So today I woke up at 7:00 am, and I have to tell you I am so impressed with my roommate. I told her that I usually get up at 7:00 am to go running and she was up and ready to go before I had put on my 运动鞋gym shoes. We walked to the track, and she was at least able to get through two laps, I had finished three and though by mistake I had done four; lol she quickly corrected me, at least someone’s keeping tabs. However after the fourth lap I think my stomach had turned inside out and upside down. Something was definitely up… probably trying the 鸭血粉丝放 (the soup mentioned before) was finally catching up with me. She fanned me as I was sitting down after lap four. Once I regained consciousness and saw less stars, I felt absolutely fine! Lol – and we went to go get breakfast. Maybe I should eat something before I go running? I was joking with her on the way back that in the U.S. we say “you are what you eat,” and that if I eat to many 包子(steamed dough with meatball inside), I’m going to turn into a 包子. She thought that was pretty funny.
So then I had class – Media class. And then I came back to respond to emails and organize a little bit. It was also my first time washing clothes and using my washing machine. It is quite interesting. Since my washing machine is also in my kitchen it is adjacent to the wall of my bathroom. When my clothes are done going through the soaking phase, the water then proceeds through a pipe in the wall to my shower where it comes out and goes down the shower drain. (Don’t worry; it is not coming through the shower head haha). After the spin cycle, I took my clothes and hung them outside my balcony on bamboo poles -Never have I ever done this before, quite a novelty!
Then I was on my way to 式听 try out another class called 新闻写作Journalism and writing. I was very fascinated by the class. One of the most interesting things the teacher said was Journalism is 70% questioning and 30% writing “七分采，三分写”. So a huge part of this class is how to as proper questions to get correct answers. It was three hours long, but he was a captivating speaker. Kind of a weather old man with a rust voice, but his power points were easier to understand, and sometimes quite comical. For example, he gave examples of questions that Chinese students had asked Obama during a trip to Shanghai, he had us analyze these questions, and then see what kind of criticism was said about the questions on the internet. The questions were either idiotic or too broad, so they were quite hilarious, and the class would break out in laughter upon seeing the critic. I find the lecture method quite like listening to a preacher. The teachers here are generally very good orators, but it is not at all interactive unless they obviously structure the class that way. For example, the teacher had a roster, and then he would say student “so-and-so” please give your opinion… then the student would immediately stand in a very rigid manner, and formal explain their viewpoint. Much more formal than what I am used to, but I like it because the expectation is that everyone has a well-informed opinion. Three hours later, class was over, and Natalie and I looked for the 班长 “class leader.” Every class has one; he will make sure the other students know very well what the homework is, when it is due, etc. I got his phone number and he texted me tonight “If you need anything at all let me know!” “Make sure you drink lots of hot water to not get cold” and “I would be happy to show you around Nanjing.” Very nice fellow, I will probably take him up on it. More friends for Caitlin in China = Much better experience for Caitlin indeed! I asked Natalie if she could think of an analogy of how it feels to be a foreign student in China, and I think she nailed it on the head – it feels like you are an exotic animal. Lol So true!
After class we found a Korean place to eat dinner at, and I had 嫩豆腐汤, soft tofu soup – it is spicy and comes so hot to the table, that when they drop an egg in it, it cooks! Very good for cold weather I might add; had to break the 包子trend anyway, can’t turn into one you see. Us exotic animals have delicate stomachs... Just kidding ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment