also... I have been putting up pictures on picasa - the google web Album...
http://picasaweb.google.com/checkerbloom
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Oh man, it has been a while, so here is the quick run down...
Back in October I went with a couple of friends to a more deserted section of the Great Wall (nothing in China is deserted) and we slept in an ancient guard tower. It was freezing but really fun! The sunrise in the morning was totally worth it.
Two weekends ago I went with three other friends to Tai An and climbed up Tai Shan - I think the most famous of five famous mountains in China because Kong Zi (Confucius) climbed up. According to legend, whoever climbs it to the top will live to be a hundred years old which sounds pretty good until you descend back to the polluted city below... We stayed in a hotel at the top and got up at six to watch the sunrise with the other tourists - I can only imagine how crowded it is up there during a holiday week.
Final Exams are next week so, in the Chinese style, we are plowing ahead in the book. I will have gone through 2 complete books at the end of next week; we do two chapters a week. Despite all this Chinese I still fee; like a complete beginner and too often get the blank stare when I speak Chinese outside of campus.
After the semester we're going to the south, Shanghai and HanZhou and SuZhou to travel for a week which should be really fun.
I still can't get over the delicious street food of Beijing - my favorite are the roasted sweet potatoes... oh man it smells like Thanksgiving and Christmas and deliciousness. Speaking of Thanksgiving, it is almost here and I think we are going out with my Environmental Issues in China and the US class for Peking duck... Chinese style.
Also, one of my friends studied in China in high school and lived with a host family in Beijing for a year. She gave me her Chinese mother's contact information so I have gone over to her apartment a couple of times now and she's teaching me to make some Chinese dishes - which are soooooo tasty - jiao zi (dumplings), bao zi, gong pao ji ding (kung pao chicken). I'm excited to try it at home!
I am going home for winter break then coming back for second semester in Beijing despite the warnings I got about the sand storms... I'll bring my aviator goggles......
Happy Thanksgiving!
Back in October I went with a couple of friends to a more deserted section of the Great Wall (nothing in China is deserted) and we slept in an ancient guard tower. It was freezing but really fun! The sunrise in the morning was totally worth it.
Two weekends ago I went with three other friends to Tai An and climbed up Tai Shan - I think the most famous of five famous mountains in China because Kong Zi (Confucius) climbed up. According to legend, whoever climbs it to the top will live to be a hundred years old which sounds pretty good until you descend back to the polluted city below... We stayed in a hotel at the top and got up at six to watch the sunrise with the other tourists - I can only imagine how crowded it is up there during a holiday week.
Final Exams are next week so, in the Chinese style, we are plowing ahead in the book. I will have gone through 2 complete books at the end of next week; we do two chapters a week. Despite all this Chinese I still fee; like a complete beginner and too often get the blank stare when I speak Chinese outside of campus.
After the semester we're going to the south, Shanghai and HanZhou and SuZhou to travel for a week which should be really fun.
I still can't get over the delicious street food of Beijing - my favorite are the roasted sweet potatoes... oh man it smells like Thanksgiving and Christmas and deliciousness. Speaking of Thanksgiving, it is almost here and I think we are going out with my Environmental Issues in China and the US class for Peking duck... Chinese style.
Also, one of my friends studied in China in high school and lived with a host family in Beijing for a year. She gave me her Chinese mother's contact information so I have gone over to her apartment a couple of times now and she's teaching me to make some Chinese dishes - which are soooooo tasty - jiao zi (dumplings), bao zi, gong pao ji ding (kung pao chicken). I'm excited to try it at home!
I am going home for winter break then coming back for second semester in Beijing despite the warnings I got about the sand storms... I'll bring my aviator goggles......
Happy Thanksgiving!
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