Training has gone well and I'm really enjoying the people I've been hanging out with. The weather has been really nice lately, although a bit hot sometimes. On Thursday, it reached 35 degrees Celsius, and I went running with Johanna. After our half hour run, my face burned up and turned bright red, it was the hottest I've ever felt. Eating at Tsinghua U. has also been a pleasure. Their cafeterias have a wide selection of food to choose from and everything is quite inexpensive, although the portions are way too big. Here's a picture of a typical lunch at Tsinghua.
And here's a picture of my room. Tiny but it's my own so I love it.
I've also been reading a new book, The White Masai, which has been really interesting. It's about a Swiss woman who falls in love with an African warrior during a trip to Kenya and stays there to marry him. I'm half way though, and also have other reading materials for our 32 hour train ride to Liupanshui County, in Guizhou, where I'll be teaching. I bought some presents last minute to give to the students we're teaching, 1 biography in both English and Chinese on Rachel Carson (a famous environmentalist!), and the first Harry Potter book :) I'm also bringing my Planet Earth dvds so maybe they'll want to watch those, too! Here's a picture of me and Erin, the other American going to Guizhou.
Yesterday was July 4th, and the Americans in my group had quite the celebration. For dinner, a few friends and I had sushi at a nearby restaurant. I was stuffed by the end of dinner, after having a salmon roll, prawn tempura roll, potstickers, and veggie tempura, and it all amounted to just 47 RMB!
It wasn't as tasty as sushi I've had in Seattle, though the familiar flavors and freshness along with how inexpensive it was made it worth it and worthy for another visit when I return in 2 weeks to Tsinghua. Afterwards, we went to a "trendy" club called Lush that was having a 4th of July bash. Here's a picture of me, with Krista from PLU and Crysten from Iowa.
It was jam packed with Americans, and every time the band finished a song, someone would start a U-S-A chant. They sang songs like the theme song from Team America, the Star Spangled Banner, and even led the rowdy crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. It was quite the spectacle. Although I'm proud to be an American citizen, I find it difficult at times to be so patriotic in a foreign country, especially when I feel allegiance to many countries. It was pouring last night, reminding me of the flood days in Guilin.
We're leaving tomorrow afternoon for our rural location. I can't believe we'll only be teaching for 9-10 days. We only had "training" for 2 days, and getting there and back will take up 4-5 days so this 3 week program will pass by way too quickly. I'm excited, though, to meet the students and hopefully inspire them to dream big. Too often they lack motivation and big dreams, especially when faced with tough competition and intense pressure to succeed from their parents. Hopefully our time there will make a lasting impact.
PS: Erin and I went to Wal-Mart yesterday, and it was quite the experience. I was overwhelmed at the size and the huge selection of products. It was like an American Wal-Mart, but with Chinese characteristics, like Beijing roast duck hanging by the deli, different sanitary rules, and the staff was not very service-oriented, plus no happy door greeter. I was amazed to see the selection of Lay's Potato Chips, and wrote down all the crazy flavors.
Starting from 3 o'clock and working clockwise: Lime Flavor, Flavor Roasted BBQ, Sichuan Spice, Mango, Lychee, Cherry Tomato, Ziran Steak, Italian Red Meat, Savory Prawn, French Chicken, Mexican Tomato Chicken, American Classic, Texas Grilled BBQ, Red Wine Chicken, Fragrant Red Chili, and Cucumber Flavor. Do any of those sound tasty to you? Andrew and Stephanie tried the Mango and Lychee flavors and said they were the worst things they've eaten in our trip in China.PPS: Naomi- I thought of you and Panda when I found the Snoopy-esqe pens. They actually have a different character on now, some white bunny and it says "Happy Ludy" :) I miss you, too, and hope to have hot pot and yang rou chuan with you when I get back!
3 comments:
Um, Lays needs to stop making Lychee and Mango flavored chips. It's morally and ethically wrong.
Did you have the deep fried mantou with the sweetened condensed milk? I remember that was so good when we went. :)
I was thinking of you when we went to see the 4th of July fireworks last night at Lake Union. (We = Wei, her parents and I) We enjoyed the fireworks from under the Fremont Bridge. I also saw the famous troll for the first time while looking for parking!
As I watched the fireworks, I was thinking that in our country, there are lots of immigrants from other nations that still feel patriotic towards their birth countries. I've always thought it would be cool to be Mexican, or Italian, or even China-born Chinese to have that sense of national identity. Here I associate having pride in our country with the senseless bandwagon patriotism that followed 9/11, and for that reason, you've never seen me act that patriotic.
But we really do have a lot to be proud of. Foreign and economic policy aside, we get to enjoy being citizens of one of the most developed nations of the world which provides a wonderful standard of living for the majority of its people. We live with such safety and security that we can live our daily lives without fear, and can gather in large crowds to watch fireworks without having to worry about having our lives ended by a suicide bomber. (This is an extreme example, but we really have it pretty good compared to the developing world.)
We should stop taking this for granted, and recognize that thanks to a good work ethic and high moral standards, the people of this country make the USA a great place to live. A lot of these people are recent immigrants and still feel strong connections to their birth countries, and display affectionate patriotism accordingly. And we tolerate (if not encourage) it just fine.
We have the good fortune to be born in the USA and to call this place home. It is OK to be proud of our nation and what it represents, and you shouldn't feel bad about showing love for your country on its birthday, no matter where you are.
P.S. If you're feeling some China love, when you come back you can come over and express that with Wei on National Day (Oct. 1). We can even have a cooking party with Chinese themed food! :)
does it make me a tool because i want to travel to China simply to get the 'Chinese Wal-Mart' experience?
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