breakthesky.net

Busy in Beijing

Manda — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:55:47 +0000

I’ve been in Beijing since late last week, and my life has been such a whirlwind that I haven’t really had time to stop and think, let alone sit down and write anything for this blog. Even now I shouldn’t be writing this; I should be getting sleep or studying or unpacking (I am still living out of my suitcases). But here’s a quick recap:

I moved into my apartment in Beijing. (This is the first time I’ve ever been in my own apartment – how cool is it that the first time I’m “on my own” I’m in Beijing?) The apartment is a little bit of a walk in terms of its location to the university, but I like it nonetheless.
I got oriented with the other kids in my program (Chinese language immersion). It’s always interesting meeting new people you know you will be spending lots of time with in the coming months.
I signed a language pledge, promising that I would speak only Chinese during the school week (I get a reprieve on weekends). This is meant to facilitate the immersion factor of the Chinese language immersion program.
I took the language placement exam and wound up placing at the 400 level. (If anyone from my Chinese class last semester is reading this, you’ll know how scary this is.) My class last semester ended at Chapter 31; my class this semester is starting at Chapter 39 (New Practical Chinese Reader Book 4). I have quite a bit of catching up to do in my spare time… if I ever have any, that is.
I started my Chinese language classes yesterday, which I can already tell will be very intense. I have a comprehensive Chinese class, then an oral and discussion class, and then a one-on-one session with a tutor. I’m in class from 9:00a.m. – 5:30p.m. daily, with an hour and a half break for lunch.

Things aren’t quite routine yet, but I have a sense of how my weekly routine will end up what with classes, homework, studying, and hanging out with friends. I have a feeling it’ll be a intensive but awesome semester!

Just a Minute (August 2010)

Manda — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:21:54 +0000

On the last day of every month, I take Just a Minute to reflect on what I’m currently up to.

Melting… in the Shanghai heat and humidity. I’ve never been skilled at handling excessive heat and humidity, and I think the extra weight I put on in Germany has made it harder for my body to cope with heat. It’s quite saddening.

Deciding… on a Kindle for my choice of e-reader. The newly released model sealed the deal for me. However, I couldn’t get one in time for my birthday as Amazon went out of stock! I’m keeping my eye on when they get new stock so I know when to place my order.

Exploring… the World Expo pavilions!! They’re beyond amazing. Except for the US one; it’s so ugly. I know the US government couldn’t fundraise because of federal regulations and whatnot, but I wonder if the reason why it is so ugly is that it was designed by a Canadian. (I kid, I kid. And before I upset any Canadians I should clarify that I don’t mean that Canadians can’t design. They just don’t want the world to think the US can :P)

Re-reading… the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. I love this series so much; Fforde is one of my favorite authors. He’s a literary genius.

Speaking… (or attempting to speak) Mandarin. I’m very rusty since I didn’t do any revising over the summer. Still, it’s all gradually coming back to me, and being in an environment that is saturated in the Mandarin language is doing wonders for improving my ability.

Eating… my weight in noodles. I adore noodles, and China has plenty of them! My favorite are the wonton noodles and Lanzhou pull noodles. Mmmmm.

Excited… to head to Beijing in a few days. As much as I love Shanghai, Beijing is really where my year abroad begins!

Some Accomplishments in Shanghai

Manda — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:44:08 +0000

In the brief time I have been in Shanghai, I have managed to accomplish the following:

Be reunited with a good friend from school, who (whom?) I will be exploring Shanghai with
Be reunited with relatives that I have in Shanghai
Try out the one and only phrase I know in Shanghainese, which unfortunately I don’t know the characters for with the Shanghainese pinyin so I’ll just type it in Mandarin: ”我不懂“ (“I don’t understand”)
Eat absolutely delicious soup dumplings (汤饺) with pork filling
Taste this apple juice（苹果汁) + milk（牛奶）drink thing my friend bought from a street vendor
Have my photos stealthily (and sometimes not so stealthily) taken by Chinese passersby (I look pretty Western and have pale skin; my friend looks very Western and is over six feet tall – for the Chinese, we are quite the spectacle)
Use broken Mandarin to buy a token for the Huangpu River ferry and a single-ride ticket for the subway
Fall down a flight of stairs and cut up my knees (I had the sense to fall near the Shanghai Museum, which I was going to anyway, and I received the BEST first aid treatment I’ve ever gotten from the staff there. Props, Shanghai Museum, mad props)
Go to the Shanghai Museum. My favorite exhibits were the jade and ceramics.

To think I’ve accomplished all this and I’ve only spent one full day in this city – I’m supposed to be here for a full week!

Shanghai for a Week

Manda — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:55:06 +0000

I’m off to Shanghai for a week to see the World Expo! I’m really excited as the World Expo is totally my kind of thing with all the pavilions of other countries and such (thanks to my multicultural upbringing, I LOVE things that involve other cultures and perspectives). I’ll also be checking out other famous landmarks in Shanghai, like the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Bund, as well as the delicious food that is there.

While I’m not really looking forward to the massive crowds and extreme heat, I’m still stoked about exploring Shanghai for the next week. And then when I’m done with my Shanghai adventure, I’ll be headed to Beijing to finally begin my year of study abroad!! (I can’t believe it’s going to start so soon!)

My Year Abroad in Beijing

Manda — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:47:05 +0000

In the last few months, I have talked a lot about the fact that I am going abroad to Beijing to study for the 2010-2011 academic year. But I haven’t really discussed why I am going to Beijing, or what I will study there, or why I am studying there for a full year rather than just a semester. Seeing as I am departing for China soon, I figured now is as good a time as ever to explain everything, as obviously my experiences abroad will influence what I write about in this blog.

When it was time for me to start figuring out my junior year study abroad plans, I didn’t really know where I wanted to study. I had a French and Chinese language double minor at the time, and all I knew is that I wanted to go abroad for a year. However, I ended up dropping my French minor, so that wrecked my plans for a semester in Paris. I thought about going somewhere in Europe for the fall and Beijing for the spring, but that idea didn’t really sit well with me as I wanted to spend a year in one place, not two. Since I still had my Chinese language minor, it made the most sense to spend a year in China. My school happens to offer a top notch program in Beijing, so on paper, that was why I chose to study in Beijing.

In reality, though, I also chose Beijing for a lot of other reasons. I visited mainland China two summers ago and loved it there; there really is no place like it in the world. The energy, the food, the people… it’s a really great place to choose for a year of study. Not to mention that ethnically, I’m half Chinese, yet have spent my entire childhood (minus the first few years of my life) growing up in Western countries. I felt that it was finally time to go and get in touch with some of my roots.

In Beijing, I am enrolled in an intensive Chinese language immersion program for the fall semester. I will be taking only Chinese language classes and will spend both my mornings and afternoons in class five days a week. The intensity factor is a little daunting, and I’m a little wary of spending my nights up to my ears in Chinese homework, but I’m also really, really looking forward to it. The best way to learn a language is to completely immerse yourself in it, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing with Chinese. It also helps that I love learning languages and learning Chinese in particular. Not to mention that one of my really good friends is enrolled in the program too (and also studying abroad for a year in Beijing, just like me), which eases some of my nerves.

For the spring semester, I will still continue studying Chinese but in a non-intensive, non-immersion setting. I will also be studying other subjects. I’ll be able to take courses such as Sino-American Relations from a Chinese perspective. Since I’ve taken a similar course from an American perspective, I’m really interested to see what the differences in the perspectives will be. I will also (hopefully) be interning twice a week at a yet to be decided location. That’s going to be a great work experience, and it’s going to be so awesome to say that I’ve interned in Beijing before!

That, in a nutshell, is the 411 on why I am studying in Beijing and what I will be doing there for a year. Even though I’m a little nervous (and who wouldn’t be nervous at the prospect of studying abroad in a country for an entire year without returning home during the school breaks?), I’m sure Beijing will be everything I hope it to be and more.

In other news… it’s my birthday today!! I have officially left my teen years and entered my twenties. Eek!

Political Elections in a Global Context

Manda — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:58:03 +0000

This past weekend, Australia held a federal election. From what I’ve gathered based on my Australian friends’ tweets and skimming related headlines in Google News, Tony Abbott, the leader of the conservative party, is tipped to win by a razor thin margin. Jess has a fairly good summation of the whole election debacle in Australia from a non-conservative’s point of view, for those who are interested.

Several months ago, the UK held an election for a new prime minister as well. The UK had a hung parliament, which was a big deal, and there was a bit of a kerfuffle in sorting out the new governing party. Again, most of the information I got about it was through my friends’ tweets, with a pinch from the Google News headlines.

I wouldn’t know about any of this election information (in Australia, in the UK, or any other country) if I didn’t have friends in those countries, both online and offline, which alerted me to the fact that there was an election occurring and prompted me to do some independent news research. None of this election stuff is really covered in the US media. The only election in recent years I can recall getting any US media coverage is that of Iran in 2009, which is obvious because of what happened with the protests. I know that whenever the US has a presidential election, the entire world covers it in the media. But when other countries have elections, US media is largely indifferent.

I remember in the lead-up to the 2008 US presidential election, a friend of mine from England told me he thought that the entire world should elect the US president, not just US citizens. He said that because the entire world is affected by who the US chooses, the entire world should vote. I guess that’s why US presidential election media coverage is global while elections in other countries get no coverage in the US. Whomever countries like Australia and the UK elect as their leader largely do not affect the US¹, but the decision in who becomes the leader of the free world impacts everyone.

I told a friend about the current election debacle in Australia and his response was, “Why should we care? It’s not like Australia is going to suddenly turn against the US no matter who they elect.”

There Will Be No Carpet In My Future Home

Manda — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:57:17 +0000

It’s been over 85F in Chicago ever since I returned from Europe which is hot, hot, hot. (Today, thankfully, is a little cooler than it was yesterday.) Actually, 85F is typically rather nice weather if there’s a nice breeze and the sun is out and there’s no humidity. But still, in that scenario I picture myself living in a house with air conditioning. Right now, that is not the case.

The air conditioner in my house broke down the day before I left for Europe, right when Chicago was going through an unusually long heat wave. When I returned home, I knew the air conditioner would still be broken (duh) but I hoped that the Chicago weather would have cooled down at least a little. I was wrong. The weather now is actually hotter than what it was in late July, and I am sweltering in this heat. It is hotter in my house than it is outside. I don’t even have fans to help cool off!

It is disgustingly hot both outside and inside my house (the inside temperature almost hit 90F once, which was only two degrees cooler than the outside temperature; right now it is 72F outside and 85F inside) and I constantly want a bucket of ice that I can plunge my head into. It’s bad enough that I don’t have a fan to cool off with, but about 90% of my house is carpeted. I’ve always thought carpet was disgusting (do you know how much dust gets trapped in there? Unless you get your carpets professionally cleaned, you’re not getting any of that dust out when you vacuum) but it does nothing to help cool down the house. The house I stayed at in Germany had no air conditioning but it had wooden and tile flooring, which did wonders to keep the temperature in the house down.

I hereby vow to not have any carpet in my future home. That, and to make sure I have an air conditioner that won’t break down in the middle of a heat wave!

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)

Manda — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:33:58 +0000

Tagline: One woman’s search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia.

Summary: In this memoir, Elizabeth Gilbert writes about how after her divorce and ensuing depression, she went on a year-long journey of self-discovery and her search for pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and a balance of the two in Indonesia

5 Words/Phrases: Well-written; the countries are good backdrops for each of her respective searches; entertaining (but very, very one-dimensional) characters; hard to get through at times; skip the book and watch the movie instead

Most Impressed By: …nothing. Except for maybe Gilbert’s ability to secure a book deal to finance her year of travel before commencing said travels. (I should take note of this as it’s a great way to cover travel expenses!) And hop from man to man, yet always portray herself as the heartbroken victim.

Least Impressed By: Gilbert herself – she is whiny, she is self-absorbed; her ideas of transcendence often come across as elitism, which makes her quite hard to like. And liking the main character of any book is important, but in a memoir, it’s vital.

Comments: This isn’t a bad book by any means, but it’s definitely not very good. My main issue with it is Gilbert herself; it’s incredibly hard to read her story and like it when you don’t like her. I disagree with the majority of choices she made in this book (so, in her life, basically) and I find it hard to sympathize with a character who, more often than not, comes across as selfish and, well, stupid. I definitely do not think the book is worth all the hype and that the “Pray” section in particular got too bogged down with her wordiness. That was the hardest part to get through.

The only reason why I read this book was because I want to see the movie. Even though I haven’t seen the movie yet, I’d say skip the book and just watch the movie. At least the movie has Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem!

Overall Rating: 5/10

Right Now In Numbers

Manda — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:35:55 +0000

I just got home from my European vacation and I am so completely scattered it’s starting to become quite funny. It’s not so much the jet lag, because I’ve always been fairly good at getting over that. It’s the fact that I leave for China – for a year of study! – in five days that’s starting to freak me out. I would be freaking out before I left no matter how long I had to prepare for China since it’s an exciting yet daunting prospect, but… five days? If I pull this off, I’ll be Wonder Woman. (Or Travel Wonder Woman. Or Study Abroad Wonder Woman. Or whatever.)

Anyway. The above paragraph alone shows just how ramble-y my thoughts are, so I’ll condense the rest of this entry into bullets. I know there have been a lot of bulleted entries lately (and, unfortunately, I have plans for another bulleted entry tomorrow, but as it’s going to be a book review I think that’s acceptable) but I’ll try and pull things together around here soon.

Hours I have been in the US since arriving from Europe: 5
Days until I leave for China: 5 (repeating for good measure)
Suitcases that I need to unpack… and then repack: 2
Hours behind my internal clock is from US Central Time: 7
Degrees it is in my house: 85F (the air conditioner broke)
Fans there are in my house: 1 miniature one (currently in use to keep the water temperature cool for my brother’s salt water fish tank)
Pairs of shoes I bought in Europe: 4 (I LOVE shoes)
Weight that I gained (and need to lose) from my time in Europe: …a lot
Unread entries in my feed reader: 271
Days until my birthday: 4 (!!!)

No Speed Limit on the Autobahn: More European Cultural Observations

Manda — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:54:56 +0000

The rules for the Autobahn in Germany would never fly in the US. Having an interstate highway with no speed limit? Oh please. That is a recipe for disaster in the States. In Germany (or perhaps all of Europe), it works surprisingly well.
As Emma commented in my previous European cultural observations post, you have to specify for flat/still water in Germany or else you get carbonated, salty mineral water. I find this very strange, as “water” to me is still water and “mineral water” is the “gassy” stuff!
The license plates all state which country the car is from, much like how license plates in the US say which state the car is from. It helps pass the time on long car trips to see which countries cars are from (I’ve always been entertained by license plate games). If the country is in the EU, the license plate will have an EU flag. Letters that tripped me up were E (for Spain, my guess was Estonia) and P (Portugal, PL is Poland).
Maybe this is just a German thing, but everything here is loaded with salt. But I could also be the only one that notices it, as I’m not really a fan of overly salty foods.
The cost of living is very expensive in Germany (and, I assume, for most of Europe; I remember France being very expensive when I was there three years ago and everyone knows how expensive the UK is). In Germany, there is a 19% tax imposed on all goods (I think, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). When I go shopping, the sale prices here are the pre-sale prices in the US!
In Eastern Germany, they kept the walk / don’t walk pedestrian signs from the Soviet era. I was very amused by the chubby figures when I was in Dresden.