Four Sisters National Park ( 四姑娘山)

I’ve had my eye on Four Sisters National Park (Siguniangshan, 四姑娘山) since well before coming to Chengdu. The name comes from the four tall mountains in the park, the tallest of which is the Littlest Sister at just over 20,000ft.

We gambled last week and didn’t buy our bus tickets in advance (the bus is the only way to get to Rilong (also called Si gu niang shan zhen), and they were all gone by the time we got to the station. We found out this week what the issue was: because of road work, buses had to be past a certain road by 7am, so all the busses were pushed up to 5:30am.

So for this weekend, Holly and I picked up three tickets two days in advance (the earliest possible). We showed up at the bus station at 5am, because who knows how these things work?, but doors didn’t even open until 5:25 so it was sorta pointless. A Taiwanese woman with excellent English said hi to us. She was on our bus and translated for us the whole way. The bus station with buses to which stop at Four Sisters start at Chadianzi (茶店子) and we had to get the bus to 小金 (Xiaojin) which was past Rilong. Our new friend was able to communicate this to the driver, which helped a lot. She also explained what was happening when we pulled over on the side of the road for two hours at one point to wait for a tunnel to open up.

I’ve driven in my fair share of mountains, but this was a new experience. The “foothill” mountains were super steep, covered in deep emerald trees, and clouds drifted around like all those dreamy pictures you see of China.

I’ve never been on such a sharply winding road, not in Colorado or the Appalachians or Cambodia or New Zealand or the Alps or anything. So well done China. Rilong is at 10,500ft, and I was feeling the altitude. Chengdu is around 1000ft.

I don’t know if we went on an off weekend (September 21-22) or if Rilong is usually subdued, but everything was still. We met a few other tourists, but for the most part the street stayed totally empty. One lady worked for hours on a loom. Others sewed as they chatted quietly with neighboring shopowners. Everyone left their doors open to the street. It was 35ºF, so I definitely don’t understand the open doors thing. Guess it gets a lot colder later in the year, maybe everyone’s used to it. 

We hadn’t reserved ahead, but we wandered until we found a random hotel. 120¥ per night for our own room with a private bathroom, tv, wifi, and heated mattresses. That’s $5 per person per night. PRICEY. lol jk

We decided to hike Haizi Valley (海子), one of three valleys in the park. We’d heard this is the most nature based. It was the easiest to get to since we could walk there from town. We paid ¥30 each for student-discounted tickets. Total, we climbed over 2000 stairs within the first few miles. The trail was in great condition at first and new rest stops are in the construction process all along the trail, but the shaded ares later on were super muddy. 

We hiked to Big Lake (I think that’s literally it’s name), which was seven miles in. I think the trail loops around after that, so for an extra two or three miles, you could come a lot of the way back with different views, but we were totally happy with our seven. At the top of the stairs, we got a really nice view of the Littlest Sister, but didn’t see it again until the lake. We walked along a mountainside with good views of two of the other sisters though.

We didn’t see many people. Mainly large groups of Chinese tourists riding horseback in fancy white sneakers. So once they passed us, we had the mountain to ourself again. I think we saw three of these groups. Surprisingly quiet for being so close to a 9 million person metropolitan area.

Our hotel owner helped us get the bus home. Basically you’ve got to call ahead to Xiaojin to figure out when the bus will pass through, and let the driver know how many people will be joining. We paid for our return tickets through WeChat. Idk what the other payment options are.

Haha this is a dry post. Honestly, just felt like I needed words to put between the beautiful pictures.

xoxo,

ceci

chinese language : semester one recap

When I end up in the parts of Chengdu where a) foreigners don’t go as often and b) rural visitors come while in the city, things get funny. I’m at a little park because the sky has been blue all day so I typed in 公园 and picked an option on a nearby bus line.

Three ladies found me in a back corner of the park. I meant to get tea, but I hadn’t found the tea houses yet. One of them chased after me, waving her fuchsia phone and speaking…words. Finally, I caught some: zhao pian. Photo.

So I followed their fingers and posed, but they kept speaking, so many questions, right in my face, and I had nothing to say. Because I can’t speak Chinese yet.

Which is the topic of the post I came to this park to write.

I say I can’t speak Chinese yet, but I caught some phrases and ran with them. I heard a question about country, told them I was from America. They said something about 工作, and I replied that I’m a university student at Southwest Minzu (embarrassingly enough, I only learned the Chinese name for my university like a week ago). I told them my age. I’m not sure if they asked, but I heard some sui’s and some duo da’s so I went for it.

They took several videos walking besides me and talking to the camera. I sorta smiled and looked confused.

Encounters like these frustrate me. I know these ladies made their words as simple as possible, but I can’t even understand simple things yet. I try to look at the good parts, the things I sorta pick up, but learning a language is frustrating.

Tomorrow, I have my first final. That’s why I’m writing this, actually. I’m procrastinating. Obv.

First final, first “semester” of Chinese done. I guess we’ve learned a lot, but practically I don’t feel equipped to make my way around.

We spend three hours per day in class, Monday through Thursday. We have homework most days, and I spend a while memorizing words. Probably two or three more hours per day working. And then, of course, four other classes. I don’t put effort into those.

My teacher, Yan Lao Shi speaks excellent English. He learned from British audio tapes when he was younger, because China was closed to foreigners.

We’re going through Integrated Chinese Level 1 (an American textbook series), and each lesson has a few cartoon dialogues. The drama is getting real. Little Bai likes Little Gao who likes Little Li! What a time.

I often feel overwhelmed by Chinese. English isn’t prevalent here like it is in Beijing and Shanghai, although it’s certainly the second best language. My friend Debbie is Italian, so she’s learning Chinese in English, which isn’t even her first language.

Lots of days, I picture getting back to America and having the ability to ask the waiter questions or respond to their questions without any effort. I think I’m most excited for that.

This is the longest I’ve been in a country besides America (my previous record sitting at a measly thirteen days). As much as I’m struggling to pick up Chinese, I am grateful for the incentive to learn phrases. On short trips, I give up on anything except “thank you” and “excuse me,” since limited time isn’t conducive to small talk.

I just filled out a placement test for Hebrew. I had no idea until I saw this test that Hebrew is read right to left. Fun fact. But you know, at least Hebrew is phonetic. I remind myself that Chinese feels so difficult, but it is considered a hard language because of the character thing. Maybe after Chinese -> Hebrew -> Maninka, I’ll treat myself to a stint in Spain or somewhere with an easy language 😉

Wish me luck on the test I’m winging tomorrow!

xoxo

Cecilia

p.s. if nothing else, this language learning thing makes me so so grateful whenever I write in English. It feels so natural. Like how wild for words to feel natural?

p.p.s. my favorite phrase currently is 听不懂 (ting bu dong) which means, “I hear but I don’t understand”

culture shock comes in waves

Not gonna lie, I forgot I would be a student in China. In my mind, I had four months of free roaming ahead of me. I’ve spent hours over the past three weeks learning Chinese, but in a traditional academic setting (so not as useful for getting around). My Chinese class meets four times per week, three hours per day. I usually have about three hours of homework each afternoon. Then I have an additional eight credits of classes plus an audit. Which sounds like more than it actually is.

I’ve spent more time on homework here than in my engineering days. Which seems a little warped, but really is just a commentary on how I slid by with the engineering classes.

USAC, my study abroad program, provides all these books previous students left behind. I have a kindle, but I’ve been mainly borrowing books instead. Currently reading China Wakes and Wild Swans. Both excellent. I’m simultaneously deeply embedded in Chinese  and completely removed. I spend hours working on vocab and grammar every day, but in a traditional classroom with an English-speaking teacher. Everything I read relates to China, but I’m living on a floor with American students.

There’s a corner restaurant just below the dorm. I go frequently, because the jiaozi dumplings are superb. I’m starting to get frustrated at how little I understand, even for survival things like food.

Ultimately, all this culture shock goes in waves. It’s maybe not strong enough to be “shock” because I expected all of it.

I’m sick today. Held off longer than most of the other students, but here we are. Maybe it’s because I started brushing my teeth in sink water rather than filtered water. Maybe it’s because I don’t sleep well. Maybe it’s just inevitable. Today particularly hit the frustration side of things. I went to the printer to get medical forms I need for an application to my next university. I couldn’t understand what the guy asked (how many copies, turns out). I bought some grapes. I misunderstood the price, and didn’t realize until I left that I paid triple what I needed to. Errands become extra tedious and awkward without the ability to communicate. The air feels heavy. Cars always honk. People stare at me. It’s a billion little things, and today they all irritated me.

But yesterday, I loved it all. I ran a loop to the southeast, and I loved the fruit stands. I thought the stares were funny, loved when a guy jokingly ran alongside me for a moment, when another guy gave me a thumbs up. I was able to order in Chinese (wo yao liang ge xiao jiaozi), maybe grammatically incorrect, but effective. I got bananas from my favorite fruit guy and understood the price. I watered my plants.

Overall, my mood sits at a nice medium. I love this place. I also loved Alabama. I loved Colorado. Place is irrelevant. What I appreciate about this phase is the discomfort. I’m not used to studying so hard, but I’m learning. I’m not used to running so far, but I’m learning. I’m not used to being incapable of talking, but I’m learning. Learning is painful, but it’s such a cool exercise of discipline, and it’s got some good fruits.

I miss talking to people. I’m not going to take small talk with the McDonald’s cashier for granted in the future! I hope I get to the point of being able to small talk with cashiers by the time I’m done with this semester 🙂

I look different here. People notice me. I notice people. That’s a gift, being pushed to notice. It’s something that forces contemplation. I appreciate that.

Emo ramble over 🙂

love y’all!

xoxo, ceci

p.s. pretty much everyone here calls me Ceci, it’s a new experience lol. My Chinese name is technically Li Jing Yi, but CC is easy enough to say for native Chinese speakers that I’ve mostly been going by that. 🙂

sky so blue

The pollution isn’t as bad as I expected. Yeah, worse than Colorado for sure. Rumor has it that it gets bad in the winter. For now, it’s not unhealthy. I can run.

BUT it’s cloudy all the time. I’ve seen blue sky on four days in the past three plus weeks, and three out of those four times, the blue just took up a little patch between clouds.

I went to the printing office and made myself a little collage the other day. Figure I’ll get placebo vitamin c this way lol. The lovely Jordan used to post sky pics with the caption “sky so blue”, I’m just a poser over here, copying her. 😉

My friend, Elise, studies at Oxford right now. Before we left, we both bemoaned our impending months of gray sky. Her mom suggested finding something else to bring brightness to the morning, like tea. I’ve become a religious tea (& generous sugar) drinker, and Elise’s mom was right. Joy comes from a lot of places. Blue skies are naturally happy, but happiness can be constructed too.

xoxo ceci

Mt. Emei (峨眉山): first weekend trip!

Photo by Oliver Harris, Insta @0harris5

Mt. Emei is the mountain in the sea of clouds. On clear days, the summit rises out of the (seemingly ever present) layer of mist and clears a view to the mountains ranges nearby.

Photo by Oliver Harris, Insta @0harris5, picturing the foothills of Emeishan

One of China’s four sacred Buddhist mountains, Emei attracts pilgrims and tourists interested in the dozens of temples scattered throughout the trails up the mountain.

Photo by Oliver Harris, Insta @0harris5

Molly, Holly, and I started to feel claustrophobic in Chengdu. After two weeks in the city, we decided to make our own pilgrimage to Emei, not as much for pilgrimage reasons as nature reasons.

(In which we discover that the personal bubble definition from Chengdu extends to Emei as well)

The logistics of the trip weren’t as simple as I expected. We invited a few more people, and it ended up being difficult to get train tickets etc. More on that at the very bottom of the post, in case you’re also a complete China novice and want to visit Emei lol.

We took a bullet train at 6am on Saturday, fumbled around for a while in Emeishan, ended up at a trail head (which I was all for taking, but Noah argued would be impossible to complete in two days, which was probably true, I’ll give him that one). Eventually, we settled on a bus for a two hour ride to the base of the cable cars.

Then, we hiked 6km (80% stairs) to the Golden Summit. Besides Oliver, none of us had googled the top of Emei, so we didn’t realize there would be these opulent temples and a gold thing (which I guess was also a temple, probably). We dodged away from everyone else a little below the summit and followed construction workers. They had demolished the path for construction, but the waved at us to go through, so we picked our way over blocks of concrete and up a wide staircase.

As we meandered up this last set of stairs, the golden shrine at the top of the mountain materialized. The experience had a mystical quality.

Photo by Oliver Harris, Insta @0harris5

We were disappointed it was so foggy, but I think that’s pretty common for Emei, and the mist added intrigue to the hike. It felt distinctly spiritual.

Photo by Oliver Harris, Insta @0harris5

Photo by Noah’s iPhone8 and a kind man who performed an impressive squat to get a good angle

These are my friends, some of my best buds from this study abroad so far. L/r: Percy, Oliver, Molly, Noah, Holly, Xiao Conner.

Along the way, we peeked into a temple a ways off the trail. The monk at the doorway gave each of us prayer bracelets (very similar concept to rosaries) because we are wài gúo rén, foreigners. When Noah offered to pay, he said 不要钱, free (I felt so proud that I understood that phrase, I guess you could say I’ve prioritized which phrases are important to know lol).

Photo by Oliver Harris, Insta @0harris5

Initially we planned to stay at a monastery near the summit and watch the sunrise, but since the fog blocked out any light, we realized the possibility of a nonexistent sunrise. This, coupled with our 4:30am departure, convinced us to head back to the base of the mountain around 4pm. We discovered a hostel we’d seen online called Teddy Bear Hotel and got two rooms for cheap. Molly, Holly, and I shared a family room, which means it has a queen sized bed and a twin bed (think about it: this is the size of almost every family in China).

Menu from summit of Emei

We loved the Teddy Bear Hotel. They had a western menu (mediocre, but existent!), good Chinese food, a pool table, lots of space to hang out, and you know…a good hostel vibe, but not crowded.  One of the guys who worked there told us about a hot springs a few minutes away (报国寺风景区) and bought tickets through his account so we got the local discount.

I don’t have pictures, but the hot springs looked like a complex outdoor pool system with a lazy river and cascading pools. Hot tubs (sunk into the ground) sprinkled a thickly forested area inside the lazy river. We didn’t have swimsuits, so had to go sorta conservative in shorts, but the swimwear in China is so different from the US…hardly any two pieces, and most women wear little swim dresses!

We got lots of stares throughout the trip, particularly with Percy’s red hair and Oliver’s dreadlocks. Monks asked to take pictures with them and people stopped Percy to ask about his hong se hair.

Photo by Oliver Harris, Insta @0harris5

In the morning, we slept in. Holly and I got up around 7:30 and sat on the hostel porch, reading while everyone else slept. I’ve been switching back and forth between Mao’s Little Red Book (of communism quotes) and Mary Oliver’s Devotions, which are about as opposite as you could get! Other good books I’m reading rn: What Makes Life Worth Living (for psyc class), China Wakes, and Wild Swans. In case you were wondering lol.

okayyyy extra details

We’d never bought train tickets in China before this trip. When we checked for tickets on Thursday, every bullet train for Friday night had sold out, as well as all the busses we could make. We ended up buying our tickets on China Train Booking. This required all of our passport numbers and added a USD$5 service charge (half the price of our tickets). We still had to arrive early at the station to get our physical tickets. We could have picked them up on a different day, but physical passports are required to pick up tickets, and that felt sorta scary to trust someone with all of them when none of us knew each other well. We showed up to the station at 5:15 for a 6:18 train (using taxi…no Didi drivers answered our order, and the subway doesn’t open until 6), and that ended up being just enough time, but cutting it a little close. The line took a while. Additionally, four of our tickets didn’t go through on the reservation. Fortunately, there were still seats left and the booking site gave a refund, but in the future we probably won’t use China Train Booking. Didn’t save enough effort.

To get to Emeishan from Chengdu, bullet trains leave from the Chengdu Dong Station (成都东站). The train takes 1.5 hours with a few stops along the way. As foreigners, we had to pick up our tickets from a physical person rather than an automatic kiosk. Additionally, to get through security we had to go through a special line. Also a different line to get on the train. So many automated services require Chinese ID cards (which, if you think about it, leads into all that creepy Black Mirror-esque China stuff you hear about). Once in Emeishan, we took the 12 bus to the end of the line. This was the base of the 60km hike. Then we took it a few stops back down to the Emeishan Tourism Center, where we bought bus tickets and park passes. Tickets for the cable car can be bought at the base or at the top.

We spent the night at the Teddy Bear Hotel (玩具熊酒店), right around the corner from the tourism center. (No.43 Baoguo Road, 614200报国寺风景区43号) Staff spoke some English. Cost: 35¥ ($5USD) per person for the guys in a four bed room with private bathroom (bunkbeds), 50¥ ($7USD) per person for the girls in a family room (queen bed, twin bed) with private bathroom.

Lol I feel like when I was looking for info about hiking Emeishan I had so many questions that blogs didn’t answer, but I can’t remember what they were, and this is the extent of what I can think to say.

love y’all!

ceci (李静怡)

 

Parks in Chengdu (成都)

Maybe someday I’ll organize posts a little, but for now here’s some more pictures. This week, I’ve been doing short little spurts out into Chengdu. I paused on a run yesterday when I found the little gazebo above (I’m telling myself I stopped to see the gazebo, but if we’re being real, I got tired of running). Chengdu doesn’t have many official parks near campus, but the campus itself is green and there’s all sorts of little pagodas like the one above.

Okay let’s talk about running. People stare. Hard core. The first few days, I thought the stares were amusing. Not anymore. I don’t know if it’s the fact I’m white, that I’m running in the middle of the day, that I’m tall, etc. But it’s like I’m a magnet for everyone’s eyes. I’m trying to teach myself a good mentality about it, because I know the staring isn’t malicious, but it’s so different from how we’re taught in America (“don’t stare, it’s rude”) that it’s gonna take some adjustment! And a healthy dose of self confidence lol

Molly, Holly, and I wandered around People’s Park (人民公园) for a few minutes the other day. People’s Park gave off a similar vibe to Central Park, a sort of oasis in a downtown. Hardly anyone else walked the paths, probably because it was drizzling a little. Definitely coming back from time to time to study at the tea shop in the middle of the park.

At this point, I feel like I’ve done zero exploring. We made a bucket list, which helped snipe the sense of nothingness. At least we have goals for the future now! Unfortunately, our mountain section on the list is about ten items long, and most of those are too far away to do in a weekend without skipping class. So I’m calculating how many Monday classes I could skip before I fail 😉

This is the street directly below my dorm, right outside the university wall. It’s a famous Tibetan street, and it’s packed with gold and color and monks. While it’s somewhat known in the tourist world, I haven’t noticed many tourists here. I didn’t come to Chengdu for the Tibetan experience, but it’s certainly a welcomed surprise!

More organization in the next post (?) 😉

love,

ceci 李静怡

Peach Blossom Park 桃花故里景区

My teacher rescheduled Tibetan Culture for Thursday, so Monday afternoon, I had nothing but homework. I twiddled my thumbs while I waited for my VPN to connect, pulled up google maps, and chose an arbitrary green section in Chengdu, figuring parks are cool.

I’d zoomed out a little farther than I realized. It took me two hours to get to the park. I started with two subways and then a bus. Subway etiquette is different here, but I sorta like it. Basically, you just push wherever you need to go. No worrying about bumping into people; you’re supposed to bump into people. After I managed to snag a seat on the 45 minute subway ride, I started writing out characters to practice for my dictation. The guy next to me blatantly stared while I worked. When I copied down the Chinese dialogue, which is a little story with two cartoon characters, he laughed out loud at some of the lines. I feel like me and that dude had a real bonding moment over some english textbook cartoons.

This random park ended up being in a relatively rural area. I thought I would still be in Chengdu (and my bus card worked so I guess I technically was), but the hills rolled and the roads wound and there were no tourists.

The preserve place (I don’t know the correct translation, but it’s called 桃花故里景区) had a bunch of roads and trails through peach orchards with a little town in the center of the park and houses trickling along the mountainside. The aesthetic reminded me a lot of Tuscany: the type of trees, the white pillared fences, the white stucco, the amount of space between the houses. Except for the red lanterns and bamboo, you could’ve tricked me into thinking I was in 意大利。(The girl I sit next to in Chinese I is from Yìdàlì and she has such a beautiful Italian accent; I admire her a lot because English isn’t her first language, and here she is learning Chinese from a class in English.)

The entire park whispered…the wind soft and not too hot, the people (there were a lot who lived there, caring for plants, picking up trash, working on roofs, etc) hushed, the roads sparse. The maps boasted English subtitles (can we talk about how the map app here only uses Chinese characters? I keep finding English recommendations for places to go but then struggling because the Chinese address/name isn’t included! I’m never going to not include the characters when I know them, I’ve decided lol), so I could appreciate the trail names: Lovers Path, Ancient Road, Path of the Poets.

Oh hey there’s me, I don’t know why I included this pic, but yeah. Oh see the house in the mirror? Very Italian looking, right?

When I came to China, my doctor checked my immunizations. She told me to be careful going to rural areas and to always wear bug spray because of Japanese Encephalitis. Here I was in a rural area with no bug spray. I only got four bites; statistically I’m probably in the clear 😉

Here’s an overview of the area. Nice, right? I think that’s all mist. *cough* probably mist, maybe pollution. I told myself I was basically in the Smoky Mountains.

It’s been interesting to strike balances in this new life. Balances between American food and Chinese food, studying and exploring, tourist places and random parks, alone time and socializing. These balances exist everywhere, but I feel as though I have to realign them in new ways in China.

Gonna head out now…I have lots of homework to go, gotta make sure I can tell my class that 我爸爸是电器工程师和妈妈是护士。(“My father is an electrical engineer and my mother is a nurse.” The essential sayings in life lolol.)

xoxo

Ceci（李静饴）

Pandas & Starbucks

(Photo by a random guy who also came to the panda place with us)

Chengdu loves their pandas. I didn’t realize pandas are so rare, like I assumed I’d seen them irl at some point, but yeah apparently there’s only like three zoos in America w giant pandas, so I guess I haven’t seen one before.

The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (成都大熊猫繁育研究基地版) boasts over nine pandas, and it’s probably the top tourist attraction in Chengdu. In fact, ask a Chinese person what Chengdu is famous for, and they’ll respond three things: spicy food, relaxed pace, and pandas. Giant Pandas are native to the Sichuan Province. The Kung Fu Panda writers based the mountain in the movie off of Mt. Qingcheng (青城山), which is 45 minutes outside Chengdu.

I’m far enough into the trip to have time to talk to some cool people. In the top pic, my friends Li, Molly, and Holly. Bottom pic, Ludmilla (from Argentina) and Ying Ying (from Sichuan). Since my normally above average Instagram stalking skills yielded basically no results for the people studying abroad with me, I worried everyone would be social recluses or something, but the entire group is really cool. Lots of amazing stories! (Photo by the guy who was on our tour)

After the panda base, we went to lunch, where our study abroad admin ordered food for all the tables (a total win since none of us can read Chinese menus, and even if we could we wouldn’t know what was good). Then, we went to The Wide and Narrow Alley (宽窄巷子), a popular tourist attraction in Chengdu. Found the most Chinese looking Starbucks, didn’t stoop to paying the exhorbitant prices for coffee. The funny things about American chains in China: McDonalds and Starbucks are the same price here as in the United States, but everything else is so cheap comparatively that it seems crazy wasteful to go to them. I bought an entire bowl of dumplings for 10 kuai ($1.50) the other day, and then spent 13 kuai ($1.90) on some fries from McDonalds.

I randomly love pictures of friends standing in doorways. So here’s a (subpar) picture of friends standing in doorways.

I’ve recently decided to invest in a nice camera! I didn’t buy one before moving to China because I felt I wouldn’t use it, but I’ve taken enough pictures on my phone and wished for the capabilities of a nice camera enough that I think I’m gonna invest! Lmk if you know of any good mirrorless cameras 🙂

xoxo

Ceci (李静怡)

Jinli Street

Transplant Disney World to Chengdu, and boom, you’ve got Jinli Street. A quick Bing search (I know I know I’ve been exiled to the Bing bc Google is blocked in China, how tragic is that??) said something about the street dating back to the Shu dynasty or something. It’s definitely that old, classic China, but I’m guessing since the rise of the internet, it’s become commercialized. Three billion Chinese tourists wander around all the time. Sorta adds to the charm, though, the crowd weaving between stores.

I popped in the other day as a first stab at exploring a bit. I brought my textbooks, because Chinese doesn’t come easily, and I’ve been working between five and six hours per day on language alone (and now I can ask you what your last name is, so I guess you could say I’m picking up the essentials quickly lolol). Ended up wandering, not studying. So many stores to see.

Yesterday, I grabbed a few girls from my program. We walked the ten minutes to Jinli Street, a beautiful stroll through the Tibetan district directly outside our University gates, and settled at the Starbucks marking the entrance to the street. We studied for a few hours, then wandered.

I bought a jade bracelet. I noticed a bunch of women wearing them in the past few days, and I loved the look, so I just went for it straight up, no research on purity/clarity/whatever, just picking a color and shape that I liked. The lady in the store helped me pick the right size. She lathered my hand in oil and melded my fingers together to cram the bracelet over my hand. Once it’s on, it doesn’t really come off, and I guess (lmk if you know more about jade bc I’m ignorant) it’s supposed to bring health and protection. The jade hypothetically gets clearer over time. Women leave their bracelets on 24/7 for years.

I got a Chinese bank account two days ago and finally got my WeChat Pay to work. Credit card payments don’t exist here, even in the Western supermarket chains. The options are cash and WeChat Pay/Alipay. Even tiny street vendors have QR codes ready to go. Honestly, China got it right by skipping the credit card phase (haha there’s probably loaded history behind that but who knows). It’s easy to pay, transfer money between friends, split the bill, etc.

Hoping to start cafe/tea shop hopping around Chengdu during the week. I have six hours of classes a lot of days, which is way more time than at UA, so it’s looking like the week will mostly involve homework. Trying to balance exploring with working! The incentive to study gets higher when the subject doubles as survival communication skills in a city where the average English level is “hello”. 🙂

Love y’all!

xoxo

Cecilia

China Dorm

Hey hey! Got to China a few days ago, pretty much settled in. It’s maybe been more culture shock living in a city than living in China. I think the China-ness of everything hasn’t hit me yet. (Although I can’t communicate at all: that’s starting to sink in.) I’ve successfully used two phrases since arriving: ni hao and xie xie. Basically fluent, right?

I live with most of the other students in my program on the eleventh floor of an international dorm at Southwest Minzu University. Chengdu looks like an onion on a map, with three roads circling the city. They’re referred to as first ring, second ring, and third ring. First ring encloses the innermost part of downtown, and the university lies just within the first ring. Considering renting a bike (they’re like $0.20 an hour, pretty cheap) and riding around the entire first circle, once I get a better feel for the unspoken road rules here.

I didn’t bring much for my dorm (here are my suitcases in an empty room, and by suitcases I mean one suitcase and one backpack). I’m pretty happy with how everything is looking now, mainly because I have a window seat and a window which opens and makes it all feel like a balcony.

I’m trying to be consistent about keeping the spaces separate (wow that sounds like a pretentious HGTV quote). I have a ton of work to do to get my two Chinese phrases up to ten, so I’m attempting to reserve the desk for deep work. I drop my phone in my closet drawer when I come in, keep it separate. Window seat for poems and reading. Bed for sleeping. Ya know. The standard. 

The bed is basically a box spring, but it’s a huge step up from the floor of a Bangkok airport; I’m pretty happy with it. Some previous students left pillows and comforters, so I just bought a duvet and we’re in business. 

I brought some very encouraging letters and hung them up around my mirror to read while I brush my teeth, big fan of my friends and family and their kind words. 

And of course a picture wall. Obviously. I also snagged a water boiler from past students, which is great because can’t drink tap water here (or even brush teeth with it, I’ve heard), so this gives me the freedom of not having to buy water all the time. 

The view from my room, pretty crazy…very city! We’re in a Tibetan district, so the street with all the trees is a beautiful Tibetan shopping district. Not pictured is downtown, which I can see a few blocks away to the right. The highest skyscrapers string along a river which cuts through the middle of town.

Pretty proud of the clever angle to get everything in the bathroom. Toilet, shown in mirror, can’t flush tp so it all goes in a trashcan…which I think is relatively common everywhere except America. Water bottle for brushing my teeth. A shower. The basics ya know. 

The closet is super big! I didn’t bring a tonnnn of clothes, so I’m gonna go shopping soon. Hoping to find some shirts with English phrases which don’t make any sense…I’ve seen a lot of people wearing them, just need to find them. I’m toying with the idea of running occasionally, and since I only have 5 shirts total, I’m thinking I’ll need to invest in some separate running shirts lol. Also here’s a tv. Which looks ancient. And I don’t watch tv.

A random dog I thought was funny. Look they dyed his paws and ears and stuff!

xoxo,

Cecilia