Call me conversational

Last night when I was waiting for my dinner at a local jiaozi place, some old guy just started talking to me. Although his accent was ever so hard to understand, we still had a long conversation about China, America, and then even the Olympics. He really likes the American swimmer Michael Phelps. Every now and then he would start speaking in Sichuanhua and I would say, "Wo mei ting dong Sichuanhua." He would laugh and then talk in Putonghua again. In the conversation, I would often ask him to slow down - "man yi dian." It was a fun time for sure and reminded me how much I've learned here in China - Zhongguo.

Dujiangyan Charity Dinner

The charity dinner that I helped organize with a local health club and school went extremely well. I would not consider myself a stage performer, although some might argue, but I led a couple skits, did a beat boxing routine with a couple of friends and even danced...You'll have to see the pictures to believe it. The dance was probably the highlight. Four other guys and I performed a practiced hip-hop routine to a popular Nsync song. We practiced a couple hours for the four nights leading up to the dinner. Overall, the dinner went great. I was also auctioned off near the end of the night for giving basketball lessons. I sold for 200RMB(roughly a little more than $30 USD). I was glad for the experience though I stressed out a lot about the night and really wanted it to go well. There were some definite weak points, like the sound system at the hotel, but overall those were overshadowed. We were able to raise over 22,000 RMB(or about $3,000 USD). That's a lot for a charity like this in China. I'm proud of the help that the group offered and it was really a learning experience. I have to give a shout out to Emily Isenee for doing a great job organizing our group and giving me an opportunity to work with her on this task. Also, the leader of the health club and school did a lot of work getting support and finding us a place to put the dinner on. Thank you Xia Wei and Duan. Also, our PLU group kicked some serious butt on stage supplying most of the night's entertainment. Hao de!

Cooking /// KTV /// Hot Pot x2

So I've been really busy and even yet am writing this while I should be studying. I'm still alive, though my brain is being crammed with overloading information on a daily basis. I hope that my Chinese will improve through pure osmosis.

My studies have still been the biggest priority and also my biggest time killer. It's what I came here for. I'm making a lot of friends but still find it hard to practice my Chinese with them because they speak English to me.

Lately, a group of friends and I have been coooking a lot. It's so much cheaper than going out, not to mention a lot of fun. There is a little food market close to our dorm that we hit up for mostly just veggies(no meat there) and sometimes spices. I consistently use garlic and onion. We also go and get rice from the cafeteria. Overall, the meals end up costing only about 2-3 RMB or about 30-45 cents USD. It's amazing. It's helped me save money to buy cool things or take a trip(I'm going to Shanghai!).

Also, this last weekend was my first time to go to KTV. My PLU buddy Colin and I went out with a bunch of our Chinese friends to KTV(Karaoke). Here, you rent a room by the hour and can order drinks and snacks
to your own private room. We stayed for a couple of hours and had a blast. My friend Bayanna(he's Mongolian) sang a traditional Tibetan song. The girls were all very good. It made Colin and I look so bad.

Saturday night, my friend from Chinese class named Mendis cooked dinner for me. He's from Sri Lanka which is an island located off the coast of India. The food is very similar to Indian food but also similar to Thai food. Considering those are my two favorite foods, I loved it! He also made me Sri Lankan coffee and tea. A lot of the spices he uses to cook with came from home. Something that surprised me was that Sri Lankan people eat with their hands. I ate with a spoon this time but next time I'll be digging right in there with my hands.

For dinner on Sunday and Monday, I went to the .
Sichuan hot pot. There is already a post devoted to the Sichuanese hot pot so you can check that one out if you are curious. Let's just say that spicy oily food two nights in a row was not good for my stomach come today...haha. It's China though. It happens.

I'm buying tickets to go to Shanghai and stay with my friend Eli's parents. I'm leaving Thurs Nov 6 and returning Sun Nov 9. I've been reading up on Shanghai a lot and am really excited to go

Sichuan Hot Pot

The other day, I went out with some of my Chinese friends for some real authentic Sichuanese hot pot. They were all really excited about it and so was I.

The pot was filled with a dark red liquid. It looked like blood. There were so many peppers in it that when I went to fish out some meat or veggies cooking in the broth, I would end up getting a lot of peppers. It's not a water that is used though. For the Sichuan hot pot, they use oil.

We had many different meats like beef and chicken, and also veggies like cabbage, mushrooms and cabbage. I also had the pleasure of getting to try to duck blood for the first time! not as good as it sounds...


The thing about the Sichuanese hot pot is that a new kind of spicy. I like spicy food and Sichuan cuisine has really redefined spicy for me. But the Sichuanese hot pot is even spicier! It's different though. Of course, my mouth is still on fire, my nose runs, and all of my pores leak buckets of sweat but this time the spice is more. The oil is SO hot that when it hits my throat I can't help but cough. I have no choice. It's just too hot. I have to wait for the oil to cool down for me to eat it. My throat closes up on the hot oil as if I'm allergic to it or something. Then of course my eyes tear and they all look at my like I'm going to die... haha. It's all good fun and a great experience. I really did enjoy it once I figured out how to eat it without suffocating!

Panda Research Center

The largest panda research center in the world is in Chengdu. They do a lot of genetic research, breeding, observations, and natural preservation. It was so cool to see so many pandas up close and have the opportunity to take so many pictures. It was definitely one of the highlights of my time in Chengdu.

99% of pandas diets come from bamboo, which isn't very filling. So pandas generally eat and eat and eat and when they aren't eating, they are sleeping. They are so cute though... Cute and LAZY! Because of that, they are also horrible at mating. This is one of the problems why there aren't so many pandas in the wild anymore.

There were red pandas there. I had never heard of a red panda before. They aren't bears though. They are more like a mix between foxes and cats. They are really fluffy and their faces kind of look like pandas. They also eat primarily bamboo like pandas do. They, however, are much more active than pandas.

David's Palace

My American friend here in Chengdu opens his house up to friends from all over the world to stay for free. He is single guy that has a three-story, five bedroom penthouse. He bought it for cheap and in horrible condition but he had it fixed up very nice. It's the nicest house I've ever been in in Asia. Here are some pictures.

Wo xue Zhongwen.

So I've almost concluded my first week of classes here at Sichuan Daxue(Sichuan University) and I have been studying and learning a lot. My classes have kept me very busy.

On Monday : : : I have Chinese in the morning and then a Chinese Society class before lunch. Then after lunch, I have a Global Business class for three hours(I only have it once a week)

Tuesday : : : is Chinese again (Monday th
rough Friday) in the morning and then at night we have a lecture about Tibetan relations with a guest speaker for our Western China course.

Wednesday : : : Chinese and then culture. Classes are finished by lunch.

Thursday : : : I have Chinese in the morning, and then Chinese again later in the afternoon.

Friday : : : Just Chinese in the morning and then I'm done.

Even though I started at the beginning level, we are moving very quickly and I am having to study a lot. But that's what I primarily came here for so everything is working out. My reading and writing Chinese characters are behind my speaking and listening skills so I have had to concentrate most of my studying time on this.

A new thing for me has been cooking. Food is very inexpensive here. I bought a pan and some other cooking supplies so that I could start cooking. The other day, I bought some fresh onion, garlic, and eggplant from vendor not far from my dorm. 2 RMB! It was so cheap. I didn't even cook it all up. I also bought some fresh bananas for 3 RMB, but I didn't cook them. Overall my cooking experiences have gone really well. In my International Dorm, someone is always cooking something different. Whether it be Thai food, Korean food, or Nepalese food, it all smells delicious. I've had a lot of good times so far.

Buying a bike

I feel like a 16-year-old who just got his license. A bike equals freedom here in Chengdu and now I have freedom. But there is a story behind the adventure of purchasing one.

We had heard of a place across the river that sold a selection of used bikes. Myself and about 5 other friends made the journey asking for directions along the way, and also pointing to a piece of paper that had Chinese characters on it that none of knew the meaning of. I didn't want to pay more than 100RMB but everyone that had gone to this place before had paid at least 140RMB.

We finally found the place when Chambers crossed the street first and was instantly bombarded by people asking if we wanted bikes. The place was so sketchy. They led us down a dark alley that was very wet. They had many fish swimming around in large cement containers. Everything smelled so humid and also like a mixture between snake and fish that had died and were sitting out for too long. Many people were each trying to sell different bikes that were their's. It was obvious that all of these bikes were stolen. I almost stepped on a watersnake that was in a puddle. It really freaked me out and the local people just laughed at me. The people who lived down there were picking up the snakes and throwing into a big container so that they could eat them later. Ew. While I was bartering, I could smell the hot snake breath of the people. On the ground, There were remnants of dead rats. The tail was the most distinguishable thing from the pile of guts.

My Chinese was good enough to tell them that I wanted a bike for 100RMB. A man herded me toward a bike that looked ok. I checked it out and it seemed ok so I made the purchase. The next closest price that anyone got was 125RMB. After the purchase, I got the heck out of there. I didn't want to buy the locks that they were trying to sell because I figured that they could break into their own locks. Riding my bike back, I ran into some minor problems but nothing that couldn't be fixed. I bought a lock from a bike repairman and he also fixed my bike for only 10RMB. The locks that everyone else bought were 30RMB! HAHA.

Long story short. I have a bike that works now. So now I've been cruising around. But to this bike I had to go the sketchiest place I've ever been. It was so shady.

A little update on classes. I met my professor today. Gao Lashr. She is very nice and class seems like it will be fun. I'm taking an intensive language course which means Mondy to Friday 8:30AM to 12PM. We will go through a chapter a day. I'm really fortunate to have some background of the language. I'm excited to try to really get better at the language. Class starts next Monday, September 8.