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| It's that time of year again, and I'm going back to China. Our Chinese class (and the class a year below us) are headed back to Qingdao for more Chinese language study. We leave this Friday morning (on a 6am flight) and will be traveling for close to 30 hours. We don't get back to the states until August 10th.
If nothing else, the trip will be interesting. We're always guaranteed of that with Chinese class. Especially interesting will be the effect that the Olympics have on the city. Qingdao will be host to the sailing portion of the Olympics. (The games start on August 8th, but I'm not sure when the sailing events take place). When we left Qingdao last summer they were already starting to get ready - posting flyers, hanging banners, selling memorabilia, up-grading the public buses. I'm curious to see how much the city has changed and how many foreign (i.e. Western) tourists there are.
I'm not sure how often I will be able to post here. From what we hear, they keep students very busy during the second summer! (It will definitely take a few days after I get there, though, as we will have to re-decipher how to set up our internet connection from the Chinese instructions.) We are under the impression that we have language class four day a week and on Fridays and/or Saturdays we have activities related to what we have studied. We also may have a Chinese roommate for the second half of the summer, though we have heard conflicting reports as to whether or not that will be the case.
Please pray for safety for our group. Particularly pray that God would use this time, and whatever it may hold, to sanctify me and draw me nearer to Him. I am trusting that He has put me here because it is were He can best mold me in His image. May He give me the grace needed to live and study in such a way that I would bring glory and honor to Him. | | |
| I know this update is two weeks late, but here's what's been happening in China. Two weeks ago we studied the life of villagers in China. It was really interesting. As you would expect, farmers in poorer in China than people who live in cities. Their houses tend to be one-story houses with a few larger rooms. In a farming village every family has a courtyard and usually grows their own vegetables and they often raise livestock as well. In northern China farmers have a unique type of bed called a “炕 kang”. It is a larger bed made out of clay bricks that is connected with the kitchen chimney. In the winter, the hot air from the oven fills the space under the bed and keeps it warm. In the summer, the clay bricks stay cool. This is particularly convenient as the summers in northern China tend to be very hot while the winters are very cold. We were able to visit a mountain village this week. Unfortunately it started raining right after we left, but we were still able to see some. We visited a family there and were able to see their house. They had a kang in one bedroom and a regular bed in another. They also had a tv and refrigerator. Surprisingly, household appliances are becoming more common even in villages. The favorite entertainment in farming villages is Chinese opera. Every village area has it’s own style, but they all sound like the Peking opera that we’ve heard. The different styles and colors of the actors’ face makeup differentiate what their characters’ personalities are like. Because it is hard to find good-paying job in the countryside, many young people come to the cities to work ( 打工 da gong) and make some money for a few years and then return to the countryside. This is the reason the workers at the small restaurant near our dorm that we go to all of the time are in Qingdao. The owner of the restaurant came to Qingdao a few years ago to work, and after he got the restaurant started his wife, younger sister and her husband, and some other couples from their village came to work here. They are able to return home once a year at the Spring Festival. It was really neat to talk to them and here a little about their life. Last week we flew to Xian to see the terra cotta warriors. It was great to get away and enjoy some relief from our studies. As some of you have heard, two weeks ago one of our classmates (Jessi) decided to hike a mountain (by herself) and ended up falling down it and landing herself in the hospital. It has been a scarey experience for all of us as well as an incredible learning time. She was just released from the hospital (12 days later) and is doing well. Please remember to pray for her. She tore up her left thigh and right calf pretty bad. We were assigned to our host families last Friday and spent the weekend living with them. I'll post more as I am able about this experience. We will be spending the next 11 days with them - mainly staying there in the evenings and weekends as we are still in classes during the day. Each student has a different family they are living with. Thanks for your prayers and emails. They are appreciated! | | |
| Time for the weekly update (a few days late). This week our theme for study was medicine. Last Monday we studied the Chinese health insurance system. Originally anyone who worked for the government (which at that time was many people - teachers, doctors, etc) had government paid health insurance. This become too expensive for the government as people tended to get more medicine than they needed and pass it along to their friends and extended family as it was on the government’s tab. The Chinese government decided to reform the system. Today all government workers have health insurance, but it is limited in its extent. Workers are given a health insurance card which can be used to pay for medical fees and medicine. Each month a certain amount of money is put into the card. The health insurance offered by larger companies to their employees is normally this way as well. People who work in smaller stores have to buy their own health insurance. Those who can’t afford health insurance have to pay medical fees out of pocket. Those who can’t afford the medical fees cannot receive treatment. In China you have to pay for medical treatment before you actually receive it, so doctors (even those in a hospital) do not have to see you if you cannot pay to be seen. This is often the case for farmers who have low incomes (who comprise a large portion of the population). Tuesday we studied the procedure for seeing a doctor in China. Hospitals here have every branch of medicine all together (from surgery, to the ophthalmology, to dentistry). You come into the hospital (the out-patient, not emergency side) and there is a counter where you can ask the nurse which doctor you should go to see based off of what is wrong with you. You then go to a big counter to register to see the doctor (here you can also buy the form to fill in your medical history). You can choose to see a specialist or what we think translates to a general practitioner. You pay to be seen and then are given a receipt-like paper which you take to the counter at the clinic for whatever branch you are going to. You then wait to be seen. When it is your turn you go back to the room that the doctor is in (patients don’t have individual rooms that the doctors come into, you go into the doctor’s room). If you need any lab tests the doctor writes a note up, you go and pay for the test and then go to the lab yourself. Then you bring the results back to the doctor. When you are done you go and pay for any medicine or shots that you may need and then go to get those. It’s almost like the opposite of the medical system here. What a sad realization that those who need medicine the most are turned away! I'll try to update again soon. This week we are studying the peasants and their lives. | | |
| To recap from this week - it’s so hard to believe it’s week three and I am a third of the way through! Only 45 days until I am home! This past week we studied the Chinese educational system. Monday we studied elementary education and how hard it is - kids have to go to school at 7am, their backpacks are very heavy with all of their books, they study all day, they take an instrument, and they often don’t go to bed until 8 or 9pm. That afternoon we all scrambled to get Powerpoint presentations together. Tuesday we studied "???? XiWang GongCheng" or the "Hope Program". It’s a government program that raises money to help get poor kids through school and improve the educational conditions in poorer areas. That afternoon we went to a local high school. Only four students ended up giving presentations (a relief to the rest of us). Afterwards we got to hang out and talk with some of the students. The five girls I talked to were really nice. They were 2nd year students (which is equivalent to America’s high school junior). They asked about America’s "?? GaoKao" (the big test that they all have to take in order to get into college. It’s similar to the SAT or ACT, but MUCH harder. It takes three days to finish, and they study for at least a year for it). They also asked about college life in America in general. Then they took me outside to see a little more of their school. We got sidetracked and took pictures together. Then we talked about music. They were excited to find out that I had heard some of their favorite Chinese singers. It was a lot of fun to talk with them. Wednesday we studied Chinese middle school and college life, and the GaoKao, of course. In China students have to work themselves silly in high school to prep for the GaoKao, and if they do well and get into a good college they can kind of relax in college, though finding a job after graduation is pretty hard. Thursday we reviewed (a nice break-ish). In the afternoon we talked with QingDao University students. We talked about a lot of the same stuff that I had on Monday, but we also talked about the cost of living in America. One of the girls I spoke with really wanted to come to America and study. She was asking me about Harvard and whether it was a good school and if it was hard to get into. After talking with Chinese students it made me realize how fortunate our class is to have the chance to study abroad. For us to come to China is very cheap compared with the cost that they have to come to the US, especially as the cost of living in the States is so much more. I don’t know of anywhere in the US where less than a dollar will get you a full meal. Friday we had tests. They were harder this week than last. In the afternoon we had calligraphy class and then I went to the supermarket with one of my classmates and our teacher to buy some tea. Some of us went to a Korean barbecue restaurant for dinner. Afterwards we went bowling. Yes, bowling in China. One of the five star hotels has a bowling alley in the basement. It’s a really nice alley and only costs 15 kuai ($2) per game per person, and it includes shoe rental. Saturday a group of us went shopping for a bit and had a relaxing afternoon, though I did start studying for this week. This morning four of us went to an international church. In China you can have a church service and preach what you want to, but only if Chinese people don’t come. If you want to allow Chines people to come you have to let the government regulate what you teach. This afternoon some of us went to a barbecue that a Chinese class was having on the beach. One of my classmates has become friends with a Chinese student and she invited us to come. It was fun. I walked along the water and got to know one of the other Chinese students. I think tonight a larger group of us are going to "the French Restaurant" for two-for-one pizza night. We are all ready for some pizza! | | |
| Well, we didn’t make it to the night market as a class as it rained all day Wednesday. The weather here is really different. It is very foggy because we are so close to the ocean. And it doesn’t really rain hard (or at least it hasn’t so far) but instead it drizzles for hours on end. Our class did go to the farmer’s market Thursday. They had fresh vegetables, fruit, and seafood. They had some huge cucumbers - like watermelon sized and bigger. They also had fresh clams. Did you know that clams spit water when they’re alive? The clams they had must of been pretty fresh because they were doing some spitting. They also had some Chinese fruits (as well as apples and pears, etc). Friday night some of us went on our own to the night market. It was actually kind of a letdown. It started raining only ten or so minutes after we got there, but from what we could tell there wasn’t much to it anyway. We were only able to find one stretch of booths a block long, and none of them had anything we really liked. Oh well. We did go to Pizza Hut for dinner, which was a nice change of pace. I wouldn’t mind going back some and getting some more. It’s funny, though, because Pizza Hut here doesn’t just have pizza. Actually, they seem to have as much or more pasta, salad, and random food like chicken wings than actual pizza. The restaurants are also more pricey (by Chinese standards) and nicer. Saturday we all basically rested. Tests Friday were pretty hard and the week in general was long. Today we went to Lao Shan, one of the mountains nearby. The scenery was really pretty! Unfortunately today was also really foggy (probably the worst we’ve had since we’ve arrived). I was still able to get some good pictures, though. Hopefully I can get them up soon. This afternoon I plan on trying to rest (climbing a mountain takes a lot of energy) and preview for tomorrow’s lesson. Please email me when you get a chance! | | |
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