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!