June 20, 2010
Dear Friends and Family,
This week has been a flurry of classes, introductions, shopping, and adjusting.
Dear Friends and Family,
This week has been a flurry of classes, introductions, shopping, and adjusting.
News from the material goods department has been mixed. I set up a cell phone (15928935376, for those of you motivated or saavy enough to call abroad), bought a bike, had my bike stolen, resolved not to buy another bike, shopped over 30 shops to find shirts that fit, found no shirts that fit, resolved to continue searching for shirts that fit (or have them made). Fortunately each shopping escapade was an exciting adventure, meaning that I focused less on the result and more on the experience. I imagine if after two or three weeks I still cannot find shirts, I will start to get frustrated, but for the time being I'm enjoying the adventure.
In retrospect, the first indication I had of the commonplace and blatant nature of bike theft came as I was shopping around for a bike. One back alley salesman said I couldn't test out a bike unless I was certain I would buy it because he didn't want break the lock off the back tire until he had to. As for my stolen bike, yes I bought a dingy, used bike; and yes, I locked it up; and yes, I parked it next to a horde of similar looking bikes; and yes, it was still stolen only two days after purchasing it. I have a sneaking suspicion, given that I bought it for about 25 USD out of a shed behind someone's house where the owner had stashed a dozen similar used bikes, that this might not have been the first time it was stolen. I recounted the experience to one of my tutors who nonchallantly replied that after having two of her bikes stolen in one month she had resigned herself to taxis and walking on foot. Given the frequency of bike theft on campus, I gather that most people think of their bicycle purchase as a rental fee for some undetermined period of time, rather than a long-term investment. While I haven't ruled out buying another bike, I must admit a little extra walking wouldn't be bad for my health.
Counterpoint to my bittersweet bicycle adventure was my first experience with karaoke in China. Yesterday when my tutor and her friend took a few of us to sing what turned out to be four hours of karaoke in the fanciest karaoke joint I have ever seen! With six stories and nearly 100 rooms, this place was a literal palace. Amenities included helicopter and disco lights, a digital control panel in the wall, a touchscreen panel mounted adjacent to three walls of spacious, plush couches, maracas, tambourines, a wide-screen television, a broad selection of Chinese and English classic and current pop songs, and all the fruit beverages you can drink. Total cost for six people x four hours: 20 USD. Of course, we went on a Saturday afternoon and finished before 6pm. Evening prices can be considerably more expensive, upwards of $15-20 USD/hour, which if pricey by American standards is outrageous in China. But if you've never sung karaoke in China, you might want to add that to your bucket list. I sang the three or four Chinese songs I know but for the most part we switched back and forth between 80s classics (Michael Jackson, Richard Marx, Mariah Carey) and relatively recent pop (Brittney Spears, Lady Gaga, 50 cent). Two or three Lady Gaga music videos was more than enough to motivate my recommitment to learning Chinese songs if for no other reason than that I would never again have to sing P-P-Poker Face. That being said, last fall's movie, This Is It, opened my eyes to the magic that is Michael Jackson and yesterday's karaoke experience only strengthened my loyalty to the King of Pop.
I was equally happy to worship today and participate in my first virtual branch meeting. It turns out there are three Mormon students among the 36 students in our program. After sending out a few emails, we learned that Chengdu has a group (an informal unit smaller than a branch or ward) that meets every Sunday and Skypes into a weekly China-wide conference call hosted by another group in Beijing. The meeting lasts two hours, from 10 to noon, and consists of a one hour sacrament meeting followed by one hour of Sunday School. Talk and lesson assignments are emailed out in advance and speakers deliver their talks or lessons over the phone. Roll call was called between the two meetings and groups checked in from Xiamen, Jinan, Chongqing, Hunan, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Chengdu, Beijing, and half a dozen other cities. Some groups have upwards of 20 members, others as few as two or three. In all, nearly 100 members must have been participating from all over the country. Additionally, I am aware of larger branches in Beijing and Shanghai which do not call in but hold regular, face-to-face meetings. It was cool to see how expat church members worship in China and I look forward to interacting with this group for the next seven or eight weeks that I'm in Chengdu.
I've made some new friends this first week of class. Our language program paired each student up, one-on-one, with an MA student studying Chinese Language Education. In addition they assigned an MA student helper to each group of four students. Most of these tutors and helpers live on the same campus as us have been incredibly generous with their time and patience. One of my helpers, Robin, and her friend and neighbor since childhood, Lili, who is an anesthesiology student at the Sichuan University Medical Campus, took our group around to buy cell phones, to a park and historical district (think Insadong for those Koreanists out there), to karaoke, not to mention tirelessly answer our never-ending questions about the language. In the past I have been critical of classroom foreign language pedagogy, and still am to a large degree; however, I have been impressed that the one-on-one tutoring component has the potential to greatly enhance (in my estimation, eclipse or outweigh) the classroom experience. More importantly, I have been pleased to see the students and tutors move quickly beyond the formalities of their respective roles and become friends. Beyond language learning, I think these cross-cultural friendships have the greatest educational potential and interpersonal meaning of anything we do during these few short weeks studying abroad.
My best,
Jacob
In retrospect, the first indication I had of the commonplace and blatant nature of bike theft came as I was shopping around for a bike. One back alley salesman said I couldn't test out a bike unless I was certain I would buy it because he didn't want break the lock off the back tire until he had to. As for my stolen bike, yes I bought a dingy, used bike; and yes, I locked it up; and yes, I parked it next to a horde of similar looking bikes; and yes, it was still stolen only two days after purchasing it. I have a sneaking suspicion, given that I bought it for about 25 USD out of a shed behind someone's house where the owner had stashed a dozen similar used bikes, that this might not have been the first time it was stolen. I recounted the experience to one of my tutors who nonchallantly replied that after having two of her bikes stolen in one month she had resigned herself to taxis and walking on foot. Given the frequency of bike theft on campus, I gather that most people think of their bicycle purchase as a rental fee for some undetermined period of time, rather than a long-term investment. While I haven't ruled out buying another bike, I must admit a little extra walking wouldn't be bad for my health.
Counterpoint to my bittersweet bicycle adventure was my first experience with karaoke in China. Yesterday when my tutor and her friend took a few of us to sing what turned out to be four hours of karaoke in the fanciest karaoke joint I have ever seen! With six stories and nearly 100 rooms, this place was a literal palace. Amenities included helicopter and disco lights, a digital control panel in the wall, a touchscreen panel mounted adjacent to three walls of spacious, plush couches, maracas, tambourines, a wide-screen television, a broad selection of Chinese and English classic and current pop songs, and all the fruit beverages you can drink. Total cost for six people x four hours: 20 USD. Of course, we went on a Saturday afternoon and finished before 6pm. Evening prices can be considerably more expensive, upwards of $15-20 USD/hour, which if pricey by American standards is outrageous in China. But if you've never sung karaoke in China, you might want to add that to your bucket list. I sang the three or four Chinese songs I know but for the most part we switched back and forth between 80s classics (Michael Jackson, Richard Marx, Mariah Carey) and relatively recent pop (Brittney Spears, Lady Gaga, 50 cent). Two or three Lady Gaga music videos was more than enough to motivate my recommitment to learning Chinese songs if for no other reason than that I would never again have to sing P-P-Poker Face. That being said, last fall's movie, This Is It, opened my eyes to the magic that is Michael Jackson and yesterday's karaoke experience only strengthened my loyalty to the King of Pop.
I was equally happy to worship today and participate in my first virtual branch meeting. It turns out there are three Mormon students among the 36 students in our program. After sending out a few emails, we learned that Chengdu has a group (an informal unit smaller than a branch or ward) that meets every Sunday and Skypes into a weekly China-wide conference call hosted by another group in Beijing. The meeting lasts two hours, from 10 to noon, and consists of a one hour sacrament meeting followed by one hour of Sunday School. Talk and lesson assignments are emailed out in advance and speakers deliver their talks or lessons over the phone. Roll call was called between the two meetings and groups checked in from Xiamen, Jinan, Chongqing, Hunan, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Chengdu, Beijing, and half a dozen other cities. Some groups have upwards of 20 members, others as few as two or three. In all, nearly 100 members must have been participating from all over the country. Additionally, I am aware of larger branches in Beijing and Shanghai which do not call in but hold regular, face-to-face meetings. It was cool to see how expat church members worship in China and I look forward to interacting with this group for the next seven or eight weeks that I'm in Chengdu.
I've made some new friends this first week of class. Our language program paired each student up, one-on-one, with an MA student studying Chinese Language Education. In addition they assigned an MA student helper to each group of four students. Most of these tutors and helpers live on the same campus as us have been incredibly generous with their time and patience. One of my helpers, Robin, and her friend and neighbor since childhood, Lili, who is an anesthesiology student at the Sichuan University Medical Campus, took our group around to buy cell phones, to a park and historical district (think Insadong for those Koreanists out there), to karaoke, not to mention tirelessly answer our never-ending questions about the language. In the past I have been critical of classroom foreign language pedagogy, and still am to a large degree; however, I have been impressed that the one-on-one tutoring component has the potential to greatly enhance (in my estimation, eclipse or outweigh) the classroom experience. More importantly, I have been pleased to see the students and tutors move quickly beyond the formalities of their respective roles and become friends. Beyond language learning, I think these cross-cultural friendships have the greatest educational potential and interpersonal meaning of anything we do during these few short weeks studying abroad.
My best,
Jacob
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