"I think our minds are different." (我的精神和你的不一样)

I hung out with Collin this past Saturday.

He took me to some swanky mall to go shopping (called Shin Kong). It was just a big mall of expensive European clothing stores. I wasn't feeling it.

I did, however, find a Charlie Brown cafe. And it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like--a coffee shop that's Charlie Brown themed. I looked for pictures online, but I didn't find any good ones. Here's a picture of one of the coffee cups though. I had a nice cup of coffee from one of these :)



So, anyways, I took us to the Charlie Brown cafe. Collin and I sat and chit-chatted for a little bit.

Then out of the blue, like it was so casual, Collin asks me, "do you think your life is significant?" I tried to explain to him that that's a really big question and that it's incredibly hard to answer. He didn't really get it, though. So I told him that I haven't really done anything particularly meaningful in my life yet or impacted people in a meaningful way. I told him that when I die I hope to have had a meaningful life.

To which Collin responded, "I think our minds are different." He explained that he believes that life is sort of inherently significant. The fact that you are born is significant. So significance is had from the beginning, it isn't made or created.

I think it's a cultural insight.

Chinese Education

I learned something the other day about the Chinese education system.

First of all, all of the students are ranked by ability. In each class, there's a "best" student and a "worst" student.

After students graduate from high school in China, they choose whether they want to work or go to college (just like in America).

If students choose to go to college, they are placed in their field of study--it's not a choice like it is in the states. Based on the student's ability, a suitable major is picked for the student.

For example, I made a new Chinese friend named Melinda. Her major is some sort of waste/water major. It has to do with water waste and conservation. It's kind of a weird major. It was pretty obvious that she didn't choose it.

China: +1

I just recently found out that there's a plus side to living in China (and it's not the food).

Free music downloads!

I'm not even joking.

Google.com.hk has a little music tab. I can listen and download music for free! Not just Chinese music, either. There's lots of American music. I even downloaded a few Coldplay songs. :)

Sandstorm

This isn't my view, of course, but this is what the sky looked like.

I experienced my first sandstorm here in Beijing. Apparently it turns the sky all yellow.

I tried to take some pictures of what it looks like outside my window, but my camera wouldn't pick up the yellow tint. It really did look yellow, though.

Here's a picture of my windowsill, though. The little yellow-orangish parts are grains of sand on the windowsill.


Basically, here's what you need to know. It was a Mongolian sandstorm that hit Beijing (so it came from the Northwest). The government issued a warning saying that the air is really hazardous today from the sand and pollution.

Like I said, I looked outside early this morning and everything was yellow. As the day progressed, the yellow went away. At about 3:00pm I decided to go outside. I could see the sand in the cracks and crevices of the ground, but I didn't really notice a difference in the air besides that it was really windy. Every now and then, I wouldn't even notice but I would close my teeth and I could feel sand between my teeth. I also put Blistex on before I left. I wiped my lip and I had some teeny tiny sand particles on my lips. So, even though I couldn't see it, it was still there.

I've seen a lot of people with facemasks on, but I never really understood why. I think I'm going to invest.

Here are some other pictures of Beijing from news articles that I found online:





Sandstorms are exciting. We don't get these in Maine, that's for sure.

It makes me wonder if maybe we could get a "sand day" off from school. Wouldn't that be cool. I think there's potential.

Here are the links to the news articles:
(Some Chinese News) http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-03/20/c_13218239.htm
(Boston Globe) http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/03/20/orange_sky_in_beijing_for_years_biggest_sandstorm/
(Reuters) http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62J0DE20100320
(MSNBC) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35959965/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

Chinese Zodiac Crayons

I was stumbling when I came across this:



They're crayons carved into each of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals.

It's Chinese, so I figured it was appropriate. :)

Here's the link to the website if you want to check it out: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/17/crayons-carved-into.html

Chinese Sayings

I had supper with Collin today.

I had some dumplings while he had some baozis.

I like to bathe my dumplings in vinegar because they're delicious that way.

Collin told me that there's a Chinese saying, 男酸女辣. Basically, if a female is pregnant and she craves vinegar, that means she'll have a boy. If she craves hot and spicy food, she'll have a girl.

I thought it was cute.

Teaching: Week 2

This week, Robert and I are focusing on comparisons and weather. The activities didn't go as well as I had hoped with class 2 (I havent taught the other class yet). However, one of my students said this and I thought it was really cute:

"Spring is a hopeful season."

I think it is. :)

ZhongShan Park and The Forbidden City (中山公园和故宫)

Yesterday, I ventured to Tiananmen and decided to wander into the Forbidden City.

My first attempt was an epic fail. The Tiananmen gate has many entrances. The first one I tried went to some sort of garden thing. I found out later that I had stumbled upon ZhongShan Park. It's a park that was made in Sun Yat Sen's honor. I don't know who he was or what he did, but it was cute and had a lot of sweet buildings.

Here's the entrance to the garden. It's prettier in real life.


This isn't really significant in any way. The garden had a lot of these covered paths that you can walk on/in. There were also a lot of gates with really intricate painting (like you can see at the top).


This also isn't really significant. I think it's cute. I really like the roof.


Okay, I don't know if these rocks have any significance or not, but I think they do. I saw a lot of them in the garden. We also have one at my school that's mounted like it's a piece of art. These rocks are... pourus? I don't know if that's the best way to describe it because the "pores" would be super huge. The rocks have a lot of holes in them, though. And they're really big.


Here's a cute little open gate thing. There's not much more to say about it, except that it's cute. Can you see the couple walking down the path up ahead? That's cute too. :)


After walking around a little bit, I left the garden. In my second attempt to get to the Forbidden City, I just followed the crowd. I made it this time.

Here’s a map of the Forbidden City to help us through this.


To be perfectly honest, I don’t know much about Chinese history. I didn’t really know the significance of the Forbidden City until I skimmed through the Wikipedia article. And I still don’t really get it. There’s a lot of Harmony and Purity and Peace that I just don’t understand. However, I do know that the Forbidden City is historically significant and there are a lot of cool things to see if you like pretty buildings.

Here’s my take on it: you go through a TON of buildings which pretty much all look the same. It’s very big and you walk a lot. There are set-ups in some of the buildings so you can see what it was like to live there as an emperor during the Qing dynasty.

So I went through the Tiananmen gate (which is what I posted pictures of in my Tiananmen post). After the Tiananmen gate, there's another building that I had to go through. After the second building, I came out to a big open area with lots of people. I bought a ticket there. Before heading inside the Forbidden city, this was the building I had to go through.


The building was huge and it went around 3 sides (if that makes sense).



Here's a hobo who was looking through the trash and stuff in the same area. He was actually really cute and asian. I wish he had turned around for the picture.


So I get in and I have to walk over this nice little bridge.


I get on the bridge and walk forward a little bit and this is what I see! You should recognize this. This is, like, the epitome of China.


There were big lions in front of the building. I told you the lions were outside of a lot of entrances! I had to wait a long time to take a picture, and I still got this random guy in front of the lion. Oh wells.


The inside of that building is a touristy-type place. There's a lot of info on the Forbidden City and a couple little shops. I thought this was cool, though. Here's the ceiling.


After going through that building, I come out the other side and this is the next building:


There were quite a few of these things outside the building. I don't know what they're for, but they look pretty cool.


This is a close-up picture.


This was the inside of the building. It was closed off, so I couldn't go inside.


There's a lot of detailed work that you can't really see from far away. Here's part of the building close up. It's a couple of dragons.


Here's a big cauldron. There were a lot of these outside the building, too.


I can't remember where I took this, but this is what appears to be a bedroom.


Here are some more roofs. I really like them.


Here's some detailed stone carving.


Here's a dragon. It was just hanging out outside of a building like the lion.


Here's a cute little building that I saw towards the end of my Forbidden City adventure.


At the end of the Forbidden City, there's a little garden-type thing. I believe it's called the Imperial Garden. It's different than the garden I went to at the beginning. This one is much smaller. Here's the entrance to the garden.


Here's a cute little gazebo-type building that was in the garden.


After the Imperial Garden, I exited the Forbidden City and came out the other side. :) That's the end of my adventure.

Uyghur Food

I went out to eat Saturday night with Brad (the professor that came to Beijing with me) and one of Brad's co-workers, James.

We went out to eat at a Uyghur (pronounced "weeger") restaurant. The Uyghurs are a Muslim minority in China. Here's the wikipedia article you should totes check out if you have time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_people

These Uyghurs really like mutton, so I had some of that. They had like every body part of the sheep you could imagine--kidneys, stomach, intestines. I wasn't feeling that adventurous. I had some mutton, a beef dish, and a vegetable dish. It wasn't that bad.

They had little appetizers you could order. They had this bread thing called "nan" which is almost exactly like the "nan" that me and Karishma had at the Indian restaurant in Lewiston. I was excited. I had some of that and it was delicious.

Daylight Savings

Tomorrow morning at 3am, you all in the US of A will turn your clocks ahead an hour in observance of Daylight Savings.

Fun fact: China doesn't participate in daylight savings.

That means we're an hour closer! :) Yay.

These are the countries currently observe daylight savings, used to observe daylight savings, and have never observed daylight savings.

http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/g.html

Taiwan

On Friday, I was with Collin (my Chinese friend) and Laura (another Chinese friend). We were just chit-chatting, working on Collin and Laura’s English and my Chinese.

Out of the blue, Collin asked me if I thought Taiwan was a country on its own or part of China.

I said that Taiwan was a country.



Apparently that was the wrong response.

Apparently this is a hot button topic here in China. It’s a lot like the Revolutionary War in America—how the southern states seceded from the rest. Taiwan sort of seceded from China and considers themselves a legitimate country, but China still considers Taiwan a part of China.

China is completely capable of invading and taking Taiwan back, but I guess the US has an agreement with Taiwan that if China does invade, then the US will provide Taiwan with weapons and stuff but not troops. But given China’s development and the size of their armed forces, the US wants to stay on China’s good side too.

Anyways, there's an interesting political tidbit. :)

Note to self: The Chinese keep their stall doors open

I walked in on someone using one of these:


It was horrifying. Not only was she squatting down, using one of these pre-modern (which is totally a word I made up) toilets WITH THE STALL DOOR OPEN, but she was also TEXTING on her cellphone whilst doing her business.

As Curtis said, there is something very wrong here.

Cultural Differences

I had my first day of class today! Yay!

It went well.

I know I told both of you that I had my lesson plan all figured out for the week. I started out with the "What 3 things or people would you bring with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?" question. I broke them up into groups to discuss.

I went around the room one-by-one so I could learn their names and gauge their English level. Some did well, some struggled.

But their answers really interested me.

I wrote my answers down before class so I'd have something to share with them about myself. I said I'd bring 1) my iPod (assuming that it'd never lose battery power), 2) chocolate (a lifetime supply), and 3) my brother. To be honest, I was thinking about saying I'd bring you two, but I just didn't feel like explaining that. I tried to make it simple.

A lot of them said they'd bring a member of the opposite sex. Like... an unspecified member of the opposite sex. Many of the boys said "girl." One ballsy boy said "sexy girl." They said mostly for company. Many of the girls said they'd bring a "man." Their justification was mostly for protection and survival purposes. Perhaps I'm looking into this too much, but I think it reflects a big cultural difference. I would never deem some random man or woman important enough to bring to an island, but I think their culture's emphasis on the family makes them need to have that sort of relationship (even on a deserted island). If that makes sense.

Aside from bringing a member of the opposite sex, many of them said they would bring survival equipment. Many of them said knives and water. One student said he'd bring a fishing rod.

I had a few male students who said they'd bring superheroes to their deserted island. Superman, Spiderman, and Batman (who they called "Battyman," which I thought was really cute).

I thought it was interesting. None of mine were very practical. I thought about bringing things that would be practical, but mostly I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be bored on a deserted island. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think most Americans would bring 3 similar things. Or at least 1 of them would be for entertainment purposes.



There's this one student, Lebron (I wonder where he got that name...), who came up to me during break. He said that he was interested in going to school in America. He was asking me if Washington had good schools. It's so cute--I think he really wants to do well and improve his English. He even asks me what he should do to improve his English. He also calls me "teacher."

One of my students (a female student) asked for my phone number. I think she wants to practice her English outside of class. My supervisor (sort of) told Robert and I that there aren't really any rules that say we can't socialize with our students outside of class so it would be up to us to figure out how we wanted to handle that. I really don't mind, though. I gave her my number. Maybe we can get a group of students together to practice English outside of class.

I think the students like that Robert and I are in the same age group as them. I think they find us more relatable because of it. They asked me about fashion and music in America. One student asked me about Las Vegas!


It was a good class. I enjoyed it. I didn't get to do my Catch the Ghost activity, though. The one-on-one talking to people took a lot more time than I had anticipated. I think I'll try to do it another class period.

Pledge of Allegiance

I have a funny story.

Yesterday, I was hanging out with Collin and a couple of his friends (to the set the scene).

We were talking about classes. I don't remember how it came up, but Collin asked me if Americans recite something before class. It took me like 2 seconds to figure out that he was talking about the Plege of Alliegiance. I told him that we put our right hand on our heart and people take off their hats to say the Pledge. I recited it for him and everything.

He started laughing! He thought the whole idea was super funny. After doing it for years and years, I don't even really think about it. It's something we used to do (before college, anyways). But I can see the humor in it. It is kind of silly.

I had to share that with you. The Chinese know about our Pledge of Allegiance... and they're amused.

Adventure to Tiananmen (天安门) Square

Yesterday, I went to go find some things I’ve needed (like scissors). I never found anything I needed, but I did decide to be ballsy and go to Tiananmen Square.

Here’s a map of Tiananmen square. The subway station took me right into the middle of it. I think I ended up between the People’s Heroes monument and Mao’s Mausoleum.
The picture won't embed, so here's the link: http://mkjourneys.com/link%20resources/maps/tiananmen_square.jpg

This is what I saw when I left the subway station.


And after walking for a little bit.


If I look the other way, this is across the street. It’s the Monument to the People’s Heroes.


One thing that was a little uncomfortable was all of the security. There were lines of security people that I had to walk past. Every now and then, they’d just randomly choose someone to check. It happened to the lady I was walking behind. They asked her to open her purse. I didn’t stay for the rest of it, I just snuck by and continued walking. There were many of these security check lines, though.

Here’s some random police officer.


There were also people on guard in front of the Tiananmen gate. Here’s one entrance.


Here’s a lion. I thought he was cool.


There was also this random couple who said hi to me. I take interest in pretty much anyone who says hi to me, so I stopped and chatted for a second. I think they just wanted to practice their English. I told them I was a student studying abroad from the US. They told me they were from Wuhan, China.

Also, notice the overcast sky in all of the pictures? That’s how it is almost every day here in Beijing. It’s kind of depressing. I now feel like I take Maine’s blue sky for granted.

I just went for a few minutes. I have to go back to check out all of the sites and to take some more pictures. The security was kind of scary, though. I feel like they would target me (for obvious reasons) in the areas with more security and I didn’t have my passport on me, nor do I know where the nearest US consulate is. So I just peaced.

Western food in Beijing (西饭馆在北京)

I wanted to do a post on the American food here in Beijing. It’s nice to see something familiar around here.

I did a post on McDonald’s not too long ago. Here’s another McDonald’s I found in Beijing.


Here’s Papa Johns! I was really excited to see this. I didn’t know it sold internationally.

The first character on the sign on the right is “Bang!” Basically, it’s like “great!” The next two characters are just a phonetic translation of John.

Pizza Hut!


I really thought I took a picture of KFC. I’ve seen a few of those around here. Also, there are a bunch of Starbucks. I’ll get pictures of those soon.

Architecture!

Here’s some sweet architecture that I pass on my way to the subway station. I think it’s pretty sweet. We don’t see stuff like this in Maine.

There’s awesome architecture in random places. I’ll snap some more pictures when I come across some.

Hot Pots and Other Adventures!

I have a weekend adventure to tell you about!

So, I've been communicating with this person, Whitney, via email for a while now. We have a mutual friend, Andy, who is a guy from my Chinese 201 class. She's also from Maine so it's cool. Anyways, Whitney and I got together this weekend to get a cell phone and to go out to supper.

At about 1:45 I hop on the subway. The subway stop closest to my school is Jinsong. Here's a map of the subway:

Look at Line 10 (it's the pink line shaped like an L). Jinsong is on the very end (look at both ends and you'll find it). That's my subway station! So I get on at Jinsong and I go north 1 stop to Shuangjing, where I meet Whitney. She's really nice and friendly and extremely generous. She's really sort of taken me under her wing and I really appreciate it.

Our first order of business was getting me a cell phone. Whitney gave me an old cell phone that she had laying around. I just needed to buy a SIM card and some credit for it. Whitney and I go a couple stops North (I don't exactly know where) and end up at a big mall in search of a SIM card and cell phone credit. You can actually buy a SIM card and credit right at the little street vendors. That's actually where we end up going, but we still went to the mall for kicks. Anyways, we end up getting me a SIM card and some credit for my phone. Now I have a working cell phone in Beijing! Yay.

After that, Whitney asked me if there's anything else I need to get. I need socks! I only brought 3 pairs with me. I don't know why I only came up with 3 pairs of socks to pack... Curtis... but I really need some. So Whitney takes me to the Silk Market to get socks.

I don't know if you're familiar with the Silk Market here in Beijing, but it's a pretty big thing. It's definitely a tourist attraction. Basically, it's an indoor mall with lots of different shops. Here's a picture I found online of it:

They sell everything from trinkets to suitcases. So Whitney and I go off in search of socks for me. I'm looking specifically for black ankle socks. And as you're walking around, these salespeople are really up in your face. They grab you and they shove their product in your face to try to get you to buy. They also say things like, "I'll give you the best price... just for you" and "we have ____ on sale! Only ____!" As soon as you enter the store, they're all up in your face even more. They ask you what you're looking for and they offer suggestions. It's definitely no Walmart where you can passively shop for whatever you want. Also, you have to bargain with these people, too, which is a little intimidating. That's why I had Whitney. Whitney and I stop at one place that had socks. We asked them how much it cost for a bundle of socks (their bundle had 3 pairs). The lady said 15 kuai for 3 pairs of socks. That's kind of expensive, so we just walked away. We went to another store where the lady wanted to charge us 80 kuai for 10 pairs! They were really trying to rip us off--they really try to rip foreigners in general off. Whitney and I went to yet another shop. At this place, the guy started out pretty stern on his price, but then he lowered it to 3 pairs for 10 kuai. That was the best price so far, so I bought my socks there! Sorry I just told you a long story about me buying socks. Its kind of interesting though!

After our sock buying, we look around the silk market a little bit. They have little Chinese candies that I'm totally going to go back and buy. They even had Chicken feet in a bag that you could buy! I might bring that back for you Monique!

After exploring the silk market, Whitney and I head over to Chaoyangman to meet Whitney's friends Travis and Jane for supper. To see Chaoyangman on the map, look at the dark blue subway line that goes in a circle (Line 2). If you see where the red intersects with the blue on the right side, then look up 1 dot. That's Chaoyangman! We met her friends at Starbucks. I had a Frappacino there! It was nice to have something familiar. We chit-chatted for awhile. They're all English teachers for the same company, so they talked a lot about teaching. It was cool to listen to their stories and about their lessons that worked (and didn't work).

After Starbucks, we headed over to this place called Rock My Pot for supper. This place specializes in hot pots. A hot pot is a big pot of steaming hot water with vegetables and spices. You get raw meat and vegetables on the side to put into the hot pot to cook. You also have a little sauce that you create yourself (they provide all of the ingredients for you) to dip your food in after it comes out of the hot pot. This place, in particular, has little individual hot pots--usually there's just one big hot pot that the table shares.

Here's a picture of the individual hot pots on the table. Mine was the one on the left closest to the window.


Here's another picture without the flash.


I got some spicy chili seasoned hot pot. Whitney got the same thing. Travis and Jane got some yellow curry seasoned hot pot. On the side, we got a TON of meat and vegetables. We got some pork, some chicken, some lamb. We got broccoli, cabbage, raddish, potatoes, noodles.

Here's a picture of only some of the fixings we got for out hot pots. The bowl of red stuff in the front is my sauce bowl to dip stuff in after it comes out of the hot pot.


And here is a picture of my individual little hot pot.


After our hot pot adventure, I was invited to go watch a soccer game with the group. Me and Jane peaced out to go home, though. I had to get back to the dorm before the gates closed. My walk back was an adventure too! I'll share in my next post.