There's a Monster in the Bathroom

Beware! It will come for you. If you dare to open the door, you must do so prepared. Failure to arm yourself with Purell and tissues will lead to danger and despair. Brace yourself, hold your breath, and enter at your own risk.

A brief encounter with the enemy in the building where we have classes.

It's already been two weeks since I arrived in China and I feel like I've already adjusted to some of the aspects of life that differ from home. I'm used to the crowds, the spitting on the side of the roads, the wild, ruthless, and honking drivers, the screaming waiters in restaurants, etc... However, I still shudder whenever I know that I need to enter at restroom. Our dorms--equipped with western-style toilets--have become a sort of savior, an oasis in the desert of squat toilets. But almost anywhere else I go, I am bound to find a squat toilet. Though they all have slight differences, the striking similarities are what makes them so unbearable to me.

WARNING: This is not for the faint of heart:

The usual protocol for the bathroom stalls is that you open the door, climb up one or two steps, and plant your feet firmly (FIRMLY) on either side of the repulsive hole below you. As you assume this position, be aware of the ground and any questionable things that may (read: WILL) be on it. Do whatever needs to be done and then pull out your tissues. If you forgot to BYOTP, too bad. There's none in the stall, or if there is, it's probably sitting on the floor. Lovely.

If you were well-prepared, you can dispose of your toilet paper in the waste bin in the back corner of the stall.

What, not in the toilet?

No. In the waste bin. So it can sit with other disgusting, used pieces of toilet paper and create a wondrous smell that wafts through the stall and mingles with other smells to create a fragrant bathroom experience.

But you manage to toss your paper safely into the bin and you may now exit the stall, safely climbing your way back down the steps, out to the sink to wash your hands.

WAIT. How can I wash my hands if there is no soap?

Well, there might be a soap dispenser, in which case it will obviously be empty. Otherwise, you're on your own. Either rinse with the water (but remember to zhuyi nide weisheng because this is Chinese tap water) or pull out that trusty, pocket-sized bottle of Purell and scrub as you step outside into the real world.

Congratulations! You survived! Take a deep breath of the clean air. Or even smoggy Beijing air will do. Pat yourself on the back (unless you just rinsed with Chinese water, in which case find some soap or hand sanitizer ASAP).

My friends, constant companions, and co-combatants.

I'm not sure if I will ever quite adjust to these toilets, or rather, the experience of going to the bathroom here. But in the mean time, no matter where I go this summer, I am ready with my pocket pack of Kleenex and my Purell.

Consider this a formal declaration of war against squat toilets everywhere.

The Amazing Race: Harbin Edition

Yesterday was a day of firsts: my first day off from classes (it might have only been 5 days, but that was a LONG 5 days :), the first CET group activity, and my first trip into the heart of Harbin. Although there were no classes, no tingxie, and no shengci on Saturday, the pressure was on! Our group was split up into teams for the datanbao, scavenger hunt. My group of 4 had 3 and half hours to complete as many of our 26 questions and tasks as possible. All we knew is that we were promised a reimbursement for a single cab receipt and that at the end of the hunt, we were supposed to meet at fanghong jinianta (none of us knew to what or where it referred).

We began by sorting through the questions to figure out which ones we could answer on or near the 哈工大 campus. Some of these included: "What are the names of the two women who work as 服务员 in our dorm?", "How much does it cost to play ping-pong at the HIT ping-pong center?", and "How much does it cost to print one colored page at Dorm 7?".

Question #1: Whose calligraphy is used for the characters on the main gate of HIT? Mao, of course!

We got off to a slow start, made more difficult by my awkward encounter in the campus supermarket. In an attempt to photograph a loaf of Russian bread (task #22), I broke a supermarket rule by taking a picture. An old lady working at the store ran over to me, screaming in rapid Chinese. She wailed, pointing at my camera and pointing at the bread. With her voice going to loud and so fast, I had no idea what was happening. My mind was racing and went into overdrive when she yanked my arm and dragged me to the manager. Duibuqi! Tingbudong! Tingbudong! The manager showed me the sign and I got off without more serious trouble. Whew...

After we finished the first few tasks on the campus, we hailed a cab and headed to the St. Sophia Church to complete number #3, "a picture of the whole team in front of St. Sophia's Church." Fifteen minutes later, we hopped out in a huge square with a cute Russian Church in front of us. Suddenly we had left China and gone to Russia! We saw signs in Russian, cafes with Russian facades, and even a huge mall called the Euro Plaza.

The St. Sophia Church in the Daoli district of Harbin.

I'm not sure what the sheep was doing in the St. Sophia square, but anyone whose hand is molded into a peace sign and face frozen in a smile is worth befriending.

After completing #3, we found our way onto Zhongyang Dajie, a cobblestone, pedestrian street in stores, restaurants, and Russian-style buildings. We bought Russian bread, took photos in front of Cafe Russia 1914 and USA Bucks, and then ambled down the road. As we made our way down the road, we realized that "the statue by the river at the north end of the the road" (#5) was the fanghong jinianta, our final destination.

The salesman poses in front of his loaves of Russian bread. Full disclosure: I did NOT ask him to pose. Apparently he thinks he is a model.

USA Bucks Coffee Shop and Bar (...???). It's famous for its bizarre, America-centric decor.

Cafe Russia 1914. I did not get the chance to eat there, but the hostesses I saw were all Chinese.

By around 4:30, we began to run into the other groups as we all ambled towards the river. We finally reached the Flood Control monument and met up with the groups, before trading stories (in Chinese) and nibbling the loaves of Russian bread.

The Flood Control Monument at the north end of Zhongyang Dajie.

The sun hangs over the Songhua river.

It turns out that our group did not win, but it did not really matter. I got to see the city outside of the 哈工大 campus. While it was fun (and exhausting) to see the city on this sort of whirlwind tour, it gave me only a glimpse of the places I want to go back and see. I know I'll go back next weekend to the center of the city, especially the Russian-styled areas, because I can't wait to see what is left to see.

Harbin: Three Days of Real Life(ish?) in China

The past few days have been a slightly awkward limbo between adapting to life in Harbin/Chinese culture and waiting for classes and the language pledge to begin. We have toured the 哈工大 campus, downtown Harbin, met our roommates, and explored the area around the campus. As I said in my previous post, the campus is HUGE and constantly filled with people. The cafeterias, classrooms, streets, and ball courts are always busy. In my state of zombied jet-laggedness, I was awake at 4:30AM and saw countless people playing basketball across the street. Maybe it's dedication to become the next 姚明 (Yao Ming), but it also might just be that with so many people on this campus, someone is always out and about.

The second full day in the city we took a bus to downtown Harbin to tour around. The city has a bizarre mix of Russian architecture and Chinese signs. Several official buildings have plaques in Chinese, Russian, AND English, but most signs are only in Chinese.

Some of the architecture in downtown Harbin.

In fact, very few buildings have any sort of English. Without key landmarks like 肯德基, KFC, and 必胜客, Pizza Hut, to remind me of home, I might not have even recognized that I was on the same planet! Our RA, Eric, also gave us time to explore Fendou Food Store, 奋斗副食，a supermarket-esque place downtown. The market was AMAZING, with fruits, nuts, meats, fish, etc...The stand with the overflowing piles of dried fruits were across from the pyramids of steaming bāozi, which in turn were next to the chicken feet and goose heads.

A few other CET Harbin students exploring the Fendou Market.

Beautiful mounds of dried fruit. I was only able to resist because I had just seen a fried duck head.

I'm not sure what "Tourismy Bread" is, but look at those loaves of bread!

The counter with baozi and jiaozi...NOM NOM NOM.

Nuts, chocolates, fruits...NOM NOM NOM TAKE 2!

The upper levels of the store had the requisite KFC, but also several clothing stores. Ever since arriving to China, I have noticed that young Chinese people seem to wear a lot of clothes with English words--but the words don't always make sense. The clothing stores as the shopping center specialized in this type of Chinglish fashion, with bright colors, large fonts, and total nonsense.

Want T-shirt--Do you like?

Have no fear: in China DREMS do come true!

Later that day we met our new roommates, who then took us out for dinner. A small group of CET students and their roommates headed to dinner at a Szechuan restaurant. Szechuan food has a reputation for being spicy even in the US, but the spice there pales in comparison to the heat in China! One of the most famous Szechuan dishes is Mapodoufu, in which the ma means "to numb." So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when the dishes that had tiny peppercorns literally numbed my mouth.

Sunday we finally met our 1-on-1 course teachers. My topic--Chinese food culture--is pretty broad and my teacher and I began to figure out a way to focus on more specific subjects. But most of the lunch we had together was spent discussing differences between American food culture and Chinese food culture. My teacher was shocked when I said: 1) I rarely, if ever, go to McDonalds or KFC; 2) fast food restaurants are not considered "nice" American restaurants; 3) I don't fry all of the food I eat at home; 4) I don't eat soup everyday; and most shocking of all: 5) I like coffee (weishenme? she begged in response, tai ku le!)

Sunday morning was bittersweet since the language pledge began at 2PM. We all wanted to keep speaking in English, knowing that the pledge would be frustrating and exhausting. Yet, at the same time we all came for the pledge. Hopefully it will all be worth it.

Overnight Odysseys and My Home in Harbin

With only one full day in Beijing, a group of students and I decided to go to the Temple of Heaven Park and the Pearl Market, both of which were near our hotel (relatively speaking…Beijing is HUGE). The Pearl Market was a one-stop shopping heaven, with anything you could possibly want and things you never knew you did want. Since we still had to transport our bags to Harbin, I resisted the temptation to get anything. Next we headed to the park. The Temple of Heaven was beautiful and lush and we wandered around for a while.

Entrance to the Temple of Heaven Park

One of the beautiful temples in the park

As the sun (or the rays that make it through the smog) started to fade over the Beijing sky, the CET Harbin group headed to the giant Beijing train station. We piled into a train—Z15—that would take 11 hours to get us to Harbin. It turned out that our tickets were for soft sleepers, so there were four of us to a cabin, each with our own bed, light, pillow, and storage space.

My cabin on the train. My bunk was the top right.

The soft sleeper car in our overnight train to Harbin.

I walked up and down the aisle of the car and felt like something out of a 1950s movie or a film noir. However, when I reached the end of the aisle and entered the squatter toilet stall at the end of the car, I decided that maybe this was not the place I would run into Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart. But, with the exception of the squatter toilet, it still was quite the life of luxury.

The ride was smooth until I got my first taste of the unique Chinese time zone situation. China, despite its vast size, has only one time zone. Harbin is northeast of Beijing, so the sun rises at around 4:30AM and sets at 7:30PM. Having forgotten about this change, my cabinmates and I failed to close our shades. So as the sun rose over the beautiful countryside, I woke up at 5AM.

The rest of the ride was smooth and we arrived in Harbin promptly at 7:15. After breakfast and some briefings, we toured the Harbin Institute of Technology, or Hā Gōng Dà. The institute has about 40,000 students, so it looks like a small city.

Dorm 6: My home for the next 8 weeks.

Most buildings are several stories tall and there are restaurants, supermarkets, conveniences stores, basketball courts. EVERTYHING you could possibly need. Even better, the prices are soo cheap. We lunched at the black market, 黑市场,which is sketchy in name only. Noodles for 6 RMB? Count me in!!!

The supermarket on campus. It sells food, toothpaste, stationary, purses, tea leaves, etc... Basically anything you could possibly want.

The rest of the day was spent setting up internet, taking placement exams, and dining at a restaurant with Northeastern, or dōngběi, food since Harbin is in the northeast. Today we will continue our orientation process and finally meet our Chinese roommates, since each of us shares a double with a Chinese student. It is also my final day without a language pledge, so I have to get out all of my urges to speak in English before I am reduced to the vocabulary of a five-year-old.

再见！

In China at Last!!!

Greetings from Beijing!

I’m writing this post from the Qianmen Jianguo Hotel, which I finally reached after two plane rides and a bus trip. I cannot believe I am here at last, given that I have spent the past two weeks getting ready. I have been to Target and Walmart more times than I would care to count. I have spent hours in line at the NYC consulate first applying for and then retrieving my visa. But, all that is behind and I am here!

I should take a step back and say that as the title of my blog would suggest, I will not be staying in Beijing very long. For the CET Harbin program, we fly into Beijing, spend a night here, and then take an overnight train up to Harbin. So, I arrived at the airport last night and then went to dinner with a group from my program. For dinner we invaded a restaurant in an alleyway near the hotel. A group of about 13 college students would usually seem loud and out of place, but we were much more quiet than the rest of the clientele. In spite of some awkward moments with the fuwuyuan (she brought us a plate of forks, which some in our group deemed the ultimate act of condescension), we managed to get some pretty good food. After dinner, I tried to stay awake as long as possible (to avoid jetlag), but only made it until about 10:30 PM.

Today we have orientation and informational sessions in the morning, afternoon to tour the city (Beijing in 4 hours sounds pretty feasible), and go to dinner before loading onto a train. Rumor has it we will be getting hard sleepers on the train. I have never been on an overnight Chinese train before, so I have no idea what to expect. All I know for certain, is that it should be an experience.