Twilight

Sorry it's been so long--relatively speaking--since my last update. Between studying our daily lessons (which are unfortunately but expectedly getting more and more advanced in their subject matter) and trying to explore all the parts of Beijing that I haven't gotten to yet, it's just hard to find the motivation to blog. There's no planned excursion this weekend, so hopefully I'll get a bit of time to rest.

Last Saturday's trip to 十渡 (shi2du4, Ten Crosses) can be summed up in two words: bungee jumping. Yes, whether you choose to believe it or not, I did indeed jump from a platform 180 feet above the water's surface with nothing but a rope to support me. I felt surprisingly calm until I was standing at the very edge, at which point my composure promptly turned to thoughts of terrible ways in which I was about to die. To be honest, I don't actually remember the fall since it was so quick, but others tell me that I was particularly bouncy. Pretty awesome. Shidu also had these incredibly fun water cannon boats for rent, which we of course took advantage of. My boat had me, Simon, my roommate David, and another Duke person named Victor. In the course of combat, I managed to board another group's boat, spray them with my water gun, and jump back on my boat--all while wearing a cowboy hat. Did I mention that I'm actually a pirate in training?

On Monday, I found out that former Light Fellow Devin Lau had come all the way from Hong Kong to Beijing, so he, Nie Laoshi (3rd year), and I went out to a Hunan restaurant (I think) to eat dinner and catch up. I tried some dishes I had never tasted before--for example, bitter melon and this one type of poached fish--and had an all-around good time. Naturally, I let Devin and Nie Laoshi do most of the talking, while I listened. I've started to notice that I can fairly readily follow Chinese conversations, even those between fluent to close-to-fluent speakers. It's hard to say whether this is simply because I've spent close to two months in Beijing, or because our curriculum is particularly effective, but it's definitely quite a thrill. While I do feel as though my vocabulary is a little lacking, this is a choice that I consciously made by going with DSICP--rather than staying in my room and studying 生词 all day, I have to freedom to go out, have fun, and practice my speaking and listening skills, which are as important as vocabulary, if not more so.

Speaking of going out, I had quite an adventure today trying to find my language partner's house on the outskirts of Beijing. As part of the program, every DSIC student is required to visit his/her language partners' home or dorm. However, my language partner is a girl, and males at CNU are not allowed to enter girls' dorms, leaving only the former option. The first leg of the trip was simple: I took a bus from the CNU campus two stops down to Hangtianqiao. This was where the difficulties began. I ended up getting off at Hangtianqiaobei, rather than Hangtianqiaoxi where I should have gotten off. After asking about four people, none of whom knew how to get from bei to xi, I ended up walking around on my own until I found the right stop. From there, I took another bus for close to an hour out to Shuangyuhuandaoxi, but not before getting a text message from my language partner saying there was yet another bus I'd have to take once I got there. So I took that bus--going the wrong way. After about fifteen minutes, I realized I was getting further and further from my desired destination, so I got off, crossed the street, and got on the right one. Eventually, I arrived at my language partner's area, Pudongxiaoqu; furthermore, it was all worth it in the end, because her mom made tons of incredibly delicious jiaozi (and other yummies) for me to eat. The scenery in the area was also very pretty; I guess this is a perk of living in a suburb, regardless of which country it's in.

Today's dinner was a different experience altogether. My roommate introduced several people, including me, to a barbecue restaurant near campus. The place had unlimited meat, dumplings, fruit, and drinks for only 45 kuai (~$6). The kimchi there was also very authentic tasting, which was a pleasant surprise. However, the thing that I will remember best about the restaurant is not the quantity or even the quality of the food, but the fact that the six guys who went all decided to take off our shirts halfway through the meal. We were actually following the example of some big Chinese men sitting across from us, and I was a little worried that they'd get mad and come beat us up; fortunately, they didn't notice--or, if they did, pretended not to. There is no way I would have done something like this in America, but I figured that such an opportunity only comes once in a lifetime. Don't worry, pictures are forthcoming.

It hadn't really struck me that I'm nearly done with my stay in China until I got departure instructions along with my corrected homework today. I approach the end with a rather ambivalent attitude: while I'm very excited about going to Korea and then back to Yale, my two months here in China have taught me more than I ever could have imagined--and I'm not just talking about language acquisition. I'll withhold my concluding thoughts until the real end of the program, but suffice it to say for now that I definitely made the right choice in coming here this summer to study Chinese instead of staying in LA to play or in New Haven to do research.