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I can't believe it is already June! Here's an update about what I've been doing the past few weeks!
Last weekend (5/26) I visited 利木台 (Li Mu Tai),a Chinese nature area and mountain that I got to climb with some of my friends! I was the only American on the trip, so that was really neat and helpful to only have to use Chinese to communicate with people! I made friends with a few Chinese people, two people from Singapore and Malaysia, and a bunch of Russians. The Russians had squirt guns and would try to squirt each other on the bus, so the Chinese teachers that were overseeing the trip weren't very happy with them.
Li Mu Tai is technically considered a part of Tianjin, but it is located 2 hours outsie of the city and is extremely close to Beijing. The people who live there would rather have the area be considered Beijing, as that would be more honorable, but Tianjin's provincial government continues to maintain it's formal hold on the area. We went by bus to the foot of the mountain, and then we had to board into smaller vehicles. These vehicles took us up further into the mountains, and then we got out and had to pass throught the entrance gate. Next, the roads narrowed even further, and we went up in large golf-carts to go up even further into the mountain. From there, we walked up with the group to try to make it to the top of the mountain! We climbed for about 2/2.5 hours, and had to turn back about a half hour from the top because we were limited on time. I could have made it to the top, though, because little did I know that the Russian group would take an hour and half extra to come back...being late by that much was a little frustrating, but we went to visit other ancient places at the foot of the mountain. The coolest was called the Stairway to Heaven. There, a cliff had little been carved out about 500 years ago, and a set of extremely steep stairs--more steep than those of the Great Wall--moved up through the cliff, seemingly going straight into the sky. I didn't climb them all the way, but went about halfway and looked at all of the beautful scenery below! I really enjoyed this place for a number of reasons--the air was the cleanest I've breathed in China, we got to interact a bit and see rural China, and I got to see tons of unique Chinese plants and a few animals! It was a great time.
This week in classes, we had to visit our tutor's place of residence to see how Chinese people generally live. This was quite interesting, as the Chinese generally have 4 to 6 people in a room that 2 students would live in at Michigan State. The conception of space here is so different than in my region of America, and it was really interesting to ask details about these conceptions! We also had to visit the bank and learn every detail that may be useful in exchanging money, such as asking for certain bills, asking for the exchange rate, and learning the differences for exchanging different currencies for Chinese RMB. Finally, my roommate Ben bought a popular Chinese card game called San Guo Sha (三国杀) and his first tutor (we switch tutors every 2 weeks, rotating with a group of four students and four tutors over the course of 8 weeks) taught us how to play the game a bit. We played for a few hours, and hopefully we will soon be able to start playing with Chinese people! (After we translate what all of the cards can do, of course)
This past week of classes has been quite exciting! We have learned tons of useful words by having subjects on Chinese history, Chinese life, and other parts of Chinese culture. We also had 2 tests this week over a total of 5 chapters (this would have taken 10 weeks to cover in the US) so it is just insane to think how fast of a pace we are moving at! Tests and homework, along with learning new words, have certainly kept me busy, but I've even found some time to work out! I've been running a few 5k's at the gym, and it feels good to get some exercise in while I'm here. This coming Thursday, we have our final exam. After this coming Monday, we have officially covered all of the material from Chinese 301 (Part 1 of the 3rd year). This is normally a semester long course, and it amazes me that we covered the entire course in a little over 3 weeks. Then again, 4 hours of Chinese classes every day will certainly allow you to do so!
Culture classes (we have 2 a week, on a rotating basis of topics) were also especially interesting this week! The first two weeks involved calligraphy. This past week, we got to participate in traditional Chinese paper-cutting and in martial arts this past Friday. It was a lot of fun to learn how the Chinese cut paper, and the martial arts was my favorite class so far. The Master (师傅) that was teaching us was very experienced, and he taught many of us--myself included--the foundations of Chinese martial arts. He was only about 5'5" or so, but he had unbelievable control over his body. The Chinese have a distinct difference from American fighting in that they emphasize the strength of the legs. They view balance and leg strength as the two most important aspects of fighting, because they relate the legs to the foundation of the temple (the temple being your body). It was impressive when we got to test some moves on him and he could control his balance and body SO well. It was also interesting to see him explain how he could move and counter us Americans who were nearly twice his size. It was a great learning experience!
I only went to Helen's once this week, and it was a great time! I spent a lot of time talking with a German, French, and two Chinese friends. Both of the Chinese are going to study in Canada to major in French and English--so excited! Also, Amy and Aaron are both extremely open-minded and fun to talk to to learn about Chinese culture! Amy has been to North Korea before as well, and this was especially interesting to ask questions about, considering I've never met anyone that's been there.
We also took up a new sport this past week called 太极柔力球 (Tai Ji Rou Li Qiu) and were taught by the current Tianjin champion of Rou Li Qiu! It is played with a racket that has a rubber strung surface instead of a tennis-like strung surface. The ball that is used is rubber, and is filled about 1/3 of the way with sand. The sport is played with a series of movements, and is also competitively played in teams. It was amazing to see the three professionals play with each other after they got done teaching us. We will continue to do this for the next few weeks in the mornings before class!
Pollution has been quite interesting this past week. In China, you can begin to assume that visibility will be bad because of the pollution. What differs each day is how far you can see. This past Monday's pollution was especially bad--I couldn't see a half mile away. This was by far the worst day for pollution that I've experienced since in China. In contrast, this Wednesday gave us the nicest day in Tianjin that I've experienced outside of visiting Li Mu Tai. There was literally NO pollution that day, as we could see skyscrapers miles away that we previously hadn't known existed (ha, ha). We all joked that the factories must have been shut off that day...who knows!
June 1 here was International Children's Day in China (儿童节), so nearly all of the Chinese people celebrated by honoring their children in some way! It was really neat to see!
This weekend (6/2), we visited an economic district of Tianjin called the Binhai New Area (滨海新区), which is a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in China. This is the fifth largest port in the world, and it was so crazy to see all of the shipping crates that were there...thousands upon thousands. While we were there, we got to visit a beer factory as well! It was crazy to see the processes all at work! We were planning on visiting some other factories, but were unable to because the government was visiting the other factories.
To end this Saturday, we visited the Cultural Center in Tianjin as well! We visited the giant library in Tianjin, went to the largest aquarium in all of Asia, and got to look outside of the Art Gallery (sadly it closed at 4pm). All of the buildings were gorgeous, however, and it was so much fun to see! We had dinner at the best dumpling (饺子) place in Tianjin, and we had 9 different kinds of dumplings! It was really enjoyable as well, and we finally returned home for the end of the third weekend to enjoy the rest of our Saturday/Sunday!
My final exam for CHS301 is this coming Thursday (6/7) and contains both an oral final exam and a written exam. Wish me luck! Next weekend, we are visiting Jinan as well! No class on Friday as well--SO uncommon for Chinese--to enjoy a relaxing weekend away. It can't get here soon enough, but it's definitely bittersweet that my time here in China is nearly halfway over. Well, that's my week for you in a nutshell (a quite long one, at that--my apologies!). As always, thanks again for those who took the time to read this blog!
If you would like to Skype me, just a reminder that my Skype name is available on my page, along with my email address! Finally, if you'd like to contact me through letters or such, try the following address:
Adam Burns
Michigan State University Summer Program Foreign Student Dorm,
4314 Yiyuan
Nankai University
94 Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300071
People's Republic of China
0086-22-23500355
^^If this doesn't work, I can ask my post office for help, or you can do the same!
" 世上无难事,只怕有心人。"
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