(This blog post is longer than some essays I have written)
Friday, July 9, 2010
8 AM – midterm exam.
10:40 AM – oral exam (skit performance with Yoonji, Stephanie, and Dan).
12 PM – 中文桌子 (Chinese table with our teachers at a Beiyu restaurant).
10:40 AM – oral exam (skit performance with Yoonji, Stephanie, and Dan).
12 PM – 中文桌子 (Chinese table with our teachers at a Beiyu restaurant).
3 PM – our bus sets off for 内蒙古 (Inner Mongolia)
6:30 PM – Andi teaches us an Inner Mongolian song that he learned from his family.It is from Communist times as it mentions 毛主席 (Chairman Mao).
~8 PM – our bus stops moving, thanks to an incredible traffic Jam.
~9 PM – our bus turns off to save gas.
~8 PM – our bus stops moving, thanks to an incredible traffic Jam.
~9 PM – our bus turns off to save gas.
~9:30 PM – we step off the bus onto the highway because the bus is too hot and claustrophobic. Befriend a pig in the back of the truck in front of us. Look at stars. Translate English pop songs into Chinese (this is mostly Andi).
~10:30 PM – we get back on the bus.
~10:30 PM – we get back on the bus.
~2 AM – our bus starts moving again.
~3:45 AM – wereach our hotel in 呼和浩特 (Huhhot – the capital city of Inner Mongolia). There is no electricity in the hotel. We have to climb 11 flights of stairs to reach our bedrooms, reminding me strongly of firedrills at Brearley.
~4 AM – our keycard doesnot work. I prepare to sleep in the hall because I refuse to go down 11 floors and then climb back up. A passing maid lets us into our room.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
We drove a few hours into the Inner Mongolian countryside to reach the place where we would stay the night (in Yurts!). We then broke up into afew groups and go to our first interviews. I was in a group with one other second year student, a third year student, a fourth year student, and Andi. We went to a small house across the road from where we were staying and interviewed a sheep herder.
It is both an upsetting and an empowering experience. It is the first time that I really felt lost for words. The higher level students were able to maintain a dialogue, joke around, ask intelligent questions, and the questions that I tried to ask tooka very long time to form, an
Saturday, July 10, 2010
We drove a few hours into the Inner Mongolian countryside to reach the place where we would stay the night (in Yurts!). We then broke up into afew groups and go to our first interviews. I was in a group with one other second year student, a third year student, a fourth year student, and Andi. We went to a small house across the road from where we were staying and interviewed a sheep herder.
It is both an upsetting and an empowering experience. It is the first time that I really felt lost for words. The higher level students were able to maintain a dialogue, joke around, ask intelligent questions, and the questions that I tried to ask tooka very long time to form, an
d were filled with grammar errors. Once or twice, they had to be further translated. And yet, I understood most of what was said. I was able to see the humor that cropped up, and felt very much as though I were present in the room. While I asked perhaps one 30th of the questions asked that afternoon, I still felt as though I was involved, andthe many questions I had before arriving at the interview were answered over the course of the hour and half, either through conversation or because I, or another student, asked them.
We went back to our yurts and had a dinner of sheep, whose death we witnessed. It was a very quick and clean kill. It was also a very tasty sheep. The people who ran the inn provided us with a mini-concert, and, at the end of it, some HBA students sang, or played on the keyboard.
We then watched a Mongolian Wrestling competition. Gordon, a Harvard student who is a part of the Kendo club there, tried wrestling. Then there was a (slightly drunken) men’s Harvard-v-Yale wrestling match (Harvard won…Yale wasn’t wearing
We got to another location, where we also sleep in Yurts. In the afternoon, we go horseback riding. Little do we know that it will hurt for the next three days, since they didn’t teach us how…
We watch a showed of Mongolian song and dance. I was surprised to hear a minor similarity between Mongolian music and some of the Slavic music I sing at Yale. One song had an instrument maintaining a drone, and the singer sang a complicated melody using glottal stops. It reminded me of more “melodic” Bulgarian music. As Andi said, that’s legitimate as “the Mongols got there…”
Monday, July 12, 2010
We had our second interview. I felt more present in the conversation and felt as though I asked my questions more eloquently and frequently (although this might just be my perception…). This herdsman’s house was in an even more isolated area, but he had working electricity, cable, and a cell phone. My group stayed the same, except for the addition of another second year student. Ours was the first group to be dropped off, and the last to be picked up—a good hour and a half after we finished our interview. We hung out in the Inner Mongolian sun, without water or shade. It was fun, until found out how long we had to wait…and then realized we were all getting sun-burned…
We took the bus to 包头 (Baotou city) and checked into a hotel.
Tuesday July 13, 2010
We went to a clothes factory and interviewed the female workers there. It was a much nicer place than we were all anticipating. According to Wang laoshi, it was a pretty average factory.
From there, we went to the offices of a cashmere clothing line. I found it rather boring, but the cashmere was beautiful.
In the afternoon, we went to a memorial to 成吉思汗 (Ghengis Khan). It was a place that he supposedly found to be very beautiful when he was alive, and, after his death, the cart bearing his body broke on the same hill and so they set up an altar in his honor, as well as seven white yurts. The area has been guarded by about 38 generations of the same family. In the 1950s, the Chinese Government sponsored a more solid building that would surround the Yurts.
(Outside the house, there were some truly adorable lambs.)
(The herd comes back to drink water. And climb on a pile of their own feces…)
We then watched a Mongolian Wrestling competition. Gordon, a Harvard student who is a part of the Kendo club there, tried wrestling. Then there was a (slightly drunken) men’s Harvard-v-Yale wrestling match (Harvard won…Yale wasn’t wearing
his Glasses), and a girls’ New York-v-Texas match (Texas won).
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
We got to another location, where we also sleep in Yurts. In the afternoon, we go horseback riding. Little do we know that it will hurt for the next three days, since they didn’t teach us how…
We watch a showed of Mongolian song and dance. I was surprised to hear a minor similarity between Mongolian music and some of the Slavic music I sing at Yale. One song had an instrument maintaining a drone, and the singer sang a complicated melody using glottal stops. It reminded me of more “melodic” Bulgarian music. As Andi said, that’s legitimate as “the Mongols got there…”
Monday, July 12, 2010
We had our second interview. I felt more present in the conversation and felt as though I asked my questions more eloquently and frequently (although this might just be my perception…). This herdsman’s house was in an even more isolated area, but he had working electricity, cable, and a cell phone. My group stayed the same, except for the addition of another second year student. Ours was the first group to be dropped off, and the last to be picked up—a good hour and a half after we finished our interview. We hung out in the Inner Mongolian sun, without water or shade. It was fun, until found out how long we had to wait…and then realized we were all getting sun-burned…
(Solar and wind-powered street lights)
We took the bus to 包头 (Baotou city) and checked into a hotel.
Tuesday July 13, 2010
We went to a clothes factory and interviewed the female workers there. It was a much nicer place than we were all anticipating. According to Wang laoshi, it was a pretty average factory.
From there, we went to the offices of a cashmere clothing line. I found it rather boring, but the cashmere was beautiful.
In the afternoon, we went to a memorial to 成吉思汗 (Ghengis Khan). It was a place that he supposedly found to be very beautiful when he was alive, and, after his death, the cart bearing his body broke on the same hill and so they set up an altar in his honor, as well as seven white yurts. The area has been guarded by about 38 generations of the same family. In the 1950s, the Chinese Government sponsored a more solid building that would surround the Yurts.
(me with the statue of my ancestor—according to my mother’s obsession with geneology…)
What I found to be most interesting about the memorial was not the pride that the Inner Mongolian people took in having Ghengis Khan as part of their cultural heritage (although that was very fascinating). It was our tour guide telling us that the site was currently an AAAA tourist sight, and it was in the process of applying for the next highest level of tourist attraction. It is something that would bring more visitors to Inner Mongolia and therefore enhance the regions economy, but it also seemed to me to be missing the point of the very monument. It was a place that was devoted to the head of one of the most successful conquests the world has ever seen, and yet no one seems to know it is there except for the people of Inner Mongolia. After all, why would China have such a place when Ghengis Khan’s body ended up in (Outer) Mongolia? Also the fact that it had to apply for a tourist ranking at all seemed very odd to me.
We returned to our hotel in Baotou…and our fuse popped twice…Stephanie and I were moved then to a room with no air conditioning. Then, we were moved to a much nicer room on the 11th floor that was, for lack of a better description, a “shag room,” complete with window into the bathroom and prominently displayed condoms…
We were amused.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
We went to Desert Land (well..that wasn’t what it was actually called…)
What I found to be most interesting about the memorial was not the pride that the Inner Mongolian people took in having Ghengis Khan as part of their cultural heritage (although that was very fascinating). It was our tour guide telling us that the site was currently an AAAA tourist sight, and it was in the process of applying for the next highest level of tourist attraction. It is something that would bring more visitors to Inner Mongolia and therefore enhance the regions economy, but it also seemed to me to be missing the point of the very monument. It was a place that was devoted to the head of one of the most successful conquests the world has ever seen, and yet no one seems to know it is there except for the people of Inner Mongolia. After all, why would China have such a place when Ghengis Khan’s body ended up in (Outer) Mongolia? Also the fact that it had to apply for a tourist ranking at all seemed very odd to me.
We returned to our hotel in Baotou…and our fuse popped twice…Stephanie and I were moved then to a room with no air conditioning. Then, we were moved to a much nicer room on the 11th floor that was, for lack of a better description, a “shag room,” complete with window into the bathroom and prominently displayed condoms…
We were amused.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
We went to Desert Land (well..that wasn’t what it was actually called…)
Thursday, July 15, 2010
We went to the headquarters of Mengniu Dairy, one of China’s most prominent Dairy companies. We toured the packaging plant, and then saw the cows’ living quarters. All are grassfed (the concept of cows eating anything else is foreign to many people outside the US…), they listen to music while they are being milked, they can kick off the milkers when they feel like it. They looked happy.
In the afternoon, we went to a Buddhist temple. It was absolutely beautiful.
We then went wandering and shopping. It is funny how much of the things sold in Inner Mongolia look like they could be sold in the American West. Cowboy hats, leather work, silver things. It was very strange. I went with a few friends to a tea shop, which was very soothing, and we got to try a few teas. It was very enjoyable.
I started trying to read 哈利波特与密屋 (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) which I bought the night before. When I bought it, I misunderstood the price that the shopkeeper told me and I so I gave him two kuai fewer than I should have. When I tried to correct it, he wouldn’t let me. I think it was the first discount that I ever received because I was a foreigner without having to haggle. In any case, I say “trying” because it took me an hour and a half to read a page and a half. It was not that I couldn’t have figured out what was going on based on my own previous knowledge of the text and the Chinese that I already know, it was that I was reading it to really understand every word and sentence I saw. I would look up every word I didn’t know, and, at the end of a sentence, reread to make sure that I remembered what everything meant. It was both very fun and very tiring. It will also take me a very long time to complete my goal of reading all Harry Potter books in Chinese….
Friday, July 16, 2010
In the morning we meet and interview some high school students, who were incredibly smart and very sweet. Many of them wish to go to English speaking countries for college, and it was kind of jarring to think that these children desperately want to go to places like Harvard and Yale, and yet probably won’t get in, simply because Harvard and Yale take very few actual Chinese students every year (while they take many heritage students). It made me very sad as I sat and talked to a young girl whose name I couldn’t retain. She was wonderful and hopeful and patient, and will being applying to American colleges next year.
We also met with some college students. The one that I spoke to was an English major who spoke English very well, although she wasn’t as patient with my Chinese as my high schooler was.
We then got on the bus for 9 hours and ended up in Beijing.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
I spent most of the day chilling out. In the Evening, HBA took us to an acrobatics show, that was completely spectacular. From there me and a few friends went and sang Karaoke for a few hours.
I started trying to read 哈利波特与密屋 (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) which I bought the night before. When I bought it, I misunderstood the price that the shopkeeper told me and I so I gave him two kuai fewer than I should have. When I tried to correct it, he wouldn’t let me. I think it was the first discount that I ever received because I was a foreigner without having to haggle. In any case, I say “trying” because it took me an hour and a half to read a page and a half. It was not that I couldn’t have figured out what was going on based on my own previous knowledge of the text and the Chinese that I already know, it was that I was reading it to really understand every word and sentence I saw. I would look up every word I didn’t know, and, at the end of a sentence, reread to make sure that I remembered what everything meant. It was both very fun and very tiring. It will also take me a very long time to complete my goal of reading all Harry Potter books in Chinese….
Friday, July 16, 2010
In the morning we meet and interview some high school students, who were incredibly smart and very sweet. Many of them wish to go to English speaking countries for college, and it was kind of jarring to think that these children desperately want to go to places like Harvard and Yale, and yet probably won’t get in, simply because Harvard and Yale take very few actual Chinese students every year (while they take many heritage students). It made me very sad as I sat and talked to a young girl whose name I couldn’t retain. She was wonderful and hopeful and patient, and will being applying to American colleges next year.
We also met with some college students. The one that I spoke to was an English major who spoke English very well, although she wasn’t as patient with my Chinese as my high schooler was.
We then got on the bus for 9 hours and ended up in Beijing.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
I spent most of the day chilling out. In the Evening, HBA took us to an acrobatics show, that was completely spectacular. From there me and a few friends went and sang Karaoke for a few hours.
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