Finale

December 21, 2008

Winter Solstice.

What a pleasant surprise for me to actually sit down and write another blog. Its been way over a month and a half since I have last updated, and I thought now that the semester is coming to a close that this is the best time for me to write. It is -10 degrees C today, what a way to start the winter season!

A lot has happened since I last wrote. Mainly, Alliance took a trip to Harbin, one of the coldest places in China, also home of the Chinese hockey team! I shall upload a lot of pictures to my Picasa web album. I have a huge update and overload of photos.

So what else has happened since my last post...? Well, I spent Thanksgiving in another country for the first time. And surprisingly it was not an Asian meal, like what I usually have at home (hot pot, woowoo!) Instead, a few of us helped to make an American meal in an African themed restaurant. Some turkey, mashed potatoes, all that American home-styled cooking. Although, I honestly would have liked to have hot pot, when don't I? :)

Overall, I've just been pretty busy with applying for internships, which is extremely hard being abroad, as well as my two research papers and constant studying for tests.
I have my last final tomorrow morning for Chinese and am absolutely petrified. The day doesn't end with my Chinese final, however. I have to wait until 11:30 pm to have a phone interview with BLOOMBERG! I am pretty proud of myself for landing that internship. Then I have to wait for my phone interview with JPMorgan. That one will probably kick my butt!

Went bowling today and yesterday with Mike and my Auntie and Uncle, both of whom are excellent bowlers! I'm going to miss them dearly!
Okay, so I suck at bowling, but they've definitely taught me a lot about it, so now instead of bowling 65, i can bowl 120 :) Yay! I still suck at it though...Unfortunately it is not $1/game in the US, or else I'd have chance to improve.

I guess I don't have all that much to update. I'm not sure if I will have time to update while I am still in Beijing. I leave Dec 24, yes Xmas eve, and still have much to do while I am here, such as go to Tian an Men at the crack of dawn and watch the flag raising in negative degree weather. Call me crazy, but I must see this! I know I am going to miss Beijing so much, but hopefully Shanghai has a lot to offer me next semester as well.

From the land where great memories and happy times were made.

Sightseeing Day 1

November 7, 2008

So yesterday was an extremely long day, but I was glad I did it.
Woke up at a normal hour of 9:30ish, then went to buy some internet for my laptop. Had some lunch at the upstairs cafeteria. Then, Mike and I headed out on the subway towards the Bell Tower and Drum tower, by the Forbidden City. How I love student discounts, since we got in for 15 RMB each. (~2USD) On the bell tower, we were just in time to see a drum performance. Although, I had to walk up those long, slanted, slippery flights of stairs and the work out two days before somewhat killed me.


Next, we decided to WALK to Ghost street (Gui Jie restaurant street), and it wasn't what we expected at all. After a 2 mile walk, we decided to head towards the nearest subway, and we headed down to the Temple of Heaven.

Now, after getting of the subway, we assumed that the direction the exit was facing was the direction we were supposed to walk to get to the entrance of the Temple of Heaven. Well, were we wrong. We walked about half a mile around the wall of Temple of Heaven, only to find out when we left another exit, that the entrance was right behind the subway stop. But, its ok, because through the entrance we went through, we got to run along the Olympic marathon line.
Of course, the entire Temple of Heaven is repainted, so it's still beautiful, but kind of looks like a plastic toy. I also think that whoever painted it, did a half-butt job, as the paint was smeared everywhere, unless that was their attempt to make it look age-worn.


After my feet were about to kill me, we still decided to go to Hong Qiao market, and the real silk market, not Silk Street (which is my fave now by the way). Was pretty dissapointed at both, so left fairly quickly. Jumped back onto the subway, where we stupidly took the longest route possible to get back to the Wu Dao Ko area. Yes, we took line 13 all the way up into the boondocks. So instead of a 30 minute ride back to our place, it took about an hour and a half. Go us. At least, we can say we rode the entire line 13.

Headed to our benknownst dumpling place across from our campus. Where JieJie served us, as she tends to do when she notices I walk through the door. Had a great meal and headed back to the dorms where I plopped down and vegitated for the night.

Now, I have no idea whats in store for today. It's still quite early...10 AM, but I'm sure we'll figure something out for the rest of the day. Although, I still have to teach tonight... I know tomorrow we're going to pick up Mike's tailored suit, which he's so excited about, and we're definitely going back to Silk Street to get some cheap sunglasses and warm clothing for Harbin.
At night we're heading to Tsinghua university to meet my aunt for a tour of the campus and some Korean food!

All the way from the land of toy-like painted monuments.

Halloween and Non- Traveling

November 5, 2008

I thought it would be a good time to update, since I am on a week long break, somewhat relaxed.
It's just unfortunate, however short it may be, that I have a film midterm to do over my vacation. While everyone decided to leave Beijing, Mike, Eric P.,Weien, Cassandra, and I were smart and decided to stay in this wonderful capital of China. Thought that I could save a little money for Shanghai next semester, but I guess that thought was a bust since I am spending a lot shopping at the Silk Market now.

Today, I got to watch the new 007, yes before ANYONE, because I am THAT special. Afterward, Mike and I decided to wander aimlessly around the area, and decided that the Silk Market would be a great idea, since everyone's got to visit this foreigner rip-off wonderland. Being Chinese, however, proved to be a huge benefit afterall. I got a pair of Coach flats for 60 RMB (starting price: 380) and NARS & MAC makeup: 50 RMB (starting price: 110). Thought I could've done a little better, but was happy nonetheless.

Back to the past a few days:
Halloween wasn't as fun as I had hoped, but figuring out what to be was the most fun yet. This was the first halloween I was unable to find a costume, since c'mon I'm in China. Their perception of Halloween is not one filled with children in Batman costumes begging for bigger bars of candy. Rather, their halloween is a profit for club cover charges and taxi rides to these bars and clubs. I was able to put together some random form of a glam rocker chick from the 80's. Pictures always explain it all.

So we got the gay german ballerina, the hippie, 80's glam rocker, a hitchhiker, belt-man Weien, and a basketball player who's hidden behind him. Wow, sucks not to have real costume shops in China.

These next few days we're going to find the hot spots we haven't seen, such as theh 798 art district, flag raising in Tian An Men square at sunrise, Ghost street, and much more!

I have yet to find clothing for Harbin, although I am so excited for the Ice Festival.

This entire city you see, is made out of ice. How I love Alliance and all these great excursions they take me on! Future reference Smithies, come on the Alliance program if you want to see what China is really all about. It's all covered in tuition!

Ooh! Also, got a real pair of Nike's from the Nike factory store for 195RMB (28USD). Awesome running shoes....worked out for the first time and wow, my muscles hate me.

All the way from the land of cheap goods, and cities made out of ice.

Wall of Greatness

My, my, how fast the weather has changed in this city. By far, Fall has been absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, in one day, the temperature dropped 20 F, and the wind chill only makes it feel colder.

To take advantage of the perfect hiking weather, Bing took us on the 11K Great Wall hike. I was definitely not prepared, physically, or mentally, for this task. First off, I thought that it would be a pretty flat hike with some up and down stairs trekking, was I wrong! If this hike were in the States, it would most definitely have been closed down. There were parts so steep and broken, without the right shoes, one would definitely have fallen off the wall to their death. We left around 10 A.M. and didn't get back until 8 P.M. last night. I'm just extremely proud to even accomplished that hike, considering I haven't worked out since I broke my collar bone! (Which reminds me, SNOWBOARDING this year! I'm extremely excited, as well as the fact that Mike will be coming with me this year! Thanks Mom and Dad!)

After we finished our hike, what better way to end the day than to Zipline off the Great Wall into the sunset!

Well, this is our last week before mid-term break. I've decided to stay in Beijing, since I think it's probably a smart idea to save money, seeing that the economy I have to return to isn't one warm towards opening paid job opportunities to me. Also, I really haven't seen everything Beijing has to offer yet. Perhaps a trip back to Fragrant Mountains would be a good idea, hopefully with the turn of leaf colors.

Well, I'm burnt. Just typed a 500 character Chinese essay, and have to meet with my language partner in 20 minutes. Until next time.

All the way from the city with the wall of greatness.

Brief Update

Hello again, it's been exactly 10 days since I've last post, and I realize I'm not doing too well with this blog. However, there really hasn't been much that has happened since my last post. I got my first Chinese test back- Yay for the 94.5%! I actually just had another test today. The only time crunch I feel is writing the 400 character essay in less than an hour. Today's topic was about vegetarians, how interesting, right?

Anyhow, over the weekend we went to Summer Palace, which was actually quite beautiful considering its the dead of fall. I actually figure that Beijing is much more beautiful in the Autumn time. Apparently, it is the best season in Beijing, but does not last long. I will take pictures of my campus, which is absolutely gorgeous this time of year. Remind me!

This weekend should be pretty eventful. My language partner and Eric's language partner are taking a few of us Alliance kids to the "Fragrant Mountains" to go hiking. Once again, this is a beautiful scenic spot near Beijing which relies on the beauty of fall. Don't worry, I'll be sure to snap a few shots. On Sunday, I'm going to watch Eric's language partner play some college basketball. We'll see how eventful a Chinese college basketball game is. She said that her team is short, perhaps I can pretend to play although I don't see why they'd want me to, hah.

All this talk about sports is really making me miss hockey, and my Smith hockey team. As much as I can't wait to play with them again, I can't bear the fact of leaving China. I have truly fallen in love with this city. Perhaps it's because the urban structuring is constantly changing. Honestly, I think I've seen 4 places, near my school, get demolished and rebuilt in the past few weeks. Each of which took less that a week to rebuild. China doesn't play around!

Another hype: Twilight. So, Mike and I went to the big XiDan bookstore earlier this week and saw, yes, my loved Twilight. I was ready to buy a copy for Laura and Mike picked up his own copy. Point of the story being, they both love it so far, so Weien and I are so happy we've converted two more! Stephenie Meyer would be so proud.

I think that's about it for this post.

Post Silk- Road

October 7, 2008
Hello my fellow readers,

I write to you sick from my bed as I have contracted a very familiar story of food poisoning. Two bags of bad dumplings and I'm out for a day. Anyways, I know you have missed my crazy stories and I have missed your crazy comments. However, I am back now tapping away at my keyboard to reminisce about my last week journeying to the West.

As a disclaimer, I shall warn you that all of these next "diary" entries are all off of the top of my head with the aid of pictures. I know I will forget little anecdotes, but this is not my fault. Ok, maybe it is, since I did forget to bring a pen along with me for this trip. Not much use just bringing a notebook. Anyway, let's commence. (These won't be in complete sentences, you'll just get the gist.) I'll put up one picture per day, just so it entices you to read it, and I'll try to choose one that sums up the day! Bah!

September 26, 2008
I already forgot... I know we headed on a bus mid-afternoon for the train station. Ate some KFC at the station, then headed on to our "hard-sleepers", which actually were not bad at all. I got a cabin with a random Chinese couple, Eric K, Weien, and Mike. Alliance Beijingers were scattered all down the car, but we were able to come together and play some cards and just chat with Bing about our random Capstone project ideas which we all rummaged together and e-mailed before we left. 13 hours later, we ended up in Xi'an.



September 27, 2008
Good morning Xi'an, still on the train. We checked into our hotel, which was pretty Ritzy..well at least for China. Had some breakfast, then we headed out to Xi'an's city wall. It was definitely a rainy day as I was wearing my rain jacket...in which I found my chocolate bar from Alaska and was munching on for the rest of the day. Chocolate doesn't go bad okay! Unfortunately, for me, this day I was "pickpocketed" so I lost around 300 RMB, my cellphone, and my dorm key. Not so bad for a pickpocketting, but I was just so glad that I took out the rest of my money that morning. Not wasting much time looking for this thief, we all went to get some lunch in the city. Ate some Chinese styled hamburgers: Rou Jia Mo. Headed to Shangxi National Museum where we spent 3 hours that day because the Shanghai kids were delayed to Xi'an. We tried to be cordial, but by the end of our trip, still weren't much on speaking terms with all of them. Got dinner, walked around the area by our hotel, sleep.


September 28, 2008
Teracotta soldier day. Boring as I have seen them before. Mom, Dad: the little photo shop where Chris and I were photoshopped into a soldier is still there. Went to a mosque in the Muslim district, took some quick photos so afterward we could head to the night market, where we ate some chuan'r (meatstick!) and some other goodies. After dinner on the street, we went to the largest water fountain spectacle in China. Bellagio, eat your heart out. If you ever get the chance, you should check out this crazy water fountain, it's beyond belief. After being wowed by water, both Alliance groups headed to the train station to, yet again, ride it for a long time: 19 hours. Joy. Headed to Jia Yu Guan.


September 29, 2008
Was in the train since 9 p.m. last night, and rode the train until 4 p.m. today. What a kill of a day. Checked into our hotel...and there we rested.

For the lack of a photo, I'll put one from yesterday of the crazy fountain.


September 30, 2008
A visit to a stretch of the great wall....where we took lots of photos, did some archery off the wall. I actually hit the fake Mongolian in the chest, thank you very much, fell down a flight of stairs, took some more photos, tanned, then left. Off we went to yet another stretch of the great wall. Here we climbed, and I panted, climbed, felt faint, climed, and finally made it to the top. Sort of. I was so dehydrated being in the middle of a desert, little to no water (that's how I do). Drink up kids, water is good for you, blah. There are tons of photos of me just sitting every other step. I am definitely not looking forward to our 10K Great Wall hike later this fall. Either that, or not looking forward to drinking so much water. After such a crazy day, guess what they made us do...yes, board a bus for 5 hours headed for Dun Huang.


October 1, 2008
Happy October. Dun Huang was definitely one of my more favorite stops along this trip. This morning, we went to the sand dunes! I have never actually been to the dunes before...which is interesting because I live so close to a desert! A lot of us bought orange booties to wrap up our feet so sand wouldn't get in, but I later defeated the purpose by going ATVing without them. Here we saw the "Crescent Lake" which is pretty much a small oasis in the middle of the desert, but this was not the most fun part. A lot of the Alliance kids went sledding down the mountain, but the few smart ones, a.k.a, myself went tubing! It was much faster, cost ~3 USD, but was so much fun! While everyone else went to go ride camels, yes those stinky, spitting animals, Mike and I went ATVing, which was a blast. This wasn't your average Hawaiian caravan adventure. This is going top speed down a 70 foot sand dune, screaming at the top of your lungs only to get stranded in the middle of nowhere while the ATV assistant goes and helps someone else type of ATVing. It was definitely a rush and completely worth 100RMB for 2 people (14 USD).

After lunch we went to the Mogao Ku Caves which is a world renowned repository of Buddhist art. Here we saw one of the world's largest statues of Buddha. I thought we spent a pretty long time here, but it definitely was eventful and quite tantilizing for the mind.

Guess what we did this night, just guess. Yes, we boarded another train. 13 hours to Turpan!


October 2, 2008
We arrived around 8:30 a.m. in Turpan. All I could say is it was dry and hot! We went to Jiaohe ruins where we got to ride on donkey-pulled carts. Later we went to Huoyan (Flaming) Mountains. Where I actually expended the energy to walk towards the mountain and touch it. Yes, I touched flaming mountain. My Smith flip flops were not too happy about the trek, yet they did not fail me. On my way back, I started to get a really bad upset stomach...sort of like what I have now as I type this. The feeling died down only to get worse when we went to visit a traditional Uighur home. While sampling this family's dried fruit and walking around their vineyard, I almost pass out with intestinal pain. Thank goodness I was able to stop at a rest stop before we made our long bus ride, yes another one, to Urumqi.

Urumqi was definitely my favorite city, and if Alliance had a program there, I would be there in a second. In the middle of the desert, random buildings appear from no where....That is a spot on accurate description of Urumqi. Well, at least to me that's how it felt, and I can say anything I want because chances are, you haven't been there :P


October 3, 2008
Mike's birthday! Lala and I woke him up at midnight to give him our ridiculous presents, while Tony sang along to our birthday song. Went to bed, but awoke only to yet again sit on a bus for two hours towards Heavenly Lake. It was well worth the long bus ride though. The scenery was breathtaking, which made up for the fact we didn't have lunch, but instead had a picnic of Oreos, Snicker bars, and some weird preserved hot dog grossness. Fortunately enough for the Alliance folk, I organized Bing and the tour guide to get some birthday cakes for Mike's b-day so we were able to feast on those, while sitting in a Kazakh yurt. I don't think he'll ever get a birthday in a yurt again. We headed back towards Urumqi and stopped off at some random park "Hongshan Park", which wasn't what we expected it to be. Traversed to some random, sketchy alley, and had dinner there. Luke and Jansen bought Mike some wine, so that was their beverage of choice for the 3 dollar dinner we had. I also had the best Jian Bing (hand-pulled pancake) I have ever eaten in my life on this little sketchy road. Headed back to Urumqi where we planned on going KTVing and clubbing, but I think the events earlier that day sucked all the energy from us. Hit the sack!


October 4, 2008
Last day! Some museum in the morning, then Xinjiang's International Bazaar Market in the afternoon. I actually spent money on something other than food that day. I bought 2 pashmina scarves for 100RMB. Beautiful I might say. Flew from Urumqi 8 p.m. that night to Beijing, got back at 2 in the morning, and died on my bed by 3 a.m.



I think that's about all I can squeeze from my mind at this moment. Remember, I am dying of stomach pains, but thankfully using my brain so much to recollect all of this has helped take my mind off of the punches my tummy is feeling from the inside.

Also, I had about 100 Bubble Teas on this trip, I just didn't remember when I had them...so I thought I would just let you know at the end of this post. Perhaps I gained back all my weight from this, but I actually don't think so. I think I should start my own diet called Cassie's Bubble Tea diet, and make a load of cash. What you think?

All the way from the land where my Chinese English name is Cathanfar.
Yeah, I really couldn't tell you why either.

Pre- Silk Road

September 25, 2008

Hey all, I'm heading out of town until October 5th. Alliance Beijing is meeting up with Alliance Shanghai and we'll be traveling the Silk Road together until then. Of course when I get back I will post a nice long post for ya'll with pictures. Let's just hope that my camera battery lasts that long, or I have enough memory for the amount of pictures we'll be taking.

So I had my first bi-weekly test today and it definitely reminded me of tests from Smith. Yes, there was a long essay as well. As usual, I made it up, but it was definitely "sentimental" and had a moral, as all Chinese essays prefer.

The other day I actually blew out all the electricity in my dorm room. It's fixed right now, but I'm hoping I'm not slapped with a huge bill at the end of my stay. Apparently, my charge converter blew up because it was on the wrong power setting. I was using it for the past few weeks with my WaterPik and on Wednesday night, I was holding the pick in one hand and turned it on with the other, and it exploded. I was sure I was going to die. Fortunately for you all, I didn't. :)

I don't think much else has happened since the HuTong post, but do anticipate my posts post-Silk Road trip. It'll be entertaining, just like it will be tonight when we have to sleep on "hard-sleepers" on the train.

Fun... I will post my own images for your enjoyment later.

All the way from hard-knock-sleeper life.

Back Alleys

September 21, 2008

I'm updating, which means there must have been something interesting that happened over the weekend! I can say...somewhat. On Friday, I actually went to the doctor's and they told me I had pharyngitis and trachea-itis. Got some antibiotics for it, but of course I took them all at once, caused me to "semi" throw-up. My friends here have different philosophies on the description of vomiting. ANYWAY. I'm doing much better now, just the air conditioner is causing me coughing fits, so its unbearable to sleep with it on, but even worse to turn it off.

Yesterday, we went to the HuTongs (historic alleys) by Hou Hai (Back Lake). I love that Alliance plans all of these excursions for us to traverse around Beijing. We got to sit in the bicycle carriages (?) Of course, pictures always help!

I did get to ride the bike, which was quite difficult, but this is totally a posed picture. Our driver, whom we named Tommy, from his Chinese name Wen Tao, was such a nice driver, although he would say he was tired constantly. Laura and I felt so terrible, so of course we tried to take over the driving. It proved extremely difficult as we attempted to steer the bike forward, but would always turn to the right and tip.

We had some lunch in a family's home, it's been a while since I've had a home cooked meal, yes Daddy, including your beef and asparagus dishes! We also visited a SiHeYuan (four-sectional house) and had some tea. Walked around a bit more...

After our alley tour, six of us went to go paddle boating on the lakes (Hou Hai, Xi Hai, Qian Hai). A lot of others were sick (not from me!) so not many stayed behind to come with us. On our little boating trip, we saw three couples getting marriage photos taken by the lake. It was, in my mind, sort of weird. We suggested that they were all celebrating their marriages at the same wedding to save money (haha, I kid).

Today, I spent most of the day in the dorm doing Chinese homework. I also met up with my language partner, and of course Eric and his language partner (she's my LP's roomate). I taught them how to play Hearts (the card game) in CHINESE. Try and explain Hearts in English. Not so simple, huh. Imagine how I felt trying to explain it in a different language. Both of our language partners are planning to come meet up with us again tomorrow night, and we're planning on playing Spoons. Don't know what Spoons is? you're missing out, big time.

So all in all, sickness is better, lost about 9 pounds already, from I don't know what...Perhaps just walking more than I do back in the States. Doing well in Chinese, meeting Chinese people, and having a blast with the Alliance kids. We leave this upcoming Friday for the Silk Road and I'm overly enthusiastic about it. Perhaps "Contact" will be played again, or some Big Booty?

All the way from the Jing, for now.

Overdrive

September 18, 2008

Apparently, I haven't been online for a while. Even if I was, I wouldn't have posted because I have been extremely overwhelmed with all of the Chinese and reading I have to do. Ok, maybe that is somewhat of an overstatement, but other than the fact of memorizing the book, doing homework, and preparing for dictation every night, my "sickness" has not really gotten better. Well, here's the thing, I'm not sick...just coughing...intensely. I have not gone out for the past week, nor do I plan to until I get "better", which I find will not be easy. I'm kind of wondering if it's the pollution in the air causing me congestion, phlegm, all that good and yummy stuff.

I probably will start posting only on weekends, because this is when most of our excursions around Beijing happen. This Saturday, our director is planning on either taking us to the Summer Palace, or the HuTongs (historic alleyways). I pray to get better before then, but my coughing fit doesn't seem to want to subside.

I met my language partner last night, whom is amazing by the way. She is quite tall, if I do say so myself, perhaps it was the high heels... We plan on meeting again on Sunday to work on my Chinese essay...gahhh! I hope she will take me to learn how to bargain in the city...not like I really want to buy any of the clothing here anymore.

I think this is about it for now, perhaps you'll hear from me again on Saturday night, but don't count on it!

All the way from the land of SRAS, read it backwards...and I hope I don't have it.

You want to buy some Coochie? ...You mean Gucci?

September 13, 2008

Just sitting here, snacking on some "Fitness" cereal. Yes, I know, it's 5 p.m. and I'm just eating breakfast. I have had a pretty hectic past three days. On Thursday night, most of us headed to KTV, Karaoke Television. Mind you, this was the first time I had ever done Karaoke and was pumped for the experience. Of course, as you remember from an earlier post, I was sick. So, some singing for a few hours over my sickness was not the brightest idea. So as of now, I am a bit voiceless...and I sound like a smoker on a naughty line. I joke, but Laura knows what I mean.

Yesterday, a group of us woke up extremely early to get to the Bird's Nest at 10 a.m. We watched the Paralympic Track & Field events and took some pictures around the Olympic Green. My, oh my, how beautiful these Olympic Stadiums are and of such behemoth size! In my opinon, the events were much more exciting on HDTV at home on the La-z-boy. No waiting, no squished spaced seating, only clear, bright, and crisp athletes on a wide 52" screen.

I had to take a nap yesterday afternoon for the first time here, without the influence of jet lag. I was just so exhausted from the previous night of Maiya Hees and Maiya Hoos.... and of course Maiya Ha Has. But afterwards, Laura and I headed to Xidan for a shopping experience, and once again after 4+ hours of walking around, we manage to return to the dorms empty handed, aside from our two bubble drinks, of course, and a 5 RMB (less than 1 USD) LeSportSac pocket clutch.

Once little anecdote about Laura and my shopping experience is the gaudy clothing sported here in BJ. What are they thinking?! So, I am a big fan of American Apparel styled clothing: simple cuts, multiple styles, range of colors. However, simplicity does not seem to be in China's fashion dictionary. I asked for a simple summer dress so I could look decent in a "going out" setting. One woman brings out this ruffly, leapord print, sheer potato sack and asked me in Chinese, "how is this for cute and 'seksi'". All I could do was laugh and said, "no offense, but I must decline", in Chinese. If you cannot tell from this anecdote, I shall just inform you that the shopping here for women's clothing is not anything close to Western styled clothing.

At another shop, just an amusing dialogue between a purse vendor, Laura, and myself...
Purse vendor: You want buy some "coochie"?
Laura: Some "hoochie"?
Me: Is she calling you a coochie?
Laura: Coochie?
Purse vendor: you no want "coochie"?
Laura and me: Uh, no.
Purse vendor: What do you want then?

We walk away....Me: I think she meant Gucci....how many purses would the woman have paid me to help her learn some English?

Last night, some of us headed to Sanlitun'r, a social hangout area for ex-pats apparently. It was exciting, but nothing like TW's night life. But remember, no political remises on my blog! TW is dearly missed though, especially the shopping... and the food....and the night life. :)
I met up with a fellow Smithie from my Chinese class. She's not at the Alliance program at BLCU for the fall, but she was during the summer. It's great to see Smithies around the world. If only had had a multiple entry visa, I'd be able to go visit the Smithies in HK.

Today is most definitely an "in-day" as we call it, and tonight will definitely be an "in-night". Just did some Chinese essays and read a few articles for my Sociology class. I'll finish the rest tomorrow as tonight is movie night! We will be watching Wall-E and the original Mr. and Mrs. Smith by Hitchcock: yes my fave.

Pictures will be updated shortly, I need to take a break now!
As for my cold: its just my lost voice, not feeling crummy at all, no worries Mom and Dad!

All the way from the land of KTV, tacky, leapord print adornments, and coochie purses.

In Memento

September 11, 2008

For those of us who have already forgotten those who have fallen, this is the day to remember. As someone who was not directly affected, I can honestly say I did not remember until this very moment that I wrote the date. May the families affected back in America finally be at peace.

Now writing my quarter-weekly blog seems trivial to the issues occurring around the world, but for my parents' and friends' sakes, I will continue to recite the uneventful wakes of my days.

My first 9 hours of Chinese classes are over and I do have to say, Chinese is pretty intense here. I thought that Smith was hardcore because we did a lesson every 6 days, which consisted of 40 vocabulary phrases, but here, we do one lesson every 2 days, consisting of 50 vocabulary phrases. I guess its almost the same because 2 days here is 6 hours, which is 6 days at Smith. However, when one day is 3 consecutive hours, there is no studying time in between to continue to learn the words or even what the lesson is talking about! Apparently, each semester at Alliance is supposed to teach us one YEAR of Chinese. So after Beijing and Shanghai, I will be in Chinese 600?! Is there such a thing?

Anyway, yesterday after classes were over, a few friends and I went out about town to scavenge for bubble tea. Laura and I seem to be obsessive over finding the best bubble tea in the city. We are actually planning on writing a book of bubble teas and we're going to "bubblish" it, I mean publish it. That word actually slipped out of my mouth as we talked about writing a diary of our bubble tea adventures. If you ever come to Beijing, and love bubble tea, we will have to show you around. I used to call it Pearl Milk Tea, but in a story-wise setting, Bubbles sound more fun, more EFFERVESCENT and EBULLIENT. I joke, I joke, I kid, I kid.

Towards the end of the afternoon, we went to the bootleg dvd stores and I bought CJ7 for 8RMB (~1 USD). Eric bought The Dark Knight and Laura bought Sex and the City. We ended up having movie night and watching The Dark Knight, which was a pretty high quality bootleg, until the extreme end of the movie, where it started skipping as Batman rode out into the sunset. Haha. I have yet to watch Sex and the City, but I just hope it's of good quality, or else I might just have to wait until I head back home. I also have a picture of the Batman DVD cover. None of you in the states will have ever seen this poster. So I thought I might take a picture.

Well at least I thought it was awesome and I didn't see it back in the States.

This morning, I had my 25 minute one-on-one chat period with my Chinese teacher, as all of us students have on Thursdays. I got to talk about the differences between "de", "de", and "de". Of course in English it all look the same, but in Chinese, it's a nightmare of a difference. I had learned it before, but I'll just say I still can't remember it...I'll have to go look at it again. I also talked about my Capstone Project, and told my teacher how boring it would be if I wrote about Chinese economics, so I have decided to get deeper into the social realm of China, and seek out the followers of Mr. Mao. In the words of Ms. Z "Hee ish da Chairmans, yesh!". I actually bought Mao propoganda yesterday on the side of the road. It is up on my wall behind me as I type this. Perhaps a picture will suffice.

Hey, what do you know...Mao has two little followers in my very room. :)

Also, this morning, I discover my toilet is flooding and I speak with the housekeeper. She says its because I flush toilet paper down the toilet, not in the wastebasket. Ma'am, there is a reason why it's called toilet paper and not wastebasket paper. How unsanitary and disgusting is it to throw your poopstained paper in the basket next to you. Foul! She said if it ever gets clogged again, it's our problem. Vile! Enough about poopoo, even though you all know its my favorite "p" letter word. I joke again.

This afternoon, we have Sociology and are going to watch some sort of documentary, I'm actually not too sure. We still haven't gotten our reading packets for this class but I am a bit terrified to receive it as I received my film packets yesterday, and the both of them are not of slim size.

Tomorrow, all of us have tickets to the Paralympic track games at the Bird's Nest, so I will finally be able to see what's behind the prison gates! We don't have class tomorrow so we're heading out at 8 a.m. to watch the games. I'm pretty excited!

My ticket for tomorrow. Made en France.

I think that's about it for now.
All the way from the land of toilet paper you don't put down the toilet.

Sheng Bing! 生病 Sick

September 9, 2008

So I am currently writing and eating dinner in my room as I type. This is merely because it seems I have already caught a cold! I know, it's extremely unfortunate...Also, I cannot find my Airborne bottle. Go ahead, say it's placebo effect all you want, it works for me! I think I got sick from the air conditioning on full blast last night, which is an utter catastrophe on my part. I had to turn on the air conditioning to "immobilize" the mosquitoes, but now since I am sick, I have to turn it off and get bitten instead.

As an update for yesterday, I got a bug bite on my lower arm which has swollen to the circumference of a hockey puck. I'm wondering what kind of mutated breed of mosquitoes China has been harvesting. Weien's American bug spray apparently had no effect on them whatsoever. Neither did my electric mosquito repellent.

If you didn't know, my classes started yesterday and Chinese has already da wo de pi gu (simply put, smacked my butt). I have way more characters to memorize than Smith in a shorter period of time...Oh, one night. Then the next day we have dictation on another lesson! They say that what we are doing this week is review, and I say "ARE YOU JOKING ME?!" I really can't complain that much since the grade doesn't go on my GPA, just credit and of course I am trying my best. So, as long as I learn something I should be fine!

I rarely have a break in my day to do anything relaxing. Most of my time is spent studying for Chinese actually. Of course time flies when I'm hanging out with the other Alliance kids, but still, there isn't much time to relax without freaking out about dictation! Some kids stay up til 2 a.m. to study for it, and wake up at 6 to keep studying before 9 o'clock class. Intense! Well whatever I'm doing is working for me, so I'll just stick to it.

I said I would post some pictures from the Scavenger hunt, and I did get Weien's pictures today. Thanks WEI-RRR! But, after this post I must finish my dinner and start working on Chinese homework. Can you believe I just got back at 8 p.m. from film class?! I know, extremely late, at least much later than back at Smith, where I get out of class at 11:50 a.m. for the day.

Well back to my 2USD dinner!

All the way from the rainy polluter.

Da Pi Gu: Big Booty

September 7, 2008

So I don't think that I will be able to update this blog on a daily basis. Perhaps it's because it is orientation weekend that I have been so busy. Yesterday, I ate some Xiao Long Bao (no, not little dragon ballz, Willy) for breakfast from the store near our dorm, which was 4RMB (~50 cents US) for 10 of them. What a deal! I also bought an electric mosquito repellent...some sort of incense that mosquitos are...repelled against.

We also got to eat lunch with our Chinese teachers and get our Chinese books. It seems everyone other than the advanced class gets DVDs, CDs and 4 books, while the advanced class has...one book of quite small size. It's actually more difficult than I anticipated, but that's a good thing! I have much to learn.

At dinner a few of us went to a Muslim restaurant on campus with the BEST homemade yogurt I have ever tasted, best yogurt ever for that matter. We also played a few of those word games...It's hard to describe but you have to find a pattern with what people are saying, and try to catch on. For example... There is butter, but no bread...There are trees, but no leaves... and you have to come up with your own phrase that works with the pattern... tricky, tricky.
Laura also taught us a new game called "Contact", a game of words and spelling. Best game ever! It's extremely difficult to teach someone how to play, you just have to watch it happen! We still haven't stopped playing it and it definitely has taught me a bunch of vocabulary and weird facts!

Last night we went as a group to "Propaganda", a night club. On our way there, we played "contact", of course. The club didn't really play the music I like, but a lot of the other kids loosened up. What a miracle music can be, even though we were probably the only ones who understood the lyrics. Laura, Angela, Eric, Jansen and I left early because this morning we had to prepare for a scavenger hunt. And of course, we played "contact" on the way back.

This morning I had to wake up bright and early for the scavenger hunt! Xiang Ling, Kendall, Mike, Weien, and I were in group A. Once told to disperse, we planned out the entire day. We walked for seven hours today, in the rain, thunder, and lightning, without umbrellas... and I tell you we are BEAT! We were the only team to go to the Mao-selium, Tian An Men, and take the subway as far as we did. It seemed to be unnecessary for points as other teams did not go far from campus, but I was glad we went because we encountered several hilarious situations. At one subway transfer station, an older Chinese woman came up to me and asked for which train to take to get to Bei Jing Zhan(r), completely disregarding Mike (since he's not Asian). Of course, being the one who knows Beijing better than I do, Mike told her where to go as I looked like an imbecile. She laughed and said the foreigner friend is better than the Chinese friend. I still get a kick out of that scenario, but its the kind of situation where you have to be there.

Weien has all the pictures on his camera, so I will add them once I get them.
GIVE ME THE PICS!

For dinner, we went to the conference center and first demonstrated what our day was like, then we had dinner, where once again we played "contact". Gladly, we taught newbies how to play and because there was so many people, it kind of got out of hand...so we started a new game. Big Booty! I just learned it tonight, but we put a big spin on it...we now play in Chinese. It's one of those "concentration" games where you have to keep the beat by clapping. Apparently, it catches people's attention on the street, especially because it's foreigners yelling Big Booty in Chinese (Da Pi Gu).

Well, this is my update for now.
For those of you who like to see pictures, I set up a Picassa account (Blogger and Picassa are both Google entities, so when in doubt: Google it).
The link is http://picasaweb.google.com/cassandra.chao.

I will add more pictures when I have the time. I have homework for all my classes already...and school starts tomorrow! Good luck to me!

All the way from the land of invented Da Pi Gu.

Scorpions, anyone?

September 5, 2008

Today was a pretty eventful day. Woke up at 6:30 with four fresh new mosquito bites. Joy! Quickly got ready to send my mom off to the airport. I'm on my own now, and where am I going to eat breakfast? Just kidding, well I am on my own, but a few of us have already decided where to go tomorrow morning...the cafeteria! We have to try it at least ONCE! After sending my mom off, it was time for the Chinese placement tests. They were fairly easy, similar to tests at Smith, however the summer had done away with my "Han zi" character memorization. Also, thanks dad for calling me three times during the test where I finally had to pick up right in the middle of it because "vibrate" was still extremely loud. Well, perhaps you were good luck, because I placed into Chinese 400, the most advanced class offered and I only needed Chinese 300 to get credit, yay.

After our lovely three hour examination, of which only required an hour after all that Smith training, we went to "Bamboo", a cheap Chinese restaurant nearby. Apparently, the service is terrible, but I thought our waitress was quite nice...they said it was because she was a newbie. I guess that's possible. It was indeed scrumptious as I helped the table order a second round of Zha Man Tou, or fried dough with condensed milk. (Like Thai donuts, Willy. hehe) Of course the guys ordered way too much to eat that we sent leftovers to the other table.

About an hour later, after learning how to ride the subway, our group arrived at Tian An Men (Gate of Heavenly Peace), the entrance to the Forbidden City. Some pictures, if I may...

Disclaimer: None of these photos were taken by me, but by Laura with the usage of my camera. We thought it was a good idea to switch cameras so every time I wanted a picture taken of myself she had my camera ready. Also, we realized we take a lot more photos on other people's cameras out of fear they will be unhappy with an empty memory card. So these are of the fantastic photography artistry of Laura Z.




Just a few pictures here... maybe I'll start a dropshots account or something of that sort.

We walked for a little while and came upon Wang Fu Lu... the street with the fried scorpions, fried starfish, kabobed lamb-penis, you get the picture... There are some GREAT pictures of this aromatic (of animal insides) street. As for me, I did not have the "pleasure" of trying fried scorpion, however I was tricked into eating Lamb penis... and after chewing and thinking it was calamari, my friends told me what I was eating... so I would have to say, not so bad tasting, but definitely bad thoughts... Ignorance really is bliss, or in this case, normality.


Starfish and scorpion.

"Hey, Cassie, try this, it's alright."
I previously suggested that they should try snake...so I thought that's what it was before I tasted it...Then I tasted it and said it tastes like calamari.
"Not too bad", said I.
"It's lamb penis"...
*gross face*

After wining and dining on the side of the road...we all had a little fun, really looking like foreigners.


We walked and subway-ed and walked and subway-ed to our final destination, the acrobatic show.
On the subway, I saw something I have never seen before in my life! OUTSIDE of the subway train's window (along the tunnel walls) commercials are playing, but of course at the speed you are going. If you don't understand what I mean...I've made a six second video. Let's hope it's viewable, because its such an ingenious idea!

[not sure when the video will be available]

The acrobatic performance was great, just like the ones I saw before. However, every single time I watch I have to hold my breath for all the balancing acts. It terrifies me that they are millimeters away from falling to bone breakage!

Well, its pretty late and we have a long day ahead of us...time to buy Chinese textbooks!

All the way from fried scorpion and lamb penis kabob land.
Until tomorrow,
Wan An (Night Peace)

Oriental Orientated

September 4, 2008

So I was not able to post yesterday because a) the internet was working at BLCU since I had to pay for it today so b) my mother took my laptop for her own research purposes. But after paying 250 RMB for my first month of internet (~US$35) today, I finally have time to post some juicy updates!

Yesterday morning, I went with my mother to Hong Qiao Shi Chang, Red Bridge Market, where all the knock-offs are sold. But I tell you, even though much of the stuff is nice, China's black market had sky-rocketed inflation. I got a Dolce and Gabbana purse for 20 US bucks...What a rip! It was really, in my mind, worth maybe 5 bucks. Although it looks really nice, and so far is pretty sturdy, prices have gone way up since I was last in China in 2005. I also saw really cute Coach ballet flats. I don't actually think they make them in the States the style they make them here. For 9 US dollars, these look way better. Unfortunately, I thought I could bargain lower, but instead walked away... I know I will be back!!

Yesterday was also the first time I was able to see my dorm room, which by the way is amazing. Sorry to gloat fellow Alliance students, but yes I do have the biggest room of all ya'll! Below I will post some pictures. A few adjectives to describe the room: bright, large window, hard beds, a shower which is the entire bathroom, etc... I think the pictures will depict what I'm talking about.
It's funny too because my room faces my mom's hotel room (at a distance), so we did a phone conversation waving at each other.

Pictures can be clicked to enlarge.






Nice, huh? Well at least I think it's amazing since I had such low expectations. At least I have a western toilet...and it gets cleaned while I shower. That's an exaggeration since there is a shower curtain, but the ground gets washed as I shower because there is no specific "shower area". If you can see, the shower curtain draping over the toilet and the drain right on the floor next to the toilet. Quite interesting, if I say so myself.

So, after I moved in...which took quite a while, our director, Han Bing brought us all to eat the famous Peking Duck (a.k.a. Beijing Kao Ya). He said this is the first time in all of his experience that all the students made it in by day 1! We learned some useful table ettiquite. The person facing the door is always the host, and the person facing the host is the assistant host, which I seemed to be. We learned of honorary guests, second honorary guests and the people in the middle (didn't know what to call them). Hosts and assistant hosts have to play...well...host! Pour tea, serve food: first to the honorary guest on the right hand side of the host then the second honorary guest on the left side. Then, next to the first honorary guest of the assistant host and the second. Afterwards, the "middle" people. Yes, all customary Chinese culture! That's what I'm here for.

I was able to meet my roomate from Malaysia attending Harvard University. Yes, she's super smart, double E major (electrical engineering). Her and I both thought it was interesting how we got paired as roomates (from our pre-departure forms). Apparently, I put down that I sleep talk at night, and she put down that she has hearing difficulties and requries hearing aids, and at night she takes them out. So, pretty much she cannot hear me when I am yelling random things at night. Well, at least both of us thought it was hilarious.

Today, we had hours and hours of orientation. It seemed like it never ended. I woke up at 6:30 again and went to my mom's hotel to eat breakfast with her. At 9, we all met in the lobby to begin the campus tour, which consisted of walking down one long road to a classroom where we sat for...5 hours today. Of course, we had a break for lunch and a break to get our computers set up for internet. I do have to say that the time spent in the classroom was quite interesting, and not really boring. We learned about counterfeit money, our passports being sold if we lost them, other facts of fear... Finally, it was dinner time.

We went down the street with our three chinese teachers, whom have yet to decide which level chinese class they will be teaching. Somehow, I forgot all about the Chinese customary table ettiquete and sat across from the door and ended up Host! So, I served everyone's drinks and helped my "honorary" guests. Of course, we take this all in good fun and make fun of each other at the same time.

After dinner, a few of us went to a bootleg DVD store...didn't see much I liked, but I did see CJ7! I have more news about CJ7 later. Anyway, next to the DVD store was a pet store, and after going in I wanted to cry. There is a full grown Samoyed dog in a 2 x 4 cage panting from the heat, 3 siamese kitties in one cage, list goes on of animal cruelty. They were all expensive, but if I had the money I would buy them all. They were all so cute, and I couldn't bear to see them locked up. I told my mother of this injustice and she says that I should ask the pet store owner if I could take the dog for a walk every day. Perhaps I should, but I'm sure he'd think that I'm stealing her. Doesn't hurt to try. Otherwise, I could always spend 8,000 RMB (~US$1000) to free her. (Please Momma, please!)

After feeling really bad about these pets, I went to visit my mom for her last night here in Beijing. I read some Kung Fu Panda books she bought for Chris, in Chinese of course. Then, on my way back to the dorm, I needed to buy a lock for my safe drawer and saw a cute little creature from CJ7!

It is now acting as my key chain, so I have a harder time losing my keys.
The door key is SO strange, I've never seen such a thing before! It's a magnet and you hold it up to a little plate above the door handle and it unlocks the door. Very interesting!

Well, thats all for today and yesterday, I know it's a lot, but I know you want to know what's going on!

Tomorrow: language placements tests, gahhh! and the street of scorpion shish-ka-bobs! yummy!

All the way from the land of CJ7 and crazy knock offs.

Yummy, not so much.

September 2, 2008

This morning I got to meet my mother's cousin and her husband, for the very first time. Both of them were professors at Tsinghua university, a prestigious school ranked number one in the nation! They took us around the campus, where the Olympic Marathon passed through.
The blue line is the path the runners took through the school.

I can't say that the local food has been treating me right. Enough said. Not saying the food isn't good because it is amazing-tasting, just hasn't been amazing-feeling.

On a lighter note, I watched the cutest movie today. Really reminded me of Hello Kitty.

Of course this movie ended bittersweet, as all Chinese movies, I have watched, do. But, as always, there is a moral of the story. If you want to know more about this film, go here. The movie is actually a tad bit more sad than the trailer makes it out to be, and definitely not as cheesy. Anyway, it made me cry, laugh, and laugh at crying. Watch it some time. (Columbia Pictures should really pay me for this advertising.)

Well, orientation begins the day after tomorrow, and I get to meet the rest of the students tomorrow. I don't feel ready to start school again. It's unlike me, but I'm actually quite nervous. Apparently, my film teacher was the assistant director of "Farwell My Concubine"!! Hopefully my one semester of intro to film was enough preparation to say something in class. We'll see.

All the way from the FAR east,
Tired and tummy-ached.

September the First

Today was an extremely long day, as most days are if you start it at 6 in the morning. I'm thinking for this post, I will use mostly pictures to depict the happenings of my day. Of course I do not document every second of my itinerary, so there will be occasional blurbs explaining the picture!

The plan for this morning was to go to the National Olympic Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. This architectural gridiron cost over US$400 million, and standing by it's shining glory sure emanated its prodigious worth. Unfortunately, there was somewhat of a barrier standing between myself and this steel-intertwined nest. So...in these pictures I look like I am standing outside of a prison, perhaps a few guards here and there (approximately 100 meters apart from one another).

So we started at the Water Cube, which I have yet to see at night. Wow! Look at my tiny eyes...and no they aren't closed. Hehe.
Then we made our way around the National Stadium...Starting with the prison fence.


Then miraculously, there was one break in the fence, but of course, there is a sign covering half of the stadium!Yes, this is a different angle of the Bird's Nest. This is because my mother and I walked ALL the way around the indescribably large block. It probably took two hours to go all the way around, including a bus ride of which we had no idea where we were going, but we ended up at the stop where we started about an hour later.

Here are two nice photos my mom took. Why no fence? We're smart and stuck our camera lens through the fence opening, duh!
What a long, long, foot-tiring day. I know, I'm complaining too much, but it's true...Californians don't walk enough! But at least I got to finish my day with a nice mani/pedi...but was ripped off because I payed an American price! Oh well. I will find another place, oh wait...I already have. :)

I just want to note: LOOK AT THE BLUE SKIES! Didn't I tell you how amazing the weather is in Beijing? My mother states that it's because she has wonderful luck whilst traveling and always encounters beautiful weather. I really hope this isn't the case, because this means I will endure heavy rain, thunder, lightning... the whole shebang when she leaves this Friday; knowing my luck.

Tomorrow is a mystery and I can't wait what it brings. I'm sure destiny brings fried scorpions into the picture, since it is what my mother has been dying to try. Not sure if I am willing to try it. I guess I'll see when I ... see it! At this moment, it is sending jitters down my spine. Time to go eat my bowl of cup noodles!

All the way from Sexy Beijing,
赵凯珊

Sexy Beijing: http://www.sexybeijing.tv/new/default.aspx