It's only about 3 weeks until I return home, and only 2 weeks until school is over! Time to get in all my ya-yas and exciting moments is running out fast. So that's why this weekend was spent very quietly, in preparation for the last stretch.
My Thanksgiving was quite pleasant, thanks to the lovely dinner put on by CIEE at the Mayfair Hotel. The buffet held quite a feast: Chinese food, American food, and sushi. There was all my favorites, including mashed potatoes, mac'n'cheese (Thanksgiving?), gravy, yams, and a pumpkin pie-esque dessert. I ate my fill, as I had fasted that day, as did all my tongxuemen (classmates). Unfortunately, due to the rich Western food, many people were quite overwhelmed and felt ill that night. But not me! I felt great!
Anna and I checked out Nanjing Lu on Saturday evening. It was quite crowded but I liked the shiny lights and happy atmosphere. I prefer to buy cheap products very cheaply on the street, instead of being ripped-off in stores.
Other interesting things this weekend:
1) Attempted to book a hotel for my dad and I. Fail. Matilda helped me though. She's a peach.
2) Mailed some postcards. Success. I know where to put them now.
3) McDonald's lunch special. SUCCESS! It's only 15 kuai!
4) IR paper. Fail. Will get done this week.
I've also been having some interesting conversations with both Chinese and non-Chinese about China. Chinese politics, policies, eating habits, you name it. As an international studies major, it tends to be macro things that I am most passionate about. I've been finding it very difficult to empathize with the Chinese point of view but still respectfully agree. Aw...Ellen's growing up! I hope I can acquire the skills to be a great diplomat between nations, because right now I just feel somewhat ignorant and righteous. It'll get better, I promise!
My tutor is taking me to a water town on Saturday. I am stoked!
Anyways, have a wonderful week.
ellen
P.S. Word of the day "luoben" = loo-oh-bun = streaking, like naked running 'streaking'
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Nanjing
This weekend I went to Nanjing, the old capital of China. It is about 2.5 hours away from Shanghai if you ride the D-train. We went 206 km/hr tops!
I went with two girls, Mai and Anna, along with a bunch of guys who were staying at a different hostel. We split up at the train station and went our respective ways. Our hostel, the Sunflower, was off the metro a bit but in a very interesting locale. They messed up our booking and the place was a little seedy, but it worked because it was $6 per night. The sheets were clean anyway.
We wandered around looking for lunch but, as I've noticed, it's pretty much impossible to find something to eat if it's not the back gate. So we at at McDonald's. It's fine, don't worry, they had a $2 lunch meal special. I don't mind. Then we took a cab to the Nanjing Massacre Museum or Memorial for compatriots killed in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Forces of Aggression, as the Chinese call it.
This was an incredible museum on so many levels. I don't mean incredible in a good way, just in an awed, thought-provoking, shocked way. You may have heard that the displays are incredibly graphic, including many photos of dead, mutilated corpses as well as an open display of skeletal remains. I'm not so much shocked by that aspect as much as the rhetoric and propaganda in the translations of the exhibit explanations. After leaving, the three of us were speechless. There was nothing to say that could describe the confusion we all felt after seeing the museum. It summed up China quite well, with all the contradictions it comes with.
The sculpture and design of the place were unique and interesting. This was my favorite part. They made me check my backpack for 3 kuai. This was my least favorite part, especially since the museum was free.
The generally accepted number of victims, but still unknown.
That night we met up with our fellow CIEE classmates and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant, of all places. It was recommended by Lonely Planet. We spent the meal pointing at tables guessing that the guests had been reading Lonely Planet. It was, however, a fantastic meal.
We returned to the boys' hostel, which was far nicer, but a little out-of-the-way. We hung out in their common area and returned to our sketch 8-bed room where all the other guests were asleep.
The next morning we took off to Purple Mountain. We failed miserably at acquiring breakfast so we pretended we were fasting for religious reasons. We arrived at Sun Yatsen's mausoleum and attempted to make contact with several other groups in Nanjing. Epic failure. So we drank expensive Lipton tea and planned our day. We decided to go into the Ming Tomb Scenic Area on the mountain, but not after having a strange altercation with a woman trying to cheat us and Chinese people taking our side and helping us. It was a good China day.
I love climbing!
The park was beautiful and interesting. We ended up alone on a crazy hike through the woods by the city wall. We saw stone sculptures and ancient ruins. I could wander for hours. Later in the day, when the haze makes it seem much later than it really is, we headed to the train station. With one hour to kill, we decided to take a paddle boat out onto the lake. It was seriously the most difficult paddle I've ever undertaken, but luckily we made it back.
Nanjing is a beautiful, beautiful city without too many foreigners. We were stared at quite often and I spoke a fair amount of Chinese. I will hopefully stop by there again!
This week is Thanksgiving. We're supposedly getting Western food on Thursday night. Wish me luck!
loves and kisses,
ellen
I went with two girls, Mai and Anna, along with a bunch of guys who were staying at a different hostel. We split up at the train station and went our respective ways. Our hostel, the Sunflower, was off the metro a bit but in a very interesting locale. They messed up our booking and the place was a little seedy, but it worked because it was $6 per night. The sheets were clean anyway.
We wandered around looking for lunch but, as I've noticed, it's pretty much impossible to find something to eat if it's not the back gate. So we at at McDonald's. It's fine, don't worry, they had a $2 lunch meal special. I don't mind. Then we took a cab to the Nanjing Massacre Museum or Memorial for compatriots killed in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Forces of Aggression, as the Chinese call it.
This was an incredible museum on so many levels. I don't mean incredible in a good way, just in an awed, thought-provoking, shocked way. You may have heard that the displays are incredibly graphic, including many photos of dead, mutilated corpses as well as an open display of skeletal remains. I'm not so much shocked by that aspect as much as the rhetoric and propaganda in the translations of the exhibit explanations. After leaving, the three of us were speechless. There was nothing to say that could describe the confusion we all felt after seeing the museum. It summed up China quite well, with all the contradictions it comes with.
The sculpture and design of the place were unique and interesting. This was my favorite part. They made me check my backpack for 3 kuai. This was my least favorite part, especially since the museum was free.
The generally accepted number of victims, but still unknown.
That night we met up with our fellow CIEE classmates and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant, of all places. It was recommended by Lonely Planet. We spent the meal pointing at tables guessing that the guests had been reading Lonely Planet. It was, however, a fantastic meal.
We returned to the boys' hostel, which was far nicer, but a little out-of-the-way. We hung out in their common area and returned to our sketch 8-bed room where all the other guests were asleep.
The next morning we took off to Purple Mountain. We failed miserably at acquiring breakfast so we pretended we were fasting for religious reasons. We arrived at Sun Yatsen's mausoleum and attempted to make contact with several other groups in Nanjing. Epic failure. So we drank expensive Lipton tea and planned our day. We decided to go into the Ming Tomb Scenic Area on the mountain, but not after having a strange altercation with a woman trying to cheat us and Chinese people taking our side and helping us. It was a good China day.
I love climbing!
The park was beautiful and interesting. We ended up alone on a crazy hike through the woods by the city wall. We saw stone sculptures and ancient ruins. I could wander for hours. Later in the day, when the haze makes it seem much later than it really is, we headed to the train station. With one hour to kill, we decided to take a paddle boat out onto the lake. It was seriously the most difficult paddle I've ever undertaken, but luckily we made it back.
Nanjing is a beautiful, beautiful city without too many foreigners. We were stared at quite often and I spoke a fair amount of Chinese. I will hopefully stop by there again!
This week is Thanksgiving. We're supposedly getting Western food on Thursday night. Wish me luck!
loves and kisses,
ellen
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Internet Fail, Beijing Triumph
Currently I am experienced dramatic technical issues with my VPN program. This will not keep me away from my precious blog, however.
I just returned from a week-long trip in Beijing with my study-abroad program, China in a Global Context. There were about 30 students and 4 teachers in our group. The trip was fun and we overcame the various glitches in scheduling, weather, and other issues.
We took an overnight hard sleeper from Shanghai to Beijing. I love the train. It is so comfortable to fall asleep to the rocking motion and there is hot water available all the time! I slept fantastically! We arrived in Beijing, groggy but shocked into awareness by the biting cold. Our Chinese guide (no English) led our bus to a famous Peking Duck restaurant where we stuffed ourselves with duck meat. Duck meat is alright, but too fatty for my taste. In addition, at the end of the trip they informed us that the duck is force-fed which really grosses me out. No more duck for me!
We were put up in a ridiculously nice hotel where we spent the rest of the day relaxing. When it came time to feed ourselves, I missed my old back-gate, where everything I want or need is a 5-minute walk within my dorm.
The next few days we spent visiting a hutong, or old alleyway, in the bar district of Beijing. We had a bizarre social experiment of a lunch, where 9 of us were shut in a separate small room and fed nibbles of cold, tasteless food while the rest of the group laughed and dined on a feast of endless dishes. We could see them through our window and it was horribly depressing. I'm not sure what happened, but I think I'm okay now. We also saw Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Olympics stadium. Unfortunately, it was very cold and windy. It made us all quite ill and being outside was needlessly unpleasant. When I was bundled up, I could barely handle the weather. I ended up with a nasty cough and fever, just in time for our trip to the Great Wall!
We drove a bus to Chengde, the site of a Qing Dynasty Summer Palace. That place was enormous! We took small electric cars from pond to pond to look at pagodas, reindeer, and bridges. We then took our large bus to see the mini replica of the Potala Palace (the real one which I saw in Tibet) but it was closed for the day. I can't say I was too bummed. I like to maintain my well-traveled superiority over others.
Our hotel in Chengde was also very nice, but I just slept super-early to stave off my sickness because we were headed to the Wall the next day.
Instead of hiking from one point to another, we just drove to our end destination to dink around on the Simatai portion of the Great Wall. We were too sick and weak to do anything hard-core. I was one of the advocates for all-out hiking, but it's a good thing we didn't because I was one of the first ones to bail out from a fainting spell. Good one, Ellen. It's fine though because I made it the 2 miles or so to our lunch destination in a village off the beaten path. When I arrived, exhausted and near tears, I found a large heated bed awaiting me. Our small party snuggled in blankets and played with kittens while the rest of CGC frolicked out on the Wall. We ate lunch with our host village family and celebrated my friend Travis's birthday with cake and fireworks. It turned out very positively from a rather tragic beginning. I say tragic because the Great Wall is definitely one of my favorite places. I'll be back.
Our bus ride back to Beijing was a symphony of coughing and snorting. Charming! We made it back okay and I slept well. I went to the new Summer Palace the next day and also visited a very Westernized hutong lined with small boutiques. We had to hurry back for the Chinese opera show that evening, otherwise I think I would have bought way too much stuff!
Ah, Chinese opera. It is shrieking and spectacle. We had a libretto translated on the side, but along with many other Chinese-to-English translations, was lacking in depth and accuracy. This made for a very amusing time. About halfway through, the opera turned into an acrobatics show. No more shrieking noises. Except for one last "Wooooooooosh" at the end. I enjoyed the show, but appreciated its short length (1 hr).
Beijing is an enormous city with thousands of things to see. I know I will return some time and it will hopefully not be in the cold. If you want to join, give me a call.
Fun fact: Chinese dogs say "Wang wang!" instead of "Woof woof!"
looooove,
ellen
P.S. To Kate: You did not tell me that I would be returning to Eugene to hear several Beethoven Piano Concertos that the Eugene Symphony is performing. I am peeved. Yet I am very happy I get to hear my favorites. We will go together. That's all.
I just returned from a week-long trip in Beijing with my study-abroad program, China in a Global Context. There were about 30 students and 4 teachers in our group. The trip was fun and we overcame the various glitches in scheduling, weather, and other issues.
We took an overnight hard sleeper from Shanghai to Beijing. I love the train. It is so comfortable to fall asleep to the rocking motion and there is hot water available all the time! I slept fantastically! We arrived in Beijing, groggy but shocked into awareness by the biting cold. Our Chinese guide (no English) led our bus to a famous Peking Duck restaurant where we stuffed ourselves with duck meat. Duck meat is alright, but too fatty for my taste. In addition, at the end of the trip they informed us that the duck is force-fed which really grosses me out. No more duck for me!
We were put up in a ridiculously nice hotel where we spent the rest of the day relaxing. When it came time to feed ourselves, I missed my old back-gate, where everything I want or need is a 5-minute walk within my dorm.
The next few days we spent visiting a hutong, or old alleyway, in the bar district of Beijing. We had a bizarre social experiment of a lunch, where 9 of us were shut in a separate small room and fed nibbles of cold, tasteless food while the rest of the group laughed and dined on a feast of endless dishes. We could see them through our window and it was horribly depressing. I'm not sure what happened, but I think I'm okay now. We also saw Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Olympics stadium. Unfortunately, it was very cold and windy. It made us all quite ill and being outside was needlessly unpleasant. When I was bundled up, I could barely handle the weather. I ended up with a nasty cough and fever, just in time for our trip to the Great Wall!
We drove a bus to Chengde, the site of a Qing Dynasty Summer Palace. That place was enormous! We took small electric cars from pond to pond to look at pagodas, reindeer, and bridges. We then took our large bus to see the mini replica of the Potala Palace (the real one which I saw in Tibet) but it was closed for the day. I can't say I was too bummed. I like to maintain my well-traveled superiority over others.
Our hotel in Chengde was also very nice, but I just slept super-early to stave off my sickness because we were headed to the Wall the next day.
Instead of hiking from one point to another, we just drove to our end destination to dink around on the Simatai portion of the Great Wall. We were too sick and weak to do anything hard-core. I was one of the advocates for all-out hiking, but it's a good thing we didn't because I was one of the first ones to bail out from a fainting spell. Good one, Ellen. It's fine though because I made it the 2 miles or so to our lunch destination in a village off the beaten path. When I arrived, exhausted and near tears, I found a large heated bed awaiting me. Our small party snuggled in blankets and played with kittens while the rest of CGC frolicked out on the Wall. We ate lunch with our host village family and celebrated my friend Travis's birthday with cake and fireworks. It turned out very positively from a rather tragic beginning. I say tragic because the Great Wall is definitely one of my favorite places. I'll be back.
Our bus ride back to Beijing was a symphony of coughing and snorting. Charming! We made it back okay and I slept well. I went to the new Summer Palace the next day and also visited a very Westernized hutong lined with small boutiques. We had to hurry back for the Chinese opera show that evening, otherwise I think I would have bought way too much stuff!
Ah, Chinese opera. It is shrieking and spectacle. We had a libretto translated on the side, but along with many other Chinese-to-English translations, was lacking in depth and accuracy. This made for a very amusing time. About halfway through, the opera turned into an acrobatics show. No more shrieking noises. Except for one last "Wooooooooosh" at the end. I enjoyed the show, but appreciated its short length (1 hr).
Beijing is an enormous city with thousands of things to see. I know I will return some time and it will hopefully not be in the cold. If you want to join, give me a call.
Fun fact: Chinese dogs say "Wang wang!" instead of "Woof woof!"
looooove,
ellen
P.S. To Kate: You did not tell me that I would be returning to Eugene to hear several Beethoven Piano Concertos that the Eugene Symphony is performing. I am peeved. Yet I am very happy I get to hear my favorites. We will go together. That's all.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Yes...with the hair!
Team America!
Long time no blog. Well, not really but I know how much you rely on your dose of Ellen. Chinese Ellen at that!
On Friday I really needed to get my Halloween costume so a group of us went to Qipu Lu (Cheapo Road, haha) to shop. This is an insane market with thousands of stalls. In addition, there is a thriving black market of fake designer goods so every 8.2 seconds some hustler comes up saying "Bag, shoose, Rorex?" I wasn't in the mood though so I just purchased what I needed. It's unfortunate though because I'm always thinking "Wow, China has everything, even the most random items," but when I was specifically looking for a mirrored headdress, it just could not be found. That said, my wig was fantastic!
That night, CIEE took us all on a cruise down the Huangpu River, which bisects Shanghai. It was a beautiful night and very shiny. I even saw some fireworks. My roommate and the host families came. Since I am the talk of the host family circuit, I had to make the rounds. I went up in Travis's mom's esteem because I "did my hair and look much prettier this time." Ah, China.
The next day, the big one, was Halloween. Our challege: to find Matilda, my roomie, a costume. We searched high and low, but settled on the basic cowgirl, for which my regular wardrobe actually has all the ingredients. She looked adorable.
As Lady Gaga, I needed to look like a space Barbie, which I think I accomplished pretty well. Our group also included a sexy PLA officer, a panda, Batgirl, and the petty bourgeoisie (see girl with lace gloves).
We leave campus via a side gate, around which many migrant workers congregate. They sell IP phone cards, snacks, and the like. They watched our mad parade pass by with great amusement. Because I looked like a raging lunatic, I counted on the wig to disguise me. Little did I know, these people have a keen eye because when I left this morning to find food, they all asked how my night was. My favorite lady who sells pork sandwiches said I looked "very pretty." I asked whether she recognized me and she promptly said, "Yes...with the hair!" To which I replied, "How embarrassing" and she said, "No you looked skinny and tall."
So, lesson learned, a wig doesn't disguise you very well.
I came home before everyone else and went to sleep so I missed my roommate returning along with all the drama that drunken foreign-exchange students bring back to dormitories. This morning was filled with stories and laughter and was one of the best I have had here.
Who would have thought that an American holiday could be so fun in not-America-land?
looovve,
ellen
Long time no blog. Well, not really but I know how much you rely on your dose of Ellen. Chinese Ellen at that!
On Friday I really needed to get my Halloween costume so a group of us went to Qipu Lu (Cheapo Road, haha) to shop. This is an insane market with thousands of stalls. In addition, there is a thriving black market of fake designer goods so every 8.2 seconds some hustler comes up saying "Bag, shoose, Rorex?" I wasn't in the mood though so I just purchased what I needed. It's unfortunate though because I'm always thinking "Wow, China has everything, even the most random items," but when I was specifically looking for a mirrored headdress, it just could not be found. That said, my wig was fantastic!
That night, CIEE took us all on a cruise down the Huangpu River, which bisects Shanghai. It was a beautiful night and very shiny. I even saw some fireworks. My roommate and the host families came. Since I am the talk of the host family circuit, I had to make the rounds. I went up in Travis's mom's esteem because I "did my hair and look much prettier this time." Ah, China.
The next day, the big one, was Halloween. Our challege: to find Matilda, my roomie, a costume. We searched high and low, but settled on the basic cowgirl, for which my regular wardrobe actually has all the ingredients. She looked adorable.
As Lady Gaga, I needed to look like a space Barbie, which I think I accomplished pretty well. Our group also included a sexy PLA officer, a panda, Batgirl, and the petty bourgeoisie (see girl with lace gloves).
We leave campus via a side gate, around which many migrant workers congregate. They sell IP phone cards, snacks, and the like. They watched our mad parade pass by with great amusement. Because I looked like a raging lunatic, I counted on the wig to disguise me. Little did I know, these people have a keen eye because when I left this morning to find food, they all asked how my night was. My favorite lady who sells pork sandwiches said I looked "very pretty." I asked whether she recognized me and she promptly said, "Yes...with the hair!" To which I replied, "How embarrassing" and she said, "No you looked skinny and tall."
So, lesson learned, a wig doesn't disguise you very well.
I came home before everyone else and went to sleep so I missed my roommate returning along with all the drama that drunken foreign-exchange students bring back to dormitories. This morning was filled with stories and laughter and was one of the best I have had here.
Who would have thought that an American holiday could be so fun in not-America-land?
looovve,
ellen
Sunday, October 25, 2009
China Weekends
Hello friends.
I'm back from a stressful week and long weekends. In my International Relations class I had my midterm, which consisted of an 8-page paper, my first in 6 months or something. It was surprisingly difficult and therefore highly irritating. But I think I did well.
Last weekend, I went with my friends Phoebe and Fiona to a small canal town called Qibao (Chee bawe). It is a touristy destination but small enough to retain some charm. We were the only white people there and we did some wandering into very, very Chinese areas.
It was good to take some time wandering the greater area of Shanghai because it has some incredible things to offer. It was truly an adventure because we took public transportation the whole time, meaning we of course had a lot of trouble finding anything and most Chinese people pretend not to understand us when we ask for directions. Also, you are definitely not guaranteed to get correct directions.
Just this past weekend, CIEE took a group of us to Suzhou, the "Venice of the East," which is about 40 minutes out of Shanghai. After not sleeping the night before, our 7am departure was somewhat devastating to my brain. However, they took us many neat places including a garden, a silk factory, and a shopping street. We also got to go on a nice river cruise to our lunch destination.
Instead of returning with the bus to ECNU, a group of us decided to stay the night in Suzhou at a hostel. After much ado about something, we finally found an adorable place called the Suzhou Watertown Hostel. We were split up into many different rooms but we ended up taking off for dinner right away. We ate dinner at a delicious fusion restaurant and celebrated Anna's 21st birthday by walking about million miles to an Australian bar.
Suzhou is a pretty town, especially along the canal at night. There were even fireflies!
My night would have been complete when I went to bed early, until my stranger roommates burst in at 1am and turned on the light to make their beds. It was a complete breach of hostel etiquette and I was so incensed that I just curled up in a ball silently. I was too tired to do anything else. They were very quiet the next morning, especially the strange Chinese person that wrapped themselves up like a mummy on the bunk next to me.
The next day we decided to go to Hangzhou via bus. Buying bus tickets may have been the most irritating experience of my life. Many Chinese have an interesting method of dealing with foreigners. Instead of listening to my fairly intelligible Chinese, he stared blankly at me as I explained we needed 11 tickets.
Me: "We want the bus to Hangzhou at 1:20pm."
Him: "Okay." (pulls it up on the computer screen)
Me: "Okay we need 11 tickets."
Him: "What?"
Me: "11 tickets."
Him: "What?"
Meghan: "11 tickets."
Him: "What?"
Chinese guy behind us: "11 TICKETS!"
Him: "Oh, okay."
Because I'm not a wizard, I can't read minds, so I have no idea what is going through people's heads when they refuse to hear what I'm saying. I am aware that I don't speak the best in the world, but I also know that if it is simple enough, I am saying it correctly. I think most people are lazy and just don't want to try. That said, we got on the bus to Hangzhou.
Once there, we popped over to West Lake and saw about one hundred billion police and army cadets. Nina overheard someone say "fireworks" so I asked a policeman when the fireworks were. He told us and I got super excited because I LOVE FIREWORKS. ESPECIALLY CHINESE ONES! We decided to find a hostel and then eat and watch the show.
Little did we know that the Hangzhou Expo was going on that night so there were absolutely no rooms available. We pick one night to hang out in Hangzhou unplanned, and of course it is the "Hangzhou Expo," whatever that is. We spent the next 2 hours calling for cheap hotels. Just as I brandished my large sword to kill some of our group members, we found a hotel outside of the city center.
From the 21st floor of the hotel, I could see about 10 different fireworks displays: one on the West Lake, one on the river right in front of the hotel, one to the left of the hotel in a park, and about 5 others down the river to the right. It was probably the most incredible thing I've ever seen. The show lasted for 45 minutes.
You know how in the States we say "Oh it's the finale now!" when it gets very loud and colorful? That's how a Chinese fireworks show is THE ENTIRE TIME. I was completely overstimulated but it truly made my night.
Scooter alarms set off: 5
Chinese proficiency: I talked to a Chinese cab driver on the phone to give him an address and it worked! Crazy!
love,
ellen
I'm back from a stressful week and long weekends. In my International Relations class I had my midterm, which consisted of an 8-page paper, my first in 6 months or something. It was surprisingly difficult and therefore highly irritating. But I think I did well.
Last weekend, I went with my friends Phoebe and Fiona to a small canal town called Qibao (Chee bawe). It is a touristy destination but small enough to retain some charm. We were the only white people there and we did some wandering into very, very Chinese areas.
It was good to take some time wandering the greater area of Shanghai because it has some incredible things to offer. It was truly an adventure because we took public transportation the whole time, meaning we of course had a lot of trouble finding anything and most Chinese people pretend not to understand us when we ask for directions. Also, you are definitely not guaranteed to get correct directions.
Just this past weekend, CIEE took a group of us to Suzhou, the "Venice of the East," which is about 40 minutes out of Shanghai. After not sleeping the night before, our 7am departure was somewhat devastating to my brain. However, they took us many neat places including a garden, a silk factory, and a shopping street. We also got to go on a nice river cruise to our lunch destination.
Instead of returning with the bus to ECNU, a group of us decided to stay the night in Suzhou at a hostel. After much ado about something, we finally found an adorable place called the Suzhou Watertown Hostel. We were split up into many different rooms but we ended up taking off for dinner right away. We ate dinner at a delicious fusion restaurant and celebrated Anna's 21st birthday by walking about million miles to an Australian bar.
Suzhou is a pretty town, especially along the canal at night. There were even fireflies!
My night would have been complete when I went to bed early, until my stranger roommates burst in at 1am and turned on the light to make their beds. It was a complete breach of hostel etiquette and I was so incensed that I just curled up in a ball silently. I was too tired to do anything else. They were very quiet the next morning, especially the strange Chinese person that wrapped themselves up like a mummy on the bunk next to me.
The next day we decided to go to Hangzhou via bus. Buying bus tickets may have been the most irritating experience of my life. Many Chinese have an interesting method of dealing with foreigners. Instead of listening to my fairly intelligible Chinese, he stared blankly at me as I explained we needed 11 tickets.
Me: "We want the bus to Hangzhou at 1:20pm."
Him: "Okay." (pulls it up on the computer screen)
Me: "Okay we need 11 tickets."
Him: "What?"
Me: "11 tickets."
Him: "What?"
Meghan: "11 tickets."
Him: "What?"
Chinese guy behind us: "11 TICKETS!"
Him: "Oh, okay."
Because I'm not a wizard, I can't read minds, so I have no idea what is going through people's heads when they refuse to hear what I'm saying. I am aware that I don't speak the best in the world, but I also know that if it is simple enough, I am saying it correctly. I think most people are lazy and just don't want to try. That said, we got on the bus to Hangzhou.
Once there, we popped over to West Lake and saw about one hundred billion police and army cadets. Nina overheard someone say "fireworks" so I asked a policeman when the fireworks were. He told us and I got super excited because I LOVE FIREWORKS. ESPECIALLY CHINESE ONES! We decided to find a hostel and then eat and watch the show.
Little did we know that the Hangzhou Expo was going on that night so there were absolutely no rooms available. We pick one night to hang out in Hangzhou unplanned, and of course it is the "Hangzhou Expo," whatever that is. We spent the next 2 hours calling for cheap hotels. Just as I brandished my large sword to kill some of our group members, we found a hotel outside of the city center.
From the 21st floor of the hotel, I could see about 10 different fireworks displays: one on the West Lake, one on the river right in front of the hotel, one to the left of the hotel in a park, and about 5 others down the river to the right. It was probably the most incredible thing I've ever seen. The show lasted for 45 minutes.
You know how in the States we say "Oh it's the finale now!" when it gets very loud and colorful? That's how a Chinese fireworks show is THE ENTIRE TIME. I was completely overstimulated but it truly made my night.
Scooter alarms set off: 5
Chinese proficiency: I talked to a Chinese cab driver on the phone to give him an address and it worked! Crazy!
love,
ellen
Monday, October 12, 2009
Reason #487 That China Will Not Be a Superpower in My Lifetime
Doormats.
They don't have them.
I fall every single week on some slippery floor that is mopped once an hour. You may say that this reflects more on me than the Chinese, but au contraire mon ami, it does not. There are billions of reasons a doormat could alternately save lives and prevent messes.
Yes China, you may have ICBMs on mobile trucks, but you have not yet discovered the time/broken ankle-saver that is the doormat.
Good luck taking over the world.
ellen
They don't have them.
I fall every single week on some slippery floor that is mopped once an hour. You may say that this reflects more on me than the Chinese, but au contraire mon ami, it does not. There are billions of reasons a doormat could alternately save lives and prevent messes.
Yes China, you may have ICBMs on mobile trucks, but you have not yet discovered the time/broken ankle-saver that is the doormat.
Good luck taking over the world.
ellen
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Tibet!
Oct 2nd: Fly out of Shanghai to Chengdu to meet our tour organizer before our flight into Lhasa.
Simple? I think not. First, the taxi driver "misheard" me and took us to the wrong airport. Puleez. I speak Chinese passably. Then, we didn't know which terminal our flight left out of. Neither did the taxi driver, of course. So we went to the wrong terminal and had to bus ourselves to the next one. After that, Travis and I were rejected at the Shanghai Air counter because "It's an Air China flight." But we had the same flight as everyone else, right? No. We had a different flight around the same time. We didn't figure that out until we boarded and no one else from our little group was there. And it doesn't end there because our flight was 30 minutes late and our connection time was only 1 hour and 20 minutes to begin with. We arrive with 40 minutes to get our TTB permits and board the plane. No one spoke English and I was terribly flustered. We finally found our stressed-out group and Katherine, our trip organizer, who promptly stamped our tickets and left us to the security folks. We were all a bit snippy with one another but when we finally boarded our (now delayed) flight to Lhasa, we calmed down a bit. We were almost there!
Oh my gosh, the approach into Lhasa was incredible. We flew in over soaring, snow-capped peaks into a dry, flat plateau. The highest airport in the world. I'm pretty sure anything in Lhasa is the "highest in the world" but it's fine. We found our group and bus rather quickly, after a scary missing-passport incident, and drove the 1 and a half hours to the city. We were not allowed out that night, due to the National Day Holiday security, so we settled in a very nice hotel and popped some "altitude sickness" pills for good measure.
Oct 3rd: Drive to Shigatse to see a monastery, eat some good food, and bond with our tour-mates, including a Spanish couple, an old German man, a German-Austrian ex-pat couple, an old American couple resembling Santa and Mrs. Clause, and various single ex-pats from around the world. All were quite nice and very impressed with our college group.
The group (from left: Nick, George, George, Anna, Forrest, Travis, me, Phoebe).
Oct 4th: Drive to Everest Base Camp and Rongbuk Monastery (also the highest in the world). It was 10 hours of bus. Too, too, too long. But in all honesty, I've forgotten it, because the sight before us was absolutely incredible. We stayed in the monastery's guesthouse, a cement room with four twins and sketchy blankets. This night was the worst in terms of altitude sickness, with all of us suffering from delusions and headaches.
Wow.
Oct 5th: Long drive home to Shigatse. Best sleep ever.
Oct 6th: Crap breakfast and drive to Lhasa via a glacier and holy lake. Incredible photos and group bonding.
Oct 7th: Lhasa Lhasa Lhasa. Now free of martial law or whatever it is the Chinese call it, tourists could freely tour around the biggest city in Tibet. I love this place. The shopping was fantastic: varied and cheap. Tibetans are a beautiful and gregarious people. Far more relaxed than your average Chinese. We visited the Potala Palace and Sera monastery and I took some time to add on to my collection of watercolors. We ate incredible meals in Lhasa which was nice because I'm sure I lost weight on our jaunts out of town.
Oct 8th-10th: Train home. 52 hours of close-quarters and minimal sustenance. Could've been awful but turned out fantastic. We saw the tundra, mountains, canyons, terraced fields, villages, and rivers. We played cards, read books, did homework, and chatted.
In sum, I am supremely glad that I went through the trials of planning and executing this trip. Tibet is a beautiful treasure and I would love to go back. I believe the Chinese are implementing faulty policy and it needs to be changed immediately. When people tell you that Tibet is "complicated," they are wrong. It is only complicated now because the Chinese extricating themselves would be difficult. It is simple: the Chinese control Tibetans' lives and attempt to solidify that control each day. Every developmental benefit brought by China is countered by a slow destruction of Tibetan culture and freedom. It is not, and never will be, worth the cost. I hope that our government can help influence correct policy, especially with our new Nobel Prize-winning president (wtf?).
Ah, yes China.
There is much more to say, but not now anyway.
Temple walls.
I'll link my photo album for those without Facebox.
love,
ellen
Simple? I think not. First, the taxi driver "misheard" me and took us to the wrong airport. Puleez. I speak Chinese passably. Then, we didn't know which terminal our flight left out of. Neither did the taxi driver, of course. So we went to the wrong terminal and had to bus ourselves to the next one. After that, Travis and I were rejected at the Shanghai Air counter because "It's an Air China flight." But we had the same flight as everyone else, right? No. We had a different flight around the same time. We didn't figure that out until we boarded and no one else from our little group was there. And it doesn't end there because our flight was 30 minutes late and our connection time was only 1 hour and 20 minutes to begin with. We arrive with 40 minutes to get our TTB permits and board the plane. No one spoke English and I was terribly flustered. We finally found our stressed-out group and Katherine, our trip organizer, who promptly stamped our tickets and left us to the security folks. We were all a bit snippy with one another but when we finally boarded our (now delayed) flight to Lhasa, we calmed down a bit. We were almost there!
Oh my gosh, the approach into Lhasa was incredible. We flew in over soaring, snow-capped peaks into a dry, flat plateau. The highest airport in the world. I'm pretty sure anything in Lhasa is the "highest in the world" but it's fine. We found our group and bus rather quickly, after a scary missing-passport incident, and drove the 1 and a half hours to the city. We were not allowed out that night, due to the National Day Holiday security, so we settled in a very nice hotel and popped some "altitude sickness" pills for good measure.
Oct 3rd: Drive to Shigatse to see a monastery, eat some good food, and bond with our tour-mates, including a Spanish couple, an old German man, a German-Austrian ex-pat couple, an old American couple resembling Santa and Mrs. Clause, and various single ex-pats from around the world. All were quite nice and very impressed with our college group.
The group (from left: Nick, George, George, Anna, Forrest, Travis, me, Phoebe).Oct 4th: Drive to Everest Base Camp and Rongbuk Monastery (also the highest in the world). It was 10 hours of bus. Too, too, too long. But in all honesty, I've forgotten it, because the sight before us was absolutely incredible. We stayed in the monastery's guesthouse, a cement room with four twins and sketchy blankets. This night was the worst in terms of altitude sickness, with all of us suffering from delusions and headaches.
Wow.Oct 5th: Long drive home to Shigatse. Best sleep ever.
Oct 6th: Crap breakfast and drive to Lhasa via a glacier and holy lake. Incredible photos and group bonding.
Oct 7th: Lhasa Lhasa Lhasa. Now free of martial law or whatever it is the Chinese call it, tourists could freely tour around the biggest city in Tibet. I love this place. The shopping was fantastic: varied and cheap. Tibetans are a beautiful and gregarious people. Far more relaxed than your average Chinese. We visited the Potala Palace and Sera monastery and I took some time to add on to my collection of watercolors. We ate incredible meals in Lhasa which was nice because I'm sure I lost weight on our jaunts out of town.
Oct 8th-10th: Train home. 52 hours of close-quarters and minimal sustenance. Could've been awful but turned out fantastic. We saw the tundra, mountains, canyons, terraced fields, villages, and rivers. We played cards, read books, did homework, and chatted.
In sum, I am supremely glad that I went through the trials of planning and executing this trip. Tibet is a beautiful treasure and I would love to go back. I believe the Chinese are implementing faulty policy and it needs to be changed immediately. When people tell you that Tibet is "complicated," they are wrong. It is only complicated now because the Chinese extricating themselves would be difficult. It is simple: the Chinese control Tibetans' lives and attempt to solidify that control each day. Every developmental benefit brought by China is countered by a slow destruction of Tibetan culture and freedom. It is not, and never will be, worth the cost. I hope that our government can help influence correct policy, especially with our new Nobel Prize-winning president (wtf?).
Ah, yes China.There is much more to say, but not now anyway.
Temple walls.I'll link my photo album for those without Facebox.
love,
ellen
Thursday, October 1, 2009
When In China...
Sorry I've taken so long to get back to y'all. About 2 weeks ago the government made a huge crackdown on proxies and VPNs and everything! I'm now using the University of Oregon system and it works like a charm. Thank you Ducks.
Well, I've been ridiculously busy lately, of course. Planning for the October 1st vacation has taken up a lot of time. I'm going with a group of 7 friends to Tibet for 6 days! Then we're coming back on the train, 52 hours long! With the restrictions put on tourists for the National Holiday it's been a hassle. We have our permits now and I'm super excited.
Speaking of the National Holiday, today was China's 60th Birthday! In case you didn't see the NYTimes.com article or the parade highlights on cable, let me tell you, the Chinese were excited! My roommate told me this morning "It is my country's birthday today!" Then we went to the ECNU auditorium and watched the Beijing parade on a big screen. My friend Travis and I were the only foreigners. It was highly amusing. Everyone laughed when Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP, appeared on screen. I asked Matilda why and she said "Because he looks weird." V. respectful you see. All in all, my favorite thing was the ballistic missiles and the air show. Always fun when you play "Mine's bigger!"
I thought I would do a little piece on the food I eat here. I miss American food a lot. Specifically, I miss being able to identify each and every one of the ingredients in my food. The cafeteria food is very cafeteria-esque. Sloppy and mysterious. The worst is that I can't actually name any of the food in English, let alone Chinese. It's quite stressful to crowd amongst Chinese students (there's no real lines) and point and mumble. I stick to really easy things in the cafeteria.
I typically eat outside the back gate at little vendors.
Take your pick!
My favorite thing is a pork sandwich thingy that's a little spicy. My favorite thing in the morning is a plain donut stick wrapped in a ball of sticky rice. Fantastic!
I learned how to make dumplings Chinese-style. The host mothers taught us! They thought I was quite the waiguo, making dumplings like a local.
Making dough circles. V. difficult.
Bad fashion, good cook.
Love,
ellen
P.S. Look up "waiguo scene" on urbandictionary.com
P.P.S.
Gui, Travis, and Meghan (my best friends here)
Well, I've been ridiculously busy lately, of course. Planning for the October 1st vacation has taken up a lot of time. I'm going with a group of 7 friends to Tibet for 6 days! Then we're coming back on the train, 52 hours long! With the restrictions put on tourists for the National Holiday it's been a hassle. We have our permits now and I'm super excited.
Speaking of the National Holiday, today was China's 60th Birthday! In case you didn't see the NYTimes.com article or the parade highlights on cable, let me tell you, the Chinese were excited! My roommate told me this morning "It is my country's birthday today!" Then we went to the ECNU auditorium and watched the Beijing parade on a big screen. My friend Travis and I were the only foreigners. It was highly amusing. Everyone laughed when Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP, appeared on screen. I asked Matilda why and she said "Because he looks weird." V. respectful you see. All in all, my favorite thing was the ballistic missiles and the air show. Always fun when you play "Mine's bigger!"
I thought I would do a little piece on the food I eat here. I miss American food a lot. Specifically, I miss being able to identify each and every one of the ingredients in my food. The cafeteria food is very cafeteria-esque. Sloppy and mysterious. The worst is that I can't actually name any of the food in English, let alone Chinese. It's quite stressful to crowd amongst Chinese students (there's no real lines) and point and mumble. I stick to really easy things in the cafeteria.
I typically eat outside the back gate at little vendors.
Take your pick!My favorite thing is a pork sandwich thingy that's a little spicy. My favorite thing in the morning is a plain donut stick wrapped in a ball of sticky rice. Fantastic!
I learned how to make dumplings Chinese-style. The host mothers taught us! They thought I was quite the waiguo, making dumplings like a local.
Making dough circles. V. difficult.
Bad fashion, good cook.Love,
ellen
P.S. Look up "waiguo scene" on urbandictionary.com
P.P.S.
Gui, Travis, and Meghan (my best friends here)Sunday, September 13, 2009
Putuoshan (Lotus Island)
Guanyin sees and knows all and she'll always help you out.According to our itinerary, we were going to leave ECNU at 7am and arrive in Putuoshan early that afternoon, a 6-hour drive. Little did we know that we would abandon 4 hungover students to their own devices (they missed the bus) and embark on a 12-hour journey to paradise. We took a bus, a ferry, another bus, and a speedboat before we finally arrived. Exhausted, we piled into the island shuttle to our hotel. At some point, we picked up a guide on the side of the road who dutifully explained to us "Don't go swimming. There sharks! You can take off shoes but NO YOUR PANTS!"
After retrieving our passports from the hotel staff and switching rooms to accomodate the cockroach-queasy, we headed to the beach. It was completely dark but we managed to find our way down a well-paved path. Once at the beach, we realized we'd found a truly amazing place. The sand was soft, flat, and stretched for miles. We played around on the sand and looked out at the lights on the water. Meghan and I did some sprints and push-ups. Then it was bed time.
The next day we ate an interesting pickled breakfast buffet type deal and headed out. We saw temple after temple and walked everywhere. It was so humid I could hardly breathe. The guide just said "WE GO NOW!" every time he ended a little lecture on the island's history. We ate in a fantastic vegetarian restaurant and celebrated Meghan and Dai Laoshi's birthdays with a pound cake. Vegetarian fare is a supremely safe option for those of us with meat issues. I ate everything.
John the tour guide.
The hexagon view.
Small rock shrine with joss sticks.
Peaceful temple.Dinner was a raucous affair with everyone present even though it was optional. Our group gets along so well (all 30 of us) that we enjoy spending all our time together. It's fantastic! From there we headed to a poolside bar with a nice breeze and expensive beverages. We quickly headed out to the sand to have our own party. Though a bonfire was suggested, I thought the Chinese authorities might not approve of some foreign rave on their pristine beach. We kept everything quite flame-less. Questionable decision-making ensued, but in the end I was glad to discover that even the polluted water of the Chinese sea has phosphorescence! The green sparkles were awesome!
Lost room key aside, the time spent at Putuoshan was well worth the trip. Our return journey was quite hassle-free and calm. Homework time!
ellen
Thursday, September 10, 2009
School Started!
Well I have finally conquered the Internet and boy am I glad! Now I can post pictures and do fun fonts and eveRything!
This week I started class. I am kind of under the impression that CIEE is trying to make everyone die of a bad case of homework. I have been busy every night and I still don't get everything I need done. I am taking Accelerated Chinese Intermediate II/Advanced I, which means I'm taking a full year of Chinese in one semester. This is quite a lot, as I spend approximately 4 hours a day in Chinese class. Then I have homework. It's somewhat of a nightmare but this week is OVER! We have three day weekends. I have a test every week but today's was not so bad. I feel okay now. Last night I did not.
Nevertheless, contrary to the popular belief that study abroad students do not work hard, I will have to keep up on my gongke (hw). I'm taking an international relations course taught by a foreign policy expert that works for the government. It's fantastic.
I've run into several students from the University of Oregon here that are not studying abroad. Two of them moved here to work and one was just visiting. It's a fun coincidence.
This is my roommate, Matilda. The campus of ECNU is known for its gardens and creeks. It is very pretty and lush. Watch out for mosquitoes!
Our room. Mac attack!
Those are double beds! So fun!
Matilda is from Anhui province. She speaks English quite well. Far, far, far better than I speak Chinese. We do laundry together by hand and eat at the canteen. I call it that because the Chinese word for "cafeteria" is "canting" which is clearly very similar to "canteen". Anyway, she is my translator and guide and keeps me from getting ripped off. I am lost without her. She is by far the cutest roommate, according to a poll of myself.
So far it's been a fun game of 'not getting ill from street food'. The score is thus: Street Food 2, Ellen 8. Go team!
I am going to a Buddhist island this weekend with CIEE. It is called Putuoshan and has many temples and monasteries. Expect a report upon my return.
ellen
This week I started class. I am kind of under the impression that CIEE is trying to make everyone die of a bad case of homework. I have been busy every night and I still don't get everything I need done. I am taking Accelerated Chinese Intermediate II/Advanced I, which means I'm taking a full year of Chinese in one semester. This is quite a lot, as I spend approximately 4 hours a day in Chinese class. Then I have homework. It's somewhat of a nightmare but this week is OVER! We have three day weekends. I have a test every week but today's was not so bad. I feel okay now. Last night I did not.
Nevertheless, contrary to the popular belief that study abroad students do not work hard, I will have to keep up on my gongke (hw). I'm taking an international relations course taught by a foreign policy expert that works for the government. It's fantastic.
I've run into several students from the University of Oregon here that are not studying abroad. Two of them moved here to work and one was just visiting. It's a fun coincidence.
This is my roommate, Matilda. The campus of ECNU is known for its gardens and creeks. It is very pretty and lush. Watch out for mosquitoes!
Our room. Mac attack!
Those are double beds! So fun!Matilda is from Anhui province. She speaks English quite well. Far, far, far better than I speak Chinese. We do laundry together by hand and eat at the canteen. I call it that because the Chinese word for "cafeteria" is "canting" which is clearly very similar to "canteen". Anyway, she is my translator and guide and keeps me from getting ripped off. I am lost without her. She is by far the cutest roommate, according to a poll of myself.
So far it's been a fun game of 'not getting ill from street food'. The score is thus: Street Food 2, Ellen 8. Go team!
I am going to a Buddhist island this weekend with CIEE. It is called Putuoshan and has many temples and monasteries. Expect a report upon my return.
ellen
Saturday, September 5, 2009
A Week on the Town
We toured Shanghai a lot this week. For those of you unfamiliar with the city, here's a picture of the famous Pudong area. It's home to major financial and commercial corporations. Also rich people.
The placement of the two globe-like buildings is questionable.
First we took a double-decker bus around downtown Puxi, or West Side, to see the concession areas. These are the places where various countries carved out chunks of Shanghai for themselves and did business there. Now they are just districts to visit. The sight of a bunch of waiguos in a bus was endlessly amusing to ourselves and to the Chinese.
The next day we took the subway to Pudong to visit the Oriental Pearl Tower (see above picture). It is the 3rd highest tower in the world. There was a wraparound deck of glass to walk on, which I've never seen before. Even after five steps, it made one a bit queasy. Below ground is a great history museum with interactive elements and beautiful miniatures.
Here are some pictures from the tours.
Everything is so tall!
How our Mercedes bus navigates this BS is beyond me. The traffic rules here consist of "I'm bigger," in which case, we are.
Don't go to massage parlors. Unless you want a "different" sort of massage. Prostitution is rampant here and there is almost no way to avoid it.
It's Styrofoam, don't worry. Okay, worry, because this guy is headed into heavy traffic.
We also went to a Chinese Acrobatics show. It was quite similar to one I went to in Eugene, but I think B-team was out on stage. There were quite a few dropped spinning plates and Chinese yo-yos. I also have a fundamental dislike for child contortionists, especially here. There was a great performance of silk climbing in the form of a romantic duet to "My Heart Will Go On." In the middle, the wide-screen TVs on the sides of the theater began showing clips from the movie. Hilarity ensued. The show ended with a "Ball of Death" performance of five motorcycles in a metal sphere. The last rider to leave the "Ball" unfurled a Chinese flag that fluttered behind her. Quite fitting.
Today I participated in the "Amazing Race," a program put on by CIEE. We ran around the city on public transportation finding things. At first it was fine but then it got unbearably hot and tiring. In addition, we moved from 2nd to 4th place after another team cheated and took a taxi. I was incensed! But nonetheless we ended up at Starbucks and I got a coffee fix. Then we left and I asked someone where the subway station was. In Chinese! And she understood me!
All in all a good week. Here is a picture of me and my friend Meghan with an odd statue made of Budweiser cans.
Scooter alarms set off: 2
Traffic altercations: 0
:)
ellen
The placement of the two globe-like buildings is questionable.
First we took a double-decker bus around downtown Puxi, or West Side, to see the concession areas. These are the places where various countries carved out chunks of Shanghai for themselves and did business there. Now they are just districts to visit. The sight of a bunch of waiguos in a bus was endlessly amusing to ourselves and to the Chinese.
The next day we took the subway to Pudong to visit the Oriental Pearl Tower (see above picture). It is the 3rd highest tower in the world. There was a wraparound deck of glass to walk on, which I've never seen before. Even after five steps, it made one a bit queasy. Below ground is a great history museum with interactive elements and beautiful miniatures.
Here are some pictures from the tours.
Everything is so tall!
How our Mercedes bus navigates this BS is beyond me. The traffic rules here consist of "I'm bigger," in which case, we are.
Don't go to massage parlors. Unless you want a "different" sort of massage. Prostitution is rampant here and there is almost no way to avoid it.
It's Styrofoam, don't worry. Okay, worry, because this guy is headed into heavy traffic.
We also went to a Chinese Acrobatics show. It was quite similar to one I went to in Eugene, but I think B-team was out on stage. There were quite a few dropped spinning plates and Chinese yo-yos. I also have a fundamental dislike for child contortionists, especially here. There was a great performance of silk climbing in the form of a romantic duet to "My Heart Will Go On." In the middle, the wide-screen TVs on the sides of the theater began showing clips from the movie. Hilarity ensued. The show ended with a "Ball of Death" performance of five motorcycles in a metal sphere. The last rider to leave the "Ball" unfurled a Chinese flag that fluttered behind her. Quite fitting.
Today I participated in the "Amazing Race," a program put on by CIEE. We ran around the city on public transportation finding things. At first it was fine but then it got unbearably hot and tiring. In addition, we moved from 2nd to 4th place after another team cheated and took a taxi. I was incensed! But nonetheless we ended up at Starbucks and I got a coffee fix. Then we left and I asked someone where the subway station was. In Chinese! And she understood me!
All in all a good week. Here is a picture of me and my friend Meghan with an odd statue made of Budweiser cans.
Scooter alarms set off: 2
Traffic altercations: 0
:)
ellen
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Infernal Affairs
After the hell that is internet access here...
I can now post nerdy pictures of myself and laugh hysterically. But seriously, accessing Facebox is quite difficult and unreliable, so that's going to fall by the wayside. Email is best, followed by Skype, which I've found to be fun and effective, besides the fact that they send me notification emails in Chinese.
My dorm is ridiculously nice. I have a double bed and ample storage. THERE ARE SHELVES AND CUPBOARDS EVERYWHERE! Like I said, it's an IKEA showroom. I feel slightly, but not overwhelmingly, guilty that ECNU built this dormitory for Westerners to attract them to study here. Chinese student dorms have 4 to 6 people in a room and no bathroom nearby. They must walk outside to some other building, swipe their student card, and cold water will come out of the shower head. Being a CIEE roomie, like Matilda, is incredibly competitive. She has to prove her dedication to teaching me Chinese and being a good person. Ha. Not that it's a problem for her. She's very nice and takes me to buy SIM cards and dinner and talks very slowly.
Yesterday, we were the object of some curiosity at dinner. White people are "waiguos" and therefore very fascinating. Most people in Shanghai don't really care, but some from outside the city are quite rapt.
Today I'm going sightseeing with my group after our language placement test. I'm planning on telling the testers my name in Chinese and going from there. It could be abject failure, I'll let you know.
As of now, I have not been hit by a car! Knock on wood!
ellen
I can now post nerdy pictures of myself and laugh hysterically. But seriously, accessing Facebox is quite difficult and unreliable, so that's going to fall by the wayside. Email is best, followed by Skype, which I've found to be fun and effective, besides the fact that they send me notification emails in Chinese.
My dorm is ridiculously nice. I have a double bed and ample storage. THERE ARE SHELVES AND CUPBOARDS EVERYWHERE! Like I said, it's an IKEA showroom. I feel slightly, but not overwhelmingly, guilty that ECNU built this dormitory for Westerners to attract them to study here. Chinese student dorms have 4 to 6 people in a room and no bathroom nearby. They must walk outside to some other building, swipe their student card, and cold water will come out of the shower head. Being a CIEE roomie, like Matilda, is incredibly competitive. She has to prove her dedication to teaching me Chinese and being a good person. Ha. Not that it's a problem for her. She's very nice and takes me to buy SIM cards and dinner and talks very slowly.
Yesterday, we were the object of some curiosity at dinner. White people are "waiguos" and therefore very fascinating. Most people in Shanghai don't really care, but some from outside the city are quite rapt.
Today I'm going sightseeing with my group after our language placement test. I'm planning on telling the testers my name in Chinese and going from there. It could be abject failure, I'll let you know.
As of now, I have not been hit by a car! Knock on wood!
ellen
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Here I Am on a Proxy Server...
So the Chinese have blocked both Facebox and various blogging sites, proving a problem for the technologically-impaired like myself. Luckily, I have forged on!
Through the server, my post options are limited (like no photos) but I hope to figure something out.
After an hour ride from the airport, my small band of travelers arrived at East China Normal University to find a mound of paperwork. Hurray! Then I found out my roommate was already here. Oh my! She turned out to be incredibly sweet and even gave me 2 apples! The dorm is very nice, like an IKEA catalog, birch veneer everywhere.
This morning, I looked out to a grayish sky, partially due to rain and partially to the horrific pollution. It is quite humid here but not unbearable.
If you have any suggestions for proxies or anything, hit me up!
ellen
Through the server, my post options are limited (like no photos) but I hope to figure something out.
After an hour ride from the airport, my small band of travelers arrived at East China Normal University to find a mound of paperwork. Hurray! Then I found out my roommate was already here. Oh my! She turned out to be incredibly sweet and even gave me 2 apples! The dorm is very nice, like an IKEA catalog, birch veneer everywhere.
This morning, I looked out to a grayish sky, partially due to rain and partially to the horrific pollution. It is quite humid here but not unbearable.
If you have any suggestions for proxies or anything, hit me up!
ellen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)