My two tireless journalism students and I spent four hours at our local super super market yesterday buying a new cell phone, a dvd player (only about $30 US) and all the food and kitchen equipment I need--wok, rice cooker, chopping board, knife, bowls, ingredients for the spciy tofu dish Marcus likes. We spent most of the time trying to translate things like soy sauce, chili paste with garlic, corn starch, bok choy, etc into Chinese so the students could find them. They have a small keyboard that translates words. By the time we got done, it was too late to cook so I took them and Marcus and Nina to a nice campus restaurant we hadn't tried yet next door to our apartments. We had them order and we got kung pao chicken, spicy home-style tofu, a gigantic bowl of noodles, two vegetable dishes, tofu/vegetable soup. We have enough leftovers to last us to days so I may not start cooking right away. I thought the meal might be expensive but the total came to $15US.
We watched a few minutes of Seabiscuit on our new dvd player and went to sleep.
I took Marcus to his first day of school by taxi early this morning--he looks great in his white shirt, blue tie, blue shorts and black leather shoes-- but the school has now arranged to have one of their minibuses pick him up and drop him off across the street from our apartment. We arrived early and Marcus headed to his classroom, where his teaching gave him some morning warmup writing exercises and math problems--he jumped right into it. The headmaster invited me to sit in on the morning assembly. He had the kids playing some games and singing songs and they all seemed to have fun.
Nina is off to her first day of classes in acupuncture and I'm looking forward to hear what she's learning. Our language teacher--she works at the front desk here--is coming tonight for our first lesson.
Will have to figure out how to use the gym--I'm getting an id soon--and how Marcus can get in some ping pong, tennis and basketball. He's been working hard on his Torah portion. I had to pull a few teeth (take away his psp for a day)but he's really on it now.
Natural disasters the news of the weekend--another earthquake in western China, flooding in India, Gustav threatening New Orleans. And we also try to keep track of the presidential and pennant races.
More to come soon.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
In Nanjing
We arrived by train Wednesday. The Shanghai train station reminded me of how crowded, hot and noisy that city can be when you wander from the overly pleasant confines of where the waiguoren hang out (read: Ritz Carlton). Hauling our luggage through the crowds, up escalators and onto the train was hard work but our two reps from Nanjing University were terrific. We took a high speed train--over 200 km/hr--and arrived in Nanjing in two hours. And when we got there, the head of the international exchange office and a driver were there to greet us with a large, air comfortable minivan. The difference between the Shanghai and Nanjing train stations is something like the difference between New York City and Boston.
We settled into our lovely apartment in the foreign experts building on campus--two large bedrooms, a living dining room, cable (mostly CCTV replaying Chinese gold medal winners from the Olympics), Internet access (a bit slow, but it works for almost everything except my NU email, which is incredibly slow), a nice bathroom with washing machine and a porch where we can dry clothes and a kitchen with a machine that dispenses hot and cold water.
We spent most of the past two days with two journalism students who have been working very hard to help us get settled--getting my computer connected to the Nanjing U system, helping us order a fresh water tank for drinking water and new shower head, and taking us shopping to the supermarket (about a half hour walk, a long way to carry tea kettles, toasters, water, juice and whatever else we've needed so far, including a basketball for Marcus). We've made three trips there so far--it's an amazing supermarket with clothes, shoes, appliances, kitchenware, and every kinds of Chinese (and some Western) food.
Prof. Chao from the Journalism school took us all out to dinner the night we arrived at a campus restaurant next door to our building. Wonderful soups--fish, noodle, mushroom--spicy fried tofu, something like moo shu pork, a local beef pot dish, omelettes, noodles, chicken, duck and a good local (Jingiang) beer. A wonderfully warm greeting with far too much food.
Prof Chao, his wife ( a Chinese lit prof) and their three-year-old boy came to greet us yesterday morning and took us on a tour of the campus. It's quiet now--most of the students will be returning this weekend--and the campus is beautiful. Small parks with benches, basketball and tennis courts, new buildings going up all around us. And then they took us out for another huge meal.
The city around us is more hectic--5.5 million people may be a small city in China, but not to us--but crossing streets is easier than Shanghai, where there are no rules. People seem to stop for traffic lights and the bicycles and motorcycles ring their bells or honk their horns and don't seem eager to run us over.
Today we're off to Marcus's school--a British School about 40 minutes from here--to meet his teacher and get oriented. He'll be taking a school bus every morning starting next week and I think it stops nearby.
Nina has been in touch with the college of traditional medicine and the hospital where she'll work--she also starts classes next week.
I've got more than two weeks before my grad classes (journalism ethics and writing) start so I hope to be well prepared. But I won't know what my students want or need to learn until after the first few classes.
In the meantime, I'm going to be working on my Chinese, making contacts here and figuring out what I can cook.
That's enough for now. Best wishes to all.
We settled into our lovely apartment in the foreign experts building on campus--two large bedrooms, a living dining room, cable (mostly CCTV replaying Chinese gold medal winners from the Olympics), Internet access (a bit slow, but it works for almost everything except my NU email, which is incredibly slow), a nice bathroom with washing machine and a porch where we can dry clothes and a kitchen with a machine that dispenses hot and cold water.
We spent most of the past two days with two journalism students who have been working very hard to help us get settled--getting my computer connected to the Nanjing U system, helping us order a fresh water tank for drinking water and new shower head, and taking us shopping to the supermarket (about a half hour walk, a long way to carry tea kettles, toasters, water, juice and whatever else we've needed so far, including a basketball for Marcus). We've made three trips there so far--it's an amazing supermarket with clothes, shoes, appliances, kitchenware, and every kinds of Chinese (and some Western) food.
Prof. Chao from the Journalism school took us all out to dinner the night we arrived at a campus restaurant next door to our building. Wonderful soups--fish, noodle, mushroom--spicy fried tofu, something like moo shu pork, a local beef pot dish, omelettes, noodles, chicken, duck and a good local (Jingiang) beer. A wonderfully warm greeting with far too much food.
Prof Chao, his wife ( a Chinese lit prof) and their three-year-old boy came to greet us yesterday morning and took us on a tour of the campus. It's quiet now--most of the students will be returning this weekend--and the campus is beautiful. Small parks with benches, basketball and tennis courts, new buildings going up all around us. And then they took us out for another huge meal.
The city around us is more hectic--5.5 million people may be a small city in China, but not to us--but crossing streets is easier than Shanghai, where there are no rules. People seem to stop for traffic lights and the bicycles and motorcycles ring their bells or honk their horns and don't seem eager to run us over.
Today we're off to Marcus's school--a British School about 40 minutes from here--to meet his teacher and get oriented. He'll be taking a school bus every morning starting next week and I think it stops nearby.
Nina has been in touch with the college of traditional medicine and the hospital where she'll work--she also starts classes next week.
I've got more than two weeks before my grad classes (journalism ethics and writing) start so I hope to be well prepared. But I won't know what my students want or need to learn until after the first few classes.
In the meantime, I'm going to be working on my Chinese, making contacts here and figuring out what I can cook.
That's enough for now. Best wishes to all.
Monday, August 25, 2008
At the Ritz
We arrived safely after the long flight and are here at the Ritz Carlton in Shanghai for Fulbright orientation. When I was last in Shanghai in 1992, Pudong was mostly a swamp. We landed at the ultra-modern airport there and were driven past astonishing skyscrapers, high-speed magnetic trains and into the heart of a city I barely recognize. The monsoon rains--the thunder woke us up at 6 am today--were quite familiar and the city still floods during the worst storms. But it was an exciting light show from the safety of our hotel room and our family decided to head to the fancy health club in the hotel to get some exercise after our early awakening.
Last night, we were taken to a great Chinese restaurant and enjoyed sweet and sour whole fish, tofu soup and hot and sour soup, spicy shrimp, mushrooms and bok choy, pastries with red bean paste and many of the wonderful dishes you don't see often in the US, although we could have done without the jelly fish (a bit chewy and not very flavorful).
Marcus and Irene are off to the Shanghai Aquarium now and I just wrapped up a day of meetings with consular officials briefing us on do's and don'ts in China these days. Also talked a bit about ethics, which I hope will help with the course I'll be teaching. One thought is that shame, rather than guilt, is what constrains people's behavior in China.
According to the consulate experts, there seems to be more personal and political freedom but it seems as if press freedom has a long way to go and Internet sites are still being blocked from time to time (including blogspot, but there is a way to work around that). And there are still many problems with corruption and the gaps between urban and rural, rich and poor.
Still lots to learn about Nanjing and the university where I'll be teaching--the university rep is arriving this afternoon.
That's all for now. We should get to tour Shanghai tomorrow and I hope to find some places I remember from the olden days. Then we're off to Nanjing on Wednesday. I'll post from there as soon as I get Internet access.
Last night, we were taken to a great Chinese restaurant and enjoyed sweet and sour whole fish, tofu soup and hot and sour soup, spicy shrimp, mushrooms and bok choy, pastries with red bean paste and many of the wonderful dishes you don't see often in the US, although we could have done without the jelly fish (a bit chewy and not very flavorful).
Marcus and Irene are off to the Shanghai Aquarium now and I just wrapped up a day of meetings with consular officials briefing us on do's and don'ts in China these days. Also talked a bit about ethics, which I hope will help with the course I'll be teaching. One thought is that shame, rather than guilt, is what constrains people's behavior in China.
According to the consulate experts, there seems to be more personal and political freedom but it seems as if press freedom has a long way to go and Internet sites are still being blocked from time to time (including blogspot, but there is a way to work around that). And there are still many problems with corruption and the gaps between urban and rural, rich and poor.
Still lots to learn about Nanjing and the university where I'll be teaching--the university rep is arriving this afternoon.
That's all for now. We should get to tour Shanghai tomorrow and I hope to find some places I remember from the olden days. Then we're off to Nanjing on Wednesday. I'll post from there as soon as I get Internet access.
Friday, August 15, 2008
A week to go....
We've got our visas, plane tickets, shots for the whole family (rabies, Japanese encephalitis, Hepatitis, Tetanus) and stacks of stuff we need to pack. I'm still preparing for my two graduate courses (journalism ethics and feature writing). I'm told the students at Nanjing University speak excellent English but I have no idea how much they know about American journalism. And I also have no idea if journalism as a democratic institution will make sense in the current Chinese political landscape.
Marcus will be attending a British School and is working on his writing and Hebrew before we go. His Mandarin is way ahead of mine but I'm trying to catch up with Rosetta Stone online. I'm bringing along his Torah portion and haftorah in print and audio so he can get an early start on bar mitzvah prep (June 26, 2010--save the date). The guys have discovered there's a golf driving range in Nanjing as well as two excellent (but pricey) golf courses nearby.
Nina is still working late into the night at Mt. Auburn but is making plans to study at an acupuncture college in Nanjing.
We'll be at the Ritz Carlton in Shanghai from Aug 24-27 and then off by train to Nanjing. We should be able to get mail through the University:
c/o Office of International Exchanges
Nanjing University
22 Hankou Road
210093, Nanjing
China
Marcus will be attending a British School and is working on his writing and Hebrew before we go. His Mandarin is way ahead of mine but I'm trying to catch up with Rosetta Stone online. I'm bringing along his Torah portion and haftorah in print and audio so he can get an early start on bar mitzvah prep (June 26, 2010--save the date). The guys have discovered there's a golf driving range in Nanjing as well as two excellent (but pricey) golf courses nearby.
Nina is still working late into the night at Mt. Auburn but is making plans to study at an acupuncture college in Nanjing.
We'll be at the Ritz Carlton in Shanghai from Aug 24-27 and then off by train to Nanjing. We should be able to get mail through the University:
c/o Office of International Exchanges
Nanjing University
22 Hankou Road
210093, Nanjing
China
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