Poem Recitation

There was supposed to be a video of me and five other classmates all reciting different stanzas of a poem..but unfortunately the internet is too slow to upload it here. I will have to upload it later!

This was a contest between all the different classes in the 高一 (Gao-ee, freshmen level). It took place in one of the smaller auditoriums at our school. It could only fit 900 people? I was so nervous! I had to say my part first, and also our class' group was the first to perform! I was the VERY FIRST. Waahh. After I said three lines the whole auditorium errupted in clapping, I couldn't help but laugh. I knew that they were amazed a foreigner could speak Chinese. On stage I wore the school's uniform, black pants, and a white colared shirt (which odly you are not allowed to tuck in).

This perfomance was performed by classmates selected by my class. I think that this poem was written by the group of students who I performed with. They gave me the poem to go over two days ago. I memorized the first one..but I decided to read it anyway because I didn't want to mess up on the intonation or the second verse. To me this poem sounded like a sappy love poem...but only now do I realize that the whole performance is a dialogue between a child and his/her mother taking place as the mom goes up to heaven after the Sichuan Earthquake. I feel stupid because I didn't know I had to put emotion into it! Whoops! Many people cried during the performance...now I see why.

The first time I heard them recite the poem I thought it was so strange that they were over acting and being dramatic! After the performance my AFS coordinator told me that when Chinese people recite poems they really put all of their feeling into it. It's more of a small play than a recitation! I like this because there aren't any drama programs in my school....or any other schools for that matter!

Many of the lines are (mother to child) "Don't be scared my child, mother will walk with you!" and "Mother, the road is too dark I can't see! Please take my hand!" while the mother responds with something along the lines of "Mother feels tired, I can't go on! I will always be with you my child!" etc. etc. Actually the mom is really screaming "I feel tired, oh, I can't relax! I can't relax!" But I think the other translation is better.

My classmates sent me text messages congratulating me on my performance, but now that I see it...it didn't look very good at all :(

My classmates think we will win first prize! ...Is it because of the quality of the performance...or because of the foreigner?

[LATER: (The day after the performance) The Chinese literature teacher took the performers from our class out to Hot Pot (the local speciality) during lunch because our class won first prize! Everyone in my class likes me now hahaha!]

Art Class （上艺术课）

(Mr. and Mrs. Hu, in their apartment after looking at Mr. Hu's art)

(the painting he gave me)

(a hillside painting he did, this is traditional Chinese painting by the way)

(one of his scrolls, still not fully unrolled)

(painting table)

(coffee, art pens, sketchbook, and pencil! the greatest tools! this is what I was working on during the class)

(classroom)

(students sketching in the classroom)

Finally! Art! Last night I accompanied my Chinese friend Zhaozhao (赵曌）to art class! I was very excited because I didn't know what to expect of a Chinese art class. But as it turns out the atmosphere is very much the same as the art classes I have taken in America. The teacher walks around and takes a look at every one's work, gives them suggestions, and then moves on to the next person. This art class was held in a greenhouse/makeshift classroom on a rooftop garden. Naturally this is a night class, because most Chinese students don't have much daytime to spare for art. What with outside school math class, English class, and sleep...

Only four teenagers attended (including my friend Zhaozhao and me), the rest were elementary school students and middle school students. It was quite, and I liked that.

Presiding over the class were two teachers, a middle aged married couple. As soon as I walked in to the greenhouse/makeshift classroom Mrs. Hu, the teacher, yelled to me (in Chinese) "Wow! You're a lot more handsome than I thought you'd be! So handsome! Kids look at how cool he is!" I knew right off the bat that I would like this class.

The Saturday evening class focuses on sketching, while the Sunday morning class focuses on Chinese traditional painting (国画).

After the class was over Mr. Hu decided to take me, and a few other students downstairs to his apartment to show off his art. His amazing art! Waah, he is such a good artist! Almost all of his art is traditional Chinese painting (which I have taken a liking to), calligraphy, and photography. He pulled out numerous paintings and scrolls of his work. I was speechless. So many beautiful pieces of art! His wife, Mrs. Hu, said "He draws the whole day, it would take a lifetime to see everything he has drawn!"

In the end he gave me a painting! I was so grateful! Not that he doesn't have enough paintings, but still! In a few days I will have the painting put in scroll-like format so it is easier to take back to America. Zhaozhao said she would steal the painting.

This viewing of his artwork was a very special occasion because never before had he shown his students his work. He said the reason why he did it was because he could tell how much I appreciated Chinese culture, and art. That made me very happy!

Next week I will go back for more lessons!

Today's Sights

( a view from in between apartments outside my friend's flat)

(Fruit store, I don't know why but for some reason I love these kinds of stands! The way everything is layed out looks so appealing! That lady there is the shopkeeper)

(Propaganda hanging over a place I pass by everyday. Old people like to gather here to chat and play chess. I am not sure but I think the meaning of the propaganda is "One person joining the military, glorifies the whole family")

(Mickey Mouse New Year's decorations left up from last year. The decoration on the left says "Welcoming the good fortune of Spring" while the one on the right says "Greeting Wealth, letting in Treasures.")

I wanted to post these things that I see everyday because I want people to have an idea of the different things that I experience. Also I want people to see what Chinese people around me see everyday!

Things at Night

Nighttime Sidewalk scene, notice the width of the sidewalk! So many people need so much space!

Vendors with their stands on the street, still selling things.

I took most of these photos while walking really fast so the vendors wouldn't ask me to pay them money for the photo! Apologies for the blurriness! These pictures are pretty self-explanatory. I took these while my Chinese friends and I were lost. We trying to find the location of a restaurant where my friend's birthday dinner was to be had.

Foreigner Street 洋人街

(where we ate lunch, we had chinese barbeque which is served on a stick)
(yes, you can get married here)

(cafe place)
(Egypt?)
(this made me laugh so hard, the sign should say Park...the front entrance says park...but this one says Pack! I have no idea what a Non-Topic park is either. It says the direct translation in Chinese so it wasn't mistranslated)
(this area was called San Fransisco Flower Street)

In America we have China Town. In China they have a strange equivalent called "Yang Ren Jie" which can literally be translated to "Vast People Street." It was foreign alright, I mean foreign to me. There were no foreigners there at all (I didn't expect there to be actually)! The place is more like a theme park than a street. There are buildings that are "replicas" of different places. But I didn't recognize anything except for a reproduction of the New York skyline. Most of the food served was carnival food, or Chinese food.

I didn't like the place very much...because I had this feeling that the Chinese people around me would see me and think "Oh a foreigner is here? Then this must be like his home!" Even when my I came home my host brother asked if it was nice to see a street that has buildings similar to America! I explained to him that it was nothing like America! He then said "Well then it is probably like other countries, maybe France or Germany..."

After about one hour my Brazlian friend and I left. We couldn't take it anymore. I don't know why but this was teh first Chinese thing that I really had extreme culture shock with and couldn't stand. This place is not very important in terms of daily life so I decided not to waste my Saturday any further and go back home.

The reason we were there in the first place was because of my Chinese friend's birthday. I like my friend...I just didn't like where he chose to have his birthday. My Brazilian friend and I politely excused ourselves and hailed the nearest cab!

Chinese Class at a Foreign Language High School

(mottos of the Sichuan Foreign Language High School)
(Our Chinese teacher for the afternoon, this was taken before the power failed)
(rubbish house in front of the school)

Yesterday our AFS coordinator decided to take us on a little field trip to our friends' school. We were all delighted to be able to be doing something out of the weekly routine of Chinese class. Except this school was very dirty and probably not earthquake proof. I definitely felt fortunate to be attending my school rather than the Sichuan Foreign Language High School. Especially after the power went out in our whole building during class. Whcih supposedly happens all the time there. However! The students were a lot more friendly and spoke much better English than the ones at my school. They also seemed more relaxed. I think this is because Sichuan Foreign Language High School isn't considered an "elite" school by the government...so they don't make their students go insane with examinations and homework. But students from elite schools would look down on these students. And probably tease them to no end. Teasing here is butal, and ignored by adults.

In fornt of the school gate there are several noisy construction sites, and a house loaded with trash. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures. I think this is a designated area where all the street cleaners dump their garbage and it gets sorted.

When our class was over our teachers left us alone to get transport back home. We all opted for 10 minute taxi rides rather than 1 hour bus rides. Except no taxi would take us! I would tell them in pretty good Chinese (if I do say so myself) the name of the district and location of the internet cafe we wanted to go to, and then they'd simply say "Oh sorry I am getting off work now!" and then I'd say "That's a lie! If you were getting off work why did you ask me where I wanted to go?!" After I said this I would close the door because the taxi driver was in a state of disbelief that a foreigner just told him off. A redheaded devil at that!

Finally we found a taxi that would take us. It turned out he needed to head back to our district anyway because that's where he was based out of!

New Driver?

Since driving here is so fierce, many Chinese people (usually women actually) prefer not to drive. People who do drive use SUVs to assure themselves some safety. The rest of the drivers are taxi drivers, motorcycle taxi drivers, buses, and delivery trucks. Nobody regards lanes, turn signals, or pedestrians. Therefore everyone relies on their horn or headlights to communicate what they are about to do. Horns are not considered rude here by the way. Anyways, this little sticker is a signal to other drivers that this car is being driven by a beginner. The little earless-cat is a robot cartoon cat named Doraemon. He is very popular in any place outside America! I decided to take a picture of this because I haven't seen anything like this in America. Maybe because there isn't a need for it!

Late Night School Hopping

(walk way when night is in full-swing at the school)
(retired teachers' living quaters)
(walkway)

A few days ago I toured my friend's school at night! Most elite high schools in China have dorms, middle schools also have such facilities. This school just so happens to be very near my home! So I made good use of downtime by practicing my Chinese listening skills as my friend told me about her school, life etc.

Sorry I haven't written in a few days, I have just been busy studying (yes dad, I do study)!

Soon I will have more posts!

Keep checking!

Taking a Tour of Chongqing University (重庆大学）

(main entrance to the university)
(Mao of course)
(Lily pond, it is in bloom in summer)
(a view of the river from the university)
(art department building)

Chinese friend gave me a tour of the local university today, which is located along one of the rivers that come through the city. We didn't talk much about the university, we discussed our favorite school subjects and things we wanted to do when we got older. I would occasionally inquire about a building and what its purpose is etc.

The weather today was overcast and a little rainy! My kind of weather! Chongqing is known as one of the three furnaces in China (the others are Nanjing, and Wuhan). So it was a welcome break. This is the beginning of the short Autumn then comes a long winter, short spring, and summer again!

While we were walking I asked my friend about Chinese literature and famous authors. One I asked about in particular was Lu Xun who she said was known to speak out for the people and for revolutionary things. This author's work was praised during The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution unlike many other chinese author's works (much of which were banned). I confronted my friend about this and asked if this was right or not. All she could say was "At the time other works were not acceptable to the people." I find that very interesting!

Also of course there was a statue of Mao Zedong in the university, but it was an ugly brown.

Food in Plastic, It's Fantastic!

Fancy/expensive "Western Style" restaurants often display their food available in windows near their entrances. The food displayed is plastic. This restaurant had everything on the menu displayed, everything! It took up six windows like the one pictured above. It must have looked strange when six foreigners (me and my exchange student friends) walked up and pulled out our cameras!

Karaoke! (卡啦OK, or KTV)

(lobby, we went in the daytime if we had come later there would have been more people)
(I cajoled a staff member into taking this photo of us, for some reason he acted like he didn't have time)

[read the post below before reading this one!]

At one point we decided that we were through with shopping and wanted to move on to another amusing thing. This next "amusement" was Karaoke (sometimes known as KTV)! Everyone was dazzled by the front lobby! The pillars in the lobby were decked out in neon lights that change colors every few seconds. Right when you step out of the elevator (the establishment is on the 6th floor I believe) you are greeted by a loud 欢迎光临 (We welcome your patronage!). Quickly the staff asks how many people are in your party and how long you plan on renting a room.

Our group agreed on one hour to a grand total of fifty-five yuan ( about eight dollars and eight cents). All of us were then whisked off to a private room with a sofa, televison, and small screen for choosing songs and ordering snacks. The snacks are over priced so we hide our own in backpacks, under sweatshirts, and enclosed in handbags.

This was my third time to a KTV place! I finally mustered up the courage to sing! I am getting to the point where I can follow along with Chinese songs (you have to read the characters and sometimes this can be challenging if the tempo is speedy). I confess I sang English songs! Avril Lavigne is a superstar here, naturally a few of us sang one of hers.

Underground Shopping Center (地下购物中心)

(entrance)
(one of the booths situated on a corner in the labrynth-like market)
(a view down one of the main alleys of booths)

Today most of the foreign exchange students met in the most expensive/entertaining part of Chongqing, 解放碑 (Jiefangbei, ji-eh-fahng-bay). In total there were 3 Germans, 1 American, 1 Italian, and 1 Thai. We had quite a lot of fun! First was lunch at a western food restaurant (I had Chicken fingers, but I can't really be sure what kind of meat it was actually). Then later we found ourselves shopping in an underground bargain market!

Here is a list of things that one can buy in this market:

1. umbrellas

2.knock-off designer handbags

3.mani-pedi

4.hairweaves (no joke, I almost died when I saw this)

5. cheap but nice women's casual clothing

6.hello kitty-esque stuffed animals

7. t-shirts/sweatshirts with interesting tastes in the English language

Inside it is not unlike a labrynth! So many little shops, so little time!

Everything is sold from a little booth that the shopkeeper has set up. Usually these shopkeepers can be seen in or outside their boothes either eating, haggling prices, or text messaging. What is nice about these little informal establishments is that one can bargain. To some people this is most of the entertainment. I myself have never seen bargaining or done it before and it was exciting and fun!

Also this place sold mostly women's things so men were seldom seen inside. There was the occasional husband/boyfriend holding the bags for a woman. These men didn't speak much unless it was to help haggle. But even then the women didn't really listen.

Fellow Students Off To Mandatory Military Training!

Students listening to the headteacher tell them the reasons for going to this camp (supposedly for building character, and developing team building skills...but that is debatable)
I like this picture because you can get a glimpse of the student's faces and what they have brought with them. very few items are permitted.
Military officials discussing travel arrangements
Students being informed, my camera is spotted by a soldier

(Head teacher gives a rousing speech, that doesn't rouse students much)

This past week my fellow 高一(gao-ee, first year of high school in China) peers have been participating in a grueling mandatory military training camp. All foreign students at my school opted out. The food is supposed to be horrible, and for a whole week you are not permitted to shower (nor are the facilities provided). Toilets might also be a bit of a dive too then.

I saw pictures of last year's camp and the students didn't look so cheery...In fact they looked miserable. Their uniforms are not military-esque at all! Actually they are rather kitschy. Like boy scouts except more flamboyant iwth bright colors for everyone! Blues and chartreuses for boys, pink and white for girls. Everyone has matching visors/baseball caps. All the kneckerchiefs are red.

I am told the students learn basic survival techniques, like purifying water and how to start a fire as well as miltary excercises and tests. One fo the tests is standing in the sun for 30 minutes straight without moving. That was one of the reasons why I didn't want to go!

Little Neighborhood

Little neighborhood that is around my apartemnt building. It bustles from about 6:30am 'til 10:00pm with haircutters, massage parlors (not the prostitute kind...which they do have but elsewhere), noodle shops, a bra store, and a little gifty nook.

Incorrect/Silly English Signage throughout Guilin

Most Chinese signs that have English are pretty accurate....however some signs are just downright incorrect, or others you just look at and think "Okay....and?"

"hope forever days eternal enjoy you fun manners!"