Our internet was down all weekend but I forgot to notify anyone so I'm sorry if I caused any distress. No worries, I am still alive.
This Saturday Cheng and I visited the Fragrant Hills and we saw TWO--I repeat TWO squirrels. This is an amazing feat for Beijing, since they pretty much wiped out all the wildlife here 50 years ago. So yeah the Fragrant Hills is this park outside of the 5th ring road that's actually really easy to get to from my school. Except when we got there we realized the main attraction was to see the red leaves in the fall, but right now all the leaves have already fallen off the trees. Boo. Well, we climbed around for a bit (because this is what you do at Chinese tourist sites) and then called it a day.
Sunday was quite wonderful because we had breakfast around 12 and this consisted of: eggs, potatoes, bacon (which I gave away), and banana stuffed french toast. Oh, and hot chocolate. For 40 kuai! Ahhhhh it was bliss. Then I returned to my place and called up a Chinese BFSU friend to meet for dinner. It was really great to get dimsum and chat with some actual Chinese friends (as opposed to the fake ones).
Ok I have to run now because we have an environmental law person coming to speak to our class tonight, but I gotta grab dinner first. I will update about thanksgiving after I have gorged myself on delicious food over the next couple days!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Here's a great idea:
Leave your socks on your radiator when you go to take a shower so that when you come back, you can put them on and they are nice and warm. Like instant just-came-out-of-the-drier warmness, when you don't have a drier.
I know you were all worried, but you can breathe easy now: I registered successfully for my last semester of classes, though as J knows it took my cursing and threatening of NYUHome for this to happen. As for my current classes, Chinese is being annoying with a tingxie test everyday this week, but luckily I quite enjoy my Environmental class. My prof is cute and so so knowledgeable, so that he can actually field all of our random questions on the situation here in China. Also he is hopefully seeing if we can take a weekend trip to Tianjin (Beijing's "sister city" a one hour train ride to the east) so we can check out their environmental measures. That would be coooool. Especially if it were subsidized by our program (fingers crossed).
Oh yes, so next semester I am taking: History of Vietnam, a Marlowe seminar, Travel Writing, and an EAS class on Japanese literature from the 1990's. Hopefully all goes well. I am, most predictably, excited about the literature classes and not so much about the stupid Marlowe seminar I have to take. Also starting to get anxious about what I'll do in terms of an internship/job for the spring, seeing as all I hear are scary things about the economy sucking and people getting laid off. Especially in publishing...
Which brings me to my last point: I want books for Christmas! This notice goes out to family and friends. I would buy some here but I'm already concerned about the weight of my suitcases going back, so I must refrain. So yeah, support Amazon or B&N or an indie bookstore and thereby support publishers, authors, agents, and my possibly future career... and of course make me happy for Christmas :) (I realize I might be early in posting this request but it was on my mind so I thought I'd put it out there before I forget).
I know you were all worried, but you can breathe easy now: I registered successfully for my last semester of classes, though as J knows it took my cursing and threatening of NYUHome for this to happen. As for my current classes, Chinese is being annoying with a tingxie test everyday this week, but luckily I quite enjoy my Environmental class. My prof is cute and so so knowledgeable, so that he can actually field all of our random questions on the situation here in China. Also he is hopefully seeing if we can take a weekend trip to Tianjin (Beijing's "sister city" a one hour train ride to the east) so we can check out their environmental measures. That would be coooool. Especially if it were subsidized by our program (fingers crossed).
Oh yes, so next semester I am taking: History of Vietnam, a Marlowe seminar, Travel Writing, and an EAS class on Japanese literature from the 1990's. Hopefully all goes well. I am, most predictably, excited about the literature classes and not so much about the stupid Marlowe seminar I have to take. Also starting to get anxious about what I'll do in terms of an internship/job for the spring, seeing as all I hear are scary things about the economy sucking and people getting laid off. Especially in publishing...
Which brings me to my last point: I want books for Christmas! This notice goes out to family and friends. I would buy some here but I'm already concerned about the weight of my suitcases going back, so I must refrain. So yeah, support Amazon or B&N or an indie bookstore and thereby support publishers, authors, agents, and my possibly future career... and of course make me happy for Christmas :) (I realize I might be early in posting this request but it was on my mind so I thought I'd put it out there before I forget).
Saturday, November 15, 2008
I can't remember where I left off...
But not to worry, we have heat so I'm not suffering so much now. I'm getting pretty lazy about these updates, I know, and I'm sorry. But I just had a long weekend of running around and fighting a battle with my stomach to not be stupid...
Lastly, I start a new class tomorrow about the environmental situation in China. Our professor is a very well-connected, knowledgeable guy but I just have my fingers crossed that he can actually teach a class well for 2 1/2 hours every day. I mean it's one thing to know a lot about what you do, but another to be able to teach a bunch of foreigners at 9.30 in the morning about how interesting this is. Also in class news, tomorrow I register for my final semester at NYU! Ah so sad! Fingers also crossed that that all works out, and once it does I will post my schedule proudly since I know you all care so much (but I'm not going to post it now, because I don't want to jinx anything. I have had bad luck scheduling in the past).
And yes, a couple days ago marked the beginning of the last month here in China. Which means I still have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it... but also I'm thinking I'll be pretty glad to get home when I do. And then! Fortune of all fortunes! I'll get to stay home for about a month since Spring classes don't start until January 20th (got that, Mom??). Which leaves lots of time for eating some good home cooking.
Lastly, I start a new class tomorrow about the environmental situation in China. Our professor is a very well-connected, knowledgeable guy but I just have my fingers crossed that he can actually teach a class well for 2 1/2 hours every day. I mean it's one thing to know a lot about what you do, but another to be able to teach a bunch of foreigners at 9.30 in the morning about how interesting this is. Also in class news, tomorrow I register for my final semester at NYU! Ah so sad! Fingers also crossed that that all works out, and once it does I will post my schedule proudly since I know you all care so much (but I'm not going to post it now, because I don't want to jinx anything. I have had bad luck scheduling in the past).
And yes, a couple days ago marked the beginning of the last month here in China. Which means I still have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it... but also I'm thinking I'll be pretty glad to get home when I do. And then! Fortune of all fortunes! I'll get to stay home for about a month since Spring classes don't start until January 20th (got that, Mom??). Which leaves lots of time for eating some good home cooking.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Dear Chinese Government,
I've been pretty wary of saying anything against you while I'm here this past semester, but I'm afraid this situation has just gotten too ridiculous. It is currently less than 40 degrees F outside right now, which means it is approximately (according to my calculations) about 40 degrees in my room, because we have no heat. Please, for the love of Buddha and Mao and the Olympics, turn on the heat!
In case you are wondering, I am currently wearing, as I prepare to go to bed:
2 pairs of socks
leggings
sweatpants
a long sleeved shirt
a tshirt
a hoodie
and and contemplating wearing a scarf and earmuffs in order to get my beauty rest.
This is not natural! Also, not fair that Qinghua already has their heat on! This is not communism! We should all either have, or have not... or am I getting my ideologies mixed up here?
In other news, I have safely returned to Beijing and have a crapload of work to catch up on. That combined with the freezing factor means I probably won't be updating in full until the end of the week. I know you'll all be waiting with bated breath: Will she wake up one morning a frozen popsicle? Or will she someday post the hundreds of pictures she took in the past two weeks? Stay tuned...
In case you are wondering, I am currently wearing, as I prepare to go to bed:
2 pairs of socks
leggings
sweatpants
a long sleeved shirt
a tshirt
a hoodie
and and contemplating wearing a scarf and earmuffs in order to get my beauty rest.
This is not natural! Also, not fair that Qinghua already has their heat on! This is not communism! We should all either have, or have not... or am I getting my ideologies mixed up here?
In other news, I have safely returned to Beijing and have a crapload of work to catch up on. That combined with the freezing factor means I probably won't be updating in full until the end of the week. I know you'll all be waiting with bated breath: Will she wake up one morning a frozen popsicle? Or will she someday post the hundreds of pictures she took in the past two weeks? Stay tuned...
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Ironic?
That I am currently in the Chinese city of Yan-an, where Mao Zedong solidified his position as leader of the Communist Party and basically rectified the Party as the sole controller of the Chinese State on the same day that America elects the first black man (actually, multi-racial) man to be the new leader of the self-professed leader of the free world?? Hmmm yes it's a little ironic.
Go Obama! We here all have high hopes for him. We're now just counting down the days until January when he can officially take up the post and hopefully start fixing our very much broken system. No pressure though.
But seriously, thanks America. I have had a little faith restored today. And I don't have to move to Canada in the foreseeable future.
Go Obama! We here all have high hopes for him. We're now just counting down the days until January when he can officially take up the post and hopefully start fixing our very much broken system. No pressure though.
But seriously, thanks America. I have had a little faith restored today. And I don't have to move to Canada in the foreseeable future.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Internet cafes save my life
we had to postpone our trip to see the terra cotta warriors this afternoon on account of 1/3 of our group being sick sick sick. i'm thinking if 5 people are sick now, chances are the rest of us will be getting sick in the near future... but knock on wood that i'm still feeling fine. i find it a little uncanny that i haven't even had la duzi for a month or so now. mad props to my immune system, and i hope i'm not jinxing myself by typing this now. (unrelatedly, my shift key is sticky so i apologize for the lack of capitalization).
if you are following along, you will know that i am currently reporting from xi'an, the former central capital of china during several important decades. today it's most famously known for the terra cotta warriors i mentioned up there ^ and so far it's really cool. the xi'aners, unlike the beijingers, recognize the importance of a good city wall, so theirs is still intact and completely surrounds the center of the city. this morning we took a bike ride around it, for 13 km! it was pretty intense, though not really, but definitely a good work out. this afternoon i hope to visit the muslim market and buy some cool souveniers.
xi'an also has some really interesting food. all the street food looks good and some of it we've never seen before. last night's dinner was a real experience: we wandered out of our hotel and into this restuarant where everyone appeared to be eating some kind of soup. so we sit down and ask the waiters for a menu and then they repeat, really loudly "CAI DAN?????" so that the whole restuarant goes silent and stares at us. as if they weren't staring already. oops. but anyway, the caidan is posted on the wall behind the register in the front of the restuarant, and you're supposed to just go up there and order. this is what we did, not really having any idea what we were getting except that it was some kind of soup. an old man stopped me on my way back to the table and pointed at his soup telling me it was very tasty (in chinese). so i had high expectations, you see.
turns out we got the "common" soup, which had tofu, mushrooms, quail eggs, and noodles. but what made it really interesting was that eat soup came with a small piece of flat bread, kinda like a pita, and before they poured the soup you're supposed to break the bread into small pieces and then they pour the soup over it. realllllly strange but it tasted good. and i had never seen anything like it. i still don't know who's food it is (some kind of minority group maybe?) but the whole thing was quite an experience.
if you are following along, you will know that i am currently reporting from xi'an, the former central capital of china during several important decades. today it's most famously known for the terra cotta warriors i mentioned up there ^ and so far it's really cool. the xi'aners, unlike the beijingers, recognize the importance of a good city wall, so theirs is still intact and completely surrounds the center of the city. this morning we took a bike ride around it, for 13 km! it was pretty intense, though not really, but definitely a good work out. this afternoon i hope to visit the muslim market and buy some cool souveniers.
xi'an also has some really interesting food. all the street food looks good and some of it we've never seen before. last night's dinner was a real experience: we wandered out of our hotel and into this restuarant where everyone appeared to be eating some kind of soup. so we sit down and ask the waiters for a menu and then they repeat, really loudly "CAI DAN?????" so that the whole restuarant goes silent and stares at us. as if they weren't staring already. oops. but anyway, the caidan is posted on the wall behind the register in the front of the restuarant, and you're supposed to just go up there and order. this is what we did, not really having any idea what we were getting except that it was some kind of soup. an old man stopped me on my way back to the table and pointed at his soup telling me it was very tasty (in chinese). so i had high expectations, you see.
turns out we got the "common" soup, which had tofu, mushrooms, quail eggs, and noodles. but what made it really interesting was that eat soup came with a small piece of flat bread, kinda like a pita, and before they poured the soup you're supposed to break the bread into small pieces and then they pour the soup over it. realllllly strange but it tasted good. and i had never seen anything like it. i still don't know who's food it is (some kind of minority group maybe?) but the whole thing was quite an experience.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Quick post from Nanjing
Heyyyy sorry it's been so long but I just wanted to let everyone know that I am currently safe in my hotel in Nanjing. Safe because I am not outside breathing the terrible terrible polluted air, which turns out is worse than Beijing's. Who knew?
What we've done so far since being here:
Sunday: arrived in Nanjing and had an afternoon tour of a couple city neighborhoods, including where the Nationalist party lived in the 1920's, the presidential palace, and the 1912 expat bar district. Then we found a cute Mexican place for dinner and sat outside eating burritos.
Monday: In the morning we had a field trip to the Nanjing National Seminary. Aren't you proud, mum and dad? I got a Christian religious experience in China! Who would've thunk. After that we headed up the hill in the middle of the city to Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum. This was really cool but also hard work... from a distance it doesn't look like a big climb to the top, but as you go higher the stairs get steeper. Definitely a must-see for any tourist to Nanjing though.
Tuesday: Went to Suzhou! We figured it was close enough for a day trip but actually it was a three hour ride both ways. However, totally worth it. Suzhou is a much smaller city with lots of cute canals and famous gardens. I liked actually be able to walk everywhere. And we went shopping. But I didn't buy anything. If anyone wants a scarf though, they should let me know. You can pretend it's from Suzhou...
Today: In the morning we had a nice exchange with some volunteer students from Nanjing University. We were supposed to have one on one conversations, but somehow I ended up with three students and myself, haha. They were really nice. We were supposed to talk about Nanjing and its history, and how that ties to Chinese nationalism, but mostly we just asked each other random questions. Then they showed me around their campus. Good times, except it's all rainy today. We thought it an appropriate atmosphere to spend the afternoon at the Nanjing Massacre Museum, which is where I just returned from. Overall I thought the memorial was very well done, if a bit overbearing at times. But another must-see for any tourist with knowledge of Nanjing history.
Tonight IES is treating us to dinner at the Confucius Temple, which is pretty awesome. Tomorrow we take a day trip to Zhenjiang, which may or may not be too interesting (my professor's never actually been there, so who knows what we're getting ourselves into). Then Friday, Halloween, we'll be on a train to Xi'an so no trick or treating for us. Bummer. But overall the trip is going well so far. Only two kids have gotten food poisoning already (although one at a hotdog from a street cart so really, he was asking for it). I'm trying to be thrifty with my money but seriously if anyone wants me to get a souvenir from any of these places, let me know! I'll check my messages on Friday before we leave but after that I can't promise much correspondence. Happy Halloween in advance!
What we've done so far since being here:
Sunday: arrived in Nanjing and had an afternoon tour of a couple city neighborhoods, including where the Nationalist party lived in the 1920's, the presidential palace, and the 1912 expat bar district. Then we found a cute Mexican place for dinner and sat outside eating burritos.
Monday: In the morning we had a field trip to the Nanjing National Seminary. Aren't you proud, mum and dad? I got a Christian religious experience in China! Who would've thunk. After that we headed up the hill in the middle of the city to Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum. This was really cool but also hard work... from a distance it doesn't look like a big climb to the top, but as you go higher the stairs get steeper. Definitely a must-see for any tourist to Nanjing though.
Tuesday: Went to Suzhou! We figured it was close enough for a day trip but actually it was a three hour ride both ways. However, totally worth it. Suzhou is a much smaller city with lots of cute canals and famous gardens. I liked actually be able to walk everywhere. And we went shopping. But I didn't buy anything. If anyone wants a scarf though, they should let me know. You can pretend it's from Suzhou...
Today: In the morning we had a nice exchange with some volunteer students from Nanjing University. We were supposed to have one on one conversations, but somehow I ended up with three students and myself, haha. They were really nice. We were supposed to talk about Nanjing and its history, and how that ties to Chinese nationalism, but mostly we just asked each other random questions. Then they showed me around their campus. Good times, except it's all rainy today. We thought it an appropriate atmosphere to spend the afternoon at the Nanjing Massacre Museum, which is where I just returned from. Overall I thought the memorial was very well done, if a bit overbearing at times. But another must-see for any tourist with knowledge of Nanjing history.
Tonight IES is treating us to dinner at the Confucius Temple, which is pretty awesome. Tomorrow we take a day trip to Zhenjiang, which may or may not be too interesting (my professor's never actually been there, so who knows what we're getting ourselves into). Then Friday, Halloween, we'll be on a train to Xi'an so no trick or treating for us. Bummer. But overall the trip is going well so far. Only two kids have gotten food poisoning already (although one at a hotdog from a street cart so really, he was asking for it). I'm trying to be thrifty with my money but seriously if anyone wants me to get a souvenir from any of these places, let me know! I'll check my messages on Friday before we leave but after that I can't promise much correspondence. Happy Halloween in advance!
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