Dragons, Fortune Cookies, and Opium

Great Wall (长城)

2010-05-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I went to the Great Wall with Collin. It's a pretty epic story, so I am going to document every detail for you.

Collin and I started our journey to the Great Wall at 7am. It was pretty rough for a Saturday morning, but I was able to cope. We met at the 801 bus stop (right in front of my dorm). We took bus 801 to Jinsong Subway station (I'm going to warn you now, there are many legs to this journey). We got on the subway at Jinsong, made a few transfers (ended up transferring to Line 1, which is craziness. Line 1 was the original subway and it's always super crowded--if you know anything about these subways, you know they pack people in like sardines and it's really uncomfortable. Line 1 is the worst of the worst), and ended up at the Jishuitan Subway station.

This is good--this is where the directions say we should be. However, we ended up going out the wrong exit. Our mistake happened to work out really well. There was a bus station right outside of the subway station exit that took us to the bus stop we were supposed to find next. So it was just really convenient. Next, we had to get on a bus at Deshengmen that is supposed to take us right to the Great Wall at Badaling. Conveniently, there was a bus waiting there that we just hopped on. This wasn't the bus, but this was what it looked like.

Usually public buses cost 1 kuai for each trip, but this one cost 12 kuai because the trip is so long. I get a 60% discount because I'm a student, so the bus ride only cost 4.4 kuai for me (altogether it cost me 14 kuai, which translates to about 2 dollars--not too shabby for a trip to the Great Wall!).

The bus ride wasn't too bad. The bus was air conditioned and relatively comfortable. It ran like a normal public bus, so every now and then it stopped at a bus station to pick people up or drop them off. It took us out into what seemed like rural Beijing (we never actually left Beijing--the part of the wall we went to is even in Beijing). There were still a lot of cars, just narrower roads, more mountains, and less buildings. It was actually really very pretty.

On our bus ride, we passed by two other Great Wall sites. Since the Great Wall is huge, you basically just have to pick a spot on the wall to visit. You can just go one place and roam free on the wall. The places on the wall you can visit is actually pretty limited since it's crumbling in places.

We got stuck in traffic for, like, an hour. We saw a red sports car get hit by a truck--that was crazy. It made a crunching sound rather than a crashing sound, too.

At some point, we made it out of the traffic jam alive and we arrived at our destination--sort of. Part of the road to get to Badaling Great Wall was shut down for some reason (they never really gave a reason why), so the bus driver pulled over and told us to walk the rest of the way. When stuff like that happens, you just kind of have to go with it. So Collin and I got off the bus and went where we were directed to go. We ended up going to this touristy place with a lot of street vendors to wait in line to take a shuttle to the GW. There are some things that I really like about China--like the food. There are some things that I really don't like about China, too. For example, they have no concept of a line. So we just stood in a mob of people to wait for the shuttle bus. As soon as the shuttle bus came, people start pushing and shoving to get to the shuttle bus. They're really unnecessarily pushy. So you can imagine how that went. We ended up getting on a shuttle bus which took us to Badaling Great Wall.

Here's the entrance. It's very fancy and pretty.

We finally made it! We decided that we wanted to take a cable car to get to the Great Wall, so we bought our GW and cable car tickets. And then we had to wait in line for another 30-45 minutes. Apparently the cable car is pretty much the only way to get to the GW, unless you want to hike the way to it (and once you see the pictures of my view from the cable car and of the landscape, you'll know why everyone chooses the cable car over the hike).

So Collin and I finally get a cable car to go to the Great Wall. It was really fun, actually. A little bit scary at first because it's Chinese and could break at any moment, but we survived. Here is a picture of the cable car that was taken while we were waiting in line.

Here is a picture that I took while we were in the cable car, as we were heading to the Great Wall.

Here is another picture from the cable car. You can see why we didn't want to climb to the Great Wall.

The cable car took us right past the Great Wall, so I snapped a picture of it from the cable car. You can tell by the grossness on the cable car's window in the picture.

FINALLY we had made it. Actually, we had to stand in line again to get into the Great Wall. But, yes, basically we were there.

These were the first pictures I took of the Great Wall.

Notice that we're not actually ON the Great Wall yet. In order to get up onto it, you have to go into one of those tower things and climb up a bunch of steps to the top of the Great Wall. The person at the first tower told us that we couldn't go in because there were too many people, so we had to go to the next tower.

On our way to the next tower, I was looking at the hills over in the distance. You can see the GW in the distance, going up and down with the undulating hills. It's really very beautiful. And it has that misty, Chinese-y appearance to it too.

So, we got to the tower. We peeked around inside a little bit. There's nothing really special inside. I couldn't get a good picture, but Collin did. I'll try to steal that from him. But I did take a picture from the inside of the tower looking out.

Then, we made it up ONTO the wall. I even have some pictures of ME on the wall! You can see how many people there were that day. It was pretty crazy.

We walked a little bit of the wall. It's pretty much all stairs. You can imagine the difficulty of that at noontime in the Chinese climate.

While we were walking, there were 3 of what I would say were typical college boys. They were like, "hey, where are you from?" They were definitely from the States. I said "America!" And then they asked, "from where?" I said, "Maine." And then they're like "Right on! South Dakota! WHOOO!" and then continued their ascent up the Great Wall.

After a little bit of walking, Collin and I called it quits and went to go get something to eat. We had to wait to leave (I think Collin and I went at peak hours on Saturday and that's why we had to wait for everything). I ate some noodles. They were delicious.

After that, I decided to go souvenir hunting. There were a whole bunch of street vendors in the area selling Great Wall stuff. So Collin and I went and peeked around a bit. I'm pretty much comfortable with my Chinese enough to bargain for myself. Sometimes Collin helps me. One place, they sold some key chains that have a picture of the GW and then it says GW in Chinese and English and on the back it says "I climbed the great wall" in chinese and then it has a place where you can engrave the date and your name. I thought it was super cool, so I got it. She said 20 kuai I think initially, but I got it down to 7. When another lady was engraving it for me, the lady who sold it to me was scolding Collin in Chinese for helping me bargain. She said it was sort of dishonorable in a way to help me because I'm American and he's Chinese. Oh well.

Another place I went to buy a little Bird's Nest item. The lady wanted me to pay like 15 kuai for it. I told her I'd pay 5 for it. Then she came over to me and was like, "This is..." and I couldn't understand the rest of what she said, but I know she was trying to make it sound like it was worth more than it actually is. So, I said "Bu shi" emphatically, which basically means, "no it's not." She chuckled and was like, okay 5 kuai. Success.

The people who work at these places are really active salesmen. They'll get all up in your face with their products to try to sell them to you. One lady was selling t-shirts. I wasn't really into the t-shirts. I mean, they're cute and everything, but it just wasn't something I needed. She initially said 45 kuai. As Collin and I kept walking, she said 20 kuai. And then she said 10 kuai. I'm like, seriously? 10 kuai = roughly 1.50 USD. A dollar and a half for a souvenir t-shirt is a steal, so I bought one. I took a picture of my shirt for you.

I also bought you guys some things. I think you'll like them. You'll get them when I get back. :)

After buying some trinkets, Collin and I caught a bus back. But before catching the bus, I took some pictures. Here's a random street sign.

And here's the picture of the bus station sign.

This bus went straight to Deshengmen, so it went a lot quicker than the ride to the Great Wall. After we arrived at Deshengmen, we took a subway back to Dawanglu subway station and then finally a bus back to the dorm.

We started at 7am and got back at about 5:30. I was exhausted.

My roommate is turning our room into a daycare :'(

2010-05-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

Do you remember seeing these foam puzzle pieces in daycare?

I do. They were all over the floor. Kids built forts with them and stuff.

Well, one day, these foam pieces appeared on my roommate's side of the room.

She made a carpet around her bed and desk with them. I don't know if this is the new duct tape to divide our space or what. I think she's just weird and Asian, perhaps.

Here's her side of the room.

Qianmen (前门)

2010-05-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I went to Qianmen with my female Chinese friend, Melinda.

Literally, Qianmen means "front gate." Once upon a time, it was the front gate to enter the city of Beijing. Now it's just a touristy-type place with a lot of traditional Chinese architecture.

Here's a picture of what used to be the second gate to get into Beijing. It's now the entrance to the modern shopping Qianmen.

Here I am! Melinda took this picture.

Here's what it looks like after you walk through the gate. Like I said, it's a big touristy-area. Cars aren't allowed on the street, so it's really nice. Still have to watch out for bicycles, though.

Here's what it looks like to the left. More traditional buildings with modern stores.

And to the right.

Here's a big lantern thing. They have these things in every Chinese restaurant I've ever been to in the states.

Here's a random street shot. It's kind of similar to the hutong that me and Collin went to.

Melinda and I just sort of walked around Qianmen. I asked her to show me some traditional Chinese things. We stopped into a shoe shop, actually. They some Chinese shoes there. Melinda pointed out these really small, pointy shoes. They look kind of like these.

Back in the day, they used to bind young girls' feet so they would stay tiny (I'm sure you've heard this somewhere). Anywho, their feet wouldn't grow properly and would end up being very small and deformed. Melinda said that her grandmother or her great grandmother (I can't remember which) has tiny feet and she can't walk very well because of it.

I read up on the foot binding thing (缠足, called "chanzu"), and it's pretty brutal. They would break the toes and the arches of the foot. After that, it's just like a corset for the foot. Wikipedia it. It's interesting.

We also went into some clothing shops that had traditional clothing. One clothing store had this statue. It shows the process of making clothes back in the day. It's kind of cool.

We also went into a souvenir shop. They had one section with a lot of beads with Chinese characters. I ended up getting myself a cell phone charm with my Chinese name on it. It's really cute.

In the back of the souvenir shop, this guy was being loud.

As it turns out, if you pay 10 kuai, you can look into his little instrument there and he'll tell you a story. He was singing the story and the thing that the people are looking into is also a big musical contraption. It was really entertaining! I should've gotten a video. Oh well.

After that souvenir shop, we went to a tea place. They gave us free samples, so that was awesome. It smelled really good, too. It had this at entrance. It looks like the teapot is hanging in the air! Melinda actually showed me that the water running out of the teapot covers what is holding the teapot up. But it looks like it's floating!

Melinda and I actually stayed out pretty late. We walked down the whole street. This is what it looked like at night. You can see the second gate at the end of the street.

We had to go back by the 2 gates on our way out of Qianmen. Here's the second gate in the dark. As you can see, it's pretty massive.

Here's the other side of the second gate (the side we came in).

And here's the first gate. I didn't get a picture of it in the daytime. My bad.

That was my adventure on Friday. I have Monday and Tuesday off this week, so perhaps I'll have more adventures to share.

咖啡机

2010-05-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

I bought a coffee maker!

Here's the box.

And here it is all set up.

It's really cute. It came with a little scooop and its own filter, so I don't have to buy the paper ones. It makes me really happy. It's comforting to have something so familiar here with me.

My dad sent me some Dunkin Donuts coffee, so it's almost like the coffee from back home. :)

"她的中文有点儿好"

2010-05-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

I was at McDonald's the other day getting some food.

Before I come in, the cashier was talking to some lady. A friend of hers, I'm guessing.

As soon as I walk up to the cash register, the cashier pulls out this picture menu. I'm like, I've got this and I just verbaly told her my order (in Chinese). She asked me the standard McDonald's questions. Do you want the meal? For here or to go?

After I order, the lady that the cashier was talking to says, "她的中文有点儿好," which means "her Chinese is a little/kind of good."

Yay. Go me. :)

Chinglish and Signs

2010-04-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

At the Olympic Stadium, I noticed a few things that caught my eye. They're not exactly "Chinglish," but they sound and look kind of awkward. I made sure to document them so I could share them with you.

Now, I think this makes sense. I get it. I just think it sounds weird and very... sentimental? It's awfully gushy to be at something like the Olympics. Know what I mean?

This is funny. First of all, this sign is actually in the water fountain. So as you're drinking water, you can look down and see this sign. Secondly, it's just worded awkwardly. Thirdly, saving water is not a virtue.

Here's a water fountain sign. I thought it was cool. And there's Collin in the background. He was having a good time.

I see these every now and then. I'll try to take more pictures when I see things like this.

Olympic Mascots

2010-04-24T05:12:00.000-07:00

Since we're on the topic of the Beijing Olympics, I thought I'd show you this.

These are the Beijing Olympic mascots.

All of their names are 2 syllables. As I'm sure you can see, the 2 syllables of each of their names are the same: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. If you put each syllable together, it says: Beijing huanying ni (北京欢迎你). This means, "Beijing welcomes you."

Each of the animals represents an Olympic ring (you know, the Olympic symbol with the 5 rings intersecting) and has some sort of traditional Chinese aspect to it.

For example, Beibei (the blue one) is a fish. Well, it's not a fish... it's a mascot, but it has fish-like characteristics (and a fish-like headdress). Anyways, he represents prosperity.

Each one is unique and represents something about China. It's really cute. You can check this link out for more info: http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214068254.shtml

Olympic Stadium

2010-04-24T04:15:00.000-07:00

I went to the Olympic stadium on Friday!

Collin and I took the subway there. We got onto Line 10 and transferred to Line 8 to get there. Now, Line 8 was used specifically to transport visitors who came to see the Olympics. Needless to say, the subway stations on Line 8 were super nice. Here's a diagram of subway line 8. It lays it out pretty well.

We went to the Bird's Nest first. This is the Bird's Nest from relatively far away. This was my view when Collin and I came out from the subway.

This is a Collin at the Bird's Nest. He's my Chinese friend.

Here's my outtake of Collin in front of the Bird's Nest... just so you know that I didn't google search a picture of a random Chinese guy in front of the Bird's Nest. :)

Here's a close-up picture of the Bird's Nest. Collin said that it looks like it's made of metal, but the material it's made out of feels like wood.

Here's the Water Cube. It's pretty sweet.

There were also a lot of random buildings that had the Olympic logo that I decided to take pictures of. This one says "Olympic Construction Exhibition Hall."

There were also a lot of sculptures and artsy-type things in the area. This one is of people running. Isn't it cute?

This is a stick figure depiction of all the different olympic games.

The Stadium was divided into different parts. There was the section where all the games were played, but there was also a section that seemed like it was designed more for relaxation. It was like a park, kind of. But I think the idea was to introduce some traditional Chinese things to the visitors.

Here is a big wall of drums.

Here's a sculpture of 3 ladies playing a musical instrument.

This is really cool. It's an instrument... on the side of a building! They're like guitar strings. Or harp strings. But they're legitimately on the side of the building. You can even play them!

China and Numbers

2010-04-16T06:29:00.000-07:00

We talked about lucky and unlucky numbers in my Comprehensive class today.

Our teacher said that 4 (四, pronounced sì) is an unlucky number in China because it has the same pronunciation as "death" (死, pronounced sǐ). Only the tone is different.

On the other hand, 8 is a lucky number. That's because 8 (八, pronounced bā) is similar to the word for "to get rich" (发 from 发财, pronounced fā).

WangFuJing (王府井)

2010-04-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

I went to WangFuJing this past weekend with Collin.

WangFuJing is a really modern street in the center(ish) of Beijing. There are lots of malls and restaurants and stuff.

WangFuJing has lots of little side streets that go off of the main shopping street. The place where all the crazy food is is a branch of WangFuJing (if that makes sense).

So, here's the entrance to the little street of crazy food. Collin said that the set up was a tradional Qing dynasty style. So this is supposed to be pretty old school.

Here are some of the delicacies. Here are some baby scorpions and starfish. I have a funny story about this picture. So, I went right up to the counter so I could get a good picture. I go ahead and take my picture and everything and as I'm right up close to the little baby scorpions and starfish, I notice that the scorpions were alive! They were writhing and wiggling on those little sticks! It jumped me a little bit because I just had assumed that they were dead. Then the guy asked me if I wanted some... and told me they were delicious. I didn't care to find out.

Try to guess what this is.

(It's octopus)

Here are some big black scorpions, some cockroaches, and some more baby scorpions.

I dont know what this is, but it looked pretty interesting.

Here are some random WangFuJing street shots.

Here's a big Yao Ming. He's a superstar here. A lot of my IELTS students are really into him.

I love milk. I thought this was cute.

Like I said, WangFuJing is a big shopping place. The buildings are really big and pretty.

Hutong (胡同)

2010-04-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to a hutong with Collin. A hutong is like a Chinese slum. This slum still has the traditional Chinese architecture, but it's been fixed up and has lots of new, modern shops and restaurants in it.

We got off the bus in front of this mammoth. Collin said that it was some sort of building that people went to to wish for good dreams. Something like that. I just thought it looked cool.

Here's some really nifty Chinese architecture. Can you see the little lions on the roof?

Again, some more architecture.

And here are some sweet windows:

I took some random street shots of the hutong. I've decided that I like taking random pictures. You can sort of get a feel for the atmosphere and look around in the background and stuff.

Here's a gong. It's pretty sweet.

There was a bunch of construction going on at this little hutong. Here are some people working. There were a lot of these rubble piles.

Here's the exit of the little hutong street.

After we exited the little hutong street, Collin and I took a right and walked down the street a little bit. We came to this place with a lot of bars by a lake. It was pretty sweet. We walked around.

This is the entrance to the place.

I saw this little old lady and I had to take a picture. This is everywhere in Beijing. People will bring a blanket and a bunch of stuff to sell. Or a big wheelbarrow full of stuff to sell. They're everywhere. And you have to bargain for it.

This is a Starbucks set up in a traditional Chinese-type place. I thought it was weird, so I had to take a picture.

Starbucks and all of the bars and stuff were next to a big lake. These are some cute little boats in the lake.

Here's the street. It's super crowded with a ton of shops and stuff.

And this is for you Curtis:

Peking Opera

2010-04-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

The Peking/Beijing Opera is sort of a unique experience that I was encouraged to check out. The school provides a few excursions for us foreigners, and this happened to be one of them.

Here are two pictures of the stage before the show started. They both suck, sorry. But you can sort of see it.

I don't know what the title of the opera was, but it was basically about this woman who went to this mystical mountain to get some magical herbs to heal her dying husband. Something like that. My little guide to Beijing book told me that the plots to these operas are sometimes incomprehensible and stupid. The plot isn't really what matters.

The show started off with a little band. Here's the band.

After the band played for a few minutes, the show started. There wasn't any dialogue throughout this opera, which I guess is similar to our operas (except soap operas, but those don't count). The first part just had some nifty music and people dancing around each other. Here are some pictures.

As you can see, the costumes are really detailed and elaborate. The makeup is super elaborate too.

The next part had singing. This type of opera singing is definitely an acquired taste. The voice was extremely high pitched and squeaky and she drew every syllable out. It was annoying and not very pleasant, I don't think. Youtube it if you can and see if you can find a video of it. Here's the singing lady. She's the one who went to the mountain to get some herbs.

This is her fighting for her herbs. She won this battle.

It was a nifty experience. It was definitely worth checking out. And it was free. That's always a plus.

"I think our minds are different." (我的精神和你的不一样)

2010-03-29T03:14:00.000-07:00

I hung out with Collin this past Saturday.

He took me to some swanky mall to go shopping (called Shin Kong). It was just a big mall of expensive European clothing stores. I wasn't feeling it.

I did, however, find a Charlie Brown cafe. And it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like--a coffee shop that's Charlie Brown themed. I looked for pictures online, but I didn't find any good ones. Here's a picture of one of the coffee cups though. I had a nice cup of coffee from one of these :)

So, anyways, I took us to the Charlie Brown cafe. Collin and I sat and chit-chatted for a little bit.

Then out of the blue, like it was so casual, Collin asks me, "do you think your life is significant?" I tried to explain to him that that's a really big question and that it's incredibly hard to answer. He didn't really get it, though. So I told him that I haven't really done anything particularly meaningful in my life yet or impacted people in a meaningful way. I told him that when I die I hope to have had a meaningful life.

To which Collin responded, "I think our minds are different." He explained that he believes that life is sort of inherently significant. The fact that you are born is significant. So significance is had from the beginning, it isn't made or created.

I think it's a cultural insight.

Chinese Education

2010-03-29T02:58:00.000-07:00

I learned something the other day about the Chinese education system.

First of all, all of the students are ranked by ability. In each class, there's a "best" student and a "worst" student.

After students graduate from high school in China, they choose whether they want to work or go to college (just like in America).

If students choose to go to college, they are placed in their field of study--it's not a choice like it is in the states. Based on the student's ability, a suitable major is picked for the student.

For example, I made a new Chinese friend named Melinda. Her major is some sort of waste/water major. It has to do with water waste and conservation. It's kind of a weird major. It was pretty obvious that she didn't choose it.

China: +1

2010-03-29T02:54:00.000-07:00

I just recently found out that there's a plus side to living in China (and it's not the food).

Free music downloads!

I'm not even joking.

Google.com.hk has a little music tab. I can listen and download music for free! Not just Chinese music, either. There's lots of American music. I even downloaded a few Coldplay songs. :)

Sandstorm

2010-03-20T00:57:00.000-07:00

This isn't my view, of course, but this is what the sky looked like.

I experienced my first sandstorm here in Beijing. Apparently it turns the sky all yellow.

I tried to take some pictures of what it looks like outside my window, but my camera wouldn't pick up the yellow tint. It really did look yellow, though.

Here's a picture of my windowsill, though. The little yellow-orangish parts are grains of sand on the windowsill.

Basically, here's what you need to know. It was a Mongolian sandstorm that hit Beijing (so it came from the Northwest). The government issued a warning saying that the air is really hazardous today from the sand and pollution.

Like I said, I looked outside early this morning and everything was yellow. As the day progressed, the yellow went away. At about 3:00pm I decided to go outside. I could see the sand in the cracks and crevices of the ground, but I didn't really notice a difference in the air besides that it was really windy. Every now and then, I wouldn't even notice but I would close my teeth and I could feel sand between my teeth. I also put Blistex on before I left. I wiped my lip and I had some teeny tiny sand particles on my lips. So, even though I couldn't see it, it was still there.

I've seen a lot of people with facemasks on, but I never really understood why. I think I'm going to invest.

Here are some other pictures of Beijing from news articles that I found online:

Sandstorms are exciting. We don't get these in Maine, that's for sure.

It makes me wonder if maybe we could get a "sand day" off from school. Wouldn't that be cool. I think there's potential.

Here are the links to the news articles:
(Some Chinese News) http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-03/20/c_13218239.htm
(Boston Globe) http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/03/20/orange_sky_in_beijing_for_years_biggest_sandstorm/
(Reuters) http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62J0DE20100320
(MSNBC) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35959965/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

Chinese Zodiac Crayons

2010-03-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

I was stumbling when I came across this:

They're crayons carved into each of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals.

It's Chinese, so I figured it was appropriate. :)

Here's the link to the website if you want to check it out: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/17/crayons-carved-into.html

Chinese Sayings

2010-03-19T05:38:00.000-07:00

I had supper with Collin today.

I had some dumplings while he had some baozis.

I like to bathe my dumplings in vinegar because they're delicious that way.

Collin told me that there's a Chinese saying, 男酸女辣. Basically, if a female is pregnant and she craves vinegar, that means she'll have a boy. If she craves hot and spicy food, she'll have a girl.

I thought it was cute.

Teaching: Week 2

2010-03-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

This week, Robert and I are focusing on comparisons and weather. The activities didn't go as well as I had hoped with class 2 (I havent taught the other class yet). However, one of my students said this and I thought it was really cute:

"Spring is a hopeful season."

I think it is. :)

ZhongShan Park and The Forbidden City (中山公园和故宫)

2010-03-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I ventured to Tiananmen and decided to wander into the Forbidden City.

My first attempt was an epic fail. The Tiananmen gate has many entrances. The first one I tried went to some sort of garden thing. I found out later that I had stumbled upon ZhongShan Park. It's a park that was made in Sun Yat Sen's honor. I don't know who he was or what he did, but it was cute and had a lot of sweet buildings.

Here's the entrance to the garden. It's prettier in real life.

This isn't really significant in any way. The garden had a lot of these covered paths that you can walk on/in. There were also a lot of gates with really intricate painting (like you can see at the top).

This also isn't really significant. I think it's cute. I really like the roof.

Okay, I don't know if these rocks have any significance or not, but I think they do. I saw a lot of them in the garden. We also have one at my school that's mounted like it's a piece of art. These rocks are... pourus? I don't know if that's the best way to describe it because the "pores" would be super huge. The rocks have a lot of holes in them, though. And they're really big.

Here's a cute little open gate thing. There's not much more to say about it, except that it's cute. Can you see the couple walking down the path up ahead? That's cute too. :)

After walking around a little bit, I left the garden. In my second attempt to get to the Forbidden City, I just followed the crowd. I made it this time.

Here’s a map of the Forbidden City to help us through this.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t know much about Chinese history. I didn’t really know the significance of the Forbidden City until I skimmed through the Wikipedia article. And I still don’t really get it. There’s a lot of Harmony and Purity and Peace that I just don’t understand. However, I do know that the Forbidden City is historically significant and there are a lot of cool things to see if you like pretty buildings.

Here’s my take on it: you go through a TON of buildings which pretty much all look the same. It’s very big and you walk a lot. There are set-ups in some of the buildings so you can see what it was like to live there as an emperor during the Qing dynasty.

So I went through the Tiananmen gate (which is what I posted pictures of in my Tiananmen post). After the Tiananmen gate, there's another building that I had to go through. After the second building, I came out to a big open area with lots of people. I bought a ticket there. Before heading inside the Forbidden city, this was the building I had to go through.

The building was huge and it went around 3 sides (if that makes sense).

Here's a hobo who was looking through the trash and stuff in the same area. He was actually really cute and asian. I wish he had turned around for the picture.

So I get in and I have to walk over this nice little bridge.

I get on the bridge and walk forward a little bit and this is what I see! You should recognize this. This is, like, the epitome of China.

There were big lions in front of the building. I told you the lions were outside of a lot of entrances! I had to wait a long time to take a picture, and I still got this random guy in front of the lion. Oh wells.

The inside of that building is a touristy-type place. There's a lot of info on the Forbidden City and a couple little shops. I thought this was cool, though. Here's the ceiling.

After going through that building, I come out the other side and this is the next building:

There were quite a few of these things outside the building. I don't know what they're for, but they look pretty cool.

This is a close-up picture.

This was the inside of the building. It was closed off, so I couldn't go inside.

There's a lot of detailed work that you can't really see from far away. Here's part of the building close up. It's a couple of dragons.

Here's a big cauldron. There were a lot of these outside the building, too.

I can't remember where I took this, but this is what appears to be a bedroom.

Here are some more roofs. I really like them.

Here's some detailed stone carving.

Here's a dragon. It was just hanging out outside of a building like the lion.

Here's a cute little building that I saw towards the end of my Forbidden City adventure.

At the end of the Forbidden City, there's a little garden-type thing. I believe it's called the Imperial Garden. It's different than the garden I went to at the beginning. This one is much smaller. Here's the entrance to the garden.

Here's a cute little gazebo-type building that was in the garden.

After the Imperial Garden, I exited the Forbidden City and came out the other side. :) That's the end of my adventure.

Uyghur Food

2010-03-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

I went out to eat Saturday night with Brad (the professor that came to Beijing with me) and one of Brad's co-workers, James.

We went out to eat at a Uyghur (pronounced "weeger") restaurant. The Uyghurs are a Muslim minority in China. Here's the wikipedia article you should totes check out if you have time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_people

These Uyghurs really like mutton, so I had some of that. They had like every body part of the sheep you could imagine--kidneys, stomach, intestines. I wasn't feeling that adventurous. I had some mutton, a beef dish, and a vegetable dish. It wasn't that bad.

They had little appetizers you could order. They had this bread thing called "nan" which is almost exactly like the "nan" that me and Karishma had at the Indian restaurant in Lewiston. I was excited. I had some of that and it was delicious.

Daylight Savings

2010-03-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning at 3am, you all in the US of A will turn your clocks ahead an hour in observance of Daylight Savings.

Fun fact: China doesn't participate in daylight savings.

That means we're an hour closer! :) Yay.

These are the countries currently observe daylight savings, used to observe daylight savings, and have never observed daylight savings.

http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/g.html

Taiwan

2010-03-13T05:46:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I was with Collin (my Chinese friend) and Laura (another Chinese friend). We were just chit-chatting, working on Collin and Laura’s English and my Chinese.

Out of the blue, Collin asked me if I thought Taiwan was a country on its own or part of China.

I said that Taiwan was a country.

Apparently that was the wrong response.

Apparently this is a hot button topic here in China. It’s a lot like the Revolutionary War in America—how the southern states seceded from the rest. Taiwan sort of seceded from China and considers themselves a legitimate country, but China still considers Taiwan a part of China.

China is completely capable of invading and taking Taiwan back, but I guess the US has an agreement with Taiwan that if China does invade, then the US will provide Taiwan with weapons and stuff but not troops. But given China’s development and the size of their armed forces, the US wants to stay on China’s good side too.

Anyways, there's an interesting political tidbit. :)

Note to self: The Chinese keep their stall doors open

2010-03-13T02:27:00.000-08:00

I walked in on someone using one of these:

It was horrifying. Not only was she squatting down, using one of these pre-modern (which is totally a word I made up) toilets WITH THE STALL DOOR OPEN, but she was also TEXTING on her cellphone whilst doing her business.

As Curtis said, there is something very wrong here.

Cultural Differences

2010-03-10T03:34:00.000-08:00

I had my first day of class today! Yay!

It went well.

I know I told both of you that I had my lesson plan all figured out for the week. I started out with the "What 3 things or people would you bring with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?" question. I broke them up into groups to discuss.

I went around the room one-by-one so I could learn their names and gauge their English level. Some did well, some struggled.

But their answers really interested me.

I wrote my answers down before class so I'd have something to share with them about myself. I said I'd bring 1) my iPod (assuming that it'd never lose battery power), 2) chocolate (a lifetime supply), and 3) my brother. To be honest, I was thinking about saying I'd bring you two, but I just didn't feel like explaining that. I tried to make it simple.

A lot of them said they'd bring a member of the opposite sex. Like... an unspecified member of the opposite sex. Many of the boys said "girl." One ballsy boy said "sexy girl." They said mostly for company. Many of the girls said they'd bring a "man." Their justification was mostly for protection and survival purposes. Perhaps I'm looking into this too much, but I think it reflects a big cultural difference. I would never deem some random man or woman important enough to bring to an island, but I think their culture's emphasis on the family makes them need to have that sort of relationship (even on a deserted island). If that makes sense.

Aside from bringing a member of the opposite sex, many of them said they would bring survival equipment. Many of them said knives and water. One student said he'd bring a fishing rod.

I had a few male students who said they'd bring superheroes to their deserted island. Superman, Spiderman, and Batman (who they called "Battyman," which I thought was really cute).

I thought it was interesting. None of mine were very practical. I thought about bringing things that would be practical, but mostly I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be bored on a deserted island. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think most Americans would bring 3 similar things. Or at least 1 of them would be for entertainment purposes.

There's this one student, Lebron (I wonder where he got that name...), who came up to me during break. He said that he was interested in going to school in America. He was asking me if Washington had good schools. It's so cute--I think he really wants to do well and improve his English. He even asks me what he should do to improve his English. He also calls me "teacher."

One of my students (a female student) asked for my phone number. I think she wants to practice her English outside of class. My supervisor (sort of) told Robert and I that there aren't really any rules that say we can't socialize with our students outside of class so it would be up to us to figure out how we wanted to handle that. I really don't mind, though. I gave her my number. Maybe we can get a group of students together to practice English outside of class.

I think the students like that Robert and I are in the same age group as them. I think they find us more relatable because of it. They asked me about fashion and music in America. One student asked me about Las Vegas!

It was a good class. I enjoyed it. I didn't get to do my Catch the Ghost activity, though. The one-on-one talking to people took a lot more time than I had anticipated. I think I'll try to do it another class period.

Pledge of Allegiance

2010-03-10T03:24:00.000-08:00

I have a funny story.

Yesterday, I was hanging out with Collin and a couple of his friends (to the set the scene).

We were talking about classes. I don't remember how it came up, but Collin asked me if Americans recite something before class. It took me like 2 seconds to figure out that he was talking about the Plege of Alliegiance. I told him that we put our right hand on our heart and people take off their hats to say the Pledge. I recited it for him and everything.

He started laughing! He thought the whole idea was super funny. After doing it for years and years, I don't even really think about it. It's something we used to do (before college, anyways). But I can see the humor in it. It is kind of silly.

I had to share that with you. The Chinese know about our Pledge of Allegiance... and they're amused.

Adventure to Tiananmen (天安门) Square

2010-03-09T02:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went to go find some things I’ve needed (like scissors). I never found anything I needed, but I did decide to be ballsy and go to Tiananmen Square.

Here’s a map of Tiananmen square. The subway station took me right into the middle of it. I think I ended up between the People’s Heroes monument and Mao’s Mausoleum.
The picture won't embed, so here's the link: http://mkjourneys.com/link%20resources/maps/tiananmen_square.jpg

This is what I saw when I left the subway station.

And after walking for a little bit.

If I look the other way, this is across the street. It’s the Monument to the People’s Heroes.

One thing that was a little uncomfortable was all of the security. There were lines of security people that I had to walk past. Every now and then, they’d just randomly choose someone to check. It happened to the lady I was walking behind. They asked her to open her purse. I didn’t stay for the rest of it, I just snuck by and continued walking. There were many of these security check lines, though.

Here’s some random police officer.

There were also people on guard in front of the Tiananmen gate. Here’s one entrance.

Here’s a lion. I thought he was cool.

There was also this random couple who said hi to me. I take interest in pretty much anyone who says hi to me, so I stopped and chatted for a second. I think they just wanted to practice their English. I told them I was a student studying abroad from the US. They told me they were from Wuhan, China.

Also, notice the overcast sky in all of the pictures? That’s how it is almost every day here in Beijing. It’s kind of depressing. I now feel like I take Maine’s blue sky for granted.

I just went for a few minutes. I have to go back to check out all of the sites and to take some more pictures. The security was kind of scary, though. I feel like they would target me (for obvious reasons) in the areas with more security and I didn’t have my passport on me, nor do I know where the nearest US consulate is. So I just peaced.

Western food in Beijing (西饭馆在北京)

2010-03-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

I wanted to do a post on the American food here in Beijing. It’s nice to see something familiar around here.

I did a post on McDonald’s not too long ago. Here’s another McDonald’s I found in Beijing.

Here’s Papa Johns! I was really excited to see this. I didn’t know it sold internationally.

The first character on the sign on the right is “Bang!” Basically, it’s like “great!” The next two characters are just a phonetic translation of John.

Pizza Hut!

I really thought I took a picture of KFC. I’ve seen a few of those around here. Also, there are a bunch of Starbucks. I’ll get pictures of those soon.

Architecture!

2010-03-08T02:48:00.001-08:00

Here’s some sweet architecture that I pass on my way to the subway station. I think it’s pretty sweet. We don’t see stuff like this in Maine.

There’s awesome architecture in random places. I’ll snap some more pictures when I come across some.

Hot Pots and Other Adventures!

2010-03-02T04:03:00.000-08:00

I have a weekend adventure to tell you about!

So, I've been communicating with this person, Whitney, via email for a while now. We have a mutual friend, Andy, who is a guy from my Chinese 201 class. She's also from Maine so it's cool. Anyways, Whitney and I got together this weekend to get a cell phone and to go out to supper.

At about 1:45 I hop on the subway. The subway stop closest to my school is Jinsong. Here's a map of the subway:

Look at Line 10 (it's the pink line shaped like an L). Jinsong is on the very end (look at both ends and you'll find it). That's my subway station! So I get on at Jinsong and I go north 1 stop to Shuangjing, where I meet Whitney. She's really nice and friendly and extremely generous. She's really sort of taken me under her wing and I really appreciate it.

Our first order of business was getting me a cell phone. Whitney gave me an old cell phone that she had laying around. I just needed to buy a SIM card and some credit for it. Whitney and I go a couple stops North (I don't exactly know where) and end up at a big mall in search of a SIM card and cell phone credit. You can actually buy a SIM card and credit right at the little street vendors. That's actually where we end up going, but we still went to the mall for kicks. Anyways, we end up getting me a SIM card and some credit for my phone. Now I have a working cell phone in Beijing! Yay.

After that, Whitney asked me if there's anything else I need to get. I need socks! I only brought 3 pairs with me. I don't know why I only came up with 3 pairs of socks to pack... Curtis... but I really need some. So Whitney takes me to the Silk Market to get socks.

I don't know if you're familiar with the Silk Market here in Beijing, but it's a pretty big thing. It's definitely a tourist attraction. Basically, it's an indoor mall with lots of different shops. Here's a picture I found online of it:

They sell everything from trinkets to suitcases. So Whitney and I go off in search of socks for me. I'm looking specifically for black ankle socks. And as you're walking around, these salespeople are really up in your face. They grab you and they shove their product in your face to try to get you to buy. They also say things like, "I'll give you the best price... just for you" and "we have ____ on sale! Only ____!" As soon as you enter the store, they're all up in your face even more. They ask you what you're looking for and they offer suggestions. It's definitely no Walmart where you can passively shop for whatever you want. Also, you have to bargain with these people, too, which is a little intimidating. That's why I had Whitney. Whitney and I stop at one place that had socks. We asked them how much it cost for a bundle of socks (their bundle had 3 pairs). The lady said 15 kuai for 3 pairs of socks. That's kind of expensive, so we just walked away. We went to another store where the lady wanted to charge us 80 kuai for 10 pairs! They were really trying to rip us off--they really try to rip foreigners in general off. Whitney and I went to yet another shop. At this place, the guy started out pretty stern on his price, but then he lowered it to 3 pairs for 10 kuai. That was the best price so far, so I bought my socks there! Sorry I just told you a long story about me buying socks. Its kind of interesting though!

After our sock buying, we look around the silk market a little bit. They have little Chinese candies that I'm totally going to go back and buy. They even had Chicken feet in a bag that you could buy! I might bring that back for you Monique!

After exploring the silk market, Whitney and I head over to Chaoyangman to meet Whitney's friends Travis and Jane for supper. To see Chaoyangman on the map, look at the dark blue subway line that goes in a circle (Line 2). If you see where the red intersects with the blue on the right side, then look up 1 dot. That's Chaoyangman! We met her friends at Starbucks. I had a Frappacino there! It was nice to have something familiar. We chit-chatted for awhile. They're all English teachers for the same company, so they talked a lot about teaching. It was cool to listen to their stories and about their lessons that worked (and didn't work).

After Starbucks, we headed over to this place called Rock My Pot for supper. This place specializes in hot pots. A hot pot is a big pot of steaming hot water with vegetables and spices. You get raw meat and vegetables on the side to put into the hot pot to cook. You also have a little sauce that you create yourself (they provide all of the ingredients for you) to dip your food in after it comes out of the hot pot. This place, in particular, has little individual hot pots--usually there's just one big hot pot that the table shares.

Here's a picture of the individual hot pots on the table. Mine was the one on the left closest to the window.

Here's another picture without the flash.

I got some spicy chili seasoned hot pot. Whitney got the same thing. Travis and Jane got some yellow curry seasoned hot pot. On the side, we got a TON of meat and vegetables. We got some pork, some chicken, some lamb. We got broccoli, cabbage, raddish, potatoes, noodles.

Here's a picture of only some of the fixings we got for out hot pots. The bowl of red stuff in the front is my sauce bowl to dip stuff in after it comes out of the hot pot.

And here is a picture of my individual little hot pot.

After our hot pot adventure, I was invited to go watch a soccer game with the group. Me and Jane peaced out to go home, though. I had to get back to the dorm before the gates closed. My walk back was an adventure too! I'll share in my next post.

This is a McDonald's post! (麦当劳)

2010-02-26T03:23:00.000-08:00

I found a McDonald's one day! It's right around the corner from me.

It's a really big McDonald's too! I went in today, actually. I held off from mowing down on my delicious chicken sandwich long enough to take a picture for you guys. Again, sorry it's blurry. I need to know why my camera keeps doing this to me.

I do have to say, though, the portions are a bit smaller here. That makes sense, but today I wish they were a tad bit bigger.

Comparably, McDonald's is pretty expensive here in China. I can get a bigger meal for cheaper elsewhere.

As it turns out, the McDonald's here is a sit-down restaurant! If you go in and sit down, waiters will come and wait on you! Isn't that crazy?

Also, they have a sort of delivery service, I believe. I see people with McDonald's uniforms on riding bikes with big McDonald's box on the back. It's hard to explain, but it's cute. They even have McDonald's bike helmets!

Yay McDonald's! It's nice to see something familiar around here.

Everything is metered in China

2010-02-26T03:13:00.000-08:00

It's true! At UMF, room and board covers all of your expenses: hot water, electricity, meals, etc. Not here.

I have to pay for my electricity. Luckily, I usually only plug in my laptop and light.

This is the electricity box in the corner of my room. It tells me how many kuai I have left. My roommate put 40 kuai on it just before she left. Which doesn't make any sense, really. I don't know why she would do that. Unless she's just nice. Which is a possibility.

And I told you about getting hot water in my last post. Here's a picture of my hot water card and my subway/bus card (the hot water card is on the bottom, the subway/bus card is on the top). Sorry it's blurry.

I also have to pay for internet here. That kind of sucks because I'm on the internet all the time.

One thing that UMF makes you pay for is laundry. BJUT makes you pay for a laundry card to do your laundry, too. Although they do offer to wash your sheets for you every week for free.

I need to buy a card to use the phone in my room, too.

I feel like there are other things. If I think of more, I'll post them!

Dorm! (宿舍)

2010-02-26T02:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings from China!

I figured my first post would be on where I'm living now!

I don't have pictures of the outside or of the front desk area. I will get those at some point to show you, though!

This is my hall. I live on the 2nd floor. It's kinda dreary looking, but it's not so bad.

This is my room! I live in 211.

Once you walk in, this is what you see! I live on the left side, my roommate lived on the right side. She actually just moved out today, so it looks a little different now.

If you walk in a little bit and look to my side, this is what you see. I like to keep it simple. I only had 2 suitcases and a carry-on to pack, so I don't have much.

And if you turn to the left again, you'd be facing the door. This is what you would see.

Now for the bathroom! Our bathroom is pretty exciting. It has a lot to offer. For example, here you have your standard western-style potty.

And here you have your Eastern potty! I haven't tried it yet, but I will one day. I know I'm just not used to these types of toilets, but I'm so amazed when I see people use these toilets over the other one. I just feel like the other one would be so much more comfortable.

And then we have some sinks (sorry for the flash).

Then if you go in further, there's a little room with 2 showers. I didn't get an outside-looking-in picture of the shower room, but here's what the inside of a shower stall looks like.

Do you see that little gray box? That little contraption is what gives me hot water. I have to pay for everything here! Even hot water. I have a shower card that I stick into a little slot, then I press the red button and I get hot water!

feed my fish

2010-02-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

In my spare pre-departure time, I have been effing around with the blog layout. I added some koi fish at the top (that's pretty Chinese, right?). They will follow your cursor if you move it into the white part of the page. If you click in the white part, you can feed them. :)