Week in Review

Despite it being almost 9pm on a Sunday night and I haven't done a single bit of homework, I feel pretty good about myself right now. Why? Well, as most people know Beijing is full of beggars, many who are crippled and missing limbs. I've heard lots of bad stories about how they could have been intentionally crippled and forced to do this by certain underground organizations so I tend to have a policy of not giving them money. I usually say to others that I wouldn't give a beggar money but would give them food and that there have been times in the US when I've offered food to beggars and been refused. Today after eating dinner with my friend, we had a lot of leftovers and I contemplated just leaving it there and having them throw it out, but my friend suggested that I take it home and eat it for dinner tomorrow. I agreed and wrapped up the leftovers. On my way home I passed by a beggar and he motioned for me to give him the bag of leftovers. This made me realize the many times that I've wasted food at restaurants when I could have easily just packed it up and given it to someone who would really appreciate it. I just hope that I can remember this the next time I have leftovers.

Aside from this little incident, my weekend full of with meeting up with random but actually not that random people. For example, meeting a girl who is going to Harvard this coming fall because she is my uncle's friend's daughter's coworker's niece, having dinner/meeting some Yalies that are doing the Harvard in Beijing Program, bumping into other Yalies in/outside of clubs (ie. Propaganda) and more.

Though seeing all these people was great, I would say the highlight of my weekend was on a field trip I took with my classmates. We went to visit temples that were about an hour outside of Beijing, but to get to these temples we had to go up extremely narrow mountain roads. These were two way lanes that barely fit two cars and along the way down, a car accident had occurred so we were stuck in traffic. All the drivers who were stuck in traffic got out of their car and went to see what had happened. The truck involved in the car accident was leaking something but all the drivers decided that it would be an opportune time to smoke. Thankfully nothing happened but many of my classmates were worried. Soon the drivers decided that they didn't want to wait for the police to come so a bunch of them manually pushed the car aside so that there was room on the road for cars to pass. Once the car was moved to the side, all the smaller cars decided to swerve in front of us even though we were originally the closest vehicle to the scene of the accident (we were a big fat bus so we weren't as able to manuveur). The Chinese mentality of rushing and not waiting in line was strongly working against us. After 10 minutes of sitting there and having cars rush past us on both sides we decided we had to do something. So everyone got off the bus and worked to open up a pathway for the bus. Some physically blocked cars from passing and another group worked to push the car closer to the side. Though the trip was to visit temples, I think most people would say this ordeal was the most fun part. (But on a side note, when visiting temples in China, make sure to go visit the vegetarian restaurants there, they're really good at making vegetables taste like meat)

Here's some visual evidence of our good work:


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Halfway Point!

It's officially the halfway point of IUP and I don't know whether I should be sad, happy, excited, etc. But I guess its a good time to start reflecting on my experience so far and thinking about the rest of the summer.
When first coming to IUP, the age difference was definitely the first thing that startled me, especially as a college freshman. The strong sense of community that college students receive was non existent at IUP and made me feel lost for a period of time. But now as I've become more accustomed to this community, I think that I have come to appreciate it more. Meeting so many graduate students who are almost 10 years older than me has definitely matured me. Even though I'm already accustomed to being around older people (since I'm the youngest in my family and have siblings that are already in their 30's), in the past it's always been older people who are relatives/mentors. But to approach older people as peers is a completely different concept. And what surprises me also is that many of my IUP classmates don't treat the younger students with the usual condescension that I have experience in the past. This may stem from how we are classmates but may also just be a sign of growing up and maturity (of the younger crowd). Because as we get older, age differences matter less. Though there is definitely some separation of the older crowd and the younger crowd the intermingling of groups has given me a great experience! And I've come to realize that older people can be just as immature as little kids, one time over dinner we spent over an hour talking about poop.

As for the rest of the summer, I'm really looking forward to attending more events of this "Hand in Hand" program that I decided to participate in. Basically this program organizes events for IUP students and Chinese students (who range from college sophomores to already graduated PhD students) with the purpose of cultural exchange. Just yesterday we spent the whole day playing Mah Jong and making dumplings. The organizer says he's thinking about organizing an overnight trip to somewhere outside the city maybe to a 农家乐(kind of a vacation area in the countryside)! I'm super excited!
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Silk Market!!!!!

Those who decide to visit Beijing must take a trip to the Silk Market! (Sorry that this sounds like an advertisement) There are a ridiculous amount of stores selling things from jewelry, clothes, shoes, bags and Chinese handicrafts. Seven floors filled with hundred and hundreds of stores. But bargaining skills is an necessity, so if you don't know how to bargain, make sure you go with someone who CAN! It was ridiculous the amount that you could lower the prices to. I was looking at a pea coat and the lady told me "I usually give it to foreigners for 2,000 but for you, I give it to you for 1,600 RMB" (this was in Chinese of course). That's ridiculous because just 5 minutes ago some man offered the coat to me for 300 RMB as a starting price. After 15 minutes of haggling with her, she gave it to me for 180 RMB (even though she wasn't very happy)! In another instance, when I was looking at some Chinese mud dolls, the lady offered it to me for 35 RMB each, but eventually sold me 3 dolls for 15 RMB total. To think of how easily people can be jipped at these places, that just amazing.
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Exploring the Artsy Side of Beijing

I would say that day has been one of the most satisfying days I've had in Beijing so far (it's already been 3 weeks and 2 days!). As I was sitting in a dark movie theater, waiting for the screening of Ondine to start, I began to reflect on the day and realized why. Sure meeting random Chinese people and joking around with them was fun but at the same time it's still part of the whole going out with kids and partying scene. But today was different because I wasn't wasting my day away sleeping in, waiting for the night to come. Yes I went to the Great Wall last weekend but that was planned by IUP and barely took any initiative on my part. For the past three weeks that I've been here most of my days have felt pretty slow because at IUP, the schedule and environment makes me feel like I'm in high school. I get to school at 8am, go to class until 2pm and I get home at around 3ish (or I stay at school to finish my homework and then go home). Once I get home I either do my homework or surf the web, the routine is so close to what I had in high school. People live far from each other so there isn't that sense of community that college provides. As a result, I've felt very uninspired to explore. Don't be mistaken, it's not like I just stay in my room; I do call up friends from Yale or from high school to meet up with them but I haven't been successful with doing Beijing specific things aside from eating or partying.

So what did my day consist of that has made me feel so productive? My first stop was the 798 art district, which was unexpectedly fun (mostly because I'm not really an art person).
When first entering the district it seems sort of abandoned and empty but the real treasures are the art galleries and small shops that line the road on either side. These mini-art galleries each had very unique themes and styles. While some were conventional oil on canvas paintings (though the medium might have been conventional the subjects were mostly not) others were sculptures or just arrangements.


I think the most disturbing one was a room filled with hanging skulls. Though there were obviously fake skulls, they were all identically hung from the ceiling in a very orderly fashion and the music that filled the room was a women's voice tell the visitor to meditate. Here's a picture of entrance sign to the exhibit.
I think a highlight of my day at 798 was going into the small souvenir shops. Especially when I randomly bumped into two other Yalies. I found the most amusing things in those stores but resisted the urge to buy them (things were super expensive because it's geared towards foreign tourists).

After about two hours of walking around in the 798 district my friends and I headed off to a movie screening of an Irish movie. It was free and sounded interesting so I thought Why not?
Supposedly it was about a fisherman who falls in love with a mermaid and the main male lead was Colin Farrell. The name of the movie was Ondine and won a lot of awards apparently? Before the movie began they spent 30 minutes talking about the movie and the amusing part was listening to someone translate the organizer's English into Chinese and being able to pick out the parts that were completely wrong. But in the end, the movie was actually pretty good, especially since it was an independent film. Usually those movies give off a really artsy vibe and don't have a direct plot line but Ondine was artsy in its style and scenic landscapes. For those of you who plan to watch it (and you should) I won't give any spoilers but I will give props to how the story is able to mix/blur the lines between fantasy and reality (when I first heard the organizer say that I didn't get it, but it makes so much more sense after watching the movie).

Yeah, so to sum it up: I had a really fulfilling day.
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