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!