Chengdu Week 10 - Xian Day 3

Nov. 8, 2014

    The day start with Sean, Jesse and I admitting that we have a coffee addiction. We camped out at the table nearest to the drinks and just kept emptying out the small jug they had for us. Then after breakfast we were back on the bus. Our first stop was actually within walking distance, but the drove us as they usually do. It was the Stone Stele Museum. It had statues and famous calligraphy tablets. It was a quiet, peaceful way to start the morning. After about 45 minutes it was a long three hour ride out to the countryside. The problem with this area is the pollution. I could barely see 50 yards away from the freeway, so I have no idea what the Shaanxicountryside looks like. We arrived in Yuan village around lunch time and were immediately ushered into a restaurant. The food was actually fairly tasty, it’s amazing what happens when Wentao plans the trip. We were then unleashed onto the tourist town. It was ok but it didn’t really feel any different than any other tourist town we had been to. There was one really cool  little shrine in the back of the town that I enjoyed, but otherwise we wandered around and then got back on the bus.

He's making an impression for a wall scroll

Yuan Village Shrine

Noodles!

    We were driven to the Tang dynasty tombs. Before we went into the ticketed area of mountain, we were take to a mountain dweller home. They build their homes into the hillside using the natural insulation of mud and hay. It was actually pretty interesting. We were taken back up the hill, and into the ticketed part of the mountain. We technically had about 45 minutes but a group of us committed to climbing to the top. And so up we went, it was an intense, steep and totally doable. The top allowed for a sorta of view of the area. Again the pollution made it nearly impossible to see anything and the camera I was using was unable to pick anything up really. It was still a fun journey. Going down our little group essentially ran down the mountainside, probably not the best of moves but we had a blast. Then it was back on the bus for an obnoxious bus ride home. Everyone was really squirrelly, but we managed to make it back in one piece. We got dinner in the Muslim quarter, it was pretty tasty. Then we wandered around, singing a very catchy popular song in Chinese. It made Chinese people around us laugh pretty hard. It’s our little joke.  Then it was back to the hotel for movie (Crystal had never seen the Lion King). Tomorrow we go in the morning to ride the city wall before we have to depart.

Climbing Mountains

Straight shot down.

Cut my hand on this bit

It's a view of Pollution!

Pollution O.O

The rock face I scrambled up and down...

Chengdu Week 10 - Xian Day 2

Nov. 7, 2014

    The day began early but in a very natural way. I went to bed at 10:30, since I was exhausted from the train ride. I went down and there was only Jack eating. We had a nice chat and consumed too much coffee. I enjoyed it. Eventually people trickled in as the morning rolled around and eventually we were able to get going. Our first stop was about an hour outside the city. It was the hot springs of the Tang dynasty. Famous for being the site of Chinese valentine’s day. I essentially glued myself to my history professor and she walked us (myself and Karen) through the palace. It was really interesting as this particular site was famous for ancient Chinese history but it had modern historical context. It’s the place where 蒋介石(CKS) agreed to work with the Communist party during the Japanese invasion. So there was a section that contained an office, sleeping quarters and bathrooms, all of them modern. It was really interesting to see that. Xian is an ancient capital and Chinese culture rarely forgets their roots. Certain areas have deep cultural meaning, so it was very strategic for moral in invaded China.

    After the palace it was off to the Terra-cotta warriors, the thing Xian is the most famous for. We ate lunch in the park and then we were set loose. There are three pits, the third is the most recent and was fairly excavated, but it was also the smallest. The second pit is huge but hardly excavated, I think most of it was destroyed through time. It was amazing to see the size of it. The first pit however was the most impressive. At least two football stadiums long, the warriors were all restored. I think the think that really moved me was the physical size of the pits. This is the Mausoleum of the first Emperor of China, who found his empire in 221 BCE. And he essentially constructed tomb that even in the modern era can’t be matched in it’s complexity. I took as many pictures as I could but it’s had to really get the scope of what I was seeing. This mysterious place I had always heard about was suddenly right in front of me and tangible. It was a moving experience.

    After the terra-cotta warriors, we went back into the city, which took a really long time. We were off to the Wild Goose pagoda. It famous because the monk that established the temple was the monk who traveled to India to bring back the Buddhist canon. He spent the rest of his life in the temple translating from Sanskrit into Chinese. It was ok, after everything that we had done to today I wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous. We wandered the grounds, and just milled about. It was fun and then quick enough we were back on the bus. We were taken to the Tang dynasty show (total tourist moment) and had a Jaozi dinner. It was actually a pretty tasty meal despite the problems I caused by not eating pork. I ended up with a little plate of jaozi since I couldn’t eat about half the dishes served. It worked out I was definitely full by the end. The show was fairly interesting. Very colorful, and full of chords I did not recognized.  We made it back to the hotel and for some reason everyone had way too much energy. There were frisbees being thrown and various shenanigans. Overall it was an insanely fun day. Tomorrow will hopefully be as awesome.

Chengdu Week 10 - Xian Day 1

Nov. 6, 2014

    Waking up on a train is weird, because the lights are on and people are milling about but you are waking up and mildly disoriented as to what is going on. I did however enjoy my breakfast of Juzi (tangerines?) and muffins while watching the scenery go by. We were up in the mountains again and there was plenty of fall colors on the mountain side. From the time I woke up it was still a could five hours until we actually arrived in Xian. A bunch of us disappeared into the dinning car, just so we could have some room to stretch our legs. We watched a movie for a bit then went back to the sleeping car for many rounds of cards. We finally arrived in Xian around 12:30pm. It was a little disorienting because we ad to go out of train terminal and down some side street to find our bus, all the while being targeted by tour guides and people wanting us to buy things. We did, however, make it to the hotel safely and took a well deserved shower. After the train ride, I think everyone needed to freshen up and have a moment to relax.
    I wandered out with Jesse and Corey, just to explore the area our our hotel. We found the South gate of the wall and just kind of bounced around from there. The area within the city wall is actually quite small so getting lost wouldn’t real be a problem. We found a little street that mostly sold calligraphy things. It was interesting. We came pack to the hotel in time to attend the official lecture on Xian. On the way our friends from Shanghai appeared. Lots of joyful reunions and hugs for everyone. We haven’t seen them since Beijing so it was awesome to see them all settled. Xiao Laoshi will be leading us on this expedition. The lecture was actually pretty standard for one of her classes so it breezed by easily enough. Then it was off to personal hotpot dinner. The food was good, but split among everyone at the table it wasn’t enough. It worked out though because we headed out to a night market, nearby our hotel, where there was plenty of snacks to be had by all.

    The night market reminded me of Taiwan’s night markets, except this was one was specifically themed around the Muslim community that lives in Xian. The City was once the end of the Eastern Silk road and as such merchants from all over the world came to the city and some settled. The streets were bustling with shops, people and lights. Noisy and filled with sights it was a really fun time. Jesse and I managed to get separate from everyone and we just wandered around. He was actually having Turkey flashbacks and was nerding out about his experiences abroad. At one point we went out of the Market and found ourselves in an area with musical performances, which was pretty cool. Then Jesse and I wandered back to the hotel. It’s not very late but we both just wanted to sleep, the travel was catching up to us. So off to bed and tomorrow I will be at the Terra-cotta warriors.

Chengdu Week 10 - 15 hour train ride to Xian

Hard Sleepers

Nov. 5, 2014

    Test went well, almost to well. I am worried I am going to get it back and find out that I actually didn’t understand anything. But nothing I can do now. After the test it was a rather odd day, simply because we would be leaving for Xian at 7 pm and boarding a train by 9:30. I went with JD for lunch, we try to eat together at least once a month. We generally don’t hang out together but we actually are very similar people. Also it’s just good to keep good relations with everyone in our group. Then I was off to Trust Mart (Wal-mart) to get some snacks for the journey. Food is general expensive on long transportation, so instead I brought my food for much cheaper and just packed it. Then I went home and got all my clothes into my luggage and I was ready to go. Dinner was a quick pit stop to a sandwich shop, then an hour of wandering around the dorms waiting for something happen.
    We took a quick ride to the train station and security was interesting. To even get in the train station they needed to see our passports. It’s not that we are restricted in our travel, but instead they just want to know where we are in China. Getting on the train wasn’t too bad as far as Chinese lines go. Yes, there was pushing, but apparently assigned seating keeps people much calmer. Our hard sleeper seats are these small little bunks. Six people in each area, I was with Cassidy, Eric, Rana, and Myself. The upper most bunks were purchased by Chinese people. Once the train started it was really too dark to look outside. Instead I got to talk with Chinese people. I spent two hours talking to a man named 李长昕 Li ChangXin. He was telling me stories in Chinese. I learned a lot of new vocabulary and got to practice my listening. I spoke as well, so overall a good day to be learning Chinese. All the people on the car kept complimenting me on my Chinese, but it was because I have only been studying Chinese for 5 months. Apparently I sound very good, but my Chinese isn’t that great. I manage to crawl into bed around 1 am but sleep I knew would be difficult. The train did not have a consistent rhythm. Oh well we’ll see how this goes.

Chengdu Week 10 - Beginning of Week

Nov. 2, 2014

    Today was a bit more lively. It involved not being frustrated by the lack of internet. We still don’t have any in our rooms but hopefully that will change soon, otherwise the Chinese people might have a riot on their hands. I am feeling much better so I was actually able to go out and be social. Today it was decided that we would have a bit of a group dinner using one of the recipes from the cooking class (I will be taking that next semester). Sweet and sour chicken with rice and potatoes. So first things first we had to go shopping. Shopping on Sunday in China is generally a hectic thing, Sunday is Chinese Shopping day. It’s the one day a week everyone generally has off so everyone is out ad about in the shops. Even in our University area it was no different. We were also a large group so everyone was also buying things for themselves. We were in the shop of a good two hours, but everything was acquired.
    When we (myself, Jesse, Corey, Raphi, Eric) arrived home, Jesse and I got to chopping up the food. We essentially split all of the tasks in hopes that everything would run smoother and that there wouldn’t be too many cooks in the kitchen at one time. Once prep was done, Raphi was our master chef in this devour as she is actually in the cooking class, I was acting sous chef. We actually cooked everything really well. Dinner was amazing. my favorite line from the whole endeavor was Jesse. He and Corey were arguing about who would get the cooked rice from the market (our rice cooker is currently MIA). Corey offered to cook the potatoes in lieu of retrieving the rice, but Jesse, who had cut himself chopping, exclaimed “I have literally bled for these potatoes, I will cook them.” And that was the end of that. The rest of the evening was spent wandering around chatting and studying. I really hope the internet comes back tomorrow. I would like to be able to communicate with people outside of China.

Nov. 3, 2014

    A true miracle occurred this morning, the internet was back in full. Well at least for a short while, enough to get a blog post done and answer some emails. It’s nice, but during the middle of the day there is still no internet. So after class I headed down to the second floor and skyped for a bit. I chatted with quite a few people, I have been missing the people from home. I wish I could talk to them more but with the unreliable internet there is no way of knowing. There has been a though amongst some of us year longs about renting an apartment for the upcoming semester. As of right now this is merely a pipe dream, we have no idea if it is anyway feasible financially, as this plot unfolds I will keep you posted. I am almost certain that if my working schedule stays the way it does then it would be possible for me to pay rent with the money I am making.
    The next part of the day involved the real life struggle of trying to learn Chinese. I don’t know what it was about today but I was not doing to good in the homework area. I was able to figure most of it out but there was a section of translation I needed step by step help with. Translating from my native language into a secondary language is perhaps the hardest thing I’ve ever really had to do. Also on a school note our test is Wednesday. To make up for the day we will be missing on Monday we are having class on Wednesday, which is typically my free day. To be honest I am not thrilled about it. Which means tomorrow we will start a new lesson instead of reviewing, which is  a bit frustrating but I will take the extra day for study. I feel alright about this test, we shall see what happens.
    The rest of the day was mostly milling about and helping Corey make dinner, I have become quite proficient at cutting chicken for whatever we are having as well as acting sous chef. It’s fun cooking out own meals and defiantly adds just one more layer of flavor to our lives. Today was chicken fingers and potatoes, not ketchup though, we were most definitely out. Over all the food was delicious, way more meat than is typically served, but that is ok. I finally refiled my 饭卡 (food card) and can once again traverse with ease to the cafeteria. I am pretty sure the rest go the night will be laundry, socialization and study. Tomorrow I have work, so that’ll be an adventure all on it’s own. Good night!

Nov. 4, 2014

    Day before the exam and we had a new lesson, it won’t be on the exam but lord knows that I won’t remember how to do anything until after we get back from Xian. Tomorrow night we leave for Xian, the Tang Dynasty capital and the home of the Terra Cotta warriors. It will be a 17ish hour train ride over night, so we hopefully sleep through most of the ride. It should be fun either way. It’s the last real trip with USAC for the semester, and we will be meeting up with the Shanghai students again! All in all it should be a really historically interesting trip.After class I met up with Meiling, who need help with English pronunciation. She would be reciting a poem. We spent a good hour saying the poem over and over again. The word rose gave her the most trouble, but we managed through it. Raphi appeared shortly after that and we spent the rest of the time studying for our exam tomorrow. I think I will do better on this test as I have put more study time into it. We shall see, I am looking forward to the shorter class tomorrow. It will give me time to pack for Xian.
    I left for work like I usually do but I guess I got out later than normal because I hit a the start of rush hour traffic. I spent the next twenty minutes playing sardines on a moving vehicle. Class itself was weird, there were only two kids instead of the usual five. It was more low key which was kinda of nice, it gave my voice a chance to rest. Class was over quick enough and then it was back to the dorms for more study. On a completely separate note, Jesse and I have acquired a french press thanks to our lovely USAC director Wentao. He and I discovered that we both have a severe addiction to coffee. He had been drinking nasty instant and I had been buying milky coffee. But now we may bask in the glory of black french press coffee. Essentially tomorrow morning we will become coffee gremlins and it will be pure magic. That’s all I have for now, tomorrow will be a new adventure to the train station!

Chengdu Week 9 - Week of no internet and mild sickness

Oct. 27, 2014

    Back to the grindstone for classes. We started our new book today, again just more of the usual. It’s always weird starting a new book. Today was odd for me in particular because I managed to develop laryngitis.  My voice has been wavering between nonresistant and a high pitched screeching sound. Needless to say, speaking with tones was far out of the question. So I was silent most of class, which was really frustrating considering the exercises were almost all spoken. My voice however, brings a great deal of mirth to people. It’s alright though, as I type this my voice has gotten significantly better, I suspect by tomorrow it will improve. Otherwise this was a day of rest, everyone is still exhausted from our trip back. Many people got sick, our diet of poor food finally catching up to many people. Cassidy spent the day in bed after being sick all night, while Raphi needed to go to the student hospital to get some medicine. Hopefully tomorrow will be slightly more lively and people will be doing better.

Oct. 28, 2014

    Today was probably the most stressful day I’ve had to date. I woke up to a notice from my university that unless I went through an appeal process I was likely to get my financial aid revoked. The reason for this is my university has recently implemented a cap on the amount of credits a student can take before being punished. In my case, I was informed before I left because I had a dual major I was safe from all of this as someone who is dual majoring would naturally go over the credit limit (My biology degree alone is 140 credits, the cap is 180). This however, was misinformation, and now I am facing the very serious threat of not having funding for my spring semester(or any funding ever again). In the email I was given a form to fill out, a link that did not work. I was also told to call the financial aid office if I had any questions, which is virtually impossible without spending money I do not have (not to mention the likelihood of being put on hold until I ran out of minutes on the international calling card). This is really good example of students getting lost in administration. The financial aid office also only seemed aware of History BA and not my Biology BS, which if they simply walked down the stairs to admissions and records this could be cleared up. Needless to say I spent my morning stressing out about obtaining the documents, I was barely able to focus in class because of it.
    After class the day only got worse, we are now without internet until the first of November, five days of no internet access except what I can get in the lobby and second floor when they are open. Thankfully Wentao was able to help me scan and print what I needed. I am waiting on an email so I can finish the last document and hopefully it will be sent off. The thing that is so frustrating is that everything that has caused me grief in China has not been from China, it’s always from America. I can’t wait to finally graduate from UNR and get the out of the system they call higher education.
    I ended up spending my afternoon hyper focused on my homework. I was able to get it done with extreme efficiency and I even wrote out my next oral presentation. So overall my stress was productive for something I care about. I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with Cassidy, but the stress ended up making me sick after I ate my lunch. I laid down for a while trying to keep myself together. I also had work today, something I really couldn’t miss considering that I missed Saturday. I did manage to get to work and keep a face for the kids. The are a rambunctious bunch, trying to keep them focused is the most difficult thing I have to do. A few of them are totally out of control and there really isn’t anything we can do to stop them. After work (and a pay check) I was feeling better. I spent some time watching Arrow, my new show, and then curled up into bed. I really hope tomorrow works out better.

Oct. 29, 2014

    So my morning was spent running between the second floor where there is spotty internet and getting my laundry done. I had finished all of my homework so I really didn’t have anything that needed doing except practicing my oral presentation. My running nose and laryngitis is turning into a cough which makes me a little nervous. I would prefer not to get sick, but I may not have a choice in the matter. WeiWei gave me some tea to drink that should help clear up voice. I feel like it really isn’t helping but I may need to sleep on it. In America people run for Advil or Ibuprofen, in China the solution for little things is tea. Without internet and with it raining on and off I spent most of the day reading. I actually got through quite a bit of the book I am reading which was nice considering how I have been neglecting reading anything other than Chinese textbooks. Tomorrow will be a more full day, I have morning and afternoon class.

Oct. 30, 2014

    Today I had my second oral presentation  for my Chinese class. It went well I think, Laoshi complimented me on my grammar and word use, so I will take that. Today’s class was strange because we took so long doing our presentations we only had time for a short break. And then we rushed through the words to get them all done. After class I was summoned to lunch at the noodle shop. I was pleased because I was able to understand that she asked if we were eating in or taking out.  It was a natural response instead of the long awkward pause that usually happens when someone rapid fires a question at me.
    After lunch it was off to history. History is quickly becoming a major point of frustration for me. I think it has to do with the fact that not only have I done this course before but the language barrier causes a great deal of confusion. When I talk to Xiao Laoshi on her own it’s great. We had a really interesting discussion about the One Child Policy in China during the break. But in front of the class she quickly becomes flustered or simply doesn't understand. Also she has been taking out entire chunks of relevant information. For example in the Tang Dynasty they lost to the Tibetan King, she just skipped over why Wencheng had to marry the King. Though it is interesting the careful construction of national identity. Class finished quickly enough, and then it was off to lounging around with friends. Tomorrow I think I might have a small adventure, I am finally feeling better after my cold. It’s one of the reasons I really haven’t done too much this week other than classes. Next week will be another exam for Chinese and then we leave for Xian.

October 31, 2014

    Happy Halloween, a holiday celebrated only in America. You see hints of it here, people occasionally dressed up in costume, but generally speaking it’s a Holiday only discussed in English class. That’s alright though most people are going to party hosted by the apartments, but I still feel sick so I will not be going. I spent almost the entire morning sleeping trying to stop feeling so sick, I think I officially have a chest cold. I managed to get myself to Calligraphy alright, but that was about all I could take. I spent the rest of the day sleeping in bed. Jesse had to bring me dinner so that I would eat. I really hope I feel better soon so I can go back to living in China.

Nov. 1, 2014

    Still sick, most of the morning was spent conserving strength for work. I did a lot more reading and finished my homework. I am going to hit the books hard tomorrow, our exam is coming up on Tuesday and I will need all the grammar we have learned thus far. I am less worried about the vocabulary, it has been much more pointed to daily life making it much easier to memorize. Work was interesting. I have been teaching 5 kids, all of whom have been together for a year. They are generally shy, but have definitely taken a liking to me. They often play with me at break time or ask me spontaneous questions. There was a new student today, he was the same age as the others but had obviously less English training. He essentially spent the entire class disrupting it because he didn’t understand what was going on. It got to the point that the other students were incredibly annoyed with him and they had begun to tell him off in Chinese. The little boy also kept speaking to me in Chinese, which I understood, but when I am there I try to get them to use their English words (I usually help them translate or have Lily help). The students actually got mad at him and told him that I didn’t speaking Chinese. It got bad enough that Lily essentially had to take the kid out of class, which was such a bummer because today was supposed to be lots of fun. I wonder what will happen today was meant to be a trial run and I don’t think he can keep up.
    After work I had the epic experience of Chinese rush hour, which mostly entails being shoved on a bus to the point no one can move. There was girl with whom I had an entire silent conversation about the man next to us who continuously kept falling over. After a certain stop the same lady grabbed my arm and hauled me into a seat next to her. It was quite nice to sit down, and we talked a little bit. Then it was back home to the dorms where Jesse and Corey had dinner. Corey had cooked chicken breasts and we all ate sandwiches while enjoying our daily dose of Television. It’s something to do while the internet is down. We ended up watching a really hysterically bad 80s movie called Big Trouble in Little China. Truly terrible but it was hilarious all the same. Tomorrow I have very little planned, let’s home the internet is back up (I suspect it won’t be until Monday or Tuesday).