July 11th in China, Tour of the water plant and a Beijing Suburb!!

We got up early this day to get read for our first day of touring that was set up by BOCOG (The organization we are working for). Our first day started out as we arrived at the Beijing Water Treatment plant. It wasn't the most exciting of tours but we still got to see that Beijing is working on improving the city and all that. After the water treatment plant we headed to lunch, it was pretty good, it was about the same as every place we go to. They serve several dishes all in family style. After lunch, Matt, Mark, Allie, Whitney and I all headed across the street to get some ice cream. I wasn't feeling too good so I just got a soda and then got back on the bus to try and sleep a little bit. At about 1:30 (we had an hour or so break for lunch) we were met by police cars that escorted our buses out of Beijing. They blocked the roads and everything so that our buses didn't get separated. We drove out into the country for what seemed like forever. It was actually almost a 2 hour bus ride to get out to a new Beijing village. It is a modern suburb like village that is like a test site to see if the living conditions are favorable and to see if people enjoy the new homes and area. The government hopes to make every village like this one eventually. it was pretty nice though. It had a country club next to it, with a really fancy golf course. It is also located in the mountains so the area is beautiful. There are many 3 sided courtyard houses here, that are similar to the Hutongs that we visited at the beginning of our stay here in China. All the buses stopped for a bathroom break after we drove around the country club. This break was hectic because there were only about 300 STUDENTS on all the buses! HAHAHA So it was a long and crazy break, but after we all got back on the buses we were led to one of the courtyard home sites and each group was able to visit one of the new homes. They were ok, not super fancy but nice. They were all connected too, as you will see in my pictures when I get them up. After we left the homes we went to see a newer temple that had been constructed for worship for the people of this new more modern village. It was pretty cool, set in the mountains, numerous fountains and was made to look like the old traditional buildings and temples such as the ones seen in the Forbidden City. Also next to the temple were some more homes only these new homes were more upscale and apparently were owned by a couple of celebrities. The set of houses actually reminded me of San Fransico and so was deemed Chan Fransico. haha! After we visited the temple we were led to another part of the "New Village", here we got to witness people practicing Tai Chi in one of the courtyards it was pretty cool. They are very graceful and then they invited people from our group to join in. Our professor Larry was probably the funniest haha, just for the mere fact that he was like 2 feet taller than everyone else doing the Tai Chi, considering the group doing the tai chi were senior citizen chinese people! HAHA So after Tai Chi we got to visit a calligraphy master. That was pretty cool, he made some things for us to watch and then let some of the kids in our group try. I was busy snapping pictures so I didn't get a chance to try my hand at it. Oh well. After that we were led to a old folks home right next door to the calligrapher and I just walked through to see how it was and then after that we loaded on the buses for the long ride back to Beijing. We ended up being on the bus for over 2 hours because of traffic. We finally arrived at our restaurant and I was excited to get to eat the Peking Duck again. It is really a good dish, and I got to teach our table how to eat it because I learned that while back in the states from one of the books I read about Beijing. After dinner we were led to the buses and on the way I was able to purchase an Olympic hat off a street vendor for like 2 bucks. When I got to the room that night I was pretty pooped so I showered, checked my e-mail and turned in. The next day I would get to visit the Great Wall!!!!

July 10th in China, Silk Market!

The first part of the day was pretty slow because I slept in and was lazy. I walked to KFC for lunch though and it was great. Then at 3:30 I met up with a few of the girls, Elle, Jashin and Beth and we met our chinese grad student Bonnie in the lobby. Bonnie helped us find our way to the bus, to the subway and then walked us the rest of the way to the Silk Market. The Silk Market is a huge shopping center with clothes of all sorts, belts, chinese knick knacks, electronics, shoes, purses and well everything you could ever want. The only thing is that here you can bargain with the people selling stuff. Lots of the clothes and bags are knock off too. HAHA I bought a purse and some souvenirs for my family. It was so much fun to stand there are tell the people what price you were going to pay, and what price you weren't paying and like 9 times out of 10 if the seller refused the price and you walked away they would sell it to you for the price you offered. I actually had one lady and her daughter grab my arms and pull me back to their stand. However when they wouldn't let go after I told them repeatedly that I didn't want to buy a wallet from them I got really angry. I actually had to fight my way out of their booth and then pull the daughter's hands off my arm. I ended up getting some chopsticks, a purse, and lots of gifts before we left after 2 hours of Silk Market shopping. After shopping Elle, Jashin and I went to a restaurant that was just around the corner from the market and ate supper. I got sweet and sour shrimp which was AMAZING! We had a little bit of a rough time because non of the waiters knew english but we made it through ordering our meal alright. After our delicious meal and talk of life, family, friends, boys and school we got on the subway and headed home.

We had to be up early the next night for a tour so I settled in and watched a movie, The Other Boelyn Girl, and did some chatting online and then hit the hay!

July 9th in China, ZOO and Pandas!

I got up early on this day because Whitney, Matt, Allie and I had made plans to get to the Beijing Zoo to see the Pandas! It was fun we got there around 9 am and stood in line for our tickets. We got into the zoo pretty fast and headed for the Panda exhibits first. The first pandas we saw were pretty laid back and non-active. But then we walked over to what was called "The Olympic Pandas" and the pandas in this enclosure were just full of life! They were so cute I took so many pictures and recorded a lot of video. We spent quite a bit of time in there watching the pandas. When we left the Panda house we saw certain animals such as American wildlife (owls, coyotes, foxes) and then also monkeys and giraffes. We walked around forever looking for the flamingos and also looking for the Penguin house. The zoo was really beautiful, lots of ponds and a creek/river with amazing bridges. Also there was an area that was really cool because it had about 12 stone elephants all in this courtyard that were all different shapes and sizes. Lots of people were getting their pictures taken with these statues so of course we all did the same! haha! After the elephants statues we actually found the penguin house, it was pretty cool. I again got some great pictures and then in the basement of the Penguin house there was oddly enough the bat house. We didn't stay down in the dark around the bats long though. When we were walking out of the Penguin house we ran into a group of elementary school chinese children. It was by far the cutest thing that happened at the zoo because all 30 or so of the kids were waving and saying hello and then their teacher took a picture of us Americans with all the kids around us. It was the highlight of my day! So cute! After that we ran into a couple people from America as well, Connecticut I believe is where they were from, and it was fun to talk to them. It was an older women and her daughter and the older lady said that people just kept stopping her for pictures. I guess white haired white ladies are quite the sight here in China! haha! After the zoo we headed back to the hotel where I was able to get in a small nap. After my little snooze I headed out to pick up my laundry and ran into my friend Mark while I was there. So Mark, Matt and I all ended up walking to the canteen again to get some food. I tell you what the Kung Pao chicken is awesome! After dinner I was walking back to my room in the hotel and ran into a couple of the other girls in our group and they invited me to go with them to a district called Hou Hai, which has lots of clubs, karaoke places and love music. It was one of the girls', Ashley's, birthday. So I decided that it may be fun to go out. So we all got ready and took a cab out to Hou Hai. The first place we stopped at was called the Paradise club. The music was good and it was a neat place to sit but we weren't there long. we walked all over just listening to the music and seeing what was going on. my favorite highlight of the night was in this place where there was a chinese punk rock band playing. They were actually really good and guess what their closing song was?? HAHA It was Stand by Me. I was like "Hey I know this song"! After that we were pretty much all wiped out from walking around and it was also late so we called it a night. It was quite the full day with the highlight being the kids at the zoo and definitely the Pandas! If you are ever in Beijing you must see them! haha

July 8th in China, Night market!

Today we had another class, this time I was smart and took my computer because the lectures tend to get so long and this one was even harder because even the slides we had to look at were in Chinese. After about a 4 hour class I ate at the canteen again and then took my laundry to be done at the laundromat on campus. I walked to the market really close to the laundromat and bought myself an Olympic bag. After buying my bag and getting back to the hotel I met up with Allie and Whitney and they invited me to go eat at Pizza Hut with them. It is the fanciest Pizza Hut I have ever seen. Over here it is like a fancy sit down restaurant. It was great, we got an "American special", which is just a pepperoni pizza. We waited for our friend Matt to show up while we were there and then we all left to go to the bus stop. We rode the bus to the subway and took the line down to the night market. At the market they have stands that cook squid, scorpions, bugs, and all sorts of scary stuff. I tried squid, beef and then candied apples. It was a fun experience and is something I suggest you see if you ever visit China. After we were done snacking and what not, we walked around the area for a bit because the place where the market is, resembles a small time square. We went into the flagship Olympic Store and the giant Nike store. We also just hung out a little bit in a courtyard and people watched it was fun to just relax and talk. On our way to leave we found a funny statue of a Rickshaw and all decided to take our pictures in it. Then we left the Time Square area and started to walk toward a less touristy part of town because all the cab drivers close to the night market were trying to rip off tourists by saying the drive was way more than it should be. We walked as far as Tian'an Men Square before we got a cab. Which funny enough was the first time I had ever been on a cab, it also was the first time I had ever been on a subway that night as well. So it was a big night for me. hahaha. :) After we got back to the hotel I was pretty beat from a fun night at the market so I just showered and went to bed.

July 7th in China, formal reception!

We had class today. It was a lecture from one of the chinese professors here at Renmin University and because it had to be translated it took quite some time. I think all in all the lecture lasted 3 hours. After we were finally released from the lecture a group of us walked to a canteen/dining hall that was close to our classroom. It is the best dining hall we have found yet because they cook the food to order so you get it nice and hot. I tried some sweet and sour pork tenders from this place and absolutely loved it! A very good dish to remember in the future.
After lunch I headed back to the room took a little nap and watch a movie on my computer. Around 4ish me and Whitney walked over to a couple different markets that are on campus and one of them is an official Olympic sponsor shop so that is cool.
We didn't have much time to look around, we were mainly just passing time until we had to get back to the hotel to get ready for a formal reception that we, along with all the other schools staying at Renmin, were invited to.
The reception started at 7 pm so because I didn't bring many dressy clothes I got ready and dressed and nice as I could and headed out to the dinner. At the dinner we were entertained by singing groups as well as speeches from the Renmin professors and all the visiting schools professors. In return for the entertainment each group was asked to also provide some entertainment so our professor, Larry Powell, gave a speech and then our group sang the Mizzou fight song! It was fun! But of course UNC (they are volunteering too) had to sing their fight song right after us! haha Copy cats!
As for the food at the reception it wasn't bad but not the best food I have had here. The one thing that was really good was the Peking duck though. It was good. After dinner some of my friends and my roomie went out to a dance club but I didn't want to go so I just turned in for the night to prepare for class again the next day.

July 6th in China, Free day! WOO!

This was a free day which meant I slept in, cleaned the room and organized a bit as well as did a little reading. At lunch I walked with my friend Whitney to McDonald's where I was able to enjoy a delicious BIG MAC! Aww it was great! haha!
After lunch I headed back to the hotel and just messed around on the internet and tried uploading pictures as well as talking to my friends and e-mailing my family. I watched the movie 10,000 B.C. until supper.
I went to supper with my friend Allie. She had just gotten done with her work out because she is a swimmer for Mizzou and so she has to work out and train while here for the summer. We walked to the canteen/dining hall where we had ate before but sadly it was closed so we ended up going and eating at this restaurant on campus called Water Stone Coffee. It is a nice place. I got a coke and we both ordered a pizza to split.
The food was good but also odd, because we ordered the veggie pizza but it included certain veggies like corn, kidney beans and then certain NOT-veggies like raisins! It was weird eating pizza with raisins on it but it tasted pretty good actually! Another weird thing I tried at this meal that I had never had or even heard of was bubble tea. It is a milk tea with tapioca balls in the bottom of the glass. Yeah I know, weird huh? but yeah apparently this stuff is big in Canada as well as cities in the United States. I guess Allie would know because she is canadian. But anyways, this was a rather uneventful day because I was just relaxing and resting.
After dinner with Allie I went back to the room and watched some more tv, Chinese tv is really weird by the way. I watched Growing Pains, haha it was in chinese though! They just dub chinese voices over the American ones! I also watched some sports, sand volleyball and tennis and then talked a bit online to Micah and then went to bed.
The next morning, Monday, we were going to have class again.

July 5th in China, the Forbidden City!!!

Well this was by far one of the most busy days I have had yet! We all met at 8:15 am in the lobby to get on the buses. I got on a bus with a tour guide named Steve. He was a very happy chinese man and he spoke great English. It was raining when we headed out but by the time we got to Tian'an men square it was just a lil misty out. We were able to take pictures and view several things in the Tian'an Men square such as Zhengyang Men, Mao's Mausoleum and the Great Hall of the people as well as the monument to the people's heroes.
We walked through the Tian'an Men building, which is the one that has Mao's portrait still hanging on it today. While heading through the building and as we got closer to the Forbidden City, we were hassled by so many people trying to pawn things. The biggest item that folks seem to be selling is a Mao watch. The watch has a picture of Mao in the middle with his arm constantly waving at you.
When we arrived in the outer court of the Forbidden City we had to wait while Steve bought all our groups' tickets. While waiting for him Whitney, Allie and I looked around at some of the souvenir stands and I bought myself a coca-cola. While waiting in line we met another American who was visiting the city. He was from New York. He was seriously one of the only Americans that was not with our group. Because there was so few of us visiting the Forbidden City, it was not odd to have someone chinese ask to take a picture with us or hand us their kids. People really want pictures with Americans! It is so weird.
After we got our tickets and went through security we headed out on our tour and crossed over the Golden Water and went through the Gate of Supreme Harmony. We enjoyed seeing many great courtyards and detailed buildings as well as hearing many stories of the city's history from Steve. There are many carvings of dragons and lions, there are also guardians on the roofs of most of the halls. They are perched like gargoyles on the edges of the roofs. We also saw statues of cranes and turtles as well as the tradition lions that guard many entryways. The male lion has his paw on a ball, and the female has hers on a cub. Also we noticed many carvings of dragons and phoenixes together. The dragon and phoenix symbolize the emperor as dragon and empress as phoenix.
The biggest hall in the city is the Hall of Supreme Harmony where the emperor's throne sits. We were able to peer in and look at the gold and bejeweled throne. It was magnificent! We were able to enjoy many more halls and view many more courtyards. Something else I noticed is that there are several large bronze cauldrons placed all over the city. these were in case there was ever a fire so they were always filled with water. About this time during the trip I filled up the camera card I had in my digital rebel and had to switch. The sad thing was my 1 GB card would not work in my camera. I have no idea why but it still won't work. I was able to delete some pics and change some things on my camera so that I had room enough for more pictures throughout the day, but I was not happy about deleting pictures!!! Finally the last thing we saw in the Forbidden City was my favorite. We got to tour the Imperial Garden. I loved it, with all its plants and temples and beautiful rock sculptures. There was also a giant pot like urn in the middle of the garden and it was said if you threw a coin into the top of it through one of the holes that it was good luck. I made it through one of the holes but later one of my friends told me that they think I actually through the coin in one hole on one side and out the other hole on the other side! haha! That would happen to me! :)
We departed the city through the gate of Heavenly Purity and headed back to the buses and they took us to lunch. We ate at a restaurant nearby. It had good food and served us several different and interesting chinese dishes. The restaurant was decorate really neat and was very pretty but the bathrooms threw me off guard. They were nice but weirdly the back wall of the restroom is a 1 way mirror so you can see out to the stairs leading up to the dining hall but when you are on the stairs it just looks like another mirror. Very odd indeed.
After lunch we headed back to the buses and while on the way to them I ended up making a purchase from a street vendor. I bought a set of keychains that were the Olympic mascots for 1 American dollar. Not a bad price, but then again everything over here is pretty cheap! We got on the buses and went to our next part of our tour for the day which was the drum tower and bell tower. We didn't get to go up into the bell tower but we did get a chance to go up into the drum tower to see the city from a high vantage point. The only bad thing was, to get to this vantage point we had to walk up the steepest, tallest, scariest stair well I have ever seen!!!
From the top of the drum tower you could look out over the entire city all around because you can walk a complete 360 around the top terrace. You can see the hundreds of skyscrapers spread out over the huge city. There is not one center downtown area in Beijing. Stuff is just everywhere!!! From this high point you could also see the mountains in the distance which was really awesome. We also were able to enjoy a drum performance while we were in the tower.
After we climbed back down the treacherous staircase we all go to pair up and load up into rickshaws. A rickshaw is a small cart that traditional was pulled by a man on foot but now is pulled by guys on bicycles! This was an interesting and kind of scary experience as I rode along with my friend Danielle. We were taken to a Hutong by the rickshaws.
A hutong is a traditional courtyard home, that has several houses in a fenced in area. In this fenced connected housing area one family will live. I mean everyone in the family too, aunts, uncles, cousins, sons, daughters, parents. EVERYONE! This is a traditional way of family living in China. We were able to visit a Hutong. We went inside and took a tour and even sat in one of the rooms while the mother of the family we visited talked about the history of her home and of her family. After her presentation she showed us around her Hutong a bit more and then we departed.
After the Hutong tour we visited the garden of Prince Gong's Mansion. This garden was spectacular with plants and temples everywhere. Great buildings and a huge koi pond complete with fountains and of course lily pads. Also one of the coolest things found in the garden was a traditional chinese tea house. Our group was able to be seated at a table with a chinese woman who was a learned and educator tea preparer. She showed us the right way to use one cup to smell the tea and how to hold the drinking cup. She taught us history and tea etiquette. We were able to taste 4 different kinds of teas that she prepared for us. The most traditional being Jasmine tea. I bought myself a souvenir here before we left. I got a mug that has a picture of a dragon on it, but when you pour hot water in it the picture of the dragon turns to a picture of the Great Wall.
After we left the tea house our rickshaws took us back to meet the buses. I got back to the hotel and talked with my roomie a bit because she had been on the other bus the whole day and they took a little bit different tour than my group did. But judging from what I have heard I was in the best group of the day as far as the tour went. After chatting a bit I headed out with Allie, Whitney, Matt and Mark to go eat at a dining hall on campus and to find out where the laundry place closest to our hotel was.
After dinner I was so tired I didn't do much but send out a few e-mails, shower and watch a bit of a movie. The next day was a free day so I could rest up!