Note: Laowai (老外) is the Chinese term for a foreigner,
simply meaning "outsider."
So yesterday I had my very first class, which turned out to
be just a standard language and vocabulary course with a fairly small class
size. I foolishly decided to sit at the back of the class where the desks are
smaller and lower to the ground, making it very difficult for my big, bulky frame
to fit in them. Lesson learned, I'll never sit in the back of the class again.
Pictured - my view of the class from the back - notice the
amount of non-Asian people here
A funny story about Chinese naming took place in my first
class. In my class, I had to introduce myself and - in standard Chinese fashion
- explain what Chinese characters make up my Chinese name. My Chinese name is Mao Ma'ke (毛马克, sounds like "Mao Mah'ker"), which I
usually describe as having the same first character from Mao Zedong's name (毛泽东), the second being the character for "horse"
(马), and the third as coming from the first
character for "overcoming" (克服). My
teacher, keeping in tune with my mentioning of Mao's name, joked that the
second and third characters in my name also came from the first two characters
that make up "Karl Marx" (马克思) -
something I hadn't even thought of. So, from now on, I am going to be a good Communist revolutionary and say that my Chinese name is a combination of Mao's and Marx's
name!
Seems Legit
After my class, I decided to find myself something to eat,
and so I ventured outside of the university's gates in search of some not too
expensive - but still edible - Chinese cuisine. As I ventured outside of the
university, I stumbled on a bookstore that was exceptionally well hidden from
plain site.
Pictured - A well-organized bookstore
One of my goals while I am in Suzhou is to purchase my own Chinese language
copy of the original Shuihu Zhuan, as
well as the Jin Shengtan-edited version.
As luck would have it, hidden amidst the closely cramped piles of books was a
good-looking copy of the original version of the novel, which I purchased for a
cheap 15RMB.
Pictured - My handsome new copy of the Shuihu Zhuan.
After purchasing my book, I continued on my trek to find
somewhere good to eat. After only a few minutes of walking, the delicious scent
of Chinese cooking wafted into my nostrils from a small hole-in-the-wall place
that wasn't even named. I saw two young girls sitting at one of the tables
eating out of two big bowls of soup, and decided to give the place a try. What
I didn't realize was that I needed to choose the ingredients of the soup
myself, and so the proprietor gave me a confused look when I just sat down and
expected him to make me something to eat.
Waiting for someone to serve me
Something I should mention before I
continue is that Suzhou
is the home to the Wu Dialect (吴方言), which
sounds absolutely nothing like Mandarin Chinese. It is also very normal for the
people around Suzhou
to speak Mandarin with a very thick Wu accent, which often makes it impossible
for other Chinese to understand them. The proprietor of the restaurant I
entered just happened to have the thickest Wu accent I've ever heard, and spoke
at lightning speed. After about a minute of confusion, I realized he wanted me
to pick some ingredient, but of course, none of the ingredients were labelled. I
tried my luck at asking the owner what the ingredients were, but his accent
made the whole effort an exercise in futility. I ended up randomly picking some
ingredients that looked halfway decent and sat back down. After a few minutes of nervous waiting, the proprietor brought me my food,
which looked surprisingly good, and tasted even better.
My Frankenstein's monster of a soup, filled with mystery meat!
After eating my meal, went back to my dormitory where my roommate, Miguel,
had some interesting news for me. What was that news, you ask? Well, you'd better
wait for my next blog post!
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