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.