so i've been bad at updating cause i've been sick and busy and every spare moment i've just wanted to sleep,
a massive one will follow on sunday i hope but until then:
test today not so great
rest of things swell
freaking camping on this like non-touristy, unkempt cool part of the great wall slash hiking there tomorrow!!!
and i'm sick but convinced that sleeping outside on a potentially rainy night is a great idea
no joke
Friday, July 18, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
little burned-outskis
so yeah, halfway through all this, which seems like a lot and at the same time seems like nothing at all. a month is nothing in the scope of life, but a lot has happened and i've learned a lot
it's funny though how much of my realizations while traveling don't have a whole heck of a lot to do with what i'm doing or seeing.
like this past weekend after the big midterm which i did alright on but could've done better on i guess, we went to Xi'an historical center of the Chinese world, and i actually liked it better than Beijing, it just had a comfier feel to it, no clue why
but it was rockin we rode bikes on an ancient wall around the city than wandered and shopped and ate at really cool places and saw a beautiful Chinese mosque and whatnot
PLUS we got to ride a sleeper train! big fan of em!!! not so much a fan of the fact that they can FLIPPING SMOKE ON TRAINS WITH NO WINDOWS OPEN
but overall a very fun experience
and otherwise i'm just kind of chilling, but i'm kind of resenting all the work we have to do because it restricts what we can do and see and that is ucky
i'm just such a learn by doing person that the sit and listen method isn't quite as effective or interesting for me, i mean i'm learning a whole heck of a lot of Chinese and i'm doing well i just want to be able to take advantages of beautiful nights like tonight to roam and be and find new cool places and things.
until i have more time i'm just getting by and doing as well as i can, i could stand a little study motivation though cause i'm getting to the burned-out point cause we just cover so much and now i kinda feel like i'm not soaking it in as well cause they throw SOO much at us... in short, wah wah wahhhh
in other news, i love the people i'm here with for many different reasons. but i find i care a lot about their reactions to me sometimes.
that is all.
it's funny though how much of my realizations while traveling don't have a whole heck of a lot to do with what i'm doing or seeing.
like this past weekend after the big midterm which i did alright on but could've done better on i guess, we went to Xi'an historical center of the Chinese world, and i actually liked it better than Beijing, it just had a comfier feel to it, no clue why
but it was rockin we rode bikes on an ancient wall around the city than wandered and shopped and ate at really cool places and saw a beautiful Chinese mosque and whatnot
PLUS we got to ride a sleeper train! big fan of em!!! not so much a fan of the fact that they can FLIPPING SMOKE ON TRAINS WITH NO WINDOWS OPEN
but overall a very fun experience
and otherwise i'm just kind of chilling, but i'm kind of resenting all the work we have to do because it restricts what we can do and see and that is ucky
i'm just such a learn by doing person that the sit and listen method isn't quite as effective or interesting for me, i mean i'm learning a whole heck of a lot of Chinese and i'm doing well i just want to be able to take advantages of beautiful nights like tonight to roam and be and find new cool places and things.
until i have more time i'm just getting by and doing as well as i can, i could stand a little study motivation though cause i'm getting to the burned-out point cause we just cover so much and now i kinda feel like i'm not soaking it in as well cause they throw SOO much at us... in short, wah wah wahhhh
in other news, i love the people i'm here with for many different reasons. but i find i care a lot about their reactions to me sometimes.
that is all.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
supposed to be studying
i should be studying right now, instead i'd like to listen to joni and write a bit, i don't have much to write about just the average everyday, general routine is as follows:
~wake up around 6:30-7 ish to study for my ting xie..aka dictation
~shower and study till about 8:15 where i walk down the street about half a block to get a delicious egg/lettuce/ plum+ spicy sauce sandwich/pancake thingy (very difficult to explain, no comparable US treat)
~class 8:30-10:20 pretty standard, survive the ting xie with largely varying degrees of success; study some Chinese grammar and what not
~break 10:20-10:40 during which we goof around in the hall or go grab a snack at the little store this week our discussions have centered quite hilariously on defenestrating sesquipedalians
~more class from 10:40-12:30
~12:30 means lunch which is no longer painful now that we no longer have an isolation table for us first years and can sit wherever
the afternoon ='s various activities usually including a run to our favorite bubble tea place for a 5 kuai bubble tea
and naps and studying and recently a little bit of shopping! very dangerous! many cheap things including completely legit rainbows for 40 kuai aka less than 6 bucks! loves it!
in other news: each day i feel better about the Chinese speaking thing... and i'm starting to like it! i'm also trying to bring back the French & Portuguese words to keep that fresh!
~wake up around 6:30-7 ish to study for my ting xie..aka dictation
~shower and study till about 8:15 where i walk down the street about half a block to get a delicious egg/lettuce/ plum+ spicy sauce sandwich/pancake thingy (very difficult to explain, no comparable US treat)
~class 8:30-10:20 pretty standard, survive the ting xie with largely varying degrees of success; study some Chinese grammar and what not
~break 10:20-10:40 during which we goof around in the hall or go grab a snack at the little store this week our discussions have centered quite hilariously on defenestrating sesquipedalians
~more class from 10:40-12:30
~12:30 means lunch which is no longer painful now that we no longer have an isolation table for us first years and can sit wherever
the afternoon ='s various activities usually including a run to our favorite bubble tea place for a 5 kuai bubble tea
and naps and studying and recently a little bit of shopping! very dangerous! many cheap things including completely legit rainbows for 40 kuai aka less than 6 bucks! loves it!
in other news: each day i feel better about the Chinese speaking thing... and i'm starting to like it! i'm also trying to bring back the French & Portuguese words to keep that fresh!
Monday, July 7, 2008
zhongwen
schmo, sunday we went to the YiHeYuan... or Summer Palace, i'm not sure i know how to write characters on my blog, and if i did, very few could read them anyway SO i'll stick to the Pinyin!
Anywho, Summer Palace ='d gorgeous! i really liked being back out where i could breathe and where there were trees and where i had lots of space to roam! i need roaming space, this i've realized.
then lasterday we went to this park to interview some old people and it was really fun if a bit tough and confusing, we had some people that were less than inviting...BUT my last guy was my favorite!
I wanted to interview him because he was just chilling on this bench watching everyone and everything in this wicked busy park go by...obviously a kindred spirit!
so i went up to him and was asking him if i could ask him some questions (all this in chinese mind you) and the first thing he does is pat the bench beside him and i knew he was going to be significantly better than the previous two interviewees who could have been both more patient and understanding. ANYWHO, i start asking him my questions and he was just smiley and happy and i found out that he teaches music, but i'm not sure what instrument, and just all day every day he likes to teach or play or listen to music. but it was adorable how proud he was when after he said "jiao" (to teach) he was "teach..?" and i was like Dui dui! (right right) and his face just lit up. Moral of the story, he's my favorite elderly man in China!
But i also really loved the park we went to. it was full of people of all ages just playing and filling the big space with taichi... ballroom dancing...yoga...like everything you can imagine in every space. i absolutely loved it!
i think that's truly one of my favorite things about China is that take every open space and fill it with dancing or kite flying or something... and they just have cultural pride coming out their ears!
today at lunch they had what i felt amounted to a guilt trip about the language pledge. i mean they know we've all been speaking at least a little ying wen. anywho my final word on the whole language pledge deal is that i understand why it's there, the usefulness and i know first hand how much one can learn of a language when there's no crutch and you're forced to use what you have to learn the new language
HOWEVER
i feel like it's really truly an individual thing, and i feel like some people saying "oh can we have a drop box to report people" is just kind of breaking the code
i mean, in our family there's a code that is unwritten, but we all know it, there are things we just don't tell and you never rat on someone. you just don't it's against the People vs. THE MAN code.
and you can tell those who i feel have likely always had difficulty making or keeping friends (who aren't just like them) because they break the code, which is not cool and unforgivable in common society
i understand that we've all paid a lot to come here and learn chinese and that some are very serious about their language pledge, but i don't think you can expect that level of commitment from everyone because the problem with being a 100-level student or even a 200-level student is that if i were to strictly obey the language pledge i would likely be very lonely and consequently very unhappy. because as much as you can get from following the pledge, i would not be able to make any meaningful friendships because my language skills are so limited and i don't think you can fault other people for wanting to be able to ACTUALLY hold an intelligent conversation.
If one is very intent on keeping the english-free environment you could i don't know just say so to my face, because i'd obviously respect you enough to not speak it in your presence.
i think it just places people into different categories and it's entirely based upon where you see more worth in the incremental improvement in language gained by never speaking english or the people you can meet/get to know/ with whom you can become friends
if you can do both more power to you and your language skills, but don't get on other's cases because they can't, i'm sure they would if they could. you can't punish people for not having taken Chinese before.
that's all i have to say about that.
Anywho, Summer Palace ='d gorgeous! i really liked being back out where i could breathe and where there were trees and where i had lots of space to roam! i need roaming space, this i've realized.
then lasterday we went to this park to interview some old people and it was really fun if a bit tough and confusing, we had some people that were less than inviting...BUT my last guy was my favorite!
I wanted to interview him because he was just chilling on this bench watching everyone and everything in this wicked busy park go by...obviously a kindred spirit!
so i went up to him and was asking him if i could ask him some questions (all this in chinese mind you) and the first thing he does is pat the bench beside him and i knew he was going to be significantly better than the previous two interviewees who could have been both more patient and understanding. ANYWHO, i start asking him my questions and he was just smiley and happy and i found out that he teaches music, but i'm not sure what instrument, and just all day every day he likes to teach or play or listen to music. but it was adorable how proud he was when after he said "jiao" (to teach) he was "teach..?" and i was like Dui dui! (right right) and his face just lit up. Moral of the story, he's my favorite elderly man in China!
But i also really loved the park we went to. it was full of people of all ages just playing and filling the big space with taichi... ballroom dancing...yoga...like everything you can imagine in every space. i absolutely loved it!
i think that's truly one of my favorite things about China is that take every open space and fill it with dancing or kite flying or something... and they just have cultural pride coming out their ears!
today at lunch they had what i felt amounted to a guilt trip about the language pledge. i mean they know we've all been speaking at least a little ying wen. anywho my final word on the whole language pledge deal is that i understand why it's there, the usefulness and i know first hand how much one can learn of a language when there's no crutch and you're forced to use what you have to learn the new language
HOWEVER
i feel like it's really truly an individual thing, and i feel like some people saying "oh can we have a drop box to report people" is just kind of breaking the code
i mean, in our family there's a code that is unwritten, but we all know it, there are things we just don't tell and you never rat on someone. you just don't it's against the People vs. THE MAN code.
and you can tell those who i feel have likely always had difficulty making or keeping friends (who aren't just like them) because they break the code, which is not cool and unforgivable in common society
i understand that we've all paid a lot to come here and learn chinese and that some are very serious about their language pledge, but i don't think you can expect that level of commitment from everyone because the problem with being a 100-level student or even a 200-level student is that if i were to strictly obey the language pledge i would likely be very lonely and consequently very unhappy. because as much as you can get from following the pledge, i would not be able to make any meaningful friendships because my language skills are so limited and i don't think you can fault other people for wanting to be able to ACTUALLY hold an intelligent conversation.
If one is very intent on keeping the english-free environment you could i don't know just say so to my face, because i'd obviously respect you enough to not speak it in your presence.
i think it just places people into different categories and it's entirely based upon where you see more worth in the incremental improvement in language gained by never speaking english or the people you can meet/get to know/ with whom you can become friends
if you can do both more power to you and your language skills, but don't get on other's cases because they can't, i'm sure they would if they could. you can't punish people for not having taken Chinese before.
that's all i have to say about that.
Friday, July 4, 2008
back
back to our coffee spot, after a delightful breakfast at Grandma's Kitchen, a rockin place where we capped off our 4th of July activities via a big American breakfast complete w/ French toast and scrambled eggs.
Lasterday we did it up right via a TexMex dinner and going out drinking and dancing, the place we went dancing BarBlu was full of Americans complete with flags and doofy chants, obviously because they were drunk we had a few USA chants, and a lunch my friend Matt and I sang the Star Spangled Banner with our little American Flag cake that they made for us.
I'm such a geek though i absolutely went back to my room and played a couple of really great versions and sang along! And it never fails with a good version of the Star Spangled Banner i get choked up and get goosebumps! And I always think back to that time when we went to Fort McHenry and after that doofy video about how it was written as the poem by Francis Scott Key and whatnot they play it and pull back the curtain and the flag was waving....
I just really think we have one of the most beautiful national anthems and I love so many things about our country that you can't appreciate until you're somewhere else.
And I realized that one of the reasons I'm so interested in politics is that i feel like i have a vested interest in things that benefit our country and other countries in our interactions with them. I really just want to have an effect on our country and the world and i liked realizing why.
in other news, i love beijing and love learning this country in such a different way than i learned brasil and noticing the difference response i have to both and it's just such a different experience.
it also made me excited to start my application for Geneva/ Paris/ Dublin which i am leaving to the fates to decide my final locale. I would be content in any of them and i know Geneva's wicked competitive but i could live quite happily without getting it cause my other options are so rocking
that's one other noticable thing about Beijing, i'm not thinking as far ahead as i normally have to. my daily life and all the experiences within it are enough to almost entirely consume my thoughts, which has not happened for some time
in short, i'm living and enjoying and being and staying patient and positive
and i love my friends, they're seriously so great. and there's so many different people and kinds of people that i can learn something from everyone and get so much from being with them
i've found a lot of genuinely interesting and interested people and that's always what i look for in an experience
Lasterday we did it up right via a TexMex dinner and going out drinking and dancing, the place we went dancing BarBlu was full of Americans complete with flags and doofy chants, obviously because they were drunk we had a few USA chants, and a lunch my friend Matt and I sang the Star Spangled Banner with our little American Flag cake that they made for us.
I'm such a geek though i absolutely went back to my room and played a couple of really great versions and sang along! And it never fails with a good version of the Star Spangled Banner i get choked up and get goosebumps! And I always think back to that time when we went to Fort McHenry and after that doofy video about how it was written as the poem by Francis Scott Key and whatnot they play it and pull back the curtain and the flag was waving....
I just really think we have one of the most beautiful national anthems and I love so many things about our country that you can't appreciate until you're somewhere else.
And I realized that one of the reasons I'm so interested in politics is that i feel like i have a vested interest in things that benefit our country and other countries in our interactions with them. I really just want to have an effect on our country and the world and i liked realizing why.
in other news, i love beijing and love learning this country in such a different way than i learned brasil and noticing the difference response i have to both and it's just such a different experience.
it also made me excited to start my application for Geneva/ Paris/ Dublin which i am leaving to the fates to decide my final locale. I would be content in any of them and i know Geneva's wicked competitive but i could live quite happily without getting it cause my other options are so rocking
that's one other noticable thing about Beijing, i'm not thinking as far ahead as i normally have to. my daily life and all the experiences within it are enough to almost entirely consume my thoughts, which has not happened for some time
in short, i'm living and enjoying and being and staying patient and positive
and i love my friends, they're seriously so great. and there's so many different people and kinds of people that i can learn something from everyone and get so much from being with them
i've found a lot of genuinely interesting and interested people and that's always what i look for in an experience
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