Adventures in Asialand

Ok, let's try this blogging thing again...

2010-10-15T09:45:00.005+08:00

October 15, 2010 from Busan, South Korea

I decided to try and start updating my blog again, hopefully this time it will last. Currently I am in Busan, South Korea visiting an old friend, Jenna Slesinski. Like me, she is an English teacher, so I decided it would be great to come here and see how the English classes are taught and how they differ from those in Taiwan. So far I LOVE it here, kinda makes me want to switch countries... but for now I think I should stay in Taiwan and see how the whole grad school thing goes. Right now I am on the last couple days of my 3 week long vacation, two weeks spent in the USA and about 5 days here in South Korea (I'll probably write more about South Korea once I get back to Taiwan).

I was VERY excited to get out of Asialand for a while and visit all my friend at home. It was nice to see my friends and hang out, but unfortunately a lot of my plans fell through. I just spent a lot of time at home and seeing my friends at home after they were done with work. I did have a nice fun weekend staying at my sister's place in Chicago though. Laura and James came up too and we went out and had a good time shopping and drinking. It was nice to visit but I don't think I will be moving back anytime soon, I'm actually quite excited to get back to Taiwan. I will leave South Korea Sunday afternoon to head back where I will start Chinese class and work again on Monday... back to the real world I guess.

I have a job and a new apartment

2009-07-26T20:26:00.002+08:00

July 26, 2009

I have a job and a new apartment... I stayed at my friends apartment for a week or so, but unfortunately it was pretty far away and I was having to take the bus and metro for an hour each way to get anywhere and the cost of them were adding up. Me and Cala have been looking at a few places since we got here and we finally found one and we moved in the same day I started my new job.

First about the job~~ I am the newest teacher of the Shilin branch of Kojen Language Schools. I am currently in training... which means I sit in on 4 hours worth of class every day and just watch... which is kind of boring. But on Tuesday I have orientation and on Saturday August 1 I officially start teaching (and making money). I don't know exactly how much I will be teaching... I just know as of now I teach 2 one hour classes and 1 two hour class on Saturdays. I will be teaching Monday - Saturday, but one day off wont be terrible since on those other days I may work as little as 2 hours, but we will see soon my full schedule. I think that I will really like it though. The little kids seem to be a lot more fun to teach than the older ones. The younger ones are really excited to play games and learn but the older ones don't want to be there and they don't want to talk or pay attention. I met one class that I will start teaching and they seem like they will be a good class. Hopefully I will have internet by Saturday so I can write about how my first day of teaching was. The school itself is kind of small, so that is good since I can make friends with the teachers, and surprisingly I ran into one right outside of my new apt today. It turns out she lives right by me so we can be friends. I am kind of nervous to start teaching, and since I am the only new teacher there in a while it is kind of awkward to be thrown in it. Hopefully soon I'll fit right in though and be ready to teach. It is in a good spot too... it takes about 20 ~ 30 minutes to get there from my apt which is just a short walk to the metro, then a ride on the metro 3 stops away, and then another short walk.

Now for the apartment~~

Its kind of a fixer-upper though... its a good price for the place considering its location. Its right off one of the main streets in Taipei, very close to the metro, very close to downtown, and right near a super market and 7 eleven. Its on the 4th floor though (the Chinese don't like that very much) so that may be part of the reason. It looks like no one lived there for quite sometime though, and it looks as if they were smokers. It has black and white checkered floor but white is more of a yellow... and same with the wall paper. Which is why we decided to paint. We have almost all of the wallpaper stripped off but we are both in training so we haven't had time to run out and find some paint. But it will look nice and there will be pictures. I also had to get a lot of other stuff such as lights, a mattress, sheets, blankets, pillows, dishes... basically everything you need if you move into an empty apartment and have nothing. Hopefully I will start getting paid soon though since I had to charge all of that stuff at Ikea... I might also get a couple of kittens. One of my friends here has a bunch of them and will give me and Cala a couple for free, so why not?

Since we just moved it the place is still a mess and disgusting and we are without internet so the next time I post will probably be when I have internet installed because right now I am at starbucks using theirs. So if you would like to help with the furnishing of my new apartment I am taking donations!!!

First post from Taiwan~~

2009-07-17T22:11:00.004+08:00

Friday July 17, 2009

I made it to Taipei alright. Emily and Laura were kind enough to drop me off at O'Hare and I arrived to Los Angeles with no problem. When I got there I found my friends Cala and Vicki who were going on the same flight as me to Taipei. We had a few hours so we just sat around until our plane left at 140 AM. The flight went very well, but it was a bit crowded. We arrived about 13 hours later in Taipei and I got a taxi to my new apartment.

Now when I first came into my new (temporary) place, I thought it was kinda small and dirty... but thats Asia for you I guess (TIA). My room is the size of a closet and my bed is a roll out mat... but at least there is AC!! Which I really am happy about since it feels like 117 every day with the humidity. Basically I sweat through my clothes within minutes of exiting my room (the rest of the apartment doesn't have AC... just the bedrooms)... the asians dont seem to sweat though, I don't know how they do it. Even when they are wearing jeans and three shirts and a sweater they don't sweat but I am soaked when I wear a tshirt and shorts... Well anyways it is now Friday and we arrived Monday... so what have we been doing since then? We have been walking A LOT. We walked just about all over Taipei and had a short day trip to visit Jiufen (<--- you can click on that to read more about it Mom and Dad) and thats about it. We are planning on a daytrip to Taizhong (<---- another link... see the color?) so I'll write about that later...

As for the job... I had an offer for another job at Uncle Sam's school to teach but it didn't work out in the end. But with the original company I was going to work for, I now have a meeting this Tuesday to discuss things... I'm not sure exactly what, but I'll write about it after.

The food is great and I'm glad to be back! Hopefully I'll start working soon though, but for now its nice to be able to spend the day seeing the sights that I didn't get to see last time I was here. .. I'll get some pictures up soooooooonish

Oh yeah... and there was an earthquake my first night here.. here is a link with info about it
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009jabu.php

It happened about 83 miles from Taipei where I am so it wasn't super strong but it did wake me up because all the doors to my wardrobe were banging. I was also kinda out of it with the jet lag but I did get up and run to the door because I thought it was worse than it was, but the next morning I saw it wasn't too bad... just the first of many I guess

WOWWWWW its been a while

2009-04-09T23:45:00.004+08:00

April 9, 2009~~
HELLOOO! I doubt anyone will actually read this, but it has been QUITE a while since my last post... mostly because I am just finishing out my last year at Indiana University. Just 4 weeks left and I will be a college graduate. What will I do with my degrees in French, Chinese, Arabic, and Linguistics?? Well I am going to move to Taipei, Taiwan to teach English. The goal is to stay here for several years both to gain teaching experience and to get a lot better at Mandarin... I don't know when I am moving there yet, hopefully within 2 months or so. I don't have an actual job yet but I have been accepted by Reach to Teach which is basically an agency that will find me a job in Taipei. My friend Cala who was there with me last Spring will also go there so we will probably be roomies.

More later :o)

My last DAYS in Egypt! (July 16-24)

2008-08-15T02:15:00.004+08:00

Last week in Egypt wasn't very eventful... mostly because I had to finish up all my work and get ready for tests and projects and blah blah blah. One of the only things I did was take a day trip to Ein el Sukhna which is just a nice beach on the Red Sea in Egypt with the people I teach English for... that class is another story. I finished up class and I now know how teachers feel... very few of the students did all of their homework and it was all pretty bad, and I even caught some cheaters and had to turn them in. But everything turned out alright... I'm not sure exactly what my grades are yet but I think I did ok. And HOPEFULLY severy of these classes will transfer back and facilitate the completion of 4 majors in 4 years. Ummm I can't think much of what else went on in the last few days in Egypt.. it just wasnt that much. Oh! I did actually go visit the pyramids and the SPHINX because I never made it there before because I was TOOOOO busy. Pictures on facebook!! soon hopefully...

Aswan, Luxor, Abu Simbel and LOTS of old Egyptian stuff

2008-08-15T00:56:00.004+08:00

So this trip took place July 10 to July 15 and most of it was in the form of a Nile River cruise aboard the Oberio Philae which was probably one of the nicest places I have ever stayed in. There were 3 floors and then the roof and a a pool. One of my favorite things about the boat though was that once when a bunch of us were standing on the top floor about 30 small canoes SWARMED our boat and they each had about 2 people in it and they were just throwing things they were selling at the boat. All kinds of things, from robes to papyrus to model pyramids, and some they threw in peoples rooms haha. And of course most of us didn't want to buy anything so another problem was getting all the stuff back to the little boats 3 levels down when there is wind haha... needless to say many things just ended up in the water. Also one girl on my boat bought something and I guess someone accidently threw it back, so she paid and didn't get anything... oops!

Ok to start from the start of the trip...
After class was over on the 10th we all ran back to our dorms to pack to be ready for the bus that was comping to pick us up to take us to the train station. Of course the train was about an hour late... but we ended up leaving by about 9 pm and the next morning we arrived at about 7 am to Luxor, Egypt (Wikipedia and Wikitravel).

In Luxor we visited the west bank which included The Valley of the Kings (Wikitravel and Wikipedia ) and Hatshepsut's Temple and then the east bank which included Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple. I took LOTS of pictures but you'll have to check those out on facebook or ask me in person because of computer problems I can't but them up on here...

After Luxor we sailed to Edfu to see the Horus temple and to Kom Ombo to see the Temple of Kom Ombo.

After Kom Ombo we sailed to Aswan to see the Philae temple and then the Aswan High Dam
and it was about 115 degrees out... so I didn't see it for very long haha.

And then after all that we took a 2 am bus to Abu Simbel which is less than 10 miles from Sudan!

And then after alllllll of this was over we took a plane from Luxor to Cairo via Aswan and got back pretty late, but not late enough that we didn't have class the next day :(

The whole trip was really fun. I got to see almost all of the most important ancient Egyptian monuments and temples. Some of them though were actually moved to new locations... I'm not exactly sure how they moved giant temples the size of skyscarpers though.... because when they created the Aswan dam in the 60s it flooded a large area to create a man made lake... which in turn would flood many of the ancient temples, so they just moved them to new areas.

And that was my final trip within Egypt... any questions?

Last posts?!?!?!?!?

2008-08-15T00:49:00.002+08:00

Hmm.... today is August 14 and I haven't written in this for a while.... lots to cover... my last trip in Egypt to Aswan, Luxor, and Abu Simbel, my last weeks in Egypt, my desert adventure to LEBANON, SYRIA, JORDAN, and ISRAEL (and a little more in Egypt)... all up until now in Madrid, Spain awaiting for August 20 to arrive so I am finally come back home after my year abroad... Instead of making one big long post, I'm gonna break it up into smaller ones... So enjoy because now that I am coming home, this blog may be finished (at least for a while) because I have to finish my studies! Maybe I'll talk more about that later...

NEW plans

2008-07-26T05:38:00.002+08:00

I havent updated from my last time in Egypt... ill get around to that some other time

but for now I am in BEIRUT, Lebanon... so far there are no problems here... we were going to only stay here for 2 nights and then head to Aleppo, Syria and then to Damascus. But since there is a concert on Sunday for MIKA which we all love, we decided to stay in Lebanon and travel outside of Beirut to other cities. We met a really nice taxi driver and he is actually going to be our personal driver for the next few days and take us to some other places in Lebanon and ill put those here later.

So we are here in BEIRUT until July 28 and then we will take a taxi to Damascus, Syria. As of now we will stay there for 2 or 3 nights. After that we will head by bus to Amman, Jordan and then to Petra and Aqaba for a few nights. On August 2 (in shaa allah) we will take a Taxi to Jerusalem and start our Israeli adventures... and then on August 8 we will travel back to Cairo on a realllly long bus ride. and then on August 10 ill fly to Spain for 10 days then home!

ok gotta go!
bye

First week of EGYPT!

2008-06-15T04:08:00.006+08:00

June 20, 2008
So I have been in Egypt a little over a two weeks now and I LOVE IT here. Its a breath of fresh air getting away from Asia for a while haha. The airplane rides here went smoothly. Taipei to Hong Kong was good, the only problem is they didn't transfer my bags automatically at Hong Kong. I hung out in Hong Kong for about 4 or 5 hours... but I forgot that HK (and Dubai) us the UK style plug, and I packed my adapter so I couldn't watch any of my movies I had downloaded for the trip. So I tried to nap/read until my plane came. My flight to Dubai went well, the food on Emirates air was amaaaaazzzzing and the service was really good too. And I arrived to Dubai about 430 AM and hung out in the airport and waited in line for a long time to use one of the free computers because some people wouldnt get off them. My flight to Cairo went smoothly too and I arrived about noon.

Egypt and Cairo info:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Egypt
http://wikitravel.org/en/Cairo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo

I got my luggage, luckily it all came no problem, and headed out to go through customs. It took me a while to figure out where to get the visa... but once I got that I went out and found my driver and he took me to my dorm. My roommate wasn't here... and there weren't very many people here actually so I just kinda unpacked my stuff and went outside to walk around the area for a bit and find food. I tried to stay up as late as I could because I heard that is good for the first night when dealing with jet lag... and then I made it to about 10 pm and went to bed. The next day I slept in pretty late then unpacked and went out some more to walk around and find food. And then later on my roommate showed up and I went out with him and another guy to have dinner and "drink" shisha and have tea at a market.
The dorms are ok, I am in a 3 person room with only 2 people, so we have a bit more space. Everything in it is really old, and we have some REALLY loud arabs in the room next door who like to blast their music LOUDLY between 11 pm and 4 am. I don't know whats gonna happen with that. The dorms and the school have a lot of security. At all the entrances there are metal detectors and guards who usually check through all of your bags before you can get in.
Class started Sunday, but they didn't feel the need to let us know they changed the times of our classes until EVERYONE was there, so we basically had a couple of hours to hang around and then our classes started. Here is my schedule
Sunday:
Egyptian Arabic 1130-100
Spoken Egyptian Arabic 215-330

Monday:
Standard Arabic 900-1100
Egyptian Arabic 1130-100
Media Arabic 105-205
Quran Class 215-330

Tuesday:
Standard Arabic 900-1100
Egyptian Arabic 1130-100
Spoken Egyptian Arabic 215-330

Wednesday:
Standard Arabic 900-1100
Egyptian Arabic 1130-100
Quran Class 215-330

Thursday:
Standard Arabic 900-1100
Media Arabic 1130-100

Basicaly Monday's suck and the rest of the week isn't too bad. All my teachers are amazing (some a little heavy on the homework though) except my Media Arabic teacher that kinda sucks. The first week of class went well, there was a little shuffling of classes, but for the most part it went smoothly. The school here is really unorganized (thats Egypt as a whole I guess), the classrooms are a problem, and no one ever knows anything, but I'm used to that after China I guess.

The first full weekend in Egypt we took a trip to Alexandria. Here is some info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria
http://wikitravel.org/en/Alexandria

We took a bus to Alexandria from Cairo... took about 3 or 4 hours, luckily it had A/C. I didn't notice this until later but they had security guards on our buses, and from what other people said they usually put security guards or even police with AK-47s on buses if there are foreigners. We spent 2 nights there in a REALLY nice hotel. The school must have some kind of deal with the hotel because the posted rates are $280 a night and our whole trip total was $150. We visited some things you can see on the link to wikitravel. We went to the Citadel, the Library, the Roman Catacombs, Pompey's Pillar, and Montazza palace. Alexandra was a bit more conservative that Cairo I think. I saw a lot more mostly or completely covered women (not even slits or holes for their eyes). It also seemed to me a bit more poor and run down that Cairo, but with a lot of beaches. We went back on Saturday and then I had class on Sunday.
This week of class went by well, I had my first test and lots and lots of homework. This weekend we are going to Sharm el Sheikh for 3 nights. Here is info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharm_el-Sheikh
http://wikitravel.org/en/Sharm_el-Sheikh

I'll put later what I am going to do there.

So thats my stay so far in Egypt! Leave a comment!

Last days in Taiwan...

2008-06-15T01:21:00.004+08:00

June 5, 2008 (its really June 14 but i forgot to write in this before i left taiwan)
Our last trip we took together in Taiwan was fun. I was gonna write about it right after it was over but I kept putting it off and now its like 3 weeks after... oops. But it was a really great 2 night trip. The first day we went to Ling Jiu Mountain which is a Buddhist monastery and we had a tour and met the founding monk who lived in a cave on that mountain by himself for 2 years fasting and meditating. After that 2 years was over he founded the monastery there. It was really nice and they had their free vegetarian lunch for all of us which was also very good. After that we went to the beach... but since it kept pouring rain and thundering and lightning I didn't go in the water. After spending some time there we headed to our hostel that was pretty far away which I was excited for since it had its own hot springs. But since we spent too much time at the beach we arrived at 1030 and they closed them at 11 :( so we only got to spend a few minutes in it. So instead of just going to sleep me, Phil, Zoe, and her boyfriend played mah johng all night (for money of course) and I won the most, 70 Taiwan dollars! (thats only about $2.10 US dollars haha) but it was fun.

The next day we had to get up early and head to the water rafting place. I was really excited for it cuz I have never done anything like that before. But I was also just a little worried to. So we got there and had a little training and got some life jackets and helmets and went out to the boats. In my boat it was Phil, Alyssa, Cala, Olivia, Mr. Zhang and Dan. It was pretty slow going at first... the water was slow and we were just paddling, and the life guards in their boats kept splashing us and then pushing us back in line with the others. There were a lot of boats, maybe 50 or so. Every once in a while we would get to some rapids and it would go a lot quicker and we had to dodge rocks and things but then it would go back to slower water. And then there was one part of the river where the rapids were a bit bigger and faster... few more rocks... ect and we saw a boat stuck on a rock ahead and then another one run into them and get stuck and then we were heading towards them. And we had been doing this for a couple hours now and had hit a lot of other boats so I wasn't worried or anything... and then we hit the boat and ours decided to flip over and throw us all into the water and come on top of us. And so I was in the water and could come up because the boat was on top of us. So then I tried to go down into the water a little deep so I could get out from underneath the boats, but the water was really fast and deep and there were lots of rocks everywhere and I was flying down the river coming up barely enough to just get a breath of air and then going back under. And then finally one of the life guard boats pulled me into their boat. And then we got everyone else and flipped our boat over and got into it and then I realized I lost the helmet that was wearing and my glasses :(
So we finished up the boat trip with no more problems and then left to go to our hostel for that night. But before we got there we stopped at a glasses store and I got some contacts to last me until I could get some new glasses. So basically we were all really tired so when we got to the hostel we just crashed. The next morning we got up early and left to go see Taroko gorge which is basically a giant grand-canyon-esque kinda thing that was nice, and then headed back to Taipei stopping at some sight seeing points on the way back. And then when we got back we basically had a week left to finish our projects... which I hadn't really started. But it went surprisingly well. I wrote mine about the declining use of Taiwanese language among the people of Taiwan... if you wanna read my paper just ask and I'll send it to you :p and basically I packed up and left Taiwan on June 5. I am really happy I had a chance to go to Taiwan and improve my Chinese a lot more, I guess it didn't turn out so bad after all not getting into Egypt last semester. It will be nice to leave Taiwan I think but I'll probably start missing it after a week or two... especially the food haha.

End of classes and Two weeks left in Taiwan

2008-05-23T23:36:00.001+08:00

May 23, 2008

Here are my final flight plans:
Taiwan to Egypt June 5 and 6
Egypt to Madrid July 29
Madrid to Chicago August 20... and then thats it!

So nothing much has happened since my miderms which is true haha so there was nothing much to write about. But I just took my finals yesterday soooo I am DONE with Chinese for a little while, I just hope I don't forget too much before I make it back to IU. One day I went to the mountains to pick some lilies because thats what it is famous for. Those pictures will go up eventually but I am having computer problems so I don't know when. One weekend we had a show put on by all the Chinese classes and I had to act in a little skit for it. The night before though I got offered a chance to be on a TV show, so as soon as the show was over I had to hop in a taxi over the TV station. That was about all the excitement I had in the past few weeks except for learning Chinese. Yesterday and Today I had my Chinese and Taiwanese finals and they weren't that bad. The last thing I have to do here is finish my research project then I am done. Tomorrow we are going on a weekend trip and I'll write about that before I leave Taiwan.

As for Egypt I am planning on arriving on June 6 and I will be there until July 29. Right now i dont know much about what I am doing there except I am doing intensive Arabic and will have about 20 hours a week of class and hopefully a few trips around Egypt. I don't know if I'll have any time to travel on my own though because the class is so intensive. On July 29 I'm flying to Madrid to stay will a friend for three weeks. I also dont really know what im gonna be doing there as of yet but I have been using my money saved from translating and tutoring to spend while I'm there. Maybe I'll get a chance to visit a couple other countries even. After that I am coming home to the US on August 20. I am going to try and get a quick 2 or 3 day roadtrip with my friends to Cedar Point and then be back to IU in time to start in the fall.... so any comments??

Thailand and Egypt and Midterms

2008-04-12T20:58:00.003+08:00

April 12, 2008

I seem to not remember to write on this very often in Taiwan... But a lot has happened in the month since my birthday. Up until March 28, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary that happened, just normal going to class and tutoring English on Fridays at the high school. However on March 28 I went on my trip to Thailand. I had to do a lot of stuff for my classes in advance the week before I left so it was kinda stressful but one I was in the air to Thailand it all melted away. I arrived to Bangkok at about 1030 at night and my friend picked me up at the airport. After that we went out and had dinner and he introduced me to all his Thailand friends and we all went out. Then next day all of us took a 3 hour drive to the south of Thailand and then hopped on a speedboat to an island where we stayed in a bungalow for about 6 days. Most of the time there we just hung out on the beach and drank from coconuts and had massages, and then at night we would eat dinner on the beach next to the water. It was really nice but there were a lot of European tourists there. After we were done at the beach we headed back to Bangkok where we spent the rest of the time around town. I came back to Taiwan on April 7 at night and had to go to class the next day. The next day I felt kinda sick in class and it got pretty bad by the time night came around so I thought it might be malaria or something so I planned on missing more class the next day, even though I had a midterm the day after, to go to the doctor. I felt better in the morning when I got up to go to the doctor but I went anyways just in case. He asked my symptoms and I told him and then he gave me 4 different types of pills haha. I heard they like to over prescribe pills here... So then the next day I took my midterm and I don't think I did very well because I didn't get to study much because I missed class and was sick. At least the grades don't transfer back to IU haha. And the next day they didn't have class to go on a field trip somewhere but I couldn't go because I had to go teach English.

Also the day I got back from Thailand I got an e-mail from Egypt saying that I got on the waiting list again and I was really upset about it and sent a lot of e-mails and had my dad call too because I couldn't call from here. I was also spending a lot of time trying to find something to do with my time over the summer because they wait so long to let us know if we are in the program or not in Egypt but then they sent me an e-mail that said I was moved from the waiting list and I am now accepted. So it is official now that I am going to be in Cairo, Egypt to study Arabic at the Arabic Language Institute at the American University of Cairo from June 7 until July 27. And then after that who knows what? Just as long as I'm back at school in time to start class in September. I am getting really excited to start again at IU, I just picked out my classes last week but I am still a little iffy on some of them because I don't know if some classes will transfer and what classes I will test into when I get back, but we will just have to see.

Also I am starting a private tutoring job once a week at a Taiwanese family's home which should be fun. And I may start a thesis correcting/editing job for all the Taiwanese students here that have to write a thesis in English because most of them cant write it very well and they need a lot of correcting. So we will see how that works out.

First week of class (and my birthday)

2008-03-12T00:41:00.002+08:00

March 11, 2007

So the first week of class went by and it wasn't that bad. We kinda had a lot of homework but I think once I get used to it then it will be fine. I am the only American in my class though... There are 2 koreans, 2 japanese, a French, a Belgian, a Lithuanian, and an Argentinian haha. Last week and this week are probably going to be the easiest two weeks because starting next Monday I start a class on Taiwanese which should be fun and an Advanced Chinese Composition class which should also be fun. I also have to meet with 2 tutors every week... so basically lots of work ahead. I didn't do much last week though except work on my homework and lose my digital camera (oops...) and visit the National Palace museum and saw the famous cabbage made out of jade. So yesterday was my birthday and I had a few nice surprises. First my 3 roommates gave me something I really liked... one of them, Perry, Drew me and put it on a card and then the back they each wrote me a message saying happy birthday and stuff. And then there was a CD inside, and on the CD all three of them sang happy birthday in English and Chinese and sang "Hey Drew" to the tune of Hey Jude and made up new lyrics on it haha. I put it on my iPod and made all my friends listen to it the next day. So I got up and went to class and it was normal and they sang happy birthday, but then a Japanese girl brought these two reallllllly good cakes to class so that was nice and they got me a card. And then I went to the CIEE office here to buy my ticket to Thailand (I'm going to Thailand!!!!) and all the people on my program were in there and all of my new Taiwanese friends too. I kinda knew about it though because they forgot to take my name out of the e-mail haha but it was still nice. They sang happy birthday to me twice and it was embarrassing and then we ate a lot of pie mmmmm. I also got some gifts from people that I really liked especially a beer from Jimmy, a papaya milk from Philip, some candy and a spicy snack from Arial, a Buddha from Elise, and a book that I lOOOOOOVE from xiao Joyce about Chinese Idioms. After that I took a quick nap and got a haircut (A LOT more expensive than china and it looks terrible :( ) and then I went to an all you can eat hot pot restaurant with the japanese girl who brought the cakes, the 2 koreans and my Chinese teacher and it was reallllly really really good. By far the best meal I have had here. It might have something to do with the all you can eat hagen daas ice cream mmmmmm. And then after that me and some friends hung out for a few hours and just talked. And then today I had a test haha, we will see how that goes later I guess... So now what I have to think about is finding a new digital camera and planning my trip to Thailand from March 28 to April 7. Also most of my pictures are up so probably in the next post I will put all the links so you can go to them and see.

Wow I haven't written on here for a while... hopeuflly I'll get back into the habit soon

2008-02-25T21:51:00.001+08:00

February 25, 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan

So I have neglected to write in this for a month... both because I have been really busy and because I forgot about it haha. So I'll run through the last month really quickly.
After Dublin I went back to Spain for a week to get my Taiwan visa, besides a couple bumps there was no problem getting it and I just feel more in love with Madrid and Spain. Then on January 31st me and Aliyah jetted off to Berlin for two nights. Lucky for us (sarcasm) they had a PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION STRIKE for only the 2 days we were there, which means we had to take taxis which cost a lot. After having fun trapsing around Berlin for a bit we headed off on to Athens, Greece. Our hostel was basically empty so that was kinda boring but we got to see all the fun things like Zeus's Temple and the Acropolis, and also eat some good gyros haha. Then we took a 20+ hour train to Istanbul where we stayed the longest of our trip. The hostel was fun and we met a lot of nice people there. We went all over Istanbul, including the asian side (its on two continents). We went to a lot of bazaaars and saw mosques. We were even allowed into one of them so I could finally see what it is like. After that we took a plane to really really really expensive London. We took the tour bus cuz we had only one day there and wanted to see as much as possible and had fish and chips for dinner. Then we headed back to Madrid and I spent my last night there and headed home via Dublin the next day. My mom and dad picked me up at the airport and we went to dinner. I spent the next couple days in my parents in Crown Point and then headed to Depauw for a night with Carly and then to IU to see all my friends there for a few days. I then came home and packed and headed to Chicago for my flight to LA where I had to change planes in Taiwan. I had to wait about 5 hours in the LA airport, it wasn't that bad. I then got on the extremely long flight to Taiwan at 1130 at night and LUCKILY I got 4 seats to my self so I was able to actually lay down across them all and sleep. Also the service was very nice and I get Malaysia Airlines an A+ and I think they are my favorite now. I was picked up at the airport by a couple of students and then we came back and I was showed my room and everything.

TAIWAN
So my room is a normal size room with 4 beds up in the air and a desk space underneath each of them... so far my roommates are pretty nice so no problem there. The one problem is that my school here is on a mountain... and they decided the male dorms should be at the top. So there is actually a bus that runs from the top to the bottom but it only goes until 11 and and sometimes it doesn't go all the way to the top so I still have to walk a lot which is going to be A LOT OF FUN when it starts getting really really really really hot and humid outside. So far I haven't started classes yet but I did take the placement test today so we will see in a few days how I did on that. So far though I am LOVING Taiwan so much better than China. Its a bit more expensive but a much better experience. Also So far this program is much much much better than my program in China, and the students here are a lot better too and I have already made at least 10 new taiwanese friends that will help me out with my Chinese a lot...
So thats all I have for now, once I get all my pictures posted (Krakow, Prague, Dublin, Madrid, Berlin, Greece, Istanbul, London, IU, Taiwan...) I'll put the links up here that you can see them at. Bye for now

More Prague ... and Dublin

2008-01-22T03:19:00.000+08:00

January 21, 2007 in Dublin

All in all I think I enjoyed Prague the most so far of any of the places I have been. The city is amazing, I have never seen a place like it before. It's definitely on the list of places I have to go back to. I also made a TON of new friends that I will probably never see again but at least we are all friends on facebook haha. I went to an ice hockey game when I was there too with some of them haha. It was kinda long though, but it was still fun to go see it in Prague. I also went to the castle with one of my roommates and we saw everything there before we went to the game. On my last day there I walked around town by myself because the Aussies left, and just looked at all the buildings and how beautiful the city was. I was actually quite sad to leave all of them but at the last minute I found out that a group of French people I made friends with and two Irish blokes were on the same flight as me! So we sat by each other and then parted at the airport and I made my way to my hostel.

I got to my hostel easily enough, luckily I had a few euros to get a bus ticket because NONE of the atms worked at the airport! I walked allll over the airport and tried every single one haha. So I checked in my hostel but they are jerks and wouldn't let me go to my room because all the rooms are closed from 11am - 230pm... just so they can clean them. I don't see why I can't even get in my room to set my bag down... but nope they said no. Also yesterday I left my umbrella in the room and they wouldn't let me get that either. This hostel suuuuucks. They also charge you a euro per day to use a locker and kick you out of the hang out area at 11 and the showers suck. I guess that is why this place was the cheapest one haha. At least tomorrow is my last night and I wont have to deal with them all much longer. The people here are lame too, none of them want to make friends like in Prague and Krakow. So I walked around and saw things by myself because I couldn't find anyone else to go with. The first night I stayed in and rested because I was tired from the traveling. Then the next day I went to The Hugh Lane Gallery and saw all the artwork there, what mainly grabbed my eye were the impressionist paintings.

After that I headed to the river and walked along it to Phoenix Park and walked around there for a while. And by the time I left it was getting dark and cold and rainy so I headed back to the hostel. Then next morning I woke up extra early (730) so I could check out the free breakfast knowing in advance it would probably suck because this place is like that in general. So I got up at 730 (before the sun was up) like they said it started then... but thats when the guy starts putting everything out, not when breakfast starts. So I had to hang around for 20 minutes while he set out creepy bread, butter, and jam... thats it. My last hostel had bread, butter, jam, nutella, peanut butter, some spread I didn't know what it was, hard boiled eggs, 4 kinds of cereal, 2 kinds of juices, milk, coffee, croissants and other things I can't remember... and that place was a lot cheaper that here... oh well, I guess this is why Ireland is one of the most expensive countries in the world. lol So I went back to sleep until the sun came up and then I went out and got a 10 euro haircut from a Polish woman and it actually looks pretty good. And then I headed to The National Galleries... but it was closed, just my luck. After that I head to The National Museum that was open and saw all the artwork there ranging in dates from 1300s to the 1900s which was really nice. And after that I headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral to see if I could get in before it closed... but I didn't haha. So I just saw the outside of it which was still nice. And then I started the LOOOOOOOOOONG trek back to the hostel in the dark where I am now. And tomorrow... I haven't decided what to do yet haha, and then Wednesday I'm off to Madrid again!

Train to PRAGUE

2008-01-17T19:42:00.000+08:00

January 17, 2008 in PRAGUE

So I got to the train about an hour early just to be safe and it was there so I got on and the conductor showed me to my room which was a looooot nicer than I thought it would be. It was a small room with 2 beds and and a sink and luckily there was a plug so I watched "Cidade de Deus" before I went to sleep. But as I soon found out, it wasn't so easy to sleep on a train so I didn't sleep much and the train arrived at 645 am in Prague. I wandered around the station in search of an ATM and I finally found one but it gave me a 2000 crown bill and I had to go find change now so I could buy a 17 crown bus ticket haha. After that I got the bus and headed to the hostel. I got there at like 730 and luckily they let me check in cuz I just went right back to bed. Then I went on a walking tour with 2 of my australian roommates and saw the whole city which is really nice and now one of my favorites. Then I had a quick nap and hung out in the bar in the basement of the hostel with everyone here and made a hundred new friends. I met people from Argentina, Brazil, France, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, England and probably a bunch of others I don't know. I also got to practice Portuguese, Spanish, and French with them all haha. I'm about to head out and explore the city, so thats about it for now.

Time to leave Poland

2008-01-16T02:26:00.000+08:00

Tuesday January 15, 2008

Its 730 pm and my train for Prague leaves in about 3 hours. I'm a bit worried because I hear the station is kinda complicated and there might not be very many English speakers on hand to ask questions. But next time I write I'll let you know how it went haha.

Yesterday I got up early and headed towards the old Jewish section of town called Kazimierz after a king a long time ago that said all the Jews can come live in Poland. First I went to an old synagogue that is no longer in use, because there aren't very many Jews left, that was transferred into a museum about Jews in Poland before WWII. After that I headed to a museum that had 3 exhibits (Galicia Jewish Museum click here), one about resistance movements by Jews during WWII in Krakow and the other 2 were about what has basically happened to things such as synagogues and Jewish cemeteries and towns since WWII. So basically it was as depressing as the concentration camps where. I never thought about it before but there are synagogues and other places that mainly Jews used all over Europe that were basically abandoned after WWII because there was no one left to use them. Theses exhibits focused on Poland and showed a lot of pictures of synagogues that have for the most part been abandoned all over Poland. It also showed areas where there were Jewish cemeteries but most had little or no markings because the Nazi's took all the gravestones and used them to pave roads and sidewalks. There was also a monument I couldn't find that my friend was talking about that would have been pretty nice to see, she said it was a bunch of empty chairs facing the same directions. Oh well, there is always next time. I had also tried to go to Wawel Hill where they have a castle and a cathedral but it was closed so I went today instead. So I was about about the city for about 6 or 7 hours and by that time I was getting realllllly cold so I came back for a rest and then went out with my new friends that I made here.

Today I slept in and then went to Wawel Hill where they have a castle where the kings of Poland lived and also a cathedral where they have bodies and remains of kings of Poland and other important people and where all the kings coronations were held. I spent a few hours there and then walked around the city until I got too cold and had to go back to the hostel to warm up and rest before my train to Prague.

Monaco, Oslo, and Auschwitz

2008-01-14T00:32:00.001+08:00

from top to bottom

random contemporary art in Oslo
street shot of Oslo
shot of Oslo from a hill
Auschwitz gas chamber
Auschwitz entrance gate that says "work makes you free"
sign in Aix-en-provence commemorating the Americans liberating the city in WWII

Sunday January 13, 2008 from Krakow, Poland

So I'm in POLAND right now but I'll get to that in a minute. Me and Phil ended up going to Monaco for a day trip for fun which was country 11 for me over-all and number 7 on this trip. We took the bus to Nice which was kinda too expensive and then we hopped on a bus for Monaco. We got there and walked around for a while but it was really quiet and all that there was were a lot of really nice, expensive cars and buildings and rich people and a lot of really expensive shops. So me and Phil decided to go back to France and spend some time in Nice because its more interesting and cheaper (but still expensive). BUT we couldn't figure out how the buses worked to get back so we ended up finding a train to Nice for 3.4 euros so we just took that and as soon as we bought the ticket we found our bus hahaha. But the train didn't leave for a while so by the time we got back to Nice we had to basically just hop back on our bus to Aix. Overall my stay in France was nice, I had a nice relaxing time before my next big leg of traveling started.

On Thursday me and Phil packed up and headed on the bus to Marseilles to catch our realllly cheap flight to Oslo, Norway. We got to the airport in Oslo and the bought really expensive tickets to get to the city because the airport is actually much father away, like 120 km. Once we finally got to the city it was about 10 pm and really cold and rainy and wet. So me and Phil had to walk around for a long time and look for our hostel and then we finally found it without taking a really expensive taxi. We got there just in time because they close the front desk at 1130 and checked in and headed up to our rooms. To our surprise there was someone yelling in the room so I knocked and opened the door and there was just a some girl in there alone and she seemed really surprised that we were there so she went down to the desk to complain because she thought only girls would be in that room. (i guess she is an actress and she was practicing her lines by yelling them haha)But she ended up being wrong and came back and was just really jerky for the time we were there. Me and Phil on the first day went to the museum for the Norwegian Resistance during WWII and some art museums. I got to see a version of "Scream" which I happen to like a lot and a lot of other paintings and some crazy things at the contemporary art museum. We had lunch at burger king to save some money cuz I thought it would be cheap, but no... it was about 20 dollars. Norway is expensive! Don't go unless you really want to or have to! A bottle of coke cost over 4 dollars, a bottle of water is about 4 dollars. It costs over 4 dollars per ride on the metro or the bus, a super cheap meal if you can find one starts at maybe 16 to 20 dollars and go much much higher. So we basically didn't do anything Friday night because it would cost so much to go out, so we watched some movies on my computer. On Saturday we got up and went to the national museum and saw another version of Scream and a lot of other paintings and then we headed to the bus station to catch the bus to the airport so I could go to Poland and Phil could get back to France.

I left Phil at the airport and went through passport control and got a stamp for leaving Norway yay and then went and got on my Wizzair flight to Katowice airport. The flight got in a bit early and I found my shuttle bus to Krakow and we left about 45 minutes later and got to Krakow at about 945 at night. I knew where I was on the map and I knew where I was going and everything... but I still just couldn't seem to find my way to the hostel, I walked around for a while but I finally gave up and took a taxi (9 zloty or about $3.50) to the street it is on, which was really close. I got to my hostel then and checked in and everything and I really like it. They have a few big rooms, maybe 6 or something I don't even know, and then 4 bathrooms with showers, a kitchen, a common room and free wifi and its open 24 hours which is also a plus. So far everyone here is really nice but not to talkative with me. Most of the people here are Australians and maybe a couple of Americans. I just took a shower and stayed in last night because I was exhausted from traveling and I had to get up early to go visit Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps.

I got up early and had free breakfast then headed to the tourbus on the hour bus ride to the camps. We had an English speaking tourguide and the whole thing took about 4 hours. It was realllly depressing, kinda like I felt after I visited Hiroshima in Japan. They showed HUGE rooms full of things like glasses and brushes adn clothes they just took from the Jews before they killed them. They also showed things like hair they shaved off of women to make socks and the gas and torture chambers and everything. I took a lot of pictures but not of any of the stuff in the buildings because they didn't allow it. We also went to Birkenau which was Auschwitz II where they murdered most of the people, but it was mostly destroyed from the war whereas Auschwitz was kept up. We were kinda rushed through by the tour guide lady, I would have like to mull around a lot longer and just look at everything, maybe sometime in the future I can come back and visit it again.

Also... luckily while I was in the midst of writing this I got an e-mail from my Taiwan program CIEE saying that IU selected me for $1000 dollar scholarship and sent it off to CIEE. This is really surprising because I have no clue what it is from or what it is for, but it will sure help out A LOT with all the random expenses, especially the airfare. So thanks to whoever gave me or helped me get this scholarship!! I really appreciate it! Tomorrow I am getting up a bit early to head out and visit all the places I have in my book and then I'll be back to write about them tomorrow maybe and hopefully add some pictures :o)

drew

Frace, Final Trip Plans, and PICTURES from Taiwan to Morocco finally

2008-01-08T18:22:00.000+08:00

January 8, 2008, Aix-en-provence, France

So I have been in France now for a few days with Phil. It's just a tiny little city in the south of France with small winding stone streets and little shops with all the apartments on the above the shops. Phil's apt is like this, its kinda small but its got a lot of character I guess haha. It has 2 bedrooms and a bathroom and a kitchen/living room and there are 3 people living here. Its really nice here but its already more expensive than Madrid I'm noticing and from what I hear you get really sick of it being so small after a while. Also, tomorrow we MAY try and do a spontaneous trip to Monaco which would also be fun, and then we leave Thursday evening for Oslo, Norway :o) And after that I'm off on my own for a week and a half.

Me and Aliyah also finally finalized our trip plans for the last leg of my trip, here they are;

January 31 fly from Madrid to Berlin and stay in Berlin for 2 nights
January 2 fly from Berlin to Athens and stay in Athens for 3 nights
January 4 or 5 HOPEFULLY have no problems getting a train to Istanbul and stay there for a few nights
January 8 fly to London and stay in London for 2 nights
January 10 fly to Madrid
January 11 fly home to Chicago via Dublin

also I finally got my pictures all uploaded, just click on the link to go to them

Taiwan 1
Taiwan 2
Taiwan 3
Manila 1
Manila 2
Thanksgiving Chinese Style
Shanghai, China
Post China/European Adventures 1 (Russia?, Madrid, Barcelona, Marrakesh)

I'll have a chance to post all my France, Poland, Czech Republic, and Dublin pictures after January 23 when I go back to Madrid for a week to get my Taiwan VISA... hopefully no problems there...
leave a comment!!!

drew

I havent written on here for a while... but a lot has happned!

2008-01-02T02:34:00.000+08:00

January 1, 2007 in Barcelona, Spain

I meant to write on this once more before I left China but I slept through my alarm again and didn't wake up with enough time to write on it. But I wanted to talk about my last few days and my finals and what I did. My sociology final went terribly... I might have done really bad on it but I think everyone did so it shouldn't be bad then because if everyone does bad then they will curve it. But the test was imposssssible to do. My chinese final wasnt bad, I think I'll end up with an A or an A- in the class. I packed everything and cut my stuff down to one suitcase and left China early in the morning for Moscow, Russia. I am going to miss China a lot (especially the prices!!) Also even though my roommates got on my nerves at times I'll miss them too. I learned a lot more Chinese than I thought I did though so thats also nice.

I flew to Moscow no problem and got through to my next flight to Madrid which was also no problem except that it was delayed an hour or so. They Russians kinda scared my though, even the stewardesses were mean. But I got to Madrid a bit late and Aliyah and James met me at the airport without Phil becuase he missed his flight haha. We all went to the hostel and had a few days in Madrid to hang out and walk around and we also made Christmas Eve dinner which was also rrealllllllyyy good.

Then we flew to Morocco on Christmas day also with no problems. I LOOOVE Morocco. Since so many europeans go there it has basically been turned into a turist city though so there were high prices and lots of people trying to rip us off. We stayed in a really nice 2 bedroom apt a bit away from the city, but we just hopped on the bus to get into the city. I didn't get to practice Arabic as much as I wanted to though becuase most of them didn't understand me and they all speak French and a little bit of English so I just stuck with the French which kinda made me go crazy after a while because of all the langauges. When I got to Spain it was soooo hard to switch my mind out of Chinese and into Spanish but then once I started getting used to the Spanish I had to switch to French, and then once I started getting used to the French I had to switch back to Spanish haha. We went to the famous square Djemma al-fna in Morocco where they have snake charmers and monkies and clown things and lots and lots of food and teas and juices and nuts and fruits and tradtional moroccon things. We also got to ride camels while we were there which was also one of the main goals of our trip. I tried to write on my blog while I was there but it was blocked or something and I couldn't get to it. It was sad leaving Marrakesh but I know some day I will go back there because there is still so much left to see.

On December 30 we flew to Girona, Spain and then caught a bus to Barcelona and wandered aruond the city until we found our hostel which is on the one of the main streets of Barcelona, so its a really nice location. Barcelona so far is a lot better than Madrid, but they don't speak Spanish much here so sometimes I don't know if I should try and speak Spanish or use English, but a lot of people I have met here so far speak English pretty well.

So tonight is our last night in Barcelona and we are off to Madrid again tomorrow for a few days. Ill try to go ahead and update this sometimes before I head off to France with Phil but if not I'll be sure to do it while I am in France. Also I have not head back from Egypt people so I don't know what is going on with that yet. Leave a comment!!

Getting ready to leave China and start my European adventure!

2007-12-12T19:21:00.000+08:00

Wednesday December 12, 2007

Only 10 days left here!! I'm kinda excited to leave this craziness but I know that after a week or two away I will start to miss it a lot. Tomorrow I have to give my presentation for my research project and then next Thursday I have 2 finals and thats basically what I have left to do here. Nothing much has happened since I lasted posted, just a lot of studying like usual and a lot of travel plan making. I ventured to Qipu lu again to buy a coat which I did but of course I paid more because I am a foreigner... but it still wasn't that expensive. I figured it would be a good idea to have something warm while I am in eastern and northern Europe. I also have to decide what I can send home and what I can throw away because I have to cut my luggage down to about 30kg, or as close to it as I can...
I leave Shanghai at 1145 am on Saturday the 22nd on Aeroflot and I have a quick 3 and a half hour layover in Moscow, and then I arrive in Madrid, Spain at about 1000pm on the same day. I didn't get a chance to get a Russian transit visa... so hopefully nothing bad will happen to me while I try to transfer planes in Moscow. I tried twice to go to the consulate here to get one but for some reason they are only open 915 am to 1215pm... and even though I was waiting two hours and there was no one else in line, they wouldn't take me at 1215. I also bought my tickets home and to Taiwan. So I will come home on February 11, 2008 and will be home for a few days and then hopefully visit IU, then my flight to Taiwan leaves February 18. So thats all done.

Now all I have to do before I leave is try and get as close to finalizing my Europe plans as possible. Right now this is what my trip looks like
Madrid, Spain December 22-25
Marrakesh, Morocco December 25-30
Barcelona, Spain December 30- January 2
Madrid, Spain January 2-4
Aix-en-Provence, France January 4-10
Oslo, Norway January 10-12
Krakow, Poland January 12-15(?)
Prague, Czech Republic January 16(?)-18(?) (by train)
Bratislava, Slovakia January 20(?)-23(?) (by train)
Madrid, Spain January 23(?)-31
Paris, France January 31-February 3
Athens, Greece February 3-5(?)
Istanbul, Turkey February 6-8(?) (by train)
Sofia, Bulgaria February 8-10(?) (by train)
Madrid, Spain February 10-11
Chicago, U.S.A. February 11

Half of the trip, with the ?, are all not for sure yet cuz I haven't booked anything but that is what I think is going to happen as of now. I'll probably have a few couple more posts before I leave here...Leave a comment!

Also... I might have finished applying for my Egypt program over the summer... but I don't know for sure because they don't ever like to answer e-mails... even when they get 4 or 5 of them... but anyways that is going to be a whole nother issue trying to get there from Taiwan... but I guess I don't have to worry about that yet.

pictures!
Nanjing pics
Taiwan pics Pt 1
Taiwan pics Pt 2

Only 3 weeks left...

2007-11-28T18:24:00.001+08:00

Starting from the top...
My hostel in Taiwan... called Taiwanmex (owned by a mexican)
Chang Kai Shek memorial
random sign that says I love Taipei
more of the memorial
the hostel cat that liked to sleep in our room
(left to right) Manila, Me and Lisa eating lunch in the Philippines (we were sitting with our legs in the water), and then me trying to do my best at making tea at a tea house
and the last one is LOVE in front of Taipei 101

November 28, 2007

Nothing much has happened since I got back from my trip, just a lot of school, homework, tests, and studying Chinese. The Taiwan program finally got all my stuff in the mail so I should find out within a week or so if I am accepted to that, then I can finally start finalizing my plans for winter break. I found two more cheap airlines that offer a lot of flights, basically ANYWHERE in Europe and then Morocco and Turkey on top of that. The only problem is that I'll have to be doing a lot of this traveling alone and I don't speak any of the languages of a lot of the places I am looking into going. My list so far of confirmed trips is Spain, Morocco, Spain again, France, and Norway... from there I'll head off to London or Dublin. They have flights to anywhere in Europe from those two places so I was looking into traveling to Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, the Czech Republic and some others, depending on the dates of Taiwan. So that is going to be fun to plan.
www.easyjet.com
www.ryanair.com
www.wizzair.com
all cheap tickets to wherever you want

Also I got in touch with some people from Egypt and it should be pretty easy to transfer my application over to the summer, so hopefully that will all work out in the end and I can still graduate on time.

I still haven't gotten my pictures up from Taipei and the Philippines because facebook isn't working, but I'll post them here as soon as it works. And I'm getting sick... yay...

General things about the trip

2007-11-22T01:01:00.000+08:00

I really liked Taiwan... I'll probably get in trouble for saying this since I'm in China now and they might block my site or something... but we shall see

Here is why Taiwan is better than China:
People wait in line and are considerate of one another.
People follow traffic signals.
There is not garbage and pollution everywhere.
Nothing is censored (like news and wikipedia)
People wait in line for the subway and wait for the people to get off before getting on in an ORDERLY manner.
The government doesn't tell the people what to think.

Also since their news isn't censored, I got to read about China's attempts to block Taiwan from joining the United Nations in Taiwan because nothing about this can be read in China because its all blocked. And I also read about China refusing to send any mail from Taiwan to people in China that had a postmark saying "UN for Taiwan" and made the people receiving these letters sign something saying they renounce all attempts by Taiwan to join the UN which just kinda seems childish to me and counterproductive.

I really hope the Taiwan program comes through because I would like to study there and get more of the other side of the China - Taiwan problem.

About the Philippines...
It was kinda scary at first, but I think thats just because everyone was making me scared with their stores but I really liked it though. I kinda wish we spent more time there and less in Taiwan... but that just gives me another excuse to go back to the Philippines in the future haha. And now I can say that I have eaten pigs blood and brain YUM!

Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow!

Taipei, Manila, coconut plantation and back to Shanghai

2007-11-21T21:24:00.000+08:00

Sunday, November 11 2007

On Sunday Me and Lisa met our friend Adam from IU and went out to an all you can eat hot pot place for lunch. It was pretty good but more expensive that I would pay for lunch in Shanghai, but everything is more expensive in Taipei. BUT, Taipei is much cleaner, much more organized, and much more polite than Shanghai so I am ok with paying a bit extra. After that he took us to the largest bookstore in Taipei thats open 24 hours and it's rumored that all the starts go there at midnight to check out the books haha. I picked out a couple of small comic books in traditional characters (they still use them in Taiwan if you didn't know) to see if I could get through it and understand anything. After browsing around there for a while we headed off to see his university, Taipei University, to see where he has his classes and everything. After that we headed off to visit another night market but it wasn't as good as the one we saw the first night. After that we headed back to the hostel to play with the cat and then go to sleep for the next day.

Monday, November 12 - Taipei 101

Today we went to Taipei 101 which is the tallest building in the world in 3 out of 4 categories (haha) so I guess that means it's the tallest... and we rode the fastest elevator in the world to the top haha. They gave us a free audio tour thing so we walked around the observation deck on the 89th floor and saw the whole city from there. I also got a postcard and mailed it home to mom and dad haha, I wanted to send some more to other people but I couldn't remember their addresses. After we saw the whole city we went to the ice cream shop they had up there to use our $15 off coupon (33 Taiwan Dollars = 1 U.S. dollar, so less than 50 cents) they gave us when we bought our tickets, and it was gooooood. Then after that we went up to the 91st floor where you can actually go outside, but it was waaaaaay too windy and cold so we went back inside for a bit then went and found lunch at a small place. After that we made our way to Peace Park and walked around there for a while and were pooped so we headed back to the hostel. So Lisa took a nap and I got busy with doing all the necessary things for applying to the Taiwan program I found like getting more recommendations, transcripts, essays, application things. I figured I might as well apply for it while I still have time and I can decide later if I want to do it or not. And then for some reason the Australian guy brought home 2 lab puppies, one brown and one black. He said someone got them as a present but didn't want them so left them outside and he couldn't handle it anymore so he took them and brought them back to the hostel so we played with them all night but then by the end of the night he found someone to take them so that was that.

Tuesday, November 13 Taipei Zoo
Today me and Lisa got up and headed to the Taipei zoo. I think it was pre-school day though because there were only pre-schoolers there haha. Animals we saw included lions, gorillas, penguins, red pandas, turtles, zebras, camels, monkeys, birds, ferrets, meerkats,koalas, fish, and a lot of bugs and butterflies. After spending a while there we headed over to the gondola that took us up to the top of the mountain where they have all the small tea growers and tea houses. So we walked around for a while then stopped at a tea house and drank some tea and ate some noodles then headed back to the hostel cuz we were really tired from walking around at the zoo all day.

Wednesday, November 14 Taiwan Hot Springs and Dinner with the Malaysian friends
Today was a pretty relaxed day. Me and Lisa slept in and then headed to the hot springs for a few hours. There was a crazy old man doing yoga things on the rocks... but he did thinks like stand on his head for 20 minutes at a time on ROCK and then hit himself in the head with a metal pole and hit his legs with a sledgehammer... I don't know... Then we headed back to the hostel and napped because the hot springs made us really tired and then we went out to dinner with the australian guy and 3 malaysian girls from our hostel. After that me and Lisa hung out at the hostel and then went out for the night.

Thursday, November 15
Today we went to a history museum of Taiwan that had a lot of things about the native tribes and also a strange collection of Czech puppets for some reason. It wasn't that great of a museum though and we left and there was an old man outside painting and had lots of other one sitting around him. I walked up and he immediately stood up and said "Where you from, America?" And I said yes and he got really excited then asked if I was from California or Chicago and then he said America is a great country and he loves it haha. Then he talked to us about all of his paintings and everything and emphasized that his paints were "Taiwan" watercolor paintings NOT "Chinese" ones haha. He told us he was 72 and that he really wanted us to take some of his pictures back to the US so I bought one for $100 (about 3$ US). We talked for about 15 or 20 minutes with this guy who spoke English surprisingly well because he never went to school or anything. By this point the general consensus was that Taiwanese people are a lot more friendly in general than Chinese people haha. After that we headed to Longshan Temple, a budhist temple, to visit and then hung out with our friend Adam one more time before leaving.

Friday, November 16 - Bye bye Taiwan! Ni hao Republika ng Pilipinas!
We got up early today and went and got breakfast at McDonalds for $75 (about $2.10 US) and then got some coffee to use up the last of our Taiwan money then headed back to the hostel to pack up and say goodbye to everyone and the cat. We paid the owner $800 (about $25 US) to take us to the airport where we hung out for a while before getting on our flight to Manila, Philippines. The flight was pretty short and smooth and we got there with no problems and were picked up by Evelyn and Boy who are friends of Lisa's step mom. They quickly whisked us away to a fresh seafood market to buy dinner. On the way there we just started out the window at the Philippines and I can safely say that it is a lot poorer than Shanghai and a lot more dangerous too. On the way there I saw a lot of police standing on corners or in front of buildings with machine guns and a lot more homeless people. We got to the fresh seafood market and looked around while Evelyn got dinner for us then we went to a restaurant out back and gave them the food and they cooked it. Now I usually try to stay away from seafood because I don't like fishy tasting things, I don't like pulling heads off of shrimp and then peeling the shell off, I don't like sucking meat out of crab shells, and I don't like rubbery things like squid and octopus. But this ended up being our dinner for the night: huge shrimp complete with heads and shells, crabs cut in half to pick out the meat, squid, and something made mostly of pig blood... and fresh mangoes and lycones yummmm. And after that they took us to our hotel which was pretty nice to drop our stuff off. Then they took us to a bar/restaurant area of town to walk around and we found a bar with live music and sat down for a bit but there was no one there yet and no music we left at the suggestion of Evelyn and Boy to find a new place. So we walked around for a bit then they decided that we should go back to that bar because there is was nothing else haha. Then we sat for a bit more then they decided to take us to a place they like to go... but halfway through the drive there they decided it was too far and took us BACK to that place, but they wouldn't let us stay out alone so they waited in the car for us while we stayed there for a bit. Then afterwords they took us back to our hotel and told us we shouldn't leave because its too dangerous but if we did leave to not go far. But me and Lisa were waaay to tired to try and go find somewhere to go and we just made a quick seven eleven run and went to sleep because we had to get up at 545 the next morning to go to the Villa Escudera.

Saturday, November 17 coconuts and waterfall lunch

So we got picked up at 7 am after having our first american breakfast since leaving the USA at the hotel. It was a 3 hour drive so me and Lisa basically slept on the way there with breaks to eat filipino snacks. When we got there we had a tour of the museum of all the worldly collections of things and a lot of floats of various bible scenes and of Christ that they use in a parade on Palm Sunday. After that we headed over to lunch which was fun. They have a waterfall that falls into a shallow pool
thats maybe a foot deep that has a lot of tables and a really good buffet with fried bananas, soups, beef, chicken, crab, noodles, rice and a lot of other things. So you sit with your feet in the water while eating the buffet, and they also bring you out a fresh coconut with a straw in it for your drink. After that we headed over to the pool to swim for a bit then headed into the coconut pavilion to watch all the dances from different native tribes of the Philippines. Then we headed back to the city for dinner at the oldest restaurant chain in the Philippines, but it kinda seemed like a Steak-n-Shake or something, not too fancy. But they ordered us their famous grilled chicken, fresh mangoes again, and something called "sisig" that me and Lisa ate. It tasted really good because they loaded it up with hot sauce and calamanca juice and spicy peppers. And after we ate it we found it it is a mixture of pork face slices and brain... but it still tasted good haha. Then they took us home and told us they were really tired so we could go out alone but to stay near the hotel. So me and Lisa got ready and went out and were walking around for something to do when a dirty little girl ran up to me and started begging for money and I told her I didn't have any which was true because I couldn't find an ATM that would work or I totally would have given her a bit of money. But I guess she didn't believe me because she then wrapped her arms around me and locked her hands and wouldn't get off. Lisa was trying to give her some coins she had to get her off, then she finally let go of me and grabbed the coins from Lisa but then yanked her hair then rain way. I don't know why really, maybe she didn't think it was enough money or something. Then me and Lisa kept walking but we were getting kinda nervous because of all the guards we were seeing everywhere and then we met someone who told us about a place that we went to that was nice and had live music again. So we hung out there for a while then headed back to the hotel.

Sunday, November 18 Last day of the trip and back home to Shanghai
Today they picked us up and took us to an old Spanish fort that had been controlled by the Japanese, and the Americans, and the British at various points and we hung around that area for a while. Then after that we took a carriage ride through a historical part of Manila and saw a lot of old buildings and prisons where the Japanese kept all the Filipinos during WWII. After that they took us to a big mall. It was kinda scary since they had bombings in October at malls in Manila so at each entrance they had a security guard with metal detectors and they looked through your bags to get in. And inside they had bomb sniffing dogs and guards with guns walking around. The mall was crazy though, they had more knock off than China and it was a lot cheaper too. And what was really funny was that I heard people saying that all their stuff comes from Korea and NOT China so the quality is much much better haha. After that they took us to the airport and dropped us off and me and Lisa waited there for our delayed plane and got back to Shanghai at about 130 am, got a taxi and headed home for class at 8 am the next morning.

Off to Taiwan!

2007-11-11T11:13:00.000+08:00

Sunday November 11, 2007

Before I left for Taiwan I had my test which went relatively ok, and then me and Lisa finished packing and headed towards the airport. We waited there for a long time because we got there really early, and then our flight took off at 1230 am and we slept most of other way there. We got to the Philippines airport at about 4 am and had to sit there and wait until our next flight left at 1120am which wasn't terrible. The airport itself as kinda dirty and I heard it was dangerous so we were scared to sleep but there were a lot of security guard everywhere and they wouldn't even let you in the building if you didn't have a flight. So we sat on uncomfortable seats for 5 hours and then checked in and sat in some different uncomfortable seats for an hour. But as we were leaving we had to pay 750 peso for using the airport haha, which is about 17 dollars, luckily I had withdrawn some money earlier so we could pay it. We got on our short flight to Taipei and landed and everything went fine and we got picked up at the airport by a driver. The hostel at first seemed a little grotsky because its basically an apartment with a bunch of rooms, and there are 2 stalls that have bathrooms in the kitchen, not in a separate room, and the showers are outside in things that look like porter-potties, and you could hear everything through the walls. BUT its actually really fun, the people are really fun, and they have a cat. The location is also really good so we never have to go too far from anything. So the first night me and Lisa just walked around because it was already getting dark and we didn't know our way around very well. Then on Saturday we got up and had sushi for lunch before going to the National History Museum and a Chang Kai Shek memorial which was fun, and then we came back to the hostel to hang out with the people here. As of now there is me and Lisa, about 9 girls from Thailand that are really loud, 2 korean guys, a chinese guy and girl, a funny australian guy, and a funny old man who are staying there so it makes everything pretty fun. Also the owner is from Mexico and he speaks to me in Spanish now because his English isn't that great, so I can practice my Chinese and Spanish at the same time haha. So now its SUnday morning and me and lisa are out to meet our friend Adam from IU and we are heading out to explore the city more. Also I didn't get into my program in Egypt for next semester, so I actually have to either go back to IU next semester or find something else to do... the more time i spend in Taipei the more it seems like a viable option...

Trip to Nanjing and some other things

2007-10-31T23:16:00.000+08:00

Wednesday (Halloween!) October 31, 2007

Over the weekend we had a trip to Nanjing, which used to be known as Nanking and some people might have heard that before. It used to be the capital of China before WWII. We left on Friday and had a long bus ride there that I slept though so I don't know exactly how long it took haha. We had a stop for crappy food and snacks and when we got to Nanjing we had a presentation at the Amity Foundation or 爱德 (love - virtue) is the Chinese name. They have lots of programs for people to teach English in small, undeveloped cites in western China and also they train doctors and set them up in these small places too. After we got to the hotel about 5 or so and I had a nap then we went out to eat at a nice restaurant and a walked down the pedestrian street and had glazed fruit on a stick and bubble teas. The next day we got up early and visited Zhongshan where there is a tomb for Sun Yat Sun who was the founder of the Republic of China before the Communists took over. I am surprised though that the communists didn't rip the place down after they took it over though especially since it talks a lot about democracy and a free China with the old flags everywhere. After that we visited some more temples including a Confucian temple and some gardens. After that we walked down really busy shopping streets and had some street food and stayed out till pretty late shopping and walking around the city then headed back to the hotel. The next day we got up early to visit a temple and a pagoda where they have a bone of the man who went to India and translated a lot of Buddhist classics into Chinese. Then we walked along the old city wall to another temple where there were hundreds of people worshiping and praying and went to another pagoda there. After that we went back to the first temple where they made us monk lunch which is completely vegetarian. This lunch consisted of meat balls, beef slices, chicken wings, shrimp, fish, and sausage all made from tofu haha. Along with logs of veggies. It was actually really good and I would rather eat that sometimes than some of the stuff I am currently eating lol. After that we got back on the bus and headed back to Shanghai, but not before stopping off at a famous teapot museum that was kinda dumb and where they sold teapots for hundreds of dollars. So now I'm back in school and counting down the days till I go to Taiwan.

Me and James and Phil and Aliyah and Emily have also finalized our Christmas and New Years plan. Me and Phil will be flying into Madrid, Spain on December 22 and James, Emily, and Aliyah will already be there. Some people (not me) will be going to the Spice Girls concert on the 23rd haha. On Decmeber 25 we will fly from Madrid to Marrakesh, Morocco and stay there for 5 nights. Hopefully we will have a Sahara trek and ride on camels haha. On Decmeber 30 we will fly from Marrakesh to Barcelona where we will stay until January 1 or 2 and then go back to Madrid. Then Me and Phil will fly to Marseille on January 4th and I will stay with him for a while there and we may go visit somewhere else in that time and Oslo, Norway is on the table for this trip... after that I'm not quite sure whats going on yet because I haven't yet heard from my Arabic program if I've been accepted.

soooo thats all for now LEAVE A COMMENT!!!

here are some pictures also from the last leg of my SICHUAN trip that I haven't put up yet... its mostly panda bears haha.
PICTURES! click here

Trip to Taiwan and Philippines is official!

2007-10-23T23:02:00.000+08:00

October 23, 2007
Lisa picked up our passports today with no problem so thats all set. Then I had a nap and made some more bok choy ( its getting better every time!!) and then we discussed our trip. This is now the official trip

November 9 1230 AM Shanghai - Manila (arrive 430 AM :()
November 9 1110 AM Manila - Taipei (Arrive at 110 pm)
November 9 to 16 in Taipei and surrounding areas
November 16 at 155 PM Taipei - Manila (arrive 355pm)
November 16 to 18 in Manila
November 18 8 PM Manila - Shanghai (Arrive after 11pm)

And now that thats all worked out I can start to work more on my European/North Africa plans. After discussing with Phil and Aliyah this seems to be a good plan to start working on:
Phil and I arrive in Madrid on December 22 and most of our friends will be there already.
Then we will stay there and on the 25th or 26th we will take a bus down to the south of Spain and then catch a ferry over to Tangier, Morocco. From there we will either go to Fez, Marrakesh, or Casablanca and spend some time there. Then on the 29th or 30th of December we will head to Barcelona and stay there for 3 or 4 nights. Then we will hop on a bus from Barcelona to Madrid. Then I will leave Madrid on the 4th and fly to Marseilles with Phil and stay with him for a while there. (We are thinking about going to maybe Oslo, Norway, or Stockholm Sweden sometime in the beginning of January... but thats another story) Then sometime towards the 18th or so of January I will fly back to Madrid and stay there for a few nights before heading to Cairo. :o) It is really confusing and it involves lots and lots of planning and I have to hear back from all of my friends if they like this idea or not... but it seems to work out pretty well as of now.
I still haven't heard from Cairo though if I got accepted to not into the program. They told me middle of November though so I am not really worried, I am just getting too antsy haha... Also I have a spoken midterm tomorrow for Chinese and a written one Thursday so I think I need to study now!!!!!
Leave a comment!! I like to see if people are actually reading this or not haha

(more) Eggplant, bok choy, and new chinese friends

2007-10-23T11:48:00.001+08:00

Monday October 22, 2007
I went to class in the morning as usual which almost seemed pointless... But after class I stopped on the way home and got a couple more cooking things and me and Lisa made more eggplant and ate dumplings before she had to be off to class. They were a teeeeeeny bit better than before but not too much better haha. Then the cleaning people came and cleaned the apartment which was really in need of a good cleaning... I don't think my Chinese roommate was happy with how much they were charging though (about 70 cents a room!) so I said I would just pay for it even though his girlfriend gave me a little bit of money later haha. And then after my nap I found a good recipe for bok choy and made that and it was reallllly good and really spicy. Lisa came back just as I finished and we started making some beef and peppers and have another go at the eggplant and peppers. This time we tried to follow a recipe for the eggplant but we didn't have everything so we had to improvise. This time it wasn't too bad, the sauce was a bit runny but other than that it was our first whole meal we made in China haha. After that we went to a little get together for Chinese students and foreign students to just kinda hang out and play games or talk and have some coffee. So there I made about 200 new friends who now all have my phone number and will probably wanna hang out. This will hopefully be good for my Chinese haha.
Also there is an update on my Fall break trip...
When I was sitting in class in the morning Lisa txted my and said that because of all the recent bombings and kidnappings in the Philippines and especially Manila her people think we shouldn't go anymore. So after much debate me and Lisa decided to keep our plane tickets to Manila but then from there fly to Taipei, Taiwan and stay there for about 7 nights, and then after that fly back to Manila and stay there for 2 or 3 nights before heading back to Shanghai. So it all works out in the end and this way I can see more Chinese culture but from the other end of the spectrum and I still get to visit the Philippines for a bit :o)

Propaganda museum and eggplant?

2007-10-23T11:34:00.001+08:00

Sunday October 21, 2007

Today I got to sleep in a bit which was nice and then Lisa came up and we tried to make the eggplant and peppers that I bought at the outdoor market on saturday night. It didn't turn out terrible... but it wasn't very good haha. We put in way too much soy sauce and oil and the eggplant just soaked it all up. So we decided to walk to a market to try and get some different cooking things and foods and we got some bok choy, garlic, ginger, oils, and vinegar and some other things. Total cost for all of that was about 2 dollars not including the oil which was expensive ($1.50!). And then we came back and got ready for our outing to the propaganda poster museum of all the propaganda posters from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. A lot of them were pretty scary. A large portion of them showed some combination of the representations of people or things from the US, Japan, South Korea, and/or Taiwan and how the Chinese people can beat them and kill them. Luckily they didn't seem to work much because most Chinese people here are very very friendly towards us. After that we had a nice dinner and headed back home for studying (or lack of it).

here are some random links about propaganda posters
http://www.artelino.com/articles/chinese-propaganda-posters.asp
http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/exhib/poster/PictPow1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China

also if you wanna see more just go to google and type something in and you'll get a lot of hits!

Trip to Qipu lu!!

2007-10-21T01:08:00.001+08:00

October 20, 2007

Last night we just went out to an american restaurant that was waaaaaaaaaay to expensive but it was good to have a good hamburger and french fries, but then after that I just stayed home so I wouldn't spend anymore money haha. So today we got up and decided to go to Qipu lu which is basically the knock off street and its CRAZY. Its a huge long street filled with people and shops and malls full of everything and also there were about 20 people following us trying to get us to buy things. We finally made it to a mall but had 2 people following us still trying to take us to places, one of them gave me his card too haha. We were looking at places but we eventually had 3 or 4 people following us so we went into a store that had an exit to the outside and they waited on the inside exit for us . And the second they weren't looking we ran out and then went back in the front but went up to the second floor haha. And we didn't see them again, but we did have a lot of other people follow us. We had to hurry up though because they were closing soon. I found a place that had some shirts I wanted but they were waaaay to expensive. She was selling them for 85 kuai and or about 11 dollars which is waaay too much because one of my friends was quoted 40 or 5.50ish so I just wanted to leave but she was kept telling me to make her an offer so I told her 30kuai and ill buy 3 of them. But she said no and said something higher and I started to leave and she pulled me back in. She was being really mean and rude though and kept switching between English and Chinese and told me whats the most I'm willing to pay for 3 and I said 150 and she said no so I started to leave and she pulled me back and said ok haha. But by that time I was kinda annoyed because she was being really rude and they looked kinda crappy so I didn't want them anymore and she basically yelled at me in Chinese and said I shouldn't bargain with her if I'm not going to buy anything haha. We walked around for a bit more and then got stalked for a bit more and then left because they closed. So we walked around outside for a while and walked down a street that was basically produce all over the place and lots of random shops with big tubs of fish and crabs and eels. I bought some eggplant and pepper to make lunch tomorrow for haha. I think i got 4 egg plants and 5 large hot peppers for 3 kuai... so about 39 cents? And then we walked down another street that was kinda an ally but it was full of people selling things. When we got to he end I heard a hitting noise and someone screaming... not a good sign. I was trying to find where it was coming from and then I some guy beating someone with something and then I started watching and I realized it was a little girl. We didn't really know what to do but he had a huge chunk of plastic or something and he was holding on the ground and beating her with it and she was screaming and crying. Finally a bunch of other people ran up and got him to stop but he kept trying to beat her more but then finally left and went back to his little stand of stuff he had. I didn't really wanna stay around much longer to see what happened though and we left, kinda sick about seeing that. Then we found a taxi and headed back to the apts and got some fried noodles and hung out for a bit. And now its time to go to sleep so I can get up nice and early for some goooooood studying :o)

Back to school...

2007-10-21T00:51:00.001+08:00

October 10 to October 19, 2007
I have been busy with a lot of homework the past 2 weeks so I didn't have much time to finish updating my posts from my trip and then do this so I'm just going to do the past 2 weeks in one shot because it was a pretty average week.

On Monday we went back to class as usual expect there was a typhoon again so there was a LOT of rain and wind and my umbrella broke so I work a big yellow poncho to class haha then the rest of the week was pretty uneventful, just studying and homework. Then somewhere along the way... I think maybe Sunday Lisa told me that her chinese roommate heard on the news or something that there was an airline offering round trip tickets to the Philippines for 2 kuai... or about 25 cents... So we looked into this and found that they did indeed have them for that much, but then they throw on 100$ in taxes. But 100.25 isn't bad for round trip tickets from Shanghai to Manila, Philippines so basically me and Lisa bought them on Monday but we had to buy them for November 9th and miss class instead of November 10th because they ran out of the cheap ones, but thats fine with me. So Tuesday I had to get up early and meet Yunqi who helped me go to the university to get a letter that says I can get a second visa. Then I had to go downtown to the Shanghai exit and entry something or other and apply for a second visa for me and Lisa. So this basically meant I had to fill out a lot of paper work and then sit there for 3 hours because they only had 2 windows out of 20 open. It was kinda like the BMV, you get a number and wait till its up and then go up to the window and do your stuff. I was kinda annoyed because the lady at the info desk said I needed to be there but then when we went up to the thing he just grabbed all the paper work and put it in an envelope and gave me a receipt... no questions asked so I had to miss more class for nothing, but whatever. So we can go pick them on Tuesday and then our whole trip is set! We also don't have to plan anything out because Lisa's step mom is originally from Manila and is arranging the whole thing for us so its going to be pretty nice.

Nothing else much happened these past 2 weeks except I found out we have a huge test next week over our whole book which is going to be fun because they haven't taught us very much from it at ALLLLL!!!!! Which kinda annoys me because I'm really worried about the grade I'm gonna get on it. Also I found out I have a test in my other class that they never told us about which is also going to be realllllly fun to deal with. I really don't like how they run the classes here. I have 2 chinese classes and a sociology class. One Chinese class is 4 days a week and sucks. One teacher teaches the first two and one teaches the next and its really confusing because they each do their own thing on different chapters which means we talk about one grammar thing or vocab words and we don't see them again for a week. Also one teacher goes off on hour long tangents ever class and the other spends 3 hours going over every vocab word and all that our tests are is grammar, but neither of them talk about the grammar AT ALL. So I feel like I'm not learning much from here. In our other chinese class it is 2 days a week and also has 2 teachers but they each teach half of it each day. The first teacher is great. She is really funny and keep us awake. The second teacher is the teacher from our other class that spends 3 hours on vocab and 0 on grammar, and surprise surprise she does the same thing in here! We just read each vocab word and give example sentences. Our sociology class is also a joke. All we do is listen to a chinese professor who makes sense less than a fourth of the time and then talk about the stupid papers that make no sense, and its 4 hours long... So no one is happy with that to say the least. So I'll take my tests next week and hopefully I can figure out most of the grammar before that :/

Day 9 Chengdu BACK to Shanghai!

2007-10-21T00:30:00.001+08:00

October 6, 2007
Today we got up in the morning had free time before we had to meet back at the hotel to head to the airport. So we basically got some lunch then walked around and looked at the shops. I went to the place right across from our hotel and before I could even walk across the street I had a couple monks ask me follow me and beg for money. Then when I went in the store they waited for me outside, or found someone else to follow. The lady in the store was really nice and really excited that I could talk to her in Chinese so she was giving me a good deal. They had a mini mahjohng set that was "yak bone" (yeah right) and it came in a nice wooden box and yesterday her husband told me it was 500 kuai which is like 65 dollars so I said NOOOOO WAY, but she told me 160 which is about 20 dollars so I got it and was happy. Then we walked down the street a bit more and got followed by a few more monks who wanted money and I gave money to cuz I felt bad. Then we get to another shop that has the same mahjong set for only 68kuai :o( :o( :o( :o( :o( :o( so I was kinda upset about that for a while and in a bad mood for the rest of the day. We just browsed a few more shops after that and found some of our friends. And then one monk who looked like he could have been only 15 or 16 kept following me and petty my arm saying please give me money in chinese and petting my arm, and he finally left after one of the store owners yelled at him, and then he hissed and ran away. After that I went to a shop that had silk tibetan banners that they hang everywhere that are different colors and have the sutra written on them in tibetan. I bought a couple of these and brought my friend back because he wanted some of them and was waiting outside when a monk came up right behind me and started chanting in my ear. I turned around to look at him and he kept chanting and holding his hand out so I gave him a little money because he was scaring me and then he pulled out a prayer necklace and started chanting louder and pointing to all the banners. Then I showed him that I had bought some and he grabbed my bag and started chanting louder and wouldn't let go, so I kinda pulled away roughly and walked away faaaaasst. We ran back to the bus and headed towards the airport. We got in at 730ish pm and had to wait foreeeever to get our bus back to the apts but it finally came and we headed back and crashed. all in all it was a great trip I think and would looove to go back and visit

Technorati Tags: Chengdu, tibetan monks

Day 8 in Chengdu, Sichuan

2007-10-20T23:53:00.000+08:00

October 5, 2007
Today we woke up at about 8ish and then got ready to head to Leshan Big Buddha. After a somewhat better breakfast we hit the road but it was actually a real road this time so it wasn't bad. We stopped at a rest stop that was actually CLEAN and not a hole in the ground and not covered in nasty and not gross. But what was amazing about this place was that there was a huge everything tea shop outside! They had green tea ice cream ( i had two because they were small haha) and fried tea leaves and green tea pancakes and so much other stuff I couldn't explain. And the next best part was that they had free samples of everything haha, but we had to leave so we didn't get to spend much time there even though I would have liked to. We then stopped at a place to have lunch... it was ok but still disappointing. It was at some park place and we had like 45 minutes of free time and they had a giant ball you get inside of and then you can go out on the lake in it and some people did that but I didn't because I didn't want to wait in line. After that we went to the big buddha and then waited in line in 99% humidity and sun and heat for a while, then we got on a boat and went down the river and drove past the buddha and then looked at it for a bit and took a picture then headed back... kinda lame to drive 3 hours each way for... We then headed back and by that time it was basically dinner and we headed to a hot pot place!!! and they gave us a reallllly spicy and super MA hot pot that was really good. And the best part was we could order whatever we wanted and they just kept brining it out. After a long while here we heading to the famous changing faces opera. It was really fun, they had a couple acts like singers and little skits and things and then at the end they had their changing faces show which is everyone doing their dances and everything and they change the masks they are wearing really quickly and you can't really tell how but I think its under their hats or something. After that we had the night free and I headed out for a night on the town with a few friends. On our way back home later that night they had kids everywhere selling roses. I told one earlier that I would buy one from him if he was still there when I was going home and he was so I bought one. But then all 20 of the other ones wanted me to buy one too, including this littler girl who kept sticking them in my pockets and wouldn't leave me alone. And then another boy was trying to get me to get some too and I said I had already bought one from his friend and then he told me that he had no friends which is kinda sad. But then he opened the taxi door for me and gave me a rose for free and said he would help me out haha. After that we headed back to the hotel and went to sleep for our last night in Sichuan.

SICHUAN trip day 7! pandas and chengdu!

2007-10-20T23:24:00.000+08:00

October 4, 2007
Today we got up early to leave the hotel and head back towards the city where there would be western toilets and nice rooms haha. Before heading back we drove to Mt. Ba Lang to rest a bit which it is 13,000 feet high and that was the highest we went on our trip. We got out to take pictures and use the bathroom and to buy random food on a stick as usual. It was kinda cold so we didn't say for too long. After that we got back on the most dangerous road and for another 20 hours. After many hours and another disappointing meal we got to the highlight of the trip, the "China Giant Panda Garden" in Wolong, China which has 71% of the worlds panda population. I got lots of pictures of them, but you could actually hold a baby one for a few seconds and take pictures if you payed something like 50 or 100 dollars so I passed. They didn't give us to much time there because we had to head back to Chengdu to check into the hotel. We all loaded back into the bus and checked into our realllllllly nice hotel and went to sleep because were are tired from all the traveling.

Day 6 Hiking on Sigunian Mountain (Mountain of the 4 sisters)

2007-10-15T22:49:00.000+08:00

The first one is me feeding an apple to a horse on the wooden trail at Siguniangshan, and the second is the old man that was selling goat meat on a stick that was reallllly good, and the last one is the goat roasting behind the tibetan dancers that are at the bottom

October 3, 2007
Today we get up early and take a bus up to the start of the hiking trail to Siguniangshan. We had to rent rain boots because it rained a lot the past few days and it was all muddy and all I had was tennis shoes. So we all wore our rented nasty boots and walked down the 2000 meter wooden trail. It was really nice and it wasn't very cold out which was also nice and the weather was great. We basically just walked on this wooden trail for a while and then at the end of it is where the mud started and there was a LOOOOOT of it, and it was also mixed with equal parts of horse poop. So we walked through the mud for a while then got to a summit of some sort, but some people had harder times breathing and walking in the altitude so they had cans of oxygen for them. When we got there we had a picnic lunch which was kinda gross but it worked. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw smoke and walked towards it and surprise surprise there was meat on a stick!!! It was only 13 cents and sooooooo good I think I had 5 of them. After that me and a few people walked back and rested by a stream and got accosted by a woman trying to take pictures of us with Tibetan clothes who was hitting on me. Then we head back towards the hotel but stopped for some more meat on a stick where we rented the boots.

We got back to the hotel and had our dinner then we had a "surprise" for us afterwords. This was a kinda performance in a tent out front by the girls that worked at the hotel. There was lots of tibetan (and modern and lipsynced) singing and dancing which was fun and they were also roasting a goat (that we saw get killed a bit earlier) and some rabbits and chicken for us in the background while the sang. They also had everyone get up and join and had a few games and it was really fun.

After that we headed back to our hotel and played mahjong all night which was really fun... im starting to get the hang of it haha. and here is a video of a circle dance they did that they tried to get me to do but I didn't really want to haha.

here is a video of some of the dancers

here are pictures! mostly of the mountians

Day 5 Tibetan Jiaju village and lots and lots of high altitude driving on even worse roads (if thats possible)

2007-10-15T21:58:00.000+08:00

The first picture is a random bathroom on the side of the road, the second is of normal road conditions for most of the trip, the third is a picture of the road and scenery from the bus, and the last is the yak butter milk tea

October 2, 2007
Today we get up and drive up the mountain to Jiaju Tibetan village which is basically just a small tibetan town that has been turned into a tourist attraction, but its still fun. We went to a house and looked around it and saw how the traditional houses are. Then after a bit of looking around they made us their traditional yak butter milk tea which tasted a bit like warm skim milk with barley and a lot of salt... yum... and they also gave us some little barley cakes to go with it. We didn't stay for very long though because we had to get a move on to Siguniang Moutains (Mt. Four Sisters) which was high up and far away. We left the village and headed to a Tibetan hotel for lunch which was ok but still not very spicy. It was fun at the end though because all the servers came in and sang and danced for us. After that we headed off our our trip of more and more and more terrible roads of getting stuck in the mud and having to stop and help other cars out of the mud so we can get by ect. ect. We also passed through so many small villages that looked like they may have never even seen a foreigner before.

I think the whole trip was about 9 hours and not one minute of it was on a paved road or anything so it was a nice 9 ours of crazy rocking back and forth on the bus. It was so bad you couldn't even do anything but talk or listen to music and deal with it. I heard form someone on the trip too that this was the most dangerous road in the world and I'm not surprised from how it looked from all the falling rocks and everything. The bridges too looked scary, like they would fall and collapse if we drove over them but they seemed to hold just fine.

After a long long long long time we got to our village which I think was about 11,000 feet above sea level and checked into our Tibetan hotel for 2 nights. It was a really tiny town and nothing really to do except hang out at the hotel cuz it was so late. Also it was realllllllly cold at night that high up and it was actually a little hard to breath cuz everything was a walk uphill. Also the hotel didn't have heat which was fun. And they had "western style toilets" which was basically a western toilet over a hole... so it didn't really work, but I wont get into that. Also the shower and the toilet leaked on the floor because the shower was kinda a stall with a floor but the drain in the shower just opened to the floor and kinda flooded the bathroom cuz the drain was on the other side... nice. Also you couldn't walk barefoot in the room because you would probably step on something and get a disease because they don't vacuum or clean. So the first night we just went to sleep because we were all tired from the rough trip and to get up early to go hiking on the mountains.
PICTURES!!!! click here, same as day 4 pictures, tibetan village, and danba
Pictures of Tibetan village and trip on the way to siguniang mountains and the mountains

Day 4 Heading to Danba Tibetan Town

2007-10-15T21:12:00.000+08:00

the first picture is of the bridge that Mao crossed in Luding (but we had no time to go on it :o() and the second is infront of my hotel at Danba, and the third is a large portion of our dinner that was too 麻 for us to handle.

the October 1, 2007
On this day we got to sleep in a little and then drive to Danba, it was a little bit uneventful since it was mostly driving all day. Lots of bad roads and driving through small towns and "唱山歌". We stopped in a small town called Luding to get some snacks and water since where we were going next they wouldn't have much of that kinda stuff. I guess Mao and his army crossed a chain bridge in this city sometime during their civil war. We only got to spend a half hour there though because we had to get to a tunnel ( i think they said it was the longest in asia?) before it switched direction ( they make it one way during holidays and switch direction for long times) or else we would have to wait like 4 or 5 hours and would miss something else we were doing. Before we went in the tunnel we stopped yet again to take more pictures, but they also had a lot of vendors who were selling fruit and nuts and things and they had some dried kiwis which were really good. Then we went through the tunnel and came out the other side into the mostly Tibetan area of Sichuan. Mostly this whole time I got lots of scenery shots. We stopped a few more times to get pictures and look at road vendors and then drove down lots more bumpy roads and through more small towns and maybe got stuck in the mud a few times.

We then got to Danba and checked in our hotel that wasn't thaaaaat bad but once again the toilet acted as the drain for our shower, which was also not warm water, but actually boiling and it would switch between boiling and freezing almost every few seconds. We only stayed here for one night though. We had free time in Danba so we went down to the shopping area naturally and went shopping. I ending up buying a nice chinese chess set. Its made of out real (haha yeah right) leather as the guy says, and each of the pieces is also made from leather and the board and the case and its blue. I think I paid about 8 or 9 dollars for it so not too bad. I also bought one of the Tibetan spinners that has the sutra inside that I really wanted. We then went back to the hotel and hung out a bit before going to dinner. We went to some random place on the side of the road and we wanted to eat outside so they brought a huge table from inside and put it outside for us. I think there were about 10 of us total. We got a bunch of dishes like normal but they were 麻麻麻麻麻麻麻 to the extreme. I couldn't even eat the mapodoufu or the fish, even though I didn't really want to. The eggplant was good though (as usual). All in all it was a great dinner and fun being out with everyone. Then after that we headed to the internet cafe for 20 minutes only cuz they were gonna lock us out of the hotel and I manged to check my e-mail even though it took all 20 minutes to load. We made it back just in time and then played charades for a while until we got yelled at for being too loud because you can hear EVERYTHING even if its a whisper through the walls in that place. Then after that I had a boiling/freezing shower and went to sleep to get up in the morning early to check out and head to the Jiaju Tibetan Village with the Tibetan families. There are pictures below to see!

here are pictures!!!!!!!

Sichuan part 3!!! (Hailuogo Glacier park fun and Hot Springs with flesh eating fish)

2007-10-15T19:57:00.000+08:00

the first picture is me and my friend jamie in the flesh eating fish and the second is on the ski lift ride to the glacier, and the third is my roommate Yuki and his girlfriend in the flesh eating fish

September 30, 2007
We get our wakeup call and go down to breakfast which is another dismal array of watery rice with some pickled things and a hard boiled egg, luckily our teachers bought us some instant coffee though to get us through it. We then hopped on the bus to get to the other bus station (which took less than a minute to drive to so i dont know why we we didnt walk...). We waited there for a bit then hopped on a bus to go up to the top part of the mountain where the glacier was. the bus ride was kinda scary because they were driving are really high speeds around narrow corners going up. There were also a lot of buses on their way down so every time there was a turn or a curve (or someone in the road or on the side of the road or he for any reason the bus driver wanted to which seemed like every 3 seconds) he would lay on the most annoying horn I have ever heard, and it got old really quick. Everyone in China honks their horns A LOT even when they don't need to.

Anyways we got to the top of the mountain and had to hold off all the Chinese people from cutting us in line to get on the ski lift to the top. The ski lift was really nice because you could see everything there on the way up, but it was also a bit scary. Once we got to the top of course they had meat on a stick like everywhere in China, and I got some and it was gooooooooood, They told me it was goat meat, I hope they weren't lying haha. We then hiked for a bit, only like an hour or so and that was fun and got to go up and touch the ice and sit up there for a while. After that we got back on the honking bus and headed down towards the hot springs (we weren't really supposed to know we were going there cuz it was a surprise but we all already knew it). Before we went there though we ate a a restaurant which of course was again highly disappointing for what was I was hoping for :o(. After that we had a tour of the springs which was basically a huge pool and mini hot tub looking things that have hot springs water pumped into it. They also had one pool that was filled with thousands of little fish that eat all your dead skin cells when you get in and I thought it was disgusting but I ended up doing it anyways. It was really strange at first and tickled a lot, so for the first 20 minutes or so I couldn't stop laughing but then it felt nice and I think between two trips in I might have spent almost 2 hours in it. While we were there they also gave us soft boiled eggs which were basically slightly cooked eggs that you drink, I didn't have any... Then as we left I of course accidentally locked my glasses in my locker and forgot which locker number it was so that was a big ordeal trying to find which one it was and having to ask the girl at the desk for a bunch of keys to try.

After that we got back on the honking bus and headed back to the hotel. When we got there we had dinner at our hotel which was probably the worst dinner of the whole trip, so I didn't eat much and got a lot of grilled eggplant and goat on a stick which was a lot better. So we got that and walked around for a bit and looked at all the same stores of tibetan stuff then found the same little kids as before and talked to them for a bit and then headed back to the hotel to play cards for a while. Then we got bored and got some not so good tasting ice cream ( but it was only 13 cents so whatever) and then went to sleep for our next long trek to Danba Tibetan town.

below is some pictures

pictures of the glacier and hot springs!

Sichuan trip part 2! (Chengdu to Moxigen and Hai luoguo )

2007-10-08T16:11:00.000+08:00

(<--our hotel in Moxizhen... little did I know it would only get worse from here... they were supposed to have western toilets but only had squatters haha and the shower was a pipe from the wall with a hole in the middle of the floor)

(^^They attacked us as soon as we got
out of the bus, trying to get us to buy
near rotten fruit for way too much, haha,
i gave the little girl some candy
and she left me alone... until later that night when
she tried to sell me them again)

September 29, 2007

We woke up pretty about 730ish and then went down and had breakfast which consisted of some rice in warm water and spicy pickled cabbage and other things put in it. They also had some bread and hot milk... yum
We then left for our hotel in 磨西镇 (Moxizhen, i tried to find a map of it but i couldn't, i guess its just that small haha) about 9ish. The on the way there the roads started getting questionable, but nothing too bad. We stopped at a random restaurant in a little city called 天全 (Tianquan) but once again the food was unspicy and disappointing :o(. We then continued driving up and up and up into the mountains and stopped a few times at random bathroom places which are usually a small building that you go in that has a trough if you're lucky, if not its a tent with a hole in the ground, and you have to pay to use them, usually 5 mao or one kuai, so thats about 7 - 14 cents. Before we went in a huge tunnel ( i think the longest in asia ) we stopped to take pictures and we got some dried kiwi slices which were really good because that area is known for its kiwis. After more driving up and up we got to the hotel after 7 and were free to find out own food, but once again it just turned up to be unspicy :(. The city itself was kinda boring, mostly lots and lots of little shops that all have the same things, usually consisting of jewelry, yak horns or other things made from yak (meat, carvings from bones, hats from fur ect). It was interesting though because most of the people in the town were Tibetans and a lot of the shops had Tibetan things. So we just walked around after dinner and bought a few souvenirs and then went back to the hotel becuae we had to get up early tomorrow to go hiking for a bit at 海螺沟 (Hai luogou) Glacier Park.

here's a link again to a lot more pictures if you wanna see them
http://www.shanghaijim.smugmug.com/gallery/3603074#204939351

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
here are pictures to see if you want to see them of this part of my trip! just click here

My Trip to Sichuan Province Pt. 1 (Shanghai to Chengdu)

2007-10-08T15:47:00.001+08:00

September 28, 2007

We all met in the lobby around 7:30 (i was a little late though because i forgot to set my alarm... oops) to take a bus to Pudong International Airport to fly 2 and a half hours or so to Chengdu which is the capitol of Sichuan Province. I bought a a bag here to use for the trip which probably wasn't a good idea and it broke before we even go to the airport haha, lucky I didn't have to check anything and I could hold it shut until we got to our first hotel. The airline was a lot nicer that I thought it would be too which was a plus, I didn't see much of it though because I passed out almost right when I got on haha. We arrived in Chengdu at about 1:30 and met the Beijing students from our program and went to our first hotel. On the way there the Beijing leader teacher, Han Bing, told us what was ahead of of for the next week and a half which included lots of mountain driving, Tibetan villages, among other things. We got to our first hotel and checked in. It was pretty nice except for some reason bathroom basically had windows for walls and you had to pull a curtain over it to block anyone from seeing haha. We had a few hours of free time but that was basically spent in Carrefour (kinda like a French Walmart) standing in line because me and Lisa each and to buy a new bag to put our stuff in. Then we had to wait for another 20 minutes while they figured out how to use our credit cards haha. We went for a group dinner at a restaurant but I was kind of disappointed because Han Bing told us he was gonna tell all the restaurants not to make the food spicy because he didn't want anyone to 拉肚子 (diarrhea) on the trip haha. Me and Lisa were both kinda upset because we were both looking forward to spicy food so much. After that Yuki, Masako, Lisa and I just walked around Chengdu looking in expensive shops, then back to a bathing suit shop so they could get one for part of our trip. We also saw a huge statue of Mao with fireworks and crazy lights... almost a bit scary. After all that went back to the hotel and Yuki taught us a Japanese card game that we played for until 2 am haha, and then we went on a snack run to a 24 hour convenience store before finally going to sleep.

p.s.

Also I have a lot of pictures but they are on on Facebook, I haven't gotten around to finding another photo site but here are a lot of pictures from one of my friends that anyone can see

http://www.shanghaijim.smugmug.com/

sometime I will get around to it and then you can see all mine

update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my pictures are up to see!
click here for my pictures!

a boring week and a half (with a terrible ending) before my Sichuan trip

2007-09-27T00:51:00.000+08:00

September 16 ~ 27, 2007
Probably most people heard about typhoon Wipha that was headed straight for Shanghai... well it missed us so school went on as normal. It hit a bit south of us and we just got some wind and light rain. I didn't really hear about any damage caused by the storm or anything though. The rest of the week and weekend were pretty uneventful, I have been pretty busy with my classes and studying that I haven't had much time to go out and explore. I found out yesterday though that The American University in Cairo never got (or lost) a large chunk of my application material... and the deadline is October first. So instead of studying for my test and preparing my presentation over my readings like I should have been, I spent all day trying to call the university in Cairo and their offices in New York trying to get a hold of someone. My dad has to overnight 2 small pictures of me (which I think is pretty lame that they are so important they have to be overnighted) and I had to e-mail one of my professors yet again and ask her to mail another copy of my recommendation letter out. And luckily I found a copy of my passport on my computer so I can just e-mail it instead of having to try and send a copy express from Shanghai to New York. Hopefully that will all get worked out though in the next few days because I am leaving for Sichuan 四川 on Friday morning and I don't know when I will be able to check my e-mail or make phone calls while I'm there. And towards then end of all this stuff with Egypt... right before I started up my studying finally for my test tomorrow at 10pm was the terrible ending to my last week and a half which got my test canceled...

terrible ending

I was sitting at the table about to start studying and my friend Lisa got a text message from her roommate that said something along the lines of there is a dead person in front of the building... First we look out my window from the 13th floor but all we can see are the red and blue lights on the wall from the police cars so then we run down to Lisa's room and look out her window and see police cars, 8 or so policemen, and a few random people around the area of a body shaped white sheet with red stains on it. All we could do is just stand there and stare... We just talked about what we heard... What I gathered was they think he might have jumped from his window on the 5th floor because his window was open, but it was so far away from the building we didn't thing it was possible that he could have jumped that far. The other thing we heard was he might have gotten hit by a car but the we live in a gated area and the only cars in are taxis usually and the road isn't even wide or long enough I think to pick up much speed. They said the guy was from Denmark and just moved in that day so none of us really every saw him but my two friends live in the apartment underneath him and they were actually the ones who found him and they used her sheet to cover him up. I also unfortunately saw the scene without the sheet a little bit later. So because of this they canceled the test which is good because I wouldn't have been able to study anyways and I doubt anyone else here could either. So maybe I will find out soon what happened but as of now they are still trying to clean up the mess and figure out what happened.
再见！

Finally my first post

2007-09-19T18:02:00.000+08:00

For some reason I haven't been able to log onto my blog since arriving in China... I think I might know why... But anyways I guess I'll start from the flight over.

August 28 and 29, 2007
Aside from some rude airport employees everything went smooth. The plane ride was about 14 or 15 hours and was pretty boring. We arrived in Shanghai on the 29th and we got on a bus and headed towards our apartments. We live in the Tonghe International Students Apartments which are reallllllllllly nice, especially compared with the living situation for the rest of China. We have 3 bedrooms with A/C and two bathrooms, a living room with couches and chairs and a TV with cable, and a kitchen with a table and a stove (but no oven :( ), refrigerator, and a washing machine (but we have to hang dry in our sunroom). Also I don't have to clean, we just pay about 4 dollars and people come and clean the whole place. I have two roommates. One is Japanese and his name is Yuki from Kyoto, the other roommate is Chinese and he likes to be called Derrek haha. We went to a restaurant down the street and has our first real Chinese meal, and it was really good. You just have to watch out for the 花椒 (hua1jiao4) or you will have a lot of 麻 (ma2). 花椒 are little things that look like peppercorns but they explode in your mouth if you bite into it and make your tongue go almost numb and tingle a lot with bitter taste, and they put it in almost EVERYTHING.

August 30 to September 13, 2007

For the next few days we basically just had orientations and placement tests and everything and then started class the first Monday. I have 3 classes here one is a Chinese language (汉语) classes which is the same as C301 and C302 at IU, another one is a speaking class (听说), and another is a society class taught by a crazy guy that manages to keep me awake for 3 hours straight haha.
Here is my weekly class schedule
Monday: 汉语 840-1135
Tuesday: 汉语 115-405
Wednesday: 听说 800-1135
Thursday: 汉语840-1135 , lunch, Society 130-500
Friday: 汉语 840-1135, lunch, 听说 130-500

The start of the week isn't too by, but by the end of the week I'm going crazy. I usually have between 150 and 250 vocab words a week that usually consist of 2 symbols or more plus all the homework and readings ontop of that. I also have to do a capstone project here, I haven't thought much about it but I think I am going to do something on the local dialect of Chinese. After the first two weeks we had a test and I'll find out tomorrow what I got on it hopefully. I spent a lot of time in the first few weeks just going around Shanghai and seeing different things and trying a lot of different restaurants because the food here is so cheap.

September 14 to 16, 2006 ~ My trip to Hangzhou
After our test on Friday we hopped on a bus to Hangzhou for the weekend. When we got the bus station in Hangzhou there were swarms of Chinese people just hanging around outside waiting to offer people rides but when we came out everyone started following us yelling "Hello, Hello!" and whispering to each other in Chinese saying "English, English!" They followed us until we got rides to our youth hostel a little bit later, it was kinda amusing though. The youth hostel was really nice and only cost us 10$ each for two nights. The people who worked there were really nice too and helped us out a lot and talked with us in Chinese. On the first day we went to a pagoda across the street. I forgot the name of it but it was rebuilt a few years ago from the one that fell down in 1927, so it didn't seem very authentic or anything. Then we went to Lingyin Temple and that was fun too except I managed to hurt my ankles and couldn't walk very well. But I did get some reallllllly good tea there because it is the tea capitol of the world. We had lunch at some little restaurant but it wasn't very good. We got the soup that was named after the lake which turned out to be a bad idea because it tasted and smelled like they just scooped some water out of the lake and heated it up for us. And our chicken dish mostly consisted of bones and random chicken parts like lungs and claws. The next day my ankles felt a little better and we rented bikes to take a ride across the causeway but it was PACKED with people so we decided to just walk instead. We had lunch at a little place then headed back for Shanghai for class on Monday. When we got back though my ankles started hurting really bad again so I wrapped them and went to sleep. The next day I didn't go to school though because they still hurt so bad I couldn't walk, but some of my new friends here brought my a bubble tea which made me really happy after being cooped up all day.