America for Toddlers

Today in our 口语 kǒu yǔ (spoken/colloquial language) class, the teacher asked for student volunteers from Italy, Korea, and the United States to go to a special preschool attached to Nanjing University and give a twenty-minute presentation on our respective countries.

I'll give you three guesses as to who was among the first to volunteer. 

Our assignment is to prepare a power point presentation that will give the young students a gentle introduction to our respective countries. The teacher suggested that we include as many scenic pictures as possible. After we present, the students will ask us questions about our countries that they prepared at home with their parents. I'm so excited. 

The only problem is... I don't know how cautious I need to be when describing America or American culture. For example, would it be acceptable to show a picture of the Statue of Liberty? Or Mount Rushmore, which celebrates our elected leaders? They're both somewhat important to America's image, and easily searchable on Baidu and Weibo, so it shouldn't be a problem to show them. But there's always that uncertainty. 

I wonder what else I should show them. New York, obviously. Washington, D.C. The Florida Wetlands? The Nebraska prairie? The Rockies, of course. The Bay Area. Navy Pier. The pueblos of New Mexico? Do I dare show them pictures of any of our Chinatowns? Maybe some pictures of cowboys... As one might surmise, I'm still in the brainstorming stages. Suggestions from my ever-loyal audience are always welcome. :)

Diaoyu

For those who haven't picked up the news lately, tensions between China and Japan are running pretty high, all due to a collection of rocks in the southern waters of the East China Sea called the Diaoyu, Tiaoyu, and Senkaku Islands by China, Taiwan, and Japan, respectively.

photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The islands themselves are of little importance, but the ocean floor around them is rich in natural resources (read: oil), making ownership of the islands highly desirable. To complicate the issue, the islands have changed hands some five or six times (read a cartoon history here), so both China and Japan have a somewhat legitimate claim to ownership.

Stop what you're doing

and read this: http://tealeafnation.com/2012/07/translation-one-authors-plea-for-a-gentler-china/

Never have I read anything that more poignantly and precisely captures the spiritual malaise that seems pervasive throughout modern Chinese society.

I've been thinking about the state of modern Chinese society quite a bit these last few weeks. I still need to organize my thoughts, but after I do, you know I'll be quick to share.

Bureaucracy

I had to wait a few days to write this post so as to give my temper a chance to cool down. I shouldn't have been so surprised really. I knew going into this that China can be bureaucratic to the point of being nonsensical. It's just that all of my previous experiences with China have been through American programs that took care of the bureaucracy for me, so I was always a step removed from the mess.

Not this time.

Getting settled into my program here has redefined my parameters for what constitutes a hot mess. It didn't help that I was basically flying solo. Therefore, in order to help anyone who will be doing the Chinese Government Scholarship in Nanjing in upcoming years, I've made a sort of "How To" post.

For the sake of (relative) brevity and my sanity, I won't blog the many moments of frustration I endured. Let's just say the experience involved considerable trial and error.

长白山: Part 5

The Changbai Chronicles, as continued from part four.

After our lovely day on the north slope of Changbai Mountain, we grabbed our shuttle back to the hostel and proceeded to the train station to see what our options were for returning to Beijing. We had actually gone to the train station at 6:30 that morning before we left for the mountain, but the ticket agent said she wouldn't sell our type of ticket until 8:00. Since our shuttle was leaving at 7:00, we had to wait until we returned at 5:00 that evening to see if there were any available trains to Beijing from 长春 Chángchūn.

Unfortunately for us, there weren't any trains available for the next few days. And unfortunately for me, the trains from Beijing to Nanjing were all sold out as well. So by the night of the 31st, all we had secured was one bus ticket to Changchun leaving at 6:10 AM the next day.

长白山: Part 4

The Changbai Chronicles, as continued from part three.

After finally arriving at our hostel the night before, Barney and I made plans with the hostel staff to take a shuttle to Changbai Mountain's 北坡 běi pò (north slope) the morning of the 31st. Luckily, our day on the mountain, the reason for the entire arduous trip, progressed without incident and ended up being very enjoyable. Since this was very much a visual trip, I'm just going to let loose with pictures and the occasional caption. Enjoy!

长白山: Part 3

The Changbai Chronicles, as continued from a previous post.

After arriving at Antu and being directed to the long-distance bus station by a friendly shopkeeper, Barney and I were ecstatic to see an empty bus with the word Erdaobaihe written across its window in huge characters. We went up to the official hovering by the entrance and asked where to buy a ticket for the bus. He gave us a funny look, walked over to a nearby throng of people, came back and said, "没有票了 méi yǒu piào le (there are no more tickets)." He then told us that the next bus to Erdaobaihe was leaving at 5:30 the next morning.

长白山: Part 2

The Changbai Chronicles, as continued from part two.

After Barney and I arrived at Yanji Train station, we immediately went to the 售票处 shòu piào chù (ticket office) to buy our tickets for the return journey. We could have possibly bought them earlier, but we still weren't sure about the transportation situation waiting for us at our destination, nor were we totally set on our timetable. But, with transportation looking good and a timetable decided upon, we were ready to buy our tickets for the twenty-four hour return in two days' time.

Unfortunately, China was not ready to sell them to us. The ticket agent informed us that there were no beds for the day we wanted to leave - there were seats, but who wants to sit for twenty-four hours? - nor were there beds for the day after OR the day after that. The earliest we could leave was September 4th, which put me in Nanjing on September 5th, the day after I was supposed to have registered. Awesome.

长白山: Part 1

As explained in my previous post, my friend Barney* and I had planned an excursion to 长白山 cháng bái shān, or "Eternally White Mountain," to begin our year in China. Our itinerary was to be as follows:

8/29     Leave Beijing Train Station on the K215 bound for Tumen
8/30     Arrive at 延吉 Yánjí, take the long-distance bus to 二道白河 Èrdàobáihé, check in at the hostel
8/31     Visit Changbai Mountain
9/1       Check out from the hostel, take the bus from Erdaobaihe to Yanji, board the K216 to Beijing
9/2       Arrive in Beijing
9/3       Take the bullet train to Nanjing from Beijing (me alone)