Guess where I went today? Best Buy! Haha!! The biggest Best Buy in the world is also the only store in China. I talked to a few people that work there and they were all very excited to meet me once I told them I work at Best Buy. Their store manager is also from the US, so I talked to him and got a picture with him and a Geek Squad guy in front of the big Geek Squad sign with Chinese under it. I also took a picture in front of the building. Shanghai seems to be much richer than the other parts of China we've been too. It was really fun going today. My friend Steven and I set out from the hotel having only seen the location on Google Maps, but with no way of printing it out... We had a partial map of Shanghai from the hotel room and I grabbed an envelope with our hotel's address on it. So worse case, we could probably find our way back. I knew where a metro stop was, and we knew we had to head in the general direction of Southwest. We set a goal of finding the store within 3 hours, and we went on our way.
We got to the metro stop and had no idea which line or stop we needed to take, but we picked one that looked like it was headed in the southwest direction and got on. We rode until we got to a stop that we guessed felt like about the right area and asked someone to point on the map where we were. Fortunately, we had gotten off just around the bottom corner of the map, which was better than the next stop that was not on the map at all. Like I said...partial map. Even the legend was cut off on the other corner. So we decided as long as we knew where we were we weren't lost, and for right now we were in the bottom left corner of the map. Great! That's southwest relative to where we started, so we considered this our first success of the trip.
As we left the metro station we decided we'd try to find a Starbucks for Steven to get a better idea of where we were on his iPhone. We couldn't see a Starbucks from where we were standing, so we asked ourselves, "If I were a Starbucks where would I be?" and headed off in the direction of KFC and Ikea. For anyone looking to go to a Starbucks in the future near the Shanghai Stadium, the direction of Starbucks is opposite from both KFC and Ikea. But Ikea is a very large store that has found a way to trick anyone that walks in the doors into walking through every single department. We finally stopped to ask someone where to find a Starbucks and they told us which bus to take. Since we were close to the bus stop we decided we'd save our $1yuan and just watch which direction that bus goes and follow it. Luckily we stumbled across one and the guy working knew where Best Buy was! We were so close!! Unfortunately, he did not speak English, so his three line map, gestures and Chinese directions only got us started in the right direction. One Häagen-Dazs and six miles (walking) later, we found the place we had set out only 2.5 hours earlier to find. Given we had 30 minutes to spare from our goal of 3 hours, we considered this our second success of the night.
We stuck around there checking out their 6 floors of electronic awesomeness for about 30 minutes then decided to check out the surrounding area. It was a really nice part of town and we figured that with as long as it took to get there we were going to darn well enjoy where we were. We took some cool pictures and went all through a mall there complete with a Magic school where a guy did a few card tricks for us and tried to get us to enroll in their school. While we were tempted in the moment to drop OC and go to Magic school in Shanghai, we decided against it and headed to McDonald's for dinner after which we made our way back into the metro station. We had taken a picture of the stop we started at so we just showed the service desk the picture and asked for 2 tickets. The guy smiled and we took it one extra stop to see some different scenery on our walk back to the hotel. All in all, today was a very fun adventure and we got to see many sides of Shanghai.
Tomorrow we will head to Japan early, so for now that's all! I hope I can post my pictures soon but until we get to our host family's house I'm not sure when I'll be back online.
Email me! I love hearing from everyone back home!! Love you all!!
Amy
Friday, September 26
Life, the Universe, and Everything
I'm in the middle of reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, so excuse the title reference...it just seemed like a fitting heading.
This trip has been opening my eyes to shape and change how I view the world. In some ways it's exciting, in some it's almost frightening. I expected this to some extent, but I guess you never really know what to expect until you're right there in the mix. And now, for a very clear understatement: Asia is a whole different world.
The thing that impresses me most about the culture here is not the cold, everyone-mind-their-own-business way that I had half expected after visiting places like DC and NYC. I have been completely caught off guard by the openness and inviting nature of every person I have met. Ever since the English Corner night I have been so much more aware of how open the Chinese are to new people and new ideas. They are not narrow minded in their ways as I feel I often am. They are ready for new ideas and yearn for learning new languages, religions, and ideas. They are also very hard workers and will study on their own to reach their goals. I wish I had that kind of drive. I live in a country that promises opportunity and the chance to be whatever you want to be, but I feel that many times I don't reach my potential and the only thing in my way is myself. Here, they live under so many limitations by government, resources, and tradition yet they find ways and have the extreme desire to do so much more. To those that look at us, a group of Americans and wish that they could be us, I have to say that there are certain aspects of their lives that I wish I had as well.
Many people have been talking to us about coming to China after graduation to teach English. The Chinese government will actually pay Americans to come and do that, and for some it seems to be a great opportunity to spread the name of God. But I have done a lot of thinking about what it would take, and the sacrifices I would have to make, and I think I am still too selfish of a person to be able to do that.
One thing I have learned though, through talking to Gary Jackson, was when he talked about my uncle's work as an accountant as a ministry, it made me realize what the Bible is talking about when it says that the body is made up of many parts. Each part has it's function and without that part, the rest could not work properly. I have talents that others do not, and it is my mission to find how I can use the talent I have been given to help those that have been given other talents that I do not have.
In America we are taught to think as individuals, whereas in China they are taught to think in terms of the group. This experience living in their culture and seeing how they work together for "the greater good" helps me to understand God's purpose for me.
This trip has been opening my eyes to shape and change how I view the world. In some ways it's exciting, in some it's almost frightening. I expected this to some extent, but I guess you never really know what to expect until you're right there in the mix. And now, for a very clear understatement: Asia is a whole different world.
The thing that impresses me most about the culture here is not the cold, everyone-mind-their-own-business way that I had half expected after visiting places like DC and NYC. I have been completely caught off guard by the openness and inviting nature of every person I have met. Ever since the English Corner night I have been so much more aware of how open the Chinese are to new people and new ideas. They are not narrow minded in their ways as I feel I often am. They are ready for new ideas and yearn for learning new languages, religions, and ideas. They are also very hard workers and will study on their own to reach their goals. I wish I had that kind of drive. I live in a country that promises opportunity and the chance to be whatever you want to be, but I feel that many times I don't reach my potential and the only thing in my way is myself. Here, they live under so many limitations by government, resources, and tradition yet they find ways and have the extreme desire to do so much more. To those that look at us, a group of Americans and wish that they could be us, I have to say that there are certain aspects of their lives that I wish I had as well.
Many people have been talking to us about coming to China after graduation to teach English. The Chinese government will actually pay Americans to come and do that, and for some it seems to be a great opportunity to spread the name of God. But I have done a lot of thinking about what it would take, and the sacrifices I would have to make, and I think I am still too selfish of a person to be able to do that.
One thing I have learned though, through talking to Gary Jackson, was when he talked about my uncle's work as an accountant as a ministry, it made me realize what the Bible is talking about when it says that the body is made up of many parts. Each part has it's function and without that part, the rest could not work properly. I have talents that others do not, and it is my mission to find how I can use the talent I have been given to help those that have been given other talents that I do not have.
In America we are taught to think as individuals, whereas in China they are taught to think in terms of the group. This experience living in their culture and seeing how they work together for "the greater good" helps me to understand God's purpose for me.
My New Friend Simon
After eating dinner with Aleisha at KFC our first night in Shanghai, we were headed out the door when a guy waved at me to come back in. I let Aleisha know what I was doing and decided that as long as I was going back into the restaurant instead of out into the dark, the least I could do was see what he wanted. He slid a note across his table to me that he had obviously been spending the last several minutes writing out. It said:
"Hello. My name is Simon. Are you students in China? I am interested in learning English. Say English. Do you have any ideas?"
The next 30-45 minutes we spent explaining that we were leaving Shanghai in only 4 days, but if he would like to keep in touch by email we were happy to help him practice his English. He was very excited about this and taught us some Chinese! They were all very random words, but in Chinese have similar sounds. He said he used to be a teacher at a university for 4 years, but now he owns his own small computer networking company. I hope I can keep in touch with him as well as Amy in Beijing and slowly build a friendship in which I can share my faith. I also plan to contact Gary to see if he knows of any contacts that are in Shanghai long-term that I could connect Simon with.
"Hello. My name is Simon. Are you students in China? I am interested in learning English. Say English. Do you have any ideas?"
The next 30-45 minutes we spent explaining that we were leaving Shanghai in only 4 days, but if he would like to keep in touch by email we were happy to help him practice his English. He was very excited about this and taught us some Chinese! They were all very random words, but in Chinese have similar sounds. He said he used to be a teacher at a university for 4 years, but now he owns his own small computer networking company. I hope I can keep in touch with him as well as Amy in Beijing and slowly build a friendship in which I can share my faith. I also plan to contact Gary to see if he knows of any contacts that are in Shanghai long-term that I could connect Simon with.
Thursday, September 25
Slowing Down in Shanghai
First of all, I would like to tell the story of the great Xi'an wall adventure. We decided to have our church service on Sunday night, so that morning we got up and went to the wall surrounding the old Xi'an. We climbed the stairs to the top and rented bikes!! It was so much fun because Hunter and I decided to get a tandem bike and try our luck... Our luck apparently is not the greatest, but it is fun. About halfway into our 14km ride, we discovered that our rear tire was flat. Haha! There wasn't a whole lot we could do about it, so we kept on going until we reached a stand selling water and stopped to rest. A man came up to us and pointed at our tire and simply said, "I'm sorry". We stared at each other and just laughed and agreed we were sorry too. He then took our bike and walked away... Since we had a deposit on this flat tired bike, we followed him to his table wondering if he had a bike pump. He didn't, but he DID have a new bike for us! We were so excited, we kept saying "Xie xie, Xie xie!!" (Thank you!) and rode off on our new bike. Only ten minutes later, Hunter said, "Amy, I kid you not...we have another flat tire" and we groaned and laughed and groaned again as people walking passed us and people on other bikes pointed to our flat tire. Every turn Hunter was "really sure it's just around this corner" and every tower was "definitely the one we started at". We figured at least it gave us a really good excuse for being second to last to get back.
Our stay with the family in the countryside was really fun! We arrived Monday afternoon and stayed until Tuesday. On Monday we went to the small school in the area and met some very talented children. The teacher said that their school's specialty is in art, and they have 2 professional art teachers. So the children sang some songs and did cartwheels and so on then gave us each some drawings they had done. We went back to our families' houses for dinner and that night had a special dancing party in the village square. The next morning we had breakfast with our families then went to the village meeting place for an art lesson in Chinese painting and paper cutting. After lunch with our families again we got back on our bus and headed back into Xi'an to do some last minute mailing (By the way, I mailed home a second package), laundry pick-up, and food buying before our 20 hour train ride to Shanghai.
Mail costs an additional $10yuan to box up...Laundry cost $54yuan for a couple shirts, my shorts and one pair of jeans to wash in dirty water with no soap and put into a bag not fully dry...and food consisted of Oreos, Coke, and strange Chinese-style Pringles. Man I wish I had some Febreze right now.
Now I am in Shanghai, and we do not have any formally organized tours set up here, so we are free to do as we like. I think most of our group likes to sleep. :) I did all the rest of my laundry last night in the bathtub and our room is covered with drying clothes. I'm hoping to catch up on some reading and writing in my journal then see what everyone else is planning when they all wake up.
That's all for now. I love you all!
Amy
Our stay with the family in the countryside was really fun! We arrived Monday afternoon and stayed until Tuesday. On Monday we went to the small school in the area and met some very talented children. The teacher said that their school's specialty is in art, and they have 2 professional art teachers. So the children sang some songs and did cartwheels and so on then gave us each some drawings they had done. We went back to our families' houses for dinner and that night had a special dancing party in the village square. The next morning we had breakfast with our families then went to the village meeting place for an art lesson in Chinese painting and paper cutting. After lunch with our families again we got back on our bus and headed back into Xi'an to do some last minute mailing (By the way, I mailed home a second package), laundry pick-up, and food buying before our 20 hour train ride to Shanghai.
Mail costs an additional $10yuan to box up...Laundry cost $54yuan for a couple shirts, my shorts and one pair of jeans to wash in dirty water with no soap and put into a bag not fully dry...and food consisted of Oreos, Coke, and strange Chinese-style Pringles. Man I wish I had some Febreze right now.
Now I am in Shanghai, and we do not have any formally organized tours set up here, so we are free to do as we like. I think most of our group likes to sleep. :) I did all the rest of my laundry last night in the bathtub and our room is covered with drying clothes. I'm hoping to catch up on some reading and writing in my journal then see what everyone else is planning when they all wake up.
That's all for now. I love you all!
Amy
Saturday, September 20
A Shoutout from Xi'an
Wow, we've been busy since last time I was able to get online. I am now in Xi'an, and our tour guide here keeps us running! :)
On Thursday we shipped home a bunch of our souvenirs (by "surface" instead of air, so it may take a while to get there) and met up for our second devotional in Beijing. It was really good and Jacob challenged everyone on our trip to set a goal for their relationship with God that they want to see change or grow during our semester and when we get back we can discuss the amazing different things God did with each of us.
Then we hopped on the train at around 9:30pm, which was a little cramped, but overall very nice. We mixed up roommates and packed in all our bags and pretty quickly went to bed. At 8am Friday, our sponsors woke us up and we got our stuff together and headed off to find our bus. Our tour guide here was very considerate and moved some things around so we could take showers and rest for a little while before we started our tour. We are staying in a very nice hotel this time (as opposed to the dorms we were in) and we all agree that we're glad this wasn't our first stop, so we can appreciate more the nice beds and big rooms. We are also split up 2 per a room now so we have more than enough room to spread out, although we probably won't much since we're rarely in our rooms and only here for about 4 days...
Yesterday we went to a sort of Chinese ballet show about their armies and soldiers and so on. Then we had a really nice dinner in which they just kept bringing dish after dish without explaining what it was. I've kind of decided to try anything on this trip, and I can't say for sure what it was I ate but I think I ate...brains...or...spinal cord. No one else at my table would try it, and it looked and had the texture of about what I would imagine brains to taste like. One bite was enough. After dinner we went to a water show, which was actually really cool. They shoot water up and shine lasers and lights on it to create a show. I have pictures and tried to do video, so I hope I can show you when I get those posted.
Today we went to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers! They are incredible -- the 8th wonder of the world even! We saw all three pits, and she told us all about the significance of the direction they are standing, etc. It's so impressive to think about what these people did so long ago and that these soldiers are still standing today. I just can't imagine being the farmer that stumbled upon them trying to dig a well. What an amazing sight that must have been!!
Tomorrow we are spending most of our day in the city and having our own church service in the evening at the hotel.
I have a little bit of a cold or maybe just allergies acting up, but if you could keep all of my group in your prayers we would all appreciate it. A few people are starting to feel sick now and then, but never anything major. Mostly allergies I think, and the smoking EVERYWHERE probably doesn't help either.
I love you all! Miss you! Wish you were here!!!
Amy
On Thursday we shipped home a bunch of our souvenirs (by "surface" instead of air, so it may take a while to get there) and met up for our second devotional in Beijing. It was really good and Jacob challenged everyone on our trip to set a goal for their relationship with God that they want to see change or grow during our semester and when we get back we can discuss the amazing different things God did with each of us.
Then we hopped on the train at around 9:30pm, which was a little cramped, but overall very nice. We mixed up roommates and packed in all our bags and pretty quickly went to bed. At 8am Friday, our sponsors woke us up and we got our stuff together and headed off to find our bus. Our tour guide here was very considerate and moved some things around so we could take showers and rest for a little while before we started our tour. We are staying in a very nice hotel this time (as opposed to the dorms we were in) and we all agree that we're glad this wasn't our first stop, so we can appreciate more the nice beds and big rooms. We are also split up 2 per a room now so we have more than enough room to spread out, although we probably won't much since we're rarely in our rooms and only here for about 4 days...
Yesterday we went to a sort of Chinese ballet show about their armies and soldiers and so on. Then we had a really nice dinner in which they just kept bringing dish after dish without explaining what it was. I've kind of decided to try anything on this trip, and I can't say for sure what it was I ate but I think I ate...brains...or...spinal cord. No one else at my table would try it, and it looked and had the texture of about what I would imagine brains to taste like. One bite was enough. After dinner we went to a water show, which was actually really cool. They shoot water up and shine lasers and lights on it to create a show. I have pictures and tried to do video, so I hope I can show you when I get those posted.
Today we went to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers! They are incredible -- the 8th wonder of the world even! We saw all three pits, and she told us all about the significance of the direction they are standing, etc. It's so impressive to think about what these people did so long ago and that these soldiers are still standing today. I just can't imagine being the farmer that stumbled upon them trying to dig a well. What an amazing sight that must have been!!
Tomorrow we are spending most of our day in the city and having our own church service in the evening at the hotel.
I have a little bit of a cold or maybe just allergies acting up, but if you could keep all of my group in your prayers we would all appreciate it. A few people are starting to feel sick now and then, but never anything major. Mostly allergies I think, and the smoking EVERYWHERE probably doesn't help either.
I love you all! Miss you! Wish you were here!!!
Amy
Wednesday, September 17
Bye-Bye Beijing!
Hey!
So yesterday we went to the Botanical Gardens and Fragrant Hill, and I think we were all glad that the tour guide decided to set us loose rather than drag us around as a group this time. It was our last tour, and all of our feet are tired. At the Botanical Gardens we spent most of our time trying to recreate the Olympic statues, which mostly ended with Tim landing squarely on his back and Kelcy getting clocked right above his eye. If you'd like to see some comedic pictures, I believe it was Kelcy's camera I was using to take these pictures, so you can see them when he uploads his. Tim and I have also been trading back and forth taking pictures together and of each other to make sure we end up with plenty of pictures of ourselves, so you should all check out his gallery also!
Speaking of...I'm in the process right now of uploading my pictures! You can find them at http://photos.oc.edu under International Programs>PacRim Fall 2008>Amy Butler. Hopefully I can get them all up. I'm at an Internet cafe right now with high speed Internet, it's just an issue of uploading ALL my pictures... I have SO many!
Today is our free day with no tour, so after class our sponsors threw a birthday party for everyone with birthdays in June-September. We had some amazing cake, and then were free to do our last things before leaving for Xi'an tomorrow. Some people headed back to the Silk Market, some went to the Post Office, some are here with me.
I have really enjoyed my time here in Beijing, and I'm amazed at how much we've already done! It's funny because a few of us were talking to our sponsor, Ryan, about how it almost feels like we're heading home now. Most vacations or trips out of the country would definitely be wrapping up about this time, and we are all in the process of packing back up after spreading our stuff all over our dorm rooms. But home is not in the cards for us yet. We've only just started, and it's so exciting!
In Xi'an we will be staying for one night with a family (in groups or individually - we'll find out when we get there) and the rest of the time in a hostel. These will both be very new experiences for all of us, and I sure hope my two words in Chinese pay off. Haha!!
I think the one thing that I have been most impressed with is the openness of the Chinese. For example, at English corner, we could walk up to anyone and they were so open to talking to us about anything! In America, I can't imagine anyone doing that without wondering about your underlying motive, and especially they would walk away if you even mentioned religion as your motive. That night will stand out to me the most on this trip. Free English lessons...who would have thought that you could use just your native language as a tool to spread the gospel?
This trip is definitely shaping my view of the world as a whole and of the Chinese culture. I'm wondering how it will affect my goals and plans for the future, but I still have a ways ahead of me on this trip before I'll be figuring that out.
Thanks again to EVERYONE that has supported me financially, with words of encouragement, and through prayer. I'm not sure how much access I'll have to a computer in Xi'an, but I'll post again as soon as I can! I love and miss you all!
Amy
So yesterday we went to the Botanical Gardens and Fragrant Hill, and I think we were all glad that the tour guide decided to set us loose rather than drag us around as a group this time. It was our last tour, and all of our feet are tired. At the Botanical Gardens we spent most of our time trying to recreate the Olympic statues, which mostly ended with Tim landing squarely on his back and Kelcy getting clocked right above his eye. If you'd like to see some comedic pictures, I believe it was Kelcy's camera I was using to take these pictures, so you can see them when he uploads his. Tim and I have also been trading back and forth taking pictures together and of each other to make sure we end up with plenty of pictures of ourselves, so you should all check out his gallery also!
Speaking of...I'm in the process right now of uploading my pictures! You can find them at http://photos.oc.edu under International Programs>PacRim Fall 2008>Amy Butler. Hopefully I can get them all up. I'm at an Internet cafe right now with high speed Internet, it's just an issue of uploading ALL my pictures... I have SO many!
Today is our free day with no tour, so after class our sponsors threw a birthday party for everyone with birthdays in June-September. We had some amazing cake, and then were free to do our last things before leaving for Xi'an tomorrow. Some people headed back to the Silk Market, some went to the Post Office, some are here with me.
I have really enjoyed my time here in Beijing, and I'm amazed at how much we've already done! It's funny because a few of us were talking to our sponsor, Ryan, about how it almost feels like we're heading home now. Most vacations or trips out of the country would definitely be wrapping up about this time, and we are all in the process of packing back up after spreading our stuff all over our dorm rooms. But home is not in the cards for us yet. We've only just started, and it's so exciting!
In Xi'an we will be staying for one night with a family (in groups or individually - we'll find out when we get there) and the rest of the time in a hostel. These will both be very new experiences for all of us, and I sure hope my two words in Chinese pay off. Haha!!
I think the one thing that I have been most impressed with is the openness of the Chinese. For example, at English corner, we could walk up to anyone and they were so open to talking to us about anything! In America, I can't imagine anyone doing that without wondering about your underlying motive, and especially they would walk away if you even mentioned religion as your motive. That night will stand out to me the most on this trip. Free English lessons...who would have thought that you could use just your native language as a tool to spread the gospel?
This trip is definitely shaping my view of the world as a whole and of the Chinese culture. I'm wondering how it will affect my goals and plans for the future, but I still have a ways ahead of me on this trip before I'll be figuring that out.
Thanks again to EVERYONE that has supported me financially, with words of encouragement, and through prayer. I'm not sure how much access I'll have to a computer in Xi'an, but I'll post again as soon as I can! I love and miss you all!
Amy
Monday, September 15
My Beijing Birthday
When I woke up this morning, I only wanted one thing for my birthday...some rest. I've had a great time and some awesome experiences, but sometimes you just need some rest so you can live in all the other moments. After this first week of going and going, it's been starting to wear on me.
I started my day by opening the card my parents had given me marked "Do not open until September 15th" and felt a little closer to home. Mom had given me a heads up that I had calling cards coming in my card, so until today I hadn't called home just to make it that much more special. I figured it's only one week that I have to wait, plus with as many emails as I send and the time difference, it's hard to work out when to call. So I read my card and got ready for class. (Let me also say here that we were the only people in CHINA to be meeting for class today as it was the Mid-Autumn Harvest holiday yesterday, and Monday is included in that holiday time off.) So I went to class just wanting to climb back into bed. Class was interesting today though, and the teacher taught us about traditional and modern Chinese wedding ceremonies - in case we find our Mr. or Mrs. Right in China, she said. You have no idea how excited I was when at 10:30a, she told us that if we didn't have any more questions, she would end class for the day. We normally get out at noon, so I was THRILLED! Plus, our tours generally start at 1:30p, but today... we were to meet at 2:30p. DOUBLE THRILLED!! I got to my phone as fast as possible and called home. Perfect, it was only 9:30p at home, so the timing was great too so I could talk for a while without interrupting sleep or getting ready for work, etc. I used up one calling card talking to Mom, Dad, and Kathleen filling in gaps of stories and hearing about home. It was such a great feeling getting to talk to them, and when the time was up on my card I still had plenty of time to rest, do a load of laundry, and get ready for our Hutong tour.
I had really been looking forward to the Hutong tour after seeing pictures someone in my family forwarded. That is a sort of living arrangement in which several families (up to 30 or 50 families) all live around one courtyard sharing many things. Our tour guide told us about families that might share one toilet so in the morning they would have to get up just to stand in line for it. Three families opened their homes to us and explained how these communities work. I believe the tour guide said that 70%+ of these courtyards are government owned and space can be rented out at the rate of $10US per family per month. To own one of these spaces, which are truly the size of small apartments, very cramped and very old, would cost approximately $1,000,000US. The first family we visited actually owned their area, but the man told us his family had lived in that same spot for 150 years, and he was the 4th generation to live in that exact 5 room area sharing a courtyard with several different families over the years. He now has one daughter that was recently married and now lives with her husband. He said if she choses to live there then the place will stay in their family, otherwise, after they are gone, it will go to another family. This family was well off looking at their home; the man is a professional artist and art professor and the wife is recently retired from her common worker position. The other two families that we visited fed us a wonderful dinner, and we were humbled to see that these people living in these very lowly conditions had so much to give and were not poor like might have been our first impression.
The best part of that tour was the rickshaws we rode from one stop to the next. Our sponsor, Ryan, actually traded spots with his driver for a while and did his best to keep from hitting pedestrians and parked cars. Much more relaxing than climbing another thousand steps like every other day.
When we got back to campus tonight, everyone cleaned up to go out for the night. Going back to my need for rest, I gladly went to the coffee shop a few blocks from school with Tim to hang out and talk for a while. Tim and I are both seniors, so we feel like we may have a different perspective at times about this trip than some of the younger people on the trip as far as our view and how our experiences are shaping our opinions and plans for the future. It was fun and relaxing and a great finish for my birthday.
Now, I'm going to get in bed and write all this down in my journal. :)
Love y'all!
Amy
I started my day by opening the card my parents had given me marked "Do not open until September 15th" and felt a little closer to home. Mom had given me a heads up that I had calling cards coming in my card, so until today I hadn't called home just to make it that much more special. I figured it's only one week that I have to wait, plus with as many emails as I send and the time difference, it's hard to work out when to call. So I read my card and got ready for class. (Let me also say here that we were the only people in CHINA to be meeting for class today as it was the Mid-Autumn Harvest holiday yesterday, and Monday is included in that holiday time off.) So I went to class just wanting to climb back into bed. Class was interesting today though, and the teacher taught us about traditional and modern Chinese wedding ceremonies - in case we find our Mr. or Mrs. Right in China, she said. You have no idea how excited I was when at 10:30a, she told us that if we didn't have any more questions, she would end class for the day. We normally get out at noon, so I was THRILLED! Plus, our tours generally start at 1:30p, but today... we were to meet at 2:30p. DOUBLE THRILLED!! I got to my phone as fast as possible and called home. Perfect, it was only 9:30p at home, so the timing was great too so I could talk for a while without interrupting sleep or getting ready for work, etc. I used up one calling card talking to Mom, Dad, and Kathleen filling in gaps of stories and hearing about home. It was such a great feeling getting to talk to them, and when the time was up on my card I still had plenty of time to rest, do a load of laundry, and get ready for our Hutong tour.
I had really been looking forward to the Hutong tour after seeing pictures someone in my family forwarded. That is a sort of living arrangement in which several families (up to 30 or 50 families) all live around one courtyard sharing many things. Our tour guide told us about families that might share one toilet so in the morning they would have to get up just to stand in line for it. Three families opened their homes to us and explained how these communities work. I believe the tour guide said that 70%+ of these courtyards are government owned and space can be rented out at the rate of $10US per family per month. To own one of these spaces, which are truly the size of small apartments, very cramped and very old, would cost approximately $1,000,000US. The first family we visited actually owned their area, but the man told us his family had lived in that same spot for 150 years, and he was the 4th generation to live in that exact 5 room area sharing a courtyard with several different families over the years. He now has one daughter that was recently married and now lives with her husband. He said if she choses to live there then the place will stay in their family, otherwise, after they are gone, it will go to another family. This family was well off looking at their home; the man is a professional artist and art professor and the wife is recently retired from her common worker position. The other two families that we visited fed us a wonderful dinner, and we were humbled to see that these people living in these very lowly conditions had so much to give and were not poor like might have been our first impression.
The best part of that tour was the rickshaws we rode from one stop to the next. Our sponsor, Ryan, actually traded spots with his driver for a while and did his best to keep from hitting pedestrians and parked cars. Much more relaxing than climbing another thousand steps like every other day.
When we got back to campus tonight, everyone cleaned up to go out for the night. Going back to my need for rest, I gladly went to the coffee shop a few blocks from school with Tim to hang out and talk for a while. Tim and I are both seniors, so we feel like we may have a different perspective at times about this trip than some of the younger people on the trip as far as our view and how our experiences are shaping our opinions and plans for the future. It was fun and relaxing and a great finish for my birthday.
Now, I'm going to get in bed and write all this down in my journal. :)
Love y'all!
Amy
Sunday, September 14
Saturday/Sunday
WOW! WOW WOW WOW.
This weekend was AMAZING!!
Saturday, we left early (7:45a) to head to the Great Wall of China. There are times here that it still seems unreal that we're in China. Like maybe we're just in Chinatown or something, but standing at the base of the GREAT WALL was such an awesome moment. Like, here it is. This is IT. I've seen pictures...I've heard about it. But it's sooo awesome in person! There were steep steps up, up, up, up, up to each battlement. They were uneven so it was hard to step when they were about 8 inches deep steps and each one was somewhere between 6"-1' tall. It was just so awesome to stop and look back at how far I'd climbed and think about the soldiers that were stationed here so many years ago. It's a totally modern view all around the Wall now... parking lots, roads, a train, etc. But thinking about what it must have been like, late at night walking up and down those steps...all I can say is wow. When I climbed down I met up with some other people in our group and we played cards at a table between some other Chinese families playing cards. Our game was a lot more noisy (and annoying, I'm sure) so we caused a scene and gathered a crowd as we played. It was just fun to relax and let out muscles calm down while we hung out by the Great Wall.
Our bus ride back to campus was very quiet while everyone slept, exhausted from getting up early and climbing so much. We were all glad to get back and rest before deciding what to do with the rest of our day.
Around 5:30, a group knocked on the door and announced that they were going to the Paralympics if we'd like to go. So ten of us headed off with a map of the Chinese subway system to play our luck again. This is when my subway experience really paid off and the group kind of followed me as I tried to explain how it all worked. Around 6:30 we got off the subway with another mile-ish walk ahead of us to the Bird's Nest, and we were all just so excited. It was all lit up and we could see the Water Cube changing colors from far away. I think all of us were just so excited to be there that we here silly hyper. We tried to find tickets with some scalpers outside, but with a group of ten, we had kind of come to terms that we weren't going in to the games, but we'd get close enough to take cool pictures and say we'd been there. After about an hour or so of walking around and taking pictures we decided to head back. 4 people in our group decided they were tired and would rather pay for a taxi than change subway trains 3 times again. We hailed them a cab and headed toward the subway. Immediately after they got in the taxi a man walked up and asked if we wanted tickets to the games. He had 6 tickets for that night. We bargained with him for a while and ended up agreeing to pay $1100yuan for his 6 tickets. NOW we were excited!!
We ran to the entrance and skipped and jumped all through the security checkpoint and took off for the Bird's Nest. It was about 8:30 at this point and the games end at 9:30, but we didn't care... we were going to be IN the Bird's Nest DURING the Paralympics. THAT is a definite once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Our tickets were general admission, so we went in and sat in row 12 and cheered for the Men's and Women's 800M wheelchair races. For Men we cheered for Mexico because USA wasn't in the race. Then for Women we cheered for USA, but they were qualifying races, so we were glad to see a couple of our girls make it in. We watched several medal ceremonies and just imagined the feeling that would be... Your own national anthem playing for you. What pride that would be. After the games we got stuck taking pictures with Chinese people for about 30 minutes, but it was fun. We took lots of pictures with the torch and the field and all that. SO COOL! Then we headed outside and took a bunch of pictures by the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. Staring at the Water Cube, I so wish Kathleen could have been there. We couldn't go inside, but the outside was just so beautiful. I took pictures and video, so I'll show you when I get home.
Wow... I knew we did a lot, but yes, that was only Saturday. We woke up to go to the Great Wall and ended our day going to the Paralympics. :) I'm having the time of my life!!
Okay, Sunday...today... we left earlier (6:30a) to go to the Three-Self Church, which are the registered churches in China and are a cross of Catholic and protestant teachings. It was very interesting and fun to sing along. We were given headphones to listen to the English translation of everything going on. Women led most of the service, and there was a choir to sing a couple songs, but most was done by the entire congregation. Oh! One thing that I thought was cool was that the hour before service starts they have time to practice the songs that they will be singing that day in service. It was interesting to watch and see how many people came that early just to sing. After the Three-Self Church we went to a house church held in a restaurant. That was much smaller and held by the missionaries that we worked with on Friday night. It was really cool to see some of the people that we only just made contact with on Friday at English corner come to church today! For my birthday, Jean gave me a few Bibles, one of which is bilingual - Chinese/English, so I took it with me today with the intention to give it to someone. The lady that I was sitting next to at the house church today was one that we first met Friday, and I offered it to her to use during church. She loved it, and after church I gave it to her. She refused to take it about 3 times, but I explained that I had brought it to give away to someone that I knew could use it, and she didn't know what to say. She offered to pay me for it, but I told her it was a gift to me, and it was a gift to her. That was probably one of my favorite moments of the trip so far. She loved it, and I told her that I hoped it helped her to learn English. I wrote my email address inside it for her also in case she ever wanted to keep in contact later or had any questions ever.
I talked to the missionaries today and realized that they are...Gary and Danita Jackson! I asked them if they knew my aunt and uncle, and Gary said "Yeah...he does my taxes!" :) We had fun chatting about home, and Gary said for me to tell EB, "Hi, and thanks for the great ministry he does." They are really awesome people and let some of us crash at their apartment and took others of us shopping for souvenirs (and to a Western Store that has wonderful things like Dr. Pepper) for the day until tonight when we went to see Chinese Acrobatics.
I'd write more, but really...my roommates are waiting to use the computer and there's not much more to say about the acrobatics without being there. They were awesome like I expected, and I'll show you all pictures later.
I love you all, and miss you like crazy!!
XOXO -- Amy
This weekend was AMAZING!!
Saturday, we left early (7:45a) to head to the Great Wall of China. There are times here that it still seems unreal that we're in China. Like maybe we're just in Chinatown or something, but standing at the base of the GREAT WALL was such an awesome moment. Like, here it is. This is IT. I've seen pictures...I've heard about it. But it's sooo awesome in person! There were steep steps up, up, up, up, up to each battlement. They were uneven so it was hard to step when they were about 8 inches deep steps and each one was somewhere between 6"-1' tall. It was just so awesome to stop and look back at how far I'd climbed and think about the soldiers that were stationed here so many years ago. It's a totally modern view all around the Wall now... parking lots, roads, a train, etc. But thinking about what it must have been like, late at night walking up and down those steps...all I can say is wow. When I climbed down I met up with some other people in our group and we played cards at a table between some other Chinese families playing cards. Our game was a lot more noisy (and annoying, I'm sure) so we caused a scene and gathered a crowd as we played. It was just fun to relax and let out muscles calm down while we hung out by the Great Wall.
Our bus ride back to campus was very quiet while everyone slept, exhausted from getting up early and climbing so much. We were all glad to get back and rest before deciding what to do with the rest of our day.
Around 5:30, a group knocked on the door and announced that they were going to the Paralympics if we'd like to go. So ten of us headed off with a map of the Chinese subway system to play our luck again. This is when my subway experience really paid off and the group kind of followed me as I tried to explain how it all worked. Around 6:30 we got off the subway with another mile-ish walk ahead of us to the Bird's Nest, and we were all just so excited. It was all lit up and we could see the Water Cube changing colors from far away. I think all of us were just so excited to be there that we here silly hyper. We tried to find tickets with some scalpers outside, but with a group of ten, we had kind of come to terms that we weren't going in to the games, but we'd get close enough to take cool pictures and say we'd been there. After about an hour or so of walking around and taking pictures we decided to head back. 4 people in our group decided they were tired and would rather pay for a taxi than change subway trains 3 times again. We hailed them a cab and headed toward the subway. Immediately after they got in the taxi a man walked up and asked if we wanted tickets to the games. He had 6 tickets for that night. We bargained with him for a while and ended up agreeing to pay $1100yuan for his 6 tickets. NOW we were excited!!
We ran to the entrance and skipped and jumped all through the security checkpoint and took off for the Bird's Nest. It was about 8:30 at this point and the games end at 9:30, but we didn't care... we were going to be IN the Bird's Nest DURING the Paralympics. THAT is a definite once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Our tickets were general admission, so we went in and sat in row 12 and cheered for the Men's and Women's 800M wheelchair races. For Men we cheered for Mexico because USA wasn't in the race. Then for Women we cheered for USA, but they were qualifying races, so we were glad to see a couple of our girls make it in. We watched several medal ceremonies and just imagined the feeling that would be... Your own national anthem playing for you. What pride that would be. After the games we got stuck taking pictures with Chinese people for about 30 minutes, but it was fun. We took lots of pictures with the torch and the field and all that. SO COOL! Then we headed outside and took a bunch of pictures by the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. Staring at the Water Cube, I so wish Kathleen could have been there. We couldn't go inside, but the outside was just so beautiful. I took pictures and video, so I'll show you when I get home.
Wow... I knew we did a lot, but yes, that was only Saturday. We woke up to go to the Great Wall and ended our day going to the Paralympics. :) I'm having the time of my life!!
Okay, Sunday...today... we left earlier (6:30a) to go to the Three-Self Church, which are the registered churches in China and are a cross of Catholic and protestant teachings. It was very interesting and fun to sing along. We were given headphones to listen to the English translation of everything going on. Women led most of the service, and there was a choir to sing a couple songs, but most was done by the entire congregation. Oh! One thing that I thought was cool was that the hour before service starts they have time to practice the songs that they will be singing that day in service. It was interesting to watch and see how many people came that early just to sing. After the Three-Self Church we went to a house church held in a restaurant. That was much smaller and held by the missionaries that we worked with on Friday night. It was really cool to see some of the people that we only just made contact with on Friday at English corner come to church today! For my birthday, Jean gave me a few Bibles, one of which is bilingual - Chinese/English, so I took it with me today with the intention to give it to someone. The lady that I was sitting next to at the house church today was one that we first met Friday, and I offered it to her to use during church. She loved it, and after church I gave it to her. She refused to take it about 3 times, but I explained that I had brought it to give away to someone that I knew could use it, and she didn't know what to say. She offered to pay me for it, but I told her it was a gift to me, and it was a gift to her. That was probably one of my favorite moments of the trip so far. She loved it, and I told her that I hoped it helped her to learn English. I wrote my email address inside it for her also in case she ever wanted to keep in contact later or had any questions ever.
I talked to the missionaries today and realized that they are...Gary and Danita Jackson! I asked them if they knew my aunt and uncle, and Gary said "Yeah...he does my taxes!" :) We had fun chatting about home, and Gary said for me to tell EB, "Hi, and thanks for the great ministry he does." They are really awesome people and let some of us crash at their apartment and took others of us shopping for souvenirs (and to a Western Store that has wonderful things like Dr. Pepper) for the day until tonight when we went to see Chinese Acrobatics.
I'd write more, but really...my roommates are waiting to use the computer and there's not much more to say about the acrobatics without being there. They were awesome like I expected, and I'll show you all pictures later.
I love you all, and miss you like crazy!!
XOXO -- Amy
Saturday, September 13
English Corner
Tonight we just got back from participating in an English Corner that some missionaries here hold once a year (or maybe a little more often) mostly when the Pac Rim group comes from OC. There, we just offer to speak English with people so they can practice their English, and if they are interested, they are able to sign up for free English lessons with the missionaries. The missionaries use the same workbooks with them that we will use in Japan. They are short Bible passages from the book of Luke that highlight keywords from the passage and short questions to review understanding of the story. We were there for about 3 hours and I spoke with so many people! One girl said her English name was Amy, and she was SO excited when I said that was MY name!! She was sad when I told her I would not be her English teacher for her lessons, but we exchanged email addresses to keep in touch. Her English was really good, but her boyfriend's was not as good. He also did not have an English name, so Tim and I helped him pick one!! :) So, I can proudly say that tonight I named a Chinese man. His name is Ben.
What else have I done since I last wrote? Yesterday, we went to the Temple of Heaven and the Confucian Temple. I think our group is getting a little tired of temples, but it was very interesting to see how the Chinese worship Buddah. That temple had lots of incense and many, many, many statues of Buddah.
Our lectures in the mornings have all been very interesting. We had a lecture about women in China the other day, and I enjoyed that one quite a bit. It was about the change in women's roles and status within the past three generations. We had two lessons about Religion in China and about Confucianism, both of which were very interesting and the teacher for the second one asked at the end of class for all of our email addresses to keep in touch in case she had any "silly questions" about Christianity in the future. From her lesson and in her answers to our questions it was clear that her heart has opened up to Christianity slowly over time, and she is interested more in learning about the meanings more than just the teachings as compared to Confucian. In her mind, the two were very similar because of the teachings towards harmony and peacefulness. When she asked us for our opinions of the differences we pointed out that in Christianity, Jesus is alive and is God's son, whereas, in Confucianism, he was only a man who had sayings and analects that seemed to be his own view from his life lessons and not anyone better than any other person. Without intentionally doing it, we challenged her thinking and I look forward to hearing from her in the future.
We also went back to the Silk Market yesterday as a big group after our lecture and tour of the temples. I picked up a new watch (that shows two times!) and some new shoes. My main focus was to find souvenirs for everyone, and I'm excited to get them home to give out!! I know you'll all love the gifts I picked for each of you. :)
I'm trying to think of what else has happened, but my mind is just so tired right now. I'll write it all in my journal and when I get home, I'll fill in the gaps. Tonight, I need my rest because tomorrow is...THE GREAT WALL!!! I'm so excited that I would have trouble sleeping but I'm so worn out, that I'm going to struggle to stay awake to journal about today before falling asleep.
I love you all, and I can't wait to hear from you!
Nana, I got your email, and I love you and hope you stay safe from Ike. Get well soon, and don't worry about me, I made it out without getting sick. :) XOXO
Amy
PS. This weekend (I think Sunday) is a holiday in China...something to do with the mid-Autumn harvest I think? I'm taking all of the celebration as birthday celebration for me. :) I think Monday we'll have Moon Cakes! Lucky me!!
What else have I done since I last wrote? Yesterday, we went to the Temple of Heaven and the Confucian Temple. I think our group is getting a little tired of temples, but it was very interesting to see how the Chinese worship Buddah. That temple had lots of incense and many, many, many statues of Buddah.
Our lectures in the mornings have all been very interesting. We had a lecture about women in China the other day, and I enjoyed that one quite a bit. It was about the change in women's roles and status within the past three generations. We had two lessons about Religion in China and about Confucianism, both of which were very interesting and the teacher for the second one asked at the end of class for all of our email addresses to keep in touch in case she had any "silly questions" about Christianity in the future. From her lesson and in her answers to our questions it was clear that her heart has opened up to Christianity slowly over time, and she is interested more in learning about the meanings more than just the teachings as compared to Confucian. In her mind, the two were very similar because of the teachings towards harmony and peacefulness. When she asked us for our opinions of the differences we pointed out that in Christianity, Jesus is alive and is God's son, whereas, in Confucianism, he was only a man who had sayings and analects that seemed to be his own view from his life lessons and not anyone better than any other person. Without intentionally doing it, we challenged her thinking and I look forward to hearing from her in the future.
We also went back to the Silk Market yesterday as a big group after our lecture and tour of the temples. I picked up a new watch (that shows two times!) and some new shoes. My main focus was to find souvenirs for everyone, and I'm excited to get them home to give out!! I know you'll all love the gifts I picked for each of you. :)
I'm trying to think of what else has happened, but my mind is just so tired right now. I'll write it all in my journal and when I get home, I'll fill in the gaps. Tonight, I need my rest because tomorrow is...THE GREAT WALL!!! I'm so excited that I would have trouble sleeping but I'm so worn out, that I'm going to struggle to stay awake to journal about today before falling asleep.
I love you all, and I can't wait to hear from you!
Nana, I got your email, and I love you and hope you stay safe from Ike. Get well soon, and don't worry about me, I made it out without getting sick. :) XOXO
Amy
PS. This weekend (I think Sunday) is a holiday in China...something to do with the mid-Autumn harvest I think? I'm taking all of the celebration as birthday celebration for me. :) I think Monday we'll have Moon Cakes! Lucky me!!
Thursday, September 11
Ni hao!
So, this morning I sat down and wrote a long email about my day yesterday, but the connection here is SO incredibly slow that it messed up while sending and lost my entire email. I'll try to recap and include some of today's adventures. I'm resorting to writing it all in Notepad then copying and pasting. Word keeps converting everything I write into Chinese...
Yesterday we went to the Summer Palace, and if someone would like to look up how many steps it takes to get to the top, I'd be very interested to know just how many I climbed yesterday. Besides the palace, we've decided that's the secret to the Chinese being so thin. There are stairs everywhere!! That was really cool and had some awesome views, and it was really fun walking around with my friend, Tim, who had a wildly active imagination. When the tour guide was whispering (in her normal voice) to us about something-something... Tim would create this entire scene with an emperor sitting at his throne when a messenger rushes up with news of advancing troops, to which the emperor yells out orders and storms out up the million stairs to his inner, inner courts. Or something like that. I'm pretty sure it's all completely accurate. Haha...
Last night five of us girls decided we wanted to go to the Silk Market, so we set off from campus with the Subway stops we needed to get on and off and the Chinese symbol for "Silk Market". A few guys had gone before us, but we weren't sure when they left or how they got there, so we went with out own plan. Our plan included asking our waiter at dinner for help, and he pointed us in the general direction of the bus stop. We got that far and realized we had no idea which bus to take. So, when one bus stopped one girl hopped on and said the subway stop we needed -- in hopes he knew it was a question and that he would tell us the truth. He nodded yes, so we all got on. We knew it would be "about a 5 minute bus ride", so we started the clock. Then at every stop for the first 4, one of our girls would jump up and yell at the bus driver again and he'd shake his head no. I finally pointed out that we'd made ourselves very clear where we wanted to get off and he'd probaby let us know. He sure did...at one stop he pointed at the door and yelled what we took to mean "GET OFF MY BUS RIGHT NOW YOU CRAZY AMERICANS!!" So we did. Then we wandered around there for a while before we saw some steps leading underground and decided that if we owned a subway that's precisely where we'd put it. Never overlooking prime market place, we had to walk through a mall practically to find the subway. We got our tickets, tattooed ourselves with sharpie trying to keep notes of how we got there so we could retrace later, and got on the subway quite pleased with ourselves. When we got off 11 stops later we celebrated by darting through 15 lanes of buses and taxis (pedestrians do NOT have the right of way here) and ended up at the doors to the Silk Market.
To keep the story short, because it's already pretty long, I ended up with a "Columbia" rain coat for $220yuan (down from $1380) and the boys were jealous that we spent $5yuan for our round trip adventure. They had taken a taxi and spent $50yuan each way. :) We feel like we could easily take on the world at this point.
Today, we had a very interesting lecture about Religion in China and followed it with a visit to the Temple of Heaven. Our favorite part was a circular wall surrounding one area because you could talk in a normal voice at the wall and it would carry all the way around to someone else. Obviously, it wasn't the most exciting of places, but I'll say our group is resourceful in finding entertainment. Our tour guide then took us to a Tea House, and we had a tasting of several types of tea, which ended up being a sales pitch to buy their very expensive, all-powerful tea. Every day our tour guide has taken us to some shop or another, and we're pretty sure her tour company is paid to bring us there because we're Americans, which obviously means we are crazy rich.
We had our first devotional tonight when we got back to the dorm, and it was really good. We all crowded into our sponsors' room and sang and had a great discussion time. Our sponsor also told us that our professor from this morning asked him after class if she could come with us to church on Sunday and bring some of her colleagues. We were excited to hear it, and we said yes definitely, but we're only worried about it because we are going to a house church and we don't want to put anyone at risk. In class, she, the professor, told us that house churches are "a sensitive subject". She was very informative and answered all our questions as best she could. She said that her degrees were in English and Christianity. China's policy on religion is that "freedom of religion is enjoyed by all"; however, the government runs the churches and spreading religion or converting people is illegal. You are free to meet and worship in your religion (one of the five recognized by the government), and discussing religion is fine, but absolutely no evangelism is allowed here. It's very interesting to learn about the different culture here.
Tomorrow after our lecture and tour, we are trying to go back to the Silk Market. It's fun to bargain there, and I'm hoping to pick up some more souvenirs for everyone. I've already gotten some, but I don't want to spoil the fun by telling you what they are... :-D
Alright, now I have to go write all this down in my journal about today. I really like the journals they gave us and I'm loving keeping up with things in it. I try to write notes throughout the day recapping what's going on so I can remember it all later. This is two nights in a row I've been up "late" (past 8pm Haha!!) so I'm wiped out. I wish I could post my pictures, but the connection here is way too slow for it. Maybe in Japan I'll get to throw all my pictures online. I'm excited to see them all.
--Amy
Yesterday we went to the Summer Palace, and if someone would like to look up how many steps it takes to get to the top, I'd be very interested to know just how many I climbed yesterday. Besides the palace, we've decided that's the secret to the Chinese being so thin. There are stairs everywhere!! That was really cool and had some awesome views, and it was really fun walking around with my friend, Tim, who had a wildly active imagination. When the tour guide was whispering (in her normal voice) to us about something-something... Tim would create this entire scene with an emperor sitting at his throne when a messenger rushes up with news of advancing troops, to which the emperor yells out orders and storms out up the million stairs to his inner, inner courts. Or something like that. I'm pretty sure it's all completely accurate. Haha...
Last night five of us girls decided we wanted to go to the Silk Market, so we set off from campus with the Subway stops we needed to get on and off and the Chinese symbol for "Silk Market". A few guys had gone before us, but we weren't sure when they left or how they got there, so we went with out own plan. Our plan included asking our waiter at dinner for help, and he pointed us in the general direction of the bus stop. We got that far and realized we had no idea which bus to take. So, when one bus stopped one girl hopped on and said the subway stop we needed -- in hopes he knew it was a question and that he would tell us the truth. He nodded yes, so we all got on. We knew it would be "about a 5 minute bus ride", so we started the clock. Then at every stop for the first 4, one of our girls would jump up and yell at the bus driver again and he'd shake his head no. I finally pointed out that we'd made ourselves very clear where we wanted to get off and he'd probaby let us know. He sure did...at one stop he pointed at the door and yelled what we took to mean "GET OFF MY BUS RIGHT NOW YOU CRAZY AMERICANS!!" So we did. Then we wandered around there for a while before we saw some steps leading underground and decided that if we owned a subway that's precisely where we'd put it. Never overlooking prime market place, we had to walk through a mall practically to find the subway. We got our tickets, tattooed ourselves with sharpie trying to keep notes of how we got there so we could retrace later, and got on the subway quite pleased with ourselves. When we got off 11 stops later we celebrated by darting through 15 lanes of buses and taxis (pedestrians do NOT have the right of way here) and ended up at the doors to the Silk Market.
To keep the story short, because it's already pretty long, I ended up with a "Columbia" rain coat for $220yuan (down from $1380) and the boys were jealous that we spent $5yuan for our round trip adventure. They had taken a taxi and spent $50yuan each way. :) We feel like we could easily take on the world at this point.
Today, we had a very interesting lecture about Religion in China and followed it with a visit to the Temple of Heaven. Our favorite part was a circular wall surrounding one area because you could talk in a normal voice at the wall and it would carry all the way around to someone else. Obviously, it wasn't the most exciting of places, but I'll say our group is resourceful in finding entertainment. Our tour guide then took us to a Tea House, and we had a tasting of several types of tea, which ended up being a sales pitch to buy their very expensive, all-powerful tea. Every day our tour guide has taken us to some shop or another, and we're pretty sure her tour company is paid to bring us there because we're Americans, which obviously means we are crazy rich.
We had our first devotional tonight when we got back to the dorm, and it was really good. We all crowded into our sponsors' room and sang and had a great discussion time. Our sponsor also told us that our professor from this morning asked him after class if she could come with us to church on Sunday and bring some of her colleagues. We were excited to hear it, and we said yes definitely, but we're only worried about it because we are going to a house church and we don't want to put anyone at risk. In class, she, the professor, told us that house churches are "a sensitive subject". She was very informative and answered all our questions as best she could. She said that her degrees were in English and Christianity. China's policy on religion is that "freedom of religion is enjoyed by all"; however, the government runs the churches and spreading religion or converting people is illegal. You are free to meet and worship in your religion (one of the five recognized by the government), and discussing religion is fine, but absolutely no evangelism is allowed here. It's very interesting to learn about the different culture here.
Tomorrow after our lecture and tour, we are trying to go back to the Silk Market. It's fun to bargain there, and I'm hoping to pick up some more souvenirs for everyone. I've already gotten some, but I don't want to spoil the fun by telling you what they are... :-D
Alright, now I have to go write all this down in my journal about today. I really like the journals they gave us and I'm loving keeping up with things in it. I try to write notes throughout the day recapping what's going on so I can remember it all later. This is two nights in a row I've been up "late" (past 8pm Haha!!) so I'm wiped out. I wish I could post my pictures, but the connection here is way too slow for it. Maybe in Japan I'll get to throw all my pictures online. I'm excited to see them all.
--Amy
Monday, September 8
Hello from Beijing!
We made it to Capital Normal University just fine, and have had our first day of classes. Today we toured Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. It's HUGE!! I think I took about 150 pictures, and I'm probably in another 150 pictures by the Chinese. Especially when we did group pictures it was funny to watch 3-4 Chinese people snap pictures of us. We liked to smile for them when they tried taking pictures on the sly too. One guy was standing about a foot in front of us as we were walking across Tiananmen Square while his wife took a picture of him (with US as the scenery) so one of our guys, Sam, went up and put him arm around the guy's shoulder and gave a thumbs up. I think that made their day easily.
Everything here is super cheap! I think the exchange rate here is around $6.70yuan to $1US. So, breakfast at the street vendor for $3yuan was a pretty cheap risk. :) It was really good too! I would describe what we had as a sort of Chinese crepe. On a large round hot surface, the lady spread some pancake batter really thin, then cracked an egg on top and spread that thin, then she spread soy sauce (or something like it) on that and sprinkled green onions. Then she added a crunchy rectangular thing that I guess absorbed the fluids and added taste and folded it all up. Lunch was at the Chinese buffet downstairs for $15yuan, and dinner I ate at a restaurant just down the block for $33yuan. That one we mostly smiled and nodded and pointed at the menu. After the group last night accidentally ordering saki for the whole group at a Japanese place, we stuck with "Coca-cola". That's a pretty well known one here.
So, $51yuan...means around $8-$9US for all my meals today!!
We haven't been TOO adventurous with food yet, but we've been warned to take it easy with that at first. Some things may be "good for Chinese, bad for Americans".
Mostly, we all feel pretty ignorant for not knowing any Chinese, especially with all of the other foreign students here from other countries that easily pinpoint us as being "from the states". Many times we've resorted to asking the kid in line behind us if they can translate. And they understand us as well as Chinese, even though neither may be their native language.
We already have our first assignment, due Sept. 18 -- a 3 page paper on any subject we are lectured on. I also have to give my presentation sometime soon. We are supplied with a computer in our dormroom, and Internet is $2yuan per hour. I'm thinking now that I should have written this email in Word then copied it over while I was signed in. :) Oh well...$0.30US an hour won't break the bank this time.
I can't remember what's on the schedule for tomorrow. But I'm taking tons of pictures, and I will upload those to smug mug (photos.oc.edu) one of these days. I'll let you know when I do. Right now I'm really tired, but they just came to give us a computer. We had the monitor, keyboard and mouse but no CPU. I fell asleep reading a little while ago, but when they brought this in I had to send a quick hello!!
-- Amy
PS. On our way from the airport to campus, our driver took us past the Bird's Next and the Water Cube. Apparently, while it is not safe for us to drink the tap water in China, it IS safe to drink water from the Olympic Pool!! Plus, the pool was built deeper than normal pools, which helped the swimmers beat World Records this year.
Everything here is super cheap! I think the exchange rate here is around $6.70yuan to $1US. So, breakfast at the street vendor for $3yuan was a pretty cheap risk. :) It was really good too! I would describe what we had as a sort of Chinese crepe. On a large round hot surface, the lady spread some pancake batter really thin, then cracked an egg on top and spread that thin, then she spread soy sauce (or something like it) on that and sprinkled green onions. Then she added a crunchy rectangular thing that I guess absorbed the fluids and added taste and folded it all up. Lunch was at the Chinese buffet downstairs for $15yuan, and dinner I ate at a restaurant just down the block for $33yuan. That one we mostly smiled and nodded and pointed at the menu. After the group last night accidentally ordering saki for the whole group at a Japanese place, we stuck with "Coca-cola". That's a pretty well known one here.
So, $51yuan...means around $8-$9US for all my meals today!!
We haven't been TOO adventurous with food yet, but we've been warned to take it easy with that at first. Some things may be "good for Chinese, bad for Americans".
Mostly, we all feel pretty ignorant for not knowing any Chinese, especially with all of the other foreign students here from other countries that easily pinpoint us as being "from the states". Many times we've resorted to asking the kid in line behind us if they can translate. And they understand us as well as Chinese, even though neither may be their native language.
We already have our first assignment, due Sept. 18 -- a 3 page paper on any subject we are lectured on. I also have to give my presentation sometime soon. We are supplied with a computer in our dormroom, and Internet is $2yuan per hour. I'm thinking now that I should have written this email in Word then copied it over while I was signed in. :) Oh well...$0.30US an hour won't break the bank this time.
I can't remember what's on the schedule for tomorrow. But I'm taking tons of pictures, and I will upload those to smug mug (photos.oc.edu) one of these days. I'll let you know when I do. Right now I'm really tired, but they just came to give us a computer. We had the monitor, keyboard and mouse but no CPU. I fell asleep reading a little while ago, but when they brought this in I had to send a quick hello!!
-- Amy
PS. On our way from the airport to campus, our driver took us past the Bird's Next and the Water Cube. Apparently, while it is not safe for us to drink the tap water in China, it IS safe to drink water from the Olympic Pool!! Plus, the pool was built deeper than normal pools, which helped the swimmers beat World Records this year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
