Kunming (Part II)

KUNMING (PART II):

So, second day and almost the third day have passed in Kunming now. Already I’m beginning to think in Chinese and wondering if the grammar on this blog is correct. I’m thinking that as time passes, you very well may find that my English grammar may get worse, or you may find that the voice in the posts will gradually change.

I took some pictures of my campus and I think you will find that they are quite similar to the one I posted in my first post. J The campus is relatively small, even smaller than the CMU campus…but there are a lot of students bustling around all the time.

In these past two days, I have gone through the long process of registering for school…in Chinese. Because I am not with a specific program (I’m all by myself), it looks like I have had to personally take care of a few more things than a program would have. (I’m comparing this to my registration experience in Shanghai- which was with a group program- and to accounts that other people who have studied abroad have told me.) It was a bit tedious and very tiring…but to perfectly honest, even though it wore me out like no other (especially after traveling and jetlag and all), I still am glad it happened. It’s like a contradiction, I guess, but whenever I’m in a situation like this where it feels horrible, it also feels really great because I know it’s going to make me better. When I was younger and I played soccer in those long all-day tournaments, I’d wake up the morning dead sore and unable to move…but I’d love it because I knew I’d worked hard and I was getting stronger, haha. So this is kind of a similar situation.

But anyway, the registration process consisted of (here’s a list now):

-          Filling out Registration Forms

-          Taking Placement Test

-          Getting a Bank Card (because I’m a Scholarship Student and get a stipend)

-          Setting up my permanent dorm room (not the one I stayed in the night before)

-          Buying a Chinese SIM card and phone

-          Buying a Cafeteria card and learning how the cafeteria works

-          Getting bed sheets (and a towel) for my room

-          Getting Internet

Then there’s the other stuff that was just for getting situated in my dorm and in Kunming:

-          Getting extra stuff just for living in a dorm (snacks, tissue- SO important because they don’t give it to you freely like in America, trash/trash bags, etc.)

-          Finding out which stores and restaurants were cheapest but also had decent quality products/food

And as I said before, all of this was done IN CHINESE. *overwhelmed sigh*

Now, I did have some help in doing all this…I mean, no one was entirely fluent but for the most part there was at least one person who knew enough English to tell me the words which I didn’t understand. So…basically if I didn’t know as much Chinese as I do right now (and though it’s a lot more than before, I’m still not satisfied), I wouldn’t have been able to work through this process. So that’s something I can be happy about. But on the other hand, there were students to help me with the complicated processes. A student went with me to the bank nearby and helped me set up my bank card…and there were complications because I was an international student, but after a bit of communicating back and forth with the student and the bank employees, everything was taken care of. I met up with my pen-pal Shujuan, and we went to get a phone card…and though there were complications because I had an international phone, after a bit of communicating back and forth between Shujuan, my dad, and the phone store employees, everything was taken care of. It really was these two long processes that wore me out…there was MUCH vocabulary I hadn’t yet learned, haha. Things like “megabyte” and “3G” and stuff  like that.

Now…when I went (with a student who helped me get my permanent dorm room) to the cafeteria to set up my cafeteria card, so…many…people…stared at me. I got my food, but I could feel all the eyes on me. I totally even heard two guys referring to me as I walked right by them. I know it’s simply because they’re curious, but it was a long day and I was very tired. I felt like how someone feels when they’re on a stage and they all of a sudden get stage fright and run off the stage. I DIDN’T RUN. I kindly asked my friend if we could eat outside the cafeteria and enjoy the nice day. Well…not exactly…but I did suggest we go outside and so we did.

I got set up in my room…which is quite different from a dorm room one would find in America. For those who went to Shanghai with me, let’s just say I’m not living in the SISU Guesthouse. The room is probably about half the size of a typical American dorm room…and the bathroom is directly to the back. Here’s a picture:

Those are lofts at the top there, and the desk is underneath, and the closets are behind the ladders you see. (And the bathrooms use stoops rather than toilets.) ANYWAY. The dorm I’m staying in is for international students…I’m not sure how many of these international students are Western, I haven’t seen too many walking around in here (literally like one or two). I suppose many of them are staying in the International Student Hostel, which looks a lot more like the SISU Guesthouse…big room, two beds (on the ground), vast windows, AND TV. But you have to pay a lot more for that, and for myself I don’t find it necessary. Most of the international students found in this dorm are from surrounding Asian countries…Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, etc. (From what another student told me, the Thai students like dogs and so they brought dogs with them. I see the dogs chilling out on mats outside the dorm rooms because they’re not allowed inside the rooms. They’ll walk in and out of the dorm…and they’ll bark at night. Because the entire place is tile and the walls are bare, their barking echoes a lot…but I’ve gotten used to it.)

But anyway, my room is a room for two people. Some of the international student rooms are for four people. If you look at the lofts in the picture, the two other loft platforms are cut out of the picture. So there are four total- two for tossing our suitcases and stuff (I call it my attic), and two for our beds. In other rooms, those two spaces for we use for storage would be beds for two more students. And get this: my roommate told me that in the Chinese students dorm (native Chinese), there are eight people to a room.  So those places where you see desks and chairs would be beds for more students. Interesting…very interesting. But I like my current situation right now because it’s different than what I’m used to. It adds to the adventure. I always believed that a situation is never as bad as a person imagines it to be, because when it happens…you just deal with it…you somehow can and will find a way. People have been doing it since the dawn of time. But if you run away from something when you had the opportunity to face a fear, or face an inconvenience, you may never get that chance again…and you will never conquer that fear. And that’s no good, is it? Anyway…moving on.

Side Note: I would like to take this moment right now (before I forget) to inform certain persons (you know who you are) of something they might find interesting: as I was walking down the street at one time, I saw a lovely picture of Donnie Yen J posted on a nearby bulletin. I wanted to take a picture, but I was with others and we could not stop.

Soooooo…after all the registration process and getting most of the difficult stuff out of the way, I was dead tired and REALLY overwhelmed. More so than the first night. I had been throwing myself head first into all the tough situations, putting a brave face on and trying to learn from them. But it definitely drained me. Around 6 pm, I laid (lied? lay?) down on my bed just to get a breather. I was thinking about things…and I was REALLY upset. I kept on thinking…I can’t speak this language, just look how I did today! So…much…vocabulary I didn’t know. So much grammar I didn’t know. I kind of wanted to cry. But I didn’t, of course…because that’s…lame. Ok…maybe I shed one small tear. But only one. No more. Hehe. Ultimately, I feel asleep and I didn’t wake up until 7:00 the next morning. Ha! I guess I needed it.

The next day was much better. I mean, there was still a lot of Chinese, but it was okay. I think what happened was that I just needed time to get over the…culture shock? Yes I believe that’s what it was. I didn’t need much time…just a day or two. In fact, even the very next day I didn’t feel awkward when people stared at me. AND THERE WERE MANY. Now I just find it funny. HAHAHAHA. I’ve gotten over my nerves. They can stare all they want now. I just try to look friendly and not make eye contact with them.

This post is already quite long…so I’ll save talking about my adventures with Shujuan and Youya (my roommate) for next time. J