Nanjing

I apologize for it having been so long since I wrote. I’ve been in the middle of moving and getting used to a new environment, Nanjing. I’ve also been starting classes, so that’s sucked up a lot of my time.

I noticed that a lot of people asked me what I was doing in Qingdao and what I would be doing in Nanjing, so I guess I should probably go ahead explain that pretty well.

In Qingdao, when I wasn’t at the museum teaching kids about Halloween or eating at ‘Brothers,’ I was always in the Qingdao Center, an office that The Ohio State University maintained. The office sits over the bay where the 2008 Olympic sailing event was held. During the day, you could watch small sailboats sail into the bay beneath the entire Qingdao skyline, a fairly impressive skyline as that Qingdao was one of the largest ports in northern China. At night, when I was staying back to study, the bay would be lit up by the Olympic colors, a fountain below would spit out tall streams of water in the center of the bay and tourists in the May 4th Square below would take these small kites shaped like lanterns, and put a candle inside the lantern-kite. The candle would heat the air in the kite up like a hot air balloon, and, when they let the kite go, it would float up from the square and meander into the sky, along its way, bumping into the window of the office as I tried to read an article on the May 4th Movement.

It was in this office and the conference room next door where we had class. In the morning, I had a Chinese class that focused on this test that I have to take in October. It was kind of boring, and most of the people were online while the teacher talked about grammar or something. In the afternoons, I meet with a ‘tutor.’ My ‘tutor’ was a retired professor, and I think he’s a little famous in the academic world. He writes articles about Chinese political thought and literature. Most of the times we meet, I would read one of his articles, and then critique it, pointing out things I thought were wrong. This was quite intimidating. He was an expert, and I was trying to read his articles in Chinese, find problems, and then point out his mistakes using my inadequate Chinese. But it was really great for learning, particularly for my Chinese arguing skills, and it’s really gotten me used to talking about political topics that I’m studying in Chinese.

I should probably tell yall about Nanjing too. I’ve now moved to this city on the Yangze River, just a little ways from Shanghai, but quite different culturally. It’s a pretty old city, older than Beijing, a former capital of about six short dynasties. It’s known as one of China’s ‘Ovens’ because of the summer heat, but since I’ve been here, its been cloudy and rainy on and off, mostly with pleasant weather. I think I got lucky and missed the heat of August. The cityscape is pleasant since its full of trees that shade the road, keeping it cool or protecting you from the rain as you pedal to class.

Maybe I’ll tell yall more about Nanjing in another email, but I should explain what I’m doing here. I’m here at Nanjing University. Unlike my studies two years ago, I’m not really studying Chinese. I’m studying political science and historical stuff in Chinese. The two classes I’ve decided to take for credit are “Modern Chinese Political Systems and Thought” and “Research on China’s Ethnic Minorities.” I’m also sitting in on a couple of classes, “Yuan Dynasty,” “Chinese Political Systems,” “America-Chinese Relations,” “China-Taiwan relations,” and “Historical Source Research.” We also have two other classes that I’m required to take with people from BYU, Arizona State, and University of Oregon, all students participating in the Flagship Program, the program I’m in. One of these classes is on Chinese Media, and the other is a Writing Class.

My living conditions are much better. I know some people expressed concern over my previous apartment, but my apartment now is decent enough. The toilet is not a squatter, and the bathroom is clean. My bedroom is actually pretty big, and it’s got a TV, not that I watch it. It’s actually a pretty nice place.

I guess that’s it for now. I should have some more things to tell yall in the coming weeks, and I suspect that they’ll be more interesting, but I won’t say more.