The art of getting your deposit back.

Today I moved out of my first apartment in China! This was a grand ordeal. It was really easy to clean up my apartment (I don't have very many things here) and I helped my flatmate. Tiancheng came and helped me move my suitcase and bag to my new apartment, and I kept with me an overnight bag and my 书包 (backpack).

Here is the catch. I can't move into my new apartment until tomorrow. Tonight I am crashing at my good friend John's apartment (he was born in the same hospital as me in Princeton!) with him and his fab German roommates Antonia and Marlena. We are having a great chinese study party in which Antonia and Marlena are doing their homework which is about difficulties in life. The difficulties in life are being paralyzed. Woo so applicable. I'm watching《逗你玩儿》 while eating celebratory noodles. I'm performing《逗你玩儿》next week. ahhh. John is muttering to himself about 饺子(dumplings).




So what happened with my apartment was that the agency stops owning it on the 30th. Which is tomorrow. Therefore me and my flatmates had to move out by today. This was problematic because to have an even 6 weeks and not get charged a ridiculous amount for my new apartment, I had to move in on the 30th. I was able to move my stuff there, but I can move in officially tomorrow morning. Because the original price of my apartment was "supposed" to be 4000 kuai the official quote for every night was over 150 kuai (which is ridiculous). I got it down to 3000 plus an extra 500 for internet, all utilities, fresh drinking water, cleaning service twice a week, and for other random things. It's a much nicer apartment and I'll post pictures tomorrow when I move in!

Today I had to get my deposit back, turn in my key, and get my room inspected (in the exact opposite order as I typed it). The guy kept calling me and trying to get it earlier, but I had class and my teacher yelled at him and told him to give me my deposit back and to come at 6 pm. I had everything packed up, ready, and cleaned by 6 pm and he came, early of course. He then took us to the office where we were supposed to turn in our keys and get our deposits back. However his boss tried cheating us on what we were supposed to say. My contract (the second one to be signed for our apartment) was substantially cheaper for utilities than Michiel's and Jose's. However they were trying to make each of us pay for the utilities. So that got straightened out. The thing was though, I already paid for our gas and water previously so we shouldn't have been charged for gas and water. I argued for awhile and then they also wanted to charge a 100 kuai cleaning fee, but I argued with them more and then went cleaned more while Jose argued with them. Me and Jose both got our fees taken away. The lady boss left, but didn't give the workers enough money to pay for my deposit, so I got really annoyed. I showed the lady the math two times and she was just like math doesn't work like that. And I was literally just like what. in. the. So I went over with the main man and my landlord and they were both like your math is right. But then they only had 2900. They still owed me 45 kuai and were just like come back tomorrow, come back tomorrow. In China, that is never a good idea. I argued with them for awhile, and then he was just like 操你吗 which means fuck your mother. I was just like 你说什么？！ (You just said what?!). Then I called my teacher, Li Mei, who is pretty boss and a little bit older than me and explained what was going on and she yelled at them for a little bit. Then to finally make all the arguing end the chill boss guy ended up giving me another 100 kuai and I gave him 55 kuai. In the end I got 2945 kuai out of my 3000 deposit, so pretty good.

TL;DR = Spent 3 hours arguing trying to get my full 3000 kuai deposit back (plus pay the correct amount for utilities) and ended up getting 2945 kuai. Woo!

Thanksgiving (Part 1)

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!
I just said y'all - what is Beijing doing to me?!

Anyways on with the show...

Today was my first Thanksgiving away from family. HOWEVER, I have a Beijing family and we had a small Small group Thanksgiving dinner at my friend Christy's apartment. There were about 15 of us there and we all made something. I helped Christy make a bunch of casseroles (who knew these were so important for Thanksgiving - sup south) and I made some cranberry lovin, because I loveeee cranberries. It was a great time and just I really felt connected to all of these people and America lovin'! My brit friend brought a huge American flag to dinner! (and a smaller British flag haha).

Also today I tried teaching my students about Thanksgiving to mixed results. My first class understood, but didn't understand hand turkeys. My second class was the opposite. Le sigh.

I'm thankful for the friends and family I have here in Beijing, and my family and friends back home and abroad. I love all of you :)

丁丁历险记 - The Adventures of TinTin!

I just got back from seeing my first movie in English. I saw Tin Tin in 3-D and English, but with Chinese subtitles! I didn't really remember much about Tin Tin, but for those Americans reading this, it's a lot like Indiana Jones. Steven Spielberg actually liked Indiana Jones a lot and someone told him that it was based off of Tin Tin, as my wise friend Immy told me - who is bloody obsessed with it (she's British, what can I say?). It was a nice 3-D movie in the fact that it wasn't the real-D 3-D (so no left-handed and right-handed glasses) and it didn't give me a headache!

I rode there on the back of Tom's bike :o. Tom is a brit studying at the tv university? It's the film and television university or something like that, but he's studying language. He's a super fast biker and I was just sitting on the back metal part hoping I wasn't going to die, haha. But we got there really fast and just in time to meet up with a huge group of people.

I've heard a lot of negative things about the chinese movie experience that people will just answer their phones, play with their iPads, just generally being loud and what not. I didn't really experience that, but then again I went to a foreign movie with a bunch of foreigners. There were some people talking for a little bit, but they got quiet pretty fast.

Favorite phrases:
Ten thousand typhoons!

Haddock: "Do you know how to fly this thing?"
Tintin: "Don't worry, I interviewed a pilot once."

Also I just checked out IMDB and it's not out in the states yet. go see it, it's great!

Out of sight, out of mind as a member of a sorority abroad.

Some of you may know I am in a sorority, others may not. I am, in fact, in one. It has been interesting to see the reactions of many people when they hear that I am in a sorority. You can generally either see the confusion written on their face or an “Oh I expected that” face. With some people I normally get the “sorority girls are sluts at my school,” which, you know, is always great to guess what they are insinuating. People join Greek life for a variety of reasons, which can range from wanting more friends or to do more activities or with some to have more people to drink with.

Before joining a sorority I was pretty anti-Greek life. The previous sentence structure “Before x happened” generally implies a change – however I’m not entirely sure what my change in thought is. I think for most people, sorority life is a crutch. You want new friends, you want to be more popular on campus, you want to be more involved, you want sisterhood, etc. The list goes on and on. I think sororities can be great things for some people and really benefit their lives and the community around them. Sororities and Greek life can do great things, but they also have a negative impact on others on campus as well. Social Greek life is based off of being exclusive – only so many people are allowed in. You have to be charming, and put together, academically successful, and involved on campus – the cream of the crop if you will. All of this, plus being compatible with the people in sororities. Do they like the same things you like? What’s different about you? What’s special about you? The results of this are twofold – on one hand it’s really positive because it gets together a similar group of girls with similar interests, that might not always meet. I know that I forged many connections and friendships with people that I might not otherwise talk to. On the other hand it can also cause some disharmonious relationships between people that shouldn’t exist. Oh she’s in that sorority, or oh he’s in that fraternity – they’re all whores or assholes or insert any other degrading word. Another aspect I think is negative is the rejection people receive from sororities. This can be from people who spend more time with those in their sorority and start to neglect older friendships, or from girls who are rejected from sororities they are in love with, or rejection of people based on their stereotype of Greek life or stereotypes Greek life has given them. Stereotypes have to start somewhere and there is a grain of truth in them.

I’ve had many conversations with people in and out of Greek life about Greek life and one thing that has continually resurfaced is friends within it. I have had times where I have been disgruntled with “friends” , but other times where I am completely happy with the friends I have made. The common thread is that obviously, not all of them are going to your good friends, or even friends when you are in it. That is just not possible. However the friendships that I had before joining my sorority and some that I forged after joining have become rock-hard friendships. I can depend on them for anything and I think that is something that is definitely an advantage of GL. It gives us another thing we can talk about, something we can do forever, tradition. I think that GL isn’t necessary for forming rock-hard friendships, but I can definitely see how it helped. Long after my days of college are over, these people will still be my friends and we will still be able to share this.

I can count on one hand the people in my sorority that have asked me about being in China and how I’m doing. Do people care? Some do, others don’t. The people that have contacted me have made my day when I saw it. For the most part though being in a sorority is out of sight, out of mind. I can’t even believe how frustrating it is to see that you’re basically useless to them now and are being replaced. That is life though and one must move on. It sucks when you send an email out, and maybe one or two people out of 80 respond. Or when you’re the only person abroad and you’re big is one of the four seniors (2 of which who have already taken littles) takes another little. Out of the four seniors one never had one, the other’s little is no longer in the sorority, one already had one, and one had one abroad. It’s not so much that I minded my big taking another little, it was more so that being the only person in my sorority abroad and with other people who have never taken littles, why is it my big took another? Just as a note: my big was begged because there was a shortage of potential bigs - she’s not terrible, I promise! Why couldn’t someone else step up that has never taken one? It definitely feels like being replaced, even though me and my big are tight. It is hard keeping up with what’s going on with my sorority from a different country for many reasons – what information is sent out, where I am, the time difference, etc. It’s frustrating to see how such a positive thing (me going to China) is limiting me back home because I am not physically there. It’s frustrating to get emails that you can’t do anything about because you’re abroad, and disheartening to get almost impersonal and cold emails – but how else would they be able to phrase it? Being abroad has magnified problems I had before I left and frankly, it sucks. There are many days while in China where I just don’t want to hear anything about my sorority. At all. My sorority has literally been the thing that has made me the unhappiest in China for a variety of reasons. It has also made me happy on other days, but not to the same extent on the spectrum as it has made me sad. It’s not the same when you can’t be there to defend yourself or even say anything when you don’t even get a chance, but why should I constantly have to do that? I also know on the other hand that people in my sorority love me and defend me as well – it is just hard to know about when you are abroad.

As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent,” is something I’ve really taken to heart recently. Being far removed from things at home has lead me to really take a step back and re-evaluate things. Is my big taking another little that important? No. Was I hurt at the time? Yes. Am I now? No, because it’s not really that important once I understood what was going on. Have the people who contacted me from my sorority impacted me? Yes. Most in a very positive way, and I’m so grateful I’m friends with them or that they reached out to me! It definitely changed my perspective. I think it’s just the smaller things when you’re abroad that you notice more. I still love my sorority and how it has positively impacted my life by solidifying friendships, forming new connections and for various other reasons, but wish that it would also stop negatively influencing my life as well. But that is like anything in life, really.

Silk Market

This morning I had the unique experience that is the silk market. I actually don't find it to be the best market in Beijing by any means. It was an interesting experience though, and I feel like I learn a lot of functional chinese while I'm at places like that because I practice a lot. I have realized that I can really get into bargaining here, which is something I never really do at home. I think it's because I really dislike feeling like I am getting screwed over, which is something that happens a lot in China. Therefore I know that my price is good if the shopkeeper tends to get upset.

Rule of thumb: You normally take the original price and divide by 10 - and that should be the price you pay. If you pay 2-3 times the 10% it is okay, but the rest is a rip off. I did okay. Got a nice leather bag today.

My days are long and filled with around 7 hours of class (at least on Thursdays) and a bunch of activities. Today I had small group at my friends house and I stopped by the 5 Spot on the way home because I didn't really eat today. My friend Denise was having a little party at the 5 Spot which is this bar/restaurant above two of the main clubs in WDK. I ended up getting free pizza (score!) and supporting my friend, so boss! Now I just want to pass out ha. I have work tomorrow doing transcription for this Chinese company. Woooo.

Hope all is well with everyone.
xx,
Sarah

Getting Chinese Medicine: Successful.

Today I helped my flatmate, Jose, order food in Chinese (aka I asked him what he wanted - okay I told him he should try nan chou rou (basically naan (bread) plus delicious meat - and ordered for him.)

Then after this he told me he wanted medicine for his cold. Everyone in Beijing is getting sick right now, only 4 people (myself included) showed up to class today. We stopped by Lotus which is this huge supermarket, but they don't sell medicine there.

There is this pharmacy in the bottom of our apartment complex, but on the other side. We went there and I was able to describe his problems in Chinese (+1 Level for me!) and I learned new words today. 一次3粒，一日2次 Means 3 pills, two times during the day.
粒 = (li = pill)
一次几粒＝ each time x pills
一日几次＝ each day x times
x= any number (几）

Wooooo success!
I now have something called
感冒清热胶囊 （Ganmao qingre jiaonang)
Which from what I can tell helps alleviate head problems from sinuses, but isn't pseuophedrine (like Sudafed).


We shall see how this goes. Tomorrow I want to go to the hospital (well I might go to Sanlitun tomorrow to see if I can get my computer battery fixed, so maybe friday morning).

xx,
Sarah

I got to close the doors to the Forbidden City.

I got the rest of my grades back and I did really well in speaking and Comprehensive (damn you listening...). Whoooo, I can definitely notice my speaking and listening (in real life) improving. And writing too. I can communicate like a normal person, instead of a 5 year old!

I also found a new apartment because the lease is up on this one on the 29th (in the middle of the week, strangely enough) and because a) the heating in this apartment is terrible b) there may or may not be cockroaches and mold in parts of this apt c) I found one with a non chinese bathroom!!! d) this is right by a major intersection in Haidian which means it's constantly loud and the only quiet time I have heard so far is from 4-5 am.

*for those that don't know: Chinese bathrooms are basically bathroom with the toilet and the showerhead next to each other without separation, and there tends to be really bad drainage for the shower. I'll take a picture and put it up.

This weekend was pretty amazing. :) Friday I went to this really good South Korean place with my friend Mei Lan and we got cake afterwards at this hidden place. :o I spent Friday night with my friend Christy making food for her class on Saturday morning and we made cupcakes and had a SNL night. Saturday I finally went to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. I went with my classmate from Allegheny, Luke. We joked around and had fun. The Forbidden City was mainly cleared out which was awesome! Here are some pictures:

After that I ended up getting dinner at this really 好吃 place with Christy and we met up with our friend John and Lush. Lush was pretty crowded so we ended up going to Pyro and just getting a pitcher. Pyro had a throwback playlist of feel good songs, so we were singing and having a good time for most of the night. John then decided that he wanted to go to this club next door, Propaganda for ten minutes. Of course we ended up staying there for longer, but it was possibly the worst dj-ing I have ever heard.

Sunday I went to BICF and then we all grabbed lunch at La Bamba, which has the cheesiest quesadillas in Beijing. It's an okay place but it smells kind of bad. :/ I met up with some friends at Lush and then I went shopping for gifts for friends and family with Mohammed at YaShou market in Sanlitunr.

Overall successful weekend.

Work harder.

Depressing day. I had my tingli (listening) midterm and did okay. And by okay I mean not near my best at all, and I can only work harder from here. Read B-, my lowest grade since being in China (and kills my current A in the class). I have problems when listening tape recordings to hear the correct tones, but I just need to practice more and more with tape recordings. Normally I don't have a problem when listening to people talk in real life, but then I use their facial expressions and hand movements and context clues to understand what they are saying and figure what the meaning of the word is. I think tingli class frustrates me a little bit, because it seems the least useful to me in terms of being able to listen well to Chinese. A lot of the situations we talk about are things that wouldn't normally come up so it feels like I apply it the least in real life. However that is my fault and I will work harder to listen better.

Tomorrow is speaking (koyu) and comprehensive. I am pretty prepared for koyu (we were given the questions and the topics that we had to know about) and comprehensive is iffy at the moment because I need to review the earlier chapters vocabulary. I am going to continue to review and make sure I'm not mixing up characters, but I am pretty sure about the grammar.

One thing that I've noticed that is radically different in China from the United States is the attitude that students have. Students here generally work harder and blame themselves and not the teachers when they get a bad grade. When I teach my students will visually reprimand themselves when they get things wrong and almost shame themselves, whereas you would never really see that in America.

Aaand back off to study. Hope all is well.
xx,
Sarah

Pictures from around my apartment

Beijing is getting colder and colder. 北京越来越冷。Therefore I went to the Korean market by me that my friend Mei Lan suggested (she will be in the picture with me).

This is what you see once you walk out my door into my little corner of the universe.


Sorry it's not rotated...blogspot isn't letting me at the moment. This is the building across from me (and it's an abnormally smog free day).



There is a bike seller right by me. I really want the green wheels on that yellow bike. It would be sweet.



This is the line for a popular Red Bean cake. It's always this crowded.


This bike has been here since the beginning of time.


This is the shop again selling the red bean cake.


A broken sign


China's version of Chipotle. (Run by a Canadian)


MY FAVORITE. This is a baozi (or maozi) store and I always get really good and really inexpensive meat pie esque things.


The way to the korean market by me


Me and Mei Lan


Just some people shopping.








An awesome bakery by me :) (Well...korean esque bakery, not what you would really think of back home.)

Over and out,
Sarah

Some pictures from the Great Wall and around

I'm taking a study break at the moment, so I'll put up some pictures. I have midterms tomorrow and Friday - Tingli (listening) tomorrow, Comprehensive and Speaking on Friday. Now that I cleaned my room and did my laundry and organized everything I can commence studying and listening to a ton of Chinese to really absorb whatever I didn't absorb at this point. (i.e. listen to the cd for a hour or so and mark down and review vocab and get a good night's rest).

Here are some Great Wall pictures:


This is our awkward family photo. L to R Me, John, Lissa.


Doing the China squat, you will get good at this after about a month of being here.


It's so pretty in the fall! And there was no one there because it rained/snowed in the morning.


The steps are as high as my knee!

xx,
Sarah

It's a small world (世界太巧了！）

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but China is a really really small world. I live in Wudaokou, which is in the University District. While on the street one day near my house, Marin, an Allegheny grad saw me! She sent me a message on fb and we got lunch.

I've been meeting up with a fair amount of Allegheny people over here. Just last night I got dinner with Tiancheng and Shan at hotpot (Tiancheng's favorite - every time we get food, we get hot pot!). This xiabuxiabu was nice in the fact it didn't play the rip off numa numa song. At the xiabu xiabu across the street from my apartment they just changed numa numa to xiabu xiabu. It makes you want to kill someone while you are eating because they play it on loop while you're there for a hour. Tiancheng and Shan were both my housemates at Allegheny (or flat mates, you bloody brits are infiltrating my English!) and we had a grand ol' time. Basically I practiced my Chinese and they practiced their English. They also taught me a bunch of fun (i.e. slang) words and I taught them some from my extensive knowledge of colloquial English.

Phrases I have learned in the past month or so: (a lot, but good ones)
Need to: 需要 （xuyao）（ie 我妈需要发我我的医药）（my mom needs to send me my medicine）
Sleep well：一个好好休息 （or have a good rest）
Really？： 真的吗？ （zhen de ma？）
Turn it up：开小一点儿 （for music or radio － kai xiao yi dianr）
Turn it down：关小一点儿 （guan xiao yi dianr）
Can I try —————— on： 我可以试试件——吗？（wo keyi shi shi jian —— ma？）

I'm at that point where I finally integrated into China (somewhat) and I'm not really missing stuff at home right now. There are some things I miss, but I appreciate the things I'm getting here in China. Well it's more like I miss some things from home, but I'm not letting it ruin what I have here. There are advantages and drawbacks to both.

One of the most important things I've learned here is that don't feel tied down with what you are doing at home. There are so many things you can do in this world. If you are unhappy with what you are doing, change it! I knew I wanted to go to China, and there were many roadblocks in my way, but I made it here. Experience the world, you'll learn a) how small it is and b) your world at home isn't as perfect or bad as you make it out to be.

Much love from China,
Sarah