What is this? What happened? Oh, that's China for you.

I have been in China for 5 weeks now (not counting being in Hong Kong for two weeks prior to Nanjing). Whenever we cannot figure out the logic behind something or find something particularly unusual and ask "WHAT?!" The answer is usually "Oh, it is China." This is a short list of things I still find strange.

1. Public urination

Sure, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I can understand that. But when babies wear crotchless pants so they can pee whenever they like and when mothers tell their young kids to pop a squat in the middle of the subway station, I do not understand. I have been to China before and seen kids peeing on trees outside...but in a subway station?! Before you ask, for obvious reasons I cannot post pictures of kids peeing in inappropriate places. Lo siento.

When I was in Hong Kong, a friend was talking to me about public urination and defecation in China. In broad daylight, her friend saw a grown man pull down his pants and squat to take a poop. She said, "You could see everything. 前邊有一條, 后邊有一條。" So gross. 

 2. Crazy flavors

When I was at the grocery store, I saw a container of gum that had three different flavors. Cool! You get variety. I should be more careful when grocery shopping.  When I tried the first piece of gum I felt like Veruca Salt eating Willy Wonka's gum. I didn't realize it at the time but the three flavors were: 1. lemongrass peppermint 2. lavender peppermint 3. cucumber peppermint. 

I wouldn't have been able to read the entire label but I do know the word 草 means grass. I probably should have avoided a container of gum that had the character 草 on it three times. I also didn't really look at the pictures. Oops.

There are lots of interesting flavored chips. I do not eat chips but may have to try some out. 

3. Fruit platters in nightclubs

Many nightclubs here only have bottle service. When you buy a bottle of liquor, it comes with a beautiful plate of fruit. My friend said the only time he eats fruit is when he is out clubbing. I'm not hating on the fruit plates because I love me some fruit. I just think it's strange and funny. Most of the people at the club are smoking, getting drunk, and eating fruit. Does anyone else think that's weird? 

4. Whitening creams

I understand why they have this in stores. I guess the American in me thinks it is strange. Also, using chemicals to make your face whiter can't be good for you. The other day I was at the store buying body wash and didn't want to spend time reading labels. Body wash is body wash, right? No. I'm glad I glanced at the description because it was a body wash meant to whiten your skin. Pass. 

5. School on Saturday

We do not have school next week because of the national holiday. (People don't have to work either.)  Because we will be missing a whole week of school, we had to make up that class today. In the states, if we miss school because of a holiday, we don't have to make it up. In China, we have a week off of school... but you still have the same number of classes. Oh well, I can't complain. We have a week vacation and it is only once. My poor little sister has school every Saturday. 

6. Traffic patterns

 I highly doubt I will ever have enough cojones to drive a car here. Pedestrian zebra lines are painted on the ground as more of a formality than an actual demand for drivers to stop. I can understand because if they stopped for every pedestrian, they would never be able to get anywhere. 

It is common for cars to avoid hitting pedestrians by swerving and driving on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic. Oh, hell no. I get scared when I am in the cab and the driver does this. 

Practically none of the people on bikes, mopeds, or scooters wear helmets. I never wear a helmet in the states but sometimes I feel like I should here. I have gotten hit thrice in the past week-twice by people on bikes and once by someone on a scooter. I hope I do not break that record. Every time it is because they turned without looking or just didn't see me. I have been trying to keep more distance but it is hard when there are so many people on the road. I am convinced the metal basket on the front of my bike is not meant to hold things but instead meant to serve as a protective shield.

I figured after getting hit three times, it was finally time for my bike tune-up. Mom and Dad, my brakes finally work! It feels like I'm riding a different bike. I don't have to death grip my brakes, they are much more responsive now. He also changed some old rusty parts all for 28 yuan (4.46 USD). I definitely should have done this a month ago. 

7. Firecrackers

Chinese people love firecrackers. During class we hear them go off all the time. At the beginning of the semester our teacher explained it to us. He noticed that we were distracted by the noise but he had toned it out. He said that Chinese people set off firecrackers for happy occasions-someone just got married, someone had a baby, store's grand opening, store's grand re-opening, etc. It used to be ultra distracting but now I just smile when I hear them. Somebody nearby had something happy happen to them. Mazel tov!

Three things I am grateful for:
1. National Holiday!
I am going to South Korea with three of my classmates. I wanted to make it to North Korea but I don't think that is going to happen this time around. None of us know any Korean, and we haven't started planning. We are going to have a planning session tomorrow and then we leave the day after. Whee being young and spontaneous. 
2. Yesterday, I went to teach English at a migrant school. It was my second week teaching and this time I was on my own. Class went better than I could have hoped for and it was so fun. I was a bit tired after a long week but knew I could feed of their energy. I taught them body parts by singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." We also learned prepositions to incorporate this week's lesson with last week's lesson. Each time we teach at the school, swarms of kids ask for our autographs afterwards. It is still strange to me. I'm thinking our foreigner novelty charm will wear off after a few weeks. 
3. Skype
I meant to spend the morning working hard to get all my homework done before we leave for Korea. Instead I Skyped several friends and family members. Worth it. I always love Skyping with people from home.

Random: I think it is funny that I couldn't find a Chinese translation for "YouTube" or "Facebook." That would make sense seeing as how they are banned. 

Peanut Men, Hot Chicks, and Bike Accidents

I have been in China for a month now. I hope my Chinese has improved drastically but who knows. I still make silly mistakes everyday. Today, I accidentally said, "He may be a peanut (花生 huā shēng)" instead of saying "He may be unfaithful (花心 huā xīn)."  Oops.

Many terms in Chinese are composed of two characters (1 English word = 2 Chinese characters) and I find it interesting to see how different combinations of characters lead to different meanings. I mentioned this in a previous post but I have to share a phrase I recently learned. 辣 (là) means spicy, 妹 (mèi) means younger sister, and together 辣妹 means hot chick, sexy girl, or The Spice Girls. 

One more quick Chinese lesson before I move on. 爱上 (ài shàng) means to fall in love with or to be in love with but 哀伤 (āi shāng) means to be heart-broken, dejected, or in distress. They are practically pronounced the same but have different tones. 

I wasn't going to post this online in fear of my parents freaking out, but this past week I was hit twice while biking. Thankfully, I was just hit by idiot bikers and not cars or buses (谢天谢地). Both times they weren't paying attention and took a turn... right into me. Oh well. I'm just glad nobody got hurt.

I have a crazy picture of a bike accident (not mine) but I still cannot upload photos. Argh. I will have to bring my computer to campus and try it there. Sorry! I'll keep trying.

Three things I am grateful for:
1. I love when someone I'm talking to uses a vocabulary term that I just learned. 
2. We live right next to tons of shopping centers. It is convenient and fun to 逛街 (guàng jiē translation: [window] shop) after dinner or during a study break.
My teacher mentioned this saying: 饭后走一走，  活到九十九。If you take a walk after eating, you will live to be 99 years old. It rhymes when you say it in Chinese. It's a shame when things like that don't translate. I have been talking walks after dinner to explore our neighborhood (and so I can live until I'm 99). 
3. Fresh fruit stores by our school

Are you going to ride the fried dumpling?

"Are you going to take the 锅贴 (guōtiē) to Beijing?"








Because I accidentally said 锅贴 (guōtiē) instead of 高铁 gāotiě, I accidentally asked my friend if she was going to ride a fried dumpling instead of the high-speed train.

Many of the people in our program went to Beijing for the weekend. It is a quick four hour trip on the high speed train. Because I am volunteer teaching at a migrant school on Friday afternoons and tutor on Sundays, I decided not to go to Beijing. Also, my friend is in town for the weekend.

Today I attended an Education Psychology class conducted in Chinese. Two of the students in the class happened to be the roommates of people in my program. My psychology background definitely helped but I still needed to use my translation app. I could understand most of what the teacher said but when the students answered her questions, I was so lost. I felt like a freshman and crossed my fingers that the teacher wouldn't call me. It was a small class of about 10 girls. Where are all the guys? I am not taking the class with the sole purpose of learning psychology but using it mainly as a method to improve my Chinese. Hopefully by the end of the semester I will understand what is going on.

Earlier this week, I also went to a Positive Psychology class. It was conducted in English and meant for Nanjing University students. Part of me wants to take the class just to interact with locals. It is also fun to people creep and see what a real class in China is like (unlike the Chinese classes I'm taking that is meant for foreigners). Many Chinese kids select their own English names. I met someone named Lilac.

I wish there were more psychology classes on the Gulou campus but most of them are on a campus further away. I think I already have enough on my plate.

Three things I am grateful for:
1. 1.5 Liter bottles of water that cost 2 元 ($0.32 USD) at the convenience store next to our school
We used to joke that if anyone spoke in English and broke the language pledge, we would force them to do shots of China tap water.
2. This was the first week I went to teach an English class at a migrant school (school with 50% migrant workers' children). The kids were so excited and enthusiastic about learning. When we were leaving the school, mobs of kids asked us for our autographs. So strange but cute.
3. I didn't realize this was the weekend by friend was coming in town. Luckily, I am here! It is always nice to see old friends.

Two Months Down

I have been traveling for two months now! On the 24th, I will have been in China for a month.

I am enjoying my Chinese classes. In our program, everyone is required to take Readings in Chinese, Spoken Chinese, and Contemporary Chinese Studies (which is taught in English). I pulled the "hey, I've already graduated card" to opt out of the Contemporary Chinese Studies class. Instead, I have been shopping for alternative classes.

Yesterday I tried to attend an Industrial Psychology class. To my surprise, there was only one student in the classroom. The teacher said not enough students were present so class was canceled for the day. He told me to just come back next week. I talked to my program director about what happened and she said she is not surprised. Her explanation was "This is how China's education system is. It has many issues." Apparently, you cannot register for classes online. They don't have class schedules online either. What?!

Today I somehow found myself in an advanced newspaper reading class. I would have never imagined that I can read a newspaper. I was right. It is pretty hard. However, it doesn't matter if I fail because I've graduated. This is what I've always wanted--to take classes and learn without my grades counting for anything. The article we read talked about the education of poor children in the countryside. (I really think I am unlearning English. Most of the time, Chinese word order is "backwards" or the opposite of English word order. I am having a hard time forming sentences for this post.) Anyway, the professor was telling us how the children's parents go to the cities to earn money to send home and leave the kids with their grandparents. The kids have to hike, sometimes for hours, to the nearest school carrying their own chairs because the school doesn't have any. I know it is real but part of me doesn't want to believe it.

Brief Chinese lesson of the day:

Some things translate easily.

男人不坏， 女人不爱 nán rén bù huài, nǚ rén bù ài
Girls love bad boys.

芝麻开门 zhī ma kāi mén
Sesame open! (Open sesame)

Some things just don't translate.
The other day my classmate told his Chinese roommate he was going to 做咖啡 instead of 冲咖啡. Essentially he said he was going to grow coffee instead of pour it. 做 can mean do, make, or prepare so yes, Chinese can be rather tricky. So many words have the same English meaning but in Chinese they are used for different situations.

One of the first days in class, one of our classmates pointed at his wrist and said he needed to buy a 婊子 (biǎo zi) instead of a 表(biǎo). They are pronounced the same and even look really similar. However, he accidentally told his teacher he needed to buy a prostitute when he meant to say wristwatch. Oops.

Three things I am grateful for:
1. Mandatory 报告 in my Spoken Chinese class each week
I struggle giving speeches in Chinese but I know the practice will help and get easier. Our teacher gives us a vague topic and we can make a presentation on anything regarding said topic. Por ejemplo, this week's topic was 恋爱观 (viewpoint on love). Because I didn't want to talk about my own, I talked about Barbie's 恋爱观. Did you know that Ken has four Olympic gold medals?
2. We had a free kung fu lesson.
A group of four of us went to watch a 4pm class at a martial arts center but arrived at 4:25. Maybe because we are foreigners or maybe they are just nice but they gave us our own private teacher and class. I haven't taken kung fu in probably over 14 years but it was ridiculously fun. I am going to try to find classes closer to where we live.
3. Yesterday I was watching cartoons with my little sister. When I first got here, I tried to read along with the captions at the bottom of the screen but it was too fast. I think the cartoon characters were speaking rather slowly because I could actually follow along. I felt like I had an aha! breakthrough moment.

So, what are you?

What does it mean to be a foreigner in China?

In our Seminar on Living and Learning in China, we discussed our experiences as 外国人 (foreigners).

In our program, a couple of us are of Asian descent. One of my classmates, Lanier, mentioned that she was jealous of the way locals treat us. When I go somewhere, most people speak to me under the assumption that I am fluent in Chinese. Sometimes have to ask them to slow down or repeat sentences.

Since Lanier is white, shopkeepers and 服务员 (service personnel) assume that she speaks little to no Chinese (although her Chinese is better than mine). They look at her differently and speak to her slowly using simple words. She stated that she longed for people to speak to her with the same speed and vocabulary as they use with me. She will never be able to experience China the way I do.

"So, what are you exactly?"

When someone in the states asked me this question, I replied with a snappy, "I am an American woman." But seriously, in the U.S. I get this question quite often. However, in China I've been getting this question 差不多 (more or less) everyday. Although they first assume I'm Chinese, the gig is up as soon as I open my mouth. They are confused as why a Chinese looking person is not fluent in Chinese.

Sometimes I wish I could switch places with Lanier. Sometimes I wish I looked more the part of a foreigner. I wish I had a better reason for not sounding like a native. Maybe then people would understand that yes, I'm Chinese but I grew up in the states.

When people here ask me what I am, I used to answer, "I am an American." This was easier than saying, "My parents grew up in Hong Kong and moved to the states to go to school. I was born in the U.S. and have been there my whole life. My grandaunt, who is from Guangzhou, lived with us and she doesn't speak any English so I grew up hearing Cantonese. I can speak Cantonese but my Mandarin isn't very good. 会听不会说 (I can understand but not speak)."

Perhaps I was adamant about stating my American nationality as a excuse for my poor Chinese. However, thankfully one of the locals taught me a useful phrase. I am a 美籍华人 (Chinese-American).

I am grateful they assume I am fluent. I enjoy conversing with the shopkeepers and random locals. Each conversation is an opportunity to practice my Chinese. I know I will never sound like a native but to improve you have to practice, right?

Also, when shopping it is beneficial to look/seem like you are a local. As soon as they see a foreigner, they jack up the prices and try to rip you off. They assume Americans have money and they try to get as much of it as possible. Because I know they can tell I am a local, I used to avoid shopping at places where you have to haggle. When I am with a local, I have them haggle for me. Because this is not always possible, I am experimenting with haggling tactics. I'm pretty bad at it right now because I feel bad that I don't give them what they ask for. It's not much money. I am aware this sounds stupid.

Now when I go shopping, I use Cantonese to ask them the price of the product and then I "correct" myself and ask again in Mandarin. This way they may assume that I am from Hong Kong or Guangzhou. At least they are aware that I know two dialects of Chinese and are less likely to think I am an American. I believe this has helped so far. I figure it is better than me using Mandarin right off the bat and having them realize I'm obviously a foreigner.

I feel like my writing is getting worse and worse the longer I've been in China. The entire time I have been writing this, I have been thinking in Chinese and then have to translate it to English (hence the random Chinese characters spread throughout.) One of the teachers said, "To learn Chinese, you need to first unlearn English." Mission accomplished. I feel like my English makes less sense than it used to. My apologizes. Maybe a couple posts from now, I'll write it all in Chinese first and then Google translate it. I feel like that is how they come up with the English translations for the signs around China. I will have to make an Engrish signs album.

Three things I am grateful for:
1. We went to eat delicious 包子 (steamed stuffed bun) for lunch. My favorite noodle type had 粉丝(vermicelli noodles) stuffing. They were hot, fresh, and cost 1 元 which is less than $0.16 USD.
2. I got a temporary residence permit to stay here until February 28, 2013.
3. I went to a kungfu class yesterday with some of my classmates. Although we are all ridiculously sore today, it was wicked fun. 

Chinese is easy to learn, right?

I have been terrible about blogging but starting now I will try to post thrice a week. I am learning so many cool things about Chinese history, culture, and language and I feel guilty for keeping it all to myself. I am a big nerd and want to spread knowledge.

比方说 (For example), we just ate homemade dumplings for dinner. There were a couple left and my host mom told my host dad to finish them off. He said 小菜一碟. The literal translation means a small plate of food. The phrase means whatever you are referring to is easy. The English equivalent is "it's a piece of cake."

I love learning slang and new vocabulary. On the first day of  class, one of my Chinese teachers said that Chinese is easy to learn. At first, I didn't believe her. If it is so easy to learn, why do I suck at it? Why is this so hard? I used to think Chinese was ridiculously 复杂 (complicated) but now I think it is quite fun. My teacher explained that many terms are logical. I like the characters for cashew which are 腰果.The first character can refer to a person's waist or small of the back. The second character means fruit. A cashew looks like the small of a person's back.

Her example was better but it isn't as interesting. Chalk in Chinese is 粉笔.The first character means powder or dust and the second character means pen. The two characters together refer to a pen that is powdery. Genius. People in my program like the phrase 熬夜 (pronounced áo yè and it sounds like oh yeah) which means stay up all night. I like 迷你裙 (mínǐ qún) which means mini skirt. The last character, 裙,means dress. Also, T恤 (T xù) is t-shirt. There are many phrases like this that were adapted from English words. 

Three things I am grateful for:
1. The opportunity to learn Chinese from everyone around me
2. Homemade dumplings-My host mom told me that the auntie is good at making them. Hopefully I will get to make some soon.
3. My Chachos tan line-I know this sounds weird but I love the crazy zigzag lines on my feet. It reminds me that I have been on many adventures. I will blog tomorrow about my recent adventures around Nanjing and our trip last weekend to Shanghai.

If you can dodge a wrench...

I am done with my first week of my intensive Chinese language and culture program! 15 weeks to go. 

I have never spoken so much Mandarin in my life. Yesterday I was excited to meet a student from Hong Kong. I have been trying to find more people that speak Cantonese and Mandarin. Since Cantonese is my second “language” and Mandarin is my third, I feel much more comfortable speaking Cantonese. (I put language in quotes because technically they are two dialects of Chinese but many say they are not mutually intelligible.) I tried to talk to him in Cantonese but Mandarin kept slipping out. Since I have been speaking Mandarin 23 hours a day, I have already gotten accustomed to it. It’s amazing how fast people can adapt.

Speaking of adapting, I love riding my bike to school. A few years ago, I said I would never bike in China. Never say never, Justin Biebs. My host family has lent me a bike for me to commute to school. It is a 30 minute walk or a 6 minute bike ride. I am impatient and love biking so that has been my main mode of transportation. The first ride was definitely the scariest. People here love honking their car horn and ringing their bike bell. These people don’t just honk their horn, they press and hold it. The program coordinator said people frequently have to get their horns replaced because they use them so often.

When I rode the bike for the first time, I wasn’t sure where I was going, I was getting used to the bike, and getting used to biking in China. It was the most stressful bike ride I have ever experienced. I thought I was going to get hit by multiple mopeds, bikers, and cars. They come so close to you! 

I couldn’t raise the seat so I was biking with my knees practically at 90 degrees, the bell is broken, and the brakes are sketchy. I was wondering why the seat was so low but then after I realized the brakes don’t really work, I realized it was so I can use my feet as brakes. When I need to stop, I clench down on the brakes all the way and that slows it down enough so I can plant my feet on the ground to come to a stop. I should probably go get the brakes fixed. 

Also, when I asked my auntie about whether I get a new bell, she said “of course not! If you need to pass someone, just yell!” 

The program coordinator told me not to ride a bike to school because it is too dangerous. I figure “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Also, the other day I rode on my bike to school in the rain during rush hour. I figure “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.” After biking in China, I feel I can handle biking anywhere. China is real life Frogger.

Also, on the back of the bike there is a seat pad and foot rests for a small child to ride as a passenger. I am going to have to try throwing one of my classmates back there and see how it goes. I’ll let you know. 

Enough about biking. I have been having a blast with my host family and I want to tell you a little about them. The Ah Ye (auntie) has been cooking and cleaning for the family for ten years. She was the one that picked me up from school the day I moved into their condominium. The first day I met her before I even had a chance to set down my luggage, she took off her pants in the middle of the living room because it was too hot. I felt so at home. I hate pants. The Ah Ye is hilarious even though I can’t understand her at times. She speaks 南京话 (the Nanjing dialect). She cooks delicious meals and I should keep a tally of the number of times she tells me to吃, 吃, 吃 (eat, eat, eat) during dinner because I bet it is upwards of thirty. 

I’ll have to talk about my host dad another time because since he works in another city, he is only around every other weekend because he works in another city. I haven’t spent much time with him yet.

The other auntie, my host mom, is super sweet and we already have had some good chats. She speaks some English but wants to learn more. She bought Garfield for her daughter but her daughter doesn’t understand it. Today I was on the couch writing an essay while my host mom was trying to read Garfield. I had so much fun trying to translate the comics for her. I didn’t realize how hard it would be for a non-native speaker to understand. She had questions about some of the frames that had slang or phrases like “Be still my beating taste buds.”She had an online translator open to try to figure out some words. She looked up “herow widdle kitty” in the dictionary because she didn’t know the lady in the strip was talking baby talk to Garfield. 

My little sister likes Taylor Swift and playing Chinese chess. She taught me how to play the other day but I am pretty terrible. She is adorable and during dinner she feeds me (puts food on my plate and tells me to eat it after explaining what it is). She loves to play games and tonight we played Monopoly. I usually hate playing but it was actually really fun. It might have been because it was in a different language. It also could have been because I had all four railroads and they kept landing on them. Win. 

Tomorrow I am off to Xuan Wu Lake with the people in my program. I will do another photo dump soon.

Three things I am grateful for:

1.       Our program paid for a huge VIP karaoke room at KTV for us and the Chinese roommates. Twenty-five people in a room trying to “sing” at the same time is ridiculous.

2.       People that have the patience to try to understand my terrible Mandarin
I have been texting, writing emails, and Skype-ing in Chinese and the nerd in me thinks it’s fun.

3.       Chinese to English dictionaries and Chinese apps like Pleco
However, the dictionary apps (especially the free ones) are not always reliable. I tried to ask the program coordinator if she likes to eat pig blood but apparently I basically asked her if she was a vampire. Also, my dictionary doesn’t have a translation for “homeboy.” Try to explain “homeboy” in another language. I don’t even know how to do that in English.