I had an excellent Thanksgiving here in China! It was far from traditional but it was nice all the same. The weather was perfect: sunny and not too freezing. I spent a lot of time on the school roof getting my fair share of Vitamin D. I am not the only one who knows about it either! Many secret couples (dating is grounds for expulsion in China) also joined me up there. They stood far away occassionally eyeing the foreigner out of the corners of their eyes. The view of the city from the top of the roof was lovely!
In the evening we were going to go to the local Marriott to have a Thanksgiving dinner. But we bailed at the last minute because it was far too expensive. When I say we, I mean my very lovely British teachers who were nice enough to celebrate Thanksgiving with me!
The group of us decided to head to a Singaporean restaurant that had specials on American food this month. My Thanksgiving dinner consisted of: a hamburger, french fries (YUM!), and for dessert pancakes. It was satisfying. And the day had been so nice and relaxed I had no complaints, and no real homesickness.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Medicine Man 中医
（Chinese Traveling Medicine Man selling his wares on the street by our school. In this picture he was cutting an antler or some kind of bone for the man sitting next to him. He was also singing some unintelligible song.)Yesterday I walked by this man on the way to lunch, and unfortunatley I didn't have my camera. He is new to this part of town. However today I happened to have my camera, and I discreetly took his picture while watching him cut some ingridients for this man. If you look closely there is some kind of paw (bear?) or hoof at the front of his mat. Most of the things are roots and mushrooms, but I think some may be animal testes. I just stood there and watched him for a while fascinated. Because I stood there I drew a crowd...I think the locals thought I was going to purchase something. I wouldn't even know how to do that!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
HAIR 头发，剪头发
A few days agao my friend and I decided to get our hair cut. I was definitely overdue for one and she said she was too. Together we searched the local shopping square for the most impressive looking hair salon.
We finally settled on a salon that had a huge L'Oreal poster at the bottom. At the entrance we were greeted by a hugely tall Chinese woman who walked us up a flight of stairs to the actual salon. In the salon a whole row of stylists (dressed in bright pink and deep purple dresses) bowed and said "欢迎光临" (We Welcome your Glorious Patronage!). The cieling was wrapped in a tacky looking gold fabric and the seats for waiting were plush and bright red. How could I refuse?
From the gold beguiled cieling hung many pictures of people with flawless skin wearing all the trendiest Chinese hair-dos. Some look more like dragon ball z characters than anything. My friend and I sat anxiously in our red plush seats, constantly glancing around as if someone would run over and shave our heads. After a few minutes one of those purple and pink ladies walked over and began squirting straight shampoo into our hair from what looked like a mustard bottle.
It was a strange sensation at first, but then we relaxed. The assistants began massaging our heads with their fingers, we were content.
Next came a wash, which wasn't anything special. But while you are lying down you can read all the advertisements stuck to the cieling.
When the hairwash was over we were offered a complimentary massage. I asked what kind of massage, because if you are offered a massage in China you can never be sure if the lady is offering you sex. She wasn't! Yay! The assistant said that it would be an ear, head, neck, arm, and upper back massage. My friend said "Why not?"
It was absolutely fabulous. However there was one strange part where they stuck a long wrap of toilet paper down our ears to clean them. It was a bit disconcerting, but we got over it because the arm massage was next and that involved cutting off our circulation and blowing cold air onto our open palms.
All of this preparation took about an hour, and the haircut only took about 15 minutes!
We finally settled on a salon that had a huge L'Oreal poster at the bottom. At the entrance we were greeted by a hugely tall Chinese woman who walked us up a flight of stairs to the actual salon. In the salon a whole row of stylists (dressed in bright pink and deep purple dresses) bowed and said "欢迎光临" (We Welcome your Glorious Patronage!). The cieling was wrapped in a tacky looking gold fabric and the seats for waiting were plush and bright red. How could I refuse?
From the gold beguiled cieling hung many pictures of people with flawless skin wearing all the trendiest Chinese hair-dos. Some look more like dragon ball z characters than anything. My friend and I sat anxiously in our red plush seats, constantly glancing around as if someone would run over and shave our heads. After a few minutes one of those purple and pink ladies walked over and began squirting straight shampoo into our hair from what looked like a mustard bottle.
It was a strange sensation at first, but then we relaxed. The assistants began massaging our heads with their fingers, we were content.
Next came a wash, which wasn't anything special. But while you are lying down you can read all the advertisements stuck to the cieling.
When the hairwash was over we were offered a complimentary massage. I asked what kind of massage, because if you are offered a massage in China you can never be sure if the lady is offering you sex. She wasn't! Yay! The assistant said that it would be an ear, head, neck, arm, and upper back massage. My friend said "Why not?"
It was absolutely fabulous. However there was one strange part where they stuck a long wrap of toilet paper down our ears to clean them. It was a bit disconcerting, but we got over it because the arm massage was next and that involved cutting off our circulation and blowing cold air onto our open palms.
All of this preparation took about an hour, and the haircut only took about 15 minutes!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Shanghai Pictures! Series 2 上海旅游的照片 第二部分
(my favorite building on the Bund)
(being silly on the subway, Alida, me, and Magdelena from America)
(walk street off the Bund)
(tallest building in China, as of now, on the Bund)
(the Bund)
(night-out in Xintiandi: Lalo from Mexioc, Clara from Italy)
(typical style of building in Xintiandi)
(my American AFS friend Jesus and the model/wedding picture lady)
(lady having her photos taken infront of a wig shop's window display)
(the cookie dough attempt)
(Shanghai friends!: Alida from Switzerland, and Dasha from Russia)
（"Little Eat Street" or "Snack Street")Shanghai Pictures (Finally)! Series 1 上海旅游的照片（总算上载）第一部分
(Alleyway)
(local market street, no foreigners besides us!)
(strange looking old house and the wall surrounding it)
(inner courtyard of vacant lot house)
(the housing complex on the vacant lot)
(Old and slightly creepy housing located on vacant lot)
(Old alleyways of Shanghai)
(In front of the main hall of the Temple near Yu Gardens)
（An old alley in Shanghai)
(Teapot shop near the alleys)
(one of the halls in the Temple near the Yu Gardens, many red ribbons)
(Outside of the Yu Gardens, that building is a famous teahouse...very expensive! And very scenic expecially when the weather is right!)
(the front entrance to the temple near the Yu Gardens)
(marketplace/shopping streets around the Yu Gardens)Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Shanghai Excursion Part 2 上海旅游第二部分
(Continued from post below)
We had seen as much of the temple as we could see, we then decided to move on to something else when we stumbled into this sort of communist-era or precommunist-era part of Shanghai outside of Shanghai Old Street (上海老街). From the outside it looked a lottle seedy and rundown. But the most attractive thing about it was that there were no foreigners to be seen! At first Jesus (my friend, not the biblical figure) was a little unsure, but then I remembered how my neighborhood in Chongqing looks. It's not clean, and there are not any foreigners wandering about. I concluded that we should have a look because this is a part of Shanghai where normal people live! (Plus these old neighborhoods are slowly being replaced by highrises).
Each lump of housing was two stories, white, and a bit of ashen gray (probably from pollution or something else). Most of them had extremely narrow and square courtyards. Most of the courtyards had at least one dirty porcelain sink for washing and a bike or two. In one of the courtyards a door was open so I got a glimpse into a shabby white and blue tiled kitchen. In most of the alleys there were small black stenciled advertisements sprayed on the walls willy-nilly. Many of them were for electrical and plumbing repairs. Out the small windows and into the alleys people had hung their laundry to dry. The laundry gave the alleyways most of their color. Each little alley was about the width of 1.5 doorways. I really enjoyed walking along these narrow spaces because I could see what the everyday Shanghainese were up to! If I ever go back to Shanghai I will definitely need to return to these sorts of places!
The main drag led us back down another lively street (also lacking foreigners), it was something of a market street, except all the stores were mainly inside small establishments and not in little stalls. Past this street a building caught Jesus's attention, it was a dark looking brick building that we could just see over a blank white wall. This building looked like something that belonged in the French Concession. What was it doing here? We turned a few corners and voila we were at the gate...
Through the gate we saw that the building was surrounded by a shrubbery covered vacant lot that was about the size of a football field. The outside looked like it needed a few good coats of paint and maybe some new bricks, bit this didn't take away from how intriguing this place was (this building is hard to describe, I will have to post a picture). There was one visible entrance that opened onto a courtyard and a very dark hallway, I had a quick peek in, snapped a photo, heard some voices and then hightailed it out of there! At this point it was pretty dark so my nerves were on edge a bit.
Soon afterwards we met Dasha (Russian) and Alida (Swiss) at a frog restaurant. Or well a restaurant that specializes in serving frogs! I tried them, but I must say they were served like a sack of bones and organs so it didn't really appeal to me...However the noodles and rice hit the spot! Where we had dinner was a small street called "Little Eat Street" or "Snack Street." It's just a street lined with restaurants and extremely well lit because of all the restaurant's signs.
Then suddenly I had a craving, a craving for COOKIE DOUGH!
It would now be impossible to stop me, I was determined to have cookie dough. (You'd think the Cold Stone Creameries that Shanghai has would at least have cookie dough icecream...but no! And if you have ever been to Cold Stone with me you know that I get one "like it" with at least 4 mix-ins of cookie dough!). Everyone joined me in my quest, and our Italian comrade Clara met us at the nearest Carrefour to join in! (Carrefour is a foreigner-friendly grocery store, it's like a French version of Wal-Mart).
There we discovered:
1. No one in China knows what pre-made cookiedough is
2.Cinnamon can only be found in the spices section and the staff usually doesn't know what it is
3. Vanilla extract comes in the form of vanilla sugar (it's a substitute)
4. Brown sugar in Chinese is called "hong tang" red sugar (this caused a bit of confusion)
5.Make your own chocolate chips!
Thankfully we had the wonderful Dasha, she called her mother in Russia to make sure we had all the ingridients for the batter, and Clara helped us get most of the ingridients! Yay teamwork!
Late at night while Jesus and I were making the cookie dough his host Dad walked by on his way to the bathroom and peeked in. He seemed genuinely curious...I did not want to seem like a weirdo so I told him that making this dough was a Thanksgiving tradition in America....one makes the dough late night on Thanksgiving Eve and enjoys the dough amidst the company of friends. Thanksgiving was two weeks away, and it's a total lie! But it's fine. No harm done. :)
It all turned out that the dough was a little too brown sugar-y and the sugar wasn't very granulated. The movie we wanted to watch while eating the dough was not very good either...so we just went to sleep.
Day Four:
Since we were so busy with our Thanksgiving "traditions" the night before, we did not go to bed until quite late. Late to bed, late to rise, this keeps an exchange student happy, awake(through the day), and skinny (because you sleep through breakfast...this is not done on purpose!). We joined the other exchange students for lunch at the school cafeteria.
In the afternoon we met another American AFS'er (she goes to a different school) in The People's Square and subwayed it to the French Concession for dinner. When I thought of the French Concession, I thought about international restuarants and tree-lined streets. Well, we got the tree-lined streets but as it turns out we all were craving American style pizza...naturally we had Papa John's! (They don't have pizza in Chongqing!). Papa John's served on the sidewalk of the French Concession was truly lovely!
While we were eating a model started posing outside the display of a nearby wigshop. Out of curiosity I sent Magdelena (the other American) to take pictures of her. In the end the lady wasn't a model but a woman taking fancy pictures for her wedding album! Interesting!!
Later we walked around the famous Bund. Which is breathtaking, but after a few minutes one gets tired of Chinese vendors shouting "hello Rollerskates!" "hello Lights!" "hello Photo!" The word Hello has a different meaning over here. It means "Excuse me, move out of the way or else that car is going to run you over," "Please buy my goods," and "You're a foreigner!"
Soon we got over it and just decided to enjoy the scenery. I think my favorite building on the whole Bund is the clocktower. (When I returned to Chongqing I told people I had visited the Bund most of their responses were "Oh so many foreign banks there.")
Day 5:
On this evening we had all planned to go to a semi-well known Shanghai Dance club...When everyone was together and we had made it to the entrance we were turned down. The bouncer's excuse was that we weren't 18 yet. (This usually isn't a problem in Chongqing). There is no drinking age, and the drinks are far too expensive to drink, people just go to dance. After that huge disappointment everyone just decided to walk around the interesting part of town nearby.
This part of town is called Xintiandi.
Xintiandi looks very European, but I am not quite sure of the history behind it. It's a small area and most of the buildings are brick and Victorianesque. I have some pictures that I will try and post because I don't think words can do this part of Shanghai any real justice.
One of my favorite parts of this night was that I actually had cookiedough icecream from Cold Stone! The nice icecream people took the cookiedough from a pre-made cookiedough cake and scooped it out just for me! And they did it for free!!! I think they did it because there are seldom any Chinese speaking foreigners that come there!
Day 6:
Such a sad day! I had to return home and leave all of my Shanghai friends behind :(
Nothing much exciting and noteworthy happened on this day. However I do plan to return to Shanghai maybe early next year!
We had seen as much of the temple as we could see, we then decided to move on to something else when we stumbled into this sort of communist-era or precommunist-era part of Shanghai outside of Shanghai Old Street (上海老街). From the outside it looked a lottle seedy and rundown. But the most attractive thing about it was that there were no foreigners to be seen! At first Jesus (my friend, not the biblical figure) was a little unsure, but then I remembered how my neighborhood in Chongqing looks. It's not clean, and there are not any foreigners wandering about. I concluded that we should have a look because this is a part of Shanghai where normal people live! (Plus these old neighborhoods are slowly being replaced by highrises).
Each lump of housing was two stories, white, and a bit of ashen gray (probably from pollution or something else). Most of them had extremely narrow and square courtyards. Most of the courtyards had at least one dirty porcelain sink for washing and a bike or two. In one of the courtyards a door was open so I got a glimpse into a shabby white and blue tiled kitchen. In most of the alleys there were small black stenciled advertisements sprayed on the walls willy-nilly. Many of them were for electrical and plumbing repairs. Out the small windows and into the alleys people had hung their laundry to dry. The laundry gave the alleyways most of their color. Each little alley was about the width of 1.5 doorways. I really enjoyed walking along these narrow spaces because I could see what the everyday Shanghainese were up to! If I ever go back to Shanghai I will definitely need to return to these sorts of places!
The main drag led us back down another lively street (also lacking foreigners), it was something of a market street, except all the stores were mainly inside small establishments and not in little stalls. Past this street a building caught Jesus's attention, it was a dark looking brick building that we could just see over a blank white wall. This building looked like something that belonged in the French Concession. What was it doing here? We turned a few corners and voila we were at the gate...
Through the gate we saw that the building was surrounded by a shrubbery covered vacant lot that was about the size of a football field. The outside looked like it needed a few good coats of paint and maybe some new bricks, bit this didn't take away from how intriguing this place was (this building is hard to describe, I will have to post a picture). There was one visible entrance that opened onto a courtyard and a very dark hallway, I had a quick peek in, snapped a photo, heard some voices and then hightailed it out of there! At this point it was pretty dark so my nerves were on edge a bit.
Soon afterwards we met Dasha (Russian) and Alida (Swiss) at a frog restaurant. Or well a restaurant that specializes in serving frogs! I tried them, but I must say they were served like a sack of bones and organs so it didn't really appeal to me...However the noodles and rice hit the spot! Where we had dinner was a small street called "Little Eat Street" or "Snack Street." It's just a street lined with restaurants and extremely well lit because of all the restaurant's signs.
Then suddenly I had a craving, a craving for COOKIE DOUGH!
It would now be impossible to stop me, I was determined to have cookie dough. (You'd think the Cold Stone Creameries that Shanghai has would at least have cookie dough icecream...but no! And if you have ever been to Cold Stone with me you know that I get one "like it" with at least 4 mix-ins of cookie dough!). Everyone joined me in my quest, and our Italian comrade Clara met us at the nearest Carrefour to join in! (Carrefour is a foreigner-friendly grocery store, it's like a French version of Wal-Mart).
There we discovered:
1. No one in China knows what pre-made cookiedough is
2.Cinnamon can only be found in the spices section and the staff usually doesn't know what it is
3. Vanilla extract comes in the form of vanilla sugar (it's a substitute)
4. Brown sugar in Chinese is called "hong tang" red sugar (this caused a bit of confusion)
5.Make your own chocolate chips!
Thankfully we had the wonderful Dasha, she called her mother in Russia to make sure we had all the ingridients for the batter, and Clara helped us get most of the ingridients! Yay teamwork!
Late at night while Jesus and I were making the cookie dough his host Dad walked by on his way to the bathroom and peeked in. He seemed genuinely curious...I did not want to seem like a weirdo so I told him that making this dough was a Thanksgiving tradition in America....one makes the dough late night on Thanksgiving Eve and enjoys the dough amidst the company of friends. Thanksgiving was two weeks away, and it's a total lie! But it's fine. No harm done. :)
It all turned out that the dough was a little too brown sugar-y and the sugar wasn't very granulated. The movie we wanted to watch while eating the dough was not very good either...so we just went to sleep.
Day Four:
Since we were so busy with our Thanksgiving "traditions" the night before, we did not go to bed until quite late. Late to bed, late to rise, this keeps an exchange student happy, awake(through the day), and skinny (because you sleep through breakfast...this is not done on purpose!). We joined the other exchange students for lunch at the school cafeteria.
In the afternoon we met another American AFS'er (she goes to a different school) in The People's Square and subwayed it to the French Concession for dinner. When I thought of the French Concession, I thought about international restuarants and tree-lined streets. Well, we got the tree-lined streets but as it turns out we all were craving American style pizza...naturally we had Papa John's! (They don't have pizza in Chongqing!). Papa John's served on the sidewalk of the French Concession was truly lovely!
While we were eating a model started posing outside the display of a nearby wigshop. Out of curiosity I sent Magdelena (the other American) to take pictures of her. In the end the lady wasn't a model but a woman taking fancy pictures for her wedding album! Interesting!!
Later we walked around the famous Bund. Which is breathtaking, but after a few minutes one gets tired of Chinese vendors shouting "hello Rollerskates!" "hello Lights!" "hello Photo!" The word Hello has a different meaning over here. It means "Excuse me, move out of the way or else that car is going to run you over," "Please buy my goods," and "You're a foreigner!"
Soon we got over it and just decided to enjoy the scenery. I think my favorite building on the whole Bund is the clocktower. (When I returned to Chongqing I told people I had visited the Bund most of their responses were "Oh so many foreign banks there.")
Day 5:
On this evening we had all planned to go to a semi-well known Shanghai Dance club...When everyone was together and we had made it to the entrance we were turned down. The bouncer's excuse was that we weren't 18 yet. (This usually isn't a problem in Chongqing). There is no drinking age, and the drinks are far too expensive to drink, people just go to dance. After that huge disappointment everyone just decided to walk around the interesting part of town nearby.
This part of town is called Xintiandi.
Xintiandi looks very European, but I am not quite sure of the history behind it. It's a small area and most of the buildings are brick and Victorianesque. I have some pictures that I will try and post because I don't think words can do this part of Shanghai any real justice.
One of my favorite parts of this night was that I actually had cookiedough icecream from Cold Stone! The nice icecream people took the cookiedough from a pre-made cookiedough cake and scooped it out just for me! And they did it for free!!! I think they did it because there are seldom any Chinese speaking foreigners that come there!
Day 6:
Such a sad day! I had to return home and leave all of my Shanghai friends behind :(
Nothing much exciting and noteworthy happened on this day. However I do plan to return to Shanghai maybe early next year!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Excursion to Shanghai 上海旅游！Part 1
These past five days I was enjoying the wonderful city that is Shanghai!
I don't even know where to begin, the city was purely spectacular! It is a perfect blend of western and eastern societies. For example on one side of town you can walk through alleys of disappearing pre-communist era neighborhoods, while on another side you can walk by a Louis Vuitton or an upscale bar. I enjoyed both ends of the spectrum, and I think in order to fall in love with the city as I have one must see both sides.
First Day:
The first day wasn't really much of a day, it was more of a first night. I arrived at Shanghai Pudong Int'l Airport at 9pm and was greeted by my American AFS friend Jesus. Although we have really only spent three days together before this we reunited like old friends. After many exclamations, greetings, and questions we quickly made our way to the Maglev ticket booth to buy tickets for the last train (50 yuan) which goes directly to the subway.
While we were waiting for the train we talked about our other AFS acquaintances, host families, and the quality of service our AFS coordinators are providing us (mine is just perfect).
Apparently my friend ended up with an extremely bitchy coordinator who seems to have a smart-alack answer for everything "It's just culture." or "You're a coward."
When I arrived at my friend's house his host parents were waiting by the door for us. They are both fairly medium height, have short hair, and wear glasses. They are both are Chinese Literature teachers at the local school that Jesus attends. The first thing they exclaimed as I walked in was "Oh! Your hair is not red!" At that time they thought I couldn't speak Chinese.
My friend Jesus had told his parents accidentally that my hair was literally red...but for strawberry blonde you say 金黄色(jeen-hwahng suh), meaning "golden yellow." After a few laughs I answered them in Chinese "Oh, I think there was a misunderstanding..." We got along perfectly after that. His parents are really nice, and care about him alot. Also their Mandarin is amazingly perfect...I am so used to Mandarin spoken with a Chinese southern accent (which is a little bit complicated to explain unless you speak Mandarin).
After a few cups of tea and a lively chat I found out that they used to live in one of the remotest provinces in China, Xinjiang 新疆 (sheen jahng). The host father can even speak a little bit of the native minority's language. (This is a treat in China because most Han people look down on any other minority in China, but the host dad was actually interested in the culture and people so he was clearly open-minded...and would be considered liberal in a sense). There is a group of Xinjiang students living at the local middle school and Jesus's host dad is responsible for some of their classes etc. The "reason" why these students are so far away from home is so they can get a higher education...but that's just what the government wants you to think. Really they are here to sort of be washed of their culture and to be sent back to instill more Chineseness into their native Uighur (name of the minority that dominates Xinjiang Province) society.
But that's another story!!
Day Two:
The next day I attended class with my friend Jesus and his host brother. I didn't meet the host brother the night before because he was asleep! He walked with us to school which Jesus said was unusual because his brother never liked to be late. (I don't really know the host brother's name so I will just call him Catboy from now on...because that's what all the AFS'ers call him behind his back). Catboy was extremely excited to talk to me because we could communicate. He seemed pretty reserved, but was really nice. Like most other Chinese teenage boys he has a fiery passion for basketball (his room has at least five posters of various American players).
Unfortunately over the course of this stay in Shanghai I didn't have much time to get to know him! Chinese students are always so busy with school!
In English class I introduced myself to the class and told them (slowly) why I was in China, and then repeated myself in nervous Chinese. The only response back I got was "Waaaaaahh" and clapping. I can't help but turning red! During class Jesus and I played catch-up by passing a sheet of paper back and forth with notes. At break time I met the other exchange students at the school: Dasha (Russian), Alida (Swiss), Clara (Italian), and Theo (German). Everyone was really nice and welcoming. Most of them were surprised that I knew their names! :) We all ate a wonderful school lunch together, the noodles were so much better than my school's lunch! It was delicious.
I don't even know where to begin, the city was purely spectacular! It is a perfect blend of western and eastern societies. For example on one side of town you can walk through alleys of disappearing pre-communist era neighborhoods, while on another side you can walk by a Louis Vuitton or an upscale bar. I enjoyed both ends of the spectrum, and I think in order to fall in love with the city as I have one must see both sides.
First Day:
The first day wasn't really much of a day, it was more of a first night. I arrived at Shanghai Pudong Int'l Airport at 9pm and was greeted by my American AFS friend Jesus. Although we have really only spent three days together before this we reunited like old friends. After many exclamations, greetings, and questions we quickly made our way to the Maglev ticket booth to buy tickets for the last train (50 yuan) which goes directly to the subway.
While we were waiting for the train we talked about our other AFS acquaintances, host families, and the quality of service our AFS coordinators are providing us (mine is just perfect).
Apparently my friend ended up with an extremely bitchy coordinator who seems to have a smart-alack answer for everything "It's just culture." or "You're a coward."
When I arrived at my friend's house his host parents were waiting by the door for us. They are both fairly medium height, have short hair, and wear glasses. They are both are Chinese Literature teachers at the local school that Jesus attends. The first thing they exclaimed as I walked in was "Oh! Your hair is not red!" At that time they thought I couldn't speak Chinese.
My friend Jesus had told his parents accidentally that my hair was literally red...but for strawberry blonde you say 金黄色(jeen-hwahng suh), meaning "golden yellow." After a few laughs I answered them in Chinese "Oh, I think there was a misunderstanding..." We got along perfectly after that. His parents are really nice, and care about him alot. Also their Mandarin is amazingly perfect...I am so used to Mandarin spoken with a Chinese southern accent (which is a little bit complicated to explain unless you speak Mandarin).
After a few cups of tea and a lively chat I found out that they used to live in one of the remotest provinces in China, Xinjiang 新疆 (sheen jahng). The host father can even speak a little bit of the native minority's language. (This is a treat in China because most Han people look down on any other minority in China, but the host dad was actually interested in the culture and people so he was clearly open-minded...and would be considered liberal in a sense). There is a group of Xinjiang students living at the local middle school and Jesus's host dad is responsible for some of their classes etc. The "reason" why these students are so far away from home is so they can get a higher education...but that's just what the government wants you to think. Really they are here to sort of be washed of their culture and to be sent back to instill more Chineseness into their native Uighur (name of the minority that dominates Xinjiang Province) society.
But that's another story!!
Day Two:
The next day I attended class with my friend Jesus and his host brother. I didn't meet the host brother the night before because he was asleep! He walked with us to school which Jesus said was unusual because his brother never liked to be late. (I don't really know the host brother's name so I will just call him Catboy from now on...because that's what all the AFS'ers call him behind his back). Catboy was extremely excited to talk to me because we could communicate. He seemed pretty reserved, but was really nice. Like most other Chinese teenage boys he has a fiery passion for basketball (his room has at least five posters of various American players).
Unfortunately over the course of this stay in Shanghai I didn't have much time to get to know him! Chinese students are always so busy with school!
In English class I introduced myself to the class and told them (slowly) why I was in China, and then repeated myself in nervous Chinese. The only response back I got was "Waaaaaahh" and clapping. I can't help but turning red! During class Jesus and I played catch-up by passing a sheet of paper back and forth with notes. At break time I met the other exchange students at the school: Dasha (Russian), Alida (Swiss), Clara (Italian), and Theo (German). Everyone was really nice and welcoming. Most of them were surprised that I knew their names! :) We all ate a wonderful school lunch together, the noodles were so much better than my school's lunch! It was delicious.
In the afternoon I took their Chinese class. The teacher was positively evil! In a very backhanded and subtle way. But not in a such a way that no one will notice. We came back late from break because we were busy taking group photos, when we arrived she yelled "You're late!" everyone was silent. Trying not to laugh at her accent. Then she said something that almost killed us all "What on the hells were you doing!?" Muffled snickering ensued. I couldn't help it I asked "Excuse me?! What did you just say?" She ignored me but I just had to make it known that what she said (or meant rather) is in unacceptable behavior from a teacher. She's mean already, she doesn't have to make it worse.
It was 5pm when class ended. Jesus's parents took Alida, Jesus, Catboy, and me out to dinner for authentic Shanghai cuisine! It was excellent. Most of the dishes had sauces that you dip the meat in. I had pig feet meat...which isn't as bad as I thought it would be (especially after it has been dipped in a sweet sauce). Chongqing food is always spicy so this sweetness was a much needed change.
The restaurant was in a preserved old part of Shanghai called Qi Bao Guzhen (chee bao goo-juhn) and is marvelous to walk around at night because most of the old alleys and buildings are lit up. The area is supposedly over 1000 years old.
Day Three:
We got a late start on this day, but that didn't stop us from seeing a lot! We took a subway into the centre of Shanghai and somehow ended up near the Bund. (But we weren't going to see the Bund) When we successfully hailed a cab, the driver took us to 豫园(Yu yuan) Yu gardens. Which is kind of a tourist trap...but we knew that ahead of time. In this courtyard-ish area are many stores located inside lavishly decorated Chinese style buildings. The roofs are very picturesque and traditional Chinese-like. Signs upon signs painted with gold calligraphy hang over shops, alleyways, and streets. On your way to the garden you pass over a crooked bridge with several zig-zag corners (to confuse the evil spirits). I am lucky that I got a picture on this bridge because usually it is overcrowded with people! After all we opted to not enter the garden considering it cost 40 yuan per person. The outside was enough, and plus Frommer's/Lonely Planet did not think highly of the place anyway.
Jesus took me to a temple instead (I know how funny this sentence looks!). It is an old Buddhist Temple outside of the Yu garden's complex. The entry fee was only ten yuan (less than 2 dollars). The process of paying went like this... First find the hole in the wall, then look in and find an old bespectacled small man on the other side. Hand him the money, he then checks to see if the bill is real by feeling the grooves on Chairman Mao's face. He nods. Then hands you a small ticket that is collected at the gate.
To my surprise there were no foreigners to be seen inside the temple! Right when you walk in there is a small enclosed courtyard with different halls off each end for different purposes of worship. The main hall is directly in front of you, and the big Buddha is clearly visible. In the courtyard there are several places where you can burn incense and I suppose warm yourself. Off to the side is a small stall to buy incense (I didn't burn any...I don't really care for the smell, but now that I think back on it I probably should have).
We walked straight into the main hall. In front were knee-cushions for kneeling, a few Chinese people were using them already. Bowing with their hands together, bowing, bowing, bowing. They were muttering things under their breath but I did not listen. Jesus and I walked around the Buddha a few times (in the right way...which I think is counter clock-wise). There was a bearded man wearing a black cap, dark blue robe, and coke bottle classes in the corner. Behind him were the characters for Happiness Help Place. He had a rather thick book in front of him which he opened as we came towards him.
Politely as I could I asked "Excuse me, but are you a fortune teller?" He waved his hand and shook his head as if to say "No". Then he pointed to the open book before him. It was full of names and numbers. Below every name was a number and then the character for Yuan after the number. Immediately I understood. You write your name, give a donation, and then he prays for your good fortune! I wrote my name and donated 10 yuan.
Continuing down the hall towards the back courtyard there were rows of small statues on each side of the hall. Each was painted differently. They all probably represented a different aspect of something. Below each statuette were posts. Each post had bunches of red ribbons tied around them. In the back courtyard was a smaller, and less interesting, worship hall. This courtyard was not as fancy and looked as though it was used for practical things such as cleaning.
(the rest will be continued in the next post!)
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Technical Problems!
Sorry i haven't posted in forever! Something is wrong with the picture uploading icon. I will have to postpone some posts because they all require pictures!!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Interesting Photos (Pre-Shanghai Trip) 很有意思的照片
(Note: this post was written before the "Shanghai Excursion" but because of picture posting problems it wasn't posted until afterwards)
(apartment buildings by my school)
("what sweet smiles they have, alas! so please keep them off the green grass!) Engrish
(painting class at school)
(a storefront in the underground market)
(stuffed anime characters galore! ~in the underground market)
(shopkeeper in the underground market, she was super embarrassed when I asked to take her photo)
(SUPER ENGRISH! if you can figure out the complete meaning, you're amazing. click to enlarge)
(another awesome example of Engrish that the underground market has to offer)
(ping-pong tables at a middleschool near to my house)
(laundry drying on the last day of perfect weather in Chongqing)
(apartment buildings by my school)
("what sweet smiles they have, alas! so please keep them off the green grass!) Engrish
(painting class at school)
(a storefront in the underground market)
(stuffed anime characters galore! ~in the underground market)
(shopkeeper in the underground market, she was super embarrassed when I asked to take her photo)
(SUPER ENGRISH! if you can figure out the complete meaning, you're amazing. click to enlarge)
(another awesome example of Engrish that the underground market has to offer)
(ping-pong tables at a middleschool near to my house)
(laundry drying on the last day of perfect weather in Chongqing)Make of these photos what you will! I have just put them up because I think they will interest a few people. These are photos I have just taken everyday.
On Tuesday I am going to visit my American AFS friend in Shanghai for about a week. I will come back on Sunday. I will definitely have some good things to write about after that. But while I am there I probably won't be able to post.
Recently it has just been school school school for me! I wake up at 6:30 and try to get to school by 7:30. Mostly I sit at my desk and write characters. Just about everyday I write a journal entry in Chinese so I can keep up my writing. My deskmate is cool. Unlike almost all the other students he isn't too into school. Which makes him more of a real person actually! I know how awful that sounds! He is funny and often asks me questions about America, where in turn I ask him about China.
The reason why I said he was more like a real person is because most Chinese students are so occupied with studying they can't be bothered to do/talk about anything else! School is their life and life is their school. Even on the weekends they are seldom available. When they are I always take the opportunity to be with them! I like school because you can talk to your friends at breaks and there is more socializing. I love my class!
My class is so nice to me, even though I do have one girl who amuses herself by refusing to speak Mandarin and only speaking the local dialect. She likes to watch my reaction and then laugh. I am sure if I were her I would think it's funny too! Right now my class is helping me prepare for yet another contest. This one I must sing though! I have to sing a bit of the school song. I am nervous, but i will do it nonetheless because I don't want to let down my class :)
~~~the following was written a day after the above text was typed
The weather has been rainy almost for two weeks straight! But recently it has been sunny and bright. Thus many people's spirits have been lifted. I just came back from shopping with a friend. We had a fun time desperately searching for winter clothes. If I do end up going north for Chirstmas I will need to know where the cheaper places are. However it turns out that the underground malls have limited things for men, they are shopping havens for women. It was fun nevertheless!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Don't Worry! :D 别担心！
(This sticker atop the crate of milk boxes proclaims "Rest assured milk!" meaning "Relax it doesn't have Melamine in it anymore! When I saw this I burst out laughing because it's so strange!)The milk isn't poisoned with melamine anymore! Don't worry! Only the eggs are now!
Actually I have heard only certain eggs, from certain farms. My grandma is the one that does the shopping, she is very careful so there should be no problem. And all the poisoned eggs are off the shelves.
According to CCTV English Channel 9 (a.k.a. Chinese propaganda in English for Foreigners) the "perpetrator will be brought to justice." These words come from the mouth of the health inspector.... I was under the impression that most factory inspecting officials are usually paid off.
The (Sorta) Ancient Town of Ciqikou 磁器口古镇
(the restaurant we ate in serves very fresh fish!)
(temple)
(view of Ciqikou from bikepath near the river)
(dinner, Chinese barbeque! yum!)
(looking down to the river from the old town)
(touristy knick-nack shop)
(lady selling fried sugar dough, yum yum yum)
(mask shop)
(above the mask shop)
(one part of the village)
(main gate)
Sunday evening my host family took me to Ciqikou, an ancient town now located near Chongqing. I imagine that at one time it was an actual seperate town but today it has been engulfed by the city. This place dates back to the late Ming dynasty however recently it has had a new revamping. It still has the same feel, and much of the back alleyways lead to a more authentic ancient town away from the touristy streets. While my host father, host brother, and his little cousin were preparing the barbeque (DIY at a restaurant) we went walking down the narrow lanes. I liked the atmosphere of the place! I liked to imagine what it would have been like to live here during the late Ming dynasty. My host mother told me that it was very important because it is so close to the river. Lots of trade etc.
Along the streets now are shops that cater to tourists only. But here almost everyone is a tourist unless you live in the old town. There were stores that sold clothes, fermented tofu (which smelled like dog poo, I checked my shoe a few times before my mother explained to me what the smell was), tea, dumplings, masks, and places where people will turn the characters of your name into an illustration. There was one haunted house, and one temple (closed unfortunately) build between AD 535-56.
When we got back to the restaurant the food was all ready! It was delicious! Everyone serves themselves. You take the food hot of the grill and then roll it in seasoning and voila! This eating session lasted about two hours...I am learning to eat slowly, in the USA we eat much too fast. The Chinese eat slowly so as to savor the time and flavor.
My brother and his cousin finished eating and then went off on a short bike-ride by the river, a few minutes passed and I joined them. It was a lot of fun, but a little scary because you had to squeeze really really hard on the brakes for them to work!
I was burnt out after that day and went to bed really early...but I was still tired in the morning!
Painting
(the finished product)
(view from the greenhouse/classroom window)
(painting)At 9:00am Sunday morning I was taken to art class by my Brazilian friend's host sister Zhaozhao (赵曌). We studied Chinese painting along with a bunch of ten and nine year-olds. They stared at us for a good part of the class. We would just be painting at our own separate "foreigner's table" and they would walk up and stare at our faces while we painted. I thought it was silly so I started making crazy faces back at them. They either laughed, or shrank away thinking I was some kind of creep!
The painting we were taught to make is almost an exact replica of the painting the teacher gifted me last week. First he called us to the front of the classroom and explained (in Chongqing-hua, the local dialect) how to paint this particular painting. I could only understand the general meaning of what he said because Chongqing-hua is not Mandarin (but my listening comprehension is improving!). Also it helped that he painted it right in front of us, however what took him 15 minutes took us an hour!
I like Chinese painting because it is more impressionism-y and less realistic when it comes to plants and people. Lots of the leaves in my painting are not connected to branches, and the tree only has a few branches. Color also can be whatever you want most of the time. Black is used the most though.
It was a good way to start a Sunday morning. A lot of our little classmates brought their Grandmothers whom all chatted away on the rooftop garden outside of our greenhouse classroom. They were very funny, they mused at us as much as their grandchildren did.
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