Blog #3: First Week of Classes

After returning from the Silk Road trip (the second part is coming soon), I wanted to take a day to relax and get settled in my environment again, but China life isn't that slow-paced. There is always an experience waiting just around the corner.  I went with friends to a local supermarket to buy some necessities for living in a dorm (snacks, shampoo, dishware, etc.). While going through all of the aisles looking for the items on my list, I noticed that there were workers everywhere. At first, I thought it was to make sure people didn't shoplift, but later I noticed how helpful these workers were. I was comparing soaps and a worker walked over and showed me another brand that was a better deal. One of my friends had a similar thing happen to her while she was trying to buy body wash. It was quite interesting to experience and surprising to realize how many people work in a Chinese supermarket! As I stored all of my purchases from the supermarket, I caught wind of some students' plan to go to the local mall. I didn't know what to expect or when I would get another chance so I went and I was glad I did.

At first, we went through stores we could find in America like H&M, Apple, Hollister and saw the prices were just as expensive. We wanted to find bargains and that's when we stumbled upon Yaxiu Market. Right as you walk into this place you will see a sign that says, "Keep our environment safe. Do not copy/pirate items." I couldn't help but laugh at the sign. The building is 5 floors of fake products like Nike Shoes, Rolex watches, and Gucci bags. The first floor had clothing from almost any brand you could imagine. The second floor sold all types of shoes and bags. The third floor had watches and electronics. The fourth floor was a currency exchange and the fifth floor had different places to eat food. I wanted to bargain on a few pairs of shoes and I found the average selling price was about 140 kuai or about $23 (6 RMB to 1 US). I wondered about the quality of the shoe, but it occurred to me that Nikes are produced in China. In addition to that, China "tends" to disregard copyright/trademark laws, so I wondered what the true difference would be between the Nikes at Yaxiu and in America. Sadly, I did not end up buying any shoes in the end because I have slightly bigger feet than the average Chinese and the designs they had in my size I did not like. But the adventure didn't end on the second floor.

I also looked at watches on the third floor. A lady told me she had the "real" watches. She opened a briefcase of Rolex watches and then said, "You like Omega?" while opening another case of Omega watches. I was enticed by a Patek Philippe and I asked how much. She said that she liked my mustache so she would "give me a bargain," only $250 for a watch that was worth tens of thousands of dollar or more. I wish I would have recorded the interaction because she kept denying that they weren't fake. After some bargaining, I told her my final price was only $24 dollars, but she wanted $50. So I moved onto another stand full of watches, but I ended up getting "kicked out" from that place because I offered too low of a price for her "real watches." I left the Yaxiu Market empty handed, but not with an empty stomach. My friends saw a burger place nearby and I had my first burger in China, which made the whole trip worth it! I had missed cheese so much.

Adding to my shopping adventures, the day before classes began I thought it would be a good time to figure out my cellphone situation. I wanted a Chinese cellphone so I could call/text my friends and classmates. I could've switch the SIM card in my IPhone, but I opted for getting another phone entirely. This would allow me to easily text back home when I had wifi by using IMessage. My roommate, 钟昊 aka Mike, helped me find a good deal at one of the back-to-school sales for China Mobile. I was able to get a new smartphone, Xiaomi Redmi 1S (it is popular brand in China that still hasn't broke into the American market) and a year calling plan and a data package for only $166.50. Now I am able to send texts, call, and access the internet from anywhere for the whole year. I wish they had deals like this in America!

The first day I had only one class. The difference between China and America is that all of my classes are long and meet usually only once a week (except the language classes, which meet 4 days a week and still really long). My first class ever in China was my intensive intermediate Chinese class. The teacher is extremely helpful and makes Chinese easy to understand. I predict my Chinese will progress quite rapidly because of her class. I always look forward going to this class because we have only met 4 times so far and I have learned so much already!

Throughout the rest of the week, I had my Modern Fiction, Wushu (martial arts), Political Science, and Buddhism classes. I really have enjoyed all of my classes. I came to China to learn the language culture, but my other classes have proved to me that these two objectives won't be the only two things I learn while I am here. The literature is absolutely filled with history and criticism of past leadership (of course hidden between the lines). My Modern Fiction professor did a wonderful job uncovering these hidden gems for us on the first day. Wushu will prove to be hard because I am not very flexible, but I am getting better everyday. I have to improve a lot before our competition later in the semester, my grade will depend on my performance! The Political Science class is super informational on the Chinese government. I don't know what the censors pick up on my blog, so as to avoid losing my internet for a few months, I will just leave it there. The Buddhism course might prove to be one of the most enlightening courses I take this semester, no pun intended. It was a religion that I had almost zero knowledge on prior to coming to China. My professor explained Siddhartha's journey and how Buddhism is growing within China, an atheist country.

I am going to end my blog with two of my favorite stories from this week.

1) I went out to dinner with friends during the middle of the week. I wanted to go to a Korean restaurant and with my Chinese being the best, I got to choose where the 7 of us ate because I would be doing the ordering. Sadly, the Korean restaurant was too crowded and we couldn't all sit down. Another member of the dinner party said there was a restaurant he wanted to go eat at that was nearby. There were no objections so we walked there. We went in and sat down at a table and looked at the menu. It happened to be a skewer restaurant, where you order different types of meats and they come on sticks to eat. I had never been to a place like this, but I read the menu to everyone and the food was really cheap. Only $0.33 for 1 chicken skewer. I ordered 6 chicken skewers for myself and the rest of the guys said their numbers to the waitress who then took our order to the kitchen. We chatted for a bit about our school weeks thus far and before we knew it the food was ready. I took a bite of the chicken and it was extremely tough. I thought to myself, "This definitely isn't just chicken. What could it be? Is this cat? I really hope this isn't cat.." I finished all 6 of my skewers because I came to China with this mantra, "If it's edible and it is in front of you try it. If it is horrible, don't eat it again." It was horrible, but I don't think I will eat it again. A few of the other guys didn't finish their skewers and we were ready to pay and leave. They commented how they thought it wasn't chicken. I thought to myself again about the menu. It had the character "鸡" for chicken but also had another character I had missed, "胗." I looked it up on my phone and found we had all had chicken gizzards. I didn't mind much because that they aren't that bad. I didn't know exactly how to tell all of these guys because I was the one that had told them it was chicken (which isn't false, but not entirely true). As we left the restaurant and walked back to our dorm, I spilled the beans. They all laughed and were just relieved it wasn't cat.

2) On Friday, my friend Tim told me that the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN was coming to speak at our university. Tim had gotten involved with the International Students Association at UIBE so he had connections to get us into the speech. We got dressed up in ties and marched out into the blazing heat to meet this foreign dignitary. I glanced at my phone and saw the AQI was at 198 (this is a number that tells how many particles are in the air and this is a high number). If there was such an important person coming, why hadn't they sprayed the chemicals in the air to make it rain the pollution away. When we got to the location the speech was happening, the second sign was apparent, no security. I was still optimistic. When the dignitary arrive, we made a tunnel of students to shake hands with him. It ended up being the Under-Secretary-General for the General Assembly, Tegegnework Gettu, and his son. When I saw his face, I didn't know who he was, but I held onto some hope the speech was still worth all of the effort. Following the Under-Secretary-General was the president of UIBE (my school). Once we all sat down and were ready for the speech, the preside of the university spoke about why we all were there, to convince his son to come study at UIBE. The biggest letdown ever. I looked over at Tim and he didn't look back. Another friend that had tagged along started to laugh. Looking back on the event, it is a funny story and just goes to show somethings are be too good to be true, even in China. Although we got a picture (I assume for the school paper) and I pushed my way to the front, right behind the president of the university and Mr. Gettu.

I don't know how exactly my blog posts were go from here. I don't want to write about my school work because that would be boring. I will continue to share stories like this and I hope to share some interesting facts I learn about China (what I can get through the censors). It has been quite the journey this past month and only more fun to come!