World Cup Fever
First off, I want to thank everyone for reading and commenting on my blog. I can't post back, due to Chinese censorship, but I can still read them. As the first round of the World Cup comes to close, people here in China are getting even more into it. And their team isn't even in it! Around 9:00 at night, when the games start, they'll even bring their TVs right out onto the street. They pretty much root for whoever is against Japan. Man, do they dislike Japan, mostly because of all the wars between the two countries. My classmate Jennifer (in picture) says she doesn't watch a lot of soccer, but she loves David Beckham. When we saw this giant Adidas advertisement in Wangfujing, a popular shopping district, she had to have her picture with him. She just thinks he is gorgeous. This comment made me recall a time when I was with Helen after watching "Sahara" in Chinese. She noted that Penelope Cruz was beautiful, but that perception is hardly the norm. She explained that Chinese people, as I'm sure people of most other countries, see beauty in different ways. This is evident nearly every time I get on the subway, and women are forced to hold onto the hanging handles. Armpit hair, I guess, isn't that big of a deal in China. (Granted, this isn't everyone, and is more prevalent in younger ladies or teenagers) Spending time with classmates like Jennifer or Koukia has made me think about the goals I set out before I came. My main purpose of coming to Beijing was to improve my speaking abilities, and it still is. However, I am reconsidering the best way to go about it. Because I am in classes with teens studying in the English language, I find myself in a constant battle with them about what language dominates the conversation. Usually, I start the conversation of in Chinese, but soon find it difficult to fully express myself in Chinese, so I throw in a little English. This is all well and good, as I can ask them how to say certain words, but I come upon so many new words, that I soon forget them. I think I learn faster when I just jump on a subway and go to some random temple. Then I look up words in my dictionary, and try to piece together sentences, rather than using one of my Chinese friends as a crutch. However, I still find it very valuable to spend plenty of time with my classmates. Just yesterday, Koukia gave me some Chinese music videos. Most were pretty bad, but it was a nice gesture. I did particularly like the Chinese cover of Disney's "Under the Sea". Definitely ask me to see it when I get back.