Spring has finally come to Chengdu! After freezing our behinds off all winter, spring has come with a vengeance. It was warm a couple of days and then suddenly someone turned the furnace up and it became hot! The weather here is always humid, making the cold feel colder and the hot hotter. For two days we actually had blue sky. I so rarely see it that when it comes, it's all I can do to stay inside. White skin is all the rage here, so I get lots of stares when I roll up my sleeves and pants and bask in the sun.
The students have gotten into the spirit too. Outside dorm and apartment buildings, residents can be seen hanging their bed linens on the shrubbery to dry. The women have finally taken off their long underwear in favor of gloves and sweaters (I will never understand this), and have donned welder's masks whenever they are outside to keep the sun from tanning their skin. Girls are carrying pretty umbrellas to keep the sun off their faces, while those on bikes have rigged their umbrellas to stand up straight from the handlebars.
All of this is quite a sight, but the oncoming of spring has made me feel the passage of time more now than ever. I'm beginning to realize how close home is, and am in part dreading it and excited at the same time. China is a lot of fun, but home will be good too.
It rained today reminding me of Seattle. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss the rain.
2007年4月28日星期六
Arrgh...
Last weekend my classmate Matt was hurt and taken to the hospital. I'd heard stories of hospital visits, but have fortunately never had to visit one on my own. I thought about writing a whole blog post about the experience, but decided it was better left in the hands of those who saw it. Here's an excerpt from Sarah's blog telling all about it:
"At about 2pm we see a few of the guys run across our field back to where everyone's stuff is and we look over the field the men were playing on and everyone has stopped and gathered in a circle. I hear someone say "someone's hurt" and I look over and it's Matt. A minute later two guys are helping Matt walk back over to the bench and it is obvious Matt has broken both the bones in his right forearm (like his arm is bent in a way that bones don't typically bend and it has broken the skin). Garth, who has a car, drives Matt, Eoin (an Irish guy that was the guy takling Matt when it happened) and Xiao Mei (a CHinese girl going to translate) to Huaxi hospital and we all don't really know what to do, so we keep playing. After another hour we finish practice and I hop in the first car going back. On the way back we stopped at this guy Mike's factory. He is in China helping set up a factory to make MRI machines so we saw them making and testing the first MRI machine ever made in China and I learned how MRI's really work, which was very interesting. However, I was really worried about Matt this whole time and I just wanted to get to the hospital and make sure he was going to be ok. I finally got there and Matt was in a room on a bed and X-Rays had been taken (which they had to wait an hour for to be developed), but nothing besides that had happened. The arm was still in a cardboard sling that a guy on our team had put on when it first happened. By this time it was probably about 4:30 already. In the next hour three different doctors came by to look at it. The first doctor took off the sling and looked at the arm and the X-Rays then put it back on and went away. Then the next one came and took off the sling and looked at it with some nurses and then without putting anything back on just walked away. So I am standing there holding Matt because it really hurts and I don't want him to look down at his arm which has the forearm part hanging alot lower than the hand which he is holding with his other hand. It feels like we are waiting forever like this (maybe a few minutes in reality, but WAY TOO LONG) until someone finally comes back and they wrap it up again. Then the last doctor comes and says that he is just going to set it in a cast for now and then Matt will need surgery to re-set the bones in about a week. By this time many more people have arrived, one of them being a Western doctor who a guy from the rugby team brought over to help out. The Western doctor says "no, this surgery should happen now" and goes to talk to the doctors. We find out the the whole reason they want to wait is so they can make sure that we pay before they preform the surgery, they essentially won't do anything until we pay them upfront. SO I call Matt's mom (in the middle of the night in Seattle) and get Matt's insurance information and we try to get that rolling and decided we will do whatever it takes to have the surgery happen now. In the end it turns out the the western doctor convinced them that money would not be a problem and by calling the insurance company we were able to open a case as well, so at 7pm Matt finally went into surgery. It took 3 hours to finish and they screwed a metal plate to each of his bones to stabilize them. After the surgery I felt alot better, but it was just a very scary, stressful experience because you felt like you couldn't trust anything the doctors were telling you. Thank god the western doctor came to help, but he left again after like an hour so we were on our own again (andrea being the next most qualified person to make decisions). The level of care was just so much lower than anything you would ever receive in the states and whenever you tried to ask anyone a question they would never give you an answer. Like when we tried to ask how long Matt's surgery would take, they just said when it's done you'll know, which was the kind of responses we were getting all night. But after the surgery was done and we were back upstairs in a recovery room (with a few other patients too of course) I felt alot better because atleast the break was secured now and I felt like the hard part was over. Andrea stayed the night with Matt and I got home at like 12:45am or so. The next day, Monday, after class I went right back to the hospital with some things for Matt, like movies, his computer, etc. Surgery in China is not like in the states and we had no idea how long he would have to stay there, so we were preparing for the long haul. When I got there that afternoon Matt was looking alot better, but very uncomfortable because his arm hurt alot and was swelling like MAD and they also had to put in a catheter. I stayed with Matt all afternoon. We had to have someone with him all the time because, aside from the fact that he doesn't speak Chinese and it's good to have moral support, in China it is BYO nurse. So while I was there I was in charge of alerting the nurse attending to our room when his IV was getting low and emptying the catheter every two hours. I also keep asking every doctor that came around (all two of them) if the swelling was normal because the wrapping seemed really tight and when we could take out the cathedar and of course getting no answers. Matt asked me to take that picture of his arm, he has wanted me to document this for some reason. That evening I was relived and left for our customary UW meeting and to get dinner and then went back to stay the night. By the time I got back we had gotten the catheter out and the bandages changed (and loosened) so Matt was in much higher spirits. Plus he was finally sleeping, which was really good. He slept alot of the night, but unfortunately I did not. That's ok though, I didn't really expect to. I did homework and read and we watched a movie, "Time Bandits". Andrea came to relieve me at 7:30 so I could go to class. I just got home and ate lunch and now, although I am exhausted, I can't sleep. But I am laying in my bed as I write this and will hopefully try to get some rest, or atleast go to sleep early tonight. I know I will crash at some point. We also just found out the Matt will be getting out of the hospital tomorrow, which is great. He has been so brave and great through this whole thing, I am so proud of him. It's scary enough to have this happen to you in the states and I remember how much it sucks. Having it happen in China I can't even imagine. Anyways, it has been an intense few days but it seems as though we are out of the woods."
"At about 2pm we see a few of the guys run across our field back to where everyone's stuff is and we look over the field the men were playing on and everyone has stopped and gathered in a circle. I hear someone say "someone's hurt" and I look over and it's Matt. A minute later two guys are helping Matt walk back over to the bench and it is obvious Matt has broken both the bones in his right forearm (like his arm is bent in a way that bones don't typically bend and it has broken the skin). Garth, who has a car, drives Matt, Eoin (an Irish guy that was the guy takling Matt when it happened) and Xiao Mei (a CHinese girl going to translate) to Huaxi hospital and we all don't really know what to do, so we keep playing. After another hour we finish practice and I hop in the first car going back. On the way back we stopped at this guy Mike's factory. He is in China helping set up a factory to make MRI machines so we saw them making and testing the first MRI machine ever made in China and I learned how MRI's really work, which was very interesting. However, I was really worried about Matt this whole time and I just wanted to get to the hospital and make sure he was going to be ok. I finally got there and Matt was in a room on a bed and X-Rays had been taken (which they had to wait an hour for to be developed), but nothing besides that had happened. The arm was still in a cardboard sling that a guy on our team had put on when it first happened. By this time it was probably about 4:30 already. In the next hour three different doctors came by to look at it. The first doctor took off the sling and looked at the arm and the X-Rays then put it back on and went away. Then the next one came and took off the sling and looked at it with some nurses and then without putting anything back on just walked away. So I am standing there holding Matt because it really hurts and I don't want him to look down at his arm which has the forearm part hanging alot lower than the hand which he is holding with his other hand. It feels like we are waiting forever like this (maybe a few minutes in reality, but WAY TOO LONG) until someone finally comes back and they wrap it up again. Then the last doctor comes and says that he is just going to set it in a cast for now and then Matt will need surgery to re-set the bones in about a week. By this time many more people have arrived, one of them being a Western doctor who a guy from the rugby team brought over to help out. The Western doctor says "no, this surgery should happen now" and goes to talk to the doctors. We find out the the whole reason they want to wait is so they can make sure that we pay before they preform the surgery, they essentially won't do anything until we pay them upfront. SO I call Matt's mom (in the middle of the night in Seattle) and get Matt's insurance information and we try to get that rolling and decided we will do whatever it takes to have the surgery happen now. In the end it turns out the the western doctor convinced them that money would not be a problem and by calling the insurance company we were able to open a case as well, so at 7pm Matt finally went into surgery. It took 3 hours to finish and they screwed a metal plate to each of his bones to stabilize them. After the surgery I felt alot better, but it was just a very scary, stressful experience because you felt like you couldn't trust anything the doctors were telling you. Thank god the western doctor came to help, but he left again after like an hour so we were on our own again (andrea being the next most qualified person to make decisions). The level of care was just so much lower than anything you would ever receive in the states and whenever you tried to ask anyone a question they would never give you an answer. Like when we tried to ask how long Matt's surgery would take, they just said when it's done you'll know, which was the kind of responses we were getting all night. But after the surgery was done and we were back upstairs in a recovery room (with a few other patients too of course) I felt alot better because atleast the break was secured now and I felt like the hard part was over. Andrea stayed the night with Matt and I got home at like 12:45am or so. The next day, Monday, after class I went right back to the hospital with some things for Matt, like movies, his computer, etc. Surgery in China is not like in the states and we had no idea how long he would have to stay there, so we were preparing for the long haul. When I got there that afternoon Matt was looking alot better, but very uncomfortable because his arm hurt alot and was swelling like MAD and they also had to put in a catheter. I stayed with Matt all afternoon. We had to have someone with him all the time because, aside from the fact that he doesn't speak Chinese and it's good to have moral support, in China it is BYO nurse. So while I was there I was in charge of alerting the nurse attending to our room when his IV was getting low and emptying the catheter every two hours. I also keep asking every doctor that came around (all two of them) if the swelling was normal because the wrapping seemed really tight and when we could take out the cathedar and of course getting no answers. Matt asked me to take that picture of his arm, he has wanted me to document this for some reason. That evening I was relived and left for our customary UW meeting and to get dinner and then went back to stay the night. By the time I got back we had gotten the catheter out and the bandages changed (and loosened) so Matt was in much higher spirits. Plus he was finally sleeping, which was really good. He slept alot of the night, but unfortunately I did not. That's ok though, I didn't really expect to. I did homework and read and we watched a movie, "Time Bandits". Andrea came to relieve me at 7:30 so I could go to class. I just got home and ate lunch and now, although I am exhausted, I can't sleep. But I am laying in my bed as I write this and will hopefully try to get some rest, or atleast go to sleep early tonight. I know I will crash at some point. We also just found out the Matt will be getting out of the hospital tomorrow, which is great. He has been so brave and great through this whole thing, I am so proud of him. It's scary enough to have this happen to you in the states and I remember how much it sucks. Having it happen in China I can't even imagine. Anyways, it has been an intense few days but it seems as though we are out of the woods."
Almost Xinjiang!
Tomorrow several of my classmates and I will be heading off on our Spring break trip. We'll be going to Xinjiang, first flying to Urumqi and then making our way over land to Kashi. We'll be gone a week.
We've been talking of making this trip for quite some time now. We've talked of going to Tibet and various other parts of China, but I think the place that won out was Xinjiang.
Xinjiang is located in the far Northwest corner of China. It is home to the Uyger minority people, and some of the best food to be found in China. The majority of China's muslim people live in that area, and it was also there that the old silk road passed through. This will be my last big trip of the year, and I'm really excited about it. When I return I'll be posting pictures and sharing stories.
We've been talking of making this trip for quite some time now. We've talked of going to Tibet and various other parts of China, but I think the place that won out was Xinjiang.
Xinjiang is located in the far Northwest corner of China. It is home to the Uyger minority people, and some of the best food to be found in China. The majority of China's muslim people live in that area, and it was also there that the old silk road passed through. This will be my last big trip of the year, and I'm really excited about it. When I return I'll be posting pictures and sharing stories.
2007年4月19日星期四
Xi'an!
I just returned from a long weekend away in Xi'an. My teacher took us on an archeological excursion, and aside from killing my fantasies of becoming an archeologist, the trip was a ton of fun.
The first day was spent touring a museum and visiting the Banpo archeological site. The site itself is an ancient village that had been unearthed just outside of the city. Before entering the dig, we were taken to a dark and musty building which housed pottery remains and brief descriptions of what is known of the Banpo people. After entering the site (a large warehouse has been built to cover and protect the findings), we were led by a tour guide who proudly explained the different types of structures at the site. We'd been hearing that the Banpo people had a matriarchial society, but as we walked through the museum, the evidence for this claim seemed to be missing. Finally, at the end of the tour I asked the tour guide on what basis it is believed that these people lived in a matriarchial society. She replied that several graves had been uncovered and archeologists were surprised to discover that the women were buried with more pottery than the men. The evidence still doesn't seem to be as strong as everyone at the site made it out to be, but I'll accept it for now.
As the tour guide was pointing out the different foundations, she pointed to a large hole in the ground. This, she said, was were the Banpo people kept their grain. Obviously everyone shared and there was no sense of property. Is archeology always this much guess work?
The second day we were taken to the Terracotta Warriors museum. On the way there we had the opportunity to see a nearby site where some armour had been uncovered. We weren't allowed to take any photos, but we were allowed to go down into the pits and take a closer look.
We were officially recieved at the Terracotta museum by the director of the site. Every place we went on this trip we were officially recieved. Each time the group would take turns shaking hands with the curator or director, then we would be led to a reception room and given tea. Meanwhile, our professors would proclaim how wonderful the site was and how wonderful the director was. The directors in turn would praise our professors, with exclamations on both sides like "we could really learn from you!" and "your university is so advanced!" clearing the way for a free lunch.
The museum itself was awesome. We entered the complex through the back gate, past the photos of world leaders visiting the site, and into the reception building. After the obligitory guanxi session, we were allowed to roam around free. In addition to the site most seen in photographs, the comlex houses a smaller museum, a gift shop, a restaurant and another dig site where soldiers still lie broken upon the ground.
The director of the site ended up treating us to lunch where as always, the food was wonderful. I took a picture of a terracotta vegetable, and posted it below. After lunch, all the students went outside to wait for the professors to finish eating. Sarah and I sat in a garden near the back of the complex. We were in the middle of a conversation when a Chinese man approached and tried to sell us a box of terracotta figurines. I told him I didn't want any, and as I was speaking, a group of about half a dozen young men surrounded us. The guy with the figurines lowered his price down to one US dollar, and then when I still refused, he said, "free?" No.
We got up and walked away to join the rest of our group. When we got there we were told that the group of men had entered the complex, hopped the fence, five minutes later came back over the fence, and were just now hiding behind some bushes. All we could conclude was that they were gift shop thieves.
When we weren't visiting archeological sites we were touring around the city. Sarah and I rented bicycles and rode atop the city wall. We spent one evening at the "Street of Islam" eating street food and buying dried fruit. We also spent an afternoon shopping at a tourist market in the center of the city. Each evening we returned to the hotel to watch several hours of the National Geographic channel, the only English language television station available in Xi'an.
All in all we had a great time. I've posted some of the pictures below and will be posting the rest on my webshots account when I get the chance.
It was a great trip.
The first day was spent touring a museum and visiting the Banpo archeological site. The site itself is an ancient village that had been unearthed just outside of the city. Before entering the dig, we were taken to a dark and musty building which housed pottery remains and brief descriptions of what is known of the Banpo people. After entering the site (a large warehouse has been built to cover and protect the findings), we were led by a tour guide who proudly explained the different types of structures at the site. We'd been hearing that the Banpo people had a matriarchial society, but as we walked through the museum, the evidence for this claim seemed to be missing. Finally, at the end of the tour I asked the tour guide on what basis it is believed that these people lived in a matriarchial society. She replied that several graves had been uncovered and archeologists were surprised to discover that the women were buried with more pottery than the men. The evidence still doesn't seem to be as strong as everyone at the site made it out to be, but I'll accept it for now.
As the tour guide was pointing out the different foundations, she pointed to a large hole in the ground. This, she said, was were the Banpo people kept their grain. Obviously everyone shared and there was no sense of property. Is archeology always this much guess work?
The second day we were taken to the Terracotta Warriors museum. On the way there we had the opportunity to see a nearby site where some armour had been uncovered. We weren't allowed to take any photos, but we were allowed to go down into the pits and take a closer look.
We were officially recieved at the Terracotta museum by the director of the site. Every place we went on this trip we were officially recieved. Each time the group would take turns shaking hands with the curator or director, then we would be led to a reception room and given tea. Meanwhile, our professors would proclaim how wonderful the site was and how wonderful the director was. The directors in turn would praise our professors, with exclamations on both sides like "we could really learn from you!" and "your university is so advanced!" clearing the way for a free lunch.
The museum itself was awesome. We entered the complex through the back gate, past the photos of world leaders visiting the site, and into the reception building. After the obligitory guanxi session, we were allowed to roam around free. In addition to the site most seen in photographs, the comlex houses a smaller museum, a gift shop, a restaurant and another dig site where soldiers still lie broken upon the ground.
The director of the site ended up treating us to lunch where as always, the food was wonderful. I took a picture of a terracotta vegetable, and posted it below. After lunch, all the students went outside to wait for the professors to finish eating. Sarah and I sat in a garden near the back of the complex. We were in the middle of a conversation when a Chinese man approached and tried to sell us a box of terracotta figurines. I told him I didn't want any, and as I was speaking, a group of about half a dozen young men surrounded us. The guy with the figurines lowered his price down to one US dollar, and then when I still refused, he said, "free?" No.
We got up and walked away to join the rest of our group. When we got there we were told that the group of men had entered the complex, hopped the fence, five minutes later came back over the fence, and were just now hiding behind some bushes. All we could conclude was that they were gift shop thieves.
When we weren't visiting archeological sites we were touring around the city. Sarah and I rented bicycles and rode atop the city wall. We spent one evening at the "Street of Islam" eating street food and buying dried fruit. We also spent an afternoon shopping at a tourist market in the center of the city. Each evening we returned to the hotel to watch several hours of the National Geographic channel, the only English language television station available in Xi'an.
All in all we had a great time. I've posted some of the pictures below and will be posting the rest on my webshots account when I get the chance.
It was a great trip.
2007年4月11日星期三
Xi'An!
Tomorrow I'll be heading out to Xi'an with several of my classmates to see the Terracotta Soldiers as well as some other neighboring archaeological sites. I am currently in a Chinese archeology class and my professor is taking us as a group. Truth be told, all of us took the class because we knew there would be a field trip component, so we're pretty excited.
Other than that, things have been going well. School is as busy as always, and I never feel like I have enough time to complete what I want to get done. I'm really good at wasting time doing things like eating, reading cookbooks, devising ways to kill mosquitoes (this would be a great research project), and eating. As you can see, my issues with time management are entirely my fault.
My research is going okay. I turned my original set of interview questions into a questionnaire which I then sent to some friends of friends. I got them all back during winter break, and spent a bit of time roughly translating them back to English. Most of them weren't very helpful, with people giving me very short or one-word answers. Actually- the questionnaires were a big flop... Going through the questions helped me see where there were problems with the original translation from English to Chinese. Some of the questions morphed during the process ("What's your name?" somehow changed to "What's you name and how old are you?"). The majority of questions I still feel are fine, although there are a few that need to be changed. As far as everything goes, I feel as though I'm back at square one, but this time with a better picture of what I'm stepping into. If I had to, I could come up with a paper, but it would be ninety-percent literature review and very little original thought.
I still think my interview questions, although they need some tweaking, aren't too far off the mark. I'm pretty sure that people will answer the questions, but they need to be presented in a different way. Hence, I'm now actively looking for an interpreter who can do CSL and Chinese. I'm willing to pay, feed, and help with transportation, I just need someone for a few hours, a few times. What I'd like to do is sit down with several people and ask them about their experiences as deaf people in China. Even if I come up nothing with nothing new or interesting, I feel that their experiences as a group cut off from most of society by a language barrier (like me!), make their lives unique and worth recording. Hopefully I'll find that interpreter soon!
Other than that, things have been going well. School is as busy as always, and I never feel like I have enough time to complete what I want to get done. I'm really good at wasting time doing things like eating, reading cookbooks, devising ways to kill mosquitoes (this would be a great research project), and eating. As you can see, my issues with time management are entirely my fault.
My research is going okay. I turned my original set of interview questions into a questionnaire which I then sent to some friends of friends. I got them all back during winter break, and spent a bit of time roughly translating them back to English. Most of them weren't very helpful, with people giving me very short or one-word answers. Actually- the questionnaires were a big flop... Going through the questions helped me see where there were problems with the original translation from English to Chinese. Some of the questions morphed during the process ("What's your name?" somehow changed to "What's you name and how old are you?"). The majority of questions I still feel are fine, although there are a few that need to be changed. As far as everything goes, I feel as though I'm back at square one, but this time with a better picture of what I'm stepping into. If I had to, I could come up with a paper, but it would be ninety-percent literature review and very little original thought.
I still think my interview questions, although they need some tweaking, aren't too far off the mark. I'm pretty sure that people will answer the questions, but they need to be presented in a different way. Hence, I'm now actively looking for an interpreter who can do CSL and Chinese. I'm willing to pay, feed, and help with transportation, I just need someone for a few hours, a few times. What I'd like to do is sit down with several people and ask them about their experiences as deaf people in China. Even if I come up nothing with nothing new or interesting, I feel that their experiences as a group cut off from most of society by a language barrier (like me!), make their lives unique and worth recording. Hopefully I'll find that interpreter soon!
2007年4月7日星期六
Pictures from Huang Long Xi adventure:
These are my pictures from the Huang Long Xi adventure. I'm waiting on some better pictures to be emailed to me. Check my webshots account soon for the pictures of me in weird Chinese costume and other new pictures.
English Corner
Every week on campus and in various places around the city Chinese students gather to converse and improve their English. This practice is called English corner, and if you're a foreigner and not careful you might just get roped into one. I attended SU's when I first arrived in Chengdu at the request of my roommate. I haven't been back since. In fact, I've been actively avoiding the gathering.
My first experience with English corner was absolutely overwhelming. Every friday night, a group of close to hundred students gather at the main flagpole on campus. They huddle into small groups and chat with each other, or gather around someone who is particularly fluent to listen. I rode up on my bike, stopped and waited while scanning the crowd for my friend. Within a few minutes, a group of Chinese boys had gathered around me to talk. This small group of boys soon developed into a large group of boys with about thirty students packed in tight to listen. Every five minutes or so, a new student would push their way to the front of the pack and start the conversation over. Where are you from? What are you doing here? You speak Chinese? Is America going to war with Iran? You're so pretty, can I have your phone number? Can you use chopsticks? Can you eat spicy food?
Sometimes a student who had attained near-native fluency would come and discuss things like politics or economics. These people are always fun to talk to because they ask questions about topics Americans don't generally talk about. They ask interesting questions about life in general, and I enjoy having them there. They are usually the ones who know American geography and society as well, so when I tell them I'm from Washington State, they don't ask if I've seen the president. The chopstick and spice question I get asked all the time, do I really look like I'm starving?
The one I have a hard time answering is the phone number question. I'm just not sure how to politely decline phone number requests in this situation. I usually move to make eye contact with someone else and either ignore the question or change the subject. After my first time at English corner, I was fielding calls from Chinese mothers, boys and "friends" for weeks. The problem got so bad that I stopped answering the phone if I didn't recognize the number, or I would put the caller in my phonebook and change their name to DONOTANSWER.
Last week I was invited to English corner again. A friend who I had not seen in a while invited me, and out of guilt for not calling her back in a timely manner, I agreed to go. I'm not sure if she was purposely trying to torture me or she just didn't know that English corner was so taxing on the foreigner. I arrived a few minutes late, and thought a miracle had happened when I didn't see her in the crowd. I got a text message a several minutes later. Nope, it wasn't a miracle, I was at the wrong English corner and she would be coming to find me in a few minutes.
We joined the crowd, and although I got the feeling that she wanted me to spend the evening talking with her, I was soon engaged in conversation with thirty-odd teenage boys. After a couple of hours, my friend looked like she was about to fall asleep and I offered to leave with her. I was glad for the excuse, as the first time I attended English corner I wasn't able to leave until well after midnight. As she was leaving she said, "So next week, how 'bout we meet at that tea house. It's a lot quiter there." Phew!
My first experience with English corner was absolutely overwhelming. Every friday night, a group of close to hundred students gather at the main flagpole on campus. They huddle into small groups and chat with each other, or gather around someone who is particularly fluent to listen. I rode up on my bike, stopped and waited while scanning the crowd for my friend. Within a few minutes, a group of Chinese boys had gathered around me to talk. This small group of boys soon developed into a large group of boys with about thirty students packed in tight to listen. Every five minutes or so, a new student would push their way to the front of the pack and start the conversation over. Where are you from? What are you doing here? You speak Chinese? Is America going to war with Iran? You're so pretty, can I have your phone number? Can you use chopsticks? Can you eat spicy food?
Sometimes a student who had attained near-native fluency would come and discuss things like politics or economics. These people are always fun to talk to because they ask questions about topics Americans don't generally talk about. They ask interesting questions about life in general, and I enjoy having them there. They are usually the ones who know American geography and society as well, so when I tell them I'm from Washington State, they don't ask if I've seen the president. The chopstick and spice question I get asked all the time, do I really look like I'm starving?
The one I have a hard time answering is the phone number question. I'm just not sure how to politely decline phone number requests in this situation. I usually move to make eye contact with someone else and either ignore the question or change the subject. After my first time at English corner, I was fielding calls from Chinese mothers, boys and "friends" for weeks. The problem got so bad that I stopped answering the phone if I didn't recognize the number, or I would put the caller in my phonebook and change their name to DONOTANSWER.
Last week I was invited to English corner again. A friend who I had not seen in a while invited me, and out of guilt for not calling her back in a timely manner, I agreed to go. I'm not sure if she was purposely trying to torture me or she just didn't know that English corner was so taxing on the foreigner. I arrived a few minutes late, and thought a miracle had happened when I didn't see her in the crowd. I got a text message a several minutes later. Nope, it wasn't a miracle, I was at the wrong English corner and she would be coming to find me in a few minutes.
We joined the crowd, and although I got the feeling that she wanted me to spend the evening talking with her, I was soon engaged in conversation with thirty-odd teenage boys. After a couple of hours, my friend looked like she was about to fall asleep and I offered to leave with her. I was glad for the excuse, as the first time I attended English corner I wasn't able to leave until well after midnight. As she was leaving she said, "So next week, how 'bout we meet at that tea house. It's a lot quiter there." Phew!
2007年4月3日星期二
Article of the week:
Let me just summarize this. Crazy daughter, old guy selling his kidney, nutty mom, and suicide by ocean. What more could you want?
It's Tuesday!
This week has been pretty busy with school and stuff. My Chinese roomy had been trying to get me to go with a couple of her friends to a panda reserve in Chengdu. It's a great place, but I've already been once and I'm didn't think it warrented a second trip. She'd been trying to arrange this trip for a while now. Some of her friends own a car, and so the transportation would be provided for. Besides, she told me, they're rich!
The day before the trip, she came into my room at six in the morning to tell me that plans had changed, but I was to be ready to leave by ten the following day. I woke up several hours later, the entire conversation lost to my dreams except for the words: "Be ready by ten o'clock."
I called my classmate who was going to join us and told him what I knew of the change of plans. I reiterated that he had to arrive at my house no later than ten o'clock, and the trip itself we decided to remain purposfully in the dark about.
That day my roomy, classmate and I all trudged out to the road to meet with the rich people. I knew they were rich, but I'd never guessed the extent of their wealth. In the car, the conversation between my roomy and the rich lady consisted of discussing all the new homes they had acquired and where they were moving this week. I sat in the back and pretended to sleep, but soon the conversation moved to me. They didn't say anything bad, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face. When they saw this, the rich lady yelped "what? You're not asleep!"
We finally pulled off the road and into a gravel parking lot. The mystery trip turned out to be to an ancient city called Huang Long Xi. The place was crowded with tourists and vendors were selling everything from vegetables and cotton candy to hats woven from fresh flowers and shoes. The rich folks treated us to flower hats and we wandered in.
The town itself was pretty cool. I took some pictures which I'll post as soon as I get them uploaded. The roads were just large enough for a cart to be pushed through, definitely not big enough for a car. At the entrance, there were vendors selling rickshaw rides.
After wandering for a bit, the group decided to go on a boat ride. The town overlooks a river and tourist boats float lazily past the town in a bid for more customers. Next to these slow moving tourist traps was a seperate dock where a dozen or so speed boats waited. I could see the speed boats racing up and down another bend in the river. The person in charge of steering each boat was pulling the motor in such a way as to make the boat tip to one side. Then just when the weight began to shift and it felt as though you would capsize, he would ease up or pull the motor hard in the other direction.
After sizing up our options, we decided that we had to take both boat rides. First we would float slowly up the river and appreciate the scenery, and then we would put our lives in danger with the speed boat.
The ride was nice, although being on a malaria river such as we were, I got bit by a ton of mosquitos. Clearly my regimine of Vitamin B isn't working, but that's an issue for another time.
The second boat trip was awesome! I wish I could do it justice, but I'm afraid words fail me. I love rides so this death trap-capsizing boat ride was a good thing.
Later that afternoon, we passed one of those photo stands where the victim is forced to dress in period costume. Well, as the only two foreigners in Huang Long Xi that day, the lot fell to my classmate and I. He dressed up as an emporer while I wore a purple sequin covered dress and posed by him. At first all the pictures were taken inside the studio, but then everyone insisted that we move the party outside. Once outside, we became the star tourist attraction at Huang Long Xi. People gathered around us to stare, laugh, pose, and talk to us. I commented to my classmate that we ought to start a pose-with-foreigner business to make a little more cash on the side.
It was a pretty fun day had by all. I'll be posting some pictures later when I get a chance. Most of the pictures were taken by my roommate's friend, so I'll see if I can get copies to post here.
The day before the trip, she came into my room at six in the morning to tell me that plans had changed, but I was to be ready to leave by ten the following day. I woke up several hours later, the entire conversation lost to my dreams except for the words: "Be ready by ten o'clock."
I called my classmate who was going to join us and told him what I knew of the change of plans. I reiterated that he had to arrive at my house no later than ten o'clock, and the trip itself we decided to remain purposfully in the dark about.
That day my roomy, classmate and I all trudged out to the road to meet with the rich people. I knew they were rich, but I'd never guessed the extent of their wealth. In the car, the conversation between my roomy and the rich lady consisted of discussing all the new homes they had acquired and where they were moving this week. I sat in the back and pretended to sleep, but soon the conversation moved to me. They didn't say anything bad, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face. When they saw this, the rich lady yelped "what? You're not asleep!"
We finally pulled off the road and into a gravel parking lot. The mystery trip turned out to be to an ancient city called Huang Long Xi. The place was crowded with tourists and vendors were selling everything from vegetables and cotton candy to hats woven from fresh flowers and shoes. The rich folks treated us to flower hats and we wandered in.
The town itself was pretty cool. I took some pictures which I'll post as soon as I get them uploaded. The roads were just large enough for a cart to be pushed through, definitely not big enough for a car. At the entrance, there were vendors selling rickshaw rides.
After wandering for a bit, the group decided to go on a boat ride. The town overlooks a river and tourist boats float lazily past the town in a bid for more customers. Next to these slow moving tourist traps was a seperate dock where a dozen or so speed boats waited. I could see the speed boats racing up and down another bend in the river. The person in charge of steering each boat was pulling the motor in such a way as to make the boat tip to one side. Then just when the weight began to shift and it felt as though you would capsize, he would ease up or pull the motor hard in the other direction.
After sizing up our options, we decided that we had to take both boat rides. First we would float slowly up the river and appreciate the scenery, and then we would put our lives in danger with the speed boat.
The ride was nice, although being on a malaria river such as we were, I got bit by a ton of mosquitos. Clearly my regimine of Vitamin B isn't working, but that's an issue for another time.
The second boat trip was awesome! I wish I could do it justice, but I'm afraid words fail me. I love rides so this death trap-capsizing boat ride was a good thing.
Later that afternoon, we passed one of those photo stands where the victim is forced to dress in period costume. Well, as the only two foreigners in Huang Long Xi that day, the lot fell to my classmate and I. He dressed up as an emporer while I wore a purple sequin covered dress and posed by him. At first all the pictures were taken inside the studio, but then everyone insisted that we move the party outside. Once outside, we became the star tourist attraction at Huang Long Xi. People gathered around us to stare, laugh, pose, and talk to us. I commented to my classmate that we ought to start a pose-with-foreigner business to make a little more cash on the side.
It was a pretty fun day had by all. I'll be posting some pictures later when I get a chance. Most of the pictures were taken by my roommate's friend, so I'll see if I can get copies to post here.
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