Between April 30th and May 26th of 2014 two linguistics students will be abroad in China working as Language Partners at a University. These are the adventures of the befores, durings and afters!
Thursday, 3 July 2014
Jen: First Adventure Has Come to A Close
I'll bet your surprised to see another entry so late in the game but I wanted to write one final post I suppose. I just got back from my missions trip in Japan and Korea last night and I think I beat jetlag already!
My trip in China was a dream come true! I met so many people and had so many experiences. Climbing The Great Wall and living in a university were just some of the highlights! There are so many things I forgot to write about in blog entries or those I didn't have time for but it was all so great! I'm definitely going back and hopefully sooner than later. It's cool knowing that I have friends from all over the world now.
They say culture shock is worse coming back to your home country and I really think that's true. China, Japan and Korea are really smart countries. They have really great transportation, food, and housing systems that I wish were possible in Canada but we just don't have the population for it. I miss the food (even the things I didn't like). Guess I'll be making trips to our Asian Food stores now aha. I have to get use to certain items not being available at my leisure (like free packets of tissue handed out on the streets and onigiri) but someday I'll go back again!
My final thoughts are that I have a good idea as to what sort of life I will live once I am ready to Teach Abroad. By going to three major Asian countries this summer I got a taste of what living in each on is like. There are a lot of things I'm looking forward to (some that I'm not) but either way I'm excited for the future! I even have in mind a few schools that I might want to apply to someday!
On that note, I'm gonna go apply for a summer job now. Over and out!
~ Jen Collins
Monday, 26 May 2014
Jen: The Great Big Wall of China
Lastly was the Great Wall. I guess I was suppose to wait for Rebecca but Alex ran up ahead and I knew we would walk at a more similar pace. So sorry not sorry Rebecca! Maybe we'll come back again someday! I climbed way too many stairs today. But it was worse going down.
Jen: My Partners for SEPP
Rebecca: Goodbye China!
Friday, 23 May 2014
Rebecca: Beijing Impressions
Thursday, 22 May 2014
Rebecca: We Learn From an Airbending Master and Become Pop Stars
Friday, 16 May 2014
Jen: In Which I sing for a crowd of Chinese Students in a Costume
Today started out pretty slow because we didn't have class. Me and Rebecca had the most delicious breakfast ever! I can't believe I like greasy toast but you don't understand. It's sooooo goood dipped in soy milk.
I also had a soy beverage which I thought was yogurt but it was aight. China has cool fruit! Including this berry that costs 1¥ per berry. That's pretty expensive. But there better then any fruit I've ever had. The fruit is sweet here and not too acidic. Pineapple on a stick is a staple on campus! Mmm!
Alright enough salivating.
After breakfast I went to see some sports events at the stadium. There were tonnes of races. It seems to be perfectly okay if you fall over after your leg of the race. I hope the runners stay hydrated. The Chinese students with me cheered for their team so I joined in with a loud 加油!! All of the classes have their own cheers. I want to learn one. Heehee. Maybe next time. Even the professors get involved in relay races. One of the profs lost his shoe mid run. It was unfortunate but hilarious! Even an old teacher ran in the final leg. Really impressive.
After a short break of street food we headed back to the dorm to practice for tonight's performance. Performance you say? I was asked to perform at an event to support a new mall. No no, not in Chinese. I sang two songs: September by Earth Wind and Fire and Payphone by Maroon 5. I had no idea what to expect. I legit learned one of the songs the day of.
It gets better. The introducer asked me if I would wear the costume of the Han Dynasty. Well they asked Rebecca first but she pointed to me. :stinkeye:
It was so exhillerating but scary. I'm use to the Chinese people staring at me but this was a whole new story. People were filming me everywhere. I'm legit on 50 people's phone right now. That's certainly not something I expected to do in this country. I love it here! So many experiences. :D
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Rebecca: I Place My Fate In the Hands of a Chinese Man (And it Doesn't End Well)
So our wifi's been acting up again, so I'm going to post this whenever possible. I'm writing on Tuesday, May 13. I just realized our trip is halfway over TT_TT. Today was a pretty exciting day, as you can probably tell by the title.
Steven and I had been talking about getting our hair cut at the barbershop on campus for a while, so today we decided to make that a reality. Steven speaks Mandarin, so he translated for me a little, but really I just pointed to how short I wanted it cut and let the guy go wild.
And go wild he did. It was easily the longest haircut session I've ever sat through. The blowdry and style part took longer than the actual cutting of hair. He blowdried every single section separately, then started cutting again, then blowdried again, then sighed and straightened it, then trimmed and blowdried it again. I was pretty sick of sitting in that chair by the end. For a while I thought he was just making excuses to play with my vaguely reddish, non-Asian hair. His colleagues seemed pretty interested in what he was doing, too.
And then I realized he was actually just frustrated. He got out his phone and put something through a translating app, then showed it to me. It read something like "Your hair is too messy. It is too curly. It is not good. You need to straighten it like I did now. Now it is nice". I couldn't really decide whether to laugh or be offended. Excuse me for not having Asian hair!
So anyway, he kept cutting until it was way shorter than I wanted, so now I'm sporting this vaguely Asian take on a bob cut. It's probably not the most flattering haircut I've ever had, but everyone needs at least one bad haircut in their life, so mine might as well come with a funny story attached!
So other than getting my haircut by a man I couldn't communicate with, I didn't do much today. Little bit of shopping, little bit of getting sick, little bit of playing cards. Ate ice cream to recover after The Haircut.
I don't want this trip to be half over. I might just stay here. Although I really want some decent coffee. Not iced coffee in a bottle, not burnt with grinds at the bottom, just good, black coffee. But the tea here is really good, so I guess I'll survive.
-Rebecca
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
Rebecca: In Which We Climb Two Mountains
It's been a while, blog! Sorry about that. In my defense our wifi is pretty spotty. We've done a whole lot since our last update. We met our conversation groups and built kites together (mine was pretty rubbish), and we also went and saw West Lake. It was pretty touristy, but really pretty too. It's essentially a big lake by the city, with lots of gardens and little restaurants. It's really famous, apparently.
We also went on a tour of several museums (a tea museum, a silk museum, a historic rich guy's house which included some pretty sweet caves - caves! In a house! - and a traditional Chinese medicine museum) on a big tour bus. That wasn't so much fun - I don't really like being in a mob of stereotypical white tourists. I'd rather sneak off and do my own thing with a small group. Jen feels the same way, so we end up doing that a lot.
But what I really want to write about is today! We had a day off, so we went off to Hangzhou to sight-see. I guess I should explain - we're not actually living in Hangzhou; we're in a smaller city called Xiasha, which is in the "Greater Hangzhou Area", for lack of a better term. We can take a bus and the subway to get into Hangzhou. Anyway, a couple of us went off to see a famous temple just outside the city. It took a long time to get there, but it was definitely worth it. It rained on and off all day, which would normally ruin an outing, but the rain actually made it better. The temple was out in the mountains, so everything was green, green, green! The rain made the mountains all misty, so it looked really cool.
Anyway, I said we went out to see a temple, but we didn't actually end up seeing the temple. Oops. It cost extra to get in, so we went the cheap route and climbed around the mountains instead. There are carved Buddhas in the rocks all over, and stone steps to climb up. We basically climbed winding stairs through vines and trees until we were ready to drop. The view was totally worth it, though! Then we wandered off and went to a monastery, where the tea was waaaaay too expensive.
After that we decided that since we'd barely eaten all day and had lost the rest of our group (at that point it was just me, Jen and one other guy from our group), we'd just go ahead and climb another mountain! Honestly, I don't know who makes decisions in our group, but we should fire them (it was probably me). So we went and climbed about six trillion stairs to a little temple at the top of a mountain. It was a little out of the way - the English signs stopped, so we knew we were out of tourist-land - but really cool. The view, once again, was totally worth it.
But it was a lot of stairs. Seriously a lot. Like possibly a human rights violation, or an ancient form of torture. For any Skyrim players reading this, we basically climbed to the Throat of the World today, and let me tell you I am nowhere near as in-shape as the dovahkiin. I really think I've gotten more exercise on this trip alone than in the rest of my life. I'm losing weight and everything. My feet might fall off, too (that would definitely contribute to the weight loss) (my jokes aren't as funny as Jen's, I know).
Okay, okay, I'll finish off before this becomes a novel. We ate Chinese fast food, which is not the same as Chinese food, somehow, and then went home. And now I'm here, writing this post. There. Updated.
Also green tea ice cream is the best thing ever, but you have to be careful with the packaging. Just because it's in a green container doesn't mean it's green tea-flavoured. Vanilla is really depressing when you're expecting green tea.
On that note, I'm gonna go play cards. See ya.
Jen: Campus Days
Lately our schedules are too varied to make concrete plans or go anywhere so we've been making mini day trips around the area. Yesturday I did tonnes of laundry and went shopping with a girl in our group. I don't think I've ever done so much window shopping in my whole life! But in reality I've barely spent that much. Prolly about $150 Canadian but I've bought tonnes of souvenirs and enough food to feed and army and then some! The food is so unbelievably good! I even like the milk here. And I don't drink milk!
Today me and the Becca went back to a place called Frid Plaza. Or sometimes Fred. Depends what map you're looking at. That's China anyway. There are 3 and a half something floors and it sells everything except the kitchen sink. I'm surprised that I haven't come across any kitchen supplies stores. Hmm. But I guess a pot and pan wouldn't exactly fit in my suitcase. Hmmm.
Tomorrow is the opening ceremony of sports competitions and we are the last group to go around the field. Which means lots of standing. Oh goodie! I have not known this kind of foot pain. The Chinese must be super fit because they walk EVERYWHERE.
Sunday, 11 May 2014
Jen: How We Snuck into a Ticket only Performance
Me and Rebecca definitely snuck into a concert tonight. My conversation partners wanted to see their friend dance so we followed them into the back row. Apparently others paid for seats and waited in line but we snuck in... I feel a little bad but we didn't event know it cost money until after the show. One of my partners was dancing and I was really impressed! Lots of traditional costumes and music. I really liked the Tibetan and Mongolian dances! I am always amazed at how talented Chinese people are. There was a little bit of Opera too!
I'm starting to befriend my group members which is really nice. I am closest to the two girls. They are adorable! Alice and Yuki. I can't wait to try Karaoke soon with them.
Next week is sports week so I might not have a meeting with them. It depends on the weather. The Chinese people work very hard and it pays off. I could learn a thing or two from them!
Delightfully yours,
Jen
Jen: Lost in Translation but not in Hangzhou
你好! It's getting warmer. I originally thought people were crazy for using umbrellas during the day but I found myself giving into it. Breakfast is really good here! And mega cheap too. I didn't think I'd be so overwhelmed by the choices of food! I've made it a goal to never eat the same food twice.
Yesturday me and Rebecca got verrrry verrry lost. We were following a group but then they wanted to keep going but we were tired. So we tried to get back. Tried. We walked for a good solid hour in the wrong area before we finally found our place. Ohmannnn.
Today's adventure was West Lake! I've been looking forward to this for a long time! Unfortunately by the time we got their our feet hurt so much we only walked about an hour or so in? I heard the other group went KTV aka Karaoke today. Another group went to West Lake and we actually ran into them! Funniest thing ever aha.
Laundry is fun. I do infact have to handwash and hang stuff outside my dorm. And I mean everything... Aya. Tis a lot of work. Never thought I'd miss washing macines so much. More people took a photo of me today. They think we don't see it. Other times I let them know that I know by smiling. Huehuehue.
Tomorrow we fly kites and learn about Chinese culture! Ime excited! Until next time,
Jennifer
Jen: I Could Definitely Live Here
So much has happened sonce the last post I don't even know where to start. China is best when you wander off the beaten path. (Don't worry mom I'm always with a group!) I've surprisingly not bought as much as I expected I would. Shopping here is a bit of a nightmare because people really want to sell to foreigners. Chinese people know just enough English to yell: "Hello lady, you want buy _____." And I know enough Mandarin to say "Too expensive, goodbye." It's a little overwhelming wheb everybody wants to sell you the exact same thing.
Me and Rebecca plan on going back to a little strip of malls on Tuesday becayse we both have the day off. Its suppose to be less busy on weedays.
The University has a cerfew of 10pm which is really interesting. The buses and subways all stop running after that for the most part. China really wants people to be inside the Higher Education Zone. The students have everything they need within the campus though. Tonnes of food, shops (that sell anything and everything), hospital, a movie theatre and a soon-to-be shopping mall. It legit has everything here on campus! It seems a little strange but China is a pretty smart country. This way not all of the students will be out late at night and they save $ on late subways and buses. And they don't have to leave campus for a lot of amenities. There are guards and signs with instructions everywhere but honestly it makes me feel safer! If only subway rides weren't so brutally long...
Thursday, 8 May 2014
Rebecca: 生日快乐 (Shengrikuaile, Happy Birthday!)
We're at the university in Hangzhou right now (I think Jen mentioned this), and I'm honestly having a great time. I might never go back to Canada. :) The campus is beautiful; it really puts our school to shame. The weather is super nice too (I think I'm getting a tan)! We met some of our Chinese conversation partners today and went on a scavenger hunt, so we got to see a lot of the campus grounds. We also had our first class in basic Chinese (which was, as the name implies, pretty basic. We knew a lot of it already).
There was also this little thing that happened today that might have had something to do with me turning 20! ^_^ I had a fantastic birthday today, with much singing of Happy Birthday (in English and Mandarin) in embarrassingly public places. I really wasn't expecting anything, since this whole trip has basically been one big birthday gift so far, but Jen got me a little present and arranged a surprise cake in the cafeteria (she's not ALWAYS a mean person, haha). They had apparently ordered a cake with strawberries on it, but the bakery didn't have any, so my cake came with tomatoes on top instead. I'm not kidding! Cherry tomatoes! It was actually pretty good, though, and it was a good laugh!
We're getting the hang of living in China. The squatting toilets aren't as scary as they seem and we hung laundry on the balcony for the first time today (clothes dryers aren't really a thing here, so everyone hangs laundry everywhere). And we can order from shops and the cafeteria with only minimal difficulties (other than the plate of bone marrow I got. I didn't know, okay? It looked like beef!). And I think I'm addicted to green tea ice cream. The only thing I really miss about Canada is being able to brush my teeth with the tap water. Using bottled water is a bit of a hassle.
Oh, and I guess I miss my family and friends too. A bit. :P-Rebecca
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
Jen: I'm Famous! Only not...
Today was my first and so far only moment of fame in China. A group of students near the Frid Place kept looking at us and giggling. They really wanted a photo with us. We said it was fine aha. They looked Japanese tho. I was confused. Other than that we browsed like mad and I bought a few gifts for people back home! (Not saying who) ;)
Our room is super cozie and the beds are firm but huge! Guess what! Our main washroom is a squattie! I can deal with that tho. It's suppose to be a lot better for you anyway! And just imagine the quads and hamstrings I'll have when I'm back in Canada.
I absolutely love it here. It's a dream come true! I'm slowly starting to realize I'm a minority here (big surprise right?). Rebecca may make fun of me for it (when doesn't she make fun of me) but I keep feeling more concerned with how I'm affecting them than then them affecting me. If that doesn't make sense I can elaborate later. Time to do laundry in the sink!
Til next time!
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Jen: Eating in the Caf. It's a process!
I'm all settled in at the University. It's so gorgeous I can't even breath! No that's not the pollution either. The uni has thr cutest little strip of stores ranging from haircuts to baozi. To bubble tea as well! It's so cool!
I've had my first meal on campus and lemme tell you... It's an ordeal!
No English anywhere! We had a team member w us that spoke some Mandarin but he couldn't read it. Gah. So here's the process:
1. Get in line and fight to the front
2. They ask if you want rice
3. I pointed to which buffet style item I wanted and said: 请你给我这个。 Please give me that. DIshes are set up in rows but some are too far to point to. I chose a bean and chicken one. Rebecca had chicken marrow. Kinda eeeps...
4. Then you put your meal card on a sensor and it takes off the balance you spent.
5. Take your tray and grab chopsticks from the large container.
6. Eat (duh)
7. Put your tray on the conveyor belt after wiping off excess food.
8. Throw chopsticks into bin.
9. Realize you could of had free soup and walk away full but sad. FREE SOUP.
Over all I looooooove loooooove looove China. This uni is overwhelming for now but I'm sure it will get easier soon!
I'll write about Shanghai adventures later!
Rebecca: Shanghai Days Again
Rebecca: Shanghai Days
Rebecca: First Impressions
Day 1: First Impressions
We've arrived in China, all safe and with our luggage intact! My first impressions of China - just looking out the window of the plane - were "it's so green" and "there is no sky". We're in Shanghai right now, and for being such an urban sprawl there's a lot of greenery. It's a different kind of green from Canada, though. It's a lush, waxy sort of green, which makes sense, I guess. China is very humid and more tropical-ish than Canada. As for the sky, it's definitely there, it just looks... off, to me. The sun was shining brightly when we landed, but the sky was a sort of grey-white colour. All the smog makes it like that, I guess. It just looked so strange because I'm used to these big, blue prairie skies that stretch on forever. Here, the sky is kind of low and... thick, I guess.
Saturday, 3 May 2014
Jen: The first day and I nearly die...
Not trying to scare anyone and do not be alarmed I am back at my hostel safe and sound but OH MY GOODNESS. The amount of people I saw tonight. We got into China on a festival or holiday or something so EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE was at The Bund. It was kinda scary. At one point I did get seperated from the group and couldn't even find Rebecca. After 5 seconds of panic I saw Rebecca and we bought water and went homeeeee.
The plane ride was reeeeeeally long and they were bent on feeding us every 4 hours I was so full. I've officially been up for 24 hours+ so I'll end this here and go to beeeeeeed.
Monday, 28 April 2014
Rebecca: I am a responsible administrator of this blog and I post regularly! (This is a lie.)
I was going to post the Official Backstory of Jen and Rebecca (tentatively titled How I Met My Housemate), but it mostly involves both of us looking like awkward first-years, exchanging numbers at the Linguistics orientation and not sitting next to each other in class because I am socially inept, so I won't do that either. (We were actually so awkward though. Jen wore her lanyard around her neck like only a first-year would and everything. And I carried this massive Latin textbook everywhere like it was my only friend.) (It was not my only friend.)
What I AM going to do, though, is... actually I'm probably not going to do a whole lot of anything. It's 1:40am and I'm only writing this because I'm going to start telling people about this blog and I thought maybe I should actually post something both clever and welcoming.
Er... Welcome! What do you call a snobby, elitist criminal walking down the stairs? A condescending con descending!
There. I hope you feel both suitably welcomed and stunned by my wit. You'll be hearing from me soon - because I maybe might possibly actually be leaving for CHINA on Wednesday and I'm dying of excitement!!
-Rebecca
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Jen: Getting on a Plane in 4 days
I bought a book today that has pictures of Canada from Newfoundland to B.C. It should be pretty helpful to tell the students about Canada! I'm still pretty nervous about the language barrier but I've had a few chances to practice my Mandarin lately!
In 4 days I'll be on a plane and on a new adventure! Can it just be next week? Ahhh!
Saturday, 29 March 2014
Jen: China Visa Madness
My visa has finally been sent in (after much stress). Oh my goodness. I was freaking out because my passport does not have my middle name but I wrote it on my application. Then I wrote my SIN number where my health card was suppose to go. So, fingers crossed I'll get it back soon along with a gauge into my credit card. Yayyyy.
In less than a month I'll be in China! I promise these posts will be much more frequent (hopefully daily) when I get there! I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to spend 14 hours on a plane. Movies probably. I've been watching a lot of those lately:
- Farewell My Concubine
- Raise the Red Lantern
- House of the Flying Daggers
- Painted Skin 1 & 2
Saturday, 1 February 2014
Jen: What is a Canadian?
Me and Rebecca go to weekly meetings for China now. We've met all 17 of the students going to China with us. They seem pretty cool! I just wanna hop on that plane already! But then again, how excited can one be for a 14 hour flight. Ahh, me and Rebecca are already planning what movies to download to watch during the flight. We'll survive somehow!
In our meetings they told us to bring something from Canada to show them Canadian culture. But, I'm not your typical Canadian. I don't like hockey or maple syrup. However, I do say 'eh' a heck of a lot. At the moment I have no idea what to bring from Canada... photos for sure but what sort of...stuff? Meanwhile, Rebbecca isn't even legally Canadian! What a pair we are...
We're going to a celebration for Chinese New Year this weekend. It should be lot's of fun! I can't wait to see the performances and eat Chinese food with my friends!
新 年 快 乐
再见,
Jen