Robert Dedman: China

China  

 

After waking up at 4:00 a.m. on June 17th to go to the airport, I felt incredibly excited, nervous, and tired. My excitement soon woke me up a bit more on the way to the airport, getting rid of my sleepiness and making room for more nerves. I kept reviewing in my head a lesson I had learned the previous summer during which, due to the incredible generosity of the Wilson family, I was given a grant to study Chinese at a Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy immersion program. Butterflies in my stomach almost made me dread having to go to this immersion program, but I learned once I arrived that there was nothing to be afraid of, and it was one of the most fun and fulfilling things I have ever done. A year later, and also thanks to the generosity of the Wilson family, I was nervous of this trip to China too, but I assured myself that this trip would prove to be fun and fulfilling as well. And it blew away my expectations.

One thirteen hour flight later that consisted of flying over large sheets of ice in the ocean near the North Pole, Charles Hunter, Jermaine Francis, J.B. Lund, and I landed in Beijing.

Ice Sheets over Arctic

After making our way through the airport without a guide, we were welcomed by the warm sight of Troy Jiang and Nick Yang (Jermaine’s host and previous exchange student to MBA). We next went to Beijing Number Four (北京四中), our hosts’ school, to meet up with the other hosts. My host, Tony Zhang, had also been an exchange student to MBA, so I had already met him, but I did not know him too well at this point. We left the school and took a taxi to his apartment where I met his parents. His parents spoke no English whatsoever, so I took this opportunity to strengthen my Chinese by practicing with them over the next three weeks. The four of us began to bond that first night over roast duck.

Daily Exercises at Beijing No. 4

The next two days (Thursday and Friday), we all went to school with our host students and began to make friends while seeing first hand many differences between Chinese and American schools. One difference is that the students all had to do a daily “exercise” on their sports fields which mostly involved some dynamic stretches, such as twisting their torsos with their arms spread out, while a voice over the speaker repeatedly counted to ten in a cheerful tune. It was also fun at the school to go to English class and witness them learn when to properly use semicolons. 

During the weekends, we split up and did different activities with our host families. The first weekend, my host family and I went to the 798 Art District, the Temple of Heaven, and a museum of Ancient China. At the 798 Art District, I saw graffiti depicting the book 1984, which I was currently reading. The next week the students from MBA met at Beijing Number Four in the mornings and went to different cultural spots around Beijing. The first week we went to Tiananmen Square, Zhong Shan Park, the Lama Temple, Tsing Hua University, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, the National Museum, and the Bird’s Nest.  I spent money for the first time at Zhong Shan Park… on bumper cars…

Bumper Cars

Tony and I at Temple of Heaven

The second weekend, Tony’s family and I went to Xiang Shan Park and climbed to the top of Xiang Shan Mountain which overlooked the bafflingly massive (and smoggy) city of Beijing. We also went to the Xi Dan mall to buy gifts for my family back home and for myself. On Monday, all of the MBA kids met up again to take a train to the Great Wall of China. This day trip was one of my favorites while in China. For the remainder of the week we mostly just hung out at the school again together and with our new friends, but we also made small day trips to nearby areas like Hutong and the Tianyi Market.

Chairman Mao Portrait at Tiananmen Square

A lot of my practice with Chinese was with people who spoke no English. Some of these people were students at Beijing Number Four who would invite me to play basketball with them during their free time. Others were shop owners with whom I would have to negotiate a price. At the beginning of the trip I found myself having to just nod and smile to people, pretending to understand, and hope that they were not asking a question. Other times I just had to keep asking someone to repeat themselves until I had to get Tony to translate. By the end of the trip I saw a large improvement in my ability to listen and understand Chinese, especially with speakers who don’t have time to talk slower just for my benefit.

Some of the weird foods I ate included stinky tofu (the worst thing I have ever eaten in my life), duck brain, duck tongue, congealed duck blood, liver, kidney, oxe stomach, fish heads, chicken feet, silk worms, etc. The vast majority of the food, though, was much more delicious; however, I found myself craving American food by the end of the trip.

Delicious Fish We Ate

On July 3rd, Ms. Zhang arrived to Beijing and met us for dinner. The next day, July 4th, we celebrated America’s Independence Day by saying our first wave of goodbyes and taking a train to Shanghai. In Shanghai, we met our new host students (my new host's name was Jackie) and went to the Tian Zi Fang area, explored downtown at night with its beautiful neon lights, went to a museum, went to Hangzhou, and the West Lake.

Compared to Beijing, Shanghai was much cleaner, and, to me at least, people seemed more willing to voice their political opinions. We were not in Shanghai long, though, and we had to travel back to Beijing on July 7th. We said goodbye again to our wonderful friends in Beijing, and we flew back the next day on July 8th (an 11ish hour flight that resulted in our arriving in Chicago about an hour before we had left).

Overall, my expectations for China were blown away. I would like to thank the Wilson family for this incredible opportunity. I would also like to thank Mr. Gaither, Ms. Zhang, Mr. Paolicchi, and Mr. Gioia for the many hours they spent planning this trip. I have greatly improved my Chinese, made lifelong friends, and created lifelong memories. No words described how honored I feel to have been given this opportunity. Thank you.

The Great Wall