Disclaimer: My perfectionist self is 100% dissatisfied with the formatting, but my computer literacy skills and time are lacking to make it... perfect....
12 May 2015
* A colloquial term used amongst Asians living in Western countries: ‘yellow on the outside, white on the inside'’
12 May 2015
Learning the language of my blood is something I've
always wanted to do before I die (preferably
always wanted to do before I die (preferably
before I hit 30) and so here I am in China for the year,
studying Chinese at Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an. If I were to sum up my experience so far in one word it would be this:
Humbling.
studying Chinese at Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an. If I were to sum up my experience so far in one word it would be this:
Humbling.
Life in China is, as you can imagine, very interesting. Even more interesting for me, given the fact that I am
a ‘hua yi’ (overseas Chinese) now living China. Sometimes I find it so amusing that I feel I am a fly on the
wall or a bird overhead, watching my life go by. The best thing by far is that I blend in!!! Think about it -
not since I was 2 years old being carried around the streets of Kuala Lumpur have I lived in a place where
I look like everyone else. In far contrast to being the only chinita running around rural Bolivia, here I’m just
one in a million - and I love it. (Perhaps for the first time in my life) I love that I have a Chinese name -
樊维真** one that people can not only pronounce properly (better than I pronounce it myself) but
also ‘spell’ correctly (also better than I can myself).
The flipside, of course, is that everyone treats me like a local. Shopkeepers will speak to me not only in
Chinese, but often in Shaanxi hua (the local dialect). Depending on my mood and time on hand I will either
nod/shake my head, mutter something and quickly leave (leaving them wondering if I’m retarded or
something...) or explain that I ‘ting bu dong’ (don't understand), which invariably leads into an unfolding
of my whole family history . This rather strange phenomenon (for both parties) has also led to me being
addressed as (chinese) ‘teacher’ on more than one occasion or ‘translator’ (for my foreign classmates...
whose chinese is often better than mine and so they end up translating for me). Shame.
Its also a humble experience being an undergraduate again. The language department has enough mature
students, but many of my classmates are my juniors by many, many moons. Apparently, even for a Chinese,
I look really young (must be the clean NZ air I’ve breathed all my life) and so, since I’m new, everyone
assumes I must be a freshman (sigh, I was a freshman a decade ago...) One teacher (a 23 year old masters
student) asked if I was 19 yet (cringe...). On finding out my age, she exclaimed ‘oh we should call you ‘jie jie’
(literally ‘older sister’ - a term of respect). Shame.
The international student's dormitory on campus is also a humbling honour. There are no single rooms so I have a (18year-old!) room mate. The (squat) toilets are communal and outside,
the (also communal) showers have side.partitions but no doors. The compound gates are locked between
11pm and 6am (curfew!!!!!) but thankfully.we can (and do!) jump the gate if we’re locked out. We are the only
dorm on campus with a jumpable gate, and a kitchen. The kitchen is basic and a bit scungy (especially with the gross, cats that live behind the hot-water machine (admittedly I did clean the wounds of an injured one one on the kitchen bench one evening (a vets got to do what a vets got to do))).
All sounds terrible and restrictive, but compared to Chinese students we live in paradise - they have 4-8
students per room, no hot water dispenser, the showers are a 5-10 min walk across campus and you need to pay, doors also locked 11pm-6am (NO breaking in or out....) (at other unis I’ve heard the electricity also cuts out at 11pm!!.), signing in an out for visitors, a weekly Sunday evening roll call, no washing machine (that’s what hands are for) and ( I should have known, but only found out yesterday) that its compulsory for all Chinese students to stay in campus dorms for the entire duration of their study.
Class is really fun, but really, sometimes (no, daily) I feel like I’m back at primary school. The roll is called
every period, we have homework which is marked with red pen and graded, and have to write ‘essays’ of at
least 80 characters (!) for example entitled: ‘My best friend.’ The latter I wrote on the overnight train back
from Beijing (as it was due that morning).....half the carriage took great interest in this (retarded?) Chinese girl
primary school homework and helped correct my grammar. Like I said, it is fun...but you know, I’m a
veterinary doctor for heavens sake....and from my fly-on-.the-wall position I often look down and wonder
if this Banana is a little over-ripe... .
 |
| Spot the Banana |
 | ||
| Spot the Banana |
* A colloquial term used amongst Asians living in Western countries: ‘yellow on the outside, white on the inside'’
**Fán Wéi Zhēn. In contrast to the rest of my classmates who have chosen
Chinese names for themselves (much like Chinese immigrants in NZ choosing names such as ‘Cherry’,
‘Rainbow’ (or ‘Esther’)), this name was chosen by my grandfather I never met...
