First Impressions

It’s been almost four days living in the great country called China. So many things have happened and so many thoughts have crossed my mind I don’t really know where to start. I apologize now if this post jumps from idea to idea randomly. This is going to be like free writing with Timothy McGee. Oh yeah, and I apologize if this is really long.

Day 1:

I’ll have some pictures up later of my room, but it is a single with its’ own bathroom. A little small I think, but manageable. The bathroom is interesting with my own sink, shower, and toilet within one step of each other. The water smells horrible; very similar to metal. I have a fairly good view of the city from my room though, so I guess that makes up for everything. Outside my window I even I even get to see the national bird of China: the crane…get it! haha

Right after getting set up with our rooms and unpacking for a bit it was time for lunch and a little bit of shopping. For our first meal in China our program director, Danny, took us to a soup shop and ordered us all this spicy soup so that he could gauge our tolerance levels. For someone who doesn’t eat soup too much, it was really delicious. I took a picture of our first meal so you’ll all get to see it. There was this really cool spice called the numbing sauce which basically numbs your mouth completely if you use too much. I used enough that I couldn’t feel my tongue it was pretty cool haha. This is highly recommended for pranks on siblings.

First experience shopping was at a Walmart like shopping center, Danny basically just let us loose. Everything was basically in Chinese; luckily the aisles were also in English so I knew at least what aisles to go down. At the moment I feel like a child because trying to do basic things alone is impossible right now. Danny does everything. We are growing though; I have gone out with fellow students without Danny. The rule of thumb in China: always say hao (good) repeatedly, dui (correct), or zhe/na ge (this/that) – and then pointing at the object. This hasn’t failed me yet.

Day 2 & 3:

Basically Danny just took us around Dalian, nothing really special. We got to see the sites and the malls basically. Took the bus, only one 1 kuai! 1 dollar is like 6.7 kuai so very cheap for a bus ride. After today I felt like I could really handle this. I remember basically everywhere Danny took us and could get there on my own. So I feel like this I can handle this, this city is nothing compared to NYC. There is only one outstanding difference and that’s the drivers in China. I learned this today as I crossed the street: pedestrians never have the right of way – as I’m almost hit by a car. They are scary. I definitely understand the joke about how Asians can’t drive now.

So yeah, that’s basically everything that’s happened so far. Let’s see…oh internet that’s a fun topic. I get 2gb of bandwidth every month, so I have to use the internet sparingly. Good thing facebook and basically any other site you would want to look at is blocked. I guess this is a good thing to learn and live with for a bit: understanding the life of someone under an oppressive government. This is what PACs (Peace and Conflict Studies) students dream for: complete understanding of an oppressive government and finding ways to fight it. As I write this blog I am fighting the Chinese government and their Great Firewall! Viva la revolucion!

I think this is good for now and probably already too long for most so I’ll stop here. Next post soon hopefully.