Leave It All Behind?

I have been talking to my security guards more and I'm really going to miss them. They are my only Chinese friends in Shanghai. We laugh and talk and one guy complains to me all the time haha. We figure the differences with china and America and I get to look into their mindset. Sometimes it seems like they are blocking me when I say anything is possible, but I'm more aware now of why they would give up some goals in life. But overall I think China is doing better.

Another note that I want every girl to remember is that : Chinese men are not afraid to get close!!! It seems like one guy claimed me and so he was the only one to be so close that our hats touched when talking sometimes. I wanted to explain to him that in America we have unconcious space!! hahaha The others would wait for him to leave to get close but they wouldn't be THAT close. Oh well, I'm more comfortable now with my bubble being popped. I think it makes me feel more welcome too. I'm gonna miss that closeness.


My program friends and I went to the tallest bar/lounge in the world called Cloud 9. It was great we all dressed professionally, or at least no jeans or sneakers, and we ate and drank and enjoyed being upper class. Of course when we left we decided that we're all too young to enjoy that place often, for now, so we'll have to do it again in our late 30's or something haha :p

Culture Fair Pictures!!!

The long awaited pictures are here~ haha
Even though there are a lot for you to view here, I still want to make you go to my photobucket and look at more! Just search for jamasianblog. I will try to use this week to completely fill it up haha (I have procrastinated long enough.)

Only us 5 Yanchang classmates did TaiChi that day but we did it with a bang!
This is an awesome man. We call him Zhang Laoshi. If it weren't for him, people in my program would never know when cultural events are taking place. For some odd reason USAC doesn't help us integrate.
She is from MADAGASCAR and she is so cute. A lovely personality.

Me heading Paddy the Green Dragon's parade lol I am going to miss the Irish. They go to my school so we are friends.
The Irish, Mexicans and a black and white girl reppin AMERICA haha We are so silly.

They go to my school. That's why I can hug them. ;p

hahaha ECUADOR

KOREAN TABLE

 

I think this is VIETNAM

These two are from mongolia. Unfortunately the girl in the queen dress is a smoker. I was thinking she was so pretty before I saw it.

I'm sorry I'm not sure of their countries.

Cultural Fair Day 2

The next day my Tai Chi teacher wanted some of us to perform with her other classes...We got nervous because we hadn't practiced together before. There were a few groups who were showing off Chinese culture that day too.

While my group was waiting a little girl came out with her adopted mother and they asked me where the bathroom was. I told and the little girl said, "Wow! Your english is veeery goood!" and off they went.
...
Offense! Didn't she recognize my American accent! I have become soooo patriotic about my background here haha. I am constantly letting everyone know I am American. Especially since one guy from Algeria kept trying to get me to speak some random language. It was then that I decided to let people know that my family is Jamaican! I just don't understand why he kept trying to talk to me!! he didn't even use Chinese!

Anywho. We went out to perform and it was pretty good. People cheered so I didn't feel too out of place. The four people who came with me; we are from the Yanchang campus, so no one at Baoshan knows us. It would have been very uncomfortable if they didn't perform with us.

Actually 4 Baoshan students know me. I met one that yesterday and 3 more called out to me while performing *Big smile!* (I was so glad they remembered me, because I had been thinking about them all.) There was one more person who might remember me but I didn't see him either day. Now that I'm typing this I must admit that seeing them gave me a sweet for sour feeling. Why? They all knew my name!!! Why for the life of me couldn't I remember theirs? I'll tell you. My name is simple! These people all come from random countries that speak random languages!! haha ok. The guy from Laos is easy to remember. Maybe that language isn't too hard.

School Culture Fairs In China!

You know, back at my home school they were doing the Carnival of Cultures. I must say that is one of the most boring events...I feel like people should enjoy their background so much that they think of everything in the book to show it off that day. At my school they are mostly interested in how much money they can make. -_-


Well we had a Foreign Culture Day on the Baoshan campus of Shanghai University and it was bomb! There were so many people representing their cultures; Mongolia, Cuba, Thailand, random countries in Africa...etc.etc.
I was so pleased by how everyone made an effort to wear their traditional clothes, sell their countries special foods, play their cultural games, and dance or sing. Never have I had so much fun at a mulit-cultural event.
Even more amazing is, we used a lot of chinese to communicate lol Now you may be thinking,"Duh, you are in CHINA!" but please believe me when I say, it seems like everyone and their foregin moms speak english. No matter what country they are from, most foreigners use english. (Freakin' punks)
I love using Chinese as much as possible. So whenever I went to a new booth, be it India, Laos, whatever, I would greet them in 你好！And they would explain whatever they were showing off in chinese to me. (Only one girl switched to english for me...I was only slightly offended, because you must realize that not everyone has the same level of chinese haha)

Something I want to point out. Everyone talks about how disgraceful black dancing is and how the women shake so much of this and that. Guess what? Cuba, Mexico, and Mongolia were shaking like no tomorrow and "getting low". It seems to me like a lot of cultures use their hips to dance which accentuates the hind quarters. Therefore I ask that everyone stop bad mouthing black dancers! (Of course there are always exceptions to each culture. Some people do too much haha)


I also finally got a good impression from some Africans! They were so kind and one guy was excited to tell me his stories of the ridiculous things some Chinese people say. Here is one joke: There was an African married couple who decided to move to China and start a business. The woman was pregnant and the day she delivered at the hospital, out came a beatuiful pale baby boy. "You have a beautiful baby son. Don't take him back to Africa or he will turn black!" Warned the doctor.
lol That cracks me up! There are still some people who think you can only turn black by being born in Africa.

All in all it was a good day. Pics will come later because my camera is full!
(I'm sorry I'm behind on the other pictures too. 太痛苦了！原谅我！)

Much Irritation, But Not All Is Bad

I know I have kept you waiting long enough. I feel like I've been in Shanghai forever and school is just dragging away my...life! I've been irritated and itchy and tired and frustrated, but I've kept all of that inside. (This may be a long post to cover the week) It all boils down to this:

I am ready to leave Shanghai. I was told that when I was a toddler I couldn't stand dirtiness. With time, a little messy was ok. But Shanghai is one of the dirtiest places I've been in, and it rains on the mess! People seem to relentlessly spit all over the place and eat while throwing their plastic bags/bowls/uneaten food on the ground!? Do they really care nothing about their city? I wanna go home. And when I say home I mean Chengdu. Sure they are dirty too, but it's way more tolerable.
It's too bad. The people here are wonderful but I can't do this environment.

All right all right let's get started.

Monday 23

I went to classes and came home early. Just a normal day. It didn't rain. But I'm mad at myself because I spent 3hrs reading one chapter of my Managing Global Economy book. I guess it was the chapter because usually I am interested and time flies while I study it. Needless to say I put the book down and just read for U.S. China Relations.
[I'm trying to finish the last 5 chapters of MGE before spring break (April 6-10)]

Tuesday 24

This is the morning I was supposed to do more MGE but I didn't even touch the book. I studied Chinese instead. Then I decided to try and study right before the class [4pm] but I just left it in my bag and...I don't remember. But I know I didn't study it.

Wednesday 25

My Chinese teacher gave us a heads up on the next chapter we'd study and told us we would have dictation on Monday[30]. One of my classmates decided that studying 75 words was just too much for 5days. So the teacher cut out a lot. I hate that because half of the words are characters we already know how to write; easy things. Also our homeworks have been slim to none and our class time has been dramatically reduced! (It's been like this for 2 wks already but it's just now making the blog. I didn't want to post my complaints.)
Maybe I'm the class mate you don't like because I would rather use class time and have homework, but I prefer this because I pick classes that I want to use in life.

Anywho, later I finished copying my notes for US China and then went to that class (haha I had the notes highlighted in the readings, I just copied them to refresh. I wasn't lazy.)
In class I was told that my research topic had finally been approved and so even though I'm behind I'm still thankful. We talked about a lot during the class and 2 topics were things I wanted to share with you:

1* My teacher got on the subject of how Chinese girls don't talk about politics and don't know their history and such, and this caused a very offended response from my American counterparts. The thing is, even though I'm sure it's not everyone, the girls that I've hung out with haven't been very historical/political or anything. We always talk about pop culture and such. The guys I hang out with, on the other hand, happily mix those "important" issues into our conversations.

2* We talked about how Chinese people view Americans. The surveys we read proved that only the governments have a problem with each other. One girl expressed that she feels hated and gets dirty looks and gets talked about and stared at....
I'm sure I've covered this before, but let me explain again. Being foreign and black (which she is) you will get stared at hard and talked about!! If you learn the language like you are supposed to, (her choosing this specific program proves she wanted to learn right?) you would hear all of the adoring comments they are making out loud. Maybe one day I'll post a blog about all the things I've heard.

Thursday 26

I wanted to just stay in bed all day but I lured myself to China Phenomenon...late. After that class I wanted to study on campus but I didn't. I signed up to learn how to sing Beijing opera and do traditional dancing. Definitely up for putting myself in a position to understand culture. ;p

Friday 27~Saturday 28

I woke up late so I skipped breakfast and went on to Chinese!! This was the musical chapter so we read about the famous musician in our textbook and then listened to some of his folk songs. I want to get them.
Wang Luobin王洛宾- 在那遥远的地方In That Faraway Place
达坂城的姑娘 The Daban Cheng Girl
After we ended up listening to random songs that are popular nowadays.
Unfortunately (because I missed the first dance class), we had a make-up class right after it. We got our topics for our final speech and we present Wed. Can you believe I haven't started!!

This night was reserved for my friend that had to return to Japan. We karaoked and then hit a night club. I stayed the night at the dorms and in the morning bid her farewell. I'm sad because she was my only language partner. Sure there are other Japanese students at my school but they don't seem to like me much and I prefer her friendship to "strictly" language partner.
I went home and ate brunch and tried to catch up on some Anime. (I know. I know.) I watched the latest English subbed episode of Naruto Shippuden and tried to find more but of course they can only come out as the ones in Japan do. I did find that the Chinese youtube is one episode ahead but of course only with Chinese subs. I can't read that fast yet. Also subs don't work when you understand most of the spoken language. (Maybe I underestimate my Japanese. But I really want to understand every~ word~ o.o) Surprisingly I started another series on Chinese youtube because it wouldn't play on crunchyroll. Yet again, I battled the Chinese subtitles. [I think I'll do more of this to improve my reading.]
And then because of Friday night, I was knocked out hahahaha

Today!!!! Sunday!!!! 29!!!!

I was mad lol because I missed the Earth Hour thing. Even found out that this isn't the first year!! I am such an environmentalist and yet I don't even know these things.
Anywho, I studied and then decided it's better to study at school. Not that I wasn't doing well, but my favorite show came on and I wanted to avoid temptation.
As I walked out of my community's gate, the security guards gave their daily greetings. I really want to type today's in Chinese because it's funnier:

保安人员：你好！（热情地） Security guard: hello! (enthusiastically)
我：你好。（带着微笑） Me: hello. (slight smile)
员：你要去上学吗？ Guard: You going to school?
我：对上学。笑 Me: yep, goin to school. (giggle)
员：今天是星期日！你该休息~！Guard: Today is Sunday! You should relax!
我：我要学习~！ （都笑） Me: I want to study! ( all laugh)

Ok. Maybe it's not that funny. lol but xiuxi rhymes with xuexi so it was cute to me. Mind you there are about 3/4 guards talking to me. They bid me good bye and welcome me back everyday for the past week. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Welp, I have wasted your time enough. I need to study for tomorrow's dictation...again...

**(0.0) **

Kickin' It With The Fam

So It's only Thursday meaning I still have 3dys of no school. I was going to be cool and go to random places but so far I've just walked around, ate in one restaurant, studied outside in the good weather, and chilled a home.

It's funny because I can see some similarities in our families. Of course I have also picked up on the differences like a hawk. It's definitely shown me some things I think the "ideal" family is.

First:
There are only 3 people to begin with but chores are done in a completely "team work" manner. If dad cooks he'll clean the pots out right after. If mom cooks she'll do the same. As you know, Chinese people serve all dishes in separate bowls.

Second:
After eating sometimes mom will do the dishes but it's normally the son. he doesn't need to complain because we don't finish all the food normally. Meaning we only dirty one bowl apiece. He washes those and then our chopsticks and the table and counters, whatever.
Clean-up has taken but a second.

Third:
Son may come home and be very tired and say, "I don't want to do the dishes. I'm soooo tired." There is no outburst from Dad saying, "I bought this house and your blah blah blah yadda yadda (hours go by)."
There is a level of understanding. They all work so they know how it can be when ONE day has really gotten to you.

Fourth:
I'm not sure if this isn't normal but they usually eat dinner together. This is the time they can talk. They eat pretty fast so actually it's after that Dad is watching TV and Mom and Son talk while Dad throws in a 2cent something haha.
I think it's good to talk. You should know who your family are.

Fifth:
Sure there are some arguments. usually not as important but we all have them. Son is allowed to give his opinion. I like this a lot because sometimes parents have to know that, they...are...wrong. Oh the world! A parent was wrong!! so?

RenMinBi 人民币

This is actually going to be a short thing.

I was going out and just in case put 100RMB in my shoe. When I got home I forgot to take it out, since I didn't need it. My host brother found it and then my host dad showed me that my shoe had turned red!! not too much but still. He told me that that meant the hundred was real!

So I found one more way to make sure the money you get is real. You rub it and see it any color comes off. If it doesn't it's fake!! That baffles me in the sense that in order to make a passable fake RMB you have to find out how they make it to where people can use it everyday without it losing all of it's color by the end of the day, and yet will rub off a good amount when using your finger...Oh well I have no intentions of producing fake anything so ha.


It's the first day of vacation and I didn't do much of anything...Oh well.

Day 1 Of The Lantern Festival

I was trying to sleep for a long time but my mind woke me up at 6:20 in the morning. HA! I noticed that my body wouldn't move though and it felt heavy so i forced myself to sleep. I woke up constantly but I finally slept until 11:30AM.

This is when I started the battle of finding a Carrefour家乐福 close to me. Since no one knows how to give me directions， I was online mixing and matching maps and addresses until 4pm! (well I was watching a drama first so I really didn't start until 1 or so...) But I finally made a good guess of which was closer and how to get there by the metro. (Taxi =$$)

I was quite impressed with myself getting there so fast! It was getting back that was a complete hassle. I had planned to meet my friends to eat dinner by Yu Garden and then go in to see the lantern festival.(Sorry I will post the amazing pics tomorrow) The problem was I had to take the line 3 (which got me there) back to transfer to line 8 and then walk to the garden (since I don't know bus routes still).

Sadly line 8 is outside and across the street inside a hotel from the line 3 station...-_- I know. I got lost because a sign told me to walk by the Soccer stadium but the stadium has no signs to guide you，so I just made a big circle. Then I went out of the other exit that the map showed and got lost again because the only sign I saw was broken and pointed to a convenient store...literally directly at the convenient store.
SO! I asked a few people while aimlessly walking back and forth and finally asked a family ( inside what I thought was a night watch stand) and they told me. It's on the other side. O.O (The other side was an alley... a dark alley behind a hotel with what turned out to be a garage.)
After seeing me walk into that alley the son ran to me and said "Where are you walking?! What's even back here!?!" haha
We started laughing as I apologized for making him run (it was an alley so I walked fast). Then he said "my parents are at the corner they'll help you."
So sure enough at the corner the mom says "it's inside the hotel exactly on the left." Then I saw the sign, apologized to them for having to come show me, to which they said it's nothing and watched me safely go inside, and finally got on the sub.

My friends texted at 7:15 sayin they were just leavin and I let them know that I was just on the way too. Thinking they'd meet me at the restaurant (I was so hungry) I walked there first. For some reason they had paid and gone into the Festival area and then said ‘so where's the restaurant?-_-. [Usually you wait outside for the extra 5-10min your friend is late.] So we ended up walking around and checking out all of the lanterns and watching the dragon dancing and parade, until finally we knew we should eat. With luck gone out the window, the food I had been craving for 2weeks was closed. So we started walking back to the metro (as everything else was closed) until I looked at the bus stop sign and said 'let's just take the bus'. For some reason they questioned whether I knew where it would go, but the sign said 人民广场 [People's square]. So of course I knew.

We got to our destination outside of campus and chose to eat dumplings. They go 6 for 2.5yuan[$.37] and so a meal of that is cheap and de-lurcious. Now I am thinking I should study for my class in the morning but I'm tired so I'll study before it starts (because I wake up unconsciously before 7:30 anyway).

Almost No Sleep

I went to my friends' place of party, Shiryokia(?), and it was expensive if you ate only one dish cause those things were small. I was afraid it'd be only sushi cause i can't eat alot of it. But we ended up paying 160yuan [$23.41] to eat and drink whatever was on the menu. And yes they got there at 7:30pm and planned to leave at closing(11pm)...they wanted to "get their money's worth". I thought the food was excellent and even tried sashimi (raw fish). So staying until closing was not something i thought necessary.

After the birthday boy wanted to check out a new club but everyone encouraged him to go to M2. They go to M2 every Wednesday because they used to have an all you can drink for 100yuan [$14.63] special. So I thought that was unnecessary too. When we got there about an hour later they were complaining about M2 so we went to Windows Too. I think the music was better there (not techno) but it was soooo small. Plus everyone finally realized they were too tired to dance anyway. Then they went to McDonalds, but I hate McDonalds so I only got orange juice. For 7.20!!![$1.06] It only came in small!! We finally arrived home around 6:30am. I went to bed to try and get a nap before the festival thing.

**********************************************************************

At the festival thing there were a bunch of dance and performances and Tai Chi. It was awesome! The were all old people and in one dance they were using their canes and I was like "Go nainai! Go yeye! (grandma!/grandpa!)" haha

I was standing by a Tibetan nainai, wearing their beautiful traditional clothing and so I talked to her a bit (she was so adorable. child-like.) then a friend and I took pictures with her (This was in the middle of one of the dance performances). That must have been the green light for the other people.
I remember that at our arrival some professionals were taking photos of us and directing us to look at certain things. ( I noticed though, even 10yr olds were using pro-cameras...hmmm) But that was the beginning so I thought that would be it. Low and behold, after taking a picture with Tibetan nainai, we were pushed to go make some sweet rice balls. There were some beautiful twins from...some country... that came too, so everyone wanted their picture and then there were older Chinese twins, so of course they took pictures together. lol (The Chinese ladies were pretty too.)

So while making the rice balls I felt like I was actually working for a magazine because they were taking soooo many pictures and then they started to direct us and take pictures. after making 3 for those cameras I had to make another and answer a few questions for the news camera. haha
*First the announcer lady goes: do you speak Chinese?
*Me: yes i do.
*Lady teaching me the rice ball: of course she does! how would she understand my directions?
ahahaha
In all I thought it was an awesome morning[10:30am ended]. Of course I planned to go sleep after but I was called out by a friend in an hour.

*******************************************************************

We went to the anime district and I saw some awesome outfits that I will definitely start rockin'. I'll upload the pics later.
We went to the Nike store which had a building size poster of Mr. Bryant on the side and his shoes were everywhere inside. Figures.
( I noticed that everybody and their grandmas rock Nike. If it's not Nike it's usually very nice lookin dress shoes. Even the homeless seem to keep their shoes up. So i felt slightly embarrassed on account of I'm still wearing my 3yr old shoes....yes I will be buying new [Nike] shoes soon. I wondered why people kept lookin at my shoes.)

Then we went to Dunkin Donuts on the way to the Japanese school. It was so nasty. But I don't like Dunkin anyway. It's Krispy Kreme for me.
The Japanese school was nice but I don't have the funds to be paying a 2nd tuition. They said they had a scholarship but I was like '2months is already $805'. I going next year anyhow so there's no need to pay. I thought it was like a learning language club, not an institution.
(This is also when I decided I don't like to hang out with my black guy friend alone anymore. These people mistake him for my boyfriend and I don't want people to assume when I'm alone with a guy of dark descent that we're dating. I won't just stop hangin' out with them; I just wont like it.)


Even though by now I was ridiculously tired, I had been invited to eat dinner with my classmates (remember only 4 of us) at their apartment at 7pm. It was very nice inside and even though I don't talk to them much we ended up talking until 11pm almost. I think I grew closer because I learned lots of crazy things about them. They're good people.

Finally getting back to the dorm around 11:20 my friends across the hall wanted me to go clubbing with them.
HA ha ha Ha haha HAaaa.
No.
I told them I love hangin with them (they pick good places) but I was toooo tired. I showered and slept soooo peacefully.

Realities Of Long Vacations

I didn't fully understand what a Chinese New Year celebration meant.
I love the fireworks that go off randomly and how I am sure I have heard at least 3 per day.
I love how the temples are crowded and people all over are enjoying family time.
I love how there is no school and I can go explore the city and go to the zoo!!
I love how I can read my days away if I want to. haha



What I do not love is that our water pipes were not working right and so it took 3 days until they were back to normal.
I do not love that my cable is out on my TV meaning that I can not watch the shows that I usually miss because of class. Mine still does not work but I noticed our security guard downstairs was enjoying all of his favorite shows even on the day he said the whole building was out. (My neighbor was also watching theirs comfortably.)
I do not love how I tried using the internet to watch dramas (since my cable's out) but it seems to be moving slower than ever...


**I also do not love how the stores and restaurants closed early and I was forced to use what I had to cook.....but that was my fault. I was reading forever and completely failed to look at the time, ;p

Chinese New Year

I really wanted to spend new years with Chinese friends so that they could fill me in on all the events, but since i haven't met any I just hung out with my program friends.

We lit fireworks on the roof of the building next to our dorm (hehe) and then in the basketball court. Mind you, I'd heard that the students were told not to light them on campus so I did not personally light any. (I'm not one for deliberately breaking rules.)
Anywho. I wanted to go to the temples and we went to one but I found out that they pay 80元 to get in and pray so I took pictures from outside.

We were going to walk to The Bund for the countdown but everyone has been setting off fireworks for a week now and we didn't consider it that special. So on the way there we stopped to watch families do fireworks which was much better in my perspective. Cars and buses cruise by as people light them in the streets. They also light them in the middle of they're apartment complexes. It is firework mania. I want to comeback each year.
At the bund we also lit lanterns, made a wish and let them fly into the sky. I think it was awesome but you have to wonder how they finally ... end. (I also wonder why they do it.)

Then after all of that we were supposed to go home. This is why I want to tell you a life tip:

Bring that secret stash of money for just in case causes.

I had only enough money to take a cab (together) to downtown and back but they wanted to go to a club. They were going to meet some other program participants there. I think 'hmm well I guess if it's free entry (like a lot are) I can go and since there're more people the taxi back will be cheaper.'

Wrong.

The first club was and 80元 fee and so they wanted to try a different one that other participants were supposedly at. Low and behold this club was 100. and I'm thinkin 'Why. Why did I pick today of all days to count my money and leave it in my room.' (I'm rationing my spending so I count it often) I didn't have enough to simply take a taxi home alone and I didn't want to stand outside of the club however many hours they would be there.

But overall. I enjoyed the day.

Chinese New Year Preperations

I am excited as the new year is approaching but I certainly am unhappy about my favorite cheap restaurants closing for the holiday (which seems to last at least 3 weeks.) Yes businesses close down shop for that long. Don't know how but it is possible.

I really wish I was back in Chengdu with all of my friends because I realize that I don't know any one here and I will most likely not be receiving any hong bao 红包。(The beautiful red packet filled with funds, given to you by your elders...any elders you know.)

I have been hearing fireworks and seeing them since last week. Unfortunately there are no Chinese students in school right now so I won't have a good experience of what the young people normally do on the holiday. My friends from my program are all going to different cities so I have decided to find a few temples, go to a church, and visit the people's park to see how people are celebrating. (Very free things as my situation only allows that. heehee) I will bring my trusty camera so that you can all see!

well I have one week off and there are 3 school sponsored parties going on so after those I will let you know how interesting (or not) it is. I feel like its going to be very quiet.

Program Differences

I know that a lot of people want to leave the states and learn things in a foreign country. Here is something to remember:

Study abroad:
A situation that allows you to study in a foreign land without needing any language skills. You are here to study whatever you want. hard. You can enjoy the place you are in but learning the language is not the ultimate goal.

Foreign Exchange:
This is that beautiful program that allows you to become the world's greatest at the language of your choice country. Your focus can be the language and most likely you will be taught in the language.


sometimes the study abroad may be intensive language but...
Just know that this is based off of my experience and some companies may be different.


Also know that if you were looking for total immersion in china DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH at all costs. It is very much an English speaking country. Most people are shy of their skills so they will avoid you. The rest are hunting for someone to teach them English, even though they are fluent. Yes. Fluent.

Tibetan ness

I feel like Tibetan food is sssooooo tasty haha I'm gonna miss it so much when I go to Shanghai. Maybe it's because in their hometowns they are used to cold weather, and somehow that results in using spices and flavor in their food lol
Don't get me wrong cause Sichuan food is good but sometimes I feel like it's lacking something. My favorite thing in Tibetan cuisine is....unfortunately i have no idea what they call the dish haha (different language) but they do have potato balls that taste awesome! and potato cakes!!

I really grew to like the Tibetan culture that I got to know at school. I will miss the weekend cultural dancing terribly. because I feel like that is something special. Of course they do it every weekend every year, but for people who love music (me) that is the life!! ;p
i also had a friend who comes to dance every week. I know everyone in her dorm but it seems like they don't like dancing. Oh well I usually dance with her. For some reason the world has put on a bad image to dancing. Not cultural but if I tell people I want to go to a club they are like... Why? and dance hip hop? The truth is because of music videos everyone thinks dancing is a sexual activity, but if we still enjoyed ball room dancing I would be at those clubs the most.
I love gong out to dance but dancing in a routine seems more fun. Anywho, I hope I find something else to enjoy culturally because the impression that I got from the Tibetan people make my heart warm. I will miss them soooo much. Thank You!!

Children

Our school has cultural dances every Friday and Saturday night. I usually join in and then lots of students talk to me only saying Hello in English. It's funny because this past Saturday I went as usual but there were many more students that joined in. So of course I was more popular than normal. Then I thought about back home. My friends and I love to meet foreigners and ask the same questions that they learned from day one. Then we ask for they're number and maybe we'll actually call them out.

This time though I was bombarded by 2 very sweet kids. (Sorry I don't have their pics but I have a video lol) The girl was in 3rd grade I think and the boy was just a tot. This is when I noticed that children will never ask you those easy one liner questions. They prepare a whole speech or story! Their voices are higher and they talk faster making you feel like you better go back and study some more. haha But in reality, they are using the normal speech and speed that you should be used to.

Talking to them was a lot of fun. The little boy practically ran up to me and said
姐姐你是哪国人？ (Big sister, which country are you from?)
With no fear of approaching a black person, like a lot of tots here have. So of course this made my day. He even called me big sister instead of Auntie (I'm still young) or whisper to his mom "a foreigner!" (which is considered slightly rude here).
[Most educated people know to say 小姐 or 美女 which are Ms.]


And so I write all of this to boast of course lol
I'm proud of myself for getting to the point that I can understand children and when they are treating you as an equal!

Day 1 北京

We went to Tian'an men Square 天安门广场 but it just an entrance to the forbidden city 故宫. That place was amazing, because as the Chinese name shows, it's not a city it's a palace 宫. Unfortunately we only had 2 hours in this great place and the map we received made it seem like a small palace...as if.

I did a good job of not being lost and decided that I can still be a ninja. You just have to know exactly where to go to get anything done. Of course being a foreigner a lot of people took pictures with me but this is the best time；

Guy: Can I take a picture with you?
Me: Sure thing! (Glad he took that as a yes, I forgot he asked in Chinese)
(while taking the picture)
His Mom?: Why do you keep taking pictures with black girls! What's wrong with those cute white girls?!
Him: ...
Me: ...

I wanted to hug that guy and say thanks for not being racist. It's amazing what people will say when they think you don't know their language.

*Later we went to a place called the pearl market and it turned out to be a big store open for bargaining. The thing is some of those people speak the rudest English and some grab and hold you so you'll buy their merchandise...I was not the one. I don't even bargain much but being grabbed made me buy something extremely cheap. ( I mean I took the price down about 80 percent. But I really needed a scarf there. It was windy.)

Overall I enjoyed the day.

Also go to my photobucket for all of the pics
user name: jamasianblog


This place doesn't let me upload the way I want.

Self realizations

I am sorry about the time missed. I was in Beijing北京 and Xi'an西安. Of course I will tell you all about them but first my blurb for today.

I just got back so I decided to go and visit the friends that I talk to just about 6 days a week lol and dive right into my studies.

I went to talk to my friends and they were like "Oh I missed you so much!!" and I even introduced them to one of my friends (who finally wants to start immersing) and one guy was like, "I really like her. She seems sincere." This isn't the only time I feel like true feelings have come out. In America I learned that China was soooo conservative they don't really show emotions, etc. But after being here I realized that they show only the truest emotions I have ever known. Maybe they feel too quickly even. They aren't raunchy with affection like some cultures I know, and I feel truly honored to be around them. haha Maybe the reason they don't say 'I love you (我爱你)' is because we all know it. Just by the way we express our feelings about one another and how we aren't embarrassed to let someone know 'Hey I have been thinking about you.'
(I like how I've unconsciously put myself in their category. Maybe it means I have changed a bit.)


I also did one of my Tibetan Culture essays today. The teacher has told us to make our own topics. 3 pages double spaced due by the end of the semester.
In China textbooks are a rare thing so I could only go off of my notes from this fast paced class and the internet (Heeey!!) haha
I have made the decision to use this method for all of my essays now. I have been doing it wrong this whole time. My essay seems better when I use my own notes and my own personal research. I don't want to use another textbook again! Those authors explain everything in such an uninteresting way...

All right I'll stop here and start the vacation post marathon lol

Love ya!

Touch the Black Girl!!

You know I don't really mind the staring and coming up to me to say "Hello", but some of these people pet me....I'm like "Am I a new animal?" It's not that bad but some people look like they might be thieves so I make sure to not have anything in pocket and only carry a small bag. I have heard that Tibetans will aggressively ask foreigners for money and...Hey, I ain't rich.

Not The Rich Foreigner

I am definitely not the richest foreigner.

I have been asking about where I can buy a good back pack or purse back pack and some jeans. Why do all of them take me to the expensive shopping mall? The bags started at 500RMB and the jeans at about 430RMB. Which is still a good 60 something in USD!!

So I just went shopping with my classmates so that I don't need to waste the chinese students' time. But shopping for pants is not that easy here. I wear a size 28-30. So finding ones that fit is not a big problem. Its finding ones that look good!!

For some odd reason they just love ironed on wrinkles or huge flowers or extremly shiny mess all over their pants. I was like....I'm black. I know you can see me. lol

Anywho shopping in china is interesting. they like for you to try on clothes one by one. i have no idea why.... it is soooo much faster to just try on a few and find the one you like and get out.
I found a good pair for 69yuan [$10] and even a shirt to match for 19yuan [$3].....yep good old National Day sales. lol

Yellow Dragon Town

I liked this little place. It's a showing of part of older china. Plus the river is 2 different colors. They have made it a little more commercial with all the souvenirs, but what can you expect? It 2008 even I wouldn't live in the old style unless you paid me.

Anywho. When I first got there I wanted a picture of the gate and then me in the middle (of course) and when I finished this girl (12?) came and said Hi and shook my hand and rubbed my arm and, I think I should have taken a picture with her lol

My director invited some Chinese students from our university to try to ease the isolation (will post later) and so I made a new friend and we all went around looking at the old things and ate lunch. Then I found myself alone.

So I walked around and bought a few small things and then I saw a part of the river where you can cross on stones (they have animal characters on them like ，鼠，龙，猪） any who this is what it looks like:


and it has high traffic time. I convinced myself I wanted to go then, but before I could try crossing the guy in that picture wanted to take a picture with me. So I took one with him and his friends. and I got back in line. then some girl wanted to take a picture with me so I did and got back in line and by that time it was very high traffic lol

So I crossed without falling and as soon soon as I got to the other side person after person wanted to take pictures with me (one even said that her school is near mine so we should hang out sometime) haha

These people make me feel extra special sometimes lol