Summing Up September

Learning so much! Living it up the Chinese way!

It has already been one month since I arrived in Hong Kong. Never have I been away from home - or even America - for this long. I was afraid that I would come to a point of homesickness, but surprisingly this is not the case. Well, when I received my family photos via e-mail I felt pretty homesick. But in the long-term, I am still very excited about the next 10 months I have left here in Hong Kong.

Why? Because of the progress I can make in my studies. I am learning so much so quickly mainly in part because I am taking courses specifically about China. These courses include:

Regional Geography of China - This, at first, was rather boring. But, aren't most classes boring at the beginning? Just imagine - you are the only westerner in a class which holds 75 other Chinese students - and the teacher is Chinese speaking English to everyone. Sure, they are pretty darn good at English seeing as it's not their mother language. But, they are slow.

On the bright side, I am able to sit back and relax, taking in everything that he puts on the power point at a rather comfortable pace. Even better, the information is actually rather

interesting. We are going over Chinese history like the one-child policy, which is now a law. And we also talk about how things are run - like cities is a flexible term in China. They have municipal cities, prefecture-level cities, and county-level cities. So Beijing is one of the four municipal cities. Guangzhou is a prefecture because it is the capital of the Guangdong province. I'm really gaining

a great perspective of the Eastern way of utilizing space and governing it's people.

Chinese Philosophy - This is a very exciting course! I've come to the conclusion that the teacher is the single-most important factor for one's interest arousing in a particular subject. This teacher has further ignited my desire to learn about China's deep, deep culture. America only has a tiny fragment of history in comparison to China.

What is so cool about this teacher is the fact that he is a Westerner who has grown up in China. He conducts the class in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Yes, by himself! It requires a lot of patience for the students because he has to repeat everything he says twice - once in Cantonese for the locals, and once for the exchange students in English. Trust me, it is so worth the wait. His reasoning for having a course like this was to bring the East and the West together. He feels

like our ways of thinking are very different and we can learn so much from each other. He is right. I am reading texts from Fung Yu Lan, who was the first to actual write about Chinese philosophy. You see, the big question is what is Chinese Philosophy? They didn't even have this word in their vocabulary until they received books in a gift package from the Pope in the 19th century. They call it ‘zhexue’ 哲学 which literally means 'wise teachings'. Our first 'argument'

involved a student from mainland China bickering in Mandarin about a passage in Mencius. Then there was an immediate response in English (after Dr. Pfister translated of course) by a

Slovakian student in heavily accented English. Right after that, my friend Byron from Minnesota (who is really Korean and goes to school in Boston, and has a northern English accent) responds with his blunt American style point of view! I was so enjoying listening and almost said something myself, but I was so in awe of the conversation and different points of view! As for the local students from Hong Kong who speak Cantonese, they're culture is more accustomed to not raising their hand or saying something in a class setting. The teacher has encouraged them to forget this idea and speak up, but I have yet to hear one brave enough to get out of their cultural

comfort zone.

I am really looking forward to learning more about the Chinese way of thinking - and hopefully speak up about Jesus Christ and then hear their reactions to my comment:))

Basic Conversational Cantonese - Yes, the name says it all! They make this course as basic as possible because this is just such a difficult language for exchange students to learn. Especially when the teacher is Chinese and teaching in English, which is her second language; and then at the same time, most students (besides me and a couple other Americans) are really limited as well. This is because they are coming from Singapore, France, Germany, Ukraine, etc. and thus also have to listen to her weak English when English is also their second language! Can you see how difficult this is for communication? Especially when the material is so foreign and

completely confusing for them. So, this class has also been rather slow for me because English is my first language. This is nice though, because my main focus is Mandarin. I do, however, want to study this language so I can academically understand the differences between the two - and

boy are their differences! I am learning basic conversation, not writing, which is nice because I am able to utilize my learnings each day with locals. Writing Cantonese would just explode my brain because they use traditional characters and don't comply with what I am learning in Mandarin completely. The teacher is really fun and energetic, so this helps make up for what could be a dreadful class. I love learning Chinese! Example for the differences:

Ngoh yiuh hohk Guangdongwa (Cantonese).

Wo yao xue Guangdongwa (Mandarin).

Elementary Poutonghua - This is Mandarin. They call it 剖通话“poutonghua", which means "popular language". Oh how I love this language. It is by far my favorite language that I have studied so far. It beats Japanese, Spanish, and Cantonese by a long shot. Just studying the characters independently is enough to strike my interest. But there's more; over 1 Billion people speak this language, because Beijing has adopted this language as the national dialect of China.

That means I can speak Mandarin here in Hong Kong, and people will still understand me (as long as I speak clearly of course! seeing as there are four tones and it's imperative to emphasize the correct tones!!!).

握每天练习写汉字。Everyday I am practicing writing Chinese characters. Believe it or not, it is actually a stress relief - and enjoyable for me. There are just so many different meanings and combinations of characters to be had. Just like solving a never-ending puzzle. I don't think I will ever get to a point where I can understand the language completely - but that's the beauty of it! And I'm not alone in this never-ending process because even my professor doesn't know all

characters. In fact, he likely doesn't even know half of what there is to know! There are approximately 48,000 characters. 1000 are used in basic, daily conversation. If you know 1500, then you can read a newspaper. If you know 3,000-4,000, then you can go to college. If you know 5,000 or more, then you are pretty dang smart - like my professor.

Chinese needs to be a "poutonghua" or popular language, and it must. We must promote this language because it is the last language that is based on ideographs. This means that the writings are pictures that have nothing to do with the pronunciation. Well, for the most part. I don't want to go into huge detail! But, it's so unique and I feel that we should at least offer it in all of our schools in America. It shouldn't be a mystery! Okay, so maybe I'm too passionate...

Well, as of today. It is raining like crazy - there is supposed to be another typhoon sometime this week. That means we get rain everyday this week. How exciting...not really. But the wind gets ridiculous - watch a video on youtube about it because you won't believe how powerful the winds get!

I am accustomed to everything now for the most part. I don't hang out with exchange students anymore, unlike most. I really want to learn about the Chinese culture - the best way is through relationships. I have a multi-entry visa to China, so I will be traveling to the first city in mainland, Shenzhen, once a week. This will enable me to listen to Poutonghua and speak. In Hong Kong, unfortunately, most speak English and so they don't want me - a "gwai lo" (literally white ghost - nickname for foreigners) to not speak English.

....oh yea - one more thing - MY SISTER IS ENGAGED!!! Check out her gorgeous ring! Special

thanks to: Andrew Duncan - a great guy!