June 22-23

So I could not get the internet to work in my dorm yesterday, so here are two updates:

Friday, June 22
Our first HBA test! We have a cumulative test every Friday for like more than 3 hours with 2 hours for written and 1 and half for oral. It was actually pretty okay. I thought it was going to be this super hard exam, but it was manageable.

On Friday night, we met our Chinese host family. I was actually more nervous than I was expecting to be. I think I was nervous simply because of the fact I am Chinese - I feel that there is a greater amount of pressure on me to behave in a certain way. I was afraid that my host family might not think I am American enough or Chinese enough, so I was extremely nervous about meeting them. Like the exam, it actually turned out pretty okay too. Both of my "parents" are professors and they have a daughter in 11th grade. They are both very nice and understanding of our busy schedule, and they offered to take us to lunch when we have no planned activities. I keep on saying "us" because another girl and I share the same host family, and she's a third year student. We also visited their house/apartment, which was really cool because our host family lives on the top floor, which is the 18th. I have never lived that high before so I thought it was really fantastic. When we met her daughter, she was preparing for her hui kao, which is kind of like PSAT, but it's not to prepare you for the SAT, rather, it simply exempts you from certain subjects. It works this way because Chinese high school students must decide whether they want to major in social studies/language arts or science/math. For the Chinese PSAT, you take tests on subjects that are not of your major interest during 11th grade. Then when you reach 12th grade, you can focus on the subjects you are interested in and of which you will be taking on the SAT (or gao kao) so you can score better. It was really interesting to learn about the high school system in China from an actual Chinese student.

Sat. June 23
We climbed the Great Wall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went Simatai, a section of the Great Wall of China, and boy, was it steep! I could swear that I was tired already after only 5 minutes! What's interesting about our trip was that we met a lot of Chinese peasants who are eager to get us to buy things like fans or souvenirs from them. What's more interesting (and discriminating) is that they only talked to those with blonde hair/blue eyes/any attributes that look foreign. They never approached any of us who look/are Chinese. One of my friends at HBA felt a bit insulted because she's foreign too, and the fact she is Chinese does not change the fact that she grew up in America and speaks English perfectly. While it's nice to not have people bug you to buy their products, it was a bit annoying how discriminating people are.


The Yalies!

Rachel Mak!

How beautiful...

HBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HBA officially started on the 17th of June, 2007....................

(But on June 15th, I moved into my dorm. I was expecting something really shabby and crowded, but we actually got to stay in a hotel within the university. It was really nice to have my own room with an attached bathroom (with an actual toilet that's not a hole on the ground!) and AC - I did not have AC in my grandparents' home and boy, was that miserable! - and a TV and a fridge for ice cream. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with my dorm except the shower thing is kind of weird and now my bathroom is flooded every time I shower. Apparently that's way it is in this hotel so oh well....)

June 17:
8AM - placement test - oh dear, we had to write an essay, need I say more?
2PM - orientation - We had an orientation welcoming us to Beijing University of Language and Arts, or BULC, and signed the language pledge. The language pledge basically means you cannot speak English unless you are talking to your parents or if you are about to die....
4PM - meeting - we met our teachers and our language partners. I am in 5th year, and my teacher is a really young professor from Harvard who loves to joke around and slip papers (announcements) under your room door. My language partner is a really friendly Chinese girls who's majoring in teaching Chinese. I will meet her this Sunday to practice for two hours!
9PM to 1AM - HOMEWORK! Oh dear, we have soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much homework everyday. I have never had so much in my entire life. Every night, on top of homework, we have to review next day's lesson and memorize all the vocab (over 50 or so per night) and the next day, we will have dictation test. Every Wed. we must write an essay on top of previewing and doing homework, which must be 600 words and turned on Thurs. Every Friday, we have a three hour test with 2 hours of written and an hour of oral. I am speechless......

June 18 - First Day of Class !!!

8AM to 10AM - lecture class with the eight other kids in 5th year. We went over the academic article we read last night and all the vocab words. It was really hard because it's not normal Chinese, it's extremely formal Chinese with lots of good sounding terms but I have no idea what they mean....
10AM to 12AM - seminars with 4 kids total in my class. We worked on those good sounding terms and they are beginning to make sense.
LUNCH! - we went to cafeteria #2 inside the university, and for 5.5 yuan (less than a dollar) I got a plate of vegetables and meat and a bowl of rice. It actually tasted really good and it was extremely cheap.
2:20 PM to 3:10PM - one-on-one oral practice with my seminar leader. It's basically her asking questions and me answering (or attempting to) .
3:30 - 5:00 - Erhu lesson! I signed up to take Erhu lessons; Erhu is like a Chinese violin or cello with only two strings. It's a really pretty instrument but boy, was it hard! But I am going to continue it because I think it's really fun!

Then I did homework for the rest of the night.......(sigh)

June 19 - I am already really tired...
Basically the same thing as the 18th, except for I was sleep deprived as we had so much homework. I also took a Wushu class (Chinese KongFu), and it was really fun as well. We will learn around 20 WuShu methods, and I am excited about it!

Then I did homework for the rest of the night.....................(sigh...sigh....sigh....)

June 20 - I am kind of dying....
Basically the same thing, but in the afternoon we has a scholar who's one of the few people who study the Great Wall as a career and he gave us an amazing introduction of the history of the Great Wall and description of the section of the Wall that we will visit this Saturday.

Then I did homework for the rest of the night......(sigh) and then wrote an essay.....(tears....) until 1AM. I then woke up at 4AM to preview the lesson and memorize vocabs.....





So anyways, I do not give you the wrong impression that HBA is all hard work and no fun or that I am not enjoying myself. In fact, I really like the articles we are reading and I think the topics we are discussing in class are really interesting especially with different students looking at them from different angles. I love hanging out with the kids in my class (3 from Yale, 1 from UV, 5 from Harvard) and I absolutely adore all my teachers!

HBA at first glance

So I finally got internet connection in my room on my fourth day at HBA - yay!!!!!! This is going to be quite a long post since I have so much, oh so much to update! Starting with my time in Nanjing all the way to my time here in Beijing.

Nanjing

I stayed in Nanjing for around two weeks after leaving Shanghai and its wonderful shopping centers. Nanjing is where I grew up so I was really, really, super, super excited to see my grandparents again, my old elementary school, my childhood playmates, and little shops where I used buy useless things like stickers (but I still like them!). It was such a weird feeling going back to a place where I had spent half of my life but have not seen for almost nine years. I was quite disappointed when I was in the taxi on the way home (or my grandparents' house, which used to be my home....) and I could not recognize most of the places. Everything changed so much! I remember there used to be this gigantic slope that was the main road, which now is leveled because of subway construction. My grandparents' house still look the same, except for everything is so small! I feel like I was Alice in Wonderland, when she entered that little room in the beginning of the book and found herself getting bigger and bigger as she ate the mushroom, because that table I could not reach before is now the height of my stomach and I have to bent down to use things like the sink. My grandparents are still the same but a lot shorter. It made me really sad to see them so feeble when I remember I used to cling to them for care and guidance. My grandpa still remembers that I love shrimps and fish soup. And my grandma is still loud and bubbly! Our house is in a little gated community with its schools, research centers, and gardens, and such. So one day I walked around the community while listening to John Mayer, and it was so interesting seeing my old school, the places where I used to play, the trial I walked from and to school, and of course, this small tunnel tube that I rode my bike on to get across the lake (yes, we actually do have a lake in our community). It made me really happy to remember that my childhood was so wonderful and fun and rural and just amazing. Then I saw my four of my closest elementary school friends, and it just absolutely touched my heart that they all still remember me and the things we used to do (like chase each other around the schoolyard) and the games we used to play. They are all in college now, and when I was with them, it just felt so comfortable because they really have not changed at all. I had a terrific time hanging out with them! Unfortunately, my wonderful time in Nanjing had to end, and my mom and I went to Wuxi.

Wuxi

We were supposed to travel for a couple of days in Wuxi but they had a water shortage as a result of lake contamination, so we stayed for one night, and went to Beijing.

Beijing

Beijing is just lovely, not as lovely as Nanjing, but pretty good for the summer! I visited Summer Palace, The Great Wall, Tian An Men Square, and many other tourist places. I ate Beijing roasted ducks and drank bubble tea. I spent a week in Beijing, touring, eating, and shopping before HBA started.