Cherry Blossom Festival

Every spring at Wuhan University, there is a Cherry Blossom Festival, which lasts for about a week or until all the blossoms fall from the trees. The coming of the cherry blossoms symbolizes the end of a long winter and the beginning of warmer eventually scorching weather. Because the blossoms are so spectacular, this event turns the school into a madhouse as visitors flock to the campus. People are everywhere! Traffic outside the main gate of the school becomes even more chaotic than normal as bicycles, cars and scooters all crowd the streets causing mayhem. Crossing the street, which is already hard to do becomes nearly impossible. In China, red lights mean go, driving on the right side of the road is optional, and giving pedestrians the right a way is completely non-existent. I am honestly more surprised that I haven't witnessed more car accidents here. Wuda (Wuhan University) also profits tremendously from this as they block the main gate charging an admission fee for non-students.

In general, Wuda’s campus is quite lovely with its rolling hills and forestry, but when the blossoms are in full bloom, the campus becomes especially beautiful. People bring their families to visit and take a lot of pictures. Chinese people love to take photographs and many of the photos are very staged and theatrical. Couples will pose together like a high school prom photo or people take photos of themselves as well.

Overall, the festival was a success with the exception of one minor incident. I didn’t witness this event first-hand but read about it online. Here is the link: New branches of nationalism in China Briefly, two Chinese women, a mother and daughter, wore the Japanese traditional style of dress known as the Kimono to visit the festial. While posing for pictures with the cherry blossoms, they were confronted because they were wearing Kimonos and forced to leave the campus. China and Japan have a turbulent history, which has left a feeling of resentment among many Chinese people. (Not all, but many.) This event has stirred debate (at least in Wuhan) and renewed a sense of nationalism among Chinese people.

On a side note, earlier this week was the Traditional Thai New Year so my Thai friends along with almost the entire dormitory decided to celebrate it. One of the most well-known traditions of this holiday involves throwing water on other people. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know about the party or the tradition until I arrived back from running errands. To make matters worse, there is only one entrance and one pathway to the dormitories and I live at the very last dormitory. I barely made it to the first building before I found myself completely drenched, but it turned out to be a fun afternoon. :)

Article from The New York Times

Click the link:

Seeking Justice, Chinese Land in Secret Jails

Thought this article was interesting! Happy Monday!

Chinese New Year 2009: The Year of the Ox!

Sorry for the break between postings! The school semester ended and Chinese New Year began! I ended up spending the new year with one of my previous host families in Taiwan which was a lot of fun!

In Taiwan, the festivities are not as crazy as they are in the mainland but nevertheless, there is still a lot of food and firecrackers!
Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday celebrated in China and Taiwan. Many other countries, due to their proximity/history, also celebrate the holiday as well. The lunar Chinese calender versus the Gregorian calender determines when the holiday falls on.


Because Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for the Chinese, many people who have migrated to the city for school or work return home to celebrate. However, buying tickets involves a lot of waiting and patience. In addition, there's been a rise in ticket scalpers making it even more difficult to acquire tickets. On the right, is a photo from an online article posted on The Boston Globe, there are more pictures with additional commentary. This photo is an example of what a train ride home could be. It's not necessarily what all people returning home experience.

Chinese trains consist of three or four different classes depending on one's destination. There are hard seats usually without air conditioning (especially uncomfortable during warm weather), soft seats (not bad for short distances), hard sleepers (my favorite way to travel), and soft sleepers (more expensive but also nicer). On the train, especially as a foreigner, it is always interesting to travel by train because of all the people you come across. Some will want to practice English but most just want to talk.

If I am taking an overnight train, from Wuhan to Shanghai, then I make sure to bring some instant noodles, a train ride necessity. I try to drink as little as possible to avoid the train restroom. In a hard sleeper, there are little cubicles with beds. Each cubicle has six beds: three stacked on each side, like a triple bunk bed. The top bunk is the least expensive because it has the least room. I like this bunk the best because no one sits on it. The bottom bunk is everyone sits before lights out. So before the train starts it's always a good idea to make friends with the people on the bottom bunk or make a mad rush for the window table.
On a side note, my room decided to flood. It's been raining all week so at first I didn't think anything of the sound of water dripping until I realized it was happening in my room. I have no idea where the water came from. But on a positive note, I've had hot water for the past two days which is a major plus!

Rotaract in Shanghai

Rotaract, according to the Rotary website, is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women ages 18 to 30. Rotaract clubs are either community or university based, and they’re sponsored by a local Rotary club. This makes them true "partners in service" and key members of the family of Rotary.

This past weekend marked a huge accomplishment for Rotaract as it was invited by the Shanghai Charity Foundation to participate in a community service activity. The foundation is a government agency and works to raise funds that benefit charitable organizations through philanthropic endeavors that aid children, the elderly and disabled.

According to Jonathan Rowe, the current Rotaract president, "the fact that the Shanghai Charity Foundation invited us and that we were a group of Chinese and foreigners together represents a very positive step for Rotary in China."

Members of Rotaract spent the day volunteering at a retirement home cleaning up the yard, making dumplings, and singing with the residents. In addition singing Chinese songs with the residents, there was also some karaoke. However, I was a bit too shy to participate and instead watched my group members perform. In total, there were three different teams. Each team consisted of Rotaract members, Chinese students, along with older Chinese people.




On the photo on the right, this man is 100 years old! He knows the Chinese art of Calligraphy. Everyday he practices and has several of his paintings hanging on his wall!

Overall, it was a fun weekend in Shanghai participating in the Rotaract event as well as getting to know the Rotaract members!



Here is a link to some of my photos from China: Wuhan, China

Also, Rotary International has a Youtube Channel! Check it out!

Life in Wuhan

Since I have had several people ask me about my daily life in Wuhan, I decided to dedicate an entire post on my life as a foreigner in China. Housing: I currently live in an on-campus apartment with three other people. Two of my roommates are Vietnamese, and my third roommate is from Australia. My apartment consists of a kitchen, living room, and bathroom along with our bedrooms. However, the apartment is not fully furnished, so our living room is pretty bare with the exception of a water cooler, mini-fridge, folding table and a lot of empty space. If we all eat together, then we roll out a rug and sit on the floor to eat. The kitchen does not come with anything except for a sink. To cook food, we use a hot plate as ovens are very hard to find and prohibited to use in the dormitory. The bathroom is an all-in-one meaning the shower isn't separate from the sink and toilet. On the positive side, the apartment has a western style toilet which is nice. The only room that came with any furniture are the bedrooms. Each bedroom has a bed, desk, bookshelf and mini-closet.

Even though it is December and the weather is starting to get colder, the office still has not turned on the heat. During the day, the weather is not too cold, but at night it's cold. A lot of people have resorted to buying electric blankets and mini-heaters, both of which are prohibited. There is also the issue of hot water or lack of hot water. Some days there will be hot water all day while other days there won't be any at all. The first month that I was here I washed all my clothes by hand because I didn't know where the washing machines were. Unlike my previous dorms, where I only had to walk down the hall, I now have to leave my apartment in order to laundry. To dry my clothes, I set-up a clothesline in my room because there aren't any dryers here. This may sound somewhat uncomfortable but in comparison to Chinese students I can't complain. Chinese students, especially freshman and sophomores, often live with 3 or 4 other people in one room. (Sometimes more sometimes less people) In addition, they do not have air conditioning or heat. Bathrooms do not have hot water at all. Instead, they have to boil water and put it in a canister. And to shower, they have to walk to a shower house.

School:

My classmates are some of my closest friends here. My class consists of a diverse group of students from S. Korea, France, Turkey, and Germany. In addition to studying, we often have group activities and dinners. In fact, for Christmas, we are participating in a Secret Santa and all of us are preparing a dish. Sort of like potluck! So, if anyone has a recipe for something festive that doesn't require an oven, then send it my way! :)

I will post another blog about life in Wuhan later this week! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! :)

Shanghai: Rotary Presentation

Apologies for not updating sooner! I am still getting used to blogging!

In my previous blog, I mentioned that I was having visa/passport trouble. Luckily, my passport has been returned and I now have my residence visa. ☺

In October, I made the journey to Shanghai to meet the Rotary Club and give a presentation to introduce myself to everyone. The week before my presentation was National Day, which is a weeklong holiday. During this time, I traveled to Shenongjia and attempted to go camping. The weekend was a series of interesting events and beautiful scenery. Upon my return, I attempted to buy a train ticket to Shanghai; however, due to the holiday, all the tickets were sold out. At this point, I still didn’t have my passport, so my only other option was the bus. I was a bit apprehensive to take the bus after reading horror stories online about buses in China. The bus itself is the same size as a Greyhound bus but instead of seats, there are mini-beds. I didn’t realize when boarding the bus you can choose to sleep wherever so I ended up in the back. Next time, if there is a next time, I will try to sit towards the front. Much to my surprise, I was really comfortable and fell asleep within a matter of minutes.

After arriving in Shanghai at approximately 6 a.m., I located a subway station and tried to figure out what to do for the day. I decided to go to the Yu Gardens and Bazaar and took the subway there. After arriving at the right subway station, I called my host counselor, Jukka, to let him know that I arrived safely. He kindly invited me to meet him for coffee near his office, then go back to his family's home to refresh myself before the meeting. I was lucky because his office turned out to be only a few blocks from the subway station I was at, so I was able to walk to his office. If I had planned that, then I would have been lost.

The Shanghai Rotary Club meets every Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Regal International East Asia Hotel . I found the club members to be a lively group. The Club is actively involved in many activities to improve the their community. Overall, I feel that my presentation went well. One of my goals for this year is to overcome my fear of public speaking, so this was a great way to start. While there, I also had the opportunity to meet with another fellow Ambassadorial Scholar, Jacob, who is living in Shanghai. I hope that I will be able to attend future meetings!

Below is an excerpt from their weekly Pagoda:

RC Shanghai “Gift of Life”
Candidate No 1 for 2008-9 Year

A 1 year old boy, born on October 13, 2007. Address DuZhuang Village, PingDian Town, ShangShui County, Henan. His parents are poor farmers.
Diagnosis: Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). Date of operation was on August 13, 2008. Operation: He suffered from perimembranious ventricular septal defect unlikely to close spontaneously.

He was operated on August 13, 2008 under general anesthesia and

cardiopulmonary bypass. The defect in diameter of 8 mm was closed with Dacron patch through atrial incision. It was a successful operation. He was discharged from SuZhou Kowloon Hospital on August 28, 2008.

*Also, if someone could tell me how to move pictures and insert them into the text rather than all in a straight line that would be very helpful! :)

Getting Settled

It's hard to believe that I have already been in China for over a month! During this time, I applied for my residence visa, started class, traveled to Shanghai for my Rotary presentation, and traveled to Shennongjia for National Day.

Right now, I don't have my passport. And I am not really sure when I am supposed to get it back...Since I will be living in China for a period longer than six months, I am required by the Chinese government to apply for a residence visa. This visa allows me to stay in China for the year for my studies. It also allows me to freely leave and re-enter the country. However, the process to obtain this visa is a bit troublesome.

At my school, there has been a lot of miscommunication between the administration and students. Often, when the school posts an announcement, it is only in Chinese or poorly written English sometimes making it difficult to figure out what is going on. This happened a lot when applying for the residence visa.

On the day that the school provided four buses to the hospital for approximately 100+ students, the hospital was completely overwhelmed by all the Wuhan University students in addition to the other patients. Also, the school had neglected to tell us that we needed a number in order to complete the physical, which, of course, I did not have. Luckily, there was a group of students that successfully argued with the doctor for everyone to complete the physical exam that day. Unfortunately for us, by the time the agreement was made, it was almost lunch time and everything shuts down from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. or later.

Instead of waiting around for the hospital to re-open, we headed back to the university with a promise that there would be a bus the next day. The next day we went to the hospital to finish only to find out the hospital did not have any electricity. Finally, on the third trip to the hospital, I was finally able to complete everything and turned in the completed physical to the doctor.

In addition to the physical exam, the Chinese government also requires that you submit an completed application, a couple passport-sized photographs, copies of your passport and entrance visa, conduct an interview, money and passport. The school arranged for the police to come and collect applications which was complete chaos. In a rather small room, all the new students, over 100, packed into a small room like sardines and very aggressively sought out the police to complete the application. This was the last time I saw my passport and that was almost a month ago. Since then, I have been told that they lost my physical exam results only to go to the hospital myself and find it within a matter of minutes.

The process has been very complicated and at times frustrating but hope that my passport will be returned soon! In my next blog, I will talk about my trip to Shanghai for my Rotary presentation!