November 30, 2006

(Learning Chinese Story continuation...)

Where was I, with the learning Chinese story? (having a quick look)
Oh the question, how did I find myself doing the one thing I was sick of and never thought I would be back doing----learning Mandarin! The reason, or actually, the events leading to it is quite complex. I'll start with graduating high school from an English speaking school in the south of China. We had Chinese classes in the morning for more or less two hours each day. That was for two years, in two different schools.

In the first school, I was put in a class with two others, an Indonesian Chinese, who already spoke Mandarin, and a French classmate who spoke Chinese quite well. We didn’t like the teacher, in fact I was the only one who felt sorry for her, not enough though to join the other two hiding from class and having the teacher look for us (childish I know, but golly fun). One class we actually spent in the principal's office. During times when we are finally forced to go in class, we take turns bringing snacks to eat during the lessons. It was during this time that I got the nickname, “cookie monster.” Somebody brought Oreos, not me but I don't remember who now. Anyway, we passed it around under the table, and I remember only eating a few, like two or a bit more but definitely not a lot, when suddenly one of them asked, “where's the cookies?”There wasn't much left by then, and the other friend answered, “I only ate a few, I didn't even eat that much," so that left me, and they started calling me “cookie monster.” I do like cookies, but I still wonder about that day, did I really finish those cookies? I think not, but whatever, being called, “cookie monster” is better than “pink princess,” eeeewwwwww…… That is so not me!

Whao, I've just told a story that didn't have a lot to do with what I was originally planning to. So back to the topic. My second year, in a different school now, but still an English speaking school in Southern China. I had Chinese language classes in the mornings with three other classmates. In one year we had about three different teachers, none of which were actually Chinese Language teachers.

I should say though, it wasn't really just the teacher's fault, a lot of times it was also the students’lack of interest and purpose that got in the way. Like for a lot of us, these classes to have us learn to speak Chinese was just for passing time, we weren't really there to LEARN Chinese, it was just a class that we had because the school had it.

What I mean is, none of us (in that class at least) were taking the lessons seriously, none of us were actually doing the homework and memorizing vocabulary words (ungrateful children that we were). By this time, at least my spoken Chinese was at a level that I could take a taxi and point out directions, and buy things, but I couldn't carry a decent conversation.

So comes graduation, and deciding for the future. Crazy as it may sound, I wanted to go study abroad to Europe; Spain to be more specific. Partly because I've always been very interested in Spanish culture and because I just have a natural instinct about living as farthest away from home as possible. My mom thought I should just stay were I was in China and improve my Mandarin, but I thought, if that were the case, I'd rather just go back home and study in my home country. My dad, two years after my graduation, had a proposal; he asked if I wanted to go abroad and study in Beijing. (to be continued...)

November 29, 2006

Language Confusion/Tough Decisions/Coming To Beijing

The Chinese language isn't one of my favourite subjects to talk about, but I guess at some point you just have to face it, after all it's what got me here in Beijing. Having parents of Chinese descent, not to mention business-minded that they are, my parents thought their children should know how to speak this language despite not using the language themselves, not that they can't, but there are hundreds or even thousands of other dialects in China, and most overseas-Chinese especially the ones living in Southern countries in Asia like Indonesia and the Philippines, speak the Min-Nang dialect and not the national language, Mandarin (PuTongHua). Where am I getting at? Nowhere and I'm not trying to, just wanted to share my experience, that's all. So! Having Chinese blood but born and raised in another country, my parents I guess felt obligated to pass down culture and language to the young ones. My brothers and I attended a Chinese Christian School my mom used to attend when she was little. Mornings consisted of learning English, which is the Philippines’ second (not first!) language, and afternoons are for Chinese lessons.

At home we spoke Tagalog, heard Min-Nang dialect converse between my parents, some English on tv that at that time I didn't understand but didn't seem to matter because kids who watch cartoons don't actually listen, we take notice of the colours and actions and can actually tell what is going on in the story, watched Cantonese martial arts movies, and saw my dad watching some Chinese Mandarin, take note, I saw my dad, not the show, and nor did any of us had any interest in trying to watch it with him. This was a time when I couldn't tell the difference between Min-Nang dialect, Mandarin Chinese, and Cantonese, and the only other countries I knew existed besides the Philippines was Japan (because of Disney Land) and America, heard it was far, and told my dad I wanted to go there someday. If I sound ignorant and immature, I will warn you that as this story goes on, it will only continue to sound that way, so first let me mention that I was at least 5 years of age, or at most 7 yrs. old, so forgive me if I sound annoying, because I was entitled to be.
Back to school, unlike in China, and I didn't even know this then, we were learning traditional Chinese, and not with Pinyin but with a whole different alphabetical system that is also used in Taiwan.



More on Chinese Lessons as a Kid

Classes mainly consisted of memorization. During class hours I remember repeating vocabulary words after the teacher, she would say, “blah blah” and the rest of the class repeated, “blah blah,” I had no idea what I was saying as long as it sounded similar to what the teacher was saying. There was a confusion going on that even I wasn’t aware until much later, I will explain this later. Aside from repeating after the teacher, I also remember her using her arms to draw imaginary strokes in the air to teach us how to write Chinese characters, and each stroke had a name I can't recall now.

The worst and most useless form of teaching was making us memorize some Chinese paragraphs. Then have us stand one at a time beside the teacher and recite it back to her. Forget about knowing what you are actually saying, the important thing is you remembered what you were supposed to say regardless of knowing the meaning and all. Well, I had bad memory even back then, add the nervousness of standing in front of your whole class, I was lucky if I even remembered a sentence to recite. What happened if you couldn't remember? You got whacked with a ruler, and not just any ruler, but the gigantic wooden types schools (in those days, in the Phil.) used to have to draw lines on the blackboard. Oh the piles of homework! From Chinese classes in the afternoon and English classes in the morning, kids had to carry strollers to carry their bags to and from school, and that was in kindergartens and elementary!




Years Later - After Isolating Myself From The Chinese Language

It was only a decade and a few more years later, when I was learning Mandarin Chinese in China, that I realized back then when I was trying to memorize words, no I should just call them“sounds," that we were actually learning two languages at the same time! No wonder it was so confusing! I don't remember having a discussion or the teacher explaining this, maybe they just assumed we knew. One of the things I remembered repeating after the teacher was, "ren xi lang," "ren" is in mandarin, meaning person, and “lang” is person in Min-Nang dialect! I didn't speak Min-Nang dialect, and not a word of Mandarin (or so I thought), so I didn't know which was which, and that the lesson was being explained in Min-Nang dialect, because “xi” is “is” in the dialect, so the teacher all along was saying, “person” is "person”!!!

All those Chinese lessons years ago did was convince me that I couldn't learn the language! I lost interest and motivation in learning Chinese. So how you might ask, did I end up in Beijing, learning Mandarin Chinese years later? How did I find my way back? Did an angel visit me in my dreams? Did my parents threaten or force me? Did I just suddenly wake up one day and just simply want to? Do you want to know?

Stay tuned for the next episode. Will rest now.

November 28, 2006

Memories of SARS

Just feel like typing some more. Well, hmmm… What to write about… Oh, how about the time of the SARS epidemic? Lol… I booked a flight back home a bit later than I should. Originally I wasn't even planning to go home, and since one of my friends was also planning to stay, she was from Hong Kong, and at the time, Hong Kong was one of the danger zones, we thought it'd be fun to be stuck in Beijing together. Originally I had nowhere to go anyway, but later, I was given a chance to go back home (long story), so I booked a flight. I haven't been home for more than a year and a half.

My Hong Kong friend also decided she will go back home then. So there I was excited that I was going home, when one day, my brother calls me and says mom called him and told me not to go home. I was like, “why?” he was like, “you'll be quarantined if they know your flight came from Beijing. Quarantined for two weeks in a far away, dirty hospital.” Of course I didn't believe him, I had no reason not to, but I always question a lot of things that come from my brother. I guess it's from the experience of getting fooled too many times growing up together. Did I call my mom to get a confirmation? I forgot but yah, so it's true, there were quarantined rules and I was asked to refund my ticket and stay in Beijing alone!

During that time I was living with two other roommates (not the ones in my other story), they went home earlier (ooh, I just remembered another story that happened when they left, of me getting locked out by accident, later on that) and so there I was all alone at home, I couldn't even go to school, coz they weren't letting students in or out of the campus! I remember, Beijing was like a ghost town! Nobody roamed the streets, not even beggars! For once, there it was guaranteed you'll find a whole bench to sit on in subways and busses, and you can bet nobody wanted to be near anybody else so “space” was finally available on a regular basis. Wow!

My mom called several times, telling me not to go to boxed-up areas such as the supermarket and the likes. I just said agreed but of course how am I going to survive if I don't buy food. It was like, die from encounter with a SARS contaminated person or die from starvation. I figured I had more chances of dying from starvation, being that eating was a daily problem. I just tried to buy as much food as I could carry back home in one-go. With no friends, no school, nobody at all, do you know how I kept myself sane? Do you know what kept me busy and who kept me company? I kept myself busy by coming up with a daily schedule of reading, drawing, and watching English travel shows on tv. Yes, my television was my best friend then. I remember living in that place, it was a pretty nice place by the way, not the old, dark, cheap place I later moved into, but oh wow, so far from the school, paying for the electricity actually meant buying the electricity in advance with a card.

One night while watching Kevin Costner's“Dragonfly”I had a black-out. I was there alone in the dark, and thinking“huh!”I looked out the window and found my neighbouring buildings with their lights all bright and shiny. I stepped out of my house and found my next door neighbour complaining too. Great, so maybe I'm not the only one, maybe it's just our building after all. We call a building staff to have a look at the problem. Turns out, my next door neighbour was just a victim---MY victim. My electricity wasn't enough to support watching dvd, and it bounced my neighbours electrical box as well. Lol… So she gets her electricity back on, and I go back to my dark dungeon. I had nothing better to do but read a book with a flash light on at 9pm!

The Night of the Lady By The Stairs

The registration thing went better than I thought, better, as in they didn't ask me any questions, and there I was trying to think up of questions they might ask, and what I should reply, oh the anxiety over nothing. Just glad that's over, I might have been a bit paranoid, but better safe than unprepared.

Talking about residing in China, I suddenly remember my scariest experience. I used to live with two other friends from school. We lived in one of those cheap“lou fang” right in the city. If you've ever looked for a place to live in Beijing you could probably guess then what my house looked like judging from my mention of“cheap" and“in the city center.” For those of you who don't, well in Beijing the closer your place is to the center of the city, or around the third ring road, the more expensive the apartments are. Choosing something old and ugly will decrease the price, especially if it's one of those places that's just waiting to be torn down. We were actually living in one of those cheap, old, paint-running-down-the-wall, no lights on outside type of places. It was just fifteen minutes walk to our school see, and we liked to eat well. We figured, we're just going to be sleeping in it. As rundown as the place was, it sat right between a huge supermarket and one of the best and most expensive Japanese restaurants in Beijing. Ok, on with the story: One night, there I was at home with one of my roommates. I was on the phone with someone else when our other roommate called my other roommate on her cell phone asking her to come down and get her. Now, this roommate that was outside, she was the type who starts screaming watching opening credits for horror movies, and she warned us that sometimes she might call one of us to come down and walk home with her, because it was just too dark and scary. So far she never did this, and I thought she was used to it by then, so to have her call up suddenly that night was quite peculiar.

On my other roommate's way out the door to get her, I stopped her and asked what was going on. She said (something like this), “She said there's a lady following her.” Ooh… Like a dialogue from a horror flick. So I continued chatting on the phone while she went down to get our other friend. When I finally heard them come in, I heard someone else (that was unfamiliar) trying to hold on to the door and get in. But since I was stuck on the phone, I couldn't get a good view of who it was. I was like a narrator, telling my friend on the phone what was happening when I myself wasn't sure what was going on. I just heard my roommate say, “We don't know you.” Somebody else laughing,“I know you!” My roommate replying,“ Then who am I? What's my name?" My other roommate saying,“What are you doing?! Just close the door!" Then door slamming.

I got the whole story later on, but first I must explain how the lights in the hallway work. They’re always off, and they’re not noise sensitive, instead you have to touch them to get some light. So my roommate was on her way up, we lived on the 5th floor if I remember correctly, she got to the second floor and turned on the lights and who should be standing right there in front of her but this 40 year old lady. “You scared me! What are you doing standing here in the dark.” In Chinese it was actually said a lot faster. So she continued to climb the stairs, and noticed that the woman has also began climbing the stairs with her.

My roommate felt it was strange, strange enough that she turned around mid 3rd or 4th floor, to face the woman and asks her (something like this) “Where are you going?” Now assuming that the lady lived in the same building, this question would be rude, but who knows why my roommate thought to asks anyway. The lady says she was going to our house (making it sound like she was a visitor). My roommate wouldn’t hear anymore, and started back down the stairs, passing the lady. She finds a public phone and phones us.

That night after closing the door, we looked out the peephole to see if she was still there, but the lights were already turned off, we couldn’t see anything. It crossed my mind to open the door to find out but of course only people in movies do that. The next day, on our way to school, we told the old man who guards the big front gate about last night, and he says, “yeah, there was a lady seen coming out this morning from your building, she’s suppose to be a bit Looney.” Thank goodness we weren’t tempted enough to open the door last night!!!
It was pretty scary for awhile, coming home every night alone and in the dark, you couldn’t help but wonder if she decided to come back. Can you imagine?!

Landlords and Roaches

Waiting for my landlady to call me back. I hope she's not pissed I'm changing the schedule plans a bit. I really need her help right now. I also know traveling more than an hour in traffic to come here to do this for me is the last thing she wants to do. Being a foreigner living in China can sometimes mean a lot of hassle. Damn, foreign registration regulations!!! Why do they need to know where we live? If I were illegal or doing something I shouldn't, I'd probably find a good way to hide myself anyway, what this is just causing more nuisance to foreigners living in China.

I guess even I feel for my landlady, no wonder she didn't seem too excited on having foreigners living in her house, hmmm… Is this the governments’ way of minimizing foreigners living in Chinese apartments? Whereas before it was illegal and had lots of people breaking the rules anyway, now they're just making it harder to actually do it even if it's legal. So smart, those law passers.

On a less stressful note, our place is slowly being taken over by baby cockroaches. They were there even before we moved in and my roommate and I thought, no problem, we'll just buy“cockroach houses" (you know, the killer house for roaches), so they came three in one pack, and we put one in our room beneath the bookshelf, where it'll go unnoticed by visitors, another one in the living room, underneath her working table, and another one in the kitchen, under the all-purpose table. Well, the thing is, we both agree, that they seem to have increased rather than decreased in population. Or maybe it just seems that way coz we see them more often sprinting about on our tables, could it be that they knew? And that they are trying to stay as far away from the“murder houses”by crawling on table tops instead of the floor? By the way, I call them“murder houses”coz that's what we call them in Chinese (zang lang jia) when translated. Another theory is that, maybe the“thing" supposed to be attracting the roaches to go into the“murder houses,”are so strong that they are also attracting our neighbours’roaches. What do you think? Frankly, we don't really care, all we really want is for them to get lured into the murder houses, die, and decrease population!

November 26, 2006

'Ello~

Hi Everyone~

I'm living in Beijing right now, and I'm starting a blog about my days here in China, how I learned Chinese, what I've been seeing around China, the Chinese culture and lifestyle, stories on how I got here, other expats and foreigners' stories and just some random stuff I might feel like typing out on random days. You're all welcome to read! Well, I hope somebody does come in here and read, coz otherwise, what's the point of having an online journal eh?

Peace~