I Choose You, HuTong!

---

Alright, pokemon reference! And if anyone is wondering, yes it’s a Japanese cartoon/game, yes I’m in China, and no, I don’t care I just infused the two cultures. You’re welcome. So last time I said goodbye to some friends, had maybe the craziest bar experience ever, and was then inspired by art (but not because I thought the art was good). While I continue to drool over my embroidery (yeah, that still hasn’t stopped – I put the pictures online, please go look at them – also suggested you have a bucket with you for the drool to follow) I guess I should talk about my week and stuff (and get a bigger mop…)

Aug 1st
Oh yeah, so guess how much sleep I got last night? One hour. Some stupid fly would buzz in my ear every time I almost fell asleep. And lest we forget, this past weekend I got a total of 9.5 hours of sleep. Needless to say, it was a rough day – nearly lost it in my one on one.
Aug 2nd:
School and School. Also, I finally killed that fly. It died a glorious dual to the death (chased it for 5 min, then whacked the ever-living *bleep* outta it.

August 3rd:
A much better day. Today I was invited by my classmates to join them at WuDaoKou, which I have mentioned before, but never been during the day. So WuDaoKou is a mix between a shopping district and has a bit of night life, due to the fact that it’s located near 2-3 of Beijing’s Universities (Including Beijing University). My friends and I went to a bar-grill and studied/chilled. It was really relaxed atmosphere, and it was really nice to kick back, relax with my friends, and do some work. I also found out that some of my friends plan to travel to Shanghai and Hong Kong over the break, and I now plan to join them, with a personal detour to Nanjing. Dates still not finalized (uhg.) So after studying, I took my friends to a local Japanese restaurant I know (and love). They were happy with my choice, and I’m basically babbling at this point, but after a rough Monday, it was just really nice to relax and talk with my friends and finally have a stress free moment. So after all the fun, I went (got lost) and then met up with my friend/ old roomie Ben Turman.
Though quick story, while I was waiting for Ben, I saw my first “fight” in China. Now I use fight in quotations because it while it had the “anger” of a fight, it was really more “wrestling.” And when I say wrestling, I mean it was two guys more or less side by side with an arm around the head, and the other arm under the opponents arm (for the wrestlers out there, they had a head and arm, but were shoulder to shoulder). If you are having problems imagining this, imagine in the movies (not an action movie) when two people are grappling. You know why they grapple like that in the movies? Cause it’s impossible to get hurt doing that. It’s impossible to even bring someone to the ground like that. I corpse would beat you in a fight if you tried this. So as I watched this, I had the very strange urge to walk over to them, slap them, and teach them the proper way to throw a person. However, I had my laptop with me, and not having my lappy (laptop – and if you’re wondering, lappy is more fun to say) stolen was much higher on the priority scale. Eventually a few other people finally figured out that they were fighting (cause it’s really hard to tell when it looks like your giving your opponent a hug) and tapped on their arms, and they let go. Their faces were full of spite, but if a few people tapping on your arms makes you separate, then I’m not sure you understand how “angry” works.
Anyway, after “WWE Hugfest 2011”, I found Ben, and his French friends, and we went back to the school the French students were studying at looked at classes for Taiwan. The French kids were cool, though their Chinese level was at a starter level. The guy Frenchie was actually in the Navy (French military, lol.) and showed my pics of him on a battleship. Obviously I told his about my fathers service, which he respected (although said he couldn’t go that long without sunlight. Fair enough.) I do have to say, I’m getting a lot of French exposure in Beijing. Didn’t see that coming.

Aug 4th:
So today’s class was rather interesting. This week we’ve been studying different topics on the merging of old China with new China. So today, we went to see a SiHeYuan’r, which was the equivalent of a mansion in China. Basically you have a square wall, buildings just inside the wall, and a courtyard in the center. I could get into specifics with the FengShui and what-not, but I won’t bore you (let Wikipedia do it for you). Now a lot of SiHeYuan’r’s don’t exist anymore, as they take up a lot of room, but this one was preserved, as it was the SiHeYuan’r of Mei LanFang, who was very much into the Beijing Opera scene, and did a lot to promote it internationally in the 30’s. It was quaint.
Then we went outside and our teachers said, “Alright, you got about an hour, go explore the HuTongs and ask people some questions.” HuTongs are allyways, but also – well slums isn’t exactly the right word, but it’s not the best place to live either. It’s the precursor to cheap apartment buildings. So a lot of the guys grouped up, and got lost on purpose (hands down the best thing to do in a city, or want to go exploring). We found some people and asked if we could see their homes. They thought that was a little too personal (fair, and we were being bold here) but we did get to see the little walkways that lead to their homes. It was really interesting to view how people lived first hand that most foreigners will never see. Afterwards we found some people sitting outside so we struck up a conversation with them about how they were living and what they thought. I was talking to a guy who was about 57 and had lived in Beijing his whole life. He wasn’t super thrilled about having basically a little hut on top of someone else’s hut, but he said it was an upgrade from where he use to live. It was a fantastically insightful conversation, and a great opportunity to peer into the lives of someone who isn’t from the upper class – which is truly one of the hardest things to do when traveling. I really love CET.

Aug 5th:
So we had a debate today, which was rather stupid, because the two sides were “should we or shouldn’t we protect Beijing’s traditions?” obviously the answer is in the middle, and not in the middle of there are pro’s and cons, but in the middle as in “foot binding is bad, Chinese culture is good” (if you don’t know what foot binding is, google with caution – it’s pretty gross). But it means we didn’t have a test, so frick yeah!
Afterwards we prepared for our China Night skit. My group was well prepared, knew their lines, and was ready for action (cause – you guessed it – I’m a boss. Eagle scout, what what!) the other skits in my class level were … not. But they were by show time. It was lots of fun, and a lot of inside jokes, so I’ll spare you most of them, but among noteworthy bits (from all the class levels): Having one of the quietest kids being a playboy saying he would “relieve all the girl problems. Do you know what I mean?”, A guy cross dressing as a female Beijing Opera Singer and saying all of his lines in falsetto (I seriously thought I was going to die at this point), and a skit from the 100 level about one of the girls (21) crushing on the academic director, Chu Laoshi (married, mid fifties), but with the help of everyone’s favorite student – KeRaiJe – the guy in his mid thirties was able to woo her over by wearing clothes like Chu Laoshi. Much fun was had, and me being a UNC basketball player was a dream come true (bucket list – check).
Afterwards we all went out to SanLiTuan’r (the club/western store district). We had a lot of fun, and ended up staying out till 4. However, when we were walking in between clubs, a fight broke out. People started grabbing chairs and using them to beat people. That being said, I didn’t see anyone get seriously hurt, but it was rather shocking. I also weirdly didn’t really feel like I was in any danger. While admittedly alcohol played part in that, it’s really hard to feel threatened when the chairs over people’s head are at head level, cause that means they don’t really have any room to develop any acceleration before impact (and yes, I did process all of this the moment I say the fight break out).

Aug 6th:
Studied some. Then we went out to HouHai, which is a famous lake, and slightly notorious for being a foreigner spot, but also a rather romantic spot. And seeing as today was the Chinese Valentines day, that kinda mattered. We got to see lanterns get lit and fly into the sky (basically a mini hot air balloon) that had wishes from couples. It was also really funny when we saw one of the lanterns fall from the sky. Among other things we went to a reggae bar, chilled, and listened to the live Latina music (don’t ask – I don’t know either).
There I was talking with Drew, the law student, and we talked about a few things. One was about the current status of athletes in China. In China it’s much different, because kids are picked up at a very young age and put into these sports academies. However, all they do is eat, sleep, and drink sports. They don’t have any form of normal schooling, as opposed to the US, which at least offers it to its athletes, and they may choose whether or not to pursue it. So anyone who doesn’t make it big has a really poor life ahead of him or her. Furthermore, unless you become a national icon (see: Yao Ming), they are generally looked down upon for lack of an education. It’s a rather twisted system, and it has caused fights before.
Another thing we talked about was how far everyone had come, and how inspired everyone was to continue studying Chinese (I’ll be taking 10 hours next semester. TEEHEE!) Then we started talking about the process never really ends. I have already realized this at CET, and has honestly made studying a lot easier, but that was taken a step further when Drew said “I hate it when people ask if I’m fluent. Fluent implies that you are done studying the language, and that will never happen.” Definitely one of the more powerful things I’ve heard here.
Afterwards we went to another bar, and was able to make decent friends with the owner, which lead to him giving us a free shot of his home made lychee vodka. The vodka was good, but the fact that he gave it to all of us for being awesome – well – is awesome. It really does feel like I’m starting to become a real Beijinger. The other day I was talking to my friends about how it’s really weird to see foreigners, and then remember “Oh wait, I’m one too.” Though most people get a kick when we’re talking with them, and we see a foreigner do something naïve and say “WaiGuoRen (foreigners).”

Aug 7th:
Woke up, ate a quick breakfast, then Ross and I went off to see YuanMingYuan, which is the old summer palace. It was built in the 1700’s, and was the first European architecture in China, only to be burnt down in 1860 by British and French troops. But the remains are still there, and the view is lovely. Also, it’s not a huge foreigner spot, so a good place to go if you want to go slightly off the beaten path.
Then studying happened.

And that’s all for now. Have fun with whatever you’re doing, cause I’ll be in finals week. However, I very much plan to pour out a drink for Ufah this week – God Bless. Some thoughts to think about.
You think you could live in a HuTong? Even for a week?
At what point do you really become apart of another culture?
How is it that China invented Kung Fu, yet none of them know how to fight? Seriously.
--Robby

---