Chinglish
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Beijing,
China
Saturday, August 2, 2008
My last day of teaching was a little bittersweet. I wasn't sure if I should feel sad or just relieved, but in the end I gave them my email address so they can contact me should they have any English questions. My most mature guy student by far told me he was going to email me so that I don't forget about him and maybe one day we will go out to dinner together. He is 15 and of course knows that I have a boyfriend, but I thought it was sort of cute. In the same class, one of the girls was professing her love for the other male student. It was unrequited, and I sort of felt embarrassed for her. She has a crush on the punk I had to kick out of class the one time in that dictionary episode, so she should have known then he's not a good catch.
Later on Friday, I went out to Lush to meet up with some of Adam's friends from his study abroad program. A friend of the friend also invited his Iranian roommates. It was really interesting talking to them because I learned that when they arrived to Beijing, they were forced to learn both Chinese and English. I was impressed. I am still struggling with ordering food, bus tickets, and my shoe size. I know essential phrases like bu yao (don't want), wo bu zhi dao ( I don't know), zhe ge (that one) , bu hao yisi (excuse me), and mei guan xi (it's no trouble). However, even when it comes to asking for the bathroom, (a phrase hard to pronounce and therefore hard to remember) my thoughts first go to Hebrew and then to French. I know phrases, but I cannot easily think in another language. I don't mean to make excuses for myself, but I'm wondering if it's just harder for some people than others. I think Adam has a real gift with languages. Me not so much.
Some of us were also arguing whether or not you can get around Beijing without Chinese but with English. In my travels around Europe, I completely took for granted that most people spoke English. On my last European excursion to Prague, I didn't even bother to learn a word of Czech. Not even thank you. Right or not, it's just the way things work with English serving as the universal denominator. Here in China, I falsely assumed that the same would be true. As the Olympics have drawn nearer, I've noticed more and more new signs in English. But I couldn't get around Beijing relying on strangers speaking English if I needed help. The only way I've gotten around at all is because I know so many people who speak Chinese.
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Since the rain referred to in the last blog post has blown through, we have had some beautiful days with puffy clouds and blue skies. As I told my parents this morning on the phone, if I were in Atlanta, I'd think oh yeah, another nice day, but it's hot. Let's stay inside. Not in Beijing. Adam and I decided to take advantage today by getting out of the choked city and into nature. We took a bus out to the Fragrant Hills, which is in the northwest suburb of Beijing. It's incredible--a 25 minute drive takes you out to the mountainous area, and you can forget you're in a city at all.
The Fragrant Hills was the vacation home of the emperors, and unlike the Summer Palaces in Beijing, it's not nearly as touristed. The paths were not congested with large tours headed by a guide with an umbrella, flag and microphone headset. Even though when I think of China and I think of the word fragrant, I think of dog meat, these hills really were, true to their name, fragrant. Everything smelled wonderful, and every now and again you'd catch a pungent grass smell and be transported to lazy childhood summers.
We hiked all around the hillside, and along the trails are ruins as well as restored buildings. All the signs end with the same sentence. This dwelling/temple/hall was destroyed by Anglo-French forces in 1860. Adam did me the honor of giving me a 10 minute history lesson in the Opium Wars and Boxer Rebellion, so I better understand the signficance now. Still, the insistence on mentioning that in every sign certainly indicates to me an attitude of resentment.
Somehow we missed the famous temple that's the site's must-see, so perhaps we will return. Even if just to pay 10 RMB to relax in the beautiful, serene park without all the other people. In fact, the entire time we were there we only saw a single other foreigner. Of course, there were still many Chinese, simply because in China, people are many.
Speaking of foreingers, the Olympics begin in 6 days and I really haven't seen a noticeable influx of visitors. I wonder if it's true that China may have done themselves a real disservice by making it difficult to obtain event tickets and visas. We shall see. Either way, through television, it should go down as a success for China.
One change I have seen is the new uniforms donned by all the taxi drivers. My mom tells me that TV is saturated with Olympics programming right now, but here is one thing in the US news which I have seen on the ground. For a Washington Post article on the cab drivers' uniforms, click the link. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103028.html
They really do look spiffy.
