Here's my top ten things that I like about China so far.
10. It's acceptable to burp at the dinner table.
- Not to say that I do it, but I think it's really funny when my host mom and sister belch them out while we eat.
9. Cheap, cheap, cheap.
-- I told my mom the other day that we should forget about going to Bermuda for family vacation, lets go to China! Once you get here everything is cheap, food, hotel rooms, travel within China, everything (excludes Hong Kong).
8. You're a celebrity.
-- Anyone who knows any English automatically is interested in talking to you, if you have blond hair and blue eyes, they'll ask you to pose for pictures and hold their children.
7. Spitting is socially acceptable.
- everybody hauks lugies (spelling?) all the time. From middle aged men to college girls, there is no problem with spitting anywhere (inside in some circumstances is also acceptable).
6. Infinite cell phone service.
-- Good thing about communism, if they say they're putting a cell tower up, it goes up, ASAP.
5. You can get anywhere from anywhere via train.
-- It might take 52 hours to get there, but I can sit on a train and be in Tibet in a few short days, all at the fraction of the price that you would spend to fly a relative distance in the US (probably even cheaper than driving).
4. You never know what you'll see.
-- Just the things people carry on mopeds surprises me everyday, from oxygen tanks to barrels of water. I don't think there's a day that goes by where I can't say "never seen that before."
3. You can have a full sit down meal for less than five dollars.
2. You can have a filling meal on the street for about 50 cents.
1. Everyday is an adventure with new things to see with seemingly infinite places to go and explore.
-AL
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Beijing Parts three, four and five.
Sorry I've been neglecting my blogging duties, I'm always really tired when I get a chance to do so that I sleep rather than type, but my batteries are charged right now so I'm going to try and recap the last three days of my life for you in about 500 words or less.
So Tuesday morning was the big day, we were going to visit the Great Wall. Got on the bus at 8am and drove about an hour and a half through some small towns surrounding Beijing up into the mountains and to a very small section of the Great Wall. I say small section for two reasons; firstly the Great Wall isn't just one Great Wall, it's many Great Walls, that is to say they're not all connected, so it's impossible to just walk continuously on the wall without having to get off at some point. Secondly, the Great Wall is 2,000 miles long, we might of covered two of them.
I think I might have mentioned in an early post that this was the part of the Beijing trip that I was most looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. Where we were there were a few small villages, but no remnants of the vast city of 16 million people that we had just left, lots of beautiful mountains and other "natury" stuff (that's for you mom). Can't decide if it's more impressive that water carved the Grand Canyon or that man created the Great Wall. Very cool.
From there we drove through the country side for about an hour and visited the Ming Tombs where 13 of the 16 Ming emperors are buried, not that cool.
Wednesday we visited the Olympic Village, also very cool. We were able to tour both the water cube and the Birds nest (Birds nest is a lot bigger in person and water cube much smaller). We actually got down to the floor of the birds nest where we could sprawl out under a perfect sunny day. Kind of a surreal feeling being there after so many great athletes competed while I was half way around the world watching on TV.
Thursday we visited the Beijing urban planning museum which wasn't that cool but it did have an awesome model of the whole city. From the museum we went and checked out some old Hutong neighborhoods which date back to the Qing dynasty (200 years). We toured a guy's house, rode on rickshaws and visited the Drum and Bell tours which were how they use to communicate time back in the day before clocks.
Going to go check out some street markets today then we're back to Shanghai via train later tonight, it's been a great visit that has gone really fast. Hope all is well.
-AL
So Tuesday morning was the big day, we were going to visit the Great Wall. Got on the bus at 8am and drove about an hour and a half through some small towns surrounding Beijing up into the mountains and to a very small section of the Great Wall. I say small section for two reasons; firstly the Great Wall isn't just one Great Wall, it's many Great Walls, that is to say they're not all connected, so it's impossible to just walk continuously on the wall without having to get off at some point. Secondly, the Great Wall is 2,000 miles long, we might of covered two of them.
I think I might have mentioned in an early post that this was the part of the Beijing trip that I was most looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. Where we were there were a few small villages, but no remnants of the vast city of 16 million people that we had just left, lots of beautiful mountains and other "natury" stuff (that's for you mom). Can't decide if it's more impressive that water carved the Grand Canyon or that man created the Great Wall. Very cool.
From there we drove through the country side for about an hour and visited the Ming Tombs where 13 of the 16 Ming emperors are buried, not that cool.
Wednesday we visited the Olympic Village, also very cool. We were able to tour both the water cube and the Birds nest (Birds nest is a lot bigger in person and water cube much smaller). We actually got down to the floor of the birds nest where we could sprawl out under a perfect sunny day. Kind of a surreal feeling being there after so many great athletes competed while I was half way around the world watching on TV.
Thursday we visited the Beijing urban planning museum which wasn't that cool but it did have an awesome model of the whole city. From the museum we went and checked out some old Hutong neighborhoods which date back to the Qing dynasty (200 years). We toured a guy's house, rode on rickshaws and visited the Drum and Bell tours which were how they use to communicate time back in the day before clocks.
Going to go check out some street markets today then we're back to Shanghai via train later tonight, it's been a great visit that has gone really fast. Hope all is well.
-AL
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Part Three Beijing: Summer Palace
So yesterday (Monday) got up and went to this cool little cafe/library called the bookworm where we have all of our talks in the morning. Talking to us was one of my professors friends who is an American born Chinese but lives in Beijing today. His name is Kaiser and was and is a big part of the Chinese rock n'roll movement, he certainly looks the part also, long hair, blue jeans and a leather jacket he certainly looked like a rocker. So the first half of his talk was all about his story and the evolution of rock/pop/metal in China, then in the second half he changed hats and started talking about his life as an Internet guru and how the Internet has shaped China (especially the young people of China) today.
Following Kaiser's talk we headed out to the Summer Palace which is like the summer home for the emperor. It's pretty impressive to say the least. There's a great big man made lake that a few of my pengyous (friends) and I cruised around on in a paddle boat. There's also a huge stone ship that was built at the end of one of the Dynasty's (can't remember if it was the Ming or Qing) anyways it was built by the emperor's concubine who is basically blamed for the down fall of the dynasty.
Overall had a great day. Forgot to mention that for lunch in between Kaiser's talk and the summer palace we went to a western restaurant right by the bookworm where they had 1 quai wings. Anyways if you ate 40 wings you got a free t-shirt. A couple of my buddies and I couldn't turn down a challenge, only problem was we needed to eat the last twenty in like 15 minutes so we could catch the bus to the summer palace. It was a challenge, but we got it done.
-AL
Following Kaiser's talk we headed out to the Summer Palace which is like the summer home for the emperor. It's pretty impressive to say the least. There's a great big man made lake that a few of my pengyous (friends) and I cruised around on in a paddle boat. There's also a huge stone ship that was built at the end of one of the Dynasty's (can't remember if it was the Ming or Qing) anyways it was built by the emperor's concubine who is basically blamed for the down fall of the dynasty.
Overall had a great day. Forgot to mention that for lunch in between Kaiser's talk and the summer palace we went to a western restaurant right by the bookworm where they had 1 quai wings. Anyways if you ate 40 wings you got a free t-shirt. A couple of my buddies and I couldn't turn down a challenge, only problem was we needed to eat the last twenty in like 15 minutes so we could catch the bus to the summer palace. It was a challenge, but we got it done.
-AL
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Part Two: Tiananmen Square/ Forbidden City
So after getting off the train we met our tour guide for the week, Robert (he's Chinese but a lot of Chinese people have English names also), from there we got onto our bus and went and checked into our hotel (that's another blog) and had breakfast. This was all to be done in an hour and then be back on the bus to go to this little cafe/ library where we are going to be having guest lectures all week. Lecturing us yesterday was one of our professors friends who is an American but has been living in Beijing for the last twenty years working as a journalist for United Press International (UPI). He was actually at Tinanmen Square in 1989 when the Chinese army rolled in (I'll explain below for those not familiar with this incident). He was giving us a talk on the last 600 years of Beijing history and the different phases its gone through. It was a really good talk, but it would of been a lot better if the only thing on everybody's mind hadn't been trying to stay awake.
So after we broke we went to lunch (pizza, first time while in China), and then thanks to the begging and pleading of our class our professors agreed to let us go back to the hotel to take an hour long nap (a bit of a tease, but much needed). Following the hour to nap/shower/whatever, we were back on the bus headed to Tiananmen Square.
Tiananmen Square is most famous for the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, a lot of you probably remember this, but for a while there had been protests happening at the square when the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) rolled in and turned their guns on their own people, kind of a big deal. So the square is directly in front of the Forbidden city where all of the emperors lived since the Ming Dynasty (a long time ago).
Extravagant is one word that immediately comes to mind when describing the Forbidden City, huge is the other. It is 72 hectales (not entirely sure what a hectale is), something like 900m by 600+ m, with 8,004 rooms. You get in there and you just keep walking through these huge doors and it keeps leading to more and more city, it looks like it's never going to end. Of course all of the rooms are painted with unbelievable detail, stone carvings, everything fit for an emperor.
Finally, after climbing this hill overlooking the whole city, we climbed on the bus and headed back, shower, dinner, bed. Headed to an art district today, supposed to be pretty cool, I'll let you know how it goes.
-AL
So after we broke we went to lunch (pizza, first time while in China), and then thanks to the begging and pleading of our class our professors agreed to let us go back to the hotel to take an hour long nap (a bit of a tease, but much needed). Following the hour to nap/shower/whatever, we were back on the bus headed to Tiananmen Square.
Tiananmen Square is most famous for the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, a lot of you probably remember this, but for a while there had been protests happening at the square when the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) rolled in and turned their guns on their own people, kind of a big deal. So the square is directly in front of the Forbidden city where all of the emperors lived since the Ming Dynasty (a long time ago).
Extravagant is one word that immediately comes to mind when describing the Forbidden City, huge is the other. It is 72 hectales (not entirely sure what a hectale is), something like 900m by 600+ m, with 8,004 rooms. You get in there and you just keep walking through these huge doors and it keeps leading to more and more city, it looks like it's never going to end. Of course all of the rooms are painted with unbelievable detail, stone carvings, everything fit for an emperor.
Finally, after climbing this hill overlooking the whole city, we climbed on the bus and headed back, shower, dinner, bed. Headed to an art district today, supposed to be pretty cool, I'll let you know how it goes.
-AL
Beijing Part one: Getting there
Ni Hao wo de pengyous he jia (Hello friends and family). So I've made it safely to Beijing, had a good time on train (didn't sleep much, but had fun). So we were supposed to leave campus for the train station at six sharp on Friday evening, we didn't end up leaving till about 6:30 and trying to get through rush hour traffic to get to the train station in time was a little terrifying, but we made it. So their are 33 students on this trip and three teachers so we had enough to have a whole car to ourselves, which was nice since we didn't have to worry about disturbing others with our rowdiness. It was dark for the whole time we were on the train so the only time we able to see outside of the train was in about the 15 minutes before we pulled into the station while we were all waking up.
My professor having done this trip a few times before was thinking ahead when he brought his guitar or as he called it "a karaoke machine" (karaoke is actually really big in China). So about 12 or so of us climbed into a cabin built for four and started belting out classics. Needless to say we had a pretty good time.
So we rolled into Beijing at seven am on Saturday, almost exactly twelve hours after we had boarded the train. While we did have soft sleepers, and were theoretically well rested, sleeping on a train is not exactly sleeping well, combined with having to be up a lot early than most of us are used to, we were all very tired. This was not ideal because as you'll see in the next segment of my 'Beijing series' we had a jam packed Saturday.
-AL
My professor having done this trip a few times before was thinking ahead when he brought his guitar or as he called it "a karaoke machine" (karaoke is actually really big in China). So about 12 or so of us climbed into a cabin built for four and started belting out classics. Needless to say we had a pretty good time.
So we rolled into Beijing at seven am on Saturday, almost exactly twelve hours after we had boarded the train. While we did have soft sleepers, and were theoretically well rested, sleeping on a train is not exactly sleeping well, combined with having to be up a lot early than most of us are used to, we were all very tired. This was not ideal because as you'll see in the next segment of my 'Beijing series' we had a jam packed Saturday.
-AL
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Headed upta Beijing
Hello all, so after four weeks of class and five weeks in Shanghai, it's time to take a break from it all and head north to Beijing, the capital city of China. So for all of next week till the 28th I'll be "reporting live" from Beijing (I'll try to write lots while I'm there ala). So we get on a bus here in Shanghai at six tonight that takes us to the train station for a 7:30 departure, then we have a nice 12 hour train ride to our final destination. Fortunately the program forked up the cash to get us soft sleepers on the train so we should be able to catch some zz's on our way up (I'm actually really looking forward to the ride, never been on a train before).
So we're doing a lot of sight seeing in Beijing, I know we're going to some old emperor's tomb, touring an old Beijing neighborhood, checking out the Olympic stuff, but the part that I'm am most excited for is the day we visit the Great Wall. One of my friends here who has visited before said that it's "awesome" and "won't let you down" (of course now I'm terrified it'll let me down). But it sounds like it has a lot of the same characteristics of the Grand Canyon in that pictures don't do it justice.
We are getting on a train for twelve hours that's headed in the northern direction, so the weather is going to feel a little more like Maine rather than Shanghai where everyday it's a little more like Memphis (Probably hit 70 yesterday, starting to get a little humid too, but no rain for a while now so everyone is happy). Not everyone is thrilled about traveling back into winter, but I think everyone is excited not to worry about Chinese homework for a few days.
So I'll be writing next from Beijing, hope all is well.
-AL
So we're doing a lot of sight seeing in Beijing, I know we're going to some old emperor's tomb, touring an old Beijing neighborhood, checking out the Olympic stuff, but the part that I'm am most excited for is the day we visit the Great Wall. One of my friends here who has visited before said that it's "awesome" and "won't let you down" (of course now I'm terrified it'll let me down). But it sounds like it has a lot of the same characteristics of the Grand Canyon in that pictures don't do it justice.
We are getting on a train for twelve hours that's headed in the northern direction, so the weather is going to feel a little more like Maine rather than Shanghai where everyday it's a little more like Memphis (Probably hit 70 yesterday, starting to get a little humid too, but no rain for a while now so everyone is happy). Not everyone is thrilled about traveling back into winter, but I think everyone is excited not to worry about Chinese homework for a few days.
So I'll be writing next from Beijing, hope all is well.
-AL
Monday, March 16, 2009
Modern China
Once again my Aunt Lee Ann is supplying the material for my blogs. In my last post she commented that she didn't realize that China was a developing nation, and she cited a few movies that make the argument for China as a super modern nation very effectively. Actually last Friday I had to go to this conference for one of my classes where a whole bunch of people who know way too much about China and have all written books proving it were talking about Shanghai's future. One professor was talking about how Shanghai in particular has always been at the forefront of modernization in China and how it's often served as the back drop for science fiction novels and movies because a lot of the city looks like IT IS science fiction.
Do a google image search of "Shanghai, China" sometime and just look at the pictures of the skyline, it's packed with not just skyscrapers but with some strange looking architectural feats. The maglev train that runs from the the airport into the heart of the city "is the first commercial high speed mag-lev train in the world" traveling at the mind boggling rate of over 300 mph (Wikipedia). And Shanghai, or china in general show no signs of slowing down (that's a whole other post).
But China is a developing nation, even though you would probably never guess it if you visited the Bund (that's what all the pictures are of). Some of you might remember a China that was by all means a communist state with a government operated economy (as opposed to a capitalist system). I'm sure you've all heard of Chairman Mao, it wasn't long ago that his campaigns in many ways nearly destroyed an entire generation in attempt to industrialize rapidly. But in 1978 the Reform years began with Deng Xiaoping who basically reinvented China's economy, opening things up and giving birth to the rising power that China is today.
So in just over thirty years China has gone from being almost a non-factor in global terms to a rising power that, by the way, just recently took the title from the Japanese of owning the most US bonds. China's growth is nothing short of incredible but it is still a developing nation.
Do a google image search of "Shanghai, China" sometime and just look at the pictures of the skyline, it's packed with not just skyscrapers but with some strange looking architectural feats. The maglev train that runs from the the airport into the heart of the city "is the first commercial high speed mag-lev train in the world" traveling at the mind boggling rate of over 300 mph (Wikipedia). And Shanghai, or china in general show no signs of slowing down (that's a whole other post).
But China is a developing nation, even though you would probably never guess it if you visited the Bund (that's what all the pictures are of). Some of you might remember a China that was by all means a communist state with a government operated economy (as opposed to a capitalist system). I'm sure you've all heard of Chairman Mao, it wasn't long ago that his campaigns in many ways nearly destroyed an entire generation in attempt to industrialize rapidly. But in 1978 the Reform years began with Deng Xiaoping who basically reinvented China's economy, opening things up and giving birth to the rising power that China is today.
So in just over thirty years China has gone from being almost a non-factor in global terms to a rising power that, by the way, just recently took the title from the Japanese of owning the most US bonds. China's growth is nothing short of incredible but it is still a developing nation.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Why China?
Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been pretty busy and I haven't had a lot of ground shattering news to share.
For those who didn't see one of the comments on my last blog my Aunt Lee Ann asked me why I chose to come to China rather than a European nation, I think this is blog worthy.
I was actually talking to my mom the other day (via skype) about how I really didn't have much of a desire to go to Europe other than to say that I've been. To me Europe is very similar to the US in that we operate with similar political institutions, we have comparable wealth, and is a very 'secure' kind of place. When I chose to come to China I was looking to get outside of my element, I figured my background in developed, wealthy, western countries was all ready pretty good. For this reason developing or undeveloped countries are much more attractive to me (China is developing).
Now I really shouldn't be judging Europe considering that I've never been. There is certainly a lot of rich history, great food, drink, architecture and language, also you can apparently see a lot of Europe in one trip thanks to a great train system and the European Union. So maybe I'll visit Europe some day and love it, but till then I'm very happy with my decision to come to China.
For those who didn't see one of the comments on my last blog my Aunt Lee Ann asked me why I chose to come to China rather than a European nation, I think this is blog worthy.
I was actually talking to my mom the other day (via skype) about how I really didn't have much of a desire to go to Europe other than to say that I've been. To me Europe is very similar to the US in that we operate with similar political institutions, we have comparable wealth, and is a very 'secure' kind of place. When I chose to come to China I was looking to get outside of my element, I figured my background in developed, wealthy, western countries was all ready pretty good. For this reason developing or undeveloped countries are much more attractive to me (China is developing).
Now I really shouldn't be judging Europe considering that I've never been. There is certainly a lot of rich history, great food, drink, architecture and language, also you can apparently see a lot of Europe in one trip thanks to a great train system and the European Union. So maybe I'll visit Europe some day and love it, but till then I'm very happy with my decision to come to China.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Chinese Test
So I had my first Chinese test on Tuesday, got it back today and I did well by any standard as far as I'm concerned. I got a 93 (out of a hundred), which just so happened to be the highest grade in the class. I would call that "feichang hao" (very, very good). Just had to brag myself up a bit.
-AL
-AL
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
One year later...
So it's dawned on me while I procrastinate from writing Chinese characters for homework, that at the end of the week spring break will begin for my classmates at St. Lawrence. Now I distinctly remember my spring break last year not because I was lying on a beach in some tropical climate, or was traveling visiting friends or even doing nothing besides sleeping. One year ago from this weekend I was in the restaurant dusting, and dusting, and dusting (of course we did the project of putting in the big windows on the second floor in front of the restaurant). So last year I spent spring break dusting.
Of course at this point in time I hadn't even thought about studying abroad, let alone going to China. The idea of studying abroad wasn't anywhere near my radar screen. But here I am one year later in one of the most populated cities in the world (20 million, NYC has just under nine million inhabitants), learning Chinese, eating 'weird' food and living with people who four weeks ago had never met, or even knew existed.
It's amazing what can happen in a year.
-AL
Of course at this point in time I hadn't even thought about studying abroad, let alone going to China. The idea of studying abroad wasn't anywhere near my radar screen. But here I am one year later in one of the most populated cities in the world (20 million, NYC has just under nine million inhabitants), learning Chinese, eating 'weird' food and living with people who four weeks ago had never met, or even knew existed.
It's amazing what can happen in a year.
-AL
whoops
So I've posted a new blog, but because I started it, saved it and wrote other ones since, it's down a few, just scroll down to check it out. It's titled Conservation.
-AL
-AL
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The Gym
While I am abroad, I am also still a college athlete, and therefore expected to still be lifting and getting stronger. So I've joined a gym with two other SLU football players (and a bunch of other kids who are in our program), and we lift every Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. The gym is about a 30 minute walk from my home stay, but their is always a lot to look at so I don't mind too much, granted it is a lot further than at school or even at home.
The quality of the gym is fairly high, they have all of the necessities in terms of weights as well as a big multipurpose room where we can do abs and stretch. The weights of course are all in metric, so I don't know exactly what I'm doing for weight, but 'heavy' and 'light' are international measurements.
We definitely stand out when we lift, we are certainly all a lot bigger than almost everyone else in there, and with that we're usually lifting quite a bit more. The other day when I was getting ready to squat, I picked up the bar, stepped back and looked into the mirror and saw about five or six Asian faces staring back at me... it's really pretty weird.
One of the first days I was there I wanted to use some dumbbells that someone had put down, of course I couldn't actually ask him if I could use them because I can't speak hardly any Chinese, so I just kind of gestured toward them. He was very confused about what I wanted so a kid from the program who happened to be there at the same time and speaks really good Chinese interpreted for us. Afterward they were talking and apparently the Chinese guy thought I must of been some Russian weight lifter.
Anyways, a trip to the gym is always pretty eventful.
-AL
PS. I know I wrote about being able to teach at a migrant school, and I'm going to, but so many of us signed up that they split us into two groups, and my group doesn't start till April. So when April comes I'll be sure to write about that but till then it's just 'gym' stories.
The quality of the gym is fairly high, they have all of the necessities in terms of weights as well as a big multipurpose room where we can do abs and stretch. The weights of course are all in metric, so I don't know exactly what I'm doing for weight, but 'heavy' and 'light' are international measurements.
We definitely stand out when we lift, we are certainly all a lot bigger than almost everyone else in there, and with that we're usually lifting quite a bit more. The other day when I was getting ready to squat, I picked up the bar, stepped back and looked into the mirror and saw about five or six Asian faces staring back at me... it's really pretty weird.
One of the first days I was there I wanted to use some dumbbells that someone had put down, of course I couldn't actually ask him if I could use them because I can't speak hardly any Chinese, so I just kind of gestured toward them. He was very confused about what I wanted so a kid from the program who happened to be there at the same time and speaks really good Chinese interpreted for us. Afterward they were talking and apparently the Chinese guy thought I must of been some Russian weight lifter.
Anyways, a trip to the gym is always pretty eventful.
-AL
PS. I know I wrote about being able to teach at a migrant school, and I'm going to, but so many of us signed up that they split us into two groups, and my group doesn't start till April. So when April comes I'll be sure to write about that but till then it's just 'gym' stories.
Fabric Market
Just got back from shopping at the fabric market with two of my friends from SLU and my host sister. The fabric market is three levels of stores packed with vendors selling coats, suits, dresses, silk, ties, belts, jewelry and more. I was sure to bring a limited cash supply going in, but I made out much better than I thought I would, even considering the cheap prices.
I bought... four ties (100 quai), 1 cashmere coat (500 quai), 1 grey suit (330 quai) and two shirts (190 quai). Keep in mind that all has to be tailored because I am much larger than most Chinese men. Thats a grand total of 1,120 RMB, or about 160 USD, pretty good deal.
My sister said I did a good job of bargaining down the price of my jacket, they initially offered it to me at 680 RMB, I told them I could get the same thing for 500 (truth). They then tried to convince me that theirs was of much higher quality (truth), I told them I didn't care (lie). Anyways they went from 680 to 620 to 600, to 560 to 550 to 520 and then very reluctantly to 500 (yes!). 500 RMB is about 75 dollars.
Anyways we had a good time, also got some good quality time in with my Zhong Guo chichi(China Sister).
-AL
P.S. I've been neglecting to tell you all my Chinese name, Li Anze. Li is my family name and Anze literally translates to "safe water land." There is no symbolic reason why that's my name it just happens to sound the closest to 'Andrew Leiser.'
I bought... four ties (100 quai), 1 cashmere coat (500 quai), 1 grey suit (330 quai) and two shirts (190 quai). Keep in mind that all has to be tailored because I am much larger than most Chinese men. Thats a grand total of 1,120 RMB, or about 160 USD, pretty good deal.
My sister said I did a good job of bargaining down the price of my jacket, they initially offered it to me at 680 RMB, I told them I could get the same thing for 500 (truth). They then tried to convince me that theirs was of much higher quality (truth), I told them I didn't care (lie). Anyways they went from 680 to 620 to 600, to 560 to 550 to 520 and then very reluctantly to 500 (yes!). 500 RMB is about 75 dollars.
Anyways we had a good time, also got some good quality time in with my Zhong Guo chichi(China Sister).
-AL
P.S. I've been neglecting to tell you all my Chinese name, Li Anze. Li is my family name and Anze literally translates to "safe water land." There is no symbolic reason why that's my name it just happens to sound the closest to 'Andrew Leiser.'
Friday, March 6, 2009
Conservation
For those of you who have not visited China (I think that might be everyone), I imagine that the image of China's environment you may have is not exactly flattering. You are right. Shanghai's air quality on a good day if worse than LA's on their worst (and much of that pollution is correlated to China). The poor air quality combined with the fact that the vast majority of Chinese people smoke has led to pulmonary disease becoming the number one killer of Chinese people.
But at least for my self when I think of air pollution back home I picture SUV's and pick up trucks, things that are very few in China. The pollution that China endures is mainly the product of 1) their very fast growing economy, many, many factories dot hundreds of cities along the east coast of China and with a poor incentive structure for environmental protection they are largely responsible for the gross pollution of the air and water (although tighter regulations are beginning). 2) The incredible population of China (1.3 BILLION people) has led to deforestation, causing flooding and all sorts of other problems. But the source of the problem is not individuals unlike what many would argue is the source of America's environmental woes.
Example: very, very few people drive cars. If you have a car in Shanghai, you do very well for yourself. And most of the cars that are on the road are fuel efficient, lots of VW's, Toyota's, some Chinese models and the elite drive BMW's and Mercedes.' But if you have a veihicle at all in this city it probably has only two wheels. Mopeds, bicycles, bikes with the wind up electric motors are all very common as well as fleets of motorcycle taxis (caught one on the way home from the gym the other day, beats the heck out of any roller coaster). There are very few SUV's and no pickups.
Also Chinese people generally don't heat their homes as I mentioned previously. There is no central heating system that I've been able to find yet and while homes seem to always have heaters in them, they are almost guaranteed to be off, meaning no electricity, meaning no burning of fossil fuels, meaning no pollution.
An example of Chinese conservation: In my host families home, their bathtub has a leak, rather than allowing it to drip down the drain (or fix it) they put a bucket under the faucet and catch the water. That water is then boiled and put in big thermoses around the house (probably three or for of them). The water from the thermos is then used to fill hot water bottles that we hold and sleep with to help stay warm, because they don't use any heat.
So why is it that Chinese people seem to take conservation very seriously, at least on an individual level? The simple answer is because to be wasteful is very expensive by Chinese standards. Apparently electricity rates during the day are through the roof, so the solution is to simply not use any, or as little as possible. But some would argue that there is a deeper more philosophical reason that has led to this. Confucian ideology is big into the environment, saving water, and nature, there are many sayings in Confucianism that support the protection of the environment from waste and destruction.
So is China's environment really, gross? Yes. Could it be worse? Definitely.
-AL
But at least for my self when I think of air pollution back home I picture SUV's and pick up trucks, things that are very few in China. The pollution that China endures is mainly the product of 1) their very fast growing economy, many, many factories dot hundreds of cities along the east coast of China and with a poor incentive structure for environmental protection they are largely responsible for the gross pollution of the air and water (although tighter regulations are beginning). 2) The incredible population of China (1.3 BILLION people) has led to deforestation, causing flooding and all sorts of other problems. But the source of the problem is not individuals unlike what many would argue is the source of America's environmental woes.
Example: very, very few people drive cars. If you have a car in Shanghai, you do very well for yourself. And most of the cars that are on the road are fuel efficient, lots of VW's, Toyota's, some Chinese models and the elite drive BMW's and Mercedes.' But if you have a veihicle at all in this city it probably has only two wheels. Mopeds, bicycles, bikes with the wind up electric motors are all very common as well as fleets of motorcycle taxis (caught one on the way home from the gym the other day, beats the heck out of any roller coaster). There are very few SUV's and no pickups.
Also Chinese people generally don't heat their homes as I mentioned previously. There is no central heating system that I've been able to find yet and while homes seem to always have heaters in them, they are almost guaranteed to be off, meaning no electricity, meaning no burning of fossil fuels, meaning no pollution.
An example of Chinese conservation: In my host families home, their bathtub has a leak, rather than allowing it to drip down the drain (or fix it) they put a bucket under the faucet and catch the water. That water is then boiled and put in big thermoses around the house (probably three or for of them). The water from the thermos is then used to fill hot water bottles that we hold and sleep with to help stay warm, because they don't use any heat.
So why is it that Chinese people seem to take conservation very seriously, at least on an individual level? The simple answer is because to be wasteful is very expensive by Chinese standards. Apparently electricity rates during the day are through the roof, so the solution is to simply not use any, or as little as possible. But some would argue that there is a deeper more philosophical reason that has led to this. Confucian ideology is big into the environment, saving water, and nature, there are many sayings in Confucianism that support the protection of the environment from waste and destruction.
So is China's environment really, gross? Yes. Could it be worse? Definitely.
-AL
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Funny story.
So the other night at dinner my host mother abruptly stood up and walked into the kitchen, she then proceeded to bring out a pair of my boxers. My host mother (voluntarily) does my laundry (I couldn't tell her not to if I wanted to, my Chinese isn't that good). Anyways, she had been doing laundry that day and they have a washing machine in their apartment but no dryer, which fairly typical in Chinese homes apparently. So to dry the clothes they have a clothes line set up in the living room and they also hang some things out the windows. Of course I written about how cruddy the weather has been here, with all the rain. This makes drying clothes very difficult.
Soooooo, she appears with my boxers which don't appear to look quite right and then she holds them up and I can see that one whole leg is very singed. Apparently what I gathered through charades is that because it had been raining, and the clothes weren't drying she took my boxers into the kitchen and held them over the gas stove to speed up the drying process, she then dropped them and they caught on fire.
She seemed rather distressed about the situation, I thought it was pretty hilarious. She kept say "Wo dui bu qi, wo dui bu qi" (I'm sorry, I'm sorry) and I kept responding "meguanxi, meguanxi" (no big deal, no big deal).
Anyways I think it's pretty funny. These types of stories are definitely part of the home stay experience.
-AL
Soooooo, she appears with my boxers which don't appear to look quite right and then she holds them up and I can see that one whole leg is very singed. Apparently what I gathered through charades is that because it had been raining, and the clothes weren't drying she took my boxers into the kitchen and held them over the gas stove to speed up the drying process, she then dropped them and they caught on fire.
She seemed rather distressed about the situation, I thought it was pretty hilarious. She kept say "Wo dui bu qi, wo dui bu qi" (I'm sorry, I'm sorry) and I kept responding "meguanxi, meguanxi" (no big deal, no big deal).
Anyways I think it's pretty funny. These types of stories are definitely part of the home stay experience.
-AL
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Street Food
So after the first 10 days or so of being cautious and not trying any of the food available from various street vendors around the school I have come to try and love this food option. Fearful of poor sanitation and to quell my fathers worries of me catching some food borne illness, I did not knowingly eat any street food. However, my host mother feeds me the same thing every morning with few exceptions, and it is always very good. Like clock work she leaves the house about 8:40 and is back at 9 with a piping hot breakfast consisting of a bundt (not sure how to say or spell it, but I think that's right) which is like dough stuffed with a pork filling. She also brings me something else, which kind of reminds me of Mexican food, it's a little spicy and crunchy, with like a very thin 'egg-crepe' like wrap.
Walking to school one morning I noticed that people were buying the same thing that I had just eaten for breakfast from a street vendor. Seeing this I decided that it must be ok for me to start becoming slightly more adventurous with my dining choices. So far my favorite vendor food is this dough that they fry on a skillet with an egg, then they wrap a hot dog (or something that looks like a hot dog) and brush a little bbq-esque sauce. All available for five quai, or about 75 cents.
Of course I eat two squares at least at home with my Chinese family so I don't have too many chances to indulge. And just for the record I am yet to be ill on this trip from anything that I've ate or drank.
-AL
Walking to school one morning I noticed that people were buying the same thing that I had just eaten for breakfast from a street vendor. Seeing this I decided that it must be ok for me to start becoming slightly more adventurous with my dining choices. So far my favorite vendor food is this dough that they fry on a skillet with an egg, then they wrap a hot dog (or something that looks like a hot dog) and brush a little bbq-esque sauce. All available for five quai, or about 75 cents.
Of course I eat two squares at least at home with my Chinese family so I don't have too many chances to indulge. And just for the record I am yet to be ill on this trip from anything that I've ate or drank.
-AL
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Got back from the "small" city of Nanjing this afternoon (population 5 million) I also found out the Pat's traded Vrabel. Nanjing as I mentioned previously was the former capital of China back in the day, so it has a very rich history. We left Shanghai on Friday morning and drove the four hours (I had to pee very badly for at least two of those), and arrived at the Nanjing massacre memorial hall.
In 1937 (I think) the Japanese invaded China taking over Shanghai, Nanjing and other surrounding areas. When the Japanese forces reached Nanjing the Chinese army seeing that they were no match for the superior Japanese forces had already started to retreat, leaving civillian men, women and children unprotected. The result is the Nanjing massacre, where 300,000 Chinese were killed in a six month period (it's a very gloomy museum). Saw lots of artifacts and skeletons, but it was a good experience overall.
After visiting the museum we were able to check into our hotel, which was a very nice place, and I preceded to take a very long, very hot shower. Had the evening to ourselves and went to dinner with a group of classmates.
Saturday Morning we started by getting on the bus and driving to Sun-yat-Sen's Mausoleum. Sun-yat-sen was the leader of the democratic movement in China and the founder of the KMT which is now the government in place in Taiwan. His tomb is set up in this 'mountain' that you take a bunch of steps to get to, great views from above, except we couldn't really see the city because of the weather.
After that we checked out a Buddist temple, and climbed up a big Pagoda and got an even better view. The best part about this location was it was tucked away in the woods and there was a lot of green space rather than the concrete that makes up all of Shanghai.
Overall good trip (it didn't rain or snow!) had fun hanging out with the classmates and seeing the sites but now it's back to work learning Chinese.
-AL
In 1937 (I think) the Japanese invaded China taking over Shanghai, Nanjing and other surrounding areas. When the Japanese forces reached Nanjing the Chinese army seeing that they were no match for the superior Japanese forces had already started to retreat, leaving civillian men, women and children unprotected. The result is the Nanjing massacre, where 300,000 Chinese were killed in a six month period (it's a very gloomy museum). Saw lots of artifacts and skeletons, but it was a good experience overall.
After visiting the museum we were able to check into our hotel, which was a very nice place, and I preceded to take a very long, very hot shower. Had the evening to ourselves and went to dinner with a group of classmates.
Saturday Morning we started by getting on the bus and driving to Sun-yat-Sen's Mausoleum. Sun-yat-sen was the leader of the democratic movement in China and the founder of the KMT which is now the government in place in Taiwan. His tomb is set up in this 'mountain' that you take a bunch of steps to get to, great views from above, except we couldn't really see the city because of the weather.
After that we checked out a Buddist temple, and climbed up a big Pagoda and got an even better view. The best part about this location was it was tucked away in the woods and there was a lot of green space rather than the concrete that makes up all of Shanghai.
Overall good trip (it didn't rain or snow!) had fun hanging out with the classmates and seeing the sites but now it's back to work learning Chinese.
-AL
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
