Robot Restaurants and Visiting Guan Di Temple

Thursday, 1/11

Today was fantastic! I’m really enjoying this J-Term and all of our activities and plans. We began the day by discussing and seminaring about our first field trip yesterday to Chinatown. We really stood out when we were visiting there as we were a large group of loud teenagers who don’t all speak Mandarin. We talked about how Chinatowns, or areas for other ethnic groups served as a way for an immigrant to live their whole life in another country even if they didn’t speak the language or understand the culture. Continuing with our discussion, we each created a slideshow presentation about Chinatowns in major cities such as Houston, San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Vancouver. We also had a presentation on Guan Di, a military general from the Qing Dynasty as after lunch we would visit one of his temples. But more of that later.

For lunch we visited Chinatown again, and I think we fit in a bit more. Because we had gone the day before and gotten to know the area better, we were more confident today, and confidence is a key part of blending in. We ate at a noodle and ramen shop with a huge window in the back that showed the kitchen and was right in front of where the cooks make their hand-pulled noodles. The coolest thing was this semi-creepy robot in a chef’s hat that made sliced noodles. There was also a fish tank with huge goldfish! That was pretty cool.

The last part of our day was driving through the pouring rain to the Guan Yu temple in old Chinatown. Guan Di, also known as Guan Yu, was a  military strategist, general, and second-in-command to the Emperor during the Qing Dynasty. After his death he was so well revered that he is now worshipped as a god. The temple we visited actually had 13 statues of gods and people who were important to them. In the center was Guan Di, his second-in-command on his left and son on his right, along with the man who helped with his horse. The Gods on the left side of the temple was a child God, also known as the Rat Prince. Next to him was a God of Finances, and then a Goddess of Hell. On the back wall was the Goddess of Heaven. In the middle was Buddha himself, surrounded by LEDs. On the right wall of the temple was another child God who was a brother of the Rat Prince, next to him was a God of Love, and then a Goddess of Safety While Being Far from Home. A statue of Confucius was in the front garden outside.

When we entered the temple, we were instructed to remove our shoes at the door and stand in two lines in front of Guan Li. The monk who showed us around gave everyone a lit stick of incense, which we each later placed in a sand filled bowl with handles made of engraved dragons with the character ‘王’ or ‘King’. The dragons also had bright red eyes, and Guan Li even had red-tinted skin, as it’s the best, or luckiest color in Chinese culture. At the end of our visit, the monk gave each of us big calendars, which was really so nice of him.

I have to be honest, I was a little afraid that this J-Term might be too challenging, or intimidating for me. But every day has just been so fun, that the activities which push me out of my comfort zone don’t do it in a negative way. As a generally picky eater, I’ve been trying to taste a little of everything (today we had pig ears!) and with immersion, or talking to native speakers of Mandarin, I’ve been trying to practice what I’ve learned. I can’t wait for the rest of it!