Apparently, only Americans take pictures of landscapes and canteen (= cafeteria) food with no people in them. Why would anyone want a picture of an object or a landscape all alone? It is funny now that I think of how many Chinese landscape paintings had a little hidden Where's Waldo-type monk in them (but, yes, there are also plenty of examples of pure landscape paintings). But, I did manage to take a few more pictures of what surrounds me in my daily life here. The first one actually does have a person in it: my student, Jenny.
Jenny's tray is sporting one liang of rice, a shiny mix of onions and other stir-fried veggies to the fore, and a green, orange, and white mix of veggies, bean curd, and shrimp.
This is Wanda's meal. Whereas I opted for tofu (not pictured), Wanda was in the mood for coagulated pig's blood (on the right of the rice). I never thought to ask her what the other item on her tray was. I figured the pig's blood would serve as a good enough indicator that cafeteria offerings in China differ rather significantly from those in the States.
After dinner, Jenny & Wanda & I went on a walk. I took this picture of one of the dorms. Each square block of patio is one room. Each of those rooms house 4 students. There are 17 such dorms on this branch campus.
Our walk took us to Mi Hu, where I took this picture. No Photoshop necessary around here. It really looks like this. Of course, I could take less pleasant photos because there are less aesthetically appealing scenes around here -- but, when you can see things like this, it is easy to forget that anything less calming and serene exists.
Bad Influence
After I took the last picture above, we walked down to the tennis courts where the freshmen were standing at attention as a part of their military training. There, I could not help but notice the number and quality of stares I was getting. The freshmen girls were excited to see the tall American girl they had heard about (most assume there is only one of us tall, white American girls because many of the students from the country have seen too few white people to tell them apart). I walked past several sets of cadets, and with each passing group, the interruption became more obvious. By the time I reached the third group of girls, someone had mustered up the courage to say a small, "hello," to which I responded with a perky, "Hi!"
Oops. Now every girl wanted to say hello to me, and they did -- quietly. 80 girls saying "hello" quietly adds up, though, and so the commander blew his whistle very lightly as a kind reminder that the girls were supposed to remain quiet. I gave a huge, embarrassed, apologetic smile and giggle when I realized how disruptive I had been -- enough so that I made the officer remind the girls of the required silence with a whistle -- but that just made them all laugh, even the officer.
I hope I have some of those girls in one of my English classes that start in October. I would love to hear that story from their perspective. =)
After I took the last picture above, we walked down to the tennis courts where the freshmen were standing at attention as a part of their military training. There, I could not help but notice the number and quality of stares I was getting. The freshmen girls were excited to see the tall American girl they had heard about (most assume there is only one of us tall, white American girls because many of the students from the country have seen too few white people to tell them apart). I walked past several sets of cadets, and with each passing group, the interruption became more obvious. By the time I reached the third group of girls, someone had mustered up the courage to say a small, "hello," to which I responded with a perky, "Hi!"
Oops. Now every girl wanted to say hello to me, and they did -- quietly. 80 girls saying "hello" quietly adds up, though, and so the commander blew his whistle very lightly as a kind reminder that the girls were supposed to remain quiet. I gave a huge, embarrassed, apologetic smile and giggle when I realized how disruptive I had been -- enough so that I made the officer remind the girls of the required silence with a whistle -- but that just made them all laugh, even the officer.
I hope I have some of those girls in one of my English classes that start in October. I would love to hear that story from their perspective. =)
Wo3men yao4 shui3!
Have I mentioned that we have filtered water in our room? It is in one of those office water coolers, and it has a heating function for tea! But, of course, it runs out. Then I have to call to ask the delivery man to bring more. The first time I did this, I did not know that I was supposed to leave the old bottle out for the delivery man to pick up, so he knew to knock on my door and show me the process. Lift the old bottle out of the dispenser, unwrap the neck of the new bottle, flip it upside down, and drop it in place. Glug glug glug and you're done!
I still did not know from this tutorial that I was supposed to be the one to do all this. It required me noticing that other people often had empty or new bottles sitting outside their doors to figure out that I could leave my old bottles out, expect replacements to magically appear, and then install the new bottle myself. It is a silly thing to be proud of recognizing how others did it without asking explicitly, but in a place where everyone else's daily homelife is not particularly accessible, it is fun to think that I can still make out some small part of it.
Today, the delivery guy knocked on the door when he delivered my water. The people I have to call are getting used to me. They know I try to speak Chinese, but can only function with a certain set of words and structures. They quickly become very helpful, and try to aid me whenever it seems likely that I will not be able to take care of myself. So, I figure this is why the delivery guy knocked on my door -- to make sure I knew the water was there and that I would know what to do with it (this was not the same delivery guy who taught me what to do). I waved away his help with a "thanks, but I'm good" (well, that is what I tried to mean, saying "xiexie, zhe shi hao").
As I reached down to pick up the 5 gallon jug, he rushed toward me as though to save me from the inevitable breakdown that would result from such a lift. But, as I easily hoisted the jug up, he gave me a wide-eyed look of surprise, then one of understanding, as though he had had to remind himself, "She's American. She's twice my size. Maybe the fact that she can do this one-handed should not inspire too much confusion." I was touched by the fact that he was afraid I would hurt myself transporting the jug across the room after he had dragged it up four flights of stairs. So, I thanked him again with a small laugh and a big smile, and then he laughed, too. If for no other reason than that, this is a good day.
Have I mentioned that we have filtered water in our room? It is in one of those office water coolers, and it has a heating function for tea! But, of course, it runs out. Then I have to call to ask the delivery man to bring more. The first time I did this, I did not know that I was supposed to leave the old bottle out for the delivery man to pick up, so he knew to knock on my door and show me the process. Lift the old bottle out of the dispenser, unwrap the neck of the new bottle, flip it upside down, and drop it in place. Glug glug glug and you're done!
I still did not know from this tutorial that I was supposed to be the one to do all this. It required me noticing that other people often had empty or new bottles sitting outside their doors to figure out that I could leave my old bottles out, expect replacements to magically appear, and then install the new bottle myself. It is a silly thing to be proud of recognizing how others did it without asking explicitly, but in a place where everyone else's daily homelife is not particularly accessible, it is fun to think that I can still make out some small part of it.
Today, the delivery guy knocked on the door when he delivered my water. The people I have to call are getting used to me. They know I try to speak Chinese, but can only function with a certain set of words and structures. They quickly become very helpful, and try to aid me whenever it seems likely that I will not be able to take care of myself. So, I figure this is why the delivery guy knocked on my door -- to make sure I knew the water was there and that I would know what to do with it (this was not the same delivery guy who taught me what to do). I waved away his help with a "thanks, but I'm good" (well, that is what I tried to mean, saying "xiexie, zhe shi hao").
As I reached down to pick up the 5 gallon jug, he rushed toward me as though to save me from the inevitable breakdown that would result from such a lift. But, as I easily hoisted the jug up, he gave me a wide-eyed look of surprise, then one of understanding, as though he had had to remind himself, "She's American. She's twice my size. Maybe the fact that she can do this one-handed should not inspire too much confusion." I was touched by the fact that he was afraid I would hurt myself transporting the jug across the room after he had dragged it up four flights of stairs. So, I thanked him again with a small laugh and a big smile, and then he laughed, too. If for no other reason than that, this is a good day.
Thanks for posting the food pic! Wow, coagulated pig's blood... I would never have thought of that as an entree... gravy, maybe, but eating that as a main source of protein seems very odd to me. Thank you for showing me something that is totally outside my realm of experience! I have a lot of choices here in Birmingham, AL (which is a very foodie town) but have not run across that one! Also, the story about the water bottle is a good demonstration about how nice and helpful the Chinese people are on a one-on-one basis. I wonder if a foreigner in the US would have a similar experience...
ReplyDeleteHow many times have I had a similar expression on my face as you've surprised me with one of your many hidden abilities?
ReplyDelete"zhe shi hao" is completely Americanized. I understand you try to say "this is good", but no Chinese would say that. You can say "wo3 lai1"(let me do it) instead, or "wo3 xin1" (I can do it). While you can say "hao3 de" (good), most people won't know what you true meaning is, so just tell them you can do it.
ReplyDeleteNate says "Don't shame the family again." and remember "bing shui" for iced water.