Tibet, Panda's, Good Grades, and Saying Goodbye

Wow. Its been forever. Sorry to those avid readers out there (mom and dad) that its been so long since my last post but guess what guys….IM DONE! Im going to brag here for a few minutes if you guys don’t mind. So no, im not going to brag about the number of shots I had last night, or the number of beers I had before I was drunk, or anything like that. Im going to brag and say I did great on my finals and ended up with a 95.7 in the class when it is all said and done. 12 credits worth of A’s sounds like something to brag about. Ok I know that’s getting obnoxious but I had to do that so everyone knew that I was doing A LOT more than just partying. Im going to get right to the point though. 2 weeks ago I went to TIBET and Chengdu which was amazing as well. Let me talk about Tibet first though. Im going to try to make this short, but we will see. We arrived in Lhasa on August 4th Saturday but the way we got there was a little amusing. We left the hotel early to catch our flight out of Beijing (we stayed near the airport), and we couldn’t find a cab. Some random guy we flagged down took us to the airport for a little inflated of a rate but we made it there on time! So we landed in Lhasa and standing there with a sign that read our names (Taylor and I) was our tourguide. She greeted us with white silk scarf which is a Tibetan custom for welcoming guests. I didn’t notice and change from the altitude yet (it is the roof of the world at approx 3500m above sea level), but I knew that eventually I would. If you have seen my pictures, you have seen the gorgeous scenery. Lhasa is nestled into a valley with mountains on every side. Its absolutely gorgeous and seems very secluded from the rest of the world. We went to see the Buddha paintings on the side of a mountain and then continued to our hotel. As we arrived in our hotel, Taylor and I climbed 3 small flights of stairs to our room and as I hit the 3rd floor I had a terrible time breathing. The altitude had hit us both and it hit us both really hard. We lied down on our beds and passed out in a few minutes. We woke up around dinnertime and found an amazing restaurant where I tried Yak Dumplings, a Tibetan delicacy. We then ended up at a very chill Nepalese bar where we had a few drink and then headed back home to rest for our early wake up. The next day our tour guide picked us up early with our private driver and we went to the Drepung Monestary, Norbulinka (sp?) which is the Dalai Lama’s Summer Palace (or used to be), and then to another monestary. They were all absolutely amazing. Lined with prayer wheels and monks everywhere, the city was so foreign to anything I have ever seen! Just by people watching we learned so much about the Tibetan culture as well as Buddhism. All of the monasteries where gorgeous but we weren’t allowed to take pictures in them. We actually had a few cool experiences in them though. At one point, a monk hit us on the back and head with a stick to get the pain out of our bodies, and at another point a monk poured “holy water” into our hands to drink and then rub in our hair. Pretty neat experiences I must say. That afternoon Taylor and I checked out the extremely cheap markets with TONS of people. Bargaining has become such a fun way to spend an afternoon let me tell you that much. That night we went to another Nepalese/Tibetan chill bar and just kind of hung out. The next morning we got up extra early to visit the Potala Palace. We had to go alone (w/o our tourguide) because with her we were only allowed an hour there. Taylor and I went alone and really had a great time. The Potala Palace is the “staple” monestary of China, and possibly of Buddhism in general. We met some nice people there from Hong Kong who we hung out with for a little while. One of the girls names was Shallots, which I thought was interesting. After our time at the Palace our tour guide took us to her small house nestled in the back of a Tibetan ally. She made us Yak Buttermilk Tea, Butter bread, and made us try some of her barley beer that has been stashed away in our cubbard for what she said was 1 year! It was absolutely disgusting. She also went down the street to buy us a tradition yak bread pancake type thing. They were amazing but after she shoved the 5th one in our face we had had enough. After lunch we visited the Sera Monestary where we went to a “Debating Courtyard” and witnessed hundreds of monks debating. Everyday from around 3pm-5pm they meet in this courtyard to talk and debate. It was an amazing sight and really a neat experience. We also visited the Johkang Temple where we saw a high Lama enter the Temple. He was about to give a speech to a huge audience of Tibetans. We didn’t stay but it was a neat experience getting to see him. That night Taylor and I got a few beers and hung out on the roof of our building and watch the storm roll in. Hear I noticed something that I really enjoyed. There are really no tall buildings in Lhasa, and the only building that sticks out is the Potala Palace. The nights are just gorgeous with the cool air blowing in, the stars out, and the Potala Palace lit up beautifully in the distance. Anyway, the next morning, Taylor and I had a day without the tour guide so we decided to do something that most people wouldn’t do. We climbed the holiest mountain in Lhasa (I almost died because it was so hard to breathe) and at the top with lit incense and hung prayer flags. Lighting incense and hanging prayer flags is something the Tibetans do on top of (or on the side of) mountains in hope that they will receive good luck on whatever they have coming up in their lives. We then came down the mountain, had a really good western lunch and then took a nap. Later that afternoon we roamed the markets for a few hours and picked up some last minute gifts. The next story is a really long one but to put it short, we almost missed our flight because our tour guide didn’t understand that you have to be at the airport earlier than the time the plane leaves! It was terrible but eventually we got on the plane and made it to Chengdu. Im going to speed through Chengdu because I need to go in a little while (watch a movie). Anyway we arrived in Chengdu and arrived in our hostel where we met lots of foreigners. We met people from Israel, Spain, Chile, New Zealand, Florida, etc. That night we just kind of chilled out and enjoyed the easy breathing and found a chill place to go. We ended up meeting a few guys who were traveling in China and staying at our hostel. A few days later we actually ended up going to a Mexican restaurant with them. Anyway, the next day we went to the Chengdu Panda Breeding Center. I was hoping to hold a panda but im not going to talk about if for long because I get sad. Because we were with a group, I didn’t have time to. BUT…I did see over 20 pandas including two baby twins, and one reallllly new born baby that was still pink. It was still an awesome experience. That night I met my cousin and her friend for dinner (Emily Wolkowitz for those of you who are related to me). She is in Chengdu doing her Peace Corp training and I was lucky enough to catch her when she wasn’t too busy. We went to an authentic HOTPOT restaurant. Because Chengdu is the capital of China’s Sichuan Province (Sichuan being a spicy food, you know from Chinese restaurants) we had to get hotpot! Its basically a huge boiling bowl of hot boiling water that is DEEP RED and just as spicy as can be. You put chicken, vegetables, meat, roots, etc… inside and just eat up. It was absolutely amazing! It was the perfect way to end a vacation! The only problem was, the vacation wasn’t over. Taylor and I still had a 32 hour train ride Chengdu to Tianjin. The next day (Friday) we left at 6pm on our train; we each had hard sleepers which are pretty comfy actually. Im not going to explain the whole train ride but I didn’t sleep much and it was SO boring. I basically just played cards and chatted in Chinese for 32 hours. Everyonce in a while I would go to sleep but that didn’t happen often. Well, we finally arrived in Tianjin on Sunday morning at 3am and were so excited to get back. We had an AMAZING time. Sorry I wrote all of that so fast. I didn’t do it justice at all. And a lot more went out I just had to pull out the main stuff so everyone knew what I did. When I get back PLEASE ask me about Tibet because it was an absolutely amazing place. Before I leave, let me fast forward to today (August 17 Friday). Yesterday we all gave our presentations, in Chinese, and finished our written exam so today we wanted to a little fun. One of my friends, Jed, organized a champagne fight. We ordered a Magnum bottle of champagne for everyone who wanted one. Early this afternoon we all went out in a field, shot out the corks and just went crazy. It was possibly the most fun way to spend 45 seconds. We had a great time and it was really a fun way to end the summer. People are now starting to leave; my roommate is gone and everyday someone else is going home. I leave Monday and I am definitely ready to get home. Today I took one last stop at culture street for a few last minute gifs and now Im just here chillin with everyone. I cant believe its almost over. Im sorry, but this is the end of my blogging. I cant wait to see all of you guys. I may be a little different but only for the better. I have learned so much about China, the culture, the language, and mostly myself. I know that’s a cliché thing to say, but I honestly feel that is the truth. I will never forget this summer and the people I met here have also been amazing. I will really miss it here. So for now, thank you all for reading about my life this past summer. Id love to hear back from all of yall and I cannot wait to see yall. Ill make sure to visit whoever I can while I am home. Hope everyone’s summer has been as good as mine. Love you all and talk to you soon! Thanks for reading!

Daniel

Randomness in China..... almost over

Lets start this entry out the exact same way I start all the others out: Im sorry, I know its been forever! Anyway, it has been forever and life has gone by faster that I can think. I cant even remember what all I have done in the past weeks here in China. Let me start first by saying I have been doing really well in the Chinese class portion of this time abroad. My Chinese I think is still getting better and better and we have finally moved on to more interesting topics (such as male and female equality, Chinese festivals and customs, and we are now learning about food health and disease)! Anyways, besides the countless hours of class and the countless number of characters I study at night, and the countless times I go to office hours (yep, im a great student), I am still having a good time. Last weekend I went with Phil, Ben, Ky, Margaret and Leslie to Beijing for the weekend. We had a few things planned and as you will see shortly some of them worked out and some of them didn’t. We arrived in Beijing only to find the hotel we booked was nestled back in a random alley close to the train station. A little sketchy? I think so, but we managed. The room was definitely smaller than my moms closet but because we manly men can do it, we doubled up and let the girls sleep on the floor. Actually they volunteered, I promise! That night we went to a street that is filled with small clubs and really small bars and we had a great time. Ben was able to meet up with a friend he hadn’t seen in years and it was nice to be in Beijing and finally see some other foreigners around. The next morning we woke up and decided to start our day of with some subway (not the one that takes u places but the one that Jared used to lose 200 lbs). Honestly, it was a glorious meal that I haven’t had in forever. I don’t even really like subway but for some reason it tasted amazing. They also convinced me to add more meat for something like 15 more cents so I couldn’t pass it up. After subway we went to something called the Beijing Pearl Market, and let me tell you, this is a place and experience I will definitely NEVER forget. The Pearl Market is a place where u can be everything and anything fake and dirt cheap. Yes, you can by crappy pearls, you can buy fake rolex watches, you can buy beautiful Armani suits, you can by crocodile, alligator (almost lacoste) clothes, etc… You name it, Im sure you can find it….but its going to take some work. You have to bargain for everything but the girl’s that sell the clothes speak really good English. Anyway, I walk into the market and I am immediately grabbed by the first girl I see, asking me if I want to buy her product…of course I don’t. Little did I know that was going to be the least abused I was going to be all day. A short while later a young Chinese lady pulled me into her “Armani suit collection” and told me that I would like SO much more handsome in one of those nice suits. I proceeded to argue with her in Chinese asking her if she thought I wasn’t cute to begin with, but she played the nice game and told me it would just make me cuter. I then told her I had no money to buy a suit so in police officer or airport security fashion I was rubbed down (in America I guess we call it sexual harassment, but because we are in China I guess its legal) until she found my wallet. Luckily she didn’t open my wallet, and when I told her I had no money in there I pointed to my friend who was standing next to me. She immediately moved to him and I sped out of that suit stand like it was my job. The girl at the next stand looked at me and said, “you know, you’re a bad boy!” In Chinese I responded by asking her why and she says (in english) “you bullshit her.” Anyway I laughed it off chatted with her and Chinese and then proceeded to more stands. Many similar stories could be said about the other vendors but for the sake of time I’ll refrain from saying them. (sorry if this was a bit too vivid, but in a few years it will be funny to read this and remember exactly that memory). I left the market with a China soccer uniform I got for 13USD that I bargained down from 132 USD, and I also picked up a few DVD’s at approx 92cents apiece. That afternoon, Ben had planned for us to go to a place just near the great wall where his cousin works. It was one of very few orphanages in the Beijing area and it was experience of a lifetime. Although we only stayed there for a few hours, meeting all the children, seeing their facilities, eating a meal there and just spending time with these kids really was amazing. Seeing their smiled when we got there and seeing how much fun they were having when we were playing basketball was something I’ll be able to picture for the rest of my life. Another thing I will never forget was the dinner we had there. Not particularly the meal will I remember, but the conversation at the table. Although they probably should have practiced their English, they realized that I wanted to practice my Chinese too, so we spoke in Chinese. Anyway, all of us split up and sat at tables with random people. I went to the table with about 4-5 boys sitting there. The others went to eat at different tables and in pairs but I decided to go alone. The conversation right off the bat was hilarious. I was asking how old people were and some say 10 and 13 (which was correct) and one kid said 80 and one 40 and one 200. It was quite amusing. Then they asked me if I had a girlfriend and of course I responded yes. When they asked me how old she was I got a really straight face and said…. 40! They thought that was the funniest thing in the world and starting going to other tables telling everyone that I had a 40 year old girlfriend. We also talked about the NBA and just about life in general. It was really an amazing experience. Between the subway home and the bus ride home, we were all so exhausted. We found a place called Peter’s Tex-Mex which had Texas memorabilia all over the walls, and believe it or not had great food. The fajitas were amazing. The only thing I was a little upset about was you had to pay almost 5 dollars per basket of chips so we only went through one. That night we all pretty much passed out ready to hit the Summer Palace in the morning… so we thought. That morning we woke up to Ky being extremely sick and after some contemplation over whether or not to go to the hospital or go home, he decided home. So we packed it up early and had to make the trip back, but all in all it was a great weekend. I still haven’t seen the Summer Palace but I’ll make it there. So what else..hmm… before I go let me explain to you what I will be doing all next week. We have a full week off (about 10 days) and my friend taylor and I are going to TIBET and Chengdu (this is where alllll the panda’s are). Tibet is extremely hard to go to and you have to have a private tour guide but after a lot of planning we finally have it all planned out. We leave on saturaday morning and arrive in Lhasa in the morning, and spend 5 days and 4 nights there. We then fly to Chengdu Wednesday and stay there until Friday night where we will take a 30hr train ride direct to Tianjin. It should be the most amazing trip! Please if you know nothing about Lhasa, look it up online because the place looks absolutely amazing. The Potala Palace, the Himalayans in the background, the monasteries and temples… it’s going to be incredible. I honestly cant believe Im going there. We are both so excited and cant wait to leave. Anyway, I should probably go study. I just got back from TGIFridays (yep there’s one here!) and it was amazing. The WORLD FAMOUS BBQ BURGER = fantastic. Hope everyone is doing well. I miss all of you. I cant believe my summer is almost over. It has been amazing and I love it here, but I think im getting ready to come home. Cant wait to see everyone. Love yall a lot and hope to hear back from many of you (soon before I leave from Tibet. I leave on Friday for Beijing). Talk to yall soon!

黄山比天津漂亮的多 (Huangshan is MUCH more beautiful than Tianjin)

So anyway, sorry its been FOREVER. Im getting so nervous and stressed now because everyday I hear a new cousin or friend deciding the read this. im running out of humor! Oh well, as always ill tell it like it is. Before I get to my weekend (last weekend), ill tell you about this week. I had a very vigorous first week of 4th semester Chinese. The vocab and grammar is getting noticibly more difficult but I really think my Chinese is getting a lot better. As I write this I feel as if I could write it completely in Chinese with few mistakes which makes me really realize how much I am learning here. This Tuesday was my good friend Taylor's 21st birthday, so we went out pretty big for him that night. We took him to a bar and then went Saki bombing (his choice) and then came back late night for some birthday cake. I think he had a great birthday which was really nice because he wasnt planning on it being as fun as it was. Today I had a pretty difficult test but now that Im staying in Tianjin for the weekend i can FINALLY RELAX! Tomorrow I am going to culture street to try and pick up some chachki's (wow that spelling is atrocious) and I even want to get a mahjong set. Grandma when I come visit I can fill in for someone if you need me! I also had Erhu class today and honestly im starting to get kinda good. The instrument is a pretty gross sounding instrument if not played perfectly so it still sounds pretty terrible but im slowly getting better. Anyways, enough of this week, let me get to last weekend which was an AMAZING weekend. The people that went to huangshan was me, phil, ben, ky, leslie, and margaret. We left Friday afternoon on OKAY-Air (eesh we didnt know how to respond to that name but whatever) and landed in Shanghai's smaller aiport. from there we took a bus to the larger airport, and from the larger airport flew directly into Huangshan. We checked into our hotel around 9 and searched the city for a nice place to eat. We found a small restaurant open late with a bunch of locals inside so we decided to stop by. The meal was actually amazing. We had some random meat skewers as well as some fried rice, these other friend vegetable things and some random vegetable dishes (mom, im eating my greens here, i promise). The meal was great and of course I couldnt go without another drinking story. We ordered a case of beer and went downstairs to mingle with the locals and have a good time. We left the restaurant late that night and headed to bed only to wake up at 8am the next morning to leave for Huangshan. The deal was, we were to pay a base price and they would take us to the bottom of the mountain (little over an hour away), meet us toward the top with a tour guide who would then take us to our "hotel" - ill come back to the "hotel" part shortly. We woke up, picked up the bus and arrived at the bottom of the mountain where we were told that we had to meet at a certain time and place. We were SO anxious to hike that we took off not really knowing how far we had to go and how long it would take or how hard it would be. after about 4 hours of climbing and going less than a damn INCH on the map, we decided to ask for help. Oh and I failed to tell you that walking up the mountain we saw only people coming down. NO ONE was coming up except a man that had to bring a computer screen somewhere on the mountain. People were giving us quite odd looks but we didnt really know why until hours into the hike. The hike was DIRECTLY UPHILL and it was all stairs. it was actually hell hiking. Anyway, we found out that what most people do is take a gondola most of the way to the top, and the nest morning hike down. ya we took the 7-8 hour hike to the top and were absolutely EXHAUSTED. so at the top what did we see? it was incredible. we were often either in the clouds or looking down on the clouds. the views were breathtaking and the pictures that I have don't do a bit of justice. it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and I was judging it to the great wall and the grand canyon. It was such an amazing view and it was WELL WORTH the 5 or so mile hike. So we met with our tour guide and she guided us toward our "hotel." along the way she mentioned to us that in Huangshang guys in girls cant stay in the same rooms which wasnt a problem at all but she then mentioned to us that we were going to have some roomates as well. we were on our way (oh and we were told that all the hotels on the hill were 4 or 5 stars) and were SO excited to get there finally. the 4 of us guys had such good plans for the hotel. we were going to get a huge amazing me, have a nice cold beer and smoke a big fat cigarette. So as we were getting really excited about all this we arrive at our hotel, i mean hostel. Man..... i dont even know what to say. this place sucked. we walked into our rooms, and there were BEAUTIFUL rusted bunk-beds and the bed was NO JOKE a piece of wood with a sheet on top. bugs everywhere, no shower just a shower head next to the toilet and a group of 5 others sleeping in there. so... 1)nice hotel-no check 2)amazing meal-disgusting-NO CHECK
3)Fat Cigar - no check 4)cold beer - only hot beer. This is exactly what we wanted to do after an amazing hike up. Oh well like the men (and the 2 women) we are, we toughed it out, played hours of Euchre over hot beers and went to sleep on our wood. we came back late to our room cracking jokes and laughing so loud and our roomates where pretty pissed but it was a good time. We came back the next morning on the gondola and then proceeded to wait for the bus for 3 hours until it was finally time to head back to the hotel. Upon our arrival back at the hotel we checked in again to the hotel and then headed to a really good korean restaurant for lunch. That afternoon we went to the culture street in Huangshan which was acutally REALLY cool. I didnt buy anything there but it was a good time. Im not going to tell the whole story of the next hours because it would take days but we lost the 2 girls and looked for them for a while and because my phone was dead there was nothing we could do. we hopped in a few rickshaws and told the driver to take us to the neaerest bar/restaurant. we get out of the rickshaw (75cents a person later) and proceed to the bar they took us too. they were speaking in chinese and we understood 2 things. 小姐-pronounced xiao-jie which means whore and 一百塊-prounced yi bai kuai which means 100chinese dollars. We figured that wasnt the best place to say so we finally found a place. To save time lets put it this way, later that night before we found a real bar they took us to about 3 more of those places. We found a place finally that was more of a restaurant, bought some beer for cheap at a store and walked in there to play more cards and have a good chinese dinner. We contacted the girls finally from a convienent store phone and finally got a hold of them. we left to go meet them up and of course they were pretty pissed but we solved the issue. it was just a lack of communication on both parts. That night we went to a bar (after being dropped off first at a whore house basically) and then came back late and went to bed. the next day we went again to culture street and then more shopping (i added money to the phone), more cards, and had a relaxing day. We left that night for the airport where are flight was slightly delayed direct to beijing. we made it to beijing and out of a crowd of TONS of people we spotted 4 of our friends. we took a cab back to tianjin which took a little over 2 hours and arrived back at the dorm at 3:30 in the morning. I did alittle studying for my quiz that was in 4 hours and then fell asleep. I woke up and actually went to my discussion and was the only one there. It was actually really nice because I had basically a free tutoring session. The lecture only had about 5 people in each instead of 15 in each so we combined the 2.......phew I think that is were I would say my weekend ended. It was an AMAZING time and definitely something ill never forget. I hope this post wasnt too long but I had to get it all out. This weekend wont be AS exciting but im sure there will be a lot for me to talk about. Oh ive also been playing alot of basketball with a bunch of random chinese guys that are at the court. they cheat alot but i guess when we are in their hood we have to play by their rules. Anyway we are going tonite to a muslim restaurant and then bowling probably for a program party so I will update you with that hopefully shortly. I miss you guys alot and I cant believe Ill be back so soon. Love you all and hope to hear back from many of you. Im sure I left a lot out or skipped stuff but thanks for baring with me. Ill talk to yall soon!

Journey to and fro Qingdao

Sorry again that its been so long but again Ive been really busy. Im gonna probably miss a lot of stuff because I want to talk mostly about my adventure this past weekend to Qingdao. Quickly though, the weekend before I spent chillin’ in Tianjin. We went to the zoo and it was the most depressing place ever. I saw a man kick and punch a horse, a man tie a monkey to a bicycle and another man feed a baboon a lit cigarette and then spit on him. Waco zoo, you look amazing compared to Tianjin. The rest of the weekend was relaxing. I did laundry, hung out and then had a few great conversations with some cab drivers. The best part of the weekend though was the second round of saki bombing. We actually took 2 of our professors and it was quite an amazing night. Phil and I took the teachers home to make sure they got back safely and on the way back we used every ounce of our Chinese with the cab driver. My Chinese is definitely 越来越好 (getting better and better). The week itself last week went really well too. I did really well on my test as well as shot a 175 at the bowling alley (I got a turkey in the 10th frame). So anyways, let me talk about my trip to Qingdao so I can go to sleep. Phil, Leslie, Margaret and I left early Friday afternoon for Qingdao. If any of you have ever heard of Tsingtao beer, this is where it originated and where it is made to this day. We took a train to Beijing and then attempted to buy a train ticket to Qingdao there but of course they were all sold out. To make a long story short, Leslie’s uncle got us the hook up and dropped us off in a shady alley behind the train station and led us too our train. The way the train was set up was there are hard seats, soft seats, hard sleepers and soft sleepers. The way there we had hard sleepers which is a small “room” (no door) with six beds. Three bunked on each side. We slept through the night and arrived in Qingdao around 6:30 in the morning after an 8.5 hr train ride. The weather there was pretty crappy but it ended up clearing up a little. We took one of those cabs that has 2 wheels in the back and one in the front to the hotel where the cab driver told me he could tell I was American because I had a big nose. He took us to a hotel (not the one we made reservations for) and told us it was cheaper and better. Who knows if he was right but it was alright. We found a dumpling restaurant for lunch and then headed out to walk the shore. Qingdao is made up of about 6 beaches, most which aren’t that cool, especially when the weather sucks. After walking the beach we headed to the Qingdao beer factory where we had some samples, a free pitcher of beer, and a free Qingdao glass mug type thing. After the factory we went to a cultural street that really sucked. All they sold were rocks which was kinda weird. We then headed back to our hotel where we got ready for the evening and then headed to an American restaurant for dinner. That night we planned on going to “bar street” but our cab driver took us to what he thought was a better place. It ended up being a great night with a band that sang a lot of American music, Chinese music and Korean music. The end of the night ended with me losing my ID, 600kuai (=approx 90$), and my credit card. Everything is ok now which is good. The next morning we woke to some random events but ill refrain from telling them for the sake of some of my friends. After lunch at the dumpling place again, we left for one of the “nicer” beaches. Here we hiked to a small castle and then proceeded to take a small four person row boat into the ocean. We had it for an hour but after about 30 minutes we could feel the weather pick up and we began to get slightly nauseous. We then headed to shore and as we arrived back on shore it started to pour. We hitched a cab to a nearby mall to pass a little of the time and after the mall we left to go tour a Chinese Pagoda. It was quite a beautiful place overlooking the whole city of Qindao and many of its beaches. After the Pagoda we left for dinner, and then to the train station where we again had no tickets. To make another long story short, we somehow got Leslies uncle again to get us tickets but this time we had our own four person room and a lot more room to sleep. We left at 8:50pm and arrived in Tianjin (no stop in Beijing) around 4:00am. We arrived back at our dorm at 4:30 where I finally fell asleep only to wake up to my roommates alarm 2.5 hours later. Like the good student that I am, I went to class in the morning and actually felt like I had a great day of classes. As we speak I am trying to figure out plans for the weekend. We are planning on going to Huangshan (yellow mountain) and hiking for a few days. We have Friday off because on Wed we have an oral test, and then Thursday we have a written midterm. OH…today actually, my roommate, my tutor, her boyfriend, my friend and his tutor (who is friends with my tutor) went to a small hangout joint to play UNO and MAJONG. It was a lot of fun. I won 4-7 games of UNO and learned to play Tianjin style Majong which is really fun. Anyway, that is where my life is now. I have to go to sleep though because im so tired. Sorry this was so fast and not too detailed. Seems like it was probably pretty boring as well. Oh well the next will hopefully be better. Love you all and miss you all so much. I cant believe its almost halfway over AND I am about to start 4th semester Chinese. Talk to yall soon!

Childhood Dream: Great Wall...check

Howdy. Sorry its been so long since I last wrote, and once again, so much has happened since I last wrote. So Im going to start with last Friday, which was the day of my second test, my first erhu (Chinese stringed instrument) class, and the beginning of my amazing weekend in Beijing. The test? Well it went pretty good. It was extremely hard though (I thought) but I ended up doing ok. The first erhu class went well. The teacher didn’t speak a lick of English so thank g-d I already know a stringed instrument. Anyway, im not gonna waste my time discussed the erhu class because there are many more to come, but as soon as class was over, I got a quick 35cent friend rice, had a drink with some friends and headed for Beijing. 2 ½ hours later we arrived in Beijing, which is just a much cooler city than Tianjin. Its much nicer looking, the people don’t stare as much because they see Americans every once in a while, and the just walking in Beijing you can feel the rich history that lies within the city limits. As we arrived in Beijing, the bus took us directly to a restaurant where we were fed Peking Duck which is the major delicacy of Beijing. It was very tasty, unlike the intestines and other nasty things that were on the table as well. When the meal was over, we drove to a nice hotel in Beijing and watched the Peking Opera. Its not like the operas in the United States. Its actually really hard to explain but its basically people dancing, flipping, kicking, etc. all while yelling Chinese which a screechy voice. If you don’t get the picture, youtube it and u will definitely understand. It was actually very interesting, and the hour and a half it lasted was just enough (maybe a little too much but its ok). We then left the Peking Opera and headed over to the Chongwen Men hotel which was actually pretty nice (minus the lack of hot water). We checked in to our rooms and then decided to check out the Beijing nightlife. We took a cab to a place called HOHI (that’s at least how its pronounced) and it was there that another eventful evening took place. As soon as we got there, I met up with a few people as well as Leslie’s uncle (Zhou Zhou as we called him which means uncle in Chinese). For those of you who don’t know about Chinese culture, they LOVE to drink beer. The cheers in China is called “ganbei” and what the that means is “finish the glass.” A sat with Leslie’s uncle for hours at this bar called “Sex in DA City” and I spoke a little Chinese and had a really good time. After every thing I said that he liked/agreed with, he would lift his glass, say ganbei, and buy me another drink. It was so much fun because it was Leslie, Margeret, Me, Phil, and Taylor sitting and hanging out with Leslie’s uncle all night. At 3am when we were kicked out of the bar, he drove us back to the hotel. He was such a nice guy and he told us that because he loves his niece Leslie, and we are Leslie’s friends, he loves us too and we are all his sons. Im sure we will see him again somewhere along our journey in China. The next morning we woke up around 10am ready to explore Beijing and for me, that meant climb the wall, which has always been a dream of mine. The crew consisted of: Me, Phil, Ben, Leslie, Margaret, Margaret, Amy, and Taylor. Our plan was to use this company that would send us a van and a driver and be our personal driver for the whole day. In the article we saw it was 300 kuai for the full day which is 40$, but as soon as the driver got there he tried to charge us 800. The driver then left after lots of arguing and when we couldn’t find another driver, we called him back and told him we would do it for 700. Little did we know that the small Chinese print said over 5 people meant each person had to pay an extra 150kuai. Our decision to call him back and pay 700 kuai (which is 90 dollars split between 8 people) was the best choice we have ever made. At around noon, we drove about an hour and a half to our first stop, which was the Ming Tombs. It was a pretty neat place, yet we found out a lot of the things inside were actually replicas, which kinda made me mad, but oh well. The views on top of the tombs were breath taking and the underground palace was pretty sweet too. As soon as we left the Ming Tombs, our driver had pleasantly surprised us with a huge bag over EXTREMELY TASTY cherries. I don’t even like cherries but these were pretty darn good. He then took us to a place called “The Sacred Way” which we had never heard of but he knew that it was something worth seeing. It is basically a big beautiful street with tons of stone animals and stone warriors. Im not too sure what it was really for, but it made for some great pics. We then left and were on our way to the great wall. Around 5pm we arrived at the Great Wall and the view from the ground was absolutely breath taking. None of us could really believe what we were seeing and all of us were pretty much in shock at the beauty of it all. It was then that we began our journey to the top (our plan was the touch the sun that looked like it was at the height of the mountain). The beginning was extremely steep but the hardest part of climbing the wall is definitely the altitude. Also, the steps are very uneven; there will be a step about an inch up, and then one about 2 feet up. It just made the hike a lot more interesting. After several stops, and several thoughts of quitting, we hiked on and an hour after we started, we had made it to the top. It was the most incredible view and most incredible feeling I may have ever felt. All of us had not only felt like we had accomplished something really big, but we all could now check off a childhood dream. It seems corny to say it was a dream but it really was amazing to not only see the wall, but to climb to the top of one part was an amazing feeling. At the top (or near the top), we picked up a few great wall t-shirts and headed for the ground. An hour later we had made it down the wall and looked up at we had just accomplished. We then took the hour drive home , left our driver, took a shower and could only think about taking a shower, having a nice big meal, and toasting to the wonderful day that almost didn’t happen! We then ventured to a restaurant called “Golden Jaguar” which is basically a GOOD buffet. Not a Golden Corral, and not a Yummy Buffet….it was actually extremely good. You pay 180kuai, a little less than 25 US dollars, and you can eat at every buffet in the restaurant. There was a Thai section, a Japanese section, a Chinese section, an Italian section, a dessert section, many other sections, and a drink station. We got there at 9:30 and little did we know the restaurant closed at 10:30, so we rushed to eat as much food as we can, get drinks and have a really good time all within an hour. It actually worked out really well and we had a great night until we were kicked out at 10:40. They loved us there though but they had to finish cleaning. We then ventured back to HOHI where we only stayed for an hour or so, and the left for the hotel so we could do a few more things in the morning. That next morning we woke up at 9am and went with a group of us to see Tiananmen Square and the gates of the Forbidden City. Im planning of doing the Forbidden City when I have a little more time (its under renovation for the Olympics as well so you cant see all of it). We saw Mao’s ginormous picture in Tiananmen Square, which was pretty neat and just walked around for a few hours. We also saw the “Official” Countdown to the Beijing Olympics. We left the square, went to a pizza place and then left for Tianjin. Suprisingly so, it was nice to get back “home” where the prices are cheaper and the Chinese don’t stop staring. WOW I HAVE WRITTEN A LOT! Ok just a few more things then I will be caught up. Monday I started my internship at the Tianjin TV Station which is really funny. Our job is to just walk around, experience what working life in Tianjin is, and meet and talk to random Chinese people. Theres not too much work involved (at least not on my first 2 days). Today, Tuesday, me and 2 other interns (friends of mine of the trip) showed up at the TV station (we had to flash ID’s and get checked by government guards) and met with the director’s secretary. She took us too a room that was set up very much like American Idol is on the first few shows. We were there to watch people audition for a talent show that is going to be aired on Tianjin television soon. Today we just watched but I think that in the next few days we are going to be judges and help with other aspects of the talent show. All we did today was sit for 2 hours and watch the funniest acts and dances and singing that you could ever imagine. Old ladies and old men tap dancing, bad singers, it was an AMAZING version of the first episode of American Idol. I am working there Mon-Thurs for 2 hours a day which really isn’t too bad. Its really nice to get out and really experience an aspect of Chinese life that you cant just see on a daily basis. We are actually the first foreigners to ever we allowed to work/intern there because government restrictions don’t allow it to happen. I don’t know how we got it but we did and Im definitely taking advantage of it. Anyway, my hands are so tired from typing and I need to go finish studying my characters for my daily quiz tomorrow but hopefully you enjoy what I wrote and didn’t get too bored. I miss you all and love yall a lot. Hope to get some comments from all of you to see what’s up. Im not proofreading it so im sorry for the mistakes and the things I left out but hopefully its readable. Hope you all had a good weekend and I will try to write back soon.

What a weekend...

Before I explain my weekend, in very random fashion, let me give you a few of my thoughts on some random issues.

1) The door open and door close buttons in the Chinese elevators actually work. its the first time I have ever seen them work.
2) During class, the bell that rings to signal class is over for the other students attending the school is a beautiful rendition of silent night. who knows why but it makes for a good choir session during class every day (numerous times)
3) I have to go wash my clothes soon. and if you know me, im not known to be the best at that or have much experience, and to make it better, I have to go do it by hand in my bathtub...sweet
4) Traffic = wow....so much traffic and picture the worst drivers uve ever seen (be it new york, boston, texas, etc...) multiply that times 1,000,000,000 - the other day I was ccrossing the street and it was probably the scariest thing I have ever done, and our bus was going the wrong way on a one way and in a cab we almost pegged about 6 bikers and a few walkers.....wow its crazy
5) KFC in China tastes amazing, and I have never seen so many people at a restaurant in my life. My friend Phil and I went and we coulnt even get a seat. we had to sit like bums on the side of the road and it and we got the weirdest looks. it was quite an experience.

So my weekend...... Friday night the program had organized a Chinese acrobat show for us to attend. It had contortionists, magicians, weirdos, and everything. It was actually quite amazing some of the things they did, but some of the magic kind of reminded me of the crappy tricks scott used to do to us out of his magic bag. sorry scott, i liked them when i was 10 but now that I think about it, they were kinda weak haha. I dont even know how to explain some of these contourtionists. I have pictures and hopefully the link I attatch at the bottom will work and you can see some of the crazy things these people do. After that we decided to go out and as soon as we got out decided we were tired and wanted to just come back. A few of my friends were talking to me in my room later that night and I started to watch the newest episode of entourage online when I found out that my two friends had fallen dead asleep on my bed. So Friday night I ended up sleeping on the floor which wasnt the best sleep Ive ever gotten but oh well. Saturday morning my friend Phil and I woke up and he came with me to go add minutes to my phone. We went to a place with a billion cell phone companies and of course I didnt know mine and of course I went to the wrong one. The guy at China Unicom noticed that I was supposed to be at China Moble and he was extremely nice and walked me to where I needed to go. After about 20 minutes of figuring out what to do we finally got the minutes on my phone and we then left for KFC. After KFC I came home, did some homework and kind of relaxed for a few hours. Around 6pm my friends Ben, Taylor, Phil and I set off to what became one of the best "going out" nights I think I have ever had. Heres the story: First of all, it was the first time we have gone somewhere without a gigantic group of americans, which we soon realized small groups were way more fun. We told the cab driver (in chinese of course) to take us to bar street which we had never been too. He dropped us off at a place called Club COCO but it was a little to early for that scene. As we were walking we saw a small cute little Japanese restaurant which looked really chill and fun so we stopped there. We ordered some meat skewers and a few beers and just having a very relaxing night. I then deciced that we needed a little spice in our night so I brought up the idea of Saki Bombing. for those of you who dont know, I shall explain: First you fill up a glass of beer about 1/4 the way. you then fill up a shot of Saki. Lay your pair of chopsticks on top of the beer and put the shot of saki on top of the chopsticks. if you are following along with me right now your saki will be stable yet probably a little wobbly. You the count: YI, ER, SAN (1,2,3) and bang the table. The saki falls into the glass of beer, splashes everywhere and you chug the saki/beer concoction. I promise you guys, Im not an alcoholic. This was probably one of the most fun things Ive done in a going out fashion. We asked our waiter to do one with us, and then we started asking random people in the restaurant to do them with us. Everyone one there was watching us and taking pictures and partaking and loving it. Even a 40 or so year old couple joined in on the fun and took a saki bomb with us. The people working there were loving us and kept bringing us out free bottles of saki and beer and what not. It ended up being such a fun experience and definately something I will never forget. We then left and went to that Club COCO which was pretty fun and we just kinda chilled there had a few more drinks which was unnecessary but oh well. Then we took a cab home which ended our night. Im sure I sound like a total alcoholic but I promise thats now how it is. Anyway, that brings me to this morning and I should probably go shower and get myself back to normal, but Rachel hope you had fun tonite. I understand giving directions to ur friend is more important that talking to your bf 6000 miles away. im only kidding. miss you so much and miss you all tons. Week one of China is down, one test is down, and next weekend we are going as a group to BEIJING!!! I cant wait to see the great wall and all that other cool stuff. I shall talk to you guys in a few days. Write back!! Love you all

MY PICTURES:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=18vfgggl.aiefn08l&Uy=pjlilh&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Wow....Everyday is packed with drama (good and bad)

wow. where should I start. thanks for the comments, i LOVED hearing from all of yall. well lets see, so much has happened since I last wrote. Lets start with the important stuff, school. Classes where damn near impossible the first day and the second day was quite the same. Today was my third day of classes and I felt so good after because I am really starting to understand a lot more. Like ive said several times, the teachers speak no english so if you dont study your pretty much up "you know what kind of creek." Anyways, the daily quizzes and the hours of studying continue but so does the enjoyment of just being in China. Without further ado I would like to tell a quick story that I am still in complete shock about. Yesterday I decided to go study on the top floor of the dorm because there are a couple tables up there. I had never actually studied there before because I can usually just go outside or in my room, but I decided: hey why not. So as I was sitting there practicing my chinese characters and listening to music i look behind me to see the elevator open. I did a double take of one of the dudes walking out and sure enough it was one of my really close camp friends. For those of you who know him it was BEN BARTH!!!! He had been studying in Hong Kong for the semester and knew I would be in China but had no idea when where why how etc... it was the weirdest thing to just happen to run into each other in not only a city of 10 million people but a country of 1.6 or so billion people. I basically through my books down and used and expletive and couldnt believe that he was staying at the same place for a few days. I am hoping that he will be here for a few more days so we can really get a chance to hang out. So that was the end of my day yesterday, listen to the beginning. After class we went to a fastfoodish type chinese restaurant called Yon Ho (thats what we call it because its kind of the mascot/ronald mcdonald type thing). Unfortunately the drama here was not good. A friend of ours was sitting eating her lunch and randomly 2 guys came in a stole her purse with all of her belongings and just took off. We couldnt find the person but the workers at the restaurant saw it happen and did nothing to stop it. Lets put it this way, Yon Ho wont be seeing many americans any time soon. After that I went to my tutor who I really like. shes really funny and the conversations we have are quite amusing. After the tutor I went to study outside with leslie and little did we know we were in for quite an afternoon. As I was sitting there, two cute little chinese girls, probably about 6 or so years old came up to us and asked us questions. leslie who speak fluent chinese understand everything they said and had to do a little translation. Anyway, to make a long story short, about 7 or so kids came up to us and were just chatting away. I think they were intriqued that I was white, and I told them I was from America. I also told the little girls I played with barbies and I have way more than her. I think she just made fun of me. A little later they dragged leslie and I to this pedistal like thing and I felt like I was either at the symphony bells thing or a place where people where put above the others and just made fun of. It was still quite amuzing but it was about time to get out of there. Last night we went to hot-pot which is a restaurant where you are given vegetables and raw meet and u stick it in boiling soup in front of you and let it cook. I think that I may have had somebody's left overs in my pot before I started but oh well haha. I then was the designated person to carry a water melon about a mile back to the dorms but it was quite delicious....wow Im definately just blabbing but Im tired and need some sleep. Today I woke up and went to class as usual, and like I said, today was one of those good days of Chinese. For lunch I went with a kid I just met, Peter, and for those of you in China with me, not the Peter that stalked us (OY is that a story to tell - i forgot that). We went to a little hole in the wall, but when I say hole in the wall I completely mean it. It was a brick wall with a hole and u order and they bring it to you. it was quite amazing. for those of you who know Jin's chicken in madison....this was the Chinese version. It was a pancake like thing with spices and fried chicken...mmm so good. The rest of the day I just studying and then went to a bar to get food (american food) and had a grilled cheese in onion rings. The onion rings were AMAZING! Shortly after, taylor, leslie, phil and I went on a nice run around Tianjin. We ran around the TV tower which is the 4th tallest building in China, and then around this lake. I think it ended up being close to 3 miles, and by that time, those onion rings werent so good. Now Im back in my room, and we just watched a pirated copy of Pirates 3. We havent finished it but I think I like it....... So before I go to bed I will tell one last story, its about peter. He is a Tianjin native that is NOT on our program. One day as we were walking to dinner, he randomly stopped us and I guess wanted to speak english and practice that. He seemed really nice and it was nice to see people be a little more friendly. He was definately a history buff. He told me all about Texas and how it borders Mexico and how George Bush signed something to ban illegal immigrants. He told my friend about his hometown in South Caroline. You get the point. He then followed us to dinner and sat at our table. He was being quite obnoxious thinking we were ignorant foreigners and couldnt speak any chinese although we have been fine all along. He then starts getting a little creepy. Asking a few of us for phone numbers email addresses, etc..... he then looks me straight in the eye and asks me if I could give him my room number. As much as I wanted to give it too him I definately restrained myself. A few minutes after that he decided he had to get home. That was the best thing I had heard all day. Its kind of hard to explain this story, but I promise you, it was creepy. So on that note I think that I may go to bed. Im extremely tired. and btw mom, dad, rachel, and whoever else I may call, I need to recharge the minutes on my phone so sorry if I havent called in a while. I love you all and miss you all very much ahd as I say everytime, I WANT TO HEAR BACK FROM YOU ALL! 再见

ben barth