Let the Countdown Begin!

Well, we officially have 7 days left in China and all I can think about is how quickly it went by. It seems that we got here years ago and now we have become accustomed to the life here. For example, when crossing the street I have started walking out before looking like the Chinese do. It's more a game of walk and dodge rather than waiting. People are gonna think I'm crazy when I get back home when I just jump out in the street! I have also resigned myself to buying a new suitcase because I have bought so much stuff I can't fit it all in my other two. As far as finals go I have finished my final economics paper which was most likely the worst piece of writing of my college career. I had a very difficult time writing a paper solely on economics. We have our capstone paper due next week along with our Chinese final and our society final. They are both going to be difficult so along with packing and buying gifts this weekend I need to study! AHHHH!!! Of course, I could have started studying earlier this week but that would ruin the severe case of procrastination which I've caught from everyone else in the program. As far as leaving goes, I'm excited to return home and see my family and friends whom I miss a lot but I also don't want to return to the "real world." I like the concept of just having to pass a class for credit :)

On a good note, for those of you who have been keeping up with my blog you will no longer have to read my sarcasm and wonderful wit. You will be able to experience it in person once again! Please, try to hold back your excitement.

Dec. 7th- Final Day in Beijing

On Sunday we woke up at 8:30 and packed all of our stuff. The front desk said they would hold our bags for us for the first part of the morning and then we could come back and get them. Once again, Bill tried to convince me to get a Chinese breakfast and, once again, I refused. The stubbornness I have inherited from my parents was firmly set in place on that topic :) After we ate we headed to the Drum and Bell Towers located to the north of our hostel. Like the Great Wall, the Towers had steep stair wells but the views were great. I liked Beijing better than Shanghai because it didn't have the hustle and bustle. It's much more cultural than the thriving metropolis that is Shanghai. After the Towers we returned to the hostel, got our bags, and took a cab to the Temple of Heaven. The Temple is located in the middle of an enormous park and it took a lot of weaving to get there. It was absolutely beautiful. The painting on the outside was incredible and the sheer scale of it was awesome. And, have no fear, we got some Doritos pics there too :)

After the Temple, we walked around Beijing until it was time to leave. We walked back past Tiananmen Square and ate dinner in a hole in the wall restaurant. We considered getting Beijing Duck but they were extremely expensive and at this point both Bill and I were lacking in cash. We headed to the train station and got there early enough to sit in a rest stop to play more gin rummy. As we sat there Bill realized that it was the 7th of December and began to recite Roosevelt's speech from memory. He then pulled out his ipod and made me listen to the speech and then to other Churchill speeches. After I said I was done listening to it he continued to recite them for me. He said it was payback for making him eat a regular breakfast for two days in a row. Fair enough. Our tickets had a one on them so walked to the first car and when the ticket checker looked at our tickets she told us that our tickets were for the minus one car... located at the far end of the train. Bill and I looked at each other and then started running to the back of the train. I'm not really sure why we felt the need to run because we had plenty of time walk to the other end. Anyways, we finally got on the train which was much busier on a Sunday night than it was on a Thursday so we couldn't lay down this time. I want to sleep around midnight, woke up at 3:45, and couldn't go back to sleep.

We arrived in Shanghai at 7:45 and took a cab straight to class. We didn't have our books so we were completely unprepared but at least we went. The trip was a much needed vacation from the work load that has been piling up in the last couple of weeks. Of course, the more I travel the more I don't want to do anything with my life besides travel around the world. Who knows, maybe one day... :)

Dec. 6th- Day Two in Beijing

On Saturday we woke up 7:30 and got dressed quickly. The hostel provides a complimentary breakfast of a fried egg with toast and fruit. It was delicious. Bill has tried to stay loyal to just Chinese food since we arrived but I refused to eat Chinese rice porridge for breakfast so I dragged him to the free breakfast. Again, it was delicious. After we ate we took a shortcut through back alleys to the bus station that would take us to another station which went to the Great Wall. We changed buses at the station and then rode the next bus for an hour. By the time we reached the Great Wall the bus was packed and we pretty much had to crawl over people to get to the exit. Once outside the bus we bought a ticket and started to climb the wall. This section is more touristy than the section we visited during the Silk Road trip. We began with the left side of the wall but there were more people on that side than the other one so we switched sides. We quickly found out why everyone preferred the left side because the right side was MUCH steeper. The whole wall was lined with hand rails. One set of stairs we climbed were the worst I have yet encountered in China. They barely fit my whole foot and were from my foot to right above my knee. Needless to say we took many breaks on the way up.

Once we reached the top we sat down on the stairs and pulled out our Ritz and Doritos for a snack and photo op. I know, we're nerds. We walked along the wall for about two and a half hours and then headed back down when we reached a dead end. We got back on the bus that returned to the city which took 2 hours because of traffic. Once we were off the bus we found the nearest subway station and went to the Lama Temple. It was originally built in the 1600s and it had new construction done during the 1700s. It was pretty similar to the temples we saw in Tibet but it still couldn't touch the atmosphere that we felt there. It did have a Buddha, I can't remember how tall it was, made from the trunk of a sandlewood tree. It was huge and I couldn't believe they carved it from one tree. After the Lama Temple we hopped back on the subway to go to the Olympic Park. When we got on the line that travels the whole Olympic Park we decided to get off at the last stop and make  our way back. When we got off at our stop we immediately noticed how eerie the area was. I can't even imagine how busy it was during the Olympics but it was completely empty. Now it's just this huge empty concrete space. We walked for a good 20 minutes before we saw more people gathered around the Olympic Stadiums. There was some kind of event going on at the National Indoor Stadium but we didn't think just standing there would get us in this time. The Water Cube was awesome. They had it blocked off but the color of it was so cool. The Bird's Nest was also really neat. I took pictures of us in front of them and if you want to see the air quality in Beijing just look at those pictures. There are particles in the air in every picture that I used a flash for at night. Scary.

While we walked through the park Bill had mentioned that he wouldn't mind eating Pizza Hut so we walked out of the park and tried to find the subway so we could go to a street that was more centrally located. We asked several people where it was and every one of them pointed in the same direction but we never found it. We walked around for about 30 minutes looking for it when we came across a Dominos. We decided it was close enough to Pizza Hut so we ate there for dinner. After the pizza we continued to look for the subway and after walking around for 20 more minutes looking for it we just waved down a cab. In the cab, we drove by the subway station and were glad we got a cab because it was much further than we had thought. When we got back to our street we went to the same bar as the night before and played gin rummy for a while. We returned to the room and we this time we didn't have any roommates. I listened to his Patsy Cline playlist yet again and then went to bed.

Dec. 5th- First Day in Beijing

Our train arrived in Beijing at 7:15 and when we got off we were hit with ice cold wind. Thank god I got my long coat made because I never would have made it through the weekend. I had my coat, hat, and gloves on and was still freezing. We left the terminal and headed over to McDonalds. I got pancakes and was so happy! I miss American breakfast like crazy!!! We stayed in McDonalds until our hands thawed and then we headed back outside to the subway station. There were two entrances, or so we thought, to the subway. Apparently one of them was the exit and one was the entrance and they were on opposite sides of the train station square. Of course since it was 10 degrees outside and we were freezing we accidentally walked to the exit first and then had to walk all the way back across to the entrance. We finally got down to the subway and I immediately noticed how much more convenient the Beijing subway was. The subway in Shanghai is very spread out and you have to walk a bunch to transfer from line to line. All the lines in Beijing are near each other so it's much easier to navigate. We took the metro from the train station to Tiananmen Square. 

At this point we had gone through 4 security checks. When we got to Tiananmen we had to go through another security check. There were guards and military stationed everywhere through the square. We tried to get in to see Mao but they told us we had to check out bags across the street. We went back out of the square, checked our bags, went through security again, and went in to Mao's tomb. We had to go through another security check at the entrance and then we finally got in. They ushered us through like cattle so Bill and I went through twice. It was so immense to see Mao in his tomb with the communist flag draped over him. You could hear the Chinese people holding their breath as the line moved past him. A few of them kneeled down in line. Again, you don't realize how big he was until you see how much they still revere him. It's still considered a huge honor to be a member of the communist party here. After we left the tomb we walked around the square. It's huge and you can definitely see how so many people could gather there during the riots. Of course, certain areas were blocked off so we had to walk in a very roundabout path and turn around and double back several times. Once we made the rounds we claimed our bags again and then headed into the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City is absolutely huge. We spent three hours walking around and got so cold we had to take a break in a small tea cafe. It was hilarious watching Bill trying to text using only his index fingers because his hands were numb. I couldn't even hold my tea because it hurt my hands too much. While we drank our tea we both mentioned how we had Ritz crackers and Doritos for snacks. Bill made the suggestion that we take pictures of us and our snacks in front of all the places we went to. Since I spent $10 on my chips and waited for a month to open them I decided there was no time like the present. They were sooooo worth the wait! Never have I been so appreciative of Cooler Ranch Doritos. When you've been eating Chinese food and snacks for 4 months a little taste of home is fantastic. We walked around the city for about one more hour and we took many pictures with our respective snacks. Once we reached the end of the city we got a cab to our hostel. We were numb and tired and we wanted a little time to unwind.

Our hostel was located on a pedestrian street with several artsy shops, restaurants, and bars. It was very cool. We checked into a room with 4 beds and when we first arrived we didn't have roommates yet. We hung out in the room for about an hour and then caught a cab to the National Art Museum. It looked small from the outside but the inside was very windy and the art was great. Even modern artists in China hold true to the traditional style so most of the paintings from the 2000s still looked old fashioned. We spent about an hour in the art museum and then returned to walk around our street. We went in to a small CD store to browse and I was hoping to find a Patsy Cline album. When we were in Shaoxing someone had mentioned Patsy Cline and I sang "Walkin' After Midnight" in my head the whole weekend. I know the song by heart but I was desperate to hear it. I was appalled when we returned from the weekend to Shaoxing and I discovered I didn't have Patsy on my iTunes. When I didn't see an album in the CD store Bill mentioned that he had her greatest hits on his ipod so when we returned to the room I stole his ipod for an hour and listened to the playlist over and over again. After we ate dinner we went to the experimental theatre next to our hostel. They were showing the musical "Fame" in Chinese but we didn't have tickets so we just stood there until the security guard waved us in. We must have looked so pathetic standing there trying to get in :) Overall I would say the musical was a combination of High School Musical, Rent, and every high school movie ever made. It was extremely entertaining because the translations from English to Chinese didn't make sense sometimes. After the play we went to a bar, had a few drinks, and returned to our hostel.

Two Australian guys were in our room when we got back. They were just staying the night because they were heading to Mongolia the next day. It was 10 degrees in Beijing and apparently -20 in Mongolia. As a citizen of Texas for the past 13 years I can't even imagine going to such a place, I wouldn't last a day. We went straight to bed and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. We planned to wake up at 7:30 and head to the Great Wall the next morning.

Dec. 4th- Off to Beijing!

So I absolutely can't do anymore work today so I am finally going to blog about my weekend trip to Beijing!

We had class on Thursday morning until 11:30 and then culture class from 1:30 until 3:00. I was packing in between these classes when I realized that my favorite pair of jeans which I absolutely refuse to get rid of until they completely fall apart had two holes in them. Since the weather in Beijing had highs in the 20s I decided that I should patch them up. I went to Lawson's, got a traveler's sewing kit, and sewed up my jeans. Granted they'll probably fall apart in 5 minutes but I hope they'll last for the weekend. Honestly, if I'm not forgetting my tennis shoes I'm trying to wear clothes with holes in 20 degree weather. I thought someone told me that studying abroad would be a learning and maturing experience :) Anyways, I then went to class and all I wanted to do was leave for the trip. Our train left at 7:30 so we headed to the train station at 5:30 to allow time to get food. We ate KFC at the train station and then sat in our waiting lunge until it was time to board. We almost missed our boarding time because we weren't sure if it was our train or not so we decided that sitting there was the best option :) However, we did get on the right train and thankfully on a Thursday night there was room for all of the passengers to spread out. The soft seater cabin has 2 seats across in each row, it looked a lot like an airplane. Bill and I played gin rummy for about 2 hours and then called it a night around 11. I slept pretty well considering the cramped conditions but I did wake up a few times with a cramped neck. We were scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 7 AM.

Weekend in Shaoxing

Going to bed at 2:30 AM after Thanksgiving dinner and getting up to travel to Shaoxing was a bit of a struggle. Selina didn't wake up to her alarm so I had to run in and wake her up. We both threw clothes into a bag and headed down to meet everyone for our organized weekend trip. We ran into Tammy and Tran in the elevators and they asked if we remembered our passports. Selina and I looked at each other, sighed with resignation, and instead of getting out at the lobby we pushed the 14 button on the elevator. I held the elevator for Selina as she ran in for her passport and then she held the elevator as I ran in for mine. We were the last people on the bus and were met with applause from the rest of the group. We felt better when we saw that Maggie looked as tired as we were. Shaoxing is about a 3 hour bus ride from Shanghai so we slept the whole way there. We arrived in Shaoxing around noon, dropped off our stuff, and went to lunch. I was not a fan of the Shaoxing cuisine. They eat a lot of dofu and they really like the stinky dofu. It smells awful and tastes just like it smells. They also like fish a lot there because it's a water town. They have over 10,000 bridges in the city and about 5 million people. I loved the way the canals swept through the streets. It had a more authentic China feel than Shanghai does.

After lunch we visited two factories. One factory made shirts and the other factory made pants. There were rows upon rows of men and women sitting at sewing machines making different parts of clothing from pockets to collars. They said that they are paid based on how much they make in a day. We walked around both of the factories for a while and then we were given free time before dinner. Bill, Kyle, and I went walking through the residential alleys. The level of peace in the back alleys was incredible. You couldn't here a single car and there were families and children sitting outside their homes. We passed by a man dissecting a turtle for his dinner and we stopped to watch. It goes to show how China has desensitized us when we can stand there and watch him and ask if they eat the parts he was pulling out. He asked us if we wanted to stay for dinner but we respectfully declined. We met with the group and ate dinner and then Bill and I embarked further into the alleys in the dark. He made the remark that in the US you would never walk down alleys in the dark no matter what city you're in but Shaoxing we didn't feel threatened. As we crossed what I believed to be bridge number 6,581 an old woman with her grandchild stopped to talk to us. The little girl was the cutest kid I have ever seen. She found my hands fascinating because I had leather gloves on. As we stood there the lady asked us if we were a mother and a father to which we said no. She seemed convinced that we were because we liked playing with her granddaughter so we finally said that we had two children and that they were in America. Bill said we were on vacation and that's why they weren't with us. At this point the woman reached out and rubbed my stomach. She asked if I was "something" but I couldn't understand. I assumed she was asking if I was pregnant again and I nodded my head just for fun. She looked super excited and rubbed my stomach several more times. After she left, Bill and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. It was a very unexpected encounter.

After the bridge we headed over to the Shaoxing performance hall. We walked inside just to see what it looked like and a guard told us there was a Chinese opera being performed. He pointed to an open door on the side and said if we wanted to go in we could. We walked in and were shown to two seats. One thing I have noticed about any kind of performance here is that Chinese people talk through anything. Anywhere else you could never talk constantly during a performance but they definitely do here. Bill and I joined in and didn't stop talking until we left and not a single person told us to stop. We returned to the hotel and Selina and Maggie followed shortly after. At this point it was 9:00 and all three of us went to sleep. There was a KTV, Chinese karaoke bar, on the floor above and it sounded like it was in our room. This didn't bother me though and Selina said I fell asleep in less than a minute. It was a wonderfully uninterrupted and much needed sleep.

We got up on Saturday at 8:00, ate breakfast, and then took boats down the canals. It was really cool to relax in the boats and watch the locals go about their morning routines of washing clothes or making breakfast. We got out of the boats and took rickshaws to Luxun's old house. He is a famous scholar in China and literally everyone knows who he is. We saw where he used to live and where he went to school. After the house and school we had lunch and then climbed Screaming Mountain. It wasn't like climbing to the gazebo but we were all winded by the time we reached the top. There is a Buddhist temple being reconstructed at the top and it was the first temple that I have been able to take pictures in. The entire place was deserted except for two dogs walking around. The view would have been nice but it was really hazy. After the mountain we had the whole afternoon off so everyone went back to the hotel to take a nap. Kind of pathetic, I know. We went to dinner and then to mix things up about 8 of us went to an arcade with pool tables and a roller skating rink. We roller skated for about an hour and I'm proud to say I didn't fall once. My days of street hockey have finally paid off! Selina and Maggie were limping the next day from their wipe outs and they kept giving me looks of disgust because I was injury free :)

On Sunday we went to an old town just outside of Shaoxing and had lunch. We walked around more alleys and then got on the bus back to Shanghai. We got back around 3:30 and then spent the afternoon doing pretty much nothing. Overall the trip was really fun. It was great to have the whole group together on a trip once again. We don't get to see each other as a group very often because of our class schedules.

Tomorrow Bill and I are leaving for Beijing. We will get there around 7 AM on Friday and get back around the same time on Monday morning. It's an 11 hour overnight train and we got soft seaters instead of sleepers to save money. That'll be interesting :)

Thanksgiving in China

Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long since my last post. As the semester winds down I find more and more stuff that I have to do that I should have done weeks ago. Funny how that always seems to happen :) 

Last week I had two Thanksgiving dinners. The first was held in a restaurant right next to our apartments. The Alliance reserved it for us and we all cooked our own food. They bought two huge turkeys for us but we made pies, cookies, potatoes, deviled eggs, and spaghetti. The restaurant also supplied us with Chinese food as well. We all thought it was quite an eclectic spread for Thanksgiving dinner. Our Chinese roommates thought the turkey tasted just like chicken. Most of them had never eaten turkey before so they were really excited to try it. They decided that although it tasted just like chicken they like chicken better. We finished eating around 6 and then we all departed to our rooms. Selina, Maggie, and I had made reservations at the Boxing Cat Brewery for 8:30. The food we made was, well...interesting, but we wanted to have real Thanksgiving food too. We left the apartments at 7:30 and it took us the whole hour to get to the restaurant. It was way outside the city and at first we couldn't believe that an ex-pat restaurant was all the way out there. However, after asking many people for directions, our cab driver finally got us there. The place was packed and the food was GREAT. They had everything from sweet potatoes, turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole. Don't worry dad, it wasn't good as yours :) It was set up buffet style with free flow wine and beer. We got there at 8:30 and stayed until 1:30. During that time we fulfilled our obligations to eat way more than necessary and we had a couple of bottles of wine... o.k. so maybe we had more than a couple :)

After we returned to the apartments I video chatted back to my house and I got to see my dogs!!!!!!! Oh, and it was nice seeing the family too ;) Thanksgiving is the first time that I have felt a twinge of homesickness since we got here. Seeing everyone on ichat helped a lot with that though and now I find myself reluctant to leave in the coming weeks. Like I said before, when we first got here it seemed like we had so much time and now we have 3 weeks left! Instead of making my list smaller I keep adding more and more things to my To Do List. These last few weeks are going to be a scramble!!!