Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere 'cause I'll doze off safe and soundly but I'll miss your arms around me
Today was the first day of classes. It looks like I have a good semester ahead of me. I'm sure that there will be lots of learning to do. Not only will my Chinese improve, but I'm sure that I'll improve as well.
To begin, last night was hot. Very hot. I've been sleeping without an air conditioner on at night to save on the power bill (which isn't expensive, but every penny counts) and it gets to about 28 degrees (Celsius, that's 82.4 Fahrenheit) here at night, which with the high humidity is still pretty hot (on a side note Nanjing is known as one of the 4 'Oven Cities' which is really hot and really humid. I don't know what the other 3 are). Last night I woke up around 3 or 4 AM just drenched in sweat. I got up, got a drink (boiled water, cause we can't drink it from the tap) and turned on the air conditioner. After the air conditioner had cooled down my room enough I got back to sleep. Still I was a little tired today.
Knowing that none of my audience has ever made it to China, let me explain the education system here. They still hit kids in classes (not college classes, but through the end of high school). Teachers demand respect from the students. Things which are considered normal in classrooms in America are unheard of here. There is no talking to your neighbor, no texting your friends during class, and no sleeping. These people have doctorates which is still very rare here considering that during the Cultural Revolution ('67 to '76) there were no more college graduates, and that colleges were shut down from then until '79. If someone is late, or isn't paying attention they'd just as soon show the student the door as allow them to disrespect them, unless you're American and you're paying much more in tuition than normal students.
Back to my day - Class started at 8 AM. I arrived early so that I could sit in the front row and show my teacher that I had come to learn (I figure if tuition is twice as much as BYU, I might as well learn twice as much while I'm here). Unfortunately that meant that the other people from BYU decided to sit right by me. So when one of them whipped out flashcards to practice his reading ability 15 minutes into class, the teacher saw. And when another spent most of the class texting someone the teacher saw. And when one of them up their head down half and hour into class and fell asleep, the teacher saw. Everyone saw when one of them stood up and walked out of class when there was still an hour left (classes are two hours). It was embarrassing. I was embarrassed to be from the same group as them. I hope that the teachers learn that not all Americans are that so uncultured (or impolite).
After class was over (I only have class from 8 to 12, today was a conversation class and a reading class) I went with a few people to go back to the Muslim noodle restaurant. Unfortunately it is right behind a Jr. High, and just as we were getting there they were getting out for class. So the restaurant was too full (not hard to do when there is only room for four people to sit inside) and we had to go somewhere else. That wasn't a problem though, lunch was still good, and it still only cost me 6 RMB (not quite $1 USD).
From 2 till 4 we had a culture class which was taught by our BYU professor, Dr. Honey. I learned a lot of cool things about DunHuang in preparation for our trip out there in two weeks. I'll make sure that I post some of the most interesting things about the area when I'm out there and I see it in person.
One thing I learned about China today in our conversation class was something that our teacher brought up. Before coming to China I had heard people say that 1 out of 6 people on the earth right now is a Chinese rice farmer. I always figured that they were just ignorant about Chinese people (which I'm sure they still are) and assumed that since there are 6 billion people on the planet, and there are roughly 1.3 billion Chinese people, that 1.3/6 people were Chinese rice farmers, because the only job in China is farming rice. The actual statistics though are surprising. There are roughly 1.3 billion people in China right now. Of those, 900 million are farmers. Only 400 million live in the cities. So it is almost 1/6 people in the world that is a Chinese farmer.
Now though, because there are so many people out in the countryside trying to farm, and there is so little money to be made farming, millions of farmers are moving to the cities to find work. But because they have no education they can only beg, or work service jobs for very little pay. When I went out after Dr. Honey's class and got my haircut I thought I might test the truth to my conversation teacher's statement that 'everyone who has a job serving you is a farmer with no education'. I asked the person cutting my hair (in a small shop, I mean, it only cost $1 USD) where he was from. Hubei, a place in southern China by Sichuan. I asked him why he had moved to Nanjing. Because there was no work where he was from, he had moved here to make money. I asked him what he did before. Farmer. And how did he get into the haircutting business? He thought it would be an easy trade to pick up. How much education did he have? He had finished part of Jr. High.
After the haircut I walked around and took pictures for a while. It seems like the golden half hour or so around here is about 5:30 to 6:00PM, about a half hour before the sun goes down. I get some really good pictures without harsh light, and the sunset usually brings out the natural colors in things, but it isn't too dark yet.
I went to Dr. Honey's house for FHE tonight. It's the same everywhere you go. I bought a tripod for my camera on the way home. I have some pictures I want to take that I'm going to need a tripod for. It was a good investment, and cheap too. Only cost me 98 RMB ($14.35 USD).
Then I came home. Did some studying, and I'm about to go to bed.
Now, I got a lot of questions about people burning money - so I'll explain it all here.
In Chinese culture (or religion, whatever you want to call it) they believe that when a person dies their body goes into the ground or is burned or eaten by eagles or whichever way they decide to take care of the body (eaten by eagles actually is a real burial method here in China). Your spirit stays here, you just can't see it. The world that the spirit goes to is just like this one in many ways. One thing that is the same is you still need to eat and live etc. In order to ensure that their ancestors have a happy afterlife, filial (respectful) sons are expected to sacrifice food and money to deceased ancestors on certain days of the lunar year. Food is sacrificed by being baibai'ed over (kind of like a prayer, setting apart for sacrifice, and worship all at the same time) and set out so that the deceased relative can eat the 'spirit of the food'. After the 'spirit of the food' is gone it is believed that it has no nutritional content and is 'empty' and is eaten by the family (interestingly some churches like the Catholic Church do not allow members to eat previously sacrificed food. Our Church says it's fine). To sacrifice money you buy 'spirit money' and burn it. If a family is filial and faithful in sacrificing sufficient money and food to the ancestors, the ancestors watch over, protect, bless, etc. the family. These spirits are believed to be good.
The problem comes when people don't sacrifice sufficient for their ancestors needs, or when a family disregards tradition and doesn't sacrifice anything for their ancestors. These ancestors spirits then wander the earth as 'hungry ghosts' and cause misfortune to the descendants of their own family and anyone else that they encounter. During most months of the year the good spirits are able to counteract the effects of these 'hungry ghosts' and protect their families (provided that they sacrifice sufficiently). During one month on the lunar calendar however, the 'hungry ghosts' come out stronger than other months. Thus, to avoid misfortune coming on one's home, one must sacrifice more to appease the 'hungry ghosts'. During this month Chinese people also believe it is bad luck to get married, move into a new house, etc.
The night that I went out and was taking pictures happened to be an important night during 'Ghost Month' when there were many people out in the streets burning their offerings so that the 'hungry ghosts' would pass over their homes and not harm them (perhaps some interesting correlation with the Jewish Passover). I was surprised at how many people were making offerings, it being China and all.
To begin, last night was hot. Very hot. I've been sleeping without an air conditioner on at night to save on the power bill (which isn't expensive, but every penny counts) and it gets to about 28 degrees (Celsius, that's 82.4 Fahrenheit) here at night, which with the high humidity is still pretty hot (on a side note Nanjing is known as one of the 4 'Oven Cities' which is really hot and really humid. I don't know what the other 3 are). Last night I woke up around 3 or 4 AM just drenched in sweat. I got up, got a drink (boiled water, cause we can't drink it from the tap) and turned on the air conditioner. After the air conditioner had cooled down my room enough I got back to sleep. Still I was a little tired today.
Knowing that none of my audience has ever made it to China, let me explain the education system here. They still hit kids in classes (not college classes, but through the end of high school). Teachers demand respect from the students. Things which are considered normal in classrooms in America are unheard of here. There is no talking to your neighbor, no texting your friends during class, and no sleeping. These people have doctorates which is still very rare here considering that during the Cultural Revolution ('67 to '76) there were no more college graduates, and that colleges were shut down from then until '79. If someone is late, or isn't paying attention they'd just as soon show the student the door as allow them to disrespect them, unless you're American and you're paying much more in tuition than normal students.
Back to my day - Class started at 8 AM. I arrived early so that I could sit in the front row and show my teacher that I had come to learn (I figure if tuition is twice as much as BYU, I might as well learn twice as much while I'm here). Unfortunately that meant that the other people from BYU decided to sit right by me. So when one of them whipped out flashcards to practice his reading ability 15 minutes into class, the teacher saw. And when another spent most of the class texting someone the teacher saw. And when one of them up their head down half and hour into class and fell asleep, the teacher saw. Everyone saw when one of them stood up and walked out of class when there was still an hour left (classes are two hours). It was embarrassing. I was embarrassed to be from the same group as them. I hope that the teachers learn that not all Americans are that so uncultured (or impolite).
After class was over (I only have class from 8 to 12, today was a conversation class and a reading class) I went with a few people to go back to the Muslim noodle restaurant. Unfortunately it is right behind a Jr. High, and just as we were getting there they were getting out for class. So the restaurant was too full (not hard to do when there is only room for four people to sit inside) and we had to go somewhere else. That wasn't a problem though, lunch was still good, and it still only cost me 6 RMB (not quite $1 USD).
From 2 till 4 we had a culture class which was taught by our BYU professor, Dr. Honey. I learned a lot of cool things about DunHuang in preparation for our trip out there in two weeks. I'll make sure that I post some of the most interesting things about the area when I'm out there and I see it in person.
One thing I learned about China today in our conversation class was something that our teacher brought up. Before coming to China I had heard people say that 1 out of 6 people on the earth right now is a Chinese rice farmer. I always figured that they were just ignorant about Chinese people (which I'm sure they still are) and assumed that since there are 6 billion people on the planet, and there are roughly 1.3 billion Chinese people, that 1.3/6 people were Chinese rice farmers, because the only job in China is farming rice. The actual statistics though are surprising. There are roughly 1.3 billion people in China right now. Of those, 900 million are farmers. Only 400 million live in the cities. So it is almost 1/6 people in the world that is a Chinese farmer.
Now though, because there are so many people out in the countryside trying to farm, and there is so little money to be made farming, millions of farmers are moving to the cities to find work. But because they have no education they can only beg, or work service jobs for very little pay. When I went out after Dr. Honey's class and got my haircut I thought I might test the truth to my conversation teacher's statement that 'everyone who has a job serving you is a farmer with no education'. I asked the person cutting my hair (in a small shop, I mean, it only cost $1 USD) where he was from. Hubei, a place in southern China by Sichuan. I asked him why he had moved to Nanjing. Because there was no work where he was from, he had moved here to make money. I asked him what he did before. Farmer. And how did he get into the haircutting business? He thought it would be an easy trade to pick up. How much education did he have? He had finished part of Jr. High.
After the haircut I walked around and took pictures for a while. It seems like the golden half hour or so around here is about 5:30 to 6:00PM, about a half hour before the sun goes down. I get some really good pictures without harsh light, and the sunset usually brings out the natural colors in things, but it isn't too dark yet.
I went to Dr. Honey's house for FHE tonight. It's the same everywhere you go. I bought a tripod for my camera on the way home. I have some pictures I want to take that I'm going to need a tripod for. It was a good investment, and cheap too. Only cost me 98 RMB ($14.35 USD).
Then I came home. Did some studying, and I'm about to go to bed.
Now, I got a lot of questions about people burning money - so I'll explain it all here.
In Chinese culture (or religion, whatever you want to call it) they believe that when a person dies their body goes into the ground or is burned or eaten by eagles or whichever way they decide to take care of the body (eaten by eagles actually is a real burial method here in China). Your spirit stays here, you just can't see it. The world that the spirit goes to is just like this one in many ways. One thing that is the same is you still need to eat and live etc. In order to ensure that their ancestors have a happy afterlife, filial (respectful) sons are expected to sacrifice food and money to deceased ancestors on certain days of the lunar year. Food is sacrificed by being baibai'ed over (kind of like a prayer, setting apart for sacrifice, and worship all at the same time) and set out so that the deceased relative can eat the 'spirit of the food'. After the 'spirit of the food' is gone it is believed that it has no nutritional content and is 'empty' and is eaten by the family (interestingly some churches like the Catholic Church do not allow members to eat previously sacrificed food. Our Church says it's fine). To sacrifice money you buy 'spirit money' and burn it. If a family is filial and faithful in sacrificing sufficient money and food to the ancestors, the ancestors watch over, protect, bless, etc. the family. These spirits are believed to be good.
The problem comes when people don't sacrifice sufficient for their ancestors needs, or when a family disregards tradition and doesn't sacrifice anything for their ancestors. These ancestors spirits then wander the earth as 'hungry ghosts' and cause misfortune to the descendants of their own family and anyone else that they encounter. During most months of the year the good spirits are able to counteract the effects of these 'hungry ghosts' and protect their families (provided that they sacrifice sufficiently). During one month on the lunar calendar however, the 'hungry ghosts' come out stronger than other months. Thus, to avoid misfortune coming on one's home, one must sacrifice more to appease the 'hungry ghosts'. During this month Chinese people also believe it is bad luck to get married, move into a new house, etc.
The night that I went out and was taking pictures happened to be an important night during 'Ghost Month' when there were many people out in the streets burning their offerings so that the 'hungry ghosts' would pass over their homes and not harm them (perhaps some interesting correlation with the Jewish Passover). I was surprised at how many people were making offerings, it being China and all.
6:19 AM |
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