I'm a terrible blogger.

So I realized I still haven't told yall about the Water Cube. Or my calligraphy class....or this last weekend when I dragged some friends across town to this obscure bookstore I read about on the Internet. Also we went shopping at the famous Silk Market and saw Rise of the Guardians at the movie theater. Ok, I haven't forgotten. It has just been really busy around here and will continue to get more busy as we move toward the end of the semester and finals.

Bird's Nest Part 2

Bird's Nest

Rain, Rain GET LOST! Please.

For the second Saturday in a row we have had terrible weather, but that has never stopped us from going out before. Yesterday we hopped on the subway and took line 8 out to the OLYMPIC PARK!! So 8 is a lucky number in China and the Chinese were really not screwing around in their preparations for the Olympics. Not only did they host the 2008 Olympics, but they completed construction of the Bird's Nest on August 8th and they build subway line 8 to carry all the traffic to and from the stadium. I'm sure there were more 8's out and about, but these are the ones that we noticed right away. Despite the terrible weather (consistent rain, bitter wind, freezing temperatures almost resulting in snow flurries), Zoe, Caroline, and I spent several hours wandering around the unbelievably expansive Olympic Park. The two buildings we actually paid to go inside were the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. Let me just say that I had seen pictures of the Bird's Nest and I watched the opening ceremony on television, but none of that prepared me for the undiluted awe I experienced while standing right before the entrance. Not only was the Bird's Nest much, much bigger than I ever would have expected, but I had been under the impression that the stadium was named the "Bird's Nest" stadium because of its exterior design when in fact the design is carried over into the interior as well. It is hard to explain, so I'll post a ton of pictures. All the interior pillars and structures were built at extreme angles and the entire stadium is open to the air and elements. You never actually walk through a door to enter the stadium, you simple walk through the fibers that make the bird's actual nest and then you are within the tangle of steel pillars. It is just breath-taking. I really did not expect to be so impressed. Everything is just so massive, but with China you expect everything on a bigger scale. This stadium was so amazing because it was more than the size that took the words out of my mouth. It was the grace of the building, the clean lines, the rich colors, the whole composition looked like it belonged on a painting but it was a painting you could walk through and touch.

Friday Hutongs

Friday afternoon Zoe, Brendan, Derek and I went to explore some of the more commercialized hutongs in Beijing. Hutongs are essentially the narrow streets (mostly residential) that reflect how traditional Beijing looked and felt before the economy explosion. Many hutongs (the ones that are not popular among tourists) are being torn down around Beijing and their residents are being moved into high rises. The destruction of the hutongs is very controversial and everyone has a different opinion regarding what should be done about the tiny alleys that can't accommodate cars but form a maze of back streets that hundreds of people call "jia" (home). Well I have already walked around the traditional hutongs with Jayson, but Friday we went to check out the big shopping hotspots. The area was really great and also known for its "xiao chi" (small eats--snacks). My only complaint was that none of the shop keepers would bargain, but of course that didn't stop me from makes some very adorable purchases included a pair of mittens that look like Stitch. Later that evening we went to dinner with one of the IES professors at a delicious dumpling restaurant with over 40 different types of dumplings. I now know what Heaven feels like.

Wednesday Night

Ok I am slowly but surely catching up to this weekend. As some of you may know Tuesday night is like a mini Friday for me, but although I don't have class on Wednesday I definitely do have class Thursday morning at 8:00 am (oh the joys of the dreaded 8am). Well Wednesday night I was in my room doing homework in between fangirling over Tumblr posts like any respectable student and Caroline and Leslie both came knocking on my door. "Lets go on an adventure!" And before I could say M&M pajama pants I was already back in my jeans and marching down the stairs with the determination to escape the dorm building at 10pm on a school night but absolutely no idea as to where we were actually going. We ended up at one of those funny playgrounds for adults with all the exercise equipment and at least three 100+ year-old women at any given time of day (except 10pm I guess). We sat on the swings for about 30 minutes belting Disney songs, and when we ran out of Disney songs we sang our respect for the 90's. In time our voices grew more and more grating and Leslie grew more and more motion sick, so we abandoned the swings in favor of trying out every single exercise machine. When the night was late and at least two of us had pulled muscles we started off toward the only 24-hour convenience store in the vicinity. Despite the cold, and somewhat erratic wind, we all bought ice cream at the convenience store (and I stocked up on toilet paper as well). With ice cream in hand we finally returned to the dorm building. Everyone in the hall was in there PJ's and most were walking around with lists of vocab words three inches from their noses. Some of our peers asked where we had gone or why we were eating ice cream when it was predicted to snow tomorrow, others just cocked their heads and stared. I think this was one of the proudest moments in my life.

Fun Reading, Oh the Possibilities!

I am proud to say that in the last two weeks or so I have read/am still reading THREE FUN BOOKS. Yes, you read that correctly. I cannot actually remember the last time I read a book purely because I wanted to, and the feeling is quite liberating. I am not reading the popular memoir Running with Scissors and look forward to more exciting literary adventures after that!

What did America learn from the Opium War?

We are talking about the Opium War in my Chinese history class, and my professor mentioned something very interesting last class about phrases adopted by Westerners during this time period. The two that come to mind are "long time, no see" and "take a look see." Before the start of the Opium War China was actively trading with the British and (after the end of the British East India Company's monopoly on Chinese trade) the Americans among others. Western and Eastern traders used translators out of necessity, but there were certain phrases that became widely known by the Western traders and even brought back to their prospective countries. For example "long time, no see" does not really make sense as an English sentence, the syntax is all wrong. BUT if you consider the Chinese phrase "hao jiu bu jian" and you translate it quite literally what do you get? "Give me fried dumplings!" No, I lied. Actually the direct translation is "long time, no see." Ta da!!!

Long Time No Blog!

So my mommy casually reminded me the other day that I have not been keeping up with my blog. Many apologies my friends! So what has been new...vegetables. I crave them. Now, don't get me wrong because China does in fact have vegetables, but I have not consumed them in over a month. I have now been in China for over two months (hard to believe) and when we first arrived a lot of the IES students traveled in a herd, most likely for self-preservation (and the comfort of knowing there are 12 other people there that also cannot read the McDonalds menus). While eating as a herd it was convenient to eat "family style" like typical Chinese. The menu would be passed around the table while the boys pointed to anything that resembled meat and grunted at the waitress and the girls politely tried to pronounce the vegetable dishes three times before the finally settling on a different pronunciation that was more likely less correct than the first three tries. And everyone got a bowl of rice. Eating proceeded in the manner for about a month and resulted in well-nourished, happy students. Well, at some point we all realized we were spending about $50 kaui ($10ish, actually less than $10) on each meal, and that realization led to the ultimate dispersement of the herd and the formation of smaller, nomadic tribes. Ordering individual meals is significantly faster and cheaper and just all around more convenient, but most places in China that have individual meal options seem to offer rice/noodles with some sort of meal. There may be a couple leaves laying on top of the meal, perhaps some veggies in fried rice, and chopped up bok choy in the dumplings but nothing that would amount to a full serving of vegetables (unless you ate 37 dumplings, and then you have another problem). So now I am writing this because all I want right now is a giant, heaping pile of steamed broccoli with butter drizzled on top and a little seasoned salt.

Friday at Fragrant Hills

Supa Sketch

Pictures from when we got semi-lost in the super sketchy outskirts of Beijing. And that other picture is the internet "cafe" we ended up at. Really it looked more like NASA headquarters with dozens upon dozens of Chinese men playing online games...but it was awkwardly lit like a bar. We bought one hour on a computer so we could look up directions to get us back to central Beijing. Everyone stared. Of course it didn't help that we were the only girls in there and the only foreigners in town apparently.

Great Wall Village

I've posted some pictures of us leaving the village on foot, this is how we walked for two hours before we arrived at a rode suitable for the tour bus. There is also a picture of our village from the opposite hill, so as we were leaving I turned back to take a picture to give you guys an idea of where we were staying. And keep in mind, during this walk we were able to look up at anytime and see the Great Wall looming over us on the surrounding hills, it was so amazing to experience the beauty and majesty of such a historically important site from the perspective of a local who witnesses it everyday as they pull weeds or care for their chickens.

Great Wall Weekend

So a couple weeks ago I went to the Great Wall with 35 other IES students along with staff and RAs. After an afternoon on the wall we drove to this remote village on a hill right adjacent to the famous wall. If you look at the pictures you will see the guard towers atop the hills surrounding the village, it was quite a site to behold during sun set and in the early morning mist/smog. We spent the night in the spare rooms offered by the villagers who also provided us with a delicious dinner and breakfast. The beds were long raised platforms with a thin pad that slept 6-8 people. My room accommodated eight girls packed together like sardines, each with our own pillows and blankets. It was pretty chilly that night and there was no heating in the rooms, so it was actually very comfortable sleeping with so many other people in one room. When I woke up and went to put on my boots I found that we were not the only ones sleeping in the room that night, there were large flying insects everywhere but particularly burrowed in the creases of my dirty clothes and nestled in my fur-lined boots. I guess even insects need cozy beds at night. There was a sun rise hike at 5:30 that I opted out of because my knees, feet, calves, thighs, and everything else above and below my waist was extremely sore from the 10km hike along the wall the previous day. Let me tell you, "walking" along the Great Wall is certainly no leisurely stroll in the park. Certainly one of the most physically exhausting things I have ever done in my life. After breakfast we started our long walk back to the tour bus. Because we were located in such a remote area the tour bus was unable to pick us up in the village, so that meant we had to walk for two hours from the village to the closest highway carrying all our hiking gear and over-night bags across dirt roads, down the mountain, into a valley, through several more villages, passing stray chickens and dogs and wandering children, back up another mountain, and finally we arrived at a gas station where we met the tour bus to bring us back to Beijing. It must have been quite a site to see for the locals who kept offering us rides in the back of pick-up trucks. It was definitely an adventure and I enjoyed (almost) every minute!! (There was an hour or two on the Great Wall I thought I might die from some combination of exhaustion, dehydration, and heat stroke but I made it back alive!)

FIRST SNOW in Beijing!!!!!

The Most Empty Subway Station in all of Beijing

Last Weekend

We have finally come full circle!! This picture was taken last weekend when we got to the park too late and all we could do was look at the monuments from behind bars looking like the saddest, most tired, most disappointed study abroad students you will ever see.

Rainy Day at IES

This is what the IES hallways look like after a rainy day in Beijing. Everybody leaves their umbrellas out in the hall to dry and sometimes you can even spot a couple wild rain boots lurking in the foliage. Tomorrow morning the rain will be gone and the sky will be clear and all these colorful urban flowers will disappear.

Such a Great Day!

Beijing World Park

So last weekend's trip to World Park was a little bit of a disaster mixed with a lot of adventure. China threw us another curve ball today in the form of all-day-make-you-want-hot-chocolate-and-a-good-book rain...Well we went to the park anyways like good troopers and it was a blast! Taking the subway still took forever, although not the three hours it took us to get there last time. I was worried the weather would put a real damper on our moods, but everybody rallied last minute and we took some great pictures at the park! I even got to sit on a camel, so naturally it was a perfect day. I have only included some of the pictures because there are over 100 world monuments at the park, however we weren't able to see all of them because after a couple hours everybody was tired and hungry (traveling the whole world in one afternoon will do that to you). The only bummer was the trying to get a cab after lunch. Because of the rain and traffic all the cabs tried to charge a flat rate of $100 kuai (three times the price it would have been if they had used their meters). Eventually Jayson and I got tired of arguing with the drivers while standing in the pouring rain, so we got in a cab that we bargained down to $60 kaui...still it only should have cost $30 to get back to campus. There just comes a point when you no longer want to stand in puddles while cabbie after cabbie after cabbie tries to rip you off while you are shivering and soaked to the bone. The $60 kuai ended up being worth it just because we knew dry clothes and heated rooms waited for us back in the dorms. (And yes, they have finally turned the heaters on!!! On that note, it was supposed to snow today but we just got crappy rain.)

Finally!!!

We finally made it to Beijing World Park!!! Well, it was rainy and freezing but of course we had fun anyways!! Take a look :) it really is impressive how you can see the world in one short afternoon...