Saunas in Hotel Rooms?

A lot has been done since last I posted from China. Three cities, a plane ride, a five hour bus ride, another 4 hour car ride, and a 30 minute gondola ride to a glacier. Oh, and I even made it back home. But here’s the first part of the story…

Kunming

We got to Kunming, Yunnan Province without incident, despite the fact that up until the moment we got on the plane we weren’t sure if our tickets were valid. Our flight was canceled twice on two different days, and then we got moved to another airline…it was all very interesting, but taught the valuable lesson to check on your flights in China. We arrived in Kunming to very clean air, and checked into our hotel room at the Greenland Hotel, only to find that apparently our room came retrofitted with a personal sauna. Seriously, it was in the corner of the room and had a tape player in which you could pipe in Tchaikovsky while taking a sauna. Doug took a picture lest no one believe us:

The next morning we got on a bus to head off to Dali. The pollution was so bad heading out of the city that you could see whole valleys disappear into hazes of smoke and toxic fumes. I was happy we were only passing through those areas. It is hard to believe that people live their whole lives in places so polluted that I can’t take a deep breath, and that in the 21^st Century it is getting worse rather than better. In valley after valley we saw houses right next to toxic smelting plants and industrial wastelands. I wonder sometimes how people live past the age of 3 in these places. I’ve seen locations like this when working, especially in the coal areas of Ningxia, but I still find it hard to believe that it happens. Fortunately, we are able to leave it all behind and keep going. I only wish something could give me hope that the situation will get better for the people left in those valleys…

Dali

Doug and I have decided we’re not sure what we think of Dali. Our hotel, Jim’s Tibetan Hotel (http://www.china-travel.nl/english/guesthouse.htm), was FREEZING. I mean, the temperature outside was in the 60s, but inside our room it was about 50. Oh, and the water was heated by solar panel, so the 2^nd day we didn’t have hot water…I am apparently a soft westerner because an icy cold shower in 50 degree temperatures is not my idea of fun.

However, the town had some very interesting aspects as well. Not the least of which is it appears to be heaven for anyone who wants to drop off the face of the earth and just hang out. There also seemed to be a large proportion of the westerners interested in…let’s just say alternative lifestyles…Like all small Chinese towns, it truly seemed like a different world, as if you stepped back in time a century or two into a place where buildings were made out of mudbrick and grey tiles with shops wares spread out for all to see:

On our second day in Dali we headed off to Cangshan to hike in the mountains. It was lovely to get out of the noise and craziness of most of China and up into the hills. We had a good 13km walk along a paved trail (there isn’t much in China that’s left to wilderness or even good old hiking trails), weaving in and out of mountain valleys where we didn’t see another soul for hours. I realized that it was the first time in a couple of months that I was surrounded by a completely peaceful environment. In all, a lovely place to be.

The last day in Dali I was pretty sick, so didn't do much more than relax and drink water. And then we headed out to Lijiang...

Bad Blogger...Bad Blogger

Ok, so I abdicated my responsibility to keep my posts updated through travels. When it took 20 minutes to upload 1 picture thanks to bad Chinese internet connections in Yunnan, I decided I would wait until I got back to Beijing. But due to some drama in the 2 days leaving Yunnan and leaving China, I didn't get to it.

So in short, Doug and I are back home in Washington, DC as of last night.

However, I still plan on updating about Yunnan (positives and negatives both) in the next couple of days, so if you want to hear about it check back...

Merry Christmas or Hannukah or Kawanza or whatever other holiday I'm forgetting!

Hotpot, Beer Fish, and Karst Scenery

Beijing:

So despite the fact that most people can’t remember a time that the international flights from the U.S. into Beijing were late, Doug’s flight came in 4 hours late on December 9^th. As a result we only had one day to relax and hang out in Beijing before leaving for our planned travel. We had some cool dumb luck that it happened to be the first snow of the year that day, so we wandered about Houhai Lake for most of the morning around all the Hutongs (old courtyard house areas built ages ago). I took some great pictures of the iced over lake and snow everywhere, but as those are on the 35mm camera, can’t post them here.

Doug also had his first taste of really good hotpot. For those of you who’ve never had it, hot pot is a boiling pot of a broth (oil, white, spicy red, or two or more types, etc.), into which you dump a variety of meat and veggies and cook yourself then dip in yummy sauces (my personal favorite is the sesame). I’m convinced that I need to find a great recipe for hotpot and open a chain of restaurants in the states…it’s one of the best foods ever for a cold day/night.

Guilin (http://wikitravel.org/en/Guilin):

On Tuesday we took off for Guilin, Guanxi Province. Guilin is supposed to be beautiful with a lot of parks, karst peaks, etc. However, we landed in a haze of smoke from them burning off the rice after the harvest, and frankly the city was overrun by businesses catering to tourists, and prices were ridiculous. We did manage to find some excellent Pijiu Yu (Beer Fish), a local specialty, and it was absolutely delicious, eaten in a restaurant where we were the only white people.

But in the end we were very happy to hop in a car and head down to Yangshuo at 9am on Wednesday morning.

Yangshuo (http://wikitravel.org/en/Yangshuo):

We arrived in Yangshuo through a cool car drive out of the haze and into the mist. We had wanted to take the boat ride down the Li River, which is apparently THE thing to do, but the river is exceptionally low right now, and no boats can get through, as you can see here:

We got dropped at our hotel, the Magnolia Hotel, a real splurge in town at RMB 220/night (http://www.yangshuoren.com/magnolia_en.htm). Then we proceeded to find a great dumpling place, Dynasty of Dumplings, right around the corner for some yummy food. Then we managed to rent a couple of nice bikes from the folks next door to the hotel (no deposit necessary since we were staying at the hotel) and got out of town.

We rode down the road, fighting trucks and tour buses, out to Yueliang Shan (Moon Hill). It was quite the hike uphill on about a million stairs…I swear…there were a million. But I have to say, despite the panting and pain in my mildly sprained hamstring (from my Badminton match with my tutor), it was more than worth it. Here are a couple of pictures from the top:

We could have done more, but frankly we were more interested in finding a place to stop and relax over a beer than anything else, so we parked ourselves on the main drag and had a beer:

That night we found ourselves at an expat-friendly resto-bar called Kelly’s Café. I broke down and had some good ol’ American food cause I couldn’t help myself. We woke up this morning to much colder, but much clearer weather. We were pretty sore from our hike yesterday, so we rented the bikes again and decided to head out to the Yulong River on side country roads. We ended up getting sidetracked to take a bamboo raft upriver as far as we could go before it dried out. It was gorgeous, practically uninhabited, and perfectly silent, a rarity in China to say the least. I could say more but I think the pictures from our bike ride and boat ride speak for themselves:

We have enjoyed Yangshuo greatly, I think largely because we came on off-season and there were practically no tourists in town. I can only imagine how crazy it gets here in the summer, and much of what we loved would be crowded with people, taking away from the relaxation we’ve had here.

Tomorrow we head off to Kunming, and Saturday we have a 5-hour bus ride from Kunming to Dali in Yunnan Province...

Last Night At the Family, Hello Luxury Hotel!

Hey folks. So tonight’s the last night I’m spending with the family, and tomorrow I go to check into the Westin for some R&R before Doug gets here. Thought I’d post some sort of summary of what’s past and what’s next.

Thoughts on the Experience:

Well, in the end I think I found out I was a bit less flexible than I thought in my lifestyle and my ability to drop my own ideas when faced with something different. One never wants to find out you are less tolerant and open-minded than you thought, but I guess it’s a good learning experience to know where your boundaries are.

For anyone who wants a crash-course in learning a foreign language, I would definitely suggest going to the country and living with a family that doesn’t speak English. It’s amazing how much the mind can learn if it doesn’t have a choice if it wants to eat or know where it can get water!

I missed home more than I expected, but also made some great friends. All my tutors have been especially great to get to know. The badminton match (see prior post) was brutal on my muscles but lots of fun. Whether or not I actually want to return to this house, they have been more than kind and have repeatedly told me that this is my house too now and anytime I’m back in China I must come see them. I knew from prior experiences that people in China are hospitable to a fault, and now I’ve experienced it in its largest form. Don’t underestimate the persistence of the head of households in China!

What’s Next?:

Doug and I are off to Guilin, Yangshuo, Dali, and Lijiang next week. From everything I hear they are beautiful places, and I’m looking forward to seeing something new. I will likely bring the computer on the trip so will probably post from there. Doug and I wanted to go to Dali ten years ago when we were students in China but didn’t have enough time to get there by train and back. This time we’re flying, so should be a little bit shorter.

Tomorrow this time I'll be out with friends in Beijing, celebrating the fact that I've at least managed to stick it out and learn what I can in the time I allotted myself. Only time will tell if it's worth it, but at this moment I can truly say I accomplished something.

Wow That Went Fast….Or Did It?

Hope everyone had a fun Turkey-Day. I had a blast myself. New favorite tradition: after you gorge yourself on a million different types of food til you can’t stand up, go get a Chinese foot massage! On Thanksgiving seven of us did that and it was marvelous. I basked in the hospitality of friends of friends, and ate more food than I have in months. It was loads of fun. The next day I headed off to Shanghai bright and early. Had a lovely time chilling and sleeping and eating. Went to the plant and animal market and took this picture of crickets and locusts…apparently people use them as pets…


Oh, and then I saw this and couldn’t resist posting – have you ever seen so many ducks lined up at one time?


When you’ve been doing something for a limited period of time that is very challenging, it is inevitable that at some point you begin the countdown to the last time you do X, or the last time you do Y. Guess by going to Shanghai I inadvertently set off my own personal countdown clock. Not til I leave China, but until I move out of someone else’s house and go out on my own again…oh, and did I mention my husband’s coming? J Hopefully the time will go fast…just 9 days until I leave the program and head out on my own, and Doug shows up in 11 days.

Tomorrow I go talk to the people at Lotus to give them feedback on my experience and let them know what I think they could do better. So I decided yesterday that I should look back on my time here and figure out what I accomplished, what I could have done better, and whether I met my goals or at least did what I could given the existing circumstances. All in all I think I did well. However, I think the more I’ve learned the more I realize how far I truly have to go to be at a level that I would like to be. I really need a year here to get my language up to par. We’ll see how things play out in the next couple of months as to whether I come back or not in the Spring and set myself to learn more and make more progress.

Well tomorrow I play badminton with my tutor. I expect she'll wipe the floor with me.

Thanksgiving Cometh

I thought it was my duty as a good American to comment on the fact that Thanksgiving is coming. I’m finding it very interesting that no one here seems to have ever heard of the holiday. They’ve all heard of Christmas (the commercialism and consumerism of that holiday seems to have found its way into the hearts of Chinese merchants everywhere), but no one has the foggiest idea what Thanksgiving is. For some reason I find that intriguing. In the end, it’s probably the most celebrated holiday in the U.S., and yet a huge portion of the world’s population doesn’t even know about it. What does that say about our new “world is flat” idea? What holidays do we know nothing about in other countries? How can we ever truly understand another culture if we don’t understand what they celebrate and why?

Ok, I’m not saying most Americans even know what Thanksgiving really signifies other than a big feast with family and friends, not even sure I really do, but at least I know in theory. And I think it is a big part of our culture that we choose to go to crazy lengths through hellish airports and roads to find our families and friends to celebrate by eating a big tasteless bird, gorging ourselves on countless delicious side-dishes, and napping it all off afterwards while staring mindlessly at parades and football. It’s a way to bond with our families that we don’t see very much due to our hectic lives, and a way to force ourselves to stop and give thanks for all that we have amongst the craziness of our lives. The question then becomes, what defines other country’s holidays that we don’t know about?

In true American fashion, I will be taking to the roads/skies this weekend to find some form of comfort and familiarity that is associated with Thanksgiving. Tonight I blow this joint after tutoring and head over to a friend’s house to sleep. Sleep – what a wonderful thing. Then tomorrow I will be gorging myself on good ol’American food thanks to the hospitality of friends of friends, and hanging out doing good ol’American things for the first time in a couple of months. Then Friday morning I head out to Shanghai, again thanks to the hospitality of some lovely people. I’m going to spend a luxurious weekend in Shanghai getting clean, eating excellent food, shopping (only window shopping Doug, don’t worry!), and relaxing. Hopefully I’ll come back recharged and ready for my lasts two weeks!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Blog Spamming

So I have just had to remove a spammer’s comment from my prior post. Someone plugging his/her Chinese wine business. So not cool.

As a result I’ve had to initiate a comment moderation protocol. So your comments may not appear quickly on my blog, as I’m 11hours ahead of most of you. However, I’m hoping this will enable me to actually SEE your comments, since they’ll be emailed to me before they go up on the blog. You see, I can’t actually get to my own blog from China as it has been blocked by the sensors, so Doug’s been sending me your comments as they appear. Fortunately (so far) posting has not been blocked.

Be warned spammers: you will not survive! I will conquer!

Chinese Wine…He Bu He? (To Drink or Not To Drink?)

So I thought I’d do a little cultural experiment today. I do like wine very much, especially good wine. Good wine is particularly difficult to come by in my little corner of Beijing. However, today I was at the ChaoShiFa (a supermarket chain here) buying Gatorade for the little girl in the house who’s had the stomach flu for 3 days now (family didn’t seem to know about Gatorade and they couldn’t get the kid to drink anything – poor thing’s screaming was breaking my heart). I stumbled upon a huge display of “Great Wall Wines.” Firstly I thought it was amusing that all the labels were in English, and secondly I thought it was hilarious that they were proudly labeling themselves as the official wine of the 2008 Olympic Games. So of course…I had to buy a bottle right?

I know what a lot of you are thinking…this can’t turn out well…especially with that lead-in.

Ok, so while on Skype with Doug, I mentioned that I bought it, and of course then we both start doing searches for anything about the 2003 Great Wall Cabernet Sauvignon. The only thing I could find was this article from Vancouver Magazine about obscure wines: http://www.vanmag.com/foodanddrink/07oct/Drink.shtml. Before I tell you about the review, and before you go and read the review, let me tell you what my tastebuds said.

The nose is definitely unique, I’d say heavy plum with an underpinning of coal (or maybe my nostrils are just coated with coal dust from living in Beijing). There’s also a very strong tannin component that comes through as it opens up. For the taste, I’m not sure I can describe it….a very off Merlot? Or maybe a corked Cab? Heavy tannin with a subtle shag-carpet finish. I know…I know…I’m being pretty harsh. But really, not sure what they were trying to accomplish with this wine. It doesn’t taste like any Cab I’ve ever had, but then again, it’s not as bad as that RMB 20 bottle I bought in some town somewhere at my old job. I think they were going for a moderate fruit with some oak or pine finish, but didn’t really accomplish it. The balance is off…way off. So apparently I agree with the reviewer at the Vancouver Magazine – a Tsing Tao is better with food!

Et voila! My experiment with Chinese wine is accomplished…though I do think that to give it a fair shake I should probably sample a few more, but next time I might just try a glass instead of being stuck with a bottle…

Answer to initial question: 2003 Great Wall Cab: Bu He! (don't drink!)

Because that Last Post Was Depressing…

Ok…so I read back over the last post and other than the whole travel discussion I realized it sounded pretty darn depressing. Guess I was in a weird mood due to the fact that last week was a pretty odd week, what with switching tutors, not having any set schedule, kid in the house is sick (i.e., not sleeping so well), and it was hump-week for the trip. As a result I thought I’d post something a little more normal and less dull.

The Learning:

Today begins my new tutoring schedule. I have two tutors that are friends from college and both are teachers at reputable colleges in Beijing. In fact, the newer tutor, Zhang Laoshi (laoshi = teacher in Chinese), is a teacher at UIBE, where Doug and I studied 10 years ago…when we both realized that it was pretty funny.

From now on, my weekends will be Friday-Saturday, and the rest of the days I’ll have tutoring from 1-7pm, one chapter a day. I started adding it up recently when I saw the huge pile of flashcards on my window-sill, and realized I’ve probably learned 700+ words in the last month (or had the opportunity to learn…not saying I know all of them yet), not the characters, but the words. I’ve started trying to learn the characters, or at least learn to recognize them if not write them. It’s pretty daunting. I also realized that I’ve gone through the equivalent of a year and a half of Chinese in the last month, and by the end I will have studied the equivalent of two years (if you measure these things by the number of books you finish). Pretty crazy when you add it all up.

The Seeing Things:

Yesterday the Lotus program invited all of its current students to visit Yonghegong, the largest Lama Temple outside Tibet. About six students showed up. A few of the other students couldn’t make it due to being sick…it’s that time of year you know. We spent a few hours there with the folks from Lotus teaching us about Buddhism and how it fits into Chinese culture and history. It was pretty fun. I don’t have any pictures right now because I took my good 35mm camera instead of my digital. I may post some pictures later if Lotus sends them. It was great to be there early morning before the boatloads of tourists showed up. Still relatively touristy, and I would definitely rather go to a quieter temple, but it is definitely beautiful nevertheless.

After the temple they took us to the most famous vegetarian restaurant in Beijing, Yu Xiang Zhai, which is around the corner from Yonghegong and across the street from the Confucian Temple. I guess they specialize in making vegetarian food that looks and tastes like the meat equivalent. I had Lazi Ji (a chicken dish) and pepper steak, that looked and tasted remarkably like the real thing. Oh, and it was a buffet so we all gorged ourselves – it’s probably the most food I’ve eaten since I came here.

In short, it was nice to get out and see something fun and socialize with people I can communicate with, and hopefully my tutoring will continue to get better. I’ve learned quite a bit, and since folks keep telling me to remember that when I got here I spoke very little and look how much progress I have made, I spent some time reflecting on that this morning. I guess if I make the same relative progress over the next month I will have accomplished something pretty cool. Unfortunately, when you start counting down (as I kind of am at this point…really looking forward to the travel and seeing Doug after all), I think you lose some of the drive. But I’m going to try and stay focused and learn as much as possible in the time allotted and see where it takes me.

See! I can have a positive post once in a while! :-)

11/12: Update: Here are some pictures that lotus sent me...I can't believe how ridiculous I look!

A Post Just Cause I Thought I Should Post

Ok, so I haven’t been all that good at this blog thing. Guess I’ve been spending a lot of time studying and haven’t really DONE much.

I’ve had my weird tutor issues (I now have 2 tutors, neither of which is the tutor I began with), and the aforementioned house issues. But in the end I haven’t had much chance to experience Beijing, really. I live pretty far out in the ‘burbs, so it really feels like an epic journey to get into town. With Beijing traffic, a cab ride into interesting places will often take an hour, and the bus ride to the nearest subway station is 40 minutes.

A lot of people have been telling me to just get out of the house every day, but sometimes it just feels like such an effort, since a large part of the day I need to be studying. At least at the house I know what I’m in for, and in the end China is just so darn loud (ok…my home here isn’t exactly quiet with the baby either, but there’s always headphones!)…I never thought of myself as someone who really wanted a lot of quiet, but there it is. Must be the lack of sleep or structure or activity getting to me. For those of you who know me well, you know I very much like to DO things. With notable exceptions, I tend to gravitate towards activity and progress towards something. Whereas here, I know in theory I have a goal (i.e., learn as much Chinese as possible, which is, I hope, going decently well despite the turnover in tutors), but that is a bit nebulous in the end.

Oh, and for those of you who were curious about my travel plans after the tutoring/homestay program is over, Doug and I have made our decisions. Yes, Doug is coming out on December 9^th (YAY!), for his first trip back to China in 10 years and staying until December 23^rd, at which point we’ll both head back to Washington, DC. I’m looking forward to showing him how it’s changed. But I digress…we’ve decided to forego Xixuangbanna, a location I mentioned to many of you before I left (after about 1 week of going back and forth repeatedly on the idea). We realized that if we wanted to do it right, we would need to spend both of our two weeks there to do it right, and both of us agreed that Dali and Lijiang were must-sees, if for no other reason than we always wanted to go to Dali 10 years ago and didn’t have the time. So as a result we’re going to visit Guilin, Yangshuo, Dali, and Lijiang. We bought our plane tickets today, so it’s all set and we can’t change our minds again! J

Oh, and just cause I thought I should prove I’m actually in Beijing, here’s a picture taken by Erin today at Tiantan (The Temple of Heaven)…and my hair is standing up because of the wind…not some new-fangled hairstyle!

Sorry about the somewhat boring and disjointed post, but guess I’m just in a funk today. Maybe hitting the half-way mark has thrown my mental state for a loop…more fun next time I promise!

Modern Beijing

Despite all the talk in the West about how much China has changed in the last 10-15 years, it’s difficult to truly fathom how much change has truly occurred. The pace of change is truly remarkable, and I guess you could say I have seen it first-hand, which sometimes I find hard to believe. I never guessed that I would watch a country change so much in such a short time.

I first came to Beijing China in 1997, as part of the Carleton Beijing Program. At the time, there were still more bicycles than cars, you regularly saw mule/horse-drawn carts on major streets, and the fourth-ring road (Si Huan Lu) was not built yet. The colors I remember from that time are mostly grey and brown, broken only on rainy days when all of the bicyclists in Beijing would magically break out these neon-colored rain tarps to ride down the street. We lived on the outskirts of Beijing, north of the third-ring road (San Huan Lu) and could see farmland from our windows at the University of International Business and Economics. There was a large dirt track north of us that we heard might become a new ring road. We ate at mom and pop places in holes-in-the-wall locations, and when we heard that the first Dunkin’ Doughnuts was opening in Beijing probably ten of our group went on an epic bus and walking trek downtown to taste the first coffee we had had in 2 months.

Now things have changed. I came back to Beijing about six years later, in August 2003, right after SARS shut the whole country down for several months. I was here for two weeks, and must have visited every park within walking distance of the St. Regis hotel on Jianguomen Dajie. And I walked it all, seeing the differences everywhere and becoming astonished at what change had wrought in six years.

I have been coming back 2-3 times a year ever since. I have seen streets that existed disappear, buildings spring up into huge towers, and whole neighborhoods leveled for shopping malls and apartment towers. Huge hutong neighborhoods (one story courtyard house groups built in the Chinese imperial era) have either been leveled or “restored” to two-story lavish homes or boutique hotels north of the Forbidden City. There’s now a Starbucks pretty much everywhere. The fourth and fifth ring roads have been built, and I’m currently living in a 20-story apartment building surrounded by other such buildings and hotels between the third and fourth ring roads close to the Summer Palace. As I recall, 10 years ago the Summer Palace was basically in the countryside.

I wish I had electronic copies of the pictures I took 10 years ago for a true comparison, somehow I think even I would be astonished to compare them to what I see every day here. The contrast truly hit me this evening when I went out to have Indian food with some friends at a place that they jokingly called the Arlington Commons of Beijing. There was a Zara, a Starbucks, a Guess store, an international food court…and oh yes, the biggest darn TV screen I’ve ever seen:

Oh, and 10 years ago some of us went to a nightclub called the “PLA Club,” which yes, did stand for the People’s Liberation Army. Western women got in free, and there were cage dancers. This is what the location looks like now:

In the end I don’t know what all of this means. I think I just needed to get it all down on paper (or the internet I guess) how remarkable the changes I’ve seen really are. In the end I feel privileged to have seen such rapid change in a city that I truly find fascinating in all its aspects, and am impressed at how quickly the standard of living has rocketed skyward here. However, there is a sort of sadness for the type of life that has been lost: the slow methodical pace of riding a bike down the large, crowded, bike lanes of Beijing (no one ever went faster than anyone else you see…), has been replaced by millions of cars, taxis, and tour buses. But in the end, who can ever truly say whether such massive changes are ultimately good or bad…only history can tell, and 30 years from now when I read that history book, I can say I was here to see it happen, which is astounding and humbling all at the same time.

A New Tutor and A Bus Trip in Beijing

So since we last spoke I’ve not done much of note. I’m starting to get used to living here. It’s never going to get better (i.e., diapers are no where to be found, and it ain’t ever gonna be clean), but I’ve begun to get used to it. It’s really the shower situation that has me most uncomfortable, but I’ve sworn to think of it as one long camping trip! The little girl is cute, but unfortunately screams a lot all the time. And when she screams they give her what she wants, so me thinks it’s not going to change any time soon.

One weird thing I’ve noticed here is that no one introduces themselves. I moved into the house and I still don’t know the name of the Ayi or the baby. Three days ago the mom finally told me her name was Yuan. That was apparently a huge breakthrough. I’ve also met Yuan’s younger brother, his wife, and their daughter and had dinner at their house last night, and no one introduced themselves there either. I just find that very odd. I guess since they know who I am they don’t think they have to introduce themselves? Who knows…

I have a new tutor as well. My old tutor is still my morning tutor, but now I have a new tutor for the afternoons who is a teacher, and I suddenly find myself much less frustrated with the way things are going. It’s amazing what having a teacher that actually knows how to teach and organize a lesson will do for your ability to learn. Of course the lion’s share of the work is still in my ballpark, as I have to try and remember all those darn words and grammatical structures, but it’s a huge start towards feeling like I can actually make some progress in the next 5 ½ weeks.

Bus Trip:

Ok, so in the United States when you take a bus, even if it’s crowded (i.e., the Orange Line during rush hour when it’s raining) there’s still some sort of awareness of feeling awkward about being pressed up against other people. Most folks will try and gain a little bit of personal space if possible even in the crush. In China, not so much. Today on the way back from my tutoring up at the Beijing Language and Culture University it was rush hour in Beijing. You think a couple of million people make for a crazy rush hour…try 12 million. I got on this bus that was already packed, and thought I’d be the last one on because I couldn’t see how anyone else would fit…boy was I wrong wrong wrong. About 7 more people got on behind me, some of whom blocked the doors from closing, so the bus started driving and people were hanging out the doors. Then there was the argument between the money-taker and one of the passengers…she got thrown off at the next stop, when about 4 more people got on. I guess riding in a bus in Beijing during rush hour defines what it means to feel like a sardine. Couldn’t move an inch of my body. When I finally got out I had to push people out of the door to do it…guess I don’t have to worry about seeming rude!

Perspectives on Homelife in China vs. U.S.

As you can see in the post below, I’m having to come to terms with the fact that as a 30-something, I’m apparently much more close-minded and much less adaptable than I was as a 20-something. I sincerely did freak out about my situation for about 2-3 days. I’m still concerned about my ability to stick it out.

When I decided to come here and do a homestay, I sincerely thought I knew what I was getting into (I’ve been to Chinese homes of various types over the years). While I recognized it would be difficult, I don’t think I realized that knowing in theory about how we in the United States live versus how Chinese families live, and actually living in it, would be such a crisis-inducing experience for me. I did some nutty things in college while in China and lived in some pretty god-awful places both in China and of all places the Netherlands. Therefore I thought – hey…I did it then, I can do it now. But I guess at that point we are all relatively malleable when it comes to our living conditions, and we do things for the adventure of it all.

Somewhere along the line, I think I got used to the comforts and stability of my own home. We come to expect a level of privacy in the U.S. that doesn’t exist here. We also have a perception of cleanliness that borders on the neurotic, but nevertheless I think it forms our thoughts and opinions of other homes and our ability to feel comfortable in places less clean. And don’t get me started on the sanitary conditions of our food in China vs. US…that’s a whole different ballgame.

I think in the end this experience will be good for me if I can manage to stay healthy and stick it out. Although I don’t really think I’ll ever be comfortable here, it will have served to expose my own shortcomings and prejudices about my own life and the lives we all lead.

I guess in the end that's the point of a cultural exchange...

New Homestay Update

I needed to wait until today to write this so that I could calm down a bit before I made everyone think I was about to jump off a bridge or pack it in and come home (only Doug was subjected to those two days).

As you can see from the pictures posted below, this is a very interesting environment I’ve found myself in. But in the end they are very nice people, and happy to have me here, and have shown me nothing but hospitality.





Here’s the full deal:

This was supposed to be a 31-year old couple. I see no sign of the husband whatsoever, nor have I seen any sign that a man lives here even part time (no male clothing or shoes, etc.). Instead there’s the mom, a live-in Ayi (literally “Aunt” but generally used to refer to a nanny), and the 1 year old.

When I arrived, I realized that, consistent with many parents in China, the mom has the baby in split pants (i.e., no diapers). Within 30 minutes of being on the premises, the baby, which is not potty-trained, came jogging into my room….well you can fill in the blank with that one. Needless to say it contributed to my complete freak-out about my situation.

Oh, and did you see the picture of the bathroom? Yes, to the left of the Chinese squat-toilet (which I share with the Ayi and the baby – the mom has her own bathroom that has a western toilet, but in order to use it I’d have to go through her bedroom) is the shower. There’s a drain on the floor.

No one in the house but me speaks any English at all (the mom speaks a few words but that’s it.

The last few days have been exceedingly difficult mentally, but fortunately two different friends here in Beijing offered up their respective homes to me for Saturday night. It gave me a enough of a break from all the adjustments that I was able to come back here Sunday afternoon and get some perspective.

Weird Key Obsession Leading to Moves

So I’m in a very odd situation right now, and will be leaving my cushy suburban home for a new place.

My host family (Bai and Liu) lives in a locked building on the 8^th floor. When I arrived there was no mention of how I would get in and out of the building. By the 2^nd day I came to the realization that no key was forthcoming. I asked about it. They said they didn’t have one for me. Due to the language barrier, I couldn’t explain that as a 30-something year old woman, I was not accustomed to the idea that I would have to have mom and dad buzz me in when I wanted to go anywhere, and who knows if they would be here when I came back?

Then an additional complication arose, that my tutor is actually a graduate student at Beijing Normal University and therefore does not have an office. So we’re needing to do our sessions (6-hours a day mind you…more on that later) in the apartment otherwise we’re banished to the nearest kafeiguan (coffee shop). The family definitely didn’t like that. They said we couldn’t have our sessions here because they were too busy and wouldn’t be around all the time, and without a key they would have to be around.

So we told Lotus Study (https://www.lotusstudy.com) about the situation to see if we could resolve it (i.e., get me a key so I wasn’t a prisoner in their home and so I had a place to do my tutoring). In the end they wouldn’t give me a key or agree to let me have my tutoring sessions here, even knowing that it would necessitate me leaving (I mean hello? I’m 30+ and if I’m living with you presumably you’d give me a key). From conversations I had, I get the impression that they might have been willing to give me a key, but they don’t trust my tutor (which is weird no?).

As a result, I will be leaving these nice people in their very clean apartment (anyone who’s been to China can tell you how rare that is) tomorrow morning and moving in with a young couple with a 1-year old child. Frankly I really liked these folks – they were very kind and very happy people – and am in a lot of ways sad to go.

Here’s the good and the bad:

Good: new family isn’t in the boonies, they’re 10 minutes closer to the center of town, making transport much easier, and I shouldn’t have any problem getting a darn key to not feel like I’m in elementary school again

Bad: I have to adjust again to something entirely new and get to know new people once again, oh, and let’s pray the 1-year old isn’t a screamer.

Adjustments

I have officially arrived at my homestay with the family. Got in around 12pm on Sunday afternoon. I think I would have been better prepared for this kind of experience as a student, but as an adult it is going to be quite the adjustment. They seem like very nice folks, and I will probably end up liking them very much once I can communicate better with them, but at the moment I feel seriously like a fish out of water.

They have apparently kicked their daughter out of her room for me (she’s sleeping on a cot in the study), which in of itself is making me quite uncomfortable, but then the daughter is quite the phantom. I can’t imagine being 15years old and going to lessons on Sunday until 9:00 PM then leaving the next morning at 6:30AM for school. Craziness!

I also feel bad because I’m not apparently eating enough for them and I get the sense that they feel like I don’t like what they’re feeding me. Unfortunately it’s not the problem. I’m just seriously not hungry. It’s probably the nerves from the hugeness of what I’ve done here (do I really have 8 more weeks of this????), and living entirely outside my element.

I’m going to try and get the family together and take a picture for the blog this evening…hopefully they’ll be amenable J

The serious studying started today as my tutor arrived at 9:00 AM to pick me up...less time for reading now and the work begins!

Here's the picture of my room and family:

I'm Here

Well I arrived safe and sound, with the added perk of a free upgrade to business class. Guess they oversold the flight and status has its privileges.

Right now I'm concentrating on staying conscious...jet lag hitting me hard this time, probably cause I've got no where I have to be.

Funny story from the road:

I get into the cab at the Beijing airport, and he has the radio on. It took me a few minutes in my just-got-off-the-plane haze to realize he was listening to Italian Opera. Maybe it's just me but I found that oddly hilarious.

The Countdown Begins

Today's the day after my goodbye party, and the reality of leaving is beginning to sink in.

My visa is obtained, the list of things to bring is finished, I know who my host family is, and I'm going to see today if I over-estimated the amount of space in my luggage.

People keep asking me if I'm excited. I don't really know if I am at this point because there's a kind of unreality to the idea that I'm leaving my home, my husband, and everything I've grown accustomed to for three months. Many have said they think what I'm doing is brave, but I'm not sure that is entirely accurate, as I'm pretty much scared stiff of what I'm jumping into. Having the comfort of knowing that I have friends in Beijing is making it more tolerable, and knowing that Doug (the husband) will be joining me in December is also a boon. But I'm terrified that I won't be able to accomplish what I've set out to do (i.e., learn enough additional Mandarin to be useful to an employer, then find a job where I can use it), not to mention having to live by someone else's rules for the first time since I was 18 years old. I suppose all these fears are normal, and once I land in China I will be so immersed in what I am doing that I probably won't have time to think about any of this (or at least I hope so!!!).

Today I pack and try and get some last minute errands completed...Next time I post will be from Beijing.

The Planning...

One never realizes how daunting the planning is to pick up your life and leave for a while until one attempts it. I'm coming to the scary realization that I have a million things to do and only 2 and a half weeks to accomplish all of it. I guess that's what I get for going on vacation for a week less than a month before I leave the country! (I'll post some info and pictures from our trip shortly)

This week is my last week of work, and there are 26 signatures to be gotten before the week is out from various offices at the DOC, proving I haven't stolen a computer or library book in the nearly six years there. It is truly amazing to me how difficult it is to quit a federal job! And unfortunately I'm stuck at home today with a nasty cold.

I still have to get my Chinese visa, and haven't received any information as of yet on my host family, but I'm really starting to get excited/scared all at once for the adventure. I've started realizing the big bite I've decided to take out of life, and am just hoping that I'm up to the challenge.

Next question for me: do I pack up a good portion of my things here in DC in case the move to San Francisco happens before I get back or would that be jinxing things? sigh...so many decisions...

Hi Everyone

Well, since I'm going to be "untethered" for the next 3 months, I thought I'd start a blog to keep people up to date on happenings, etc.

Notes on what's happening:

• I quit my job this week: thought it would scare the bejesus out of me, but turns out it just made me really happy! (for those of you who know me well, I have a long and nefarious history with my doomed job at the Department of Commerce, which is a story for another day).
• I'm getting ready for my stint at the homestay immersion program in Beijing China. As many folks know, I have a long fascination with China, beginning with my Junior year of college, when I went on the Carleton Beijing program (http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/ocs/beijing/). Roy Grow has a way with making you fall in love with China...and once it's in your blood it's very difficult to purge the obsession. So, I'll be living in Beijing for 2 months. Bought a one-way ticket today.

So that's the long and short of it. From time to time I'll update the blog, hopefully upload some pictures, and in general use it as a lazy way of keeping in touch with friends while I'm immersed in China.

I'm imagining my first posts from China now - briefing all of you on the tasty goodness of Chinese food (yummy jiaozi - boiled dumplings not to be confused with the run-of-the-mill potstickers - is all I can think of right now).

So...welcome to my silly blog!