My 21st Birthday Party

This story is about my 21st Birthday Party, which was in November and thus before my trip to South Korea, but I forgot to write about it before, so here it is now. It will be a short blog, unlike the ones before, and hopefully I will develop some sort of consistency in my writing.

My 21st Birthday was, for the most part, spend running around Beijing. Why? Because I had decided that I wanted to make my own birthday cake to eat at my birthday dinner. It was probably a bad idea, because I spent most of the day in stores buying ingredients because, gasp!, I did not have all the needed ingredients in my apartment.

I know I am a really bad house keeper and I never seem to have the things I need in my house. But I am a good cook, so maybe that makes up for it?

But I managed, with the help of my very very good friend (who was soon to be boyfriend). He helped me the whole afternoon of my birthday, going with me to the store, helping me make the cake and wiping up the frosting. If it wasn't for him, I would not have had a homemade cake to share at all. (And the only reason he did all of this is most definitely because he was in love with me and was forced to show me this using the grandest and most expressive ways possible because he was not ready to use words and I am oblivious to everything.)

The cake was made beautifully and I had a wonderful dinner with friends at a Russian restaurant called Elephant. It is one of my favorite restaurants, the food is always good and the atmosphere is dark but elegant, just like I like it. And for those of you who don't know, Russian food it good!

After dinner most of us went to my friend's newly opened club, Dao. It is by the Beijing zoo and has a most modern style in music and decoration. Of course I was forced to drink. You only turn 21 once, so champagne, whiskey, and a number of cocktails were at our disposal.

And supposedly I am now, officially, an adult. At least that's what my Brazilian friend told me.

My very short trip to Korea.

So, I am finished with all the previously written, short, excerpts of my life in Asia that I wish to post here. Now I am on to the real thing. Although I am not telling the whole truth with that sentence. I still have some things that I have not written about and I want to write about. So I suppose the next few (or more) posts with still be me trying to catch up with myself.

This post is about my trip to Seoul, South Korea. I went with a few friends and I was able to visit a Korean friend who was my classmate when I first arrived in Beijing.

On the evening of December 31st, 2009, I boarded a plane in Beijing, headed for Seoul. The New Year came while I was flying and on January 1st, 2010 I was in South Korea for the very first time (because I am sure there will be at least one more trip). Since we didn't (and still don't) know any Korean we mimed and pointed our way to our hostel.

We did well. Got a shuttle bus to the city. It took over one hour. And then a taxi to the hostel. Our taxi driver was very nice, and did his best to find the place, which was down an alley and behind tall bushes. The taxi was very nice and equipped with GPS!

It felt weird not being able to communicate with words. It seems I have gotten very used to China and being able to tell people what I want even if I am not using my native language. I had forgotten what it's like to be in a place were I can't speak the language.

Our hostel was very close to downtown Seoul in Insa-dong, Jongno. We could walk to many places of interest. And it was close to more than one subway line.

I was really impressed with Seoul. It is a very modern city, more so than Beijing in my opinion, but it still holds that traditional Korean feel. At least I felt that way. I am probably misguiding myself, as I didn't study a lot of Korean history and I have only been to Seoul, for about three days.

But the point is, I liked Seoul. The shopping is GREAT! The roads, with neon lights and signs all over, are GREAT! The food is GREAT! I just loved it!

The river that runs through the city had pretty lights along it, and everywhere was decorated with Christmas and New Year lights and trees. Most of the streets had four or more story buildings on either side, filled with shops, restaurants and the like. The outside of the buildings had thousands of bright signs. At night, when lit, it was so bright I didn't feel that the sky was dark.

The food was good too. Of course we had the Korean BBQ, and tried raw squid. The squid was very scary to eat because it was chopped up alive into small pieces, and thus went eaten, still moved. If you put a piece in your mouth that had suckers, it would possibly stick to a part of your mouth. This freaked me out, but I was forced to try. And I don't regret it. Even though I acted like a complete ditz.

The weather in Seoul was quite nice. It had snowed before we arrived, but it melting during our stay and we were quite comfortable outside (as long as I wore my BIG coat).

For some historical touring, we went to the Folk Museum, Changdeokgung (a palace built in 1405, it is very similar to old Chinese buildings), and a small museum that displayed King Sejong the Great's (1418–1450)achievements.

I think I will have to return, and do some more exploring of Seoul and maybe another city in South Korea. Three days is enough to feel like you were a good speed traveler, but not enough to really get the feel of the place.

On January 3rd, a very happy little traveler got home. With lots of chocolate and alcohol I had bought in the airport in Seoul (duty free!).

Coming Back After A Long Break

This was written on the date below. Again written for my family (and the little "newspaper" that we have-The Kid Times), after I had gone home to visit during the summer and then came back to China. I have deleted names, or put X or --- as a replacement.

January 26, 2010, Monday

Coming Back After A Long Break…

I have not written to you guys in what feels like ages. On the other hand, I have not written anything except poems for what feels like ages. I am afraid I will become worse at my own language than my foreign friends, which they do try to tell me from time to time.

But the reason I am writing is not to talk about how my English is slowly rotting away, but to tell about the past few months-I may make it past six months since it has been so long-and what I have been up to. Of course I won’t say everything. Some things are just not good topics of conversation.

So to begin, I have quit singing with ---, the agent who got me on TV more than a few times. Even though I was able to do more than most people get to do, it was not worth the trouble he made. I can complain a lot about him. I could probably write a whole book just on how annoying he is and how and why I don’t like him. But that is not professional and I am sure our mother would not like it one bit, so I will keep my mouth shut.

After quitting with the former agent, I began reaching out to other agents and musicians. Agents and musicians began calling me with job offers. I made my prices and name cards, and began to prepare to take on the Beijing musical world. Which I am still not finished doing. It is a long process since I am not yet a professional.

But I have someone helping me with the task of becoming professional. She is from Armenia and she is a very talented and professional singer. I have lessons with her twice a week, two hours each time. She makes me do a lot of exercises and she makes sure my mouth is in the right shape and form and so many other things. It is more difficult than I thought it would be. I just did not realize all the technique that is put into singing properly.

I should add that two of my biggest problems so far are: that I sing through my nose too much, and that I don’t pronounce ‘e’ correctly. Both are to blame on the American accent I believe. I am sure at least one person in our family will get a kick out of that!

I have also been doing the boring things, studying Chinese, tutoring English a little bit, gigs here and there. But I don’t need to touch on those; they are not things that grab your attention much. Maybe a better, less lazy, writer could make these things very interesting, but I have no interest in doing so now.

In October, if I am remembering correctly, I went to Guangzhou. I wanted to see some of the clothing factories and markets for myself, and I was curious about how I could handle the things that working with Tata and Uncle Igor would call for.

I took a three-hour flight from one of the little airports in Beijing. I almost missed my plane. The days before my flight, I had not called the airport to check on my flight. The itinerary did not tell which airport I was flying from, but because I had never used any airport but the international, big one, I assumed that’s where I would fly out.

But to be safe, I called them and gave them my flight number to make sure the flight was on time. I had just over two hours before the flight was to take off. The women from the airport, to my horror, told me my flight was not at that airport. My stomach was sick. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes. Fortunately, she could tell me which airport I was supposed to go to and I ran outside for a cab.

I put my luggage into the back of the cab and sat in the front seat, told the driver where to go, and what did he say? He said, “which airport? Beijing has three.” I was sick again. I reconfirmed the airport name and we set off. But all the while, all I could think was that maybe, somehow I still had the wrong airport and I would miss that plane.

The airport was in south Beijing, through lots of traffic. I was now afraid that, even if this airport was the right one, I might still be late. But I got there, after driving down a very old road and past some very old planes parked in a field.

I ran into the airport. It was the right airport, but the lines to check in were huge! I felt sick some more. Luckily the airport was the correct one, but now I would be late over huge lines. I asked a few of the staff about my situation and they got me my ticket right away, but I still had to stay in line to check in my luggage.

I did make it to Guangzhou healthy and in one piece, where X met me and brought me to his apartment just outside Guangzhou.

Guangzhou was great, even though I was extremely busy. I ran all over Guangzhou every day that I was there, except the first day.

The first day I went with X, his father, and some of X’s co-workers to an old house of kungfu, which was now a museum.

It was a really nice place. The whole building and court yards and gardens where filled with bright colors and carvings. They had beautiful stones and ivory carvings on display. The ivory was really the most interesting to see. Some were so intricate it is hard to explain in words how amazing they were. The ancient Chinese were extremely talented.

The other days, I contacted factories, went to the whole sale markets, tried to get samples. I woke up early every day, took the bus to Guangzhou city and came back to eat the dinner X’s father made.

It was a nice trip. I met a lot of people and still did pretty good using only Chinese. To go again would be nice. It is almost as much fun as singing.

You know, I think I am writing too much. I will stop here and continue in my next Kid Times article. Lets hope I actually write another!

Besides, if I give it all away in one go, why would you wait around for more?

Summer in Beijing and Hong Kong

Pictures are of Hong Kong

Written: July 28, 2008


A few weeks ago there was a big thunderstorm in Beijing. It was Friday afternoon and it had been cloudy all day. My roommate and I were sitting in our dormitory. We weren’t doing very much.

Suddenly, we heard thunder! We don’t get thunder very often in Beijing so it caught us off guard. The thunder was really loud and soon we saw lightning and then the rain. The rain was strong with huge drops!

I had to go to the Subway (as in food!) that was next to the China Bank to meet the Korean girl that I tutor English to. It is a 15minute walk from my dorm. I could take a cab, which I decided to do, after seeing all the rain that was coming down. But when I had all my books in my backpack and walked outside with my red umbrella, I saw all the water that was poring over the stone walkways and grass. I was going to get really wet whether I took a cab or not.

I walked to the South Gate of school and tried to get a cab. But there was a traffic jam, and so much water in the street that I decided to go to the East Gate where there might be less water and try and get a cab there. But that was a mistake; I couldn’t get a cab and ended up walking all the way to Subway.

I walked through ankle deep water and wet grass, and my pants and shoes were soaked through. I also found out that my backpack is not waterproof. So my books got a little damp.

The teaching went well. I still teach her; I haven’t gotten fired yet. ☺

Just two days ago we had another thunderstorm. Actually, we have had quite a few thunderstorms lately. But this one is special.

I was in a cab coming home from a salon with two classmates. We had gone for a tan, in a tanning bed, the first time for us.

We had a really nice driver who talked with us, told us our Chinese was very good for only 4 months of study, and put English music on the radio for us.

Then came a crack of thunder. We all jumped. And then the taxi driver taught us thunder in Chinese. When the lightning came, he taught us lightning.

I got a phone call, and as soon as I began talking our driver began getting worried and kept telling me to get off the phone. As soon as I did he explained that I could get electrocuted through the cell phone. I’ve never heard of that before. I wonder if its true...

It rained for most of the evening, as it has done for the past few days. But the south of China is getting the worst of the rain. There is flooding and Hong Kong has also been having lots of rain and wind.

July 8, 2008

Now, I am in Hong Kong, in a hostel in Kowloon. It is hot and humid and over all I hate the weather. But shopping is good and I will go see some light show in the evening.

The train here was LONG! I don’t know how I survived it. I did meet a man from Hong Kong and a couple from Beijing. I spoke Chinese with the couple; the man from Hong Kong spoke English with me.

The scenery was wonderful. We went past mountains and the Yellow River. Rice fields and small towns that looked almost deserted. We stopped in Guangzhou for 45 minutes, but were not able to get off the train.

Tomorrow, I will take the ferry to Hong Kong Island and attempt to find a spa for a message. But knowing me, I’ll probably go in the wrong direction and never find it.

July 9, 2008

It is around 10 am now. I met the other people in my hostel room last night; two girls from Germany, a guy from Germany, an Englishman, an American, two Frenchman and three others that I didn’t officially meet. They are all here for a little vacation time and have seen a lot already.

Today is Wednesday and the government-run museums are free today, so I will probably join some of the people here in museum excursions. I guess my massage can wait until tomorrow.

Yesterday, when I tried to find the light show at 8, I went in the wrong direction. I don’t know what it is about Hong Kong but I can’t ever go in the right direction.

My hostel is on the 13th floor of the Mirador Mansion. There are lots of small shops and offices in the building. I left my hostel around 6 to find dinner and began walking in the direction I was sure was toward the water. I found a nice little fast food place to eat and then kept walking. But I kept passing subway stations, and I was a little confused because I thought the subway station next to my hostel was the last one before going over to the Island.

Then it began raining. I had an umbrella, but I was getting soaked, so I ran to the closest subway station. I went inside to get the subway back to my hostel; I had decided that it was raining too hard to go see the lights. Then I realized that I had been walking in the completely opposite direction.

A Club Party and Beijing Roast Duck

Written: June 2, 2008
And, I know, I did a terrible job on the costume. But lets face it, I wasn't really trying to look perfect, I just wanted to have a nice mojito. Or two.

Here in Beijing the temperatures are rising, the sun is out more often, and we students are dying from the heat. We study as much as possible, but mind you that isn’t very often because there is always something much more interesting to do.

For example, this weekend there is going to be a Superhero party at Vics (a club). Superheroes have occupied our minds for the past two weeks. We can’t possibly pay attention in class; it’s just not possible. Everyone needs a costume, otherwise it won’t be worth going, and this kind of party is worth participating in.

Today, some classmates of mine -from Holland, Korea, Arabia -and I went to the new Wudaokou market to shop for costumes. Aladdin, Jasmine, the girl from Kill Bill, and an Incredible were the costumes needed to be found. And we finally decided that I would go as Marilyn Monroe. OK, I won’t really be a superhero, but at least I have a character now (In the end, I went as Celene from Underworld).

Shopping in markets in China is hard. You try not to get ripped off by bad quality clothes, paying too much, etc. So when you shop you must always think on your feet, know when to bargain, know what price the clothes are worth, when to walk away in attempts to lower the price, and never, ever begin bargaining over something you don’t really want to buy, you may end up with it.

The five of us walked through four floors of little shops, looking for costumes. We found many Aladdin and Jasmine things; gypsy things. We tried on ridiculous pants. Ones that were really wide around the legs so they would look right after the ends were tied around the ankles. We found big belts full of hanging ‘coins’ and decorative shoes. But we didn’t find any appropriate white dresses for me and nothing yellow and no red suits. We did settle for a purple set of pants and a monkey and a maroon pair of pants and a coin belt.

Maybe tomorrow we will go out again for more costume material.

Enough about shopping. This week I tried the Beijing Roast Duck, Beijing Kao Ya (北京烤鸭). It was some of the best meat I have ever eaten!

I went with classmates of mine to a small restaurant in the middle of an old, dirty Beijing neighborhood. The taxi brought us to the edge of a big group of houses built of brick and stone. We had to ask three people for directions, but ended up at a tiny place in the corner of a neighborhood that would never be visited by foreigners except for the fact that it had a Roast Duck restaurant in the middle of it.

The place was filled with foreigners. We were brought to a room and were told that our three ducks, which we had already ordered over the phone, would be there soon. We could now pick side dishes and drinks.

Our side dishes arrived first, and then a fuwuyuan (服务员), waiter, brought in the ducks one at a time. He brought them whole, cut them into small pieces and served them on plates to our table. Then, you added a dark sauce, maybe a cucumber or onion and wrapped it all up in a small, very thin, pancake.

It was the most expensive dinner we have had in Beijing so far. It totaled over 1000 kuai for the nine of us. 1300 or so to be exact. But it was worth it.

My trip to Innner Mongolia - April/May 2008

This is another article that I wrote at the date below. I have not posted anything in a LONG time and that is because I am currently in China and sometimes have difficulties getting past a firewall to get to websites like blogger.com. BUT! I am back! And here we go again! :)

May 7, 2008

This article will be about my trip to Inner Mongolia, which was from April 30th to May 4th. By the way, Inner Mongolia is not part of Mongolia the Country and there are many more Chinese than Mongolians in Inner Mongolia.

A group of over 100 left BLCU (Beijing Language and Culture University) at around 7 P.M. on Thursday the 30th. We took a train to Hohhot, a city in the Inner Mongolian Province of China. The train ride was basically uneventful, except that I met a woman from India and Melissa (from Florida) and I had a very nice time talking with two girls from Indonesia.

When we woke up in the morning, mountains and villages and fields surrounded us.

We had breakfast in Hohhot and then boarded coach buses to the Xilamuren Grasslands. We drove through mountains and eventually came to rolling grasslands where we went to a local’s house and tried what was said to be Mongolian snacks. Most of it tasted a little weird to us, but the milk tea was popular. There were pieces of butter-like flakes -very hard, sweet bread, pieces of what tasted like very old cheese and some sort of cereal-like snack.

The house reminded me of the houses in Trebinje (Bosnia and Herzegovina), but these weren’t as clean and beautiful. There were cows, horses, chickens and a dog. Besides the brick house, there were the Mongolian style round houses with tables and chairs for sitting and eating. I think they were there mainly for tourists.

The grasslands were very, very windy. Our faces got really dirty because of the dirt flying with the air.

We had lunch in another part of the grasslands and were greeted by Mongolian-dressed people singing Mongolian songs and some alcoholic drink that I didn’t recognize. We were supposed to drink it too. Which I did, come on its a custom, and it tasted fine.

Next, we went to another part of the grasslands and watched a horse race and Mongolian wrestling, although neither were very authentic. Then, we all got a horse and went for an hour-long ride.

The ride was really amazing. The horses were small, like the ones at the Yellow River. They weren’t all good horses either. While everyone was getting on a horse, one of the horses spooked or something, because next thing we knew, it was jumping around and the boy on it had flown off and had hurt his ankle somehow. He was taken to a nearby clinic and was fine but could only hobble around for the rest of the trip. A woman from Japan fell off her horse when cantering and a Kevin from England was thrown when his horse spooked from his camera bag.

The ride went over the rolling hills of the grassland. I was able to get my horse to run a lot, which was really nice. There were small, short flowers on the grasslands and more dirt than grass.

An example of the Chinese tourist business: at the place where we rode, there were women with baby goats, and we took pictures with them and then realized that you had to pay five kuai (RMB) for it. Talk about getting owned.

That night when Melissa and I settled in our hotel room, we were much too tired to sing karaoke with some of the other students. We went straight to bed.

The next morning we had to get up at six to go to the Yinkenxiang Sand-Bay in the Kubuqi Desert and an arts and crafts factory.

The Desert was one of the highlights of the trip. Everyone knows that there is a lot of sand in the desert, but you never really realize it until you go to the desert. There were at least seven activities offered, a real tourist attraction. You could ride a camel or horse, 4-wheeler, take a sand surfing car, roll down a hill in a big blown up ball, or plastic ball, take a hang-gliding ride behind a car and sled down a monstrous sand hill.

Melissa and I, along with the two Indonesian girls, took the sand surfing car out into the desert. We didn’t go far, but it seemed we were in the middle of nowhere. All around us was hills of sand and small vegetation. The sand was really fine too. We picked handfuls and the grains flew through our finger and back to earth like water.

The sand surfing car was really fun as well. The driver flew over the sand and we almost felt like we were on a roller coaster.

Then, we took a half hour camel ride. We each got our own camels, which were all tied together, and led by a Chinese man. The camels were big and slow, of course, and we had a lot of fun with them. The camels were docile, especially when you compare them to the horses we rode. They were big and shedding all over the place. One camel licked Andina, one of the Indonesian girls, and she was disgusted.

We wanted to go hang-gliding, but didn’t have enough time, so instead, Melissa and I went in the blown-up, plastic ball. We crawled in and were strapped in across from each other. A man held the ball with a rope and guided us down the hill as we rolled over and over. We laughed and got sand in our eyes, mouths, ears, hair, and clothes. But it was one of the best parts of the desert.

Finally, we went down the huge sand hill on wooden boards. It was a little bit scary. You went REALLY fast, and felt like you were just about to go out of all control and fly to who knows where.

That afternoon, we went to an arts and crafts factory. Basically, we were taken there so that we tourists would spend money. But we saw some nice clothes and scarves.

We got to our hotel and after getting all the sand off of us, Melissa and I joined a bunch of other students for karaoke until midnight. Everyone left without paying and six of us were left with a thousand kuai bill. The next day we haggled everyone into paying their share. :) (We are learning the tricks of good bargainers fast!) But Diana, from Mexico, and I had had the time of our lives singing Britany Spears all night long.

The last day consisted of going to a temple in Hohhot and going to Datong to see some caves.
The temple was called Wu Ta Temple and the most colorful I have ever seen. It must have been kept well because none of the colors were faded. There was also an old, unpainted building. It had a small dark staircase you could take to the roof where there where pillars with carvings on them. I have never seen so many Buddha carvings in one place!

The drive to Datong took around five hours. Our guide liked to sing to us and make us sing. Most of the time, we did what we could to get out of participating. But this time, she got two Korean boys to go to the front of the bus and one sang a Backstreet Boys song and the other danced. When Koreans sing or dance, its always nice to watch, and I don't mean that in a nasty way!

The caves in Datong are called the Yun Gang Caves. They were very impressive. There were huge Buddhas, little Buddhas and some caves had carvings over every inch of the walls and some were painted and colorful. In front of one Buddha, that wasn’t in a cave, there were HUGE sticks of incense. I’ve never seen such big incense in my life. -And I need to correct myself, this is the place that has the most Buddhas, EVER!

But by now, most of us were ready to be back in Beijing. We had hot pot for dinner. They had blood with the hot pot. No one ate it, but a few others and I tried it. It really wasn’t too bad, didn’t taste like much at all. But I don't think it's something I am going to start buying for myself.

We had to wait until eleven to get on the train to Beijing. We pasted the time playing BS with Koreans and a hand game they taught us -it was a brutal hand game, you really get hurt! When we finally got to Beijing the next morning, I wasn’t up for going to class. Instead, I went home and straight to bed.

My trip to Shanghai and Nanjing in April, 2008

This article was, again!, written at the date below and for my family, but I have made just a few slight changes. I also decided to take all names out for now. This is because I think I should ask anyone before I put their name in my blog and it is sometimes hard to get in touch with my friends because they are in other countries and sometimes hard to reach. So, since I have yet to get replies as to how they feel about this matter, and making up fake names seemed not so great to me, I have omitted their names for now.

April 15th, 2008

It was very warm in Beijing yesterday, and it is today too. I think spring has really arrived.
I have been studying for the midterms that are April 23rd, 24th, and 25th. I will have to write an 80-character essay, listen to dialogues and do some sort of speaking. That means I have a LOT of studying to do.

Last weekend, I went to Shanghai and Nanjing. Two friends from my class went, as well four from another class. Two know each other from Holland, one is from Australia, one is from the U.S., one is from Germany but his parents are from Hong Kong, and one is from Iceland.

Shanghai is a lot like Beijing but it feels more international and there are quite a few European style homes and buildings. It rained a little while we were there and the sun didn’t come out much, but we got to see a lot.

We went to the Propaganda Museum, the Pearl TV Tower, crossed the river on a boat, saw Sun Yat-Sen’s former residence, walked the Bund during the day and at night and saw the Yuyuan Garden and the Old City.

The Bund is really pretty at night, almost as nice as Guangzhou. The museum was one of the most interesting I’ve ever seen. There were propaganda posters from 1949-79. A lot were about America. At the Pearl Tower, we were going to go all the way to the top, but my friend from Germany lost our group ticket, and so we only went to 263 meters.

But it was not a big deal. We got to see all of Shanghai and watch the boats on the river, and the new buildings under construction.

Nanjing was a two or three-hour train ride from Shanghai. I met a very nice Chinese girl on the train. We exchanged email addresses and plan to write each other from time to time.

Nanjing was really nice. It isn’t a huge city like Shanghai or Beijing. We took a lift to the top of Monk Peak -a very long way- and hiked down -also a very long way- and saw Sun Yat-Sen’s mausoleum. It was really big and impressive. You had to walk up a LOT of stairs to get to it. I also realized that McDonalds and Burger King are made out of somewhat more real food in countries other than America.

Monk Peak was my favorite place that we visited, besides the city wall. It was all wilderness, for the most part, which is what I like the best. Of course being from Alaska, I am a big hiker and this was just my thing. It was really hot and sunny, with lots of bugs flying around, but everything was beautiful. At one point we asked for directions and a very nice Chinese man showed us the way, and even came with us since he was going in the same direction. Talk about good opportunity to practice our Chinese! The trails ran between the trees and we came upon a lake with small, Chinese style open buildings with benches. A man even jumped in the lake to swim.

On another note that is completely off topic: Chinese Hot Pot is also really good, and fun to eat. You order small amounts of whatever you think you will like and you cook the food yourself in “soup” that boils in the middle of your table. It makes eating really entertaining.

We also walked the Old City Wall. The Wall is really big and a very nice walk. Of course, we paid a bit, but it was worth it. The rocks were not clean, grass was growing between them, making it much more romantic.

A film scene was being shot as we walked on the wall. Two people were walking along, talking, with a big mic above them and cameras ahead.

Being in Nanjing felt like being in what people call ‘real China’. The China that isn’t extremely international. There are less foreigners and not many commercial proceedings. It felt nice actually. I am not a big city person and Nanjing was very beautiful to me.

Our train back to Beijing was relatively uneventful. We played cards until midnight. I was the only one who could shuffle like a pro. hehe☺

At the Beijing Train Station, we were asked to present our tickets. Of course, the boys had lost theirs (they had been losing and forgetting things the entire trip). We searched and waited and searched some more. The ladies working there were not nice and no one spoke any English and none of us know enough Chinese to really say what we want. Finally, a man came over to us and told us to just go. The ladies weren’t too happy about that, but at least we were free!

We have unanimously decided that from now on, one of the girls must have responsibility of boy’s tickets at all times. The boys can never have responsibility of their own tickets anymore. Maybe it will keep them, and thus us, out of trouble.

Starting out in Beijing...

This was written at the date below. Also for my family back in Alaska, so a lot of the article is directed for my family.

March 10, 2008

So, I have now successfully started class at BLCU. I have class every day except Saturday and Sunday from 8 am to noon. There are four 50-minute intervals with two 10-minute breaks and one 20-minute break in the middle of the four hours. I like the schedule in Alaska better, but this works nicely; I’m done with school for the day at noon.

Lunch is a nightmare though. Everyone eats at about the same time. It seems that students finish morning classes at 12 or 12:30. For one person to find a table is hard, sometimes it’s better to eat in a large group and go to a restaurant on campus and get a big table. That way you actually get a table. There are many restaurants and three cafeterias, and they are all full!

By the way, this article is going to be a patchwork of a few stories and facts about my stay in Beijing so far.

The first one is about the TV commercial shoot.

Last week, on Tuesday, the fourth of March, my friend Adam from Poland was an actor in a commercial. Although, he didn’t really act, he just ran about 20 feet 10 times over and acted like he was in a race.

A TV company was making a commercial for the Olympics. A famous Hong Kong actor, Andy Lau (for a famous actor, he seemed very nice), would be in it, and a Chinese disabled athlete. The disabled athlete had one leg, so he used a curved metal piece in order to run. It allowed him to run as if he had a second leg.

A Chinese man had found four young men, including Adam, at BLCU to take part in the commercial and act as Olympic runners from four countries. Adam could bring three friends, so Stuart from Washington, Lily from Korea, and I went along.

We took taxis to a film school, where we got on a coach bus. There were two buses and they were filled with people. Chinese, black, white. We didn’t know it yet, but these people were going to be the screaming audience in the commercial.

The drive was an hour long. We came to a big training center for the disabled. There was an indoor running track, outdoor running track, pool, arena, hotel-like housing, all in the middle of nowhere. We ate lunch in a big dining room and waited for Adam and the other three to have their makeup done.

I don’t remember the names of the other three men, but one was from England, one from Alabama and one from Cuba. All were students at BLCU and of various ages.

The makeup took a long time for how little it did to their faces. It was really just powder to make their faces look immaculate. Adam had a hard time succumbing to the fact that he had got himself into this mess of makeup.

Then, they got their uniforms, running shorts and a t-shirt. They had colors to match the USA, Jamaica, Britain, and colors we couldn’t match to a country. They also got oiled, so that they were nice and shiny.

Adam complained most of the time. His face felt weird, he was oily, and his shorts were too short. We had a lot of fun making fun of him.

It took a few hours to actually get started because Andy Lau wanted to take a rest; we past the time playing Chinese Hack-sack. We finally began after dinner.

The filming took place in the indoor track. They had lights, lots of them, and they were hot. You felt like you were in a tanning bed. There were flashing lights. Pieces of styrofoam were put up too.

Then the fun began. The screamers did their best as the six runners ran over and over. Stuart, Lily and I just watched and laughed. We were actually almost a hindrance. We always seemed to be in the wrong place and were told to stop laughing more than once.

At midnight, the filming was still in process. They had finished with the yelling crowd and now they worked on filming the runners at the take off.

Lily, who had helped Adam communicate with the man who had hired the four students, got a little bit mad about how long it was taking. Stuart, Lily and I got to go back an hour before Adam finished, at one in the morning.

But being there all day and half the night was worth it. I got to see how filming works and saw a famous Hong Kong actor. And I learned good lessons from it; never work in the filming business, and if you become famous enough, you can have your jacket and tea brought to you and a lady following you around with a chair for you, and you can rest whenever you feel like it.

The second story: my trip in the He’nan Province.

On Friday evening, my roommate, Zhanar, and I got on a coach bus to go on a school-planned trip to the He’nan Province. With about 30 other students we took a train to Luoyang.

After breakfast at a hotel, we took another coach bus, with a tour guide along, to Kaifeng city where we saw the Dragon Pavilion, Iron Pagoda and the Temple to Lord Bao. And because I’m lazy and because this article will become too long, as schoolwork, you kids have to find information about those places so I don’t have to tell you.

I did run around the Iron Pagoda three times –go look up what that means. I made Zhanar do it with me, and Jeff from California ran too.

That night we stayed at a hotel. We had to get up at six the next morning so we could leave at 7:30 AM.

The second day, Sunday, we went the Shaolin Temple and watched a Kungfu performance. The history of the Shaolin Temple is really interesting, so I recommend looking it up. I had lots of Chinese ask to take their pictures with me. One even stood next to me like he was looking at something, while his friend took a picture. I noticed as soon as the picture was taken.

That same day, we took a hovercraft on the Yellow River near Zhengzhou City. We stopped at an island in the middle of the river. There were people with horses there. For 10 kuai, you could have a short horse ride. The horses were small. Their withers came up to my neck. I persuaded one of the women let me ride by myself.

We also went to the Longmen Caves. It’s along a pretty river and it’s really big. This place had so many caves, small ones, big ones, buddhas were everywhere. There was a temple and a big bridge over the river.

We came back to BLCU on Monday at seven in the morning by train. It was a fast trip, but I got to see a lot. It was just weird following a guide with a blue flag. I have never done that before.

Third, a note on life in Beijing: the city of more than 12.8 million.

One day, just before school had begun, Zhanar and I decided to take a walk through Beijing. We went to an area called Zhong guan cun. Past a few colleges, lots of stores, restaurants, and markets. We got to a big, busy road. We wanted to cross it to get to a store on the other side. Basically, we followed other Chinese, weaving through the huge lines of cars. Stopping every once and a while to let the cars drive by. Lines of people weaved in and out of the cars, going from one side to the other. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Another point of interest: remember when Tata (Dad) always told us not to sit on the rack over the back bike tire because it would break? Well, in China everyone gets rides by sitting on the racks on the back of bikes. And I haven’t seen a broken one yet.

One more thing, in Guangzhou, I saw a hummer, a yellow hummer. I know, I couldn’t believe it either.

First time in Guangzhou, China

I wrote this at the time and date written below. At that time I was writing for my family, they knew all the details and I did not need to explain. I will add in parenthesis the important details that I left out before.

February 21, 2008 at 5:30 PM:
In this column, I’m now in Beijing, sitting in my hotel, the Xi Jiao (pronounced shee jao). I have a big bed, bigger than the beds at Alyeska (ski resort in Alaska), and a very nice bathroom.

I have gotten a room in the dorms, which I will share with another girl. We have gotten along well so far (she and I had dinner together tonight and she paid). :)

But before I get ahead of myself and talk about all my time in Beijing, I have to finish telling you about Guangzhou.

I did a lot of exploring in the area around Oliver’s factory (my close Chinese friend). I took the housekeepers bike and took a little trip to the river that runs close by. I also rode by a graveyard, which was very different than ours.

There were two big, beautiful buildings in the middle, with rows of small trees and bushes. Behind and to either side were hills of what looked like little concrete walls in rows and columns. There was also a small monument for Chinese soldiers.

Edward and Aaron (other Chinese friends of mine) showed me a small island not far away. If I walked along side the river and over a beautiful, old stone bridge, I could walk all the way around a small island, full of houses and people, of course. I went back later to walk around the island, and realized it was going to take me forever to go around the island, so I turned back.

Saturday night, we did Karaoke with about 10 others from their factory. They have a place all covered with lights that has private rooms for karaoke. The rooms are really nice, each with a big couch and tables. You get fruit, peanuts, little fish, olives, tea and wine. There’s a big screen TV where the music videos and words play and a computer for picking the songs you want. A server is there the entire time to wait on you. I played a game with five dice in a cup. It’s the game they play on Pirates of the Caribbean Two. I forget what they call it. I did really well at that game. I beat almost anyone who played with me.

They had English songs to choose from, so I sang a few. Some of the Chinese were really good at the English songs. And Aaron has an amazing voice. He deserves to be complimented on that.

On Sunday, Edward and Aaron brought me to White Cloud Mountain. You paid 5 RMB per person to go up. There was a paved road going all the way up and over the mountain, but there were also side paths and steps. It was raining at first, but we had brought umbrellas. We walked by a steam that went over rocks, and over a bridge.

Getting to an old Buddhist Temple, we had to pay 5 RMB each, again. Edward said that the temple was probably over 100 years old at least. There were three big buildings, one behind the other and each a little higher on the hill. Inside each were shrines to the various gods all in gold and pretty colors. There were also big holders for incense. Dragons were perched on the roofs as protection. Two of them played with a ball. It was very pretty.

We then walked up what seemed like a million steps and came to about half way up the mountain. A man walking up ahead of us sang, what we thought were Tibetan songs, which was really pretty. There was a spectacular view of the way we had come, even though it was cloudy. There were a lot of people, some played hacky sack with a feather-adorned group of circular pieces of metal and rubber, and others took pictures. There was a big display of air filled dragons, coins and other decoration to celebrate the lunar New Year.

But the three of us set off for the top, and when we were almost there, we had to pay 5 RMB again! There were some teahouses on the other peaks and a military building. The very top of White Cloud Mountain was just as nice as half way, but could see less because of the clouds.

Once we came down from the mountain we had lunch and then walked through two campuses and took a quick boat ride across the river.

The campuses were very nice, much nicer than the one I’m at now (Beijing Language and Culture University) or UAA’s (University of Alaska, Anchorage) campus. We found a broken kite and Edward ran with it trying to make it fly. And it did not fly.

There were people flying kites everywhere and lots of kites stuck in trees.

That night we took a two-hour cruise on the Pearl River. It went from 8 to 10 pm and we got to see Guangzhou all lit up. Guangzhou really tries to show off at night. Each building has its own style of lights and the trees along the river have green lights and along the waters edge there are blue lights. There are lots of night cruises and each boat has its own style of lights as well.

The next day, I took the train to Beijing. Aaron brought me to the station and all the way onto the train. The crowd getting on the train was huge. And when the time came to get on the train, EVERYONE began moving toward the train. It reminded me of a herd of animals, only we moved more slowly.

Over all, the train ride was really nice. I saw lots of countryside, mountains in haze, old abandoned houses, dirt roads, farmland, little towns, and bigger ones. It was a joy to look out the window. It was long, but worth it.

The compartments had six small beds in each, but there was enough room. I met a girl going back to music school, who played piano. She thought it was cool that I played violin.

Now in Beijing, I will start school next week and be in the very lowest class. You have to know quite a few characters to be any higher, and I hardly know any characters.

And to put the thrift stores to shame, I bought a brand new warm coat for 14 USD. I think that’s a deal.

And another note, I remember mom saying that people have said that eating with chop sticks forces you to take smaller bites and eat slowly. Yeah right! People here eat faster than me and eat twice as much! And they’re all skinny! I don't know how they do it.

Introduction...kind of

I have been in Beijing, China for two years now. Although I have written a lot about my experiences, I have never had a blog before. So this is my first try at blogging! I hope whoever comes across my blog and reads it, finds something interesting. :)

About Two Years Ago:

I got to Hong Kong at about 9:30, after one very long flight -from Alaska to Taipei- and one short flight -from Taipei to Hong Kong.

I wasn’t very comfortable but I did all right. The first flight played a movie about a man who thinks that a life-sized doll is real and falls in love with her. I guess there’s a disorder for believing things that are not real, are real. I am not one who knows about these things, unfortunately. I didn’t watch the whole thing- I was asleep for the beginning- but it was peculiar.

The airport in Taipei was easy to go through, and nothing much happened. I sat in the big, gym-like waiting room, and did what you’re supposed to do in a waiting room.

Hong Kong was amazing. It’s huge and it seems to be made of only tall buildings built very close together. Everything written has English, not just Chinese, and may people can speak English, or know enough to sell you something. There are people everywhere, constantly coming and going. At night, it only slows down because not as many shops are open.

The subway is huge. Think of London but twice that size and in some places more spread out. When I went to the Hung Hom Train Station, I had to walk three or four minutes to get from one line to the other; all under the ground and walking fast, because everyone does. But it is clean and very cheap and efficient. I used the subway for going everywhere.

The hostel I stayed at was very high on a big hill. It overlooked the water and Kowloon, main land Hong Kong. It was very pretty, even with the smog and I liked it. The road to the hostel was very thin, for the most part room for only one vehicle. There were rocks, fences or trees on both sides and it was steep. The shuttle bus driver should be in NASCAR. He went up and down that little road at neck breaking speeds, to the point where you got a funny noise from the shuttle and I couldn’t tell if it was the clutch in the wrong gear or the tires grinding against the asphalt. On my first time up, I had my backpack on the seat next to me and every time we went around a left turn, I thought my pack would throw me off the seat.

I explored Hong Kong a lot. I tried to get to an art exhibit at a University, but couldn’t find it and gave up. I walked so much that by the time the day came for me to go the Guangzhou, my legs were beat. It hurt to walk. I also tried to go to an Art Museum in Kowloon, but went in the wrong direction and by the time I figured it out, I was too tired and went back to the hostel. But I got a first hand view on Hong Kong neighborhoods. I even walked through an area that was full of shops with funeral stuff: coffins, flowers and such.

The shops in Hong Kong are amazing. If you want to really go shopping, go to Hong Kong, everything else is a joke. I even found real alligator skin bags.