In Honor of Thanksgiving!!

I want to share with you all some things that I've been thankful for this semester. Some are things that I'm thankful I have while I'm here in China, and some are things that I'm thankful I have in the U.S., and some are universally applicable:

 - Showers with tubs and shower curtains (in other words, somewhat separated from the rest of the bathroom)

 - Family and friends all around the world (to those not here with me - I miss you!!!!!)

 - Technology that allows me to stay in contact with people

 - Clean air

 - A room that I don't have to share with 8 people (this is the typical number of roommates a Chinese student has - I'm grateful to only have to share my room with 2!)

 - Microwaves and ovens

 - Food whenever I'm hungry, as well as water whenever I'm thirsty

 - The people who have warmly welcomed me into their country, not caring that I can't speak their language fluently but helping me practice what I know

 - Teachers who love to teach and care about their students' well-being

 - The ability to travel

 - Skype!

 - Wonderful, loving, supportive parents

 - The beauty of the natural world

 - And most of all, my Father, who has shown me grace and love.

(感恩节快乐!) Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Eat lots of turkey for me! :D

好久不见!!

Long time no see! I know I know I know....

Let me explain:
Week 1: Sickness, studying for midterms
Week 2: Midterms
Week 3: More midterms
Week 4: Trying to get internet to cooperate (in case you couldn't tell, that didn't work so well. Much frustration ensued...).

So, since the internet is a tad bit finicky, and pictures take a while to upload and text can just be copied and pasted, pictures are just going to have to wait till I return to the U.S. and to a more reliable internet connection. I can't wait till I can show you some of the places I've been and people I've seen!

I've been sooo busy these last few weeks, I'm not exactly sure where to start! Here's an overview of what I've been up to:
 - Chatting with people from all over the world, some of whom are in my class, some of whom I just run into, like the people from New Zealand I got to meet this last weekend!
 - Exploring Beijing. I've gone to an acrobatic show, the National Museum, the Museum for Nationalities (it's more like a park), hiking in the mountains, Wangfujing's international bookstore (made me sooo happy - over 7 floors of books!), the CCTV building (just the outside, not the inside), and I've done quite a bit of shopping and bargaining. I'm quite happy with my purchases!
 - I've tried a few new foods. The most memorable was stinky tofu. It's not quite as bad as it smells, but a few bites was plenty for me.
 - Practicing my Chinese (of course!)

Overall life is good. These next two weeks are going to be busy for me as well, so please don't expect much, but I will try to keep you updated as much as possible. I'm now off to read a book and write a paper for my class on the ethnic minorities, so until next time!

P.S. Thank you all for being so patient! And for being so supportive!

Holiday Week!

Right. So remember on my last post, I said something about a busy week school-wise? Yeah, I had no idea. I think all of the teachers were trying to get as far in their lessons as they could before the break, which meant not 4 (like I originally thought) but 6 dictation quizzes along with a bit more homework than usual. Upside? We watched Mulan in my class at BeiDa. Unfortunately it wasn't in Chinese, but we did have a sing-along to "Be A Man". I also am now able to debate in Chinese about whether or not an adopted child should try to find his/her real parents. One of the lessons was on this subject, so as homework, she divided up the class into two groups and made us debate the issue. It was rather interesting to hear the arguments my classmates brought up for both sides, and to find out at the end what each person really thought about the issue.

After a crazy week filled with schoolwork, you would think I'd relax for a day, right? Nope. I went to KTV with my classmates and had a blast. KTV is the local karaoke place, and after midnight all their beverages are free, plus the rate is a lot cheaper. Guess when we went? If you guessed late Friday night/early Saturday morning, you have the satisfaction of knowing you are right. After that, I relaxed for most of the rest of the weekend.

Monday morning rolled around, and we were off to Chengde! We stayed there till Wednesday, and spent our time visiting the Putuo Temple (known for its Han-Tibetan Buddhism architecture), the Mountain Resort (a summer getaway for the emperor), and the Puning Temple (house of the largest wooden carved Buddha). We ended up staying at a hotel that was quite literally connected with the Puning Temple area. On the way to Chengde, we stopped at the Great Wall for a few hours to explore. All in all, the trip was a lot of fun, and I have some great pictures I can't wait to share with you! Really, after I post this, I'm going through all my pictures and picking out the ones I want to post, then probably posting them either today or tomorrow. I'm gonna guess I'll post them tomorrow, because there are a lot of pictures to go though. Somewhere around 500, I think.

The rest of the week I spent exploring some of the area with Pla and Rachel. We went to the Beijing Zoo Market again, and visited a nearby market that's located under ground (pretty cool, actually), and stopped by all of our favorite restaurants. We also played a lot of card games with our cool new souvenir cards from the Mountain Resort (5 decks for 28 RMB - wasn't passing that one up).

Overall it's been a great holiday week! The reason I had a week-long vacation is because October 1st is "National Day", and everyone gets a week-long vacation to celebrate. I'm not complaining! :)

很 Cool!

That's some Chinglish for you, and believe it or not, I wasn't the one to say it - my teacher was! But we'll get to that later. All you  need to know right now is that 很 translates to "very".

My weekend was 很 cool, starting out with a trip to the Beijing Zoo Market. This place is known among the local people as a cheap place to get clothing and related items. I think I agree with them. We managed to spend a whole afternoon there, and really only saw parts of 2 floors. We plan to go again sometime in the near future...I can't wait!

On Sunday Pla and I went to the 798 art district with our friends Lexie and Daniel, who have offered to help us with Chinese in exchange for help with English. They've been wonderful with helping us, not just with our language skills but with our also with learning our way around the area and showing us neat things. For example, the 798 district. I'm not sure why it's called the 798 district, but I do know the area is an old factory. It's what I'd call nifty. There are all these nooks and crannies, and it has the feel of being an artistic area in a postmodern sense. One of these days I'll post some pictures (I realize I also have pictures from several other adventures to catch you up on - 对不起！ (I'm sorry!) I'll try to improve on that score...But really, for this area, you need pictures to understand, so I'll try to post some in the next couple of days.

Before visiting the 798 district, Lexie and Daniel took us to a popular hot pot restaurant. Hot pot is kind of like what it sounds: you boil some water with some spices, throw some food in it and let it cook for a few minutes, take that food out, put it in some dipping sauce and put more food in the pot, repeat until everyone is full and happy :) There are so many variations you can do - I had a curry hot pot, with a sesame dipping sauce. It was yummy!

So, the "很 cool" story! Not much too it, except that my teacher needed to borrow my computer for class (the one in the classroom wasn't working, and she had a powerpoint presentation that was very helpful for the lesson we had today, so she used mine). When she found out the screen can turn 180 degrees, her eyes got very big, and she said, "很 cool!!" :)

Today had two other very cool events in it. The first was at dinner. Pla, Rachel and I have found a place nearby that sells Beijing noodles and some other yummy dishes for a very inexpensive price, and that's where we decided to eat dinner tonight. While we were eating, we heard from the entrance to the place, "Do you speak English?" directed to the couple who owns it. We all turned around, because we're not used to hearing it, and the owners, knowing we could speak enough Chinese to get around, asked us to help. The question was asked by a couple who is visiting from Laos for some business training, and they needed some help figuring out what to order and how. It was a great way for me to practice my translating skills (few as they are), and I'm sooo glad I was there!

The second event was a dance class! That's right, for the rest of the semester, I have a weekly class on dancing. I'll be learning some of the dances from the different minority groups and I'm very excited! This pretty much makes up for not being able to take the ballroom dance class at my home university... :-P

This week I have a total of 4 quizzes plus unknown homework...so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to keep you updated on, but I will do my best! Time to get back to studying....

Day at the Market

Nothing too eventful during the week occurred, besides my birthday, which you've already heard about :) . It was the usual: class, meals, spending time with friends. A very good week indeed. Well, maybe not the homework assigned for the weekend :-P

Despite the homework load, Pla, Rachel, Laura and I managed to find time this afternoon to have lunch at a small Korean restaurant, followed by an afternoon at the Beijing Zoo Market. This market gets its name from its location - it's literally right across the street from the zoo. And boy was it crowded today! Once again, I think it's definitely a place to go on a less busy day, but it was still a lot of fun! The crowds weren't awful, and the prices were reasonable. I actually bought a few things! At this market there's not a lot of bargaining, and I don't think it sees a lot of foreigners. Most prices were posted, which made it a lot easier to see which items I might want to look at. I ended up with a few shirts and a pair of high heels - I guess you'd call the color a shiny burgundy? After the market we stopped by a small store near where we live because we saw some good prices - again, I ended up with a few nice shirts. All in all today, I spend about 110 RMB on my purchases - not a bad haul!

One thing that's become a part of my daily routine that I'm really going to miss when I go home is street food. Every night on the street I live on there are usually at least a few - if not dozens on the weekends - street vendors selling veggies, meat, and bread. I usually go for the veggies and bread. It's sooo delicious and soooo cheap! And cooked right in front of you. I always go with friends, and we definitely have our favorite vendors. They're beginning to recognize us, and remember what foods we tend to order :) It's perfect for a before-bed snack, and it's great language practice.

明天见！(Until tomorrow!!)

Birthday in China!

For those of you who don't know, yesterday was my birthday! That's September 20th - dates can be a little funky, and if you're on the west coast, it's still not the 21st yet. Which seems weird to me, because it's been the 21st for a whole 13 hours here. But I digress...

My friends here made sure it was a wonderful day! My class sang to me in Chinese, my friends wouldn't let me pay for lunch or dinner, and I got lots of birthday wishes from friends back in the states - thanks to those who wrote on my wall on Facebook!! I won't be able to respond until I return home, but funny thing - Facebook email notifications still work. I'm so glad I made sure those were enabled before I left... ;-)

Let's see...a few random birthday facts...
- Happy Birthday in Chinese is 祝你生日快乐 (祝 wish 你 you 生日 birthday 快乐 joyful: wish you a joyful birthday)
- The standard for cakes here is a bit different. Cakes are usually white on the inside, with a couple of layers, and with fruit on the inside. It's a little tasteless, but not bad at all!! The frosting on my cake was good too :)
- I was talking with my tutor yesterday about important birthdays - like in the U.S. 18 is important because you're considered an adult, and 21 is important because you can drink. We were also talking about at what age people are allowed to get married at. He was surprised that in the U.S. both men and women are allowed to marry at 18. Here, women are allowed to marry at age 20, and men are allowed to marry at age 22.
- If it's your birthday, it's considered good luck to eat noodles.

SunLi (our tour guide) introduced us to three Chinese college students when we first got here - Daniel, Cherry, and Ankora. All three were able to join me and the girls in my group for dinner to celebrate my birthday last night! It was soo much fun! My cake was shaped like a heart with chocolate icing :) I was sung to in English and Chinese (think the same tune, just translated), my Chinese friends ordered delicious food for us (some sweet and some spicy - and I did have noodles!), and we all had a wonderful time! I hope we'll be able to get together with Daniel, Cherry, and Ankora often!

That's all for now! Time to get back to studying...

Movies & Lanterns & Noodles

Sunday we met Sun Li to go see a Chinese movie in the theater! Movies here are pretty expensive if you see them in the theater...like, we're talking 75-100 kuai, unless you have a discount. When you think about it, it's probably comparable to most American movie theaters - the ones that charge over $10. It was a great experience though! Good Chinese practice...There were Chinese and English subtitles, so I could easily keep up with the movie. We watched Love In Space, and it was really cute! Definitely a chick flick...but I really enjoyed it! I recommend it :)

After the movie, we went to a park that we nearby to see the silk lanterns for the moon festival. It was the last night they were out, and there weren't many people there. It was sooooo pretty!! I'll have to get pictures from my friend so I can show you how unusual they are. Definitely not what I was thinking they would be...some were as huge as floats, very colorful, and shaped like dragons, fish - all sorts of things! It was a beautiful walk, and I wish I could have spent more time there.

It was starting to get late, and none of us had eaten yet. Sun Li took us to a small shop that had baozi, egg drop soup, and Beijing noodles. I love Beijing noodles - they're thick and kind of long, and you mix it with a meat sauce and veggies and slurp it up. If you can't guess, that's what I ordered :) We also tasted some lamb and chicken on a stick from the street - sooooo good!!! I really like street food.

Speaking of food, it's time to get ready for dinner! More updates later :)