tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25853420290787088252024-02-07T05:07:05.128-08:00Digging to ChinaFirst stop: 5 days in Tokyo with Yuki-chan. Then: 8 weeks living at the Beijing Institute of Education so I can hopefully cram an entire 3rd year of Chinese into my brainAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-69420393734447318042009-08-16T00:01:00.000-07:002009-08-16T01:40:11.294-07:00Wow, it's overI said I would write 2 posts this week, but I didn't anticipate how busy I would be. I just finished packing and I don't think I'll be overweight, so that's a relief. But I'm not sure. I'm definitely ready to go home.<br /><br />Things I'll miss about China:<br />-saying certain Chinese expressions and words that I use all the time, which no one will be able to understand in the US<br />-meeting Europeans<br />-eating at restaurants every night, Chinese style, for 8 kuai (about a dollar)<br />-no tax, no tipping<br />-all my CET friends<br />-speaking Chingrish<br />-eggplant<br /><br />Things I can't wait to enjoy in the US:<br />-the beach!!<br />-seeing blue skies and grass<br />-drinking water from the tap<br />-being able to flush toilet paper instead of having to throw it away<br />-cucumbers, cheese, breakfast, steak, Mexican food<br />-the normal mosquitoes in Michigan, not the mutant ones here that leave huge red bumps<br />-my friends at home, and ANN ARBOR (and my family and cats)<br /><br />On Tuesday, we went to the Forbidden City. Unfortunately it was a bit underwhelming. It could be that we'd all already seen a lot of touristy spots in Beijing and Chinese architecture starts to all look the same after a while. Or it could have just been that it was extremely hot and we were all too tired to appreciate it. Honestly, don't visit Beijing in the summer, I don't even want to imagine how hot it is in southern China. Yikes, can you tell I'm ready to come home? The Forbidden City is where the Emperors used to live, it's basically a small city unto itself. Lots of pretty buildings, ones where the Emperor lived, where the Empress lived, where they received visitors, where they waited before receiving visitors, etc.<br /><br />After walking past building after building, you suddenly stumble into a really pretty garden, we all were totally caught by surprise, there were a lot of people, but Chinese gardens are just so pretty. They've always got pagodas and stone formations and green! Here are some pics of the Forbidden City:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivSqwlZ19-Wz1QIRCepMWmSGm6_nRikxkQ9uFFhV6RcyZ2x6_Y84neYAVdnHA2AO9ugoFP0AZKQaGZTJa49bSP2FKl9XesUudpTcnTHKEL0oe8kHifmmyCNXtQ7rxTPmDXNRvcoBnrZmE_/s1600-h/IMG_3247.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivSqwlZ19-Wz1QIRCepMWmSGm6_nRikxkQ9uFFhV6RcyZ2x6_Y84neYAVdnHA2AO9ugoFP0AZKQaGZTJa49bSP2FKl9XesUudpTcnTHKEL0oe8kHifmmyCNXtQ7rxTPmDXNRvcoBnrZmE_/s200/IMG_3247.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370460721307091922" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLR_pafI0wr7sUoeKvkBCcIaahNQYGU_6RwEOJFOIJRPsMJN_5svbJpqdCnFRgRrylNDjoaqLKfWSLjprjuaTXrUVxUxFWba2-TwbHVVJ-wieeIHxfbrWFqg2rctA3oAinVHvdRxI-bAH-/s1600-h/IMG_3244.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLR_pafI0wr7sUoeKvkBCcIaahNQYGU_6RwEOJFOIJRPsMJN_5svbJpqdCnFRgRrylNDjoaqLKfWSLjprjuaTXrUVxUxFWba2-TwbHVVJ-wieeIHxfbrWFqg2rctA3oAinVHvdRxI-bAH-/s200/IMG_3244.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370460715161017650" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJYoWSVpAh5VMlKbrWHk6UU0_PFLG0QOISei1S8rRYT4fRiLJ8XXveoJAlhH1Ji-gd-vOLxupmLA5DpgpdKDxsLpcvUJ2DEQaNIXo1p-Axr4sHFOjqblFzdH-J9n62TJHsHct0mumFUNf/s1600-h/IMG_3225.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJYoWSVpAh5VMlKbrWHk6UU0_PFLG0QOISei1S8rRYT4fRiLJ8XXveoJAlhH1Ji-gd-vOLxupmLA5DpgpdKDxsLpcvUJ2DEQaNIXo1p-Axr4sHFOjqblFzdH-J9n62TJHsHct0mumFUNf/s200/IMG_3225.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370460702984305682" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdcLvEKPMf1TbyJMdkOF9vPeFWcpYlFdV4nJpoTNw9Klt7bQVQxRDYt-zSt1loeMoSsXnnIAfGNEwrvCaj3_kkDgIS0ZcSx8_IR0Zz68ixBKjnzhMAZML4GaVTNbonkxfCmKbU7DIcsel/s1600-h/IMG_3214.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdcLvEKPMf1TbyJMdkOF9vPeFWcpYlFdV4nJpoTNw9Klt7bQVQxRDYt-zSt1loeMoSsXnnIAfGNEwrvCaj3_kkDgIS0ZcSx8_IR0Zz68ixBKjnzhMAZML4GaVTNbonkxfCmKbU7DIcsel/s200/IMG_3214.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370460696873864450" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-GXXEQ4FmmZp5Wc8jx33CVYff9BHEQHOHe9df5ysH7vnDqtWy5tDI1aSexKnA99s4zKix6BcTgfAZmsQmNDtw2IbYGHMrXqY2YQaBxCUPqCt0y7c4JInEymO8xRIo__bqqlZciQ0tI84t/s1600-h/IMG_3213.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-GXXEQ4FmmZp5Wc8jx33CVYff9BHEQHOHe9df5ysH7vnDqtWy5tDI1aSexKnA99s4zKix6BcTgfAZmsQmNDtw2IbYGHMrXqY2YQaBxCUPqCt0y7c4JInEymO8xRIo__bqqlZciQ0tI84t/s200/IMG_3213.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370460685022944946" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After, we walked to Wangfujin (I'm pretty sure that's what the place is called) and did a little shopping. We stumbled upon this little street where they sold scorpions that were still alive on a stick. I didn't eat any that day, but I ate some yesterday, after they're cooked they just taste like burnt chicken skin. Unfortunately, I lost my camera, so I have to wait until my friends get their pictures up on facebook to be able to prove this. I definitely did not eat the cicadas though.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQNhUKo0XgFsLk1Q2LT37htQ-L7p_C7PqCzg-HFbciaszmMC8Gokm0uRXgKVPxhyphenhyphen877DBsK9S9D9uQ8HCJVv6-DEYWO3qI15fr7IEQxu2Ml25-5SZkkLHTrKIRWVRrvupYg11YuDLsokY/s1600-h/IMG_3252.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQNhUKo0XgFsLk1Q2LT37htQ-L7p_C7PqCzg-HFbciaszmMC8Gokm0uRXgKVPxhyphenhyphen877DBsK9S9D9uQ8HCJVv6-DEYWO3qI15fr7IEQxu2Ml25-5SZkkLHTrKIRWVRrvupYg11YuDLsokY/s200/IMG_3252.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370461384295853746" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsbWQPfuvc9E8NZxpIQ23kzinhJITaBtK7eAP8KuRrddb27wyFDuUNDJi1-weUl37eS7kxUdk13mSUD6RCVEVcvDrAn0cSoNn77WhoYVsO9XyUp_o_HrMpIUAWcoU7LjVEQujPdobRHKF/s1600-h/IMG_3253.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsbWQPfuvc9E8NZxpIQ23kzinhJITaBtK7eAP8KuRrddb27wyFDuUNDJi1-weUl37eS7kxUdk13mSUD6RCVEVcvDrAn0cSoNn77WhoYVsO9XyUp_o_HrMpIUAWcoU7LjVEQujPdobRHKF/s200/IMG_3253.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370461388192213154" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Well, speaking of losing my camera, the next day we went to the 798 Art Gallery. It's not like how you're thinking though. The whole area used to be warehouses, but now it's all a bunch of shops and different themed galleries. The shops all have hand made jewelry and other things you'd find at an art fair - and if you can speak Chinese, you can bargain. On the sides of the streets there are a lot of funny statues and graffiti on the walls. On my way home I'm pretty sure I left my camera in the taxi... major 糟糕.<br /><br />Finals weren't too bad (knock on wood), but we haven't gotten them back yet, so I can't be sure. We had our final banquet on Friday and after we got our "diplomas" we counted down from 10 in Chinese and after we could speak English, it felt so weird being able to speak Chinese in the daytime without being secretive about it, usually we only ever broke the language pledge at night on weekends. Everyone enjoyed hearing how different everyone sounded speaking English instead of Chinese. Our teachers accents were so cute!<br /><br />Yesterday, I paid another visit to the Silk Street, which is a misleading name because it's actually in a building above the subway stop in the area. There are about 5 or 6 floors with different stuff on each. All of the girls wanted knock-off bags first, then we hit up the silk floor above, after that we went to the jewelry floor, which is extremely dangerous because it's filled with tons of really pretty jade jewelry and other traditional Chinese-looking things - lots of chopsticks and other little knick-knacks. You gotta bargain there or else you'll get completely ripped off. The hard part is, you also have to know what kind of price is fair before hand, but none of us know that so we just play it by ear and hope we got it right. What also helps is if you return to the same place you went before to buy more - and bring a friend to buy stuff too. Speaking Chinese earns major brownie points and because you're white (or not Chinese) they remember you.<br /><br />I like bringing my friend Sabrina because she really fights for her price and gets it down a lot quicker and a lot lower than I can. My style is more the make friends route, I chat them up a bit in Chinese, pretend like nothing in particular catches my eye, then casually ask how much the thing I want is. When they name the price I say, "really? too expensive..." and back away a little and look really discouraged. It usually gets them. Sabrina takes the way more confident and aggressive approach and fights with them about the price, we go shopping a lot together and I'm pretty sure all I bring to the table is diversity and a backup dictionary. She's black and I'm white with blonde hair so we're definitely a unique sight, if she doesn't understand what they're saying, maybe I did. We can also confer in English about what our plan of action is. They love fighting with her though, after she gets her price, they all laugh and call her "lihai" (terrible, amazing, strong - I think I told you guys about this word before).<br /><br />Yesterday there were 2 black girls with us, Sabrina and Precious and if I thought I got stared at, they have even more of a problem, tons of people sneak pictures of them and everyone stares and we heard "hei ren" (black person/people) all the time. Some of their faces were so funny, they stare open-mouthed at them. They're both pretty tired of it, I can't imagine, I only get random people staring at me at the touristy spots because that's where a lot of the country people go to who've never seen foreigners before. If you go to Tiananmen, and you're not Asian, you <span style="font-style: italic;">will</span> get asked to be in pictures with people. But they love blondes, redheads, and black people best.<br /><br />Well, I think that's about it. This is probably my last post because I doubt anthing spectacular will happen between now and tomorrow morning, but if anything does, I can write about it in the airport. Thanks to all of you who read and commented on this, it means a lot to me and I hope you got to experience a bit of China through my blog. See you in the US. Peace out.<br /><br />SarahAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-1552904162765143242009-08-09T06:50:00.000-07:002009-08-09T13:58:48.145-07:00Dongwuyuan... Dongwuyuanr?The Beijing accent. The taxi drivers are a perfect example of how forgetting to stick an "r" at the end of your words can make your life a little more difficult. I've finally gotten used to telling the cab driver I live near the "dongwuyuanr" (zoo) because saying it properly gets you nothing but confused looks in response. We all have a lot of fun "r-lizing" our words, mainly because it makes us sound like pirates.<br /><br />Moving on. Time is definitely limited and it's so crazy to think that I only have a week left here. Before, it was so easy to put off seeing different places in Beijing because I was too tired from class, but now we suddenly have no time at all! So this past week we made it to Beihai Park, supposedly the most beautiful park in Beijing, and the Beijing Zoo (I can't believe it took us so long to visit, it's literally a 10 minute walk away).<br /><br />Beihai <span style="font-style: italic;">was</span> quite pretty, but I liked the Summer Palace more. Maybe the Summer Palace isn't considered a park though? Beihai was basically a mini-version of the Summer Palace - paths around a lake. Though the Summer Palace was where emperors used to retire in the summer so there are a ton of really pretty old buildings there too. At Beihai there was the White Tower, which was a white tower, go figure. But I feel like I'm not being fair, it was a very pretty place and it was nice to just wander around. Beihai has little side paths that the Summer Palace didn't have so you could feel like you were exploring a bit more here. Here are a few pics to give you a little taste:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-OKf1Xji7pQRRxGa0d8R0pnK5438RW6OZ7ItvjMPMLaHa1aHZMlsij6kQVv6y4ONpCRL0GV4F7m8Gxud66psjfP9smp0VAULiAhMcYnwWn5YaVkvGKeG5_2t5sL1-7AWwaofEy8l7bR8/s1600-h/IMG_3157.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-OKf1Xji7pQRRxGa0d8R0pnK5438RW6OZ7ItvjMPMLaHa1aHZMlsij6kQVv6y4ONpCRL0GV4F7m8Gxud66psjfP9smp0VAULiAhMcYnwWn5YaVkvGKeG5_2t5sL1-7AWwaofEy8l7bR8/s200/IMG_3157.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367967195358541746" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QbSNm0V7l1cVKL0jeLMFiXplXHFacP502ldQ3iVpP1Hc4iel6HkL1nG92AxrMO7JBL7x64KX59iNURItE0IQx7O9pHrTOSNvtzHWqmLB3uEvdD7OjYxsJMGZ-yAjRgcM0FVsebN7545U/s1600-h/IMG_3164.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QbSNm0V7l1cVKL0jeLMFiXplXHFacP502ldQ3iVpP1Hc4iel6HkL1nG92AxrMO7JBL7x64KX59iNURItE0IQx7O9pHrTOSNvtzHWqmLB3uEvdD7OjYxsJMGZ-yAjRgcM0FVsebN7545U/s200/IMG_3164.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367967203651559714" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUdhotN92HvSzA8yo3faqq8zz-7t4a99MnxnoMzO6Ux8lBcJjOzpjvq2K3KQ61qzbTnlmh-rOKUsGCz6uWc0wOjpEVDnrcus15vYgNNa6lB2hPFF6Q6Sd37F9tudi0kOxTVyC8xRl7w_J0/s1600-h/IMG_3171.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUdhotN92HvSzA8yo3faqq8zz-7t4a99MnxnoMzO6Ux8lBcJjOzpjvq2K3KQ61qzbTnlmh-rOKUsGCz6uWc0wOjpEVDnrcus15vYgNNa6lB2hPFF6Q6Sd37F9tudi0kOxTVyC8xRl7w_J0/s200/IMG_3171.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367967213426283778" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYyEeJbfC6CyEHFDEZHupk1gPtlhqyWDHOWloVPLHkxNrP0WGIOFnhz-Fng20uz1EdxZW7rGSO1UfBvan4zA9srYC4uzqa0DzKdzipoZ8iDuIz4cL7JFiFUk9ESFc0JOONs9zx8je5iymt/s1600-h/IMG_3173.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYyEeJbfC6CyEHFDEZHupk1gPtlhqyWDHOWloVPLHkxNrP0WGIOFnhz-Fng20uz1EdxZW7rGSO1UfBvan4zA9srYC4uzqa0DzKdzipoZ8iDuIz4cL7JFiFUk9ESFc0JOONs9zx8je5iymt/s200/IMG_3173.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367967227891968754" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRSIa-YrNgfgcjvNq60PtkMvC4FVmWM5NEDeiHbpdzpecaiEcCMdAtTQYsO0KZiqQEGee4qxmHQaK0A3s1_m-6ce9XT4_WA8BkxfDPaVuTKsP0vv9wJhOqXCSdkqNSU3ScPsUfsXo4vV3/s1600-h/IMG_3176.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRSIa-YrNgfgcjvNq60PtkMvC4FVmWM5NEDeiHbpdzpecaiEcCMdAtTQYsO0KZiqQEGee4qxmHQaK0A3s1_m-6ce9XT4_WA8BkxfDPaVuTKsP0vv9wJhOqXCSdkqNSU3ScPsUfsXo4vV3/s200/IMG_3176.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367967219689922786" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Later in the week we went to the zoo, I brought my panda hat so I could get a cute picture of myself wearing it in front of the pandas, but unfortunately I forgot that I was in China. There were a TON of people and if you weren't rutheless about getting up to the front to see the pandas you had no chance of seeing anything. Once you got to the front, you had to be vigilant too because if people shifted around, you could find your spot taken magically by some wiley Chinese person.<br /><br />After we had our fill of watching pandas munching on bamboo, we left. I was hungry and craving bread and it just so happened that they sold loaves of bread at all the food stands - which I'm pretty sure is to encourage you to feed the birds they keep in the zoo. I'm not sure, but I took it that way. The birds would notice the bread and proceed to stare at me super intensely as they made their way over to me. A little intimidating, but here's a video of my favorite bird, he's got a little mohawk - just like I used to have, right mom?<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyCN5k338vB4gauS92bXQe2Eo7nu3bfzOrnbkoVg7TSjEOYOT2lbplQs755-Vo0XtsZ3Yei7cKbTJGm1Avpdg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />I feel like the animals were all really interested in the people who came to look at them, but that was probably because their cages were a little small and they didn't have much to do in there. There was a lynx that I played a little game with. You know how if you pretend to hide around a corner and stare at a cat, the cat eventually runs at you? Well, it works on lynxes too. He was loving it. Pics:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu2f1iJl8bwe-uo_4i7YJ4uPv5j740XevCg03LXjXif_CdXLt3D0bY7z1iyqgfdcO7zUgM78CA2TxoIQToiGhJK-QHZrWajZ2RZKO7NhrcMy3LG82P8SEiTM4M10x23lfE8Qf2w2dVuE6p/s1600-h/IMG_3185.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu2f1iJl8bwe-uo_4i7YJ4uPv5j740XevCg03LXjXif_CdXLt3D0bY7z1iyqgfdcO7zUgM78CA2TxoIQToiGhJK-QHZrWajZ2RZKO7NhrcMy3LG82P8SEiTM4M10x23lfE8Qf2w2dVuE6p/s200/IMG_3185.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367970205815674066" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qw4EaUNHVjcoKslvsIge0e0XXgSo_Pp-slBhKteFj3LScez9GX0OSrDHisl61zJkiSq-stoDzdn3XiAivR9F348vj-8fno5c_fnS8NO2CpH7th-IQvxGTQhh4kxG6iRnN7M8alIZUi32/s1600-h/IMG_3190.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qw4EaUNHVjcoKslvsIge0e0XXgSo_Pp-slBhKteFj3LScez9GX0OSrDHisl61zJkiSq-stoDzdn3XiAivR9F348vj-8fno5c_fnS8NO2CpH7th-IQvxGTQhh4kxG6iRnN7M8alIZUi32/s200/IMG_3190.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367970210837633218" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWrBddX5d8smi0vWViX8UA6pLcYLKMAZBjVyrBHVVOCk1ZHWBJ305xtMvE2E1cok6oRoyZQaeRve6aHqX8vJWtCCchaXlPF4V5d3KzoibguFswYc_yxjfe5ERGGIL9er3Dqx2cW89t-zf/s1600-h/IMG_3204.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWrBddX5d8smi0vWViX8UA6pLcYLKMAZBjVyrBHVVOCk1ZHWBJ305xtMvE2E1cok6oRoyZQaeRve6aHqX8vJWtCCchaXlPF4V5d3KzoibguFswYc_yxjfe5ERGGIL9er3Dqx2cW89t-zf/s200/IMG_3204.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367970219808142434" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-2896492757609529572009-08-01T00:46:00.000-07:002009-08-01T01:53:55.309-07:00The GREAT WALLIt's been a while, friends. Last weekend we went to the Great Wall - actually more like one of the Great Walls. Throughout China's history, emperors in different dynasties would build walls to try and keep out those pesky Mongols. There are sections of the wall that are just hard-packed dirt, some sections are really old with improvements made later in history, and some are relatively (China's history is quite long, so "relatively") new, made of brick with periodic guard towers and pretty to look at. One side of the wall is China and one side is Mongolia, well, at the time that was the case, now both sides are China. We went to the section of the wall at Mutianyu.<br /><br />First we had to walk up about a zillion stairs to actually get to the wall. It was way up there in my list of most tiring things I've ever done in my life (right up with track practice and gymnastics conditioning). Now, the stairs in China are really annoying, the steps are shorter than in the US so to go at a comfortable pace you need to step on every other step, which can get really tiring, but is better than tip-toeing up each step one by one. The stairs down into the underpasses are all like this too, longer steps with shorter distances between each.<br /><br />We finally popped up into a guard house after climbing forever, I was concentrating so hard on keeping my pace that I didn't even realize we'd made it up. There was a guy selling popsicles for an outrageous price of 6-ish kuai when you can normally get them for 1 kuai, but I was so hot and thirsty I had to get one. That popsicle was like Jesus. Seriously.<br /><br />Unfortunately I don't think I got any spectacular shots of the wall, maybe if we'd had time to go higher, but we ran out of time (and we wanted to hit up the souveneir shops on the way back). Pics:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJtypuZMbtQjHVkfbYvJ4TKs2ZAge1rlnb3g_T16tMASiUbrKtmNmxiZrLJJXpIx5wlByL_gIHUTE38C1XxcdE7dAzTDSZzXp7MRytUAzveyPBMu1EybVFxq8xfdHuwe1IgQJOEmCsH9p/s1600-h/IMG_3104.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJtypuZMbtQjHVkfbYvJ4TKs2ZAge1rlnb3g_T16tMASiUbrKtmNmxiZrLJJXpIx5wlByL_gIHUTE38C1XxcdE7dAzTDSZzXp7MRytUAzveyPBMu1EybVFxq8xfdHuwe1IgQJOEmCsH9p/s200/IMG_3104.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364904591185550930" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6Df9OzDbNoN2xoQc7hVKcDvEMtKGPfx41e_lRyKqWy-ucWE0Yo3iBkyjlUBly6vzdq0NM42bXJDTqNqA7RhS7xEauw7tBuJb4gJ1AQHSNeh3XD-2evFoGMYxsfjLPB1VADuga0mhRaiB/s1600-h/IMG_3106.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6Df9OzDbNoN2xoQc7hVKcDvEMtKGPfx41e_lRyKqWy-ucWE0Yo3iBkyjlUBly6vzdq0NM42bXJDTqNqA7RhS7xEauw7tBuJb4gJ1AQHSNeh3XD-2evFoGMYxsfjLPB1VADuga0mhRaiB/s200/IMG_3106.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364904595743390082" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNOHi1pAxmgZ3CGU-K8Dnve7u73ZJy3jkOkl32rOgmjQ7-2lI2l5APtg9mBGgUGYbi6o1ZJGj6iw8RMHA-OPkXrafn6eMymqwhlNKiigRTjmwL_cXYmYst7FD1NPVFal0dq-RaBd2rNIl/s1600-h/IMG_3115.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNOHi1pAxmgZ3CGU-K8Dnve7u73ZJy3jkOkl32rOgmjQ7-2lI2l5APtg9mBGgUGYbi6o1ZJGj6iw8RMHA-OPkXrafn6eMymqwhlNKiigRTjmwL_cXYmYst7FD1NPVFal0dq-RaBd2rNIl/s200/IMG_3115.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364904610679940962" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MMVNpcJ8l_PVFZR34tcSs67INyrBHg9PkDNUUEnKSETjPmufZiEZ5jQWsStQkKBmjCuGBxbTf6eV5eRcKQfKhzEZPT-5q25M93jKQ4k2pE2Uh7P53u36snvIFGDdjcfOcWcJjFZWn7Ht/s1600-h/IMG_3125.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MMVNpcJ8l_PVFZR34tcSs67INyrBHg9PkDNUUEnKSETjPmufZiEZ5jQWsStQkKBmjCuGBxbTf6eV5eRcKQfKhzEZPT-5q25M93jKQ4k2pE2Uh7P53u36snvIFGDdjcfOcWcJjFZWn7Ht/s200/IMG_3125.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364904624022878146" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcgQERLW2d7QG5bQJe-Qz-sQVcnA_hnIVI2o1hgwgyEYhR6CrbESY3dfjYHv8ItqzL9ciV11Qh8MZyP6v8_eEe3Tz0LGENgzf4rTEGRw0IYb5ABaeTX9zkL8CKbxgGAtZ_HqEvIVufbUWT/s1600-h/IMG_3123.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcgQERLW2d7QG5bQJe-Qz-sQVcnA_hnIVI2o1hgwgyEYhR6CrbESY3dfjYHv8ItqzL9ciV11Qh8MZyP6v8_eEe3Tz0LGENgzf4rTEGRw0IYb5ABaeTX9zkL8CKbxgGAtZ_HqEvIVufbUWT/s200/IMG_3123.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364904614364640578" border="0" /></a><br /><br />There was also a spot higher up on the mountain where there were huge characters that said "long live chairman mao"(in chinese). Which reminds me of a moment in class this past week where the teacher asked "what road" (this was a grammar pattern we were learning) the Chinese government is walking in terms of governmental policy (all vocab words we're learning), the student said capitalism and the teacher was like, "what? you mean socialism, right?" and he said, no I mean capitalism. She just didn't understand why/how he could say that. He tried to save himself by saying some aspects were capitalistic (think: Deng Xiaoping's reforms in China after Mao lost power/died - "<em>It doesn't matter whether</em> <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> <em>cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice</em>." He was referring to the uncomfortable similarities between Chinese economic policy and capitalist countries' economic policy. Sorry for the history lecture) and some aspects were socialistic, but she still didn't go for that so he finally gave in and said China was walking the road of socialism.<br /><br />With our drill sessions in small group lecture, the teacher always has an answer in mind, it's really hard to try and discern what she wants you to say. Still definitely not a fan of the Chinese emphasis on memory.<br /><br />On Thursday, instead of class we got to go to a park and talk to old people about their daily lives and how retirement was treating them, for the most part I understood, but there was one guy from Hangzhou who had a really strong accent so I did a lot of nodding and scribbling "and then he said something I didn't understand" in English so he couldn't peak and realize I had no clue what he was saying.<br /><br />The parks in Beijing are so popular, there are tons of people walking, dancing, doing yoga, taiqi, stretching, playing that hackey sack thing I keep telling you about, playing cards, reading the paper, and on and on and on. This park had a little "amusement park" for kids and also river that you could hire a boat to float down on, the lotus blossoms were so beautiful. There were also little stalls selling things. The old people all had the same look on their faces after I started speaking Chinese with them, kind of like a "what?! it can talk?!" look. But then they warmed up to me. It's because I'm so charming.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_PhF1GPabTim6yFLvFWJA56bi_em_qdL3m7_mqwldlo_FcrZ5HsvS7LQU0Csn6EPAFR1EXkgS0XzS2sMSE12KSRJj6uT0YxTMbCO8-St2eLkUOwj0nGXyjk_3gyoXlbgXpuikPKok_Im/s1600-h/IMG_3153.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_PhF1GPabTim6yFLvFWJA56bi_em_qdL3m7_mqwldlo_FcrZ5HsvS7LQU0Csn6EPAFR1EXkgS0XzS2sMSE12KSRJj6uT0YxTMbCO8-St2eLkUOwj0nGXyjk_3gyoXlbgXpuikPKok_Im/s200/IMG_3153.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364909824806689538" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83p91jQrETKT9MiF7-h3jd3jvXUmsvxGMQfPuaQmdJ0Esj41ogVhtnHwPWuwJT4E0RRoa1-c_jgcZJYiLd00FQb-CBdii_N6dPl2FS5-Z0WvXWn8_lPUbUB672cAdqiAMtQhupRAATwEI/s1600-h/IMG_3154.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83p91jQrETKT9MiF7-h3jd3jvXUmsvxGMQfPuaQmdJ0Esj41ogVhtnHwPWuwJT4E0RRoa1-c_jgcZJYiLd00FQb-CBdii_N6dPl2FS5-Z0WvXWn8_lPUbUB672cAdqiAMtQhupRAATwEI/s200/IMG_3154.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364909832850861986" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Until next time...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-49601923215697871982009-07-20T23:19:00.000-07:002009-07-21T04:25:16.824-07:00Holy crap! Look at the laowai!This would be for a motion-sensor sink...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs03waqLUF02CU5Z4qBxe8bh6qUjaIsNDemHcxvCKvf4KK4RyJqOyzQyISxvPGbRfhzHIV8E_nvtI7vetIMmigbiusOBvSpMaFpuWwZCJz69nWlUHL6QzYwM_t-7JCyWcfE0vhCkgPkItE/s1600-h/IMG_2913.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs03waqLUF02CU5Z4qBxe8bh6qUjaIsNDemHcxvCKvf4KK4RyJqOyzQyISxvPGbRfhzHIV8E_nvtI7vetIMmigbiusOBvSpMaFpuWwZCJz69nWlUHL6QzYwM_t-7JCyWcfE0vhCkgPkItE/s200/IMG_2913.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360842163602057554" border="0" /></a><br /><br />老外(lao3wai4) is a way of saying "foreigner" in Chinese, and this past weekend we were definitely the talk of the town. CET gave us the opportunity to visit either Dalian (a bigger, nicer city by the ocean - good air quality) or Yuxian (a smaller, poorer town). I decided to go to Yuxian because I figured it would be more of an experience; maybe less fun (my friends who went to Dalian got to go out to bars at night and hang by the ocean), but in the end more meaningful.<br /><br />Yuxian was completely different than Beijing. I don't think they see foreigners very often there so when we walked by in our big group, traffic problems occured. Lot's of staring and pointing. One of the guys looks like Harry Potter (at least to Chinese people, none of the Americans think they look alike) so he got asked to be in pictures all the time.<br /><br />Our first day we toured Yuxian. They took us all around and we saw a bunch of old temples. Unfortunately our tourguide only spoke Chinese so I didn't catch much of the information. We also went to a traditional paper cutting... place. Yuxian's paper cuts are different than the rest of China's paper cuts because they often use white paper which they then paint after they're done cutting. So, Yuxian's papercuts are very colorful as opposed to the traditional red paper the rest of China uses.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbsB7rwhmVvq_kHuxXPyggg6byEDxOWSZdLwm-xp_a-9MDjXfFEa2JXBSlevNBJ-2DOyAjoOLKjYPnMSul1ALf3aL17OYjay78wf4VdeYwu34NGzCIxVRH5OsH0d_BBmtoOFNpB83_4ii/s1600-h/IMG_2924.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbsB7rwhmVvq_kHuxXPyggg6byEDxOWSZdLwm-xp_a-9MDjXfFEa2JXBSlevNBJ-2DOyAjoOLKjYPnMSul1ALf3aL17OYjay78wf4VdeYwu34NGzCIxVRH5OsH0d_BBmtoOFNpB83_4ii/s200/IMG_2924.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360842177212417954" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzKcWUus3JL3-CX9er-BMTSZqX1idqCyZTMeP4VORCU8E90_LZpgx7YpVgleoeil4NTu76pvgDKU96k5f8fStAVUu-VYjsF8K0E9oWdgWVxGI-SKez3cGgK8mJ7EhaigsmMN49USDN4qRm/s1600-h/IMG_2922.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzKcWUus3JL3-CX9er-BMTSZqX1idqCyZTMeP4VORCU8E90_LZpgx7YpVgleoeil4NTu76pvgDKU96k5f8fStAVUu-VYjsF8K0E9oWdgWVxGI-SKez3cGgK8mJ7EhaigsmMN49USDN4qRm/s200/IMG_2922.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360842168459324130" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnfpGTEchRAwWUrgBIQbTMK1avKoGwhHHNoiejxeBYHeTh4-ICe59odrbrL66pcVyYSvZv_akmHpMgiWfkRdcAH2Q7MQcvizFOj6conLfN0yzU9Rb5Dd-LTYTuqXDDW_q3c3t9e71SI6H/s1600-h/IMG_2967.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnfpGTEchRAwWUrgBIQbTMK1avKoGwhHHNoiejxeBYHeTh4-ICe59odrbrL66pcVyYSvZv_akmHpMgiWfkRdcAH2Q7MQcvizFOj6conLfN0yzU9Rb5Dd-LTYTuqXDDW_q3c3t9e71SI6H/s200/IMG_2967.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360842193607268258" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxx01AqeU7OfZHqPCsIq-QLmeB3I5zRCmrU2X_uTc1w4qsXLRzrtZ2BdCuc6_Smi9KA7fN4JDRo74F6jMDaI6oU_lGGal2tG5Woqbs3P-chV4NfCU0Xv_uyTS0YSyBlXd40YB1dptcCNHm/s1600-h/IMG_2952.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxx01AqeU7OfZHqPCsIq-QLmeB3I5zRCmrU2X_uTc1w4qsXLRzrtZ2BdCuc6_Smi9KA7fN4JDRo74F6jMDaI6oU_lGGal2tG5Woqbs3P-chV4NfCU0Xv_uyTS0YSyBlXd40YB1dptcCNHm/s200/IMG_2952.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360842186088902306" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqhDM2XP210ElXI_uEIUB7D3sG9SBdoMPPaDoIY74iJWufzU7dthywsxcfbC4DSccp5OPLtUrZYVPvRwfjXH9Kz6PlygKh0OgSu5aizopGdt6dgfE6jFMhefVB8nwZN_cU3WLA5H81J-i/s1600-h/IMG_2990.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqhDM2XP210ElXI_uEIUB7D3sG9SBdoMPPaDoIY74iJWufzU7dthywsxcfbC4DSccp5OPLtUrZYVPvRwfjXH9Kz6PlygKh0OgSu5aizopGdt6dgfE6jFMhefVB8nwZN_cU3WLA5H81J-i/s200/IMG_2990.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360845503654327746" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN18I_V_ikhvxRoBmytZYm86ah0uDjBYBJcEWRTBkZbbv1jXe6CjK2xOPeHwAr-VVWNmKZ2FBdDAXfrnDdZw-NdVwAU97tro8joXMFZtjiHYTOSE9WY8EFmV5izx41zZQAGduXkjRMDyTA/s1600-h/IMG_2973.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN18I_V_ikhvxRoBmytZYm86ah0uDjBYBJcEWRTBkZbbv1jXe6CjK2xOPeHwAr-VVWNmKZ2FBdDAXfrnDdZw-NdVwAU97tro8joXMFZtjiHYTOSE9WY8EFmV5izx41zZQAGduXkjRMDyTA/s200/IMG_2973.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360845515395105634" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Our second day we traveled to a small, very rural, very poor village nearby. Saturday was my favorite day because it was unlike anything I have ever experienced before. If I thought we were stared at in Yuxian, in this village (which I've unfortunately forgotten the name of) we were even more of a spectacle. Because it had rained the day before, and because the roads were pretty much all dirt, the place was a muddy mess. We rode there in 2 big buses and it was pretty nerve-wracking to look out the window and watch the bus maneuver through the city. Chinese people are very fond of motorbikes, by the way. You see them everywhere, even at this village. I think I would have fallen flat on my face trying to ride one on those roads.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImYanGaiQi0vp29W3W76WGC8rpP5FbWXZ7N0876YjOfefqjremN5ww3Nj1r9gdWZaRaGg8Ony-73PzQVmkAxFTFRyAza0MpRQxZpRN-sLJ_nRQDKAy1ZkPA6knv7HaXz5vu07WlHvFgmY/s1600-h/IMG_3050.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImYanGaiQi0vp29W3W76WGC8rpP5FbWXZ7N0876YjOfefqjremN5ww3Nj1r9gdWZaRaGg8Ony-73PzQVmkAxFTFRyAza0MpRQxZpRN-sLJ_nRQDKAy1ZkPA6knv7HaXz5vu07WlHvFgmY/s200/IMG_3050.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360845529418909922" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaMVH0qnAQS9XHYjvDqhlvYDIRBD-yDnH_TREECxXPzbZGfRxNtauAKsxikwovfJTbiPYkfGCL-3KDyKDsIX21oF3cjz5u4e1C8stpQuKGR_2soQzubXK3LIBKq46xcZDHM5111j1kpqM4/s1600-h/IMG_3017.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaMVH0qnAQS9XHYjvDqhlvYDIRBD-yDnH_TREECxXPzbZGfRxNtauAKsxikwovfJTbiPYkfGCL-3KDyKDsIX21oF3cjz5u4e1C8stpQuKGR_2soQzubXK3LIBKq46xcZDHM5111j1kpqM4/s200/IMG_3017.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360845528144403794" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2fZXRRWv-_QZO8v8dJx0DA91KwFomAEEpmkiidXPEqAjr5-mPAgWkthlb5Wpa6cn2ttY_bT3xMwkB3F0ebIPvlplKuj262ZqB5QzTOh5Lo_4KbF4PTBR8zY80vfT9b95JR9wpF5Q3L80/s1600-h/IMG_3012.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2fZXRRWv-_QZO8v8dJx0DA91KwFomAEEpmkiidXPEqAjr5-mPAgWkthlb5Wpa6cn2ttY_bT3xMwkB3F0ebIPvlplKuj262ZqB5QzTOh5Lo_4KbF4PTBR8zY80vfT9b95JR9wpF5Q3L80/s200/IMG_3012.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360845517912843986" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqarCzhHoSk3Mvi7WW4eY2o1e3HIOiYMktsX8Ls7KPWNqIA0YJkyNw1uVaBLvDgDUaMi25NMQprMh9UR1l3OqUx-O_jEQrsJVPy_oSgCE_i7wurYgeSJZkVqTH64Hg7uzFEoBU_WfGZ2sd/s1600-h/IMG_3064.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqarCzhHoSk3Mvi7WW4eY2o1e3HIOiYMktsX8Ls7KPWNqIA0YJkyNw1uVaBLvDgDUaMi25NMQprMh9UR1l3OqUx-O_jEQrsJVPy_oSgCE_i7wurYgeSJZkVqTH64Hg7uzFEoBU_WfGZ2sd/s200/IMG_3064.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360848308787635122" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJQf4hezjx13d5j2nziI3389h-bOpOnnng8W5DvWhIYtY7oQo9jB717AFmNmrzNUoh63N1PcCrCStozJtXrM8bOPHEooIBOdyXSxuVw9VTiUHxqVelmUZhabJuCSczOL3Is-RBi0NixuSE/s1600-h/IMG_3059.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJQf4hezjx13d5j2nziI3389h-bOpOnnng8W5DvWhIYtY7oQo9jB717AFmNmrzNUoh63N1PcCrCStozJtXrM8bOPHEooIBOdyXSxuVw9VTiUHxqVelmUZhabJuCSczOL3Is-RBi0NixuSE/s200/IMG_3059.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360848304472501970" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After checking out all the temples and places of interest, we went to lunch... which sadly got into a bit of a disagreement with my stomach. I wish I'd taken a picture of the dish that I think did it. It was yellow, noodle-like, and squishy.<br /><br />Afterwards we rode back to Yuxian to rest up, but on the way we stopped at this long bridge (not really a bridge, but a road) and walked along it. It was nice to just relax and go for a stroll. We climbed down and skipped some stones too (well, I attempted and failed). Later that night we returned to the village to watch a traditional Chinese opera performance, which I think is a weekly get-together for the locals. My favorite memory from the trip was right before the performance. While we were waiting some of the guys started playing basketball with the Chinese guys. A ton of Chinese people gathered round to watch and it was fun play with the kids while we were waiting, it was just all-around a nice moment.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Fd7p088iMnLBOa-kBadxCLn5f1My8RA0ZlvtwTfoPn_qX2JNWWM4P79dF42L01zmsS0qesiyd8dDzMDxhhZ34auoi9TcUSCjgWXiyeaEEY2xelnoDLebFkRbGCW62L0MdLburmKboDDC/s1600-h/IMG_3073.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Fd7p088iMnLBOa-kBadxCLn5f1My8RA0ZlvtwTfoPn_qX2JNWWM4P79dF42L01zmsS0qesiyd8dDzMDxhhZ34auoi9TcUSCjgWXiyeaEEY2xelnoDLebFkRbGCW62L0MdLburmKboDDC/s200/IMG_3073.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360848318155793906" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjujgy0l6FEXAWJlykunrIeRtggHA-nLUmMvdji4k_f5CVGX-yaO-_8Qyg1vPRMJcJsF5zaZus8dntIrgorurfPc0chQJhIV_KnVmaYLU_UYnUGB9eFUynf_-KJsbWKDQL05anCTrg-pwb/s1600-h/IMG_3074.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjujgy0l6FEXAWJlykunrIeRtggHA-nLUmMvdji4k_f5CVGX-yaO-_8Qyg1vPRMJcJsF5zaZus8dntIrgorurfPc0chQJhIV_KnVmaYLU_UYnUGB9eFUynf_-KJsbWKDQL05anCTrg-pwb/s200/IMG_3074.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360848323259233042" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MaVoeeArdSaz5Zl1JJnY6Ue75-_daDQrZNg01EUIfgD87FFNW3mO467Du8a6VD0RSYzRX54CtfzZGCPUYfYVJAXmKxs6A5AsSvs1Al67ukQkQ6T_FEQzbMKNl9vye6CT-_FzlKG1En4s/s1600-h/IMG_3080.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MaVoeeArdSaz5Zl1JJnY6Ue75-_daDQrZNg01EUIfgD87FFNW3mO467Du8a6VD0RSYzRX54CtfzZGCPUYfYVJAXmKxs6A5AsSvs1Al67ukQkQ6T_FEQzbMKNl9vye6CT-_FzlKG1En4s/s200/IMG_3080.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360848333096802802" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Chinese opera is an opportunity to teach kids moral lessons (so our guide said) and to get together and chat. It was really strange to hear how everyone was talking during the performance, completely different from how audiences are supposed to be silent in the US. The way they sing makes it hard for even Chinese people to understand, but I think they know the story already (like the stories we were told as children). This one was about how the emperor's daughter was beaten up by her husbad after he got drunk, so she told her dad and her dad decided that the only way to solve this was to execute her husband, most of the play revolved around the daughter trying to convince her mom and dad not to kill him because she started to feel bad. I donno.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Z9wIV9bXrT7mevF83WdfjqaxxFwe0LbdND6xTnGTOmKmWeVWvsh6RG4XcD28qHgVNIUcfvP_k00NfYz-lGlMWvvpH6wIHCerxnlAtkFNUIhRdUHP7WNPQj_JuQbjNTwtv03fwzsuVBMN/s1600-h/IMG_3089.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Z9wIV9bXrT7mevF83WdfjqaxxFwe0LbdND6xTnGTOmKmWeVWvsh6RG4XcD28qHgVNIUcfvP_k00NfYz-lGlMWvvpH6wIHCerxnlAtkFNUIhRdUHP7WNPQj_JuQbjNTwtv03fwzsuVBMN/s200/IMG_3089.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360851013774645954" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYf1FaTiRHEjkCnwhvTWSDjBQlklKzP9nCQOJ3tB38Fun7fmHUQKqnSt1SprSp5TmqQbBAPENE2I2n0JdCKIYA3vK1vW-3EgzwTWTwQ6OC0iLBOWD0ywllZHX6CnK4RHsZWqIztSk0BGVT/s1600-h/IMG_3091.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYf1FaTiRHEjkCnwhvTWSDjBQlklKzP9nCQOJ3tB38Fun7fmHUQKqnSt1SprSp5TmqQbBAPENE2I2n0JdCKIYA3vK1vW-3EgzwTWTwQ6OC0iLBOWD0ywllZHX6CnK4RHsZWqIztSk0BGVT/s200/IMG_3091.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360851031076754434" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyphenhyphenr33Kl8NRaCbcHNbwnGxmYY2pModJoFYdnlzfmUB0IDnTfRIaDLQcm68uHJrX3IdRSw3RSpOQRR9HUpNglR31wc6QRMbWJAjV-DR18FOeW9eWnrr_JM7PnvUpaeGoLL-jr6o_kYPpiPh/s1600-h/IMG_3093.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyphenhyphenr33Kl8NRaCbcHNbwnGxmYY2pModJoFYdnlzfmUB0IDnTfRIaDLQcm68uHJrX3IdRSw3RSpOQRR9HUpNglR31wc6QRMbWJAjV-DR18FOeW9eWnrr_JM7PnvUpaeGoLL-jr6o_kYPpiPh/s200/IMG_3093.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360851040205701266" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyONdU4zItd8Ic6unLAVGVwVFwqHyjn0LU-7Z33gu-yCOtHsAMEH8PvvLzhvkyCosX9uRHexnNB5Ph5_4P68w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwWlPUMtYAdh-_de8l4ghEeGjww1D_eoZNarC559D8KrfvmKsTL90Dn0Brj0164ARtKMMZaUSOmM_swghf3Ow' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />Well, that's all for now. But before I go, I've had a request to explain how Chinese people react to me being able to "speak" Chinese, and how they react to me/foreigners in general. Well, if I'm in a group of people and a Chinese person speaks to us, they usually single out the most obviously Chinese and in-charge one. That usually ends up being Lisa, her parents are from Guangdong, so she understands the language they speak there (I forgot wether its Cantonese or some other dialect/language) and is a bit more familiar with Mandarin than the rest of us. If you're Asian, but not Chinese, that's second best. When you think about it, this makes perfect sense because you want to be talking to the person who can actually speak Chinese. If you're obviously European-looking, then Chinese obviously isn't your first language (I'm sure there might be exceptions, but that's really strange to think about).<br /><br />When it comes to me speaking Chinese with Chinese people, depending on where I am, I get a different reaction. If I'm at a shopping area they all flatter me and say my Chinese is great after I say "duo1 shao3 qian2? (how much)" to which I awkwardly decline in the proper Chinese manner (Chinese people only rarely say "thank you" after receiving a compliment). Still haven't gotten that down. It's very strange when someone compliments you on your outfit or says you look cute and you're then supposed to say, "No, no, these clothes aren't pretty" or something along those lines. It's so much easier to say, "Thanks, I really like them too!" Yesterday at dinner there were no Asian-Americans in the group and somehow the responsibility of ordering food landed on me (I think the others were just too tired). Ordering food is never a problem because all the menus have pictures of the food so you can point at the picture and say "zhe4ge (this)". But later I asked the waitress what an appropriate gift to give a friend after they've helped me would be, she was pretty shocked but very happy/embarassed to answer. Something along the lines of depends on what your intentions are (NOT helpful, a very Chinese answer).<br /><br />Ah, I've been rambling for too long, gotta wrap this up. If I'm with Asians, I'm ignored. No Asians, they usually want to try to speak a little English with me, but have to resort to Chinese eventually after I persist in only speaking Chinese (plus, I think most people only have studied very simple conversation topics or job-related English). Reactions to my obviously not being Chinese, I get looked at a lot so I have to be careful about picking wedgies while walking down the street and such. I think I might be treated more politely, but I think I have to go around by myself more before I can say its not just the fact that its a group of foreigners. Also, I get a lot of "Heloo?" while I'm walking down the street. If you're curious about anything else, please do ask, I like trying to explain these things. Did I answer that question well enough?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-60262060920086742362009-07-11T18:37:00.000-07:002009-07-11T19:41:18.334-07:00An all-nighter, among other thingsAnother action-packed weekend just flew by (technically I still have today, Sunday, to enjoy though). Next week is our mid-term so the teachers canceled our Friday test and watched a movie instead, Beijing Bicycle. I really don't like that movie, I'd seen it before in the US and the characters are all just too roundabout for me to handle. I can't help thinking, when I watch the movie, that if they had just been more direct none of their problems would have happened. I guess that's one difference in our cultures that I'm just not a big fan of. Sooo, if you want to watch a movie and end up extremely frustrated, I'd recommend Beijing Bicycle.<br /><br />Anywho, Thursday night we ended up in Houhai (hai means lake, it's one of the 7 or so lakes to the left of the Forbidden City) which is an awesome shopping and bar-hopping (sorry mom) area. The stores were so cool though! I definitely will have to go back to buy you guys some souveneirs. The whole lake is surrounded by bars with live music and it was fun to just walk around - the bar employees all stand outside their bar and try to get you to come in, "Ladies! Upstairs, drinks half-off. Pretty ladies!" My favorite was the guy who told us, "Ladies, come in! I sing for you!"<br /><br />Friday night was our "Epic Wanshang (Evening)." But first, during the day, we went to the Llama Temple and Ditan Gongyuan (Park). The Llama Temple was a really pretty area with temple after temple of Buddhist statues that worshipers could kneel in front of and burn incense. It was all very hushed and relaxing. There was one building with a huge 3-story Buddha in it. Other's had Chinese-style statues of other Buddhist deities. I don't know enough about Buddhism to really be able to tell you all about it. Here are a lot of pictures - and one of me! (I'm narcissistic)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-jQJR8eUX4BZ_CSJDo1dOproeEd9VFrxTrUAmvkUEzSTOOX2JBN1egMnBRW8_zvZ-pmNWsPO1sJ5obiVm7OIsV06LcZhKhNTpFup5mmiUptQYSMnZ1z6PB1gKvwubK7_ilW3iy2eh_BB1/s1600-h/IMG_2858.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-jQJR8eUX4BZ_CSJDo1dOproeEd9VFrxTrUAmvkUEzSTOOX2JBN1egMnBRW8_zvZ-pmNWsPO1sJ5obiVm7OIsV06LcZhKhNTpFup5mmiUptQYSMnZ1z6PB1gKvwubK7_ilW3iy2eh_BB1/s200/IMG_2858.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357390099296421730" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJR7KRybMpt2trl6OeG0Hv7CWZavgx1yTqfTiugW3FCFkwRsLuccQl15vkYX8JYejbV7kwtW7ve_mmXeVvqyLi-ote9kJZvBGWmTZbxqIvhwtCHV2NXa9-ss5VK0ZAK4qM1r4PaslhtAe/s1600-h/IMG_2859.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJR7KRybMpt2trl6OeG0Hv7CWZavgx1yTqfTiugW3FCFkwRsLuccQl15vkYX8JYejbV7kwtW7ve_mmXeVvqyLi-ote9kJZvBGWmTZbxqIvhwtCHV2NXa9-ss5VK0ZAK4qM1r4PaslhtAe/s200/IMG_2859.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357390095672759266" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOUsIh_R4AKPthRkhSMJST9MOarlSOM0gbNho4PmCNBNnmYssBUL-epf6a8rfLY6Z6VRcsGU7DrMDCyBFuecT913Mm6DM-uIXPyt6NPlYef5ZTZjC917WJJfanI1_3050xWYRWDt_QmYu/s1600-h/IMG_2857.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxOUsIh_R4AKPthRkhSMJST9MOarlSOM0gbNho4PmCNBNnmYssBUL-epf6a8rfLY6Z6VRcsGU7DrMDCyBFuecT913Mm6DM-uIXPyt6NPlYef5ZTZjC917WJJfanI1_3050xWYRWDt_QmYu/s200/IMG_2857.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357390085979588610" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fgvQUeVcuwYzO2Y3QE2ZAMFRVc9KT5ZVbdKVbHrbvoMAiCN1IAIxZZ8gnkaTggNox-ArS75frVthgx2n-Fit9xekQ69CrIgUmHryl5L2Qh-gReYpzmVnvvzzkRMNF9HEt7wMum5HYs8S/s1600-h/IMG_2854.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fgvQUeVcuwYzO2Y3QE2ZAMFRVc9KT5ZVbdKVbHrbvoMAiCN1IAIxZZ8gnkaTggNox-ArS75frVthgx2n-Fit9xekQ69CrIgUmHryl5L2Qh-gReYpzmVnvvzzkRMNF9HEt7wMum5HYs8S/s200/IMG_2854.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357390084876797906" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnIh_-Xozfrau26yIkggih4oaC1Ev21XzU0kO7eIytDbeR6mrkE2ZYDXZHvs5yAUmN5QRoH49q4isKZ0_SKE8FWZ5kKL6B-kzOvkfeGPaIWMQtOOWkVOu7nzJlMt-fclOv5RcTIb0G77Y/s1600-h/IMG_2867.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnIh_-Xozfrau26yIkggih4oaC1Ev21XzU0kO7eIytDbeR6mrkE2ZYDXZHvs5yAUmN5QRoH49q4isKZ0_SKE8FWZ5kKL6B-kzOvkfeGPaIWMQtOOWkVOu7nzJlMt-fclOv5RcTIb0G77Y/s200/IMG_2867.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357390104441013810" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After the Llama Temple, we went to Ditan Park, a smaller park that was pretty close by. We passed shop after shop selling bundles of incese and buddist figures on the way. Seriously, I could smell the incese as soon as we walked out of the subway. It really put the whole area in another place. My favorite place in Ditan Park was the Slaughter Pavilion (great name, I know). Ditan Park is home to the Temple of Earth, one of the 4 temples around Beijing that the Emperors of old used to travel to to make sacrifices. Standing in the center of the big square felt like I was in a movie. There were a bunch of flags in rows all around and there was a nice breeze so they were all flapping too.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyo8IxNshq-a4exI3-Rfov2auqP_jU6lYOwHyCCrhM2_NsYhrVHuq-BuTjpCKmfdO_fbs3D4WyCS-GoFq0LZBzM9eogWpJwkWScmSiWkEOKviIvTML2_NB3vfJtEs1hxy-QsbO67Fh_Nr5/s1600-h/IMG_2877.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyo8IxNshq-a4exI3-Rfov2auqP_jU6lYOwHyCCrhM2_NsYhrVHuq-BuTjpCKmfdO_fbs3D4WyCS-GoFq0LZBzM9eogWpJwkWScmSiWkEOKviIvTML2_NB3vfJtEs1hxy-QsbO67Fh_Nr5/s200/IMG_2877.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357391434410735650" border="0" /></a><a style="font-weight: bold;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIihUvSiR3Vx6o72G915My1vsn0EdrO2Ul6-pXKdd3SRU4Ibk2fiGAq2eR3WimnVnMt2QhuoRkFi1Gp4a5w_xuisCwNfnoUvjU54GHGr2i_2vdOzpR1Whn3N1Ul36BaPe5-lOJM3ClHDGt/s1600-h/IMG_2878.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIihUvSiR3Vx6o72G915My1vsn0EdrO2Ul6-pXKdd3SRU4Ibk2fiGAq2eR3WimnVnMt2QhuoRkFi1Gp4a5w_xuisCwNfnoUvjU54GHGr2i_2vdOzpR1Whn3N1Ul36BaPe5-lOJM3ClHDGt/s200/IMG_2878.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357391438121870258" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After that we walked around the park itself (the Temple of Confucius was closed because all the buildings in the park close at 5 (or it might have been 6)). Everything closes in China earlier than it does in the US, it's hard to get used to. We tried to go to a Starbucks last night at around 10 and it was closed. I don't know if its the same in the US, but there were still a lot of people around and I was really in need of coffee.<br /><br />There were old people out and about doing old Chinese-people things (which are different than old American-people things): people playing mahjong and cards at the little tables scattered throughout the park, there were croquet games going on in these little dusty, dirt areas, also this hacky sack type thing that I've mentioned before. It's crazy, <span style="font-style: italic;">I</span> don't have the skills to kick that little thing up and over to another person, but these grandparents were just killing it! I'm impressed everytime I see it. The base is some coins tied together and then there's a feather sticking up on top and it makes a <span style="font-style: italic;">chinck</span> sound everytime it's kicked.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrI5Hs6O-sieSZC_rnP0jh3IPr-fzitD6VQVRczSKTOA6YoifAHLeOB0errsYaMqlNObB7tnSzkRqMoQmbRCSAzpDsgUyDHGBt-AFiV_BlYaJMFQM9jYmjMYlXUwYtIBV0RcuYbuFv5mtB/s1600-h/IMG_2894.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrI5Hs6O-sieSZC_rnP0jh3IPr-fzitD6VQVRczSKTOA6YoifAHLeOB0errsYaMqlNObB7tnSzkRqMoQmbRCSAzpDsgUyDHGBt-AFiV_BlYaJMFQM9jYmjMYlXUwYtIBV0RcuYbuFv5mtB/s200/IMG_2894.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357391444238237330" border="0" /></a><br /><br />That was our day, after eating, resting and showering up, we got ready for our "Epic Wanshang" which included: a return stroll around Houhai, dancing for however long we felt like it at Wudaokou, karaoke if there was time (which there wasn't), and finally getting to Tiananmen by 4 in the morning to see the changing of the guard.<br /><br />My envisioning of the whole Tiananmen changing of the guard thing was completely different from what actually ended up happening. Every night at 11pm and morning at 4am the guards change. We decided to go at 4 because we figured there'd be less people. Lisa's Lonely Planet guide book also said it was more of a foreigner thing to go to too. So I was picturing a relaxed, easy viewing of the changing of the guard and an opportunity for me to break the language pledge and chat with some other English speakers. Not so. Definitly not so.<br /><br />I forgot, this is China, it's also a Friday night/Saturday morning. The place was filled with Chinese tour groups and we basically had no chance of seeing what was going on. At one point, before the actual event happened, we could see the guards standing there, but then, when it started everyone's kid went up on his/her parent's shoulders and it was game over. I did get to see the flag being raised while they played the national anthem. That was cool, I guess. So, if you're ever in China and want to do this, I'd recommend a weekday.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscnLFHbO_1FvU11-CS8YO44wu1vZS6iVqh5OmBDqdv3dupux7hfIJCu1OTUYYNhQSHMEJw5F8DQR77mNwZvhfp5DskxihCeFrHFSZ0igLuiBzbTzDLL63wfxfXl8Qx4O4PBYi15HhWN2z/s1600-h/IMG_2909.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscnLFHbO_1FvU11-CS8YO44wu1vZS6iVqh5OmBDqdv3dupux7hfIJCu1OTUYYNhQSHMEJw5F8DQR77mNwZvhfp5DskxihCeFrHFSZ0igLuiBzbTzDLL63wfxfXl8Qx4O4PBYi15HhWN2z/s200/IMG_2909.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357391452881941298" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4vHaI9XdQkbVLh_QTh_comcf5v8OiZueUD93iKKFh4wj-irp4YVSjKIkHia1BAQ9_isQUgfhOnyfn_o-o9_53NrJpABFJD7HTcaM2utc2RT3wnm-br4KoqIegLqugLDRI3G8mpklt2ucG/s1600-h/IMG_2912.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4vHaI9XdQkbVLh_QTh_comcf5v8OiZueUD93iKKFh4wj-irp4YVSjKIkHia1BAQ9_isQUgfhOnyfn_o-o9_53NrJpABFJD7HTcaM2utc2RT3wnm-br4KoqIegLqugLDRI3G8mpklt2ucG/s200/IMG_2912.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357396780899207618" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We were all totally beat afterward and headed back like zombies to go to sleep. We didn't even make it to McDonald's to eat breakfast like we had planned.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-11638787960818575252009-07-07T15:59:00.000-07:002009-07-09T01:25:44.916-07:00I love you VPN Client!You may have heard, but there were riots in Xinjiang that spread to other areas of China (not anywhere close to Beijing) and as a result, the government has now blocked Facebook in addition to the already blocked Blogspot. I'm so glad U-M has remote wireless access, without it I wouldn't be able to post, or - oh god! - check my facebook! There are a couple poor souls here who's schools don't provide a VPN client so last night I ended up lending my computer to one of them so he could update his blog and such.<br /><br />On a lighter note, yesterday in class one of the girls mentioned that she loved people with green eyes and the teacher just looked confused and said, "lan-se? (blue?)" and she said, "bu shi, lu-se (no, green)." we all pointed at someone's green tea bottle and she was just so shocked so I raised my hand and said I have green eyes, so at the end of class all the 260-level teachers came over and looked at my eyes. Hooray for spreading knowledge about white people?<br /><br />During our discussions during our small group classes, some differences in mannerisms have become apparent, like: Chinese people don't ever make quotation marks with their fingers. The first time one of my classmates did that the teacher laughed so hard! Another is how Americans say "soooo...." at the end of our sentences sometimes when debating/discussing an issue as kind of an implied summary of everything we just said. It doesn't work in Chinese, we say "suoyi..." and the teacher says "suoyi, shenme? ("so" what?)" and makes us repeat everything we just said. I prefer putting "hao (good, ok)" at the end of my arguments because it's much more final.<br /><br />Now some pictures so this post isn't just all text... I know you all love pictures. I went to Tiananmen (spell check says I'm spelling this wrong, but in pinyin it's spelled right) on Sunday with some friends because I hadn't gone yet and they all had. It's the largest open-urban square in the world and it was, in fact, quite large. Pretty much as soon as our group got to the middle of the square and got ready to take pictures, timid Chinese men started asking either myself or Sarah (the other white girl) if they could get pictures with us. My celebrity moment was when a man walked up and asked if I'd be in a picture with his parents because, "You look European?"<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnElALH5HyQF1MiKdhyLr9h2EFXPnM7h0jUSnMAAtAK7XJhUDRFH-A-0e07RvDEtV1IDuwT-SYkZLym-T6Mv931egtZFsBs7nIZ2gPlabsfPKbaXiN-TTDe7a_RqCjUC8otnOtTv02bqA/s1600-h/IMG_2834.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnElALH5HyQF1MiKdhyLr9h2EFXPnM7h0jUSnMAAtAK7XJhUDRFH-A-0e07RvDEtV1IDuwT-SYkZLym-T6Mv931egtZFsBs7nIZ2gPlabsfPKbaXiN-TTDe7a_RqCjUC8otnOtTv02bqA/s200/IMG_2834.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355960770826902530" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8C52ztQv-jVCa4uecQUgKVmEn4j5ZEWgO6LDzHRIx83sgGvEgqUGqoMHnLE_B-kAJLw4mZCicBsV-N2_HJsPhQjj1IDEw0pjJkPzTlAKgylbUMlIvMmMB496IYQN_gQo7K36U-7zGvZYd/s1600-h/IMG_2830.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8C52ztQv-jVCa4uecQUgKVmEn4j5ZEWgO6LDzHRIx83sgGvEgqUGqoMHnLE_B-kAJLw4mZCicBsV-N2_HJsPhQjj1IDEw0pjJkPzTlAKgylbUMlIvMmMB496IYQN_gQo7K36U-7zGvZYd/s200/IMG_2830.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355960780805056226" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I bought a pair of leggings yesterday and haggled successfully! I probably could have gotten it cheaper, but what I did was I moved all my big bills out of my wallet and only kept a 10 kuai so when she told me it was 15 kuai I showed her I only had 10, after she said, "Bu keyi, bu keyi (nope!)" so I shrugged and walked away and she called me back! Very exciting, leggings for less than $2! My first attempt at haggling was an absolute disaster and I don't want to talk about it because even though I got it for 15 kuai cheaper I still payed WAY too much because I didn't go in prepared with a price in my head; doing conversions - and math in general - on the spot is not my forte. My first, first time haggling here I got straight-up denied when I tried so I ended up walking away in shame (I still avoid that shop).<br /><br />Finally, and this is a sign mistake that I think could happen anywhere, but is funny nonetheless, there's this picture:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYAhK9nIgU3HOsmxZt97_OD7mD597YBRqPJvuXTVtsWRykSebKOE8LtN1L_8lEA8eTg9aNI76JecriaxgnsqMP3k3Wp9K4yp9EPozVWmmXvnS-uliRNu2zdE8A_wByXDTaNX-T5qjHlGw/s1600-h/IMG_2828.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYAhK9nIgU3HOsmxZt97_OD7mD597YBRqPJvuXTVtsWRykSebKOE8LtN1L_8lEA8eTg9aNI76JecriaxgnsqMP3k3Wp9K4yp9EPozVWmmXvnS-uliRNu2zdE8A_wByXDTaNX-T5qjHlGw/s200/IMG_2828.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355978200764712962" border="0" /></a><br />Hopefully you'll laugh right away.<br /><br />My mom tells me a lot of people don't get it... it's just that it says "fashion heaven is straight ahead" and there's an arrow pointing left, so you'd have to turn left after reading this sign to walk straight to fashion heaven. I donno, it was funny to us at the time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-66740355302833127182009-07-04T17:26:00.000-07:002009-07-08T00:03:30.436-07:00Lao Beijing bingkuar, yi kuar, yi kuar!To warm things up, I feel like I haven't posted in a while, I ate a croissant thing with chocolate in the middle for breakfast a couple days ago (see mom, I AM eating healthy) and here was the brand name:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpdOvohbfpW48gN4Nmb59_CyC3V4X7atWJvyT_zOEx_oxhh2uBqr7tp1Bv49pGmmxatxmfXR5gYvIIg8Tz7RahX-bWqZZrTsQcWn3M4nP0a89YRicg1i8blq2S9Chib95vGMdr4p9TKv1/s1600-h/IMG_2662.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOpdOvohbfpW48gN4Nmb59_CyC3V4X7atWJvyT_zOEx_oxhh2uBqr7tp1Bv49pGmmxatxmfXR5gYvIIg8Tz7RahX-bWqZZrTsQcWn3M4nP0a89YRicg1i8blq2S9Chib95vGMdr4p9TKv1/s200/IMG_2662.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354767279815118354" border="0" /></a><br />I see little things like this all the time. I went to a bubble tea place last night and there was a plaque on the wall telling everyone about their excellent service and the English part went something like "frequent terminating excellent service."<br /><br />Moving on, after our long and schoolwork-intensive week, and test-intensive morning (Fridays are our test days) we were all in need of a little fun, so some friends and I took a trip to the Summer Palace, after we finally managed to figure out which line to take on the subway, getting there was a breeze. The Summer Palace is where Empress Cixi, the last real power figure of the Qing (the last) dynasty, chilled out in the summer and squandered all the money she was supposed to be spending on the navy. If I remember my history correctly.<br /><br />Saying "Summer Palace" doesn't really evoke the right imagery though. It's like a huge park, there's a lake in the middle and a path going all the way around it. We were there for 3 hours or so and only made it halfway around the lake. There are a lot of old, bronze statues and bridges and lots of examples of Chinese architecture. The most beautiful that we saw was the Buddhist Tower of Incense. It was a 4?-tiered tower, people are only allowed to see the bottom floor though. Inside is a statue of Kuan-yin (China's favorite Boddhisattva). You weren't allowed to take pictures inside though and i couldn't get a clear one from outside the doorway.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PBBT7trdhkMcqusPPyl6CgLu9a-p6zepfud-Zmw8opC6Y9iHxGanSI6OyRcI5SgA0JMPG5WEcGbP5CWouwxJcFnCQ-a6YbGnPh2LBCDVNn259iAYABlM_Tf28E8sqkVJaCweleqOWnky/s1600-h/IMG_2682.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PBBT7trdhkMcqusPPyl6CgLu9a-p6zepfud-Zmw8opC6Y9iHxGanSI6OyRcI5SgA0JMPG5WEcGbP5CWouwxJcFnCQ-a6YbGnPh2LBCDVNn259iAYABlM_Tf28E8sqkVJaCweleqOWnky/s200/IMG_2682.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354772732034035138" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQUiB3m9WwITQwYQ1H_o3FYT7Y64FzqQVBDf48VpTlCZ0r4gDFbcEY5khhoZXR_jPkqjwC25TDVVs0xCyzGT25Vx6AAysoz-eCXeSDB4I_JrK_oiR7gYMW_-AvYZbI6TEAaYUJhHzTFiQ/s1600-h/IMG_2723.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQUiB3m9WwITQwYQ1H_o3FYT7Y64FzqQVBDf48VpTlCZ0r4gDFbcEY5khhoZXR_jPkqjwC25TDVVs0xCyzGT25Vx6AAysoz-eCXeSDB4I_JrK_oiR7gYMW_-AvYZbI6TEAaYUJhHzTFiQ/s200/IMG_2723.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354772744807208434" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRU3LZv7ljUuIIWkVItkBfnYjQhHFF-U-emcSQgMtiG60cf2qu2S_LLjAlomlg3jD8MSbFjHmfnhwKWz_dR4kJRx5d6wc828IiQVPWueORnuX877CdauoSNrWo-SvxUjL0RgLTcnfq7Is/s1600-h/IMG_2738.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRU3LZv7ljUuIIWkVItkBfnYjQhHFF-U-emcSQgMtiG60cf2qu2S_LLjAlomlg3jD8MSbFjHmfnhwKWz_dR4kJRx5d6wc828IiQVPWueORnuX877CdauoSNrWo-SvxUjL0RgLTcnfq7Is/s200/IMG_2738.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354772740106422450" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We had to climb so many stairs! And there we a lot of upwardly inclined pathways that I couldn't help but be jealous of Cixi and how she probably got carried up all of them. This is a picture of the pathway that led to the tower:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib-JjGAScEc8DGljeEUtiZPr0rbEtYjE_wrfiahwJKGBaILznubIdt-DHJWr-V8bOSaOcI8yE8hYzn0T8CWKokJQ-5G2M53NKXCh4dj1nFRBiFs4fLr0obUB8GEEZKMQl3voVui6-vkHh_/s1600-h/IMG_2706.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib-JjGAScEc8DGljeEUtiZPr0rbEtYjE_wrfiahwJKGBaILznubIdt-DHJWr-V8bOSaOcI8yE8hYzn0T8CWKokJQ-5G2M53NKXCh4dj1nFRBiFs4fLr0obUB8GEEZKMQl3voVui6-vkHh_/s200/IMG_2706.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354772746399040066" border="0" /></a> ?:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqdj7l2FuXsnIsT4QS7oKknSBTGZZmkxw42UYIsacqc8QiNWfyak1U-jYv1Zk2K26VHLS1rkvKHrX9KjOOUvrQvmmCZGdJbXyKVEt1OVLzS9CqpyeqxemTev_TiyFsdvlcw2de7h5dxB_j/s1600-h/IMG_2756.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqdj7l2FuXsnIsT4QS7oKknSBTGZZmkxw42UYIsacqc8QiNWfyak1U-jYv1Zk2K26VHLS1rkvKHrX9KjOOUvrQvmmCZGdJbXyKVEt1OVLzS9CqpyeqxemTev_TiyFsdvlcw2de7h5dxB_j/s200/IMG_2756.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354772752865105618" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is Cixi's stone boat that she had built. It doesn't funciton as a boat, it's stone. Think of the awsome boat parties you could have on there, of course, playing the song "I'm on a Boat" would be necessary.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaryr8cfTsWoNmhdsV-vo7QS80KoHsnHO32JU8jh8rP4SFNmaCPnYVGjoeAXZocEo5PAVUB666wUJF5WJHokAlOsY8VdIsOB-sPj-Gc0sylw3wW2t-NFRYJOoTiZQzSlcFoQazuLQZ_29D/s1600-h/IMG_2760.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaryr8cfTsWoNmhdsV-vo7QS80KoHsnHO32JU8jh8rP4SFNmaCPnYVGjoeAXZocEo5PAVUB666wUJF5WJHokAlOsY8VdIsOB-sPj-Gc0sylw3wW2t-NFRYJOoTiZQzSlcFoQazuLQZ_29D/s200/IMG_2760.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354774581475211154" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxhIuwnXrZFXt6t7cRbcNJfphNATWkY-Up7Zk-6c15UZzhflVRugpXxRVLK__sJ4a5O5JweHF4gzpbsdlZ2s0Olhoz-v4rB9NgSURoByLTjaJJFN9hPeufIYxIH5jpxOxLl0Q_yQ9zU66y/s1600-h/IMG_2758.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxhIuwnXrZFXt6t7cRbcNJfphNATWkY-Up7Zk-6c15UZzhflVRugpXxRVLK__sJ4a5O5JweHF4gzpbsdlZ2s0Olhoz-v4rB9NgSURoByLTjaJJFN9hPeufIYxIH5jpxOxLl0Q_yQ9zU66y/s200/IMG_2758.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354774569673712210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And here's my favorite Chinese mythological creature, the Qilin!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBB2D756KsuJZCenHbYB4-EdpBxEiZJ42e-E6Ff8AmYAUJesXo03GKYPzvJU2jvzVXnYPtMA6jIRF1YP007MX4OPin4fqzVvTR0RXfIPFpC9-3S8XXRh9kSG3FkiklQ3C22bZxWpvDTid/s1600-h/IMG_2766.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBB2D756KsuJZCenHbYB4-EdpBxEiZJ42e-E6Ff8AmYAUJesXo03GKYPzvJU2jvzVXnYPtMA6jIRF1YP007MX4OPin4fqzVvTR0RXfIPFpC9-3S8XXRh9kSG3FkiklQ3C22bZxWpvDTid/s200/IMG_2766.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354774587244087858" border="0" /></a><br /><br />That was friday, yesterday I went on the CET trip to Cun Dixia village. Lot's of Chinese tourists were there. It's about 90km away from Beijing (about a 3 hour bus ride). The village was all still build in a very old, traditonal style and it was surrounded by mountains. I'm pretty sure you could consider them mountains... we don't really have mountains in Michigan, do we? It was awesome to climb all the trails they had and to look down, the view was just fantastic.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsM5U5roAJY1t14vRi5uA5X7n7robAt78sYZmrCuZ5lcS9dCiFB7le8Wi0NNyHPu0XIgtiec4xrPfDVj9wnxVk6XWGAVbeatHEOgopdntuiO5UFntBLuzdx0c-RIzwYHVV39k9fPErLVVL/s1600-h/IMG_2821.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsM5U5roAJY1t14vRi5uA5X7n7robAt78sYZmrCuZ5lcS9dCiFB7le8Wi0NNyHPu0XIgtiec4xrPfDVj9wnxVk6XWGAVbeatHEOgopdntuiO5UFntBLuzdx0c-RIzwYHVV39k9fPErLVVL/s200/IMG_2821.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354777422218006258" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPAxhMHibzloAhNFuhTj3mB1htuEgS0Pi9ORpg_hb-C-HJ-253k6BAghqUIYB7lMJxnfG-9P9lAAIQnxpPURoRWD5bDqoLSZPBsv3KPWxCCi9x4_Fs4OvVljPirmQuDQ4OSik4C63LnWP2/s1600-h/IMG_2794.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPAxhMHibzloAhNFuhTj3mB1htuEgS0Pi9ORpg_hb-C-HJ-253k6BAghqUIYB7lMJxnfG-9P9lAAIQnxpPURoRWD5bDqoLSZPBsv3KPWxCCi9x4_Fs4OvVljPirmQuDQ4OSik4C63LnWP2/s200/IMG_2794.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354777414810617778" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDIQBZREyzHvQHYGx-LS-Jn0Ql7X2rWQok7oJc7nXO43xqsyFB_Dg-XPXGidX_p9K4WjGLIPWiMNw9qQ2LuSEB0m7h5ykSQMbaNtK8Ssa57XX673PAuB6J8phUB4GO1cZetl6V8OJBS36/s1600-h/IMG_2789.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDIQBZREyzHvQHYGx-LS-Jn0Ql7X2rWQok7oJc7nXO43xqsyFB_Dg-XPXGidX_p9K4WjGLIPWiMNw9qQ2LuSEB0m7h5ykSQMbaNtK8Ssa57XX673PAuB6J8phUB4GO1cZetl6V8OJBS36/s200/IMG_2789.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354777406568692802" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlb1jqb0RANbwqwUA7geSWN7Qmv1nxjyX0oOPv59yxq49BYpKtCdLZucAFJB9ilSj1HbwhXTloakdx0LsnQewi0L6cJBSIQiBgh229y92jrUMbl8dxDD8oCsvnbPXcx48i7k_bhrDiMLi5/s1600-h/IMG_2787.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlb1jqb0RANbwqwUA7geSWN7Qmv1nxjyX0oOPv59yxq49BYpKtCdLZucAFJB9ilSj1HbwhXTloakdx0LsnQewi0L6cJBSIQiBgh229y92jrUMbl8dxDD8oCsvnbPXcx48i7k_bhrDiMLi5/s200/IMG_2787.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354777402423420770" border="0" /></a><br /><br />There was a family selling corn right after we got off the bus, om nom nom delicious.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFYBoEHAyu6zaSv6dWsvDFZNXXG9iALd1ZzdHLkNpZl76C_ceuC4Cr3FA2LyZ01BlW-4EVFRTcvxGs9qeBCIozw-7dXJFtDNPOUkuY38xQB0Y8pnOLCH0hc0R8bplyvMxEJOmbQoN_J-ux/s1600-h/IMG_2781.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFYBoEHAyu6zaSv6dWsvDFZNXXG9iALd1ZzdHLkNpZl76C_ceuC4Cr3FA2LyZ01BlW-4EVFRTcvxGs9qeBCIozw-7dXJFtDNPOUkuY38xQB0Y8pnOLCH0hc0R8bplyvMxEJOmbQoN_J-ux/s200/IMG_2781.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354777429333260242" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftC_1APVziSSgTqyFKofLtSqnbzFIQj8B1M-7OvAuB_cJ9BZB1s03XGXqdcNXOAuhsqq5SfShKo7w3cBvu9UHi_-Ys_mPK8Z4k7sKztt7GbQcbGyRj1tI4dRjhGQ1wWgBv7ZNM9N5udqb/s1600-h/IMG_2778.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftC_1APVziSSgTqyFKofLtSqnbzFIQj8B1M-7OvAuB_cJ9BZB1s03XGXqdcNXOAuhsqq5SfShKo7w3cBvu9UHi_-Ys_mPK8Z4k7sKztt7GbQcbGyRj1tI4dRjhGQ1wWgBv7ZNM9N5udqb/s200/IMG_2778.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354779111740768050" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And finally, here are my favorite pictures of the city. This is what I pictured northern China to be like before I came, all dusty and stone. In a lot of the books that I've read, they all say that the north is dry and the south is lush.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZdDW3ft2QKm0EDaUN-D6fdtphLwgAUdm_jDQjn4GwVaa6BZbXviKEbJw56Vc3ItlCbHZHZ6MaxK0jQdAovd_VRkc5tRcu1mrrkIqCunlu0LiGgQSi_dNJ9L1gzrtkkxNlnkJECPxZWfxH/s1600-h/IMG_2803.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZdDW3ft2QKm0EDaUN-D6fdtphLwgAUdm_jDQjn4GwVaa6BZbXviKEbJw56Vc3ItlCbHZHZ6MaxK0jQdAovd_VRkc5tRcu1mrrkIqCunlu0LiGgQSi_dNJ9L1gzrtkkxNlnkJECPxZWfxH/s200/IMG_2803.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354779124872246786" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisEGj9wBvoSCgoeUwbAvJtrtgm1pdzB51KtkEJn9jaXkgCuOu1QYQNRceAyyh2r4OCGQX7Ti37CMZB87oDHg7i_F8govNB1iUXzZKDmYu0UzXwZe3JUwdnCmIhnSX3cqHAj1joaZ8MAJnO/s1600-h/IMG_2800.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisEGj9wBvoSCgoeUwbAvJtrtgm1pdzB51KtkEJn9jaXkgCuOu1QYQNRceAyyh2r4OCGQX7Ti37CMZB87oDHg7i_F8govNB1iUXzZKDmYu0UzXwZe3JUwdnCmIhnSX3cqHAj1joaZ8MAJnO/s200/IMG_2800.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354779120409707218" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzsPsljSeDyl4EOmAx9AM6R-zAVFSt3rmGUqqOsr_DCeY0NaPZ6khf82fMqFJqWhiSj2LuhCfvIQmAJxLWq0oq3SKMeg2-3Ml7iJXWLjlcBO1PoRJZ-Nai7c9bg-fQ7Xx4tFDZNFLEGenu/s1600-h/IMG_2799.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzsPsljSeDyl4EOmAx9AM6R-zAVFSt3rmGUqqOsr_DCeY0NaPZ6khf82fMqFJqWhiSj2LuhCfvIQmAJxLWq0oq3SKMeg2-3Ml7iJXWLjlcBO1PoRJZ-Nai7c9bg-fQ7Xx4tFDZNFLEGenu/s200/IMG_2799.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354779106315124242" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-69507736335795353192009-06-29T05:38:00.000-07:002009-06-29T07:31:18.366-07:00Patience, Young GrasshopperAfter looking around a shopping... place... it's hard to describe but there are a lot of these in the area (it's a multi-storied building with a bunch of shops in it, like a mall but much more ghetto), I walked back to my university and saw a lady with a cart selling plants, little fishies... and ginormous grasshoppers. The pictures just don't do them justice. She'd gathered quite the foreign audience at this point, which meant lots of Chinese had stopped to watch too. She joked that we could buy them to eat, we said "really?!" and she laughed. Then one of my classmates said Americans eat grasshoppers all the time. Way to plant misconceptions about Americans. He's one of those guys who can look completely serious when he's completely lying. Funny, but confusing if you're not in on the joke.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXGoby5QcNaPddrUi8u1NolCTt3z45RRBT1asDjCxQF0ZaWTr4dW7eZWLG6bvrpFcNg6ZmJUzVJpRR-aHseWuK_-BmbTgb7vck-WjfFgKGk2nC_OpKoMBS_zjcWRpDQoDbKXrH1mJxNkt3/s1600-h/IMG_2645.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXGoby5QcNaPddrUi8u1NolCTt3z45RRBT1asDjCxQF0ZaWTr4dW7eZWLG6bvrpFcNg6ZmJUzVJpRR-aHseWuK_-BmbTgb7vck-WjfFgKGk2nC_OpKoMBS_zjcWRpDQoDbKXrH1mJxNkt3/s200/IMG_2645.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352741667782466162" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoc_oEt_-S19tAab12Q8iPeL8cf6Y2ENuEMdZv29a9V0k2iaGEVcUuQI0MvlmQ9Bf0Bfg_FXl9XdiEJ-_wAW1RFsGQ6GNfBPk7Zq6AN_tHBfaJhuplzL0wiRUSIkAR_9HcyTtUApzZ7YWR/s1600-h/IMG_2644.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoc_oEt_-S19tAab12Q8iPeL8cf6Y2ENuEMdZv29a9V0k2iaGEVcUuQI0MvlmQ9Bf0Bfg_FXl9XdiEJ-_wAW1RFsGQ6GNfBPk7Zq6AN_tHBfaJhuplzL0wiRUSIkAR_9HcyTtUApzZ7YWR/s200/IMG_2644.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352741662126260130" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here're a few interesting bites to eat I've had: one is jidan (eggs with some seasoning on them) and the other is a shrimp? I know you can eat that in the US, but I don't think I ever have because I don't like sea food too much. The last is a delicious noodle dish I got from a Korean restaurant - Esther, are you proud of me??<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUwrpqgPBFw4c3CcEA2I2I_vbG0v8jWwKRmVqlrNzvNZU-1dY6YBP2T0g8epouzThjDah_ONVY5O3BIVyOBJPxDp4mQQR2ThrIEm8hAg7tvvy8R9KRRE3X1WwJTXmjnDVHUKQS-NVrxLW/s1600-h/IMG_2649.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUwrpqgPBFw4c3CcEA2I2I_vbG0v8jWwKRmVqlrNzvNZU-1dY6YBP2T0g8epouzThjDah_ONVY5O3BIVyOBJPxDp4mQQR2ThrIEm8hAg7tvvy8R9KRRE3X1WwJTXmjnDVHUKQS-NVrxLW/s200/IMG_2649.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352742949169766658" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmahH1lX1WLECzup2Js5VE5Q1Kj4FpnHm8kgISJgeo6C44nJ3at7XtpVk1bFpgvg49c5oIcXpWg75Y2d30VkWahQ1f2Gf0YgPjSJsiB99KztI1JvdLjlfzrRzokvVCdr-xVlotq9dm1YyK/s1600-h/IMG_2654.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmahH1lX1WLECzup2Js5VE5Q1Kj4FpnHm8kgISJgeo6C44nJ3at7XtpVk1bFpgvg49c5oIcXpWg75Y2d30VkWahQ1f2Gf0YgPjSJsiB99KztI1JvdLjlfzrRzokvVCdr-xVlotq9dm1YyK/s200/IMG_2654.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352742942642253490" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHDRAWT619S4f1jymYfe7yGIcxAvDFE4O7J4TW5d0hUwvqRQimgzORXorvHwg87RbxXlaRVBrOuua_iZkwNGcerinYcu8VCPSRthtlwxa5JtbEbd-Ep_2_j5dhgH7lVVZGJoiVY7GHBSF6/s1600-h/IMG_2657.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHDRAWT619S4f1jymYfe7yGIcxAvDFE4O7J4TW5d0hUwvqRQimgzORXorvHwg87RbxXlaRVBrOuua_iZkwNGcerinYcu8VCPSRthtlwxa5JtbEbd-Ep_2_j5dhgH7lVVZGJoiVY7GHBSF6/s200/IMG_2657.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352742938199838274" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This last picture is just too funny, we were waiting at the subway for everyone to buy their tickets and all of a sudden it got super windy and the guys decided to strike a little boy-band pose for me. Made all the more funny because they're all wearing white t-shirts (they went to a highlighter party after dinner).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZC87Gg4FwDW40uU2bmTLxxADiBQZcmyCtXm4D0SwoqRsHc2YBoL6tPai0iM-YcRHghlkSJ-i4fQA1dQ3tHDU7pOLLKmzq2mJzl34O0TutF1CfOmSlMMnDyg4S2Wm_2_gMlSb6obc27pY4/s1600-h/IMG_2626.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZC87Gg4FwDW40uU2bmTLxxADiBQZcmyCtXm4D0SwoqRsHc2YBoL6tPai0iM-YcRHghlkSJ-i4fQA1dQ3tHDU7pOLLKmzq2mJzl34O0TutF1CfOmSlMMnDyg4S2Wm_2_gMlSb6obc27pY4/s200/IMG_2626.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352744405155196146" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Finally, a daily occurrence, trying to figure out who pays what after dinner because in China they just DON'T do separate checks. We start off sticking to the language pledge but as the minutes tick by and everyone starts to get a little frustrated, English creeps in.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyzF-zNmM80xNBnbJEoB_OUYw4jRYEqpYa0kpxND2tRpdOKyX50rv9u2mIhTMIOjzwQFj0SHP7EYibE0iTrGA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-2191700269229852062009-06-25T20:19:00.000-07:002009-06-25T21:21:07.790-07:00同屋来了! Roommates have arrived!Pretty much everyone's roommate arrived yesterday. My roommate's name is Chun Chi-ting (pronounced choon chur-ting, kinda). I'm pretty sure she told me she's from Inner Mongolia, but we were speaking all in Chinese so I could be completely wrong. I got that her hometown is on a plateau... or would it be a basin? I don't know enough about Mongolia. Well, here's a pic of her, not the greatest pic, but I'm sure I'll have many more by the end of the summer. We're at a Uighur restaurant, Uighurs are the Muslim people who live in Xinjiang province which is right by Kazakhstan.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOFSKYGINgiG-KlcqXozS5vnCDgu0wqcOTUDEpbNWL4NI5CDKlryCaMeOVFMznWwWjEAamqCM2VvLCsMEfex4JIYdwJQWIRZhmRGcga6g4xbAfR6L_IHrnh-Iw6xUHk_aR71reSS-RYS-0/s1600-h/IMG_2610.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOFSKYGINgiG-KlcqXozS5vnCDgu0wqcOTUDEpbNWL4NI5CDKlryCaMeOVFMznWwWjEAamqCM2VvLCsMEfex4JIYdwJQWIRZhmRGcga6g4xbAfR6L_IHrnh-Iw6xUHk_aR71reSS-RYS-0/s200/IMG_2610.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351474273243784914" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I still haven't worked out a schedule for myself yet that balances work and play... and my air conditioning stopped blowing cold air and has only been blowing hot air so I've been taking lots of naps because it makes me so sleepy. Now that I know what to expect each day, hopefully I'll be able to focus on just doing what's necessary so I'm not wasting a bunch of time. Our first test was today, it was on the 4 chapters we studied this week... didn't do too great but that's ok because next week I'll know the format of the test. Zhou Laoshi (teacher Zhou) told us all about it, except she told us in Chinese so I didn't really catch much. Writing in English is so weird! And then people keep walking by my door and saying "ni hao" and I want to reply in English... my brain is confused.<br /><br />Speaking of having a confused brain, apparently on wednesdays from 8:30pm to 9 we can speak English in this one room on my floor, when I went in everyone was pretty crazy. I was thinking in Chinese but trying to speak English so it was like a reverse Chingrish going on. A lot of the guys had fun shouting swear words because the only one that any of us know besides the f-word, which you really don't say here at all because it's just too strong of a swear, is "zao gao" which pretty much means "shoot." Plus it's all first tone, which is the high, level tone, so you can't really make it sound angry. Look at how happy they are to speak Engrish!:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp9xPXvllQvlUcM19IBCbKVNyXMCqZkwFhHbCO0EZ6673M__3KJLUZpH1xUC1xiKz2vK27YA0nRIl9S0uQM8_isBEbBVb1QWr7wbUbYbv17br6wDR-oXgP7Qu4Wv4SfXCp2A4-oDzL9ulk/s1600-h/IMG_2607.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp9xPXvllQvlUcM19IBCbKVNyXMCqZkwFhHbCO0EZ6673M__3KJLUZpH1xUC1xiKz2vK27YA0nRIl9S0uQM8_isBEbBVb1QWr7wbUbYbv17br6wDR-oXgP7Qu4Wv4SfXCp2A4-oDzL9ulk/s200/IMG_2607.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351477378768762578" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This fine gentleman is demonstrating how many older Chinese men beat the heat when they're walking down the street (I promise, that rhyme was unintentional):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWMZ6Vli-o2Ocs8S2nbZlczLGOoTjMX3Qk1jS4IrhYyd-JJ8h4URNc3uYkNYUVj2W_lm7fH5-Pbn5tFwtRoBImZ0jkkGf_xEdfxu1hX7D1reF1bFOziKel2IC7UlZeRngHkfxPLhdF9obZ/s1600-h/IMG_2609.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWMZ6Vli-o2Ocs8S2nbZlczLGOoTjMX3Qk1jS4IrhYyd-JJ8h4URNc3uYkNYUVj2W_lm7fH5-Pbn5tFwtRoBImZ0jkkGf_xEdfxu1hX7D1reF1bFOziKel2IC7UlZeRngHkfxPLhdF9obZ/s200/IMG_2609.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351477380584645554" border="0" /></a><br />I don't get how displaying your potbelly could ever be a good thing, but hey, maybe it helps. Man, I almost forgot to tell you! It's been getting up to a hundred degrees for the past couple days now... I miss Michigan's summer, never thought I'd say that. I'm constantly sweaty and smelly, but hopefully I'll get used to it. I need to buy one of those pretty sun umbrellas girls carry around with them here.<br /><br />A couple of the girls and I went to a cute little cafe to do homework a couple days ago and I ordered what I thought was a smoothie, but ended up being pleasantly surprised by receiving this instead:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ9PRWW8yOBgJLClu2V1PBMqjhlHIzue6qnLZwtob-AMZyB8VQRVKBG5hLCQN54UzYvHwTfpIMytLr5hov8TvEFKFkvmycdeaa2cGRCISTZALXa5E19IwMu-twbK-d98H0GKyUd-Rf5lt_/s1600-h/IMG_2596.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ9PRWW8yOBgJLClu2V1PBMqjhlHIzue6qnLZwtob-AMZyB8VQRVKBG5hLCQN54UzYvHwTfpIMytLr5hov8TvEFKFkvmycdeaa2cGRCISTZALXa5E19IwMu-twbK-d98H0GKyUd-Rf5lt_/s200/IMG_2596.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351479328983244818" border="0" /></a><br />That's melon ice cream on the top, pieces of mango and watermelon, underneath is a lot of shredded ice, I think there was something milky/creamy in there too. 好吃!Hao-chi, delicious!<br /><br />CET gave us 70 kuai to take our roommates out to dinner last night, so we chose the Uhigher restaurant I mentioned above. A lot of the dishes we ordered were spicy, but I don't know if that was just because we chose the spicy ones or if Xinjiang food is spicy. We ate eggplant again, which I've insisted on ordering every time we go out because it's my new favorite Chinese dish. I'm not sure if I've ever had eggplant in the States, but everyone says it's cooked waaaay better here. I agree from what I've tasted. We also got yoghurt, which I think is a Uhigher thing, but I could be totally wrong because it tasted like the yoghurt they have in the cafteteria and apparently it's the same as the stuff they sell in little jars on the street. I still not daring enough to try one, but one of the guys did. I'll have to ask how his bowels liked it and then maybe I'll give it a try.<br />Yoghurt (it's pretty much everyone's favorite thing to eat in the cafeteria):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTEJGE_xG_A-pN0619I6LBDomLExvl0cta75AGkvp0EeuQ12gDaLeMItaR2PYfHOxVLR8joqqq1Q0FqiVAHHsK9gINMbrhrh-TeiRgfPO_2aO0vHMf9TBLcVABFRRkAUDro9Rk_ctrPEkg/s1600-h/IMG_2615.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTEJGE_xG_A-pN0619I6LBDomLExvl0cta75AGkvp0EeuQ12gDaLeMItaR2PYfHOxVLR8joqqq1Q0FqiVAHHsK9gINMbrhrh-TeiRgfPO_2aO0vHMf9TBLcVABFRRkAUDro9Rk_ctrPEkg/s200/IMG_2615.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351482527998338210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A handful of us went to the restaurant, here we are with our roommates:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBw1qQyXn3kx4Eq9OT3TgCuyT-fGqrMrzU2TBNPDl7gmqviKZFN1HMpM6gCq_Zxa6P3YlfiHYO_R1goBCDUiipbpYe9jGoDIUca0G_yTQkdrafwQ3crUt25SCq8HuEVHZLdNb0c7vu7gF6/s1600-h/IMG_2616.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBw1qQyXn3kx4Eq9OT3TgCuyT-fGqrMrzU2TBNPDl7gmqviKZFN1HMpM6gCq_Zxa6P3YlfiHYO_R1goBCDUiipbpYe9jGoDIUca0G_yTQkdrafwQ3crUt25SCq8HuEVHZLdNb0c7vu7gF6/s200/IMG_2616.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351482537165604642" border="0" /></a><br /><br />For now,<br />再见!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-19817052151738856222009-06-23T08:15:00.000-07:002009-06-23T08:35:45.424-07:00About that spitting sign...The lesson I'm learning for tomorrow in my textbook is about slogans in elementary schools and around China. It said one of the most popular ones was "请勿随地吐痰" which you'll notice is the same as the one on the sign I posted yesterday. Hopefully I'll see more of these "Please do not spit anywhere" signs around Beijing. Pronounced: qing wu suidi tutan<br /><br />Today I prepared a lot more for class so I felt nowhere near as in over my head as I did yesterday. I actually understood and was able to answer most of the questions shot my way in our small group classes. Here's the format of our weekdays. Class starts at 8:30 and there are about 15 people in this main lecture class. We start off with a listening quiz where she reads a sentence in Chinese and we copy down the sentence in Chinese characters. Then we turn in our homework for that lesson and the review homework for the lesson before. Then she goes over grammar for that lesson until 10:20 (there's a 10 min. break in the middle). After, we go to our small group classes (about 5 people) and the teachers rotate every day so we can get used to the way lots of people speak. In this class they drill us on the grammar structures and the vocab. This lasts from 10:40 to 12:30 with a 10 min break in the middle. Then lunch! Then 4 days a week we meet with one of the teachers for a one-on-one conversation for 25 minutes to go over any questions or to just talk (all in Chinese). It's rough, but I'm thinking it'll be quite effective.<br /><br />Every day now I've been going out and eating with a big group Chinese-style, it's a very merry affair and only costs around 25 kuai ($4) for... around 6 dishes, depending on the restaurant. It's so good! This is the roast duck we ate today - the skin was so crispy and delicious:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5MqwXTSTvlVvIWYhG0ykzLXwViOrC0NggT2jY6xcv1dATUMj7JvCYkaEBrOVJnMFFYTVatZ77cafslOFY9bRxTe9DYuwXz_-4zdAW-TZxyQmjblYQLGwMIqHU7YgJTVN0MulgPqwhTOR/s1600-h/IMG_2588.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5MqwXTSTvlVvIWYhG0ykzLXwViOrC0NggT2jY6xcv1dATUMj7JvCYkaEBrOVJnMFFYTVatZ77cafslOFY9bRxTe9DYuwXz_-4zdAW-TZxyQmjblYQLGwMIqHU7YgJTVN0MulgPqwhTOR/s200/IMG_2588.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350546110440878178" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And here's a picture of Mina (a fellow U-M student) in front of our school's gate, Beijing Institute of Education, which I can never remember how to say in Chinese:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0l5jVCm4Hazq6AJ1T7SYnqgPD4dLungZYQGO7P33eSQlEx292jWUbAmMzoJGm0iaCuWEkZLtmHFV7DIoguPixoYrdhQHma7oV-gT-EKMrLxNepwdoXa4DyDrCHWJBSAAPKhOTua0u3Fa3/s1600-h/IMG_2586.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0l5jVCm4Hazq6AJ1T7SYnqgPD4dLungZYQGO7P33eSQlEx292jWUbAmMzoJGm0iaCuWEkZLtmHFV7DIoguPixoYrdhQHma7oV-gT-EKMrLxNepwdoXa4DyDrCHWJBSAAPKhOTua0u3Fa3/s200/IMG_2586.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350546114203034754" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-42340796612984882872009-06-22T06:53:00.000-07:002009-06-22T07:14:37.923-07:00Language PledgeThe language pledge started today, I shouldn't be speaking anything out loud but Chinese from now on. Of course, I've only had two years of Chinese and there are also 100 level students here so we're allowed to slip in English words every now and then to ask how to say something.<br /><br />Dinner tonight was an interesting affair: there were around nine of us and everyone was 260 and below so the conversation was pretty stilted, but hilarious. Lot's of "Suuuuooyiiii... (Soooo...)," English words with "zenme shuo" (how do you say) tacked on to them, people saying things wrong, and general misunderstandings flying all over the place. We ate Chinese-style and had a room with a big round table to ourselves so we were pretty rambunctious. I think we have a ton of inside jokes now that I sadly can't tell you about because they have to do with the Chinese language and funny stories from language classes are never funny when you tell them to someone who isn't taking the language.<br /><br />Though I will say in class today, one girl kept saying "qiguai" instead of "xiguan"... which means strange instead of "to become accustomed to." My favorite was when she said China was strange instead of she was getting used to China. I guess that wasn't too funny for you though.<br /><br />Here's a picture of all of us at dinner, 很可爱! (hen ke-ai = how cute!):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQa-deqIl24CQRwRN-_mOQJew_580z7wbXWYORPtGUDxKJP03qqXVjWitPF9AanmQR_eLcGF_dvxusU0r9OUfcaEv-0gl7Xp3YvmpJ-AmoqUVZGtgHMogJKY_UsUfiDwmWXBMEb3AorbL/s1600-h/IMG_2585.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQa-deqIl24CQRwRN-_mOQJew_580z7wbXWYORPtGUDxKJP03qqXVjWitPF9AanmQR_eLcGF_dvxusU0r9OUfcaEv-0gl7Xp3YvmpJ-AmoqUVZGtgHMogJKY_UsUfiDwmWXBMEb3AorbL/s200/IMG_2585.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350154271368987554" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Yes, there's a Hooters in China:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzieVxWTfwzLDNbe4WV6gq69OsnsPzmv76TvsEXPauABjihdrBm0TvXezZOv4dMICNY_JPWubPFvC1bHK4qKiJc_n_JB_BxVhwl4LgWkB5qSc811vLpidqpHdc6XPAH0LyU13ixj560kR7/s1600-h/IMG_2582.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzieVxWTfwzLDNbe4WV6gq69OsnsPzmv76TvsEXPauABjihdrBm0TvXezZOv4dMICNY_JPWubPFvC1bHK4qKiJc_n_JB_BxVhwl4LgWkB5qSc811vLpidqpHdc6XPAH0LyU13ixj560kR7/s200/IMG_2582.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350154282152287186" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A funny sign at a place that sells great 饺子, jiao-zi = dumplings:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgALm6eLM3MIJJeRgiuHHCvcQvr3wnCFCDh8jye2sZDh9OBjsa6mclWmXFJmRMdVckJlVqC87J7u5i43T_ifV5eMW-CyLdjdlFTuR-358xBDEKLDH15Cx76zI7rzlJ1EB-FE3O-gnNaAyax/s1600-h/IMG_2584.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgALm6eLM3MIJJeRgiuHHCvcQvr3wnCFCDh8jye2sZDh9OBjsa6mclWmXFJmRMdVckJlVqC87J7u5i43T_ifV5eMW-CyLdjdlFTuR-358xBDEKLDH15Cx76zI7rzlJ1EB-FE3O-gnNaAyax/s200/IMG_2584.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350154281119187874" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-81221626884212249882009-06-20T03:14:00.000-07:002009-06-21T05:30:15.669-07:00Beijing China, Baby!So, I don't know if you've ever heard of "the Great Fire Wall of China," but it's quite annoying - the government has blocked youtube, blogspot, and other sites deemed "inharmonious." Well, I tried a bunch of things to try and get around the block - proxy sites and firefox add ons - but none of them worked. A bunch of us were all trying to get around it and one of the girls figured out that you can use your school's wireless to access blocked sites because it tricks the fire wall into thinking your computer is in the US and not in China so it can't block it. Anyway, that's all settled now.<br /><br />I'll admit, I was a little down when I first arrived in Beijing. I was tired, cranky from the lack of sleep caused by my delayed flight, and the smog was so bad it looked overcast and misty the whole day.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHkdCribMzL6vUd44XpnYhDlUlvZkRuGYwX2Zpc8EJIkMCsXbbIGmCL59ToYbnYi4z6s_lhcLCPmf5xFfuF4pemkXRMGwXxwtq0uygrrKzPjm9vn5GfksMkN7AYDHi9NBO8JIdXLVJr-p/s1600-h/IMG_2460.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHkdCribMzL6vUd44XpnYhDlUlvZkRuGYwX2Zpc8EJIkMCsXbbIGmCL59ToYbnYi4z6s_lhcLCPmf5xFfuF4pemkXRMGwXxwtq0uygrrKzPjm9vn5GfksMkN7AYDHi9NBO8JIdXLVJr-p/s200/IMG_2460.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349352437117374338" border="0" /></a><br /><br />However, the sun is out now and I've been feeling much more cheery, it's in the 90's and <span style="font-style: italic;">very</span> humid. I wish I would've bought more flow-y clothes. The dorms aren't bad, but you can't flush toilet paper so that's been taking some getting used to. This is tmi, but there are lots of squat toilets here (in restaurants and other public restrooms) and I'm wondering how they go number 2.<br /><br />We have to take our temperature every day to make sure we don't have swine flu and one girl had to go into quarantine because there was a confirmed H1N1 case 2 rows in front of her on the plane she flew in on, but she wasn't sick or anything so I think she'll be ok.<br /><br />Enough of the boring stuff, we took our placement tests and I'm in 260... I think I should be 300 but if I study hard I'll still be able to test into 400 level Chinese when I get back. Plus, my listening comprehension isn't too great so I'll be able to really focus on that. This morning we went to Jingshan Park and did tai chi, I didn't do the knife one in the following video because I decided to walk to the top of the hill of the park.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwtUz0Yu_7dNpZh89DUxV9VDf0VSFdi2J7yQcG70lg-JCw-kAa0ezifr74mTXMFpc-1WJDVsUTXBbaBnfg_Vw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />Here are some nice views of the temple/gazebo thing at the top and of the forbidden city behind me:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulGOT7KVpJGAxmnl8iJeWocWc1h735cy06QgV7xvlzdRsZ_ePEVZ2A2BIzutEmUWmDnCdO43aAtxf7TX9eKE7lYpsuIz_v2rN6IYlFenjD3tpAqY13JAMmombr1dzprPi6V8-EhPfqwYK/s1600-h/IMG_2484.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulGOT7KVpJGAxmnl8iJeWocWc1h735cy06QgV7xvlzdRsZ_ePEVZ2A2BIzutEmUWmDnCdO43aAtxf7TX9eKE7lYpsuIz_v2rN6IYlFenjD3tpAqY13JAMmombr1dzprPi6V8-EhPfqwYK/s200/IMG_2484.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349355545365140274" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbMjK0Es5rJUfyAB4Hdkxa9OV7cq_7dvYh-kxllcDYJsI3mv5_qRiUvs1Dp8smlNToAN2NrOs0nOVOE12XTSU-LH1apiEyYQDbB5UHgHyvasIEVrWBkYNctoaBEOSrXOVttPOEZIPTXhl/s1600-h/IMG_2494.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbMjK0Es5rJUfyAB4Hdkxa9OV7cq_7dvYh-kxllcDYJsI3mv5_qRiUvs1Dp8smlNToAN2NrOs0nOVOE12XTSU-LH1apiEyYQDbB5UHgHyvasIEVrWBkYNctoaBEOSrXOVttPOEZIPTXhl/s200/IMG_2494.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349355555720191122" border="0" /></a><br /><br />There were tons of old people doing crazy-cool things in the park: people playing what looked like hacky sack with a ball with feathers on it, people doing tai chi, people stretching, writing characters with water... and on and on. There were some things I didn't understand too much either, like this:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyKbHReaA0Koq6SwoWTqP0Iey-lCdXfW251Bs9g8K3sG6XyoQ5VwkIHpwZfphqUpmiyeh6RS4PzEZwqCnbv' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />Here are more pictures of people in the park:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEXLJ0lYnMjujcsMbm2AXpSmtfGwoHMhgAhrOeu9kB2VBnWqBhtDVOt9O2CjIyCwB8kGNwzVe7FTDJBcmGodBIrmQ98JjZdRBNKhStw9ibFQUgGcMjiVZpXcvfjkGMoH3E02TpC2Z0WCJ/s1600-h/IMG_2501.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEXLJ0lYnMjujcsMbm2AXpSmtfGwoHMhgAhrOeu9kB2VBnWqBhtDVOt9O2CjIyCwB8kGNwzVe7FTDJBcmGodBIrmQ98JjZdRBNKhStw9ibFQUgGcMjiVZpXcvfjkGMoH3E02TpC2Z0WCJ/s200/IMG_2501.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349563847816618658" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdI8IDgZBhpKlTNnIIi-78DQWy34Pqij-RqfQXvDrHMNWvIQoxMxCLRPo6ifIXOj3jG_uZQODs-NN6K73yv2fn4tBOz3Ghbi8AU-UpYxkQWvqlak9ksJVbqC7sxxJSqm_-4ZnQgJRQQD96/s1600-h/IMG_2502.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdI8IDgZBhpKlTNnIIi-78DQWy34Pqij-RqfQXvDrHMNWvIQoxMxCLRPo6ifIXOj3jG_uZQODs-NN6K73yv2fn4tBOz3Ghbi8AU-UpYxkQWvqlak9ksJVbqC7sxxJSqm_-4ZnQgJRQQD96/s200/IMG_2502.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349563840850483618" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After the park, we walked through the hutongs near the center of Beijing. Hutongs are older neighborhoods that are set up with small alleys with entrances to multiple walled-in houses. Some are pretty old and run-down, but there were some more affluent families there too. Here are some images of those:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSGdCYWo_WUbsEvQyLeKBf7A8DxlBz-X21uBeww1PtN1iN4UGMxB5tKgpB3CnBFWJQNy0IxNuhAB6YW41DSQrafR5hiakX8G3YGNZ5eHcH7k22OmgppyGPrkZT1wXRpjf3btnYly-PvwvO/s1600-h/IMG_2506.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSGdCYWo_WUbsEvQyLeKBf7A8DxlBz-X21uBeww1PtN1iN4UGMxB5tKgpB3CnBFWJQNy0IxNuhAB6YW41DSQrafR5hiakX8G3YGNZ5eHcH7k22OmgppyGPrkZT1wXRpjf3btnYly-PvwvO/s200/IMG_2506.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349615494263829762" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5xvJ9VM3WJndJlz8b6QFFeifHw19lOwSBwbAlI8DR-Kr4-pfWKs5MJHoOZtuQUaSPupfbPIHlQrlOUDUstlEPVr09AwLQgz6rmFsRVWBZuFAHys52F4b3Pwfe0k3ORwgT144MQO4mmwF/s1600-h/IMG_2507.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5xvJ9VM3WJndJlz8b6QFFeifHw19lOwSBwbAlI8DR-Kr4-pfWKs5MJHoOZtuQUaSPupfbPIHlQrlOUDUstlEPVr09AwLQgz6rmFsRVWBZuFAHys52F4b3Pwfe0k3ORwgT144MQO4mmwF/s200/IMG_2507.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349615487578270210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Unfortunately, I think that's all I'll go over for today, even though there was more. I'm going to a banquet soon with our teachers and we all get to get dressed up. I'll have to post all my pictures somewhere so you guys can see everything. Now that I've figured out how to post again, I'll be able to update more regularly.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-8299271166028952392009-06-17T03:49:00.000-07:002009-06-17T04:47:31.584-07:00Sayonara TokyoI didn't mention it yesterday, but there's a place in Shibuya where the Japanese like to meet up with friends, it's the statue of Hachi-kou. Hachi-kou is a statue of a dog who waited year after year in that spot for his master to return home. So now, when you want to meet up with someone and hang out in Shibuya or catch a train from there, you meet at that statue. But there are usually so many people there waiting for friends that once you get to the statue you have to call your friend and figure out which side of the statue they're by.<br /><br />Today is my last day in Japan. I'm sitting in the airport right now (in the business class lounge, oh yeaaaah) and my flight was supposed to leave at 7:30pm but is delayed until 10pm... so I won't get to Beijing until around 1 in the morning. This really sucks.<br /><br />For my last day, Yuki got me a ticket to go the the Studio Ghibli Museum. You have to buy tickets in advance because it's so popular to go there. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside, but there're all kinds of artwork from the movies and cool animations. They also show an original short that's only shown at the museum. Here's a picture of a wall of the museum, the whole building was really cool, lots of spiral staircases, stained glass, and whimsical things.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKp2Xh9YPPUwwwbbzZRJAlCfPrhhpXZi6o_YVR61ariZlYYAHNBZJxCZV2SJZP7d6gKVtDOTpWSX7nupFeF5qKsRqEoAQFBPUEPCKb4r0EA4sxyRda950mAsv5q5zhD9Gu8Q8ZMMhbJUdp/s1600-h/IMG_2453.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKp2Xh9YPPUwwwbbzZRJAlCfPrhhpXZi6o_YVR61ariZlYYAHNBZJxCZV2SJZP7d6gKVtDOTpWSX7nupFeF5qKsRqEoAQFBPUEPCKb4r0EA4sxyRda950mAsv5q5zhD9Gu8Q8ZMMhbJUdp/s200/IMG_2453.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348251477670349778" border="0" /></a><br /><br />At the top of the museum (after you walk up a big wooden spiral staircase covered in ivy) is one of the statues from the movie Castle in the Sky (or Laputa in Japanese, I think)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgh5t9dXtWReUM0AQSnt6_4X3vNr0dx0snqoaK5Q3TV_jORcutwDvU-c02r14ljSJowd0upvYBAZHvyK2uik03QnYD8KEIzQBDXC3cVDJAhnojdeZQR8Kp8_dp2K66KKG7lWksHgfGVZB/s1600-h/IMG_2454.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgh5t9dXtWReUM0AQSnt6_4X3vNr0dx0snqoaK5Q3TV_jORcutwDvU-c02r14ljSJowd0upvYBAZHvyK2uik03QnYD8KEIzQBDXC3cVDJAhnojdeZQR8Kp8_dp2K66KKG7lWksHgfGVZB/s200/IMG_2454.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348251893779236114" border="0" /></a><br /><br />On my way to Shinjuku to catch the train to the airport I bought some jelly with an Asian/Japanese? plum in the middle. It is a plum even though it looks like a giant olive, it has a pit. There weren't any spoons at the stand where I bought it, so I had to make due.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzcC_cjpKgtVJcVZ-JEUjcQZMnR3S9wsKlEYVXU_2lkt0Cn7O5ofIQzdCUCQQVM3u-o-ad9OoUPxBKVGRryhg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />Oh, Motoko and I walked through a park to get to the museum and when we crossed a bridge there were some paddle boats, regular ones and swan ones. Motoko said there was a jinx on the swan boats and that if a couple rode one together they would end up splitting up. But she said she knew someone who's parents rode it when they were young and ended up getting married. There were huge carp in the lake too, like, longer than my torso and thicker than my thigh... don't know if you can picture that. When we looked over the edge of the bridge at them they swam up to the surface and stuck their mouths up above the water and opened them wide. I wished I'd have had some food to give them. We walked back through a cool alley area (Tokyo has tons of smaller streets with shops lining them, usually on a slight incline)<br /><br />Motoko also told me that Japanese girls wear their watches with the face on the inside of the wrist, not the outside because it's more elegant to check the time when it's on the inside. Man, there's this guy sitting behind me just full of stories, he's pretty much straddling the line between arrogant and cosmopolitan. He's telling this lady stories about all the places he's been, a lot of them are about China so I'm spying on him. I've got my headphones in though so it looks like I'm not listening.<br /><br />Alright, I said goodbye to Yuki and her mom and got on the airport express train, the airport is over an hour away from Tokyo. When the train got far enough away and city-scapes turned into rice paddies (ooh, how poetic), the neighborhoods all had houses that looked like this<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcObhbfFBl8XZlNzhGSVJnbnycYap4VtSkWHPyjjJfLwiHonI6PsOn-Y3yf560QNouN6IDtxcfp2ENzweOkEx11a2i0PwbgYy4bmjlNNemVq5Ws42Wkl1D9a0q_oHoK1-st6OJe_nfxE2/s1600-h/IMG_2458.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcObhbfFBl8XZlNzhGSVJnbnycYap4VtSkWHPyjjJfLwiHonI6PsOn-Y3yf560QNouN6IDtxcfp2ENzweOkEx11a2i0PwbgYy4bmjlNNemVq5Ws42Wkl1D9a0q_oHoK1-st6OJe_nfxE2/s200/IMG_2458.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348257954985946418" border="0" /></a><br />When I first noticed the houses, I thought it was a temple because the roof was so pretty, but then I saw that there were clothes hanging on a rack on the balcony on the second floor. Pretty much all the houses had that kind of roof. I think the Japanese place a lot of importance on making their surroundings and actions beautiful and graceful.<br /><br />For example, Yuki showed me the proper way to pick up your chopsticks (this is when I ate the octopus sushi) and drink green tea. You pick them up from the top of your rice bowl with your right hand, then hold them underneath with your left hand while you slide your right to the end of the chopsticks and then back down into place - then eat! Also, you should hold the green tea cup with two hands, one on the side and one underneath.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-24507459038643163752009-06-16T08:45:00.000-07:002009-06-16T09:12:32.560-07:00Asakusa Again! Among other thingsAlright, fast post today because it's late and I'm tired. Next time I come to Tokyo I want to take things slower, it's been very fun, but also very tiring trying to see as much as I can in as little time as possible.<br /><br />Notable events: I went to Yuki's university today to meet up with her friend Motoko so she could show me around while Yuki was in class. First we went to an English conversation lunch where they made "Chicago-style hot dogs." They didn't have buns so they mixed up some batter and made what looked like pancakes to wrap the buns in but didn't taste as fluffy as pancakes.<br /><br />Yuki in front of her school's clock tower:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8VBkN4it3NVdIbPDgY1Zgfqt6B66nbPq61xxJ2YQV7UPzflFqCn7g86HnbRMyeSIq-fZwMe9HOGXSsdkGrwpcGsAR-jlBZqKtHjMTQuotLz1CqC8Ymsoafq5sG-dmGe1nYK2nMkB5D2F/s1600-h/IMG_2440.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8VBkN4it3NVdIbPDgY1Zgfqt6B66nbPq61xxJ2YQV7UPzflFqCn7g86HnbRMyeSIq-fZwMe9HOGXSsdkGrwpcGsAR-jlBZqKtHjMTQuotLz1CqC8Ymsoafq5sG-dmGe1nYK2nMkB5D2F/s200/IMG_2440.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347954241425165410" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After, Motoko and I went to Asakusa again! She hadn't been there since she was a little kid, so she really wanted to go see everything again too. This time it wasn't too late to pray at the temple so we went in, threw some yen into these grates and prayed to the thunder god so there wouldn't be any storms during my flight and to the wind god for good winds. I also bought a charm for studying, students in Japan buy them so they can do well in their classes - I'll need it for my upcoming placement test in Chinese.<br /><br />More Asakusa pictures:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGfWjoBeHtjn6OAA8l_cZr0W9TJobAHcZaKT9OImgJNQaxHy4MAtWOz1YlO5cV6oo9nDtN8ehgBjKzycQTuSAmNhPSKE7YVCT_fJ5t07E-KX1XPWNDsMroboCJJoaM6cYJpkNzaymV7P3/s1600-h/IMG_2442.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGfWjoBeHtjn6OAA8l_cZr0W9TJobAHcZaKT9OImgJNQaxHy4MAtWOz1YlO5cV6oo9nDtN8ehgBjKzycQTuSAmNhPSKE7YVCT_fJ5t07E-KX1XPWNDsMroboCJJoaM6cYJpkNzaymV7P3/s200/IMG_2442.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347955430671817874" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg00F7NQGK5sqwLpMCUAWn5-w2oA2GintakETGAHu0rrw_xhA5vmdB7I95hl1ohclc2t5yFiZUx3wd6GVYkJ139KM4v8x-8cFXpzw_iwibThzNMpvgBGI6HPxxpRl22Kpc-QXCJjF8UJ-T-/s1600-h/IMG_2444.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg00F7NQGK5sqwLpMCUAWn5-w2oA2GintakETGAHu0rrw_xhA5vmdB7I95hl1ohclc2t5yFiZUx3wd6GVYkJ139KM4v8x-8cFXpzw_iwibThzNMpvgBGI6HPxxpRl22Kpc-QXCJjF8UJ-T-/s200/IMG_2444.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347955450964636386" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pIghB-gY5sNeaDBF4BRqLAyoShaSeYDnNpoyUg6qv_Rtzh38Hftwg4eUZAjho6ib_UXyRcwVSVmVV1AO40anLBxsoWR9pKUPzhSrBWQiEyV3sFXXyOCQpDEVcBzxxSUD1gr5is3ICpgq/s1600-h/IMG_2443.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pIghB-gY5sNeaDBF4BRqLAyoShaSeYDnNpoyUg6qv_Rtzh38Hftwg4eUZAjho6ib_UXyRcwVSVmVV1AO40anLBxsoWR9pKUPzhSrBWQiEyV3sFXXyOCQpDEVcBzxxSUD1gr5is3ICpgq/s200/IMG_2443.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347955438734263266" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After, we went back to the university to eat dinner in the cafeteria with Yuki. For silverwear they have cheap, plastic cafeteria chopsticks, spoons for curry dishes, spoons for miso soup, and maybe some other things. You have to pay money for each meal, you don't get a meal plan. There's also a fixed time schedule so everyone has lunch at the same time (which is why we didn't eat lunch there because it was packed). I ate what Yuki called a Japinized curry dish.<br /><br />Then we went to Shibuya and did some karaoke, you walk in and ask for a room, they tell you the number and you go up the stairs to whichever floor your room is on. As soon as we got out of the elevater we could hear some awful singing and we all laughed. Our room was a tiny little corner room. We'd reserved the room for an hour and when we got in we ordered some food (dessert, really) and drinks and got to work. There were these huge books with a section each for English, Korean, and Japanese songs. I refuse to post any videos of me singing, but here are some pictures:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijOXvO5LL4yQ6J1yTBcNGxrl0grNoez_eGIvGNu4__u-Q6MqCe4hm_Oa73a0khcxh24hgNLp7hAzMPunRAa4SJggjCahy8Era-LIFXu4wyyTe7rSIAEbEG_pTzWN6UZV7iI5R8bfFRvu5g/s1600-h/IMG_2446.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijOXvO5LL4yQ6J1yTBcNGxrl0grNoez_eGIvGNu4__u-Q6MqCe4hm_Oa73a0khcxh24hgNLp7hAzMPunRAa4SJggjCahy8Era-LIFXu4wyyTe7rSIAEbEG_pTzWN6UZV7iI5R8bfFRvu5g/s200/IMG_2446.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347958337985560594" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAILsRyNbhd3WMeP0JiQSvpBliRvRHp0DJRHXMDF6GC_mLVXyGvYvBCe0mK2sBvuo0lT6LMJHVGY6RDwxa974H5x2JpLg4Hnkxks6Os0HMtG96uk_rbZcf6Rn8nvzELP7S6REjlbR_uaVx/s1600-h/IMG_2449.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAILsRyNbhd3WMeP0JiQSvpBliRvRHp0DJRHXMDF6GC_mLVXyGvYvBCe0mK2sBvuo0lT6LMJHVGY6RDwxa974H5x2JpLg4Hnkxks6Os0HMtG96uk_rbZcf6Rn8nvzELP7S6REjlbR_uaVx/s200/IMG_2449.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347958331057210690" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8iEUW48DpAwcuTAFLZiXsRRpz_1T66ClF1dDzvilhSkJ8robcSR-WCfW7QWPVpk7BFZ74NQ4scEz4uVWoTvvNZxv9_qfTe2L5xbB7gbreHXkvvSLVwn1Ig6GYFORddR51LB4qMs3kyu_/s1600-h/IMG_2445.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8iEUW48DpAwcuTAFLZiXsRRpz_1T66ClF1dDzvilhSkJ8robcSR-WCfW7QWPVpk7BFZ74NQ4scEz4uVWoTvvNZxv9_qfTe2L5xbB7gbreHXkvvSLVwn1Ig6GYFORddR51LB4qMs3kyu_/s200/IMG_2445.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347958325718865122" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-24863502652438235262009-06-15T07:22:00.000-07:002009-06-17T04:49:11.804-07:00Day 3... more shoppingToday we walked to the subway instead of Yuki's dad driving us and I'm so glad we did. Yuki's neighborhood is so quintessentially (<span style="font-style: italic;">such</span> a great word) Japanese, I don't know how to describe it, but I'll try (hopefully we'll walk again so I can take pictures). The houses are all small and walled in, but everyone has gardens, potted plants, little cactuses and other green things growing in the space and ledges that they have. The roads are all only big enough to fit one car - one tiny Japanese car, the cars here are definitely more narrow I think. We walked up a big hill and there was a little park with a bamboo forest and when we got to the top of the hill there was the neighborhood shrine next to the street. Yuki said that the Japanese think that very old spirits live in these shrines so no one likes to tear them down.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-xBA8uUiBCV_6D51gRf7taJlCq71Vfv_AuRrnYlW2VWaWx-uX6h82josLVKSGqQblYQ9VHd70yUQW5mOvMu2aADr1KxbjeL6gcpOM9EarPBbUF_hSjlYsuqCwE5Fh1RLnr6eHTpDruOu/s1600-h/IMG_2405.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-xBA8uUiBCV_6D51gRf7taJlCq71Vfv_AuRrnYlW2VWaWx-uX6h82josLVKSGqQblYQ9VHd70yUQW5mOvMu2aADr1KxbjeL6gcpOM9EarPBbUF_hSjlYsuqCwE5Fh1RLnr6eHTpDruOu/s200/IMG_2405.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347562452278744050" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After we hit her little downtown area and we went into a grocery store (lots of different types of meat and seafood, and fruits I'd never seen before, along with your usual grocery store stuff) and a 100 yen store, aka a dollar store.<br /><br />For lunch we ate at a sushi place where the sushi rotated around on a conveyer belt and a guy makes the sushi in the middle and people sit around it and pick off the plates that they want. When you've eaten your fill, you count up your plates and pay for each plate. Japanese sushi is so much better than the sushi in the US... but there were some really... interesting ones as well. Like one with what I think was a bunch of minnows slapped on top - tried it, I give it an "eh." Here's a video of my daring, but doomed taste of octopus sushi. I needed a lot of green tea to get that all down.<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxxGdFiCz_aOeurdpjpeC0lMIYSYC3zogSwNxZkzF1J5aNYe9_RHL5r8jJyflstwPOIWDEsQPYm_ho7mnhMVg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />After, we walked around the Shinjuku district/prefecture/whatever and walked around some department stores. Expensive, but very, very cool stuff. I really like the Tokyo style. They wear lots of layers and flowy stuff on top, maybe some leggings or above knee-high socks with boots. Another thing I've noticed, Tokyo gals wear awesome high-heels. Major shoe envy going on here. Someone ignorant of Tokyo style might say that they guys here are all metro, but I think they're all just <span style="font-style: italic;">very</span> stylish - tight pants with a funky pair of shoes, maybe a scarf, hair artfully messy, you get the picture (Japanese guys know how to accessorize). Lots of guys have an ear pierced too.<br /><br />Anyway, after Shinjuku Yuki had to go to class so her friend Kosuke showed me around, he studied at a small school in PA so his English was really good. We walked around Harajuku, where Gwen Stefani's clothing gets its name from. The main street had all really expensive Ginza-type stores, but the side alleys had really cool little shops - I found a 500 yen shop ($5 store). I was too nervous to try on any clothes though because I have no clue how the Japanese sizing system works and let's face it, Japanese girls just don't have big butts and guns like me - pow pow!<br /><br />Anywho, Kosuke had to go to class after Yuki joined us again so we met up with her friend Long (Chinese raised in Japan, he's studying at U-M fall and winter semester) and ate at a Korean barbeque restaurant. You order your meat and/or vegetable and they bring out a little coal thing with a wire thing over it that you can cook the meat on. Yuki ordered beef and tongue... the tongue was also just an "eh"<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5q4LKTGmOqMx_tqhycocgBuBQ_iSc4JkwvbXNROpoN8f_AlF8D316W10-E4Q6_E9AVTwAAJ5BkeIshTnIGJeOzfbUFYVQzhJ7B2X48OkttXC6bAHvDgM73PTaiKnr7HZU1k38OTG0XmK/s1600-h/IMG_2437.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5q4LKTGmOqMx_tqhycocgBuBQ_iSc4JkwvbXNROpoN8f_AlF8D316W10-E4Q6_E9AVTwAAJ5BkeIshTnIGJeOzfbUFYVQzhJ7B2X48OkttXC6bAHvDgM73PTaiKnr7HZU1k38OTG0XmK/s200/IMG_2437.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347568056598943442" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Bonus pictures!!<br />An intersection before and after the crossing sign turned green:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQs2Ehj5Y92f_qi7xOqw1k1NfU7rHhABSfuiInhMaKACWOVd8j0_J5x3_A7cf4WuZGMrMzx-ztTj-iNnPCneCkzkMBCnvAAqtxdKUXwoIJ4k0t8k0IPrZzo6gl0ULGmYGifXHct5_dOCHM/s1600-h/IMG_2435.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQs2Ehj5Y92f_qi7xOqw1k1NfU7rHhABSfuiInhMaKACWOVd8j0_J5x3_A7cf4WuZGMrMzx-ztTj-iNnPCneCkzkMBCnvAAqtxdKUXwoIJ4k0t8k0IPrZzo6gl0ULGmYGifXHct5_dOCHM/s200/IMG_2435.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347568569317088114" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIlIeBUuCbIbzU05W7TmJrzu-O6pg6Y3dk6wZjsCKiXdarDowQ34JEmfsa4DpGLhN-9MKuLuS0_A7xj_GjF8FiJMszEjjmzOBMHRiO7avs1HVQr6-2yum8CnqK0_JPDR2fmyajotG90SY3/s1600-h/IMG_2436.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIlIeBUuCbIbzU05W7TmJrzu-O6pg6Y3dk6wZjsCKiXdarDowQ34JEmfsa4DpGLhN-9MKuLuS0_A7xj_GjF8FiJMszEjjmzOBMHRiO7avs1HVQr6-2yum8CnqK0_JPDR2fmyajotG90SY3/s200/IMG_2436.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347568576736879762" border="0" /></a><br /><br />An unintentionally funny shirt (at least to me) from a department store in Shinjuku:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhCMrIVwVg758A44MEHJGId-cAff2bSWNcJNseh0YZva9rAY-VBmnBwInqUWvG3_h5iErgKiCaq7ClszvisBYIL48dIZ_pjo4brIJRqY0ELmfnOtw40X8NHEwV7MgYkR9pHBK4h4FzUZX1/s1600-h/IMG_2425.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhCMrIVwVg758A44MEHJGId-cAff2bSWNcJNseh0YZva9rAY-VBmnBwInqUWvG3_h5iErgKiCaq7ClszvisBYIL48dIZ_pjo4brIJRqY0ELmfnOtw40X8NHEwV7MgYkR9pHBK4h4FzUZX1/s200/IMG_2425.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347568872442030418" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-83248722276842162172009-06-14T15:18:00.000-07:002009-06-17T04:48:42.134-07:00Day 2 (technically)Jet lag. Ug. Yesterday was rough, though over where you guys are it's still yesterday. I slept until 6 this morning instead of 5, so that's a good thing. I just get waves of tiredness that I force myself to push through so I can keep having fun.<br /><br />I went to the Pokemon Center yesterday! It was a bit underwhelming, but still necessary to go to, I think. It was pretty much all little kids and then Yuki and I and a couple other weird-looking white guys. I suppose that makes me weird too. The store was PACKED and I had to shimmy around to look at all the Poke-merch and avoid stepping on small children. All the employees who worked there wore masks, probably to make the moms feel safe?<br /><br />Yuki's mom just noticed I'm awake, she asked if I wanted hot dogs (do you want hotu dogu?) for dinner... whatever works<br /><br />I ate soba noodles for lunch after the pokemon center, this is a video of me trying to eat them, let me know if it doesn't work. I'm no good at slurping them up, it takes me a really long time to get the whole noodle in my mouth - but they're very good!<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyMhbTf3_1xZDD-ZXdDdT6pSa_Iqz94iAjuMt3lk16-bcwTemx53udAC1S1BVeq1SKemys9m0ElwrH-MJIYDw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />Yuki's grandma just brought me some hot green tea and an ayu, which is like a flat little pancake folded in half with a sticky goo paste in the middle, tastes better than I just made it sound.<br /><br />After lunch we went to the imperial palace at the center of Tokyo (Koukyo), the gardens around it are sooo pretty! Then we went to Ginza, the real ritzy part of Tokyo, lots of designer brand stores and other expensive Japanese stores. I went into a traditional paper store with Yuki and her friend Howard, who goes to U-M and is from Hong Kong, he's studying Japanese in Tokyo right now, and he speaks English and Cantonese and some Mandarin too so I got to practice with him. He always covered his mouth whenever he laughed or smiled. In the paper store there were all kinds of beautiful paper fans, origami paper, little cloth and paper bags with aromatic powder inside, calligraphy brushes and paper, and on and on, it was really cool to look at everything.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADjoHXJ6SXAq6Xs8M5SmylknfyhzAQ3tPaVnsftAgr8EReWnPtZsCtRC0fDZSFP3-krHPXYJbGCXz-2PNM-DWbg1M5GLcwEbyB-uLaRsXkxCRc5O8ynCRyqtA9rk-euSFpPfCROvnZn35/s1600-h/IMG_2377.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADjoHXJ6SXAq6Xs8M5SmylknfyhzAQ3tPaVnsftAgr8EReWnPtZsCtRC0fDZSFP3-krHPXYJbGCXz-2PNM-DWbg1M5GLcwEbyB-uLaRsXkxCRc5O8ynCRyqtA9rk-euSFpPfCROvnZn35/s320/IMG_2377.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347331765777436530" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnA-t8RBIGv0TP6Z0702_Wfl-16eI1qBV-ovYSbGtTBm3FQiX6G4jxw3_cmMPYrDbM6qwm5JmeLQTsTRMkRroikkOFAYaLiB4ajLP8pL6-2Bdo27TSnEOujZnZXGPLhRsrxuXSQPtkSaz8/s1600-h/IMG_2389.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnA-t8RBIGv0TP6Z0702_Wfl-16eI1qBV-ovYSbGtTBm3FQiX6G4jxw3_cmMPYrDbM6qwm5JmeLQTsTRMkRroikkOFAYaLiB4ajLP8pL6-2Bdo27TSnEOujZnZXGPLhRsrxuXSQPtkSaz8/s320/IMG_2389.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347331767067208962" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I just ate breakfast, and I didn't know it was possible, but the hot dog I ate was distinctly Japanese - the bun was different, so was what was on it. I've never eaten a hot dog for breakfast before. I also ate some biwa, which is a fruit they have here. I think her mom cut off a peel, but the best I can describe it is that it tasted like how a creamsicle would taste if it were a fruit.<br /><br />Yesterday again: my favorite place in Tokyo so far - Asakusa! It was just so cool. I think Asakusa is the area, and we went to a temple there called Senso-gi for the wind and thunder gods. The temple is in the back and leading up to it are all kinds of stalls with paper lanters selling little trinkets and snacks for only a 100 yen ($1). Cheap snacks and goodies are my weakness. When you pass under the entrance to the area the temple is in, with all the shops/stalls lined up it looks like something right out of Spritited Away. We're going again today and I can't wait to drop some more yen, sorry mom. If you ever go to Tokyo, you MUST visit here!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGKPQye3WhVymkdj0wmXcuh9a49Yke2diQCaGS23Dz-7SQaMGvM76f8XXZx4E3sSgFmkoxhMhW_AB61Ufo5nzs2_dRurkKzaPkGD7s06KEhzuR0Ce3mkuZptqT2CXMo-VPMgiPr7MqQaYx/s1600-h/IMG_2392.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGKPQye3WhVymkdj0wmXcuh9a49Yke2diQCaGS23Dz-7SQaMGvM76f8XXZx4E3sSgFmkoxhMhW_AB61Ufo5nzs2_dRurkKzaPkGD7s06KEhzuR0Ce3mkuZptqT2CXMo-VPMgiPr7MqQaYx/s320/IMG_2392.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347331771353220306" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuloCzD_6ptvMMPb7YMYOHh5z-pyG750kA1zdt47mFF2xF0uvYeTb5uAVrd_ZcJJrtiCbYjtSFoOXR91AFoYyHPyM24li_PEUF-15p4ZprCplunYFvRwW5DttqYfzJbMyu2CqVTq_VgiwZ/s1600-h/IMG_2393.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuloCzD_6ptvMMPb7YMYOHh5z-pyG750kA1zdt47mFF2xF0uvYeTb5uAVrd_ZcJJrtiCbYjtSFoOXR91AFoYyHPyM24li_PEUF-15p4ZprCplunYFvRwW5DttqYfzJbMyu2CqVTq_VgiwZ/s320/IMG_2393.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347333175564614978" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEVPwd51nBk9c73RTaAQ6HbSa6pRqRau4Zg5B2mORIFXhPVKB2S8tVfOaNFAABwIlQz-uUUwjoEKtUOVjvhscRZR9Pn2n1dk33CAFJunKcrpLv1DNQn-sKJIXljAYJLeMUn2RC8XkNQMvM/s1600-h/IMG_2400.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEVPwd51nBk9c73RTaAQ6HbSa6pRqRau4Zg5B2mORIFXhPVKB2S8tVfOaNFAABwIlQz-uUUwjoEKtUOVjvhscRZR9Pn2n1dk33CAFJunKcrpLv1DNQn-sKJIXljAYJLeMUn2RC8XkNQMvM/s320/IMG_2400.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347333179476944466" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Yuki's favorite snack that looks like poop (don't worry, she thought it was funny when I told her) - tastes sweet and better than it looks.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZ-ACGRrxP1DtenaXG4YFxwMwQyqzYaDW0lWBm_z1z7MemkeQvsxvBjHydXbpk5xisDgQDBgy653TudqiDn_LJuLix18YHCWgtnO6_1rwfsYKOwLAJxd37sLFz_E4XRk7fp29-QPjA6ol/s1600-h/IMG_2351.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZ-ACGRrxP1DtenaXG4YFxwMwQyqzYaDW0lWBm_z1z7MemkeQvsxvBjHydXbpk5xisDgQDBgy653TudqiDn_LJuLix18YHCWgtnO6_1rwfsYKOwLAJxd37sLFz_E4XRk7fp29-QPjA6ol/s320/IMG_2351.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347331750356691970" border="0" /></a><br /><br />All the coins in Japanese currency (500, 100, 50, 10, 5, 1)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4kScdjzusIS5tG-dzXoU41j3E74WYi4GQYXFjylPHAX93OE0dUUcg8Vtvjb-UHLEq_U-bBBUHqQgTcFWLoCVq_L703zCAwDodfeK3rxYVUQZl5TuFvjLNIuRqUO8AkLHRkpMGVS4TJEMi/s1600-h/IMG_2360.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4kScdjzusIS5tG-dzXoU41j3E74WYi4GQYXFjylPHAX93OE0dUUcg8Vtvjb-UHLEq_U-bBBUHqQgTcFWLoCVq_L703zCAwDodfeK3rxYVUQZl5TuFvjLNIuRqUO8AkLHRkpMGVS4TJEMi/s320/IMG_2360.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347331761934815378" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03104788594850791625noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2585342029078708825.post-36321704571735714392009-06-13T15:26:00.000-07:002009-06-13T17:02:18.518-07:00ArrivalI've finally got my internet set up, I couldn't connect to the wireless at Yuki's house because no one remembered the passoword, so I just hooked up directly through the wall. Anyway, that's not interesting.<br /><br />After we finally got back to her house (after an hour bus ride because the subway line had broken down), Yuki's mom made us a ton of food. I was a little wary because I'd never eaten fish with the bone still there with chopsticks before, but Yuki showed me how and I think I didn't do too badly. Yuki's parents and grandma kept going "aaaahhh!" and exclaimed a lot while I was eating because they were impressed that I could use chopsticks - thank you Clare, for teaching me in third grade.<br /><br />Her parents don't speak much English, and her grandma none, so a lot of miming has been going on and Yuki's been doing a lot of interpreting. When I It's VERY muggy here, as it's the rainy season in Japan.<br /><br />Let me explain some of the pictures. Japanese toilets, wow. They are way too high-tech for me and they make me nervous. You can press a button on that pad to squirt water at you and another one to blow air... um... no thanks? I'll try it, ONCE, but just to say I've done it.<br /><br />I really like Yuki's house, it has a totally different feel from an American house. There's the entrance for leaving your shoes, slippers throughout the house so you're not walking in bare feet, there's a really pretty porch(?) area outside my room where you can see the neighborhood. I'm sleeping on a little futon with a Japanese pillow, which is also like Esther's pillow so I'm thinking it's a general Asian thing. They're harder and have these big pellets inside, but I was still able to sleep like a rock - courtesy of developing the ability to nap almost anywhere thanks to college.<br /><br />Now, the "shower" they use here is something I wouldn't mind having in a house of my own some day. Very luxurious. You sit on the stool and shampoo, condition, and wash then rinse yourself off, then you relax in the tub. Yuki says Japanese people take do this everyday. Yesterday was my first bath in a very long time.<br /><br />So the pictures are of: me at the Detroit airport, Yuki on her porch-thing, the "mudroom" of her house, the bath, where I'm sleeping, and one of her toilets. 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