KTV, but first

Roommate
So it turns out my roommate is a guy named Jerry who I'd met previously at a welcome luncheon. When I first got here, he was very helpful with getting a cell phone, sim card, phone card, etc. His English is almost too good, hopefully it isn't a problem with my "immersion." I'm sure he'll be a good roommate though.

KTV
On Sunday night, it was someone's birthday, so a dozen of us went out for hotpot and then KTV. Hotpot was pretty great, I don't think I've ever seen so much goat meat in one place at one time. It was pretty much like fondue except their was a spicy side and a non-spicy side to cook stuff in. We dumped in potatoes, squid, fishballs, lotus root, lettuce (or cabbage maybe), crab, mushrooms, tofu, and some other stuff that I'm forgetting.

Then it was on to KTV. It's kind of hard to describe. I kind of want to use the word Japanese to describe it although I don't know if that gives the same mental picture for most people. Anyway, it's designed to seem very futuristic, with lots of glowing things and shiny surfaces. I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera, but I'll upload a picture of another KTV (not nearly as upscale as the one we went to though).


Karaoke in China (and I'm lead to believe in the rest of East Asia) is nothing like the U.S. It's not like you get up at a bar and embarrass yourself in front of people you don't know. Instead, you embarrass yourself in front of people in private. All karaoke is done in private rooms rented out to suit the size of the party from 3 people to 50 (presumably there are really huge room in some places). The KTV we went to probably had dozens of rooms.

It's called KTV because of the music videos with the lyrics on the bottom that play while you sing karoake along with it. We got a room that was far too large for us. The main room had a coach along the wall that was large enough to seat all of us, tables and a few touch screens for selecting the songs. Then off of that there was a room with a table and four chairs. Off of that, it's two steps up to another room with a TV in it and a table a few inches off the ground to sit around. Pretty much a hotel suite minus the bed. Complete with room service as well. If you pressed a button, someone came in to serve you.

The singing itself could be done through 2 wireless microphones or one wired mic. People sang everything from Van Morrison to Back Street Boys and even one Chinese song. I sang a few parts to songs as the night wore on, but in general, me singing is to be avoided.

All of this fancy stuff came with presumably a very large price tag, although I didn't ask. A round of drinks, however, cost 250 kuai (250/7.5=$33.33), which is enormously expensive compared to most things in China. Our dinner only cost 16 kuai a person, I believe. I can only guess what the room cost.

The night ended around midnight, when we got kicked out. After getting back, another guy and I decided to chill with three locals outside of the shop next to our dorm. I guess they all live and work in the area and know the shopkeeper. They were very friendly, offering things to drink and eat, and joking around. The other guy understood most of what was being said, whereas I did not. While this may sound sketchy (looking at you, Mom and Dad), trust me, these guys weren't going to do us any harm. They hang out there regularly, and one of them works in the building next door to us. The program assistant said there always very friendly with people in the program.

So that was the KTV adventure. You really have to see it for yourself.

I feel like every blog post should be titled "Random Thoughts"

Today
Class as usual, although I understood the entirety of what my professor said in reading class today. Speaking class is entirely the opposite though. I grabbed a quick lunch at a Western-style deli (a little over $2 U.S.), and then worked on homework.

We had a quick orientation for our culture class at 4. We went over stuff such as how to take it when people stare at you and say certain things to you. An interesting fact I picked up is that men with a long nail on their pinky use it for "routine hygiene." I can only imagine the possibilities.

Finally finished my homework at 6. My Chinese roommate should be showing up around 7, so I'm going to go wait in my room for him after this.

Going to the beach!
Tomorrow at 2 p.m. everyone in the program is getting on a bus to go to the port city of Lianyungang until Sunday.

Some information on Lianyungang:

• It's a 5 hour bus ride away in the northern part of Jiangsu province (the same as Nanjing)
• It is one of the four original ports opened up to foreign trade in the 1680's
• It's still a major port and is on the eastern end of the New Eurasia Continental Landbridge
• The population of the city proper is around 500,000 with 4.65 million in the metropolitan area

In addition to visiting the beach, we will visit the mountain which is described in the story of the Monkey King. The story is pretty much a myth based on the true story of the monk called Xuan Zang who brought back some of the first Buddhist scriptures from India. I read one version of the story in my Chinese Civilization class, which had pulled together the many different folk tales to try to create a narrative. The area near Liangxungang is described in the early parts of the narrative as the place where the monkey was born out of stone and chose to set up his kingdom.

The Blog
I managed to view my blog through a proxy with the help of a friend of a friend who I practiced Chinese with in Madison. I still can't view the comments, but at least I can see how it looks.

KTV
If I have time tonight, I'll write about my karaoke experience a few nights ago. For now I'm off to wait for my roommate.

Only the first day, and a lot of homework

I meant to spend some time writing something interesting for this blog, but I already have a bunch of homework. I guess I didn't know how laid back my Chinese classes at Northwestern were, but this is a lot more intense. Mostly I'm not used to 99% of class being conducted in Chinese. I'm pretty much confused all the time. But that's how this language intensive stuff is supposed to work I guess, and most of the people in my class seem to not understand much either.

Today started with 4 hours of language class up until noon. After that we're still obligated to speak Chinese until 4 p.m., which pretty much meant not speaking much. I spent that time eating in the student cafeteria for 5 kuai (like 75 cents) and then going to Carrefour (think Chinese Walmart). Then dinner, then homework, until now. I still have to review some stuff for tomorrow, but I'll try to make time to write something more interesting for the next post.

Oh, and my ATM card worked to get 100 kuai out, so everything about this trip seems to be going right.

Blogspot.com is probably not ever going to load

Which means that I can't view comments on the blog. So if you make a comment, you should also e-mail it to me at j-spring@northwestern.edu.

I suspect the Chinese government might block it, they can exercise pretty strict control over the internet if they feel like it.

Pictures

I have a lot of good pictures already, but I have to pick and choose since it takes 5 minutes to upload a picture. I uploaded them in the reverse order that I meant too, since it just puts each new picture at the top.


A walk way just through the south gate to Nanda's campus.




Zhonghua Gate, built under the Ming Dynasty, I think in the 1300s.














Me next to one of the three gate houses at Zhonghua Gate.














The view from my room. Smog wasn't too bad when I took this.












My room, already a little bit messy. My roommate still hasn't moved in. Normally I keep the blinds shut during the day to keep it from getting hotter than it already is. Also, note how much it looks like a hotel.

Wo zai Nanjing

I arrived last night in Nanjing, more than 24 hours after leaving my house. It was a very smooth trip with no delays on flights and my luggage got through just fine. Jet lag is surprisingly not bad. I went to sleep at midnight, woke up at 8, and feel fine.

My dorm in the Zeng Xianzi building is like a hotel. I think it's far too nice, but I guess I can't complain. I'm on the eleventh floor so there is a pretty good view.

Some oddities:

• We get like a million TV channels. I saw everything from cowboy cartoons to half a dozen game shows.
• You have to turn the hot water heater on 2 hours before you want to take a shower. It's a good thing it's so incredibly hot that I want to take cold showers anyway.
• Really hard beds.

Not much exciting happening today, just cashing traveler's checks, buying a cell phone, and phone card. I'm sweating just sitting still, so it was god awful walking around in this heat.

Placement testing tomorrow morning, so I'm going to get dinner and then cram a little.

Also, I can't actually see this blog because I can't access the blogspot.com address right now, but I can get to blogger.com. I'll try to work that out.