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Published: September 6th 2009
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Because all the trains were booked, I had to take a plane to Harbin. With one hour delay, I arrived in Harbin in the dark. But of course, there were some friendly Chinese that helped me find my room. The instructions were not correct, but after a while I had a room and bedding etc. I share the room with a still unknown person and the kitchen without any appliances and the bath room I share with two Korean girls. Unfortunately they don't speak English, what I find a bit strange because I heard that even in primary school English is taught is South Korea... luckily my roommate turned out to be German, so I can communicate with her!
The next day I met some of my classmates who already arrived the day before. During that day and the next, the group became bigger and bigger. In total the group consists of 7 Dutch guys and 2 Dutch girls (including me), one guy from Peru, 1 Chinese guy and 4 Chinese girls, most of them from Harbin. The classroom is on a special compound called 'Science Park' about 20 minutes walking away, but because we bought a bike, it only
The bike repair shop
or rather bike repair guy fixing Giuseppe's bike takes 10 minutes to get there.
I actually bought a
bike for less than 20 euro including 2 (shitty) locks. The bike is a bit too small, and it is obvious that the bike cannot take a lot, but I will only be here for 2 months, so I just hope that it will not get stolen or breaks down completely beforehand... but for 18 euro you cannot expect a lot!
The bike shop was near the city center, so the ride back to the campus was about 30 minutes. Driving a bike in Harbin is very exciting. There are no lanes for bikes, there are also not that many bikes on the streets, and the rest of traffic is crazy! I also had the feeling that biking behind a car is probably worst for the lungs than smoking for a year...
The campus itself is very quiet and
peaceful; only cars with permission are allowed inside. There are many places were they serve different kind of food. The food in the canteens are very cheap. Today I payed food for two and two small bottles of water for less than 7 yuan (equivalent of 70 eurocent...). And
it was good food too! Although compared to the food of the restaurants outside of the campus, it isn't that good. But the price quality comparison is fine.
Harbin has many restaurants. Almost everywhere you look! And then there are the food stalls which are also everywhere... There is always something new to try. The streets are always full of people (although that will probably change in the harsh winters).
On Friday, almost the whole group met after diner with the teacher, who took us to some cafés and disco's. As the perfect Chinese student doesn't go out, it was the first time for most of the Chinese to go to a bar or club. I was extra happy that they joined us till early in the morning. We had a great time and it was nice to have the group almost complete.
Partying in Harbin cost me less than 7 euro and I can say I was quite drunk when we went home.
I went shopping in the city center for some extra and warm clothes on Saturday. The most famous
Central street was not as special as I thought. The only thing that is special
about it, is that it doesn't look Chinese; the buildings itself could also be situated in an European city. The most shops in the street are Nike and Adidas stores, which is quite boring after a while. I did find a large food market, where I ate some delicious mashed up rice something from a plastic bag... When I left the city center, I wandered around and came across a very large market, with all kind of fresh products (and the food stalls again, of course). When I wanted to go home, I took a taxi back to the university. Luckily, the short name of the university is very easy so that every taxi driver understands it!
Sunday, we (the international students) went to the
Siberian Tiger Park; the main attraction of Harbin. On the one hand, it was nice to come up close to the tigers. On the other hand, it is obvious that such a park could not exist in - at least - the Netherlands. The idea is to buy food for the tigers, which you then see them eat it. Because we were with a big group, we bought a goat. Our transportation was nothing
more than a cage on wheels, which drove through the different areas. At a certain moment, there came a car which threw the goat out of the car. Before we know it, the tiger got the goat. To be very clear; the goat was at that point still very alive. It took a while before it ended bleating. When obviously something broke in the goat, I turned away from the scene. Even some of the guys found it harsher than thought beforehand. I felt really bad.
Next, we could of course also buy pieces of meat on a stick. Putting this through the bars (with another tourist did) made the tigers stand up against the car. Of course, it was very impressive because the animals are huge, but the whole scene is really strange. After having seen some tigers and other animals in some cages, I was also glad we left the Tiger Park again.
The next stop was
Sun Island. This turned out to be a very nice, big park, with a function as amusement park too. We just walked around and then took a boat to the city center. There, we went to a horrible restaurant serving
Western food. During the first two weeks I have learned that Western food in Harbin is just not comparable with the Chinese food (which is ALWAYS good, it seems).
The first course I took were classes about
cross-cultural management. This was very interesting, especially because the Chinese are due to spending a year in the Netherlands, used to speak up in class. We discussed a lot of topics and compared our views and also got an introduction in Chinese philosophy (so where were the classes about Western philosophy???) But even after class, the cultural differences are apparent in our talks about it. The closure of the course was to write and execute a play, which was really funny doing and watching the other groups.
The last not mentioned in this blog are the Chinese outside my class; They are all so friendly and funny!
My Chinese (about 4 sentences) doesn't hold people from talking to me in Chinese. Saying something in English with a very dumb face never stops them. But when it becomes clear what they want or want to say, they always turn out to be só nice. Not a day went by without me wondering
about the friendliness of the people or being amazed about their (sometimes very illogical but for me funny) behaviour. There are just too much stories to write down here...
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