Finding the Dao through tourist spots and the Er Hu

These past few weeks have been quite busy and hectic, therefore I have been unable to post consistently, but I am back with all kinds of updates. So I will try and go through them chronologically.

1) Tourist Spots- In these past few weeks I have visited The Lama Temple （雍和宫）The Forbidden City （故宫）and The Temple of Heaven （天坛). All of these locations have been exceedingly touristy. They are, however, nice locations to visit, even if you are constantly being bombarded by wandering Chinese sales people attempting to peddle the same good as every other wandering peddler at the respective tourist sight. Regardless, they were all worth the trip and provided a certain insight into both ancient and modern China.

2) School Sports Competition- BNU High Schools annual sports competition is perhaps the one thing I have been dreading these past few weeks. Even though not all of us are as athletically inclined as others, it was quite an interesting event over the past few days. And I will admit that it was pretty fun when one of the SYA kids would reign champion in their event. If Peter Hessler taught us anything its that there is nothing like the 外国人 (foreigner) winning. 3) The Er Hu- Today was my first experience with the Er Hu. It is just as hard as I imagined, if not a little more difficult. It certainly will take some time before I can reach any level where I would not be too embarrassed to post anything. The teacher seems to have a lot of patients, so hopefully we will make it through the year without too much struggle.

Communist Cerimonies, Cabs, and Crepes

After the official opening ceremony of BNU High School #2 I grabbed the same breakfast I have gotten everyday so far, which is a Jiang Bing (see previous post for explanation). After which one of my SYA classmates invited me to go with them to an area of Beijing known as San Li Tun to get some crepes. Although a little skeptic at first as to the quality of crepes in Beijing, it turns out that this place was quite a find. Of course getting the location was a small experience as it was the first time I have ridden a cab since arriving in Beijing. If anything the super thick accent of the cab drivers is always entertaining.

Located near the heart of San Li Tun, Crepanini serves its customers outside in a western style setting. With a plethora of different crepes to choose from this place provides a nice breakfast that is a nice break from the usual Chinese breakfast. Although I did not snap a pic, I will be sure to next time. Due to the location of the restaurant, I don’t think I will be back for a little bit, but it is definitely on my official list of places to check out.

Officially Immersed

From here on in I will try to keep consistent updates as to what is going on. I’m hoping that this blog will generally shape into being “The Unofficial Guide to a Preppy Foreigner in Beijing”, but who knows.

Okay, so after arriving at BNU High School #2 we were quickly taken to our host families homes. I quickly fell asleep and woke up the next day to orientation, and now we seem to be moving into the swing of things.

Todays officially delicious food is a breakfast item called Jiang Bing. It is a very thin piece of bread cooked in a similar way to a pancake. It is wrapped around a crunchy pastry with scallions, soybean sauce , and red pepper paste. I’m gonna try and get a picture up by tomorrow.

Challenge of the Year

As of the recent request of one my my classmates from Deerfield (Conor Sullivan) I am considering his challenge to photo document everything I eat in China. Super tempted to take up this offer….will post more about this in the future.

Yu Hua

At the beginning of the summer I read an english translation of his book To Live（活着）and recently I just finished his pseudo autobiographical book China in 10 Words. I feel after finishing these books that I should comment on my experience.
      To Live is perhaps one of the best books I have read in a while. It covers the life of a Chinese man named Fu Gui pre, during, and post-cultural revolution China. Although the language is simple and does not carry the sophistication of an author like Virginia Woolf, the plot of the book is justification to read. It is a short read of around 200 pages so it is not nearly as onerous of an experience as any of the required summer reading books. Anybody who is remotely interested in China’s history, politics, or culture should definitely read this book.

China in 10 Words was a very different experience. The language is much more complicated and it is not a novel. It is more of a series of political observations and comments wrapped around a series of anecdotal stories. The text is much more incoherent, but was still a captive read. I will probably write a more comprehensive review later.

The Er Hu

To be one of my many cultural experiences. I plan to learn, or at least to try to.

 

The Beginning of the Journey

It all started out over a year ago when SYA came and did a presentation about the program. I was really tempted to go, but only being a freshmen at the time I could not leave until at least a year. So I waited, I went to China in the summer, and part of me knew I needed to go back. The next fall a similar presentation was done, and at lunch I gave my email to the representative. From here it was a fairly straightforward application process. A few rec’s, an essay, an interview, and what seemed like a million years later I was admitted to SYA 2014. Me and a few other Deerfield students who would also be attending SYA (not in china) eagerly awaited the end of the year. So now I am waiting, and like the awkward few moments before you get on a plane, all I think about is the departure.

A Postcard and Sticker Sent from SYA (April 2013)

This Blog

This is a documentation of my SYA (School Year Abroad) in Beijing, China. It includes everything. It is only the beginning now, but hopefully I will get some interesting stories this fall. I will cover everything from the crazy chinese food, to possible Er Hu lessons, to my experience with the winter in Beijing. Maybe I will even begin to blog in Chinese. I am going to try an cover as much as I can and everything I notice in the world around me. Try to separate the American lens of the world from what I actually see and all that jazz. Spread the word.