Edit 8/12/09: pictures added!
I have been (exceedingly) lax in blogging the past few weeks, and for that I apologize. I've been keeping notes though, so I 'll try to go in order of things that have happened since I last posted. Also, since Picasa (the place I've been uploading photos) has also been censored in China since entering into partnership with Blogger, I'll have to add pictures later. Check back!
First, and most importantly, as of July 22nd, 2009 I am a big sister for the second time! I am, of course, very sad that I couldn't be home for her birth. Buuuut I will be home in less than a week! With gifts! I can't wait to meet you, baby sister!
New baby celebration!
Suntanning
<3
Too cute for words.Next up, the weekend of the 26th-27th. Our planned activity that weekend was called "Lunch with Old People" and consisted of us interviewing retired Hagongda professors over lunch. It was an alright activity - good food, and the professors were nice and all - but the location was poorly chosen. It was dark in the restaurant even in the middle of the afternoon, and because we were all talking at the same time and many of the professors had quiet voices, it was harder than it should have been to communicate. I assumed it was the combination of dark + no breakfast + lack of sleep that made me very dizzy sitting there in that restaurant, but in retrospect it might have been the cold that manifested itself later that week.
Other events that weekend: Friday night we went out to karaoke (or KTV, as it's called here in China)! I love singing, but the thing language pledges is one can't sing English songs, Japanese songs, or any kind of songs that aren't Chinese. And the thing about Chinese is, if you don't know how to read a character, it's difficult to even guess how it's pronounced. And the thing about KTVs is, 95% of the song lyrics are written using traditional characters, as opposed to the simplified ones I've been studying for 5 years now. Needless to say, I mostly enjoyed listening to our Chinese roommates sing that night. But I did manage a Jay Chou song ( thank you, 7th grade at Harvard-Westlake) and 老鼠爱大米 (thank you, Carter Chang). Saturday night I stayed in with 巴西, 文博, his roommate, 余休's roommate and 娜莎 to watch 《四个婚礼和一个葬礼》, otherwise known as Four Weddings and a Funeral. Yeah, I definitely didn't understand any witty banter that might have gone on, but that movie just made me angry and vaguely disgusted. The impressions I got: Hugh Grant is endearing but confused and rather inconsiderate, the old guy is vaguely amusing but mostly over-the-top, the woman is a maneater but that's ok because she's American and mysterious, and the one chick who seems sensible ends up with nothing in the end. Cool, movie. Excellent message. On Sunday, 文博 and his roommate, 慧英, 白凯丽 and I all went to see Wen Miao Confucian temple, which is apparently the largest wooden temple in the northeast. It was a pretty laid-back sort of day.
Wen Miao
独占鳌头：The saying roughly translates to "stand alone on the Ao's head" (an Ao[鳌] being a mystical tortoise thing), but really means to come out on top. Putting money on the Ao's head ensures good grades, good luck, etc.
孔子 himself
Another large university in the area. Yale may have beautiful gothic architecture, but it certainly doesn't look like this.
Mao and crew chilling in front of the college's supermarket.
Another temple we went to visit on Sunday
Praying and burning incense
Grandma teaching her grandson about religion
Temples were right next to an amusement park
The sky here is almost always gorgeous
I think the following week was probably my low point here in Harbin (for reference: the Light Fellowship required all recipients to attend a pre-departure meeting in which they went over important information about acclimating to life abroad. A key part of the presentation was the W-curve of cultural acclimation - I did a quick search and found a site that sums up the curve pretty well here). It wasn't a spectacular low - I wasn't inconsolably upset or anything - it was more like the creeping apathy one might associate with depression. I was irritated by a few of the people in the dorms but Hagongda's campus held no interest for me; I wasn't really in touch with anyone from home and the internet in the dorms was often frustratingly slow without even taking into account the annoyance of censorship; I got sick in the middle of the week; and struggling through my last class on Friday - which also happens to be my least favorite course here - it occurred to me that I didn't really know why I was studying the language. I looked at some character on the blackboard, and clear as day the thought "I refuse to remember this" popped into my head. It left my head as soon as it entered, really, but it left me wondering all the same.
How did I get out of that groove? To be honest, I ignored it. Classes couldn't be skipped, a plane ticket home couldn't be bought, and even if it could, I wasn't about to give up on this great opportunity. My reason for studying Chinese became "why not?" for a while, which, while a pretty weak reason, is better than no reason. To be even more honest, I can't really write eloquently right now about re-connecting with my love for Chinese culture because having to prepare for finals is obviously a downer and I really just can't wait to be home right now. But I will say that as more time passes I find myself wishing that China and the US were closer. If there were some way for me to attend classes on the weekdays and go home every few weekends, life would be perfect. I really do enjoy studying here and familiarizing myself with the culture, but there are just some times when no place but home will do.
Anyway, I need to study now, but since I don't have class anymore I should have time to update more often! Part 2 will be up very shortly.
