When I knew I Had to learn Mandarin

I remember the first time the desire to learn Mandarin entered my mind. I was a Freshman in college at the time, and besides English, I had only studied Spanish in the past. My roommate introduced me to a lot of cultural aspects of China such as the food, climate and ways of living. I would always listen to her phone conversations that she was having and tried to pay close attention to the tones of her voice, yet the thought of actually wanting to learn the language never entered my mind until one specific day when my roommate entered our room one day in a very low mood. I could tell something was wrong with her because she was not her usual self. I didn’t ask her what was wrong. I wanted to be sure that I was reading her correctly. After a short while, my roommate quickly left out of our room and sat in the common area right outside our door. I could hear her talking on the phone in a low voice, and after some time, she began to cry. I went out and sat with her. She was in tears. “What’s wrong Lem?” I asked her. She looked at me, and mumbled something in English, then continued her conversation over the phone. She was in an argument with the person over the phone and that had led her to cry. I felt bad for her. She was my roommate, and being that she was in a foreign country, I wanted to help her in any way I could. I didn’t want her to feel sad or angry. “I wish I could understand,” I said to her as she looked up at me again. From that point on, I just knew I had to learn Mandarin. Not only to understand my roommate’s phone conversations, but also to communicate with her, especially when she had difficulties expressing her feelings in English.

"From caring, comes courage."
-Lao Tzu (Chinese philosopher)

What I Learned About Myself

Quick Language Note: In this blog post, you will see the Chinese character: 元

This is pronounced yuan. 元 is a symbol for Chinese currency. In spoken language, the word for Chinese currency is pronounced kuai.

I am a fast learner! I have been told that many times before, but never really believed it until I got to China and had to maneuver around traffic pretty quickly. There are lots and lots of cars, motorcyclists, bicyclists, buses and pedestrians in the streets. I have also learned how to bargain. A member of the study abroad group, Gloria (my mom’s namesake), explained to me how bargaining is done. The idea is that you always want to ask for a lower price than what is originally presented to you. If the seller tells you that one shirt costs 40元, you would ask him or her if you could buy it for a lower price, and if you’re still not happy with that lower price, ask for a lower one. For me, it was a way to put my Mandarin speaking skills to the test. After Gloria showed me how it was done, I couldn’t wait to try it out on my own. When I did, I was able to communicate with the seller and understand what she was saying to me. What an experience! Bargaining is a lot of fun! Although I have only been here for a few days, I already see how going to another country and taking everything in allows me to discover qualities about myself I never knew I had or even believed I had.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
 -Nelson Mandela

A Day of Relaxation

Quick Language Note: 好可爱 pronounced hao ke ai, is a way to say “How cute” in Mandarin Chinese. For example: Look at that little baby! Hao ke ai! 

Today, August 28^th 2013 is a day for us to relax. We are leaving early tomorrow morning at 5:50am to begin our two week travel seminar, where we will visit different provinces in China. Our first stop tomorrow is Kunming, China. I don’t know much about Kunming, so I am very eager to learn all about the city. I heard that during our travel seminar we will be seeing panda bears! 好可爱！I am also looking forward to seeing the Great Wall. Did you know that the Great Wall of China is the largest structure in the world manufactured by human beings!? Cool huh? I probably will not be blogging for these next two weeks because I may not be able to access blogger.com from my mobile device, we’ll see. Follow me on Instagram at: spenceralise to get the latest photo updates. I’ll be posting pictures from the travel seminar. Look for more blog posts after September 10^th. Be sure to read the next two posts titled: What I learned About Myself and When I Knew I had to Learn Mandarin. Catch up with you guys soon!

View of Beijing from my dorm room

My First Day- Taking It All In :)

Quick Language Note: 筷子 (Kuazi), is the Mandarin word for Chopsticks. In my blogs, I will start to refer to some things in Mandarin, but will always include a language note at the top for reference. This is just a way for me to practice my speaking skills, so that I can improve each day.

Wow! I’m finally in China! I arrived here on August 26^th around 3pm China’s time. It took twelve and a half hours to get here. I was surprised to see how quickly I adapted to the time difference. I experienced no jet lag. Interesting, huh? Life is very different here, much simpler compared to an average American way of living. Don’t get me wrong. It’s hustle and bustle every day here in Beijing, traffic is a mess, but people live with what they have here, and I find that to be great. I’m studying at Tsinghua University located in Beijing, China’s capital. I was told about 30,000 students attend this university! Now that’s a lot! It’s necessary to rent or buy a bike here to get around campus, because the university is so big. During my first day here there was a lot to take in, and I soaked up every sight, sound and smell that I encountered. The busy streets filled with cars and bicyclists, the American music played in restaurants and stores off campus, and the smell of street food all captured my attention. When I checked into Tsinghua’s Foreign Student Dormitory, I was given the Chinese name, 白爱丽, pronounced Bai ai li, with Bai being my surname and Ai Li being my first name. It's nice to finally have a Chinese name. Later that evening my group and I had a Chinese style welcome dinner at a dining hall here on campus. We drank tea and water, and ate our food using 筷子(see quick language note at top for meaning). After a visit to Wudaokao 五道口, a popular street hangout here in Beijing, it was time to head back to the dorm, wind down, and get ready for the following day.

Traditional Chinese building at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China

Wudaokou 五道口- Popular street in Northwest Beijing

Big Day!

Today's the big day! I will be in China in less than 24 hours. I'm doing some last minute packing right now. More updates to come...

Wanglaoji

I can never get enough of this Chinese herbal tea, known as Wanglaoji in China. A friend of mine, who is from China, told me the company recently changed its name to Jia Duo Bao, but it's still often referred to as Wanglaoji. This tea is hard to find where I'm from, but it's very popular in China, so I definitely plan on buying some while I'm there. When my roommate introduced it to me Freshman year, I immediately fell in love with its sweet taste. This is just what I'll need after a very long trip. Wanglaoji, I'll see you in six days :)

 Wanglaoji- Chinese Herbal Tea. My Favorite!

THANKS A LOT LEM !

If it weren't for my college roomie Lemon, I just might not have considered spending a semester abroad in China. Lemon is from Chongqing, China and taught me so much about the culture. So excited to start my adventure! About ten days until I reach the other side of the world! Thanks a lot Lem! ;)

Lemon and me during our freshman year of college

American Girl Trapped in a Chinese World

Here is a speech I did for a creative writing class I took this past semester in college. Ni hao means Hello in Mandarin and Xie Xie means Thanks. 

Quick Language Note: the Chinese characters for hello look like this: 你好 and the Chinese character for Thanks consist of the same character twice. It looks like this: 谢谢。Enjoy my speech!

-Spencer

Ni hao!

I can stand in front of you today and totally, honestly and freely confess that I am in Love!  The Love of my life makes me so happy and gives me that butterfly feeling every time we get together, but it’s not what or whom you might think.

I am an American girl trapped in a Chinese world.  I have always wondered why I was so intrigued with the Chinese culture.  From the time I was a little girl, I was fascinated with the faces, the food and the physiques. 

I have an uncanny feeling that my paternal grandmother has Asian descent in her DNA, which means I have it in mine too. That makes me happy!

When I came to Syracuse my freshman year, I was paired with a Chinese student who became my roommate.  I often listened to her conversations that she was having over the phone in Mandarin and became even more determined to learn the language. She taught me a lot about the culture and we became great friends.

I tried for the longest time to suppress this Chinese longing but it just would not go away.  I am definitely in love!  Call me crazy but I know that I am an American girl trapped in a Chinese world.

I have always had a knack for languages, English being my first language, then at an early age, mastering Spanish, even making Spanish my minor.

That was until I decided to see if the grass was greener on the other side and decided to get a private tutor last summer and fell in love, not with the tutor, but with the Mandarin language.  I finally felt free and alive! I am so glad I cheated on my Spanish love. It was worth it because  I found my true love.

While most kids my age are going out on dates, attending all you can drink parties, hanging out late at night, I choose to hold hands with my Chinese notecards, get my ear nibbled on by Chinese audio sessions and wake up early in the morning getting verbally drunk by having conversations with my Asian friends and watching any Chinese video, whether it’s a song, a movie  or anything that would allow my heart to skip a beat.  Yes, I am in love and I know that I am an American girl trapped in a Chinese world.

I will be going to Beijing in the fall to study abroad.  I know this will be an experience of a lifetime.   I am extremely excited to learn and grow while I am there. I have always had a love for travelling.  Not only do I find travelling as a way to escape from what is normal, it is also a way for me to see how another culture operates daily and at the same time, I get to meet new people and learn how they live their lives.

Once I started learning Mandarin last summer, I have been taking Chinese courses at Syracuse and even changed my minor from Spanish to Chinese Studies.  I plan to take intensive language courses in Beijing and want to be fluent in the language.

I love languages and I believe that learning a language is a way to set yourself  apart from other people, but also communicate with different kinds of people.  I dare to be different. I don’t want to be put in a box and I am not afraid to explore other cultures.  It gives me great satisfaction to see the look on people’s faces when I speak a sentence or two in their native language.  It makes me feel proud of my accomplishments.

I know that I am an American girl trapped in a Chinese world.

While in Beijing, I hope to improve my Mandarin, especially my listening and speaking skills, because 现在，我会说一点儿普通话, which means because right now, I can speak a little Mandarin.

I believe that anything I want to achieve comes with hard work and a lot of practice and like any solid and long-lasting relationship, that’s how I have been approaching my studies with Mandarin.

My example has been my parents who are celebrating 23 years of marriage this year and I hope to sustain my love for Mandarin just as long, and just in case you are wondering, I am trying hard to get them to understand the basics of Mandarin.  Now, that’s a work in progress.

At Syracuse, I am majoring in Broadcast journalism.  One of my goals for the future is to be an international correspondent.  I love the idea of anchoring and reporting.  Public speaking is one of my many strengths and I believe that this is the job for me.

I find that when you know more about the world and about people in the world, you can contribute to the global community in many ways imaginable.  You can communicate with people in different languages and can travel to many countries to report internationally on news abroad.  I believe that when you know a lot about how other societies operate, you can excel in the broadcast business.

Studying oversees will open my eyes to the world around me and I will soak up every bit of information that I receive.  I am super-excited to grow from my experience and return to the States with tons of knowledge of China.

I challenge any one who wants to grow, to get out of their box, to dare to be different, learn a new language.  I guarantee you will definitely fall in love. 

You will grow in many areas of your life.  Your life will never be the same.  Don’t be afraid.  Learning,  growing and setting goals takes commitment but anything worth having is worth working hard in order to be successful.   

I want to return with a solid grip on Mandarin and speak conversationally without hesitation so that I may be that international reporter who delivers news in multiple languages. 

It just takes a lot of dedication, hard work and global knowledge of the world to get there.

And who knows, this American girl who is trapped in a Chinese world may even get a chance to stop dating her notecards and really get her ear nibbled on in Beijing.

 Xie Xie! 

Spencer