I got a haircut on Monday, except it didn't really end up being a haircut as much as a style change. The hairdresser somehow convinced me that straightening my hair would make it look healthier and promised he'd only straighten the lower half so it would still retain some volume. My hair's so thin though that all my hair just looks really flat and lifeless now, and it was chemically straightened so it's not going away until the hair grows out (about a year). Great. The only consolations are 1) it was a cheap experiment considering how expensive chemical hair treatments are in the US and now I don't ever have to fear wasting $100+ on it in the future, 2) it looks better if I intentionally poof it while drying, 3) it does look shinier and sleeker and makes me look "more professional" aka "more like a prick", 4) I went to get the haircut with Stanley and his styling was significantly less presentable in public =P
Lesson: Don't get your hair styled in China unless you are willing to risk fob-ification.
Host Family Dinner:
My host family took me out to one last dinner before I left at some expensive place I can't remember now... but anyway, it was yummy and as always even though it took up a lot of time, it was nice to have the sense of a family taking care of you and to practice spoken Chinese with actual Beijing-ers (my Language Partner left for summer vacation after the fourth week). Outside of this family, the only people we really get to talk to are working-class, so if anything it's interesting to get a middle-class/upper-class perspective on things. For example, the former seems to have an idealistic view of America whereas the latter tends to feel the need to point out how China is better or has more potential (or maybe my host family is particularly nationalistic). Regardless, I feel like the older generation has a sense of inferiority-complex and need to prove oneself compared to developed western countries while the younger is more apathetic about the politico-economic implications and is more prone to the effects of western cultural hegemony.
Classes:
The last week went by so slowly and yet so quickly - during the last few days of classes we were all dying to go home and severely depleted of any ability to stay awake in class anymore or focus on what we were learning because we'd already hit saturation point ages ago. Somehow our teachers got us through the last couple of lessons (the return of Feng Laoshi helped) and eased our ending with a manageable final (half open-book/computer). I think my progress over the course of HBA struck me most while I was doing the oral part of the final (speak about a randomly given previously-done-in-class discussion topic for 2-3 minutes straight) -- even though I still garbled a few sentence structures or two I was able to discuss a pretty complicated subject at length using bookish grammar/vocab and without sounding like the idiot I felt like when I did the oral part of the placement exam 9 weeks ago. Even though I hardly improved on the HSK in the end (a meager 20 pts, not enough to put me into a different level =/), I can feel the improvement in everything I say/hear/read/write -- an enormous satisfaction in and of itself. 苦尽甘来 (sweetness comes after bitterness ends).
(At the last day of office hours 答疑 -- basically where all the studying/goofing around happens weekday evenings)Graduation:
After our final we went straight to the Graduation Ceremony, which was a bittersweet process of relief that HBA was finally over (and the language pledge) and disbelief that we'd soon be saying goodbye.
(The panel of teachers/speakers at our graduation ceremony)
(4th year students and teachers outside afterwards)Teacher's Dinner:
In the evening us fourth year students took our 小班 teachers out to dinner at a Peking Duck place in Wudaokou to show our appreciation, say goodbye, and finally get to talk to them in English/learn goofy things about them as friends rather than teachers. In some ways they're all even cuter and more immature than we are, which is highly endearing and makes us feel like we got to know a group of Chinese college kids rather than teachers this summer.
(4th year students and teachers at dinner)798:
In the afternoon a few of us went to 798, an arts district often compared to Soho (or at least what Soho used to be). It was a nice view into modern art after a summer of ancient sites 古迹 and a great way to get me excited about taking art history this coming semester -- I'd forgotten how much I miss the feel of small galleries and studios, each one brimming with its own character and vision.
(Street-side sculptures and graffiti)
(Most of the art spaces used to be communist factories that still say slogans like "毛主席万岁" -- Long live Chairman Mao. It made a lot of the art all the more ironic/poignant, especially because a lot of modern art encompasses its environment and relationship to the viewer, making the space its hung in part of its effect.)
(Fun fact #1: I wore my Yale University Art Gallery Shirt that says "What is art and why does it matter," appropriate no? Fun Fact #2: It's hard to look emo in jean shorts that make your butt look big =( Fun Fact #3: Shameless advertising -- check out www.yingheliu.com if you're into art at all, you can commission a portrait from my mom :D)
(Quite a few galleries were being renovated, which I'm going to take as a good sign for the future of independent Chinese artists.)
(Fun Fact #5: "798" in Chinese is pronounced Qi Jiu Ba 七九八 which is a homonym for Qu Jiu Ba 去酒吧 or "Going to the bar." Viva la boheme.)More relatives (Grandma and Grandaunt's visit):
On Saturday (while mostly everyone was leaving) my grandma and her sister came from Shenzhen to visit me and stay for a few days to see me off before visiting some family and friends in Beijing. During the day we went to Xidan, a highly commercialized shopping street not unlike Wangfujing to get last minute souvenirs. Afterwards we had dinner at 东来顺, a famous Muslim hotpot restaurant in Wangfujing.
The next day we went to Tian Tan 天坛, a temple built in the Ming/Qing Dynasties for the emperors to pray for good harvests and things like that.
(With my grandma in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests 祈年殿, which is the best known structure in the Tian Tan complex besides the Echo Wall, which actually doesn't echo much anymore since there's so many people around all the time)
(The House of the Heavenly Lord 皇穹宇)
(The former has a famous ceiling with dragons and pearls or something, can't really see in the pic =/)
(The Earthly Mount 圜丘坛 - three levels of marble that the Emperor stood at the top of and prayed to the heavens for rain and the like)
(With my grandma and grandaunt in front of the Seven Star Stones 七星石, which are actually eight stones representing the peaks of the seven Taishan mountains and an extra one that the Qing emperor stuck in to show Manchus are a Chinese nationality... yea I don't understand what that means either I'm just reciting this from what I remember of the explanation sign)Anyway, afterwards we had another fancy dinner at the Peking Duck place in Wangfujing that I went to earlier in the summer. Other than these few things we didn't accomplish since my grandma and grandaunt are two cute but slow little old Chinese women who need their rest, but it was a nice change of pace after 9 weeks rushing around with people my age and their boundless energy.
(See... so cute ^-^)It was also a nice way to come full circle around since I spent my first week in China with my Dad's side of the family and my last few days with my Mom's side.
With that, it's also time to come full circle with my regular blogging. I'll post a few summary posts in a bit and then in a few hours I'm off to the airport and then HOME! :D
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