Roommates

Da Peng (means "Big Bird") moved in yesterday at around 9 a.m. He said it was a two or three hour train ride from where he lives in Shandong (the province north of Jiangsu). He came with a bunch of packets of dried fish, that I guess come from that province, which he gave to me and a several other people. Not bad, really salty and fishy. He seems pretty chill to live with, should be a good semester. I knew him from playing basketball and drinking baijiu with him last semester.

Speaking of which, Jerry, my old roommate, gave me a bottle of baijiu, named after the first Chinese to make alcohol some 3000 years ago. It's OK, 52% alcohol. Its way better than the Erguotou, which comes in 3 kuai flasks on the street, although that is good for passing time on trains.

I just got back hot pot with Da Peng and several other roommate pairs. I may have changed my mind about hotpot, now that I'm better at using chopsticks. I used to not like it because you have to put the meet/veggies into the pot and let them cook before picking them out. It makes for a long meal and I'm never sure when I'm full. Although in a social setting such as tonight, it was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we go out with all the roommates to dinner and then KTV. Last semester it was a lot of fun so it should be fun this time around. Usually involves a lot of ganbei-ing, the Chinese equivalent of cheers when you finish your drink. I'll try to take a picture to throw up here.

I'm definitely staying in A ban as my laoshi thinks I can handle it. It will be a lot of work but my Chinese will be so much better at the end. Plus, Da Peng only likes to speak Chinese since he's a Chinese Lit major.

Xi'an

Got back from Xian much as I arrived--at an unusual hour. We got in at 5 a.m., checked into a hotel and had about 1-1/2 hour to rest before we started our sightseeing. Went to see some hot springs, the Terracotta Warriors, the Big Goose Pagoda, and the Great Mosque. The hot springs were where some emperor used to bathe, not very interesting. But it's als where the Xi'an Incident occurred. Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Nationalist party, was kidnapped from his field headquarters outside Xi'an by essentially a warlord and forced into a truce with the Communists. Bullet holes remain and period furniture fills the small rooms of the field headquarters. More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi'an_Incident.

The rest was the same old same old. In our free time, I got to eat a lot of the famous street food, although much of the time I wasn't sure why it is famous. Rou jia mou, often referred to as a Chinese hamburger and supposedly is Xinjiang specialty, is actually much better in Nanjing. Did have some awesome spicy crayfish, so now I'm starting to realize that the worse something looks, often the better it tastes.

The first weekend trip is also used as an opportunity to bond with all the people we're just meeting. That meant going out at night, in this case to karaoke (KTV). And that I was completely exhausted. Arriving back in Nanjing at 11 p.m. Sunday night, by plane, we only spent one real night in the hotel.

Class

Class is proving hard enough that I'm holding off on getting a job. I should be able to keep up in real A ban (not A2 ban I was placed into), so I should learn a lot this semester. Trying to focus on my tones, as they are my weakest point.

Class

Over the weekend, a couple guys came from Shanghai, so I went out with them both nights. Helped out new people buy cell phones on Saturday and went back to the Massacre museum on Sunday. Last time, it had been overrun with people because of the anniversary, so I had only seen the mass graves and Peace monument, not the actual museum itself. The Museum is huge with thousands of artifacts and pictures. It seemed almost like evidence for some sort of court proceeding against the Japanese. No mention of the dropping of the bomb, but plenty of mention of Chinese resistance triumphing over the Japanese invaders. Not outright bias in most things, just bias by what was omitted. Disturbing as always. If you want to know more go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre.

Class started today at 8 a.m. I had been placed in an A2 class, which was more like an A/B class, so I will be trying the A class tomorrow. The A2 class would be fine, but I want a challenging class. I've been lazy with my Chinese lately, so it needs something to jump start it. Only three days of class this week, and then we have our orientation field trip to Xi'an. I've already been there, but it should be fun anyway.

Back in NJ

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Huge Buddha on Lantau Island, next door to Hong Kong Island, but in the same Special Administrative Region (SAR). Sits on a hill above a monastery. (Below) Hong Kong from Victoria peak at night. The peak is as tall as some of the skyscrapers next to it. In other words, it's pretty steep.

Got back in Nanjing yesterday. Took a soft sleeper train direct from Hong Kong to Shanghai, then got a fast train back to Nanjing. About 25 hours start to finish, which isn't bad when you sleep for 10 of them. Soft sleepers come with a TV screen at the foot of the bed with 2 channels. I watched two episodes of this Chinese show that was a rip off of Sex in the City almost exactly. Even one women with short hair died slightly red. Really funny though, and a sign my listening comprehension is improving.

My lunch meeting on Tuesday went well. Might freelance and get paid for it. Exciting, but I've never written for a magazine before. I could live wherever I wanted and travel, potentially, if I need to to write a story. Could possibly do it in conjunction with another part time internship/job.

Other than that, saw the Buddha on Monday, and went to Hong Kong library at night to look at a book for my potential honors thesis. Also so The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which I would recommend. Movie selection is much better in Hong Kong.

It's really good to be back in Nanjing, feels like home. It's really great to see some of my Chinese and a couple people back from last semester. New kids on the way, a few are here already, but most will arrive tomorrow. I found out today also that I wouldn't have to take the placement test again, I'll just be placed in the A level class (there's A (good), B (intermediate), C (everybody lower), and people taking real university classes (ridiculously good)).

If anything interesting happens, I will update.

Relaxing until Tuesday

Back in Hong Kong taking it easy after lugging my backpack around Macau for two days. I couldn't find a good place to stay that was reasonably priced. I stayed in a non-registered place, pretty much a cheap bed in a place with the "floating population" you read about in China. Didn't think it was too safe, so I decided not to stay another night and came back. I still got a sense for Macau and saw a few sights.

Voted today. Kind of cool seeing a bunch of expat democrats going into a diner to vote.

I'm talking to a guy about a potential internship on Tuesday, and then I'll head back to Nanjing for school to start on Friday. I will probably make a day trip out to Lantau island tomorrow to see this huge Buddha. Going to go catch a movie now then try to go to sleep early.

Back in Hong Kong

Came back unexpectedly early because Macau was too expensive. More on that later, it's 3 a.m.

In Hong Kong

Arrived in Hong Kong yesterday. I keep coming up with different ways to think of the city in my head. In some ways, it is the closest thing to Blade Runner or StarWars (the new ones) I've seen. Surely ever high-technology-future scifi writer has to have seen this city. People walk up to me, Africans, Indians, Chinese accosting me about buying a suit, hasheesh, a watch etc. I'm staying in a room that's closet size, my bed + two feet. Signs are everywhere in English, Chinese, you name it. The rich live super-baller lifestyles while the poor are almost comically poor. It's easily the most cosmopolitan city I've been to (sorry New York).

Hong Kong also seems kind of like the Bay Area, but a better version. First, all unwanted elements are pushed out of the city proper (in this case to where I'm staying in Kowloon across the harbor), and there are special places for rich people to live (the closer to the top of Victoria Peak, the richer). Second the weather is mild, although it does get hotter here in the summer. Third, as mentioned above. Fourth, everybody's a huge yuppie. I could keep listing.

I keep going back and forth as to whether I love or hate HK. You have to have money to get the most out of the city by shelling out for that good dinner or show or to get even moderately good digs. The racial economic gap is still large--all the lower class is Chinese. That brings me to the fact that this city is dripping in British-ness. If the Chinese guy is upper class, he has a British accent. I love the historical feeling, as this still feels like a colony, a feeling I've never gotten anywhere before. The feeling definitely makes the material from my Chinese history courses come alive. But still, their British, it's just so unappealing.

I wish I could post pictures since I have many interesting ones. I didn't bring my computer, so I'm at an internet cafe.

Anyway, going to Macao tomorrow morning for a day or two. Vegas of the East and all that. Back on Sunday to vote in person with Democrats Abroad (woohoo 11 expat delegates). Good thing I'm in Hong Kong and this happens to be the only place in China with a branch otherwise I would be too late to vote. That said, vote Obama on February 19th.

Guangzhou

Arrived in Guangzhou after a 34 hour train ride from Shanghai. The trip was scheduled to only take 17 hours, but I was held up by power outages in Western Jiangxi Province and all of Hunan Province. I befriended a guy named Mr. Lee who would keep me updated as to what the train staff was saying. Also, I actually buckled down and bought one of the sketchy boxed lunches (rice, cucumbers and onions, a half of a hard boiled egg sitting in what looked like sour kraut, piece of tofu, 2 pieces of what was probably fried chicken, and bean curd that looked like brains).

Arrived at 3 a.m. and got to a hostel. Found a huge cockroach on the floor of the bathroom today, on its back flailing. The one standard I hold a hostel to, and it fails. Freezing too, this far south most hotel rooms don't have heat. It's on Shamian island, a sand bar t hat had been taken over by the British/French and used as a trading post under the hong trading system. Little traffic, pretty chill, Starbucks nearby.

Taking in museums, have already been to three. Went to a Canadian bar last night with a friend of a friend. Probably won't make it to Hong Kong until the 6th.