Chengdu Week 7 - Start of the Week

Oct. 12, 2014

Kong... He prayed for the mosquitoes to leave in our dorm hallway

    Today was weird, for some reason Sundays always are. When I woke up this morning it was still miserable weather so Meiling and I rescheduled our outing for next week. Instead she came by my room at one, and we did Chinese for three hours. Which means I was sitting there struggling trying to figure out what I wanted to say, and she is there telling me “In Chinese please!”. It’s actually a really good arrangement because it forces me to really use my Chinese, in a conversational way. Class is good but the language tends to be much more formal that is naturally used out on the street. But no matter what three hours of Chinese melts my brain. So naturally like a god Chinese language student I then went and memorized all the characters from the last chapter. This mostly involves writing things over and over again until I remember it.
    While I was doing my characters I was also watching The Patriot, which I gotta tell you was’t all the spectacular. It was funny however, watching a movie based around American values in China; I always draw a great deal of amusement from it. Cassidy and I essentially were sarcastic about everything little thing while Brennan tried to defend the movie. He gave up. And by the end of the movie all the characters I needed memorized were, so a win-win situation. The rest of the night floated around rooms chatting with people. I also was able to go over the dialogue for tomorrow so I am hopefully fairly prepared for class. So begins week seven of my stay in Chengdu.

Oct. 13, 2014

    So extra previewing and lots of studying definitely paid off. I was able to do really well in class and even hold a fairly simple conversation with my Laoshi. This chapter is all about sports, which is not particularly interesting, but the grammar we are starting to get I am able to use in daily conversion which is really nice. Makes like a lot easier when searching for something to talk about with a language partner. After class I ended up working on my homework which went really fast. I am going to attempt an oral presentation on Thursday so good luck to me. I will be how I became able to run a marathon! Super exciting, I will tell you how it goes on Thursday.
    After class I ended up just chatting with Seth, Alex, and Jesse. Most of it was about Chinese history and the discrepancies we are finding between Western learning and Chinese learning. Man of our teachers for non-language class have a very different agenda than the one American University students are used to. Sometimes it really stands out, like in history class there were some discrepancy between what I have learned in the States versus what Xiao Laoshi has said. To be totally honest I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle. We ended up talking for a couple of hours just sitting on the floor shooting the breeze, all the while randomly switching between English and Chinese.
    Later in the afternoon I went for a run. I wasn’t really running here due to the humidity and air quality. But now it is much cooler (still really humid) and today the air quality was much better for I ran for about 45 minutes. It was nice to get out an exercise, but I have really gotten out of shape, even though I have probably lost about 15-20 pounds, on virtue of the good quality and amount of food I consume here (Chinese dishes are very balance (generally) and proportioned reasonably). Dinner was found in the student cafeteria, a whole 4 kuai (66 cents) for a bowl of rice and a bunch of veggies. The it was back to the dorms to work on my presentation. Tomorrow I should have my first day on the job, so I will let you know how that goes. I will also be meeting a new friend for lunch, Sam from Ito Yokado. It’s great to be meeting people from outside the USAC group! See you tomorrow!

Oct. 14, 2014

    Happy Birthday Mom, I love you!  Today was fairly fun and a little outside the usual routine. I went to class as per usual which was as fun as always. I don’t know why but Chinese is starting to really make sense and the grammars are coming together. I really pleased about that. After class I went out meet Sam so we could hang out. I am really happy to finally be meeting people outside of USAC. I love all my USAC people very much which makes it easy to stay in the dorms. But today I got to explore the nicest part of Chengdu. Apparently there is a large ex-pat community in Chengdu, it make sense I can easily see why living in Chengdu is appealing to many people. We ended up at a Tex Mex which is best known for fairly decent American food. It was pretty tasty, my chicken breast sandwich with no bones. I even got real tasting Ketchup. For all the fun I was having I did manage to drop my phone in a fountain, so now I need a new one because I can’t wait for it to dry out not having a phone means no communication for me. Then it was off to the movies, which was again a nice part of town. Sam wanted to see Guardians of the Galaxy, which would make this my fourth time seeing it. It was fun I was trying to figure out characters from the subtitles most of the movie. It was cool exploring the nicer parts of the city, but I still really like my poor area as well (secretly all I want in life is cheap food).

    After the movie let out I headed over to Carrefour to go to work. Today was my first time teaching the YMCC or Young Mind Crayon Club. Kids come to the school after their regular and do English for an hour and fifteen minutes. My TA’s name is Lily and she gave me the low down for the classes. essentially I am teaching a class of 4 boys and one girl, all of whom are 5 ears old. So it’s mostly play. I was however, able to get them to sit down and talk. We learned new words, played name games so I could learn everyone’s name. Lily was really surprised how energetic I was, she said I passed her expectations for tonight. I also had an observer, Terra, she only said that I was a good teacher, when her job was to tell me how to improve. It was awesome, I had so much fun playing with the kids. My only bummer was that my pants I wore were very old and ended up ripping in the thigh area. I didn’t notice until the bus ride back, I really hope the kids didn’t notice…Getting home was an experience, everyone was out with each other and normally I am too but  it was just me for a while which allowed for most of my homework to get done. Now I am going to go to bed and enjoy the cool night.

Chengdu Week 6 - End of the Week

When to cross the street?

Jesse and Corey

Yummy food

Calligraphy

Bad Weather has begun

Oct. 9, 2014

    Today was a fairly hectic day. First thing was going to class as per usual, again this lesson was easy. I also received my exam back. I got an 83.5 on the exam and an A in the overall semester. I have been nervous considering how I dropped back into the language, but I feel much more confident about my ability to really get things done. Lunch was an interesting affair, Andrew (Chinese name: Tong) took a group of us to get some food at Sichuan alley. It was big group and we got carried away with the conversation and suddenly it was 15 minutes until our history class. So a bunch of us rushed off back to the University.
    History class is becoming mildly frustrating, everyday I try and give opinions and ideas, but there is such a severe language barrier between us and the teacher. On a more fun note, I am beginning to see the PRC curriculum coming through, which is glorious. Our professor straight out said the monster that a philosopher (I think Mencius) was referring to was Capitalism, it was pure magic. Many of the quotes she translates for us are very PRC approved. It’s interesting the history I am getting here, it gives me perspective for what I have learned back in the States. After class Xiao laoshi asked me some questions about a novel she was reading, it turned out to be a James Bond novel. I explained the passages, and then she tells me something fantastic, she also works as a translator and she was translating the James Bond book into Chinese. So I just helped with the translation of James Bond into Chinese. I didn’t have too much time to enjoy the thought though because I had to run and get to my job interview.
    The bus ride there was fairly painless, and the interview even more so. Everyone seems friendly enough and apparently I am starting this Saturday. We’ll see how I like having to teach more little children English. This is more of an English lesson than a the tutoring sessions I have with Cindy, but I will have more report on Saturday after the my first lesson. Going home was a bit interesting, I had my first proper feel of Chinese buses. I was shoved in the bus all the way to the door, with no way to move. The bus did eventually empty out but then I second guessed myself and managed to miss my stop. So I had to walk back from a further stop, but overall I survived. Dinner was quick, just out with Jessie and Corey, to a place that specifically caters to the Muslim population, so no pork!! Excellent food, that was followed up by calligraphy homework. Overall, a busy but fruitful day.

Oct.10, 2014

    Today began quietly, though the air quality is particularly bad right now. There is this grey mist that hangs over everything making it difficult to figure out if it’s warm or cold. On this particular Friday I went out to the student cafeteria for food, and enjoyed a 2.5 yuan meal of egg bread and spicy potatoes. Then it was off to meet Cindy for a short little meet-up, this is last irregular session before we go back to our once a week schedule. We mostly walked around while I was bit by little gnats, which quickly swelled up and then just as easily went away. I was kinda of glad that our session was so short, less time to get bitten. Then at Family Mart, I found Chiyi (She was the woman with us when Cassidy had kidney stones) who had been studying. Quickly we made some lunch plans, and gathered a few people from the dorms. Lunch was Mao Cai, or boiled vegetables with rice, which is an amazing few here, for 5.3 yuan (typically 8-12 yuan outside of campus).
    After lunch, I had calligraphy. Calligraphy is such an easy but stimulating class. The professor is obviously passionate not only about her art but about China in general. She goes around for every character and tells us what’s good and what’s bad. Even if your characters are really terrible she doesn’t really judge you for it, instead she just helps you write it better and gives out tips to improve. As you may have guessed, my artistic ability is fairly low but it doesn’t matter the class is fun. Class ended and Cassidy and I started in on a girl night. we haven’t had a whole lot of time to hang out together without a group of people so tonight was to be our night.
    This was truly a girl night creepy face masks and all. We chatted, caught up with one another while walking around the track and did some homework. It’s so nice to have a friend here that I connect with like that, it eases some of the tension of dealing with new situations. We were laughing to hard at the end of the night we were disturbing people. It was good fun for the both of us and now hopefully we will have a day set aside once a month to catch up even when things get really hectic. Tomorrow is my first day teaching at the proper school, so we will see how it goes.


Oct. 11, 2014

    Well the morning began with me getting ready to go with Cindy for our regular tutoring session. The only problem was the weather has turned foul here, cold and wet. I don’t mind it but it is not very conducive for our outside sessions. So her mom took us to a large department store, Ito Yokado (Japanese brand). On the food court level, it was still earl and the weather was generally keeping people away froth sores which allowed Cindy and I to have a normal lesson. For a form of a game we took pictures with my camera, I was her model so she told me how to place myself, it was a good exercise in vocabulary. We also met Sam, an english teacher from West Africa.  He was very nice and together he and I managed to keep Cindy fairly entertained. Sure enough two hours passed very quickly.
    Lunch was picked by Cindy, though by the time we got there she was ready for a nap. This meant a full blown tantrum in the restaurant (please remember she is only four). It was a little bit awkward for me because I wanted to help but all I could do was sit there and let her mother deal with it. Cindy did eventually calm down enough to eat, and then we were finally on our way back to the dorms. At home the first thing I did was finish up my homework only to find that one particular section I needed so help with. I don’t know what it is but translating long paragraphs is rough for me. So I contacted Chiyi and she offered to come help me later that night.
    I attempted a nap after I found out that I wouldn’t be starting teaching until Tuesday, but ultimately ended up hanging out with Dee and her friend Angela instead of sleeping. Angela is from Nigeria (I think, but I am not 100% positive), she was doing Dee’s hair. I am very excited because I talked to her about my hair and we are going to attempt something, but first we need to order a few things. I am super excited. Angela was interesting because she was full of stories and life, I enjoyed talking with her. Corey made stir-fry for dinner which was rather tasty, and convenient because I didn’t feel like leaving the dorm.
    Then Chiyi and Lin (sometimes they are a package deal) came into my room to help with my homework. I was able to finish it and I was rather pleased with myself that the half of paragraph I had translated was generally right. We finished the translation and then we talked for a long time about life and things. It was fun and I did lot’s of different hairstyles on Chiyi, which I think she liked if the pictures she kept taking were anything to go by. Then it was down to Corey’s room for some Game of Thrones watching, just something to do to end the night. Overall a pretty typical Saturday.

Cindy's picture of me

Ramen anyone?

Chengdu Week 6 - Mid Week Update

Pumpkin Soup

A bunch of people taking our picture while we eat

Bathroom

Oct. 6, 2014

    The test went fairly well. I am a little disappointed about how I studied, but it had to with needing to see a test before I know exactly how to study. So my class ended early as we were allowed to leave once we finished. Then it was the awkward moment where I wasn’t really sure what to do with myself for a little bit. Too early to go to lunch, but not enough time to get started on studying for the next chapter that we start. Cassidy ended up filling the gap and we chatted a little about dealing with home while we are here. When people travel abroad for the first time, many of them don’t realize but all the problems at home come with them. Not in a bad way, it is very manageable but you have to aware that it will happen and the best thing to do is different for every situation. My way of dealing with problems back at home is to divide them into what I can deal with in the moment, and what I can not simply on the virtue that I am not in the USA. Then I deal with the problems I can through email, or Skype, Facebook if necessary. It has been a tried and true method for me.
    So after mine and Cassidy’s chat it was off to Sichuan Alley for lunch with Brennan as a tag along. We ran into Alex at a restaurant and we sat outside with him. It was interesting sitting outside because at some point a table of men who were a little ways away started taking pictures of eating. Normally this doesn’t bother me but it was the first time I felt like a monkey in a zoo. So I openly took a picture of them and continued to stare until they stopped. It happens sometimes so I make them uncomfortable and remind them that we are people as well. After lunch is was back to the dorms for some studying and fun reading. I think tomorrow I am going to adventure out to a market after classes which will make up for my lack of leaving the last few days due to studying. Dinner was a quiet affair just everyone milling about doing whatever we wanted. Had a few good chats with some new people that was fun, I always forget about the students who live in the apartments. They are a great people but they spend a lot more time moving out and about in the city I am jealous and not. I hate commuting but the interaction would probably be very helpful.
    Evening essentially involved just hanging around and talking about some future trips. I want to do some things but money is now a very serious consideration. I want to stay here for the summer and continue to studying, but I also need to go out and experience China. So I will travel some weekends but not every single one. The night ended with everyone in Brennan’s room watching some movies. I won’t finish it as I like to go to bed early but still a lovely way to end the evening.

Oct. 7, 2014

    Class was fun, all the grammar structures we learned I had learned before, so today was fairly easy. I have problems sometimes because I learned from a different book. Vocabulary I am expected to know I don’t always but Yin Laoshi is very understanding after I explained to her my situation. After class I met up with my friend Meiling, who is also my language partner. She showed me around campus while we talked about my new grammar and things I had learned. In return I talk with her in English, I feel like it’s a good exchange. We also went to the minority museum, which displays the clothes and history of some of the minorities. As I have mentioned before tho University specifically is for minorities (though there are also Han Chinese here as well), it was really interesting to see them taking pride in the diversity. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed pictures inside, but I have a great translation for Men’s bathroom.
    After hanging out with Meiling, I went back and met up Cindy and her mom. Cindy and I hung out playing games and generally talking in English. Until all these children kept coming and trying to get in on our lesson. Children have different boundaries so they will just come up to you and stare or touch your things. Cindy, however, has taken really well to the change of venue. I don’t know what we are going to do on the days it rains or gets cold but I am considering commandeering the 2nd floor sitting area as a god place to run around. After work I found Cassidy, Brennan, Kong, Raphi, and Dee for dinner. We went to Brennan’s favorite place that has some amazing steamed dumplings. We had fun with the Laoban (shopkeeper) who was watching us struggle with the fan. It was a great moment because no one needed words we were just laughing at the silliness of our frustration. After dinner it was time for homework which actually turned out great because of the early study session, if only Meiling had a schedule that complimented mine. I’ll make do somehow. Tomorrow is my free day so I think I am going for a wander.

Oct. 8, 2014

    My free day start with the usual laundry, I get a little bit frustrated because 1 washing machine between an entire floor of people means there is a lot of finagling. It could be worse, we could have to pay for our washing. While I was waiting on my laundry I studied and chatted with people as they moved in and out of the rooms. Many people have the morning off so it makes it a good time for socialization. Lunch was a quick trip to the convince store, and chatting with Cassidy. After lunch we met up with Andrew and Chiyi to finally get our meal cards. This will allow us to get very, very, cheap food that is also reasonable portions and fairly filling. The whole process of it though was really frustrating. They had us all crammed in this little room and they were trying to figure out how English names worked. So they essentially put only our first names on there, and then awkwardly took our pictures. But in the end I now have a meal card so no complaints. I also got a proper job offer to teach English at an after school program. I think I am going to take it. More details to come tomorrow after I figure out what this job is about.
    The afternoon was then spent traveling to Panda Post with Raphi to finally mail off the first half of post cards I wrote. If you gave me your address before I left I am steadily working on the post cards. I have done 15 and have 20 more to do. They are coming I promise. The Panda Post is a fun little place that allows you to purchase the post cards and mail them. It’s kitschy little place and one girl spoke fairly good english. Overall a touristy place but convenient for what I needed.  Stamps for international sending are about 5 yuan, so a little pricey but I have already budgeted for it. It feels good to get them sent off they had been sitting on my desk waiting. Raphi and I always have a good time together, we chat a lot about our different countries (she is Australian.).
    After that it was mostly study and wandering around the dorms. We went to the Catina and ordered food all by ourselves, which was good fun (4 yuan for dinner! (less than a dollar)). I wandered into Corey’s room and watched an episode of Game of Thrones. Watching TV shows and Television is a really good way to ease any culture shock, so right now people are spending free time watching shows and movies. That’s about where everyone is in terms of adjustment. The rest of the night was spent in Brennan’s room studying and generally messing around. Overall it was a good free day.

Chengdu Week 5-6 End and Start

Oct. 4, 2014

    Well as suspected the morning came way to early for me, 7 am on three hours of sleep is never a pleasant situation. I was miserably tired but I did have a buddy (Jose) to walk me to Jinli street. I met up with Cindy and her parents for our usual lesson. Everything worked out for the first hour with the right number of playing and learning but the Starbucks started getting busy limiting what we could do with the space we had. So we will be trying to meet at my campus and that way we can walk around and play more. After the session I headed back to the dorms. We got food at another little skewers place, I got to go vegetarian which is  always a lovely thing. Not that vegetables are hard to find her but sometime the food we order has more meat than we would like. I have figured out, however, that my ability to communicate what I need and want in my food has gone up. So I think I will be able order more vegetables in the future.
    After lunch I finally upload the blog, it took a surprising amount of time too many pictures and slow internet. I also have been studying for our exam that is this Monday. Many of the structures for me are review so I am not to concerned about my ability to do well, but never the less studying is an important factor. Most of the day tomorrow will be study. After a few hours of studying I got in a nap. Then it was dinner time, which I actually was useful for. I cooked up our fries and just generally had fun chatting with everyone in the kitchen. Tomorrow is an American food fry up so I will try to get pictures of all the things we can make and eat together. The dinner always takes a really long time to do just because we have one good, functional burner.
    The rest of the night was spent milling about, studying, and chatting with people online. I like the little community we have going on in the dorms it makes coming back home every night an enjoyable experience. Tomorrow will mostly be a study day so we shall see what actually happens. Off to bed for me, it’s almost midnight!

Oct. 5, 2014

    This morning I had a session with Cindy at the University, it turned out much better. She was able to run around and generally be a little four year old. Then we were able to sit down and work on our new words. It was a much better situation, so I think we will be meeting at the university from now on, which makes my life easier in terms of commute. Lots of games and words to learn, she really likes the word bubbles, which was endlessly amusing for me. After we had our session it was back to the dorms for a day of study, my final for the first third of the semester is tomorrow. I am feeling ok about the whole thing, I have learned some of the structure before hand and the vocabulary is generally familiar. We shall see how this goes (mildly foreboding, I know). I know Brennan has been studying in his room for upwards of 12 hours. The dorms is alive with a nervous energy, everyone has a test this week. Dinner was a pleasant surprise, I ended up with a grilled chicken breast sandwich for dinner. Corey (one of our year long students) is the one who owns a grill and he is running a small restaurant out of the public kitchen every weekend. Wish me luck for tomorrow, Good night!!

Didn't have many pictures, so here are some of a sunset!!

Pollution Sunset!!

Chengdu - Week 5 Special Holiday Update

Oct. 1, 2014

    Happy National Day! This holiday in China is often spent traveling, either to the home town or to many touristy spots. And for us USAC students it was a day to catch up on sleep, laundry, and homework. Essentially that was the day for most of the hallway. A few people wandered out, but most were inside just enjoying the break from our rather intense school situation. So while I have nothing to report on that front in terms of interest, tomorrow should be more interesting. I am going to be traveling to my friend, Tong’s hometown. It is roughly an hour from Chengdu bus once we get to the bus station. However, the full travel time will be about three hours. It is going to be Kong, Jose, Cassidy, and Brennan making this journey tomorrow, we also will be spending the night and returning on friday. This all should be a fairly crowded experience so we shall see how we get by. I am super excited for the next few days!

Oct. 2, 2014

    The day began at the regular time, but instead of milling about and not really having breakfast, Kong decided that he would do breakfast. We ended up with an egg sandwich of sorts, which was an excellent way to start our journey to Ren Shou. Kong often cooks for us which is pretty great to getting breakfast for free was merely a bonus in the game of life. Those going to Rensho would be Myself, Cassidy, Brennan, Jose, and Kong. The journey had a rather auspicious beginning as we were buying water bottles for the adventure. The shop keeper opened one of the money drawer only to see a spider the size of a human palm inside. Both Cassidy and I jumped at the sight out this large creature but the shopkeeper essentially ignored it and got my change. The only sign he had even seen the spider was the way he slammed the door very quickly. Ah wild life in strange places, I am sort curious about what happened to the spider.

    The first part of our journey was to get to the eastern bus station in Chengdu, this required that we take bus 77 four about 40 minutes and then switch off to Bus 3. However, for whatever reason the bus we got on did not have the sign board that announces the stop, and often the voice that announce where we are going is fairly garbled. When I figured we were getting close, I went to go look at the map, a man saw me looking and took the paper I had written on. He said to go sit down and sure enough when the stop came up he signaled us to get off. We made it to the Bus station at about 10 am. We purchased our tickets and were quickly on the bus with little problems. The ride was about an hour and 15 minutes long, for which most of us slept. When we arrived Tong, was waiting in the bus yard for us. We head out on another bus, on of six in the city and were given a hearty Laowai Nihao (hello foreigners).
    Lunch was first on the list of things we needed to do. as always lunch was spicy and delicious, Andrew took us to a restraint that served fairly common food, he wanted us to get a taste of the local flavor. So spicy chicken (a full chicken head and feet included) and white radish. It was great to chat with everyone, I really got the impression that Tong was very pleased to have us in his home town. After lunch it was off to drop off our stuff at the hotel. The hotel was a tiny place that had only had one other foreigner visitor before our group. The shopkeeper seemed pleased to have us but we had to go register with the local place department before we could stay there. So we got into a taxi and were off to the Renshou police station. This part was funny because the police at the station expressed their dislike at needing to register foreigners. They would rather chat with us and they didn’t even care that Kong hadn't brought his passport with him. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

    After the police station Dora, Tong’s female friend, appeared and we were off to go explore. The first place we went was the old part of town. Much of it has already been destroyed to make way for the new Renshou but Tong remembers going to these streets as a child. They were all but abandoned now. The only thing barely standing was an old church. The place had a different feeling and piece of history that was going to be bulldozed over. The picture got were really sad, this part of China is disappearing to make way for a different type of city. After the old part of the city, we head over to a mountain, Tianti. Many steps for us to climb and interesting carnival games along the way. Halfway up the mountain we stopped at a tea house to rest. It was quiet lovely and division between old and new was even more clear to us. We went up the rest of the mountain to the tower to have a look, it was just a bummer that the pollution blocked a lot of view. After milling about we went back to the tea house and played some games. It’s so much fun to hang out with people and people watch with friends. On our descent off the mountain we stopped and played a shooting game that I ended up being pretty decent at.

I climbed all these steps!!

    Dinner was the next order of business and so Tong took us down an alley way. The food was freaking amazing, I am really happy that Tong gets that all we want is taste and do what the local people do. Often when with foreigners Chinese people only want to have us eat expensive food and see the tourist attractions. That’s all good and fun but it doesn’t really give us a sense of how China is. After dinner it was time to wander the shops. Jose, Kong and Dora all tried some really really spicy food, so spicy Kong actually cried. I was impressed with their ability to swallow the wasabi. We also found a little area and I got to dance with some people. I drew a crowd, since it wasn’t every day people see foreigners in this little town. Not once did we pass another foreigner. Finally at around 10 pm we made it back to the hotel to shower and real. ut 11:30 I am pretty sure everyone was asleep.

Oct. 3, 2014

Poor Kong

    The hotel we stayed at only cost us 45 yuan (about 7.50 USD). We ended up waking up early than planned do to the honking of the horns. After Cassidy and got ready we went to grab the boys for a quick breakfast before heading back to Chengdu. The hotel was right by a little bakery so breakfast was delicious and fresh. After that we followed the shopkeeper to the closest bus stop, and headed back to the train station. Getting tickets was easy and we were able to get a bus fairly quickly. The ride was easy, and we made it to Chengdu without incident. Figuring out which bus to take was a little bit harder as we weren’t sure the protocol for getting on the buses in the yard. After wandering around we called Tong and got some guidance on the matter. Finally we were on our way back. It took another hour and half plus lunch but we all made it back to the University safely.

45 yuan hotel room

    Next thing in order was a long nap. Today is Dee’s birthday and to celebrate we (many many USAC people and some Chinese people) were heading out to Karaoke (called KTV here). Essentially were in this large dark room with a bunch of people and a singing machine. It was marvelous, everyone who came had a blast. Lots of singing and laughing a good merry fun. I think it was a good bonding experience for everyone. Some people ducked out early but most people stayed way late in the night. It was really interesting being the sober one in a crowd of generally tipsy, or lowered inhibitions. After that I managed to get back about 2:15 in the morning. Now I need to sleep otherwise I am going to hate life tomorrow when I tutor.

Chengdu Week 5 - Midweek update (Pictures of Raffles City)

So many friends!!

Sept. 28, 2014

    Today I didn't get up until 10 am, which as some of you may know is fairly strange. But I have been so tired I made today a lazy catch up on sleep day. I essentially did very little today other than homework and reading. There was also a nap involved at some point. At night though there was a plan to go to Raffles City, a large shopping complex near by. It’s right next to computer City which is an electronics complex. The interns Chiyi and Lin took us there, they are being very helpful in continuing to orient us with our area. I have a lot of fun with the both of them. It’s hard to explain but they are super comfortable with us so it makes switching between English and Chinese not so bad, I learned a few Chinese songs tonight. Over all it was pretty much a hanging out quiet day. My batteries are recharged and ready to go for the National Holiday! Only two days of school this week then we have break for the rest of the week! Let the adventures begin.

Sept. 29, 2014

    Class was interesting today. For some reason our Loashi was using way more English than normal. I think she is worried that we aren’t understanding some of the new grammars. It was all a little bit strange. After class I holed up and did the last bit of homework before the exam. After tomorrow we are officially on holiday from school until next Monday. October 1st is the founding of the People’s Republic of China. This is a holiday everyone gets off, so many people save up and travel. Beijing infamously becomes a ghost town because all the migrant factory workers go back to their home towns. We have a few tentative plans for the holiday it should be interesting. I wonder what it will be like.
    After homework Dee and I were in the room chatting about cultures and experience with travel abroad. People who travel often have similar life experiences and that’s how we all end up in the same country. At the same time those people have different perspectives and come from all walks of life; it’s an interesting balance. After a while I got a call from Jose to walk to Raffles City, the shopping complex, for dinner. He, Cassidy, and Brennan had snuck out while I was doing homework and had ended up there. We ended up in a little Japanese restaurant that was actually quite tasty. We wandered back t the dorms and then it was homework and studying. I am going to sign off early, and catch up on sleep. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Sept. 30, 2014

    Finally got a good long rest! I crashed at about 10pm last night a slept through until my alarm. Class still takes a lot out of me though. I think it’s just the fact it is a foreign language 9 in the morning. My classmates and I are preparing for our first examination which will occur on Monday. Most of our holiday is going to be spent studying, I think. Which is fine while we are here to explore we are also here to learn. I am hoping for a balanced holiday. After class Cassidy and I solo missioned out into the restaurants. Unfortunately, a bunch of the usual shops are closing own for what looks like renovations, but it is unclear. Who knows, businesses pop up and disappear all the time in China; I’ll keep you updated on our wayward noodle and Baozi shop.
    After lunch I went off to go meet Mabel, due to the holiday She and Cindy are in town, which is good for me. I can work extra and get more cash, I feel a little bit bad for Cindy though. Her mom expects her to speak English for two hours after a three hour car ride back to Chengdu. Needless to say Cindy was incredibly distracted, it was still fun. I was actually kind of glad that I got to see them, it makes Cindy more comfortable around me. When I got back to the dorm I immediately was ferreted away by my Chinese friend. I am not going to say her name just because she and I had an interesting discussion and I don’t want her linked back to it. She is helping me with my Chinese and I with her English. We ended up talking about China and things that have happened. She then proceeded to tell that the Chinese government was ‘bad’, and that they lie to their citizens. She has a foreign teacher from whom she learned the events of Tiananmen Square in the 1980s. It was interesting to listen to her view because she loves China, but the government frustrates her. I thought it was very interesting.
    We headed off back to the dorm after walking around the campus. The dorm kitchen as per usual was filled with people and cooking. Kong as always was frying us up some grub, we all went in for some dinner for the next couple of days considering how busy Chengdu will be. It’s always fun to eat at home and not spend  bunch of money (and by bunch I mean 1.33 USD). But yeah, so we ate and laughed and generally had a good time. Life is good as we head into the holiday, tomorrow should hopefully be interesting.

Chengdu Week 4 - Saturday Adventures! (Most pictures at the end)

Study book for English

Pizza Hut Menu

Sept. 27, 2014

    My day began earlier than I wanted it to, but it is technically my first day of work. I went to the Starbucks on Jingli road at 9:30. Quickly after I arrived, my new tutee appeared ready to learn. I quickly found out that Cindy actually speaks very good English and could easily describe and play games in English. This makes my life so much easier. Now all she really needs to do is practice speaking, I am essentially her english language partner. It was quite fun for both of us though I think at the end she started getting a little bit bored. Two hours is a long time for a four year old to try to learn. It was funny the looks that the other Chinese people would give because we were both speaking English. After the tutoring session Mabel, Cindy’s mom, took me out to lunch. We went to Pizza Hut, which is so very different than Pizza Hut in the USA. This restaurant is more like a Chili’s in terms of variety and food quality. It was actually quite tasty, though this is the first time I have even had corn on a pizza.
    After lunch Mabel wanted to go shopping for some things and I think she wanted Cindy to continue practicing her English. So we first went to Ito Yokado, which is a high end import store, waaaaaay to expensive for my taste. After that though I got to go to Metro. What is Metro you may be asking, I will tell you: Chinese CostCo. This one is geared towards businesses so here were lots of things that I have seen in shops, like the large red welcome rugs. We wandered around for a long time. Cindy likes to sing so we did about 100 rounds of “Head, Shoulder, knees and Toes” it was quite fun. The only issue I have in big shopping areas is there are always way too many people. So I was actually happy to leave. Cindy has really warmed up to me so I think tutoring her will be an easy task. I arrived back in the dorms around 4pm and headed into my room to relax a bit.
    I started chatting with Meiling on WeChat and I was extremely thrilled I was able to not only hold a conversation but respond with appropriate interjections. It was super exciting for me!! Now I just need to get simplified characters onto my iPad keyboard, I am not sure exactly how to do that but I shall figure it out. I really feel like my vocabulary is improving, now to just get better at speaking… After the chat I then got to use my Chinese to help a student who was looking for her Japanese friend, which was somewhat interesting. She didn’t know where her friend lived except in our building, she started with the top floor and was working her way down. It was a good day to learn and speak Chinese!
    I chilled in Dee’s room for a while and eventually people started trickling back to the dorms. There were even some interns running around our dorms visiting all of us (Specifically Jiajing, Lin and Chiyi). Brennan is thinking about buying a projector for movies, which would actually pretty awesome for movie nights(he purchased nice speakers today so we had some Karaoke in Cassidy’s room for giggles). Pretty much I have realized that in the dorms even though we have our own rooms everyone jus kinda mills about moving between rooms as they feel is necessary. I really like this style of living and even the Chinese people were commenting on how our dorms had a really good feel. We are also planning a few trips just because we want to go exploring. Tomorrow will be a slow day, I think I am going to try to upload some videos I have taken while I am here. Hopefully the internet will allow such a thing.

PIZZA!

Everyone, meet Cindy

So cute :3

We are very serious in the dorms!