Bye

I’m sitting in the food court of Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport, the same place I departed the US from more than a month ago. I’m eating the first burrito I’ve had in a long time, although it doesn’t taste that great. My last post left off with the group arriving in Shanghai, the most modern city in China. There was a definite difference in the feel of the place compared to Tianjin. English was more prevalent, more foreigners were around so we didn’t get as much stares, and amenities were more geared towards Westerners. The first thing we did upon our arrival was tour the city on a bus; the most developed areas are full of modern skyscrapers and reminded me of large cities back in the US. We then went to a school and got to sit in on an English class; the students' control over the language was very good and made me feel a little bit embarassed about my poor Chinese. Next, we visited a temple that housed a famous jade statue of Buddha, which was very beautiful. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed so I have no way to show it. For dinner, I ate at Pizza Hut, which is a fairly fancy restaurant in China. It tasted pretty much the same as it does in the US, but it was still a nice reminder of home.

The next day, we traveled to Hangzhou to visit the factory of Dr. Liu’s brother. It was a nice break after seeing numerous temples during our excursions and it was interesting in itself to see the production of a product sold in the US. After the tour, he treated us to a very nice dinner at a nearby restaurant; it was probably the best meal I had in China (there were all sorts of exotic foods, such as duck tongue and donkey meat). During the afternoon we took a boat ride around the West Lake, the biggest lake in China, and had one last dinner together in the hotel restaurant. Afterwards, we went downtown to visit a riverside area with a great view of the Shanghai skyline. It was an awesome sight and I wish I had some good pictures of it, but my camera sucks at taking night pictures. I stayed up the rest of the night and as a result, got up pretty late our flight out of China the next morning (it was worth it though, considering that it was our last time together as a group).

Instead of heading straight back home, I decided to stay in Tokyo for a couple days with a few other classmates. It’s probably one of the coolest and cleanest cities I’ve been to, but instead of describing its wonders, I’ll talk about it in relation to our book so it has some relation to the class. I witnessed many of the qualities of Japanese society that Reid describes, but they were still surprising despite my prior knowledge of them. Little kids (maybe 3rd grade?) walk home alone after school alone, easily identifiable by their yellow hats. Bikes are left unlocked and women walk the streets alone late at night. The people are incredibly polite (I heard almost no car horns and I would get numerous thank yous as I walked out of McDonalds). This is very different from what I’ve experienced during the program, but even if China isn’t the cleanest place in the world, or filled with the most polite people, it has its own charms and allures.

Last Days

The culture class we had on tuesday was, in my opinion, one of the most interesting ones we've had so far. When I saw the words "Chinese Music" on the syllabus, I admit that I wasn't too excited, considering the Chinese music we've been exposed to so far. I thought that we would be listening to music of the style used in Beijing Opera, but I was pleasantly surprised by the style of the songs that the teacher played for us. The traditional songs sounded very different then the sterotypical chinese music I've heard and the Teacher even played a bunch of famous American songs. The best part was that we were given the chance to actually play the instruments that were present. I didn't have much luck with the bowed string instrument, but I was very interested in the guitar-like instrument the teacher had. I can play the guitar a little bit (this is actually one of the things I miss about being home) and I was hoping that I would be able to play some stuff on the Chinese instrument. It was pretty much for me impossible to play anything with it, but it was very fun nonetheless.

Wednesday was our last day of normal class at Nankai University. Class, which was just review for the final exam, sped by rather fast. Most of the students decided to go back to the Cultural Street to pick up last minute gifts; I ended up buying a couple cell phone charms, one of which is a bean with Chinese characters imprinted on the side. If you plant the bean, the plant that grows out of it will actually have the words on one of its leaves. We grabbed dinner at this fast food Chinese place in a mall close to the cultural street. The food was only so-so and I kind of regretted not going to the Yoshinoya next door (although I'm sure I'll have plenty of chances to try it in Japan). Afterwards, we bought some presents for our teachers - we weren't sure what they would like, so we settled on some bath & body stuff.

Thursday was our last day in Tianjin. We had our final exam in the morning, which turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. We had a formal lunch, we ate with the dean of the college we were studying in and, to my surprise, there was orange juice availible. It was from concentrate, but it seemed like 100% juice, which is something I miss from back home. Oranges seem to be very expensive here in China and pure orange juice is usually not availible (it's usually in the form of a orange drink with 10% juice). We then had the closing ceremony, which consisted of speeches, demonstrations, and goodbyes. I was a bit worried about the Tai Chi, considering the size of the room, but I don't think it turned out too bad, considering how much practice we get. I was also happy that my group's skit turned out well, since the group I was in put together a rather strange one that consisted of all three of the group members having the same name as a character from our textbook (Ding Libo). Fortunately, the audience seemed to enjoy our skit and found it pretty funny. We got certificates from the university, took pictures with our teachers, and said our goodbyes.

We got to the train station pretty early, so we didn't have to deal with the huge lines like the ones they had in Xi'An, even though had to wait around for a little bit before boarding the train. The conditions on the trains were much better this time...overall, everything seemed cleaner and less crowded. The train stopped less and we were able to get to Shanghai in ~12 hours even though the distance we traveled was pretty much the same as the distance between Xi'An and Tianjin. Since the train left around 8pm, I was also able to sleep thorugh most of the trip, making it seem to go much quicker.

Even though my month's stay at Nankai has been filled with a lot of work, I'll defintely miss the place. It was a little bit sad for me, going around campus during the few hours of free time we had before we had to board the bus to the train station. I've grown used to the feel of the campus - the people in the dining hall, the stray cats, the look of Tianjin - and It'll be a little weird not experiencing it anymore. I've meet some really cool people, especially my language teachers, and I'm really grateful for all that they've done for us.

Busy Weekend

Last Thursday, the class was given the chance to wear the makeup and clothing of actors in Bejing Opera. I admit that I wasn't too excited about the activity since it required putting on a lot of makeup - something I've never really done before. It was pretty fun and the pictures we took turned out good. I'd probably never have gotten the chance to do this otherwise and I'm glad I have some photos I can look back at in the future.

This weekend was very packed. Our flight from Tianjin to Xi'An was short and comfortable, but I was disappointed by the bad weather we experienced among arrival. It seems like bad weather always plagues our weekend trips; the rain and fog we've encountered have definitely made the experience more arduous and decreased the beauty of the places we've been to. In the end, there's really nothing that can be done about this and I can only hope that the weather will be nice for our final trip this weekend. Overall, Xi'An seems like a busier and more developed city than Tianjin. There were quite a few shopping plazas within walking distance of our hotel and the streets were lined with merchants selling random trinkets and beggars (something I haven't seen a lot of around Nankai University). I suppose it's because Xi'An is more of a tourist city - we saw plenty of foreigners during our stay. We didn't do too much the first day; we visited the Bell/Drum Towers and had dinner at a Peking Duck resturant.

On Saturday, we visited the museum where the famous Terra Cotta Warriors are kept. We first went to a government operated factory where replica statues were made; the objects that the workers produced were very beautiful, but I was a bit disappointed (but not surprised) by the fact that this factory was more like a workshop attached to a big souvenir shop. The actual museum was pretty impressive. The complex housing the statues was surrounded by a large garden and the air seemed less polluted (there was even a clear blue sky). The actual statues looked pretty much the same as I've seen in pictures, but it was cool to see them in real life. We then visited a nearby hot spring, which turned out to be a very beautiful sight. There were fountains and Chinese-style buildings set against a background of mountains. I didn't walk around too much, but it was really nice just to sit down and eat an ice cream bar with my classmates. For dinner, there was an interesting meal consisting of all kinds of dumplings, such as duck and walnut. I was feeling a little sick, so I didn't try all of the kinds availible, but the ones I did get to taste were very good (I feel much better now...thanks for getting me the medicine Dr. Liu!). After dinner, me and a few other students went to see a show at the city's fountain. I was expecting a pool with water jets, but was totally surprised by the elaborate setup that was present. There were several jets in the ground that shot water, which was given color by recessed lights, straight up into the and fireworks at the end of the night. Even though there were tons of people, I'm very glad that I took the effort to go.

On Sunday, we first headed to the city wall. I was feeling pretty bad, so I couldn't take a bike ride around the wall like the rest of the group, which made me pretty disappointed. I can't really ride a bike anyways, so it might not have made too much of a difference. Nevertheless, it was really relaxing sitting in the sahde of the Feng Shui museum and watching the toursists pass by. Next, we went Great Mosque and the Muslim Street. Although I spent most of the time in the bathroom (which were very clean), I did get to check out a few of the goods that the street vendors offered. A few of the other students bought some cool stuff (Mahjong and Go sets), but I didn't really have time to get anything. Soon after, we headed to the train station, which was extremely crowded. After being herded onto our train, we found out that our compartments were crowded and had no doors. Despite this, I didn't have much trouble getting to sleep and had a good nights rest; the ride was actually somewhat fun, partly because I learned how to play Mahjong from Monica, but it's something I hope not to go through again anytime soon.

Feeling Better

So, I've missed a total of two classes due to being sick...I hope I haven't fallen too far behind everyone else. I felt pretty horrible, it was like everything bad I ever ate hit me at once. Fortunately, I felt a little bit better on Tuesday so I was able to attend the Calligraphy culture class. My father used to practice calligraphy at home sometimes and I was very interested to see what a master of the art could turn out. His handwriting was very beautiful and I was disappointed that I wasn't picked to recieve one of his paintings (I'm not sure if this is what you'd call them), but on the plus side, I did get a great rendition of my name from Dr. Liu. I don't think my handwriting was ever that great and the only time I had only done calligraphy once before in chinese school several years ago. As expected, my paintings turned out pretty bad (partly because I don't know enough characters to write anything meaningful), but it was a fun expreince nonetheless.

During the evening, we visited one of the commerical districts of Tianjin (it was called Jiang something something). It was pretty cool, considering that it's the most modernized part of the city that I've visited so far. The streets were lined with stores selling all kinds of stuff; there were shady resturants, Nike/Adidas stores, and an unusually large amount of wedding stroes (one of them selling a white tuxedo with a pink rose pattern). I've always enjoyed trying out new kinds of food; since I've never been out of the country, I'm trying my best to get a taste of all the new experiences that a culture as different as China's has to offer. This has cause some discomfort (I think I got sick from a funky blue soda I ordered at Seaside Coffee), but I don't think these bad experiences have significantly reduced my spirit. When I was at McDonalds, I decided to try out some of the coconut pies they had. It was like an apple pie from back home, but deep fryed instead of baked and filled with a white syrup containing cocunut chunks. It wasn't as bad as I expected.

Maybe I'm being a little irrational, but I'm kind of hesistant about our trip to Xi'An this weekend. I usually don't like flying in airplanes at all (they're big hunks of metal floating through the air!) and to make it worse, China has sort of a bad reputation when it comes to safety. I guess there's nothing I can do about this and I can only hope we get there in one piece. Despite this, I am somewhat excited about our train ride from Xi'An back to Tianjin. I've only ridden on a train once in the United States and I'm interested to see how the system works in China. I've also never slept on a train and it'll be an experience staying on a train for more than 10 hours. Even though it's going to be a long and tiring journey, I hope there'll be a lot of cool scenery on the trip.

Sick

Today was not a good day. Last night, I got braised beef and a weird blue soda from a nearby resturant. While everything tasted good at the time, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and an upset stomach. I decided I could tough it out and went to Tai Chi this morning anyways. I felt worse and worse as the morning went on, but decided to go to class anyways. By the time I got there, I knew that I probably couldn't make it through the next few hours without passing out or throwing up. I went back to my room and the next several hours were spent unconcious on my bed or in the bathroom. On a happy note, Monica brought by some Tylenol, water, and cookies (thanks again if you're reading this!). I can't remember the last time I've felt this bad and this has definitely been the worst experience I've had on this trip so far. I was about to ask Dr. Liu to take me to the health center, but I felt a little bit better when I woke up an hour ago. All I know is that I'm never going to eat at Seaside Scenery Coffee again and I hope that I'll be well enough to go back to class tomorrow.

On the other hand, this weekend was pretty fun. I was a little bit tired when we left for Beijing on Saturday morning, but I was excited to visit some of the great tourist attractions of China. First we visited Tiananmen Square, which is one of the largest squares in the world. We visited the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong and the influence he still has on the Chinese people was especially apparent here. One man even got down on his knees to bow to the body before being pulled up by the everpresent guards. We visited the Forbidden City, which was pretty amazing, considering the size and antiquity of the structures located within. One thing I've noticed about China is the commercialization of historical sites. At almost every place we've visited, there have been merchants trying to sell us trinkets and souvenirs. It bothers me that no place is untouchable (even the room right next to the one where Mao's body is kept is a gift shop), but I guess you can't really blame these people for trying to make a little money.

Unfortunately, it was raining by the time we got to the summer palace. It probably would have been a beautiful sight on a clear day, but everything was just wet and foggy. The Peking Opera we saw was an interesting experience, but I doubt I'd ever go to for my own enjoyment. The voices of the singers are too high for my tastes and in my opinion, it doesn't sound very musical. The skill of the actors was apparent though, especially in the martial arts scenes. The next day, the class visited part of the Great Wall. It was foggy and rainy again and I feel like I missed out on some great picture oppurtunities; the surrounding mountains and scenery would have been beautiful if I were able to see them. Nevertheless, the fog added a sense of mystery to the climb and made it feel as if I were inside a cloud.

The hotel we stayed in was a nice surprise. The rooms were spacious and each of them had a balcony. I was even able to catch a glimpse of an unobscured night sky, something I haven't been able to do in Tianjin due to smog and fog. Although we visited some great historical sites, I wish we could have had more time in Beijing to explore the modern aspect of China. Hopefully, I'll feel better in time for our trip to Xi'An this weekend.

Almost Halfway Done

I finally have more reliable access to the internet since we've discovered an on campus computer lab and I no longer have to deal with treks to a smoke-filled, dirty, and smelly internet cafe. One glaring aspect of the internet in China is the government's control over what its citizens get to see, also known as "the great firewall of China". I now realize how much freedom I had in the United States; even though there are always complaints about the government infringing on civil liberties, we're probably better off than many other people in the world.

On Tuesday, I finally visited the other half of Nankai University's huge campus. I figured it'd be pretty similar to the universities back home, but like pretty much everything else in China, it turned out to be way different than I expected. It looked like an urban residential block, complete with a small market selling goods ranging from bubble tea to SIM cards. I couldn't tell if the apartments were for students or if they could be rented out to anyone and people were hanging out on the streets. In the evening, we ventured out to see what was inside this interesting-looking building next to the campus. It turned out to be a shopping mall, but it was unlike any that I've been to in the United States. The individual stores were tiny and everything was located in plain view because there was no back room for storage. All sorts of different clothes (including the everpresent shirts with nonsensical english), jewelery, and electronics stuff was for sale and there was a cafeteria on the top floor. The fried rice I had there was really good, considering that I only paid $2 US for it.

Yesterday, me and one of my classmates went out to an outdoor resturant recommended by one of the other students in my study abroad group. It's located in the on-campus market area and consists of a large grill along with several tiny tables. The stools were so short that I was basically squatting for the entire meal and the sanitary conditions were questionable. Despite this, I really enjoyed the environment of this store. I've never encountered a place in the US where you sit outside in the evening and enjoy a nice meal with children and dogs running through the "resturant". The food was good, despite being a little bit spicy and I tried a couple of things I've never eaten before (chicken hearts and lamb). If no digestive issues pop up, I hope to visit this place again.

First Weekend

I just got back from the Shandong province where we visited Qufu, Confucius' hometown, and Mt. Tai. On Friday, after a five hour bus ride, we enjoyed a nice dinner and went out to explore the city. It seemed like a festive place, with several groups of people dancing and playing instruments in the park across the street from our hotel. Unfortunately, the feel of the city seemed to change later in the night - all the lights were shut off, the dancers left the park, and most shops closed their doors.

On Saturday, we visited Confucius' birthplace, their family's burial grounds, and a temple dedicated to Mencius. We were accompanied by our knowledgable tour guide, Frank, who was able to provide detailed information about all the sites we visted. It was hot and was pretty tired by the end of the day, but it was extremely interesting to visit the actual home of such an influential scholar.

The next day, we made the trek up Mt. Tai, a place of extreme importance in Chinese culture. I could feel a change in the air during the bus ride to the ropeway station. It became cooler and fresher - a welcome change from the hot and smog-filled air I had been breathing for the past week. The ride from the station up to the summit in a tiny gondola was intimidating, but the view was breathtaking. We were above the everpresent smog and could actually see a clear blue sky. I could see the unobscured sun for the first time since I had arrived in China. I had never been up on a mountain as high as Mt. Tai and the view of the surrounding peaks was awe-inspiring.

During this entire weekend, we were treated to multi-course banquets of traditional Chinese food. While I do enjoy these dishes occasionally at home, having them for every meal was a little bit tiring. They were a bit too greasy and salty for my tastes and by the end of the weekend, I was wishing for the food I normally eat back home. I also had to wash my first batch of clothes before the trip this weekend; all the washing machines were taken, so I had to handwash all my clothes in the bathtub. There seem to be no dryers on campus, so I had to hang my wet clothes in whatever space was availible in my dorm room.

The beginning of the next school week is approaching fast. I can only hope it can bring as many new and interesting experiences as I've had this past week.