Right now im suffering the effects of jet lag by watching the Disney Channel at 5am!
So last week my mom and Dana came out to play in Shanghai and it was so nice to have them! it was like a tease for almost being home! We did what girls do best...shop! And also, after much frustration went on a river boat tour. With the experience like i had last semester it meant so much that my mom was able to come out and see my life and friends in China. I knew this going into the whole semester than coming back was going to be hard because people just don't get it and i can't expect them to. As caring and wonderful as my friends and family have been there are just somethings that you can't understand unless you have been there!
Last Saturday we got to visit the all anticipated Shanghai Expo woohoo! I felt like i was walking through disney land all of the pavilions were so over-the-top decorated. When we first walked in we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the US Pavilion, they had KFC and Pappa Johns and a plane wooden outside two thumbs up for the US under whelming. Some of the pavilions i really liked was India and South Korea, i have pictures on facebook if you dyying to see! We got the chance to go in the North Korean pavilion which called itself "The Paradise for People" really.... they had a bridge that you know didn't actually have water under it but instead just blue paint, classy right?
Well now it starts my good bye, i really can't believe this semester is over already. I can't believe four months ago i was going into this whole adventure not know thing anything that was going to happen and now sitting here having experienced it all. I truly believe this semester taught me so much about myself and how to deal with adversity. It was without a rollercoaster but i don't think i would have fill fulfilled after if i didn't go through hard times. I got very luck with my friends in China, while we got on each others nerves, i realized in the last days that the semester would not have been complete without all of them, everyone had their role and without it something would have been off. I wish i had more eloquence words to sum up my experience and my feelings. I feel like this is a very anticlimactic end to a semester of blogging so maybe i'll think of something better once i've had time to soak it in!
This semester was one of the more profound experiences of my life. Thank you all who kept in touch you have no idea how much it meant to me hearing a familiar voices so far away. I love you all and for those from Shanghai you have no idea how much you have changed my life!
xoxo
Aryn
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
A little bit of Putoushan in my life, a little bit of cooking by my side...
So i feel like its become a theme of me apologizing at the beginning of my blog for not posting one sooner and this one is no different! The weather in Shanghai is finally nice so we've been out exploring the city and to many peoples surprise i've actually been interacting with real people as opposed to those through the internet! Since its been so long this blog is just gonna be a little bit of everything..... (traveling back in time dududududududu)
This past weekend we took a trip with our program to an island about 5 hours away called Putuoshang 普陀山. This island is sacred in Chinese Buddhism and on this island lays one of the four sacred mountains of Buddhism. I was very excited to get out of the city for a weekend and experience the outdoors and fresh air. It seems the longer I have been in China the more I appreciate the natural smell. You know those people that you have to tell your leaving 15 minutes before you actually do so they will arrive on time, well that’s basically what you have to do for everything in China, for example we were supposed to leave at noon for Putuoshan but no fear our bus got in a car accident on the way and they were supposed to send another one so we didn't end up leaving till closer to two. Alright now your thinking ok so that was easy just had to wait a little, I gets better... although there was GPS system in our bus out driver didn't know where he was going and got us lost for 2 hours. Not to fear though we got some solid games of contact in! Thursday night we got to our hotel, which wasn't on the island since the last boat to the island left before we arrived, and then had a bonfire on the beach. Even though it was cold there are few things better then the smell of a bonfire and a clear sky to see the stars! We got to cook our own food, which was interesting to say the least, the lack of light and our lack of knowledge as to when the meat was done ended up in a few not so nice stomachaches! In true Chinese fashion we got to light off fireworks! That night we wanted to explore the city so we consulted our trusty "Lonely Planet: China" and unfortunately for us we looked up the wrong city and found all these great things to do but we were just 4 hours away from them! The next day we got to enjoy a beautiful boat ride through brown water to the island, I mean I guess you can't have it all, if you get cleaner air you get dirtier water. The island was beautiful but small. We got to see many a temples and go hiking!! One of the temples was on top of a hill and as we were walking up we saw many people bowing every three steps. Now they weren’t just nodding their heads this was all the way to the floor. And these people weren’t super young either. It was amazing to see that sort of dedication! One of the great parts of Putoushan was our wonderful tour guide. Now although we have improved our Chinese we are by no means fluent but someone forgot to forward this information onto him because he just kept going on and on and on and on and on about all these stories, and not only did he continue to talk he was speaking into a very loud microphone so there was no escaping him, not even the multiple “ting bu dong, ting bu dong” which means I don’t understand!
And that my friend was Putoushan...
After we got back to shanghai we went out for my friends birthday and that included a bar with a hot tub outside… jealous!?
Since we got back from Putoushan its basically been trying to fit everything in!
Here’s a little re-cap of everything!
Moganshan- this is a street that is full of art shops and also has a beautiful wall that is full of graffiti! We met a group of Chinese college students there who were in aw of this group of westerners. My friend who is doing her capstone on Chinese stereotypes of Americans was able to talk to these people and found out the following:
Americans like steak
Americans like chocolate
Cooking class- You cant live some place for 4 months and not learn how to make their speciality so we've been to a few cooking classes and learned how to make the famous xiaolongbao, sago soup, sesame balls and fried dumplings. The hardest part about all this was number one waiting till it cooled to eat it (yes i know thats an issue of a 5 year old!) and also putting the dumpling together, is really hard to do the folds and fit enough of the filling inside!
Restaurant week- this past week was Shanghai's first annual restuarant week so we went to some of the nicest restaurant in Shanghai and had a wonderful meal for only $40... not bad eh?
3. Finally the weather in shanghai has decided to be nice so even just that made this weekend wonderful! Friday we had an exam so we got done with class early, which clearly meant more time to play in the city! We got some clothes made at a fabric market so we had to pick them up which was an experience. At the fabric market they are mostly able to speak English, which is convenient, but something’s get lost in translation! When you say you want something tight it comes out loose. My friend got a dress made that needed a hole for the head clearly but what they ended up with was a hole that maybe their arm could fit through! It’s very hit and miss at the market but who doesn’t want custom made gown for $50! After we stopped by the market we went to stock up on gifts at Tao Bao Chen, which is a 5-story market filled with knock-offs. Over the semester we have become familiar with this place so we know more of less what it offers. With the upcoming expo the city it going through many chances and this wonderful market is one of the places effected. We were looking for Marc Jacobs bags but we couldn’t seem to find any sitting out and when we asked for them we were taken to back rooms where the labels weren’t on the bags. The sales people explained to us that undercover cops were coming in and arresting people that were selling fake bags. Lucky for us though we knew what they had from the times we had been before so when we asked for it they would take bags out from shoe boxes, other bags and other random hiding places… sooo tricky!
Now that the Expo is just days from its official opening all of the loose ends of the city are being put together so that Shanghai can look its best! One of the things that is very convenient for us is a new subway line that stops at all the tourist places, Xintiandi, Peoples Square, and Yuyunna Gardens, where we went on Saturday. Unfortunate for us everyone else in the city wanted to take advantage of the weather so this trip did not involve those wonderful dumplings but we did go to a cooking class and learned how to make xiao long bao and maso soup. Getting home we tried to do the typical “distract the taxi driver and 5 people sneak in”, the usual case is us vs. the taxi drivers but now with the tightened security it’s the taxi driver vs. the cop, so when we got in he told us just to duck when we saw a cop!
On Sunday I got the opportunity to go to a Chinese families home and have lunch. When coming into the home the hallway and elevator set us up for entering a lower end home but to our surprise it was a beautiful 2-bedroom apartment. Our hostesses were very interested in American and learning English so there was a lot of “how do you say….”. Something that I loved seeing was the way their 2 boys interacted, no video games or movies, they played make believe the whole time! We also got a singing performance by them; they sang us English songs and were very proud! I mean if I could sing a song in Chinese at age 5 I would brag! We got the opportunity to make more dumplings at their house. The way it seemed to work was that the men would entertain the kids and the women were making the dumplings. Amy and I got to help make the dumplings, I mean were going to be pros by the end of this!
Like I said before the city is putting on the final touched for the opening of the Expo. One this China is great at is putting on a show, they did it for the Olympics and now in true rival fashion Shanghai is going to be better than Beijing. They now have more strict security on the subways, and new expo taxi’s out that are much more strict with the number of people they take and Haibao is EVERYWHERE!
In one of my first blogs I talked about how I was excited to see the changes that would happen in Shanghai with the Expo and now as my times is coming to an end I have more and more of an opportunity to compare what the city was like 4 months ago till now. Last week with one of my classes we visited a community that was displace because of the Expo sight. At first glance it looked too good to be true, they had nice clean faculties, offered art classes, and provided assistance for job searching. But this seemed too good to be true and as we toured the center it seemed obvious that this biggest issue was taking away the sense of community that the Chinese emphasis so much. These people create connections and relationships with those around then and although they may not have great living arrangements the relationships mean more to them. Again the beautiful façade that China puts on.
This week my Mom and Dana Miller are coming to play in Shanghai with me and i can't wait! There is so much going on in the city with the Expo for them to see!!
t-minus 7 days till i'm Rocky Mountain High, i can't believe this semester is over, its crazy how much has happened i dont even want to think about it cause that means it really is the end! Right now more importantly im out and going to find some laundry detergent to do my unnecessary pile of clothes!
xoxo,
Aryn
This past weekend we took a trip with our program to an island about 5 hours away called Putuoshang 普陀山. This island is sacred in Chinese Buddhism and on this island lays one of the four sacred mountains of Buddhism. I was very excited to get out of the city for a weekend and experience the outdoors and fresh air. It seems the longer I have been in China the more I appreciate the natural smell. You know those people that you have to tell your leaving 15 minutes before you actually do so they will arrive on time, well that’s basically what you have to do for everything in China, for example we were supposed to leave at noon for Putuoshan but no fear our bus got in a car accident on the way and they were supposed to send another one so we didn't end up leaving till closer to two. Alright now your thinking ok so that was easy just had to wait a little, I gets better... although there was GPS system in our bus out driver didn't know where he was going and got us lost for 2 hours. Not to fear though we got some solid games of contact in! Thursday night we got to our hotel, which wasn't on the island since the last boat to the island left before we arrived, and then had a bonfire on the beach. Even though it was cold there are few things better then the smell of a bonfire and a clear sky to see the stars! We got to cook our own food, which was interesting to say the least, the lack of light and our lack of knowledge as to when the meat was done ended up in a few not so nice stomachaches! In true Chinese fashion we got to light off fireworks! That night we wanted to explore the city so we consulted our trusty "Lonely Planet: China" and unfortunately for us we looked up the wrong city and found all these great things to do but we were just 4 hours away from them! The next day we got to enjoy a beautiful boat ride through brown water to the island, I mean I guess you can't have it all, if you get cleaner air you get dirtier water. The island was beautiful but small. We got to see many a temples and go hiking!! One of the temples was on top of a hill and as we were walking up we saw many people bowing every three steps. Now they weren’t just nodding their heads this was all the way to the floor. And these people weren’t super young either. It was amazing to see that sort of dedication! One of the great parts of Putoushan was our wonderful tour guide. Now although we have improved our Chinese we are by no means fluent but someone forgot to forward this information onto him because he just kept going on and on and on and on and on about all these stories, and not only did he continue to talk he was speaking into a very loud microphone so there was no escaping him, not even the multiple “ting bu dong, ting bu dong” which means I don’t understand!
And that my friend was Putoushan...
After we got back to shanghai we went out for my friends birthday and that included a bar with a hot tub outside… jealous!?
Since we got back from Putoushan its basically been trying to fit everything in!
Here’s a little re-cap of everything!
Moganshan- this is a street that is full of art shops and also has a beautiful wall that is full of graffiti! We met a group of Chinese college students there who were in aw of this group of westerners. My friend who is doing her capstone on Chinese stereotypes of Americans was able to talk to these people and found out the following:
Americans like steak
Americans like chocolate
Cooking class- You cant live some place for 4 months and not learn how to make their speciality so we've been to a few cooking classes and learned how to make the famous xiaolongbao, sago soup, sesame balls and fried dumplings. The hardest part about all this was number one waiting till it cooled to eat it (yes i know thats an issue of a 5 year old!) and also putting the dumpling together, is really hard to do the folds and fit enough of the filling inside!
Restaurant week- this past week was Shanghai's first annual restuarant week so we went to some of the nicest restaurant in Shanghai and had a wonderful meal for only $40... not bad eh?
3. Finally the weather in shanghai has decided to be nice so even just that made this weekend wonderful! Friday we had an exam so we got done with class early, which clearly meant more time to play in the city! We got some clothes made at a fabric market so we had to pick them up which was an experience. At the fabric market they are mostly able to speak English, which is convenient, but something’s get lost in translation! When you say you want something tight it comes out loose. My friend got a dress made that needed a hole for the head clearly but what they ended up with was a hole that maybe their arm could fit through! It’s very hit and miss at the market but who doesn’t want custom made gown for $50! After we stopped by the market we went to stock up on gifts at Tao Bao Chen, which is a 5-story market filled with knock-offs. Over the semester we have become familiar with this place so we know more of less what it offers. With the upcoming expo the city it going through many chances and this wonderful market is one of the places effected. We were looking for Marc Jacobs bags but we couldn’t seem to find any sitting out and when we asked for them we were taken to back rooms where the labels weren’t on the bags. The sales people explained to us that undercover cops were coming in and arresting people that were selling fake bags. Lucky for us though we knew what they had from the times we had been before so when we asked for it they would take bags out from shoe boxes, other bags and other random hiding places… sooo tricky!
Now that the Expo is just days from its official opening all of the loose ends of the city are being put together so that Shanghai can look its best! One of the things that is very convenient for us is a new subway line that stops at all the tourist places, Xintiandi, Peoples Square, and Yuyunna Gardens, where we went on Saturday. Unfortunate for us everyone else in the city wanted to take advantage of the weather so this trip did not involve those wonderful dumplings but we did go to a cooking class and learned how to make xiao long bao and maso soup. Getting home we tried to do the typical “distract the taxi driver and 5 people sneak in”, the usual case is us vs. the taxi drivers but now with the tightened security it’s the taxi driver vs. the cop, so when we got in he told us just to duck when we saw a cop!
On Sunday I got the opportunity to go to a Chinese families home and have lunch. When coming into the home the hallway and elevator set us up for entering a lower end home but to our surprise it was a beautiful 2-bedroom apartment. Our hostesses were very interested in American and learning English so there was a lot of “how do you say….”. Something that I loved seeing was the way their 2 boys interacted, no video games or movies, they played make believe the whole time! We also got a singing performance by them; they sang us English songs and were very proud! I mean if I could sing a song in Chinese at age 5 I would brag! We got the opportunity to make more dumplings at their house. The way it seemed to work was that the men would entertain the kids and the women were making the dumplings. Amy and I got to help make the dumplings, I mean were going to be pros by the end of this!
Like I said before the city is putting on the final touched for the opening of the Expo. One this China is great at is putting on a show, they did it for the Olympics and now in true rival fashion Shanghai is going to be better than Beijing. They now have more strict security on the subways, and new expo taxi’s out that are much more strict with the number of people they take and Haibao is EVERYWHERE!
In one of my first blogs I talked about how I was excited to see the changes that would happen in Shanghai with the Expo and now as my times is coming to an end I have more and more of an opportunity to compare what the city was like 4 months ago till now. Last week with one of my classes we visited a community that was displace because of the Expo sight. At first glance it looked too good to be true, they had nice clean faculties, offered art classes, and provided assistance for job searching. But this seemed too good to be true and as we toured the center it seemed obvious that this biggest issue was taking away the sense of community that the Chinese emphasis so much. These people create connections and relationships with those around then and although they may not have great living arrangements the relationships mean more to them. Again the beautiful façade that China puts on.
This week my Mom and Dana Miller are coming to play in Shanghai with me and i can't wait! There is so much going on in the city with the Expo for them to see!!
t-minus 7 days till i'm Rocky Mountain High, i can't believe this semester is over, its crazy how much has happened i dont even want to think about it cause that means it really is the end! Right now more importantly im out and going to find some laundry detergent to do my unnecessary pile of clothes!
xoxo,
Aryn
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Back to back!
Things to know about China:
1. Its every man, car and rickshaw for itself on the road, a red light means nothing!
2. Although Google just moved to Hong Kong they still have advertising all over the subways.
3. You need to be able to throw some bows to get around. So if Megan O'Donnell was here, her new hott cast would be an asset (ps if you see here give her some love, it takes true skill to break your elbow!).
4. Korean Pop music is a new light in my life, check out Super Junior or the Wonder Girls
5. Shanghai gets to decide city holidays on a whim, hmm the expo seems nice lets have a 5 day holiday (oK i know i already told you about this but its just too great to only talk about once).
6. This one needs a little bit of a story so bare with me: ok when i was younger my parents so conveniently exploited the fact that they had 3 cute little girls (yes, yes just check out the baby pictures, the matching bows really helped up this factor) to get to cut in lines and not have any one cause a fuss. Well here in China it's sort of similar but its the whole "group of westerner" thing. On the subway when were supposed to use the x-ray machines we can just walk on by, if we disobey traffic laws, no big deal. Now there are disadvantages without a doubt, when shopping we have no chance of getting the "chinese price", well unless they mistake my Korean friend for Chinese :-).
7. 2 words, boy band-ers: give me fluffed, orange mullets, tight leather pants, swanky shoes and a posse
8. Your english will get significantly worse. I mean i know my grammar and spelling are slightly embarrassing usually (thanks Rachel for proof reading my life!) but here its a joke.
9. They have beautiful things called night markets. ok i know your thinking wow aryn real original, but just stop right there! There is something truly beautiful about getting a giant egg pancake for less than 50 cents and a container of fresh fried rice for $1.
10. Milk tea. They have stands everywhere and its less than $2 and delicious!
11. Green tea flavored everything... Pockies, Oreos, ice cream etc.
Two blog posts in 24 hours pretty cool right, im just gonna put it out there that i may or may not have a test tomorrow!
xoxo,
Aryn
one month and 2 days till I'm Rocky Mountain High bound!
1. Its every man, car and rickshaw for itself on the road, a red light means nothing!
2. Although Google just moved to Hong Kong they still have advertising all over the subways.
3. You need to be able to throw some bows to get around. So if Megan O'Donnell was here, her new hott cast would be an asset (ps if you see here give her some love, it takes true skill to break your elbow!).
4. Korean Pop music is a new light in my life, check out Super Junior or the Wonder Girls
5. Shanghai gets to decide city holidays on a whim, hmm the expo seems nice lets have a 5 day holiday (oK i know i already told you about this but its just too great to only talk about once).
6. This one needs a little bit of a story so bare with me: ok when i was younger my parents so conveniently exploited the fact that they had 3 cute little girls (yes, yes just check out the baby pictures, the matching bows really helped up this factor) to get to cut in lines and not have any one cause a fuss. Well here in China it's sort of similar but its the whole "group of westerner" thing. On the subway when were supposed to use the x-ray machines we can just walk on by, if we disobey traffic laws, no big deal. Now there are disadvantages without a doubt, when shopping we have no chance of getting the "chinese price", well unless they mistake my Korean friend for Chinese :-).
7. 2 words, boy band-ers: give me fluffed, orange mullets, tight leather pants, swanky shoes and a posse
8. Your english will get significantly worse. I mean i know my grammar and spelling are slightly embarrassing usually (thanks Rachel for proof reading my life!) but here its a joke.
9. They have beautiful things called night markets. ok i know your thinking wow aryn real original, but just stop right there! There is something truly beautiful about getting a giant egg pancake for less than 50 cents and a container of fresh fried rice for $1.
10. Milk tea. They have stands everywhere and its less than $2 and delicious!
11. Green tea flavored everything... Pockies, Oreos, ice cream etc.
Two blog posts in 24 hours pretty cool right, im just gonna put it out there that i may or may not have a test tomorrow!
xoxo,
Aryn
one month and 2 days till I'm Rocky Mountain High bound!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Hello Uncle
Hello hello!
I'm so sorry that it's been so long since i've written. Where i left off was before my trip to Singapore, which was amazing! One of my friends from Shanghai lives there and she was nice enough to let us stay with her. If you love hot weather, great food and good shopping then you would love Singapore. One of the big tourist attraction there is Orchard Road which is a giant strip with building after building of malls filled with designer shopping and great food. Singapore not only has great restaurants but they have a delicious night market where we tried stingray (that one was for you Steve Irwin!). No our entire trip did not consist of getting fat on the great food, we went out to Sentoas one day, which is a beach on the island. It was funny because we were sitting out on this nice sand on this great beach and in the distance you would expect to see a beautiful ocean stretching on for miles but instead we got a beautiful view of oil and cargo ships, truly romantic. Singapore is a interesting island, they import everything they sell on the island. You may have heard the urban legends of people spitting gum on the street in Singapore and being arrested, ok really people you believed that! It is a very clean city though, people were telling us stories of getting $300 fines for littering, luckily we avoided any run in with the trash cops. While there, we got to meet a lot of Carissa's friends because all of the Singapore men are required to serve for two years in the army. Since there is not a strong Singaporean identity they unite the people requiring them to all go through the same experience. Its an interesting because when you graduate you almost put your life on hold for two years so your 20 or 21 when you enter your freshman year in college. Something that everyone needs to go to Singapore is the zoo and night safari. I felt as if i was in a safari haha, you can get so close to the animals. My friend got to be the helper in the sea lion show with Carlos the sea lion, he may or may not have stolen a kiss ohhlala! On the night safari you get driven next to animals that aren't in cages, its like the disneyland ride in real life! We were walking around on our own and on the road was written "do not cross" but i mean really if someone reads that and there are no gates around what are you going to do, cross the line of course! We found out later that across the line was a rhino! We also had a great Jurassic Park flashback if we would have hidden and stayed there overnight! How epic would that have been, party with the night safari animals, the otters seemed to know how to have a good time! Another fun fact about Shanghai, they call everyone Uncle. When we get in to a cab Carissa would also say "uncle, etc etc." cool right, it's like everyone’s family!
We got back from Singapore just in time to go to the opening day of the Bund. The Bund was once the home to many trading houses for the foreigner in Shanghai, now it’s a popular tourist destination. It sits on the bank of the Huangpu River. It's been closed for renovations and people clearly missed it judging by how many people were out there that day. The walk from Peoples Square where the subway is to the Bund felt like a scene from "Night of the Living Dead" everyone had their eyes on the Bund and there was no stopping zombie style. We even witnessed a car crash and the people’s only reaction was to yell "ooooo" and continue walking. It was very pretty once we got their because we had a clear view of the other side which has the Pearl Tower (the weird spaceship, pointy tower).
With the Expo we have been able to see the changes that are happening around the city in preparation for this opportunity for Shanghai to show off its steeze. The subways now have x-ray machines with overly friendly attendants, new clean cabs, oh ya and a 5 day holiday in honor of the Expo. We were just informed yesterday that due to the Expo we have April 30-May 4th off of class! Also another great thing about the Expo, my Mom and her friend Dana are coming out to visit!! Counting down the days.
As most of you know this past Sunday was Easter and I decided to be a good little catholic girl and go to mass (brownie points!). As I was looking up services there was one where you needed a foreign passport to get into the service. We settled on a service in a famous church in Shanghai, now keep in mind religion isn't something you really come to Shanghai to learn about. With that said it was an interesting service to say the least. The priest didn't seem to know what he was reading and we were given what we thought were eggs but they turned out to be an awful imitation that had a weird orange pink center, Now that fact that the most notable part was the egg says something! But i did get to have a wonderful brunch so that was a good Easter tradition that i got o keep! I know i know dad you wished you could be there to discuss the meaning of Easter with me but at least you had Megan and Molly!
Last night I had a dream that i came back home from the semester abroad with one small suitcase, I forgot my suitcases and everything in my room. Ya i know you would have freaked out too, but in my dream i was so calm, well that’s because a fire was going on at the same time haha, minor detail. As much as i know everyone enjoys hearing about my dreams it has a point, the end is near. I really can't believe i only have a month left to play in Shanghai (on that note as well if you in Denver circa May 10th expect to play!).
Xoxo,
Aryn
I'm so sorry that it's been so long since i've written. Where i left off was before my trip to Singapore, which was amazing! One of my friends from Shanghai lives there and she was nice enough to let us stay with her. If you love hot weather, great food and good shopping then you would love Singapore. One of the big tourist attraction there is Orchard Road which is a giant strip with building after building of malls filled with designer shopping and great food. Singapore not only has great restaurants but they have a delicious night market where we tried stingray (that one was for you Steve Irwin!). No our entire trip did not consist of getting fat on the great food, we went out to Sentoas one day, which is a beach on the island. It was funny because we were sitting out on this nice sand on this great beach and in the distance you would expect to see a beautiful ocean stretching on for miles but instead we got a beautiful view of oil and cargo ships, truly romantic. Singapore is a interesting island, they import everything they sell on the island. You may have heard the urban legends of people spitting gum on the street in Singapore and being arrested, ok really people you believed that! It is a very clean city though, people were telling us stories of getting $300 fines for littering, luckily we avoided any run in with the trash cops. While there, we got to meet a lot of Carissa's friends because all of the Singapore men are required to serve for two years in the army. Since there is not a strong Singaporean identity they unite the people requiring them to all go through the same experience. Its an interesting because when you graduate you almost put your life on hold for two years so your 20 or 21 when you enter your freshman year in college. Something that everyone needs to go to Singapore is the zoo and night safari. I felt as if i was in a safari haha, you can get so close to the animals. My friend got to be the helper in the sea lion show with Carlos the sea lion, he may or may not have stolen a kiss ohhlala! On the night safari you get driven next to animals that aren't in cages, its like the disneyland ride in real life! We were walking around on our own and on the road was written "do not cross" but i mean really if someone reads that and there are no gates around what are you going to do, cross the line of course! We found out later that across the line was a rhino! We also had a great Jurassic Park flashback if we would have hidden and stayed there overnight! How epic would that have been, party with the night safari animals, the otters seemed to know how to have a good time! Another fun fact about Shanghai, they call everyone Uncle. When we get in to a cab Carissa would also say "uncle, etc etc." cool right, it's like everyone’s family!
We got back from Singapore just in time to go to the opening day of the Bund. The Bund was once the home to many trading houses for the foreigner in Shanghai, now it’s a popular tourist destination. It sits on the bank of the Huangpu River. It's been closed for renovations and people clearly missed it judging by how many people were out there that day. The walk from Peoples Square where the subway is to the Bund felt like a scene from "Night of the Living Dead" everyone had their eyes on the Bund and there was no stopping zombie style. We even witnessed a car crash and the people’s only reaction was to yell "ooooo" and continue walking. It was very pretty once we got their because we had a clear view of the other side which has the Pearl Tower (the weird spaceship, pointy tower).
With the Expo we have been able to see the changes that are happening around the city in preparation for this opportunity for Shanghai to show off its steeze. The subways now have x-ray machines with overly friendly attendants, new clean cabs, oh ya and a 5 day holiday in honor of the Expo. We were just informed yesterday that due to the Expo we have April 30-May 4th off of class! Also another great thing about the Expo, my Mom and her friend Dana are coming out to visit!! Counting down the days.
As most of you know this past Sunday was Easter and I decided to be a good little catholic girl and go to mass (brownie points!). As I was looking up services there was one where you needed a foreign passport to get into the service. We settled on a service in a famous church in Shanghai, now keep in mind religion isn't something you really come to Shanghai to learn about. With that said it was an interesting service to say the least. The priest didn't seem to know what he was reading and we were given what we thought were eggs but they turned out to be an awful imitation that had a weird orange pink center, Now that fact that the most notable part was the egg says something! But i did get to have a wonderful brunch so that was a good Easter tradition that i got o keep! I know i know dad you wished you could be there to discuss the meaning of Easter with me but at least you had Megan and Molly!
Last night I had a dream that i came back home from the semester abroad with one small suitcase, I forgot my suitcases and everything in my room. Ya i know you would have freaked out too, but in my dream i was so calm, well that’s because a fire was going on at the same time haha, minor detail. As much as i know everyone enjoys hearing about my dreams it has a point, the end is near. I really can't believe i only have a month left to play in Shanghai (on that note as well if you in Denver circa May 10th expect to play!).
Xoxo,
Aryn
Sunday, March 28, 2010
北京
Back to reality so now i have time to write here!
As I said before my dad and Pari were in China last week. We did the highlights tour of Beijing for 2 days then they came down to Shanghai for 3 more days and they got to experience the wonders of Shanghai (ok ok you caught me, I may have taken to a few places that my college students wallet couldn’t afford.. ha ha kidding!) Dad and Pari played like champs with the jet lag and everything. The first day in Beijing we went to the Great Wall and Summer Palace of the emperor. The Great Wall was absolutely spectacular, it seems to go on forever and its in the Dragon Mountains which were a beautiful back drop for one the of the wonders of the world. Being on the wall was one of those moments of awe, like when you see the Rocky Mountains for the first time in a long time, when couldn't believe what you see is real, its really puts life into perspective. Men would devote their whole lives to this wall. Whether it was constructing it (when men died making the wall they were just built into it) or serving as a guard (they were not allowed to leave their whole lives if they were stationed on the wall) it took strength and devotion. While my Dad was all about speed walking to see how far he could get (no MBT’s though so he wasn’t getting his core work out), Pari and I took a more leisurely stroll of the wall. Carved next to the wall, on the side of hill are the characters for Mao Zedong, in order to honor their leader. It was cool to see two of the biggest symbols of China next to each other. After that we were going to see Tiananmen Square but the National People's Congress was in session we were weren't able to see it that day. Instead we took a trip back in time to the Summer Palace for the emperor. The Summer Palace is pretty self-explanatory, it served at the emperor’s summerhouse, he was able to conduct work and enjoy leisure here, although his wife seemed to partake in more leisure with the eunuch, heyo. Outside the palace are two huge statues of lions, one on the east representing man and on the west representing the female. They are placed according to Fengshui 风水, contrary to popular belief this is an ancient Chinese practice (no its not just a popular trend in home decorating it actually has some meaning) that translates to wind and water, which basically means that everything has to certain place on earth and the wind and the water are everything on earth. Right inside the front gate was the statue of ***. This is basically the god and he created two children, the dragon and the phoenix, representing man and woman. While women were supposed to be submissive and phoenix like one of the empresses that lived these was nicknamed "the dragon". She was not only awful but she also she controlled her husband so she was basically in charge. She was originally one of the king’s concubines (mistresses) and she produced a son for him, which gave her head honcho position. In the palace there were many rooms for the concubines and Eunuchs. A Eunuch was literally ripped of his manhood, but the queen had a “close relationship” with one of the Eunuchs so it’s suspected than he got to keep his!
After we saw the summer palace we went and toured around a smaller part of the city that wasn't accessible by car. Our tour guide was absolutely precious; she was 22 and had taught herself English, straight impressive. When we asked her about her family she explained to us her real mom and dad lived on the countryside and they basically traded her for her current mom and dad’s son because of the one child policy they wanted a boy. It was a very bizarre explanation and she said so matter of fact. That’s the sort of situation that in the United States people go to therapy for years to get over but Youyou (our tour guide) just chalked it up to the way things are. The One Child Policy is still heavily debated in China; it only applies to the Han Chinese and is most strict in the cities. Our main tour guide, Eric, was explaining to us that they are starting to get ride of it in more rural towns which I guess is a small step in the right direction.
That night I celebrated my birthday early with a wonderful cake and such nice cards from my family (thank you all again so much!). The next morning we woke up to snow in Beijing! Although it was cold, the beauty of the snow in the city was worth it. We first went to see the Temple of Heaven. So if I would have walked around his by myself I would have missed out on how is represented in the number of steps, the shape of the structure and the small details on the hand railings. It was very interesting how much the number 9 and 12 plays into everything. All the ramps had 9 steps. This temple was build very representative of the zodiac signs. Most or you have probably read your horoscope, I mean how else would be know when we’re most likely to fall in love, do well on an exam or in the case of Geneva Glen’s trained astrologists, know when its best to ask the girl/guy you’ve been crushing on for her/his aim name, In Asia its not only zodiac signs that are used to predict things, but they also use the year you were born (for example all of us 1989-ers are snakes) and blood type.
Like I said before, it was snowing which created a problem for walking around the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City due to the fact the ground was made of marble, it was like we were ice skating. Upon the exit from the temple we were thrown into the hotspot for retired people in Beijing. As we walked down this corridor we say people playing what looked like hackisack, singing karaoke, and dancing. Since it was snowing they were all squished into the corridor but on mast days they would be outside on the grass. Our tour guide, Eric, explained to us that they have to buy a pass to go there but this is where the retired people hang out all day. After that we went to the Forbidden City. Think of the pictures you have seen of Tiananmen Square with the picture of Mao on the wall, ya that’s the outside of this massive palace for the emperor. We kept going through one door only to find another, even bigger court yard ahead of us. The snow topped the whole experience off; it blanketed this ancient site in such elegance. Again we were fighting for our lives at ever step on the slippery marble but you know sometimes you have to go through hard times to get to the good ones ☺!
Not only did the snow cause an issue walking but also the airport and the snow didn’t seem to get along too well either. Sunday, when flew to Shanghai, the Beijing airport had to cancel 160 flights and delayed 140 flights. Not to worry though we got to enjoy 4 hours of angry people whose flying plans were changed and Kit-Kats!
On Monday I showed Dad and Pari Peoples Square where my dad found his calling in the “haibao”, the symbol for Expo2010. He also was able to practice the Chinese he knew, which consisted of saying no thank you but that was a little to advanced so he just stuck to the simple American answer of shaking his head. That night they took my and my friends out to dinner and a restaurant that not only had amazing food but also over looked the river and we got to go out on the roof to take the classic postcard pictures of Shanghai. The next day Dad and Pari came to where I live and study, and successfully made it, like I’ve said before most taxi drivers don’t know our street so for us it’s even hard sometimes! I took them to try fried dumplings that I think completed my dad! Its so funny how in China you can go out to a great, expensive meal but the best one you have is the $1 basket of dumplings.
It was fun being the tour guide on this trip; I had to put my Shanghai skills to use! Hopefully by the time Mom and Dana come out ill be a pro!
Soon up will be spring break in Singaporeeee or as us Chinese call it xinjaipo!
Xoxo
Aryn
As I said before my dad and Pari were in China last week. We did the highlights tour of Beijing for 2 days then they came down to Shanghai for 3 more days and they got to experience the wonders of Shanghai (ok ok you caught me, I may have taken to a few places that my college students wallet couldn’t afford.. ha ha kidding!) Dad and Pari played like champs with the jet lag and everything. The first day in Beijing we went to the Great Wall and Summer Palace of the emperor. The Great Wall was absolutely spectacular, it seems to go on forever and its in the Dragon Mountains which were a beautiful back drop for one the of the wonders of the world. Being on the wall was one of those moments of awe, like when you see the Rocky Mountains for the first time in a long time, when couldn't believe what you see is real, its really puts life into perspective. Men would devote their whole lives to this wall. Whether it was constructing it (when men died making the wall they were just built into it) or serving as a guard (they were not allowed to leave their whole lives if they were stationed on the wall) it took strength and devotion. While my Dad was all about speed walking to see how far he could get (no MBT’s though so he wasn’t getting his core work out), Pari and I took a more leisurely stroll of the wall. Carved next to the wall, on the side of hill are the characters for Mao Zedong, in order to honor their leader. It was cool to see two of the biggest symbols of China next to each other. After that we were going to see Tiananmen Square but the National People's Congress was in session we were weren't able to see it that day. Instead we took a trip back in time to the Summer Palace for the emperor. The Summer Palace is pretty self-explanatory, it served at the emperor’s summerhouse, he was able to conduct work and enjoy leisure here, although his wife seemed to partake in more leisure with the eunuch, heyo. Outside the palace are two huge statues of lions, one on the east representing man and on the west representing the female. They are placed according to Fengshui 风水, contrary to popular belief this is an ancient Chinese practice (no its not just a popular trend in home decorating it actually has some meaning) that translates to wind and water, which basically means that everything has to certain place on earth and the wind and the water are everything on earth. Right inside the front gate was the statue of ***. This is basically the god and he created two children, the dragon and the phoenix, representing man and woman. While women were supposed to be submissive and phoenix like one of the empresses that lived these was nicknamed "the dragon". She was not only awful but she also she controlled her husband so she was basically in charge. She was originally one of the king’s concubines (mistresses) and she produced a son for him, which gave her head honcho position. In the palace there were many rooms for the concubines and Eunuchs. A Eunuch was literally ripped of his manhood, but the queen had a “close relationship” with one of the Eunuchs so it’s suspected than he got to keep his!
After we saw the summer palace we went and toured around a smaller part of the city that wasn't accessible by car. Our tour guide was absolutely precious; she was 22 and had taught herself English, straight impressive. When we asked her about her family she explained to us her real mom and dad lived on the countryside and they basically traded her for her current mom and dad’s son because of the one child policy they wanted a boy. It was a very bizarre explanation and she said so matter of fact. That’s the sort of situation that in the United States people go to therapy for years to get over but Youyou (our tour guide) just chalked it up to the way things are. The One Child Policy is still heavily debated in China; it only applies to the Han Chinese and is most strict in the cities. Our main tour guide, Eric, was explaining to us that they are starting to get ride of it in more rural towns which I guess is a small step in the right direction.
That night I celebrated my birthday early with a wonderful cake and such nice cards from my family (thank you all again so much!). The next morning we woke up to snow in Beijing! Although it was cold, the beauty of the snow in the city was worth it. We first went to see the Temple of Heaven. So if I would have walked around his by myself I would have missed out on how is represented in the number of steps, the shape of the structure and the small details on the hand railings. It was very interesting how much the number 9 and 12 plays into everything. All the ramps had 9 steps. This temple was build very representative of the zodiac signs. Most or you have probably read your horoscope, I mean how else would be know when we’re most likely to fall in love, do well on an exam or in the case of Geneva Glen’s trained astrologists, know when its best to ask the girl/guy you’ve been crushing on for her/his aim name, In Asia its not only zodiac signs that are used to predict things, but they also use the year you were born (for example all of us 1989-ers are snakes) and blood type.
Like I said before, it was snowing which created a problem for walking around the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City due to the fact the ground was made of marble, it was like we were ice skating. Upon the exit from the temple we were thrown into the hotspot for retired people in Beijing. As we walked down this corridor we say people playing what looked like hackisack, singing karaoke, and dancing. Since it was snowing they were all squished into the corridor but on mast days they would be outside on the grass. Our tour guide, Eric, explained to us that they have to buy a pass to go there but this is where the retired people hang out all day. After that we went to the Forbidden City. Think of the pictures you have seen of Tiananmen Square with the picture of Mao on the wall, ya that’s the outside of this massive palace for the emperor. We kept going through one door only to find another, even bigger court yard ahead of us. The snow topped the whole experience off; it blanketed this ancient site in such elegance. Again we were fighting for our lives at ever step on the slippery marble but you know sometimes you have to go through hard times to get to the good ones ☺!
Not only did the snow cause an issue walking but also the airport and the snow didn’t seem to get along too well either. Sunday, when flew to Shanghai, the Beijing airport had to cancel 160 flights and delayed 140 flights. Not to worry though we got to enjoy 4 hours of angry people whose flying plans were changed and Kit-Kats!
On Monday I showed Dad and Pari Peoples Square where my dad found his calling in the “haibao”, the symbol for Expo2010. He also was able to practice the Chinese he knew, which consisted of saying no thank you but that was a little to advanced so he just stuck to the simple American answer of shaking his head. That night they took my and my friends out to dinner and a restaurant that not only had amazing food but also over looked the river and we got to go out on the roof to take the classic postcard pictures of Shanghai. The next day Dad and Pari came to where I live and study, and successfully made it, like I’ve said before most taxi drivers don’t know our street so for us it’s even hard sometimes! I took them to try fried dumplings that I think completed my dad! Its so funny how in China you can go out to a great, expensive meal but the best one you have is the $1 basket of dumplings.
It was fun being the tour guide on this trip; I had to put my Shanghai skills to use! Hopefully by the time Mom and Dana come out ill be a pro!
Soon up will be spring break in Singaporeeee or as us Chinese call it xinjaipo!
Xoxo
Aryn
Saturday, March 13, 2010
etc etc etc
So im sitting in the airport in Shanghai waiting to go meet my Dad and Pari in Beijing for the weekend. This is the first time that i’ve really been on my own in Shanghai, whenever we go out to explore the city I’ve always been with one other person if not a huge group. I know you’re probably thinking, wow lets give Aryn a pat on the back for getting to the airport all by herself but it was a freeing feeling that I was totally on my own, there was no one to translate or help guide me. Its so easy to get caught up in just getting by this semester, practicing Chinese, getting homework done, getting dinner and keeping in touch with people that having this time that I felt free and on my own was special. It’s the same sort of feeling when you take your first plane by yourself, or you go away to college, the people that you are used to taking care of you can’t so you get to make your own decisions. Ok now these are extreme comparisons but I know can all relate to that feeling.
I remember this same sort of feeling them I went away to college which I’m sure you all can relate to the feeling that you can stay out till 4am if you want to and your parents can’t do anything about it (I mean I was clearly always home from the parties by midnight cause I had a long day at the library on Saturday, but from what I heard from the other kids that’s what they did.)
While I like to pretend I’m partly a city girl when I go to New York City, lets be real, as many times as my dad will ask us which highway were on or which river we’re looking at I will still mix those up. This semester is the first time I’ve gotten to experience a city life on my own. After too many episodes of Sex and the City it just has always seemed so romantic living in the city and at time I do get swept up in all the excitement of it opportunities at my fingertips. Especially in Shanghai, while the city is no Beijing when it comes to culture but it does have so much to it. Just walking down he street you get to see the street vendors, the tubs of frogs that are about to be someone’s dinner, the cleaners who are using leaves to sweep, the underwear hanging above your head to dry, the babies peeing on the side of the road, the old men relieving themselves on the side of the road, I could keep going on and on. When we’re driving in on the highways you’re surrounded by giant buildings on both sides. Ever after living in the city for 4 months I won’t have seen all of it. Now don’t get me wrong, there is also nothing like the feeling when your driving west in Colorado and the sight of the mountains doesn’t look real and you get that feeling of being alive. Both of these places have such beauty in the opportunities. Yes this sounds corny but for any of you that have ever lived in a city you know what I’m talking about. I keep going back and forth about living here after school. While I know I have so much time and this semester is only half over I feel that this semester has really sparked something in me. I don’t know if I’ll be able to really understand it until I get home but as everyone told me before I left, a semester abroad is something that you’ll never forget. Traveling is such a unique experience. This book that I’m reading The Alchemist, is about a Shepard who is trying to find his personal treasure and at one point he decided he wants to go back to his old life a Shepard but then realizes how much he is missing out on by staying in his comfort zone. Im sure everyone has had this debate, should you stay were things are easy and you know them because maybe if you go outside of it and decide to pursue your dreams they won’t end up being as good in reality. This semester has for sure hit me with moments where I wanted to be back in Colorado or Ohio but I keep reminding myself about how im going to look back on this semester.
Now that I’m half way through this semester I have become accustom to a lot of things about being in China and living in a city that I don’t think I even realize. In China people aren’t polite by western standards, there is a lot of pushing, shoving, spitting, invading personal space etc, so have learned if you want to survive the subway at rush hour you better get ready to throw some bows and fight for your spot on the train, even if you were first in line to get on the train that holds no bearings if you can’t stand your ground. I’ve gotten in the habit here of pushing and not apologizing and I find it coming second nature, so when I get back home im going to have to brush up on my Emily Post book! Also, since conversational English isn’t very common around the city, except in expat areas, like at subway in Xintiandi, they could understand “half turkey on wheat”, but beyond that we can have conversations on trains and no one except us knows what were talking about, or when were bartering we can talk about price and quality and they don’t know what were saying. So basically, we can talk about people right in front of them and they have no idea! In the US when you’re around a group of people that are speaking in a language you don’t understand they’re probably talking about you! While getting around in the city is somewhat convenient with taxi’s and rickshaws, your putting your life at risk whenever you get in (Think Tim O’Donnell driving to the next level); lanes don’t matter, and horns are used instead of review mirrors.
In China bartering is a way of life, you can bargain for almost anything you want, even at a nicer restaurant, which has changed my concept of money. Everything here is so much cheaper than in the US, for example I bought a pair of ipod head phones for $10 and the newest releases on DVD are no more than $3, my common breakfast, a baozi (bread dumpling thing) is .1 cents, the most expensive things we do are tourist things and even that is cheaper than in the United States.
Since the World Expo is starting in about 2 months there is a crazy amount of development going on around the city. One of the famous street markets that have some of our favorite fried xiaolongbao was closed for renovation for the Expo, bu hao. There are so many little things that the city has done in preparation for the Expo like in the cabs there is a phone number you can call if you are having trouble communicating. Also the mascot, haibao is everywhere. When you’re in the city you can’t turn a corner without seeing construction walls with him or a garden display of him. Even over New Years at Yuyuan Gardens there is always a lantern festival and Haibao was the star of it, it looked like “It’s a Small World: Shanghai Expo style”
So one the reasons Chinese sounds so funny to westerns is because it is a tonal language so the same word can mean different things depending on out it is pronounced. When your first learning tones they teach you how the world “ma” can mean mom or horse so you don’t want to call you’re mom a horse. Our apartments are a little outside the city which is an area full of college students, so not many tourists head up north. So when we try and tell a cab where to go they don’t necessarly recognize where the street is and out mispronouciation of tones doesn’t help!
Hope you all are doing well as always! Keep in touch
Xoxo
Aryn
I remember this same sort of feeling them I went away to college which I’m sure you all can relate to the feeling that you can stay out till 4am if you want to and your parents can’t do anything about it (I mean I was clearly always home from the parties by midnight cause I had a long day at the library on Saturday, but from what I heard from the other kids that’s what they did.)
While I like to pretend I’m partly a city girl when I go to New York City, lets be real, as many times as my dad will ask us which highway were on or which river we’re looking at I will still mix those up. This semester is the first time I’ve gotten to experience a city life on my own. After too many episodes of Sex and the City it just has always seemed so romantic living in the city and at time I do get swept up in all the excitement of it opportunities at my fingertips. Especially in Shanghai, while the city is no Beijing when it comes to culture but it does have so much to it. Just walking down he street you get to see the street vendors, the tubs of frogs that are about to be someone’s dinner, the cleaners who are using leaves to sweep, the underwear hanging above your head to dry, the babies peeing on the side of the road, the old men relieving themselves on the side of the road, I could keep going on and on. When we’re driving in on the highways you’re surrounded by giant buildings on both sides. Ever after living in the city for 4 months I won’t have seen all of it. Now don’t get me wrong, there is also nothing like the feeling when your driving west in Colorado and the sight of the mountains doesn’t look real and you get that feeling of being alive. Both of these places have such beauty in the opportunities. Yes this sounds corny but for any of you that have ever lived in a city you know what I’m talking about. I keep going back and forth about living here after school. While I know I have so much time and this semester is only half over I feel that this semester has really sparked something in me. I don’t know if I’ll be able to really understand it until I get home but as everyone told me before I left, a semester abroad is something that you’ll never forget. Traveling is such a unique experience. This book that I’m reading The Alchemist, is about a Shepard who is trying to find his personal treasure and at one point he decided he wants to go back to his old life a Shepard but then realizes how much he is missing out on by staying in his comfort zone. Im sure everyone has had this debate, should you stay were things are easy and you know them because maybe if you go outside of it and decide to pursue your dreams they won’t end up being as good in reality. This semester has for sure hit me with moments where I wanted to be back in Colorado or Ohio but I keep reminding myself about how im going to look back on this semester.
Now that I’m half way through this semester I have become accustom to a lot of things about being in China and living in a city that I don’t think I even realize. In China people aren’t polite by western standards, there is a lot of pushing, shoving, spitting, invading personal space etc, so have learned if you want to survive the subway at rush hour you better get ready to throw some bows and fight for your spot on the train, even if you were first in line to get on the train that holds no bearings if you can’t stand your ground. I’ve gotten in the habit here of pushing and not apologizing and I find it coming second nature, so when I get back home im going to have to brush up on my Emily Post book! Also, since conversational English isn’t very common around the city, except in expat areas, like at subway in Xintiandi, they could understand “half turkey on wheat”, but beyond that we can have conversations on trains and no one except us knows what were talking about, or when were bartering we can talk about price and quality and they don’t know what were saying. So basically, we can talk about people right in front of them and they have no idea! In the US when you’re around a group of people that are speaking in a language you don’t understand they’re probably talking about you! While getting around in the city is somewhat convenient with taxi’s and rickshaws, your putting your life at risk whenever you get in (Think Tim O’Donnell driving to the next level); lanes don’t matter, and horns are used instead of review mirrors.
In China bartering is a way of life, you can bargain for almost anything you want, even at a nicer restaurant, which has changed my concept of money. Everything here is so much cheaper than in the US, for example I bought a pair of ipod head phones for $10 and the newest releases on DVD are no more than $3, my common breakfast, a baozi (bread dumpling thing) is .1 cents, the most expensive things we do are tourist things and even that is cheaper than in the United States.
Since the World Expo is starting in about 2 months there is a crazy amount of development going on around the city. One of the famous street markets that have some of our favorite fried xiaolongbao was closed for renovation for the Expo, bu hao. There are so many little things that the city has done in preparation for the Expo like in the cabs there is a phone number you can call if you are having trouble communicating. Also the mascot, haibao is everywhere. When you’re in the city you can’t turn a corner without seeing construction walls with him or a garden display of him. Even over New Years at Yuyuan Gardens there is always a lantern festival and Haibao was the star of it, it looked like “It’s a Small World: Shanghai Expo style”
So one the reasons Chinese sounds so funny to westerns is because it is a tonal language so the same word can mean different things depending on out it is pronounced. When your first learning tones they teach you how the world “ma” can mean mom or horse so you don’t want to call you’re mom a horse. Our apartments are a little outside the city which is an area full of college students, so not many tourists head up north. So when we try and tell a cab where to go they don’t necessarly recognize where the street is and out mispronouciation of tones doesn’t help!
Hope you all are doing well as always! Keep in touch
Xoxo
Aryn
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Restrooms
对不起！ 对不起！ Or in English “sorry” I haven't posted lately, but to make up for it ill make this one full of fun! So after I got back from Yunnan it took a little getting used to you know, being in classes and having homework, crazy right! It it great having more people around like I said before but the one downside that they all use internet also which messed with my internet so I spend long hours in the cafes with wifi. While the Chinese know what’s up when it come to dumplings you can only have so many xiaolongbao so I’ve taken a short hiatus from dumplings so the fact that the cafe's with internet were the ones that served western food was 很好！
Last weekend we took a day trip to one of the towns near Shanghai called Hangzhou. All the tour books talk about how Xihu, the western lake there, has inspired poets and artist and even Marco Polo referred to it as one of the most magnificent places on earth. So now that I have set you up to hear all about how beautiful this place is, our experience consisted of torrential rain! That didn't stop us though (Dad you would have been proud!) We went to see the Lingyin Temple, which is one of the biggest Buddhist temple complexes in China and one of the few that survived the Culture Revolution, its actually fully functioning today, the name translates into the Temple of the Souls Retreat. When we were visiting we were overtaken by these tiny women who seemed to be trying to retreat their souls but instead they were making us want to retreat! Now when im talking tiny I mean some of them came up to my stomach. There were at least 100 of them and we asked someone why they were moving so fast and there was no apparent reason. So for those of you who haven't learned about religions since high school here's a little bit about the temple and Buddhism. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama ("the Buddha"), when he left the walls of his palace for the first time and saw all of the suffering in the world. The premise of Buddhism is to reach enlightenment and eliminate suffering by following the 4 noble truths by way of the teachings of the 8-fold path. I really like the compassion in Buddhism; its very real how it recognizes that their is suffering in life but by letting go you can stop the suffering. The Buddha has preached about compassion and loving kindness towards all human beings. Compassion means accepting and recognizing the suffering of others and wishing that the suffering would come to an end. Loving-kindness means showing care, consideration and concern towards others. These feeling should be extended to each and every human being, without exception. These ideas I think are something that are good general reminders and guidelines of life….. and God bless us everyone….
On a less compassionate and loving note, on Sunday we went to visit the site of the First National Congress of the CCP and also Mao Zedong's Shanghai residence. The CCP site is in the beautiful Xintiandi area. This is a primarily expat area that looks like it could be in any big city in the United States with its’ Starbucks, Coldstone and Subway. The CCP was founded on the ideas of Socialism and Marxism, however today they still stand by that foundation but talk about how they have many Chinese characteristics with it. The museum was beautifully laid out. We didn't have to pay for the tickets, the people spoke English and they have western restrooms! All of the security guards had smiles on their faces, which was not the same experience when I went tot he Shanghai Museum, they were less than friendly or helpful. Mao's house was fun to see but nothing too special, just an ordinary house, though it was also free and they had English speaking tour guides... hmmm makes you wonder why. One of the highlights of the day though was our visit to the 4 Seasons hotel. If we were in America and 2 dumpy college students walked in asking for directions we would have been questioned immediately if we were staying there but in China we just walked right in, asked directions walked around and used they're really really nice restrooms (ok I know there is a lot of talk about restrooms but you come to live in China and you will start to appreciate toilet paper, soap, towels and toilets that aren't built into the ground!) without any trouble.
So the other weekend we were planning on going to a night club called Sin for what we thought at first was a "private party" but it actually ended up being a Pervert night, full of men in leather masks being pulled around by chains and midgets in leather... ya it was and experience for sure!
Yesterday I came home from one of the best experiences at a spinning class where we listened to BSB and I think the instructor thought he was a pro biker/ boy band dancer extraordinaire, to my roommate, Potato, super excited that she found her bike that she though was stolen. Now only was it a great day cause she found her bike but it was also Woman's Day so she bought up dessert to celebrate. One more reason to be happy in China!
Overall though i am becoming really happy here, while my English is becoming the level of middle schoolers, my Chinese seems to be improving. Last night I had a dream of being back at home and in my dream it was such an uneasy feeling, not only did I forget to bring my families gifts home (don't worry guys I won't forget you in real life!) it just felt so different.
Speaking of family, my dad and Pari are coming out to China this weekend. I’m going to meet them in Beijing for the weekend and if any of you guys know how my dad travels this week I need to start resting up for the trip with them! Then we're coming down to Shanghai and celebrating my birthday (this is my subtle hint for those of you who haven't gotten your presents in the mail, ill still love you if it's a day late but if it's more than that it better be good! he he :-))
Xoxo,
Aryn
Last weekend we took a day trip to one of the towns near Shanghai called Hangzhou. All the tour books talk about how Xihu, the western lake there, has inspired poets and artist and even Marco Polo referred to it as one of the most magnificent places on earth. So now that I have set you up to hear all about how beautiful this place is, our experience consisted of torrential rain! That didn't stop us though (Dad you would have been proud!) We went to see the Lingyin Temple, which is one of the biggest Buddhist temple complexes in China and one of the few that survived the Culture Revolution, its actually fully functioning today, the name translates into the Temple of the Souls Retreat. When we were visiting we were overtaken by these tiny women who seemed to be trying to retreat their souls but instead they were making us want to retreat! Now when im talking tiny I mean some of them came up to my stomach. There were at least 100 of them and we asked someone why they were moving so fast and there was no apparent reason. So for those of you who haven't learned about religions since high school here's a little bit about the temple and Buddhism. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama ("the Buddha"), when he left the walls of his palace for the first time and saw all of the suffering in the world. The premise of Buddhism is to reach enlightenment and eliminate suffering by following the 4 noble truths by way of the teachings of the 8-fold path. I really like the compassion in Buddhism; its very real how it recognizes that their is suffering in life but by letting go you can stop the suffering. The Buddha has preached about compassion and loving kindness towards all human beings. Compassion means accepting and recognizing the suffering of others and wishing that the suffering would come to an end. Loving-kindness means showing care, consideration and concern towards others. These feeling should be extended to each and every human being, without exception. These ideas I think are something that are good general reminders and guidelines of life….. and God bless us everyone….
On a less compassionate and loving note, on Sunday we went to visit the site of the First National Congress of the CCP and also Mao Zedong's Shanghai residence. The CCP site is in the beautiful Xintiandi area. This is a primarily expat area that looks like it could be in any big city in the United States with its’ Starbucks, Coldstone and Subway. The CCP was founded on the ideas of Socialism and Marxism, however today they still stand by that foundation but talk about how they have many Chinese characteristics with it. The museum was beautifully laid out. We didn't have to pay for the tickets, the people spoke English and they have western restrooms! All of the security guards had smiles on their faces, which was not the same experience when I went tot he Shanghai Museum, they were less than friendly or helpful. Mao's house was fun to see but nothing too special, just an ordinary house, though it was also free and they had English speaking tour guides... hmmm makes you wonder why. One of the highlights of the day though was our visit to the 4 Seasons hotel. If we were in America and 2 dumpy college students walked in asking for directions we would have been questioned immediately if we were staying there but in China we just walked right in, asked directions walked around and used they're really really nice restrooms (ok I know there is a lot of talk about restrooms but you come to live in China and you will start to appreciate toilet paper, soap, towels and toilets that aren't built into the ground!) without any trouble.
So the other weekend we were planning on going to a night club called Sin for what we thought at first was a "private party" but it actually ended up being a Pervert night, full of men in leather masks being pulled around by chains and midgets in leather... ya it was and experience for sure!
Yesterday I came home from one of the best experiences at a spinning class where we listened to BSB and I think the instructor thought he was a pro biker/ boy band dancer extraordinaire, to my roommate, Potato, super excited that she found her bike that she though was stolen. Now only was it a great day cause she found her bike but it was also Woman's Day so she bought up dessert to celebrate. One more reason to be happy in China!
Overall though i am becoming really happy here, while my English is becoming the level of middle schoolers, my Chinese seems to be improving. Last night I had a dream of being back at home and in my dream it was such an uneasy feeling, not only did I forget to bring my families gifts home (don't worry guys I won't forget you in real life!) it just felt so different.
Speaking of family, my dad and Pari are coming out to China this weekend. I’m going to meet them in Beijing for the weekend and if any of you guys know how my dad travels this week I need to start resting up for the trip with them! Then we're coming down to Shanghai and celebrating my birthday (this is my subtle hint for those of you who haven't gotten your presents in the mail, ill still love you if it's a day late but if it's more than that it better be good! he he :-))
Xoxo,
Aryn
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Straight Happiness
After 10 days of a mad sunburn, bus rides of people “prancing” and “frolicking” and beautiful mountains I’m back! Since these past 2 weeks have been Chinese New Year all of our teachers went home so that clearly means we don’t have class, woohoo, instead we went on a trip to one of the southern provinces of China. Yunnan 云南 is where the majority of the minorities in China live. It’s close to Vietnam and Thailand, which reflects in some of the food and also the way people dress. We visited 4 cities on our trip, Kunming 昆明 which is the capital of Yunnan, Dali 大理, Lijiang 丽江 and Xixhuang Banna 西双 版纳 (this is the most fun to say!). It was so interesting between each city the difference in the peoples look. When we were in Lijiang we saw a show that was directed by Zhang Yimou, the director of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies, and the actors in it were such a range, some defiantly looked Chinese but others looked more Native American. Now I know what your thinking, don’t all Asian people look the same, false, my friend explained to me that the reason us Caucasians think this is because we focus on different features than Asians do to distinguish people so that’s why we don’t necessarily see the differences (Thanks Coach Haley for this fun fact).
We started our adventure in Kunming. Now brace yourself for this, they are a rarity to come by even in the United States but Kunming has its very own TCBY! In Kunming we took a boat ride on Erhai 洱海 Lake and got to participate in the Bai minority tea ceremony 白族三道茶. They gave us 3 types of tea which represented the 3 stages of life, the first one was bitter, which represents the hard work you put in studying and becoming successful in the beginning of your life, the next is a sweet which represents the next part of your life that you get to enjoy family and enjoy the fruits of your success and finally the last tea translates into “return to the taste” which is the final part that you have memories can reflect back on your life. How people tend to use relationship statuses on facebook to proclaim to the world that they in fact are “in love”, the Bai minority group had different head dressed to show if they are marries or not. That night after the tea tasting we walked around Dali 大理and had the best candy it was basically peanuts/peanut butter wrapped in sugar, two of my favorite things! We found a really nice western restaurant to eat at, the street that it was on reminded me of Mexico, there were all sorts of outdoor restaurants and loud music. At this restaurant there were also some ballin drinkers who were taking back straight shots of Bacardi Breezers, wow now boys don’t get too crazy.
The next day we took a 5-hour bus ride to Lijiang 丽江, the scenery outside was beautiful but inside the bus was a different story; “the sickness” was starting to take its victims. Through out the whole trip about half of our group feel to “the sicknesses” evil doings. We still don’t exactly know what it was I think it was some kind of flu but luckily my friends and I were able to avoid it (I would like to thank my mom for instilling her great hygiene practices for this!). For those of you that have seen a Warren Miller movie, you know when they are in the remote villages and as they walk through the streets with their equipment the local people follow them in awe? Well we were no professional skiers with camera crews but that’s when it felt like when we got into Lijiang 丽江, our buses we’re allowed to drive in so there was a herd of 40 white kids 外国人with giant suitcases parading down the street to our hotel. After we got settled into our hotel we went to lunch where the owner offered to sell his daughter to one of our friends, ya I don’t even know. Something interesting about the different villages that we visited was the different word for boy and girl, in Lijiang they call them pàng jīn gē, pàng jīn mè that is basically saying that being fat is beautiful (I wonder if Peter Paul Rubens ever had his way to China). We got the privilege to be able to talk with a man name Xuan Ke, who is helping to preserve Naxi ancient music 纳溪古 in Jijiang. He studied this form of music when he was younger but when the Cultural Revolution started music was not allowed and he didn’t agree with this revolution so he spoke out against Mao and was jailed for 20 years. Still today, he is very critical of the government. He’s a wealthy man in the area so he donated a bunch of money to help with education and he also brought together a Naxi Ancient Music performing group that has traveled internationally. The men in this group are as old as 78, its very impressive to hear them play, granted many of them kept falling asleep during the performance that’s just a minor detail. Before I came to China I was warned that locals would want to take tons of pictures with me cause of how different I look and I hadn’t encountered that until Lijiang, we would have whole families come up to us to take pictures.
The next day we got to see the beautiful hour of 6:30am to make it to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain before the lines got long. Since none of us were prepared to play in the snow we rented parkas to keep us warm, best idea ever! This mountain was absolutely stunning, I can’t even being to describe, it reminded me a lot of Colorado. The day we went was clear with the sun out which was great for pictures but not great for my un-sun screened face, Mrs. Flannery would not have approved. After we played in the snow we got to see the impression show I was talking about earlier. They used the mountain as the backdrop of the show. Performances that I have seen in the past, the chorus actors have many roles, which is not how they do it here. This was a HUGE cast the people just kept coming; there was no double dipping on roles here.
The next day we caught a flight to Xishuang Banna 西双版纳, a drug and prostitute hot spot. We were not allowed to go to clubs or KTV or drink mixed drinks, apparently they lace the alcohol with formaldehyde. Also in the past one of the tour guides was in KTV with a group of students and a man approached him asking how much the girls cost, Mom, Dad, Pari aren’t you glad you didn’t know this beforehand! The weather was so warm here so we were able to take a boat ride down to a Buddhist village where we played them in basketball. Now you all know my basketball skills end after the first, or if I’m lucky the second, round of knock out so I was no help to the team but we ended up only loosing by 2. The local team we played though wasn’t wearing shoes either which was impressive! The next day we went hiking, it was like home. And then we took a bike ride from the hike back to our hotel, it was absolutely beautiful, everything was so green.
We’ll if you’re still reading I’m very impressed with you, you are my true friends, ill bring you back extra special presents ☺ . If any of you are planning on coming to China you have to visit Yunnan, I felt so much more at home there than I do in the city. Since I still don’t know how to put up pictures here I have them all on facebook.
Now I’m back so I better be hearing from you all!
Xoxo
Aryn
We started our adventure in Kunming. Now brace yourself for this, they are a rarity to come by even in the United States but Kunming has its very own TCBY! In Kunming we took a boat ride on Erhai 洱海 Lake and got to participate in the Bai minority tea ceremony 白族三道茶. They gave us 3 types of tea which represented the 3 stages of life, the first one was bitter, which represents the hard work you put in studying and becoming successful in the beginning of your life, the next is a sweet which represents the next part of your life that you get to enjoy family and enjoy the fruits of your success and finally the last tea translates into “return to the taste” which is the final part that you have memories can reflect back on your life. How people tend to use relationship statuses on facebook to proclaim to the world that they in fact are “in love”, the Bai minority group had different head dressed to show if they are marries or not. That night after the tea tasting we walked around Dali 大理and had the best candy it was basically peanuts/peanut butter wrapped in sugar, two of my favorite things! We found a really nice western restaurant to eat at, the street that it was on reminded me of Mexico, there were all sorts of outdoor restaurants and loud music. At this restaurant there were also some ballin drinkers who were taking back straight shots of Bacardi Breezers, wow now boys don’t get too crazy.
The next day we took a 5-hour bus ride to Lijiang 丽江, the scenery outside was beautiful but inside the bus was a different story; “the sickness” was starting to take its victims. Through out the whole trip about half of our group feel to “the sicknesses” evil doings. We still don’t exactly know what it was I think it was some kind of flu but luckily my friends and I were able to avoid it (I would like to thank my mom for instilling her great hygiene practices for this!). For those of you that have seen a Warren Miller movie, you know when they are in the remote villages and as they walk through the streets with their equipment the local people follow them in awe? Well we were no professional skiers with camera crews but that’s when it felt like when we got into Lijiang 丽江, our buses we’re allowed to drive in so there was a herd of 40 white kids 外国人with giant suitcases parading down the street to our hotel. After we got settled into our hotel we went to lunch where the owner offered to sell his daughter to one of our friends, ya I don’t even know. Something interesting about the different villages that we visited was the different word for boy and girl, in Lijiang they call them pàng jīn gē, pàng jīn mè that is basically saying that being fat is beautiful (I wonder if Peter Paul Rubens ever had his way to China). We got the privilege to be able to talk with a man name Xuan Ke, who is helping to preserve Naxi ancient music 纳溪古 in Jijiang. He studied this form of music when he was younger but when the Cultural Revolution started music was not allowed and he didn’t agree with this revolution so he spoke out against Mao and was jailed for 20 years. Still today, he is very critical of the government. He’s a wealthy man in the area so he donated a bunch of money to help with education and he also brought together a Naxi Ancient Music performing group that has traveled internationally. The men in this group are as old as 78, its very impressive to hear them play, granted many of them kept falling asleep during the performance that’s just a minor detail. Before I came to China I was warned that locals would want to take tons of pictures with me cause of how different I look and I hadn’t encountered that until Lijiang, we would have whole families come up to us to take pictures.
The next day we got to see the beautiful hour of 6:30am to make it to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain before the lines got long. Since none of us were prepared to play in the snow we rented parkas to keep us warm, best idea ever! This mountain was absolutely stunning, I can’t even being to describe, it reminded me a lot of Colorado. The day we went was clear with the sun out which was great for pictures but not great for my un-sun screened face, Mrs. Flannery would not have approved. After we played in the snow we got to see the impression show I was talking about earlier. They used the mountain as the backdrop of the show. Performances that I have seen in the past, the chorus actors have many roles, which is not how they do it here. This was a HUGE cast the people just kept coming; there was no double dipping on roles here.
The next day we caught a flight to Xishuang Banna 西双版纳, a drug and prostitute hot spot. We were not allowed to go to clubs or KTV or drink mixed drinks, apparently they lace the alcohol with formaldehyde. Also in the past one of the tour guides was in KTV with a group of students and a man approached him asking how much the girls cost, Mom, Dad, Pari aren’t you glad you didn’t know this beforehand! The weather was so warm here so we were able to take a boat ride down to a Buddhist village where we played them in basketball. Now you all know my basketball skills end after the first, or if I’m lucky the second, round of knock out so I was no help to the team but we ended up only loosing by 2. The local team we played though wasn’t wearing shoes either which was impressive! The next day we went hiking, it was like home. And then we took a bike ride from the hike back to our hotel, it was absolutely beautiful, everything was so green.
We’ll if you’re still reading I’m very impressed with you, you are my true friends, ill bring you back extra special presents ☺ . If any of you are planning on coming to China you have to visit Yunnan, I felt so much more at home there than I do in the city. Since I still don’t know how to put up pictures here I have them all on facebook.
Now I’m back so I better be hearing from you all!
Xoxo
Aryn
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Stay tuned...
Back to Shanghai! I promise ill be putting up my post soon from Yunnan but due to my lack of spelling and grammar skills (and rachel not being here to help me) it takes me slightly longer than the average person to make a comprehendable post. Its been great being back in Shanghai though, our area is no longer a ghost town. Since Fudan University and SUFE University, the two schools closest to us, have basically been on break since we got here in January, not many people have been around and especially closer to the new year most of the store were closed. Now the area is full of people and there are stores and restaurants i didn't even know existed. So now after 2 weeks of living the dream in warm weather without classes its back to the city.
I posted pictures on facebook of Yunnan if you want to check those out, yet the pictures book version and ill fill in the details. Over all though it was an amazing trip, it was so nice to get back to nature and see a part of China that i wouldn't have otherwise.
Well more details to come i promise! Sorry this post is less than interesting, ill make the next one double the pleasure and double to fun!
xoxo
Aryn
I posted pictures on facebook of Yunnan if you want to check those out, yet the pictures book version and ill fill in the details. Over all though it was an amazing trip, it was so nice to get back to nature and see a part of China that i wouldn't have otherwise.
Well more details to come i promise! Sorry this post is less than interesting, ill make the next one double the pleasure and double to fun!
xoxo
Aryn
Monday, February 15, 2010
If all the snow flakes were candy canes and milkshakes
A to do in life.... celebrate new years(新年） in Shanghai. number one reason: boom boom boom! we were surrounded by fireworks in the city. From our apartment we could look out and see at least 10 different shows going on and none of which were run by professional...it was like 4th of July on drugs! When we were in a taxi to go to dinner a family lit off a firework less than 10 feet from our cab, safety is overrated. number two: it snowed! ok so i know this isn't going to happen every year but having a snow ball fight on the balcony overlooking the city is a pretty epic way to start the year of the tiger, very fierce if you ask me!
The New Year is a huge holiday here so most of the shops have been closed since Saturday. Our street to so lonely, covers on all the shops and no one is around. Good thing our trip to Yunnan comes at the perfect time!
We're had school off this week since we leave on Wednesday (tomorrow) and all of our teachers went home so we've had the chance to explore the city a little more. While it has been freezing and rainy we have manned up and done it! (Don't worry im not just going to reiterate an itinerary for you all). So we went to an area called Xintiandi. This street could easily be a street in the states. Its very quant and an nice reminder of home. There are many international restaurants and coffee shops. I can't tell you how nice it was to get a cup of coffee and have spleda and milk waiting to spice up my drink! We also went into a really neat store called Shanghai Tang. They take traditional chinese styles and make them more modern, if you get a chance google it! After we went to Tianzifang, while we didn't get the full experience cause we went on new years eve and more stores were closed we saw the windows of the art galleries and it was much more Shanghai than Xintiandi.
Alright now for a un-bias, Aryn interpreted chinese enlightenment! I'm taking a politics class this semester and it has been a great opportunity to understand how the chinese government is set up. I had huge misunderstanding of the workings of the communist party. Now i am no expert right now but something that i did learn that was surprising is that there at 8 other parties other than the communist party here in China. The current Minister of Science and Technology is actually not from the communist party which is interesting because if China wants to keep developing the way they have science and technology are huge factors. In this same class we may get the opportunity to help out with the Expo. My professor is on a committee that is organizing a showcase of the different communities within Shanghai, this will include models of the neighborhoods and short skits. We come in to help them test their english to be able to answer potential questions people might have. Speaking of the Expo if you haven't gotten the chance to check out the website you have to! The pavilions all look so cool, while about 20% of them are not on target to be complete for the start of the Expo you know those are just minor details. The city is in a huge process of developing, everywhere we go there seems to be big fences up covering the construction... two thumbs up for covering things up!
Before I leave you all for 10 days i would like to encourage you to look up the song "Sorry, Sorry" by Super Junior, you lives wll be better because of it!
xoxo
Aryn
The New Year is a huge holiday here so most of the shops have been closed since Saturday. Our street to so lonely, covers on all the shops and no one is around. Good thing our trip to Yunnan comes at the perfect time!
We're had school off this week since we leave on Wednesday (tomorrow) and all of our teachers went home so we've had the chance to explore the city a little more. While it has been freezing and rainy we have manned up and done it! (Don't worry im not just going to reiterate an itinerary for you all). So we went to an area called Xintiandi. This street could easily be a street in the states. Its very quant and an nice reminder of home. There are many international restaurants and coffee shops. I can't tell you how nice it was to get a cup of coffee and have spleda and milk waiting to spice up my drink! We also went into a really neat store called Shanghai Tang. They take traditional chinese styles and make them more modern, if you get a chance google it! After we went to Tianzifang, while we didn't get the full experience cause we went on new years eve and more stores were closed we saw the windows of the art galleries and it was much more Shanghai than Xintiandi.
Alright now for a un-bias, Aryn interpreted chinese enlightenment! I'm taking a politics class this semester and it has been a great opportunity to understand how the chinese government is set up. I had huge misunderstanding of the workings of the communist party. Now i am no expert right now but something that i did learn that was surprising is that there at 8 other parties other than the communist party here in China. The current Minister of Science and Technology is actually not from the communist party which is interesting because if China wants to keep developing the way they have science and technology are huge factors. In this same class we may get the opportunity to help out with the Expo. My professor is on a committee that is organizing a showcase of the different communities within Shanghai, this will include models of the neighborhoods and short skits. We come in to help them test their english to be able to answer potential questions people might have. Speaking of the Expo if you haven't gotten the chance to check out the website you have to! The pavilions all look so cool, while about 20% of them are not on target to be complete for the start of the Expo you know those are just minor details. The city is in a huge process of developing, everywhere we go there seems to be big fences up covering the construction... two thumbs up for covering things up!
Before I leave you all for 10 days i would like to encourage you to look up the song "Sorry, Sorry" by Super Junior, you lives wll be better because of it!
xoxo
Aryn
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Spring Festival and beyond!
Don't worry im still alive! I'm been trying to think of a good theme for this next blog and well that failed so this is going to be a random jumble of everything!
So for those of you who a) can't think of the perfect place to take you significant other on Valentines day of b) planning on spending February 14th with Love Actually, a box of pizza, and Ben and Jerry (Sandbar you know this what we would be doing, boys or no boys!) worry no more, you can celebrate the Chinese New Year. be cultural (what up Global Fusion) and stop worrying about this hallmark holiday! This year is the year of the tiger so get fierce. Fun New Years facts: This holiday is a very family oriented holiday, people go back to their hometown, for many people this is their one trip back per year, my laoshi (professor) is going home to see her family for the first time in half a year! The area around our apartments is starting to clear out, shops are closing for the New Year 新年. Since a lot of people migrate to Shanghai for work, there are not as many people that are actually from the city (chengshi-城市). So this holiday is about good fortune and luck so people will put a post of 副 (fu) upside down on their doors to welcome in good fortune and good luck. Also, the adults will give 红包(hong bao) which are little red envelopes filled with money, hello good fortune! The Chinese love their fireworks so people have been setting them off leading up to the New Year. Now these shows aren't set to music and planned like we think of fireworks shows its more college students who have a few extra kuai who are bored in our courtyard.... how i love china!
Starting tomorrow after our chineses exam we start a 2 week break (jealous?).On Wednesday we're going to leave for Yunnan, a southern province of China where many of the minority groups live. I'll make sure to fill you in on my adventures down south! All i know so far is that its gonna be warm and beautiful!
Alright so next topic....shopping! You can't walk far without finding something you can buy here, whether its cute little notebooks with funny english misspellings such as "I beliebve i can touch the sky", clothes, or food! Last week we went to purse party heaven! As we were coming in we saw western looking women stuffing purses in the giant roller suitcases! When we went upstairs there were rows of shops filled with the top designer bags, a girls dream! Now i know i told you all about the sketchy backroom before, well everyone of these stores had backrooms, there were all sorts of hidden doors and rooms, like a fun house! One of the stores was called "Jinhao Golf", you know a little bit of Chinese with an American flare, oh ya and it sold sunglasses, ipods and video games. When we were walking to this shopping center it was just me and one of my other American looking friends, since well we kinda stood out, surprise surprise, aka targets for scams. Case #1- The tea scam. We were warned about this at orientation and thanks to our street smarts we didn't fall for it! Basically what they do is try and befriend you and ask to go out to tea with you, in our case they invited us to a "special tea ceremony" and then charge you a ridiculous amount of the tea and suddenly loose they're English skills.
next....
so all of you who have been abroad or experienced a major change, know the "roller coaster" feeling that happens. i think there are so many emotions that go into a something like this, that none of them come out subtle. While i did go away for school the change from Colorado to Ohio is worlds different then what I'm experiencing right now. If you're just reading this to get a little lesson on Shanghai you can take a break from this paragraph! I can't even begin to put into words all of this. i'll wake up one day (after snoozing the 2 alarms i set for myself obviously) and may wake up so happy to be in China and loving everything about it, ill walk to class past the respiratory disease hospital (safe right!) and be overlooking the smog, and spit in the streets and focusing on the great milk tea and dumplings, the new perspective I'm gaining about a society that i have never experienced, and culture that this city has to offer. Come lunch time it may be a totally different story. Now please don't get me wrong, i would never trade this experience for anything in the world. I couldn't be more lucky to have an amazing family to support me and inspire me (love you mom, dad, pari, megan, molly, anne marte) but it does have it's ups and downs but i know that is what it's supposed to be about. From high school when the main theme of one of my english classes was basically "is ignorance bliss?" i've known that you need both the highs and the lows the make like colorful and being here in Shanghai, where I'm doing almost everything for the first time, is showing me this truth.
(ok.... let the jokes begin, you know who you are!!)
On a less serious note, chinese soap opera's are ridiculous! Currently we are following the tale of 2 super power basketball players who i think are fighting over one girl! Also, Spongebob in Chinese? Yes please!
Unlike Lady Gaga i will pick up my telephone (or skype.e-mail)!
xin nian kuai le 新年快了
thats happy new years!
xoxo
Aryn
So for those of you who a) can't think of the perfect place to take you significant other on Valentines day of b) planning on spending February 14th with Love Actually, a box of pizza, and Ben and Jerry (Sandbar you know this what we would be doing, boys or no boys!) worry no more, you can celebrate the Chinese New Year. be cultural (what up Global Fusion) and stop worrying about this hallmark holiday! This year is the year of the tiger so get fierce. Fun New Years facts: This holiday is a very family oriented holiday, people go back to their hometown, for many people this is their one trip back per year, my laoshi (professor) is going home to see her family for the first time in half a year! The area around our apartments is starting to clear out, shops are closing for the New Year 新年. Since a lot of people migrate to Shanghai for work, there are not as many people that are actually from the city (chengshi-城市). So this holiday is about good fortune and luck so people will put a post of 副 (fu) upside down on their doors to welcome in good fortune and good luck. Also, the adults will give 红包(hong bao) which are little red envelopes filled with money, hello good fortune! The Chinese love their fireworks so people have been setting them off leading up to the New Year. Now these shows aren't set to music and planned like we think of fireworks shows its more college students who have a few extra kuai who are bored in our courtyard.... how i love china!
Starting tomorrow after our chineses exam we start a 2 week break (jealous?).On Wednesday we're going to leave for Yunnan, a southern province of China where many of the minority groups live. I'll make sure to fill you in on my adventures down south! All i know so far is that its gonna be warm and beautiful!
Alright so next topic....shopping! You can't walk far without finding something you can buy here, whether its cute little notebooks with funny english misspellings such as "I beliebve i can touch the sky", clothes, or food! Last week we went to purse party heaven! As we were coming in we saw western looking women stuffing purses in the giant roller suitcases! When we went upstairs there were rows of shops filled with the top designer bags, a girls dream! Now i know i told you all about the sketchy backroom before, well everyone of these stores had backrooms, there were all sorts of hidden doors and rooms, like a fun house! One of the stores was called "Jinhao Golf", you know a little bit of Chinese with an American flare, oh ya and it sold sunglasses, ipods and video games. When we were walking to this shopping center it was just me and one of my other American looking friends, since well we kinda stood out, surprise surprise, aka targets for scams. Case #1- The tea scam. We were warned about this at orientation and thanks to our street smarts we didn't fall for it! Basically what they do is try and befriend you and ask to go out to tea with you, in our case they invited us to a "special tea ceremony" and then charge you a ridiculous amount of the tea and suddenly loose they're English skills.
next....
so all of you who have been abroad or experienced a major change, know the "roller coaster" feeling that happens. i think there are so many emotions that go into a something like this, that none of them come out subtle. While i did go away for school the change from Colorado to Ohio is worlds different then what I'm experiencing right now. If you're just reading this to get a little lesson on Shanghai you can take a break from this paragraph! I can't even begin to put into words all of this. i'll wake up one day (after snoozing the 2 alarms i set for myself obviously) and may wake up so happy to be in China and loving everything about it, ill walk to class past the respiratory disease hospital (safe right!) and be overlooking the smog, and spit in the streets and focusing on the great milk tea and dumplings, the new perspective I'm gaining about a society that i have never experienced, and culture that this city has to offer. Come lunch time it may be a totally different story. Now please don't get me wrong, i would never trade this experience for anything in the world. I couldn't be more lucky to have an amazing family to support me and inspire me (love you mom, dad, pari, megan, molly, anne marte) but it does have it's ups and downs but i know that is what it's supposed to be about. From high school when the main theme of one of my english classes was basically "is ignorance bliss?" i've known that you need both the highs and the lows the make like colorful and being here in Shanghai, where I'm doing almost everything for the first time, is showing me this truth.
(ok.... let the jokes begin, you know who you are!!)
On a less serious note, chinese soap opera's are ridiculous! Currently we are following the tale of 2 super power basketball players who i think are fighting over one girl! Also, Spongebob in Chinese? Yes please!
Unlike Lady Gaga i will pick up my telephone (or skype.e-mail)!
xin nian kuai le 新年快了
thats happy new years!
xoxo
Aryn
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Since i can't figure out how to do this directly, here are some pictures!
I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
My first weekend adventure
Alright so attempt #2 getting this blog post up. Due to poor planning and shoty internet the first time i tried to post this i lost it all! So i didn't realize how much i needed to get out of the city until i was sitting in complete silence outside of a temple from the Ming Dynasty.
This past weekend a group of 13 Alliance students went to 南京 a city about 2 and a half hours outside of Shanghai （上海） Nanjing （南京） used to be the capital of China before it moved to Beijing after the civil war. While it is right behind Shanghai for most economic city in eastern China it felt less overwhelming than Shanghai.
Ok so in America （ 美国） we have pretty big personal bubbles. Think of when your sitting in the airport and there always seems to be at least one seat in between people and most people would choose to stand rather than take that awkward open seat in between two people. Well in China that bubble doesn't really exist. When we got to the waiting room at the train station, being the Americans（美国人） we were we sat on the end by ourselves with at least a chair from the person next to us. As the room started to fill up, people orderly and naturally sat in those "safety" seats. Not only when sitting down does the bubble shrink but when walking anywhere running into someone like they weren't even there is natural. Think New York City to the next power! When you have that many people in such small places i can't blame them for doing what that need to to sit down or get around.
As we got 15 minutes outside of the city I saw a very different view of 中国. There were run down shacks sitting on piles of garbage covered in smog. The layout of the cities that we passed through seemed to consist of a few sky scraping apartment buildings and then a few smaller buildings. On the train i was sitting next to a woman from China who was telling me how about 80% of the people in China （中国） are workers and they aren't treated well, which was evident in theses cities. While the peasants represent such a huge portion of the population that only represent 8% of the National Peoples Congress. I'll explain more about NPC in one of my next posts but if you interested in the framework of the Chinese political system i really encourage you to look it up, i just started learning about it today and there is so much more to they system then i expected.
OK back to 南京.....when we got into town we were able to bargain a good price for all of us to take a bus to our hotel (less than $2). When we arrived we were impressed, it had a bell boy and water fountain out front, now thats living high class, and i was less than $35 dollars for 2 nights. Well much to our dismay we were at the wrong hotel, our hotel was the sister hotel and it didn't even et the name hotel it was an "inn". None the less it was nice, comfy beds and hot showers. Lets be real, things in 中国 are cheap but not that cheap.
After we checked in we went to a night food market and i tried fried doughy squid balls, (Dad aren't you impressed you didn't even have to bribe me!). Nanjing seemed to have much fewer westerns than Shanghai, at least in the places we were. Even at the tourist spots my blonde hair stood out. Since it's less touristy people seemed to be more interested in us, a group of clearly western students （学生）. That night we went to a local bar and met so many great people. Many of them wanted to speak english so they would strike up a conversation, it was much less divided between expats and locals than Shanghai （上海）.
On Saturday （星期六） we visited the Sun Yet-San Maseolium. When we were buying our tickets there was a sign for all the discounts and the list included students, minors, the elderly, retired, serviceman, disabled and teachers, all pretty normal but it also said that one adult can take a child under 1.3 metes in for free, model workers, model heroes or models of morality at or above the municipal level got a discount, that made me wonder what the criterion was to be a "model". My politics professor, Dr. Liu, explained to me that this concept was emphasized due Mao's era. They wanted to promote ideals that benefited the Party while also empowering the people, giving them a role in the revolution. Being named a moral worker is decided by a committee that is part of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) but you do not have to be part of the Party to receive this title.The idea of a moral worker is not looked up to as much anymore because the criterion is more lenient now, there isn't a cookie cutter idea anymore. In my professors case he was named a moral worker at Fudan University after a year of working there but that wasn't as important as publishing work and succeding in the academic community. Also religious circles got a discount with a valid certificate, i wonder if my Dad's alter boy of the year certificate could work!?
For those of you who have not read your Chinese history books, Sun Yet San was the leader of the Nationalists (KMT) who fought against the Communists (CCP), who were lead by Mao（毛）. Sun Yet-San was also instrumental in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty. Once the internet decides to start cooperating i will hopefully load pictures of it! But it was placed on top of a hill and it overlooked this beautiful forest and well what we thought was a pretty haze ended up being smog, heres to pollution!
Some of you may be asking yourselves why the name Nanjing sounds so familiar but can't quite put your finger on it well this might be your answer, the Nanjing Massacre, also called the Rape of Nanjing. The Japanese occupied Nanjing for 6 weeks and killed around 350,000 people in cold blood and raped thousands of women. It was a true massacre, the Japanese were ruthless. However, like in many cases of history the Japanese claim that about 25,000 were killed, huge difference! In front of the museum were statues of people trying to flee the massacre. It was very moving, it brought this massacre to a more personal level, underneath the statues had the dialogue of the people. One of the statues was of a man dead and a child laying on of him and then another child standing just looking on in pain at the Japanese trail of destruction.
Now im home safe and ready for my next adventure. I'm getting involved in a program in Shanghai to teach english to 17-23 year old orphans and plan weekend activities with them. It seems like a great opportunity to get involved int he community and venture outside of the areas i know. Also, February 14th is the Chinese New Year so there will all sorts of celebration in Shanghai. They are already started shooting off fireworks that sounds like bombs everytime! On the 16th i leave for a 2 week long adventure to Yunnan Province in southern China. I'm not exactly sure what to expect from this but its much more rural than Shanghai and i've heard its beautiful.
Like always keep in touch!
xoxo,
Aryn
This past weekend a group of 13 Alliance students went to 南京 a city about 2 and a half hours outside of Shanghai （上海） Nanjing （南京） used to be the capital of China before it moved to Beijing after the civil war. While it is right behind Shanghai for most economic city in eastern China it felt less overwhelming than Shanghai.
Ok so in America （ 美国） we have pretty big personal bubbles. Think of when your sitting in the airport and there always seems to be at least one seat in between people and most people would choose to stand rather than take that awkward open seat in between two people. Well in China that bubble doesn't really exist. When we got to the waiting room at the train station, being the Americans（美国人） we were we sat on the end by ourselves with at least a chair from the person next to us. As the room started to fill up, people orderly and naturally sat in those "safety" seats. Not only when sitting down does the bubble shrink but when walking anywhere running into someone like they weren't even there is natural. Think New York City to the next power! When you have that many people in such small places i can't blame them for doing what that need to to sit down or get around.
As we got 15 minutes outside of the city I saw a very different view of 中国. There were run down shacks sitting on piles of garbage covered in smog. The layout of the cities that we passed through seemed to consist of a few sky scraping apartment buildings and then a few smaller buildings. On the train i was sitting next to a woman from China who was telling me how about 80% of the people in China （中国） are workers and they aren't treated well, which was evident in theses cities. While the peasants represent such a huge portion of the population that only represent 8% of the National Peoples Congress. I'll explain more about NPC in one of my next posts but if you interested in the framework of the Chinese political system i really encourage you to look it up, i just started learning about it today and there is so much more to they system then i expected.
OK back to 南京.....when we got into town we were able to bargain a good price for all of us to take a bus to our hotel (less than $2). When we arrived we were impressed, it had a bell boy and water fountain out front, now thats living high class, and i was less than $35 dollars for 2 nights. Well much to our dismay we were at the wrong hotel, our hotel was the sister hotel and it didn't even et the name hotel it was an "inn". None the less it was nice, comfy beds and hot showers. Lets be real, things in 中国 are cheap but not that cheap.
After we checked in we went to a night food market and i tried fried doughy squid balls, (Dad aren't you impressed you didn't even have to bribe me!). Nanjing seemed to have much fewer westerns than Shanghai, at least in the places we were. Even at the tourist spots my blonde hair stood out. Since it's less touristy people seemed to be more interested in us, a group of clearly western students （学生）. That night we went to a local bar and met so many great people. Many of them wanted to speak english so they would strike up a conversation, it was much less divided between expats and locals than Shanghai （上海）.
On Saturday （星期六） we visited the Sun Yet-San Maseolium. When we were buying our tickets there was a sign for all the discounts and the list included students, minors, the elderly, retired, serviceman, disabled and teachers, all pretty normal but it also said that one adult can take a child under 1.3 metes in for free, model workers, model heroes or models of morality at or above the municipal level got a discount, that made me wonder what the criterion was to be a "model". My politics professor, Dr. Liu, explained to me that this concept was emphasized due Mao's era. They wanted to promote ideals that benefited the Party while also empowering the people, giving them a role in the revolution. Being named a moral worker is decided by a committee that is part of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) but you do not have to be part of the Party to receive this title.The idea of a moral worker is not looked up to as much anymore because the criterion is more lenient now, there isn't a cookie cutter idea anymore. In my professors case he was named a moral worker at Fudan University after a year of working there but that wasn't as important as publishing work and succeding in the academic community. Also religious circles got a discount with a valid certificate, i wonder if my Dad's alter boy of the year certificate could work!?
For those of you who have not read your Chinese history books, Sun Yet San was the leader of the Nationalists (KMT) who fought against the Communists (CCP), who were lead by Mao（毛）. Sun Yet-San was also instrumental in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty. Once the internet decides to start cooperating i will hopefully load pictures of it! But it was placed on top of a hill and it overlooked this beautiful forest and well what we thought was a pretty haze ended up being smog, heres to pollution!
Some of you may be asking yourselves why the name Nanjing sounds so familiar but can't quite put your finger on it well this might be your answer, the Nanjing Massacre, also called the Rape of Nanjing. The Japanese occupied Nanjing for 6 weeks and killed around 350,000 people in cold blood and raped thousands of women. It was a true massacre, the Japanese were ruthless. However, like in many cases of history the Japanese claim that about 25,000 were killed, huge difference! In front of the museum were statues of people trying to flee the massacre. It was very moving, it brought this massacre to a more personal level, underneath the statues had the dialogue of the people. One of the statues was of a man dead and a child laying on of him and then another child standing just looking on in pain at the Japanese trail of destruction.
Now im home safe and ready for my next adventure. I'm getting involved in a program in Shanghai to teach english to 17-23 year old orphans and plan weekend activities with them. It seems like a great opportunity to get involved int he community and venture outside of the areas i know. Also, February 14th is the Chinese New Year so there will all sorts of celebration in Shanghai. They are already started shooting off fireworks that sounds like bombs everytime! On the 16th i leave for a 2 week long adventure to Yunnan Province in southern China. I'm not exactly sure what to expect from this but its much more rural than Shanghai and i've heard its beautiful.
Like always keep in touch!
xoxo,
Aryn
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Made in China
Sorry for my lack of posting this past week, I'm trying to keep up!
That past week i've been a tourist: passport hidden inside my jacket, frequent attempts at being scammed "hey lady, want a scarf? purse? We have Chanel, i'll give you a good price" and yes looking lost, all those things aside it has given me something to compare my time in Shanghai with so far. Since my campus is outside of the city in a very college area most people here don't speak english and everything is not disgustingly overpriced so I kinda feel like a local. Having this opportunity to see Shanghai beyond a tourist level has given me the opportunity to explore places and make my own opinion rather than regurgitating the information that a tour guide gave me to people when they ask me about my trip. From what i've seen so far it's very obvious that many things in China are not as they seem. For example, the movie To Live (a movie i highly recommend everyone watch, and yes it's in subtitles but if you watch it with my dad he'll be sure to read them out loud, good luck Megan, Molly and Anne Marte), which is about a working class families troubles during the 1940's- 1970's the time of Mao's rise and rule, is banned by law in China, however most young people have seen it and will openly talk about it. So clearly when we hear in the west the government controls everything they do on paper but i think there is more freedom than we expect. Like i said in my last post, I'm by no means an expert on the subject and am not trying to make any sort of generalization this is just "my version". Also, one of my professors was talking about how when she asks people in the United States what they think about China, red is the first thing that comes to mind. There is so much more to this giant country than communism, This same professor had us read 2 articles about westernization in China. The first was basically a tour guide to Shanghai that made everything seem like the economy thrived being completely overwhelmed by the western invasion of material goods, while the other article contrasted it by talking about the lives of people who live off of Nanjing Road (a big road for shopping in Shanghai) and how they keep to their local markets and still maintain lives away from tourism. i think we all can relate to being a local in a tourist area, over Christmas in the mountains is a perfect example. You're surrounded by the obvious tourists (think fur coats, layers of make up to ski, starter jackets and ITB's aka in the book ski pants) but its still the same mountain for locals, they still go to their same restaurants and don't do all of their shopping in town like the tourists. There is a tourist side to the mountains that involves extravagance and a local side that is like the life of any other normal person. So basically my point it that Shanghai is not a place that can be stereotyped, there is such a wide range of culture.
Take a look at the tag of the clothes your wearing right now or the electronics your using they probably say "made in China" somewhere am i right? This comes in handy when you want to get those expensive clothes made and your already in China! On Friday i went to a fabric market that could do just that. Since tons of clothes are made in China they know how its done so we were able to take pictures from magazines. You would have never guessed that behind the hanging plastic strips that function as a door would be a world of fabric wonder! Also along the lines of the outside not being what it seems that seemed to be the theme of People's Square. Think of Time Square but no cars and brighter! The whole blonde hair and blue eyes screamed tourist so i was bombarded by people asking me if i wanted a rolex or bag. We gave into one of them and quickly followed a man down and alley, through a hidden door to a room full of designer bags, wallets, pens and watches you could want! Now i may have seen one too many horror movies (what up CP and Katie) so i was slightly paranoid and was looking for all the escapes possible, making sure no one was trying to rob us and making sure to stake out my spot next to the door for a quick get away, like in all the movies of course! Mom, Dad you guys can quite holding your breathe right now we survived! Navigating People's Square was much easier than in my neighborhood, most of the people spoke english and i saw some arian representation heyo! That night a group of Alliance students got to experience KTV (Karaoke) bar. They need these in the US it was awesome! We rented out this HUGE room and had it all to ourselves. Most of the Western students called it a night around 2am but our Chinese roommates were going strong till 6am! Our room was in the back so we had to walk past a whole bunch of rooms to get back and we saw everything, people with shirts off rocking out, girls stumbling down the hall with their boyfriends following after them, all while enjoying listening to each other singing (or in my case speaking off tune to a rhythm). Back in the United States if i went to bed after 2am i was proud but they take staying out till the break of dawn to a whole new meaning!
As always hope you are all doing well i love reading your posts/e-mails/skypes!
xoxo
Aryn
That past week i've been a tourist: passport hidden inside my jacket, frequent attempts at being scammed "hey lady, want a scarf? purse? We have Chanel, i'll give you a good price" and yes looking lost, all those things aside it has given me something to compare my time in Shanghai with so far. Since my campus is outside of the city in a very college area most people here don't speak english and everything is not disgustingly overpriced so I kinda feel like a local. Having this opportunity to see Shanghai beyond a tourist level has given me the opportunity to explore places and make my own opinion rather than regurgitating the information that a tour guide gave me to people when they ask me about my trip. From what i've seen so far it's very obvious that many things in China are not as they seem. For example, the movie To Live (a movie i highly recommend everyone watch, and yes it's in subtitles but if you watch it with my dad he'll be sure to read them out loud, good luck Megan, Molly and Anne Marte), which is about a working class families troubles during the 1940's- 1970's the time of Mao's rise and rule, is banned by law in China, however most young people have seen it and will openly talk about it. So clearly when we hear in the west the government controls everything they do on paper but i think there is more freedom than we expect. Like i said in my last post, I'm by no means an expert on the subject and am not trying to make any sort of generalization this is just "my version". Also, one of my professors was talking about how when she asks people in the United States what they think about China, red is the first thing that comes to mind. There is so much more to this giant country than communism, This same professor had us read 2 articles about westernization in China. The first was basically a tour guide to Shanghai that made everything seem like the economy thrived being completely overwhelmed by the western invasion of material goods, while the other article contrasted it by talking about the lives of people who live off of Nanjing Road (a big road for shopping in Shanghai) and how they keep to their local markets and still maintain lives away from tourism. i think we all can relate to being a local in a tourist area, over Christmas in the mountains is a perfect example. You're surrounded by the obvious tourists (think fur coats, layers of make up to ski, starter jackets and ITB's aka in the book ski pants) but its still the same mountain for locals, they still go to their same restaurants and don't do all of their shopping in town like the tourists. There is a tourist side to the mountains that involves extravagance and a local side that is like the life of any other normal person. So basically my point it that Shanghai is not a place that can be stereotyped, there is such a wide range of culture.
Take a look at the tag of the clothes your wearing right now or the electronics your using they probably say "made in China" somewhere am i right? This comes in handy when you want to get those expensive clothes made and your already in China! On Friday i went to a fabric market that could do just that. Since tons of clothes are made in China they know how its done so we were able to take pictures from magazines. You would have never guessed that behind the hanging plastic strips that function as a door would be a world of fabric wonder! Also along the lines of the outside not being what it seems that seemed to be the theme of People's Square. Think of Time Square but no cars and brighter! The whole blonde hair and blue eyes screamed tourist so i was bombarded by people asking me if i wanted a rolex or bag. We gave into one of them and quickly followed a man down and alley, through a hidden door to a room full of designer bags, wallets, pens and watches you could want! Now i may have seen one too many horror movies (what up CP and Katie) so i was slightly paranoid and was looking for all the escapes possible, making sure no one was trying to rob us and making sure to stake out my spot next to the door for a quick get away, like in all the movies of course! Mom, Dad you guys can quite holding your breathe right now we survived! Navigating People's Square was much easier than in my neighborhood, most of the people spoke english and i saw some arian representation heyo! That night a group of Alliance students got to experience KTV (Karaoke) bar. They need these in the US it was awesome! We rented out this HUGE room and had it all to ourselves. Most of the Western students called it a night around 2am but our Chinese roommates were going strong till 6am! Our room was in the back so we had to walk past a whole bunch of rooms to get back and we saw everything, people with shirts off rocking out, girls stumbling down the hall with their boyfriends following after them, all while enjoying listening to each other singing (or in my case speaking off tune to a rhythm). Back in the United States if i went to bed after 2am i was proud but they take staying out till the break of dawn to a whole new meaning!
As always hope you are all doing well i love reading your posts/e-mails/skypes!
xoxo
Aryn
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Little Things
So right now I'm sitting in my friends apartment trying to plan vacations. As i've told you all before everything in Shanghai is very inexpensive, so i've gotten into the mindset and become very frugal! We are trying to go visit (参观） Beijing, now if we went soon the tickets would be $83 roundtrip but it would be freezing, its below 0 C there right now. But if we waited till it was better weather it would be $100 and now the debate is do we want to freeze just to save $17, Mom, Dad, Pari aren't you impressed!?
I can't believe i've only been here for 8 days, it feels like so much longer, in a good way of course. I know my route to school and all of the important stops (convenient store for snacks and the bakery for snacks!), i can make my way through a vegetable market successfully and I'm able to use a taxi! Now that i've mastered the basic survival skills I'm able to observe more of the daily life of the locals around me. Something that i've come accustom to people walking down the street with surgeons masks. During the SARS breakout the news showed people all over Asia wearing these masks but it seems that people wear the masks whenever they are sick. People even have "designer" face masks, sickness made couture! Its such a smart idea, if your sick and can't stay at home do your best to prevent others from getting sick as well. At school last semester when everyone was gettin H1N1 we had to wear those masks in the doctors offices and i felt so silly but now i don't even think twice when i see someone wearing one.
in the United States you're taught at a young age to look both ways before crossing the street, well in China the mentality is look both ways 9 times, then maybe its ok to cross the road, and the green walking man by no means means its ok to walk. The cars are just one of the many moving objects that you have to try and avoid, there are bikes, buses, and motorcycles that don't really have rules on the road and don't believe in using brakes! There are bike and motor scooter lanes and there are no rules on which way the traffic should go so if you look right and there are no cars, your are for sure not in the clear! And right turn on red means don't even slow down while your turning just speed up more and honk a lot at the pedestrians trying to cross. We've found that following locals is the way to go.
Now in the United States guys make fun of each other for being "whipped" aka their girlfriend can convince them to miss out on a guys night to go see a chick flick. Well American boys be happy you're not whipped Shanghai style. I've seen several guys carrying their girlfriends' purses for them. So next time your girlfriend convinces you to go shopping take a look at the purses and picture yourself sporting one. I'm not trying to put a bad stereotype on men in Shanghai, I'm simply reporting what i've seem.
Now to a section i know my sisters will enjoy...food! One of my favorite dishes that i've had so far here is called xiao long bao, which is a dumpling with soup and meat inside. There is an art to eating them that I'm in the process of mastering but none the less these little morsels of goodness are amazing! They sell them on the streets and in most restaurants. Since being here we have tried a mix of chinese restaurants and most american restaurants and the chinese ones win by miles. American food chinese style doesn't translate as well. For example today we went to a restaurant that had hawaiian pizza, and the first thing that comes to mind is canadian bacon and pineapple right? Well they went all out with this pizza and put bananas on it. Cheers to the effort but the tiny chinese restaurants with there menus in all chinese win!
Hope all in well across the pond! Please keep in touch again my e-mail is odonneka@muohio.edu and my skype is aodonnell89. Thanks everyone whose added me so far! Sending my love!
xoxo,
Aryn
I can't believe i've only been here for 8 days, it feels like so much longer, in a good way of course. I know my route to school and all of the important stops (convenient store for snacks and the bakery for snacks!), i can make my way through a vegetable market successfully and I'm able to use a taxi! Now that i've mastered the basic survival skills I'm able to observe more of the daily life of the locals around me. Something that i've come accustom to people walking down the street with surgeons masks. During the SARS breakout the news showed people all over Asia wearing these masks but it seems that people wear the masks whenever they are sick. People even have "designer" face masks, sickness made couture! Its such a smart idea, if your sick and can't stay at home do your best to prevent others from getting sick as well. At school last semester when everyone was gettin H1N1 we had to wear those masks in the doctors offices and i felt so silly but now i don't even think twice when i see someone wearing one.
in the United States you're taught at a young age to look both ways before crossing the street, well in China the mentality is look both ways 9 times, then maybe its ok to cross the road, and the green walking man by no means means its ok to walk. The cars are just one of the many moving objects that you have to try and avoid, there are bikes, buses, and motorcycles that don't really have rules on the road and don't believe in using brakes! There are bike and motor scooter lanes and there are no rules on which way the traffic should go so if you look right and there are no cars, your are for sure not in the clear! And right turn on red means don't even slow down while your turning just speed up more and honk a lot at the pedestrians trying to cross. We've found that following locals is the way to go.
Now in the United States guys make fun of each other for being "whipped" aka their girlfriend can convince them to miss out on a guys night to go see a chick flick. Well American boys be happy you're not whipped Shanghai style. I've seen several guys carrying their girlfriends' purses for them. So next time your girlfriend convinces you to go shopping take a look at the purses and picture yourself sporting one. I'm not trying to put a bad stereotype on men in Shanghai, I'm simply reporting what i've seem.
Now to a section i know my sisters will enjoy...food! One of my favorite dishes that i've had so far here is called xiao long bao, which is a dumpling with soup and meat inside. There is an art to eating them that I'm in the process of mastering but none the less these little morsels of goodness are amazing! They sell them on the streets and in most restaurants. Since being here we have tried a mix of chinese restaurants and most american restaurants and the chinese ones win by miles. American food chinese style doesn't translate as well. For example today we went to a restaurant that had hawaiian pizza, and the first thing that comes to mind is canadian bacon and pineapple right? Well they went all out with this pizza and put bananas on it. Cheers to the effort but the tiny chinese restaurants with there menus in all chinese win!
Hope all in well across the pond! Please keep in touch again my e-mail is odonneka@muohio.edu and my skype is aodonnell89. Thanks everyone whose added me so far! Sending my love!
xoxo,
Aryn
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Let the games begin!
So much is happening its hard to be able to express it! Shanghai continues to amaze me everyday. Yesterday (Monday) was our first day of class, it was nice to get a routine started. I'm taking language classes, a class on the issues with Chinese Society and Comparative Chines Politics. In the Chinese politics class our final project will be to do a capstone on an aspect of society that we studied using secondary and primary sources. Its a great chance to get down and dirty with the locals! There are 7 people in my language class and we're soon to be best friends since we will be spending 3 hours of class and then outside of class together practicing speaking!
Enough with class, everyone is in class enough anyways! On Friday (星期五 xingqiwu）we went to lunch at a hot pot. This is the asian version of fondue but they give you two options to cook your food in, spicy or regular. We had more food than i could have imagined, lamb, pork, seaweed, chicken, fish shaped into balls etc. etc.! After that i met my Chinese roommate whose name is Potato, and yes she is one of the coolest roommates i have met (in China of course, don't worry Rachel, Lauren and Molly i haven't forgotten about you!!) She helped me exchange (换huan）money from 美元(meiyuan) into 人民币(renminbi) at the bank (银行yinhang) and also purchase a cell phone. Thank goodness Potato speaks English well or else this would have been a disaster. My Chinese has improved since i've been here and im able to understand more all the time! You are able to get by on English but that just to do the tourist things and pointing and i don't want to be spending my next 4 months pointing at things to order and get around, which is a wonderful motivation to study!
On Saturday we went on a scavenger hunt around our neighborhood. On the hunt we had to find a lunch for less than 11 kuai (about $2) which to my wonderful surprise was not hard to do. All of my meals here have been more than enough food for very little money! One of the most interesting parts of the scavenger hunt was to find playground for old people, such a great concept. They seemed to have play equipment to help keep older people's joints loose. When we were at the park there was a really old man sitting on the equipment and a baby climbing around on it!
Everyday as I learn more and more about China and its culture it continues to fascinate me. There is so much behind the facade of the city that i cant wait to explore more as my language skills improve and i am able to be more aware of the differences.
Enough with class, everyone is in class enough anyways! On Friday (星期五 xingqiwu）we went to lunch at a hot pot. This is the asian version of fondue but they give you two options to cook your food in, spicy or regular. We had more food than i could have imagined, lamb, pork, seaweed, chicken, fish shaped into balls etc. etc.! After that i met my Chinese roommate whose name is Potato, and yes she is one of the coolest roommates i have met (in China of course, don't worry Rachel, Lauren and Molly i haven't forgotten about you!!) She helped me exchange (换huan）money from 美元(meiyuan) into 人民币(renminbi) at the bank (银行yinhang) and also purchase a cell phone. Thank goodness Potato speaks English well or else this would have been a disaster. My Chinese has improved since i've been here and im able to understand more all the time! You are able to get by on English but that just to do the tourist things and pointing and i don't want to be spending my next 4 months pointing at things to order and get around, which is a wonderful motivation to study!
On Saturday we went on a scavenger hunt around our neighborhood. On the hunt we had to find a lunch for less than 11 kuai (about $2) which to my wonderful surprise was not hard to do. All of my meals here have been more than enough food for very little money! One of the most interesting parts of the scavenger hunt was to find playground for old people, such a great concept. They seemed to have play equipment to help keep older people's joints loose. When we were at the park there was a really old man sitting on the equipment and a baby climbing around on it!
Everyday as I learn more and more about China and its culture it continues to fascinate me. There is so much behind the facade of the city that i cant wait to explore more as my language skills improve and i am able to be more aware of the differences.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
你好！
Hello from around the world! It took make failed attempts to find a website that would get me past the block on this website, one of my wonderful friends in Shanghai was able to help!
After a wonderfully 3 hour delayed flight i made it! Lucky for me i met some girls from my program and was able to sit next to them on the flight so the grueling 16 hours didn't seem as bad. Since our flight arrived late we missed out on a welcome dinner that Alliance had planned for us so instead i was able to unpack and meet my other international roommate who is a doll. She's from University of Illinois. We will get to meet our Chinese roommate on Saturday.
Last night was quite the experience not only dealing with jet lag but also trying not to turn into ice while sleeping! I think the heaters in the apartments are just for show because they are less than warm! The apartment is a wonderful and fully furnished. I'm in the process of making my room more my own (aka piles of clothes in a very organized mess!) Hopefully once my camera starts cooperating ill be able to put up some pictures of my accommodations. Ok so enough of to boring stuff that probably only my parents enjoying, now to Shanghai. Fudan University is about a 20 minute cab ride (only 50 yuan which would be less than $10) from the heart of Shanghai. The street to the university is lined with cheap food joints, perfect for the starving college student, i have yet to try them out but i did talk to some girls who got waffles filled with chocolate and marshmallows (don't worry Molly OD, i try and bring one back for you!). One of the great parts about the Alliance program is their effort to make us use out Chinese by rooming us with chinese roommates. Some of the roommates had already moved in and helped to herd us from place to place today. I really enjoy being surrounded by the language and also be able to speak my very broken Chinese to someone who speaks English as well and Chinese.
After the beginning of our orientation today, a group of us decided to tackle Wal-Mart. Now in OXford Wal-Mart is our go- to, one stop shop, which is similar to China, minus that fact that it's slightly harder to navigate. We did make our way around the store though, whether you can all it successful or not is debatable. Most of my interaction with the Wal-Mart employees in the United States have only been at the check out but here they were all so helpful. Even though we were both struggling to understand each other they were going out of their way to help us. One sweet lady even went out to get us a cart as our baskets got too full. To try and find hair dryers we tried every work from hair (头发）and hand motions to electricity (电）and somehow found our way! The challenge came when trying to get a taxi (出租汽车) and fitting all of our purchases in the trunk, there was lots of honking and what i can only assume chinese curse words being thrown around.
And this all only Day 1! Can't wait to share more with you all.
xoxo,
Aryn
After a wonderfully 3 hour delayed flight i made it! Lucky for me i met some girls from my program and was able to sit next to them on the flight so the grueling 16 hours didn't seem as bad. Since our flight arrived late we missed out on a welcome dinner that Alliance had planned for us so instead i was able to unpack and meet my other international roommate who is a doll. She's from University of Illinois. We will get to meet our Chinese roommate on Saturday.
Last night was quite the experience not only dealing with jet lag but also trying not to turn into ice while sleeping! I think the heaters in the apartments are just for show because they are less than warm! The apartment is a wonderful and fully furnished. I'm in the process of making my room more my own (aka piles of clothes in a very organized mess!) Hopefully once my camera starts cooperating ill be able to put up some pictures of my accommodations. Ok so enough of to boring stuff that probably only my parents enjoying, now to Shanghai. Fudan University is about a 20 minute cab ride (only 50 yuan which would be less than $10) from the heart of Shanghai. The street to the university is lined with cheap food joints, perfect for the starving college student, i have yet to try them out but i did talk to some girls who got waffles filled with chocolate and marshmallows (don't worry Molly OD, i try and bring one back for you!). One of the great parts about the Alliance program is their effort to make us use out Chinese by rooming us with chinese roommates. Some of the roommates had already moved in and helped to herd us from place to place today. I really enjoy being surrounded by the language and also be able to speak my very broken Chinese to someone who speaks English as well and Chinese.
After the beginning of our orientation today, a group of us decided to tackle Wal-Mart. Now in OXford Wal-Mart is our go- to, one stop shop, which is similar to China, minus that fact that it's slightly harder to navigate. We did make our way around the store though, whether you can all it successful or not is debatable. Most of my interaction with the Wal-Mart employees in the United States have only been at the check out but here they were all so helpful. Even though we were both struggling to understand each other they were going out of their way to help us. One sweet lady even went out to get us a cart as our baskets got too full. To try and find hair dryers we tried every work from hair (头发）and hand motions to electricity (电）and somehow found our way! The challenge came when trying to get a taxi (出租汽车) and fitting all of our purchases in the trunk, there was lots of honking and what i can only assume chinese curse words being thrown around.
And this all only Day 1! Can't wait to share more with you all.
xoxo,
Aryn
Sunday, January 10, 2010
All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go
The great John Denver put it perfectly.... I'm leaving on a jet plane! (granted i'm not so lonesome i could die and i do kind of know when i'll be back, but thats not the point here!). I've got my visa, my luggage is weighed (each bag is 30 lbs. if you must know, impressive right??), and the farewell dinner is planned; i think im ready, at least thats what the packed suitcases, a clean room and a plane ticket say. I start my international adventure tomorrow in Chicago where i'll catch my flight for Shanghai on Tuesday morning. The reality of this next semester is coming true, in 3 days im going to getting off a plane all by myself in China.
Something that i can't wait to see in Shanghai is the World Expo (http://en.expo2010.cn/). It starts in May and goes through October so i'll get to see the transformation of the city. Shanghai is a polluted, dirty city but the theme of this expo is "Better City, Better Life". This theme focuses on a better future with sustanable development and better living in urban areas. Like with the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai will have to clean up the city since the worlds eye's will be on it. As i continue this blog i want to share what i see in this changing city for the expo.
After a wonderful 16 hour flight Wednesday when i get there we'll move into our apartments and get situated. For the semester i'll be living in Tonghe International Apartments with either one or two other housemates. One of my housemates will be a student at Fudan University, which is going to be a great opportunity for me to practice my Chinese and get a local perspective. From Thursday (星期四)- Sunday (星期天) we have orientation. During this four day orientation ill get to know more about what to expect this semester and get to know the city better.
The best way to contact me this semester is either e-mail or skype (which i expect all of you to take advantage of). My e-mail is odonneka@muohio.edu and my skype contact is aodonnell89. Facebook has blocks in China and im exactly sure when and if im going to be able to use it.
xoxo
Aryn
Something that i can't wait to see in Shanghai is the World Expo (http://en.expo2010.cn/). It starts in May and goes through October so i'll get to see the transformation of the city. Shanghai is a polluted, dirty city but the theme of this expo is "Better City, Better Life". This theme focuses on a better future with sustanable development and better living in urban areas. Like with the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai will have to clean up the city since the worlds eye's will be on it. As i continue this blog i want to share what i see in this changing city for the expo.
After a wonderful 16 hour flight Wednesday when i get there we'll move into our apartments and get situated. For the semester i'll be living in Tonghe International Apartments with either one or two other housemates. One of my housemates will be a student at Fudan University, which is going to be a great opportunity for me to practice my Chinese and get a local perspective. From Thursday (星期四)- Sunday (星期天) we have orientation. During this four day orientation ill get to know more about what to expect this semester and get to know the city better.
The best way to contact me this semester is either e-mail or skype (which i expect all of you to take advantage of). My e-mail is odonneka@muohio.edu and my skype contact is aodonnell89. Facebook has blocks in China and im exactly sure when and if im going to be able to use it.
xoxo
Aryn
Friday, January 1, 2010
12 days to go!
Hello out there,
Currently I am still in the United States, i leave for Shanghai on the 12th out of Chicago. My dad was nice enough to escort me to Chicago on the 11th (he claims its so he can "help out if there are any issues" but we all know he doesn't want to send me off so soon!). My thoughts on spending a semester in a new country are countless, i go through waves of being excited to see what life across the world is like and then come the stresses of everything that has to happen before that time can come! Right now I'm sitting in the middle of my room where half of the mess is my stuff from school that needs to be unpacked, while the other half is what is going to accompany me to Shanghai.
We have a wonderful foreign exchange student staying with us for this school year from Norway who has helped me with the reality of studying abroad (shout out to Anne Marte!). As many of you know i live in a fantasy world a lot of the time (I blame that on movies and TV shows of today, everything should have a happy ending duh!) and i think this semester will be a lot of a fantasy but I need to be realistic that it will be different. For the past 2 and a half years i've lived in the wonderful bubble of Oxford, Ohio. Don't get me wrong i love Miami and wouldn't trade me experiences there for anything, but i think I need/am ready to try and tackle something new. I've mastered the art of life as a college student; late night pizza on speed dial, tweeting, finding costumes for various functions, luging (Sandbar do me proud!) and some learning (kidding mom and dad!), but i can't wait to see what else there is out there. There are so many opportunities to see the world in a different way, from appreciating little things, like the food to big things, like living in a democratic country. I hope to keep you all updated on my experience, thoughts and feelings in China through this blog. I not the best with words but i want to be able to share this experience with you all as best I can!
While I'm slaving away on this blog I hope you all keep me updated with what is going on in you're lives and in the United States!
xoxo
Aryn
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