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
Sunday, March 28, 2010
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
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