Beijing Day 5

While in Beijing Andrea and I pulled off quite the fashion statement  Everywhere we went, especially on the subways we carried our backpacks in front of us!! We were slightly paranoid of getting things stolen and it was also very convenient for getting snacks and pulling your camera out!!

We felt like we had a glimpse of how being pregnant would feel 
Day five of Beijing was the day we visited the Forbidden City- it was beautiful and amazing to visit, especially because Mulan has been there ;) The forbidden city is where the emperor lived and had complete control and structure there.

The Summer Palace is said to be more beautiful because they had more freedom in design, but I found the Forbidden City to be beautiful because of the structure! Only a few people in my group went there, I am very glad I decided to go!
Like many of the places we went it was mostly wandering around taking pictures! We have two must needed pictures when we go anywhere-one is a jumping picture and the other is a kung fu pose! This picture of the entrance is probably my favorite jumping picture of all!

The building structure and design of everything here was BEAUTIFUL- It was amazing to me to see all the detail and hard work put into each piece of the buildings. I loved that the whole forbidden city is the look of China that I pictured.

Each building had an importance, many were the housings of the emperors concubines- we were able to look inside and see their bedding and furniture, it is all so pretty!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures I took while in China  By chance I had a scarf in my backpack and there we were in the Forbidden City by the pillars Mulans friends climbed to get inside! (Yes I know Mulan is not real and none of the characters actually were in this Forbidden City! ;) ) At the end of the forbidden city is the emperors gardens, definitely where he went for sanctuary and beauty.

The style and structures were different than anything we had seen. I think I would have spent all my time there!
Just across from the Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square, which has so much history! The building on the back of a 100 yuan is there, a memorial to Mao(which has his dead body in side) and many other monuments. As we were walking across the street we were sold flags of China, so we had fun taking pictures with them!

It is a fun place for people to visit- many people have kites there, others are playing games and many people just visit to see the guards march through.
This is one of the monuments to the peoples hero’s, the largest monument in China

One of the foods we were told we had to eat while in China was the famous Pecking Duck! So that afternoon we all met back together to have duck  Some of us had eaten duck before, so we were all really excited but it was not something that was too crazy. When we got to the restaurant they informed us that we could have TURTLE!! Now this was definitely something none of us have had! They brought a live turtle out to us to see if it was good enough!!! That poor turtle knew his life was almost over, Joey, Erin and Anna all held it as it went wild snapping at everyone’s fingers!

I had a difficult time eating it… especially when they brought it back all cooked and still looking like a turtle

It actually wasn’t too bad… Once you got past how sad it was that you were eating a turtle!! The duck was AMAZING! They sure made all their food look fancy and delicious tasting!

They sat us at a table with a Lazy Susan on it… which is a bad thing when you have a bunch of people who still act 12 together!! We decided to spin it around and around while trying to grab the food off the dishes with our chopsticks… lets just say it ended badly!! Once things started to crash off the table we decided it was a good idea to leave  We at least know how to have fun in any situation!!

Beijing Day 4

I finally have reached one of the greatest days EVER!! Day four in Beijing we went to the Great Wall of China!!! In preparation for Beijing and mainly going to see the Great Wall we watched Mulan :) It was fun to watch and know that in a few days we would be climbing around on it and walking around the imperial palace!!
We took a tour which included a jade factory, the ming tombs, a silk factory the great wall and a tea ceremony! It was a very full and fulfilling day :D
The Great Wall was obviously the Highlight of the day ;) Everything else was really fun to see and interesting but it was also very touristy and a way for them to try and sale to us.
At the Jade Factory we learned about the history of Jade and how it is symbolic to families. Families will pass down jade bangles to their daughters and many have been around for several generations. It is believed that while wearing the jade it absorbs your minerals so it holds a piece of you in it, so its very special to have your grandmother or mothers jade bangle. Another thing I thought was interesting was the Jade Eternity Balls. They are really pretty and represent the importance of families and always keeping them close to you.
After the Jade factory we made our way to the Ming Tombs!! At the beginning of the ming tombs was a dragon turtle and its believed that if you touch his mouth you will be blessed with wealth. Everyone there was crowding around trying to touch the mouth,we figured it was worth a try-so here is a picture of Tanner and I making sure we got our turn at being wealthy!

There was an entrance to the grounds of the tombs but you were not allowed to go through it, we had to go around it. If we went through the entrance on the way in it is symbolic of entering down into the underworld... and none of us really wanted that!!
Here is a group of tourist coming out of the tombs, so this time they had to go through the entrance. You had to walk through and shake off all the evil spirits and then promise to not look back.

Going down into the tombs was pretty interesting, the actual casket and the emperor were not in there anymore, just boxes representing where it was. I'm not sure why, but I figured they would still be in there along with all his prized possessions he was burried with. They did atleast have his throne and his empresses throne down there and if you threw money onto them you were given good luck.
This is a picture of the emperors gravestone... I thought it was pretty impressive!
Finally after all of this we headed to the GREAT WALL!!! :) :) :) Even now thinking about it, I feel like it was a dream. The car ride to the wall was a couple hours long... we were all very anxious and got a little silly!! One point Andrea had her head out the vans window barking like a dog- she was the most impressive dark bark I have every heard!!
At the Great Wall we only had a couple hours to spend there, so instead of using 45 minutes to climbed to the Wall we got to ride a little cable car up to the top! We had not really seen the wall yet until half way up we came over the mountain ridge and there was the Great Wall right in front of us!!!!
We are all in complete happiness from that moment on!! We were really luckily to have picked a spot on the wall that was not overcrowded, this was it was mostly just us and the wall :)

The wall was a lot steeper than imagined... here I am climbing a piece of the wall that pretty much went straight up!! I can't imagine trying to run up and down the stairs in an attempt to defend China!

We got in our typical pictures... Everywhere we go we try to get in a good jumping and kung fu picture!!


The whole time I was on the wall I was in aww, It was unbelievable to be at such a historical landmark! Beijing in general was so much fun to be at and to know it all has so much history, now that I have been to these places I need to go home and study the history of it better!

It was hard to leave, I just wanted to soak as much of it in as possible... but at least when we had to go we got to go down in a pretty excited way, we took a Toboggan down! Here is Erin and I getting ready to go down... I look a little scared but really I was excited!!

I don't know how the day could have gotten any better! Not only did we get to see the Great Wall but we got to ride a Toboggan down from it!
Everything after that was exciting, but just couldn't compare. We went to a silk market and were able to see the process of how silk is made and we also went to a tea ceremony. It was interesting to participate in. You had to drink different types of teas certain ways, one type we had to slurp others, another after you drank it you had to smack your lips and some of them you had to have your pinky out to drink it :)

I'm pretty sure this day is up there with my best days ever! :D

Beijing Day 3 :)

Monday was Summer Palace Day!! :) Getting to the Summer Palace like everything else was an adventure! We had directions, but it included catching a bus, taking the subway and catching another bus! After getting off the subway we were slightly lost, but decided to cross the street to figure out where to go... well I have a little problem crossing the streets here, drivers are crazy and i always have to wait for a HUGE opening! Well, everyone got across the street except me... which happens a lot.

but this time i was stuck over there for atlest five minutes! Buses just kept coming and coming... Luckily i have found a solution to my problem, if you stick with a Chinese person you will eventually get across the street safely! Luckily after all of that there was pineapple waiting on the other side!! :D
The Summer Palace was very beautiful and different than everywhere else, they were given a lot more freedom while designing it so its not as structured. The whole palace is built around a lake so its a beautiful setting.
This is a picture of me heading into the Summer Palace, I am not sure if they thought we were funny or annoyed by us! But I'm pretty sure one of the guards cracked a smile after we took the pictures :)

We spent most of the exploring around, there was so much to see and it was all beautiful! They had displays of ancient clothing, furniture and other artifacts. Our goal was to get to the very top of a hill to see the main temple, it was amazing!! It was quite the climb to the top, so its crazy to think that emperors walked all around the lake and to the top of the hill all the time! Getting to the top and seeing the temple was worth it and the best part of all was the view over all the palace.


Around the different places we have been in China they have photo booths set up- they dress you up in a gown and headress and take your picture, well Andrea and I have wanted to the whole time we have been here, so we thought no better place than the Summer Palace!! :) So here are our beautiful photos!!


I really liked the Summer Palace, most of it was just beautiful to see, so it is difficult to explain and more fun to see pictures!

Beijing Day 2 :)

Our first full day in Beijing started off a little late. Most of the people in my group went out clubbing all night....I decided to stay at the hostel and get some sleep. I was actually ordered to stay back and sleep because waiting in the lobby to go I couldn't even keep my eyes open! I am not a very good night owl, but they all had a lot of fun! We didn't have any set plans until later that night, so we spent the morning shopping at this Amazing Open Market! Beijing was my first experience with the subway, and I think by the time we left we all had it down perfectly! We spent a lot of time on it, so we had to find some way to entertain us- taking pictures is the perfect solution :) Here is one of Ryan, Tanner and I trying to act like we are cool and Joey being Joey!

The market we went to was wonderful and overwhelming! Too bad we could only spend an hour there, because you walk in and its just rows and rows of almost any Chinese Souvenir you could possibly imagine. Its all bartering, which I have learned to love, and become somewhat good at! We play it like a game, we all set off for what we want and you just try to get them down as low as possible! My problem is that in the process of bartering I become friends with the salespeople and then I take longer buying everything and can't get as much- but atleast I am having fun with it :)
That night we had to get back early because we were going to an ACROBATIC SHOW!! :D It was absolutely amazing!! We spent a little bit longer at the Open Market than we were supposed to, so we didn't have time for dinner... which was not really an option for some of us- we HAD to eat :) Down the street from our hostel was a little dumpling restraunt, so we ran over and got it to go. They were very nice and put our dumplings in a bag and then we poured soy sauce right there into the bag and ran :) Here is a picture of Joey and I eating our lovely dinner! It didn't look very appetizing but it sure tasted good!!

After enjoying our dumplings in a bag, we headed off to the acrobatic show!! We were able to book the show through our hostel, so when we got there we basically had front row seats! :) I will have to put on lots of pictures, because it will be difficult to describe everything!!
You can tell from the show that the performers have been training and practicing since they were all very young. The show started with a group of guys, they came out on stage and performed a few kung-fu routines mixing in acrobatic stunts! It was fun to watch their routines and pick out pieces that we knew from our kung-fu class. After a group of girls came out. They did some very intense stunts! My favorite was when they created a pyramid- but this was no ordinary pyramid! Girls were doing headstands balancing ontop of another girls head! Here is a picture that may help explain better ;)

then they did the same sort of pyramid, but this time they were balancing their heads on the girls feet! Not only were they balancing like this, but they were also twiling flowers on their feet at the same time!

One girl stunned us all. She was balancing on a platform using one hand, her arms had to have been so powerful. She would hold herself up so her body was straight out and then do different tricks. She would switch her arms out, put her legs straight up in the air or grab one of her feet! I think she was one of the most impressive acrobats! This is the best picture I have of her!! It really was such a fun night, the Chinese Acrobatics are AMAZING! :D

After going to the show we decided to head over and the Olympic Square!! We get on the subway and take all the connecting lines, when we got to the last transfer the subway had closed down and we had to leave! Everyone decided to just head back to the hostel, but Joey, Andrea and I were determined to make it to see the Birds Nest! We walked out of the Subway and we could see it all lit up and decided to walk down to it! The more we walked the further we realized it was, about half way there we ran into a park with Roller-blades to rent, so instead of walking the rest of the way we rented us some roller-blades :)

We are pretty sure you were only supposed to roller-blade in the park, but since we can't really speak the language we decided to just take our chances going further with them :) We had a lot of fun making our way to the stadium until we realized there was a freeway between us and the Birds Nest!! So sadly, we couldn't go very close, but we were still able to get some good pictures!! Its not very often you get to go roller-blading around Beijing :D

Beijing Day 1 :)

About three weeks ago we had our amazing 9 day vacation to Beijing!! I know I am a little slow at starting this adventures blog... but I have so many picutures to upload and lots to say! :) Our trips travel consited of planes, trains and automobiles! :) Friday after we finished we headed out to the train station! This was our first time traveling on a train so none of us were sure what to expect- we had sleeper beds and thats about as much as we knew!
We were all pleasently suprised by the train!! We had 2 seperate cabins for the 11 of us and the beds were nice, clean and comfy!!

The train ride was 21 hours long, so we spent a lot of the time hanging out in the hallway playing card games, talking and watching movies. We enjoyed getting to see the scenery- it was like our own scenic tour through China!! :) We actually made friends with a Chinese rock band a few cabins down from us. They were all really nice and spoke english really well, they showed us their music and invited us to come see them perform in Beijing... we never made it to their performance, but it would have been cool!
I had a fun time staying up late telling everyones fortunes ;) I think the boys had fun experiencing girls night activities!! After 21 hours on a train a 13 hour flight home sounds like nothing! Coming into Beijing was a lot different than expected- Our city is very humid and tropical and Beijing is the complete opposite. We almost felt like we were back home, our skin was dry again, everyones hair was straight and you didn't feel wet all the time! I don't know if I have every felt as clostraphobic as I did getting off the train and trying to get on the subway. People are everywhere and they are determined to fit as many people onto buses and subways as possible. We got used to this as we spent time there, and it was much nicer without all our luggage! Here is Raven and I on the Subway for the first time!

We stayed at a really nice hostel Candy Inn, it was more of a hotel than a hostel. They provided us with shampoo, towels, cute little toothbrushes, and I think the beds there were nicer than the ones in our rooms :) Me Andrea, Erin and Raven were even put into a room by ourselves! Here is a picture of Erin, Anna and I in the alley way of our hostel!

We got into Beijing pretty late, so we didn't do too much that night, except explore around our hostel. Our first stop was to get FOOD, since all we had eaten was candy and noodles on the train. We found a good restraunt close by and we were able to try lots of new foods. The food up north is very different than down south! Outside the restraunt their was a man cooking goat on a stick- so Joey, Ryan and I all tried it! It was probably one of the most delicious meats I have eaten here!

Across from our hostel was the confucious temple, so we decided it would be a good time to go check it out! Well, there was a large wall all around it and we were unable to find the door to enter. We spent about an hour walking around the wall and never made it completely around to find the door- but we had fun trying to find it! :) The area around the wall was really old, so we got to explore and see houses where people just live inside four cylinder walls with hardly anything else. It was all very sad to see and interesting at the same time.
After walking around for an hour and having Erin and I there, we were bound to need to find a restroom. I think this restroom was the best squatter situation we have had so far. We have had to use some disgusting bathrooms, some just ditches with walls seperating them, others that were just gross but never any this open! I wish I had a better picture! It was hard to take one since someone was always in there using it!

Erin, Anna, Andrea and I all walked in and just started laughing! :) We decided to send two at a time in, well it would have worked great except of course other people had to come in and use the restroom! It was quite an awkward experience for all of us!!
We spent the rest of the evening exploring around more, we went to a park, found some good treats to eat and then crashed after a long two days!

Welcome to Room 3B12

Welcome to my room! :)
Our room is on the 4th floor, but because in China 4 is symbolic for death they either skip it or us 3B. Over the past three months My room-mates and I have become very close! A lot of this is due to our little living quarters. The Chinese teachers think its crazy that three of us share the same size room that they have to themselves. But we like it, it makes everyday an adventure!!

This would be our bathroom!! Its not too different than at home, luckily we were put in a school that has Western toilets in the rooms. Many of the other ILP schools have squatters in their apartments! We get to use those enough out in public and at the school! Our shower hangs on the wall next to the toilet, so after every use you get to pull the squeegie out and clean the floor!

This is my bed/area! Working at Scout Camp has helped me a lot for this experience:) We each just have our bed that is our areas. Here I actually have drawers, instead of having to use milk crates! However, they would come in really handy around here! The beds are pretty hard and at first none of us were able to fall asleep on them and you would wake up with your hips hurting- but I have actually become very fond of them! I don't even think I miss my bed at home anymore! I don't have a picture of the whole room, but it doesn't look much different than this! Just three beds and a dresser with our tv on it and a fridge!

This is our deck/laundry room! Its fun to have the washer on the deck, gives you an excuse to be outside!! We don't have dryers here, so we hang all our clothes up to dry! We are very lucky to even have a washer. The Chinese teachers who live in our same building have to wash all their clothes by hand!

The last stop on this tour is our kitchen! We have lots of fun toys in here, too bad we don't cook very often :) We have made lots of brownies, cookies, popcorn and instant noodles in here! We made some friends that live across the hall who have no oven, so they use ours and taught us how to make a Chinese cake... it didn't turn out so well... but it still tasted good!!

I have trouble keeping my eyes open for pictures ;)

Puddle Jumpin'!!

The rain here in Zhongshan is very silly! It does not rain very often, but when it does its a weird mist that you barely even feel!! On a rare occasion you have days like we had last week where it DOWN POURS!!!

All day long, it just kept pouring, the streets were flooded! The day started out nice and sunny, then while we were teaching the sky goes dark and on came the rain! Andrea and I got really excited and after we finished teaching and decided to go play in it!! We went puddle jumping all up and down the streets like we were five years old! The gutters were full of water so it was perfect! As we went up and down the street all the shop owners came out to watch us! They just stood outside their shops laughing and staring at us, it was great! I am sure they all think we are crazy now!

It was not till after we came in and dried off that one of the girls decides to inform us that we need to take precautions from the rain today because it may be acid rain from the volcano, and that it could make our hair fall out!!! So if we come off the plane bald, now you know why :)