2 weeks down

So I've been in language classes for two weeks. Its going well and I really have learned to appreciate the weekends. All week is spent doing homework and in classes, so Fridays really have a good feeling to them. This weekend I spent Friday night visiting my friend Afton and his friends who are studying Chinese in a different language program in Harbin. Afton is my classmate at Colorado, and also does research in China. It was a good coincidence that we ended up in the same city doing language classes. So right after classes on Friday, my friend Dave (from my language program) and I headed over to the university where Afton is. Another coincidence is that Dave has a friend, Beth, in the same program as Afton. So we met up with them and shared stories and compared programs, and a large group of us got together to go eat hot pot. Surely hot pot is one of the best group outings in China. I won't even try to compare Harbin hotpot to Sichuan hot pot (its famous in Sichuan), but the taste is less important than the atmosphere, really. So when 14 American students get together after 2 weeks of studying, we are ready to have fun! We had a large table and ordered a bunch of everything to throw into the big boiling pots. Of course its a must that beer accompany hot pot. Needless to say, it was fun to meet new people and catch up with Afton.

I call Afton my di di (little brother)

The spicy side and the non-spicy side. I go for the spice!

Saturday was a busy day as well. I went with a group of my classmates to the museum of the Jewish people in Harbin. It was quite interesting to see this side of Harbin's history, and the way that the museum welcomed the Jewish people to China, celebrating the advances they brought to Harbin at the time (other museums in China do not present such a welcoming attitude towards foreigners). After the museum, we went to the friend's home of the program director to make jiaozi (dumplings) and eat them. I have wrapped jiaozi many times and I can never get it as good as my Chinese hosts. But its always fun and they always taste good. I must confess that have been on such a jiaozi kick since I got to China two and a half weeks ago that I have not even eaten that much rice. I better get on that soon, as that is the purpose of this blog and of my whole reason for coming to Harbin. The rice here is good, after all.

Finally, one strange thing that I did this week that has absolutely nothing to do with rice or China was discovering a relative in Boulder. He's a Zader and there are not that many Zaders in this world. My grandfather and his sisters shortened Zajdinski to Zader to 'Americanize' it so the only Zaders I know are my dad's brothers and sisters. At first I thought it was a pure coincidence that there was a Zader in Boulder (we have a mutual friend which is how I heard of him), but my dad said it was possible he was related because he knew of another strain of Zaders, cousins of his father. So it turns out that our grandfathers were cousins which make us third cousins. Its so weird that it makes me wonder how many other people I could be related to but never know it because we don't share last names. On the flip side, does it matter at all that I am related to this guy in Boulder because we share the same great great grandfather? In any case, it was fun to figure out, from the internet in Harbin no less.