Getting Into Week 2...

Ni hao everyone!

Alright, so this post is infinitely more comfortable as I've discovered the computer lab on campus, and no longer have to sit in an environment of greasy keyboards, obsessed gamers, cigarette smoke (it's apparently fine to spit and throw cigarettes out on the floor), and generally suspect activities. It's raining very heavily outside, and three classmates and I swam our way over here after a dinner of fried pork and pineapple, and pork and seafood dumplings. I've never had so much pork in my life since being in China, by the way. My earlier thoughts of considering being a vegetarian have been put on hold for this month, as it would be virtually impossible to stay fed here were I to not eat meat.





The rain is welcome, as it's usually quite muggy and humid, and it is actually causing the smog to disperse temporarily. This is a picture of one of the bridges into Tianjin. Two things to notice: first, the sculpture is in the style of Western art, but maintains Chinese physical features, and second, the hazy slightly brown air is actually accurate of what we see every day.

As an aside, during the same bus ride we went over that bridge, we came across several amusing signs like this, warning against drunk driving (there is a car inside a wine glass, with various alcoholic beverage containers flying out the windows).


This past weekend we went to Tai An, the hometown of Confucius, or Kongzi. We were able to view the Kong graveyard, which currently contains 74 generations, from Kongzi himself, his son, grandson, and so on. Apart from the graveyard, there were many sites for prayer, and the compound was filled with several separate houses for the members of the Kong family to live. The picture on the left is of the main gate to the Kong compound.

The area has become quite comericalized, with countless vendors selling the same things - personalized name "chops" and fans, fake jade jewelry, small figurines of Confucius and Mao, etc. We ran into hundreds of other tourists, all of them Asian. Aside from the historical sites, our group seemed like the main attraction everywhere we went. After leaving Confucius's town, we visited a site that had been erected in honor of the achievements and contributions of another great Chinese philosopher, Mencius. This was a much quieter and less busy area, and non-Chinese are rare here. The elderly and children especially would stop walking/biking/playing and just stand and stare as we walked by, with expressions as if saying "they really do exist!" These reactions have become the norm for our group, and the following day, Sunday, when we ascended Mount Tai (Tai Shan), a child asked us if we would take a photograph with him. It doesn't bother me, and I always wonder what runs through people's minds when they are one of those with the incredulous looks on their faces. I wonder what kind of international exposure children receive in different areas of China. It's interesting to contrast with my own life; one of my groupmates Mike commented that for us in the U.S. to have such a reaction it would take something extremely exotic, or perhaps a celebrity. Even then, living in the Washington, D.C. area, celebrity sightings are not so rare.

The weekend was amazing, so many historically significant and culturally filled sites, I feel honored to have had the chance to see one of them, let alone all of them. This coming weekend were are headed to Beijing and the Forbidden Palace and Great Wall, and the following weekend is what I am really looking forward to, Xi'an and the terracotta soldiers of the ruthless Qin emperor Shi Huang.

I have found Chinese class to be tough to keep up with, both in class content and the actual class itself! This morning after t'ai ch'i and breakfast, I headed for class as usual, only to find for the second time that no one was there. Class schedules are highly dependant upon the teacher's schedule, and we somehow were not on the same page with the frequent changes. It turns out class had been moved to 1:00-4:40, instead of 8:30-12:10, so my roommate Monica and I took advantage of the free morning to go to the ever-reliable E-Mart (Yi Mai De) for some grocery shopping. The country is getting ready for the summer Olympic games, and logos and the five Olympic mascots can be found just about everywhere you turn, like this kite we found in Shandong province while learning about Confucius. Our taxi to E-Mart had its seats covered with an Olympic-themed motif, and tiny mascots hanging from the mirror and the ceiling. The city of Tianjin has also constructed a huge enclosed stadium to house Olympic soccer matches, but is closed for tourists at the moments. Olympic fever is permeating the radio and television too; every morning on the tv news we hear about the preparations and excitement surrounding the Games.


Thanks for your comments! It's time to get down to homework and then bed; tomorrow we have 7am t'ai chi as usual, and then our second round of wushu in the afternoon following classes and lunch. Sleep tonight is crucial, as last week's intro to wushu on Tuesday sent all of us into a week of pain and strained muscles! I'm looking forward to it though, I miss martial arts and getting a taste of it once more has convinced me to take it back up when I return to the U.S.

Hope you all are well, I miss all of you!
Zaijian!
~Robyn