Second week in Beijing

Si Ma Tai Great Wall

This summer is going to be epic. So far, DSIC has reached or surpassed all my expectations, and once everything is said and done, I’m sure that my time in Beijing will rank as one of the greatest experiences of my life.

The workload here is brutal but doable. Monday through Thursday consists of lecture 8-9 am, smaller classes 9:10-11 am, and then a 20 minute one on one session. We get about 60-100 characters a day, but vocab is repetitive and I can usually cut it down to 40 new characters. I spend about 4-5 hours a day studying Chinese, including an hour long conversation session with my local Chinese language partner. My partner’s name is Zhang Yu Chen, and he is one of only two male yu pan (language partner) out of nearly 70. Nerdy and frail, Zhang at times aggravates the hell out of me with his incessant talking, but I also gain valuable insight into the lives of Chinese college students and Chinese culture.

For this weekend’s excursion, we went to the Si Ma Tai Great Wall. It was hands down one of the best experiences of my life. At 3:30 am, I set out with a group of DSICers to climb scale “Chang Cheng” early enough to the see the sun rise. However, four minutes into my climb, three of my Korean “girl” friends called me so I had to retrace my steps through the darkness to pick them up them. For the next 30 minutes or so, we climbed through the darkness, one agonizing step after another and taking multiple breaks because Bowon was suffering pretty heavily from exhaustion. Unfortunately, none of us bothered to bring water… FML. Our journey was surreal. We headed out into complete darkness, and the sky brightened as we reached each successive tower. I can only futilely try to explain what I experienced at that time. With mossy green hills gently sloping around us, hundreds of rocky outcroppings, and the Great Wall itself cutting a belligerent path through harsh terrain, I could easily imagine myself as a soldier during the Qing dynasty on the lookout for invading Mongol. We finally stopped at the fifth tower, where we met up with the other DSICers and admired the brilliant sun rise. Check out the pictures, although they really don’t do much justice. Off to study some more Chinese, and hopefully next weekend’s excursion will be as meaningful!

First week in Shanghai

Due to the “great firewall of China,” I haven’t been able to blog ever since entering the homeland seven days ago. As result, I have had to save my entries as word documents. Let’s just say that it has been an interesting few days. As soon as I arrived to Shanghai, I got myself an Asian style haircut (spiky hair on top, long bangs in the front swept to the side, and reddish-brown highlights. For reference, I look like Tai from Digimon). Might as well experiment in China since haircuts cost a seventh of what they are in the states.

After spending a quiet few days with family, Alex Liu and Yifan Chen arrived just in time as the boredom was settling in. On the first night, we visited Kevin Ho, Kevin Wang, and other Yalies doing Bulldogs in Shanghai. They lived luxuriously in massive suites that included a built-in bar, kitchen, two bathrooms, and a laundry room. WTF mate??? As we were chilling and watching TV, Kevin noticed that the ping-pong match that we were watching was actually taking place in a “tiyuguan” less than 200m away from our hotel. We found the place and managed to get tickets to the match, which was dubbed “China vs. World.” It was an awesome experience. We were going nuts, and one of my bloodcurdling cries of “JIAAAAA YOUUU” meaning “LETS GO!” actually stopped play for a while. LMAO.

On the last night in Shanghai, Alex, Yifan, and I were taking a nighttime stroll when we came across a plethora of stores with scantily clad women reclining upon couches. It was absurd. Almost every other store held these women whose legs were spread wide open to entice people walking by. We had passed these same stores in the daytime, and then they had seemed like legitimate businesses. Some were hair salons, other spas, massage centers, etc. However, at night, these businesses transformed into sex shops, and we were approached several times by women who offered “massages,” inquiries to which we wisely yet unwillingly resisted. Later on, we went on Google and did some research. Although deemed illegal in China, prostitution remains one of the country’s largest service industries. With an economy based on the export of manufactured goods, China MUST expand its service sector, but heavens forbid through the trafficking of flesh! Apparently, these stores that purport to be legal businesses during the daytime swiftly transform themselves as dusk settles and exhibit “salon sisters” that are prostitutes.

Alex and I arrived in Beijing this morning for the Duke Study in China program. After checking in, we explored campus, played basketball, and met a ton of Dukies. They all seemed pretty cool and friendly. My roommate is a baller, so I think we are gonna get along just fine. The girls are very attractive, and there’s this very cute Korean girl :D Oh yea, university officials are paranoid about swine flu and are forcing us to wear face masks for three days until the end of our quarantine.

Placement tests are tomorrow. Hopefully Alex and I place into L3. Wish us luck!