Monday was the Mid Autumn Festival.  Everyone at school was looking forward to the dinner festivities.  I did not.  I was actaully afraid to find out that there would not be anything special because Song Laoshi did not said anything about.  (That morning though he seemed somewhat excited when he walked out to the farmer’s market, also unusual because the maid is usually the one who does that. ) Our Chinese classes were cancel for the day, but we still have the area studies classes, which means Internship and Translation for me. 
 
In the internship class we learn more about Deng Xiao Ping and Mao’s economic philosophy and the differences between Foreign Investment Enterprises (Joint Ventures vs Wholely Owned Foreign Enterprises), Private vs Public sectors in China.  Private sector is on the rise while the Public sector is reduced to a small, but steady number.  To my surprise, FIE also reduced to a small number, especially with JVs, but small sector of WOFE increased just a little bit.  Some of the benefits of having jobs in Public Enterprises have been reduced/limited to a portion of what its used to be in the Iron Rice bowl era.  Now people have to sign work contracts.   The Hu Kou system is also not as strictly enforced as before; migrant workers can apply to change residency, which may affect their social benefits and pensions.  Government lighten up the restrictions on private businesses–don’t know the details.
 
In Translation class, I learned that the word for word translation doesn’t work with Chinese.  For our class, some details could be dropped to make the sentence better understood in English and it’s better to translate to something that English readers can relate with.  Like a Chinese person singing “Yah Yi ya la” could be translate to “Doe Ray Me Fa So…”  Each of the Chinese words has multiple meanings and we learned that some of them does not mean what we learned in class.  Like the word “Bu Gao Xing,” meaning unhappy could also mean lonely, sad, depressed…We are having so much fun in this class arguing and searching for the right word that would fit in the text.  We used the thesaurus a lot.  Our instructor is very particular on not using the same word multiple times–he said it makes reading boring. He also had us translated the first two lines of song and since it rhymed in Chinese we had to make it rhyme in English too.  (I will send you our final version of the text when we’re done.)
 
I went home early, well earlier than usual.  The dinner table was already set and the maid was busy cooking.  There were a couple of dishes on the table but dinner is not until 6:30.  I took a nap when the maid said she did not wanted any help.  When I got up, the guests were already there–Song Laoshi’s girl friend, Dr. Meng, and her daughter, Mo Mo.  Then his other friend, Mr. Xu, came in.  He’s from Taiwan and lived in San Francisco and is working as a journalist in Beijing.  During dinner, Mo Mo talking about her travels in Italy and a year of studies in New York.  Mo Mo is studying to be an architect and has only one year left before graduation.  We had duck with winter melon and seaweed soup, some pork dish (with fat and skin and meat in one bite-I didn’t eat it), boiled prawns, purple sweet potatoes, and a few more regular dishes.  Occasionally, Mr. Xu would pause and translate the conversation for me, which I could understand only in parts because they were speaking really fast.  After dinner we moved to the study and talked more on politics and the current affairs.  When I added the U.S. side of the story, Song Laoshi was amazed and thanked me for my insights.  He said I spoke in succinct but so insightful sentences.  I excused myself about 9 to do some homework and prepare for the next day.  No Moon cakes though–I bought them 2 moon cakes, but they didn’t eat them.  May be there’s too much food on the table for desserts.
 
============
 
The next day I told him that I was going to Rachel’s place for dinner and that I won’t be home for dinner.  I asked if I could bring a friend over for dinner and he said only on special occasions.  Since it’s my birthday on Saturday (lunar calendar birthday) I can bring a friend over and I need to invite Joe, the HS coordinator too.  I asked if Joe was his good friend.  He said yes and I am also his good friend since he found out how insightful I was the night before.  That comment made me happier and better than last week.   I went to school and told my friends about it.  Rachel was happy to be invited and was excited about tonight’s dinner. 
Today Wang Laoshi, our Chinese instructor, announced our first test on Friday.  He said he’ll tell us the details about the test format on Thursday but warned us to start reviewing notes.   Then I had a break until five.  I studied for a couple of hours and updated my emails and had lunch with friends at the dinning hall next door.  I went to the dessert shop with Lucy and shared a mango filled pastry–it has Garfield on it; it wasn’t bad, but not great.  In the afternoon I had a meeting with my tutor.  We reviewed some more and did the class readings.  My tutor’s name is Meng Ya.  She’s from Hebei Province and is a junior in Bei Wai University.  She is a class leader, sort of like a T.A., so she’s especially busy until four.  She showed me where she would conduct the tutoring sessions (four one hour sessions a week), all the way on the other side of campus-“the Chinese Building”.  After tutoring I went to my first meeting at the Calligraphy Club.  There I became the class translator because the instructor, Fang Laoshi does not speak Chinese.  (He reminds me of Chen Laoshi for those who went to DLI).  He’s very friendly and always welcome students to come to practice speaking Chinese with him.  His Calligraphy is excellent.  He studied calligraphy for more than 30 years (now 63 years old.)  He usually write in the traditional form but he’s well verse in all 7 Chinese writing styles, including the simplified form.  I like his grass form; flowing cursive writing.  Brief us on the history of Calligraphy and about the four treasures of study: the brush, stone slab, ink brick, and paper.  He said if he were to tell the whole history, he would have to spend about 6 months to do it fully.  It was exhausting to translate but afterward everyone praised my skills–I actually did not translate that well; I had to ask him to explain several words. ( I cheated a little bit because I already attended his class before–the previous Thursday for one hour. )
After the club, Rachel and I walked to her place and we had dinner there with her family.  Her family has 3 other persons: the mom, dad and her sixteen years old younger sister.  They all are very friendly, especially the mom.  Rachel showed me her room; a little bigger than mine.  The place has about the same square footage as my home stay and only different in arrangement of the rooms.  Her room shares a wall/window with her sister’s.  She said she always had the curtains down.  She wanted to be helpful in every way.  The dad had cooked us the tomatoes and eggs stir fry and some chicken stir fry dish; all very delicious.  I was translating the whole time.  The family and Rachel were so happy that they were able to communicate with each other. After dinner, Rachel pulled out her computer and we moved to the living room so we can start the interview.  She asked about the mom and dad’s experience in the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward–they were too young to remember.  The interview took about an hour and a half long.  Rachel was happy and apologize for the taking so much of my time–I didn’t mind though.  She gave me money for a cab ride back home.  I went home feeling really good about the meeting.  I think the family would be a good switch.  We’ll see how Rachel feels about mine on Saturday.     

Wednesday was pretty much wasted.  I thought the nearby bank would convenient but I was wrong.  I waited there for at least five hours to get service.  The bank works like the DMV in the U.S.  We had to get a number from their little automated machine and wait for our turns.  My number was pretty far down but there were only about 10 people, so I waited. (apparently, most people left for a good reason.)  I did not realized that I waited that long until I looked at my watch.  I was watching the mini drama series about a girl dressed as a guy in the world of the Qin Emperor, who likes to dress as a commoner and visit the locale.   It was pretty interesting.  The last hour seemed to stretched forever–the tellers takes about 30 mins per person and even longer during lunch time (there was a couple groups of VIP customers came in, so they had first dips on services).  They all left for lunch except for one teller.  I was really frustrated for waiting that long.  The manager seemed to only able to said sorry and that it won’t be much longer.  I should have left that bank hours ago, but on the bright side, I got my money exchanged.  I gave my teller multiples unsatisfactory reviews–he started with a two star service rating and was reduced to none–he made me waited for another half an hour and left the room several times while he was talking to me.  He’s only an intern, so it should not matter much, if he gets in trouble at all.  
In the evening, we had a group meeting at school for more info about the long trip.  They told us that a washer is not guaranteed and said that we will probably have to hand wash our clothes.  We will have a bus following us from hotels to hotels.  We will camp one night, so a backpack is recommended. They recommend that we buy sun screen lotion, hat, and a fanny pack.  We’ll be leaving next Wednesday morning at 9 by train.  While on the trip all of us will have journals to write and report when we get back from the trip.  We’ll stay with one room mate the whole time.  Mr. Eyler told us he usually pack his dependable pants that can be unzipped into shorts—I thought that’s a good idea.  The temperatures will range from in 70s during the day and 30s at night, and possible chances of rain (so I need to bring rain proof jackets and boots.)  There will be group shopping time on Friday to Decathlon-a French Outdoor clothing/gear store.  Oh, they said the staff will keep our passports for us because they can keep better track of them than we do–some students did lose them in the past but we have a perfect record–said Mr. Eyler.  We need the passports to check in at hotels.  All of us will have copies of our passport and visa on hand.

I went back home late that night and dinner was still waiting for me.  The maid always have food ready, even in the early mornings.  They were happy to see me, especially Song Laoshi.  He seemed a lot friendlier and asked how my day went; something he did not bother to do before that night.  They both pestered me about having kids sometime soon.

==============================

On Thursday our Chinese teacher announced that we will also have little projects to finish this weekend.  A 400 word initial report on our research group and a ppt presentation on one of the ethnicity group in our long trip.  Fun…none really for this weekend, besides my Birthday party, which has been moved up to lunch.  Our school had a study session with experienced tutors besides our own that night, but I was with my tutor at that time.  I think one on one is better for me.  I still feel like I’m not prepared at all.  Six parts on the written test (80%): Listening, fill in the blanks, grammar fill in the blanks, idioms, make sentences with certain grammar structure, and translation from English to Chinese and vice versa.  Then there’s also a speaking test (20%)-reading with correct pronounciation and answer a question about the readings.  I stayed late at school to study until about 9 pm.  I came back home and did my homework until midnight.

================================

Test today:  pretty hard.  I just completely forgot some of the words.  I think I did okay on the listening (I had to answer questions in Chinese and the difficult part is remembering what the characters look like)  and fill in the blanks.  I did alright on the sentence structures too.  I don’t think the English to Chinese translation is good at all.  My classmates also had the same problems.  We’ll find out our grades on Monday.  I picked the Mongols as my ethnic group for the presentation.  Wang Laoshi said I can write my paper on my friend’s family since they have interesting background that’s worth researching. 

After the test we had a Home Stay session where students talk about the culture shocks they experienced.  One guy said their family’s toilet is broken, so he and his family had to use a nearby out house.  He said the out house has open stalls and there’s always somebody there already.  They would wave him hello whenever he comes in.  Another person said his family even fart at the dinner table.  He said he’s finding a good opportunity to return the culture exchange.  He also said that his family members like to eat without their shirts on, probably because his house is very hot.  Mr. Eyler said it’s normal.  In the summer time most men just wear boxers around the house.  We found out that fat is a good thing here.  My maid said fat is pretty, so eat up.  (The word Pang–fat–can also mean that the person has enough meat on their body; meaning healthy.  The word for thin has a sickness radical.  The bad word for fat is Fei)  Some families already felt at ease with the students that they let the students hear them arguing.  Amy said her family actually used tape measure and taped her and then weighed her.  They were comparing her to their daughter; Amy has more meat on her (she actually quite fit.  She runs every day for her physical fitness program for Airforce ROTC.)  One person has a mah jong addict for her mother who play until 3 in the morning.  She said she’s used to it.  Most students are used to their hosts strange behaviors.

We went shopping after the session–at Decathlon.  I shopped for the boots and the special pants.  I was thinking about getting a backpack, but did not buy one.  I might go back to the store next week.  Amy also bought pants.  She got a 61 Liter backpack–about 60 U.S dollars.  I spent about 1200 Yuan while she spent 1500 Yuan. 

==================================

Interesting Notes:

Chinese would make really loud and disgusting noises when they hack up a lugi.  They think it’s better to spit the phlem and all other germ-filled liquids than keep them in.  Occasionally we hear them on the streets.  Amy said her mother does it every morning when she brushes her teeth.

Some people will have their faucets leak on purpose.  They use buckets to catch the water.  They are “stealing” water.  When the water drips at such a small increment, the meter does not run, so they get the water for free.

Location: Beijing, China

Monday was the Mid Autumn Festival.  Everyone at school was looking forward to the dinner festivities.  I did not.  I was actaully afraid to find out that there would not be anything special because Song Laoshi did not said anything about.  (That morning though he seemed somewhat excited when he walked out to the farmer’s market, also unusual because the maid is usually the one who does that. ) Our Chinese classes were cancel for the day, but we still have the area studies classes, which means Internship and Translation for me. 
 
In the internship class we learn more about Deng Xiao Ping and Mao’s economic philosophy and the differences between Foreign Investment Enterprises (Joint Ventures vs Wholely Owned Foreign Enterprises), Private vs Public sectors in China.  Private sector is on the rise while the Public sector is reduced to a small, but steady number.  To my surprise, FIE also reduced to a small number, especially with JVs, but small sector of WOFE increased just a little bit.  Some of the benefits of having jobs in Public Enterprises have been reduced/limited to a portion of what its used to be in the Iron Rice bowl era.  Now people have to sign work contracts.   The Hu Kou system is also not as strictly enforced as before; migrant workers can apply to change residency, which may affect their social benefits and pensions.  Government lighten up the restrictions on private businesses–don’t know the details.
 
In Translation class, I learned that the word for word translation doesn’t work with Chinese.  For our class, some details could be dropped to make the sentence better understood in English and it’s better to translate to something that English readers can relate with.  Like a Chinese person singing “Yah Yi ya la” could be translate to “Doe Ray Me Fa So…”  Each of the Chinese words has multiple meanings and we learned that some of them does not mean what we learned in class.  Like the word “Bu Gao Xing,” meaning unhappy could also mean lonely, sad, depressed…We are having so much fun in this class arguing and searching for the right word that would fit in the text.  We used the thesaurus a lot.  Our instructor is very particular on not using the same word multiple times–he said it makes reading boring. He also had us translated the first two lines of song and since it rhymed in Chinese we had to make it rhyme in English too.  (I will send you our final version of the text when we’re done.)
 
I went home early, well earlier than usual.  The dinner table was already set and the maid was busy cooking.  There were a couple of dishes on the table but dinner is not until 6:30.  I took a nap when the maid said she did not wanted any help.  When I got up, the guests were already there–Song Laoshi’s girl friend, Dr. Meng, and her daughter, Mo Mo.  Then his other friend, Mr. Xu, came in.  He’s from Taiwan and lived in San Francisco and is working as a journalist in Beijing.  During dinner, Mo Mo talking about her travels in Italy and a year of studies in New York.  Mo Mo is studying to be an architect and has only one year left before graduation.  We had duck with winter melon and seaweed soup, some pork dish (with fat and skin and meat in one bite-I didn’t eat it), boiled prawns, purple sweet potatoes, and a few more regular dishes.  Occasionally, Mr. Xu would pause and translate the conversation for me, which I could understand only in parts because they were speaking really fast.  After dinner we moved to the study and talked more on politics and the current affairs.  When I added the U.S. side of the story, Song Laoshi was amazed and thanked me for my insights.  He said I spoke in succinct but so insightful sentences.  I excused myself about 9 to do some homework and prepare for the next day.  No Moon cakes though–I bought them 2 moon cakes, but they didn’t eat them.  May be there’s too much food on the table for desserts.
 
============
 
The next day I told him that I was going to Rachel’s place for dinner and that I won’t be home for dinner.  I asked if I could bring a friend over for dinner and he said only on special occasions.  Since it’s my birthday on Saturday (lunar calendar birthday) I can bring a friend over and I need to invite Joe, the HS coordinator too.  I asked if Joe was his good friend.  He said yes and I am also his good friend since he found out how insightful I was the night before.  That comment made me happier and better than last week.   I went to school and told my friends about it.  Rachel was happy to be invited and was excited about tonight’s dinner. 
Today Wang Laoshi, our Chinese instructor, announced our first test on Friday.  He said he’ll tell us the details about the test format on Thursday but warned us to start reviewing notes.   Then I had a break until five.  I studied for a couple of hours and updated my emails and had lunch with friends at the dinning hall next door.  I went to the dessert shop with Lucy and shared a mango filled pastry–it has Garfield on it; it wasn’t bad, but not great.  In the afternoon I had a meeting with my tutor.  We reviewed some more and did the class readings.  My tutor’s name is Meng Ya.  She’s from Hebei Province and is a junior in Bei Wai University.  She is a class leader, sort of like a T.A., so she’s especially busy until four.  She showed me where she would conduct the tutoring sessions (four one hour sessions a week), all the way on the other side of campus-“the Chinese Building”.  After tutoring I went to my first meeting at the Calligraphy Club.  There I became the class translator because the instructor, Fang Laoshi does not speak Chinese.  (He reminds me of Chen Laoshi for those who went to DLI).  He’s very friendly and always welcome students to come to practice speaking Chinese with him.  His Calligraphy is excellent.  He studied calligraphy for more than 30 years (now 63 years old.)  He usually write in the traditional form but he’s well verse in all 7 Chinese writing styles, including the simplified form.  I like his grass form; flowing cursive writing.  Brief us on the history of Calligraphy and about the four treasures of study: the brush, stone slab, ink brick, and paper.  He said if he were to tell the whole history, he would have to spend about 6 months to do it fully.  It was exhausting to translate but afterward everyone praised my skills–I actually did not translate that well; I had to ask him to explain several words. ( I cheated a little bit because I already attended his class before–the previous Thursday for one hour. )
After the club, Rachel and I walked to her place and we had dinner there with her family.  Her family has 3 other persons: the mom, dad and her sixteen years old younger sister.  They all are very friendly, especially the mom.  Rachel showed me her room; a little bigger than mine.  The place has about the same square footage as my home stay and only different in arrangement of the rooms.  Her room shares a wall/window with her sister’s.  She said she always had the curtains down.  She wanted to be helpful in every way.  The dad had cooked us the tomatoes and eggs stir fry and some chicken stir fry dish; all very delicious.  I was translating the whole time.  The family and Rachel were so happy that they were able to communicate with each other. After dinner, Rachel pulled out her computer and we moved to the living room so we can start the interview.  She asked about the mom and dad’s experience in the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward–they were too young to remember.  The interview took about an hour and a half long.  Rachel was happy and apologize for the taking so much of my time–I didn’t mind though.  She gave me money for a cab ride back home.  I went home feeling really good about the meeting.  I think the family would be a good switch.  We’ll see how Rachel feels about mine on Saturday.     

Wednesday was pretty much wasted.  I thought the nearby bank would convenient but I was wrong.  I waited there for at least five hours to get service.  The bank works like the DMV in the U.S.  We had to get a number from their little automated machine and wait for our turns.  My number was pretty far down but there were only about 10 people, so I waited. (apparently, most people left for a good reason.)  I did not realized that I waited that long until I looked at my watch.  I was watching the mini drama series about a girl dressed as a guy in the world of the Qin Emperor, who likes to dress as a commoner and visit the locale.   It was pretty interesting.  The last hour seemed to stretched forever–the tellers takes about 30 mins per person and even longer during lunch time (there was a couple groups of VIP customers came in, so they had first dips on services).  They all left for lunch except for one teller.  I was really frustrated for waiting that long.  The manager seemed to only able to said sorry and that it won’t be much longer.  I should have left that bank hours ago, but on the bright side, I got my money exchanged.  I gave my teller multiples unsatisfactory reviews–he started with a two star service rating and was reduced to none–he made me waited for another half an hour and left the room several times while he was talking to me.  He’s only an intern, so it should not matter much, if he gets in trouble at all.  
In the evening, we had a group meeting at school for more info about the long trip.  They told us that a washer is not guaranteed and said that we will probably have to hand wash our clothes.  We will have a bus following us from hotels to hotels.  We will camp one night, so a backpack is recommended. They recommend that we buy sun screen lotion, hat, and a fanny pack.  We’ll be leaving next Wednesday morning at 9 by train.  While on the trip all of us will have journals to write and report when we get back from the trip.  We’ll stay with one room mate the whole time.  Mr. Eyler told us he usually pack his dependable pants that can be unzipped into shorts—I thought that’s a good idea.  The temperatures will range from in 70s during the day and 30s at night, and possible chances of rain (so I need to bring rain proof jackets and boots.)  There will be group shopping time on Friday to Decathlon-a French Outdoor clothing/gear store.  Oh, they said the staff will keep our passports for us because they can keep better track of them than we do–some students did lose them in the past but we have a perfect record–said Mr. Eyler.  We need the passports to check in at hotels.  All of us will have copies of our passport and visa on hand.

I went back home late that night and dinner was still waiting for me.  The maid always have food ready, even in the early mornings.  They were happy to see me, especially Song Laoshi.  He seemed a lot friendlier and asked how my day went; something he did not bother to do before that night.  They both pestered me about having kids sometime soon.

==============================

On Thursday our Chinese teacher announced that we will also have little projects to finish this weekend.  A 400 word initial report on our research group and a ppt presentation on one of the ethnicity group in our long trip.  Fun…none really for this weekend, besides my Birthday party, which has been moved up to lunch.  Our school had a study session with experienced tutors besides our own that night, but I was with my tutor at that time.  I think one on one is better for me.  I still feel like I’m not prepared at all.  Six parts on the written test (80%): Listening, fill in the blanks, grammar fill in the blanks, idioms, make sentences with certain grammar structure, and translation from English to Chinese and vice versa.  Then there’s also a speaking test (20%)-reading with correct pronounciation and answer a question about the readings.  I stayed late at school to study until about 9 pm.  I came back home and did my homework until midnight.

================================

Test today:  pretty hard.  I just completely forgot some of the words.  I think I did okay on the listening (I had to answer questions in Chinese and the difficult part is remembering what the characters look like)  and fill in the blanks.  I did alright on the sentence structures too.  I don’t think the English to Chinese translation is good at all.  My classmates also had the same problems.  We’ll find out our grades on Monday.  I picked the Mongols as my ethnic group for the presentation.  Wang Laoshi said I can write my paper on my friend’s family since they have interesting background that’s worth researching. 

After the test we had a Home Stay session where students talk about the culture shocks they experienced.  One guy said their family’s toilet is broken, so he and his family had to use a nearby out house.  He said the out house has open stalls and there’s always somebody there already.  They would wave him hello whenever he comes in.  Another person said his family even fart at the dinner table.  He said he’s finding a good opportunity to return the culture exchange.  He also said that his family members like to eat without their shirts on, probably because his house is very hot.  Mr. Eyler said it’s normal.  In the summer time most men just wear boxers around the house.  We found out that fat is a good thing here.  My maid said fat is pretty, so eat up.  (The word Pang–fat–can also mean that the person has enough meat on their body; meaning healthy.  The word for thin has a sickness radical.  The bad word for fat is Fei)  Some families already felt at ease with the students that they let the students hear them arguing.  Amy said her family actually used tape measure and taped her and then weighed her.  They were comparing her to their daughter; Amy has more meat on her (she actually quite fit.  She runs every day for her physical fitness program for Airforce ROTC.)  One person has a mah jong addict for her mother who play until 3 in the morning.  She said she’s used to it.  Most students are used to their hosts strange behaviors.

We went shopping after the session–at Decathlon.  I shopped for the boots and the special pants.  I was thinking about getting a backpack, but did not buy one.  I might go back to the store next week.  Amy also bought pants.  She got a 61 Liter backpack–about 60 U.S dollars.  I spent about 1200 Yuan while she spent 1500 Yuan. 

==================================

Interesting Notes:

Chinese would make really loud and disgusting noises when they hack up a lugi.  They think it’s better to spit the phlem and all other germ-filled liquids than keep them in.  Occasionally we hear them on the streets.  Amy said her mother does it every morning when she brushes her teeth.

Some people will have their faucets leak on purpose.  They use buckets to catch the water.  They are “stealing” water.  When the water drips at such a small increment, the meter does not run, so they get the water for free.

Location: Beijing, China

I’m just getting used to the school work load and adjusting to the house rules these days. 
School:

I had two interviews this week; one on Wednesday afternoon with Aceoftrade.com, a new online shoes company.  They (3 Chinese ladies (can speak English, lead by Maria Wang) and 1 man) specialize in promoting Chinese brand shoes for product; for services they take care of the export forms and expedite the process so that the Chinese Companies don’t have to worry about that part.  They also want to take out the middle man and represent the Shoe companies and link them to the American customers through their website services.  Their parent company is 360, a Chinese virus protection software company, who just made the Nasdaq index recently.  My instructor also tell me that China Suppliers owns both of them.  My job would entails translating their website for them and to test out their website for user friendliness.  The problems I have with them is that they just started last week and that their website has not even up yet.  They would be facing major competition in the U.S. plus, China already have a couple of online shoes companies with the same platform.   During the interview, they interview me and another IES student at the same time, they were mainly focused on him because he has experience of having his own company that sold T-shirts.   (After the interview, he told me he was not interested in working for them for the competitiveness reason.) 

My other interview was on Friday afternoon with a international law firm, Lan Peng.  The interviewer, Joana, assumed that I would be working for them at the start of the interview.  I actually have not made up my mind on that part yet because I still have one more interview next week.  Joanna said the firm has worked with businesses and people in Hong Kong, Britain, Australia, Macao, Taiwan, and Germany.  Their firm works on all kinds of cases to include labor, business, and criminal laws, however, since I am not a law major, I would be doing translations for them–like the labor laws concerning pilots.   She added that if I am really interested I could research a case for them.   I am not sure this would benefits me the most considering the next interview is with a marketing research company, Marcom.cn.  (I came to my appointment about 30 mins early for this one–Joana did not give me any directions like Aceoftrade.com did.  She only gave me the firm’s address in English.  I had to ask my teacher for help.  I thought it would take just as long as the commute for the other interview, so I gave myself 2.5 hours of travel time.  I arrived at the office building 1 hour early and spent about 15 minutes looking for the correct entrance.)

But the next day he acted like nothing had happened.  I talked to the homestay coordinator, Joe, and talked things out with him.  Joe said Song Laoshi may be used to the pattern of homestay students and some how does not realize that I am different from them.  He said if things get worse, I have the option of switch my place with Rachel, seeing that she could use the English speaking person.  I still thinking about it.  I feel like an unwelcomed guest in that house.  This week made me miss home a lot.

Location: Beijing, China

I woke up early today for the breakfast with the RAs.  We split into different 3 groups again.  Each RA lead us to their favorite places to have breakfast (all within 5 minutes walking distance to the campus).  Since I already went with Signe, I decided to go with Travis today.  Travis lead us to a dumplings place/convenient store.  They have steamed buns too.  They sell 3 different kinds: pork, beef, and vegetarian (mostly fried cabbage and spinach.)  The vegetarian ones tastes pretty good, even our picky eaters like them too. 

After breakfast, our morning activities consisted of classes on Culture Simulation, Diversity, and Core goal setting.  Our group started with culture simulation first, which is lead by Jeremiah and Chad the anthropologist.  Our group was divided again into two small groups.  My group is to discern the other group’s culture/social conducts by watching their behavior.  While we were discussing the rules and the ways to interpret their behavior and try to interact with them, the other group went into the garden and received instructions on what to do and their “society” rules.  About ten minutes later, we went to the other side.  The other group, about 10 people, formed two lines, by gender.  They (now referred to as ladies and men) were linked shoulder-to-shoulder (facing different direction), talking to each other.  The ladies had their hands clasped in front and the men had their hands clasped behind them. After making these observations, a couple of the guys tried to talk to the men without imitating their posture rules, the men walked away.  The girls in my group mirrored the ladies’ posture and attempted to talk with them, the ladies walked away.  Later we realized that there were these short pauses after each sentences and that we have to be our shoulder has to stay touching with their shoulder (ex. my left with their left or my right with their right).  I finally had a successful mingling with the ladies.  Then it’s our group’s turn to be observed.  Our rules were: 1. We can only speak to the people of the same gender.  2.  We can only answer direct yes/no questions.  3. Our answer is based on the questioner’s facial expression.  If they’re smiling the answer is “yes”.  If not, the answer is “no”.  We have to walk away if the questioner is not of the same gender or asking the wrong type of question.  The other group figured out the first rule very quickly.  It took them about 10 minutes to figure out the second rule.  Since we could only answer in yes/no, the other group was confused because they took all our answers as facts.  They thought we were a bunch of compulsive liars.  It was particularly funny when the ladies were frustrated with our answers (they smiled a lot.)  They needed the instructors help to figure out the 3rd rule.  I think this is a great party game.

After that session, we went inside for the classroom briefing on diversity, which is not as fun.  We talked about the term “lao wai” (old foreigner).  Those who with Caucasian appearance would be called with that term.  The local Chinese may think of them as tourist attractions and will take photos of them (sometimes in their faces.)  Many of them will be surprised to hear the white men talking in Chinese and will compliment the men no matter how badly they speak Chinese.  The RAs said that the term Lao wai can be an endearment, so we should not take offense.  Also, those who look like Chinese will be expected to speak fluent Chinese and understood what the Chinese people said.  That would be tough since some of us just begun learning and the Beijingers have very strong accent.  They tend to add “r” to every word.  (ex. “ah” would sound like “ar”)

After that is the Goal setting class.  We listed our top ten goals to accomplish while we’re in Beijing.  Most people want to be able to have a conversation with a cab driver, take the subway without getting lost, or to get lost, explore an new area, and came back.  Some want to learn to cook a couple of Chinese dishes.  My list is something like this:
1. Go site seeing in Hang Zhou, Su Zhou, Guilin, Xi’An, Summer palaces, the Forbidden Palace, Confucius temple and Tianmen Square.   (I might not get to Guilin or Xi’An–too far).
2. take a lot of pictures of those sites
3.  be able to understand the news broadcasts (they speak very fast) and reiterate the summary.
4.  write down my thoughts and daily experience so I won’t forget it
5. be able to write more Chinese words and be better at it
6.  eat Beijing duck
7.  learn more about doing business in China and how to build a resume.
8.  do tai chi
9. have a conversation with a Chinese person about politics and Chinese government
10. learn how to bargain with a vendor

After that we have an activity called Mystery Beijing 1.  We were divided into pairs to find a selected place in Beijing and bring back proof of being there.  We were only permitted to ask Chinese people and asking staffs were off the limit.  My destination was a Japanese Restaurant in Wu Dao Kou (5-way intersection).  Sam, my partner, and I went to the bank first so that I can exchange my traveler’s checks and for him to withdraw cash from an ATM.  (Only certain banks accept traveler’s checks.)  I successfully exchanged my money (3.75% service charge, which is a lot cheaper than the airport).  He did not (for some reason his card did not allow him to withdraw.  He could only check his balance.)  After that we walked a while to the subway station (about 35 minutes).  We stopped at a restaurant along the way to eat lunch.  I ate beef noodle soup while he snacked on some kind of pork wrap.  Then we continued to the subway station.  He showed my how to get a subway ticket, which is similar to DC’s subway station (extremely cheap; 2 yuan per ticket to go anywhere in Beijing.) We took the blue line 4 and changed to the orange line 13.  Everywhere in the subway station is advertisements, even in the tunnel walls.  They installed flat screen TVs along the walls.  The station signs were in both Chinese and English.  The announcer also spoke English translation–with a British accent.  When we arrived at Wu Dao Kou, we came across two tourists who also spoke English.  They gave us directions to the Japanese Restaurant.  Wu Dao Kou is a high end place with every expensive products.  There were plenty of high end clothing stores, selling 400 to 500 yuan a piece of clothing (a few of them had sales, up to 50% off).  The restaurant was very fancy.  It has a black and red decor with faux bamboos columns.  The bathroom provide a toilet with seat, washing basin with soap and paper towels, something that regular restaurants don’t have.  The food was really expensive (compare to the little eatery that we just ate at; 20 for the whole meal for two).   The rolls ranged from 10 yuan to 120 yuan.  We ordered the 10 yuan one (cucumber roll).  It was very small but very tasty.  Hot tea was free.  During the day time, it was half priced so we paid 5 yuan and gave 2 yuan to the waitress.  We felt bad having been in there and only order so little at such a nice place.  We got the receipt for our proof.  Then we headed back to the subway station and made our way back to school.

We came back to school just in time for the Home Stay info session.  Mr. Eyler explained to us what we should expect at our host parents homes.  He told us about “inside clothes” and about the taking shoes off when come home.  (Chinese people believe that the street clothes are dirty so when we come home we should change into a set of clean clothes so keep the house clean. That’s one of the reasons they prefer to shower after work.)  He also said that meal times are very important and a good opportunity to practice our Chinese conversation skills.  Chinese people loves to offer food, even when you said you’re full and fruits does not count as food (a typical after dinner “dessert”.)  He stressed the importance of energy and water conservation.  Chinese people do not like to waste anything, much less electricity and water.  In one example, he said a few families will use a pan to catch the water during showering so that it can be used later as toilet water. ( a previous student asked why he needs to stand in the pan while showering.)   Chinese people also would turn off the water while soaping like we turn off the water while we brush our teeth.  He advised us to spend as much time with our host family as possible, that way we can get the most benefits out of this program.

After that, we have the Internship info session.  Nancy, the program coordinator, briefed us on  the different companies they worked with previously.  There was China Supplier ( a Business to business supplies company), a law firm, a magazine company, and a few green energy companies, and a couple of volunteer work sites.  We would have about 4 interviews with HRs of 4 companies.  Based on our interviews, HR will decide what we would do.  We have to schedule the interviews on our own, after receiving emails from the interested companies.  The Internship jobs will be all day on Wednesdays; we would be on the job for 10 days  (more if we can find the time).  We also have seminars for 2 hours on Monday afternoons.  At the end of the semester, we have to submit a report about our experience at the internship.

After that we bought our cell phones ( and SIM card).  The school arranged the transaction.  They bought the cell phones in bulk and sold us the cheap price.  I also bought a Beijing guide book.  The “market place” took longer than it was supposed to, so we had extended dinner hours.  I went with 3 other students to the local cafe for dinner (just next door).  I had seafood fried rice (delicious).  I had to remember that for some reason, fried rice takes a long time to prepared here.  I almost ran out of time.

Then school provide desserts for us: McDonald’s ice cream sundaes, fudge and strawberry.  I took the strawberry one.  It’s not as good as the ones back home.  While we ate we talked about the housing rules.  Most of it did not apply to the home stay students but we had to stay for the whole hour.  I went to bed after that.  My friends somehow still find some energy and venture out to see the night market and KTV (karaoke bar).

Interesting Notes:
-Lots of folks here own dogs.  There are pet stores with dogs and cats in cages by the window.  Beijing has a height limit on dogs.  The rich people who wants to flaunt their wealth own large dogs, just to say they can afford to pay the fines and that they don’t care what the government think. 
-Beijing is heavy on pesticides.  Some time ago, the city decided to spray the rich part of the city with an enormous amount of pesticides and ended up killing many dogs.  This almost caused a big riot. 
-Nicolas Cage is very popular here.  I saw a few commercials/advertisements featuring his new movie.
-Lots of KFC commercials/advertisements too.

Location: IES building, BFSU, Beijing, China

Linda woke up early again.  She has a very loud and annoying alarm on her cell phone.  I just have troulbes sleeping.  The bed here is very hard and the pillow is still very flat.  I gave in and decided to buy a pillow and exchanging my traveler’s check as top priorities for today.

After breakfast, we had the Academic Expectations brief.  The program director explained that we will have a language pledge to use only Chinese from 0745 to 1600 everyday when class starts and 24/7 after October 22.  The pledge is very strict.  Breaking the rule means lower grade; for every 3 slips means 3 points deduction from our GPA-from A to A- or B+.  They are also very strict in attendance.  We all will have Chinese classes on MTThF 0800 until noon, then two area studies classes.  I have a translation class on MTh from 1700 to 1830 and internship seminar on M from 1500-1700.  On Wednesdays and weekends are off days for most people, except those who have internships.  Internships will take all day on Wednesdays.

After that we have a Health and Safety Talk.  Dr. Rob Blinn, the psychologist who gave the talk said the Beijing United Family Hospital providing medical services to us is the best in Beijing-a place where ambassadors and dignitaries would go for medical treatments. The doctors and staff all speak English.  He showed us a picture of a normal hospital room and it looked much nicer than our dorms. They have emergency services, psychological counselings, and even gynocoly.  Like the college counselor at home, he advised us not to drink excessively and go in groups.  He also said to expect to la du zi (have diarrhea).  Hand washing is very important.  Also, the tap water here is very clean, in fact, they are oversanitized.  The water have too many chemicals to be consumed on a daily basis, so we have to drink filtered water or bottled water.  While he talked he showed us pictures of mistranslated Chinese or Chinglish (very funny.  You can read some on www.engrish.com.)

After the health talk we headed for lunch with the staff like yesterday, but the groups switched restaurants.  This one is on an upper level of a small building.  The entrance was decorated with moon cakes display.  This one also has a private party area with the big round tables and the lazy susan in the center, but the chairs were covered in red velvet-like seat covers.  Like the other restaurant, this one also had a table full of food (more vegetarian dishes today)and two bottle of sodas waiting for us.  Their plate setting is not wrapped in plastic like the other one.  Our program director, Brian Eyler, joined us for lunch. We talked about our plans for travel to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Xi’an and Guilin (all with the exception of Guilin can be reach by overnight train.  Guilin, the scenery showned in the beginning of Disney’s Mulan, is too far for train, but is doable for a 3-day weekend trip.)  Mr. Eyler also advised us that one sure way to tell that you’re a foreigner is the way you order your drink.  Chinese people do not drink cold beverages, even if it’s hot outside, with their meal because they belief it’s bad for their health. He also gave us a lesson on chopsticks manners; like do not search through all the food with your chopsticks for the better looking piece of meat because you might contaminate the food, and keep your chopsticks from transferring the rice in your bowl to the meat dishes.  He ended our meal with an order of hot tea.  He explained that since students do not like hot items during the summer heat, we did not have soup, a item that is usually eaten after the main course.

Then we headed back to school for more advsising and class scheduling.  I found that I am in the 420 course (just what I need for my major) with 4 other students.  I also had a talk with the internship coordinator, Nancy.  She told me that I can work with one of four companies in the Business category (my choice.  The other choices were Volunteering, Green/environmental work, Government, Media, Medical, Law, IT…)  I would have to go to interviews with HR in the companies and decide which one I like best.  The companies in turn would decide which student they prefer and Nancy would match up for us.  I would find out more about the companies and the expectations for this class tomorrow.

Then we have the Travel info session, which gave us two options for our 15 days field trip.  Option 1: The Silk Road- this trip is west bound to the western regions of Tibet and XinJiang.  We get to explore the cultures of the Uighers, Tibetans, Turpans (blond hair, blue eyes Chinese), and the Mongolians.  We get to hike to the gorge in Hemu, tour Kanas, visit the Mogao grottoes, Convaleces at the Moon Lake in Dunhuang, have dinner with the local family, build a yurt, and explore Xi’an, the place of the Terra Cotta Warriors and the Muslims district there.

Option 2: The Manchurian Express-this trip go Northeast to the regions near Russia and the Korean Borders.  We get to have evening forest hikes, evening Korean BBQ & Campfire, go to the Hot Springs and explore the Tianchi crater lake, dancing with the local community, explore Harbin, sing Karaoke, a trip to the Tiger Park (optional feeding activity), go to a Russian Museum, listen to Russian ghost stories, use a sauna with the locals, horseback riding, Mogolian dancing and wrestling, and enjoy Bonfire parties.

I’m leaning toward Option 2 because of the hot springs, horse back riding, and Mongolian wrestling.  Plus, Option 2 has more time on the train (more time to interact with the locals since they love to talk on trains) and less on the bus. 

We ended the night with a keynote speaker, Kaiser Kuo, the Director of International Communication Baidu.com (Chinese Google), Columnist for “The Beijinger”, and a local rock star.  He’s is a long hair (longer than mine) Chinese American who works in Beijing.  He is a straight talk, down to earth kind of man.  He gave us a list of ten most important advice to make the most out of our being in Beijing.  The first one he is to write because it will help retain most of our experience since our memory is not that great.  (I am working on that part.) Second is to immerse ourselves into the culture and try new things.  All the advices were great but most importantly he said is “don’t be a whiny b****!”  because the whiners will take away other people’s enjoyment. I like him.  He also told us about different hangout places for music fans.

That was a great speech.  I went to bed shortly afterwards.  Some people hung out in the Activity Room for a late night movie.  Others went to explore the night life of Beijing (night market, bars, and Karaoke.)

Interesting Notes:

-When Star Wars 3 first came out, it was translated to Chinese for the Chinese and later translated back to English for the foreigners in China.  The movie became hilarious when you read the subtitles.  Anakin is translated as “Gold” and the Jedi Knight Council is “The Presbyterian Church”. (I did not have the opportunity to watch it, though I wish I had.  I only saw that scene.) 

-The Tibetan has a special burial rite to send people to heaven.  The trained mortician would prepare the body by burning Juniper leaves.  The he would cut the body in pieces and then beat them in some kind of grain meal.  Then they let the birds feed on the body to carry their soul to heaven.  Mr. Eyler said he walked into the end of this process and saw brain pieces and an unattached foot.

Location: IES building, BFSU, Beijing, China

There are four days of orientation.  Saturday, August 27, was our first day.

That day started way too early for me.  My roommate, Linda (also Vietnamese), woke up at 5:30 am even though our orientation did not even start until 9.  She said since there’s only one shower room and only five shower booths, she wanted to get a head start.  I tried many attempts to go back to sleep but was not able to because most of the ladies on the floor felt the same way as Linda and they were pretty noisy.  At about 7:00, I gave up and join the crowd but they already left for breakfast.  The shower room and bathroom were empty!  I was so happy to have them to myself (Linda should have slept in =P).  After the shower, I met up with RA Signe, nice, big, blond young lady, who cheerfully show me a breakfast place.  She lend me 5 Yuan to buy a breakfast wrap, freshly cooked fried, flatten dough with fried egg. (The exchange rate is 6.41 Yuan to 1 U.S. dollar.)  Then about nine, all of the students gaggled in front of the building so we can divide into groups for orientation.  Each group was lead by two RAs to the market place, about 10 minutes walk across campus.  Everyone bought necessities like shampoo, shower caddies, shower shoes, bath towels, toilet paper and shoes.  (We ran to the ATM nearby to get some RMB).

Then we had a meet and greet with the staff and faculty back on campus.  They all seemed nice and cool.  The Calligraphy instructor only spoke Chinese, but his class will have a translator.  There are about 68 students total and all them with different level of Chinese.  Some only know “Ni hao.” 

At about noon, the staff took us to fancy restaurants and we ate really delicious food. We were split into two different groups to two different restaurants.  The restaurant I went to have a big dinning room with a couple of big fish tanks in front. We went to the private dinner party rooms with big round table that can seat ten people.  There were food already on the lazy susan on the table.  Each person’s table setting has a small bowl and plate (dessert size) wrapped in plastic.  Beside them set a pair of chopsticks, also in plastic wrapping.   Each table also has a bottle of Coke and a bottle of Sprite.  We tore off the wrappings and ate our heart out.  I liked the eggplant stir-fry the best.  All of us at my table take turns introducing ourselves and we had fun talking.  We talked about trying new drinks like Qing Dao beer and bai jiu (Chinese rice wine) ( a few of them are about to turn 21).  We also talked about the best way to learn Chinese.  They all agreed that having a Chinese boyfriend/girlfriend would be the best way to learn Chinese. 

After lunch we had class selection and the speaking test (part of our language placement exam).  The faculty decides which Chinese class best suit us base our Chinese level/on our test.  We will not know the results until tomorrow.  Then those students like me who select living with a host family (the Home Stay option), had to fill out a personality survey and choose what they desired in the host family.  We will be moving to our home stay on Tuesday.  That did not took long at all, so we had about two hours to do whatever we want. 

A group of us decided to take an excursion of the campus.  We went back to the market place and explored some more.  I saw farmers market place where they sold fresh giant fruits (apples the size of two palms), green eggs, fresh pork, and lots of melons.  There was a place that sells bicycles. There is a western dessert shop too–it has plenty of cheese cakes, trifles, moon cakes–all of them looked deliciously sweet, but they are very pricy. (All western food/restaurants are very expensive.)  We ended the day about 9:30 pm.  (There was a planned movie that night but there was some technical difficulty, so we played the “get to know each other” games instead.  By the time they figure out the problem, most of us were ready for bed.  I went to sleep about ten.  Jet lag seemed to get everybody….well, some went to KTV, a local Karaoke bar and had some fun.)

Interesting Notes of the Day:

-From the key note talk about Beijing:  

a-China buys our used and discarded electronic parts and take them aparts and use them for building new electronics that we use today–like cell phones and laptops.  There are small towns in China specialize in this profession because it pays better than farming.

b-Mao called for the extermination of the four pests: mice, pidgeons, sparrows and misquitos.  The Chinese tried many failed attempts to kill the sparrows and finally came up with a great solution.  They took out pots and pans and bang them together to chase the birds away.  They would do this in masses and in shifts so that the birds would continuously be in flight.  They end up killing many birds, not just sparrows.

 -walking on the streets of Beijing can be scary.  There are many cars, bicycles, mopeds and electric bicycles.  All of them are focused to get to their destination and they are everywhere. The good thing is that they tend look out for walkers.They will honked at you to move out of the way. 

 -there is a calligraphy club in September so I don’t have to take the Calligraphy class in order to enjoy/learn it. 

Location: IES building, Beijing, China

It was pretty late when I arrived in Beijing.  There were two other IES students with me on the plane from Seattle to Beijing.  It was a really long flight, about 14 hours long.  I was restless and bored for most of the time.  The headphones were not working right, so I missed most of the movies.  Well, anyway, we landed in Beijing about 10:10 pm local time.  The first thing I noticed when the plane was landing was the thick cloud of smog covering the city, which tells me the city is really polluted.  But the city was illumminated by the street lights.  There were lots of cars still running around.  After getting off the plane, we followed the crowd and went to the Customs officer, who only checked our passports and visas, which is a big relief.  It’s not that I smuggled anything, it’s just that I don’t want to have all my clothes search and to fold and stuff all the clothes back into the suit case again.  The biggest happy momment that night came when I saw the IES crew were already there waiting for us with their IES signs.  There were money exchange places at the airport but the service fee was enormous and that they do not accept traveler’s checks turned us away.  But we were happy just to follow the crew to a nice comfortable bed to sleep.  We went on a long bus ride to the Bei Wai University.  On the way there, most of the students were sleeping but not me.  I wanted to take everything in and breathe the Beijing air, well sort of.  I was pretty tired, so I did not remember much of it.  I remember the highway is very much like ours at home.  They have the big green signs for exits just like at home but they’re in Chinese with English subtitles.  The cars drive on the right side too.  After we turned into Xi San Huan Lu (West 3 ring Avenue) exit, I noticed that the street was filled with huge high rise apartments, big banks, and hotels after hotels.  All them have neon Chinese signs (big Chinese Characters–mostly red and blue).  The ride took 40 minutes.  After we took our luggage out of the bus, we went through the campus gate, which was guarded by an official in green uniform.  About five minutes later, we arrived at our building, also guarded, this time by a woman, our night watch service.  We registered for our room and received an informal and quick orientation and went to our room. The building has four floors; one for teaching and two for student residents and the first floor is for staff.  Each dormitory floor has two Resident assistants, student lounge, bathroom, and shower room.  Each room houses two students, which has two sets of desks and beds and closets, and a TV.  The rooms are small but livable–reminds me of small college dorms.

Interesting Notes of the day:

-the police cars ran with lights flashing.

-Water for Elephant (what I was able to watch) is not a bad movie, but not that great either.

-no toilet paper allowed in the toilets.  The plumbing system is fragile in China.  Also, we have to provide our own toilet paper.

-my pillow was flat as a pancake. 

Location: IES building, Beijing, China.

Wow.  I am so excited about this trip to Beijing.  I’ve been waiting for it for so long, but now it’s about 10 days away and I’m just can’t hold it inside.  I don’t feel prepared at all.  I got my passport and plane tickets and tuition paid, but staying away for so long with a strange family will take some time to adjust.  And China?!!   It’s going to be different for sure.  I just hope I get the classes and the internship.  Readers, wish me luck!

Location: Altoona, PA