Fragrant Hill (April 11)

On April 11th, we went outside Beijing to a place called Fragrant Hill, a scenic spot where you can look down on most of the Beijing area.
First, let’s get one thing straight. This place is called “Fragrant Hill.” The name is a lie. It is a mountain, not a hill.
So, on two hours of sleep (long story), I climbed up literally 1000 stairs (they had markers every 50 stairs—it was a little disheartening, but the stairs only started halfway up so I have no idea how far we actually climbed) to see just about nothing. A combination of pollution and fog made it possible to see just about nothing. I saw to bottom of the mountain and just beyond, but absolutely nothing of the actual city of Beijing. I hear on a good day, Fragrant Hill is stunning. Unfortunately, I climbed up that mountain to see more fog and dead trees. The one good thing that came out of it is that the air was a little fresher up there, so I was huffing and puffing in too much particulate matter. Here are some pictures of the view:

Once we got to the top, we had some lunch and then decided to go back down in a different direction. Bad idea. We ended up getting completely lost and had to create our own little path down the mountain through the trees. Somehow, after walking around the base of the mountain and doing a little rock climbing, we made it to the bottom. As soon as I got back, I took a very, very long nap.

Spring is finally here!

Ever since two weeks after we got here, our professors have been saying that spring has arrived. When it was snowing outside, I definitely did not believe them. However, as the semester continued, Beijing gradually started to look alive. Almost all the trees have leaves again, and flowers of all kinds have been blooming all over the place.

Usually, spring in Beijing means hellish sandstorms. I asked my tutor about them, and she said just last year she remembers a time when she looked outside and all she saw was the yellow sand. Pretty intense. Somehow, we seem to have missed this strange weather pattern. I have yet to experience the infamous Beijing sandstorms (I’m definitely not complaining about that). It has been windy, but fortunately not enough to fill the air with sand from Inner Mongolia.
I feel that Beijing’s weather also deserves a mention. One thing you can’t avoid talking about here is the pollution. I think it can be summed up by this story: my study abroad advisor from Notre Dame is from Beijing, and she said until she came to the U.S. she honestly thought the sky was grey. The big thing about the pollution levels is that it really does change every day. Some days I wake up and feel fine, and other days I wake up and hardly want to breathe the air. Some days you can see the mountains to the west of us, and some days you can’t. Some days you can tell where the sun is, and other days the sky is light but you can just barely discern that the vaguely shining orb in the sky is in fact the sun, and other days you can only just feel the sun’s presence. There will be those who tell us it’s just fog, but we know better. It’s pollution. Most of the other students here also have the “Beijing Lung”, a wheezy cough that never really goes away. I’m convinced the wheeze is what first gave me bronchitis.

Other than the pollution levels, I think Beijing’s weather is a lot like St. Louis’. If you don’t like it, wait 10 minutes—it will change. It has been gradually getting warmer, but periods of comfortable temperatures are always interrupted by days of cold or rain. Now it is starting to get actually consistently warm, which means all the foreign students are donning their t-shirts and shorts. The Chinese remain in their sweaters, jackets and long pants. I don’t know how they do it, but they seem just as confused by me. Every time I wear shorts (even Bermuda shorts), inevitably at least one Chinese person will ask me how I am not freezing cold (meanwhile, I have no idea how they are not sweating their brains out). Even in 80 degree weather, they still dress as if it were late autumn. As if we foreigners weren’t easy enough to spot already. On top of possibly blond hair and blue eyes, add our different clothing habits, and you’ve got a sure fire way to recognize a fellow foreigner from across the quad.

Before I came, I heard from other Notre Dame study abroad students that Peking University’s campus was a lot like Notre Dame’s: lots of old trees, a lake, and obsessive compulsive groundskeepers. When I arrived and everything looked dead and depressing, I wasn’t really seeing the beauty in the campus. However, now that everything is green and blooming, PKU is definitely starting to look like the garden I heard it described as.

Side note: the lake in the photos is called未名湖, (Wei Ming Hu), and it is on PKU's campus.

The Tale of a Dead Hard Drive

As of April 7, my computer as I knew it has been dead. (which may explain my absence from blog-writing, if you haven’t noticed).
It all began the week before April 7th. My computer had been behaving strangely, every once in a while suddenly jumping to a blue screen of death and requiring me to reboot my computer. The general consensus was that my computer caught a pretty nasty virus (as diagnosed by my mom and neighbor). I had run basically every virus scan that is possible, but they just couldn’t find what was going on with my computer. Then it all became clear on April 7th.
To begin with, it was a terrible day. Earlier that day, I had taken a grammar test that was so picky I’m not sure a native speaker could have passed it. Needless to say, I was not very pleased about that. Luckily for me, in addition to that 2 hours of sheer torture, I had four other hours of class, so by the end of the day my brain was completely fried. I needed to get some money that day because I was running low, but every ATM on campus seemed to be taking some sort of day off, and none of them were working, so I was frustrated about that. On returning to my computer, I pushed the power button, expecting nothing but the same black screen with the windows logo on it. Wrong again.
Instead of booting up, my computer stayed in black screen with just a few meaningless computer code words that I couldn’t possibly figure out, other than those at the very bottom, which read “No bootable devices found.” Not good, I thought. Well, at least I was right about something. (To add to my day of catastrophes small and large, in the subsequent panic, my terracotta warrior I got in Xi’an fell and shattered on the ground. As much as I wanted to throw it away, I decided to keep it. In its shattered form, it actually looks more authentic and more like the actual Terracotta Warriors than it did while it was in one piece.)
In a sheer panic, I went to my friend’s room to beg to use her computer to call my mom on Skype to see what could possibly be the problem. Call Dell was the solution, which I did next. After talking to several different Dell agents and nervously explaining my situation over and over again, I finally found the right one. He had me run a few tests, and in the end my computer started beeping and flashing. Once again, I thought “Not good.” The Dell agent shortly thereafter diagnosed the problem: crashed hard drive. And crashed in a way that all my files are gone. He was more than willing to send me a new one, seeing as how I have a warrantee for hard drive issues with my computer. Unfortunately, I am in China.
Well, this threw a kink in the plan. The Dell guy told me I had to call the Dell office in China and arrange for THEM to send me a new hard drive. He gave me the phone number, but then told me that the office is only open until 5:30 local time, and it was now 6 o’clock. I hung up, confident that the next day all my problems would be solved. Wrong yet again.
When I got back from class the next day, I called the number he gave me, except it wasn’t a functioning number. Frustrated, I again wove my way through the several Dell agents, explaining my situation time and time again, just trying to get the correct number for Dell China. The next lady I talked to gave me two numbers, just in case one was wrong. I hung up with her, slightly less confident than before, but reassured by at least having a backup option. Well, the first one was also a non-functioning number. Luckily for me, the next number was in fact a functioning telephone number. Unfortunately, it was not for Dell China. It apparently was 1-800-JUST-GAY, a gay telephone service offering “100% pure American beef” to its male callers. Not quite Dell China.
Seeing as how the phone call solution to this problem was just not working out, I set my sights on a new method. I found what I believed to be a Dell store in China, and shockingly it was within walking distance of my campus. (My campus is in the educational area of Beijing, and just outside its south gate is Beijing’s “Silicon Valley”, Zhongguancun.) I arranged for my tutor to go with me to what I believed was the Dell store, assuming that my Chinese computer repair vocabulary wasn’t quite ready for this level of conversation. The end was in sight.
The next day, my tutor and I walked to this place. Well, it technically was a Dell store, but it was also technically not. The second I walked in, I got the stares and the “Pretty Lady, you want computer? Sony? IPod?” that I have become so used to in China. It was not quite what I expected. We wove our way through the seas of salespeople and finally found the Dell station. Well, they sold Dells but were not in the business of fixing them, especially in regards to any warrantee arrangement. They took a look nevertheless, and were convinced that (even though the entire time they were telling my tutor about how they couldn’t understand it because it was in English), that they knew what the problem was, a problem that seemingly got lost in translation. I told them that I already knew what the problem is, that I just needed a new hard drive. In response, they were willing to fix my computer’s imaginary problem for 150 RMB, then I could be on my way. Not really keen on paying for a repair that I didn’t need, especially from someone who didn’t understand what my computer was saying, I had them give me the REAL Dell China phone number. My tutor did the talking (as it was in Chinese, and like I said my vocabulary just isn’t there yet), and basically they would not give me a hard drive unless I changed my service agreement to China, a change that would take over a month. No thanks.
Dejected and clueless as to how I would get a computer back with still half the program left to go, I left the market and went to go to a dinner with my fellow Notre Dame students and our program coordinator who was in town for the day. Oddly enough, there is another ND student from St. Louis in the program (Alex), and at dinner he mentioned how the next week his parents were coming to China. A light bulb turned on in my head. My new plan: have Dell USA ship my mother the hard drive and the accompanying goods to my house, have her drop it off at his parent’s house, and have them bring it to China. A complicated process, but it was my only hope. Thankfully, Alex agreed as did his parents. A large church choir singing the Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus repeated in my head. After dinner, I went home, had Dell ship the parts to the house and hoped beyond hope that they would arrive in time. Alex’s parents left on Tuesday morning at the crack of dawn for China, and Dell promised the hard drive would make it to the house by Monday afternoon, giving my mom an approximately 15 hours window in which to drop off the goods. Luckily, the hard drive arrived and the exchange was made successfully. Unfortunately, his parents were flying into Shanghai first, and wouldn’t be in Beijing until the next week. So I spent the rest of that week wishing Shanghai was closer to Beijing, but comforted by the fact that my new computer was somewhere in China.
The next week came, and on Monday I went to pick up my new hard drive. I got home, figured out which part of my computer actually is the hard drive (a very educational lesson in computer construction), physically installed it and did a happy dance when something other than a black screen of hopelessness appeared. I watched as Windows installed itself on my computer, anxiously awaiting the day I could once again log onto Facebook on my own computer. Well, wrong once again.
Windows installed without a glitch, but when I tried to install the disks that Dell sent me for internet, video and sound drivers, I ran into a small problem. In all the rush to send me my hard drive quickly, Dell was unable to send me CD’s for my actual computer. I now have drivers for all kinds of Inspirons except my own. This being the case, my hope for being able to use my computer that night flew out the window.
Once again, I had to resort to using a friend’s computer to solve my problems (I would have done it myself, but my computer was completely unaware that it had internet capabilities). I chatted online with a Dell representative, Lisa, whose first language was clearly not English. I asked her to give me a list of the drivers I would need to install onto my computer from the website, as the disks were clearly not going to work. I think my personal favorite moment from the entire conversation was when I asked her how to download the drivers, to which she responded “If you have any questions feel free to ask”. (I really wanted to respond with “How about the question I just asked you?” but I decided against it.) She was clearly useless, so I gave up and went to bed.
The next day was the two week anniversary of my computer crashing—a very important day. I used a friend’s computer and chatted with Dell again and downloaded the drivers I needed just to run the internet onto a flash drive to install on my own computer. Laudon, my Dell representative of the day, offered to “barge on in” and download them on my computer, but since my friend really wasn’t keen on having anyone barge in on his computer to download drivers that he clearly didn’t need, we said goodbye to Laudon. I got my internet up and running after installing those drivers, and then began chatting with Allen, my new Dell friend. He pretty much hacked into my computer and did all the downloading for me, which was simultaneously terrifying and convenient. It really freaked me out to see my mouse moving without me moving it, but I can’t lie having someone who knows what they are doing downloading drivers from who knows where is kind of cool. As it was getting late and I wanted to get to bed, I had Allen give me a list of the rest of the drivers I needed to be downloaded the next day.
Wednesday I finished downloading the drivers, installed my anti-virus software and ran Windows Updates, and then I was up and running. 15 days later, I finally had a computer again.
The recovery process has been a long one. I knew I was dependent on my computer for my life, but I didn’t ever realize just how dependent. Having to re-download iTunes and scrolling through its empty library, scrolling through my My Pictures and seeing nothing, well it is really depressing. But at least I have a way to communicate again, and I certainly appreciate it much more now. Being thousands of miles away without your one means of communication is quite an experience, to be sure.

So be patient as I post events from the past few weeks…it might take a bit.

getting sick in china

Living in a dorm, even in the US, is just asking to get sick. Well, I guess I asked for it.

One of my friends has had a bad cough these past couple of weeks, so she went to the doctor on campus (Chinese medicine) to try and get some medications. When she got there, they pricked her finger to test her blood and concluded that it was a very serious illness. They tried to get her to take an X-ray...all for what she believes is a cold. Even more, they speak Chinese, which is a little intimidating when you're not fluent and just don't have the mental strength to try. She refused the chest x-ray, which angered the Chinese doctor (cultural difference: Americans take responsibility for their own body. If we don't want a treatment, we can refuse it. Chinese people tend to do whatever the doctor tells them, without questioning his authority or the appropriateness of the treatment.)

So when I got sick on Monday, I had zero motivation to go to the hospital, having heard nothing but horror stories. However, having not gotten any better after a couple of days, I figured it was time to go to the hospital. The Western hospital in Beijing is all the way across town, so I was trying to avoid the inconvenience, but now I'm glad I went. They spoke English pretty well and were generally familiar with medication like Tylenol, so I felt much better. I had to go back and forth between two separate buildings several times. First, Building A to register, then Building B to see a doctor, then Building A again for a chest x-ray, then Building B again for diagnosis, then finally Building A to get my medications--very complicated. But in the end, I found out what is wrong (Bronchitis!) and got the proper medication, so now my main concern is not giving it to everyone in the hall! We'll see how the next few days go.

liulichang market

(March 29)

Today, we went to an area of Beijing called Liulichang, which is basically a bunch of streets with a bunch of tiny little shops selling everything. There were tiny stalls selling paintings, Chinese musical instruments, calligraphy sets, "antiques" (they would try to convince you just about anything was an antique), and just about anything you wanted. Of course, they were always good for a little bargaining, so it was definitely a good time.

We walked around for a while before finally finding this cute little tea shop owned by a former professor of tea (that's right, they have schools that teach everything you could ever need to know about tea, including how it's picked, how it's supposed to be poured, everything). She made us countless batches of tea, letting us taste just about anything we wanted to sample. Apparently, as women, we should drink fermented tea and not green tea. According to this woman, this is because women are the "yin" part of the yin/yang, which means we are more like cold temperatures. (Men are fire, the "yang", so they have more hot temperature things). Apparently, fermented teas are warmer, so they can counterbalance the coolness of womanhood? These teas also tend to be better for the skin. She also convinced us of the necessity of putting tiny rosebuds in our tea. Apparently, adding rosebuds to your tea increases your luck substantially. Plain rosebud tea is delicious, but added to the Lychee Red Tea I bought, it's even better! When I tasted the plain rose tea, the best way I could describe it was to say it tasted pretty. If pretty had a taste, it seriously would be rosebud tea. After spending over an hour talking to her about everything from brewing tea to potentially teaching her child English, we left and moved on.

The next big place we went was a small shop selling just about every kind of traditional Chinese musical instrument imaginable. Being the band nerd I am, I couldn't help but go in, and after sampling several of the woodwinds I ended up bargaining my way into getting a mystery instrument that consists of a large gourd with small bamboo pipes coming out of it. It definitely has a unique sound...I have some practicing to do. My roommate is currently studying the erhu (a two-stringed Chinese instrument), so I'm thinking by the end of the semester we should be able to make some very...interesting music.

After that we walked around for a bit, and after a while I found a piece of art that I loved. It is pretty big so I figured it was going to be super expensive, but out of curiousity I asked anyway. I would have been willing to pay the price she started with (it was about 1/4th of what I was expecting), but I talked her down an additional 25%. It really is a beautiful painting--I don't know where I'll put it, but I'll definitely make space! So those were my purchases for the day. The shopowners just loved the fact that we spoke Chinese. Some of them spoke a little English, so they would speak in English and we would respond in Chinese. The most exciting part though is having a complete conversation with someone in Chinese, and then while you're having that conversation, realize that they're speaking Chinese...and you're understanding. I've been in Chinese-speaking countries for a while, and I still get excited when that happens :-)

a night in the hutongs

(March 20)

Tonight was my friend Suling's 22nd birthday. Since she is from Malaysia, we searched high and low for a Malaysian restaurant in the Beijing area and finally found a tiny restaurant called Cafe Sambal. When we made the reservations, we had no idea it was in a hutong (if you don't remember, hutongs are large residential compound structures with several alleyways and small house in them), so our cab driver had no clue how to get there. Some serious Chinese phone-calling later, we arrived at our destination and wound our way around the alley to find the Cafe. I had never eaten Malaysian food before, so it was definitely a new experience. I have to say, I think I may like Malaysian food better than Chinese food! It was delicious!

After that, we asked the waitresses (I don't think I've seen a single waiter in China...must be "women's work") if she knew any good places to hang out in the area, and she directed us to a place called "床巴" (literally, Bed Bar). So, after a bit of wandering around the alleyways of the hutongs, we stumbled upon the Bed Bar. (I think you can only stumble upon this place--there's no way you could ever find it if you were looking for it.) Inside was definitely something new--technically it was a "bar," but it felt like an old opium den. The hostess led us to a back room that originally was going to cost 1000 RMB to rent for the evening, but complained enough so she agreed to let us just stay for free (Sometimes, it pays to be a foreigner). Inside the room were benches, comfy chairs, three dressers, and a giant bed covered in pillows. It was a slightly odd concept, but overall it was a fun night just sitting and relaxing on that bed--definitely not something I would stumble across in the U.S. :-)

"i feel like this would be pretty in summer": the great wall at mutianyu

the following are pictures from my trip to the Mutianyu portion of the Great Wall on March 14--enjoy!

basically all anyone could say was "I feel like this will be really pretty when leaves are on the trees?"

do you see that guard station at the top of the next hill? I climbed all the way up there--the view was incredible! I was so exhausted by the time I finally got to the top, but it was worth it!

the stairs are treacherous! not only are they all different heights, but they literally feel just like a wall they are so steep. We got out of a guard station and were faced with this wall of stairs and were just so discouraged.

This is technically a little "out-of-bounds", but the view was incredible! Back here are a bunch of ruins of the wall that they haven't rebuilt yet, but it was so worth it!

I explored some of the ruins from the guard tower.

These were the steps back down from the top. As if getting all the way up wasn't hard enough, one wrong move on the way down and you're a goner.

For the rest of the way down, they had a toboggan ride, which I turned into more of a bumper car game. It was by far the best way to leave the Great Wall ever created.

st. patrick's day--beijing style!

Being the Notre Dame student that I am, I could hardly pass a St. Patrick's Day without celebrating it appropriately. Thus, when the Notre Dame Club of Beijing invited us to a little get together at Beijing's main (only?) Irish pub, Paddy O'Shea's, we could hardly resist. The bar is in the ex-pat area of Beijing, so basically as soon as we arrived and saw drunk Westerners stumbling around the sidewalks, we knew we were in the right place--it was if we have transported ourselves back to America for a few hours. [Side note: the translation of Paddy O'Shea's into Chinese: Ireland Bar (爱尔兰酒吧）]



When we arrived, there were already swarms of people outside drinking and having a good time, but we went ahead and went inside to meet up with other Notre Dame people, and it honestly was if we were not in China at all. Excepting the few Beijing Football club posters, the place was almost entirely decked out in Guinness memorabilia and all sorts of Rugby gear. The music they were playing was a strange mixture of the Cranberries, Aretha Franklin, and traditional Irish jigs. It was definitely an experience.

We stayed and chatted with the Notre Dame people for a while. A few were studying for their masters here in Beijing, but most were alumni who are working over here for a while. It was white person central--I think every white or non-Asian person currently in Beijing was all in this bar. Even most of the bartenders were Westerners--it seriously as if we had escaped Beijing. We had some Guinness (of course, it WAS St. Patrick's Day.) and some Tsingtao (well, we ARE in China), played some foosball, and enjoyed the Irish festivities. After it got a little too smoky, we decided to head out to the street to see what was going on out there.

What follows is one of those "Only in China" memories. Only in China can just hoards of white people spill out onto the sidewalk in front of a bar for a night of raucous celebration with lots of alcohol and Irish music. I can only imagine what was going through the heads of the innocent Chinese passers-by, because I'm sure that just as much as we think that some of their customs are strange, they are probably just as confused by our sloppy, drunken attempts at doing an "Irish" jig, with Guinness in hand. Nevertheless, the rest of the evening was pretty much the same--standing around and enjoying the crazy atmosphere outside Paddy O'Shea's. Definitely a memorable St. Patrick's Day.

trip to xi'an (May 6-9)

Sorry about the long break in the updates--school has been super busy, and writing these takes a long time! But I'm back now, so I'll fill you in on my trip to Xi'an the weekend of May 6-10.

I went to Xi'an once before, when I came to China with Notre Dame's Concert Band tour, so I had seen all the main attractions of Xi'an before, but I felt it was definitely worth a second trip (plus it was free, so I had to take advantage of that!), and I was definitely correct!


Friday (March 6) night, we had to leave for the train station at around 6 for our 9pm train to Xi'an. Luckily, we had reserved "soft sleeper" compartments that only sleep 4 to a room (as opposed to the hard sleepers that have 6 people), so our compartment wasn't too crowded. Almost the whole car was full of CIEE students too, so we basically turned the train into a tiny little dorm. I definitely felt bad for the one compartment full of non-US college students, but nothing could be done--the damage was done.

The weekend we went happened to be March 7 and 8, which in China are "Women's Day". March 7 celebrates women about my age, while March 8 celebrates older, married women. (The difference in Chinese is "Nu Sheng Jie", meaning student-age girls, as opposed to "Fu Nu Jie", indicating older, most likely married women). What I thought was particularly interesting about this day is that, on the surface, it seems like a great thing that China is making an effort to celebrate its women (given that they are nearly half the population). However, I soon discovered that, although I'm sure the holiday is intended to do some good, it has not exactly served its purpose. The day is called "San Ba Fu Nu Jie". The "San Ba" part indicates the date of the celebration (indicating it is March 8), however, "San Ba" in Chinese slang has evolved to mean b****. Thus, anyone celebrating this holiday is a b****. So, as empowering as this day may seem, even saying the name of the day is offensive, let alone actually celebrating it.

This being the case, my inner feminist had to make an appearance. I made a Tshirt myself and wrote on it (Nu quan zhu yi zhe) "女权主义者", meaning feminist, on the front. I figured what the heck, I'm going to be getting stares, I might as well make a statement while I'm at it. Some of the Chinese people stared at me, some simply said "Nu quan zhu yi zhe...ai ya!(indicating surprise)", and others said "ni hen li hai" meaning tough/awesome (it means both...pick your preferred meaning). My personal favorite response was a man who said "Nu quan zhu yi zhe", followed by a long pause, then something to the effect of "Don't let my wife see that." Well, so much for celebrating women.

We finally arrived in Xi'an around 9 am on Saturday. We walked to our hotel from the train stop (very closeby!), through the Ancient City Wall. The City Wall in Xi'an is one of the very few city fortifications still in decent shape in China. Last time I was in Xi'an, we went up on top of the wall and walked around. They even have little places where you can rent bikes to ride on top of the wall to make a loop around the entire inner city. It has some pretty awesome views!

First, we went to the muslim temple in Xi'an (大清真寺). Xi'an apparently has a surprisingly large population of Muslim people, so this mosque actually is apparently a big deal. This mosque is technically just for men, but they let us womenfolk in to have a look and see what we're missing out on. The women's mosque is on the other side of town. (I happen to be a woman AND an infidel, so I was doubly blocked). The attempts at English at this location were particularly interesting, as you can see in the picture. I'm not positive what "theretrdspectientower" is, but I believe I captured it in the other photograph. Outside the mosque was a bazaar area, where they sold everything from Mao kitsch items to cashmere scarves, so we had a chance to practice our bargaining skills big time. (Example: my mom requested I bring her back some wine bottle covers like I brought last time. They started at 25 a piece--I got them down to 6 kuai.)

After we had enough of the mosque, we made the trek out to see the Terracotta Warriors, which are located about an hour and a half outside of the actual city of Xi'an. This was my second time seeing the Terracotta Warriors, so I wasn't impressed as much as I was my first time, but it still is definitely quite a sight. Most of the warriors haven't even been uncovered yet because archaeologists are still working on a way to preserve their original paint colors. Each of them originally was painted very ornately, but since they have been uncovered their paint has gradually oxidized and nearly disappeared. Currently there are 3 pits, Pit 1 being the largest, and I believe Pit 2 is mostly ruins, where as Pit 3 is believed to be the "Command Center" for this underground army. (The warriors were originally built to be guardians for the tomb of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang 秦始皇， so there are infantry, archers, generals, and everything else a good emperor would potentially need. They even believe they have found the equivalent of court jesters to entertain Qin Shi Huang as he rules his underground empire.)

As we were leaving, I noticed the best "Engrish" ever. Last time I was here, there was a giant sign outside the museum that had the most confusing English on it I've ever seen. This time, I saw a new, fancy sign in its place, with colorful pictures in the background and everything--except it was the same terrible English! (see the picture, it says: "Asks you on own initiative to please walk according to the scenic areaturnover line. Thanks the Cooperation"...Huh?) I couldn't believe that, after going through all the trouble to make a new sign, they couldn't check and make sure that "areaturnover" wasn't a word.

As we were leaving in the bus, I couldn't help but notice certain things about the area. In Xi'an, there are very modern high rises right next to literally heaps of rubble and shells of old, run-down buildings. The stretch marks of China's growth are definitely very apparent in Xi'an--in some of the most developed parts of the city, I saw a woman riding around on horseback. It seems very confusing, having these two things together, but that is one thing I have learned about China. It is a country of rickshaws and BMWs, high rises next to rubble. China is growing, and fast. But not really comprehensively. Or at least that's what I'm seeing.

Thus ends Day 1 in Xi'an.

Day 2:
First, we went to this "theme park" called the Tang Paradise (大唐芙蓉园). Well, it advertises itself as a sort of "theme park," but I'm not sure that's exactly what I would call it. As of today, I'm still unsure of what I would call it. It basically is a massive reconstruction of what a Tang Dynasty garden would have looked like, had it been created to feed a tourism industry. Besides it being beautiful (which it was, in a very stereotypical way), I think my favorite part about the park was that, as you can see in the picture, the park tried to create a very authentic, historical feel, while being surrounded by modern architecture all around. I loved looking at Tang Dynasty-style pagodas with cranes building new high rises in the background. Of course, just about everything in the garden was for sale (it is China, after all), so you could buy "historical relics", a 2 inch clay reconstruction of the Olympic mascots, or a caricature of Mao Zedong. Definitely Tang Dynasty goods sold here.

One of the many opportunities to spend your money provided by this place was a booth which let you photograph yourselves in Tang Dynasty clothes (there's a new twist on Olde Tyme Photos, eh?). Of course, we all had to give it a whirl, which you can see in that picture. We had one guy with us, so of course he got to be the Emperor while all of us were apparently his concubines? Chinese people didn't even bother trying to hide their stares. I was already a strange object in this part of the country--not many Westerners make it out to Xi'an. Add Tang Dynasty dress to this already shocking white skin and blonde hair combination, and you've got a complete puzzle. We literally had herds of Chinese people just watching us while we were taking photos. I'm sure the stories they told their relatives about us were just classic. One Chinese added his own special commentary. After jumping into a photo with me, he decided that the best way to communicate his approval of my ensemble was by moving his arms as if he was doing the hula while making a police car siren noise. I don't know how better to describe it, but I'm assuming that that was his interpretation of what a white girl in Tang Dynasty clothes should do? The moral of the story is that if I thought the staring in Beijing was uncomfortable, it was ten times more intense in Xi'an. Especially when I wore a Tang Dynasty dress and headpiece.

After we had finished being befuddled by the exact nature of the Tang Paradise, we moved onto the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda （大雁塔），one of the more famous attractions in Xi'an. Basically, if you see a postcard of Xi'an, it most likely has this on it. It is a Buddhist pagoda, with small temples throughout the pagoda grounds. This was the site of the most intense staring in all of Xi'an. I would literally see people walk by, tell their group of friends, and then have like 10 Chinese people turn around at once and stare at me for a bit. My personal favorite was the guy who stared at me for (I'm not exaggerating) 10 minutes straight, and then I guess out of guilt tried to give me the box of chocolates he just bought. Needless to say, I refused. I'm not sure how I feel about accepting chocolates in exchange for 10 minutes of extreme discomfort, but I feel like I would be getting the short end of the stick on that deal.

On the actual pagoda grounds, there were several beautiful little gardens. In one the areas, there were little stones that featured a Chinese poem (pictured). Well, it rhymes in Chinese. It is pronounced "Shou xia liu qing, jiao xia liu qing" (it sounds pretty in Chinese, I promise). Some people decided to climb the 11 or so flights of stairs up to the top of the pagoda, but since it was a cloudy day even by China standards, I decided it wouldn't be worth it. It was lunchtime.

For lunch, we decided to have a dumpling feast, since Xi'an is famous for their dumplings ("jiao zi" 饺子). It was a small fortune--88 kuai per person (which is actually about 13 US dollars...but after having dinners for less than 1 US dollar, it seems expensive!). This particular variety of dumplings was very special. They were wrapped according to their contents. For example, if the filling of the dumpling was chicken, the dumpling was shaped like a chicken, complete with a head and everything. The pork looked like a pig, and so on. My dumplings were all vegetable ones, so they weren't too special--but they were delicious! Dumplings are by far my favorite part of Chinese cuisine! At the end, we finished with a dumpling soup. This dumpling soup, according to the Chinese, can tell the future! It all depends on how many dumplings you get in your first bowl--if you get three, I think you will be the most lucky out of the whole table! However, you can't go fishing for them, because that would just be cheating. I only got two dumplings in my bowl, so I'm not the luckiest of all, but still luckier than those who didn't get any dumplings at all! Overall, this lunch was VERY worth it.

We spent the rest of the day walking around Muslim snack street, renowned for its delicious street foods. I definitely saw some things that I would never see in the US, so it was a definite local experience. We didn't have long until we had to be back at the hotel to leave on the train out of Xi'an. Our return trip was much like our trip there, so there's not much to say about that, other than we arrived just in time for me to miss my 8 am class. I'm pretty sure nobody minded.

karaoke, ladies' street and nachos!

Friday night, I went with a bunch of other American students to karaoke at our local "17 Miles KTV" (a location of the very popular KTV karaoke chain). Having been to karaoke in China and Taiwan before, I had an idea of what to expect, whereas some of my classmates were baffled by what they found. In karaoke places here, you get your own room, and you get to select your own songs. The American song selection is limited to current hits and pretty much Backstreet Boys and NSync songs, so if that variety isn't really in your repetoire, your only other option is singing Chinese songs (good luck if you don't read traditional Chinese characters!). Our room even came equipped with maracas and tambourines! After we had all had our fill of awkwardness and general humiliation, we finally left, our final song of course being a Spice Girls song.

On Saturday, we decided to explore a bit of the shopping in Beijing. We took the subway to the stop for what is called "Ladies' Street". While we were walking there, we actually stumbled across the United States Embassy (right next to Israel's, actually).
The actual Ladies' Street was like a festival--the upper street level we decorated with flags and everything and had a bunch of music and lively activity going on. There were a bunch of clothing stores and little street stands selling various goods--including one man selling four puppies (pictured here...so cute!) for the starting price of 350 RMB, which is less than $60. In some of the shops, they had classic "Engrish" shirts with slogans in English that made absolutely no sense. I was very tempted to buy some of the more ridiculous ones, one of which is pictured.

The real action of Ladies' Street, however, is underground. Once you get underground, you're confronted with stand after stand of small booths selling everything imaginable: clothing, jewelry, toys, and more. My personal favorite part is that all the salespeople refer to you as "friend," which is great but not quite as great as the "pretty lady" I got often in Taiwan :-). After Ladies' Street, we stopped by a small flower market area (Beijing's big flower market is in the area, but we didn't have time to make it in there so we had to go to the small substitute).

My personal favorite moment from my Ladies' Street experience was in a particular clothing stall marketed toward those who have a weakness for shiny objects (I think every single item was covered in at least 3 dozen rhinestones). I found what can best be described as a onesie that amused me, and I had every intention of going into the two-foot by two-foot curtained corner and trying it on, but before I had made it halfway across the store, the salesperson looked at me, sized me up, and looked at me and went "Mm-mmm", as in no way are you going to fit into that and you might as well not try it on. She was kind enough to take the item out of my hands and put it back on the rack. I guess I would need the equivalent of a Lane Bryant of Asian clothing stores.

Once we were done in that area, we decided to go to Sanlitunr, one of the "hip" areas for nightlife in Beijing. Having eaten Chinese food for the past 3 weeks, all of us were ready for a bit of a change. In America, mixing it up for dinner usually means going out for Thai instead of getting a pizza or something. Here, mixing it up means going for rice instead of noodles. So needless to say, we were in need of a change of pace, so we decided to eat at a Mexican restaurant we found in Sanlitunr. I can honestly say that nachos have never tasted so good. We stayed there, relaxed for a while and just enjoyed being in an atmosphere that played cheesy, smooth jazzy remakes of Sting and Beatles songs. Although some of the finer points of Tex-Mex cuisine eluded them (the waiter tried to tell us that a burrito, enchilada and tostada are all exactly the same thing), overall it was a very delicious meal.

On Sunday, I went to a hip-hop class at our local Bally's with my friend Annika. It was one of the more awkward experiences I've had since I've been here, because it was the instructor (a male), two middle-age Chinese women and the two of us. Our instructor was really feeling it the whole time, and with my sub-par dance skills and coordination skills, I was a less-than-ideal pupil. He spoke a little English, however, unlike the other dance instructors we've had, so that helped a little bit.

After the gym, we decided to go on an adventure to our local Carrefour, which is a French chain that is the equivalent of a Target here in Asia. The one I had frequented in Taiwan was a supermarket paradise, so I figured I could get whatever I needed at the Carrefour here as well. Well, I was wrong. What I needed most was lotion because the air is so dry, but when I got to Carrefour I immediately was ready to give up. Unlike the one in Taiwan, this Carrefour was just a bunch of items shoved into bins (the clothing was a REAL mess), arranged by no apparent organizing principle. The sheer number of people also made it impossible to navigate the already innavigable aisles, so by the time I found the toiletries section I was more frustrated than anything. I finally squeezed my way into the lotion aisle, only to be confronted by these two options: Sheep placenta lotion and snake gall oil lotion. Needless to say, I walked out of Carrefour empty-handed.

The only thing that could comfort us after that was a pizza restaurant next to Carrefour (we were so hungry from the gym). We ordered what we thought was a 4 cheese pizza. Well, technically it was a good guess, but it was really more like a giant cheese bread--there was no sauce on it! So when we asked for tomato dipping sauce, what did they bring but a vat of ketchup. It was not even close to what we were expecting, but at least we got some laughs out of it.


In class the other day, we talked about parents worrying about their children (a vocab word/grammar lesson). We talked a lot about how Chinese worry about their children if they haven't gotten married by 27 or 28, even if they are super busy at work. In fact, there is apparently a park that parents go to and bring 8x10's of their children to "advertise" for their children to try and find them a spouse. Mom, don't get any ideas.

The other day, my roommate Evelyn had a conversation about the weather that I feel is an accurate summary of the weather here. It went a little something like this:

Me: What does the weather look like?
Evelyn: Kind of dark, really.
Me: Dark, like the sun isn't up all the way, or dark like polluted dark?
Evelyn: *long pause* You know, I don't know.

So for those of you wondering how the air quality is here, that might be your answer. There are days when we can see blue sky, and there are days when I can't find where the sun is in the sky.

One final thing: I have made a few random encounters in the past few days. When I was at the bank exchanging money last week, a Chinese woman came up to me and asked me to be friends (no really, she actually said that). She apparently wanted to practice her English, so she gave me all her information and everything, so I guess I have a new friend! Yesterday at lunch at the cafeteria, after FINALLY finding a place to sit (so many people!!), I ended up sitting with these two graduate students. As it turns out, they were from Taiwan (one from Taipei, where I studied, and the other was from Hualian, which is probably the world's most beautiful place, but both went to school in Taizhong, where I went to visit a hot spring!), so we got to talk about how awesome Taiwan is. They gave me their contact info too and said we were friends, so I guess that means I have 3 new friends here in China!

acrobatics and more class

This past Monday, we went as a group to a Chinese acrobatics show. It was advertised as something "beautiful, novel, odd and thrilling," although I have to admit the most thrilling part (in a negative way) was when one of the acrobats actually almost fell off his equipment that was suspended from the ceiling--it could have ended very badly, but fortunately it didn't. In the lobby, they had a giant poster for the movie Australia with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, which I thought was rather interesting (especially the translations of their names--Hugh Jackman's translation means (syllable by syllable): to rest, heroism, subdue, and handsome. They also had a poster for a movie that had quite possibly the cutest puppy ever on it called "10 Promises to My Dog." Needless to say, I want to see that movie!!

The acrobatics show itself was rather lackluster. What I thought was that there was zero interaction between the sexes the entire show--when women were on the stage, ONLY women were on the stage, and the same for men. The women always did something having to do with flexibility (pulling legs over their heads, fitting 12 people on one bicycle, and so on), whereas the men always had these tribal drums and almost barbaric costumes on as they performed. The acrobatics were cool, but by the end I was kind of expecting it--just thinking, yeah THAT'S no big deal...when really it was I guess. One of the pictures is of one guy being pretty much catapulted backwards up onto a chaise suspended on a pole. The other is a man balancing on some sort of tube and board, holding a younger man doing the same on the table on the bottom guy's shoulders (it's really hard to explain..), as well as two women just hanging out onto the bottom guy.

Other than that, this week has been pretty predictable: going to class. I meet for 20 hours worth of class a week. Each session is 2 hours, and on Tuesday I have 3 straight classes, which means 6 straight hours--it's rough! I'm getting 16.5 credit hours for this though, 15 of which are going toward my major (which is half of the credit requirements for the major!!), so I can finish my Chinese major here. I'm taking Readings in Chinese, Spoken Chinese, Chinese Grammar Mistakes and Chinese Pronunciation, none of which are gripping classes, but they are definitely informative.

This week I learned that, among other things, Mao is revered for his skills calligraphy. We were doing a grammar exercise using an expression to reach the peak, the very best of a discipline. Among those who have reached this status were Shakespeare for his poetry, Beethoven for his music, and...Mao Zedong, for his calligraphy.

One thing I also found entertaining in my class is how apparent the generation gap is between some of my professors. Most are using Powerpoint in class, and it is very clear which ones grasp the concept and which ones don't. My older professors don't quite understand that the point of Powerpoint is to make a presentation, not to leave it in edit mode the entire time (that is, when they can figure out how to make the computer actually connect to the projector). It's not like this is unique to China (this has happened at Notre Dame many a time), but it's just fun to see technological problems solved in an entirely new language, when the "Start" button is the "开始" button, and "My Computer" is "我的电脑".

I've found that (not surprisingly), it's incredibly difficult to blend in around here (especially with my beacon of Westernness, my blonde hair). Obviously, walking around it's hard not to notice that I look different than everyone else. It's one thing to be aware of your own differences with those around you, but to be constantly made aware of them by other people is a whole different game. Staring at foreigners isn't considered taboo here, in fact it is quite the pastime for the locals. Most of the people on campus are used to international students, so my presence is not that much of a special occasion for them, but for others it apparently is. As a group of Westerners, they will watch us do everything and we always wonder what it is that fascinates them so--how we hold our chopsticks? how we eat? how we interact? I suppose it's nice to know we're providing so much food for thought for the locals, but it's definitely quite an experience knowing that we're pretty much constantly being watched.

This weekend, I'm planning to go exploring more around the city, so hopefully I'll have more to report then!

classes

Sorry it has taken me a while to post--I've been quite busy this week with classes, and it's only going to get worse!! (no pictures this time either--sorry!!)

Well, after a 30 minute conversation of talking to the academic dean on Tuesday, I finally convinced him to let me change my Chinese Readings class. However, he made me go to a slightly lower level class than I wanted to, but that other class was far too difficult so I guess too easy isn't too bad.

So my new Chinese Readings class is mostly foreign students (whereas my former class was people who had been living in Beijing for a while). It is in one of the newer buildings on campus (called literally Fourth Teaching Building), so the classrooms are pretty nice. We use a lot of powerpoint presentations for grammar exercises and practicing reading aloud, so it is a lot like class in the States. My one complaint is how small the desks are--they are so low I can hardly fit my legs underneath them and I'm pretty short!

I think I slightly prefer my Spoken Chinese class. There are people in that class from all over the world--the U.S., Cuba, the Philippines, Germany, France, Poland, and more. (The Europeans have formed their own miniature European Union--they have their own special little corner of the room) For that class, I had to research the customs of the Tibetan people and make a presentation about what I learned--mostly, what I found was what they wore (a lot of silk), how they wore their hair (braids, no matter male or female), and that they really enjoy drinking butter tea, a beverage of their own creation that I am not sure I would want to drink regularly. Overall, it was pretty interesting. That class is in an older (but significantly more beautiful, building. It is done in a classic Ming Dynasty-style architecture, as opposed to the other teaching building that looks more like a Western class building.

Now in addition to these classes, I had to register for 2 more classes so that my total hours would equal 20 (the first classes only add up to 14 and I was busy enough this week!!). So on Friday, we had to register for our elective classes. Let me say, as much as I complain about ND's system of assigning online registration times randomly, I now appreciate it much more. Registration for these classes required us to literally wait outside classrooms in lines for over an hour!! It was without a doubt the craziest registration I have ever seen. As soon as I registered for one, I had to run upstairs to see if I could make it into my other class. Luckily, I got into both of my classes that I wanted, but it was extremely stressful!!

This week I also met my tutor for the first time. She is a senior here at Peking University, and she is studying Burmese and Psychology. The way their majors are decided here is much different than in the US. All high school students must take a test to determine if they are fit for university, and if so, which one. You write which university you'd like to attend on your test, and then afterwards you are informed if that is a possibility. For instance, my tutor wrote that she wanted to attend Peking University, and she got a phone call saying that the only way she could attend PU was if she was a Burmese major, based on her score on the placement test. Students of Chinese and English must score extremely well on the test, especially ones that want to attend Peking University (they call it the Harvard of China). So her major was predetermined for her--luckily, she had the chance to pick up a second major, one that she actually enjoys. One of my friends tutors got placed in the archaeology program and HATES it, but she just has to deal with it I guess.

One thing about the students at this university is that they incredibly hard-working. It seems that all they do is study and work--even on weekends!! The university actually turns off all electricity to the student dorms at 11:30 to FORCE them to sleep. Notre Dame is a pretty intense study environment sometimes, but it has never inspired the administration to cut electricity to force them to sleep. It is definitely a different environment over here.

Another thing I have noticed is how creative China is in their employment of their 1.3 billion people. We had quite a bit of snow this past week (or at least comparatively for China--by South Bend standards it was a light dusting), and when it melted the streets were full of puddles. Their solution? Hire people with brooms (made from sort of bamboo stick or something) to sweep the water into the drains. Their methods of shovelling snow are similar in technique. Street cleaners are people with small tongs that walk through alleyways and pick up bits of paper one by one. Deliveries also tend to happen on bicycle, which I guess hires a great many more people than a single semi-truck driver. It seems a little less than modern, but I think it's actually quite creative.

Yesterday afternoon I took advantage of my Bally's membership and went to a Min zu wu (民族舞) class, which I guess roughly translates as ethnic group dances. Yesterday was Mongolian traditional dancing day apparently. We were the only Westerners there, and I think we threw them off a bit. The class was entirely in Chinese (obviously), so there was quite a bit that was lost in translation, but it was fun to try nevertheless. I definitely now have a clearer idea of how unfit for the world of dance I am--I'm not sure there was even a moment in which all of my limbs were in the correct position. Thankfully, the old ladies and instructor were really nice to us while we were there, and spared their laughter until we were out of the room but still within earshot.

Well last night (Friday night), we decided to go to the student university hangout area, Wudaokou (五道口）. We went to a local Chinese bar called Propaganda, and since we were foreigners we got in free! (I guess having foreigners makes them look good?) We were definitely made aware of being different (especially me, being the only blonde). Staring at foreigners is definitely not taboo in China--so needless to say, we got a few stares. They were actually playing a lot of American hip-hop music, and I think the highlight of the night was a bunch of Chinese guys trying to break dance, which is approximately what it would look like if I tried to break dance (translation: horrible). But it was definitely entertaining :-)

Unfortunately, I've managed to catch a cold and have lost my voice (it's going around everyone in CIEE--it's been very cold here!!). Luckily, my roommate has been making me some good tea to soothe my throat, so I should be better in no time :-) Everyone is planning to go do karaoke tonight, which in Asia is very different than in the US (you get private rooms and everything, thus eliminating the need for public humiliation. It gives it a decidedly different feel...). So I'm bummed I've lost my voice, but hopefully I'll feel up to going to karaoke anyway!!

first class

I just got out of my first class here at Peking University. I must be an excellent guesser, because I may have guessed my way into a class that is well beyond my ability. It may be because it has been so long since I have studied Chinese in an academic environment, but that class was definitely a little difficult for me. Now the question is if it is worth it for me to stay in the class and struggle to get a most likely mediocre grade, or switch to a class that is slightly easier in which I can excel. I already have quite a bit of homework to do, and this is only one class!

This is going to be quite a semester.

[Sorry, I don't have pictures this time :-(]

Side Note: I went to my Bally's for the first time today, and oh boy was the locker room a treat. The last thing I expected was for Chinese women to be more open than Western women in the locker room, but my oh my was I wrong. I walked in and there were just naked women, young and old, just chilling out in the locker room. It was quite an experience. Next time I'll at least have time to brace myself before being bombarded by mass nudity.

tian'anmen and the forbidden city

This morning (Saturday), we took a trip to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City (where the emperor used to live). I've already been on my last trip to China, but I decided to go again because it's always worth it. I'll just post some of the pictures so you guys can get an idea of what it looks like.

statue outside of Mao's Mausoleum honoring soldiers

these hats were being sold by every vendor there was on Tian'anmen Square

outside the front gate into the Forbidden City

This is a male lion. The Chinese believe it is necessary to have balance between yin (feminine)and yang (masculine), so there is a male and female lion to have balance. This is the male because you can see under its right paw it holds a globe, indicating his power to rule the world.
This is the female lion, which you can tell because she holds a cub under her left paw.

This in the rear of the Forbidden City in the Imperial Garden. These trees are special because they have intertwined with one another, representing marriage. Because we visited this on Valentine's Day, lots of couples lined up to take a picture with these trees.

And that's about it!