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Published: September 13th 2009
So, as I sit here eating instant noodles, I wonder how I can possibly fill you in on all the crazy events of the past three weeks....I guess there really is no way to satisfactorily say everything. For more details you will just have to ask me. So to sum up the first week:
-Beijing was smoggy to the point that I considered buying a gas mask to filter it out...I didn't so my lugs probably have caught up to the pack-a-day-for-ten-years smokers. We saw sky (blue at that) for the first time our third day there and the fourth day was positively sunny.
-We flew to Xi'an and discovered that we had just caught up to all the smog that had left Beijing. Our three days there were relatively gloomy. It rained on a us a couple times, which is when I realized I should have brought my nice raincoat instead of leaving it in Washington. Very near our hotel was a Muslim street full of vendors selling food and trinkets. I also visited one of the most well known mosque (oldest) in China coincidentally on the first day of Ramadan (walked in as people were gathering to eat). Unfortunately it was too dark to get any decent pictures while I was there.
-The train to Chengdu was rather interesting given that it was the first time I had ever been on a sleeper train. China really has some beautiful landscape (when the air is clear enough to see more than a mile ahead of you, that is)
-When we finally got to Chengdu and moved into our rooms in the International Dorm we were all very happy to simply be staying in one place.
Since arriving in Chengdu I have:
-bought a bike in the shady bike place where one suspects all of them are stolen (students from year to year consistently buy from there though)
-eaten hot pot (a dish chengdu is famous for--though what I had was probably not the best example)
-discovered that every morning water pours out from a hole in my bathroom ceiling (and though I have mentioned it a couple times at the front desk nothing has been done about it yet)
-attended a total of 8 or 9 (depending on how you count it) different classes in one week (4 of which are all chinese language classes...two of which are taught every day)--which thoroughly exhausts me...and yet I am still frustrated at how little I know, at how much I depend on others
-eated lunch at a tibetan restaurant in a Tibetan neighborhood (ate food that consisted in part of yak butter, as well as yak meat)
-gone to a public park and drank tea while a couple people tried to sell their back rubbing and ear-cleaning talents to us
-visited an old neighborhood area of Chengdu
-actually tried to order my own food with the method of looking at the menu (all written in characters) and pointing at one of the cheaper dishes hoping that it turned out to be something I would eat---that experiment resulted in a tiny bowl of weak broth with chunks of black meat (supposedly black chicken) floatind around in it still clinging to the bone...it didn't exactly taste bad...I just didn't want to try picking out bone fragments of every bite of meat so i stuck with the broth. Good thing I was not too hungry.
-I also went to "English corner" (an activity every friday night) and was instantly surrounded by chinese students all wanting to practice their English with me
We have had rain the past couple nights...the first night we had rain it was a glorious thunder storm full of light and noise. Though I did not look out my window near as much as I should have I did not see any thunderbolts so it was either all heat lightning or the bolts were behind me and all I could see was the light they generated. Regardless, it was loud and magnificently thrilling!
I am also a little surprised at how little people stare at me. I heard that people tend to stare at us a lot here so I came totally prepared for a ton of staring but have been underwhelemed. Sure, I was a little surprised the first time I noticed people taking pictures of us or slowing down as they walked past us to listen to the english being spoken. Perhaps the staring is more covert here than I am used to or I am even less observant than normal. I felt people stare at me much more in Senegal and Madagascar than here in Chengdu...I am also more confident about staring back here than I have been in the past. I don't mind it. I also find it amusing when people take pictures of us.
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Jim (Dad)
non-member comment
Nice to hear about the first few weeks
Wow, Mal - it was fun to hear some descriptions of the first few weeks - Grandma and Grandpa were here when we read the blog so we all enjoyed it together. Mom wants to know if you saw the Great Wall?! Keep the descriptions coming ... what becomes "ordinary" for you is all still really new for all of us, and we really enjoy hearing from you. Love you x3! Dad