Changsha part 2

This post is a list of things we’ve done so far.

Yuelu Mountain

A few friends and I hiked up Yuelu Mountain after our first day of class. Unaware of the paved road from the base to the peak of the mountain, we hiked up the dirt trails. I’m glad we hiked up the natural path because the steep hills were a challenge!

The peak of the mountain provides an amazing view of Changsha. We were able to see the entire city and were surprised at how big it is. The view would have been flawless if there wasn’t pollution. I couldn’t capture any clear pictures of the city because of the pollution.

There is a tower and a Taoist temple on the top of the mountain, but we didn’t go to them because we thought that rain was coming. We rode a cable seat ride down the mountain, which provided us with more angles of Changsha. Riding over the canopy of the mountain’s trees is one of my favorite sights so far.

We also got to ride a toboggan slide! We would each sit in an individual cart, have a pulley take us around half way up the mountain, and then we would slide down the steel track. Zooming through the woods and fresh air was pretty damn fun. I was going fast, but I could have gone faster. I’m going back to this slide before we leave.

I don’t think we even saw half of the attractions at Yuelu Mountain. There are more memorials, temples, pavilions, etc. that I want to visit.

Yuelu Academy

A few days ago the entire group went to the Yuelu Academy, which was an academy that the Confucius philosopher Zhu Xi taught in. It contained many characteristics of what one would assume to be old school China; a lot of greenery, poetry and philosophy engraved in stone, a central pond, bamboo, and a quiet atmosphere. Many Chinese graduates were taking pictures there because there are engravings that say something to the tune of “Intelligent people come from Hunan.” There is also a wall that people rub for good luck in their studies.

Hunan Normal University Business School Welcoming

Two days ago the business school at Hunan Normal University threw a welcoming ceremony for us. Most of them spoke English. They started the ceremony by re-enacting Cinderella, in English. After that, a few girls sang a couple of High School Musical songs very well! They wanted us to sing for them, but none of us knew of anything to sing. My roommate Zack saved us by starting to sing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.” More people from our group joined in and we had a few pauses because we needed time to remember the lyrics.

We had time to talk freely among each other after the performances. There was two girls who I talked to, whom surprisingly had a big interest in America’s perspective in politics. They asked me what America’s opinion on the Taiwan situation is, Japan, premarital sex, and homosexuality. They both believe that Taiwan belongs to China because many people from mainland China live there and that it is an embarrassment that Taiwan is claiming independence. When they asked me what I think of Japanese people, I told them that I view everyone equally. They told me that they both have some animosity towards Japan because of the history of Japan invading China(this doesn’t hold true for all Chinese!). They told me that the conservative people among the elderly Chinese don’t understand premarital sex, but the young people do. One of the girls told me that she thinks homosexuality is disgusting, which struck a big nerve in me, so I replied to her:

“Well if you don’t like gay sex, then don’t participate in it. It’s not your business what people do in the bedroom. You shouldn’t view a gay person as a lesser person because of the one characteristic out of many that makes them a human being. You wouldn’t want someone to judge you because of one thing you were born with.”

She replied to me, “Ooh! That’s right. You’re a real nice person.”

Our group and the business students took a giant group picture after the conversation period.

Liling Ceramics Factory

Yesterday we took a two hour bus ride to a ceramics factory in the city of Liling. They are the largest ceramics exporter in China and the official ceramics producer for the Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo. We started in their showroom and I saw many plates, bowls, and cups that are sold in Kohls, Macy’s, JCPenny, Taget, and almost every other large U.S. department store.

We toured the actual factory production area, which was amazing because most of the production is from human labor. All of the art on the plates, bowls, cups, etc. are hand painted! Very little machinery is used in producing their ceramics, which I admire because there is more of a human artistic element in their products. I might just buy some of their stuff when I return home!

We took our bus to a hotel in Liling for an amazing and luxurious lunch! We were put in a VIP dining room on the fifth floor. The dining room had a large center table with flowers in the center, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, plush carpet, and very comfortable chairs. Our silverware consisted of a large golden spoon and fancy chopsticks with gold at the base. We were also given warm and moist towels. The food was mostly spicy Chinese dishes; chicken, pork, beef, rice, sweet potato noodles, veggies, and EEL!

Pictures from these sights are on my Facebook photo album at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1773508023547.2092920.1414680180&l=897821e07b

We’re leaving for Zhangjiajie National Park tomorrow! We’ll be there for two days. Google pictures of this place, it’s beautiful!

– Mike L.

Changsha part 1

Hello All!

I apologize again for the slow updates. This week has been very busy for me. I had a quiz on the first 20 Chinese radicals, Chinese tutoring, a presentation on Mao in my seminar of China’s economy & society class, and an exam in my international economics class.

Basic info on Changsha

* Over a 6 million population
* Capital of Hunan Province
* Growing rapidly! We were surprised at how developed this city is!
* Chairman Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, began his political career here
* Public transportation is mainly buses and taxis
* The weather patterns are very similar to the Ohio Valley. Hot, humid, and rainy during the summer and cold and snowy during the winter.
* The two halves of the city are separated by the large Xiang River

Hunan Normal University

We received a very warm welcome from Hunan Normal University. Their international student’s office gave us a very delicious and large welcoming banquet. Two of their staff members were so friendly! One of them, Amy, taught us a few eating customs. For example, if someone says “GAMBE,” everyone toasts and chugs the rest of their drink(we only had green tea so we were safe). Another thing she taught us was that the end of a meal is signaled by watermelon and other fruit being served.

We walked around the campus for a little bit and I was very impressed at its beauty. There are a few gardens and parks for students to quietly study. One of them is an “English Corner” and Chinese students will go there to recite books and talk only in English. The Yuewang Pavilion spot is a large area with a pond, a bridge that crosses the pond, a lot of greenery, an entrance to Yuelu Mountain, and the Yuewang Pavilion. The Yuewang Pavilion is a memorial for the people who died when Japan invaded Changsha during WWII. To prevent the Japanese from gaining anything from the city, the Chinese soldiers had a plan to burn the city down when all the citizens were evacuated. The sight of the first fire was the signal for the other soldiers to set their areas on fire; however, that plan backfired when an accidental fire was mistaken for the signal, which unfortunately caused many people to die because the city was set ablaze prematurely.

We live and study in the building designated for foreign students. This building contains 6 floors, dorms, classrooms, a recreation center, a kitchen, a student union, a general convenience store, and a very nasty cafeteria(we don’t eat there). Our dorms are pretty high class! Two people share a room which contains two queen size beds, wood floors, a full bathroom(which has a western style toilet!!!!), a closet for each student, a large desk area for each student, a flat screen TV, air conditioning, a balcony/clothes drying area, a mini fridge, and housecleaning services. I love the way we enter our dorm rooms because all we have to do is place our key card on the door handle, wait for it to make a happy beeping noise, and walk in.

Having our classes in the dorm building is very convenient because of the close proximity, but I wish our classes were in the regular campus academic buildings; however, I do understand that us being here for only a month would be a waste of space in the academic buildings.

I’m cheating on Arabic by sitting in on the Chinese language class. Attending the class is free, I’m in China, and Chinese language skills are in high demand, so why not? The class starts at 7:50 A.M. and lasts for an hour, but boy do we cover a lot! Dr. Ping has been teaching us pronunciation of Pinyin, conversational skills, and currently we’re learning the 40 basic Chinese radicals. The Chinese radicals are basic words that everyone learning Chinese needs to know because they’re used as a base for many other words to build on. For example, the character for water + the character for sun = oil. Get it?! I’m enjoying this language and I think I will continue to study it when we return home because of how useful it is due to globalization. Learning Arabic and Chinese at the same time will be fun but sooooo challenging!

The international economics course is great for this trip because China is obviously a powerful actor in today’s world of international trade. Dr. Volkan Cetinkaya teaches it in a technical manner, but adds a lot of examples using China and the U.S. I like this way of teaching because we learn the economic theories and concepts and see how they can be applied to this region of the world. I recommend this class to anyone who wants to learn economics abroad because we get to live in a country that is a great example of strong growth in a globalized world. Everyday I witness examples of the international economic theories that I’ve learned in this class.

Dr. Volkan Cetinkaya also teaches the Seminar in Economics: Chinese Society and Culture class, which is designed to teach us the cause and effects of the conditions of the Chinese economy and society during major historical periods, transitions, and in present day China. I enjoy this class because I feel more culturally aware and sensitive of the Chinese people by knowing how this country progressed through their tumultuous history in the past 100 years. Interacting with the people here enhances the teachings of this class because I am learning their perspective on the issues we cover.

I believe that in my future I’m going to continue to reap many rewards from this study abroad experience because I’m going to pursue a career in international public service. China is obviously going to be a huge player in the international stage of tomorrow, so being knowledgeable of their language, their culture and history, and international economics is going to put me at an advantage by preparing myself for the future…today.

To anyone interested in international affairs and/or economics, you should take a serious look into studying in China. Investing in yourself is the most intelligent investment you’ll make in your life. This will not only boost the prospects for your career, you’ll also earn unique friends and fun experiences that can’t be copied anywhere else. Don’t underestimate the five weeks here, because we’re on week 2 and my world has already changed.

Part 2 of this post is coming soon!

– Mike L.

Pictures!

Hey!

Here is a link to my Facebook album in which I will be uploading all of my China pictures. The scarcity of a good internet connection makes it very difficult for me to upload pictures onto WordPress.

I’ll try to keep updating as much as possible… as long as The Fifth Tone(local coffee shop) retains its wifi.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1773508023547.2092920.1414680180&l=897821e07b

Ni hao! Starting off in Shanghai

Ni hao! Wo jiao Michael! (Hello! I am named Michael!)

I have FINALLY been able to reach the internet, though it’s very slow. My first few days in China have been very adventurous so far.

SHANGHAI:

Our first few days in Shanghai were very action packed. I love how vibrant this city is and the western influence on it helped us a lot. All of the signs have English and there are many American shops; for example, I had French Fries from McDonalds and a coffee from Starbucks.

We landed in Shanghai at 7 P.M. and had our first Chinese dinner. Our program director, Dr. Ping, ordered for us. We had rice, dumplings, spicy tofu, beef, pork, chicken, eggplant, and probably some other things. Many Chinese restaurants have a spinning turn table(like a microwave plate) on the center of the table, all of the dishes are put on the spinning plate, and we pick what we want and put it on our personal plates for eating. I like this a lot because it helps prevent over eating 🙂

Our second day was spent at the Shanghai museum and at a bazaar(like a flea market). The bazaar/market was very fun because we kept getting haggled and abused to buy souvenirs, knock off clothes, jewelry, and many useless things. “LADY GAGA HEADPHONES!” was yelled at us sooooo many times! We learned our first lessons in bargaining by getting tricked into overpaying for a Chinese stamp. We paid 80 Yuan each, and we quickly found someone down the road was selling them for 40 Yuan. Anyone who shops at these markets need to be good at bargaining and saying no, because if they don’t, they will get extremely ripped off. It is easy to purchase items from these markets for half off or even less.

I had an awkward experience in a mall while I was trying to find a bathroom. I was walking towards it and a woman literally pulled me to her stand so she could polish my shoes. I thought she was trying to polish my shoes and charge me, so I kept repeating “bu yao! bu yao! cesuo cesuo!” (No! no! Bathroom bathroom!). The small patch of polish on my shoes was free.

Our third day was spent at Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl TV Tower in The Bund(downtown area). It’s the tallest needle tower in Asia. We went to the observation deck at 263 meters, which gave a breathtaking view of the city. Shanghai is literally an endless horizon of buildings, which are mostly apartments. We went one floor below to an observation deck that had a clear glass floor. Small portions of the roof were left open to let wind travel through this glass observation deck, which gave us a feeling that were outside. After that, we rode the elevator to the tower’s first sphere at 90 meters high and rode the world’s tallest indoor roller coaster! It was only 30 seconds long, but still pretty fun :).

The whole group met at the hotel at 1 P.M., rode a bus to the train station, and left for Changsha at 5 P.M. I thought our train would be nice and luxurious… boy was I surprised! The bathroom was one of the nastiest things I’ve ever seen, it was literally a porcelain hole in the floor with an atomic mix of fluids swirling around it. We only had thin and firm beds to sleep on, which had three bunks per row. I had a few funny experiences in which my blanket would fall off my bed and knock over drinks on the table below me. We met a new friend named Nancy from Changsha who spoke English, and we hung out with her for a good portion of the train ride. We arrived in Changsha at 7 in the morning to make our way to Hunan Normal University!