My dedicated followers:
As you probably know I am back from China now. Now that I am back in a country with freedom of speech and more importantly freedom of uploading pictures and videos to my blog I will be uploading some awesome pictures and videos from my time in China. A few items to look forwards to: "Waka Waka video," Jumping photos, and TV interview.
Please enjoy!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
You are cool! Do you think we are cool?
My internship is in full swing now. Even though at first I didn’t want to teach English, now I am glad I did. I have only taught three classes, but each one has been amazing and it appears that the teachers are actually learning from me. Somewhere deep inside I have good teaching skills – who knew! (One teacher liked that I had the student make sample sentence of the vocabulary words instead of memorizing the definitions).
Anyway, along with teaching English comes a little devil they like to call English corner. English corner can be awful most of the time because you immediately become a caged guinea pig. First, you go into the auditorium or classroom where English corner is taking place. Second you are surrounded by over 50 Chinese students. Third, these 50 student all start to ask you questions about EVERYTHING, and I mean everything from you personal life, to politics, to why the sky is blue. Below are some examples of questions I have gotten:
Q: What is your opinion on U.S. gun control?
A: I’m not a politician and it can vary from state to state, but they are still talking about it. (At this point another student cuts me off and says, “Carols (it’s too hard to say Carlos in China so Carols is much easier) is our friend and I think we should talk about happy subjects.”) Moving on…
Q: Do you like music? What kinds? Do you know Michael Jackson?
A: Yes, and Yes, and Yes I like Michael Jackson. (After my reply their start to name off some other their favorite music such as: Linkin Park, Avril, Backstreet Boys, and other weird music we listened to in the 90’s.)
Q: Are you single? Do you like the Chinese girls? Do you think we are cool?
A: This question started off with a huge laugh from me, then I decided to answer while keeping a straight face. Yes, I am single (follow-up questions: Why don’t you have a girlfriend, do many college students have girlfriends?). Dang gurl, could you be more obvious that you are in love with me!
There were also other types of comments and questions that I thought were a little inappropriate, but I tried my best to answer then all. They students also love to comment on every article of clothing you are wearing, what you look like, and also like to make comparisons. For example, my students said that I look like Amaury Nolasco (Google it – bahahah!) from the show Prison Break because “he is Mexican.” One, I couldn’t believe they watched Prison Break and two he is from Puerto Rico.
Probably the best thing about English corner was that the second English corner of the school semester was TWILIGHT THEMED! Yes, they split us up into CLANS and we got to discuss different questions asked by a member of the Volturi who was sitting at the front reading under candlelight. We discussed questions like: Do you believe in vampires? Do vampires have humanity? Would you accept a vampire in your family? If you could choose to die tomorrow or become a blood-sucking vampire which would you choose? AH! They were all great questions, but most of the discussions were about how awesome the Twilight series is and what their favorite Twilight characters were. There doesn’t seem to be a separation between the Edwards-lovers and the Jacob-lovers here in China thought, they just all seem to love Bella (I don’t know why, but they think she is beautiful!). Of course I confessed my love for vampires the whole time and all of my answers were biased toward Eddie, but oh well!
Anyway, along with teaching English comes a little devil they like to call English corner. English corner can be awful most of the time because you immediately become a caged guinea pig. First, you go into the auditorium or classroom where English corner is taking place. Second you are surrounded by over 50 Chinese students. Third, these 50 student all start to ask you questions about EVERYTHING, and I mean everything from you personal life, to politics, to why the sky is blue. Below are some examples of questions I have gotten:
Q: What is your opinion on U.S. gun control?
A: I’m not a politician and it can vary from state to state, but they are still talking about it. (At this point another student cuts me off and says, “Carols (it’s too hard to say Carlos in China so Carols is much easier) is our friend and I think we should talk about happy subjects.”) Moving on…
Q: Do you like music? What kinds? Do you know Michael Jackson?
A: Yes, and Yes, and Yes I like Michael Jackson. (After my reply their start to name off some other their favorite music such as: Linkin Park, Avril, Backstreet Boys, and other weird music we listened to in the 90’s.)
Q: Are you single? Do you like the Chinese girls? Do you think we are cool?
A: This question started off with a huge laugh from me, then I decided to answer while keeping a straight face. Yes, I am single (follow-up questions: Why don’t you have a girlfriend, do many college students have girlfriends?). Dang gurl, could you be more obvious that you are in love with me!
There were also other types of comments and questions that I thought were a little inappropriate, but I tried my best to answer then all. They students also love to comment on every article of clothing you are wearing, what you look like, and also like to make comparisons. For example, my students said that I look like Amaury Nolasco (Google it – bahahah!) from the show Prison Break because “he is Mexican.” One, I couldn’t believe they watched Prison Break and two he is from Puerto Rico.
Probably the best thing about English corner was that the second English corner of the school semester was TWILIGHT THEMED! Yes, they split us up into CLANS and we got to discuss different questions asked by a member of the Volturi who was sitting at the front reading under candlelight. We discussed questions like: Do you believe in vampires? Do vampires have humanity? Would you accept a vampire in your family? If you could choose to die tomorrow or become a blood-sucking vampire which would you choose? AH! They were all great questions, but most of the discussions were about how awesome the Twilight series is and what their favorite Twilight characters were. There doesn’t seem to be a separation between the Edwards-lovers and the Jacob-lovers here in China thought, they just all seem to love Bella (I don’t know why, but they think she is beautiful!). Of course I confessed my love for vampires the whole time and all of my answers were biased toward Eddie, but oh well!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Taking Candy From Strangers.
Halloween is by far one of the most amazing and coolest American holidays. What is there not to like about eating candy, dressing up in costumes, bobbing for apples, and bumping in the night? At first, I was rather sad because I would be missing Halloween, but instead of being sad I decided to bring Halloween to China.
… And boy was that a good idea! Lucy (Kiwi Girl) or Luc (pronounced ‘Luce’) was my partner in crime for the Halloween planning. We have actually started to refer to each other as Luc and Los cause we make a really good team. We can even have conversations in Chinese! Anyway, the first challenge was finding a legitimate pumpkin to carve. Our search started at the supermarket, but they only had some really long, off brown pumpkins, which they called ‘south melons.’ You can image my panic when I couldn’t find jack-o-lantern quality pumpkins for my Halloween party. I was devastated and decided to substitute watermelons for pumpkins – as soon as I made this decision the Halloween goblins were watching over me cause Luc and Los went to another supermarket and found the most amazing ORANGE, REAL pumpkins! Although, they were a little too small, they would satisfy my pumpkin dreams.
The pumpkins were done and the invitations had been sent. After an early morning panic call to Whitney (party-planner extraordinaire from America), I decided that we would also bob for apples, play ‘pin the wart on the witch,” have a costume contest, and dance all night. All the invitations were beautiful and indicated that COSTUMES WERE REQUIRED! I was actually quite surprise by the effort and the awesome costumes the delegates put together. We had pirates, vampires, fairies, pandas, women (yes, at least two boys decided that they would be girls for Halloween – typical!), trolls, skeletons, and many other scary creatures. There was a tiny Halloween shop we found at one of the market with over priced Halloween items. I negotiated with the lady and told her that they face paint she was trying to see me for 30 Yuan (about 5 dollars) was worth about 1 dollar in the USA and that she was ridiculous. After some haggling and more conversation I got the face paint for about 15 Yuan (2 dollars). Yes, I know that five dollars doesn’t seem like much, but you can always get things cheaper in China – you just have to be really good at the art of negotiations (Which I am!).
Originally the party was going to be hosted in my dorm room (Highly illegal), but then Julia (Foreign Affairs Office) got involved and a room at the International Legend Hotel was booked for the party. Luc and Los arrived at the party to find Julia with her daughter and niece running wild and yelling in the microphones. We decorated the room with pumpkins, flags, balloons, and candy (I found some Snickers!). The guest started to arrive and everyone brought food, drinks, candy, and more drinks. The party was off to a great start with the pumpkin carving and the Chinese guest really enjoyed it. After the music started playing everyone forgot about all the other activities that I had planned and ‘cut the rug’ (There has been some debate about what the proper idiom is for this, but I don’t really know). After some Waka Waka, Party in the USA, and Dynamite the party ended and we were off to GAYA (Refer to my previous post for information on Gaya). Got home around 2 am and it was one of the best nights in L.Jo by far!
PS: My costume was a panda! I had bought an awesome Panda hat in Beijing so I just added to the already awesome accessory. I wore a black sweater and then cut a shirt to make it look like a panda belly. I stuffed the shirt and looked extra GIANT, but I still didn’t have black pants. I was going to buy some, but then Theres said she had a pair I could borrow. Yes, Theres is a woman and I borrowed her black Nike sweatpants. Let’s just say that my booty looked extra juicy at the party, but still panda like!
PSS: I had so much candy left that I started to and it out to strangers. I just went down the halls of our dorm building and many people took the candy. Some how in China they were not told to not take candy from strangers. Although, who wouldn’t except candy from me?
… And boy was that a good idea! Lucy (Kiwi Girl) or Luc (pronounced ‘Luce’) was my partner in crime for the Halloween planning. We have actually started to refer to each other as Luc and Los cause we make a really good team. We can even have conversations in Chinese! Anyway, the first challenge was finding a legitimate pumpkin to carve. Our search started at the supermarket, but they only had some really long, off brown pumpkins, which they called ‘south melons.’ You can image my panic when I couldn’t find jack-o-lantern quality pumpkins for my Halloween party. I was devastated and decided to substitute watermelons for pumpkins – as soon as I made this decision the Halloween goblins were watching over me cause Luc and Los went to another supermarket and found the most amazing ORANGE, REAL pumpkins! Although, they were a little too small, they would satisfy my pumpkin dreams.
The pumpkins were done and the invitations had been sent. After an early morning panic call to Whitney (party-planner extraordinaire from America), I decided that we would also bob for apples, play ‘pin the wart on the witch,” have a costume contest, and dance all night. All the invitations were beautiful and indicated that COSTUMES WERE REQUIRED! I was actually quite surprise by the effort and the awesome costumes the delegates put together. We had pirates, vampires, fairies, pandas, women (yes, at least two boys decided that they would be girls for Halloween – typical!), trolls, skeletons, and many other scary creatures. There was a tiny Halloween shop we found at one of the market with over priced Halloween items. I negotiated with the lady and told her that they face paint she was trying to see me for 30 Yuan (about 5 dollars) was worth about 1 dollar in the USA and that she was ridiculous. After some haggling and more conversation I got the face paint for about 15 Yuan (2 dollars). Yes, I know that five dollars doesn’t seem like much, but you can always get things cheaper in China – you just have to be really good at the art of negotiations (Which I am!).
Originally the party was going to be hosted in my dorm room (Highly illegal), but then Julia (Foreign Affairs Office) got involved and a room at the International Legend Hotel was booked for the party. Luc and Los arrived at the party to find Julia with her daughter and niece running wild and yelling in the microphones. We decorated the room with pumpkins, flags, balloons, and candy (I found some Snickers!). The guest started to arrive and everyone brought food, drinks, candy, and more drinks. The party was off to a great start with the pumpkin carving and the Chinese guest really enjoyed it. After the music started playing everyone forgot about all the other activities that I had planned and ‘cut the rug’ (There has been some debate about what the proper idiom is for this, but I don’t really know). After some Waka Waka, Party in the USA, and Dynamite the party ended and we were off to GAYA (Refer to my previous post for information on Gaya). Got home around 2 am and it was one of the best nights in L.Jo by far!
PS: My costume was a panda! I had bought an awesome Panda hat in Beijing so I just added to the already awesome accessory. I wore a black sweater and then cut a shirt to make it look like a panda belly. I stuffed the shirt and looked extra GIANT, but I still didn’t have black pants. I was going to buy some, but then Theres said she had a pair I could borrow. Yes, Theres is a woman and I borrowed her black Nike sweatpants. Let’s just say that my booty looked extra juicy at the party, but still panda like!
PSS: I had so much candy left that I started to and it out to strangers. I just went down the halls of our dorm building and many people took the candy. Some how in China they were not told to not take candy from strangers. Although, who wouldn’t except candy from me?
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
My big fat ankle
Yes, I managed to sprain my ankle in China. It was a horrible experience and I am still suffering the consequences today. It all started with the combination of three curses put on my by three different Chinese tourist attractions because I pissed them off by taking illegal pictures of them.
Confucius – we visited his temple in Wuwei City and were allowed to take pictures in the temple grounds and most of the temples except one. This temple belonged to Confucius and was the most awesome temple of all. There he was, Confucius, in all his glory and we were not allowed to capture his mightiness. Well, of course I thought that was a bunch of bull so I snuck a few pictures. Consequence: cursed by Confucius.
Sleeping Buddha – we visited the Dafo Temple of Zhangye which houses the largest reclining Buddha in the world measuring 34.5m in length and 7.5m in shoulder width. I know, that for the common American you probably have no idea about how BIG that actually is, well it is BIG. In order to prove to my friends and family the magnitude of this sleeping Buddha, I again had to sneak some pictures for proof. This of course again was highly illegal; there was even an attendant watching for picture takers like myself, but Lucy (New Zealand gal) helped me to cover the camera and get some good shots. Consequence: curse #2 by Buddha.
Rewi Ally – at some point in Time a New Zealander named Rewi Ally came to China, joined the Communist party, was loved by all, and set-up a school in Shandan county (located in Gansu, near L.Jo). Well, we visited his museum and tomb because the Chinese love him. Well, Lucy being our token New Zealander, decided she wanted a picture near his tomb. I took a normal one for her, but seeing that she was wearing an awesome Grim Reaper gray coat I decided for her to pose in front of the tomb in another picture in which she resembled the Grim. It was all in fun and hilarious, but the consequence: curse #3.
After having built up three curses I knew it was a matter of time before something happened to me. In total Carlos fashion I began taking lots of jumping pictures with great success in various tourist attractions throughout Gansu. The curses finally had an effect during a jumping picture at the Great Wall of China in Gansu. I jumped and made an awesome pose, but landed on an uneven stone tile (Who knew that the Chinese tiles would morph after 5000 years or so!). I twisted my ankle so bad that is immediately swelled up to the size of a pumpkin and I could barely walk. So the delegates took action – Markus (Swiss man) used his Swiss army knife to cut the sleeves off his shirt to make a bandage for my leg. Helena (Swedish gal) tied the bandage to my foot. Lucy served as my personal assistant and carried my things. Tim (Aussie guy) helped Markus to carry me to the police golf cart that drove me back to the bus.
That evening I visited the Chinese emergency room, where I had an x-ray and discovered that my foot wasn’t broken and that I needed some ice. Then I was in crutches for three days after which we returned to Lanzhou. Now I am just limping around the city with a swollen foot, but each day it gets better. I even danced some Zumba in front of 200 hundred students in it. Nothing can stop me!
Confucius – we visited his temple in Wuwei City and were allowed to take pictures in the temple grounds and most of the temples except one. This temple belonged to Confucius and was the most awesome temple of all. There he was, Confucius, in all his glory and we were not allowed to capture his mightiness. Well, of course I thought that was a bunch of bull so I snuck a few pictures. Consequence: cursed by Confucius.
Sleeping Buddha – we visited the Dafo Temple of Zhangye which houses the largest reclining Buddha in the world measuring 34.5m in length and 7.5m in shoulder width. I know, that for the common American you probably have no idea about how BIG that actually is, well it is BIG. In order to prove to my friends and family the magnitude of this sleeping Buddha, I again had to sneak some pictures for proof. This of course again was highly illegal; there was even an attendant watching for picture takers like myself, but Lucy (New Zealand gal) helped me to cover the camera and get some good shots. Consequence: curse #2 by Buddha.
Rewi Ally – at some point in Time a New Zealander named Rewi Ally came to China, joined the Communist party, was loved by all, and set-up a school in Shandan county (located in Gansu, near L.Jo). Well, we visited his museum and tomb because the Chinese love him. Well, Lucy being our token New Zealander, decided she wanted a picture near his tomb. I took a normal one for her, but seeing that she was wearing an awesome Grim Reaper gray coat I decided for her to pose in front of the tomb in another picture in which she resembled the Grim. It was all in fun and hilarious, but the consequence: curse #3.
After having built up three curses I knew it was a matter of time before something happened to me. In total Carlos fashion I began taking lots of jumping pictures with great success in various tourist attractions throughout Gansu. The curses finally had an effect during a jumping picture at the Great Wall of China in Gansu. I jumped and made an awesome pose, but landed on an uneven stone tile (Who knew that the Chinese tiles would morph after 5000 years or so!). I twisted my ankle so bad that is immediately swelled up to the size of a pumpkin and I could barely walk. So the delegates took action – Markus (Swiss man) used his Swiss army knife to cut the sleeves off his shirt to make a bandage for my leg. Helena (Swedish gal) tied the bandage to my foot. Lucy served as my personal assistant and carried my things. Tim (Aussie guy) helped Markus to carry me to the police golf cart that drove me back to the bus.
That evening I visited the Chinese emergency room, where I had an x-ray and discovered that my foot wasn’t broken and that I needed some ice. Then I was in crutches for three days after which we returned to Lanzhou. Now I am just limping around the city with a swollen foot, but each day it gets better. I even danced some Zumba in front of 200 hundred students in it. Nothing can stop me!
Carlos’ Guide to Chinese Hotels
Being the fancy dude I am, I would never stay at a hotel if it weren’t four or five stars! Well, my dreams came true in China, for our weeklong trip around Gansu Province was full of fancy dinner, hotels, people (me in particular), and visits! Below you will find a personal scale of different aspects and qualities to judge a Chinese hotel by:
1. Can the Hotel spell ’extinguisher’ correctly?
Through out my journey I have learned many different spellings for the word(s) fire extinguisher. Usually the Chinese seem to think that ‘extinguisher’ is actually two or sometimes three words. Example: Fire Extin Guisher. This is an easy mistake to make, but when the simplest words are misspelled such as ‘water’ (often spelled Watel – I doubt any of you would drink cold watel), then that is bad news bears.
2. Ice availability.
Ice is such a luxury good in China. For some reason the Chinese are weird about eating, drinking, or creating anything that is cold (Maybe because they aren’t as ‘cool’ as the US). Something about ice being bad for the body or carrying germs (Who knows why, really?). Ice in the hotel you are staying at has ice then you have really found a good one. Don’t be fooled though, many of the hotels will have ice containers, but it may just be a trick to make you think they have ice. Example: When I sprained my ankle on the trip the doctor recommended that I put ice on my foot. I called the reception desk and asked for ice, to which I was told that they didn’t have ice just cold water.
3. Bedside weather report.
Whenever you visit a city don’t you always want to know what the next day’s weather report is going to be? Well, in China only the god hotels give you a little note card on your bedside table with a detailed weather report. It should include temperature highs and lows, sun forecast, wind speed, and rain chance. The catch to whether your hotel is five star of not is whether you see the attendant slip the note card into your room. If you do, then that is bad, but if it seems to magically appear in your room without you noticing then that is five-star-service.
4. Internet access.
There are four types of hotels when it comes to Internet access and I stayed at all four. One, no Internet, two, Internet that you must pay for, three, Internet access that is free, and four, Internet access and a full on computer in your room! You can probably decide for yourself, which is the five-star hotel!
5. Fifth and final - amenities.
Is there a pool, a bar, gym, spa, massage room, ping pong room and VIP massage room. The catch is to look for what is free cause most of the three star (or below) hotels will charge for all of these things. We thought we had hit the jackpot in JiuQuan City because there was a pool (and then the Foreign Affairs Office convinced then to keep it open late for us), but little did we know that there was a catch. One, we had to wear a swim cap (which meant that we had to buy it from them, 30 yuan), two, you have to pay to swim! Yes, 68 yuan per person for an hour of swimming. Ridiculous!
So there you go, next time you travel to China and are looking for a hotel make sure to check this list to ensure your stay is five star!
1. Can the Hotel spell ’extinguisher’ correctly?
Through out my journey I have learned many different spellings for the word(s) fire extinguisher. Usually the Chinese seem to think that ‘extinguisher’ is actually two or sometimes three words. Example: Fire Extin Guisher. This is an easy mistake to make, but when the simplest words are misspelled such as ‘water’ (often spelled Watel – I doubt any of you would drink cold watel), then that is bad news bears.
2. Ice availability.
Ice is such a luxury good in China. For some reason the Chinese are weird about eating, drinking, or creating anything that is cold (Maybe because they aren’t as ‘cool’ as the US). Something about ice being bad for the body or carrying germs (Who knows why, really?). Ice in the hotel you are staying at has ice then you have really found a good one. Don’t be fooled though, many of the hotels will have ice containers, but it may just be a trick to make you think they have ice. Example: When I sprained my ankle on the trip the doctor recommended that I put ice on my foot. I called the reception desk and asked for ice, to which I was told that they didn’t have ice just cold water.
3. Bedside weather report.
Whenever you visit a city don’t you always want to know what the next day’s weather report is going to be? Well, in China only the god hotels give you a little note card on your bedside table with a detailed weather report. It should include temperature highs and lows, sun forecast, wind speed, and rain chance. The catch to whether your hotel is five star of not is whether you see the attendant slip the note card into your room. If you do, then that is bad, but if it seems to magically appear in your room without you noticing then that is five-star-service.
4. Internet access.
There are four types of hotels when it comes to Internet access and I stayed at all four. One, no Internet, two, Internet that you must pay for, three, Internet access that is free, and four, Internet access and a full on computer in your room! You can probably decide for yourself, which is the five-star hotel!
5. Fifth and final - amenities.
Is there a pool, a bar, gym, spa, massage room, ping pong room and VIP massage room. The catch is to look for what is free cause most of the three star (or below) hotels will charge for all of these things. We thought we had hit the jackpot in JiuQuan City because there was a pool (and then the Foreign Affairs Office convinced then to keep it open late for us), but little did we know that there was a catch. One, we had to wear a swim cap (which meant that we had to buy it from them, 30 yuan), two, you have to pay to swim! Yes, 68 yuan per person for an hour of swimming. Ridiculous!
So there you go, next time you travel to China and are looking for a hotel make sure to check this list to ensure your stay is five star!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Updates on L.Jo.
Nothing too exciting (besides the fact that I am living in China) has happened in my life here in Lanzhou since my last blog post, but I thought I would update you on a few interesting happenings.
1. Singing and Zumba! So, there is going to be an international student festival where we are suppose to perform something. The University has decided that we learn a song to perform – little did they know that everyone in the program has no singing skills at all. Also, as class leader I was instructed to come up with another performance because as Iris (Chinese teacher) said “one song just isn’t enough.” Then, my hips spoke to me and said, “You should teach some Zumba!” So I did, a total of six delegates are learning a zumba routine to Shakira’s waka waka and it’s amazing.
2. Halloween! I’m going to miss Halloween, but I decided to make up for it by throwing a Halloween party here. Costumed required! I can’t wait to see what everyone will wear because I set some rules on costumes already. (1) No dressing up as a person from your country, such as, “I’m a Romanian.” (2) If you don’t wear a costume then I get to paint your face however I want and dress you however I want. (3) Don’t be lame cause I will be so upset.
3. THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE IN OKLAHOMA AND I WASN”T THERE!
4. We are going on a weeklong trip next week to explore the Silk Road and other parts of the Chinese desert (desert, not dessert as much of the other delegates refer to it) area.
5. It is so hilarious to hear everyone speak English. I am constantly correcting people because it’s so funny. Here are a few examples of common mistakes:
-- The pronunciation difference between ‘corpse’ and ‘crops.’ You can image my surprise when Theres informed me that the villagers keep their ‘corpse’ on the roof of their house.
-- The Amazon verses Amazon. There is a restaurant named Amazon that we go to when we are tired of Chinese food cause they have Italian food. Well, many of the delegates refer to it as ‘The Amazon.” “Do you want to go to The Amazon tonight?” “No, I hear that jungle is dangerous these days.”
-- Persons and people. Do persons really use the word ‘persons’ ever? Thanks to Whitney for the clarification on this subject.
-- Have you ever been to the “obstetrician” to get your eyes checked? Last time I checked that was the “optometrist.”
Love you all and miss you so much! Happy Fall!
1. Singing and Zumba! So, there is going to be an international student festival where we are suppose to perform something. The University has decided that we learn a song to perform – little did they know that everyone in the program has no singing skills at all. Also, as class leader I was instructed to come up with another performance because as Iris (Chinese teacher) said “one song just isn’t enough.” Then, my hips spoke to me and said, “You should teach some Zumba!” So I did, a total of six delegates are learning a zumba routine to Shakira’s waka waka and it’s amazing.
2. Halloween! I’m going to miss Halloween, but I decided to make up for it by throwing a Halloween party here. Costumed required! I can’t wait to see what everyone will wear because I set some rules on costumes already. (1) No dressing up as a person from your country, such as, “I’m a Romanian.” (2) If you don’t wear a costume then I get to paint your face however I want and dress you however I want. (3) Don’t be lame cause I will be so upset.
3. THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE IN OKLAHOMA AND I WASN”T THERE!
4. We are going on a weeklong trip next week to explore the Silk Road and other parts of the Chinese desert (desert, not dessert as much of the other delegates refer to it) area.
5. It is so hilarious to hear everyone speak English. I am constantly correcting people because it’s so funny. Here are a few examples of common mistakes:
-- The pronunciation difference between ‘corpse’ and ‘crops.’ You can image my surprise when Theres informed me that the villagers keep their ‘corpse’ on the roof of their house.
-- The Amazon verses Amazon. There is a restaurant named Amazon that we go to when we are tired of Chinese food cause they have Italian food. Well, many of the delegates refer to it as ‘The Amazon.” “Do you want to go to The Amazon tonight?” “No, I hear that jungle is dangerous these days.”
-- Persons and people. Do persons really use the word ‘persons’ ever? Thanks to Whitney for the clarification on this subject.
-- Have you ever been to the “obstetrician” to get your eyes checked? Last time I checked that was the “optometrist.”
Love you all and miss you so much! Happy Fall!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Yak butter smells weird.
This past weekend, we went on a trip to Gannan and Linxia. This was part of our cultural experiences because we had previously had a lecture about minorities – now it was time to go and see how these minorities lived. The good thing about traveling with the Gansu foreign affairs office is that we don’t have to pay for absolutely nothing.
We traveled by bus and first arrived in Linxia. Linxia is a Muslim minority city with about one mosque every 10 feet, no joke. Our first stop was the main mosque (mosque cathedral, if you will) and the girls were rather disturbed when they weren’t allowed to enter the mosque. All the men took their shoes off and entered the mosque, interesting experience for I had never been inside a mosque before. There was really nothing to interesting on the inside, but the outside structure was spectacular. Then, it was lunchtime with the mayor and other important government peeps. They took us to a hotel where we had a feast. Started off with a steak and broccoli and boy was I happy to see a knife and fork (there is really no proper way to eat steak with chop sticks). At first, I was a little confused as to why the Chinese man next to me was waiting for me to start eating and watching me so closely. Soon enough, I found out that he actually was waiting to see how I was eating my food with a fork and a knife so that we could do the same (oh, the tables have turned sucka). This activity of mimicking my eating style happened throughout the whole meal. At one point I really wanted to do something ridiculous to see if he would follow, but we were at a formal lunch, so I had to behave.
After lunch, we toured a few houses (rich man’s house first and then the ‘average’ man’s house.), visiting the library (I tried to figure out their cataloging system – I think it was some form of the Library of Congress cataloging cause they used letters at the beginning.), ate some old pears (kinda gross, but you must accept everything they offer and eat it too), and then we were off to Gannan. Gannan is a village where there is a huge monastery and home to a Tibetan minority group. At dinner, we had some wonderful Tibetan performances with a mix of traditional songs and dances. After we had some bai jiu, wine, beer, and tea the real party began. The delegates started performing songs as well and we danced the night away Tibetan style. I don’t know what it is, but when it comes to singing, dancing, or making a full of one’s self I always seem to get nominated by the group. Maybe it’s because I have no shame to look like a fool in front of strangers…
The next day we toured the monastery. We learned all about Buddhism, smelled the wonderful smells of yak butter sculptures and yak fat candles. Heard some monks pray, visited an “art museum” (all with art painted by a Tibetan monk – one piece was worth 2 million Yuan), and over all took in the country life. The village we were in reminded me so much of the Mexican pueblo my uncle is from. It was like we had traveled back to the past because there were donkey hitched wagons, wells, and free roaming sheep, goats, pigs, and cows. Overall, it was really interesting to get to see how fast China is developing, but at the same time see how much work needs to be done on the countryside.
We traveled by bus and first arrived in Linxia. Linxia is a Muslim minority city with about one mosque every 10 feet, no joke. Our first stop was the main mosque (mosque cathedral, if you will) and the girls were rather disturbed when they weren’t allowed to enter the mosque. All the men took their shoes off and entered the mosque, interesting experience for I had never been inside a mosque before. There was really nothing to interesting on the inside, but the outside structure was spectacular. Then, it was lunchtime with the mayor and other important government peeps. They took us to a hotel where we had a feast. Started off with a steak and broccoli and boy was I happy to see a knife and fork (there is really no proper way to eat steak with chop sticks). At first, I was a little confused as to why the Chinese man next to me was waiting for me to start eating and watching me so closely. Soon enough, I found out that he actually was waiting to see how I was eating my food with a fork and a knife so that we could do the same (oh, the tables have turned sucka). This activity of mimicking my eating style happened throughout the whole meal. At one point I really wanted to do something ridiculous to see if he would follow, but we were at a formal lunch, so I had to behave.
After lunch, we toured a few houses (rich man’s house first and then the ‘average’ man’s house.), visiting the library (I tried to figure out their cataloging system – I think it was some form of the Library of Congress cataloging cause they used letters at the beginning.), ate some old pears (kinda gross, but you must accept everything they offer and eat it too), and then we were off to Gannan. Gannan is a village where there is a huge monastery and home to a Tibetan minority group. At dinner, we had some wonderful Tibetan performances with a mix of traditional songs and dances. After we had some bai jiu, wine, beer, and tea the real party began. The delegates started performing songs as well and we danced the night away Tibetan style. I don’t know what it is, but when it comes to singing, dancing, or making a full of one’s self I always seem to get nominated by the group. Maybe it’s because I have no shame to look like a fool in front of strangers…
The next day we toured the monastery. We learned all about Buddhism, smelled the wonderful smells of yak butter sculptures and yak fat candles. Heard some monks pray, visited an “art museum” (all with art painted by a Tibetan monk – one piece was worth 2 million Yuan), and over all took in the country life. The village we were in reminded me so much of the Mexican pueblo my uncle is from. It was like we had traveled back to the past because there were donkey hitched wagons, wells, and free roaming sheep, goats, pigs, and cows. Overall, it was really interesting to get to see how fast China is developing, but at the same time see how much work needs to be done on the countryside.
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