How to Ride a Dragon (and live to blog about it)

2006-10-31T23:06:00.000-08:00

I hate to admit it, but my blogging ambitions have been falling short of their goals recently. The longer I’ve been on this trip, the harder it seems to keep an up-to date journal. I’d like to think that this is a reflection of my adaptation process – the more I get used to life in China, the less interesting my writing material seems to become…to me, at least. Regardless, looking back on the last five weeks, since the Carleton seminar began, there have been quite a few noteworthy experiences. I’ll do my best to recount the highlights and get us up to date here.

After meeting up with the Carleton group at the Beijing airport, we moved into what amounted to a hotel at Tsinghua University, the number two university in China. The four days we spent in Beijing were meant as an acclimatization period for the group, to get everyone’s feet wet in a somewhat stable environment. For me, however, it was a chance to meet up with every one I had met who was still studying in the Capitol. This didn’t afford me much rest, but it did mean getting to see Claire and her mother at a Hunan restaurant, my old roommate, who is now Ashton’s, and all the old CET people still studying, as well as some random people from high school whom I haven’t seen in a few years.

We then set off northbound on a huge double-decker bus for a tour of Chengde and Inner Mongolia. This was the “greeting the dragon” portion of our program, as termed by our ever-poetic program director (and my academic advisor), Zhao, in honor of whom this blog was titled. We stopped halfway on the ride to Chengde to see a portion of the Great Wall. After seeing one of the more touristy restored sections at Mutianyu, I was a bit wary of just how much else this section at Jinshanling had to offer. As soon as we were given the option to explore the restored sections or venture into the crumbling remains of the old wall, I was proven wrong. Luckily, only three of us decided to take the wall-less traveled, and it was definitely a highlight of my trip so far. We walked for about 1.5 hours out, and then back, negotiating steep, overgrown sections and stair-less entrances to guard towers. It wasn’t long before we were greeted by a sign notifying us that we were entering a “military restricted zone,” but we pretended not to notice and pushed onward The scenery was absolutely beautiful, and having the wall all to ourselves for a few hours was quite an amazing experience.

We continued on to Chengde, home of the Imperial Summer Lodge (a misnomer – it is several times larger than the main palace in Beijing, the Forbidden City). The night we arrived, we were treated to our first formal banquet of the program. I had heard from many past Tianjin Seminar participants that this program was notable mainly for the seemingly endless guanxi network of our leader, Zhao, and for the baijiu-saturated banquets that came along with it. Guanxi refers to one’s connections between other people. If someone has guanxi with another, it means there is a strong, favor-based bond between the two. More specifically, apparently, it dmeans that 26 foreign students will be greeted by a room full of local Party officials and a crew of media correspondents for dinner at the Summer Lodge. The mayor of Chengde, among others, were in attendance, which made for an interesting speech (in Chinese, of course) on my part in front of flashing cameras and videocameras. I didn’t have much prepared for the event, but I somehow pulled it off, and I’ve now developed a sort of routine for this sort of occasion.

We spent three days in Chengde before moving on to the remote province of Inner Mongolia. The excitement was palpable on the bus during the 6-hour trip north to the grasslands, and the two days we spent in the area were, although brief, as fun and bizarre as expected. The first night, we stayed in a hotel that transformed quite nicely into a bonfire-lit karaoke party. We knew they were preparing roast lamb for us, so no one was too surprised upon seeing a whole, skinned animal sizzling on a massive spit. We did not, however, expect the hotel staff to set up a massive speaker system, blaring Chinese/English line-dancing songs, and a full karaoke catalog (with a TV for the words, of course). That night, 26 foreign students danced, sang, ate and drank late into the cold, steppe night by the glow of a massive bonfire.

The next day, driving further into the grasslands, we made a stop to have the requisite Mongolian horse riding experience. Ours was brief and fairly contrived, but fun nonetheless. We ploughed further yet, eventually arriving at our home for the night: a small village of yurts. These were tourist yurts, and were thus equipped with a limited supply of electricity and running water, but real, felt, Mongolian yurts nonetheless. We spent the afternoon walking around the grasslands, meandering from one hilltop to another. This was definitely the Inner Mongolia I had in mind, and it was very refreshing to breathe unspoiled air after a summer of city-hopping.

Thanks for reading, I'm gonna get this thing up to date real soon, so check back!

2006-09-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

After an all too brief 3-day stay in Hong Kong I was off to Singapore to see my roommate of two years, Reshad. I never know what to expect from this kid, so I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised when, after greeting me at baggage claim, his next words were, “Dave, my football team is short a goalkeeper Today, do you think you can fill in? I brought you shorts, we’re going straight to the pitch.” Despite the unexpected jumpstart to my Singapore experience, I had a great time in the city and had some much needed time to relax a bit.

During my first few days in the city-state, I found myself drawing comparisons between Singapore and South Florida. Between the tropical climate, wide, palm tree lined streets and general sense of newness pervading the city, I half expected to see lines spilling onto the streets outside of early-bird special diners and discount movie houses. In reality, this comparison was ill fated, as the city is, not surprisingly, far more dynamic than Ft. Lauderdale. Orchard Road, the main shopping area in the City’s heart, which teemed with multi-racial hordes of well dressed teens and twenty-somethings, and the city’s downtown skyline confirmed my stateside Singaporean friends’ claims of living in a legitimate International city. The city’s clean, orderly reputation certainly proved true as well. Street cleaning crews abounded and a complex network of speed-regulating cameras and tolls on downtown streets were surprisingly effective at preventing congestion.

Just as I was getting used to the smooth efficiency of Singapore, I left with Reshad and his family for a three-day trip to Bangkok. After adapting to life in notoriously chaotic Beijing, I didn’t expect to blink an eye at Thailand’s population size, cleanliness or traffic problems. But I did. Bangkok honestly makes Beijing look like Singapore. The amount of effort required to move from one point to another was unlike anything I’ve seen before. One’s options are to A) take a cab and be taken advantage of, B) take a “tuk-tuk” or motor tricycle and be taken advantage of, or C) walk and be subject to the less than ideal street conditions and “lady bar” hawkers on every corner. We eventually settled on the Skytrain as our preferred method of transportation, and set out to see the city’s notable sites. The food was great, especially the seafood and pad thai (the latter of which became a part of every meal) and there were great deals on clothes everywhere. By the time we left for Singapore, I had started to see a bit of order amidst the city’s craziness, but it still appeared to be a far cry from any Asian city I had previously visited.

Back in Singapore, I was lucky enough to spend a good amount of time hanging out with Reshad’s family and friends. As I’ve written before, visiting tourist sites and the like can be very interesting, but I’d much rather get a local perspective on an area from those who know it best. Whatever I missed by not visiting the Merlion statue-fountain and the Night Safari was more than made up for by the hours I spent trying to pick up some Singlish from Reshad’s hilarious friends during late-night food runs (as it turns out, oyster-omelet is particularly amazing after a night of clubbing).

So that about wraps my end-of-summer trip south. I’m back in China at Nankai University in Tianjin with the Carleton in Tianjin Seminar, and I’ll get the blog (and my photos) caught up once I get my internet connection established here. I have some interesting stories to tell from the steppe in Inner Mongolia, hopefully they'll be up in a few days. I want to sincerely thank everyone I stayed with during my trip, Claire, Lena and Reshad, and their families for so kindly putting me up and showing me around their cities. I certainly couldn’t have gotten to know each place’s authentic character in three weeks without the aid of their endless energy and generosity.

More to come on Inner Mongolia soon!

2006-08-26T00:33:00.000-07:00

Claire's mother in Wuhan assured me that I wouldn't soon forget the city, and she was right. Between my arrival in a state of feverish delirium and culinary delights of south-central China, my stay in Hubei was definitely a memorable one. Aside from the food and sightseeing, a highlight was the long overdue chance to play some real, organic music with living, breathing people...that is to say, not Karaoke. After a few days in Wuhan, another Carleton classmate (and the bassist in my band back at school), Ashton, arrived with his father. There had been some mention of playing a few sets in Claire's restaurant, but I didn't really know whether it would happen, or what to expect. As it turned out, the three of us (Ashton on electric bass, his Dad on Keys and myself singing)ended up playing for three consecutive nights in the restaurant. Claire's well-connected mother found us some rehearsal space in a friend's bar, God's Music Bar, housed in a converted church, complete with vaulted ceilings and cross-shaped drink menus. This place was a trip, and it definitely wouldn't make it in the States. I guess Wuhan's Christian population is either non-existent or apathetic, because this might have been one of the most blasphemous sights I've seen. In any case, we ended up putting together a repetoire of about a dozen jazz standards, a few of which I had a chance to sing on (think "you are so beautiful," "on a clear day," "route 66," etc). Performing in the restaurant was great fun, and it was great to have a chance to play some music again. The crowd wasn't particularly responsive, but we didn't hold it against them - jazz isn't exactly popular in most of China.

After one final meal at Claire's restaurant, I boarded a train to Shenzhen on my way to Hong Kong. At over 13 hours, this was the longest train I've taken so far, but it was quite comfortable. Shenzhen is an important city in its own right, and a financial center of Southern China, but it also operates as the gateway to Hong Kong. Customs and immigration are housed at the train station, as is the light rail train to Hong Kong.

When I arrived in Beijing in early June, I was prepared for the worst after hearing many tales of the city's chaotic character. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, I was surprised to find myself experiencing a bit of culture shock. The public transportation was clean and uncrowded, streets were clean, I wasn't assaulted by mysterious, unpleasant odors or enterprising, small pickpocketing children, and western style (non-squat) toilets abounded. The English on signs was still quite humorous, although for a different reason. I don't think I'll ever get over British English. I mean, "alight on the right"? Come on, that sounds ridiculous.

In all seriousness, Hong Kong really reminded me of New York. For one, the city has a comprehensive and well designed public transportation system. It's not easy to admit, but Hong Kong's subway system is in many ways more efficient than NY's. During my three days in HK, I don' think I ever waited more than 30 seconds for a train to arrive. This convenience is, of course, largely due to the relatively small size of the system. Hong Kong Island itself is very small, but the city manages to avoid the overcrowded, hectic feel of Beijing, instead eminating what I would describe as urban bustle. For such a small island, Hong Kong also manages to play host to some very diverse landscapes. My lovely host, Lena, and her family kindly showed me a bit of Hong Kong's wilder side on my last day when we went for a hike in the "country park" behind their apartment. They live in a fairly busy residential location, so I was pretty amazed that only five minutes into the hike, there were nearly no remnants of the metropolis below. Once we gained a bit of altitude and had some views, we could see the whole of Hong Kong's skyline in front, and only tree-covered hills behind us. I was definitely grateful to see some greenery and dirt paths...somehow, climbing the steps (4-hours worth) up Mt. Taishan with a few thousand tourists fell short of the natural experience I was craving.

So I now find myself in Singapore, visiting my Carleton roommate of two years, Reshad, and soaking up the last few days of this vacation. I'll be heading back to Beijing on Thursday Sept. 7 for the start of Carleton's Tianjin Seminar. I'll be sure to post on Singapore and Bangkok once I arrive back in China. Thanks for reading, guys, good luck to everyone who's starting school!

2006-08-18T02:30:00.000-07:00

After just over 2 months abroad, I've finally made it to my first Internet Cafe, the place of study-abroad legend. I'm in Wuhan now, staying with my friend Claire and her amazing mother, to whom I literally owe my life. I got off the train running a pretty high fever and a badly swollen throat, and she decided we'd head straight for the hospital. Luckily, she knows a few people around Wuhan, so I was whisked from one waiting area to another, getting blood tests and temperature readings along the way. I ended up in a private room with an IV in my arm for the rest of the day. Luckily, I felt a lot better by evening and they let me go home, as long as I came back for the next 3 days for treatment...this trip was clearly off to a great start. As it turned out, I really only had to go back for 2 days, after signing my (chinese) name and assuring them that I felt better. Now, I've never been admitted to a hospital back in the States before, but I'm pretty sure some things were a bit different here. The gossipping horde of 7 nurses standing outside of my door, alternately staring and whispering, for example, probably wouldn't have been a part of a hospital stay in New York. The health history questionaire-turned-vocab lesson was another twist...one that conveniently was timed right after my friend/translator left the room to get some food.

Despite my residence at Wuhan Number 6 Hospital, I've had a great time here so far. Wuhan is a city of around 20 million, including its suburbs, but it doesn't show. The traffic, air quality, and general crowding on the streets are all far better than in Beijing, which actually houses less people. The city is notable for its location on the Yangzi River, and I've been told it's one of the only cities whose urban area spans both banks. We went down to the park/esplanade area on the banks last night and actually found our way down to the water's edge. Some kids were swimming in water that is probably about as clean as the NY's East River's.

The food here is amazing, much better than Beijing, I'm convinced, and that's not just because I'm eating it free of charge at my friend's restaurants. So far I've sampled frog, turtle, and several different types Wuhan's famed freshwater fish. I'm told we'll be having some snake in the next few days, which is rumored to be delicious.

All told, I'm healthy, well fed, and ready to see what else the South has to offer...more tales from the road soon.

2006-08-14T03:42:00.000-07:00

CET's all over, and I'm leaving on an overnight train to Wuhan (Hubei province) in about 2 hours. Not too much to say right now, the weekend after graduation was kind of crazy, but I can't wait to start this 3 week trip south. I'll post soon once I get to Wuhan, but check out some of the new pictures I have up (the album's titled, "end of the summer")

2006-07-21T02:50:00.000-07:00

I'm getting packed and ready to leave for our "historical trip," so I thought I'd put in a quick update before taking off. The plan is to leave campus at 8:30 (about an hour following this post) and take an overnight train to Jinan, a city of six million in Shandong province (south east of Beijing). The main attraction for the weekend is a visit to Taishan (Mt. Tai), a site made famous by Confucius. We'll be hiking up the mountain, and it's supposed to be a real hike, 3-4 hours, which should be nice outside of Beijing's smog. Taishan is a UNESCO world heritage site, which means it should be swarming with tourists...hopefully they all take the cable car to the top and won't clog up the trail too much. We're also visiting several other Confucius-related sites (birthplace, cemetary, temples, etc). We're staying in a hotel on Saturday night and returning by overnight train on Sunday night. Luckily, we have Monday morning off from classes, which resume again in the afternoon.

As I last posted, I did in fact make it to see Superman. I enjoyed it, sure the plot was a bit bland, but let's face it, we don't see summer blockbusters for their depth. The theater we visited is, or at least recently was, the top-grossing cinema in mainland China, so the quality was great. We even got sold out of a matinee show. It turns out you have to pick your seats when buying tickets, and the theater was packed...no room for the 7 of us. It was an experience, a little slice of Western luxury in the middle of Beijing.

That's it for now, my roommate is dragging me out of the room...he's very big on punctuality. Check my Webshots for some new pictures from the Forbidden City etc, they're under the "Beijing" album.

2006-07-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

Everyone seems to talk about how getting sick in China is an inevitability, and they're right. Just as I was starting to think living with 4 other guys for a whole academic year had rendered me immune, Two nights ago, I was finishing up my homework and a fever hit me...hard. I got into bed shivering, and woke up in no shape to go to class. I now figure that out of the 24 hours that followed, I slept for 18. This weekend is our "travel weekend," so I had originally planned to go to Qin Huang Dao, a coastal town where the Great Wall meets the sea, with my roommate and 20 of his classmates. I figured that being in an exclusively Chinese-speaking environment would give my language an extra boost, if not frustrate me to death. Considering how rough this trip could be without sufficient enthusiasm, I pulled the plug this morning. Instead, I plan on seeking out a western movie theater to catch Superman and reviewing some shengci (vocabulary). Considering all the traveling I'll be doing over the next few weekends (all CET organized), and my three-week jaunt south, I'm not too bummed.

This week marks the half-way point of the program. It's going really fast, and it doesn't seem at all like I've been in China for a month already. Classes are going well, and we're moving at a very quick pace. Whereas at Carleton we learned around 60 words a week, here we routinely cover double that amount, sometimes more. In terms of grammar, we're covering an even greater amount, and without the help of English to explain or clarify, it gets a bit tough sometimes. The teachers are, for the most part, great at explaining grammar structures that often have no English equivalent. Our class schedule was a bit hard to get used to, since they didn't really explain it fully before we started. We basically have two primary classes each day, an hour-long grammar class followed by two hours of "drill class," in which four or five students practice the new grammar and vocab. The strange part is that there are two "lead teachers" who teach the grammar classes, who rotate each week between the two sections of our level. In terms of drill classes, there are five different teachers who rotate every day. On top of it all, we then have alternating "language practicum" and "supplementary" weeks, and a new one-one-one tutor each week. If nothing else, it breeds a lot of critical conversation between students about which teachers we prefer. There's a pretty strong consensus at this point about which teachers you want to have and which you don't. Almost all of the teachers are women in their 30s, and they are some of the most energetic, enthusiastic teachers I have ever seen. In the States, only a Kindergarten teacher could rival their upbeat approach. While this kind of smiley front can be clawing, I don't think any of us have minded so far, It's a great cure for our seemingly constant exhaustion.

I forgot to mention, I've been using Skype here (diban525) to make phone calls, so if anyone has a Skype account and wants to chat, look me up. New pictures of the Forbidden City and our campus are coming soon!

2006-07-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

Ping Pong is China's official national sport, but bargaining surely comes in a close second. Last Friday a group of 4 or 5 CET students made the bold decision to test our amateur skills to the pro arena: the Silk Street Market. As one of the most tourist-infested markets in Beijing, the shopkeepers have had ample practice sweet-talking, or in some cases, intimidating, foreigners into emptying their wallets on counterfeit goods. The travel guides say to be mindful of pickpockets, but the real danger is getting robbed right in front of eyes by a hyper-aggressive Chinese lady. In any case, we had been forewarned as we entered the packed market, but we couldn't have prepared for the shopping experience that followed. I tested the waters first, asking the shopkeeper at one of the outermost stalls how much her fake polo shirts were. 130 RMB? Outrageous...tai gui le ("too expensive" - the requisite response to any price they initially tell you). I was soon sucked into another stall by a shopkeeper who told me she could make a sale in 8 different languages. Sure enough, a Spanish man walked up, and she held her own. I was intrigued. I checked her merchandise over, made some displeased faces, feigned disinterest, and then made her an offer. She played it perfectly, and before I knew it, I had bought two shirts for what I would later learn was an outrageously high price. Who knows, maybe she was genuinely impressed by my Chinese, but she sure wasn't impressed by my bargaining skills. China is the land of cheap clothes, but it is also the land of buyers remorse. In any case, I set a good benchmark of what not to pay, and and we moved on to avenge my poor performance. Ultimately, we all did pretty well, and I later posted the low price of the day on a couple of lacoste shirts. After getting home, however, I realized that one of the shirts was not an adult medium, but a childs medium. Was this intentional? Hard to say. As they say, if you play with fire, you're bound to get burnt...we went up against the best, and came up short...literally, the shirt is tiny (want a new shirt, Emily?). We'll probably head back there at the end of the program with some of our Chinese roommates for round two...locals are essential if you don't want to get destroyed by these women. Some of them will even get you with the "death grip" as we've come to know it...you can try as hard as you want, but they will not let go of your arm. They also like work as a pack to prevent you from leaving their stalls...it's pretty funny to see a 20 year old American guy struggling against two 50-something, 5 foot-tall Chinese women as they all yell about a fake northface jacket.

Continuing the tourist theme, we went on the requisite Great Wall tour on Saturday, which was definitely worth while. The section we saw is at Mutianyu, about a 2 hour drive from Beijing, and consists of 1300 meters of restored wall. This area was built relatively late (16th century?) and still has a lot of its original brick-work intact. The views of the surrounding hilly areas from atop the wall were great, and it was nice to get out of Beijing's smog for a few hours. I've posted a bunch of pictures, so hit the link at the bottom of the post. Given Mutianyu's proximity to the city and its pristine quality, the visit was not without its touristy drawbacks. The walk from the bus-filled parking lot to the start of the hike to the wall was lined with vendors selling souvenirs and the like, and there are several gondola companies that can whisk you straight to the wall. I find that I'm having a hard time with all the tourism. Most New Yorkers (and city-dwellers in general) have at least a little disdain for the Europeans and Asians that crowd times square, stopping every 5 feet to take a picture. At places like the Great Wall, however, I'm basically one of them. It's funny how you get drawn into the tourist mold once you're among other foreigners. In my neighborhood, I try to behave as a local as much as possible, but at the Wall, I found myself riding the alpine slide to the bottom (a sort of toboggan-ride)...which was fun, I admit, but I couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. The funny thing about this ride, though, was that because of the low cost of labor, it was actually safer than other alpine slides I've been on in the States...it just wouldn't be worth the money in the States to have 7 employees sit on a hill all day and tell riders to slow down.

Last night, to celebrate the Fourth of July, however, we threw any attempts at blending in out the window in search of the American experience. About 20 of us went to place called Steak and Eggs, right by the US Embassy, and had burgers and steaks. I had actually been dying for some decent American diner food, and this place fit the bill...the sticky tabletops and gruff service were especially nice touches. I have to say, I think it was the first time since I've arrived in China that I actually went to sleep still full from dinner. Around the same area is Beijing's most famous bar street, Sanlitun, which is also primarily waiguoren (foreigners). It's definitely a trip to see all these American college kids in the middle of Beijing. Case in point, I actually ran into a highshool classmate going up the steps to a popular student bar...and my class was only 120 kids.

Lastly, a 5.1 earthquake hit about 100 km away yesterday afternoon, and we felt some aftershocks. Nothing big, but enough to stop and say, was that an earthquake? I've slept through my fair share of minor NY 'quakes, so it was kind of cool to feel one.

Sorry for the long post, they won't all be this long. I'm going to try and keep posting around once a week, hopefully on Sundays, at least while I'm in Beijing. Hope everyone reading is well and had a great 4th weekend.

http://community.webshots.com/user/diban525

2006-06-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy week. Between the start of classes, the language pledge, and still trying to adapt to Beijing life, it's probably fair to say everyone's been kept on their toes. This next week, we'll start afternoon classes, which consist of a weekly 1-on-1 and daily "language practicum" exercises - going out in Beijing to practice our newly learned material.

CET-organized trips have started, also, which gets us out and about to new places in the city. On friday, we went to see a Chinese Acrobats show, which was great. There are a ton of troupes in Beijing, and the particular one we saw was obviously a little sketchier than some of the really well-funded, high-end shows. Nonetheless, the show was still great. I just created a Webshots account, and you can see some pictures of the show and of life in Beijing at the link at the bottom of this post.

Yesterday we went to see the Temple of Heaven. I'm not as educated on the site's history as I would like to be, but it is a huge compound where the emperor would visit once a year for 3 days to pray for good harvests. The ceremonies were extremely elaborate, as is to be expected, and included sacrifices of animals raised on-site, and and ritual performance of music used exclusively for this event, from a dedicated observatory, also on-site. The magnitude of everything was just amazing. The imperial dining room was a building probably the size of a football field, to give an idea. Furthermore, all the buildings, which were constructed in the early 15th century, were all built using exclusively wood and stone - no traces of metal. The architecture was amazing, and the grounds were equally impressive. When walking between areas on the compound, the pathways are flanked by Cypress forests, planted in formation. Apparently, there are some 3000 trees, most of which are over 600 years old.

Today I'll do some studying for our daily quiz tomorrow, and perhaps make a run to our local Carrefour (essentially a French Wal-Mart) to buy some groceries. The fruit here is great, and I've included a picture of some interesting local varieties. Some ping pong may be in order, as well, since a fierce rivalry has just sprouted between myself and a friend following our investment in some decent paddles.

http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=551525113

2006-06-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

An interesting vignette: "Wo bu keyi shuo yingwen! (I'm not allowed to speak English!)" I said to the owner of a stall in a clothing market. She tried to correct me, since I appeared to be making a common mistake, saying "I'm not allowed to" when I really meant "I am not able to". I corrected her right back...I was, at least this time, confident that I had made sense. Even after explaining it, she was still quite confused, and to be honest, I don't blame her. The language pledge is definitely a strange concept: send a group of foreigners to a strange country, and then remove any sort of clear communication from their daily lives, essentially reducing them to different stages of early childhood, depending on chinese proficiency. In case anyone didn't know about this aspect of the program, I'm not allowed to speak any English for the next ~2 months. Perhaps even stranger is that I'm thrilled they did this to us. Any language student knows that it's always tough to practice your skills in social situations, so it's pretty cool that I can speak Chinese with my peers and not annoy anyone too much. The most interesting thing about the pledge, though, is seeing the 100 level beginning students starting to learn. They're getting along surprisingly well, but it's still very tough for them to both communicate their thoughts and understand more advanced students. I'm sure that they will have amassed a huge vocabulary by the time they leave, it will be very interesting to see how it works out.

Aside from the pledge, it's nice to be in class again. There's always a struggle between structure and freedom, and this last week in Beijing without a schedule was a bit much. It was great to have some time to meet each other and get to know our area, but I wouldn't want to live this way for an extended period. As one of my program-mates said, you could probably spend 3 years in Beijing living as we were and you would neither learn nor accomplish anything. Plus, there's only so much you can do to improve your language without properly learning the technical aspects. Classes are going well so far, it's a lot of work and fast-paced, but we're learning very practical material.

Happy belated fathers day to any dads reading, and I'll have pictures up soon, promise.

2006-06-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's around 8:00 am here, and I've been noticing that people in Beijing seem to start their days very early. Apparently, the sun rises a bit earlier than in the states, but I haven't been able to fully confirm that yet. Yesterday morning, I awoke to a man doing Taiqi outside of my window which was an apropos greeting to the city. The time difference to Eastern time is exactly 12 hours, which actually works out quite well communicating with home, but I'm still fending off the lingering effects of jet lag. It's kind of strange, one night I feel great and ready to explore Beijing's nightlife, and the next, I can barely keep my eyes open. Hopefully I'll finish adapting soon.

Our roommates moved in yesterday, which provided some fun, yet extremely awkward interaction. My roommate, Zhang Zi Tong, is from Beijing and is studying marketing at a nearby school. Unlike a lot of the others, he has no classes this summer, and his other dorm room is only about 2 blocks away. Hopefully this means I'll see a lot of him. In terms of communication, it's kind of touch and go. I can almost always communicate my thoughts, albeit on a basic level, but understanding on my part can be difficult. This is how it has been in general so far, so I hope and expect that my listening will improve quickly. Another interesting note is that my roommate speaks in a very typical Beijing accent (somewhat mumbled with lots of 'r' sounds), which is kind of tricky to understand right now, but I think it will really help me pick up on nuances among different dialects.

A big part of life here has revolved around food so far, which is fine by me. In short, Beijing food is amazing. While some say that the food in northern China is very greasy and salty in comparison to some of the lighter, spicier southern foods, I have no complaints so far. A few nights ago we went out for Korean Barbecue. I've had this in the states before once, but it was on a different level here. The way it works is that you order raw meat, mainly beef and lamb, and they set up a small charcoal bbq on your table. Usually people at the table cook their own meat as they eat, but for some reason, one of the waitresses took a liking to us (or maybe was just amused and frustrated by our incompetence at grilling), and stayed at our table for most of the meal, cooking for us. We were with about 10 other students from our program, yet only we received this treatment...strange, especially since she wasn't fishing for tips, which are taboo in China. In any case, it was delicious. Last night, I went out for Hotpot with my roommate and some friends with their roommates. Hot pot is a very popular meal in China, and it consists of a pot of boiling water brought to your table, in which you cook sliced meats and vegetables. It was great to try "Shuanyangrou" - thinly sliced mutton, which is one of Beijing's most famous foods, along with Peking Duck. The dinner conversation was at times slow, but we had some good laughs nonetheless.

Alright, I'm going to head over to breakfast. We have a scavenger hunt planned for today, which will hopefully help us get to know Beijing a bit better. The city is huge, much bigger than New York, and we've only seen a small part so far. I'll post again soon with pictures, thanks for reading!

2006-06-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Beijing! We arrived wednesday night after a relatively comfortable 17-hour trip (JFK-tokyo-Beijing). CET picked us up at the airport and after a 45-minute bus ride to campus, we moved into our rooms, which are simple but very comfortable. Our roommates haven't yet arrived, but we will meet them today (Friday) and become acquainted. Since we arrived, I have split my time between orientations, placement exams and neighborhood exploration.

From what I've seen so far, Beijing is an amazing city. The smog is heavy and the weather can be a bit warm for my tastes, but everyone is very friendly, the food is excellent, and the city is very inexpensive...a 1.5 liter bottle of water, for example, costs roughly $0.30. Best of all, bargaining is rarely, if not never, taboo. Case in point, while shopping for cell phones, a more fluent member of the program helped my friend bargain down the price of a phone for nearly 2 hours! Not once did the store workers become annoyed or irate...it is just a normal part of the beijing shopping experience. Electronics, unfortunately, are the one exemption to the usually reasonable prices, although phones, cameras etc. are usually imported from japan, so they are generally much more advanced than in the US.

I'm having a great time so far, and I can't wait for the start of classes, and especially, the implementation of the language pledge, both on monday. I'll post again soon with more details about my roommate and my adventures in Beijing!

2006-06-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

So it's Monday night, and after a short week home, I'm in the process of packing for my flight tomorrow. The last couple of weeks have been a bit crazy. At this time last week, I was still in Minnesota, and after a brief stay in the tri-state area, it's off to Asia. I guess there's not much to say right now, but here's a basic, tentative itinerary just to keep everyone in the loop:

June 13-Aug. 14: Beijing, Studying at CET Beijing Language program
Aug 14-Sept. 7: Travelling south - planned stops in Changsha (Hunan), Hong Kong and Singapore. I'm not sure exactly what else just yet.
Sept. 7-Nov. 15: Carleton Tianjin Seminar, in Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Chengde, Tianjin and Shanghai.

Thanks for checking in, I should have some news and pictures from China up soon!