Entries from July 2006 ↓

Ah, yes, I’m still here. I’m still in Kunming. I’m still in the dorms. I’m still on vacation. I’m still plodding along, but it’s been taking a little more effort than usual because I’m still fighting off a lingering cough！ I don’t think I’ve felt myself since my fever. Today was actually the first day I didn’t feel fragile. I did a lot of walking and consumed one too many caffeinated beverages. It felt good.

I’m a single lesson shy of finishing one of my three textbooks, so on a recommendation from my flatmate, I bought a new one: 汉语会话301句 (Conversational Chinese 301)， 下册 （2nd Volume), by Kang Yuhua & Lai Siping. The cover claims it’s “the most popular Chinese textbook for foreigners all over the world at present.” Ok, so the English isn’t stellar, but I’m really enthused. It’s a little difficult, but that’s ok I think. Something about it is really pleasing. Of course, I haven’t completed the first lesson yet, so it’s a little premature to gush, but I totally love it! Yay! And it feels so good to be able to go to skip the first book and go to the second level. Yay!

I bought a Bjork album — the Matthew Barney movie soundtrack one. It’s really, uh, experimental. They actually have a few of her hits just tacked to the end of the cd in order to appease the general Bjork listener (me). Because the MB stuff is, well, awful really. I only listened to it through once, and I haven’t seen whatever movie it’s from… I’m sure in context it’s less awful. Heh. I feel, um, alienated by this music. The second track is a bunch of rhythmic wheezing. Striking, bjorky, and even a little frightening, but not interesting. Not good.

Today I went to the Bird and Flower Market — a real foreigner magnet — but I didn’t manage to buy anything. It’s always a struggle to stop and actually consider purchasing something. I’m so overwhelmed by the whirlwind of activity. Fun to just look and get pushed along by the crowd. Yes, there are lots of birds and flowers, as well as lots of other animals and plants. I can’t stand the puppy farms though — yuck! So frustrating to see animals piled into cages, especially such fuzzy adorable ones. Fish and lizards are one thing, but puppies and kittens are just too much for me. Anyway, Mari, Sara, and I were hunting for gifts but we walked away empty-handed.

Afterward, we went to a tea shop where the shop assistant sat us down and made us try a ton of different teas. It was a lot of fun and a great excuse to avoid some terrible rain, but we were about to explode by the time we left! Oh, man. Too much tea. The way they prepare tea is great — it involves a lot of constant movement on the part of the person preparing the tea. Water and tea spill everywhere! The table they use even contains a special drain to siphon off the unwanted liquid. We were seated at an especially cool tea bed that seemed to be one piece of wood with a strange configuration of little shelves. It wasn’t a single flat surface but more like a small mountain with little smoothed nooks where you could perch a small teacup. And there was a very happy buddha carved into one of the tiers. Really beautiful.

Mari had an easy conversation with the shop assistant, while Sara and I tried to follow along as best we could. We must have sat there for at least an hour, balanced on little stools sipping one tea after another. First we tried the famous local Pu’er Tea, a rich flavor almost the color of red wine. Then we had an Oolong that tasted like Ginseng to me, very sweet. Then we had a flowery tea — jasmine? Then a litchee flavored fruit tea, again very sweet. The rhythm of the constant pouring, sipping, and spilling is very relaxing, but left me feeling exhausted — not to mention frantic for a bathroom! Whew!

Well, I just tried to open my mouth and I have NO voice today.  Oh, jeez.  Unfortunately, I discovered this only when I called Jeremy’s house and was leaving a message for him.  I wonder what on earth he’ll make of that.  I hope it doesn’t scare him!

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Originally uploaded by Mari Q..

Here is my friend Mari. I think you might catch a whiff of sarcasm in her otherwise sweet-looking pose. I mean, she’s often sweet-looking, but don’t let that fool you. Here we’re enjoying a meal in an over-priced restaurant too near to the foreigner cafes. Lots of hungry people lurk and scoop up the leftovers. This is only disconcerting when you’re still waiting for your bill!

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Originally uploaded by Mari Q..

Eating on the streets of Kunming.  Ah, just like Paris!

Well, actually I imagine the experience is a little different.  It hardly looks like I’m at a restaurant at all!  But I am.  And it’s a fancy one, too.

There was a beautiful cool breeze all day yesterday.  Too hot in the sun to stand, but just so lovely.  I was especially appreciative because I didn’t leave my dorm since Tuesday evening!  I’ve been sick in bed with a monster sinus infection — it came with a fever, cough, and muscle aches.  I still haven’t quite recovered, but I went outside yesterday and that certainly helps the spirit.

I think this is a good time to make the switch from coffee to tea.  I obviously wasn’t having my cup a joe when I was feverish, and now nothing sounds better than some tea.  Coffee is expensive here, and often terrible.  Why bother?  Maybe if we get settled I’ll get a french press and real beans.

I feel like I’ve forgotten all of my Chinese over the last week.  I was confusing all sorts of weird words when I was sick.  Although I was listening to some of my listening comprehension recordings and I seemed to pick up more than I expected.  I think it’ll take a little effort to get back in the game.

Can’t wait to get out of the dorms.  Of course, neither can any of my roommates.  Everyone’s scheming to find an apartment.  They seem to be going for some expensive places, but anything’s cheaper than the dorms really.  And infinitely more liveable.  I’ve been keeping an eye out for places, but nothing fits the bill yet.  We’ll see.

I’m down to just one English student.  This is for the best.  He is like clockwork.  One hour lessons from a textbook we chose together.  And his memory is astounding.  He always impresses me with what he remembers from our previous lessons.

So, St. Louis really took a beating!  I think Jeremy’s still without power.  My friend Lizzie was also without power last I heard from her.  Of course, some 400,000 people are without. But I don’t think the heat’s as bad as it was.  They said it might be another week before Jeremy gets electricity.  Sucks for so many reasons, not the least of which is he’s studying for the bar exam that happens on Tuesday.

Jeremy described the storm’s lightening to me — unlike anything he’d seen.  Large rakes of lightening crowning the sky.  It must have been fantastic.

I know I’ve left several emails unanswered.  I’m sorry.  I’m trying to recover from whatever it is I have.  My fever is gone, but now I feel sick to my stomach.  Argh!  People are looking after me — Mari brought me some water and stuff, and my roommate brought me some soup and oj.  I’m just not looking forward to another day in bed.

I just ate an entire box of chocolate chip cookies. My god.

I haven’t had a moment to pause recently, and now I’m just beginning to appreciate that today was my last day of classes. I mean, I have a whole month and a half to fill outside of the university! Oh, man. I don’t really want to travel, because I’d probably just go off with some English speakers and avoid speaking Chinese. Plus, I don’t have the curiosity right now to explore further afield. I’m still very occupied with the language and trying to find my place here.

There’s a tendency to just take every that flies my way, but I realize now that I have to make some decisions if I’m really going to feel good about my time here in China. Many of the people I meet here want to interact with me using very poor English. It’s maddening. And very hard to avoid. I need to be more assertive with my Chinese, but I also need to learn more so I can use it more often. Of course, I expect to speak silly English with my students or language exchange, but I need to resist other low-level English interactions. It’s hard enough allowing myself to talk to Mari or folks from back home… or BLOGGING. Heh. But that’s different because I’m really expressing myself in a way I really can’t in Chinese. The simple day-to-day stuff should be done in Chinese. Even the internal monologue: “I better get up now.” or “Where did I put my bag?” Chinese only please! It’s beginning to happen.

I’m actually feeling pretty homesick. I talked to Mom on the phone for her birthday. Mark, Leigh, Emily, and Ben were visiting for the big gardening shopping spree. It’s very hard to let your head straddle these two worlds. It’s easier just to forget one for a while. But I really miss Jeremy and my family. I suppose I’m also bummed because I keep missing Jeremy. We’ve both been busier lately — the bar exam is rapidly approaching for J — so we haven’t caught up in a bit. I’ve been really spoiled connecting with him — voice and video conversations — every other day at least. But it’s been a few days now.

Actually, I’m in better spirits now, because I had a lovely meal this evening with Mari. She’s been crazy sick with a fever for a few days, so it was great to see her out and about. We splurged and got pizza. Wow! It was wonderful. It’s funny how talkative we are together. I don’t feel like I’m normally such a chatterbox, but we get along great. It’s too bad that she’s only around for another few weeks. I think she and Jeremy would really click too.

Oh, Jeremy bought me a digital camera! Looks pretty cool. I think rather than having him mail it I’ll wait for him to hand-deliver it. I seem to remember that there are some crazy customs issues about bringing electronics into China. Anyway, so when he arrives I’ll begin to fill the blog with photos. Yay!

A lot more people in my landscape these days, so I haven’t been spending as much time blogging. Clearly.

My roommate is gone to Hong Kong for a few days. Her older sister is meeting her there — flying from South Korea. She was really excited before she left. I have to admit it’s nice to have “a room of one’s own.” But it’s really not very quiet around here.  Another woman just moved in next door. She’s from Thailand, just a year younger than me, and seems super cool. She speaks enough English to understand my “chinlish” which is strange. When I hesitate and speak a little English she seems to pick it up sometimes. Interesting. I gave her the tour of our tiny home. heh. And, of course, I gave her my phone number and told her to make sure she asks me if she needed to know anything about anything. I suspect she’s able to navigate pretty well on her own, but it’s so fun to have a new member to the little foreigner community in the dorm. Her nickname is Wan — means “sweet” in Thai.

Still feeling like I’m not retaining anything from my studying.  But Mari is very encouraging and complements my speaking.  I definitely need to arrange a tutor, because my language exchange efforts so far have not been very successful.  It’s fun to meet people, but my Chinese is not at a high enough level for simple conversation.  So, we come up with these little pseudo-lessons, but it gets a little crazy.  Last night I spent an hour discussing the story the Three Little Pigs (San1 Zhi1 Xiao3 Zhu1).  That’s stupid.  I mean, it’s tricky business.

Today I met with a young high school student about tutoring — tutoring him in English.  Very promising.  He’s very talented and enthusiastic.  I met with him at a cafe, and his parents accompanied him, but sat one table over.  Mostly we talked, but his mother asked a few questions (her son interpreted for her).  Anyway, I really look forward to working with him.  I don’t adjust my speech much around him.  Most of the time I really have to think about how I’m saying everything with my students.  And I have to re-word and talk more slowly.  But we really had a very relaxed chat.  Apparently he really likes Lord of the Rings, so we’ll be discussing the movie as our first class topic.  A little challenging, but I’m ready to give it a try.  I think I should prepare a back-up plan though.  So, we arranged to do two 1-hour lessons per week.  This is the first student that wants to set a schedule!  Excellent.

I’ve actually been spending a lot of time thinking about a web design project that a friend from back home approached me about.  It’s kind of a relief to be doing that web work.  I haven’t clinched the deal yet, but I spent some time putting together a mock-up.  Studying a language is an unending process, but web design has a finished product.  Also, I just know my way around it, so I can get creative. Yay!

World Cup finals tonight at 2:00 a.m. here.  Whoah.  I don’t know if I can stay up.  Yawning already.

I seem to have forgotten to publish this entry.  I must have been interrupted while writing.  Anyway, here it is.

Time is really flying here. I don’t really feel like I’m making progress with my language studies. I guess, initially there’s just such a dramatic feeling of “oh my god I can talk!” or “I can understand!” But anyway, I’m aware there are many plateaus when you’re learning a language. Just need to keep studying and it will come.

Part of my problem is that I’ve started learning the characters, and it just comes much more slowly. Obviously, it all helps to reinforce meaning and sentence structure and grammar and everything, but not strictly helpful. Not as immediately helpful as being able to say “My phone number is…” (“我的电话号码是…”)

I ran into Erez, an Israeli student that was just starting studies when I visited Jeremy last year. Nice to see a familiar face. He is contemplating his next move — maybe staying here in Kunming, maybe leaving. Not surprisingly, he was accompanied by a gaggle of people. He’s a very social guy. His entourage included his brother, two Israeli students, and two Chinese women, one of whom he introduced as his girlfriend. Ha. Well, we exchanged numbers, so I’m sure I haven’t heard the last from him.

Intense few days of classes and studying.  Although, last night I went out to eat with Mr. Cheng and Mari.  That was fun.  I’ve been tutoring Mr. Cheng in English, but for table conversation he’s still a little slow.  So, there was plenty of Chinese as well as English.  We were a little mystified by one of the dishes — “like frog” according to Mr. Cheng, but not toad or eel — but not in our dictionaries and now the Chinese has escaped me.  It was definitely heavy on the vertebrae and was very fatty.  I thought it tasted like fish, but most of it was inedible as far as I was concerned, just bones and fat.  Ah well.  The sour fish was excellent and we had those itty bitty shrimps that are stir fried with hot red peppers.  Yum!

Exploring online today, I found a number of interesting sites:

• Sinosplice – a top-notch site for Chinese language and culture from an academic American perspective.  In fact, I found most of these links on John’s site.  He seems to be pretty tech savvy and has a hand in developing some of these websites.  On Sinosplice, I like his discussion of language and this is fun: a popular Chinese song as a language learning tool
• Adopt a Blog – help circumvent the Chinese censorship of blogs.
• NewsinChinese – a stream of news articles written in Chinese with pinyin pronunciation and English translation available when you mouse over the text.
• Serge Melnyk – this guy offers free Mandarin lessons, both streaming and downloadable.  I think it has too much English, and I’m a little doubtful of some of his interpretations.  But, hey, what do I know?  Anyway, it’s another resource.
• ChinesePod - this is a kind of big budget version of Melnyk’s site.  New podcasts DAILY, which is very cool.  And they broadcast from Shanghai.  I’ve been listening for a while.  Lots of different levels to help you get started and keep building your vocabulary.  Conversational.  Recommended.
• AdsoTrans – a kind of wiki-style Chinese-English translation tool.
• AdsoVocab – same folks as adsotrans.  Promises a little more than it can deliver, but still pretty awesome.  Lets you build vocab lists and create flashcards.  I couldn’t get it to work completely, but I think I’ll keep fooling with it.

Look how well I procrastinate from the actual task at hand: studying Chinese.  So easy to waste hours in front of the computer!

Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July.  Curiously enough, I didn’t see any fireworks here.  Could have been arranged, I’m sure, but somehow I’m not feel very patriotic.