My Chinese New Year

I celebrated Chinese New Year on Friday night (instead of Wednesday) by going to a party hosted by the Chinese Business Professional Association at the OSU Fisher College of Business.

My Sichuan friend who I graduated with at Muskingum, Tao Huang (left), is getting his MAcc from OSU and helped organize the event.


Happy Year of the Rabbit! 兔年快乐！

The celebration started with dinner catered by Lee's Garden, and then the performances started. There was a really impressive lion dance that involved the dancers lifting each other into the air, and then we watched a video of professors trying to give greetings in Chinese - hilarious! Next came the music segment, and I definitely knew all the songs and their artists, much to the chagrin of my Chinese companions. "No, I swear to you, Cai Yi Lin 蔡依林 sings this song, not JJ Lin 林俊杰!"

Another highlight was the Chinese dress qipao 旗袍 show. This past week I worked hard to alter my own dress - I lost a lot of weight since I had it made in China in 2008. I successfully took in all the seams and darts, which was a huge project. But anyway, the women walked in with flowers, ribbons, fans, feather boas, and other props, and their variety of dresses were really beautiful.



After the performances were games and prizes, and everyone just mingled and had fun for the rest of the time. In this picture I'm playing the kongzhu 空竹, like a yo-yo and top combination.

Obviously, my favorite part of celebrating the Chinese New Year was speaking and listening to the Chinese language! I'm always amazed at how easily everything comes back to me, but also how much I have to learn and practice. Totally contemplating a trip to China within the next year or two...?



Photo collage from the New Year party: Red envelopes containing Chinese money - a Chinese tradition; Brush and ink for Chinese calligraphy; Two of the cutest children on the earth; Baby slippers and decorations; Fan with Beijing opera masks and a bowl of green tea leaves.




新年快乐，恭喜你发财！ 兔年吉祥！
(Just some "Happy New Year" type sayings... I refuse to translate words like "prosperous" and "auspicious" like that's normal. Not going to do it.)

Yellow River Journalism

As part of my senior seminar project about views on journalism in Lanzhou, China, I interviewed journalism professors and students at Lanzhou University while I studied abroad there learning Chinese, and I made this documentary video to share their views with the world (or at least to whomever happens to watch this).

This is Yellow River Journalism: A Quest for Truth in Lanzhou, China.

Enjoy!

New Year's Resolutions Round 2: Pact with God

I graduated from a Christian high school and had thought that only practicing Catholics gave something up for Lent. But, apparently everyone in southeastern Ohio observes Lent, or at least everyone at Muskingum University does. (And we’re Presbyterian.)

I have nothing against giving up a vice or denying yourself something you enjoy for the purpose of focusing on and becoming closer to God. It’s just that my borderline-atheist friends are giving things up, too. It’s a fad out here, worse than the iPhone and Ugg boots (which I thought would be out of style by the time I got back from China).

The peer pressure is starting to get to me. My problem is that I don’t know how to respond when my friends and classmates ask me what I’m giving up. On one hand, I’m way too proud to admit to classmates and acquaintances that I have a “vice.” This stuff is personal, right? But realistically, my eating habits and free time display nun-like self control. I practically live on salad and green tea (thank you, dining hall food), I don’t watch or even have a television, and my facebook use is so minimal I’m considering deactivating. (I’ve tried thinking outside the box to see what college life is like on the other side, like giving up reading for class, sober weekends, working on seminar, or getting papers done several days in advance…)

And I don't want to make something up just to have an answer. See, whenever the student next to me in class tells me what they’re giving up, I judge them hardcore. You’re not drinking pop anymore? So you’re the reason I see all those 42oz cups in the trash… No dessert? You could stand to lose a few pounds, there… Television? Spending your weekends watching entire seasons on DVD was getting to your social life, yeah?

Oh, that’s it: I should give up my cynicism for Lent.

Hello... Germany?

Yes, I’m going to be going to Germany in May. Once again traveling alone. For the most part, anyway. I’m flying into Munich and spending a few days there, then meeting up with my friend Wade, who is also a Muskie.

Don’t worry; I’m not running away again. Not yet, at least. I won’t officially run away until I leave for China this fall.

Don’t be confused. Here’s the break-down: I finish the current spring semester at Muskingum. I go to Germany for two weeks. I return to Ohio for the summer. I leave for Lanzhou, China in late August. I spend the fall semester studying once again in Lanzhou. I will return in January of 2010, in time to finish up my journalism degree at Muskingum. Whew!

Normal

Since my American classmates have come, I've realized how much I've gotten used to China without even realizing it. It's actually strange to hang out with them. I had forgotten all about college humor, I forget that I don't have to speak English slowly to them, and I hadn't even realized that some things in China seem strange to them.

They often make fun of me, but I certainly deserve it. I have forgotten many English words and my grammar is unusual. I often word sentences oddly and end up saying something I didn't mean.

I wonder if I'll ever be "normal" again...

The Greatest Gift

"There's the strangest excitement today. If you're awake then you're welcome to hear. I got a gift and it blew me away. From the far eastern sea straight to here... My voice is as lonely as loud, as I whisper the joy of this pain... I'll make your fear melt away and the world we know disappear..."
~The Gift, Angels and Airwaves


So that whole bit about not being able to cry was cured today.

My best friends recorded little messages for me and sent me the audio CD in the mail. Altogether, it was over an hour long. I listened to it two times straight through, back to back.

I, a writer, am completely unable to express any of my feelings with words. I've been trying to write about it for hours. I've tried multiple times and it's definitely 3:00 in the morning.

I love and miss you all. There's no way to thank you enough... what I mean is, how could I thank you for loving me? I can only love you back. Know that I do.

Muskies in China

On Saturday, eight students from my college came to Lanzhou University. I made them a sign that says "Welcome, Muskies" and I even drew a picture of a Muskie, our school mascot. So cheesy, I know.

Even though I didn't know most of the students before they came, we have so much in common and I feel like I know them already.

It's fun to show them around the city and just hang out. We've been staying up much later than is necessary... what's new? And they're really psyched that a bottle of beer costs about 30 U.S. cents.

A Muskie is a fish and can drink like one, too.