My turn for a blog entry! I've chosen, this week, to discuss local flavor and the food we've all been eating. Every morning I see people hitting the local corner store to pick up cookies, chips, drinks, etc. China has so much of the same, yet in different twists. In the past week I've eaten more than 3 different types of pringles. There was a strange meat/salsa flavor, blueberry, and a third I'm still not sure about... Of course they have plain, but it seemed to be hidden behind the others. I find China's snack food the most exciting! Unlike America, there are so many different varieties from store to store. I usually see only a few types shining over the rest at home, yet here it runs very differently.

I have also noticed quite a variation between the old and the new in China. For one meal they serve traditional noodles or rice, yet for another they use cola with chicken to make something close to sweet BBQ wings. Another favorite is something called "rou bing" (meat cake... I admit that doesn't sound appetizing... But it is!) My host parents gave me this stack of triangle bread with some sort of thin meat filling that ended up tasting a little like pizza. It was amazing, and yet looked so simple! I am also enjoying the chance to have so many different kinds of fresh fruit! There are many small shops on the street where I can get everything from peaches to dragon fruit; almost every day I have fresh lichee. In my home town I can buy lichee flavored snacks and ice cream, but never any fresh ones. I think my host family finds it strange that I always have fruit with me when I'm home.

Now that we are living with separate host families, I love coming to school and discussing last night’s dinner with my classmates. Every family has a different way about making and eating dinner. From the Chinese restaurants in America I would have never guessed this is how things actually are in China. I know this blog entry is rather vague and broad, but I encourage you readers (if you haven't already) to talk to us students about the food.  There is so much variation from family to family, like there is in America, that it's hard to cover everything.

I admit it took a couple days to get used to the food, but now I am willing to go out and try almost anything!

So far my experience with my host family has been magnificent.  They have treated me with great respect and welcomed me into their family and home.  The first weekend at home my brother and I went to several different places in Beijing such as Tiananmen Square and the Temple of Heaven.  These were really interesting to see and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to go.  After those we also got to go to Happy Valley amusement park, which was a blast.  We have been places like the mall where I have gotten ripped off several times (never again).  My host brother is on the basketball team at Yucai so we often go to the public court and play pick-up games at night.  Being a hockey player, I have never played basketball before this trip so he's teaching me his ways.  Last weekend my family and I went out to a great Peking duck restaurant, which was delicious.  My whole home-stay in general has been wonderful and I am very lucky and thankful to stay with them. 

China continuously changes. It never seems to stop growing, moving, or transforming. It’s just filled with life. The streets are consumed with never ending cars and bicycles while at the same time, crowds of people walk confidently beside the dangerous road. Sometimes I decide to stop what I’m doing and observe my surroundings. Buildings tower over me and around me. Half naked men and diaper-less babies walk beside me. And just the other day, some flowers sprouted from nowhere in beautiful white pots. Everything that’s around me changes but its all part of their culture. When I look out of my bedroom window, I can see a small poor looking shack down below. It makes me wonder how a shack made of trash is in the center of great tall apartments. How is it that everything beside it has transformed into something grand while this shack just plants its roots there? I’ve never been able to see this in my small suburb back home, but now that I have seen something different I can now base my thoughts upon them. Beijing has offered many sights different to my norms and with that I experience new things.

I am certain that we had all anticipated that there would be astronomical differences between studying Chinese in America and learning the same language in the country where it found its origins, but there is nothing like first-hand experience. Before arriving in Beijing, I thought myself quite lacking in my knowledge of Chinese, but now, after being here for only two weeks, constantly immersed in everyday situations, I now realize that I was and am indeed not just “quite lacking” in the amount I have studied, but rather, absolutely helpless in terms of survival (were I not directed by others, of course). We should accept this, however, and embrace it, because the less we know, the more we have to learn, and the more we have to learn, the more extraordinary the world seems to us.

There are at least two necessary parts of education in a field like language studies, especially in one as difficult as Chinese. These are in-class instruction and the seemingly random but incredibly useful information we learn outside of such a sheltered environment. Our teachers, at least the ones by whom I have been taught in this program (though I am sure this comment is applicable to them all), are truly fantastic. One of the most impressive features of their lessons has been the rapidity with which they teach while still maintaining the clarity and importance of the information one is given in what is usually a much longer time. To be sure, the language classes are anything but easy. I have found myself studying flashcards more than I ever have in such a brief period, taking numerous notes, and doing more Chinese gongke (homework) overnight than my American teachers have ever given me, and though it might be stressful (with good reason), learning so much in such a short time has had an amazingly impacting effect upon me. It is enlightening to simply see how much can be done when one focuses on something, and spending time with a Chinese host family is endlessly encouraging (especially if we really like them!), because it gives us more of an incentive to learn the language, so that we might better communicate with them. I have felt sad that I have not been able to express the emphatic appreciation I have toward my family for everything that they have done for me. It has been remarkably frustrating to only be equipped with as few words that I have at my disposal, because the only thing for which I can frequently thank them for is the, let’s say, “interesting” food they have provided for me. Just think. Doesn’t “Hao chi,” (“Tasty.”) and “Xiexie, wo chi bao le,” (Thanks, I’m full.”) get old after a while? For me, it definitely has. And then, there is always becoming better acquainted with our host siblings, which faces both a linguistic and cultural barrier. Upon my first day meeting my host sister, Wang Yuhan, I accidentally called her toufa (hair), mao (fur), and she replied, “Mao! Mao is for monkeys!” But silly incidents, engendered by inexperience itself, is just what has been most thrilling about studying Chinese in China, because we are bound to make mistakes, which, I have learned, is best for improvement.

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

Learning the Chinese language in this particular setting is extremely different from anything I’ve done before in the subject area.  Within the first couple of days, I’ve noticed three major differences that have greatly impacted my studies.  At school in America, my class is more than twice as large, which, while it makes it easier to “hide,” it also takes some pressure off of the students.  Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, only time will tell.  My impression so far is that I’m still getting used to the fact that it allows for more interactive methods of teaching.  Today, for instance, each member of the class had a distinct phrase, and using these phrases, we had to make sentences that, as a whole, represent a story.  This might be more difficult in a class with nearly 20 people.  The very first thing that struck me in my Chinese classes at Yucai School was that our teachers began talking to us in Chinese, and they did not stop.  At home, my teacher speaks in English to us, for the most part.  She only uses Chinese when actuallyteaching us something in Chinese, or in review.  This is probably my favorite change.  I feel as if listening to Chinese while learning Chinese will only immerse me more.  Maybe it gets a little confusing when we have to give definitions, themselves, in Chinese, but I think, for the most part, this will really help.  The last, and most significant, change would be the increase in the workload.  In an ideal world, every student could forever remember all of the vocabulary we learn and exactly how to use it in specific patterns.  Hopefully, though, everyone knows we do not live in an ideal world.  My concern with this kind of intensive learning is that I’ll just end up studying for a test, never to remember any of this afterwards.  However, that definitely doesn’t have to be the case.  I think it’ll take some time for me to find the best method of study, and when I figure out what it is, then I’ll make sure to employ it.  I want to walk away from all of this with a lot of things, but a greater knowledge of the Chinese language is high up on that list.

So far the hardest part about using language with my host family has been getting my host sister to speak Chinese. During our first weekend together, we decided that on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, she would speak English and I would speak Chinese. We would switch for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. However, when the first Tuesday rolled around, my host sister couldn’t seem to shake the habit of speaking English. Nevertheless, I have certainly had sufficient opportunity to practice my listening skills with her. As she is at approximately the same level in English as I am in Chinese, no matter which language we choose to communicate in, we have to borrow heavily from the other.

My host parents do speak some English, but are loathe to use it as they are incredibly shy about their lack of proficiency. This was slightly awkward at first, because they insisted upon speaking to me through my host sister, knowing that I had no idea what they were saying when they used their normal Chinese. However, with the help of an English-speaking cousin’s translations, and as my Chinese improves, they are beginning to speak to me, though at half of their normal pace.

At this point, though the initial idea of different languages on different days seems to have failed, my host family and I have worked out a sort of system. Most communication between my sister and me is in Chinese-based English on her part, and English-based Chinese on mine; and my host parents are delighted to converse with me in Chinese. Ever so often, they remember an English phrase, too, which they pronounce with great pride before translating it into Chinese for my benefit.

We did not have any field trips yet because for the past week, we were still trying to get to know our classmates. But one trip that we had outside of school grounds was the scavenger hunt. The concept of this activity is to use our knowledge of Chinese in the busy streets of Beijing. As well as sharpening our Chinese, we are getting familiar with the important places such as the bank, post office, and McDonalds! We have noticed that it was hard to get some of the answers because we couldn’t understand the pedestrians, or we did not have good pronunciation. This is when it really hit us that we really needed to study Chinese. If we didn’t know the basics, then it will not be easy living in Beijing for 6 weeks, so it gave us a heads up to study hard. This scavenger hunt was very helpful because it showed us the basic questions/answers we needed to know. I know for sure that if we did this scavenger hunt again at the end of this program, all of us would have answered all of the questions because we would know a lot more Chinese.

What We’ve Seen (in seven points)

1.  A twisted, leafless pagoda trunk in the courtyard outside the dormitory: Li Lao Shi informs us the tree is over three centuries old and planted during the Ying Dynasty.  It’s only one of many ancient trees that pop up unexpectedly on roadways or in the middle of soccer fields.

2.       Out the bus window, on our way to Yucai XueXiao: Elder men standing in the grass fields by the highway, flying kites -- kites that ascend higher than sight, like arches of red birds.

3.       On any evening in Beijing: Men and women sitting on the sidewalk outside their shops, swinging fans, playing chinese chess, or repairing motorcycles.  Selling small tanks of turtles on  the stoop or hanging laundry from the telephone pole wires.

4.       Every morning, large groups of bikers, some older women in formal dress, peddling to work with fully loaded baskets.

5.       At BeiHai Park with my host family: A choir of Beijing singers in yellow uniform, celebrating chinese heritage and the upcoming “harmonious and safe” Olympics.

6.       Huge department stores and bargaining small shop keepers enjoying the crowds at Wang Fujing.

7.       Eating popsicles in the courtyard outside my host family’s looming apartment building: women with flowing limbs practicing taiqi in the dark.

On the Friday night after we got to Beijing, we met our host families for the first time. For that first weekend, we were expected to do everything with the host family. My host family chose to take me 50 km outside of the city to visit my host mother’s parents and celebrate the grandmother’s birthday with the extended family.  The party was at a nearby restaurant that served the best Chinese food I’ve ever tasted. Even though the party was for the grandmother, I couldn’t help feeling as though I was the center of attention. I got the seat next to the grandmother, I was the subject of most of the conversation, and I was given the first piece of the Beijing duck. Earlier that day, my host brother was excited to teach me the Chinese version of chess, and he wants to take me everywhere with him. His eldest cousin, who I met at the birthday party, took me bowling with his friends later that night. Even though I could barely understand the grandparents, I could tell that they were genuinely happy to have me staying with them. My host family and their relatives have been the most generous hosts I’ve ever known.

We’ve been in Beijing for about ten days now, and I’ve already lost weight. That’s just how it is here- just about everybody is skinny.  During our stay in the dormitory, we had two meals a day at one Chinese restaurant right near the school. The food was definitely authentic. We tried various kinds of strange vegetables, mushrooms, you name it. (Because I sure couldn’t.)

American food is abundant in Beijing, so it isn’t hard to find food we’re used to, though we sure don’t have much time to do that. I had some ice cream at a Dairy Queen at WangFuJing, (Beijing’s most famous shopping area) and I have to say after 10 days of Chinese food (easier said than done) it tasted like the U.S. of A.

By far the worst thing I have tried so far is a vegetable called Ku Gua. I don’t actually know if it is a vegetable. It could be a fruit. It might not be either, partly because I don’t think it counts as food at all. It has the consistency of a cucumber, and it tastes like eating an orange after brushing your teeth. The aftertaste is incredibly bitter. The Chinese like it because it supposedly cools the body down. On the whole, most of us like Chinese food, though we’re going to slim down a bit.

In the remaining time of our trip after the departure of our 4-week counterparts, the focus of our school planned trips seems to have shifted from destinations of cultural and religious importance to interviews within offices discussing the politics and rapid development of China. A few examples would be discussions with a CNN journalist stationed in Beijing, an organization devoted to the issues of rural women, and most recently a conversation with the political board in charge of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.