The blog we’ve all been waiting for – including myself. I finally wrote it and hopefully you can see it! I’m having a great time in Beijing so far. I love it here.
ACC (Associated Colleges in China) I thought I’d describe the structure of the program in. In addition to just being amazing, the best part of ACC is its location. I’m about 15 minutes away from the best bar/club district in Beijing…ummm. ACC is associated with Hamilton College and is a very intense, well structured program. We have classes from 8-12 or 1 depending on what time you have your tutorial. I placed into level four (the highest level). Sometimes its tough, but I’m getting a lot out of it. From eight to noon we have da ban ke (or large class) six to seven students go over the lesson with a teacher. We review what the story was about and cover main sentence patterns. Then from 9:10-9:50 we have xiao ban ke (or small class) where about four students go over important sentence patterns with a teacher. Then from 10:10-11:00 we have dui hua ke (or dialogue class) where two students and one teacher debate/discuss the controversial issues regarding the lesson we just read. Then either from 11:10 to noon or from 12:10 to 1pm you have a one-on-one with the teacher. In level four there are 18 students, and 11 teachers. Plus, the teachers are available in the afternoons to answer questions and on weeknights they have office hours. They are really here to help us succeed. So far I feel okay about the program. Even though I feel that I’m not learning that much because all I do is prepare the 100+ words I need to now for the dictation for the next day, I am learning a lot. So far four weeks into the program I’m listening to the news and reading the newspaper. I feel more and more comfortable with the language and you know you know the language when you know the meaning of the work in Chinese but not in English. By the end of the program in August my Chinese will be amazing (fingers crossed). The program is intense, after lunch I usually nap and start my homework. It’s very demanding but you get a lot out it. It’s rewarding to know you can talk about current events and controversial issues in Chinese. So from Monday to Thursday I have class and then on Friday mornings I have a test. After the test, all of fourth grade goes on a field trip. So far we’ve been to two places: 798 and Lu Xun’s home.
Friday Fieldtrips
798 is the artsy district in Beijing. They call it the Soho of Beijing. Basically, the artists took over the factories and transformed the area into their work area and galleries. There are many modern art galleries and furniture galleries. I’m a big art fan so I enjoyed it. There are a lot of exhibitions in 798 so there is always something new to see.
Lu Xun’s house – Lu Xun is a famous Chinese writer. We are actually reading some of his stories in class. Lu Xun lived in different areas in China, but one of his homes was in Beijing. We went to see the Lu Xun museum and then saw his house. It was really interesting to learn about one of China’s most prominent writers and see where he actually lived. You can only see the rooms from outside but you can peak in through the windows and see his desk, bed, and other belongings. You can see a picture of me standing in front of Lu Xun’s house; I’m wearing a red shirt and black pants.
Silk Market
Talk about a bargain! This is a seven story building just full of cheap stuff. On the first floor you can buy shoes, bags and belts – of course all knock offs. Then you can find anything: clothes, traditional Chinese items, rugs, tea, statues, paintings, jewelry, video games, and sun glasses. You name it, they have it. This market is different then the market in Shanghai because it’s an actual building with air conditioning. I’ve been to the market already a few times. Each time I go with my list or else I would probably buy the whole market. You really have to bargain because these people are intense. Some of them push you if you don’t buy their goods or just tell you to get out – not polite at all, but welcome to China.
ACC extracurriculars
Jingshan Park and Tiananmen ACC organizes a lot of activities for us. The first weekend we were here they took us to see Tiananmen Square and Jingshan Park. The park is now a public park, but during the era of the dynasties, it was the emperor’s park. This is the park where one of the emperors committed suicide by hanging himself; the tree is actually still there (kind of spooky). Jingshan Park on the weekends is very lively. There all types of activities going on: dancing, singing, writing calligraphy, playing games, and lots of strollers. I really liked it. If you climb up Prospect Hill you can see the Forbidden City. Unfortunately the pollution problems in Beijing are pretty serious and I couldn’t really see the Forbidden City but it was quiet a hike, good exercise. Pictures: towards the bottom – people jumping, me in front of red walls, a cloudy view of the Forbidden City. You can also see pictures of Tiananmen Square – No, my camera is not dirty, it’s just the Beijing air. If you see I took a picture of this kid with hole in his pants (the kids in China don’t wear diapers – their pants have slits in them so they can just squat). Also side note: the two pictures towards the bottom of a lake are not of Jingshan Park. Those are pictures of Beijing University where I will be studying in the fall.
Lectures and Performances We’ve had a lecture on tea drinking. I tasted all different teas and even though I already know green tea is my favorite, the lecture confirmed it. We had some flower teas that weren’t as good, but at least I tried them. Then last week we had a concert on traditional Chinese music. We heard some the pipa, erhu, yanqin, and guzhen. I attached a picture of the musicians with their instruments. We also had a lady from the Department of US Commerce come and talk to us about US-China economic and trade relations. In addition to telling us facts and statistics she gave us two views about the future of China: great and not so good. Civil war, internal chaos, pollution problems, traffic control, water shortages, etc. OR China as the superpower. It was a really interesting lecture that made me think about the future of China. I'm happy that I'll be in Beijing this year so I can watch the city transform as it hosts next year's Olympic games, but I think after the Olympics will also be an interesting period for China.
Acrobatics Show ACC also arranged for us to see an acrobatic show on Friday, July 13. The music was incredibly tacky but the show was amazing. It does make you wonder how they do it. They rode bicycles, spun plates, juggled balls with their feet… I have to upload pictures.
Chinese Family and Language Partner
I have both a Chinese family and a language partner. My Chinese family is super nice. My “mama” works at the university so in case I need anything she is just one building away. My “baba” is a pediatrician – lucky me. Then I have a younger brother or “didi” who is just brilliant. He is seven years old and can already recite the Declaration of Independence in English by heart. Very impressive. At the same time, it makes you realize how fortunate you are that most of us don’t have parents who force us to memorize important documents at the age of seven. It seems like Chinese children really don’t have a childhood because they don’t go outside and play, instead they stay in their homes memorizing and reciting. When are the Chinese parents going to understand that their children are just kids and need to play instead of memorize speeches all day. It’s incredible that he can recite such documents, but it’s also really sad because he is not the only one. Most Chinese kids are like him and just don’t know what playtime is. I guess both educational systems/methods had their advantages and disadvantages but I’m grateful that I had a lot of playtime when I was younger. Also, I “share” my Chinese family with another ACC student. The other student is Bo Fei; she was here last semester and is super helpful when it comes to eating and going out. She is also like my “jiejie” or Chinese sister. Overall, I really like the concept of having a Chinese Family. On July 8th, Bo Fei and I went to our Chinese family’s home for lunch. It was so nice to have a home-cooked meal. The Chinese do like their chicken feet – I’m not sure if I’ll try it but it’s tempting (I included a pix of a chicken head and feet. I bought a chicken breast at the supermarket and below the meat was the head and the feet –gross!). Most meals include chicken feet. After lunch we went to the Capital Museum with the family. The museum was really well done – it’s about the history of Beijing. There are displays on Hutongs (the typical Beijing homes), marriage rituals, bronze vessels, porcelain pieces, and Chinese customs. You can see a picture of me with my Chinese family at the museum. The picture above the picture of my family is the actual museum. I've been to Chinese family's house twice for lunch and towards the end of the program they took us out for hotpot and gave us books. They are really very kind and after ACC I hope to stay in touch with them because I'll still be in Beijing. In addition to a Chinese family I have a language partner who I meet with once a week to practice Chinese. My partner is a graduate student who is studying film/directing and is currently writing TV show scripts. She’s is very nice and helps me with my homework :). ACC requires that we meet with our language partners once a week, but I only ended up meeting with mine two times because of our schedules.
Cooking classes
Brace yourselves – I’m taking cooking classes. Since I was about four, I wanted to be a chef, when I became a teenager my dreams of being a chef stopped. When I was 18 I almost burnt down my house because I put pasta on fire and put bread in the oven on fire. Need I say more? I’m not quite a kitchen person. BUT I’m taking cooking classes every Monday afternoon. It’s going very well – so far I haven’t heard anybody or burned down the building. We cook typical Chinese dishes and then enjoy them. Very yummy! The ironies of life – I’ve never cooked in my life and the first type of food that I learn how to cook is Chinese. Side note regarding food: when I went to Wal-Mart I found an MSG aisle. Yes, everything and I mean everything in China has MSG.
The Great Wall
The Great Wall I know you’re going to say duh, but I have to say the Great Wall is quite GREAT. I’ve been to the Great Wall before but I had forgotten how huge it is. We left at around 8:30am on Saturday and got there at around 10ish. The Great Wall has many different sections – we went to Mutianyu (the touristy wall that is climbable). Once we got to the Wall we walked up the mountain (even though there was a cable cart we walked up the mountain until we reached the Great Wall). It was spectacular. The view of the mountains, the wall that doesn’t seem to have an end, the blue sky, everything!!! The Great Wall is amazing. I want to go again and again… maybe not in the summer though because it was way too hot. I did include pictures of the Great Wall and the picture of me in a yellow tank top is inside one of the guard stations on the Wall.
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