There's so much that we share, that it's time we're aware...

So much to update!


I was going to start with my Chinese New Year vacation, but then I realized I hadn't written about what I like to call my "foreigner faux pas":
So a couple weekends ago, in my apartment complex, one of the buildings had some blankets set up outside like a tent. I was coming home from work that Sunday, and music was playing from the tent-like area. I wandered over, thinking it might be some sort of New Years celebration, and there was a big crowd of people. I eventually went upstairs to find out what was going on. At first I was discouraged from going in ("bu hao"), but a minute later, I explained that I just wanted to look and was led to someone's apartment. The door was open; visitors were welcome. It had a little shrine in the front and beautiful silk tapestries hanging in the room. I had walked into the Chinese equivalent of a wake. I said thank you, I'm sorry, and I got out as fast as I could.


The next day was my last day of work, and on Tuesday, I packed, cleaned my apartment and took the train to Hangzhou to stay with Jessi's friend Ashley to start our vacation.


Day 1: Ashley and I flew from Hangzhou to Xiamen (halfway down the east coast of China), where we met up with Jessi. Xiamen is a port city and "special economic zone" in China - it's a special area of economic development there. It's sunny and warm. We dropped our things off at our hostel (Locanda International Youth Hostel - very cute place, good location. Bring a towel for your shower if you go there), and wandered a bit before taking a ferry over to GulangYu Island. We ate lunch, saw some sights, and climbed over 200 steps (Jessi counted) to get to the top of Sunlight Rock, the highest point on the island, and take in the view of Xiamen. Then we relaxed on the beach before heading back for dinner and sleep.

Day 2: It was colder out this day, and cloudy. We had breakfast and began sight seeing. We tried taking the hop on hop off tour bus (we had gotten free tickets from a concierge at the Wyndam Hotel the day before when we stopped in to ask for directions), but got on the wrong bus, so then we took a taxi to a tourist spot - a Taiwanese folk village - but that looked abandoned, so we left and found a little place that rented out bikes for touring the island. We had read about going on a bike ride on the Island Ring Road to see the sights, so we decided to try it. We rented a 3 person bike. We spent a hilarious 10 minutes trying to ride it before bringing it back and trying to get our money back (which we eventually did). The we did find the hop-on hop-off bus and took our tour to the Hulishan Fort, which housed famous cannons used to defend Xiamen (and China) in the 19th century. We saw a really neat performance where "soldiers" shot and loaded a cannon. Very cool.

Day 3: The goal was to get to Taiwan. It was supposedly only a 2 hour or so boat ride away. No boats. We ended up taking a boat to Kinmen Island, which is a part of Taiwan, so we did get neat stamps on our passports. We weren't really sure what to see, so we went on a hunt for Taiwanese pancakes to eat for lunch and found a neat street with the former headquarters of a Qing dynasty army, a tiny temple, and lots of cute shops. We took a bus around most of the island, and headed back to Xiamen.

Day 4: Jessi and I went to the NanPutuo Temple in the morning while Ashley went to explore Xiamen University. It's the most famous temple in Xiamen (I think), and it's a really neat and beautiful temple placed on the side of a mountain. We wandered it for a bit, saw people cleaning it for the new year, and I liked that there were little plaques explaining some Buddhist customs - like lighting incense and meal times. Very cool. We met with Ashley for a late lunch, some shopping and then I went to the airport to fly to Shanghai to meet Nat for the second part of my trip. 

Day 5: Nat and I flew from Shanghai to Hong Kong. First stop: Disneyland! It was the only day our free passes were not going to be blacked out during our trip. (It was also the beginning of the only days we were supposed to have off for Chinese New Year, so we didn't check, we just planned.) HongKong Disneyland, while beautiful and fun, is quite small. The tour books actually recommend going to Hong Kong's Ocean Park instead, but we had our passes and I haven't been to Disney in a long time, so off we went. We finished the entire thing in half a day with time to spare before the fireworks. I suppose if you rode all the rides and sat through all the shows and waited in long lines (it was kind of cold, so it wasn't horribly crowded), it would take longer, but it was nice and fun. They had a really short dragon parade and a special "Lucky Trail" for Chinese New Year, and we took pictures with all the characters on dragon stands. I had a Mickey Waffle for dinner and we watched fireworks before heading to our hostel for the night.

Day 6: It was cool and foggy again, so instead of heading up to Victoria Peak, Nat and I explored Central in Hong Kong. Rather, she took me around to the sights, as she was there about a month ago with her parents. Either way, we rode the Escalator (a string of escalators running from the pier up Hong Kong. It took us about 20 minutes to walk back down.). We saw the Bank of China Tower (the viewing deck was closed for the holiday), went to Man Mo Temple and made a wish for the new year, shopped at a little market, went to see some food markets, and ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe - I vaguely remembered that being cool when I was younger so when I remembered Hong Kong was supposed to have one, I had to go there. Then we wandered some more - we went to Hong Kong Park and Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. Very pretty. Then we headed back to Nathan Road to get our spots for the New Year's Parade. It was LONG. We got a spot around 6. I figured it would be like New Year's in Times Square - get there early and stay put. The parade was supposed to be from 8-9:30. There were some opening acts - a dance troupe, "sliders", a band, jump ropers, Star Wars characters. It was cool. The first time around. They went past us twice before the parade finally came by, and another time during the parade. I think it finally ended around 10:30. It was neat, but not what we were expecting. There were quite a few dragons and some neat performances but also quite a bit of time between floats and performances. But we did meet a nice girl from St. Kitts who sent us her pictures after. We also walked along the Avenue of Stars (a kind of Hollywood Blvd. for Chinese movie stars) - I recognized 4 names. 

Day 7: Macao. I wish we had planned a weekend for this. It was beautiful. Macao is known for being China's Las Vegas, so we started at a casino. I won $27 (approximately USD$3-5, but a win's a win). Then we walked through the alley streets to the ruins of St. Paul's Church. I wasn't too excited about going, but it was amazing. It's the front wall of a really old church and the views from the scaffolding were amazing. Then we went to the Museum of Macao, which was built inside an old fort. Very neat, and again, the views from the fortress were incredible. Old little buildings, colorful European buildings, and gigantic shiny modern buildings altogether on a little island. Hong Kong's cool. But I highly recommend Macao. When we got back to Hong Kong, we watched the fireworks display over the Hong Kong harbor and skyline. It was huge and loud and fantastic. We walked around Kowloon and the area near our hostel and I found Ben and Jerrys. Yum.

Day 8: I woke up early to ride the Peak Tram to Victoria Peak. Nat slept in since she had been there with her parents. The Tram is pretty cool - it takes you straight up the side of the mountain to Victoria's Peak, one of the highest points with the best view of Hong Kong. The Peak Tower and Galleria are a big tourist fiasco with lots of shops. They were all closed when I got there because it was so early. I took a walk on the Peak Circuit Trail. It's about 2 miles long around the mountain, and it was like walking through a highly elevated rain forest. The air was crisp and cool and fresh and the views were more amazing than I would have thought. It was very peaceful. I decided to take more daily walks. After taking the tram back to Central, I went to all the touristy buildings I thought Nat and I had missed on our previous walk through. We met up to go to Happy Valley Racetrack (someone said it was a "must do"), but when we got there, we found out the horses actually race at another track. Happy Valley is just for betting, which Nat didn't want to do, so we left and walked to Victoria Park and the Noonday gun in Causeway Bay. Then we went to Happy Hour at a diner in Lan Kwai Feng. Eventually we realized how tired we were and called it an early night. 

Day 9: A quick walk around Kowloon Park and through a bookstore and then Nat and I were off to the airport. Hong Kong was much more crowded by the end of the trip than at the beginning, but many things were still closed or open late for the holiday. But the airplane was just as full as we had been told it would be. We flew back to Shanghai and took the metro to the train to the metro home. Nanjing was exploding with extra loud firecracker sounds when I got back. 


It was a great trip. A very necessary break. Now on to the next adventure...

Life's a Happy Song

Last week was my first Town Hall with Disney. They made announcements, gave prizes, and most importantly, saw the new Muppet Movie. It was great! Also, the night before, my co-worker, Jessi, and I went to dinner and met the owner of Mr. Pancake House (the Chinese equivalent of IHOP). So cool.

Mr. Pancake

My fruit lady and her son

Then I worked for the weekend and relaxed for my days off. My co-worker Jessi baked homemade chocolate chunk cookies on Sunday and invited us over to eat them. Needless to say, there were no leftovers. Tuesday and Wednesday, I finished touring the metro, rode the local bus around town, and my center went to a big Chinese New Year dinner. Some metro stops here have really beautiful artwork inside:

 

Next week, Chinese New Year vacation!

Lift your spirit, set it free

Happy New Year! 2011 ended a bit sadly as our Center Manager left DE to go finish some coursework for his PhD. We had a big delicious dinner at a local upscale hot pot restaurant to say goodbye. 

The FTs at my center went out to a bar for New Year's Eve. There were lanterns being sent up in the air, fireworks and the most subdued countdown ever at midnight. It was laid back and fun. We rarely get to go out on Saturday nights. 

We had Sunday off for New Years Day, and I went to services with my friend, Jessi. She's Mormon, and I have never been to a Mormon service so since we had the day off, I decided to accompany her. She said it wasn't a regular service because the first Sunday of each month is mostly testimonials from congregants. It was different, but the people were nice, and I enjoyed listening to people share their experiences that strengthened their faith. 

Then off to the hot springs! There are famous hot springs about an hour east of Nanjing. They were cool, but expensive, and I'm not sure why they're so famous. I don't think they are naturally occurring. There were several different types of pools; initially we had a hard time finding one that was actually hot, but eventually we succeeded. We also sat in a pool with those fish that eat your dead skin. I lasted about 10 seconds and then chose to explore instead. After a couple of hours we were thoroughly relaxed and exhausted and headed home. It was nice to start the new year with an adventure.

Girls' Day

Hot Springs

For the weekend, I stayed home and relaxed. I've been traveling a lot and need to save some money and energy for Chinese New Year. I cleaned, studied Chinese, napped, booked the rest of my Chinese New Year trip and explored some more of the city and the metro. I found a park with relics from the Ming Dynasty and a small art museum. Great fun!

The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers

Christmas Eve: French-style Japanese teppanyaki with Matt and Megan. Meat, seafood, rice, fruit, veggies, wine. Yum.


Christmas at DisneyEnglish: Wore pajamas, listened to Christmas music, 2 turkeys and a ham potluck Christmas lunch, and a new class.

Christmas Lunch at DisneyEnglish

Due to rescheduling, I had Monday off, so I got some chores done before I took my first intra-China flight to Xi'an. Getting to the airport was a bit of a challenge, but I had no problem navigating once I arrived there. In Xi'an, I met up with my host for the weekend, Andrew. A former/fellow Disney cast member who I met at the Chinese embassy when I was getting my visa back in August.


Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi province, and it was the capital during the Song Dynasty, at which time it was apparently much larger than it is now. It's also konwn for the Terracotta Warriors.

Lunch

Andrew and I had breakfast at the market Tuesday and went to the statue marking the beginning of the Silk Road. He took me to do some book and DVD shopping - I bought The Giving Tree in Chinese. One day I will be able to read it. Then we had a yummy lunch of pao moa, breaded noodle soup stuff. Then I went on adventure to the train station to catch a bus to the Terracotta Warriors, where I was accosted by a tour guide, but got some nice extra information and to see the farmer who discovered them.

Statue marking the Beginning of the Silk Road

Terracotta Warriors - Pit 1

The Terracotta Warriors were created to guard the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang. The project started when he was 13 and took 700,000 laborers 38 years to complete. You can only see into 3 of the over 600 pits. The soldiers that have been reassembled look complete - you could never tell that they had been smashed into pieces over the years. Except for the pieces laying in the parts of the pit where archaeologists are still digging. It's quite a work in progress. (Perhaps there will be a Spanish archaeologist working there one day.)

Beiyuanmen Street

When I returned from the warriors, I explored the city center and the famous snack street in the Muslim quarter, and we went out with some of Andrew's co-workers. Wednesday was another full day of touring, beginning with the Shaanxi History Museum. Then onto the famous culture street for some window shopping and the city wall - completely intact around the city center. We walked it until we got tired, since bikes were not available for some reason, and saw the beginnings of Xi'an's Chinese New Year decorations. If the decorations are any indication, it's going to be quite a spectacle.

Xi'an City Wall

We returned to the Muslim quarter for lunch (rou sham boa? - a kind of meat  and found our way to the Great Mosque. It's large and lovely. In one hall, there are engravings of the Koran on tablets in Chinese and Arabic. The details of the buildings are quite ornate. We sadly were not allowed into the prayer hall.

The Great Mosque

Mosque Courtyard

After Andrew played a quick game of badmitton with a Chinese man - I'm pretty sure the most fun he had all day - we took a cab back to his apartment, and I began my final adventure of getting back to the airport for my flight. Note: ALWAYS plan extra time for this, especially during rush hour. Between cab, bus, and airport shuttle, it took me 2.5 hours to get to the airport, which was longer than the flight took.


All in all, a fabulous final trip for the end of the year.

Note: Theoretically, the comments section will be fixed soon so that you can add comments. I know this has been a problem for many people. Sorry! Happy New Year!

It's My Favorite Part Because...

I took my first overnight bus and overnight train this week. Monday night I left for the overnight bus (with beds!) to Kaifeng. It is the oldest Jewish city in China and a former capital, from the time of the Song Dynasty. I had finished reading Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng by Professor Xu Xin right before I left, so I was very excited to go. The bus left at 9pm, and it was supposed to be a 9 hour trip, but it dropped me off at 4:30. In the morning. So I got in a cab to the train station, where I talked to some people - with the help of a Chinese person who was studying English. Then when the buses started running he and I got on the bus and he helped me find my first tourist spot (Tie Ta, or Iron Pagoda) on his way to the university. It wasn't opened yet, so I walked up and down the street and danced with some ladies in the parking lot while I waited for it to open. The Iron Pagoda is the most visited sight in Kaifeng. It is 13 stories tall, over 1000 years old, made of ornately designed glazed bricks (the brown makes it look like iron), and has survived floods, earthquakes, fires, and other disasters. I wandered around the park area, which was very deserted and hazy, for a bit and then got back on the bus for my next stop. (The one bus went basically to all the tourist places I wanted to go. It was great.)

On the bus to Kaifeng

Tie Ta - Iron Pagoda

Play about the Song Dynasty

Processional at the Dragon Pavilion

Next stop was LongTing Park, where the Imperial Palace used to stand, also home to the famous Dragon Pavilion and where I saw the most amazing thing I've seen in China. When I got there, bells chimed and music played, and there began a processional introducing - whom I presumed to be - the main characters of the Song Dynasty. The costumes were amazing, and the beards were wonderfully fake. I stood and watch until the end of the procession, when I went in and walked up to the Dragon Pavilion. There was a lot of construction going on, but the height at which the pavilion sat was very impressive. I wandered about, looked at the sights of the former imperial palace walls, the rockery, garden, and lake. As I was getting ready to leave, I stumbled upon a play starring the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. I think it was about him finding a husband for his daughter. It was recorded, so the actors were mouthing their words and you could see the straps on their mustaches and beards, but it was very entertaining. I walked past Millennium City Park - a giant amusement park - but decided to keep going. 

ShanShaan Gan Guildhall screen wall

I went instead to the ShanShaan Gan Guildhall, which was built by merchants from various provinces during the Qing Dynasty. It was beautiful, bright, and very ornately designed. 

I walked from there to the Da Xiangguo Si (Prime Minister's Temple) and had lunch in the local market. The temple is famous for a gold plated statue of a goddess with 1000 arms, which have eyes painted on the palms. It's carved from a tree. What I can only imagine was an incredibly large tree. Down the street is a smaller temple called Yanqing Guan, which is famous for a bronze statue of an emperor. It was neat, but the best part was when I was getting ready to leave and this priest-like guy invited me to sit at a table, and I picked a stick (I think I've decided it was a prayer stick or something) and proceeded to give me a blessing or fortune in Chinese. I wish I had recorded it because it seemed very positive, and he spoke very enthusiastically. 

Qianshou Guanyin-1000 Armed Goddess of Compassion

Yanqing Guan Priest (monk?)

Next, not originally on the list but on the way, was the Memorial to Lord Bao on Baogong Lake. He was a mayor of Kaifeng who was beloved for being honest and upright. There was a neat exhibit about him, in Chinese, but the murals were beautiful and had English captions describing 4 examples of his uprightness. It also had one of the most beautiful rockeries I've seen, with stone statues and a waterfall. 

Lord Bao Mural

Rockery at Memorial to Lord Bao

Kaifeng Museum

Chinese People's Hospital, where the Kaifeng synagogue once stood

Teaching the Torah Lane

Plaque identifying the site of the former synagogue

Next, and one of the two things I had most been looking forward to was the Kaifeng Museum. The museum itself, which was very nice and contained the usual historical artifacts, relics, and models of the city, is also home to 2 steeles describing the history of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng. They are locked up on the fourth floor and are the only part of the museum you have to pay money to see. The guide could not tell me why, except that very few people, mostly foreigners go to see them. One was rectangular and laying down was almost as long as I am, and the other was 2 steeles linked together which were shorter and looked a little like a tombstone. Of course, they are from the 1500s and 1600s and have been buried under floods, so one had barely any legible writing on it and the other had none, but they and a giant lotus bowl are all that's left from the long history of the Jewish people. There was also a map of the Silk Road, by which the Jews came to Kaifeng when they were forced out of the West. I was sadly not allowed to take any pictures. But after this I went to the site of the former synagogue, which was laid out in traditional Chinese style and modeled after the Second Temple. It is now a hospital and there is only a stone plaque in Chinese on the side of the road identifying what it used to be. But down an alley around the corner is "Teaching the Torah Lane" and the Zhao residence, where Ester lives. Ester is the last remaining Jew in Kaifeng, and the Zhaos were one of the original families that settled in Kaifeng and had a great influence over the community. I met her by accident as I explored the alley and she happened to be coming out of her house. Using my phrasebook I told her I was Jewish and she invited me into her house, where I saw Jewish pictures and artifacts and memorabilia from her life. It was an incredible experience. Unfortunately, my Chinese is nowhere near good enough to have asked her about her life and her family, but I was very thankful to have met her.

Ester, the last Chinese Jew in Kaifeng

Some artifacts in Ester's home

Teaching the Torah Lane was the last thing I wanted to see on my list - I haven't finished my tourist list for any city the whole time I've been in China. Except in Shanghai, when I had 3 weeks to explore. But Kaifeng was small enough for me to walk to most places, which was great, and it felt very Chinese, while most of the other cities I've visited have some Chinese parts next to increasingly modern areas. Anyway, it was still pretty early so I walked around, went to a market, and found a classic culture street, another name for a pedestrian tourist street. It was neat. Lots of food vendors and clothing stores. I kept walking until I got back to the lake and sat down and read for a bit. Then I got on the bus for a night ride around the city before heading to the train station for my overnight train to Shanghai. 

Wednesday, DisneyEnglish in Nanjing went to Shanghai to volunteer and do crafts with children of migrant workers. But since I arrived early, I had breakfast with my friend Hope from training. I met up with the Nanjing people for lunch and we were off to our volunteering event. There were 3 teachers from the school there, and we were supposed to help the kids do traditional Chinese crafts. There was knot-tying, paper tying, and painting. I ended up at the table with the painting, where the teacher did not have enough materials for the group and spent the entire time modeling how to do the craft. Some trainers had a late train and stayed to make sure those kids got to do all the crafts. We also gave each kid a giant Mickey and Minnie Mouse plush toy. It was pretty fun overall. Hopefully there will be future events in Nanjing. 

Nanjing-Dongbao VoluntEARs

When we got back to Nanjing, some of us went to KTV for the rest of the night. It's kareoke in a private room, kind of expensive but very fun. We went to a night market for food after and then I went home to get some sleep before work started. 

Happy Holidays!

It Only Takes a Moment

I am in love. Suzhou is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. It's the city I wanted to be placed in when I applied for DisneyEnglish. Plus, it's small by China standards. I went there this weekend and saw 2 gardens, 2 museums, and 2 pagodas. I will definitely be going back to see the rest of the city and enjoy it in the future. I would still like to live there for a bit, but I also think that might take some of the wonder away.

My new keychain

Before the weekend, I was very productive at work, and we started our language exchange, so I might actually learn some Chinese before my contract is up. We also got a new trainer at work, as did the other center. We had a gift exchange, and I got a cute little sparrow-whistle keychain. The gift that I bought (SwissMiss with marshmallows) was highly coveted by the rest of the staff, so it was fun to watch them fight over it. I start a new class on Friday and another one on Christmas. Yes, I work on Christmas. But we have New Year's Day off, which is especially exciting since it's a Sunday.

Tuesday I left in the morning for Suzhou, but my train was delayed, which in this instance turned out to be a good thing. Tuesday was the anniversary of the Nanjing massacre and every year on that day there is an air-raid siren that goes off in the morning to commemorate the event. Because of my train delay, I got to hear the siren when it went off - well, sort of. I had to strain my ears to hear it since I was in the train station, but it was still cool. Nothing else really happened; people kept doing whatever they were doing during the siren.

When I finally got to Suzhou, I dropped my stuff off at the local DisneyEnglish center and went to the Suzhou Museum to learn some history. It was one of the noisiest, most crowded museums I have ever visited.

Suzhou Museum

There were lots of people pushing to see everything, but there were flyers in English explaining all the exhibits which was very helpful and let me get away from the crowds a bit sometimes. They also had a special exhibition on British contemporary art (so I now have a pin that says "Made in Britain") and a little garden courtyard. More importantly, it's next to the Humble Administrator's Garden, the biggest, most popular garden in Suzhou, where I went next.

Part of the Humble Administrator's Garden

Beautiful is an understatement. It had a great view of the Beisi Ta Pagoda (which I visited the next day); the water was clear; the trees were colorful; the rockeries were awesome; and the pavilions offered great views. I realized that even though it's December, many of the trees were still green and leafy. I was there until it closed and then met up for dinner with the girl with whom I was staying.



The next day, I took the bus to the western edge of the city center to see Tiger Hill "The number one tourist spot in Suzhou". The advertisements say it's a pity if you don't visit it, and I have to agree. Tiger Hill consists of a series of pavilions on the side of a mountain - trees everywhere - and an ancient pagoda (Cloud Rock Pagoda) that actually looks ancient and leans to the side. It's where the founder of Suzhou is buried and is called Tiger Hill because legend has it that 3 days after he died, a tiger appeared at the pagoda as if to guard it.

Tiger Hill Cloud Rock Pagoda

Yard of Rocks at the Lingering Gardens

From there, I walked to Liu Yuan (Lingering Gardens), which was very nice, but not as impressive as the Humble Administrator's Garden, though I really liked the Yard of Rocks.

Then, as it was getting toward the end of the afternoon, I took a cab back to the city center and went to Beisi Ta Pagoda, which is a 1000 year old pagoda next to a temple and with a Buddha statue in front. You can climb to the top of the pagoda and you're supposed to be able to see to the south side of the city, but I think that depends on smog levels. The view was nice anyway, although the walls of the pagoda itself were covered in graffiti from previous visitors, and there was a mural of the city and sights on the wall next to the temple which was interesting. I walked around the temple, which had another smaller garden, and listened to a bit of the service that was going on.

Beisi Ta

Graffiti

View of Suzhou from Beisi Ta

Finally, I went to the Suzhou Silk Museum, which was half under construction, so I only saw half of it, but it's pretty cool. I went to the silk store and was saddened by the cost of silk products. Then I stopped by the goodbye dinner for Kelly (the girl I stayed with - she's heading back to the States next week) before taking the train back to Nanjing. It's good to be traveling again.

Life is a Highway

I finally feel like things are kind of getting back on track. On Monday, I planned a term's worth of lessons for my class and we had our first of way too many (in my opinion) "Christmas parties" (referral events). Yesterday, my kitchen light got fixed; my gas got fixed; my Internet got installed; I napped and cooked and played on the computer, and I finally finished the book I've been reading for 2 months. Today, I visited 5 more stops on the metro and met with Nat about our Chinese New Year trip. It's cold and rainy, so back for another movie night on the computer. And Friday I plan to buy train tickets for a trip for next week; plus, our language exchange is starting at work, so HOPEFULLY I will finally start to actually learn some useful Chinese and one day be able to have a conversation. Sorry, no new pictures this week - they'll be back next week.