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