Blogs from Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, Asia - page 31

Interesting Calendar Everyone does the same thing at the same time here. The whole country is on Beijing time. There are no time zones. Everyone eats at the same time, for example, at 6:30-7:30 AM everyone eats breakfast; 11:30-12:30 is lunch; and Oct. 1-7 is the holiday. It doesn't matter which days of the week it falls on. Everyone, schools, businesses, government, etc. is on vacation and may be traveling. It's a time to be with your family. Because universities have weekly schedules, the days are adjusted to match the holiday. So, on September 30 which is really a Saturday, I have my Monday classes. I'm on holiday Oct. 1-7. On October 8, which is really a Sunday, I have my Tuesday classes. On October 9, really a Monday, I have my Monday classes. When the ... read more

I have two Chinese friends in Nanjing. One is a girl who I ran into on campus. I was standing there with a bewildered foreigner look and she very generously stopped to help me. I really like her because she was so willing to help me and doesn’t seem to want anything in return. She isn’t trying to get me to teach her cousins English and she seems to want nothing more than to hang out with me. And she is very helpful. My other Chinese friend was my real estate agent. She is my age and I go over to her real estate company that’s right by my house a lot. She is teaching me how to embroider a pattern by “Valerie Pfeiffer”. Yeah, you thought it would be by someone named Wang Qin or ... read more

I’m illiterate and can’t talk to anyone! When I look out the window, or walk across campus to get the bus for the suburban campus where my classes are held, I’m amazed at how different this life is. I was very tired the last few days; I think I’m crashing from having to be “on” all the time. I’m totally illiterate; I can’t talk to most people. I can’t even count to 10! There are some big drawbacks to not speaking the language. I’m supposed to start lessons soon. Since it’s a 40 minute bus ride, today I decided to at least learn the numbers, then some other phrases on my own. I must sound funny to the Chinese. “1,2,3,4,5,6,6,6,7,8,8,8,9,9,9,10,10,10” and then repeat! It sounds like “eee, er, san, sir, woo, liu,liu,liu, etc.” I have a ... read more

August 29, 2006, Nanjing, Nan Shan Hotel First Impressions This is a long entry. I want to record all these first impressions. It’s time to catch up the blog. I flew with my good friend, Linell, from Chicago to Shanghai (Pudong airport), spent the night in a hotel there, caught the bus to Nanjing, and negotiated a car to get to the campus of Nanjing Normal University. We were met by Wu Yidong from the foreign affairs office, who took me to my apartment. But the apartment’s not ready yet—broken plumbing—so I’m staying in the Nan Shan Hotel on the campus. The flight was amazing. Huge jet, as expected; mainly Chinese passengers. The movie screens were on the back of the chairs in front of us and we had a lot of choices. I watched “RV”, ... read more

yesterday evening i was to the chinese kun opera. it was really great. actually one of the actors seemed to be quite a star of chinese opera and it was a kind of gala evening for her. so we saw parts of three operas (usally a chinese opera could last for 12 or even 24 hours, so that was convenient). before it started you could watch the actors getting prepared and during the performance we had places in the first row and they served us green tea. nice, nice, nice... unfortunately you can't hear the music, i really liked it, though the actresses are quite shrill. still i want to show you some photos. today i walked up to purple mountain (it's more a hill). it was damn hot and unbearable humid. the climate reminded me ... read more