National Day Holiday: Day 2 - The Shaolin Temple

Aaaaand I'm back.

Mainly because a good friend of mine - my longest and oldest friend (since we were 5ish or something... aka the person my preschool teachers assigned to me thinking that she could teach me English because I only spoke Cantonese at that age and they figured that hey, since she's half-Chinese, she might be able to help me... despite the fact that she really didn't know any Chinese at all except for how to say "Happy New Year" and "Monkey Brain" and I'll stop rambling in these parentheses now) posted comments on the blog. And that motivated me to post and update and... keep up with my promise to post pictures.

So yeah!

Thanks, Bozo.

And I'll try going a little faster to see if maybe (JUST MAYBE) I can get this thing fully updated and post in real time.

Where were we?

Ah, yes.

October 4th, 2011.

We are in Dengfeng. After a long day of traveling, we were ready to do some real sight-seeing. Early that morning, we set out on a bus for the Shaolin Temple (少林寺). What is this? Think...

Think Shaolin Soccer. And if you've never seen Shaolin Soccer... go out and get it. It's a Hong Kong movie. It's funny, in a.. kinda stupid way. I liked it as a kid. I'm not sure if I would like it now... but... still. Go and get it.

...Or not.

It's up to you.

But if you're still not sure what the Shaolin Temple is, think of it as a center of Chinese martial arts and Zen Buddhism. It is, some say, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism.

Then, once you have that image in mind, commercialize it by filling it with... many many many tourists. Yep.

Anyway, we left for the Temple that morning. The hostel that we were at hired a monk to greet us at the entrance to the Temple. Altogether, our group consisted of this monk guide, two other travelers (a Chinese New Zealander and his cousin from Hong Kong), and the three of us from Baoding. The monk brought us through the these arches...

Inside, we saw young students studying at the temple.

Here's our first view of the temple proper.

Then we sat down to watch some monks demonstrate some Shaolin martial arts. Here's the platform where they performed:

Some weapons in the background...

Some awesomely adventurous kids running up to play with the weapons before a parent pulled them back...

And some pictures from the show:

The kid was super flexible.

There was a monk with a really strong head - someone broke a glass pane on his head.

Another monk broke glass from afar by throwing a needle.

And one broke planks of wood with his legs.

I don't have a video of it, but one of my traveling companions do, I think. If I can get my hands on it, I'll put it up here.

After that, we said farewell to our monk guide and the other two travelers (who could speak Cantonese, by the way! Which was awesome) and wandered into the beautiful Pagoda Forest (少林塔林). The Pagoda Forest is a "cemetery of 246 small brick pagodas" where prominent monks have been laid to rest (Lonely Planet p407) (and don't ask me why I'm citing things here).

Then to the foot of a great mountain!

If you ever watched Journey to the West (the Hong Kong TVB version) - which I watched growing up as kid on my Chinese tv channel at home - then you'll know a little something about the Monkey King. You might know a little about the Monkey King anyway.

Well, in this TV series adaptation of the Monkey King's story, the Monkey King tries to prove to a god that he is greater than any of the gods - and that he can reach the five sacred mountains in.. the blink of an eye. When he reaches them, though, it turns out that he never left this god because this god's reach is so far that... his fingers are actually those mountains.

What's the purpose of this tangent?

This great mountain near the Shaolin Temple is actually one of those five mountains.

Song Shan (嵩山)... to put it simply, is tall.

There is a cable car that brings you from the bottom of the mountain to the a point 1512m above sea level that you can take... near the top of its tallest peak. Next to it - and it took us a good thirty minutes to find this track - there are a bunch of stone steps that would take an average in-shape person about three hours to climb.

So.. cable car? Or hike up a bajillion stairs?

Which is more sensible?

...Guess what we decided to do?

Yep. A bajillion stairs... here we go.

My two companions were (and are) charged on ahead. I puffed and I huffed and I tried not to keel over and give up... but, somehow, threeish hours later, I managed to reach the spot where the cable car brought us to - 1512m above sea level.

And then...

WAIT. WHAT?! We still have to go another 2 to 3 hours... uphill?

No. We didn't have to. Unless we really really really stupidly wanted to see this awesome 782-step rope bridge. And since I had already made it up to that point... why not keep on going?

So we kept on going.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped for lunch.

AND.. AND AND AND AND! A long time ago, I said that I saved a spork from the airplane that would come in handy later. In my backpack, I had brought with me a loaf of bread, some peanut butter, and some jam. And a spork. And that spork became a much-needed PB&J application tool.

...I got relaxed there, yeah. Because someone said that I probably would never mention that spork again... and here I do.

...Yeah.

Much more hiking.

We decided at one point to just trudge on and go all the way through - no point heading back. Fortunately, there was an end to the trail. We walked along a road for really really long until we found a taxi that didn't overcharge us.

I mean, it wasn't like we were desperate.

Three foreigners walking on a lonely road... not at all thirsty or tired from a 6 hour hike...

Cars passing every once in a while (but not often enough)... each one asking for waaaay too much money for a simple ride back to the hostel.

So we said no.

And no.

And tried to bargain.

And then, at one point, we just gave up.

Fifty yuan?! FINE! Fine. Ok. We give up. Just take us home.

And back to the hostel we went.

Here are pictures from the hike.

Look! There I am!

Where are the other pictures of me? It's on other people's cameras... and they are very very very slow *kicks them* at giving me their pictures. So you'll have to look at pictures of them instead.

...No. I wouldn't do that. Not without their permission first, right?

Right.

*grins*

Back at the hostel, the staff gave us a simple calligraphy lesson and a basic Shaolin martial arts class... before we all showered and crashed.

Traveling is tiring.

National Day Holiday: Day 1 - A Long Day of Traveling

October 3, 2011.

The first time that I have been on a train in Mainland China.

It wasn't too bad.

Early that morning, we boarded a D train (aka the 'fast' train... but not the bullet train - which has had loads of negative publicity in China) and took it down past Shijiazhuang. The train ride was fairly pleasant. We headed south... all the way out of Hebei and into Henan, the province just south of ours.

In four hours, we were at Zhengzhou (郑州), the capital city of Henan... and a major transportation hub. We didn't stop there for long though. As soon as we got off, we started searching for a long distance bus station. The bus station is located in the central courtyard right next to the train station. We got our tickets..

...and waited.

We had to wait, I think, about 2 hours before our bus departed. That meant we crossed the courtyard with all of our luggage to invade and occupy the nearest KFC. Unfortunately, the KFC was already stuffed to the brim with other travelers.

When we finally got onto the bus, it was late into the afternoon. The ride to Dengfeng (登封) - our final destination - was about an hour and a half. With a map printed off our hostel's website, we got off at the bus stop and walked to the Deng Feng Shaolin Temple Traveler's Hostel (which had been recommended to us by the Lonely Planet guidebook for China).

Here's the map of Henan. You can see Zhengzhou. Dengfeng is a small city that wasn't marked on the map. The little purple square is Dengfeng:

And that's it for Day 1. What's next? The next day, we set off to watch some monks perform at the Shaolin Temple. We also climbed Songshan - one of the Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism. You will hear about how a little 5-year-old boy raced me to the very top of that mountain... and won, I am a little embarrassed to say. This first day though, exhausted from our travels, we climbed into our beds and crashed.

A Map of China

Just a quickie before I start telling you about my trip:

Here's a map of China. I live in Hebei - you can see it highlighted there.

And if we zoom in... you can see Baoding where I live. You can also see Cangzhou, where my university took me and my colleagues to pick jujubes. Yes. I used Microsoft Paint's crayon-like thing to highlight the cities.

Just.. for perspective-stuff. National Day trip info coming up next...

National Day Holiday

October 1st is National Day in China. It is, I think, the equivalent of July 4th in the US.

And, for the academic schedule, it's the equivalent of fall break in the US. That means teachers and students everywhere hopped on trains and planes, went home, and relaxed for the week. However, unlike Thanksgiving break, people didn't stay home.

Many traveled.

I traveled too. I jumped onto the traveling train, dove into the "seas and mountains of people" - 人山人海 - and did my best to keep afloat. Was it worth it?

I think so.

Not everyone who went on the trip with me agrees...

You can decide for yourself.

The Lantern Festival and... an Apple?

Today is the Lantern Festival - the fifteenth day after the start of Chinese New Year and, thus, the official end of New Year's celebrations.

It means that I was woken up by what sounded literally like fireworks in my backyard. I woke up with a heart attack. Who in the world would set fireworks at that hour in the morning?

Granted, it was noon when I woke up.

Once I managed to slow my heart rate down a bit, I figured that hey - maybe some of my foreign colleagues were fighting over the results of the Super Bowl. At least two of my American colleagues had woken up early to watch the big game. One's a Patriots fan. The other's a Giants fan.

I... should be an Eagles fan.

I don't really particularly care though. (Please don't kill me...)

I figured that they had started World War III over the results of the game. But, no. It's just the Lantern Festival.

Anyway, now I am in the coffee shop. I was just about to start the next chapter in my Chinese textbook when I got distracted by something... interesting. It's not particularly earth-shattering, no. But it's interesting nonetheless.

She walks into the coffee shop and goes straight up to the cashier.

He takes a seat at the table.

She stares at the menu for a moment, then turns around and sits down across from him.

"Do you want to order anything?" The cashier asks.

"In a moment."

Then he takes something out of a bag. I recognize it from afar. It's a plain white box with a small, gray apple insignia on the end. Someone's taken a bite out of it. I squint my eyes.

It's an iPad.

All right. She sits across from him. They open it together. And... well, they're both smiling like it's the most exciting thing that they've ever done - and it's that much better because they're opening it together.

...This sounds like an Apple commercial, huh? It's not. Not intentionally at least. It's just that not a lot of people in Baoding have iPads, let alone any other Apple product. For most people, I've been told, money is meant to be saved - not spent. So much so that I had a student come to me for advice on how he could convince his mother to let him treat her to dinner at a semi-nice restaurant.

So it's strange. They're sitting together now, trying to puzzle out how it works. I guess I could go over and help them with it... but they're having so much fun trying to figure it out, I really don't want to ruin their experience.

And... that's it.

Nothing big.

Just a moment.

One (Wo)man's Trash...

It didn't take me too long to get comfortable and settled in at my new apartment. For one, I was really lucky - a foreign teacher had lived in my place last year. That meant my kitchen and bookshelf was pretty much fully stocked.

I did need to get used to certain things though.

The cement floors, the shower (aka my entire bathroom), and the lack-of-a-dryer-for-my-clothes, you all already know about. So what's new?

Eh... the closet in my second bedroom had a couple of really old blankets. They were a little moldy and smelly. I felt horrible throwing them out, but I didn't know what else to do with them. After holding on to them for about a month or so, I decided that it was time to take action. I buckled down, folded up one of the blankets and headed outside to place it next to the big trash can.

One down. Two or three more to go. I went back inside. Got another one. Went back outside and... WHA?

Wait... where did the other blanket go? It had vanished. I... just shrugged, put it down, and went back inside. Grabbed something else. Went back outside. And-

Again. The second blanket was gone. I slowly walked up to the trash can and looked around. I couldn't see anyone nearby. I set down the bunch of pillow cases that I had onto the floor and walked slowly back. This time, I hid by my door and waited...

An older lady walked out from a building further down the street. She saw the things there and walked over. Picked them up... and turned back. She was picking up and bringing home everything that I was throwing out.

I stuck my head out and asked if she needed any help.

She shook her head and looked at me. "Why are you throwing all this out?"

I was a little embarrassed. A little ashamed, too, when I stuttered out an excuse. "It's.. eh.. I'm just cleaning up. Just moved in." When she gave me a confused look, I gestured towards the stuff that she was holding. "Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"Yes. Where are you from?" (Because I have a weird accent, apparently, when I speak Chinese).

"America. I am an English teacher at the university."

"Oh. Well. Come by my place anytime you want to. I live on the first floor at the end of this street."

"Ok. Wait. Eh.. what do I call you?"

"Call me A Yi (Aunt)."

"All right. Thank you. Have a good afternoon."

She nodded and carried her things back home.

After that point, I started paying more attention to how quickly trash vanishes. Even my plastic bags get pulled out of the garbage and rooted through. Plastic bottles, glass, and paper products are taken out - I was told to recycle just by leaving things next to the trash can inside of putting them in it. People get paid for everything they bring to the recycling center, so there's a clamber for certain kinds of trash.

And then... of course, in the early days when I was cleaning up, I threw away a lot of stuff (mostly moldy pots and pans) that other people took and brought home with them.

I think the garbage can outside my house is one that a lot of people root through... just because there are three foreigners living right near it. I guess... sometimes we just don't realize how much we waste until other people find it and take it right back out of the garbage can.

With that lesson in mind... today, I happened to break a glass cup. So I very carefully placed it and all of its pieces in a plastic bag separately from everything else. I didn't want anyone rooting through my trash only to accidentally cut themselves on it. Anyway, I haven't seen A Yi since that day... but that is definitely something that I'll remember for a long time.

Belinda

No. Belinda is not a teenage witch.

It sounds like it a little, yeah? Belinda... Sabrina... Something about those two names sound similar. But this is just me getting off topic. Because I want to take this entry to introduce to you all my Chinese tutor.

According to her, it was fate and destiny that brought me to her.

Me? I don't know if I believe in fate... but... well-

Let's start from the beginning.

Fairly early on in the semester, George (one of the other American English teachers here) asked me if I wanted someone to tutor me in Chinese. He, like all the other veteran American teachers here, have been a great help. He drew me a simplified map of Baoding (to come later), he showed me how to read the bus route signs at the bus stops, and - here's the biggest favor he did for me - he helped me find a Chinese tutor.

I explained to him that I had some background in Mandarin Chinese... and, more than anything, I wanted someone who could help me with my speaking. I wanted to improve my listening and speaking fluency.

His first question? "Does it matter if your tutor's a boy or a girl?"

My response? Without thinking, I just shrugged. "Whatever."

Next thing I know, he's introducing me to a young man - a third-year computer.. science (I think?) student. The four of us (George brought his own tutor along, since his tutor was the one who found the student) stood around awkwardly in the park. We shook hands, introduced ourselves, exchanged phone numbers, and set up our first meeting time and place.

I wasn't really sure what to expect.

We met at the park the next week. Only... wait? It wasn't just him. Two people were waiting for me there. The two of them - the guy that I had met last time and his girlfriend (Belinda) were there waiting for me. Belinda laid out a seat cushion on the concrete ledge that they were sitting on and told me to sit.

Ok.

So the three of us just chatted. Belinda is a third-year English major, so she actually knew enough English to jump back and forth whenever we got stuck. We took a stroll around the university park, and we talked about the historical value of some of the structures there.

Lesson 2: Let's take a look at Belinda's dormitory! Her boyfriend waited outside - all dorms at this campus are segregated by sex... guys can't walk into the girls' dormitories, and vice versa. That's a MAJOR difference from college life in the US, yeah? More on that later. They also showed me around the rest of campus.

Anyway...

Within two weeks, Belinda explained to me that her boyfriend wasn't going to come anymore. It would just be me and her.

I was confused, of course. And I still don't really know what happened. Was he my original tutor, and did his girlfriend... excited for the opportunity to speak English... steal me from him? Or was this their plan all along? Or.. or...

...Well.

Belinda and I met twice a week during the semester for two hours each session. If it was nice outside, we'd meet in the park. If it wasn't (and it got cold really quickly), we'd meet either in her dormitory (where I got to meet all of her dorm mates... which was really cool), or at my apartment. Sometimes, if I wanted to meet in the coffee shop, I'd treat her to ice cream or whatever it is that she wanted to eat.

And... despite the lack of structure, we just spent our entire time talking in Chinese.

In the first or second lesson, when both Belinda and her boyfriend were there, I very quickly learned one phrase that I constantly use to this day: qi1 fu2 欺负 - or, to bully.

I will talk about my tutoring sessions with her as my blog progresses. For now... I'll just end with this: I think Belinda gets a little frustrated sometimes at how quickly I pick up certain words (mainly curse words - mild and otherwise) and how long it takes me to pick up other... more important vocabulary points.

And in case you are interested, in order of intensity from the lightest to the most severe:

er2 二 (dumb)

haui4 dan4 坏蛋 (bad egg)

ben4 dan1 笨蛋 (stupid)

chi2 dun4 迟钝 (mentally impaired)

bai2 chi1 白痴 (idiot)

Now you can go and dou4 逗 (or verbally/jokingly insult... tease) your friends. Be nice though, yeah? See you tomorrow...