GO!

Hey Everybody,

I'm heading off to Xi'An in 20 minutes or so, so I need to make this
a quick post! I finished all my midterms yesterday and now is the start
of my one-week spring break! I'm very excited and we'll see what adventures
will await me in Xi'An.
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The past week, aside from studying for midterms, was pretty chill.
I witnessed a Chinese debate on whether or not dating in college is
advantageous to the average Chinese student [sad to say that the side that
said it's not advantageous won the debate :( hahaha]
But nevertheless, here are some pics:

GO GO GO!

You can tell this guy isn't messing around...I mean just look at his facial expression!!! LOL

So this event/debate was run by HIT's student union. I think it's really cool how official this whole thing was (complete with timers). I'd just like to mention that this formality/strict following of formality is not only present in debates, but also present in variety shows where there are Chinese MC's. This whole aspect of formality and observing rigid rules/etiquette is something I find interesting in Chinese culture. 

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Alright, so to conclude this blog post (I now only have 5 minutes left) here are

some random pics I came across since my last post:

Sorry for the blurry pic...but do you see the car DRIVING ON THE SIDEWALK?! Literally I was walking down the street minding my own business when I hear a *HONK* and a rev of a car engine which made me jump a little. Ahhh China...

What a slogan! I mean, let's see Charmin Ultra top that...

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Alright all, I'm heading off now, see you in a week!

Best,

Sam

[UNCLE SAM] VS. [THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE...Mao?!]

Hi Everyone,

This week is going well and the past weekend went great!
Everyone ready? All right let's kick off the updates!

1. I AM NOW AN UNCLE! This pic below is dedicated to my newborn niece, God bless you!

For privacy reasons, I prefer not to display her picture here on this blog. That said, if you want to see the picture, please contact me via the "Contact Me" button/link at the top of this blog and we'll work things out from there! 

2. I went to a Cultural Revolution themed restaurant called 乡村大院(Xiāngcūn dà yuàn) which translated means "rural courtyard". For those of you who don't know, the Cultural Revolution was a time in Chinese history where Mao Zedong (毛泽东)  implemented policies to enforce socialism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional, and cultural elements from Chinese society, and to impose Maoist orthodoxy within the Chinese Communist Party. The revolution marked the return of Mao Zedong to a position of absolute power after the failed Great Leap Forward. Even with Mao's "good intentions", the Cultural Revolution politically paralyzed the country and negatively affected the country economically and socially.

If you're interested in learning more, please feel free to check out History.com

(Here is the link for your convenience: http://www.history.com/topics/cultural-revolution)

Back to the restaurant, the traditional Dongbei food tasted delicious! If that weren't enough, we even got the chance to see people perform songs from the cultural revolution. Here are some pics below!

粘豆包

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE...Mao?!

3. Finally, here are my random/goofy pics:

We taught my friend how to ride a bike! She stumbled a lot, but never gave up. Just goes to show you that with the right support network and healthy positive thinking, you can achieve many things.

I didn't personally buy/drink these shots, but I thought it was a cool photo opportunity.

Long Ta [龙塔], also known as the Dragon Tower or Heilongjiang Tower, is a 336 m (1,102 ft) tall multi-purpose Chinese steel lattice television and observation tower. I've yet to personally go but it seems like it would be a cool place to check out.

SOAR

Sounds gross, right? Actually, it's not that bad! I don't know why they put "Cheese" in the name because all you end up really tasting is chocolate.

MEET MR. .............. CHINESE GOLIATH!!!

Hahaha hope my last picture made you chuckle...but anyways, in conclusion, things are always an adventure for me here in China and I'm constantly grateful to God, Yale, the Richard U. Light Fellowship, and my family and friends for giving me this opportunity and supporting me all the way through.

Have a great week everyone!  

Yours truly,

Samuel

PS: My midterms are next week, so I'm excited because after midterms I plan to go to Xi'An and travel around there! If you have any suggestions/recommendations of what to eat, see, or do...let me know!

The Korean Connection

Hello Everyone!

     This past week/weekend I visited the memorial of Ahn Jung-geun (안중근, 安重根).
Please read this article by TIME for the context/significance:
(http://time.com/2609/104-years-later-a-chinese-train-station-platform-is-still-the-site-of-anti-japanese-rancor/)

     In a nutshell, on October 26, 1909, Ahn Jung-geun assassinated Itō Hirobumi (a four-time Prime Minister of Japan) following the signing of the Eulsa Treaty. The treaty deprived Korea of its diplomatic sovereignty and made Korea a protectorate of Japan. Ahn Jung-geun, in an effort to assert Korean independence and repel Japanese aggression, killed Itō Hirobumi.
     Ahn was posthumously awarded the Republic of Korea Medal of Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1962 by the Korean Government, the most prestigious civil decoration in the Republic of Korea, for his efforts for Korean independence.

Here are some pics of my visit:

The sign says "Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Museum"

The man of the hour! Hero?...or Villain?...0___o!

Platform where the assassination took place

Cool illustration!

Ahn Jung-geun and his accomplices...

The Eulsa Treaty

On death row, Ahn Jung-geun received this outfit from his mother to wear before his execution

     Overall, it was an interesting experience visiting this museum. If you ask me what I think of Ahn Jung-geun (i.e if he was a hero or a villain) I would have to go with hero because (and you can do your own research) at the time of the signing of the Eulsa treaty, Korea signed under duress. Therefore, in my humble view, Ahn Jung-geun's actions were justified.
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     Next up, while I was walking in a mall, I came across a Chinese woman giving a public lecture/lesson on the Korean language. Check it out!

I really want to upload a video, but the slow upload speed of the internet here in China is no joke (even for a 15 second clip)...nevertheless, if you look at her second bullet point, she's introducing the Korean "consonants" and in the third bullet point she is introducing the Korean "vowels": the Korean language does indeed have an alphabet! 

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Last but not least, here are some other cool pics:

"Look Mom! I'm making noodles!!!"

Even though it's Spring here in Harbin, it still snowed!

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Have a great rest of the week everybody!

Best,

Sam

Bittersweet, Church, & No Debts!

Hello Everyone,

     This past week was another busy week studying and volunteering at HIT Call Center. Classes are going well, and I'm now heading into my 4th(?) week? It's bittersweet that I'm nearly 25% done with my program...I love America, fresh air, Wendy's spicy chicken sandwiches, etc. but where else in the world can you spot funny signs like this:

"Do not play on the train, please don't lie on the bench...no spitting...no swinging (my favorite lol), no climbing"

The fact that they have explicit signs prohibiting this kind of behavior just baffles me, hahaha!

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     This past weekend I finally got to go to church. The Chinese service (albeit conducted in English) has a very different feel than an American service does. For example, there seemed to be less audience participation when we were singing songs, or reciting scripture (this makes sense though since English is not the mother tongue of the majority of the attendees). One thing that this Chinese service and the average American service both did have in common was the reciting of The Lord's Prayer and The Apostles' Creed. It was cool to see how even halfway across the world, people can say the same words and be part of one body of Christ. 

It was packed...

...Yep even the balcony was full!

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     Last thing to share with you was that the past week as I was walking down the street I came across two old ladies who were street vendors selling socks and toys. I stopped and talked with one of them and explained how I was a curious American who pondered about how could street vendors make enough money to support themselves? She kindly explained how she managed to get by on only $3USD per day and I was slightly taken aback. I personally spend around $4USD per day just on food alone! Here I met someone who got by on less than I have while also supporting a son attending elementary school. It was very humbling to see how income disparity still exists. 

     I offered her $2USD encouraging her to buy her son an extra delicious dinner and while at first she refused, eventually she accepted my offer. However, she also gave me a "free" pair of black socks to make up for the gift, even though I neither needed the socks nor asked for them. Even after refusing multiple times, I eventually gave in since I saw how it was also a matter of pride for her to not be indebted to anyone. I can definitely relate to her attitude of not being in anyone's debt since self-sufficiency is a core value in many of our hearts. I always find it fascinating how despite our different cultures and barriers, there are some values deeply instilled in the human core that we all share. 

See you next week!

Best,

Sam

French, Fun, and Feedback!

Bonjour tout le monde!
err----大家好！Hello Everyone!

The past week I learned the French alphabet, ate out with friends, went bowling, and both organized and executed recruiting and welcoming events to HIT's international students.

First off, FRENCH IS DIFFICULT.

My roommate is taking this French class to fulfill his language requirement so I thought I would tag along and try out French as well. Reflecting on this experience, it was great to be humbled and reminded that the beginning stages of learning a new language require massive amounts of patience and effort. Moreover, it's not everyday where you get to learn a new language in a classroom environment using the target language you are currently studying to study the new language (follow that logic? Hahaha). Furthermore, it was all FREE! (With the exception of opportunity costs but this experience was still worth it). Even though I have decided to stop attending French class, I will try out Japanese class this Saturday and we'll see how that goes...

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Next up, I ate out with some friends at a Chinese buffet. 

It was AWESOME. The food was a bit salty, but it was also All-You-Can-Eat for three hours! My friends and I discussed various topics during those three hours ranging from our individual hobbies, to family structures, and to even religious backgrounds. To sum up, fun times filled with friends and food! (Alliteration FTW!)

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Ahhh yes....BOWLING.

So funny story: I didn't do so well in the course of the game (you can already tell from the three gutter balls in the picture LOL) but the end of my game was epic! Probably by sheer luck I managed to knock off six pins in the final round...then attain a spare...accumulating to achieving a STRIKE! WOOOOO

And with that, although my score is mediocre and probably sub par actually, I managed to surpass my own personal goal of 75. For me, I ended my game on a high note and maybe one day I'll surpass 100.

:)

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Finally, I organized and hosted a welcoming event for HIT's international students. The event 

was called "Culture Corner" where various classmates hailing from different countries (such as Belgium,  Indonesia, America, etc.) all met up and had the opportunity to make new friends. The night event included a brief introduction to HIT Call Center (HIT's International Student Services Center), fun cooperative games, and free time to enjoy refreshments and strike up conversations. 

Based on the written feedback of the 40+ participants, overall event satisfaction was 5.7/7.0 where people said they liked "meeting new friends" the most and disliked how "the event was too short". I'm very proud to receive this feedback in the first place considering how in the past, HIT Call Center never even received feedback until I joined, proposed this idea, created the event feedback forms, and thus formally initiated the feedback process both for this event and many more to come. Feedback is essential for growth and improvement, and I'm happy to do my part to ensure that HIT Call Center enhances its services and events so that guests and participants have a more enriching experience during their stay here at HIT. I plan to carry on this spirit of innovation and amelioration when I return to Yale in the fall. 

As always, I welcome any and all feedback for past blog posts, this post, and future posts as well!

Kind regards,

Sam

    

CHILLING in Harbin

Hello All,

Times are good! I just finished my first week of classes and I'm really excited by the positive start to my semester. The past week and past weekend was filled with "cool" activities, I visited the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival! Even though it was really cold, it was worth seeing all of the beautiful ice sculptures. They even had an ice slide that my inner five year old thoroughly enjoyed snailing down (I say "snailing" down because there were also a lot of other inner five year old human beings on that slide and hence we couldn't zoom down :( hahaha)

This was a great way to kick off the spring semester and I'm glad I made it in time before the closing of the festival in late February. 

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Next up, I woke up to a lot of noise outside on the stairwell of my apartment. I went to investigate 

and found that our service maids (we call them 阿姨 (ayi)) were moving chairs out of our rooms and replacing them with "new" chairs. I asked why this was necessary since our chairs were fine, but she replied "it's just the way it is." I nodded and then volunteered to help out the 阿姨's move chairs from floor to floor because of several reasons. Number one, I just think it's the right thing to do, since some of the 阿姨's are a bit aged and I know I can be of use in helping them. Number two, it would increase the efficiency of the task getting done--more labor means the task would be done faster, which in turn would mean less disturbance for everyone in the apartment. Thus, with the goals of helping 阿姨's and for the common good I diligently worked and completed the task.

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Lastly, my friends and I crossed the Songhua River (松花江). The river was completely

frozen over (enough for cars to drive on it!) and so my friends and I enjoyed our journey

across the river. It's little adventures like this where I'm glad I live in a cold region which

offers cool opportunities like crossing a frozen river :)

Can you spot the trucks? Yep, the ice is that thick...

Casually taking a pic while standing on river

My fellow adventurers Jake and Hannah!

Thanks for reading this post everyone, hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next week!

Best,

-Sam