Usually I don't blog quite this early in the day, but I had to correct myself before I forgot. Those strange Oreos I was eating last night? Not only are they Ice Cream Oreos...they're Green Tea Ice Cream Oreos! Hence, the green color and slight crunchiness (at least, I think that's the source of the crunchies...I'll let you know if I find out anything else).
Shortest post yet!!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Pictures Part 2 - Yay!
So I FINALLY a) had time b) wasn't too tired and c) had the patience to upload pictures! These are all from our 2nd day of sight-seeing, which was the Great Wall, the Olympic park, and the drum tower excursion.
So, while walking along the wall, minding my own business, I apparently attracted some attention...I didn't feel it land or anything, someone just noticed it there all of a sudden. Isn't my new friend pretty??
This is inside one of those tower areas that break up the Great Wall periodically. Some are a bit spacious, others are smaller, but either way I don't think I would want to live in one.
This is one of the sections we walked along, and I like this picture because you can see how the wall follows the mountain range - and just what kind of mountains we're talking about.
This is inside another one of those indoor areas. These are steps leading up to the outside roof. In this particular structure, the first step is about 2 feet high, and I am not exaggerating (you can't see it - you can only see the top of that step in this picture). I have the picture to prove it, but that picture didn't turn out quite as well as this one did.
Again, this is another picture where you can see how the wall follows the top of the mountain range. Pictures just don't do justice to how gorgeous the scenery is. So, can anyone guess how long the Great Wall is (you're not allowed to Google it)? I'll give you a hint: it's about the same as my flight mileage from Chicago to Beijing...
For the above picture: if you guessed over 6,000 miles, you're correct!!
Remember how I was telling you all about the family who took pictures with us at the wall? This is the first picture, with the kids. I've learned that here, if you say hi or otherwise pay attention to someone's child or grandchild, you've probably just opened the door for communication - they'll love that you interacted with the child!
Really, I wasn't kidding about what I just said. This picture was facilitated by saying hi to the kids :) The little guy sitting next to me didn't want to have his picture taken with us but his parents made him. I think I'll always like this photo...
Can anyone guess what this is?
...or this?? (I loved those games as a kid where they gave you a really close-up picture of something and you had to guess what it was - in this case, it's probably lame, but oh well!)
If you guessed "The Bubble" for the first one, you're right! It really does look like a square of soap bubbles, and I'm glad we didn't get too close, because I think I'd want to try to pop one, and if I actually succeeded, I don't think many people would appreciate that. Though, I'm thinking that it has to be some resilient plastic, because it's outdoors...anyways, on to the next!
If you guess "The Bird's Nest" for the 2nd picture, good job! You get a gold star :) I think it's an appropriate name.
This is the drum tower. We walked up to the balcony area which is where the drums are kept. My legs certainly got a work out that day - not only did we go to the Great Wall (lots of walking plus uneven steps), but we climbed this tower, which has 60 some 6 inch steps. That was fun, let me tell you...
The walking was worth it though! These are the drums that are currently in use for demonstration, and then there are others in this same area that are reproductions of old drums, or the real deal. It's pretty neat, and if you're ever in the area, it's a great, non-crowded place to visit.
Well, I think that's all for today! Classes continue to go well, and I'm starting to get into a routine for school days. Today I tried Ice Cream flavored Oreos - at least, that's the only English that I saw on the box. It was...interesting. I'm not sure if I like them or not, I think I'm going to have to give them a second shot to decide. The filling is this really strange green color, and it's almost...crunchy?...at times. It looks like it should be mint or something...like I said, interesting. Have I talked about food flavors here? I think I mentioned the chips (Blueberry, Cucumber, Italian Red Meat, French Chicken...), but I don't think I said anything about the Oreos. Well, I was looking at the covenience store on campus today, specifically in the cookie section, and they have raspberry/blueberry oreos, jasmine oreos, regular oreos, chocolate oreos, strawberry oreos...I think there were some others, but I forget.
Have a great day! Tomorrow I think I'll post some videos I took at the opera school :)
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Pictures Part 2...Tomorrow??
Hello everyone!
After my 2nd day of class I am wiped! And, unfortunately, that means no pictures tonight because for whatever reason it is taking forever to upload each one, and I can't stay up that late. Wednesdays are going to be my busiest days, as I have 6 hours of class at Minzu and 3 hours of class at BeiDa - that's right, that's 9 hours of class :) Don't worry, the rest of the week the most I'll have is 5 hours of class. The others are all 4 hours. If you just did the math, no, you don't need to check it. 26 hours of class time per week! This week I'm going to see how much work that's actually going to be, and then next week I'll make a decision about dropping one of the classes at BeiDa. See, these 26 hours of class all add up to 15 credits in the U.S. If I drop one class, I gain 3 hours plus the time it would take to do the work for that class, and I can still remain a full time student at 12 credits. But like I said, no decision now, that'll be for next week when BeiDa's classes start.
In other related news, BeiDa is providing us a language tutor for half an hour each day - and oh my goodness, it is extremely helpful! Our tutor is wonderful and gives us a lot of help on whatever it is we're working on. She's able to expound on our lesson, to put it in context, and she helps us to apply what we've learned by making us create our own variations. For example, today I was learning some sentence structures, such as "Not only____, but also____", and she came up with some useful example sentences in English that then I put into Chinese (verbally).
Well, it's time for me to follow my roommate's examples and go to sleep. Goodnight!
After my 2nd day of class I am wiped! And, unfortunately, that means no pictures tonight because for whatever reason it is taking forever to upload each one, and I can't stay up that late. Wednesdays are going to be my busiest days, as I have 6 hours of class at Minzu and 3 hours of class at BeiDa - that's right, that's 9 hours of class :) Don't worry, the rest of the week the most I'll have is 5 hours of class. The others are all 4 hours. If you just did the math, no, you don't need to check it. 26 hours of class time per week! This week I'm going to see how much work that's actually going to be, and then next week I'll make a decision about dropping one of the classes at BeiDa. See, these 26 hours of class all add up to 15 credits in the U.S. If I drop one class, I gain 3 hours plus the time it would take to do the work for that class, and I can still remain a full time student at 12 credits. But like I said, no decision now, that'll be for next week when BeiDa's classes start.
In other related news, BeiDa is providing us a language tutor for half an hour each day - and oh my goodness, it is extremely helpful! Our tutor is wonderful and gives us a lot of help on whatever it is we're working on. She's able to expound on our lesson, to put it in context, and she helps us to apply what we've learned by making us create our own variations. For example, today I was learning some sentence structures, such as "Not only____, but also____", and she came up with some useful example sentences in English that then I put into Chinese (verbally).
Well, it's time for me to follow my roommate's examples and go to sleep. Goodnight!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Pictures Part 1
Ok, just so y'all know, this is my very first attempt at putting pictures on my blog. If it fails, I'm very sorry, and I'll try again :)
This is our guide, Sunny. She was sooo helpful, and had lots of good information to share with us. Since we had a pretty big group, she held the panda umbrella to make herself easier to spot. That panda was amazing. It even stopped traffic for us once last night :)
Below is a pictures of the Minzu girls outside of the Forbidden City :)
First gate entrance to the Forbidden City
Inside the Forbidden City
Detail of one of the buildings near the roof (Forbidden City)
Great shot of Sunny and the panda, and a good perspective on just how big this place is!
200 year old Cypress tree in the garden at the Forbidden City
4 year old girl at the Beijing Opera School :) The children were adorable!
Older girls studying on the weekends at Beijing Opera School
At the Beijing Opera school - Chinese instrument, I can't remember what the name is. Anyone know?
Anyways, I don't want to overload y'all with pictures - I'll put up more tomorrow, but for tonight, I'm toast! We started classes today, so I was in class from about 8-12 with a 10 minute break each hour. I'm definitely looking forward to more classes and learning more Chinese, I think it'll be a really great experience judging from today.
Have a wonderful day (I know it's just starting for most of you!), and I hope the hurricane didn't cause too much trouble for those of you on the East coast!
This is our guide, Sunny. She was sooo helpful, and had lots of good information to share with us. Since we had a pretty big group, she held the panda umbrella to make herself easier to spot. That panda was amazing. It even stopped traffic for us once last night :)
Below is a pictures of the Minzu girls outside of the Forbidden City :)
First gate entrance to the Forbidden City
Inside the Forbidden City
Detail of one of the buildings near the roof (Forbidden City)
Great shot of Sunny and the panda, and a good perspective on just how big this place is!
200 year old Cypress tree in the garden at the Forbidden City
4 year old girl at the Beijing Opera School :) The children were adorable!
Older girls studying on the weekends at Beijing Opera School
At the Beijing Opera school - Chinese instrument, I can't remember what the name is. Anyone know?
Anyways, I don't want to overload y'all with pictures - I'll put up more tomorrow, but for tonight, I'm toast! We started classes today, so I was in class from about 8-12 with a 10 minute break each hour. I'm definitely looking forward to more classes and learning more Chinese, I think it'll be a really great experience judging from today.
Have a wonderful day (I know it's just starting for most of you!), and I hope the hurricane didn't cause too much trouble for those of you on the East coast!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sight-seeing Day 2
Let me start out by saying that if I lived in ancient China as a man, I don't think I'd make it very long at my present level of physical endurance.
We started out the day by spending four hours at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. It was incredible. I took a cable car to the number 14 post and walked to about the 20th post, walked back to 14 and took a cable car back to the bottom, and that was plenty of exercise for me. I cannot imagine having to make the bricks and carry that up the mountain, or having to carry the stone up the mountain. Talk about hard labor - with animals and carts it would be an easier job, but not by much. The terrain is very rugged but the scenery is gorgeous. This section of the mountains is very tall, slightly rocky, and very "sharp" - not like the Adirondacks or the Appalachians, which are the mountain ranges I'm used to. I also can't imagine being a soldier stationed at the Great Wall and moving around it all day - there are many uneven stairs, and you are constantly switching between walking up and walking down.
Being on the Great Wall was not only historically and architecturally fascinating but the people were just as interesting as they were at Tiananmen Square yesterday. People from all over the world were walking along the wall, and again, some people were taking pictures of us. At one point, my roommate Laura and I were sitting and waiting for some others from our group, and a family started posing their children between us for a picture, then eventually the whole family got in the picture. I was able to get them to take a picture with my camera, which I'll share tomorrow, when I get my pictures onto the computer and all sorted out :)
Our next stop was the Olympic park. We didn't walk around much, we only stopped long enough to take some pictures. Again, at one point I caught a family trying to take a picture with me in the background, smiled at them, and they came over to pose with me. The Bird's Nest Stadium was HUGE, and made from steel. It was definitely an interesting piece of art, as was "the bubble", which houses the pool area. It really does look like a square bubble.
My favorite part of the day, again, was the late afternoon activity. We went to the hutong area, near Houhai, to see the drum tower, and actually got to see a performance. 5 drummers, about 5 minutes, and it was fascinating to hear the beats they created and to watch how they beat the drums with their sticks. Afterwards, we walked across to the bell tower which is nearby and stopped by the teahouse at the base for a tea ceremony. We tried 5 kinds of tea: Ginseng Oolong, Jasmine, Pu' Er, Litchi Black, and Fruit Tea. My favorites were the Ginseng Oolong, which was naturally sweet, and the fruit tea, which was also sweet but a little sour and had a lot of flavor.
After the tea ceremony we took a rickshaw ride through the hutong, stopping at the house of a lady who would show us how to make dumplings. We had a delicious homemade dinner there, which of course included dumplings. I have to say that since being in Beijing, I have had several dishes with cucumber in them, and I think that in the U.S. we are not open-minded enough in how we use that wonderful vegetable. It really is ok to cook cucumbers, they don't have to be served cold or pickled in order for them to be enjoyable. Tonight they were shaved and paired with chicken (a hot dish), and we also found them in thinly sliced rectangles with pork meatballs (also a hot dish). The story of our host was the best part of the evening. During the Qing dynasty, her family was employed by the emperor, making those snuff bottles that are hand-painted on the inside. The family was very rich, of course, and had a large living area with 17 rooms. However, when the cultural revolution occurred, her grandparents, parents, and herself were not allowed to paint, just like the other cultural arts were forbidden. They also had all but one room taken away from them, so some of the family had to move elsewhere. However, after 10 years ban on the arts was lifted, so she started to paint again to preserve the culture. Because she never married (and thus, never had children), she has passed on her skill to her niece, who participated in the Olympic festivities by painting for the athletes. This niece is now starting to teach her 5-year-old son how to paint these bottles. And oh my goodness are they beautiful!! They are very detailed, very pretty, and there are so many wonderful designs! I bought a small bottle for the equivalent of $20, and it is very detailed, very beautiful, and so much better than anything I could get on the street.
After a rickshaw ride back to the bus, we headed back to the University, where most of us have collapsed from the long day.
Until tomorrow!!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Sight-seeing, Day 1
First, I'm going to back up a day, because I forgot to blog last night. Oops. Fortunately, not much happened yesterday. Those of us who know some Chinese took our placements exams - 2 hours in the morning and 2 more in the afternoon. The morning exam consisted of a listening portion and a reading portion (all multiple choice), plus an essay portion. The afternoon exam consisted of a computer section asking questions about your Chinese learning background, a written vocabulary exam (fill in the Chinese counterpart of this word in characters, pinyin if you don't know the characters; and choose the meaning of these Chinese characters), and an oral exam (again, asking questions about your Chinese learning background). The rest of the day was rather quiet. It was very nice to have a day to just relax after the few busy days we've had. My roommates and I were all asleep by 10 (some of us by 9), and slept until almost 7. We would have slept longer, except we had to get up early to catch the subway...
At the subway we met our tour guide who took us to the hotel where the leaders were staying. There we met the people who will be studying in the Sichuan province through the same program provider (different program, of course, since they won't be at Minzu :-P). There are 18 of them, and the larger group took a little bit of getting used to, since our typical group so far has been no more than 8-9 people. From the hotel, we went to Tienanmen Square, and it is massive! The most interesting thing about being there was watching all of the other people who were there. We got many stares, and it was so different than any other place we've been so far. Usually we might attract a stare or two, or maybe catch a cell phone taking a picture out of the corner of our eyes, but nothing more than that. At the Square though, many people wanted to take pictures with us, and would arrange themselves so that our group would be "in the background" so that they wouldn't have to ask us to take a picture with them, or look like they were taking pictures of us. We would also get a lot of people just coming up to us, almost acting like they were part of our group for a few minutes. That was definitely a new experience. I'm flattered, but I'm still trying to decide what I think about it. It might take some getting used to.
After visiting the Square, we crossed the street to the Forbidden City. It was sooooo beautiful! It's very large, with several courtyards, and unfortunately we were only able to catch the highlights of it. Our tour guide said you could take a week going through it if you wanted to see everything. Now that I've seen it, I definitely want to go back and take my time, stroll around, maybe talk to a few people. It was so interesting to learn about the history of the place, and it made me want to study more of the history of the dynasties, and life for the emperor. I've always been interested in the lives of royals from several cultures. I think it's the drama of their lives that piques my curiosity. It could also be because of the completeness of the information we have about who they were.
Following the Forbidden City we went to a Beijing noodle restaurant. The noodles were very good, but for me, that wasn't the highlight of the stop. Say what?? That's right. It actually sticks out in my mind as the first place I have used a squat toilet. Without going into detail, I didn't fall in (I was worried), and I can now say I did it :) Probably won't be the last time though.
I think my favorite part of the day was our afternoon activity. We went to the Beijing Opera school and watched the kids practice. The youngest child we saw was about 3 years old, and the oldest was probably around 12. They were soooo adorable! And very talented/hardworking! They sang and danced and performed for us - everything was traditional, none of it was Westernized (for those of you who have studied music). I enjoyed being around the children (I think I have to say that Asian people have some of the best smiles I've ever seen, the children especially), and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to hear traditional Chinese opera. It has been around for a very long time, and I have heard from several sources that it is a dying art.
Finally, we ended the day with dinner at a famous Peking Duck restaurant that has been around for 400 years. It's called Bian Yi Fang, and the duck was delicious! There's a trick to eating it too, which I will share with you:
1. Take a wrap from the plate of wraps and lay it on your palm (they look like small soft taco shells, but they're soft and a bit doughy)
2. With chopsticks, pick up a piece of duck and dip it into the sauce
3. Wipe some of the sauce on the wrap and place the duck in the middle. Repeat steps 2 & 3 once more
4. Place one chopstick above and one chopstick beneath an edge of the wrap, running parallel to the meat
5. Turn the chopsticks until you have a nice "burrito-looking" wrap. Pick up with the chopsticks, and eat it :)
Well, that has been my day! Hope you are all doing well - thank you for reading!
周末快乐！！ (zhoumo kuaile - have a joyful weekend!!)
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Learning the Ropes
Today was quite the day! I'll try to keep this post shorter than the last one because I am so very tired, but I couldn't wait to share my experiences!
We started out the day with free time until one o'clock. Some of us slept in, while others of us were up at 6 and couldn't go back to sleep. That's why I posted a blog this morning (last night to most of you). While you slept, my friends and I were busy exploring the city! We started out with lunch at a nice restaurant. Even though it was definitely on the "nicer" end of things, we still only spent 58 RMB for 5 of us to eat (that's $10 or less). We tried a new cold noodle dish. I forget what it's called, but the noodles looked and felt like worms (I have to admit, not much turns me off to food, but that did a little bit), and it was a little spicy - even so, it wasn't too bad. We had a cold green bean and garlic dish, which was quite sweet, and konpao chicken. Konpao chicken is much different here than it is in the U.S. More onions, less meat, more natural flavor. I don't think I can go back to the U.S. version.
After lunch we met our tour guide and program directors inside the subway station. This was our first time getting to the subway by ourselves (lunch was also the first meal we've ordered by ourselves - picture menus help a lot), and we were able to get there just fine. We do have to cross some busier streets, but so far we've managed to cross safely! Traffic here is not like in the U.S. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, cars and bikes tend to go wherever they want to, and you may very well get hit - if you get hit, it is your own fault. This makes walking around a little intimidating, but if you pay attention, you'll be ok. Once at the subway we headed toward the Pearl Market for our first bargaining experience. Oh boy was that an experience! There are at least 5 floors in the market building, each with a theme. The salespeople are extremely aggressive and I think I was in the building about 2 minutes before someone grabbed my wrist and I had to pull away hard. Our leaders showed us around a little and then let us wander and learn. We were given suggestions which came in very handy, and I don't think we did too badly for our first time. We definitely paid a bit more than we should have, but the experience was worth it. I had no idea bargaining was so much fun! It's like a game, and I love it! Most of the vendors speak good sales English, and they are not afraid to guilt-trip you. Phrases like "Lady, I have to eat too!" and "You are killing me!" and "I want to sell this to you, but I can't at that price! That is ridiculous!" are quite common. One of the most interesting moments was when my friend Rachel was talking with a salesperson to figure out the price of a wallet, and she was getting intimidated and tried to walk away. The salesperson grabbed her wrist and wouldn't let her go, even when I came over and started tugging on her other wrist saying "Let's go; come come come!" We were finally able to get her away, but it was definitely an eye-opening experience. At one point I was looking at a scarf and walked away because it was too expensive, and I also had to be pulled away but not quite as violently. After we had walked a little ways out of view and had stopped to regroup, the salesperson came running over with the scarf to give me my price.
After shopping at the market we went to the grocery store Carrefour. I enjoyed the shopping experience, and we were able to find several things that we needed for our rooms and for food. Even though everything is marked in Chinese, the stickers on the shelves by the products have at least the pinyin if not the English for the product; this made shopping a lot less stressful once we figured this out. Again, we were shown around the store, and then left to ourselves for an hour to figure it out. I like this method of learning, because we are not being thrown into the deep end of the pool, but neither are we being treated like babies. After we got what we needed we met at KFC where the leaders gave us information on how to catch a taxi back to school, and how to order. I got quite a lot of practice with using my Mandarin as there are a few girls who do not know much at all and needed some help ordering. After we ate we grabbed our bags and went out to catch a taxi.
When people say taxi cab drivers might not be willing to give westerners a ride, they mean it. Several started pulling over, but once they saw we were not Asian, they kept going. We must have tried for about 40 minutes. We even asked someone for help, and he was not able to get a cab for us. However, he was able to help us figure out the bus schedule for the stop that was nearby, and to tell us which bus to take and how long to ride it. By the way, a bus ride here is very inexpensive - only .40 RMB with a subway card. The schedule is a little harder to figure out and there is a longer time lapse between buses, but it is not a bad way to travel. Unfortunately, the bus we got on dropped us off at the side of campus opposite of where we live. We had a slightly difficult time trying to figure out which direction we needed to go, but after asking a few people we managed to get back to our dorm. All told it took us probably about an hour and a half to get back (keep in mind, some of the things we bought were a bit heavy, which is why we were going to take the taxi in the first place), but now we have a better grasp of the public transportation system.
I forgot to mention in the last post that last night I had tried a red bean popsicle and I really liked it! It had actual beans in it, and was a bit sweet, very yummy. Today I tried bubble tea (it was a good one-time try), lavender milk tea (very yummy - could have used a little bit of sugar, but it was good without), and a meng bean popsicle. This last one is a green color and looks a little bit like a pea, but the popsicle was a bit sweet. Again, very yummy.
Ok, so I don't think I stuck to my goal of keeping this post short, but I hope I didn't bore you with the details! Good night, and have a great day!
We started out the day with free time until one o'clock. Some of us slept in, while others of us were up at 6 and couldn't go back to sleep. That's why I posted a blog this morning (last night to most of you). While you slept, my friends and I were busy exploring the city! We started out with lunch at a nice restaurant. Even though it was definitely on the "nicer" end of things, we still only spent 58 RMB for 5 of us to eat (that's $10 or less). We tried a new cold noodle dish. I forget what it's called, but the noodles looked and felt like worms (I have to admit, not much turns me off to food, but that did a little bit), and it was a little spicy - even so, it wasn't too bad. We had a cold green bean and garlic dish, which was quite sweet, and konpao chicken. Konpao chicken is much different here than it is in the U.S. More onions, less meat, more natural flavor. I don't think I can go back to the U.S. version.
After lunch we met our tour guide and program directors inside the subway station. This was our first time getting to the subway by ourselves (lunch was also the first meal we've ordered by ourselves - picture menus help a lot), and we were able to get there just fine. We do have to cross some busier streets, but so far we've managed to cross safely! Traffic here is not like in the U.S. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, cars and bikes tend to go wherever they want to, and you may very well get hit - if you get hit, it is your own fault. This makes walking around a little intimidating, but if you pay attention, you'll be ok. Once at the subway we headed toward the Pearl Market for our first bargaining experience. Oh boy was that an experience! There are at least 5 floors in the market building, each with a theme. The salespeople are extremely aggressive and I think I was in the building about 2 minutes before someone grabbed my wrist and I had to pull away hard. Our leaders showed us around a little and then let us wander and learn. We were given suggestions which came in very handy, and I don't think we did too badly for our first time. We definitely paid a bit more than we should have, but the experience was worth it. I had no idea bargaining was so much fun! It's like a game, and I love it! Most of the vendors speak good sales English, and they are not afraid to guilt-trip you. Phrases like "Lady, I have to eat too!" and "You are killing me!" and "I want to sell this to you, but I can't at that price! That is ridiculous!" are quite common. One of the most interesting moments was when my friend Rachel was talking with a salesperson to figure out the price of a wallet, and she was getting intimidated and tried to walk away. The salesperson grabbed her wrist and wouldn't let her go, even when I came over and started tugging on her other wrist saying "Let's go; come come come!" We were finally able to get her away, but it was definitely an eye-opening experience. At one point I was looking at a scarf and walked away because it was too expensive, and I also had to be pulled away but not quite as violently. After we had walked a little ways out of view and had stopped to regroup, the salesperson came running over with the scarf to give me my price.
After shopping at the market we went to the grocery store Carrefour. I enjoyed the shopping experience, and we were able to find several things that we needed for our rooms and for food. Even though everything is marked in Chinese, the stickers on the shelves by the products have at least the pinyin if not the English for the product; this made shopping a lot less stressful once we figured this out. Again, we were shown around the store, and then left to ourselves for an hour to figure it out. I like this method of learning, because we are not being thrown into the deep end of the pool, but neither are we being treated like babies. After we got what we needed we met at KFC where the leaders gave us information on how to catch a taxi back to school, and how to order. I got quite a lot of practice with using my Mandarin as there are a few girls who do not know much at all and needed some help ordering. After we ate we grabbed our bags and went out to catch a taxi.
When people say taxi cab drivers might not be willing to give westerners a ride, they mean it. Several started pulling over, but once they saw we were not Asian, they kept going. We must have tried for about 40 minutes. We even asked someone for help, and he was not able to get a cab for us. However, he was able to help us figure out the bus schedule for the stop that was nearby, and to tell us which bus to take and how long to ride it. By the way, a bus ride here is very inexpensive - only .40 RMB with a subway card. The schedule is a little harder to figure out and there is a longer time lapse between buses, but it is not a bad way to travel. Unfortunately, the bus we got on dropped us off at the side of campus opposite of where we live. We had a slightly difficult time trying to figure out which direction we needed to go, but after asking a few people we managed to get back to our dorm. All told it took us probably about an hour and a half to get back (keep in mind, some of the things we bought were a bit heavy, which is why we were going to take the taxi in the first place), but now we have a better grasp of the public transportation system.
I forgot to mention in the last post that last night I had tried a red bean popsicle and I really liked it! It had actual beans in it, and was a bit sweet, very yummy. Today I tried bubble tea (it was a good one-time try), lavender milk tea (very yummy - could have used a little bit of sugar, but it was good without), and a meng bean popsicle. This last one is a green color and looks a little bit like a pea, but the popsicle was a bit sweet. Again, very yummy.
Ok, so I don't think I stuck to my goal of keeping this post short, but I hope I didn't bore you with the details! Good night, and have a great day!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Hello from China!
I've made it safely, and have been loving it here! It's morning on my third day, and I'm watching the only CCTV English channel on the TV while sipping some lime juice. It's been quite the few days with lots to see and do, many people to meet, and lots of language to practice!
My 13 hour flight was very smooth. Most of the people on the plane were from China, and I sat next to a very nice couple who couldn't speak much English, which gave me a chance to practice some Mandarin before I got to the country. I wasn't able to sleep very much at all, maybe 45 minutes at most, but I was able to look out the window at the beginning and end of the trip, and watch several movies in the interim. I have decided that China is much more interesting to fly over than the U.S. The U.S. (And Canada, actually...) looks like a bunch of patches sewn together with a random house here or there, or a lake, or a city. Not much to see. I loved looking out the window at China though! There are very few, if any, houses on their own, but there are several clusters of them scattered around. We also flew over some mountains (not like dinky little things, but huge ripples in the earth), and the texture of the ground in the flat areas is fascinating. No patches, just several different small stripes of different shades of green. We flew over a river, some lakes, and some sandy areas too.
Once I landed I made it through customs relatively easily - there were a few lines to wait in, but nothing terrible at all. The group I was meeting was already there, and because I was the last person to show up we were able to leave immediately for the school. We took a private bus, and went through some introductory things during the hour-long drive to Minzu. Once at the University, we got moved into our dorms, which are very nice. I am rooming with two other girls from my group, and we all think the dorm is very nice. It's much bigger than anything at my home university! There is a living area with a bright blue couch, a tv, a table with some chairs, a coffee table, and three desks. The next room is the bedroom, with 3 beds (linens are provided here), 2 night tables, and 3 wardrobes. Both the living area and the bedroom have air conditioners, which can be turned on and off with a remote (all in Chinese, but the blue power button is hard to miss). The bathroom has a Western-style toilet (no, I have not used a squat toilet yet, but I know that day is coming), a sink, and a shower (no shower curtain though). We have a washing machine between the bathroom and the kitchen area (no dryer). The kitchen area has a sink, a water boiler, and some cabinets, but no stove top (even though there is a vent for one??). There is also a random room, which we have dubbed the "dance party room". It's about as big as a powder room. We have a GREAT view of the city from our room - we're on the 11th floor, and have a great view of the street below (which is busy all day and night, except for maybe between 1 and 5 in the morning). If we look straight out, we can see several high rises and lots of neon lights.
After settling in the dorm, we all went out for dinner. I can't tell you half of the things I ate, except for the eggplant and the corn (the corn was fried together and then sprinkled with sugar - very yummy!), but everything was delicious. I could get used to the food here. Because we were all exhausted, we were all asleep by 10, and that was our first day!
The second day we registered at the university, got our schedules and other important information, and took a tour of the campus. It's a very pretty campus, and I can't wait to post pictures for you all to see! Afterwards, we went to the subway to get our cards to use it (they are prepaid - to go anywhere on the subway it is 2 yuan - think about 30 U.S. cents), and we went to Zhongguancun, the silicon valley of China, to find cell phones. I got a very very basic Nokia for 190 yuan ($30). I can't wait to go back sometime and visit the mall that is nearby as well!
We went back to campus to get lunch at the cafeteria. Cafeterias here are very different than in the U.S. They are very cheap, I paid 7 yuan for my meal, and that's because it included a drink (that's just over $1). Otherwise, it was 4 yuan (less than $1). You look to see what you might want to eat, tell the person behind the counter, and pay for whatever you got right there with the university card. You pay for each item, so for example, if I wanted to get a green bean dish (which probably has some sort of meat in it) and some rice, the green bean dish might be 3 yuan and the rice .30-.80 yuan. So I could pay 3.3-3.8 yuan. If I don't have a card, I'll look to see what the prices are, go to the pay counter and tell them how much I want to pay, take my receipt back to the food counter, and hand it to the person behind the counter. During lunch we found out that one of the girls had gotten a dish that had some liver or stomach in it (we couldn't figure out which - it was definitely an internal organ though!). I wasn't brave enough to try it yet, but someone else did, and apparently it's not bad.
After lunch we went over to Bejing University (Here they call it BeiDa, kind of like we'd say UWM or UVA). You have to either show your passport, student pass, or pay 5 yuan to get in because it is such an attraction, even for those who live in China. As an American, it is hard to grasp the importance of BeiDa. It is THE number one University in the country, and it is a very hard school to get into. It is like the Harvard or Yale of the U.S. but even that doesn't quite describe it. The campus houses the largest library in the country (it's a VERY big library), and the campus is absolutely gorgeous, with several traditional-looking buildings and lots of plants, trees, and ivy. One of the things that surprised me was finding out that it was designed and built by an American! I feel very excited and very honored to be able to take a class there. We met some of the people we will be working with there, and they were very friendly. Several of them were key to setting up this study abroad program with the U.S.! We spent a very pleasant afternoon there and then went back to the dorms to rest for a little bit.
For dinner, we tried hot pot, a very popular dish here. Everything is boiled in one pot - we had lotus root, sweet potato, wide noodles, glass noodles, lamb, pork, and so many other things. Along with that, we had some chestnuts and a sweet potato dish. The sweet potato was my favorite - it was cut into pieces, then coated with a sticky, sugary substance and was very hot. That is something I'd like to have again!
After dinner we were able to go back to the dorm, and our tour guide/program directors left us to explore on our own a little bit (they've shown us the area we are living in already, so we are familiar with how to get around). We went to the campus convenience store, and checked some of the prices there, and got some items we needed. After that, we met one of the students that was introduced to us as a person who was willing to help us adjust. We had met him the night before at dinner, and had expressed an interest with meeting people who would be willing to help us with our Mandarin in exchange for help with English. He brought two such student to meet us, and we had a wonderful time. He was also able to help us get connected to the school's internet, which was a huge relief to everyone!
So far, it was been quite the experience. Because we are living with other foreigners, we have already met a couple people from other countries - one from Kazakhstan and one from Cambodia. They are able to understand a little English, but it is easier to speak in Mandarin with each other.
Well, I think that is all for now! Hope you are all doing well, and that those of you in the southeast of the U.S. aren't getting hit too hard with the hurricane!
My 13 hour flight was very smooth. Most of the people on the plane were from China, and I sat next to a very nice couple who couldn't speak much English, which gave me a chance to practice some Mandarin before I got to the country. I wasn't able to sleep very much at all, maybe 45 minutes at most, but I was able to look out the window at the beginning and end of the trip, and watch several movies in the interim. I have decided that China is much more interesting to fly over than the U.S. The U.S. (And Canada, actually...) looks like a bunch of patches sewn together with a random house here or there, or a lake, or a city. Not much to see. I loved looking out the window at China though! There are very few, if any, houses on their own, but there are several clusters of them scattered around. We also flew over some mountains (not like dinky little things, but huge ripples in the earth), and the texture of the ground in the flat areas is fascinating. No patches, just several different small stripes of different shades of green. We flew over a river, some lakes, and some sandy areas too.
Once I landed I made it through customs relatively easily - there were a few lines to wait in, but nothing terrible at all. The group I was meeting was already there, and because I was the last person to show up we were able to leave immediately for the school. We took a private bus, and went through some introductory things during the hour-long drive to Minzu. Once at the University, we got moved into our dorms, which are very nice. I am rooming with two other girls from my group, and we all think the dorm is very nice. It's much bigger than anything at my home university! There is a living area with a bright blue couch, a tv, a table with some chairs, a coffee table, and three desks. The next room is the bedroom, with 3 beds (linens are provided here), 2 night tables, and 3 wardrobes. Both the living area and the bedroom have air conditioners, which can be turned on and off with a remote (all in Chinese, but the blue power button is hard to miss). The bathroom has a Western-style toilet (no, I have not used a squat toilet yet, but I know that day is coming), a sink, and a shower (no shower curtain though). We have a washing machine between the bathroom and the kitchen area (no dryer). The kitchen area has a sink, a water boiler, and some cabinets, but no stove top (even though there is a vent for one??). There is also a random room, which we have dubbed the "dance party room". It's about as big as a powder room. We have a GREAT view of the city from our room - we're on the 11th floor, and have a great view of the street below (which is busy all day and night, except for maybe between 1 and 5 in the morning). If we look straight out, we can see several high rises and lots of neon lights.
After settling in the dorm, we all went out for dinner. I can't tell you half of the things I ate, except for the eggplant and the corn (the corn was fried together and then sprinkled with sugar - very yummy!), but everything was delicious. I could get used to the food here. Because we were all exhausted, we were all asleep by 10, and that was our first day!
The second day we registered at the university, got our schedules and other important information, and took a tour of the campus. It's a very pretty campus, and I can't wait to post pictures for you all to see! Afterwards, we went to the subway to get our cards to use it (they are prepaid - to go anywhere on the subway it is 2 yuan - think about 30 U.S. cents), and we went to Zhongguancun, the silicon valley of China, to find cell phones. I got a very very basic Nokia for 190 yuan ($30). I can't wait to go back sometime and visit the mall that is nearby as well!
We went back to campus to get lunch at the cafeteria. Cafeterias here are very different than in the U.S. They are very cheap, I paid 7 yuan for my meal, and that's because it included a drink (that's just over $1). Otherwise, it was 4 yuan (less than $1). You look to see what you might want to eat, tell the person behind the counter, and pay for whatever you got right there with the university card. You pay for each item, so for example, if I wanted to get a green bean dish (which probably has some sort of meat in it) and some rice, the green bean dish might be 3 yuan and the rice .30-.80 yuan. So I could pay 3.3-3.8 yuan. If I don't have a card, I'll look to see what the prices are, go to the pay counter and tell them how much I want to pay, take my receipt back to the food counter, and hand it to the person behind the counter. During lunch we found out that one of the girls had gotten a dish that had some liver or stomach in it (we couldn't figure out which - it was definitely an internal organ though!). I wasn't brave enough to try it yet, but someone else did, and apparently it's not bad.
After lunch we went over to Bejing University (Here they call it BeiDa, kind of like we'd say UWM or UVA). You have to either show your passport, student pass, or pay 5 yuan to get in because it is such an attraction, even for those who live in China. As an American, it is hard to grasp the importance of BeiDa. It is THE number one University in the country, and it is a very hard school to get into. It is like the Harvard or Yale of the U.S. but even that doesn't quite describe it. The campus houses the largest library in the country (it's a VERY big library), and the campus is absolutely gorgeous, with several traditional-looking buildings and lots of plants, trees, and ivy. One of the things that surprised me was finding out that it was designed and built by an American! I feel very excited and very honored to be able to take a class there. We met some of the people we will be working with there, and they were very friendly. Several of them were key to setting up this study abroad program with the U.S.! We spent a very pleasant afternoon there and then went back to the dorms to rest for a little bit.
For dinner, we tried hot pot, a very popular dish here. Everything is boiled in one pot - we had lotus root, sweet potato, wide noodles, glass noodles, lamb, pork, and so many other things. Along with that, we had some chestnuts and a sweet potato dish. The sweet potato was my favorite - it was cut into pieces, then coated with a sticky, sugary substance and was very hot. That is something I'd like to have again!
After dinner we were able to go back to the dorm, and our tour guide/program directors left us to explore on our own a little bit (they've shown us the area we are living in already, so we are familiar with how to get around). We went to the campus convenience store, and checked some of the prices there, and got some items we needed. After that, we met one of the students that was introduced to us as a person who was willing to help us adjust. We had met him the night before at dinner, and had expressed an interest with meeting people who would be willing to help us with our Mandarin in exchange for help with English. He brought two such student to meet us, and we had a wonderful time. He was also able to help us get connected to the school's internet, which was a huge relief to everyone!
So far, it was been quite the experience. Because we are living with other foreigners, we have already met a couple people from other countries - one from Kazakhstan and one from Cambodia. They are able to understand a little English, but it is easier to speak in Mandarin with each other.
Well, I think that is all for now! Hope you are all doing well, and that those of you in the southeast of the U.S. aren't getting hit too hard with the hurricane!
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