Well if the title of the post is true (check that out IUP! vocab word, yaaa), Xi'an and I are going to get along just fine. Despite a disasterous weekend of losing my iPhone (for the 2nd time this month- China is seriously out to get me) and being locked out of my couch surfer's apartment for 2 nights, I am writing today to reflect on the otherwise GREAT first week I've had in Xi'an!
I arrived one week ago yesterday in this smoggy city (I've yet to see blue skies) and lugged my 2 enormous suitcases to my 1st couch surfers apartment near the Bell Tower in the center of Xi'an. Joan and Giulia kindly hosted me for the first 4 days here in Xi'an, and have been great friends already! My first night, I went out to dinner with Emily, Allie, and Mei- 3 Fulbrighters who have been in Xi'an for a few weeks already after doing CLEA (the language portion of Fulbright) in Harbin.
Monday morning, I went bright and early to the local health examination office in Xi'an. In China, all foreigners wishing to apply for the residence permit or other long-term stay visas have to go through a health exam "to ensure visitors are not bringing in infectious diseases"- so that's why I have to have an EKG? to make sure I don't have a heart attack in China? Obviously the real reason is it's a money maker for government offices. Another reason my friend who teaches economics through out here (which is probably true, but simply terrifying) is that the government tries to set up as much useless bureaucracy as possible to employ people, because inefficient systems employ more people. Great. So I walk into the health exam, look around bewildered and confused and then walk up to a random desk where a nice older man gave me some forms to fill out. Another thing about Chinese bureaucracy- they're obsessed with "chomps" (fancy stamps that usually indent your paper/form) and passport size photos. So after I used a glue stick (haven't seen one of those since the 2nd grade) to attach my passport photo onto a flimsy Chinese form, I moved down the line to the next station where I paid 400rmb for the exam (that's about $64USD), and then onto the blood test. I was pleased to see them open a fresh, clean needle to take my blood and they quickly found my vein so I didn't end up with a huge bruise like my poor classmates did who did their exams in Beijing. Then I went upstairs where I was shuffled between rooms for an EKG, an X-ray, a hearing and eye test (the ladies in this room loved me and fawned over my pale skin and big eyes until the next patient came in), an "internal organ" exam, a sonogram, and more. So strange.
After the surreal health exam, I headed to my school's foreign student office, where I filled out more forms and pasted my passport photos onto at least 5 different forms. Overall, the foreign students office has been pretty nice and helpful. That afternoon I went and looked at an apartment currently inhabited by a Fulbrighter from last year who had a late start, and is just finishing up now. Due to several days last week of calling agents and repeatedly being told there's nothing that will fit my standards, within my price range, in the location I want, and refusing to even show me places, I have given up and decided to take this first apartment. And don't get me wrong, it's not a sacrifice in anyway, I just felt silly taking the very first place I saw. So here are the details on my new place! It's located on the East side of Xi'an within the city walls, about a 20 min bus ride from my University (Xi'an Jiaotong University), and a 10 min or less bus ride from the Bell Tower, which marks the center of Xi'an. Compared to Beijing where everything takes an hr, Xi'an has been a dream. At most, I've travelled 30 minutes to get somewhere, so 30 minutes="far" in Xi'an speak. The apartment is about 1 yr old and was built in conjunction with a new development that has a movie theater, tons of restaurants and shops, a large supermarket, and a Hilton Hotel- perfect for when mommy and daddy come! :) The architecture of this whole complex is designed to look like old Xi'an or old China (think winged roofs and courtyards), but is new so you get the old world charm w/ new amenities. The apartment itself is on the 5th floor, 1 bedroom, 1 bath, a kitchen, and a living room. Highlights: the shower (the showerhead is mounted on the wall!!! and is enclosed by a glass walls so the bathroom doesn't flood everytime you shower) and a toaster oven (this means I can heat up food, and bake like 6 cookies at a time)!!!!!!! The fact that these 2 features are as exciting as they are clearly shows I've been in China too long, but regardless I'm psyched. Another thing that I think most people would hate, but...the couch is pink velvet floral. I love it. I know it's tacky, but "When in Rome..." The only problem? I can't move in until Jan 20/22 because the current Fulbrighter is still there for another week. So in the meantime I stayed with another couch surfer and tomorrow am either moving to another friend's place or moving to a hostel/hotel.
The other highlight of last week= I met my professor! Her name is Professor Yang, and she's all that I hoped for and more! I met this woman through a mutual friend of hers and one of my Vassar mentors, Fubing Su. Prof Yang helped me gain my affiliation at the university to complete my Fulbright application, and we've been emailing for over a year without ever meeting (all in Chinese!). The 2 problems most Fulbrighters have with their professors are 1) the professor is totally unresponsive/unhelpful and/or focuses on a different area of expertise and knows nothing about their project; 2) is totally overbearing and tries to direct the Fulbrighter's project themselves. So far, Prof Yang is totally interested in my work, but also seems to understand this is my own project. And she's really responsive. I emailed her on Monday morning saying I'd arrived, and by 11am she called and invited me to her office that afternoon. So I went back to school Monday afternoon and met her. She immediately greeted me with a hug- NOT your typical Chinese greeting (they're not that into touching like us Americans). Then she asked me about my research interests and told me about her work. She's currently working on studying the affects of the gender ratio imbalance in China (118:100 men:women)- so cool! I told her right now I just want to read up on my topic because it's relatively new to me, and she didn't seem troubled by the fact that I have NO IDEA what I'm talking about/how to DO "research" (jk Fulbright, I totally know what I'm doing...) so she gave me 3 awesome books that have super relevant articles about women and politics and said I could have the books! And of course they're in Chinese, oye. IUP reading skills- GO! Then she called up one of her 2 grad students, Yang Ting, who came and walked me around campus. She's super sweet and said she would help me read the articles if I had questions. Love her already.
My good friend Jake who studied at IUP with me and is also a Fulbright passed through Xi'an last week with a friend so that was fun too. We explored the muslim quarter and had delicious street food. We also stumbled upon the coolest old Chinese mansion called the Gao Mansion. I think you normally have to pay, but the gate was open so we just wandered in. They had the most beautiful furniture and art, all laid out like a traditional Chinese home. It was amazing. And such a hidden gem! Xi'an seems to be full of these amazing little gems all over the city- I can't wait to explore more! I've now walked around most of southern inner Xi'an (inside the city walls), and parts of Gaoxin, the new industrial district. And so far I love it!
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