Stressing finals, being cozy, and adding oil to the flames

Meet my new boyfriend! (Sorry, John). Isn't he irresistible? Just check out that fiery yellow-to-orange gradient spanning the left side.  And the simple, stately Chinese and English text scattering the right in bursts of black on white.  There’s a ruggedness in its those tasteful postmarks of a “used” book, all those subtle stains and tears, scars from the battles of exam preparation. I might cry just looking at it. I cannot bear to look away from such a sexy beast.  

Or maybe I’m just finally losing my mind in Chineseland.  My Chinese 312 final exam is tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., and preparation for it involves the rote memorization of every single vocabulary word I’ve learned this entire semester, in addition to writing a 2500-3000-character essay about morality and economic development.   
It really strikes me just how obsessed the Chinese are with their country’s “economic development” or “jingji fazhan”. If you’re not Chinese, going to China, and want to sound like you have half a brain once you arrive, then there is one phrase that you must understand: 经济发展(jing1ji4 fa4zhan3).  Economic development is the underlying theme of Chinese textbooks, the topic of dinner table conversation in Chinese families, and the single-minded goal of the Chinese government.  It’s what worries Western policymakers and thrills Chinese businesspeople.  Skylines in China are dotted with what the Chinese call a “forest” of construction cranes, even in the countryside.  

But that’s the stuff of my homework, not my blog.  Because finals happen to be this coming week, this weekend I have spent more time than completely necessary studying at the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College (with occasional change-of-scenery trips to the beautiful Ole Miss library). I'm such a wild college kid.  My "last Saturday night in Oxford" for this school year consisted of washing and folding t-shirts at the sorority house with my nose buried in James J. Sheehan's "The Transformation of Modern Europe" and Wu Suo Bu Tan, my boyfriend of a battered- no, rugged- Chinese 312 textbook.  Yippee skippy!

Right now, I’m definitely not in China.  I am seated in a comfortable office chair in a spacious (not crowded) room, enjoying the pleasantly unnatural chill of central air conditioning, a warm cappuccino from Micky D’s, and the opportunity to visit a Western-style women’s restroom just down the hall.  Just these tiny details remind me of just how far removed Oxford, Mississippi is from Qingdao, China.  By glancing out the window of the honors college's third-floor study room where I've been camped out all morning, I can make out the outlines of magnolia trees, partly-cloudy blue skies, and the pillared, red-brick outline of the Ole Miss Inn.  I appreciate these Western pleasantries so much more now that I know how students live in China.

Studying for finals like I am right now, I don’t know how I could handle eight-student dorm rooms the size of those in Crosby, with a single bathroom stall down the hallway and air-drying laundry speckling the porches outside.  Or studying in library study rooms so crowded that most college students sit against the wall or squat on the floor and use other textbooks as writing desks. Or the excellent bed I slept on during my ten-day home stay: a metal bed frame, with a piece of pressboard constituting a “mattress.”  My “sister” placed newspapers over the pressboard so that I wouldn’t get splinters while I slept, and she graciously gave me a blanket to sleep under. It was really cozy.  When I asked if I might have a sheet or second blanket to sleep on, my Chinese family softly muttered about the “greedy” and “bizarre” foreigner living in their home.

 

This leads us to a NEW! Chinese word of the day: 温馨 (wen1 xin1). It means "cozy", like "Wow, your apartment is so wen xin!" or “my study set-up at the Honors College is pretty wen xin” or even “gee, this sleeping arrangement isn’t wen xin at all.” That crazy-looking xin to the right of wen xin is part of my name.  It turns out that there are many, many characters that are all pronounced “xin” in Chinese.  The Chinese language only has a set number of pronounced syllables, but thousands of characters to apply these sounds to, so 新(meaning “new”), 心 (meaning “heart”) and 信 (meaning “letter”) are all pronounced xin (sheen).  So, when Chinese people meet each other, they identify themselves by giving each character in their name a context. I might say, “Hi, my name is Xia Xin. It’s the xia from summertime, and the xin from cozy.”

It seems that I have spent a good portion of my study time today writing this blog post.  Procrastination takes many forms.  But it’s intensely studying the Chinese language that encouraged me to write this post, and through my studying I’ve reflected on how far I’ve come in the last year.  I guess I have mixed feelings about going back to China this summer.  Last summer, my experience was mixed: while my language skills improved immensely and I gained a profound understanding of many of the intricacies of Chinese culture, I was simultaneously plagued with homesickness, culture shock and relationship troubles.  At least this year I know what to expect and can mentally prepare for the weeks to come.

As far as this week is concerned, the best I can do is gather my thoughts and concentrate my efforts on preparing for difficult exams.   One last vocabulary lesson: 加油 "jia1 you2" literally means "add oil," and figuratively has the meaning of "be stronger" or "you can do it" or "go team!"  If you want to encourage someone or even cheer on your home team, Jia you!! is the phrase to use. So for this week, Ole Miss jiayou! We can do it! Si se puede! And all that jazz.