What city this is, I think I know,

Not unlike a village, though.

You will not see me stopping here,

In an unknown place, to use a computer, quite slow.

These natives of Hefei might think it quite queer,

To see a foreign in such an obscure place, right here,

Between Hubei province and Jiangsu province, the coldest month of the year.

But I have promises to keep, and distances to my room til I do sleep,

And flights of stairs before I sleep...

~~~

Ni hao! (Hello)!

Some of you may know me (probably most of you), and for those who don't, let me briefly explain myself. I am Monika, a junior at East Stroudsburg University. I currently am studying abroad in Northeast China. I study mandarin.  I live in China (Shenyang Normal University) with my younger sister and brother, and my mother, who is an english teacher. I would like to utilize this blog to let people know what I am doing, and what I am seeing and learning.

In 2007, I studied in Hefei, in Anhui province at Anhui University. As of right now, I am visiting Hefei for 2 weeks, to remember the old times, and see those old familiar places and faces. In a few weeks, I will go up to Shenyang, and also on a wild adventure to South Korea!!!

Anhui province is a poor province, and because of that, the standard of living is much different down here compared to up north.  There's a cartoon called Duck Tales, where in the opening theme song, Mr. McDuck jumps into a pool of gold coins.  I like to use this analogy for Shenyang, as compared with Hefei.  Okay, so I may be exaggerating a little. I wouldn't trade my experiences in Hefei for anything, though they were hard sometimes. I lived in a dorm room with almost no heating, very little hot water.  Computer access is off-campus, and foreigners are few and far between. In fact, I used to brag of being the only America at my university!

These days I live in the far corners of a dorm building called East Building.  I smack my heater once in awhile, and it growls back at me.  It is a lost cause, so I throw on my coat and head for this nearby smokey computer bar, where the #1 activity of every single person in the computer bar (minus myself) is to play interactive online computer games. Outside, a chicken has somehow wondered away from its owner, but no one minds this.

Hefei has changed a little bit since I lived here. Amoung the biggest changes are: a new overhead pedestrian bridge (no more running wildly into open traffic, alas), one store now carries diet coke, and the stores now carry XL long-johns. Otherwise, the capital of Anhui province is the same as always.

One of the greatest experiences I gained while living in Hefei was meeting people from many different countries. I was lucky enough to become good friends with people from Canada, Germany, Botswana, Samoa, Zambia, Congo, Gabon, Italy, Russia, Mongolia, Korea, Indonesia, and many others.  Above all, I learned about the way these people live, and their ideas and knowledge about America (both right and wrong). While some disagree strongly with the policies of G. W. Bush, all I can do is represent America positively (I hope).

Now, I spend time with my former roommate, a girl from Mongolia. Hefei may not be as glamorous as some other places in China, but its worthwhile to see any place, no matter how small.

Next time I write, I hope to have exciting stores of SOUTH KOREA!

Until next time, zaijian (goodbye)!

~Monika