事儿和东西

事儿和东西：Stuff and Things

I apologize for the lack of posts this week but I was pretty busy. Trying to pack in as much sight seeing as I could (since I leave in 6 days!) and preparing for the Chinese talent show our program put on this past friday, I read a poem and sang a song (both performances had videos taken of them but I'm in the process of tracking them down and destroying them so don't expect to see them up anytime soon lol). This post is titled stuff and things cause its just a random assortment of stuff. Mainly pictures from the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen, and the Summer Palace. Pretty cool stuff. Also the olympics started yesterday. Pretty interesting to watch coverage from another country's perspective (especially China's) there was a lot of coverage of woman's rifle today (didn't know that was a sport until today) since China got the gold (and either the silver or bronze).

Forbidden City, looked for Mulan but didn't have any luck.

Great view of Forbidden City and all of Beijing from a local park.

Swagging it up in the Forbidden City. (Yes, that is a bathing suit. I ran out of clean clothes a long time ago.....)

Chilling at Mao's Mausoleum in Tiananmen (we got there late so we couldn't see him). 

Just your casual scorpions on a stick.

Reppin Duke at Peking University!

Slightly questioning the worth of the marble boat at the Summer Palace. (As an aside the Empress Dowager had this built with the money set aside to build the Qing Navy) 

Summer Palace Temple.

古老长城

古老长城：Ancient Great Wall

My language partner (Beijing student who I've been set up with the program to practice my Chinese and show me actual life in China) brought me to the real Great Wall. The Great Wall I visited my first week was awesome but also heavily touristed and well maintained. The ancient sections of the wall (although technically not open to the public) are equally as awesome with their "Lord of the Ring"-esque look and ruined appearance. I literally had to climb a mountain to get there (and not like a hike, like legit had a slab of rock with crevices in it that I free climbed #swag). It took us about 2 hours to reach the wall but once we got there it was awesome (see pictures below). We than spent about 4 hours hiking the wall itself before ending up at a touristed section where we found a cab to get home. It was an awesome hike and we even met some cool Kiwis and hiked with them for a bit. Definitely would recommend trying to see these sections of the wall to anyone going to China. Sorry in advanced for the excessive picture posting below but I knew words alone couldn't describe how cool the 古老长城 was.

The mountain I hiked up.

If this isn't Middle Earth I don't know what is.

Straight swag. 

Me and our New Zealand friends getting ready to climb a steep section of the wall.

View from the top of the World.

Me and my language partner.

A little overgrown I guess. 

Abandoned watch tower.

Ancient steps.

虎妈

虎妈：Tiger Mom

Shout out to my mamma today! I just finished an essay on tiger moms for class tomorrow. Don't worry, I used you as a counter example. You were my evidence of how moms can not be tiger moms and still be successful parents. I left out how you're probably the closest thing a white child will ever get to a tiger mom (I'm still a little mad about never having video games, captain crunch, or a cell phone til high school) but that's not only because it strengthened my argument but also cause I love you and now realize the benefits. On an unrelated note I wish I could have written my paper on actual tiger moms cause I could've googled tiger cubs and look how cute they are!!!  

#procrastination

讲价

讲价: To bargain/haggle

Haggling is an absolute must in Chinese markets. It is culturally acceptable and financially necessary considering the prices merchants would give you otherwise (I've had extremes as drastic as 500 kuai at the start down to 75 kuai by the end). My first few attempts at haggling can only be described as awkward at best and I'm sure I was ripped off a bit (although with the exchange rate the way it is everything ends up being a good deal). However, now that my Chinese has improved and I've gotten some practice I actually love haggling over prices. I also find it interesting that out of all the people in Beijing, very few speak English well; however, merchants have some of the best English in China (granted to get a good deal I have to use Chinese but hearing people speak English is always a nice feeling). It's a major adrenaline rush to try and get a good deal and to see how low I can push the price. In retrospect it seems somewhat stupid to argue over 10 kuai (around $1.50) but in the moment there's nothing more important than getting it down just a little bit more. I dreaded shopping back in the States but now I actually get some enjoyment out of hitting up the market, but I mean who wouldn't get enjoyment out of $6 polos.

Me freaking out the first time I went to a Chinese market. Got some sick souvenirs though! 

西安

西安：Xi'An

Sorry for not updating you sooner but I got swamped with work and was real tired. Anyway it's the weekend now so I have time to upload some quality pictures I took during my long weekend to Xi'an. They say pictures are worth a thousand words so I'll put up some pics and explain my trip through them.

We took a train to Xi'An. Trains are hugely popular in China. The train station was as crowded as an American airport on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, it was absolutely insane.

The trip from Beijing to Xi'an was around 12 hours (we took a standard train not a bullet train) but on the bright-side we left at 8pm and had a sleeper car. It wasn't quite as awesome as Harry Potter made it out to be, and Chinese beds are definitely not designed for 6'4 Americans but we met some cool Chinese people and it got us where we were going.

I think this is the first time I ever stayed at a 5 star hotel. I'm also fairly certain this will be the last time I stay at a 5 star hotel for $75 a night (For all my GL readers out there thats like half the price of the Glendale lol). 

I absolutely loved Xi'an as a city. It's absolutely awesome. It has the modernness of New York but also the ancientness of Rome. The old city wall still remains fully intact (above) and the inner city has many ancient buildings still standing, where as outside the city wall the modern industrial Xi'an has grown with sky-skrapers and neon lights. We also got to ride bikes around the whole wall. It took about an hour and a half and gave some great views of the city.
 

Old neighborhood within the old city walls.

What better place to Tebow than with the Terra-cotta Warriors?! Also pictured below the Terra-cotta Warriors are a classic tourist attraction. They are actually incredibly cool in person, their detail and vastness is pretty awe-inspiring. 

As mentioned above very cool to visit in person.

All in all it was a great trip and I'd strongly recommend Xi'an to anyone who plans to visit China.

长周末

长周末：Long Weekend

I'm headed to Xi'an for the weekend for our mid term break (half way done with the program! Time flies when you memorize 60 characters a night lol). I won't have anything up for two days incase you check a lot. Should have some good pictures and stories when I come back though. Stay classy.

美国：The United States of America (literal translation: beautiful country)

Happy July 4th! I have a feeling that nothing makes you more patriotic than having to spend a July 4th abroad. I missed home more today than any other day. China's very cool and I'm thoroughly enjoying my time but I'm definitely thankful to be American. Tried to celebrate by having the most American day I could (aside from speaking Chinese all day lol). Went to Subway for lunch and for dinner I made my way to the Hard Rock Cafe. Waiting for this burger was like waiting to open presents on Christmas, no joke I was straight freaking out. My excitement was completely justified as this had to be one of the best burgers I have ever eaten, I mean look at that picture and tell me that's not perfection. They even had a live band playing classic rock and a little country now and than. Great day, even if it was spent a world away from 美国.

 The gang signs I'm throwing up are the Chinese hand signals for 7 and 4 for  7/4

 Great meal! Nothing's more American than a burger and apple pie.