Random thoughts on Studying in China

1. The weather changes quickly…as in the temperature drops 30 degrees in 2 days.
2. Whenever people give compliments, you should always, ALWAYS reject them.
3. When people ask how you are doing, you should probably just say you’re doing good. Otherwise you will have to use a lot of Chinese to explain your situation and you might not explain it very clearly, so then they will think you are not well (in the head).
4. If you consistently leave the apartment complex by yourself, the gate-keeper will think you are a social misfit and ask you why you are always alone. (You should have a good answer prepared for her.)
5. If you ask the teacher questions during class, it’s considered rude. Wait to ask your questions until the break or ask your classmates the question after class.

More KTV

Did I mention that our friend brought her 9 year old to KTV. He enjoyed playing the instruments and bopping people on the head with the tambourine. He has more energy than most.

Tutor Time

My Chinese tutor is very lovely (as my Chinese friends say). To make some snap judgements, she is a traditional Chinese girl. Her frame is feeble and her speech is slight and delicate. She wears high heels, light pastel skirts, and blouses, …yes I do mean blouses. She wears pretty things in her hair like headbands and small barretts. She doesn’t wear make-up and she has had a serious boyfriend for two years. She’s honest and direct about appearances. I asked her if her room-mates were pretty, and she responded that only two of them are pretty and the other 2 are hard-working.

In our study time, she is incredibly patient and careful not to use complex words. When she does introduce new words, she explains them using simple Chinese words that I already know; this is a skill that I would do well to model in the future.
We meet 2 afternoons a week for two hours. Usually, we speak in Chinese for nearly the entire 2 hours. This is a mental work-out for me especially since my vocabulary is limited. I circumlocute almost everything I say. Instead of saying the store’s name, I have to describe what I bought at the store and where the store is located. Instead of saying what I bought at the store, I have to describe what the thing does that I bought at the store, and so it goes. By the end of our time together, I have few coherent thoughts remaining in Chinese. It’s like I’m playing a game of scrabble only in this case, the game pieces are Chinese words instead of English letters. I have only so many words in my head. In order to be coherent, I have to work those words in such a way my tutor will understand. It’s challenging, but also incredibly addicting.

Trains, Trains

Traveling on the train in China is a unique cultural experience. After and during each train ride, I tell myself that I will never travel by train again. However, I always break this little promise to myself and continue to rely on the train for its efficiency and convenience. I think the most difficult part of the train experience is the mount and dismount. People pushing everywhere, whistles going off at random...you get the idea.
I would love to go into more detail about the stressors of riding on trains, but after I finished writing the draft, I thought it sounded a little too negative for this positive and cheerful blog :) I don't want faithful readers to feel that I'm complaining. I'm blessed to be a guest here.

Restaurants

We went to several ritzy restaurants during this short visit to Hengyang. Because I no longer live in Hengyang, I was treated as a guest. In China, it's the tradition to treat the guest. Since I had 2 friends with me, I think we were treated extra well. I always feel a tinge guilty about this red carpet treatment, but I know the pendulum will swing to the left when my friends come to visit me in Changsha.

Visit to Hengyang

This week-end was the Mid-Autumn Day Festival. On this day, Chinese people do 2 important things..eat moon cakes, and look at the moon with their family. I got to do a little bit of both. First though, I visited the city where I was formerly teaching....Hengyang. Hengyang also produces a special flavor of moon cake. It's flatter than the other ones, and it tastes a little bit like flowers.

I also took two of my current classmates with me. I think they really enjoyed it. We went to KTV for our first time ever in China. A lot of my Chinese friends love going to KTV, and now I understand a little bit why. It's a chance to have a room, just you and your friends, with your very own karaoke machine. You get to choose all the songs and collectively as a group decide who sings what. It's pretty sweet! Unfortunately, all the Chinese songs were in Chinese characters, so my classmates and I could only sing a few of the simple words in the Chinese songs.

My Fun new, Random Notebook

My New Room

Back to School

Today was our first day of classes. I had two Chinese teachers. They both spoke more English than I would have preferred, but considering that about 1/3rd of our class has had no introduction to Chinese, I understand their pace. In traditional Chinese classrooms, the students should show the teacher utmost respect…standing when the teacher asks them a question and waiting until the teacher’s official dismissal before shuffling their books into their bags and leaving class. But in this classroom, I wasn’t sure which culture rules applied, so for the first few times when it was my turn to answer the teacher or read the Chinese tones, I stood up. However, then I remembered that in Chinese culture, it’s not always a positive quality to be different from the group. So, here I sat, confused about which cultural rule trumps the other, to stand and show respect or to be like the group? In the end, I decided to stay seated when answering questions and follow the grain of my classmates.

In my class of beginning students, we have 9 students, but we represent 7 countries: Germany, Turkey, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, America, and Canada. On my walk home, my German class-mate asked me my age. I told him he was becoming Chinese, since it is a common question and public knowledge to discuss one's age in China. When I told him my age, he looked a little surprised then so blatantly pointed out, “That’s 7 years older than me.” I think we'll be friends.