Weekend in Review Pt 1

So after the first week of classes, homework, studying, and tests, the Alliance felt it a good idea to allow the students some respite from our work so that we could explore some of the rich cultural characteristics of Shanghai. On Friday at 12:45 PM, We walked from our dorms at Tong He International Student Village to the nearest subway station. We got off around 30 minutes later, then walked around 4 blocks until we came to the first of 3 markets. This one was known as the Cricket Market, although several different types of animals are sold there. There are two types of crickets sold there: singing crickets and fighting crickets. Each singing cricket is placed in a woven box about the size of a large lemon, and the boxes are hung in a bunch buy the front of each shop. The noise from each bunch of crickets was deafening. Singing crickets are bought to be entered into contests, and the winner is decided buy a judge or judges who record the decibals of each cricket's "singing". Winners have been known to sing at levels of 101.1 decibals.

The other class of cricket is the fighting cricket, which are bred for their size, speed, and ferocity. These crickets are kept in individual cages made of bamboo or wood, and are sat firmly on a table. All fighting crickets are male, as it is part of their instincts to immediately attack and fight another male cricket to the death on sight. But to increase the crickets ferocity before a fight, the owners or handlers of each cricket prod them with sticks to get them angry, then let the two crickets loose on each other. We were told that a cricket fighting and gambling ring had been busted a few months ago, and over 8 million RMB (around $1.2 Million) was seized. Apparently cricket fights are perfectly legal, but gambling on them is not. Fighting crickets became popular during the Tang Dynasty (7th Century AD), and has been part of Chinese cultural tradition for around 1300 years.

The next market was the "Antique" Market. I say "Antique" because 99.9999% of the wares are none-authentic. But it was a great place to buy souvenirs, gifts, and practice another great, chinese cultural tradition: bargaining.

Just like with any place in the world, if you're a foreigner, people assume you're rich. So it's to be expected that a large group of young people with glasses, backpacks, and cameras will be targeted by every vender in the market. You can try bargaining in English, but it's not nearly as effective as doing it in the native language of the country you're in. Here's a conversation that I had with 2 venders, which became a great example for how to bargain in Shanghai:

(I pick up a fan from the venders stall and open it up)
(Vender 1 walks over)
Vender 1: 你喜欢吗？(Do you like it?)
Me: 我觉得这个很漂亮，可是我只看，不买。(I think it's nice, but I'm only looking, not buying)
(One of my classmates, Spike, walks over)
Spike: 这个多少块钱？（How much does this cost?)
Vender 1: 五十快 （50 RMB)
Me: 我没有那么快。谢谢您，师傅。（I don't have any money. Thank you, sir)
(I put the fan down, but he immediately picks it back up and starts offering me to hold it. At the same time, the vender from the next stall comes over)
Vender 2: 他告诉你买这个多少块钱？（How much did he say you could buy this for?)
Me: 没问题，我正在只看，不买。（It doesn't matter, I'm only looking, not buying.)
Vender 2: 多少块钱？（HOW MUCH!?)
Me: 好的好的，他说了五十快。（okay, okay. He said 50 RMB)
(Vender 2 grabs a fan from his own stall and opens it up, and pointing at his fan and Vender 2's fan)
Vender 2: 这个和那个是一样,  可是我买你这个三十快。（This fan and that fan are the same, but I'll sell this one to you for 30 RMB)
(Before I can answer, Vender 1 thrusts his fan into my hand)
Vender 1: 二十七快！（27 RMB)
Me: 我没有快。（I don't have money)
Vender 2: 二十五块！（25 RMB)
Me: 我就是大学生，我没有那么块。（I'm only a college student, I don't have ANY money)
Vender 1: 二十块！（20 RMB!)
Vener 2: 太便宜了！(Too cheap!)
(Vender 2 spits on the ground and walks back to his stall)
Me: 真的，我没有那么块。 （Really, I don't have any money.)
Vender 1: 十九快！（19 RMB)

Me: 真的，我没有那么块。 （Really, I don't have any money.)

Vender 1: 十八快！（18 RMB)

（This repeats 7 more times until Vender 1 finally throws up his hands and says)

Vender 1: 十块！(10 RMB)

(I (acting like) I'm thinking it over for about 10 seconds.)

Me:好的 （Okay)

(I reach for my wallet, pull out a 10 RMB bill, give it to vender, then walk down the alley and fan myself with my new purchase)

The final market was the Tea Market, which was a real treat. Basically it's a 3 story mall that sells nothing but tea and tea paraphernalia (pots, cups, traditional tea sets, etc). I went with a few of my classmates into this one shop where a woman in her early 60's sat behind her table with her tea set in front of her. We inquired into some of the teas that she sold at her shop. After a minute she invited us to sit down and try some of it. I can't remember what the tea was called, but I vividly remember thinking that it had to be best hot tea I had ever tasted (I am from Memphis, TN, so I'm still partial to my grandmother's homemade, sweet tea in the summer time.) She told us that smelling the tea before taking a sip enhances the taste and the effect of the tea on your entire mouth. So from now on, I take inhale the aroma of the hot tea I'm drinking, and try to appreciate all of the intricacies that go into the process. It really was a very enriching experience.

This post has run pretty long, so I'll write about my experience at the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum in the next post.

Finding a Rhythm

I'm starting to get into  the steady flow of class, homework, studying, and downtime. So far, I'm waking up between 7:20 and 7:30, getting ready for class, and grabbing a bite during the 15-20 minute walk to class. Trying to get to class is always an adventure. My dorm and my class are on opposite corners of campus, so we (myself and my classmates) are always having to "feel" our way there. Class starts promptly at 8:40 everyday, and begins with a dictation. Basically, the teacher will recite a fairly short sentence that uses the vocabulary and grammar we were supposed to study the night before and we have to copy it down. After the dictation,  we read the passage in the book as a class from the lesson we studied the night before. We then review the new vocabulary and incorporate it into the grammar structures from said lesson. The rest of the morning is spent doing drills incorporating the new words and grammar through communication practice.

We break for lunch at 11:35, and we came back at 1:00 for the "Intensive" component of our chinese class. The teacher writes a bunch of Chinese characters and the corresponding Pinyin (chinese words spelled phonetically using the roman alphabet) on the board while we look at our book which contains said characters and their meanings in english. We then listen to a CD containing 3 short dialogues, all of which utilize the very words we just looked at in our book. After the first listening, the teacher asks us (in chinese) to close our books and say what we understood from the CD. He then recites each sentence of the dialogue and points to the corresponding new words that he had written on the board as each is said. He then asks each of us to repeat that sentence until each of us can recite the them with correct pronunciation. This continues until we go through all 3 dialogues. We then listen to CD again. Once it's finished, the teacher asks us questions that follow the corresponding interrogative structure of statements made in the dialogue, but we have to answer the question according to our own preferences. For example, the teacher will ask each of us (in chinese) , "Do you like to wander around stores in Shanghai?". One student will answer (in chinese) , "I like to wander around shoe stores in Shanghai on Saturday mornings accompanied by my friends," and another student will answer (in chinese), "I like to wander around DVD stores in Shanghai on Friday afternoons accompanied by my dog." This process continues until every student is able to formulate an answer to every question using the vocabulary from the CD. It goes without saying, it's a VERY intense 45 minutes.

After "Intensive" class, every student has a 1-on-1 with one of the professors for 15 minutes. It's basically a session that forces you to think in Chinese, because you have a conversation with the professor for 15 minutes straight. The professors are very good about correcting pronunciation. My strategy for not knowing exactly how to say something is to try to string together a sentence using the words I know. When I do this, the professors understand what I'm trying to say, but then go to the blackboard and write out the correct words and grammatical structure for the idea I'm trying to convey, then make me repeat my corrected sentence so that it becomes part of my thought process when speaking  Chinese.

I haven't had much of a chance to do more things in the city yet. With the amount of homework and studying I have to do, it seems like any more exploration of Shanghai will have to be relegated to the weekends.

As promised, I will start completing parts of my posts in chinese. Here's a passage about myself using the grammar patterns that I have learned in the last few days:

我的名字是（王战士／王占士）。我从孟菲斯来。我喜欢提足球，看足球比赛，跳舞，还喜欢吃好饭，什么的。这不是第一次我中国来。两年以前，我在香港学习。我很喜欢香港，因为我在香港坐地铁可以去任何地方。我也喜欢上海。因为上个星期我上海来了，不可以去在上海所有地方。

More soon.

Things are starting to get more into the mundane aspects of living abroad. Because the program is responsible for us, we had to sit through a 3 and half hour meeting that basically covered everything we were supposed to have read in the plethora of emails that we received throughout the semester; Academic policy, Health Information, Insurance, Emergency numbers, etc.

The unquestionable highlight of the day was attending the Shanghai Acrobatics show. I'm not going to outline every single aspect and detail of the show for a couple of reasons. The first is that my commentary just can't do it justice. The level of artistry, sophistication, professionalism, and skill displayed in every aspect of the show is just too much for me, or anyone for that matter, to put into words. Everything from the lights, the music, background projection, costumes, stage pieces, and movements of the performers all worked together to weave compartmentalized, yet connected story lines throughout the evening. For example, one piece would tell the story of two, star-crossed lovers doomed to be forever infatuated with each other but never get the chance to be together. Then the next piece would tell the story of a lilly blooming on a tranquil pond.

One thing I will highlight specifically. The performers hardly ever made ANY mistakes. When mistakes were made, they were all because of an individual. But when that individual would make a mistake, he or she would continue to attempt the same trick or stunt until they nailed it, and would give the crowd a triumphant stare, which would say something like, "I GOT THIS!!!!!!" This happened twice, in the opening act, which consisted of tumbling through whoops of various sizes, and a piece in which a guy would balance on a stack of trays and cups with a rolling pin underneath while piling bowls on his head. In the 2nd piece, the boy was attempting a trick in which he would use one of his legs to flip 3 bowls from his foot to the stack on his head. He attempted the trick 3 times before getting it right, but never did he fall of his perilous perch.

 I guess I'll be taking a lesson about perseverance from the show which will be applicable to the rest of my time here.

I promise I'll be putting up pictures soon.

1st Day of Orientation

We spent the better part of the morning on a bus tour of Shanghai. Our guide was this guy named Eric (I can't remember his Chinese name right now), who was born in Jiangsu Province, but migrated to Shanghai for his studies back in 2002. Eric was very knowledgable of the areas and landmarks we would be touring, and provided a lot of background to the various areas of Shanghai we would seeing.

When he was talking about the former, foreign concession areas of Shanghai, it helped to have some background in the Opium Wars, courtesy of Sylla's History class at LPC. You could definitely see and feel the British and French influences on the architecture of the areas that have long been returned to China.

One weakness of the tour was the fact that we never crossed into Pudong, ie the eastern part of Shanghai, which holds the financial district and all of the famous buildings that people would associate with the city. That's to take anything away from Puxi, where we spent most of our tour. It's good that we spent a lot of time with our "ears to the ground", and with only 3 hours to tour a city of 20 million people, it was definitely a good introduction. But I've got to do more exploring on my own wants the chance arises.

After the tour, it was back to campus for our placement exam. It was good to know beforehand that our performance didn't matter so much, since we could change classes if we found them to be too difficult or too easy once we were placed. I will say it was a bit unnerving having to speak for 10 minutes non-stop with 3 teachers including the head of language study all in Mandarin. Well, I got through it, and now all there is to do is wait and see.

I'll have pictures of the various spots on the tour up soon.

June 14th, 2011

So this is my first post. I'm kind of new at this, so I hope that my posts come across as coherent and intelligent.

First of all, I should outline the purpose of my travel. I'm attending an intensive summer language program at Fudan University in Shanghai, China with the Alliance for Global Education from June 15th to August 15th. I'll be attending 20 hours of Chinese class a week, during which I will only be allowed to speak in Chinese. I'm writing this blog to help communicate my experiences to my friends and family more easily. My parents and friends can attest to how bad I am at keeping in touch whenever I leave their immediate vicinity. So I'll be doing my best to regularly update my blog with pictures and posts of my experience living and learning in Shanghai, which will become double entries in english and chinese.
(It would be greatly appreciated if my mandarin speaking friends would comment on my grammar, sentence structure, etc when I make my posts in chinese)

So with that said, I've come to accept how crazy this all sounds. Barely a year of college level chinese under my belt, and I'm already galavanting off to Shanghai for 8 weeks, during which I'm supposed to only speak in Chinese. The sounds like something a patient at Bellevue would say. (The hospital in NY, not the megachurch in Memphis, TN) I see this as another opportunity to turn challenge into triumph, and better myself through pushing my limits and comfort zone the edge. Isn't that what UWC taught me to seek out of life?

Anyway, I need to get going now. Time to finish packing to catch my train from Hong Kong to Shanghai at 15:15 HKT.

More posts from Shanghai soon.