Update

Hey all,
Things have been going really well, I have just been really busy and haven't had a lot of time to blog. To see some of the pictures from this weekend from the Subway Loop Halloween Party click here. (I was at Dongzhimen for around 2 hours, see if you can find me ;) and this happened all over line 2 in Beijing.)

Number 1: I taught about Halloween in my third grade class. My first class was amazing, the second class could only be described as little monsters. I taught my first class a lot, and the second class didn't get as much. I ended up kind of teaching like a Chinese teacher in the fact that I did the dreaded 听写tingxie (dictation) and gave 作业zuoye (homework)

Number 2: You should read this article "I fought for 18 years to have a cup of coffee with you." It is about the struggles more rural chinese have breaking into city life, and a lot of how people take things for granted.

Number 3: The pollution here has been past hazardous levels. Therefore, I have been feeling very sick. Basically it's supposed to irritate your lungs, and I already have breathing problems. Whomp whomp.

Number 4: I am working my butt off in my classes. Chinese classes are a lot different from American classes. Basic structure: Tingxie (quiz), lesson, go over dialogue and vocab, discussion, xiuxi (break), then more vocab work. Today I had a 2 hour test in Comprehensive.

Number 5: I went to the Great Wall of China! I went to the Mutianyu section and no one was there :D

aaand I'll add more. Much love from China! xx

Bike stolen and first day teaching in the slums.

Today was a pretty epic day.

I woke up at 6:30 am to teach my first English class to 小三 (third graders). Me, being a total morning person, couldn't find my subway/public transport card. (Note: This card is equivalent to magic in Beijing. I use it for pretty much everything* and only non-muggles get it.) Heh. So it's about a hour commute from my apartment to the slums. I take 2 subway lines and a bus and walk a little bit and I'm there. I'm teaching at ZhiXing school, which is a private school in the slums for migrant workers children. The goal of this school is to basically have the children go to a better intermediate school or high school.

Teaching. Was. Crazy. I have around 60-80 kids in each class. They don't know English at all really. I don't know a lot of Chinese relating to it. Also when you say something and they say it back, they will yell. It creates a wall of sound. My first class was really good, my second was out of control. It was really frustrating to me to see them that out of control, because as soon as their teacher came in they all straightened up. I'm pretty sure they get beaten though. :/ I just need to become more like a Chinese teacher (minus the beating aspect).



Aaaaand when I got back I found out my bike was stolen. :( There is a saying in Beijing that you are not a true Beijinger until your bike has been stolen at least once. There is no discrimination against foreigners or natives. My friend that is from Beijing had his bike stolen, and a lot of people I know that I go to Uni with also have had theirs stolen. I ended up reporting this to the police. I had a U-bolt lock on my back wheel, which you can't cut with wire or bolt cutters. So they had to have picked up my bike and carried it away. Curse you Bike-thief. They're probably selling it on the black market. My friend Clayton told me a story about when he was in high school here, someone stole his friend's iPod. His dad took him to get a new iPod, and they went to the black market. And while they were there they found his exact iPod. The person didn't even bother to wipe the iPod. So his dad was just like we're taking this back. The shopkeeper got really angry, but the dad just argued that he worked for the embassy and that the guy didn't want him to call the police and that his son's name was stored in the iPod, etc. In Beijing this is ridiculous, because basically once you've lost/had something stolen here you're not going to get it back.




*Transportation only.

Open Mic Night at Lush

Sunday nights starting around 9 is open mic night at Lush! It's a great time :o
It's currently a war between the Brits and the Americans.


Look Britain, we've beaten you twice, just throwing it out there!

All hail the wondrous streetfood of Beijing. (JK Weekend Update)

Things have been going well, albeit a little crazy. Just back to the grind of daily life in Beijing (who am I kidding, I love it here). Our class is like a small, tight knit family. I love it!

On Saturday I finally experienced the Beijing Zoo and Sanlitun! (三里屯) or in Beijingese, Sanlituar. The Beijing Zoo = kind of depressing. All of the people I know from China don't get why foreigners think it's a little depressing. It is basically a cage within the cage and that's it. There is nothing for the animals to do besides pace (if they can) and sleep. So sad.

The pandas were so cute!!!!!
(Insert panda picture here once I find my cord :o )

Sanlitun was pretty awesome! We went to this awesome (for China) pizza place. It was pretty good Italian style pizza, and then we went shopping :D. I need to go back there to the Apple Store, because charging my computer here evidently is messing up my battery. But it's one of the 3 authorized apple stores in Beijing (all the rest are fakes...uh oh.) I was hanging out with the Mormons, Luke bailed, and a bunch of random people from Capital Normal. It was full of shenanigans as we explore the bar street (and realized we started going to the bars around 7:30 and me and the swiss people were the only ones that could drink being the non-mormons).

Theeeeen we went to this pretty cool dumpling-esque place? I say dumpling-esque because I forget the name of the dumpling things we had. It's a certain kind of dumpling that also has soup in it. Anyone?

Then more bar hopping and what not. Found another Doner Kebab place. I have literally found one in every single country I have been in. US, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, etc. DONER KEBAB. The real thing taking over the world haha.


Sunday is the day of soccer. I woke myself up early, dragged myself out of bad, biked to the field by C lou and played a match. Pierre thought I was sick (I just woke up....so that's what I look like). My team ended up winning, and I scored 3 of the 5 goals my team made. Boo-yah. We played until 1ish until we all decided we were hungry. I tried some pretty balling dumplings (I <3 dumplings!) and some type of fruit/pork chinese specialty soup.

And then biked to Lush (expat bar) and did homework for about 5 hours. Whomp.


funtimesinbeijing.

Playing dumb can be a good strategy in China.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Baiyaqi. (Or mariachi or beyatch as people have heard.) She was parking her bike while she went to go food shopping. She put it close to another bike, locked it, and went shopping. When she came back, she unlocked her bike, put her groceries in her basket and started to leave to go home. When she went about 3 or 4 steps, someone grabbed the back of her bike. What?!

"Xiaowai!" Baiyaqi turns around. She just stares. The man holds up 3 fingers and goes "3 jiao". Baiyaqi turns around and tries moving her bike, to no avail.

The guy again says "3 jiao!" Baiyaqi then says "Shenme?!! (what?!)"

"3 jiao!" the guy, yet again, repeats?

"Shenme?!" Baiyaqi demands.

"3 jiao - Mister, can you explain to this xiaohai (little foreigner) why 3 jiao?!"

Baiyaqi continues to look clueless. Man frustrated goes off in search of another victim.


Basically I think he wanted 3 jiao because he "watched my bike". Wtf bro? I had no idea what was going on at first, but then after not saying anything the guy just got frustrated and left. I don't understand how one spot on the street, where just about anyone parks their bikes, suddenly becomes his responsibility to watch. Scratch that, I didn't even know people watched bikes! I'm not paying some random guy that walks up to me and demands money.


Laowai: 1 bike dude demanding money: 0

Anyways so I didn't pay him. Thanks random chinese guy that helped me in that situation. Sorry old bro, maybe next time (...not!)

P.s. finally bought an electric kettle. booyah american mac and cheese I can finally make you! Also I had the most delicious baozi today! It's like a meat pastry, <3 so good!

Beijing Air!

So this is really quick because I need to go to work (I am making money being on a Chinese website reading english....boss).

If you look at @BeijingAir on twitter it tells you the air quality of the day. (Here is something that explains the numbers it gives you.)

Today it is :

BeijingAir

10-10-2011; 08:00; PM2.5; 69.0; 153; Unhealthy // Ozone; 0.0; 0; No Reading

151 to 200

Unhealthy

Red

Whomp time to get a mask!

China you are chaotic and a whirlwind.

Since I've been back it has definitely been a rollercoaster. My chinese housemates moved out, it smells like something died in the wall (ew?), my phone was stolen, I went to the art district, got lost in a bunch of hutong (alley), my internet died, met a bunch of cool people at Lush while using their internet, my internet was still dead, my american phone decided to work about 20% of the time, realized I could get internet on my kindle, figured out the chinese bus system, found the Beijinger and TimeOut Beijing!! (this was a big one), learned how to make authentic dumplings, and got my PHONE RETURNED!!!!!!!!

(Ps you can read about my mongolia trip here)

China has a lot of ups and downs.

Down: My phone was stolen
Up: It was miraculously returned

Down: It can get pretty lonely
Up: A lot of people are feeling it. I met a bunch of new people at an expat (foreigner) hangout.

Down: I can't understand a lot of Chinese
Up: I can still hold conversations and am not the typical American demanding people to speak English.

Down: Chinese people will speak English to me instead of Chinese.
Up: I AM GOING TO PRACTICE MY CHINESE. JUST YOU WATCH ME.

Down: Get called a laowai and people will try to screw me over.
Up: Live it, own it, and haggle them down to below local prices.

Down: Being disconnected from Allegheny, my sorority, and home life.
Up: Being disconnected from Allegheny, my sorority, and home life.

Down: No CHEESE. No BREAD. NO CHEESE! WTF CHINA?!
Up: Dumplings. Fried Montau. Noodles. OM NOM NOM.

Down: Being lonely
Up: Awesome new friends :)

Something I have been thinking about is that for a lot of people it's out of sight, out of mind. China has definitely changed my perspective on a lot of things already. I notice that I have a different work ethic and a different approach to people here. Even though China can be a very me me me society, there is a sense of close-knit community between people. I am thankful everyday for the close friends I have made here and am making here. In America I feel like I have a wider group of "friends", which after going abroad, seem more like a large group of acquaintances with some real friends thrown in.

Allegheny College is all about community, and there is definitely a better sense of community there than many places, but I've been pretty disappointed with Allegheny since being here (and maybe a little bit last semester). It was a constant struggle with Allegheny for me to even go abroad, and my struggle, months later, is still not finished. And the irony of it is that I got into a much better program. Furthermore if you're going abroad the support for students is laughable. Well actually, a better question is "What support system?" There is none. Neither is there really support from my sorority. Which when you think about it, is a lot about support and sisterhood. Sisters helping sisters. Yeah, okay. Maybe 3-5 people out of my entire sorority have sent me an email or a message. Don't get me wrong, I love my sorority and it is very true to a lot of our core values, but going abroad definitely helped me see it in a clearer light.

I think everyone at some point should go abroad and live outside of the United States or at least in an area vastly different from where you are from/grew up. It opens your eyes to many things.

I guess one example of this would be that Americans are all gungho about freedom of speech and net neutrality and freedom. In China, a lot of Chinese people are for some of the regulation of the internet (for things such as porn, nsfw things, pedophiles, etc), but there is some expressions of discontent.

China works toward the new American (Chinese) dream. There are millions of people migrating in China in search for a better life. In America I see so many people content with where they are or feel stuck in one place. It's not easy to get out of that, but go somewhere new. Move, get out, save up a thousand dollars, go somewhere new, teach english or somehow earn money, and soak up some culture. It's worth it.


And end rambling.

Mongolia!

Mongolia trip:

Saturday: We left by train in Beijing to go to the capital of Mongolia, Hohhot. It was a 11 hour train ride, but we had a blast. Chinese ramen + cards + a lot of free time = a grand ol’ time. Also leaving at 9 pm counted as a tour by train.

Sunday: We got there around 7-8 am. We were shepherded to the buses where we proceeded to sit for about 3 hours without knowing why. (Later on we learned 3 people missed the train, so around 90 people were waiting for 3 people.) Jack and I decided to go take pictures at a really cool square we found. Then we convinced Luke to come because we were just sitting there. We took some baller pictures that I will upload. Then the girl sitting next me on the bus game me this peanut butter/nutella mix on bread. I was honestly in heaven. We were then on the bus for another 2 hours where we made a pit stop at California beef noodles. However we didn’t eat here and then drove for another hour or 2 before we got to lunch which was pretty good. In the middle of the table there was just this creepy looking fish. I tried it later on, it was pretty good. Also this was beginning of a lot of the Montau…..which is like a doughy bread ball, but nowhere near as good. Then we were on the bus for another hour or 2 more to get to the desert. (Theme of the trip so far – live on bus).

The desert was awesome!! It was this pretty unknown Mongolian theme park for the desert and we rode camels, raced atvs, chilled with our sandy shoes, saw awesome sand sculptures and many more things. Late at night we then went to another restaurant which was basically the same meal as lunch minus the creepy fish. We thought we were going to stay in yurts that much, but not really. We ended up staying in this hotel in the middle of nowhere :o

Monday: MY BIRTHDAY!!!! On my birthday we went to the Ghengis Khan Mausoleum in the morning and then in the afternoon we explored a temple. Aaand then we got to the grasslands where I stayed in a somewhat traditional yurt for my birthday! Except for the fact it was pretty cold (read below 0 degrees celcius) and our yurt was a) made out of cloth and b) had broken windows. SO COLD. Me, Jack, and Luke all slept in our jackets and together. My night outfit: Sweatpants over my jeans. My Russian hat. Fleece over sweatshirt over underarmour over shirt. It was a pretty tame birthday.

Tuesday: Fight with the tour guide because he tried to screw us over. To summarize, we bought 1200 kuai tickets that were not all inclusive, but included transportation, hotels, food and most activities. There was a 1900 kuai ticket that was all inclusive, but it was a blatant rip off. We told the man that we wanted to buy our own tickets because they were a lot cheaper for students so they would only be 240 kuai for the desert thing instead of the 310 that he was charging for it (aka full price). He ended up buying our tickets even though we specifically told him not to. He forcibly dragged us through the line and away from the ticketbooth and then tried to screw us over with those tickets. Not happening. We ended up only giving him 265 kuai later. Instead of horseback riding in a caravan for 2 hours we went hiking and found a bunch of cool stuff and met a potato farmer. After this we took a bus to the “handicraft” factory which was basically them trying to sell us mass produced crap. Then we took the bus to Hohhot and chilled until our train. We found this cool lantern festival and I have a great story to come back and edit in.

Wednesday: Back in Beijing!

Brb off to 呢蒙古 (Inner Mongolia).

So myself, Luke, and Jack are off to Inner Monglia for 5 days! We're going for October National holiday. We were in between here and Tibet for the break and we chose Inner Mongolia, though me and Luke are for sure going to Tibet at some point during this trip. I'm celebrating my birthday on Monday by waking up in a yurt in Mongolia, ha.

We are doing a tour of Inner Mongolia with Happy Holiday (a foreign students travel agency). Just like in a typical chinese tour, we get some pretty sweet hats.

I feel like I'm in a bad 90s band.

According to the pamphlet this is what we're doing: (Note I copied this word for word, spelling mistake for spelling mistake.)

H line: Inner Mongolia Grassland, Desert, Wudant Temple, Cenghiskhan msusoleum and Hohhot five days tour by train.

D1: Go to Huhhot by train. Live in the train (The train with air condition is very fast)

D2: Arrive in Huhhot in the morning. And then the bus will take you to the "Xilamurun" grassland. When arrive,we will be warmly welcomed by the Mongolian with there own specially means --toast and offer hada to those distinguished guests. At lunch you have chance to taste delicious Mongolian roast hand-mutton.Ride horse, visit the five famous view spots in grassland for exple Mongolia family and AoBao Hill where the Mongolian pray for good harvest and happ y life, Watch wonderful horse racing and wrestling performance at the grass ground. After dinner enjoy the mongolian singing and dancing around the bonfire and watch the beautiful star-sky/ Live in the 2 person luxury yurt (three or four stars).

D3: Watch sunrise in the grassland, after breakfast go to Wudang Temple which named one of the three Widely Famous Temple with Pudala Temple in Tibet and Ta'er Temple in Qing hai province. after lunch go to the Famous Ghenghis khan mausoleum. It's very famous spot in the world. then go to the Desert, watching the Large national song and dance performances, Live in the Desert hotel two stars room or four stars room at night.

D4: Watch sunrise in the desert, after breakfastafter enjoy the desert scenery and all games(camel riding/cable car/desert car/sliding board and so on). then watch the famous Erdos wedding perfance(12:30), after lunch go to Hohhot to visit the Mongolia Meng-Liang national handicraft factory, turn back to Beijing by train (the train is very fast)

D5: Arrive at Beijing in the morning, the happy tour is over!

Also what in the world BBC?