Good Morning China!

The Olympics, and Goodbye China

2008-08-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

It's been an amazing two weeks since the Olympics started. Here's what I've been up to.

Week 1, Tuesday: Went to see women's soccer, Canada vs. Sweden. Even though the match was sold out, the stands were only ¾ full. About 90% of the spectators were Chinese, who were like mercenary fans. I got the whole section chanting Jianada, Jiayou! (Let's go Canada!), but 5 minutes later a Swedish guy had them all chanting Ruidian, Jiayou! (Let's go Sweden!). Canada lost the match 2-1, and, thanks to the pollution and the cheering, I lost my voice.

Week 1, Saturday: My dad arrives and the good weather starts. Since Saturday, there's been 5 days of blue sky and 1 day of clouds and pollution. 5 clear days, more than there had been to that point all summer.

Week 2, Sunday: Watch the women's marathon in front of Tiananmen Square, which these days is occasionally closed, for some reason. Along the crowded sidewalks, we find a good seat on the road next to some proud Japanese fans, who have about a 3 meter buffer zone from the Chinese on either side of them.

Week 2, Monday: See the preliminaries of the women's ping pong. Skill level of the ping pong: very low. But it was worth it, even if it was just for the entertainment value

Week 2, Tuesday-Saturday: Track and field at the Bird's Nest every night. Where do I start? Seeing the stadium at night is even more impressive than on TV- the colors are amazingly vibrant. Tens of thousands of people fill the Olympic Green, which is very clean. At night, there's an amazing panorama of the red Bird's nest, the blue Water Cube, and some amazing new hotels that have just been built in the area.

The athletics events themselves were amazing, and probably the greatest sports events I've ever seen. I saw Usain Bolt break the world record in the 200 meters and tons more exciting finishes in other events. The lines to get food were ridiculously long (It was same catering company that the Skydome in Toronto uses, no wonder), but the experience was unforgettable.

I go home this afternoon. I'm looking forward to going home, but I'll definitely miss China a lot. The studying was arduous but worthwhile, and the cultural experiences were second to none. And I think I'll even miss the food, too.

Churches and volunteers

2008-08-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

It rained this morning, which will hopefully help clear the pollution in the next few days. So, I decided to head off to the Beijing Capital Museum on the west side of town.

Unfortunately, the museum happened to be closed for "Olympic-related preparations", although I caught a glance of some swanky-looking foreign-ish officials walking out of the museum. So maybe they're just showing it off.

Close by the museum was Beijing's oldest Catholic church, built pre-Qing dynasty in the 1600s by an Italian. There, I ran into some more officials- it looked like the entire Phillipine Olympic delegation was attending mass there.

From walking around the streets for a few hours, it was cool to see the masses of volunteers, security guards, and traffic monitors. When I stopped by a volunteer tent to get Olympic maps and schedules, they swarmed me.

Also, my friends got coffee at McDonald's, where almost every seat was filled by local Chinese people, eyes glued to the TV watching a Chinese female gymnast. Hanging in the McDonald's were signs that said "McDonald's-let's go China, 24 hours/day"

08-08-08

2008-08-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

After watching the 2489214th former Yugoslavian/USSR member state's Olympic delegation parade through the Bird's nest stadium, I got fed up and headed out for a snack. The fast food joint's waiters and cooks were all clustered around a TV, watching the live telecast from the stadium.

The waitress sprinted to the counter to take my order. I paid and she hustled back to the TV. The cook got up and sprinted to the kitchen. 30 seconds later he was back watching the coverage, and I ate the world's fastest bowl of noodles.

Tonight I watched the opening ceremonies at my apartment, with a few Chinese friends and American students from my program. We sat around the TV drinking beer and enjoying the show. The Chinese guys brought snacks that included chicken feet, which I declined to eat.

I have one week left of Chinese class, after which my Dad arrives in Beijing. I don't have any tickets for the first week of events, but in the second week my Dad and I are going to see the women's volleyball semi's and the last four nights of track and field.

So hopefully I'll survive my final exams and make it through to root for Canada! Jiayou! (the main Chinese sports cheer, literally: add oil.)

Pickup basketball - East/West cultural differences

2008-08-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

Though I like to joke about it with Chinese kids, being Canadian does not make me Steve Nash's cousin. And I'll never forget that day in the countryside when I asked a crowd of kids who their favorite basketball player was- the loudest in the group, not even knowing I was Canadian, shouted "Steve Nash!"

I applaud that rural villages understanding of NBA stars. What I didn't expect to encounter in Beijing were some fairly large differences in the way that friends casually play pick-up basketball.

Today, I got my first sunburn in Beijing. I was shooting around on my own, and ended up joining a game of Chinese highschoolers.

I'm not very good at basketball, but in high school I played it often with my friends during lunch break everyday. Not being a great shooter, I'd be responsible for rebounding, playing tough defense, and occasionally throwing up a goofy hook shot for comic relief.

On those Canadian courts, we kept score. There was an unspoken rule that the best players should shoot the most. We worked up a sweat playing defense, and each team would often pass the ball around before taking the "perfect" opportunity. Like the Toronto Maple Leafs power play.

In contrast, the average possession in a Chinese friendly pickup game lasts about 3 seconds- someone gets the ball, and drives towards the hoop, and tries to make some acrobatic move. The defense is lackadaisical. Everyone tries to make behind the back passes.

When I'd set up to take a 3 pointer back in Canada, a defender would immediately charge towards me with his arms up and leap to block my shot. In China, no one even bothered to defend my, nor any one else's outside shots. They looked at me like I was funny for doing so.

I missed the hypercompetitiveness of playing basketball in Canada, but I also liked the laid-back feel, and the freedom to take more risks and chances to set up sensational plays.

Although, the best part of Chinese basketball are the 70 year olds who've abandoned Tai Chi for the hoops game. When I lived in the dorms, sometimes I'd wake up to the pit pats and clangs of a lao beijing ren shooting six-footers, over and over, at 5:30am.

(edited for lackadaisical spelling)

Real Beijing, you can't hide from me

2008-08-01T01:27:00.000-07:00

Since July 23, the Beijing government has been restricting car traffic and temporarily closing nearby factories. It was supposed to be the final step in the long process of turning Beijing into a pollution-free, 1st world by the start of the Olympics, or at least making the city seem modern for a period of time.

Unfortunately, in the four days following the restrictions, the pollution was as worse as ever. There was one clear day, and it's been terrible ever since, although there are clear skies this morning.

Beijing's obsessed with modernizing the city in skin-deep, cosmetic ways. First, there are the ostentatious flower displays that I've written about before, which this week got even more ostentatious. Now, there are 3-foot tall bell-shaped faux-wooden flower pots filled with tons of soil.

As well, though I haven't seen it myself, but the New York Times reports that the police are erecting barriers in front of "unsightly" storefronts near tourist sites. (link)

I don't think it's rash of me to say that these special Olympic reforms probably won't influence the city much more strongly than the usual economic growth that's been steadily modernizing the city.

Because even though it's pretty now, real Beijing is still there. It's probably harder to find than it was 3 or 4 years ago, when I'm told that locals regularly spat on the floor every minute or so, during meals at restaurants.

Every time I walk from my apartment to school, I pass a couple of shacks- one of them sells fruit and vegetables, and in the identical shack opposite to it is where the family who runs the shack lives. They have two little boys(yes, a lot of people get around the one-child policy here, either they don't register a kid, or they pay a fine).

The 5-year old is fully-clothed 25% of the time, pantsless 25% of the time, and fully naked about 50%, or every other time I pass the shack. In full view of his parents, brothers, and all of the workers and students commuting to and from my apartment.

Three days ago, he popped a squat on the dirt next to the sidewalk, and, also in full view of parents and passers-by, appeared to be preparing to defecate. Despite the cultural significance of observing this event, I was unsure of the manners in stopping to confirm that this kid was doing the unthinkable, and walked by.

On my way to class this morning, he was at it again, and I can now confirm that the naked kid takes dumps in public and in full view of his parents.

Beijing can announce as many policies and erect as many walls as it wants. And foreign tourists will probably hardly notice between Beijing and other modern cities. But the culture/charm/weirdness of Beijing is still there: Beijingers still spit, even-numbered cars drive on wrong days (come on Beijing government, drivers barely obey traffic lights as it is), and naked kids still take dumps in public.

Sleepy Beijing, and holding the Torch

2008-07-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

Last night I almost tripped over a construction worker sleeping on the sidewalk. He was sleeping on a large blanket next to four of his coworkers. A hundred metres away, a lone worker was fixing glass plates to the edge escalator- at 2:30am!

It's not just blue collar workers either- my Chinese roommate worked a 4:00pm-9:30pm shift at his bank this Saturday night. And I even though I regularly have Sunday dinners at my Chinese family's apartment, I haven't seen their 25 year-old son since March- he's always working late at Panasonic on display technology for the Games.

His job has perks though- because Panasonic is an official Olympics sponsor, he got to carry the Olympic torch in Datong. He got even got to keep the torch he ran with.

I got to hold the torch last weekend- hope to post pics up soon.

Apartment life week 3: what I've learned

2008-07-11T18:26:00.000-07:00

1）Air conditioning is for the weak. The weather here has ranged from hot and sunny, to hot and rainy, to hot and suffocatingly-pollutiony. A/C would be nice, but we haven't turned it on. It's partly of old Chinese mother-goose wisdom about A/C causing colds, diarhhea, and all sorts of other horrors; also partly because of an unspoken competition between my two roommates and I to not be "that guy" who's the first to turn it on. Oh well, it's good for the environment.

2) But I've learned a better method to beat the heat, from the countless retired Chinese men who gamble in the alleyway behind my apartment. They all hike their t-shirts up halfway, exposing their Tsingtao beer bellies. Many a night, while studying at a restaurant, I'll overhear these drunk, old, half-clothed patrons complain to a 16 year-old waitress from the countryside that 4 kuai (50 cents) for a Tsingtao beer is outrageous.

3) The sun here is a fickle alarm clock. My bedroom window faces east, but thanks to Beijing pollution, some days I get a bright ray, on others I get a reddish glow.

4) When my Chinese roommate (recent b-school grad) invited his friends over to hang out, they didn't bring beers and chips. The brought a watermelon. I had to run, but apparently they just sat around chatting and eating watermelon.

5) The people who run produce stands in front of my apartment do not appreciate me coming back from Wal-Mart with bags full of groceries.

6) My apartment is filled with wannabe Paris Hiltons- on the way to school in the morning, I always pass a few people walking 4-inch long furballs of dogs.

7) Actually, my apartment is mostly filled with those migrant worker waitresses, originally from the countryside, who work at nearby restaurants.

8) The entire population of my apartment is prone, on a Saturday morning, to start scraping the paint off the walls of my apartment. They have a lot of work ahead of them. It's just surprising to see 50 or so people cramming the hallways and staircases doing maintenance work.

9) Six minutes is too long to walk from my apartment to my 8am class. Although, while cramming for the dictation every morning, I've found that burying my head in a textbook as I speed walk to class is an effective way for clearing oncoming pedestrian traffic.

Lastly, this isn't related to my apartment, but the Beijing Wal-mart is selling out. Grocery shopping in China is a unique experience, and shouldn't be spoiled. In spite of the zoo of Beijing customers who wield shopping carts in the same carefree, lawless fashion as Beijing taxi drivers wield their Volkswagens, there's always been a placid environment. This is thanks to one man: Kenny G.

To foreigners living in China, the nation's love for Kenny G is legendary. Not only do his smooth jazz sounds fill every supermarket from Shanghai to Sichuan, you can even hear him at the Great Wall, his saxophone faintly crooning from a far-off PA.

But last Friday, Wal-Mart decided to change the Kenny G CD for the hard rock sounds of Linkin Park. The best way of describing Linkin Park's music is that if it came on the radio in the car, my Mum would change the station in about .3 seconds. Thankfully, two tracks later, Kenny G came back and restored my Zen.

China's latest environmental initiative, which I don't think has received much Western press, is banning plastic bags. Well, stores are banned for giving them away for free, but you can buy them for 0.3 kuai (less than 5 cents). It looks like the initiative's worked well- I see a lot of people bringing their own bags, and even the people who buy plastic bags try to cram as many groceries into as few bags as possible.

Lastly, the air quality is continuing problem here, but I can't make up my mind about it. Some days, like today, the weather is absolutely perfect, and aside from some very, very light haze that's visible in front of far away buildings, Beijing's completely normal. Yet on other days, it looks like the apocalypse is imminent. I really hope for Beijing's sake, and for the athletes' sake, that they get some good weather. Less than 30 days to go!

Badass Beijing and the new apartment

2008-06-20T14:38:00.001-07:00

Daylight savings time, who needs it? The sun rose this morning at 4:30AM.

My summer classes start on Monday. I'll be taking 4th year Chinese, which according to my Chinese roommate is “extremely hard.” Oh yeah, I've got a Chinese roommate because I recently moved off-campus. My program arranged the accommodation: I'm living 5 minutes from the classroom in a very dididaodao (authentic) apartment building.

The apartment is 15 stories and fairly nice. All of the tenants here would probably refer to themselves as laobaixing, “Old Hundred Names”- just average, working Chinese. My roommate is in his 20s- he looks after ACC's Internet. He's a friendly guy, and spends most of his time in his room playing FIFA, smoking, and listening to American pop music.

As for the new place's amenities, there are some charms and drawbacks. It got repainted a few weeks ago, so it looks nice and spiffy from the outside. And the inside is in good condition (although the pollution makes dusting almost futile). There's a common room with a TV, and a kitchen with a fridge. I've even got my own single bedroom.

There are some interesting quirks though. When the residents of neighboring apartments cook, I smell it. The hot-water heater for the shower requires an incomprehensible pattern of switched knobs and turned dials. Whenever I lock or unlock my door, I need to set the handle into a different position depending on whether I'm unlocking or locking, outside or inside.

I've also met a few little neighbors. I left my window open last night and woke up with 5 new mosquito friends on the ceiling. And just as I was writing this I killed my first cockroach!

Well, I'll miss living in my dorm room, whose door was about a 5 second walk from my classroom. But, I'm looking forward to 24-hour homework help from my Chinese roommate, as well as getting a feel for the real Chinese style of living.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes: back in Beijing

2008-06-20T03:17:00.000-07:00

In the short month that I've been away from Beijing, a lot's changed. Nothing too big, just little things that show China rushing to modernize and prepare for the Olympics. I read that China's sinking 25 billion yuan (about 3.5 billion US dollars) into Beijing. So what's that buying?

Well, almost every major highway/street is lined with flowers. Two days ago my taxi driver was bragging about it. “Do the roads in your country have this many flowers?” No, I said, I didn't think they do. He beamed with pride.

Also, nearly every building has been pressure-washed or repainted- including the apartment I'm renting. When I left, the building wouldn't have stood out in any 3rd world country or war zone. Now it resembles any mid-rent apartment building near my Ontario suburban home.

Almost 50% of the restaurants have new signs. The old signs were pieces of painted plywood that were usually painted with some grainy Chinese characters and perhaps an unappetizing-looking dish or two. The new signs are the sleek, modern, self-contained lights: like the big McDonald's “M” logos that light up from the inside.

Some restaurants haven't adapted yet- they never got the chance. A whole line of dingy “xiaochis” (direct translation: small eat) has closed, one of which I used to eat at everyday after working out at the gym. I'd place my order in the crammed restaurant sitting at a table of 4 with three Chinese construction workers, then listen to the peasant girl waitress yell out my order in her village's dialect to her family members upstairs working the woks. Sometimes, I'd have a rote conversation with the construction workers, who'd ask me what my salary was (currently: 0), ask me how much cash I had on hand (usually not much) grunt, and then pay the dollar or so that my meal cost. Now, these authentic parts of China will probably be replaced with a glitzier, classier restaurant, or maybe even a block of condos.

For the past three days, I've been touring Beijing with my mom and sister. It's been a great chance to tour around the city again and see the changes. In sum, nothing here is fundamentally different- the traffic's bad, the pollution's noticeable (worse than before)... but from the fresh looking buildings to the rows of freshly planted trees, Beijing has a shiny new veneer.

Update from the road

2008-06-02T23:25:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a month since I left Beijing and began journeying south. I'll do my best here to sum up those travels.

Part One: Ich Ben Ein Beijinger

My tour starts and ends in Beijing, and a month ago, that's where my two former high school classmates Brett and Neil met me. Showing them around the first Asian city made me realize two things: I like Beijing, and I know a lot of good Beijing food.

Maybe they're related. I didn't convert quickly to a fan of Chinese food, but after four months of culinary trial and error, I'd compiled a mental list of good restaurants where for delicious, diverse, and authentic Chinese meals. So in between visiting the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the 798 art district. I took them to every delicious hole-in-the-wall eatery that I knew of. And only once in 7 days did we eat at McDonald's.

After that week in Beijing, we took a night train to Shanghai. This is a popular way of getting to and from those cities- trains leave every 7 minutes. It's a 12 hour ride, and my friends and I slept on bunk beds in an air conditioned, 4 person cabin. Even better, it saved us the cost of a night in a hotel. Not bad for half the price of a plane ticket.

In Shanghai, we took a day to explore the famous Bund street, which is a riverside boardwalk lined with old buildings with European style architecture. Visible on the other side of the river are the ultramodern skycrapers of Shanghai's financial district. In the midst of this contrast was the hubbub of thousands of tourists and vendors, this month's sign of the apocalypse went floating by: a giant Samsung boat, which had no windows, no cargo, and no passengers, just a 100 foot long, 30 foot tall "Samsung" sign.

To take a break from Shanghai's breakneck pace, my friends and I took trips to placid Hangzhou and Suzhou. Those two cities, reknowned as China's most beautiful, are only a few hours away from Shanghai. Hangzhou is famous for its West Lake, whose surrounding gardens and treelined boulevards are so idyllic that it seems more like a Florida resort town than China. Suzhou is known as China's Venice- even thouggh there's only one tiny section built on water. However, the most interesting (and risky) part was this: we all rented bikes and exploring Suzhou through the eyes of one of the many moped-driving or bike-riding citizens.

After exploring those two cities, we returned to Shanghai on May 14th, and as we boarded a flight to Bangkok, I said goodbye to China for two weeks.

Part Two: "Sorry guys, I don't speak Thai." - Thailand

I'm getting on the plane from Hong Kong to Guilin... look forward to finishing this post from the hotel tonight

Graduation, controversy, and the start of travels

2008-05-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

I graduated! I've devoted almost every hour of these past few weeks to classwork. Now it's finally time to update you on my experiences- these include my final summary of this semester at ACC, and what it''s like to experience the recent Tibet, Olympic torch, and pollution controversies from China itself.

ACC in one paragraph

To sum up my Chinese study abroad here in one paragraph- it would be that it cultivated my interest in the Chinese culture very quickly, and after I graduate from Yale in May 2009, I can definitely see myself returning to China. Although I spent most time doing relatively menial study tasks, I was always immersed in the culture. And as my understanding developed, I found myself wanting to learn more and more about China. In order to learn more, I'll probably come back, and ACC was a big part in stimulating that desire.

Back to English

And finally, after almost 4 months, the language pledge is over. We obeyed about 95% of the time- although few students were perfect, especially on weekends at the Sanlitun bar district. I'd say the main benefit was that it got me comfortable using the language in almost any situation. The drawbacks were that it might have reinforced bad habits, and that sometimes when I speak English now I make some embarassing grammar mistakes. Oh well, who needs conjugated verbs and plurals?

International incidents

Lately, there's been a big fuss in the Western news about China-related controversies, including the Chinese government's crackdown in Tibet and the protests torch relay. It's been especially interesting to witness the controversies from China- not only do I get to read the Western news sites (NY Times, CBS/NBC/ABC, and the Economist), but I also find out about how the Chinese media portrays the events, and how Chinese people react to them.

And I've found out one thing: it's complicated. The history is so complex, the information so vague, that it's impossible to clearly define who's right and who's wrong. Are the rioting Tibetans peacefully protesting, or are they burning shops and terrorizing other Chinese citizens? Should the Chinese government respect Tibet's independence or focus on maintaining a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship?

One thing's for sure: Chinese people react very sensitively to the world's criticism. The Chinese national identity is so strong, and people's patriotism is so intense. The Chinese government is desperate for a successful Olympics- you can tell by the "One World, One Dream" posters that cover every wall, the subway's TVs that don't play ads but just explain the rules for various Olympic sports, and the frantic construction throughout Beijing.

This past week, I've seen a lot of excitement for the Olympics as I've been to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Bird's nest, and plenty of other tourist attractions. Here are some of the pictures: Link

On Friday night, two of my high school classmates and I are taking the train to Shanghai, then visiting the placid cities of Hangzhou and Suzhou before taking a flight to Bangkok, where I'll be touring Thailand for a week. On the train to Shanghai, I expect to write a final report of ACC, and get back into the blogging habit!

"Long Live Chairman Mao!"

2008-03-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

Pictures from Cultural Revolution-themed Lunch and Performance

Every Friday afternoon, my fellow ACC students and I all participate in an extracurrricular language-related activity. Sometimes we're sent out to interview ordinary Chinese people, sometimes we watch a movie. This past Friday we went to a themed restaurant that commemorated the 10 year political period here from 1967 to 1977 known as the "Cultural Revolution."

On our way to the restaurant, I was a little surprised that a place like this even existed. My basic understanding of the Cultural Revolution is that in those 10 years, pro-Communist Party and pro-Mao propaganda saturated Chinese society, to the extent that it even replaced traditioanl educational material. Would-be college students were sent to rural areas to receive a kind of agricultural and propaganda-based education instead. Those who resisted the new all-encompassing Communist ideology were imprisoned or killed, and during those 10 years, it's estimated the acting government killed half a million people. On top of the human catastrophe, ancient art was purged, and it's estimated that almost 90% of pre-1967 Chinese artifacts were destroyed.

When we arrived at the restaurant, as expected, it was filled with propaganda- there were plenty of portraits of Chairman Mao, slogans printed in bright red characters "Communist Party 10,000 years, 1,000,000,000 years!" portraits of Lenin, Marx, Engels, and Stalin, and plenty of smiling workers wielding shovels and bales of wheat. On top of the propaganda, all of the staff at the restaurant were dressed in either the Red Guard's military green outfit or the "Mao Suit" of a blue collared shirt and jean overalls.

The main performance area had a high ceiling and could probably sat about 500 customers. After our food arrived (it was 21st century fare), the performance commenced. The backdrop to the stage was Chairman Mao's gigantic smiling face, and the show was just people singing about how great Chairman Mao and the Communist Party were. During the show, there were about 20 performers among us in the tables dancing around. They gave us all red flags, and the highlight of the show was everyone, foreigners, Chinese, and performers alike waving the flags and chanting "Mao Zhuxi Wan Sui!" (Literally, "Chairman Mao 10,000 years," or "Long Live Chairman Mao").

Considering the aforementioned human rights blunders, I asked one of my teachers (who, on this day, I had taken to calling "Comrade" instead of "Teacher") if regular Chinese would find this kind of performance to be in bad taste. I was surprised when she said that almost everyone who lived through the Cultural Revolution wouldn't be offended, and actually quite enjoy it. Since the show intended to be a true replica of a 1970s era propaganda show, and there were people (employees) dancing in the crowd, I asked her if this was a normal phenomenon. She said, "during the Cultural Revolution, people were a little crazy. When people started singing about Chairman Mao, a lot of people couldn't help but dance."

The next night, I went to a rock concert featuring local Beijing indie rock band. The singers sang standard 2008 apolitical rock fare about love and heartache. And it hit me that only 30 years ago, when the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and the Woodstock festival had come and gone, people in China were wearing Mao suits and singing about how much they loved the Chinese Communist Party. It's hard to think of a more powerful example of short-term cultural change.

More nongcun (rural) adventures

2008-03-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

After another grueling but satisfying week of class, this Saturday I hopped on a bus with a volunteer group of about 40 native Beijingers to head off to the countryside and donate some books, computers, and sports equipment to an elementary school in the rural part of Hebei province.

Our bus led a convoy of mid-sized family cars that snaked behind us on the dirt road leading to the village. When we arrived, this village, called Heituwan, was a genuine Chinese village, and nothing like the one I visited in Sichuan. There were no "tourist attractions" here- it was just one downtrodden building after another lining narrow, unpaved streets. It was no place for a motorcycle joyride like the one I'd had in Sichuan.

The bus parked and I followed the other volunteers towards the elementary school. It was at this point that I realized I was the only white person in the entire group of about 70 volunteers. And as I walked through the welcome reception of 50 or so applauding Chinese elementary students, they were all staring right at me.

And for those few hours we spent at that little village, I was like a rock star. I was pretty much surrounded by at least 20 students at all times. We talked (in Chinese) about sports mostly, especially basketball. I was surprised when I asked them who their favorite professional basketball player was and they all said "Steve Nash!" (coincidentally a Canadian) And then I asked them what they thought about Yao Ming, and the kids all replied "He sucks!" which made all of the older Chinese within earshot aghast at this seeming affront to national pride.

Diplomatic crises aside, according to one of the "village leaders" I'm welcome back any time, so I might head back next weekend for some more fresh air, maybe to climb a nearby mountain, and to experience some low-key village life as a change of pace from busy Beijing.

Photos from the village: http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh173/bills_pictures/Hebei%20Nong%20Cun%20Adventure/

Procrastination's new solution

2008-03-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

...is to have what's distracting you banned by the Chinese government. That's what happened yesterday when I tried to visit Youtube. Turns out China's added Youtube.com to their growing list of internet sites that they ban. The list includes Wikipedia, BBC.co.uk, and Blogspot (the site that hosts this blog- I'm allowed to publish but I'm not allowed to view it). Oh well, it's a loss of freedom, but at least my grades should improve.

Speaking of improving grades, after 2 months at ACC I'm now accustomed to the workload and as a result my grades and Chinese proficiency level are improving greatly. My life is so Chinese-oriented right now that it's even tough for me to write this blog post in English. I'm actually thinking most of the sentences in Chinese first, and then translating back.

That's partly because of the effectiveness of ACC's language pledge- it's been two months since I signed away my privilege to speak English. And although I haven't obeyed it 100% of the time, it's remarkable how often my classmates and I do. The language pledge has played a huge part in increasing the ease of speaking Chinese in any situation. The pledge, on top of the huge classwork and homework load, has contributed to what I think is a massive leap in my Chinese ability in only just two months. That being said, I wouldn't call myself “fluent,” and I still feel that taxi drivers, with their thick accents, are almost completely incoherent, but I'm very excited for the progress to come over the net 4 months of language instruction I have left until I come home.

2008-03-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

These past two weeks in China have been full of so many amazing experiences that it's really reminded me why I decided to take the semester abroad. Since the last time I posted, I've zoomed around rural China on a motorcycle, seen giant pandas, climbed to the top of Mount Emei, and I've even seen the first ever Major League Baseball game in China.

Chengdu

Two weeks ago, I left for Chengdu, which is in the southern province of Sichuan. The trip was planned by ACC, so I went with about 40 fellow students.

On the first day, we all went to the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center, which was extremely impressive. The center was a park that stretched over a few dozen acres- it was amazing to stretch our legs after the train around, and to walk through trees and breathe fresh air after over 6 weeks in Beijing's urban sprawl.

Of course, the best part was the pandas. I've posted some pictures to a photobucket account (because posting pictures to this blog directly has been a huge headache), and I hope it works.
Giant Panda Reserve Photos

On the second day, we left for Leshan and saw the Grand Buddha there. This Buddha's toenails are big enough to have a picnic on. Even more impressive is the location- carved into the side of a mountain just metres from the sea. After checking out the Grand Buddha, we got a good night's sleep in order to prepare to climb Mount Emei the next day.

Climbing Mount Emei was a grueling experience- three of my friends and I climbed seemingly neverending stairs for almost 7 hours. And although the weather at the foot of Mount Emei was fairly warm, by the time we were halfway to the top there was a bit of snow, and for the last hour the stairs were coated by a fairly slick layer of hardened snow. After such a grueling day, we decided not to stay in a monastery, partly because they weren't that cool (they just seemed like cheap hotels where the owner wears a robe), and partly because we were too exhausted to deal with all-night chanting.

The next morning we made it to the summit of Mount Emei to take a few pictures. And then we found out you can take a bus to the top of Mount Emei. Our feet blistered and soaked, we decided to take the winding 2 hour return bus back to the bottom of the mountain.

The next day, my friend Jon and I decided we wanted an authentic rural China experience, and took off for Honglongxi. At first, we were a little disappointed- the town seemed like one big tourist trap- although everything was decorated very traditionally, there were lots of restaurants, shops selling DVDs, and many Chinese tourists. However, it turned out we had the best of both worlds- after settling into a comfortable hotel, we crossed over a nearby river and found ourselves in a real rural setting, filled with dingy buildings and fields.

There, we convinced a couple of farmers to let us ride their motorcycles around for an hour. The weather was beautiful and the riverside fields and scenery was incredible. We zoomed past houses and kids getting home from school- it was really an amazing time, and the best part of the Chengdu trip overall.

Photos from the rest of Chengdu

Back to Beijing

All good things must come to an end, and on Sunday, I was back at ACC studying for the next day's dictation all over again. But I had two great events to look forward to at the end of the week. The first was an Incubus concert in a small venue. Incubus is an American rock group whose shows sell out whole arenas in the US... yet we were lucky enough to have the chance to see them in a small club, up close in Beijing.

Then this Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity to watch the San Diego Padres play the Los Angeles Dodgers in Beijing's brand new Wukesong Baseball stadium. It was the first Major League Baseball game to happen in China.

I found out about the game when I was visiting friends at the Grand Hyatt hotel a few days earlier and ran into hall of fame baseball player Dave Winfield. He told me about the games on the weekend, and even autographed my Chinese homework.

The game itself was so-so, but the experience was totally worth it. They did a great job of imitating the American baseball experience- there were national anthems and hot dogs, and they even played “take me out to the ball game” in the seventh inning. But there were a few additions- including cheerleaders, a dust storm in the bottom of the first inning, and garbage from the stands occasionally blowing onto the field.

The crowd was about 50% expats and 50% local Chinese. I asked a few Chinese after the game what they thought about game. Comments ranged from “not as good as basketball,” “didn't understand the rules,” and “why do the players just stand around most of the time?”

So it might be a while before baseball catches on in Beijing, but at least it was a nice taste of Western culture in a very Eastern city.

Photos from the game:

I'm off to Sichuan + ACC report, part 1

2008-02-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, I head off to Sichuan province for a week's vacation. Sichuan is in southern China, just east of Tibet, and is known for it's spicy food, giant pandas, and beautiful scenery. To stretch my legs after the 26 hour train ride, I've got plans to climb Emei Shan, a 3000m mountain with supposedly incredible views to see, Buddhist monasteries to visit, and lots and lots of angry monkeys to and/or run from. I've been advised to not wear any red clothing- as this color apparently upsets the monkeys. And as long as a monkey doesn't steal my camera, in my next post I promise there will be lots of pictures.

But this will be probably my last post for a week, although I'm hoping one of those monasteries on Emei Shan has Wi-fi. I had intended to write more, but I've got a three-hour exam tomorrow morning, and I want to be well-rested.

So because there might be some Yalies who recently won Light Fellowships that are checking out this blog, I wanted to use this post to write about my ACC experience so far. But, since the experience has been so rich, and my 3 hour exam tomorrow morning is so soon, I only have time to publish the first part of my post, about why I enjoy ACC's hard-working but relaxed and down-to-earth community.

When you get to know a fellow student in China, one of the questions that inevitably gets asked is: why did you decide to come to China to learn Chinese? I anticipated that many of my fellow students would say that the reason they're studying Chinese is because it looks good on a resume, or because they're grooming themselves to become CEOs .

But surprisingly, the majority of the students aren't ruthlessly set on becoming Chairman of the Board. And this laid-back attitude results in a lot of opportunities for great conversation and fun times. So even though we all work hard, in the background everyone is fairly laid-back.

The teachers have a similar attitude- because many of them are young graduates of Chinese universities. Although our classes are often ruthlessly efficient, the teachers are always willing to joke around and relax. I've played ping pong with my teachers and even run into some of them at Bar Blu, an ACC weekend hotspot. And aside from all the fun, they're great teachers- I would say that good teachers are responsible for the quality of Chinese I can currently speak.

This coming week, I'll find out how good that quality actually is, as I bargain with monks on Emei Shan and try to figure out how to order Sichuan's famous dishes. And on the 26 hour train journey, I hope to queue up some blog posts for the next few weeks, which will give me time to withstand China's unbearably slow internet and upload some pictures of monkeys, monks, and mountains. Zai jian!

The six stages of experiencing Spring Festival as a foriegner

2008-02-18T22:36:00.000-08:00

Arguably the most important holiday in China is Chinese New Year's, known here as “Spring Festival.” The festival starts on February 6 and lasts until about February 13. I was lucky enough to be in Beijing for this exciting time. Although many of Beijing's inhabitants are migrant workers who return home for the Spring Festival, there were still plenty of Beijingers around to make the Spring Festival an exciting time.

After the Spring Festival, I tried to come to grips with my experience, and decided that I wanted to present it as:

The six stages of Spring Festival, from a foreigner's perspective.

Stage One: Mild amusement

You're awakened by a series of six loud bangs. As you're wondering if you should call the police to report gunshots in your vicinity, ten more loud shots ring out. At this point, luckily your roommate mentions that this is Day One of Spring Festival, and that throughout the next week people will constantly use fireworks. You muse at how strange it is that people are using firecrackers in the middle of the day, but really don't think too much of the occasional bang that rings out.

Stage Two: Awe

As nightfall approaches, the firecrackers become more and more frequent. You start to wonder: who could be lighting this many firecrackers? Then you remember: You're in Beijing China, and there are 15 million people living here plus who-knows-how-many migrant workers.

At about 7pm, you walk outside. There's a faint smell of ash in the air- even though there's no one in sight lighting a firecracker. At this point, judging by the sound, people are setting off an ungodly amount of fireworks. Most people describe being in a Chinese city during Spring Festival like being in a war zone, with people firing guns everywhere and bombs going off. Although this is an okay description, I don't think it does true justice to the sheer frequency of **BANG**s. To me, it sounded more like being inside a microwave as it's simultaneously popping 100 bags of popcorn... for 12 hours.

Now at this point, you're really starting to suspect that this is a whole new culture. It's 7:00PM and people are setting off fireworks like it's 11:59PM on New Year's Eve at Times Square. The fireworks will continue steadily at this alarming rate right until midnight.

Although the sound is probably the most overwhelming part of experiencing Spring Festival in Beijing, the visual experience is fascinating as well. Nonstop fireworks flower in the sky. And although the streets are hardly packed, locals gather here and there in small groups to light firecrackers. Spring Festival is usually a time when Beijingers return home to their families. The normal custom is for families to eat dinner together while watching the CCTV gala television program (4 hours of Chinese music performances and skits). So most of the people in the streets are young waiters and waitresses who have to work through Spring Festival if they want to keep their jobs, or those who perhaps don't have the means to return home, or want to avoid the inconvenience. The young people are mostly happy, but the older ones seem fairly sullen as they set of fireworks. After all, the entire culture of fireworks in China is a little bit different than in the West: we set them off because they look pretty, they set them off because they're supposed to scare off evil spirits.

Stage 3: Slight annoyance

Whoo! It's midnight! Happy New Year! We can all go home now, right? Nope, not in Beijing. In fact, people continued to set off firecrackers until at least 3AM and probably throughout most of the night.

Stage 4: Worry

On the second day of the Spring Festival, you start to notice the nuances of the Spring Festival fireworks practices. That guy across the street lighting off firecracker after firecracker isn't a crazy midget: he's a 10 year-old kid. And the parents are nowhere in sight. You watch Chinese families launch fireworks out of the windows of their apartments. On top of all this, on New Year's Eve in China, apparently cars don't have the right of way: people setting off fireworks do. Meanwhile, firetrucks, ambulances whizz by. And also, the pungent smell of smoke in the air and decreased visibility makes you wonder if Spring Festival fireworks are the real cause of the Beijing's smog.

Stage 5: Frustration, but glee at having experienced a real part of Chinese culture

It's Day 7 of the Spring Festival, and thankfully, the frequency of **BOOMS** had decreased. If Days 1-3 was the Gulf War, Day 4-7 can be compared to a medium-sized conflict between African despots. However, by day 7 the choice of weapons has also changed. On Days 1-3, the firework of choice was the pretty exploding “bianhua,” the kind you're used to seeing at the average Independence Day family barbeque. On Days 4-7, the firework of choice is “ bianpao,” which is essentially a loud BANG with no visual effect. And these fireworks are constantly punctuating your daily life, going off when you least expect it, and helping you understand why so many soldiers return from war develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

Stage 6: Glee

After the final firecrackers rang out on the evening of Day 7, I felt a bit shellshocked, but on the whole pretty glad to have experienced this holiday. Chinese New Year's is no joke- instead of Dick Clark at Times Square, they've got a TV special that a whopping 1.1-1.3 billion Chinese watch every year. And instead of fireworks at midnight, they've got fireworks at midnight, 1am, 2am, and so on, for 7 days. All in all, it was a good way to usher in the Year of the Rat. Hopefully it's the Year of the Rat in name only, and not a sign of creatures who want to inhabit my dorm room.

Still here!

2008-02-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy past couple of weeks, as my teachers continue to assign me massive loads of homework. The good news is that my Chinese is improving a lot, and I'm starting to get used to the grueling workload. For now, this is just a quick update: I'm working on a longer post about the Chinese New Year festivities, which I plan to post in the next 12 hours.

A day in the life

2008-02-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

A day in the life

I got my first impressions of what it’s like to attend a study abroad program when I was a senior in high school. As I was touring various universities, sometimes my college student friend or tour guide would heap praise on his or her university’s study abroad program. Later, I’d ask for more details- they all confided in me that study abroad was like a vacation: less class, optional class, less stringent grading, and lots of fun foreign cultural activities.

Although there are lots of fun foreign cultural activities on the weekends, from Monday to Friday my program does not feel like a vacation. The program is rigorous like the Chinese university experience, where students attend 7 hours of class daily and spend most of the rest of their time studying. So here’s a basic description of my schedule from Monday to Friday.

7:30AM – Class starts at 8AM every morning and lasts until 12PM, so there’s no time to sleep in. Even if I decide to sleep in, my teacher will come to my room and wake me up. That’s right, because the classes here are so small and the classrooms are in the same building, the teachers will gladly come to students’ rooms if it's 8:05AM and they aren't in class.

8:00AM – Dabanke (“big class”, 6 students). Every morning class starts with a dictation that randomly tests about 40 of the previous night’s 80 new vocabulary words. After that, the teacher drills us on grammar for the rest of the hour.

9:00AM – Xiaobanke (“small class”, 3 students). This is the hardest class for me- you have to know the previous night’s 12-13 new grammar patterns pretty well. If you don’t, there’s only two other students, and you have nowhere to hide. Luckily, on the occasion that a grammar pattern is too complicated for me, most of the teachers are understanding and helpful. The workload might be intimidating but at least the teachers aren’t.

9:50AM – Usually after two hours of grammar drills, my head is pounding. I usually take a 15 minute powernap here to regain some energy.

10:10AM – Duihuake (“conversation class”, 2 students). This is my favorite class of the day- it’s me, one other student, and the teacher. The goal of the class is for the students to converse naturally while the teacher corrects their speech. I like this class because every day we discuss a different topic, whether it’s Starbucks in the Forbidden City, what Beijing should do about traffic problems during the Olympics, or problems faced by China’s single child generation. Some of my classmates find some of these topics to be quite boring, but I find that it’s easier to get excited about these issues than it is to get excited about parroting some grammar patterns back to the teacher in Dabanke or Xiaobanke.

11:10AM – I usually have lunch break around this time. Sometimes I grab a quick bite with my roommate and some friends at a nearby restaurant. Other times I speedwalk to the nearest McDonald’s, grab some American food while watching the West coast NBA games.

12:10PM – Danbanke (“one-on-one class”). This class is pretty straightforward. It’s me and the teacher and we work on grammar for an hour.

1:10PM – If I’m feeling energetic after 4 hours of class, it’s usually because I’ve gotten more than 5 hours of sleep the night before. If that’s the case, I’ll probably study for a while and then have a short nap. If that’s not the case, I’ll probably nap for about 90 minutes.

4:00PM – Extracurriculars. My program arranges various extracurricular activities, including Taichi, Calligraphy, Chinese Folk Songs, and Ping Pong. I originally planned to attend Taichi, cooking, Chinese slang, and Ping Pong classes, although now I only have time for cooking and Chinese slang. I’m also on the student council. If I don’t have extracurriculars that day, I’ll go to the gym, lift weights and stretch for a couple of hours.

6:00PM – After meeting up with some classmates at the gym, we grab a quick family-style dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

7:00PM – The fun begins. Every night, I get about 80 new two-character compound vocabulary words to memorize, and I’ll have between 60-120 never-before seen characters to memorize. On top of that, there’s reading and understanding that day’s lesson material. Also, every night there is preparation for conversation class, which usually involves interviewing a Chinese person. Every night we also have written homework, which is translating sentences and reading comprehension. On top of that, once a week, there’s a hand-written three page essay. Two days after I submit the essay, I have to memorize it and present it to the class orally. And on top of all this work, there's various deadlines for a semester-long project that culminates in a 3000 character essay and an oral presentation.

Needless, to say, from 7:00PM until about 2:00AM, I’m doing homework. And I have yet to successfully 100% complete a night of homework so far.

2:00AM – I call it a night. I could keep working and finish my homework, but I think that sleep is more important, because I’ll need the energy for the next day’s class.

-

After re-reading all this, I ask myself: why am I doing all this? At this point, I’m not really sure: I don’t have a big goal on my mind like “become CEO of a Chinese company.” Even “becoming fluent” is such a long way off that I don’t want to think about it. But in some weird way, I enjoy the process of studying Chinese. Every day, it’s mentally challenging to memorize characters and understand the grammar, and it’s psychologically challenging to stay motivated.

But I think it’s more than just the challenge… I also like studying Chinese because it’s very transparent. For example you can’t B.S. knowing how to write a Chinese character- you either know how to write it, or you don’t. Over my previous high school and university experience, I’d get frustrated because the subjectivity of the grading made it impossible to tell if I was actually making positive progress. For example, I’d write an essay that I thought was really good and get a bad grade, or I’d write a bad essay and get a good grade. With this system, it’s hard to know if you’re going in the right direction. It's even harder to know whether you’re getting a good education or whether you’re wasting your time. With studying Chinese, you either understand it or you keep trying- there’s no uncertainty.

And aside from all of that philosophical stuff about why I like to study Chinese, it’s awesome being in Beijing on the weekends. During the days, there are so many touristy/cultural things to do, (much of which I still have to write about and post pictures of) and at night, the bars and clubs are fantastic.

It’s also awesome just being in Asia- today I just (partly) finished planning a backpacking trip that will take me and a couple friends from Beijing to Shanghai to Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. I can’t wait to explore all the cities, to trek through the jungles of Southeast Asia, and to find hidden beaches in Thailand.

In other news, I won a Light Fellowship for the summer semester, so I’ll definitely be studying here all the way until the Olympics. Thank you again to the Light Fellowship committee for giving me with this opportunity.

New friends

2008-02-02T04:17:00.001-08:00

One of the best parts of ACC, the program I'm doing, is that it gives you lots of opportunities to find out about life in China by introducing you to lots of Chinese people. First of all, even though most of us live on campus, we're all assigned a Chinese host family. We're encouraged to get to know the host family by visiting their homes and eating meals with them as often as possible.

I met my Chinese host family last Sunday night. There's three people in the family: the father is probably about 60 and has been driving forklifts for the same newspaper company for 30 years. The mother is retired, and I haven't met her because she's been in the southern part of China traveling with friends. There's one 25 year-old son, who graduated university three years ago and has been working for Panasonic for the last 3 years: interestingly enough they're doing lots of technology work for the upcoming Olympics.

I met them at their apartment, which was within walking distance of my dorm. I'd describe the apartment as neat, classy, and filled with lots of expensive electronics. They had a huge Sony TV, Bose speakers, and even a Karaoke system. They had some Chinese art around the room, but what caught my eye was a relatively large replica of New York's famous “Wall Street Bull.” It was about the size of a small TV- hardly a tourist trinket, and definitely an interesting piece for this modest Chinese apartment.

After we drank tea at the apartment, we headed over to a hotpot restaurant for dinner. Hotpot is one of my most favorite culinary discoveries here (although I think they have it in North America)- each person gets a pot of soup that's heated to a boil by a small flame throughout the meal. Then you order plates of thinly sliced raw meat that you toss in the boiling pot and cook fairly quickly (5-10 seconds). Then you take out the cooked meat and dip it in delicious peanut sauce. In typical Chinese generous host fashion, my host family ordered 6 huge plates of beef for the three of us, which we did not even come close to finishing.

During dinner, my host-brother showed me pictures from his visit to the new Olympic stadium- the “bird's nest”- which got me really psyched about being here for the games, and actually even seeing them: my dad and I have got tickets for 5 nights of track and field at the Bird's nest, which I think is going to be fantastic.

Anyways, this post took a little longer to write than I was expecting- I'm going to post what I have now, go to the gym and work out, then come back and write for a while until the Yale-Princeton squash match starts at 12PM EST, 1AM China time.

Dilemma

2008-01-29T12:40:00.000-08:00

This is my first post in a while. There are two reasons for that: 1) everyday, there are so many new experiences I want to write about, and 2) lately, I've been busy with class, so everyday I have less time to write. It's like a catch-22.

Anyways, expect me to post something big on Friday night, Beijing time (Friday morning in the US). This weekend should be cool too: I've got plans to visit the Forbidden City and Beijing's underground city.

2008-01-20T05:23:00.000-08:00

Hey, I haven't posted in a while because I've been very busy touring Beijing, trying all sorts of food, and going out with friends. But that's good, because I have a lot to write about. Unfortunately I don't have time to post pictures yet, because I'm in the process of memorizing about 100 new characters + words for tomorrow's 8AM class.

Cool destination #1: Jingshan Park
On Saturday morning I and a group of students went to Jingshan park. Jingshan Park is right next to the Forbidden City, and in Jingshan park there's a tall hill where you can get great views.

But the coolest part of Jingshan Park are the locals. We saw old Chinese women dancing to Eminem, costumed dancers, people doing tai-chi, and big circles of people banging drums and playing harmonicas, in remarkable consonance. The cool part is that this is part of their daily morning routine- they do it for exercise and social value.

Cool destination #2: Tiananmen Square
Obviously an important destination, this place really seems huge in real life. There are some great big temples, and some great big pictures of Mao, but you can't really get close to anything. So aside from now being able to say I've been to Tiananmen, not that cool.

Cool destination #3: Sanlitunr

Sanlitunr is Beijing's largest bar district. There must be at least 25 bars and night clubs that's a conservative estimate. Also, thanks to the value of the renminbi, drinks are very cheap. So when you add in college students, ex-pats, and fun Beijing locals, it ends up being a lot of fun.

Language Pledge and Class

The language pledge has definitely been an obstacle to communication, but it's also been a good source of fun. Everyone holds to the pledge about 99.9% of the time- at restaurants, bars, markets, everywhere. Which is good, because we're always using Chinese.

Class is probably the hardest part about this place: 4 hours of class per day, with 4-8 hours of homework afterwards. Tonight I have about 100 new words to memorize. Tomorrow is the first day of class, and I hope it goes well. I got placed into 3rd year Chinese even though I've only taken 6 months of Chinese. I owe that entirely to having great Yale teachers: thank you Zhou laoshi, Chen laoshi, Mu laoshi and Gao laoshi.

More posts and photos to come!

2008-01-16T01:37:00.001-08:00

Just a quick post: here's a picture of my room in Beijing.

It's on the third floor of this building:

The university has invested a lot of money in improving this building, which has some good consequences and some bad consequences. The good is that my room's been recently renovated, so it's in good condition. The bad is that the renovation is still going on downstairs, and during the day, you can hear a lot of jackhammering. Which was a little disturbing during this morning's placement exam- my theory is that our head teacher ordered it to test students' focus.

Anyways, that's it for now. I'm starting to miss Yale and home, especially since I still get emails about shopping period, parties at my fraternity, and the squash team's success. Mostly I miss the people. People are awesome here too, and I'm having a good time.. I just wish I could have the best of all worlds!

Into thick air + my new shirt

2008-01-14T06:29:00.000-08:00

Before I came to Beijing, I was anxious about the pollution. I figured that the pollution must be terrible, if: 1) the Chinese government is testing vehicle bans, 2) Olympic athletes are concerned it will affect their performance at the 2008 games, and 3) Beijing was just named the "air pollution capital of the world."

So does the air pollution live up to the hype? Yes and no. I first noticed the pollution when my flight descended into Beijing. It was probably 5,000 feet above the ground, and I felt the back of my throat get dry, and taking a deep breath was unpleasant. In retrospect, this might have been a placebo-like effect: since arriving, the pollution hasn't yet bothered my breathing. That being said, I haven't tried any strenuous outdoor activity- but I promise to as soon as the mercury rises above 0.

The pollution also varies- so far I've had two days of blue sky and three days of haziness. Here's a spectrumIn Beijing, even when looking from a tall pedestrian bridge, you can't see very far into the distance before things get blurry.

Taken at 10AM, I was playing with the exposure settings on my camera. Things don't actually look this grim. But the sun still casts a red glow through the pollution.

So I decided to do my part to combat Beijing's air pollution: I bought a shirt. It has the Olympics logo on the left breast and a tree near the waist.

My awesome climate change shirt. Al Gore loves it.

The message is subtle... but powerful.

Total eclipse of the... Big Mac?

2008-01-12T03:36:00.000-08:00

Today's themes are music and McDonald's. You might think that McDonald's and music are pretty unrelated. Not in China.

Part one- I'm lovin' it- a little too much

I was at the gym riding the stationery bike and listening to the gym's PA blasting what sounded like Maroon 5, Nickelback, and other Top 40 pop/rock. As I was listening to a generic sounding hip/hop song, I recognized a familar refrain.

Male vocalist "I'm lovin' it."
Female chorus: "ba dum bum ba baaa!"

It was the McDonald's song! But as soon as it got my attention, the song went back to some generic rap-py verses, that had nothing to do with McDonald's. But then, it was there again! Definitely the McDonald's slogan + badabababum riff! The song went on for another 2 minutes, then transitioned directly into some Rihanna. I figured it was weird... my best guess was that the guy who wrote the McDonald's theme decided to write some lyrics and release it as a single in China. But later, I'd discover there was a more sinister explanation.

Part two: Total eclipse of the Big Mac

I love Bonnie Tyler. Actually, I don't know anything about her, but I like that song she sings called "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

So tonight at McDonald's, I was thrilled when "Total Eclipse" started playing. As I chowed down on some grilled chicken, I sang along silently. I know the words pretty well. That's in part because, of all the songs I've ever listened to, this one is the most expensive. Once, when I was driving, my friends and I were rocking out to Total Eclipse, and I got pulled over. He gave me a $200 ticket for "speeding in a community zone."

That's why I was surprised when the second verse of this song sounded completely unfamiliar The stresses on the syllables were completely different. And I clearly heard the words "big taste." What's more, I just looked up the lyrics: there's only one verse!

So it seems that McDonald's paid Bonnie Tyler to sing an additional verse to "Total Eclipse of the Heart"- about McDonald's. That also means that the "I'm lovin it" rap I heard in the gym was probably a similar ploy.

I'm not trying to call foul on McDonald's- some people scoff at subversive advertising like this, others don't mind. But it made me wonder: do Chinese people think that American rock stars sing about how much they like McDonald's?

I'm going to give McDonald's some credit for a cleverly subversive marketing ploy: the McDonald's I visited was packed with Beijingers. Then again, today McDonald's' share price dropped.

I think that in North America, corporate-branded music on the radio wouldn't sell too many burgers. Regardless, I thought the "I'm lovin' it" rap had a catchy beat, although Bonnie's new verse just couldn't compare to the rest of the song's perfection. So who knows: maybe one day, our children will turn on the radio and hear the Eagles crooning about the "Holiday Inn California." At least it's good music.

I'm freezing my 屁股 off

2008-01-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

Today in Beijing, the weather is freezing. The last two days have been mild, and I didn't understand why the Beijingers wore such heavy winter clothes. I figured that they obviously just couldn't match my Canadian fortitude. But now I understand why they were bundled up. Today, it's -7 and windy... oh so windy.

Luckily, (or, if you're a second-grader, unluckily), I think that it rarely snows.

So I think I'll stay inside today- I'll do a spinning class at the nearby gym, and work on translating menus. Yeah, it's a pretty low-key way to spend your 3rd day in Beijing. But I think that my foreign students' program plans tours of Beijing, visits to Tiananmen, etc. Because I'm going to see all the cool sites anyways, today I don't feel the need to freeze my pigu off.

Here's a picture I took this morning:

Blue skies above intertwining buildings that are at an interesting stage of construction. They loom behind low-income housing. More posts to come on the contrasts here between prosperity and poverty.

BEIJING TRAFFIC: as American Football

2008-01-11T05:01:00.000-08:00

To help you understand Beijing traffic, and perhaps to one day navigate its hazards, I've come up with the following analogy. I hope you find it helpful.

BEIJING TRAFFIC: as American Football

Traffic lights: BAD QUARTERBACK

Mr. Batch, milliseconds before throwing an interception. Charlie, if you're out there reading this, I'm sorry. I really am. For your career.

In Beijing, a traffic light is like a quarterback- an extremely bad one. It's so bad, none of the players listen to it. If they don't get what they want.. they'll just audible audibly and bullrush the intersection. Because of this lack of respect for Mr. QB, you find yourself in an interesting predicament.

You: RUNNING BACK (http://youtube.com/watch?v=L6CqA7hEzw8)

As soon as the quarterback huts and the light turns green, you might as well find some holes in the defense and go for the endzone. Here's what you're up against:

Buses: DEFENSIVE LINEMEN

Slow to accelerate and overweight, you can usually navigate around these guys pretty easily. They're mainly dangerous because they can block you from seeing over the line of scrimmage, sometimes allowing a strong safety to sneak up on you.

Cars: BAD CORNERBACKS

Nimble, but usually polite, a car will usually cede if you walk in front of it. Bad tacklers. Unfortunately, they can be easily confused with...

Taxis: STRONG SAFETY

These are the guys you have to really look out for- they can really lay the smack down. Quick to accelerate and extremely aggressive, they will stop at nothing to "invent" lanes to tackle you. Beijing taxis make Rodney Harrison look like Michelle Kwan. Naturally, they love to talk trash, and honk frequently.

That's it for the defense- let's look at what's protecting you from this monstrosity.

Other pedestrians: OFFENSIVE LINE

Strength in numbers, but I can't tell if these guys are for or against you. On the one hand, if you can get sandwiched between a group of 5 or 6, you're usually good. On the other hand, if you're only with 1 or 2, they can be very hesitant. This might be because they perceive themselves as running backs and you as their offensive line. Luckily, there's one last offensive player, and it's the best.

Bikes: FULLBACK

Mike Alstott- still scaring people

Hands down, your biggest asset. These guys are big, bad, and have been in the league for years. I mean it takes balls just to WALK in Beijing... to bike here is Chuck Norris ballsy. So, if you can walk quickly with a bike protecting you from those nasty strong safeties, you're all set. Touchdown.

My first full day -

2008-01-11T04:19:00.000-08:00

Today was a really nice day in Beijing- there were a few fluffy clouds floating around a blue sky, and the temperature was . They were good conditions for my first attempts at buying breakfast, buying clothes, and dodging cars on 6 lane roads.

Baozi for breakfast?

What do people in Beijing eat for breakfast? To me, it's still a mystery. At 9am today, I wandered into a nearby xiaochi (direct translation: "little eat"). The xiaochi's eating area was a dimly lit room with two rows of 5 or 6 tables. The attendant approached me, and because I can barely read a menu, I asked for the best thing she had.

This is what I got:

Oh, the humanity! Just kidding, it actually tasted pretty good. Too bad I have no idea how to order it again.

The top thing is a meat-filled bun called baozi. It tasted pretty good, so good that I ate 10 of them before I realized I should take a picture to commemorate my first Chinese breakfast. Underneath the baozi, there is some bird's nest stuff... I don't think it was edible, but maybe I missed out on a delicacy. The bottom thing is... I have no idea what it's called, but like the baozi, it was good. Although I still have no idea whether or not this is breakfast food... or how to order it tomorrow.

Luxury

After I'd fueled up with food, I decided to go lift some weights. Problem was, the airline lost my backpack that had my workout clothes. So I decided to go to the mall and buy some new ones. The mall was is a block away from my university, and already a few people had warned me that it was expensive.

I figured it was China, everything was relatively cheap (my breakfast cost me 75 cents), nothing could be THAT expensive. I was wrong- when I got to the mall, I couldn't see anything but luxury designer stores. Great, I thought, I can get some Gucci sweatpants to go with my Prada socks and Ermenegildo Zegna wifebeater.

I ended up finding some reasonably priced Adidas stuff that has the Beijing 2008 Olympics logo on it- I think that Adidas is the official sponsor.

After I finished shopping, I found that "jet lag" is a wonderful justifier of naps.

More posts to come (maybe later tonight), where I'll talk about navigating the hazardous traffic, describe the pollution, and recount my first experience in some real Beijing slums.

In China...

2008-01-10T16:28:00.001-08:00

I learned something interesting last night- according to the accountant with whom I ate dinner, in China it isn't manly to order cold water. According to him, you should drink near-boiling hot water instead, lest risk looking like the guy at a North American bar who orders a Smirnoff Ice.

After politely dissuading my drink preferences, this same guy also made a funny comment about the food here. After telling me he liked gambling on a trip to Niagara Falls, I said it was too bad that it's banned in China. He laughed and said "that's okay for you, because you're gambling every time you order food here!"

I thought that was pretty funny, and true. I'm going out now- to "gamble" a bit for breakfast.

I think I'm going to like it here.

2008-01-10T14:36:00.000-08:00

The Flight

For anyone, spending more than 12 hours on a plane is daunting. My flight yesterday from Toronto to Beijing was no exception. Luckily, there were some amenities to keep me entertained- namely the in-seat personal TV touchscreens. If you've used these before, you'll know how great they are- you can choose from over 50 movies and TV shows. I watched 2 movies, a few episodes of the Office, and read books and magazines. Before I knew it the 12 hours had passed, and I was in Beijing.

The Toronto-Beijing flight takes an unusual route- instead of flying west over the Pacific Ocean or east over the Atlantic, it flies north. So I got to fly over the Northwest territories, Siberia, and even the North Pole.

Here's a picture of Siberia- you can see mountains, and a curving, frozen river:

And here's one from Northern China- I thought it was pretty how the curving rivers contrast with the straight lines that the two squarish cities at the bottom. It was also amazingly clear- this picture's from 30,000 feet.

The food

I ate my first meal in China at KFC. Kind of a cop-out, I know, but it was delicious. KFC in China is a little different from KFC in North America. In China, half of the menu advertises the usual fried chicken, but the other half advertises variations on, of all things, fried cod burgers.

After digesting the KFC, I got a little more adventurous and walked to a supermarket. Again, it was a mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar. Among the crowds of people playing bumper cars with their shopping carts, there were the usual fruit stands and aisles of packaged products. But, there were also booths where chefs cooked Chinese pastries and dumplings, and even open tanks of seafood, where I watched a crab climb out and crawl along the floor for two seconds before a watchful employee diligently scooped it back into the tank. Funnily enough, one section of the supermarket was labeled "Western goods." I'll name a few items, they had Frosted Flakes, pasta, instant oatmeal, and many others. However, even though the supermarket was crowded, this section was completely empty.

After buying some groceries, I decided to try a nearby restaurant. I had two choices for dinner- Dairy Queen, or some place that had no recognizable Western logo. This time, I was adventurous. I went inside, couldn't read most of the characters on the menu, and ordered by random pointing. What arrived at my table looked like a bowl of the orange liquid you sometimes find on the top and bottom of a very greasy pizza. Floating on the orange liquid were chunks of beef, noodles and strange vegetables that resembled eggplant/lettuce hybrids. And you know what, it wasn't the best meal of my life, but I had never eaten anything like it before, and it tasted alright. Nevertheless, just to be safe, when I got home, I did an Operation Iraqi Freedom on my indigestion and drank a preemptive shot of Pepto Bismol. After that, I felt fine.

Being a foreigner

After that, I had some time to reflect on my first day as an outsider in a foreign country. So far, everyone I've talked to has been very nice. At dinner in the Chinese restaurant, A lot of things are different here- But the thrill of having new experiences makes up for not yet feeling used to the country.

Probably the funniest part of experiencing China is being a bumbling foreigner. The so hard- although I can survive with my 3 semesters of Chinese, I'm hardly fluent. And some areas of my communication are better than others- I know a lot of vocabulary for getting to know someone, but can't really order food. And even when I manage to produce a coherent sentence, the response usually comes back at me so quickly that I can hardly understand.

Most importantly, unlike areas of Europe, where locals will speak English to you if they hear you struggling with their native language, not all Chinese will do this. They'll keep speaking Mandarin. I think it's partly because they think it's hilarious when I misspeak. I don't mind though, I feel like a North American Borat. Wo xihuan! (I like!)

The bottom line is even though it's a new place, everyone I've met, including my taxi driver, the student who gave me directions, and many waitresses and shop employees, have all been friendly and helpful. I think I'm going to like it here.

I'm here!

2008-01-10T01:12:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this post on pure adrenaline. Since I last slept 30 hours ago, I've flown over the North Pole, arrived at my home for the next 4 months, and eaten my first real Beijing food.

Speaking of that Beijing food, right now I'm going to go have a preemptive Pepto Bismol. Then I think I'll call it a night. More updates to come tomorrow, as well as photos from 30,000 feet.

My Itinerary

2007-12-30T19:20:00.000-08:00

January 9, 2008: I arrive in Beijing almost 2 weeks before classes begin. I'm arriving early so that I have time to get familiar with the town before I have to deal with intense classes. On the agenda: explore Beijing public transit, visit museums for initial research on my Yale senior essay about ancient Chinese art, and find the nearest Subway restaurant.

January 17: Language pledge begins. Along with the rest of the students and teachers, I'll pledge to speak only Chinese until May 2. This will be a little scary at first- I've only studied Chinese for 6 months. But even though it's inconvenient, I'm committed to learning Chinese. I actually think it will be a fun challenge to try to overcome. But I'm sure that at times it will be frustrating too, which is why I'm lucky to have this blog, Skype, and Facebook as outlets for my English.

January 21: Classes begin. I'll have four hours of class everyday, and about four hours of homework every night. I'll be busy, but I like the intensity of studying Chinese. Plus, it will be totally worth it when I'm fluent. It'll be lots of work, so I'm looking forward to getting involved in some extracurricular activities like Tai Chi and learning how to cook.

February 6-10: Chinese New Year break! 2008 is the year of the rat. Ironic, because 2007 was definitely the year of the rat at the apartment I had in my fraternity house.

March 1-7: Field trip! I haven't been on a field trip since 6th grade. I don't know where we're going yet. I'm hoping it's the zoo.

April 2-6: Spring Break! I wonder what Spring Break is like in Beijing- maybe we all fly to Thailand and party on the beach. Then again, we probably all just

May 2-June 21: BIG BREAK! I'm free for 7 weeks between Spring and Summer semesters. Other than my mom and sister visiting for 2 weeks, I have no plans yet, just some ideas:

-Eating fresh sushi in Japan,
-playing Starcraft in Seoul,
-meditating in Tibet,
-exploring Shanghai, Yunnan, and the rest of the world's 4th largest country,
-and maybe even lying on a Thailand beach with a special someone.

June 22: Back to class.

August 8: The Olympics start. My dad is coming to Beijing, and we've got tickets for 5 nights of track and field. I can't wait to experience Beijing during the Olympics.

August 22: I return home to Toronto.

That's the tentative itinerary. Throughout the trip you can reach me by email at bill.hatch@gmail.com .

I'm excited to be writing my first post...

2007-12-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

...because it means that soon, very soon, I'll be in China. My flight leaves on January 9th, 2008. After 18 hours of hurtling over the Pacific Ocean, my flight will touch down in Beijing, and soon after that, for the first time, I'll set foot on Far Eastern soil.

My Chinese mission is twofold. First, I'm learning how to fluently speak Mandarin Chinese. Second, I want to absorb China: the culture, the lifestyle, and especially the people.

I want to relay all of this to the world, so I've started this blog. The blog's name is "Good Morning China." It's both an allusion to the Robin Williams movie "Good Morning Vietnam", and a reference to the fact that my Chinese class starts every morning at 8AM.

So, good morning, China. Happy reading.