China

6/20/09
I've been in China about a week now. Started getting used to the rhythm of life
here. Roommate is back after a week in quarantine for being on a plane with
someone who had swine flu. Tried out some restaurants in the area. Eat food
ranging from 3 kuai a meal to 40 kuai. That's not including an interesting
street I discovered which I will talk about more later.

Along with most of the other people in Duke's program in Beijing, I joined a gym
nearby named "Hokay" (I think they wanted to write "okay") which is really
great.

One can get a phone, tea, food, clothes, school supplies, and a million other
things at the nearby knockoff Wall-mart, the WuMei.

Basically Beijing is a ring road city with major roads forming circles which
spread out from the center of the city. Between the first and third road is
downtown. The third road to the fifth road is the suburbs, and past the fifth
road is the countryside. Capital Normal University, where the program is,
borders the third road. At the University I'm staying in the international
students housing which is basically a beautiful and very modern hotel populated
by hundreds of foreigners, mostly Koreans, learning Chinese. There is a general
store and an absurdly expensive cafe on the first floor. First week we took
classes nearby but next week we will start taking classes on a different place
on campus.

Class is between 3 and 4 hours a day. We have a quiz every day and a test
Friday. Every day we have to do homework assignments, study grammar, and
memorize 50 words. On the weekends we have to interview local students or other
people and write essays in Chinese. This week I talked to two students about
their daily life. One was a Philosophy major and one was a film studies major.
The average student dorms are not like the fancy place we stay in. They live
cramped 6 in a dorm without air conditioning. Both were very friendly and
patient with my bad Chinese.

In addition to class, we also meet Monday through Thursday with our language
partner, who I just met yesterday. She is a getting a masters in History from
the University and plans to teach in high school after college. She is from
Sichuan Province and judging from the fact that she has siblings, she is
probably from the countryside. Her family name is Zhou, and her given name is
something I can't pronounce.

The air in Beijing is famously horrible. There were days were the visibility was
one block. But I should mention just as many days had beautiful blue skies, and
the city has cleaned up a lot since before the Olympics.

Today was a very special day. We went on a class trip to Tian'anmen Square and
the Forbidden City. Tian'anmen Square, the world's largest public square, abuts
fronts the massive walls of the (now a museum) Forbidden City. It has a very
long history, though in the US is only talked about for its recent history. The
Forbidden City itself is well, huge. Larger than 10 times what I thought it
would be. It seemed to stretch for every. Gate after gate, courtyard after
courtyard. Towards the back we reached the imperial garden and from there some
pretty hills which were once dotted with shrines. Around 1900 (history I did
not know before coming her), a coalition of eight Western powers (including the
US), sacked the area, and stole off much of the treasures. Two massive pots
which were two heavy to carry had had the gold coating chipped off them. Blank
squares lay where Buddhist statues 30 feet tall once stood. Once shrine
remained which was stunningly beautiful and overlooked a view of all the
forbidden city and much of Beijing beyond.

This evening I decided to check out a street a friend told me he had come
across. It's about a five or ten minute walk from where I live. Basically a
Chinese ghetto, bars on the windows, etc. But I felt safe. But it was full of
people selling delicious food, talking, drinking. A very authentic Chinese
neighborhood (not a single foreigner in sight). Mostly a minority community
with Hui and Uighur Muslims from Shaanxi and Xinjiang, Tibetans, and Han from
far off Hebei and Anhui. The food was unbelievable and very cheap. A huge
bottle of Yanjing beer (the water of the people in this country) was 2.50 (not
that I bought it). A bowl Anhui spicy tofu was 2 dollars. Some Chinese baked
goods totalled 2.50. Some Veggie fried bread thing from some Shaanxi Muslims
was 2 kuai. Fried eggplant was 50 cents. And this was Chinese dollars! 10 kuai
filled me with a ton of food from more places than I could even imagine. It was
lively beyond anything I'd ever seen before, but its poverty was obvious, and a
20 minute walk from houses more ostentatious than anything I've seen before.

Tomorrow we get to meet a Taijiquan (Taichi) teacher who I think will be
teaching a class every morning at 6:30. Very excited.

Enjoying China, miss everyone back home,
Manny