A Couple More Weeks, A Couple More Stories

Tired of scraping together meals from FaBao, the nearby grocery store, Rachel and I decided to eat dinner at WanFuJing's xiao3chi1 market.

Rachel had a special delicacy in mind, and so we walked...

and walked...
...until lo and behold, a whole rack of them appeared before our eyes!
Can you guess what they are?

Scorpions!
mmm yummy...
We decided to wash them down with some coconut - quite the meal.

A few days later, I spent a day with my father's old high school friend's son, and we visited Peking University and Tsinghua University. The first thing that I noticed about the two campuses, were that there were hordes of people everywhere! I used to think that Yale got a lots of tours groups, but after seeing Peking and Tsinghua, the influx of tourists at Yale seems like a mere trickle.


People were crowding around and fighting to be the fastest person to jump up there next to the stone to get their picture taken. It literally took us about ten minutes to get this picture (an even greater shame that my eyes are closed).





A group of us ACC students decided to go searching for the best roasted duck in town (ergo the best duck place in China since Beijing is the most famous for this specialty), and locals directed us to LiQun Roasted Duck. Al Gore and Clinton are among some famous people to have eaten at this place (pictorial proof was plastered all over the walls), and at the table next to us, a Taiwanese how-to show was filming a segment.

ACC paired us with a language partner, usually a grad student from our host university, or another university in Beijing. I didn't have that many opportunities to meet with mine, because she attended school on the west side of Beijing, while ACC was located on the east side. Here are some pictures when I finally did get a chance to meet with her and see her school.

See the really tall swing in the background? I finally convinced my language partner to try it
A typical Chinese student's dorm room (we were definitely lucky at ACC with our two to one room and in suite bathroom)
For ACC's "Explore Beijing" Day, I visited Friends of Nature, China's first NGO. Their offices were much smaller than I expected (only three rooms, instead of an actual building), and they seemed pretty low on funds. Despite the lack of funding, some of their projects were pretty impressive. They mainly concentrate on education - teaching children about protecting the environment so that when they grow up, it will be a concept that is second nature to them - and holding conferences to raise attention on certain environmental problems.

Below is a game that they play with elementary school children to teach them about nature and environmental protection.
Ms. Yan and I (I interviewed her about Friends of Nature's history, current projects, involvement with Nu Jiang's dam controvery, etc)
Dining in Beijing means getting a lot of good food for very little money, but after two months of feasting on restaurant dishes, I started craving sandwiches, salads, pasta, and cheese (just to name a "few"). A friend and I decided to make our own version of pizza...and we were too impatient, and so we just wolfed down the bread, tomato sauce, and pepper jack cheese. It was glorious. It will go down in history as "American Night."

What "American Night" is complete with Friends?
We were happy, oh yes, we were.

A Future in China?

Before this experience, I was 75% sure that I wanted to work in China after I graduated, although if you had asked me what company? or what kind of job? I wouldn't have been able to give you a very clear answer. I was expecting that this percentage would go up after studying in China and gaining a better understanding of this country's culture and history, but actually, my inclination for working in China has gone down. (Of course, this may be because I'm going through the predicted low point that according to the chart we saw during orientation hits right at around two or three months, and in that case, I'll probably change my mind in the upcoming couple of weeks.)

These days, I'm discovering more and more small things in the culture and the environment that disproportionately upset me. For example, I was really offended after a verbal exchange with some street vendors in Datong. A group of us ACC students were buying ice cream, and the sight of so many foreigners drew a crowd. After huddling around, one street vendor asked us where we were from. They had spotted me and a couple of other Asian American students, and when we all replied, "America" they started laughing and were like "there's no way! Just look at those two! They're clearly Chinese." That in itself didn't really bother me (although through this exchange we can see that most Chinese people haven't grasped the concept that America is this huge melting pot that contains people from all different countries), because I do consider myself Chinese - not only are my parents Chinese, but I was born in China. What happened next, however, really upset me. After buying our ice cream we started heading for the bus, but we hadn't gone a few steps before one of them yelled at me and the other Asian American student: "喂! 把你的客人带过来! 叫他们买点儿有大同特色的东西吧!" [Bring your guests over here to buy some souvenirs] Just a couple of minutes ago we had explained to them that we were all American students studying Chinese in Beijing, and so they knew full well that the other students were not part of some tour group, and that I was not their tour guide. When I told them again that I was also a student, they responded with: "你皮肤那样黄, 算什么美国人呀!" [With your skin color, how can you call yourself an American?"

As I'm starting to realize that this attitude is one held by many Chinese people, I'm starting to reconsider how much I actually want to work here after I graduate - do I really want colleagues who think the supposed discrepancy between the culture I identity with and my appearance is some kind of identity mistake on my part, and not the essence of who I am? On one hand I feel a little guilty for not accepting this point of view as just part of Chinese culture (that's what an integration-inclined me would do), but at the same time, how can I not help but feel like an outsider of two worlds? Thus, why should I work in China, and subject myself to this feeling of alienation?