Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Chinese Face, An American Stomach

I may have a Chinese face, but I'm guilty of having a foreigner's stomach.

Sanitation standards in China are virtually non-existent, but since I'd come to China before, and frequently ate at the notorious street stands, my body had developed a reasonable amount of immunity to the food. The first week here, several students fell ill from eating the street stand food, but I was spared. Our director sent us e-mails warning us about the pervasiveness of digou you (literally, sewer oil) a cheap form of oil made by filtering out used oil from sewers and then treating it with chemicals. I'm pretty sure I've eaten copious amounts of digou you, but luckily, never fell ill.

Call it karma, but my American stomach finally protested. This past weekend, a group of CET students and roommates went to Zhou Shan, a beautiful island about 5 hours away by bus, where the sky is clear blue and you can watch the clouds on the beach. The thin layer of smog that covers Hangzhou does not plague Zhou Shan, I could finally breathe.

On Saturday, we spent the morning at the beach, swimming in the ocean, breathing fresh air, and relaxing. In the afternoon, we went little crab catching. While crab catching, one of the Chinese roommates introduced me to this tiny green slimy oyster-like thing that grows on the rocks. All you have to do is chip its shell open with a rock and voila, delicious slime! Being a huge fan of raw seafood and often judgement-impaired, I of course tried one, decided it was appetizing, and had a second one. So far so good.

And then five hours later, the green slime finally attacked, ripping apart my stomach, draining all of my energy, and leaving me profusely sick. Luckily, Chinese people always have heaps of home remedies for every disease possible in their homes so I was in good hands. After a wretched night, I woke up rejuvenated in the morning, and went mountain climbing. Everything was back to normal, though I did avoid all shell-like creatures for the rest of the trip.

So while traveling around the world trying all things new and wonderful, exercise caution. Green slime-like things, and less scary looking things, can attack. Lesson learned, and now for some photos!

The beach (the golden rod is Monkey King's weapon of choice)

The sunnier version

Delicious food!

Seafood galore!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

I'm Not a Foreigner Anymore?

“上有天堂,下有苏杭。” -Above are the Heavens, on Earth there is Suzhou and Hangzhou.

The beautiful Xi Hu (West Lake)

It's been about 1.5 weeks since I've arrived in Hangzhou (Internet is often flaky so this post is a little late, sorry Light Fellowship!), and life here is settling down to a steady routine. Classes are going well, co-curriculars are fun, food is delicious, people are awesome, Hangzhou is beautiful, China is exciting, and I've somehow miraculously gotten used to the relentless mosquitoes, constant mobs of people, summer showers, crooked sidewalks, and extreme heat (or so I would like to believe).

I don't want to bore you with the mundane details of my daily life so here's a general idea of my typical day: Lecture and drill class from 8-10, Media Chinese from 10-11, Business Chinese from 11-12, and a 30 minute one-on-one in the afternoon. I have gongfu class twice a week at 6 AM (It's ridiculous how many Chinese people are awake, functional and exercising at such an early hour.) and calligraphy class once a week in the afternoon. Other than that, I've been busy exploring the city, hanging out with other students and the Chinese roommates, and of course, doing homework.

It's strange being and studying in China. I'm a foreigner, but simultaneously feel a sense of belonging. When I walk down the street, order from a restaurant, haggle with shopkeepers, or make small talk with strangers, no one ever asks me where I'm from or what I'm doing in China. I'm just here, just like everyone else. When a group of us CET students grab dinner, go running, or wander around together, people always gawk at us. But it's not really us since there's nothing special about me. For the first time in my life, I'm in the majority.

Like many other Light Fellows, for me, this summer is not only about mastering a language: it's about understanding a culture: a culture that pervades my life back home, whose flavor as I know it has been infused with American bits and distorted, but I want to taste the original thing. I don't know if I'll like it better, but I at least have to know. At the moment, I'm still in the infatuation stage and love it here, but we'll have to wait and see how I feel in a few weeks.

And now I'm off to explore the world, until next time!