Tomorrow I’ll leave to Taiwan. I’m looking forward to go there, because I’ve met some wonderful Taiwanese people in the past and heard good stories about the country itself. But before going there maybe I should consider why I’m getting this holiday. The first reason is the 60th anniversary of Communist rule in China, the second is the mid-autumn festival, which is a really nice festival of which I could write a really happy post. However I choose to write something less happy about the first reason.
Apart from blocking internet sites, and the trouble of getting the right visa you don’t really notice a lot of the Chinese government if you’re a foreigner. And taking in account that the Chinese have it far worse to get a visa to Holland or any other European Union country for that matter, you could almost say that it’s easy to obtain one. (Although that’s not what you think when you have to run all around the city for another document which really is only unnecessary paperwork.) And if you’re a Chinese neo-Nazi you will be bothered by some EU countries blocking your websites as well. (I know, this is not the same.)
Several days ago I saw a picture of the Dutch premier meeting Barack Obama and his wife. Our premier had a big smile on his face and looked delighted to meet the Obama’s, actually he looked so happy finally to meet this couple that he was about to ask their signature. You saw him thinking “Can I?” If he would been Chinese he would probably have gotten his camera out himself and ask if they would like to pose with him. All in all he didn’t look that good at this picture and he looked a little bit like a loser who will never say no to Barrack. It made me think by myself that this picture would never appear in the Chinese news. Cause one it would not be allowed to picture the president in this way, and second the Chinese president would act a lot more serious and stronger.
Dutch politics are a little bit like a circus nowadays and I don’t think a lot of Dutch people think very highly of most Dutch politicians. Reading about Dutch politics in China always makes me feel a little bit sad. The topics they are discussing are as good as the same, as when I left Holland, except for maybe adding a law to force people to work for a longer time. Apart from that the topics haven’t changed nor have the viewpoints of the politicians themselves. Happily enough I can always find relief in the thought that our governments decisions only influence the lives of about 16 million people and that in a few years there will already be a new legitimate government.
This is where the Chinese government is different. One it’s not legitimate cause it has never been in question who the people in charge are. And second it rules over the lives of almost a 100 times more people. It’s decisions influence roughly about 1/6 of the world population. Thinking about these two facts I’m one very happy that the Chinese don’t have a similar government circus, and two afraid that so much power in the hands of so few isn’t that ideal either…
It’s not such a comfortable thought that China’s future which will most likely determine the future of the world is in the hands of only a few people. I don’t know enough of the Chinese government and how it really works to judge, but looking at the development which is visible I would say that so far, they do a very good job for most of the Chinese. 60 years ago China was a very poor country and now cities like Xiamen are rich and don’t do a lot under for European cities. I can’t see the situation 60 years ago, but from what I’ve been told there has been great progress.
There will be big parade’s, shows and celebrations everywhere in China, and it’s deserved in some way, the development is undeniable and most Chinese people are happy and extremely proud of being Chinese. But coming from a democratic country like The Netherlands I can’t do else than wonder about how the Tibetans or the Uyghur’s or just any Chinese who disagrees with the way things are going, feels on a day like this. There is without a doubt a dark shadow to this holiday.
The only thing the Dutch government could be is a good example of how to lead a country, for the rest of the world. Unfortunately they are very far away from that at the moment, in my opinion, but at least we voted for them and at least we have the possibility to protest against whatever our government would ever think of. Hopefully China will be able to allow something like that as well somewhere in the next 60 years. Personally I think they will, because just as the Dutch government can’t continue like this, the Chinese government will be forced to change as well.
Now I’m going to bed and will write a nice blog about my travels in Taiwan next time.
Tuesday 29 September 2009
Tuesday 22 September 2009
Some news from XiaDa 厦大
Already more than 2 weeks at university again and already a month in Xiamen. Time flies! So far I’m quite happy with my lessons and everything. Although it did surprise me that the teachers kind of supposed that we were also able to write the characters we knew. Cause I do know how to write some characters but only very few. So I will learn how to write them very soon I suppose. Besides that I think I will learn a lot of new words here, which I will hopefully also be able to use sometimes.
The first two weeks there have been a lot of students switching classes, because they thought the lessons were too easy or too hard, but now we’ll have the class which will stay the same for the rest of the semester. It’s a very international class, with only a small majority of students with an Asian background. From Europe there are only 2 Dutch people including me, two Turkish guys and four German girls. Surprisingly there is only one Russian girl in my class. It’s a surprise because there are quite a lot of Russians studying here, in Wuhu the Russians were also quite visible in the expat scene. Before going to China I had not expected to see so many Russians, but on the other hand it’s a big country and its right next to China, so it makes sense.
Most Chinese universities have a campus and are isolated from the rest of the city, and because of this many students in China never leave the campus for months. They don’t need to leave the campus and at night it’s normal that they have to be back in their dormitory before 11pm. In those dormitories they’re usually living together with 3 or 5 other students, so they don’t really have a lot of privacy. My university here also has this kind of campus, but having said that, I have to add that it’s not very isolated from the city and that it actually seems to be in the best part of the city. It’s right next to the beach and in a quite (for Chinese standards) area of the city, besides the campus is voted more than once as the most beautiful campus in China. So most students here do leave the campus once in a while, although even here there are a lot of students just staying inside I believe. Of course this is not the case for the foreign students of which most don’t even live on campus. Which leads to a lot of differences between the lifestyle of the foreign and Chinese students. Despite those differences I did manage to make my first few Chinese friends (or maybe I should call them contacts) here. Which is good, cause now I’m finally able to actually use the language I’m studying again.
I also got a teaching job again. And it’s very good that by now I speak at least a little bit of Chinese, cause this time the assistant didn’t spoke any English. Which I found surprising for an English school in a developed city like Xiamen. (Still need to write something about Xiamen itself some other time.) Another thing which is very nice here, is that last weekend there was a beach party on Saturday. There were an amazing amount of foreigners (more than there are living in Wuhu) and only a handful of Chinese, but it was definitely the best party so far in Xiamen. The ambience at the beach with nice music and beer, was very good and wins it by miles over every club in Xiamen I’ve been to so far. I heard it will be held every month, although I’m not sure if they will continue in the winter, cause now the temperature at night still stays above 25 degrees, which is a very pleasant temperature.
Finally we will already get our first holiday in October! This means that in about 1 week I’ll already have my first holiday since going back to university. Since they gave me a very good visa this time, which means that apart from staying in China I’m also able to leave China and come back without any problems, I’m thinking of a small trip to Taiwan. If possible though, cause some people say it’s no problem, and others tell me that I have to go to Hong Kong first. The later will be a bit above my budget I’m afraid.
The first two weeks there have been a lot of students switching classes, because they thought the lessons were too easy or too hard, but now we’ll have the class which will stay the same for the rest of the semester. It’s a very international class, with only a small majority of students with an Asian background. From Europe there are only 2 Dutch people including me, two Turkish guys and four German girls. Surprisingly there is only one Russian girl in my class. It’s a surprise because there are quite a lot of Russians studying here, in Wuhu the Russians were also quite visible in the expat scene. Before going to China I had not expected to see so many Russians, but on the other hand it’s a big country and its right next to China, so it makes sense.
Most Chinese universities have a campus and are isolated from the rest of the city, and because of this many students in China never leave the campus for months. They don’t need to leave the campus and at night it’s normal that they have to be back in their dormitory before 11pm. In those dormitories they’re usually living together with 3 or 5 other students, so they don’t really have a lot of privacy. My university here also has this kind of campus, but having said that, I have to add that it’s not very isolated from the city and that it actually seems to be in the best part of the city. It’s right next to the beach and in a quite (for Chinese standards) area of the city, besides the campus is voted more than once as the most beautiful campus in China. So most students here do leave the campus once in a while, although even here there are a lot of students just staying inside I believe. Of course this is not the case for the foreign students of which most don’t even live on campus. Which leads to a lot of differences between the lifestyle of the foreign and Chinese students. Despite those differences I did manage to make my first few Chinese friends (or maybe I should call them contacts) here. Which is good, cause now I’m finally able to actually use the language I’m studying again.
I also got a teaching job again. And it’s very good that by now I speak at least a little bit of Chinese, cause this time the assistant didn’t spoke any English. Which I found surprising for an English school in a developed city like Xiamen. (Still need to write something about Xiamen itself some other time.) Another thing which is very nice here, is that last weekend there was a beach party on Saturday. There were an amazing amount of foreigners (more than there are living in Wuhu) and only a handful of Chinese, but it was definitely the best party so far in Xiamen. The ambience at the beach with nice music and beer, was very good and wins it by miles over every club in Xiamen I’ve been to so far. I heard it will be held every month, although I’m not sure if they will continue in the winter, cause now the temperature at night still stays above 25 degrees, which is a very pleasant temperature.
Finally we will already get our first holiday in October! This means that in about 1 week I’ll already have my first holiday since going back to university. Since they gave me a very good visa this time, which means that apart from staying in China I’m also able to leave China and come back without any problems, I’m thinking of a small trip to Taiwan. If possible though, cause some people say it’s no problem, and others tell me that I have to go to Hong Kong first. The later will be a bit above my budget I’m afraid.
Monday 7 September 2009
Back to school
The first busy days at university are already behind me. It was a busy week including, registration, getting to know the university, getting a new visa, meeting the other students, meeting the teachers, buying study books and finally even a whole medical checkup. Then there were also several diners and parties which were (happily enough) not organized by the university.
The first official activity was the introduction ceremony. I remember that this kind of ceremony in Amsterdam was held in the afternoon and that it included a short welcome speech and then a few free drinks to welcome the new students. It was the same in London. In China however this is a bit different, here the welcome ceremony starts at Sunday morning 8:30 and here it doesn’t even include a free cup of coffee, nor an expensive cup. Not even tea! Another difference is that after the short welcoming speech, there are several other people who need to tell the new students about the registration procedure at the university and finally they also need to inform us about the rules and regulations of the university. The last thing is a bit typical because the rules and regulations are what we in Holland would think of as common sense. In Amsterdam and London they also inform the new students about most of the possible risks they should not take, but in China they kind of exaggerate it.
A good example is that at some point the guy told us that the sea was very dangerous, because every year they “lost” at least one student. He said this in a way that half of the crowd (The people who understood English) had to giggle which made him add very seriously; “The sea is very dangerous! Don’t swim in the sea! We have a pool, so swim in the pool! Not in the sea!” So it looks like I already broke this rule before I had even heard of it.
Another noticeable event was the medical examination. It was the first time that I had to go through such a complete medical examination. It included far more doctors and research than I thought it would have, cause I thought it would be a simple blood check to see if I had aids or any other scary disease. But it turned out to be a very complete body check, everything from my body; eyes,ears, mouth, heart, lungs, skin, blood, weight, height, etc was going to be examined. In total there were about ten rooms and almost 20 doctors. If there would have been any unpleasant surprises they would have kicked me out of China by now. So as you can guess I came through the health check without any problems. Although there were a few small surprises (nothing serious), which looking on the bright side might be good to know. Although I could doubt the expertise of the Chinese doctors.
I would almost forget that last week my Chinese lessons also started. Before the classes started I had to take a placement test, so that they could put me in the right class. Having survived the first week of classes I think they placed me in quite a good class. Most of the students in my class come from other Asian countries like Korea, Thailand, Japan etc. But I’m glad that I have a few classmates who come from Europe and even one girl who comes from Holland. She already studied Chinese for 2 years in Leiden university, so I think the level of the class is a bit higher than I expected it to be. The teachers don’t speak any English in class, but I’m able to understand most of what they’re saying. Mostly because they speak very clearly, I wish all Chinese people would speak like my teachers. So far I think the classes are quite good, so I should be able to make great progress with my Chinese this year.
Finally I met a lot of other international students here. So I had a lot of social dinners and beers this last week, made my first friends in Xiamen and had a busy eventful but very enjoyable week. Although I’m very glad to have some friends around here, I do hope to meet some new Chinese friends here as well, cause so far I only know two Chinese people here. For some nice photo’s from the last days I would like to give the link of my new Swedish friend Jimmy, he’s also a new student here and updates his blog a bit more often than me. http://coffecravinginchina.blogspot.com/ Because he takes his camera to most places he’s able to upload photo’s in his dropbox. So below every post of him there is a link to some photo’s. So check it out!
The first official activity was the introduction ceremony. I remember that this kind of ceremony in Amsterdam was held in the afternoon and that it included a short welcome speech and then a few free drinks to welcome the new students. It was the same in London. In China however this is a bit different, here the welcome ceremony starts at Sunday morning 8:30 and here it doesn’t even include a free cup of coffee, nor an expensive cup. Not even tea! Another difference is that after the short welcoming speech, there are several other people who need to tell the new students about the registration procedure at the university and finally they also need to inform us about the rules and regulations of the university. The last thing is a bit typical because the rules and regulations are what we in Holland would think of as common sense. In Amsterdam and London they also inform the new students about most of the possible risks they should not take, but in China they kind of exaggerate it.
A good example is that at some point the guy told us that the sea was very dangerous, because every year they “lost” at least one student. He said this in a way that half of the crowd (The people who understood English) had to giggle which made him add very seriously; “The sea is very dangerous! Don’t swim in the sea! We have a pool, so swim in the pool! Not in the sea!” So it looks like I already broke this rule before I had even heard of it.
Another noticeable event was the medical examination. It was the first time that I had to go through such a complete medical examination. It included far more doctors and research than I thought it would have, cause I thought it would be a simple blood check to see if I had aids or any other scary disease. But it turned out to be a very complete body check, everything from my body; eyes,ears, mouth, heart, lungs, skin, blood, weight, height, etc was going to be examined. In total there were about ten rooms and almost 20 doctors. If there would have been any unpleasant surprises they would have kicked me out of China by now. So as you can guess I came through the health check without any problems. Although there were a few small surprises (nothing serious), which looking on the bright side might be good to know. Although I could doubt the expertise of the Chinese doctors.
I would almost forget that last week my Chinese lessons also started. Before the classes started I had to take a placement test, so that they could put me in the right class. Having survived the first week of classes I think they placed me in quite a good class. Most of the students in my class come from other Asian countries like Korea, Thailand, Japan etc. But I’m glad that I have a few classmates who come from Europe and even one girl who comes from Holland. She already studied Chinese for 2 years in Leiden university, so I think the level of the class is a bit higher than I expected it to be. The teachers don’t speak any English in class, but I’m able to understand most of what they’re saying. Mostly because they speak very clearly, I wish all Chinese people would speak like my teachers. So far I think the classes are quite good, so I should be able to make great progress with my Chinese this year.
Finally I met a lot of other international students here. So I had a lot of social dinners and beers this last week, made my first friends in Xiamen and had a busy eventful but very enjoyable week. Although I’m very glad to have some friends around here, I do hope to meet some new Chinese friends here as well, cause so far I only know two Chinese people here. For some nice photo’s from the last days I would like to give the link of my new Swedish friend Jimmy, he’s also a new student here and updates his blog a bit more often than me. http://coffecravinginchina.blogspot.com/ Because he takes his camera to most places he’s able to upload photo’s in his dropbox. So below every post of him there is a link to some photo’s. So check it out!
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