Adventures in 中国

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今天您微笑了吗？

When I went to lunch on Sunday with the Lo’s, I went to the women’s bathroom and written on the mirror was, «今天您微笑了吗？» which means, “Have you smiled today?” I thought it was sooooooooo cute!!! Except I totally forgot to take a picture of it. Blah.

Initially I didn’t smile today, but I’ve got my meds and I’m on my way home. Thank you for 3 memorable months China.

一会儿见！！

3 months in China: done.

Honestly, I haven’t really thought about much lately except how I need to get all my things together here, get what I can from Baylor together, and stressing about the trip back. BAHHHHHHHH. But, reflection and processing is always good, and probably better than stressing and becoming anxious. Soooo here goes!

The one thing I’ll pull away from this experience is how I was able to experience several cultures, not just one. China’s culture is one of course. Living here in Beijing I learned some of the lingo and customs and how they run things. It’s definitely very different from any large Western city I have visited. From a language learning perspective, it’s just more pushing and learning outside of the classroom. I definitely quickly became tired but looking back, I’m glad I was able to learn some in coffee shops and restaurants. The other cultures I experienced were Italian culture, Spanish culture, Mormon culture, a little bit of Canadian culture, some English culture, a tiny bit of Zimbabwe culture, bits of Tunisian culture, etc. The university I went to (Beijing Language and Culture University, 北京语言大学） is seriously a melting pot of the WORLD!!!!!! And I had to use Chinese to communicate most of the time. Isn’t that ridiculous??? Speaking Chinese to Tunisians, hearing a Zimbabwean guy say “It’s suibian.” (it’s whatever). I am just so amazed at the so many different cultures that I encountered..in China! Beijing is truly becoming an incredibly international hot spot. I dont think it was like this before.

Not only did I meet people from various backgrounds, but I also met people with so many different beliefs, personalities, and characters. It was a little challenging at first because sometimes when you first encounter people you’ve never encountered before, you’re not sure how to react or how to act around them. Then I quickly learned, eh it’s whatever! People are who they are; I want to embrace them for who they are because I have been embraced by an unconditional love that is completely undeserved. I had so much fun getting to know other students here and experiencing Beijing with them.

Everyone had a different perception of what was going on; everyone had completely different life experiences coming into this. I think what fascinated me the most was the fact that the majority of the people I was around did not speak English as their mother tongue, so I wonder, what does one particular word in Chinese translate to in say Italian or Spanish or Russian? It’s like I know it’s true, that obviously there are many people whose mother tongue is not English, but to really see it and see the minds of people switching from Russian to Chinese, Italian to Chinese, it was sooo fascinating to me! I wish I could get inside their heads!!!! The Linguist in me came out for sure.

I also thought it was so cute when servers helped me with my Chinese studying at the Bridge Cafe and Lush. There’s always a waitress kind enough to answer questions or translate or explain; they’re always so happy! It’s so interesting talking to them about their life and their background as well. I think it’s even more interesting when they think I’m a legit Chinese person, only to see me struggle to get my order out, and realize that I am actually from the United States. I’ve gotten really good at explaining that in Chinese ;D

Overall, I had a really incredible and fun experience. I would come here again to study and perhaps to live and work for a couple of years. Beijing is a really interesting place and I’d recommend everyone to spend a week or so here if not a whole couple of months..or years ;D

Now I’m ready to go back, and be able to order food and drink and not feel so stupid. Woohu! =]

Andrea and Juanes

I GOT TO SEE THE LO FAMILY YESTERDAY!!!! WOOHU!!!! That was well worth it. It’s always so nice to see familiar faces. And how many have I seen since being here?!!! My goodness gracious lol.

Eating awesome noodles, old Beijing style. Woohu!!! =]

And I am sitting here at Lush processing the fact that I just heard Juanes’ “A Dios le pido” play..in China. Go figure!

Can’t wait to go back =] See you all soon!!!

Isa. 40.

Highlight of this trip: BUNGEE JUMPING!!!!

On Saturday I bungee jumped at 龙庆峡 long qing xia, long qing gorge about 50 miles north of Beijing. Honestly, all gorges look the same, but I love it!!! I absolutely love sailing along on the river looking at the huge cliffs and greens. There are so many in China!!! I love it!!! And then to be able to bungee jump?!!! Talk about awesomeness!!!

Bungee Jumping in China was so awesome. It was only 150 RMB so you know there’s an added risk too..that’s less than $30!!! I’m pretty sure someone invited me to go with in Austin or something back at school and it was around $100. I went with a group of 23 people so it was so fun seeing friends jump as well. When I was waiting I got more and more excited. As they strapped me in it started in hit in more. Then the workers opened the door to the ledge of where I was going to jump off. That was when total FEAR filled me. I jumped and I’m pretty sure I screamed all the way down!!! What a rush!!! To help us down, there were two guys on this tiny motor boat with a stick on the river. I had to grab the stick and they pulled me down and unstrapped me. Of course they’re like “Zuo! zuo!” and I’m like flustered b/c I just bungee jumped. So then they go, “Sit! Sit!” and I’m like I’M TRYING!!!! Hahahah. I can barely think in Chinese when I’m sane so I dont think I can think in Chinese when I JUST jumped off a ledge connected to a bungee. After I was unhooked and sitting in the boat, they proceeded to ask me where I was from, in Chinese. Say what?! I just bungee jumped!!! I guess for them it’s normal b/c it’s their job..they must see it every day a million kajillion times. But I’m like huffing and puffing trying to BEGIN to process what just happened..and they want to know where I’m from. Bah! XD

I dont have pictures of myself yet; a friend took some of all of us so I will hopefully get those on facebook sometime soon. But here’s a picture of a random guy doing it:

And some other pictures:

The way down..

Just keep reading; too many things happening to fit into one coherent title.

And yet, my title was STILL long. HA!

TUESDAY - BRIDGE CAFE

I went to the LOVELY Bridge Cafe, my second home now here in Wudaokou area. It’s ridiculously expensive but I just tell myself I’m paying for the atmosphere. It’s always full of 老外, foreigners, and they can ALL speak Chinese. I’m pretty sure just about every single western foreigner I’ve seen there BLOWS me out of the water when it comes to speaking Chinese. And then I get perplexed looks from 服务员, waitresses, wondering why the heck I’m struggling to order a cup of coffee. Bahhhhhhh. xD

I intended to study..but you know that goes..instead I kind of just read through and familiarized myself with words I had learned throughout my class here at BLCU. Then 2 of my friends showed up! Totally un-planned but when you live in Wudaokou, you’re bound to run into other BLCU students at the Bridge Cafe. Of course, I DEFINITELY couldn’t get studying done with them around. I think they legitimately wanted to study but I was the one distracting them..heh. Well they had planned to go somewhere else to eat dinner but right when they came in it started POURING. Before we knew it, the streets looked like this:

So we were stranded at the cafe. We ended up eating an overpriced not so good dinner there..but what are we to do? Dinner was not very filling so I decided to order a slice of black forest cake. It’s a whopping 18 kuai for that thang, but that’s still the cheapest one per slice at this cafe. When I tired to order, the only characters I could read were 黑，which means black, and 蛋糕，which means cake. So I told the waitress, 我要黑。。。蛋糕。(I want black….cake). And she was like, “black…” she was trying to help me but I really couldn’t read the word for forest. She was so cute in trying to help me =] When I finished ordering, the waitress said it was HALF OFF because there were less than 8 slices left!!!!!!! 9 kuai for a nice slab of chocolate-ty black forest cake!!!! So I told my 2 friends and of course they pounced on it too!!!! One of the happiest moments here (ha!)

Makes being stranded not so bad! XD

WEDNESDAY - SUMMER PALACE AND DINNER WITH GRACE

Today I decided to go back to the Summer Palace!!!! It’s definitely one of my favorite places to go here in Beijing. It’s this beautiful park with a huge lake imitating the West Lake in Hangzhou. The history is kind of sad but this place is still the bombdiggity. It was also finally a nice and clear day so I just ditched studying and pounced on going out.

I love it I love it I love it!!!!! So beautiful, especially on nice days like this =]

Then I proceeded to head back and I couldn’t find the freaking bus stop! Why am I so bad at traveling independently?!!! Anyways. I kept walking down the street away from the Summer Palace and I reached Starbucks! Now I still hold allegiances to Peet’s, but there are no Peet’s in China and I just wanted some coffee. It was nice to sit and journal and process some more of whatever I had time to process. Then I finally made it back to campus and I had lunch with GRACE!!!!!!!

I met her at my first Sunday at BICF. She’s from Cupertino and actually went to Monta Vista for high school!!!! Small world eh?!!!! Anyways we been hanging out some this week b/c she’s leaving tomorrow for a vacation with her husband. I feel sooo blessed to have found her and others at BICF!!! They were placed in my life during my time here in China at the perfect time. Woohu!!!! =]

Now I am tired and pooped and still way behind on Chinese. Blah!!!! I shall be off. :D

Why can't you speak Chinese?!

This conversation was all in Chinese, and it has happened more than once in other places but this one was just too funny XD I was at the local Bridge Cafe with 2 other Chinese-American friends.
Me: (pointing at my book) waitress, how do I use "xing fen"? (excited)
Waitress: Say for example you go to a game and you're with friends, you could say, oo I'm so excited! The game is so exciting!
Me: oooohhh so it's not a verb?
Waitress: No, it's an adjective.
Me: ahhhh okay thanks!
Waitress: (staring at me amusingly) um, where are you from?
Me: I'm an American born Chinese.
Waitress: OOOhhhhhh..I was wondering why you couldn't speak Chinese. Actually, I was wondering why all three of you were speaking English and couldn't speak Chinese.
Me: Yeaaa.......
I can imagine her confusion seeing 3 Chinese kids sitting at a Beijing cafe speaking perfect English and struggling to get the simplest of Chinese sentences across. Sometimes you just can't tell XD

Scooters in China = UHMAZING

Just rode on a back of a friend’s scooter back to my dorm. It was a short trip but a ridiculously cool one. Nothing like riding on a scooter down the streets of Beijing.

Processing…XD