Back from China
My three weeks in China are up. My professors were giving a lecture at a university in Dalian and I was invited to come for the ride. On the downside, my camera was pickpocketed off me in Dalian, so I only have few pictures from others and a smaller memory card. I joked to some that I thought some stranger was just giving me a really poor handjob at the train station.
I went to Dalian, Xi'an, and Beijing during my stay. I think I saw every stone soldier, monument, and Buddha that was in the area. I also saw that really big wall and boy is that sucker big. Everyone’s legs were getting wobbly on the way down from all the stone stairs. A friend of my professor's that lives locally later took me up this really tall mountain with around 3,000 stone stairs. Again, wobbly legs on the way down.
I did manage to pick up a little Mandarin while I was there, although I made some pretty bad mistakes occasionally. I got some postcards for those I happened to have addresses on my e-mail and people whose addresses I had memorized. Unfortunately, that wasn’t very many. When I bought the cards I was a little nervous in speaking and I asked if the girl would buy the cards for me instead of saying I would buy them. Another time I asked a local grad student if she was tasty rather than if she was full. That made her blush and smile a little. Amusement for all. She had a boyfriend if anyone was curious.
I also learned that the English slang term newbie, as in someone new at something, is a fancy word meaning awesome in Mandarin. For extra amusement, if you separate it into the sounds of new and bie, it means cow vagina. Another experience was when I was with two of our guides that were helping me out in finding some Chinese chess sets. I wanted to get the salesperson to stop hovering over us so I said, “We’re good,” in Mandarin. Unfortunately, that translates to our relationship is good. I wasn’t catching any breaks. Also, hardly anyone can understand me when I want orange juice which sounds like ju ze jer with rising, falling, and then high tone. I really wanted some orange juice, too. Plus, if you just say milk in Mandarin instead of cow’s milk, then you are asking the waitress for her breast milk. So, when in China be careful ordering milk from waitresses. It tastes really different, too -- the cow’s milk.
I managed to play a whole lot of Chinese chess (Xiangqi) when I was there. Besides the object being to checkmate, the game is very different. The pieces are two dimensional with Chinese characters on them. The characters aren’t even always consistent from one color’s pieces to the other and some pieces are hard to distinguish. I also saw on China’s evening news that they cover Xiangqi and Go (Weiqi) for about 15 minutes each, which I thought was really neat. The culture of the game is really different there. For instance, they play right on the sidewalk, and it is very popular. They also suggest moves during the game, which is a no no when playing anywhere in the US. I found this consistent everywhere I went. I really sucked in the beginning, but after a few days, some ideas started to carry over and I started winning around a quarter of my games. Everyone found it very interesting for an American to know Xiangqi.
Most of the Xiangqi I played down the street from the University in Dalian outside a family owned restaurant when the son and husband would often come out to play. Unfortunately, all the pictures I took of them and the games are gone. The family was so nice, and even had me eat dinner with them twice and wouldn’t let me pay. They were so nice. A group of students knowing a little English came in one evening to eat and we all took pictures. It was nice that they knew a little bit of English because my Tarzan like vocabulary in Mandarin was being stretched to its limits. Another day when I went to the restaurant there was a Go (Weiqi) teacher and he gave me some lessons. I also played some Pente (sounds like wu tzse chi, literally five piece chess) and was getting pretty good at it even winning half my games against the Weiqi teacher. He ruled me in Weiqi though even with a monstrous 25 piece handicap while he was teaching/schooling me. That restaurant was awesome and probably the most memorable time I had in China.
The roads are completely different there and full of bicycles, many with nonsensical loads strapped on the backs. Riders were of all ages ranging from teen males to old ladies. Every time we were in a car it was like we ventured in a Hollywood movie. It was so ridiculous that we began to wonder what someone would have to do to get pulled over. No one slows down for pedestrians and yet no one gets hit, everyone is inches away during merges, and side by side lanes doubling up for four cars is often acceptable. My professor told me that in all accidents both parties always take some of the blame regardless to who was at fault and that cuts down on accidents.
Food was always plentiful and the leading professor made sure we were extremely well taken care of all the time. I never did quite master chopsticks and when I thought I was doing well I’d start to drop shit. And when it hits the table you aren’t allowed to pick it up again. No five second rule there. I think the food may have been a bit richer for me than I was used to and messed me up a little bit in the beginning of the trip. This is a great place for me to mention what the public bathrooms look like. Okay, imagine you really have to go. Have toilet paper? Hope so, because public restrooms don’t supply any. K, time to sit on the throne. What, nothing to sit on? Oh yeah, just be sure to flush the hole of water in the floor when you’re finished. Piece of cake, you say? For extra difficulty, try doing it on a moving train.
Naturally, with my interest with human rights, I tested the waters on their internet at the university. Wikipedia - blocked completely. Google - sometimes blocked completely for the English version. Otherwise, even tank man images come up. However, when you click on the pictures, you are given dead links that look like the pages aren't loading right. When I asked someone what it said, they thought my internet wasn’t working. Also, I talked to some about the Tiananmen Protest Massacre of 1989 and one person while knowing some of it did not recognize the picture of the man in front of the tanks I described to him. He was very good with computers (really good) and looked for what I suggested and said he never saw the picture before. When I was talking about it with one of the guides on our bus and I asked him if he wanted to know more about it, he said yes. However, when I started talking about it with him one of the professors from Miami walked over to me and asked me to stop, saying it was making others feel uncomfortable. Some were more comfortable than others, but I did wait for more privacy before talking about it in the future. A well done documentary by Frontline on Tank Man and the Tiananmen Square Massacre can be found here. Consider yourself privileged to be able to view it because over a billion people in China are prohibited access by their government.
That’s the trip in a large nutshell. Right now I’m almost recovered from the jetlag of a 12 hour time difference. I fell asleep in the middle of the day two days ago and was wide awake the entire night only to be dead tired come afternoon. I forced myself awake until 9:30 last night and was wide awake by 5AM this morning. I have to do some stats to finish up my homework by Thursday. Otherwise, everything is under control. I also plan to do the trip again next summer, which it appears likely to be offered.
I went to Dalian, Xi'an, and Beijing during my stay. I think I saw every stone soldier, monument, and Buddha that was in the area. I also saw that really big wall and boy is that sucker big. Everyone’s legs were getting wobbly on the way down from all the stone stairs. A friend of my professor's that lives locally later took me up this really tall mountain with around 3,000 stone stairs. Again, wobbly legs on the way down.
I did manage to pick up a little Mandarin while I was there, although I made some pretty bad mistakes occasionally. I got some postcards for those I happened to have addresses on my e-mail and people whose addresses I had memorized. Unfortunately, that wasn’t very many. When I bought the cards I was a little nervous in speaking and I asked if the girl would buy the cards for me instead of saying I would buy them. Another time I asked a local grad student if she was tasty rather than if she was full. That made her blush and smile a little. Amusement for all. She had a boyfriend if anyone was curious.
I also learned that the English slang term newbie, as in someone new at something, is a fancy word meaning awesome in Mandarin. For extra amusement, if you separate it into the sounds of new and bie, it means cow vagina. Another experience was when I was with two of our guides that were helping me out in finding some Chinese chess sets. I wanted to get the salesperson to stop hovering over us so I said, “We’re good,” in Mandarin. Unfortunately, that translates to our relationship is good. I wasn’t catching any breaks. Also, hardly anyone can understand me when I want orange juice which sounds like ju ze jer with rising, falling, and then high tone. I really wanted some orange juice, too. Plus, if you just say milk in Mandarin instead of cow’s milk, then you are asking the waitress for her breast milk. So, when in China be careful ordering milk from waitresses. It tastes really different, too -- the cow’s milk.
I managed to play a whole lot of Chinese chess (Xiangqi) when I was there. Besides the object being to checkmate, the game is very different. The pieces are two dimensional with Chinese characters on them. The characters aren’t even always consistent from one color’s pieces to the other and some pieces are hard to distinguish. I also saw on China’s evening news that they cover Xiangqi and Go (Weiqi) for about 15 minutes each, which I thought was really neat. The culture of the game is really different there. For instance, they play right on the sidewalk, and it is very popular. They also suggest moves during the game, which is a no no when playing anywhere in the US. I found this consistent everywhere I went. I really sucked in the beginning, but after a few days, some ideas started to carry over and I started winning around a quarter of my games. Everyone found it very interesting for an American to know Xiangqi.
Most of the Xiangqi I played down the street from the University in Dalian outside a family owned restaurant when the son and husband would often come out to play. Unfortunately, all the pictures I took of them and the games are gone. The family was so nice, and even had me eat dinner with them twice and wouldn’t let me pay. They were so nice. A group of students knowing a little English came in one evening to eat and we all took pictures. It was nice that they knew a little bit of English because my Tarzan like vocabulary in Mandarin was being stretched to its limits. Another day when I went to the restaurant there was a Go (Weiqi) teacher and he gave me some lessons. I also played some Pente (sounds like wu tzse chi, literally five piece chess) and was getting pretty good at it even winning half my games against the Weiqi teacher. He ruled me in Weiqi though even with a monstrous 25 piece handicap while he was teaching/schooling me. That restaurant was awesome and probably the most memorable time I had in China.
The roads are completely different there and full of bicycles, many with nonsensical loads strapped on the backs. Riders were of all ages ranging from teen males to old ladies. Every time we were in a car it was like we ventured in a Hollywood movie. It was so ridiculous that we began to wonder what someone would have to do to get pulled over. No one slows down for pedestrians and yet no one gets hit, everyone is inches away during merges, and side by side lanes doubling up for four cars is often acceptable. My professor told me that in all accidents both parties always take some of the blame regardless to who was at fault and that cuts down on accidents.
Food was always plentiful and the leading professor made sure we were extremely well taken care of all the time. I never did quite master chopsticks and when I thought I was doing well I’d start to drop shit. And when it hits the table you aren’t allowed to pick it up again. No five second rule there. I think the food may have been a bit richer for me than I was used to and messed me up a little bit in the beginning of the trip. This is a great place for me to mention what the public bathrooms look like. Okay, imagine you really have to go. Have toilet paper? Hope so, because public restrooms don’t supply any. K, time to sit on the throne. What, nothing to sit on? Oh yeah, just be sure to flush the hole of water in the floor when you’re finished. Piece of cake, you say? For extra difficulty, try doing it on a moving train.
Naturally, with my interest with human rights, I tested the waters on their internet at the university. Wikipedia - blocked completely. Google - sometimes blocked completely for the English version. Otherwise, even tank man images come up. However, when you click on the pictures, you are given dead links that look like the pages aren't loading right. When I asked someone what it said, they thought my internet wasn’t working. Also, I talked to some about the Tiananmen Protest Massacre of 1989 and one person while knowing some of it did not recognize the picture of the man in front of the tanks I described to him. He was very good with computers (really good) and looked for what I suggested and said he never saw the picture before. When I was talking about it with one of the guides on our bus and I asked him if he wanted to know more about it, he said yes. However, when I started talking about it with him one of the professors from Miami walked over to me and asked me to stop, saying it was making others feel uncomfortable. Some were more comfortable than others, but I did wait for more privacy before talking about it in the future. A well done documentary by Frontline on Tank Man and the Tiananmen Square Massacre can be found here. Consider yourself privileged to be able to view it because over a billion people in China are prohibited access by their government.
That’s the trip in a large nutshell. Right now I’m almost recovered from the jetlag of a 12 hour time difference. I fell asleep in the middle of the day two days ago and was wide awake the entire night only to be dead tired come afternoon. I forced myself awake until 9:30 last night and was wide awake by 5AM this morning. I have to do some stats to finish up my homework by Thursday. Otherwise, everything is under control. I also plan to do the trip again next summer, which it appears likely to be offered.