I'm not sure I'm going to be able to stay up much longer. Just....need....to....
ZZzzzzzZZzzzzzZZZzzzzz
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Jetlag sucks.
It's 8:35pm CT and I'm still up, I can't believe it. Technically I've been up since 3:30am ET but Terri and I officially sat up and turned the lights on a little bit before 5am ET. Jetlag is taking over though and I'm fading, fading very quickly, fading faster that I ever would have imagined. No amount of caffeine, light, television, Internet surfing, food, etc. can stop me from falling asleep right now. If it weren't for the fact that American Airlines LOST MY LUGGAGE on my way back from Toronto today I'm not sure I would still be awake and not in my bed, let alone alive to the world around me. Still waiting for their call, which should have come over an hour ago. UGH! I want my bags!!!!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
My Farewell Beijing
Well I can't believe it's over. Terri and I are sitting in the first class lounge of the Beijing Airport about to pack up and go. We board in about 15 minutes so I need to keep this quick. Today was another full day but one I will never forget. Climbing THE Great Wall of China was simply, well words will not do it justice. I've had so much fun here and already I'm in Andy withdrawl. He was a magnificent guide and one I will never forget. This part of the trip would not have been possible without him. As I cuddle up to my new fat panda, kindly named Andy the Pandy, I will think of him and all he taught us early.
And with that I must hit send. Time to shut down and buckle up. In 13 hours we will be safe and sound on Canadian ground.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Our last day.
Today Terri and I begin our day in Beijing and end it somewhere over, well, I'm not quite sure. Today will actually 48 hours for Terri and I as we leave Beijing at 6pm Friday and arrive in Toronto at 6:30pm Friday. Yikes.
Anywhoo, just wanted to post a quick message to let everyone know that I will not be able to blog tonight about the Great Wall. Andy is taking us directly from the wall (or Ming's Tomb if we have time) to the airport so between now and the time I arrive in Canada I won't have internet access. Depending on how early we get into the Toronto I may or may not purchase an hours' worth of time at the hotel to post a few messages before we go to bed.
And with that I must say farewell. Until next time....
The Forbidden Summer T-Square Quickie
Anyways, since I don't have the time to tell you everything I thought I would throw up a few photos (thanks to Andy's skillz with my camera) of what we did today. This isn't everything, of course, but a quick sample of the highlights. These include...
1. Our visit to Tiananmen Square
2. Our visit to both the outside and inside of the Forbidden City
3. A quick photo op in front of the 9 dragons (also inside the Forbidden City)
4. Our visit to the Summer Palace.
There were many other things on our stop, some to which I managed to grab some photos of and others I did not. The last part of our afternoon/evening was spent shopping, if that gives you any idea. :) My favorite!
I can't believe tomorrow is my last day here already. My how time flies...by this time tomorrow evening I'll be sleeping in my first class seat on an airplane some where between here and Canada. Okay, time for bed. Night everyone!
PS. Thanks to everyone responding to the blog. I would love to write back to you but the great firewall still has blogger, Facebook and Twitter down. Glad you all enjoy it!
Finally free WiFi!
Amazing!!! So while playing around to see which of my iPhone apps
actually work I found this bar using AroundMe. How cool is that?
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Goodbye Tianjin...Hello Beijing!
I am no where near awake enough to get everything in my head down into this blog but I'm going to try to post a short update before I forget everything. Today was non-stop. Non-stop. I think the longest, quiet moment Terri and I had today was the 25 minutes on the bullet train from Tianjin to Beijing and even that wasn't really a rest.
So quick recap, details will come when I have a minute...hopefully.
Today started with another breakfast of noodles and tea in the hotel, a walk to campus and Terri's class. Professor Sun, a law professor at Nankai, did a short guest lecture for the students and then Terri finished covering everything that they needed to know. I sat in the back of the classroom per usual but did have a good conversation with one of the Nankai student ambassadors, Yaun (Terri and I are guessing on the spelling...). After class we walked back to the hotel with 2 of Terri's students, finished packing our bags and grabbed a quick lunch at the pizza place next door to our hotel that we just discovered. Mmmm, my mouth is watering again just thinking about that potato and sweet potato pizza. Yummy.
After lunch we grabbed our bags, said goodbye to Ming and caught a cab with Yaun who Ming had tasked with getting us to and on the bullet train to Beijing. I have to say without Yaun I don't believe Terri and I ever would have been able to navigate that train station. He was an enormous help. He directed the cabbie, carried our bags (that one I couldn't believe), helped us buy our first class tickets for the train, got us thru security, up the elevator and to our departure gate. The boy was simply a blessing. He probably would have gone all the way to the train door with us and helped us into our seats if they'd let him. But alas without a ticket the gate was as far as he could go. He did, however, send us off with very detailed instructions and watched us go down the escalator with one last "I'll miss you." It was cute.
The bullet train was something else. Other than subways and the El I had never (to my knowledge) been on a train before and the bullet train was an great way to start it. Despite what everyone said I did not get sick when looking out the window. This train was amazing. It took the 2 1/2 hour bus ride we had our first night here from Beijing to Tianjin and cut it down to 25 minutes flat. 25 minutes! The fastest speed Terri and I saw the train hit was 335km/hr. I took some video to share (man I love my little camera) but again will have to post that once I get back to the states since YouTube is a no-go here. Different city, same firewall.
Getting off the train and up off the platform to the exit was an adventure in itself. I've never really felt like a fish caught in a current before. We really had no choice but to just go with the flow. Very difficult when you're trying to carry a laptop bag and 2 small suitcases. We managed to make it though and at the top of the escalator, right thru the exit gate, there was our guide Andy with a sign, in English, that read "Terri". Not that he would have a hard time finding 2 Caucasian girls in a sea of Asians though, lol, but the sign was good for us to identify him, that and the fact that he is a very tall Chinese guy.
After quick introductions Andy walked us to our car for the weekend where we met our driver, loaded our luggage and headed straight for the Acrobatics show. We had arrived a little later than Andy had hoped so we had to delay checking in to the hotel until we were finished for the evening. Not really a problem for us since the car had a nice big trunk to store all our luggage in and the fact that the driver stays with the car even when we're out and about. Andy got us our tickets to the show, helped us to our seats and then said he's meet us in the lobby afterwards. This show was really, for lack of a better phrase, off the hook. These people were bending and twisting, jumping and soaring, it was CRAZY! Terri at times said they almost gave her a heart attack from some of the things they were doing on bikes or in the air. If I had only a 1/4 of the upper body strength these people had, well, I could kick some serious butt. Now I know they said no photography or video taking, but my little camera is small so I managed (with sounds and flash off) to sneak a few quick photos from between the seats and a couple really cool videos since Andy got us seats in the 2nd row.
Once the show ended and we were able to get our stunned little bodies out of the seats and into the lobby we found Andy's smiling face in the crowd. He led us down the street to our car where we proceeded over to dinner. Tonight I had my first hot pot dinner and boy was it delicious. Lamb, beef, veggies, mushroom soup and noodles (that came with a show, also video taped). So much better than fondue and I have to say I think I'm getting pretty good with chopsticks, finally. I was able to fish meat and vegetables out of bubbling vats of soup and broths with no problems tonight. Go me! Not sure my skillz were enough to impress Andy but I am proud to say that I have only used a fork once since arriving in China. Once, during breakfast at the hotel. How's that for being a silly American? I even turned down a fork/knife when offered the other night at dinner. Go me!!!
Dinner was followed with a trip to the Olympic venues here at sunset. Andy had it timed perfectly. The bird's nest, the water cube, national stadium...it's just so much to take in. Right now I can't put into words really just how amazing, how breathtaking, they really are in person. TV last summer did not do them justice. No, not at all. Since a photo is supposed to be worth a 1000 words I'll let them do the speaking for what we saw tonight. Just know this, I don't think my camera, any camera, would be able to capture their beauty in the way they're meant to be seen....
The sun set fast and soon it was too dark to really take photos anymore. That was our clue it was time to leave. Andy lead us back to the car and then to the hotel where, since we were checking in late, he managed to get us an upgrade for the weekend. Can we say YAY! This hotel is swank. A true 5 star in every way, well, maybe minus the fact that we don't have WiFi in the room. But AC and a wired connection, OH and a soft comfortable bed are good by me. I'll have to post pictures of our room with tomorrow's posts for everyone to see.
Still trying to take everything in I sit here in the dark typing this entry (Terri is already asleep) and resizing pictures. So much happened today and this was really only a small snippet. There are so many more details, little stories, jokes and adventures that if this hadn't already taken me over an hour to type I would get into. Hopefully in posts to follow. Tomorrow is a busy day. Terri and I are meeting Andy at 830 for breakfast (it's almost 12 right now) which will begin our non-stop day. Andy said it will be go-go-go and hot, but it will be exciting and fun. I can't wait! So with that I'm off to get some beauty sleep peeps....peace out!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Rain, Rain, Go Away...
The theme for Wed, rain...rain...and more rain.
Today was a rainy day from sun up to sun down. Actually looking out our hotel window it's still coming down at a nice pace so forget the sun down part. Maybe more like sun up to sun up even though Ming said we still might have some rain tomorrow morning. Oh well, at least the bad weather is on it's way out and will already be through Beijing by the time we arrive tomorrow afternoon.
With the rain falling the way it was I decided to skip class this morning and stay in our hotel room in an attempt to get some work done. I caught up on emails (both personal and work) and did some much needed SIGGRAPH planning as well. After sending off my s2010 homework assignment that was requested and finished playing catch up on all my blog posts. As of this evening you should all be up to date, thank goodness. Sorry that things have been lengthy but so much is going on that I want to share. I wish you could all be here with me but this is the best I can do.
But I digress.
Once Terri returned from classes we both changed for the day and decided to venture out. I'm glad she reminded me to pack my umbrella since having a small one that fits in my purse really came in handy today. Since it was pouring just yet we decided to walk back up towards the shopping district we discovered yesterday to grab some lunch and then use that as a starting point to navigate our way to the Tianjin Department Store that our guidebook suggested. We felt like pros walking around today. Not only do we have a renewed sense of confidence now in reading our map, but we're really starting to recognize the different areas, shops and street names which makes the walking time seem so much shorter. It seemed like with a blink of an eye we were passing the mosque we saw yesterday, the big cathedral and then there we were, shopping mecca. I still cannot get over how many shops and malls this place has. Yes I realize there are 10 million people in Tianjin (according to Ming) but come on! How many Nike stores, seriously do you need in a 5 block radius? I think we've counted as many as 5. And the McDonalds....McDonalds in China seem to be the Starbucks of the States. There seems to be 1 on every corner and sometimes you can even stand in the doorway of one and see the other right down the street. So in true American spirit Terri and I decided to see if the rumor of egg rolls being on the menu was true and ventured in. The menu for the most part was identical to that which we have at home. I only noticed 2 differences and no egg rolls are not on the menu. Instead of chicken strips (not nuggets but those fancy strips they sell) they had chicken wings and in perhaps instead of the breakfast burrito they had something that looked like the traditional McD's apple pie but filled with egg? It was on a sign next to a McCafe so it had to be something breakfast related. Probably should have taken a picture but we looked like tourists enough, and there is already something very cliche about 2 Americans in a McDonalds in China. :)
After feasting on Big Macs and french fries (which both tasted the same as at home) we headed back out into the rain and over to the Tianjin Department store. I have to say, for all that the guide book said about it I was slightly disappointed. But it's probably one of the older if not first "malls" in the area so the new stuff we had already seen in the shopping district out shone this one. That didn't matter to us though, we had to go in and experience it for ourselves. One thing Terri and I have learned about department stores here though is that the Chinese organize goods by type and then by floor. For example when you enter in a store it seems to be all jewelry, watches, cosmetics and perfumes. Go down one floor and it's all shoes. Mens' shoes, womens' shoes, teen shoes, all shoes shoes shoes (or as I like to call it, heaven, lol). Go up a couple floors and it's all womens clothes, then the floor above that is all mens. Another floor or 2 up is all housewares, then a whole athletic floor, so on and so forth. The Tianjin Dept. Store had in total 8 floors, but only 7 of those were currently open. The 8th was closed off. The other difference we noticed is that unlike, say, Macy's where you can wonder from department to department and see various brands, the sets up here are almost like each vendor has it's own space on the floor, with its own 2 employees and its own cashier. They all dress differently and seem not to work for the entire store, but for that specific brand. A little different than we're used to but a system I guess that works for them.
Once we were done shopping, and yes we did buy something (Terri purchased a really beautiful umbrella - embellished ones are all the rage here and you could really see that today with the rain) we decided to walk back to our hotel. Even though cab rides here are cheap, and we're talking maybe 13 yuan which is like $2.50 USD, walking lets us see more of the city and burn off some of the calories we're taking in due to the lack of availability of things like Diet Coke. We got to our room with just enough time to relax a little, use the hair dryer to help speed the laundry drying process along (yes, we've both done laundry in the sink a couple times now) and change for dinner. We met Ming in the lobby and attempted to catch a cab over to the Muslim area of town. The rain made it very difficult to find a free cab since most people who would walk during rush hour were now taking cabs. Eventually we did catch one though and made it to the restaurant in good time.
Dinner tonight was fantastic!!! Terri and I were both curious as to what Muslim food with a Chinese spin would be like, and yummy would be the answer. We had a cumin covered lamb, lamb kabobs with chili powder, a yogurt soup and a very yummy (and spicy) chicken noodle vegetable dish. This was probably the first night not only were we full, but we were stuffed. Dinner was also accompanied by a show. As our first course came the front of the restaurant became almost like a karaoke bar. The atmosphere was one of fun and excitement with music filling the room and people getting up and dancing. We found out, thanks to Ming, that there was a group having a reunion dinner of sorts, the group gathering was celebrating their journey to the Muslim part of China (the west) in 1965. I took some video of the festivities but unfortunately since YouTube and Facebook are blocked here in China, and I really don't have access to my blog, you'll have to wait until I get back to see it. As we were trying to leave we were noticed by a few members of the party who instantly started to say "hello" as best they could to us. Yup, there is no doubt in my mind that Terri and I totally stand out in a group. You can tell we're not from around here. Ming was able to talk to who seemed to be the ringleader who was very excited to meet us and so happy to learn that Terri was a teacher. He told us to go ahead and take pictures, tried to get us to dance with them and then made me shake almost everyone's hands. He was so happy to meet us and wanted everyone too. I tried to say hello in Chinese to everyone which thankfully came off as a cute attempt and not an insult. They all smiled, laughed and returned my gesture with an actual "hello". After about 10 minutes we were finally able to make our way out the door where Ming told us that they don't get many foreigners around these parts, especially in restaurants like these, so they were happy to have us. Couldn't have guessed. :)
Leaving the restaurant we walked across the street to Food Street, a giant indoor, well, place to eat. The name pretty much says it all. There are shops, cafes, bars and restaurants all up and down the 2 stories of the building. It's a really cool site, neon and all. Inside Terri and I were able to purchase a few local treats that will be making it back to the States with us to share so I'm not going to spoil the surprise and tell you what we bought. I will tell you though that it's taking some restraint NOT to open the packages and dive in as I sit here and type this. Mmmm, goodies. Being that it was later in the evening Food Street was a little empty but it was the last of the things Terri and I had on our list of things to do here in Tianjin so we're happy we got to see it. Ming then helped us catch a cab back to the hotel where we retired to our room for the evening.
It was a fun day, even if the rain made it kind of blah at times. A good way to end our time here in Tianjin. Tomorrow after Terri finishes her class we'll return to the hotel, check out and then head with one of the student ambassadors to the bullet train station where we'll board a train for Beijing. It's hard to believe our time here is already over. The week has flown by. Tomorrow is already Thursday. Wow. I can't wait to see what Beijing has in store for us. If we thought this week was fun already, I bet we're in for a big surprise.
And with that I'm signing off for the evening. The next time you'll hear from me, from us, we'll be in Beijing. Night everyone!
Great Firewall of China says "No"
Today I'm mind my own business, doing a little news reading while trying to avoid the bad American movies on TV when I decide to see what Google News has to say. A single click and BOOM! Firewall says no. So I click away, try to look into some other things and BOOM! Firewall says no. I've learned to really not like this page although I have no actual idea what this page is saying or what it's all about. When Twitter first disappeared earlier in the week, this is the page that came up. When Facebook disappeared the other night, this is the page that came up. Now, from time to time, Google gives me the same result. Any of my Chinese friends out there care to translate?
If not I'm going go keep with the assumption that if translated it reads "Firewall says NO!" And I don't like it...
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
China - Tuesday Adventures
First I want to apologize for my last post. I believe the formatting might be a little, well a lot off. In all that's going on here I thought that China had blocked Gmail since in the middle of my blogging last night everything went down. Turns out that Google was moving Gmail and all that goes with it out of "beta" so things went down for a purpose. For once it wasn't due to the great firewall. :) Glad to have Gmail back and hopefully from this point on things will be more legible. Still flying blind when it comes to posting, but at least I don't feel as cut off from the world anymore.
Anyways, without further ado...Tuesday...
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Tuesday started off just like the past few days we've already spent here. A quick Skype session with home followed by a breakfast of tea and noodles and a walk to campus with the students. This time our guide Ming took a different route, through Nankai's campus, but since he had walked Terri and I around a little bit the day before (after lunch) I had a good sense of right where we were. After stopping to take some more photos of the lotus flowers that were blooming with some of the other students I was even able to tell one of them, I believe his name is Jeff, where we were. I was quite proud of myself.
This time class was in a different classroom, one with much better air conditioning. I have to say for being as hot as it is here (it's been in the 90s plus humidity) AC is not a very common thing. Ming was telling us that it's too expensive so most people and buildings do not have it, including the student rec center which even with a pool, weight room, etc. still does not have central air. That's just amazing to me. I have a hard time imagining myself going to class for 3 hours, or working out in the gym and not having AC. Kind of makes you realize that we really are spoiled in the States. My little window AC unit for my apartment doesn't seem so bad anymore.
After returning to our room for a quick clean up, Terri and I decided to head out and find the gobuli baozi place we've wanted to eat at all week. Goubuli baozi, for those of you who don't know, are little steamed pork and gravy filled buns and apparently are a speciality of this area. The one place we were told to try them, and where our guide book had suggested, has a century long history of making them. Not quite being able to read our map yet, or communicate with the taxi drivers, we asked the lady at the front desk to write down the name of the place and the address in Chinese so that we could give it to the taxi driver since it seemed too far away to walk. We showed her the English name on the paper but later found out, as the cab driver took us way out of our way, that she mistakenly wrote down the name of a hotel which had a similar name to Goubuli. So here we are, some where in Tianjin, with only a partial map to lead us back. Sure we could have gone back to what we think was a hotel and catch another cab, but we decided to put faith in the fact that we knew how to read our little map and go.
As we were walking we first came upon a park which seemed to be dedicated to music composers. There were roses, music notes and statues of men all around the park although we could only guess who each one was since the signs were in all in Chinese. We took a few photos and then headed down another road which brought us to the weirdest looking house. Covered from ground to roof top in what appeared to be chinese porcelain pots complete with a China sign on top. The house was obviously some sort of tourist attraction because the street in front of the place was full of people taking pictures. We still don't officially know what the house was or is, but Terri did spot a sign hanging out front of one of the sets of windows at the end of the gate that read pawn shop. Whatever it was, truly unique.
Continuing to walk down the street on our way to what we hoped was the right area for the goubuli restaurant we seemed to stumble upon a HUGE shopping district. The streets suddenly became pedestrian walkways only (although that didn't stop some of the bikes/scooters) and stores, real stores, lined the street. It was like a giant outdoor shopping mall, only with several of what we in the States call malls within it. Multi-floor malls, which women's departments, men's departments, teens, shoes, cosmetics, jewelry, the whole nine yards. We finally located what we thought should have been the area for the goubuli restaurant only there were no signs in English like we had hoped and unfortunately there was not much our iPhones could do at this point since we were unable to identify any of the Chinese characters marking the different little cafes (all to which seemed a little too empty for our liking). Finally, after take a quick pass through one of the malls, Terri was able to ask one of the young women working in the jewelry department which place was the goubuli restaurant. I'm not sure she totally understood us, but enough to point us to this very traditional looking store front which we then saw had a set of letters on the front that read GBU. Go figure.
From the looks of it Terri and I expected this place to be a very fancy sit down restaurant, but the nice girls who welcomed us as we entered took us down the hall and down some stairs to what looked to be a fast food type joint. We're talking benches and tables with chairs like you would see in a McDonalds or a Burger King with cash registers up front, lit picture menus hanging above them, and plastic trays to carry your food on. Since neither of us was too hungry but both really wanted to try goubuli baozi we decided to split one of the little "combos" they offered that included 8 baozi (the buns), what appeared to be 2 or 3 chicken wings, noodles, some sort of very bland soup and a funky green thing that we could not identify but was crunchy like a vegetable. Oh were the baozi yummy! I could eat those things everyday.
After our snack we wondered further out into this outdoor shopping mecca to do some more exploring. Turns out this area must be really touristy full of clothing and accessory stores, fast food joints (like DQ, McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and local ones), a Nike Store, an Adidas store, several wedding boutiques and even a Disney Sport store that sold all sorts of Disney/Mickey themed sports clothes, tennis shoes, socks and accessories. Terri and I actually went into Disney Sport and I found a really cute pair of black and neon green Mickey tennis shoes for my collection. I was so excited too because after Terri and I did the math, they would have only been like $25 USD. I picked it up and attempted to show the girl working that section the US size inside and asked her for an 8.5. She nodded, walked away and came back with a 6.5. I nicely tried to tell her no 8.5 and she shook her head, said "No no" and then pointed me to the men's shoes. Terri and I were confused. I asked her again for 8.5 in another shoe and again was told "no no" with pointing to the men's shoes and a smile. Looking around there weren't any other pairs that really caught my attention so we thanked her and exited the store. Thinking about it some more I finally figured out why she kept saying no. Since that obviously wasn't an USA based store (since Terri lives near WDW and has _never_ seen a store like that before, ever) they probably don't carry shoes that big for women. Upon later consultation with our Tianjin guide Ming that is the case. Most women here have small feet so I was out of luck. Oh well. Probably better that I didn't come home with yet another pair of shoes for my collection, although there always is Beijing...
Terri and I kept walking watching the stores become more higher end type boutiques, complete with a Rolex store. Then between the buildings, directly in front of us on the other side of the street we saw a giant church with crosses on the top. Our guidebook had mentioned that there is only 1 catholic church in Tianjin and that it happens to be the largest in the city, and boy were they not kidding. It's a full sized cathedral that has several masses everyday, including 1 in English on Sundays. After grabbing some quick Haagen Dazs prepackaged ice cream bars (mmm, were they good and refreshing on such a hot day) we crossed the street and went in. The church was beautiful and I believe it was dedicated to St. Joseph. We took a few photos, said a quick prayer and then headed back out to the courtyard. At that point we knew we needed to head back to our hotel in order to have time to clean up before dinner with the Dean of the Law School at Nankai University in which we had to meet Ming for at 515. We were so proud of ourselves though because at this point we knew exactly where we were and were able to navigate our way all the way back to our hotel on foot. It was a great adventure and one that we probably would not have had if the hotel front desk didn't start us off in the wrong direction.
We ended the evening with a dinner at another restaurant on Nankai's campus with the Dean of the Law School, a professor, our guide Ming and then Ms Chen who I believe the Dean said at one point was his secretary. All spoke English with the exception of Ms Chen who understood but only if we spoke clearly and slowly. She was very sweet though and constantly filling up our tea, making sure we had enough to eat and even praising me for my chopstick skillz (or lack there of, lol). Dinner was excellent though and there was so much to try. Everything from fried fish bites, some sort of sweetened pork (my favorite), a whole chinese bass, mushrooms, veggies, tomato and egg noodle soup, egg plant with seafood, and fried tofu with ginger (another of my favorites for the evening). I tried everything except the egg plant (since the seafood was a shell fish of some sort) and the sea bass just to be careful. It was all good. After dinner we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel for the evening.
Full and worn out from our full day of adventure Terri and I decided to turn in for the night. It was a good day.
China - Day...well...I'm not sure.
anymore. I have no idea if this is due to the great firewall of China
crackdowns of late, or something else, but hopefully this post from one of
my remaining email address, will make it. Sigh.
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Everything has been blurring together. I haven't been wearing a watch all
week so I really have no idea of time/day other than when I sit down behind
my laptop every afternoon or evening to check email and send messages back
home. It's pretty crazy, but looking at the time stamp on my computer it's
technically the evening of the 7th here which means we've just passed the
1/2 way point of our journey. That also means I'm 2 days behind on posts,
and since I'm not quite sure where I left off in my last post (since I can't
actually view my blog anymore) here's a recap of what happened on Monday. If
I've missed something let me know (email me) and I'll go back and retrace my
steps...or posts I guess.
Monday was Terri's first day of teaching so rather than sitting in the hotel
and waiting for her, I decided to tag along. After a quick breakfast of
potatoes and noodles (something that still strikes me as very odd) we met up
with the students and our guide Ming for the walk to campus. It was a hot
morning and since no one really knew where we were going the walk seemed to
take forever. In all actuality, having walked it about 6 times now, it only
takes 15-20 minutes depending on our speed. As we walked with Ming he gave
us a short history/explanation of everything we were seeing, he's quite the
tour guide. :) Apparently Tianjin University and Nankai University are right
next door to each other and students can move freely from campus to campus.
We came in thru the Tianjin gate today. Walking thru campus you can tell
that it's just like any American college/university campus. Since it's
almost summer break here there aren't as many students wondering around but
those that are seem pretty laid back and relaxed. There were even people
doing Tai Chi, real Chinese Tai Chi, all around campus. Ming said that many
of them here are considered masters and are schooled in the old traditional
way. So yeah, laid back and relaxed. That is with the exception of the army
(maybe the equivalent to our ROTC) students. They were in full uniform and
doing what appeared to be some morning chanting/meditation. Not sure if I
was allowed to take a photo, but I grabbed a quick one since they were all
over the field and quite impressive.
Ming continued to wind us further into campus when we passed what appeared
to be a childcare center. The cute little Asian kids, all smiles and
giggles, were on their way out for a morning walk. Many of you know I have a
thing for Asian babies and children. They are so adorable and this group was
no exception. The little girl in the front (in a Mickey tshirt) gave me the
biggest smile when she saw me taking her picture. Another part of campus
that really drew my attention and makes it stand out from an American
campus, is all of the lotus. They're every where and so beautiful. I don't
believe I've ever seen them in person so this was a real treat for me. I
grabbed as many photos as I could whenever I saw them.
The clouds decided to open up in the early part of the afternoon and man did
it rain. Terri and I were unprepared but managed to tip toe thru the
raindrops timing our comings/goings on campus perfectly. Ming took us for
lunch at a campus dining hall (more like a sit down restaurant) where we
feasted on real kung pao chicken, real hot and sour soup, broccoli w/garlic
and some sort of boneless fish fillet. I decided to suck it up and try
everything and although I only nibbled on the fish, it wasn't that bad and
did not make me sick. YAY! After lunch Terri and I braved the weather back
with Ming to our hotel where we decided to stay for the afternoon. Between
bad American movies on TV, doing some laundry in the sink, catching up on
emails and chatting, we were able to pass the time fairly easily.
Since it seemed as if the clouds had decided, for the most part, to zip
themselves back up we chose to venture out for dinner. Having passed a KFC
on our walk back from campus we decided to give it a try and see how
different it is (from taste to the menu) from the traditional fare we're
used to at home. It had it's differences but for the most part we were able
to order 2 spicy chicken sandwiches and fries w/the help of a picture menu
and a little bit of pointing. :) Thankfully we really look like Americans
so the girl behind the counter new immediately to pull out the picture menu
to help us order. Sometimes it pays to stand out. On the way back we stopped
at a convenient store to buy some bottled water (since there is no drinking
the tap water unless you boil it) and coke zeros for the evening. We even
found a package of "lightly sweetened" Oreos. LOL. Now that was funny.
When we had everything we needed we headed back to the hotel. I have to say,
for a country that 4-5x the amount of people that the US has it's amazing
that anyone can get around here. I don't think there are such things as
traffic laws. Maybe more like traffic suggestions, or hints, or nothing at
all. There is no such thing as yielding here. Not for lights, not for
oncoming traffic, bikes or even pedestrians. When you're on the road, you're
going at your own risk. Cars, bikes, buses, no one stops for you. No one.
Wait let me say that again NO ONE. We've already seen 2 accidents in the 2
days we've been here. Terri and I have been sticking to the block
surrounding our hotel b/c each time we attempt to cross the street we see
our lives flash before our eyes. No matter what you're doing, you're wrong.
And MAN do they use their horns here. Beep beep beep! That's a constant
sound around here. That and the screeching sound of bike breaks. It's enough
to drive someone crazy. And the street signs, oh the street signs. I have no
idea what any of them say but the pictograms are enough to make anyone
laugh. I've attached one for this post of what appears to just be a happy
driver. Maybe one of my Chinese speaking friends out there can tell me what
it means. Regardless, I have a new respect for the US and our traffic laws.
Suddenly Chicago traffic doesn't seem so bad, almost easy and laid back
compared to here. I'll never complain about rush hour again....well, maybe
at least for the next few months. ;)
So that was pretty much our Monday. Both Terri and I managed to make a few
quick actual phone calls to home ("hello from the future" is how mine
started) and then we went to bed early. We were both fast asleep by like 10.
FB is now blocked in China
Well peeps, turns out that China decided to block Facebook this evening as well. So as of right now I have no FB, no Twitter, no YouTube, possibly no Skype....all I have left, for now, is email (**knocks on wood**). Guess I won't be able to do much sharing. Glad I was able to get on this afternoon for a little bit and post some love. Sorry to any of you that I missed b/c there will be no FB love from China for the time being.
*sigh*
Guess that means instead of playing around I should get down to business and post some real updates about what we've been doing out here the past couple of days. I'm 2 entries behind.
3 cheers for the great firewall of China.....or not.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Quick update...
Sorry for not posting an update yesterday, but I wanted to let you all know things are fine here. For those of you who may or may not be following the news the riots in China have caused quite a stir over here when it comes to internet access. I can no longer post updates to Twitter, the blog is still blocked and I have my fingers crossed that they don't take down Facebook. And for those of you who might be a little behind on your China geography, we are no where near where those riots are happening. If my little Google maps search is correct, we're approximately a day and a half drive away, further toward the coast then inland.
I know this is a quick post, I'll try to write more later today recapping yesterday and the first part of today. We have dinner w/the dean of the Nankai University tonight and our host Ming, so Terri and I are going to head out and do some more exploring of the city beforehand. That and we've been told there will be heavy heavy rains here again tomorrow which will pretty much make it another indoor type of day. At least that will give me a chance to update the blog and catch up on some bad American movies on tv (since that's the only English speaking tv station we get).
Until next time...miss you all!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
China - Day 2, Tianjin
Yesterday was probably one of the longest days I've ever had. After writing up that last post on my iPhone while sitting in the Beijing Airport Starbucks quite a lot happened. Between flight delays for the other students and minor issues at the airport, Terri and I actually ended up sitting at that Starbucks for 6 hours. Now I love Starbucks and all, a total junkie, but 6 hours in the same seat without Internet access was close to torture. Thankfully about 2 hours into our 6 hour wait the student ambassadors from Nankai University with their resident director Ming which provided a fair amount of entertainment. They were, they are, all so nice and spoke English fairly well. It was a welcome relief to have someone nearby who spoke English. I spent most of my time talking to one of the ambassador students, John, and then a student from Stetson, Ashley. We talked about everything from Michael Jackson (yup, MJ is still big here) to families, school, the types of law their all studying, things we do for fun, etc. etc. It was fun. The one thing that made me laugh though was how interested they were in my "gold" hair. Several of them asked me if I was born with such shinny golden hair, it was cute.
By 11pm local time everyone had arrived and we made our way to the charter bus that was going to bring us down to Tianjin. It was probably about a 2 1/2 hour drive and as nice as it was for the bus to have AC, that was probably the only nice thing about it. I could swear that bus didn't have shocks since we felt every bump, crack and rock on the path. The seats weren't that comfortable either, but hey, it was a free ride. We finally got to our hotel around 1am and after checking in made it up to our room. All of the students are staying on the same floor and can you believe it's floor 13? I don't think I've ever stayed in a hotel that had a 13th floor. Our room is nice and perfect for our 5 day stay here, but I'm not sure how the students who are here for the whole month are going to do it. Props to them. So after a quick Skype session with my brother and niece at home, Terri and I, exhausted, turned in for the night. Unfortunately for us the beds are rock solid. I mean I like a firm mattress and all, but I might as well be sleeping on the floor. But again, it's a bed so I shouldn't complain.
We both woke up around 8-830am, showered and went downstairs for breakfast. It's going to take some getting used to, seeing noodles and other foods I would normally associate with lunch or dinner at a breakfast buffet. There were some potato cakes, sausage, bacon and fruit options so all wasn't totally lost. There were even rice crispies which I was totally stoked about until I saw that the milk had been sitting out and so I decided to avoid that. No need to get sick this early into the trip. So I had noodles, potatoes, bacon and a bun for breakfast with some Chinese tea. And my Asian family would be proud of me, I ate the whole meal with chop sticks. :) All that practice has helped. We'll see how I do at our next meal though...
After breakfast we did another quick Skype session with home and then packed up to go exploring. Since it's Sunday here we were told the best place to go would be the Tianjin Ancient Culture Street, an outdoor market type shopping center that reminded me very much of the many Chinatowns I've visited, probably most like San Fransisco though. Terri and I took a taxi (that was interesting, the way they drive around here is scary!) walked around a bit and scoped out everything. Then we went back and did a second pass to buy some things. We did a little bit of negotiating on prices and for the most part got the few things we purchased for what we think is a good deal. The most important part is that we had fun doing it right? And we got by without having to use any of our many translators we both have on our iPhones. We spent a couple hours out and then caught a cab back to the hotel. I just want to say, for the record, that I should NEVER complain about Chicago traffic. People here do NOT know how to drive. There are no such things as lanes, crosswalks, red lights, yielding to oncoming or pedestrian traffic, nothing. I mean there probably should be, there might even be some laws in place, but no one follows them. I would never survive if I had to drive here. In fact I'm surprised we survived the 2 cab rides.
Now we're back in the hotel, eating some snacks, drinking some Coke Zero (that tastes different) and watching the 1 English tv channel we seem to get, Star Movies. HA! The programming seems to be all bad American movies. Right now some horrible J-Lo/Marc Anthony salsa movie is on. *sigh* If I wasn't so worn out, or it wasn't so hot out, we'd probably explore a little more. But it's nice to sit here and relax. Probably the last day I'll really get to do it, so with that I'm going to wrap this up, post and lay down for a little while.
Until next time...
------------------
Again since blogger is being blocked as part of the great firewall of China, I'm posting this via email. Please forgive all formatting issues. Below should be my photos for this post. Here are some captions that you'll have to do your best matching up with the photos they belong to. Since I can't even see blogger someone let me know if this isn't working.
These are only a few of all I've taken so far. Hopefully you'll enjoy them since I have SO many others to share:
1- Our hotel, with our little traveler Pandy. Pandy is Amy's panda that is traveling with Terri and I for the week. We've been taking pictures of Pandy doing everything we do to share with the little bugger at home.
2- The gate to Ancient Culture Street.
3- Ancient Culture Street.
4- A little Asian girl poses for her family to take a photo in front of a store's statue on the street.
5- A very happy dragon that was guarding a part of the street.
6- There were painters all up and down the street offering to paint your name. This man was so nice that we him paint one for Amy. He drew a crowd, it was so cool to watch.
7- The painter and the finished product.
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