Last several days

Not a whole lot has happened since Wednesday night. Thursday night I talked to a language partner of ours. We spent a couple hours talking about China and the government and the economic differences between the country and the city. I found out some interesting things from him. Such as that Spring Festival is a bigger event in the country and that Chinese people don't like Japanese people. That is particularly true around Nanjing because of "The Rape of Nanjing."

Friday night our whole group decided to go to a local bar called "Castle." Two of the girls in our group had a little too much to drink. One was struggling to stand and the other made out with a forty year old man even though she has a boyfriend back home. I'm not sure if it's good or not but the girl who made out with the other guy doesn't remember doing it. Friday night we also saw a guy from our group and a lady friend of his walking butt naked down the hall. Overall, it was a very interesting night.

Saturday was a quieter day. We went to dinner where Roy our language partner ordered twice as much food as we needed. So the meal ended up costing a little over $3 which by Chinese standards is pretty high. After dinner we went home and watched a movie.

Sunday I spent most of the day trying to buy a bike. I eventually found a store selling bikes and bought a nice orange one. Hopefully the orange color will make it easier to spot. The bike with a basket and bell cost $30. Not to bad, especially if I can get some of that back at the end of the semester by selling it. Riding home on my new bike was a little different. Since I hadn't ridden a bike in years I struggled a little with my balance. I guess that's about all I've been up to lately. Talk to you all later.

Lantern Festival

Yesterday was the last day of the Spring Festival which began on the Chinese New Year. For lunch today I bought about two pints of lamb meat from a street vendor. The food was very good and cost only two dollars. I've decided buying from street vendors is the way to go because the food is so cheap. Because street vendors don't have any overhead such as rent, electricity, employees and health inspections they can offer their food for much less. At night I decided to head downtown to see what was happening for the Lantern Festival. I decided to pull an Amanda and walk downtown. After an hour I reached the outside of where most of the action was happening but was barred from getting in by a row of police officers. After standing there for 15 minutes some people started yelling pushing in the back. I initially resisted the pushing because I didn't want to get beat down by the Chinese police but they quickly pushed us through the line of police. None of the police seemed to be trying to stop us after we busted through so I headed on into the central area. After getting in I found it to be somewhat disappointing because it was exactly the same as the previous day. For some I reason I thought they placed lanterns on the river but apparently I was wrong. While downtown I bought a Xiang Qi board or a Chinese Chess set. I had seen the exact same set other places selling for $12 and $22 at other stores when I found someone selling the set for $5. The board is kind of cheap but it looks nice if you don't analyze it to long. About the time I bought the board it began to downpour. Since nothing was happening I headed home. I started by walking toward my school to get away from other people hoping to get a cab. After 20 minutes I crossed a large river (possibly the Chang Jian or Yangzi) I had never crossed before I decided I was lost. Fortunately, I was able to find a cab without to much difficulty as I had gotten away from the crowds. I was very grateful for the cab as I was lost, wet and couldn't see, and he was cheap only costing me $2

Dagoda and Spring Festival Dinner

On Sunday our group got up and went to Mt. Zinjin in the east part of Nanjing. At Zinjin there is the tomb of the first Ming emporer and the mausaleum of Sun Yat-sen. However, we are going to see those sites on some class field trips so went to see a nine story Pagoda. On the way to see the Pagoda we saw two traditional looking buildings that were all very cool. There were also several decorative gates along the way very artistically done. Inside the first they had a little museum on the history since the fall of the last Dynasy in 1912. Of course it was all in Chinese so I couldn't do much more than look at the statues. Then we walk out of this building and continue down the path and come to the second building which had some souvenior type stuff and some food. After going through this building we continued down the path and finally came to the Pagoda. The pagoda was very cool. On the inside there was a spiral staircase that went up to the top. From there, you could see Nanjing, and Sun Yat-sen's masaleum and the path we had just come from. The whole experience was very serene. The only disappointing part about the Pagoda is it was built in 1933. So it isn't exactly a historical landmark, especially by Chinese standards. Here is a picture of the Pagoda.



On Monday we had our first day of language class. The class was very easy because we have two total beginners in the class. I also recieved my Chinese name which is Ai Lun. Ai Lun is just a Chinese attempt to pronounce Aaron with characters they already have. I was displease later to find out Ai means "disgruntled." Not exactly the great name I was hoping for. After class I spent several hours walking through one of the local markets trying to find a nice Chinese Chess set. Unfortunately, I was unable to find one. So I went home a relaxed for the rest of the night.

Tuesday night we celebrated the Spring Festival because tomorrow is the last day. Spring Festival is basically a fifteen day celebration of the Chinese New Year. To celebrate we went to a nice restaraunt where we had a sixteen course meal. Some of the more interesting food was the duck tongue, duck gizzard, lamb, crap, bao zi which is a dumpling, some sort of egg made of soy, bean curd and several differant soups. We also had some Chinese beer which I like much more than American beer and coke. Also during the meal we had some entertainment. Twice a dancer came in to dance for us. Also, someone came and played an instrument that I think is called a Pa Pi. A Pa Pi is a tradiontal string instrument with differant chords than western music. After dinner we went for a boat ride down the river and saw the lights and sounds of downtown. Here is a picture of the Pa Pi player.




Frequently in China you see these giant lion/dog statues. They always come in pairs with one lion having a cub under it's paw and the other having a sphere. For some reason these statues really intrigue me. There is much more to their legend than I want to put here but the following link has a more detailed history:http://www.foo-dogs.com/newfoo/eLions/fd1.htm. Here is picture of these "Fu Dogs"




Overall this has been a very good couple of days.

Saturday

Yesterday, I spent most of the morning just walking around campus with people from my group. Didn't see or do anything exciting. Then in the afternoon we met with our profesor and a local police officer mostly to go over some laws for foreigners. We then met with our buddies. I thought we each got an individual buddy but apparantly our group gets a group of buddies. One guy I met seemed really nice he had at one time taught Chinese history so we talked a lot about that. After that I moved into my new room with someone else from my program which is nice because he speaks English.

I started today by taking my language placement exam and I got placed in to the beginner's class which sucks. I already know a lot of what they will be teaching. On the other hand it could be really good to start from the beginning and get the foundations. Plus, it will be easier so it'll take me less time to do homework.

But before my placement test me and my new roommate had breakfast from a street vendor. I had something very similar to a hash brown and he had a meat bun. My item came out to 1/2 a yuan which comes out to about $0.06. Then for lunch I had some bao zi which is a fried dumpling with meat on the inside. It was very good. After lunch a group of us went into a couple stores selling DVDs of mostly American moves for $0.75 each. So if there is any movie you ever thought about wanting to see tell me and I'll see what I can do.

Before lunch today we saw some clothes hanging in a tree which was very odd to us. In China few people have dryers so they just hang their clothes to dry. Apparantly some people hang them up in a tree. They use a 20 foot pole to get the clothes in and out of the tree which looks somewhat ridiculous to a westerner. This is also benifical in that keeps people from stealing clothes outside drying.

First Post from China

I'm finally here in China, safe and sound. I left St. Louis on Monday the 14th and arrived in Toronto at about 9pm. I had the wonderful opportunity to stay at the airport overnight since I didn't want to pay for a taxi or a hotel room. Although that night I was reading through my materials and I found out that we were supposed to arrive in Shanghai on the 15th and I wasn't going to arrive until the 16th. I called my dad and he read through an old email that said I was to leave on the 15th. So, I assumed that materials I had been reading were wrong. Unfortunately, we were supposed to get in on the 15th. So I arrived a day later than almost everybody else. But there was a teacher waiting for me at the airport to put me on a bus to Nanjing. We also met up with another student going to Nanjing so I didn't have any problem getting to Nanjing.

Once I got to Nanjing I moved into a room. I'm not sure if I am going to stay there or not. I think it may be just temporary because I moved in late, however I'm not sure. My current roommate is from Japan. He knows a little English which is good because his English is better than my Chinese. He seems like a nice guy but there is a definite communication gap.

This morning I woke up early hoping to find one of the program coordinator. I couldn't find anybody and apparently they are in Shanghai. So I went to the front desk to find other people from my group. I found them and they told me everything I had missed which apparently wasn't much so that's good. I spent the rest of the day trying to exchange my cash and get some toiletries. The hardest part about going to the bank, after finding it, trying to cross the street. After finding the bank I went to the nearest corner with a light. I waited for the walk sign that lasted exactly 3 seconds. Which wasn't enough time to cross the 8 lane road. These tasks generally took longer than they should have but I eventually got them done. I've found I can talk to people but when they respond I have difficulty responding. But I seem to know enough to get around and buy stuff.

After finally finding out what was happening with my group and going to the bank I took a long nap because I was tired and had been stressed out all day.

Tonight the group I came with went out for dinner. We ate some spicy chicken, spicy beef, spicy tofu and some spicy potatoes. The food was OK. I'm not a big fan of spicy food. But whatever the food lacked in taste it made up for in cost. The meal was more than enough and came out to less than $2 per person.

zai jian,

Aaron Yates

I Finally Leave

Tomorrow, Monday, I finally leave St. Louis for China. I'm glad this day has finally come. The last two months I've just sitting and waiting without a whole lot to do. I leave St. Louis at 6pm local and arrive in Toronto at 9pm and wait till 7am to leave for Vancouver and then I leave Vancouver for Shanghai. I should reach Shanghai by midday Wednesday. Then hopefully I'll have a couple days to settle in and adjust to the time.