I'm done with classes for the week!!!! I made it through the ting xies and the preview assignments and the 书本知识 vs. 动手能力 debate and the oral report and the essays and the "拔苗助长" 成语!
We have four rotating teachers, I really like two of them...and hate the other two.
Lately, we've been pretty busy. We went to an "intro to taiji" class... complete with informational powerpoint! We won't get to actually do taiji for another week or so.... We also went to a Chinese arts and crafts class where we made Chinese knots. That was extremely frustrating, but I finally made one (and it was funny to see Julius lose his mind messing with that stupid red string).
Yesterday we went to the US consulate downtown and talked to some US State Department employees. I realized then that I really don't want to work for the State Department in China anymore...they're all uptight and feed everyone b.s. Also, their job was nothing like I expected. They basically keep Americans out of trouble in Shanghai (visit them in the hospital, jail, etc. and help them get tax forms, voter registration, etc.). Their job is all about passports and visas and its really unappealing. I guess it was a good thing that I saw first hand the kind of job I always thought I wanted, because now I know better.
We've also been exploring campus more. We tried to go buy bubbletea last night and failed miserably. We couldn't read the menu, and after five minutes of trying (and getting laughed at by the women standing next to us) we walked back to our dorm.
The weather's been improving...or so I thought, until today. Its still considered the "rainy season" until Monday, so its kind of expected that today would be as rainy as it is. The past few days, though, we've had pretty good weather...we've been able to play volleyball on the field by our class building on breaks and whatnot.
Tomorrow we're going to an art museum downtown and then going shopping on Nanjing Road (the Shanghai equivalent of Michigan Avenue). We were actually on Nanjing Road yesterday to go to the consulate, so we got to look around, but only very quickly. On Sunday, I'm going to finally get my roomate. I thought her name was Gao Ying but it turns out that they switched my roomate for whatever reason, so now I have a girl whose name I can't read. I hope she's as cool as some of the kids we met at the Cao Yang High School the other day.
I never realized how large of an influence American culture has on other countries. Meeting the high school students, I noticed that they all liked to talk about American icons...Kobe Bryant, Usher, Beyonce, and 50 cent seemed to be their favorites. Also, movies like Kungfu Panda, Hitchcock, and 27 dresses were popular as well. I hope I live up to my roomate's expectations of an American teenager. I have a feeling I'll be bombarded with questions about America as soon as she arrives.
That's all for now!
-Olivia
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Ok, so things have turned up quite a bit. After getting some sleep, I was doing much better, and I've really been enjoying myself these last few days.
On Monday, I had many first encounters...I got aquainted with buffet breakfasts and went to our opening ceremony and took two pretests and got placed in my Chinese class and got my first homework assignment and explored campus and exchanged money and went to "Trust Mart" (Chinese Walmart)! I got to practice my Chinese a bit throughout the day, especially at Trust Mart when I had to help Bonita talk her way out of a sticky situation and got yelled at a few times by store employees. It's all been really exciting so far.
This morning, I started my day off at the buffet (as I will everyday) and then went to my first Chinese class. It was really fast-paced and intense, but I managed to keep up (with the exception of a really stupid moment where I seemed to completely lose my ability to communicate in Chinese).
In about 15 minutes, we'll be taking a bus to a Chinese high school! This will be our first field trip and the first time we've left campus so far (with the exception of running to Trust Mart just outside the gates of campus in the pouring rain).
That's all I have time to say for now, I uploaded some pictures on Facebook earlier, so check them out if you want to.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012360&l=fbfdb&id=1156650757
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012361&l=1e14d&id=1156650757
On Monday, I had many first encounters...I got aquainted with buffet breakfasts and went to our opening ceremony and took two pretests and got placed in my Chinese class and got my first homework assignment and explored campus and exchanged money and went to "Trust Mart" (Chinese Walmart)! I got to practice my Chinese a bit throughout the day, especially at Trust Mart when I had to help Bonita talk her way out of a sticky situation and got yelled at a few times by store employees. It's all been really exciting so far.
This morning, I started my day off at the buffet (as I will everyday) and then went to my first Chinese class. It was really fast-paced and intense, but I managed to keep up (with the exception of a really stupid moment where I seemed to completely lose my ability to communicate in Chinese).
In about 15 minutes, we'll be taking a bus to a Chinese high school! This will be our first field trip and the first time we've left campus so far (with the exception of running to Trust Mart just outside the gates of campus in the pouring rain).
That's all I have time to say for now, I uploaded some pictures on Facebook earlier, so check them out if you want to.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012360&l=fbfdb&id=1156650757
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012361&l=1e14d&id=1156650757
Sunday, June 22, 2008
So, I'm here in China now...its about 5 pm local time (4 ish in the morning back home) and things have already been pretty crazy.
First of all, my flight was delayed about an hour and a half due to some small storms in the Chicago area. When we finally took off, some birds were sucked into the engine, and we were forced to return back to O'Hare after two hours of circling over Lake Michigan. Apparently, in order to land, the gas tank of the plane needs to be somewhat empty. We had to dump somewhere around 30,000 gallons of gas into the Lake before landing. Later, after assessing the damage, it turns out that it was a good thing we returned home-- many of the engine blades were badly damaged by the impact of the bird, and it would have been dangerous to fly to China in that condition. So, at O'Hare we were told that the next flight to Shanghai would be at 9 a.m. the next morning. Very frustrated, we all took our complimentary meal vouchers and looked for the nearest shuttle bus to a hotel. After about an hour or so of wandering, we ended up at the Wyndham Hotel...without any of our luggage.
Finally, after our stay at the hotel, we went back to O'Hare in the morning for our flight. We took off without a problem, and landed on time. Shanghai is very humid and rainy. The skies are bright white and everything looks dreary. We rode a bus to East China Normal University and walked to our dorms in the rain.
My dorm is on the tenth floor. It's very cramped and I don't know what I'll do when my roomate moves in next week. I had purchased several adapters so that I could plug my American electronics into the differently-shaped Chinese sockets. However, they don't seem to be fitting quite right, with the exception of one socket I found back behind one of the beds. That will have to suffice for now, while I also try to work out my internet situation....surprise, surprise, its not working.
And, all of this aside, I'm struggling even already..only a few hours after arrival..to understand what is going on. Various employees of the dorm have come to my room, speaking Chinese very quickly and almost confrontationally...and I haven't been successful in communicating so far. Right now, I'm holed up in my room until 5:45 (in 20 minutes or so) when we'll all meet and get dinner. All I want to do is sleep and not think about anything. Six weeks here will be extremely difficult, though I'm not helping myself any by letting it get to me so soon. I have to fight off the anxiousness and the emotions that drive me close to tears and just face the fact that I'm here now and won't be leaving for awhile.
First of all, my flight was delayed about an hour and a half due to some small storms in the Chicago area. When we finally took off, some birds were sucked into the engine, and we were forced to return back to O'Hare after two hours of circling over Lake Michigan. Apparently, in order to land, the gas tank of the plane needs to be somewhat empty. We had to dump somewhere around 30,000 gallons of gas into the Lake before landing. Later, after assessing the damage, it turns out that it was a good thing we returned home-- many of the engine blades were badly damaged by the impact of the bird, and it would have been dangerous to fly to China in that condition. So, at O'Hare we were told that the next flight to Shanghai would be at 9 a.m. the next morning. Very frustrated, we all took our complimentary meal vouchers and looked for the nearest shuttle bus to a hotel. After about an hour or so of wandering, we ended up at the Wyndham Hotel...without any of our luggage.
Finally, after our stay at the hotel, we went back to O'Hare in the morning for our flight. We took off without a problem, and landed on time. Shanghai is very humid and rainy. The skies are bright white and everything looks dreary. We rode a bus to East China Normal University and walked to our dorms in the rain.
My dorm is on the tenth floor. It's very cramped and I don't know what I'll do when my roomate moves in next week. I had purchased several adapters so that I could plug my American electronics into the differently-shaped Chinese sockets. However, they don't seem to be fitting quite right, with the exception of one socket I found back behind one of the beds. That will have to suffice for now, while I also try to work out my internet situation....surprise, surprise, its not working.
And, all of this aside, I'm struggling even already..only a few hours after arrival..to understand what is going on. Various employees of the dorm have come to my room, speaking Chinese very quickly and almost confrontationally...and I haven't been successful in communicating so far. Right now, I'm holed up in my room until 5:45 (in 20 minutes or so) when we'll all meet and get dinner. All I want to do is sleep and not think about anything. Six weeks here will be extremely difficult, though I'm not helping myself any by letting it get to me so soon. I have to fight off the anxiousness and the emotions that drive me close to tears and just face the fact that I'm here now and won't be leaving for awhile.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Pre-trip nerves
Its almost midnight right now, which means that I have just over 24 hours before I leave for China.
Today has been kind of hectic with all kinds of scrambling and packing and running around downtown and buying last minute necessities and EVERYTHING!
I was talking to a family friend earlier about the trip, and she asked me if I was excited to go. She seemed very surprised when my answer was an abrupt "no". Usually when I talk about the trip, everyone tells me that I should be extremely excited...that this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience...that I shouldn't take it for granted...that I will learn so much while I'm there...that they wish they had this kind of opportunity when they were young...and the list goes on.
Sure, I'm completely aware that this trip will be an amazing pay-off, a trip to remember for the rest of my life, and hopefully a great step toward my dream career. Not only will I be learning Chinese, but I'll be "marketing" myself to various influential people along the way. Our group will hopefully be meeting with some representatives of the US state department, Motorola executives, and other people who (I'm told) are supposed to help make my future dreams come true.
I shouldn't complain then, should I? It'll be a lot of hard work, but six weeks isn't that long, I suppose. Maybe I am a little bit excited (maybe even very excited) but my pre-trip nerves are getting in the way of allowing me to see that. Excited or not, it doesn't really matter...either way, I'll be boarding a plane for China in no time...
Today has been kind of hectic with all kinds of scrambling and packing and running around downtown and buying last minute necessities and EVERYTHING!
I was talking to a family friend earlier about the trip, and she asked me if I was excited to go. She seemed very surprised when my answer was an abrupt "no". Usually when I talk about the trip, everyone tells me that I should be extremely excited...that this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience...that I shouldn't take it for granted...that I will learn so much while I'm there...that they wish they had this kind of opportunity when they were young...and the list goes on.
Sure, I'm completely aware that this trip will be an amazing pay-off, a trip to remember for the rest of my life, and hopefully a great step toward my dream career. Not only will I be learning Chinese, but I'll be "marketing" myself to various influential people along the way. Our group will hopefully be meeting with some representatives of the US state department, Motorola executives, and other people who (I'm told) are supposed to help make my future dreams come true.
I shouldn't complain then, should I? It'll be a lot of hard work, but six weeks isn't that long, I suppose. Maybe I am a little bit excited (maybe even very excited) but my pre-trip nerves are getting in the way of allowing me to see that. Excited or not, it doesn't really matter...either way, I'll be boarding a plane for China in no time...
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