an update for Petey.

so, i am still alive.
I am currently in Longji, staying on a rice terrace it is pretty sweet.
After this, my group is going to Yangshou and then back to Beijing.
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

Alive.

Starbucks has crappy internet!!
the trip has been great so far. I have visited Luoyang and now I am ending my time in Xi'an. Tomorrow I will go to Chengdu to visit the pandas! I saw the Terracotta Solidier today, they were pretty awesome! I got some good pics that I promise I will post. I also have visited temples and grottos. I will explain more later but just wanted to post and say that I am ALIVE!!
I will try to post again soon to add more updates. I will be back in Beijing on May 16 and then back in DC on the 18th.

Last Few Weeks!

thats right! i camped on the Great Wall of China, it was probably the coolest thing I have done in Beijing.  My program set up an overnight trip for us there.  First we had dinner and a campfire at a farmers house.  Then we trekked up the side of a mountain onto a deserted part of the Great Wall.  From there three of my friends and my (teacher) camped out in a tower.  We made a fire, listened to music and hung out.  We didn't any sleep because it was SOOO FREAKING COLD!! so we watched the sunrise!! It was so beautiful and peaceful.  

Before that I have just been enjoying my last few days in Beijing.  A week ago, I made dumplings at my coworkers house.  It was a great experience and I am going to perfect my dumpling making skills over the summer .  Another day my language partner took me to a hutong (old Beijing street) and we tried  snack foods.  Two weekends ago, it was my roomates birthday.  We went and saw a flying acrobat show.  It was amazing and a bit like Cirque du Soil.  Today I brought my friends to my internship.  All the kids loved them and the two headmasters took us out to a fancy dinner!  It was a great day.

I cannot believe I have less than a week in Beijing.  I have really enjoyed my time here and there is no question I will be back.  Beijing is full of culture and things to do and I have met so many great friends here, I am going to miss it SOO MUCH.  I am excited because soon I will embark  on a two week study trip in Central China.  I will be going to Xi'an (Terracotta Solidiers), Chengdu (Panda Reserve) and Guilin.  It should be a great trip and of course I am going to take tons of pictures!

在北京。

Happy Easter!

 So I will further explain my last post.  Apparently John McCain came to Beida to lead a roundtable discussion with faculty and students from an association.  Luckily the discussion was being hosted in the building next to my chinese class.  We somehow stumbled outside just about the time he was scheduled to arrive.  It was just so odd because he just arrived in a coach bus, walked out and greeted everyone from the association and then walked into the building.  There was no elaborate security scheme and there were only a dozen people waiting to see him.  My entire Chinese class was able to sneak up right near him with no trouble.  If this was in America, that would have never happened.  It was a really surreal thing.  But honestly, everyday in 中国 (China) is ridiculous.

Anyways, back to my everyday life in China.  Things have quieted down after the big birthday weekend.  I have been just hanging out, going to class and my internship.

Yesterday, I went to the Summer Palace.  It was absolutely beautiful but it was SO crowded!  I went with some of my Chinese friends, after we went out for pizza.  For one of them, it was the first time she had ever had pizza!  

Last weekend, a couple of my friends and I went to the Olympic Stadium.  It was really cool because they let you just walk right onto the turf.  

Other than that I have:

Gotten my hair cut

Went on an adventure to the Beijing International Post Office with my 老师 (teacher).

Had some decent mexican food

Done some shopping at local markets

It is spring time in 北京 (Beijing).  It is absolutely beautiful outside because all the flowers are blooming.  The only issue I have is that I am allergic to the majority of those flowers!  

Oh well, that is what is new for now.  I only have 3 weeks left in Beijing, and then we are going on our 2 week study trip and then 我回美国。(I return to the US)

 

OH CHINA!

a long update is on the way, but i just had to share this

today I was ten feet away from John McCain. 

no lie, he was here on campus at Beida

I have lived in DC for three years and have never ran into anyone famous, but here in China, I freaking almost meet John McCain.

weird isnt it

But no worries Mom, when I saw him I was wearing a t-shirt with a Donkey on it.

Birthday Weekend

I wanted to thank everyone for the birthday wishes, cards, emails and gifts.  I had a terrific birthday and now I am 21!

For the big weekend celebrations, a group of us did some kareoke, went out to a few bars, had an American brunch.  Oddly enough, a boy in my program has the same birthday as me, therefore we shared the festivities.

Also on Saturday my school organized a trip to Cuandixia, an ancient Ming village located 90 km from Beijing.  I got to see the village and hang out with some of my chinese friends that I have not seen in a while!

Then on my actual birthday, I went to my internship.  All the children were so excited and they gave me many presents (alot of oranges, apples and paper decorations).  They also sang me happy birthday in Chinese!  I gave out American candy (Skittles and Starburst) to them as my "party favors".  It was really funny because some of the kids loved it and some of the kids spit it out.  Then my coworker Judy took me out for lunch.  She told me that in China it is a tradition to eat noodles with egg on your birthday.  This signifies good luck and a long life.  I had some noodles and other delicious chinese food.  Then later on that night, a whole group of people went out to dinner, again Chinese food.  Then on Tuesday, my program had a cake for me, which was very sweet.  The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful and I am looking forward to relaxing on the weekend.  I am going to post Birthday/Internship/Cuandixia pictures along with some random pictures of my life in China:

Post 7: Finally Updated.

Sanya was beautiful.  It had the look and feel of Hawaii.  It was about 85 degrees the whole time we were there.

Some of the awesome things I did there:

1. Ate raw sugarcane plant, YUM!

2. Swam in the ocean

3. Laid on the beach

4. Ate awesome Western food

5.  Took a boat ride

6. Bought tons of pearls

I went with a group of people from my program.  We stayed at a youth hostel, but it was like a hotel, the rooms were so nice!  we just hung out on the beach and took in all the sights and sounds.  We were the only Americans there, most visitors to Sanya are Chinese tourists and Russians.

Before I went to Sanya, Mom and Sarah came and visited me.  It was so much fun!  I got to do some many things I had not done before.  Highlights of the trip include The Forbidden City, Lama Temple and Confucius Temple.  All these spots had beautiful ancient buildings and great scenery.  They also visited the school and the kids at my internship.  The kids were so happy to meet more Americans and they presented us with many gifts.  They even gave Sarah a Chinese name.   Also one night, we tried some street food and met some Chinese students.  We ended up having tea with them in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony.  I also took them to the 798 Art Gallery and gave them a tour of the campus here at Beida!

Having them here was great because we ate out at different restaurants and explored different parts of the city.   I think they really enjoyed their time in Beijing, I am sad they had to go.  But it was really interesting trying to explain things to Mom and Sarah.  It makes me realize how hard it will be for me to explain my time in China when I am back in the US.  Things are just so different here (but a good kind of different), almost everything needs a explanation or background story.  

It is almost the end of the week here and my birthday is on MONDAY! I am very excited!

着你生日块了！

Zhe ni shengri kuai le!

Happy Birthday to You!

Post # 6

Alright, so I have been lazy and have severely slacked on posting. Here is a massive update on my daily life in Beijing
The Good:
My internship at a primary school: the kids are super fun and I just hang out with them all day. I teach them english and they help me with my chinese.
Last week it snowed in Beijing for the first time in a year. It was only about 2 inches but it made everything look so pretty.
A few Chinese friends I have made. I have a language partner named Robert, he is a graduate student at Beida, and he helps me with my Chinese. I have also met a group of girls. They are very nice and we go out for dinner sometimes.
Spring Break, its in the middle of March and I have just made plans to go to Sanya. It is a beach town on the island of Hainan. It is known as the Hawaii of China. I AM SO EXCITED!
Carepackages- thanks Aunt Janice and Grandpa! I now have an overload of chocolate
Carrefour- A French chain supermarket that sells Land o Lakes Cheese and Pop Secret popcorn.
American breakfasts on Sunday mornings at a local bar. Three pancakes, two scrambled eggs and tea, YUM!
The restaurant on campus we have nicked named “the playstation place”. At this restaurant you used a hand held computer that displays in English the menu to order. The console also includes pictures and descriptions of how the food is made. It is wonderful because it has vegetarian dumplings, eggdrop soup and the best broccoli ( I mean not as good as Nanny’s, but close!)
The bags of cold noodles they sell in front of the campus store, I survive on those
Mom and Sarah are visiting in one week!!!

The Bad
The bitter cold that came after aforementioned snow.
The commute to my internship. It takes 1 ½ each way. And incase you didn’t know, 1.3 billion people live in China, and I am about sure half of them ride the 808 bus with me every Monday and Wednesday.
China’s take on Mexican food, on my burrito there was no cheese to be found.
The fact that Chinese women are SO TINY! It impares my attempts at buying any clothing at markets. The size Large here does not exist!
The internet. Unreliable and super slow!
Doing laundry like its 1804. In the bathtub and then hanging it up on a line! I feel like my clothes never get that clean and they are always a little damp.

The Ugly
The cough I have developed.
Squatter toilets.

The past two weeks have gone a lot faster than the first two. I guess its because I have settled into my routine. My schedule is pretty packed. I intern Monday and Wednesday. I then have Chinese class on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. And have two additional classes on Wednesday and Thursday. In between I tend to hang out with my friends in the dorms, go out for dinner and just explore the surrounding area. My Chinese is getting better. Speaking of which, here is your Chinese lesson:

Ni xi huan shen me?
你喜欢什么
What do you like?
Wo xi huan mao.
我喜欢猫
I like cats.

My internship is really amazing. Although it takes me a long time to get there, it is a lot of fun. It is much better than sitting in an office and proof reading english. The school has grades one through six. I teach grade two and five. It is really fascinating to watch how things work there. I think it is alot different from the way school is in the US because 1. Its China (duh!) but 2. more importantly it is a school run on donation and very little funding from the government. The school consists of small classrooms in a big court yard. So to get from class to class you have to walk outside. Every Monday morning at 930, all the classes line up in the big courtyard and they raise the flag and sing the national anthem. It is really interesting to see because when the kids walk from the classrooms to the courtyard they all form a line and march military style. And when the national anthem plays, they dont put their hands over their hearts but instead they put them up to their foreheads like a salute. Also anytime they pass a teacher, they must say Laoshi Hao (Hello Teacher!) normally again putting their hand up by their hand. They all wear the same track suit and have red scarfs around their neck. Most of the children live in the village that surrounds the school, so they all go home for lunch. Then on Wednesday mornings, they do morning exercise where the whole school meets in the courtyard and does warm up stretches and then they all march. Someday I will bring my camera and upload them so you can get a better idea.
My chinese class is also going really well. I go for 3 1/2 hours, 3 times a week. There are five other kids in my class. Wang Laoshi (my teacher) is really sweet. She is a grad student at a local Beijing University and is practicing teaching because next year she is coming to the US! She is really helpful because she teaches us Chinese but also will tell us useful phrases or will tell us the best place to get food or shop in the area. I feel like my chinese has been improving but it is still such a difficult language. We have barely even started reading and writing in characters yet!
This past Saturday my program set up a scavenger hunt (Amazing Race style) for all the American students. We had to go around the campus of Beida and locate certain landmarks and perform certain tasks in order to get points. It was really fun to get to see different parts of campus I had not seen before. And the best part was my team won! We got a perfect score on all the tasks!
Right now I am looking forward to Mom and Sarah visiting, my trip to Sanya and then my birthday!
I promise I will update more frequently and it is a goal of mine to take pictures!

Post # 5

Ni Hao!

My chinese lesson for today, in the spirit of Valentine's Day: 我愛你 - Wo ai ni - I love you

so I have been in China for a little over two weeks, and as my mother said: the vacation is over! I am really enjoying being here but now since classes have started and I am working at my internship, play time is over. Here are some interesting things I have learned thus far:
1. no one, NO one, NO ONE speaks English. It makes day to day interactions somewhat difficult but also very comical.
2. vegetarianism is not common in China, in fact most people don't understand it. "Bo rho" literally means "no meat" in chinese, and it has become my favorite saying.
3. Chinese people love cheesy American music, I have danced the YMCA and the Electric slide on many occasions.

And here is an update on life:
Last Sunday (02/08) A group of us went out to dinner to Hot Pot, which is where you get raw meat/vegetables and put it into a boiling pot of sauce/stock, it was extremely spicy which I did not like, but it was fun to try something new.
Then on Monday night a group us attempted to go to downtown Beijing to watch the Lantern Festival which celebrates the last day of Chinese New Year. Unfortunetely we got extremely lost and never made it to the festival. Instead we got dinner in Tiananmen Square and watched the fireworks. All throughout Chinese New Year people had been just setting off fireworks in the street, but since Monday was the last day they could legally set them off, people were going nuts. The picture is the group of us wearing light up horns. Since it is the Year of the Ox, they were selling the horns for 5 kuai, which is a little under 1 US dollar. Of course we had to buy them and wear them as we walked around. We got alot of weird looks and alot of people wanted to take pictures with us "the maigoren" (Americans). It was a fun time.

Tuesday I had Chinese class and I picked my Chinese name: 玫瑰 (Mei Gui) which means Rose. We are only allowed to use our Chinese names in class, so I have mastered drawing those two characters.
Wednesday I went on an epic adventure to my internship. I am going to be teaching English at a school for Migrant Worker's children. From the little I have learned, the migrant worker community in China takes up a large portion of the population but lacks a good education system (among other things, that I can elaborate on back home) It takes about an hour by bus. It is on the outskirts of Beijing. I met with the current English teacher and she introduced me to the kids. I will be teaching Grade 5 which ranges from 7-12 year olds. Some of them know a little English. I am going to start teaching on Monday, so look out for updates/pictures then.
Thursday and Friday, I stayed local and went to my classes. Then on Saturday (Valentines Day), my programs took us to the 798 art district. It is a large space of old factories from World War II that have been turned into art galleries. It is really cool because alot of the buildings still have machinery and on the walls they still have old Mao sayings. Most of the art was contemporary but it was very interesting. I am definitely going back to see some art and do some shopping.
Today I went with some friends to the Silk Market. IT WAS INSANE. It is a 7 floor building that sells everything imaginable. Pearls, silk, tea sets, Mao t-shirts, scrolls, fake Ugg boats. I got a North Face jacket for about 110 US dollars, and of course another fake Coach wristlet ( I have an addiction, I know).

I am sorry that this is super long, but I want to write down as much as I can remember for my ownpersonal use. Hopefully I have made ten minutes of work/school less boring for some of you!

Post # 4

Views from the Great Wall


Hey, Sorry its been so long but the internet is not really working too great. I have decided that I am going to try and post every Sunday morning here, so that is Saturday night US time, so look for updates and photos then. So far things have been going really well. I have settled into my room at Beida (Peking University) and have started classes. My chinese class has 5 other people in it and the teacher is really nice so it should be a lot of fun. As of now, I can say hello (Ni Hao) and how are you (Ni Hao ma?). I have two other classes that I am taking, Chinese Arts and Culture, Chinese Political Reforms, they meet once a week, so I have not had them yet.
So a recap of the last week:
Last Monday (Feb 2) the entire group I am with went on a study trip to Chendge, a city about 3 hours from Beijing. On the way there, we stopped and climbed the GREAT WALL!! It was amazing! We stopped and ate lunch on the wall and took lots of photos. Then from there we arrived in Chendge. The next day, we visited the Summer Villa, which was like the Hamptons House for the Emperor. He went thereto escape the hot Beijing summers. We then had a group lunch and visited two Buddhist temples. They were really cool, and the second one we went to is an actual working temple that is home to the largest wooden Buddha in the entire world. The next day we just drove back to Beijing and got settled in for classes to start.
Then yesterday (Saturday Feb 7) a small group of us took a day trip to Tianjin, which is a city about 1 1/2 hours from Beijing. We took a high speed train to get there, it went over 200 mph, it was crazy/scary!! Tianjin is the third largest city in China, but it is still being built up. We browsed down a street called Ancient Culture Street, where they sell China related items, like tea sets, calligraphy and knock-off designer bags. I got a fake Coach bag for a little under 20 dollars ( I need to improve my bargaining skills). Then we got lunch and searched for a famous Tianjin bakery. It took us a while, but we found it. It was really good, they had twisted fried buns and donut holes.
So those have been my travels thus far. Other than that I have been just hanging out in Wudakou, which is the area around Beida. It is a really built up area with tons of restaurants and shops. (not to mention tons of KFC's. I dont know why, but they are really popular here!)
I have been getting used to Chinese food, it is really good, just hard to order because the menus are all in characters! But no worries, I have found a place that sells peanut butter, so I am set!

Post # 3

I MADE IT!!! I am in CHINA. I have been here for three days and it has been amazing. I am staying at Peking University, which is a little to the Northeast of Beijing. The campus is beautiful (pictures to come) and the teachers are super sweet. I am here with about sixty students, about 30 from my school and then the rest are from all over the country. I am going on a three day study trip to Chengde which is a town a little outside of Beijing. And then on Thursday I start my classes. I also will be starting my internship in the middle of Feburary. I am going to be working at a school for Migrant Worker's children, and I am going to be teaching English! I am pretty excited.

Post # 2

CHINA TOMORROW!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH