THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

I've been in China for almost 8 weeks! That's almost 2 months! And now...

IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN.

Right now we're in the middle of finals week, which as anyone who has ever been to college knows means some studying, and a lot of PROCRASTINATION (like this blog post, for example). But it's weird knowing that this is my last week in China. My mind keeps cycling through a lists of "I can't wait for..." and then reverting back to, "but at home there's no...".

Right now my "I can't wait for..." list includes things like AC, normal toilets, ice cream, cheese, steak, bagel with cream cheese, falafel, salad, carrot cake, frosting (a whole other category entirely), blueberries, hamburger, mozzarella and tomato sandwich...I wouldn't say I'm asking for too much, would you?

And sure, that list also includes a few asterisks that are more, "get me away from..." You know, things like homicidal drivers, people hocking loogies in my personal space, and the fact that wherever I go and whatever I do, people will stare at me, mouth open, trying to guess where I'm from.

But at the same time, where at home can I find really good, really cheap, really authentic Chinese food? (staff of 老四川, if you're reading this, I will pay for you to live with me and cook for me at school). Or well-made bubble tea? Or my "friends" at the fitness center? Or the assurance that even if I sound like a 2-year-old, people will tell me, "Wow, you speak such great Chinese"?

What's more, I have to adjust back to speaking English. Which might probably sounds kind of pathetic, but seriously. I've devoted the past 2 months to channeling my thoughts and ideas into Chinese, so trying to 随便 switch to English is not as easy as it sounds. This has become obvious to me as I've continued to write this blog. Speaking of which, notice the word, "right," in first full paragraph? Yeah, I originally wrote "write" (cue self back-pat).

The language pledge has meant that for two months I've gotten to know my classmates in an entirely different language. With the exception of a few Yalies I knew beforehand, I only know the Chinese personalities of most of my peers. Which is kind of weird, when you think about it... But I guess, in many ways, peoples' real personalities have shone through. One classmate (I'm looking at you 老板), has maintained his VERY English, VERY idiomatic catchphrases, simply translated word-for-word into Chinese. And the thing is, these phrases have caught on. So we all shout, "为什么不?"--why not? ; 有牛肉--do you have beef? ; 新鲜到死--fresh to death ; and 老板--boss, things that make ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE WHATSOEVER in Chinese. But we've made them our own (much to the dismay of our very confused teachers).

In addition to my list of "I can't wait for..." I've even begun to add a few English sentences that I've been dying to say. It's rough when there's actually no sarcasm in Chinese. None. There's not even a word for it! (1.3 billion people and no sarcasm... WOW). As I've found in my classes, the teachers may be baffled by our idiomatic phrases (in a laugh at, not with type of way), but they are just not receptive at all to an American sense of humor. At least spoken humor. They seem to love it whenever I hit my head on something, almost fall off my chair, or gently mock my classmate (书恒, you know I love you)...Hey, at least that gave our 1-on-2 teacher a chance to teach us new vocabulary: 欺负--to bully.

The language pledge ends on Saturday, after 3 written finals and 2 presentations. So in some ways, it still seems like it's the distant future. But between now and then, I've just got to keep telling myself, "我觉得我会。我觉得我会". Translation?

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.