Conversations
Nothing really new to report. I should get the last batch of questionnaires tomorrow afternoon, and I need to finish up 4-5 interviews this week, and then we're off to Suzhou on Saturday. I went to Suzhou last summer with Dr. Wilson and the research group from Sewanee, but it will be fun to take Daniel there. Also, one of my Sewanee classmates lives in Suzhou, so hopefully we can meet up while we're there. Then Sunday it's back to Shanghai.
This morning I left Daniel in at the hotel, still in bed at 11 in the morning, and went to the Potted Plant Garden by myself. Daniel just didn't feel like he was missing out, I guess, but it turned out to be a nice little garden. It was practically deserted--extremely rare for China, and quite nice. It gets its name from hundreds of potted bonsai trees arranged throughout the park, but there are also several little creeks, pavillions, rock formations, the usual elements of a Chinese garden. I met a young man in the garden who came up to talk to me; something I discovered last summer was that Chinese people are much more likely to come up and talk to you if you are by yourself. So we had a nice little conversation, wandering through the garden. He was from the countryside, and was in Yangzhou to travel and look for work. He wanted to practice his English of course, but mostly we talked in Chinese, as my Chinese was better than his English (wonder of wonders!) so I got a chance to practice listening comprehension and stringing together coherent sentences in Chinese--always good.
On my way back to the campus, I passed a guy on a bike cart who said hello in English; not an uncommon occurrence, as many people know "hello" and aren't at all shy about shouting it at the "waiguoren" (foreigners). But I ran into this guy again on the campus, and he wanted to talk. (I always try to talk to anyone who wants to practice English here, as I'm quite sympathetic to the trials of learning a foreign language. Plus it's just fun to see what people say.) "Robert" (pronounced more like WRowwert) is a junior studying law at Yangzhou University. He laughed when he told me this, and said that he knew law is not very developed in China, but he thinks it's going to get better. I have to say I agree. Anyway, he just couldn't get over his good fortune at catching a waiguoren of his very own to talk to! He asked about my studies and my research at Yangzhou Daxue; I explained that I was a psychology major, and was giving students at the University questionnaires for my research. He laughed, "oh, so we're like your little labratory rats!" "No, of course not! You're participants in my research!" He said he thought psychology was very interesting, but it's not very popular in China. "Maybe there are some psychology doctors in the big cities," he said, "but not in a place like Yangzhou. I think with all the stress students are under though, that there will be a great need for this kind of thing in the future." I saw his point. He asked me what state I was from. "Oh, I know of Alabama. It is the center of the civil rights movement." A diplomatic way to put it, I guess; I imagine there are many worse things written about Alabama in whatever source he got his information from. "Yes, perhaps it is the birthplace of democracy there." Not sure what he meant by that, but I suppose it could be in some way true. All in all, Robert had a pretty good grasp of American history. "The North was the center for industry, and the South was the center of agriculture." Correct again. "I am just so excited to talk with you!" Yes, I can tell. Thank you! I quite enjoyed our conversation.
This morning I left Daniel in at the hotel, still in bed at 11 in the morning, and went to the Potted Plant Garden by myself. Daniel just didn't feel like he was missing out, I guess, but it turned out to be a nice little garden. It was practically deserted--extremely rare for China, and quite nice. It gets its name from hundreds of potted bonsai trees arranged throughout the park, but there are also several little creeks, pavillions, rock formations, the usual elements of a Chinese garden. I met a young man in the garden who came up to talk to me; something I discovered last summer was that Chinese people are much more likely to come up and talk to you if you are by yourself. So we had a nice little conversation, wandering through the garden. He was from the countryside, and was in Yangzhou to travel and look for work. He wanted to practice his English of course, but mostly we talked in Chinese, as my Chinese was better than his English (wonder of wonders!) so I got a chance to practice listening comprehension and stringing together coherent sentences in Chinese--always good.
On my way back to the campus, I passed a guy on a bike cart who said hello in English; not an uncommon occurrence, as many people know "hello" and aren't at all shy about shouting it at the "waiguoren" (foreigners). But I ran into this guy again on the campus, and he wanted to talk. (I always try to talk to anyone who wants to practice English here, as I'm quite sympathetic to the trials of learning a foreign language. Plus it's just fun to see what people say.) "Robert" (pronounced more like WRowwert) is a junior studying law at Yangzhou University. He laughed when he told me this, and said that he knew law is not very developed in China, but he thinks it's going to get better. I have to say I agree. Anyway, he just couldn't get over his good fortune at catching a waiguoren of his very own to talk to! He asked about my studies and my research at Yangzhou Daxue; I explained that I was a psychology major, and was giving students at the University questionnaires for my research. He laughed, "oh, so we're like your little labratory rats!" "No, of course not! You're participants in my research!" He said he thought psychology was very interesting, but it's not very popular in China. "Maybe there are some psychology doctors in the big cities," he said, "but not in a place like Yangzhou. I think with all the stress students are under though, that there will be a great need for this kind of thing in the future." I saw his point. He asked me what state I was from. "Oh, I know of Alabama. It is the center of the civil rights movement." A diplomatic way to put it, I guess; I imagine there are many worse things written about Alabama in whatever source he got his information from. "Yes, perhaps it is the birthplace of democracy there." Not sure what he meant by that, but I suppose it could be in some way true. All in all, Robert had a pretty good grasp of American history. "The North was the center for industry, and the South was the center of agriculture." Correct again. "I am just so excited to talk with you!" Yes, I can tell. Thank you! I quite enjoyed our conversation.
posted by Mike and Jean Anne at 2:05 AM
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