Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and Great Wall

Well, one thing for sure. Future Light Fellows, never fear for a lack of materials to write about! In fact, since there are so many things to see, touch, taste, smell, and hear – overall, experience! Once one gets to China for a summer abroad, he all too quickly realizes mere two months is not enough to get to know its language, culture, and people. Upon reflection, I realize I had spent over ten years in United States for me to rightfully earn the title of “Korean American.” Would only equally long of stay in China grant me the degree of knowledge I have now of the English language, American diversified culture, and ever changing face of the American people?

It’s been some time since my last post, and I have seen, touched, tasted, smelled, and heard – overall, experienced –so much since!

Eyes: The past weekend saw me at Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. Needless to say, I was mesmerized. The historic site of Tiananmen Square has always been confined to the space shown in the renowned photograph commonly referred to as “Tank Man” before this summer. I felt no need to imagine further than the space shown to me in that photograph. But, when I arrived there, my eyes could not help but widen. Yes, I did recognize the ever famous space in that photograph, but the surprising wideness of the place fascinated me the most. So much space! I could not help but let go of my image of Tiananmen Square confined by a photograph and wonder about who stood and what have taken place in its other parts.

Forbidden City, which has been the political and cultural center of China for more than five hundred years, was such an aesthetic pleasure to the eyes. It definitely lives up to its fame, for it failed to disappoint me despite myexceedingly high expectations: for one cannot help forming them when he hears it consists of 980 buildings with 8707 rooms! The color yellow – the color of the emperor – can be found everywhere! The further you go inside, the color yellow surrounds you even more. As my family and intimate friends can confirm, my favorite color is yellow, and the place that glorifies the color yellow so much delighted me immensely. Besides the ever-present color yellow, the intricate design of the buildings down to a tile on the roof is breathtaking. I concede perhaps my long source of wonderment –the White House – growing up right outside D.C. felt a bit inadequate after a visit to Forbidden Palace.

Skin: This weekend’s excursion to Great Wall has been surprisingly categorized under “Touch” for the cool, smooth touch of the stone walls of Great Wall lingers much more powerfully than the sight. Disappointingly, I could not see Great Wall go on for miles and miles due to the smog. But, the steep climb on perfectly even steps up to Great Wall (on the way, encountering a donkey!) was greatly rewarded once I reached Great Wall itself. A truly magnificent feat of engineering and vision! I still cannot name all the Great Wonders of the World, but if asked to recite them all, I never fail to name Great Wall first. My feet will forever remember the difference between the perfectly even steps on the climb up and the unpredictably uneven steps when traversing the Great Wall itself. My skin will forever remember the contrast of sweltering embrace of the sun on the Wall and the brief, dark coolness of lookout towers. I will go back there again, hopefully this summer. If not, I do not fear, for its allure as a place of many discoveries and historic significance is too strong.

Mouth: On Friday, my class made a visit to an antique market in order to gain authentic Chinese bargaining experience. Ancient paintings, scrolls, calligraphy brushes, inkstones, Buddha statues, Chinese seals, ancient clothes and furniture, and various trinkets such as Mao pin greeted me. But the most impressionable experience for me while at the market was when I was politely received by a very kind tea shop owner for a free tasting. She showed me all the different kinds of tea pots, cups, water boilers, mini god statues that take the forms of Buddha, frog, and ox, tea leaves, and the proper way of making and drinking tea. I will never look upon the simple act of drinking tea the same way again. So many different tea leaves to taste – jasmine, chrysanthemum, oolong, yellow, and kudin to name a few.

Nose: I go every Sunday to a grocery market right outside the campus to buy my week’s supply of fruits. The market is very crowded, but before one can discern with eyes how crowded the market is, he is immediately overwhelmed by the smell – the smells of freshly cut (hopefully) meat, fresh fruits, already cooked various side dishes, and many others that I cannot identify all fused together. The smell at first was so nauseating that I could not bring myself to enter the place. But, the relatively cheap prices of apples, cherries, watermelon, and peaches eventually strengthened my willingness to keep an open mind.

Ears: My language partner has recently gave me a copy of every song she has on her mp3 after hearing my complaints that there are as many commercials on Chinese radio as there are on American ones. Right now, I have been writing this blog all the while listening to Chinese pop, rock, rap, and hip hop. Unfortunately, not many modern college students have ethnic Han or folk music on their mp3’s, which leaves me no choice but to intentionally seek out these types of music. The music given to me so far cannot be said to be too similar to the music of Ben Folds or even that of Lady Gaga. But, these songs are a great source of escapement in accordance with my language pledge as I now have more than my Chinese lesson recordings to listen to.

Experience: So much to do! So little time! On a different tangent, I could not help but notice that women here do not shave their armpits, very much like the women who speak the only other language that I have formally studied – French.

Gaby and Hanlu

With the first week of classes and exams behind me, I have finally gotten a chance to slow down and look around. I admit my observations are not the most profound; nevertheless, they are observations. Therefore, I will proceed to jot down a few:

1. Sun umbrellas everywhere! I was prepared for this. I distinctively remember being completely ashamed of my mother in fourth grade when she came to pick me up after school with a flower-patterned umbrella on the most glorious day possible. I will affirm the reader’s suspicions that after that day, the child never let the mother go outside with such umbrella. This feeling of what was disgust turned into amusement could be contributed to my rather dark skin – I never was the pale one. However, one cannot deny that walking to class everyday in a sea of colors (rain or shine) is pleasant.

2. Exactly a year ago, I rode the metro in D.C. everyday to

and from work. It is not the most fantastical place in the world. It’s a little dark and demure, not to mention its unreliable service. Therefore, compared to last summer’s transportation experience, the metro in Beijing seems to be the most fantastical place in the world. It is so clean! So reliable! So convenient! Everything is written in both English and Chinese. So considerate! The bus fare is very cheap too. Only one yuan. Why is the transportation system in the U.S. not as well developed?

3. No toilet paper outside the dorm! Inside the dorm, not enough toilet paper! Thus, my roommate and I grabbed two huge packs of toilet paper to last us the entire summer at a huge Chinese supermarket. We also grabbed a huge case of Coca Cola – a source of caffeine - for Gaby, my roommate.

Here, Starbucks is not found on every block, and no Starbucks grace us with its addicting presence anywhere near the school. There is a small Seven Eleven, and I cannot say I have been entirely avoiding it the past week.

I have yet to mention my roommate and my language partner! My roommate is Gabby from Duke University. She is graduating late this December because she has been studying abroad in the past year. Her Chinese is far superior to mine. I cannot even begin to imagine communicating only in Chinese with me. It must be terribly frustrating. I believe she is an East Asian Studies major.

My language partner has been assigned to me by the program. A language partner is a native speaker who is a student at the university we are staying at. Mine is a dear girl with an adorable sense of style named Han2Lu4 who is interested in business with focus on English. It must be terribly frustrating for a native to communicate only in Chinese with me. She is immeasurably nice. She takes so much time out of her busy day just to help me with my Chinese, sit down to a meal together, and buy me a cell phone. (Of course, I wanted the least expensive phone during my 2-month stay. So, I got my least expensive phone – it is so cheap that it does not even have an earpiece volume control).

Did you know that the Chinese go to sleep early and wake up early while the Americans go to sleep late and wake up late? Did you know that the Chinese take a shower/bathe in the evening as opposed to the Americans who shower/bathe in the morning? Definitely food for thought.

Rough Beginning

Interestingly enough, once I landed at the airport in Beijing, I started feeling nauseous. Later in the afternoon, I was rushed to the hospital. People may declare a hospital is convenient for English speakers, but from my experience, that was not the case. Even with a helpful native speaker by my side, I never thought I had to move around to so many departments in a hospital for a fever. Waiting over two hours to see a doctor while the hospital administration vacillated between whether Medex insurance card given to me by Yale Light Fellowship is acceptable or not, I was outraged. Mainly because I was not allowed to take anything even Tylenol that I had brought from the States to ease the suffering until a doctor allowed it. First such treatment (denied access to even the most basic over the counter medicine) and the thought of countless who fare much worse tempt one to venture into the field of public health policy. As souvenirs I took away from the hospital some Chinese medicine, which the doctor that I saw insisted is far superior to American medicine I brought with me. Growing up in Korea, such medicine is well remembered by once a girl with overly sensitive taste buds. After a busy night of drinking bitter brownish liquid called Zhong yao, however, I woke up next morning feeling infinitely better. Since then, I have carefully placed the Chinese medicine in the drawer that I have designated as “important” along with my passport and other legal documents and tender. It’s all about having an open mind, no? Even if the bitter taste is prolonged in liquid form…

Facing Towards East

CHINA! In all honesty, I’ve had my eyes on China as the place of my first abroad experience ever since I heard of Light Fellowship over a year ago from Jim Liu (yea, Jimbo, the credit goes to you). Hearing about Light Fellowship has spurred me on to discontinue with French and become deaf to cries of agony that the past students in one of the most rigorous courses at Yale have flung at me. Now, with a little detour (a tour with Yale Symphony Orchestra in glorious Turkey!), I am living the dream - spending the summer in Beijing for my first (study) abroad experience! For this girl whose response to the question, “What is the most exotic place you have traveled to?” before this summer was Niagara Falls or Disney World at best, I am having much difficulty curbing my enthusiasm for China as mere hours left in the States are dwindling away for my imminent departure for Asia tomorrow morning. I ask the world – can life get any better than this?