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.