Any of you potential GSIS majors thinking about taking the Chinese language, my recommendation is… DO IT! It is SOO much fun! Yang Laoshi is teaching me so much. Even though it can be pretty tough sometimes, it is so worth it. I found out how much fun it really is knowing Chinese when Yang Laoshi and Chen Laoshi took us students on a field trip… to the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix for the Chinese New Year! (Just so you know, it’s the year of the rabbit!) All of us students packed onto a fancy bus (that was really more like a plane, because the teachers handed out drinks for everyone!!) and headed to the valley. We watched a movie on the way down (because there were TVs on the bus!), but the real fun started when we got off the bus. The festival was AMAZING. Tons of Chinese vendors were packed into the square selling everything from Buddha figurines to traditional Chinese fans to stuffed panda bears. Just the atmosphere was amazing! A picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll let you decide for yourself!
Yang Laoshi and Chen Laoshi are so sweet!
Dragon… RAWR! Haha. Don’t worry guys… he didn’t eat me.
Tai Chi! And thanks to volleyball, I know some of it! WOOT!
These fish were on sale. The cheapest was $20, and the most expensive was $40!
There were probably hundreds of these little vendors.
I bought a little dragon to “keep my apartment safe.” It’s worked so far!
These guys just ran by with a huge dragon in celebration of the new year!
The food market was pretty intense, if you know what I mean.
Teri and I! We got to catch up while wandering around the square.
Notice that the black and white rocks are formed into a Yin-Yang. Cool huh!
So overall the whole thing was just a fantastic experience. I found out just how awesome it is to know Chinese when I asked the vendors how much the item was… in Chinese!… and they got so excited and, well, to be honest, spoke too fast for me to understand them… but still. It was just a really great experience to be able to see how Chinese is going to help me later in my life and in my future profession. I am so glad that I chose to take Chinese! There is even a Chinese track in the GSIS program for any and all interested! But for now, 新年快乐! Happy (Chinese) New Year!
“The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.”
-Confucius
