{"id":560,"date":"2013-04-01T10:46:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T14:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/studying-abroad\/?p=560"},"modified":"2013-04-01T10:46:02","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T14:46:02","slug":"cook-14-immersed-in-chinese-culture-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/2013\/04\/01\/cook-14-immersed-in-chinese-culture-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Cook ’14: Immersed in Chinese Culture, Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Ben Cook ’14<\/em> – Few people in Xi\u2019an, China speak much English.\u00a0 I found that even though Chinese students study English throughout school, their English studies focus more on reading and writing English than on speaking English.\u00a0 With the exception of a few students who speak great English, most of the time my spoken Chinese is better than that person\u2019s spoken English.\u00a0 If I speak with an adult, then I\u2019ll definitely need to use Chinese to communicate.\u00a0 The combination of taking Chinese class for three hours a day, practicing with Chinese people all the time, and needing to use Chinese throughout my daily life has improved my Chinese language ability exponentially.\u00a0 I appreciate the English levels of Chinese students at Wabash, because they are the exception rather than the norm.<\/p>\n

I feel confident that I can survive on my own somewhere like Xi\u2019an.\u00a0 I even make my own money.\u00a0 I heard from a friend about a part time English teaching opportunity.\u00a0 After I interviewed, they asked if I could teach accounting.\u00a0 I took two accounting classes at Wabash, and now I\u2019m teaching accounting part-time to three Chinese students who are older than me and speak mediocre English.\u00a0 Every week I prepare a three-hour accounting lesson.\u00a0 Next week I\u2019ll host a TV show episode about Shaanxi Opera.\u00a0 I also do some free-lance English tutoring.\u00a0 Through tutoring, I met a Chinese girl from Xi\u2019an.\u00a0 I learn many new Chinese words and cool local places through her.\u00a0 I also met many Chinese friends through my Chinese roommate, basketball, and through random conversations.\u00a0 Basketball is huge in China, and many Chinese guys know Indiana because of the Indiana Pacers.<\/p>\n

I enjoy the exchange rate between America and China.\u00a0 One dollar buys around 6.5 Chinese RMBs.\u00a0 Things in China tend to be inexpensive.\u00a0 I can get a good meal from around $0.5 to $6 US dollars.\u00a0 On top of that, I can negotiate sometimes!\u00a0 It is fun.\u00a0 Chinese merchants tend to start at a higher price because I don\u2019t look Chinese.\u00a0 So I usually reply with a lower price, sometimes 10 percent of the asking price.\u00a0 Then after some back and forth, I walk away.\u00a0 Many Chinese stores sell similar things, so I can play stores against each other, and end up with a price around 30 percent of the asking price sometimes.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen many cool sites in China so far.\u00a0 I spent a week in Beijing, where I saw the \"\"<\/a>Forbidden City, many great restaurants, an acrobat performance, and Chinese new year celebrations.\u00a0 In Xi\u2019an I saw the Terra Cotta Warriors, rode a bike on the city wall, hiked in the mountains south of the city, learned some painting technique at a folk-painter\u2019s studio, and learned to cook some dishes at the best cooking school in Xi\u2019an.\u00a0 I\u2019m especially happy that I learned to make Chinese eggplant, which is phenomenal.\u00a0 I also enjoy fatty meats in China, especially duck, and the famous noodle dishes in Xi\u2019an.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m excited about the upcoming travel I\u2019ll do.\u00a0 My program takes a two-week trip along the ancient Silk Road that will take me west to a less-touristy part of the Great Wall, the desert, and some oasis towns.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get to ride a camel.\u00a0 I also plan on traveling to Chengdu, Shanghai, and several other places.\u00a0 I\u2019m especially excited to meet with some Wabash alumni working in China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben Cook ’14 – Few people in Xi\u2019an, China speak much English.\u00a0 I found that even though Chinese students study English throughout school, their English studies focus more on reading and writing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-study-abroad"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2013\/04\/Ben350.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/studyingabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}