Conversations Round Two

I don't know what happened today but Cheng was super talkative! We talked for almost 45 minutes straight! He also opened up a ton about his family life and personal life. I learned a LOT about how China functions as a society. Cheng comes from a "normal family" (similar to an upper middle class family in America). Because of this, he is able to spend money and do what he wants when he wants without much trouble. He also told me when he lives in China he didn't care about his family at all, he just saw them as a money bank. The coolest part of our whole conversation was that he told me ever since coming to America and studying here, he's come to realize how hard his parents work to give him the life he has and he knows it's his "duty" to care about them now and call them every once in a while. I couldn't stop smiling cause I thought that was SO cool that he found that here! He told me he feels like he's grown up a lot here and finally become an adult, and that he thinks he could handle situations by himself now. I was so excited! I asked if he was happy about all these realizations and he laughed and said "No! Now I am so guilty!". According to Cheng most kids in China, if they go to college there, don't learn anything in college and just party and spend money. "We learn too much in high school", Cheng said as the reason no one learns anything in China. Apparently, kids go not ever go to class and the college will just give you a degree because they don't care. I thought that was insane because that would never pass at most colleges in America.

We also talked about society from the standpoint of China's government, if you are a governor, you can just put your son into a position as head of a company. Apparently this is the only way to become a CEO in China, and since the change from communism to a more Americanized economy, the richest people are the CEOs and the government workers. The government recognizes this, however, and is trying to change that. I asked him if he thought that was the case here, and he said that here it's much easier to escape from the class you're born into, but in China you're basically stuck.

After all this serious talk about classes and government we decided to talk about a less serious subject and I asked him about his favorite sports and games. He was on the basketball team in high school and really misses the team and the game, he plays in the rec a lot but he's really excited to go home over summer and play basketball with his teammates again! He also informed me that in high school he lived with his team in one dorm room, 6 people in one room! I also asked about the classic Chinese game Mahjong. At first he didn't quite understand what I was asking (apparently I was pronouncing it wrong) but once we were on the same page he told me he hates mahjong because when he was a child and he was at his grandma's house, she would just play mahjong all day and not take care of him! I felt so bad! He told me he had to cook his own meals as a kid cause his grandma was too obsessed with Mahjong, after that we left Mahjong as a taboo topic. However, he loves poker! Apparently poker is way more popular in China than mahjong, but there are certain limits to how much you can bet and gamble.

Our conversation ended on a really good note when we talked about how excited he is to go home for the summer and he listed off all the things he's going to do when he gets home. He said he never realized what he had until he left China and now he's really appreciative of what he has back home, especially his cat!

Learning Science

Biology, Anatomy, Chemistry, Physics, Biomechanics, the list goes on… These are just a sample of the wonderful classes required by my major. Lucky for me I'm an excellent planner and have all my classes picked out till the day I graduate! Looking at the list makes it all seem easy, until you're actually in the class trying to keep up in your notes while the professor talks as rapidly as the auctioneer at an auction house.

Biology was always a class I dreaded in high school. I hated it so much I vowed to never take another biology class ever again. Why on earth would I need to know the difference between an animal cell wall and a plant cell wall as a famous singer/dancer/actress? (Clearly I had a solid career choice) I was bored to tears in that class everyday in high school. I came to college as a Political Science major with an emphasis in international relations. I thought I could just travel the world and be a translator or something and everything would be peachy keen. Just one problem- I hate politics. Why I thought that wasn't a problem I will never understand. After my first semester taking honors Intro to Political Theory I was done with political science. The best things I got from that major? Sweet sammies and a free t-shirt. I was back at square one and frantic, I decided that I liked exercise, and I liked my physical therapist when I injured my ankle in high school, so that was that! I'm gonna be a physical therapist!

Don't worry, a lot more thought went into that decision than I make it seem! :) However, there was just one enormous obstacle to my new major. BIOLOGY. So. Much. Biology. The beautiful thing about life though is that people change and tastes change! I went into Introductory Biology 1 with about as much excitement as a 10 year old getting braces. To my utter shock, after about a month of class I was really enjoying this! I was learning about DNA replication, the immune system, cell processes, and I wasn't bored! It was as if my eyes were opened to this new magical world! I was so excited I almost considered being a doctor, however, that bubble was popped real quick when I realized that would mean taking Organic Chemistry.

I've taken Chemistry, and am currently in Anatomy and Biology and the things I am learning are changing my views of life. I have so much more appreciation for the complexity of the human being, and for the researchers who are discovering new things every day! I know this doesn't relate to humor, but I've never been more excited about learning than right now. I'm learning things that are actually relevant for my future career and I will get to apply them! I'm definitely nerding out right now, but it's just really exciting to be able to study what you love. :)

Ham Biscuits

It's all fun and games until someone farts. Well that's not exactly what happened…. but it's still relevant. Last night a group of friends and I went to a birthday dinner for our friend Katie. Now you have to understand, Katie is an outspoken 110 pound hockey-player from Connecticut. So it goes without saying that Katie is hilarious. She's a wisecracking sass machine. Needless to say, a lot of jokes were said throughout the night. Some of my favorite moments, however, were after dinner. We decided to get sweet frog after dinner and were sitting at the table all telling stories about our parents getting drunk when we were kids. Katie starts to describe her father drinking, but her exact words were, "He was going slam-a-jam-a on those margaritas". None of us knew exactly how to respond to that so we all broke out laughing, especially when she finished by saying he passed out in the lobby of the hotel they were staying at. In her next story she described her mother's drinking experience as her going "ham biscuits" We all just stared at her laughing because who says things like that?? It only works for Katie.

After these fits of laughter we had finished our ice cream and it was time to go. At P.F. Chang's we had all gotten to-go boxes and left them in Jordan's car while we got ice cream (naturally). Now to preface, Jordan's car has a distinct smell, similar to the new car smell, pleasant, but different. So when we returned to the car after sweet frog, the scent of Jordan's car had mixed into a deadly concoction with the asian food. Opening the doors was like a one way ticket for our nostrils to unpleasantville. At first we couldn't understand what smelled so bad, and then we figured out it was the asian food and the whole drive home we could NOT stop laughing because Katie described the smell as asian farts (because of the asian food). She also told people we went to dinner at P.F. Wangs. By the end of the car ride we were all in tears and clutching our stomachs (and noses) because of laughing so hard. It was the kind of laughter that makes you never want to leave because it doesn't even matter what you say at that point- EVERYTHING is hilarious. It was a wonderful moment because all the endorphins were rushing and everyone was just in the best mood. I'm sure we all added a couple years to our lives on that car ride.

What Funny Looks Like

Images

This type of humor is geared at people like me who are not avid sports fans. It's funny because we have no idea what is going on during sports interviews normally. 

This is funny to all people (hopefully). It makes light of the dog's groggy appearance as if he just woke up and it plays on incongruity because we don't expect the dog to have "farted himself awake".

Jokes:

Q: How many NCAA basketball players does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Only one. But he gets money, a car, and three credit hours for it.

This is funny for most sports fans and it makes a joke about how athletes are pampered and over privileged. It's partly superiority theory because people feel inferior to the athletes so they make jokes about the athletes to make themselves feel better.

source: http://www.jokes4us.com/sportsjokes/sportsonelinerjokes.html

The college football player knew his way around the locker room better than he did the library. So when the librarian saw the gridiron star roaming the stacks looking confused, she asked how she could help.
“I have to read a play by Shakespeare,” he said.
“Which one?” she asked.
“William.”

This is also appealing to sports, it makes a comment about the stereotype that all athletes are uneducated. It's funny also because of superiority theory.

Read more: http://www.rd.com/jokes/funny/sports/our-15-favorite-football-jokes/#ixzz2t4S9lruJ

Let the Conversations Begin

I met with Cheng Kaipeng from China today. It started off a little rough, because giving directions in english to someone who is trying to learn the language isn't an easy task. There was some awkward silence at the beginning of the conversation, but after we broke the ice the conversation was better. We chatted about life in China, missing friends at home, the usual stuff. One thing that stuck out to me was he lived in dorms during high school. The school he went to was a half-day drive by car, so he just lived there and only went home for two weeks during the entire school year! That blew my mind, I would have been a hot mess if I hadn't lived with my parents through high school. That's a critical time for maturation and the necessity of guidance. It was as if he'd been going to college now for five years! Also- he's an only child because of China's harsh fines for having more than one child. China's attempt to curb their population growth caused his desire for a sister to be unattainable. He was actually really sad when I asked him if he had any siblings, he wants a sister so badly. Since he can't have a sister, his immediate family (aunts, uncles, cousins) is extremely close. He and his cousin essentially are brother and sister. Also- apparently there is no drinking age in China (this also blew my mind). Cheng has been buying beer for his father since he was 10 years old! I can't imagine a 10 year old kid just walking around with a six pack in his hand in America. He misses drinking and smoking a lot. He wishes he could smoke in his dorm room here, that is a big problem for him. He also talked about his Venezuelan roommate who's english is worse than his! Apparently they've gotten really good at communicating without words, since their native languages are not compatible (chinese and spanish). Overall, it was a pleasant, if forced conversation, but I look forward to our future meetings!

The Minority of Opinion of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas: ZZzZzzZzz….

Alright, I'm usually not one to complain, but reading Comic Relief is like reading a formal research paper on how grass grows. It's taken ALL the humor out of humor. I made it through five pages and then realized I was actually asleep. I know I'm being harsh, but come on! Each section of the book goes through all the theories of old, then refutes them, and cites new/more accurate theories. I have learned that philosophers back in the day had WAY too much time on their hands. (Although not literally because wrist watches weren't invented until 1868 http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-10000/first-wristwatch/). I have learned things, I promise! Just nothing that I want other people to know, because it takes all the fun out of laughing! Now every time I laugh I know its because I have energy that was supposed to be used for something else, but now is useless so I'm going to expel all the useless energy out by contracting my diaphragm in what appears to be a psychotic breakdown. I learned that the author of this book (John Morreall) essentially thinks laughter has no value. It is more valuable than gold!! It can relieve the awkwardness when you are in social situations, it can let other people know that you support their comedic endeavors, it can cure sickness, it can help you live longer, it can give you ripped abs, the list goes on. All I know is that this book is far from a "relief".

I have also come to realize Aristotle and I would be great friends.

Also- my sympathies to my classmates who have to suffer through this book alongside me.