Studying and Chinese Rock Stars

my trusty bike.

the sheets of paper are filled with characters. about 400 characters a sheet.

so, the first quarter of school is officially over. some of the pictures above are from a day my friend and i spent studying in a coffee shop two weekends ago. we wrote something like 1000 or 1200 characters. i think my hand still hurts. remains to be seen how well i did on my exams, though. we only have exams in Chinese, but that is still two midterms. the coffee shop is really cool. for 18 yuan, or about 3 dollars, you can order drinks all day and access the internet. we sat there for hours just studying. the waitress there wouldn't let us order anything unless we could pronounce the name correctly, so we had some fun with that.

last weekend, Julia, Jamie, Erick, and I went to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, which are exactly what they sound like. We went to the Bell Tower first. We were a little surprised to be greeted at the door with security guards wielding metal detectors. never before had we encountered this particular greeting in Beijing. then, we realized that the Bell Tower is where someone was stabbed during the Olympics. with that slightly morbid thought in mind, we ascended 200 steep stairs to the top. The Bell Tower houses, you would never guess this, a really large bell previously used to announce the time, but now it just serves as a tourist trap. we entertained a couple of Chinese people by trying to read the Chinese signs. However, the view from the top of the tower was absolutely amazing. we could see most of Beijing, which is saying something. Beijing is a pretty big city. I still have trouble imagining just how big it really is. every time I think I get a handle on it, I go somewhere different and realized it is impossible to fully comprehend. fun fact: the population of Beijing consists of 1% of China's total population and about 1/2 of Canada's. thats a lot of people. anyway, we had fun finding familiar buildings. the day was amazingly pollution free, so we could see all the way to the mountains surrounding Beijing. The weather in the fall is really nice because the persistent breeze blows all the pollution elsewhere. so, after we had soaked up the view and cool breeze, we went across to the Drum Tower which was exactly the same except with no security. the guards tried to tell us it was closed for the day, but Julia convinced them to let us go up by telling them we were leaving Beijing the next day. Too bad we will be here for the next 7 months or so. fast thinking. anyway, the view was just as beautiful on top of the Drum tower, except no bell. there were about 10 or so extremely large drums, to my surprise. so all in all, another fun day in Beijing.

so, this week was same as usual. today in our Chinese Society and Culture class, we had a guest speaker. His name is Kaiser Kou and he is an American who has been living in Beijing for a couple of years. oh, he also happens to be a Chinese rock star. he was instrumental in founding what has been called the first Chinese rock band, the Tong Dynasty and sometimes would play with them. Currently, he is part of Chun Qui, a Chinese metal band. he was a really cool guy. he had this really long hair and a huge repertoire of hilarious stories. he told us a brief history of Chinese Rock. how it began, how foreigners influenced it, etc. one of his best traits is that he is heavily influenced by Rush. needless to say, this was one of our more interesting classes. perhaps only rivaled by the Beijing Coca Cola vice President. he was also a pretty interesting guy. he is an American who lived in China before it was "opened" to the west in the late 1970s. he went to a Chinese high school and everything. his Chinese is pretty good. he also had some great stories. but the best part was he brought in an Olympic Torch and passed it around the class. Coke was a huge Olympic sponsor and organized the Torch relay. that was pretty awesome.

for the next two weeks, I will be travelling in Fujian providence with my class. We are going to learn a little about tea and silk production. we are taking the train, its about 30 hours. we are also going to some rural villages. its going to be a lot of fun, but no updates until i am back. we leave on sunday and come back the 14th of November. no school and no books. i am pretty excited.

Wanfujing Snack Street and the Dongyue Temple

One of the trees at the temple. look closely, and you might be able to tell what it really is.

Entrance to Dongyue Temple

more gorgeous flowers.

Some of the statues in the temple

One of my friends taking a break.

Wanfujing Dajie, basically the Times Square of Beijing. basically, a major tourist destination.

thats me eating snake. yup, snake.

Sterling, one of my friends, eating snake.

yup, thats starfish

and, of course, scorpions.

As you can see, I the past couple of days have been pretty interesting. School has been the usual, tests, randomly assigned papers, unannounced exams, nothing too out of the ordinary. Needless to say, this weekend should be spent studying, but so far, that hasn't worked out too well. Saturday morning was dedicated to that wonderful test called the PSAT. Delightful fun. Dragging our feet and yawning, my friends and I debated on the merits of going out into Beijing for the day, or going home and doing some homework. Well, we (Julia, Jamie, Warren, and Becca) figured our mental states were not optimal for homework, and we could always do out homework tomorrow, so....off to the subway we went. Getting around Beijing on the subway is refreshingly cheap and always interesting. Most people go out and about on Saturdays so the subway was a little crowded. We blindly made our way in the direction of the Temple, a Taoist temple for those who want to know, and even managed to get off at the right stop. Now, we had two problems. One, finding our friends who had decided to bike. Finding an Asian kid on a bike in Beijing, by the way, is not the easiest task in the world. Then, we had to actually find the temple. After a brief argument of which way was east, we set off. We successfully got to the temple, situated between office buildings and shopping malls, and went off exploring. The pictures above are only a few examples of the hundreds of life size statues representing the different 'departments' of heaven and hell that the temple is famous for. Many of the departments were the department of signing papers, or the department for longevity, but the most interesting ones were the department for punishment and the department for Ghosts and Spirits of the Forest. The creators of the statues must have been pretty creative. After a few hours of wandering around, we went off on our next adventure, our ranks swollen by the edition of Eric, another friend from school. A brief stop at an indoor market and a quick snack later, we were again at the subway. This time, however, there were many more people, both on the subway and waiting to get on. Making sure we each knew where to get off, we shoved and pushed, got shoved and pushed, and eventually squeezed ourselves into the subway car. Hardly able to breathe and watching our bags closely, we couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Employing the use of our elbows, we managed to get off at our stop, but only just.

Walking up out of the subway, we looked around. We had arrived at the Silk Market, the best place in Beijing for tourists to go to buy fake designer anything. However, we knew better than to buy anything that was over a certain amount, and it helped that we all spoke a Chinese enough to barter, meaning we could, with a little luck, not get completely ripped off. I think we did pretty well. After an hour or two wandering around and talking to the salespeople, our stomachs began to express their displeasure at such a long day, so we decided to make our way to the Wanfujing snack street, only a few more subway stops away.

The Wanfujing snack street is famous for its wide variety of food, most of it edible, some of it unique. Since Wanfujing Dajie, the street where Wanfujing snack street is located, happens to be close to both Tienanmen Square and the various embassies, it is a haven for foreigners. Despite this, we still managed to stick out a little with our Chinese language skills and our complete willingness to eat anything. Walking along the street, we encountered a few more SYA kids, and Sterling joined us. Having already been to the snack street that night, he told us the best places to get weird food cheap. Wandering around the many stalls lining the street, we began our feast. After sampling a few more normal snacks, we started to get adventurous. It eventually got to the point where Sterling and Eric ordered some snake. At this point, a guy with a video camera walked up to us, asked if we were the Americans who he was told were eating everything. Mildly surprised, we nodded. He introduced himself from as a teacher from East England, and asked if he could ask a couple questions and take some video. Figuring there was nothing to lose, we nodded. After this incident, we threw caution to the wind and ate all the really strange stuff, never mind the consequences we suspected would announced themselves the next morning. First, I tried starfish. Not bad, and a little crunchy. However, a couple of kind Chinese food sellers told me I was eating it the wrong way. You are supposed to peel off the skin and eat the meat inside. Oops. Tasted better their way. Just tasted like really strong fish. After the starfish, we couldn't help ourselves and got some scorpion, or 蝎 子. The shop keepers by now had figured out who we were and called out to us as we passed. However, we were on a mission. We found some scorpion, and to the chagrin of the stall keeper, ordered some. After a few seconds hesitation, i bit into one. It was absolutely delicious, and I am not just saying that. It was a little salty, but I can't really explain the flavor. It is something you need to try for yourself. Emboldened by our success, Becca and I decided to try some snake. It wasn't as good as the starfish, and a little chewy, but as Uncle Steve always said, it tastes a little bit like chicken. After this, we were full, but I still couldn't help but get some fried dough balls to wash everything down. Since it was getting late, we decided to make our way home, and having enough fun on the subway for one day, we took a cab. All in all, a pretty successful day. As I am writing this, it is the next morning and I feel fine, except that I plan to spend the day studying for a midterm exam and do all my homework. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. I miss you all.
Stephanie

No pictures this week, sorry.

Well, it has certainly been another interesting week in Beijing. School is same as usual, plenty of Chinese homework to keep me busy every night. I do Tai Chi two mornings a week before school and martial arts one afternoon after school. Its really interesting stuff, mainly because our teachers don't speak English. Well, they might, but they just find it more entertaining to pretend they don't, either scenario is plausible. Anyway, its fun (for them) to try and figure out what they are saying. The Chinese students also find it pretty amusing to watch us stumble our way through martial arts. We must look pretty funny, I admit.

After living here for over five weeks, yes it has really been that long, I can't believe it either, I can safely make a few assertions. First off, my spelling has regressed substantially. Seriously. Spell check is a godsend. I try to spell everything with funny work order, or just flat out forget how to spell things. A little embarrassing. More important to my everyday well being is traffic. I think it is safe to generalize Beijing traffic to the entertainment of anyone who reads this blog. I have determined the hierarchy of traffic in Beijing. I shall go through the list from top to bottom because I feel like it.

Stephanie's Guide to Traffic in Beijing

Top: automobiles: this is a little general so there are many subcategories
sub 1: black shiny cars. the bigger and shinier the car the more likely people will get out of your way. it helps if you have a PRC flag attached to your car somewhere too.
sub 2: other cars. there are a surprising number of Mercedes and BMWs.
sub 3: taxis. do not underestimate taxi drivers. they have no fear of death at all. weaving in and out of 6 lane traffic is a common pass time if they thing life is getting a little boring. taxis are exteremely cheap in Beijing compared with any other city I have been to.
sub 4: buses. a force to be reckoned with. they also have no problems weaving in and out of traffic. you are skeptical, I know, but its the whole no fear of death thing all over again. as a side note, you have not been on a crowded bus until you have been on a crowded bus in Beijing. barely enough room to breathe. and if you want to get off, the use of elbows is your best bet. you have to time it just right though so you aren't standing near the door but don't want to get off. not a good idea if you value your physical well being. the bus costs about 15 cents for inquiring minds who want to know.

Middle: Bikes, there are also subcategories here.
sub 1: automated bikes. not included in the automobiles because they use the bike lane. this is the best way to get around Beijing during rush hour (generally all waking hours). however, they are not too safe.
sub 2: regular bikes. traffic lights generally don't apply.

Bottom: Pedestrians
if you are walking anywhere in Beijing, remember you are on the bottom of the food chain. there is no pedestrian right of way. you have to yield to everyone else. don't push your luck here as hospitals in Beijing are best left untested. green lights are no guarantee of safety. generally cross the street quickly. also, never cross the street against the light following a native. if you think your safety is assured because you are following someone who knows what they are doing, you think wrong. this behavior is dangerous. I would know. tried it once, never again.

generally the speed limit is however fast you want to go. In the city, this isn't a problem because there is always traffic to slow you down. on the highway, however, no such luck. the official speed limit is 120 kilometers/hour (75 mhp for those of you who have to look it up every time like me), but that exists as a mere suggestion and is not enforced that I have seen.

So this can give you a pretty good idea of what it is like getting to and from school everyday.

This week looks like nothing too new, except living in one of the biggest cities in the world. So basically, something new everyday. I blink and there is a new store by my school with no warning. Its great. Most of the local kids go to McDonalds for breakfast, usually lunch, and dinner if they can manage it. However, there are many other places to eat which don't leave me wondering if what I ate was once alive or not and are much cheaper. tastes better too.

Went shopping with one of my friends yesterday. It seems that every person in Beijing does their shopping on Saturdays. We has to fight our way through the crowds to find anything. Didn't buy too much, but had a great time looking around. Found some interesting looking Chinese music that I am excited to listen to. Bargaining is lots of fun, I am going to come back and try to haggle with everyone. West Side Market here I come....
the weather here is really nice, one a really nice day I even get a reminder that the sky is really blue. sometimes, I can even see the mountains. The trees haven't changed color yet, though. I am looking forward to that, its supposed to be beautiful

thats all for this week. I miss everyone. It was great to talk to family on Skype, even though it was 8 in the morning here. I was up anyway thoug, just not awake.

Stephanie

October Vacation

This is an ancient sun dial at the old Forbidden City.

Chinese weddings. i saw a lot of them in front of hotels.

yup, Dairy Queen in China. the blizzards taste the same, by the way.

I am no expert, but I am pretty sure this is not the Latin translation.

My friend, Jane. I forget her Chinese name.

corn, corn, corn. and lots of it.

mushrooms and peppers in great quantity

very vicious guard dog, no seriously, don't mess with him.

these are red tomitilla like things. no idea, but they tasted fine.

some really cool looking squash

lots and lots of bok choy.

So, vacation was awesome. We did not end up going to Si Chuan, instead we went to Shenyang in northern China. It was about an 8 1/2 hour car ride. Shenyang is home to the imperial palace of the Ming dynasty before the Forbidden City was the imperial palace for the Qing dynasty in Beijing. It also hosted the preliminary soccer games for the Olympics. Shenyang is a small city compared to Beijing, but then again so are most cities. While in Shenyang, we met up with my host father's cousins. We travelled with them to the village where their family is from about 2 hours outside of Shenyang. We saw some distant relatives who all kept giving more and more food to take home. They were all really nice. Their gardens were amazing, especially the squash. They grow a lot of bok choy and store it for the winter because they can't get fresh vegetables in the winter. They also don't eat a lot of meat because it is difficult to store and expensive, so they have huge gardens. We visited the family grave site, which was situated behind a corn field. It was pretty cool to see a couple of generations of graves, but what I thought was really cool was I found a praying mantis situated on one of the graves. I am sure this has some sort of significance. The next day we drove for 3 hours to a mountain famous for its beauty, especially in the fall when the leaves are turning color. Unfortunately, since it has been unseasonably warm here the trees haven't turned color yet, but the scenery was awesome nonetheless. We ended up going on a hike, which was more than anyone had really bargained for. We all thought we were just going to look at the scenery, and it turned into a 5 hour hike. I was thrilled, but my family a little less so. This mountain is a huge tourist attraction though. The hike probably would have been much shorter if we didn't spend most of it behind other people. It was pretty ridiculous. I don't think any of these people bargained for a hike either. On the last day of vacation, we visited the old Forbidden City. It is much much smaller than the one in Beijing, but the architecture is really cool. A lot of tourists here also, and I was probably the only foreigner there, something one little Chinese girl couldn't help but point out. I don't think she thought I could understand her though.
So during the October holiday, there are apparently many Chinese weddings. And they all seem to be in front of hotels with big red blow up arches. And they all are really early. I would get up in the morning and there would have already been three weddings in front of the hotel we were staying in. also at the hotel they had a buffet breakfast that advertised 'western' style as well as Chinese style breakfast. the 'western' style breakfast included fried chicken and french fries. It is nice to know what kind of impression we make on the world.
one of my host family's friends daughter, Jane, was really nice. she is 11 and speaks a little English. her father kept trying to get her to practice her English with me. She kept calling me Ms. Liu (my chinese last name) i kept trying to get her to call me Stephanie, but eventually I just gave up. She and I talked on the hike, but our limited language skills limited our conversation a little. Her English is about as good as my Chinese. I did find out that she doesn't have any time to just be a kid because of all the homework she has. She is only 11! she said she doesn't have any time to watch TV or read a book because she has to do her homework. she can't even practice the piano every day. but anyway we had a good conversation in our broken english/chinese.
So thats my vacation. I had a blast and got to see different parts of China. By the way, there are a lot of corn fields here, sometime I felt like we were driving through Kansas, but at much higher speeds. The drivers here have no fear and the speed limit is regarded as a suggestion, not so much a rule. i tried not to watch.
So after my week vacation I have a week of school to look forward to. I have a big Chinese test on Tuesday. our teacher promised we wouldn't have any homework, but he didn't say anything about a test.
hope everyone over there is doing well,
Stephanie