So Tell Me...

The main point of every type of class we have throughout the day is to practice the grammar and vocabulary of the day. To that effect, the teachers prepare a long list of questions to ask us that allow us to practice. However, sometimes the grammar and vocab of the day limit them to asking some pretty strange questions for the sake of practice. In class, it always seems like we're laughing over the implication of one weird sentence or another.

I think, I just think, the teachers might have heard about the Yale-Harvard rivalry, because the first month or so, every day had a few questions about Yale and Harvard sprinkled in.

社会调查报告

Part of the Harvard Beijing Academy is attending a week-long social study of one of many places (see a previous post for a more detailed explanation), and then writing a report on our findings. A week after wrapping up my social study in Inner Mongolia, my 社会调查报告 shehui diaocha baogao (social study report - see title) is finally complete. While I know the language is still relatively simple, especially for a college student, I'm still really proud to look back and see what I've accomplished in five weeks.

Even though most people who read this blog won't be able to read my report, I've decided to post it below, both for posterity and for the random Light Fellowship kid who browses these blogs.

Defying Gravity

The day after we got back from Inner Mongolia was not as restful as I thought it was going to be, but I'm not complaining. HBA had organized an excursion for us to go see the famed Chinese acrobats at Chaoyang Theater. It was a great chance to catch up with the rest of our 同学们 tongxuemen (fellow students), as this was the first chance we had to discuss our experiences together. Through talking with my friends I learned that HBA students had the opportunity to do all of the following:

• Learn 功夫 gongfu (KENG FU!!) from actual 功夫师傅 gongfu shifu (keng fu masters) at Shaolin Monastary.
• Watch Russians practice their mindreading skills at said Monastary, which consisted of them staring at each other all day.
• Get VIP trips through the USA Pavilion and the Russia Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
• Hang out at Nanjing Road, Shanghai's version of Times Square, almost every night, and see Shanghai's skyline from the deck of a cruise boat.
• Develop connections with some of Beijing's most wealthy and successful businessmen.
• Meet the locals of a small Chinese village and live their lives for a few days.
• Attend school with the local children of said village, learn that Chinese children must attend morality class.
• ... and then there's my seven-blogs' worth of stuff in Inner Mongolia :)

But I digress. This entry is all about the acrobats.

Worse Prisons than Words

As I continue to study for my midterm, I become increasingly frustrated with the fact that my only time to go out into Beijing and experience the culture comes on the weekends. Every day, I'm trapped in my little room studying, studying, studying. It's such a confining feeling.

At Yale, I'd normally go to Starbucks, a library, or some other interesting location where there are people around, but 北语, our university, doesn't have many nearby 咖啡馆 kafeiguan (cafés). The closest ones are at Wudaokou, which is a 15 minute walk at the very least, and require the purchase of relatively expensive drinks.

It's more than just location, though. I'm trapped by the limitations on my time: time to prepare for class, time to explore the far-flung corners of Beijing, time to see the people I want to see. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I've been putting too much stock into trying to get an A, and not enough in just seeing Beijing. The Light Fellowship staff made a point to tell us that the Light Fellowship experience is not just about coming back to Yale with the grammatical precision of Confucius, but to understand the culture behind the language as well.

I have my big weekly test tomorrow. I haven't yet memorized my passage for the spoken part of the test, I didn't study Tuesday's characters very well (or at all), and I still have to meet with my Chinese friend this evening.

So I think I'm going to go for a walk... maybe to Wudaokou... to buy a Rubik's cube.

I'm so productive.

A Symphony in Two Keys

Tired of my excessive writing? Me too. 

So here are some photos that I took of the 

lilies outside of my classroom building. 

The Original Huhot Mongolian Grill... Seriously

One of my favorite aspects of HBA is the 社会调查 shehui diaocha, or "societal investigation." While HBA offers a variety of "research opportunities," such as experiencing the cosmopolitan life in Shanghai, the true Karate Kid's life at Shaolin Temple (kung fu teachings -by monks!- included), and the rural life of a small village, I chose to go to Inner Mongolia.

You might not believe it, but going to Inner Mongolia actually hits home a little bit for me. As certain friends and family members know, my favorite restaurant back in Kearney, Nebraska, is, strangely enough, the Mongolian Grill. So naturally, when this opportunity arose, I had to seize it. I really had no choice. After all, how many people can say they've actually been to a Mongolian grill in Huhot?

Alright, I suppose there was also a little bit of academic interest...

HBA vs PiB

For those of you who don't know, I am studying Chinese in China this summer through the generosity of the Light Fellowship, which is a Yale-based fund created by Richard U. Light to encourage Yale students to study East Asian languages (a properly grateful post on the subject is upcoming). In the area of Chinese, the Light Fellowship only funds a select few programs in mainland China, with the most popular being the Harvard Beijing Academy, Princeton in Beijing, and Duke Study in China. Every year, come Light Fellowship-time, students have to pick their poison, and the debate is renewed on which program is "the best."
 
I mention this because the subject took up a large percentage of my conversation with Binh and her PiB friend on our evening out. After hitting up the zoo, we caught a cab to the 后海 Houhai area, so named after the lake which is its central feature. It's easily one of the most visually gratifying hot spots in Beijing, with brightly lit clubs and beautiful greenery surrounding the lake. We (Binh, her friend, my friend and I) actually ducked down a little alleyway only to find Hutong Pizza, the place where my mom and I had eaten three weeks back. After Binh approved the atmosphere, we settled down to a delicious meal, and some fun conversation (much of which ended up being centered on one Kaitlyn Newell... don't know how it happened). It was also discovered that my HBA friend Claire is a serious Settlers of Catan player, something she and Binh bonded over quickly. I was frightened. 

Yes Mr. Pavlov, You Rang?

Week 3 at Harvard Beijing Academy is almost complete.

It's amazing how quickly we've all settled into our routines...

6:00 AM: cell phone rings; wake up, shower, study new characters for today's lesson, finish last-minute homework issues, eat something.

7:30 AM: get ready to leave

7:40 AM: leave dorm for classroom building

7:45 AM: arrive at classroom, find a seat and review characters until...

8:00 AM: 听写 tingxie, or "hear-write;" our teacher dictates a sentence using about 3 of the day's 50-70 new terms, and we write out the characters --must hand in immediately along with last night's homework-- then class follows

Hey sleep, it's been real

We're only on our seventh lesson of 32, and my mind is already fried. Immediately after my one-on-one session with a 老师 (teacher), I trekked over to a cozy coffee shop I discovered a little ways from the university. It attracts an interesting mix of local university students and foreigners making their home in Beijing. Better yet, it makes coffee... excellent coffee.

So being in such a cozy place, with a cup of caffeine in front of me and the rest of the day ahead of me, I was feeling pretty good about tackling tomorrow's chapter... until I flipped to the vocabulary list. Today's new characters, to be memorized by tomorrow:

中文，中文，西班牙语？

Well. I have officially completed the first week of classes. I can say, without equivocation, that I am exhausted. HBA has certainly been everything I expected, and so much more... more engaging, more demanding, and even more rewarding.

It's about 10 PM on Saturday night over here. I'll actually probably go to bed soon, even though this is the first night that won't find me waking up to an alarm. But first, I'm going to take this time to reflect on my program experience so far.

It all started with a pledge...