Tell It Like It Is

In this news story about China sending aircraft to bring its citizens in Kyrgyzstan back to China, a Uighur man tells it like it is: "This is the first time I thank our motherland [China]." Oh, snap.

Also, China has sent 20 tons of aid (food, water, tents) to Kyrgyzstan, but I would like to point out that it came from Xinjiang, the autonomous region in northwest China which is populated mostly by the Uighur minority. Maybe it was funded by the national government and came from Xinjiang because this region is closest to Kyrgyzstan, but who knows.

In other related news, the benevolent United States of America is taking a very small, late, and indecisive step toward helping out in Kyrgyzstan by sending an "envoy" to "assess the situation." Here's the situation: people in Central Asia are dying. If and when US aid happens, that aid had better not go only to the Kyrgyz. The United States must help out the ethnic Uzbeks who are being uprooted from their homes and families and are fleeing into Uzbekistan.

On Google and China

I read this article on the aftermath of the Google situation in China, and I found the reporting odd. The first half of the article is about a party that Chinese Google employees held, complete with cocktails and the Beijing elite. The second half starts with an interview with the host of the party - who does not work for Google anymore and says that the party had nothing to do with the company.

And, the most important part of the article, in my opinion, was buried at the end:

"You [Americans] don't appreciate the people who are here in China ... life is harder here. Life is different, and people in the States don't see that. They don't appreciate that," Tian [a former Google China employee] said. "They see their so-called principles are getting bent and they don't like that."

Americans' views on tolerance and acceptance are extremely skewed. It is okay to be intolerant of religion (because religious people are intolerant), but it is unacceptable to be intolerant of certain illicit activities (because that's judging others). We should be completely accepting and open of other cultures, but not if, like Tian said, our "principles" are being compromised.

America should leave China alone. We don't know what is best for their country. We don't even know what is best for our country.



By the way, the Chinese word for "tolerance" basically means "to have no choice but to stand something."

The International Festival

The International Festival was actually great. My part was not, but the other students really went over-the-top.

My display board was pretty sharp. I had some graphs comparing the U.S. and China’s economy, geography, people, and military, as well as map of the U.S. with China placed on top (I got these materials from www.mint.com). I also had some pictures of famous places in America, President Obama, and U.S. symbols.


Me with my display board... lame.

I had made a pretty good PowerPoint presentation, too. I skipped a whole day of classes to work on it, in fact. I even rehearsed giving my presentation in Chinese. But, welcome to China, they told us at the last minute that we didn’t need the presentations because it would be too bright outside for people to see and there would be no screen, anyway. Thank you, Lanzhou University.


Korean students perform Tae Kwon Do

The main participants in the festival were Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, and all of the Arabic-speaking students worked together for a good performance. Because these groups each had 20-50 students, I felt really left out standing beside a poster board by myself talking to Chinese students about politics and economy. I ditched my display and instead learned about the cultural differences between the Central Asian countries.


A young man and lady from Kyrgyzstan dance together


Girls from Uzbekistan wear traditional dresses and dance

During the festival, sometimes I felt extremely happy and sometimes kind of sad. I felt happy when I watched my good friends sing and dance, wearing traditional clothes. They are so proud of their countries and cultures. On the other hand, I felt really awkward because America is so lame and we don’t know it. I felt a really intense longing to be part of a distinct culture and to have such a strong national pride. These Central Asian countries only recently became independent from Russia (most around 1991) and they really have a lot to celebrate. Many of my friends remember when their countries were part of Russia and how hard life was for their families.


Me being interviewed by the Tashkent news station

Preparing for the International Festival

A previous post was about university communication and random meetings. Two weeks ago a meeting was called, and at the meeting, we were told that we needed to prepare a presentation about our countries for an international festival. Since I’m the only American, I thought this was quite a large task for one person, but nothing I couldn’t handle. We were told to speak for a few minutes about our country, and make a large display board. No problem.

The next week, another meeting was called, and I had to cancel plans with a friend to attend. There they told us we had six requirements to finish in a week:

1. Wear your country’s clothes and carry a flag across the stage.
2. Prepare a short performance, like a skit.
3. Sing a song or dance.
4. Prepare a powerpoint presentation about your country.
5. Make two large display boards with pictures of your country.
6. Prepare some of your country’s food to display.

Here are my responses to each of these:

1. Crap, I left my cowgirl costume at home!!! Also, I don’t have a flag.
2. I could imitate an American president and talk about things like stamping out Communism, the merits of democracy, and defending human rights…
3. Over my dead body. Do they want me dancing in a bikini or rapping about murdering people?
4. Ok, I can make a powerpoint. It’s going to be sarcastic, though. You can count on it.
5. Yes, I can do this. No problem.
6. Macaroni and cheese? Hot dogs? Gross.

The festival was supposed to be this Saturday, and I stayed home from class on Thursday to prepare. That afternoon, and third meeting was called. They are moving the festival to next Saturday because this Saturday is too cold. Excuse me, but doesn’t the weather get colder and colder as winter approaches?

Insanity. I’ll let you know how it goes next week…

The Gym

I joined a gym last week. My good Chinese friend LiLi told me about it because she started taking yoga classes there.

The gym is about a 15 minute walk from the university. I walk down a dirty, crowded street, past a poor area of town, and into a dingy building. The elevator is broken, so I climb up to the fourth floor in a dark, damp stair well. The lights are sound-activated and are off until I clap, stomp my feet, or cough.

When I reach the fourth floor, I slowly open the door and find, to my surprise, a completely normal-looking gym. It’s clean, has new equipment, and the people working out seem very western. American pop music is playing. I always breathe deeply and pretend that I’m back in America for just a few minutes. The contrast shocks me every time.

My first day, I had a complete exam, including body composition and strength tests. I found it fascinating, but I was surprised that I can have a nearly fluent conversation in Chinese about things like blood pressure, physical injuries, nutrition, and muscle mass. Using technical words like these is great for my Chinese. When I go to classes, it’s the same. We talk about breathing, body parts, direction words, and motion words.

Recently I had been feeling a little glum and tired; working out has been great for me. I have more energy, and when I get back from a full day of classes, it’s actually relaxing to go for a run or practice yoga.

Popularity

Maybe you don't realize how lucky you are to be an American. I don't say that to insult you, but I know I didn't understand. Really, I still can't.

You've heard it all before about how rich Americans are compared to the rest of the world. You've heard about all the opportunities that Americans have. You've heard about the freedoms in America. Well, it's all true, but I don't want to write about any of that. There's so much more...

In China, I knew I would stand out because I'm a foreigner. But it's not just being Caucasian with blue eyes, light hair, and straight teeth from braces. Some of the other international students fall into those categories.

Simply because I'm an American, people think I'm awesome and want to hang out with me. I don't even have to try to make friends.

Upper-level Chinese language students want to study with me and help me learn Chinese. Sure, they want to improve their English, but because I'm from America, my English is "perfect." Most other international students can speak English, but they spent years and years of hard work studying it. Really, they're still learning. I just naturally speak it.

I had dinner with some Chinese students, and afterward I had to visit each of their dorm rooms so their roommates, floor mates, and everyone around would know that they were super-cool to have an American friend.

On the street, people I don't know say "hello" (in English) to me. In America, strangers may greet each other, especially in small towns. But in China, this is very odd; my friends always ask if I know who said hi to me. It is also unusual that strangers in China give up their seat on the bus for me. People I don't know tell me I'm pretty, or talk to my guy friends about me. It's different in China; they don't have romantic intentions. But I always think, "Just because you've only seen, like, three Caucasian girls in your lifetime..."

A friend told me that my roommate is totally thrilled to be living with an American. I have done nothing to earn her adoration. I always feel guilty about little things- she cleans the room while I'm asleep because she doesn't want me to help, for example. She has made my bed for me in the morning while I'm taking a shower. She offers me everything she has. She would do anything to help me.

I can't stand myself sometimes. Everyone thinks I'm someone I'm not. And I didn't do anything to earn any of this.