Progress with the research, and some observations
Met with the director of the Foreign Students Office yesterday, and after a semi-stern warning not to touch the “sensitive” subjects of politics or religion, got the phone number of an American English teacher. Called the teacher, who agreed to hand out my questionnaires to his classes and ask his students for volunteers to be interviewed. Hooray!! So Daniel and I have the next couple of days to kick around before we start getting piles of questionnaires that need to be entered into the computer. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s going to help me punch it all in.
We’re having fun exploring Yangzhou. We went to Ge Garden yesterday--a pretty little spot. Today we went to Slender West Lake, Yangzhou’s top tourist destination. Took a nice little walk along the lake, which is indeed slender. Went up to the top of the 9-story pagoda at the DaMing Temple, Daniel complaining the entire way; he’s told me I am limited to only 4 temples for the entire trip…we’ll see about that. I’m the one who’s planning this trip.
So the little on-campus motel we’re staying at isn’t all that nice, but one nice little perk (besides its proximity to where I’m doing my research) is the dining hall next door. The menu is handwritten on a chalkboard by the door, and it’s a little hard for me to read, but the lady that takes our order is really nice and helps us out. We’ve been eating nicely for less than a dollar a person for dinner. I haven’t found a baozi stand close to campus yet, which is kind of sad, but lemon ritz make a good breakfast I guess.
There’s a phenomenon I learned about in a psychology class called the spotlight effect; basically people (and especially adolescents) believe that others are watching them or paying closer attention to them than the others actually are. Except here in Yangzhou for Daniel and I the spotlight effect is not a psychological phenomenon at all, but something that occurs whenever we set foot out of our hotel room. I’m a little afraid we’re going to cause an accident from drivers craning their necks out of the car windows to stare at us. I’m not sure you ever really get used to it, except that when I came home from my first trip to China, I was in the LA airport waiting room and felt like something was a little strange…after thinking about it, I realized it was that none of the Asians in the room were staring at me at all. Heh.
Daniel’s Wisdoms:
1)You will become pro at frogger if you stay in this country for any length of time.
2) The mystery meat at the seafood restaurant is probably octopus, so don’t go there.
3) Censorship of the internet is no good. Be glad you are reading this from the States.
4) Mosquitoes are here in full force. Bring DEET!!
5) The TV is quite useless, as everything is in Chinese, so bring DVDs.
6) In the land of the stone bed, the air mattress is king. Oh, how I wish I had one.
7) Don’t trust the map; things are on that thing that are still being built (Wal-mart).
8) Watch your head in the sculptured rock gardens.
8) Yangzhou fried rice. Tasty.
We’re having fun exploring Yangzhou. We went to Ge Garden yesterday--a pretty little spot. Today we went to Slender West Lake, Yangzhou’s top tourist destination. Took a nice little walk along the lake, which is indeed slender. Went up to the top of the 9-story pagoda at the DaMing Temple, Daniel complaining the entire way; he’s told me I am limited to only 4 temples for the entire trip…we’ll see about that. I’m the one who’s planning this trip.
So the little on-campus motel we’re staying at isn’t all that nice, but one nice little perk (besides its proximity to where I’m doing my research) is the dining hall next door. The menu is handwritten on a chalkboard by the door, and it’s a little hard for me to read, but the lady that takes our order is really nice and helps us out. We’ve been eating nicely for less than a dollar a person for dinner. I haven’t found a baozi stand close to campus yet, which is kind of sad, but lemon ritz make a good breakfast I guess.
There’s a phenomenon I learned about in a psychology class called the spotlight effect; basically people (and especially adolescents) believe that others are watching them or paying closer attention to them than the others actually are. Except here in Yangzhou for Daniel and I the spotlight effect is not a psychological phenomenon at all, but something that occurs whenever we set foot out of our hotel room. I’m a little afraid we’re going to cause an accident from drivers craning their necks out of the car windows to stare at us. I’m not sure you ever really get used to it, except that when I came home from my first trip to China, I was in the LA airport waiting room and felt like something was a little strange…after thinking about it, I realized it was that none of the Asians in the room were staring at me at all. Heh.
Daniel’s Wisdoms:
1)You will become pro at frogger if you stay in this country for any length of time.
2) The mystery meat at the seafood restaurant is probably octopus, so don’t go there.
3) Censorship of the internet is no good. Be glad you are reading this from the States.
4) Mosquitoes are here in full force. Bring DEET!!
5) The TV is quite useless, as everything is in Chinese, so bring DVDs.
6) In the land of the stone bed, the air mattress is king. Oh, how I wish I had one.
7) Don’t trust the map; things are on that thing that are still being built (Wal-mart).
8) Watch your head in the sculptured rock gardens.
8) Yangzhou fried rice. Tasty.
posted by Mike and Jean Anne at 2:21 AM
<< Home