tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69727211405886736332024-03-05T16:58:51.314-08:00Catie's Curious TravelsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-72028932025984289352014-08-07T00:55:00.004-07:002014-08-07T00:55:47.041-07:00The Doom of Finals and the (In)Famous Sanlituan Finals are upon us! It is crashing around us like a hurricane. We have battened down the hatches, closed the doors, and are clinging helplessly to the flickering light of our computer screens. We know that only a nights worth of fervent studying and the caffeinated aid of coffee will get us through this ferocious storm. But fear not for there is a light at the end of this tunnel, for tomorrow once the storm has passed and we can all relax again, we shall be released from our language pledge!<br />
In other words, I had the first portion of my finals test today, the writing part. Which means my wrist is still aching from writing pages upon pages of characters. Tomorrow is the oral portion of the test. All we have to do is just talk about one of 5 topics for a certain point of time. Then after that we have the Graduation Ceremony where we are officially released from the language pledge and we can speak English again. Seeing as I have already finished writing the essay that I will use for this I decided to give myself a nice break. I'm going to use this break to tell you about my adventures in a well known part of Beijing called Sanlituan.<br />
<br />
Sanlituan is one of the most expensive parts of Beijing and probably the most westernized. The reason being is that there are many ambassador offices and residences in the area. It's also a very popular Ex-Pat area so there are plenty of westerners who work in Beijing for one reason or another that live there. But, that is not why Sanlituan is famous. It's famous for two reasons, 1) it has a really nice sort of out door mall area with loads of name brand stores like Calvin Klein, Hollister, American Eagle, and plenty of other really expensive stores (Oh and Starbucks which is pretty much the only store I could afford), 2) it has a lot of very popular bars, clubs and karaoke spots and is a go too spot for many of the young people who come to China. I have had the privilege of experiencing both sides of Sanlituan.<br />
I experienced the first with a good friend of mine from school. We had just finished tackling the Silk Market where my wonderful friend earned her weight in gold bargaining with shop owners for souvenirs. Her tactic was to look and sound as pitiful as possible and keep insisting on how expensive the plane tickets were and how we don't have much money but we really want to by X because it would be such a great reminder of our time in China. It was masterful, really. I couldn't understand everything she was saying (she is fluent in Chinese) but it sounded pitiful to me and certainly worked in convincing the shop owners to give us fairly cheap prices. So after that triumph, laden with souvenirs for myself and my family, we went to explore Sanlituan.<br />
Driving to the shopping area of Sanlituan (I think it's called the village) I instantly knew we were in an area drastically different from where I had been living for the past two months. There were intricate and twisting skyscrapers, bridges attaching different stores on multiple stories, a fountain, a luxury car show, and a Starbucks (otherwise known as Heaven on Earth). There were westerners galore and most of them were dressed to the nines. My friend told me that many of the people our age or younger are children of ambassadors or children of people who work for ambassadors. We even found a two story book store with books in English and Chinese. As a self-professed book-aholic I was particularly excited about this. So my first impression of Sanlituan was fun but outrageously expensive, even for American standards. However getting to have Starbucks for the first time in weeks was magnificent.<br />
I experienced the second thing that Sanlituan is famous for (bars, clubs, and karaoke) several weeks later. We went with a bunch of other CET students, all of whom needed a break from the stress of daily life at CET. Gallantly off into the night we went, our first destination was a bar called Smugglers. It was small, and almost had a bit of a pub feel with lots of bulky wooden tables and benches, small rooms, plain walls except for the many names and messages scrawled by previous visitors from around the world, and one short counter right by the entrance where people were crowded around ordering drinks. Once there, we sectioned off into our smaller groups. My friend's roommate was nice and bought us all several rounds of beers. We just talked, laughed, and hung out. I let the atmosphere sweep me away from the stress of classes and the general frustrations of life in Beijing. Instead, I was just another student with her friends having a good time, not thinking about vocab or proper grammar or the upcoming test. We spent the rest of our night walking through Sanlituan, having fun at karaoke at several other clubs.<br />
We didn't return to CET till late in the night, or I guess you could say early in the morning. We were tired, disheveled, and utterly happy. My friend's roommate even went out of his way to tell us what a fun night he had had which was very sweet. Ultimately, it was just a great night to let loose and enjoy being in China and being young.<br />
<br />
Well that's all for now. Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more! AKA I need to get back to studying.<br />
With the graduation ceremony tomorrow (Friday the 8th) and a whole weekend ahead before I leave for the states on Monday, I hope to have at least one more post up before I leave for that States. However, we'll see how that turns out.<br />
Until then be safe, be happy, and remember<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-72470362956800903312014-07-31T01:45:00.001-07:002014-07-31T01:45:12.370-07:00Chinese Barbeque<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This past
weekend I had the privilege of having dinner at my friend’s house and experiencing
my first Chinese barbeque. I also got a really nice look at what live is like
for an average family in Beijing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My friend picked
me up from the school midafternoon on Saturday and we took the bus out to her
family’s apartment. Thankfully there is a huge bus station very close to my
school and once we got off the bus he apartment complex was right across the
street. So, overall it was incredibly convenient.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s actually one of the things I really
like about Beijing. The public transportation systems are all fairly user
friendly and easy to figure out. With one card that I have so far only had to
reload once, I can use the subway and the bus systems. Without the card, the
bus cost 40<span style="font-family: "MS 明朝","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">毛</span>,
which equates to about .06 US cents, and the subway costs 2<span style="font-family: "MS 明朝","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">元</span>,
.30 US cents, so not only is it convenient but it’s also super cheap. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anyways, I
spent some time at my friend’s house and got a chance to meet and talk with her
parents a little bit till it was time to go to her uncle’s place. It was a
roughly thirty or forty minute drive from where we were.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Uncle’s house
was in what is considered to be Beijing’s suburbs. Here, there weren’t buildings
upon stacked on top of each other but they didn’t have the same kind of
cookie-cutter housing developments that are so prevalent in the states.
Instead, it was an interesting mix of apartment complexes and strip malls. The
apartment that we want to was on the first floor of the complex and had a tiny little
patio where we ate. But it also had two floors much like you would see in a
house with a small little staircase connecting the two. Overall, it was a beautiful
apartment and very nice to be some place that wasn’t a dorm or a restaurant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now for the
most important part, what was the food like? I will tell you right of the bat
that Chinese barbeques aren’t like American Barbeques. We didn’t have burgers
or hot dogs. There was no beef in sight and not even the slightest scent of
ketchup. But that was perfectly fine because everything was still mouth
wateringly delicious. However, the factor that separates it the most from
American barbeques is what was used to cook all the food. Instead of a hulky
metal beast of a grill and a galloon of gasoline to match (because those both
take up a lot of space and are really expensive), they used a small metal box
sort of thing. At the bottom of this long rectangular box, that was open on the
top and on either end, they put wood and coal or whatever else to start the
fire and then they would balance the skewers of meat or veggies or whatever
else on the ridges. Or they would put a small grate over the ridges and places
vegetables or breads on there to cook them that way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The main
part of the meal was lamb, lots and lots of very delicious lamb. I don’t know
what kind of seasoning they put on it but it probably some of the best lamb I
have had in a very long time (sorry dad). Also probably had about ten skewers
of it. It really didn’t matter how many times I said <span style="font-family: "MS 明朝","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">“我吃</span><span style="font-family: "MS 明朝","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: "Heiti TC Medium"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Heiti TC Medium"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: "Heiti TC Medium";">包了”</span><span style="font-family: "Heiti TC Medium"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Heiti TC Medium"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: "Heiti TC Medium";">(I’m
full) they just kept giving me more and more food. There was a time when I was
literally hold four skewers of lamb. My friend’s aunt was especially accommodating,
telling me several times to eat as much as I want, to consider her home my
home, and making sure that all of the food I ate stayed clear of any spicy ingredients
or sauces. Besides lamb we had a lot of grilled vegetables, my favorite being
grilled sweet potatoes, and this type of bread grilled and salted that was
super tasty. Our cold dish options were very extensive as well. My favorite was
this potato salad sort of dish that was very American cookout-esque.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Heiti TC Medium"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Heiti TC Medium"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: "Heiti TC Medium";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Something else that was different from all the American cookouts that I’ve
been to is that no one ever stopped cooking. Even when we left they were still
putting shrimp and corn on the grill. So instead of cooking everything before
hand than eating around a table after words, we were all just gathered on the
little patio talking, as someone else would cook. Then they’d put a bunch of
hot off the grill lamb or shrimp on the table in front of us and keep cooking
while we chowed down. So not only did I have a lot of food, but basically from
about six till about nine I was just eating and eating and eating. It was
fantastic and most definitely the best meal I’ve had in a long time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Heiti TC Medium"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Heiti TC Medium"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: "Heiti TC Medium";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I left feeling full and happy. It was really nice seeing what life was
like for the average Chinese family and really great to talk with someone that
wasn’t a Chinese student or one of our teachers. I know it was incredibly kind
of my friend and her family to share their home and food with me, even for such
a short time, and I am so very grateful.</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> That's all for now. I'm going to have that Sanlituan post up soon I promise. Until then be safe, be happy, and remember </o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-37963192480152944492014-07-28T02:28:00.002-07:002014-07-28T02:28:53.619-07:00To Pass The Time"Two more weeks! Two more weeks!" I constantly chant to myself as my time here in China slowly comes to a close. This adventure has certainly been an amazing experience but I can't seem to stop daydreaming about my beautiful campus and a bed that feels more like a mattress and less like a concrete slab. Talking with my fellow students, I don't seem to be the only one who feels this way. As much as we love China and learning Chinese, many of us are hitting a wall and are now counting the days till we can return to the states. But, to make the time go a bit faster I'm going to tell you about our Midterm trip to An'Yang and a different side of China that we got to see.<br />
<div>
<div>
<br />
What is An'Yang, you ask? Now, I'm not surprised that you don't know. I myself have never heard of An'Yang before my time here. An'Yang is a smaller, more typical Chinese city. It's not as developed and not as touristy as Beijing, which is why no one has heard of it. Why, then, you must be wondering did we go to An'Yang if there is nothing to see? Ah, well that is where you are wrong. Inside the city itself, An'Yang may not be much to look at, but there some truly remarkable destinations just outside the city. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with day one of our weekend excursion.<br />
<br />
THURSDAY July 10th -<br />
Midterm completed, brains weak and limping, the students here at CET piled onto first a bus than a bullet train for a total of roughly four hours before reaching our destination. We got to the hotel around 9 at night, and immediately saw the difference between Beijing and An'Yang. An'Yang is noticeably smaller and less developed than Beijing. There were less cars and more bikes and, surprisingly, more pollution. Our hotel was...fine...comfortable, but the bed was still concrete-esque (I've come to the conclusion that the Chinese people have an aversion for soft mattresses), however we had the most important thing of all air conditioning so we were content. We spent an hour or so wandering around the neighborhood looking for a place to eat, however none of the surrounding restaurants didn't quite suit our fancy so we opted for snacks instead. Then, exhausted and rung out from our early morning test, we went to bed.<br />
<br />
FRIDAY July 11th -<br />
Up at the ungodly hour of 6am, my roommate and I prepared for a day of sun and sweat. Our itinerary for the day; an early morning hike of Wang Xiangyan Mountain in Taihang Canyon than in the afternoon we were going to hike through Peach Blossom Gorge. So, we anticipated a lot of walking, sweating, and exhaustion.<br />
After a two hour bus ride from our hotel to the Wang Xiangyan Mountain, we piled through the gates of the Canyon and began our ascent. At first, all the CET students were clumped together, moving as one big mass through the bridges and up the stairs. But as the inclines became gradually more and more steep, and the climbing more treacherous we separated into smaller and smaller groups. I ended up in a small group of four that consisted of myself, my roommate, and my two friends Eric and Kiera.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj27ThMT_rxWyjN-e8OjAboHhYYdFdbrOSmwDEG1FOTDbi8rd8B_12FlcF2rhuV2wEYo-Ea4oO85eP1JTzEOMF_KgsEMU2C3GLyYGtvQMMvxOwdKICcasCM_oJfDYwdjU1HYwbp6fYMgQk/s1600/DSC_0017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj27ThMT_rxWyjN-e8OjAboHhYYdFdbrOSmwDEG1FOTDbi8rd8B_12FlcF2rhuV2wEYo-Ea4oO85eP1JTzEOMF_KgsEMU2C3GLyYGtvQMMvxOwdKICcasCM_oJfDYwdjU1HYwbp6fYMgQk/s1600/DSC_0017.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Our first look at the mountain range after getting off the bus</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkknc1IR-RaVMA0zhQRVBc6CxIfCIpJHHt56K7zeRc3juwfMSw_AyJk3hyZJWbzqXUrkiKWyGTWCs2jFb54uWKIT5v4s8eO6LzMg6Jmb0gBAfY3TNxjTPwKxUWchwZLkDZZ2LyRN8U2I/s1600/DSC_0022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkknc1IR-RaVMA0zhQRVBc6CxIfCIpJHHt56K7zeRc3juwfMSw_AyJk3hyZJWbzqXUrkiKWyGTWCs2jFb54uWKIT5v4s8eO6LzMg6Jmb0gBAfY3TNxjTPwKxUWchwZLkDZZ2LyRN8U2I/s1600/DSC_0022.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The gate into the Canyon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoHKATyBDafDn59NzDSv4fL3GH9Q5dFlCiUDGGYb8AwfizEa1JzveeSI_9PUg1x8AcJeFib4chH_PKKeYO67NTCXTSF6Fhf0Irur0htlSCegogj-JIsxIOUPFsTshxJRUncoAulPYJQts/s1600/DSC_0029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoHKATyBDafDn59NzDSv4fL3GH9Q5dFlCiUDGGYb8AwfizEa1JzveeSI_9PUg1x8AcJeFib4chH_PKKeYO67NTCXTSF6Fhf0Irur0htlSCegogj-JIsxIOUPFsTshxJRUncoAulPYJQts/s1600/DSC_0029.JPG" height="243" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">There were a lot of gorgeous wildflowers around the gate<br />
to the Canyon so I took a picture of one with the<br />
mountain in the background.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Climbing up the mountain was probably the greatest test of stamina I have experience so far in my 20 years of life. Though the climbing itself wasn't hard (we often had rickety stairs up the sides of the mountain or metal ladders with wooden planks) it was just a very long climb, which made it so challenging. However, for the most part, the most challenging section of the hike was at the very beginning. Once we were past that it was almost like a leisurely stroll through the mountainside.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXWJ5nVhwrRddrmUziaRdFCITod-rRx33SmOBg35-swsVLwzdvNv6k-9p-kPqG8z02L9Brq9LjxyBDDCYonQUW77CeALSOGD-UHkXXYLkoFiy4V7rgkuSfsLgwXHaAJ08JPH7tXTHu8Q/s1600/DSC_0051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXWJ5nVhwrRddrmUziaRdFCITod-rRx33SmOBg35-swsVLwzdvNv6k-9p-kPqG8z02L9Brq9LjxyBDDCYonQUW77CeALSOGD-UHkXXYLkoFiy4V7rgkuSfsLgwXHaAJ08JPH7tXTHu8Q/s1600/DSC_0051.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Important direction on how to climb up the mountain.<br />
Go up the climbing up path.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlW-ATFIkIEsTKSSeHVlmHo8T3AfClQQh6ns8V0FZDftLAh_WNc0SCQ7990ldp55QFt5yK21UMNdudAOcLuPlcvlfLET2uDKwxbltBJ7nbt7dGLcF6mgVLc7w_-8JQ3Z72svHBmltg1qY/s1600/DSC_0071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlW-ATFIkIEsTKSSeHVlmHo8T3AfClQQh6ns8V0FZDftLAh_WNc0SCQ7990ldp55QFt5yK21UMNdudAOcLuPlcvlfLET2uDKwxbltBJ7nbt7dGLcF6mgVLc7w_-8JQ3Z72svHBmltg1qY/s1600/DSC_0071.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">A shot of one of the less rickety<br />
staircases we had to go up.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB8j_HFFUwGg2wejmQhNmCOJlc-4O7l7-j3_NxNUPD9hVke_fF8SihzVUWZ5Js-ErRJdf09zKr6at9litlfeSMiQM8RwLQdeu4oC71pc0GiduQ7M7iW_PDTLc4JjfTpK2z0KDePbOgBNw/s1600/DSC_0094.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB8j_HFFUwGg2wejmQhNmCOJlc-4O7l7-j3_NxNUPD9hVke_fF8SihzVUWZ5Js-ErRJdf09zKr6at9litlfeSMiQM8RwLQdeu4oC71pc0GiduQ7M7iW_PDTLc4JjfTpK2z0KDePbOgBNw/s1600/DSC_0094.jpg" height="320" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">And success! We climbed up half<br />
the mountain.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicWddFBx_IjdqYEJHqWclFq3wIZwoTnc-F5TFEnXfEUSnK8OFrR803mJXGdLyCuM9MYsHVbzMXc_m9M2a0GzZ32arlsvoR20ptonpbGHzcwHUMhmvsd12uRdbWp87KjjF7bPwYicnd7uM/s1600/DSC_0107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicWddFBx_IjdqYEJHqWclFq3wIZwoTnc-F5TFEnXfEUSnK8OFrR803mJXGdLyCuM9MYsHVbzMXc_m9M2a0GzZ32arlsvoR20ptonpbGHzcwHUMhmvsd12uRdbWp87KjjF7bPwYicnd7uM/s1600/DSC_0107.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj10QdlOO2PC-hg34KNF78XVgW_OSiVr09KkcTu6vfwVGWsasPXQerD52h_fbOibG_-qbc1B9G1dfsBlQ1F-fcU-PoV2E_s-E7SF_1zR3ids5Jiyj4s1yCXXYJZwWgOl_dDqWEiWNJ2R4o/s1600/DSC_0164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj10QdlOO2PC-hg34KNF78XVgW_OSiVr09KkcTu6vfwVGWsasPXQerD52h_fbOibG_-qbc1B9G1dfsBlQ1F-fcU-PoV2E_s-E7SF_1zR3ids5Jiyj4s1yCXXYJZwWgOl_dDqWEiWNJ2R4o/s1600/DSC_0164.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKG6CatlAB3CwCRePgQZ0UO5Pj4nQ6yrhyufJZv8cBViHgpguaqb0RSzbjbrtlpgZMIgAHRNkaIbRSwQg-XI98uCdJ-jK1vRfm0Ts05cmSWCXDWbCpDvi05PiqibDnSjxj1-g_zeAnPlc/s1600/DSC_0069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKG6CatlAB3CwCRePgQZ0UO5Pj4nQ6yrhyufJZv8cBViHgpguaqb0RSzbjbrtlpgZMIgAHRNkaIbRSwQg-XI98uCdJ-jK1vRfm0Ts05cmSWCXDWbCpDvi05PiqibDnSjxj1-g_zeAnPlc/s1600/DSC_0069.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Most of the rest of the hike was like<br />
this or just stone pathways. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIwfbrCcbRK7zoApxqtGmoVSkjLhZIEocPTbtit-SuVGX1BfHIhQa4zHAKvQN5yCnNZder4s4jnSrF1TtX5q2YKLMM4ghymlTKz_AMZ8oXgkfbL6hIBNCAXxdgrB05WXawbNefJ91R74E/s1600/DSC_0156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIwfbrCcbRK7zoApxqtGmoVSkjLhZIEocPTbtit-SuVGX1BfHIhQa4zHAKvQN5yCnNZder4s4jnSrF1TtX5q2YKLMM4ghymlTKz_AMZ8oXgkfbL6hIBNCAXxdgrB05WXawbNefJ91R74E/s1600/DSC_0156.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9REErl5sOuKeCI7C-keXHI9y2oAkTbL1yxobtsWPx9w4dbYolyaerKq-VxM7E9mgAvina7xJIrgGME9sFRFrVn5XtdMuGeSSRzpg8TiiSxT1z26p8k6DUsTcbDxOnZCDSrPWm0Z_CAMU/s1600/DSC_0116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9REErl5sOuKeCI7C-keXHI9y2oAkTbL1yxobtsWPx9w4dbYolyaerKq-VxM7E9mgAvina7xJIrgGME9sFRFrVn5XtdMuGeSSRzpg8TiiSxT1z26p8k6DUsTcbDxOnZCDSrPWm0Z_CAMU/s1600/DSC_0116.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Ran into my boyfriend during the hike.<br />
Unfortunately he's a bit of a statue when<br />
it comes to taking pictures.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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There was one other portion of the hike that was particularly challenging. That was the ridiculous I’m-not-going-to-even-attempt-to-guess-how tall staircase we had to climb up to get to the top. Till then we had just been walking over stone paths and admiring the beauty of the canyon with its glimpses of waterfalls, and the mountain range in the distance. Then we encountered that staircase. Now, at my school (JMU!!!) we have what we like to call the Staircase of Death. It’s somewhere between 5 or 8 staircases to get from the football field to the road that goes through campus. However, in comparison with the gargantuan thing I climbed in An’Yang our Staircase of Death is a mere step stool. Despite its height and more than a handful of students refusal, my friends and I continued ever onward/upward (wells…sans my roommate). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZPbEaUnSa_m92AppKVSaEyqmfZtan2sZEZsbiHeLzQPsM05vuL0Oaas1s-VzZyJHuVGYAZrKu9aDbNmWWde7Fbb5zIsJReobJcjQ-r7W__wUUa6x39m3My8A18EWFUNDh0tZM2W-KTIM/s1600/DSC_0180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZPbEaUnSa_m92AppKVSaEyqmfZtan2sZEZsbiHeLzQPsM05vuL0Oaas1s-VzZyJHuVGYAZrKu9aDbNmWWde7Fbb5zIsJReobJcjQ-r7W__wUUa6x39m3My8A18EWFUNDh0tZM2W-KTIM/s1600/DSC_0180.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Ladies and Gents, the Staircase to Heaven<br />
Also note, you can't see the bottom in this picture<br />
because I wasn't able to get it all in one shot.</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEjycVQIJLQG1zYxNxKRvKDDkj36d0ex3mDiyDN9UIuHFSLw4Ss54cCxjzi9qxhm3_M3JtlckAFAjzIiVtwBPABGZkHXWD_2K9xZSME3R1zxMvFsgqo_mEHn6d_20Ahi_oxCusrDmI_g/s1600/DSC_0187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEjycVQIJLQG1zYxNxKRvKDDkj36d0ex3mDiyDN9UIuHFSLw4Ss54cCxjzi9qxhm3_M3JtlckAFAjzIiVtwBPABGZkHXWD_2K9xZSME3R1zxMvFsgqo_mEHn6d_20Ahi_oxCusrDmI_g/s1600/DSC_0187.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">My roommate, right before she decided<br />
she wasn't exactly keen on climbing up.</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO24PH6KJg0s3ZfO274u8ELevy_J4IWipAQoS9SEi-7HI_7jNGsoaXVttEPauySGVgyNA3mzMLCqEsBkKsQuB_9k-4iPsxjGuwSkopvqBIfdEZQqfdffRmm0Iugfkmv3RixX9WYxnCdnw/s1600/DSC_0200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO24PH6KJg0s3ZfO274u8ELevy_J4IWipAQoS9SEi-7HI_7jNGsoaXVttEPauySGVgyNA3mzMLCqEsBkKsQuB_9k-4iPsxjGuwSkopvqBIfdEZQqfdffRmm0Iugfkmv3RixX9WYxnCdnw/s1600/DSC_0200.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">"Mind your safety"<br />
Thank you helpful sign, because I was totally fooling around<br />
and being careless on this staircase 20 feet above the ground<br />
before I saw you.</td></tr>
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The first half of the staircase wasn't bad. I figured out a useful tactic that gave me both security and speed, however, about halfway up I started regret my decision but I had no choice other than going up just to get off the damn thing. But, never fear I (obviously) made it to the top with no problems. However, that was not the last feat I had to conquer on this epic hiking trip. Next was the (drum roll please)....zipline! That's right, there was a zipline across the entire gorge...canyon...thing and I rode it.<br />
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Earlier, before we had climbed the staircase of the gods, I had seen the zipline from the bottom of the ridge. I had marveled at the bravery of the people I saw riding but never, for a moment, entertained the thought that I would get on it as well. However, once we got to the top we were led to believe that the only way down, other than the staircase, was to take the zipline to the other side and go down an alternate path. So, the zipline became our only option because none of us had any desire to go back down that god awful staircase. </div>
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The picture below can give you a taste of the expanse of the gorge and the zipline across. You can also see the staircase in the background, so it kind of hints at how high up we were. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">A shot from the other side.<br />
I did it!</td></tr>
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Being on the zipline was amazing and terrifying and beautiful. With the thick orange straps wrapped around my thighs and middle attached to four thick wires as the only thing keep me aloft I whizzed across the gorge. My heart hammered in my chest and my hands clutched the straps for dear life, but I made sure to take in as much as a can with my eyes. During those few short moments across I made sure to really think about what an amazing life I have. Here I was, twenty years old, in China riding a zipline across a Mountain gorge. I'm pretty lucky. </div>
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So remember how I said that we took the zipline because that was the only way down? Well we were wrong. So we still had to climbed to gargantuan staircase back down. In my opion, climbing down was much worse than climbing up. It felt longer and we had many more students on at one time so I could here the creaking and clacking of the staircase as we made our decent. But, obviously, we survived and had a casual stroll down the other side of the mountain and onto our air conditioned buses.</div>
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There isn't much to say about our next destination, the Peach Blossom Gorge, besides the fact that is probably one of the most beautiful places I've been in my life. None of my pictures can really capture it's beauty but I sure tried anyways. What you see is only a handful of the hundreds of photos I took.</div>
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Our first day in An'Yang cam to a close after Peach Blossom Gorge. Back in the city we were able to find a good restaurant for dinner. Then I took a shower to wash off the dirt and sweat of the day and collapsed into bed. That's how you know you're really tired, when your concrete slab bed actually feels comfortable.</div>
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SATURDAY July 12th</div>
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We woke up at the more reasonable hour of 8 o'clock and after breakfast and checking out of the hotel we headed off to An'Yang's museum. This museum is famous for housing an exhibit of what is called the Oracle Bones. The Oracle Bones are the oldest recorded form of chinese writing and from this ancient script you can trace the origins of current chinese characters. In other words, they're super cool and super old.</div>
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Looking at these old characters is especially interesting because they look so much more like pictures than the characters we have today. For example the old version of 女, which means girl, looks a lot like a woman praying. However, my favorite character is probably 心 which means heart. Not only is it very easy to write, but if you look at it's original form (the picture below) you can distinctly see a heart and two hands. I especially like this because it reminds me a lot of an irish claddagh which is a very important symbol in irish history and culture. So seeing the similarities between what I was studying and something that's a huge part of who I am was really cool.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEv2ui7dRVLk4bqdCzEgkjTKA-i1AjHrOWsLI76Q1tPtkciRaFtEqUxQtc6dHGawtQ8lq49XqWdas4hSsHECDDjjVniXtZSdXvzf84V-jyXtqB02roKMTaBB1nsENNQIw4RMH9P40koU/s1600/DSC_0740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEv2ui7dRVLk4bqdCzEgkjTKA-i1AjHrOWsLI76Q1tPtkciRaFtEqUxQtc6dHGawtQ8lq49XqWdas4hSsHECDDjjVniXtZSdXvzf84V-jyXtqB02roKMTaBB1nsENNQIw4RMH9P40koU/s1600/DSC_0740.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">心 heart in ancient Chinese</td></tr>
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After the museum our next stop was Chenghuang Temple which is a small and very pretty temple in An'Yang. There, a local performance group of adorable old chinese women did a bunch of cool dance numbers for us and even let us dance along with them. Then they pulled out a bunch traditional chinese toys and games for us to all try. We spent a solid couple of hours just in the little temple in the middle of a random hutong just laughing and playing and dancing. It was a lot of a fun and a great way to end our time in An'Yang<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgEPA28IA_zb_rkLikFjX7DeBzIzmxew5ZB124ui3d-isvkCpCdY6UvJAdiaJxdV0s3Id_up726dR9m7EjKZFQuEh31y6P4za8qE3BIAjjFq8LRa06aqZGPOd_Ifi9WBvTzBhg9tcsZw/s1600/DSC_0875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgEPA28IA_zb_rkLikFjX7DeBzIzmxew5ZB124ui3d-isvkCpCdY6UvJAdiaJxdV0s3Id_up726dR9m7EjKZFQuEh31y6P4za8qE3BIAjjFq8LRa06aqZGPOd_Ifi9WBvTzBhg9tcsZw/s1600/DSC_0875.JPG" height="298" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Me attempting to learn their dance</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Q50BvVoqNIJnF9V4YnRbVTYN5i4_zNVTabQbMwZm4lQeC6HmMUu32-NUippII2dQi_Qgt-5M7uDgYC-3iJsNOGtkdo6tK6Bfm2O0O9ZuapuMVerplvPWPxKNzsVWpNLGXfoCDiJYBso/s1600/DSC_0876.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Q50BvVoqNIJnF9V4YnRbVTYN5i4_zNVTabQbMwZm4lQeC6HmMUu32-NUippII2dQi_Qgt-5M7uDgYC-3iJsNOGtkdo6tK6Bfm2O0O9ZuapuMVerplvPWPxKNzsVWpNLGXfoCDiJYBso/s1600/DSC_0876.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">We're all so confused, but still having fun.</td></tr>
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We left An'Yang the same way we arrived, by the bullet train! But what's interesting about the bullet train is that in less popular stops it only stays for a very brief time. So we had 2 minutes to get 60 kids from the platform and onto the train. Several minutes before the train arrived we lined up in our carriage spots ready to dash onto the train as soon as the doors opened. However, we didn't anticipate that there would be people getting off the train as well, so this severely depleted our time. So there we were, 60 kids, watching anxiously as person after person calmly gets off the train as our two minutes tick away. Thankfully the door to the carriage on down from ours was pretty empty and at literally the last minute we all dashed on and squeezed our way into the train before the doors closed. Thankfully, no one was left and we all made it back to the beautiful Beijing.</div>
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As much fun as I had at our destinations in An'Yang I've decided that I really much prefer Beijing. Beijing is much more developed and lively, there are many more places to go and things to do and, for what ever reason, I felt safer there. So as cool as it was too see a little bit of what life was like in a less developed city, I definitely like being in Beijing better. I have to tell you, when we walked out of the train station and saw the wonderfully familiar cityscape of Beijing we were ecstatic. </div>
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So that was our midterm trip! It was lots of fun and a good break from the daily pressure of classes but unfortunately I am now back in the thick of homework and tests. With two weeks left to the program we are quickly coming to the peak of our classes. Next Friday is the final and it's sure to be even more brain numbing than the midterm. However, thankfully we have an entire week of review before that happens so we should have plenty of time to relearn everything...or learn everything.</div>
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Speaking of homework, I should probably get started on mine now. I will have a new post up very soon about my adventures in a famous area of Beijing called Sanlituan very soon. </div>
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Until then be safe, be happy and remember</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-66426743712555800362014-07-18T01:25:00.004-07:002014-07-18T01:25:58.331-07:00Weekend Adventures and Other Fun Shenanigans <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I am terribly sorry for taking so long to update you all on
my adventures. Between class, homework, exploring Beijing and still trying to
find time to sleep, updating regularly has been proving difficult. But, to make
up for my lack of updates, today I am giving a "masterpost" (as it is often
called in Internet Land) of these past couple weeks and the amazing adventures
I’ve been having. So, without further ado....</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
FRIDAY JUNE 27th - A Stroll Through The City</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I remember correctly, this day was the first day in several that the sky was blue and the air was clear, so my friends and I decided to take advantage of this rare occurrence and head out into the city. With our student survival guide in one and hand a bottle of water in the other we began our exploration. Our first destination was Beijing's national library. It is a short walk or one subway stop away from our school so we figured it'd be a neat local attraction to visit. </div>
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Some interesting facts about the National Library of China. Apparently, this is <i>the</i> library to go to. It is the biggest in all of Asia and one of the largest in the world. So being the self-professed book lover that I am, I felt it my duty to see what this literary monument had to offer.</div>
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The result? Well, I didn't read much, mainly because none of us wanted to go through the trouble of acquiring a library card (which you needed to actually read any books) but it was indeed HUGE and apparently home of some of the most comfortable chairs in the world. When you first walked into the building you were met by a huge wall of glass windows that looked into this large room of books and tables with many people studying, reading, and sleeping. Directly to your right is an escalator taking you up to the next floor, a short ride on this quickly revealed the expanse of this place.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0RGOF13xMtvQG0Ze5VKA2E7e3HxI8YpA631hKIsBHGuFvLAejuk4ASGWoXaKM2j41ELlw0RC1ORPcjXky4cwwK5qRDcglZmKk-p9EXF9E3nGw4j8ONz34fbOV0FpC2UddQU76JWv69Cc/s1600/DSC_0020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0RGOF13xMtvQG0Ze5VKA2E7e3HxI8YpA631hKIsBHGuFvLAejuk4ASGWoXaKM2j41ELlw0RC1ORPcjXky4cwwK5qRDcglZmKk-p9EXF9E3nGw4j8ONz34fbOV0FpC2UddQU76JWv69Cc/s1600/DSC_0020.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzb7E6RiTMfW3URppDcsCmYh1p-G7faVMpqgPuktRsV-5aBwIkgX-dwaXHXAw3Omx7nSlo9dluLw59dS7QaRFV3ozBQ8JawiUfTp3h43m9x8h53eOGyZ5FzVbSQ9WNXm9ffiGoIDLThf4/s1600/DSC_0027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzb7E6RiTMfW3URppDcsCmYh1p-G7faVMpqgPuktRsV-5aBwIkgX-dwaXHXAw3Omx7nSlo9dluLw59dS7QaRFV3ozBQ8JawiUfTp3h43m9x8h53eOGyZ5FzVbSQ9WNXm9ffiGoIDLThf4/s1600/DSC_0027.JPG" height="176" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pit of books</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As you can see in the picture above, they weren't joking when they said this was one of the largest libraries. But, if you don't think this is impressive let me tell you, this is only one part of the library. There were other rooms and hallways that we didn't explore as well as a whole other building.<br />
So, seeing this ginormous library and all the people working at tables I thought of my library at JMU and how which ever floor you are studying on hints towards the urgency and amount of your work load. With this library, I imagine you must be pretty bogged down with work if you choose to sit in the center of this pit. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCd3NvaT8jU1THoIJa2Z4jZ-ASXt3mNR_FtRm7_yHYC1OzxYmVQaWPdKNRjj8opi3VQ98GEHmOOTg0d0LOBto-hRyM91n77jpt3y8d4CQ7N217Gsr5NRNme-aibXdDb2dyG6O1aez-By8/s1600/DSC_0028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCd3NvaT8jU1THoIJa2Z4jZ-ASXt3mNR_FtRm7_yHYC1OzxYmVQaWPdKNRjj8opi3VQ98GEHmOOTg0d0LOBto-hRyM91n77jpt3y8d4CQ7N217Gsr5NRNme-aibXdDb2dyG6O1aez-By8/s1600/DSC_0028.JPG" height="320" width="237" /></a></div>
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While exploring the second floor we stumbled upon a whole hall of chairs, all filled with people sleeping in them. The must have been some of the comfiest chairs in the world because nobody looked like they were getting up any time soon.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sq3hA9qR2lPGPdG7RsW4KKZSaLMk2dmewCORmyoZDrUkgLmWNu9dYhZYNiWIEl8X1c-Es_B3GftPKHZoc018JKALUmXWhwpqJDn06dI2bUVisi_ojwpKjinxvJRWRy7n956mxVrKXBQ/s1600/DSC_0036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sq3hA9qR2lPGPdG7RsW4KKZSaLMk2dmewCORmyoZDrUkgLmWNu9dYhZYNiWIEl8X1c-Es_B3GftPKHZoc018JKALUmXWhwpqJDn06dI2bUVisi_ojwpKjinxvJRWRy7n956mxVrKXBQ/s1600/DSC_0036.JPG" height="246" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front of one of the library's buildings</td></tr>
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So after we had see our fill of the huge hall of books and comfy chairs, we made our way down the road to the Bamboo Park, or Zi Zhu Yuan Gong Yuan. This park is a beautiful refuge from the hustle and bustle of the city. With it's cluster of bamboo patches, stone walk ways, arched bridges, and lakes covered in lily-pads it was really nice to just causally stroll through the area. <br />
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We spent most of the day just walking around, talking, and admiring the beautiful landscape. It was also a lot of fun to see other local Beijingers going about their daily life. In China, and especially cities like Beijing, parks are an important part of the culture. Though many are marketed as tourist attractions, it seems to me that their primary purpose is as a way to escape the roar of the city and relax. It seems especially important to older people and their daily lives. We walked by so many groups of older men and women doing taiqi and dance routines and playing all sorts of card and board games. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8wfoNGWz81tjLNEViJOuLo1nHGog996HbsH_BHXanX5xAWhO7EFFtHnVWgalvWhF3igbIt_-T7C22WJxb-wrYI-ScpHOqfr0uaBjcyrlJtcdv6dkmHXS_FL3g3b27SmtTpcm6MbZKIOs/s1600/DSC_0088.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8wfoNGWz81tjLNEViJOuLo1nHGog996HbsH_BHXanX5xAWhO7EFFtHnVWgalvWhF3igbIt_-T7C22WJxb-wrYI-ScpHOqfr0uaBjcyrlJtcdv6dkmHXS_FL3g3b27SmtTpcm6MbZKIOs/s1600/DSC_0088.jpg" height="320" width="260" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view of the river with the city scape behind.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Random little disney world, smack in the center of Beijing.<br />
Not quite like the original though.</td></tr>
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This park is one of my favorites that I have been to so far. The Temple of Heaven park was gorgeous but I loved this one because it was so peaceful and not very crowded even though it was Friday and the weather was beautiful.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZRwbDiMJLUj2PSY_qw7tZZTjH2LsQzYaq6x1OAA3u3N-6whf1-fYF6SQCjizytHRX89oBmxsRnuL2zzeYBMVdbAFMGv3njRf1csHKLO7cEleYG7FzpsG759YokgWe7f0Gu4H_J5gIGS0/s1600/DSC_0090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZRwbDiMJLUj2PSY_qw7tZZTjH2LsQzYaq6x1OAA3u3N-6whf1-fYF6SQCjizytHRX89oBmxsRnuL2zzeYBMVdbAFMGv3njRf1csHKLO7cEleYG7FzpsG759YokgWe7f0Gu4H_J5gIGS0/s1600/DSC_0090.JPG" height="170" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They even had a little fishing area for locals.</td></tr>
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We strolled the day away until we were all tired and our feet were sore. But despite the aches and pains we opted to walk back to campus as opposed to taking the subway. Along the way we stopped at some sort of noodle fast food restaurant that Max was familiar with, they had several of them in California and he said it was very good. </div>
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The restaurant was crowded and full of people so while Max and Eric waited in line I saved a table for us. When it was my turn to get in line and order I had prepared exactly what I was going to say to order my food, I have master the art of pointing at menus and using exaggerated hand gestures. However, the lady at the cash register went of book and suddenly I had no idea what she was asking or what I was supposed to say. She wasn't exactly a patient sort of person, plus it didn't help that a line was quickly piling up behind me. Thankfully, a kind stranger come up next to me and told me what she was trying to ask so I was able to return to use the correct hand gesture to indicate what I wanted. </div>
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After dinner, and a nice rest in the air conditioning, we headed back to campus to prepare for the next day, when we would be climbing the Great Wall of China.</div>
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SATURDAY JUNE 28th - The Great Wall - Take 2</div>
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The Great Wall of China! As those of you who have been following my blog know, this was my second time going to the great wall, but I promise you it was an entirely different experience from what I had before.</div>
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At the way too early hour of 8 o'clock myself, my roommate, and all the other CET Students stepped out into the already burning heat of the day and onto a bus. The ride from campus to the wall took roughly 2 hours, most of which I slept through on account of it being so early and all. Once we arrived at the bottom of the road that would take us to the wall I quickly realized it was the exact same placed I'd been before. The portion of the wall I have now visited twice is called Mutianyu and is one of the largest and most well preserved portion of the wall. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSwwPxZ5a3htb3SE5jYN8yewii9rnQ8Qntb_DFz-oHiUw79EyFkgVEbdnDLjPibl9y-Mq38fi1vNCf1dmpCeAwf83FeTX7cm22X0UgDm1ppJo4Q3wBVGpbp-8yP4cDu3GC59kKvCfH0H4/s1600/DSC_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSwwPxZ5a3htb3SE5jYN8yewii9rnQ8Qntb_DFz-oHiUw79EyFkgVEbdnDLjPibl9y-Mq38fi1vNCf1dmpCeAwf83FeTX7cm22X0UgDm1ppJo4Q3wBVGpbp-8yP4cDu3GC59kKvCfH0H4/s1600/DSC_0001.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My roommate 舒放 (shu fang)<br />
and my friend Mario as we wait<br />
to begin walking towards the wall.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FD40YOSvLxQffrrk6NFhadcEJ5KpVioQMM12uvzLFqQUkGv_ECegeDx3HLHVmvhpLQ4WXAM1eemj5E4pxofzr7Cs4uJgwY1cGVnTInpUNaJzLaUsnpTV5BM6VjW0JsFALmGwDzjSb0o/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FD40YOSvLxQffrrk6NFhadcEJ5KpVioQMM12uvzLFqQUkGv_ECegeDx3HLHVmvhpLQ4WXAM1eemj5E4pxofzr7Cs4uJgwY1cGVnTInpUNaJzLaUsnpTV5BM6VjW0JsFALmGwDzjSb0o/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A map of our section of the wall</td></tr>
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After several of us purchased lunches and water at a nearby Subway (yes, theres a Subway restaurant even at the base of the Great Wall) we were told when and were to meet and set loose on the Great Wall. It was then that I understood, we were actually climbing up to the Wall. We didn't have the luxury, like I had previously, of taking a cable car up, instead we climbed up stair case after stair case after stair case to get to the wall. So now I can actually say I climbed the Great Wall.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNcoyVzbonrUmrXKpSJiu3Y4swHm9edl1GjTih-E0-Mb9xErIdEEvFUmTPqY29fySKp1R92qlBx4coWvDux-q5acDHhrToWqoZi74O3v5YCk4UmOQ-ij5kdL6v77tA_ynLsanuA7ZTXbk/s1600/DSC_0009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNcoyVzbonrUmrXKpSJiu3Y4swHm9edl1GjTih-E0-Mb9xErIdEEvFUmTPqY29fySKp1R92qlBx4coWvDux-q5acDHhrToWqoZi74O3v5YCk4UmOQ-ij5kdL6v77tA_ynLsanuA7ZTXbk/s1600/DSC_0009.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">stairs upon stairs upon stairs</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DGuAaZx4xTPWiNUThdiCuYDfM4FKpnxgpueuHdZzr3q2mAimyc4BY9rhaAfPtYf1lxNK4neJYgQL1m-gYfcl5xokwJoCkkDGraM90VkWZbjX5eIYhcY_-3CkYLxIwx5MYQxDkPg3Ow8/s1600/DSC_0013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_DGuAaZx4xTPWiNUThdiCuYDfM4FKpnxgpueuHdZzr3q2mAimyc4BY9rhaAfPtYf1lxNK4neJYgQL1m-gYfcl5xokwJoCkkDGraM90VkWZbjX5eIYhcY_-3CkYLxIwx5MYQxDkPg3Ow8/s1600/DSC_0013.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first sighting of the wall!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkBqnkASiUMtfg5aViubxhUK-txypUj7WoM9EBpGu_dLqVdULyfOeVWlHrWha5JzWFWymGrg4qnL2Zdbm9lHnBu8QdC1FAlPtzu4CbZDp8GeV8tCLaYHkIhoMXgSNdca7HOjz6alaArAo/s1600/DSC_0015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkBqnkASiUMtfg5aViubxhUK-txypUj7WoM9EBpGu_dLqVdULyfOeVWlHrWha5JzWFWymGrg4qnL2Zdbm9lHnBu8QdC1FAlPtzu4CbZDp8GeV8tCLaYHkIhoMXgSNdca7HOjz6alaArAo/s1600/DSC_0015.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So close, the wall is so close</td></tr>
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Within a couple yards of the wall, and at the top of the mountain we decided it was lunch time. For me lunch consisted of a loaf of bread and dried cranberries. Not exactly five-star cuisine but it was fine at the time. Plus, the sweltering heat (it was upwards towards 90 degrees) and the climb had taken my appetite for anything but water. Then, once we'd munched our fill. It was time to clamber over the last stretch before we were actually on the wall.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsKypVyIop2Yo-ZgR6ToTBAbH0xDdBWxhO73oiscx1erVT7LOFRqOuoHfBTGrJOf_ZGYm-IGekr4zo7JMWN8eMqMdF5naYBFOwTvL__4ux-Fer2A0Y2Z29IGD8PRSjHp3NZTsxrjyBrY/s1600/DSC_0017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsKypVyIop2Yo-ZgR6ToTBAbH0xDdBWxhO73oiscx1erVT7LOFRqOuoHfBTGrJOf_ZGYm-IGekr4zo7JMWN8eMqMdF5naYBFOwTvL__4ux-Fer2A0Y2Z29IGD8PRSjHp3NZTsxrjyBrY/s1600/DSC_0017.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Victory! We made it!<br />
舒放,Kiera, and Eric</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGyFtLP6s0pHDcvyEafnWHrPRBvYZHPVhtlEhDraovUeiqKYhm7dCnhh2Ib0n2DEcUhxh12scJRMwVDPGRf2p00UJcvtbsSptXXpz02ERix-10Gf1lmzXzZLLgX8sTHblxfO4xqz8pdE/s1600/DSC_0019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGyFtLP6s0pHDcvyEafnWHrPRBvYZHPVhtlEhDraovUeiqKYhm7dCnhh2Ib0n2DEcUhxh12scJRMwVDPGRf2p00UJcvtbsSptXXpz02ERix-10Gf1lmzXzZLLgX8sTHblxfO4xqz8pdE/s1600/DSC_0019.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-V_iL7RM4p6QQ8nRkuYtMAlayAAx64LS4nGJXYEZpoTipdpcM6JbjrQIGsEucy5gp-xM2bmw_dF0VTozjZKBEGTfrlx5wXoKm97nIinXHZu3bAGILVxwpZeznJ2jNihBNRkk5BJe848/s1600/DSC_0025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-V_iL7RM4p6QQ8nRkuYtMAlayAAx64LS4nGJXYEZpoTipdpcM6JbjrQIGsEucy5gp-xM2bmw_dF0VTozjZKBEGTfrlx5wXoKm97nIinXHZu3bAGILVxwpZeznJ2jNihBNRkk5BJe848/s1600/DSC_0025.jpg" height="320" width="299" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where in the world is my JACard?<br />
Showing my JMU Pride</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4gQszMAvZeQnOvK5OXRHVIs_qO3vjHE-Py3K8DrNJi3SuI2fexd59MvvdE0uRh-fLyI0hg8-oncrnejqFUY2H3veMbqL4ehXpc4nzsBO8rcXvsMEiDXafHvwcsB_PEW8zRs1jz-RztQE/s1600/DSC_0027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4gQszMAvZeQnOvK5OXRHVIs_qO3vjHE-Py3K8DrNJi3SuI2fexd59MvvdE0uRh-fLyI0hg8-oncrnejqFUY2H3veMbqL4ehXpc4nzsBO8rcXvsMEiDXafHvwcsB_PEW8zRs1jz-RztQE/s1600/DSC_0027.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyawfi3v_RhFoRVKVS7SoIRzkJlMMMsP4KIii-zAmPhzenDb9hEdhxto6YoaVqCtb2aq1hr4pjTHXXikyHmw6NLkiJGOnR2F4xl_R2zvIQGxn7ljIXvmkKB5z0bnpvUwEeH-7ir4xpunQ/s1600/DSC_0035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyawfi3v_RhFoRVKVS7SoIRzkJlMMMsP4KIii-zAmPhzenDb9hEdhxto6YoaVqCtb2aq1hr4pjTHXXikyHmw6NLkiJGOnR2F4xl_R2zvIQGxn7ljIXvmkKB5z0bnpvUwEeH-7ir4xpunQ/s1600/DSC_0035.JPG" height="284" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CET was here!</td></tr>
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Tired, sweaty, dirty, and filled with accomplishment we meandered our way down and away from the wall, got on the bus, and made the 2 hour journey back to the school, officially all of us a Hero of China!<br />
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FRIDAY, JULY 4TH - 798 Art Gallery District<br />
After surviving another week of classes and our 3rd test, we went off into the city to explore one of the more unique portions of the city. It is a district in beijing that once was a bunch of factories built by East Germans. Today it house one of the leading concentration of contemporary art galleries. It's this really cool area. It's like an eclectic, factory, neighborhood, where you have no idea what you're going to see when you turn the corner but you do know it will be something cool. And the art wasn't restricted to certain buildings and corners. It was everywhere, hanging from the street, lining the sidewalk, carved into the walls, and sitting on a table. The whole are was chock full of statements, and thoughts, and ideas made visible. No, I'm not going to say I liked or even understood all the art that I saw there (and I only saw a fraction of the whole district) but I did appreciate it. Especially in a country that is so controlling about the right of expression, seeing a whole district dedicated to turning thoughts and feelings into things you could see and touch I thought was truly amazing.<br />
In terms of the pictures I took, I'm not big on photographing exhibits (for me taking pictures kind of depletes the meaning of being about to actually go and see it in real life), whether they be museum or art or what not so I don't have many pictures here. But what I'm putting up is, I think, an interesting sample of what 798 had to offer even outside of the exhibits.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8i0S4vIkAfE8cFURA37mQsDnPOBIrLw5QXSuO1Uf9ALZtksNRwr38SB8lRAcL-IM2cU7K1khJb8TzO8gp6dn1Le_9qYeycotn2hqTrIe3jq0ZGwNdPkLW_VWZ3St5iV_dEV33YzXPKg/s1600/DSC_0054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8i0S4vIkAfE8cFURA37mQsDnPOBIrLw5QXSuO1Uf9ALZtksNRwr38SB8lRAcL-IM2cU7K1khJb8TzO8gp6dn1Le_9qYeycotn2hqTrIe3jq0ZGwNdPkLW_VWZ3St5iV_dEV33YzXPKg/s1600/DSC_0054.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is from the first exhibit we saw.<br />It's a horse completely made out of<br />Bronze.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtlPkQX7zip70DTTj2PhGTsudr7xA80DAVWd5vGwlgRZrgT__MjQ57GUK9yhPFWnT5AH3F5V5jJIPET7cPv1fvyazlRyo99iYRtVeqZjrn8a1BTdHf8FiE3QAUjUhbttoy_Ek3NweDH3c/s1600/DSC_0066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtlPkQX7zip70DTTj2PhGTsudr7xA80DAVWd5vGwlgRZrgT__MjQ57GUK9yhPFWnT5AH3F5V5jJIPET7cPv1fvyazlRyo99iYRtVeqZjrn8a1BTdHf8FiE3QAUjUhbttoy_Ek3NweDH3c/s1600/DSC_0066.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A typical street lined with graffiti murals</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib2c1vj7y8SODBWpcp6pn0VdBsBGk1XStg1K2LT3gt3YOnWZ60XTgwGUfqResq3AW_fOeLPVU23td_o5rC2TUx_oRh9oUiIWJ5zAWEGXjHDqQ860qeRGfznFZp0KqCTCsYkyYPfIJShYg/s1600/DSC_0074.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib2c1vj7y8SODBWpcp6pn0VdBsBGk1XStg1K2LT3gt3YOnWZ60XTgwGUfqResq3AW_fOeLPVU23td_o5rC2TUx_oRh9oUiIWJ5zAWEGXjHDqQ860qeRGfznFZp0KqCTCsYkyYPfIJShYg/s1600/DSC_0074.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An interesting mural depicting Chinese and German relations</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIIfAidMJcwG69vb7hD2SOdo7I4otvzgdARFY451IShqYAyn2Oj9ri8aNhuyh-DMViSsy3T3RlEtRpZqKdk0Km3vxUO01GxJtU6vEQkE9Ra3W9J5cV9ZH9w9ShUt1loxWxems6vY36KDw/s1600/DSC_0059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIIfAidMJcwG69vb7hD2SOdo7I4otvzgdARFY451IShqYAyn2Oj9ri8aNhuyh-DMViSsy3T3RlEtRpZqKdk0Km3vxUO01GxJtU6vEQkE9Ra3W9J5cV9ZH9w9ShUt1loxWxems6vY36KDw/s1600/DSC_0059.JPG" height="175" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These graffiti suit men where everywhere. They gave me<br />the sense of always being watched and controlled.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvzg11T48NAFe_ZbgTgRLZlFRn5ux_tC52j0pJISksA2PSQ6a6IDPpPFaCTJKI8opagulj9m70o8pxnKef_Ejoh3Kvni854ja62C5uXBfOnsx5xcw-C7zD8V82_A7W5U4ZV3k1i0mxIXs/s1600/DSC_0062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvzg11T48NAFe_ZbgTgRLZlFRn5ux_tC52j0pJISksA2PSQ6a6IDPpPFaCTJKI8opagulj9m70o8pxnKef_Ejoh3Kvni854ja62C5uXBfOnsx5xcw-C7zD8V82_A7W5U4ZV3k1i0mxIXs/s1600/DSC_0062.JPG" height="209" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interesting combination. On one side you have a child<br />crying behind bars, on the next you have Captain America.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZMQMQkr9HeW93LJAZpdcE25dkYRpfn_ZcYV5m45PDQmEuClaloCEVa7YpCgvHBiRDVtPxUhl8dSLwVqFDdrcqKqZTBPXQp-va3IyUpBNewwZ8QTaqPvui9V2CIN3hzSOvIWs-3TC11Qg/s1600/DSC_0076.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZMQMQkr9HeW93LJAZpdcE25dkYRpfn_ZcYV5m45PDQmEuClaloCEVa7YpCgvHBiRDVtPxUhl8dSLwVqFDdrcqKqZTBPXQp-va3IyUpBNewwZ8QTaqPvui9V2CIN3hzSOvIWs-3TC11Qg/s1600/DSC_0076.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a giant...red...monkey</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Ui81_XSM_u4X2tOBEu-h8msDQhKAwrZlcVwoFeoFN4FNg0gqCEijtM8trdBiRiKLjEV8K64lA61se9Km7voRynbIIff6zGKChUc28HRfdeO303RRotW1ONQ4ngt5O4eaRrA8cFSK0IU/s1600/DSC_0078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Ui81_XSM_u4X2tOBEu-h8msDQhKAwrZlcVwoFeoFN4FNg0gqCEijtM8trdBiRiKLjEV8K64lA61se9Km7voRynbIIff6zGKChUc28HRfdeO303RRotW1ONQ4ngt5O4eaRrA8cFSK0IU/s1600/DSC_0078.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An outside view of some of the exhibits. Here you can<br />definitely see how it may have looked when it was still<br />an operating factory.<br />Then...there's a plane wing, just chillin'</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-GQNCvfBWcPuIQNcMr-ePZpZrtD1hjLzhnpRpLjLEMdao-89SNSaa_Ppo2bb1K5xG7fTerFGO7aJ7j2ERsSxREB49ORTPP6PgH3ZTVKRh7fE5mT7wwNnIl8EJhtYq9Kb2J02JKx7Nc0/s1600/DSC_0083.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-GQNCvfBWcPuIQNcMr-ePZpZrtD1hjLzhnpRpLjLEMdao-89SNSaa_Ppo2bb1K5xG7fTerFGO7aJ7j2ERsSxREB49ORTPP6PgH3ZTVKRh7fE5mT7wwNnIl8EJhtYq9Kb2J02JKx7Nc0/s1600/DSC_0083.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm just gonna leave this here for you guys</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqTBeR7WhLHJ3T1M_4wlUOvf23-kmsMgle0iD3mSKGbIdwADFFsX1miKAHmrxHbQfE71EDEYftu9GZBHrmQAmYe3Lu9n13TmTiD7ELW6j4kNgp67Dqt2ysIEzeh1VdRvpxD2CkK7-YHI/s1600/DSC_0096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqTBeR7WhLHJ3T1M_4wlUOvf23-kmsMgle0iD3mSKGbIdwADFFsX1miKAHmrxHbQfE71EDEYftu9GZBHrmQAmYe3Lu9n13TmTiD7ELW6j4kNgp67Dqt2ysIEzeh1VdRvpxD2CkK7-YHI/s1600/DSC_0096.JPG" height="184" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This translates to, not interesting.<br />My friends and I took it as the Chinese version of<br />"Nothing to see here" which is, of course, ironic as it was in<br />an art gallery filled to the brim with things to see.</td></tr>
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<br /> When our exploration of 798 came to a close my friends, Eric and Max, and I ventured off to another part of China to meet with Eric's roommate. One of the many things that makes CET such a strong language immersion course is that part of the program is being assigned a Chinese roommate who is there for you to practice talking with and give you tips about how to improve, 24/7. However, up till that point, Eric's roommate had been MIA. He had a lot of things to take care of since he was graduating from university and wasn't able to move into the dorm till several weeks after the program started. The day before he moved in he decided to take us out to dinner with some of his friends.</div>
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We went to another portion of the city that had a surprising number of westerners, I think it is because there are a lot of universities and schools in that area, and experienced our first Chinese rush hour. The picture below shows what the subway looks like during rush hour in Beijing.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUI5RKOIx-Ov6ZuG4aFTcuKeqx9yPBb7eR9J99FIV3VW9sMfiTI0CiReVl-rVAow1uKfHRvMbXZe-FitsddQvyY86apvw3iV9gpk7XznsaplvqMXdPjSizcM0jTUEzDNPguegctH8FhTE/s1600/DSC_0100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUI5RKOIx-Ov6ZuG4aFTcuKeqx9yPBb7eR9J99FIV3VW9sMfiTI0CiReVl-rVAow1uKfHRvMbXZe-FitsddQvyY86apvw3iV9gpk7XznsaplvqMXdPjSizcM0jTUEzDNPguegctH8FhTE/s1600/DSC_0100.JPG" height="235" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladies and Gentleman, the legendary Beijing Rush Hour</td></tr>
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<br /> After, making our way through the waves of people, meeting up with Eric's roommate Ethan, and by some miracle finding a Taxi we made our way to the restaurant. It was a family style sort of place with lots of students and people around our age. There we met several of Eric's classmates and had a really nice dinner. We were there for a solid couple of hours just talking and laughing. Ethan order loads of food (roast duck and dumplings included of course) and made sure we always had at least some beer in our glasses. Ethan's friend April told us about her plans to study in America this coming semester and we talked about the differences between America and China. All in all, it was really great meeting some other Chinese students and getting to know more about what it's like to grow up in China and live in Beijing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOJ6RRb3WHgDkRvR7NGgUakveWAJUnIRCxfzC4WteT6VBdH9MU8vvQYDqfEiIK0GJcerKvLi2F96EQEkSW_rO1c3MBtvaVZEcxwiYm_3zwrTw414BP_y5ZO6_-0ncBsqAZV1yGO5Nl2pI/s1600/DSC_0115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOJ6RRb3WHgDkRvR7NGgUakveWAJUnIRCxfzC4WteT6VBdH9MU8vvQYDqfEiIK0GJcerKvLi2F96EQEkSW_rO1c3MBtvaVZEcxwiYm_3zwrTw414BP_y5ZO6_-0ncBsqAZV1yGO5Nl2pI/s1600/DSC_0115.JPG" height="225" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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We left the restaurant around 10 and, with Ethan and his friend's assistance, got a taxi to take us back to the subway. Now up till that point we had had no trouble what so ever when it came to using the subway. Beijing's subway is fairly user friendly and even has a lot of english so non-chinese speakers can easily figure out where to go. The only catch, is that it closes at 11pm, which we had forgotten. And while trying to get back to the school from the restaurant we ending up going the wrong direction twice. The first time was the station we had met Ethan at. I, with my terrible sense of direction, trusted Eric and Max that we were going the right way. However, thanks to a small subway map lent to me by my roommate, I realized we were going the complete opposite direction we needed to. So we got off and walked around the station to get on the opposite side. This seemed like no big deal until we got off at the transfer and saw dozens of locals sprinting through the station to the trains. It was there that I remember one of the teachers at CET saying how the last trains leave at 11pm, and it was 10:45pm. We joined the sprinting masses, quickly finding the line we needed and dashing through the station. Downstairs and around a corner, our train was there and we dashed on with only seconds to spare before the doors closed. But just as the train was leaving the station we realized that we, once again, had got on the wrong side. We got off at the next station, fingers crossed that another train was coming. Thankfully, with 5 minutes to spare, we made the last train of the night and got back to our dorm with a fun story to tell.</div>
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SATURDAY JULY 5th - Another Park</div>
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Saturday we opted for something a little more low key, so we decided to explore Beihai Park. This is a park in Beijing that is more famous than the Bamboo park we had gone to the week before. To prove that, it was much more crowded and you had to pay to get in. The park it's self was beautiful and interesting with a sort of pagoda in the middle as well as a buddhist temple. But, in all honesty I prefer the Bamboo park to Beihai.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8lLgSQQuSEfyp3maeYiS89i0eL_RCLyNSq3GQjb67U4AM2HoMl1jzJ4hqKEibzLV203W4-_3Afxjd3opESXuq-Pt9eSdqBa5HvG6yNa6bi54Q-Bg9c3Tb8qaqMaSyKTmhO0F8RzwK1I/s1600/DSC_0160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8lLgSQQuSEfyp3maeYiS89i0eL_RCLyNSq3GQjb67U4AM2HoMl1jzJ4hqKEibzLV203W4-_3Afxjd3opESXuq-Pt9eSdqBa5HvG6yNa6bi54Q-Bg9c3Tb8qaqMaSyKTmhO0F8RzwK1I/s1600/DSC_0160.JPG" height="236" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very pretty lake at the center of the park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw6ERCisHGMYZKVdyX8V_5YPza0zHii3kCzqraJHgvaV8tttTQeU3TWnmdWdqwSsUHTFDhKpBn3ykJ9Og1P5D0k31LAQ67Tv5qiv87LvcI8Ak10dSGk13oYSP8QSd7O8sZqzLm7ob-YUU/s1600/DSC_0155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw6ERCisHGMYZKVdyX8V_5YPza0zHii3kCzqraJHgvaV8tttTQeU3TWnmdWdqwSsUHTFDhKpBn3ykJ9Og1P5D0k31LAQ67Tv5qiv87LvcI8Ak10dSGk13oYSP8QSd7O8sZqzLm7ob-YUU/s1600/DSC_0155.JPG" height="169" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's the forbidden city</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoADjj17BF6CoUY7JCs1l-fzZbew-kPlgtnsc3SccVyZYmd-d7z4aGIojxoMBrelVYovOUHXSTj73BoZ4MA5JCMoj48O7_Q5NOX3P6aIUNgp8yqCOx7IPWXdJ-Q0x3lYxpMALtIF9jQ2Q/s1600/DSC_0149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoADjj17BF6CoUY7JCs1l-fzZbew-kPlgtnsc3SccVyZYmd-d7z4aGIojxoMBrelVYovOUHXSTj73BoZ4MA5JCMoj48O7_Q5NOX3P6aIUNgp8yqCOx7IPWXdJ-Q0x3lYxpMALtIF9jQ2Q/s1600/DSC_0149.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prayer cards from the Buddhist temple</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The apparently famous 9 dragon wall that we just<br />stumbled upon while trying to find the exit</td></tr>
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SUNDAY - JULY 6th - Hot Pot Shenanigans</div>
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That Sunday one of our teachers took my classmates and me to get a tradition chinese dish called Hot Pot. Now, I have had hot pot before and loved it so I was certainly very excited, but my classmates weren't entirely sure about the whole concept so my teacher wanted to show them how amazing it can be. I like to say Hot Pot is a little like fondue, except replace the cheese/chocolate with boiling water or oil or some sort of spiced water. All you do is decide what you would want to eat, stick it in the water for the appropriate amount of time and eat it. </div>
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We went to a popular mall a couple subway stops away from our school, and while waiting for our seats got a chance to wander around some shops. Overall, it was a very fun and tasty break from the mountains of homework I had been wading through earlier that day. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aren't we adorable</td></tr>
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<br />Well that's all for now. Keep an eye out for my post about our midterm trip to An'Yang and prepare yourself for loads of pictures.<br />
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Until then be safe, be happy, and remember<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-50381985369455163242014-07-03T02:02:00.001-07:002014-07-03T02:02:30.486-07:00Take A LookHey guys! Unfortunately I can't put up a full post today. I have a pretty intense test tomorrow that I really need to study for (which I'm procrastinating on at the moment by writing this...but what ever). However, I do have some interesting things to show you that keep popping up in my life at the moment.<br />
So without further ado....<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/2XTBwvi0h2E?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
So those of you who are friends with me on Facebook have already seen this video. I just thought I'd put it up again because it's so accurate to how I feel most of the time here in China. It's also a super fun song. It was shown to me by my teacher Wang 老师 during class one day.<br />
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This is a super adorable video that my classmate Mario is currently obsessed. But, I mean, can you blame him? It's super happy, and adorable, and shows off Beijing spectacularly. Plus it's super catchy. For the past two days we have ended class singing this song. Today, Hayden brought his speakers and he literally carried it out of the classroom and around the dorm still playing this song. It was really funny seeing all the teachers laughing and singing along. Of course, all the students just stared at us.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/6lbPgfKK7m4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Here is a really cute and ridiculous video about the <i>wonder </i>of friendship (cue the rainbows and flower petals). The title 朋友 (pengyou) means friend. We sang this song for class the other day. The educational director (basically the principle), the man everyone is slightly afraid of because he's the one you go to if you get caught breaking the language pledge, even came and sang with us a little bit.</div>
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Last, but certainly not least, we have this video. This is another our teacher showed us in class to sing. I'm not entirely sure what's going on but it's a super fun song and really catchy so thought I'd show it to you as well.</div>
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Finally, there is an article that I came across the other day that talks about some super important reasons to travel, all of which I completely agree with so I thought I'd share it with you. It is an article on the Huffington Post by Ryan O'Rourke called "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-orourke/6-lessons-travel-teaches-that-college-never-will_b_5519693.html" target="_blank">6 Lessons Travel Teaches You That College Never Will</a>". Even though I've only been in China for a month I have already learned so many different things that I never would sitting in a classroom. Don't get me wrong, I always have been and always will be an advocate for education and college and all that. However, traveling is a different kind of education that never fails to teach you valuable lessons. Whether it's staying in England for a couple weeks or going to a third world country for a year or two, leaving your comfort zone behind and stepping out your door into this brave world is crucial. With traveling you broaden your horizons in so many ways previously unknown.</div>
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Well, that's it for now. Time to stop procrastinating. I will have a post up within the next couple days about my adventures from last weekend. And, I have some fun things lined up for this weekend that I can't wait to tell you about as well.</div>
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Until then, be safe, be happy, and remember </div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-87994351282028570072014-07-02T10:21:00.002-07:002014-07-02T10:22:51.891-07:00Chinese 101I know some of you are probably curious about how I can understand my teachers and actually learn the lesson when it is in a language that is foreign to me (haha, get it...it's a pun). So I thought I'd tell you a bit about my average day, specifically how our classes work. (Yes I'm procrastinating, my excuse is that I haven't written a post in a while.)<br />
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LEVELS</div>
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So there are a little over 60 kids in total here at CET, all of whom have different backgrounds, learning styles, and skill levels. So on the first day here, in order to accurately place all of us in the correct class, we took an entrance exam, and boy was it hard. We all took the same test (unless you came in as a complete beginner) so there were inevitably parts where I had no idea what they were saying. Then, several days after the exam you were notified as to which level you were placed in. CET has 7 levels ranging from complete and absolute beginner, meaning the only word you know in Chinese is 你好, to pretty darn close to being fluent.</div>
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<b>100</b> - complete, absolute beginner</div>
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<b>150</b> - understand basic phrases </div>
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<b>200</b> - more complex listening and sentence structure</div>
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<b>260</b></div>
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<b> 300 </b></div>
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<b> 350</b></div>
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<b>400</b> - pretty damn smart</div>
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I am in 150, so at the beginning of this summer I knew 你好,谢谢,对不起 and so on, I could very basic things fairly well, but my speaking and listening skills were basically none existent.</div>
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As for distribution among the levels, 100 has a solid nine or ten students (very brave souls who decided that one doesn't always need to walk before learning to run). 150, my level, is the smallest with a grand total of four students. 200 is by far the largest, with the majority of students being in that level. The rest of the levels have a fairly even number of students.</div>
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AN AVERAGE DAY</div>
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For all levels the typical structure of the class day is to have a big class where you learn grammar and vocabulary and then have a smaller class for drill. So for example the students in the 200 level are split in to classes of about 8-10 for their first class. Then for their second class they have about 4 or 5 students. My class differs from this in that it is just us four all day because we are so small. After lunch everybody has a one-on-one session with a teacher to practice grammar and ask questions. The whole day goes from 8:30am to about 2/3pm so it's not too bad. Plus, we have the added bonus of having our class in the same building as our dorm so you don't need to worry about any sort of commuting time. </div>
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CLASS STRUCTURE</div>
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Now for the nitty gritty. As I said earlier, in our first class we review the grammar and vocabulary of the lesson. So you may be asking yourself, how do I learn something when I don't understand the language that the teacher is speaking in. Well, here comes the genius of the whole system. With an efficient use of the white board and printed out grammar structures the teacher can use only the words we know and still teach us everything we need to know. Amazing, I know! Well, not only that, we are also expected to spend several hours the previous night reviewing the grammar ourselves with the book. So it's basically one big package. Reviewing the day's lesson (usually entails a butt load of workbook exercises) + Previewing the next lesson (which entails studying vocabulary and grammar) + being proactive in class = Chinese success! </div>
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好好学习, 天天向上!</div>
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So as you can imagine everyday involves a lot of work. I spend most of my day either in class or doing homework and preparing for class. So I'm pretty much tired all the time. (每天很难,每天很累 - or in other words, everyday is really hard and every day we're really tired.)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My teacher snapped this pic of me taking a<br />
quick nap during one of our breaks.</td></tr>
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But, if all this work and time and lack of sleep takes me closer to my goal for fluency then it's totally worth it.</div>
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A PERSONAL TOUCH</div>
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So before I go I just wanted to introduce you to my classmates and my two amazing teachers. </div>
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My classmates are super cool and very fun to learn with. Mario (on the far right) is always ready with a smile and a song. Eric (on my right in the green) has become one of my good friends. And Hayden (in the back) is super cool and has been brought blueberries to class the past couple days so we, of course, all like him.</div>
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We are lucky in having two amazing and completely wonderful teachers. 王(wang)老师 (in the middle behind me) is not only a very good teacher but also quickly becoming a good friend. She is always very encouraging and patient and understands just how to help me improve my chinese conversation skills. Then 滦(luan)老师 is pretty much the strict but always kind mother of the group. She always keeps us in line and manages to explain some pretty complex concepts in ways we can perfectly understand, not to mention she is always ready to answer any questions we may have.</div>
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So that's my little 中文 family. We're small and a little crazy at times, (it's not uncommon to walk into our class and find someone dancing, singing, or with a book on his/her head, we even have nicknames for each other based on the food we like the most. I'm 饺子王 or Dumpling King) but we have also learned a great deal in a very short time and I can't wait to see how we keep going as the summer progresses.</div>
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That's all for now! Hope to have another post up soon about the fun stuff I did last weekend.</div>
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Until then, be safe, be happy, and remember </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-71904697766360100692014-06-22T10:20:00.000-07:002014-06-25T06:30:10.989-07:00My Life as a Student in Beijing So I've been here at CET for almost two weeks now so I think it's time to tell you a bit about my life here and what I've been up to.<br />
First, my living situation. Full disclosure, upon first glance my thoughts about my dorm and the surrounding area was that it was...crappy. The school is small it's in a crowded shopping area with lots of people just chillin' on the side of the road in front of their shops. Also the dorms are no where near as nice as my dorm at James Madison. So you can imagine my...let's say disappointment at the idea of having to live here for two months. However, I quickly put my thoughts into a different perspective.<br />
At the first day of orientation (June 12th) one of the first things our Resident Director touched on is how in China, these dorms are considered very nice. She said how its not uncommon in most other Chinese universities to have 6 girls in one room. Here it's two people per room and some people are even in singles so they don't have a roommate. So, even though the bathrooms are kind of...eh and the room seemed small, and the walls are bare and scuffed, it's totally safe, absolutely livable, and nice if you can adjust your expectations a bit.<br />
My friends and I walked around a bit yesterday and I managed to get some nice pictures while the sky was blue. It has been raining the past couple days and when that happens the next day is usually really nice ('cause it clears out some of the pollution).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1JyGKfBJfdhTRdxcbFJxN-hkMtgXJEcKLasL1LlXyWnC9qN0fZX-bnUIn_kU8GOM4r0uYDWMppNcXI1qx8FNOowkazaxlzN4i1VB1nb7c3wyJZnS6RRv2Vnq26de1dL29P8zMzItGQ14/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1JyGKfBJfdhTRdxcbFJxN-hkMtgXJEcKLasL1LlXyWnC9qN0fZX-bnUIn_kU8GOM4r0uYDWMppNcXI1qx8FNOowkazaxlzN4i1VB1nb7c3wyJZnS6RRv2Vnq26de1dL29P8zMzItGQ14/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the entrance to our school,<br />
The Beijing Institute of Education.<br />
At night the gate is closed and there<br />
is always a guard nearby (you can see him<br />
in the back there).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zLHWsKI5_q8TZFBwGbOIpCiK6PkPbICfcyL-IPume37b6BIPlPSVmkO_xnRoOU2vJElNjxOhhuqe3WxYdzLIYoM_eVuMnZ8oaRPXUj4r-2zXqwtcxU8FPri4ckWCgNAcqkrMT4uW9HA/s1600/DSC_0008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zLHWsKI5_q8TZFBwGbOIpCiK6PkPbICfcyL-IPume37b6BIPlPSVmkO_xnRoOU2vJElNjxOhhuqe3WxYdzLIYoM_eVuMnZ8oaRPXUj4r-2zXqwtcxU8FPri4ckWCgNAcqkrMT4uW9HA/s1600/DSC_0008.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the entrance to my dorm 西楼.<br />
I live on the second floor</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuszFfOTNyrectTTRGJ_bD6r7p-c5u06lCLgAhwR_aQb8iAEqpZ6lxBY2whdNTyCHKVNhyphenhyphen2aXMXgTjToleFjdUZUMZj_pLdcj0OLNngi0iFq1dh-9L3q9J2pX4QAHRKWrbJLjf1SZRI0/s1600/DSC_0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuszFfOTNyrectTTRGJ_bD6r7p-c5u06lCLgAhwR_aQb8iAEqpZ6lxBY2whdNTyCHKVNhyphenhyphen2aXMXgTjToleFjdUZUMZj_pLdcj0OLNngi0iFq1dh-9L3q9J2pX4QAHRKWrbJLjf1SZRI0/s1600/DSC_0003.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8-sDswCOnOD0cdaer81uV70bJLkzLuJ81f3AAt9objFy9sfl_P0pNnxHUeQ5zR9aWkBxHULV5frRNJ3MwCLirhDoSwue35TH3kTTI1WlkcvUIWzjS42RayIUb2lWEAAQ_sAEssv0HGc/s1600/DSC_0018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8-sDswCOnOD0cdaer81uV70bJLkzLuJ81f3AAt9objFy9sfl_P0pNnxHUeQ5zR9aWkBxHULV5frRNJ3MwCLirhDoSwue35TH3kTTI1WlkcvUIWzjS42RayIUb2lWEAAQ_sAEssv0HGc/s1600/DSC_0018.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(from right to left) my roommate 舒放 (shu fang)<br />
and my friends Eric and Mario</td></tr>
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The pictures above show the street that our school is on. It's fairly small and lined with shops and tiny "restaurants" like the one depicted below. Most of these shops have really cheap clothing or food stuffs such as ramen (which is quickly becoming a staple of my diet along with rice and watermelon). There's also a little hole in the wall place across the street that sells really cheap water and alcohol, two of the most important components of the student food chain. (On the first night, while hanging out with a bunch of the people here at CET, many of them had already decided that China was one of the best countries on the planet because alcohol is so cheap and they don't bother carding you or anything.) Down the opposite direction of this street you can find many more shops such as pharmacies and less sketchy restaurant and food places. One of my favorite places to eat is a dumpling restaurant that is just a couple minutes walk from the dorm. There is a small, little local park near are dorm that a bunch of the residents go to. We went by there the other day and got to try our hand at some ping pong, suffice it to say our skills were severally lacking, but it was still a really cool look into the everyday lives of people here. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXw5P-QvGLDFG0kj1tNMKpxmNqwmiSiohLArZGZwsx1IAWpS2pFZcMggGpdphCQ9XEVk6ic2bkNHnCpfx09QUCOpVgFtVMVXHbKLv5KbrApDxFa-nIKUfiNTJsuIzzpreAYet5VPpkaro/s1600/DSC_0019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXw5P-QvGLDFG0kj1tNMKpxmNqwmiSiohLArZGZwsx1IAWpS2pFZcMggGpdphCQ9XEVk6ic2bkNHnCpfx09QUCOpVgFtVMVXHbKLv5KbrApDxFa-nIKUfiNTJsuIzzpreAYet5VPpkaro/s1600/DSC_0019.JPG" height="320" width="294" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most of the shops and "restaurants" down this<br />
road look like this. The shop at the end is where they sell<br />
a whole bunch of ramen.</td></tr>
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Once you reach the end of our street and turn you see this big shopping mall called Korea Town. For some reason chinese people love Korean things enough to make a whole shop around it.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back of Korea Town</td></tr>
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You keep going down the road past Korea town and turn and you feel like you're in a big city again. There are rows and rows of shops and little fast food places. The district we're set in is a shopping district so everyone comes here during the day to shop and walk around but it gets pretty quiet at night.<br />
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Below you can see a particularly interesting restaurant chain that we stumbled upon. It's a Bruce Lee restaurant! We ate their the yesterday (June 21st) at it was actually okay, not a five star restaurant but better than McDonalds. Several days earlier when we were eating at the dumpling restaurant, we were watching a kung fu movie that was playing in the room. During one of the scenes this very serious, very bad ass guy whips out his mad kung fu skills and takes out the fifteen bad guys who had surrounded him. After that scene my friend Max turned to me and said "he ate at the Bruce Lee restaurant".</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0dlgBrCEmVFlHbasS9196IZrA59IRsYi_MWMi944pLSWP4OzUpL82wXXOXZ3YEqdxCVB9KUnyU_A7B34YWqXQPKw1lCJrTXEJbUZsmTBubVYs9srqSL3Gdqlz6GxqYGY2USHLAp9kWU/s1600/DSC_0023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0dlgBrCEmVFlHbasS9196IZrA59IRsYi_MWMi944pLSWP4OzUpL82wXXOXZ3YEqdxCVB9KUnyU_A7B34YWqXQPKw1lCJrTXEJbUZsmTBubVYs9srqSL3Gdqlz6GxqYGY2USHLAp9kWU/s1600/DSC_0023.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bruce Lee restaurant in all it's glory</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2R-s9Cy28ZYAXRDUdNmX79cY77C6UYFj_tBjsVKjmv728mlfgX74UECwD1KoWwxuDkMOAEvEGDgfS_q603J0-tNPX-zKdjMK-QCi90rMTiD7gVU0nqNR77V82ZWuCCl9utDs8d_CDMMo/s1600/DSC_0025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2R-s9Cy28ZYAXRDUdNmX79cY77C6UYFj_tBjsVKjmv728mlfgX74UECwD1KoWwxuDkMOAEvEGDgfS_q603J0-tNPX-zKdjMK-QCi90rMTiD7gVU0nqNR77V82ZWuCCl9utDs8d_CDMMo/s1600/DSC_0025.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another shot of the area around my school.<br />
You can tell it's much more metropolitan and big<br />
city-esque.</td></tr>
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Then you go three minutes in the right direction and you end up in an area that looks like the picture above, very open and grand with the city sky scrapers in the background. After being here for two weeks I have definitely grown to like it. Yes there are pros and cons but it's good not to dwell on either and just kind of go with the flow.<br />
Speaking of pros and cons, besides the quality of the dorm there are several other things that have taken some getting used to. For example, which kind of water to drink and which kind of water to avoid. The water from the showers and the sinks you really shouldn't drink. It isn't treated in any way to make it drinkable, it's purely for washing. You can use the faucet water to brush your teeth, I have seen most of the students here (chinese and american) doing that but I personally opt to just use bottled water or water from the heater (each bathroom has a water heater that keeps the water at 100 degrees Celsius so it's drinkable). Like I said before there are many little shops around that sell huge jugs of water for cheap so it's very easy to stock up. Another part of life here that took some adjusting is the fact that we have to bring our own toilet paper. There isn't any toilet paper provided for us just chilling out in the bathrooms, it's up to us to purchase and bring our toilet paper to and from the bathroom. Also, you can't flush toilet paper down the toilet, the plumbing system can't take it or something. So instead every stall has a little bin in it where you can throw away the toilet paper. Another huge adjustment is figuring out which places are safe to eat at and which places you avoid. It's pretty much a no-brainer to avoid street carts. However, if for whatever reason you're in a dire situation where your only option is a street cart, pick one that has a lot of people at it. If there are a lot of people at one cart and nobody at the cart next to it, there's probably a reason why nobody is going to that other cart. Also at certain restaurants, you can tell when they are a little bit nicer or safer when they give you boiling water to drink. This shows you that they are careful about the type of water they use. When Dad was still here we went to a hot pot restaurant and they gave us each a cup of hot water. At the time we assumed we were supposed to use it for our soup but now I know it was actually to drink. However, even at regular restaurants where no one else has a problem you can have a bad reaction to something. I was the lucky one in this case and got to experience a slightly more than mild case of Chinese food poisoning.<br />
It was Monday June 16th, we had we signed the language pledge and had our first day of classes. That evening my friends and I went to this Sichuan restaurant that our Resident Director had talked about for dinner. She said it was fine and she'd never heard of any student complaints before so we decided to go. We ordered some kind of orange chicken, beef and potatoes, and this spicy green bean dish with rice. The rest of the day I was perfectly fine, no problems what so ever, well...except for a pounding headache and several frantic dashes to the bathroom (not to be graphic). That night I woke up and my whole body was shaking. At first I thought I was just really cold, up till that point I had a bad habit of turning my air conditioner up really high before going to bed. But even when I put on long pants, socks, and a sweatshirt it wouldn't stop. So I went to my friend Max (who is an amazing human being that didn't complain about being woken up at 2:30 in the morning) in tears telling him I had no idea what was wrong with me or what I should do. Anyways, to make a long story short, after calling our Resident Director (who gave us permission to speak English), taking my temperature and discovering I had a fever, we set off into the stormy night to go to the hospital. I wasn't by any means in serious danger, I did have a fever but it was relatively low. Just the fact that I had woken up in the middle of the night and was in a strange country kind of made things scarier, so I went with the "better safe than sorry route".<br />
The hospital we went to was an ex-pat hospital so they all spoke english (yay to no language barrier). The doctor who treated me even had a very western-cowboy sort of saunter to him. When he walked in the room I half expected him to say "Ni howdy" as opposed to the chinese hello "Ni Hao". He also had a very "rub some dirt in it and you'll be fine" sort of attitude to my condition, but in his defense it was 4 o'clock in the morning at that point and I was no were near in serious condition. So basically they found out I had "travelers diarrhea" which I was very common, gave me an IV with some stuff to stop the quesiness that had developed and to make me feel better, then sent me home with some Imodium. And that was my experience with a Chinese hospital, exciting I know.<br />
Besides the toilet, water, and food situation, the hardest thing of all to get used to is the language pledge. One of the core principles of the program I'm doing is that you sign a pledge saying you won't speak or listen to any english while you're here. Which means no english movies, tv shows, music...anything. Even the classroom is completely and totally in chinese. The most challenging part about this is it makes it very hard to express your self. For people who are in higher levels (I'm in 150 and the program goes up to 400) it's not as challenging and they have more freedom to talk. However, for those of us on my level or in the beginner level, having truly meaningful conversations is basically impossible unless you wanna do it all in writing or through text. Classes are really challenging too because if you don't understand something you can't ask them to tell you what they mean in english. However, I did have an amazingly beautiful moment the other day. While in my speaking class I forgot that I was speaking a foreign language! That's right, while sitting in a class that was ALL Chinese I understood everything that was going on and forgot that we weren't speaking english but we were actually talking in a language I've only been studying for two years. Of course this is all due to my amazing and incredibly patient teachers, Wang 老师 (laoshi = teacher/a respectful title) and Luan 老师. So, I know this program is working and despite all the frustration, my chinese has already improved immensely.<br />
Even with the very apparent language barrier I have still managed to make friends and have a lot of fun. Before the language pledge started a bunch of us made a little trek over to Tiananmen Square and the five story tall Beijing Books Building. My first mission upon entering the book store was to find Harry Potter in Chinese and it was....successful! I bought the first Harry Potter book which in Chinese is 哈利 波特 (Hali Bote). I also bought three Chinese children's books which you can read phonetically, meaning that above each character is the pinyin and the tone (however they are still a little too advanced for me).<br />
On Friday (June 20th) me, my roommate, and two other friends just stumbled upon the Beijing International Tea Expo of 2014. Which is totally ridiculous, especially since I am such a major tea enthusiast.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It must have been fate.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The incredibly lavish front of the convention center.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWz0DmS8CixVkN3aR83_4FctJPmrny2-s2mynikstsF8eok-tF_2IcUFRz9gmdn0Hv5VxvEgs87HPYX6SO_hMld7IkNPnMA5uEP1cxJ6vi-u50v_58hCyVKyAY_156P5vJnksp028aJ8/s1600/DSC_0042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWz0DmS8CixVkN3aR83_4FctJPmrny2-s2mynikstsF8eok-tF_2IcUFRz9gmdn0Hv5VxvEgs87HPYX6SO_hMld7IkNPnMA5uEP1cxJ6vi-u50v_58hCyVKyAY_156P5vJnksp028aJ8/s1600/DSC_0042.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nothing makes me happier than tea...well except maybe<br />
books.</td></tr>
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At this expo they had stall after stall of all sorts of different tea brands. We of course picked up a couple free samples and wandered around for a solid hour or so just admiring all the different kinds of teas.</div>
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Some stall had really cool displays like the one below where they created a design out of tea leaves. There were also many stalls with beautiful tea glasses and amazingly carved tea kettles, all of course very expensive and completely impractical for me to purchase.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdrG_RMIwcLWovk6J7ZPmScvj1wMxmjfSrwK9yCC-aZKqwM551ht4ooSAnbcV2vu_l3Xfm8frgxWa857cbQEAkjJN4H46M-dvr-6k3-Wy5ssyTjy2nfATm9Cvxjdre6ZqE4Le71N2XCk/s1600/DSC_0054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdrG_RMIwcLWovk6J7ZPmScvj1wMxmjfSrwK9yCC-aZKqwM551ht4ooSAnbcV2vu_l3Xfm8frgxWa857cbQEAkjJN4H46M-dvr-6k3-Wy5ssyTjy2nfATm9Cvxjdre6ZqE4Le71N2XCk/s1600/DSC_0054.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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They even had people in old fashioned costumes. I'm not entirely sure why but my guess is to show the history of tea and the important role it has played throughout chinese history...or something.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some off duty actors. I don't think<br />
the guy is too happy about me taking<br />
his picture.</td></tr>
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That night CET took us to an organized program to go see a Chinese Acrobat show. This one was much better attended and much better funded then the one my dad and I had scene earlier.<br />
Saturday, a friend of my from JMU who is actually from Beijing, Shirley, came by and took me and two of my friends to a very famous and very popular Hutong called Heizhima Hutong. This Hutong was really pretty and really crowded. There were shops lining the whole area and plenty of great and unique things to buy and eat. I got some very funny and random post cards with interesting chinglish on them as well as a gorgeous tea cup. My two friends Eric and Max both got seals of their Chinese names that looked really cool and I'm sure will have many uses in the future (slight sarcasm there). We ended the day with eating at a cafe which actually sold western food. For the first time in two weeks we used forks and ate a meal that didn't include rice.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dWOBo66B7Qm7K8_3rfgbwgsjg7DDqLadWew0TwBy2esfju1ZJt7reFf1J-O-0BWi6Vi8atSrStNC5x7ZPa5yWd5sts_iYV0YYgMARYjdvOf12BGIS5D0E4kyKhn68S-sczH7ObOAces/s1600/DSC_0086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dWOBo66B7Qm7K8_3rfgbwgsjg7DDqLadWew0TwBy2esfju1ZJt7reFf1J-O-0BWi6Vi8atSrStNC5x7ZPa5yWd5sts_iYV0YYgMARYjdvOf12BGIS5D0E4kyKhn68S-sczH7ObOAces/s1600/DSC_0086.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beautiful Shirley here to take us<br />
on our Hutong adventure.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMu7eMhyYtgyRPR1i19k8NYZZg8ID2nWZNRj2-OGOO31lGsBHjEajzvLOQs7XZ3c4_RdPoeVRuNFlsgrnDN5MBNHqZj2Dz4d3DGDQi2GRF087NgeMRqZ4ItnrK85jfnoaRDxN53FxN3bg/s1600/DSC_0091.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMu7eMhyYtgyRPR1i19k8NYZZg8ID2nWZNRj2-OGOO31lGsBHjEajzvLOQs7XZ3c4_RdPoeVRuNFlsgrnDN5MBNHqZj2Dz4d3DGDQi2GRF087NgeMRqZ4ItnrK85jfnoaRDxN53FxN3bg/s1600/DSC_0091.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first look at the beautiful but crowded<br />
Hutong</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At this cafe, not only can you get food, drinks, and wifi, but also friendship!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very tall and slightly grumpy Max.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsLySjV60RowYhK3Q3h_RTBSrZPq1xj5SW921vKQ7FvuL5yEITwkcQM4AJQLNODgbc3bp4E2QZIrFe7zJ8pwh3Y9MGwLUFZHgn_LEVJ41vap6kxwRlCfJ2W861RKaBMglxWodmAZtajQ/s1600/DSC_0102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsLySjV60RowYhK3Q3h_RTBSrZPq1xj5SW921vKQ7FvuL5yEITwkcQM4AJQLNODgbc3bp4E2QZIrFe7zJ8pwh3Y9MGwLUFZHgn_LEVJ41vap6kxwRlCfJ2W861RKaBMglxWodmAZtajQ/s1600/DSC_0102.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The always good for a laugh Eric.</td></tr>
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One thing they told us about in the multiple orientation seminars we had to go to is Cultural Shock and it's three basic stages. The first stage is called the honeymoon stage. During this time you think everything about China is amazing. It's a magical fairyland that is a thousand times better than any where in the states. Then, the next stage is something akin to resentment. Everything about the host country is awful simply because it's not home. During this stage you are determined to dislike anything and would go home at the first opportunity. Then, finally comes the last stage. Where you are content and happy to be where you are. You see China as neither a mystical fairyland or a rotten pit. Instead, it's just another country where you have decided to stay for a while. It's a country where you can see people going about their daily lives just trying to be happy and live well. I had a rough go of it at the beginning of this program but I think I'm finally starting to move my way into the final stage. I'm happy here, and I know this experience has already helped me grow and learn in ways I have never expected. Who knows what is yet to come.<br />
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So until next time, be safe, be happy, and remember...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-52943111995132264852014-06-14T22:18:00.000-07:002014-06-14T22:18:08.674-07:00Apologies For The Technical Difficulties (final)Day 5<br />
Six Star Hotels and Thousand Year Old Statues<br />
I'm going to take a moment to touch on the absolutely spectacular hotel we had the privilege to stay in while in Xian. According to our guide it was a 6 Star Hotel (which, before coming here I didn't know was a thing) that use to only be for governors or government officials when they came to stay in Xian. But now it has been opened to the public and it is absolutely gorgeous. The entire hotel has several wings which are basically separate buildings with different types of very lavish furnishings and fancy restaurants. The area is gated off so you don't even really feel like your in China. My Dad kept saying how much it felt like California. The air around the hotel also seemed fresher and smelled like jasmine and magnolia. So, three cheers to China tours for helping us get such good digs.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2mEZILJlcm74mskOzcZsUN62X9dYgejnbO0kIAYw0wMFd1qEzRgahlZNVI19TzruLd33HF3J-NBErdlm4KCXE9TCqcNzhz-zZotbG50keWdBZSnYnaomS0amR-1Ylj6zRZpThVCHGqLo/s1600/20140609_181419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2mEZILJlcm74mskOzcZsUN62X9dYgejnbO0kIAYw0wMFd1qEzRgahlZNVI19TzruLd33HF3J-NBErdlm4KCXE9TCqcNzhz-zZotbG50keWdBZSnYnaomS0amR-1Ylj6zRZpThVCHGqLo/s1600/20140609_181419.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little lobby just for the elevators</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the East Wing of the Hotel</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Probably the fanciest part of the hotel. <br />One of the bell boys followed us around so I was too <br />self conscious to take pictures inside</td></tr>
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So just by driving from the airport to our hotel I had decided that I liked Xian better than Beijing. The reason being is that Xian felt less like a big city to me. Yes, it is technically a "big" city, but Beijing had more of a New York sort of vibe (and New York isn't one of my favorite cities) where as Xian felt more like London a bit or a San Francisco (at least according to my dad), so it was more appealing. Plus, the weather was very nice and we were lucky that there was very little pollution.<br />
Our main focus for Day 5 was the Terracotta Warriors. We first went to the factory where they do all the restorations for the Terracotta warriors with traditional tools and techniques (you could also buy your own terracotta warrior or have a model done of your face and put it on a warriors body).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghip4FxEZEp2xy8LwHFyt7CebghbyE0yIRxThWOCOy-C1mw2YebYzfECrxyYWbsvo8Ba-h37sh0zYjiiuqyzMB8FMfn6OO-g6OV2CLFE6llQbuZXsfauZNCOwLJetZpCQ_VLKc8r96ygg/s1600/DSC_0257.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghip4FxEZEp2xy8LwHFyt7CebghbyE0yIRxThWOCOy-C1mw2YebYzfECrxyYWbsvo8Ba-h37sh0zYjiiuqyzMB8FMfn6OO-g6OV2CLFE6llQbuZXsfauZNCOwLJetZpCQ_VLKc8r96ygg/s1600/DSC_0257.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They had hallow molds outside the factory so we each got a chance to be a warrior</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the factory, hammering the clay into a part of the mold.</td></tr>
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Then we saw the warriors themselves.<br />
The terracotta warriors were discovered by a very poor farmer who had been trying to dig a well. However, instead of finding water he found a clay head. When the initial shock of discovering a piece of pottery that at first appear real wore off, he reported it to the government. When the government took over the site as an official historical site and began to understand the expanse of the project, the farmer was awarded millions of dollars. The excavation of the site is still going on today. There has only been one warrior found completely intact. The reason for this being, the Emperor who had commissioned the making of these warriors died before their completion. And when forces came in to take over as the next dynasty they raided and burned the tombs that housed the warriors. Since their discovery, archeologists have been working tireless to restore and reconstruct this marvelous collection, it is expected to go on for decades.<br />
The museum it self is separated into 3 pits, not including the exhibit with the emperor's chariots. The 1st pit is the biggest, number three is the smallest and suffered the least amount of damage from the raiders, and number 2 houses rows upon rows of un excavated warriors waiting for future generations to discover them in a way that will keep the color from fading like they have on the uncovered warriors.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The red marker is where the farmer dug the well that lead to the discovery of the warriors</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These statues are some of the ones undergoing restoration</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHHuOUzvGqJQXL7Ful_G7jU8QGJ8FbKXLewWzq9FOC7mCltsET7q7_bEQYRjv2VxfqJfHAM7cUCYEJup56VtmYXjzTQWAem8vlgNkB2oDkncAkqFxSbvTGHlchCg1lbcRinjTA1H5jcQ/s1600/DSC_0305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHHuOUzvGqJQXL7Ful_G7jU8QGJ8FbKXLewWzq9FOC7mCltsET7q7_bEQYRjv2VxfqJfHAM7cUCYEJup56VtmYXjzTQWAem8vlgNkB2oDkncAkqFxSbvTGHlchCg1lbcRinjTA1H5jcQ/s1600/DSC_0305.JPG" height="320" width="309" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here you can see the desolation these statues suffered at the hands of the raiders. <br />Many were completely smashed.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZiZQU_oYapTPZXY9BJug2kzh3ZBY3NGt5z4mD9rM8AOTGrPkKbd-nMQJp0oVck_6HUi-K_vzwOoANySv0qY9UaQg3nWyJs34q5GpbZzGH-YCJ-qGUIhyLtm5S0EDoGoIXEYfq4InVtvo/s1600/DSC_0312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZiZQU_oYapTPZXY9BJug2kzh3ZBY3NGt5z4mD9rM8AOTGrPkKbd-nMQJp0oVck_6HUi-K_vzwOoANySv0qY9UaQg3nWyJs34q5GpbZzGH-YCJ-qGUIhyLtm5S0EDoGoIXEYfq4InVtvo/s1600/DSC_0312.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Pit 3, where the chariot would be held.<br />Many of these warriors were in better shape because<br />this pit wasn't attacked by raiders.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ESRR44AxR-Eph4Gg3pkG0bhIhTDmyJihle8LVNjhBog_xJbp5bQB7As4sxOYfe89S40FhXjfZxyQ99gKefa8nSCs_QhDu13zsTOlVpDGHavKpR56UstYRqHo4UTFqSfxl0ymuswGEGE/s1600/DSC_0331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ESRR44AxR-Eph4Gg3pkG0bhIhTDmyJihle8LVNjhBog_xJbp5bQB7As4sxOYfe89S40FhXjfZxyQ99gKefa8nSCs_QhDu13zsTOlVpDGHavKpR56UstYRqHo4UTFqSfxl0ymuswGEGE/s1600/DSC_0331.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kneeling archer is, as of today, the only Terracotta warrior <br />to be discovered intact.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the back of the Kneeling Archer you can still see some of the original color.<br />Also, the attention to detail on the sole of his shoe is remarkable.</td></tr>
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Though the Terracotta Warriors was our big site for the day we still had one more destination. The Small Wild Goose Pagoda Scenic Area is an important cultural relic and is one of the only remaining symbols of ancient Chang'an. It also survived through 6 earth quakes. The first one caused a major crack down the side but then the second one closed it off. Then with the third earthquake the crack happened again, but the fourth one caused it to closed. The cycle repeated again until scientists discovers that the foundation was built in such a way to prevent it from collapsing, which was why it would open and close.<br />
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Dad and I ended our last full day in Xian with another extra excursion offered by China Tours, however this time we were accompanied by the two Australian couples (and probably four of the funniest people I have ever met). This excursion was a dumpling dinner and culture show! The food was great, the company was fantastic, and the show was beautiful. The culture show showcased traditional chinese music and dance such as Ribbon Dance and several really cool music numbers with just percussion instruments or some type of brass instrument I have never seen before. Overall it was the best possible end to our day (and tour) that I could imagine.</div>
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DAY 6</div>
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Was our last official day on the tour. Part of our group had already left for different destinations so it was just my dad and I and one of the couples from Australia that went out into the city for one last time. We saw the Xian city gate that used to be the entrance to the Emperor's city (much like the forbidden city) when China's capital was in Xian. It was massive and very solid, of course nothing like the Great Wall but still very formidable.</div>
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Then, for our final destination we visited the Great Mosque, which is one of the oldest operating Mosques in China, then explored the great and very colorful market around it.</div>
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Once we were done with the market it was time to part ways with the remaining members of our group. Later, Dad and I took a 5 hour train ride (don't worry we'd paid the extra to be in first class) back from Xian to Beijing. We had another brief...let's call it "adventure" with trying to get a cab from the train station to our hotel in Beijing but eventually managed to get back alright. </div>
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DAY 7</div>
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Dad and I spent some time wandering around Beijing on our own. Our time with China Tours had ended in Xian so we relayed on our map and natural navigational skills to find our way around the city. So of course we ended up getting lost, or as my dad likes to say "we took a daddy short cut", but eventually with our sense of humor and my dads superior map reading skills, found where we wanted to be.</div>
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When our exploration of the city was done, I returned to the hotel, collected my stuff, and we took a Taxi to the Beijing Institute of Education. Which is where I am now participating in the CET Language Immersion program.</div>
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And...now I'm officially caught up. I will have a post up either tonight or tomorrow about what I think so far about life as a student in Beijing and CET program.</div>
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Until then, be safe, be healthy and remember "adventure is out there!"</div>
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Catie</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-59597674116623462482014-06-14T10:19:00.001-07:002014-06-14T10:19:52.204-07:00Apologies For The Technical Difficulties (Part 2)Here is the second part of my catch up post!<br />
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DAY 3<br />
The Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall<br />
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Once again we started the day early with a delicious semi-Chinese, semi-Western breakfast then it was off to our first destination. The Temple of Heaven!<br />
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But before I go into the beauty that is the Temple of Heaven, let me talk about a bit of the culture we saw around it. So, before you get to the actual temple you walk through a sort of park. Our tour guide, Richard, told us that this park is free for locals to enter and many will come with food and stay there all day playing games and exercising. While we were walking through there were so many older people playing card games, doing their morning dance exercises, or just hanging out and talking. It was really great to see so many people going about their daily lives in garden that is hundreds of years old like it's no big deal. It was a really cool part of chinese culture to witness.</div>
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So after walking through the park we got to the actual Temple of Heaven (pictured above). The intricate details and ornate designs were very similar to what I saw at the Forbidden City but still just as breath taking. Plus, we were lucky in that the rain storm from the previous day had cleared out a lot of the smog so the weather was very beautiful.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad and I in front of the temple</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of the ornate designs</td></tr>
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After spending some time walking around and reading about the history of this important building we were making our way towards the Echo Wall when we spotted something interesting. We saw an older gentlemen wearing what appeared to be an original Mao era uniform. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Older gentleman wearing a Mao era uniform</td></tr>
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Seeing this was another interesting glimpse into Chinese culture in that it showed me how prominent that era of Chinese history still is to Chinese people. As Americans we often forget what Mao and his time meant to the Chinese people and this example made it evident to me how proud some Chinese people are of their history and culture and how much the believe in what Mao did.</div>
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Then it was on to the Echo Wall which was still in the Temple of Heaven pavilion. The Echo Wall is a circular wall that surrounds the Imperial Vault of Heaven. When you stand in the exact right spot, if you clap you can here it echo one, twice, or three times. Also, if you speak into the wall at the right volume, someone on the other of the wall can here you. The Echo Wall faces the Circular Mound Altar which has a stone in the exact middle called the Heart of Heaven where the emperor would stand to pray for good weather. Now it is said to be good luck to stand on it.</div>
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That concluded our visit to the Temple of Heaven. But our day wasn't over yet. We still had to see one of the 7 wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China! About an hour drive out of Beijing, the view of the country side and approaching mountains that house the Great Wall is absolutely breath taking. We parked the bus at the bottom of the town were one of the more popular spots of the Great Wall is then walked up steep hills and through a small market area to get the ticket. No, we didn't walk all the way to the Great Wall. Our tour guide told us that it would take almost an hour (probably longer for me) just to get to the wall. So instead we took a cable car to the top. Actually being on the top of the Great Wall was surreal. Just thinking about how great a feet it would be to erect a structure like this even in present times, and the Chinese were able to do it thousands of years ago. It is completely astounding.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mao had his name carved into the side of the mountain so that it would be visible from the wall.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking a breather, just walking the wall was hard, I can't imagine the struggle in building it.</td></tr>
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With that we were done with the official schedule of the day. However, my dad and I decided to be adventurous and go on an extra excursion to the a Beijing Acrobatics show which our tour guide recommended. He took us off the beaten track by subway then by bus to a small little theater in a much...different part of the city then what we had previously been used to seeing. The show its self was...interesting. It was nothing awe-inspiring or totally captivating but I did enjoy watching the people around them and seeing their reactions to different things. We also had our first experience with taking a taxi on our own in Beijing. Unfortunately, my chinese skills are severely lacking so we ended up just calling our tour guide and having him tell the driver the address. But, obviously, we got back to our hotel with no problems.</div>
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DAY 4</div>
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Hutong Alley and Xian</div>
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Day four was our last day in Beijing with the tour. It was an easier day in that all we did was take a rickshaw through a type of old neighborhood called a Hutong and explore for a bit. We saw inside of a traditonal Hutong home and met a girl who does the gorgeous paintings on the inside of glass bottles. I really enjoyed this but I especially liked the tea house that we managed to find. Our tour guide took us there and Dad and I got to try some excellent chinese tea that I have really grown to love since being here. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With two people to a Rickshaw we were a parade of westerns through the Hutong</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A final picture of our tour bus in Beijing</td></tr>
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Once we were finished exploring the Hutong we said farewell to Richard and left to take a plane to Xian. (The rest of the group took a train to Xian, which we ended up taking back to Beijing, so we didn't see them till our first full day in Xian).</div>
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This concludes the second part of my make up posts. I hope to have the last one up tomorrow.</div>
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Until later, be safe, be happy and remember "Adventure is out there!"</div>
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Catie</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-60532688149861117492014-06-13T09:23:00.001-07:002014-06-13T09:23:26.492-07:00Apologies For The Technical Difficulties (Part 1)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello!<br />
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Sorry I have been so neglectful in my blog. </div>
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I know. I know. I've been in China for a week and I haven't posted anything! Well, the reason is because I (stupidly) forgot that the Chinese government blocks certain sites. One of those types of sites being blogs. But never fear! I have figured out an alternate way to post so my blog can now stay up to date!</div>
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Okay, now to tell you about my adventure in China thus far.</div>
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DAY 1</div>
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Jet-lag and Culture Shock</div>
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When we finally got to the Beijing airport after a total of 14 hours on the plane we were completely exhausted. It was there that the first stages of culture shock began to set in. Even when we were just getting on the plane to Beijing it began to sink in just how different China is from America (obviously, I know). For example, I have always been used to being able to understand what everyone was saying around me. All of a sudden, a majority of the people around me were speaking in Chinese and it hit me how little I understood. So that was the first stage of culture shock for me.</div>
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The plane ride was long but bearable. Once we got to Beijing we just followed the crowd to go through customs and get our bags. Then we met our tour guide Richard from China Tours and he whisked us away, into a car and to the hotel.</div>
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The rest of the day consisted of my dad and I fighting jet lag to go to bed at a decent time. Beijing time is 12 hours ahead of American and although we landed in Beijing at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, it felt like 4 o'clock in the morning. When 8 o'clock finally rolled around, we decided it was a good time to finally go to bed and prepare for our first day touring China!</div>
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DAY 2</div>
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The Forbidden City and The Seasons of Beijing</div>
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After waking up around 6 the next morning and eating a very delicious breakfast we set off to see two of China's most famous sites, Tiananmen Square the Forbidden City! The weather was nice and the sky was fairly clear and after meeting the rest of our tour group (4 Australians and 3 other Americans) we piled onto the bus and started making our way through Beijing traffic. Turns out Beijing traffic is just as bad, if not worse, than the traffic I have experienced in the States. Except lanes are more like suggestions rather than a strict rule and merging usually entails three cars trying to cram into one lane at the same time. But despite the craziness that is driving in this city, we all arrived to our destination without any problem.</div>
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Tiananmen Square was vast, open, and full of tourists from all over. The security presence was blatantly obvious, especially since the anniversary of Tiananmen Square had only been several days earlier. It was interesting being in an area where so much tragedy and controversy has happened but people come to visit the location on vacation. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbXeD5kAouceMr8U6y7oN5nxXIhXw8FPbzV4TYchFWceUnLJcosWGDoJ-_eClQQATd8G5V1mEsAmqJ-fVB1ALdgdmyUssnLSWiN4-46-3VldolE5wgDHp_XdMlfdsLjVoQPgHfeuoNm4/s1600/DSC_1156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbXeD5kAouceMr8U6y7oN5nxXIhXw8FPbzV4TYchFWceUnLJcosWGDoJ-_eClQQATd8G5V1mEsAmqJ-fVB1ALdgdmyUssnLSWiN4-46-3VldolE5wgDHp_XdMlfdsLjVoQPgHfeuoNm4/s1600/DSC_1156.JPG" height="320" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chairman Mao's Mausoleum in Tainanmen Square</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tiananmen Square</td></tr>
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Then we passed from Tiananmen, under the arch with Mao's portrait, into the Forbidden City. Which was absolutely spectacular. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQW4ouvBMlaYmQukx14ndFcxxlDq0itI-1eJ2-JbUp12z6gJZpsyrGhRRiG2hJli67A94gvX3s9Fpc-E-o9RXFa7b1Ytu-Ut2PxPxEo_2JZrvc1sdvUjMA8IhTG6cs136f4j19376AgU/s1600/DSC_1203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQW4ouvBMlaYmQukx14ndFcxxlDq0itI-1eJ2-JbUp12z6gJZpsyrGhRRiG2hJli67A94gvX3s9Fpc-E-o9RXFa7b1Ytu-Ut2PxPxEo_2JZrvc1sdvUjMA8IhTG6cs136f4j19376AgU/s1600/DSC_1203.JPG" height="318" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking through the gate into the Forbidden City</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnn2492x0cJR4raP0rxU57PV5me8Wajil4vHdvQpDfVqOpMaEI0yHYJoLqxDd7yIOVNnUA29ZpKo24g1HwS2QeRTJot7U7sdOFt5rNc2jCuOArX8SeI6v00iPwYl3yjX63npjTVBP-MRY/s1600/DSC_1205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnn2492x0cJR4raP0rxU57PV5me8Wajil4vHdvQpDfVqOpMaEI0yHYJoLqxDd7yIOVNnUA29ZpKo24g1HwS2QeRTJot7U7sdOFt5rNc2jCuOArX8SeI6v00iPwYl3yjX63npjTVBP-MRY/s1600/DSC_1205.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The temple of the forbidden city</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkx7t4kxJ_44pSdib5s5dL4lZIgy62xzaBeLM1dLeujPS-KDcNVf4zy1YwTj3GNTWuidMrR4FCHTxqyA-Kupn9EUhGI9l1cvOKFlnVyGuUQBDQC0v8vVQEFoTxA1iv0rJS4KOuaSs3sho/s1600/DSC_1225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkx7t4kxJ_44pSdib5s5dL4lZIgy62xzaBeLM1dLeujPS-KDcNVf4zy1YwTj3GNTWuidMrR4FCHTxqyA-Kupn9EUhGI9l1cvOKFlnVyGuUQBDQC0v8vVQEFoTxA1iv0rJS4KOuaSs3sho/s1600/DSC_1225.JPG" height="320" width="283" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Emperor's throne. I had to throw some elbows to get this shot.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They would burn massive amounts of incense so that the forbidden city would be more cloudy and seem like heaven on earth. </td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUChA10msZ2m_YuXuuN3WTgBxm9riAPIOl54q-vM4KLeKEuMgAvpCsMinDG1UZg-mRrsOkF3nKiwYfYnJ1ASbfG5S4eOTN86QGy0-Y50c3p27jYH8EMduFrwR13Tnm7bRdeUoUgTTAlOs/s1600/DSC_1243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUChA10msZ2m_YuXuuN3WTgBxm9riAPIOl54q-vM4KLeKEuMgAvpCsMinDG1UZg-mRrsOkF3nKiwYfYnJ1ASbfG5S4eOTN86QGy0-Y50c3p27jYH8EMduFrwR13Tnm7bRdeUoUgTTAlOs/s1600/DSC_1243.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our tour guide told us the importance of the number 9. It was considered the "emperor's number" so many things were in multiples of nine. These 9 figures are dragons and which was considered the emperor's animal.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So many details were so beautifully ornate, even down to the carvings in the stone gates.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Several other animals are used in the forbidden city. Each with different meanings. This turtle is often accompanied with a crane to symbolize longevity. Lions were also displayed in male and female pairs to keep away bad spirits.<br />
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The garden was one of my favorite parts of the forbidden city. With the very intriguing rock garden and gorgeous plant life, then there were trees that range from 100 to 300 years old.<br />
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Overall the forbidden city was absolutely amazing and almost surreal to be at. Just seeing the amazing detail and how ornate every structure and walkway was was simply incredible.<br />
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We finished the forbidden city just as the sky opened up and unleashed a down pour that was supposed to be unusual in Beijing during this time of the year. So we all rushed for the cover of the bus and headed off to have our first full-blown Chinese meal. I must say it was pretty good. Of course, different from anything I experience in the states but still very satisfactory.<br />
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After lunch we went to the Pearl Factory. Here we heard about the Dragon Lady who was a very influential empress that held a lot of power in the dynasty during her time. She used the lake in front of the Summer Palace to breed pearls. Now China has a very impressive export in pearls. And of course, while looking around I had to buy some very cute champagne colored pearls and earrings to match. Plus, the adorable saleswoman made it impossible to say no.<br />
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For our last stop we went on to see the Summer Palace and the very same lake that the Dragon Lady used to culture pearls that is still being used today. Unfortunately because the weather was still pretty dreary, most of the group wasn't up to going very far to look closer at the palace but I did have a chance to get some photos.<br />
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And so ended our first full day in China!</div>
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Time for me to go to bed, but I hope to have the second part of the make up post up tomorrow. </div>
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Until then!</div>
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Catie</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-1070443797329040782014-06-04T07:39:00.000-07:002014-06-04T07:39:04.132-07:00Let The Adventure Begin!I am currently sitting in an airport on my way to CHINA!<br />
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That's right, my first adventure is to the one and only People's Republic of China. You may be asking yourself, "why is this 20 year old girl spending her summer in China?" Well that's exactly what I'm going to tell you. <br />
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As I said in my previous post I am minoring in Chinese. It is my ultimate goal to eventually become fluent in Mandarin. Why? Well, I am a firm believer that everyone, especially Americans, should learn more than just their native language. Learning different languages gives one a unique glimpse into the culture, history, and customs of a nation separate from ones own country. Not to mention the ability to communicate and learn in alternate ways is very useful. Plus, being fluent in a different language is an extremely marketable skill these days. And as a soon to be college graduate, I am hoping to use my language skills as my "golden ticket" into the job force.<br />
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So, that is <i>why</i> I've decided to go to China. Now onto the <i>how</i>.<br />
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Well, I heard from a friend who is studying Russian how incredible language immersion programs are and how much they help in becoming fluent. So, I began looking online and at my school study abroad fair for good and successful immersion programs. I found several, most within the United States, but they were incredibly expensive for just spending a summer in the United States and didn't offer me the same cultural experience I was hoping for. Then at one of my school study abroad fairs I met several representatives from a program called <a href="http://cetacademicprograms.com/" target="_blank">CET Academic Programs</a>. I grabbed a flyer and added to my pile of other flyers from programs offering "amazing, life-changing, splendiferous" programs and carried on. Several months later, I stumbled upon CET's website (link above). It was after spending a ridiculously long time scouring their website that I decided this was the program for me. Not only did they offer full language immersion (I have to sign an honor pledge saying I will only speak Chinese and everything), but it also gave me cultural experience by living in the country for two months. I mean, what better way to understand a country then by actually living and learning there? Not to mention it was actually less expensive than some of the in-state programs I had looked at. So that was it. I was sold. And after some very careful and strategic discussions with my lovely parents (usually involving various themes on the job opportunities it would give me and "how can I tell employers my concentration is on China if I've never actually been to the country") I began the application process, which there is no need for me to go through because it's boring, but ultimately (and obviously) I was accepted to the program! And after the grueling, headache inducing process of getting my Visa and making sure all the other paperwork was in order. I was officially ready to go!<br />
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However, unbeknownst to me, going to China has long been on my Dad's bucket list. It's thanks to him that I have such an overwhelming desire to travel and traverse all corners of the earth, which my wonderful Mom doesn't understand at all. And when it became official that this was going to happen, he started to explore some way that he could come with me. That is when we decided that a little over a week before my language program officially started we'd do our own tour of China. I see it as kind of a preview of the adventures I'll have during the 2 months I'm here. So that's where we are now. Sitting in the airport waiting to embark on our trek across China.<br />
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Well, that's all for now. I will have another post up in a couple days when I'm finally in China (aaahhh! I'm still in the "I can't believe this is actually happening" phase). But until then, here is a little quote from one of my favorite books that I think is very appropriate.<br />
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"It's a dangerous business going out your door. You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to."</blockquote>
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Until next time, be safe, be happy, and remember...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972721140588673633.post-79721739805568104412014-05-26T19:38:00.000-07:002014-05-26T19:38:21.820-07:00Hello All!Hello! My name is Catie Carlson and welcome to my travel blog!<br />
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<b>Who?</b><br />
Before I start my amazing adventure I thought It would be good to tell you a little bit about myself. I am currently an undergraduate at James Madison University studying International Affairs and minoring in Chinese. I'm from Virginia, and I love reading, writing, photography, and movies.<br />
<br />
<b>Why?</b><br />
For as long as I can remember I have loved learning about other countries and cultures and the people who lived there. It has always fascinated me thinking about all the different kinds of people that populate our marvelous world, and all the stories they have to tell. With this fascination in learning about the many different cultures of this world has come a desire to experience all that the world has to offer. Basically, i've always wanted to travel and see the world. Number 1 on my bucket list is to visit each continent (at least). Hence, this blog. I want to document my marvelous adventures for my friends and family and for my self so that when I'm old and grey I can relive my whirlwind adventures and brag to my grandkids about all the amazing things I did...or at least that's the goal.<br />
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<b>Where?</b><br />
Anywhere! Everywhere! Well...eventually...hopefully. The ultimate goal is to go to as many countries as possible, but for the foreseeable future China and Europe are on the horizon for my upcoming travels. And I won't just be posting about places abroad, I may have several posts about trips I go on in the states as well. But really, who knows where else life will sweep me off to?<br />
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<b>How?</b><br />
God's guidance and strength, support from my amazingly wonderful family and friends, luck, and sheer force of will.<br />
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<b>To close things out...</b><br />
Thank you for reading and I hope to update soon about the awesome trips I have cooking up. Until then be safe, be happy, and remember<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10190058989931827505noreply@blogger.com0