Reflections on China

Hello, friends. If you are reading this, then you have kept up with my blog far more faithfully than I. And for that I applaud you. I'm sorry to report that a general sense of laziness over came me in these last few weeks in China, and for that I must apologize. I started this endeavor with the intent to write daily entries, however it has been weeks since my last post. And now here I am, using my last few hours in the People's Republic of China to write a final entry. I came to China with the intent of reaching a competent fluency in Mandarin, and after three months of calling this place my home I realize that I have utterly failed in that attempt. However, that is not to say that progress was not made. Though I originally came to study the language, I stayed because of it's people. I will not remember Beijing for the grandeur of the Forbidden City nor for the architecture of the Great Wall and the Olympic Village. For me, Beijing holds something more. It is the home of two incredible people and their seven year old daughter, a particularly mischievous girl who answers to the name "Juicy." They have left me the deepest impression. My journey in China has ended, but the friendships I made have just begun. A new Great Wall has been built, but rather than separating, it has brought us together. Zai Jian, China!

Communication Compromised

Hello, my dear friends. It has been far too long since my last blog post and there is much to discuss. As for my absence, well as many of you already know, I was unable to access blogger even on my phone. I feared that the govenment had figured out my loophole to get past the censored sites, but as it turns out it was just a glitch in my phone. So hopefully, there should be no more problems. However, my inability to access any social networking website on a normal computer has increasingly become an even greater annoyance. The Great Firewall of China has blocked me from accessing facebook, twitter, blogger, youtube, and many American news websites. That's part of the downside of living in a communist nation I guess. The government controls or has a part in almost every facet of life here. For example, almost any place you go in Beijing, one or two guards are guaranteed to be stationed at its entrance. This includes grocery stores, malls, college campuses, and appartment complexes. What do they do? Nothing. They stand in uniform all day long doing nothing. However, with the outbreak of the swine flu, some guards randomly take temperatures before allowing entrance into the more touristy spots. What happens if you happen to have a fever? I don't know, but I don't want to find out. But for a nation so concerned about the outbreak of an influenza, they do a poor job of keeping things sanitary. Toilet paper is rarely supplied in public bathrooms. Soap dispensers are often empty. People don't cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze. And I have witnessed two times chefs using the restroom and then not washing their hands. Yet, they think that a foreigner coming into China is the biggest threat to public health. I suppose this viewpoint of all things Chinese are good and all things foreign are bad is what makes life in China especially frustrating and particularly alienating sometimes. But this is the opinion they have, and it is what they have always known... or have been told. And the media perpetuates this idea. For example, once Dr. Tseng asked me about the 2008 Presidenial Election. He said, during the race it was reported that over 40 percent of Americans wanted to kill Obama. Litterally wanted him dead. He then asked me why. And I was put in the awkward and delicate position of trying to find the best way to tell him he was being lied to. I finally settled with saying that that was untrue and that the reporter must have gotten their facts wrong. Chinese good, foreign bad.

Beijing Big Shots

Good evening, friends. I have good news and bad news. First off, a very happy birthday to my sister! Happy 22nd birthday! Love you, Muriel! Now for the bad news. Facebook has been officially blocked in China. I'm not sure how long it will stay blocked, but for the time being, I'll be rather hard to get a hold of. Now that that's over with I'll begin. It's been a busy few days here in China's capital. I began the week with a startling email from my dad regarding last month's phone bill... Sorry about that, Dad! Anyway as a result, I decided to pick myself up a Chinese cell phone and SIM card. So, now I can call people locally without racking up a bill back home, hopefully call internationally using a calling card, and (most imortantly) I can text in Chinese. But let's face it, the real reason why I have two cell phones is because I'm just THAT important. Besides, I'll need the two cell phones for when I'm a famous Chinese movie star... Which will be soon. That's right, earlier this week I was approached by a casting director to be in a movie staring none other than Jackie Chan. Now before I let you go on believing I'm about to embark on some celebrity star Lindsey Lohan life, I have to let you know I'll just be an extra in the background. Apparently, the casting director needs a lot of white people to be doing things in the background for certain scenes set in Beijing. Although that means no fame for me, I'll still get to meet Jackie Chan so I'm satisfied. Who knows? Rubbing shoulders with the big shots of Beijing might just give me the break I need... An American dream, a Chinese reality... Stranger things have happened.

An American in China

Hello, friends and family. A happy Fourth of July to you all! It has been a very busy few days. Last Friday I officially started classes at the Beijing Language and Culture University. That means that my days of waking up late and relaxing are over. Now, I start my day at 6:30 in the morning, eat a quick breakfast, and head out by seven just in time to hit the heavy morning traffic. It's about a 30 minute commute from my apartment to the college, but it can take longer depending on whether the bus wants to be late or not. Class starts at eight and consists of two 2-hour classes. Everyday we have a speaking class, and then every other day we have either a listening or reading class. My reading class is VERY difficult. It is ruled over by a sixty year old Chinese woman who cannot speak English. This five foot two ball of terror is as intimidating as her perm is big... and it's gigantic. During the first lesson, no one understood what she was saying. This made it particularly embarrassing when she would randomly call on students to answer questions only to be met with silence and a blank stare because we did not understand the question being asked. However, I must admit, the desire not to look like an idiot in front of everyone is an excellent motivation for studying. The other classes, fortunately, are much less intimidating. One aspect I particularly like about my class is that we are an international group. I sit next to a Spaniard and a Russian. In front of me are two Koreans, and behind me is a German and another American. All together, our class has representatives from ten countries. It's always funny to hear Chinese spoken with various accents. Not surprisingly, the Koreans seem to have the easiest time with pronounciation, while the Americans seem to have the most trouble. However, not to blow my own horn, but my teacher did complement me on my pronounciation yesterday after class when everyone had lefts. So even though my grammar is often incorrect and sentences are rather simple, this American can at least be understood in China. And that's certainly a start. Afterall, Beijing wasn't built in a day.

Big Trouble in Little China

Greetings, friends from hot, hot China. I learned today that the reason my family doesn't use their air conditioning is because they, like most Chinese people, believe that cold air is not good for one's health. I had thought that they did not use the AC because they wanted to save money. Nope. Apparently sweaty skin sticking to the furniture is good for one's health. Now, I fully respect Chinese beliefs, but for me it is just too damn hot, especially at night. So right now I've got my personal AC unit going at a cool 20 degrees Celsius. Oh, yeah in addition to Chinese, I'm starting to get used to the Metric system! So now with my cool comfort needs satisfied, I can begin tonight's post. I have now learned that I should becareful what I say to my family. One day last week, I mentioned that I was really missing Western food and cooking. This led to a discussion on the differences between American and Chinese food. I mentioned that a lot of Western food is prepared in ovens. The Tseng family doesn't have an oven- most Chinese dishes are stir fried, steamed, or pan seared, very few at home dishes are roasted, that tends to be saved for the restaurants. Anyway, they seemed genuinely concerned that I was missing my familiar food, so they did one of the nicest things. They bought me a toaster oven. Now, I am incredibly grateful for their thought, but I have absolutely no idea what I can make in a toaster oven. Even if I did I doubt that I could find all the ingredients in China. And lastly, they don't have measuring cups here, so everything would have to be estimated. However, I don't want to be rude, so I have been searching for easy toaster oven recipes online for the past few hours. Hopefully they don't expect me to cook an entire dinner for them. That would be like trying to feed an entire restaurant using just an Easy Bake Oven. Now unfortunately, my cooking problem is the smallest of my woes. Today I got in trouble with the police. Any foreigner who comes to China and stays anywhere other than a hotel has to register themselves with the local police department within 24 hours of arrival. Well, I did that today... about 30 days too late. As a result, I was declared officially in violation of Chinese law. That sounds a lot worse than it actually is. All I had to do was fill out a form stating what law I broke, why I broke it, and then give my view point on Chinese laws. I however, do not yet speak fluent Chinese. So Doctor Tseng had to write out what I needed to say first, and then I copied what he wrote onto the form. It would have been easier had he just filled out my form, but it had to be completed by the guilty party. Red tape, it's a global problem. Regardless, I now hold a criminal record in China, a minor one, but a record none the less. The silver lining though is that I didn't have to pay a fine, which could have been anywhere from 20 to 100 US dollars. Plus, I now have some street cred. When I get back to America, no one's going to want to mess with China's most wanted.

From China With Love

Hello, friends and family. This past week, in addition to sightseeing, I attended a lecture. Tseng Cai Xia, my host mother, is both a pediatrician and an entrepreneur. She and several of her friends run a small company that markets and promotes products meant for bettering one's soul. I'm not entirely sure what that means or entails, but business seems to be good. And I'm not one to argue with success. Regardless, using their company sway, the were able to get two fairly prominent lecturers from Taiwan to come to Beijing and speak. Interesting thing to note, the lecturers were a married couple, but had two different last names. Apparently, the wife does not have to give up her name after marriage. Anyway, the topic of their lecture was how to use love and wisdom to embrace life. While a lot of what they said was lost on me, I had no trouble understanding their personal stories. The wife's name was Lin Yu Tan, and her story was particularly tragic. Her father was abusive to both her and her mother. And at the peak of his rage he would beat her mother. Lin Yu Tan, after witnessing her father throwing her mother down the stairs, begged her mother to leave. But her mother simply responded that that would be impossible. That she was just a woman and could not survive on her own. Eventually, her mother chose not to survive and took her own life. After her mother's death, Lin Yu Tan fled from her abusive home to live with her grandmother and the rest is history. All in all, the lecture really left an impression. And apparently so did I. After the lecture was through, several members of the audience came to talk to me and take pictures with me. Oddly, they were surprised to find out I was American. Apparently, I look like a Frenchman to the Chinese. Afterwards, I went to dinner with the Tsengs, the lecturers, and a couple family friends. There, I entertained with childish Chinese grammar and clumsy chopstick skills. At times like that, I find that laughing at my short comings is the best way to handle any embarrassing situation, and the Chinese seem to like me for it. A bit of humor never hurts. And finally, I would like to be the first to wish my mom a very happy birthday. It's not officially your birthday in the US, but it is in China. So, Happy Birthday, Mom! From China with love.

From Ming to Mao

Hello, friends. So the last time I started writing this post I was interrupted and forgot to save what I had written. So I'm rewriting the whole thing. A tad irksome but for you, my dear reader, I'll move mountains. Anyway, this past week my fellow homestay friend Clare and I went to the heart of Beijing, Tian'an Men Square. It is difficult to describe the atmosphere of Tian'an Men. It is the most important square mile block of land in all of China. On it's left side sits the headquarters of the Communist Party, the highest seat of power in all China. Right in front is the former seat of power for Imperial China, the Forbidden City. And right in the center is the final resting place of the founder of the People's Republic, Mao Zedong. In the square, security is tight. One has to walk through a security check point before entering, and nothing that resembles a memento (such as flowers) can be brought in. China has done its best to keep the 1989 student demonstration hidden from its people. And when entering Tian'an Men Square, this desire becomes apparent. Stationed every hundred yards or so is guard, there to maintain order, but I suspect mainly to stop anyone one stupid enough to try and pose for a picture with their hand raised to stop an invisible tank. Regardless, one got the idea that this was not the place for jokes. So with that in mind, Clare and I set off to see Mao Zedong's mausoleum. Now, the Mao-soleum is a huge building, about 10 to 15 stories high, and from what I gather,it contains four rooms. Outside there is a stand where you can buy white roses to give to Mao. Inside there is an entry room with a larger than life statue of Mao sitting cross-legged in an armchair. This is place where you place your flowers. Then you are ushered into a hallway and divided into two lines before entering the viewing chamber. The chamber is small with walkways on either side. In the middle, surrounded by bullet proof glass and four armed guards, sits the open casket containing the Late Chairman. Staff rushes visitors through to the next room, which is just a small gift shop containing Mao memorabilia and then there's an exit. All in all the visit takes about ten minutes. After the Mao-soleum, Clare and I put our history caps on headed for the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City, or Palace Museum (as the Chinese call it), was home to 24 Ming and Qing emperors. It is also the quintessential model of traditional Chinese architecture. Yet most of the palace's treasures are no longer there. During the founding of the PRC, Mao declared a cultural revolution. As a result many of the ancient works of art and literature were destroyed. Yet fortunately, the opposing party led by Chiang Kai'shek saved as many cultural relics as possible and fled with them to Taiwan. So if one wants to see the greatest collection of ancient Chinese artifacts today, he must travel to Taipei and visit Taiwan's National Palace Museum. However, for Clare and I, while we appreciate Chinese history, we mainly were interested in taking fun photographs. The Forbidden City is always filled with tourists and tour groups. However, if a visitor decides to forgo an audio guide and tour group, the city's true wonders can be found. What we enjoyed the most were not the grand halls of the central complex, but rather stumbling upon empty courtyards and allyways discovering parts of the palace most visitors don't see. It was moments like that, away from all the noise of other tourists, that one felt the ancient city come alive. Not to mention, spots like that served as good places to take cheesy Kung Fu photos. What can I say? I'm a kid at heart.

Bed Bugs in Beijing

Hello, friends. It's Saturday night here in China, and I'm currently in the northern Chang Ping District. It's about an hour from where I live, but still considered a part of the city. Even though i'm still in Beijing, it feels miles away. There are no tall buildings, no cars, no buses. It's just farmland. And all of it is still considered part of China's capital. Most people don't realize just how huge Beijing is; it's outer areas reach well past the Great Wall. And according to Samantha Brown, the city is bigger than the country of Belgium. You might ask what we are doing way out here. Well as Dr. Tseng told me, Beijingers like to go out to the country on the weekends. The most popular activity is pricking fruit. And that is just what we did. For an hour or so we went out to a large grove and picked cherries. Now, I thought this would be it, and we would go home after. I was wrong. We then arrived at the home of a local farmer, met up with family friends, and had lunch. Afterwards, we played a game called police and murderers. For those of you familiar with the game Mafia, it's the same. For those of you who aren't, here's a quick summary: a bunch of people sit in a circle, each person takes a card, on the card it says towns person, police, or murderer, everyone closes their eyes and then the person who us the murderer points to a person they want to "kill", he then closes his eyes and the policeman opens his eyes to choose who he thinks the killer is, all of this is done silently, then everyone opens their eyes and discusses one by one who they think the killer is, afterward they choose one member who they think is the killer. If they guess correctly, the game is over. If the guess incorrectly, they keep playing. This proved to be an incredibly difficult game for me, because I had to defend myself or accuse others in Chinese. However I did learn some good vocab like suspicious, gilty, innocent, and liar. After this game we had dinner and then sang karaoke. I don't know why, but Asians love karaoke. I find it embarassing, yet somehow I still found myself singing "Wan Wan De Yue Liang" in front of a thoroughly tickled and tipsy crowd of Chinese adults. After this, I was quite looking forward to going home. I was wrong again. As it turns out, the farmer's house also doubles as an inn. And we were going to stay the night. I did not know this. So, currently I am wearing boxers and a T-shirt that smells like sweat and roast lamb. I am sitting on a bed with itchy sheets. I just got out of a five minute shower (that's how long the hot water lasted). Since I've been typing this, I've killed five very large insects living in between my sheets. And for the first time in my life, I really am hoping that the bed bugs don't bite.

A Thousand and One Chinese Nights

Good evening from Beijing. As you may or may not know, when the Tseng family took me in it was on the basis that I would teach them English for one hour each day. Well, there hadn't really been much teaching going on... Until tonight that is. Dr. Tseng came up with the idea to tell stories instead of having regular "class." So today while everyone was at work or school, I translated one of Juicy's storybooks into English thinking I could use this for my story that night. Well as it turns out, they would be telling stories in English and I would be telling them in Chinese. So that evening after dinner, we sat around the living room and listened to each other tell a story while changing minor errors in grammar or syntax. What I've noticied is a fairly common problem Chinese people have is differentiating between "he" and "she." In Chinese both words are pronounced exactly the same but written differently. So sometimes they will assign the masculine "he" when referring to a female. I've never heard it the otherway around though. Another common error is that they might forget to turn verbs or nouns into adjectives or adverbs. For example, they might say the floor is slip, instead of slippery. But when you consider how vastly different English and Chinese are, an error like this is really quite minor. As they keep telling me, as long as you can make the meaning clear you're doing alright. Anyway, there we sat, three adults, with childrens' books in hand painfully translating them. Dr. Tseng went first and recounted the story of a girl who loved flying kites but was scolded by the village's matchmaker. Actually it was a story staring Mulan, but not the real Mulan. It was the Disney fabricated one. Afterwards, Mrs. Tseng entertained with the tale about a frog who fell in love with a duck. And I couldn't help but chuckled at what a mix between a frog and a duck would be called. Then it came to be my turn. Not having an English book in front of me to translate into Mandarin, I had to think up a story. I tried to think of an American story, or one that they would not have heard before. Then I remembered my favorite story from my childhood. I am speaking, of course, about The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings. So there I sat, retelling my favorite story to a whole new audience, who to my surprise enjoyed my rendition in broken Mandarin. The exercise proved to be quite educational. I only have one problem, I don't that many stories! Any suggestions?

Beijing Birthdays

Hello, friends. Hao jiu bu jian! You might not know this, but this is actually a Chinese saying that we English speakers have adopted. "Hao jiu" means "long time," and "bu jian" translates to "no see." in any case I must apologize for my extended internet absence. Life has been rather regular here in the capital, and the muses haven't been singing as loudly as before. But that is not to say that I haven't been enjoying myself. I have been immensely. This past weekend was Juicy's 7th birthday, and to celebrate the Tseng family and I went on a picnic. The chosen spot was by far one of the strangest places I have been to in Beijing. We went to a hotel way out in the outskirts of the city. The striking feature of the hotel was that it was modelled after a French chateau. I really can't explain the strange feeling one experiences when he drives through a Beijing slum and emmerges into a huge field to find he has been transported to the French countryside. So, anyway the Tseng family, myself, and four of Juicy's friends and their parents all ate celebrated Juicy's birthday together in fake (or should I say faux) Franceland. One aspect of the celebration that I noticed is the there was not a lot of emphasis on gift giving. Juicy received maybe five presents, two from her parents and one from each family that attended. More over each gift was opened promptly after it was received, but never in sight of the giver. From what I witnessed, even for a child's birthday, the emphasis was put on family and friends, not gifts. That's something that I didn't not understand until I was much older. After our picnic, all of the families and I went to tour an elaborate neighborhood. It's call to fame was that it was American style. The neighborhood, to me, was uppity and self rightious. The staff had a pompous air about them and the decorations were as opulent as they were gaudy. Each house in the neighborhood cost approximately 1.5 million US dollars, which I thought was ridiculous. But to the Chinese, owning a house in Beijing is a big deal. It is as much of a status symbol as a car is here. And to them, if the money is good, it is a price worth paying. Be careful, my Chinese friends. We don't want a Chinese housing market crisis. The next day, I had class with my teacher, Tang Lao Shi. That night it was her friend's birthday so she invited me to join. The celebration was being held at a hot pot restaurant, and for me, it was my first time trying hot pot. It's actually not that different from a meat course at a fondue restaurant. Think Melting Pot with thinly sliced meat and chopsticks and you've got hot pot. Tang Lao Shi's friends were particularly difficult to understand because they spoke with a Hunan dialect. They also found great pleasure in asking me questions in rapid fire Mandarin only to watch the blank look on my face. This so far has been the only real problem I've had, the inability to participate in daily conversation. And it has been my greatest frustration since coming to China. It is terribly irksome picking up bits and pieces of conversation, but not being able to convey your own thoughts and feelings. Oh well, as the Chinese saying goes "the patient and diligent student prospers." For now I'll just have to wait and know I will improve.

Olympic Views and Wedding Blues

Hello and friendly greetings from Beijing. First off, I've decided to discontinue my practice of writing an entry everyday for fear that I will run out of material. However, I promise to update this blog every few days, perhaps more often if I'm feeling particularly inspired. Rest assured, my dear readers, I will not forget you... All 9 of you. Now that that is settled I can get to today's topic: Ao Lin Pi Ke Hui! As you know, Beijing played host to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. To say this was met with some controversy would be an understatement. However, I will not turn this into a discussion of politics and wrong doings. Regardless of one's personal opinions, it is hard to look upon the Beijing Olympic village and not be impressed. China saw these games as a chance to show the world just how far it hash come. Remember that less than one hundred years ago China was a land of peasants ruled under one supreme emperor. However, this nation of 1.3 billion people now stands on the verge of becoming the next world power. Whether this shall come to pass is yet to be decided. If it doesn't, at least they have a cool stadium and swimming pool. Sorry the break in tone, but those last few sentences were getting a bit too heavy for my liking, and way cramping my style. Anyway, what I was saying was that I visited the Olympic village with my host dad. After arriving, the first site to see was the Bird's Nest. The pictures and videos I've seen of this structure really don't do it justice. It's hard to describe just how massive the stadium is. Although to me, the design isn't incredibly esthetically pleasing, that's not to say it still isn't thoroughly impressive. However, the Bird's Nest is nothing compared to the Water Cube. A massive rectangle, the Water Cube's facade has been built to reflect the rippling effects of water's surface. At its base, it is flanked with glass walls that have water falling over them. The water collects into a pool that stretches around the entire building. This feature is mimicked in the lobby as well. I felt like I was in a Zelda game. Inside the competion area there is a lap pool and a diving well. When I was there, the lap pool was empty and workers were busy assembling something in its depths. The diving well however was left untouched. It brought back memories of my high school days. And I won't lie, I did think to myself, "Might I have competed here had I not quit diving?" Oh well. Coulda, shoulda, woulda! Outside the water cube, there were several women wearing wedding dresses. I asked Dr. Tseng why they were dressed like that since no wedding was taking place. He told me that they were only taking wedding photos. Wedding photos are big business in China, and kind of a weird custom. The couples take the photos well in advance, sometimes a year before the actual wedding. And sometimes, it is only a single woman participating in the photo shoot. In this case, she may not have a fiancee or even a boyfriend. While the Chinese have no problem with this, I can't help but feel a little sad for the single women. Behind their smiles is a desire to find love. And I can't help but worry perhaps they are preparing and hoping for a day that will not come. For their sake I sincerely hope it does.

Stuff White People Like

Salutations, friends. Today was a very white day in red China. After a little bit of trouble, my classmate Clare and I were finally able to meet up with each other. We decided to meet at the Beijing Language and Culture University since it is the only place we have both been to and the only place we knew how to get to. From there we went to a nearby shopping mall and traded stories while browsing the various shops. We also bought school supplies, which for China standards was quite expensive. I bought a notebook, mechanical pencil, lead, and an eraser which combined was about 6 American dollars. But considering that my dinner last night was about 2 American dollars, I feel cheated out of a deal. Oh well, sometimes China doesn't make sense. Regardless, after we walked the entire mall, Clare and I set out on a quest to find other "bai ren" (white people). We headed over to Tsing Hua University, China's most prestigious institution of higher learning, and gave some of our UF friends a visit. We got to see their dorms, which compared to what I lived in last year, were pretty nice. Each room has it's own bathroom and air conditioning. The only catch is that there are regulated hot water hours and the air conditioning was not yet working. Like I said, sometimes China doesn't make sense. After a few hours at Tsing Hua, it was time for us to go back to our homes. Well, we chose quite possibly the worst time to return home. It was 6 o'clock. Turns out Beijing has a rush hour too. After getting closer than I ever wanter to my comrades, I finally got home. There I was greeted by a Ah Yi, our housekeeper. These past few days I think I've grown on her, because we ate dinner together. And I was able to tell her that although I can't always express my feelings, I understand a lot of what she says. She then asked if I enjoyed her cooking, and I responded saying that her cooking is always delicious. She responded with a smile and then forced me to eat more. In Chinese society, a way to show affection for someone is to give them food. Even as I write this, Ah Yi is making me eat large slices of watermelon. And to think, I was worried I would lose weight in China.

Shopping Carts and Chicken Hearts

Good evening from Beijing! It was another beautiful day in nation's capital, and although I would have liked to have just layed outside all day, things had to get done - most importantly grocery shopping. Doctor Tseng, Zhu Xi (Juicy), and I first started at the Merry Food Mart. Don't be fooled by it's name. The Merry Food Mart is a colossal conglomerate of clothing, kitchen ware, and grocery store spanning five floors. The store is equipped with moving walkways that run on a horizonal incline to make travelling between the floors with shopping carts much easier. And from the moment you get your trolley, you are bombarded with advertisements. Each cart has a TV screen attached to it that shows which items are on sale, and every few minutes a commercial will blare from the screen telling you to buy anything from cat food to vinegar. That, however, is just a small preview of what awaits inside the store. Standing at nearly every display in the grocery store is an employee equipped with a Madonna-esque microphone connected to a hand held speaker. It is their job to attract customers to certain items by, quite litterally, screaming prices and buy one get one deals at the shoppers going past. It is so noisy that you have to almost shout to talk to someone. For someone like me, who doesn't care much for noisy places, Merry Food Mary is my personal Hell. After leaving Merry Hell Mary, we went to a much smaller store specializing in baked items. There wasn't any place to park on the street, so naturally we turned the corner, jumped the curve, and drove up the side walk until we were right outside the store's door. Convenience is like rice, it's very important to the Chinese way of life. Finally we went to the last store of the day, an open air flea market where we bought fresh Chinese fruit. When we returned home, it was time for the Tseng family to once again play teach the foreigner. Now I'm all about trying new foods, but I was a bit weary to eat the fruit, because (and once again I must stress how adament I am about this) I really didn't want to have painful diarrhoea. But, I let polietness and the thrill of expanding my culinary knowledge get the better of me, and I ate the fruit. Never before have I eaten such delicious and refreshing fruit. If I expell my innards later because of it, it will totally be worth it. After returning from food heaven, it was time for dinner. We went out to a local place run by Muslims from the Shanjiang province in Northwest China. They specialize in a kabab-like style eatting, and the selection was quite tasty. My favorite dish was a very thin and tender meat that was just about the most flavorful thing I have ever tasted. My host mom asked if I knew what kind of meat it was. I told her I didn't, but that I thought it was chicken. She smiled, took a kabab herself, and said, "You're right. It's chicken hearts. Very delicious." Bite. There went my appetite.

A Taste of Beijing

Ni hao, friend. It was an absolutely beautiful day here in China's capital. After yesterday's rain, the clouds and smog finally cleared blessing Beijing with a beautiful blue sky. And, for the first time since I arrived, I saw mountains in the distance - the same mountains that the Great Wall runs along. But, besides having lovely weather, it was a rather easy day here. The biggest thing that happened was that I finally finished eating my man-tou. Man-tou is similar to a steam bun but much thicker in consistency. It kind of feels like the bread is absorbing saliva while you eat it making it rather hard to swallow if you take too big of a bite. Imagine eating a flavorless, densely packed sponge and you've got yourself man-tou. I mention that I finally finished my man-tou because I've been consistently eating the same piece for the past few days. Here in China, with over 1.3 billion people, food does not get wasted. That means yesterday's dinner is today's breakfast and lunch, and if something has gone uneaten or is still salvageable it's likely to be served again. In addition, there is very little difference in variety of food served regardless of which mealtime it is. Breakfast consists of a meat dish (usually a whole fish), two or three cooked vegetable dishes, noodles, soup, and hot milk served in a soup bowl directly after boiling. Lunch is the leftovers of breakfast without the milk. Dinner is usually the same but with some other new dish that is destined to become the next day's breakfast. Beverages are usually not served at lunch or dinner. Now, living in an apartment where airconditioning is not used, where the outside temperature peaks into the 90s, and where drinking from the tap can cause a terrible case of diarrhoea, one starts to crave water relatively soon. The first day it took incredible will power to politely refuse the water that was given to me. I secretly bought a few bottles of water, but today my stock ran out. Fortunately, my Chinese father showed me where they get their water from in the kitchen. As it turns out, they boil their water before drinking it. In fact they boil everything before drinking it, hence why my morning milk is always hot. Since I joined the Tseng family, bread has also been present at every meal. I mentioned once that bread is an important ingredient in western cuisine, and that it shows up in almost every meal in varying ways whether it be toast, a sandwich, or a snack while waiting for dinner. Well, in order to make me miss home less, they bought a loaf of sandwich bread for me to have during my meals. So, even though it doesn't mix well with the rest of the Chinese cuisine, I show my appreciation by eating the bread anyway. And how do I eat my bread? Just like any normal Westerner would... With chopsticks of course.

A Juicy Story

Hello, friends. Turns out I was wrong about being able to access this webpage while in China. When I try to load it on a regular computer the screen remains blank. Luckily, the cell phone network goes by undetected. So from now on all my posts will be written from my cell phone. And don't worry I won't use text message abbreviations when I write... Most of the time lol. Jk :P. Anyway, today was the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duan Wu Jie. This also coincided with my Chinese little sister's school holiday, aptly named Happy Day. My family invited me along to join in the celebrations as well as to watch the various performances put on by the different grades. Well, perhaps this was wrong of me, but when I hear that the Chinese are putting on a show, I expect it to be spectacular. My expectations were a little high. I'm not saying that they should have had acrobats and contortionists, but that would have been cool. Regardless, I did enjoy myself and was fully entertained watching a bunch of Chinese kids clumsily dance or speak in front of an audience. Also, I think Juicy, my Chinese little sister appreciated the fact that I was there. She actually made an effort to talk to me today. She noticed my arm hair and was fascinated by it. We had a little discussion as to why white people have arm hair and Asian people don't. Who would have thought arm hair could bring people together? After Happy Day, we returned home and I began my four hour study session. Four hours is a hell of a long time, especially after spending the day with a bunch of hyper kids coming off the Happy Day high. But I got through it... I just haven't started my homework yet. After my session, my family and I went to a restaurant to eat Beijing duck. And it was there that I described the inner workings of Halloween to a very enthusiastic and interested audience. The Chinese are quite superstitious about ghosts and they don't quite grasp the concept of trick-or-treating or carving pumkins. And while I was explaining Halloween I couldn't help but think that if they were surprised about this holiday, just wait until I tell them about Easter! Now I'm off to learn the Chinese word for "resurrection."

Ni hao, China

Greetings from China! I'm currently on my cell phone writing this on a public bus. It is me and a bunch of Chinese people, all of whom are staring at me. I suppose i'm a bit of a rarity in this part of town. Anyway, last night I met my host family's daughter and housekeeper. It was awkward. I thought I had a good grasp of Mandarin. How very wrong I was. I ended up eating dinner alone because they didn't know what to do with me.However today was much better. My host mother is very kind and interested in anything I have to say. I have yet to meet my host father. Well i'm at my doorstep so I'll continue this later.

Zai Jian, America

Hello, friend. I begin this travel blog with feelings of both excitement and nervousness. After months of planning and weeks of anxious waiting I can finally breath easy... sort of. I've secured university placement, housing, and (after much frustration) the proper documents necessary to begin my summer in the People's Republic of China. For three months, I will live with a family in the nation's capital while attending the Beijing Language and Culture University. My goal - to reach a high level of proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. After a bit of thought, I decided to create this blog as a travel diary of sorts. I hope to keep friends and family connected and maybe even teach you, my dear reader, a thing or two about Chinese culture. However, be warned. I am writing this first post in the U.S., and I do not yet know if this site will be blocked by the Chinese government. I do know that this site has been blocked before, but from what I can gather I should be able to access it while in the PRC. This could change at anytime though. I will try to regularly update this page. However, sometimes laziness gets a hold of me, so I can't promise much. Regardless, in a few hours I will be boarding a plane heading for Beijing, leaving my friends, family, and homeland behind. And today I had to say many goodbyes. Yet, as I said my farewells I thought of the word "goodbye" in the Chinese sense . In Mandarin, "goodbye" is a combination of the characters "Zai (again)" and "Jian (to see)," literally meaning "see again" or "Zai Jian." So to all of my friends and family reading this, Zai Jian! See you again!