Shenyang Botanical Garden

 

If I were in charge, these bed swings would be installed on every university campus.

 

 

While not as beautiful, the back of a peacock is really fascinating.

 

 

Sure, it's pretty, but take a closer look. Follow the stem. One may never understand China.

 

 

My new friend, S-- and I.

 

 

A lake full of 'May Snow.'

 

 

TULIPS!!

 

 

 

 

A working clock made of flowers.

 

 

J-- and M-- of our group take pictures of each other.

 

 

More of our group.

 

 

MORE TULIPS!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changchun in ancient script.

 

 

Possible profile pic?

 

 

What's the Merlion doing in northeast China?! It was like running into an old friend unexpectedly.

 

 

Bridge course that just keeps going and going. Performance anxiety overcame me and I couldn't bring myself to cross ANY of the bridges, not even the easy ones.

 

 

I did, however, try to work a paddle wheel, although not very successfully at first.

 

 

 

I finally got it going!

Niu Nai: China's Milk "Udderly" Foreign

While my Singaporean friend, Su, was studying abroad in Canada a few years ago she posted a Facebook update that caught my attention. She had posited the question 2% milk is two percent what exactly? At this point I was back in the U.S. after spending a semester in Singapore, where I had mostly stopped drinking milk. Being new to foreign countries, particularly those of Asia, I just couldn't see how milk could come in a box and, moreover, not be kept in the refrigerator. But I had gotten used to it, so with my newfound knowledge of our cultural differences, I commented on Su's post, explaining how whole milk, 2%, 1%, and skim milk are different from each other. To my surprise, she was pretty thankful for the information.

I want to tell you that story so that what I'm about to do makes sense. Below are pictures of how milk is sold in China. Strange, you might think. Yes, but not if you compare it to your dairy section at home. This is how milk is typically sold all over Asia, and since I've been here for a while, I suppose that's why it took me so long to write about it. Usually it is sold in individual packets. Some packages are thick-skinned, while others don a thin plastic cover. There are also boxes with straws. Very rarely you can find a 1 liter box, and those are often imported from Europe. A couple of brands sell skim or low-fat kinds, but again, mostly it's all the same. With all the choices and the sheer amount of individual packets, milk sections in China run on for half the store. NOT kidding. So get prepared to be "milked dry" for the day after seeing these!

 

 

 

The refrigerated milk section

 

 

"Pure" Milk (thin plastic package)

 

 

Nut flavors (from left to right): walnut, black sesame, red bean (thick-skinned package)

 

 

DA3's and other foreign students' preferred brand, also named "Pure" Milk. I have no idea what makes this 'pure' so different from the above's 'pure.'

 

 

The boxed stuff. One of the few national brands that makes 1 liter boxes.

 

 

Non-refrigerated 12 box pack. Perfect for 3 person families!

 

 

Look! Free yogurt attached!

 

 

Chocolate milk and what's that? Papaya milk!? It's only 45.60 RMB, less than $10. Actually I have no idea if that's cheap for a 12 box pack.

 

The flavor is different than in North America, too. I wish I could share that through a picture. It's thicker and, maybe because it's not usually cold, seems more flavorful. Or maybe I've just been living in Asia or too long. There are also a large array of fruit-milk mixtures. I really can't say which is healthier, though--boxed, warm milk or refrigerated gallons? Which would you guess?

Guest Post: Jin Shizhen on Life After China

Today I am very pleased to announce that Day-to-Day China is embarking on a new tradition: guest posts! My first honored guest is a very dear friend of mine. Her name is Kim Sejin (although she gave me the privilege of bestowing her with the English name Samantha). In Chinese she goes by Jin Shizhen. She and I were classmates during my first year in Changchun, when we both studied Chinese and before I started my Master's program. In January of this year Shizhen returned home to Korea to finish her Bachelor's degree after having spent two years in China studying the language. Now she's all graduated and doing some part-time work before heading out again, this time to the English-speaking world! I've asked her to write in Chinese for today, but perhaps when she comes back I'll get her back for an English Round 2. Please welcome Jin Shizhen!

 

Jin Shizhen and I at last year's Christmas party

 

 

Note: The following is written in Chinese, so it's possible that some computers may not be able to read it. Instead of characters or words, what you might see are a lot of little boxes side by side. Don't worry, your computer doesn't have a virus, your eyes are still as close to 20/20 as nature allowed, and, most importantly, your network speed is fine!

真真回韩国以后的生活

你们好！我是李海兰的朋友真真。真真就是我的小名，因为很多西方国家的朋友们觉得我们亚洲人的中文名字很难记，所以有些朋友们叫我真真。我的名字就是金世真。我是从 2011年2 月到2013年 1月在中国吉林省长春市留学。

 

我在中国留学的时间不是很短也不是很长的时间。那段时间内我碰到了好多国家的人，特别是中国人。我在中国觉得虽然中国还没发达了，但在很快得发达。我回韩国来以后也感觉到了，韩国也不是发达的国家。我去北京旅游的时候期待了很多，因为北京是中国的首都，所以肯定会比长春好很多。结果我看到的北京也是一个中国的城市。北京的建筑很好看，不过人们的文化意识还没达到了发达国家的程度。我回韩国来后感觉到的韩国也不是个发达的国家，虽然看起来韩国很干净也很炫耀，但仔细的看就能知道韩国也是一个在努力发达的国家。

    

我在中国认识的中国朋友不是那么多，我的好朋友都是外国人。可能我跟中国学生接触的机会没有那么多，所以我没有很多的中国朋友，但我跟中国人不太亲密的最大原因不是那个。我在上边也写了中国人的文化意识没有那么高。我觉得一看那个人遵守不遵守时间就能知道那个人的文化水平。我到现在碰到的百分之 80的中国朋友都不遵守时间，他们迟到后也没有什么觉得不好意思，有可能他们还不知道怎么表现才好。可是我认识的人都是 20岁以上的成人，不知道怎么表现出不好意思或者感谢的感情的是不像话的。我来韩国以后也见过几个在韩国留学的朋友，他们有的跟韩国人生活便很遵守时间，担忧的完全不是这样。以后我不要跟他们继续交流了。

 

我在中国留学的两年的时间内醉倒的变化就是我的中文水平。虽然我回国以后自己觉得我的中文慢慢退步，但你看，我现在用中文写文章嘛！哈哈 我要使用我的努力学习的中文，因此我现在在韩国仁川机场的免税店打工。因为我在准备去国外留学，所以我要赚钱。我想了又想我要趁着这一个机会能过使用中文的地方打工，结果我在机场的免税店打工。我在这儿打工每天碰到世界各个国家的人。其中最多的就是中国人。我工作的时候就能知道世界各个国家人的特点，我自己觉得很有意思。我来讲一讲。

 

首先，日本人。日本人很安静，但有时候我觉得他们 “看起来” 很安静也很温柔，他们脑子里在想什么呀？我在免税店碰到的大部分的日本人超级安静，也不喜欢麻烦别人。有一次我感觉到了，现在这一个日本顾客对某一个方面不太满意，但不说。我一看他的表情就感觉到了，就觉得很可怕。他们 “看起来” 很温柔，但有不满意的地方也不说，也控制不了自己的表情，好可怕呀。

 

第二，新加坡人。我碰到的新加坡人比较随便花钱。（这是我自己的想法，希望不要误会）可能新加坡人觉得我们韩国的物价低买什么也买得起。但我看来新加坡人买东西的时候不太慎重。

 

第三，很多西方国家的人。我不是写哪国人，而是写很多西方国家的人的原因就是我不知道每个人的国籍（他们大部分都用英语），还有他们是白人还是黑人。没办法，只能这样写。反正，很多西方人很善良，很爱表现出感谢或者不好意思的感情。这是跟着短的话题没有关系的，但我要说一说。我知道有的西方人对陌生人也喜欢打个招呼，也叫陌生人很亲密的称呼。上次一个很有名的美国航空公司的空姐来买东西。（我不要告诉你那个公司的名字，哈哈）她第一次叫我的称呼是 “honey," 第二个称呼是 “baby,” 第三个是 “sweet heart,” 剩下的记不住。我记得她用五六个称呼叫了我。那个情况很有意思了。

 

最后，中国人。中国人很喜欢提问题，跟日本人非常相反。日本人觉得问太多问题会麻烦我，但中国人不管我在跟别的顾客说话，也不管帮别的顾客结账，还问很多问题。中国人很吵。可能是语言的问题，汉语有四个声调，说话的时候都要说出那些声调。我以前以为中文没办法说的时候这么吵，但我在中国也碰到了很多说话说得很安静的人，在工作的时候也碰到了几个一听她说话就觉得他很有文化那样的人。以后才知道了中文也可以用小声说话。

 

我知道我写的内容中比较多的是中国人的缺点。我是喜欢中文，因此我自己愿意去中国留过学的人。所以这是我不是讨厌中国什么的，就是我自己感觉到的中国的真实。希望你们不要骂我。到此为止，谢谢。

P.S. 海兰，我很想你！人家爱你 : )

Exploring China Competition: Round 3, Qingdao (Nationals!)

After a three day break, Northeast Normal University's Exploring China team was off to their next destination: Qingdao--Nationals. Qingdao is in Shandong province, a few provinces south of Jilin, which meant we got to fly! After some delay, and a long bus ride from the airport, we arrived in our hotel only to find our rivals, Yanbian University, had arrived at the same time. They, however, had started out one day before us and had taken a boat from Dalian to Qingdao!

 

 

 

 

Practicing for our entrance at the following morning's Opening Ceremony

 

 

Let the games (and the tanning) begin! Qingdao's weather gets us off to a great start. Our basketball team persevered through to the top eight.

 

 

The victory wasn't without some side effects, however. These boys are beat!

 

 

I'm just here for the soft floor

 

 

Tavj and Kate also came to play!

 

 

 

 

But the next day....

 

 

 

After being led to the wrong courts by our "guide," Day 2 of the basketball tournament was off to a bad start. By the end of this particular game, both Liaoning (who we had met back in Yanji the week before) and us decided to virtually stop the game and just do trick shots. We saw some good slam dunks and perfectly aligned 3-pointers, but in the end, Liaoning stayed one point ahead, leaving us in last place.

 

 

Stopping traffic with their Loser Faces. We still love you guys!

 

 

Our "guide," who Chew Laoshi ( wearing visor) made cry for taking us to the wrong place for basketball.

 

 

Part encouragement and part condolence dinner in a Qing-style banquet hall hosted by our university's leaders who had come to watch us compete.

 

 

Finally, the ocean!

 

 

Auzz-Rook, me, and Dashka (her first time seeing the sea)

 

 

Speedboat ride in the bay

 

 

I saw the Samoans from another university jump in and I just couldn't resist!

 

 

My first Chinese celebrity sighting! Ji Xiaojun, from CCTV English

 

 

The whole CCTV crew!

 

 

We finished in Qingdao 20th place or so out of 28 teams. For my own part, I got 6th place in the individual performances. I considered it a personal victory, and it encouraged me even more that the two girls from the top four also stopped to chat with me. Unfortunately, the points from the performances did not amount to much compared to the basketball and orienteering scores. All in all, though, it was great meeting other foreign students (fellow countrymen and others alike) studying in other parts of China. It was also great fun getting to know my own teammates!

 



Exploring China: Round 2, Yanji Again



Here goes part 2 of the "Exploring China" series. We went back to Yanji just three weeks after the first round. The first time we went, we took two teams (and were the only school to do so). True to fashion, the powers-that-be decided to cut the second team, although they had rightfully made it into the second round. We also got a new addition, our star basketball player, Auzz-Rook.

 

 

 

Power to Auzz!

 

 

The boys, minus our Chinese teammate, Jason

 

 

The girls, minus our American teammate, Me

 

 

My roommate, Dashka (Mongolia), and I trying to point to each other's flags

 

 

3-3 Basketball match...a little behind in our first game, but we caught up!

 

 

Dongbei and Liaoning--If only we had been able to play these during the basketball tournament!

 

 

Number 1 team. Look at how smug they are!

 

 

What they forgot to mention above was how much pain they were all in. The top three teams all sustained pretty serious injuries. The American from Yanbian's team even broke his knee.

 

 

 

Meanwhile...

 

 

I went to visit my old school and found my little buddies all grown up!

 

 

They still remembered me! The girl on my left gasped when I came in the room. Jenny probably never thought she'd see Lehyla Teacher again, nor did Lehyla Teacher think she'd ever be happy to see Jenny again haha! *sigh* It's a good thing people grow up, teachers included.

 

 

My old classroom has been turned into the storage room, which made me a little disappointed until I saw...

 

They haven't taken a thing down from the walls since I was there! There's the American map and all of my student contracts!

 

 

These kids are just as big as me!

 

 

 

 

Finally, however, the last day of the competition arrived.

 

 

Zhuan Li and Lena getting ready for the Orienteering. The mood was somber since the night before (and I don't care that I'm sharing this pubicly, China) the top three teams were given the map of the course by their coaches, who got it from the hosts. How would you feel, knowing that without these points you'd probably lose, but that to get the points you needed to cheat? Now let me put it in context. How would you feel after being shown the course without knowing it was for the purpose of cheating until it was too late? That is China.

 

 

Since everyone else was getting all "patri-mental," I decided to do my part, too.

 

 

After it all, it's time for some fun! Suri-Nico, me, and Auzz-Rook. They're so tall!

 

 

Ol' stone Josun and I

 

I should have been born a cartoon

 



So we passed Round 2 as cheaters by world standards, as strategists by China's standards, and as opportunists by all. Three days later we were on to the national competition in Qingdao, Shandong province.