Reflections

This trip has been so touching for me. Not only were the experiences unique and unlike most things I'll ever experience in my life in America, but they also put me back in touch with a part of my culture that I really appreciate. I can see the places my mom might recognize and talk in the language she was born knowing. Nothing can really replace what that means to me.
I've made friends that my heart feels warmer knowing, and they've come into my life making me happy I can go to them for advice or a hug or a good joke. Knowing they'll understand when I say I miss the way street pancakes taste on an empty stomach or the smile that Sunny would get when we'd tell her she's the nicest person in the whole world. I know I won't forget the experiences and the way that BNU became a home to me, to us. How digget chocolate cookies, milk tea, pocky, aloe juice, green tea, herbal tea, and haw gummies became everyday parts of our food vernacular.


I should hope this blog provided a bit of a spoken window into my life in China and its effect on me :) Thanks to all. Sorry to keep you waiting.

Feb 2

Today was the perfect last day in Beijing. The weather is absolutely beautiful AND the street pancake place by BNU's East gate has finally opened up again after the New Years holiday! As a result, I ate two out of three meals as street pancakes today.
Anyways, surprisingly a lot of people woke up early to be ready to go out and shop at 9am. We went to Silk Alley and then I took a bunch of the girls back to that random, small clothing shop with the one-of-each-kind of clothing. Everyone ended up finding something they wanted to buy there! It's funny because at least 7 or 8 girls went. I don't know any place that many girls can enter and each come out with something they've bought, without trying it on, - especially a small little boutique store. It was great.

For dinner I was nervous bc a lot of people didn't want to spend the money to go to the famous Peking Duck restaurant where the first Peking ducks were roasted and sold. However, a good group of us went out (maybe 11 including professor Chen), and he ordered us a feast for kings. All in all the bill was about 113 kuai per person, which falls a bit under $20 I believe. And it was grand. Three ducks, beef and mushroom dish, dessert, duck soup, sweet and sour chicken dish, two veggie dishes, and tea. It was so delicious. I loved the ducks, with tiny slices of celery and this black sauce that is so tasty, all wrapped in small little crepe circles. And then there was the crispy duck skin that was slightly chewy and fatty, which you would dip into bowls of sugar for taste. They were so good.


Afterwards, we walked through the ancient old streets that the restaurant is located in, and I bought my favorite treat! Haw on a stick, coated in sugar!! Yum yum!!!

At night, everyone was ready to go out dancing, so we all went out to Vicks. It had no cover charge and drinks were buy one get one free! It was one of the funnest nights, and it was great to have almost everyone out, enjoying it together :)

Feb 1

Today was our last class with professor Meng, and I was about to cry. Although it was weird that we had to sing songs for the last 45 minutes of class, I couldn't be mad because I was so sad to be leaving possibly the happiest kindest man I had ever met. Presentations for Chen's class went longer than expected, so in addition to class from 9:30-10:30am, we also had class from 4:30pm until almost 7:00pm. And it was one of our last nights in Beijing.

So afterwards, I went out to dinner with Steven just one-on-one since we hadn't gotten to really catch up just the two of us. He showed me his new apartment that he's moving into. It's called a hutong (I think that's the spelling, not sure), and it's very traditional with an inner courtyard and everything. He has two full bathrooms and a washing machine, which is like big pimping. Also, he'll be living around lots of locals, and he has a balcony! Soooo nice. We walked around the area, which is actually really close to the Drum Tower and Houhai. His location is the best. We eventually settled to eat dinner at a Hot Pot restaurant. I hadn't had hot pot yet, so I was really excited. You get all the raw ingredients and then pick the sauce and the cooking broth and you cook it all yourself. It was delicious but we definitely ordered a lot more than we could eat. Living large.
Then, we met up with some of my other friends to go to a Hookah bar near Houhai Lake. It was so nice! We were given the entire second floor of the place, and it was bathed in this soothing reddish lighting. We sat on couches and talked and enjoyed some hookah (it was the first time I had ever tried it, and I loved it). It was so calming and relaxing, it was the perfect ending to the meal.

Jan 31

Today Meng Laoshi gave us all these small porcelein ducks as little gifts for our last days of class! I will really miss him. After class Courtney, Kaitlyn, Christina and I went to buy him a gift and settled on this really elaborate fruit basket that was beautiful and looked delicious. Then we had class again. Then for dinner I went out with Adriel, Jon, Christina, and Graham to this delicious Korean restaurant where we cook our own food. It was really good...and...

I ATE DOG.

I know, so stereotypical "In China I ate dog." But it was actually tasty, like really tender beef, but maybe slightly thinner and more chewy. In line with what I assumed dog texture might be, if eaten. Call me gross, but what I say is "When in Rome..." eat dog.

Jan 30

So, we found out that tomorrow is the day we make up for our skipped language class. I know I haven't been writing it in my posts, but everything I mention as an excursion, we do in the afternoons starting around 1:30 because we have classes every day from 9:30-12:30. So yes, we do do work. And lots of it. Since we have to make up the language class, that means tomorrow is class from 9:30-12:30, then from 3:00-5:00. Goodness gracious!

Today we had an optional trip to the Temple of Heaven. Thank goodness I went! It was by far one of the greatest sites I have seen in Beijing. First of all, the entrance we went through led to a park with a little walkway where tons of people were doing all sorts of cool, creative, social things that made them happier than anyone I've ever seen in my life. Tons of people were playing various gambling games with cards, then there was a group of older women all dressed in red who were dancing to Chinese music. They danced like my mom dances. It was really amusing, and it made me miss home and appreciate my mom and her unique, style. Also, there was kind of a pick-up band playing classic Chinese songs that apparently all the members were familiar with. It was really cool that people could just come by with their instruments and grab a stool and join in on the music. There was a really old man that was playing the cymbals with such an intense look of pride and enjoyment, he looked like a little crinkly monkey. But like, the happiest man I've ever seen. There's such a sense of social interaction among the aging people in China, that I've never seen in America. I think this kind of interaction helps people live much fuller lives in their old age. The temple itself was also very beautiful because it was where the emperor would pray. We also visited the place where sacrifices were made.

Then, we went to the Pearl Market, which is a huge market where you can bargain for various goods. It was so nice and fun, but it was closing within the hour we got there, so we bargained fast for a few items, then left.

By the time we got home, we were absolutely starving, so we went into the first place that looked good and open (a lot of places were still closed due to the New Year. Literally almost everything shuts down for a full week, and fireworks have been going on constantly for a good days by now) that we passed. We went to a place called "Hot Fragrant Pot" (awk. translation, I know. That's something I think China is well-known for by Americans - really, really awkward Chinese to English translations. It's not unusual to see shirts with English writing that make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I mean, the words will be spelled correct, but it'll be like "Come war fancy sheep make joy glorious time all." or something literally that weird.)
The random stop ended up being an excellent choice. We had to choose our ingredients for the pot, from a huge menu that was only in Chinese. Our best hope was to have the waitress read the items aloud and hope that Jon (who speaks Cantonese) could recognize a few similar sounding words. It must've worked, because the two hot pots we ordered were huge and absolutely delicious! They were so amazing, we all went home full and happy.

Jan 29

We went to Tianjin (sp?) today for an entire day trip! It took about 2-2 1/2 hours to get to the cultural street - our first stop - because the traffic was so bad. It was interesting. Then, we went to a famous baozi restaurant. The baozi itself was good (baozi are buns stuffed with different ingredients) but it took forever to come out because there were so many obscure side dishes that tasted funny. Afterwards, a ton of us bought icecream bars from a street vendor for 1 kuai. Mine was this vanilla and chocolate one that was supposed to be a smiley face, but he looked like he was frowning, so I felt kind of guilty eating him.

Then, we went to a museum which had a cool photo exhibit but was pretty pointless because we got there at 4 and the place closed at 4:30. An interesting little note: at around 4, all of the escalators changed their direction to "down" so that nobody could go up any more floors. Clever, eh? Although it was really confusing cause I guess Sam and I managed to go up one floor right before the clock hit 4, so when we went back downstairs, everyone was wondering how we ever got upstairs in the first place. We were pretty flabbergasted too, until that little secret plan of the museum was uncovered. I really make it sound a lot more secretive than it really was. Probably everyone knew but us.

We didn't get home until 7:30. What a long, long, drivey day.

Jan 28

We went for a peticab tour around the Houhai Lake alleys today!!! A peticab is a bicycle with a covered seat attached to it, for two people to sit in. It was funny seeing over a dozen peticabs carting all these American students through the small back alleys of Houhai. Lots of pictures were being taken by locals. I felt like a traveling circus, but it was really fun. I wish it could have lasted longer.

We then got to meet a women who lived in a house in one of the alleys behind Houhai. Her home is actually pretty expensive now, but it's owned by her family and is thus passed through her family over the years. She had lots of tiny stuffed animal koalas from Australia hanging on a string in her living room. I wondered where she got all the stools from, that we were sitting on. There were literally about 20 stools in her living room for us. She talked about her life and how her daughter is still unmarried and how her and her husband raise prize pigeons. Interesting.
Then, we went to the Drum Tower. It had such steep steps, I could hardly believe it! However, the view was really nice and we got to see a classic drum performance, with the players swinging their arms in full circles as they beat against the drums that hung like big, vertical circles.
The night was filled with some confusion and frustration and fun. Here's a quick recap:

1. The bartenders at the first bar were mean and said they served free drinks for girls until 12 when we called the bar, but when we got there they said it's only until 11. Then, Fii and I ordered before 11, but the guy waited for 20 minutes and only got the guys their drinks, so that by the time we finally demanded our drinks, he said we would then have to pay for them because technically then it was past 11. It was so irritating.

2. We wanted to go to Mix, but it had a cover charge of 30 kuai, which was enough to make some people opt for going home while others lingered by the door debating. Eventually, some more people decided to come in and dance.

3. We go to a little sports store (which the boys have dubbed "the sports bar") for some non-overpriced water. Funny how at Mix, a small bottle is at least 30 kuai, while at the little store across the street it is only 3 kuai for a normal sized bottle. It was like the UN in there. There was me, Kyle, Andy, and Jon from the US. Fii from Hong Kong. Two girls from Norway. A guy from Nigeria, and one from a place called Dominico, I believe. Or Dominica? I don't know. Anyways, we were all crowded in this small random sporting goods store that happened to be open until 4am. Among some of the random things it sold: goggles, lollipops, Absolut vodka special edition in a bottle that looked like a disco ball, water, prune juice, oreos both with chocolate and vanilla cream, nunchucks, winter coats, express tea makers, racquetball rackets, instant flavored milktea, running shoes, and, to top it off, a unicycle. Yes, a unicycle.

We of course had a late night stop at McDonald's where Kyle enjoyed more than a lifetime's worth of sweet and sour sauce, much to our chagrin. A late night video of the Amy and Andy show ended at about 4:30am. Luckily we have no class tomorrow.

Jan 27

Today was an interesting day. I made plans to meet up for dinner with my cousin Bei bei and my aunt. I was so excited, but since I wasn't sure whether my schedule would allow me the time to meet with them, I hadn't brought them anything from America. My teacher suggested I give them American chocolates, which he said I could find at a big department store by the subway station. Thus began what I have dubbed "The Great Chocolate Hunt." I walked to the department store by myself, and it was just past the 地铁(ditie, or subway) which is a good 15 minute walk from our apartments. Then, it turns out chocolate is on floor -2, which I only found out after searching every floor up to floor 4, then being instructed to take the elevator back down (which only went to floor one), then hunting for the one lone escalator that would lead me to -1, which would then lead me to -2.

I returned just in the knick of time to join a bunch of people who were heading out to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube at the olympic stadium. We wanted to go just in time to see it in the daytime as well as the nighttime, so we went around 4pm. It was beautiful, but cold.
In the nighttime though, it was even more stunning. The architecture of the two building is amazing. They are so sturdy and simple in design but so beautiful in their simplicity. At night, the water cube glowed with its bubble tiled outside lit in a blue glow.
It really looked literally like an igloo or stacks of cubes of water. The bird's nest provided a striking contrast with the steel "branches" of its outer frame webbing dark and looming, as the inner building glowed bright reddish orange.
I really almost couldn't breathe, feeling the piercing cold air and yet seeing these ambitious structures, these feats of China's pride and ambition, set right before my eyes almost close enough to touch. Certainly close enough to take nice photos of (sorry for ending in a preposition).

I got back just in time to meet Beibei, my 表姐 (older female cousin), back at my apartments so we could then 坐出租汽车 (take a taxi) to 她的家 (her house). The dinner my aunt prepared was amazing, and I also got a chance to talk to my parents on Skype. It was the first time I had seen them since leaving, so it was really cool and very nice of my aunt to do that for me. She also gave me lots of presents, and I gave her lots of chocolate. The best part of the night was the fact that it wasn't at all as awkward as I feared it might be. The communication wasn't a problem, and I was so happy to get the chance to use my Chinese around my relatives. My cousin's knowledge of English also helped the situation a lot, and I ended up staying and enjoying their company and conversation for about 3 hours before heading back to my dorms. It was one of the nicest parts of the trip by far, AND I got to meet their dog, who is the cutest and furriest and smartest dog I've ever met.
They gave me a really funny grabbag of gifts for myself, my aunt in the states, and my mom. They got my aunt a gold colored plate with a picture of Beijing on it, some tea, and a hairbrush shaped like a cat (well actually it's one that she had left there when she went to visit back in October). She also gave my mom some tea as well. She gave me a really helpful Chinese phrasebook, an English-Chinese dictionary, really cool Olympics chopsticks, a Peking opera spoon and fork, three bags of candied walnuts, the Haw juice leftover from dinner, a necklace, and a dvd on Xi'an.

Jan 26

This morning we went to the New Years fair, I guess you could call it. It was HUGE and SO CROWDED. I don't think I've ever been so crowded in my life, except maybe on a really crowded New York subway on certain days. Jon and I were literally carried by the crowd at times. It was actually really similar to American fairs, with food and overpriced games and toys for people to buy. They sold lots of the stuffed ox animals since it's the year of the ox. Hence, Happy 牛 (niu, which means cow and sounds like "new") Year. There were also lots of these weird, inflatable toys which looked literally like poop on sticks. Nobody has yet to correct me and tell me what they really are.
We also got these bizarre drinks that tasted like a mix between 果汁和汽水 (fruit juice and a carbonated drink - guo zhi he qi shui). They were in these long bags with straws out of the top and small holes towards the top of the bags that let out constant streams of hot air. There was also a weird little crystal nugget in the bottom of the juice in the bag, which caused little bubbles of air to rise and then come out of the sides of the holes in the bag. Jon thinks it was dry ice. It was really cool looking, and the juice was tasty.
Then, we went on the epic journey to make it to the Yonghegong (sp?) Lama Temple to pay proper respects on the most important Chinese holiday. Trying to find the entrance to the temple, forced us to walk through miles and miles of back alleyways, past small little stone homes and streetside vendors and people selling fireworks while their children played and ran through the narrow stone streets. We were walking for at least an hour to get to the line where hundreds of people were waiting to enter the temple. When we finally got there, we paid for entrance and went in to pray. Jon gave me two of his incense so that I could light them, and we both said our hopes and wishes and bowed and it was really beautiful and nice. I felt so special that we were persistent enough to follow through and go to the temple. Although we were exhausted and Jon was feeling sick, I think we were both feeling like we'd accomplished something really important to our culture and being in China on this day. It turns out, we were the only ones out of the group that made it to the temple that day.