Holidays

October 1 is the Chinese version of the 4th of July in the U.S., which means we have several days off (again) coming up.  I'm finding it interesting, though, to see how China approaches their holidays in terms of vacation time.  The government has given three days off to everyone: Wednesday through Friday, October 1-3.  Conveniently, Friday leads into a weekend, so essentially there are five days off.  So far that makes sense... that's how it would work in the U.S., too.

 

But five days is not enough.  So the government has apparently urged everyone to treat the Saturday and Sunday before the holiday as a Monday and Tuesday, so that Monday and Tuesday could be a weekend.  By putting two weekends with the three days off, we have a full week!  The down side was definitely going to class seven days in a row last week... but today (Monday), I'm just as glad to be free for a full seven days! 

 

Seven days off is definitely enough time to do some traveling.  Furthermore, the weather is already starting to change, and I'm not sure how easy travel will be come winter.  So, as I've already mentioned, I leave tomorrow for Inner Mongolia.  [Just a side note: Inner Mongolia is not the same as Mongolia, which is a country.  Inner Mongolia is a province in China.  I won't be leaving the country for this trip.] 

 

But today?  My plan was to hang around in the dorms and "get things done" (i.e. do laundry, study, pack, etc).  Of course, plans hardly ever go as planned, especially when living as a college student in a foreign country.  So I ended up at Wu'ai Market, the largest market in Shenyang.  It's the authentic Chinese kind: walk in and be bombarded with hoardes of merchants all trying to sell you all variety of items.  But the three of us who went today did very well.  One pair of warm wool slippers, one handbag, a few hangars, and a pair of sheep's wool long underwear later, I walked out of the market spending far less than I expected.  That's always a good feeling!  And I enjoyed practicing my Chinese... especially my "tingli" (listening) as I tried to understand what all the merchants were saying about us.  My favorite was when I was bartering with a merchant - totally in Chinese - and the merchant's coworker started telling her to charge me more because I was a "rich foreigner."  Why she thought I didn't understand her Chinese - as I was using Chinese - I don't know, but it was comical.  She was surprised when I confronted her to say that I wasn't a "rich foreigner" at all.  Needless to say, I got a good deal on that buy.

 

The other surprising part of my day was getting a phone call at 7:30 a.m. from one of the teachers in the internatioanl culture center here at my university.  He asked me to come in to talk with him today.  Starting after the holiday, I will be helping them out with some of their English language students.  Ideal times, a convenient location, and nice reimbursement! 

 

The three of us going to Inner Mongolia don't know yet when we'll be coming back.  Most likely I'm going to miss at least one day of school after the holiday, but somehow it seems appropriate.  Spending 44 hours on trains is hardly worth it if we don't take our time there.  But the biggest factor will be finding a train back that has seats available.  Needless to say, though, I'm not expecting to have internet connection while we're gone, so this blog is probably going to be pretty quiet for the next week or so.  But you can look forward to lots of stories and pictures when I get back!

 

 

Random thoughts

Asparagus juice.  Seriously, who drinks that? 

 

Giving my phone number to a taxi driver?  Definitely a big no-no in the U.S., but apparently it's kosher in China.  At least when your taxi driver wants you to tutor his son in English. 

 

I am amazed at the Chinese ingenuity when it comes to keeping hot water hot.  Every university student has a really large thermos (I mean really large... think 2-3 feet tall) that they bring to the hot water unit to fill up.  Because LiaoDa's international dorm also only has hot water 5 1/2 hours a day and the hot water unit for drinking is 5 floors down from me, I decided to invest in one of those recently.  Turns out it lasts as hot water to drink/use for at least 48 hours!  How amazing is that!

 

Being sick in China?  Definitely not fun.  But with the sudden drop in temperature to a low of 3 Celsius (about 37F), many of us are getting sick.  Yippee.

 

Week-long Chinese holiday?  Count me in!  I bought my train ticket today to leave Tuesday for Inner Mongolia with my Belgian friends.  Unfortunately, all the sleepers (beds) and soft seats were taken, so we'll be enjoying our 22 hour train ride on hard seats.  We'll see if we're still friends after that. :)

 

 

What a day

For the most part, I'm trying not to use this blog as a way to mention every little thing I do every single day.  That gets far too boring.  But today's been pretty unusual, so perhaps I'll mention more about today than I usually do.

 

Class started at 8:30 a.m., as usual, and I sat in the lower level class for the third day in a row.  This morning was the first time I sat in the main grammar class, though, which is 4 of the 10 classes we have in a week.  (The breakdown goes like this: 4 grammar classes, 3 speaking classes, 2 listening classes, and 1 reading class per week.  But obviously every skill is used in every class.)  The grammar teacher is considered your primary teacher, so I was curious to see what I thought of the lower class's grammar teacher.  Turns out I really liked her: middle-aged Chinese lady who really cares about her students.  Kind of a mom to us.  Awesome.  As I sat through class, though, I was surprised to realize I understood just about 100% of what she said.  The few words I didn't know she explained because no one knew.  After class I approached her to ask about switching to her class, and I had a really helpful conversation with her.  Since the higher class is too difficult and the lower class is too easy, I asked for her opinion on where I should study.  She recommended that I stay in the higher class and get a tutor for the first month or two, because in that time I should be able to catch up.  On the other hand, the lower class is going to remain too slow for me, and waiting for the other students to catch up to me is a waste of a lot of time and opportunity. 

 

I'm going to take her advice.  But for the second class today, I hadn't prepared to go to the higher level.  Therefore, I decided it was a better use of my time to leave and study on my own than sit in the lower level speaking class, since that was far too easy for me as well.  So I'm trying to get ready for class tomorrow... wish me well...

 

After some studying and some lunch, I stopped at a store with another student to try to find some superglue.  What a comical experience!  Having forgotten to look up the Chinese for "superglue" before going, we were left to our own devices for asking the clerk if they sold any.  So here was my plan: pick up some regular glue meant for paper and ask if they have "a really strong version of this."  Apparently that doesn't make sense in Chinese.  Who knew?  So we spent about 5 minutes trying to explain that we had a plastic tray that needed to be fixed, so we needed "strong glue."  Amazing how long it took them to understand.  In the end it at least partially worked out.  We came home with superglue, even if the superglue ended up not working to fix the tray.  Oh well.

 

Later on I left campus to go teach.  I go to a different branch every time I teach, so it's always fun to see where in Shenyang I end up after getting into a taxi and showing the driver the address that they have texted to me.  Today's location?  Directly across the street from the Carrefour store that I used to frequent when I was living in Shenyang two years ago!  It's been three weeks, but I finally found where I used to live!  Unfortunately, I didn't really have time to go wander my way down to the actual school where I had lived then, but it's fun to know where it was.  And now I know how to ask a taxi driver in the future to take me there.  I also learned it's only 9.3 kilometers from where I live now, so if I'm ever in the mood for a nice long run...

 

The second session of my classes today was really really interesting.  The students were very advanced speakers, so we spent the entire hour just talking.  But they were very interested in my studies in the U.S. and what I want to do down the road.  So we talked extensively - and quite openly - about many IR and poli sci issues.  Fascinating, and educational, to hear what they had to say. 

 

 

 

Diplomatic experience comes in all forms

Interesting experience yesterday.  We had our first joint fellowship of the semester, where all the student fellowships from the various schools come together instead of meeting separately.  The last week of the month we meet jointly instead of on our own campuses.  I was really surprised yesterday to find out that there are more than 50 people who attend these various groups! 

 

I spend a lot of time with a certain couple here at LiaoDa, also foreigners, from a European country.  The guy grew up within the RCC tradition, simply because of the country he's from, but neither he nor his parents are particularly commited to it.  The girl is ethnically Chinese, but born and raised in this European country, so she does not come from that tradition at all.  Given how much time I spend with this couple, I have obviously talked about the group I meet with on Sundays and Wednesdays.  To my surprise, the guy asked me yesterday if he would be allowed to join us. 

 

Even more surprising was that he managed to convince his girlfriend, who has no interest in it, to join us as well.  Obviously I was excited to have them go with me, and eager to see their reactions. 

 

What I didn't expect was how the meeting was went.  It turned into a 3 hour activity, with dinner after that.  Nothing about it was even remotely like what I am used to.  We sang some songs, none of which I knew, and most of which we repeated ad nauseum as one girl led.  Someone spoke for a bit, which was fine although I only agreed with part of what she said.  Then we had a time for people to make new or renewed commitments, which is not typically a part of my experience.  There was also some intercessory work going on, which included people on the ground and some strange sounds.  Clearly, I was a bit out of my comfort zone for most of the night.

 

So were my friends.

 

Afterwards, we had to taxi back to our own school.  I was in a taxi with the couple and one of the African guys.  It was a bit awkward when the European guy started asking me about my thoughts on the evening, because I knew he and the African guy were coming from very different perspectives. 

 

How do I diplomatically navigate such a situation?  The couple was very uncomfortable all evening and was very surprised by what went on.  The African guy, although not necessarily used to such an approach from his own tradition, was fully integrated into the activities there.  And, as it turned out, the taxi driver could apparently understand much of what I said.  So that adds a third level to take into consideration!

 

So it was an interesting exercise, to try to express myself clearly without offending or distancing anyone by my perspective.  Especially since so much of my reaction to the evening was yet unclear to even myself. 

Fun around Shenyang

I have several little stories or anecdotes to share, but as much as I've tried I cannot come up with a single theme that unites them.  Except China, of course.  But China is the theme of this entire blog, so I cannot legitimize making it the theme of this single post.  So instead of trying to present these various anecdotes with some sort of profound insight on how they're interconnected, I'm just simply going to share them.  Something stream-of-consciousness-esque.

 

Last week Friday we didn't have class.  To this day, I don't know precisely why, except that there was supposedly some sort of sports activity.  Given all the context clues (which is one of the most important tools for communication, I believe), I think it was more or less a "field day" for all LiaoDa students.  But the activities were on the new campus, and I certainly did not make it up in time to take the bus there at 7:30 a.m.  So I didn't see it.  Instead, I took one of my African friends from the dorm here, grabbed a taxi, and went down to "gu-gong," the old Imperial Palace here in Shenyang.  [Little historic aside for those of you who are interested: Shenyang was established as the Manchurian capital in 1625.  In 1644, the Manchus took over Beijing to establish the Qing dynasty.  At that time, they moved their capital to the Forbidden City in Beijing, but continued to use the palace here as a summer resort.  There's a lot more of interest in Shenyang's history, but this is the simplified version of what relates to Gu-gong.]  We didn't actually go into the palace that day, since you have to pay for it. However, we headed down that way because two years ago when I was in Shenyang I frequently wandered around that part of town.  I even frequented specific stores and made friends with some owners. 

 

Certainly my favorite shop from two years ago was a little scroll shop.  In our wanderings about on Friday, my friend and I found that scroll shop and went in.  To my surprise and honor, the owner remembered me!  It was so exciting to be back there and talk with the owner and some others in the shop.  I certainly think it will be a place I visit frequently this year.  I even think I will have a nice uplifting scroll made soon that I can hang in my room here. 

 

The other exciting experience this week that relates back to my time here two years ago was meeting up with one of my former students.  Even though we have been out of touch for more than a year and a half, she was very excited to hear that I am back and very eager to meet up with me.  So she took me out to dinner last night.  [Guess where... yup, KFC.  Seriously, if a Chinese person were to visit me in the U.S., I would definitely NOT take him/her to a Chinese restaurant.  Why do the Chinese always want to take me out for American food?]  It was fun to see someone I know and to catch up with her.  She lives on the other side of the city and obviously works full time teaching, so I don't know that I'll get to see her too much, but whenever the opportunity arises I will certainly be pleased. 

 

Speaking of meeting up with Chinese people, I had a really interesting experience the other night.  Saturday I came home from some English classes to find people playing volleyball outside the dorm.  There was no way I could turn that down, so of course I joined them.  Let me tell you, though, it's interesting to learn to play a sport in a different language!  Chinese was the only common language among us, so instead of calling "mine!' to take a ball, I am training myself to call "wo de!"  And instead of saying "good job" or "nice play" or things like that, I have to come up with Chinese versions.  What a strange thing! 

 

But that wasn't the interesting experience I was going to tell you about.  (It was an interesting experience, though.)  After playing, I was heading back up to my room, dripping sweat.  (Nice, eh?)  Somebody came out of the staircase and stopped me, so of course I stopped to see what the guy wanted.  Turns out he's a Chinese guy from a city 1.5 hours from here, studying at LiaoDa for an MBA just on the weekends.  But he's an English teacher in his city, and he speaks English very very well.  Long story short, we met up that evening for about two hours and talked - in a combination of English and Chinese - about all sorts of things.  In many ways, he is a male Chinese version of myself, if that makes any sense.  Or maybe he's the opposite of myself.  Something like that.  While he's never been abroad, he studied English and Western culture extensively in school.  Through the course of his studies, though, he has developed a sort of Western perspective and understanding on many issues.  I am quite the opposite: through my studies, I have developed a sort of Chinese perspective and understanding on some issues.  So in our conversation, which ranged from China's development and economic growth to the Olympics and just about everything else possible, we often found ourselves taking on the perspective that stereotypically should have been the way the other person thought.  What a strange experience! 

 

In terms of my daily life in China, I am enjoying myself tremendously.  Any day I don't have class (which, if you read the last post, is far more often than one would expect), I try to get up and run in the morning.  It's one of my favorite things to do here, because I can see a lot more in a given amount of time than if I'm just walking around.  And the people you see and/or meet as a white girl running along the streets or through the parks in a city like Shenyang are just fascinating.  But Sunday morning was definitely the most entertaining run I've had yet: I got completely lost.  Oops!  I left LiaoDa's campus having turned left, and ran up the road a ways until I found a river.  The river had a thin park with sidewalks running along both sides of it, so I decided to follow the river for a while.  Unfortunately, when I ran out of park along the river, I had no idea where I was.  (Of course, I was never actually in any danger.  I easily could have retraced my steps to get back, or I could have grabbed a taxi.  I never go out without enough money for a taxi ride in case of such situations.  Because if you have money, you can never really be lost in Shenyang... you just tell the taxi driver to take you to LiaoDa.  It's incredibly convenient.)  But instead of turning around and seeing the same things again, I just wandered along the roads and picked corners to take at random.  Impressively enough, I managed to find my way back and I even know what I did! 

 

One of the other entertaining parts of my daily life here is what I have dubbed Chinese MTV.  Having never really watched MTV in the US, I don't really know if it's a fair name.  But that's what I call it.  Whenever I'm in my room, I turn on my TV to the station that plays music videos.  It's hilarious, though, because about a third of the music is American!  Obviously a good bit of it is Chinese, but not nearly as much as I would have expected.  I enjoy it, though, because I'm getting to know the Chinese music that's popular right now, which means recognizing it when I'm out and hear it.  And since Chinese MTV often (not always) puts the lyrics as captions on the screen, I can even start learning the words! 

 

As an aside, let me just say that my TV only actually has 5 channels, which has limited my choices for improving my Chinese through watching TV.  Because of those 5 channels, one is in French, one is in Arabic, one is in Korean, one is Chinese MTV, and then there is one lonely channel that is actually in Chinese.  So sometimes I watch that one, too.  But the music is more entertaining, since I don't really understand what the Chinese one is about most of the time. 

 

Learning Chinese

Learning Chinese, like most things in life, is easier said than done.  But 17.5 hours of classes every week and the opportunity to use the language with native speakers on a daily basis should certainly help.  Or so I am telling myself.  I'm starting to wonder, though, if that's actually true.  More classes seem to be cancelled than meet, and my speaking with native speakers tends to revolve around food at restaurants and directions to taxi drivers.  But my biggest dilemma regarding my Chinese studies at the moment is that I can't seem to find a class that suits my current ability in the language.

 

Classes are divided from A to F, with A being the most advanced students and F being those who have never studied Chinese before.  When I took the placement test, the teacher told me that she would put me in the C class, but that it might be too difficult for me (in which case I could move down to D).  I attended the C class for the first 6 days (which was the first two weeks... like I said, as many classes are cancelled as meet).  But I felt like I was constantly behind.  The books were challenging and the other students in the class were definitely more advanced than me.  With four different types of classes all requiring you to preview lessons before going to class, plus having to study the materials after class, I was spending way too much time outside of class studying and still hardly keeping up in class.  So I decided to try the D class.

 

Turns out I'm the most advanced student in D.  While I hardly spoke in the C class, I speak quite a bit in D.  And the books are quite easy.  I attended class without having ever looked at the materials beforehand (since I bought the books 10 minutes before class), and had no problem keeping up.  In today's reading, there were only 3 or 4 terms I had to look up. 

 

So I can't really decide.  Is it better to try pushing myself with the harder class - despite not following it much at all while I'm there -and just hope I'll start to catch up in a month or two, or is it better to actually understand what's going on in class and really learn that material well?  Is it better to use materials where I have to look up 30+ words per page or where I know all but 3 or 4 words?  Is it better to sit quietly, hoping the teacher will forget to pick me to speak that day since I don't really understand what the class is talking about, or is it better to be one of the first people to chime in, without even being asked?  Is it better to expose myself to a wide range of more difficult vocabulary or learn and be able to use a smaller set of somewhat simpler words?  If anyone knows what I should do, let me know.

 

"Zhong qiu jie kuai le!"

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 

 

Sunday was a major Chinese holiday, called the Mid-Autumn Festival.  Traditionally, everyone tries to go home to see their families, everyone eats moon cakes and jiaozi, and everyone looks at the full moon.  How it can be called the Mid-Autumn festival when autumn seems to just be starting, I don't know.  But I enjoyed the time off of school, the moon cakes (which actually aren't as good as you would expect - it's just a thin flavorless pastry around a whole lot of some sort of filling, but most of the fillings aren't very tasty), and the full moon.  Mostly the time off of school. 

 

Besides having Monday off (because the holiday fell on the weekend), Tuesday was LiaoDa's 60th anniversary so we had a second day off.  There was a ceremony Tuesday evening in celebration, but I decided going out to eat with three Italians and three Africans would be more entertaining than the ceremony.  From the sounds of it, I was right.  I was told it was "so typically Chinese... everyone looked like some kind of fruit, insect, or alien... it's a bit over the top."  Yeah, I enjoyed my tasty meal at a fancy Chinese restaurant. 

 

Of course human beings are all procrastinators, so from finishing class at noon on Friday until Tuesday afternoon, I did not study any Chinese.  Oops.  At least, I didn't study from any Chinese textbooks.  I did find myself using quite a bit of Chinese out in town, so I suppose that counts for something.  But needless to say, the other good thing about skipping the ceremony Tuesday night was having time to prepare for class on Wednesday.

 

Lest you think it is now totally back to the grindstone for me after having those two days off, I must tell you about the rest of the week.  Wednesday I had class.  Uneventful, but I'm sure I learned something.  Thursday?  I'm skipping.  All the new students like me are being taken to the police station to get our residency permits.  Given the hours of the police station, we have to leave at 8:00 a.m.  Obviously, that makes it difficult to be in class by 8:30.  (Let's be honest, this is China.  Most likely the bus won't have even left yet by 8:30.) 

 

And Friday?  I know we don't have class.  And I know there is some sort of sporting event going on.  But either my Chinese is not good enough to have understood why a sporting event means we don't have class, or the logic of it has simply escaped me.  Either way, I won't complain about another day off of school. 

 

So what have I been doing with all my spare time, since I haven't been in class or studying?  Besides moving into my new room and trying to creatively (and cheaply) decorate, I've been teaching a few English classes, exploring more of Shenyang (primarily near LiaoDa), and hanging out with the many new friends I'm making.  Sounds fun, eh?  Yeah, it is.

 

Although I won't lie.  Holidays that are all about family are hard when you can't be with your family.  Even ones that you don't traditionally celebrate.

 

 

Persistence and Guanxi

It's amazing what a little bit of persistence and a lot of guanxi (relationship) can do for you in China.  When I arrived here at LiaoDa, I was surprised to find myself placed in a dorm with a roommate.  While my roommate was nice enough, it was definitely not an ideal situation: she rarely spoke to me, she usually wasn't fully clothed, and she always had shows playing at full volume on her laptop.  Makes it difficult to study.  Even more frustrating, though, was being limited to showering while the showers were open - only 5 1/2 hours a day - and having to use the squatties down the hall. 

 

Could I have dealt with this for a year?  Certainly.  And I still would have enjoyed myself.

 

But guanxi is an amazing thing when it works to your advantage. 

 

I have been to several offices around the school and talked with several of the officials.  My argument is that I am a graduate student in the U.S., so I should have a single room like all the graduate students here.  Technically I don't think I should have a single room, because I'm not considered a graduate student here.  I'm only a language student.  But persistence - and having a friend who is friends with the dorm's laoban (boss) - won out.

 

Friday I was transferred to a single room.  Woo-hoo!  Now I have a bathroom in my room, along with a shower that I can use anytime of day.  (Okay, there is still only hot water during those 5 1/2 hours, but even a cold shower is better than not having the option of a shower at all!)  I even have a western-style toilet!  I had definitely already come to terms with the thought that I might not sit on a toilet for 11 months, but it turns out that won't be the case after all. 

 

I'm definitely enjoying my new room.  It's small and cozy, but it's my space.  And believe me, when you cannot get away from people any other way in a country with this large of a population, having a room to yourself is a real blessing. 

Things I never thought I'd do

As always, it's been another interesting day living in China.  Today alone I did several things I never thought I'd do.

1. Exchange cell phone numbers with my teacher.

Today was the first day of class, and it went remarkably well.  We took a placement test last week, and they placed me in class C2.  The classes range from A (the best) to F (no background in Chinese), so C is somewhere in the middle.  However, I was a little concerned before starting that I wouldn't be able to handle the C class.  My spoken Chinese is still quite weak.  But despite not understanding every single word that came out of the teachers' mouths, I followed class fairly well and was happy with it. 

At the beginning of the day, we had 14 students in my class, and I am the only non-Asian.  There's one Japanese and 12 Koreans, plus me.  Actually, though, I think that will be really good; it will force me to not rely on another student or on English to get through. 

My first class was "kou-yu" or speaking class.  I was surprised to find out the teacher is a male, 25-year-old graduate from LiaoDa.  The class is two hours, but with a ten minute break in the middle.  During the break, he approached me and asked where I'm from.  We ended up talking for more or less the entire 10 minutes in English.  A little bit strange, maybe, but it was nice to know that I will actually be able to get help if I need it.  After the end of the full 2 hours, he came back up to me and said he wants to be friends with me so he can practice his English. 

Is that kosher in China?  Can I be friends with and/or hang out with my teacher? 

But we exchanged cell phone numbers anyway. 

2. Navigate a Chinese hospital relying solely on my Chinese.

Since the first trip to the Chinese hospital went so well, we decided to go back today.  (If you haven't read the earlier post: we went last Friday but accomplished nothing in the several hours we were there.)  This time around, the two Belgians, two Czechs, and I decided to take a taxi and go ourselves, instead of waiting for the school bus to take everyone there.  Please note, however, that I was only daring enough to do this because the two Belgians are in the A class and speak very well.  In fact, the one had served as the unofficial translator the first time we went, since for whatever reason the school didn't think to send someone along who spoke English.  So, yes, I had a translator. 

We arrived and went upstairs to the office where they confirm your medical records and give you the certificate that allows you to register with the police.  But it turns out that the U.S. and China have some differing ideas about medical tests and paperwork procedures.  So the doctor refused the evaluations that my doctor in the States had done and said I would have to have it all done again. 

That, of course, meant I had to go through a different process than the Belgians, which effectively left me to navigate on my own. 

3. Allow a Chinese person to stick a needle in me.

Yes, of course, one of the tests they had to do required taking blood.  So they stuck me.  But not before they also gave me a chest x-ray, another thing I never expected to do in China.  It was a little bit awkward when I understood that he wanted me to take off my shirt but didn't understand what he wanted me to do after that. 

4. Have an ultrasound when I know I'm not pregnant.

I know that ultrasounds are used for other things, but it's fun to say that they wanted to make sure I don't have a little one on the way.  (Don't worry, there were "no abnormal findings.")

5. Give a urine sample on a squatty-potty.

Another interesting experience.  Let's just leave it at that.

I never know what to expect...

Saturday morning I woke up in a beautiful mood.  I would have all day to simply explore and get acquainted with my neighborhood.  So I started with a run.

Unfortunately, I will never have a day here without some time constraints, because of the shower situation.  I've mentioned that the showers are in a big open room in the basement.  I think I've failed to mention so far that they are also only open 5 hours a day.  Convenient, eh?  So in order to be able to shower after running (which, believe me, everyone should want me to do), I have to plan my runs around the shower schedule.   Which meant getting up at 8:30 to run. 

Don't get me wrong, 8:30 is not too terribly early.  However, it is incredibly early after you stay out until 5 a.m. at a nightclub the night before.  Apparently there is one nightclub in town where all the English-speaking foreigners go, so the entire group of people I know was there Friday night.  Nightclubs aren't usually my scene, but it was fun to hang out with everyone and meet those who are studying at other area schools. 

Okay, so I ran.  And I showered.  Then my phone rang.  The English teaching center wanted me to come in to their headquarters at 11:00, so I quickly finished getting myself ready and headed off.  Turns out they needed someone that very afternoon, so they asked if I could do it. 

Six hours later, everyone at school was wondering what had happened to me.  And I still hadn't eaten anything except 8 crackers all day.  Oops.

But I really enjoyed teaching the four classes.  They varied in level, but I had a really good discussion in one class about the impact of the Olympics on China and the world.  Fascinating to listen to their takes on it. 

So my free day to explore Shenyang turned into a day of teaching, and playing volleyball when I finally got back to school, but it was a great day.  Sometimes exploring is less about the physical location and more about the mind anyway. 

Culture shock

I suppose it's fairly normal to have some culture shock within the first few days of arriving in a foreign city.  Here's the strange thing: mine has nothing to do with China.  I have culture shock from interacting with the other international students. 

I haven't seen an official list of the demographics of the international student population at LiaoDa, but there seem to be three types of students: Russian, Korean, and African.  Only about a dozen of us don't fit into those categories.  Since the Russians and Koreans don't speak English, I have spent most of my time with the Africans. 

Hence my culture shock.

So within the first five days, I have had one guy outright ask to take me home with him, two men say they want me to be their wife, and one guy ask to take me to a candlelight dinner.  Yeah, much more forward than I'm used to.  And somehow one guy has decided that he is supposed to protect and take care of me this year.  That may not be an entirely bad thing, but it's a little bit stifling, too! 

My roommate is from Tanzania.  It's going to take me a bit to get used to her hanging out in the room almost naked.  I don't know if that's actually culture shock or not, though, because I don't know if that's a Tanzanian custom or if it's just her.  

Let me just say that I was relieved to meet a Belgian couple recently.  We met through a Czech couple, who will also be good people to know, and we have spent a good bit of time together since.  We have mostly been playing cards and talking about Dutch things.  J  Besides the obvious fun of talking Dutch, these two are the first people I have met here who definitely come from a developed country.  (Okay, that's a lie: I met the Canadian.  But I haven't seen him since.  I hope he didn't go back to Canada already.)  

Chinese efficiency

One of my goals for this year was to avoid going to a Chinese hospital.  It is day 5 and I have already failed at that one!  All of the international students were required to complete a physical evaluation form in order to come, but when we registered they told us that we would all need to bring those evaluations to the hospital to have them confirmed.  So we were told: Friday morning, 8:30 a.m., bus leaves for the hospital.  Bring 530 kuai (Chinese money – about $75 or so) in case you have to do your evaluation all over again.  And don't eat before coming so the blood test can be done. 

Friday morning, 8:30 a.m., all the students are in the office lobby.  At 9:00, we were all still there.  Finally they shuffled us out to a bus – a 25 passenger bus for the 30 of us.  Then we sat (or stood) on the bus.  At 9:45 we finally left. 

Upon arrival at the hospital about 45 minutes later, we were told that all the doctors were out for lunch and would not be back until after 2:00 p.m.  That's one thing about China that is going to take a little bit of getting used to for me: lunch is at least two hours long, and no one works between twelve and two. 

So we were herded around the hospital for a while, and eventually they decided to just take us all back to campus.  There, they told us that we will all go back on Monday after our classes. 

Let me tell you, 30 hungry and tired international students stuck on a 25 person bus running aimlessly around the city on a given Friday morning is an interesting experience.  I suppose, though, that since I have somewhere around 330 days to enjoy Shenyang, one lost morning is not the end of the world.  

It'll be interesting to see how Monday afternoon goes, though, since the hospital hours are only 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.  Since we get done with class at noon, there's no way we will arrive even by 1:00, so that's less than an hour and a half to get 30 students through the hospital.  Right. 

Shenyang huanying nin!

Welcome to Shenyang!  I knew my journey had begun as I was sitting in the Seoul airport, waiting to board my plane to China.  A Korean gentleman approached me and started chatting with me in English, and before I knew it he was asking if he could take a picture with me.  Of course.  Then I got on the plane... only to realize I was the only non-Asian on board.  Literally. 

Arriving in Shenyang went smoothly, and my luggage came, too.  The biggest struggle was finding a place to change money, but enough time and persistence and that worked itself out.  Long taxi ride later, I was standing on the curb in front of Liaoning Daxue (Liaoning University, my school) with all my luggage and no idea of where I was supposed to go.  What on earth have I gotten myself into?  That wasn't the first time, and certainly won't be the last time I've had that thought. 

Using my limited Chinese, I simply grabbed all my luggage and started asking anyone I passed by which way the Foreign Student Dormitory was.  Eventually two Chinese students offered to take me there and help carry my luggage.  I gratefully accepted! 

But, you never know what you will encounter in China.  I checked in to the dorms, and it turns out: 1.) I have a roommate, who doesn't speak any Chinese and for some reason won't really speak English with me (although that's what she uses with her friends).  Clearly it's been a good relationship so far.  2.) We have no bathroom.  The toilets - if they can be called that when they are simply holes in the ground surrounded by a little bit of ceramic - are down the hall, and the showers are in the basement.  Oh, and the showers are like the ones you used after middle school PE, without any curtains or privacy.  Nice.  3.) I currently don't have internet in my room.  Hence the slowness in posting here.  Sorry. 

So I wasn't terribly impressed with my accommodations when I first saw them, but it's all starting to grow on me.  Oh, and there's a possibility of me moving to a single room in a hotel across the street in a few days/weeks.  We're working on that.  (As a master's level student, I had heard that I should be in a single room.  Hence my surprise to find out I have a roommate.) 

I could go into far more details on everything that's happened so far in the three days I've been here, because clearly a lot has happened.  But I'll try to keep it relatively short.  I have had an absolutely marvelous time.  I have not met or seen any Americans in Shenyang yet, although supposedly there was one American at the school last year who just left.  And I did meet one Canadian.  One.  He looked relieved to see me.  I have been spending my time mostly with a group of Africans, which has been both fun and an educational experience for me.  I actually have only eaten Chinese food once so far, because several times various people have cooked African dishes... and I certainly am not turning down free homemade African food!  Several of them have been here in Shenyang for a year - or more - so they have been very helpful in showing me around.

Meeting this group of Africans almost immediately upon my arrival at LiaoDa (the nickname for the university) has been an incredible blessing.  Most of them are active participants in the community I had already been planning to try out on Sunday afternoons.  It helps that they speak English (which, surprisingly, the Africans seem to be the only relatively sizable group around here that speaks English, since as the one American I can't really be considered a "group"), but besides just the language, I can obviously connect with them at a different level because of this community. 

A few random things I've done so far: Yesterday I went to buy a cell phone, since it is just assumed that I will have one.  (Literally, when I registered they told me I had to give them my new cell number by Friday.)  That was a fun experience, and it turned out well: I now have a nicer phone than I've ever had before and I can keep up with various people I'm meeting here.  Today I went down to an English school to look into getting some teaching posts, and that looks quite promising.  Perhaps they will call my new cell phone soon to offer me some hours.  I've also had plenty of fun (and frustration) trying to do other business things in Chinese - like complain that my internet doesn't work, try to get a single room, etc.  And, I've decided that if being a white American walking down the road in a city like Shenyang does not bring enough stares from curious passers-by, simply try being a white American running down the road in a city like Shenyang.  It's entertaining - to them and to me.  So I'm enjoying my morning jogs.

Overall, I'm in great spirits and loving my experience so far.  It's going to be a marvelous year, if challenging at times, and I'm excited for it!