Since arriving in China, I’ve already had more crazy experiences than I could possibly write about. Rather than trying to play catch up all in this first post, I’m going to start at the beginning and then gradually add more posts later on. For starters, I’m studying at Beijing Normal University (北京师范大学),which is one of the premier teaching universities in China. The campus is very modern and convenient, though in certain aspects rather different than an American university campus. For one, there are many more private restaurants and businesses that operate within campus limits than I’ve encountered in the US. I’m personally a huge fan, because within a 3-minute walk from my dorm I have access to Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Western restaurants, a supermarket that also sells bubble tea and ice cream, various small coffee shops, and an abundance of small fruit stands and people selling lamb kebabs. The kebab vendors are easily spotted by their lighted signs that display the Chinese character for kebab “串－chuànr”, a particularly ancient character that really just looks like a kebab. On top of that, my floor in my dorm has a convenience store that sells pretty much everything we need on a daily basis. The dorms themselves are very nice, complete with air conditioning, private western-style (this is key) bathrooms, and daily maid-service. Needless to say, adjusting to life here has been nothing short of a constant struggle.
Slideshow of Beijing Normal University
Our day-to-day activities at PiB during the week are practically invariable. Every morning I wake up around 6 to review again for the daily character dictation (two sentences that our professor reads aloud, selecting from a pool of 100-150 new vocab words that we learn each night). When I’ve accepted my fate and decide to give studying a rest, I usually go to this small place right outside the east gate of campus to buy breakfast. For only 3元 (about 44 cents), you can buy a sort of greasy pastry like thing that’s filled with egg, slathered with spicy mystery sauce, and has lettuce and some sort of meat inside it. At first I was also skeptical, but I have grown to rely on these to get me through four hours of morning classes (7:30am-11:30am)—and for the price they can’t be beat.
The Breakfast Joint
After class we break for lunch and hang out until we have our daily 50-minute one-on-one with a teacher (henceforth known as a Laoshi 老师), which has become my favorite part of the day. This gives us the chance to talk with our professors about anything we want. I tend to edge on more controversial or sensitive topics such as Tibet, the Uighurs, the Falun Gong etc—often with very interesting results. Third level Chinese has 16 laoshis, and we have a different one-on-one laoshi every day. Even among my laoshis I have found a range of opinions on such matters, some of them being more traditional and conservative, while others are more skeptical of the government’s activites. One of my laoshis is part of a Muslim ethnic minority in western China, and hearing about her experiences growing up in a Han Chinese-dominated society has been fascinating. However, one thing I’ve noticed is that, regardless of their political views, Chinese people are very patriotic and proud of their country
When I’m not in class or preparing the next day’s lesson, I’m most likely eating at one of the various restaurants on or in the direct vicinity of the campus. Apart from breakfast, I eat essentially every meal at a restaurant, something that I wish was affordable in the United States. A typical meal ranges from 8-30 yuan ($1.00-$4.50) depending on what you get, and for the most part I’ve really enjoyed the food I’ve eaten. At first, eating Chinese food for literally every single meal feels peculiar, but at this point not only am I used to it, but also I find myself constantly craving dumplings, noodles, etc. Chinese food is an integral part of Chinese culture, and as such I will devote several future posts to this topic.
I apologize for rambling so much, I have so many things I want to share but I wasn’t sure exactly how to organize an introduction to what my life is like here. Future posts will likely be shorter, more pointed, and feature more photos. Thanks for reading!
Russ
P.S. Some of you may have noticed that I’m using the same blog that I used two years ago. For those who didn’t read it the first time around, I have lots of pictures and videos of famous sites around Beijing (the Summer Palace, The Old Summer Palace, The Great Wall, The Lao She Teahouse, the Silk Market, among other places). Take a look if you want, as I might not be covering those aspects of China again in future posts.
