Advertisement
Published: February 28th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Beijing Language and Culture University Campus
In the middle of campus. I think the trees will be beautiful in the spring. The acrid smell of smoke permeates my nostrils. The tops of the buildings are difficult to make out through the haze. A man blows a cloud of smoke in my face as I walk past with my teetering tower of luggage. As the taxi careens around the curves of highways that didn't exist a mere four months ago, I scan the desolate landscape. The trees are bare and the ground brown, but at least there is no snow, a stark contrast to the nearly 90 inches I left behind in Madison. The taxi driver mumbles to himself, struggling to stay awake in the bright afternoon sunlight that's just beginning to turn to the warm red of dusk. I blow my nose in the cab and discover my snot has already turned black. Ahhh, Beijing. I'm back.
The Beijing I've returned to is not the same Beijing I left. As I saunter along the sidewalk, hawking up my best loogie and letting it fly in the gentle afternoon breeze, small children scream and scatter as their parents look at me with disapproval and disgust. Previously unrecognizable buildings are now shiny and clean, gleaming in the sunlight, their windows carefully and painstakingly
washed each week. Teams of street cleaners work together en masse to scrap every last piece of gum off the sidewalk and rub away any smudges on the bridge railings. I could have sworn one of them picked a piece of lint off of my sweater. This is the new Beijing. The clean, shiny Beijing. The Olympic-ready Beijing.
Well, not quite yet.
Construction of the Bird's Nest stadium and the Water Cube are not yet complete. The whir and clang of development echoes through the day and night. And the nation-wide smile campaign continues to fail miserably. Yet, I have hope. Hope that the China that is presented to the world in a mere five and a half months will be the New China, the world-trade ready China, the emerging world power China.
I just hope it doesn't overtake the United States. Between 2004, the first year I arrived in China, and today, the value of the dollar has dropped tremendously as the prices of food and products in China battle inflation. My favorite street sandwich, the jian bing, has increased 5 jiao since the last time I was here. It may not sound like a lot,
Basketball courts
In the background are some of the student dormitories. There are tennis and volleyball courts too! but it makes a difference in the pockets of millions, including my own. It will be interesting to see how the influx of tourists and athletes to Beijing and China in the coming months affect the economy. Many of my Chinese friends plan to go on vacation during the Games; they don't want to fight the increased crowdedness of an already bursting-at-the-seams city. As for me, I plan to be in the city to take it all in; indeed, I've applied to be a volunteer during the Olympic Games. I'm hopeful my trilingual abilities (English, Chinese and Spanish) will win me a spot in the competitive volunteer arena.
Since I arrived a week and a half ago, I've found a studio apartment within walking distance of my school, Beijing Language and Culture University (hereafter known as BLCU), taken a placement test, registered for my classes, bought all my household necessities, registered with the local police and decorated my apartment. After the whirlwind of the first few days, it feels odd to slow down, but now that classes have begun, it's beginning to pick up again. I experienced the typical first day of school jitters- Will my classes be too
Yifu Teacher's Building
This is where I went for registration difficult? Too easy? Will the other kids like me? Will my teachers be mean? My cousin suggested that I bring the teacher an apple, but I wasn't too certain that gesture carried over into Eastern culture. To be on the safe side, however, I slipped an apple into my bag. Just in case.
My classes thus far have been interesting. We're required to take a core class and a speaking/listening class but also have electives to choose from. I've chosen to take an English-Chinese translation course as well as a Chinese grammar class. The grammar class is, by far, the best class I've taken yet in my study of the Chinese language. Every minute detail of Chinese grammar is covered, and though we're flying through the textbook at an amazing pace, I can feel my language abilities improving after each class. Naturally, all my classes are conducted solely in Chinese and most of my classmates are from Japan and Korea, so the opportunities to speak English are rare.
Finding an apartment and negotiating the lease was a cultural experience in and of itself. After resisting the idea of hiring an agent, I eventually gave in, due to my
constricted time frame and eagerness to be moved in and settled before the start of the semester. I looked at what felt like hundreds of apartments before deciding to increase my budget and live somewhere convenient and up to my Western standards. Despite the respect and love I have for China, the Chinese culture and the Chinese people, I prefer to have a Western toilet and shower and other similarly 'Western-style' accessories in my place of residence. In short, my apartment is one I'm thoroughly satisfied with, but six months' rent is costing me the equivalent of my budget for the entire year. The real estate agency I dealt with consisted of an entirely Chinese staff who spoke no English whatsoever. I was overjoyed. The leaps and bounds I've made in my Chinese over the course of the past week in dealing with various apartment-related issues have been worth every penny of my overpriced rent.
This fourth experience in China has been a real adjustment for me. It's not the round-the-clock tofu, the slack-jawed stares from construction workers or the spittle on the sidewalk that bothers me now. Instead, I find myself feeling as though perhaps my time in
BLCU #1 Building
This is where I have all my classes. It's directly behind the East Gate entrance. China, my Chinese life, is a part of my past and I'm ready to move forward. I am excited and honored to have the opportunity to come back, to improve my Chinese and to make useful contacts for career-related networking. Already, my Chinese has improved a hundred-fold, simply from the past week's experiences. I can even follow the TV programs now. But something inside me has changed as well. Living in China doesn't provoke the same awe and happiness that it once did. Perhaps I've become so comfortable here that living abroad now seems routine. It could be because this is the third consecutive time I've lived in Beijing, albeit now in a different district in the city. Or maybe it's because I find myself ready to return home, to the United States, and start my life there.
That being said, it may or may not come as a surprise to learn that I've amended my original plans. After speaking to my program adviser at school, I've elected to study for one semester instead of one year. The semester ends in July and I hope to travel through Yunnan and Sichuan provinces for a couple of weeks before the
Fu Run Jia Yuan
My apartment complex Olympics in August. Then, sometime in September, I will fly home to the United States.
The next six months are going to be exciting, frustrating, thrilling, confusing, joyful and wonderful. I can't wait.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.249s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 67; dbt: 0.1208s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Mom
non-member comment
School Daze
Hi Hon, Nice to see the pics of your campus, including views of the grounds, loogie-covered as they may be! As you know, our snow piles are still increasing, causing ever nearer vehicular collisions as people try to emerge safely from driveways and street corners while their sightlines are severely restricted by the mountains of snow on each corner. The city is now soliciting ideas for naming the snow peaks, believing them to probably be permanent. Ha! We are glad to hear that you are totally immersed in the Chinese language at this time, since that was your goal for this visit. Hopefully you will win a select volunteer job at the Olympic games through demonstrating vast multiculturalism as the only blond person totally conversant in Chinese! Love, Mom