Hey from Harbin, China!

For Elizabeth Benton, Mamaroneck High School graduate and Yale junior, it's a long way from Larchmont to Harbin, China where she's enrolled in a language immersion program for the summer. And even after 8 years of Chinese instruction - 6 with Le Laoshi at Hommocks and MHS - it will be a challenge for Elizabeth to honor the pledge to speak only Chinese all summer.

Her program allows English e-mail, and Elizabeth has agreed to serve as Larchmont Gazette's (irregular) correspondent from China.

Saturday, 15 June, 2002

Hey everyone!

I'm in a wang ba (internet bar) in Harbin now. We got in from Beijing early this morning on an overnight train (quite the way to travel...nice beds in private compartments ...bathrooms beat Amtrak any day).

Harbin is impressive so far. There's more here in a 3 block radius than in all of Larchmont and New Haven put together. We're all wondering if we can move here permanently. :)

Harbin is an old industrial city in China's northeast. The city's many onion-domed churches reflect the influence of nearby Russia. To prepare, Elizabeth has brushed up the most important phrases picked up in MHS Russian class: "I don't speak Russian.

Our dorms at Ha Gong Da (Harbin Institute of Technology) are newly renovated and actually nicer than any I've seen in America. I'm in a suite of four, with two American students and two Chinese students who have yet to arrive. There's a foyer and bathroom, then two lockable doors leading to double bed rooms. Nice new furniture with new wood floors and they even give us shower shoes and clip lamps for the bed. Across from my suite is the CET common room equipped with couches, a TV- VCD player and a library. We even have a laundry and kitchen where we'll be to take cooking classes.

Everything here is incredibly cheap. For instance...this internet cafe is two kuai per hour and there are 8 kuai to the dollar. In the dining halls, it's about 6 kuai or so for a big meal.

Before leaving Beijing, we visited Tiananmen Square. Now that I've learned a bit of Chinese history, I can appreciate the square's significance more than I could when I was here as a high school freshman. There's no mention of the 1989 or of protests. I guess that's to be expected, but it's strange to see big monuments to "the revolution" and Mao in a place we associate with student demonstrations and violence.

Beijing has changed a lot since I was there five years ago. There's a great deal of construction related to the Olympics. The sidewalks are new and there are tons of brand new western style modern buildings (banks, lots of hotels).

Our language pledge starts in a few days so the CET students are all trying to get to know each other before our communication is reduced to "that thing" :)

I'll send more email when I figure out the situation around here - Lisby

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