Today we had our language "exam." We literally walked into a room, and they placed a packet in front of us - entirely in Chinese characters - which we couldn't read. We all looked at each other and giggled for a few minutes, and then they asked if we spoke Chinese. When we told them that we spoke very little, they told us to write our names down for the beginner's course, so we wouldn't have to suffer through the exam.
So now that the weight of the exam is off, I am searching for an apartment (ugh) and getting excited for classes to start. It begins to look as if I cannot avoid moving out of the dorm, so I'm trying to find a decent apartment for Tessa and I to live in off campus. Ryan, Jimond, and Kenneth have already found their apartment, which is apparently near where Cao Bin (our old Chinese professor) lives.
Hopefully we will be able to find a nice apartment for a decent price. Especially because if we move off campus, most likely I will have to buy a motor bike/scooter in order to get to class and around town. That expense only adds to the frustration, but I'm sure it will work itself out.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Back Log
I finally have access to BlogSpot again, so here's my journal from the trip here and a couple more days.
August 27th, 2009
Well, I’m in China, but not without drama! The first flight, from Atlanta to LA, was uneventful, and even the flight from LA to Beijing was not too dreadful. But upon arrival in Beijing, I was pulled aside because I had checked off that I had a sore throat on my customs declaration (which was extremely stupid on my part). They took my temperature, and having been wearing my sweatshirt on the plane, my body temperature was a tiny bit high, but insignificantly. The officials would hear none of my pleas that the sweatshirt had caused the rise in temperature, and sent me to the hospital for tests. Thankfully, Kenneth was able to go with me so I wouldn’t be alone.
An escort followed our ambulance out of the airport, and the people driving us were in full infectious disease prevention gear, with smocks and masks. We drove about 40 minutes to a hospital in the heart of Beijing, where I was pronounced perfectly healthy. They still took my blood and did an H1N1 test, but let us go afterwards. So Kenneth and I were left completely alone in the middle of downtown Beijing, where nobody spoke English, and we had no phone or way to contact the others, who had gone on to the scheduled flight to Wuhan while we stayed in Beijing.
We got a taxi and got back to the airport, and in a matter of 30 minutes we got put on a flight to Wuhan, called my mom so that she could call Dr. Shumaker to tell her what was happening, and boarded our flight. Arriving in Wuhan two hours later, it turned out that nobody was expecting us until later that night, so we had nobody to pick us up. A very helpful woman at the airport allowed us to use her phone, where we called Cao Bin (our Chinese teacher from last year). He instructed us to take a shuttle into the district of Wuhan where the university is, and then a taxi to the west gate.
Unfortunately, the taxi dropped us off at the wrong gate, and just when we began to panic, we saw the rest of our group (Grant, Jimond, Ryan, and Tessa) walking towards the gate. We all walked together to meet Cao Bin at the West Gate, and we finally arrived at the international student dorm, where I was assigned a room and finally took a cold shower, as the very hot and humid weather outside had made me drip sweat.
Our luggage isn’t here yet, but Ryan says it should be coming tonight, though mine and Kenneth’s may not be coming until tomorrow. I cannot wait to get it, and take a nice long shower.
August 28th, 2009
I got woken up at about 4 AM this morning by a construction crew at the building next to us – it seems they generally start very early in the morning. That will certainly take some getting used to, with all their banging around and noise.
Our luggage never came last night, and at about noon they tried to drop it off, but wouldn’t give it to us without seeing Ryan’s passport (as he had been the one to request the drop off), and Ryan was out of the building. They did eventually get their luggage, and Kenneth and I were left waiting for ours. At about 3, we all went to see Yasmine (a woman at the Center for International Cultural Exchange), and by 6 our luggage was finally here.
I’ve unpacked and showered now, and my room is finally beginning to look less like a prison cell. The bathroom is rather nice, and the shower has great water pressure. My bedroom is nice, with a desk, TV, TV stand, and bed. The bed is kind of hard, but it’s not too bad with the addition of a mattress pad that was left in the closet. All in all, I am quite happy with the room. Tomorrow we plan to go to the bank and then to get cell phones.
August 29th, 2009
Today was rather uneventful, when compared to the rest of my experiences so far. We went to the bank, and when nobody spoke English well, I decided to wait to get a bank account, and so far my Wachovia debit card is working out very well.
We also went to the supermarket near our dorm. It is very much like a big Wal-Mart, except that they sell even more variety of products, if you can imagine. We had a fun time trying to purchase a cell phone and sim card, but with the help of two salespeople that spoke a little English, I was able to get one that works quite nicely.
Today, Yasmine took us to see an apartment that some teachers are looking to rent out, and we had to decide if we wanted to move into it or stay in our dorms. I think I will be staying here for the whole school year, but the boys are talking of moving into apartments off campus. I like the convenience of the room I’m in now, because the building our classes are in is right across from the building that I am staying in.
September 5, 2009
Other the past few days, we have been getting settled in and feeling our way arond campus and town. The guys have bought motor scooters, which is fun to watch, even if riding on them can be a little frightening! I have become very comfortable in my home away from home, and the past few days have been spent studying for our language exam (tomorrow at 8:30 AM) and in registering with the school.
When we registered, we found out that we do not get a holiday from classes on Christmas day, which really hit it home for me that I am in a completely different culture. It was a little strange when on Sunday mornings we go out, very little is closed, and banks are even still open. But now, when I see on our calandar that we have absolutely no holidays in the month of December, I begin to feel a little strange.
I have also noticed the reverence for English-speaking countries/cultures here, which I assume is mostly directed at Americans. Most signs, when translated at all, are translated into English, and many restaurants have English menus as well as Chinese. Almost every international student housed here at CICE speak English, and it is basically the common language among us all. It is strange to think that some of these students speak Chinese, English, and their home language. They were taught English before they were able to choose to learn another language, and we came here barely able to communicate in Chinese. It is like the whole world is accomodating the English...I'm not really sure if I'm communicating this thought right, but I sometimes feel as if we are being spoiled. It makes me want to work extra hard to learn the language so that I can feel like the world isn't being simplified for me.
August 27th, 2009
Well, I’m in China, but not without drama! The first flight, from Atlanta to LA, was uneventful, and even the flight from LA to Beijing was not too dreadful. But upon arrival in Beijing, I was pulled aside because I had checked off that I had a sore throat on my customs declaration (which was extremely stupid on my part). They took my temperature, and having been wearing my sweatshirt on the plane, my body temperature was a tiny bit high, but insignificantly. The officials would hear none of my pleas that the sweatshirt had caused the rise in temperature, and sent me to the hospital for tests. Thankfully, Kenneth was able to go with me so I wouldn’t be alone.
An escort followed our ambulance out of the airport, and the people driving us were in full infectious disease prevention gear, with smocks and masks. We drove about 40 minutes to a hospital in the heart of Beijing, where I was pronounced perfectly healthy. They still took my blood and did an H1N1 test, but let us go afterwards. So Kenneth and I were left completely alone in the middle of downtown Beijing, where nobody spoke English, and we had no phone or way to contact the others, who had gone on to the scheduled flight to Wuhan while we stayed in Beijing.
We got a taxi and got back to the airport, and in a matter of 30 minutes we got put on a flight to Wuhan, called my mom so that she could call Dr. Shumaker to tell her what was happening, and boarded our flight. Arriving in Wuhan two hours later, it turned out that nobody was expecting us until later that night, so we had nobody to pick us up. A very helpful woman at the airport allowed us to use her phone, where we called Cao Bin (our Chinese teacher from last year). He instructed us to take a shuttle into the district of Wuhan where the university is, and then a taxi to the west gate.
Unfortunately, the taxi dropped us off at the wrong gate, and just when we began to panic, we saw the rest of our group (Grant, Jimond, Ryan, and Tessa) walking towards the gate. We all walked together to meet Cao Bin at the West Gate, and we finally arrived at the international student dorm, where I was assigned a room and finally took a cold shower, as the very hot and humid weather outside had made me drip sweat.
Our luggage isn’t here yet, but Ryan says it should be coming tonight, though mine and Kenneth’s may not be coming until tomorrow. I cannot wait to get it, and take a nice long shower.
August 28th, 2009
I got woken up at about 4 AM this morning by a construction crew at the building next to us – it seems they generally start very early in the morning. That will certainly take some getting used to, with all their banging around and noise.
Our luggage never came last night, and at about noon they tried to drop it off, but wouldn’t give it to us without seeing Ryan’s passport (as he had been the one to request the drop off), and Ryan was out of the building. They did eventually get their luggage, and Kenneth and I were left waiting for ours. At about 3, we all went to see Yasmine (a woman at the Center for International Cultural Exchange), and by 6 our luggage was finally here.
I’ve unpacked and showered now, and my room is finally beginning to look less like a prison cell. The bathroom is rather nice, and the shower has great water pressure. My bedroom is nice, with a desk, TV, TV stand, and bed. The bed is kind of hard, but it’s not too bad with the addition of a mattress pad that was left in the closet. All in all, I am quite happy with the room. Tomorrow we plan to go to the bank and then to get cell phones.
August 29th, 2009
Today was rather uneventful, when compared to the rest of my experiences so far. We went to the bank, and when nobody spoke English well, I decided to wait to get a bank account, and so far my Wachovia debit card is working out very well.
We also went to the supermarket near our dorm. It is very much like a big Wal-Mart, except that they sell even more variety of products, if you can imagine. We had a fun time trying to purchase a cell phone and sim card, but with the help of two salespeople that spoke a little English, I was able to get one that works quite nicely.
Today, Yasmine took us to see an apartment that some teachers are looking to rent out, and we had to decide if we wanted to move into it or stay in our dorms. I think I will be staying here for the whole school year, but the boys are talking of moving into apartments off campus. I like the convenience of the room I’m in now, because the building our classes are in is right across from the building that I am staying in.
September 5, 2009
Other the past few days, we have been getting settled in and feeling our way arond campus and town. The guys have bought motor scooters, which is fun to watch, even if riding on them can be a little frightening! I have become very comfortable in my home away from home, and the past few days have been spent studying for our language exam (tomorrow at 8:30 AM) and in registering with the school.
When we registered, we found out that we do not get a holiday from classes on Christmas day, which really hit it home for me that I am in a completely different culture. It was a little strange when on Sunday mornings we go out, very little is closed, and banks are even still open. But now, when I see on our calandar that we have absolutely no holidays in the month of December, I begin to feel a little strange.
I have also noticed the reverence for English-speaking countries/cultures here, which I assume is mostly directed at Americans. Most signs, when translated at all, are translated into English, and many restaurants have English menus as well as Chinese. Almost every international student housed here at CICE speak English, and it is basically the common language among us all. It is strange to think that some of these students speak Chinese, English, and their home language. They were taught English before they were able to choose to learn another language, and we came here barely able to communicate in Chinese. It is like the whole world is accomodating the English...I'm not really sure if I'm communicating this thought right, but I sometimes feel as if we are being spoiled. It makes me want to work extra hard to learn the language so that I can feel like the world isn't being simplified for me.
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