China and Chuck

Xiamen Campus (a little distorted...)

As previously mentioned China has just entered the new lunar year and the 14 day spring festival. There are certain things everyone does on different days of Spring Festival and the first thing is to go to the temple. There is a Buddhist temple just a couple blocks down from the university which I chose to visit. This wasn’t originally my plan, I was simply going to pick up some groceries but even walking through the campus, it was flooded by locals who chose to spend their day off visiting “China’s most beautiful campus”. Once out into the street there seemed to be cars and busses absolutely everywhere and once I broke free from the stream of people going into the university I got caught up in the flood heading to the temple. I had been the temple quickly before but it was a much different experience when it is crowded with people and the smoke from the incense can be seen a mile away. It was also really neat to see the religious practices here. There was a lot of bowing at statues as well as trying to land money on rocks or inside certain things. Even though I stood out like a sore thumb and didn’t bow to anything, I never got any looks or even second glances. 

Buddhist Temple on Chinese New Year

Following this we decided to host our own cultural event, we watched Mulan. It seemed like a logical thing to do on Chinese New Year! It was actually interesting to see certain elements of the movie now that I am better culturally informed. I wish I could remember an example for you but it was actually a few days ago now. After the movie we headed out to watch the fireworks. I know, you’re probably confused considering I said there were fireworks in the last post, well, it’s China and they like their fireworks. I few of us found a prime location sitting on a boulder on the beach watching them on both our side of the river and across. I’ve seen some good firework shows in my day but nothing quite like this, there were hearts and smiley faces! My favourite were the ones that exploded white and then hung in one spot for about 10 seconds! 

I don’t know how much else of what we did is that interesting to you, but I’ll save some stories when I get home. We’ve started our classes pretty much which is a bit of a drag. Chinese starts bright and early at 8 in the morning! I didn’t even know classes did start that early! If you’re confused by the ‘pretty much’, the reason is classes haven’t started for the rest of the university so we have a prof teaching us Mandarin this week and a different one next week and we’re still waiting for one more class to begin. So far the classes are maybe a little easier than Trinity, there are no papers to write but quizzes on the readings every day. 

Random pond on my way back from class

I know this doesn’t really relate to China it is something I’ve been thinking about recently. One of my favourite shows, Chuck, has recently come to its end. While this is slightly sad it had reached its limit and finished on, in my books, a good note. But, the finally for the show was somewhat of a flashback episode showing clips and snapshots of the last four and a half years. The one thing I enjoyed about chuck was the character development and the characters now are nothing like they were then, they barely even look the same (except for the Baldwin). This really got me thinking about how much I’ve changed in the last five years. I remember watching the very first episode of Chuck, I looked it up and it was in September of 2007. That means I was 17 years old, just starting grade 12 (about the same age as my sister is now). This is taking me back pre-university and even pre-ywam. During this episode Chuck, for a very logical and realistic reason, has to describe the last four years to Sara who has forgotten it all. If I forgot my last four years, how would people remind me of it? Who was I only four years ago and what made me change so much? How similar or different would I be? I know I am a much different person now then I was back then and hopefully mostly for the better. It’s amazing the experiences I’ve had to chance into the person I am today including this semester in China. If someone told 17 year old me the things I have done, places I’ve been, and friendships I have made, I don’t think I would believe them. This last episode really made it evident the changes that we as people go through over time and when we live it we hardly recognize it. Even in the show I forgot how much the characters have changed and developed over time. Anyway, that’s my thought for the post. Hopefully I’ll post more often as I have several topics I’m thinking through at the moment. As always,

Thanks for stopping by!

Paddle boat! Of course I had to do that!

The place to be at night

Surprisingly good!

~Colin

Xiamen and the Year of the Dragon

My View

Hello all! Well, the weekend is just about wrapping up here in Xiamen and it’s actually Chinese New Year’s eve, but I’ll talk more about that later. It’s been interesting coming from Hong Kong to mainland China. Considering we visited both Hong Kong and Macau which are ‘technically’ part of China, I suspected they would not be too much different but I couldn’t be more wrong. For starters, the language is different. In Hong Kong they speak Cantonese compared to the Mandarin used here in Xiamen. People in China are a lot pushier, in the literal pushing sense. On our first day here I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up some vitamins and after figuring out how the system works (Pick your medicine, get a sheet written up, take it to the cashier, pay, take the receipt back to the other lady and get your product) I was in line at the cashier and quickly found out that if I allow more than three inches between me and the person in front, that spot will soon be filled. Hong Kong tended to be good about lines and personal space where as here both are of little concern. In Hong Kong as well almost everyone spoke a varying degree of English and here in the mainland it appears to be solely Mandarin. This is the first time I have gone into a culture with pretty much no way to communicate. 

Xiamen University Campus

One of the books we are reading for our Intercultural Communication class here speaks quite well of the language barrier; “From a man I was again degraded to the dependence of a schoolboy… and helpless and awkward as I have ever been. My condition seemed as destitute of hope as it was devoid of pleasure”. “Average, articulate adults, capable in so many other ways, who are suddenly transformed into virtual mutes, who can only nod and smile foolishly when addressed by well-intentioned, monolingual locals, find the experience demeaning. For all their competence, they feel – and in a sense, are – inferior to the three-year-old neighbour child who may still wet his pants but at least knows how to count to ten.” Thankfully, I have learned to count to ten! I was recently in the market and some kids were behind one of the counters and as I tried to talk to them in mandarin, they looked at me, laughed and then talked a mile a minute while I stood there and tried to explain I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. On my travels I have never felt at such a place where I could not even communicate a simple ‘Hello’ properly. 

Xiamen University Campus

“Language is the primary means of self-expression; when we don’t have language, the self does not get expressed. When the self can no longer be expressed, does it still exist?” I recently bought a cell phone at China Mobile and we went without any translator. All I could do was point at what I wanted, hand them money and figure out what I bought later. In the supermarket, I find I go completely into silence mode, I can’t ask where something is, I can’t even say excuse me or thank you. At the checkout, I only get as far as Ni Hao before they realize I can’t speak Mandarin and the conversation ends. They ask me if I need a bag as they cost extra and all it takes is a look at my blank expression and empty hands before they charge me for one and I go on my way. There is an extreme lack of connection when you can barely share a single word with each other. It is at points like this I am thankfully that I am doing this with a group with whom I can converse with in a slightly easier language. They say that people who are bi-lingual and bi-cultural tend to have different personalities depending on which language they are speaking and I can definitely see how that happens because how can you be yourself if you can’t express yourself. Even as competency in the language increases, your personality tends to focus around the words you know. 

All of this is starting to get better as I slowly learn words and I am now able to barter in the market which is a huge plus to my wallet! We start our proper Mandarin class in a week as the university is shut down for Spring Festival meaning no teacher yet. After a few of those classes I hope I will at least improve to a five year old!

Spring Festival Banquet

One of the most interesting aspects of being in China right now is the fact that it’s Spring Festival. And just actually! As I write this part I just got back from welcoming in the Year of the Dragon. Happy Chinese New Year. So every since we got to mainland China the majority of stores have been closed and the campus has been empty due to everyone going back to their homeland. It’s been a little difficult to get some things done but it all worked out in the end. Sunday at Midnight was New Years (it’s currently 12:26am and I still hear fireworks going off) and that marks the start of the Spring Festival which then lasts for 14 days until the next full moon when they celebrate the Lantern Festival. During these 14 days as well as ten days before and 10 days after, it is nearly impossible to get anything done. It is often compared to the 20^th of December until the 3^rd of January in North America. In order to make the international students feel welcome we were invited to a Chinese New Year Banquet earlier today which involved a 14 course meal. The food was pretty much everything including duck, dragon chicken, turtle, crab, squid, fish, and a few things we weren’t quite sure of. It was a good time. To properly welcome in the year of the dragon we did what most traditional Chinese do, watch the four hour program from Beijing. This show included everything from dancing and singing to break dancing robots and stand-up. It was quite the spectacle. All of China is in the same time zone so you have over 1 billion celebrating midnight at the same time. Although I’m sceptical, we were told about 90% of the population of China tunes in every year. (Update 1:03 and still fireworks)

I think that’s all I have for now but I have figured out how to access blogspot from China so I should be able to post frequently! As well, check out some of the pics included!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great year of the dragon,

 ~Colin

SO MUCH POCKY!!!!

Awesome building in a Buddhist Monastery

PS. All quotes pulled from "The Art of Crossing Cultures" by Craig Storti. I don't want SOPA coming after me!

Another Day, Another Stamp in the Passport

End of the weekend and what a weekend it's been. On Saturday the entire group headed over to Macau. It is interesting to compare Hong Kong and Macau considering they have a similar recent history but couldn't of had a more different past. Macau was settled by Portugal in the 16th century during what I assume is the peak of their power. From there it appears Macau has been almost ignored by Portugal and left to its own affairs. Macau lacks a metro type transit system an instead relies on buses. The streets are narrow and usually filled with people as the sidewalks are even narrower. After coming back to Hong Kong from Macau, Hong Kong seems empty. Hong Long developed as a wealthy city which can be seen in the money they put into their transit and parks while Macau seems to rely on money made from gambling. It's pretty much the Las Vegas of Asia. Macau also has some interesting church ruins which unfortunately fail to compare with Antigua. Later in the day I found myself in the History of Macau museum wandering around when two Chinese students came up to me and started talking. David and Ten, the students, are both second years in university in China and they were looking to practice their English. They both spoke English quite well and proved to be a great source of information regarding the history of Macau and China as a whole. I asked them what they thought as far as Hong Kong and Macau being a part of China and they both looked at me like I was stupid for asking such a thing. They both saw the cities as 100% China. Later in the day Taiwan also came up and again they both asserted it is without a doubt part of China. We also discussed the life of a student in China compared with the west and it was interesting how similar we are. Ten mentioned that he gets most of his cultural view of America from the TV show Heroes. They were both pretty shocked to hear that American students are not swimming in money. Once we left the museum it just so happened half the group was standing outside so I offered to introduce them to 'proper' Americans and while they were both excited they turned to me an asked, how do we greet them? Should we shake their hand? And while greetings were very American, being head nods, this just highlighted cultural differences.

On Sunday, after going to an English church I found myself in yet another museum, Hong Kong Museum of Art. It was fascinating to see both modern Chinese art as well as ancient pottery, some as old as 5000 years. Many of the modern paintings told the story of the incoming western culture versus traditional Chinese culture. My favorite was a room with a wilting lotus with white words of an English poem falling around it like snow. The story here is that while the west comes and wilts the lotus (Chinese culture) in the end the lotus never dies and the snow melts away. Seeing much of the art also helped to highlight the history and China and the importance of the dynasties. Every piece of art instead of getting an approximate date was given the dynasty from which it originated. Hopefully some of those names and dates stuck as this is how much of Chinese history works an will be important to know.

I have really enjoyed my time in Hong Kong and as much as I love this city I am excited to get to Xiamen on Wednesday and really get going.

Random thought: Chopstick rests are the greatest invention since urinals in pot-a-potties! (Let's not argue over which came first, it's really a chicken or egg thing)

P.S. I had some more pictures to include but the internet is choosing not to cooperate, I'll try and post them later.

What? I have to learn here?

Well, it's been a few days and the groups all here. Right now we are staying at a YWCA camp in the New Territories of Hong Kong, pretty much the exact opposite side of the city from where I stayed when I first got here. It's been interesting to compare my view of the city with the rest of the group. When we are out and about I have no problem wandering by myself and not knowing where I am. I would have to say this is one of the first cities I feel comfortable doing that so quickly. I've already seen the tall building and markets here so when the rest of the group is doing that I usually find myself wandering one of the many beautiful parks here. This city and I seem to sync pretty well and in discussion I've been asked if I would live here. The short answer would be not for long. I could do a year or two but in the end there are simply too many people. The one thing that rattles me the most here is how no one seems to notice me. After The Philippines and Guatemala I was kind of used to standing out and being noticed for it but here in Hong Kong I am just one of the crowd. White people aren't anything special or even noteworthy. It's freeing but a different experience as well.

One of the interesting parts in the group dynamics is how quickly I've become the guy and appears and disappears, who does his own thing. The scary part is I've been trying to avoid that this time but apparently to little avail. At this point it must be really who I am. But let me stop there, I'm not sure anyone wants to read the analysis of Colin.

In our classes we have started learning small cultural snippets as well as background to the Chinese language. Once we get to Xiamen out classes are actually going to really begin, which means 8 o'clock classes. Not looking forward to that part.

Our class today really focused on the Church in China and including a little history and what it looks like today. It's fascinating to hear all of this from our prof whose wife is a native Chinese and a member at a 3-Self Church. Often these churches are portrayed in North America as government run when really all they are are government registered. Due to its history China provides freedom of religion but also freedom from religion. While closer to the capital they might be a little more restrictive on the church, in most of China churches are free to do whatever they please. Chinese are allowed to be Christians and Christians are welcome but a foreign Christian must not try to convert Chinese. This comes back to the British in the 19th century.

I have also heard about bibles not being available there and while this may be true, it is for different reasons than many think. Bibles may be bought in any bookstore and are printed in Mandarin but the problem is the demand is too high. Many westerners feel they must try to smuggle bibles in but really its a lot cheaper to give money to a Chinese charity which will print them in China and disperse them. It appears the government is quite lax toward religion. I do have to warn this is currently all hear-say but from a fairly reliable source.

Random moment: After visiting the flamingos, which you naturally find in a Hong Kong park, climbing up the castle tower and then of course firing the canons they had there toward the invading Chinese. Random enough for you?

Leffe and a Lemur

I know I just did a post but the last one was suppose to go up last night. I'm finally sitting down to my first actual meal! Unfortunately for you, it still not anything near Asian. I found a little British place and ordered some fish and chips. Mock me all you will but I have four months to eat Asian cuisine and only a couple more hours to enjoy a Leffe while watching the crowd.

This morning in my meanders I went to Time Square. I pretty much only went there for the name but I found out its actually like a 14 story mall. Each floor is pretty small but it contained everything my western consumerist heart could desire. It's amazing the contrast in Hong Kong between the wealthy and poor and how little it appears to matter to people. I was walking down a street which I was certain was off the beaten track and a lot of whole in the wall shops when suddenly there was a Cartier dealership! I can't even find one of those in Calgary! And among the people there seems to be no real separation other than clothing.

One of the things that really fascinated me so far is the abundance of smart phones. I know it's Asia do its kind of assumed but when riding the subway a least 8 of 10 people are playing on their smartphone. With this is also how well Samsung is doing in Hong Kong with their Galaxy. I would guess at least 40% of the smartphone market is Galaxy with 50% being iPhones. Poor Blackberry is way far behind, I have yet to see one. 

I also love all the free stuff Hong Kong has to offer. Walking through the botanical gardens there's suddenly a little zoo in the middle (with monkeys, hence the name of the post)! The city never fails to surprise me. The government also offers free wifi at many of their prime tourist destinations which is always handy as well. After two days in the city I have rode more escalators than the rest of my life put together, walked far too many stairs, been lost countless times and ended up in some of the most wonderful places.  

Please forgive me as I try and get back into blogging mode, hopefully once life slows down a little it will be more deep thoughts and less... this. But tomorrow morning I meet up with the rest of the group so I'm pretty stoked about that and then next week it's off to Xiamen! Woot!

Thanks for stopping by!

Awkward moment of the day: being a Canadian sitting in a British pub in the middle of Hong Kong listening to Born in the USA

Day One: The First Day

Okay, so I haven't even been here 24 hours and yet I feel I know the island like the back of my hand. Maybe that's what happens when you don't bother to look at a map and just turn down random streets all morning. The main reason for my random turning was the fact I was looking for a cellphone. And the reason I was eagerly looking for a cell phone is another story. I attempted to take money off my debit card when I landed but unfortunately being awake for 27 hours limited my awareness to the fact pin pads in Hong Kong are opposite those of Canada. 1 is at the top and 9 is at the bottom. Muscle memory doesn't take the numbers into account and I locked myself out of my accounts and had to call the bank. Originally I didn't think this would be a huge problem as my credit card still worked but again, thinking only got me into trouble. I figured I could go without eating until I found a phone and work my way up to The Peak at the same time. And still I ran into problems as there were no cell phone shops in the area and once I made to the entrance for the tram for the peak, they too only accepted cash. Don't worry though, as I write this I'm about to board the tram all paid up.

There are a few interesting things I've notice in Hong Kong since I've been here. For starters, it's nice and humid!!! But it's also interesting how many people don't speak English. I'm not trying to be ethnocentric or say everyone should but considering Hong Kong was a British Colony just over 10 years ago, I didn't expect to have to point to the signs at McDonalds for what I want. Being an Asian country I also expected a little more of a smell but instead you get two different ones. There is still the smell of sewage that rises every once and a while buts its starkly contrasted with a strong smell of soap everywhere else. It is a beautiful city though and with all my random walking I have never felt unsafe. But maybe that's because I'm a good head above everyone else! :)

 

Part II: Post Peak!

It really is a beautiful city. It's nice after being the only white guy on a lot of streets this morning to blend in a little more but even still many white people were not speaking English. It's a very multicultural tourist destination. Out of the accents I could understand, probably 80% were Aussie. That was always welcome.

So after getting lost and ending up a few different place I came to settle at the pier where a guy came and asked me if we could talk so he could practice his English. He's a police officer up for promotion and the entire interview is in English. Even though Hong Kong now 'belongs' to China, all the official forms and top government stuff is in English.He also helped explain why I noticed not a lot of people who can speak English. People in Hong Kong have to learn English in school but of course, as many Canadians who have had to take French will tell you, this means nothing. Many children end up disliking learning English, much like my own experience with French, and either forgot it all or prefer not to speak it.

After he gave me advice as to where to go I finished watching the sunset then headed further into town to the Temple Street Night Market. I've been to a few different night markets in different countries and had high expectations for this one but was sadly disappointing. Over half the stalls were either iphone cases or Chopsticks. I guess I should complain too much as that is only what I was looking for. After buying a pair of chopsticks and a chopstick rest as well as a few iphone cases, I headed back to the pier to watch the Symphony of Lights. It's amazing to see the entire city put on a show for both tourists and locals alike. The place where I watched it played the music over loud speakers. It was pretty incredible. So far I would have to say Hong Kong really impresses me!

Thanks for stopping by!

CHINA!

Silly Kitty, not yet!

 Okay, so as most of you know, considering you're on my blog, I'm going to China for a semester! Woot! I know I really failed at the whole blog thing during Guatemala but this time I'm prepared! I've got a neat little app for writing my blog from my iphone as well I'm bringing my computer with me this time. As well, if any of you so desire to get in contact with me, I will be leaving my sim card at home, so no texting although I will still have iMessage, as well as email (colin_buschman@Hotmail.com) and I should be able to get my way into Facebook every once and a while. For for the most up-to-date coverage, tune in here. Oh, also, the plan is to put photos on instagram every now and then, so look for those too (CBuschman).

For those of you here but not exactly sure what I'm doing, I am studying in Xiamen for a semester with a program called Best Semester. I'll be focusing in Chinese Culture and learning things such as Chinese history and Mandarin as well as Tia Chi and traditional Chinese water painting. The program starts on January 11th and end late April but I will be spending a few days in Hong Kong before it starts as well as spending a couple weeks in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Singapore after.

I have already been given some interesting things to look for considering cultural and philosophical differences but if you have any questions or ideas of what I should be looking for, please let me know. Considering I'm leaving Saturday morning, I should probably get packing...

Thanks for stopping by!