10 Things I Love About China

Today I decided to start taking GongFu (commonly known in the West as Kungfu) classes. The type of martial art is called SanDa and includes kicking, punching and wrestling. Besides a few months of TaiJiQuan (Taichi) I've never done any kind of martial art, so today was really challenging, but fun and exciting.

The new students for the Spring Semester arrived last Thursday and I showed them around the neighborhood. My other friends from last semester also came back to Nanjing last Saturday, so we've been getting ourselves into the usual shenanigans. It's been fantastic to be back, especially with my friends from last semester, and I'm beginning to think that I might never leave... When I do think about the fact that I have to come back to the US to finish another year of school, I start to get choked up and tears come to my eyes. So I decided to write a little ode to China.

10 Things I Love About China

1. Outward or physical appearance is not the most important thing.
2. The food is delicious.
3. Everything is cheap.
4. I've never in my life experienced anything that comes close to Chinese hospitality.
5. You serve other people before you serve yourself. In terms of food and drink, that is.
6. You can bargain.
7. Chinese work ethic amazes me everyday.
8. The Chinese language is so logical.
9. It has so many beautiful treasures, like parks and mountains, the countryside,
10. Despite the outward impression of being very homogeneous, it's incredibly diverse.

The Piano

Click on this YouTube video link. The song is "Comptine d'un Autre Ete: L'apres Midi" by Yann Tiersen, and it's an animation short. This is currently Adam's favorite song and he got me hooked on it. This is probably my favorite animated short.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZJDNSp1QJA

Chinese New Year

On February 12th, John and I hopped on a train, along with millions of other Chinese people that day, and made the 2 1/2 hour trip to Shanghai. Chinese New Year is when the world sees China's "floating population" come out of the woodwork--millions of people leave the cities and return to their homes in the countryside. Meanwhile, in the cities, restaurants and shops owned and run by these people close during the 10 day festival. The train station was definitely crowded!

When we got to Shanghai, we briefly looked around, John commented "Wow, this reminds me of the US," and then we got on the subway and headed out to the suburbs, where we would meet up with Pingping's family. Pingping herself was in Nantong with her husband's family. We got to our station, and Pingping's cousin, Eric, picked us up and we got on a bus to head to Pingping's hometown. Pingping's father and mother greeted us with a smile and some Shanghainese (luckily Eric was there to translate for us), along with an absolutely delicious dinner of nothing else but... HOT POT! Here are some pictures of us eating our first meal in Pingping's home:

Pingping's mother greets us with a smile in her kitchen:

From left to right is Pingping's father, her mother, Eric, and John. In case anyone is wondering, Eric doesn't actually go to Penn he is just wearing the sweatshirt.

That night I went to Pingping's cousin's, Wenwen, house to sleep. She was very curious about me and asked lots of questions about my life in China and in the United States. After all, I was the first foreigner she'd ever met. It was cold, but she gave me an electric hot water bottle to sleep with. She made fun of me because I wanted to wear my hat to bed, but I was cold! The next day was February 13th, which was Chinese New Year's Eve, the most important day of the Chinese New Year. We relaxed the whole day, trying to stay warm by drinking hot water, watching TV, playing MaJiang (a game kind of sort of like Gin Rummy), we went to the beach just to look around (not to swim!), and had a delicious dinner at Pingping's house. Her father and uncles told us many times that they were so excited because this was the first time they were celebrating the New Year with foreigners. We, of course, were equally happy--this being the first time that we were genuinely celebrating the Chinese New Year. After dinner, we went to her uncles car factory to set off fireworks. Seriously the scariest thing I've ever seen. I thought New Year's in Amsterdam was bad, but this was terrifying-- literally legitimate fireworks being set off less than 5 feet from where I was standing! We were laughing so hard because they were lighting the fireworks with their cigarettes. Here are some pictures from New Year's Eve:

This is a picture of John, Me, Eric, and Wenwen playing MaJiang:

Setting off fireworks!!!

The next day was February 14th, Chinese New Year. I actually forgot my camera at Wenwen's house so I don't have any pictures from that day, but mostly we did more of the same thing: watch TV, chat, eat food, and play MaJiang. It was so relaxing and really fun to hang out with Eric, Wenwen and their family. The next day was February 15th, the day of Pingping's wedding banquet. Pingping told me that it was just lunch, but after lunch she was like "Oh yeah, we're eating dinner here too." I was surprised but that is common for the Chinese- they really try to make things like their wedding parties seem like no big deal, even when they really are. I waited at the banquet hall for dinner with the bride and groom's parents and we chatted as much as we could. None of us were fluent in Mandarin, so it was a little difficult. The groom's parents also don't speak Mandarin very well. It would be like a Chinese person, a Spanish couple and a French couple who didn't really speak English all that well trying to have a conversation in English. Here are some pictures from the banquet:

Really cute little boy sitting at my table:

The next day Pingping suggested that Wenwen come to Nanjing and stay with me in the dorms for a couple days before her classes started up again. Wenwen had never been to Nanjing before, so this time the foreigner (me) was the tour guide! We had a lot of fun going shopping and went to the Confucius Temple, which comes alive during the New Year with lanterns and endless streams of people. Wenwen noticed that everybody stared at me as we walked along, "Everybody is staring at you!" She got a taste of what it's like to be constantly asked questions, as we walked and shopped together people would ask her, "Who is that? How do you know her? Are you Chinese? How are you friends with a foreigner?" I think she got annoyed after a while, especially when people asked her if she was Chinese. "Of course I'm Chinese!" she would say.

I had a lot of fun staying with her in the dorms and she got to learn a little bit about American culture. One being that we don't wear slippers inside, which shocked her quite a bit. She was also completely fascinated by my hair products and the like that I'd brought over from the US-- "The words on the bottles are all in English!" she said, "Is there any way I could buy the same stuff with English on it in China?" And I heard her talking on the phone to her friend one night saying, "Her nose is bigger than mine!" On her last night, Wenwen, Eric, Pingping, and Pingping's husband Roger and I went to dinner at Beijing Roast Duck. It was delicious. YAY CHINA!

A lesson in Chinese

Chinese is difficult because it consists of 4 different tones and 1 neutral tone. This can cause a lot of confusion on my part when I'm talking to someone because I confuse words sometimes. Native speakers do not have this problem because they can distinguish the different tones and the context of the conversation easier than I can. Here are some "almost homophones"... these are not actually homophones because they have different tones, but for the sake of simplicity to my non-Chinese speaking readers, we'll just say that they're homophones. These are words that I consistently get confused about in everyday conversations. You can imagine that this can also cause some quite hilarious situations.

睡觉 shuijiao - to sleep
水饺 shuijiao - steamed dumplings
(Oh! you need to get some dumplings, not some sleep)

联系 lianxi - to contact
练习 lianxi - to practice
(Oh! You want me to practice my Chinese, not contact the Chinese)

大学 daxue - university
大雪 daxue - snowstorm
(Oh! you mean snowstorms are really troublesome, not that universities are troublesome)

上海 Shanghai - The city of Shanghai
伤害 shanghai - to hurt (emotionally)
(Oh! you mean you're afraid of hurting them, not that you're afraid of Shanghai)

每个人 meigeren - Everyone
美国人 meiguoren - American
(Oh! You mean just the Americans, not everyone)

Not that an English speaker should be talking (pretty, like, relative, bat, bear, naval, right... shall I continue?) but it's still difficult.

However, I will say that once you learn about 2,000 characters, the language gets exponentially easier because you can mix and match the characters to form new words. For example, in English the word "toothbrush." It's a brush that cleans teeth. Now imagine if almost every word in English was a combination of two words that formed a word for a new idea or thing. And not only nouns, but verbs, adjectives, and adverbs as well. That's what Chinese is like. For example:

家 jia － Family
家具 jiaju － （lit. family equipment) furniture

运 yun － to move, to transport
动 dong － to use, to move
运动 yundong －sports

合 he - to join
作 zuo － to do, to make
合作 hezuo - to cooperate

the list goes on and on... It's fascinating, really. My one friend, Matt, would get so excited whenever we would learn new words. One day we learned that "自杀" (lit. self murder) meant suicide. He said "That's so cool!" and we were just like, Oh, Matt........

That is my rant for the day. All the shops and stores are closed for the New Year already- Nanjing looks like a ghost town! At least today, maybe that's because it snowed today and everyone is probably huddled under mountains of blankets. But also because everyone is 回家 or "returning home." Tomorrow I will go to Shanghai on the train with my friend John, who is also a year student. I'm not going to bring my computer to save myself the trouble of lugging it around, to shut myself off from the world (ahhh how nice) and to take a break from the evil time suckers that are facebook, Skype and checking my emails. When I return on February 16th, I will be sure to tell of my adventures....

Home again, Home again, jiggity jig

My Grandpa used to say that little rhyme every time we got back home from an outing or when I got home from school. Nanjing isn't my home home exactly (Pittsburgh will always be my home) but it certainly is more familiar to me than Europe was, even when I went to England. So for now I will say that I'm back home in Nanjing!

This past week I've been going through cultural readjustment at maximum speed—that is, certain things that I had long been used to by the end of last semester are somewhat of a culture shock again, but I'm getting used to them quickly. For example:

As soon as the plane landed at the Nanjing airport, people immediately got up before the plane was done taxiing to get their luggage together—the Chinese always have this urge to rush towards the front of the plane/train/bus when it reaches their destination. I think this perhaps originates from the fact that the Chinese are physically, mentally and culturally unable to form lines (queues) and therefore must make it to the front of the pack, lest they be waiting for hours.

Pretty much immediately after I landed, the coughing and spitting started. Men hacking their lungs out to get out a loogie and then spitting it out anywhere—the ground, their old coffee cup, ect…

Men smoking everywhere and anywhere you look, including the post office, bank, travel agent, restaurants of course, ect ect…

People staring at me everywhere I go, yelling out Hello! (in English) or calling me Laowai (foreigner).

People shoving you out of the way without saying excuse me, or cutting in front of you in line… if there is a line.

The squat pot toilets.

It's funny that at the end of last semester, I barely noticed any of these things. Luckily, I am quickly readjusting and a lot of these things don't bother me at all anymore.

I am pretty much just hanging out in Nanjing. I am still tutoring one of my high school students in English everyday. Since I have nothing else to do with my time, I'm giving her free classes, and in exchange she speaks Chinese with me for an hour. If we run out of things to talk about, then we read Shel Silverstein in Chinese, including the Giving Tree and Light in the Attic, which has been great fun. I think her aunt is happy about this, but I'm not sure studying English everyday during her winter break is her idea of a good time.

I've also been reconnecting with some of my Chinese friends that are Nanjingese, since everybody else has gone home for the holidays. In addition, I've been studying Chinese everyday. My program coordinator gave me some of the old textbooks from last semester from the level above mine so I've been studying those. I'm also preparing for the HSK test that I will take in the spring. The HSK is a standardized test to rate your fluency in Chinese, like the TOEFL for international students going to the US. And last, but certainly not least, watching Chinese television dramas.

The CIEE program coordinator, Pingping, invited me to her home to celebrate Chinese New Year with her family so I will be going to her home, a suburb of Shanghai for the New Year. It actually is the first place the Japanese invaded when they invaded the South of China during World War II. It should also be interesting because Pingping actually won't be there for a couple days. She was recently married and will be going to her husband's town for New Year's Eve, then back home for New Year's. What should make it particularly interesting is that her mother doesn't speak Mandarin, she only speaks a local dialect from Shanghai.

Here are some pictures I've took around Nanjing.

One of my favorite breakfast foods are baozi, which are steamed buns stuffed with meat, vegetables or red beans. Below is a picture of one of my favorite baozi snack stands. The sign says "Golden Wheat Basket Big Bun Shop"

Below is a picture of one of my favorite Tofu dishes. In China, Tofu is definitely NOT just a meat substitute or a vegetarian food like it is in the States. When it's prepared correctly, not as a meat substitute, but instead as a food in its own right, it's absolutely delicious. The meal below is Tofu with ground beef, chili sauce, yellow bean vegetable, and rice. Look closely, you can see the tofu and ground beef in harmony with one another.

Below is another very common Chinese dish: noodle soup with shredded chicken pieces and a green leafy vegetable.

Restaurants like this one are common in China. You can see into the kitchen, in the back on the right. You see people wearing their coats inside? Remember, there is no indoor heating in Nanjing. In the middle is a heating and air conditioning unit, but it is probably very rarely turned on since electricity is so expensive. This place is a hole in the wall (probably a little bit unhygenic but if you're going to be squeemish about that, then don't ever come to China), but one of the most delicious restaurants I've been to.

Here is a typical place setting at restaurants. Chopsticks, toothpicks, sauce, garlic to take as you please (Chinese people just eat chunks of raw garlic with their food), and toilet paper. the toilet paper is to be used like napkins.

Rapid Construction in China

In case you haven't heard, I got back to Nanjing safe and sound last week. Last night I went to visit my host family for dinner and to give them their New Year's gifts I'd bought them in Europe. It was great fun; we chatted for over 3 hours and they thought it was hilarious that I had a hard time understanding Irish English. My host brother was absorbed in a video game most of the time, but what 15 year old isn't these days? He loved the soccer jersey I brought him from Madrid. I am excited to move back with them at the end of the month. (I am living in the dorms until after orientation and the beginning of the semester, which will start after the Chinese New Year, which is a week-long celebration that begins on February 14th this year.)

As I was walking down our street from the bus stop, I noticed that the apartment complex next to ours that had been under construction was already finished! Luckily, I had taken a picture of this apartment complex for a class project so I have a "before" picture.

Before- This picture was taken in December 2009
After- This was taken in February 2010.

This was really amazing to me, even though I know how quickly construction projects can get done in China. Often they employ members of the "floating population"-- people who move to the cities temporarily to find work-- and the workers will work literally work 16-18 hours a day so that they can finish the project early and go back home to their families in the countryside. But to actually see the change was pretty surprising for me, even if the frame had already been built!

More news from Nanjing to come shortly! Also stay posted for the New Year's celebrations coming up soon.

Some Pictures from Dublin

Dublin: Where unexpected changes happen

I think everybody who keeps a blog during their study abroad experience has at least one post where they write about how much they've grown and changed and how this is the greatest experience of their lives and blah blah blah. Well, here's my chance to do that.

Last weekend in Dublin was the first time since I left the States in August that I could truly say that I have changed for the better because of my experience abroad. Of course everything that has happened in the past 5 months has contributed to this recent epiphany, but I didn't realize that there was a change occurring within myself until last weekend. When I really look at myself, my dreams, hopes, aspirations, priorities and values, I have realized that they have shifted in so many ways during the past 5 months. I used to think that the house in the suburbs with the white picket fence was my dream. But now I'm not so sure that the American dream is such an ideal after all. I know it's a little cliché, but this is a really big deal for me.

Most importantly, I realized that I AM happy. And I'm happy all by myself. Not because I got a good grade, because of a boy, because of money, because of an outfit I just bought, because a friend complimented me. I'm happy just because I am alive and have a full life ahead of me. I think that's the most important thing of anybody's life: to be happy alone. And I think I might have achieved just that. I also want to travel. I want to love. I want to have a career. I want to do research. I want to live the one life that I have to its absolute fullest. I want to build on the friendships I've already made. I'm excited for all the people out there who I will become friends with in the future.

It's so hard to explain, but I'm so happy right now and so content with my life. It's also amazing to me how close I've stayed with my friends from home, merely through emails, visits, Skype, and Gchat. For those of you who I've left behind in Pittsburgh and DC, don't think that my personality has changed or that I won't want to be your friend anymore. You'll still recognize me. I'm still Sarah Elizabeth. It's something internal that has changed that I could have never predicted. One aspect is that I want to do everything I can to spread the love and happiness that I feel right now.

I feel so full of love, as if it could overflow and take over the world. I want to erase sadness from everyone's life and give them all the love that I can. Over the past 5 months, not to mention the past 20 years, I have met so many giving, caring, loving people that I still look up to and admire today. I can only hope that I can be like them someday. So I've changed and I hope that I can hold on to that change by becoming a better and more loving person. The following is a short dedication to a few of the people who have touched my life in a very special way and have taught me what it means to love. This is by no means inclusive, but just a few of the people I am very thankful for right now.

This is in no particular order, by the way:

Becky- I miss the sunshine that you put into my life every single day last year. I'm so thankful that we both transferred to George Washington because my life would have been seriously lacking if I had never become friends with you… or if I had never got to experience all of your late night visits to my room or never gone to Starbucks at 4 am or never celebrated Halloween or never competed in Color Wars or any of the other shananigans we got ourselves into. I can't wait to live with you in South Hall next year! I love you, Pookie.

Jiajia and Sharon- You guys are the craziest friends I've ever known. I loved all the foolishness we found ourselves in at the end of last semester and I'll never forget the never-ending laughter we shared. When I didn't believe in myself, you guys believed in me and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. You made my China experience what it was and I hope we stay friends for life.

Ruth- How lucky am I to have such a cool older sister who I can look up to, admire, envy, copy and get advice… and stay with for long periods of time at her apartment in Albacete. I can only hope to be as awesome as you are, but I can say that I will be following in your footsteps for the rest of my life. You're an inspiration.

Liz- You are a beautiful person and a wonderful friend. I can't think of anyone who is more loyal and faithful to friendship than you. Last year, you provided me with your kitchen… and along with that came your friendship, love and cooking lessons. For as long as I live, I could never get sick of having a nice girl talk session with you. When we get back to GW, I owe you a WoW Wingery date. Grilled chicken wrap included.

Mom- I am grateful for the sacrifices that you have made everyday for the past 8 years to the corporate hellhole that is Home Depot so that I can get a college education. I hope that when I become a mother, I too can display the same unconditional love that you have given me.

Sitra- You are the first person from GW that I met (remember Adam had to go to class so we got quesadillas at Ames?) and you're also the sweetest person I've ever met. You were sorely missed on our winter break trip and I won't feel complete until we are reunited again. I admire you for your bravery to go to Peru and your courage and strength through your freshman and sophomore year for reasons that will remain obvious but unsaid. Here's to being reunited next year, Disney princesses, ice cream, abrevs, to better brownies next time, and Apex… or perhaps a better club than Apex…

Amy- If the only thing I had gotten out of our Eurotrip was a closer friendship with you, it would have been worth every penny for me. Don't think you can get rid of me now; next year I'm going to be barging into South Hall everyday asking you to spill your innermost feeling so I can do a psychoanalysis. Just kidding; I'll reserve that for our girl talk nights. The only thing left I need to say is: I'm the Triemiester. Here's to another year of broadening our horizons, new experiences and becoming a Yes Man/Woman/Person and giving away all our possessions to live off the land. GET REAL!

Lyn- Thank you for being my second Mom. I don't know what I would have done for the past 4 years without you and your family. You are the bravest woman I know and your victory in the fight against cancer is inspirational. Thanks for including me as a member of your family.

Adam- You are my best friend and I love you. Thanks for believing in me.

Dad- You have worked so hard every single day of your life (well at least since I was born. I don't know what you were like before that. ;-)) to provide for your family. I sincerely hope that you have a comfortable retirement someday somewhere tropical because that's what you deserve for all your hard work.

Ms. McNulty- It has been way too long since we've met up and I hope next summer we can touch base again, provided that you're not off exploring another corner of the world. You are the best teacher in the world and it amazes me that you work tirelessly to become a better teacher still. You are the reason I am in China right now and I am indebted to you for that. If I start a career related to China, we can split my income 90/10.

The Eleven- To my 10 sisters from Pittsburgh, you always have and always will be in my thoughts. It sucks hardcore that I moved away freshman year and have only returned for short visits and I feel terrible about this. I always look longingly at your Summer '09, Christmas '09, Thankgiving '09 ect facebook albums and wish I could have been there. I hope you guys forgive me for this and remember that I love you guys. I always appreciate your emails and your facebook posts; I can't wait until we are all reunited again. Summer '10 anyone? I wish it were that simple but maybe some of you can come and visit me in China! I love you Megan, Chrissy, Lisa, Kaitlin, Amy, Sarah, Grace, Kate, Hannah, and Dana.