It's been an interesting weekend so far. We walked for a few hours yesterday to get into the center of the city to see some of the tourist sites. First we saw the Anshun Bridge and took some photos. It's in the fancy hotel and foreigner district in town, so things around there were pretty nice and upscale. Then we walked to the Tianfu square, home of the largest statue of Mao Zedong, and several impressive dragon fountains. Tianfu is in the midst of a large shopping district, so we took the opportunity to buy some cell phones. The most interesting event happened when we decided to take a cab home. Luckily we buckled our seatbelt, and our cab driver started off driving like all other Chinese drivers - absolutely crazy. Of course this kind of driving leads to accidents, which is exactly what happened. As another driver was merging into our lane, our driver laid on the horn to indicate he would not make room, the other driver paid no attention, and we ended up scraping their rear bumper. Both drivers stopped in the middle of the road and started screaming at each other. We looked at the amount on the meter, handed the money to the cab driver in the midst of his argument, and hopped over to the bus station that was thankfully nearby. Good thing the Peace Corps doesn't allow us to drive in China, I don't think I could handle it.
July 7th, 2010
What a difference a few degrees can make in this humidity! Today was a bit cooler, and therefore considerably less exhausting. We had a three and a half hour block of language today, and I think I have solidified how to ask and tell the time. During our lunch hour, we discovered an Internet café (the family only has dial-up which is too slow for my computer patience level) and coffee shop that claims to sell real espresso, which we will test at tomorrow's lunch. Another three delicious meals of Sichuan food made me wonder how long it will be before we start craving western food enough to travel to the city center to partake in some overpriced burritos. At this point, I'm thinking never.
This evening we had a lovely bonding experience with our host family, which started with some light beer drinking over dinner (kids included). After the dishes were cleared, Ge-ge spread out sheets of newspaper and pulled out his calligraphy brushes and paper. He demonstrated his calligraphy skills by writing our Chinese names (An MeiLin and Bei Rui) and writing poetry in Mao-style cursive. He let us have a try at it, and the girls showed off their own developing styles. He even wrote the name of the city with the brush in his teeth! It was one of those genuinely fun and educational experiences, of which I am sure there will be many in the coming months. Afterward, the parents retired upstairs, while I settled in with the girls to watch some cartoons and finish my language homework. Sunny was so sweet in helping me with my pronunciation, and introduced me to all the main characters in the Yang-Yang cartoon. I think she's becoming wo de xiao pengyou (my little friend). We also discovered that we'll be on our own for the weekend, (Jie-Jie will be out of town and Ge-ge will be busy with work) which will give us the perfect opportunity to explore the city on our own. As much as we love our host family, I don't want them to feel that they are required to entertain us all the time. I think if we can see some sights on our own and make it home in one piece they will be relieved and so will we
July 6th, 2010Looking back over my last posting after a long day of rigorous study, I can't help but sigh at yesterday's enthusiasm. Things are still going well, but 4 hours a day of hardcore language study is certainly an exhausting endeavor on top of everything else. We left for class this morning at 8 am in the already sweltering humidity, and twenty minutes later arrived for our first session soaked in sweat and craving caffeinated beverages. The day continued on in such a way, with a host family debriefing, our first language session, a tour of the campus, lunch with our teacher, a TEFL training introduction, and finally another 2 hour language session. We arrived back at the host family residence, again soaked in sweat at about 5:45, dug into our third meal of Sichuan-style Chinese food for the day and then commenced with the homework-ing. Wo tai lei! (I'm too tired!)
On a positive note, Ge-ge got us started off right on a marvelous breakfast this morning. The meal began with a steaming hot bowl of soymilk, served with baozi (steamed bread dumplings filled with meat and vegetables), followed by tang-yue, sweet soft boiled dumplings filled with ground sesame and sugar. As much as I love Korean food, this sure beats that first cafeteria breakfast of kimchi, seaweed soup and boiled quail's eggs with beef (a delicious meal in it's own right, but not my idea of breakfast).
July 5th, 2010
Today we met and moved in with our fabulous host family near Sichuan Normal University. Our host mom (or older sister "Jie-jie") is an English teacher, and speaks English well, which has made communication a breeze, but might make learning Chinese at home a little more challenging. The husband (our "Ge-ge") works in administration at the college. We have two adorable and friendly little girls running around, their daughter Yao Ying, 6, and her cousin "Sunny," 8. Their house is a spacious condo-style apartment on the top floor of a building in a gated community. Each available window seems to have a balcony (including the one in our room), and they have all the modern amenities, with the exception of an oven of course, since baking is not a traditional Chinese cooking mode. They showed us how to make authentic Sichuan-style dumplings (jiao-zi) for dinner and we sat around and made them with the kids. I learned how to crimp each side with three opposing folds to make an s-shape that resembles a swimming fish. Our jie-jie served them up with a spicy oil and vinegar concoction and provided bowls of chopped garlic, chives, ginger, and hot peppers to further season the sauce to our liking. The food here is so good, I think it will be a challenge not to put back on all the weight we lost at home. After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll around the campus and saw all the amenities it has to offer. The community we live in is upscale even by American standards, complete with a gorgeous pool and gates with guards. The pathways were crowded with other families also enjoying their evening strolls and the activity on the sports field rivaled a high school track event. It definitely seems like all our needs can be met between this lovely home and the wide array of shops and restaurants available on the campus. I am ready to settle in for three rigorous months of study!
- By Katie
