Glasses and Classes

Language Tip of the Day: Our program director was telling us about "washing money" and we were very confused. Finally we figured out that she was talking about money laundering (read: laundry). In China, money laundering is 洗澡钱, which translated directly means "to wash money."

 

Fun fact of the day: Eyeglasses are all the rage in China right now. So popular, actually, that if you don't need prescription lenses, it is very hip to wear frames without any lenses in them. There are probably just as many people with lenses in their frames as there are people without any lenses.

 

Culture Shock Tip of the Week (Derived from Zuleika's famous Parenting Tip of the Week): Toilets are not always what you expect them to be, note the picture. It takes some time to get used to Chinese style toilets, deemed "a hole in the floor" by many Americans. Many people I know who have traveled in China often are very uncomfortable using them and some are even disgusted. Although I knew about Chinese toilets, I was still startled to see them yesterday the first time I walked into the bathrooms on the first floor of my dorm. Later, we learned in one of our orientation sessions that Chinese women are actually disgusted and appalled my Western-style toilets that you and I know so well. The idea of sitting on the seat after another woman has sat on the seat is extremely unsanitary for them and they also believe you can contract many diseases this way. As a result, squatting on the ground is the preferred method of use.

 

Today was our first day of classes and also the first day of our language pledge to only speak Mandarin Chinese from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. I'm really enjoying being committed to speak in Chinese all day and although it is a bit of a struggle to understand native Chinese speakers, my American friends and I are having fun speaking in Chinese together. My teachers are extremely kind but the work seems to be extremely challenging. I'm planning on having several hours of homework each night.

 

p.s. The other picture (not the toilets) is a big group of us at a Chinese restaurant eating dinner last night.

Hotpot

 Sorry there's been a delay in my blog posting--Blogspot is blocked in China, as is Facebook. Luckily, Grace is a lifesaver and told me that I could post to my blog via email. I gave her my username and password and she set up the email post setting for me. Although I can't view my blog, I can send emails to an address that will automatically post here. There are ways to get around the website blockers, but unfortunately you have to set all that up before you arrive in China.  

Let me just say that I am very happy right now, am pleasantly surprised by how much I can communicate and am enjoying making a ton of new friends. Today our Chinese roommates took us to get cellphones and open bank accounts. Afterwards, a group of about 20 (10 American and 10 Chinese students) went out to dinner at a restaurant.  As I discovered yesterday, if you come into a restaurant with a big group, they give you your own private room and today we had 2 joint private rooms.  Also people are usually rude (in comparison to treatment in the US) to the restaurant servers (fuwuyuan) and will yell "fuwuyuan!" over and over again until the server comes to your table.

 

Anyway, at the restaurant they served the food in Hotpots, which were two huge bowls that are set over an open fire in the middle of the table. The fuwuyuan serves broth in the huge bowls and then you order raw food. You put the raw food, both meat and vegetables, into the boiling broth as you wish, thus making your own soup. Earlier in the day, our program director told us that a girl got very badly burned by the open flames at a Hotpot and so I was scared since the flames come up very close to your hand as you are ladling out the soup. Sparks were even flying out at me occasionally! After dinner we taught each other various games that we play, which was very boistorous and loud since we were clapping and yelling. We had a great time and stayed there laughing and talking for over 3 hours. Food is an extremely central part of the Chinese culture and talking loudly over dinner is also common.

 

The American students at our table had a miscommunication with the Chinese students and it was quite embarrassing. After we had taught our Chinese roommates how to play Thumper, they started sharing our beers with the other table in our joint room. We were trying to tell them to stop and telling them that we weren't finished drinking them yet. After a couple minutes, we discovered that at the end of every meal all people in the party give a toast and say "Cheers!" (except in Chinese, of course). The other table didn't have any alcohol at all so the students at out table were trying to give them just enough beer so they could each have a sip in their cups. Luckily we figured it out pretty quickly and all was forgiven.

p.s. The pictures are of the shampoo and face wash that I bought here and also of a group of CIEE students waiting for our luggage at the airport.

Utahns

A couple of important terms that I learned this week:
Utahns- people from Utah. Like Pennsylvanians except not as awesome.
LDS- Latter Day Saints aka Mormons
Garments- Mormon underwear, worn 24/7 and it goes up to the elbows and down to the knees.
Babies- if you're a woman, you should make lots of these
RMT- Rocky Mountain Time

My trip was awesome with the family, we went camping, hiking and played lots of cards. My favorite night was Monday night, when I made spaghetti with the special sauce that Liz taught me how to make last year, we roasted S'Mores over the grill and played Cranium.

I'm leaving for Nanjing today! I have butterflies in my stomach. I'll be leaving in just a couple minutes! I'll make two connections—in San Francisco and Hong Kong—and the entire flight will take 29 hours. The entire trip will actually take more like 35 hours from "door to door." I'll arrive in Nanjing around 1:00 pm local time on Friday, August 28th. Needless to say, I'll be out of touch for a couple of days as we get settled in.

The 4 members of the Tynen family- I'm going to miss you!

Goodbyes

Yesterday I had an incredibly heartwarming goodbye party at work. Everyone in the office surprised me with 2 big bags full of goodies to bring with me to China. The first was a travel bag with a million useful travel items, such as hand sanitizer, magazines and books. The second was full of delicousness: Starbursts, gumballs, sour gummy worms and of course, Ramen Noodles. I was extremely overwhelmed with the kindness that everyone showed me. My mentor Carolyn, who got me the travel bag, had organized the gift extravaganza and I'm going to miss her, and everyone in the office, a lot. Barbara got me a journal and everyone added their personal touches to the gift. Zuleika also got me a SNUGGIE—the blanket with sleeves. I think I owe her my life for that one. Heidi gave me an art journaling kit complete with a ton of different art supplies and an art journal that she decorated. Since she is a registered Art Therapist, she also included personalized instructions on art journaling and other self-exploration through art. This very personal present came straight from the heart and it meant the world to me that she had put so much thought into it. Robin surprised me with a visit and everyone sent me off with a million hugs and well wishes.

Aaron drove down from Pittsburgh and arrived around 9:00 pm and helped me load the car. Afterwards, we drove to the Capital to pick Adam up at the Library of Congress. I offered to drive the first half and the three of us had a lively conversation the entire drive to keep each other awake. Even so, I started getting tired at 3:00 am and so Adam drove the rest of the way home. We arrived in Pittsburgh at 5:00 am and I gathered all my dorm and apartment stuff in one room and commenced to pack for China. By the time I had packed everything on the suggested packing list, 3 hours had passed and my suitcases were full so I declared that mission accomplished. 3 of my best friends from high school--Grace, Amy and Lisa—came over a little bit later. I was incredibly happy to see them again and we sat in the living room and had girl talk. I probably could have spent another 6 hours with them, but they had a leave and I also had to catch my flight to Salt Lake City. So I said my goodbyes to them and I was sad to see them drive away.

After Adam drove my sister and I to the airport, I also had to say goodbye to him, which makes my chest tighten up when I think about it. I’m going to see him in only 4 months, but I really don’t care right now. I’m just really sad. I was glad I had my sister to distract me so I didn't start crying and I've been trying not to think about it. It’s a good thing I worked in military family policy this past year. Knowing that there are thousands of spouses and kids missing a military Service member who is in Iraq or Afghanistan on a 15-month deployment right now forces me to count my blessings. I was also thrilled that my sister came in to town from Spain and that we were on the same flight to visit our parents in Salt Lake City. We talked for a couple hours at the gate since our flight was delayed, and it was great to catch up with her. I'm now in Salt Lake City and am excited to spend the next few days with my family.

My Life in a Box

Tomorrow is my last day at work and I’m really sad to leave my job and say goodbye to the friends and mentors that I've made there. The office is having a good-bye party for me during lunch and it makes me very happy that they care about me that much. Zuleika bought me sushi today as a goodbye present for lunch and I think it was the best lunch I've ever had.

I'm almost finished packing up my apartment in preparation for moving day tomorrow. I think this is the best and the worst part of college—living as a nomadic student for 4+ years.

When you move away from home your freshmen year, you think that will be the last time you have to undertake the drive to college with boxes on your lap and under your feet. Little did you know, 8 months later you’ll undertake a similarly hellish journey as you move back home or to an apartment for the summer. Then it starts all over again at the end of the summer. The worst part is throwing away most of your stuff because it won’t fit in the car.

I forgot my phone in my office today and I am kicking myself so hard because one of my best friends from home, Megan, is returning to college tomorrow and I was supposed to call her tonight. I also found out today that most of my friends have already left for college so I won't get to see them in Pittsburgh. However, Grace said that we were definitely going to see each other and I can't wait-- I'm so excited to see her again. I'm sad, though, that I didn't get to spend more time with my friends from home this summer.

南京 (Nanjing): the best place EVER

During my stay in Nanjing, I’ll be living with a Chinese host family and all of my classes are taught in Chinese. A few of the classes I'll be taking are Readings in Chinese, Spoken Chinese, Contemporary Chinese Studies, History of Chinese Film, and Ancient History of China. Nanjing University, founded in 1902, has over 40,000 students and is best known for its liberal arts and social science disciplines, which is perfect for me. Nanjing has a population of 7.5 million (New York City has 8 million) and prides itself on maintaining a traditional Chinese city atmosphere, while also welcoming urban development in designated parts. It is located at the same latitude as Charleston, South Carolina at 32 degrees North and has similar weather patterns, described by Wikipedia as a "humid subtropical" climate. I'm very excited about this because I hate the cold weather. Nanjing is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time but they don't observe daylight savings time.

南京 are the characters for Nanjing, which means Southern Capital (Beijing means Northern Capital). It first became the capital of China in 229 CE and was the capital for a series of historical periods after that. In 1912, the Nationalists declared Nanjing the capital of China, where it remained the capital of China until they were overthrown by the Communists in 1949. The massacre of Nanjing occurred during an invasion of Japanese troops during World War II where an estimated 300,000 civilians were murdered and 80,000 women were raped.

I can't think of any more facts about Nanjing that people are usually curious about, so comment on this post if you have questions about what exactly I'll be doing while I'm in China.

p.s. the picture above is the most famous building/tower on Nanjing University's campus. The other picture above is of Nanjing's skyline.

You're So Cute; I Just Want to Box You Up

I got the name of this blog from one of Sitra's photo albums on facebook. Out of her 110 albums, almost every single one had a title with a funny quote that someone said the night the pictures were taken. I was looking through her pictures last week and started cracking up with the titles of some of the albums: "Are Those French Fries? No, Wait That's Apple Pie", "At Least Try to Tuck It In" and my personal favorite, "You're Always Darting Back and Forth All Mysterious and Sweaty."

I don't remember the context behind the photo album "You're So Cute; I Just Want to Box You Up" but I thought it was fitting for my blog since that is how I'm feeling about pretty much everything and everyone in my life right now: my boyfriend Adam, the crazy troublemakers at OFP/CY, my college and high schools friends, my family—I just want to put everyone in a box and bring them with me to China. I'm pretty sure that would be the best-case scenario. Just some of the people I want to take with me in a box:

A few of my friends from high school: Dana, Grace, Amy, Lisa, Megan and me- Yes, I do want to take all ten of you with me, but I really liked this picture of us at the St. Maurice fair

Victoria, Lindsey, Becky, Patrick and me at Obama's Inauguration

The rugby team

OFP/CY at Kate and Danielle's good-bye party

You know who you are at the one and only Guthridge on Amy's birthday

Valeria, Becky and me in Georgetown

Adam and me at prom

My family in front of our old house

I've always thought that blogs were really lame. And I still do. I feel incredibly narcissistic writing in this damn thing right now. But I want a record of my travels and I want my friends and family to be able to get a snapshot of what I'm doing in China on an everyday basis—instead of once a week when I have time to call or email or instead of trying to tell everybody about my trip when I return in June. My hope is that all the people who have touched my life will be able to find this blog entertaining and informative. However, I still want all of you to email me and let me know what is going on in your life! I'm very nosy so I find other people's lives incredibly interesting and definitely want to keep up my email correspondence. My second goal of this blog is to give people in the U.S. a clear picture of the life and culture of the Chinese people. Happy reading!