Starting to get the hang of things

1/21/08

-Dah! So I got cut off in the middle of last entry because I had to rush off to catch the bus to the Beijing City Museum for our Saturday adventure. The museum was ENORMOUS and had lots of beautiful artifacts. I took plenty of pictures and posted them on facebook, so check em out! I unfortunately can’t tell you a single thing about any of it because nearly all of the descriptions were written in Chinese characters. So I had to make up my own explanations for the things I was seeing. Still a sweet place, though!

-So to continue with the second day of my internship! Jesse and I both downloaded msn messenger to talk to each other at work since they stuck us each at our own lonely desk on opposite sides of the office. Suddenly! Some of the employees added us on msn and started talking to us! (sweet sweet human contact!) They too didn’t speak English very well at all, but that was perfect for me to practice my Chinese. They even invited us out to lunch on Tuesday, and said “I’m sure we will become good friends!” This is great because I’ve been reeeeally meaning to get in touch with more local people. Of course to practice the language but also to experience Chinese culture for what it really is! I will keep you posted.

-Haha although I am going in a little bit cautiously after hearing what one of my friends here went through in “interacting” with a local. On the first day of his internship, he finished early so he went to Tiananmen Square to walk around. A young, very pretty Chinese girl came up to him, saying “Oh, you are American? Can I talk with you for a bit to practice my English?” Of course, to him this seemed like the perfect situation. They walked and talked for a bit, and then he wanted to sit down so he suggested they go to a tea house to talk. Conveniently there was one right in front of them, and so they went in. The girl immediately opts for the private, back room. She asks him if he wants to see the famous “tea ceremony,” which he agrees to. A woman comes out and does a bit of a dance as she serves them the tea. They drink and continue to talk before it is time for the girl to go. My friend gets the bill, a whopping ONE THOUSAND KUAI. When we spend about 5 kuai for a meal here, that is unfathomable. Apparently this kind of thing happens quite often around here, so I’ll have to keep my guard up. I know it would be hard to say no to a cute local wanting to talk. =)

-Saturday eve a group of us went to a restaurant downtown where I got to experience the famous Beijing “hot pot,” sort of like the Chinese fondue. You all sit around a table with a burner in the middle. They bring out a huge vat of a soup/broth substance (we ordered one that was divided into three parts with spicy chili, “bone” and mushroom soups) which you put on to boil. You then order meats, vegetables, noodles and the like to drop into the soup once it boils, and pick out the deeeliciously flavored end product to eat. It’s a pretty fun experience because everyone is throwing things in and grabbing pieces out in a frenzy. The meat is cut thin enough that it cooks almost immediately, so there’s not even any waiting around time. Mmm I’m getting hungry just thinking about it now.

-So I’m very happy with how much I’m progressing in my language class. Honestly, the first day I was the one guy who couldn’t even read the dialogue as we took turns reading parts aloud, and now I can chime in on conversation just as well as everybody. I really noticed how much things are clicking already when, right after leaving class, I saw a friend and my small talk came out in Chinese. I realized I had to stop because she was only in a beginner level, but I couldn’t help but smile to myself that my brain is starting to work in Chinese mode. After all, our classes are three hours long, so by the end of the period you’ve been thinking in Chinese so long that it makes sense.

-On that note, I think I am starting to prefer the schedule of classes they have for us here. Language is three hours a day, three days a week, which is more helpful for obvious reasons. Surprisingly, however, I like the 2.5-hour, once a week schedule of my other two courses. Since we have a whole week between each class, you don’t get tired of the material and really appreciate the time you are there. I was glued to every word my professor was saying today in the second session of my Chinese Lit and Society class today, though that could just be due to the quality of the teacher. He is obviously a brilliant guy who is incredibly knowledgeable. So far we have gone through a bit of history of China, briefly going through the various dynasties (with special attention paid to the 5 most important, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing), and focusing on the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It is great how he keeps going back to the differences between China and the West and how it is reflected throughout history, especially the contrast of the “Western mind” and “Chinese mind.” Interesting points: you don’t find tragedies hardly at all in Chinese literature, which seems to be the most common theme in the West. Our professor attributed that to the way Chinese culture emphasizes “going with nature,” as opposed to the Western “man versus nature” point of view. Western tragedies are focused on a hero who fails to achieve his goal, whereas Chinese literature does not view a single person’s goal as the most important. “Man is much smaller than nature,” as he says, according to Chinese culture. Thus, there is no “fighting” and no “failure.”

-Again, here are some random things I’ve noticed.

1. The staff. I guess it’s because we’re in a communist country, but every store/restaurant you go seems to be incredibly overstaffed. I swear, they’re crawling with employees here! As soon as you take one gander at a product being sold, you’re offered help by someone. Unfortunately, those offers are always in Chinese, so they can’t really help me too much until I learn to understand it better.

I also thought it was interesting how Wumei (the local grocery) does things. They sell various things, from food to school supplies to shoes to electronics. Each area has its own staff and its own register, and you HAVE to pay for your items at that section’s register. It’s at least noteworthy to me.

2. At restaurants, you are expected to give your order almost as soon as you sit down. No more than 1 minute after we’re taken to our table, the waiter arrives eager to write down what we want. When we’re not ready, they wait patiently by the table, no matter how long it takes, until you’re ready. I think we’ve been pegged as “slow Americans” at the Medicine House (deeelicious food on campus), however, since today when we went they took a good 10 minutes to come up and take our order. We saw several groups of locals come in and quickly have their orders taken. We’re already developing a reputation!

3. People do their own thing and don’t really care what you’re doing, as long as you’re not bothering them. The most striking bit of evidence wasn’t something I saw myself but a story I heard from the summer. One guy said in the subway a woman was holding her baby out in front of her as the child pooped onto a newspaper on the ground. And everyone passed by without seeing anything wrong with it!

4. Speaking of subway, I haven’t found it to be so bad here. Everyone told me horror stories about how ridiculously crowded they were. But we’ve been on them during rush hour, and they don’t seem to be too different than what I would expect a New York subway to be like. I’m not complaining!

5. Traffic laws are optional here. Things like lane dividers, street lights, and right of way…that’s all just a suggestion. I can’t tell you how many times a three-lane road has become a four-lane road. Cars will pull out whenever they feel like it, even though a car is speeding towards the intersection. It’s the other guy’s job to slow down, I guess. They just use their horns and bright lights a lot to tell people to get out of their way. It’s also pretty fun trying to cross the street. I try to follow right behind one of the locals whenever they cross because they don’t exactly have crosswalks in a lot of places. Even when they do, cars just speed through them, only moving around pedestrians if they really have to. Usually they just keep on going and hardly ever stop. People don’t always cross the entire street at once, either. The other day I followed a construction worker across. We had to stop in the middle of an insanely busy road because the left-turn lane suddenly got a green light. Giant buses zoomed by within a foot of us on either side, and he didn’t even flinch. And yea, buses don’t stop for anybody. Or even slow down at all. I’ve seen a couple people very nearly get flattened.