Home, Sweet Home

Spent most of the weekend doing nothing, puttering around, and packing. I am so amazing at packing that I fit all my stuff into my two original suitcases. Pretty sure I left with the least amount of luggage out of everyone! Monday morning, I went to the airport at 5 am to see a bunch of the kids off. Six of my fellow classmates took the group flight offered by CET, so I wanted to say that last goodbye. 5 others went too, and it was sad. I knew I wouldn't see some of them again, but others I probably will. Monday I spent running some last minute errands, exhausted from little sleep. That night I went out for dinner with a bunch of the Chinese roommates, one guy and the two Wellesley girls (we were the only ones left). Had a nice time and got to have our last hurrahs.

Tuesday, Jinling and I checked out of our room and then went out to lunch with two other roommates. The checkout process was a lot better than expected because of the horrible interactions I've previously had with the front desk. On Sunday they called my roommate to kick her out and we had to resort to getting our Resident Director of CET on the phone with them. These people are such morons that they can't process information they've already received. Perhaps this was the fourth time they've tried to screw Jinling and me. Ugh. Well, we got them back! A long time ago I broke one of the provided glasses and just went down last week to pay for it and replace it. Forced them to take the money out of my deposit (if not that, what is the deposit for?) and they said they'd replace my glass. Next morning they brought a new one. Later that week, my roommate broke her glass but neither of us told anyone. When we went to check out, they called up to the maids and have them inspect the room before giving us the deposit back like with everyone. Noticing the missing glass, they asked and Jinling told them we never got a new one! Haha, joke's on you jerks, joke's on you.

That afternoon we went out for the last meal in China. I treated the four of us and ordered way too much food because I wanted a last taste of everything. Delicious! After that, I picked up my luggage from a friend's room and then we headed out for the airport. Jinling was nice enough to accompany me to the airport. When we got there, the first thing was customs, so I had to say goodbye right away. Both of us cried a lot and hugged and said goodbye, and I think a lot of people in line at customs were staring at us. Oh well. Got through and waited around the airport for my 6:30pm flight. The flight wasn't too bad, other than the length (13 hours). We had to circle Morgantown, WV for a while because of thunderstorms around Dulles, but we got priority to get through and land due to length of flight. Landed at 7:50 and it was nice to be back in the USA. Really nice to fly directly into Dulles with no stopovers. Cleared customs and immigration without a problem and saw my parents waiting outside! Driving home, it was really weird to see everything in all English, signs using miles instead of kilometers. At home, we had some dinner (I ate baked beans) and Aunt Beth came over for a bit. Gave out some presents and started unpacking.

Doing absolutely nothing today. Kind of want to go out and do something, but I'm not back on the car insurance yet, so I can't drive legally. Made scrambled eggs for breakfast loaded with lots of goodies... I'm not sure why I chose that, but it was yummy. Can't remember the last time I ever made scrambled eggs in the States, but it's hard to know what I want after China. Tonight is a small dinner gathering with the parents, AB, grandmob, and Jen for spaghetti! Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So this is almost positively the last blog entry, since I'm now back home from China and there's nothing else to talk about. 再见。

Last Few Days

I'm all finished with my papers and exams now, so I'm basically free as a bird in Beijing. This past week was pretty much just work and no fun, had to get done (and really, I hadn't done much during the past semester). On Tuesday night, four of us girls went shopping at Wudaokou, picked up our custom-made shirts, and then had dinner at Lush (a cool hang-out bar restaurant). It was delicious and made me decide to not do my work that night. Basically I didn't do my paper until Thursday and Friday night because I didn't have to, not the best choice, but a choice nonetheless. Friday at noon we had our graduation banquet at supposedly the best Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing. It was delicious although I'm not a huge fan of Peking Duck. Each Chinese class had to do something for our ceremony, so my class did a powerpoint presentation narrated and basically making fun of all the things we'll "miss" about China - Beijing air quality, traffic, squatter toilets... All the stuff was cute, the 400 class did a xiangsheng (2 person stand-up comedy) performance that I helped them write, the 200 class and 100 class each did skits.

Last night a bunch of us went to Pete's Tex-Mex and then out to Sanlitun for the bars. Amazingly, most of our roommates came and had a good time. We stayed out til around 3, and only left because it was so hot where we were that everyone was sweaty and fatigued. I was impressed that Jinling came out and didn't leave early - she's so much fun! I think this weekend is going to be packing in as much as we can do in short time, but still having fun. The group flight is leaving in the wee hours of Monday morning (there are 6 people on it), but I'm not leaving until Tuesday afternoon. My plans for Monday night is to have dinner with my roommate at a local restaurant and order everything that I really like here that I can't get back home. Perhaps we'll have 5 or 6 dishes but food is so cheap that it's worth it to have one last taste. Probably won't update until I get home from China, but not sure, so see y'all around!!!

Rombauer and Becker - No Competition Here

Friday night, Vicki and I took our roommates out to show our appreciation for them. We know they've put up with a lot and have certainly learned many new things about American culture. So where did we go that was so American? Tex-Mex. We took them to a cool Tex-Mex restaurant in the east side of Beijing. Expensive (American prices) but also American portions, and worth it for something they'd never had before. We ordered nachos as an appetizer and they were delicious. For entrees, Vicki and her roommate both got enchiladas while Jinling and I split tacos and fajitas. Jinling had no idea what to order, so she asked me to pick. I figured it would be good to try both. Everything we got was really yummy and actually better than some places I've been to in the States. Go figure! That night I decided to stay in and actually do homework, but instead I just talked to people. Saturday I finally sat down and wrote one paper. Only three pages, but at least that's one down and two to go.

Sunday I accompanied my roommate to her family's house in Beijing. Although her parents live in Jiangsu Province, she recently found out that a cousin of hers lives in Beijing. More like 3 cousins, but who's counting? We left around 8:30, took the busses, and arrived an hour or so later because these people live in suburbs of Beijing. Their apartment was nice and I'd guess they were middle class (the man is an editor at a magazine). Also, they had a daughter my age who was home for the weekend from college in Beijing - an English major, but not very good compared to my roommate. They had delicious cherries and watermelon out for us to nosh on before lunch and I had my fill. Those two fruits are in season now, so you see them everywhere. Mmmmm. But that means pineapples are nowhere. For lunch we went to a local restaurant and met up with another cousin and his wife. Everything they ordered was food I like, they kept asking me what I like and all I was saying was just pick what you want. But apparently that's not how they roll in China, so I had an awesome lunch! Also an amazing beef dish I'd never had before but wish to have again.

That afternoon we retired to their house and chilled out. While Jinling played on their computer and talked with the parents, I kind of got stuck alone with the daughter. She was nice, but I was getting tired of speaking Chinese. Without rest, my brain starts to hurt from too much thinking. We basically just watched TV and I fell in love with some random soap opera. Chinese soap operas are different than ours, but here was the basic plot: man loses memory in accident, falls in love with girl, stuff happens in each episode, eventually they find out that he's not who he really is, still in love and he chooses to stay the new person. Typical but funny. That night we had dinner at their home and it was quite typical. Since there were a bunch of us, the mom made a whole mess of jiaozi (dumplings) and a cold noodle dish. I imagine that's how a lot of Chinese people eat every day and it was good. Homemade jiaozi = tasty. Much better than restaurant bought. We didn't leave until really late because someone was taking us back by car, but didn't come for a long time. I got bored and just kind of sat there. Oh well, it was a nice fun day.

Today I got my final exam for 21st Century Beijing and should be working on it now. We get 24 hours to complete it, but I'm part of the way through and can finish soon. On another note, I don't know what to get my roommate as a going away present. If y'all have any suggestions, please help, but remember my time to get places and do things is rather limited (yea, I know, poor planning). Some new Americans have moved onto our hall and they're really obnoxious. Actually it's just this one girl that's really bad. Her voice is the cross between a smoker and a Russian, even though she's from Buffalo. Dresses like a slut, has been continually drunk since I first met her on Friday, and yea, is just, well, yea. I guess summer study abroad programs are all starting now, so new people are arriving in droves.

If y'all want any last minutes things, tell me now so I can shop soon. I'm leaving China on Tuesday the 12th at 6:30 in the evening, so my time is short. Unfortunately, I don't want to go, but home will be nice too. Here's an annotated list of some things I miss: good cheese - the French kind, not the kind that comes wrapped in red wax; salad - any kind really; tap water - oh, to just fill up a glass from the sink and plop in some ice cubes; pickles - apparently not too popular here; mac and cheese - again on the cheese; and American TV - as trashy as it is, Chinese TV is just horrible, not only is it in Chinese, but it's not funny, interesting, or informative (the trifecta of loserville here).

On another note, folks have been asking about what Chinese food I like to eat. Since I haven't bothered recently, I'll try to describe now. 宫保鸡丁(gongbao jiding) - known in the West as kung pao chicken; 鱼香肉丝 (yuxiang rousi) - pork slices in a brown sauce with carrots too, one of my favorities; 京酱肉丝 (jingjiang rousi) - pork slices in a totally different brown sauce that you wrap up in little wrappers with spring onions; 香辣土豆丝 (xiangla tudousi) - a tower of fried potato strings that are spicy and sweet; 凉面 (liang mian) - cold noodles, my favorite at the cafeteria, just some noodles with a few sauces thrown in, peanuts, and cucumber; 东北拉偏 (dongbei lapian) - another cold noodle dish, but these are wide clear noodles in a vinegary sauce with sesame paste on top; 炒饭 (chao fan) - fried rice; and 藕片 (oupian) - lotus root, good stir fried, deep fried, candied, anything really. There are some other things that I like to eat, but those are the real winners, the things I'll miss back home. I'm trying to get Jinling to ask her mom for some recipes or something, but we'll see. I'm pretty sure on how to make fried rice and the cold noodles, everything else is a little hairy.

Farewell, My Propaganda

Yesterday was our last night at Propaganda, our oft visited and ever so loved Wednesday night hang-out. Left the dorms a little after 11 and met Chad, one of our teachers in front of the club. It was cool that he came out with us, but a little awkward. Not gonna lie, the club scene is not exactly where you want to be hangin' with your professor. Good times though, he's pretty young and still fun, so we had a nice time. Around 1:30 or so, we all headed to Lush, which is more of a lounge/bar kind of place. No dancing there, just sitting around a table eating, talking, and some people smoking hookah. I didn't smoke because I think it's kinda nasty, but China is so filled with smoke that sitting around the table made no difference whatsoever. Turned out to be a really chill night and most of us didn't leave until around 4:30 this morning. Chad (the environmental class teacher, so I didn't have him) is a neat guy and fun to hang with.

These past few days have been incredibly unproductive for me. I know I have work to do, but I have no inspiration at all and nothing pushing me to do it. As always, I'll do it right before it's due. However, I did write my introduction paragraph to a paper yesterday. Better than nothing, right? Today's weather is really dreary and vaguely reminiscent of the Boston spring. Except more polluted. And grayer. And less fun. Everything inside me is saying "stay in," I have absolutely no desire to go anywhere or do anything. Too bad because some of us were going to go to the Temple of Heaven and the Pearl Market today, but the weather isn't cooperating. Maybe tomorrow. Remember that story about the brothel in Shanghai? Well, it happened again. No, just kidding. But us girls (all 6 of us) are getting T-shirts made that say Judie's Brothel on the front and our nicknames on the back. I guess they aren't really nicknames, but the titles of our awards from the Dundees. If you've seen The Office you know what I mean, if you haven't you should. We had our own little version of the Dundees here and they were awesome. You'll just have to wait and see what my shirt says!

Today, You Are a Man

Usually that's what kids get at their Bar Mitzvahs, Confirmation, Graduation, etc... but Friday was definitely an "adult experience" for me. Early evening almost our entire crew (only missing one, but nobody really missed him so it was ok) went out to an Italian restaurant in the east side of Beijing. Later that night we had a "field trip" for our Pop Culture class at a jazz club, and this restaurant (voted #1 in Beijing) happened to be next door. Anyways, when we got there it turned out to be a totally legit place. It seemed like we were walking into an Italian restaurant in the States, but all the waiters were Chinese. Because I've been craving the food of Italy recently, I decided to go all out. Instead of ordering wine with a few others (I don't like the taste and why waste the money), I got a Caprese Salad with tomato and mozzarella and Penne Arrabiata. The salad was delicious, and although they did not use buffalo mozzarella, it was still nice for China. However, I think it made me sick because my stomach was churning all night after I ate it. The pasta was mediocre at best. From what I read in That's Beijing, the reason Annie's Italian Kitchen always gets rated #1 is because there are 5 branches and it's good enough that people rate it well, pushing the smaller restaurants out of the running.

Afterwards, we headed literally next door to the CD Jazz Club. I find the name hilarious - say it out loud to yourself and it sounds like Seedy Jazz Club, which is what they're often stereotyped as. Hm? Anyways, we watched our professor play with his jazz band (he plays piano with a upright bassist, drummer, and saxophonist) for a little bit. The real reason we were there, though, was to see a xiangsheng performance. We've been studying this type of Chinese stand-up comedy and he arranged for these performers to do a show for us. Xiangsheng is generally 2 people with a funny one and a straight man, but the topics they talk about aren't as funny as in the US because a lot of stuff is verboten, such as criticizing the government or society. They did 3 bits and I did not understand most of the first one, but the second two I got pretty well. It was cool just to see it done live, whether or not I understood (especially because a bunch of the students are still beginners and definitely didn't get it).

Next came the really fun/embarrassing part. Sam, one of our male students, sang with our professor's band. He happens to be a voice major back at school and has the voice of an angel, the kind that makes all women melt a little inside. His performance was absolutely amazing! Following Sam's act, I promised to play trumpet for a song. Our prof let me borrow his trumpet (he used to be a trumpeter) on Thursday after class so I could practice a little and even gave me some music to Watermelon Man. Luckily I'd played that back in the day (Carrabba's night anyone?). Got up on stage and was super nervous playing in front of all my friends, for a few reasons. One - I haven't played jazz music since senior year in high school; two - I haven't played trumpet since about December, three - I was terrible at jazz back in the day and could never improvise, four - they've never heard me play so they didn't know that I'm actually pretty good and not just a hack with a big mouth.

Oh well, figured I'd give it a try! Started playing and it was going well... but then all the sudden the saxophonist broke and wanted me to improvise. Not knowing what to do, I started and it probably was kind of lame, but whatever. After a few bars though, I got really into it and amazingly it sounded good. All the cheering from my friends helped too. Really enjoyed that night overall. Not only because I played trumpet for my friends and showed them I have some talent, but also that I showed myself I could improvise. Guess it was one of those "aha" moments making me wish I just let myself go in high school and learned how to improvise well. After a night of a relatively upscale dinner (with a bunch of people drinking wine) and fun at a jazz club, I felt like such an adult. Usually we just go out to bars and clubs or stay in and do nothing at all, but this was different. Fun, but a nice change.

Saturday morning 6 of us decided to go to the Summer Palace. Nice to actually get out and do something on the weekends. Since we don't have much time left, we're all now panicking to do touristy stuff. It was so hot out yesterday and probably a bad choice to spend the day outside, but it's only getting hotter. Walked around the place for about 3 hours which was overkill due to the heat. All exhausted, we went to an American restaurant for lunch because it was close. After lunch, Vicki and I went shopping at Wudaokou (I hadn't been there yet, but everyone was always saying how good it was). Indeed it was much nicer than the other places I've been and it's a lot easier only shopping with two people. I got a dress that's sailor-esque but cute and Vicki got a dress and a shirt. So hot inside that we were tired before we started, so we left fairly early and headed back to the dorms. When I got back I just fell asleep and didn't wake up until 10:30 pm. Thinking I wouldn't be able to sleep that night was wrong, because I slept from 12:30 am to 10 this morning. Now I feel rested! This week we only have Chinese classes, so maybe in the afternoons we'll be able to do more stuff and see things. On my list: Temple of Heaven, Lama Temple, National Museum, Silk Market, Pearl Market, and (though I've already been) Forbidden City because a bunch of others haven't gone yet.

Lucy, I'm home!

I swear I was back in the 1940s this week. On Tuesday, instead of attending our normal meeting of Pop Culture and Media in China, our class went to the taping of a Chinese TV show. Our professor for that class is an American living in China since the early 90s, and it turns out that he's a pretty big deal here. The most famous white guy here is Da Shan (that's his Chinese name) - everyone recognizes him and he does advertisements for a million different products. However, our prof, Mo Dawei, is also well known. He's works for one of the TV stations and is frequently on TV. Even my Chinese professor said she knew who he was! Anyways, he has the hookups so he got us into the audience for a variety show produced by his station. We thought we'd just sit there for a while and watch, not understanding what's going on.

Well, when we arrived the producers decided to sit us in the on-stage audience seating. Probably because they love seeing foreigners on TV it worked out, but I think some of the Chinese were miffed because they thought they'd get to sit up there. We were seeing a variety show (by the way, Chinese TV is horrible, just horrible) and expected there to be some singing, dancing, and talents. Turns out a little different. Basically that episode's topic was family, how corny. Instead of a bunch of Chinese families on the show, they had one that was Inner Mongolian, one that was an Algerian husband and Han Chinese wife, and one that was Taiwanese. For some unknown reason, the Chinese pride themselves in being multicultural and respectful to minorities, but 95% are ethnically the same - Han Chinese. Ooooooook. Anyways, the hosts just asked questions and they talked about their families and being Chinese. Then every so often one person would get up and sing a song or do a dance, or like at one point when the Mongolians introduced their twin sons, they came out and wrestled. There was also a random stand up comedy performance thrown in there by two Beijingers. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. We were pretty bored by the end because we didn't understand half of what was going on and what we did understand was truly awful and sappy. Seriously felt like I was at a taping of I Love Lucy, because had there been a bedroom scene (which there wouldn't on Chinese TV) the married couple would have been in separate beds.

This week is our last week of content (non-language) courses, so today at 5 I have my last class! Our assignment was to research a pop song, translate it into English, and describe why it's popular to the class. My roommate picked one out for me that's super popular, but very depressing. Apparently a lot of Chinese pop songs are depressing or sappy romantic songs, nothing like Chamillionaire's Ridin' Dirty or Shakira's Hips Don't Lie over here! My translation ranged from bad to worse, but I think it will do. My dictionary and I struggled through it and Jinling looked it over and helped me choose better words or phrases in a few places, but this'll do. Clearly I do not have a career in translation.

Gettin' Dirty in the Yurty

Explanation to come later in this post. On Friday, we headed out for Chengde after lunchtime. This trip was organized by our history professor and was only for CET students, not roommates, so there were us 15, our program director Ben and his wife, his assistant director, the intern, our professor, and our professor's friend who works for the Antiquities Bureau. Bus ride was supposed to be around 4 hours and we'd arrive no later than 6 pm, but we got stuck in mad traffic and didn't get in until 7. Ugh, no time to rest before evening activities. Instead of staying in a regular hotel a la Xian, we stayed in a yurt hotel inside the Summer Palace. For those who don't know (and I can't imagine who that would be since yurts are clearly a part of everyday English vocabulary), a yurt is the traditional Mongolian style dwelling. It's basically an easily movable circular tent. Ours happened to be stationary, filled with modern appliances and furniture, have running water and electricity, and basically not resemble a yurt at all from the inside. But they were awesome, because it was like camping without the gross parts.

Once we arrived, we dropped off our stuff and headed to the big yurt for dinner. Dinner was comprised of almost all meat dishes. And not just normal Chinese stuff like Kung Pao chicken and Yuxiang Rousi, but giant chunks of meat in different sauces. Appetizing? No. Filling? Yes. Mongolian food also turns out be extremely salty. It's like you cook the food in salt but that isn't enough so you dump a whole can of Morton's on one piece of lamb. For some reason, we had this whole Mongol experience in Chengde, except Chengde isn't in Inner Mongolia, it's in Hebei Province. Go figure. Next we went to the Antiquities Bureau offices for a lecture about the area etc. It was pretty interesting. However, I got tired of listening because the woman speaking only used Chinese and our professor was translating, but I understood most of the first time and it was exhausting to hear everything twice. Around 9:30 we headed back to our yurts to spend the night.

Instead of going out to a bar or restaurant like we normally would, most of us gathered in one room and sat around talking. First came the ghost stories, of which I was terrified, and then came the poop stories. For some unknown reason, poop is a favorite topic in our group and always gets some interesting stories ranging from the extreme gross to the downright hilarious. Bedtime. Next morning we woke up and ate more Mongolian food for breakfast. It was just as salty (Dad, remember that nasty Japanese breakfast at the Forum? This was way saltier). Hoping that we'd be eating different food later that weekend.

Saturday we went to the Summer Palace which was built around the early 1700s as a resort escape from Beijing for the emperor. Beijing gets really hot in the summer, but Chengde is in a valley and significantly cooler temperatures exist. Quite odd really that we'd be wearing jackets or sweatshirts in the middle of May. Our tour guide, provided by the Antiquities Bureau, was amazing (his English name was Peter). His English skills were incredible, even better than our professor, and he was a downright good guide. Very informational and also very interesting. The Summer Palace was neat and we got to take an electric bus around the place to visit the sites instead of walking like all the normal tourists. This whole trip was full of cool opportunities we only got because of the Antiquities Bureau involvement. After that, we returned to yurt land for more yucky food. Then I took a nap. That afternoon we went to a temple built by the emperor to represent the Dalai Lama's temple in Tibet. It was amazing, not only its resemblance to the real deal (from pictures I could tell) but also the intricate details.

That night we had free time after dinner and most of us spent it napping (or doing Sudoku puzzles if you were me). Into the night, we sat around someone's room not drinking beer and then went out for a late bite to eat. We were all so tired of the Mongolian food that nobody ate much at dinner. Sleepytime and then wake up time early again. Sunday we went to what I thought was the coolest sight. The Antiquities Bureau and Peter took us to a temple that was still in its restoration phase. It was not open to the public because it was full of scaffolding and projects to be completed. The Bureau is working with the Getty Museum in LA to determine the best ways (and develop new ways) for preserving the artifacts and artwork inside. I really enjoyed seeing the progression from original to restored, and we even were allowed to climb the scaffolding and look up close at some stuff.

End of our tour, followed by yurt lunch and a moderately shorter bus ride back to Beijing. Last night I realized that this week is my last week of English language classes. Unfortunately that means I have two papers due that I thought were due next week. Knocked out one last night and I'm hoping to do one tonight, shouldn't be that bad. You know how it gets during crunch time... some tea, some sugary candy, and I'm good to go!

The Great Wall

Sorry I haven't posted in so long, but our internet has kept me from accessing nearly anything lately. This past Sunday, we took a group trip to the Great Wall and it was great! Left the dorms around 9 am and arrived at the Mutianyu section of the wall at 11. For those who don't know, there are a few different sections of the wall that have been restored enough to climb. Badaling is closest to Beijing, and therefore more touristy and less fun (supposedly). Mutianyu is further away and a much harder climb, but from my view very worth it. Oddly enough, the hike up to the wall is longer than the hike on the wall. I felt like I climbed up to Le Sacre Coeur about 3 or 4 times before hitting the main attraction.

Once on the wall, most of us decided to go to the watchtower on the right because it was a moderately shorter climb. Basically you reach the Great Wall and then have to climb a lot more to get to anything worth seeing. Unfortunately the steps on the wall are quite uneven and alternated between so tiny you keep missing steps to so huge you can barely lift your leg high enough. Being a short person, the tall steps were the hardest. When we got to the farthest tower on the right, we all hung out for a while, resting and snapping pictures. Some of us decided to continue on to the "do not enter" part because it looked fine, just hadn't been wiped clear of trees and debris. Honestly, I thought that area was the best because it was an uninterrupted view of our surroundings with a more natural look of what the Great Wall probably used to be. After playing around there for a while, we headed back, met everyone else in the tower, and started our descent. As we approached the middle of the wall, instead of going down the stairs we took earlier, we all chose to take the toboggan ride. Remember the Hebei Tombs episode? This was very similar. The Chinese seem to like semi-dangerous methods of going down large mountains and heights.

Whatever, it was fun. You know you would have done it too. This time there weren't even gates keeping your cart from falling off the track, all the responsibility is on you. I particularly liked how when we bought our tickets, we had to buy the 1 RMB insurance. Insurance for what? Getting a band-aid at the end? Compare this to going to Six Flags and paying a mandatory dime for "insurance" along with your $40 ticket. Anyways, I arrived safely at the bottom along with everyone else and did a little shopping in the walk back to the bus. That whole area leading up to the park entrance is full of typical Chinese tourist shops selling all the same crap you can buy anywhere. For the corny factor, a bunch of us bought Great Wall t-shirts. I really wanted one that said "I climbed the Great Wall" but they were really ugly, so I got one with pandas instead that says "The Great Wall of China." In that area, I also had a delicious snack similar to a crepe with banana and chocolate (totally Westernized, no Chinese person would think to eat that).

We all passed out on the bus ride back - fantastic two hour nap, one of the best I've ever had. On to other business... I ate at Outback Steakhouse last night. A few of us decided to be fat Americans and go out for expensive, fatty food that was delicious. Great choice! I ate so much that I'm still full at 9 am this morning. Split a Bloomin' Onion (over my daily calorie/fat allowance at just the appetizer!), entree was a giant salad with chicken on it, split a brownie and ice cream dessert. Why did I order a salad and not some delicious hamburger or shrimp on the barbie? Because here in Beijing eating fresh vegetables is a considerable risk, but for the prices Outback charges I figured they were probably trustworthy. They only cater to Westerners anyways. My food was delicious and I spent a near fortune for it in Chinese terms, but so worth it. This weekend, we're taking a fieldtrip to Chengde and sleeping in Mongolian yurts...

Fine, If I Must

I'm really not in the mood to blog, and I haven't been this whole week. Time has been short, things have been crazy, and I just don't feel like explaining. But that's not good enough for you, my friends, I will try harder. At this point I'm not sure if I can even remember everything that's happened. Last Monday, all 15 of us (-1 American and +1 Chinese roommate) went out to an American pizza place called Kro's Nest. It's run by this 20-something American dude by Peking University. 4 of us got one large pizza with half hawaiian and half garbage pail (every topping they had), but when it arrived it was half hawaiian and half something else. The pizza was good, but not great, definitely not somewhere I'd go in the States, but for here it's as good as you'll get. Also, the beer on Monday nights is 5 RMB per pint... hm can we say lots of drunk Americans eating pizza? Sounds like college? What?

Normally we wouldn't drink and go out on a Monday, but Tuesday was May 1st, also known as Labor Day. Quite a holiday here in China, up there with National Day for importance. The students all get off for the week (aka spring break) and almost everyone gets of on May 1st itself. Since our spring break was the week before, we only had off that one day. On Tuesday, along with 3 other people from our group I participated in filming a pilot episode for a TV show. Basically, this company is trying to start an American network dedicated entirely to China. For the promo so it would get picked up, they want a bunch of pilot shows. This one is to be a reality show of Americans for their first time in China. Whatever, I thought it would be fun and something to do. Turned out to be super tedious, not much fun, and didn't really like the other students I was with. That's not true, I really like 2 of them, but the third from our group and the 2 students from another university were not my type of people. The crew and everyone was really cool though, so it was moderately redeemed. Unfortunately I also had to go back on Saturday and spend the whole day with them, but I think it's done now. An experience to remember nonetheless.

Wednesday we had to go back to class and that was a bummer. But we took a field trip to a hutong neighborhood in the afternoon. We saw one that had been preserved from the late 1800s early 1900s and then we saw modern day ones that are really cramped and poor. Also saw some old brothels and general entertainment areas for turn of the century Chinese. That night, Jinling and I watched Babel. Interesting movie - I'd recommend seeing it, but I wouldn't have nominated it for an Oscar. Rest of the week was pretty ordinary, just classes and going out on the weekend evenings.

Since this entry was moderately boring, I'll share some stories that I've wanted to for a while, but they never quite fit in. When I landed at the airport in Beijing, arriving from America, I remember thinking that China didn't look so different from America. We were only taxiing, still on the plane, but I could see outside. Oddly, the first two other planes I saw definitely confirmed my view that I spent 13 hours on a plane to land right back at Newark. One was Ethiopian Air and the other was Fed-Ex; you really can't get more non-Chinese than either of those. Here's something I've noticed over time - there are almost no female taxi drivers in China. The only one I ever had was in Wuhan. Don't know why, but women don't seem to drive taxis at all. KFC is huge here in China. You'd think McDonald's would be so big because it's everywhere you want to be (or is that Visa?), but instead it's KFC. No joke - almost every street corner has a KFC, or as they translated it here to just "Kentucky." This fast food chain was the first to enter China and has totally won the market here. I think part of it is because the food they offer is similar to Chinese tastes in general, like fried chicken, iced tea, and corn. I swear I've eaten more fast food since I've been in China than I have since I graduated high school. And I will admit that KFC is pretty good, and as the ad goes "they do chicken right."

Picture Time

Sorry for not updating in a while - this week has been quite busy and I just haven't had time. I'm going to try and upload some pictures from spring break, because someone just showed me how. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. That's China!