千里之行，始於足下。~道德经

a quick summary of Christmas 2006

2007-04-09T14:13:00.000+08:00

...but first, a quick glance at Thanksgiving 2006...

**This is a picture from our In-China Thanksgiving dinner. I have to say, it was my first American style Thanksgiving with gravy, stuffing, etc. - all the good stuff. The turkey, unfortunately, had to be store bought...mostly because Chinese apartments don't really come equipped with an oven...so no baking. Seems a bit overdue to be writing about our adventures during Christmas, but I really haven't had all that time until now. So...let's begin.

To begin with, our Chinese class had a Christmas party. Everyone brought a dish from their home country (well, of their home country) to share with the rest of us. We also did an attempted Secret Santa gift exchange. It was a bit more difficult than the other exchanges I have ever done...mostly because the person you are given may not be someone you really interact with much. But, I guess that only made you talk to everyone else who was their friend so that you can find out what gift would be best. I was the secret Santa of Luo Lana (Chinese name) from Peru. The only thing I had noticed was that she recently got an i-pod. So for Christmas, I got her those squishy feeling i-pod covers as well as some of those round, gold foiled chocolates. Tabitha (to my surprise and absolute happiness) was my secret santa and she got me exactly what I wanted. I know this may sound OCD...but I got a planner!!! After four months without one, my life finally felt complete. I am definitely one of those people who likes to write down everything she needs to do in her planner and then cross it off the list when it was done. I don't know...life's simple pleasures. I ended up bringing chili - of course, made by the one and only Joel. :) Finding the necessary ingredients was tough - but, I think it turned out pretty good. It was quite the scene though...making good old American chili in a Chinese wok. I think we were only one of a few classes that actually threw a party for Christmas. Oh, this picture is hilarious. That's our tingli teacher, Wang laoshi and Sergio (Chinese name shi jiu as in the number 19) from Spain. He's teaching her how to play pinata. See, we had to improvise what we were doing because we didn't think to bring string. So, at first the football shaped pinata was just taped on the wall. However, the tape couldn't keep it up, so in the end, we just had to leave it on the ground and have her (half dizzy from all the spinning) beat that poor pinata on the floor. The whole class was in laughter and our teacher swinging and beating. Oh...and of course, we didn't bring any sort of blindfold, so that's just Sergio's ski cap over Wang laoshi's face. Poor teacher! We ended leaving early to pack up for our next adventure. One of Andrea's friend's friend has a cabin up in the mountains not too far away from Chengdu. We were going to visit a hot spring and then spend two nights at the cabin. A few of us spent the trip to the mountain watching Firefly...a show that was supposedly on Fox but then was pulled off air for who knows what reason. It's a pretty good series - just imagine wild west plus space adventure and there you have it! The main characters are like space cowboys...ok...you have to see the series to understand. The hot spring was absolutely amazing. This was another first for Deborah...never really been to a natural hot springs before. There was a heavy sulfur smell, but the surrounding area was so peaceful and quiet. We took dips in the various springs they had set up - some really (almost excuriating) hot ones, and some of the cooler ones. By the time we left, we were all pretty hungry and ready to drink and play some. :) We hit the cabins about an hour later. We were to be the only guests at these cabins for the entire duration of our stay. Usually they are closed for the season, but since we had connections (guanxi!) we were able to find sanctity up in the mountains during Christmas. What was even cooler was the decorations that the owners put up for us. Knowing that we would probably all be a bit down during the holidays not being able to by with family back home, they set up the area quite nicely with tree and ornaments, and a nice, warm fire. Oh, and of course, there was karoke. It wouldnt be a Chinese Christmas without karoke. Here are the boys singing their hearts out. We all took turns finding songs - but alot of them were only oldies and motown. What would karoke be without drinking? Well, we actually didn't sing and drink...but we did play a drinking game that now all of us love to drink to whenever we do drink. King's cup? Yeah...I'm pretty sure most everyone has played this game besides me...but we had a blast! :) I believe this was the first time we had ever drank together. We played until about 1 or 2 and then we all headed off to bed.
The next morning, Andrea, her friend and her friend's son got up early to do some morning Taoist styled exercises. After breakfast, we climbed a mountain...well, probably more of a large hill. Either way, it wasnt that easy of a climb because the path was slippery from the morning dew. We came upon this bee looking insect...actually, even now we aren't too sure what it was. The view was spectacular...even when the clouds started settling in. We didn't spend too much time up on the hill only because we feared the weather was going to turn on us. We headed back down for dinner. To be continued...

Voicing for a Chinese Internet Game

2007-03-10T20:12:00.000+08:00

I know it's been awhile since I last updated my current status. I will formally start to write all that happened during Christmas as well as during the Spring festival starting Monday. I need to work on my field notes from my last trip to Yangjuan first. But, I did want to share an interesting experience I had today. One of my friends, Tim, had another friend who works for an internet gaming company. He needed two people to help out with the "foreign" voicing of the characters. The game is called "Street Soccer." 6 people play as internet players with street soccer rules.
After agreeing to do the female voice of this game, I met up with Tim this afternoon and rode our bikes to the guy's house. We each took turns saying things like: "Nice Pass!" "Yo, chill out! The game isn't over yet!" "Man, that was awful!" "Defense! Where's our defense?" Of course, we made changes so our original script wasn't like this. :) Haha...I tried to make it as authentic as possible by the use of "man," "yo," and "aight." I don't know when the game will be available...we might have to stop over at his place and do a couple of more recordings. Man, I guess this is my debut!

Dinner with the folks

2007-02-22T22:20:00.000+08:00

I've been feeling a bit sick these past few days. Must have caught something while I on that 23 hour train ride. Despite the coughing and sniffling, I have been taking my mom to some of the touristy places in Chengdu. I'm in the process of charging my camera so that I can transfer pictures over for posting. So, I'll talk about those trips in another blog.

Sarah and her family came back from Tibet this evening and so we decided to have a gathering of families for dinner. We (Sarah and her family, Laura and her mom, Matt, and my mom and I) went to that mapo tofu place we ate previously during the mid-autumn festival. It was nice to see everyone again and even better that we got to meet everyone's family. We had the traditonal family style Chinese dinner - a plate of stir-fried bean sprouts, mapo tofu *of course!*, fish sauced egg plant, kongbao chicken, huiguo rou or twice cooked pork, winter melon dakon pork soup, fish (nian nian you yu), and pineapple flavored bing & scallion flavored bing (cong you bing). All of us shared stories about our adventures. Laura and Sarah also have blogs that I have linked with mine. Check out their adventures! Laura spent some time in Beijing and in Shanghai and Sarah and her family was in Beijing for a few days before coming to Chengdu and taking the train to Lhasa.

Chinese New Year Festivities in Chengdu

2007-02-19T16:23:00.000+08:00

There is a word in Chinese that, when translated into English, sort of loses its meaning. That's because it has to be understood in context - mostly a cultural and experimental context. 热闹 or renao is when translated is literally "hot noisy." For the Chinese, this means crowded, noisy, and busy. People sometimes mistaken this to be a negative term, but let me tell you, Chinese people love renao.
Today is the 2nd day of the spring festival. Last night, my mom and I went over to Matt's place and cooked a "traditional" Chinese dinner. It's really hard to get authentic when all of the vegetable markets are closed, but we tried our best. We wanted to make 饺子or dumplings but because the market wasn't open for the holidays, we had to buy frozen ones instead of buying the dough and making our own. Besides dumplings, we had roasted duck and chicken, soy bean curd, Chinese sausages, and a soup of all sorts of seafood and meat balls - shrimp balls, fish balls, pork balls, fake crab meat (the pink and white stuff). All while eating, we were watching re-runs of CCTV's annual spring festival program. In the middle of watching an old Chinese movie called "The Knot," all hell broke lose with fireworks. And not with those ones that you would buy in the America at those stands outside of supermarkets. These were like the ones you would see at firework shows - right at eye-level outside of Matt's 6th floor apartment. Crazy! On our way home, I spotted some local, small vendors with carts of fireworks. Tonight is going to be a night of pyro-mania. And they are hella cheap too!

This morning, my mom and I headed down to Wen Shu Yuan, this temple in the middle of Chengdu. Growing up in LA and having attended all of these Chinese New Year Festivities as a kid, it was pure heaven. Renao and tons of it. So many kinds of 小吃 or little foods!!! Let's see if I can recount all of them: fried squid, Tibetan butter tea, fresh sugarcane juice, mala tofu flower, baked goods, dragon whisker candy, mud roasted chicken, stinky tofu, etc. There was just too much for my stomach to take it all! Besides the ones already listed, there was deer meat, fresh coconut, cold noodles, 5 friend quail eggs on a stick, insects (like grasshoppers, scorpions, bee/jacket larvae, beetles, etc) on a stick, all sorts of bean mixtures, etc. Man! You have got to love China during the holidays. People here sure do.

Happy Lunar New Year!

2007-02-17T23:54:00.000+08:00

It's five minutes till the New Year and outside my window...it's absolutely chaotic! Everywhere, there are fireworks and firecrackers going off. If you didn't know where you were...you would think you were stuck somewhere where warfare was going on. There is non-stop blasting of reds, yellows, greens, and blues. On occasion, haha...like right now, there are those gigantic fireball fireworks that give off that loud boom and bright glow. So this is how people in Chengdu celebrate their new year! My mom and I have been in Yunnan for the past nine days. We finally arrived back in Chengdu this evening...after a twenty-three train ride from Kunming. We missed the last stretch of people buying last minute groceries. We did catch a couple of small shops so we bought some sunflower seeds (500 grams to be exact), some chicken wings, 3 apples for peace, 2 pears, and some oranges with their stems and leaves still attached. Lol...it's hard to sleep at all right now. Everywhere, people are lighting fireworks like crazy! The sky is constantly aglow and the night setting is filled with squeels from fireworks and crackles from the firecrackers. If only I was more eloquent in my description or if there was a way for me to record this and have this be played back...haha. Let me tell you though...it's a great way to usher in the new year thats for sure. This probably won't be the end of it. New Years lasts for fifteen days! Without all of the vegetables and such, I made some thousand year old eggs and salted duck egg congee and my mom and I had that with the chicken wings and bean curds. The fireworks started way early...when we were eating dinner. The sad part of it all is...we don't have a tv in our apartment. My friend David (Zeng Yu) gave me a link, though, to watch what was probably the most watched television broadcast in the world of Chinese people - CCTV's annual New Years program. Streaming over our internet live was sort of a pain...so I'm going to see if watching it tomorrow morning would be a better bet. I'll try to fill in the details later about our trip within the next few weeks. I think I'm going to go and step outside and try to see if I can catch more of this excitement!
Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!!!
It's the year of the PIG. :)
新年快乐！！！

...Chinese Web Chat...

2007-01-17T22:32:00.000+08:00

...third week of the new year already...and I'm not sure I've really kept any of my resolutions. But being Asian, I have a second chance for making up broken resolutions...

...these next few days will be absolutely crazy. Finals are next week...and in the process, I need to work on revising my research proposal as well as making contacts so that we (Sarah, Matt and I) can get ourselves to Yangjuan during the first week of break. I'm a bit nervous...mountain roads could be really icy...

...I will have to catch up with what happened over Christmas and new years in the week to come. Some pretty crazy things...preview: Chinese people beating up on foreigners on Christmas eve...which we participated in...spending a few hours in sulfur-smelling water...getting crazy assed drunk at a club drinking JW-Black...played my first drinking game: King's Cup - freakin awesome...and rocking out to Mo-Town...

Oh, but here's to anyone interested in learning a bit of Chinese web chat lingo...

What you type in...

...520...wu er ling..."wo ai ni"...I love you
...360...san liu ling..."xiang nian ni"...I miss you
...775885...qi qi wu ba ba wu..."xin xin wo bao bao wo"...kiss me, hug me

...748...qi si ba..."qu si ba"...go die or go to hell

...ssgg...shuai shuai ge ge...handsome boy
...ppmm...piao piao mei mei...pretty girl...

祝大家新年快乐! 希望大家都很好.

IKEA & a Christmas tree

2006-12-13T22:24:00.000+08:00

:) Hope everyone is doing great...finals are almost over, no?

Things here have been going okay I suppose. I have been listening to Christmas music and it makes me miss home alot. But today, a couple of us got a taste of being in the States. Matt, Tim, Ben, & I headed on over to the newly opened IKEA for lunch and to stroll around. REAL HOT DOGS!!! China usually either have the Chinese sausage or these "spam-dogs." Spam-dogs only begin to taste decent if you put the chili powder thing they have. We also had Swedish meatballs! Western food here is usually no lower than 25 RMB...but I had a hot dog, a soft drink, 10 Swedish meatballs, fries, and some sort of berry sauce all for 13 RMB. Not bad. I've never been to IKEA in the States, but I am totally in love with the IKEA here! Haha...I feel like I could use everything they have there. A couple of us are planning on going back this coming Saturday.

After we got back and had class, Matt, Laura, and I went to Roberts Hall to scavage for some Christmas stuff. Roberts Hall really isnt a building, but rather a room devoted totally to UW exchange students over at the overseas students dorm. Over the years, Roberts has collected stuff pervious exchange students leave. At first, we were just looking through this stuff. But then we thought, why not put up the fake Christmas tree that was in the room? And we did...we decorated the tree with tensils, ornaments, and lights. Following that, we did the door and windows. :) It's pretty nice. People outside on the street can totally see our tree. Yay. Alright, going to go and finish off The God Delusion. I'll post more later. Laters!

issue of 'the book'

2006-12-10T15:03:00.000+08:00

See, ever since I could remember, the Bible was supposed to be a source of guidance for us Christians. However, as I started drifting away from the church, I felt that my senses were opened up more and more. I was no longer clouded by what everyone else thought and for once, I could analyze my own understanding of the world around me. One of the issues I had was with the Bible, the source of how all Christians knew about their religion. This pretty sums up what my thoughts are:
pg. 237
"To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries. This may explain some of the sheer strangeness of the Bible. But unfortunately it is this same weird volume that religious zealouts hold up to us as the inerrant source of our morals and rules for living."

He follows by commenting that not many who believe in the Bible completely have ever read it in its entirety. I, for one, am guilty of this. I mean, I have tried...but I just can't get myself to read through the whole thing. I used to think that it was because I wasn't disciplined enough. What about now? I am fine with not ever having read the entire thing. I, on occassion, still have my grandma or my parents encouraging me to read the Bible more. Often times, I just have to tell them that I will but not really having the heart or the will to go and actually do it.

morality

2006-12-09T22:45:00.000+08:00

Thought this was an interesting read...
pg. 226-227
"If there is no God, why be good? Posed like that, the question sounds positively ignoble. When a religious person puts it to me in this way (and many of them do), my immediate temptation is to issue the following challenge: 'Do you really mean to tell me the only reason you try to be good is to gain God's approval and reward, or to avoid his disapproval and punishment? THat'snot morality, that's just sucking up, apple-polishing, looking over your shoulder at the great surveillance camera in the sky, or the still small wiretap inside your head, monitoring your every move, even your every base thought...Do we really need policing - whether by God or by each other - in order to stop us from behaving in a selfish and criminal matter?"

I have always wondered this for myself. Why is it so important for us to care so much for what we will be rewarded for what we do? Can't things just be done for humanity's sake? For the sake of just making this a better place? I would like to quote Emerson on this:

...To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded...

Why can't life just be that? To appreciate life and try to make it a better place for everyone? People become so obsessed with what comes afterwards that they forget to live for the now...

Here was another interesting snip from this chapter...
p.229
"While political party affiliation in the United States is not a perfect indicator of religiousity, it is no secret that the 'red [Republican] states' are primarily red due to the overwhelming political influence of conservative Christians. If there were a strong correlation between Christian conservatism and societal health, we might expect to see some sign of it in red-state America. We don't. Of the twenty-five cities with the lowest rates of violent crime, 62% are in 'blue' [Democratic] states, and 38% are in 'red' [Republican] states. Of the twenty-five most dangerous cities, 76% are in red states, and 24% are in blue states. In fact, 3 of the 5 most dangerious cities in the U.S. are in the pious state of Texas. The twelve staes with the highest rates of burglary are red. Twenty-four of the twenty-nine states with the highest rates of theft are red. Of the twenty-two states with the highest rates of murder, seventeen are red."

So, is religion needed to provide a basis for deciding what is good? "Without religion you have to make it up as you go along. That would be morality without a rule book....the Christian, the Jew, or the Muslim, by contract, can claim that evil has an absolute meaing, true for all time, and in all places." This is what some people pose...but I dont think its true. Would people really stop being the people they are because there is no god watching over them?

"Politics has slain its thousands, but religion has slain its tens of thousands."
~Sean O'Casey

Homesick

2006-12-07T17:08:00.000+08:00

Hey.
My friend Tim from Canada gave me 2 discs full of Christmas music and I have to say, they are really making me homesick. *Sigh* Every year, though, I'm disappointed with how Christmas turns out...mostly because I always have these ideas about how this holiday should be celebrated. Maybe somewhat like how it's done on tv or in American families. But with being Chinese...our Christmases just aren't the same. So I guess this year shouldnt be much different from all of our other holidays. Even with that said, I'm missing family and friends.

Well, we no longer have politics class anymore. Our term paper was due Saturday...so I decided to come home and upload my new songs into my i-pod and then dive into some reading. Today was much like any other day except a few of us hit up the courts and played some basketball. It's interesting how you will almost never find any girls on the courts playing. Most of the soccer fields and basketball courts are always filled with guys. The only thing you will see girls playing is pingpong. I have yet to play tennis here...

Alright, back to the book. I left off where Dawkins was talking about the purpose of religion.

Anybody see David Attenborough's "Quest in Paradise"? ...it's mentioned here under the subtitle of Cargo Cults. Sounds very interesting...Here is a bit from this section. Dawkins has been describing how religions evolve...following the similar idea of evolution. Here, he dives into observing how religious evolution proceeds so rapidly. His case example is of the cargo cults. pg 202: The islanders noticed that the white people who enjoyed these wonders **advanced technology** never made them themselves. When articles needed repairing they were sent away and new ones kept arriving as 'cargo' in ships or later, planes." Here is a description, that if viewed from the islander's perspective, would not make alot of sense & be rather frightening: "They build tall masts with wires attached to them; they sit listening to small boxes that glow with light and emit curious noises and strangled voices; they persuade the local people to dress up in identical clothes and march them up and won - and it would hardly be possible to devise a more useless occupation than that. And then the native realizes that he has stumbled on the answer to the mystery. It is these incomprehensible actions that are the rituals employed by the white man to persuade the gods to send the cargo. If the native wants the cargo, then he too mush do these things." This quote also reminds me of a discussion I had with my roommate regarding perspective. It is so important to remember to "step into another person's shoes" and see how the world from where they are standing. People often forget this and make out the situation as though they are in the right. Of course that's what it's going to seem...you viewed what was going on from your perspective only!
Anyways...sidetracked there...to continue on " Anthropologists have noted two separate outbreaks in New Caledonia, four in the Solomons, four in Fiji, seven in the New Hebrides, and over fifty in New Guinea, most of them being quite independent and unconnected with one another. The majority of these religions claim that one particular messiah will bring the cargo when the day of the apocalypse arrives." It goes on to talk about other, more specific examples...and I do have to say **reading...* that they are rather interesting. There is this cult of John Frum and the local believe him to be the messiah. They 'talk' to him via 'radio,' longing to see him come to their island. I am going to quote a cult devotee that Attenborough talked to that believes that this John Frum character will be coming back on February 15, year unknown:
DA: But Sam, it is nineteen years since John say that the cargo will come. He promise and promise, but still the cargo does not come. Isn't 19 years a long time to wait?
Sam: If you can wait two thousand years for Jesus Christ to come an' 'e no come, then I can wait more than nineteen years for John.

Linguistics has really caught my interest recently, mostly because in the midst of my researchin on the Yi, I came across a term that I am determined to investigate more of. MiXin...or, if you translate it into English, means superstition. When I was in Yangjuan and was talking to the local Nuosu there...often times, they referred to the works of the bimo, or their priest/healer, as mixin. As an outsider, superstition doesn't really connotate the idea that this belief is genuine. I mean, superstitions are things like Friday the 13th and seeing a black cat...or walking under a ladder. The first thing that came to mind was...why would these people call the works of the bimo superstition? It wasn't as though they didn't believe in this stuff...the one person I questioned about this was the bimo's daughter...who definitely accepted his practice. So the next thing I thought was...well, the word they were using was a Han word...non-Nuosu. At the time, though, when I was there, I wasnt thinking too deeply about this question...but now that I'm here...I'm wondering...what is the Nuosu word for mixin? Maybe the understanding of this word is totally different from superstition - both interpreted by the Chinese and by Westerners. Because of what happened in the CR, I was beginning to wonder if this was in anyway a small, linguistic remenant of those times. We'll see....but back to why I brought this up. Cults. Religions start out as cult. There was the cult of Jesus for example. It isnt until these beliefs are more or less popularized and accepted by a large number of people and organized that they are called religion. Here are the three lessons Dawkins ends this chapter with regarding the origin of religions. 1: Amazing speed to which a cult can spring up. 2: Speed with which the organization process covers its tracks such that there are some uncertainty about actual events. 3: Independent emergence of similar cults in different places; human psychology and its susceptibility to religion.

Great! The next chapter is about morality and whether or not it requires religion to develop.

...a quiet Wednesday night...

2006-12-06T19:59:00.000+08:00

Do you ever feel like there are a ton of things that you could do when you're in class but then the moment you get home, you just dont feel like doing anything? Yeah...that's how I'm feeling right now. So, I figured I should pick up my book again...The God Delusion...and continue reading. :) People should be proud...I could watch cartoons...but, I'm going to read. Anyways, there was this one quote that I wanted to put in here...but never had the chance before when I had read it. This is a passage that I have sort of been contemplating about for the past 3 years of my life:

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
pg. 104
"By why, in any case, do we so readily accept the idea that the one thing you must do if you want to please God is believe in him? What's so special about believing? Isn't it just as likely that God would reward kindness, or generosity, or humility? Or sincerity? What if God is a scientist who regards honest seeking after truth as the supreme virtue? Indeed, wouldn't the designer of the universe have to be a scientist?....Then again, suppose the god who confronts you when you die turns out to be Baal, and suppose Baal is just as jealous as his old rival Yahweh was said to be...Mightn't Pascal have been better off wagering on no god at all rather than on the wrong god? Indeed, doesnt the sheer number of potential gods and goddesses on whom one might bet vitiate Pascal's whole logic?..."

Pascal's logic: "You'd better believe in God, because if you are right you stand to gain eternal bliss and if you are wrong it won't make any difference anyway. On the other hand, if you don't believe in God and you turn out to be wrong you get eternal damnation, wheras if you are right it makes no difference. On the face of it the decision is a no-brainer. Believe in God."

I am on a search for truth I suppose. To discover what beliefs best suit me. Since being in college, religion has become a newfound interest for me. It is absolutely fascinating...it is a force that is able to prompt people to do good and bad things...depending on your opinion of what is good and bad. Ever since I could remember, my family has always been "Christian." My grandparents on my father's side are deeply devoted and growing up, I felt that that was what I wanted to be. Up through middle school, I became very "involved" with the church...and I have to say, looking back, that I believed alot of things without realizing if it was what I really believed in. It makes sense...if the important adults in your life are all attending church and are Christian, you would want to embrace this belief because you knew it had to be it. However, as I moved away from the only church I have ever knew to another place, distance created doubt...even understanding from my perspective. Much of my first thoughts follow along the lines of the first quote...how could good people be punished for simply NOT believing? I mean, all of the religious leaders in the world, all of the Buddhist monks and nuns promoting a peaceful way of living, Gandhi, and people who aren't religious. Are they to be condemned to eternal suffering because of this idea of believing? Surely my God was to be more merciful than this. In college I took a Eastern Religions class and ran across this quote: The Truth is one, the sages just call it by different names. It's funny...no matter how hard I try to find this quote...I can't find it...in my religions text that is...where I first found it. This was when I began to realize something new...something I now believe. :) Something I shall share in the future.

Oh, I just read this one section **yeah, I'm reading it while blogging this** and it puts my idea forth much more elegantly: Page 174
"More than any other species, we survive by the accumulated experience of previous generations, and that experience needs to be passed on to children for their protection and well-being...there will be a selective advantage to child brains that possess the rule of thumb: believe, without question, whatever your grown-ups tell you...trust your elders without question...but the flipside of trusting obedience is stlavish gullibility...and authomatic consequence is that the truster has no way of distinguishing good advice from bad."

I really haven't understood for myself whether religion is a good or bad thing. I only thing I do know is that that the consequence of it has produced both good and bad. Religion.

...for those interested in documentaries...i have some recommendations!

2006-12-04T23:37:00.000+08:00

Hey Everyone,
Hope all is going well. :) I am going to try to spend the next couple of days trying to catch up...going to try to take advantage of my new found freedom to blog again.

So last Thursday night at the Bookworm, there was a showing of a documentary entitled: The Game of Our Lives. It is about the 1966 N. Korean team that made it to the quarter finals of the FIFA World Cup. For anyone interested in soccer...but more so about N. Korea, I highly recommend it. Call me naive and ignorant...but this past week has made me think alot about perspective. I really don't know much about N. Korea and I should have totally made more of an effort to pay attention to U.S. history to actually learn the stuff rather than repeat it on exams...but anyways...yeah, I dont know much about the Korean War either. However, what I have been exposed to are CNN documentaries on N. Korea and how bad the situation is there. First of all, this documentary is a series of three. Two are out...the one I mentioned above and then there's State of Mind which we watched today. The two I have seen are both rather observatorial documentaries...with settings that take place mostly in the capital. **I'm going to do some self-censorship and try to not write as many controversial names and such...I really don't want to lose my ability to blog** I have to say that at first, I was quite astonished. For someone who's never really learned much about N. Korea's current status...N. Korea, at least the capital, sure didn't look like the documentaries that I saw in the States. Granted, those were "footages snuck out of N. Korea" by people who shouldn't have been filming in the first place. Before I get too political...cause honestly, I really don't know much...the films were enlightening. The second one, State of Mind, is about N. Korea's Mass Games. Besides what these games might imply, they are highly, highly impressive. They say the Mass Games are put on to promote communism ideals...people are to work together as a whole or group rather than individuals. The documentary focuses on 2 girls and their year long training to perform for their leader. The third documentary will be shown to a public audience at the Sun Dance Film Festival in Utah. Hopefully, the Bookworm will have that on for us next year. Two of the people who actually worked on these documentaries came and did a Q & A session. One of the things I found interesting was that N. Korea opened up a market back in 2003...I think. Either 2003 or 2004. It just didn't seem like something you would find there...but it was to be N. Korea's first market. The guy who spoke said that it has actually been quite successful. People go there often. Oh, before I forget to mention, the people who came to talk to us also work for a group called Koryo Tours. They take interested people into N. Korea on sort of organized tour. Sounds interesting, no? A couple of us started talking and it would seem like quite a trip. Unfortunately, Americans aren't allowed to go...at least, not yet. We'll see...they mentioned that there might be a possibility in August. N. Korea is going to host another Mass Games, it's been said, in August of next year. If anyone is interested, the website of the touring company is: www.koryogroup.com

Besides that event, we had our every-other-week-mandatory meeing today with Andrea. Topic of discussion was our plans for Christmas. First, to start off with holidays, Thanksgiving here went well. All of us did some cooking and did sort of a pot luck dinner. We had to buy a turkey from the local Western style resturant, Pete's. Chinese apartments just dont have ovens. Oh, my roommate and I did actually buy a toaster oven. However, it's not big enough for a turkey thats for sure. Actually, most people here dont really know what an oven is. I went to the store to buy a baking pan...which they didnt have. I found this sort of metal dish looking thing that looked as though it could be used to bake in...but I wasnt sure. So, I found an employee and asked her...and all she kept on telling me after I asked her whether or not I could use this pan to bake was: You can't use that in a microwave. So, after talking to my roommate...people here often get microwaves and ovens confused because houses and apartments aren't equipped with baking ovens! So...back to the dinner, it was sort of special for me because I've never really had an American style dinner before. Most of our Thanksgivings is a largely Chinese...we have a turkey...which is usually deep fried *my dad went and bought a frier one year...and thats what we've been doing with our turkeys ever sincce* and then a mix of Chinese dishes. My mom makes this sort of Chinese style potato salad which I really like cause its not very sour like American potato salad is. And there's the special dish we always have....which was my contribution to this year's Thanksgiving dinner: Pig tongue, tofu bean curd, seaweed, and eggs. Usually my mom makes pig ears too...but I really didn't see ears in the store. Plus, I heard they arent cleaned as well as the ones in the States. We also had mashed potatos...the lumpy kind...yum! apple pie, pumpkin pie, that green bean cassarole (sp?), stuffing, etc. So...all in all...it was a great dinner. We watched 2 movies...one was Weatherman...eh...okay movie. The other was a documentary: An Inconvenient Truth. I also recommend this to anyone who is interested in the global warming issue and likes Al Gore.
So...back to Christmas. Andrea has a friend who's in the plum wine making business. So, after talking to him, Andrea has arranged for us to go up into the mountains to take a tour of his plum wine factory. In addition to that, we'll be staying in cabins for 2 nights and visit the hot springs. :) SNOW for Christmas! Well...the 2 days before Christmas. But still! SNOW! I was so jealous to hear that Seattle got snow...and not just a measly amont. Decent snow...oh yeah...and then ice...but still SNOW!!! We are thinking about hosting a inbetween Christmas and New Years cocktail party where we have the SU students join us...but thats still in the planning stages.

I went out and bought March of the Penguins. :) After watching, you just have to love those little creatures! And it was in French too...quite enjoyable. Oh, I have also been watching Korean movies lately...oh and one Japanese animation movie called Grave of the Fireflies. Be forewarned, that movie was really, really sad. It's about these 2 kids a bit during but more after the war between Japan and the U.S.

Let's see...anymore developments...not really. Things have been rather quiet. Same old schedule of classes and such. Oh, I'm happy to say that we are almost done printing our Yangjuan Calendars. For anyone still interested in buying some, we are still selling. I was informed earlier this week that one of my photos made it into this year's calendar. :) Exciting! But, I'm just glad that I could help out.

Chengdu has gotten really cold this past week...sometimes it's hard being here because of some of the conveniences America has...like driers. I wash my clothes and such and then have to dry them out on the porch line. However, because of the cold and wet weather, it takes forever for things to dry. Also...because Chengdu is sort of damp...my clothes always feels a bit cold and damp.

Alright...I think I'll end here tonight. It's already midnight and I still have to shower. Hope everyone is staying warm! Take care.

Back in business baby!

2006-12-02T23:10:00.000+08:00

I am absolutely estatic. After weeks of not being able to blog, here I am! I must be careful from now it seems...if I want to maintain my current being-able-to-blog status. :)

Well, there is certainly alot of catching up to do...but to start...I guess I'll talk about today.

I dont really know whats going on with me...but I have been feeling really out of it. Like I can't sleep well at night...which almost never happens...and during the day, I just feel totally lethargic. I hope its just a cold and that itll pass on quickly. I really hate not being to sleep through the night. It may also be because for the past week, I have been trying to work on my politics paper. Anyways, I finally got it done this afternoon, just in time for hot pot. My roommate's birthday was on Thursday...but we had our celebration today. There was a total of 7 people. We all met at the hot pot place and had a night full of fragrant oils and intestines. Afterwards, we stopped by the bakery where my roommate ordered a cake and brought it over to our place. I'll post pictures later...but yeah, everyone just left after talking and laughing for about 2 hours. Okay...my turn to shower. I must get some sleep tonight...

:) Hope everyone has a great time at the AIDS Charity Ball!!!

CALENDAR!

2006-11-18T22:57:00.000+08:00

Well, despite being able to blog, I can not post pictures yet. I don't know why that is...but I will try to get that up and going asap. I figured, though, that being able to blog with no pictures is better than not being able to blog at all. :)

On the 7th, the Overseas Dept. arranged another fieldtrip for us. It was alright, though. Not too grand. We visited an ancient town here in Chengdu called: Huang Long Xi. Hmm...not too much to say about this though...there was a bridge, and some horses. Other than that...alot of it was very "tourized. " Well, despite the lack of anything really interesting...I got to spend some time with my friends...made new friends...and kept myself busy on a Tuesday afternoon.

We have been told of this, even before Steve left for UW. Susan Jeffords, Vice Provost for Global Affairs at UW came and visited us on Tuesday the 14th. We were supposed to give our presentations the day before. However, her flight back to Chengdu from Juizhaigou was delayed and then canceled because of the weather. We each gave a 10-15 min talk about our research so far. Not many of us are really far, especially for those of who are doing things over at Yangjuan. We had a great time with Jeffords and Patricia Butterfield. It was nice seeing UW faces. Besides talking about our research, we also gave them a short summary of the things we have done outside of academics. Also, me and Sarah promoted Yangjuan Calendars. :) For anyone else who is interested in buying one of these calendars, please! contact me! I know that I havent done my PR over blogger yet...so I will do it here.
The village that I do my research at is called Yangjuan. Prior to Steve's and a couple of other people's help, there wasnt an elementary school in that area. The nearest elementary school was a 40 min walk away. Imagine walking to and back...sometimes in the dark with no street lights or anything! Let me tell you, walking in the dark there is frightening. You only have the moon to provide you any light. Anyways...so since this elementary school was built, alot of the kids dont have to go too far to get to school. However, since alot of the parents there are farmers and rely on harvests to provide them with a living, money isnt easy to obtain. And education in China isn't free like it is in America. So, often times, if a family doesnt have enough money for their kids to go on to middle school, they lose the opportunity to learn. So, what a couple of UW students started doing was selling calendars to fundraise. Every year, pictures taken from Yangjuan are compiled into a calendar. They are selling for $20 each this year. All of the money then goes to Steve who takes it to Yangjuan every August. Scholarships are made and based on academic standings, children and parents are given some help with paying for middle school. I personally attended 2 of these scholarship ceremonies the last time I was there. They were deeply emotional for everyone. Last year, calendar sales made around $3000. That's 24,000 RMBs toward these kids' futures. So, if anyone is interested in helping out...there are several ways. Tell people about this fundraising...we would love to have help in the PR department. Also, if you want to buy one of these calendars, e-mail me: sungd@u.washington.edu I can order one for you and then have our coordinator email you when they are ready to be picked up. Thanks everyone...this really means alot to everyone involved in this project...but especially to these kids and their parents!

What have I been up to these last few weeks? Herb Market for one.

2006-11-18T21:15:00.000+08:00

Oh man. I am quite a few weeks behind. But I guess there really isnt anything to write about...well, besides the sea of bamboo. Hmm...I take that back...that's the only topic I have pictures to accompany. So, let's begin shall we?

*pulling out my planner*

Oh, btw, if anyone is looking for good Chinese music, there's this artist named Wang Fei who's really popular here. She has some really nice songs...so yeah. Look into getting some of her songs.

:) Glad I pulled out my planner because I just remembered I forgot to blog about my trip to the herb market.

**Haha...sorry for all of these extra side notes...but I won't be able to put in as many pictures as I would like here because of my firewall issue. So...I will post all of my pictures over in Yahoo in due time. Check there for more photos...**

SW China's Largest Herb Market
This is absolutely the place for people who love traditional medicine of all sorts. Early Saturday morning, I rode my bike to North gate and met up with Sarah and Andrea. The three of us then rode our bikes for about an hour and half up north. The north is very different. It is literally a span of area full of people carrying outrageous things on their bikes. For example, we were biking behind this guy with 6 or 7 huge, huge electronic boxes. People also carry things like televisions, several at a time. They tie these bags or boxes to themselves and then off they go. It's quite the scene to see. The north is also where you would find things sold in bulk...sort of like Costco...but a alot more things and alot more crazy. Like, there's a shop full of small, medium, and large sized towels. The ride went by fast though, mostly cause we just had so many things to see. We finally arrived at the herb market...and this place was definitely worth all of the biking. Huge sacks of...well...pretty much everything! Let's see...there were antlers cut into pieces, slices, or ground; dried deer penises, scorpions, beetles, centipedes, ants, snakes, geckos, etc. There was this one sort of thing that was just absolutely fascinating. It's only found in, I think, 2000 or 3000 m above sea level. It's this small catepillar that had been infected/germinated? by a small plant. Thus, as this grass grows from the catepillar, the catepillar dies without ever turning into a moth. It is the craziest thing I have ever seen. What I kept on wondering about though, when I was there...was whether or not everything I was seeing there really "real". Cause these grass catepillars are supposed to be really really rare...but I saw them everywhere here at this herb market. Tons and tons in jars. *Shrugs* Well, it is the largest herb market in SW China...so maybe they have alot.
We just walked around and took in as much as we could. The place was too big though for us to walk through it all. However, alot of the vendors were selling the same things...so I think we covered most of the items. After our tour of the market, the three of us headed on over to the tea market. We spent around 2 hours here tasting and chatting with the owner of a pu er tea store. Man, there's so much to know about tea. I'll try to remember what I learned...or rather, what I know. Alot of the stuff about tea I already knew...just from traveling around China and visiting all of these tea houses...so here I go.
Pu er tea is a special sort of tea. Rather than many of the other teas you drink, such as green tea, pu er tea leaves comes from a tree rather than a bush. These tea trees can be over a 1000 years old. Pu er can come in the "raw" form which means that nothing was done to it except that it was sun dried and then packaged. There is also the "fermented" kind which most people know about. They cook the tea a bit so that it becomes....well, cooked. The taste and color of these two sorts are very different. The raw pu er has a lighter color to it...and tastes alot more earthy. Cooked pu er is a rich reddish brown color and has a smoother taste. Pu er is also one of those teas where you can reuse the tea leaves several times. Alot of the other sorts of teas can only be reused 5-6 times and usually leaving these tea leaves in water overnight makes the tea not exactly drinkable...meaning that the taste isnt too good...but also drinking this tea might not be too good for your body. Pu er is not like this though. You can reuse pu er tea leaves up to 20 times...and it's safe to drink it again even after leaving it out overnight. Tea culture is really amazing. So, there are several components to having a good cup of tea. First, you have to have good tea leaves. Much like wine, tea becomes better with time. So, if you can get tea that is several years old, you are getting aged tea...good thing...well, only if it's really been aged that long. Second, you need a good tea pot and cup. Ones most commonly used are those made from a material called "sai". I am not exactly sure what this translates to in English. It is brownish in color. Third, you need to get the temperature of the water right. Some require boiling water, some are better if you dont heat the water too hot. Fourth, remember to toss the first pot...usually, the first time water touches tea leaves, it acts as sort of a wash. Drink the 2nd pot. And lastly, you must have a frog. :) I'm not kidding. The shop we went to had a frog made from "sai". He's sort of a guardian for tea. You pour a cup of tea for him everyday. Tradition.
Sarah and I each ended up buying a "disc" of cooked pu er. Pu er usually come in cubes, bricks, or these discs. Having tea leaves at home has definitely made the past few cold Chengdu days better.

List of Movie Recommendations

2006-11-11T11:18:00.000+08:00

Since pirated DVDs are so cheap here, I think I'm going to start a list of Chinese movies I would recommend...give a lil summary, all that jazz. So, for anyone interested, esp. those who like Chinese films and want to practice their 听力, be my guest.

**Movie titles will be given in English...I will try to provide their Chinese names in a timely manner.**

1. A World Without Thieves
I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes "organized crime." The plot involves this couple who are, you guessed it, thieves. After a steal and escaping to Tibet, they board a train and starts heading back east. On their ride, though, they meet a group of professional thieves...and the plot thickens from there! One comment though about Chinese movies, for those who don't usually watch many, Chinese stories don't really ever end "happily ever after." I feel they are more realistic...just my opinion.

2. The Banquet
For those ZhangZiYi fans out there, here is her latest movie. The movie takes place in the Tang dynasty...and the plot follows pretty close with that of Shakespeare's Hamlet...with of course, Chinese characteristics. I thought the movie was okay, but again, Chinese style ending. This movie and A World Without Thieves were directed by the same person.

3. An Inconvenient Truth

4. My Sassy Girl (Korean)

5. The Game of Our Lives

6. State of Mind

7. National Geographic documentary on Marco Polo and Zheng He

8. Grave of Fireflies

...testing 1, 2, 3.

2006-11-11T10:46:00.000+08:00

Well, this is the first time I have been able to get into beta blogger since I dont know, 3 weeks now? I am still unsure as to what's going on. The great Firewall of China finally got to me. I can access all of my other sites fine...but just not blogger. Thanks to David though, I have been able to find a way to overcome this obstacle. The only concern I really have, though, is whether this will slow my blogging process *mainly posting pictures* even more. Anyways, anything is better than nothing and I'm just glad to be back. Quite a bit has been happening lately. But, I should post pictures with them...so, this entry is just a test run. I can run through a couple of updates though.
Midterm week was this past week for me. I think I did alright with my exams and my one paper for history. I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in this topic...but I wrote it on the monastic origins of the Chinese pawnshop. Pretty cool stuff. Let's see, ah..all of us UW students are preparing our ppt for Jeffords (UW provost) this coming week. Most of us already made a ppt for Steve spring quarter of last year...and so we have a basic outline. We just need to add on our new discoveries and progress. I'm sort of conflicted as to how I should approach my presentation. There's the provost...but we also have an audience of SU faculty and students. And I'm talking about the Cultural Revolution. I mean, is it appropriate? I may have to work around it. I feel so silly being here sometimes. You always have to do things on tiptoe, making sure that what you say or do don't offend them. Honestly, it's not like I'm out there throwing profanity in their faces or even doing much that affects them. Yet, I find that it's always me who's having to be careful about everything that I do. People need to accept that there are some things that are just facts of life, things that can not be erased from history, memories and identity that can't be erased from people. It's a shame to still see so many people putting on a facade during their daily lives. Argh, passive aggressiveness.
Anyways, moving on. Today is pretty much a kick back day, working on my presentation. Tomorrow, a couple of us are going to head down to a bamboo forest, something they call "sea of bamboo." Heard it's a really nice place...nice to get out of the city and daily rituals of life in Chengdu again. Alright, gonna go ahead and publish. Let's see if this thing works.

how does one eat a dragon fruit?

2006-10-31T19:08:00.000+08:00

Last night, my roommate's friend brought over some fruit for us...one being a dragon fruit. I have always heard about these odd looking things...but have never had one. Anyone know how?

**i would ask my roommate...but she's gone home to visit her parents...**

a weekend away from the city

2006-10-31T16:56:00.000+08:00

A couple of us spent this weekend away from Chengdu and out in a Tibetan village near the town of WenChuan. It was about half a day's drive from Chengdu...and the trip was quite windy and bumpy. We entertained ourselves either by sleeping or by playing simple word games. There were 11 of us in all. 2 of our program administrators, Li Juan and Pang Laoshi, Pang Laoshi's daughter, 2 graudate students who work as assistances in our program, the driver, and Tabitha, Sarah, Matt, Ben, and me.
Everything outside of the city is so different...one of the most noticeable things is the sky. It's hard to find blue skies in Chengdu. Once in a while you'll see it peek through the dense smog and clouds...but out of the city, the sky is absolutely amazing. We stopped to eat in a town on our way to our final destination. I don't know what it is...but the food here is just always so good. For dessert, me and Sarah each bought this pastry from a street vendor. It's sort of like a pancake mix that's been cooked in this pan and then you add all sorts of sweets in it. I got whipped cream and chocolate whipped cream. Very sweet...but very good. We arrived at around 3 in the afternoon. The roads now were no longer paved so the dirt road made us all a bit car sick. The best part of our entire trip, besides the scenery, had to have been our trip up the mountain and then down the mountain. We took tractors. They hurt so much...especially if you are sitting at the inner most seat cause they rails jam themselves into your ribs and legs from the weight of all of the other people sitting along your side. But it was so much fun. All of us couldn't help but laugh. Imagine a wooden roller coaster but no hand rails or anything...and the seat is wood. Yes...very dangerous...but one of the best rides in the world!
The Tibetan village we stayed at had a population of 180. Their main souces of income come from both selling napa to buyers in Chengdu as well as tourists like us. Well...I take that back. I suppose we were tourists...but not in the usual sense. In the past few years, this place has had more and more outside visitors. Some people have felt that this place was becoming too much of a tourist place...but by the looks of it...tourism has been kept out for the most part. Most of the visitors are like us...people who know about this place from word of mouth and then decide to come and visit via our own transportation. Others come here to camp out on this plain up on the top of the mountains. *there's a picture of this plain up on the top of the blog entry* We would have loved to have camped there overnight if we knew about it and actually brought camping gear. However, we didn't so we spent the night in a villager's house.
Here, I want to add a small section about ethnic minority and Han majority interactions. The reason why I thought this trip was so great was that we were visiting in a way that's not so traditionally touristy. In my opinion, it wasn't as exploitive. However, there were times during this trip that I still felt uncomfortable with...that is...how some of the people in the city treat minorities. With anything that is done...there's this expectation that it gets done. Man...I dont really know how to explain this. It's just that sometimes...Han people can really treat minorities as subordinates. Yes, we are paying them for a meal and for lodging...but that doesn't mean that one should treat them as though they are "servants" and service is demanded. I don't know. Does what I'm saying make sense? I'll have to think of something and try rephrasing this later. I don't know. I think the best part of being here in China is having the opportunity to embrace someone's culture and strive to learn something...rather than go in, snap pictures, and then leave.The next morning, me and Sarah got up early to watch the sunrise. However, despite it being 7, it was hard to actually see the sun because it was still behind the mountains and there was a layer of morning fog around. So...we decided to head down a portion of the mountain by foot and see if we could find some of the locals to chat with. Several people were already out tilling the soil and gathering napa. One of the ladies we talked to said that they began to plant in May and that they harvested in October. However, this year was a bad year in regards to climate cooperation...so they are relying more on tourism to provide them with their financial needs. I snapped the picture above as we were heading back to our lodgings.
We headed up the mountain a bit later that morning to visit the Tibetan temple. The only person there that early in the morning *8 AM* was an elderly Tibetan lady saying her prayers. This temple actually has a Lama from Tibet...however...he doesn't come to the temple until 10. We walked around and talked to the lady some. She said that the temple had only been there for about 30 years. Behind the temple, we visited the resting place of one of the previous Lamas.
Overall, the trip was great. Hopefully, I'll find myself in more of these places...and stay longer than just 2 days.

SU's "Olympics"

2006-10-30T22:49:00.000+08:00

On Friday, we had the day off because Sichuan University was hosting an athletic competition among the different departments on campus. I'm not really a track kind of person...so I didn't sign up for any of the events...but I decided to participate in the opening ceremony. Honestly, I feel like this event is going to be the closest I'll ever come to knowing what it's like to be in the Olympics. The ceremony was set up such that when you walked into the stadium, you actually felt like you were representing your group, this being the Overseas School, like you were in the Olympics. Each group department set up such that when we got to the middle of the stadium, we did something special. Our signature were these huge confetti canons. I'm not kidding...they were just like a overblown popper. You have the peel the safety tape off the bottom and then when it was time, you twist the bottom until the canon pops and releases this huge amount of confetti. It was great. Only me and Sarah participated from among our UW friends...but we had a blast. All of the overseas students got these jump suits...sort of funny actually. On the back of the jackets, it says "overseas". How perfect to draw more attention to foreigners. :)
Some of the other groups used balloons, others had flowers, while some just danced.
The competition was to last for 2 days...with events from running, high jump, triple jump, to hurdles, shotput, etc. Not many of the students from the overseas school were competing in the morning, so we just hung out and watched the other events, cheering whoever on. It was a rather cold day however. Sarah, Ewan (a student from the Carribbean who just graduated from pharamacy school), Aaron (a guy from NY who has been in China for the past years), and I climbed up onto the reserved seats and hung out there. Most of the seats were not being used...so we decided that we would put them to use.
For lunch, Li Juan, one of the overseas administrators, arranged for Laura and me to be surveyors of this new type of instant noodle. It was rather interesting...we were going to treated to lunch for doing this. I guess they wanted to see if we could help them target foreigners with their noddles. They weren't that bad actually. Lunch, though, was superb...of course! It was Sichuanese food. I don't know why...but I never really liked eggplant that much in the States. However, since being here, I can't help but love them. Must be the way they are prepared because they are absolutely delicious.

In the afternoon, Sarah did her 3000 meter run and came in 2nd!!! Her race was crazy...in her grouping, she ran so much more ahead of everyone else...and alot of the girls collapsed as they reached the finished line. The first place winner was only ahead of Sarah by 4 seconds...but she was in the 2nd grouping.

Team Awesome & Some Pumpkin Fun

2006-10-25T16:51:00.000+08:00

The past week has been quite busy. On Monday, we met with Andrea during our weekly meetings to discuss how we should structure these meetings in the future. In the past, it has mostly been about announcements and sharing our everyday experiences here in Chengdu with the rest of our class. Now, every other week we will have mandatory meetings where we will present our research projects, discuss articles, poems, etc. and share with the group a language tidbit we have learned in the past two weeks. During weeks when we don't have these mandatory meetings, Andrea has arranged for us to participate in activities together. For example, not this weekend but the next, she will take us to SW China's largest herb market. It is near the train station up in the norther regions of Chengdu. Especially after going to the Chinese herbalist last week and then going again Wednesday, I am rather excited about seeing this place. There is also a large tea market near this herb market. :)

On Tuesday, we had a meeting with some visiting UW professors from the Asian Languages department. In our 1 1/2 hour meeting, we talked with them about our experience so far in our language classes and our cultural class. It was interesting to sit and talk with UW people again. That night, Team Awesome struck again at the Chengdu Bookworm. Every two weeks, this foreign bookstore holds a Quiz Night. We came in last the last time we played...but the topics were really hard! European literature? European Geography? etc. I believe we were the only American team...and the youngest I might add. There was also one Canadian team. This week however, we came in 2nd to last...and even tied for our spot. Not bad. We are hoping to slowly make our way up...and eventually win the prizes: 2 bottles of red wine for the 2nd and 3rd places and a bottle of whisky for first place.

The trip to the herbalist on Wednesday was short. Sarah went back and had another appointment with the doctor, resulting in another herb regiment which she was to take for week. Rather than buy the materials needed to make this second concoction, she's going to wait until after she gets back with Andrea.

Thursday was a rather kick-back day. Besides classes, there wasn't much else going on during the day. I did my 2 hour English language session with my "student". I'm not sure if I really introduced him...but he's this guy I met through Tabitha. We are sort of taking turns being his language partner. He's probably in his early to mid-30s. He works for a company doing architecture of some sort...in various projects around China. His background is pretty interesting. His grandpa is Tibetan while his grandma is Cheung, or one of the ethnic minorities in China. Our conversations varies from his childhood growing up in a Tibetan village to my thoughts/comparisons between China's education system and the United States'. He's an interesting guy to talk to...and I learn Chinese vocabulary from him too. In the evening, I met up with Sarah and Matt and we headed on over to Shamrock's, the foreign bar here. They had a pumpkin carving event going on that night. I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, but I thought it might be fun. After dinner, we each grabbed a pumpkin and started doing our thing. I don't have very much experience in this field of melon art, being the only second time I've ever carved a pumpkin. I think for me, it turned out okay. I had some trouble with the teeth...I kept on over cutting and ended up with a pumpkin with only 3 teeth. Haha, oh well. We didn't want to stay very late, so after we finished, we headed out.

it's been 2 months now...

2006-10-22T20:52:00.000+08:00

Today was a rather uneventful day. I sort of enjoyed just staying at home doing some of my own things. Granted...there were times I wished there was something else to do besides sitting at home reading, checking my e-mail, or watching Chinese soap operas. After today, I will have been in China for 2 months...man, time sure does fly by. This past month has been full of new discoveries or reconsiderations...and a few adventures and tragedies. I suppose there really isn't much to say today. The weather has finally come to its senses and realized it was October. We had drizzles throughout the day...and now since night has fallen, it has begun to rain more heavily.
I read my Chinese politics book today...I guess I could write about my views on Mao...but I'm not really feeling it right now.
I think the highlight of my day had to be browsing NPR's website and listening to my favorite radio show, "Wait, Wait - Don't Tell Me!"
I heard that Madonna adopted a baby from Africa. Sort of starting to look like it's the trendy thing to do in Hollywood.
America had it's 300 millionth person sometime last week...baby or immigrant...experts aren't sure.

Well, that's about it.

...

2006-10-21T16:47:00.000+08:00

There is no appropriate title for the entry I am about to write. I therefore leave it to whoever reads it to come up with a way to summerize what happened today...
I woke up this morning around 6, hoping to make it in time to meet my ta and my friends at the north gate at 7. It is always pleasant to walk along the streets of Chengdu at a time like this before the streets and the roads are filled with the daily crowd. After enjoying a morning meal of some baked goods and dates courtesy of Andrea, the five of us (Andrea, Sarah, Ben, Matt and I) grabbed a taxi and headed on over to bus station. We were in search of a soy sauce factory outside a city called LeZhi. What was so interesting about this particular place was that it still made soy sauce the traditional way. Andrea had read about it in a book called Salt, a book I would suggest reading for anyone who is interested in how salt has played a role in world history. I personally haven't had the chance to read it, but I hope to sometime in the future.
We sat in the last row of seats on the bus. Our trip would take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Being the usual person who just can't not sleep, I slept for the first 45 minutes to 1 hour of the ride. I woke up to find on some sort of a dirt road where there were markets on either side of us selling meats, fruits, and vegetables. The five of us began to chat about movies and were thinking about having a movie night sometime. At that instant, for what reason I really don't know, I directed my attention to watching the road ahead of us. A motorcycle carrying three peoplewas crossing into our path, seeming as though it was going to make it across the street before we would pass. I suppose these things slow down in time but as I watched them something seemed wrong. They were not speeding up and our bus wasn't slowing down. As I watched one man look straight into the bus, we crashed into them. The sound of the contact was and still is frightening. I couldn't see what was happening because for one, the entire windshield became fragmented with some areas completely shattered, and two I instinctively closed my eyes. When I opened them, I glanced outside to see why someone kept repeating "Oh my god." One of the guys on the motorcycle was lying outside our window with what looked like a serious, serious head injury. Blood was spilling onto the streets, streaming from this head, his nose, and his ears. His lips had turned blue and had labored breathing. The other two didn't seem to be hurt as bad as this guy...but then again, they could have had major internal injuries. People began to gather. Some with cell phones and with some familiarity of the place called for help. Soon, an ambulence came and took the men away. We decided to hail down the next passing bus and head home to Chengdu.
In writing this entry, I am not sure what youwill take away from it. It's not as though I hope everyone walks away having had learned a lesson. I guess it's hard to even say anything but that this was a great, great tragedy.
China's traffic is unlike anything in the U.S. Over the past two months, I feel I have gotten more and more courage to charge into traffic like the locals do here. After this incidence, I am reminded that safety is so important.
I suppose other personal reflections about what happened is hard to write about...so I will leave it at this.

I pray for these men and their families.

bike expenses

2006-10-19T16:50:00.000+08:00

These past few days have been rather frustrating for me. With my bike, its a love-hate relationship. When it cooperates and stays intact, I love it! It's a great way to travel. However, when the chain comes off the gears, the barrings need to be changed, the tire blows up and goes flat, the chain breaks in 2, I just hate it. So...I have decided to make a tally for myself and for anyone interested to just see what sort of investment my bike actually is. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I can say that it was worth it. So far, it ain't worth all the frustration, time, money, and effort. So here we go.

Bike Expenses (so far...)

60 RMB - bike itself
30 RMB - changing the back tire, inner tube, and inner tube lining
10 RMB - new chain
19 RMB - new barrings for the pedal section and for back wheels
~1 RMB - air, random fixes here and there

10.24.06
10 RMB - another NEW chain. Supposedly, the last chain that I bought got screwed up cause I of my later pedal problem...so yeah...more money.

11.11.06
I can happily report that my bike has been doing really well. Ever since the new chain, I haven't ran into any huge problems. Yeah, it squeaks and rattles once in a while, but I am able to ride *sometimes even quite fast* without the whole bike coming apart. :) yay.

this is kinda cool...

2006-10-19T00:38:00.001+08:00

create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

gotta increase my percentage! 6% or 15 countries is way too little.

LeShan Giant Buddha & shadowing a Chinese Herbalist

2006-10-18T23:42:00.000+08:00

Hey,
I would have posted last night, but because of our field trip I decided to wait until today. Yesterday, the Overseas Student Department arranged for us a field trip to LeShan, the world's largest Buddha carved in stone. The trip was alright, definitely not as un-durable as my last trip to Juizhaigou. Not only was the trip short, but I meet a few people and chatted with them. Not living at the student dorms makes meeting other overseas student alot harder. The trip to Leshan took us only about 2 hours. Most of the trip I spent either sleeping, listening to my i-pod or chatting with some of the people sitting in front of us. Two are Americans and the other African. It was a bit harder speaking with the guy from Africa because he only understood and could communicate in Portugese and French, neither language I have too strong a grasp of. One of the guys I actually met at church. Leshan was amazing...but despite it being a Tuesday afternoon, there were still alot of people. We practically waited in line for over an hour just to get to the small, narrow stairway down to the Buddha's feet. I have always wanted to come see this Buddha. When I was younger during my first trip to Disney World, my parents discovered this park called Splendid China. It was the most beautiful place. The entire park held miniature replicas of China's most well known landmarks and tourist attractions, including this Giant Buddha. Ever since I was there, I had a strong interest to visit all of these places. Some, I already have like the Terra Cotta, the Great Wall, the Forbidden Palace, the Summer Palace, the Stone Forest, etc. and now, the Giant Buddha. The sad thing is, a couple of years later my family and I went back to Orlando. This time we took our grandparents and my uncle. We discovered that the park was still open, but it looked as though they gave up on taking care of the place. Weeds were growing everywhere...and there werent many people around to really watch what the tourist did with their replicas. A few months ago, I looked up the place, wondering if the place even still existed. I read from a local newspaper online that the place was sold to someone who was going to tear down the park...I think. I am not too sure...but I know that this park no longer exists. My parents said during our first time there that this wasnt a good place for such a park. First, it was in Orlando...the main attraction here would be Disney World. Plus, the Chinese-American population here was not as large as say L.A. I agree. The two times we went there, there were very little people in the park. But I thought it was such an awesome place to go and do a quick run of all of China's attractions. Too bad its no longer around. So, this third photograph is me trying to hug Buddha's foot. In China, there's this saying "To hug Buddha's foot." This saying is usually applied to children who are in school. For those who don't usually study but study at the last minute and only when there is an exam or an assignment, lots of times their parents would say "Child! You are hugging Buddha's foot." I guess it would sort of relate to those who pray right before an exam, asking for a good grade and such. I tried to get as close to his foot as possible...but it was rather hard. So...this was my closest try.

Today, I went and shadowed a Chinese doctor/herbalist. It was amazing. I think in the one hour session that we went to, there were 13 patients. He checks your pulse, looks at your tongue and then asks what was wrong. From that, he can diagnose what is wrong and prescribe you the correct herbal concoction. I am planning on going back again soon, so until then, and when I learn a bit more about Chinese herbs, I'll write more.

the weekend

2006-10-15T21:57:00.000+08:00

Nothing too much went on this weekend. I spent most of my time working on homework and on watching a tv series based on a famous novel called: 红楼梦。It was recommended to me by my roommate who just absolutely loves it. Here in China, they even have a entire field dedicated to studying this story. From what I have watched so far, I find it rather interesting. I do have to say that nearly half of what they are saying I don't understand completely. That's cause they are using a more ancient way of talking. So, from using context and the Chinese that I do know, I get the gist of what's going on. Of course, if there is an entire field devoted to this novel, then there must be meaning beyond what I am getting from my first encounter.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

有一点优郁。。。

2006-10-15T21:34:00.000+08:00

所有的都不是像我想象的.

时间过的还真快。

the Mosque, an Earwaxing, & mahjong in the park

2006-10-13T22:19:00.000+08:00

Today was quite the day for adventures. After classes today, Sarah, Matt, Ben, & I grabbed a route 55 bus down to ChunXi Lu and then went on exploring the area. We were in search of the local mosque. Using the map that I picked up from the hostile, we weaved around several streets and even found ourselves in an underground shopping street. It was quite the scene. The way our usual adventures go is that you walk in a direction for a few minutes, stop and ask for direction to make sure you are going in the right direction, and then continue walking until you find the next friendly looking individual to question. So...I'm guessing we walked for a good fifteen to twenty minutes in this underground shopping street. Ever couple of minutes, we paused to be certain that we weren't off the supposed trail. Actually, it was rather "fateful" that we ended up in this shopping street. Since we were planning on visiting the mosque, Sarah and I thought it would be respectful and maybe even necessary to buy a scarf to cover our hair. So, we each got a green scarf that will prove to be handy when winter rolls around. Matt got himself an American flag bandana...I'm not sure what he's planning on using it for....but...yeah...he got one. After walking quite a distance, we finally emerged at a street that led directly to the mosque. We could tell as we were walking along that we were getting closer and closer. More and more Xinjiang people appeared, most of them were men with these bicycle-carts full of dried fruits. They are some of the most delicious dried fruits I've ever had. In addition to buying some dried apricots, we shared a box of spicy noodles and a type of bread/pastry. After eating our fill *Matt and Ben, of course, got sheep-on-a-stick*, we headed into the mosque to look around. There weren't that many people around...but we took a quick tour around the place. It was a pretty decent sized place...although, I would have to say, I really have nothing to compare it to since it was my first time into a mosque. There were a few people in the main area of the mosque praying and a few Xinjiang people sitting outside in the corridor chatting. I snapped a picture of the room upstairs where no one. It was interesting to see the chart they had out in the front. It had the times and directions as to when they should pray. We weren't too sure what we could or could not do as no one in the mosque really took too much interest in us. Not too long after getting there, we headed out and walked across the street to RenMing Park. This was where the real fun began.

We started to meander around...and found ourselves in this section of the park next to a tea house where there were alot of elderly and middle aged people playing mahjong. What could we do but find out how all these people got their mahjong sets? We went into the tea house and found that if you bought a cup of tea, mahjong was complementary. So, the four of us, with our 10RMB cup of tea found ourselves in the midst of all of these people trying to figure out how to play. Well, it wasn't like none of us knew how to. My grandparents taught me a couple of years ago...but it had been quite a while. So, as we were figuring out this game, this guy walks up. Right away, Ben and I knew who he was. I'm not sure if many of you guys know who Anthony Bourdain is...but he's on the Travel Channel and does what people on the travel channel do...talk about the places they visit. Well, when I was in Texas, one of the episodes was on Beijing and Chengdu. In Chengdu, he went to RenMing Park *when we headed over to this park, we had no idea it was the same park that Bourdain went to,* sat around watching people play mahjong, and...get this...had his ear cleaned! Yes! There are actually people here who go around and ask if people want to get their ears cleaned. Okay, this was when I found out that I had a childhood experience that, now it seems, not many other people experience. I am not sure whether it's a Chinese thing or an Asian thing, but when I was a kid, my mom would often clean out the wax in our ears with a special earpicking tool. Well...when I told this fact to my friends...they just looked at me. Haha...it was hilarious. Well...like I said, Ben saw this episode. So as we were sitting down to play, he said that he was hoping to get his ear cleaned and was looking around for any of the ear cleaners. After a few minutes into our first game...lo and behold! The ear cleaner guy. :) So, the three of them all got their ears washed, picked, and cleaned for 25 RMB. Crazy isn't it? Well, not so crazy. I, having had this experience before, didn't feel like I needed the experience again. It was quite funny, especially when each of them had their turn and gave the most hilarious faces. Honestly, it doesn't hurt. Their squirming looks and im-being-tortured nervous laughter were more from the weirdness of it all. It can be, as they commented, quite enjoyable.
After that whole ordeal, we got back to playing. The most interesting part of playing is the fact that 30 minutes into our game, we literally had an audience of 20 watching us play. What probably drew them over was the fact that 1. we are young...most of the people who play mahjong in China are middle aged or elderly people. 2. we are foreigners...well, most of the time people thought I was a local and was trying to teach my friends how to play. So...this was what was so great about the whole thing. Not only were they helping us with our game, but they sometimes began to argue among themselves how we should be playing and which tiles to deal out. It was awesome. Oh, so me and sarah were the winners, I think for all of the games. Here is us with our victory-thumbs-up and our winning tiles. Overall, we had quite the afternoon.

In the evening, I went and met Maxim. I am his conversational partner...usually we just chat about anything that comes to mind in a mix of Chinese and English. Most of the time it's in English...so I help him with this grammer and his vocabulary. We talked about Chinese vs. American culture. I won't go into the details...cause that in itself is an entry in itself. I do want to share with you guys a feeling that I always get here in China though. At least once a week, more often now that I'm teaching English and going to Western styled resturants, I get this feeling of two worlds. Imagine this: going to eat lunch and your environment being much like it would be in the States. But then, when you walk out of the resturant....the door acting as some sort of portal, you are back in China. It is the strangest and most awing feeling. It feels as if 2 worlds are being connected by a simple door. :)

a recommended read

2006-10-09T21:54:00.000+08:00

Tonight, I went to the Bookworm with Sarah and Andrea to listen to a book talk by John Pomfret. He just published his new book called "Chinese Lessons." To go into deeper about what this book was about...I'll grab what the Bookworm newsletter had to say about his visit and book. And I quote "A rare opportunity to hear from John Pomfret, an award winning journalist currently firmly positioned at the top of the hotlist of China commentators. John Pomfret came to China to study at Nanjing University in 1981. Immersing himself in Chinese society and culture, he gained a unique insight into China at a time when few foreigners had the opportunity. His brand new book, 'Chinese Lessons', published in August this year, tells the stories of his classmates at Nan Da, recounting how their lives have been shaped by the rise of 'new China' over the past thirty years." I really enjoyed the talk...but I didn't end up buying the book. Not that I didn't want to...but it was 220RMB. I don't even usually pay that much for a leisure book in the states! So...I might visit the Bookworm more often and see if it's a book I can just read at the store. After the talk...Sarah, Andrea, and I got to talking about a whole range of issues regarding China. For me...what struck me the most was what he had to say about my generation of Chinese. Not many people really want to hear much about what their parents went through...or learn about their grandparents' era...at least they don't seem to interested on the outside. What they are more interested in is what can be seen as the economics of China. How can I get a good job and a good pay? Could I go to America? Money, money, money. And I'm not here to judge my generation of Chinese...but the whole money issue here is so prevalent among everyone! My roommate and I had a really long conversation about how money has driven people to do some really shameful things. It seems like people are willing to give up tradition, culture, family, parents, friends for the sake of money. Granted...this is only a generalization of the situation. I can not be certain that this is the case for everyone. But at the same time, it does seem like it is everywhere. I am not sure if I am one to talk though...not having been raised entirely in this culture and in this society. Certainly alot of things here in China and the US are very different. Sometimes, I wonder if even I, if I were in their shoes, would act the same way.

Not only was this observation, in my opinion, applicable to my generation of Chinese...but I also see it prevalent in my own family. None of my cousins or my brother seem really interested in their cultural roots...even when all of us, with the exception of my oldest cousin, my brother, and me...were all born in Taiwan. There isn't so much of a strive to maintain strong ethnic, cultural, or traditional ties. They...are Americanized. When I say this though...what are the standards for being Americanized? Am I only saying this because I feel like I have a stronger interest in finding my cultural roots? Although any of this might be so...none of my cousins seem to want to leave America and even visit China or Taiwan. They all of family now...and to a certain degree...realized the American dream for their parents. Some are landscapers, some teachers, some are researchers with a Ph D. I, though, feel like there is such a large gap that has yet to be filled. I want to be out there, learning more about my family, learning about our history...our struggles, our successes. But...in my family, I am alone in that journey.

One of the other things that Pomfret brought up was the issue of Taiwan and China. Prior to coming to China, I really had no understanding of where my family was in terms of political sides. Sometimes, though, as Sarah and Andrea both mentioned, you just get tired of bickering about the same issue over and over again. World citizen. Sounds pretty easy enough.

I was going to write an entry that was sort of personal...but, time has passed by...and some of the anger and frustration had passed by. In the midst of all of that though...I was having a hard time just even understanding the basis of why I was here. Being Chinese American has, in alot of ways, been really good. I feel that I am able to enjoy two cultures...accepting and taking as my own the qualities from the two that I feel is most applicable to who I am and what I am to become. However...there has also been downfalls. One of the reactions I get mostly from the Chinese here is just that I am Chinese. I may not speak the dialect that they speak here...but I'm Chinese from another place. Sure..I am. I'm HuaQiao...meaning that I'm ethnically Chinese...but I'm living outside of China. Therefore...in being Chinese...there are expecations. The basics being being able to read and write...2 things I have yet to master. When they figure that I can't...their first exclamation is WHAT! YOU CAN'T READ?!? I then have to explain to them that yes...I am Chinese American...I am here in China to learn. Then they smile and say..Ahh...Chinese-American. HuaQiao. Usually...they start talking to me...asking me about my family backgroud...where my grandparents are from...where my parents are from, etc. Here then starts the first round of uncomfortablness. First...I reply that my parents were born and raised in Taiwan but my grandparents are originally from China. They reply...oh, Taiwan. *A look* I have come to accept this look...the look of "you are KMT." Among some of the Chinese here, then, following this claim, there is a sort of understanding and then I get this feeling. I don't know how to describe it. It is a feeling of obligation...or rather..expected obligation of kindness. I am sure, and I know, that this feeling doesnt happen with everyone...but there's this feeling that...my grandparents went to Taiwan...and then my parents were able to immigrate to the US. Now...you are back here...you should help us...financially. This is a feeling that I am not unfamiliar with. My grandpa was of a family of, I think, 9 kids. When he "fled" to Taiwan, he had to leave his family behind. Several years ago, he made contact with his younger brother and went to China to visit. Their relationship as brothers soon became strained as this relationship itself became a burden...a burden of having to give his brother money. It's not so much that my grandpa was unwilling...but the want of money soon became all that was making this relationship even a relationship. My grandpa soon made the decision to cut off all relations...knowing that this relationship was doomed to end in tragedy anyways. This is just one of the feelings I myself experience sometimes. The other is living up to expectations. I grew up being told to respect elders...whether or not they are wrong. Although now I don't fully accept this sort of thinking...I still do follow it for traditions sake. However, one of the most frustrating things about being here for me has been the expectations the Chinese have for me. They expect that being a Chinese-American who can speak and understand Chinese that I completely and totally understand all of the customs and mannerisms of the people here. At these moments, it seems like they forget the American part of Chinese-American...totally disregarding the fact that I, for the past 20 years, have been in an American society and was educated with Western ways. The expectations sometimes just makes me feel so useless. No matter how hard I try to respect my elders, I can not because they see me as someone I am not. I can not be the Chinese they think I am. Not only that though, they become frustrated with me for "not knowing better."
*Sigh* My desire to "seek thyself" has not only been fulfilled on a daily basis...but it has really made me stop and re-evaluate my identity. For all of those I talked to before I left...yeah. I am here...and it's happening. I am starting to know more about myself...in a deeper sense than even I would have imagined. I am not only reaching the more basic levels of self...but I am facing issues that is forcing me to think in ways I did not think I would be doing.

All in all though...I feel like regardless of how I may feel...everything, I know, will work out. I am so glad to have the friends that I do have...both here in Chengdu and back in the States.

:) Enough about personal reflections...I should get started on some reviewing and some homework. There are still a huge amount of stuff I should get to...but...step by step, no?

the pet market!

2006-10-08T23:43:00.000+08:00

After classes today, Matt, Sarah, Sunny & I went on an adventure in search of the bird, fish, and plant market. Did we hit the jackpot or what! We took the 55 bus down to Chunxi Rd, the most popular shopping street here in Chengdu. From the bus stop there, we walked for about 2 blocks in search of Qingshiqiao Market. Matt was hoping to buy some fish while we wanted a glimpse of what a pet market was like here in China. Not only were there shops and shops of fish of all kinds *some, I think, were obtained illegally...like baby puffers,* but there were stands selling puppies, squirrels, chipmunks, mini pigs, birds, turtles, snappers, crabs, snakes, and even chinchilas! I was thinking...how did they get some all the way to China? Anyways...it was quite the scene. :) I even found myself a Sharpei that I absolutely just fell in love with. However, despite all of the amazing animals we saw...the place was rather sad. Alot of the puppies were locked up in cages, some of the tanks looked like they needed to be cleaned, and there were places were you could see some of the dead animals. In one cage of chipmunks, there was one flipped onto its back...just lying there. Sometimes, it's hard to accept things as both awing and depressing...this place, well...yeah, it was both.

Holiday Festivities

2006-10-06T22:29:00.000+08:00

Just came back from spending Mid-Autumn Festival with Sarah, Laura, Matt, & Sunny. We felt that since we arent with our families, we might as well spend it with our friends. We first ventured to a resturant near West gate that specialized in making MaPoDoFu or spicy numbing tofu. Besides ordering this speciality, we also ordered a fish dish, a green dish, a eggplant dish *which we just absolutely love*, and a pork dish. It was quite the meal! After everything, we were also given mooncakes and fruit. What would the Mid-Autumn Festival be without these "delicious" treats? Actually...not many people like mooncakes, including me. It's not that it's absolutely terrible...it's just not exactly the best dessert you can have. Some of my friends aren't exactly fans either...especially the mooncakes with the egg yolk inside. That's what we were given today: mooncakes filled with prune paste with an egg yolk inside. :) To keep with the old tradition, we ate it anyways.After dinner, we *Matt, Laura, Sarah & I* rode our bikes from West gate to East gate to visit the Jinjiang River. There is the tradition of floating paper lotuses with a candle inside on the river. We each bought a candle and set it afloat. The river was full of these floating lotuses. Chengdu being the cloudy city that it is, we weren't able to see the moon in its bright and glory. I tried to take the best picture I could of the moon...but this is the best picture I got. I snapped it at the moment it showed itself briefly. Here are a couple pictures of us buying our candles and then each of us sending it off into the still waters. We walked along the banks of the river just chatting about our tours and sightseeing. Matt, Laura, and Sarah had a great time on the Yangtze. Make sure you check out some of their photos in their blogs. They came back only this morning.

Well, that's it! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone! Hope everyone had the opportunity to take a break tonight and look up at the moon. I'll leave this entry with a poem that I was reminded of tonight by looking at the moon. It is a Tang poem written by Li Bai. The translation is:

Night Thoughts

Before my bed
There is bright-lit moonlight
So that it seems
Like frost on the ground:

Lifting my head
I watch the bright moon
Lowering my head
I dream that I'm home.

In Chinese it is:Good night everyone!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!!!

2006-10-06T13:47:00.000+08:00

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone! This week has been quite the week. Not only is today August 15 according to the Lunar Calendar (meaning that the moon is its roundest and that the Chinese celebrate by eating mooncakes with their families), but this past week I have been on break for the National Holiday which was on October 1st. All seven of us went to different places around China. Ben and Sunny went to LeShan & EMeiShan; Laura, Sarah, and Matt went on a 3 day cruise down the Yangtze River; and Tabitha & I went to JuizhaiGou and Huangshan up in the northern part of the Sichuan Province. Our trip started on Monday at 5:30 AM. Both of us met up at West gate and then headed on over to East gate where the tour company sent a van to pick us up. Our first day was long and tiring. We rode the bus up until around 4 in the afternoon. In between, we stopped off and did some touristy stuff, like, me riding a camel. To think of it, I think this camel ride was the first time I have ever been on an animal. Nope, not even horses. So, it was sort of exciting. However, the entire time I was on this trip, I couldnt help but think that tourism is so exploitive of the culture and the socieities. One of the ethnic minorities that lives in the area we visited the Zang, or the Tibetans. Tourists dress up in their traditional for a photo opportunity...but all the while not really understanding the culture or what their clothing represents. I fell into this too as you will see later on in this blog.
On the other hand, the people here have sort of accepted this and have even begun on tourism to make a living. We went to a "Ethnic Minority" show. They had all of these re-dramatizations of their customs and festivities. During the entire thing, although really appreciating the culture and their dress, I had an uneasy feeling that I was contributing to an exploitation. I began to wonder, as I do whenever I partake as a mere tourists, what do these people really think about us being here? Is the situation here accepted? Or is it simply just tolerated?
I am currently reading a book entitled "Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice." It is my Mark Plotkin and it discusses his expeditions to the Amazon to work with Shamans of the native peoples so that their knowledge of traditional herbs used for medicine doesnt become lost. Part of the book discusses how the outside, more modern world has contributed to the loss of culture. I see that happening here in China too. I am just hoping that all of this doesnt come to a point where thousands of years of history and knowledge just...disappear.

Well, asides from my own contemplative insights, my trip was amazing. The world, nature, people just never ceases to amaze me. Juizhaigou was a place my mom has always wanted to go. After being there...I can say that anyone who appreciates natural beauty can not but fall in love with this place. From pools of aqua and royal blue to waterfalls and the mountains, this place was definitely the place to spend the holidays. Granted...I wasnt the only one thinking that. JuizhaiGou and Huanglong receive so many visitors everyday...but the greatest numbers come during the holidays. It took quite the effort to take pictures of the scenery without catching a tourist in the photograph. We spent an entire day at JuizhaiGou...and let me tell you...a day was barely enough time. I was highly impressed by how well the place is protected and preserved. There are, of course, occasional instances where visitors violate rules and touch some of the formations...but for the most part...I didnt find anyone smoking in the park *maybe it was the 500 RMB penalty that came with this violation* or people littering. The park itself is enormous. There are low pollution buses inside Juizhaigou that take you to all of the points of interest...from the tops of the mountains to the lower regions of the area. My favorite part of Juizhaigou was just walking through the mountains and forests. Autumn is usually the best time to go. Although it is a bit chilly during this time of the year, the forests of trees are spotted with yellows and reds. Occasionally, as you are walking along the paths, you come across a vast area of reeds and grassland surrounding pools of magnificently colored water. The most famous and most beautiful pool is called the Five Colored Pool. Upon reaching its waters...you are just completely blown away with the deepness and virbrantness of the blue. And all of the water in this park are so clear that you can literally see all the way to the bottom. Tiny fish swimming around can be seen from afar.

Huanglong was our destination on our trip day traveling away from Chengdu. It was very cold both at the bottom of the mountain and at the top. In order to save time, given that we only had 4 hours to climb and descend the mountain, a couple of us bought tickets to travel up the mountain via cable cars. That saved us nearly 3 hours of walking. After our lift, we walked for half an hour to visit the most celebrated part of Huanglong. As we began to walk and take pictures, it began to snow! Hard too! The snow and the changing autumn colors only added to the beauty of this place. It was difficult to restrain myself from taking so many pictures. Everything, it seemed, was worth pausing and photograhing. The lines of people climbing the wooden pathways was quite a scene too! People were gathered around the temples, snapping pictures of the flora. Sometimes...we literally had to stop, walk, stop, walk just because so many people were trying to take pictures on the narrow paths. :) Me included.
Overall...the trip was great. There were a couple of downers to traveling with a Chinese touring company...such as the rooms and the food. But when we travel...its more about the destinations, no? The journey itself can be rough...and it was...especially with all of the windy roads and my car sickness...but I have to say...the trip was well worth it!

I have many more pictures of this trip over in YahooPhotos. The link is in my blog...titled "Additional Photos of China."

:) I do have to say that despite the amount of photos that I did take...they only begin to express truely what a magnificent place these 2 places were. I guess you will just have to go and visit them for yourself!

Quick entry (?) before heading to bed...school on a saturday (tomorrow!)

2006-09-29T23:19:00.000+08:00

*Sigh* Finally got a few minutes to try to catch up on blogging...I am only, what? a week behind? Not to mention all of the Yangjuan stuff. There was also a personal entry I wanted to post...personal meaning that this topic has alot of meaning to me...and that my writing will contain alot of my own reflections. I will get to that later. As to how to catch up...I feel like what is usually holding me back from finishing my entries is the amount to time it takes for my pictures to load. So...tell you what. I will post, in words, as much as I can to catch up. Over the moments I have around my apartment...I will start to multitask and upload pictures while doing other things like reading. I am hoping to calm this "I-will-never-catch-up" feeling.

Let's being where I last left off. That would be the night of the 22nd. That Friday, my roommate, Li Yun, finished taking the first part of her GREs. To celebrate, we wanted to eat out. Haha...and we ended going to the most unlikely place: KFC. See usually I wouldnt want to eat at a fast food resturant in a place like China...but I am curious about what they cater to the Chinese. So, we headed over. I had seen KFC commericials and one of the things I had been dying to order were their egg tarts. I would have to say that they are one of my upper top ten favorite desserts. And KFC did not disappoint! Yeah...it was a bit expensive...6 egg tarts for 20 RMB...but they were damn good egg tarts. The rest of the food wasnt as great...at least I didnt think so. China doesnt really do juice. Everything here either tastes like its punch...or its a version of Sunny Delight. We had some kind of "juice" drink, some Beijing styled chicken legs and wings, and some chicken wraps. I feel like the first thing we noticed when we first arrived was how different food can be here. I'm not really talking about the food itself...but rather...what's considered classy and what's considered fast food. Our connotation of fast food in the States is that its fast, its not so good for you but tastes good, and its cheap. Well here in China...it's exactly the opposite. The food is expensive, mostly the more well off citizens eat there, and the food doesnt really taste all that great...yeah...it tastes the same as it does in the US...almost. But, at least for me, I feel like I like Chinese food here alot better. Just compare. I think the total price for our meal at KFC was about...90 RMB. If you divide that by 8...yeah. That's about right. Compare that price with the price of, say, a bowl of noodles at the shop right beneath our apartment. 10 RMB for the both of us. That's a bit over 60 cents for a meal for a single person. Big difference. Anyways...it was an experience...and I think my adventures for food brands imported from America will stop there.
What was the most interesting part of our meal was not so much the food but rather our 2 hour long conversation after dinner. We talked about alot of things...from the one child policy to what *if we can even find a place to begin* are some of the things that makes our *American and Chinese* culture so different. I wont go much into the details...but I do have to say that this conversation gave me alot of insight into what it's like being a teenager/young adult here in China. It has made me rethink some things...made me wonder whether some of the things we talked about is applicable to an Chinese-American. :) I will stop going around the subject...and move on to our tape finding adventure.

After dinner...I wanted to stop by some *any* store to pick up some tape. I have so far gotten two huge maps...one of China and one of Chengdu. The walls here arent made like the ones in America. Rather than sheet rock....they are all cement. I tried sticking a pin through the wall to keep my maps up...nope. Didnt work. So...I needed tape. We didnt find any at the store we were at...but we did end up buying to bottles of beer. Since I turned 21...I realized I hadnt utilized my privledges and bought myself alcohol. :) So...that night, I bought my first 2 bottles of beer. It was also to celebrate Li Yun's completion of her section 1 of her GREs. Funny thing though. When we got back to our apartment...we forgot we didnt have a beer opener. And the beers we got, Heinekin and Carlsberg, well, you cant open them simply by twisting. Man...imagine this. 2 girls who never really drink trying to open 2 beers without a beer opener. Inexperienced people are funny people. For the next hour...we tried everything. Teeth? Nope...didnt work. I tried whacking it open on my desk, that didnt do anything by damage my desk. We tried sticking the cap part into the hinge part of our bathroom door...didnt work either. We then tried using a knife...but that looked a bit dangerous. Lets see...we tried getting it open with our kitchen table top, tried sticking it in between the wires of our cutting board/utensils basket, tried sticking it into our metal rimmed, push around drawer, tried the handle bars of our kitchen cabinets, even tried getting a beer bottle opener from our neighbors. All without success. Yes...it was pitiful. VERY pitiful. I ended up giving up...mostly cause my parents called. Eventually..after 2 hours...Li Yun got it open. How? With a scissors...slowing prying loose the sides of the bottle cap and then getting the last bit with her teeth. Should drinking a single beer on a Friday night be that hard? I should think not...but maybe for us. So yes...that was my experience. Man. So embarassing.

On Saturday, we went to Carefore and picked up some necessities. Oh, the beer story goes on. I guess it was drinking an entire beer or something...but it did something to my stomach. I ended up not doing much shopping...but instead, met Li Yun at the front. We headed back to our apartment just in time to meet two for her friends. We went out to Lao Ya Tang. It's much like Hot Pot...without the whole ma la part. We ordered a bunch of side dishes to add to our duck broth and made sort of a stew...with alot of vegetables, and...yeah...other Chinese specialities like liver and duck blood. They then came over to our apartment and we chatted about American music. Alot of people here seem to really like Mariah Carey. *Shrugs* She's okay. That evening at 7, Sarah had her birthday celebration. After they had their Sichuan cooking class, we all headed over to ATT to karoke. The place was really nice...more fancy than the karoke places I have been to in the States. Man...we sang on through the night....Michael Jackson, Christina, Spears, Chinese songs, Carey, the Spice Girls, Eminem, and more. I ended up going home around 12. Tiring...but fun.

Sunday, I met up with Laura and we headed on over to a church gathering she had been going to recently. The entire time there, I felt like I was back in the States. The weirdest feeling was walking outside to find myself back in China. There were quite a few people there...mostly Americans and Europeans. Prior to entering, there are a few people outside checking your passports. They wont allow any non-foreigners in. That afternoon, Sean, Jack, and Chole came over and we had quite a night telling each other stories. Sean, Jack, and Chole are SU students who, like Li Yun, came to UW last year as exchange students. These people crack me up. It wasnt until around 11 that they left.

On the 25th, a couple of us, Sarah, Matt, Tabitha, Ben, Andrea and I, sat in on an American Culture class taught by our history teacher. It was really interesting, mostly because...I really dont even know what is classified as American Culture. Ok...maybe I do have some clue...but I dont usually notice what is American and what's not. Perhaps on a shallow, outter understand, yes, but...I mean, American Culture isnt defined in America. What did we know? The class was pretty much full. Chinese students, we were told, were really interesting in learning more about America and I guess our culture. So...that night, we learned that Americans have 3 characteristics. Of course these are generalizations...but 1. we are self-independent. There isnt a strong emphasis on what the Chinese usually call guan xi or relationships/connections. 2. we emphasis freedom...all sorts. We regard fairness to be extremely important. 3. Americans are hardworking...and seek wealth. The American Dream. After hearing the lecture...I started to remember the subtle teaching of these concepts back in middle school under the school subject of Civics. Half way through the class...we were asked by both the professor and the students in the class to give a lecture on American Culture. Haha...it ended up being more of a Q&A session. What did we know about giving lectures on American Culture? We figured...Q&A was probably more worth their time...especially if they had specific questions they were wanting to ask. We got questions from...why are you studying in China? to Are you happy that Osama BinLaden is dead? to What do you think about the war in Iraq? Honestly...most of them were tough questions. Some were difficult to answer cause..well...they are hotly debated topics within themselves...i mean Iraq? How long have people been talking about that? Most of the time, we just ended up giving them personal opinions. The class was really interesting...and I would love to hear more about what the Professor has to say about American Culture.

On Tuesday, the international students headed on out to visit Chengdu's pandas. What can I say about pandas except that they are cute and I would love to hold one. We did get the chance to see 3 baby pandas...2 that were 90 days old...and one that was 20 days old. Absolutely adorable. We also had the opportunity to see red pandas...also on the endangered species list.

Wednesday, we had our weekly meeting with Andrea. This time, we ended up in Roberts Hall...although...it's really more of a room than a hall. It is the designated UW room on the SU campus that our exchange students use every year. I have to say that being there was alot like opening a time capsule and Christmas morning put together. Last year's UW exchange students left us alot of stuff...stuff we could have found really useful if we had known about it earlier when we first arrived...or when we were looking for stuff for our apartments. I ended up grabbing a bamboo painting for our still barren apartment walls. That night...I went out to hot pot with Sunny, Tabitha, and their landlords. I think I will end this here.

Chengdu Address and Contact Numbers

2006-09-29T22:48:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,
I finally have everything in regards to contact info. figured out. FINALLY. So...here is the list. To start...address. The address I will give in both Chinese and English. My advice is that if you are to mail anything...the best thing to do is to copy and paste the Chinese version...print and then paste it on the envelope. I feel that that is the safest way to get anything sent here. So, here we go.

Address
English

Overseas Students Office
Sichuan University
29 Wangjianglu Chengdu
P.R. China 610064

Chinese

四川大学留学生办公室
中国成都九眼桥望江路 29 号
610064

Cell Phone
011 86 13438482639

Apartment Phone
011 86 28 85230254

Skype Screen Name
FrAeIlTyH

G-Chat Screen Name
FrAeIlTyH@gmail.com

Around Campus & Apartment

2006-09-25T21:55:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone. A few "announcements" before I write today's entry. It has been a while since I last blogged. I have been wanting to blog a bit every night so that I dont have to do several entries all in one sitting...but, I ended up not getting to it at all this weekend. So...that is what I will be blogging on. I think that instead of just doing it all in one blog...I will make several so that I can separate by day if not by subject. Hopefully...I will be caught up in regards to daily life by tonight.

I do have to say, though, that I have decided to continue my blogging for Yangjuan starting this weekend. Next week is China's National Holiday and we have the entire week off...well...almost. To make-up for some time lost due to break, we have class this Saturday as well as the following Sunday. *Shrugs* I guess that's just how it's done. Anyways...there's still quite a bit more to tell in regards to Yangjuan...the killing of the yak, the trek to green pastures, the eating of wasp larvae...etc. I still have a couple of more photos to upload into Yahoo. I will do that all next week. I am, as of now, not really planning on doing much this holiday. I would like to travel around Chengdu and just get some of the local attractions down, like, the opera, the changing masks, some of the temples, visit a couple of tea houses, things like that.

Last time I got caught up talking about my family and ended up not posting the rest of my "adventures around campus" photos. I took a couple more since then...and will add them here...including a picture of my apartment complex. So...to start out with, Mao. I dont know what it is that fascinates me about his statues...maybe it's because freshman year, our professor for my international health class discussed the changing economic environment in China. First he showed a statue of Mao...and then zoomed further out to find that there was a huge billboard for...what was it? CocaCola? I guess it just reminds me of how time really passes by fast...and sometimes...the unexpected may happen. Li Yun and I went to the local electronics store the other day...and I have to say that this 5 story shopping mall totally pushes places like Best Buy outta the league. Everything dealing with electronics you could find in this one place. We ended up getting a...splitter? Right now, only one of us can get on the internet at a time. So, we got one so that both of us can. So...the first picture is of Mao...in its entirety. As opposed to what my professor did...I zoomed in to find this bird, perched on top of Mao's head. Rather interesting. :)

The following pictures are a few of the places I often go...mostly to pass through or to take classes. The first is the Humanities building. This is where I am taking my Chinese politics class. As of now, we are talking about Confucianism. I am not a huge philosophy buff...but it is important to understand this as background knowledge so that I can understand modern Chinese politics. The following that one is of the SU Museum. It is mostly a museum regarding anthropology and archeology. This is where I am taking my archeology class. Last week we talked about early human history in China and some of the remnants that archeologists currently use to determine the activities of their daily lives. We are going to take a class fieldtrip to Xi'an sometime during the semester. I am rather excited. Although I have been there before...it was during my first trip to China. I feel that since then, I have gotten a bit more knowledgable in the realm of Chinese history...but I know that after this class...I will at least be able to understand what it is that I am visiting. Of course there's going to be the Terra Cotta Warriors...but we are planning on stopping in a few other areas as well. If anyone is unfamiliar with where I am at...I am studying at Sichuan University. I took the liberty to take a picture of a sign around campus...but pretty much...it's just named after the province I am currently in now. There are a few interesting things you can find daily within the university. One of them is rickshaws. I havent had the chance to ride in one...mostly cause I've been getting around on my bike. These ones in the picture are the ones you can ride anywhere on campus for 2-3 RMB. I'm not sure how much the ones outside of campus will cost...but I do know they are alot more expensive. It's amazing to me what people with wheels can do. When I was waiting for my Chinese politics class to start...I saw this lady pushing a wheeled cart loaded with what looked like a bunch of wood pieces. I have seen everything from stacks of modems to piles and piles of organized discards. It is rather impressive what they can load up, even just on bicycles. This is the IMA equivalent here at SU. I havent been in it yet...but I do know that right next door they have a small skating rink. :) When I say small...I do mean small. But there's one nonetheless. I have included a picture of one of the student dormatory. I cant start to describe what their dorms are like. You think the ones at UW are bad? These...in my opinion of course, are pretty bad. First, all dorms here have curfews. That means...you have to be back before 11 or 12...otherwise, you get locked out of the dorms for the night. I was talking to Jackie the other night we went karoking and asked him whether or not he was going to be able to get back into his dorm...it being close to 12. He said that he was going to be okay. The last time he and Eugene went karoking...they didnt finish until 3 in the morning. Knowing they couldnt get back into their rooms...they went to the outdoor stadium, got the school bus door to open, and the two of them slept there for the night. He also mentioned that the people who manage the entrance into the dorms of the guys' dorms are easily convinced to allow them in if it doesnt get too late, unlike the girls' dorms which may be more strict on getting back home on time. I have heard that up to 8 people can live in a single room. The floor is all cement, one bathroom, one sink. There is no hot water...so, if you wish to drink tea in the morning, you have to go down to the public hot water area and fill your canister. Showers are in a separte building. You have to walk to the place with everything you need...and there is a time retricting too. I think they open the "bath house" at around 6 and they close it at 9. So, you really have to manage your studies around these times. I believe Li Yun also told me that the lights go out at 11 or 12. With these conditions...many people choose to study in the classrooms. The last time I was at the library helping a friend...it closed at 10. However, these classrooms are accessible until midnight.

So...my apartment. I live outside of West gate...but I am really close to South gate also. The campus has four gates, North South East and West. However, they are not really organized in a fashion that has each of the gates opening in each of these directions. West gate is considered the area that is most "westernized" (i wonder how they arranged that!) Most of the western style foods are located on the street right outside of my apartment. There is a Tex-Mex resturant called Peter's Tex-Mex (I have to regrettably say that I have been there twice. I know! When I was in Texas...I didnt go to a Tex-Mex place...not even once. But to eat Tex-Mex here in CHINA..not once but TWICE!?! Yeah...a bit overboard.) There's also Casa Mia...an Italian pizzaria, a few coffee shops, etc. There is actually a Taiwanese place really near where we are. It is part of a food chain..but I know it because whenever I lived in LA...my family would always pick up my grandparents on a weekend and we would head over there for breakfast. It is absolutely my favorite kind of breakfast: hot soybean milk, sweet and flaky bread, fried dough, pickled cucumbers and vegetables, fermented bean curd, and hot and spicy beef noodle soup. The last dish was something my brother and I always got. My mom would always end up taking the broth home so that we could just add more noodles into it and have it for dinner too. Besides these places, right next door to our apartment complex is a small square full of Chinese resturants. One of them is Saoko (sp?) or Chinese BBQ. We went to one of the places in that square for Laura's birthday. It is good stuff...although I still like my sheep-on-a-stick better. These are just a few of the places I could squeeze into my frame. So, right next to these is our apartment complex. I actually have one of the larger balconies in this building. I am not sure if you can see it...but it's one of the outter apartments on the fourth floor. Our apartment complex is called Sakura Holidays....or in Chinese, it is written this way.

Alright...I think that's enough of a introduction to the places I visit most often. Next, I will start with my experience in KFC. NEXT BLOG!

***I'm having some trouble posting the rest of the pictures...I guess they will have to wait.***

a quick geographical lesson

2006-09-23T00:57:00.000+08:00

hey...I realize that Chengdu isn't exactly a city that everyone hears about often...but it is considered to one of the biggest cities in China...it ranks 3rd in having the most cars. From my own personal opinion, yeah...there are alot of cars here. Anyways...so...here are some maps that I just grabbed from the internet. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province. It is known for its Giant Pandas *my Chinese class is actually going to go visit the pandas next tuesday* and its local foods. Here is a website that provides alot of information about the city: http://www.chengdu.cn/english/
Granted...it's a touristy kind of website...but it provides some information.

Here's a map of where Yangjuan...cept...it may not be too clear. It is where the red dot is. I'll try to find a better map somewhere. Matt had his GPS when we were there in Yangjuan...so he got down the coordinates. Maybe I'll try looking it up on Google Earth and post pictures.

my 1 month anniversary!

2006-09-22T16:12:00.000+08:00

The last two days havent been as eventful, so I decided to go around campus and take some photos of SU. Foremost is a picture of my bike. Although Chengdu has been rather cloudy these past few days, it was still a descent enough day to take pictures. I have classes everyday from 8:30 to 12 with a half hour break in between. These are my Chinese classes. Having a bike has made my life so much easier...well...almost. Yesterday, while going home in between 12 and 2 *On Thursday, we have an extra Chinese class at 2-3:30*, I discovered I had a flat rear tire. I went and got that fixed and chatted with the bike repair man. At first, it was hard to communicate with him, mostly cause he only speaks Sichuanese...and I am just getting used to understandle that dialect. Matt came along cause he wanted to look at bike seats. Most of the bike seats here in China have some sort of "spring" action, but for some reason, his didnt. With the roads and sidewalks that we have here...not having springs makes riding a bike a bit tortuous, especially for guys. As the repain man was changing Matt's seat, he commented on my English. :) He didn't think I was a foreigner. I have been getting that alot. I used to think that my Putonghua would clearly show that I wasn't English, "Me too. I'm from Seattle." Totally throwing people left and right here. It's a from around here...but I have been shocking people with my "true identity." The same for some of the foreigners here. The other day when Li Yun and I were waiting for the elevator in our apartment, there were these 2 American guys chatting, Nate and Bill. However, cause I was talking in Chinese...they figured I was Chinese. In the elevator...we all wanted the fourth floor. Nate turned around and said that he knew me. I don't even know my neighbors! I asked him in Chinese if he was sure...and he asked if I lived in this particular apartment room. I replied no...but then replied with the question "Are you from America." He said yes...and I answered inbit odd. When I first came here...I was feeling a bit like an odd ball. Among my UW friends...I felt different...mostly cause I look like the rest of the people here...and I can speak and understand. However, when I am among my Chinese friends and even with strangers...I still felt like an outsider. I actually talked to Andrea about this one night when we were having our usual Monday meetings/dinners. For a few weeks during the beginning of my stay, I guess I was having an identity crisis. See, even here in China, I am still considered different. Not only am I an American, but I am also the child of parents born in Taiwan. In all of this...it's really hard for me to pinpoint where exactly I feel like I belong. Sure, being in Seattle and especially at UW where there are alot of Asian-Americans, I feel like I sort of belong. But, I have also lived in Oklahoma and Georgia, and those places are a different environment in themselves. I certainly don't exactly fit the mainland China profile...mostly in regards to culture, history, and spoken language. And then there's Taiwan. I dont really feel like I have that strong of a tie with Taiwan...sure, my parents were born there and then grew up there...but my interest in this island has never been really immense. Speaking of which, our Chinese politics class did some reading regarding the Early Republic...the history of the early relations between the Chinese Communist Party and the GuoMingDang. Granted...this is one of the few books I have read regarding this era...but I was surprised to read alot of the stuff the GMD did. I began to wonder how much of history I have miscontrued. It also got me curious as to what my family's exact history was. I know that my grandfather is from Nanjing, my grandmother was an orphan from Beijing, my grandma was from Beijing, and my grandpa grew up in Jiangsu. Both my grandparents on my dad's and mom's side came to Taiwan before 1950. Here...let me provide some pictures. I am really interested in making a family tree. As to how and when I can get that done...I'm not sure. I guess to start...I'll add some pictures with these descriptions. The first one is of my grandfather's mother. The lady in the back is her niece, my grandfather's cousin, and her family. I don't know much about her...nothing more but I guess what this photo can tell me. The next picture is a picture of my grandparents on my dad's side. :) You guessed it...that's my dad when he was young. It's surprising...but even at that age, I can still recognize facial features. This picture is taken in Taiwan...where exactly, though, I'm not too sure. The following picture is a picture of my greatgrandma. I, again, don't know very much about her. These next two pictures are of my grandparents on my mom side and the last picture is of my mom when she was still in Taiwan. In regards to my current thoughts to everything...I still have alot to think about. But in the meantime, some thoughts about being here in China for the past month...I am really loving it here. Of course...there have been downsides...but for the most part...everything is still so unreal. Like, riding my bike among the many cars, pedistrians, and bike/motorcycle/scooter riders. Getting around is really scary sometimes...but...mostly in the mornings...when riding alongside everyone else...it makes you think, "WOW. I am actually here." I am really glad to have Li Yun as a roommate. I have learned so much about the people here...my people, their culture, their traditions, their perspectives, their motives. We often have tons and tons to talk about...sometimes...we talk until really late...and we can't really talk anymore. There's still so much to understand...but I feel, looking back at this past month, I have already learned so much, done so much, and experienced so much...and I still have another 10 months to go! I am so grateful for this opportunity to come to China.

Well, it's getting pretty late...and I'm getting pretty sleeping off of this Heineken. I'm not sure whether it's the alcohol *Li Yun and I went out to KFC for dinner. I have the best dessert there...egg tarts! Afterwards...I wanted to buy some tape for my maps...but we didnt find any. We ended up getting beers...to celebrate the end of her first portion of the GRE* or whether I'm just tired. I just finished talking to my mom over Skype...surprisingly...Skype has extremely good resolution! We chatted for about an hour and a half...my mom and brother just came back from Taiwan and Japan. James is going to head over to Seattle tomorrow.

I'll finish posting pictures from around our campus..including some of our Mao statue, where I have classes, etc. Good night!

DVD's in China & my room

2006-09-20T21:10:00.000+08:00

So, since I'm in China, buying pirated DVDs is probably an inevitable action. I, however, have not gone all out and bought tens of hundreds of DVDs. I, have, however been unable to resist buying these. Honestly, how can anyone resist when they are only 24 RMB??? That's $3!!!! I watched the first one the first night I bought it cause I only wanted to test the quality...honest! *The quality was great...I think China is getting better and better at this whole dao ban (or pirated) DVD stuff* Although...after starting...I didn't have the heart to stop it...so I watched the rest of it. Li Yun also bought this Japanese cartoon DVD...it has 141 episodes...and I am up to episode 13 now. You guys have to watch her sometimes. She reminds me alot of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. She is absolutely adorable...in a sort of too-wise-for-her-age sort of way. She is called: 小丸子 (Xiao Wan Zi).

So, when I'm not watching cartoons or the Godfather...I am in my room doing Chinese homework...or readings for my other three elective classes. So...in regards to talking about my room...here are some pictures of my apartment. Some of it is still a bit barren. Largely, that's because we really havent gotten around to decorating it much. I've been busy getting settled *which I will be after this Friday when I go pick up my passport and my resident's permit* and my roommate is actually taking her GRE's this coming Friday. So...we are planning on doing some celebrating on Saturday by going around town. Also, on Saturday, we are going to go celebrate Sarah's 21st by going karoking. Not sure where yet, but there's a pretty big karoking place across the street from where I live. As the time goes by, I'll introduce some of the places I regularly go to, like Trust-mart, the Overseas Education building, the four gates we have here at ChuanDa, and some of the local eateries. I have to say that the food is one of the things I like best about Chengdu. It makes me not want to come back to the States. Food is everything to people here. Everywhere you go, you can always catch people eating...not even because they have to eat on the go...but because it's just something you do. :) I'm even getting into that habit. So...as things settle in and I have more time, I will introduce some of the great foods here in Chengdu. In the meantime...my apartment. This first picture is part of my room. It's where I study and blog. They dont really have closets here...rather...they dont have closets here at all. So, I bought myself a portable one. It's working out pretty nicely. The next picture is my bed. I love the windows...gives my room plenty of natural sunlight. I think the only downside to it right now is the fact that right across the street, a new complex is being built. So, every morning, regardless of whether is Mon-Fri or Sat. and Sun., there are always workers working on that building. Next is our living room. Don't ask about the red couch...we didn't pick it out, our landlady did. It's suitable enough. It actually folds out to be a bed...which will work out handy when visitors come. After that is a picture of our porch. We actually have a pretty large porch. It's nice to step outside after dinner and just enjoy the evening breeze and watch people walking around on the streets. That's another thing that's different between Chengdu and Seattle. In Seattle....there are hardly any people out and about after 8 or 9. Here...everyone goes out at night. Li Yun told us that they thought Seattle was strange cause all the people were gone when evening rolled around. Honestly...I really like the night life people have here. Makes going out at night and grabbing a snack at the local outdoor stand really convenient. For example, on the street between West Gate and Trust-mart, people often sell stinky tofu. Tons of people gather around and chomp down these 1 RMB snacks. Also, there are lots of people who sell various things around trustmart at night...including puppies! I will have to take a picture of them sometime and show them all to you. They are absolutely adorable! There are usually 20 or so of them...and they are just week old pups. I asked Li Yun and she says they sell for about 200 RMB...that's only a bit over $20! Some look like they are pure breeds. Li Yun is getting pretty tired of it...but everytime we go...I always spend at least a couple of minutes petting them. People also sell chestnuts on the street. Passing one always makes me think of that Christmas songs..."Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." Let's see what else...vegetables. People sell alot of those...just alot of things. Chengdu is really great for trekking out in the evening to just experience and try some of the more local "small foods" or xiao ci.

fast food, cultural food, and a hair cut

2006-09-20T17:39:00.000+08:00

A couple of things have happened since I last blogged. One, a bunch of us went to McDonald's yesterday to see whether or not there are very many differences. I couldn't help it...I havent had cheese in a long while...so I ordered a Big Mac. But I did try to stay adventurous and got 2 pies...one was green bean...and the other was sweet taro. Neither were really bad...the only part I didnt enjoy too much about these pies was the fact that they were fried rather than baked. A bit odd. Other than that...everything didnt seem too different. Oh...except the poster advertisements they had inside the store...very...erotic. I didnt have my camera with me yesterday...but Sarah did take some pictures. Let me see...I think she has them up. Just going to copy and paste real quick...so the first one is just eating...me with my Big Mac...that's Ben on the left and Sunny on the right. Here is a picture of my pies. The last picture from McDonald's are those erotic posters. There are several of them...but I think that these are enough to get the point across. We thought they were very odd...anyways...here they are. So, after we had lunch there...I headed back to the Overseas School to pick up my bike. I have been having some problems with my bike lately. One of these days...I'll take a picture of it and post it in blog. For something that only cost me 60 RMB...it's a pretty okay bike. But the chain keeps coming off. So, every once in a while, I have to stop and hook the chain back on. At first...it took me a bit of time to get the hang of it...but now, 5 secs? I also had a flat tire the first day I rode it to school...but I had that fixed on Monday. So...want to know how bikes are sold here in China? You could always go to the local bike shop and pick up a new bike...that will probably cost you around 500 RMB or more. However, if you want a second-hand bike...well...things get a bit shady here. When the Chinese talk about second-hand...they are hardly talking about a bike that was sold to its current owner who is trying to sell it again. Nope...majority of the second-hand bikes here are stolen. I'm pretty sure my bike was stolen from someone else. That's why when I went to the "bike alley," I couldn't really tell that the place was a place for selling bikes. We crossed the street...and there were a couple of houses that were killing chickens and selling live fish. However...walk a bit longer and people will start coming up to you to ask if you are looking for a bike. So...we were walking (we being Li Yun, Violet and me) down this street and this vendor comes up to us. She asks us if we were looking for bikes and we told her we were. She told us that she had one that she could give to us for about 70 RMB...so we followed her. The entire time, from the point we met her to where the bike was, she wouldnt walk next the us. That was because a cop car was driving in front of us. Usually....whenever vendors are selling stolen bikes...you could always figure a cop was around when you see them hop on bikes...or just start taking off in all directions. A few minutes later, they all reemerage and continue their business. Anyways, back to my bike...we arrived at this abandoned stripe mall area. There, on the corner, was this lonely bike. I honestly thought that that wasnt the bike she was talking about. It looked like someone had just parked it there. But...as we got closer...she signaled for us to come closer and that was when we started bargaining. It doesnt look old...but it doesnt look new either. Perfect for me cause I really didnt want to deal with a bike that could stolen. Haha...it took both Li Yun and Violet to bargain the price...but we settled at 60 RMB...and an additional 10 RMB for a lock. Not bad for China's most convenient (and cheapest) form of transportation. So...thats my bike.
Last night, there was a lecture on Tibetan history. It was given by a Tibetan professor who teaches at the ethnic minority college here in Chengdu. He started with their origin story and then talked a bit about their various kings. Next week...he'll be back to talk about Tibetan Buddhism which I am excited about.

Today, after class...Ben, Matt, Tabitha, Sunny, and I went out to this one resturant. It had Uygur food. Uygur are an ethnic minority group here in China and they live in Xinjiang. Alot of them are Muslim. So...at that resturant, we had sheep on a stick *which were probably the best kabob I've ever had* and a sharable dish of wide noodles, green peppers, cubed chicken with bone, potatoes, cinnamon sticks, ba jiao, and garlic. Everything was really, really good. And everything was only 58 RMB...between 5 people. Gotta go again sometime.

After lunch, Matt wanted to get his hair cut. Sunny and I figured we could get a trim...Tabitha came along to watch. It was quite the experience. I dont really like Chinese hairstyles...alot of them have their hair thinned out in the back and then the hair on top cut really short...so that it kind of frizzes out. I was sure I didnt want that kind of hair cut...but...the guy cutting my hair convinced me that my cut wouldnt be so bad...so, I was reluctant to ask for anything else. I figured...he knows what he's doing. I did ask, though, that he not cut the top too short and that I wanted side bangs. Everything else was up to him. It turned out okay. Better than I expected. So, here is our after picture. :) My hair may not look too different...but that's cause I kept it at the same length. But...maybe tomorrow I'll take another picture...and post. It is different though...in a good way...I think.

A Lazy Sunday afternoon...continuing my entry on Yangjuan

2006-09-17T14:07:00.000+08:00

I think I'm going to start writing my daily entry along with an entry for Yangjuan. Otherwise...I don't think I will ever catch up. I am already 2 weeks behind. So...I guess to start off with...I will write as much as I can about what has happened ever since I came back from Yangjuan. And then...after all this...I will continue writing about my experience in Yangjuan.

I came back to Chengdu on the third, taking an overnight train again from Xichang. As I arrived at the train station, I called Song Li Yun and arranged to meet her at the international dorms so we could head on over to an apartment she had been looking at. I was completely exhausted after the trip...but if I didn't work on getting an apartment...I would have to stay at the international dorms for another night...at a price of 160 RMB a night...that's $20. Although that may not seem much...it is a really high price for one night. Other students who are actually living in the dorms permanently on the other side of campus pay 40 RMB a night...or $5. See the difference? So...I met up with her and we headed on over to the copy and print shop to photo copy her student ID and my passport...necessary documents for our landlady. I still had my camping backpack with a week's worth of dirty clothes. Walking to the apartment was going to be quite a journey...but Song Li Yun had her bike. So...we did what the Chinese do often. She rode and I sat in the back where there's this flat area used to hold things. We made it on time...but...as the Chinese perpetually are...our landlady was about 30 mins late. We went up to our apartment and it was descent. My favorite part of the place is the large, spacious porch and the glass doors. The majority of the wall between our apartment and the porch is glass. So...during the day, our apartment really lights up. My room is the same deal. An entire wall is made up of glass. We signed an agreement contract with our landlady, paid 6 months worth of rent...then headed out to the local store to buy some of the basic necessities. We weren't able to leave our stuff there yet...mostly cause the landlady hired a girl to clean up the place.
The local place to buy most of the things you need is called Trustmart...or in Chinese 好有多 (hao you duo...good and much). We bought me a desk light, some hangers, etc. Afterwards...carrying many bags out of the store...we realized...what are we going to do for the next few hours? So, Song Li Yun called up her friend and we headed on over to her dorm. We chatted a bit and just hung out. Soon, our landlady called and told us that the furniture company was going to drop off our beds, bed stands, couch, and coffee table later that evening. We headed back to our apartment with our stuff and found the landlady's sister at our apartment. She had decided to let her sister take care of everything else regarding our apartment. We were highly disappointed...and rather frustrated. They did hire a girl to clean the apartment...and she spent the entire day in the apartment. But...what was odd was that nothing was clean. We later found out that the floor was still grimy, some of the cabinets still had mold growing, the bathroom was a wreck, and all of the windows were still hazy. We tried to tell her that honestly...the place was still a mess...but the landlady's sister kept telling us that the girl worked all day. I really dont know how things work around here in China...but I do have to say...things just dont get done. Either they are perpetually late...or...things just arent done. For example...our furniture. We came back to the apartment around 6...thinking they were going to arrive around then. We waited...and waited. We even decided to just give up and head on over to my friends place to pick up my luggage that I had left at her place during the week I was in Yangjuan. Then we came back...and still we waited. It wasnt until 11:30 that they finally showed up. We later learned that that night was only the beginning to a list of other things Chengdu was going to bring us.

Before I start again on our apartment business...let's talk about school. I had classes the following day after arriving back in Chengdu. Unlike my other UW classmates...I had a very difficult problem. That being that I can speak and understand Mandarin...but my reading and writing was really poor. It had been a while since I actually did any writing and reading...and when I did take Chinese classes...it was only once a week. Honestly...when you have no reward for studying...and classes were only once a week...you dont learn very much. In regards to speaking and understanding...I use those skills everyday talking to my parents. But...I never practiced reading and writing. Unlike at UW where heritage classes are offered...everything here is for beginners or for people whose reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills are on the same level. So...they had a hard time placing me. Or rather...they thought they placed me in the right class...but I honestly felt that I should have been in a lower class. The problem with only being able to speak and understand is that when I am taking those classes....classes for speaking and listening...our workbooks and our exercises still require you to be able to read Chinese. For example...they play a tape and ask you to answer A B C or D. Well...I understand the questions completely....but I couldnt read the answer choices. So it took me 3 full days to find the right class for me. And I had to do it pretty much by myself. Almost all of the teachers I talked to reassured me that I would be okay. None of them really helped much...sometimes...they even seemed a bit annoyed. Well...anyways...I have my Chinese classes figured out. It's really boring sometimes...mostly cause there's alot of "repeat after me." So...during those times, I practice my Chinese characters. Alright...enough about Chinese classes...lets talk about my elective classes. UW is different from other schools who send their students to SU. They either come here to strictly learn Chinese...or they send along a professor who will teach them elective classes. Well....UW allows us to take Chinese as well as elective classes. You have no idea how much time my friends and I spent on trying to figure out exactly what we could and couldnt take. Prior to leaving for Yangjuan...we were all given a list of about 20 different classes. We all thought that these were classes open to all international students and that all we had to do was register for it. Nope. It was a list of POTENTIAL classes. So...when we came back...we thought all of our elective classes would be easily resolved. All we had to do was tell the administrators which classes we wanted...and then that would be it. We spent DAYS trying to contact the administrators trying to understand what was going on. It ended up being that only a couple of the classes were open. And they were open because PLU students had arranged to take those classes. But the problem is...PLU students dont take the Chinese class load we do. We are all taking 20 hours of Chinese a week...but their's is a bit different and they dont take as many. It ended up being that all of the classes we wanted to take conflicted with the Chinese classes we were taking. So...it ended up that only one of the classes, since it was on Thursdays at 7:30 PM, was the only non-conflicting class. AGH. We were so disappointed! And when we headed on over to talk to the administrator...we felt as though we were brushed aside. We ended up calling up Andrea and she came down and chatted with us. In the end...after she made a visit to the administrator...3 classes were opened up to us. So...this is my schedule now: 20 hours of Chinese Mon-Friday, History before the Yuan dynasty on Monday afternoons, Chinese Archeology on Tuesdays, and Chinese Politics on Thursday nights. I have quite a handful of classes...but the 3 elective classes are only once a week. I still plan on doing more stuff once I get used to my schedule. There have been offers of me tutoring English...one to an 8 year old girl who currently speaks no English...and another college student who wants to learn. I am still unsure what I plan on doing...but those sound like fun. Also...I'm looking into doing some shadowing while I'm here. Those arent finalized yet though.

Alright...back to the apartment business. When we moved in....and after the furniture arrived...we still had a few things lacking that the landlady promised to provide us with. One was a washing machine...which we have now. Another was a fridge...which we also have now...but you have got to see the size of it. It's no bigger than a small cooler. It's rather ridiculous. Oh...but it's not the landlady we were having problems with. It's the guy downstairs. He manages the buildings water, electricity, and gas. See...in China...you usually go through a middleman to get anything done. Song Li Yun didnt want to have to deal with them...mostly cause you usually have to give them 1/2 a month's rent for their services. So instead...she went and tried to find apartments herself. She found one...the one we are staying at now. But when she found it...it was via a flyer that was posted downstairs in the main lobby. Because it was lacking a contact number...she went to the front desk to that guy and asked if he knew the number. He made a call for her and the landlady came and talked with her. This is where the problem started. After that day....he consistently comes and seeks us out and demands that we pay him a middleman fee. How much you ask? 800 RMB...or $100. $100 for one measly phone call!!! And it gets worse. Besides pouncing on us everytime asking us for the money...he stooped as low as to turn off our electricity because we wouldnt pay him that amount. So, yes...we went a day without electricity. But that didnt just happen once...nope. Twice. The second time was when electricity was crucial. I came home *my friend was out with her friend cause it was her friend's birthday* and sat in the dark for a few hours. The entire time I was venting...not believing that this would happen AGAIN. When my friend came back...we called the landlady and told her about this situation. We went down to the garage *that's where he lives with his wife and child* and argued with him over over 30 mins about the payment and electricity. We made two phone calls to the landlady and had her talk to him. What was upsetting was that every time he talked to her...he was very polite. But right when he hung up the phone....he was really rude to us. After awhile...we got the payment down to 300 RMB and told him we would pay him the next day. Only after that did we get electricity. The truth is....after all of this passed and I saw his son sitting in the garage at the table studying Chinese characters, I started to think. What made people here in China value money so much that they would do things like this? Song Li Yun and I talked about this for a bit. Maybe the economic structure of China made society the way it is now. Honestly...everywhere you go...people are trying to take advantage of the fact that you are a foreigner. But then again...I wouldnt blame them. Being here makes me think about how wasteful America can be sometimes. If you walk into a department store...there are so many employees there...you feel like you get bombarded by them. Is it that way though because there's so many people here that supply beats demand? I really dont know how to feel anymore about the way things are here. Everything is just so different...but the thing is...you have to look at everything here from a different perspective. The traffic here is awful...theres no such thing as pedistrians have the right of way. Why is that? In the meantime...though...I guess I'm just waiting to learn more about everything here...and maybe understand what is actually going on. Song Li Yun's perspective is that the economic reforms from Deng Xiao Peng's era shifted peoples priorities. It seems as though people would throw away anything...culture, history, relationships for money. From what I have seen so far...I feel that that is true. But...I dont think I can really make my own opinion just yet...I have only been here for what? 3 weeks? There are still many MANY things for me to learn.

Song Li Yun's parents came up to visit us. They brought us so many things...including a water dispenser, rice cooker, pots and pans, dishes, fruit, meat, the list goes on. We cleaned our apartment last night because we knew they were coming...but her mom went ahead and cleaned the entire apartment for us anyways. We were feeling pretty bad about that. She also made us some pork soup with mung beans and seaweed....one of my favorite soups. I do have to say, though, that everything looks alot homier. We will shortly fall into a routine...and not have to deal with so many unexpected, frustrating surprises.
I think thats just about it. Oh...I forgot to mention in previous entries...something about the first day I got here. I really dont want to write much about it...but when I arrived in Chengdu at 12 AM...there was no one at the airport to pick me up and no toll phone booths to make any phone calls. I eventually asked an internet cafe to borrow their phone, called Song Li Yun (who thankfully didnt turn off her phone...which she usually does everynight...her mom says its yuan fun...or fate) and she and her friend Irene picked me up via a taxi. It was really quite frustrating...but yeah. :) Enough about that.

So you can see...there have been good times...and equally, bad times. At the moment...everything is going pretty good. I have an exam this coming Tuesday...but...yeah...thats about it. Today has been a rather rainy day. I will take pictures of my apartment as soon as the weather gets better and post them.

And now, back to Yangjuan.
August 27, 2006
After visiting the first bimo, Steve wanted to head on over to 猪场 (zhu chang). It's another village thats nearby Yangjuan...but not as close as 偏水 was. It's about a 30-40 minute walk from the elementary school. There are 2 bimos in 猪场, a father and son. However, when we got there...neither of them were there. So...we walked around the village a bit more, trying to find people to talk to. None of the men in the village were home...mostly cause they were out herding sheep...or, although illegal, making charcoal up in the mountains. We found one lady in her 20s with several children. She married into the family...so she didnt know much about the economics in that area. On our way back the Yangjuan...we met another lady, more elderly, and we talked to her for a bit about hua jiao and the sunflowers. Everyone was surprised at how quickly the villagers switched to sunflowers. Supposedly, compared to hybrid corn, sunflowers are alot easier to manage. They dont require yearly purchases of seeds to grow the next year...and require alot less water irrigation ad such. We headed back to the school and just kinda hung out for a bit until 7. That night....Steve was going to hand out scholarships to the some of the graduated students so that they can go on to middle school.
This is where I would love to have you guys help me out. All of the scholarship money that these kids get come from calendar sales that UW students sell every year. Basicly...its $15 for each calendar. The calendar's pictures are all taken by UW students who have gone to Yangjuan and are compiled by the students once they return. All of the money from sales are then collected and given to Steve. With this calendar money...as well as some private donations...he creates scholarships so that the kids here could go to the middle schools they test into. From my discussion with Steve, each year, the kids are testing higher and higher. However...because of finances...some of the kids may not be able to afford getting an education higher than elementary school. So...if you guys would like...please buy a calendar to support these kids. They are really bright and deserve the opportunity to go to school. The person you would contact would be: Katherine Liang. As of right now...I dont know her email...but every year...I get an email from her regarding these calendars. I have gotten them the past 2 years...and they are really, really nice calendars. Thank you so much! And ask if any of your friends would like to get one too. It would mean alot to me...but even more to these kids here.
There were actually two ceremonies...one on the night of the 27th...and one on the 28th. The one of the 27th was for the students who were going to be attending their 2nd year in middle school or 8th grade and the one on the 28th was for those who just graduated and was going to head on into 7th grade. Those who tested high and got into really competitive middle schools, and thus the ones with higher tuitions, got 1200 RMB, the 2nd group of students 800 RMB and the last group of students 200 RMB. I was the camera person...so I took alot of photos from both ceremonies. For me...it was a rather emotional scene. Some of the parents and the students had tears in their eyes. For someone who came from America...where education up through high school was free...it was really something different. I have been over to one of the girl's homes and studied English with her for a bit here in Yangjuan. They have a single lightbulb and a small fire in their one-roomed homes. That is all they have to light their study space. Not only that...but prior to having the elementary school in Yangjuan...they had to walk to another village called Bai Wu for school...which is about a 40 minute walk. When they have night classes...some of these kids dont get home until after 9. They then have to do their homework...chores...and then go to bed to wake up early so they can go to school the next day. Not only for kids in the villages...but I have been to Song Li Yun's dorm. Here at SU...some dorms may have up to 8 students living in a single room. All of the floor is concrete...and their desk is no larger than a desk we would see in a 1st grade class. They have curfews as to when they have to return back to their dorms...and lights turn off at 11. The washrooms are separate from the dorms...and the have designated times as to when they open and close. I feel ashamed sometimes. With the wide availability of resources and living conditions in the US...I still dont study and test as well as these kids here. Anyways...back to Yangjuan. The picture above is one I took right before the evening scholarship ceremony. On the left is Li Xin Xin...he is a professor in Chengdu and one of Song Li Yun's mentors, the person in the middle is Steve, and the elderly man on the right is Ax Pu. These pictures are of the family...and Steve handing out the scholarships. The pictures to follow are those who just graduated from elementary school...some with their parents. The women in Nuosu culture traditionally wear those colorful skirts and have these headdresses. I'm actually going to start a new blog...and I'll have those pictures in there. I feel like I have to drag the picture all the way down here.

onward from yanyuan to yangjuan

2006-09-16T21:38:00.000+08:00

The last time I blogged...I left with you all the picture of the cook making knife-cut noodles. I found the website that I used to learn some Yi back when I was still in Seattle. Here is a sample of their writing:
*i'm hoping this will show up...I had to download a program for this earlier...so it may not show up*

ꐋꀨ，ꆏꇿꄉꇁ？

Remember what I wrote in my last blog? Well...this is the writing for "Friend, where are you from." The pin ying for this is: qop bop, ne kat da la?

Different isn't it? One of the differences between the Nuosu language and Mandarin is that the Nuosu language uses characterization much like English. You have designated letters for each type of pronounciation. I asked my friend/interpreter while I was Yangjuan how many of these characters they had and she said there were 891.

August 26, 2006
As we continued on by road to Yangjuan, the roads were made from dirt rather than being cemented over. So...the last few hours of our journey were rather bumpy. However, the scenary was absolutely breathtaking. Just this year, Nuosu villagers began planting sunflowers as a cash crop. This new addition brilliantly painted the landscape with greens and yellows. When we arrived, we were greeted by ꀉꁌ (ax pu) and the Ma family. They warmly welcomed us to the school and we got settled in. Steve had a meeting with some of the people at Yangjuan, so we hung out with the Nuosu kids. You can't but just love them. They open their hearts out to you despite the language barrier. I have always felt that children have a way of communicating with you without the need for actual words. Some of the kids, though, could speak Mandarin. Others, though, couldn't at all. Either way, we followed a group of kids around to the nearby bridge and through a sunflower patch. Never having had the experience of walking through 7 feet high sunflowers, it was really something. The kids often run around the fields and play in the stream eating freshly picked apples and sunflower seeds. This was also the first time I have ever had unbaked sunflower seeds. They were nothing like I expected - better. I took several pictures of the kids - both in the fields as well as at the school. Here are some of the kids we met: I could'nt catch all of their names...but I did get the names of the two right-most girls in this picture. The one in the center is Ni Vu Zhri. Ma Chu Ge is the little girl holding up her little brother. They were rather shy at first...but candy always has a way to coerce kids to open up. Sara brought Vita-balls from the states. Soon, all of us UW students joined the kids in blowing gum bubbles. In exchange for candy, they gave us walnuts. We had a bit of trouble cracking these nuts open...but they were nothing for the kids. What you have to do is hold the walnut in the palm of your hand. Then, taking care not to smash your fingers, whack the nut into the ground until it cracks. Be sure to take off the outter most peel of the edible part of the nut. If you don't, the nut will taste really bitter. It took quite a bit of tries before we got it. The kids? They were pros. Later that evening, we played basketball with the local boys. It was Sarah, Sara, Matt, Alex, and me against 5 Nuosu boys. Did we get owned or what! We played until we couldn't see the ball anymore. This was about the time when I felt breathless. The altitude in Yangjuan is alot higher than it is in Chengdu. Running across the court was hard work. Before going to bed that night, I learned a new card game: Hearts. We played several rounds before heading on to bed: girls in one room, boys in another.

August 27, 2006
This morning, we got up around 8:30 AM and had a breakfast of hard boiled eggs, a sort of Nuosu pancake, and congee. Soon after, the five of us went our separate routes, Alex and Sarah to seek out interviewees regarding hua jiao or flower pepper, Matt to catch frogs, and Steve, Sara, and I to 偏水 (Piang Shui). This was another Nuosu village near Yanjuan, only about a 15-20 minute walk from the elementary school we were staying at. Today, we were seeking out Er Ga Ga, the bimo in that area. I'm not sure everyone knows this yet, but my research in Yangjuan concerns the impact the Cultural Revolution had on the ethnic minority. In particular, I am interested in investigating how the CR altered people's belief system. What's so important about the bimo? Well...he is the clergy/healer/historian of the Nuosu people. I feel that by understanding how people view the bimo, I can begin to unveil the influence the CR had on the people in Yanjuan. There's still alot more to my research...and if anyone is interested...they can read my research proposal. It's fairly lengthy...but if anyone is interested...I can post it. Anyways, when we arrived at Er Ga Ga's place, we were welcomed into his home and given a cha er wa (a sheep-hair woven cloak worn my sheep herders during colder days) to sit on. Er Ga Ga was in the midst of brewing Tibetan tea when we arrived. Tibetan tea is a concoction of butter, hot water, and salt. When brewed, it has a color similar to that of chai or English breakfast tea with milk. The taste? Different. It has a strong, nutty taste to it.
Er Ga Ga is 64 years old and the only bimo in 偏水. His health hasn't been too well for the past year...and his vision had also started to deterioate. Steve brought him some vitamins, medicine, and tea. We didn't stay very long...but we did get to introductions. He was heading to Yanyuan tonight...when he comes back, he'll be willing to be interviewed. This place is unbelieveable. It seems so surreal to be in this place after three years of planning...but, here i am!

the comment situation

2006-09-16T16:19:00.000+08:00

For those who commented on wanting to comment on my blog...I have gone ahead and changed the setting so that everyone can comment. It was set to only have registered users blog. Anyways...I hope to post more later this weekend...but my electricity will be out for 1/2 the day tomorrow...and I have a few tests and papers due this week. Hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing from you guys!

love,
deb

New Website for all of my pictures

2006-09-16T16:12:00.000+08:00

Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to post a quick message regarding my pictures. I decided to use Yahoo to post all of my pictures...largely cause I wont be posting them in my blogs. Some I will add as visuals to my blog...but since I have taken so many pictures...I cant possibly have them all up in the blog. So...the site for my photos is: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/fraeiltyh/albums

Hopefully...I can post them and provide captions to them soon.

love,
deb

the trip to Yangjuan

2006-09-12T21:39:00.000+08:00

Hey Everyone!

*Sigh* I finally have internet in my new apartment. It has been what? Nearly two weeks now? Anyways...I am going to start posting about my experience in Yangjuan. It will probably take several entries for me to get everything in...and the pictures. I took so many...I dont think I will be able to put them all in here...at least not with my poor blogging management skills. So...what I think I will be doing instead is posting some pictures here...but post a majority of my pictures in a separate link. I would love to stick everything in here in these entries...but I dont think I will be able to. So...as soon as I get a link made...I will be sure to share. Let me just say...Yangjuan was an amazing place. Just wait till you see the place. So...I didnt make any entries on the 25th or the 26th. Both these days we spent getting to Yangjuan. Thus, my journal entries start on the 27th...

August 27, 2006
Today is my second day here in Yanjuan. We arrived yesterday afternoon around four. The journey to this Nuosu (Yi) village was long and tiring. We took the overnight train on Friday after our hectic day around Chengdu. Our TA, Andrea Elliot, flew in the previous night and Steve had arranged for us to meet her. Andrea spent last year in Chengdu working and studying traditional medicine. She is currently shadowing a Chinese traditional medicine doctor, a man I am eager to meet. When I first heard about her field of work, I was really excited. She would be the perfect person to talk to about my interests in Chinese medicine. Since our first meeting, we have talked about setting me up to shadow some doctors here in town and possibly talk to a couple friends of hers who are doing various types of medical research. For example, one of Andrea’s friends is doing a project concerning HIV/AIDS in the province of Yunnan. When she first mentioned this, I could not believe it. For those who aren’t as familiar with my proposal ordeal, I had initially written a proposal regarding HIV/AIDS. Based on what I could gather from the articles I read, a portion of the infected individuals in the Yunnan and southern Sichuan province contracted the virus via drug using, in particular, those along the heroin trafficking route in that region. Of course, as it may already sound like, the research includes a lot of sensitive issues. So, during spring quarter of last year, I rewrote my proposal. Although my current proposal still centers on a sensitive topic, the Cultural Revolution to be exact, it is a bit more possible to investigate. Anyways, I will talk more about my research proposal in these next few entries. So much has happened since I last wrote and since I didn’t have my computer in Yangjuan and no internet this past week, I think it may take me a while to organize all of my notes and journal entries into a completed blog entry.

In the meantime, back to the story of just getting to the village. The only other time I had ridden a train in China was last summer when I was touring China with my mom. We took a night train from Guangzhao to Hong Kong. Of course, that ride was only a couple of hours not an entire night. Our train left around 11 PMFriday night and we were to arrive in Xichang at 7 in the morning. For my first time sleeping on a train, I would have to say it was rather restful. The only downside to the trip was my own laziness. I didn’t take out my contacts prior to going to bed (in my day clothes) and so when I woke up in the morning, my eyes were so dry. Good think Sara had some eye drops. They were lifesavers. Oh, by the way, I should mention who I took this trip with and why they were going. Of course, Steve Harrell, my UW advisor, went with us. He has been going to Yanjuan for the past six years now, each time to visit the elementary he and a couple of other people erected. For the past two years, (so this year was to be the third time), Steve brought money from the States obtained from calendars sold to fundraise for this school. The money is transformed into scholarships and given to graduates of the elementary school. Yangjuan elementary school is a primary school for both Nuosu boys and girls living in the area. Prior to this school, the only other school close enough for children in Yangjuan to go to was in another village/town called Baiwu. By foot, it is a 40 minute walk one way. You can imagine what it would be like for them to walk home at night after night classes. They have excellent night vision. None of the roads are lighted, but they still manage to find their way home. Haha. It must have been a sight having us Americans with our flashlights trying hard to peer into the night, trying to avoid tripping over rocks and stepping in cow/horse/dog/sheep/donkey manure. Anyways, I am getting way ahead of myself. Back to introductions, next are Sara and Alex. Both of them were in the UW-SU exchange program two years ago. I know Alex cause we some classes together…I think one was SIS 401 IPE? And the other was our honors seminar for writing our proposal. I know Sara from her project regarding Yi embroidery. Anyways…Alex came with us to Yangjuan to gather more data on the economics of Yangjuan…in particular the market for Hua Jiao and this time, sunflowers. Sara brought with her a lot of fun things for the kids including Vita-balls, bubbles, finger paints and paper, and some gifts for the lady she worked with on her research. From our exchange year we had Matt and Sarah. Matt is interested in capturing and photographing some of Yangjuan’s frogs. Sarah’s project deals with air quality/air particulates in Nuosu homes. The Nuosu use coal stoves if not just a fire pit in the middle of their homes. A lot of smoke builds up in the house, largely because there is no exit way for the smoke to leave their houses. Winters can get really cold, so their homes are built to prevent warm air from leaving the houses, which inevitably means no smoke from the cooking pit can leave either. Last but not least is Song Li Yun. She was an exchange student to UW last year...and I currently live with her. We were just talking the other day. In China...theres this saying...yuan fun. A translation would give something like fate. We were saying our meeting...especially since both of us have the same surname...was something like fate. So far, living with her has been awesome. So, now that I have made the introductions, let me add some pictures to these descriptions.
For my first picture, this is what the train compartments look like. There are three levels...lower, middle, and upper. The lower bunks are the most expensive...largely for convenience sake. We got the middle bunks. There are several rows of these beds...and you pretty much just spend your time just lying there.

There was really nothing much to do on the train...so Song Li Yun and I just chatted about Taiwan, religion, etc. until we both fell asleep.

We arrived in Xichang at around 7:30 AM. You could really tell the difference in location. Everything around us seemed more agricultural...not to mention the signs had not only Chinese characters...but Nuosu characters as well. I wish I took some pictures of those characters. I might try to copy and paste some of those characters from my Nuosu class website. I took an independent once a week class with Song Li Yun and Alex on the Nuosu language. I was hoping to learn a bit prior to coming. The most complete sentence I can say is: "Hey friend! Where are you from?" I would put the ping ying in...but it doesnt help. Their ping ying is really different from Han pingyin. Anyways, here's a picture of Xichang as we were pulling in:

We made a quick breakfast stop here in Xichang. It was at this small noodle broth shop. SO GOOD! We pretty much sat in the kitchen eating our bowls of rice noodles. I think I may have a picture...one sec...nope, nevermind. I have a picture of lunch...but...first...getting from Xichang to Yanyuan. Yanyuan is not Yangjuan. Yanyuan is more of a city while Yangjuan is a village. Yanyuan is the closest city to Yangjuan. To get from Xichang to Yanyuan, it takes 1/2 by bus. The worst part about this portion of our trip was the winding mountain roads. For someone who gets a car sick...not a pretty sight. No one in our van got sick...but people who take the public bus usually do...and so often times, you can hear people vomiting out the windows. Yeah, thats how bad it can get. We got the Yanyuan at around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. We had lunch in Yanyuan. Oh, if any of you guys ever get to try Chinese speciality noodles, I highly recommend Dao Xiao Mien...or knife cut noodles. They are absolutely delicious! Pretty much all it is is some good hearty broth with noodles made from shaving pieces of dough and boiling them in water. Here is the guy making the noodles:

Okay, well....I am going to leave it at this for now. Tomorrow...or when I find the time to...I will continue writing.

Take care!

Mt. Qingcheng, Dujianyan, & Hot Pot Part III

2006-08-25T00:28:00.000+08:00

Man! I need to work on this whole blogging deal. I cant write 3 entries for each day! I will have to investigate this a bit more. Anyone have any suggestions? I want to incorporate all of my pictures...but also provide captions too. It is getting really frustrating. Also, im trying to contact my parents via skype rite now. i was hoping that my brother would be online so that i can have him sign on....but that isnt happening. So...im asking my friend sam to make a call for me.

well...im hoping this will be my last entry to blog about today. So...to finish us off...there are a couple of pictures i want to post.

The first one is for my dad actually. He watched a dvd of the 12 girls band and they were playing this one gourd flute. He really likes it and was hoping i could find it for him...well...guess what? when we went out to lunch today...we passed by a vendor who was playin it! this is what it looks like:
Alright...I cant do this anymore. i have to figure this stuff out before i continue posting...otherwise...its going to drive me crazy. So I guess Mt. Qingcheng will have to wait until next time. See? I cant control this blue/underlining font! UGH!

What? NM. Ill continue posting...NOW it works. Ok...so a few last pictures. As im loading the pictures....i just have to say that my legs are burning from holding onto my laptop. neways....
This is the temple. Ok...well its getting late (talking to my mom now). Ill finish later!

Mt. Qingcheng, Dujianyan, & Hot Pot Part II

2006-08-25T00:01:00.000+08:00

Sorry about that. I am still trying to figure out blogspot and how to incorporate pictures into my blog. I tried to upload 5 pictures...but after doing so, they wouldnt let me manipulate how the pictures were to come out. I wanted to continue typing...but because my bloggin skills are still rather elementary...i decided to just start another entry to finish off this day. its getting pretty late...but i slept some on the bus...so i think ill be ok. *its 12 AM right now in chengdu*

so...to continue...those were just some of the pictures...i took enough pictures to completely use up my 126 MB camera memory. So....i may not put all of them up. ill be sure to put enough up though to give you all an idea of whats going on. so...lets continue. heres a picture of us at the "fish mouth"...delta? im not sure what to call it.
Standing there made us all feel like we were on the titanic and doing the whole dicaprio "king of the world" deal. it was a nice day..but for some reason...at that particular spot...there was a lot of wind.

The next picture is just us hanging out at the fish's mouth.
After this, we crossed a couple of bridges and entered the 2nd king temple. This area has alot of Taoist believers...so there are temples scattered throughout the mountain. This is one of them. It is located really near the area where this picture was taken. Also...we had to cross two bridges. It's one of those cable bridges...so we had quite the time swinging them from side to side.

So, here is the bridge:
That's Jackie. He helped me and Sarah alot yesterday in getting our cell phones and our bank account at the Bank of China.

This is the 2nd King Temple:

Mt. Qingcheng, Dujianyan, & Hot Pot

2006-08-24T23:29:00.000+08:00

Hey. Just got back from today's trip to two of Chengdu's more famous tourist attractions. Sarah and I got up around 7:30 AM today and headed on to breakfast across the street from us. Each morning, breakfast is included in our stay here at the international dormatories. They serve bao zi, or buns stuffed with various things like pork or vegetables, a few xiao xai or small plates or pickled vegetables, and a few other things. The SU students (students who are currently 2nd years who will head on over to UW next year) came and picked us up in the lobby and we headed out to Dujiangyan. It has been rather interesting because out of the UW students here...I am the only one who can speak Chinese. So...SU students like to pair up with them to talk to them in English. And so, usually the professors come and talk to me. I guess that's pretty fair. I get to practice my Chinese with them. So, here is a picture of us on the bus heading on over to our first stop.
There are a total of 15 SU students who are planning on going to the states and 7 of us (although only 6 of us are actually here. the 7th student is currently in korea and is joining us in about 10 days.) This picture lacks some of the students sitting in front of me...so...:) yeah. just wanted to make sure. So, a little history about the places we went to, DuJiangyan is an ancient water conservancy project dating back to the Qing dynasty (256 B.C.) It was designed and built by the governor of Shu county called Libing. It's main purpose was and still is to prevent flooding in the surrounding area as well as a method of irrigation. Because of its existence, the plains of Chengdu have been called "The Land of Abundance." Besides its hydrolic functions, Dujiangyan is also regarded as a symbol of Chinese culture. It has been incorporated into Shu culture and has also had a large impact on Chinese culture. So, the following are some pictures of the trail to the area the Chinese term: fish mouth. It diverts the water from the inflowing sediments.

chengdu

2006-08-23T21:39:00.000+08:00

hey everyone,
i am not going to say much in this entry...mostly because i am using my roommate's computer and i have an entry that i made at the airport on my computer. so....following the posting of that...i will tell you all about my pretty frightening start here at chengdu. in the meantime...i'm doing fine. I have moved into a temporary on-campus housing and is pretty like a hotel room. There are two of us...me and Sarah. I went and got a cell phone today...but because the school had us do a couple of things such as getting a physical, taking a chinese exam to test our language proficiency, and a meeting with our research advitors, i didnt get the chance to purchase a sim card to use in my phone nor the opportunity to complete my bank of china account so that i can purchase minutes. once i have everything in order...i will post my contact info.
i will be leaving with Steve (my professor from UW) and 3 other students to yangjuan this coming friday evening. we are going to be taking the train to a city near the village and then take a car the rest of the way there. I will be there for about a week...until sept. 2 or 3. So....during this time...i probably will not have internet access and cant post...but i will definitely be posting about my time there once i get back to the city.
currently, me and song li yun (my SU friend who i met at UW when she came as a exchange student last year) are looking at apartments near the school. she was telling me about one that she went and looked at...and she said it looks pretty good. I am going to go check it out with her on friday...along with my other UW buddies cause they are also looking for a place to move out to. the rate for each night here in the room i am now in is outrageous...for students especially. we are currently paying 135 RMB for each night we are here...thats equal to about $17 US dollars. the place song li yun and i are looking at is about 1500 RMB a month....so that would be about 750 RMB for me...thats almost $100 a month....compare that to having to pay around $550 a month living in the place we are now. crazy! and that apartment complex has a elevator...something they dont have here. so...i had quite the time lugging all of my stuff up four flights of stairs.
:) i said i was going to keep this short...but it ended up being longer than i had expected. Ill leave details for my first night here in my next blog...so i guess im just about done with this one. oh...courses offered by SU are out. so many classes i want to take! currently...thinking about:
(1) Chinese Government and Politics
(2) The Historical Roots of Chinese Culture
(3) Modern Chinese History: 1911-Present
(4) Chinese Philosophy and Religion
(5) Major Historical Events of China Before the Yuan Dynasty
(6) Contemporary Chinese Culture and Society
(7) Chinese Politics: From Historical Ideas to Contemporary Realities
(8) Hydraulic Engineering in China: 2000 years of Water Resource Management
(9) Panda Research and Preservation
(10) Chinese Arts and Culture
(11) Intro. to Chinese Calligraphy
(12) Taiji Chuan

Of course...I'm not going to take these all at once...and they are in the order of what i want to take the most or least. we'll see how everything works out. IPE at UW requires us to do 36 UW credits in a given year...thats equal to 24 SU credits here...most of the classes i listed are 3 credits....actually all but the last three. so...decisions! decisions! decisions! I have to decide by Sept. 6...so....maybe ill use the time when im in yangjuan to decide. i also have to do research at the same time...so....we'll see how things work out. oh...to add to the list:

(13) Chinese

the only problem right now is that i cant read or write....especially simplified chinese. as a kid...i grew up going to chinese school learning traditional chinese...so some of the characters here are pretty odd looking. song li yun has said she'll help me with the chinese....but you know what? i can honestly say that i am looking forward to this school year! classes i actually have alot of interest in. i was also looking at their departments...and i think i might talk to our international students coordinator about sitting into some of their graduate level classes....i was thinking the medical classes and public health classes. im really interested to see what the chinese approach is. well...we have to get up early tomorrow for two field trips.

the first is to Mt Qingcheng. there are alot of taoist temples here.
the second is dujiangyan. ill post more info and pictures later once i have been there and have photos to show.

hope everyone is doing well!!

...packing & goodbyes for now

2006-08-21T08:25:00.000+08:00

Today is my last full day in the U.S. Texas has been...well...a journey itself. I do have to say, though, that the scorching weather here has prepared me for the blazing heat in Chengdu...sort of. Granted, Texas is more of a desert while southern China...well...hot and humid. But, it's better preparation than none. Although I've been packing for the past couple of days, I think I finally have everything in order. Just a few more things here and there. I am taking with me only 2 pieces of luggage...a backpack...and a computer bag. I figured I would probably buy things that I might have forgotten once I get there. So, the flight itself. Here's my itinerary:

August 21, 2006
7:10 AM Leave San Antonio
--> Arrive in Houston at 8:15 AM

9:15 AM Leave Houston
--> Arrive in Los Angeles at 10:42 AM

1:30 PM Leave Los Angeles
August 22, 2006
--> Arrive in Shanghai 6:15 PM

9:05 PM Leave Shanghai
--> Arrive in Cheungdu at 11:55 PM

...a what? 19 hour flight with quite a few layovers. I'm just glad to have the time I do have on the ground so that I won't run into too much trouble trying to get from one flight to another.

Although I have traveled by myself before...I have never been so far away. Truthfully, I am feeling a bit nervous about tomorrow. :) Crossing my fingers and hoping that everything will turn out okay. Well, I suppose that's it for now. I should probably double check to see if I accidentally packed away "liquids, lotions, or gels" in my carry luggage. Wouldn't want to be labeled a "terrorist" now would I?

To end this first entry...I want to leave y'all with a Daoist quote...given that I will be really close to the temple where Daosim all began...

...the journey of three hundred miles began with the feet. A journey of a thousand li begins right where one stands, even with the very first step....

:)...so...these are my first steps...

千里 之行，始於足下。~道德经