Happy Thanksgiving!
My program went out for a Thanksgiving dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in Hangzhou. Our teacher/program paid for it of course. There were a lot of interesting dishes...the food was so-so. I definitely missed an all-American feast! But guess this had to so suffice considering we had not other choice. But I had a chance to call my family during Thanksgiving (States time) to say hi and hear about all the delicious food they ate. Wow, I was super jelous. But we had a friend from Valpo school come and join us from the States for dinner and he brought some chocolate and Cheez-its for us. Wow, fake cheese never tasted so good! Ha, and I had a mac 'n' cheese from one my friend's care packages from home that just about made me pee my pants it tasted so much like home. Nothing like a bowl full of sodium and processed cheese. Yes sir.
So I am super relieved to not have any finals in my Chinese classes. We just found out this past week. All the teachers decided the mid-terms were so recent that there wasn't necessary to give us a final...thank goodness! So, next week will be my last week of class and then I will have just under two weeks of free time and relaxing time. I might even travel if I have the money and time to. I would really like to go back to Beijing and spend more time enjoying the scenery without rushing through everything in a day. Plus we really didn't have much time to travel during the semester and kept cramming in site seeing into short periods of time, so it will be nice to have some free time on our hands. We do still have a final in our Civilization Culture class...a paper at that. So guess that will be all the homework I will need to work on.
Can't wait to come home!!!!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Mid-terms
Wow, it's getting so cold here in Hangzhou. The rain is miserable to be out in because it is so cold and dreary. But everyone has their umbrellas out and continuing to walk everywhere. I have recently come down with a cold and coughing on a daily basis. I finally got over my stubbornness and went to the school's clinic. That place really concerned me...with their different sense of hygiene and how all the rooms were outdoors, or at least looked that way because they never close any doors!
After some confusion, I finally had a thermometer put in my mouth and seated in a small room. The doctor didn't check for anything else after I told him my common-cold symptoms. Because I didn't have a fever, they were not too concerned. So I was given a list of four different drugs to pick up in the next room which cost about $15 total. I got a box of Tylenol Cold medicine, some cough syrup, some other pill which I will not take because I cannot read anything on these boxes, and then some packets of natural herbal medicine to mix in hot water. I tried that herbal stuff...man it made me miss sugar so bad. It smelled and tasted like poop or something along those lines. But I do feel better having been on the medications for about a day now. I have also slept every free minute I have on my hands. This is hard because we have mid-terms this week and last Friday. *Big stack of flashcards, here I come!*
Friday we had our speaking/oral exam which went okay. Then listening/audio yesterday which I thought was a breeze. And I could actually understand what they were saying for once because they didn't talk a hundred miles a minute. So that was a relief! And then this Thursday I have my grammer/comprehensive test that will take about two hours to complete. It is all in Chinese characters, no phonics! Yikes, that will be interesting.
Anyways, next week is Thanksgiving!! That's crazy and really makes me crave mashed potatoes and gravy. Ha, and some cherry pie on the side with a dash of vanilla ice cream would truly be splendid!
After some confusion, I finally had a thermometer put in my mouth and seated in a small room. The doctor didn't check for anything else after I told him my common-cold symptoms. Because I didn't have a fever, they were not too concerned. So I was given a list of four different drugs to pick up in the next room which cost about $15 total. I got a box of Tylenol Cold medicine, some cough syrup, some other pill which I will not take because I cannot read anything on these boxes, and then some packets of natural herbal medicine to mix in hot water. I tried that herbal stuff...man it made me miss sugar so bad. It smelled and tasted like poop or something along those lines. But I do feel better having been on the medications for about a day now. I have also slept every free minute I have on my hands. This is hard because we have mid-terms this week and last Friday. *Big stack of flashcards, here I come!*
Friday we had our speaking/oral exam which went okay. Then listening/audio yesterday which I thought was a breeze. And I could actually understand what they were saying for once because they didn't talk a hundred miles a minute. So that was a relief! And then this Thursday I have my grammer/comprehensive test that will take about two hours to complete. It is all in Chinese characters, no phonics! Yikes, that will be interesting.
Anyways, next week is Thanksgiving!! That's crazy and really makes me crave mashed potatoes and gravy. Ha, and some cherry pie on the side with a dash of vanilla ice cream would truly be splendid!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Poop
So tomorrow I have another unit test in my Chinese comprehensive class. That means I have a lot of flashcards to go through! We learn a lot of new vocab every week and sometimes it's hard to keep up. But so many of the international students don't even care and just skip classes and never do the homework. There have already been three students who have been kicked out of all the classes for not coming for over a third of the classes already. I just don't understand if you are paying to study abroad that you wouldn't actually have interest in what you are coming for. Many of the international students are only interested in learning Chinese on the streets and don't care to read or right the characters. I mean, it's not the funnest thing to do and it's challenging, but it also has meaning and it expands you're ability to use Chinese in the future. Well, whatever. Not my problem.
Sense of time has been frustrating me lately. Just the fact that I like to be punctual and for the most part on time for whatever. But that definitely does not apply to everyone and can really waste a lot of time in a person's day. Words can also have very different meanings when moving from one culture to another. For example, if you say you are going to be there soon, it translates into at a least an hour and a half later. And when you say you are coming, that translates into 30 minutes minimum. It's really quite frustrating because then you have to reset a watch in your mind to try and predict and re-plan the time you will ask someone to meet you. But punctuality is really not a word in some people's vocab. I just don't know how I would get through a day when I knew I was making people constantly wait for me. I would at least feel a slight sense of apology.
Sense of time has been frustrating me lately. Just the fact that I like to be punctual and for the most part on time for whatever. But that definitely does not apply to everyone and can really waste a lot of time in a person's day. Words can also have very different meanings when moving from one culture to another. For example, if you say you are going to be there soon, it translates into at a least an hour and a half later. And when you say you are coming, that translates into 30 minutes minimum. It's really quite frustrating because then you have to reset a watch in your mind to try and predict and re-plan the time you will ask someone to meet you. But punctuality is really not a word in some people's vocab. I just don't know how I would get through a day when I knew I was making people constantly wait for me. I would at least feel a slight sense of apology.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Sarah's Trip
So let's start from the beginning. I left for the Shanghai PuDong International airport around 11am last Friday from a travel agency. The bus took me directly to the airport. I was so anxious for Sarah to arrive that I became very impatient as I stood at the entrance of the international arrivals. When I finally saw her a huge hug because I was so happy to finally see someone from home! She looked exhausted as I did when I walked off the 13hr plane ride. And we were off to Hyatt number one...
The hotel was beautiful and Sarah had a room on the 28th floor that overlooked the Bund. It was so amazing at night with all the buildings' lights. I really enjoyed our stay in Shanghai as it consisted of a personal tour and a champagne brunch. We also spent an afternoon at the spa where we got full-body massages and free time in the hot tub and steam room. It was rejuviating and relaxing. Shanghai is definitely a modern version of China so Sarah did not quite get an accurate view of how the Chinese leave. I left that opportunity of experience for Hangzhou!
Well after a scary and confusing night in Hangzhou four nights later, Sarah and I are back at another Hyatt hotel. This one overlooks the West Lake, which is another beautiful attraction in China. We got a chance to check out a tea museum and take a paddle boat ride around a section of West Lake. Sarah stayed in Shanghai for three nights and Hangzhou for three nights. And now she is enjoying her last few days back in Shanghai at the third Hyatt of her trip. She will return back to the states this Saturday. I hope she enjoyed her stay, as I very much loved having her come here. It meant a lot to have a close family member come across the world to visit! And I know it wasn't easy.
Now it's time to crack down and prepare myself for the three midterms I have coming up in less than two weeks!!! I am scared and hope my cramming study habits will work this one last time, haha. Let me tell you, green tea is going to get my through the cold weather and save my voice! I bought a small teapot strainer at the tea museum that is quite handy. I really love tea and having China's loose leaf tea most definitely puts Lipton and Arizona tea to shame! Time is flying and already over half way done! Where has the first month and a half gone? I have no idea. But I know I am loving every minute of it here and hope to be able to readjust to American lifestyle when I return home.
Miss you all and have a great Thanksgiving!!!
Peace
The hotel was beautiful and Sarah had a room on the 28th floor that overlooked the Bund. It was so amazing at night with all the buildings' lights. I really enjoyed our stay in Shanghai as it consisted of a personal tour and a champagne brunch. We also spent an afternoon at the spa where we got full-body massages and free time in the hot tub and steam room. It was rejuviating and relaxing. Shanghai is definitely a modern version of China so Sarah did not quite get an accurate view of how the Chinese leave. I left that opportunity of experience for Hangzhou!
Well after a scary and confusing night in Hangzhou four nights later, Sarah and I are back at another Hyatt hotel. This one overlooks the West Lake, which is another beautiful attraction in China. We got a chance to check out a tea museum and take a paddle boat ride around a section of West Lake. Sarah stayed in Shanghai for three nights and Hangzhou for three nights. And now she is enjoying her last few days back in Shanghai at the third Hyatt of her trip. She will return back to the states this Saturday. I hope she enjoyed her stay, as I very much loved having her come here. It meant a lot to have a close family member come across the world to visit! And I know it wasn't easy.
Now it's time to crack down and prepare myself for the three midterms I have coming up in less than two weeks!!! I am scared and hope my cramming study habits will work this one last time, haha. Let me tell you, green tea is going to get my through the cold weather and save my voice! I bought a small teapot strainer at the tea museum that is quite handy. I really love tea and having China's loose leaf tea most definitely puts Lipton and Arizona tea to shame! Time is flying and already over half way done! Where has the first month and a half gone? I have no idea. But I know I am loving every minute of it here and hope to be able to readjust to American lifestyle when I return home.
Miss you all and have a great Thanksgiving!!!
Peace
Friday, October 23, 2009
Sarah is coming!!
Hello Hello, so sorry it's been so long. I have completely lost track of time lately as I have had a big test, a birthday, and a class fieldtrip. So I finally had a test in my grammar class last Friday which I did okay on. Just so many characters we are learning and putting them into the correct order is really hard to remember! But everyone did a pretty good job on the test I believe and our classes are fun.
My birthday, which I celebrated 13 hours before it really was my birthday in the States, was fun fun fun! I invited a nice group of friends out to dinner at a restaurant down the street from our campus. It was such a diverse group of friends that it was slightly difficult to start up conversations that everyone could join on. There were two Chinese, a French, two Germans, three Nigerians, and then me and my friend from the States. But it was still fun. Then after wards we four of us went to a fancy wine tasting party which was filled with classy Europeans...so we felt underdressed and out of style. But they had some killer wine that was pretty delicious. After that we moved to a few other places and finally ended up at some dance club as usual. I had a good time and didn't die, so that's always a plus on your 21st bday! Haha.
Last weekend my program from America went on a group fieldtrip to Xi'an which is to the West of Hangzhou and about a 2hr plane ride. We left for the airport at 6am the morning after my bday party...I was going off of about an hour's worth of sleep. Ha, but we were on time and I was just dandy after I slept on the plane. We had a very busy weekend as we went to see one of the most popular Pagodas, the Tarrocatta warriors excavation sites, a bell tower, a drum tower, and a Muslim neighborhood. It was pretty cool and we all made many purchases. Sunday we shopped like all afternoon because our flight home wasn't til 9pm. So after I had already spent a few hours shopping, I split off from the group and found an awesome video game arcade! Yes, videogames. The only reason why I was so interested in the arcade was because they had DDR! So I made some Chinese friends who I played the game with and had a ton of fun. Two hours have never gone by so fast before! I felt like such a nerd, but I told all my friends back home that was one of the things I was looking forward to when coming here. It was so worth my lunch money!
The mosquitos are still biting the crap out of me even though it's cooling down. Unfortunately, I think my legs will be covered with scars when I return home. And it's not from scratching and having the bites turn into scabs, it's just from the bites in general. Of course I have cream to help the swelling and itching, but dang these mosquitos have some crazy juice in them!
Anyways, off for a nap. They are becoming my new favorite habit here!!
My birthday, which I celebrated 13 hours before it really was my birthday in the States, was fun fun fun! I invited a nice group of friends out to dinner at a restaurant down the street from our campus. It was such a diverse group of friends that it was slightly difficult to start up conversations that everyone could join on. There were two Chinese, a French, two Germans, three Nigerians, and then me and my friend from the States. But it was still fun. Then after wards we four of us went to a fancy wine tasting party which was filled with classy Europeans...so we felt underdressed and out of style. But they had some killer wine that was pretty delicious. After that we moved to a few other places and finally ended up at some dance club as usual. I had a good time and didn't die, so that's always a plus on your 21st bday! Haha.
Last weekend my program from America went on a group fieldtrip to Xi'an which is to the West of Hangzhou and about a 2hr plane ride. We left for the airport at 6am the morning after my bday party...I was going off of about an hour's worth of sleep. Ha, but we were on time and I was just dandy after I slept on the plane. We had a very busy weekend as we went to see one of the most popular Pagodas, the Tarrocatta warriors excavation sites, a bell tower, a drum tower, and a Muslim neighborhood. It was pretty cool and we all made many purchases. Sunday we shopped like all afternoon because our flight home wasn't til 9pm. So after I had already spent a few hours shopping, I split off from the group and found an awesome video game arcade! Yes, videogames. The only reason why I was so interested in the arcade was because they had DDR! So I made some Chinese friends who I played the game with and had a ton of fun. Two hours have never gone by so fast before! I felt like such a nerd, but I told all my friends back home that was one of the things I was looking forward to when coming here. It was so worth my lunch money!
The mosquitos are still biting the crap out of me even though it's cooling down. Unfortunately, I think my legs will be covered with scars when I return home. And it's not from scratching and having the bites turn into scabs, it's just from the bites in general. Of course I have cream to help the swelling and itching, but dang these mosquitos have some crazy juice in them!
Anyways, off for a nap. They are becoming my new favorite habit here!!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Temptation for a vacation invitation
So the holiday...it's great! No classes and good weather. I just got back from Shanghai last night from a short weekend trip with a few friends from Hangzhou. We stayed at our friend's friend's apartment and he took us out on the town Saturday night. We had some amazing sushi and then went to a really nice cocktail joint on the roof of a really nice building. The tables were lit up in the dark and there was a great view of all the city lights. Then we just explored some other places to hang out and had some great "American" at the end of the night. This included hamburgers, ceasar salad, fries, and a reuben sandwich! The next day we just lazed around in the apartment then went shopping and out for dinner. Ate pizza the second night which was just as delicious as everything else we ate. Shanghai pretty much spoiled my appetite and as soon as my day started back in Hangzhou, I was craving American food again. Dang it, and I was doing so well too! But Shanghai is such a modernized version of Chinese culture that it is not very accurate to how most of Chinese people live. It's like saying New York City represents America or something.
Anyways, sent off my second batch of postcards last week so hopefully one of you will get them! It's always crazy for me to think that all of you back home are just doing your thing 13 hours after I do mine! I am so caught up in Chinese culture that I truly loose track of time on a daily basis and I can't believe that I've already been here for a month. It feels like I've been here for a while because it was so easy and fun to adapt to the culture here.
The weather has finally cooled down and I can walk outside without feeling like a sticky jar of honey. But the mosquitos are still biting me on a regular basis. But not as bad as the first time when two of my fingers looked like sausages for a few days. That was painful! I also saw something typical happen while I was Shanghai that just made me run but laugh at the same time. Danita and I were walking around shopping when we passed a group of Chinese people on the sidewalk who were hovered over some filled plastic bags. As I looked over, I see a dead and skinned duck being transferred from one bag to another. Ha talk about raw black market! There stuff is so fresh here though. Another friend told me when she went to the market and walked through the fish section, there was a box of squirming crabs and then a water tank filled with eels. The eels were so jumpy and energetic that one of them slithered out of the tank onto the floor! My friend jumped and ran the other way...wish I could have been there to play with the eel!
I have officially given up on my search for a piano to practice...because everyone I've asked on campus doesn't seem to have a clue where one would be. So I guess I'll just have to play catch up when I get home and devote all my time to the music building...NO ROSCOE'S!
Anyways, sent off my second batch of postcards last week so hopefully one of you will get them! It's always crazy for me to think that all of you back home are just doing your thing 13 hours after I do mine! I am so caught up in Chinese culture that I truly loose track of time on a daily basis and I can't believe that I've already been here for a month. It feels like I've been here for a while because it was so easy and fun to adapt to the culture here.
The weather has finally cooled down and I can walk outside without feeling like a sticky jar of honey. But the mosquitos are still biting me on a regular basis. But not as bad as the first time when two of my fingers looked like sausages for a few days. That was painful! I also saw something typical happen while I was Shanghai that just made me run but laugh at the same time. Danita and I were walking around shopping when we passed a group of Chinese people on the sidewalk who were hovered over some filled plastic bags. As I looked over, I see a dead and skinned duck being transferred from one bag to another. Ha talk about raw black market! There stuff is so fresh here though. Another friend told me when she went to the market and walked through the fish section, there was a box of squirming crabs and then a water tank filled with eels. The eels were so jumpy and energetic that one of them slithered out of the tank onto the floor! My friend jumped and ran the other way...wish I could have been there to play with the eel!
I have officially given up on my search for a piano to practice...because everyone I've asked on campus doesn't seem to have a clue where one would be. So I guess I'll just have to play catch up when I get home and devote all my time to the music building...NO ROSCOE'S!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Almost there
Getting ready for the Chinese holiday coming up at the beginning of October. We get a week off school and many people travel all over China! Hangzhou will be packed with tourists so I am hoping to find a way out of here for that time. So far my friend and I are looking at a small island in the Southern part of China along the coast. It's right across from Tibet, of course we are not going to Tibet! But in that location. This place has beaches, night life, and is known for their historic music. I think there is some piano museum or something there that I would really like to see! Anyways, from our research we have found some great ticket prices for the train ride (about 13 hours) and then a really nice hotel that is right by the water. I really hope it all works out and the rest of our friends can come with us.
I have come down with a slight sickness that is basically due to lack of sleep and the extreme changes in weather from day to day. The humidity is wicked and then we will have a random day of cool breezes in between. I also have been sneezing due to the trees letting go of something in their leaves during the beginning of the fall season. It makes a lot of people sneeze. But I lost my voice last Friday and still have not gotten it completely back. I sounded like a young boy going through adolescence for a few days. And now my voice has come to a steady raspy sound. Bad ass? nope, not quite. It is cooling down though and I have finally been able to just open my window instead of blasting the A.C.
If you would like a postcard...email me your address!
Peace, JBird
I have come down with a slight sickness that is basically due to lack of sleep and the extreme changes in weather from day to day. The humidity is wicked and then we will have a random day of cool breezes in between. I also have been sneezing due to the trees letting go of something in their leaves during the beginning of the fall season. It makes a lot of people sneeze. But I lost my voice last Friday and still have not gotten it completely back. I sounded like a young boy going through adolescence for a few days. And now my voice has come to a steady raspy sound. Bad ass? nope, not quite. It is cooling down though and I have finally been able to just open my window instead of blasting the A.C.
If you would like a postcard...email me your address!
Peace, JBird
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