Hello everyone,
Merry Christmas! I've been back now for a couple of weeks, and have gotten pretty well adjusted to life here in the states again. I've even been back to a day of work already at the bank in my home town. It took a few days right away of sleeping in late and going to bed early to get caught up, but I did it, and now I'm back on regular time. Just in time for the holidays, even. :P
Overall, I'm going to have to say that the China program was a good one. I enjoyed it, it didn't really take me off course for my degree, and it gave me a chance to experience another country and make memories with new friends and professors. For example, my Chinese Literature professor bought a copy of the book we were reading in class for me. Not only that, but this was a printing in mandarin Chinese that is looked for within China. And if you want to see the memories with my friends from foreign countries, just take a look through my recent Facebook photos. There are plenty there to look at. :)
Now, it wasn't always easy. The beginning was a struggle, and communication with everyone at home was hard during the entire trip. At the beginning of the trip, I would have said that, if I could go back, I wouldn't have done it. However, by the end of the trip, I was very glad I had done it. I have grown as a person, made many friends, learned a lot of things, and overall had a good time while I was there. Will I go on another study abroad experience in college? No. But this experience has definitely made me want to visit other countries through the rest of my life. Not for four months at a time, but good ten day to two week vacations would be great to take in the future. :) Hopefully to some of the countries where my new friends live as well.
Well, that's about it as far as my experiences, and so this blog, go. Thank you again to anyone who read this, and to anyone looking to study abroad, I would suggest taking that leap and doing it. It may seem scary or not worth it at first, but after you get adjusted, its quite the experience. And it could be a once in a life time experience that you don't want to miss. Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, and I wish you all the best,
Adam
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
The Last Week
Hello again,
For the final time in China, hello and welcome to my blog. Well. Its over. I'm just finalizing my last paper for Vani, the other two papers are done and turned in, and the language test is done and I messed up on only three questions. :P We're all winding down our time here, and starting to get everything ready to return to the states. Doing last loads of laundry, figuring out what to pack and what to throw away, and, the most dreaded of all, cleaning the rooms. :P
This last week is going to be very busy still. That will make it go quick though, which will be both nice and not. As I said last time, leaving is going to be both welcome and unwanted. I want American food again so badly I can't hardly stand it. After cooking our Thanksgiving food, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And, even more than that, I want to be back to everyone in the states. Family, girlfriend, friends, acquaintances, even more new people I haven't met yet. There is so much talking and catching up and hanging out I have to do.
But, I don't want to leave the friends I've made here. The professors and other foreign students and other Chinese students and even just people that recognize me when I go to their restaurant to order food. I'm going to miss all of them. I've made quite a few good friends and not getting to see them again for a very long time, if I ever do get to see them again, is going to take quite the toll on me. Thankfully, I've got a lot of good people to return to.
As far as the events of this week, I've basically already listed them. This last Monday through Wednesday were the last three days of our classes. Next Monday we meet again with Vani one more time to give a short speech over what we've done and experience here, but that's not even really a class. As I said at the beginning, most of my time has been spent getting everything ready for my return trip. I am, however, not finished with sharing interesting tidbits about the Chinese culture. And this time, I want to show everyone an example of how quickly the Chinese construction is. Following are two pictures. The first is the view from my window in August, and the second is the view today.
For the final time in China, hello and welcome to my blog. Well. Its over. I'm just finalizing my last paper for Vani, the other two papers are done and turned in, and the language test is done and I messed up on only three questions. :P We're all winding down our time here, and starting to get everything ready to return to the states. Doing last loads of laundry, figuring out what to pack and what to throw away, and, the most dreaded of all, cleaning the rooms. :P
This last week is going to be very busy still. That will make it go quick though, which will be both nice and not. As I said last time, leaving is going to be both welcome and unwanted. I want American food again so badly I can't hardly stand it. After cooking our Thanksgiving food, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And, even more than that, I want to be back to everyone in the states. Family, girlfriend, friends, acquaintances, even more new people I haven't met yet. There is so much talking and catching up and hanging out I have to do.
But, I don't want to leave the friends I've made here. The professors and other foreign students and other Chinese students and even just people that recognize me when I go to their restaurant to order food. I'm going to miss all of them. I've made quite a few good friends and not getting to see them again for a very long time, if I ever do get to see them again, is going to take quite the toll on me. Thankfully, I've got a lot of good people to return to.
As far as the events of this week, I've basically already listed them. This last Monday through Wednesday were the last three days of our classes. Next Monday we meet again with Vani one more time to give a short speech over what we've done and experience here, but that's not even really a class. As I said at the beginning, most of my time has been spent getting everything ready for my return trip. I am, however, not finished with sharing interesting tidbits about the Chinese culture. And this time, I want to show everyone an example of how quickly the Chinese construction is. Following are two pictures. The first is the view from my window in August, and the second is the view today.
Ahhhh. The wonderful view of an empty, unpaved, not even leveled land.
Well... that's new. 0_o
And, if that weren't cool enough, they messed up once. They had concrete poured for another structure, found out they didn't need it, jack-hammered all the concrete away (at two in the morning every morning for a week... not that I'm bitter), and then built all of this. In just four months. Now, I love America, but all of that would take at least 3/4 of a year there, if not a full year. All of the trees, and dried concrete and stairs and everything. Props to China for how efficiently their workers work.
Well, with all of that interesting information out of the way, I would like to tell everyone thank you again for reading this blog while I've been here. Its been fun, and I'm going to miss it. But I'm also looking forward to getting back and being able to talk to everyone in person. In just six short days, I leave Shi Jiazhuang for Beijing, and just two days after that, I fly out of China, headed back to the states. I won't be making another post from here in China, so I hope you all have enjoyed reading everything so far. I do still intend to write one more when I land, however, just to recap the entire trip and let everyone know I'm back safe. Thanks again everybody, and goodbye for the last time from China. :)
Adam
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hello everybody,
As the title says, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! :D Even though I am half a world away, I still got to celebrate the holiday with some friends here, and we even had an American Thanksgiving dinner, although some of the foods were a little different. We had spaghetti, grilled cheese, stuffing (which was made by me, and was my first attempt at cooking :P ), mashed potatoes, brownies, and s'mores. It was wonderful, and I ate more than I think I have at any other point here. I was very thankful for all of the food and good company on that day. :)
In other news, this week was the last week of regular classes. Next week, we are handing in our final papers, and taking our final exam in Language class. The semester is quickly drawing to a close, and its really a bittersweet moment. Even with the struggles to begin with, this has been quite the adventure. I've met a lot of new people, made new friends, and had many experiences I don't know that I'll get to experience again. Leaving it all behind is going to be sad. However, I am very excited to be returning to everyone and everything I have waiting for me in the states. My family, girlfriend, friends, professors, and everyone else that will play a role in my life are all waiting, and I can't wait to see them all again. And, two weeks from this posting, I'll get to. :)
The final thing that I want to talk about in this post was a trip we took this Saturday to a Buddhist temple and a garden here in Shi Jiazhuang. The Buddhist temple was very interesting, and had many statues that were intricately carved and very cool to look at. We also ate lunch at the temple before heading to the garden. This garden had many different sections that represented different parts of China, such as the Great Wall. It also had a fountain show that we were lucky enough to catch while we were there. Overall, it was a very good Saturday, and I'm glad I got to go on the trip.
Well. that about wraps up my post for this time. I'm thinking there will probably only be one more post from here in China, and then the final post will be once I get back to the states. :) Thank you to anyone that has stuck with me through this whole blog. I hope I've been able to give you at least a little sense of what this trip was like. Until next time. :)
Adam
As the title says, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! :D Even though I am half a world away, I still got to celebrate the holiday with some friends here, and we even had an American Thanksgiving dinner, although some of the foods were a little different. We had spaghetti, grilled cheese, stuffing (which was made by me, and was my first attempt at cooking :P ), mashed potatoes, brownies, and s'mores. It was wonderful, and I ate more than I think I have at any other point here. I was very thankful for all of the food and good company on that day. :)
In other news, this week was the last week of regular classes. Next week, we are handing in our final papers, and taking our final exam in Language class. The semester is quickly drawing to a close, and its really a bittersweet moment. Even with the struggles to begin with, this has been quite the adventure. I've met a lot of new people, made new friends, and had many experiences I don't know that I'll get to experience again. Leaving it all behind is going to be sad. However, I am very excited to be returning to everyone and everything I have waiting for me in the states. My family, girlfriend, friends, professors, and everyone else that will play a role in my life are all waiting, and I can't wait to see them all again. And, two weeks from this posting, I'll get to. :)
The final thing that I want to talk about in this post was a trip we took this Saturday to a Buddhist temple and a garden here in Shi Jiazhuang. The Buddhist temple was very interesting, and had many statues that were intricately carved and very cool to look at. We also ate lunch at the temple before heading to the garden. This garden had many different sections that represented different parts of China, such as the Great Wall. It also had a fountain show that we were lucky enough to catch while we were there. Overall, it was a very good Saturday, and I'm glad I got to go on the trip.
Well. that about wraps up my post for this time. I'm thinking there will probably only be one more post from here in China, and then the final post will be once I get back to the states. :) Thank you to anyone that has stuck with me through this whole blog. I hope I've been able to give you at least a little sense of what this trip was like. Until next time. :)
Adam
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Xi'an Trip
Hello everybody,
As the title says, the biggest event of the week this time around was our trip to the city of Xi'an. This city is located in the same province as my solo trip to Pingyao was. However, this city was farther away than Pingyao, and so we took a plane to get there instead of a train or a bus. This was a chance for me to see how flights within the country run, and I must say that they run much more smoothly than flights I've taken within the United States. When the boarding is called, people are for the most part at the gate and ready to go. Within a half hour of the first call for boarding, our plane was taxing to the runway on both trips. Everything seemed very organized and ready to go as far as travelling was concerned.
As far as the city itself was concerned, Xi'an was interesting. We visited many locations around the city during our three days there. The two major stops on day one were the Great Wild Goose Pagoda and a history museum nearby. These were both small stops, as we were only there in the afternoon after our flight, and we were all tired from getting up early that morning to catch the plane.
The high light of the second day was visiting the location of the terracotta warriors. These warriors are fascinating to hear about, but even more interesting to see in person. The rows of warriors, all crafted from clay and designed to look different from one another, stand in three separate pits. The warriors, all of which are taller than me, are very intricately designed. There are still locations in all three pits that are being excavated, and they hope to continue to find warriors the longer they dig at the sites.
On our final day, we went to visit the old city wall, which is still standing in the city. Development has happened on both sides of the wall, and roads go underneath the wall in many locations. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the wall, as I forgot my camera in the vehicle when we arrived at the wall. :/ However, it was very similar in design to that of Pingyao's wall. The biggest difference between the two sites is that the city of Pingyao is contained intisde the wall, while Xi'an has grown and absorbed the wall into the city. I apologize for not having any pictures to share from that location. :/
Other than that, we celebrated one more birthday this week of a friend from Nepal. That was entertaining, and involved more singing and eating, just as the first birthday did a while ago. Also, with only three weeks left here, we have started work on our final papers for our classes. That has started to eat up some of my time as well. Hopefully all keeps going well during these last few weeks, and I can make the most of my time left here. Of course I'll keep you posted on anything that does happen during these final weeks, especially the interesting things. ;) Thanks again for reading,
Adam
As the title says, the biggest event of the week this time around was our trip to the city of Xi'an. This city is located in the same province as my solo trip to Pingyao was. However, this city was farther away than Pingyao, and so we took a plane to get there instead of a train or a bus. This was a chance for me to see how flights within the country run, and I must say that they run much more smoothly than flights I've taken within the United States. When the boarding is called, people are for the most part at the gate and ready to go. Within a half hour of the first call for boarding, our plane was taxing to the runway on both trips. Everything seemed very organized and ready to go as far as travelling was concerned.
As far as the city itself was concerned, Xi'an was interesting. We visited many locations around the city during our three days there. The two major stops on day one were the Great Wild Goose Pagoda and a history museum nearby. These were both small stops, as we were only there in the afternoon after our flight, and we were all tired from getting up early that morning to catch the plane.
The temple at the Wild Goose Pagoda.
An ancient chess board with jade playing pieces, found at the history museum.
This is just pit number one. It is the largest of the pits, but all three are massive pits full of standing soldiers.
This is the best close up of a face I could get. The crowds are kept well away from the warriors, so getting detailed close up photos was difficult.
On our final day, we went to visit the old city wall, which is still standing in the city. Development has happened on both sides of the wall, and roads go underneath the wall in many locations. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the wall, as I forgot my camera in the vehicle when we arrived at the wall. :/ However, it was very similar in design to that of Pingyao's wall. The biggest difference between the two sites is that the city of Pingyao is contained intisde the wall, while Xi'an has grown and absorbed the wall into the city. I apologize for not having any pictures to share from that location. :/
Other than that, we celebrated one more birthday this week of a friend from Nepal. That was entertaining, and involved more singing and eating, just as the first birthday did a while ago. Also, with only three weeks left here, we have started work on our final papers for our classes. That has started to eat up some of my time as well. Hopefully all keeps going well during these last few weeks, and I can make the most of my time left here. Of course I'll keep you posted on anything that does happen during these final weeks, especially the interesting things. ;) Thanks again for reading,
Adam
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
The One Month Mark
Hello everybody,
Well, its been another rather uneventful week here. There are a couple things that deserve mentioning, but the exciting update will come again next week, after our big trip to Xi'an. That leaves this Friday the 15th, and we'll get back on Sunday. Hopefully, I'll get a post up either Monday or Tuesday so that you all don't have to wait too long before finding out what happened there. Anyways, with that short update out of the way, lets move on to the couple of things that happened this week.
Firstly, one of the girls in our dorm from Nepal had a birthday on Friday, and we celebrated that with traditional, homemade food from India and Nepal. It wasn't exactly the same because they couldn't get all of the same ingredients here. But if it was anywhere near the same, they eat very good food in those countries, and I definitely wouldn't mind eating it more often. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone from Nepal when I return to the states... :/ I think I may have to go to more of the UNK cultural events and try out many new foods, as well as meet new foreign students on our own campus.
The second thing I did this week that was slightly less important, but still very fun, was that I went to see the new Thor movie in the 3D IMAX theater at one of our local malls. It was even in English, which made things that much better. And I must say, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. I don't know if it was the fact that I was watching a movie in English, or if it was just a good movie, but I definitely enjoyed it more than the first.
I know, that doesn't really explain much of the culture here, but I think this next part might a little: there were actually a lot of Chinese people in the English theater watching Thor, even though there was a Chinese showing in the same theater. I don't know the reason for that, but it could be that they like watching the movies in English to practice their language skills, or maybe they like watching it in its original format, without the dubbing. I know that when I watch movies like Ip Man or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, I prefer to listen to the original actors and just use subtitles. Maybe that's what they were doing as well.
Anyways, with my pondering aside, that has really been the extent of my week. Again, there has been the usual studying, sleeping, going to class and all those other wonderful things that don't really liven a post up. We had a quiz over section two of our language book this week, and I only missed five points on that, so my language skills are still staying up there. Hopefully they just keep improving the rest of the time, and I don't lose them as soon as I leave. :P As the title of my post says, this week also marked the point in the trip where we only have one month left. Looking back, the time has really gone by quickly. There have been some struggles, but there have also been some really cool parts. Its going to be a bittersweet moment leaving Hebei Normal. Thanks again to everyone that's reading these, and I'll update you as soon as I can with the details from Xi'an.
Adam
Well, its been another rather uneventful week here. There are a couple things that deserve mentioning, but the exciting update will come again next week, after our big trip to Xi'an. That leaves this Friday the 15th, and we'll get back on Sunday. Hopefully, I'll get a post up either Monday or Tuesday so that you all don't have to wait too long before finding out what happened there. Anyways, with that short update out of the way, lets move on to the couple of things that happened this week.
Firstly, one of the girls in our dorm from Nepal had a birthday on Friday, and we celebrated that with traditional, homemade food from India and Nepal. It wasn't exactly the same because they couldn't get all of the same ingredients here. But if it was anywhere near the same, they eat very good food in those countries, and I definitely wouldn't mind eating it more often. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone from Nepal when I return to the states... :/ I think I may have to go to more of the UNK cultural events and try out many new foods, as well as meet new foreign students on our own campus.
The second thing I did this week that was slightly less important, but still very fun, was that I went to see the new Thor movie in the 3D IMAX theater at one of our local malls. It was even in English, which made things that much better. And I must say, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. I don't know if it was the fact that I was watching a movie in English, or if it was just a good movie, but I definitely enjoyed it more than the first.
I know, that doesn't really explain much of the culture here, but I think this next part might a little: there were actually a lot of Chinese people in the English theater watching Thor, even though there was a Chinese showing in the same theater. I don't know the reason for that, but it could be that they like watching the movies in English to practice their language skills, or maybe they like watching it in its original format, without the dubbing. I know that when I watch movies like Ip Man or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, I prefer to listen to the original actors and just use subtitles. Maybe that's what they were doing as well.
Anyways, with my pondering aside, that has really been the extent of my week. Again, there has been the usual studying, sleeping, going to class and all those other wonderful things that don't really liven a post up. We had a quiz over section two of our language book this week, and I only missed five points on that, so my language skills are still staying up there. Hopefully they just keep improving the rest of the time, and I don't lose them as soon as I leave. :P As the title of my post says, this week also marked the point in the trip where we only have one month left. Looking back, the time has really gone by quickly. There have been some struggles, but there have also been some really cool parts. Its going to be a bittersweet moment leaving Hebei Normal. Thanks again to everyone that's reading these, and I'll update you as soon as I can with the details from Xi'an.
Adam
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
A Slow Week
Hello everyone,
I don't really have much to tell you about this week. Not too much happened this week, in comparison with past weeks. To jump right into the meat of the week, Halloween was on Thursday. However, China doesn't really celebrate that holiday, so we ended up going to our UNK professor, Vani's, apartment. We had good food there, and got to chat with her and a group of students from Nepal that were also invited.
The next thing that happened this week was then on Sunday. Vani is of the Hindu religion, and this Sunday the 3rd was one of the biggest holiday's celebrated by Hindus: Diwali. This is the "festival of lights," and is celebrated often with the lighting of candles around the home. Vani said that there can be up to 1000 candles lit on this holiday, although there weren't anywhere near this number at the apartment we celebrated at. Other than that, there was a prayer to begin the night, and then we shared good food and most everyone performed some sort of entertainment. When it was my turn, I sang a couple songs for the group of almost 20 that were there. So even though I couldn't sing for a festival at the college, I did still get to perform for a group, which was fun.
Other than those two events, this week has been mostly devoted to studying some, sleeping, and otherwise just being lazy. :P With only 37 days, a month and a week, as of this posting, my time in China is rapidly coming to an end. This also means that my posts will be ending soon as well. Five more posts from China, and then possibly a post after I return home, recapping my overall experiences and highlights and low points of the trip. Hopefully everyone has enjoyed reading this blog at least a little bit. I'm sorry again that this post is so much shorter than normal. Hopefully some entertaining things happen this week/weekend that I can update you on next time. Thanks again to everyone who has been reading this.
Adam
I don't really have much to tell you about this week. Not too much happened this week, in comparison with past weeks. To jump right into the meat of the week, Halloween was on Thursday. However, China doesn't really celebrate that holiday, so we ended up going to our UNK professor, Vani's, apartment. We had good food there, and got to chat with her and a group of students from Nepal that were also invited.
The next thing that happened this week was then on Sunday. Vani is of the Hindu religion, and this Sunday the 3rd was one of the biggest holiday's celebrated by Hindus: Diwali. This is the "festival of lights," and is celebrated often with the lighting of candles around the home. Vani said that there can be up to 1000 candles lit on this holiday, although there weren't anywhere near this number at the apartment we celebrated at. Other than that, there was a prayer to begin the night, and then we shared good food and most everyone performed some sort of entertainment. When it was my turn, I sang a couple songs for the group of almost 20 that were there. So even though I couldn't sing for a festival at the college, I did still get to perform for a group, which was fun.
Other than those two events, this week has been mostly devoted to studying some, sleeping, and otherwise just being lazy. :P With only 37 days, a month and a week, as of this posting, my time in China is rapidly coming to an end. This also means that my posts will be ending soon as well. Five more posts from China, and then possibly a post after I return home, recapping my overall experiences and highlights and low points of the trip. Hopefully everyone has enjoyed reading this blog at least a little bit. I'm sorry again that this post is so much shorter than normal. Hopefully some entertaining things happen this week/weekend that I can update you on next time. Thanks again to everyone who has been reading this.
Adam
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Pingyao - A Solo Experience
Hello again everyone,
The combination of my laziness and the things we are doing here mean that from this day on, or well, from when I started missing my Monday mark on, I won't be having a set date of publication any longer. :P I will get a post up each week for sure, but I can't promise when exactly they will show up. With that little disclaimer out of the way, let's move on to the big event for the week: my trip to the walled city of Pingyao.
The trip began strangely, as I ended up being the only non-Chinese speaking member to go. The other guys here from America either had other plans for the day, or were sleeping when we were supposed to leave. Granted, at 6:00 in the morning, I was wishing I was still asleep as well. But instead, I boarded a train with six native Chinese speakers, hoping that the trip didn't turn into a total wash because I couldn't speak the language everyone else did.
And I wasn't disappointed. Our tour guide spoke English, and so was able to answer all of my questions about the sites we visited. The first of those sites was a slight (1 hour bus ride) detour from Pingyao. Just like last week's update talked about the Rong Guo Mansion, where our book was turned into a film, this site was called the Qiao mansion, and was also the location of a movie. However, unlike the first mansion, this mansion actually housed a family in an older dynasty. I managed to get a few pictures here, and I'll share with you the ones that show the house the best, in my opinion.
After that, we drove into Pingyao, which is the last remaining walled city in China, and one of the few remaining in the world. With a six kilometer perimeter, the city is not terribly large. And yet, it houses 45,000 people, which means that walking through the streets can be very crowded. We took a small tour of the wall, a tour of an ancient prison and the oldest bank in China, and finally were given a chance to do a bit of wandering. Below are some pictures from my different tours in the city.
The wandering around town was interesting, but was also a little strange because I did my wandering alone. With no one that spoke my language very well with me, I had a lot of time to just stop and look at whatever I wanted, without having to please other group members. Other than this trip, my week has been uneventful. We finished the second third of our Chinese language book, and so will be taking a small test over that next week. That means I've been doing quite a bit of studying and will continue to do so. Hopefully, there will be some word on this music performance I talked about earlier, but as of today, we haven't heard anything. :/ I will keep you posted on anything fun that comes up when I make next week's post. Thanks again for reading this.
Adam
The combination of my laziness and the things we are doing here mean that from this day on, or well, from when I started missing my Monday mark on, I won't be having a set date of publication any longer. :P I will get a post up each week for sure, but I can't promise when exactly they will show up. With that little disclaimer out of the way, let's move on to the big event for the week: my trip to the walled city of Pingyao.
The trip began strangely, as I ended up being the only non-Chinese speaking member to go. The other guys here from America either had other plans for the day, or were sleeping when we were supposed to leave. Granted, at 6:00 in the morning, I was wishing I was still asleep as well. But instead, I boarded a train with six native Chinese speakers, hoping that the trip didn't turn into a total wash because I couldn't speak the language everyone else did.
And I wasn't disappointed. Our tour guide spoke English, and so was able to answer all of my questions about the sites we visited. The first of those sites was a slight (1 hour bus ride) detour from Pingyao. Just like last week's update talked about the Rong Guo Mansion, where our book was turned into a film, this site was called the Qiao mansion, and was also the location of a movie. However, unlike the first mansion, this mansion actually housed a family in an older dynasty. I managed to get a few pictures here, and I'll share with you the ones that show the house the best, in my opinion.
This photo really shows the scale of the mansion. This expanse was one courtyard of the mansion.
This is a wooden replica of the mansion that is kept inside a room there.
While this garden has been, of course, refurbished and maintained, the original layout has been preserved.
After that, we drove into Pingyao, which is the last remaining walled city in China, and one of the few remaining in the world. With a six kilometer perimeter, the city is not terribly large. And yet, it houses 45,000 people, which means that walking through the streets can be very crowded. We took a small tour of the wall, a tour of an ancient prison and the oldest bank in China, and finally were given a chance to do a bit of wandering. Below are some pictures from my different tours in the city.
This is just one of the torture devices that was on display in the prison. This one was used to publicly humiliate criminals, as they could be pulled around town while hung up on this smaller version of a cross.
This is the North Gate of Pingyao, and the location we were able to walk around on for our tour.
This was a small section of an old Chinese "check" which demonstrated that they used watermark techniques long before the modern era.
The wandering around town was interesting, but was also a little strange because I did my wandering alone. With no one that spoke my language very well with me, I had a lot of time to just stop and look at whatever I wanted, without having to please other group members. Other than this trip, my week has been uneventful. We finished the second third of our Chinese language book, and so will be taking a small test over that next week. That means I've been doing quite a bit of studying and will continue to do so. Hopefully, there will be some word on this music performance I talked about earlier, but as of today, we haven't heard anything. :/ I will keep you posted on anything fun that comes up when I make next week's post. Thanks again for reading this.
Adam
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Hong Lou Meng
Hello again,
Yes, yes, I know that I posted this two days late. However, I did have a reason this time. This week, we were invited by our literature professor to travel to a site here in the city that pertains to the novel we are reading in our class: Hong Lou Meng, or The Dream of The Red Chamber. In fact, this location is where they filmed a TV version of the novel that is still widely watched in China today. I thought I would wait to post a blog so I could tell you about that, and have some pictures to share as well. :)
However, I would like to save that for the end, and share another event that happened during this week. That event is that I got sick for the first time in China. I had dearly hoped that it wouldn't happen while I was over here. I tried to drink water, and I kept eating well instead of snacking on junk food all the time, like I do in the states. :P Alas, it wasn't meant to be. I am doing much better now, and have started eating regular food again, although in slightly smaller portions. But it wasn't a fun experience, and I hope it is the only time I have to deal with it.
Now, with that out of the way, I can share a little about this site we visited in town. It took about a half hour by car for us to reach the location. The series was originally filmed, I believe, in the 1980's, so some of the locations have gotten pretty run down, and there was quite a bit of renovation going on while we were there. Even so, it was very interesting to see some of the places that the novel talks about. Below are two examples, with headings describing what these locations are.
Yes, yes, I know that I posted this two days late. However, I did have a reason this time. This week, we were invited by our literature professor to travel to a site here in the city that pertains to the novel we are reading in our class: Hong Lou Meng, or The Dream of The Red Chamber. In fact, this location is where they filmed a TV version of the novel that is still widely watched in China today. I thought I would wait to post a blog so I could tell you about that, and have some pictures to share as well. :)
However, I would like to save that for the end, and share another event that happened during this week. That event is that I got sick for the first time in China. I had dearly hoped that it wouldn't happen while I was over here. I tried to drink water, and I kept eating well instead of snacking on junk food all the time, like I do in the states. :P Alas, it wasn't meant to be. I am doing much better now, and have started eating regular food again, although in slightly smaller portions. But it wasn't a fun experience, and I hope it is the only time I have to deal with it.
Now, with that out of the way, I can share a little about this site we visited in town. It took about a half hour by car for us to reach the location. The series was originally filmed, I believe, in the 1980's, so some of the locations have gotten pretty run down, and there was quite a bit of renovation going on while we were there. Even so, it was very interesting to see some of the places that the novel talks about. Below are two examples, with headings describing what these locations are.
A garden, in which many interactions take place between the novels three primary characters.
A recreation of the reception hall for a daughter who is an imperial concubine for the emperor.
Our visit lasted roughly an hour, and included some information about the author of the book as well as just seeing where the series was filmed. The book was written by a man named Cao Xueqin. However, scholars studying the book today believe that he only wrote the first 80 or so chapters of the novel, and that someone else took it up from there to finish the last 40 or so chapters. And yes, this book has around 120 chapters. The English version we are reading takes up over 2300 pages, if that gives you any sense of the size of this novel.
A statue of Cao Xueqin.
A copy of the novel on display.
Overall, it was a fun visit, and a full week. Between being sick, going on the trip, and still having to study and keep my other classes running well, I didn't have much time for anything else. I plan to keep going to my martial arts class on Thursdays, which will hopefully continue to be fun. This coming weekend is our trip to Pingyao, a city that still has walls around it. I will post again next week to let you know how that went, and if anything else exciting has happened on the trip. Thanks again for reading.
Adam
Monday, October 14, 2013
Taishan and Qufu
Hello everybody,
Its time again to update you on everything that has been happening this past week. This week held another trip for us, this time to the city of Qufu and then Mount Tai. There were also a couple of other things that warrant mentioning this week, but I'll start off with the trip, the biggest thing we ended up doing.
Our first stop, after a six hour bus ride, was at the city of Qufu. This city was the original hometown of Confucius, the man who started Confucianism. Specifically, we visited three famous sites tied to Confucius; his temple, mansion, and cemetery. These three sites are still widely visited by many people across China, even though Confucianism is no longer the main religion or thought pattern in China.
Its time again to update you on everything that has been happening this past week. This week held another trip for us, this time to the city of Qufu and then Mount Tai. There were also a couple of other things that warrant mentioning this week, but I'll start off with the trip, the biggest thing we ended up doing.
Our first stop, after a six hour bus ride, was at the city of Qufu. This city was the original hometown of Confucius, the man who started Confucianism. Specifically, we visited three famous sites tied to Confucius; his temple, mansion, and cemetery. These three sites are still widely visited by many people across China, even though Confucianism is no longer the main religion or thought pattern in China.
The temple entrance gates.
A group photo at the mansion.
Confucius' gravestone and burial mound.
After that we drove back an hour to get to a small city at the foot of Mount Tai. Mount Tai is where the ancient emperors of Chine would give sacrifices to "heaven" which is what they worshiped as a god. While I could have climbed the over 3000 stairs the the top of the mountain, I instead opted for the cable car that only took eight minutes and allowed me to sit down. :P
While the top of the mountain has been converted into a large tourist site, it still holds both Taoist and Buddhist temples, and is visited by many practitioners of these religions. Also, it has been fairly well maintained, has some hiking trails around the sides of the mountains. John, Alex, and I took one of these trails during our visit, and were out hiking for around two hours.
An eighty year old Buddhist at the top of the mountain. He was ecstatic to take pictures with a group of foreign students. :)
One of the views offered during our hike around the mountain.
After this, we headed back to the hotel, and came home the following day. While it was a very fun trip, it wasn't quite as interesting as the Beijing trip a couple weeks ago. This is partly because we didn't do as much, and partly because it was only the few of us from Kearney, while there was a larger group of foreign students on the Beijing trip.
The other two things that I would like to mention in this post concern other events I've signed up for here on campus. The first is, unfortunately, that I will be unable to do the calligraphy class I talked about earlier. They scheduled that class during our Literature class, so I will be unable to attend it. However, the second event is much happier. Instead of calligraphy, I will be taking a class called Chinese Martial Arts every Thursday at 4 PM. I am incredibly excited to have the chance to take that class, and I hope it goes well every week. I'll keep you updated if anything really fun happens there.
And that's about it for this week. I know a few short paragraphs and a few pictures aren't enough to actually get the experience of how massive this semester actually is, but I hope they at least help you know a little about what I'm doing. I can't wait to get back to the states and be able to share more pictures and stories in person, where I can answer questions and learn about what everyone else has been up to as well. :) Until, next week, thanks again for reading.
Adam
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
National Holiday Week
Hello
I'm late again, aren't I? This time, I'm going to use the excuse that I just came out of a week long vacation, and because we didn't have classes on Monday, I didn't think to post another entry here. Of course, we all know that that is just another way of saying "I completely forgot." :P And so, without any further ado, here is a blog entry detailing what happened during the past week.
First of all, as I mentioned, we just finished a week long vacation, lasting from October 1st-7th. This vacation is observed because of China's National Day celebration, which is very much like July 4th for us in America. As far as I know, there is no school at all during this week in the entire country. This provided a very nice break, especially since it came at roughly the half way point of our stay in China. With no classes, homework, or other things like that, it gave me a chance to do what I wanted for a week.
Unfortunately, I didn't really do much. :P With one of our group feeling sick, and a couple parties being thrown on fourth floor of our dorm, there was really not enough time to go out and do things. The parties were fun, although I would have to compare them to a typical high school dance in America. They gave a great chance for us to talk with a bunch of different foreigners, and I met a few more people that I will talk to on a more regular basis now.
Other than those, the week was just a nice chance to relax. We went out for dinner with our UNK professor chaperon, which was a traditional, home cooked Indian meal. We did visit a Walmart, which was the first one we have seen since arriving in China, and we found yet another mall to visit. All in all, it wasn't a bad week. It just wasn't a week that led to a very long blog entry. :/ This coming weekend, the 11th-13th, we have another trip to the cemetery, birthplace, and temple of Confucius, which should be very interesting. I will have more to say, and more pictures to post, the Monday following that trip. And yes, I will do my absolute best to get back to posting on Mondays, like I promised before. :P Thanks again for reading this, to anyone that does.
Adam
I'm late again, aren't I? This time, I'm going to use the excuse that I just came out of a week long vacation, and because we didn't have classes on Monday, I didn't think to post another entry here. Of course, we all know that that is just another way of saying "I completely forgot." :P And so, without any further ado, here is a blog entry detailing what happened during the past week.
First of all, as I mentioned, we just finished a week long vacation, lasting from October 1st-7th. This vacation is observed because of China's National Day celebration, which is very much like July 4th for us in America. As far as I know, there is no school at all during this week in the entire country. This provided a very nice break, especially since it came at roughly the half way point of our stay in China. With no classes, homework, or other things like that, it gave me a chance to do what I wanted for a week.
Unfortunately, I didn't really do much. :P With one of our group feeling sick, and a couple parties being thrown on fourth floor of our dorm, there was really not enough time to go out and do things. The parties were fun, although I would have to compare them to a typical high school dance in America. They gave a great chance for us to talk with a bunch of different foreigners, and I met a few more people that I will talk to on a more regular basis now.
Other than those, the week was just a nice chance to relax. We went out for dinner with our UNK professor chaperon, which was a traditional, home cooked Indian meal. We did visit a Walmart, which was the first one we have seen since arriving in China, and we found yet another mall to visit. All in all, it wasn't a bad week. It just wasn't a week that led to a very long blog entry. :/ This coming weekend, the 11th-13th, we have another trip to the cemetery, birthplace, and temple of Confucius, which should be very interesting. I will have more to say, and more pictures to post, the Monday following that trip. And yes, I will do my absolute best to get back to posting on Mondays, like I promised before. :P Thanks again for reading this, to anyone that does.
Adam
Monday, September 30, 2013
I'm Late! D:
Hello everyone,
Sorry! I meant to post yesterday, but between my three classes, lunch, dinner, studying and other various things, I didn't get a post up. :( This week hasn't really been too eventful either, which didn't help with my motivation to get a post up. Compared to a trip to Beijing, sitting in a dorm room really doesn't have much to offer. However, there were a few things that deserve mentioning from this week, so that's what I'll do now.
The first event that warrants mentioning is the fact that I've been asked to sing a song at a "rock" concert being held here on campus. I put rock in quotations because the song they've asked me to sing isn't what I would consider rock. But hey, I get to sing, and its a song I like, so I'll take it. The song is Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, if anyone is interested. And not only that, but playing guitar for me is a guy from our dorm that's from Hungary. And his name happens to be Adam as well. Which I find, for some reason, incredibly cool. :P This event has been postponed until sometime in late October, but I'll be sure to let you know how it goes when it happens.
The second thing worth mentioning in a short paragraph is that this was our last week before a seven day break from classes! From the 1st to the 7th, China celebrates National Day, which is like our Fourth of July. Except they get a whole week where there is no school in the entire country. Currently, I don't have any plans for the long break other than getting some college stuff set up for next semester. But I'll keep you all posted if anything does happen.
The last things I wanted to mention in this post is that I received a very nice care package from home. Not only did it come with things like food, playing cards, and an American chess board, but it also came with a collection of cards from some of the ladies I worked with over the past two summers. I've only opened a few of them, but they have all been very nice so far, and I am really grateful to have these connections to home. And so, I want to say thank you to all the ladies at Bank Iowa that send me cards in that package. I hope you are all having a good time back in the states. :)
That's really all the highlights for this week. Otherwise, its been a lot of classes, a lot of studying, and a little bit of walking around campus to find food and such. :P I will do my absolute best to post again next Monday and get back on track with my schedule. I'll let you all know how the long break was, even if I don't end up doing anything but staying at the dorm. There's bound to be something that happens for me to talk about. I hope... :P Thanks again for reading this.
Adam
Sorry! I meant to post yesterday, but between my three classes, lunch, dinner, studying and other various things, I didn't get a post up. :( This week hasn't really been too eventful either, which didn't help with my motivation to get a post up. Compared to a trip to Beijing, sitting in a dorm room really doesn't have much to offer. However, there were a few things that deserve mentioning from this week, so that's what I'll do now.
The first event that warrants mentioning is the fact that I've been asked to sing a song at a "rock" concert being held here on campus. I put rock in quotations because the song they've asked me to sing isn't what I would consider rock. But hey, I get to sing, and its a song I like, so I'll take it. The song is Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, if anyone is interested. And not only that, but playing guitar for me is a guy from our dorm that's from Hungary. And his name happens to be Adam as well. Which I find, for some reason, incredibly cool. :P This event has been postponed until sometime in late October, but I'll be sure to let you know how it goes when it happens.
The second thing worth mentioning in a short paragraph is that this was our last week before a seven day break from classes! From the 1st to the 7th, China celebrates National Day, which is like our Fourth of July. Except they get a whole week where there is no school in the entire country. Currently, I don't have any plans for the long break other than getting some college stuff set up for next semester. But I'll keep you all posted if anything does happen.
The last things I wanted to mention in this post is that I received a very nice care package from home. Not only did it come with things like food, playing cards, and an American chess board, but it also came with a collection of cards from some of the ladies I worked with over the past two summers. I've only opened a few of them, but they have all been very nice so far, and I am really grateful to have these connections to home. And so, I want to say thank you to all the ladies at Bank Iowa that send me cards in that package. I hope you are all having a good time back in the states. :)
That's really all the highlights for this week. Otherwise, its been a lot of classes, a lot of studying, and a little bit of walking around campus to find food and such. :P I will do my absolute best to post again next Monday and get back on track with my schedule. I'll let you all know how the long break was, even if I don't end up doing anything but staying at the dorm. There's bound to be something that happens for me to talk about. I hope... :P Thanks again for reading this.
Adam
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Beijing!
Hello everybody,
Its Monday again. So that means another blog post! Yay! And this week was filled with many adventures, most notably, a trip to Beijing. The capital of China. To begin with a recap from last week, the Tai Chi thing I was supposed to go to didn't happen. The people I was going with never showed up, so I decided to go for a 2.5 mile run instead, so the entire evening wasn't wasted. Also, according to the lady working the office here, the calligraphy class doesn't start until after our holiday week (Oct. 1st to the 7th.). So as soon as that gets going, if it still does, I'll let you know how it goes.
Other than those two things, the biggest point of my week was our trip to Beijing, from last Thursday to Saturday. After a five hour bus ride, we arrived in the capital city. And, wonderfully, we could see clearly down the streets we were driving on. In Shi Jiazhuang, the smog is so bad that we can't even see all of campus from our sixth story window. Beijing is not so, which was literally a breath of fresh air. After a quick lunch, we went to Tienanmen Square, the largest central square in China.
Right next to the square is the Forbidden City, which we found actually used to be the largest living quarters for the emperor of China. Almost 600 meters long, the "city"/palace had almost 90 buildings, if I remember the tour guide correctly.
Its Monday again. So that means another blog post! Yay! And this week was filled with many adventures, most notably, a trip to Beijing. The capital of China. To begin with a recap from last week, the Tai Chi thing I was supposed to go to didn't happen. The people I was going with never showed up, so I decided to go for a 2.5 mile run instead, so the entire evening wasn't wasted. Also, according to the lady working the office here, the calligraphy class doesn't start until after our holiday week (Oct. 1st to the 7th.). So as soon as that gets going, if it still does, I'll let you know how it goes.
Other than those two things, the biggest point of my week was our trip to Beijing, from last Thursday to Saturday. After a five hour bus ride, we arrived in the capital city. And, wonderfully, we could see clearly down the streets we were driving on. In Shi Jiazhuang, the smog is so bad that we can't even see all of campus from our sixth story window. Beijing is not so, which was literally a breath of fresh air. After a quick lunch, we went to Tienanmen Square, the largest central square in China.
After our first packed afternoon, we went to the Phoenix Suyuan hotel for the night. The next morning, after a normal breakfast consisting of eggs, french toast, and buttered toast, we traveled to easily my favorite of the sites, the Great Wall. Now, the Great Wall is a lot more daunting than is often advertised on pictures and such. For starters, the section we visited was mostly stairs. And not just stairs, but incredibly steep, uneven stairs that climbed almost vertically up the side of a mountain. I was able to climb to the first outpost on one side of the wall, and then turn around and reach the highest point on the other side. It felt incredible to be doing that, and it still hasn't really sunk in that I've now walked on something I'd only dreamt of seeing before now.
Here is the first wall of stairs I had to climb.
In this picture, I made it to the first small outpost, where the wall forks.
I also reached that red temple you can see on top of the mountain behind me.
After lunch, we visited the summer palace, which didn't impress me nearly as much as the other places we had been. It was interesting, but nothing like the Great Wall or Tienanmen Square. Again, a quick dinner, and then back to the hotel for evening. Our final morning in Beijing brought us to the temple of heaven, where the Emperor would pray on the same day ever year for the blessings of heaven on the entire population of China. It was an interesting location to see as our last one of Beijing.
And with that, our tour of Beijing was over. We got back on the bus for the five hour ride back to campus. I used Sunday to rest after the long trip, and I definitely can't wait for the other trips if they are all going to be like this one. That's about all I have for this post, too. I'll keep it going next Monday of course, unless something exciting happens before then. Thanks again to anyone reading this.
Adam
Monday, September 16, 2013
I'm In
Hey everyone,
Update number five here. I'm thinking that it is probably going to become my habit to always update this blog on Mondays. Unless something absolutely amazing happens during the rest of the week, I will probably just save everything I have done during the week and share it all at once. And this week, I learned that saying, "I'm in" when someone asks if you want to do something is a great way to make memories.
I also, unfortunately, learned that one should always take their camera with them if they are going somewhere. This lesson came on Saturday, when I was invited to "a park" by a Chinese woman introduced to us earlier in the week. Her invitation went something like this: "I would like to invite you three to a park for eating dinner." I've been to a couple of the parks here, and so I accepted and didn't bother to bring my camera to a place I could visit any day.
To my great surprise, we were driven almost all the way across town to a water park, where we not only were treated to dinner, but got to meet ten 12-year-old students who spoke better English than I do Chinese. Heck, they were acting as translators for their parents, who were along for the day. Not only that, but we got to visit a studio where two men write poems in classic Chinese calligraphy. One man has written poetry for the current president of China. The other man is locally famous in our city, and was kind enough to give us each a piece of work he had completed recently. Free of charge. We were shocked, as we were told while walking back to the car: "If you are ever short on money, sell that here and you'll be set." Needless to say, we all decided to hang on to something that valuable, as that isn't something you can plan to get again.
On Sunday, I was supposed to go on another visit with another Chinese person we were introduced to, but I woke up with a bad cough and feeling very tired. I ended up staying in pretty much all day that day. Thankfully, it was just bad allergies from the day before, and I am very well recovered today. In fact, I was invited to try a calligraphy class by one of my teachers, and to join a Tai Chi class type thing tonight by a group of students here. After the lesson I learned by saying "I'm in" on Saturday, I said it again twice today and look forward to both of these experiences.
I'll let you know next week how they go, and hopefully there will be some other "I'm in" moments between now and then as well. Also, my trip to Beijing is coming up this Thursday the 19th. We'll be gone until Saturday the 21st, exploring places like the Forbidden City and Great Wall of China. I'll definitely have pictures to share from those places, as well as stories about what all happened during our trip. Thanks again to anyone that is reading this.
Adam
Update number five here. I'm thinking that it is probably going to become my habit to always update this blog on Mondays. Unless something absolutely amazing happens during the rest of the week, I will probably just save everything I have done during the week and share it all at once. And this week, I learned that saying, "I'm in" when someone asks if you want to do something is a great way to make memories.
I also, unfortunately, learned that one should always take their camera with them if they are going somewhere. This lesson came on Saturday, when I was invited to "a park" by a Chinese woman introduced to us earlier in the week. Her invitation went something like this: "I would like to invite you three to a park for eating dinner." I've been to a couple of the parks here, and so I accepted and didn't bother to bring my camera to a place I could visit any day.
To my great surprise, we were driven almost all the way across town to a water park, where we not only were treated to dinner, but got to meet ten 12-year-old students who spoke better English than I do Chinese. Heck, they were acting as translators for their parents, who were along for the day. Not only that, but we got to visit a studio where two men write poems in classic Chinese calligraphy. One man has written poetry for the current president of China. The other man is locally famous in our city, and was kind enough to give us each a piece of work he had completed recently. Free of charge. We were shocked, as we were told while walking back to the car: "If you are ever short on money, sell that here and you'll be set." Needless to say, we all decided to hang on to something that valuable, as that isn't something you can plan to get again.
On Sunday, I was supposed to go on another visit with another Chinese person we were introduced to, but I woke up with a bad cough and feeling very tired. I ended up staying in pretty much all day that day. Thankfully, it was just bad allergies from the day before, and I am very well recovered today. In fact, I was invited to try a calligraphy class by one of my teachers, and to join a Tai Chi class type thing tonight by a group of students here. After the lesson I learned by saying "I'm in" on Saturday, I said it again twice today and look forward to both of these experiences.
I'll let you know next week how they go, and hopefully there will be some other "I'm in" moments between now and then as well. Also, my trip to Beijing is coming up this Thursday the 19th. We'll be gone until Saturday the 21st, exploring places like the Forbidden City and Great Wall of China. I'll definitely have pictures to share from those places, as well as stories about what all happened during our trip. Thanks again to anyone that is reading this.
Adam
Monday, September 9, 2013
Another Week, Plus Trip #1
Hello everyone,
Jeez, it seems like forever since I've posted on here. And the reason why is a mixture of my being busy, and my being lazy. :P So, as the title says, another week is down in our four month trip to China. The time seems to be both going very slow when I'm in any given moment, but also very fast when I look back and realize I've almost been here a month already.
Things have started to get a bit better with both of my major struggles from last time. Our internet connection has mostly stabilized. There are still some moments where the internet doesn't want to work at all, but for the most part I can log in whenever I have time to. The language issue is still a struggle, but we are learning more of the language every day. We can now understand prices, and when people ask "What do you want?" Any questions beyond that are still mysteries, but at least we're getting the basics down.
We have also started to meet more people here. The professor with us from Kearney is living in an apartment off campus, and has introduced us to some of the people living in her building. She is also Indian, and invited us over for a homemade Indian meal one night. That was entertaining, and really did give us the chance to talk to and connect with our professor.
As far as actual schooling goes, we have started both of our other classes: literature and history. Both classes are taught in English by Chinese professors. Both professors speak relatively good English, and have created very comprehensive PowerPoint presentations to help with anything they may not be able to say accurately. I am very interested to get more in depth in those classes, as so far we've only had introductions in both. I will keep you all updated with interesting facts I learn in these classes. For example, in literature class, I have learned that one of the most famous Chinese literature pieces, when translated into English, is over 2300 pages long. Even as an avid reader, that is a massive book that will take a long time to get completely read.
Now, with all of the basic living things out of the way, we took our first trip this Saturday! The trip was to Baiyangdian, or the largest man-made lake in China. It took almost three hours to drive there by bus, and the place we were going was on an island in the lake, which took another half hour by boat to get to. The lake is so large that they have had to put "street" signs up to tell boats where to go:
Now, as you can see from this picture, the smog in China is thick. And yes, that's smog, not just fog. I've gotten a little more used to it since I've been here, but looking out my window on sixth floor and not being able to even see all of campus is a little scary still...
When we arrived at the island, we found out that it was just a small center where they put on shows. If any of you have been to Branson, Missouri, its a lot like that, except all in Chinese. We watched two shows there, one performed all by midgets and the other performed on a stage that was a foot under water.
After the garden, we had another boat ride and bus ride back to the dorm. Overall, the trip was interesting. I wish the tour guide had spoken English, however. I wish I could tell you more about the history of the lake, or about some of the site history at the lake, but you know as much as I still do. Hopefully, as we go on other trips, we will get guides that speak English.
That's about it for this post. I hope I didn't bore you all too much with the wall of text here. It's been a week since my last post, though, and I wanted to get everyone caught up to where things are. Thanks again to anyone who reads this, and I'll be updating again when I have more to share.
Adam
Jeez, it seems like forever since I've posted on here. And the reason why is a mixture of my being busy, and my being lazy. :P So, as the title says, another week is down in our four month trip to China. The time seems to be both going very slow when I'm in any given moment, but also very fast when I look back and realize I've almost been here a month already.
Things have started to get a bit better with both of my major struggles from last time. Our internet connection has mostly stabilized. There are still some moments where the internet doesn't want to work at all, but for the most part I can log in whenever I have time to. The language issue is still a struggle, but we are learning more of the language every day. We can now understand prices, and when people ask "What do you want?" Any questions beyond that are still mysteries, but at least we're getting the basics down.
We have also started to meet more people here. The professor with us from Kearney is living in an apartment off campus, and has introduced us to some of the people living in her building. She is also Indian, and invited us over for a homemade Indian meal one night. That was entertaining, and really did give us the chance to talk to and connect with our professor.
As far as actual schooling goes, we have started both of our other classes: literature and history. Both classes are taught in English by Chinese professors. Both professors speak relatively good English, and have created very comprehensive PowerPoint presentations to help with anything they may not be able to say accurately. I am very interested to get more in depth in those classes, as so far we've only had introductions in both. I will keep you all updated with interesting facts I learn in these classes. For example, in literature class, I have learned that one of the most famous Chinese literature pieces, when translated into English, is over 2300 pages long. Even as an avid reader, that is a massive book that will take a long time to get completely read.
Now, with all of the basic living things out of the way, we took our first trip this Saturday! The trip was to Baiyangdian, or the largest man-made lake in China. It took almost three hours to drive there by bus, and the place we were going was on an island in the lake, which took another half hour by boat to get to. The lake is so large that they have had to put "street" signs up to tell boats where to go:
When we arrived at the island, we found out that it was just a small center where they put on shows. If any of you have been to Branson, Missouri, its a lot like that, except all in Chinese. We watched two shows there, one performed all by midgets and the other performed on a stage that was a foot under water.
After the shows, we went to the Lotus Garden, which was about ten minutes away by boat again. This was a very nice place, and had many cool things to look at. Below are pictures of lotus flowers, and one of me with a giant Buddha statue that was in the center of the garden.
That's about it for this post. I hope I didn't bore you all too much with the wall of text here. It's been a week since my last post, though, and I wanted to get everyone caught up to where things are. Thanks again to anyone who reads this, and I'll be updating again when I have more to share.
Adam
Monday, September 2, 2013
Fun, and Many Struggles
Hello again, anyone who may be reading this.
Well, its been almost two weeks since I landed in China. And I've had mixed feelings about it ever since. Some parts are very cool, and I have enjoyed them. Many parts have been very frustrating as I have been making the transition to living in China. I am going to start with the positive, because its always best to begin with that, in my opinion.
So, the fun. Since arriving, I have met quite a few people from quite a few different countries. Russians, Peruvians, Chinese, Indonesians, and many others. I have gotten to study with some, play ping pong with others, and attend musical shows with still others. These parts of the trip have been incredibly fun, and I do look forward to getting to hang out with these new friends more as the semester continues.
Also, the trips we have scheduled begin this Saturday. Our first trip is to "The Biggest Lake in China." That is its tourist definition from what the other abroad students and I could find online. The other trips are to interesting locations as well, spread out through the semester. I am still looking forward to those trips, and I think they are going to be very interesting.
Now, with that said, this trip has had struggles almost daily since I landed. The language barrier was, and still is, a much bigger problem than we were told before we left America. Yes, most of the Chinese students I have met know how to say "hello" and "goodbye" in English. Just like I learned how to say "ni hao" and "zaijian" before I left America. But, just like I still can't speak Chinese, they still can't speak English, and communication has been one of the hardest things since arriving here in China. To anyone looking to go on this trip in the future, I would suggest learning some Chinese before hand, and not just hello and goodbye.
Not only has communication in the country been a problem, but communication outside the country has been a major problem as well. I didn't find out until after I arrived that the Foreign Student dorm we are in does not provide wifi to dorm rooms. We had been told that the new campus would have that free wifi. Instead, the wifi is only located on floors one and four, and even then only at certain times in the day. This doesn't mean that we can't get internet in our rooms for our stay, though. In order to get a wired connection, we all shelled out almost 300 yuan. The connection didn't start until September 1. And even when it did, it has been down more often than it has been available. To make matters worse, the technicians responsible for setting it up fall in the group of Chinese people that don't know English. Meaning asking questions and getting things fixed is a nightmare in itself.
There have been other little glitches along the way, but those are the biggest things that I wish I had been told before I left the United States. I hope that I can save some other students this hassle should they decide to take this trip as well. That's really all I have time for now. I'm down in the first floor lobby again, as my wired connection hasn't worked for the past four hours or so, and people are starting to fill in and want more time before the wifi is turned off. I'll update again as soon as more happens, which will probably be after our first trip.
Thanks again for reading,
Adam
Well, its been almost two weeks since I landed in China. And I've had mixed feelings about it ever since. Some parts are very cool, and I have enjoyed them. Many parts have been very frustrating as I have been making the transition to living in China. I am going to start with the positive, because its always best to begin with that, in my opinion.
So, the fun. Since arriving, I have met quite a few people from quite a few different countries. Russians, Peruvians, Chinese, Indonesians, and many others. I have gotten to study with some, play ping pong with others, and attend musical shows with still others. These parts of the trip have been incredibly fun, and I do look forward to getting to hang out with these new friends more as the semester continues.
Also, the trips we have scheduled begin this Saturday. Our first trip is to "The Biggest Lake in China." That is its tourist definition from what the other abroad students and I could find online. The other trips are to interesting locations as well, spread out through the semester. I am still looking forward to those trips, and I think they are going to be very interesting.
Now, with that said, this trip has had struggles almost daily since I landed. The language barrier was, and still is, a much bigger problem than we were told before we left America. Yes, most of the Chinese students I have met know how to say "hello" and "goodbye" in English. Just like I learned how to say "ni hao" and "zaijian" before I left America. But, just like I still can't speak Chinese, they still can't speak English, and communication has been one of the hardest things since arriving here in China. To anyone looking to go on this trip in the future, I would suggest learning some Chinese before hand, and not just hello and goodbye.
Not only has communication in the country been a problem, but communication outside the country has been a major problem as well. I didn't find out until after I arrived that the Foreign Student dorm we are in does not provide wifi to dorm rooms. We had been told that the new campus would have that free wifi. Instead, the wifi is only located on floors one and four, and even then only at certain times in the day. This doesn't mean that we can't get internet in our rooms for our stay, though. In order to get a wired connection, we all shelled out almost 300 yuan. The connection didn't start until September 1. And even when it did, it has been down more often than it has been available. To make matters worse, the technicians responsible for setting it up fall in the group of Chinese people that don't know English. Meaning asking questions and getting things fixed is a nightmare in itself.
There have been other little glitches along the way, but those are the biggest things that I wish I had been told before I left the United States. I hope that I can save some other students this hassle should they decide to take this trip as well. That's really all I have time for now. I'm down in the first floor lobby again, as my wired connection hasn't worked for the past four hours or so, and people are starting to fill in and want more time before the wifi is turned off. I'll update again as soon as more happens, which will probably be after our first trip.
Thanks again for reading,
Adam
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
A Necessary Update
Hello everyone,
Sorry it has taken me this long to update things. I've had quite the week so far, and it hasn't even been a full week yet. :P So, lets get everything all caught up, shall we?
To begin, was the plane ride. I knew 11.5 hours was a long time to be in the air, and to be quite honest, I still didn't think I was quite ready for it. However, once we took off and I realized they provided free movies for passengers... I had a much better time. Four movies and an hour long nap later, I was landing in Beijing, China, halfway around the world from everything I was used to. We stayed that night in a hotel, which had really spotty internet, meaning no blogging there. End day one.
Day two started out with a five hour long bus ride to our "town," Shi Jiazhuang, and the Hebei Normal University. Now, this wasn't a bad bus ride. We were the only people on the bus. The university had hired the bus just for us, which made the ride more relaxing than anything else. After we arrived, we got a quick tour of the important buildings around campus, but none were more important than the Cultural Exchange Building, which is where our dorms and classrooms are as foreign exchange students.
As a quick aside, when I talk about "dorm rooms" I really mean something more akin to a hotel room.
Sorry it has taken me this long to update things. I've had quite the week so far, and it hasn't even been a full week yet. :P So, lets get everything all caught up, shall we?
To begin, was the plane ride. I knew 11.5 hours was a long time to be in the air, and to be quite honest, I still didn't think I was quite ready for it. However, once we took off and I realized they provided free movies for passengers... I had a much better time. Four movies and an hour long nap later, I was landing in Beijing, China, halfway around the world from everything I was used to. We stayed that night in a hotel, which had really spotty internet, meaning no blogging there. End day one.
Day two started out with a five hour long bus ride to our "town," Shi Jiazhuang, and the Hebei Normal University. Now, this wasn't a bad bus ride. We were the only people on the bus. The university had hired the bus just for us, which made the ride more relaxing than anything else. After we arrived, we got a quick tour of the important buildings around campus, but none were more important than the Cultural Exchange Building, which is where our dorms and classrooms are as foreign exchange students.
As a quick aside, when I talk about "dorm rooms" I really mean something more akin to a hotel room.
These three pictures show the fact that I have a little entrance hallway, two beds, two dressers, two desks, and a bathroom, all to myself. No roommates. Which is insanely impressive, and far more room than I figured I would have. Also, the Cultural Exchange Building stands at twelve stories tall, almost twice as tall as the tallest dorm/building at Kearney. My room is located on the sixth floor of the building.
The weekend after we got all moved in, I struggled a little. We didn't know any of the language, and we didn't have any way to get that information. Our rooms, as nice as they are, don't have internet unless you pay for it, and even once you do, the internet doesn't start until September first. Fourth floor has internet, but only at certain times during the day, so getting on to check translations and things like that was very difficult. I remember thinking that if the rest of the trip was like that weekend, it may end up being a very long four months.
But, as they usually do, things got better. Monday and Tuesday brought the start of Mandarin Chinese class. I can't even begin to express how good it is to know even just a few words in the local language. For example, I cannow say hello, goodbye, how much is this?, I would like to buy this, and a few other extremely useful phrases in Chinese. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday will bring more of that class, and next week we start our other classes as well, which include Chinese History and Chinese Literature. I am just as excited for both of these classes as I am to continue learning more Mandarin.
Hopefully it won't be as long to my next post as it was getting to this one. I will do my best to get things updated as things happen. Thanks again for reading this blog, to anyone who does. I hope I can entertain at least a little with the experiences I'm having half a world away.
Adam
Saturday, August 17, 2013
An Introduction
Hello!
My name is Adam Stauffer, and I am just getting ready to embark on my first solo international trip. I am very excited to have the chance to travel to China and experience a culture from halfway around the world. I have yet to experience a trip out of the United States, and through the University of Nebraska at Kearney Study Abroad program, I will get that chance while still paying Kearney tuition and fees. This means that all of my scholarships and grants still apply to the costs of studying in a foreign country.
I can't wait to begin my journey, and keep all of you readers updated on everything I am doing. But before I forget, I want to introduce myself as well. As I said, my name is Adam. I am going into my Junior year of college with this trip, with a major in Organizational Communications, emphasizing in both Marketing and Literature. I hope to work either in the marketing division of the ATP, or in the sales department of a publishing house. I believe this trip will help me with both. Not only will I be taking classes and learning a new culture, but it will also teach me important lessons about taking chances and working to make my goals and dreams into reality.
I truly hope this experience is a good one, and I will do my best to keep you updated as often as I can. I will post at least once a week for sure, but I would have to guess that it will be even more frequently than that. Thanks for reading to anyone who does, and I hope you enjoy hearing about the trip as much as I will enjoy going on it. :)
Adam
My name is Adam Stauffer, and I am just getting ready to embark on my first solo international trip. I am very excited to have the chance to travel to China and experience a culture from halfway around the world. I have yet to experience a trip out of the United States, and through the University of Nebraska at Kearney Study Abroad program, I will get that chance while still paying Kearney tuition and fees. This means that all of my scholarships and grants still apply to the costs of studying in a foreign country.
I can't wait to begin my journey, and keep all of you readers updated on everything I am doing. But before I forget, I want to introduce myself as well. As I said, my name is Adam. I am going into my Junior year of college with this trip, with a major in Organizational Communications, emphasizing in both Marketing and Literature. I hope to work either in the marketing division of the ATP, or in the sales department of a publishing house. I believe this trip will help me with both. Not only will I be taking classes and learning a new culture, but it will also teach me important lessons about taking chances and working to make my goals and dreams into reality.
I truly hope this experience is a good one, and I will do my best to keep you updated as often as I can. I will post at least once a week for sure, but I would have to guess that it will be even more frequently than that. Thanks for reading to anyone who does, and I hope you enjoy hearing about the trip as much as I will enjoy going on it. :)
Adam
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