Back to School

“Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much are the three pillars of learning.” –Benjamin Disraeli

Yesterday, I moved into my dorms for ACC Field Studies at the Capital University of Economics and Business (CUEB). The actual move-in portion was a bit hectic, but it felt great after I got settled in. The CUEB campus in the Chaoyang District is a pretty small community that is surrounded by one of the best parts of urban Beijing. As I soon discovered, there are many nearby restaurants and stores in addition to the Evolution-Fitness Center (which somewhat resembles Payne Whitney on a smaller scale) and Sanlintun (a really famous part of Beijing that people go to for relaxation and conversation with friends). There’s an underground supermarket called 法宝right across the street, which is most convenient. I went over there and bought a 24-pack of spring water upon arrival. Maybe I’m just lazy, but I think boiling water is too much of a hassle to be done on a regular basis. *Tap water in China is BAD. The water must be boiled before drinking for health purposes. My dorm room itself is a perfect habitat for me. Equipped with air conditioning, hot water, and television, it gets no complaints from me or my laid-back roommate.

A cozy niche

The only bad thing about these beds is that there are no mattresses. Also, there are Pokemon sheets underneath. No kidding.

The window view is awesome! The real version of this picture consumed 15 consecutive minutes of my life when I first saw it.

Yeah, this place is a hot spot at night.

I slept like a baby last night. It was probably the first time since middle school that I awoke at 6 AM without the aid of an alarm. I only slept for about 6 hours, but I woke up feeling refreshed. This is most likely due to the fact that there are no mosquitoes in my dorm, which is unlike my living conditions for the past month. The teachers gave us no time rest though. This morning, I took my written and oral entrance exams. The oral went well in my opinion. However, the written exam was definitely the most difficult Chinese test I’ve ever encountered. I’m pretty certain I got less than half of the questions right. I was also not expecting to write a full-fledged essay for it. Oh, and it was timed. This test is the physical manifestation of brutality. I am very fortunate that the tests are only going to be used as a gauge to compare my skill levels before and after the program rather than as a placement test, as is the case with my friends in the regular ACC program. After lunch, we had an orientation and a chance to meet all of the teachers. There are a total of 16 FS students and 8 FS teachers. That’s a really good student to teacher ratio. In other news, the long-dreaded language pledge began this afternoon after orientation. As of now, I have officially only spoken Chinese for over 12 hours. Out of the 16 FS students, 12 have participated in ACC before. In order to familiarize the 4 students who didn’t (myself included) with our current neighborhood, two of the teachers took us on a tour around CUEB’s surrounding areas and ate dinner with us. On another note, I just want to mention that the homework load is insane. My first homework assignment (due Monday morning) is comprised of reading a 4 page article, learning 2 pages of vocabulary, writing an essay using given sentence structures, and completing a page of additional questions. That’s equivalent to a week’s worth of homework back in the good old days of Chinese 133. I do reminisce.

Pay to Stay

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. -Susan Heller

It was unfortunate that I didn’t realize my visa needed an extension until after I was settled in Beijing. My situation is as follows: I went back to China during the previous summer and had gotten a visa with a duration of one year. This means I can enter China anytime before June 4^th, which is exactly one year from when I entered the country last summer. What I didn’t know is that I am only allowed to stay for 60 days after the date of entrance. It was a good thing that the ACC office asked for my visa information, or else, I would have never actually looked at the burdensome document. Now, considering my arrival date of May 15^th and my departure date of August 7^th, it didn’t take a lot of math for me to grasp the fact that I was going to get seriously fined and/or kicked out of the country if I didn’t get that extension for my visa. Luckily, I had plenty of time to do so before the beginning of my summer program.

To extend my visa, I had to go to the Exit & Entry Administration Service Center, Public Security Bureau of Beijing. Unfortunately for me, I had to travel across the vast reaches of Beijing to get there. On that day, I left home at 9:00 AM and returned at around 2:00 PM. This includes bus and subway times. Taking public buses during times when people are heading to work in the morning is unwise. The traffic is horrendous to say the least. Once I arrived at the place, it became evident that there were many others like me, seeking to get visa extensions. I waited in line for about an hour before getting to a visa officer. The process was pretty straightforward. I presented my documents and it took about 30 seconds for the person to review them and then approve my application. So yes, it took about 5 hours of time to be eligible for a minute’s worth of official review. And apparently, it takes them a week’s time to put the little visa sticker into a passport. So one week later, I made the same trip out there and picked up my passport. It cost about 940 RMB for the visa extension. That’s enough money for a month’s worth of delicious eatables on a conservative budget, aka mine. I was pretty disappointed to be separated with the cash.

Otherwise known as "the visa place"

I originally thought that this was "the visa place"

Yep, the flag makes it official

10:30 AM is a busy time here

After 40 minutes waiting, I'm almost there! It's surprising how exciting trivial things can be when you've been standing in the same posture for prolonged periods of time.

And now, here are some obvious observations about what kind of clothing to bring to Beijing during summer. As you may have guessed, t-shirts and shorts are ideal. I left my common sense somewhere else when I decided to bring long-sleeve shirts and a jacket. What a waste of luggage space! Some other remarks. Apparently, Chinese people don’t like using dryers after washing their clothes, as such technology is largely nonexistent. Instead, the clothes must be hung up to dry. Talk about a waste of space and extra hassle. It’s not pleasant when doing laundry becomes a two-day effort. Also, powder detergent seems to be pretty popular. Its use is exactly the same as liquid detergent, which also readily available. I don’t really understand why people use powder detergent since, to me, liquid detergent is so much easier to pour homogeneously.

Random Order

There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror. –Orson Welles

After many years of international, economy-class flights, I believe I can safely conclude that such means of travel are specifically designed for children. Apparently, one can only enjoy these flights before reaching the age when he or she realizes that “international” is tantamount to saying “immobilize oneself for a duration of 12 hours in a confined space” and before he or she has outgrown the “confined space” to be able to endure the 12 hours without physical, and consequently, mental discomfort. But alas, a student is subject to a student’s budget constraint. All in all, the flight to Beijing was above satisfactory. I got a window seat, and there was a very nice middle-aged couple sitting next to me, who made good acquaintances. Although I didn’t get to sit next to a person of my age who was loaded with videogames (as I had naively hoped for), I can’t complain about sitting next to some people who would willingly talk to me. Well, they talked to me for the first hour or so before falling into deep sleep. It was somewhat annoying because I couldn’t. Lesson learned: probability is a cruel friend that follows you everywhere. Orson Welles was right about the boredom part. I didn’t feel any noticeable terror while on the plane, though I fully understand that any claustrophobic or aviophobic individual may have been on the verge of panic attacks. For me, the terror set in after I arrived at the destination. Allow me to revise the quotation to say, “There are only two emotions in a country where you are an 18-year old college student whose literacy level is equivalent to that of a native third-grader’s: boredom and TERROR.” This leaves people like me with two options: become a hermit who has shut off contact with the rest of society, thus preventing most dangers aside from hunger and atrophy of the mind; or face the city of Beijing like a man and accept the fact that my Chinese abilities may cause some judgmental people to label me as “slow.” I have always liked eating and thinking. Then by a self-proposed hierarchy that ranks hunger prevention, brain exercise, and risk of humiliation in order of their importance, I confidently choose the second option.

My memory of happenings during the past three weeks of my stay in Beijing are a bit vague due to prolonged jetlag, repeated procrastination in my blogging efforts, general inactivity caused by the process of transitioning from one living environment to another, etc. Nonetheless, I do have some observations to comment on, and I will commit myself to a futile attempt to preserve the chronology in which these observations were made. Hence, I congratulate you if you can discern order in my ramblings, and I apologize if the following remarks are just a bunch of random statements.

Anyone who sets foot in Beijing will probably notice the absence of a blue sky. The city is notorious for a perpetual “grayness” caused by pollution. Pollution can be detected in other ways too, like when you suddenly realize that the air you were breathing has transformed into a combination of foul fumes, dust, and smoke. This is especially true as one venture outwards from the center of the city into areas where there is less open space. Also, there are a lot more people smoking on the streets and in restaurants. This becomes frustrating when you discover that second-hand smoke is inescapable. Remark: Second-hand smoke is prevalent in internet cafes, at least the ones I’ve been to. That’s why I asked the phone company to hook up a broadband cable to my home in Beijing. Aside from the fresh air, there’s also the sheer convenience of not having to walk for 10-30 minutes to use the internet. Plus, the fee is not bad. The service I’m using costs 0.05 RMB per minute. You can also switch to the monthly plan, which goes for something like 1.xx RMB per month. As you can see, affordability is not an issue, as the current monetary exchange rate is approximately 7 RMB: 1 Dollar. There’s still a large gap in sanitation level between Beijing and urban cities in the United States. However, all in all, there has been unbelievable improvement over the past ten years, not just in sanitation, but in construction, the economy, transportation, etc. A majority of this change is probably due to the 2008 Olympics, which undoubtedly has helped this country more than anything else. This cannot be said about the television programming. Aside from uninteresting shows, it is obvious that the television media is still being used as subtle government propaganda. For example, during the week after the Wenchuan earthquake, literally all 62 of my channels broadcasted news coverage 24 hours a day. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since many of the short segments did produce their intended effects of calming people’s fears by showing them the government’s quick rescue and relief efforts. In fact, as an impartial observer, I believe that the government conducted a quick and efficient response to the earthquake. Moreover, the whole country united in the time of need. In addition to numerous fundraising events and generous private donations, the government held national moments of remembrance （默哀）where observers would stand in silent tribute to the earthquake victims.

Several days ago, I made a visit to see one of my old friends from Beijing. He’s still in school at the Beijing University for Aeronautics and Astronautics, so I had to trek over to his dormitory. The trip took over an hour by bus and subway, probably because I got lost every time I blinked my eye. The majority of my journey was spent on a route 7 double-decker bus（特7）, and I was able to take some pictures to document my journey. I apologize in advance for my horrible photography.

Deciphering bus signs proved to be a challenge

Buses arrive. However, not the bus that I need to get on. More waiting.

I sat in the first row on the top deck. Looks like a traffic jam （交通堵塞）

People waiting at the next stop. It feels a lot nicer looking to the outside of the window than vice-versa.

Lots of cars going towards central Beijing

Big Pizza. I wonder what pizza in China tastes like.

Sky bridge （天桥）

Construction in the background. That’s fog by the way. Well, maybe a bit of smog. But mostly fog.

An exit （出口）

The police （公安）talking to a man.

Scene from Beijing

The highway.

This slow-moving vehicle blocked the bus for about 5 minutes.

My friend’s dorm room. Four people to a room. This makes me appreciate doubles a lot more.

Although crowded, this room has a great window view from the 11^th floor.

Centralized air conditioning systems are uncommon in China. Most units look like this.

Walmart invades China.

I hope that the pictures gave you an idea of China. Next, I just want to mention that there has been a change to the ACC Field Studies Program. The director contacted me a few days ago and notified me that the primary location has been changed from Chengdu to Beijing (to the Capital University of Economics and Business) due to the aftermath of the Wenchuan earthquake. The director indicated her concern for the safety and wellbeing of the students. I must admit that I was a bit worried after keeping up with the news and learning about the standard of living, epidemic prevention, sanitation issues, transportation, threats of aftershocks and other natural catastrophes, overcrowding, and other problems that will have a negative influence if the program was to be held in Chengdu. Although I am disappointed that I won’t be able to experience Chengdu as I had originally planned, I am in full support of ACC's actions.

Thanks for reading. There's more to say, but I will save that for the next entry. Frankly, I'm a bit tired. Maybe it's just my internet speed, but the pictures took about 40 minutes to load.