Tuesday May 22, 2018
The day started like most -- roughly 3 hours of class until noon. This morning's activities were slightly unusual, however. I felt that the teacher of the Advanced class (which I take part in) could tell that we were a bit less energetic than usual -- resulting in her challenging us to a game of 'never have I ever' (in Mandarin of course), upon which the loser had to complete a dare. The result of this was a spontaneous yet beautiful rendition of Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' by our very own Eliot Smullen in front of the intermediate class, as the class drew to an end.
Shortly after class, we had Jianbing (煎饼), a savory pancake that we're eating so frequently I think it is fair to start calling it 'the usual' lunch. Following that, it's our Dialogue at the U.S. Consulate, which is 2 km away from the university, so we all showed up at the Consulate on the yellow OFO bike in our business casual.
Entering the Consulate thereafter was pretty standard security procedure. Although I, unfortunately, couldn't take any pictures of the visit, we were fortunate to have a panel of three diplomats to have a conversation with us about their jobs and answer any of our questions. We had a discussion for about an hour and a half about everything from the current commerce and economic situations of China, to their experiences in political dealings with local government officials. It was interesting to get some wisdom from people who have directly been working within the Chinese political system for a while now; some thoughts and stereotypes were confirmed, but what surprised me most was the details they shared about how reactive they were to each other's actions ("keeping score" one of the panelists called it).
After the consulate, we split up to do different things. My roommate Cedrick and I went to the small yet well-equipped gym on campus, while other students explored a range of activities from going back to their room to study, to finding a local clinical at which they could get some acupuncture or 'cupping' done. We ended the evening by celebrating Chris' 20th birthday -- involving a large fruity coconut cake, singing happy birthday in both English and Chinese, and then a short debriefing of the activities to come.
As for a little update on what the readers of this blog can expect in terms of big events: Thursday we will be having a discussion with a group of educators on their education innovation initiatives; on the weekend we will be going to Anren, an ancient town, followed by Dujiangyan, a 2,000-year-old irrigation system, and Mount Qing Cheng, the birthplace of Taoism, and Wenchuan, the epicenter of the devastating earthquake in 2008 that killed 70,000 people, and an ethnic minority village. I'm excited.
- Gustaf P.
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