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Published: April 3rd 2011
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Hello again friends! It was yet another busy week here in China. On Sunday, I went with my friends Weifang, Liyang, and Haizhen to Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. We had to get up VERY early in the morning (I was up at 4:45!) in order to catch the 6:00 train out of Jinhua. It was about a 2 1/2 hour train ride to get to the city. Once we arrived, Liyang's brother-in-law picked us up at the station and then dropped us off at Zhejiang University, where we met up with Liutao, a friend of Weifang's who is currently working on his PhD in chemistry. He gave us a tour of the campus and then took us out for lunch at a restaurant inside the university. By now, everyone has learned what my favorite Chinese foods are, so they always make sure to order them for me!
After lunch, Liutao needed to get back to work, so he gave us directions to our main destination in Hangzhou, which was Xi Hu (West Lake). Xi Hu is a huge lake, surrounded on three sides by mountains. It is incredibly famous in China, so much so that a picture of
it appears on the back of the one yuan bill. There are ten well-known scenic spots near the lake; however, due to the sheer size of the lake, we were only able to make it to several of them. We were able to make it to: 蘇堤春曉 (Dawn of the Su Causeway in Spring), 花港觀魚 (Fish Viewing at the Flower Pond), 柳浪聞鶯 (Orioles Singing in the Willows), and 雷峰夕照 (Leifeng Pagoda in the Sunset). It was an absolutely beautiful day to be outside, and thankfully, Haizhen had lived in Hangzhou for three years while she was in undergrad, so she knew her way around quite well. Apparently, all of China agreed it was a beautiful day to be outside, as it was absolutely packed in some locations! Sometimes, I would turn around and not be able to find anyone from my group- however, they were always able to find me because of my blond hair and my height!
We had a great time chatting as we toured the area, and Liyang informed me that I was not at all what he expected an American girl to be. I asked him what he thought I'd be like, and he said
he thought all American girls would be really wild and loud. I got a big kick out of this, and then laughed even more when he told me that he "really likes to eat soap in the afternoon" which I later deciphered as
soup in the afternoon. Weifang and Haizhen love it when I catch the errors in their English because it helps them practice their language skills and because they find the literal translations of their mistakes very funny.
After we finished touring Xi Hu, we then went to the Prince Bay Park, a traditional Chinese landscape garden. Everything was in full bloom and we walked around the garden for a bit until we started to get tired. We realized it was starting to get late, so we braved the crowds and actually managed to hail a taxi that would take us back to the train station. Liyang decided to stay in Hangzhou an extra day in order to visit his family, so Haizhen, Weifang, and I boarded the train by ourselves and then traveled the 2 1/2 hours back to Jinhua. I was so tired by the time we got home; I think I was only half-awake
as we were riding our bikes back to the dorm. My only recollection is Haizhen saying, "I think I drive this cart just like a snake" as she swerved her bike up the hill with Weifang riding on the back.
Most of my weekdays were spent testing in the kindergarten. I've now finished data collection on my first experiment with 5-year-olds and have moved on to the second experiment. We got slowed down for a bit this past week because on one of the days my main research assistant was sick so we had to cancel testing for that day, and on another day, almost every child we tested had data we couldn't use. On that day, two of the kids failed to pass criterion trials, one boy suddenly refused to play the game in the middle of the task, and another child could not seem to sit still and was constantly trying to get on the experimenter's computer. Sigh, you sometimes have days like this when you are working with kids! Thankfully, the next day we were able to make up for it, as every child gave us useable data.
I typically spend all morning in the
school and then come back to the university for lunch and to work on other projects (scoring the data, data analysis, setting up new experiments, etc). Sometimes, I try to do some writing, but that usually doesn't last long because I find my English has become pretty poor (at least in terms of academic writing)! I think it's because I tend to speak in rather short, simple sentences often with broken English in order to facilitate conversation while I am here. Almost all of the Chinese students learn English for a number of years and can speak it to varying degrees; however, most of them are rather shy about using it and if I would speak at my normal speed, it would be way too fast for them to understand. Thus, while I have honed my communication skills for the culture, it has come at the cost of making my writing rather elementary! I figure it will go back to normal once I get home and am surrounded by English once again (at least I hope!).
One afternoon this week, I was going out to lunch with everyone from the lab to a Szechuan restaurant. As we were walking
to the restaurant, I was talking to one of the grad students about this English teacher I had met in Jinhua the other day who was from West Virginia. The grad student's response was: "Hmmm, West Virginia...take me home, country road." And I got so excited and said, "You know John Denver?!?!" I was so happy because this was the first time someone in China had mentioned knowing a music artist that I actually like (the only American artists I seem to hear about are Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Justin Bieber)! This then prompted a huge discussion of Chinese and American musical tastes, which was then followed by me teaching him how to properly pronounce the word "robot" (part of our daily English pronunciation lesson because he is preparing to take the TOEFL).
On Friday, Bunny (another grad student in the lab) and I traveled to Shanghai to pick up Cathy (my research supervisor in Canada) from the airport. It's about a four-hour drive from Jinhua to Shanghai, and we arrived about an hour before her plane was scheduled to arrive. Once she arrived and got through customs, we were on our way back to Jinhua. It's nice to
have a familiar face here in China! Since Cathy's arrival, I have been showing her around campus and the city a bit and we have met with Kang to discuss my research to date. Overall, my studies have produced some pretty interesting results- but also some results that need following up on, so it looks like I need to run a few more studies here before I leave!
I'm off to Beijing later this week and will be sure to update you on all the exciting things that happen there! My meager language skills will really be put to the test because Cathy and I will largely be on our own. I'm up to almost 60 Chinese words now, but I really hope most of the places we go will have someone who speaks English because that would be extremely helpful and less stressful for me!
Drop me a line to let me know how things are going back home in the U.S. and Canada! I miss you all! 😊
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Emily
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Hi my dear!
Dear Lindsey, Sounds like you are having an AWESOME time in China! I'm so jealous and wish I could be there to experience it with you! I can't wait to hear more about it and see more pictures next time we're together. Hugs from chilly Wisconsin, Emily