Harry Potter and a Chicken

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Sorry for the excessive amount of time that has elapsed since my last post. Applications, Chinese National Holiday, and the world's most fickle internet connection conspired to keep me from doing anything more complicated than reading the home page of the New York Times.

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The evening started off normally enough. I was restless (as usual) and tired of shuffling back and forth between the coffee house and my room every day. In trying to figure out what to do cure my restlessness at least for a while, I realized that I had never finished an old goal of reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Chinese. I had intended to bring the book with me to Nanjing to read in my spare time, but somehow it didn't make its way into my suitcase. And suddenly, I really very much needed to have it.

I obviously wasn't going to buy the book again when I had a copy at home, but I couldn't shake the need to read some form of juvenile Western literature in Chinese. The Hunger Games wasn't going to work because it had a bunch of strange words that I didn't want to deal with translating. I know, I know, wingardium leviosa and expecto patronum aren't exactly ordinary either, but to be totally honest I really really want to be able to discuss Harry Potter in Chinese, and what better way to do that than to read the books?

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!