My parents arrived in Beijing today!

Today I had class from 8-12pm. I had tingli and hanyu. Hanyu we had a test and it was SO hard. Tests here are so much harder than at Wofford, but I guess that is expected.

After class I made a pb&j sandwich- amazing as always! Then I napped for a little. Heather and I went to go recharge our internet and then watched gossip girl while I packed for the next 4 nights in, I hope, a GREAT hotel!

I left to meet my parents around 5:30pm where they/we are staying, the Marriott Hotel City Wall in Beijing (obviously). I was so excited the whole cab ride there. Seeing them waiting for me at the front of the hotel reminded me of the first time they visited me at Wofford freshmen year.  Needless to say, we were all very excited to be together.

The hotel is absolutely gorgeous and it is HUGE. Dad upgraded us to the executive floor which meant every morning we got "free" AMERICAN breakfast and every night we got "FREE" appetizers and cocktails starting at 5:30pm. I plan on being in the executive room every night at 5:30pm. 

I can't tell you how many times I went back to the buffet for "seconds"... I'm pretty sure I went up 5 times. I mean... they had CHEESE! And guacamole and BEEF (real BEEF!) and american chicken with honey mustard. It was GREAT.

My parents were pretty exhausted from their long trip so we had an Italian meal in the hotel (no complaints there!). They didn't think the food was all that great, but I thought it was great. Pretty much any food that isn't cafeteria Chinese food tastes delicious to me.

After dinner we came back to the room. I get to sleep in a King size bed all by myself. It literally is a cloud and I am not exaggerating at all. I never want get out of this bed.

McDonald's Chicken Nuggets do the job

As you already know... my parents come tomorrow! If you're reading this blog now, since I am posting it 6 days late, you're probably confused. I don't know if that was a funny joke?

Anyway... Today was another uneventful, typical day at school! I had class from 8-9:50. Came back, thought about going to the gym. Decided it was too long of a walk. I did some work for kouyu. Met my tutor at 1 for an hour. Walked around the entire campus with Katie and Laura looking for the building where we recharge our internet. 40 minutes later after asking a million people we found it, BUT we only had 10 minutes till class so we just picked up the sheet of paper we had to fill out and left.

Kouyu was from 3-5 and seemed like it lasted 4 hours. We had to present another essay. This one was about our country's traffic compared to Beijing's. For some reason (shocker) I was so nervous to read it allowed. It ended up being fine.

After class I was exhausted and planned on taking a nap. I have a test tomorrow in hanyu so I figured I would nap, eat then study all night.

Somehow Heather convinced me to get McDonalds delivered. I honestly may come back 100 pounds heavier if I keep eating McDonalds and not going to the gym.

After I ate my chicken nuggets I had SO much energy. It's amazing how much more energy I get from eating "real" McDonalds chicken compared to chinese "chicken".

So, I skipped the nap and went straight to studying. Heather, Laura and Katie came in later and were shocked by how focused I was... FINALLY!

60th Anniversary of Foreigners at Beida!

Today was a typical day at Beida. I had class from 8-12pm then got lunch and studied for a little.

Our hanyu teacher told us in class that we had to be in front of the Russian Building (where our class is) at 6:15pm tonight for the 60th Anniversary Show. We had no idea what show she was talking about. Later we found out that beida was celebrating the 60th Anniversary of having foreigners (waiguoren 外国人）studying there.

Katie, Laura, Liz and I showed up at the Russian Building at 6:15 on the dot. We didn't leave the Russian building till 6:30. And we sat in the theater until 7:45 when the show FINALLY started. We were so mad. But that is China... get to something at 6:30 for it to start at 7:45. Of course and it was two hours long!

We stayed till 8:30. The dances and songs we saw were really cool. It was a mix of foreigners and locals.

After we left I did some work in my room and then went to bed. I didn't fall asleep until 1am though. This hard bed is really putting a damper on my sleep!

Two more days until my parents are here :)!

Blue skies in Beijing and I am loving it!!

This morning I woke up to blue skies and the perfect temperature! Beijing fall weather is absolutely gorgeous.

Today I only had tingli (listening class) because our Intercultural Communications class got canceled. After debating forever I finally went to the gym around 10:45. After I met Heather for lunch; I got baozi again. I go through stages of loving one type of food for a week and then moving on to another.

I met with my tutor at the cafe on campus from 1-2:30. She helped me with my homework and then we talked about what types of clothes brands we like... in chinese of course. She asked me to describe my style- I had no idea how to say preppy. And she has never heard of J.Crew... so that conversation lasted about 2 minutes.

Tomorrow we are meeting at the cafe again at 1 and then she is taking me to a local supermarket to practice my chinese. I am pretty excited!

I took a 30 minutes nap at 3 and then met Kathy and Mariel at Starbucks to do work. The Starbucks is a two minute walk from the FX hotel. It was pretty loud. I still haven't found my spot to do work. No place is as good as Milliken. I definitely never thought I would say I actually missed Milliken.

After we were "done" studying, Kathy and I went to a noodle restaurant by the hotel. I got beef friend noodles (牛肉炒面）... the beef actually tasted like steak! Im starting to like onions; I don't really have a choice since every dish here as onions in it. I'll probably never eat onions when I get home though- so don't get your hopes up Mom.

Well... I should probably stop procrastinating and go study for my two quizzes tomorrow!

Lazy SUNDay

Today I finally got to sleep in!!! I woke up at 10:45am; it was great! I can't tell you the last time I slept that late.

It was absolutely gorgeous out today. A bunch of Chinese students were hanging in this grassy area (I have no idea what to call it). Some were sitting down in groups, others were reading to trees. They do that a lot; read aloud to trees, or sit on random rocks and read aloud. I still haven't figured out why or the meaning behind it; but, I am determined to find out before I leave! I am interested to see if they stand out there in the cold or even in the snow! I honestly would not be surprised.

For breakfast/lunch I got a Taiwan pancake. Then I came back here and ate it while I caught up on my blog and studied a little.

Heather and I ordered Pyro Pizza for dinner around 4- we were starved. They have free delivery and if you call during a certain time you can get a large pizza for the price of a medium. It was absolutely delicious! We each had three slices and I pretty much ate all the garlic, parmesan bread- Heather only had two slices.

While we ate we watched the season finale of the Bachelor pad and one episode of Teenage mom. Then I finished making my flash cards for hanyu and skyped with mom and dad. They will be here on Thursday!!

Somehow it got to be 1am. I don't know where the time went, but I definitely need to go to sleep!

I made money!!

Chandler singing a Chinese pop song!

Karaoke last night was so much fun!!! We had our own private room and they gave us popcorn, whiskey, iced tea, and peanuts. There we about 20 of us who went and we each paid 33Y. I sang "I want It That Way", "Tonight's Going to Be a Good Night" and many more...

This one guy Kyle is also tone deaf... so I wasn't too embarrassed as I "sang"/screamed into the microphone. 

xiao xin peng tou- "be careful to touch your head"

After Karaoke, a bunch of us took cabs to Wudaokou and hung out at solutions for a little bit. Laura and I got really tired after a little and left with Travis to go to McDonalds. Laura and I got really excited when we saw this sign there that we understood because we had learned the characters this past week!  

Yesterday (Friday), Liz and Laura (from across the hall) did a voice recording for this company who works with bing.com and they needed two more Americans so Liz asked Heather and I if we wanted to do it this morning at 11. We get paid 150Y for an hour.  Of course we said yes.

So, this morning we left at 10:30. I called the guy when we got to the Walmart building and he met us outside there to take us to the recording place. They put Heather and I in two different rooms. We each had to say 180 phrases into a microphone while holding an iphone. These phrases were "bing.com's" top 180 searches. They had the funniest searches. I definitely did not say all of them right either, but he didn't have a clue so I just pretended like I knew all of them.  

We had to do two recordings, so after the first one in the office, we got taxis and recorded another set of 180 phrases. I tried to ask him why we had to record them in a taxi and he responded by saying, "Now I take you to subway to meet friend". Clearly I need to practice my chinese more. 

When I got out of the taxi at the subway station he handed me 150Y. It was a great job! I made $20 for an hour. I'll do that again any day- and it was a great experience to add to my list. 

The rest of today was a very lazy day. We are all exhausted and decided to stay in tonight and watch a movie. I vote Sweet Home Alabama :)

Zeta girls- I hope rush is going great!! Miss you all! And I can't wait to meet the new Zeta babies when I get back!

Inner Mongolia and Karaoke here we come!!!!

After classes today we got Taiwan Pancakes. They are my new favorite food to eat. I get it with Bacon, Egg and Cheese. It is absolutely delicious, but very greasy- great for hangovers, or just in general.

Around 1, Laura, Katie, Heather and I left for Wudaokou to book our trip to MONGOLIA! A place my dad has never been... and he's been to a lot of places, so I feel pretty cool for being able to go to a place he has never been to. The first travel agency we went to said we would have to leave October 1st- which meant I couldn't go. My parents are coming from September 30th-October 5th, so we wanted to leave the 6th for Mongolia.

Thankfully, Heather and I saw an advertisement in the building for a different travel agency on the 17th floor. So we decided to go up there and check it out. It turned out it was a bigger travel agency and seemed a lot more legit. And.... they had a trip to Mongolia too and it was cheaper AND we could leave on the 6th and take a train instead of a bus! The only downside is that we are in hard sleepers. But, the four of us will be together so we figured we could handle it- it was that or no trip to Mongolia. The trip ended up being 680Y which is only $97! We are going for four days and it is all inclusive... the catch: lunch one day is hand shredded lamb.. yummmy! We are staying in Yurts. It's 6 to a yurt so we will be with two other people. I am so excited to travel to a place that I never thought I would go to.

After we booked our very cheap trip to Mongolia, we went to Carefour to stock up on water, coke, food, etc. Then headed back to campus to get baozi and get ready for the night. We are going to KTV... Karaoke! And Chandler is coming with us. It should be a very fun night!

A Night Full of Gossip Girl

Thursdays... my busiest days. There should be a law against having 6 hours of Chinese classes in one day. I don't think I will ever adjust to having 6 hours of class in one day, no matter what the classes are.

Tonight CIEE took students to the Beijing Opera. Heather and I didn't go though because we had both been before. And trust me, one Beijing Opera in a life time is enough. There is only so much nasally eeeeeeee sound one can take (at least thats what we think).

Instead we decided to get baozi to go and eat it in here while we caught up on Gossip Girl and did some studying. It was great to have a relaxing night and watch an english speaking show! I can't wait for Grey's, but of course I have to anxiously wait till Friday y'alls time to watch it.

Now it's time for bed! Finally an early night.

Moon Festival= NO CLASS

As I mentioned yesterday, today is the Moon Festival so we don't have classes! yayyy! Honestly, I have no idea what the Moon Festival is... I should probably figure that out since it seems like a big enough festival to not have classes.

Pearl Market

Today Heather, Laura, Katie and I went to Grandma's kitchen for brunch and then to the pearl market. On the subway ride there I grabbed Heathers arm and told her I was about to faint. She didn't believe me until apparently my face turned white. Then Laura asked a guy to get up so I could sit down. I drank water and had a few tick tacs and eventually felt better. Clearly I haven't been eating enough meat or salt since I have been here. Guess that means I get to make some more trips to McDonalds :)... kidding?

Liz and Travis met us at the pearl market. We spent about two hours there. One lady told me I needed a large in this burberry jacket so I walked away. Another lady hit me on the back because she got mad about the price I wanted something for. So I walked away again. I managed to get each of my purchases for less than $5! I lied and told them when I was here in January I got things for a certain price. They told me I was lying to them and I was "no good friend to them" and I told them "of course not... I am good friend, I buy their purses". So they sold it to me for my price.

They have these shirts that say I <3 BJ (Beijing). So we all got one of those shirts. That was our last purchase at the pearl market. After two hours we were exhausted- so we are going to go back again. This time was just a trial run to scope everything out.

Beida Library

When we got back we walked around campus for a little because it was a gorgeous day! Then got baozi for dinner and then I studied and now I am ready for bed!

Discovered my new favorite place in Beijing!

Today I had class from 8-12pm. I met with my tutor from 1-2:30pm. She helped me go over my tones. I realized that I am terrible at tones because I am tone deaf :(. Very sad realization! She told me I caught on very fast though. I also got a lot of my homework done with her, so that was nice.

When I got back to my room I saw that I had three missed calls from some random chinese number. I had no idea who it was and I didn't understand what they were saying. Eventually a lady called me and spoke english and said somebody had ordered me flowers. FLOWERS?!? I told her my address and anxiously waited for the next hour until the delivery guy called me. They were from Wilson and they are ABSOLUTELY gorgeous! Made my day :)

The Moon Festival is tomorrow, so we don't have any classes tomorrow! Katie, Laura, Heather and I decided we wanted to go to HouHai tonight and get Italian food at this place called the Passby Bar. Great name because we literally passed by it and walked an extra 10 minutes.

After we ordered they brought out bread and butter- we were all so excited. I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese and split a chicken caesar salad with Katie. We also ordered a bottle of wine. Our meal, for the four of us including the bottle of wine was only $50! That's hard to come by... and the food was great!

Laura and I at the Mojito Stand!

When we were done with dinner we walked around on this old cobble stone street and stopped in stores and shopped. I purchased a flower bracelet and a top. While walking around we discovered this mojito stand... this guy makes you a mojito and you take it with you while you walk around. You can also take shots at the stand too. It's the greatest place; definitely a favorite.

I fell in love with HouHai. If I ever lived in Beijing, I would most definitely live there!

Hard sleeper... never again!

I have never been so excited to sleep in my bed in Beijing before!  I am never sleeping in another hard sleeper!

We arrived in Beijing at 5:57am. We didn't get back to campus until 7:30am. We were all excused from our 8-9:50 class. So I came back, showered and went to sleep. I woke up around noon and tried to do some work. The only other class I had Monday was my Business class.

We watched a very interesting video about a group of people, all from different countries, who came together to try to develop and market this new program. We learned about how important it is to have a "high" CQ- Cultural Intelligence if you plan on working internationally. 

Free day to explore Luoyang

Sunday was our free day to explore Luoyang on our own. Heather, Katie, Laura and I checked out of the hotel around 11:30am. We took a taxi to Li Jing Men 丽京门: The typical traditional gate of China. Inside the gate ancient streets, with small shops and restaurants on both sides. We all fell in love with this area. It was really cool to walk around and explore old china. 

We decided to take the bus to the hotel but got off at the wrong stop and had to walk 30 minutes to our hotel. On the way we got ice cream and it was delicious! 

We left for the train station at 6pm. This time we had hard sleepers. Nobody really knew what to expect. We were all freaking out too because some people were not going to end up with the group. Heather, Katie, Laura and I were part of the lucky group that got split up. Luckily Laura and I were together with Perry. There were 3 other chinese people in our "room". I'm putting room in quotations because there is no door. There are 3 beds on each side of the wall and Laura and I were on the top. Needless to say I hardly slept. The chinese love to hock and smoke. It was definitely a cultural experience and now that I've experienced a hard sleeper, I will never go on a train again if I have to sleep in a hard sleeper. 

I woke up on a train and had an action packed day!

We were woken up by Wu Laoshi at 6:30am. Way too early! But I actually slept well on the train- no idea how. I must have been very tired. We were told to wash up on the train because we were not going to our hotel until 7pm that night. Washing up on the train means brushing your teeth in the most unsanitary bathroom ever. But thats a whole different story, which I will save you from hearing. I'm pretty sure that I when I get back to the states the most disgusting bathroom on the side of the road will actually seem like a luxurious bathroom. 

We arrived in Zhengzhou at 7:06am on the dot- just as we were supposed to. Thats one nice thing about China- everything is on schedule; they don't really have delays like America. When we got off the train we met with our tour guide and he took us to a hotel for breakfast. We were all very excited, we thought we were getting an AMERICAN breakfast. We were wrong... dumplings, noodles, and a bunch of other chinese "breakfast" dishes. So I settled with a heart shaped egg- no salt. Therefore, it was pretty much inedible. 

After breakfast we took the bus to Shaolin Temple. There we saw a martial arts performance; it was SO cool. It's amazing how much discipline the Chinese have. 

After the martial arts performance we explored around the temple and then the pagoda. I'm not sure why we had a tour guide because he sent us off on our own and told us no history about the Temple. 

When we were done at the pagoda, we took golf carts back to our bus and left for lunch. Lunch was decent- not great. It was family style. I really enjoyed the rice and egg noodles.

When we were done with lunch we drove an hour to the Longmen Grottoes. It was around 5pm when we got there. I honestly can't even describe the Longmen Grottoes. It was probably the coolest thing I have seen in China. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, and the weather was perfect. If you are ever in China, you need to go see the Longmen Grottoes- definitely one of my favorite places.  If I ever have the opportunity to go back I want to stay in the hotel across the bridge that looks out to the Grottoes. 

After the Grottoes we thought we were finally going to check into the hotel but instead we got dinner first. Dinner was alright, two of the loashis sat with us so it was a pretty awkward meal since they wanted us to only speak Chinese. 

Finally after Dinner we went back to the hotel and got ready to go out. Heather, Kathy and I stayed out for about 30 minutes and then walked to the hotel. We saw Chandler outside so we went to McDonalds with him and talked to him for 45 minutes about all the gossip on the trip. When we got back to the hotel I passed out- I was exhausted after a long day!

Off to Henan for the Weekend

This past weekend CIEE students went to Henan for the weekend with three of our "teachers". They aren't actually our teachers, they are just in charge of the CIEE program here in Beijing and they call themselves laoshi's which is teacher in Chinese. 

We met infront of Shaoyuan #2 at 7:50pm. We took a bus to the Beijing West Train Station. Our train didn't leave till 10:38pm so we had some time to kill in the train station. Thankfully we had soft sleepers so we were in the "nice" waiting lounge. Chandler (one of the laoshis) came over to me and had a package in his hand! I was so excited. It was from Julie... just some stomach medicine and a great card! Even the smallest package make my day. 

We boarded the train around 10pm. Laura, Katie, Heather and I lucked out and were able to get a soft sleeper together. Soft sleepers are private rooms, with a door and four beds. More like bunk beds, but not really. We stayed up till around midnight having girl talk; I felt like I was in middle school again having a sleepover. 

The Week of September 14th-16th

During the week we don't really do much other than go to class and then do work for our classes the next day. Tuesday night, the 14th, Katie, Laura, Heather, Liz and I decided we really needed some good American food. So we decided to go to the Bridge Cafe in Wudaokou. It is now my favorite place. It is above a clothing store and is two floors and also has a terrace. They have coffee, pastries, breakfast, dinner, lunch. Along the back wall is a big book shelf with travel books. We looked at one and people have left post-it's of cool places they had been in China. We were going to write one, but had no paper. Next time. I got a chicken Caesar salad and pizza. It was AMAZING!

Wednesday, the 15th I met with my tutor from 1-2:30 at the Cafe on campus. We are only allowed to speak chinese with our tutors so I was really nervous to meet with her. She is really nice though! She told me I was very shy, but I explained to her that I wasn't talking a lot because I don't know a lot of chinese- she laughed. She helped me with my essay for my kouyu class at 3 on my favorite vacation (Vietnam of course). And then we just "talked" for awhile until 2:30 and then I went to class.

I was so nervous to read my essay in front of the class but it wasn't bad at all! And she didn't have any corrections for me (our teacher corrects you right after you've read your essay.. very intimidating).

Thursday's are my busiest days since I have 6 hours of chinese starting at 8am and ending at 5pm. After class we got dinner and then went out to Wudaokou. There was a beer pong tournament at Pyro pizza so Laura and I played in that. We made it to the second round and then lost. Thursday nights are ladies night at Propaganda and Solutions, so ladies get three free drinks at both. At the end of the night we saw a McDonalds on the corner and sprinted to it, in the rain. We were so happy to see it and so ready for some fries!

Tomorrow, Friday the 17th we leave for Henan for the weekend! Sorry I didn't post every day this week... I didn't do too much that was exciting!

Intercultural Communication Class

Today was a pretty standard day. I had tingli (listening) from 8-9:50 and then from 5:30-8:30 I had my first Intercultural Communication class.

Heather and I are in the same class so after lunch (we got danchowfan... again) we went to the CIEE office to pick up our "book". When we got there they handed us a HUGE stack of papers. We both thought the class was going to be impossible. Each lecture had a ton of reading to go along with it. But... when we went to class we found out that the reading was not mandatory, but encouraged. Our teacher was also feeling sick so our 3 hour class that we dreaded turned into 30 minutes! We were all SO happy.

For the 30 minutes we were in class, we talked about our names (first and last). He asked us why we were named what we were, what it meant to us and how we thought other people viewed us after reading our name. I had never really thought about any of those questions until that very moment. So as usual, I got very nervous and hot. I told everyone how Rachel comes from the bible and my middle name is spelt the chinese way and then my last name.... I told them that my Poppop thinks we are the most important people in the world and we should be able to get anything by just saying our last name. But of course the kids who go to Notre Dame and UPENN didn't think my answer about my last name was up to par. Needless to say, it was a very interesting class. I learned that the name Chloe is a name that a lot of prostitutes have... so if you're thinking of naming your kid Chloe, you should probably choose a new name.

That's about as interesting as my Monday got. Tomorrow I have class from 8-12pm. It's going to be a LONG day. And I have two quizes to study for.

"Disco" Spinning

This morning we (Katie, Laura, Heather and I) were going to go to the silk market but decided to save it for another day when we have more time. Instead we made a list of everything we wanted to do in Beijing while we are here. Our list got big fast. We managed to narrow it down and fit most of it in. So well see if we actually end up doing it all.

For lunch I ate noodles in my room and started to do my homework 作业. Tomorrow I only have listening class 听力课, but I figured I would try to get ahead and do my homework for hanyu 汉语 and kouyu 口语.

Laura, Katie and I decided to do a spinning class at Bally's at 6pm. We left for the gym at 4:45 so we could work out for a little beforehand. When we went to the locker room to put our backpacks in a locker, I decided to check out the locker room showers. We thought the showers would be a lot nicer than the ones here and maybe we would shower after we worked out. Well... the showers don't have curtains. So that idea got thrown away immediately. As we were locking our stuff up... the TALLEST chinese girl I have ever seen comes in from showering and is completely naked. Apparently it's normal to walk around naked in the ladies locker room in China. Needless to say, the three of us could not keep it together. We walked out quickly and lost it.

I ran on the treadmill before the spinning class and at 6 minutes 30 seconds my distance was 1.00. I could not believe it, I was so proud of myself for running a mile so fast. Well, stupid me... the distance is in kilometers. So it was more like .62 or something. I think i'll stick to thinking the distance is in miles.

So... this spinning class or shall I say, "disco spinning", was quiet the experience; especially for my first spinning class.   Our spinning instructor was a "buff" chinese man, in a super tight biking outfit. I knew I was dead-meat the second I saw his outfit. But the class only got better, he closed the curtains, turned on a few lights and then on went the disco and strobe lights. Laura, Katie and I all just look at each other... what have we gotten ourselves into. He then turns on american "pump up" music and turns it up extremely loud, hops on his bike and starts yelling all sorts of things in chinese. After 15 minutes I was dead.. and I had 35 minutes to go. I had no idea how I was going to make it to the end, but we all did- just barely. We cooled down to Jack Johnson... which I thought was really funny since I associate Jack Johnson with rainy day music.

After the gym I was dead and the last thing I wanted was Chinese food. But I sucked it up and got fried rice (again). I was way too tired to do anymore work so I decided to just shower then get into bed (which actually seemed very comfortable at the time).

Grandma's Kitchen

It was weird typing out today's date. Katie and Heather are both from New Jersey so we talked about September 11th and how it affected us and where our parents were at the time. I can't believe it's been 9 years.

Anyway, I woke up this morning around 10:30 and got ready to go to Grandma's Kitchen with Heather, Laura and Katie. It was AMAZING! Finally an American breakfast. Katie and I both got french toast, scrambled eggs and bacon. Heather and Laura both got bacon and cheese omelets with toast. Needless to say we cleaned our plates.



After we went to the Zoo Market. It's three floors of clothes and accessories. We didn't buy anything. I was going to by a Marc Jacobs wallet but the guy was not having my bargaining and I didn't want to by it for 75Y.  Speaking of bargaining, we bargained at the gym to get the price down from 1600Y to 1000Y. Only in China can you bargain the price of your gym membership!

We only spent about an hour at the market and then came back to the dorm. I went to wumei (a local convenient store) with Heather to pick up hangers and other things I needed for the room. I finally unpacked all my clothes! Liz is finally unpacked as well. Our room feels as "homey" as it ever will in China.

Laura, Katie, Heather and I decided to stay in tonight and just relax. We got dinner to go and ate it in Laura and Katie's room and hung out until about 10 and then went to sleep. We plan on leaving for the Silk market tomorrow at 10.

I hope everyone at Wofford is having a great first weekend back! I miss you all.

Beer Pong and Pizza.. AMERICA!

This morning I woke up at 6am to study more for my two quizes in my Reading and Speaking classes. I think I did well on both of them!! Each class is an hour and 50 minutes with a 10 minute break. The classes feel like forever. I am definitely not used to long classes. Wofford classes are going to feel so short when I get back. After class Liz, Katie, Heather and I got lunch at the cafeteria. Surprise surprise, I got fried rice again. It is my favorite thing here.

There was a trip to the Summer Palace today that I didn't go to because I've already been and I'll be going two more times with mom and dad and then Julie and David. So I didn't feel like going today to make it 4 times that I will have been there.  Instead I took a nap, purchased a laundry card, caught up on my blog and took a short nap.

When Katie and Laura got back a bunch of us tried to go to dinner around 7 at this Hot Pot place that has all you can drink free beer, but of course it was packed.  Heather, Laura, Katie and I decided to split off from the big group since every place we went had a long wait. We figured we could find somewhere that would take 4 of us, but we were wrong. So guess where we ended up... McDonalds. But man was that McDonalds good. It's also A LOT healthier in China! And we were glad we finally knew we were getting protein. We brought our McDonalds back to the dorm and ate it while we got ready to go out for the night. We went to the hotel first to meet up with the hotel kids.  At the hotel we met three guys that were from West Point taking classes at Beida. They live on campus, but they have to take their classes by themselves (some crazy West Point rule).

When we were finally ready to leave for Sanlitun, we walked 10 minutes to the metro station, only to find out that it was closed. Cabs to Sanlituan are 60Y, which is only about $6, but in China that is expensive. So half of the group went there and Laura, Katie, Heather, Perry, and the 3 West Point guys  went to Wudoukou. It took us an hour to get a cab. But it was well worth it!

We went to this place called Pyro Pizza and played Beer Pong and ate the BEST Italian Margarita Pizza I think I have ever had. Who knew pizza could be so good in China. The owner wasn't Chinese though, he was Italian. Laura and I were partners and I made a shot behind the back! First time ever- but we still lost.

They had the funniest posters at Pyro Pizza. "Pizza! it's the new Tiger Woods Mistress"

Tomorrow morning Katie, Laura, Heather and I are going to Grandma's Kitchen for brunch!

First Day of Classes!

Today was the first day of classes! I felt just the way I did freshmen year at Wofford going to my first class- NERVOUS! My first class was supposed to be at 10:10pm, but they sent an updated schedule out last night and two of my classes were at the same time. So this morning I had to go to the CIEE office at 9:05 to straighten it out. Chandler (When he introduced himself he was like, "My American name is Chandler- YOU KNOW CHANDLER FROM FRIENDS.. HA HA!) brought me upstairs to the PKU adminstration office so he could explain to them what was going on. It was pretty cool because I understand almost everything they were saying. It's funny because when they talk to each other, they don't talk, they YELL. Sort of like some people in my family :). They ended up putting me in a higher listening class, which of course started today at 8am! When we left the administration office Chandler told me to go ahead and go to the class and explain to the teacher why I was late. Of course I was so nervous... walking to class all by myself on this huge campus, and I was late.

So I walk into my listening class, and try to explain to my laoshi (teacher) what had happened. Thankfully there was someone in there that spoke great Chinese so she eventually understood and told me to go sit down. I understood bits and pieces, but really was clueless as to what they were doing. All of the sudden I hear a bell- I look up at the clock and its 9:50- class is over. They use bells in China! It's just like Middle School and High School.

After my listening class I went straight to hanyu 汉语, which was downstairs. That class was actually pretty easy. I have it with Laura and Katie and we are all trying to move up. It was the first time any of us has ever actually understood everything the teacher was saying. Definitely should not be the case when I am in China.

When class was over we got lunch in our favorite cafeteria. Everybody has lunch between 12 and 1. So you can only imagine how insanely crowded it is. People just sit down wherever they can find a seat. We had to fight these Chinese guys for a table. They were not very happy that we won.

After we finished lunch I went back to my room to do work until 3, when I had my last class of the day.. finally! This class is much harder. It is spoken chinese kouyu 口语. If you didn't understand something our teacher would then explain it another way in Chinese.

I haven't mentioned this yet but my classes are completely in Chinese. We all had to sign a Language pledge that we would only speak Chinese while we were in class, in between classes, with teachers or in the CIEE office. I could not imagine doing a language pledge for 24/7, I am pretty sure I would be mute for at least a month.

Right after class I met Laura, Katie and Heather and got baozi (bigger dumplings) to go since we had the Acrobatic show at 5:45. The Acrobatic show was awesome! 

We got back at 9:30, so I have a long night ahead of me! I already have two quizes tomorrow. And I have to prepare for my classes too. Preparing means knowing all of the words in the dialogues (new and old), reading it over, pronouncing it right (or trying to) and knowing exactly what is going on. As I said... I have a LONG night ahead of me after having 6 hours of Chinese today. 

Miss everyone!

Finding out our Schedules

This morning we had to be at the Russian building at 9am to find out our schedules for the semester. Silly me for thinking that would be easy. Fact #1- If you think something is going to be easy in China, you're wrong! When Laura, Katie, Heather and I got to the Russian building, right at 9, like they asked, we saw a HUGE crowd around two big boards. Everybody (the chinese) were jumping up, and pushing each other to figure out their schedules. We on the other hand, were absolutely clueless as how this whole process worked. Eventually a Chinese student came over to us and gave us this sheet that we had 
to fill in with our classes,

My Schedule...

So we had to go up to the board, find out our class number on one side and then go to the other side to figure out when our classes were. If you had a 1-2 under Monday （一）, that meant you had class from 8-10:10. So complicated, why can't they just give you a printed out schedule? 


I was going to write my schedule out, but all you really need to know (so I can vent) is that I have 6 hours of Chinese on Thursdays, and then 4 hours all the other days except for Monday's when I lucked out with 2 hours, but then I have an Intercultural Business class from 5-8:30pm Monday nights. 


When we were finally done figuring out our schedules we went back to our rooms until we had to meet our tutors at 11:30.  Our tutors took us on a tour of campus. My tutor's American name is Anne; I have absolutely no idea what here Chinese name is. Each tutor has two CIEE students and I am partnered with a guy named Kyle, from California. Anne talked to us in Chinese the whole tour, she would tell us things and we would nod our heads and she would laugh. Neither one of us completely understood what she was saying, which she apparently thought was HILARIOUS. We, however, just felt stupid. We meet with our tutor 3 hours a week. She asked me where I wanted to meet her and I immediately thought Milliken. I guess a cafe will do.  


After our tours, Katie, Laura, Heather and I went to get lunch and then we walked about 10 minutes to Bally's to join the gym. Never though I would ever join a Bally's Fitness! This gym is the nicest gym I have ever seen. We plan on doing yoga, spinning and ab and back classes. Hopefully the cold weather won't stop us in the winter! Oh and the trainers at Bally's are the most bulky Chinese men I have ever seen; awkward is the only word to describe how they look and walk. 


We also went to Carrefour today to get a mini-fridge for the room. Getting the mini-fridge back to campus was quiet the experience. We had to wait for a taxi for 10 minutes and then he dropped us off outside the East gate and we had to walk to our dorm. 


We didn't get back till 6ish so we just got dinner and got ready for our classes. I am so nervous for tomorrow! I have 6 hours of Chinese classes and then the Acrobatic show at 5:45!

The old school way

This morning we found out where we got placed for the semester. I am in Intermediate I for reading and Beginner improvement for speaking. I really have no idea if these classes are equivalent to what I should be taking this fall if I were at Wofford, but I sure hope so! I had to stand in line to register for classes; the old school way. I start classes on Thursday and for the next week I just have my reading and speaking class. Next week I will choose my electives. I will have 20 hours of Intensive Chinese a week, which should be interesting since I only had 5 hours a week at Wofford... and I thought that was enough. 

We were done registering for our two classes by 10:00. So we came back and just relaxed until we got hungry for lunch. We went to this one cafeteria, canting 餐厅, on campus and ordered fried rice (danchowfan), which is egg fried rice. It was the best fried rice I have ever had in my entire life. 


Since last night I have had a terrible stomach ache, and it only got worse throughout the day. And then later in the afternoon I had a fever.  According to my personal, 24/7 nurse practitioner and beloved sister, Julie she told me I must have caught a bad bacteria. Of course... that would happen to me. But thankfully my new friend Katie had cipro that I am now taking. So hopefully tomorrow I will feel better! 

Today was pretty much a lazy day all day. I caught up on my blog and journal and laid in bed all day. Liz hung our really cool clothes line... The one time I did get out of bed was to go to the CIEE office with my roommate, Liz, to ask in chinese for a mini-fridge. But of course they were all out of them.  So tomorrow we are going to Carefor (spelling), it is the French Walmart to buy a cheap mini-fridge so we can finally have COLD drinks! We are also going to pick up some cleaning supplies. They say the maids clean the room every day, but their cleaning is quiet the same as ours. There is a dead bug on the wall of the shower that has been there since day one. 


It was a pretty uneventful day, so I guess it was the best day to be sick. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will feel great. 

Placement Test... FAIL

This morning was the placement test and I literally think I got a 0%. I was never sure about one answer. And by the end of the test all the characters were blurring together. But thankfully everyone felt the same way. So I don't feel so terrible... 


After the test we took a group photo outside one of the main buildings at 北大. Then we had a group luncheon in Shaoyuan #7. Lunch was good, they had rice! But no salt :(. And of course they had some crazy looking dishes that steered clear of. Three of the professors had speeches at the luncheon that were all in Chinese so I really couldn't tell you what they were about. Soon though!

When the luncheon was over a big group of us took the metro to Walmart (the Chinese pronounce is as Warmart, so when we asked where the WaLmart was they didn't know and eventually were like OHH WARMART WARMART.. it was funny). Walmart in China is very interesting... they had live seafood on the bottom floor and all sorts of animals hanging up. The coolest part was this escalator that was a ramp so you could bring your cart up and down all the floors. Yes, this Walmart had 4 different floors- it was HUGE! I got a "feather" bed for my bed to make it less hard. 

There are a million different cafeterias on campus and a meal at the most is 5元, which is less than a dollar. For dinner tonight we went to this dumpling cafeteria  (饺子餐厅). It was really good. They were out of the meat dumplings though so I got vegetable dumplings (蔬菜 饺子) instead. 


After dinner we got ready to go out and then met the hotel kids at the hotel and went back to Wudaokou (五道口）  from there. Overall it was a fun night once I got over being extremely tired. 


So far my experience in China (中国） has been more amazing than I ever imagined. Tomorrow we find out where we got placed.. I hope not elementary chinese!

The Forbidden City and Tianamen Square

Sleeping on a chinese bed is equivalent to sleeping on the floor, which I guess would be fine if your bed at school wasn't like sleeping on a cloud. Definitely an adjustment I will have to make. 

This morning we went to the Forbidden City and Tianamen Square. Our tour guide was telling us that we would only see 1/4th of the Forbidden City and we were walking through and I thought to myself, "This is great! I'm seeing a different fourth than I did in January; how cool." Not true.. Last time I went in the North gate and out the South; this time I went in the South gate and out the North. It's amazing how different it looks going "backwards". 








After the Forbidden City and Tianamen Square a bunch of us were craving McDonalds- so we caved in and went. We figured we are here for 3.5 months... we have PLENTY of time to eat Chinese food. The McDonalds in China is always packed, so we all got our food and sat outside and ate it... all the Chinese people just looked at us like we were crazy as they walked by. 

When we got back to our dorm from McDonalds I took a nice long 4 hour nap. When I woke up I went to dinner with Laura and Katie. Then came back and "studied" for our placement test for about fifteen minutes- I hope its not impossible! 

Now I am finally going to sleep! Today was the worst day of jetlag. I hope tomorrow is better.

A Night Out in Wudaokou 五道口

This is actually just a super late post for Saturday. I figured I would break each day up so they didn't look like really long posts. 


Today was orientation from 9:30- 12pm. They gave us breakfast which was dumplings and sushi... they told us it was a "mixed" chinese/american breakfast. I guess the sushi being from 7-11 counted as the american part? 


After orientation we had a pizza party. The pizza was actually really good. I was dying for water when we got there and saw the water dispenser and started to chug a glass of water... it was hot. Welcome to China- no ice, no cold water- unless you buy bottled water. It was funny to see how many Chinese people were in this pizza place; but then again they did invent it, right? Or maybe thats pasta. 


After the pizza party we had a group tour to Wudaokou. We thought our teachers were going to come with us and show us around, but they just told us to get on the metro and figure it out- and we did! 


Wudaokou is the XPAT city in Beijing. The stores aren't american, but all the clubs and bars are for foreigners. A lot of Chinese people still go to them though. 


We all walked around Wudaokou and then got cell phones. This cell phone I have is like one I had in 7th grade and I honestly cannot text on it... it is so confusing! And it was all in Chinese. Thankfully this one kid in my program, JiaoWu has been speaking and learning Chinese now for 8 years so he changed it to English. 


After we left Wudaokou we all took four hour naps. Then got ready and went to dinner in Wudaokou at La Bamba, a mexican restaurant.  It so hard eating Chinese food the first few days when you're just starting to adjust, so I can't begin to tell you how excited I was for chips and SALT! I actually found out "tonight" that Katie and Laura are both obsessed with salt too!

Katie, Laura, Coat Lady, Me

After La Bamba we went to Propaganda, Solutions, Club Mango and Global. I found out that the Chinese LOVE to dance. 


Thats all for Saturday! 


Miss you all. 

Friday, September 3rd- Arrival in Beijing 北京

This morning I arrived at Newark airport only to realize that I HAD FORGOTTEN my passport! My dad rushed back home to get it while my mom and I waited anxiously. I had until 11:10 to check in and it was 11:00 when my dad came back with my passport.. SO I MADE IT. Once I finally got on the plane, a suitcase fell on my head. I thought I was on some sort of punk'd MTV show. 

However, after a rough start I finally arrived in Beijing! We took a shuttle bus from the airport to my dorm where I was given my key, student ID (which looks like a passport and is all in chinese) and directions from a Chinese lady (which were all in Chinese). I looked at her and shook my head up and down, like I really knew what she was talking about?

My roommate's name is Elizabeth and she was actually on my plane from Newark. We unpacked and walked around and met people on our hall; it felt just like freshmen year all over again! 

Around 7pm a group of us went to a Noodle House to get dinner. A girl Katie, from Tufts, who is a LAXER and I shared some Noodle dish. All the chinese people around us were laughing at us as we tried to eat the noodles as politely as possible- MAJOR FAIL. I can't begin to tell you how many noodles were left on the table!

On our way back to the dorm we all stopped at a local market and picked up some drinks. And then we hung out in a room and got to know each other better. 

So far the experience has been more than I expected! Tomorrow we have orientation from 9:30-12:30, then a pizza party (I thought I was in China?) and then we are off to Wudoukou- not sure what that is, but I will report back tomorrow! I miss everyone and I wish all my friends from Wofford the best of luck moving in! 


Here are pictures of my room: 

My desk!

My bed!

It's bed time for me... FINALLY

Love y'all,

Rachel