Introducing: Xu Laoshi, My Chinese Angel

In Chinese, 'laoshi' means 'teacher.' One of my angels this year has come in the form of a Chinese teacher, Xu Laoshi, who meets with me once or twice a week to teach me Chinese. For those of you who know nothing about the Chinese language, I'm going to give you a very brief tutorial so that you can know the extent of patience this woman has with teaching me.


The Chinese language, as far as I can see, has three different parts: tones, characters and pinyin. Pinyin is the 'alphabetical' part - the spelling of the different sounds. For example, you can read Tianjin in the pinyin or you can read it in the character form, 天津. (Can't believe I figured out how to do that...woo hoo! Victory dance!) Right now I am just reading pinyin, I have yet to learn many characters except for a few basic ones. Next comes the real tricky part for me - TONES! There are 4 different pitched tones and one "toneless" tone in the Chinese language. Rather than try to explain each tone, I'll just tell you that a word's meaning can change drastically by the rising or falling of your voice. When learning the tones, I had to train and FORCE myself to do it correctly and I finally think I have a handle on them. Now, the problem is remembering which tone goes with which word!!! I'll give you some examples of words/tones to be very careful with:

Ma - Can either mean 'mom' or 'horse' depending on a slight inflection of your voice. "Hey horse, I mean mom, can you pass me the sugar?"

Mai - Can either mean 'buy' or 'sell' depending on the tone. I am sure there is a tongue twister out there for this one.

Wen - Can either mean 'problem/question' or 'kiss.' - "I have a question for you," could turn into "I have a kiss for you!"

Can you see my difficulty? Thankfully, Xu Laoshi is trained to teach Chinese to foreigners and her methods are amazing. She gently corrects my tones about 20 times during each lesson and this just inspires me to work harder and harder to get them right the first time. We are almost finished with the first book in a series of books and I can really see a difference, especially in my listening. I understand probably 90% of what she says, it's just the responding in a grammatically correct way that I still need to work on! I think that learning a new language takes skill, dedication, motivation, practice but above all I think it takes confidence....the confidence to speak out and give it a try. That last part is what I am seriously lacking right now (and for the past year and a half) but my Chinese angel is boosting me up more and more so that maybe a few months from now, I'll be just a little bit more brave.

Until then, I'm making the most of those small victories and celebrating! ViCtOrY dAnCe!

Spring Festival Recap

As I mentioned in the last blog, I spent the Spring Festival in Hangzhou with my good friend, Echo, and her family. If you can remember back to past blogs about my travels in Hangzhou, you will remember that I always have very interesting and unique experiences while I am there! Keep in mind that Spring Festival is like Christmas in America, very much a family-oriented holiday and I spent 3 days of the 7-day holiday with Echo's family. Here's a recap of some of my experiences this time around!

Fireworks
Last year I wrote a long blog about the craziness of Spring Festival, and a lot of this craziness comes from firework-mania! Unlike in the U.S., fireworks are legal (at least during the 7-day holiday) so any Tom, Mike, or Bill can set-off fireworks anywhere they please! This includes street corners, driveways, or rooftops and I am not talking your ordinary sparklers but actual 4th of July fireworks! The sound at midnight on Spring Festival Eve is like a warzone surrounding you and if you are trying to hold a conversation you must yell to be heard! This year on Spring Festival Eve we were at Echo's villa in the country so the noise was not quite so booming, except for the neighbor who I'm guessing is a self-proclaimed pyro. We went to the 4th floor of the villa and watched the fireworks going off over the city - beautiful! We even bought a few of our own to set off...below is Echo's grandpa playing with a sparkler. :)


Dongxi
In Chinese, dongxi means "stuff" or "things." When we moved out to the villa from Echo's apartment in the city, we took two carloads of dongxi - most of it being food for all of the meals that Echo's mom and aunt would cook over the next two days! I was only slightly disturbed when Echo asked me to carry the box with the live chicken. The white box in the picture below would soon house two more live chickens that relatives had given to Echo's family for the New Year. Surprisingly enough, all three chickens survived the holiday and were happily clucking in the garden at the end of the big meals! You can see Echo below with her grandparents and just a small portion of the dongxi on the floor next to them.


Food
I always try new foods when I am with Echo and this time was no exception! Some of the things that made it onto my plate and into my stomach: frog, something that Echo said was like a turtle but not a turtle..., crab at EVERY meal - YUM, a whole coconut delivered to me at a restaurant with a straw stuck in the top...it felt very "Survivor," and shark fin (I felt terrible!) In the first picture below you can see Echo and I making the spring rolls for one of our dinners. Below that is PART of our Spring Festival Eve meal - several more dishes came later. All of these were made by Echo's mom - the poor woman spent two whole days doing nothing but cooking!



Family Visits
Another tradition at Spring Festival time is to use the 7-days to visit family members. There is a very exact "pecking order" that I have yet to understand but I'll explain what I do know. On Spring Festival Eve the grandparents and their son's families get together. The next day the grandparents get together with their daughter's families. (In past years the woman who marries into a man's family is considered to be more a part of her husband's family than her own. This is why her husband's family gets priority over the most important day in the holiday and only the next day does the woman get to visit her birth family. Much of this tradition is dissolving, though, in today's culture.) The family then spends the remaining 5 days visiting cousins, siblings, aunts, uncles, and any other family members at their homes. I went on one of these visits to see Echo's grandmother's brother. Basically, we sat there for about an hour eating fruit and nuts while Echo's grandma socialized with the extended family. We took lots of gifts and they sent us back with gifts. Echo's family will likely continue to do this throughout the holiday...taking gifts, receiving gifts...

Heating System
Okay, the last thing I'll comment on from my trip to Hangzhou is the heating system! Well, there is none! Even though temps were in the 30's-40's, there is no central heating system in Southern China. None. Period. Everyone relies on wall air conditioning units that have a heat feature or little heating machines that everyone gathers around to stay warm. Also, winter coats are worn indoors at all times since it is even colder inside than outside! Sure makes me appreciate my cozy little apartment in the North!

I head to Hong Kong in a few days - I'll be there for a week. I might try to write one more post before I go but if you don't hear from me for over a week, that's why!

Hong Bao: The Art of Giving and Receiving

In Chinese, "hong bao" literally means "red envelope." Giving and receiving hong baos in Chinese culture is common; they are given at weddings, Spring Festival, or other family gatherings. The red color represents good fortune and is thought to ward off evil spirits. Usually hong baos are given in replace of gifts and they are filled with different amounts of money depending on many factors: social status, family's financial situation, relationship with the person receiving the hong bao, or sometimes even as bribery. (For example, I was talking to a Chinese friend whose father needed an operation at the hospital. They gave a hong bao to the surgeon but didn't realize that they should also give one to the anesthesiologist. So, the result was that the treatment from the surgeon was excellent while the anestesiologist would barely give them the time of day. Unbelievable, right? You can see how much doctors make in China when everyone who needs an operation is expected to give them a hong bao - "under the table.")

Although I have given hong baos at Chinese weddings, this Spring Festival was my first real encounter with all of the delicacies involved in giving and receiving. Spring Festival is when millions of hong baos are given throughout China! Some people had told me that hong baos were only given to children who do not yet have a job (so this would also include college students.) You can imagine my surprise when my friend Echo's dad handed me a hong bao during our first dinner after I had arrived in Hangzhou! I desperately tried to refuse it but failed and walked away with my first hong bao. I asked Echo about it and told her my "knowledge" about who should receive hong baos and how I was not in that category but she told me that in her family if you are not yet married than you receive a hong bao. Since I was spending Spring Festival with her family, then I was included in the receiving. Later I received two more hong baos from her mom and her aunt and uncle. In each hong bao was 500 kuai (about $73)!!! This is a large amount in China! I became even more confused when Echo began giving hong baos to her parents and grandparents...should I also do this?? She said that it was not necessary because only children give them to their parents or grandparents. Huh? So they are basically passing the same money back and forth? Yep! When I brought up the idea of giving a hong bao to Echo's younger cousin who is 16 she fought me but I finally won! Then came the discussion of how much to give...meaning, what is appropriate for me according to my relationship to her cousin?? 400 kuai? 500? Echo quickly rejected 400, because of course "4" is an unlucky number and 500 was too much so we settled on 300 kuai. The look on her cousin's face when I, a foreigner, handed her a hong bao was priceless!

Throughout the rest of the 4 days I spent with Echo's family, I saw much more exchanging of hong baos and I even successfully refused a 4th! The picture above is of the 3 hong baos that I came home with. Although I learned a lot about this bit of Chinese culture, I think I will never completely figure it all out! And, man, I'm exhausted! :)

Happy "MOO" Year!

Last Sunday at midnight marked the beginning of 2009, according to the Chinese Lunar calendar. 2009 is the year of the Cow so I thought I'd include some of the characteristics of you "cows" out there:

• You are a cow (ox) if you were born in 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997 or 2009
• You are dependable, calm and modest.
• You have a very logical mind and are extremely systematic, though you have tremendous imagination and an unparalleled appreciation for beauty.
• You are hardworking and tireless in your work.
• Public opinion and financial gain mean little to you.

So, what do you think? Is it you? Although I highly doubt the validity of these predictions it's all in fun. If you're a cow (or not) I hope 2009 blesses you abundantly!

Don't Quit Your Day Job!

A few weeks ago my friend, Natalie, and I went to this HUGE fabric market in Tianjin. It has everything you could possibly want...and more. Originally I was just along for the ride to help Natalie pick out some wool and liners for two coats she was making. But then, I found some wool that I just loved and it was fairly cheap so I decided to get it and I started the designs for my own coat! I picked out the wool, liner and the buttons then went with a Chinese friend to a tailor to have it made. With Natalie and Zhang Zhe's help, we designed the coat and a few weeks later, it was finished. Just like that! The whole coat including materials and labor cost me just about $40 U.S. Can you imagine paying that for a custom-designed winter coat in the U.S!?!?

So, without further ado...my coat!

Deborah, you were close when you guessed bright red! It's different shades of red and, I almost hate to say it...pink! Too bold??

As you can see, I originally put a small "pinch" or "tightener" (help me out, sewing experts!) on the back but I don't really like it now that it's finished so I think I'll take it back to the tailor and exchange it for a belt. What do you think?

The collar can either stand up, like in the picture above, or fold down, like in the picture below.

So, what do you think?? Do I have a new calling in the world of design or should I stick to my day job? Hahaha...don't answer that! I am pretty confident that my future is not in design but it was fun to try it out - thank goodness for Natalie, Zhang Zhe and their expert advice! :)

Qingdao: Green Island

About a day after I turned in my finals I started to realize that the impending 5 week vacation was beginning to look a little bleak - what with all of my foreign friends fleeing the country and my Chinese friends fleeing Tianjin - so I did what I do best and started planning some traveling! I first booked a flight to Hangzhou for Spring Festival and then I planted the idea of a 2-day trip into the mind of a remaining friend. We decided to go to Qingdao on Wednesday afternoon and were on an overnight, sleeper bus that night!

Qingdao, literally meaning 'Green Island,' is a coastal city in China, only about 5 hours by train from Tianjin. Normally, it is a hot tourist spot but since it is a bit cold now, there were not too many people there. Still, it was a nice break from the colder temperatures and heavy winter pollution in Tianjin. We probably had 40 degree-ish weather while we were there. (Note...I am being VERY cautious to not complain about the cold here since all of you Midwest folk are freezing in your britches!) Anyways, nearly everyone wants to visit Qingdao in the summer but I was perfectly happy to go when there would not be scores of people! On the map below, you can see where Qingdao is in relation to Tianjin - not far.


As I mentioned, we took the sleeper bus to Qingdao as it was nearly impossible to get train tickets so last-minute. I figured it was time for an adventure! The bus is divided into 3 rows and each row has an upper and lower bed. Try to imagine 3 rows of beds, a bathroom (if you can call it that...) and a total of about 30 beds on a bus - if your mind's image does not include a lot of aisle room or bed room, then you are right! As soon as I stepped onto the bus I was immediately stuck because the aisle was not wide enough for my backpack to fit through. When we finally reached our beds at the back, I was completely claustrophobic but also excited for the new adventure! Everyone else was settled into their beds and getting ready for the movie to begin. Also, everyone was staring at the blond girl and saying how they couldn't believe I could get used to this kind of travel...little did they know! Once I got all situated in my too narrow, too short bed (you know the kind where there is not enough room to stretch out your legs but also not enough room for the fetal position without your knees falling off the side of the bed...okay, so maybe you don't know...) I settled in and tried to not think about how the bumps were going to make the journey even more difficult since I'd vowed not to use the ahem...toilet...on the bus! Although I'm not exaggerating about the 'accommodations' on the bus, I am dramatizing the whole thing a bit...it wasn't too bad and there's always a chance to catch up on that missed sleep later! The picture below does not do justice to the actual bus...


After arriving in Qingdao, we took some time to rest then went out to do some sightseeing. There was a pier that is a hot-spot but was extremely windy and cold so we didn't stay long. We also found an old Christian church, built in 1908, so we looked around there for a while - it was beautiful!

Qingdao Christian Church

That night we found a movie theater and watched a Chinese movie, "Red Cliff." It was pretty good! I'll probably write more on that later...I want to blog about some Chinese movies I've seen lately.

The next day we took it easy - explored the beach which was nearly empty; that serene emptiness added so much to the already vast seaside - and ate some good seafood.

Thankfully, we were able to get a train ticket for the trip home and that thankfulness was emphasized hugely when we almost missed our train! We had to beg the taxi driver to go faster and still we arrived at the station just 13 minutes before our train was leaving - and we still had to get through security and make it to our gate! Needless to say, we RAN! We made it with 3 minutes to spare and I was struck with a revelation: either A. I am totally and utterly out of shape or 2. It's true what they say about running in Tianjin and how the pollution will burn your lungs to lifelessness. But taking into consideration that we were still in Qingdao and not yet back to Tianjin, I must plead guilty and acknowledge that the former revelation is the most accurate. (Of course my friend doesn't know this...I made up some excuse about my backpack swinging and causing me to run slower! :)

Next city...here I come!

Hum Drum...

There's not too much to report on today - I think the most interesting part of my day so far was biking to church in the 18 degree weather (with windchill at who-knows-what temperature!) Brrrrrr....

My 5-week vacation has begun so until I go to Hong Kong in February I have 3 books to read, 7 movies to watch and the Chinese language to learn...should keep me somewhat entertained! Oh, and I'll possibly throw in a trip to Hangzhou over Spring Festival, depending on the ticket prices.

Check back very soon for pictures of my newly Shannon-designed wool coat! It's a little bold but I'll let you be the judge!

Round 2: Answer that Text Message!

Last year I posted a blog with some questions I had received from students via text messages. My library of interesting, sometimes mind-boggling questions is growing and more often than not I wonder, "what in the world are my students reading/watching??" Here is a sampling of the best...

"How to understand, 'spend a day among wahoos and savages?'" ~ Ariel
Um...crazy and uncivilized people! That answer seemed to be much more comprehensible.

Emily has had a multitude of questions this semester:

"Does 'color me happy' sound polite?"
It sounds... Sarcastic. Old-fashioned. Am I missing anything?

"What is the meaning of 'being ginger with a car?'"

"Does 'spic and span' mean 'clean and tidy?' Can I say, 'Mom gets me spic and span to school?'"
Good definition of the phrase...poor example in a sentence...

"Shannon, I'm thinking of changing my English name. Does Jessica sound good? Is it only fit for little girls?"

And this last one was not a text message, but a phone call and just too funny not to share! The dialogue went something like this:

Jessy: Hi Shannon! I have a question about pronunciation...how do you pronounce 'Hasham?'
Shannon: What? Can you repeat that?
Jessy: Hasham, how do you pronounce Hasham?
Shannon: Can you spell it for me? (Spelling it out...) I'm not exactly sure...I'm pretty sure it's not English.
Jessy: No, it's Ancient Egyptian! And I have another one, 'Fresenius,' how do you pronounce that?
Shannon: I don't speak Ancient Egyptian!

Haha...I finally convinced her that just because I speak English does not mean that I know how to pronounce Ancient Egyptian - I gave her my best guess and sent her on her way. Maybe I should do something to discourage my students from believing that I am all-knowing. Darn it! :)