Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's been raining just about every day since we got here.  Not just raining though, they've been thunderstorms.  The weather widget on my computer for the next 5 days straight has thunderstorms too.  It just doesn't stop.  It'll be really nice, and then all of a sudden it'll start raining like no other.  It's not too big a deal, but it just makes me more hesitant to go out and see different parts of the city.

Anyways, so the first week was kind of a whirlwind of classes, getting to know my roommate, getting used to how things operate on campus, etc.  Classes haven't been particularly tough, but can be a lot of work.  I'm taking Business Chinese, Classical Chinese, a pronunciation class, and a one-on-one research tutorial about sustainability and agriculture in China.  The business class is going well, the topics are interesting and the vocabulary is useful.  It is a bit slow though during class, which can be frustrating at times.  The pronunciation class is pretty much just dialogues and other exercises to work on our pronunciation and spoken fluency, which is always helpful.  That class is pretty fun because it's just me and another student, and our teacher is young so we can kind of joke around.  The workload isn't too bad, mostly just preparing/memorizing dialogues.

I really like the Classical Chinese class.  It's not so much about learning how to write classical Chinese, and the reading is really straightforward because pretty much every character of the lesson is explained, it's more about the implications of classical Chinese for modern Chinese.  It's not often that you get to study the historical roots of Chinese language, rather than Chinese culture.  But the two are so often intertwined.  Su Wei, my Chinese teacher at Yale, would often touch on this, but it's great to study it more in-depth.  The grammar, the vocabulary, and the discussions, are all exciting and new, but relate to what we've already studied.

My one-on-one tutorial is great too.  My professor is an editor for a newspaper printed here in Harbin, and used to be a reporter on agriculture and countryside topics, so she's very familiar with what practices are used—both good and bad.  It's also an exciting topic because it involves so many areas of study.  Last week we discussed the historical evolution of agriculture and man's relationship with nature, as well as the basic principles and concept of sustainability.  This week we'll be looking at the underpinnings of sustainability in ancient Chinese philosophy, and we'll move on to practices, examples, legislation, and other topics in the upcoming weeks.  It's great to be able to talk about this stuff with someone who is so knowledgeable and legitimately excited about it.

This last week for me has been entirely in Chinese, too, because last Sunday (June 21), we took a language pledge to speak only Chinese.  It has been frustrating at times, but on the whole it hasn't been too bad.  I haven't not been able to say something, although I certainly have had to say things in awfully circuitous ways at times.  The thing that has been frustrating is communicating with my classmates in the program.  Many of them are struggling, and that makes conversation halting and frustrating for me as well.

Conversations with my roommate, however, have been great.  He's a graduate student here at Harbin Institute of Technology, studying industrial parts manufacturing.  He's the first person from his country village in Hebei near Beijing to go to graduate school.  He graduated from Guizhou University in the South two years ago on a full scholarship, and was able to get a scholarship here as well.  He's hardworking and a sort of typical Chinese science student, but is surprisingly well-rounded and thoughtful.  He grew up in a poor family that did anything and everything to make their living, from farming to hairdressing, brick making to offering karaoke, billiard hall to hot pepper production.  So his parents have high hopes for him, but I think he has even higher hopes for himself. 

He knows that he would like to work in Beijing after graduation because he can't spend anymore time in school.  He needs to help support his parents because they're getting older.  Inasmuch, he has no desire to leave China to find work or study, so this is as close as he's going to get to studying abroad.  Which means he's excited.  Very excited.  His excitement is great for me, because our conversations follow his curiousity and move beyond simply daily topics.  We've discussed life at universities in the US and what LA is like, but also more complex stuff like the American political system and how democracy works, down to the mechanics of how to actually vote when you're in the booth and hanging chads.  There have been stumbling blocks throughout many of our conversations, but it's been great.  I already feel like my Chinese has improved, but I think a lot of it is just confidence returning.  He has a lot he wants to learn about me, but I know that I have just as much, if not more, to learn from him.

This has been a terribly long post yet again.  I do have internet in my room now, however (after many complications), and should be able to post more often, in shorter installments.  Finally, a quick explanation of the pictures.

1.    HIT's gymnasium and main class building behind it, I will post more picture of the campus later.
2.    CET organized a scavenger hunt for us on Saturday to get to know Harbin a bit better, and that is us with 8. Someone from outside of Heilongjiang (the province Harbin is in), who also happens to be my roommate.
3.    One of the tasks was to feed an animal, which you got 10 points for, and you got an extra 10 if you fed a deer.
4.    In a tango pose while eating lamb kebab.  I knew I did ballroom for two years for a reason.
5.    In front of the St. Sofia Cathedral, for another 7 points.
6.    The final tally.  We're the second group.  We pretty much destroyed the competition with 167 points.  Group 5 put up a valiant effort with 158, so kudos.  Group 4 put up next to no effort with 68 points (I don't think they left campus).  We got a box of "Fine Belgian Flavor Chocolate Biscuits" for our troubles.
7.    My desk and bed.
8.    Me and my roommate, Liu Weiqiang.

Thanks for bearing with me, more soon.