Tuesday, January 6

Again with The dorms

So! Shanghai...上海。
I think I like Chengdu a lot better. I can get used to this place though. It's not as dirty for one. Of course as soon as I was past immigration I heard the Chinese spit. The airport was pretty empty for 7pm but it meant easy check out for me!
The airport is pretty simple I got a round easily and this time I even made it to campus on my own. (Last time I had a personal driver) I took the Maglev halfway and then took a taxi.

The Maglev is a bullet train so again I longed for Japan and the shinkansen.新幹線

My dorm room is pretty small because this time we're in a real dorm. on campus. by Chinese people.

Shanghai University's 上海大学campus is medium sized and good looking, but of course there is a new campus about an hour away that's bigger and better...(maybe i haven't seen it.)

Campus is near a little shopping area and a circus!!!!
I want to go to the Circus sooooo muuuuuch. I think the other students will think I'm childish so I'll wait until I have better friends.



And finally about those other students. I re-met with one of the black guys that I thought was a shame last semester but he has improved and so I'm proud of him. (He's black so even though we aren't here to bring up our race we certainly aren't here to let people look further down on us! I wanted him to be at least decent in Chinese and now he is.)
There are at least 5 black people here but only 2 of us are in the same program. One guy is even on the same level as me maybe even better! I was so proud of him too lol
He wondered if i was from a typical black family like African American and i told him that we are Jamaican. He laughed and said regular black families wouldn't study so hard. We laughed together.
They found out that I can speak Japanese so they introduced me to some Japanese guys and they introduced me to more. I was nervous again but they seemed impressed enough lol
(The past has not given me a lot of Japanese friends...even though I am married to that language.)

Well that's enough for today. I'm gonna go exercise before orientation cause then classes start....

3 comments:

cocoluvsjapan said...

I see girl well ooo u're such a good writer and keep up the good work!! It's always satisfying to see blacks abroad due to that dumb stereotype america has brought upon us! But yeah, that's so kewl you're speaking japanese too u might be able to make and meet more japanese people then me at Kwansei which is soo awesome hehe.

Anonymous said...

Ok, about that "regular black families wouldn't study so hard," comment...

First of all, yes, I'm American, born and raised (except for three years in Germany when I was a kid, but that's another story.) When I lived in Virginia, black people asked me over and over, "Are you Jamaican?" because I didn't fit certain stereotypes that some people have of African American women. (In other words, I wasn't an unmarried welfare recipient with four kids from three different babydaddies.)

When I was a kid, my mother drilled in us the importance of education, and fortunately my sisters and I listened to her. In high school, it was school during the day and work at night and during the weekends. In college, the same thing, school in the morning and a full-time job (with overtime) at night. After graduation, I worked ridiculous hours! I was a straight-up workaholic, yet I felt if I weren't constantly busy, then I was being lazy! To the disbelief of my black co-workers (especially the males), I spent my free time...reading! If I didn't read a certain amount each day, I would have gone crazy! When I wasn't reading books, I was online...reading!

Here am I now in South Korea where education is everything! Before I left the U.S., my co-workers found out that I was studying Korean--on my own! There were no classes where I was, so I had to use other methods to learn Korean. Some of them thought I was wasting my time and that I was studying too much. Ironically, here in Korea, my Korean friends encourage me to study more!

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong country! It drives me crazy that African Americans don't take their studies as seriously as other ethnic groups. I have worked with children for years and getting the African American children to do their schoolwork was a constant power struggle while the children from other ethnic groups just sat down and got started! I mean come on, they get free public school education for crying out loud! Children in some countries would kill for a chance at that!

After years of feeling out of place in America, I decided to work abroad, and it's the best decision that I ever made! I want to encourage other black people who take their studies seriously to go abroad! It'll change your life and people will appreciate your hard work!

Thank you for creating this blog! I think I'll visit China after I finish my stint here in South Korea since I see what a great time you're having! It's cool to see a sista speaking Chinese!

JamasiaN said...

Thank You Ma'am!
1. I am pretty proud to be learning Chinese. I just find it interesting.

2. I'm glad to have people think of Jamaican. In Las Vegas (I was not born there) black people are just that-black people. Afrian-American for the white people who don't want to offend, or the blacks who are too good*.

3*Reading is my life. I have a story about book shopping for later.

4. I myself am going to admit that I'm amazed that you started Korean on your own. But my amazement is in that you share the same interest, not that you are "not black".

5. I haven't taught for a long time but I do notice that the children of a certain tint don't study as whole heartedly. I'm shocked by some of us that could care less that they've never been complemented in the intellect department.

Oh well, thanks for commenting!!

 
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