Happy Chinese New Year from Beijing

Happy Chinese New Year （新年快乐）from The Study Abroad Blog. The actual start of the Chinese New Year a.k.a. Spring Festival (春节） was the 23rd of January, but since it lasts for 15 days, I think I can say Happy New Year and still be in the clear for another 3 days. Knowing both that it’s the biggest Chinese holiday and that the Chinese do it bigger than we do any holiday in America, I was looking forward to my first Chinese New Year experience, and what an experience it was…

An Idealized Picture Of Chinese New Year – Some Spring Festival Traditions

As with many things in Chinese culture, the Chinese New Year centers on myth and legend. While there are multiple versions (at least from what I can tell), the basic plot is that a dragon/mythical beast conveniently named “Nián” or “Year” would come on the first day of New Year to incite a little chaos – eat livestock, crops, villagers, etc. At some point in history, the villagers discovered that the dragon was not a fan of the color red. From then on, every time the New Year came the villagers would hang red lanterns and red cut-outs on windows and doors, and light firecrackers to frighten away the dragon.

Buying decorations? I hope you like red

Spring Festival hasn’t changed all that much in modern times. Depending on when the holiday falls in the lunar calender, everyone heads home right around New Year’s Eve day. (And when I say home, I mean to their ancestral homeland somewhere in the vast reaches of China.)

- Eating Dumplings “Jiaozi”: Jiaozi is the traditional food for Spring Festival here in the north of China. Originally jiaozi referred to the moment “across midnight”. The Chinese name for the period between 11:00 midnight and 1.00 the next morning is called zi and jiao means “across”. The Chinese language involves a lot of play on words.

- Red Envelopes “Hongbao”: Red envelopes are passed out from adults to unmarried juniors and children. I’d say 9 times out of 10 the envelope has cash. According to my best Chinese friend, there is no actual age limit for receiving envelopes although usually once you hit 18, you stop getting them from everyone in the generation above you (i.e. parents, aunts, uncles, etc.). Of course immediately after telling me that, he whipped out a massive wad of 100 kuai bills and says, “but you can still accept them from your grandparents!”.

- Fireworks: Fireworks have been used to scare away spirits since ancient times, which makes sense seeing as the Chinese are credited with inventing gunpowder. There’s an obsession with lighting fireworks in this country, and if you’ve ever seen the movie “V for Vendetta”, midnight on New Year’s Eve resembles the final seen when V blows up Parliament.

This was the view from my apartment 7 stories up – and it wasn’t quite midnight yet

- Exchanging Gifts: Small gifts are usually exchanged between friends and relatives. I’ve heard from more than one of my Chinese friends that this part chews the root – and I can believe that. Being dragged around for days on end to sit and make small talk with your parents friends that you probably don’t really know all that well or relatives you probably see enough anyway just doesn’t seem that fun.

You could write a whole book on Spring Festival customs, so I’ll leave it at that for now.

My Chinese New Year

My Chinese New Year was relatively laid back. Considering that most of the New Year customs involve returning home and doing things with your family for a week, and that I’m 14,000 miles away from any blood relatives, I just tried to take in as much of the holiday as I could.

The Temple of the Earth Festival

My friends parents were visiting from the States, and they took us out to a Tibetan restaurant for dinner (which is becoming a common holiday theme). Because everyone returns home, Beijing is almost empty during the first few days of Spring Festival, and we happened to be the only people at the restaurant. It made for quick service. Afterwords, I came back to my apartment, prepped my eardrums and at midnight, I went outside and watched people from my building and the neighborhood light off fireworks for a few hours (note “V for Vendetta” reference above).

The next day we went to one of the Temple Festivals at the Temple of the Earth. It had the feel of an American country fair with an Asian influence. There was karaoke, carnival games, street food, incenses lighting, performances by different dance groups, and more red lanterns than I’ve ever seen. I didn’t witness any dragon parades (although I heard there was a pretty legit imperial re-enactment going down at the Temple of Heaven), but if you’re a fan of cartoons, Bugs Bunny made an appearance.

And that was the gist of my Chinese New Year. There were other Temple Festivals during the week, but the cold wind and weather, coupled with the fact that I assumed they were all similar, deterred me from going to any more. Besides  the festivals (and the subway stations outside the festivals), the city was relatively dead. Restaurants were closed for most of the week, cab drivers were reluctant to pick anyone up because they obviously didn’t want to be working, and by the end of the week, I had discovered a minor hatred for fireworks…

Why I’m Glad Fireworks Are Illegal In America

Just as I’m a fan of watching fireworks on the 4th of July in America, I also enjoyed them in China on New Year’s Eve and the night or two after. By Wednesday, however, my attitude had sadly changed. In my opinion, the tradition of enjoying the bright colors and occasional loud noise from lighting fireworks, once representing protection from evil spirits, has become a hazardous hell of annoyance, aimlessness, and carelessness. I’m not kidding.

Half of the fireworks don’t even have sparks or flares (what’s the point of a firework without the “fire”?), so what you’re left with is a deafening cannon blow waking you up at 7:00 AM every morning. Children hide behind corners and throw lit fireworks in front of people without any thought that a firework is essentially a very small bomb that can do some not so small damage to the human body – this actually happened to my friends. Grown men shoot the equivalent of a Roman candle out of their 4th story window without considering what direction they’re aiming it in, or light what looks like a 15 foot firework streamer and then run inside because the noise is so loud that they’re willing to annoy everyone else, but can’t stand it themselves.

All that kid needed to be happy was a sparkler

A city with one of the worst pollution problems in the world drowns itself in a sea of dust and ash for multiple weeks, so when you walk into a restaurant, you have to help your friends pick ash out of their hair. There’s such a lack of regulation by city officials and common sense by ordinary citizens that just recently, fireworks have caused massive damage to buildings (Beijing’s 522ft Television Cultural Center tower anyone?), and even the loss of life.

I’m not a Spring Festival Scrooge. I’m someone who questions the meaning of a tradition, and when that tradition starts to compromise people’s daily life, or the meaning starts to lose it’s relevance or importance, I say there’s no need to continue doing it – no matter how many thousands of years old it is. I hold onto the hope that Spring Festival (and more specifically the lighting of fireworks) still carries a more traditional meaning in other parts of China, and that my experience next year will be a little different.

Sorry Beijing, someone had to say it – but don’t worry. For some odd reason, even when I’m engulfed in a cancer causing cloud of ash while listening to a chorus of car alarms and deafening fireworks, I still love you.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you!

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It’s amazing how fast time flies, and how much longer it takes to do simple things when you live in another country. Somehow I thought I was going to be doing a lot more traveling and a lot more studying over these past 6 weeks, but in the end, I’m just happy I finished everything I needed to in order to stay/live in China. I’ve got my own place, I’ve learned how to use just about everything in my place, school starts soon, and the firework-fest known as Chinese New Year has ceased. There’s some exciting news from The Study Abroad Blog down below, and on that note here’s everything Study Abroad for the week of January 29, 2012.

The Old Course And Raisin Weekend   Apparently this was back when I wasn’t writing clever and witty titles. Oh well, straight and to the point is good too. Playing the Old Course at St. Andrews had to be the highlight of my year. Those are the same fairways every great golfer in the history of the game has walked. People don’t believe me when I say I decided to study abroad in Scotland to play golf, but it’s true. That and the fact that St. Andrews is a good school. If you haven’t heard of Raisin weekend, you definitely need to take a read. It involves alcohol, academic incest, Halloween costumes, and shaving cream. Enjoy.

Make Money Study Abroad Blogging!   Here it is, the big news I’ve been talking about for the past few weeks here on The Study Abroad Blog – Make Money Study Abroad Blogging! At the same time I started blogging about study abroad a few years ago, I also began following some big name bloggers in the travel and education niches. After a few months, I realized that they were actually able to make money from their blogs, some enough to continuously travel without ever having to get a 9-5 job. I hoped to follow in their footsteps, so for the past two years, I’ve been researching, testing, and comparing different ways to make money blogging – and I’ve had success! I can’t claim to make a 6 figure income (although some bloggers do), but I can say that I’m able to earn extra money while simultaneously providing useful information and resources to the study abroad community. Want to learn more? Check out my new eCourse, “Make Money With Your Study Abroad Blog“!

Introducing: From I to U!   There was a great response from last week’s introduction of the Abroad101 Global Ambassadors, so I’ve decided to introduce a new/different group of study abroad bloggers every so often. (Like I mentioned last time, in my opinion there’s something that can be said for being able to relate to someone else’s actual experience – it’s why I started The Study Abroad Blog in the first place.) “From I to U” is the student study abroad blog from Indiana University, and it’s one of my Top 10 Study Abroad Blogs You Should Be Reading. Students studying in 10 different locations, including Aix-en-Provence, France; Nanjing, China; Lima, Peru; Freiburg, Germany; Canterbury, England; Canberra, Australia; Prague, Czech Republic and more, will be blogging from abroad, providing you with info about their specific location, academic interests and cultural experiences.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you!

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I’ve written in the past, both here on the blog and in The Ultimate Study Abroad Guide, about the big role communication plays in the study abroad experience. I’m now realizing it’s more like “the big role the iPhone plays in the study abroad experience”. However, due to Apple’s tight restrictions, using the calling, messaging, and data features on the iPhone when you’re abroad can come with some hefty international roaming charges.  I created this guide to help you navigate your options for using those features when you’re no longer in America.

A quick disclaimer: Not only am I not promoting any particular method or app, I’m actually not even advocating a few towards the bottom. I just wanted to put the information out there, point you in the direction of a few resources, and let you make the decision. I’m not a technology expert, so if you have any questions regarding in-depth iPhone technology, your best option is to Google it.

International Roaming – Buying the “Affordable World Package”

This is what you would do if you wanted to go straight through your normal carrier (AT&T or Verizon), and I’ll use AT&T for my example. They happen to pride themselves on having more wireless phones working in more places around the world than any other U.S. carrier. Apparently you’re good in 220 countries, and for the people that love the ocean, on more than 140 cruise ships.

The plan itself is pretty simple. You pay a monthly fee for the use of the World Packages, and then depending on how you plan on using your phone abroad, you pay separate monthly fees for voice packages, messaging packages, and data packages. You can see the starting prices for each package over on the right.

Starting Rates...or how to spend all your money in one month

It may not seem all that expensive, but you should know beforehand how much you’re getting for your dollar. AT&T actually provides a convenient little calculator to help you understand just how much data you use per month, and I have a feeling the results will surprise you.

It calculates the cost for one month of data, but you input your daily usage. I tried: 10 Emails sent/received (no attachments), 15 Web pages viewed, 1 Email with photo attachments, 1 App/Game/Song downloaded, 2 Email sent/received with attachments, 1 Social media post with photo uploaded, no streaming music, and no streaming video. That came out to about 250 MB per month, so if I did it correctly (which I’ll admit I might not have), I could get away with the $99.99/month package.

However, add on a half hour of streaming music and 5 minutes of streaming video, and I would have used almost 1 GB of data, or 200 MB more than what’s offered in the most expensive monthly plan. Try it out for yourself, and keep in mind how long you’ll be abroad.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and Video Chatting

FaceTime

FaceTime is Apple’s video calling software app, and is supported on any iOS device with a forward-facing camera and on any Mac equipped with a FaceTime Camera. While it’s another form of webcam-based video chatting, sites like PCMag.com say it delivers the best overall video call experience—by far. On the iPhone 4, FaceTime is built directly into the phone’s Contacts, and for the iPad2 and iPod Touch, FaceTime comes as a standalone app. Using FaceTime is as simple as selecting a contact, and then tapping on FaceTime to start the call.

TimeToCall

The TimeToCall app was something I had written about back before I came to China. It’s a pay per call app that allows you to talk for up to 15 minutes to 100 countries for $1.99 or less. One of the most convenient features of the app is that you pay for your calls directly through your iTunes account. It’s a lot easier than using calling card services, and it’s much less expensive than going directly through your carrier. The TimeToCall app is free to download, and although it’s by Vonage, you don’t need to be a Vonage customer to use it. As awesome as FaceTime is, for those who want to call a land line or someone without an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, the TimeToCall app is a great alternative.

Skype - a study abroad students best friend

Skype – The Old Reliable

You can call, video call and instant message anyone else on Skype for free from your iPhone. It may not have the same quality, but while FaceTime is only for Apple-to-Apple calls, you can connect with anyone you want, anywhere in the world, at any time if you’re both on Skype. You can also talk as long as you want, and with multiple people at once. Video chatting is completely free, and you can text and call phones anywhere using Skype Credit. It works across basically any mobile device as there’s a Skype iPad app, Skype Android app, Skype BlackBerry app, and Skype for Windows or Mac. It has been known to have some small issues with video quality, but for overall convenience, it’s number one.

Jailbreaking and Unlocking

“Jailbreaking” allows you to use your iPhone with applications that aren’t available from Apple’s store. After jailbreaking your iPhone, you can “Unlock” your phone’s SIM, further allowing you to use a wireless service provided from an unapproved carrier.

Both terms describe the process of removing the limitations imposed by Apple on devices running the iOS operating system through the use of custom kernels (a kernel connects the application software to the hardware of a computer/phone). According to Wikipedia, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, jailbreaking an iPhone is legal in the United States, although Apple has announced that the practice ‘can violate the warranty’.

In their ruling, the Library of Congress affirmed on July 26, 2010 that jailbreaking is exempt from DMCA rules with respect to circumventing digital locks. This exemption must be reviewed and renewed every three years or else it will expire.

You can either pay to have someone jailbreak your phone for you (yes, there are actually stores created specifically for this), or you can try it yourself.

Paying someone to do it for you

Since I don’t use an iPhone, this info is a combo of what I hear on the streets and what I’ve researched in forums.

Since I currently live here, I’ll use Beijing as my example. There are three wireless carriers here in China: China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom with about 70% of the market using China Mobile. Buying a factory iPhone in China that’s compatible with these carriers will run you about 5000 kuai, or almost $800.

Depending on where and how you buy an iPhone in America, it’s definitely possible to save yourself a few hundred dollars by having it unlocked in Beijing. Again, from what I hear, you can head over to Zhongguancun (a big area in Beijing) where there are stores that will unlock it for between $20 – $60. Apparently it’s pretty reliable.

Doing it on your own

When it comes to Jailbreaking and SIM Unlocking, the name to know is the “jailbreak dream team” which consists of the “iPhone Dev Team” and “pod2g”. They’ve produced a line of programs that allow you to both jailbreak and unlock your iPhone: PwnageTool, redsn0w, ultrasn0w, and the newly released greenp0ison (or Absinthe) for the iPhone 4S and iPad2. Both redsn0w and greenpois0n are used for Jailbraking, while ultrasn0w serves as a SIM Unlock for jailbroken iPhones.

As far as phone technology is concerned, I’m a complete amateur, however, jailbreaking your iPhone seems pretty simple. For unlocking purposes, the iPhone Dev Team suggests checking out tutorials on iClarified.com. (I would also take a look at this site – Hack That Phone.) Unlocking does seem a little more complicated, but still doable.

Do your research! While it’s currently still legal to do this, you never know when that might change. If that does occur, it’s possible that your warranty may be voided, i.e. if something goes wrong, you’re on your own.

PC World has compiled a simple list of pros and cons you should read called “5 Reasons to Jailbreak Your iPhone – and 5 Reasons Not“.

And that’s every way I found to use your iPhone for calling/communicating while studying abroad. (I’ll talk about some great study abroad apps in a later post!). If I learn about any more, I’ll be sure to add them in.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you!

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Apartment hunting in Beijing? Your chariot awaits you

Way back in November, when I decided I was going to keep studying abroad in Beijing for an indefinite amount of time, I made a list of 3 major things I needed to get done in order to stay/survive here: get accepted into a Chinese Language Program for the Spring semester, find a place to live, and make some sort of income. I ended up adding “get a Bank of China bank account” to the list (different story for a different day), and I’m still working on the income thing, so you could say I’m about 83% of the way to a stable life. For the benefit of anyone studying abroad here in the future, or those looking to be amused, I figured I’d share my experience with #2 on the list – finding my first apartment abroad.

A Lesson In Chinese Real Estate

If you’re expecting to come to Beijing and speak English with a Century 21 or ReMax agent about finding an apartment, you’re sadly mistaken my friend (as was I). Even if you just semi-regularly read my blog, you’ll know most people don’t speak English here, Century 21 only deals in commercial real estate, and the term “agent” is laced with pessimism when spoken by anyone who’s tried to find an apartment for more than a day in this city.

So how does it work? You start by going to listings websites, like thebeijinger.com, and peruse ad after ad of apartment descriptions – all of which say they’re conveniently located just a 5 minute walk to the nearest subway station and all of which have pictures of places that any 22 year old student would be more than happy to live in.

This ad got me...sadly more than once

You narrow it down your to your top 3-5 choices (because you’re obviously bound to get one) by checking of the neighborhood, price, and number of rooms. Then you give the phone number at the bottom of the ad a call, speak with someone whose Chinese is relatively clear, and agree to meet at a time and place in the next day or two.

Then that unfortunate day comes. Why is it unfortunate? Because there’s a 99% chance the first words that come out of the agent’s mouth will be “I’m sorry, I just rented out the apartment you were looking at, but I have one that’s just as good (and twice the price)”. Already feeling just the beginning of what will be day after day of heartbreak, you reluctantly follow said “agent”.

You’ll eventually arrive at an apartment. If it’s the same price as what was advertised, you’ll probably be staring into a 1 bedroom (I use the term “bedroom” loosely because most of the walls will probably be disintegrating) dungeon, or if it’s the same quality as what was advertised, you’ll be standing on the doorstep of a place you could only afford in your dreams.

Maybe you’ll even find a place that’s close to your price range. But when you ask the landlord if he can drop his price by 200 kuai ($31.55) a month, he’ll tell you it’s possible…if you pay 6 months up front and sign a contract for a year. And don’t forget the deposit, equal to 1 months rent (which you’re assured isn’t all that bad because you’ll get it back), and the agency fee which is also equal to 1 months rent. 8 months rent up front, good times. Did I mention you’ll have to pay in straight cash? Well that you will, because using a bank for anything more than depositing your bi-weekly paycheck and withdrawing cash from the ATM is unheard of here.

And this is how it will go for 6 days until you finally break down, up your budget, and move into a place that’s actually 25 minutes from the nearest subway station (as opposed the advertised 5 – 10). You’re probably saying, “I would just go find a real ‘agent’”. If you can find one in this city of 13 million people, afterwards come find me, because I will be seriously amazed by your talent.

(As bad as that sounds, I’m well aware apartment hunting has its ups and downs wherever you are, and no matter what, I know I’m still fortunate to be living the dream over here – now in a sweet apartment.)

My Experience

I did go through those 6 days of house hunting hell as described above, everyday from 10 AM – 8 PM, in 20 degree weather, speaking only Chinese. I tried 5 different agents (would’ve been 6 but one of them posted himself as 2 different people), begged an elderly lady to let me see the inside of her apartment (because the apartment next to hers was for rent but I technically wasn’t allowed to see it for another month), and was harassed by people calling to show me places days after I had told them I was done searching.

Where I live. The view's a little better during the day

I was fortunate enough to finally work with an agent named Baatar, a guy right around my age who had helped my two best friends find their apartment when they moved here in August. At first, the places he was showing me were no question out of my price range. But he was genuinely a good guy, i.e. not blatantly trying to steal my wallet, and so I kept my faith in him.

Apartment hunting with Baatar was definitely an experience – I even got to rode a motorcycle for the first time since I’ve been in Beijing. Baatar and his co-worker wanted to show me a place that was a few blocks down the street, and when I asked how we were getting there, they pointed at two mopeds.

So my friend who came with me (the one who got his place this summer) and I sat on the back of mopeds while the two agents drove…just 4 adult males swerving dangerously up and down streets, sidewalks, and anything that resembled a paved surface. Was it a little weird? Definitely, but I’ve stopped trying to analyze the ridiculousness of this place a long time ago. And once you do that, moped racing around Beijing is a pretty good time.

In the end, I found a place I really like and also happened to get a really good deal on. Not only did I not have to pay 6 months rent straight up, since I’m subletting, I didn’t have to pay an agency fee either. I have a Western bathroom, a mini-kitchen, my own washer, a TV, and a giant window looking over what will hopefully be a park in a few months. For a 23 year-old in Beijing, I live pretty darn well.

It’s a little further from my friends (and the subway station) than I wanted to be, but when I thought about people who live in the suburbs of Boston or New York and have to ride a 45 minute train to work every morning, my 5 minute bus ride to the subway station and 20 minute bus ride to school are nothing.

After a trip to IKEA (the playground of middle-aged Chinese people) to get some sheets, an electric kettle, and a new coffee cup, my apartment started to feel like home. And it feels good.

Was it the funnest thing I’ve ever done? No. But as I always tell myself, you can either stop (in which case I’m stuck on the streets in the middle of Beijing) or keep going and eventually come out on the other side (victorious). Next task, memorize my address and figure out how to use my washer.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you!

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This week’s edition of Your Study Abroad Sense happens to be a middle-of-the-weeker. Like I said in last week’s Study Abroad Sense, it may be every week, every other week, or who knows when – stay on your toes. I still have about 3 weeks until I start classes at Beijing University, so not much happening on my academic front. There was definitely some cool news this week in the world of Study Abroad (Cuba decided to get in on the action) which you can check out along with a new Post From The Past, some study abroad resources, and some cool/exciting news about something that’s going to be happening very soon on The Study Abroad Blog.

When In Rome… And Barcelona Our trip to Barcelona and Rome during November “reading week” was my first time stepping foot on the European mainland. As it was our first trip to the mainland, we literally had no idea what we were doing in Barcelona. One of my friends got hustled by 8 Russians, one night we drank a combo of absinth and boxed wine, and we didn’t know about a little thing called public transportation. You could call it a successful disaster. Rome turned out to be a lot better. You name it, we saw it, we ate more gelato than we should have, and we followed a protesting mob around the city for a day. Good times.

GoAbroad.com’s Discover Your Value Series GoAbroad made this week’s edition of Your Study Abroad Sense again (what can I say, they put out good stuff), this time with Discover Your Value (DYV). DYV is a 14-part series dedicated to helping individuals around the world learn how to communicate their value with an emphasis on their international experience. Notice this trend of international experience. I’ve read the series and I’m a fan for a few reasons. First, yes, it covers how to express your study abroad experience in an professional setting. Second, it explains how you can brand yourself, and how you can communicate that brand with something like a blog. And last but not least, it’s a great resource for people who still want to know about the benefits of studying abroad.

Introducing: Abroad101 Global Ambassadors! The guys at Abroad101 have been busy over the the last month selecting a group of students for their Global Ambassadors program. These students, who will be abroad this Spring, will be writing weekly blog posts, sharing photos and videos, and giving future study abroad students general insider tips on the Abroad101 Blog! I’m a huge fan of articles and posts specifically about how to travel, what to do if you get homesick, etc., but I think there’s something that can be said for being able to relate to someone else’s actual experience. It’s why I started The Study Abroad Blog in the first place. Anyway, I would definitely recommend heading over to the Abroad101 Blog and checking the next group of study abroad bloggers.

- Keep your eyes open this upcoming week for some BIG news from The Study Abroad Blog. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working on something new for the blog, something I think study abroad students will be excited about – especially those looking to make some money while abroad!

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you!

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I made it a known fact in my post “China Decided To Give Me A Little Graduation Gift ” that I was almost positive I owned my final oral exam – a 10 minute oral presentation of an 800 character essay we had to write earlier the previous week. I assume most people haven’t seen an essay written in Chinese, either in characters or pinyin, and I thought it would be cool to post that essay on the blog – in characters, pinyin, and of course English. After considering the dangers of publishing a post on internet freedom in the middle of China, I decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. So here it is, how Al Gore and Communism helped me ace my study abroad final.

A little bit about writing these essays:

Every weekend during my semester at CET, we had to write a 500-600 character essay, usually on a topic we had covered in class that week. (600 characters was actually nothing by the end.) I started with the English, then typed out the essay in characters (in case I ruined the hard copy), wrote out the essay in characters, then added the pinyin to help me with my tones. Our essays had to be handwritten on the special paper you see above, which has 400 character spaces per page – we left a blank line in between each line of writing so it looks longer than it is. While I genuinely didn’t mind writing my essays, I will say that staring at a piece of paper filled with 400 little squares on Sunday mornings (having just participated in a little of Beijing’s nightlife the night before) was not the most pleasant way to spend the day before Monday.

Some quick notes:

1. Most 5 year old children in this country have better Chinese than I do, therefore, don’t expect a Pulitzer Prize winning piece of work. In fact there’s so much red pen, if I didn’t tell you otherwise, you might assume my teacher bled on my essay.

2. Some things in Chinese (or as far the Chinese I know) don’t translate perfectly into English. Although parts of the English translation may sound weird, it probably makes sense in Chinese.

3. In an effort to protect the existence of my blog, I’m going to preface this by saying that what I wrote is in fact not my opinion. It’s simply something I objectively wrote because I knew the vocab and grammar structures, and thought I could get a good grade.

Characters

政府应该不应该控制网络

戈尔在1983年发明了互联网，我想那个时候他还没认识到他对世界做出了多大的贡献。网络不但给人们的生活，学习和工作带来了方便，而且促进了很多国家经济的发展，改进了教育制度，解决沟通的问题。毫无疑问，网络在很多的方面有利于我们的生活。不过网络在给人们的生活带来方便的同时，也让世界各国之间的关系日益紧张。

在网络自由的方面上，世界各国还没法达成协议。其中，最具有争议性的是美国和中国，都坚持自己的看法。美国政府和公司认为在网络的方面他们是自由的。但是中国反驳说美国一定不是绝对自由的，而且美国凭什么批评中国没有网络自由？

从美国人的角度来看，显然中国网络没有这么自由。除了小日常网站以外，中国政府也审查或者控制百分之十二的世界上最有影响的网站。如果一个国家不让人们访问一些世界的最重要的网站，那个国家如何能成为发达国家？今天的网络相当于昨天的图书馆，报纸，和新闻台。因此，限制访问网站算是限制人们的知识水平。

2008年在中国一些知识分子被逮捕，是因为他们开始网上请愿结束共产党的统治。连很高地位的研究人员，学者，和企业家不能自由的使用网络，更不用说中产阶层。我认为中国政府还怕网络和言论自由都可能造成一个不稳定的社会。但是作为代表人民的政府，他们应该通过人们的表现，评价他们。

人们也应该要增强他们自己法律意识。很多国家限制上色情的网站的人的年龄，一个原因是孩子缺乏自制力，另一个是色情不利于孩子智力的发展。如果一个国家也控制成人能上什么网站，是不是意味着那个国家认为成人也没有自制力和发达智力？

“9.11”事件后，美国固然为了反恐的需要，规定警方可以未经允许就监视公民的电子邮件，但是跟中国比，美国政府审查的规模小得多。虽然美国政府可以未经允许就监视我们的电子邮件，但至少我用的电邮服务没有政府的影响。其实，只要我不伤害别人，我想做什么，就做什么。

在我看来，政府不应该控制网络自由。虽然控制网络自由可能对维持社会的稳定有帮助，如果你基本上不可以自己作出决定，那，生活有什么意义？

Pīnyīn – the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet

Zhèngfǔ yīnggāi bù yīnggāi kòngzhì wǎngluò

Gē ěr zài 1983 nián fāmíngliǎo hùliánwǎng, wǒ xiǎng nàgè shíhou tā hái méi rènshi dào tā duì shìjiè zuò chūle duōdà de gòngxiàn. Wǎngluò bùdàn gěi rénmen de shēnghuó, xuéxí hé gōngzuò dài láile fāngbiàn, érqiě cùjìnle hěnduō guójiā jīngjì de fǎ zhǎn, gǎijìnle jiàoyù zhìdù, jiějué gōutōng de wèntí. Háo wú yíwèn, wǎngluò zài hěnduō de fāngmiàn yǒu lìyú wǒmen de shēnghuó. Bùguò wǎngluò zài jǐ rénmen de shēnghuó dài lái fāngbiàn de tóngshí, yě ràng shìjiè gèguó zhī jiān de guān jì rìyì jǐnzhāng.

Zài wǎngluò zìyóu de fāngmiàn shàng, shìjiè gèguó hái méi fǎ dáchéng xiéyì. Qízhōng, zuì jùyǒu zhēngyì xìng de shì měiguó hé zhōngguó, dōu jiānchí zìjǐ de kànfǎ. Měiguó zhèngfǔ hé gōngsī rènwéi zài wǎngluò de fāngmiàn tāmen shì zìyóu de. Dànshì zhōngguó fǎnbó shuō měiguó yīdìng bùshì juéduì zìyóu de, érqiě měiguó píng shénme pīpíng zhōngguó méiyǒu wǎngluò zìyóu?

Cóng měiguó rén de jiǎodù lái kàn, xiǎnrán zhōngguó wǎngluò méiyǒu zhème zìyóu. Chúle xiǎo rìcháng wǎngzhàn yǐwài, zhōngguó zhèngfǔ yě shěnchá huòzhě kòngzhì bǎi fēn zhī shí’èr de shìjiè shàng zuì yǒu yǐngxiǎng de wǎngzhàn. Rúguǒ yīgè guójiā bù ràng rénmen fǎngwèn yīxiē shìjiè de zuì zhòngyào de wǎngzhàn, nàgè guójiā rúhé néng chéngwéi fādá guójiā? Jīntiān de wǎngluò xiāngdāng yú zuótiān de túshū guǎn, bàozhǐ, hé xīnwén tái. Yīncǐ, xiànzhì fǎngwèn wǎngzhàn suànshì xiànzhì rénmen de zhīshì shuǐpíng.

2008 Nián zài zhōngguó yīxiē zhīshì fēnzǐ bèi dàibǔ, shì yīnwèi tāmen kāishǐ wǎngshàng qǐngyuàn jiéshù gòngchǎndǎng de tǒngzhì. Lián hěn gāo dìwèi de yánjiū rényuán, xuézhě, hé qǐyè jiā bùnéng zìyóu de shǐyòng wǎngluò, gèng bùyòng shuō zhōngchǎn jiēcéng. Wǒ rènwéi zhōngguó zhèngfǔ hái pà wǎngluò hé yánlùn zìyóu dōu kěnéng zàochéng yīgè bù wěndìng de shèhuì. Dànshì zuòwéi dàibiǎo rénmín de zhèngfǔ, tāmen yīnggāi tōngguò rénmen de biǎoxiàn, píngjià tāmen.

Rénmen yě yīnggāi yào zēngqiáng tāmen zìjǐ fǎlǜ yìshí. Hěnduō guójiā xiànzhì shàng shǎi qíng de wǎngzhàn de rén de niánlíng, yīgè yuányīn shì hái zǐ quēfá zìzhìlì, lìng yīgè shì sèqíng bù lìyú háizi zhì lì de fǎ zhǎn. Rúguǒ yīgè guójiā yě kòngzhì chéngrén néng shàng shénme wǎngzhàn, shì bùshì yìwèizhe nàgè guójiā rènwéi chéngrén yě méiyǒu zìzhì lì hé fādá zhìlì?

“9.11” Shìjiàn hòu, měiguó gùrán wèile fǎnkǒng de xūyào, guīdìng jǐngfāng kěyǐ wèi jīng yǔnxǔ jiù jiānshì gōngmín de diànzǐ yóujiàn, dànshì gēn zhōngguó bǐ, měiguó zhèngfǔ shěnchá de guīmó xiǎo de duō. Suīrán měiguó zhèngfǔ kěyǐ wèi jīng yǔnxǔ jiù jiānshì wǒmen de diànzǐ yóujiàn, dàn zhìshǎo wǒ yòng de diànyóu fúwù méiyǒu zhèngfǔ de yǐngxiǎng. Qíshí, zhǐyào wǒ bù shānghài biérén, wǒ xiǎng zuò shénme, jiù zuò shénme.

Zài wǒ kàn lái, zhèngfǔ bù yìng gāi kòngzhì wǎngluò zìyóu. Suīrán kòngzhì wǎngluò zìyóu kěnéng duì wéichí shèhuì de wěndìng yǒu bāngzhù, rúguǒ nǐ jīběn shàng bù kěyǐ zìjǐ zuòchū juédìng, nà, shēnghuó yǒu shé me yìyì?

English

Should The Government Control The Internet

Back when Al Gore invented the internet in 1983, I assume he hadn’t yet realized how big of a contribution he made to the World (a joke that I don’t think my teacher got). The internet not only made people’s daily life, studying, and work much more convenient, but it also facilitated economic development in many countries, changed the structure of the education system, and solved a number of communication problems. There’s no doubt that the internet was beneficial to people’s lives, however, while bringing convenience to their lives, it has simultaneously caused tensions among many countries.

On the point of internet freedom, many of the world’s countries have not been able to reach an agreement. Among those involved, the two most controversial happen to be the United States and China, each adhering to its own opinion. The American government and American companies (e.g. Google) assume that Americans have freedom when it comes to the internet. However, China opposes, saying that Americans do not have absolute freedom of the internet, and furthermore, on what grounds can America criticize China’s “lack of internet freedom”.

From the perspective of the American people, China obviously lacks freedom of the internet. In addition to blocking access to smaller everyday websites (e.g. blogs), China also blocks 12 of the World’s top 100 most influential websites. If a country refuses to allow access to sites of this importance, how can that country expect to ever become fully developed? Today’s internet is yesterday’s library, newspaper, and televised news. Therefore, restricting access to internet sites is the same as restricting peoples’ level of knowledge.

In 2008, a number of intellectuals were arrested in China for starting an online petition opposing the Communist Party. Even high status researchers, scholars, and entrepreneurs lack freedom of the internet, never mind people of the ordinary class. I assume that the Chinese Government is afraid that freedom of internet and speech could result in an unstable society, but the government, as representatives of the people, should judge themselves by the actions of those people.

People should also want to enhance their awareness of their own rights. Many countries control the age at which people can access pornographic websites. One reason is that young children lack self-control, and the other is that pornographic sites are harmful to children’s’ intellectual development. If a country also restricts which websites adults are allowed to go on, does this mean that country also believes that adults lack self-control or developed minds?

In the time after 9/11, it is true that in order to combat terrorism, officials were allowed to access the American people’s email without permission; however, when compared to China, the scale of the American Government’s monitoring is very small. Although the American Government can access my email without my permission, at least I can choose an email service provider without the influence of the Government. In fact, as long as I’m not hurting anyone, for the most part I can do whatever I want on the internet.

In my opinion, the Government shouldn’t restrict freedom of the internet. Although controlling the internet can help sustain a stable society, if you don’t have the freedom to make your own decisions, then what meaning does life have anyway?

Done.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you!

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I recently realized that it’s not easy to give out specific study abroad advice in my usual posts, so I’ve decided that I’m going to attempt to write a sort of weekly/biweekly “study abroad summary” if you will, called “Study Abroad Sense”. It could take the form of “what happened this week in Study Abroad”, it will almost definitely include helpful links and articles, and who knows what else. My goal here is to provide useful study abroad specific help, which means if it happened in the “world of study abroad”, but will in no way shape or form directly affect you, I won’t make you read about it.

Go Global! Launching an International Career Here or Abroad We’ve all heard it by now: getting a college degree is no longer enough to guarantee success in the tedious and never-ending process known as finding a good job. The answer? According to Stacie Berdan, “Today’s students need as much international exposure as they can get since globalization continues to increase employers’ demands for more global workers.” What does this mean? Stacie’s new book, Go Global! finally explains exactly how your college education and experience studying abroad will actually help you in your future career. It’s full of great resources, and if you’re like me and plan on spending some time in China, check out Ch. 7.

GoAbroad.com’s Detailed Scholarships Abroad Search One of the biggest factors that discourages students from studying abroad is the cost, and it’s true, studying abroad does cost money. However, it’s genuinely not as hard as most people think to fund a semester in another country, it’s just a matter of finding the resources to do it. While I’ve previously written about some of the bigger scholarships offered here in the U.S., GoAbroad.com just came out with this huge database of scholarships offered to students in just about any and every subject and country in the World. Take a look.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you!

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No one ever told me about the rager going down at the Temple of Heaven so credit to the AP for the photo

I have mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions. For the most part, I feel like if you want to accomplish something, there’s no need to wait until a specific day to start doing it. That being said, New Years is still a great reminder of how quick time flies. If nothing else, it allows me to reflect on everything I said I wanted to do over the course of the previous year (and whether or not I actually did them), as well as push me to start planning what I want to do next. In the spirit of that mindset, here’s 5 things I accomplished this past year, and 5 things I’m looking forward to/ want to/ need to do in 2012.

5 Things I Actually Accomplished in 2011

1. Graduated College

College was a great time, no question. I made some of the best friends a guy could ask for, lived in a foreign country for a year, and academically speaking, I learned more in those 4 years than I did in the previous 18. I was never legitimately worried about not graduating, but spending $200,000 on 4 years of education when you have no clue what you want to do in life can cause some difficulties. I won’t remember 90% of what I learned in college, but Holy Cross definitely deserves some credit for developing my critical thinking, independence, and for giving me my first opportunity to live abroad. My diploma says I majored in Asian Studies, but it was probably more like Life Studies.

2. Studied Abroad In Beijing, China

During my sophomore year, my first year studying Chinese, a rep from from the Hopkins-Nanjing Program came to Holy Cross to pitch their grad program to students who were graduating within the next two years and had an interest in continuing with their Chinese. I walked by the room he was speaking in (didn’t even bother going in) and remember thinking to myself that nothing could make me want to keep studying Chinese after I had fulfilled my two credit language graduation requirement. Look at where I am right now – I just graduated from an intensive Chinese language program. Isn’t life funny.

3. Had A Full Conversation In Chinese

Don’t get me wrong, I have years before I’ll even be close to a native speaker. However, considering that before coming to Beijing I had never spoken more than 2 consecutive sentences in Chinese, I’m light-years ahead of where I was 4 months ago. I remember the first time I had an actual full unplanned conversation with a guy while working out at the park, the time I had to interview an elderly woman (at a different park) about life as an old person in China for one of my classes, and when, for the first time, it was actually easier for me to communicate in Chinese than in English. Overall, I’m happy with my progress…for now.

4. Saw The Great Wall Of China

I love getting to see the trademark landmarks of every country I visit, and I’m always sure to get a picture of myself there. Not because I plan on showing everyone I know – in all honesty, if people don’t read my blog then they won’t see my pictures. I do it because for me, it’s a tangible symbol of what of I’m doing and what I’ve accomplished. Like I’ve said before, experiencing the Great Wall was the most significant indication that I’ve really made it – that I’m living in China, that I’m really learning how to speak Chinese, and that I’m traveling around a country on the complete opposite side of the world.

5. Didn’t Go Home For Christmas

Not heading back to the U.S. for Christmas didn’t make me realize that I could live without my family, it made understand how important they are to me, and that no matter where I am in this world, I’ll always be able to connect with them (even if it’s just through a computer screen). It also made me realize that if I can miss eating the two best meals of the year (Thanksgiving and Christmas) with my family, then I should be able to combat any homesickness that comes my way. I don’t know how long I’m going to be here, but I do know that with the support of my friends and family, both in Beijing and back in the U.S., along with my quickly developing self-reliance, I have the ability to stay abroad as long or as short as I want.

5 Things I Want To Accomplish in 2012

6. See A Giant Panda

I’ve seen almost every famous Chinese/Beijing symbol there is to see…except for a Panda. And it’s not because I don’t know where to look or it’s really inconvenient. For the past 4 and a half months, I’ve literally lived next to the Zoo. If you wanted to rent an apartment in the area of CET, you would say you want to live in the Zoo area; when we would come back to the dorm at 3:00 AM on a Sunday morning, we would tell the cab driver to head to the Zoo; the closest subway station is called the Zoo station; students refer to this area as the Zoo (partly because of the awful traffic problem, partly because of the questionable fashion sense of many of the people here, and of course because we live next to the Beijing Zoo). I figure it’s about time I cross the street and see my first Giant Panda.

7. Travel Around More Of China

China’s a big a** place. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit a lot of different parts of Beijing this past semester, as well as travel to Xi’an in November, but that means I’ve only covered about .001% of this country. I still want to see Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan (Southwestern China), the harbor down in Hong Kong, Shanghai – China’s New York City, Kashgar in the western part of the Xinjiang, maybe gamble down in Macao, hang out on the beach in Hainan, and if the Chinese government permits, my number one goal is to get to Tibet.

8. Travel Around Southeast Asia

It’s amazing how unlike-Scotland my experience studying abroad in Beijing has been. In Scotland, I had class 4 hours a week; In China, around 25. In Scotland, I golfed almost everyday; In China, I have yet to see a golf course. While I was studying abroad in Scotland, I traveled to 10 or 11 other countries; I’ve yet to leave China. My goal is to fix this within the next 6 months. Possibilities include backpacking the Silk Road this summer, hitting up South Korea or Japan whenever it’s convenient, a trip with my friends to India (not Southeast Asia, I know), and now that Kim Jong Il is no longer at the helm, maybe trying to find a way into what might be the world’s most hated country (sorry, North Korea).

9. Advance My Still Extremely Poor Chinese

While my Chinese is infinitely better than when I started studying Chinese back during my sophomore year, it’s still infinitely worse than (almost) every native Chinese speaker. My goal in China since day 1 has been to learn Chinese, and until another opportunity presents itself, which it may not, I’m going to continue doing it. It’s a well known fact that it’s nearly impossible to be as fluent as a native speaker, however, I’m going to try and get pretty damn close.

10. Keep Living The Dream

This has been my motto since I was in Scotland. I’m totally aware of how lucky I am to have the opportunity to do what I’m doing, but living the dream doesn’t mean I want to be lazy while studying abroad in another country. Living The Dream is about actually Living. In my case, I didn’t want to Live in an office for 40+ hours a week, but rather than waste those 40+ hours, I chose to spend them working at something I want to be doing (studying and traveling). Having been in China since August, I’ve had to face a lot of realizations about life after undergrad, but instead of flying home because it might be the easy thing to do, I’m going to work as hard as I can to continue doing what I want to do.

So here’s to Living The Dream in 2012

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This is the first time in my life I haven’t been in the United States for Christmas and New Years. While I obviously miss all my friends and family back home, I don’t regret my decision to stay in Beijing at all. I’m slowly getting adjusted to “real world” life here, but I’m still searching for my own place to live and flying back and forth between opposite ends of the globe in the span of a week just wouldn’t have been the most logical choice. And while it’s definitely not America, Beijing has it own unique spin on Christmas to offer us foreigners and I genuinely had a lot of fun over the holiday weekend.

Thanksgiving

I’m fully aware that Thanksgiving was over a month ago, but since I was too busy to get a blog post up then, I’ll take advantage of this holiday themed post to fill you in. Unlike Christmas, which is generally speaking a Western/Christian holiday, Thanksgiving is 100% American. That means in both China and Scotland it’s solely the American study abroad students (and whoever is fortunate enough to be tagging along with them that day) that indulge in the goodness that is turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and rolls.

In Scotland, 4 or 5 of the girls from Holy Cross that I was abroad with cooked the entire dinner, and my only job was to eat (which wasn’t a bad gig). In China, all the CET students helped out with some part – prep, cook, or cleanup – of the Thanksgiving meal. We cooked in the industrial sized CET kitchen and ate in the cafeteria. Was it the best Thanksgiving meal I’ve ever had? Probably not. However, it was the first time I’ve eaten mashed potatoes and stuffing with chopsticks (and I thought rice was hard), a good amount of our teachers came to eat with us, and the turkey tasted great (as it was cooked professionally). All in all, good times. Of course, even if CET is 97% Americans, we still had class the next day.

Chinese Christmas 101

I would venture to guess people probably want to know if the Chinese celebrate Christmas. The answer is, it depends on your meaning of both “celebrate” and “Christmas”. Probably due to the growing foreign population and the rapid Westernization of many aspects of Chinese society/culture, Christmas has definitely made its way into the cities of China. There are light displays on both the inside and outside of malls, people throw Christmas themed parties, and restaurants and stores all have Christmas discounts.

However, light up trees read “Lucky Christmas”, there’s no eggnog at these Christmas parties, and the discounts, actually that’s one place where China and America might not differ. Christmas is almost purely a commercial holiday here. There’s no other way to really explain it. Chinese people may celebrate it, but from a Westerners perspective, their way of celebrating it has no meaning. In large part, it seems like they’re just acting out what they think one would do at Christmas, but because there’s no meaning behind it, to us it seems strange.

My First Chinese Christmas Party

This is a prime example. Last Friday afternoon, I was very nicely invited to the office Christmas party of a friend of a friend. There was a giant image that read Merry Christmas, and a quick gift exchange at the end, but outside of that, it wasn’t exactly Christmas-y. The program of events consisted of people performing on stage, or the whole group playing a game, and if you lost the game, you then had to go perform on stage. Take a peak at one of these performances (and prepare your ears):

If you couldn’t tell, that’s a woman doing Zumba aerobics on stage while every woman over the age of 35 and every kid under the age of 10 attempts to follow her movements, which after a while strongly resembled those of a an exotic dancer (clothes on, of course).

How was my Christmas?

Awesome. On Christmas Eve Eve, my friends that I graduated with from Holy Cross, who also happen to be studying Chinese in Beijing, had a Christmas party at their apartment. They invited their Chinese class, which is a pretty internationally diverse crowd, so after we had run through every American Christmas song on Youtube, I was introduced to Vietnamese, Thai, and Japanese “Christmas” music. A few beers and bottles of wine later,we went to this place called Global Club (which is my spot), and danced/raged on stage until 3 in the morning.

Christmas Day was pretty laid back. My family has our Christmas party on Christmas Eve, so because of the time difference, when I gave them a call it was December 25th in Beijing and December 24th in the States. That night, my same friends and I ate our Christmas dinner at a Tibetan restaurant (not that the restaurant was serving an American style Christmas dinner, we just wanted to go there that night). Picture the exact opposite of what Christmas dinner is like back in the States, and you might be close to what we experienced in this restaurant. I was really camera happy this weekend, so I took more video:

This is what I was watching while I was eating my naan bread and spinach dip, Tibetan mac n’ cheese, fried yoghurt and mashed potato balls, fried yak and mashed potato balls, and yak dumplings. Just some Tibetan people having a good time, singing, dancing, while I’m eating and enjoying a can of Tibet’s finest brew.

A Tibetan Christmas Dinner

Later that night, after getting back from my first Tibetan cultural experience, I was able to sit in my living room with my family via webcam and enjoy Christmas morning (Christmas night my time) with them. A big thank you to whoever invented Skype for making that possible.

So what is Christmas in China?

Who knows. You may not have gotten this impression after what you just read, but the Chinese do Christmas just fine. If you think Christmas means getting dressed up in a suit and tie, going to church, eating a fancy ham dinner, and opening tons of presents that a big man in a red suit put under that pine tree in your living room, unfortunately, I think you’ll be a little upset if you ever spend Christmas here.

However, if Christmas means being able to party (responsibly) with some of your best friends in a foreign country, eat fried yoghurt and yak balls while watching Tibetan people dance, and enjoy Christmas morning with your family, even if your only physical presence is on a computer screen, then you’ll be just fine here.

I guess in the end, Christmas is whatever you make of it. It doesn’t really matter what it means to other people or how they celebrate it – sometimes you just have to go and search out your own meaning.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you!

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My graduation Certificate

CET is officially over (and actually has been since last Friday). The Spring semester at Beijing University doesn’t start until February 10th, which means I have almost 2 months before I have to step inside a classroom again. I genuinely miss studying a chapters’ worth of grammar and 50 new vocab words everyday, but catching up on 3 months of lost sleep has been a great consolation.  As great as it is, though, I’m not exactly on vacation seeing as I’ve still yet to find my own apartment or a paying job. Good times.

CET 结束以后
CET jiéshù yǐhòu
The end of CET and after

Like I said in “Sharpening My Haggling Skills At Silk Street“, the last week of the semester wasn’t all that busy. Our final written exam, which covered everything we learned in the second half of the semester, was last Thursday. The thing about studying a language is that everything you learn relates to or is based off of something you learned before. While there are some exceptions, for the most part, every time we stepped out of the CET gate and had a conversation with someone, we were reviewing our Chinese. (Cliche but true.)

Our final oral exam was on Friday. As part of our weekly oral exam, we had to write a roughly 500 character essay which we were supposed to memorize and give as a small oral presentation 报告 “bàogào”. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember the last time I actually memorized my baogao, but it was more so because it took me so long to write it that I just ran out of time to memorize it. Our final baogao was a 10 minute oral presentation of an 800 character essay we had to write earlier last week. Mine was on internet freedom, and I actually memorized the whole thing. Had my teacher pretty impressed too (although my joke about Al Gore inventing the world wide web elicited zero response from her).

In case anyone was interested, I annihilated both the written and oral exams.

毕业典礼
Bìyè diǎnlǐ
The graduation ceremony

Our graduation ceremony was on Friday after we had all finished our oral exams. It was held at a pretty nice hotel within walking distance to CET, although I couldn’t tell you the name of it – I just followed the crowd walking in that direction. It was more on the formal side but not too over the top. We ate (buffet style), they handed out some awards (which I won zero of), and we got our diplomas (see first picture in post). Standard protocol at the end was to say goodbye to our teachers. I was a little overwhelmed and my brain wasn’t really functioning at that point, so although I tried to get to everyone, unfortunately I’m sure there’s a few people, teachers included, that I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye/thank you to.

Passport pic from July | Passport pic from late Nov. Results of the Chinese Food Diet

Because it was a semi-formal event, I had planned on wearing my blazer that I had brought from the States. I knew it was too big, so I went to a tailor that Wednesday just to see if by some miracle they could tailor it in one day. Turns out I had lost so much weight that “tailoring” it meant taking it all apart and using the old material to make a new jacket. That was going to cost right around $45. The woman taking care of me told me they could make a new jacket from whatever material I wanted for around $70 – and have it done by the next day. She also said they could make me an entire suit from whatever material I wanted for around $100 – and have it done by the next day. So after a few hours of mulling it all over, I went with the new suit.

I went back the next day, and there was my suit hanging in the dressing room waiting for me to throw it on. It fit, I paid, and I left. Nowhere in America can you get a cashmere suit, tailor made, and delivered the next day for $109. While I do feel bad for the dozens of underpaid children who probably worked 14 hour shifts to get my suit done, I couldn’t hate the suit. And people wonder why I love this country.

我现在在做的什么
Wǒ xiànzài zài zuò de shénme
What I’m doing right now

While doing the job and apartment search, I’m staying with one of my best friends who you’ve probably seen in multiple photos in my posts since I’ve been in China. He works for CET, and as a program assistant, he actually lives in the dorm and has two rooms, one of which I’m currently writing this from. Believe it or not, I consider myself one of the luckiest people in China right now. I have a solid roof over my head, heating, an air conditioner, hot water 24/7, a laundry room, a lock on my door, and one of my best friends as my roommate. While I still plan on looking for my own place, I couldn’t ask for better temporary arrangements.

"356" Dangerous - Health Warnings of Emergency Conditions

This has almost no relevance to anything I’ve said so far, but if you’ll remember my first post from CET, “A Day In The Life“, I mentioned Beijing’s poor air quality. While I gave up on caring about that, you should check this link out for some visual confirmation of what I was referring to. The picture with the air quality rating of 356, which reads “Dangerous”, corresponds to the last picture in the stream on that site.

A few people have asked if there’s anything they can do for me for Christmas, so if you’re one of those people, here it is. I’m assuming everyone’s heard about the Great Firewall of China. That Wall can often times make blogging pretty hard if you don’t have something called a VPN (virtual private network). Basically, in order for me to blog, I have to pay $10 a month for one of these. So if you’re feeling generous this holiday season, feel free to donate to the “Help Nate Sustain His Blog And His Life” fund by using the giant yellow button on the right. PayPal assures me no one can steal your credit card info. Together, we can beat the Wall.

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