Remembering good times on the Great Wall! Missing you all, Isaac, Casey, David, Matt, Anna, and Annie! :D
I genuinely can't believe it's been three weeks since I've been back from China; it honestly feels like this entire experience was a year ago! I'm sorry for not posting since my Gulangyu adventure; the last week in Xiamen was so busy. Together, we prepared for the Farewell Party, final OPI (oral test), and my class had a debate on whether Chinese or English would be the most important language in the future. Too many good memories to reflect on, so I'll refrain from recapping directly. Now a high school senior, college app season has commenced. I've tried writing multiple essays on my Chinese identity but they all come out too cliche, with little substance and little representation of who I am. I wrote earlier in my biography prior to coming to China that I wanted to discover more of who I am — and while that mission was undoubtedly fulfilled, I still can't pinpoint specifically why the idea of identity is important to me. Instead, I'm hoping that writing this post — and reflecting through a metaphysical lens of those awesome six weeks — will shed light on what it is that made my entire NSLI-Y experience that much more meaningful. Here goes: First, the cliches. I read back on Going Rogue and remember the first time I had a one-on-one conversation with a random local. I remember the table, the light, the sounds very fondly. I read my post on Quanzhou and remember the long bus ride, the Chinese McDonalds, walking around the maritime museum with Andrew. I read my very first post with my host family and remember the nerves. I'm happy I wrote my blog. On a superficial level, it helps me remember what I did while in the motherland — but metaphysically, I think it's a window into my mind as the program progressed. When I reread something I wrote while in China, some part of me remembers me in my host family's apartment, typing away on the couch as Jerkey played MiniClip or my host mom was drinking her evening tea. And even to this day, my typing is nostalgic: when I'm typing up a college essay or a simple homework assignment, I think that somewhere 6,000 miles away on the other side of the Earth, Jerkey is riding his bike hanging out with his friends, my host mom is on the top floor of her office with the city amidst her, my Grandma watching her soap opera while fanning herself, or all the tutors studying and laughing with each other. I think of the streets of Xiamen, the crowded buses, the highway along the oceanside, ZhongShanLu, the classrooms we once learned in, the buses we once road in, the beaches we once walked, the hotels we once stayed in, the places we once visited. It's fascinating to think that something as mundane as a classroom or a hotel room can be so meaningful as I reflect. While I can clearly remember the profuse laughter and smiles I had throughout my six weeks in Xiamen, I am still so confused. Other than a better command of Chinese language, I'm not sure what part of my experience made my identity clearer. Perhaps I reaffirmed my love for Chinese language and culture, and perhaps I realized that I wanted to live in China after I graduated from college, but there is something so ambiguous when I ask myself why my Chinese side is so important to me. Some part of me wonders if I wasn't Chinese if I'd still have this dying passion for everything Chinese. And to be completely honest, some part of me wonders if the fact that my grandparents came here with $60 in their pockets and lived the American dream is the true catalyst for my journey of 'self-discovery.' But oddly enough, my Chinese identity is probably what I view as the most important part of me. It's something I want colleges to know about me, yet I can't pinpoint why. I understand that there are thousands of people who write about their cultural identity on a college essay, but the dichotomy of representing my genuine identity and the fear of writing another cliche, crappy essay is all too real. I don't know if I have the will to compromise the most important part of me out of the desperation to write an interesting 'essay.' I can only hope people will read and understand me from the words I type on the Common App. Regardless, s/o to the entire Xiamen NSLI-Y crew. Coming back from the best six weeks of my life and delving into the shenanigans that senior year is can be rough, but at least I've got a meaningful experience to remember and cherish for the rest of my life. Being surrounded by incredible people has changed my life for the better — and I miss all of our conversations on the buses and as we walked to class. Of course, it hurts to know that the 25 of us will never all be united, but I'll always remember walking around the Regal Shanghai, the walk on the Bund, "BE CAREFUL OF THE SHIT!", and of course, all those tutoring sessions, all those OPI's, and all those culture classes in Xiamen. I'll miss it all — but life goes on.
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What a view of Xiamen from the top of the Piano Museum. The sky was this blue. Waahhh… so hard waking up today. After walking around Gulangyu for hours on end, my legs were sore and I’m incredibly tired even after three full days of class — but Sunday was genuinely an awesome day. Perfect weather, blue skies (YES actual, picturesque blue skies in China!), a nice breeze… it couldn’t have been better. I woke up on Sunday around 10:30 AM. It was so nice sleeping in. Indeed, after what seemed like an endless week of continuous work, waking up with 12+ hours of sleep was fantastic. My host brother then took me to this famous noodle soup shop for a small breakfast, and as soon as we got back we ate lunch… but we were too full to eat. Afterwards, we went to the ferry station to depart for Gulangyu. For those of you who haven’t read my previous post, Gulangyu is perhaps one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of China. Once home to the American consulate to China, Gulangyu is distinguished by its picturesque “bourgeoisie” architecture (European influence), beautiful gardens, and breathtaking view of the city of Xiamen. The island also has no cars. Unfortunately, as China’s population continues to grow exponentially, Gulangyu has been plagued by so many tourists in the past year that even people like our program director refuse to go back. With this in mind, I was both excited yet cautious. Getting on and off the ferry is perhaps China’s version of Black Friday… but we’ll save that story for the end. After arriving on Gulangyu, I was surprised to see that my host mom completely spoiled me and hired a private tour guide (who cost only 26RMB… three hours only made 4 USD). My host mom asked the tour guide to talk slowly, but her idea of slow was not very slow — so she instead used very easy words for me to understand. Throughout the entire tour, I’m pretty proud to say I could understand basically everything she said (but trust me when I said she used very easy words). Standing at four feet three inches tall (ok I’m not sure if it’s that exactly, but she was REALLY short), we all headed for Gulangyu’s most prided attraction: the piano museum. Famous for its collection of pianos ranging from 100 to 300 years old, the museum was donated by a Chinese-Australian millionaire. When we arrived, I was a bit suspicious because my host brother handed the phone to the ticket agent and got us free admission. Curious how, when we entered the museum, my host brother’s good friend was waiting for us. Apparently he works at the museum — and he gave us access to off-limits parts of the museums, let us touch 200 year old pianos, and showed us things that weren’t on exhibit. It was so awesome, and I know that nobody else in NSLI-Y got that opportunity. Even better — and was perhaps the highlight of the museum — was that afterwards, he took us to the top of the museum with a breathtaking view (see pictures below). We then headed for a former millionaire’s mansion that is now a museum of Gulangyu. With our tour guide, we got seats to watch this hand puppet show that was extremely impressive. I also saw 8 classmates while sitting down, which was nice to see. The hand puppet show was so cool, and afterwards we walked around and saw other tourist sites for a good hour or so and then visited this bird aviary. There, my host mom’s friend was waiting for us, so we said goodbye to the tour guide. It turns out my host mom’s good friend (and like relative 100x removed) works on the Gulangyu Municipal Government, and he got us free admission everywhere. We walked around the bird aviary where there were thousands of beautiful birds, watched a wonderful movie about the history of Gulangyu, and strolled along the beaches. However, one thing I noticed about the island was that despite its natural beauty, many of the features are poorly maintained: the piano museum was dirty and smelly, the movie theater on its last legs despite relatively modern architecture, and stairs deteriorating. Regardless, the island was beautiful — and we began the 25 minute hike up the island to the highest point of Gulangyu, called “Sun Rock.” Boy, was this view worth it. You all know I’m scared of heights, but this was a height I was willing to tolerate. It reminded me of Santorini — that moment where you look over the edge to a sea of little homes, a majestic blue ocean, and feel a whispering breeze. As soon as getting to the top of Gulangyu, I felt exactly that. So serene. So… just happy. Happy that, out of all days, China gave me amazing weather and an incredible family to be with. Following that, we just walked around the island before our ferry at 6:50 PM. Still with that perfect breeze, I can’t remember being as relaxed as I was then. For some odd reason, amidst the hustle and bustle of the island, a peaceful stroll on the beach was all I needed to curb whatever stress I felt at that moment. Soon, the time came to return. Here’s my Chinese local story: getting on the ferry home is like China’s version of Black Friday. People elbowing from behind, pushing from side to side… it’s a headache, but more importantly, it’s FRUSTRATING. Prior to boarding the ferry, this one local was elbowing my back pretty hard. Angry, I turned around and yelled at him in Chinese “Really? Why are you pushing me?” to which he responded “Because there’s a person behind me pushing me.” Still furious, I then said “Ok, there’s a man pushing you… what makes it okay for you to push me?” He then kept quiet and an older guy next to me started clapping. Regardless, I was very angry. We then came home and ate at a Cantonese Dim Sum restaurant, which reminded me of the dim sum back at home. Perhaps the highlight of the meal was this thin purple rice pancake with fried shrimp inside. It was so yummy! We then got home and I went to bed super early cause I was tired. The next day after class my host brother and his childhood best friend Sherry (you may recall from a previous post) picked me up and took me to this super expensive, fresh-fruit yogurt place (kind of like Vitality Bowl on steroids with yogurt instead of that Acai stuff). It was so expensive — 26 RMB for a fruit bowl thingy (see picture below), and another 30 RMB for entrees, which were pretty good. Sherry was so thoughtful and treated us — and it was delicious too. Afterwards we walked around a lake and talked about the American and Chinese education system, particularly with colleges and testing. While my host brother doesn’t want to go to college and take the Gaokao (a huge three day test that is the sole indicator of college admission in China notorious for its incredibly hard subjects (English, Chinese, Science, Math, Government, etc. that can only be taken once and puts a lot of stress on students), Sherry hopes to attend an American university. I promised to send her a practice SAT, and she promised to take Jerkey and I to her apartment to go see her dog. My mom was off on business for the night, and Jerkey went out with his friends, so afterwards, it was just me and my host grandmother. My plan was originally to just go in my room and have some internet time, but I eventually worked up the courage to talk to my grandmother, who talks with a very heavy Southern min dialect. My grandmother is perhaps one of the nicest people I’ve ever met: she makes me breakfast every morning, cooks dinner, and is always so charismatic and complimentary of me. Sure enough, she was ecstatic to have a conversation with me. We ended up talking for two hours, and she told me about her life. She was born in Shanghai, but her parents moved to Xiamen to open up a bookstore. There, she was educated, and she never went to college — one of her biggest regrets. She became a housewife and had my mom and another daughter, and eventually moved in with my host family after her husband passed away. She can read Russian (but forgot a lot, because Russian was taught instead of English during her time), and speak three Chinese dialects: Southern Min (prominent in Fujian province), Shanghainese, and Putonghua (typical Mandarin). We talked about the retirement age, Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution, China US Relations, Xi Jinping, and Taiwanese independence… and I understood everything she said (with a couple dictionary uses). Even though everyone in my family talks super fast, they use simple words: and I was so appreciative to have that conversation with my grandmother. We also had a good conversation about carrots — her eyesight is very bad, and she had no idea carrots increase eye health (go Vitamin A). We bonded over simple things like that, and I’m glad I put a smile on her face afterwards. Tonight, I had a great conversation with my mom about the one child policy. I love how she's so loquacious and talks on and on when it comes to interesting political topics. Since then, not much has happened. Tried street food despite warnings from Dad and Grandpa, because the chicken smelled so good — and so far, stomach is okay. I can’t believe there are only seven days left here in Xiamen. We’re even beginning preparation for the final goodbye party and discussing logistics for our week trip to Shanghai and Beijing. I’m going to miss everybody so much. I’ve made great friends here, but more importantly, I’ve come to love China so much — and it will be so hard to say goodbye. What an incredible view. As my new friend on the bus said, "Xiamen is truly a great place." Hello, friends! I apologize for not writing the past three days; indeed, an amalgamation of sleep deprivation, fun, and classwork have all hindered me from achieving my ambitious plan of daily blogging. Regardless, life in Xiamen continues to be exciting, thrilling, fun, and all that — and I couldn’t have asked for a better first week with my host family. Class always begins with the typical schedule. Even though we’re all super pumped about our host families, I look forward to every morning, where I can reunite with my classmates and talk about what happened the night before. It’s fun to hear of everyone’s experiences — like my former roommate Matt, who went to his brother’s Calligraphy class and conversed with the teacher, or others, who in the NSLI-Y WeChat, send pictures of Xiamen Opera, making dumplings, trying new foods, or just in general, doing super fun stuff with their host families. On Thursday, my host brother took me to a fancy mall at Zhong Shan Lu, an expensive, luxurious shopping district in Xiamen. He treated me to Starbucks, which costs a whopping 26 RMB ($4.10) as we walked behind the mall to a more sketchy part of town. Although we’re host students, we’re tourists at heart — and it was really cool to go beyond the touristy areas of Xiamen and check out the narrow streets, lined with merchants, food carts, and hole in the walls. Jerky (my Chinese host brother) took me to a small barbecue shop, which was packed with people even on a weekday. We ordered this popular snack dish where you dip American bread into a soup broth, BBQ pork skewers, and a Chicken thigh, all of which were delicious. “This place,” as he explained to me in Chinese, “is known by every real Xiamener.” I later asked two of my teachers here who are from Xiamen, and both immediately smiled. He was right. But more importantly, he officially christened me a “Real Xiamener.” My host brother also took me to buy the famous Xiamen peanut soup (it’s sweet). To be honest, it was okay — just super duper sweet — but I was honestly full. I felt bad that after insisting I couldn’t finish it, I didn’t — and we had to throw away 50% of it. My host brother then took me to this super pretty part of Xiamen, where we took pictures of the famous island Gulangyu (which I’m visiting tomorrow and will write more about later in this post) and bought ferry tickets. After coming home, my host mother, being the polite Chinese host she was, insisted I did not eat enough, although I was stuffed. She decided to order us Sha Cha Mian, the most famous Xiamen speciality, literally translated as “beach tea noodles.” In a spicy almost peanut-y tasting broth (although there are no peanuts) with seafood, meats, and veggies, it was really good. Unfortunately, I couldn’t drink half the broth. As much as I wanted to, I was sweating profusely and, well, let’s just say I couldn’t feel my face. We then played Chinese Chess, where I surprisingly won both times (due to his stupid mistakes, obviously — and because he taught me great techniques!) and watched the soccer game between Bayern Munich and Guangzhou Evergrande. No clue why they took out Neuer for the PK’s! I then went to bed. The next day, I had class and came home to another delicious dinner. Three crabs, pork ribs, Bok Choy, and that amazing fish from last time. And super good soup. I ate so much… but my host family still insisted I did not eat enough. LOL. Afterwards, my brother and I went out to go buy snacks for the upcoming week. This is when perhaps the highlight of the week came. Eager to get me to try everything Chinese, my host brother purchased a Durian fruit, notorious for its disgusting smell but delicious taste by many Xiamen locals. Despite multiple warnings from Mama and Papa Fan back at home, I decided why not, and took a taste. I will not be eating durian again. Today was a more laid back day. Went to class and the typical happened, but we had buddy activities today. Students from #1 Xiamen Middle School came and did fun activities with us. Today, we played this interesting game where, in groups of 10, we have to fit everybody on four newspapers put together in one big rectangle (see pictures below). Basically, every group members must be on the newspaper. After every round, it was reduced from three, eventually to two, and finally to one. Some people (like Group 5) did piggy back rides to fit everybody onto two, but to no avail for one. When it came down to one newspaper, I had the idea of ripping the one newspaper into little chunks big enough for everybody to put both feet on. We were successful. Perhaps the most frustrating part of the day came next. Because traffic is so bad on Thursdays, my brother and I took the bus to meet my Grandmother and host mom at a fancy seafood restaurant. The bus was SO FREAKING PACKED…and, scrunched constantly by pushy Chinese people and aggressive locals, I had to stand for an hour whilst ensuring nobody stole my stuff. Shoutout to the 35 year old lady who totally elbowed me in the chest. I politely told her “buhaoyisi” in Chinese, and she glared at me. We got off at the next stop. LOL. At this point, I was really, really tired. I’d been sleep deprived the entire day, as NSLI-Y is an intensive language learning camp. It’s a lot of classwork and we’re burdened with weekly and daily tests to improve our speaking and writing. I wasn’t very hungry for dinner, but my host mom ordered us a huge fancy seafood dinner. The star of the show was this huge seafood stew. I was excited. As soon as I took the first gulp of broth, my face exploded. This stuff was spicy. Super spicy. Really freaking spicy. I stayed away from it. I instead focused on this awesome crab soup. My grandmother and host mom were sad that all I ate was soup and they insisted I didn’t eat enough. I still feel really bad that they think I didn’t like the food, because I told her constantly it was delicious but I was just full and super tired. Afterwards, my host brother went off to play with a classmate, and my mom, grandmother, and I walked along this cool beach sidewalk on the coast of Xiamen. It was super modern with cool performances and tables on the beachside. Just strolling on the beach with a nice breeze with the city lights around us was so relaxing, and I felt so happy to be with them at that point. We then took the bus home, where two interesting things happened. The first is, while the bus was crowded, a young man immediately gave up his seat for my grandmother. Filial piety is a crucial component of Chinese culture, and it was reassuring to see this prevalent even in a modernized Chinese city. Even though we may think of Chinese people as aggressive, rude locals (as I may portray them to be), this served as a reminder that respect for elders is one thing that will remain eternal. The second thing was that I met two English-speaking people on the bus, both of which were teachers at Xiamen University. One was from America, and the other was from… I didn’t ask. The woman was nice but the man kind of had this condescending arrogance to him. They thought I was a college student, but soon enough we arrived, and we returned back home, where I showered. At 9:27 PM, I’m off to bed. I’m so flipping tired. Tomorrow we’re going to Gulangyu, the most famous part of Xiamen. Although less than 500 feet from the city, Gulangyu is a small island with boutique shops and a mix of European and Chinese architecture. The island is also famous for its classic Chinese gardens and Piano museum. While many of my classmates are going tomorrow morning with their families, my mom insisted it was only pretty in the afternoon. Looking forward to a fun trip tomorrow. Until next time. The view from my Chinese host mom's office. So scary... but quite remarkably breathtaking. Perhaps I ought to start blogging on the daily, because too much is happening everyday here in Xiamen. Whether it be spending time with my host family, buddy activities, or just the fun things that happen everyday in class, I’m having so much fun. Indeed, as the halfway mark here is slowly passed, I’m reminded of what I will truly miss besides this incredible city: my friends, my teachers, and of course, my host family. Hidden under the excitement from my last blog post was undeniably a load of nerves. Communication on the first day with my host family was a little awkward, and, even though we’ve been learning Chinese for the past few weeks, was still really difficult. In fact, I felt a little shunned, because after 9:30 PM, as per a WeChat message sent by our teachers, they were pretty adamant about me going to sleep. This all changed yesterday. Yesterday my host brother picked me up and we met with his childhood best friend (who he calls his ‘Mei Mei’, Chinese for little sister) named Sherry. Sherry hosted an American exchange student last year and is super kind. During our wild Chinese Uber ride, we conversed about the US, food, and her love of Canada. Soon enough, we were dropped off at my host mom’s office, a 32-story skyscraper in the middle of Xiamen. China is home to an incredible array of skyscrapers. Interestingly enough, Chinese culture is still prevalent even in skyscrapers — the higher up, the more prestigious. For example, in my dormitory, while students were on the 5th and 7th floors, our program directors were on the 10th. I was both surprised and delighted to find out that my host mother worked on the top floor, but even more flabbergasted when I discovered she had essentially 50% of the floor to herself. For one person. And her three personal secretaries. Dayum. She was drinking tea with a client who was really kind. “This is my American son,” she said in Chinese, as she introduced me. The client (whose name I forgot) has a relative who lives in San Francisco, and we talked for a while. I went outside on the balcony and looked 32 floors down as well, which was indubitably a life frightening experience (for those of you who know me well, you know I have a fear of heights — thanks baba for passing that down to me). Afterwards, my host mom had to work late that night, so she gave my host brother money and we went to go eat pizza with Sherry. We arrived at this place called Champion Pizza, which is a fancy pizza chain in China. We ordered some seafood pizza, milk teas, fries, and chicken wings, all of which were pretty good. Sherry, Jerkey (my host brother’s English name) and I conversed some more, and then came home so I could do my homework. They played games on Miniclip next to me while I did my homework and they helped me whenever I needed it. Everyday in my class, we have discussion topics, and one was on the problem of the one child policy yielding too many elders and not enough children. Sherry and Jerkey had a pretty headed debate on the issue and I could understand maybe 35% of what they were saying. Regardless, their debate made for great entertainment. Sherry then left, my mom came home, and my host brother and I played Chinese Chess, also known as xiangqi. My xiangqi is pretty bad, but I like to play, and I learned a lot from my grandfather growing up. My host brother is a beast. It’s something to beat someone in 15 minutes, and he did just that (although it’s probably not saying much for someone as bad as me). He was super kind and then spent the next hour and a half teaching me really valuable techniques and movesets, while my host mom watched. She doesn’t know how to play either, so later, my host mom and I took my host brother on. While it was indubitably a much better game, he still ended up winning. All in good fun. I then showered and went to bed. ’Twas a typical day at school today. It was fun reuniting with all of my classmates and continuing to talk about our families and experiences. This morning I had e-portfolio, which is basically NSLI-Y’s version of a socratic seminar centered on studying abroad topics. It was really nice to hear from my fellow Group 1 members about their experiences. After class and lunch, I played five in a row (on a go board). Five in a row is getting super popular here in the UD NSLI-Y clan, and some people here are super good (shoutout Andrew / David!) We then had buddy activities. Every week students from the #1 Middle School in Xiamen (yes, again, that is actually the name of the school) come to do teamwork and leadership building activities. Today we did this game where 10 people, in a line, tie their ankles together and have to walk in unison to a finish line. It was super frustrating and is way harder than you think. After 5 minutes of practicing, Group 1 took first place. What a fun activity. We then headed home with our host families. Because the traffic was so bad today, Jerkey and I walked the last half home and took the signature double-decker Xiamen bus. It was another ride of a lifetime. I don’t know how our 60 year old bus driver navigated that freaking huge ass car through the streets of Xiamen, but he did a great job. I came home to a home-cooked meal by my host mother and my grandmother. It was absolutely DELICIOUS. A fresh fish cooked to perfection — super tender, super yummy. Fresh shrimp with a yummy sauce, tofu, and Xiamen Won Ton soup (Xiamen is known for their super small dumplings that they call Won Ton). Following that, we ate this pretty cool fruit called Dragon’s Eye in english (Long Yan). It’s like a Lychee but less sweet and a little harder. I then had an awesome conversation with my host mom and grandmother in Chinese. We talked about Europe (and told them about my cruise a couple of years back around Italy and Greece), showed them pictures of home, discussed East Asian culture and what I wanted to do in college and perhaps most interestingly, Chinese and American politics. My host mom is a fan of Obama and is pretty liberal in her thoughts — and she told me how the Chinese political system was different and how Xi Jinping has been cracking down on corruption. I was so happy I could understand a lot of what she was saying (but of course, the corruption conversation required ample dictionary use — shoutout to Pleco! I then did my homework and showered, and here I am now. A fun day, and looking forward to more fun times with my host family. Until tomorrow. BTW, internet here is good, but pictures take forever to upload. I’ll have to do them another time (maybe at XMU). A lot has happened since my last post, so bear with me here as this is going to be a long one!
While NSLI-Y is undoubtedly focused on language instruction and cultural understanding, a US State Department goal is focused on self-development, teamwork, and leadership. As a result, from the very beginning of the program, you may recall that campers were separated into five groups of five. Every week, we compete for points, through activities, writing, test-scores, and exemplifying good behavior. It’s essentially a pragmatic, real-world, Chinese-influenced version of the house system in Harry Potter. Kind of. Not really. Regardless, the two groups with the most points every week are granted a late-night shopping trip at ZhongShanLu, a popular shopping district in Xiamen. Because my group got 2nd place this past week, we got to go. At first, we walked to the main bus stop at Xiamen University — but there were literally so many aggressive Chinese people with buses JAM PACKED that it would take hours for the 18 of us to get on a bus (they let third place go too this time, and we have chaperones accompany us). Instead, we walked across the massive campus to another stop, where we easily got on a less crowded bus. Boy, was the bus ride a journey. Perhaps when you hear the fears of Chinese driving you may ask yourself if it’s all just an overhyped stereotype, but brotha, I’m telling you, I feared for my life on this 20 minute bus ride. Sudden breaks, swerving lane changes, going on the curb like 5 times — and the Xiamen locals just played on their iPhones like it was nothing. As my Hawaiian friend David put it best, it was “essentially a roller coaster ride.” Indeed, fun outweighed fear — but it was still something worthy to write about. Regardless, after the bus ride, me and a couple of my friends headed to what we were most anxious for — a fish foot massage. You may sometimes see those places with fish tanks on the bottom where little fish eat the dead skin off of your feet — and that’s exactly what we did. This was maybe the best 20RMB I’ve spent in my life. So much fun, so weird, but so awkwardly comforting. If you haven’t tried it, I really recommend you do — it’s an experience that I think everybody needs to have before they die. For the past two weeks, we’ve been living in an international students dorm at Xiamen University — but the dorm and lobby is actually on the second floor. For weeks, we’ve always walked up the stairs ignoring the restaurant on the bottom floor — but after trying their milk tea once, I’ve fallen in love. Indeed, it’s now a staple before every culture class to go get a milk tea at the place downstairs. IT’S THAT GOOD! Yesterday, as a result of our good test scores for the second week, our program director Dr. Chen agreed to take us to a private, quiet beach in Xiamen. Dr. Chen did a great job of selling this trip — a trip he distinguished by “calm, peaceful walks along the beach”, “isolation from the tourists”, and “ample room to play beach soccer and volleyball.” Unfortunately, the weather (and people) of Xiamen had another idea. Jam-packed with people, the beach wasn’t really as Dr. Chen said it would be — but it was inexplicably relaxing. I had a nice walk with my friends Stefan and Ann along the beach waves which, while inundated with people, was very soothing. Soon enough, the weather gods of China were clearly unhappy, as it began to downpour. Already super crusty and dirty from the sand and polluted water, it was pretty yucky until the bus came. From there, we went to this mall area with stores, KFC, and McDonalds, but this time, my friends and I decided to go to a Taiwanese Beef Noodle House. We were disappointed they ran out of the “A-Ma Tender Special Beef Noodles” so had to opt for the “King of Beef Noodles option.” Service was fast for everybody except for me, who for some odd reason, got his beef noodles 15 minutes after everybody else. With only 20 minutes left until we had to leave, I ate a bowl of super spicy beef noodle soup in 15 minutes. My face has never felt more numb in my life. My stomach expanded to twenty times its normal size and I was pretty sure I couldn’t walk. Another fun note: while I was at Zhong Shan Lu, I wanted to buy this cool trinket that is unique to Xiamen at this store for 49RMB. Xiamen’s most famous souvenir are these five little cat like characters that each represent wealth, happiness, longevity, etc. However, our chaperone Yang Laoshi told me not to do it because I could get it cheapter. I took her advice. Funny enough, at this KFC/McDonalds mall, the same thing was available for 25 RMB. Didn’t buy it though, cause Yang LaoShi said I could bargain for it cheaper next time when we had time. This morning was our last day in the international students dorm, as we all moved into homestay families. We got to sleep in, and I woke up at 9:30 (latest I have in a while), packed up, checked out, and went to eat lunch. We then went to one of our main classrooms and watched a movie, and then we headed out to the assembly hall to get paired with our host families. My host father lives in Chongqing as a Xiamen Airlines executive (who I will never meet), and my host mother is the director of a financial firm in Xiamen. However, my host mother was one a business trip and, because of the poor weather in Xiamen, her flight was delayed and she could not pick me up. As a result, I was picked up by my host brother, Jerky (YAS DAT IS HIS NAME), and my uncle. Both were super nice and mad props to my ShuShu (uncle) for driving through Xiamen seamlessly. My ShuShu went off to work and dropped me and Jerky off at our apartment, where was I greeted by my host A-Ma (Taiwanese for grandmother), who, despite her poor eyesight, gave me a big hug. In about an hour, my host mother came. All three of them are so nice. After letting me rest for a bit we headed out for dinner, and they took me to a super fancy expensive seafood restaurant. They gave me typical Chinese hospitality, as they ordered a TON of fancy seafood dishes and repeatedly asked me what I wanted to eat. Some highlights from the night: a huge crab, “Xiamen Spring Roll” (Mushu on steroids), sea cucumber in some jelly form, and a lot of other stuff. Afterwards, my host brother took me on a walk around Xiamen. Instead of a subway system, Xiamen uses a bus system that has it’s own separate highway around the city. He took me on it and we went around to different stops and walked around. I treated him to a milk tea. Jerky is so nice — and he even told me he has a girlfriend but he hasn’t told his mom yet. LOL. Regardless, I kept thinking to myself one simple thing the entire night: out of the billions of people on this Earth, how lucky am I to be paired with this specific family? I couldn’t help but smile profusely throughout the day as I remembered that. Soon, we came home, I showered up, and I gave my gifts to my host family (a thermos for A-Ma, who loves her tea, although she didn’t open it because it’s Chinese conventionalism to open gifts later, a wallet and SF Fisherman’s Wharf for Mama, and a Golden State Warriors shirt for Jerky, which is fitting because his favorite sport is basketball!). Soon enough, wrote up this thing and I’m about to go to bed. I’m toast. Until next post. Peace. Playing Go (weiqi) against one of my Chinese buddies from Xiamen #1 Middle School (yes that's the name of their school ._.) — he's a lover of soccer and plays FIFA! "I am convinced that we must train not only the head, but the heart and hand as well.” - MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK, aka Soong May-Ling I guess it's about time I have a beginning that doesn't start with "Hello from Xiamen." Regardless, a large component of camp here is centered on a course on Chinese history — both contemporary and ancient — taught by our program director, Dr. Jianguo Chen. Dr. Chen is a professor of Chinese literature, history, and language at the University of Delaware, and does truly an incredible job of teaching said material to us. Rarely do high schoolers get the opportunity to learn so much in depth about Chinese politics, economics, and history — and I can't remember the last time I was this excited about a class. :D Our lecture yesterday interested me the most. While it focused on the 8 main turning points of Chinese history (too long to list), it seemed as if the vast majority of the lecture centered on Chiang Kai-Shek. As the old adage says, history is written by the victors — and it was very interesting to learn more about Chiang Kai-Shek. Hand picked by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen himself, Chiang is often nagged for being corrupt and incompetent in Western history textbooks — but to learn about his background as both a politician and human was very intriguing. I find it odd that many history books leave out China's involvement during World War I (Japanese conflict dissolved into the war), and the incredible amount of military support the US provided China. Oddly enough, as Dr. Chen explained, it wasn't Chiang Kai-Shek that the US loved — it was his wife, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, commonly known by her name as Soong May-Ling. As one of the Soong sisters belonging to a wealthy businessmen, each sister married someone of prominence — May-Ling to Chiang, her middle sister to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen himself, and the eldest to an incredibly wealthy entrepreneur. It was Madame CKS that, according to Dr. Chen, served as the bridge between the US and China relationship early — and her perfect English as a result of her Western education (shoutout Mama + Wellesley grads). We like to think in American history that it was Richard Nixon who established the first diplomatic relations with China — but in reality, it was 50 or so years earlier when Madame CKS was the first to do so. Pretty interesting if you ask me. History aside, today I played badminton with a group of friends, my teacher, and the RA's (see pictures below). I can't remember having more fun playing badminton, as we taunted each other, laughed, and played until we couldn't play any more. Because I beat one of the RA's, she has to buy me 7RMB milk tea tomorrow — in addition to the 8 RMB ice cream she owes me for beating her in ping pong LOL. Later on, my teacher Bao Laoshi and I took on these two locals who were really good, but I eventually asked them to take it easy on us because they were going way too hard and it wasn't fun at all. Perhaps the highlight of the night was when this local dude who was clearly showing off thought he won the point then I smashed it right into his chest (on accident, of course ;D). It was all in good fun, though. I still don't think I've sweat more in my life. Perhaps what has been the highlight of the camp for me thus far was last night. To help us with our homework and classwork, we have tutoring for 90 minutes everyday with local Xiamen University students who help us out. My roommate Matt and I befriended a tutor named Tina early on, and she's indubitably the kindest, most compassionate of them all. Last night, she brought us jiaozi (dumplings) for dinner and spent a lot of RMB on them. It was so thoughtful of her — and the jiaozi were absolutely delicious. But what was even better than the jiaozi were our conversations — for a good three hours, the three of us discussed America, China, and everything in between. We talked about everything, ranging from politics to culture. It was an incredible discussion, 90% of which was purely in Chinese. Meanwhile, I can't believe that there are only 4 more days until we move into our host family. I've just gotten used to life here, and it's so sad that now it's already time to go. I'll miss my roommate and the dirtiness yet quintessential charm of the Cai Qingjie dorm, and I'd be straight up lying to you if I told you I wasn't nervous for the host family situation, but pictures of last year make me so excited for what's to come. But, as an integral component of studying abroad, I know that this experience is a part of the bigger picture. Indeed, as Ms. Chiang Kai-Shek herself once said, we cannot only train the head and the hand — but the heart as well. Ok, that didn't make much sense — but it sounded nice. Kind of like my Chinese. Above: Enjoying Chinese McDonalds! Fries were the same... McNuggets not so much. Hello from Xiamen! We just got back from our full day field trip to Quanzhou, the largest Chinese city in Fujian province famous for being an important port city in the Maritime Silk Road. For all of those AP World students out there, Quanzhou was where Ming Dynasty mariner Zheng He (KEY TERM) departed for his multiple expeditions. We visited the Quanzhou Maritime History museum, which was pretty disappointing because everything was a replica — but christened by UNESCO as an important cultural site, it was incredibly interesting to read about the evolution of maritime and nautical culture in both China and the world. With nearly 80% of the artifacts from the Ming Dynasty, it was pretty cool to see things that we studied during AP World (saw an actual junk boat used in the dynasty!) Perhaps the highlight of the day for me was visiting this famous Buddhist Temple. I completely forgot the name, but the temple was so quiet, serene, and free of floods of Chinese tourists. I really appreciated how the Buddha shrine was so open and calm. Following the advice of our language director Du Laoshi, I prayed to Buddha and even did this intricate incense ritual with her to pay my respects. Meanwhile, there was this monk who was in charge of the shrine who was consistently yelling at other NSLI-Y students for taking pictures (deemed impolite to the Buddha) and for kneeling on the praying furniture without actually praying. He yelled pretty loudly, and while I can understand why he would be upset, I didn’t think it was very fair of him to assume that just because we were foreigners we weren’t paying our respects. Nevertheless, I loved the cool temperature of the temple and there was, indeed, some unexplainable spiritual positivity radiating from the entire place. Class continues to be challenging but rewarding. We have dictations and speaking tests essentially everyday, but our class is undoubtedly fun. It’s gotten to the point where each of us have our daily routines, as we walk the same paths, see the same people, and eat in the same place. Conversations with locals have been less frequent but equally engaging. I'm also enjoying my culture elective (shadow puppets), and it's been super fun making all of the shadow puppets and rehearsing our lines. I also started playing ping pong yesterday, and there’s nothing more calming than walking down the streets of Xiamen and the University after playing late at night. Indeed, the sounds of honking cars, aggressive street merchants, and bouncing basketballs as I stroll through the city are inexplicably calming. I'm playing one of our RA's tomorrow, and if I win, she has to buy me 8RMB ice cream, but vise versa if I lose. Another week and we’re off to host families. Man, does time fly. Look at this awesome view from my floor! Xiamen is such an awesome city. Salutations from Xiamen! It’s been a fantastic past few days here in Fujian. I can’t stress how thankful I am to be surrounded by incredibly encouraging teachers and classmates. Indeed, every word of Chinese we speak is more than just mere communication: it represents our desire to understand the land 1.4 billion people call home, to comprehend the rich history and culture of a nation thousands of years old, and to embrace a country whose relationship with the United States has never been more important. Earlier in my first blog post, I said I wanted to get to know China better through stories. Amidst a world rampant with conflict and globalization lies humans. I’m a believer that behind every person and every citizen lies a story with the ability to change a perspective — or to even change the world. Especially in a land so populated, learning about China one person at a time is what I view as the best way to understand Chinese culture. Today, my hypothesis was reaffirmed. As a part of the NSLI-Y program, all participants are required to sit with local people during all meals in the Xiamen University cafeteria. In other words, we’re no longer able to sit with our friends — we have to approach people sitting in the cafeteria and ask them if we can sit with them. From there, we have to learn their name and engage in a conversation. While indubitably daunting at first, I like the idea of true immersion — an untouched conversation, one that, after hours of class instruction, isn’t artificial. So, with nerves and confidence in hand, after getting my lunch, I went and asked the first person I saw “我可不可以坐这里?” With stuffed food in his mouth, the man replied yes. He told me he was a film studies professor at XMU — but from there the conversation didn’t really take off. He spoke extremely fast, and he used a lot of complicated words. I could understand maybe 50% of what he was saying, but every time I asked him to slow down, he eventually sped up. Simply put, there wasn’t a connection. ’Twas all different during dinner. Instead of sitting with my friends and a local, I made the decision to go rogue — to eat with a local alone. Extremely nervous, I sought out a nice looking guy and asked if I could sit there. After explaining I was an American exchange student at a summer camp, we had a good conversation. A Public Administration major, he told me he wanted to go to Duke and study political science. He explained to me how education is so important to his family — and how he longed to visit America one day. He helped me with some words I mispronounced, talked about why he loved playing Chinese Chess and basketball, and told me how important it was for American students to learn Chinese. He was super friendly, but eventually, he had to go to class and left. Before going back to my dorm, I decided to go see how my other friends were doing with other locals in the cafeteria. My friends Morgan and Andrew were talking with a nice Chinese man, who insisted that I sit down and have a conversation with him. When Morgan and Andrew finished eating, it was just the two of us. Envision a Chinese cafeteria. It’s kind of like a buffet, but this time imagine a closed buffet. The type of closed buffet where the lights in the kitchen and food area are all turned off, but there’s that one area where the lights are still on. The sound of washing dishes and cicadas are all you can hear. It was just me, this kind man, a light, a table, and a crap load of annoying cicadas. Just the two of us. This guy’s name was Huang Shun Ming. A computer specialist in Xiamen who never went to college, his warm personality and constant smile was a gentle reminder that he had a story to share with me — and one that could possibly change my perspective on China. Huang Shun Ming told me how badly he wished he went to college. He told me how badly he wants to go to America, to work for Google, and to one day have a family living in California. All in Chinese too. He told me I was lucky. Lucky that I could go to an American college, lucky that I had the opportunity to study abroad, and lucky that I lived in America. I told him why I came to China — and how I wanted to better understand who I was and the culture that my grandparents once lived and breathed. He smiled and slowly told me “你很聪明.” This was the moment when I realized it. Realized how it was the two of us, maybe ten other people, and a pretty much empty, 250 person cafeteria, yakking it up. Realized that I was actually in a legitimate conversation with a Chinese local. But oddly enough, I realized that all it took was one person — and maybe a table or so — to completely change the way I think of a stereotypical Chinese person. On another note, camp has been going well here. Class is honestly really tough, but I’m learning a lot, and my teacher is very patient with me. While I can’t tangibly feel my progress thus far, I’m sure it will become salient as I continue to interact with more and more locals. Rogue, of course. :) 'Twas Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu who once said, "new beginnings are often disguised as painful endings." Indeed, after a painful 20 hours of plane travel, enduring a two hour flight delay to Xiamen due to weather, and dragging our 50 pound luggage half a mile to Shanghai Pudong's Terminal one, a new beginning has certainly blossomed: UD NSLI-Y's adventure here in Xiamen. I took that sentence straight out of a blog post I wrote on behalf of the program that will probably be released any time soon from the program's official blog (couldn't resist leaving the homie Lao-Tzu out of the post). It's really been awesome here in Xiamen thus far, and I'm excited to share with all of you what's been happening! We got in to Xiamen around 8:45 PM three days ago. An amalgam of Grown Ups, Harry Potter Movies, and Phoenix Wright made the 13 hour flight to Shanghai exponentially better than I thought it would be. Despite a two hour delay to Xiamen due to weather, we were welcomed by the smiling faces of the enthusiastic NSLI-Y team waiting for us in Xiamen. The next day, we had an opening ceremony, where the vice president of Xiamen University welcomed us. 'Twas indubitably a cool experience getting to meet people high up there on the college administration, especially considering that Xiamen University is one of the top schools in China. We then broke up into our classes for the first hour and had a brief lesson. In addition to our language classes, NSLI-Y is also focused on furthering our understanding of Chinese culture — so we're also given the opportunity to partake in an interest group, ranging from subjects such as shu fa (calligraphy), taiji shanzi (tai chi w/ a fan), and Chinese shadow puppets. Local students from Xiamen University who also help tutor us individually on our homework put on a talent show showcasing all of the different classes we can take. It was awesome. Yesterday, we all toured the city of Xiamen to celebrate July 4. We visited nanputuo, a famous Buddhist temple built during the Tang Dynasty, Turtle Gardens, the home of XMU founder Tan Kah Kee, and ate at this super fancy seafood buffet at this even fancier restaurant in Xiamen. While the smog and dirtiness is incredibly salient here in Xiamen, I can't deny how pretty of a city it is: the beaches are all around us, and the city is incredibly modern, and the architecture a perfect balance of East and West. Sure, the water is green and the streets smell disgusting, but the true beauty of Xiamen lies within the kind people, rich culture, and wonderful history. Perhaps the highlight of yesterday was walking around with my roommate Matt (from St. Louis) and one of the RA's here, Kevin, around the Turtle Garden. He took us to the super sketch parts of Xiamen, with street merchants and abundant street food (don't worry I didn't eat any). It was so awesome to see Xiamen behind the beaches, high risers, and the university itself. Today was another typical day. Woke up, ate breakfast, and went to class. In the advanced class here at NSLI-Y, 90% of the class is taught in Mandarin — and at times it was really frustrating today as my teacher talked 495840953 words a mile. But, I guess NSLI-Y is inherently an intensive program — and a challenge is the best way I'll learn. As today comes to a close, I can't help but share my excitement and hope for the next couple of weeks. Through laughter with fellow classmates, challenges in the classroom, and learning through both conversation and touring, perhaps now my Chinese side is a little more attainable. Check out these pictures below from the past few days (they're unedited). Thanks for checking this out, and I apologize for posting this so late — I'll try to post more often! What an eventful past 24 hours it's been here in Newark. For those of you wondering, I'm still not quite in China yet — for the past two days I've had pre-departure orientation (PDO) here in Newark. It's been awesome sauce getting to meet all of the other program participants, who hail from a myriad of states and represent a wide variety of ages. From only thirty hours of interaction, I can already tell how talented this group is. I hope I won't disappoint!
We began with a introductory group dinner last night at the hotel restaurant. 'Twas indubitably awkward, but once the awkward introduction was out of the way, the extroverts in the group made conversation quite seamlessly. Today, we basically sat in a mini hotel ballroom and listened to our program directors, Dr. Chen, Dr. Tu, and Ms. Fan (no we aren't related) discuss administrative matters and how everything's going to work in China. From the dorm situation to cultural excursions, I can already tell how fun and meaningful of a time it will be in Xiamen for five weeks. Our itinerary is jam packed, with over 120 hours of language instruction from our teachers and local tutors at Xiamen University, multiple cultural excursions in Xiamen, Beijing, and Shanghai, and of course, our two week homestay program with a local Xiamen family. Dr. Chen also shared with us stories of past program no-no's, his lecture series on contemporary and evolving Chinese society and politics, and a whole bunch of other logistics for the group. Tomorrow, we depart for Shanghai at around 10:45 AM from Newark. Earlier in the day, we separated into five groups based on the color of our name tag lanyards, and designated a group leader and were randomly assigned a team 'animal' that Dr. Tu said resembled "strength and wisdom." My group drew a Lion. We then did this interesting charades like activity, and because my group figured out what was being acted in the shortest amount of time, we get to wake up the latest to depart to the airport (because our hotel shuttle can only take 14 people, but there are 30 in the program). Hooray for sleeping in. Can't say I'm particularly excited for a 14 hour flight, but after a thorough Google search, looks like United has some pretty cool in-flight entertainment (will definitely be watching Grown Ups and Harry Potter movies). I also got Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies to finish too, and a fair amount of work for college apps and Foothill MUN to do whilst in the air. While there's still 6,000 miles and hours of travel in between me in Xiamen, I'm still incredibly excited for what's to come. See you all in Xiamen soon. Thanks for reading this, and if you are, please do leave a comment! BTW, I'll have a VPN in China (thanks Baba!), so hopefully I'll be able to surpass the "Great Firewall of China" and get access to Snapchat, Facebook, Netflix, Google, etc., but VPN's are always shaky. If you need anything, I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can. |
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September 2015
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