Wednesday, August 12, 2015

"How was China?"

Hey guys!

If you're reading this, that means that after 9 long weeks abroad, I'm finally back in the comfy confines of my own room, sipping tea, streaming Spotify, and probably writing this blog post at half past 2 am (which, after checking the clock, I actually am). I can't believe that my summer has flown by so quickly and that after spending 2 months abroad in a totally new country, without the supervision of my parents might I add, I'm back home with only 2 weeks left before I go back to Yale to start my sophomore year of college. I've been able to see a couple of family, friends, and acquaintances already, and (not surprisingly) the first thing that they ask when they see me is,

"How was China?"

Now, under normal circumstances, we're out in public and our encounter is basically fleeting so I only have a couple of minutes tops to think of a description to totally describe the vibrant, complex, and transformative experience I had in China.

...Which is easier said than done.

I usually end up saying something really lame, like, "It was awesome!" or "Amazing!" and stand there trying to pick from the thousands of details flittering around in my brain to sum up what a life-changing experience this summer has been, but words usually fail me and I end up stumbling over my - now - broken English trying to grab haphazard memories of China and piece them together into a coherent story to tell in around 3 minutes.

Therefore, after much practice, I've now crafted the perfect answer to this question...which unfortunately I only know how to say in Chinese. Basically, it's: 这个暑假在哈北班,我遇到很多丰富,精彩的经历,让我有一个很难忘的回忆。可是如果你让我用一个词,一个经历来概括我哈北班的经验,我无从选择。Roughly translated, it means, "Out of the many brilliant experiences I've had in China, I can't use just one to sum up my time in China."

...Which immediately after hearing, people usually ask me which experience specifically has given me the deepest impression, but I don't mind because that question makes the initial question much easier. There are definitely memories that stand out in my mind, ranging from talking to friends while strolling around the Summer Palace at sunset to dancing and singing KTV with my fourth year class and our teachers my last day in China. The more I think about it, the more other shards of my memory fly to the front of my mind, such as getting caught in a rainstorm while in the 798 Art District and having to duck into art shops to escape the rain and finding amazing hole-in-the-wall art places to humming "I'll Make a Man Out of You" while climbing the Great Wall. Not to mention the entire week I spent at Shaolin, which is an experience that I will definitely remember until the day I die. There are also little things, like having study groups in the 4th floor cafe in the 食堂, to having karaoke/movie marathons in my dorm until 3 am to making McDonalds/KFC midnight runs. My school life at BLCU is so, so different from my school like at Yale, and as much as I definitely enjoyed being a 北语 student for 2 months, it was definitely something that I needed to adjust to.

I guess now would be the appropriate time to talk about my thoughts on HBA, i.e. the curriculum, the homework, the workload, etc for those future Light Applicants wanting to know about the program as a whole.

In my opinion, I think HBA is probably the best Chinese program in Beijing. The teachers are all fantastic - they end up becoming not just your teachers, but also your friends (like, seriously, we still stay in contact via a massive WeChat group that everyone talks on everyday). I've never met a group of such patient, kind, hilarious, adorable, and passionate group of people willing to get to class at 8 am everyday to deal with my horrendous 声调 (tones) and 睡眼惺忪 (bleary-eyed) expression every day in class. Two months under their wing and I've definitely seen an enormous improvement in my Chinese.

For example, when I first came to China in June, I boarded the Air China plane nervous as hell because oh crap I'm going to a brand new a country where I'm basically illiterate and can only use kindergarten-level vocabulary to communicate with the people literally I'm so screwed and my suspicions were confirmed when the sweetest Chinese couple who sat next to me initiated a conversation with me that I only understood 45% of. Hurdle two was when I also didn't understand a big majority of what the air hostess was asking me and ended up having to let the couple help me with any communication. When I landed at the Beijing airport and spotted a kid who I thought vaguely resembled a Yalie, my first question (out of desperation) was, "Do you speak English?" Now tell me that isn't just sad. 

About halfway into into the program, I gradually learned enough vocabulary to raise my comprehension skills to about 75-80%. I turn on the TV in my dorm every single time I come in and sometimes take 15 minutes or so to just watch something random and see if I understand anything, and 7/10 times I can get a fairly good gist of a news report or plot of a drama. If you told me that I could do that back in June, I wouldn't have believed you. Apart from just teaching me vocabulary, grammar, and idioms, my dear teachers also taught me how to just be confident and how to not let my nerves consume me when I talk to other people in Chinese. Thanks to them, I left Beijing having made friends with the 服务员 in the 六道口 shopping mall (who give me shopping discounts, yessss), 北语 students, and even strangers who I've met on the street and who are fascinated that I'm a (Chinese/sometimes Korean looking) foreigner. I left Beijing basically understanding how to navigate the bus and subway, how to 讨价还价 (barter/bargain), how to even sing a couple of songs in Chinese, but most importantly, how to communicate with others in a completely new language.

Apart from the teachers, I think the best aspects of HBA are the sheer amount of activities that they plan out for its students throughout the program. There's a 兴趣小组 almost every Friday that will take you to cool places in Beijing depending on if you want to go shopping, try cuisines, go to parks, or see tourisy places. This year there was even the overnight stay in 承德 after we saw the Great Wall, as well as many other Saturday trips.

A typical day at HBA starts at 8 am, where you go to "大班课“ (Lecture, 7-8 students) for two hours, then "小班课" (Grammar Review, 3-4 students) for another two hours, break for lunch, then one hour for "单班课" (One-on-One with a teacher). For me, HBA was definitely intense and pretty hard. I guess this has to depend on your level when you come in, because I was only year 2 at Yale and was placed into year 4 at HBA, so I skipped an entire year in Chinese (which sounds impressive, but it's actually pretty inconvenient since I lacked an entire year of vocabulary, grammar, and idioms to build on) so I had to work extra hard to try to catch up to a lot of my classmates (read: I was an idiot in class for about 2 weeks). Eventually I learned enough of 3rd year vocabulary and grammar from listening to my classmates speak to understand what the hell was going in class so that definitely made life go much more smoothly.

Looking back, however, I will say the material was very challenging. The homework and tests were actually pretty easy, it was just reading/preparing a new lesson and learning about 60 new characters everyday that nearly killed me. They seriously aren't kidding when they say HBA is an intensive language program. I pretty much only got around 5-6 hours of sleep everyday, which is even less than what I got back at Yale, and that is saying a lot. There have definitely been times where I've dozed off in class because of just lack of sleep (and coffee).

I understand that since the program is only 2 months, and since they need to cover an entire year's worth of Chinese in two months, everyday has to be new material. However I don't think I absorbed as much information as I could have/wanted to at HBA. I found that a lot of times, it was literally too much information for me to absorb in such a short time, and I would only commit a majority of the grammar/vocab to short term memory (save for a few favorites) and forget them the next day. For example, at this point, I could totally discuss with you political ideologies and politics (你觉得政府应该做什么?。。), cultural differences, and even novels, short stories, and plays, but I'd need at least like 15 minutes to find the grammar, vocab, and idioms that I know that I've learned but can't actually recall. Because of this situation, I will opt to totally retake 4th year Chinese at Yale this year (which is what I want to do, if scheduling works out) to reinforce what I learned over the summer. The daily schedule is pretty intense, and it doesn't really leave you any time to go out with friends or go shopping during the weekday, but I definitely did both those things because I didn't want my experience to be limited to my room or the 4th floor cafe.  The experience is definitely dependent on what you put into it, but HBA is a fabulous program, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a Beijing program. I've become such good friends with so many people at HBA that they really do feel like family. Studying at HBA has also definitely made me want to come back to China again through another language program/internship in the future as well as continue taking Chinese at Yale.

Aside from purely learning about the Chinese language and culture, being abroad also teaches you so many things about yourself and how to become more mature as a person. This was my first time that I was abroad without my parents, so I had to rely on myself to delegate expenses, time, and effort in my every day life, and constantly doing that every single day has definitely made me more confident and mature in running my life in general.  I would hands down recommend anyone to have a study abroad experience at least once in college because it is not just an educational but also a spiritual experience. If there was anything I regretted during my time in Beijing, it would be not taking enough opportunities to explore the city more. Granted the main purpose of this trip was to increase my Chinese level, but don't let that restrict you to just your dorm room every day. I started taking afternoon trips after class to nearby shopping areas and sometimes even taking the subway to somewhere new to see more of the city and have more interactions. One of my favorite memories is going to the 六道口 shopping mall one afternoon by myself and basically being fluent talking to all the shop keepers and hearing their stories and sharing my own. Other than that, I have no other regrets and on the whole am very satisfied with HBA.

On another note, here is the (long-awaited) video my friend Ben Martin and I made of our week-long experience at the Shaolin Temple for HBA's Social Study Program in 2015. Hope you enjoy!



If you want to read a more in-depth description of my experience in Shaolin, I already have a blog post dedicated to it right here: http://from-doughnuts-to-dumplings.blogspot.com/2015/07/diary-of-wushu-kid.html
I hope you enjoy the video and the post, and if you're a potential HBA student/LF student trying to figure out what program to choose in Beijing, please consider choosing HBA and Shaolin - yes it's strenuous and difficult but the amazing experience, friendships, knowledge, and even philosophy that you get out of this trip make it (in my opinion) the most meaningful 社会调查。Not only do you train your body, but you also train your mind. 

I've about come to the end of my last China-related blog post for the summer. Being in China for 2 months has given me growth in so many different fronts, from confidence to the Chinese language to maturity, and I know I've made friends that will last me a lifetime. I will never forget this experience, and this small taste of China has inspired me to come back in the very near future to continue my investment in learning Chinese and understanding Chinese culture. So, on a bittersweet last note, here are some (not all, mind you) pictures of my favorite memories:

Not our entire 4th year class, but a majority - this was taken after our 北京之夜 "Beijing Night" performances 
Celebrating with our teachers after 4th year won the tug of war!
Group picture at a 兴趣小组!
Cheesin' with our teachers again :)
More adorable teachers!
This was after our graduation ceremony and we were free to speak English again!
4th year group picture at the Forbidden City!
Sanam's birthday at The Summer Palace :)
Our failed jump on the Great Wall  
SHAOLIN TEMPLE 2015 
Shaolin family forever :')

798 Art District!
DUMPLIN' MAKIN
Much thanks to my friend for letting me mess up your face 
Our last day of class :(
Our 4th year 北京之夜 "Beijing Night" performance 
Our Shaolin 北京之夜 "Beijing Night" performance 
Selfie time after the performance!
The very last night, eating dinner with the teachers...
...and going dancing and doing karaoke! :)
If you're up to seeing my entire album (all 600+ pictures), check out my Facebook album! I made it public so anyone is able to look at it: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1109069265777152.1073741846.100000222667148&type=1&l=c533fba2df

For now, so long China! You've treated me so well and given me an incredible experience on your ancient soil. I might see you again next year either in Shanghai with another Harvard program or in Yunnan learning about Traditional Chinese Medicine. As the Chinese say, "顺其自然" or "let nature run its course." We'll see where my feet take me next year - 下一次见!

Sunday, August 2, 2015

The Final Countdown

Hey guys, 

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S HERE: my last week in China!

Yup, that's right. We're approaching the 9th week of the program, which means that this will be the last week I'll be a student at 北京语言大学, the last week I'll be in Beijing, and the last week I'll be with my fellow HBA students.

How do I feel? I...don't know.

The week before (which I forgot to write a blog post for...whoops. I'll just make this one longer), I was feeling very melancholy and a little bit homesick. I guess 8 weeks in China was my limit before I started to feel the dip in the "Emotions Graph" that the Light people told us about in our pre-departure orientation. I started worrying about my next semester at Yale...about classes, about future grades, about applications...basically worrying about EVERYTHING that I got overwhelmed and just wanted to go home, sleep in my own bed, and let my parents take care of me like I was 5 years old again. I suppose this is when you know that you're growing up, because you're torn between wanting to crawl back to your parents and letting them take care of you and taking charge of your own responsibility and your own life. That feeling of melancholy quickly passed though, as I spent these past few days and this weekend soaking up as much of Beijing as I could.

Here's what my last two weeks were like:

Last Friday we went to another art district to shop for/look at art. It was a lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon, and I picked up some really cool art supplies and materials!

The name of the district! 



Afterwards, I visited 体育大学 (Training/Sport University) and the surrounding area and bought our team some really awesome wushu outfits!

This is the one I picked out! :)
On Saturday, we visited 天意新商城, which is a HUGE shopping area that has everything from Chinese souvenirs to bags, clothing, and toys. I've spent several hours there buying everyone back home gifts, so I hope all you guys like them! :)



That evening was spent at a lovely tea house - 老舍茶馆。We had some amazing tea and snacks and enjoyed several awesome performances that ranged from Beijing opera to performing wushu with tea. Afterwards, we wandered along down Tiananmen Square and appreciated the sights at night.





On Sunday, I spent the morning and afternoon with my 中国家庭 (Chinese Family), who took us to climb 香山 (Fragrant Mountain). It was fun, and WAY less painful than the mountains at Shaolin. ;) The view was pretty rad too!


The path on the right is the easier one (read: less stairs, but it takes longer to go up). We took the left because we like challenges ;)


Cheesin' with our 中国 siblings! We took a group picture at the summit, but I keep forgetting to ask them to email me that picture (I'll work on it). 
The following Monday we had our last 课外活动 - Beijing Opera Face Painting. I painted my friend Alan's face (thank you for trusting me), and my teacher painted my face. The result? ....Interesting.
With my beautiful model (also before, when my face was clean and still human looking)
I had no idea what my teacher did to my face, but at least it's unique
That Friday we had our 北京之夜 (Beijing Night), where all the 社会调查 (social study) groups and different level years performed skits for everyone. I was in two - Shaolin and 四年级 (Fourth Years). Shaolin's skit basically showed our experience at Shaolin, from climbing mountains to training and learning wushu. 四年级 skit was about a Chinese folk tale called "The Butterfly Lovers" which is a romantic tragedy. I played the lead female role (which is hilarious, because I make the worst actress in the world look like a prodigy). It was INCREDIBLY fun, and although the week of was exhausting in terms of workload (having to write the script on top of other homework) and stress, being able to perform with my friends and watching other really good performances was a blast.

After the performance, cheesin' with friends :) We also took lots of group pictures, but all the teachers have them. I'll post them in the next blog! Also A+ to whoever took this picture, sorry Ian for only having half your face :(
Today (Sunday) a couple of friends and I went to the 北京动物园 Beijing Zoo and saw PANDAS as well as other animals. All in all, today was a perfect way to end my last weekend in Beijing, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend it.





My last week is here! I'm going to use every chance I get this week to go out into Beijing and enjoy the city before I leave. The next blog you hear from me will probably be when I'm back in America, and it'll be a summary of my experience, including my final thoughts on HBA, Beijing, and more. I'll also upload my Shaolin video and pictures that my teachers have -secretly- taken.

Until next time! :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

心满意足 "To be perfectly content"

Hey guys!

Sorry for the late post (again), I’ve been really busy lately and haven’t had any time to update ya’ll :( 

The plan for this past week was to post the vlog of my Shaolin Temple experience to my blog as a substitute for last week’s update, but according to the internet here, it would take around 3 days to upload my video, so 算了 (forget it), I’ll upload it when I get home :) Sorry for the wait, it’ll come soon! :)

This past week was very fun albeit very tiring. Classes were (again) pretty normal, though the second half of the program focuses more on Chinese literary works so our texts have become even harder (which I didn’t think was possible). I still really like it though - the past few texts have taught us a lot of 俗语 (common sayings/idioms), which is fascinating, since it gives us a in-depth peek into how Chinese minds work. For example, there’s this saying: “不做亏心事,不拍鬼敲门” which means “If one doesn’t do a harmful act, one does not need to fear ghosts knocking at the door”, or “善有善报,恶有恶报” which basically means “the good will be rewarded, the bad will be punished, or what goes around comes around.” I think the funniest one I’ve learned so far is “之乎者也” which means “pretentious archaisms” or as it’s listed in my textbook, “blah-blah-blah.” I also learned where my Chinese name comes from (even though my mom has told me a billion times, but it just has never stuck): “为善最乐” “doing good deeds brings the greatest joy.”  This has definitely become one of my favorite sayings — thanks mom! 

As for extra curricular activities, last Tuesday we learned Tai Chi from a Tai Chi master who’s also a college student — what’s with all these attractive, young, athletic students doing here in China? — and it was really fun! There’s a strong connection between Tai Chi and Wushu, and it’s so interesting to see where one ends and the other begins. For example, tai chi has the same basic stances as wushu and it does involve powerful actions like punches and kicks, but every thing is slowed down, more graceful, and more drawn out. Basically if you’ve seen Avatar the Last Airbender it’s like water bending (thanks Yale Wushu for making me addicted to that TV show…). 

We also made our own dumplings. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and the dumplings were so good! 

Before!
...After! Yum! :)
Our teachers also taught us the art of paper cutting - it's fascinating, incredibly hard, and truly an art form. 

My take on paper cutting - what do you think? :)
On Friday, we visited an antique shopping mall (think China version of a flea market), which was really interesting. I didn’t end up buying anything, which was a bummer, but it was pretty cool seeing various kinds of Chinese antiques (albeit fake ones) strewn out over such a large area. 

Panjiayuan 潘家园 Shopping Market
That night we had dinner at a nice Korean restaurant then went out dancing and to a KTV (my first time in China!) for karaoke. It was so much fun, and really cheap (around $2 U.S. per person). 

On Saturday morning, a couple of friends and I went to 金马大厦 (Golden Towers), a popular — and cheap — shopping mall to buy some clothes, shoes, and adorable stationery. I love shopping here because you can 谈价还价 (bargain) and usually get stuff for around half their listed price. It’s also a great way to interact with the locals and build relationships with them — I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been, but I definitely plan to go again in the future, and I’ll take pictures next time! (oops). In the evening, we watched an acrobatics show, which was incredible, as watching so many talented and flexible people twist, balance, and flip their way across the stage had me mesmerized. 





Afterwards, we went out to 三里屯 (Sanlitun) to a KTV to dance and sing karaoke again. As a result of us not eating dinner before, around 11 we were starving, so we randomly went out exploring for food and managed to find a pretty good Mexican restaurant (IN CHINA, ISN’T THAT SOMETHING?). I forgot to take a picture, but the food was actually decent — it wasn’t too weird, though it can’t compare to the Tex Mex back home. :) One of the BLCU students also told me that there’s a pretty good Mexican restaurant around the 五道口 area, so one day we’re definitely going to go try it!

After eating we came back and sang and danced for a couple of hours. Needless to say, I practically lost my voice over the weekend, BUT IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. I have no idea why KTV isn’t popular in America — I’ll definitely miss that aspect when I go home. 

On Monday we learned how to 打麻将 (play mahjong). IT’S REALLY FUN, and I managed to win once (it had to be by chance, and I'm pretty sure my friend let me win...), but nevertheless, take a look at what a winning hand looks like!


On another note, I realized that I never took pictures of the inside of our cafeteria, so here we go!

The first and second floor are your standard school cafeteria layouts — you just pick and choose which dishes you want and then pay. 

The third floor (where the international students usually eat) are where more of the 快餐 (fast food) are located. There’s more diversity in the food, for example, there’s hot pot, noodles, fried rice, sushi, and even Korean food here. All the food is pretty good and cheap, it ranges from buying dumplings for around $1 U.S. to hot pot to around $2-$3 U.S. I’m really going to miss how cheap the food is here when I go back home..



On the 4th floor are restaurants as well as a very nice cafe. I usually go to the cafe to work on homework because the internet is fast and the atmosphere is so cozy. :)

The cafe. 

Here are some (read: 4, because I always forget) pictures of the meals I've already had - all of which were really good! I'm really going to miss this cafeteria food when I go back to the U.S.
A typical breakfast food - it's kinda like the American equivalent of a breakfast burrito?



I also stumbled upon a beautiful space on our campus a couple weeks ago when I got lost on my way to class. 

Isn't that beautiful? It looks more like a park than a campus space. 
We also have our own Chinese families that have affiliations with the university who take us out every so often to explore Beijing. Mine have already taken me out once and it was really fun! They have an incredibly smart daughter who's around 9 and already fluent in English. The father also works for the Aerospace University here in Beijing and is currently in France doing some research right now. Really cool. 

That's all for now! I only have around 2 weeks left here in Beijing, which is insane. I can't believe summer is basically already over and I'll be going home soon. I have been feeling a bit homesick the past few days, but I really don't want to leave Beijing. Why are feelings so complicated!? Anyway, until next time! :)