October 2014 – Valpo Voyager

Month: October 2014 (page 1 of 2)

A Time and a Place – Festivals

I feel like a common stereotype of Japanese society is that pretty much everyone is polite, quiet, and reserved. While this is, of course, just a stereotype, it’s incredibly easy to see where foreigners get this impression. During foreign student orientation week back when we first arrived, we were all warned multiple times that what we consider quiet is not what is considered quiet in Japan. Walls are thinner here and people live in close quarters, so average talking volume is actually really loud at night here. Even during the day, people tend to talk quietly as they walk together. Naturally, the trains are also pretty quiet, as it’s a public place and to speak loudly would be disrespectful to other passengers. It can be a difficult adjustment at first, but eventually we’ve gotten used to turning our volume down.

However, that is not to say that Japan is always this way. During orientation, we were told that bars and karaoke were a couple of places where noise was allowed. If you pass by a karaoke bar on the way home from the train station, you’ll almost certainly be able to hear the music from inside. Noise levels that surpass normal levels are just fine within these spaces.

More interestingly, I’ve found that festivals are where the Japanese tend to dispense with cultural and societal conventions on noise and behavior. Recently one of my professors invited our class to an Autumn Festival in a small district in Osaka where he did research a few years ago. This Shinto festival’s main event was the danjiri, large man-propelled and carried floats with people on top. There are two shrines only a couple streets apart from each other, which is unusual. Where the main road is a river used to be, until it was moved a few kilometers over as Osaka grew. Now the two shrines have a something like battle with the danjiri where the river used to run. Those involved with the danjiri practice all year.

Before arriving at the shrine our professor did research near, we stopped at the shrine for the other side of the street, where the miko, or shrine maidens, happened to be performing a kagura dance. After they were finished with the dance, they passed the blessing of the kami on to us. I was again struck by how much of traditional Japan is woven into modern Japan; this shrine and traditional dance were only one transfer and a few minutes’ walk from the main train line between Osaka and Kyoto.

The miko during the Kagura dance. (I apologize for the poor quality of the photo. Nighttime is not a good time for photography and most of Japan’s streets are not lit well, if at all.)

After that, we went to the other shrine, where the pre-danjiri festivities were taking place. It looked something like local carnivals back home. There were scores of little stalls on shrine grounds and on the streets nearby with games and prizes for children and fried food. Though the food was different that at home; here there is fried squid, fried manjuu (something like a donut with sweet bean paste inside), and karaage among other things. Festivals are also the only place where eating and drinking while walking is okay.

The danjiri gathered on the street at about nine thirty and continued moving around until ten, those carrying the floats reaching a solid jogging speed at times. The girls following the danjiri shouted after it and formed what I can only compare to a mosh pit when the they were not moving. A few times the danjiri would face off, only feet from each other while they tried out outdo each other with noise and the dancers on top competed as well. Words are not sufficient for what happened, so I uploaded some raw clips to YouTube.

Honestly, things got pretty chaotic after the danjiri started moving around for real. The spirit of “festival” infected the entire crowd until the cheering was deafening and I found it hard to get anywhere close to the danjiri. I did talk with some luckier foreign students that managed to get closer and were invited to help carry the danjiri for a while.

So, essentially, noise and partying don’t really happen on a large scale in Japan. But when when festivals come around, all restrictions are off because that is the time and place.

Nederlands

The Lowlands

October 28, 2014 / katherineackerman / 0 Comments

So, in the free week between our German course and the beginning of the semester, my friend Charlotte and I decided to go to the Netherlands for a few days. One of the things that struck me the most was the number of bicycles in the Netherlands. Although we stayed in large metropolitan areas, there were often few busses or running cars to be seen, but instead an ocean of bicyclists. At first, this was a bit disarming, but once we learned the correct way to walk through a steady stream of bicyclists, it became easy to navigate. We first stayed in Amsterdam, which was basically a giant art tour.

On the first day, we spent about 4 hours walking through the Rijksmuseum, but I honestly could have spent all day if not for the lack of accessible bathrooms. It was absolutely fabulous to see such great works of art from such different periods of time, all of which were equally fascinating. The museum taught not only about Dutch art, but also about Dutch history.

Some of the highlights were:

On the next day, we went to the Van Gogh Museum. It was absolutely fabulous. Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists and seeing his work and the progression of his life was wonderful. I really liked seeing how his use of color and the wide brush strokes that are a signature of Van Gogh’s work evolved overtime. Many of the works from earlier in his life areMy favorite work was one of his self portraits, which I was unfortunately unable to photograph.

A Vermeer from the Rijksmuseum

Another painting from the Rijksmuseum

On the second to last day, I finally fufilled my dream of visiting Vondelpark, a large, Central Park-like area located at the southern end of Amsterdam that I had read a lot about and was excited to see. I was not disappointed. It was actually a beautiful piece of property that was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city and its bikes.

Finally, Vondelpark!

On the last day in Amsterdam we went to the North end of the city, located across the IJ lake and went to a great market and the EYE Film Institute which had some nice little exhibits about Dutch film, . Later, while waiting for the train to Utrecht, we waited at the public library, which aside from having a spectacular view, also had a lot of books. I took some time to just sit down and read, in Dutch, which is very linguistically similar to German, so much so that you can understand much of it without having learned the language.

An absolutely adorable canal in Utrecht

Utrecht is a much smaller, although very friendly city that is packed with churches. There were 22 total each with its own unique set of bells that at times filled the airwaves in the city. I am a huge fan of churchbells. There is something about the unconscious keeping of time that is so beautiful about them. On our first night in Utrecht, we went on a Lumina Trajectum tour of the city. This consisted of a scavenger hunt for a bunch of lights throughout the city, its canals and landmarks that took us right through the old city of Utrecht. Later, when we visited one of the churches on the tour, Sint Wiliboald’s, I found an answer to a question that had been on my mind since coming to the Netherlands: why did it cost money to look at the churches? In Germany, churches are usually free of charge to visit and therefore one of the easiest ways to see beautiful architecture and history if you’re travelling on a budget, but since arriving in the Netherlands, we had only been able to find one or two churches that were open to the public. The answer I found lies in the structuring of the churches themselves. In Germany, the church is financed through a special tax that registered members of the church are required to pay, so there is always sufficient funding for church upkeep. In the Netherlands, congregations are separate organizations from the groups that own and maintain the church buildings (which may sometimes be the government). Therefore, the cost of maintaining the historical church buildings is not always covered by the congregation alone, but by the people who come to look at the churches.

View from the windmill’s balcony

A poorly lit picture of the Dutch invention that helped to make windmills more efficient

One of my favorite parts of the entire trip was the tour of a sawmill we took while in Utrecht. It is one of only two working sawmills in the Netherlands and the tour that we got was absolutely amazing. The windmill, aside from being the Netherlands national symbol, is actually one of the things that helped to launch the Netherlands into the wealthy nation that it became during the first industrial revolution. Because of good wind catching land that existed in the Netherlands, sawmills were able to be easily built to process wood from places like the Black Forest in Germany, conveniently located just along the Rhein river.

I also enjoyed many, many Dutch foods. The first was Gevulde Koek, a cookie filled with marzipan. Marzipan is one my favorite foods, so combining it with basically anything was a winning combination for me. I also had some salted licorice. Many people do not like the strong and bitter taste of salted licorice, but I enjoy the herbal flavor that it has combined with its sourness.

I also enjoyed eating Gouda. Charlotte and I were trying to save money, so we decided to go shopping at the Dutch grocery store instead of eating out at every meal. I think that this is the best way to get to know a foreign culture, to stick your head in a grocery store and see what you can find through the everyday food that is offered. It was interesting just to look at the shelves and see what there was to eat. I found some lovely salmiak (salted licorice) that I enjoyed.

Overall it was a great trip. I really enjoyed seeing how a culture that seemed so similar to German culture on the surface could be so different once I learned a bit more about it.

Bis bald!

Songyang, China

October 28, 2014 / Tobiah Meinzen / 0 Comments

This weekend our class visited Songyang, a “little” town three hours (by bus) southwest of Hangzhou. Although it definitely qualified as a city (our twelfth floor hotel rooms looked over rows of apartments), we did pass through some beautiful (small) mountains and lush tea plantations surrounding Songyang.

The trip cost was subsidized by the local government which meant we foreigners were under steady document of numerous cameras for the tours. Foreign tourists = good PR.

Our Valpo/Luther cohort was joined by four nursing students from the University of Evansville (in Indiana)! They were a great group and fun to get to know over the two days.

We arrived in Songyang around lunch time on Saturday and were treated to a local family-style meal. While a few dishes were new, the preparation methods and most foods were the same as we’ve found in Hangzhou. So while it was tasty, I would have welcomed a greater change in cuisine—wok-fried foods and soups can only go so far.

Our tour started with an introduction ceremony at a historic ‘mansion.’ The housing complex/mansion had been built and owned by a rich family in Songyang during the later Imperial China dynasties. We were ushered to seats in the complex’s courtyard while various Chinese officials took turns at the microphone. Unable to understand their numerous speeches the afternoon dragged on in the hot sun. I ended up more fascinated by the scattering of professional video cameras, DSLRs, and smartphones shooting videos and taking pictures around the perimeter. There must have been dozens of devices used during the ceremony, whether they were personal or for media/publication purposes I couldn’t tell. We ended up getting “certificates” (for what? visiting?) and having a group picture taken. Josh, the best Chinese speaker in our group gave a short speech and was swarmed with cameras like he was a celebrity.

After the long welcome ceremony we were given a tour of the housing complex, with attention exclusively on the ornate wooden carvings along the walls, pillars and ceilings. Besides the carvings the house was rather empty and we weren’t given any information about the different rooms. As shown in the picture above, the Cultural Revolution had unfortunately left it’s mark here as well, defacing many of the carvings. Similarly to the temples we have visited, this house placed a heavy emphasis on nature and animal symbolism in the decorations.

The next activity was definitely my favorite of the weekend, if not my whole stay in China thus far. We were taken to the edge of Songyang and given mountain bikes—no disclaimers/waivers/redtape or helmets… There wasn’t a designated leader so the most adventurous of us quickly wound our way into the tea fields along narrow paved lanes and dirt paths following a loosely marked course.

We snaked between rows of tea tree bushes, along the edges of ponds and across wooden boardwalks while the setting sun cast yellow rays across the verdant hills. It was beautiful and exhilarating. The bikes’ brakes and gearing were iffy which combined with sudden rises and drops tested our nascent mountain biking talents. I had a blast!

Dinner was similar to lunch, although I did put my vegetarian ways on a brief hiatus to try octopus. Chewy and inky, check that off my bucket list.

After dinner one of the Chinese guys organizing the weekend’s activities invited us to play basketball. Basketball is definitely the most popular sport in China and I was eager to give my recently-revived “skills” a real test. (I’ve been shooting hoops 2-3 times a week on the Yuquan campus.) Thank goodness us Americans came in at 6’6”, 6’4”, 6’1”, and 5’11” because otherwise we would’ve been throttled. Josh held his own, while the rest of us hit bricks and rebounded all night. It was a lot of fun even if our ball skills could use some serious work.

The next morning we returned to the site of our biking excursion the previous evening. This time the streets were packed with cyclists and spectators awaiting the race start. We wandered up and down the street passing food and clothing vendors, traditional musicians and dancers practicing for the “opening ceremony” and a slaughtered cow being hacked apart on the spot.

Though as soon as we stopped to watch the opening ceremony we became a spectacle ourselves—particularly Dan, the 6’6” football player in our group. We spent a solid thirty minutes standing, smiling, and laughing as scores of locals whipped out their smartphones to take pictures with us and of us. Interest in us was universal, from grandparents to toddlers (though some were scared), heck Dan even ended up holding a baby for photos. I guess he has practice now if he ever chooses to become a politician.

A few of our group were also invited to take part in a tea ceremony/demonstration which also thoroughly bemused the locals as we fumbled our way through pouring, stirring, and whirling. As an efficiency minded engineering the whole process seemed overly complex to just prepare a cup of tea. Though I guess I prepare tea to drink it—not as a statement of class or status.

After our brief time as celebrities we were taken to another historical townsite (similar to the previous day). Here we were given a walking tour during which we were reminded to smile and face the tour guide (for the cameras).

Our last agenda item was visiting a thousand year old pagoda—which also happened to be leaning slightly (Leaning Tower of Songyang?) so we were only allowed to the third level. Once again we were the subject of numerous cameras as we posed for a group picture in front of the pagoda.

After lunch at a Mao-era restaurant where the waitresses wore green fatigues we piled into the bus to return to Hangzhou and homework. The weekend passed far too quickly, but thus is the nature of study abroad.

Der Milchautomat and a look at German food culture

October 26, 2014 / katherineackerman / 0 Comments

So, in the past week, I have discovered something absolutely amazing just down the road. There is an milk dispenser right near where I live that gives fresh milk 24-hours a day. It’s kind of whimsical, especially coming from someone who’s lived in suburban areas most of her life. I was especially excited to find the automat because the milk here in Germany is slightly different than in the United States.

Fresh milk from the lovely milk automat.

“Storable” Milk from the grocery store

Instead of getting big gallons of milk, like many Americans do, German milk comes in litres. That is no big surprise considering the size of most German refrigerators is comparable to mini-fridges that most college students have in their dorm rooms. However the milk itself is also a bit different. It is called “haltbare Milch” or “storable” milk. This means that until opening, it can be stored for quite some time without refrigeration. The milk tastes perfectly fine on its own, a bit different from fresh milk, but perfectly acceptable. However, since I drink a lot of milk, I prefer to drink it fresh instead of out of the carton and the dairy farm nearby was the perfect solution.

This is the perfect time to talk about the overall differences in German food. German food is what I would describe as fresher. When you walk into a supermarket, there are not always very many ready-made options as in the U.S. The grocery stores themselves are a lot smaller and the frozen food section is also a lot smaller. Germans usually go shopping every 2 or 3 days as opposed to once a week, so the produce used to cook is usually fresher as well. There are also a higher fat content in German milk than in American, with most people buying 1.5%-whole milk instead of fat-free or 2%. This goes along with the idea that the milk is less processed and contains more of its original nutrients. The biggest exception to this, I have found is broth, which comes in a powdered form which much be reconstituted in water. But again, I think this has to do with fridge space which is usually reserved for things that absolutely must be refrigerated. Another exception are eggs which are kept out of fridges both in grocery stores and in homes. These are sold in 10 or 6 packs instead of dozens, which again fits with the motto of going shopping multiple times a week. Bread is of course purchased freshly from the baker, although it can also be bought from supermarket shelves at a lower price but sometimes lower quality.

In attempt to add another level of depth to my discovery of German food, I asked my flatmates a few questions about their own shopping habits. Most of them responded that they actually go shopping a few times a week, but that their families go shopping less often and also have larger fridges. They said that this was mostly due to lack of planning on their part and spontaneous decision making. They also said that students tend to eat less fresh food (something very true in American culture) because it takes longer to prepare. One of my them even said that usually, one doesn’t tend to cook freshly until around the age of 30 or when they have children. When it comes to milk, none of them drink fat-free milk, but solely on the grounds that it tastes better as opposed to it having any large health benefits. As with anything, this was a decidedly unscientific way of describing German culture, but I thought it would be interesting to see what a few people think anyway. When I asked what they thought about the sizes of German fridges, the responses varied from finding the size of the fridge impractical to not needing anymore space. Once my classes start up, I will hopefully have some more serious topics to write about than just milk.

Bis bald!

The Amber Army

October 22, 2014 / stephanieblack / 0 Comments

On a cold and windy Tuesday night, we all joined the Amber Army. Everyone went to go see Cambridge United Football Club play. Their colors are amber and black, and their supporters are called the Amber Army. Even though we’ve only lived in Cambridge for a few months, we jumped right into the action just as if we’ve always lived been here.

It was a fantastic experience to get to go to an English sporting event. First of all, I love football (or soccer, if you prefer). I was a manager for the girls’ soccer team in high school, and took stats for all of their games, which means that I understand what’s going on, and I enjoy it. Second of all, I am a big sports fan, and have missed the sports in the United States. It was nice to get to go to a sporting event again and cheer on a team.

In football, there are different levels of play. The ranking system is comparable to that of baseball. In baseball, there are the Major Leagues, AAA leagues, AA leagues, and so on. In England, there are different levels. Cambridge United is a Level Four team, which is lower down on the scale. That meant that the stadium was smaller, the game was much more low key, and we got to sit one row up from the field. The smaller scale definitely made the game much more intimate because we were so close to all the action, and so tightly packed with all of the other spectators.

The football culture in England is like a cult. Football is the new religion of England. Everyone goes to games, and everyone is a fan. The English take their football very seriously. The fans are way more vocal than they are in the United States. They chant cheers constantly, sometimes even chanting back and forth with the opposing team’s fans. There was a drum that was drumming out a beat from time to time, and at one point, I think people were singing. None of us knew any of the chants, but we quickly picked it up. Cambridge United ended up losing the game 2-1, but I would say that the overall experience was a success.

Tomorrow, we all head off to Spain and Italy for our second break! We’re headed to Barcelona, Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. When we get back, I’m sure I’ll have lots to say about the things that we did!

Home Away From Windhoek

October 19, 2014 / margaretprunty / 0 Comments

This past week, my group and I traveled to the coast of Namibia, Swakopmund, and I completed my third and final home stay. On the coast, we learned about Namibia’s exports and what impact that has on the economy here. It was interesting to see some of the topics we discuss in class in action and being able to relate that back to development, which is a huge aspect of this program. We were also granted a free day on the coast, which I spent shopping in town and doing a yoga class on the beach. My personal favorite part of the being at the coast, was climbing Dune 7, the oldest and largest dune in the Namib desert. It was exhilarating to climb- considering it was almost at a 90 degree angle- but we all made it up and our reward was the view at the top and the trip down because it felt like we were walking on the moon, or so I’d imagine. Swakopmund all around was a highly enjoyable experience and I look forward to going back for my spring break.

Following the trip to the coast, was my home stay. I stayed with Oma (Grandma) Elizabeth, Rhianna, and her children on their family’s farm. Oma did not speak any English nor did Rhianna’s children, so Rhianna helped translate since I only know basic phrases of Damara. It was an experience that was rewarding and sometimes challenging when considering the language barrier. Still, I was able to participate in daily life on the farm even when it was just Oma and/or the children and I. From collecting wood with Oma to following her instructions on herding goats to playing with the children, it was cool to see how you can still understand one another even without speaking the same language.

One of my favorite things about the farm was the sense of community. Everyone was either related or close friends and all the families were extremely open and welcoming to us. They included us as if we were part of their community. For example, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the members of the farm watch a soap opera or “soapies” as they call them. About twenty people gathered around a small TV that was probably at least 50 years old and fuzzy in order to tune in. People sat close to each other, pulling up chairs, squeezing on the bed, or finding space on the floor. The soapie was comical in and of itself. It was actually a Mexican drama that was dubbed over in English. None of the voices matched the characters and the filming of it was humorus. The story line was pretty good and it was a lot of fun to watch with all the families on the farm.

Even if I went to another family’s home, I was welcomed with open arms. Being part of a community from the moment I stepped foot on the farm made the week very enjoyable. Spending a week there made me a little nervous at first because I was not sure what to expect, but I was sad saying my farewells and I definitely could have stayed longer if I need to. All in all, it was a very enjoyable week and a great experience trying new things. I was grateful for the program because I know that if I were to ever travel to Namibia on my own, I would never have the same experience. It is something that I will never forget.

Namib Desert

Dune 7

Oma, Rigato, Faith, and me

Religious Culture in England

October 18, 2014 / stephanieblack / 0 Comments

Like much of Europe, England is home to many very old, very large churches and cathedrals. This just goes to show you how important Christianity was many years ago. The spread of the Christian faith was so vast, and extended to all parts of the world. This past week, we were exposed to several different ways where the influence of Christianity remains.

Earlier this week, we traveled twenty minutes by train to the town of Ely where we visited Ely cathedral. One of the most interesting things I found about this trip was not about the cathedral, but about Ely itself. It used to be called the Isle of Ely because it was, in fact, an island way back in the day. It’s a town located in the Fenlands, which is very wet and marshy, and before the marshy were drained, the town was actually an island, which I think is pretty cool.

Many parts of the Cathedral were build by the Normans and date back to the 1100s. It has a beautifully painted ceiling depicting different images of the genealogy of Christ. The painter who painted each section died halfway through, and he was replaced by someone else to finish up the mural. You can tell where one artist’s work stopped and the other’s began–the color blue used by the second artist was a little more vibrant than the first.

As for the rest of the cathedral, it was very plain and not nearly as colorful as the ceiling. This is because the walls were whitewashed during the reign of Henry VIII when he decided that he was going to be the head of the Church of England and went around plundering the wealth of the church. The walls of the cathedral were whitewashed, and the statues either had their heads removed or defaced, or they were completely destroyed. In some places, you can still see faded outlines of fleur-de-lis on the walls where decorations used to be.

On Wednesday, we walked just a few minutes down the road to the Round Church. This church is unique because of it’s shape. Just about every cathedral and church built during the first couple of centuries is in the shape of a cross. The Round church is special for just that reason: it’s round. The architecture also dates back to Norman times, and has seen the town of Cambridge grow and develop from a time when it was a trading town to its evolution into a university town.

Also on Wednesday, we shared common meal with Westfield House next door. Westfield is a seminary, and many of the students that we met were there either for their undergraduate work looking toward church work, or to become pastors. Not only is Christianity’s influence still present in the cathedrals and churches, but it was also present in this tiny group of people from the seminary.

Ely Cathedral

The Round Church

“Picturesque” Qiandao Lake, two hours by bus southwest of Hangzhou

Hangzhou Catholic Church

October 17, 2014 / Tobiah Meinzen / 0 Comments

This morning I attended Mass at the Hangzhou Catholic Church, a few miles from the Yuquan Campus. The Sunday Mass is entirely in Chinese, whereas the Saturday evening Mass I had attended a few weeks earlier was in English. The church building is set back a little from a commercial street, with a parking lot (only big enough for a dozen cars) in front.

When we arrived, just outside the gates separating the parking lot from the sidewalk were two beggars. In Hangzhou I’ve seen very little abject poverty (and disability), which probably has to do with Hangzhou’s wealth and possibly legal tactics which confine the poor to less visible parts of the city. Unlike the more aggressive and often able-bodied beggars I’ve encountered in Eugene or Chicago, those sitting at the church gates were clearly worn by age and physical ailments. Why were they outside this church? From our brief study of traditional Chinese beliefs it seems the virtue of charity is mostly absent. Perhaps the philanthropy of the Jesuit missionaries (and concern for the poor expressed throughout Jesus’ teachings) had some tangible influence the Chinese Christians gathered this morning. Though for myself, I quickly walked past the beggars. A guilty conscience the words of Matthew 25:41 still disturb my thoughts.

The church building and the liturgical setting are relics of an another land. The building is long and narrow, with simple white plaster on the walls and ceiling. Stain-glass windows of saints and portraits of the Passion are evenly placed along the otherwise plain walls. Their light-skinned figures (and European artistic style) seem out of place in a sanctuary filled with Chinese. I find it interesting that the such European styling remains in an institution which hasn’t been officially affiliated with the Holy See for over a half century. Although perhaps the Chinese emphasis of filial piety has helped preserve the missionary-era designs.

Besides a Chinese bible and hymnal there were no other worship aids (like a service folder or bulletin). I was impressed with the congregation’s seemingly intuitive understanding or memory of worship order, bowing, kneeling, and recitation of various prayers and chants. The service proceeded very smoothly with no obvious lapses in procedure or even a more casual time (at the beginning or end) for announcements.

Unable to understand the Chinese sermon (or anything else), I instead found the most interest in observing congregational dynamics. Overall, the similarities to Lutheran worship (that I’m most familiar with) far outweighed few differences.

Although the service (and communion) were presided over exclusively by men, the readings (and psalm?) were read by women. While it would have been nice to see greater gender equality, I’m not sure if Roman Catholicism does any better.

Communion was served without wine, whether for religious or practical reasons I don’t know. Maybe wine was reserved for the priest? When the ‘passing of the peace’ came, instead of handshakes congregants gave one another small bows with their hands clasped in prayer. Interestingly the passing of the peace was a rare instance where the American counterpart is more physically intimate. The bowing felt authentically Chinese—maybe handshakes and hugs are a western phenomena.

One thing I was not expecting was the turnout and the vocal participation of the Chinese congregants. The sanctuary was completely filled, with worshipers sitting on stools in back or even outside! While the congregation seemed skewed towards the older generation, clearly the Chinese population boom paired with governmental restriction on religious expansions (this particular church was established centuries ago) have kept the attendance up.

No offering was collected, so how the church budgets I do not know. The hymn style reminded me the simpler tonal music of Greek Orthodox worship. It seemed like nearly the entire congregation was singing, and singing unabashedly—which is a stark contrast to often quiet American congregations. In a service that seemed quite routine the strong congregational participation in music was wonderful.

The service also showed the growing divide between old ritual and modern technology. The sprinkling of baptismal water and the burning of incense had roles in the service while small video screens displayed the chancel or hymn numbers. Yet the most common distraction was the occasional beep of someone’s smartphone. While often unintentional the encroachment of technology was never the less very obvious.

The standard attire fell between the casual jeans and the formality of suits & ties, personally I thought it was a nice balance. The priest and assistants were dressed in green stoles and white albs. (According to the liturgical calendar I’m most familiar with, green is the color of Pentecost—the season we are currently in.)

In a section near the front of the sanctuary were a couple dozen congregants communicating with sign language. Accessibility for disability doesn’t seem to be as codified in Chinese society as ADA laws are in the U.S. so it was great to see two women signing the whole service. I wonder if the church’s inclusion of those with disabilities (particularly deafness perhaps) might be one historical good deed of Catholic missionaries. I know traditionally under karmic views one is directly responsible for their own physical ailments (even from birth), therefore other Chinese religious traditions may not accommodate so easily.

Though at the end of the ninety minute service it only a few differences left the Hangzhou Catholic Church feeling surprisingly similar to Lutheran services back home.

written: October 12th, 2014

Visiting Qiandao Lake during the National Holiday Break

“Picturesque” Qiandao Lake, two hours by bus southwest of Hangzhou

The view from my Chinese classroom

Unexplained Cultural Phenomena: Or, What I don’t Understand about Germans

October 14, 2014 / katherineackerman / 0 Comments

So despite the total 1 year and 1 month total that I have ever been in Germany there are many things that Germans do that just don’t make sense to me. So I decided to ask around and see what explanations I could find to what I largely find to be the conundrums of German culture.

1. Bottled Water:

Although tap water has been proven to be higher quality than many types of bottled water, Germans still buy their water from the store instead. Especially considering the efforts of the average German to maintain an eco-friendly lifestyle, I was surprised that so many reusable bottles were in circulation (and I really mean circulation, there is a very well running bottle recycling program in Germany that incentivizes recycling by offering money for returned bottles- and this unlike the recycling program in the U.S. is located in every grocery store entryway). My teacher explained this as being caused by the historical health benefits of drinking water in spa towns, where springs produced mineral-rich water. Eventually the health water was bottled and sold in popular stores. Even though the water sold in stores is of the same quality as the kind found in a faucet, the idea that buying water is healthier has stuck.

2. Covered Legs:

So Germany, as you may have heard is known for being a notoriously liberal country. Some of my classmates have already come to class wanting to know how they can politely ask their flatmates to please not walk around the flat naked quite so often. However, when the Germans do wear clothes, the ones that I have seen so far tend to be pretty covering. Even on a hot day, women will wear a skirt with tights or long pants. Men wear skinny jeans instead of shorts as well. Every time I wanted to wear shorts or a skirt without tights, I felt like I was wearing a sign that said “Guess who’s an Ausländer (foreigner)!” At first I wracked this up to the simple pragmatism that is the explanation for so many a parts of German culture. But then I started to realize that even when I thought it was okay to be wearing shorts (i.e. hiking up a mountain on a 25 degree Celcius day), nearly everyone else was wearing jeans. To answer this I went not to my teacher, but to my street smart Tutor, Joanna, who seems to have her finger on the pulse of German fashion (and yes, I know how weird that sentence might sound, but these are the logical things that go through my head whilst contemplating German culture). And the answer was, actually just the pragmaticism that is the explanation for so many things in German culture.

3. Internet security

So this one is less a conundrum and more soemthing that just occured to me as being very different. Germans are very very careful about the online footprint they leave. If not made clear by the outrage after it was revealed that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone was being tapped by the U.S. government, Germans are very conscious of their online footprint and the effects that this footprint can have on their real lives. One way that this has affected my daily life is in the form of online banking. I decided to do online banking, because it is convenient for me since I don’t live in the center of the city. When I signed up, I was told in great detail about the many contracts that I would have to sign and return and given a small machine about the size of a calculator. This machine is called a TAN machine (TransAction Number). In order to access my banking information, I have to physically stick my bank card into this little maschine and then put sensors up to a flashing graphic on the screen in order to receive a code which I then have to type into the computer in order to do anything. I personally think that this is very interesting and probably a very good thing, what with the growing threat of cyber crime.

My little TAN Machine

I also noticed a difference at the library where one must first insert a student id into the printer before being able to print out papers. First you send the document to the printer, then you go and insert your card and select print. This has two main benefits. One, you are physically at the printer when your document prints, so no one will lay it off to the side or throw it in the recycling bin. The document is secure. Additionally this prevents over-printing by bringing in an additional step to the printing process. If you decide at the last minute that you actually don’t want to print the document or have made a last minute change before printing, there is a last-minute change to opt out of wasting paper. I am a fan of this system because of it’s paper saving qualities and efficiency in organizing the printing at such a large university.

4. Barefootedness, everywhere.

So according to the teacher of my language course, it is possible in Germany to go shopping, or eat in a restaurant in without wearing shoes. Coming from a country where the phrase “No shirt, no shoes, no service” exists, I was a bit surprised. Americans are mostly taught that going barefoot is somehow unclean. This, like many other practices belong to what Germans refer to as “alternativeness.” Unlike the American definition of this term that has to do more with punk music, German “alternativeness” is more of a term used to describe an environmentalist way of living. Other qualities that might qualify someone as “alternativ” are having dreadlocks, being a vegan, or wearing a specific type of pants made from fair trade materials that sit looser around the legs. This style is quite popular in the region of Germany that I live in, which due to the popularity of the Green Party has something of a name as a green region. I don’t know quite how I feel about the blatant categorization of people like this, but I would like to note that this label is much less attached to the worth of person as it is to a descriptor of their outward appearance. Kind of a shallow term to describe the shallowness that inherently lies in an appearance.

These findings are in no way definitive, but I thought it would be interesting to share with you some of the things that have been most fascinating to learn out about German culture.

Bis Bald!

Mr Egg and the Chinese countryside

October 11, 2014 / Tobiah Meinzen / 0 Comments

On Thursday morning Mr. Egg invited me visit his home. Mr. Egg (that’s his self-chosen English name) is a local who teaches English at a school near Yuquan Campus. We met a couple weeks earlier as Mr. Egg organizes informal weekly “English clubs” around Hangzhou. What I thought was going to be a couple hours at Mr. Egg’s apartment turned out to be an overnight trip into the Chinese countryside and an intimate look at (one form of) Chinese lifestyle.

We used Hangzhou’s extensive bus system to get out of the city. At one point where we switched buses we met up with Mr. Egg’s girlfriend, Sue, a nurse in Hangzhou. The Hangzhou bus system operates very similarly to those in the United States, with the exception of personal space—during rush hour many buses are packed to the doors. On our hour long journey into the countryside the bus “played” leap-frog with mountain bikers and moped riders. The bus stayed on a high way intermittently broken by stop lights. Besides in Beijing I haven’t seen any roadways around Hangzhou that would qualify as interstates, so even when the roads are not crowded the traffic is slower than in the U.S.

From a countryside bus station we took a brief taxi ride to Sue’s family home. When we arrived her parents were cooking lunch in a make-shift outdoor kitchen. Behind the kitchen her family’s new home was being built. We took a brief walk along the narrow lane around the neighborhood. Almost every home had a dog (for scare off thieves Mr Egg told me) and chickens roamed freely. Ponds, small vegetable patches, crumbling brick walls, groves of bamboo were wedged between houses and small fields of tea trees.

The rural homes were actually quite surprising to me. First off they almost all lacked any sort of grassy front yard which was instead almost wholly paved over. The homes themselves were quite large (I’d estimate +1,500 sq. ft.), built on a roughly square base, two or three stories, and with rather fancy exterior decorations. I wonder if the rather opulent exteriors had to do with the notion of “face”? The homes were also built entirely of concrete—almost as if they were a mini apartment.

Sue’s family was welcoming and seemed very relaxed, unfortunately communication was limited as it had to be translated by Mr Egg. Lunch was quite a feast, which Mr Egg emphasized was natural and organic—much of the produce had been grown by the family! Interestingly both at Sue’s and at Mr Egg’s we ate at different times from the parents (and grandparents). The food was far more than we could eat (and given how it was prepared I doubted it could be easily saved for leftovers). While I prefer not to waste food, I expect that over abundance of food was a purposeful way to honor guests and show one’s “wealth.”

Although Mr Egg referred to Sue as his girlfriend, they are what we’d call engaged, (Mr Egg refers to Sue’s parents as his in-laws). I learned that they will get married next year when Sue’s family’s home is finished. According to Mr Egg their “engagement” came by visiting both sets of parents and seeking their approval. Therefore “meeting the parents” is a pretty serious affair in China. Weddings (or at least Mr Egg and Sue’s) will have no formal service but instead be comprised of fancy dinner gatherings for friends and family at both of the family’s residences. I also learned that cohabitation is not frowned upon in China.

After lunch we took a taxi to Mr Egg’s small town where his father picked us up in a new Lexus SUV. We stopped by the family bamboo mat factory to move some mats inside in case it rained. The factory was worn but well kept, reminding me of the canneries in Alaska, and a pallet of boxes stamped with ‘Made in China’ was a quick reminder of how globalized even small businesses have become.

Mr Egg’s grandparents live with his parents in a large home nestled between steep bamboo forested hills. Actually, their old home still stands next to their new one. The old one is used as a garage for laundry, moped storage, and the old fireplace-heated bathtub. The interior of the house was surprisingly empty, exposed CFL bulbs often hung from cords poking out of the peeling and dirty plaster, cooking was done between a gas stove and woodfire heated wok, while a big flat screen TV broadcast CCTV the entire time.

Between meals we were offered tea along with nuts, grapes, dates, and dragon-fruit. After a dinner with similar food to lunch we visited Mr Egg’s aunt who lived just down the road and talked with her for a while. I asked Mr Egg about the Hong Kong protests, he was aware of them and seemed passively supportive, insinuating that democracy was probable eventually in China. It makes sense I guess, while China is economically expanding most people (such as Mr Egg) have little urge to disturb the political norm.

I never got the impression that countryside life was declining (whereas American small towns often seem to be struggling)—simply the job and entertainment offerings of cities were so much larger. Mr Egg felt bored at his family home. A funeral had taken place earlier in the day and Mr Egg told me briefly about it although his vague explanation exposed the growing distance of the younger generation from the traditions of his parents.

Overall I found the trip to be fascinating, from the style of countryside homes to the interactions of multigenerational households, to the focus on food as the center of hospitality in what was otherwise a very casual setting.

written 10/5/2014