Wofford College - Study Abroad

"Rebirth" and Recovery

November 10, 2008

I’ve recently recovered from a two week period of midterms and projects, so I apologize for not updating sooner.  So much has been happening here recently, as well as in the States, but I will do my best to catch you up on the last few weeks of my life in Beijing…  IES is all about seeing and experiencing China, so a couple of weekends ago we had what IES calls the “mobile classroom.”  Students had five trip options to choose from and groups were formed on a first-come-first-serve basis.  By this I mean, the minute the clock rang 12:10pm there was a stampede of students in the IES hall way shoving their way to the sign up sheets on the activity room door.  I didn’t think it was worth getting a black eye over, so needless to say I was placed with my last choice, Wutaishan.  I didn’t mind, though, because two of my good friends were on the same trip and I knew we would have fun wherever we went.  Not to mention, IES has amazing Chinese teachers and it is always fun to spend time with them outside of the classroom.  Most of our teachers are only a few years older than us, so they are very familiar with Western culture and provide an interesting insight into the younger generation of Chinese.

Wutaishan is a very small, very cold town west of China.  The main attractions include the mountains (it’s a good thing I enjoy hiking), trees (which by this time have already turned grey and brown), and Buddhist temples as far as the eye can see.  The main focus of our trip was to learn about Buddhism in China, so we visited several different Buddhist temples and monasteries.  The thing about Buddhist temples is, most of them are in the mountains, so in order to get there you must first climb the mountain.  Needless to say I got a great work out that weekend. 

On our first day in Wutaishan we climbed many stone steps to a temple on the mountainside.  From the outside the temple had no particularly distinctive characteristics to separate it from other  temples, but once inside we discovered why this temple was so special.  This temple housed a special cave which had attracted several other Chinese tourists and Buddhist monks.  As we stood in line to enter the cave we noticed that everyone came out of the cave laughing.  We were greatly confused because we couldn’t imagine what could be so funny about a Buddhist cave.  Well, finally we reached the front of the line and discovered why everyone was laughing.  The entrance to the cave is a small hole so in order to enter the cave you must crawl through the hole.  Apparently coming back through the hole is supposed to symbolize your rebirth.  Honestly, when people were being squeezed and pushed out it did kind of look like the rock was birthing them.  There were three monks in front of us, but one of them was a little heavy.  He tried so hard and the other monks were pushing him from behind but he just could not make it through the hole.  I was afraid he would get stuck!  I tried (with little success) not to laugh.  When my turn came I literally had to go in hands first and wriggle my way through.  Even then I needed help getting my legs through.  Once inside we found ourselves in a tiny little room with rocks and a little shrine to Buddha.  Only about four people could fit in the cave.  I’m a little claustrophobic, so I escaped as quickly as possible.  Buddhism has many rituals and practices that Westerners would consider strange, but I think even the Chinese found this one amusing.  It was an interesting experience to say the least.

The original schedule in Wutaishan included a lecture, an hour of meditation with the monks, a meal with the monks, and an open ended discussion with a monk.  The temple ended up having a special guest from another province speaking that same day so we didn’t get our lecture or meditation session.  We did, however, get to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to eat breakfast with the monks.   I’m not sure if this is true of all Buddhist monks, but these monks were the fastest eaters I have ever seen.  Buddhists don’t eat meat, so the meal consisted of potatoes, porridge and bao zi (a Chinese dish similar to dumplings).  Those of you who know me have probably noticed that I am a fairly slow eater, so this meal was particularly difficult for me.  Not kidding, the monks were in and out of the dining hall within 15 minutes.  There was no speaking involved, just eating.  I’m not sure if this applies to all Buddhists, but these monks obviously don’t place the same emphasis on eating that Americans do.  It seemed more like a chore than an enjoyment.

The night before we had the opportunity to interact with one of the monks and ask him questions.  Before our question and answer session my Chinese professors asked one of my fellow classmates to give us an introduction to Buddhism.  He has been practicing Buddhism for the past two years so he knew the background and basic principles of Buddhism extremely well.  Coming from a white middle class Christian background I know very little about Buddhism or any other Eastern religions for that matter.  I’ve studied Buddhism and Daoism in some of my Chinese classes, but actually visiting a monastery and interacting with Buddhist monks has given me a deeper understanding of its characteristics.  I won’t lie, I still don’t understand most of Buddhism’s principles and I don’t think I ever will.  My beliefs are very different from that of Buddhism, but even though I have no desire to practice Buddhism I think it’s important for anyone living in a foreign country to familiarize themselves with local beliefs and customs.  Buddhism has such a large influence in Chinese culture and in order to understand a culture’s practices and characteristics you must understand the source from which they derive. 

We took the overnight train from Wutaishan back to Beijing, arrived at Bei Wai around 9am and started class at 10am.  The next day we had a 400 character essay due about our weekend trips.  Then on Friday we had to give a 15 minute powerpoint presentation (in Chinese of course) about our trip.  The next week I had two midterms and a video to complete.  IES keeps us busy, but I refuse to let that prevent me from seeing and experiencing Beijing.  That Saturday I went with my history class to visit the Forbidden City.  My history professor does some of his research at the Forbidden City so he is very familiar with the layout.  It was very exciting to tour the Forbidden City with someone so knowledgeable about Chinese history.  Our professor pointed out several interesting details of the emperor’s life inside the walls of the Forbidden City, for example, out of all the 9,999.5 rooms (apparently in China it’s possible to have half a room) there are no bathrooms or dinning rooms.  If the emperor had to go to the bathroom his servants would just bring him a chamber pot, and when he was ready to eat they would just bring a table and set up his feast wherever he happened to be at the time.  The Forbidden City covers an immense amount of space, so we only saw a small portion in the few hours that we visited, but it’s always so amazing to see a place after reading and studying about it.  Personally experiencing a place always gives such a clearer understanding of it.  One of the greatest advantages of studying abroad is having the opportunity to experience for yourself another culture and environment.  I think learning about China’s history and China’s culture has given me such a deeper understanding of my own culture and background.  I know I still have a long way to go, so I’m going to do my best to see and experience as much as I can in this last month.

Busy in Beijing

October 24, 2008  

Hey everyone!
I know it has been a while, but Beijing has been keeping me busy!  After our two week trip we were overloaded with class work, I almost felt like I was back at Wofford.  Not really, but I imagine Milliken is packed with students right now studying for midterms just as I am.  I’m still enjoying Beijing, but it’s little thoughts like this that trigger homesickness.  I haven’t had too much time to be homesick, though.  Two weekends ago we had an overnight trip to the Great Wall.  We had a rough start due to some logistic difficulties, and by this I mean there were too many people and not enough seats on the bus.  Once we finally reached the Great Wall, though, we had a really good time.  The Great Wall is divided into several different sections and you have to buy a ticket every time you enter a new  section.  We went to one of the lesser touristy parts called Simatai.  This particular portion of the wall has had very little restoration work so the climb was a little rougher than I expected.  Parts of the wall were very easy and comfortable to walk on, but at other points we literally had to use hands and feet to climb the steep stone steps.  After several hours of climbing through rubble and stone we reached our final destination – the ice cream stand.  Ok, the ice cream wasn’t really our final destination, but it was an excellent reward for all of our hard work.  That night we stayed with a family in a nearby village.  The next morning we were supposed to wake up at 4:30am to hike to the top of the Great Wall to watch the sunrise.  My room missed the wake up call, so at 4:40am our host mom rushed into the room to wake us up.  Confused and exhausted we grabbed our things and scrambled out the door.  With a guide leading us we literally sprinted up the path for about 15 minutes to catch up with the group.  Not only was it extremely early and cold outside, but as you can imagine it was pitch black and we couldn’t see our own footsteps.  It was probably better that we couldn’t see though, because the parts of the path had very steep drop offs and it wasn’t until later when we climbed down the mountain in the daylight that we realized how dangerous the path actually was.  The hike was supposed to only take 45 minutes, but with a group of over 40 students you can probably imagine that it took much longer than that.  As we drew closer to the peak the sky began to brighten and we feared that we would miss the sunrise.  The higher we climbed the steeper the path and the more tired we became.  Being the clumsy person that I am, I tripped and fell many times.  I slid down a mud slope and nearly took out the girl behind me.  We literally had to run up the path and grab onto trees to prevent from rolling back down.  It was intense, but we finally made it to the top in time to settle down and enjoy the sunrise.  I’ll admit I was a bit disgruntled by the end of the hike, but watching the morning sun peek over the mountain top in the distance and brighten the Great Wall below us made it all worth while.  I put on my headphones, turned on my ipod and just enjoyed God’s beautiful creation.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the busyness of every day life, wherever you are, but it was nice just to sit and enjoy.  It was so relaxing until we realized that we had to climb back down the mountain. The hike down was probably more difficult than the climb up, but we all made it with no broken bones!
    Last weekend I was especially blessed, though, because I got to spend the weekend with three other Wofford students!  You may think that this sounds very unlikely, and it is.  Spencer Smith and I are the only two Wofford students studying abroad in Beijing right now, but Wofford students have a tendency to find each other in foreign countries, so when Paul and Jonathon came to Beijing we made it a priority to meet up.  Paul Wood recently graduated and as a product of Wofford’s amazing Chinese department is now living in Shanghai and looking for a job.  Jonathon Hufford, our current Presidential scholar, has been traveling in China for the past couple of weeks and stopped in Beijing for a few days.  It was such a joy to see some familiar faces.  We reminisced about times at Wofford and shared some of our fun/scary experiences abroad with each other.  We all laughed at how strange it was for four Wofford students to randomly meet in Beijing.  That’s just a testament to the kind of unique and amazing opportunities that a Wofford education gives students.  It was great to see them, but it made me just a little more homesick.  I think every study abroad student has those moments where they think, “wow, this is such an amazing experience and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” Then you miss your bus because you can’t squeeze through the crowds of people at the bus stop or get into a taxi to find that you still can’t communicate to the driver how to get back to your house and you think, “What am I doing here, I should be back at Wofford playing Frisbee right now!”  Though I’ve had some highs and lows here in China, I’ve already learned so much about the Chinese culture and people and about myself as well, and it’s only half way over!  I feel that the next half will pass very quickly, though, so for now I’m just trying to soak it all in and enjoy these experiences.

Back to Beijing

September 27, 2008

We arrived in Beijing at 3am yesterday morning and after two weeks of nonstop travel it feels good to be back in Beijing. The past two weeks have been exciting, exhausting, eye-opening and so much more. I’m still trying to process all that we encountered and experienced on our journey. I think the purpose of this trip was to show us the vast cultural and environmental diversity across China. It worked. We covered a very large distance and experienced a lot of Chinese culture, but I know there is so much more to learn and understand. 

    We started out in Xi’an where we visited the site of the Terracotta Warriors and ended up in Xinjiang province where from the top of a mountain we could see Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia in the distance. I now have a much better appreciation for the difficulties the Chinese government faces in trying to unite a country with so much diversity. Beijing is a very modern city and is still rapidly changing and adapting. Most of China, however, has not taken the same path as Beijing. Many of the cities or villages that we visited rarely receive foreigners. We were stared at… a lot. Peddlers on the side of the street kept yelling “hello” at us, because that was the only English word they knew and they thought it would make us want to buy their products. For the most part, though, everyone was very friendly and welcoming to us.
On our trip we encountered several of China’s different ethnic groups. Beijing and the eastern part of China have mostly Han Chinese, which is what most people think of when they imagine China. However, not all Chinese look or speak like the Han Chinese. Every ethnic group in China speaks its own language except Muslims who speak mandarin. Of course, other ethnic groups are required to learn mandarin in addition to their native languages. In Xi’an and Xining we encountered many Muslims and ate at several Muslim restaurants. You can usually recognize a Muslim Chinese by their clothing, which is different from the traditional Han style. In Qing Hai we spent the night with a Tibetan family. Unlike the Han Chinese, Tibetans have very dark skin and the women have long black hair. To me they looked more like Native Americans than Han Chinese. Most of Tibetans actually live outside of Tibetan Proper and we saw several Buddhist monasteries and temples. In Hemu we ate dinner with a Tuvan family and spent the day with a Uyghur family. Tuvans have very round faces and rosy cheeks. The Uyghur nationality appeared almost Arabic to me. Hemu is located in far northwest China which has a little bit of an Eastern European influence, so the Uyghur language sounds a lot like Russian, and some of them even have light hair and blue eyes. The Uyghur family I met didn’t speak English and we of course didn’t speak their language, but we were able to communicate by speaking Mandarin. I found it very exciting that we could both communicate with each other through a second language.

       Not only does China have extensive ethnic diversity, it also has environmental diversity. One day we rode camels in the Gobi Desert and slid down sand dunes on bamboo sleds, and the next day we hiked through the forest and climbed up snow capped mountains. We also tried several native foods on this trip including lamb chuanr (very tasty), milk beer (disgusting), and one of my braver friends even tried a caterpillar (she said it was gross and I took her word for it). In general the food on our trip was very good, but every once in a while it’s nice to enjoy the familiarity of McDonald’s or KFC which is readily available throughout much of China.

             I could write a book about all of the things that we saw and experienced, so I will have to save the details for later. But for now I can say that the past two weeks definitely changed my perception of China. We had our highs and our lows, as every excursion does, but overall we had an incredible time. I had the opportunity to get to know my classmates and my teachers better, and it is nice to be able to share with them the wonder and confusion of all that we encountered. By the time we reached Hemu (three nights of temperatures below zero with no heater and no hot water) we were all ready to come home to Beijing. It’s weird to call Beijing home now, but on our trip we all realized that we missed it. Of course I miss my friends and family in the United States more, but I’ve acclimated to Beijing and enjoy living here. I still get homesick, but emails and Skype have helped me stay in touch. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in China for a month now. Classes start back on Monday which always makes time pass much faster, so for now I’m just trying to soak it all up and attempt to process the last two weeks’ adventures.

Lao Wai = foreigner

September 9, 2008

I’ve been in Beijing a little over two weeks, I can’t believe it!  Last Friday we had our first Chinese test.  Our Chinese classes are moving very quickly, but I am learning a lot and have had plenty of opportunities to practice speaking.  As I’ve mentioned before, foreigners can be quite an attraction in China.  My friends and I asked a Chinese man to take our picture, so he took a picture with our camera and his friend took a picture with his camera.  Sometimes people on the bus will pretend to look up something on their phone, but they’re really positioning their camera phone to take your picture.  I don’t really mind, but it is a little strange.  It reminds me of my minority status here in China, which is something I’ve never experienced before.  A friend of mine from Wofford asked me the other day how it felt to be a minority.  I was thinking about how to answer that question, and it’s very difficult to describe.  I often have the feeling that I just don’t belong, and that I am imposing on Chinese people’s lives.  But then people ask to take my picture or ask me about my home in America, and it makes me feel welcome.  Most of the people in Beijingare very friendly and eager to talk to Americans or anyone that speaks English for that matter, which makes it very easy to make friends.  One day two Chinese students, at separate times, came up to me and asked if we could be friends.  They both told me that they were studying English and wanted to practice speaking it with me.  I was really excited to make two new friends in Beijing, but then I realized that probably the only reason they approached me was so that they could practice their English and I have to admit, I felt a little used.  Several other IES students experienced similar encounters and have had similar reactions.  I really do appreciate their kindness though, and I am looking forward to getting to know the Chinese students on campus.  I’m constantly trying to make sure that I make a good impression to the Chinese people that I meet, and I wonder how many times I’ve offended someone, or been offended myself simply because of a cultural difference.  It made me think about minorities in the United Statesand I wondered how they feel and what kinds of misunderstandings or uncomfortable situations they experience.One place where being a foreigner is especially regrettable is at the markets.  Being able to bargain is a very valuable skill here in China, one of which I unfortunately do not possess.  Just about anything in China can be bargained for, unless it has a price tag, but even then sometimes.  I had my first bargaining experience this past weekend when I went with some friends to a clothes market near school.  The market consisted of rows of individually operated booths or stalls.  There’s not much organization involved, so trying to find a specific item can be quite difficult.  As foreigners, my friends and I obviously stood out among the narrow aisles.  If we even looked into a stall the owner would grab the nearest item and start trying to sell it to us.  When the salespeople see a foreigner they automatically think that we have money and that we won’t know how to bargain…which in many cases is true.  The salespeople offer an item to foreigners for up to three times the amount they would offer a Chinese person.  I knew this going in, but it was still quite surprising when the salesperson gave me the price for the pants I wanted.  I was able to bargain down to half of the asking price, but I’m pretty sure I still overpaid.  It was definitely a learning experience and not my favorite kind of shopping, but hopefully I will get better at it!

I’ve been living with my homestay family for over week now, and they’re great!  My homestay family consists of my mom and dad and my twelve year old sister.  They all know English very well, which is helpful, but they speak Chinese most of the time so that I can practice.  It’s really neat because I can help my little sister with her English homework and she can help me with my Chinese homework!  When I first arrived I gave them a small gift.  My homestay dad laughed at me, because even though I bought the mug and playing cards in Texas they were both made in China… I guess I should check that next time.  The Wofford frisbee, however, was made in the USA…good job Wofford!  The next day we all went to the park to toss around the Frisbee and play badminton (which is very popular here).  Beijing has some amazing parks, and they attract people of all ages on the weekends.  One thing I’ve observed about the Chinese is that many of them will spontaneously break out in song while walking along the street or sidewalk.  No matter how many people are around, these people just belt it out as if they were singing to themselves in the shower.  Most of the time they sound awful, but I applaud them for not being afraid to be themselves.  The other day I walked past a young man just standing around listening to music.  His music was blaring for all to hear and as I walked past I realized that he was listening to Celine Dione…that made my day.  I also went on a bike riding tour with IES recently which is a whole other story in itself.  Lots of cars, lots of bicycles, lots of danger, but for the most part it was very enjoyable.

Tomorrow we leave for our two week trip to the Silk Road. I still have so much more to see and do in Beijing, but I’m looking forward to exploring the rest of China!

The Amazing Race, Beijing

August 28, 2008

Ni hao! Today has been a long and exhausting day, but I wouldn’t want it any other way! This afternoon IES prepared another activity which they called The Amazing Race Beijing. The students were divided up into teams of five and given a clue. The clue would lead to a destination where another clue would be waiting for us. There were to be six clues, seven stops. There were no rules except whoever made it to all seven stops and returned to campus first would win a free dinner. My group’s first clue led us to Tiananmen Square. We decided to take the bus, which took a really long time. We didn’t mind though, because we met a very nice Chinese man who spoke English to us and gave us very helpful directions. Tiananmen Square was very crowded and very interesting. Our next stop, though, was breathtaking. Our clue led us to the Jingshan Park just north of Tiananmen Square and behind the Forbidden City. Jingshan Park has beautiful grounds where we noticed people taking walks or practicing tai chi, but the main portion of the park consists of a large hill which overlooks the Forbidden City. We climbed an exorbitant amount of stones steps to the top of the hill, but the effort was well worth it. The view from up there was incredible and the city looked beautiful. The massive and extravagant architecture left me breathless (although the lack of breath could have been more related to the hundreds of steps I had just climbed). The only thing that would have made that moment better would be to lift the layer of pollution hovering over the city. We hated to leave Jingshan Park so quickly, but we had more destinations to discover. Our adventure took us next to the Beihai Park just west of the Jingshan Park. Beihai Park has a beautiful and very large lake in its center. The park had an uncommon amount of cats, but our goal was to find the nine dragons screen. We enjoyed a lovely ferry ride over the lake and even posed for an elderly Chinese man who was taking our picture from the sidewalk. I’m beginning to fear that I’m going to appear on Youtube somewhere as a crazy foreigner. Beihai Park was our last destination because we were exhausted and running out of time. Our adventures today took us to some less busy parts of the city. In the Haidian District where our university is located, there are many foreigners and it seems that most of the Chinese people are accustomed them. In the past few days I’ve gotten a few stares and called laowai several times, but today was the first time that I felt like I didn’t belong. As we were walking down some of the side streets to reach our destinations I noticed many of the people staring at us and I suddenly became very aware that the five of us were the only non-chinese in the area. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t scared. I was in no way afraid of the Beijingers, but I felt a little awkward and uncomfortable. It was the first time since I arrived that I really felt like a minority. It was a very new and strange feeling to me. Not necessarily bad, just different. Our journey was long, but at last our team made it back to campus safely and horrible defeated. I’m pretty sure we were in last place since we only found three of the seven stops, but I didn’t mind. I enjoyed taking my time in the parks and getting to know a new part of Beijing. Tomorrow holds yet another adventure for us here at IES… we are finally moving in with our host families! My family will be here at 2pm to pick me up, so I am very nervous and excited about that. We’ll see what adventures tomorrow holds!

Mystery Beijing!

August 27, 2008

Today was a very exciting day for us here at IES. This morning we started language classes, and yes, I already have homework. Class starts at 8:00am and ends at 12:10pm. It’s a very intense four hours, but I really like it and the teachers are great. Our other area study courses start next week which I am very excited about as well. This afternoon, though, I had my first real adventure in Beijing. The IES staff prepared an activity for us called "Mystery Beijing". We all paired up and then the IES staff gave us a piece of paper with Chinese writing on it and told us to find the place without speaking English and without taking a taxi. Basically, we had to ask for directions in Chinese if we wanted to find our destination. Beijing public transportation is an adventure in itself, but I was so excited when I discovered that we were headed to the zoo! The Beijing people are very nice and very helpful. It wasn’t long before we arrived at the Beijing Zoo. The grounds were beautiful, and massive. We stayed there for several hours and hardly even saw anything. My favorite part of the zoo, however, was the panda house. I love pandas and it was incredible to see them so close. The pandas were adorable and everyone gathered around to watch them, but sometimes I think the Chinese people were looking at us Americans more than at the animals. Mystery Beijing was a wonderful experience, not just because of the pandas, but because it gave me an opportunity to get to know Beijing a little better. Surprisingly enough, I felt very comfortable getting on a bus and not knowing exactly where it was taking me. Beijing is a very safe city and the people are very friendly. The bus system is relatively easy to navigate and now I feel that I can go anywhere in Beijing without any qualms. Tomorrow IES has another activity planned for us, so I am excited to discover what other adventures lie ahead.

Ni hao!

August 26, 2008

My name is Emily Phillips, and I will be spending the fall semester in Beijing, China. I am a junior at Wofford and I am majoring in Chinese and History. I’m originally from Houston, TX and surprisingly enough there are quite a few Texans in the IES Beijing program. My program has just begun and I’m really excited about experiencing life abroad. I arrived in Beijing on Monday after an 18 hour trip. The flight wasn’t too bad, but I’m still a little jet lagged. There were twenty other IES students on my flight, so I didn’t feel too lost stepping off the plane in China. Roaming around in a large group of Americans gets quite a few stares. One guy in the airport was taking pictures of us. I think that the novelty of foreigners has worn off a little here in Beijing, though, because of the Olympics. There is still Olympics paraphernalia everywhere. Many people wear Olympic clothing and gear everyday. The Paralympics start in September, so there are still many foreigners here in the city. We drove past the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube on the way to the University from the airport, which was very exciting. The IES staff encourages the students to avoid "touristy" behavior, but even they didn’t mind us taking pictures from inside the bus. One thing I noticed on our drive through the city was that most of the city seems to consist of apartment buildings. It makes sense, though, seeing as there are over 16 million people living in the city of Beijing. I’ve been here for two days now and I still don’t think it’s hit me yet that I’m in China…and I’m not leaving. I haven’t really felt like a foreigner yet, because I’ve been surrounded by IES students the whole time I’ve been here. We have, however, received many stares and heard many cries of "lao wai", which means foreigner. Chinese classes start tomorrow and our schedule sounds pretty intense, but the staff here seems very supportive and eager to help. A few things I’ve noticed since I arrived… many women walk around with umbrellas all day long even when it’s not raining to prevent tanning their skin, apparently paleness is in vogue right now. There are bikes everywhere and neither the bike riders nor the car drivers stop for anything. I saw a man walking a bird on a leash this afternoon. This may or may not be a rarity here in China, but I’m sure the bird enjoyed the fresh air (well the outside air anyway, the air quality in Beijing isn’t exactly fresh). So far I have enjoyed my time here in Beijing and I look forward to the adventures that lay ahead!