放松一下

Note: Blog should have been posted Thursday, July 22, 2010, but the Internet here sucks.

My blog is kind of short this week, so I am kind of taking it easy on you guys in terms of blogging this week. Nothing that interesting has happened aside from preparing intensely for midterms. However, there is a dim light at the end of the tunnel. Before the second half of ACC begins, we all have the opportunity to take a trip to Datong or Luoyang. Because I don’t want to miss out on the Shaolin Temple and martial arts, I signed up a couple weeks ago to go to Luoyang.

Right now I am on top of the world because I just took the last part of my midterm exam and am feeling good. They were pretty difficult, but I think my time spent preparing was efficient and effective so I’m expecting good results. The only thing that disappoints me a bit is that our vacation to Luoyang is a mere three days. One of those days is spent on a train traveling to and from Luoyang and the other two days are spent sightseeing and what not. Either way, it’s nice to get the chance to 放松一下 （relax）， because any Light Fellow can tell you, finding that time is really difficult. I’m excited to see what real kungfu is all about. Next time I write here it’ll be all about my trip! I’m hoping to have a blast!

不好意思

Hey folks,

I really apologize about not posting too many photos on my blog. The reason I've been lacking photos is not because I despise snapping shots of my daily encounters with the friendly citizens of Beijing, but it is because I left my camera in Chicago...at home...on top of my bedroom dresser. What a great place to leave it, right? Well, thanks to Adam I've had the chance to photograph many of the things I've wanted while here. I've been too cheap to purchase my own camera because most cameras in China are the same price they'd be in the US, and I figure since I already own one, why purchase another? I'm just going to stop being cheap and get one soon. And by soon, I mean tomorrow or Wednesday because we have our mid-program field trip this weekend. I'm going to Luoyang, which is revered as the most intense (and the best) place to learn martial arts. Anyone heard of the Shaoline Temple? Yes. It's near (or in) Luoyang.

Anyway, here are a few pictures I'm going to steal from Adam. For the next couple weeks, I will have my own new camera, so I will post pictures more often.

We sneakily snapped a photo of this cute kid playing in a World Cup playpen in Wangfujing.

Ew, the Beijing belly...speaks for itself. Lifting up the shirt in the baking heat of the Beijing sun is popular among most men here. It drives the ladies nuts. (Note: I intentionally made this picture larger. It has a larger impact on the viewer.)

Is it because President Obama is becoming a socialist? We may never know.

Subway at the Great Wall. I have yet to try Subway in Beijing. It's definitely on my to-do list!

This is the security guard I mentioned in a previous blog post. He followed us around until I spoke to him and then I asked for a picture. Hehe.

Frustration

The most frustrating thing about studying at such an intensive language immersion program is that I rarely have time, even on the weekends, to get to know Beijing. I spent most of my time preparing for class or in class. Even on the weekends, I have worked so hard studying throughout the week that I occasionally prefer sleeping in my bed and don’t want to travel too far away from campus. It is frustrating having the capital of China, Beijing, at my fingertips and not having many opportunities to enjoy Beijing. It’s also quite overwhelming because there’s a lot I want to do and accomplish here aside from studying Chinese. I want to make Chinese friends, visit the museums and popular historic sites, try many kinds of Chinese dishes, etc. However, with only weekends to explore Beijing I don’t know how feasible, or even possible, such activities are during the program.

I visited the Military Museum this past Sunday; it was awesome. I could read a lot of the information, or at least get the gist of the exhibits, which were mostly in Chinese. It was also interesting seeing the ways in which war and the military are portrayed here. And on the most fundamental level, I was introduced to revolutionary Chinese military weaponry. However, none of the exhibits provided much information about post-Cold War military affairs, which is what I am most interested in. Adam and I ran into a guy that asked us what was our impression of the museum. We didn’t know how to answer, so we just said the statues were cool. He replied that he most enjoyed every aspect of the museum, and it gave him pride in the Chinese revolutionary army (which today has expanded into the People’s Liberation Army, or the PLA), and is the fighting force that brought the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, to power. I wish I had more opportunities like these to better understand Chinese history and culture.

For future Light Fellows, keep in mind that you can book your tickets for an early arrival before your program starts or leave China later than your program. I came earlier, so I got a chance to see Beijing before I came, but won’t have time to travel to other cities. I also only came a week early, so there’s still a lot of Beijing I have yet to see. You’ll want to get out during your programs, but unless you sacrifice studying for getting out more (which I think is fine if you feel you retain the material well. I don’t retain material unless I spend lots of time studying it). But this isn’t just a problem I have. Almost every student in ACC feels the same way. The more rigorous Light programs are quite demanding and give you limited opportunity to practice speaking Chinese and to go sightseeing, so you have to force yourself to get out on the weekends when you’re extremely exhausted. Also, one weekend is so not enough to see everything Beijing has to offer. In order to make the best use of your time here, I think it’s best to arrive earlier and/or leave later so that you have the opportunity to 了解中国文化 (understand Chinese culture). I don’t think you can successfully say you are fluent in Chinese until you thoroughly understand the culture as well.

Stares

Some people stare and smile, some people stare and frown. Others stare and snicker, while others just stare. I’m still exploring some of the nuances of why many Chinese are astonished to see an African-American in China. My summer in Shanghai wasn’t filled with many of these encounters. However, the funniest one was when this old guy at the Forbidden City stroked my arm. I felt really awkward at first, but then relieved by his harmless curiosity.

In Beijing, lots of people stare at me. Although our Chinese texts constantly reiterate that Chinese is 现代化 (modern) and 不落后 (not backward) I find that hard to believe when so many of the 1.3 to 1.6 billion citizens here have never seen or heard an African or African-American—except on TV. I think the modernity of Beijing is linked more closely to China’s rapid economic development than it is to the open-mindedness and exposure of its citizens. Either way, I respect the gradualist openness of not only the Chinese government, but also the curiosity of individual citizens. Here’s a list of the encounters I’ve had with Chinese people so far. They are in no particular order; this is the order in which I thought of them. Some are funny, and some are not so funny. Rank them yourselves J

1. I’m standing on the subway train headed to eat Beijing Duck with some Yale friends who were also in Beijing. While swaying back and forth on the overcrowded train, my phone rings. I squeeze my hand between the rugged, hairy Chinese thigh pressed against my gym shorts and grab my phone. I squeeze it back through the hairy crevice and pick up the phone: 喂？(Hello?) The moment I said hello in Chinese the two guys in front of me shot looks at each other and dropped their jaws. I bet they were thinking: 那个黑人会说中文？我大吃一惊！（That black person can speak Chinese? I’m so surprised!) I finished my conversation—yes, in Chinese. (This has happened at least five or six times now.) I wouldn’t say these encounters are directly related to me being black, but the combination of being a foreigner and a black person both make this experience unique and interesting.

2. I went to interview the manager of a small cigarette shop just around the corner from my university. Not only was he surprised that I could speak Chinese, but he was also surprised that I didn’t want to learn Kungfu like Will Smith’s son in the new Karate Kid film.

3. While sitting outside at a bar in Sanlitun with a friend, Liz, and her high school buddies, we were approached by a very enthusiastic Chinese guy with a microphone. Trekking slowly behind him was his cameraman. They were interviewing foreigners to get their opinions on the World Cup Finals. As a joke, when he asked me where I was from in Chinese I responded that I was from Ethiopia (Hana, if you’re reading this you should be proud J.) He then proceeded to ask me a few questions about the political and economic gains and losses for South Africa. He also insisted that Ethiopia bordered South Africa, and when I corrected him he replied, “Doesn’t matter. Africa is Africa, right?” Ouch. So, here’s the funny part. He wanted me to sing and dance. He hopped around like a monkey and asked me to do what I think meant “tribal dance” or “traditional dance.” I laughed immediately and told him I wasn’t actually from Ethiopia, and that I was actually born and raised in the U.S. It gets funnier; he asked me to “rap-a,” which I gathered to mean rap. Jeez, at least I got a chance to be on online television.

4. A baby pointed at me in the mall and said, 妈妈，他不好看。他不好看。(Mom, he’s ugly. He’s ugly.) If you ask any of my friends, they will tell you I think every Asian baby is cute. This one was an exception J

5. I went to the Military Museum two days ago and was followed by a security guard. When I say followed, I mean as I looked at exhibits he would stand between me and the exhibit and stare. I finally decided to talk to him. I simply said “Hello”. He pointed at his arm. “Umm, is he going to try to touch my skin? Not again.” I thought. Then he asked was I from Africa, and I gave him the usual spiel about how I’m an American.

6. People take pictures of me and are not discrete about it at all—not one bit.

7. Some of the cab drivers in China are very talkative and curious; others are either uninterested or quiet for whatever reason. On the way home from Sanlitun last Saturday, I talked to a cab driver about whether he thought Holland or Spain would take the finals game. Then we discussed where we were from. He was from Hebei province, but I didn’t catch the city he was from. When he asked my nationality, I offered him the opportunity to guess. He immediately guessed that I was American. He then proceeded to tell me his distinct impressions of Africans and African-Americans. He thinks African-Americans tend to have lighter skin than Africans. This is true. He also thinks Africans have terrible personalities and that they are not friendly. This is probably not true. He thinks Africans only use Chinese among themselves. This can’t be true. Otherwise, for what purpose would they be learning Chinese? He thinks African-Americans are more open and tend to talk to him in Chinese more often than Africans. Ok, if that is true it is an awful generalization. Chinese people, because of limited exposure to other races, tend to generalize whole countries and entire races based on a single person’s actions. Wrong. I guess it’s ironic that my blog post sort of follows a similar logic. Are all Chinese people very curious? Probably not. Whoops.

8. My language partner, a Chinese graduate student studying English and American culture, asked me my interests when I first met her. I listed singing, dancing, hanging out with friends, politics, traveling…and then I had a mind block. I paused. But fortunately I didn’t have to pause any longer after she finished the list for me. 篮球 (Basketball), she said. Wow, I thought.

9. I hear this phrase a lot on the street, especially if I’m in a crowded, tourist-friendly area. 看到那个黑人.（Look at that black person.)

10. If I’m with friends who are white or Asian, Chinese people will often just practice their English with me. They’ll say “Hello” or “How are you?” Apparently, my friends just aren’t interesting enough.

11. The Silk Market has several floors of merchandise for purchase. It mainly attracts tons of foreigners. I went there with Adam, and we were bored and just going from floor to floor meeting some of the salespeople, trying to get to know them while they insisted on asking us to buy fake shoes, cameras, iPads, and high-heels. Taking the escalator from the third to fourth floor was quite a long ride. When I finally stepped off the final escalator step, a purse saleswoman greeted me enthusiastically. She said,  “Hello Kobe, need a purse-a for your mom?” That’s Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers player, to those unfamiliar with the NBA.

语言实践

After surviving my first week of class at ACC, I think I can safely say my Chinese has not only improved a lot in just this one week, but also I am excited to do it all over again seven more times. I’ve already described the daily structure of class at ACC, but Fridays are different. As part of yesterday’s 语言实践 (language and culture practicum) activity my classmates and me had a scavenger hunt after our weekly exam. From CUEB, we were given directions to a huge shopping street called 王府井 （Wangfujing）. And although it was easy to get to by train, hunting down 美食代广场 (food court) drove us insane. It was a crazy experience, though. The goal of the language practicum is to get us out there, using the vocabulary we learned from the week, speaking with 真正的中国人 (real Chinese people).

Tangent on train shenanigans: Aside from the familiar crowded, hot, personal space-deprived Beijing subway mayhem we are all familiar with, on the way to 王府井 I encountered one young guy who got on the train and grabbed the rail above my head, leaving his armpit resting right in front of my nose. That afternoon, I learned that many Chinese don’t wear deodorant. As a matter of fact, our ACC program handbook advised us to bring our own deodorant because “it is every expensive and difficult to find in China.” Maybe that’s why this guy’s armpits smelled terribly…for ten minutes. I guess this is my newest question I want answered: “Why don’t that many Chinese people wear deodorant?”

Immediately after exiting the subway station, we walked through 王府井 and came to a pretty short three-story building squashed between other small shops selling all sorts of traditional Chinese art and electronics and snacks. We followed a sign that read “Food Court on the bottom floor.” We ended up finding a food court there, but there were no teachers. “What?!” This actually made no sense to us since the title they’d given us on the instruction sheet matched the name of this place. We asked the service staff there, and they said 王府井 was full of food courts. “Eh...?” What were we to do?

My partner, Harry, and I followed their instructions to the nearest food court. Our instructions sheet said this food court mainly sold Chinese snacks—by Chinese snacks they meant things like 龙虾 和 青蛙 (scorpion and frog). The first spot only sold fast food. This second food court was outdoors and was just across the street from the first one. They sold Chinese snacks, but not the strange snacks like frog and scorpion. They sold candy, yogurt milk (which is delish-us by the way), and tons of fruit and vegetables. This food court was more like a local market than the typical American-style food court. But Harry and I thought this market was the right place, since we had run into two other groups from our class who also thought this food court was the right one. We still had one problem: no teacher. The other two groups waited for our teachers to show up. Harry and I thought our teachers should be much easier to find, so we tried another mall called 东方新天. We went there, scanned all three floors, even the basement floor containing a food court, yet still no teachers. While down there, we did see a store selling strange snacks like scorpion and frog, but we scanned the outside of the store and still didn’t see them. At this point, we were two hours into this scavenger hunt, anticipating the sun would show us no mercy when we stepped outside, we wandered out the doors of 东方新天 feeling defeated. How were we supposed to find our teachers? And if none of our classmates could find this food court, why did they give us this assignment?

As we stood at the center of the square, staring back at the entrance of 东方新天 bewildered, a nice group of Chinese people offered to help us. “Ex-cuse-a me, where are you go-ing?” We replied that we actually had no idea because we had literally been to all of the food courts in this area. We were hungry, we were tired, it was hot...but we still needed to find the food court in order to complete the assignment. (And to get free lunch from our teachers. J) Somehow we conjured the strength to head to the fifth floor of a mall about a ten-minute walk away. Ten minutes walking in the scourging Beijing sun felt like hours and hours and hours to me by that point.

Once we arrived at this huge mall, Harry had some doubts about whether its food court was the right location. I told him that we should still try it though, then I dragged him up five escalators until we reached “The Food Republic.” It appeared to be the right place because just like the first location, the name of this food court in Chinese was 美食代广场. However, the problem was that they didn’t sell snacks cooked from weird animals. All the food looked like delicious, authentic Chinese FAST food, not SNACKS. We looked around on this floor for our teachers and ended up encountering all of our classmates sitting at a table together. We were the last ones to arrive, but anyway...SUCCESS! I mean...FAIL! Our teachers weren’t here either. Everyone just ended up at the wrong spot together. LOL.

We waited for them to arrive and tried calling them, but they didn’t answer. We finally got a hold of them; they returned one of my classmate’s calls. Apparently, they were at the 美食代广场 on the basement floor of 东方新天. Harry and I looked at each other, both of us now in exasperation because we had already been there. It was certainly our mistake though because they said they were waiting for us at a table INSIDE the food court. We figured they would be waiting for us outside the mall entrance or outside the food court. COMMON SENSE FAIL! But I don’t know whom to blame: ourselves or our teachers. Either way, the language practicum turned out really well. It was certainly a fun learning experience.

Our teachers spoke to us, figured out where we were, and rushed to come eat with us. They let us order whatever we wanted, especially if it was a traditional Chinese dish. We spent a good hour and a half talking amongst one another with our teachers, getting to know them and them getting to know us. It was a really warm, sappy moment for me. You know that really awkward feeling when you cross the line from just that teacher-student relationship to teacher/friend-student/friend relationship? Yeah, that’s what I felt. Our Chinese teachers are real people. They’re young and at the prime of their lives. For many of them, teaching foreigners, especially American students, at such a highly selective program like ACC is an honor for them. (It also looks good on their resumes, especially in China. Teachers are more highly respected in China than in the United States.) But I’ve discovered this experience is so much more than that for them.

When I picked up my first test grade from my box yesterday evening, I surprisingly encountered a small piece of notebook paper folded neatly into four even squares nestled beneath my test. I nervously unraveled it; I didn’t know who it was from or what it said. It was a letter from one of my Chinese teachers letting me know she was leaving the program because she had a “more successful opportunity” elsewhere. After only one week, I’ve built a close relationship with this teacher, and I will be really sad to see her leave this Tuesday. This is an example of how highly ambitious and motivated ACC teachers are. They not only care about us learning Chinese, but they care about us as people as well. I think having a support system that stems from new friends made at ACC along with support from your Chinese teachers is important as well. Both have helped me successfully take advantage of this awesome opportunity. Sorry, another sappy tangent...She ended the letter giving me her cell and her personal email; she told me to contact her anytime.

My main point is that studying abroad in China is just as rewarding for these teachers as it is for us. I’ve realized that they spend tons of time studying how to teach foreigners. It’s not as simple as them learning English. They also need to have some understanding of the culture. I think knowing that they put in so much effort just pushes me to work even harder here. Stephanie Rocio mentioned in a recent blog post how HBA teachers skipped their graduations to work at HBA. That’s amazing. I feel our Chinese teachers—regardless of the program—are looking for more than work experience and higher credentials. The letter I got from one of my teachers, Gao Laoshi, shows the same display of downright kindness. And no matter how cheesy or cliché it sounds, they have good hearts.

I look forward to getting to know my teachers even more now—not only through scavenger hunts and other language practicum activities, but through making even more of an effort to become fluent in Chinese. When I do, I can fully express myself to them, showing my gratitude for their kindness and their generosity thus far. I think it’s the least I can do, and I think it’s the least other Light Fellows can do, to return the favor.