Open Mouth and Insert Foot

The other day in my Chinese class I successfully completed the most complicated sentence I have yet to form using the language, which translates into "I studied history at the University of Missouri, I think that history is very interesting but some people do not think that history is very interesting." Ok, so maybe it is a run on, or maybe it is two sentences, if you know me then you know I am not to concerned with all that. I know that some people do not find history the most exciting thing but, the other day in class I let something slip that resulted in a interesting conversation. To help set the context I feel that I need to go into some brief history. If you don't care or you are very familiar with the Taiwan issue then you can skip the next paragraph.

In 1912 the final Dynasty was overthrown in China, which resulted in the forming of the Republic of China. Civil War against the Communist, along with a Japanese invasion caused a state of constant struggle for the new country. By 1949 the Communist had driven them onto the Island of Taiwan. Since then the Republic of China has still functioned on the small Island of Taiwan. The government on Taiwan still claims mainland China, and the Communist government in Beijing asserts that Taiwan is part of the Peoples Republic of China (The Communist Leaders). Ok to recap, today there is a Communist government called the Peoples Republic of China that operates out of Beijing, and a nationalistic government called the Republic of China that runs out of Taipei, Taiwan. Officially to every country in the world, Taiwan is still part of mainland China, and no country formally acknowledges it as a country. Unofficially Taiwan has their own currency, their own government, their own military, and a very strong economy. The Communist government in mainland China probably would have went over and took Taiwan back several years ago, but with help from the United States mostly during the Cold War, they have built up an impressive defensive army. It also helps that the United States keeps a fleet of ships around Taiwan.

Moving on, I was teaching a class the other day and one of my students ask me how I got a job teaching in China. I told him that I got online and looked up job postings. There were jobs listed for South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, and Taiwan. About half of the students jumped up real fast shouting, "Taiwan is part of China!" I tried to cover myself and told them that it was just under a different listing. One of the students replied, "Why is it under a different listing?" I turned the question on them and ask, "Why do you think it would be different?" They didn't have a good answer. I quickly discovered that most of the students have little or no knowledge on the issue of Taiwan. To them it is just another province that is part of China. One of the other teachers was watching Toy Story with his class, and there is a part when Buzz Lightyear opens his ray gun and discovers that he was made in Taiwan. His students ask why the sticker said Taiwan, and not just China.

Censorship is kind of a big deal here. I have noticed that there are certain things that aren't allowed. For example, I can't go to websites like Wikipedia.com, worldnews.com, or even caucasianinasia.blogspot.com. That's right! I can't even check my own blog. I can get on to the site to update it but I can't go look at it. Another thing that is a little more humorous is how the movies are edited. Recently I went to a movie theater to see Mission impossible III. I went with another foreign teacher who saw the movie in the states before he came to China. About half way through he starts freaking out because they edited part of the movie. I guess there is a part where Tom Cruise is shooting some Chinese people. Which means that someone decided that Chinese people shouldn't see Tom Cruise shooting Chinese people. I do not know what the problem is maybe they have a problem with Scientology. Also, I bought Forrest Gump to show to a class, and they edited out the part where he beat the Chinese in Ping Pong. I think it is more funny than anything.

Everything has been going great here so far. I have been working lots of hours so I haven't had a lot time to do anything exciting. That's alright though because I will be making more money that will help me out when I travel later. I would rather not take a trip that is similar to the one that my roommate took to Beijing this last week. He went for the weekend because he is only here for the summer and is leaving next week. He flew to Beijing on Friday night and walked around the city till 3:00, before falling asleep on a park bench. He woke up and went to the Great Wall and Tianamen Square along with a few other hot spots. Later that night he went bar hopping before he ran into some other Americans that gave him a place to stay that night. I like to think that I am a pretty adventurous guy but I might have to draw the line there. Although it might be a little to fun to take a trip like that. (I put that line in just to make my mom worry)

One last thing, I put a picture up top of one of classes. I meet with these students once a week. I was thinking that it would be cool to have them send some letters to some people back home, and have people send letters back to them. They are very curious about the states and are full of questions. It would also be a good chance for my friends and families to ask some native Chinese people some questions. If you are interested in getting a letter from one of them send me your home address. You can post it as a comment on here, e-mail me, facebook, couchsufing.com, or any way that you might know me. If you post it on here I will not publish your comment so that I will be the only one that will read it. If you all are interested it would be awesome. I mentioned it to them last class and they seemed very excited about it. Anyway, it is really nice to hear from all of you. Thanks for reading my BLOG!

Quote of the Week:

"Ryan, I thought you would be the first one to flunk out of college"

-Lee White

Cerebral Palsy Lawyer

To Laoshan We Go

Before I left for China I was told by my mother that "I had to find a church to go to." After I had been in Qingdao for a few weeks and ask around I discovered that there are only two Christian Churches in the entire city of seven million residents. Both were built by the Germans around the turn of the twentieth century. One is a Lutheran Church, which would be the best option for me considering I was raised Lutheran. The other is a very beautiful Catholic Church. I discovered that the Lutheran Church does not have regular services and essentially functions more as a museum than a place of worship. The Catholic Church, however, does have regular services but they are only bi-weekly. This last weekend I had some time off from teaching but it fell on the off week of the Catholic Church services. With no other options a fellow teacher and I decide to head for Mount Laoshan, which is known as the cradle of Taoism, and is also home to many Buddhist temples. I realize that wasn't quite what my mother had in mind but I figured it would be extremely interesting to check out none-the-less.

Greame, the other teacher, and I figured out what busses would take us to the base of Laoshan. We know that it is along ways away, but are unsure exactly how far. We are riding on the bus for about thirty minutes until we see a Mountain. It was not a very large mountain but we didn't know how big Laoshan is, we just figured that it was it. We get off the bus and find someone to give us some information, which leads us to the discovery that this was not Laoshan but a smaller mountain. At this point we had to decide whether we should just settle for this one or if we should press on and attempt to find Laoshan. We decide to continue towards our original destination. We walk to a bus stop and get on another bus. After about twenty more minutes we try to combine our limited Chinese and ask the bus driver how far it was to Laoshan. The bus driver stops at the next stop and rambles something in Chinese and points here. We are confused but assume that this must be Laoshan. We got off of the bus, after which quickly drives away, and we look around and there is not a mountain within ten miles. Confused and frustrated, we just start to walk towards the mountains that were the largest. I finely made the decision that we should take a taxi, then we could simply say Laoshan and he would take us right to where we needed to go. The problem with that is that by now we are a distance away from Qingdao, and in the country. Granted we were on a major road but it took about thirty minutes before a taxi finely drove by.

The taxi turned out to be a great idea. The ride with the taxi driver was an experience in its self. He was about forty five years old, had on a ripped T-shirt, and stopped about half way to take a leak. The entire time we were driving he was pointing at stuff and explaining it in rapid Chinese, both of us couldn't catch a word. It turns out we were still about thirty miles from the base of Laoshan. Not only does he drive us there but he takes us to a few stops along the way. First we stopped at this very large Buddhist temple, where I took a picture with him. I was not allowed to take actual pictures of the temple itself. I considered sneaking a few, but thought it was probably best not to affend anybody. At the temple the driver turned from taxi driver to tour guide. He walked us around and showed us everything along the way. Next he took us to this little village where old men and women were carving pieces of Jade as large as I am. They were making huge statues, as well as little figurines. This was awesome because it was something that I would not have had the opportunity to see if I was on a tour bus. Here I was also ask not to take any pictures. It is my guess that he took us there because he figured we had money and would buy some of the stuff. I defiantly would have, but I wasn't carrying very much cash with me, and with a thirty mile cab ride to pay for I had to watch my cash flow.

Our last stop was Mount Laoshan. It was a "fei chang piao liang," or very beautiful. There was a giant resivour, that supplies the water for Tsingtao beer, as well as Laoshan drinking water. There was also little shops all the way up, but again I was a little short on doe so I did not buy anything.

If you would like to see more pictures that I have taken go to my photobucket site. The link for it is on the right hand side of my blog. I have also put up some other good sights. I recommend checking out Couchsurfing.com. Everything has been great so far. I have been working a lot more. The next six weeks is the schools busiest time of the year. The regular school sessions are out for summer and now students are taking private classes. I have discovered one major difference between students in China and the students in America. I spent most of my summers in my youth either playing baseball at Jackson Street park, or sitting on the couch watching TV. During the same time of year Chinese students sign up for classes. For example, one of my students that was in one of my English classes from 2-5 everyday, told me that she has a physics tutor from 8:00-1:00 everyday before the English class, and then three days a week she has Korean classes at night. Her case is not unusual, most of my students have a similar schedule. I tell them what it is like for students back in the states and the get incredibly jealous, and I can't blame them. But anyway, I just thought that was kind of interesting.

I will put a picture of my Chinese teacher on my Photobucket. She has been great. I am glad I got a good teacher while I am starting out, because it makes learning it so much easier. I also am going to start to take lessons to learn how to play the Erhu. It is a traditional Chinese instrument. I told my students that I wanted to learn how to play, and one of them had a brother who is a level ten Erhu player, I guess that's good but I do not have any idea, but he is going to teach me for free in exchange for some English conversation. Anyway, I will put up a picture of my Erhu on photobucket. I always appreciate you putting up comments on here. I like to feedback because it reminds me that people actually read this thing.

Quote of the Week:

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. -Mark Twain

Ill take Three Roman Candles Please: Part II

Fourth of July in China is a little different than fourth of July in the states. However, my roommates and I decided that we were going to attempt to keep the same basic elements in place. The first and one of the most important aspects of fourth in my mind, are fireworks. As you all probably know fireworks are made in China. But, what you may not know is that they are illegal during most of the year, with a few Chinese holidays being the exception. It may also be supriseing to you that American Independence day is not a very big holiday in China. This being the case I figured that getting fireworks would be impossible, until one of my roommates came through. He ask around to some of his Chinese friends, one of which, knew a store in another town close by that sold fireworks. On Sunday afternoon after my classes were over I recived a call from my roommate who explains that one of his Chinese friends has offered to drive me to the next town and help me bargain with the people in the firework shop. He wants me to go because he had to teach a class that afternoon. I decided to go because it is a chance for me to see a little of the country side and also take a look at another city. The firework store was about forty minutes away from my apartment. I arrive at the firework stand with two other Chinese people, one of which could speak perfect English and the other who can speak none at all. This firework shop was very different from any I have seen in the states. There was no little bottle rockets, or blackcats, just huge fireworks that were several times larger than anything I have seen back home. I point to some middle of the road ones that cost 80 yuan ($10) each. These fireworks are probably illegal in the states but lwould likely cost $150. Another funny part about this store is that one side is devoted to fireworks while the the other is sat aside for liqueur. I think to myself that this store's target demographic is college students and Timothy McVeigh. For all of you firework experts out there, the main ones I bought shoot what would be equivalent to twenty-five artillery shell fireworks.

I get home with the fireworks. We all decide to have a party and then go shoot them off later during the night. We invite all the Americans we know that live in Qingdao, roughly fifteen. As well as anybody else from a western country. Even someone from England came, we lit one candle before she showed up because she came by land. At about eleven we decide that we are going to go and shoot off the fireworks. The problem with this is that we live right in downtown Qingdao, a city of roughly seven million. We decide that we should walk down to a beach because we would be a little ways from downtown, which would reduce the fear that the police might come and arrest us. At eleven we start towards the beach. There about twenty five people walking from my apartment, caring an arsenal of fireworks, and a keg (don't ask that wasn't my idea). We get to the beach and start singing patriotic songs and start lighting off fireworks. A while later we see police lights on the top of the hill by the road. Now, I have been in China for a month so I am getting a little nervous. The last thing I want to do is end up in a Chinese prison for shooting off fireworks. One of the Americans that was with us that can speak Chinese went and talked to them. Luckily they weren't to worried about the fireworks they were just there to watch the show.

So that was my fourth of July in China story. I have a few other stories that I could tell. I will put up another pretty quick. Thanks again for everybody who has put up comments. I enjoy the feedback. I have been taking my Chinese class for about two and a half weeks. It is starting to come a little. It is very easy to learn the functional things that you need to survive. Like different kinds of food to order. I have started going out with Chinese people and ordering a bunch of food, and have them write down the things I like. Next time I go out I just order a combination of those things. I wanted to put up a picture of my Chinese teacher on here, but when I brought my camera to class she started freaking out and told me to bring it another time because she didn't think she looked very nice, so check back and I will have a picture up of her. She is really nice but she doesn't speak a word of English during class. The classes that I teach are pretty easy, I have some classes that I really like and some that are pretty boring. Such is Life.

Quote of the Week:
You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. -Erma Bombeck