A few things had made me happy today but one of them is iffy (I’ve been knocking wood all day), so I won’t share that one yet just so I don’t jinx it.  The others follow:

• Daniel had told his former Chinese teacher (who teaches English at Heida) that one of the foods he missed from home was cheese.  So she had her husband bring back cheese from his most recent trip to France to share with her former student, who in turn shared the Laughing Cow cheese with me.  It was teh yum.
• Today, when getting dinner in the cafeteria, the server asked me directly if I was Canadian.  When I asked her how she knew, she smiled and said that the other servers told her.  It felt nice.  Sure, it’s kind of strange that the cafeteria staff talk about me (I would otherwise expect it to be that I order the same food all the time) but it’s a nice change from the taxi drivers who hear my not-so-Chinese voice and ask if I’m Korean or where I come from, just to be told I 显得 look Chinese.  I don’t mind it, of course, obviously I look Chinese (I had been talking to Andy† and Seth about this yesterday and it proves to be more convenient getting around without sticking out like my white friends do), but it was nice not to have to explain the whole 华裔 ethnic-Chinese origin thing as if it’s something particularly exciting.‡  The last time I heard something so refreshing was when another server asked me if I was Russian, or when one of Seth’s Koreans (the one they now call Cher) told me I looked European (she meant to say Asian, but it was still funny to hear).

† Andy is the one who told me he thought I might be a Native Canadian (or First Nations or whatever is least awkward to say, I still have to learn how to express indigenous-ness in Chinese) when he first met me.  Since then, he has suggested pretending I am, or also accepting the complement when Chinese tell me how good my English is (I’ve only been working on it for 22 years).

‡ Obviously I don’t find it particularly exciting at all, but it surprises me sometimes – I think it was Jose who asked me about it first – that there are no other students of 华裔 Chinese descent from the Americas or Britain or Australia here (there are of course similar people in continental Europe and Africa, but I know less about them).  That said, there are something like four and a half Americans at this university…

Tonight I went out for dinner with my classmates in 初级A班.  If it weren’t for my fear of an icy April (truth be told, I don’t know that it can be much worse than Montreal as Montreal’s winter infrastructure wasn’t so great anyways), I’d consider staying in Harbin for the spring semester just because of tonight.  We went to a knock-off franchise of a Chinese buffet chain for German-styled food on 学府四道街 Xuefu-4 called “Hansa” *sp, where almost every class has had their 晚会 parties (it’s the closest place that is likely to seat comfortably 20 or more to a party).  I left with Daniel and Amanda/Beyonce† and the rest from A区 and even after we arrived and the Koreans took their cameras and Asian poses out, I worried it would be one of those awkward mixers, but it turned out to be super fun.  I still didn’t chat much with those who live in A区 (I wish I’d gotten a chance to talk more with the elderly Japanese men but they weren’t much for staying out past 7pm) as most of them left a little early but I got to talk to Alyssa and Irina (whose name I finally distinguished from Yelena’s) and learned a little more about my classmates.  Irina is from Siberia and comes from a minority nationality (she used the Chinese term 民族 minzu, because we were having the conversation in Chinese, and it sounded so strange to me out of the context of studying the PRC’s official 少数民族 ethnic minorities) whose earrings she was wearing tonight.

Afterward, those of us remaining went to a Korean restaurant not far away (on 学府三道街 Xuefu-3) where the Muscovite Natasha continued to celebrate her birthday with lemon soju.  She brought two of her friends (Korean and Mongolian) from last semester with whom she only speaks Chinese, who were friendly (of course, her Mongolian friend knows Jenny).  I’m impressed by those three, as well as two of our other classmates from 初级A班 who were all classmates together last semester.  They are chatty like friends (rather than chatty like small talk) even though they all come from different linguistic backgrounds.  By then, there were only eight of us from our class and I didn’t chat with them as much as I did with Chris/Rain and Sanaa *sp but even so I think it set things in motion for our class being more chatty across language barriers.

That said, we have quite a friendly class.  The 中级A班 intermediate class Jacki is in sounds hella bitchy where all but one of the Koreans are mean, opinionated, hypochondriacs and the Russians never speak.  Instead, we have two elderly Japanese men (three originally, but one went home 回国了)  who are absolutely adorable with their seat partners (one of the Korean girls and Irina), very doting Korean classmates, and the friendliest of Russians (mostly from Vladivostok) who break almost every stereotype there is about Russians in China.  And then there’s Daniel and me, and the Japanese girl who is quiet but good friends with Natasha and the Korean mom whose name I hear as “Jen.”  Perhaps it helps that our class is more grown up.  Most people are finished or towards the end of university, and 除了 aside from the elderly Japanese men 以外, there are still three classmates who are old enough to have children at home.

All in all a good night.  (If I weren’t still a bit sick 有点儿感冒, I would’ve joined the remaining party at Blues 酒吧 Bar but I don’t think having smoke blown at me all night is so great for my throat.  I can’t wait for a smoking ban to finally hit Chinese establishments but it’ll be years before something like that really becomes enforceable.)  I hope we spend more time together in the future.

†Amanda, a.k.a. Beyonce, a.k.a. Jingzhu, a.k.a. Kyongju *sp, the Korean who sits beside me in class; not a split personality. Seth and Daniel gave their Korean friends nicknames while intoxicated and I know most of them either by their Chinese name or their ridiculous nicknames.  Usually, something sticks, or stands out.  Somehow, for my seat partner (the only one of that group of friends that I actually talk to), not one name stuck but all four of those she told me: her English name, her silly nickname, her Chinese name, and her Korean name; so when I refer to her in third person, I usually use all of them, in the order than I discovered them.

I finally found the motivation to ask the reception staff at the foreign students’ dorm about moving in with Jacki and I encountered my first hitch.  At first, they cited their policy of no room changes two months into the school year, but of course that was just their automatic initial response.  When I explained my situation and Jacki chirped in about her problems with Katya, they were more sympathetic but not so much that they would let Jacki move into a room with me, leaving Katya and another Russian girl in two half-empty rooms.  The idea is that they want as few half-empty rooms as possible, which I understand, but irks me.  Jacki will ask different receptionists when there is a different shift at the desk, because someone told her she could move into a single room if she paid for the difference (which is what I planned to cover by moving in) the last time she complained about Katya to them.  We’ll see how it goes.  I can technically afford to cover paying for a single room myself, which they allow for some reason, but it only solves one of our problems and I’d prefer not to pay double to live on my own but let Jacki hang out 24/7 when the Chinese government is technically covering the cost of one bed for her.   *fingers crossed this goes better when she asks later on*

1) I had an extended conversation with a Russian in Chinese for the first time since we used to talk to Jacki’s roommate Katya.  It was with the new guy in my class from Vladivostok, Ivan.  It turns out most of the Russians in my class are all from the same Confucius Institute in Vladivostok.

2) I am sick.  I thought my throat was sore from karaoke Friday night but the only other ones who are sick are Jacki and Jenny.  Jenny says half of the Mongolian students are also sick, so I guess I got it from them.

3) Charlotte Gainsbourg apparently isn’t a cure for illness abroad.  Maybe she only helps with swine flu.  I watched Prête-moi ta main last night and it was good, but I am still sick.

4) I took a taxi home from campus again this evening because I figure I should spend less time in the cold when I’m sick (hopefully I can move onto campus soon).  Anyways, the taxi driver put on his seat belt halfway through, and I thought wtf! I think it was the second time I saw anyone wearing a seat belt in my entire time in China, and the first time, I was putting my seat belt on in Serena’s car and I felt that she was slightly offended by it.

I’m hanging out in Jenny’s room, though she is just dozing because she does not feel too well.  At the end of the last post, Andy and his friend Younis *sp showed up and we chat a while before heading to C 区.  I bought stamps for my red postcards (expecting them to print the appropriate value directly onto the cards at the counter, but no) and head to see Jacki where he roommate was getting ready to spend the afternoon with the Chinese boyfriend she accidentally acquired about a month back (heavy perfume).  we left to give them some privacy and Jacki tried to tap dance a little before deciding the cement would ruin her tap shoes.

Returning to the topic of time: it really does evaporate.  It certainly does not help that the sun sets at half past four and it is pitch black by five… yet it is not yet night.  But everything ends earlier here, and I wonder if it will be difficult to readjust to Beijing; or difficult to readjust to home when returning to Canada.  But in Harbin, in the summer, the sun rises rather early and sets rather late.   It really should be no different from Montreal, psychologically, but I never felt that the nights ended earlier in the winter just because the sun went away.*  It was just a colder climate to brave.  Jacki often speaks of the psychological testing required to go work on the experimental stations in the Antarctic, but that is a whole different story I suppose.

I hope I continue to do interesting things with my life when the student phase of it is over.  I am not like the others who envision themselves with careers in academia but I keep the idea of migration studies in the air because I fear the prospect of years and years in a one-track career.  Maybe I just dread growing up (not the responsibility, but the idea of routine and fewer hypothetical futures).

***

You asked for an update on my life Tiffany, and you got three consequetive tracts from a day in the life of Jess, numbering more than five handwritten pages in my notebook.  Basically, it’s just attention deficit disorder.  I get really distracted in class sometimes even though I find my jingdu teacher very engaging.  In ten minutes, I’ll end up with a detailed, hypothetical plan for the next couple years of my life (with varying amounts of realism) but it’s never completely satisfying, even if I dream, because I can never create the time (not to mention the money) to visit all the people and places I want to see, not even hypothetically.  How have you found life on the other side of the planet from all your friends these past few years?

*This is a lie because we all know I experienced terrible sunshine deficiency blues last November and my thesis totally stagnated.

It’s weird thinking about my time here in China.  I am studying, and not traveling as much as I had planned to (fortunately, maybe, since I did not budget so well for it), but it certainly is a gap year.  I wonder if this is how it feels for exchange students still in their courses.  I take my studies fairly seriously, I think, but my grades are not so consequential, and I can’t exactly say that studying Chines eis the reason I am here ~ perhaps like a means to being here… here being away, or simply abroad.  That said, I think my Chinese is improving and it isn’t totally empty flattery when locals tell me it’s decent (for a foreign student anyways).

Yesterday, a taxi driver mentioned Norman Bethune to me.  Although I think it generally expected for Canadians in China, it was my first time hearing his name.  At first, I didn’t recognise his Chinese name, but the driver insisted he was a very famous doctor.  Before I left Montreal, I attended a lecture at Concordia by Adrienne Clarkson promoting her new biography on the man for a series of Penguin biographies of prominent Canadians and for Montreal’s year for Bethune.  They restored the statue of the doctor at Guy-Concordia and I intend to take a photo with it whenever I get to return (Montreal me manque).  There is also a statue of Dr. Bethune at the medical school in Changchun and I hope to visit the city in the spring (maybe a short northeastern tour to see my friends) and take a picture there too.  It is not because I am especially fangirl for him, but because it is nice to make the connection.  It is remarkable that he is so well known in China but not so much in his home country (like Da Shan, but a bigger deal I guess).  I think he is the only foreigner on whom Mao wrote and published an essay.

Returning to the topic of time… it’s certainly passing by quickly.  Very soon, there will be no more gap year.  Verena was probably right when she said I shouldn’t already be counting down the months if I am not unhappy, and I am no longer doing that.  Instead I am growing anxious about graduate school and getting jealous of the 18 y.o. Russian girl on “academic holiday” who sits at the front of the class with her hair like rope; getting jealous of her youth and I am only 22.

***

The coffee at Rear Window is good and doesn’t even need to be sweetened.  I had missed my lattes.  They don’t use the same characters for na tie here but I’ll have to look up exactly what they are.  The music they play here is incredibly varied – I’ve been here everyday since Monday, so I would know.  It’s places like these that prevent me from ever saving money (Myriade is celebrating its first birthday with 50% off drinks and I feel as though I’m missing out.

Time, like my French vocabulary evaporates in seconds…

My sister asked me to update my blog, so here are some things: I’m pretty satisfied with my life in Harbin these days, so much so that I almost regret my decision to go elsewhere next semester… almost.  Natasha, a classmate with brilliant blue eyes from Moscow who began 黑大 Heida in the spring semester, said it stays icy here until April and I don’t think I could handle that.  It won’t be difficult to visit my friends by train if I end up in Beijing anyways.

I told Mr. Wang that I wanted to move into the dorms for the second half of my stay here and he said he would try to find a subleter to take over my lease, for no extra fee.  What great service.  If it works out, it’ll be nice to spend my last couple months here living closer to my friends and maybe I might even same some money?  It was poor decision-making but still a good experience I think.  Earlier this morning on Skype, my mother complained about a middle-aged woman she had become acquainted with who had exactly zero life experience and really suffered for it.

School days are fairly routine for me, but last night, I finally went out for karaoke in Harbin.  After fish and chips at Fox Pub, we – Jacki, Jenny, Daniel, Justyna, Martyna, Magda, their Russian friend Diana, Seth, Giuseppe, Kamel, and Kate – headed to Echo Point(?) and stayed ’til about 3am.  My throat is kind of shot.  I’m not expecting anyone else to be awake now, so I”m taking it easy today (hoping to visit the old Jewish sites tomorrow).  I am having a tuna sandwich at the Russian cafe and I will head to Rear Window later for some very well-made coffee.  It’s almost as good as at home and it really does the trick.

Monday afternoon’s weather was really crappy but I wanted to stay on campus to get some work done on my scholarship application.  Andy and Seth recommended Rear Window which is just next door to the Russian Cafe.  The latte perhaps ties for the best I’ve had in China, and was not obnoxiously priced.  Andy and Seth joined me later and it was a cozy afternoon in from the cold.

Sunday, Jacki and I went to the Provincial Art Gallery where Seth and Daniel were taken for their Friday afternoon culture class field trip.  The artist painted scenes from Da’ur life a hundred or more years ago, as she imagined it.  They told me minority+painting, and immediately my mind ran to the Yunnan School of Orientalist painting and the perspective of a Han artists but it wasn’t the exoticisation I assumed it would be.  But I guess the northern reaches of Heilongjiang province are a far cry from exotic southern Yunnan.  The artist was present at the gallery and asked if we understood everything.  When our answer was unsatisfactory, she had her husband talk us through each of the paintings (skipping the flowers except to say, “these are flowers”).  It was a pleasant and inexpensive afternoon (1 kuai bus fare each way, free admission, and 5 kuai split between the two of us for a roast yam).

There is little else new in my life (except for Rear Window Cafe).  It is rather routine, as I said.  Li Laoshi says the lack of 好玩儿 hao wan’r (fun) distractions is good for sotudying and it’s probably true.  I like my Korean and Russian classmates and I wish I could get to know them better so I can visit them as friends next semester, but maybe it’ll happen soon.  Yunji and Liza *sp, who sit in front of me and are our 班长 banzhang (like prefects?), have planned for us to all go out for dinner together next week.  They’re all sweet and it is especially fortunate that none of the Russians are stereotypically trashy.  Also, the older Japanese men in our class are super cute.

Kat taking one of many photos at the 颐和园 Summer Palace

I can’t actually remember what I was doing on specific days but fortunately I am an adept stapler (if that makes sense… basically I am keeping ticket stubs and the like in a notebook).  By the way, this gets really long:

• On the evening of the 4th, Kat and I sought out Russian food and we ended up at a place in Dongzhimen called Traktirr Pushkin.  I thought it was a decent meal, but it was substandard for Kat who has standards for such things.  When I got back to Ben and Verena’s, they were watching Twilight with Jake and I caught the last half hour or so and it was absolutely ridiculous.  Later, we watched The Proposal.
• October 5th: I got up relatively early and returned to the Summer Palace with Kat.  It was busier than when I first visited but it is the Golden Week.  We had lunch in Wudaokou and returned to Ben’s before going for Peking Duck with Ben, Verena, Jake, and Lorelei (who is in town from Shanghai) and her friends Cedric and Philippe.  We ate at Dadong which is supposed to be one of the best places for 北京烤鸭 roast duck in the city and while it was very good, I think I’ve had duck of equal or better quality in Toronto with less hype.  The accompanying dishes were all right.  Later, drinks in 三里屯 Sanlitun and the rest of them went clubbing at Destination but I went back to Ben’s and caught up on Desperate Housewives.
• On the 6th, I finally moved to Kat’s where I stayed the rest of my time in Beijing.  I met her at Miss Me Coffee & Cake where she spends most of her time after work, studying for her CFA.  That night, we went to see Zhang Yimou’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot at the Bird’s Nest with her roommates.  I enjoyed what I could of the opera itself and was very impressed with the tenor who sang the part of the Prince (and I have some thoughts on the production itself in the Bird’s Nest that I plan to write later), but omigood the family sitting across the aisle from us was sooooo annoying.  I basically had to tell them to shut up, except without words, because my Chinese ain’t so great yet.  I accepted mild chatter and eating-noises because we were in a stadium and people were clearly explaining to each other what was going on, but this family (a grown son and his parents) were literally just chatting: awful.
• The next day, Kat and I got our hair cut at a place just outside her apartment complex.  I think it went well.  This wasn’t one of those loud music-blaring salons that are so common, but I relatively low key one.  I insisted on skipping the first one we saw because of the crazy hair the staff member standing in the window had, and then we skipped the second one.  We ended up at the third because it had recognisable brands in the window.  Afterward, we had lunch with Michele (one of Kat’s roommates) and I think we just killed time meeting up with Ben, Verena, and her IR friends at Lush for trivia night.  The night ended again with dessert and the novelty of dining on swings.
• At this point, I’m having trouble distinguishing Thursday and Friday, but one of those days, we just hung out at Kat’s cafe and the Sculpting in Time in Lido and basically chilled out.  When we got home, we weren’t sure what we would do about dinner, but Kat’s other roommate Cameron had their fellow English teacher Brian (who I met on the plane), his Chinese girlfriend, and her friend over and they made dinner and it was yum.
• On the other day, we set out to the art district 操场地 Caochangdi.  It was really cool, and maybe that’s another post, but I hope to go back again, especially when it isn’t the holidays and when most of the galleries aren’t closed.  We did see a few cool exhibitions though.  After that, we made our way to 押宝路 Alien Street to look for better Russian food but somehow we ended up at the other location of Mirch Masala.  After that, we head to the Drum & Bell District to a 疆进酒吧 Jiangjinjiu Bar to check out something advertised as, “Panjir Uighur folk band make the sounds of Xinjiang heard in the alleys of Gulou.”
• Saturday was my last day in Beijing.  Kat and I went to 五道口 Wudaokou to have lunch with Ben at BLCU; said goodbye to him and Jake and later Verena.  Succeeded at buying some long underwear at Uniqlo (and wish I bought some more, because they’re comfy) but failed at finding any good ankle boots (apparently my feet are too big for China).  I bought some sandwiches and returned to Kat’s to chill out and get ready to leave.  Brian and Corey (also from the plane) were there for a little bit, and then Kat walked me to my taxi which got me to the station with perfect timing.  The driver was very friendly when we started talking during the crazy traffic jam close to the station.
• Sunday morning I got back and all was chill.
• Monday we went back to school and I think it went well.  I remembered thinking the day before that I return to spending about 7 RMB per meal on weekdays eating in the school cafeterias (as opposed to 30-50 RMB eating out in Beijing) but of course Marco texts me to say that a bunch of people are going out for Arab food again at the restaurant where we celebrated my birthday and we ended up spending almost 70 kuai per person.
• Yesterday was similarly chill except that we had our first (optional) evening class.  At first I thought, o no, but I actually liked the opportunity for a study hall sort of time to focus and work.  Li Laoshi will be there Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings from 7pm and I plan to make every Tuesday and Thursday as long as I can stand the cold.  Also, I met a friend of a friend of Jenny’s who will be going to study Spanish in Beijing so that the government can post her to a Spanish-speaking country to teach Chinese.  She seemed interesting and I hope to keep in touch.

20:58 Boarded safely with time to spare and hanging out on my bunk already which I’m sure is not the norm.  In my cabin, in the berth across from me is a Chinese dude, probably in his late 20s, but really, who can tell.  This T train is a bit older than the first sleeper I took to Xi’an with Ally and Laurence back in 2007 but it does the job.

I was worried about getting here in time but the cabby was plesanat and assured me that the BJ accent was indeed the most 标准 (biao1zhun3) standard.  I got to Waiting Room 3 just as it was announced that my train was boarding.  Kat walked me down from the apartment.  Her roommate Cameron as well as Brian and Corey from the flight were there and we were all nerds together.

The man who just arrived is now shaving, which amuses me.  A young man just passed with the Samsonite backpack I wanted but can’t afford.  He must have some moola, but I guess this is the soft sleeper.

21:44 Actually, my bunkmate is probably in his 30s; it’s hard to tell.  There’s a woman in the next cabin that reminds me of Karen Mok.  She wears a beret and harem pants.

In our TV-watching class, Daniel and I made fun of the awful 80s porno music in the background.  It reminded me of George Michael’s Careless Whispers* and the Cantonese cover my mom used to play in her old car driving us home from school.  That was just a reminder though.  It was actually playing in the background of the train announcements earlier.

The People’s Police were explaining the rules but it all just went over my head.

8:06 There’s less than 1/2 and hour left now I think.  I don’t think it can actually be so bad but I feel I must look like a mess.  The girl in the seat in the hallway looks awful (as in bleary-eyed).

*I’m never gonna dance again // guilty feet have got no rhythm…

The man

It wasn’t a late night last night so of course I woke up before 7am.  It’s good to know I haven’t lost the inability to sleep in while on holiday.  Around quarter after, it occured to me that I could get discount breakfast at Bridge Cafe (between 4 and 8am), so I left a note by Ben and Verena’s water cooler and headed out.   When I got there, the cafe which is supposed to be open 24 hours (the sign’s still there) was closed, so I now I’m at Lush, just about the only customer.  In the corner there was a table of Corona-drinkers, but now it’s just two guys at the bar and the staff.  At least this means the service will be fast.  I spilled sugar all over the table trying to pour exactly half a  spoonful.

Yesterday, I spent the day with Kat.  We went shopping in Xidan (looking for the more moderately priced mall but failing and buying relatively expensive Japanese stationary), wandering on Chang’an Avenue at sunset to Tiananmen Square which was lit up with the floats from Thursday’s parade.  We had dinner at a Japanese-style resto on Wangfujing before I headed home.  Friday was rather low key and I stayed in when Ben and Verena went to Houhai with her IR friends.  During the day, I pretended to study with Kat and we visited Beida campus (beautiful as always) before making stir-fried eggplant with Ben and Verena.

Thursday was a late night, perhaps the latest night I’ve ever had (I’m lame).  It began with the parade and breakfast and I forget what else, but I was in my PJs pretty early.  Then, Ben, Jake, and Verena returned from Fragrant Hills (from where they saw the fireworks) and we all had dinner, before a Ben’s classmates Tjalling and Jennifer came over for drinks.  From there, we head over to Kanika and Mike’s apartment (in the same complex but a few buildings over) where we hung out a few hours before finally going to karaoke.  It was nearly 2am by the time we got there and we sung for a couple hours before making a final order for 15 kuai burgers at Lush (2 to 4am) at literally the last possible minute.  They were okay- I’ve yet to find anything that compares to La Paryse and it’s times like these (and you know, buying expensive Japanese stationary) that I miss Montreal most.  I’m glad to be spending time with friends from home.