A Mess of Things

In my earlier post I forgot to mention one of my favorite places I have been to in Shanghai. The House of Jazz and Blues. Right off the Bund this small bar has live music almost every night. Some of the boys went here one of the first weekends in Shanghai and talked so highly of it that I can't believe didn't go there now. We went on a Wednesday night to help Elliot celebrate his 21st birthday. Elliot's Aunt, Cousin, and Sister were all here in Shanghai for a week and at the same time Kevin's parents were also here. About 6 boys and myself met up with Elliot, Kevin and their families and listened to a live band from the states over glasses of wine and beer. It was a great break from school during the middle of the week. And of course James didn't let Elliot go through his 21st without a shot of Jose. Happy 21st Elliot!

House of Jazz and Blues

Birthday Tequila Shot

Last Saturday we had another visitor from the states. Issei's girlfriend, Emma, came into Shanghai on Saturday afternoon and we wanted to take her out for her first night in the city. We went to dinner at a restaurant that was rated Top 10 in the world by the New York Times in 2008. It did not disappoint. We followed this with a evening in XinTianDi and had a fantastic time. We also used her as an excuse to get all dressed up one night and go to some of the fancier places that we hadn't been to yet. After getting all gussied up, we went to what we like to call the "bottle opener". This picture doesn't illustrate the bottle opener effect very well put a picture in a previous post should. At the top of this building is a lounge that happened to have a live band. We spend most of the evening there and then went to Cloud 9, which is supposed to be the highest lounge in the world... We didn't stay long because they have a minimum charge that we weren't willing to pay. Instead we looked at the view and then called it a night. There is nothing I enjoy more in Shanghai than seeing the city at night. It is beautiful.

"Bottle Opener" Building
(aka Shanghai World Financial Center)

 Thursday was Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, living in a country that doesn't celebrate the holiday means you still have to go to class. Luckily my long class, International Relations, coincidently got cancelled because Professor Zheng was at a conference in the states. Thank the lord! Laurie and I got really excited in Chinese class about the holiday and decided to show Liu laoshi (Chinese teacher) how to draw turkeys out of the outline of our hands. We decorated the whole chalkboard and got on the discussion about dinner that night. Liu laoshi told us that she didn’t know how to do her make-up so Laurie and I told her to come down to our room and we would do it for her. After class we played Pandora Christmas music setting the mood while we got ready and did laoshi’s make-up. Dinner was at a hotel called the Crowne Plaza and it was buffet style. The dinner was better than expected but nothing like Thanksgiving back home.  There was a variety of American thanksgiving food along with Chinese food, sushi, burritos, pizza, a desert bar, etc… I had turkey, "mashed potatoes", green beans (cooked Chinese style), apple and walnut salad, rolls, and sweet potatoes (again cooked Chinese style). The desert was good but not Thanksgiving desert. They had ice cream and their version of apple and pumpkin pie which was more like a bar cookie with some topping. The boys made it a point/competition to see who could go through the line the most often. After one helping I was stuffed. After dinner we took pictures and then some of the group headed out while the rest of us (only a few of us) went back to campus on the bus to sleep off our food intake.

Thanksgiving Dinner in Shanghai

Laurie, Shao 邵 (a Chinese roommate), and I

Myself, Liu laoshi, and Laurie

Half of our Chinese class

Friday morning we got up and packed for Nanjing. We got on the bus at 12:45 for a four-hour trip to Nanjing. The worse part of the whole ride was when our tour guide, Hot Dog (sadly that is really the English name he gave himself), got on the bus. He immediately grabbed the microphone and began shouting into it to wake us up. Bad move Hot Dog. He now had 40 grumpy hungry college students that did not have a good first impression of him. He followed this mistake with another, he told us we were going to make a tourist stop before dinner instead of going straight there like we had planned. Hungry, tired college students then went up a mountain to see the mausoleum of Sun Yat-Sen only to get to the top and realize it was closed. I don’t know how he figure it would be open considering at 5:15 at the bottom of the mountain he kept saying “we must hurry, it closes at 5:00. Please follow me closely, like a bunch of bananas.” Bananas?? His Chi-nglish was not so good. We proceeded to walk back down the mountain to the bus and on to dinner. Dinner was in the basement of a restaurant were I am pretty sure they had the air conditioner running even though it was about 45 outside. The waitresses were in winter coats! We got used to great meals in Beijing were we were fed so well we always left stuffed with leftovers on the table. The laoshis’ that were with us on this trip obviously don’t have as big of appetites as John Tai. We left hungry. We got back on the bus with the intentions to boycott the “comedy show” (in a dialect we wouldn’t understand) that we were supposed to go to next. In Beijing we had quite a bit of control over what we did, and if no one wanted to go somewhere they wouldn’t make us. This trip was different. No one on the bus wanted to go to this comedy show, yet Hot Dog had already made reservations and he was not about to let us skip it. Strike 3 for Hot Dog. Dan, Matt, and Kyle got called up on stage and Matt ended up having to "marry" a Chinese woman on stage. He was asked to say a few words to the audience about his marriage and all he said was “For the love of God please don’t tell my girlfriend.” The entire CIEE group went into an uproar of laughter. It made the entire show worth it! That night we discovered that the internet in the hotel was fabulous, so Rob and I decided that we were going to skip out on the museums the next morning and watch the Duck game instead. I woke Rob and James up at 8am on the dot and Rob streamed the game live on his computer. The quality was great and with the W it made for a perfect morning. After the game, Drew, Robert, James and I met up with the rest of the group and took an hour bus ride to a hot springs resort. It was far more crowded than the one we went to in Sanya and less appealing. Having 40 CIEE in one place though always makes for a good time. We made the best of it. After the hot springs we went back to the hotel and had the evening to ourselves. We took naps (James and I caught up on some Prisonbreak, which I am now obsessed with) and then looked for a place for dinner. A group of 13 of us decided to go out in search of a high rated French restaurant. The food was amazing. I had 2 glasses of wine, smoked salmon loks salad, shrimp with mashed potatoes and veggies, and chocolate lava cake for around 20 dollars. It was a splurge but it was fabulous and totally worth it. The next morning we checked out of the hotel and got on the bus to head for Shanghai, although we had to make a stop along the way. Mudu, a watertown. We rode in little Chinese gondolas down the river and then got out and went into a garden where the boys played tagged for about 20 minutes while Laurie and I watched. We had an awful lunch were I think some people in the group were served dog. We got back on the bus and headed for Shanghai. I brought a nasty cold back to Shanghai with me and have been miserably trying to make it to classes and get through the homework successfully. 

Chinese Gondolas

Twins

 Monday we had two field trips. The morning trip was with John Tai to the Propaganda Art Center. It was awesome. I got to see the Big Character Posters that I am so fascinated with! I loved it! These posters are supposed to be originals from during the cultural revolution and era of Mao Zedong. I was fascinated that a man could collect these pieces and quietly show them to the world from the basement of an apartment building. After Chinese class we got on a bus and headed to the Bund to meet Amy Goldman for a tour of the Shanghai Gallery of Art. This time we were seeing art from a contemporary Chinese artist's point of view. Again it was amazing and a great way to start the week, especially when I haven't been feeling well sitting in the classroom is the last thing I wanted to do. 
 

Shanghai Propaganda Art Center 

Big Character Posters

Shanghai Gallery of Art

"Miracle on 中山 Street" starring Laurie and Sarah

As it gets closer to the holidays I am beginning to realize how much I took them for granted in the past. I am really starting to miss the holiday enthusiasm back home. Thanksgiving is tomorrow here in Shanghai. Luckily, since our entire program is from the states, CIEE is taking us to a huge Thanksgiving dinner at an international hotel. There is supposed to be turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. While the intentions are fabulous, the expectations aren't high because most "western meals" always end up with some sort of Chinese twist. We are making bets on whether or not we will be asked to go around the room and say what we are thankful for like we had to do in elementary school. CIEE seems to bring all these activities back into our lives whether we like it or not (most of the time I love it!). I was also pretty bummed that unlike back home, we have class on Thanksgiving. I thought about starting a sit-in at the dorms in protest, but then my IR professor let us know that he will be out of town and class tomorrow is cancelled! YAY! While I know that this Thanksgiving won't be anything like spending the day with my family back home, I am thankful that I have made some amazing friends that will make it feel as close to a family holiday as possible. As I mentioned in my previous post, I found a store in our mall that had a section of Christmas decorations, this to me is a miracle. I never thought I would find decorations in China except in the French or British concessions. They were by far the most expensive Christmas decorations I have ever seen. And no, the santa's and snowmen are not Asian, despite what my mother thinks they look just like santa back home. I woke up yesterday to new of snow in Salem and Eugene and hundreds of pictures already on facebook of everyone playing in it. I was so jealous and it really started to make me "holidaysick." One of my friends has his girlfriend in town for the week and unfortunately she gets pretty bored while he is in class. I decided that I needed to get something to bring up my spirits and get her out of the dorm. We went to the mall and the Christmas store. I bought myself a single Christmas decoration for our room and to lighten my spirits. It worked. I decided to make a list of all the holiday activities that I wish I was home to partake in for future self-reference. 

~ Eating too much and watching football on Thanksgiving

~ Giving thanks and spending time with my family

~ Helping mom put up Christmas decorations

~ Putting up the Christmas trees while drinking egg nog and listening to Christmas music

~ Playing in the snow whenever possible

~ Buying Christmas presents and wrapping them in mom's themed papers

~ Mom making cookies throughout the entire month of December and getting to steal a few when she isn't looking ;-) 

~ Cuddling with my puppies in front of the fire

~ Christmas movies (Miracle on 34th Street & The Grinch)

~ Visiting friends that are home from school

~ Steak and Lobster with Chris's family

~ Christmas eve night at the Essers

~ Looking for Santa Claus and Rudolph in the sky on the way home

~ Christmas morning cinnamon rolls

~ Being with my family and thinking of those that can't be with us

The winter holidays are the best time of the year. I am thankful for them and those that I have to celebrate them with. Happy Thanksgiving!

Our one and only decoration

A Girl's Day Out and a Boy's Day Out (with a girl tag along)

Friday morning Laurie and I decided to have a girls day. We went to Zhongshan Park 中山公园 which is the giant mall about a 10 minute bus ride from campus. We went to Starbucks which has just started serving their holiday drinks in their holiday cups. Yay! I had an amazing Toffee Nut Latte and for the first time felt like the holidays are coming. We wandered around the mall and found an interior decorating store full of Christmas decorations. I finally felt like I wasn't totally secluded from the holiday scene and I loved it! After perusing H&M and coming out empty handed we decided to get our nails done. We found this adorable little salon called Sweet Nails. They were really reasonably priced and the shop was adorable. It was a red and pink with hearts theme. We each had two women working on our nails and got pampered for about two hours. It was exactly the way we wanted to spend our girls day out, we of course wouldn't have been complete without a bottle of red wine and gossip! ;-)

Starbucks Christmas cups even in China
Toffee Nut Latte. Yay for the holidays!!!

Mani/Pedi at Sweet Nails!

Pink and Purple

 Saturday I needed to go back to the fabric market to pick up the things I had ordered last weekend. Drew, Robert, and James were already planning on going out there so I tagged along. When we got there we met up with more of the CIEE boys. Unfortunately the suit I had made for myself didn't fit very well so I had to leave it behind to get in another week. The other suits and the jeans that I had made all were finished and hopefully all fit! Robert and James both got fitted for suits and jeans as well. This market it truly overwhelming and unreal. Stall after stall are lined up with different articles of clothing to sell. You can get anything made such as jeans, suits, coats, formal gowns, costumes, dress shirts, silk robes, and traditional Chinese clothing. Three floors of fabric and custom tailors at our disposal for a very inexpensive price. The quality of the clothing that comes out of this place is surely not up to par with something we would buy back home, but the price is so much cheaper that it is silly not to purchase something while we are here.

The Fabric Market (Robert getting fitted)

Crossing it off the list

I am starting to realize that my time left in Shanghai is quickly coming to an end. I can't believe how quickly it has gone by and I hate to think about how little time we have left. We have already started reminiscing about things that happened at the beginning of the semester, as if it is already coming to a close. I decided when I returned from Beijing last week to make a list of things that I still wanted to do in Shanghai before I leave. The list is long and I hope I have the chance to accomplish most of them. This weekend I made great progress and got to cross 4 things off my list! First started with the Oriental Pearl Tower on Friday. 

Oriental Pearl Tower

 Laurie and I went to Xue You 学友 (my favorite restaurant) for lunch and the met the group at the Mao statue for our tour of the Oriental Pearl Tower. I was so excited. I had wanted to go up in the tower since before I came to Shanghai. Unfortunately we got the bus driver from hell. I don’t think he had ever driven a bus before in his life. I have become quite the transportation wimp since arriving in China. The driving here is so erratic and dangerous that I am afraid to ride in any mode of transportation on the ground. I refuse to sit in the front seat of taxis and I don’t enjoy going anywhere in them. This bus driver reinforced all of my fears. He would slam on the breaks so hard and fast that the bus would fish tail. He almost rammed another car into the wall in a tunnel. And his driving was so jerky and inconsistent that I started having a panic attack. I was miserable. I was almost crying and finally people started to realized and asked Yang Laoshi if we could walk the rest of the way. Needless to say, when we got off the bus my nerves were running a little high. The tower was amazing just from the bottom! We made our way up to the highest floor and looked out over Shanghai. The smog was a little too thick which was a bummer, but we could still see the city and I enjoyed it. That is I enjoyed it until we went down to the outside observation deck with a glass bottom. Everyone loved it, except me. Laurie and Brandon ran around on the glass saying, “Look down while you run! It is so trippy!” I said no. Laurie was even jumping on the glass. I stepped out on the glass twice to have my picture taken but I never looked down and I made sure that the camera was ready and I only had to stand out there for a matter of seconds. I even made other people take pictures of the ground through the glass for me because I was so afraid of looking down. As if my nerves weren’t running full speed already, being in that tower put them in overdrive. Walking through the lobby, I was shaking so bad I dropped my camera on the marble floor. Luckily it was okay, it was just another thing to decrease my level of enthusiasm for the day.

Bottle Opener Building?

Min, James, and Robert on the Pearl Tower

The group

Laurie and I

Middle school feet picture, but better with the city beneath us.

 After the tower, Laurie, Brandon, James, Robert, Drew and I went down to the Bund. We wanted to look for a place that made a good Bloody Mary. We didn’t find one but we did find the Bund Brewery. We got snacks, beers, and played pool for a few hours. Walking back to the metro we met up with Min and Drew decided to go out on his own in search of an art gallery. We found a little teashop with adorable teapots and tea near the metro and a Dunkin Donuts. While we were shopping the group split up and Brandon, Laurie, Robert, and Min went on to Dunkin Donuts and New York Pizza, while James and I took a long desperately needed walk where we had a great conversation. We spent two hours walking around the Bund and across the river. It was beautiful and we got a lot accomplished. After our walk we met up with Elliot, Drew, Laura, Lucy, and Emily at a Thai restaurant and had a great dinner where they made a decent (best in China probably) Bloody Mary. Finally!

Pudong at Night

The Bund at Night

Saturday morning I met with Jojo (my tutor) and then Laurie and I went to the fabric market. This is one of the most overwhelming places I have ever been to. Three stories of stalls after stalls of all sorts of fabrics and clothing types. Everything is tailor made to fit and you get it in a week. I had a pencil skirt suit made for myself for 50 dollars! I also got a pair of jeans hemmed and copied. There were placed entirely of sequin fabrics for dresses, some that were just denim, and other just of silk. You could have anything and everything you ever wanted made at this place. It was amazing and overwhelming all in one. I hope everything is exactly the way I want it to be. After the fabric market we went back to the fake market. It has officially become my favorite place in Shanghai. We loaded up on goodies and then went to Vegetarian Lifestyle for dinner. One weekend and the Pearl Tower, the Bund at night, the fabric market, and the fake market, all got crossed off my list. Lets see if I can keep up the trend next weekend!

For changing dynamics and amazing adventures, one week is never enough.

I am going to go back to Thursday because I feel like that is when the trip really started! Thursday ended a week of midterms and paper writing. I finished my IR paper with little time to spare, which I spent on studying for my Chinese midterm. I emailed my paper in and then went to the “caf” (cafeteria as said by the Boston boys) for lunch for the first time. It was good, only because I had Mike to show me the ropes. My Chinese midterm followed which went pretty good considering the amount of time that I spent on studying for it wasn’t enough… I pathetically could not get myself to go to my IR class because of all the lack of sleep that I had accumulated throughout the week of multiple papers to write, studying and Beijing preparations. After a great lengthy nap, Laurie and I headed to the Japanese restaurant we all known and LOVE and then went back to the dorms to pack and celebrate being finished with midterms. We made the decision that since we had to be on the bus at 6am (showering around 445) that we were not going to sleep that night. We told each other that we would all be each other’s support and we managed to have a great time just hanging out in the dorms and keeping each other awake until morning.

Anyang 安阳

The bus ride to the airport was short and check-in with the laoshis (teachers) was easy. Thankfully we got to sit next to our friends on the plane and I quickly fell asleep for the 2-hour flight. It went by far too fast. After getting all our things we piled on another bus and had a 3.5-hour bus ride to Anyang. Again, sleep was inevitable. We stopped for lunch at a “greenery”. This restaurant looked like a greenhouse/chucky cheese on the inside. The building was far better than the lunch itself. We checked-in at the hotel and had an hour to spare. Laurie and I roomed together for the week and got to know each other very well. The beds were fabulous and soft, but I knew that if we slept we would not make it downstairs by the time we had to leave. An hour later all but two made it to the bus and headed to the local Anyang No. 1 High School. We were greeted with as much enthusiasm as the young migrant school children. The principle told us the history about the school and the statistics before taking us down to meet our tour guides. Groups of about 10 CIEE students were matched up with groups of 10-15 high school students. They showed us their campus, dorms, classrooms, and cafeteria. We took tons of pictures and they asked lots of questions. They loved practicing their English and getting to spend the evening with us. At the dorms the boys went in the male dorm and the girls went in the female dorm, but since the boys were taking too long I told the girls we should go in and hurry them up. Apparently here the dorms are never entered by the opposite sex. This little group of high school girls giggled like they had just entered a boy’s locker room. After the tours the school had organized a basketball game with our boys against the varsity boys team of the school. They had quite the showing of spectators and the kids loved it. Of course our boys (even with two who had never played basketball and one in jeans) won, but it was an amazing experience. There was so much love for our team from the Chinese girls. After the basketball game the kids taught us how to make jiaozi and baozi. After making way too many jiaozi for my patience, we got to eat them. A dance off started after dinner with April showing her girls how she dances back home and one of her girls showing us her traditional dancing. Pretty soon everyone who can (or thinks they can) dance, was in the middle of the circle showing off for the crowd. It was sad to say goodbye, but we exchanged emails and promised to keep in touch. We went back to the hotel and went straight to bed around 8 o’clock. I was so exhausted that I don’t remember the walk from the bus to my bed.

The 3 girls who showed me around their school. 

Not even half of the spectators at the basketball game.

Making jiaozi.

The girls loved getting their pictures taken with the basketball stars (Mike and Issei)

Saturday we toured the oracle museums and the Yin Ruins. This is the first evidence of the Shang dynasty and the only thing worth seeing in Anyang, with the exception of the No. 1 High School. We toured the ruins and then went for lunch at Lazy Susan in VIP rooms. We followed lunch with a museum of the first museum we went to that day. Needless to say after about 20 minutes some of us had had enough and went outside. It was a beautiful day and there was a large koi fishpond where small children were feeding the fish. The fish were so colorful and the children were adorable, so I had a little photo shoot and got some great pictures. That night we decided to have a “hall crawl” and everyone would sponsor a different themed room. There were more people on our floor than any of the other floors so we hosted. It was a flop. We ended up with everyone in our room until we left to watch a movie. 

My family name in the oldest Chinese characters.
The black large picture is the old character and the red to the right of it is the current way to write it.

The group at the Yin Ruins

Oracle bones

Koi fish

Adorable child

Roomie Laurie

Happy Halloween!! We had to check out of the hotel bright and early only go on another tour before getting on the train to Beijing. Anyang was obviously not my favorite three days. The Yulin Old City, was virtually a cement maze and some pagodas. We all participated in the maze pretending it was a corn maze since it was Halloween. The real draw to this "city" is the fortunetellers, which I refused to be a part of. Instead I sat under a large statue with part of the group and got updates with Rob on the Duck game from his mom via text messaging. Everyone thought something was wrong with us because of the tension in our faces. Luckily we came out with a fabulous win, 53-32.  While waiting for the group to finish Laurie and I were swarmed by the old man paparazzi. It was disgusting. Four old men with professional cameras came up and started taking pictures of us. They probably took 200 each. Eventually one of the guys even asked Laurie to take her glasses off for him. By this time I was so fed up that I drew the line. I said no and asked Mike to tell them to leave and stop taking pictures, I was not happy. We finally got back on the bus and made our way to the train station. We ate fangbian mian “方便面” (convenient noodles that are similar to cup of noodles but better) waiting at the gate. The train ride was a joy compared to my previous train experience. I was able to sleep most of the ride and sat near people I actually liked this time instead of loud Chinese people who stay up too late, get up too early and have debates well into the night, plus it was only 4 hours instead of fourteen.

Beijing 北京

As soon as we arrived in Beijing the bus took us to Peking Duck dinner before we could even check-in at the hotel. We had a blast but I think the duck is overrated. Blair and Steph and I went to H&M looking for Halloween costumes. I have wanted a plaid button up anyways this trip, so I bought one of those and dressed as a lumberjack. While it may not have been very creative, this was a fabulous idea considering it was 30 degrees outside and I got to wear jeans and UGGs and long sleeves. Halloween in China is definitely different than in the states but we found a place that was celebrating and we got free shirts and danced all night long. It was the best halloween I could have hoped for. 

Monday morning was another early wake-up call. Breakfast consisted of “fired” eggs (there is no such thing as english spell checker in China), toast, bananas, or Chinese food and the coffee was awful. We met in the lobby at 9am to leave for the Hutong alleys. We got to the alleys and got to ride in the rickshaws through the alleys and saw the traditional style homes. We got to go into a man’s compound and tour his home while he explained the arrangement of the rooms and courtyard. After visiting the house we got back in the rickshaws and were taken to two homes of single women who open their kitchens to groups like us. Wu Ayi 阿姨 was a catholic widow who served us a home cooked feast. Back to the rickshaws, Laurie and I decided we wanted to add some excitement to the ride so we started shouting at the drive to race and hurry. The outcome was fantastic. We had all the rickshaw drivers working as hard as they could to go as fast as they could to stay ahead. Of course Laurie and I came in first place! 

Me, Laurie, and Mike in a rickshaw.

Lucy and Emily and their driver

Laurie, Wu Ayi, Emily and I.

When we finished at the hutongs we got in a riverboat and slowly made our way to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is where the emperors would go to vacation in the summer. It has been turned into a gorgeous park and the weather was perfect. The sun was out and it was brisk but not miserably cold. We climbed to the top of the highest pagoda and looked out over the park and the city. It was beautiful. After too long of being away from the fabulous hotel room, we all came home and crashed. I have learned to truly love and rely on naps during this adventure. Dinner followed on a street that reminded us of the back gate back home. Ten of us had a fantastic lazy susan dinner before heading to the hotel to play games. We played card games well into the night and then watched a movie before heading for bed.

The view from the top of the Summer Palace

The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace Park

Laurie, Blair, and I

The Summer Palace.

Monday night I went to bed not feeling the greatest. The dinner we had eaten that night was extremely salty and while it tasted amazing, my stomach didn’t love it. I tried to eat some breakfast before our two lectures in the hotel. The first was from a man who has spent the last 13 years of his life studying and climbing the Great Wall of China. He gave us a brief history of the wall and then section we would be hiking later in the week and he told us about his studies. The second lecture was on media censorship in China. The only problem is that the only thing the lecture taught us was that there is censorship in the media in China… as if we didn’t already know that. After the lectures the program was going to a pizza parlor in the city and then to a shopping mall. Since I already wasn’t feeling well and they were going for pizza, I decided to stay at home. I napped and nursed my tummy and watched Chinese soap operas. It is amazing how much you can get out of the those corny shows. After everyone returned I went to dinner with Emily and Lucy and one of Lucy’s friends from high school that is currently studying in Beijing. We started at a great very busy hot pot restaurant and then moved on to Smugglers. Smugglers was a cheap hole in the wall bar that reminded me of home. Sadly I still wasn’t feeling too hot, so after half a mai-tai I headed for the hotel. We watched another movie before bed.

Wednesday was our day to tour Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. One of the greatest perks about our hotel, according to the internet, is the proximity to Tiananmen Square. It is literally within sight and walking distance, but because nothing is done easy in China we got loaded on the bus, took 20 minutes to drive there because of traffic, had to get off the bus in a weird spot and walk a detour that was probably as far as the original walk from the hotel, all to get to the square. The square was packed with people and the line to see the body of Mao Zedong was unreal. We made our way across the square (spending a total of maybe 10 minutes there) and to the Forbidden City. The city is beautiful. The pagodas are so elaborately colored and well maintained. The city was crowded with people and Laurie and I engaged in our usual picture taking ritual with all the locals. After making our way through the Forbidden City we waited for the group to gather sitting in the sun. It turned out to be another beautiful warm day. We walked across the street to the site of Suicide hill. Apparently it is the site where one of the emperors hung himself from a tree. And apparently we saw the exact tree… We finished the tours and were taken to a large jiaozi lunch. The tables were a little too small so I got separated from my group and sat at a table with people that I didn’t know as well. It was a good way to get to know more people. Plus the jiaozi were delicious and just kept coming and coming. We went back to the hotel and Laurie and I took a 2-hour nap! Success! Laurie, Mike, Issei, Robert, John, Emeka and I went to Houhai for dinner. This is in the same area as the hutongs we rode through earlier in the week; only this part is a bunch of restaurants and bars surrounding a small lake. It was beautiful! We had dinner at a great Vietnamese restaurant overlooking the water and then went to a mini-mart underneath some of the bars.  We played a game where we were given an emotion by the person taking the picture and everyone else had to act it out to the best of their ability. The person who wins gets to take the next picture. We had so much fun and laughed so hard we attracted quite the audience. From there we went to a small bar with a live musician where we were the only people in the place. We sat upstairs on some comfy couches, played games and then made our way back to the hotel for yet another movie and an early bedtime since we had the Great Wall hike in the morning. 

The Forbidden City from Tiananmen Square.

Tiananmen Square from the Forbidden City.

Inside the top of the building in the first picture.

Laurie, Lucy, Me, and Emily.

Forbidden City.

Forbidden City.

Forbidden City.

We had to wake up an extra hour early to get on the road for the Great Wall hike. Lucy and I went downstairs a little early so we could take our time eating breakfast and getting some coffee in our system. We were the only CIEE people in the restaurant when we look over and see Kevin and Peter trying to check into breakfast. I ran over and gave the woman my room and then got hugs and an explanation. They were part of the BLC program, which was currently in Tianjin, which is only a 30 minute train ride from Beijing. They decided to take the day to come and visit us knowing we were going to be hiking on the Great Wall. They hadn’t let our director know of their intentions, but when he saw them there was no way he could tell them no. We all got on the bus for our 2-hour ride to the wall. We got out and immediately climbed straight uphill covering far too much elevation change on stairs for my comfort. The girls kept telling each other that our buns would be in great shape to keep each other motivated. The weather was fantastic. Laurie and I came very prepared knowing how hot it had been the day before and that we would be warm from the hiking, we just wore capri tights and t-shirts. Some people were bundled up for a snowstorm! It was so hot that most of the guys had their shirts off before we got up to the wall. When we got to the top of the stairs and onto the wall it was breathtaking. I honestly cannot put words down to the emotion I was feeling or the view I was seeing. At each of the towers there are locals selling water, beer, coke, and sometimes snacks. Some of these people even live in the towers on pieces of plywood with a blanket or two. At the first tower (we had literally just climbed up to the wall and not on the wall at all yet) a couple of the boys decided to shotgun some beers. We started our 3-mile hike along the wall. We had 15 towers to go through, some of which we could climb up into or even onto. The site was truly spectacular. Imaging the history and labor of the wall and the reasons for it being built. We hiked up and down three miles of stairs and through 15 different towers; by the end we were tired. We had a long bus ride home, during which some of the program had to go to the bathroom so bad in the middle of nowhere that they made the driver pull over on the side of the road. Problem with where we were is that there were no trees and the road had a 30-foot drop on each side. Basically about 7 people were just peeing on the road right next to the bus. We went back to the hotel and then to the back gate for dinner. After dinner we went to Smugglers to celebrate Rob’s birthday. We had a great time and then the group split in two, some continued the night at Vic’s nightclub and the rest of us headed back for the hotel. Laurie and I went to our room and fell asleep within 10 minutes. The wall took it all out of us. 

Roomie and I on the Great Wall!

Great Wall.

Great Wall.

Great Wall.

Me, Mike, Issei and Laurie.

Issei pretending to fall off the wall freaking out Emily and Yang laoshi. 

Great Wall.

Part of the group on the Great Wall.

The entire CGC group, plus two. 

I climbed the Great Wall of China.

James, Me, and Kevin "Just 3 good old ducks"

Friday we didn’t have anything planned with the program except for some optional tours and an optional hot pot dinner. Laurie and I spelt in, walked to the nearest Starbucks, and then did a little shopping. We went back to the hotel and found that the boys were ready for lunch so we went back to the same area we had just come from and had a mediocre lunch. I had a few things I really wanted to get in Beijing (pearls and the I love BJ shirt that Aaron has) so we headed to Hongqiao market. I got lots of goodies!! I would say it was a very successful shopping trip. We raced home with five minutes to spare to change our clothes and meet downstairs for the hot pot dinner. It was yummy but too much work. Part of the program continued on to an optional opera, which I have already seen twice so some of us got dropped on the side of the road about 4 blocks from the hotel. We went home and got ready for a night out celebrating Rob’s birthday again and John’s 21^st! We made sure that John had a fantastic time for his 21^st with the entire group there to celebrate, you only turn 21 once. 

The morning was no fun for the group who helped John celebrate the night before. We needed to check out at 10:30 and at 10am we were all still barely waking up let alone packing and getting downstairs. Rob and John were smart and packed the night before so they came over and hung out recapping the night while Laurie and I scrambled to get ready. I woke up Mike and Issei a little after 10 and they hadn’t packed either. Lucy and Emily were almost ready to go when I talked to them and we  were all ready to head downstairs at 10:30 when someone knocked on Drew and Elliot’s door to find them still sleeping and not even close to being packed. The bus left the hotel around 11:15 and we went to lunch before heading for the airport. The plane was by far the nicest plane I have ever flown on, thankfully. I was asleep before the plane ever left the runway. We got back to Shanghai around 6 and the dorms around 7. The week was fantastic and it went by way too fast! Fortunately I have 600 pictures and stories to help me forever remember it.