Stuff I already wrote Part 2

1/14

-So I think I’m starting to go crazy. Since my cell phone doesn’t work here I no longer have a device on my person to tell me what time it is. So I have gone through all of my time without having any idea what time it is, really other than within a range of several hours. I finally changed the clock on my computer and I realized how strange it was to be conscious of time.

-Today was the first day of classes. I think I’m going to switch up to 203 rather than 202. It looks like 202 is the class I took last semester. While I still didn’t know a lot of vocab because my pass/fail status this fall made sure I forgot everything I knew, I think it won’t take much time to refresh my memory, and I’d much rather be learning new material even if it will be a little hard. I can’t wait until I can actually speak with people here! The few interactions I’ve had have been pleasant, mostly being able to just ask how much something costs or where something is. The one class today really helped refresh a lot, and I already noticed my increased ability to have something closer to a conversation, rather than pointing and gesturing. Today I had to buy a needle and thread to repair a tear in my coat (It’s the warmest coat I’ve had but the THINNEST material on the outside. I’m guessing that’s why it was on sale.). I was able to say “Do you have something for this?” “I’ll look around.” “I need this color.” Even though it’s not much, I’m happy with it. I’m starting to be able to put these lists of words I know into sentences to make conversations.

As for my Literature and Society class, I am really excited about what we’ll learn. At first the professor seemed very stern and intimidating, but by the end I really liked him. When we went around the class introducing ourselves, he knew my name before I spoke. Probably just because out of two guys in the class, I was the one who hadn’t spoken yet. But still! He did make a lot of effort to get to know the students and ask them more personal questions about the material based on things they had said about themselves. “You’re an English major, so _____” or “You said your favorite poet is Keats. How does his style ________?” I was surprised at how interactive the class was, as I was expecting more standard lecture. I guess it shouldn’t be to shocking in a 10-person class but still. He talked a lot more about society than I anticipated (yaay). It looks like we’ll be doing a lot of contrasting between American and Chinese society and culture. We already talked about the difference in the “American mind” and “Chinese mind,” key words for each culture, and even the languages. He told us about some advantages of the Chinese writing system that I hadn’t thought about. Being pictorial rather than phonetic, it changes very little. So while none of us can understand Beowulf, any Chinese person can read ancient literature. Also, the brain can process visual things faster than audio, so one can read characters a lot faster. Interesting. It should be a great course! Definitely won’t be one I’m dropping.

-So China is cold. Extremely cold. I’m getting used to it better than I expected, however. I bought some nice earmuffs from Wumei, the local convenience store, for 5 kuai (about 75 cents), and they make a huge difference. There’s no way of walking outside, however, without my muffs, gloves, and jacket zipped all the way up. And I’ve noticed my back clenches tightly whenever I’m outside. It doesn’t stop until a couple minutes after I’ve come back in out of the cold. Interesting.

-So I guess I’ll continue catching up on the days when I wasn’t blogging. Yesterday I had to run off because we were meeting for a banquet with all the program directors and even some local students to help let us know more about the place. The food was so good and sooooo much! Dishes were placed on a round plate that rotated in the center of the table, and everyone took however much they wanted.

-The weekend was pretty fun too. We went out on the town both nights. Friday we went to Pyro, a very Western pizza place that was playing Red Hot Chili Peppers and the like. There were a number of obvious non-Chinese folk, but also a lot of locals, and the staff still spoke no English. Prices were a lot closer to those in the U.S., but still not bad. A pitcher of beer was 20 kuai, less than $3! At Wumei Tsingtao (the local specialty) is 4 kuai for a 24 oz bottle, simply ridiculous.

Anyways we were at Pyro for a while, which was a blast. Basically hanging out and getting to know the eight or so people I was with from my group. Everyone is getting along really well and I haven’t met anyone I don’t like. Lots of fun! Next we moved on to a dance club. As we entered a guy handed us cards that said “Beijing Propaganda” on them, with a list of things underneath. I was a bit surprised to say the least, but it turned out that was the name of the club. The list was just telling us different cool things we got if we brought the card back. The club itself was sweet! Upstairs was the bar and lounge area, and downstairs was a packed dance floor with American dance music blasting. Some nice differences from clubs in the states: everyone was dancing! No standing around, being lame waiting until the right song or moment. Everyone was into it all the time. And almost everyone was just dancing individually. People were pretty content to dance up on a platform the whole night rather than grind all over random people. I’m sure we may have looked a bit out of place when our group brought the more “American” style, but it was still fun. I didn’t even dare try to dance with any of the locals, as I haven’t quite felt out the social norms of the place. But I loved it, especially seeing all the locals singing along with the songs despite not knowing what they were saying at all.

-The next day was a group trip to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. I really wish I knew more about Chinese history, but what I could piece together from the various plaques (a good number in English as well as Chinese)