晓说 or Char Chats in Chinese: The Travel Edition
Traveling. Is. The Best. Yes, I know I’ve harped on it before. But I’ll say it again anyways: it’s so worthwhile and rejuvenating to get out and around. Going someplace new, I feel as I did when I first got here—excited and thrilled at the very fact that I’m in China. Case in point—our group trip this past weekend. While the Middlebury/CET program is certainly a grueling academic program (as our mountains of daily homework kindly remind us), we are also provided with a number of opportunities to explore China. In fact, CET gives us two weekends off (in addition to spring break) for school-sanctioned/organized trips.
This past weekend felt a little like summer camp, or like those long ago elementary school overnight trips to places like Jamestown and Williamsburg. Or maybe it was more like one of those company bonding retreats we’ll all have to participate in when we finally find jobs five years after graduation. I don’t know… all I know is that the weekend was fun. We went hiking, played in waterfalls, swam in dirty rivers (on second thought, we probably shouldn’t have done that), and stayed up all night playing cards. We all—American students as well as Chinese roommates—became much closer on the trip.
To be honest, before the trip, my fellow students and I had started to get into a groove. Our daily schedules—what we were doing, and who we were seeing—were becoming, in a sense, normal. Our new routines felt comfortable, especially when we didn’t think that life so far from home could ever feel normal. The weekend was a break from that though, and it gave us a much needed reminder as to why it’s important and incredibly awesome to travel and to keep trying new things. Traveling, or just deviating slightly from your standard activities, can be exhilarating. When you come to China, try to make baozi (and discover after six attempts that you’re embarrassingly bad at rolling them). Or teach your fellow students and their Chinese roommates to play Hearts (and then turn that into a ginormous 12 person tournament where losers have to sing, dance and declare undying love to each other). Life here is more than studying in the traditional sense of the word. We’re in China not just to learn Chinese, but to enjoy the experience and to gain a greater cultural understanding as well. It was lovely that we really got a chance to do that this weekend. Plus, since it was so much fun, we’re all now newly inspired to study harder to master the language. Bonus points all around.
Baozi we made
Until next time,
Char
Travels throughout Italy
Dear readers,
For my last travels in Italy, after Spring Break, I went to Cinque Terre, Cagliari Sardegna, Catania Sicily, and several smaller towns in Tuscany.
Cinque Terre was breathtaking. It is a series of five small, colorful towns on the coast of Liguria on the northwest coast of Italy. Cinque Terre is not something you really go to simply “see.” You “do” Cinque Terre. And by that I mean you go to Cinque Terre to hike along the coastline through all five of the towns.
When we went, the weather was not perfect; it was maybe 60°F, cloudy, and incredibly humid. The cool air and lack of sun turned out to be a boon when the normal trail was closed and we were required to hike inland and straight up a mountain to get to the next town. The view was still spectacular. The trails were unlike those in national parks in the US, where you would have to make a serious effort to put yourself at risk of falling. Rather, the trail was, for the most part, only wide enough for one person, cut into the side of a veritable cliff with either terraced vineyards or a rocky Mediterranean shoreline below you.
Cagliari, Sardegna also disappointed us with cold, rainy, and windy weather for the most part, although “it NEVER rains in Cagliari!” The beach was fantastic nevertheless, and we got to explore several unique and exotic stores in the city, like MANGO and Nike.
Catania, Sicily was stunning. Mt. Etna loomed in the distance, and even when you couldn’t see it, you had only to look around at the buildings made out of grey lava stone to remember its eternal presence in the city.
I then went to Castiglione di Pescaia on the Tuscan coast for a day, which might have been the most perfect day of beaching I have ever experienced. It was just hot enough for you to bake nicely, but there was still a nice breeze. Enough to cool you off, but not enough to blow sand into your face and iPod. The water was clear, calm, and refreshingly cool. We were about a hundred steps from a strip of restaurants, and a short walk to the bus stop. There was some serious relaxation going on that day.
Going to Monteriggioni with two Italian friends was another day of fun despite less-than-ideal weather. It was Italian Labor Day. On the way, we stopped by a public park so that Pierluigi’s dog, Toby, could stretch his legs. At this park (why on earth don’t they have these in the US??) they had a playground-turned-public-gym. Instead of monkey bars and tic-tac-toe, there were a number of individual exercise machines, like an elliptical, a leg-press, these discs you stand on and twist back and forth, working your obliques, and a number of other strange contraptions. It was awesome. I don’t frequent gyms, but I would totally go to this place all of the time. Did I mention there was also a zipline??
I finished my last exam this morning, and now as I sit here trying to come to terms with the fact that I return home in a little over two days, I am experiencing ALL OF THE FEELINGS.
I don’t have words to describe how happy and thankful I am for the time I have had here in Siena, but I am sad that that time is ending so soon. I am happy for the friends I have made here, but I am sad to be leaving them for a future in which there is no certainty we will see each other again. I am happy to be going home, to see my friends and family, to eat a burrito from Chipotle and “real” ethnic food. I am happy I will be going to the beach for the week I return, and that I have an exciting internship lined up for the summer. I can’t wait to blast music and sing out loud with the windows down and that heavy Virginia air blowing in my face. But I still can’t say I want to go home. All I can say is that on the plane ride on the way home, the tears are going to flow. At least it would lend a nice symmetry to my time abroad.
Packing shall commence this afternoon, concluding only at 6am on Sunday morning when I will begin my homeward travels.
‘Mo please!
Beijing, like any other society, is comprised of people from all different back grounds: rich, poor, disabled and healthy. The world is full of differences, and Beijing is a city that exemplifies difference. Many see Beijing where the East meets the West with the unique way Beijingers assimilate western concepts and ideas and put their own spin on it, or vice versa when foreigners come to find work and set up business within the Chinese culture. However, as a student, many of these social underpinnings are lost to me in the bustle of city life- it all seems to blend together. What is not though, is the wide gap between the handicapped and healthy of Beijing.
With this in mind, I sat in a clean room, with a huge window over looking one of Beijing’s quieter streets and went through a mental check list. Clothes all on? Check. Shoes off? Check. Ready to get the best massage for the best price ever? Check!
On a daily basis, walking through the streets of Beijing you will encounter beggars. In America, if you encountered someone homeless often times don a sign reading something like “God Bless You” to “Need money, no beer.” But the homeless in China are a much different sort. Some have signs, but most painfully and publicly show their lowly status through their disfigured, mangled or deformed bodies. It’s surprising how many people you can encounter in a day, and it makes me wonder how they make a living off just the few maos and kuais they get by the chance passerby. A lot of times I just don’t know how to react, I have never met anyone with the physical problems asking for alms on the streets of America. Yet, some do get by.
When I arrived at the massage parlor, one of the attendants shuffled to the anti-disinfection box and took out some clean towels, feeling for the quality to ensure he had the right one for the massage bed I was told to get on. Once prepared, I was told to take off my shoes and lie down. But this massage was unlike any other that I have ever had, because my dai fu (massage therapist) was blind. In fact, besides me and the building’s care taker, no one else could see. All clothes were kept on, and he used a towel to rigorously take out all the knots in my shoulder and back. In this way it was totally different than a Western massage, different but relaxing.
Many people cringe at the idea of going to someone blind to get a massage (按摩an mo is massage in Chinese) . How do they know what is clean if they can’t see? What if they don’t know what they are doing? But I can tell you the experience was amazing and I am glad I went. It not only was affordable (~$10USD) but it was really interesting to see into the lives of what being handicapped in China is like. As I got massaged I chatted with the attendants asking them about where they went to school, how they liked their job, etc. They also taught me different names for the parts of the body (like shoulder and back). I learned about the Chinese policy that promoted giving jobs to those with blindness through massage parlors and massage trade schools. It was refreshing to see that despite disabilities, some people in China still had a chance to have a life and work. The people at the massage parlor were so inviting too. They seemed to know my every muscle and could tell easily where I was sore before I opened my mouth as well as other things in like that I lifted weights and ran just from where my muscles were most developed in my back and legs. After going to school for 3 years and then practicing for another 5 my dai yi seemed to be an expert of the human body.
A typical Chinese blind massage parlor, but not the one I went to.
It was such a great experience I plan to return for ‘mo.
A Bittersweet End
This is a still from our short film Alesi, Hraj (Play, Ales).
11 more days in Prague, I can’t believe it. Our final screening for the professors is May 15th and then my flight leaves at 8:30AM on the 18th. I don’t want to leave Europe, it fits me so well. I do miss everyone at home though and I’m excited to possibly be working in Brooklyn this summer (fingers crossed). I have two interviews tomorrow, one for Rooftop Films as a festival intern and one for an editing internship at Crossborders. But I love it here! I love FAMU and this production has been more than I could have ever asked for, I’ve learned so much. I’m really proud to say I co-visualized the entire film as well as wrote it. We finished with sound today after 6 hours in the studio and Thursday is color grading so then it’ll be complete! I’m coming back to this place, I’ve never felt more sure about everything after this semester. Prague is an amazing city and seriously under-rated. I have my Visual Theory final in about an hour and then just one more paper due next week and we’re calling it a semester!
LOVE Beccah!
CET Academic Programs