Lost in China

Me with Starbucks, on a pier in Venice Beach Cali, during layover in L.A.

They have Starbucks in China, by the way. No sugar-free syrups or splenda though. And, in general, Starbucks costs a dollar more over there, then here in the States.

I'm lost in Baltimore, jetlagged, and missing China.

As you can tell, the CTY Nanjing program is extremely structured. Every Friday night there's a dance, with a movie alternative. Last Saturday night we had a Talent Show. As I said, they keep the kids mighty busy and occupied. On our two weekends here, we took day field trips. Last Sunday we trekked for 3 hours around Nanjing's City wall (the longest city wall in the world).

I have my own office in the old building. About 20 students take daily medications. So, before meal times, the kids come to my office for med distribution, which means for breakfast I need to be in my office at 7:30am! Most days I made it on time. Talk about a miracle! The kids are good about showing up for meds. I've only threatened them a few times---when I say threaten I mean embarrass. I told the chronically late boys if they were late again I would make them wear the plastic tiara during the entire meal. (For some reason there's a plastic dress-up tiara in my office, which seems just about right.) My threats worked, and the late boys are now always on time, if not early. Still haven't found a scare tactic for the girls, and haven't needed to since they've been fine.

I spend a fair amount of time in my office, though there's not so much to do. There's some prep work and recording to do, but it's not so bad. I'm required to go on all the field trips, just in case someone gets hurts. Thankfully we haven't had any medical emergences. If someone gets sick we call the Beijing SOS clinic and speak with a Doctor. Then the Doctor calls the lady with the alligator purse. Joking! I couldn't resist! I feel like the lady with the alligator purse, and in a way maybe I am. People ask me if I'm a nurse or a doctor, and I just laugh and say, "No, I'm a graphic designer!" The job part is all right, not what I expected it to be, though I cant describe what I expected. I thought there would be a nurse on site, but no, it's just me! I've only spoken to the Doctor in Beijing once, and he suggested I take the student to the clinic in Nanjing. The student, let's just call him Benji, ended up having tonsillitis. What an adventure it was getting to the Clinic (which is housed in a hotel). We took a taxi both ways. I just handed the driver a piece of paper with the address of our destination written in Chinese, and prayed we get to the right place. And we did. It's terrifying being in a place where you don't understand the language in any form. Luckily, most of my co-workers speak Chinese. For the first week I only left the gated community of HNC with another person, but soon enough I gathered enough confidence to venture out on my own. I still speak very little Chinese. You can get by on pointing at what you want, and looking at the cash register to know how much money to pay.

Food has been the biggest adjustment. The no sugar, no flour thing is unheard of here. Especially no sugar. Nanjing is known for its sweet food and adding extra sugar to dishes. And they are also known for their salty duck, which is just delicious! We eat all our meals in the cafeteria. Breakfast is served buffet style, offering an array of traditional Chinese foods: red bean filled buns, conji, etc., and some Western choices (i.e. Scrambled eggs, toast with peanut butter, etc). Drink options include Nescafe (instant coffee, pre-sweetened), tea, juice, milk, and sweetened yogurt in a carton. There's always lots of fresh fruit. The papaya and watermelon here are so delish! I eat the same thing every day for breakfast: 2 fried eggs, a bowl of oatmeal, and 1 banana. It's satisfying and yummy, but no substitute for plain yogurt! Lunch and Dinner are served family style. This means all the food is already on the table. Each table has a large glass lazy-susan filled with a large bowl of rice, and about 8, or so, surrounding plates filled with meat, veggies, dumplings, tofu, little cakes, etc. They offer vegetarian options on an oblong table in the center of the cafeteria. Vegetarian dishes include noodles; tofu; fried rice; French fries---which are devoured by the teenage boys as soon as they walk in. Here they call Diet coke Coke Light. It doesn't taste the same at all. I eat a lot of rice, vegetables, duck (yum!), beef, and fruit. I enjoy using chopsticks. I miss salad and cheese and rice cakes, and of course, CHIPTOLE!

--Ash

I live in a high-rise building on the 6th floor. I share a fully furnished modern apartment with a 23yr old woman Shannon. Shannon teaches a class called Medicine: East and West. She's originally from the Midwest, and currently resides in San Francisco. She's really sweet, easy to live with, and been a great help since she speaks Mandarin. Our apartment has potable water and central air, a small kitchen, living room, and bathroom with toilet. 'Squatters' are common here, which is similar to peeing in the woods! The entire Center is air-conditioned. Outside, it's usually smoggy and humid—it's hot and sticky, but not like Baltimore!

We live in Hopkins-Nanjing Center's (HNC) new building. HNC is a part of Nanjing University. The old building houses the students, offices, lounges, cafeteria, and auditorium. We have about 70 Center for Talented Youth (CTY) students. Ages range from 14-18. Most of the CTYers are from the US, a few are from Hong Kong, one from Brazil and one from Korea. Basically, this is smart kid camp. The students pay to come here for three weeks to learn about China. While they are here, they take one class for the entire 3-week program. Also, the kids have an hour of Mandarin class during the week as well.

The five class options are:
China-US Relations
Chinese Philosophy
Advanced Game Theory (basically a math class)
Contemporary Issues
Medicine: East and West

Typical Daily Schedule for CTY Student:
7:30-8:15 Breakfast
8:30-11:30 Class
11:30-12:15 Breakfast
12:30-2:15 Class
2:30-3:30 Mandarin
3:30-5:30 Activities (i.e. Dodgeball, Improv, Tai Chi, Calligraphy, Chinese Yo-Yo, etc.)
5:30-7 Dinner and free time
7:00-9:00 Study Hall (there's no homework)
9:00-10:30 free time (play cards, use the computer, hang with friends, etc)
11:00 lights out

GREETINGS FROM CHINA!!!

It's hard to believe I've been here In Nanjing for 2 plus weeks, and in 4 days I'll be back in the good old USA.] I had planned on posting daily entries, here on my blog, but obviously it just didn't happen. Usually, by the end of the day, I'm exhausted and have little energy for writing, or doing much of anything except for sleep. I've added photos to the blog. Please browse through the on-line gallery. And you can watch my videos, used with my iFlip (thanks to Heather, Peter, Louis, and Philip) on you tube. Go to: http://www.youtube.com/lostinlulu. I attempted to upload the videos to the blog, but for some reason, or another, it didn't; work; hence the you tube account.

Xai Jian (good-bye.)

--Ashley

Good thing I'm only going for three weeks, and not three months!