I guess Beijing and Shanghai wasn't the end of my travels! I'm going to be studying at the Hong Kong Institute of Education starting the end of this December to next summer! I'll be updating this blog with more details and soon entries about my trip when it gets closer and I embark.
Stay tuned!
Totally forgot about this until I checked out the site today, but when we visited the Beijing Museum, they had a collection of flags displaying the countries participating the the Shanghai World Expo next year.
The day and time we visited could not be better. Some of my fellow classmates witnessed the confirmation of our home country!
If you don't know anything about the World Expo in Shanghai, don't be ashamed. I knew nothing about it until I saw this toothpaste/Gumby figure popping up everywhere in the city...
But besides Hai Bao, there's so many other reasons why one would really really want to go to Shanghai next summer for the expo, like the customized pavillions they're making for each country involved!
This is a video from the Beijing Airport relating to the H1N1 problem:
I've returned from China with a decent case of jet lag, so I've been
combating it the only way, trying to keep with the sleeping pattern of
this time zone by not succumbing to naps, the usual. China is exactly 12
hours ahead so I feel like it's so much later than it actually is all
the time.
The plane ride was terrible. The plane hit
turbulence most of the way from China and over most of Russia. There
was a baby screaming most of the flight too, but eventually I got to
sleep. When the plane reached the North Pole, I was asleep for the rest
of the flight, save for the 90 minutes I spent watching Mulan.
We
went through customs in Newark because I was so
tired and I hadn't eaten on the entire plane ride from China because
plane food makes me feel bloated and ill. My friend made me eat
pretzels though.
Anyway, the plane from New York or New Jersey or
whatever was delayed from 9 to 11 pm, and then when we boarded, the
plane chilled on the runway for like another hour or two as it kept
getting rerouted because of the storms. I can't tell you how long
because of course, I was asleep again.
Oh and that screaming baby
was on the plane again. And I was sitting next to some jerk who
had his elbow in my side the entire flight because apparently he didn't
get enough room being in the aisle.
I didn't think much about the trip until recently. Overall, I felt as if it was a very eyeopening experience for me. I had been to Japan a few times before so I had experience with Asia but China was totally different than Japan or the US. The people have a much deeper sense of community than the US, where the individual is key. Despite the fact China is considered a communist country, it seems as if they have the capitalist bug much bigger than we do in the US. As for the difference between Japan and China, well, here's is something I've noticed; in an encounter with a girl named Mariko last summer in Japan, she stated bluntly "Japanese people do not smile". After she said that, it echoed in my mind and I told my host mother, who said "I guess that is true, on the train we all look down and not at each other". In China, everyone seems to be beaming and stare at each other... and do they stare! It's not rude at all to stare in China, so to a foreigner it's a little unnerving at first. The only thing I could do to combat this is stare back. Additionally, I have a scenerio that I had experienced in both China and Japan that had very different results; I'm in an elevator with two businessmen in Japan, feeling awkward, as the two staunch suited men stare down at the ground and ride down 9 floors with me. It's quiet, and the silence is stifiling. Same experience, but in China, I hop into an elevator with two men and they greet me with a little nihao and ask me what floor I'm going to, and they press the button for me! How considerate! They look me in the face and smile. I wait till I get off at my floor and say xiexie.
As a foreign female, I felt much less pressure on my physical appearance than I felt in Japan. I never felt leered at by men nor scorned in disgust by females because of my full, caucasian figure. That's not to say I didn't feel awkward at times, but I didn't feel as if I was in the way like in Japan. It seemed as if every girl and boy in Tokyo was a fashion model, but in Beijing, it looked as if people just threw on the first thing they found in the morning and left. They didn't look scrubby, but rather comfortable and easy-going. As for being a foreigner, I felt that the Chinese natives were not afraid of me, but rather curious as to what this blinding pale waigo-ren (foreigner) was. At make up stores, I was complimented for my "pink" skin color (in China, they avoid tans and pigmentation with umbrellas, detachable sleeves, full face sunglass-like shields and even skin whitening cosmetics, one type of facial cleanser I've recieved as a sample and used when I returned to America), told that my coarse, curly red hair was beautiful at the hair salon and by a few girls I met (very good self-esteem boost!), and Sammy, one of the students at Beijing Jiaotong, explained the Chinese facination with foreign eyes.
Another difference between China and Japan was the noise levels in public areas. Restaurants? Loud. Parks? Also loud. Chinese people love to talk! I wanted to take a video of our bus driver in Beijing because he had such an interesting, nasally voice. Listening to him speak Mandarin juxtaposed to Dr. To's was funny. But I am convinced that Chinese people actually can't understand each other, they just pretend they do. I am convinced of this because I've played music for people in Chinese and asked what the music is about and they say "I don't know, he's talking too fast" or "I can't understand her accent". Even if the singer is speaking Mandarin. The exception is Jay Chou because nobody knows what's he's mumbling to music about:
And from all the points already mentioned, it would probably not surprising if I said China had a much more relaxing atmosphere compared to Japan. In Japan, everything was rigid, scheduled, and perfectly aligned. Sure I stuck out like a sore thumb, but I didn't feel like it was difficult to conform to Chinese daily living like it was in Japan.
I would love to go back to China and see more sights such as the Terracotta Army and maybe venture to the northern parts or Zhucheng and see some paleontology digs. The earth is rich with fossils in that area, and I've been reading news of new species being discovered in the past few months, such as the duckbilled Hadrosaurus and Suzhousaurus. Here are their pictures, respectively:
Additionally, the Chinese will eat anything. When I say anything, I don't mean it in a bad way, but rather they utilize every piece of the animal or plant. Traditional Chinese medicine say that food can heal anything, so they eat certain things to cure certain problems. Have a big test coming up? Eat a goat brain. Bad vision? Chicken eyeballs. Want to have a more passionate relationship with your significant other? Cow testicles apparently help. Food is very important to them, one of their greetings are "Have you eaten yet?" (forget what it is in Chinese). Nonetheless, the only strange foods I ate (and knew about) was jellyfish, cuttlefish, bamboo (tasted like pencil eraser), and this nasty fruit called a durian:
The best food I had? I loved the Shanghai dumplings we had near the Yuyuan Gardens that had a bit of meat and delicious soup you had to suck out of it. Litchee flavored anything was sweet and tasty. Apple Milk was a surprising necessity for me, as it was a nutritional drink and provided electrolytes without being a sports drink.
The only fast food restaurants I visited were KFC and Pizza Hut, but besides those two I tried to avoid American food. The Pizza Hut was very fancy, while the KFC was very similar to its Western counterpart. The chicken, however, was a mix of white and dark meat, which is rare in American fast food. Fast food restaurants and American chains are heavily peppered all over the city, the most visible are McDonalds and KFC. There's a KFC on nearly every street and in every mall. I also noticed a Dunkin Donuts in Shanghai and a few Burger Kings, and there was another popular fastfood chain called Kung Fu with a Bruce Lee look-alike on the logo.
On the final day in China, we had a goodbye party in a swanky, rotating restaurant overlooking Beijing, which was very sad for me. I really hope I get to see Maggie and Mengying again, whether it be in the US or China. I also hope I'll get to see everyone from the group again because they were so fun and engaged in everything around them. I can't wait until the semester starts and we get to meet the new exchange students from Beijing and Shanghai in the US, because they were so helpful while we were in their country, I want to help them with anything in mine.
The only thing I am wondering is, where will I travel to next?
Visited the famous Silk Market the other day which was a huge building packed with sales people selling everything from silk (as the name of the store alludes), tea, jewelry, candy, bronze goods, and (most likely counterfeit) electronics. Basically anything you could haggle down to a cheap price if you have the energy to. I didn't. Those salespeople are so aggressive. So I walked around stores on the street, which was an artsy district in Beijing, simply called "The Place". How creative. But I got energy later on in the night and went out with my friend shopping along stores near the school. I scored two pairs of nerdtastic glasses, a nice bracelet, Communist Propaganda posters, more apple milk, and some super comfortable headbands that I cannot stop wearing.
The next day, I went with Dr. To to a street near Tianenmen Square that I don't remember the name of. It was very old-style Chinese, some stores dating back to the 1600s. We even went to China's first Cinema and saw the mini historical exhibit.
Oh, and more Chinese rock! I love how this language sounds:
Ever hear of Wang Fu Jing (literally, "well to do people street")? This is the home to classy shops and fried seahorse/scorpion on a stick. There was a lot of foreigners wandering around, and it rained the entire night. Traveling on the train in China is not as convenient as Boston or Tokyo makes it, but it's pretty much dirt cheap to take the trains (2 yuan) and buses (1 yuan). It's only inconvenient because the trains come a little less frequently than Tokyo and getting to the train requires you to wander these winding hallways and hills underground for 20 minutes. And most likely, the trains are completely packed at all times of the day. Let me also remind you that the Chinese do not believe in lines and will cut you to get on board, no exceptions.
Here, have some more Chinese music! It's an indie pop band called PB33!
Last year, Beijing held the Summer Olympics. Today, we visited the Water Cube (where the pools are located) and the Bird's Nest (the field). They have both buildings open to the public. The Water Cube has a restaurant and some shops, as well as the pools being used as a Water Ballet stage, while the Bird's Nest apparently holds concerts (the girl in the lobby of the hotel I've made friends with told me that Super Junior held a concert in the Bird's Nest on the weekend).
There were many tours of elementary school kids in the Bird's Nest, and they kept taking candid photos of us foreigners. One girl from our tour looked though one of the kid's cameras and saw photos of us.
Another Chinese song! 曹格 - 起床歌, I like his voice a lot.
I like zoos and I love aquariums, but the Beijing Zoo was a bit depressing to visit. The open air pits were full of trash and plastic bottles, and the people were bad to the animals. The aquarium was a bit better, but the people pounded on the glass tanks, something you don't see too often in America, especially such silly behavior in adults. Obviously respect for animals is a different cultural thing here. Going anywhere in Beijing is like a perpetual mosh pit because they don't say "excuse me", just just cut right through and push and shove everyone around. It's not to say that they're rude, it's just a different culture there.
The aquarium was better. A tad on the small side, but they had some interesting exhibits of things you usually wouldn't see in aquariums in the US, such as fossils and prehistoric animals. They also had a large tank full of sturgeon, which I've never seen before. They were huge! Also, in the rainforest and freshwater tanks, they had a lot of fish that you can get as pets in the US. The aquarium also had a big tank full of just puffer fish though, which made me very happy! But one thing that didn't make me happy about the aquarium was that they had all these photos of the Mola Mola up (ocean sunfish) but didn't have one. I ran around asking "MOLA MOLA ZAI NARRR" most of the time.
If you are to visit the Beijing Zoo, it's worth seeing for the panda exhibit. The pandas are the only animals that actually seem protected.
Nihao again! Today we hiked the legendary Great Wall, and visited the
Ming Tombs. I don't have much else to write about, other than the wall
was very steep in some areas and very crowded. Again, very touristy, but it's the famous Great Wall of China! Yesterday, we went to the Beijing historical museum.
I've
been trying to talk to that girl who liked the Korean musicians that
works in the hotel. I spent a while yesterday trying to chat with her
about random things. She knows zero English, so I just used my limited
Chinese and my homework from Mandarin class to help me. I asked her things like how old she was, and if she had a brother or sister. She's 18 and has a little sister. She works with her mom at the store in the hotel.
Speaking of
Mandarin class, I accidentally skipped yesterday because I got lost on
campus. I was buying water when they closed down the walkway I was to
take for class since there was a graduation ceremony today and they
were practicing yesterday.
I keep hearing this song in stores:
It's common knowledge that the dragon (and a bit lesser known, the phoenix) is a popular mythological icon in Chinese culture, history, and even current day pop culture, but how many of you know about this cute critter called the qilin (pronounced "chi-linn"). While there is many variations of the qilin, one of the most visible depictions of it combines the physical traits of a friendly dragon face with expressive eyes and eyebrows, deer antlers, fish scales, ox hooves and lion mane and tail, such as the ones that guard the otherwordly Ming Tombs:
The Qilin is a symbol of prosperity and is considered auspicious, similar to dragons and their association with power. They, like dragons, are often depicted in flames. But what's interesting to me about qilin is the fact that I've seen this creature often in Japan as well.
So yesterday (or today, in your country, most likely because I am in the future), I did a lot of fun things! I went to a Lama Temple and saw cool monks, used a Chinese toilet for the first time, met with Peter Ford of the Christian Science Monitor, ate at Pizza Hut (which is kind of a fancy upscale type restaurant in China if you can believe that), and met the president and vice president of Bridgewater State College.
Mr. Ford is one of the most interesting people I've ever met in my life, and his story inspired me to want to travel more.
Facebook had been blocked in China a few days ago, but that didn't stop our professor from emailing us programs to get around China's internet censorship firewall.
