Of Fabric Softener and 猪肉McNuggets

But seriously, you don't realize just how much you love fabric softener until you wash your clothes in China.

Okay, in all fairness, that might be a little bit of an overstatement, but still. They don't really do dryers in China (reasoning? I assume it has to do with poor wiring, as that seems to be the reason for the ban on effectively all electronics and appliances), so all clothes must be hung to dry in your room (which takes a frustratingly long time). Regardless, that means none of those glorious dryer sheets that make your laundry so nice and soft (and I suppose the tumble dry doesn't hurt, either); until coming to China, I had vastly underestimated their effectiveness. Note to self: thank mother for using fabric softener.

Interestingly, this building had no doors (you can see the wooden slats
that served to cover the entrances), but did have glass in the windows.
Why? Couldn't tell you.

Oh, did I forget this is supposed to be a blog about important, study-abroad related blog and not a place for me to air my grievances related to stiff-as-a-board pyjamas? My bad.

So last Saturday we went hiking in Yaguo, which is a tiny little village, effectively, not too far from Harbin. (Aside: Yes, China also has toll roads.) It was a great day that was sorely needed, as the exercise cleared my head and the sights were beautiful. And I think I could see Russia from the top of that tower.


There were also some interesting bits of history along the trail (most of the time I'm convinced we were blazing our own, but that might just have been my view). Here you can see one of the various Japanese bunkers let from Japanese occupation of China during the late 1930's (more on the awful things they did while here to come next week. Tomorrow we visit the Harbin museum dedicated to the biological warfare and testing the Japanese inflicted on Harbiners).






Also, a random limbo contest during lunch. And Manny took off his shirt at one point. I think there was money involved. Manny also knows Chinese songs from the Cultural Revolution. Why? Because he's Manny.

One of my favorite parts of my program are, of course, the other students. While I'm sure you can see that a program like this is much of a self-selecting group, I've never had friends that translated Lady Gaga's lyrics into Chinese so as to avoid breaking the language pledge. Also, when sensing an awkward silence whilst hiking and not knowing any Chinese songs, what is the appropriate solution? Start lalala-ing My Heart Will Go On, of course!

Yes, I climbed it. And yes, it was shaky, old,
decrepit, you name it. I froze on the top step. The floor
had holes in it and the wind was moving
the whole tower. Do I regret it? Not exactly.
Would I do it again? Maybe not.

Sunday morning, I was able to go to my first church service. I cabbed it that morning to avoid running out of time making the walk (since I'd never been there before, I wasn't sure how long it would take to get there) and that went pretty well. It was about a 10 minute cab ride with Sunday traffic which cost 9 kuai (the minimum fare for a cab in Harbin) which is about $1.30. Fortunately I wrote down the name of the church for the cabbie as he didn't understand me the first time. Whoops.

Could that be...RUSSIA?!

I attended the English service (this church offers, I think, six services each Sunday) this week and hope to attend a Chinese service soon. I don't think I've ever seen a church so full, and the people just kept coming. The service is partly designed to help people learn English, so there is plenty of reading along with Scripture and saying things together and it's an interesting experience. Most of the people there are Chinese and ranged from young adults (college age) to women who were likely in their eighties. These women were the most amazing to me, seeing as they grew up in a China which didn't permit Christianity, so they have certainly chosen to come to church; this wasn't a place they were raised. And this was an English service. These women made a point of coming a service that I'd be surprised they could understand. These women were so hungry for knowledge, both of English and God, that they would come to this place to sit on the edge of their seats, drinking in the Word.

As I enjoy being at the front of the pack (no dog pun intended),
we ended up waiting in front of this 'farm' for the rest of the group.
Yes, this is the whole property. Yes, those dogs were not
particularly pleased by our presence.

By the way, pews in China have desks. Yeah, education is a way of life here. Also, if you've ever felt like your church takes way too long getting the Christmas greenery taken down after the season, you've got nothing on China. My church still has the greens up. it's the third week of March. Beat that. They also use greenery to form Chinese characters. Win?


In cooking class this week, we made a dish whose name I don't remember. However, Libby affectionately named it '猪肉McNuggets'. (猪肉 means 'pig meat', relating to all pork.) Basically, they were little chicken-fried pork cutlets. Delicious? OH MY GOODNESS YES. Yeah, pretty straight forward and delicious. Served without sauce but with salt, pepper and rice, only one of the most delicious things ever.

Random unrelated notes:

• My Chinese is improving (I know, you all said it would, but let me revel in my disbelief, mk?)! My professors have noticed, which is great. Also, apparently my ability to make some of the harder (read: weird) sound of 儿话 is pretty good (at least that's what one of the professors said). But honestly, I find the shapes my tongue making extremely odd.
• Russian bread is delicious.
• Russian bread with raisins is especially delicious.
• I love Russians.
• Pi Day and the Ides of march go unnoticed.
• It is extremely difficult 9read: fruitless and/or futile) to find pie in Harbin.
• Chinese women do not bathe whilst menstruating?
• Manchester united players have Chinese names. My favourite is John O'Shea's: Zhou Shei. Never again will I call him by his given name.
• The Chinese footy league is the Super League. I'm officially a fan.
• Because of my Conversation class, I'm now opening a bank account to save for the Brazil 2014.
• For some reason, when you Google image search 'poor wiring,' this photo comes up with the caption: causes of house fires. I think that's Tumnus. Could be wrong.

I also might be going to the Inner Mongolian Desert and the Silk Road for Spring Break. Should be pretty amazing! I'll keep you updated on those developments.

P.S. I love how, if you just type 'marchmadness.com' into your web browser's address bar, you are redirected to NCAA's bracket. Laziness ftw.