A bit disappointed
Do you know what? The international students were cut off from the performance! We also were invited to the festivities at the beginning and uninvited at the last moment. When people showed up, they realized only 5 seats were reserved for us. That is all. Not very inclusive, I am quite disappointed. I also had talked to a lot of people about how exicted I was, and I had learned the song by heart…
Parks continue to amaze me. The best time to visit them is in the morning when people do martial arts (I saw weapons last time). In Chinese a park is “public garden”, but big parks finish by 院 (read: yuan), which means courtyard. // We have cats on campus! There is an area with benches where students can come to relax, and cats are fed there. It is great for stressful days. Also, I have visited the other campus and could not help but taking a video of the fountain!
Languages
Recently, while talking with friends, I realized one of them have read Babel. Yes, I will stop mentioning this book at some point, but I am not quite there yet. She has read it in Spanish, and I in French. Here, she brought an English copy. We planned to read it together and make it discover to a common friend of ours. I look forward to this little improvised book club. But also, we happen to be all in the same Chinese class. As I told you last week, I am in group B. There are 3 different modules in this group: Reading and Writing, Listening and Speaking. I will be taking the first two and try my best to practice the third when I am out and about. All these classes are extra-curricular for me, it will be a heavier schedule than my colleagues, but I mean, I am here to study and learn. Am I not? I hope I can enter group C next semester!
At home
My roomate had an idea, a great idea. He decided on specific days when we will speak French, English, Italian and Chinese together. His French is much better than my Italian, my Chinese is slightly better than his. I think it is quite a balanced schedule. But I was so reticent to try and speak Italian at first (I tried to avoid him most of the day). When we got home in the evening, we had a relatively long chat and I did struggle, but it was actually really fine. [with a great deal of irony] Oh really? Practicing and getting over social anxiety helps improving your level? Who could have guessed? [you can start reading normally again] Thus, in the end, this year will be my own Babel era. (Struggling to) learn Chinese with close friends, and practice my Spanish and Italian both in university and at home. I was so happy to be officially trilingual, but if I can pass the bar of the quintilingual (at this point just call me a polyglot) at the end of the school year I will be so happy!
Reflections
It is funny how time passes, my standards and goals keep increasing because I improve myself every day! What a life! I am so happy to be in China and living this great adventure (I am saying that even if it has only been 3 weeks). Sometimes I am visiting some place or doing absolutely normal activities, then I have this thought: I am in China. It was such a far away and arcane country to me before, and, like any other place on earth it is actually very normal. People eat 2 to 5 times a day, they generally sleep 6 to 9 hours a night, they work, study, use transports and do everything like anyone else does. Okay, there is more plastic waste, a very dense population, and food is cheaper, but it is just another part of the globe where humans keep living their lives and routines, but also achieve their dreams and are curious about foreigners (like me).
Neighbors
I have met several times a group of old ladies in my neighborhood. Once a Week, I beleive, they meet and chat while taking care of their grandkids. The first time I met them they asked whether I rented an appartment nearby, then we chatted about my studies (aka, we exchanged a few words and used the translator to finish our thoughts). Last week, they gathered and I thought I would be a shame not to say hi. So, I marched myself to the little group and told them I liked dumplings (I was carrying a bag of them), and asked if they could one day teach me how to make them. Of course, they are so nice and said yes. A teenager was also hanging around playing basketball, he was probably related to one of them. He understood English, he was really shy, but he did help translating some things. I said I will have a little break in October so I would love to learn with them then. They were happy about it. To be continued!
What else?
I took the habit of going to buy food without my phone. Overall I am managing to get through interactions. It gets easier, I swear! I am realizing I will learn so much once I stop being scared of mistakes and just go for it.
The international students are already ongoing a China-zation process, part of the integration means imitating behaviors right? Some crouch on the street, some spit, a french guy even got himself an umbrella to walk in the sun! I love how we are becoming a set of the things we experience.
This saturday, took a walk in the Zizhuyuan park with a friend, it was marvellous! We crossed paths with a girl who rented a Qing dynasty traditional dress for the day, of course we had to take a picture together.
Next, you can find pictures about:
- the water I drink (“C’est bon”: it’s good/tasty in French).
- the Red Cross is translated into “red 10” because the character for the number ten is a cross!
- snacks and food in general are not really sugary, but drinks really are, whether it is warm or cold. I also noticed it is almost impossible to find sparkling water, there are only sodas.
- a friend of mine recommended this spicy snack, despite its looks it is vegetarian; dry beef and chicken legs are common snacks here, they are usually sold in plastic bags under vacuum.
- the campus, but everywhere in China really, is really safe, people just leave their bags, food or computers lying around.
- seeing chinese calligraphy on black boards make me want to learn the language even more, it is very aesthetically pleasing.
- learning chinese is not a straight path and so often I go back to the translator, draw a character from memory to figure out what it means. Some characters have several meanings, but this one stroke me for a very complicated (while culturally relevant) word!
Last, but not least, about food
I have talked about them a lot and it is time I showed you what baos look like!
Yum! See you next week!