Chinglish = Ice Break

Chinglish. An exact definition is difficult to provide, but in a very simple sense, Wikipedia defines it as "Chinglish refers to a variety of spoken or written English language that is influenced by the Chinese language." Basically, its the result of translating Chinese into English. I guess the whole translation process is doomed from the beginning due to the differences in grammar, word order and what not. There's some controversy as to whether its demeaning, or whether the whole process should be worked upon. But in my opinion, it's all good fun. I mean, I have never seen more creative uses of English than by the Chinese.

I have started additional courses other than my Chinese language classes and it seems that I have dived head first into Chinese culture. My courses are:

-Chinese Business Environment
-Chinese Business Law
-Chinese History and Culture
-Managerial Ethics (in relation to Chinese culture)

*all taught by Chinese professors

Anyone see a recurring theme here? My world is now 100% Chinese oriented. I must say though, that the opening description of Chinglish does not apply to my Chinese professors. I am very impressed by their English skills and each course is interesting (well, except Business Law...but when is law ever interesting?).

No, the opening description of Chinglish was to help better explain the safety and security orientation we received on Friday. The first part, relating to visa changes, was held in English. The second part was completely in Chinese. Oh well, there was a corresponding English powerpoint and this is where the Chinglish came into play.

Examples:

"Nowadays, the means of stealing is advance that may not be imagined."

I like the "don't be greedy!" lesson

You can see a bit of Mao influence with the "ordinary environment" Why just be ordinary when we could have an awesome environment?

On Sunday, I took a step further down the rabbit hole of Chinese culture by participating in the "Ice Break" (I consider this word to be Chinglish as well). It was a day of ice breaker games and LASER TAG with the other Chinese MBA students. We all got on a bus mixed of foreign students and Chinese students. Each foreigner had to sit next to a Chinese student. It was really nice to talk to the Chinese students and throughout the day I had a lot of really eye-opening conversations. These Chinese students work full time and attend classes at night on Friday and all day Saturday. Most of their employers (or bosses) don't even know they are enrolled in a MBA program so they don't get any slack at work. When I asked one girl why she decided to pursue a Masters degree, she answered "to get my head off work". So this is her hobby? Personally, if I wanted to get my mind off work, I would do yoga or a painting class! This girl chooses a MBA! WHAT? Also, it seems most of them are not in a position to travel (due to money or family obligations). So they said another reason they chose the MBA program at ECUST is because they knew they would have an opportunity to work and learn with foreign students. So in a way, since they can't get out to see the world, at least they have a bit of the world coming to them. I became very popular with the Chinese throughout the day. I think its because I talk a lot. I was hoping it was because I'm funny, but I'm pretty sure the Chinese only laugh at my attempts to say Chinese words rather than my jokes. I really enjoyed making some new Chinese friends though and I'm hoping to organize a Karaoke night soon. (seems only appropriate right?)

Now on to the Ice-Break. We took a hour long bus ride and arrived at a sort of military compound where Chinese men where dressed in camaouflage pants with green shirts, which had the GERMAN flag on them. To my inner Polish, that's just scary. We lined up in formation and some guy yelled at us in Chinese but after two minutes, we realized in was all in good fun. We played a bunch of silly games in the beginning and what's necessary to comment on here is that in these games of team competition, the Chinese kept saying "if you lose, you will be punished!" Again, at first I was frightened (what kind of punishment exactly???) But, the Chinese think that embarrassment is the ultimate punishment. So the first team that lost had to dance to the macarena in front of us. After all the games we separated into our Laser Tag teams and had to prepare a team name, slogan, and dance. We were the Spartans. The other team was Tequila (The team leader was Mexican). But before the Laser Tag could begin, we were taken to lunch. A very traditional Chinese lunch. Some of us, who shall not be named, sneaked off to a mostly European table where they were easily able to dodge trying dishes due to their protective majority position. Jitka and I however were the only two foreigners at our table. I learned: don't ask what it is. The answer will be: "try it!" Well I tried everything, including the cow intestine, which I thought was jelly fish (as if that would be better). Pictures for your viewing satisfaction below:

Not to be confused as jelly fish. This is cow intestine.

I didn't like the "eye balls" staring at me, but I tried a piece anyways, it was ok!

At a traditional Chinese meal, every dish is shared and rotated around on a lazy susan.

This was fish ends and tofu. It was extremely smelly and tasted exactly like it smelled.

 After lunch, we headed back for laser tag. In the end, our team won simply because our Captain, Alex (from Spain) was an animal and always got the most kills. As far as my playing skills, I slipped and fell on a puddle of water on the very first entry. I told people it was all part of my strategy in order to induce fear into the enemy. But I think no one believed me and I am now known as "that girl that fell".

Germans with guns.

The girl that fell.

We wandered around an empty mental hospital complex. Okay so maybe it wasn't a mental hospital, but it was a big building with a lot of rooms. So, mental hospital.

Punishment!!! aka the Macarena

On the right, our Drill Sergeant. On the left, our translator.

And finally, a picture of me and one of my many new Chinese friends of the day, Thomas. Thomas works as an operation manager, is married, has a 2 and half year old daughter and is now starting a MBA program. When I asked how could he do all this, he responded, that it's only 2 and half years. If he didn't do it, in two and a half years he would be the same. I am really impressed by the pure hard work ethic of these Chinese students.