Chengdu Day 1

    Thank goodness we left Beijing when we did. The morning we woke up the air quality was freakishly bad. I sounded so bad while I was sleeping Cassidy was worried that I was unable to breathe at all (she woke up me up to make sure I was ok). There was a different kind of excitement in the air now that we were leaving to go to our new home. We load our considerable luggage onto the bus and headed to the airport. The pollution was so bad that we were barely able to see 50 meters in front of us.
    Once at the airport we got a taste of Chinese security. They pulled every one of us USAC aside and scanned us. Then we had to change gates with less than twenty minutes to spare. Beijing is not a small airport by any means, but we made. Cassidy and Brennan almost didn’t make it, which was mildly terrifying. Then we hopped to Chengdu, about a 2.5 hour flight. I stepped off the plane and immediately felt at home. It was incredibly humid and comfortably warm. The unicorn effect was even worse here because there are significantly less foreigners than in Beijing. It’ll be fun though, I’ve decided to turn it into a game.
    We got to our dorm about an hour after landing and compared to Taiwan this place is fantastic. I have my own room, bathroom, closet, and desk. This place is huge!! I really love it though it was kinda funny to watch people freak out because it was unclean. I laughed a little bit on the inside. The USAC people took us to Carrefour, a department store where we got so supplies. Cassidy, Brennan, and I got shoved into the back of a car with two Chinese people we didn’t know as a way to get to Carrefour. Whilst in the car, Brennan had his head out the window and a man rode by on a bicycle and let out an incredibly loud fart. We about died laughing. Everything was really expensive at the store, so there was some discussion of going to Ikea tomorrow after orientation. I am down at this point, Carrefour is too expensive for me. Tong (I was spelling it Cong...I was wrong) really wanted some food at KFC so I got a small snack with him. Numbing pepper for the win!
    Arriving home I unpacked a little bit but quickly began to run into technical problem. Erik, my seat buddy for the Chengdu flight, helped me out and now I have Wifi! Yay! We then took off for a famous restaurant in the area. Cassidy took control and order all of us some awesome food. She has me waaay beat in terms of language skills. I hope I am at her level when December rolls around. I just need to get out on the street and start spitting Mandarin. It’s funny because people are really complaining about the quality of the dorms and screaming at cockroaches.... I am just really relaxed and pleased that I am the only one who controls my air conditioning. I am uploading pictures for previous blog posts so please go back and look if you want. Tomorrow is orientation and classes start on Monday!

Beijing Tour Day 5

Today began promptly at 6:30 am, we were set to meet everyone down in the lobby by 8 am. The group for today consisted of Brennan, Jose, Cassidy, Crystal, Sean, Cong and myself. First stop on the list was Mao’s Mausoleum. For those of you who don’t know, after his death Mao’s body was preserved and put on display in Tiananmen square. Many Chinese people go and see the body as a sign of respect. We split into two groups out of necessity for bag watching. Since the terrorist attack on Tiananmen square three months ago security is way stricter, as such you can’t bring anything with you except a valid ID. Seeing Mao’s body was very strange for me. He changed the face of China as the world knows it and here was his body for everyone to see. It was a mildly surreal experience, his body was draped in the tradition red communist flag and it was strangely silent in a room full of people. But I can say I have seen Mao Zedong.

    After the second group made it through we had a little bit of fun playing unicorn for the people of Tiananmen square. Lots of people posing with us and taking pictures. One man had a particularly fantastic smile at all of us getting a picture with him. We then got to experience the Beijing subway (BRT). I think we all made Cong nervous, he was incredibly concerned we would get left behind. Nothing bad happened and we eventually made it to JingShan Park. This park has a small hill that overlooks the forbidden city, pretty much all of Beijing. Unfortunately the air quality today was the worst I have ever experienced in my life. Beijing’s air is really difficult to breathe. The park surround the viewpoint was lovely. Quiet, peaceful people just living their lives and enjoying the nature inside the city. We found an area where people were dancing so Jose and I danced with these adorable twin girls, laughs were had by all. We then headed out to find a noodle shop for lunch. Cong then took us on a long walking adventure to find a hutong, or small street. On it are little shops, and local culture as Cong put it. It was interesting, reminded me of the night markets of Taiwan. Though these places were more established than some of the places  in Taipei. It was interesting to see a more local area instead of touristy.

    After lunch we took off for the Lama Temple, which is the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet. It was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. We spent out time wandering and just taking in the architecture and the Buddhas. One of the large buddhas was carved from a single tree and was over 3 stories tall, it was impressive. Everyone by this point was incredibly tired due to the amount of walking we had done, so we took a break in a coffee shop for an hour or so. I really enjoy this particular bunch of people, they are marvelous. We then headed out to Beijing University, the Harvard of China. This was a long journey and turned out to be way more difficult than necessary. Cong really wanted to do it though and since we had essentially kidnapped him for the day we just rolled with it. It took us nearly an hour to escape the University which was a mini city unto itself, with a wall all the way.

    Dinner ended up being pretty good, everyone was so tired it quickly descended in hysterical laughing fits about strange things. Walking back was fairly difficult, as we were so tired. Everyone was almost silent the whole trip. When we arrived back to Tiananmen square all we said was “We are home!”. Never thought I would say that about Tiananmen. Tomorrow we leave for Chengdu at 8 am. I look forward to arriving at my real home in China. Onward to my next destination.

Beijing Day 4

Today was the Summer Palace and Silk market. Everyone was fairly tired so the bus had less energy. It took about an hour to drive to the palace, and we have lost our blue skies. The famed pollution has set in, due to the rain clouds are now over our heads. Despite this the Summer palace was on a beautiful lake and the architecture was gorgeous. We watched a small performance on a stage, first dancing girls then a face changer and some instruments. It was really neat. Then we walked down the Long Corridor which was about 700 meters. It the longest hallway in the world according to Wentao. We all met at the large marble boat and spent some time playing unicorn. People were constantly taking our picture and staring as though they had seen mythical creatures. We eventually all made it back together and headed to the lunch place.

    Lunch wasn’t as good until the end, when they brought out the vegetarian dishes, those were fantastic. Spicy tofu, fried potatoes it was awesome. We then headed off to the the silk market, but it took us nearly two hours to do so due to traffic. I finally made my first purchase at the Silk market I haggled a scarf from 1350 RMB to 200 RMB. According to Wentao it’s a very good Hermes knockoff and the price I got was the price I would have gotten if I was Chinese. It’s soft and beautiful. Everyone was so tired we just went back on the bus. It took another hour to drive back to the hotel. The amount if ninja car maneuvers in Beijing driving was completely batty. We went up to the room to freshen up, the Karen, Jose, Brennan, Cassidy and I all decided to go to hot pot for dinner.
    We left with Crystal and Zach in addition to the original people. We then headed out with hopes that we would find the hot pot restaurant. As we walked it began to rain. We never found the hot pot food.So after to sky walkways we turned back and went to somewhere closer to our hotel. We found a Dongbei food place essentially across the street from out hotel. We ordered six plates of food and rice. It was awesome and only 159 RMB for all 7 of us to eat(about 4 USD each). It was rich northern food and I am so very full. I walked with Crystal to withdraw money from the bank and took her to the convenience store to grab some Kele (or Coca Cola ) for her. Went back into the room and now it is time for sleep. Tomorrow is our free day and we have some places we want to go, we’ll see how far we get.

Left to Right: Zach, Crystal, Karen, Brennan, Jose, Cassidy

Beijing Tour Day 3

I got up earlier this morning so I could go get batteries for my camera. I went down to the lobby and figured out where and connivence store was in the area. I went in and didn’t see batteries, so I got to ask in Chinese and I got a response. I was incredibly pleased about the interaction because I was understood, it gave me hope for my ability to learn. I went back to the hotel and got breakfast. We left at nine for the Great Wall (Brennan and Jose took a nap on the way).
    I am going to attempt to put my experience into words. I arrived at the Wall and just stared. It was like looking at something out of a fairytale, and suddenly it was a real thing. The view was gorgeous, the Wall was long and steep. These were the stones that soldiers walked along and people built with their bare hands. It was amazing, still is, it’s a little bit impossible to believe I was there. I really don’t have words to describe it.
    After the Wall everyone was exhausted (Still worth it!), we went to a cloisonne factory. It’s a style of pottery made with copper and then painted over. Wentao (our program director) warned us it was really tourist but because we were in the countryside restaurants were scarce so tourist land we went. This place was totally cheesy and they even gave a us forks to use as an alternative (which is really strange for the places we have been eating). We then looked at the merchandise, which according to Andrew (Chinese name still unknown) were stupidly over priced. We were laughing about how the largest vase in the store was 21 million yuan or 341,000 dollars. Just silly. We then loaded up on the bus and headed to the Ming tombs.
    The Ming tombs were and interesting experience, it was the first time I really saw the result of the Cultural Revolution. The tomb was built for the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, which was roughly 1400s to 1644. The were about 5 flights of stairs down and the tombs were fairly large, but empty. Some things survived but all the caskets were destroyed and the bodies of the Emperors and Empresses burned. The tomb was very empty but it was meant to be and underground palace. We went into another small museum and saw the pictures of the damage. It was insane and very sad that the history had been lost to another piece of history. It was an interesting moment in my exploration of China. I was sad, but also very happy that I was there.
    We headed back to the bus and spent nearly and hour watching Beijing traffic from our bus window. People are nuts, heading the wrong direction, splitting lanes, honking, it was crazy. We went to another restaurant that had some duck and enjoyed the meal. I got to talk to some other students, mostly Shanghai students. It’s interesting to see the different reasons that people study abroad, some people are taking a year off from school and some people have come to study. We then headed out to an acrobatics show.
    The show was amazing, colors lights, contortionists, motorcycles. My favorite act was the guys juggling hats, it was very elaborate and visually very interesting. I was laughing, clapping and yelling with everyone else. The theater let out and now we get to the most intense part of my day. I would like to say now that I am fine and nothing bad actually happened, other than an adrenaline high. I was walking down the street and felt something strange behind me, a man had unzipped my purse and had his hand in it trying to get my wallet. I turned around and began to scream at him “What did you do? You took my wallet!” (This is the PG version for those of you easily offended, for those of you who know my ability to cuss you can imagine what was spilling out of my mouth). I grabbed his bag, shook him and continued to yell, according to Cassidy I shook the guy hard enough that I made him stumble. I yelled for Wentao and the group of students surrounded this guy, though most of them didn’t know what was going on. Cong grabbed the pickpocket and held him in place while Wentao called the police. The guy did push out of our group, and I found my wallet in the wrong place in my purse, so he had his hands on it, but I probably caught him before he could pull it out all the way. I would now like to thank all my Senseis at the dojo, who taught me that being aware pays off.
    We got back on the bus and Cong received a round of applause for grabbing and cussing out the guy in Chinese (Cong is like, 110 pounds soaking wet and very shy). I then got to go talk to the Chinese police, or more specifically Wentao, who then acted as my translator. All in all this day was epic and incredibly memorable. I just keep reminding myself I didn’t lose my wallet and now have an interesting story to tell. Everything is good and now I have some street cred with all the other students. Time for bed, nine am wake up call again tomorrow. Two more days of Beijing!

I'm on the Great Wall!!!

Ming Tombs

Acrobat Show!

Beijing Tour Day 2

Tiananmen Square

Forbidden City

Temple of Heaven

Peking Duck!!

Aug. 26, 2014

    I woke up around 5:30 am and watched the sunrise over Beijing. Cassidy and I lounged around in bed chatting until seven. Then we went down to breakfast. The hotel we are staying at has a continental breakfast, which is very good. I didn’t bring my camera to breakfast so there are no pictures to see. I had potatoes, pickled cabbage, rice with egg, and coffee. We chatted with some students and the traveling professor. Then at nine we loaded up on the bus and headed out to Tianamen Square. We walked all the way through the square, which probably had half a million people in the surrounding area (it was very crowded). It was absolutely amazing to see this place because I have read about it so many times. The group got together for a photo and people swarmed us also taking pictures. The guard changed by the flag, which was really cool to see. We then crossed under the street and walked through Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City.
    The Forbidden city was huge and there were so many people swarming the place. Cassidy and I found Andrew (one of our director’s helpers) and he took us around. It was his first time as well but with him more people approached us and we were able to communicate clearly. The best parts is when we were off the main path and the silence was beautiful. China is a very noisy place due to the people, but it makes the quiet moments more intense. We got out of the Forbidden city around 12:15, and headed to lunch. It was awesome and our table was super interesting. Brennan was also in Taiwan and we had fun telling the table about our experiences. Lunch was delicious as all the food has been so far. It was lovely. Then we headed off to Temple of Heaven.
    The Temple of Heaven is where the Emperor would pray to his ancestors for a good harvest. For Cassidy and I this was a bit more of a wander. We meandered around and took a bunch of pictures but we didn’t really have a guide for this one and people were moseying around. It was also the middle of the day so it was particularly hot. We then gathered everyone together and went to the shopping center.
    The Pearl Market is a large shopping center and people are really intense. I needed a watch and originally is was 150 RMB but Andrew haggled it down to 40 RMB. I didn’t like the shopping so much because people would grab, or force you to pay attention. But we survived. We ended up not really buying much, we hung out with Andrew. He’s a really cool dude, very helpful. Cassidy and I ended up having tea and just sitting down. We left for the hotel at 5:45. I went up stairs to the room for a bit and then headed out with Brennan, Jose, Cassidy, and Karen.
    Dinner quickly turned into an adventure in Beijing night life. We wandered down a street in search of a duck dinner. We first went to somewhere Brennan and Jose had scoped out, but it was extremely busy. We decided to head out and then we were approached by a man saying that we could go to a different restaurant that was similar. We felt it was odd how he spoke to us so we decided to not follow his instructions and try to find our own food. He then followed us and tried to get us to come with him at which point we asked him to leave. It was my first time experiencing a scam, it was more interesting than scary. So we ended up getting our duck. It was absolutely delicious! Talking with everyone was awesome, people have such interesting stories. We then headed back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby using the wifi. Then too bed, wake up is early again!

Beijing Tour Day 1

Wentao, Program Director for Chengdu

Aug. 24-25, 2014

    I have done much flying in my lifetime but this flight was super easy. I managed to sleep through about half of it, so even though it was my longest flight (14 hours to Hong Kong, 2 hour layover, and 3 hour to Beijing) I didn’t feel particularly weary. Arriving in Beijing was amusing, I got to be momma duck for some of the first time travelers, they did lots of following. Not that I really had a clue about what was going one, but I was more confident and made quick decisions. Customs was fairly painless, trying to move lots of students quickly can be difficult. We then hopped a subway line to baggage claim. Everyone managed to get their luggage which was exciting. We then walked out and met up with the WenTao, our program director. She loaded us exhausted, smelly, and overburdened onto a bus. Our hotel is a block away from Tiananmen Square, we can see Chairman Mao’s mausoleum from our hotel. I am roomed with Cassidy of Portland, Oregon, who I met in San Francisco. We settled into the hotel taking much needed showers and enjoying our resting time. Cassidy and I nerded over the amount of history that we can see outside out window.
    We wandered around outside with the Las Vegas USAC man, Sean. The city is different and the same in comparison to Taiwan. It definitely has that smell about it, and people were moving on their mopeds. I feel at home here already. We met up in the lobby and walked to the restaurant. We are group of 40 foreigners, so people were watching with mild awe. Dinner was fantastic I got to use some Chinese and I met someone who also studied in Taipei. We were swapping war stories which was awesome. Now I am exhausted and ready for bed.

Day 0 - Saying Good Bye and the City

Well I am in the airport with my group of USAC students, all of us discussing where we are from. Today is day Zero I am technically not leaving until one in the morning tomorrow but whatever. I gave my friend Matt and my Dad a big hug early in the morning, and then left for Sacramento. Mom was our pilot and Ryan in the back seat.  Breakfast was waiting for us in Sacramento, and mom was demoted to co-pilot. Aunt Annette got us into the bay area for lunch, where we met up with Aunt Barbara, Aunt Jean and my cousin Amanda. It was lovely we had excellent lunch and many hugs. We then headed off to the City (San Fransisco for those not in the know). Spent the rest of the day near Fisherman's Wharf and Ghiradelli Square. It was lovely and beautiful. The sunset and we drove off to the airport. I ended up needing to empty out some of my bag into the second one I had brought just in case (Thank you Jackie for teaching me that trick in Japan). Then I was checked in and here we are. I am super excited to get to know all of my group members. The next time I right I shall be in Beijing China!