Just a short entry to check in. Tonight I went out with a large group of classmates to a Korean restaurant, and we made our Korean classmates order for us, and so had our fill of spicy grilled and stewed meats, vegetable wraps and spicy pickled cabbage. We were also rather insistently presented with multiple rounds of Korean rice wine, so it became quite a renao evening (loud and boisterous).
Other than that, my day has consisted largely of writing an essay for my one on one class, describing the special characteristics of the second generation of nongmingong as opposed to the first, and watching segments of the BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice, which I have not seen before. Nongmingong are workers who leave the countryside to work in urban factories, service jobs and construction, and face many of the same social problems as immigrants in America: their census status lists them as rural peasants, and thus prohibits them from enjoying social benefits of city life like education and medical attention, and also lowers their wages and work conditions. I’ve spent much of my one-on-one time learning about the conditions of the nongmingong (literally rural peasant worker) and the history of development which led to their existence. It’s quite an interesting situation. One of the other students here, a girl taking time off between her undergraduate and graduate studies, is pursuing Fulbright supported research on the status of female workers in this group.
In any case, I had a great night out last night, but have come back early tonight to get some decent sleep and finish watching Pride and Prejudice. Tomorrow I’ve got some reading to do, and I think I’ll bike over to a coffee shop near West Lake to get it done.
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