoist temple, which was a very nice place to walk around. I think most of the buildings have been restored and were not original, but it was still nice to see more or less the design of the temple. I'll put some photos here in the next day or two so you can see it too. The best part of the temple, though, was the peaceful setting, which I'm not really sure I was able to capture on "film." It was, though, the highlight of the trip for
me. Just wandering around there seemed like the ideal way to spend a sunny fall afternoon.

The next day was our last there, and we left around 4 in the afternoon. Before that, though, we attended part of a wedding. Here, the wedding begins at the bride's family's house with lots of food. The party then travels to the groom's family's place for some sort of ceremony or traditional activities followed by even more food. We just went to the first part at the bride's house, and since my friends didn't really know the family that well, we basically just ate and
talked with the people at our table a bit and then left. It was still nice to see a bit of what a Chinese wedding is like, and I did see the bride, dressed in white.

The bus ride back was only about 6 or 7 hours, since the road was still closed but generally less crowded. It's nice to be back here in Xianyang, but going away made me realize how polluted the air here is. It was very bad when we first go back since the farmers nearby were burning the dead corn stalks in the fields. Thankfully the smoke that enveloped the city cleared in a few days, and I haven't had any difficulty breathing. That first day back, though, was pretty amazingly smoky, with visibilty down to about 2 blocks, and burning eyes after being outside for too long. I opted to stay in most of the day.

Well now I need to read about the aftermath of North Korea's nuclear test and then get to bed since I have Chinese class bright and early tomorrow. Enjoy your day!

I'm back

I just wanted to let you all know that I made it back safe and sound
from my little trip. It was a great time, and a good way to start
travelling in China since I was with other people who knew where they
were going. I can only hope that all my trips go that smoothly.

I'm a bit tired now, though, so I'm going to get to bed. I should
have some pictures and a description of the trip for you in the next
couple of days. Hope you're doing well.

holiday

Today (October 1) is the Chinese National Day. Most people spend it
with their families, like many people in the US do for the 4th of
July. I'm going to go to my friend Mr. Shi's hometown with him, one
of my Chinese teachers, and his wife. The town is about 3 hours from
here by bus, and we'll be there for 2-5 days depending on how things
go. I've been led to believe that there are mountains near there, so
I might come back with some fun pictures of scenery. I'll let you
know how it went when I get back. For now I need to finish packing
and then finish breakfast.

chopsticks

Speaking of Chinese food, I should have probably said by now that
everything is eaten with chopsticks. You probably knew that, and so
did I, but it was still quite surprising when on my first day here I
had to use them in a restaurant. Fortunately, I had practiced a bit
on the plane on the way over (you get 4 meals I think from Chicago to
Shanghai), so it wasn't a completely foreign task, but I was by no
means proficient in their use, nor am I know, though of course I've
improved considerably. Eating rice from a bowl with chopsticks, which
sounds challenging, is in fact quite easy since they can be used as a
shovel with the bowl held close to the mouth. The problem comes when
eating other dishes. As I mentioned in the previous post, the meal
usually consists of many dishes which many people share. At one
restaurant, and I imagine this is true of most but I haven't been to
many with a large enough group of people, the circular table had a
raised, rotating center (leaving just enough room for your plate
outside of it) on which the dishes were placed so that people could
try everything without having to pass the dishes around. I wish I had
gotten a picture of it. When that isn't the case, though, chopstick
skills are a must since one risks dropping a piece of food onto the
table or, worse, into another dish. This has happened to me
innumerable times, and it's quite embarrassing. Fortunately the
people have been very forgiving, and my skills are improving much
faster than my language abilities.

rain rain rain

It's been raining here since Monday, and will probably continue to rain for the next week, so I went out today and invested in an umbrella. I'm told that it's usually pretty dry here, except around the beginning of October when it rains quite a lot. It hasn't been raining very hard, but just without stopping. Quite strange, and a pain to do laundry since nothing will every dry in such a moist environment.

Next Monday is Chinese National Day, so the whole week is considered a holiday. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, since major travelling is a bad idea beacuse the whole country is off of work and will be doing just that. I don't mind being a tourist, but when everyone and their whole family is travelling, I don't think I'd have too much fun. Instead, I'll try to work more on my Chinese. It's coming along pretty slowly, which is frustrating, but at least I'm making progress.

In general, other than the rain, everything here is great. The Chinese seem to place a lot more importance on food than most people in the US, which is good for me since the food here is so wonderful. Yesterday I had dinner cooked by my friend Mr. Shi for me, one of my Chinese teachers, another teacher from the university, and Keith and his family (he's from Texas, his wife's from Panama, and they and their three young kids are here studying Chinese). The meal was amazing. If dinner for 2 or 3 consists of 3 dishes, rather than making more of those 3 dishes to serve more people, Chinese people tend to make more dishes, which means you get to try a little bit of many different things. The table is covered with many small dishes, and then more are brought and set on top of them. Soup is served at the end of the meal because it supposedly helps with digestion.

Well it's getting to be dinner time so I'm going to go - I just wanted to update you all on what was going on here.