Today was another big day in Beijing!! I woke up around 5, hung out in my room until about 8, then got yogurt and coffee for breakfast. I tried a new yogurt (not the Disney kind), and it was plain flavored but really delicious. I am a HUGE fan of Chinese yogurt. And food in general. More on that later.
At 8:30, the entire group met up to go to our first classes, Chinese language. I am in the beginning group, and none of us know any Chinese. We were walked to the Russian Language Building, which is a huge and gorgeous pagoday-style building, and we had class in room 207. My professor is Zhang Laoshi ("Teacher Zhang;" we also have a Zhang Laoshi as the second coordinator of the trip, so it's a little confusing), and her first TA (we are getting another one) is Lulu. They are wonderful. They are so patient with us as we struggle through learning pronunciation that is so different from English and they really help us through it. In class, we learned the basic vowel sounds and how they work with consonants. We learned a few words and phrases (mao=cat; wo jiao Stephanie=my name is Stephanie, etc.), the four tones, and how to write the characters for "ni hao." Our homework was both to work through the book (we have reading and listening to do) and to learn about the Dragon Boat Festival, which is on Friday. There is a traditional rice dumpling called zhaozi that is eaten for this holiday, and we are also ordered to find those to try.
After the three-hour class, we walked to Classroom Building 3 for lunch. However, our class let out early and we ended up in Classroom Building 2 instead, so I had to call Professor Gu so he could direct us. It was bad because every person in the group was equally clueless as to how to communicate in Chinese. I was very proud to know the way from the Russian Building to the Classroom Buildings, though.
We ate baozi for lunch, and mine were filled with one with spinach and one with mushrooms and possibly egg or tofu. They were delicious; simple and yummy. We ended up having about an hour between lunch and class, so I headed back to my dorm so I could use the western-style bathroom. It's a bit of a struggle to both stay hydrated and find the type of bathroom I'm used to when I need it, but I'm figuring it out. After an unsuccessful trip to the shop to try to find a folder, I met with another Public Health girl to walk to our 2:00 class together. However, about 20 minutes into the hour, Professor Gu informed us that there had been some confusion between institutions as to when our classes started, so we did not have Public Health class today. We start tomorrow.
Instead of going to class, a bunch of us went to the superstore on campus called Wu Mei to pick up some odds and ends. I got a folder for my class papers and a sleeve for my ID and key cards. We had time to explore, so we did, and I love looking around the shops because the items are so different than what we have in the States. The packages and products are different, there are lots of pictures on the outsides of things, and it's just all so new. I love staring at everything. I'm just trying to take it all in.
After Wu Mei, I had a break in my dorm when I started my homework. Around 5:00 I texted my friend Maddy to see if she had dinner plans yet, and she and her roommate, our friend Helen, were going to the supermarket one subway stop away, and I went with them.
The subway is amazing. You go down, buy a farecard using a touchscreen system that charges by the number of stops. You get your bag x-rayed, then scan your farecard to go through the turnstyle. The platforms and stations are so clean, and the trains are very clean, fresh, and high-tech as well. I did not feel dirty when I touched the handrail, which I normally do when I ride trains.
We got off after one stop, then had to find the entrance to the Carrefour. We walked around the block until we found it, and this area was bustling with lots of technology and fast food businesses. When we finally got inside, we realized it was a shopping mall, so we had to walk through the mall, past all the other shops, until we got to the supermarket section.
The first floor had all housewares, which was good because I wanted a swiffer-type broom or mop for my room so I could clean my floor (which gets tracked up easily), and my friends wanted mugs for making tea. I also got a reusable water bottle so I can refill that from a gallon-sized bottle instead of buying all individual-size bottles multiple times every day. I got my swiffer, but that was a huge struggle. I don't speak Chinese, but in China, there are salespeople everywhere you talk to you and have to sell things a certain way. At Bed Bath and Beyond, I would go to the wall, look at the broom/mops, choose the one I want, and leave; but here, I can't read the packages, and the salesmen had to put the thing together for me before I could buy it. Helen is fluent in spoken Chinese, so she translated and helped me get what I wanted, but I was kind of embarrassed by how difficult it was and frustrated by my inability to be useful and communicate.
We then went upstairs to get food items. I got juice boxes, a whale-shaped thing I haven't tried yet, and a very large jug of water (I think it's more than a gallon). We looked at gorgeous baked goods that were totally different than other bakery items I've seen, different fruits, and lots of packages I did not recognize even slightly. I'm finding that because food is such an integral part of a culture, that shops and supermarkets are fun places to get a feel for what people buy to eat, use, and have. It was really fun!
However, major struggle number two came at checkout. I had grabbed two apples and a bakery roll, and all three of us had these types of items, but we were supposed to weigh them before going to check out. None of us knew this, so it became a problem when I, the one who doesn't understand the language, was the first to go through the line. All three of us scrapped those items because we couldn't go back to weigh them at that point, but I am fully confident that I will get to try them at some point during this trip.
We took the subway back to campus, put our things in our dorm rooms, and went to dinner with the addition of Helen's cousin (a Beijinger) and Julia, a girl from our program who I have language class with. I got to introduce myself to him using the Mandarin I learned earlier in the day, so that was pretty awesome. We walked through campus from the east side to the west side where just off campus is a place called "Food Street" where they serve street food; we ate dinner at a hot pot chain restaurant called xiabu xiabu.
Helen's cousin ordered for us. We had a pot that was divided into two and contained classic broth and curry broth. This was put on a hot plate that was embedded in the middle of the dining table. This came to a boil. As this occurred, we ordered vegetables, lamb, and beef to put in the broth. These things came to the table raw, but we put them in the boiling broths, which cooked the thin slices of meat, and then we pulled the things out, dipped them in peanut sauce, and ate them. My favorite thing was the tofu. I liked both the regular and the frozen tofu, but I prefer the regular tofu. The regular tofu gets that soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture while the frozen tofu is spongier. The whole meal was delicous :)
After dinner, we walked back through campus to the dorms, where I cleaned my floor, set up my water bottle, took a shower, finished my homework, wrote this blog, and went to sleep. I am so tired right now that I have needed to rest while writing this post. Time to keep adjusting to the time change! Yay!
Today is awesome because I learned Chinese!
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