你好啊！好久不见你们！！(Hey! Long time no see guys!)
Here's a good fact for you guys! Blogging when you're tired leads to you not including everything you want to talk/blog about...I left out the field trip I went on last weekend, to Wuqiao!
Wuqiao covers an area of 583 square kilometers with a population of 280,000 and 444 natural villages under its jurisdiction. More than 1500 years old, Wuqiao is an old county with a vivid and rich history and culture. Wuqiao is situated in the center of the Huabei Plains and has a pleasant climate for most of the year, and can be visited any time of the year.
Wuqiao was the first Chinese city to open up its doors to the world under the "Open Door" policy.Now Wuqiao has become a flourishing city. People in Wuqiao today, young or old, often possess astonishing acrobatic ability. This county has produced many famous acrobats. Wuqiao performers can be found in acrobatic troupes throughout China and around the world.
Our field trip began with a hellishly long bus ride, almost 3 hours! Okay, maybe it was two, but if you know me well, you'd know that one of my defining traits is impatience! When I'm excited about something, I want it to happen immediately, and a two thousand hour bus ride is considered cruel and unusual in my book! Okay, back to the facts, our driver today was the beloved Mao Shifu! I'm not sure if I've introduced 茅 (Muh-ow) 师傅 (Shi-foo; Note, pronounce 'shi' as if you were about to swear..!) to you guys, but if I haven't, I will recitfy that oversight right now. Mao Shifu, to put it simply, is the best driver in all of China! He navigates the treacherous streets as if he was born driving. He never gets lost, and never loses his cool. He also has never been cut off in traffic, which is an accomplishment, for in China it is not uncommon to get cut off, while you're cutting someone else off! 真的（jun-duh; really)! As testament to the greatness of this guy, two of my study abroad mates, Trevor and Mike (Sonar) composed and performed a song in his honor. Which made the bus ride slightly less torturous.
Two million hours later,maybe three, we arrived at Wuqiao! At first I wasn't very impressed, actually I was really disappointed. Once we exited the bus, all I could see was a run down restaurant, and a parking lot-thing that had a ton of broken bikes and motorcycles in it. I looked at our Director, Teng Laoshi, possibly with a "what the hell were you thinking bringing us here?!" look on my face, but as I wasn't looking at myself at the time, I cannot say for sure that it was there. After we stretched and unwound from the arduous bus ride, a little sprite of a women appeared. I'd say she walked up, or even approached, but I honestly didn't see her approach, so when she began speaking to us, in Chinese, most of us were startled...not me of course, it takes a lot to startle one such as I.
The appearance of the fairy lady, she really was a small woman, signaled the beginning of our tour. She led us around and talked to us in Chinese and English. Honestly, I understood her Chinese way more than I expected to, so I guess that my Chinese comprehension level has risen. We walked around the outside of this huge square like structure, saw some cool statues, and got bit by a ton of misquitos. I saved my classmates from getting bitten by killing the hated misquitos whenever I saw them land on them, often with an open-handed smack...two in particular, Trevor and Koblar, received the most of these. Funny thing is they didn't seem too appreciative of my efforts; Trevor actually chased me for a short distance, haha! I told them I'd get them back for their repeated smacks on my back, they said that they were killing misquitos then. But, I normally drench myself in Off misquito repellant, and I'm sure that there weren't any misquitos anywhere near me, another clue to this was the mischeivous smirks on their cursed faces whenever I looked at them...
After walking around, we entered the structure. My previous disappointment faded away. Wuqiao is a beautiful place, green vegetation is everywhere, with hues of red and pink sprinkled throughout, flowers of course, oh and vases too! The first attraction we viewed was an agility and balancing act. This lady would balance a rod on her bottom lip, or forehead, and place objects on the opposite end; the objects were teapots, plates, and vases. Following her was a act in which a female, using only her feet, manipulated a giant vase. She'd tumble it end over end, spun it by running with her feet, and to us further, she duplicated all of these feats with a little boy holding tightly to the vase. She then moved on to a feat of strength and balance, a long pole was placed on her feet, and two ladies sat in harnesses on both ends, she then began to rotate them round and round, speeding up as time progressed. Her act was the end of this particular attraction's schedule, so we moved on.
The next show we saw was one in which slight of hand was used. Once we entered, I was immediately singled out, to my abject horror, to come to the very front with the guy entertaining us. Luckily all he wanted to do was to show everyone that I was an African American, I even got a front row seat out of it! His show wasn't that impressive, he would continuously switch a small soft plush ball in and out of teacups, which were placed upside down on the table in front of him. He'd talk to distract the crowd, and move the ball from teacup to teacup. Since I couldn't understand a word of what he said, I wasn't distracted, and after five minutes of close observation, I fugured out how he accomplished his 'magic'; The balls he works with are soft for a reason, soft objects are easily gripped by the fingers, and being small as well, are easily concealed. When he'd place a ball under a teapot, he never actualy placed it under the teapot, all he did was lift the cup, and set it down, while setting it down, he'd manipulate the ball through his fingers till it was secured between his pinky and ring finger, the crowd never saw this because he'd hold his hand in such a way as this would be shielded from their view. I don't wanna take away from what he did, his hands and fingers have a great deal of dexterity, I think I'd have to practice for a month or so to perform those motions at the speed he did, and I know what he did!
After the slight of hand guy, came the small monkeys. This part of Wuqiao I did not enjoy. Actually I hated this part, the monkeys looked scared to death, and it made me really mad. So, I'm gonna not write about this, but I'll post the pictures. We saw a run down lionness, which was also pregnant, and was forced to slide down a rusty metal slide. An old tiger that you could actually ride, my Director didn't have to tell me no for me to not get on it. The last thing I wanted was to be in a closed cage with a tiger!
The next part of our Wuqiao experience was borderline gross. It centered around self torture; There were a total of tree men, one's specialty was bending a thick iron blade by beating it against his ribs, and straightening it by beating it against his head. The second guy was probably the most impressiv out of the three, he was a really old, really fat guy. He broke bricks with his hands and head, and chopped lettuce on his gut with a really sharp cleaver, he demonstrated how sharp it was by slicing fruit and lettuce and some wood... The last guy was by far the grossest! He swallowed steel balls that were bigger than an average sized fist, and then he made them come back up! Gross right?! He then proceeded to swallow two sword blades, and inserted about foot of wire in his nose, and made it come out of his eye sockets. Which caused our Director to gag. Needless to say, I did not take any pictures of this! After the gruesome threesome, we headed to a pavilion for the main attraction, Wuqiao acrobats!
Wuqiao acrobats have definitely earned their reputation, they were magnificent. I often found myself clapping like a little kid, and heartily wishing I'd brought a camcorder with me. They performed balancing acts that I'd thought impossible. I loved the show from beginning to end, and wish I possessed the words to effectively paint a picture of what they did. Hopefully you'll be satisfied with the pictures I've taken.
After Wuqiao, we ate lunch, headed home, and ate dinner, all three events were uneventful, so I will not bore you with the details...but what I will give you is an update on Justin! I'm glad he's my roommate, for it seems only Justin can continuously injure himself. If his stomach isn't hurting (because he's eaten something he shouldn't have!), he's fallen and hurt his knee, head, or shoulder. I woke up Sunday morning and saw that Justin's face was discolored, I vigorously shook him and asked if he knew that he had blood on his face. He answered positively, and proceeded to tell me about his day. During martial arts class, he had to chase our teacher, or our teacher had to chase him...it was a game of cat and mouse. Well whomever was doing the chasin, Justin decided it'd be a good idea to fall and hurt his knee. So there lay Justin bleeding profusely on Chinese soil, looking not unlike a small child who wanted his mother. They patched Justin up, and sent him on his way. Then that night, drunk Justin decided he was strong enough to give a piggy-back ride to Mike (Sonar), and then Trevor thought he was strong enough to give them both a piggy-back ride, at the same time! So, with Sonar on his back, Justin began to run at Trevor with the intention to jump onto his back, but his intentions and what happened are two entirely different things. Justin tackled Trevor instead, and they all came tumbling down... The funny thing is that Trevor and Sonar were fine, just a little dirty from the ground. Justin, on the other hand, bruised his shoulder very deeply, and cut/scraped his face. Justin now has trouble getting dressed and undressed, and I am not about to help him. I will continue to stare at him and shake my head while thinking that only someone like Justin could possibly do all that to himself in one day. The next morning, after he told me, he managed to smash his toes with a chair. So, I'm looking forward to, and the same time dreading, what poor Justin will do to himself next! Oh, and don't you worry, I will relay every detail, because Justin doesn't have access to this blog, so I will reap no repercussions from divulging these facts! ;-)
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Week 2
Week 2 was altogether pretty short, but it started off pretty well. I'd just aced another exam and was feeling pretty good about myself. Yes, if you just HAVE to know, I outscored poor Justin, yet again! Class with our favorite teacher 梅老师(Mei Laoshi) has only gotten better. She really is a talented lady, and what's more, I heard through the Chinese grapevine that she's coming to America in the fall! She hasn't chosen a school yet, but her current choices are MSU and UCLA. My class and I were trying our best to get her to choose MSU, but to be honest, after a little research I found that UCLA's program is actually rated higher than MSU's. So, I can't, in good conscience, continue to tell her to choose MSU. But, in bad conscience, I damn sure can; only time will tell which state my conscience will be in when she asks me. (I will probably tell her UCLA...(>_<))
This week in school we learned about interviewing; How to interview, what vocabulary to use, and how to flip our weaknesses (Ha, as if I had any! j/k) into strengths (So, in essence she taught us how to lie in Chinese). We also learned about Chinese humor, which is to say, she highlighted how strange Chinese humor is. I've studied for 2+ years, and I've yet you understand it. But, it may be me; maybe I'm not of sound enough mind to connect the funny dots that forms a hilarious image. You give it a try; here are a couple of their ideas of a joke/funny saying. "When I was young, I had a lot of friends, and my room was small. When they came over to visit, my mom said to me, 'What do you do? Do you hang them up in your wardrobe?'" Did you laugh yet? Try this one, "Chinese people who study abroad and return to China are called 海外归来(Hai Wai Gui Lai) they call them 海归(Hai Gui) for short, so a lot of people call them 海龟 (Hai Gui), which is to call them sea turtles (That's the punch line...). If you can laugh at this, then comment and explain how it all works to me please.
This week, was an exceptional week for me and my tutor. I'm learning a ton from 张超 (Zhang Chao). He still spits when he talks, and licks out that tongue of his when he cracks a joke, but I just wipe my face, avert my eyes and press on with my questions! This week we talked about purchasing things, haggling, eating in restaurants, and similarities and differences in both of our cultures. It was really interesting to learn that you can negotiate prices only in some stores. In the bigger stores, the ones that have a more professional look about them, you must accept the price ‘as is’, or walk out. We did a lot of walking out… But, in all of the other places, and they far outnumbered the professional places, you can barter till your heart’s content. I developed a really effective strategy; the merchant would say a price and then I’d cut it in half, then cut that in twain, and stick with that price until they caved! Which they usually did, if they didn’t I’d just walk away and console myself with the pocketful of money I was still in possession of. To my abject disappointment, I could not barter in the sword store, even though it didn’t look professional at all! But, I did not voice my disappointment too loudly, for I was absolutely sure that the owner knew well the dance of blades, and I definitely did not want him to dance all over me! So, I purchase my beloved sword, for about 25 dollars American, and went about my business! I also am quite sure that I will return there…I think I’m gonna buy my sister Ariel, and my favorite Japanese friend Ryo a souvenir from that place. Okay, I’m gonna jump of that tangent and return to my recitation. My tutor and I walked about the market for about an hour, then we went to dinner with his girlfriend, who coincidentally has the same name as he does, 张超!
Now, I knew he had a girlfriend, but I didn’t know that she would look as stunning as she did. She is a knockout, the only flaw she had was that she lived in China. She is a graduate student here in 南开大学(Nankai University), and she loves talking to foreigners. My tutor said that she acts like his mom, and controls his life (Seems like life in China isn’t as different as I’d thought! It’s probably a good thing that an ocean separates me from some certain females who would have problems with what I’ve just typed; Ariel, Mama, etc.). But I found her to be very soft spoken, and considerate. Actually, you would be very hard pressed to find an inconsiderate Chinese person. Talking to her was easy, well it had an easy feel to it, despite my stumbling and none-too-fluent Chinese. Luckily she knows English, so when I absolutely couldn’t explain what I meant in Chinese, I could resort to English. We ate Chinese noodles, called 面 (Mian). According to my tutor, the province where his girlfriend hails from eats nothing but noodles, no matter what time of day! He also believes that if the American saying of, “You are what you eat” applied here, he’s afraid that he’d eventually be married to a noodle! I think he forgot that his girlfriend understood English as well as he, for a short time later, he was assaulted by a flying noodle. It surprised us both, but when we looked, his girlfriend’s hands weren’t anywhere near her food. Though she did give me a smile when her boyfriend looked away. I had beef with my noodles, as did the female 张超. My tutor ate noodles and some really spicy chicken, I don’t like really spicy food, so when he offered me a taste, I declined before he’d finished speaking. My tutor also ordered some other dish that he couldn’t translate into English, I’m going to hold firm to the belief that it was seafood, despite the fact that I’d never seen anything in ocean, sea, lake, river, stream, brook, puddle, or dew drop that resembled what I ate. Despite its looks (God I wish I’d taken a picture of it!) it was quite tasty, it had a sweet taste to it, reminiscent of candy. We finished our meal, and headed home. We had to cross the street to get back to the University, and I was almost ran over by the police! I shouted out loud that I hate Chinese traffic, my tutor and his woman laughed at me, and we made it to the other side in one piece. I said bye, went to my room, and said a prayer of thanks to the Lord above for keeping me safe from the Demon that is China’s traffic. Oh! My tutor invited me to visit his family next week, so I'll be writing about that next time!
Roommate update! Justin and I get along just fine. Despite the fact that I think he goes to bed way too early, it makes it difficult to Skype with family and friends. The one thing that makes up for this flaw is Drunk Justin! Drunk Justin says yes to anything you want, laughs all the time, even if nothing has been said! Drunk Justin also says “I am drunk, maybe a little too drunk,” every ten minutes or so, it’s like clockwork! So, since Drunk Justin is so amenable, he has agreed to a number of things that he otherwise wouldn’t have agreed to. The worst of these things is trying to catch a mosquito in his mouth and to swallow it! No, he didn’t actually do it, or rather he didn’t succeed because he was too damn drunk to be coordinated enough. Right now Justin is sitting at his desk watching ‘Mean Girls’ on his laptop. Oblivious to the fact that I’m talking about him, and I don’t think he even remembers trying to do the mosquito thing…and I’m not gonna remind him! I wouldn’t normally mess with drunk people, but I’ve been too long exposed to my best friend David Sanderson, and I guess some of his ways rubbed off on me.
Okay I think that’s it for week 2, sorry if this wasn’t entertaining! I’ll be posting week 3 very soon guys! Happy reading and see you soon! Oh, and don't forget to comment, it let's me know that somebody is reading this!
再见！
-罗可斯
This week in school we learned about interviewing; How to interview, what vocabulary to use, and how to flip our weaknesses (Ha, as if I had any! j/k) into strengths (So, in essence she taught us how to lie in Chinese). We also learned about Chinese humor, which is to say, she highlighted how strange Chinese humor is. I've studied for 2+ years, and I've yet you understand it. But, it may be me; maybe I'm not of sound enough mind to connect the funny dots that forms a hilarious image. You give it a try; here are a couple of their ideas of a joke/funny saying. "When I was young, I had a lot of friends, and my room was small. When they came over to visit, my mom said to me, 'What do you do? Do you hang them up in your wardrobe?'" Did you laugh yet? Try this one, "Chinese people who study abroad and return to China are called 海外归来(Hai Wai Gui Lai) they call them 海归(Hai Gui) for short, so a lot of people call them 海龟 (Hai Gui), which is to call them sea turtles (That's the punch line...). If you can laugh at this, then comment and explain how it all works to me please.
This week, was an exceptional week for me and my tutor. I'm learning a ton from 张超 (Zhang Chao). He still spits when he talks, and licks out that tongue of his when he cracks a joke, but I just wipe my face, avert my eyes and press on with my questions! This week we talked about purchasing things, haggling, eating in restaurants, and similarities and differences in both of our cultures. It was really interesting to learn that you can negotiate prices only in some stores. In the bigger stores, the ones that have a more professional look about them, you must accept the price ‘as is’, or walk out. We did a lot of walking out… But, in all of the other places, and they far outnumbered the professional places, you can barter till your heart’s content. I developed a really effective strategy; the merchant would say a price and then I’d cut it in half, then cut that in twain, and stick with that price until they caved! Which they usually did, if they didn’t I’d just walk away and console myself with the pocketful of money I was still in possession of. To my abject disappointment, I could not barter in the sword store, even though it didn’t look professional at all! But, I did not voice my disappointment too loudly, for I was absolutely sure that the owner knew well the dance of blades, and I definitely did not want him to dance all over me! So, I purchase my beloved sword, for about 25 dollars American, and went about my business! I also am quite sure that I will return there…I think I’m gonna buy my sister Ariel, and my favorite Japanese friend Ryo a souvenir from that place. Okay, I’m gonna jump of that tangent and return to my recitation. My tutor and I walked about the market for about an hour, then we went to dinner with his girlfriend, who coincidentally has the same name as he does, 张超!
Now, I knew he had a girlfriend, but I didn’t know that she would look as stunning as she did. She is a knockout, the only flaw she had was that she lived in China. She is a graduate student here in 南开大学(Nankai University), and she loves talking to foreigners. My tutor said that she acts like his mom, and controls his life (Seems like life in China isn’t as different as I’d thought! It’s probably a good thing that an ocean separates me from some certain females who would have problems with what I’ve just typed; Ariel, Mama, etc.). But I found her to be very soft spoken, and considerate. Actually, you would be very hard pressed to find an inconsiderate Chinese person. Talking to her was easy, well it had an easy feel to it, despite my stumbling and none-too-fluent Chinese. Luckily she knows English, so when I absolutely couldn’t explain what I meant in Chinese, I could resort to English. We ate Chinese noodles, called 面 (Mian). According to my tutor, the province where his girlfriend hails from eats nothing but noodles, no matter what time of day! He also believes that if the American saying of, “You are what you eat” applied here, he’s afraid that he’d eventually be married to a noodle! I think he forgot that his girlfriend understood English as well as he, for a short time later, he was assaulted by a flying noodle. It surprised us both, but when we looked, his girlfriend’s hands weren’t anywhere near her food. Though she did give me a smile when her boyfriend looked away. I had beef with my noodles, as did the female 张超. My tutor ate noodles and some really spicy chicken, I don’t like really spicy food, so when he offered me a taste, I declined before he’d finished speaking. My tutor also ordered some other dish that he couldn’t translate into English, I’m going to hold firm to the belief that it was seafood, despite the fact that I’d never seen anything in ocean, sea, lake, river, stream, brook, puddle, or dew drop that resembled what I ate. Despite its looks (God I wish I’d taken a picture of it!) it was quite tasty, it had a sweet taste to it, reminiscent of candy. We finished our meal, and headed home. We had to cross the street to get back to the University, and I was almost ran over by the police! I shouted out loud that I hate Chinese traffic, my tutor and his woman laughed at me, and we made it to the other side in one piece. I said bye, went to my room, and said a prayer of thanks to the Lord above for keeping me safe from the Demon that is China’s traffic. Oh! My tutor invited me to visit his family next week, so I'll be writing about that next time!
Roommate update! Justin and I get along just fine. Despite the fact that I think he goes to bed way too early, it makes it difficult to Skype with family and friends. The one thing that makes up for this flaw is Drunk Justin! Drunk Justin says yes to anything you want, laughs all the time, even if nothing has been said! Drunk Justin also says “I am drunk, maybe a little too drunk,” every ten minutes or so, it’s like clockwork! So, since Drunk Justin is so amenable, he has agreed to a number of things that he otherwise wouldn’t have agreed to. The worst of these things is trying to catch a mosquito in his mouth and to swallow it! No, he didn’t actually do it, or rather he didn’t succeed because he was too damn drunk to be coordinated enough. Right now Justin is sitting at his desk watching ‘Mean Girls’ on his laptop. Oblivious to the fact that I’m talking about him, and I don’t think he even remembers trying to do the mosquito thing…and I’m not gonna remind him! I wouldn’t normally mess with drunk people, but I’ve been too long exposed to my best friend David Sanderson, and I guess some of his ways rubbed off on me.
Okay I think that’s it for week 2, sorry if this wasn’t entertaining! I’ll be posting week 3 very soon guys! Happy reading and see you soon! Oh, and don't forget to comment, it let's me know that somebody is reading this!
再见！
-罗可斯
Friday, June 4, 2010
Intro to Tianjin + Week 1
Before I delve into the depths of my first week here, I must amend an oversight from a previous blog. I commented on two beautiful people who helped me stay awake before my flight, well there were three! I forgot my beautiful sister, Ariel, who drove me...nay! Upon her back she conveyed me to Metro Airport, through treacherous landscapes. She faced demons and dragons and not once did she allow my eyes to close during that arduous trek! So, unto thee I give thy due, O Sister Mine! 谢谢您(Thanks)!
So, our hiatus in Tianjin begins with a brief tour of the city, the tour was indeed brief1 So, I researched it, for I would not set before thine eyes anything less than my best! It may be a little dry, though I have certainly whittled out the tedious facts, but here is the history of Tianjin;
Tianjin (meaning “port for the emperor”) is widely known as “Jin’gu”, “Jinmen”, etc. The history of Tianjin dates back to the digging of the Grand Cannal in Sui Dynasty (581-618). The present Sancha Hekou near Jin’ gang Bridge used to be the confluence of the South Canal and the North Canal. And it is from this place that Tianjin has expanded and developed. After the middle period of Tang Dynasty (618-907), Tianjin developed into a ferry terminal for the transportation of grain and silk from the south to the north. In Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) and Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368), with the establishment of “Zhigu Zhai” and “Haijin Town”, Tianjin became a town of great military significance as well as a hub for the water transportation of grains.
blah blah blah, that's boring, so I'm gonna summarize for you...Tianjin became a fortress, then a city fortress. It then became an actual city, and this is what is often said about it: "Tianjin is a glistening pearl by the Bohai Sea, and it will surely become even brighter." This is what I say, " First off, pearls don't glow, or emit any kind of light! Secondly, Tianjin is a city, not a pearl, and it certainly doesn't do anything remotely close to glistening! I say this because of one crucial fact. Some long dead emperor guy thought it would be nice to float supplies along a river to his palace, and the fact that there weren't any rivers in the Tianjin area was just a minor detail, a mere setback. He had one cut into the ground, and obviously that's all there was to it right? Nothing else needed, right? Wrong, he did not give a thought to filtration or purification, two things all natural rivers have. So, a thousand years later, this non-purifying, unfiltrated....mess... sits outside my dorm room window, and it stinks to high heaven. On the bright side, if it's gloomy outside, and you squint...it looks really pretty. But, Tianjin is a city rich in Culture and History, and has many other things to offer.
Week 1
Our first day of school was full of surprise and adaptation. It began with an Opening Ceremony, during which we all listened to the Dean of Nankai Uniersity's Chinese Department give a speech, in Chinese (didn't understand a word of it!), and who was to be our primary instructor, Mei Laoshi (May L-ow-shi), also gifted us with a beautiful speech in Chinese (this one was translated for us.). Following the ceremony, we were sent to class. The Chinese are really adamant about education! Okay, we all were aware that our classes would be given in Chinese, but we thought we'd have some form of written documentation informing us of our homework assignments. Well, we were wrong, we were told in Chinese (rapidly spoken I might add!), what our first homework assignment would be. All of us misunderstood and studied the wrong things! Thus, we all performed poorly on the first quiz. But, there is some silver lining around this dark cloud, I learned that if I brought my voice recorder to class, I could record and later replay the words my teacher spoke until I understood them! So, that was the last quiz I plan to perform poorly on!
We have three teachers here, the first is Mei (May) Laoshi. She is by far my favorite teacher. She is fun, interesting, funny, and an outstanding teacher. She manages to relate the lessons to our American style life and thinking, and during our breaks and after class, she will join us and play hacky sack (don't know if I spelled that right). By the way, I learned how to play hacky sack, in China it's called 踢毽子(Ti Jianzi). The second teacher is Li Laoshi. She is very boring, and speaks to us as if we were retarded kindergarden children. The good thing about her way of teaching, is that I completely understand evreything that she says! I will leave it at that. Now, my third teacher is an artist, literally. I forgot her name, but she has over 50 pieces of her work in the Tianjin Art Museum. She is my caligraphy teacher, which I take once a week. I've discovered that I'm horrible at caligrapy, but my teacher told me I will get better (she promised), and that I'm not too shabby at painting. She made us paint some flowers in a vase, Chinese people go wild for flowers, and even wilder for a vase! After class, we met our tutors. My tutor's name is Zhang Chao, he's a pretty cool guy. He has this startling habit of licking out his tongue whenever he tells a joke, and he spits a lot when he talks. But, that aside, I really like him, and I'm sure I'll learn a lot from him. We scheduled the days we'd meet and have our tutorial sessions, then submitted our schedules to our Director, Teng Laoshi.
My weekly schedule is like this; Monday through Friday, our entire class has Chinese language study from 8:30-12:10, on Mondays we have an additional culture study (the first week's study was Chinese Medicinal Practices, and I think the next is Traditional Chinese Cooking!) Wednesdays is the day I have my Caligraphy class. Now, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have mandatory tutoring sessions with my tutor, Zhang Chao - whose name I've forgotten ten times already...! We have a quiz everyday we do not have a test, so I study everyday, even on the weekends. This is a large part of the reason I am not up to date with this blog. But, as my Sister (Hey fool!), Eric Stanko (oh hey!), and Ryo (balls and wieners!) would say, "Excuses excuses...and some other vulgar curse words that I will not write!" (Mama, I hope you read this, and realize your Little Angel is a Big Devil!)
When I could find the time, I went out to walk around and see whatever I could. I observed some interesting things about China. 1.) Traffic is way worse than I originally thought it to be. My roomie and I went sight-seeing/shopping, and were being driven in a taxi. We were in oncoming traffic so much, that by the fifth time we barely acknowledged the fact. 2) Women in China has been through a lot. As my tutor and I were walking down the street I noticed some really tiny shoes. I remarked upon them saying that surely they were for infants or little children. He refuted my statement, and began explaining to me how things were done in early China. Apparently when a female child reached the age of 10-12, her foot was bound, and remained bound until she'd realized her full growth. Because men in that day and age thought small feet (and small waists as well) were extremely attractive, so women were forced to cater to the men's fetishes. My tutor's grandmother had her feet bound, and she told him that after a long while, she lost the majority of the feeling in her feet. But, before that happened, she was in constant pain and discomfort. A side not to this, is that when the great flood washed through Tianjin , the women with bound feet could not walk very steadily, let alone run, and a large majority of them were washed away by the flood! Women also had to wear really high collars, which prevented them from turning their heads to look around. The men didn't want their women's eyes wandering, freedom like that only belonged to a man. I know what you're thinking, and you're right, simply barbaric. We Americans would never ever deform or torture ourselves to appease anyone! I thought so too, until I remembered that we did...corsets, high heels, or bustiers anyone? Anyway, the third thing I learned is that family is highly valued here, more so than anything else. Here, it's a crime to not take care of your parents in their old age. Children continue to live with their parents until they marry, and it doesn't matter if you're a male or female. During a wedding ceremony, I had the opportunity to attend one!, the parents of the bride and groom are honored, and the wife and groom must serve their soon-to-be-spouse's parents tea (did I mention that I HATE tea?)
This school week blew by, and was filled with quizzes and other scholarly things like reading, translating, and homework, you know all the stuff that makes life fun. It ended on a pretty good note, I had a test, on which I scored a 95% to the disgruntlement of my roommate. Apparently he thinks it's really unfair that he studied practically the entire weekend before the exam, while I only watched movies, shopped, skyped with some friends, and did a 30 minute cram session right before the test, and outscored him. Justin, some people have to study, and some people don't, and some people have really great short term memories...! Okay, it's late and speaking of the devil, dear Justin just walked in drunk on Chinese alcohol. I'm gonna sign off and catch you cats later! hopefully with hilarious drunk Justin stories! Until next time!
再见！(Zaijian-bye)
-罗可斯
So, our hiatus in Tianjin begins with a brief tour of the city, the tour was indeed brief1 So, I researched it, for I would not set before thine eyes anything less than my best! It may be a little dry, though I have certainly whittled out the tedious facts, but here is the history of Tianjin;
Tianjin (meaning “port for the emperor”) is widely known as “Jin’gu”, “Jinmen”, etc. The history of Tianjin dates back to the digging of the Grand Cannal in Sui Dynasty (581-618). The present Sancha Hekou near Jin’ gang Bridge used to be the confluence of the South Canal and the North Canal. And it is from this place that Tianjin has expanded and developed. After the middle period of Tang Dynasty (618-907), Tianjin developed into a ferry terminal for the transportation of grain and silk from the south to the north. In Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) and Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368), with the establishment of “Zhigu Zhai” and “Haijin Town”, Tianjin became a town of great military significance as well as a hub for the water transportation of grains.
blah blah blah, that's boring, so I'm gonna summarize for you...Tianjin became a fortress, then a city fortress. It then became an actual city, and this is what is often said about it: "Tianjin is a glistening pearl by the Bohai Sea, and it will surely become even brighter." This is what I say, " First off, pearls don't glow, or emit any kind of light! Secondly, Tianjin is a city, not a pearl, and it certainly doesn't do anything remotely close to glistening! I say this because of one crucial fact. Some long dead emperor guy thought it would be nice to float supplies along a river to his palace, and the fact that there weren't any rivers in the Tianjin area was just a minor detail, a mere setback. He had one cut into the ground, and obviously that's all there was to it right? Nothing else needed, right? Wrong, he did not give a thought to filtration or purification, two things all natural rivers have. So, a thousand years later, this non-purifying, unfiltrated....mess... sits outside my dorm room window, and it stinks to high heaven. On the bright side, if it's gloomy outside, and you squint...it looks really pretty. But, Tianjin is a city rich in Culture and History, and has many other things to offer.
Week 1
Our first day of school was full of surprise and adaptation. It began with an Opening Ceremony, during which we all listened to the Dean of Nankai Uniersity's Chinese Department give a speech, in Chinese (didn't understand a word of it!), and who was to be our primary instructor, Mei Laoshi (May L-ow-shi), also gifted us with a beautiful speech in Chinese (this one was translated for us.). Following the ceremony, we were sent to class. The Chinese are really adamant about education! Okay, we all were aware that our classes would be given in Chinese, but we thought we'd have some form of written documentation informing us of our homework assignments. Well, we were wrong, we were told in Chinese (rapidly spoken I might add!), what our first homework assignment would be. All of us misunderstood and studied the wrong things! Thus, we all performed poorly on the first quiz. But, there is some silver lining around this dark cloud, I learned that if I brought my voice recorder to class, I could record and later replay the words my teacher spoke until I understood them! So, that was the last quiz I plan to perform poorly on!
We have three teachers here, the first is Mei (May) Laoshi. She is by far my favorite teacher. She is fun, interesting, funny, and an outstanding teacher. She manages to relate the lessons to our American style life and thinking, and during our breaks and after class, she will join us and play hacky sack (don't know if I spelled that right). By the way, I learned how to play hacky sack, in China it's called 踢毽子(Ti Jianzi). The second teacher is Li Laoshi. She is very boring, and speaks to us as if we were retarded kindergarden children. The good thing about her way of teaching, is that I completely understand evreything that she says! I will leave it at that. Now, my third teacher is an artist, literally. I forgot her name, but she has over 50 pieces of her work in the Tianjin Art Museum. She is my caligraphy teacher, which I take once a week. I've discovered that I'm horrible at caligrapy, but my teacher told me I will get better (she promised), and that I'm not too shabby at painting. She made us paint some flowers in a vase, Chinese people go wild for flowers, and even wilder for a vase! After class, we met our tutors. My tutor's name is Zhang Chao, he's a pretty cool guy. He has this startling habit of licking out his tongue whenever he tells a joke, and he spits a lot when he talks. But, that aside, I really like him, and I'm sure I'll learn a lot from him. We scheduled the days we'd meet and have our tutorial sessions, then submitted our schedules to our Director, Teng Laoshi.
My weekly schedule is like this; Monday through Friday, our entire class has Chinese language study from 8:30-12:10, on Mondays we have an additional culture study (the first week's study was Chinese Medicinal Practices, and I think the next is Traditional Chinese Cooking!) Wednesdays is the day I have my Caligraphy class. Now, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have mandatory tutoring sessions with my tutor, Zhang Chao - whose name I've forgotten ten times already...! We have a quiz everyday we do not have a test, so I study everyday, even on the weekends. This is a large part of the reason I am not up to date with this blog. But, as my Sister (Hey fool!), Eric Stanko (oh hey!), and Ryo (balls and wieners!) would say, "Excuses excuses...and some other vulgar curse words that I will not write!" (Mama, I hope you read this, and realize your Little Angel is a Big Devil!)
When I could find the time, I went out to walk around and see whatever I could. I observed some interesting things about China. 1.) Traffic is way worse than I originally thought it to be. My roomie and I went sight-seeing/shopping, and were being driven in a taxi. We were in oncoming traffic so much, that by the fifth time we barely acknowledged the fact. 2) Women in China has been through a lot. As my tutor and I were walking down the street I noticed some really tiny shoes. I remarked upon them saying that surely they were for infants or little children. He refuted my statement, and began explaining to me how things were done in early China. Apparently when a female child reached the age of 10-12, her foot was bound, and remained bound until she'd realized her full growth. Because men in that day and age thought small feet (and small waists as well) were extremely attractive, so women were forced to cater to the men's fetishes. My tutor's grandmother had her feet bound, and she told him that after a long while, she lost the majority of the feeling in her feet. But, before that happened, she was in constant pain and discomfort. A side not to this, is that when the great flood washed through Tianjin , the women with bound feet could not walk very steadily, let alone run, and a large majority of them were washed away by the flood! Women also had to wear really high collars, which prevented them from turning their heads to look around. The men didn't want their women's eyes wandering, freedom like that only belonged to a man. I know what you're thinking, and you're right, simply barbaric. We Americans would never ever deform or torture ourselves to appease anyone! I thought so too, until I remembered that we did...corsets, high heels, or bustiers anyone? Anyway, the third thing I learned is that family is highly valued here, more so than anything else. Here, it's a crime to not take care of your parents in their old age. Children continue to live with their parents until they marry, and it doesn't matter if you're a male or female. During a wedding ceremony, I had the opportunity to attend one!, the parents of the bride and groom are honored, and the wife and groom must serve their soon-to-be-spouse's parents tea (did I mention that I HATE tea?)
This school week blew by, and was filled with quizzes and other scholarly things like reading, translating, and homework, you know all the stuff that makes life fun. It ended on a pretty good note, I had a test, on which I scored a 95% to the disgruntlement of my roommate. Apparently he thinks it's really unfair that he studied practically the entire weekend before the exam, while I only watched movies, shopped, skyped with some friends, and did a 30 minute cram session right before the test, and outscored him. Justin, some people have to study, and some people don't, and some people have really great short term memories...! Okay, it's late and speaking of the devil, dear Justin just walked in drunk on Chinese alcohol. I'm gonna sign off and catch you cats later! hopefully with hilarious drunk Justin stories! Until next time!
再见！(Zaijian-bye)
-罗可斯
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