SUMMER LANGUAGE INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN YOUTH IN CHINA

Every student and their host sibling went to the Great Wall on Sunday the 20^th. The bus ride out to Jun Yong Guan was an enjoyable part of the trip.  It was fascinating to see the transition from 50 story buildings to being surrounded by empty green mountains in just a few minutes.  Climbing the Great Wall is not as glamorous as it is made out to be.  The heat, humidity and 2 foot high steps make sweat appear on your forehead within 5 minutes.  There were two routes up the wall from the valley at Jun Yong Guan and the whole group split up pretty evenly going both directions.  I was surprised at how many people were on the Great Wall, I knew it was a huge tourist attraction, but there was hardly space to move for the first hundred yards up.  After an hour I reached the top (where the wall was stopped) where the crowds were considerably smaller.  The views from the top were incredible.  You could gaze down upon highways winding through mountains, small villages, and the Great Wall itself stretched all across the landscape.  The exhausted legs were a small price to pay to see that view.

During the (almost) 2 weeks I have been here, I have tasted many different things in China.  This has two meanings: I have tasted the different foods here, along with the different culture.  The food here is extremely different.  From a very basic standpoint, it at first seems that they either put everything in a sauce or broil, braise, fry, etc. the food.  If they are using some kind of meat, then it is probably part of ANY part of the animal.  The food here is very good though, not like the Chinese fortune cookie food that so many people love at home (I don't even know if I'll like American Chinese food when I return to the US).  My host family loves to feed me, and they will continue to feed me until I say "Wo chi bao le" (I am full).  Meals here are obviously different when compared to US meals; the largest difference must be during breakfast.  It was only a couple of days ago when it was 7 am and I had fried sticks with a sweet sauce in front of me, and even a few days earlier than that when I thought that the amount of fried food in front of me would get me sick (the food is good though, believe me). But food is only the tip of the iceberg when talking about China.  The culture here, like in any other foreign place, acts like an iceberg: the 10% you see above the water is what seems so obvious to you: the different food, music, buildings, symbols, etc etc.  The rest of the 90% of the iceberg, which is underwater, that you don’t see, however, I am still trying to learn about: the morals, values, traditions, meanings of the symbols that we see, definition of right and wrong, etc etc.  It will feel like such a pity when I must return to the US when I am just starting to uncover some of the 90% of the iceberg.  For now, however, all I can say is that the Chinese are extremely friendly (a few days ago, I met this German man who I talked to for a while, and my host family bought his dinner, just to give a little example) and that their values are different than our own.  How and why they are different is still something I must figure out.  For now, however, I will try to adapt to my host families different ways and try to understand them from the non-"I am American and better than you" perspective. 

So my first impression of Beijing is that it’s like New York, except different. It’s like someone took NYC and shook it up and just let it spill over Asia. It’s so strange being in a city that feels like my home but clearly isn’t. But there are some amazing things to see here. The Yucai School itself is very interesting to see. There is a park in the middle of it with all this cool ancient Chinese architecture and then you walk about thirty seconds further and see a basketball court. In Beijing there is this constant image of the past co-existing with the present. As a class we haven’t gone to too many places together. But as a group we’ve explored the parts of Beijing that surround our school, and it’s pretty much just city. The Temple of Heaven is a little farther away but we haven’t actually visited it, we just went there on a scavenger hunt (thank you Larry!). We’ve been to restaurants here (and yes I count the Mickey D’s in China as restaurants) and they're like New York Chinatown restaurants except with real Chinese food. I mean it all seems pretty similar to home. There are a few banks, a lot of bus stops, a couple of fast food places, and a grocery store or two. It does create a very decent illusion of normality. But it’s not home. It’s China. And it is a strange place, but perhaps not as strange to us as we all thought it would be.

It has almost been a week since I had moved in with my host family. The first weekend was a very busy weekend for me. My host family was very sweet and had the whole weekend planned out. That Saturday I had to wake up at 7 in order to leave the house by 8 am. The first place we went to was Tiananmen Square, the place where the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China was made by Mao Zedong. There were so many people, a lot of foreigners as well as Chinese people. As you can see in the picture below, there is a picture of Mao Zedong hanging in front of that building. Tiananmen Square is also located near 故宫 (Forbidden City). The Forbidden City is one of the main historical sites in Beijing, China that everyone must visit. It was the imperial palace where the emperor lived. None of the peasants were allowed inside. The Forbidden City is now the Palace Museum where you can see where the Emperor rested, slept, and dined. The place was so big and very beautiful. There were also a lot of people there. It was so crowded in specific places. When I went into small rooms, it was so peaceful and quiet. There were many trees that were 400 years old and many wells. After that I went to Hong Qiao (Pearl) Market, where there were many foreigners. There were many American merchandises for a very cheap price, you just had to bargain. My host sister was very good, while I on the other hand, couldn’t bargain at all. On Sunday I went to Bei Hai Park with her friend Wang Fang and her host sister Victoria. Bei Hai Park was so big and very beautiful, especially the lakes, the dragon wall, and the White Pagoda. After that we went to Wangfujing which is like the Times Square of Beijing. There were many tall buildings, many shopping centers, and a lot of fast food restaurants as well. There were also many Olympic Stores where they sold Fuwa (Olympic) merchandises. They were very expensive though. I had a great weekend with my host family. I did so much in one weekend, and I can’t wait to see more.

Dear Readers,

So far all the planned trips have been a blast! Our first trip, to an acrobatic performance, filled me with vigor and excitement as I watched children my own age flip through hoops and perform stunning tricks with Kong Zu, a type of Chinese yoyo. It inspired me to buy one of my own and I now practice it almost every day, but I fear my skills are improving little.

Other trips, such as to the architecture museum, filled me with awe as I saw beautiful masterpieces and replicas of buildings around Beijing. It encouraged me to see Beijing’s wonders, but unfortunately so far my studies have interfered. School finds ways of keeping you busy…

Despite how wonderful these last two trips were my two favorite trips brought me to the Beijing Zoo and a branch of the U.S. embassy. First the Zoo:

I only ever heard bad things about the Beijing zoo; that it was dirty, the animals were treated poorly, and the cages were a mess. While I only saw a small branch of the zoo, near the pandas, it seemed like a very nice place. The cages I saw sparkled from cleanliness and all the animals seemed quite happy!

The trip to the embassy seemed like it would be a drag after hearing the trip overview. It seemed like we all were about to get another one of those inspirational speeches… However, it actually ended up being very fun. The speaker, Frank Whitaker, presented very interesting data on the U.S. and China’s political standings and was nice and… well… frank! He didn’t tip toe too much around volatile subjects, which was a nice change from other politicians I have spoken to. By the way, I’m sorry for using so many “to be” verbs, but I’m rather tired. All this fun is wearing me out!

‘Till next time then! I unfortunately can’t get any photos for you off my camera… I’m kind of technologically inept.

Sincerely,            David