Wed., May 23rd
The first part of the day was like most -- studying hard with a half hour break for some bubble tea around 10:15. The advanced class started this morning with a little oral exam, which from what I hear went well for everybody. Lunch for some of us was Shao Kao (烧烤），a barbecue stand at which you select skewers of food, which they then fry with rice and various sauces, and put into a bowl for you to conveniently eat while you walk around.
Today we also had both our language pledge as well as time allocated for our language partners. I always find the language pledge to be an interesting experience because of the different ways that people put what they are trying to convey to words (especially because most people commit to the language pledge quite well). The following language partner time was entertaining as always. Now that everyone has gotten to know their language partner well, I feel that the conversations flow a lot more smoothly and are generally a lot more relaxed and fun. In my experience, and from what I hear from most people, the language partner time consists partly of looking over the lessons and vocabulary that we learned in class that morning, as well as a lot of general chit-chatting. Personally, I think that two hours a week for the language partner is not enough, as I think it's the most efficient way to soak up vocabulary quickly. Luckily, a lot of other Sichuan University students around campus are also very willing to have a casual conversation if you are willing to initiate it.
Following the morning's language activities, we went to the university's on-campus museum. There was a special exhibit of the photographs by a British missionary and archeologist, Rev. Thomas Torrance (1871-1959), in the west of Sichuan, where we are going to visit this weekend. The photos were taken almost 100 years ago of various Tibetan and Qiang (pronounced as Ch'iang) ethnic groups and portrayed their culture and lives. This is a special limited time exhibit at the museum, and we were lucky to have a volunteer at the museum show us around and tell us the backgrounds of each image. In some of the rooms, he showed us were artifacts and tools used by specific ethnic groups in Tibet in the past. One which I found particularly interesting was the tradition of the Qiang people to have their 'master of language' wear a sheepskin jacket. The story behind this: in the past, language was only passed down orally, however, scripts of texts were sent down from the heavens; these scripts were consumed by sheep, so by wearing the sheep, the wisdom was bestowed to the master of language. He also showed us Thangkas of Buddhas, such as one with a Blue Buddha, which is supposed to bring you good health.
Speaking of good health, monks back then would donate their skulls (post-death, of course) to temple, which people would drink from for better future health. The museum also contained various statues and elaborate carvings salvaged from all areas of the Sichuan area.
As always, thanks for reading!
-- Gustaf P.
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