29 December 2009

Just About Finished

I have taken all of my exams for this semester. They weren’t so bad, partly because I was the only person in my class to take them early. The teachers are grad students and I feel like they didn’t put too much effort into making up my exams. They were still hard… just not what I was expecting.

It feels good to be done and to have a few days to relax and finish up last-minute things before I come home.

On Saturday I’m flying to Beijing and meeting a friend there- Yuan Guo who studied at Muskingum during the 2007-2008 school year. We plan to go to the Great Wall and some other famous places on Sunday. (I’m amused to find out what places security allows me use my video camera…) Then on Monday afternoon I will make the 13-hour flight to the states. Back home, once again.

The Fight

So my last post was basically to introduce a cultural custom that culminated in a fight in my dorm that my friend Rustam broke up. Here’s the story.

I was coming back from eating dinner with my friend Lily when a huge, bloody brawl broke out at my doorstep. Lily and I climbed the back stairs up to my floor, and at the top of steps were about 30 of the guys from Central Asia. They were blocking the way to get to my room. We had heard them yelling as we came up, but when I saw their faces, I was scared to death. I grabbed Lily and turned the other way, going straight to Rustam’s room for safety. But Rustam’s door was wide open and no one was inside. We went back into the hallway, but in the opposite direction of the fight.

It suddenly got really, really quiet. Then Rustam marched down the hallway into his room. He went to his bathroom and started washing his hands, but not before I saw all the blood going down the drain. There was blood all over his shirt, too. I took Lily’s arm and we tried to go back to my room, but all the guys were still there and wouldn’t let me through. I just starting pushed them aside and went through anyway. At my door, there was blood smeared all over the hallway floor and wall. I felt sick.

Later, Rustam came by and told us the story. A guy from Kazakhstan went to shake hands with a guy from Kyrgyzstan, and he intentionally shook his hand “the wrong way” showing disrespect. They yelled at each other for a few minutes, then all the Kazakh guys came to defend their country, and the all Kyrgyz guys did the same. The Uzbek guys obviously wanted to watch. While they were yelling, Rustam was doing his evening prayers. Needless to say, people started throwing punches, and a bloody nose made everything messy. At this point, Rustam went out to break up the fight. He said two guys were fighting, and the rest were just watching. Disgusting. Rustam also said that when Lily and I came up to the floor, the guys were mortified. And they didn’t want to let us go through when it was over because they didn’t want us to see the blood. While they can be pretty wild and like to fight, they always keep a sense of respect for women. When I see them now, some act ashamed. Rightfully so.

Hello, culture shock.

28 December 2009

Shaking Hands

The male students from Central Asia are big on shaking hands. It’s a cultural tradition that is extremely important to them. When they meet each other across town, on campus, or even outside their own dorm rooms, they shake hands and greet each other. It doesn’t matter if they just saw this person 2 minutes ago, if they are really busy, or if there are 20 guys to shake hands with. Not shaking hands is a major form of disrespect.

When I go somewhere with one of these guys, I usually allot an extra 10 minutes or so because they will inevitably encounter some of their pack along the way. And, when they are all shaking hands, I stand there like an idiot the whole time. Really, what am I supposed to do while this is going on?

Chopsticks

I do not remember not being able to use chopsticks. I know that’s not true of everyone, and for some people learning is really difficult. But it sort of came naturally to me.

Chinese people have this idea that foreigners do not have the ability to use chopsticks, and also are not capable of learning. My friends are so surprised by my abilities and that I prefer chopsticks over a fork or spoon any day of the week. It’s annoying to try to find a way to explain that it’s never been a problem and that they should not be surprised.

At the Christmas party last week, the international office set up this game where we used chopsticks to move mandarin oranges and grapes from one cup into another. What a cinch. That game did not go over well because they completely under-estimated our fine motor skills.

Speak of fine motor skills, I have always been particular about handwriting; I enjoy cursive, calligraphy, and just plain writing nicely. I wonder if this is related to chopstick use… You see, writing Chinese characters can be difficult and painstaking. Chinese people start writing characters and using chopsticks from their childhood. Their fine motor skills are awesome. Those with bad handwriting, have you been able to use chopsticks without practicing? If you have good handwriting, do you still have trouble? Please comment.

Love, Love, Love

I’ll have video of the Christmas celebration up in about a week… wait for it…

18 December 2009

Christmas, maybe

Chinese students keep asking me how I’m going to celebrate Christmas. I say I’m probably not going to because… how would I celebrate it? Christmas is a family and community holiday, and even if you observe it by yourself, you can’t really call that a ‘celebration.’

When I’m asked about Christmas, the students always get really excited and say we should celebrate together (um… I don’t even know you!). I ask how they would want to celebrate, and they just want to go out to eat at a ‘western’ restaurant, or one that is ridiculously expensive. Celebrating Christmas in China means you’re hip and cool, because westerners celebrate Christmas. I think that’s missing the point.

I asked one of my teachers about why Chinese students want to celebrate Christmas, or pretend that they do. She said because everywhere else in the world, people celebrate Christmas (not true). I asked what they were celebrating, since it’s certainly not Jesus. No response.

Then, the office sent out a decree that each class must put on a Christmas performance for everyone. I don’t think the office realizes that at least 90% of the international students here are Muslims and aren’t excited about celebrating Christmas.

My class put me in charge of our performance. Why does this always happen? So, thanks to my eclectic skills of audio editing, cheerleading, and Chinese karaoke, we are going to be doing a combination song and dance to a famous Chinese song (“Love, Love, Love” by Jolin, anyone?). Please note that this has nothing to do with Christmas. So, we are going to wear Santa hats. Very festive.

I went to a supermarket today to scout out some hats, and it was reiterated that Chinese people really have no clue about Christmas. I found the Santa hats on display with Halloween costumes and Mardi Gras masks. It’s not that China is celebrating these three holidays together, they just don’t know the difference. Also, Christmas in China this year is sponsored by 7Up. (Take THAT, Sprite!)

09 December 2009

12 Degrees and Smoky

On my Google homepage, I have a weather gadget that tells me the current weather conditions in Lanzhou, as well as the three-day forecast. (I also have a gadget to convert Fahrenheit and Celsius. Much easier than all that 9/5 then adding 32 stuff.)

Sometimes the weather gadget tells me it’s “cloudy” or “overcast,” but more often than not it says “smoke.” That’s right, smoke.

I think this must mean that the air is so polluted that the instruments read it as the air being like smoke. Is that possible?

International Festival Follow-Up

One of the Uzbek students here is a reporter for the news station in Uzbekistan’s capital city, Tashkent. He made a news package about the international festival and posted it on this Chinese video site, so you can get a feel for what the festival was like.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTM1ODk2NjQ0.html

At about one minute into the video, there’s a short clip of me speaking Uzbek. I’m just saying the normal greeting, “Assalomu alaykum.” Nothing complicated.