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xiangji
Phuong's China Blog
A Peek into My Time in China
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The purpose of this journal is to chronicle my six-month stay in mainland China. I am a Vietnamese-American currently staying in Beijing to teach EFL for a few months. I had wanted to visit China for many years now just as a personal interest. Here, I plan to chronicle my observations about TEFL, Chinese culture, Chinese language, culture shock, and the like.
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| Thomas, the advanced student |
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September 5, 2006
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For my former coworkers in China who happen to read my blog, I just got a phone call 5 minutes ago from Thomas, the former, advanced student. He's doing well in Chicago, doesn't feel homesick yet.
When I asked him about his first impressions of the States, he commented about the language first, saying that everyone speaks so quickly, "much more quickly than the teachers at [our English school]."
Of all the people I've met in China, he'll be the first one I'll meet outside of China. (Dan would've been the first, but we couldn't get together while we were in LA.)
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| The Culture Shock of Home |
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August 4, 2006
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A lot of people have asked me what it's like to be home again. I wish I could summarize it all in a word.
The adjustment from Chinese to English as the predominantly spoken language was not a difficult switch, though it did made me miss hearing the piratey twangs of a Beijing accent. Hearing Vietnamese was, oddly enough, the big shock for me, but that goes way beyond just hearing Chinese and English for 6 months.
Food requires some adjustment. Greasy di san xian isn't the same as greasy western food; finishing a bowl of the former doesn't leave me feeling like crap. Eating a meal in the East also doesn't leave you completely debilitated, either. I've tried to adjust for that by eating smaller meals.
Mostly, it's the people. Imagine going through some amazing experience that affects you in some visceral level, then returning to the earlier environment. Your perspective is now forever colored by that new experience, and you're looking at this nearly-unchanging environment with this new set of eyes. Some things are different, but I'm always surprised at how things have remained the same everytime I come home. It's a little unnerving.
It's like what a friend in Beijing was telling me last night (afternoon BJ time). I have been thinking about sending a care package to my coworkers back in Beijing, and I asked him, "What do you miss most about the US?" He answered, "The people, my people, my family. Everything else, I have learned to replace living here, I guess."
And like him, I had learned to replace everything I missed about home. I traded American versions of international cuisines for authentic Chinese ethnic cuisines, both comparable in terms of variety and taste. I traded an English-speaking environment for a predominantly Chinese-speaking environment that helped me learn a new language. The money I made from working two jobs in the US was compensated in China through ridiculously low prices for almost everything I needed or wanted. The kids I grew to appreciate while tutoring were replaced by adult students I learned to aprpeciate while teaching (and I guess, in a way, that replaced "people" in my experience). I just couldn't replace the friends and family from back home, and I didn't want to... but I did get a sense of belonging in Beijing that was different from the way I bonded with people in the States.
That's what culture shock seems to mean here. Now that I'm back in good ol' southern California where the weather is temperate and astoundingly beautiful, I have to learn how to replace those things I had left back in China. (How strange is it that I can buy Marmite in Beijing but not in the States? I should've brought some back with me; Marmite's simply not replaceable.)
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| Family |
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July 26, 2006
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This entry was waiting to be written for a few days now, but seeing Ben's entry about it prompted me to finally write about it.
There are many reasons, internally and externally, that are pulling me back to the States. But it doesn't make it any less sad for me to be leaving Beijing.
I will make a confession here. Before I came, I read an entry from a friend's journal about a particularly close friendship she built with a coworker while in Shijiazhuang. She had some concerns that the friendship was built situationally--that is, would they have been such close friends if they weren't in Shijiazhuang together? This left the idea of "friendships of convenience" into my mind, and this idea implied that these types of friendships aren't "real." I went into Beijing with this thought in the back burner, half-expecting this to happen to me.
I wouldn't say that this idea was completely wrong. We all work and live together, so it's only natural that we'd hang out together, too. But it was much more complex than that.
I agree with Ben's usage of the word "family" in this context. We did not choose each other the way we (normally) choose our friends, just as we don't choose our family. And to quote him: "This is like any family, there are those you are close to, and those you aren't so close to, but they're family all the same, you cant take some out without somehow lessening the whole."
Seven of us have been here since February. We seven have grown and adapted to this strange, new environment together. We were guided by others who have been here longer or who have been here before. (And even the latter have to make some adjustments, because Beijing is changing so rapidly.) We've even found ways to "fight The Man" together, struggling for various common causes. We've developed inside jokes that don't make sense inside nor outside of China. We've got traditions, like Chuan'r Night/Chwednesday. And like any family (normal or dysfunctional), we caused problems for each other, but we also took care of each other. Family.
Like family, I will see these individuals again. Some more than others. I will emphasize the "zai" in "zaijian": we will meet again. I like you guys too much to not keep in touch. :)
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| 我的留言簿 |
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July 24, 2006
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We've been handing out "farewell signature" books （留言簿） for the past two weeks now. Essentially, these books are for the staff members who are leaving, and they're for anyone to sign. I asked my Chinese teacher, Quincy, to sign my book all in hanzi so that I could have an incentive to keep studying Chinese. I gave her a photo of our Chinese class (Quincy and our class of 3 elementary students) to keep. After she signed my book, she asked me to sign on the back of the photo. I wanted time to think about my message, so I took the photo back.
I wasn't going to read any messages until I get on the plane. The messages are like a kind of gift from many people, so I wanted to "wait until Christmas" in a manner of speaking. Quincy's message was an exception; she's my teacher, so I wanted to have some idea of what was "proper" to write or say to her. With the help of one of my students, I read the message.
Quincy was hilarious. Maybe I'll post it up one of these days, but it'll bring a smile to my face for years to come. Keep in mind that her type of humor is based on vanity, so my response to her was related to that.
Thanks to Thai and James, I finally wrote my note to Quincy. Thai gave me inspiration, and James helped me polish the vocab and grammar.
Quincy (王老师）：
别因为我回国很伤心。我知道你会很伤心，
因为没有我中文课就不一样了。（开玩笑了！）
我会很像我的汉语老师，你。我学得很快因为
你讲得很好。（还有你很风趣！呵呵！）
我会好好学习！我会给你写电子邮件。
你最喜欢的学生，
陈凤
( Translation... )
The odd part is, while James was editing my note, I felt really sad about not being able to see Quincy again. I mean, my eyes started to well and everything. When will I ever have a Chinese teacher and classmates this cool ever again?
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| EFL gigs |
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July 19, 2006
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More for my own reference. This is a useful site for finding other teaching gigs in China... or Japan, or South Korea, if you're so inclined.
http://www.e-jobfair.com/
It's been such a good experience that I'd do it again. And now that I've tried it once, I know what to anticipate and expect the next time around. :)
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| False First Impressions |
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July 14, 2006
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I can't help but smile a little when I see this student's email in my inbox. She and I are trying to get together for a farewelll dinner this weekend, which I'm really pleased about. She's one of my favorite students.
In fact, it surprised me that this student (we'll call her A) and I became friendly with each other. I remember meeting A for the first time and seeing her use her limited English to "flirt" with the foreign students. I decided that she must be one of those Chinese girls who were after foreign boys, and I didn't bother with her much after that initial assessment. Then she was assigned to one of my beginner classes and turned out to be one of the best students, good enough to progress to the next level in half the time it usually took.
But it wasn't just her rapid progress that changed my view. She was genuinely friendly. After I taught her some English slang related to gossip (e.g. "wandering eyes"), she taught me some Chinese words as well (e.g. player - "hua1 xin1"). My initial impression that A was a little boy-crazy was what made me choose to teach her words and phrases related to this personality. And I wasn't so far off the mark thinking that this would appeal to her; it made learning a language a lot more enjoyable for the both of us. It wasn't long before she trusted me enough to tell me about a particular guy using the English she learned... educational and cathartic. What more could you ask for?
On the topic of first impressions, A's wasn't the only one that changed for me. I could easily say the same about a lot of my coworkers and other students, and I've been stunned by how wrong I've been about so many people here. But that initial impression never quite faded away. It just changed into a form that was sometimes easier to relate to. Or sometimes, it changed into a form that made me more guarded.
I'm not sure exactly why I decided to write about this in my China blog instead of my personal one. Perhaps it's because of the conditions I'm living under that's made me think about slightly-false initial impressions. After all, culture shock is about seriously readjusting initial impressions. And dealing with it on a bigger scale (from living in another country) makes you see the ripples, too.
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| Hessler's "Split" Experience and Learning Method for Chinese |
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July 7, 2006
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I've been meaning to write about this for some time now.
Dan loaned me his copy of Rivertown by Peter Hessler some time ago. I enjoyed reading about Hessler's accounts of Fuling (in Sichuan province) during his PeaceCorps service there; his anecdotes were nuanced, rich with details, and insightful.
One of the experiences he talked about was having an "alter ego" while living in Fuling. There, Hessler was known to everyone as Ho Wei.
Ho Wei wasn't really a person until my second year in Fuling, but as time passed I realized that he was becoming most of my identity: apart from my students, colleagues, and the other foreigners, everybody knew me strictly as Ho Wei, and they knew me strictly in Chinese. Ho Wei was completely different from my American self: he was friendlier, he was eager to talk with anybody, and he took great pleasure in even the most inane conversations... Also Ho Wei was stupid, which was what I liked most about him... People were comfortable with somebody that stupid, and they found it easy to talk to Ho Wei, even though they often had to say things twice or write new words in his notebook. Ho Wei always carried his notebook... and when Ho Wei returned home he left the notebook on the desk of Peter Hessler, who typed everything into his computer.
My experience in China is nothing like Hessler's: I live in a modernized, secretly-capitalist Beijing in the company of many other waiguoren who can be as equally lazy as I about learning the language. But I think it takes several months for one to fully "break in" a new place, which is exactly what has happened here. I can still vividly remember the first day I arrived here and how different that day is to today, five months later (almost to the day!). I've gotten over the honeymoon period with Beijing and recovered a little from culture shock.
It's also taken me this long to get over anxieties about using Chinese to practice, being super-shy about accents and all. Even now I worry a bit that my new language partner will become impatient with me, but I'll try to be more patient with myself. In the meantime, I'm still finding ways to have fun with the language, including a new studying method (which I will share in a bit) and learning silly phrases I'm not likely to use often, like, "You farted!"
For those of you studying Chinese, if you've got a small vocabulary base going, here's one method I've been using that's helped immensely with remembering meanings and tones. It all started one day when Quincy was trying to help us remember the word for airport, and she simply said, "Chicken farm." I thought: Chicken... ji1... farm is cheng2. Ji1 cheng2... airport? "Dui!" Using this method not only helps you remember with the small vocabulary base that you have but also helps build it and make better sense of the language. Well... some of the literal translations don't make sense, like "Portugal," but some of those Chinese words are based more on phonetics than meaning. They're still funny to remember. :P "Airport" doesn't have a strong link to "chicken farm," but if you imagine the airplanes as birds in a "farm," it does kind of make sense, even though the link is unintentional.
Other examples:
| English | Chinglish | Chinese |
| Embarassed | Not good meaning | Bu2 hao3 yi4 si |
| Pulp | Fruit meat | Guo3 rou4 |
| Fart (or bullshit, depending on context) | Wind ass | Feng4 pi4 |
| Portugal | Grape tooth | Pu2 tao4 ya3 |
| Sad | Hurt heart | Shang1 xin1 |
If you know of any others, please share! I love learning Chinese this way as it's a lot of fun and really helps my memory. :)
Anyway, that being said, I have done the best I can with this experience, and it's been a powerfully memorable experience. My only regret would be to not return to China some day.
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| Hong Kong Trip, Part 3 |
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July 1, 2006
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Sense Field - Save Yourself |
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Last installment! The following photos follow two major themes: World Cup love and more food.
( Our trip winding down... )
As I mentioned briefly, a number of Cantonese people walked right up to me asking me questions in Cantonese. And naturally, I had to respond back saying I couldn't speak their language. Unlike being stopped in Beijing, however, there was no guilt about not knowing the language. It seems a little strange because, in either case, I'm not Chinese--so how can I feel guilty about it at all in Beijing? Maybe I felt more guilty about it because I've been trying to learn Mandarin and not Cantonese. But I know if confronted with the same situation in Spanish, I probably still wouldn't feel as guilty as I do with Mandarin.
I came back to Chinese class the day after we returned, and the whole week of English-speaking and not studying has made me fall behind a little. I worry that my regression will grow worse after I return to the States. Fortunately, I've had many offers for language partners, so I may consider having more than one (maybe two or three?) to keep up my studies.
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| Hong Kong Trip, Part 2 |
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June 30, 2006
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Tina Dico - one |
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On with more photos and updates. These are sort of in chronological order, but it doesn't really matter since we had loose plans for our trip and just did whatever we pleased each day.
I'll start off with a photo I can't show just now. There's a religious group in China--we'll call them FG for short--that I assume is not wise to talk about for fear of legal punishment. While we were in Hong Kong, I was surprised to see some large signs about the persecution of FG. The torture pictures that came with these signs were pretty grim in content, though quite a lot of them were "photoshopped" to appear more grim. It just goes to show how much freedom HK still has from the mainland, at least in terms of expression.
( On to the photos... )
That's it for today! We're almost done! :) If you'd like to see more photos, you can check out my Kodak gallery, which includes HK and Huangshan photos I didn't care to upload to my LJ gallery.
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| Hong Kong Trip, Part 1 |
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June 29, 2006
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I thoroughly enjoyed my week-long trip to Hong Kong. Let me start off by saying I love big, modern metropolises, so I would not recommend HK to just anyone, even though there's something there for everyone.
From Beijing, the entire trip easily cost me a month's wages and likely cost me a bit more than that. But that's about the same cost as a weekend trip to Vegas back home, so I think a six-day visit to Hong Kong was relatively affordable and very worth the trip. It was a mixed blessing that I couldn't access additional funds from back home; I felt restricted in what I could buy and how much I could buy, but had I had access, I would have blown a good chunk of it on stuff. After all, this week was HK's Shopping Festival. What a time to go!
Anyway, on with the photos and narration. I may end up updating in installments like my Huangshan trip.
( Adventures in HONG KONG )
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| A chance for you to come to China! |
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June 29, 2006
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A friend sent me the following. Maybe one of you graduate students out there could take advantage of this opportunity to see China this summer; I don't qualify for it since I'm already in China. But you have to hurry, because the deadline's for July 10th!
Photos and an entry to come about my Hong Kong trip. :)
Dear Graduate students,
The following summer opportunity is now available:
An award-winning TV production company is looking for two university students who want to travel to China in August 2006 as part of a PBS documentary. All expenses will be covered, including international airfare, in-country travel, lodging, and meals.
The two-week trip (falling between August 7-25) will be made into a 60-minute PBS documentary about two Americans traveling through China for their first time. The participants will be a part of a teaching exchange-they will teach English to a small group of university students, and they will take field trips together with their students to learn about their hometowns. The participants will travel to five prime destinations in Shandong Province, including: Jinan, Confucius' hometown, Mount Tai, Weishan Lake and Yantai.
We are looking for graduate OR undergraduate students between 20-28 years of age, who are easy-going, in good health, open-minded, adventurous, verbally expressive, native English speakers, willing to try new things, and not that familiar with Chinese culture. We prefer that you have some international travel under your belt - but that you have never been to China before.
If you are interested, please email us ASAP at d3prod@earthlink.net with your completed application form and a recent photo.
The deadline for submitting your application is Monday, July 10, 2006.
We look forward to hearing from you.
D3 Productions, Inc.
Oakland, CA
www.d3mediagroup.com
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| Language Exchange/Tutor |
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June 14, 2006
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Also, as a note for any native Mandarin speakers who happen to pass by here:
I'm looking for a language exchange partner or a Chinese tutor via Skype. I won't be needing one for awhile, but when I return to the States in July/August, depending on where I'll be, I will need someone to help me maintain progress in putonghua so I can achieve fluency. Drop a comment or an email if you or someone you know is interested.
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| Ordering food over the phone |
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June 12, 2006
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Oh yeah! Another milestone accomplished: ordering food for delivery over the phone. Oh YEAH. I even understood them when they told me they didn't have the dish I wanted.
I don't know why I'd have such a phobia about ordering over the phone (always had Mike or Julia or a Chinese person do it for me). I mean, I could order and make myself understood at a restaurant. I guess it'd be different over the phone because they wouldn't have any visual contexts I could provide for them; the guy on the other side of the phone line would have to rely solely on my speech.
And I've always been worried that my speaking wasn't good enough. Students tend to flatter you about your Chinese when you use a little bit.
So why did I bother updating about this? I was just proud of myself, gosh darn it. I almost wish Julia had been home to hear me in action. :P
Delivery man came a short while ago. I recognized him from yesterday when he delivered food to Mike's place. He keeps asking me if I'm not Chinese. I insisted I was Meiguoren, but he doesn't believe me. :P
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| Preparing to leave when you're just settling in |
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June 3, 2006
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As I mentioned in a previous post, many of the teachers will be ending their contract in late-July. It's going to be quite sad, really, having a whole big goodbye shindig. I think I'll end up being the first one to return home. Most of the others plan to travel a little before they return home.
There are a few reasons why I'll be quite sad, but I'll just talk about a couple here.
One is the Chinese language-learning. I was just getting the hang of constructing simple sentences (and still not super good at it, btw), and by the time I leave, I might be able to have pretty simple conversations. I'm afraid I'll end up losing what I learned here, and I still have every intention of returning to China in the future. I'll be making a separate post soon on language.
The other thing I'm a little sad about is the shopping. Oh, I know, the stuff here is bootleg, and the Chinese twist on clothing styles is too gaudy for my tastes, but I'll never have this much fun shopping again.
A brief anecdote to tie the two together: I went shopping with Helen today at the Xidan market. This market, unlike Ya Shou and Silk Street, And I found a pair of Vans. I love me my Vans. So with my limited Chinese, I started bargaining.
They wanted 180 RMB. I was appalled at this price, especially because back in Nanjing, I was able to buy a pair of these babies for 29 RMB:
So I wanted to bargain down to at least 40 RMB. Going back and forth only got me to 80 RMB.
"Look," I started. "Zai Nanjing, wo mai le zhe ge [pointing at the Vans] san shi kuai." (In Nanjing, I bought these 30 RMB. Biatch. :P)
"San shi?"
"Dui a!"
They immediately gave it to me for 40 RMB. Damn, that was satisfying. Maybe I should've held out for 35 RMB! But $5 for a pair of fake Vans? I'm happy.
Shopping therapy only works in China. :P And damn, I'm gonna miss it!
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| DVD Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code |
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June 2, 2006
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I bought a copy of The Da Vinci Code from the DVD Lady Who Sits Outside 7-11 (aka. "7-11 Lady"). I never expect a DVD purchase from here to be any good, especially if the movie just came out a week before, but I figure for 5 RMB a movie, why not? Besides, I read the book already and at the very worst of language issues, I can at least follow what's going on. (Or maybe the worst would be that it's not even the Da Vinci Code but some really, REALLY bad movie with crap language issues.)
Splash screen/menu: No "splash" on the splash screen. The menu had your basic "Play movie"/"Setup"/"Scenes" bit (obviously no special features). There was a big still of Fache on the left and snippets of the movie playing on the right side, quite blurry. I went to the setup to make sure the Audio was set to English; language selection included Chinese, English, and Korean.
Then I started the movie.
Picture quality: As expected, the film was very grainy. I saw a camera/theater setup for V for Vendetta a few weeks ago, but the picture quality on that was excellent, even without having seen other camera/theater setups. It's probably because V for Vendetta had high contrast, so it was okay for immediate bootlegging. Da Vinci Code didn't, so picture quality suffered. However, I am pleased to report that at no point in the film did I see a moviegoer leave their seat. Sometimes, bits of the movie skipped. But this wasn't as bad as the...
Audio quality: When I started the movie, everyone spoke in Chinese. "OMGWTF? It's all dubbed in Chinese?" It was pretty strange to hear Tom Hanks speak in a deep putonghua voice. Subtitles didn't help because the English translation didn't come on until 10 minutes into the movie, and even then, they didn't make any sense. Either the subtitles were from the wrong movie, or the translator just put in random, new English words he learned and liked. It was pretty amusing, but I decided to play the movie without the subtitles and just practice my listening Chinese.
About a half-hour or 45 minutes into the movie, they suddenly switch from speaking Chinese to speaking English/French. I was delighted since I wanted to hear Audrey Tautou's cute French-accented English. Since the subtitles weren't working out, I had to make up my own dialogue when they spoke only French. After the movie switched to predominantly English audio, it'd occasionally switch back to Chinese audio for a line or two. (Langdon was being choked by Silas, and the others made English commotion while Silas interrupted in Chinese, "Stay back, woman!") The last 15 minutes of the movie switched back to Chinese.
This DVD was probably worth 2 RMB at the most, but I think I'll end up taking it back with me to the States as a souvenir. :)
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| Rainy, bleary day in Beijing |
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May 27, 2006
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It's been raining with thunder and lightning recently in Beijing, so going out to see other Beijing sights is probably put in hold today. I went to Yong He Gong Temple yesterday with Helen, and it would have been a much nicer excursion if it had been sunny out.
I managed to finally buy some postcards. These postcards show 8 different places in Beijing, and I've been to 4 of those places: Yonghegong Temple (the Llama Temple), the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and the Summer Palace. Places I've been to that I wish I had a postcard of: Sanlitun, Ho Hai, Nanjing, Huangshan, the hutongs.
Two months from now, many of my fellow teachers and I will be ending our contract with the school. A couple might renew their contracts. Some will stay in Beijing, working for other companies or schools for higher pay. Some will travel to another country or another part of China after their contract ends. And some, like me, will simply return home to do other things.
I believed people when they said six months would be too brief of a time to stay in Beijing, but I didn't realize that working would make the six months even briefer. Combine work with the bit of pay I've got makes travelling a little more restrictive, and I'm loathe to take money out of my US bank card.
I'm thinking about a Hong Kong trip. This may be my only chance to go.
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| May Vacation, part 3 (Nanjing) |
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May 16, 2006
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It took us half a day by train to get to Nanjing. Some coworkers had visited the city a few weeks before and promised fresh air and beautiful weather. We didn't expect the lingering smell that seemed to blanket the city.
This was the shopping area immediately outside our hotel.
The small stalls-market was fun to peruse through. I bought some cheap jewelry here (a good place to test my bargaining skills), a Chinese chess set, some DVDs, and some snacks. (Tons of snack vendors. I loved it.)
( We spent the first day at the historic sites in Nanjing. )
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