Chengdu Week 3 - Beginning of Week

Sept 14-15, 2014

      Well the last two days have been really quiet. It’s been mostly bonding with other people and finally realizing that we have a proper routine of homework and social life. I need to find more Chinese people to hang out and talk with. I am going to speak to Wentao tomorrow about finding a serious language partner, someone who will actively speak Chinese with me. Unfortunately all the friends I have made mostly want to speak English because it’s their major of study so to speak the language I am learning I have to really force the issue. It alright though, I knew this would happen, so time to buckle down and find someone who is really wanting to speak Chinese with me.

People dancing in the street because they can.

Fan dancing on the campus

Engrish!!

     As for this blog post I thought I might describe the sounds and feeling of Chengdu and perhaps the China I have come to know. Chengdu, like many place in China, is both old and new. You see brand new expensive foreign cars and then you see a man holding two large baskets over his shoulders selling his wares. Everything here is done quickly and slowly. You’ll get your food very quickly but then the restaurant owner will go lay back in his chair set up on the street. You often see people napping midday in their cars, and men just sitting around playing cards or Mahjong. Traffic, of course, is insane but no one seems to get hurt, even when cars are heading straight for one another. People cross the street without warning, and I even find myself doing it now. If I a unsure about crossing a street I will wait for a local to go and I just follow. Car horns are always sounding on the air, though they quiet down significantly after night fall. Every once in a while I am jolted awake by a particularly aggressive horn.
        Food here is cheap no more than 1 or 2 USD (3 to 10 RMB) for breakfast and lunch, unless you go family style and then the price creeps up to about 20-30 RMB (4 to 6 USD). Food is generally spicy, but us foreigners can get away with asking for 不辣 (bula), not spicy food. Some people in the program have come here disliking spicy food. I am really not sure how they are surviving, even the not spicy here has some numbing peppers in it. Eating is generally an event, people come a stay four hours eating on the many dishes ordered and shared between everyone. Laughter, loud voices, and table banging are all part of the experience of dinner, people here are very much alive. Outside and inside are less defined, many places lack doors during operating hours. Food is often made in front of your eyes including the noodles, someday I will learn how to recreate the meals I am eating.
        Chengdu is quickly becoming the city of my heart. I think no matter where I end up in life I will always come back to stay, at least for a little while, in Chengdu. There is so much to see and I barely have any time to do it. I have a good feeling about this coming year, let’s see where we end up!