The Chopsticks

Two chopsticks. This is not something I am used to eating with. It’s not that Chinese restaurants don’t know what spoons and forks are, it’s just culture to use chopsticks and I have embraced this. I haven’t touched a spoon or fork since I remember eating back at home one of my mom’s homemade delicious Mexican meals. I don’t miss it! Actually I do miss the food. I have been eating most meals with chopsticks and it’s not as bad as it may seem. It didn’t take me long to adjust. At first I wasn’t able to pick up my food with my chopsticks so I had to cheat and bring my plate as close as possible to the plate of food to avoid making a mess even though most of the time I still made a mess here and there. The most difficult thing I’ve had to eat chopsticks with would be rice and other smaller pieces of food.  It does seem to take longer to finish eating and often I wished I had a spoon and fork to finish quickly and catch up on my Mandarin homework. However, I have to pick up my bowl of noodles soup and drink the soup. I found this odd because it is not considered good manners around my family to drink out of a bowl.

What is a Smoke-Free Zone?

           I am not surprised anymore when I am back at my room and my clothes smell like cigarette smoke. I am used to it now. At first, I wouldn’t know where the smell was coming from. But after several seconds I realize the smell is coming from my shirt. Often, I am walking to the gym and I’ll have to walk through several “clouds of smoke” because the person in front of me is casually walking while smoking as I try to dodge the smoke. A couple of days ago I was eating with my roommate at a nearby Chinese restaurant. The food was delicious! We had a carved-out pineapple with purple rice in it, spicy fried potato slices, and more. But that’s not the point. A man sitting to the table next to us was smoking a cigarette. The wind was also blowing in the direction toward our table and most of that gray unpleasant smoke was blowing in our face and I think I remember us having to deal with this for a while. I am guessing people have accepted this kind of behavior but I feel like maybe some don’t care? Or maybe people are used to secondhand smoke? Most of the natives, if not all, seem so chill with people smoking around them. I don’t even think there are smoke-free areas. Okay maybe I am exaggerating and there are. I never have seen so many people smoking on any day of the week but when I do, it’s because I am in China.

Yin and Yang Tea

Today during our lecture on TCM herbal medicine, by Dr. Wen, I was fascinated by the diversity of TCM drugs. Western medicine becomes an option here. The option to use herbs to treat a condition is very common. Halfway through lecture we were provided with numerous herbs, honey, and hot water. From this we made tea! We made two types of tea: Yin and Yang. In TCM, different herbs correspond to Yin, Yang, or both. For the Yang tea we used ginger, cinnamon, rose, jasmine, and a spoon of honey. For the Yin tea we used chrysanthemum, honeysuckle, wolfberry, Chinese-date, a spoon of honey, and liquorices. The tea that was Yin had a sweet taste and it was the best! According to Dr. Wen, I had more Yang in me and that’s why I liked the Yin tea better, because my body needed Yin to achieve that balance of Yin and Yang.  I tried both types of teas so technically I am still were I am at, or no? I thought it was interesting! It felt like I had control of my Yin and Yang levels. I thought maybe one day I could drink all the Yang tea I want and be Yang! Whatever that means. It was difficult for me to understand this concept and I am not sure if I believe in the Yin and Yang theory, yet!

There are 12,807 Traditional Chinese Drugs in TCM Pharmacopeia.

11,146 are drugs of plant origin (87%)

1,581 are of animal (12%)

128 are of mineral origin (1%)

Challenge Accepted: Mandarin

 
            My Mandarin class is made up of four students! With four students everyone has a one-on-one teacher interaction during most of the lecture to make sure we practice our pronunciation and a conversation. I think it’s fantastic because we all feel like our vocabulary is growing exponentially. Our teacher, Charles, is really good at bridging the gap between English and Mandarin. Without him we wouldn’t understand some of the culture behind some Chinese words. I also thought it was strange when he mentioned how hard it is for Chinese people to understand sarcasm because it is not a concept familiar to them in Chinese. Also, many times we take audio recordings to listen for later, with our phones, of Charles pronouncing words because the way things are pronounced is very important since some words could be easily mispronounced and mean something else. I’ve had trouble pronouncing words and often I’ll say something I don’t meant and get frustrated. But I’ll tell myself practice makes perfect and just stay focused. Also In the U.S., to have sophisticated vocabulary may make one seem intelligent. However, in China one sounds more intelligent based on how they phrase things because there aren’t many sophisticated vocabulary words in Chinese. Every day I am improving my Mandarin and I know it won’t be long before I can order my own food. It will happen!

No Google? No Facebook?

            During the first few days in Kunming I had Internet access but no access to my Google mail, Facebook, and blog. It felt terrible! I also had a VPN (Virtual Private Network) but that wasn’t working. A VPN basically allows me to connect to a server in the U.S. and be able to access websites I normally have access to. The reason was that most parts of China blocked Facebook and recently, blocked Google. I am not sure why there is a lot of censorship but I fixed this issue by buying another VPN so everything is all good now.

Speaking Spanish in China

Last Saturday, I walked to Starbucks to study some Mandarin. I prefer studying at Starbucks because it feels like home and I can focus. While I was studying out loud with my friend, two Asian men sat at our table. One of the guys overheard our Mandarin and told us that our Mandarin was pretty much bad and couldn’t understand us. At least he was honest. Both of them spoke English and offered to help us with pronunciation. One of them, Hugo, spoke Spanish. He was majoring in Spanish and was studying in Kunming too. However, I had to think really hard when he spoke to me in English because I couldn’t understand him. I honestly understood him better in Spanish than in English so we just spoke Spanish the whole time. He taught me how to pronounce and the definitions for some words. I also got to know him and we exchanged contact information and I gave him my business card. I never thought I’d use my Spanish here. It felt so awesome!

TCM saved my life!

Friday, June 20 2014

            Soon after arriving to Kunming I had told one of the staff members that I felt sick. I didn’t want to tell them at first and hoped I was going to get better but I didn’t get better and my condition only worsened. I think I had a throat infection. So Dr. Wen Zengzhe became my friend. He spoke English and was able to give me three types of medications. One of those medications was actually traditional Chinese medicine and it worked perfect! I didn’t doubt the medication because Dr. Wen was so confident I was going to get better. After being sick for five days with a fever and sore throat, the medication is finally working! I can finally eat all the food I want. Hopefully I recover soon. Traditional Chinese medicine saved my life! (I like to think that).

Getting to know Kunming and the Hospital

Friday, June 20 2014

My experience here in China would have not been possible without the Yunnan Traditional Hospital leaders, SIT administrators and language teachers. They are the ones bridging the gap between the American lifestyle and Kunming lifestyle. We would be so lost without them. Our first couple of days in Kunming has been orientation. We got to see the 12-story Traditional Medicine Hospital (TCM) where our classes will be held on the 12^th floor. The TCM hospital is very unique because there isn’t much patient privacy and I got to peek in some of the rooms. I saw a few patients getting acupuncture to treat various diseases such as facial paralysis, which is common in the area. Furthermore, the TCM hospital has a pharmacy except its medicine is all kinds herbs, animals and minerals. We ate a fruit that was supposed to help with blood circulation. Animals such as a centipede or leech are cooked in soup for medicinal purposes too. Later on Dr. Wen Zengzhe, who was been practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for over twenty years gave us a presentation on health safety and problems in Kunming. I found it interesting that HIV is a big problem as well as drug smuggling from southern countries like Laos and Myanmar, which is punishable by death.

TCM Hospital entrance

TCM Medicine (Mineral, Centipede, and Leech)

The Language Barrier

Thursday, June 19 2014

It finally hit me! I am in China. It’s happening now! For the past several days my group and I have been walking the super busy streets of Kunming. Cars drive reckless and there seems to be no traffic control. The traffic light may be red but vehicles still go and it stresses me out a little bit as I walk through an intersection. Also, everyone dresses so nice! They always look ready for an interview. Also, a lot of people drive luxurious cars like Audis and Mercedes. It is not rare to see a couple of Audis driving next to each other on a daily basis. But it gets more interesting when I attempt to talk to people. Well I actually don’t talk to them because I can’t. I haven’t started my Mandarin classes so I haven’t learned much. But what I have been saying is “Ni hao” which translates to “Hello” and I’ll get a “Ni hao” in return, sometimes. However, if they ever do try to talk to me all I’ll be able to say is “Wo bu zhi dao” which I’ve mastered and translates to “I don’t know” and I feel is better than saying nothing. I’m determined to take my Mandarin classes here even more serious than organic chemistry (just kidding) because I really hope to be trilingual someday.

One of our activities as part of our study abroad program was a “drop off” scavenger.  My group was split into smaller groups and our task was to figure out what the Chinese symbols on the piece of paper meant. It turned out to be a location and we had to go there and take a picture for evidence. Most people around the area do not speak English, however, two in my group were semi-fluent in Mandarin and were able to help us find the location by asking for directions while teaching another group member and myself how to speak Mandarin. It was a learning experience riding public transportation and trying to learn pronunciation as I stood carefully hearing the people in the bus speak. Our destination was “The Golden Temple Scenic Area”. It was a nice place with all kinds of plants and flowers and nice temples. However, all I was thinking the whole time is “my Mandarin sucks!” I felt mute the whole time and I really wanted to have my first conversation with a native. 

I remember being at a souvenir shop just looking around. Something grabbed my attention but I could not think of a way of asking for the price. Not even with hand signals I would be able to get what I want because the number system is different too. These kinds of experiences have made me appreciate Mandarin more and pushed me harder to learn it.