Sunday, March 1, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
This will be a very short entry. I first want to reply to Uncle John's email that I have regrettably not replied to yet. I have tried the sui mai and it is very good and also very cheap (only 4 RMB). However, I have yet to find any filled with shrimp but I must not be looking in the right places. Don't worry, I will continue my releantless search for the har gau =). I read in your email that you should use serving chopsticks to pick up shared food and that you should turn your chopsticks around using the thinker end to pick up shared food should serving shopsticks not exist. I have not encountered serving shopsticks yet nor have I seen others use the thicker end of their chopsticks to pick up shared food, however, I have a theory for why I have not seen such things. I usually eat at very cheap restaurants that do have good food but obviously cater to a very low class of people. I think that the manners present in most of these restaurants are subpar. In spite of not seeing the method of using the thinker end I have decided to use it; especially when large amounts of locals are present. One local did take notice and complemented my methods. I have had duck in Beijing but it was prepared in a russian fassion. There is a very famous duck restaurant near our school that I plan on going to within the next week. I will be sure to get the Peiking(sp?) Duck. Do you have any specific restaurants that you would suggest? I'd love to hear of some great sushi restaurants.
As soon as I log off I am going to the gym and then studying chinese for a few more hours. If any new adventures develope before the day ends I will be sure to put them up on here. Hope everyone back home is doing well.
As soon as I log off I am going to the gym and then studying chinese for a few more hours. If any new adventures develope before the day ends I will be sure to put them up on here. Hope everyone back home is doing well.
Friday, February 20, 2009
For the past week I have been studying Chinese every night and going to class most of the day. When I haven't been doing that I've been running, working out, and searching for drunken girls who have managed to go home with some random Chinese person. Last night was the first night I've had a night out in a little over a week.
Yesterday my floor of the apartment had an interesting meeting with one faculty member. Over a week ago some guys on my floor including myself decided to have a get together and invite some of the people in our program. Well the night went well, no one was hurt, and everyone had a great time. Two days ago our entire apartment complex (only the 17 Americans not the Chinese that live here) were told that they had to attend a mandatory meeting for a noise complaint. Then yesterday another email was sent out saying that only floor 5 of the apartment (my floor) had to attend this meeting. Turns out the faculty member was not mad at us. She just wanted to give us tips for not being so loud (I guess the Chinese are very sensitive to this), however, our entire apartment had no idea what the noise complaint was about (many different groups here have been loud and other things of sorts have taken place not involving us). In an effort to save themselves from what they thought could be trouble, many other who attended our party and have been loud as well decided to throw our floor "under the bus". Luckily it was no big deal at all and no one was actually mad but it was interesting to find out what the people on this trip will do in situations that have the potential to get "hot".
My film class went to the Chinese Film History Museum 2 days ago. The museum was absolutely massive. The most interestign part about the museum was not the information within but rather the building itself. There was a spiral ramp hugging the outer wall of a cylindrical opening with a diameter of about 200 to 300 feet in the middle of the museum. It wrapped around the outer wall for about 5 stories. The lighting inside was very interesting too. Each room seemed to have a theme of sorts such as gree, purple, etc. We also watched an IMAX film about a recent space mission. They gave us 3D glasses and the movie truely looked 3D. In terms of the history presented within the museum, much of it was propaganda that I cannot get into here.
Alot of people are going to a DJ tonight called Paul Van Dyke. Apparently its being held at a massive club that is several stories high and has a hydraulic dance floor. I have never herd of this DJ but he is supposed to be really famous. I am not planning on going which may be a mistake but I just need some time to myself.
I am missing bid day at home tonight (this morning for me). I wish I was there for that. We gave out 27 bids and 24 were accepted. Ive been told this might be the best group of guys weve had yet. I have to run. Everyones going to eat. Ill try to update this more often than I have.
Yesterday my floor of the apartment had an interesting meeting with one faculty member. Over a week ago some guys on my floor including myself decided to have a get together and invite some of the people in our program. Well the night went well, no one was hurt, and everyone had a great time. Two days ago our entire apartment complex (only the 17 Americans not the Chinese that live here) were told that they had to attend a mandatory meeting for a noise complaint. Then yesterday another email was sent out saying that only floor 5 of the apartment (my floor) had to attend this meeting. Turns out the faculty member was not mad at us. She just wanted to give us tips for not being so loud (I guess the Chinese are very sensitive to this), however, our entire apartment had no idea what the noise complaint was about (many different groups here have been loud and other things of sorts have taken place not involving us). In an effort to save themselves from what they thought could be trouble, many other who attended our party and have been loud as well decided to throw our floor "under the bus". Luckily it was no big deal at all and no one was actually mad but it was interesting to find out what the people on this trip will do in situations that have the potential to get "hot".
My film class went to the Chinese Film History Museum 2 days ago. The museum was absolutely massive. The most interestign part about the museum was not the information within but rather the building itself. There was a spiral ramp hugging the outer wall of a cylindrical opening with a diameter of about 200 to 300 feet in the middle of the museum. It wrapped around the outer wall for about 5 stories. The lighting inside was very interesting too. Each room seemed to have a theme of sorts such as gree, purple, etc. We also watched an IMAX film about a recent space mission. They gave us 3D glasses and the movie truely looked 3D. In terms of the history presented within the museum, much of it was propaganda that I cannot get into here.
Alot of people are going to a DJ tonight called Paul Van Dyke. Apparently its being held at a massive club that is several stories high and has a hydraulic dance floor. I have never herd of this DJ but he is supposed to be really famous. I am not planning on going which may be a mistake but I just need some time to myself.
I am missing bid day at home tonight (this morning for me). I wish I was there for that. We gave out 27 bids and 24 were accepted. Ive been told this might be the best group of guys weve had yet. I have to run. Everyones going to eat. Ill try to update this more often than I have.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Today I met one of my host students at UIBE named Shan and went to lunch. We ordered shrimp that was deep fried with the shell still on. I started to peel the shell off but I received awkward glances by Shan. I decided to just eat the shrimp, shell and all, and accept this as one more part of the culture that was different. It wasnt too bad but would have without a doubt been better had the shell been pealed.
Shan's english was pretty decent and he dove right into deep conversation with me about politics. He wanted to know how I felt about Obama as well as Iraq. He seemed to know more about the US than many Americans. I decided to take advantage of this situation and see how much he knew about his own country and if he had any idea of the censorship that takes place. When I Asked him if he trusted everything that the media printed, he said definitely not. But when we began to talk about Mao it was clear that he held a high level of respect for the man. We talked about many other controversial issues that I cannot write about here because the government will shut down this blog but we talked for atleast an hour about many political issues.
I want to tutor some chinese to help them learn English. I was told about a website: thebeijinger.com where there are listing for people interested in tutors. As I was looking through the ads I found one that I liked and called. Im supposed to meet up with her tomorrow for lunch. This seems very random but apparently this is pretty typical here.
I should be studying for my chinese test tomorrow so I'm going to sign off. Today overall was not too exciting but there have not been too many boring days here and I'm sure tomorrow will be interesting.
Shan's english was pretty decent and he dove right into deep conversation with me about politics. He wanted to know how I felt about Obama as well as Iraq. He seemed to know more about the US than many Americans. I decided to take advantage of this situation and see how much he knew about his own country and if he had any idea of the censorship that takes place. When I Asked him if he trusted everything that the media printed, he said definitely not. But when we began to talk about Mao it was clear that he held a high level of respect for the man. We talked about many other controversial issues that I cannot write about here because the government will shut down this blog but we talked for atleast an hour about many political issues.
I want to tutor some chinese to help them learn English. I was told about a website: thebeijinger.com where there are listing for people interested in tutors. As I was looking through the ads I found one that I liked and called. Im supposed to meet up with her tomorrow for lunch. This seems very random but apparently this is pretty typical here.
I should be studying for my chinese test tomorrow so I'm going to sign off. Today overall was not too exciting but there have not been too many boring days here and I'm sure tomorrow will be interesting.
Starting a Blog
Today I am starting a blog that I plan on updating almost every day at the end of each day. This will be a fairly informal account of my adventures in China. I may also create a top 10 list each week for the things I consider to be outrageous, funny, or interesting. Right now I am about to go look for some lunch but I plan on writing about my day tonight.
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