So, by some unexpected miracle, I was able to upload a few video clips from when we scaled the Great Wall several weeks ago!
I filmed this first clip at the highest point we got to on the wall (which unconfirmed reports say might be the highest point the wall ever reaches). The wall was just as high up as it looks, snaking along a huge narrow ridge.
I took this video on the descent. The climb is just as steep as it looks. It was incredible, and by then it was probably only 7am or so. (Pardon my tongxuemen (classmates)--I think some language is audible.)
In other news, this week's not going too shabbily! Last night I and the other DSIC Yalies ate at a great duck restaurant with JE's Dean Kyle Farley and two instructors I hadn't met before, Peisong Xu and Paize Keulemans. We were at two tables and each had a whole duck! (Apologies to any vegetarians who might be reading this blog.) I really like the way we eat duck, wrapped up in a tortilla-type thing with a dark sauce and cucumbers--simple, dependable, and delicious! The meal lasted about 3 hours, but fortunately the night's lesson was quite short and today's classes went well.
Well, I mainly was just really excited that I was finally able to upload some video, so I'm going to go do my homework and post again sometime soon!
Peace,
Jon
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Revised
Alright, so photos still won't be happening during this post, but there is good news! I spent this week sort of working out new study habits and the way I approach the material, and this week, the first week of the second "semester", was by-the-numbers my best week of the program so far! So, I'm happy about that and hope it continues. Studying has been a somewhat tricky balance between characters and actual words. Chinese is kind of weird compared to languages which have phonetic alphabets (like Latin) in that I sometimes find that when I'm translating on a test, I can write the correct answer even though I don't know how to say the Chinese word at all because I still remember the character associated with the English word. But... that's obviously not ideal, so I'm trying to rework my study habits to prevent that as well.
Last week was also my best week thus far in terms of actually getting sleep, which should in theory only feed positively back into everything else, and hopefully that trend will continue. It's a little strange though, because from time to time spoken Chinese will be crystal clear when I'm exhausted... maybe it's because I don't have the energy to overthink it? Anyone have a theory on this? Of course, exhaustion generally works the other way...
We've been doing weekend trips to various nearby landmarks like the Great Wall and the summer palace, but I want to be sure I do some more exploration of Beijing itself. I think it might be cool to buy a bike (which can be done pretty cheaply) and take a day to go around the city with a couple people and just see what we find, so we'll see, and if it happens, hopefully I'll someday post some pictures from it on here!
I miss Mexican food like it's a member of my family. I don't understand why there's no Mexican food ANYWHERE. Actually, I've heard there is in fact some around here but that it's not much to speak of in terms of quality. If I could import the burrito cart at Yale or one Chipotle, my life would be perfect.
I'll be here almost exactly three more weeks. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about that... I'm having a great time here and am thrilled to know I'm making real progress in this language (which I didn't know one word of less than a year ago!), but it'll be good to spend a week or two back home with my family before getting back to the gleeful madness of life at Yale.
I'll keep trying to get chances to upload photos/video, but at very least I'll upload lots of relevant photos and videos after the fact. And believe me, I have a lot to choose from!
I'll be posting again very soon,
Jon
Last week was also my best week thus far in terms of actually getting sleep, which should in theory only feed positively back into everything else, and hopefully that trend will continue. It's a little strange though, because from time to time spoken Chinese will be crystal clear when I'm exhausted... maybe it's because I don't have the energy to overthink it? Anyone have a theory on this? Of course, exhaustion generally works the other way...
We've been doing weekend trips to various nearby landmarks like the Great Wall and the summer palace, but I want to be sure I do some more exploration of Beijing itself. I think it might be cool to buy a bike (which can be done pretty cheaply) and take a day to go around the city with a couple people and just see what we find, so we'll see, and if it happens, hopefully I'll someday post some pictures from it on here!
I miss Mexican food like it's a member of my family. I don't understand why there's no Mexican food ANYWHERE. Actually, I've heard there is in fact some around here but that it's not much to speak of in terms of quality. If I could import the burrito cart at Yale or one Chipotle, my life would be perfect.
I'll be here almost exactly three more weeks. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about that... I'm having a great time here and am thrilled to know I'm making real progress in this language (which I didn't know one word of less than a year ago!), but it'll be good to spend a week or two back home with my family before getting back to the gleeful madness of life at Yale.
I'll keep trying to get chances to upload photos/video, but at very least I'll upload lots of relevant photos and videos after the fact. And believe me, I have a lot to choose from!
I'll be posting again very soon,
Jon
Monday, July 16, 2007
Text Only
So... I have spent the last number of weeks intending to finally make a fantastic post with great photos, video, etc., when I finally got decent internet. Well, that didn't happen so much... every time the internet briefly improved on campus it quickly resumed a snail's pace, and the Starbucks that my friend claimed had a glorious internet connection failed me as well. Thus, instead of waiting to make a post with both pictures and text as officially required, I will start just trying to post text frequently and do pictures when I can. Of course, by now I've kind of not posted weekly, so I'm not sure if this blog can even count for the requirement anymore... let me know, please, Kelly!
Anyway, so so much has happened since my last post. We've visited the Great Wall, palaces, Xi'an (terra cotta soldiers!) and more... but those are the things I wanted to post photos and video of. The Great Wall was just amazing: one afternoon we drove out to a hotel within sight of where the wall goes along a very steep mountain ridge, and then we rose from sleep at 2am to start climbing. It took us maybe 20 minutes to get to the wall, and then we just climbed and climbed for a couple of hours while the sky slowly lit up. It was really an amazing experience I can't do justice and was hoping to do slightly more justice than I currently am by uploading some of the video I took, so hopefully I'll get a chance at some point. In fact, everything else we've seen, while interesting and impressive, just doesn't quite compare to that particular experience. Before I left, however, my dad showed me a number of photos from my parents' trip to China in the late 70's just when it started opening up to tourism, and it has been cool to recognize some of the landmarks they photographed 30 years ago.
As for academics, Chinese still isn't really my gift... I've been struggling from day to day with varied results. I must say though, at the very least, my Chinese is seriously taking visible strides: it's really thrilling to be able to hold up even a brief uninteresting conversation with one of the students or teachers. I wish I could pinpoint why I'm having such a tough time... and I'm wishing I'd taken a spoken language in high school (Latin was interesting but...). It's almost like my mind just doesn't have a place designated for learning new language and I'm having to forcibly chisel out mental space for all this new material. Of course, it was a similar experience studying at Yale, but I just devoted way more time to Chinese than to any other of my four classes. But here, I have Chinese all the time, but four times as much of it. So it's taking a toll. The good news is that I think it's getting easier as I go along.
So the last couple of weeks varied... the second week was still somewhat overwhelming... the third week ran pretty smoothly with work getting done early, sleep being had, etc., but then the fourth week had some pretty long lessons so it wasn't so smooth. And that concludes the first "semester" of this "year" of Chinese study! :-) I haven't actually seen my grade... I'm guessing not the greatest but not abysmal. I just hope it doesn't come off as if I'm no incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to be here...
On one more quick note before I call it a night, while we were in Xi'an over the "midyear break" this last weekend, the entire group went to a Chinese music/dance show with dinner provided Saturday night. Before the show started, near the end of the meal, the band started playing what I finally realized was the "Happy Birthday" song, and the servers brought out two cakes for me and a girl whose birthday was the next day (mine was Saturday). What a great surprise!! (and the cake wasn't half-bad either)
So, onward to the second month! (with many more posts and--hopefully--more photos and other media!)
Really hoping this post actually makes it through...,
Jon
Anyway, so so much has happened since my last post. We've visited the Great Wall, palaces, Xi'an (terra cotta soldiers!) and more... but those are the things I wanted to post photos and video of. The Great Wall was just amazing: one afternoon we drove out to a hotel within sight of where the wall goes along a very steep mountain ridge, and then we rose from sleep at 2am to start climbing. It took us maybe 20 minutes to get to the wall, and then we just climbed and climbed for a couple of hours while the sky slowly lit up. It was really an amazing experience I can't do justice and was hoping to do slightly more justice than I currently am by uploading some of the video I took, so hopefully I'll get a chance at some point. In fact, everything else we've seen, while interesting and impressive, just doesn't quite compare to that particular experience. Before I left, however, my dad showed me a number of photos from my parents' trip to China in the late 70's just when it started opening up to tourism, and it has been cool to recognize some of the landmarks they photographed 30 years ago.
As for academics, Chinese still isn't really my gift... I've been struggling from day to day with varied results. I must say though, at the very least, my Chinese is seriously taking visible strides: it's really thrilling to be able to hold up even a brief uninteresting conversation with one of the students or teachers. I wish I could pinpoint why I'm having such a tough time... and I'm wishing I'd taken a spoken language in high school (Latin was interesting but...). It's almost like my mind just doesn't have a place designated for learning new language and I'm having to forcibly chisel out mental space for all this new material. Of course, it was a similar experience studying at Yale, but I just devoted way more time to Chinese than to any other of my four classes. But here, I have Chinese all the time, but four times as much of it. So it's taking a toll. The good news is that I think it's getting easier as I go along.
So the last couple of weeks varied... the second week was still somewhat overwhelming... the third week ran pretty smoothly with work getting done early, sleep being had, etc., but then the fourth week had some pretty long lessons so it wasn't so smooth. And that concludes the first "semester" of this "year" of Chinese study! :-) I haven't actually seen my grade... I'm guessing not the greatest but not abysmal. I just hope it doesn't come off as if I'm no incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to be here...
On one more quick note before I call it a night, while we were in Xi'an over the "midyear break" this last weekend, the entire group went to a Chinese music/dance show with dinner provided Saturday night. Before the show started, near the end of the meal, the band started playing what I finally realized was the "Happy Birthday" song, and the servers brought out two cakes for me and a girl whose birthday was the next day (mine was Saturday). What a great surprise!! (and the cake wasn't half-bad either)
So, onward to the second month! (with many more posts and--hopefully--more photos and other media!)
Really hoping this post actually makes it through...,
Jon
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