Oh how the time has flown by

It has been a couple weeks since I last posted in my blog, but that does not mean nothing has happened between then and now. Actually the last couple weeks have probably been the most comfortable.

The weekend I left for Chengde I knew that the power adapter for my laptop had broken because before we left I went to the nearest apple reseller store to check it out and we figured out it was broken. Actually I knew it was broken, but I went anyways because I needed to ask them where I could repair my computer. Since my laptop did not have power and my adapter was broken they said I could hang out at the store and use theirs until the store closed. Seeing as how I was trying to set up internet at home I was more than happy to charge my battery. We ended up chatting for about an hour about all sorts of things. It was a lot of fun. I really appreciate how welcoming some Chinese people are.

After we chatted for a while they told me where I could get a new adapter with my warranty. Once I got back from Chengde I went downtown to find the place to get my power adapter. By this point I had used up my battery again, but the people at the apple service center were more than willing to let me use their adapter and get online until they closed. Again, Chinese people are too welcoming sometimes! Hehe, but I totally appreciate it when they are.

To make a long story short. I ended up getting another power adapter from the people downtown. Once I got home I made an appointment with the internet guys on campus. I was a little concerned with their service because my friend had a lot of trouble with them before. Since they told me they only support windows and they did not know what a type of computer mine was I did not have much hope that I could actually get online. The ADSL installation man had tried once before, but he could not get online. So this time I went to the office and said, please just give me my name and password, but it turned out they had to have the guy come again anyways.

Eventually the internet guy came to my house and was able to get online after I set up the connection with him. He also asked me to show him how to set up an internet connection on a computer with OS X. Since he had never seen Apple's operating system. Once again I realized how hard it was to use an apple computer in Beijing. Anyways I still plan on giving the internet office some better instructions, so that the next person who has an apple computer and needs to set up internet does not have to worry about how to set up their connection.

That brings me to here with my computer, but a few other things have happened in the last couple that I guess I can mention.

In the middle of last week I went to Beijing Culture and Language University to have dinner with a friend. BCLU is right near Tsinghua University, so I just rode my skateboard over. After we ate dinner my friend showed me a cool place to skateboard. I was totally psyched to get a chance to skate for a while because I have not found a cool place to skate at Tsinghua yet. Despite the fact that I got to eat dinner with a friend and I got to skateboard the night also had a bad result. As I was waiting for my friend I was talking to a lady selling phone cards. I was talking to her for about 5 minutes when a young girl came up and asked about phone cards, so I stepped aside, but then she quickly started asking me if I knew what a language partner was. After she explained what she meant she asked if I wanted to be her language partner. Thinking she meant we might meet once a week and chat for an hour or so while having a coffee, I said sure. Little did I know that the next morning she would call me at 9:30 am and then send me a text message at 9:45 am and then call me again at 10:00 am and then send me another text message at 11:00 am. I had no idea she would be so troublesome.

The next day I was telling my friends about this girl who wanted to be my language partner and how she was being a pain. As would have it, my classmate was walking by and she overheard. She has been looking for a female language partner. I was glad to pass my new friend along, but that has still be a pain. I sent my language partner a long text message, but apparently she said she did not understand it. .... I am kind of skeptical. Anyways, the next day at school she called me five times during lunch. I could not believe. I mean if I did not pick up the first time, why would I pick up any of the next four calls in ten minutes? Anyways I am still working on resolving this situation in a way which will make everyone happy.

Last night was funner than dealing with this problem. My friend Taylor had a friend who threw a nice halloween party last night. My friends and some of our teachers went to that party for a while. It was cool to finally see a lot of foreigners. My friends got to dance and there were plenty of drinks, and people drew their pumpkin and put it on the wall, so everyone had something to do. The party got livelier as the night went on. As the night progress my IUP classmates came and went, but around midnight a large group of people that myself, nor my teachers knew, so we decided to leave. It was a good time anyways because as we were leaving the building security to quiet everyone down.

Today was a slow day for me. I did not wake up until around noon and I spent most of my afternoon washing clothes and organizing. I also went to the store to buy some more coffee. This is essential for me to stay awake in class. I think if I take anything back from China it will be a habit of drinking flavored Maxwell House coffee. I am not too excited about this.

This evening my friend invited me to have dinner at her apartment. The lady she is living with was going to make dinner for us, so I could not refused. I really like going to her place. It is a lot of fun because the lady my friend lives with likes to show us how to cook food. Last time I went she taught me how to wrap a sort of dumpling with gets fried. This evening I had a chance to use some of the phrases we learned in my colloquial speech class. I always enjoy using what I study. It makes feel as if there is actually a reason to read the dialogues and essays we are given each day. After dinner we all started chatting and the lady my friend lives with ended up telling me what kind of wife I needed. I will tell you that she had a really traditional view of what an ideal wife is. It was hard to keep a straight face while listening because my two classmates, who are girls, were on the other side of the table laughing at her comments the whole time. I ended up learning a new Chinese saying, so even though I may not have agreed with what she way saying, it was funny and worthwhile. The next time I will go over to my friends house to eat will be Wednesday. We get to make dumplings from scratch. I am excited about that.

Well that brings me just about back up to speed. I still still have to write one more entry about my very last day in Shanghai, but I guess that one can wait a little bit longer. I have some other important stuff to tend to first, like registering for classes.

Happy Halloween!

Another Halloween come and gone. This year was about the same as any other year except for two things. First off, I did not get to go to the annual Halloween party with my friends. But, this year I did get to go to another party with my friends from China. All of my friends who I travelled with plus my friends Judy and Kitty went to the party. The party was like most other parties I had been to, but for some of my friends they saw new sides to the people they knew and they also saw things they had never seen before.

The party was fun. Some people were chatting, drawing pictures of pumpkins, dancing and just having a good time. Not too many people had outrageous costumes, but my friends Taylor, David and MCK were wearing some pretty colorful clothes. They could not find the costumes they wanted, so they went to a clothing store and bought the most colorful clothes they could find. This included scarfs, mittens and earmuffs. They reminded me of Santa's elves on acid.

Near the end of the party a large group of people we did not really know showed up. It looked as if someone else's party decided to just leave and come to our party. It was cool, but I thought there were too many people for the small apartment, my teachers, their friends, Kitty and I all decided to leave. But first Kitty wanted to look at some more people costumes because she thought they were interesting. I thought that was interesting because to me, Halloween is such a natural thing. It does not seem odd to me to see guys dressed up as Britney Spears, but for her it was something totally new.

Can it be that Anyone Dislikes Chengde?

We got from Chengde this evening. It was such a blast and I have to give a hand to IUP for being able to organize such trips. They really treat us well. I am also starting to realize how some of our money gets spent. They must put aside a bit for these trips. Anyways, enough about IUP, what about Chengde?

See photos here, Chengde Photos

On Saturday morning at 7:30 am we left Tsinghua University bound for Chengde. Chengde is northeast of Beijing and it is where the emporer's used to go during the summer when it was too hot in Beijing. Of course since it is not summer anymore the weather was nice and nippy.

On the way to Chengde we took the same route as we did to the Simatai part of the Great Wall. After a couple hours we stopped at a place where we could use the bathroom. It wasn't really a village, but it wasn't really a rest stop, it was somewhere in between. I was chatting with students and teachers when another student pointed out something I should take a picture of. I turned around and looked. Even though we pretty much in the middle of nowhere in China I turned to see a bunch of people playing pool. Moreover, these tables were not even inside. There were three pool tables outside by the side of road. It seemed as if someone had stolen the pool hall without them noticing. In any case, everyone was standing around having a good time playing pool.

After a four hour bus ride we finally reached Chengde and checked into our rooms. After checking we all ate lunch together. All the students were pretty happy since the last time IUP ordered food on a trip it was an assortment of odd foods. However, this time no asked "who ordered this dish?".

The first stop of the day was at a palace. I forget the name of the palace right now. It was a pretty neat palace, but we did not get to spend a lot of time there. There were two things which stood out for me. First were the pigeons that you could feed seeds to. There was a lady in the palace who sold seeds. Once you bought the seeds all the pidgeons would fly towards you and wait for you to throw the seeds at them. They would even eat out of your hands. I tried to get a pidgeon to sit on my shoulder and eat food, but it was not comfortable, so it kept flying away. The second interesting thing was the magician whose act we watched on the way out. His finale involved swallowing a metal more than half the size of a pool ball and then spitting it back out.

After visiting the palace we all got back on the bus and headed for Qing Chui Feng. When we were at the palace I noticed this and asked the director of IUP what is was. He gave me a simple explanation, it was as follows. Being that the rock was shaped like a large phallic object the emporer thought it was an important symbol, yet at the same time he did not want to be overshadowed. I mean this is obvious right? Being that the emporer is supposed to be the ruler of all the people and the land and is considered a god then nothing can be better. Because of this feeling he built a temple in the hills between his palace and the huge phallic shaped rock on the mountain, so that it would be obscured from view.

We rode a ski lift up to the top of mountain. The interesting thing about the ski lift is that it did not seem like the people who maintained the lift considered or knew that when people rode the lift it was low enough for people's feet to touch the trees. It was not like your foot would brush against the top of the tree, it was more like if you were not paying attention you might be able to lose a shoe as your foot went through the tree. Another interesting aspect of this 'national park' was that once the lift went over the first hill it went into a small little valley where there were people farming. If you looked to one side you could see some villagers homes. I wondered what was more odd, the fact that right below this historical sight were people harvesting their corn, or the fact that the villagers had tourists constantly riding through their backyard on a crappy old ski lift.

All of us eventually made it to the top. We did the whole tourist thing with taking pictures. Then all the guys did the immature thing and made jokes. I would have to say that I was included and I enjoyed it! We took more photos and then headed back down the lift.

For most people it was time to eat dinner, but for Taylor, David and I it was time to hit the sauna. Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. Either way the three of us were not going to question why there was a sauna here and not in any of the other places we stayed in while we were travelling. We downstairs to the locker room and got ready to go in, but first we were greeted by a couple of the locker room attendants and a man who had just come out of the sauna area. He was not wearing any clothes and did not seem to want to put on any soon. While we were getting ready my friends were like, "what about trunks? you going to wear any?". While we getting ready the guy from the sauna was just listening to us have our conversation. Even though most of it was in English he still seemed to enjoy listening to us foreigners. Luckily for me and Dave he chose to stand on the bench right behind the lockers we were using, moreover he was not facing away from us. Right before we went into the sauna I tried to take my towel with me, but I guess one of the attendants did not want have anything like that, so he came and took my towel off and put it somewhere. I still do not understand what is considered personal space in China. In the end the sauna experience was fun and I got to hear a lot of the stories that Dave and Tyler had from their previous trips in China.

Once we were done with the sauna we joined our friends at one of the nearby restaurants and ate a little bit of food and then quickly went to sing karaoke. I would have to say that out of the two times I went to sing karaoke this has been the funnest. It made me reconsider my attitude towards karaoke. Did you hear that Jesse?

There were about fifteen or more of us students and teachers who went to sing karaoke. Early in the evening the students and teachers were mixed between both rooms. By the end of the night, however, most of the students had moved to one room while a few students and the teachers were in another room. Even though we did not mind all the Chinese songs the teachers were singing we thought it was nice to be able to sing some American songs we knew, like 'I am Believer','Teen Spirit' and 'Candy Girl' to name a few. One of the students mentioned how singing karaoke displayed the less prevalent ideals of our societies. For example, for Chinese people, friends and family and other are extermely important. This can be seen with how many live together or go out to eat dinner, but when it comes to Karaoke it seems that Chinese people only want to sing by themselves. On the other hand, while Americans have a very individualistic attitude towards many things, when it comes to karaoke, the more people who sing at one time, the better. I have not experienced this a great deal because I do not sing karaoke too often, but I thought it was interesting point.

The second day in Chengde we visited another palace, but this one also had a lot more land, which I guess could be considered a park. After entering the temple we hopped on some little shuttles which took us to the top of a small mountain. The ride made me consider what China's safety standards were in terms of buildings roads that go up mountains. I mean the road was not extremely dangerous, but it was definitely narrow and often times there were steep grades. I also noticed a few times where they had added extra cement around a corner because the original road was not wide enough. That made me wonder whether someone had some foresight or it was a case where hindsight was 20/20. We made it safely to the top of the mountain and enjoyed the view. We took a bunch of photos on a small wall that was on top of the mountain. We also took the chance to laugh at some of the other safety standards we noticed. Even though the wall was only about ten or fifteen feet tall the only thing that kept you from falling off one side was a yellow line and a warning painted onto the walkway which said 'Pay Attention to Safety'. We wondered was this a case of using the cheapest method to avoid responsibilty or was it a way to maintain the beauty of the wall. We could not figure out which was better.

While on top of the wall got to see the next place we were going to visit. This was the Putuozongshen Temple. This was a huge palace which was built in only four years. Other than that I do not know too much. We made our way along the path to the main building and walked around. After taking some photos and relaxing at the top of main building it was time to go. On the way we noticed that there were some small statues in the wall which had their heads taken off. Another student mentioned that this was because someone had come to take the head to sell on the black market. I guess anyone will do anything to make a buck.

The Chengde trip was definitely a lot of fun, but by the end I thought that all the temples ended up looking the same. You can see the pictures in my gallery to make your own decision. So now that the fun is over we have to go back to class for the next two weeks with only one day off since this weekend we had three days. It is going to be rough.

Oh yeah, I have to thank Ji Maike for inspiring me with this title. It is based on one of the grammar structures that he uses alot (Nandao ... ma?).

Impartial Voting Location or not?

This evening my friend Tyler and I met up with our friend Janny to go to a local coffee shop. Tonight at the coffee shop they had everything for us to vote. Even though it was supposed to be impartial and anyone could come and vote it was obvious by all the 'Vote for Kerry' posters that this event was organized by the local democrats. In any case it was my chance to be a good American and vote. I figured I should participate, otherwise I would feel guilty every time I had a coversation about politics with a cab driver. Probably to everyone's surprise .... yeah right .... I voted for Kerry. Afterwards I chatted with some friends I met through my classmates and then went home.

We are going to Chengde tomorrow morning. We will be staying overnight and coming back on Monday night. I think it is going to be a blast.

Who can say no to Bai Jiu?

While my friends and I were travelling in Beijing we ran into a man who owned a restaurant right outside of Tsinghua University. When we were Tongli he told us to come by and eat at his restaurant because he would give a discount. So tonight we went.

When we arrived the man was outside ready to greet us. I think he had been expecting us since we called and told us we were coming. He welcomed us in and took us upstairs. At this point I was already impressed with how he was treating. It was above and beyond my expectations. So we chatted for a while about our trip and other things. I thought to myself, "alright, this is cool we are just going to eat some food, chat and have a good time". We had some beers and started eating food.

All of a sudden he brought a bottle of clear alcohol. The label said Northern Tiger. Then I thought to myself, "alright, this isn't so cool. He brought out the Bai Jiu. This is what all my friends warned me about". Being a good guests and all myself and all the other 'men' at the table had to drink some Bai Jiu. Our friend, the owner, treated the women a little nicer and did not make them drink too much, but he was ready to have all the guys drink. When we first started dinner I thought it was cool that I got to sit next to him, but after the Bai Jiu came out I knew it was not a good place to sit. We made a toast and drank most of our first serving. I thought that if I finished what had been given to me I would not have to worry about being rude and not finishing my drink later. I should have remembered Jesse's stories about drinking in Japan. Our friend must have been watching my glass because no sooner than I had finished my drink my glass was full again. Darn it!

All in the all the Bai Jiu was alright. I expected a lot worse after the stories I had. I am not saying that I would want to drink it all the time, but every once in a while it is alright. And I certainly could not start the night with Bai Jiu. Bai Jiu has a spicy taste, but it is not spicy like food, but it is like a spicy hot. Maybe similar to the cinnamon red hot candies. Don't let me fool you though. It does not taste as good as those cinnamon red hots. I think it definitely has a hint of gasoline or something similar to it.

Anyways, after eating our meal and having enough Bai Jiu we left. Before we left the owner's assistant, I suppose, came by and thanked us for coming. He gave us VIP cards, so next time our dinner will be even cheaper. He even told us to prefix his surname with Xiao. Unfortunately I forget his surname. In any case we were all surprised by this because people usually do this when joking, or making nicknames or calling someone who is younger than them. I thought it was very humbling of him to say that.

After dinner we all went different ways. A few of us accompanied our teachers to the bus stop, so they could catch the bus home. On the way we dou dou feng'd, or rode our bikes down the road letting the wind go through our hair.

The Last Days in Shanghai

So this morning I got back from my whirlwind tour of Jiangsu province. We spent the last two days in Shanghai. These two days were fun, but at the same time we all pretty much thought Shanghai was too big.

Check out photos from both days in Shanghai here, the 7th and the 8th.

When we arrived in Shanghai we waited at the bus station for a few minutes to figure where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do the first night. The whole time we kept getting accosted by people handing out travelling advertisements and others trying to sell fake Rolex watches. I did not feel like showing interest in the watches there because everyone else would have tried to sell me their goods as well.

After making some decisions and asking some locals where good places to stay were we walked to a neighborhood a few blocks away and found a hotel across from the mayor's office. From there we went out for dinner. Right now I can not remember where because we ate at so many different restaurants that they are all starting to blur together. Oh yeah, now I remember. The reason I could not remember was because the place was not especially good. It was a cafeteria style restaurant. The best part of the cafeteria was the amount of ridiculously incorrect translations of menu items. Hanging over the seating area were lots of signs which said things like "Stir fry of face", "Plague of Dan da", etc. etc. We took some pics and then tried to understand how in the world most of the english translations in China are incorrect or spelled wrong even when the same store or park has the same Chinese translated correctly on another sign. They make me laugh, so I do not mind too much.

Before dinner we went to the Bund. The Bund is a pretty famous part of Shanghai and if you have seen any waterfront pictures of Shanghai they are most likely taken at the Bund. On one side on the Bund there is a lot of the older style architecure left over from when people like the French occupied a lot of Shanghai. On the opposite side of the Bund is a lot of newer architecture, including the Pearl Tower. We did the whole tourist thing and walked around the Bund and took a boat to the side with newer architecture, so we could take some photos.

That evening, after all the sight seeing, we met up with a friend of Ji Maike's at a pretty trendy bar. When we were hanging out and chatting I did not think I was in China. The place was hip and they were playing some house/dance music in the background, so it seemed like any place I could find in Pioneer Square, but more expensive. On top of all this, my Chinese friends wanted to practice English and listen to me speak English, so that made it feel like we were not in China even more.

After the bar we went back to our hotel. The bus ride was fun because they were not a lot of people on the bus, so we were able to relax and enjoy the architecture of some of the small neighborhoods. I have never been to Boston, but it seemed as though if I went to Boston, some of the neighborhoods would certainly be similar. Again, I did not feel like I was in China.

I do not have time to finish talking about the rest of my trip, but the next chance I get I will finish describing my vacation and everything I have been up to in the last couple days.

A Great Little Place Called Tongli

Yesterday my friends and I spent the night in a great little town called Tongli. Tongli is less than an hour east of Suzhou and it has a great small town feel when you get to the older parts of the town. China has designated Tongli as a historic site that needs to be preserved, so even though lots of people still live and work in the older part of town, most of it remains unchanged since the earlier dynasties. This creates for an interesting atmosphere when you see kids walking home from school in their uniforms right next to the grounds that hundreds of years before housed the residence of some high ranking officials. To top it all off, rather than using streets for transportation people use canals. For this, Tongli is known as the "Venice of the East".

Check out my photos of the "Venice of the East".

Once we booked a hotel room we went to the older part of town. This part of town contains a lot of little shops where you can buy silk garments and other stuff for tourists. Along with all the little shops this area had a lot of museums and gardens to see. We spent a lot of time walking around and enjoying the peacefulness of the gardens. One apsect of the gardens I enjoyed, besides the ponds and the architecture, was the horrible translation of Chinese into English on a lot of the signs. For example, "watch your step" turned into "wutch your stcp".

After we walked around and saw most of the sights to see we did a little more walking. Rather than going back to the main street we decided to walk through some of the smaller streets. As we welked the streets got narrower and we came across more residences. There were lots of people outside their homes eating dinner. It was really interesting smelling all the food being cooked and listening to people speak Suzhouhua (Suzhou language). It made me feel like I was lightyears away from Beijing. I really liked it.

We eventually found a small restaurant to eat at. The restaurant was actually a small boat on the river. At the restaurant we ate a lot of different dishes, most of which I can not remember the names of. The last dish was the best though. It was a simple dish with chicken. Basically they cook a whole chicken, head and all, in a pot with a few bamboo shoots. Even though it was really simple it was tasy and delicious. It also gave the three of us Americans a nice warm feeling inside because it was a lot like home made chicken soup that we ate at home.

Once we had our fill we left the restaurant and went window shopping. As we were leaving one of the owners said our Chinese was good, but since he spoke Suzhouhua, our teacher had to translate. Window shopping was a lot of fun because the shop owners were very welcoming to us and they all seemed to be having a good time socializing with each other. Even though we all had just eaten a big meal we bought a lot of snacks and ate them on the street.

When we approached the main canal dividing the older part of town and the newer part of town we were approached by a lady who wanted to take us for a ride on a boat around the canals. We did not have anything better to do, plus riding the boats at night is relaxing and romantic we decided to ride. On the boat we took a lot of pictures and got to know the person steering and his companion. They taught a little Suzhouhua and explained where people in the area go to church and what religion they are. The thing I will not forget, though, is when the younger lady on the boat said that president Bush is a bad president. That was the first time I had heard a Chinese person say it so bluntly. Most of the time only our teachers bring up America's president.

Once we got off the boat it was still pretty early so we did a little more shopping. We found a small jewelry store that is run by a college student studying are in Shanghai. We spent quite a bit of time there looking at jewelry and talking with the owner. We also met some people from Beijing in the small shop. We got to talking with them and found that they own a restsaurant just outside of the south gate of Tsinghua University. They said they would give us a discount, so we exchanged phone numbers and said that we would eat at their restaurant as soon as we got back to Beijing.

One of our friends, Tyler, was still hungry after we got done shopping, so we looked for a place to eat dumplings. We found a place after a few minutes of walking. We asked the people inside if the restaurant was still open, but they said no. After I told them we wanted to eat dumplings and asked them where the nearest place to buy them was they were more than willing to let us come in and eat. We were all very thankful that they let us come in after hours. This is why I want to go back to Tongli if I am ever in the area again.

Last night we met a lot of nice people who were friendly and willing to go out of their way for us, but this morning at the bus station it was a different story. Because we could not buy bus tickets from Tongli to Shanghai we needed to go back to Suzhou. So this morning we returned to the small Tongli bus station and bought our tickets. But because the bus station is so small there was not really a good system and you are not even guaranteed a seat. If you miss your bus or it never comes then you are out of luck. ... A lot like a lot of things in China. The people at the station told us to that we could wait inside or outside for a bus, so we waited a little bit as a few bus come and went. As they called out for different cities Tyler and I noticed that being passive and sitting in the waiting area was not going to help, so we got in line next to the small gate. There was not even a line really, it was more of a crowd. So as a couple Suzhou busses came and went that did not have enough room for us I started to realize that if we did not start being more aggressive and pushing also then we were going to be at the station all day. The five of us made it to the front of the small crowd and when the next Suzhou bus came we were first to go through the gate. I thought to myself, "sweet getting on the bus will not be so tough now". As I walked around the front of bus and saw all the people next to it already I realized I was wrong. I should have known that if you buy a ticket and can board a bus at the station and on the street with the same ticket, then why do you even need a ticket? We already waited about forty minutes and I did not want to wait longer, so I did what the locals did and pushed myself on the bus. I was able to grab a bunch of seats on the bus, so my friends and I could sit together. I felt bad for pushing for about a second, but then I realized it was not a matter of courtesy. This experience seemed to fall into the category of experiences I have had where if you do not speak up and act then you will not get anywhere or any help. This will be one of the apsects of China I remember, but fortunately all the good aspects still outweigh the bad aspects, so overall things are still good.

Right now we are on the bus to Shanghai. We have about another two hours before we get to Shanghai. Once we arrive we will probably go out to eat lunch and then try to find a place to stay and buy our train tickets to Beijing. In the evening we will probably go out to a bar.

I am having a great time right now. I am really enjoying the fact that I can really use the Chinese I am learning. Since I am using it more and more I finding it easier to learn a new word or saying and actually remember for more than a day. Now I just need to start writing more, so I can improve my writing skills. Also, I need to hang out with my two friends, Ji Maike and Taili, since they refuse to speak any English. I am glad that I met them.

Well I do not have much more to say now and I have a chance to take some pictures.

Suzhou is a Great Little City

Last night we arrived in Suzhou at the bus station at about 9:00 pm. We were welcomed by the wonderful people trying to convince us to use their cabs. I do not know if I will get used to that part of travelling. Anyways, onto the better stuff.

My Suzhou Photos

The five of us, Ji Maike, Tai Li, Liu Laoshi, Zhai Xi and took cabs to a hotel that our friend had booked rooms for us in. Our cab ride was fun because we were all able to feel like foreigners, even the Chinese girl that was with us. This was because the cab drivers were speaking a dialect of Chinese specific to Suzhou. It is different enough from standard mandarin that we hear in Beijing that we could not understand anything. It was really interesting listening to them speak because it was so different from standard mandarin. I wish I could hear because we had two cab drivers and they were talking the whole time. I think the driver who was in the passenger seat had a lot of cab driving experience while the driver who was driving did not have much because it seemed as though he was being by taught how to drive by the older woman.

Arriving at the hotel we were going to stay at gave me a sense of relief because it was a fancier hotel than the one we had stayed in the night before. The prices were a lot different as well. Rather than paying 180 kuai for a three bedroom room, the price was 640 kuai! Luckily the friend of our teacher who had booked us the room has connections to the hotel through her dad, so we only had to pay one third of the price to stay the night. It is great to know people who people, especially when travelling. The best thing about the hotel is that we have our own bathroom with a shower.

Once we checked into the hotel we got into cabs once again, we take cabs a lot here in China because they are so plentiful. We went to a part of town with lots of clothing stores and restaurants, much like Fuzi Miao in Nanjing. The difference was that there were not a lot of people because it was late on a Tuesday night. We found a restaurant and got to try the renowned Suzhou cuisine. I thought the food was excellent, so I was glad we stopped in Suzhou. The one dish that stood out for me was a sweet soup that was like a bowl of kix, but there was no milk, only a thick sweet broth. Also, the little balls of something were not crunchy. So then how was it like kix? I thought it tasted almost exactly like kix. Haha, maybe I was missing America.

As cities go Suzhou is really nice. The architecture is nice in the older parts of town. Everything seems clean and the people are nice. The food is good also. I guess if I was to come back to this area I would regret if I didn't stop here again. The bus stops are really neat because they are built with old style architecture. They even have seats based upon a seat designed by King Wu for his Xishi.

Today we are planning on heading to Tongli, an even smaller town to the west of here. Some people call it the "Venice of the East" because there are so many small canals. People often use these canals to commute from one place to another as well as just sightsee. I was reading a magazine in our hotel room with articles about Tongli. It showed lots of nice little gardens. I hope we can make it to one of them.

My Nanjing Adventures

Right now I am on the bus to Suzhou from Nanjing. We were supposed to be headed for Shanghai right now, but since we could not buy tickets to get all the way to Shanghai, we decided to go part of the way and stay the night in Suzhou. Apparently they have good food in Suzhou, so the five of us are not too disappointed.

Nanjing Part I and Nanjing part II photos.

Two days earlier my two classmates, Taili and Jimaike, and I took the train the Beijing to Nanjing with one of our teachers and her friend. We had decided that since we spend so much time studying that we should see some other parts of the country. Before we left I was a little hesitant and I was thinking about spending our break in Beijing. Now, however, I am really happy that I decided to travel with my classmates.

On Sunday night we got on the train in Beijing. Because we are in the middle of a week long national holiday, more over we did not buy tickets early enough, we had to pay extra for the soft sleeper. I did not mind because it made the ten hour train ride really comfortable. After we all got to know each other, and we joked about how I resemble Russia's president Putin, we played a game. The game was to say a phrase in Chinese and then the next person would have to use one of the words you used in another phrase. I did not do so well, but I learned alot.

At 7:30 am on Monday we arrived in Nanjing. After arriving we had to find out how to get to Nanjing University because that is where my classmates and teacher had friends that could show us around the city. First we had to make it through the crowd of people peddling maps, offering taxi rides and city tours. One lady even followed us for twenty minutes trying to help us, despite the fact we told her that we did not want to go on her tour. She thought that if she helped us and continued to push her tour we would end up buying it. It was very annoying. Once the other people around noticed her talking with us, other people came up to try and sell us stuff and try to help us. Some of the people's intentions were nice, but we did not need the help. When we told them that some of them got upset as if they were going out of their way to try and help, when in fact they were trying to sell us stuff. I was happy when we left for the bus stop because I did not like the people at the train station.

Once we got on a bus we were able to make our way to Nanjing University where we met our teacher's friend. All of us walked around campus together and then we made our way to the foreign students dorm. Unlike in the states, foreign student dormitories are more like hotels, so people can stay their for a couple days if they are travelling.

My classmate put it best when he said we get what we pay for. The three of us each payed 70 kuai, or roughly $9 for our room. When we went to our room for the first time we realized that we were not getting a good deal. The hallways still seemed to be under construction and their were exposed wires in the ceilings. Some parts of the walls were dirty from when they changed the piping system and stuff still leaked out of the old pipes. Our room was a little nicer. All the walls were complete and there was actually a television and a phone, which only worked after we told the people at the desk that they did not work. The worst part of the room were the beds. I think they were just plywood boxes that they threw sheets on.

The first afternoon we spent walking around some more and eating lunch. We got a big bowl of dumplings. After eating lunch we went to the site of the 1937 Nanjing massacre. This is a site where the Japanese army murdered a large number of innocent Chinese people. At this site and other surroundings sites the Japanese army murdered around 300,000 Chinese. Overall it was a really somber place, but I did notice some other things. The first was the cryptic music they were playing behind one of the attractions. This kind of music can be found in any video game that is set in a crypt or some sort of underground area. For example, the underground level in Mario 64. The music added to the atmosphere, but it seemed over the top. This was teh feeling I got from a lot of the art and statues in this area. It seemed as though they were do everything they could to protray the suffering. I also thought that for the most part the captions and stories were pretty impartial, but there were still quite a few descriptions that seemed to convey the idea that the Japanese were beasts and all they did was come to China to destroy, rape and pillage. Now I want to do a little research on the internet to see what this situation was like. I kind of wonder how the attitudes reflected at the massacre site are related to ill feelings towards the Japanese that the Chinese have. Specifically, if sites like these are intentionally used to prolong these feelings, or if it is just a side effect? Also, will a lot of these feelings disappear after the older generation passes, just like slavery in America?

After viewing the massacre site some of our group went back to the hotel, but I decided to find an internet cafe. This place was hard to find. I had to ask about 5 people where it actually was. The entrance to the place was on a small road, more like an alley, and was very small. I think it was actually the basement of some old house. It served it's purpose and I was able to send some emails, so I was happy.

That evening we met up with my classmates friends and my teachers other friends from Nanjing, so our group of five grew to eleven. We took taxis to a place called Fuzi Miao. It was a pretty happening place. Fuzi Miao is a big shopping area with restaurants and lots of little shops to buy snacks. There are lots of neon lights on all the buildings. It was interesting to see some of the older style architecure being outlined in bright neon lights. After we ate dinner we walked around some more, made fun of the pepsi clothing store and then left.

Our new friend we met through a classmate took us to a bowling alley near the university, so we spent a couple hours there displaying our bad bowling skills. It was fun to get out and bowl since I have not done it for a while, plus I got to learn how to do a little more socializing in Chinese.

This morning the five of us woke up early so we could go to Purple Mountain, Zise Shan. This mountain has a lot of historically significant sites, including Sun Yat Sen's tomb. If anyone has studied Chinese at the UW then they know what it was like .... ren2 shan1 ren2 hai3! There were so many people! A few of the highlights include riding a big iron turtle, walking through the "Hell Room", which was more of a passageway and walking through Dr. Sun Yat Sen's tomb. It was all very interesting.

In the late afternoon we returned to our hotel to grab all of our stuff, eat dinner and then catch our bus to Suzhou. This morning we bought tickets for the 5:30 pm bus to Suzhou. At 4:15 we started to eat some food at a nearby restaurant. We were all in a rush, so as soon as the food came out we started to eat. Unfortunately, they brought one dish out at a time, so we would finish before the next one came out. After we ate our food we grabbed our stuff then caught some cabs. This was about 4:50 pm. We started to get a little worried because we needed to make it by 5:30 because that is when the bus was leaving. Because there were five of us we needed to take two cabs. The first cab, with one of my classmates and teacher made it to the right place at about 5:10, but our friends were taken to another place. We started to get worried because they had to walk from whereever they were dropped off to where we were. After some frantic phone calls, some looking around and me standing on a bench we were able to spot them. We all ran inside with our luggage and then got in line at 5:29! We went through the gates and into the parking where we were able to catch the bus just in time. We were all relieved at this point.

Now we are all on the bus and everyone is sleeping except for me. I can not wait to get to Suzhou. When we get there we are going to eat some more food because the snacks in Suzhou are supposed to be very good. The lady I am living with is from Suzhou, so now I can go back to Beijing to let her know what I think about the food I will eat.

Raising the Flag in Tiananmen

Today was a pretty eventful day. I think it is the funnest day I have had since I have arrived in Beijing. It all started with a trip to Tiananmen ...

This morning I woke up at 3:30 am, after 2 hours of sleep, to go to Tiananmen Square with my classmates. You might ask, "why so early?". Every day at about 6:00 am the army men in Tianmen Square raise the Chinese flag. Since today is also a big holiday my friend wanted to watch the raising of the flag. The point was to experience the large crowd as well as see the proud emotions of the people around. Unfortunately the square was restricted today because there was an event for graduate students. The event included a speaker as well as some performances from Chinese ethnic minority groups ... I think. At least they showed up wearing traditional clothing. In the end we were not able to enter Tiananmen Square.

All was not in vain though. Before the raising of the flags we met a group of students Minzu Daxue, a university for China's underrepresented minority groups. Our conversation when they jokingly welcomed us to China in English. This was a chance for them to practice English, but we spoke Chinese with them. Since my friends Chinese is much better than mine he did most of the talking and as the time passed it seemed like more Chinese people stopped and listened to him speak since he can speak Chinese so well. We spoke Chinese for about an hour until one of our IUP teacher's joined us.

After our teacher, Liu Laoshi, arrived we chatted with some other people. This was not as interesting as watching the police harass people and order them around. There were two situations which were pretty surprising to me. First I need to desribe the environment before I can talk about what happened. We were standing on the sidewalk of a side street that intersects the main road which runs between Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. The road was wide enough for cars to park on one side and have cars drive on the other. The police had restricted people from standing on one of the side walks, so everyone was trying to crowd onto the sidewalk on one side of the street. This made it hard for anyone to walk up and down the sidewalk.

Now that I have explained the situation I can explain what happened. Both situations involved the ability for Chinese police to order people around and the lack of power that people have when dealing with the police. A few times people had mentioned this was a problem, but I had never experienced it, so I was uncertain as to what they meant.

The first incident involved 3 foreigners who were trying to stand on the open side of the street. They were being a little stupid in the first place when it was pretty obvious that the police wanted everyone on the other side of the street. After a few minutes the police motioned for them to move to the other side of the street, but the foreigners did not listen because they had an attitude as if they had some sort of extra rights or power since they did not understand Chinese and were foreigners. Almost as if the police could not tell them what to do. This only lasted so long before 3 police men tried to forcibly move them across the street. The police seemed almost more than happy to physically move the people rather than try to make themselves clear again. I think this displays the fact that the police almost have too much power and, unlike in America, citizens have almost no rights to keep the police from physically enforcing their demands. Eventually the foreigners moved, but not before my friend got ready to intervene, so that the police did not do anything more than push the foreigners around.

Not too long afterwards there was an older Chinese man carrying a younger child wrapped in a blanket down the street. This seemed really reasonable since there was no space to walk on the side walk, especially since he was carrying a child. As soon as he entered the area the police were in they began to yell at him even though he was only 10 or 15 yards from where he wanted to go. Needless to say a shouting match began and a female officer took the child. The shouting continued. I am not sure what was being said, but it probably centered about the fact that the police were being unreasonable and that he only wanted to take his child around the corner. However, the police were persistent about him returning to where he came from. As soon as he started asking for names and badge numbers the police got physical with him. He did not stand a chance against 3 or 4 officers, so after more yelling and shoving and detaining, the man eventually turned around. Even though this may sound like it spanned a long period of time it was actually only about a minute at most. This gives you an idea of how strict the police are and how quickly they resort to physical means to solve problems.

I thought it was all pretty disgusting. I could not believe how often the police threw their power around. It is probably a result of that fact that a lot of Chinese people have an attitude as if to ignore what they should do if it is harder than what they can do. This is not a quality of all Chinese people, but it is apparent in situations where there are a lot of people in a small space. Riding a bike is the same, for example. When I go back to America I am going to pay attention to these types of situations so I can compare the similarities and differences.

After all the police excitement my classmates, Tai Li, Ji Maike, Wei Lide, Ni Qiao and I all left for Wangfujing with our teacher. Since it was about 6:30 am by then, most of us were hungry. We found a McDonalds that was open so we ate there and relaxed a little bit.

We went to our teachers apartment after we ate breakfast. Wei Lide and Ni Qiao did not accompany us　because they wanted to go to a concert. When we got to her family's apartment we ate fruit　and relaxed for a while. My classmates took naps, but my teacher and I watched TV. We ended　up watching an old episode of X-Files that was dubbed into Chinese. It was really interesting　to watch and listen to. Either the dubbing was bad, or I have not gotten to the point　where I can get emotion from the inflections in speech. It is probably the latter.

While we were watching TV a lot of my teacher's relatives came over. The reason for coming over was to eat jiaozi (dumplings). I was ready to eat a lot of jiaozi, but first we had to make it all. The older members of the family had spent the morning making the filling and making the dough for the making jiaozi from scratch. First they showed us how to wrap the jiaozi. After we had enough practice with this they decided to increase the difficulty by making us actually make the wrappers from balls of dough. It looked hard at first, but it was not too difficult. They said that a skilled person can make 8 wraps in a minute. It took me a minute to make 1, or at most 2 wraps. We were rather slow compared to our teacher's family.

It was fun making all the jiaozi for a few reasons. First, since I have not studied the vocabulary on how to make jiaozi and some of the accents were a little hard to fully understand I spent most of them time they were explaining the process simply nodding my head and saying yeah, yeah, (well the Chinese equivalent of yeah). Secondly, they would always make the jiaozi or the wraps really fast. Before hand and afterwards they would say, just like this or just like that, it is easy. Yeah ... of course ... just that easy. Haha, yeah right.

When were done making and eating jiaozi it was time to play mah jong. I had not played in a while, so I was a little rusty, but with some help with some family members I was able to win a couple games. I am planning on buying a mah jong set, so I can play when I get back home.

At 1:30 pm we called it a day and left our teacher's home, but since we all wanted some coffee she came with us to Starbucks. That gave us some time to relax and feel like we were back in Seattle. My classmate Taili is also from Seattle, so it was good for us to drink some good coffee.

If you want to see pictures from the day, check out the Guoqing Jie Photos in my gallery.

All in all today was a great day. I have not had this much fun since I was in Japan, and before that, Florida. I always enjoy hanging out with my classmates Tai Li and Ji Maike because their Chinese is good. They studied Chinese over the summer, so they give me hope that I can get better even though I am only staying for 4 months. They both really like speaking Chinese, so we always start conversations with people on the street or the subway or where ever we may be.

Since we are on break next week and do not have to attend classes, the 3 of us are going to go to Nanjing and Shanghai. I think it is going to be a great time. I can't wait to go and take lots of pictures. Along the way I hope to learn a lot of Chinese from the two of them. Expect a lot of stories when I get back.