Inner Mongolia

I had considered going to a city like Qingdao or Chengdu over break but opted to accompany my roommate and three other friends to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.


The really friendly workers at our hostel helped us plan and even accompanied us to our two activities in Inner Mongolia: the grasslands and the desert. I knew it was going to be cold in Hohhot, but I had no idea that it would be as freezing as it was. I'm pretty sure it was the coldest I've ever been. I had bought long underwear back in Beijing, and was wearing four or five jackets, two pairs of gloves and three pairs of socks and it was still freezing.

There was nothing man-made on this land other than our host family's tiny house. We walked around for a bit and saw wild horses (my friend said that the horses weren't actually wild... but I prefer to think that they are.) We were going to go horse-riding later that day, but we had to wait until the next morning. Not having much else to do, we stayed in the house and played a Mongolian game similar to jacks that involved tossing and picking up small sheep bones. For dinner we had Mongolian pie (similar to empanadas), sheep liver and intestines, and an array of vegetables. I tasted one tiny piece of liver to say I had tried it, but I filled myself on rice and veggies and had a PB&J later. That night we slept covered in a thousand blankets inside of a yurt (we were offered a heated room in the house but decided the yurt was a more worthwhile experience.) Horse-riding was so much fun, and it was made even better by the beautiful surroundings. It's something that I'll never forget.

I'm actually not sure which I enjoyed more, horse-back riding in the bleak tundra or camel riding the next day in the Gobi Desert. Thankfully the weather was much nicer in the desert - it was actually kind of hot. After riding around on my camel, which I named Jay-Z, for a couple of hours, we went sliding down sand dunes. I didn't even feel like in China. Even though we were only an hour-and-a-half plane ride away from Beijing, I felt like I was in a totally different world. Like this blog post, the trip to Inner Mongolia was long overdue. I needed the rest and I had an incredible time. I'll be home in two weeks to the day!

In other news, Thanksgiving this week was strange to say the least. Our teachers took us to an "American" restaurant for a buffet. Unfortunately I wasn't very hungry and did not eat my 80 kuai worth of food. Turkey is expensive and relatively hard to find in China, but ACC provided four large roasts for us, along with mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce. While the food was just so-so, the next day I went with some friends to a Japanese restaurant in Sanlituanr. I can't express how amazing this restaurant was. We paid 200 kuai each (about 30 American dollars) for unlimited steak, sushi, red wine and sake. So amazing.

Sexual Culture and Masculinity in China

Last spring I spent ten days in the outskirts of Santiago, Dominican Republic. One of the most shocking cultural differences I encountered between the United States and the DR is the value that the Dominican people place on machismo, and the overtly sexual nature of people's everyday interactions. The members of the community where my group and I lived threw parties for us three nights in a row, and every night the girls in my group dreaded being pressed up against and passed around by the Haitian and Dominican young men who lived in the Batay. Even more shocking, children as young as seven years old danced more provocatively than I have ever seen at any college party. We made friends with many of the young men during our stay, but I met no girls other than my host sister because they stayed indoors all day cooking and doing housework. One of the guys in the town said children there usually begin sexual activity under the age of ten.

While preparing for that trip, I read somewhere that the Dominican Republic's "machismo" culture is unmatched. In addition, I saw during my trip to Paris last summer that the stereotype of the flirty, googly-eyed and whistling Frenchman is not entirely without basis. But standards of masculinity also prevail in American culture, where a guy can earn man-points for "getting with" a lot of girls, having a muscular body, playing sports, etc.

I've learned during these past five months in China that this might just be one of the areas in which East and West differ the most.

(Note: This picture, found on Google Images, is actually of a Japanese man. But his hair is close enough to what I've seen here in Beijing.)

Perhaps most obviously, Chinese men's fashion choices would be considered "feminine" in the US. Some (not most) guys have long, razored and often dyed hair. Men's clothing is often fitted, colorful, and embroidered with zippers, chains, and sparkles. Men and their girlfriends often wear his-and-her matching T-shirts, and more often than not a guy will carry his girlfriend's heavy purse for her. Girls in China will frequently hold hands or hang an arm around one another while walking down the street to show that they're friends. Men are not this affectionate, but they do walk close enough to each other that I often do a "double take" to see if they are actually holding hands. (They never are.)

Lest you think that this clothing and behavior indicate social progressiveness, the Chinese are still for the most part pretty conservative. You see, to the Chinese, these characteristics aren't feminine at all - they're every bit masculine. An ignorant Westerner might accuse these men of being "gay," but that couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, most Chinese people are against homosexuality. It isn't talked about in polite company or shown on TV, and the mention of it in class is sure to elicit a giggle from the teacher.

In any case, young people in China do not date until after college. Their parents and teachers actually forbid them from having a relationship during school because it would distract them from their studies. When guys and girls dance at a bar or club here in Beijing, they dance very innocently, with little touching. Growing up, every time I saw my cousins from Ecuador they inevitably asked me about my history and experiences with girls and the like. American guys and the Dominicans in the Batay were the same way. But I've hung out with groups of Chinese boys here, and to my surprise they do not ask these kinds of questions. Those topics are personal.

Obviously, there are plenty of men in China that fit American standards of masculinity, like this body builder. But one of my teachers told me that Chinese girls are more attracted by a good-looking face than muscles or height. I wish America were a little more like this — that would definitely take pressure off of skinny guys like me!

P.S. It's official; I'm going to Inner Mongolia on Wednesday for my fall break!

The Elephant's Trunk in the Room

Today at our weekly lunch with the Chinese teachers, I posed to the teachers a question that I've had for a while: A lot of Americans find some of the things Chinese people eat to be "weird"... do Chinese people feel the same way about some American foods or customs?

Not really answering my question, one of my teachers (whom I like a lot) said, "Yes, your nose is weird! It's so big!"

The other students at the table immediately went silent. I immediately turned red and felt more embarrassed than I had in a very long time. I couldn't believe what she had said; it was possibly the most offensive things she could have said to me. She hadn't said that, in general, Westerners have larger noses; she had said that mine was. We all have our insecurities I guess, and that has been my own since middle school. In retrospect it sounds kind of silly. But her comment ruined the rest of the meal for me and I remained upset well into the afternoon.


Obviously, Jiang Laoshi hadn't meant to offend me. In fact, earlier in the day she had complimented me on my smile and a few weeks ago she told me that I was the best student in my grade-level. We told her that in America, making a comment like that was extremely impolite, and she brushed it off, saying "Ooh I see," and not appreciating that her words had actually been hurtful. Then another teacher said that Chinese people believe that if a person has a large nose, it means they have a lot of money, "but that it's not en exact science."


I considered accosting her after lunch and telling her how she had made me feel but didn't. I'm not sure if I'll mention it to her again. Chalk it up to cultural differences I guess.

Victory!!

Congratulations to my father, New Milford's newest councilman!

Being in China didn't stop me from voting. I'm so proud of you and happy your hard work paid off! I wish I could have been at the celebration.

A Huge Undertaking & An Unplanned Rant

According to an article I just read on Yahoo! News, China kicked off the national census today. My teachers haven't mentioned it to us, so I totally forgot about these signs I saw over the summer:


True to form, these banners for the census emphasize the harmony it will bring to China. I'm pretty sure the census takers are looking to count every foreigner living in China as well, so I'll be included in the count. What a cool thing to be a part of. Apparently the Miss World competition was also in China just a few days ago (Miss USA won), but unfortunately the beautiful contestants did not visit the Great Wall on the same day we did.

After I read the article about the census, I scrolled down to read some of the comments. I don't know why I do that to myself; it just causes unnecessary stress. People can be so frustratingly close-minded and just stupid!

Posted by Kathy 39 minutes ago:

"What this articles does not mention. If you don't answer the questions, you go to jail. If the census worker finds out you lied, you go to jail. If the census worker or your neighbor doesn't like you, you go to jail."

Good ol' patriotic Golden Eagle had this to add:

"Are they including our census!
Accuracy going to be like ours!
False
Impossible to count correctly when most foreigners live on top of each other.
Known Fact!"

And of course Carty had to go here....

"At least China doesn't have 30 million illegal immigrants from Mexico that don't answer their door for the census. Only time they come out is to send their kid to school for free, or take them to the emergency room, for free. (or shoot someone)"

What the hell? I love America to no end but comments like these make me not love Americans so much.

Kind of related:

This summer I realized that it's difficult and insensible to characterize the Chinese people, or the people of any single country, because you can't help but use your own upbringing as a gauge of normality. In addition, there are so many things that you might never even realize about a place because you so expect certain results that you are blind to everything else.

Every once in a while I read other Light Fellows' blogs and I am surprised at how their accounts of China and Chinese life differ. One student wrote that to his surprise, Chinese people didn't eat very much rice at all, while another student wrote that he was already sick of all the rice he's been forced to eat. Another student was delighted with how friendly and attentive the waiters and waitresses in China are, while another student wrote that the service here stinks. I've written often about how the pushing, shoving, and cutting in line here KILLS me, while another girl remarked just the other day that the Chinese are so respectful.

Were these people all in the same country? It's remarkable how everyone who visits here gets a different impression and formulates different opinions. I know I've complained about certain things in China before - real juice is expensive and hard to find! People here don't eat cheese! There's terrible air pollution! But I love China. And when I get back to America I'll definitely have complains now that I know how things in China are. People are way way way too materialistic! Our population is fat and bad at math! People eat dumplings with soy sauce instead of vinegar!

Anyway, our textbook over the summer had a chapter on how Chinese people are "polite" while Americans are "blunt," so the problem clearly exists on both sides. It was great for teaching us new vocab words, though.

Other things:

• I tried donkey meat, cow stomach, and rabbit the other day! I wish I could say they were all delicious, but the donkey was much too fatty, the stomach was tasteless and uncomfortably chewy, and the rabbit was exactly like chicken in every way and so just made me feel guilty about eating a cute animal.
• I'm trying No-Shave November this year.
• Our fall break is next weekend and I'm currently planning where to go. Maybe Chengdu, Harbin, or Inner Mongolia.
• Got A's on both my midterm and oral midterm.
• The leaves here are turning bright gold. It's beautiful.