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The Diaries |
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June 20, 2009Funniest thing I've found on one of the student blogsPosted by Gordon KleinOn the flight from Chicago to Beijing: The stewardess asks me “Chicken or Beef?” Way to see the humor in mass scalding, Stewart!
June 19, 2009Differences between China and the USAPosted by Gordon Klein1. In China, the "close door" button in an elevator closes the door. In the USA, it is just there to make people feel like they have some control over when the door closes. 2. In the USA, pedestrians sometimes have the right of way. In China, I think that they never do. That doesn't mean that a car will run a red light to hit you, but if you're crossing, a turning car will honk to warn you not to get in its way and then drive where you almost were. Parking is on extra-wide sidewalks, so you're not safe there either. The no-honking zones are probably the most dangerous. Maybe you don't like the honking when it's 4:30 in the morning and you're trying to go back to sleep, but you don't want somebody to get run over just for that. 3. No time zones and no daylight savings time in China, so in Dalian near summer solstice, it gets light when the clock reads about 4:00 a.m. and dark when it reads about 7:00 p.m. I suppose that puts the high point at about 11:30 a.m., so maybe it's more the lack of DST. The latitude is about that of Kansas City and St. Louis, so that's not giving us more daylight than Iowa this time of year. 4. China: Fireworks for any reason. USA: Fireworks for 4th of July and occasionally otherwise, except at Disneyworld and Disneyland. 5. In Chinese, not only is pronunciation important (and difficult for those of us who grew up speaking American English), but each syllable also has one of four tones. So what seems like the same syllable can have four meanings. If you mess up the tone, you can go from saying "I am going to the dining hall to eat" to "I am going to the dining hall to...." Not even sure what the end of this sentence is, but not something you want to say. 6. Similarly, while Americans can confidently say "I am going to visit the beach on Saturday morning," many Chinese people say (in English) "I am going to visit the seashore on Saturday morning." That way they don't accidentally use the word for "female dog." 7. China: Drink bottled water because the tap water might not be safe to drink (though some people in our group have found it safe). USA: Drink bottled water because .... I haven't actually figured out why people do this. 8. China: A 20-oz. or so bottle of water costs maybe 30 cents US. USA: Can be over $1. 9. China: High school kids are at school (we were told) from about 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. USA: More like 8 to 3, later if there is an activity after school. There are many other differences, of course, like McDonald's selling spicy chicken wings in China (a block from KFC!). You might point out "big differences," like the system of government. This seems to have little effect on everyday life, if that's what we're experiencing, at least in Dalian. The Chinese call us foreigners, a word that we've abolished in favor of "international" (which inexplicably doesn't include the USA). I'm sure that we do seem pretty foreign, tall, fat (pang, in Mandarin), English-speaking, pale (as we have only pale-Americans with us). But there are also a lot of similarities. It seems that there might be more differences among the Chinese and among Americans than between the two countries. The most important similarity is the interest in building friendships and relationships between the two countries, the two universities, and between people.
Observations on prices in ChinaPosted by Gordon Klein1. Many things are much cheaper here than in the U.S. We had dinner with 15 people last at a nice restaurant. Nobody left hungry. Had 9 large bottles of beer. The total price was about $50 in US money. 2. Most meals in the cafeteria at the university here are under $1, but that may be a little cheaper because they want students to be able to eat there. 3. American things have American prices, though. Converse shoes, Starbucks coffee, KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonald's. 4. A new Mini Cooper is at least $50,000. I think that imported cars have a fairly high tax. This doesn't seem to keep people from driving them. Many people don't drive. There are a lot of ordinary looking cars of many brands, some tiny cars (including a 3-wheeled one), and some expensive ones. 5. Several people in our party are getting suits or dresses made by a tailor. A man's suit is $40-$50. 6. Gas is around $4 per gallon. 7. Nobody takes V ISA except for Starbucks (as far as I have found). Most of our party gets money out of ATM IIt freaks me out a little that that works. Being Luddite enough not to have an ATM card and afraid that the bank fees for this could be exorbitant, I just trade greenbacks for RMB. 8. Having people stare at you wherever you go, take pictures and videos, and say "Hello." Priceless. Some people get tired of this. I haven't been photographed or videoed by a stranger, as far as I know, but I do get stared at a lot. I just pretend I'm famous. So far it's kind of cool.
June 14, 2009US Food Rules that don't apply in this part of ChinaPosted by Gordon Klein1. The other night we ate in a restaurant with now shoes (but it was Japanese--I wonder if that's allowed in US Japanese restaurants). 2. Slurping. Got a bowl of noodles in broth and a couple chopsticks? It's perfectly fine to slurp the noodles into your mouth. 3. Elbows on the table. 4. Putting your personal utensil into a dish even after you've used the utensil. (But you are not supposed to pick around the dish for just the item you want.) 5. Starting before everyone has their food. Most meals here the food is put in the middle of the table and shared, but when it was not, we were told that it is just fine to start once you have yours. 6. Reaching across people to get food. No need for "Please pass the ...." 7. Eat everything that you order. It seems that it is necessary to have lots of food on the table at the end of the meal, to demonstrate that plenty was offered. 8. Use a fork to eat your rice. Actually we often have no rice at meals. When we do, we use chopsticks, but in some parts of China, rice is rolled into balls with your fingers and eaten with no utensil. I haven't tried the "No shirt" half of "No shoes, no shirt..." or seen anybody else do it in a restaurant. (Thanks to Julie for suggesting this as a solution for my inability to eat without getting food on my shirt.) In short, I could have brought my 3-year-old, and she would have had perfect table manners here. Except that I suspect she would have climbed up on the lazy suzan and gone for a ride.
June 13, 2009More observations on DalianPosted by Gordon Klein1. A few of us ate Japanese food last night. It was very good. Nat made the comment that it was of the style of Lincoln Cafe, which got me thinking that the Lincoln style may have some of its origins in Japanese food. I'll ask Matt what he thinks. One of the dishes last night was a VERY tender and tasty pork thing. 2. Today we went into the older part of Dalian for the second day in a row. Drivers (including our bus driver) honk a lot, but not randomly. There seem to be at least two meanings--"I'm going into that spot over there" and "Hey, I'm over here." Not sure if different honk sounds mean different things. 3. We went to the Peking Opera today. This is a style, not a location. It's an old-fashioned kind of performance, with fancy costumes and make-up, singing that might be pretty close to what Americans would think of as old Chinese singing. About seven instrumentalists accompanying the singing. Young Chinese mostly don't go to this. Kind of like opera in the U.S. The lyrics were translated into modern Chinese and shown on a sign. Although I had the sense that most of it eluded me. it was pretty cool, especially the first piece (of three). Much of it consisted of two men with swords, acting as if they were in a pitch dark room together, trying to kill each other. It was a bit like the old bit with Lucille Ball and Groucho Marx and the non-existent mirror. (Young people--maybe that's on YouTube.) 4. I've discovered a tasty snack, sort of like French Fries, but crunchier and spicier. 5. Another observation about Starbucks: It seems like there aren't nearly as many to-go customers here as in the U.S. 6. I don't feel guilty about going to Starbucks or Pizza Hut or KFC. How could I not be curious about what they are like here and why? 7. Nearly everything that we see is mysterious in some way. What is that building? What is that food? Why do people do what they do? The students from Dalian National University that are studying with us and showing us around have been very helpful in explaining things. More later.
June 12, 2009More observations of DalianPosted by Gordon Klein1. My feet are bigger than the shoes sold here. 2. Since the sun is up by 4:30, we were already awake when somebody set off a bunch of fireworks at that time this morning. 3. There is a TV channel here that seems to have volleyball all the time. 4. Yesterday afternoon we had an art lesson. We were supposed to learn how to paint goldfish using black ink and water. The grade from black to light gray is important, but I didn't get very good at that. We also learned to write our Chinese names using paint. Mine is Gao Ke Wei. 5. Mandarin has separate words for big brother, little brother, big sister, and little sister. 6. I wonder what historic preservationists think about this: Today we saw a row of buildings that will soon be torn down to be replaced by taller ones. They are among the oldest buildings in this part of Dalian--perhaps 20 years old. 7. There is a lot of what Americans call "green space" and Chinese call "harmony with nature" in Dalian. Almost no single-family houses. More later--a few of us are going out for Japanese food tonight with a manager from the port facility who is a graduate of Iowa State University.
June 10, 2009First Week in ChinaPosted by Gordon KleinWe left CR, flew to O'Hare, and then flew on to Beijing on June 3 and 4. Spent 2 days in Beijing, then took the night train to Dalian. Here are some impressions from the first week here. 1. Beijing is big. Our guide said that it has more area than Belgium. It is not tall, though. 2. We visited lots of cool old stuff--the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, etc. Also Tianamen square, which is big but not that old. My favorite was the Summer Palace, which is where the emperor would go to get away from his 3,000 concubines in July and August. It has a nice big lake and is quite beautiful. Still, if you saw the place they lived in for the other 10 months of the year, you might think "Why would they even think about building another place, not that far away, for July and August?" 3. Our hosts in Dalian have been wonderfully hospitable. Nearly every meal has been around a big table with a lazy Susan and more food than we know what to do with. 4. I have been very impressed by the interactions between the 10 or so Chinese students who have joined us and the 6 American students. I think that their generation is so much better at that kind of thing. More later--battery is dying.
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China DiariesKellyChina TourSamanthaNickStewartJoeAlexFaculty MembersChristineGordonDavidMap of ChinaJune 20, 2009Funniest thing I've found on one of the student blogsJune 19, 2009Differences between China and the USAJune 19, 2009Observations on prices in ChinaJune 14, 2009US Food Rules that don't apply in this part of ChinaJune 13, 2009More observations on DalianJune 12, 2009More observations of DalianJune 10, 2009First Week in ChinaSyndicate this site (XML) |
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