1. Attack of the midget stinkbomb.
As Dan so eloquently described in his post, we were accosted last week on our way back from the Kent Beijing alumni reception by a newspaper-selling midget who most certainly could be classified as a WMD. Our interactions with him as he passed us numerous times caused us to get closer and closer to regurgitating the delicious meal we had just consumed. Dan, in fact, was the one who couldn’t handle him. After getting an arm hair pulled, he searched around in constant fear of a repeat attack. On the stinkbomb’s last run past us, Dan decided he had enough and ran off towards the opposite end of the train, waving his hands in the air and screaming like a little girl. I, on the other hand, decided it would be safer to huddle in the corner with my gaze averted and hope he wouldn’t see me if I remained perfectly still. I probably should have followed Dan. I slowly turned around, only to see the short salesman standing right beside me, pointing a grimy finger at my water bottle. Having made the mistake of trapping myself in a corner, there wasn’t much I could do except gesture for him to continue on his way. Finally, after forever (here forever = 5 seconds +/- but it certainly seemed longer), he decided I wasn’t much fun and marched on up the train, leaving Dan and I to recover from our ordeal. With only one station between us and our destination, we were hoping we would be safe from another encounter. Unfortunately, as we pulled into that last station, we sensed a familiar stench and soon saw an equally familiar figure making his way towards us. Without a seconds hesitation, both of us headed for the exit, feeling a 10 minute wait for the next train was a worthwhile sacrifice in order to deter another experience. Walking back to our room, Dan dry-heaved a couple of times, proving that he was actually the one who had the most difficulty.
2. Kent Alumni reception.
Ok, ok, we’re not technically alumni, but when you’re invited to such an event by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, obviously you’re going to go. Held in one of the nicest hotels in Beijing, the reception drew a relatively younger group of alumni. As was explained to us earlier, the group of alumni from Hong Kong was a larger and more organized group that spanned a larger age range. The associations that Kent has developed with Universities in mainland China has been growing in recent years, and the young alumni in attendance was testament to that. In fact, we were specifically invited because we are the first Kent students to attend China Foreign Affairs University as exchange students. They were very interested in our experiences so far and, to our surprise, had been keenly following our blog. After a brief presentation and the indulgence of wine and hors d’oeuvres (yes, I had to look up how to spell that), we joined Vice-Chancellor Julia Goodfellow and others for a late dinner in one of the hotel restaurants. As we have mentioned before, the recurring meal of ‘gai fan’ has become quite the burden, leaving us feeling bloated and weighted down as we leave the campus restaurant. In stark contrast, Dan and I both opted for pizza, chardonnay and blueberry cheesecake. Grinning with pleasure as we downed our meal, we learned more about Kent in China, the travels of those involved in the international promotion of Kent and indeed the reputation of the school worldwide. In all, it was a delightful evening and after dinner we reluctantly said goodbye and hopped in a cab home.
Thank you to our generous hosts for a lovely evening.
3. Chinese food isn’t all General Tso’s Chicken.
I’ll admit to a little ignorance in this regard. Had I been asked last year to describe Chinese food, it would have been “chicken with broccoli in garlic sauce and fried rice.” That was my usual order at the Hunan 1 restaurant just across College Ave. when I was at Lawrence University and I naïvely assumed it was all like that. You know what they say about assumptions… When Mr. Da Wei took us to the Xinjiang province restaurant for dinner, the food that appeared on our table was nothing of the sort. Legs of mutton, dishes with lamb, pork and chicken crowded our plates. And not a grain of rice in sight. The conversation with Mr. Da was just as interesting. One remark that stuck out for me was his belief that most Chinese tend to have Realist views of International Relations. It was mentioned that Chinese scholars have not advanced a theory of their own, forcing them to use Western theories to explain actions of their 国家 (home country). In order for China to be truly understood by the West, it seems they need to explain it in their own way, rather than forcing it through the Western perspective and hoping it is then understood. We have had several conversations with Chinese scholars in the time that we’ve been here, and at times it has been eye-opening. When reading media accounts and political rhetoric, especially in the US, China is portrayed as a threat to US/Western/freedom/democracy and must be stopped. While I have been interested in hearing the views from a Chinese perspective, I am also interested in how friends, colleagues and family view China. Please use the comment section at the end of the post to share your views.
Traditional food from Xinjiang province
4. Travel plans.
On Monday, Dan and I reapplied for a Chinese visa, one that will give us multiple entries into the country. For some reason, we were not able to do that with our original application, and so we had to do it here. In this case, being an American is definitely a downside. While Dan only had to pay a couple hundred 元, I had to pay 1000. Simply because I’m American. In any case, we’re planning on heading to South Korea in early June to coincide with the World Cup game of South Korea v. Greece. Apparently it’s a great atmosphere and with a free place to stay, the only real cost is flight and food, both of which are relatively inexpensive. We’ll also be there for the England v. US game, certainly one I wouldn’t want to miss. Our second use of the new visa will hopefully be to North Korea the week before we leave back to Brussels. With Dan writing his thesis on the DPRK, it could prove valuable for him, despite the guide that will be glued to our side the whole trip. For myself, I find it fascinating how closed off it is from the rest of the world. Obviously I can’t quite comprehend it and certainly China is no where near as protected as North Korea. Supposedly North Korea is today what China was 30 years ago. But will North Korea be in 30 years what China is today? Hmm, I guess Dan should answer that. In between we plan on going to Shanghai for the World Expo, Tianjin for a day to sample the renowned seafood and hopefully a sunny getaway to Dalian.
5. English Corner
I’ve started teaching a little English on the side, only two hours a week, to college students and recent grads who need it to pass the IELTS English Exam or simply because they want to learn. The majority of them speak quite well already, with minor grammar or vocabulary mistakes here and there. It makes me even more disappointed that the US doesn’t rate foreign language instruction as high as it should. Generally, the main idea is to engage in conversation, working on expanding their vocabulary and sentence construction. Several of them have been out of the country, though interestingly not everyone has a desire to explore outside the borders. Of course, with China as big as it is, there is plenty to explore inside first. I’ve only taught one week, so I’ll see what happens in the next couple weeks.
That’s it for now. Comment below, we love to hear from you!
Jesse
