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Published: January 8th 2007
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Wen Lei and puppy!
These types of street vendors are numerous. This guy was trying to sell the adorable puppy, which appeared to be quite sick, as it couldn't seem to wake up. As you may have seen on the news or read in the papers, two strong earthquakes struck off of the coast of Taiwan last week, severing several major undersea communication cables. The destruction of these cables has resulted in the loss of internet service and the ability to make overseas phone calls in many areas of Asia, including China. Service is slowly being restored, but access to the internet is still touch and go. When I do make it online, webpages often take a very long time to fully load. Please do not panic if I don’t respond to emails in a timely manner; the government has said it may take up to 3 months to have service completely returned to normal.
Another big change last week was the arrival of the first snowfall in Beijing this winter. Unlike Wisconsin, only a couple of inches fell, but my roommate was awestruck. As you can see in the attached picture, the world outside is semi-white. I say ‘semi’ because the pollution in Beijing is so overwhelming, that the snow on the ground and also falling from the sky is a color somewhere between yellow and gray. However,
Snow
It finally snowed in Beijing. We received a dusting of about an inch. By the end of the next day, however the snow was nowhere to be seen. the snow-lined streets and sidewalks didn’t last long. An army of street sweepers descended upon the city, working all day to clear the snow away. All over the city, their efforts were prominently displayed. I’ve included a shot of the piles of snow that were turned into snowmen. Hey, why not?
The two goals I set before coming to China were a.) to speak Chinese more fluently and b.) to learn more about myself in that I could become confident of what I believe in and be firm in the way I conduct my life. I am happy to report that I’ve begun to have dreams in Chinese. These are not simply dreams which include a word or phrase of Chinese, but dreams in which entire dialogues, or voiceovers if I may, are completely in Chinese. I am also beginning to think in Chinese, which I view as a huge step in the language acquisition process. For example, if I am waiting for the bus and it’s late, I hypothesize possible reasons for its tardiness in Chinese to myself. Very exciting!!
My second goal is coming along more slowly. I am beginning to have ideas about the possible
Everyone needs a job
Street cleaners spent the entire day after the snowfall sweeping the snow off sidewalks and out of the road into huge piles which they turned into snowmen. direction I’d like to go career-wise, but have yet to decide upon a specific field or definite target city (or even country!). Due to the nature of my teaching job, with the late hours and built-in friendships that come about, I’m having trouble feeling that my life here is much different than college. I’ve graduated from the university, hold two undergraduate degrees and have moved to a foreign country, but have yet to feel like a “real” adult. There are still house parties where people act stupid and drink too much, I still have homework to do (for my Chinese class) and gossip travels fast and furiously. However, I am beginning to branch off more from the group and do my own thing—whether it be going to my host family’s apartment for dinner or going window shopping to practice my Chinese with the vendors. I do know deep down inside that I am not the extroverted party girl that every twenty-something young woman seems to be, and that sets me apart from the others at times. Learning to accept myself for who I am and be comfortable with it is something I hope to accomplish before I return to the
Ellen and I
Another teacher, Ellen, and I at the migrant school on Christmas Eve United States.
An interesting side note about speaking a foreign language—I have found that when I speak Chinese, I am more honest in some cases than I may be when I speak English, or even Spanish. There is still so much vocabulary that I have yet to master. A situation in which I would be tactful when speaking English, such as being able say that the ugly new haircut someone is sporting is an interesting take on the modern shag, is impossible. I either must directly lie or say that I think it is not so attractive and perhaps he/she should return to the salon and demand his/her money back. I am still undecided as to whether my newfound blunt honesty is good or bad.
New Year’s Eve came and went without a big brouhaha. The teachers congregated at an apartment to have our own New Year’s Party. The theme was “W”; everyone had to come dressed as something or someone that began with a ‘w’. I came dressed as a wackjob. In actuality, I wore a beautiful black dress and one of the other teachers did my hair and makeup, but I think my personality borders on
New Year's Eve
May, Nina, me, Jaime and Meg in our New Year's finery the quirky/eccentric side, and so my choice of theme seemed appropriate at the time.
The book I’ve been reading, “Oracle Bones”, has such great examples of what it’s like to live in China today. I really encourage everyone to pick up a copy and read it. The author, Peter Hessler, also wrote “River Town”, about his experiences teaching in China through the Peace Corps. This first excerpt is about Hessler’s experience being picked up by the police for unknowingly going somewhere in China he shouldn’t have been. This had happened many times previously, and he was usually questioned for a few hours and then let go.
“In Chinese, I attempted a clear and concise explanation of the Electoral College. I should have known better; during my teaching years, I had never been able to explain it in English. I had always believed that an excellent way to motivate American election reform would be to force each and every citizen to introduce the system to a Chinese classroom.” (p. 285-286)
After September 11, 2001, images of the towers being hit and subsequently collapsing were shown all over China. Most of them were taken from American news broadcasts and
New Year's Eve
I was trying to mess up Thai's hair and he was having none of that. Jaime was also amused. sold as bootlegged DVDs on the streets.
“The 9/11 videos were hard to follow. They had been complied hastily, and it was impossible to tell who had published them; all of the Chinese credits were fake. The DVD- ‘The Century’s Great Catastrophe’- consisted mostly of footage taken from ABC news. Occasionally, they dubbed in American movie soundtracks; at one point, they played the theme song from “Raiders of the Lost Arc”. Movie gunfire and explosions accompanied the second plane as it crashed into the World Trade Center. The north tower collapsed, in slow motion, to music from ‘Jaws’”.
This book compares the old China of yesteryear to the new China of today. I honestly can say that this book paints a brilliant picture of what I see and experience every day—that ongoing comparison of ancient and modern Chinese culture.
I mentioned in a previous blog that I was considering moving to another area of the city, where our new campus is opening in February. However, given the proximity to everything that I have in the CBD (central business district), I have elected to stay where I am.
Other exciting news: Eric Clapton is playing a concert
Houhai
A lake in Beijing, surronded by tons of tiny bars and restaurant. One cold, windy Saturday, Agatha, Ellen, Wen Lei, Thai and I decided to go ice skating. in Shanghai on January 20, 2007! I am going to do my best to make it down to Shanghai to see him perform, but with such short notice, may prove impossible. I’ll keep you all posted.
Chinese New Year is next month. It will be interesting to celebrate it in China, and quite different from the little variety show I’ve gone to in years past in Madison.
Thanks for reading. Happy New Year!!
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Yushi
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I'm so proud of you!
Hi Merritt! Wow i'm glad I remembered today to check in on your blog (after many months of forgetting about it...*embarrassed*)--you sound like you're not only have a great time there but you definitely sound a lot more confident than the Merritt I had talked to 6 months ago!!! BTW, is that a new haircut in those party pictures? You look very sexy hehe ;) Oh I think your fewfound blunt/frank-speak in Chinese might actually be related to the Chinese culture itself. For example, I remember when I first came to Madison, I thought it was odd that people were always so nice to each other by saying things like "oh I really like your hair today" "Oh I love your new shirt" etc when their hair, shirt, whatever really weren't that interesting to begin with. Am I making sense? I think I'm just trying to make the point, that, i think Chinese people can be a lot more direct sometimes...Oh...you ARE slowly graduating from the "egg" category and coming a real Chinese, perhaps :P good luck for the rest of the year. Hopefully i'll remember to check back here haha, or else you should send me an email/facebook message from time to time to remind me :)