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

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