I can’t believe I’m missing shark week.

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FAQ: How is your Mandarin coming?

My language skills have definitely improved since coming to China (if they hadn’t, I’d be mad!) Spending time in classes (back when classes were in session) was obviously helpful, but as you might be able to guess, going out into the real world to experience/speak Mandarin is the most useful way to improve my level.

I am by no means “great” or even “good” at speaking Mandarin, but I’m at a point where I am comfortable conversationally. I may not be able to have complex or even detailed discussions, I can walk or sit with someone for a while and not run out of things to talk about. My reading is still pretty atrocious- definitely what I struggle with most. Sometimes I’ll recognize every character I’m looking at and still have no idea what the meaning of the sentence is, which is quite frustrating. My speaking and listening, however are doing just fine, and that’s what I see as the most useful skills anyway.

Since I constantly hear it, Mandarin has become extremely familiar to me, even when I don’t understand. Because of this the way that I speak has become light-years more authentic and natural sounding. Sometimes, if I’m not sure technically or grammatically how to say something, all I have to do is say it to myself, and I am familiar enough with how the language sounds that I can tell if it feels right or not. This is a nice place to be.

That being said, sometimes I feel like I haven’t improved as much as I potentially could have. One of the reasons for that, I believe is this. Remember when I said that, in hostels, you have pretty much the same conversation with everyone you meet? With Chinese people, this is true on a much bigger scale. The people here are absolutely fascinated by me and they try to talk to me and ask me questions ALL THE TIME. The questions are:

What country are you from?
How long have you been in China?
Are you studying abroad?
Do you have a boyfriend?
What is your major? What is your work?
What do you think of China? What do you like? What do you not like?
Is America better than China?

…and so on and so fourth. Once the conversation progresses from these questions, it often goes in the direction of pointing out how much better they believe my skin, eyes, hair, and nose are from their own. Everyone wants to look like how they don’t. Anyhow, since this is essentially the conversation that I have with every Chinese person ever, I’m pretty darn good… at having this conversation. Sometimes I won’t be able to understand someone’s accent to the point where I have next to no idea what they’re asking me, and I can STILL have a conversation with them, because I pretty much already know what they’re asking me. I guess what I am getting at is that I haven’t learned the bredth of conversation topics that I wish since I am often restricted to one.

Also, you essentially don’t need to say anything at all for a Chinese person to be incredibly impressed with your Mandarin skills. More times than I can count, I have been praised for speaking “wow! really great” Chinese after literally only saying “hello” or “thank you” or “I am American”. My favorite was when my friend, on a plane, in response to being asked what she wanted to drink, said kele (cola), to which the flight attendant said “your Chinese is sooo good!” So I guess that’s all you need to do to make Chinese people think your language skills are totally lihai!

I truly hope to keep up my learning and practicing, hopefully with the great XBDX students coming to UNM this year.

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Hostels

Traveling around China, there are a couple options as far as accommodations go. The main three, I’d say, are hotels, hostels, and couchsurfing. Hotels are nice, but expensive and you end up alone in your boring room anyway. Couchsurfing seems to be a good idea, though I’m not entirely convinced yet. For me, hostels are always the way to go.

For those of you who have never stayed in a hostel before, hostels are like a mixture between a hotel and a college dormitory. Most hostels have the option of booking rooms with one, two, three, four, or up to 9 or 12 bed rooms. Sometimes they’re private, and sometimes you stay with strangers. The cheapest way to stay is in a dorm with other people you probably don’t know. I’ve only had one bad experience, as most people are respectful and observe hostel etiquette.Most of them have a very dormy atmosphere, with writing on the walls, posters, stuff like that. Often, there’s a bar or restaurant attached where everyone can hang out.

Here are some pals from my Guangzhou hostel.

Hostels are the best environment that I have ever experienced for meeting people. I can’t think of any other sort of place in the world where you can sit down by yourself, any time of day, and almost be guaranteed to be approached by a stranger who wants to talk. Traveling alone is no problem when you’re staying with hostels- as soon as you get there, you meet people and go with them to whatever sites you might want to visit, and you have company for as long as you want.

As grateful as I am (and I am) for the atmosphere and eternal friendliness of hostels, they can get a bit depressing after a while. When I spent 3 weeks moving from hostel to hostel, I looked back at all of the great, nice people that I met and realized that I pretty much had the same conversation with all of them. What’s your name, where are you from, how long are you in China, what are you doing here, what do you like, what do you not like, etc etc. The answers differ… slightly. But the formula is redundant. And there’s something that is sad about the fleeting nature of the hostel relationship. You meet random people, usually have a pre-determined conversation, enjoy their company, and then say “see you later!” when they leave, knowing you will never see them again. At first, this is sort of weird and thrilling, but after a while… hm. It gets hard to see your life fill up with 2 day friends. Emails are rarely exchanged. They’re not the friends that you pursue- it’s a whole different breed. Very strange.

 

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Beijing(北京）

Beijing, or Peking, is the capital of the People’s Republic of China. You might have heard of it. It’s a pretty big city in China, with some pretty big stuff.

I’ll warn everyone upfront- I just don’t have that many pictures of Beijing. By this time in my trip, I was sort of just sick of taking pictures, and especially in Beijing. Almost everywhere I went was so stuffed with lame-o tourists with their cameras taking the same picture, I just couldn’t stand to be one of them.

I was in Beijing alone, but I met up with a UNM teacher of mine, Ned Omalia, and his son, daughter in law, and friend, who were in Beijing for a couple days. We went to the Great Wall, which was spectacular.

Then we went through the Spirit Way, which is a special path that only the emperor was supposed to be ably to walk through.

We also went to the Ming Tombs, which I don’t have any pictures of. The next day was Tiananmen Square, once again filled with tourists. Here are two of them (Ned’s son and his lovely wife)

Here’s an instance of classic architecture.

The Forbidden City

Summer Palace

Stone Boat

I don’t have that much to say about Beijing. I spent half of my time at the historical sites that “everyone has to see” (pictured above) and I’m guess I glad that I did. I must say, though, it was pretty painful in a way. Between the gobs of Westerners and people trying to sell you crap, these places just don’t feel real, don’t feel like China. More like Disneyland.

The next couple days I walked around the city, exploring new parts, looking at art galleries, and trying to get a feel for Beijing, which I never quite managed to do.

This leather shop had a kitty inside. Meow!

 

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Guilin(桂林) and Yangshuo(阳朔）

Pretty much the only reason to go to Guilin is to take an hour and a half bus out to Yangshuo. The city functions pretty much entirely on the basis of tourism, which makes it excruciating in a lot of ways (tons of foreigners, lots of people bothering you to sell you things, etc). The redeeming factor, though, is the incredible array of mountains surrounding the town. These mountains are lush and green, thin and tall, and quite unlike any other mountains I’ve seen before. Really stunning.

We took a ride on what the locals hilariously called “bamboo” boats, which turned out to be nothing more than pvc with old tires wrapped around the end. Very charming, and very fun.

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Kunming（昆明）

 

Kunming is in Yunnan Province, and is famous for having many ethnic minorities. It is a mixture of new and old, and resembles the more shabby and gritty though charming Xi’an more than the flashy and modern Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Kunming city proper doesn’t have that much to do, although we did see a really fantastic show that demonstrated the dances and music of ethnic minorities.

Most of Kunming’s treasures are outside the city, the most famous of which is the Stone Forest. These amazing stones are completely naturally formed, but the Chinese tenants, to my horror, manage to tame and trim and contain every bit of it. Note the lawnmowers.

The bougainvilleas in Kunming were a dream, growing wild and bigger than I knew possible.

At an amazing Thai restaurant, we tried a tasty, tasty jellyfish salad…

And pigeon. Which was DELICIOUS.

We also spent some time at a lovely lake by the mountains, where we got to experience Kunming’s Sunday park culture.

Another day, we went to a spa, where there were hot springs, saunas, and we even went into one of those pools full of the fish that eat all the dead skin off of your body, which was BIZARRE!

Kunming also has a really lovely plant and animal market.

In the end, even after all the nice things that we did, I couldn’t quire forgive Kunming for its egregious lack of street food, although, I did get to sample these lotus seeds.

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Shenzhen（深圳）

Only an hour train ride from Guangzhou and another hour north of Hong Kong, Shenzhen is another modern and vibrant city. Because of its proximity to Hong Kong, many businesspeople and students live in Shenzhen and commute to Hong Kong for work and school.

It was China’s first Special Economic Zones and saw massive and explosive growth starting in the seventies, receiving immense foreign investment after China’s economic policy opened. Because of this, and even more markedly than Guangzhou, Shenzhen (which Wikipedia claims is one of the fastest growing cities in the world) is a hub for business and is brand new, as all of the buildings were made very recently.

This is just me talking, but I would keep an eye on Shenzhen. I feel that because it is such a new city, you can see to an extent how China would build its cities from scratch if given the opportunity, and represents a sort of modern China city ideal.

Sometimes Shenzhen is so fancy and modern and clean, I wouldn’t feel like I was in China at all. We even went to the beach, which was surrounded by the nicest of the nice, like a resort town. Don’t mind the rain.

To complete our fancy beach experience, we went to… you guessed it… Pizza Hut! In China, Pizza Hut is a fancy, sit down restaurant, with wine and a big fat menu and froo froo staff.

Shenzhen is also famous for its “eat streets”, pretty much exactly what they sound like, a collection of street food stands with lots of different tasty treats. At this one, we tried sea urchin and crab roe curry balls…

Egg and cucumber wraps…

And sweet waffle snacks.

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Guangzhou（广州）

Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province, located in southern China very close to Hong Kong. A new hub of the modern China business world, Guangzhou is the third largest city in China.

Because it has seen so much growth, especially recently, it is an extremely modern city, all new and shiny and purty. The brand spankin’ new metro is a dream, and certainly the best I’ve ever been on in my days.

Due to the fact that Guangzhou is so southern and so close to water, it is hot. And humid. And tropical. And lush. Toto, we’re not in Albuquerque anymore.

Because of the heat, we spent most of our time relaxing, strolling, wandering, and eating. This was not a 100 activities a day sort of trip, which was really nice. As the cherry on top, there was a coconut stand close to the hostel so that we could REALLY enjoy our vacation, slurping up delicious coconut after delicious coconut.

Our hostel in Guangzhou was great, and right outside was a ferry that took you up the river. This trip, which I took with some pals from the hostel, was made ever more spectacular at night, where the city is lit up like a carnival.

The famous Guangzhou TV tower will soon be the highest bungee sight in the world.

Our new friend James/Britney was ready for the jump.

Later that night, we all went out to a club. I really can’t express how crazy and strange these club experiences are. We’re seated with our own booth at the club and have our own private attendant, who serves no one but us, immediately snatching up every piece of trash, spilling up every spill, filling up every drink, so the table is always perfect. Scarcely does one pull out a cigarette before the attendant is there with a lighter, or run out of beer before a fresh one is before you.

So you’re in a private booth with your fancy-pants servant, and every single person that’s dancing in the club is dancing nowhere but directly in front of us, presumably because we are the only foreigners in the place (and the giant blonde euro boys don’t hurt). It’s like having personal dancers doing everything they can to entertain you. It’s really like being a celebrity, and it is bizarre.

Last, but certainly not least, of course, is the food of Guangzhou. I was particularly entranced (naturally) by the street food (duh.) Some of my favorites included the everpresent steamed corn…

Amazingly delicious, soft, sweet, chewy “ball-waffles”…

Delightfully pixie-sized quail egg kebabs (notice the incredibly beautiful mass of speckled little quail eggs)…

And roasted chestnuts, which I had never had before but pretty much ate my weight in by the time my trip was over. We also had a great, humbled down version of hot pot (possibly my favorite Chinese food) that, instead of at a fancy table with personal pots, was served on rickety wooden tables with holes in the middle so that dented old pots could heat up on firey construction bricks.

P.S. Cute kitties ABOUND

Notice that the yellow eyed beauty’s collar/leash is an electrical plug, prongs and all. *Facepalm*, Chinese people.

 

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Traveling

Starting tomorrow, this stone is going to be rollin’ around China until July 15th. While I’ll hopefully be able to check my email periodically, I won’t be around the blog. I promise to post about my travels when they’ve concluded and I’m back in Xi’an.

I’ll be going to Shenzhen…

Guangzhou…

Guilin…

Kunming…

and Beijing.

I might go on another trip before the end of the summer, but that’s to be decided after I get back to Xi’an. Please email me if you want to wish me luck or see if I’m well.

See you soon, buds.

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A tip of the hat…

…to two Albuquerquians and their handmade from scratch and tasty, tasty movie PERCEIVE. This fresh flick proves not only that this dynamic duo is among the elite that can spell that word correctly, but that they can kick deadlines (and sanity) right in the tush and double-handedly (quad-handedly?) make a freakin’ movie in a year. And a pretty damn good one at that. Seriously lìhài. Rest assured that, in no time, there will be a shoddy Chinese bootleg available on the streets of Xi’an.

Good job, boys. I’m so proud.

You can check out PERCEIVE right hurr. Yum.

P.S.
Dear (Ex) Senator Weiner,
Because of you and your shenanigans, there is no chance anyone will ever pronounce my last name right again. THANKS A LOT.

P.P.S.
Did you know that the traditional Chinese zombie doesn’t stumble or walk, but HOPS? Be afraid, bunnies. You’re not alone.

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