Melissa: How I was adopted on my 21st birthday!

Last week, one of my teachers (Wang Laoshi) invited me to meet with the family of one of her husband's colleagues who wanted to host an American student. The family (with last name also Wang but not related) has a 9-year-old son so they want someone to speak English to him and act like an older sibling. We all went to coffee together to get to know each other. The son's English name is Bob and he is simply adorable; he calls me older sister! Though shy at first, he soon started jabbering to me in Chinese--I couldn't understand most of it! Our conversations must be amusing to watch; hand motions, sound effects, and 2 languages combine to form an elaborate dance!

When the Wang family learned that my birthday was only 2 days away, they insisted on giving me an authentic Chinese birthday! This is after knowing me for only 15 minutes--what hospitality! We planned that they would call me Sunday morning and let me know about evening plans, which included a dinner with my friends.

On Sunday, I didn't get a call in the morning, but rather when they arrived at the gate in the afternoon! After hurrying to get ready, I left with no idea of what was happening and told my friends to be "on call." My family, Wang Laoshi and her husband, and I ended up spending the afternoon at the seaside. Then Wang Laoshi went back to the school to pick up my friends while the rest of us went to the restaurant.

It was a very nice restaurant with aquariums in the lobby where you can pick out frogs, sting rays and large goldfish. We thankfully bypassed that room and ended up in a large room with display dishes of everything you can order. Wang Shushu (Uncle Wang) picked out many, many traditional Chinese dishes, which I considered plenty for our group of 11. Then we were led to another room with even more dishes to choose from and we ordered many, many more! Then we were all seated in our own private room which had a large round table. According to tradition, Wang Shushu sat at the seat facing the door and I was seated as the guest of honor to his right.

I don't even know how many dishes there were. Noodles, chicken, wraps, tofu, stewed strawberries, sweet potatoes, pork something, onion something, etc, etc! We stuffed ourselves silly and probably only ate about 2/3 of the food. There was even Peking duck, which is quite a big deal in China, not to mention expensive. (Did I mention my family is rich?!) They come out with the whole duck on a tray so you can watch the waiter slice it in what I assumed was a special way. Then they whisk it away and bring it back on a platter. To eat Peking duck, you take thin tortilla like things and put the duck, sauce, and different vegetables in before rolling it up and eating it. For a super fancy, expensive dish, it sure is messy!

The Chinese think birthdays are very special and so everyone eats a lot and drinks a lot. We must have done 20 toasts! I was drinking Sprite but all the boys had Qingdao beer. And of course the host shows his hospitality by always refilling everyone's glass ALL THE TIME! I think one of the best parts about the dinner was watching Hunter's face when he realized they had refilled his glass yet again! haha. I eventually switched my glass for his so I could drink a little alcohol on my 21st, but then they just got him another glass and poured him more!

By the end of dinner, we were all stuffed but kept being urged to eat more! While drinking and nibbling some more, our table had wonderful conversation and lots of laughter. I sincerely enjoyed spending my birthday with people that are special to me.

FYI

So my sister, Madison, created this fun list (and I added input) about what life is like in China.

For your information:

 

 

-When backpacking you will frequently ask, "How many days in a row can I wear the same socks? Underwear?"  I will just let you imagine what the appropriate answer is. 

 

-When crossing the street (street lights mean absolutely nothing), always follow the natives.  In particular, those with babies and young kids; if it's safe enough for them, you probably won't be hit by a car either.

 

-If it looks like chocolate (on bread, rolls, etc.), it's red beans.  Guaranteed.  Even if they are shaped like chocolate chips, they are STILL red beans.  You will be disappointed multiple times by this unexpected surprise. 

 

-Always bring tissues with you into the bathrooms in the event of no paper being provided.  Which is almost always.  And you should develop your leg muscles for squatting.  I'm just sayin'. 

 

-Do not attempt to try on boys' shoes in department stores (Melissa!) even if you are absolutely aware that they are boys' but don't care because of their neutrality.  If you attempt to try them on, the sales women will not let you do so, and will laugh at you and your sister the rest of the time you are in the shoe department.

 

-If you order chicken at a restaurant and then see the dead chicken being carried to the kitchen, you're going to get the entire bird on your plate.  Feet and beak included. 

 

-Don't settle for chocolate candy bars that cost < 1 RMB (~ 14 cents). Trust us, we taste tested. 

 

-When a restaurant brings your table a "free gift" of iced beverages, it really means that they are bringing you something you didn't order, and they went ahead and charged it (granted, at a discounted price) to your bill. 

 

-"Milk flavored" is usually not the way to go when choosing candy, ice cream, or anything else beside actual milk.  Milk tea is the exception.

 

-When doing laundry for the first time in China, you should not be surprised to find that the machine is labeled entirely in Chinese.  You should also not start pushing random buttons.

 

-"Potato chips" = potato flavoring added to the potato chip.  You might think you have finally found a plain chip, free of shrimp, kiwi, blueberry, or seaweed flavor, but you are  wrong. 

 

-No matter how many times you walk down the street and hear people shout, "Meiguoren, Meiguoren!" (American, American!), it is never appropriate to turn around and shout back, "Zhongguoren, Zhongguoren!" (Chinese person, Chinese person!)

 

-Be sure you like who you go out to eat with because your chopsticks will all be in the same dishes (communal eating) and all your germs will be mixed together and redistributed to all involved. 

 

-You would think that if you pronounce a Chinese word correctly, but with the wrong tone, people in general could probably figure out what you mean based on the subject of your conversation…nope. 

 

-Don't be surprised to encounter exotic ice cream flavors, such as corn, pea, and avocado!

 

-Your teachers will probably call attention to your mistakes on class work, laugh at you, and then teach the whole class what you did wrong.  Also, in some classes, your test scores are read out loud.  FERPA, much?

 

-What's your favorite color?  Wrong.  In China, the correct answer is purple!  Literally, guys, you have a choice of black, purple, blue, purple, pink, purple, green, purple, orange, and purple.   

 

-Did you know that if you buy a train ticket to somewhere, you cannot buy a return ticket until you get there?  Yep. 

 

-You will probably be given about 15 minutes notice whenever your host family wants to pick you up for something, hence, you must be dressed for all occasions at all times. 

Melissa: How do you say adventure in Chinese?

 
Here's what I've discovered in the past week of class: this language barrier thing is hard! I now have a much greater respect for people living in the United States trying to learn English; being surrounded by a culture that you just can't understand is exhausting!  I think I was spoiled by my experience in South Africa; I picked up Afrikaans extremely quickly, even succeeding in classes that lectured in Afrikaans! Here, I can't even order my dinner.

 

On one hand, it makes life exciting. Making it through each day is an accomplishment as I survive (even conquer!) numerous small adventures.

 

It's an adventure to order food. If the restaurant doesn't have a picture menu or English subtitles, then I just give up on the menu entirely because I don't know what any of the characters mean, really. Instead I give general requests: ji (chicken), zhurou (pork), qiezi (eggplant), etc. It's also important to include the important "bu tai la" (not too spicy). Then, I just accept whatever the chef gives me, which is often not what I'm expecting but extremely tasty!

 

It's an adventure to make your way around the city. Qingdao is a big place! Taxis aren't that expensive, but we're cheap so we usually take the bus. It is only 1 RMB (14 cents) to get anywhere in the city. A group of us went to the market this weekend; the ride took an hour but it was only 1 RMB! We normally only have vague ideas about where to stop, so we have to try to read the street signs and get clues from our surroundings. The buses themselves are VERY crowded. I know understand why China was in an uproar about H1N1 and the swine flu; I breath the germs of the many people crowded tightly around me as I cling desperately to the high railing near the ceiling. (It's even worse if I'm carrying bags!)  Getting off the bus is a process, as everyone literally shoves their way to the back door to exit as more people get on at the front door. I once felt bad about pushing people out of my way—no more! Ok, that's not actually true. I still feel bad, but I've gotten to the point where I am no longer tentative in my shoving! Once off the bus, it's usually necessary to ask for directions in broken Chinese and then attempt to translate the response.

 

It's an adventure to buy things at the supermarket. Some things are easy to identify: brooms, spoons and scissors look the same. Things that need labels are more complicated: laundry detergent, lotion, dish soap. Then there's deciphering food labels. I have to be careful, as everything from blueberry flavoured Lays to packaged jellyfish is available!  I recently bought this juicebox looking thing; I think it might be longlife milk that doesn't have to be refrigerated. There were many different colored boxes of the same brand. Are they flavoured? What does my blue box mean? Why is there a winged girl sitting on a whale on the front of the box? What does the nutritional content say? Who knows!

 

It's an adventure to do laundry. That's something I took for granted: being able to read directions on a washing machine. Of course, the washers in the dorm seem to confuse even the Chinese and everyone has developed their own system. Josh was taught to make the red indicator lights line up in a certain order, which will wash things but then leave water inside the washer so you then have to punch a different set of buttons in order to drain it. It's tedious, but works. After a four hour debacle with broken machines one night, a friendly German woman taught me a simpler way that actually drains it the first time around. Yes!

 

It's an adventure to make it through class! Josh, Drew, Hunter and I should probably be in the 101 class, but after taking a semester of Chinese at Missouri State we decided to forge our way through 102. How far behind are we? We know the material from approximately chapters 1-4. Day 1 of 102 started on Chapter 11. After six days of class we are now done with 11,12, 13 and half of 14. We're moving quickly and still have to find time to study the basics that we don't know!

 

I am doing alright with the new material, but I don't have the vocabulary background needed to communicate well in class. My evenings are spent doing homework, writing characters, and trying to learn chapters 1-10! I'm also struggling with the tones of the Chinese language. Chinese has four tones; getting the tone right is equally important as getting pronunciation right. I'm glad that I've started hearing more Chinese as that's the first step toward learning how to combine pronunciation, tones, and inflection!

 

Class lasts for four hours every day (8 AM to 12 PM). The first two hours are taught by Ding Laoshi ("laoshi" means teacher).  Ding Laoshi only speaks to us in Chinese and usually talks quickly, especially when she shares expressive stories; while I usually always know the gist of what is happening, I don't get all the details. This class focuses mostly on reviewing material. We also complete writing exercises and practice conversation exercises during the first two hours. The first day of a new chapter we have a tingxie (dictation quiz), where the teacher reads the new vocab words and we have to write the characters correctly. Next week, we are doing five lessons so there will be a tingxie every day. Joy.

 

The second two hours of class are taught by Wang Laoshi. Her job is to teach us new material. When starting a new chapter, we are responsible to come to class knowing the 20 new words' pronunciation and characters. Wang Laoshi then instructs about how to use the new material in proper grammatical form. This section of class sometimes moves a bit slower, with some explanations in English and more time for questions, as Wang Laoshi wants to make sure we completely understand the new material.

 

When class gets out at noon, my brain is usually completely exhausted from the morning's immense concentration. However, there's no time to rest because I have to travel somewhere and order food successfully, before facing many more adventures in Chinese! What a relief it is to go to bed each night and dream in English!

Huangshan and Yellow Mountain pics

Melissa: a few artsy shots of Shanghai

Views of Shanghai

Pictures of Beijing!