汉字

Where to begin? I had the flu or something this past week. I went to school anyway. I hope I didn't infect any of my classmates.


The third week of classes is just beginning and it's quite exciting to see how much progress we've made in just two weeks. I can read many billboards and bus schedules that are all in 汉字 (Chinese characters). Very important.

I was speaking to some security guards at a complex where I work. I had to sign in but I was getting their commands confused and in desperation asked them "Please, don't you speak a little English?" The guard looked at me and responded, with a smile, "You are in China now, we speak Chinese." 他说的对。He's right. I'm in China. I need to speak Chinese. The quicker I learn the better things will be. So then I'm happy that my decision (or someone else's decision because this is truly a good gift and perfect present) to attend school has been working out so well.

Thanks!

A correction - In my last post I said the taxi driver told me I looked Mexican. After yesterday's class I realized that I heard him wrong. What he said was that I, because of my hair, looked like I was from 美术馆 (Pinyin: mei3 shu4 guan3, Pronunciation: may shoe gwan). 美术馆 means art gallery. It was a compliment. I'm so ignorant.

I don't know how much longer I'll keep up blogging. I don't know how long I can keep YOUR interest in this trip to China. But I just want to thank all of you that took the time to read and/or comment. It was much appreciated especially when I was all alone. In a way, I was using YOU. Anyways, thanks again for caring. If only a little.

Bye bye.

Class is in Session - 上课！

我们星期一上课。

We started class on Monday. I am now enrolled as a 汉语学生 (student of Mandarin chinese) at a university. The classes are great. Everyday for 3 hours from 8:40 in the morning until noon (we get two ten-minute breaks) I sit in a classroom with 5-10 other students and we get barked at in Chinese. If we speak in English we have to give our 同学 (classmate) 10 Yuan. My textbook is 90% in characters so I'm learning a lot of those which is such a plus.

Last Friday I arrived at the administrator's office for an interview and placement test. We talked in Chinese about Jamaica and Miami. We talked about my inability to sing and my love of exercise, even though I never do it. I got a new name - 卫云涵- that means that I'm a person with a lot of interesting things in my soul (or something to that effect). I like it. I waited until I could see that they liked me before I let them know I really didn't have any money to pay for classes. No problem, they said, you can pay in installments. Yippee! Somebody, definitely worked that out for me.

I have a part-time job that will help with the tuition. The job consists of me teaching kids from 2 - 13 years of age English. More on that later. I'm going to join a gym. I bought a mat for the bathroom floor. So much interesting stuff! Just way too much to write about. If you want to know what it's like to be here in China, you really have to come here and see for yourself. 真的！

Interesting exchange: I took a taxi to work. When I feel like it I make an attempt to practice my Chinese with the taxi driver and so we started talking a bit. He actually initiated the conversation and asked, "Where are you from?" I told him I was American. He said "You don't look like an American." I asked him what made me different. He said, "Americans don't have hair like you." I told him that many in America have hair similar to mine. He said, "I think you're a Mexican, show me American money." Eventually he saw a dollar bill and finally he believed.

A New Home

After nine hours of traveling I arrived home to a new roommate and closet space. It's been quite an adventure! One of the most interesting experiences was standing in the queue for the taxi at the airport. A "hustler" walked up to me and asked me in English where I was going. I showed him my destination's address written on a sheet of paper in Chinese characters and he looked at me and offered to take me to my destination for 100 元(Kuai). I looked at him and said "100 元?! 我的朋友告诉我45元少不多.太 贵了!" Basically, I said that my friend told me it should only cost 45 Kuai. He was too expensive. He looked at me, muttered 45 元 to himself and walked away. The legitimate taxi lady ended up taking 45 minutes and 50 元 to get me to my new home. It's nice not to get hosed in Chinese.

My apartment is PHAT! Do people still say that?

My new apartment is 19 floors up and has a very nice view of the city. There is central heat. There is a Western toilet. I have closets. There is a stove. It's a really nice apartment. 看一看:

Keen Observations

When I told my Chinese friends I was coming to Linyi many asked "Lin - what?" Even to many native Chinese Linyi is a small, "insignificant" town. I was told that if I could survive Linyi then it would be a cinch for me to survive in any other city. I'm not so sure about that but I do know that life here wasn't extremely difficult. In fact during my first (nearly) two months in China, while living in Linyi, I've learned and experienced quite a few things.

• People in China aren't uniform and come in different sizes so clothes shopping here isn't impossible.
  
• I've been able to meet people that I hope I was able to help in some way. I might have even made friendships that could last forever.
  
• My oral Chinese hasn't improved tremendously but my reading and writing skills have taken off.
• It takes the isolation to reinforce how much you need your friends.
• Remember to laugh at yourself and your mistakes.
  
• Remember to be kind and open with the locals. When they stare smile and say "你好". A kind word goes a long way in breaking down barriers.
  
• Don't be quick to take offense. If you aren't careful you'll mistake curiosity for rudeness, shyness for coldness, and bad English for bias. :-)
  
• Good remedy for homesickness is to remember for whose sake you left your land, house, mother, father, brother, sisters (one who's pregnant), niece and nephews. It's hard to be gone but it's rewarding to be here.

And the final and perhaps keenest observation has been:

• Squat toilets aren't really that bad. In fact I have to ask, what's the big deal with Western toilets anyway!? The faster you learn that it's necessary to hold on to the little inside knob at the bottom of the stall door, the happier you'll be.

Transistions

In ten days I will be leaving Linyi. As a result I find myself making preparations to move once again. Because Linyi's airport is so small there are very few direct flights to major cities and absolutely none to any minor cities. This means I would have to purchase two full-price tickets to get to where I'm going. The total cost would be a little more than I can afford right now. Getting to my final destination will require me taking a 5 hour bus ride from Linyi into the city of Jinan. Sleeping overnight in the city and then flying out of the Jinan airport the next day.

Because this is a domestic flight within mainland China the luggage weight requirements are significantly less than they were for international flights. I spent $200 on over the limit fees coming into the country (I was weighed down by such things as a year's worth of hair products) and I would rather not waste money like that again. I've been trying desperately to use up much of my hair products, toiletries, etc. since I discovered that I could buy these things cheaply in China and wouldn't have to lug them around with me all over the mainland. Despite all my best efforts I will still have to use an on the ground courier service that will take 3 days to ship most of my luggage from Linyi at a total cost of 50 Yuan.

When I arrive at my new destination I am scheduled to begin taking day courses in the Chinese language at a major university. I'm also scheduled to begin working days at a high school. There's a bit of a scheduling conflict.

The university has a dorm room reserved. The high school provides housing for teachers. In addition, my friend and I are supposed to move into an off campus apartment together. There's a bit of a housing conflict.

If I go to school then I can't take the job and can't afford the apartment. If I take the job then I can't go to school. Besides, I wouldn't want to pay for an apartment when I have free housing.

Basically, I don't know what I'm doing.

Visitors

Earlier this week I was able to entertain out of town guests that came into town just to see me! Hee hee! I feel so special!

The visit began on Monday. After a class field trip to the supermarket where we taught them more useful words I went to McDonalds and met up with some girls that I had met previously on my Qingdao trip. The girls brought two more friends, a couple, and we all had a very good time getting to know one another. Their English was poor and my Chinese was tragic but our shared language was pure.

Note: That's not a picture of the girls but it's a picture of me - happy.

After the couple checked into their hotel we went to eat dinner at a swinging restaurant, that is their seats were actual swings. We shared a meal that consisted of four dishes, including Pizza, and cost a total of 75 Yuan (a little more than 10 dollars US).

The next morning we had a breakfast party that included simultaneous singing in English, Chinese and Japanese. Tres, tres cool. Then my guests were off. A short but very positive and satisfying trip. Again it was one of those times where I fought to hold back happy tears.

One other great thing about this trip was that I got more clarification, direction. Something I so badly needed and wish I had actually gotten sooner. No matter. If it's not me it's the stones right? Well, still, I wish it were me.