Jen: I don't want to be a Tourist

早上好 readers! China is still quite far away but I thought I post about the little revelation I had in class this morning.

I don't want to be a tourist in China.

Yes, yes I know what you're thinking. Well, what else are you going to be then? By definition a tourist is: "a person who is travelling or visiting a place for pleasure" which isn't wrong per say... I don't want to be a mass tourist in particular. These are the people that are bussed around from place to place and only go where the tour guides tell you to go. I'm going to China to experience living there from the inside not the ouside.

Let me give you an example. There are a lot of things China is known for: Forbidden City and The Great Wall, both of which I will likely see, but I don't want the touristy cookie-cutter explaination of what it is and why it's important. I want to hear directly from a student what they think about these monumental landmarks.

I want a first hand account of what it's like to live in the city, not what tour guides are paid to tell me. I want to go on day trips and slip away with my native friends to see things that aren't on the schedule. I want experience China outside of the University as much as I can.

This requires me to make some pretty fast friends and gain the trust of our leaders that I won't disappear and never come back, but let's say that's my goal in my first few days.

再见,
Jen

Jen: Learning the good ol' 普通话

So naturally, since we're going to China I'm brushing up on my minimal 普通话 (putonghua). I'm in the unique posistion where I see a fair amount of Chinese students in a given day. All of which, upon hearing that I was going to China, were interested in helping me study. I've also downloaded the app WeChat which a lot of Chinese friends have to talk to each other. A lot of them told me I was the only Canadian they had on the app. Too funny! I also have a very extensive Mandarin Dictionary on my phone called Pleco. I've also added a Chinese keyboard to my phone so hopefully with all these resources I'll be a little further along then when I started. I usually just ask them about vocab or phrases that I think would be handy to know. Then I send them messages using what I've learned to make sure I'm applying it correctly! I have until April to practice so... 
加油!!! 加油!!!
My resources:
http://www.wechat.com/en/
http://www.pleco.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.pinyin&hl=en

Until next time,
Jennifer

Rebecca: Why Jen is a Mean Person

So I get home, and the first thing I'm bombarded with is warnings to tread softly around Jen, as she didn't get an acceptance email and so on (yeah, no "welcome home, Rebecca, how was your day?" here). So I hike up to Jen's room and try to ask all nicely if she checked the right email, all the while wondering why everyone followed me up there.

And then everyone starts laughing (and I start flinging angry accusations about traitors and backstabbers - not my finest moment, admittedly), and then the excited screaming and jumping begins.

So yeah. We're going to China. Time to develop an appreciation for Chinese food! Somehow, I doubt I'll find much in the way of good old Mennonite staples out there (no perogies, no farmer sausage, no schmondfat... maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Kidding!).

Jen: Why I'm a Mean Person

Well greetings! 你好! This is the first post of Jen & Rebecca in China! 
Today we got our acceptance e-mails for SEPP (Spoken English Promotion Practice) in a university in Hongzhou, China. Both me and Rebecca swore not to tell each other if we got accepted until we saw each other (which wasn't until 8:30pm). I got the brilliant idea to pretend that I didn't get in. I even got my other housemates to go along with it. They told her to be sensitive to me when she came and told me about her e-mail because I was distraught I hadn't gotten mine yet. I even listened to Lilly Allen for a half hour to get into a somewhat depressed mood. Rebecca comes up to my room and she says she got the e-mail. I'm all sad because I "didn't". 
"Did you check your university e-mail or just your general?"
"Just my general, but I'll check my university...so you got yours?"
"Yeah."
"...I'M KIDDING."
I think Rebecca hates me now. Muahahaha.

Until next time,
Jen