Kim's Time Travel Journey to the Past...and Back!!

Ok, so I didn't really do any time traveling, but I feels like it. The office of the Red Cross (where I intern...if I haven't mentioned already), is in one of Beijing's historic hutongs. The hutong sits in the middle of an extremely developed area of Beijing. During my break the other day, I decided to walk around some of the area around the hutong. I was amazed to find that for that past two months I had been working just the corner from a Aston Martin, Lamborghini, and Mazarati dealership.

As I continued to walk down the street, I found designer clothing store after another. I had to laugh as I realized I had been eating in a hole in the walk Chinese food place for about 8 kuai (a little more than a dollar) basically one street over from restaurants that would cost more than I spend in a week.

In a way this is a good example of the difference in many Beijingers lives. On one end you people for whom an 8 kuai lunch would be a splurge, and on the other would have bought an Aston Martin without thinking twice. People in the rural areas are barred from moving to the cities (many still do so illegally) and have little access to the job and education opportunities available to even the poorest Chinese citizen living in the city.

China is far from perfect. I often find myself wondering how anyone can live here. You don't always feel the presence of "big brother," but he is always around. You don't feel the Chinese government's presence as you walk down the street. I have seen maybe ten police cars since I have been in Beijing. However, you do feel its presence while doing research on the internet as certain websites simply will not open (which becomes REALLY frustrating). Somethings just get annoying. Like ho people are constantly spitting, or how parents cut holes in the back of their children's pants so they can go to the bathroom where ever they please.

However, other times you wonder if you can ever leave. The people make you love China. If the people who go out of their way to make sure you find the building you are looking for. It's the little kids who run up to you and want to try out any English word they might know. And it's the people who tell you how absolutely fabulous your Chinese is even though you both know its terrible.

With less than a month before I return home, I have found myself reflecting on my time in China now more than ever. I will be happy to return to the states. I cannot wait to have Mexican food...and a good salad. I am going to appreciate the air quality back at home and not having coughing attacks after I go on a run because of the poor air quality. But, I am really going to miss Beijing. I am going to miss the REALLY REALLY good Chinese food. Honestly, the stuff back in the states cannot begin to compare. I am going to miss all my Chinese friends and the fun we have had learning about each other's culture. Most of all I am going to miss miss the people as a whole. The people here treat foreigners with far more respect than we ever treat foreigners back in America (which makes me quite sad). For all the faults you might find with the Chinese government or even with the Chinese people, the longer you stay here the more you realize the Chinese citizens are some of the most amazing people you will ever meet.

The Journey of Kim to the Palace

China Fun Fact: President Hu Jintao is said to be a fantastic dancer. While he studied at Tsinghua University, he was part of a dance troupe that traveled the country.

I must admit I am terrible of keeping you up to date on the places I have gone during my time in China. 对不起。 （I am sorry.) Anyways, a few weeks ago my study abroad group ventured to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City sits adjacent to Tianamen Square, and I was ecstatic to visit it. Thick walls and a large mote separated us from the city. As we walked across the bridge our entire group started to get very excited and when we went through the gate we saw a huge courtyard with ornate buildings, several statues....and oddly a mini basketball court which we were later informed was set up for when Yao Ming was on “display” a few weeks ago. Anyways, the courtyard was huge. You could have probably fit tens of thousands of people in it and still have plenty of room.

We kept walking through the courtyard and soon found... another courtyard with a palace in the middle. My friends and I were thoroughly enjoying ourselves and took a LOT of pictures...of anything and everything. When we reached the end of that courtyard we found... yet another courtyard. Now, I know we should have excited just be by in the Forbidden City, but the truth is that as we walked through courtyard after courtyard (that looked quite like the courtyard we just left) the thrill began to wear off. We began to realize how cold were were and that we were no where near the end of the Forbidden City. We started to take everything around us for granted.

By the time we reached the end, we had trekked through several gardens and countless courtyards. As we neared the exit, some people from the program wanted to walk through the park across from the Forbidden City and climb the mountain (ok..it was more like a big hill but I was tired and it looked daunting at the time so we are going to call it a mountain) that looked over all of Beijing. So a few of my friends and I decided to brave the “mountain” to check out the view.

This may have been my favorite part of the day. As you might be able to tell from the picture I posted a few weeks ago, the view was incredible. It was only then that we saw how huge the Forbidden City was. We probably only saw a tenth of it.

It was only then that I took a step back and truly appreciated this man-made marvel. I felt like that is the trap you can get sucked into while you are studying abroad. You begin to go through the motions and forget how incredible it is to be living in a city like Beijing, and you begin to take everything for granted. Its hard not to, and I think that everyone -regardless if they are living abroad or at home - goes through this. Sometimes, I have to take a step back and think amazing it is to be living in Beijing, studying at Peking University, and just having this experience.

Water Calligraphy

I have always been fascinated by calligraphy. So when I saw a man doing water calligraphy by the lake at Peking University I was really excited. He introduced himself as one of the professors at Beida (short version of the Chinese name for Peking University) and then he apologized for how messy the calligraphy he was writing with his left hand was (I couldn't notice any difference).The calligraphy was beautiful, and although he wrote each character very quickly, each one was as perfect as the one before.
I love moments like these in Beijing. People in China have been so welcoming. He simply talked with my roommates and I for several minutes about water caligraphy. He then asked us if we wanted anything written and showed us a few different characters.

Kim Speaks Chinese

Today in the caf, I spoke to someone...in CHINESE!!! AND SHE UNDERSTOOD ME! It's a wonderful day.

The Journey of Kim to the Countryside

In all fairness, I warned you this day would come. The day...I actually wrote a serious blog post. I know...it’s crazy.

But anyways....the city of Beijing is extremely modern. For the most part, I can find anything I would eat or buy in America in Beijing (except for Mexican food...I am still working on that one). However, Beijing and many of the cities Westerners would usually visit are not typical of how many Chinese live. One of my professors told me if I wanted to see how a typical Chinese person still lived, I needed to go to the countryside. Granted I probably wasn’t in the true Chinese countryside, but the atmosphere greatly changed just by going eight hours outside of Beijing.

For many, the prospect of modernization and increased globalization has not greatly changed their lives. Yes, to an extent modern conveniences have reached them. A Chinese person living in an urban area will make 3.5 times the amount of money an individual living in the countryside will. China’s economic growth has occurred mainly on the east coast where it is easy to export goods.

As we drove to Pingyao, I looked at the homes closely hugging the hillside. It reminded me of driving through some of the poverty stricken areas of Mexico. The houses were very simple. Many were made of brick with a concrete or wooden roof. In the middle of the Chinese New Year, the homes were covered with colorful red lanterns and signs, but it couldn’t hid the grim and dirty conditions. Trash was strewn about everywhere.

The conditions have improved for the better over the past several decades as rural income has consistently improved over the past several years; however the income inequality continues to grow.

On the way back from the trip, I saw something that seemed to characterize China’s rise over the past several decades. A single crumbling building lay in ruins at the edge of a town, but on the top of the building waved a single, clean Chinese flag. China has many areas where it desperately needs to improve, but it has a very patriotic population who are continuously pushing the country forward. The rural population has been neglected, but they are still extremely proud to be Chinese, and they are some of the most welcoming people you will ever meet.

Happy Chinese New Year

Ni hao! Happy New Year!! Well happy Chinese New Year anyways!! It’s been a crazy last week or so as the China has started the year of the tiger with a bang!! Literally...fireworks have been going off for the last week at all hours of the day.

We spent the New Year’s night in Taiyuan and got to celebrate the holiday Chinese style. In China fireworks shows are not provided by the city government, rather you provide it for yourselves. At first, I thought this would mean some sparklers and maybe some bottle rockets...but it turned out I was wrong. It was almost like 20 mini Disneyland shows all going off at once. When the clock struck midnight (and even before it stuck midnight really), it seemed as if everyone in the city of Taiyuan was celebrating together.

Everyone was incredibly nice, and seemed extremely happy to have foreigners celebrating their biggest holiday with them. The hotel staff (who set off part of the ridiculous firework display you are going to see) brought us a huge box of firecrackers and told us to “play with them.”

Now, I tried to figure out how to describe how deafening the sound was as you stood in the streets of Taiuyuan, or how amazing it was to see firecracker after firecracker light up the sky, but I think I will just have to show you.

Enjoy! And Happy Chinese New Year!!

Huoguo

So, I was going to write about how my friends I and met a man doing water calligraphy on campus the other day, or how I have finally gained some knowledge of how the Beijing buses work. But, that is going to have to wait because the other day I ate....hotpot. Or as the Chinese call it huoguo.

Now for those of you who don’t know what it is hotpot is kinda like going to a restaurant and making your own fondu. They have electric grills that keep boiling pots of water warm and you put your meat or vegetables in it to cook. You basically decide for yourself when it is done. It is bu hao. (Chinese for not good)

Now I know what you are thinking, “Kim this sounds amazing why didn’t you enjoy it?” I will tell you why. It is because Chinese hotpot is much much different than the meats you would probably eat in the U.S.. You have your typical meats such as beef, lamb, fish...but you also get the pleasure of having...squid, tofu, cow’s stomach, etc. Its..interesting. Now I am I picky eater...I readily admit that, and some people really like hotpot. I am just not one of them. Anyways...I was getting on pretty well. I stuck to the meats I knew such as the beef and lamb, and stayed away from everything else. Until something happened. My boss (FYI I went with the people who work at the Red Cross where I intern) started to put food on my plate. In China, you do not refuse the food you are given from your elders. Well....you could but it would be very very bad manners. So, I said thank you and started eating; and it was going ok. I ate fish - not my favorite thing in the world, but it could be worse - until i realized it had small bones in it. In China, the small bones don’t really matter. People will just eat them. So I slowly ate it...and made it through..thankful she hadn’t put anything else on my plate. Until about two minutes later when she put a piece of tofu, more fish, squid, and what I think was cow’s stomach. It took everything I had not to refuse it. So I slowly... ever so slowly...ate the tofu -which tasted like wet cardboard...and then looked at the rest of my food. I couldn’t do it...I was not ready to eat cow stomach. So i ate part of the fish and tried not to grimace as I heard the crunch of the small bones.

Fun Fact #2: NO ONE uses soy sauce in China. Its a Japanese thing. If you ask for soy sauce, they look at you like you are crazy. They do however have vinegar which many people use very large quantities of on their food.

Kim’s Helpful Tip #1: If you think the stuff on your table is soy sauce, check before you put it on your food, or else you could end up with really vinegary bowl of rice. Not that I have done that or anything.....