Very fashionable

So I’ll be writing a blog post on how busy I have been, and what I’ve been up to (when I’m a little less busy), but I wanted to write a quick post that would explain something I have come across.  People keep calling me fashionable.  However when they are using this description, it isn’t what we mean by fashion (clothes), its my interests.  For those of you who don’t know, my favorite film is 赤壁 (Red Cliff), a two part, five hour long Chinese film.  I also listen to a TON of Chinese music, and watched 一起来看流星雨 (Let’s go watch a meteor shower together), a Chinese TV show over the summer.  So….I ask people what they are interested in.  They say Kung Fu Panda, Big Bang Theory, Lie to Me, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, or Taylor Swift.  The only Chinese artist that people here really like is Jay Chou, which is unfortunate because I am not a big fan of his style of music.  Meaning my interests in media do not line up with the interests of most of my friends here.  However the people here have actually heard of (some) of the bands I listen to, or the movies I watch.  I say some because I’ll listen to bands from Korea or Taiwan, and these bands are about as well known here as they are in the U.S., meaning almost not at all.  I am not sure how to take the description fashionable.  I don’t know if it is meant as a compliment or an insult. 

Or it could be like the word weird.  I explained to my friend Christina that I take the word weird as a compliment.  In most cases that word being used is a bad thing, however I have taken it and made it my own.  I don’t mind being called weird, I am proud to be weird.  Its sort of a calling card. 

I’m not going to try to change who I am to fit in.  Yaohui pointed out that I shouldn’t worry about what people think about me, that I should just be myself.  Its sad that I needed a reminder of that (people kept telling me I should dye my hair black), cause I have known it since highschool.  But I would like to know how people see me.  Which is why I’m over analyzing the word fashionable.  I’m trying to understand the Chinese connotations to this word. 

Over the national holiday when I have more free time I’m going to hunt down and watch 步步惊心, a new Chinese TV show that is popular here.  Also I’ll be making a trip out of Beijing with the ICB teachers.  We are going to visit the place where they filmed “Raise the Red Lantern”.  I am looking forward to it because I loved that movie and I have never been off the east cost of China.  That’s going to happen later in October.  I’ll give more details when it comes up.  I gotta go finish a quiz for my PR class and print out my essay (for the same class), and register as a foreign student with the main CAU office and go to class….yeah….this is what my day is like….run run run!!!