Ni Hao!
I hope this post finds you well. I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Changsha filled with tons of young "gamers" intensely playing computer games while sucking back pop and cigarettes! What an experience. They have even diagnosed a new issue in the field of mental health called something like "pathological internet use."
Changsha has been interesting to say the least. A typical day begins at 8:30 a.m. with a 30 minute Chinese lesson taught by our country coordinators. I have only learned how to say, "I am an American" and "I eat vegetables." Otherwise I have been an utter failure at learning Chinese. After Chinese lessons we will have a guest lecture come talk to us from the CSU School of Public Health. Lecture topics have ranged from The New Rural Cooperative Medical System, to Traditional Chinese Medicine to Maternal and infant health care. The problem we have faced with the guest lecturers is that many can read and write English well but do not feel comfortable speaking and cannot understand the questions we ask. This has led to all the guest lecturers preparing general power points and reading directly from the slides. Overall there have been some pretty tedious lectures and many students falling asleep in class!
After lecture we have a 10 minute break and then we have a lecture by our faculty members. Our faculty classes are really coming together and we have had some great class discussions lately. After class we have time for lunch. Our new favorite lunch spot is "the noodle lady." She sells delicious noodles from a cart on the side road. The road leading up to the noodle lady is crazy! It is lined with all types of vendors selling blood worms, live chickens (and chickens being slaughtered!), eels, skinned fish, intestines as well as some tamer items like banana chips and other fruits and vegetables.
After lunch we generally have a field trip. The field trips have been extremely wierd. First, every place we go the administration puts on a big show for us. We are generally greeted with bottle waters and candy as well as elaborate power points. We also realized that they have been clearing places out for our arrival. For example, as a class we visited a Maternal and Child hospital and it was basically empty but when I went back on my own the place was bursting with people. Also, every place we have gone has a huge banner welcoming us and then we are required to take millions of pictures in front of the banner with all the important people from the hospital or school. We definitely have a feeling that we are not really getting a full picture when we visit different places. We have also hit some uncomfortable points in asking questions that administrators clearly do not want to answer. Although at times this can be extremely frustrating I have learned a lot from what people aren't saying as well as what they are. Also, one of my friends on the trip who speaks Chinese said that when you talk to people on the street they are willing to talk about any subject (even for example, criticism of the government) but because we are going on official visits we are receiving "official" information (straight from government policies).
I just finished up my case study on Maternal and Child Health. We ended up looking at social support for pregnant woman which was interesting but quite difficult because of the language barrier. The case studies were extremely different this time, we had no structure and were just given two days to develop a reserach question and begin to answer it. Our group had a lot of difficulties like getting kicked out of a hospital by security and getting yelled at in Chinese on the street by a woman! Overall, it was a good learning experience especially about the frustrations of trying to conduct research in a foreign country!
Now, we are about to leave for our "rural" stay. I say "rural" because we are actually going to a small town that may actually be fairly similar to Changsha. Our country coordinator did not think we could handle a "real" rural situation and was appalled to hear that we had slept on the floor during our rural visit in India! I think it is hard because this is the first time IHP has ever been in Changsha so everyone is still trying to work out the kinks.
It is incredible how fast China has flown by. We leave for South Africa on April 3rd right after our rural stay! I don't feel like I ever really settled into China the way I did in India. I am still trying to put together all the pieces of what I have learned. I am looking forward to South Africa though and the last phase of my study abroad. I can't believe I will be home in just six weeks!
Thanks for reading. My next post will not be until I am settled in Cape Town. I hope everyone in Colorado is surviving the blizzard!
Love,
Barbara
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Changsha!
Ni hao from Changsha!
Sorry it has been ages since I have written! So much has happened I don't know where to begin.
I will start with leaving India. Leaving India was very sad. I was very comfortable in my homestay, I knew my way around the city and I loved the food. We had a fun farewell dinner with all the students and host families which was a nice way to end. Even though the next day Abby and I still had to finish up our final papers for India! We left on March 5 at midnight and took a 3 and a half hour flight to Bangkok. We then had a 6 hour layover in the airport in Bangkok which was pretty awful because we were all so tired and many of us felt sick. We tried to sleep on the floor but it was freezing! After that we took a 4 hour flight to Beijing.
Beijing was great! We stayed in a hotel by the drum and bell towers. The first full day in Beijing we went to the Great Wall. It was incredible. We hiked up hundreds of stairs surrounded by trees and mountains which reminded me of home. When we got to the top we were able to walk all along the wall and up into the towers. I have some great pictures! The end was the best part. We rode down an alpine slide on sleds! It was really fun. At the end we walked around and bought dried fruit and t-shirts. The next day in Beijing we went to Tiananmen Square and a city planning musuem. That night I also went with a few people to look at the Olympic venues. It was a little dissappointing because the water cube wasn't lit up but it was still great to see and to remember the Olympics! The next day we went to the Forbidden City which I am sorry to report was a little underwhelming. I think I just didn't really appreciate it enough because my knowledge of Chinese history is quite limited. That evening we took a 13 hour overnight train to Changsha. The train was an experience! It was quite cramped because we decided to keep all our luggage with us in our sleeping cars. I slept on the top of a three tier bunkbed which turned out to be fine.
In Changsha our entire program is affliated with Central South University or CSU. It is so funny because everytime someone says CSU I immediately think of Colorado State University! I am still trying to find t-shirts that say CSU on them for my friends who go there! CSU has an enormous campus with over 30,000 students. We stayed at a hotel on campus for the first 3 nights.
Now, I am moved in with my homestay family. My homestay partner is Sarah! She goes to Wake Forest and is studying health and exercise. She is also a personal trainer which is awesome because we have started to work out together! Our homestay mom asked us to call her Miss Wang! Miss Wang is great. The first day all the parents came in and everyone looked fairly "normal" but Miss Wang was wearing red pants with a neon yellow jacket and has crimped reddish hair with straight across bangs! She has a daughter who we call Lily who is 19 and is a sophmore at another University in Changsha. We are staying in their apartment where Sarah and I have our own rooms. Because I know some people are curious...we have a squat toilet! The only bad thing is that we are absolutely freezing! Inside it is very cold and everyone wears wool socks and down jackets. After I finish typing this I will go put my gloves back on!
Changsha is quite different from Bangalore so far. First, the way our program is run is much more strict. In India, time is a fluid concept and lateness is not an issue at all. Here, we have to be early everywhere or else it is considered very rude. We also have to "count off" (we are each assigned a number and count in order to make sure everyone is present) extremely often. You must stay with the group at all times! The classroom is much more formal. Also, we are treated like celebs! The first day we were here the newspaper came and took a bunch a photos for the paper. Also, there is a 40 ft giant banner hanging from the library that says "CSU welcomes IHP US Students" It is crazy!
One thing I have to write about is the food. So far, I hate to say it but I am not a big fan of the food. It is just really oily and fried. There is also a lot of meat which I have not been eating and didn't really want to eat but seems impossible here not to eat meat. We have even seen dog on the menu! On a funny note, one night when we went out to dinner there were some hilarious translations from Chinese to English including: Black Fungus, Spicy cattle hoof ligament, Oil pig ear wire, the spinach mixes peanut, incense mixed with pig heart, northwest sheep face, heat the oil splash at similar stick the noodles, the oil sprinkles leatherbelt noodles and cook like cat ear the noodles (perhaps my fave). I have some great pics of the menu and everytime I look at them I crack up!
Well, hopefully I will be able to write more now that I am in one place! As always, thank you so much for sending e-mails. I really enjoy reading them and hopefully will have time to write back.
Love,
Barbara
Sorry it has been ages since I have written! So much has happened I don't know where to begin.
I will start with leaving India. Leaving India was very sad. I was very comfortable in my homestay, I knew my way around the city and I loved the food. We had a fun farewell dinner with all the students and host families which was a nice way to end. Even though the next day Abby and I still had to finish up our final papers for India! We left on March 5 at midnight and took a 3 and a half hour flight to Bangkok. We then had a 6 hour layover in the airport in Bangkok which was pretty awful because we were all so tired and many of us felt sick. We tried to sleep on the floor but it was freezing! After that we took a 4 hour flight to Beijing.
Beijing was great! We stayed in a hotel by the drum and bell towers. The first full day in Beijing we went to the Great Wall. It was incredible. We hiked up hundreds of stairs surrounded by trees and mountains which reminded me of home. When we got to the top we were able to walk all along the wall and up into the towers. I have some great pictures! The end was the best part. We rode down an alpine slide on sleds! It was really fun. At the end we walked around and bought dried fruit and t-shirts. The next day in Beijing we went to Tiananmen Square and a city planning musuem. That night I also went with a few people to look at the Olympic venues. It was a little dissappointing because the water cube wasn't lit up but it was still great to see and to remember the Olympics! The next day we went to the Forbidden City which I am sorry to report was a little underwhelming. I think I just didn't really appreciate it enough because my knowledge of Chinese history is quite limited. That evening we took a 13 hour overnight train to Changsha. The train was an experience! It was quite cramped because we decided to keep all our luggage with us in our sleeping cars. I slept on the top of a three tier bunkbed which turned out to be fine.
In Changsha our entire program is affliated with Central South University or CSU. It is so funny because everytime someone says CSU I immediately think of Colorado State University! I am still trying to find t-shirts that say CSU on them for my friends who go there! CSU has an enormous campus with over 30,000 students. We stayed at a hotel on campus for the first 3 nights.
Now, I am moved in with my homestay family. My homestay partner is Sarah! She goes to Wake Forest and is studying health and exercise. She is also a personal trainer which is awesome because we have started to work out together! Our homestay mom asked us to call her Miss Wang! Miss Wang is great. The first day all the parents came in and everyone looked fairly "normal" but Miss Wang was wearing red pants with a neon yellow jacket and has crimped reddish hair with straight across bangs! She has a daughter who we call Lily who is 19 and is a sophmore at another University in Changsha. We are staying in their apartment where Sarah and I have our own rooms. Because I know some people are curious...we have a squat toilet! The only bad thing is that we are absolutely freezing! Inside it is very cold and everyone wears wool socks and down jackets. After I finish typing this I will go put my gloves back on!
Changsha is quite different from Bangalore so far. First, the way our program is run is much more strict. In India, time is a fluid concept and lateness is not an issue at all. Here, we have to be early everywhere or else it is considered very rude. We also have to "count off" (we are each assigned a number and count in order to make sure everyone is present) extremely often. You must stay with the group at all times! The classroom is much more formal. Also, we are treated like celebs! The first day we were here the newspaper came and took a bunch a photos for the paper. Also, there is a 40 ft giant banner hanging from the library that says "CSU welcomes IHP US Students" It is crazy!
One thing I have to write about is the food. So far, I hate to say it but I am not a big fan of the food. It is just really oily and fried. There is also a lot of meat which I have not been eating and didn't really want to eat but seems impossible here not to eat meat. We have even seen dog on the menu! On a funny note, one night when we went out to dinner there were some hilarious translations from Chinese to English including: Black Fungus, Spicy cattle hoof ligament, Oil pig ear wire, the spinach mixes peanut, incense mixed with pig heart, northwest sheep face, heat the oil splash at similar stick the noodles, the oil sprinkles leatherbelt noodles and cook like cat ear the noodles (perhaps my fave). I have some great pics of the menu and everytime I look at them I crack up!
Well, hopefully I will be able to write more now that I am in one place! As always, thank you so much for sending e-mails. I really enjoy reading them and hopefully will have time to write back.
Love,
Barbara
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