China so far has really impressed me with their culture, their city and the people. There is so much history in this country and it makes it almost overwhelming to try to grasp it all. My chinese and art history classes are helping me to understand it better though. Being in a communists country I was excepting something different when I arrived here, but I have not really experienced much censorship besides on the internet with Facebook and Blogspot being blocked (but I am able to get around it). Going around the different markets like the one I go to frequently on West Ninji Road is where I feel like I can really grasp the culture. In the markets I meet a lot of locals. Bargaining is part of their culture, I felt bad doing it at first, but knowing that they expect it doesn't bother me anymore. The people in the markets are really nice as well, they help me with my chinese when I slip up on a phrase or word. The chinese people cherish their culture so much and they feel honored that students like me want to learn and understand their culture (says my director).
Classes are in full force now and they are not as easy as I thought they would be. There is a little language barrier between my professors and me, so they cannot really answer my questions. The teaching style is a lot different here obviously, for example here the professors (laoshi, professor in chinese)pretty much just read from the book and we take notes. There is no explaining of the material, which makes it difficult to pay attention during class and to retain the information discussed during class. Chinese class is so far taking up most of time, I spend about 4 hours studying one voc lession of 20 words since it is difficult to learn the characters. But taking the time to study for chinese is something that I really enjoy.
This weekend my group of friends here and I met up with some international students that we had met the following weekend. We really want to make local friends and friends from other parts of the world. We ate dinner at a very westernized location called Gubi (spelling?) where we ate mexican food and made friends with the owner her name is Tina (from Norcal). Then we went to the "nicest bar" (thats its reputation) in Shanghai called Bar Rouge. We knew a password to get into for free, the password was in french so it took a couple of tries to get it right. But the club was really nice and had an incredible view of the Oriental Tower. Here is a picture of the view from the balcony:
The night before this, Friday night we went to Party World. Party World is a karaoke place, but a really nice one. We had a room filled with 25 students from Pepperdine, blasting top hits like Gangsters Paradise and Larger than Life. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone. Here is a picture of us in the room:
Right now I am packing for Yangshuo, we are leaving at 8:15 tomorrow night (Tuesday, September 28th). Yanghuo is a place known for outdoor activities; kayaking, biking, rock climbing, hot air ballooning, mud baths in caves and river rides on bamboo rafts. Here are some photos of the Yangshuo:
Ill have a lot to say when I get back, hopefully!
No comments:
Post a Comment