Conclusion

Well, I've had about two weeks in the United States to sit back and reflect on all my adventures that have occurred over the past 6 months. I sure am glad to be back in the United States, that's for sure. I didn't even realize how much I missed being around everything familiar. The English signs, the simple communication, and all the foods and tastes I've grown up with are something I always took for granted. Besides the fact that I'm still not craving Chinese food, one thing that actually surprised me was the fact that I'm just not ready to go back to China right now. If I was leaving tomorrow back to Beijing, I would probably be excited and happy, but right now I need more time in the US, more time at home, and more time with my friends and family. For everything that I did see, I wish I could have brought everyone I know out there to enjoy the sights with me, but I still know that there are tons of things that I didn't have the chance to see. For that reason, I'm definitely planning on heading back there sometime soon. Maybe this summer for an internship, or if not, after graduation.

I can't believe how many things I did. I look back at my pictures and it seems like a lifetime ago I was sitting in Tianjin watching the Olympic soccer games. Basketball semi-finals, gymnastics, track and field, beach volleyball and indoor volleyball...that was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Then starting school, meeting all these new people and going on a two week trip to the middle of China. I rode camels in the Gobi Desert, watched the sunrise over sand dunes and travelled to historical parts of China. We saw giant statues of Buddha carved into stone hundreds of years ago. We saw the Terracotta Warriors, we stayed with Mongolians on the grasslands. I rode a horse for my first time and loved it. Then going to Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou. We went to the International Beer Festival in China, were awed by the skyline in Shanghai and enjoyed the beauty of West Lake in Hangzhou. Suzhou was kind-of like Venice but in the Chinese way. The trip to Guilin was probably the most beautiful place in China. The mountains and river cruises and the water fight with friends were the greatest memories I can take away from that trip. I learned to cook all types of Chinese food and enjoyed eating it too. Going to Hong Kong and Tokyo was the most risky trips of the semester. The two weekends before finals, back to back, missing a class or two...it was all worth it. I never expected to love Tokyo so much and Hong Kong was an interesting and colorful city. And of course there was Beijing. A city of so many people, I got to know as if it was my hometown. 798 Art District, Houhai, Sanlitun, Pearl Market, Silk Market, Yashao Market, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, hutongs, Lama Temple, and all the other sites we saw. There's no other place in the world to experience those things that have so much history and influence in Chinese society.

The one thing that I will miss the most was what we called, "Our Family." Our Family had developed over the past six months to be mostly our group of people that lived in building 5. First there was Jim and I. We had known each other for the past two years mostly through the Chinese classes we took at Fordham. Every Wednesday night taking a ram van down to Chinese class at our Manhattan campus and then sitting through 3 hours of foreign language until 10:30 pm. Going to China was a great time for us to get to know each other outside of the classroom and after living with him, I can really say that he's become one of my really good friends. Next in the family was Collin and John. These two were hysterical. Every morning, I'd walk over to John's room before Chinese class and give him the "2 minute warning" that meant we were leaving for class. Or, sometimes he would come into my room when my alarm didn't go off and yell at me that I was going to miss Chinese! Collin was always telling me that I was too full of myself and had a good ability to keep me down to earth when my head seemed to start blowing up. Being neighbors, Jim, Collin, John and I always had to rely on each other to keep entertained when the Beijing smog was too thick to go outside and play. Like the time we tried to pop popcorn using our cell phones...It doesn't work. (If you don't know what I'm talking about click here!) The last two people that lived on the penthouse of building 5 were Jeff and Ryan. (The Penthouse is the 6th floor that we all lived on. With no elevator, those six flights of stairs gave us all buns of steel, a six pack, and a killer cardio workout!) TBC couldn't have picked out better roommates than Jeff and Ryan. Probably the two most laid back applicants of TBC, we could always count on Jeff and Ryan to be burning incense and watching a bootleg Planet Earth. If you ever needed a break from reality, walk into their room and listen to Ryan practice guitar or wonder where Jeff had mysteriously wandered off too. Jeff was the only one in the family that took Advanced Chinese, and he could put all of us under the table in tones and vocabulary.

If you went down to the 5th floor of our building, Brittany and Devon were always there being the protective mothers of us guys. Always adding that element of stability and reality, the girls were never shy to let us know when we were being ridiculous or when we needed to stop being hooligans. Brittany was always there to offer advice and have a laugh with us. Or to just sit back and watch the entertaining nights when she had papers to write and the rest of us just ignored our school work. Devon was a friend from Fordham who I had known for two years also. She lived on the floor above me freshman year and we had always hung out together having mutual friends and some classes together. I am so glad I had the opportunity to study abroad with her because she is a great person to know and hang out with.

On the 4th floor of building five was Dan and Sean. Sean broke his arm halfway through the semester outside of the Forbidden City. And even though he was crippled for half the semester, it didn't stop him from joining in the shenanigans of building 5 life. Growing up in Los Angeles, Sean has that west coast vibe that I can relate to and I always enjoyed having deep conversations about life just to discover we have an unusually similar ideas and outlooks. He promises one day, he's going to turn me into a brand: Regis®. He has all these ideas which were hysterical and great and I can't wait to visit him in CA. Dan was Sean's roommate who was pretty quiet but when he came out and had fun he was a good guy to have around. He would never add in his two cents, but when he did it was worth more than a dollar. On the 3rd floor was Matt. Matt begin the trip with freshly cut hair and was one of many participants of "No Shave November." Our only friend from the "Great North," Matt's small town Alaskan attitude taught me a lot about sitting back and relaxing. He could always take a joke too far and cross the line, but he was such a good guy that no one seemed to mind. Next to Matt was Devin. Boy-Devin and Girl-Devon were the names we used to distinguish who was who, but Devin...I can't say I've met anyone like him. His nickname was "Long-hair don't care" and he was just a carefree person who was open with himself and wore his feelings on his sleeves. Maybe he offended some or took some time to warm up to, but he was a great friend who was loyal to the end. He was a frequent patron of Jeff and Ryan's penthouse suite to play the guitar with Ryan and sing songs. He was a great performance.

Then there were those people that lived in building 6. I wish I would have gotten to know building 6 people more but I'm glad I got to know Jessica and Lauren. Jess and Lauren only added fuel to the fire that kept building 5 always alive with excitement and entertainment. They were loud and always laughing, which was perfect for our weekend "get-togethers" or mid-week work siestas. We would always meet them for dinner or a night out at Ke Feng's Dumplings. Jess and Lauren were another set of remarkable roommates that I'll definitely miss.

Ling and Femia were the greatest kiddo's in the TBC family. Ling was always getting annoyed, being Chinese, when locals assumed she spoke fluent Chinese. I would love going out to dinner with her because the waitresses would always go to her instead of me to take the order. Both Ling and Femia were tiny, no taller than 5'5" I think, but they added a sense of maturity in the group and added too many memories to count. I'll never forget the first time they went out with us to Houhai and how that night ended up being one of the best nights our family's ever had.

All in all, besides the people, I can probably say I'll miss Ke Feng. I remember the first time I ate at his dumpling place I knew I was going to be eating there a whole lot. Cheap, quick and convenient, his dumplings were out of this world. I remember introducing myself to him and getting to know him when the place wasn't crammed full of people. The place was a little dingy but I was soon to discover that he served more than dumplings. Fried rice, fried noodles, noodle soup, and tons of other stuff, I felt like I was at In-and-Out burger ordering from the secret menu. Ke Feng worked at the dumpling place for 4 years. He was 22 years old, which meant he started when he was 18. He grew up in Hangzhou, the beautiful lake town near Shanghai, and had moved to Beijing a while ago. The dumpling place was only 6 years old, and I think it was started by the man in the back that sometimes helped Ke Feng make dumplings. There was also a woman in the back that did most of the cooking and Qiu Lijian who was the table cleaner. Qiu was one of the most shy people at the dumpling place. The others would always be willing to say a quick "Ni Hao!" but Qiu would just sneak by and smile. Whenever he got embarrassed a huge grin would creep across his face and he would disappear into the back.

I'm also going to miss the bike guy and the drink guy and all of the places I frequented. I built relationships with all of the people, saying Hello, asking them how they're doing and making an effort to say good-bye on my last day in town. I'm going to miss the Chinese friends I made and all of the Chinese people that have influenced me so much. They have such a different lifestyle that their insights and opinions would often make me take a moment to rethink some of the things I had thought. Although China has a lot of progress to be made, it is good to see them changing, slowly but surely. I probably won't miss the smog or the bitter cold or the humid unbearable heat, but I'll miss the familiarity of the roads, Sanlitun, and Houhai. The night of Armin Van Buuren was something I've never done before and I'll never forget that. I've made a lot of memories in China that will always come back to me and I think our whole family realizes that we've had a life changing experience. The best part about my time abroad was now I've made friends across the US. Collin is from Chicago, Sean & Devin from L.A., John & Jim from New York, Jess lives in Florida, Lauren & Dan in Boston, Matt in Alaska, Devon in Philadelphia and Brittany in San Francisco. We're already planning when we can get together and see each other next. With technology these days, I'm lucky that my friendships don't have to end in China, they only just began there.

Final Goodbyes

On a final note, I would like to thank everyone who read my blog. There were some pretty long entries...sometimes I'd forget to write for a week or two and the pictures were...maybe not few but sometimes far between. I hope I gave an accurate description of everything I did and I tried not to be biased or excessive. I've already received many thanks for writing this, but I felt like it was something I had to do. I know most of my family will never be able to go to Asia and this is as close as some of them will ever get to experiencing the things I've done. If I didn't do this, I would feel guilty for having this opportunity and not giving others a chance to share in it too. As I head back to New York for another semester, I probably will have to end my journey here. This blog will always be open to review and re-read, but for now, this chapter has ended and it is time for me to begin another. Thank you very much! I hope you enjoyed My Chinese Adventure.

Xiang Gang

I'm leaving for Hong Kong in a few hours, which means that my travels have come way to quickly. This past weekend was a blur. Trying to fit too many things in too short of time. There is so much to do in Beijing before I leave and I can now count the days in this city on both my hands! I will take many pictures, and probably won't post them until I'm back to fast internet and fast food, but at least I'll try and give you a brief description of my adventures. It will probably be sometime between my art history research paper, my marketing presentation, my Chinese tests (two the Monday I get back), or my finance homework. Have a great week, I sure will.

感恩节快乐--Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, today has been a great Thanksgiving Day. Kind of. It definitely does not feel like the holiday season in China. I'm actually really excited to eat a great Thanksgiving meal at the Radisson Hotel in Beijing. However, I wasn't excited to wake up this morning at 7:30am to go to Chinese class. They couldn't even cut us any slack when it comes to the holidays. I told my teacher I was going to be missing next Thursday's class, and she told me I was going to fail. I think she was kidding? Actually, I couldn't have asked for a better Chinese teacher this semester. There are only four students in my class, two of them already know Chinese very well and can't take the intensive class because of credit restrictions, and the third person is about my level of Chinese. This means we can set the pace of the class, which is crucial when studying another language. I am very lucky to have her too, because from what it sounds like, some of the other teachers are very strict and not very flexibile. There have been a few times when I've gone a little less than prepared for class, but our teacher understands the fact that we are here to explore China, and not to stick our noses in our Chinese books. When you can walk outside and live your life in the language, the class should be used as a suppliment, not as a base. All in all, she's a great teacher, with a great sense of humor and a bubbly energetic enthusiasm that keeps me awake in the mornings. She isn't like my old Laoshi (老师-teacher) from Fordham, who I thank for giving me the foundations of my Chinese lanugage skills, but she is a new Laoshi who has taught me how to use what I've learned in everyday situations.

After Chinese, I was in the mood to be productive, so Brittany and I went to the gym. Then, I spent a good three hours with my Chinese tutor going over the past few lessons. It's about time to get ready for my feast, and of course, I have a great substitute family here with me in China. I can surely add myself in to John, Jim, or Devon's families for the time being.

In honor of the Thanksgiving spirit, I think I have a lot to be thankful for. I can't belive my semester abroad is already coming to a close. This time last year, coming to China was still a vague plan. Now that it has come to fruition, I must say, it's a lot better than I ever thought it would be. I've had a safe trip on top of that and I can't wait to get home and be with everyone again. Have a great day with your families. Stuff yourself like the turkey, and don't forget about those American's who don't have the chance to be home for the holidays.

Beijing: Scene 11, Acts 21-23

What a weekend! It was beyond busy and once again it's Sunday and I'm left with a pile of Chinese homework and not much time to do it. Further, I need to prepare myself for my upcoming weeks of travel. I'm organizing what needs to be shipped home, what I'm bringing with me on the plane, and what I'm leaving behind. Devon left Thursday for Hong Kong and she arrives back to Beijing shortly. Friday night was a blast.  The whole crew went out to eat and to see the acrobat show. We dressed up a little nicer than usual to give the night out a more mature ambiance. Lauren knew of a Japanese restaurant not too far from the theater and we all had a delicious meal for just under $10. It was a pretty fancy restaurant actually.

The show was amazing. Among the many acts, these were some of the noteworthy scenes. Three women wereso flexible she could twist into any shape and pretzel herself into a ball.  Jumping men flung themselves off a spring board, landing on top of tall platforms, raised chairs, and on the shoulders of 3 men standing on top of each other. There were girls riding bikes, but they didn't just ride them. They stood on the handle bars, had people stand on their shoulders, and they even finished with 12 girls on one bike! There was a hanging contraption that was lowered from the ceiling, it was horizontal with two circles on the ends. Inside the circles, they were not spheres, was a man. They began the act by spinning the contraption with them inside the circles. Then, they exited their circles and walked along the outside as the contraption was spinning. It was really crazy and I don't know if I can expain it any better but I thought they were going to fall off. Especially when they tried to do it blindfolded. There was also three guys who did gymnastic type things. They would hold each other in mid air using just their hands. They were incredibly strong and it was really cool. There was also a spinning plates act that was really spectacular and I think one or two more that I can't recall. I have a few pictures to post and I'll try and find more. Overall, the show was great, the dinner was fantastic, and our after party moved to Houhai bar district to finish the fun evening.

Saturday morning, I went to Temple of Heaven on a TBC sponsored trip. It was great. The temple was beautiful and here are some pictures. 

Temple of Heaven

After the Temple of Heaven, I returned home and relaxed. John's mother and brother arrivedin Beijing on Saturday. Jim's sisters come in today, as does Matt's girlfriend and Devon's family. I should be able to get a lot of work done with everyone busy showing their family around town. But, I have that wonderful procrastination problem, so I'm sure I'll end up eating dinner with everyone every night and not be doing what I'm supposed to. I had another tutoring session today with Doug. The lessons are going well but he really doesn't like to speak English. I'm going to have to call my aunt who teaches kindergarten to give me some pointers. Hope everyone is doing well. Can't wait to talk to everyone on Thursday (well, Friday for me).

Posting Paparazzi Pictures: Priceless

Alright. I might not have been clear enough when I told everyone about our fantastic night out to GT Banana to see DJ Armin van Buuren. The club had promotional photographers out and about taking pictures and now me and other TBC students are all over the website. Brittany and Devon are actually on the homepage for Clubzone.cn. They turned their picture into a clickable icon to go to the Top 10 photos of the week. If you click on the link, it will take you to the Top 10 Photos Page, and none other than yours truely has made it in the background of one of the pictures (for now, people are still voting whether it is worthy or not). Hilarious, yes. Famous, maybe not yet. This is definitely a huge deal for the ex-pat community and for the publicity of Beijing's nightlife. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up in The Beijinger's next issue. If you want to see the pictures we took before we went out, I've made an album for everyone.

DJ Armin Van Buuren

I think it is hilarious that Devon and Brittany are on the link to the Top 10 pictures of the week. In all actuality, we are practically celebrities here in Beijing. I'm already expecting the students on campus will be asking us for autographs and I hope I don't have to get physical with anyone to keep the mobs away. Until that day comes, I'll keep on living the normal life.

I have a lot of things planned this weeks. Tomorrow, Brittany, Matt, myself and some others are heading down to Tian**men Square to visit Mao's Tomb. This is a must see when visiting Beijing. Rumor has it the hours are always changing and haven't been constant since the opening of the tomb. There are always days when people arrive to find it closed when it should be open, and that is besides the fact that it is open Tuesday through Sunday 10am until 3:30pm or something ridiculous. No cell phones, no cameras, no water bottles, no backpacks, no purses, no anything inside unless it is the clothes on your back. We have to go in groups because half of the people have to wait outside with our stuff while the other half goes in. It's absolutely nuts and absolutely Chinese at the same time. After we visit the tomb, I have some more gifts to finish getting and then some serious loads of laundry to do.

Thursday, the plan is to head back to the tailor to get my suit made (thank you!) and I'm picking some other things up in the area. Friday, the plan is to head to an acrobat show at the Chaoyang Theater after a wonderful dinner. Devon leaves on Thursday to visit her family in Hong Kong and the whole crew comes to Beijing on Sunday. Everyone is really excited to meet them and, of course, I am too. Saturday, TBC is hosting a trip to see the Temple of Heaven, which I didn't get to see during the Olympics. I think that day I decided to scalp tickets to indoor volleyball. Anyway, I'm glad to be going this Saturday. The weather has taken a turn for the worst and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to see anything over 50°F for a long time. The pollution has let up for a few days, but with the winter, you never know what the air is going to be like. It's been really dry lately and our art teacher advised us to get a cheap humidifier to help with any congestion we may have. (Speaking of art, the paper was a success and I did well.) I hope I can actually get done what I have planned. I've gotten pretty adept at procrastination the past few weeks and it's getting crunch time before I begin travelling again. I'll keep you updated. Have a good one!

The Line is Busy, Please Hold

I'm alive. Barely. I have a Chinese test tomorrow, 65 new characters, some easy, most hard, all of them I'm still writing over and over to try and memorize. Tuesday, I have an Art History paper due, which needs 3 outside sources, I have two. I also have a Financial Management midterm on Tuesday, taught by a professor that barely speaks English and teaches slightly worse than he speaks English. Wednesday I have a Buddhism midterm, which is only 5 essay questions long, but still...

I had a tutoring lesson today and it was great. I met with Douglass (that's his name), at his home in the northern suburbs of Beijing. His family has not one, but two apartments in an enclosed neighborhood very close to the subway station. For the first lesson, we learned our seasons. He was a great time and we had a lot of fun drawing Halloween things, some which he thought were scary and some which he thought weren't scary. He really enjoyed learning about Easter and thought it was so funny that children would want to look for colored eggs! He didn't quite understand Thanksgiving, but I don't think I did a great job explaining the Pilgrims and Indians story. Overall, it was a great way to procrastinate and get paid at the same time.

The weather today is getting cold. I'm glad I have four long sleeve shirts, they are all being used too frequently, and before I know it, people will notice I only have four. The leaves are kind of changing, but mostly they just turn brown and fall off the trees. Just the other night, we all went out and saw James Bond's new movie. It was OK. I'm not a movie critic, nor do I really watch movies often, but none of us were really impressed by the new flick. I'm still waiting for Brittany's photos of Guilin, so please hold on a few more days. As soon as I'm done with the chaos of school I'll get around to making some spectacular albums. If only I didn't push everything off to the last minute...

To keep everyone a little interested, here's some photos of us around Beijing before we left for Guilin. This is just some of our bike ride when Sean broke his arm, the Forbidden City trip I took with my art class, and a few randoms.

Around Beijing II

Oh, and by the way. I'm going to Tokyo. Tickets are booked, everything is done, and I'm leaving the second weekend in December. And, I'm booking tickets to Hong Kong this week. We'll leave the first weekend of December. So, pretty much what I'm saying is that the adventures don't end until the last week of China. I can already predict that those pictures won't be posted until after I'm back in the US, but I'll do my best to get them up during finals week. Take care.

Southward Bound: Another Chinese Adventure

I'm about to go on another Chinese adventure. This one is to the southern province of Guangxi. After our 22 hour train ride, we'll arrive in Guilin Monday afternoon. From then on it's all fun and games. This time our school didn't even bother trying to put any museums or educational façades on the itinerary. Which is a great thing. This means it's a vacation, a break, and a time to relax from our kind of stressful lives at school. From Day 1, we're going to be visiting Yao Hill, decending by toboggan (like the time we went to the Great Wall at Mutanyu). The next night, we're staying with a local village school, where we will not only get to visit the Xiaozhai village school but we will be seeing the infamous Rice Terraced Fields. This is besides the fact that when we return from the village stay, we'll be returning to a five-star western hot-springs hotel. We then take a bus to Yangshuo, where we have two days to really have a blast. There are three options, of which we choose two activities. The first is a hiking/kayaking excursion, the second is a biking/cave mud diving experience, and the last is a cooking/rafting activity. I think I am leaning towards the biking/cave mud diving (we hear it is amazing) and the cooking/rafting. I honestly can't wait to go. There is supposedly an awesome water show that we have to see. If you thought the Silk Road trips are beautiful, check out what is in store for me when I go to Guilin.

Well, now that I'm leaving in a few hours, I need to pack. I should be packing light since the weather down there is about 80°F and the sun is shining every day. I also have some random pictures from my trip to Tian--men when Sean broke his arm and the Forbidden City when I went to some different parts. Also, last night we had a great night out. I got my eight custom tailored shirts back from the tailor and I'm pleased with all of them. We all went out to an Italian restaurant, had some wine, and then went down to Wangfujing. Unfortunately, Wangfujing closes around 10:30pm so we weren't able to try some weird things, but we're going to go sometime soon after we get back to try scorpions, bugs, and other critters.

Oh, and to completely change the subject. I had a field trip for Buddhism class on Saturday morning. It was about an hour and a half away, in the mountains just outside of Beijing. This retreat is a privately owned mountain resort for Buddhists. They can rent out the cabins and practice meditation in the quite natural environment. It was a great experience. Our class meditates for about 20 minutes every time class meets, but this time we learned different techniques and we were able to sit on actual Buddhist meditation cushions. It was really great. We practiced walking meditation and simple breathing focused meditation. It was a relaxing start to a very busy day.

After my Buddhism class, the bus was late coming back to school. I had a Marketing midterm test to take at 1:30pm and we didn't even arrive at school until nearly 2pm. Not to worry, my professor is extremely understanding for these kind of situations and I had a legitimate excuse. Since many of the students in my Buddhism class are also in my Marketing class, about half of us were late for the midterm. We had to grab a quick bite to eat too, which further delayed our arrival. The midterm went just fine, not too difficult. But I had to rush through it in order to make my 4 o'clock appointment.

I have begun tutoring with the English program Learn First as many of you know. I met with another student for the initial interview and I'm in for a treat. This family has lived in the US (Minneapolis, MN) for over 20 years. They just recently moved back to China with their two children, American by birth, and are looking for a tutor to speak with their 6 year old son. I've worked with my aunt as a kindergarten teacher aid before and I worked at PS/MS 20 in a first grade ESL classroom last year. It's a great experience and I can't wait to start when I get back from my trip.

Also, since I'm always wondering about news over in the US, here's a bit of news that is going on over here. Apparently, there was a police beating in southern China where one person was killed. The story goes that some policemen were off duty in plain clothes at a bar having a few drinks. While they were driving home, they hit a car full of college students. I am pretty sure that they hit the college students because the driver got out and began to yell at the policemen. He too had been out that night. Pretty soon, the angry college student became confrontational with the policemen and a fight ensued. The policemen had a video tape recording in their car, but somehow after the fight begins the tape is cut short. You never see the student being beaten to death because a policeman had turned the camera off. This is where the controversy comes in. First of all, the policemen. Although they were off duty and have the privilege to go out drinking, the fact that they hit another car and then severely beat the student to death and injured his friends is completely inappropriate for an authoritative figure. Also, there are some questioning the students and whether or not they were using illegal substances that may have caused the deceased one to die because of a heart attack. From the tape, it seems as though the student started the quarrel, but it is not sure what happened after since the tape was cut off. This is a huge deal right now and all the policemen are in jail. Whoever is convicted of the assault will definitely receive capital punishment. I need to go pack now, so wish me luck and I'll try and post while I'm away but don't expect much. Happy Halloween!

Made in China

I've been in China for two months now, but I haven't been doing much shopping for Chinese goods so far. It's getting down to crunch time and I have 7 weeks to get a ton of stuff before I head home. So far, I've gotten a few cool things for myself, nothing big. I've got a big Christmas gift for someone, and a few small gifts for a few of you too. The longer I'm out here however, I find my list of things to buy growing ever larger. I still have a lot to get myself, such as a suit, a business trench, some custom tailored shirts, and other stuff. Today, I finally purchased my first big item. A custom tailored, cashmere, peacoat. It fits like a glove and I'm pretty sure I've never been this excited about a piece of clothing. What can I say? It looks sharp. I guess that means not all things made in China are that bad after all. In between all the classes and having fun, I'm getting a little stressed out. My number one goal is to not leave China without a suitcase full of awesome stuff and the way it’s looking that suitcase is empty.

Recently, I put an ad on TheBeijinger.com advertising myself to tutor English. Well, what do you know, English tutors are in huge demand out here. I got instant replies from multiple people but the one that caught my interest was one specific program. I went in for an interview last Friday and I began tutoring on Sunday. So far I've tutored twice and I love it. Besides the fact that I have to say I'm 27 years old, pretend I've already graduated, conceal the fact that I'm currently in school here, and avoid talking about my personal life, the job is well-paying, close to school, and very entertaining. I get paid phenomenally well and get to speak my native tongue. The people I'm tutoring are extraordinary business people too.

The first woman I tutored was crazy. She wanted help with her confidential PowerPoint presentation that she had to present this Thursday. First of all, she is presenting to some retired board of directors from Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Second, her company is being audited by Ernst & Young. Last, I was talking to her, helping her speak, and learning about their transition to comply with Sox 404 tax regulations. Absolutely absurd, if you ask me. I'm 20 years old. I'm green and inexperienced in the world of business, teaching English and pronunciation to this well experienced business woman.

The second woman I taught was leaving to Singapore the very next day. During the middle of our tutoring session she has a very important phone call. She apologized for having to take it. Turns out, she said it was her distributor. Her company is working on a huge deal with Airbus because they provide the painters air filtration masks. The distributer called her and told her that they needed a price quote for their air filters. I understood the need for the interruption and we continued our lesson. Then, again, the phone rang and this time we absolutely had to take a break. She was asking me if I knew the exchange rate from Germany to RMB and of course I didn't know! Turns out, her company has multiple divisions around the world. They supply masks to distributors and her division just built a factory in Tianjin, not too far from Beijing. (Remember, Jimmy and I went to the soccer game there) From what she told me, her distributor told her that Airbus wanted to purchase the masks from the German side. The only problem is, that the masks are produced in China. Therefore, they should be a Chinese export. If Airbus purchases the masks from the German office, they avoid paying the 17% tax on the masks but in doing so, they are giving Germany millions of dollars in exports to count toward the German GDP. My student was very upset, saying to me, "I don't care about the money or the commission. I just want what is right for my company and for everyone. Those products belong to us [China] and that is why I don't want them to buy them from Germany." It was so crazy. She doesn't care about losing the commission on this deal, but she wants the money to contribute to the Chinese GDP, as it should. It was a very very nat-onalist-c ideology. I think it is amazing. I don't know what to make of it, but it is very interesting. I can't wait until the next time I tutor. Who do you think I'll run into next? Other than the "would-be-legal-if-I-was-in-the-US" issues, I have high expectations for this program.

This week is a big week for travel too. Devon, Jim and I received our visas and now we’re working on booking a trip to Tokyo. I don't think I'll be able to go to both Hong Kong and Tokyo, but we are for sure going to Tokyo. I also went back to the Forbidden City with my art class today. The second time around was great. My art teacher explained a lot of things and took us to some quieter parts of the Forbidden City. We saw some foreign diplomats being escorted by a ring of plain-clothes police. Also, I must have been looking very American today because believe it or not, I was asked to take a picture with someone and this time I didn't have an American flag on my back to give myself away. I felt pretty cool.

In other news, Jimmy was talking with a ex-TBC student at Fordham who was in China last semester. He's continuing his Chinese language studies in New York and Fordham is paying for his classes since they don’t offer any more than the four semesters I've already taken. Jim and I are jumping on that deal as soon as possible. Both of us really want to continue to learn Chinese, so wish us luck when we approach our dean about it.

I think that is all folks. Check back later.

The Real Reason I Came to China

With all the shenanigans that have been going on the past month and a half it has to come to an end at some point. I've been having a blast getting to know Beijing and China and I can't wait until my pictures are in order so that I can show you all what an amazing adventure I had travelling the Silk Road. But, I did come here for one thing and that is to study. Now, I know that this hasn't been the most official blog on the internet. Sometimes I may not use proper English and most of the time I don't even type in complete sentences. It's hard enough to make time to post often enough and I sincerely wish I could have time to check my spelling, review my grammar and proof-read my entries. However, I don't have time and I'm sorry.

Now that I've explained my lack of professionalism, I can talk about my past few days. I started class yesterday (Tuesday) and so far so good. I began my day with my Intermediate Chinese class. It wasn't nearly as hard as some of the other students made it out to be. Although, after talking with a few of my classmates, it seems as though I have a slightly easier professor than other classes. My teacher is a 26 year old woman. We address her as Li Laoshi (Teacher Li). She is very nice and takes the class at a slow and steady pace. She spoke about 3 sentences of English the entire period. I have Chinese class three times a week from 8 am until 9:50 pm. I'm really excited to start getting into this class. I really hope to become fluent by the time I leave China. I can already get my way around (kind of) and I just need to expand my vocabulary and work on my sentence structure. A person is only as smart as the words they know, so it is my goal to learn to read, write and speak as many new words as possible.

My Arts of China class was intense. My teacher is a Dartmouth undergrad and a Harvard grad student. She has taught in Beijing three times before and this is her fourth time teaching for The Beijing Center. She is working on her dissertation, which has something to do with the Forbidden City, and she loves her job. She actually loves her job so much it is intimidating. We are going to be going through 3000 years of Chinese history. The thing I love most about this class is the fact that art and history go hand in hand. Although we will be learning about Chinese art, we will also be learning about the historical events associated with certain art movements and styles. It will be a history lesson as well as an art class.

My third class was Business Finance. This was an interesting class. We jumped right into the book and begin with future and present values, which I've already done at Fordham. Also, we worked on amortizations and loan payments and all that stuff. The professor explained everything in an extremely difficult way, making it confusing and lengthy. Many of the students were utterly dazed at his explanations. It will be interesting to see where this course goes throughout the semester.

Once again, I hope everyone is doing well. I wish some of you guys would comment on my posts and let me know what you think about my adventures. Simply click on the comment link below this post and you can leave messages and read what other people think about my travels. Remember, I leave tomorrow night around 11 pm to go to Qingdao. There, we will be meeting up with one of our old leaders from CYCAN, Serena. She goes to the Qingdao International Beer Festival almost every year and knows of many places to eat, shop and relax in Qingdao. I'm excited for my weekend and finishing my first week of classes.

I Feel Trapped in a 99c Store...

My new dorm is amazing. I have everything I could want. But of course, being in China, they're going to nickle and dime me for everything I've got. Where do I start? Well, when I turn on the lights, I need to make sure the ones I'm not using are off because we only have 400 "units" of electricity a month. This means that if we leave our air condition on for 12 days straight we'll run out of electricity. When I wash my hands in the sink, I better make sure to do it fast because we have 4 tons of hot water and 4 of cold water. We have to pay for any extra that we use. The laundry room is in a different building and there are no dryers. Since it's been pretty hot lately, my laundry only took about a day and half to dry but when winter comes, that's going to be a lot of fun picking my frozen socks off of our balcony. There is no internet in my room. Well, of the two jacks one works (mine), but I can only get on Google. And since Blogger.com is part of Google, I can post. My Skype doesn't work nor do any other sites outside of Google. This isn't terrible right now, especially because we leave Sunday morning for 2 weeks and I'm not bringing my computer. Later on this year, I'll probably be writing about the situation again when I slip on ice and break all of my electronics at once. Our kitchen doesn't have any gas to light the stove, so we have to pay extra for that as well. No pots or pans provided. Jimmy and I were laughing this morning about how frustrating it is to live here sometimes. Everything is so cheap, but I've always said you get what you pay for. Things don't work properly, like the power strip I took from our old apartment. Sure we bought it at the supermarket, but there are 6 outlets on it and only 3 work. The handles on our plastic/cloth environmentally friendly grocery bags have broken already. The internet is a fiasco. Even in the other building (where we have to go to access wireless), it works sporadically. We laugh that we get things so cheap, but when you have to buy 10 of them to finally get one that works, you kind of come out short. It's kind of like being trapped in a 99c store. But, who doesn't like things from the 99c store. You can get pretty cool stuff there sometimes...

Most of the TBC students went to the Great Wall today. Mutianyu. The same exact place that we had gone a few days ago. Devon, Jimmy and I decided to opt out of this one. Good thing we did, the smog is horrible today and the weather is not the best. Plus they all had to leave at 8 o'clock or some ridiculous time. No way. Instead, we decided to go the Happy Valley Amusement Park. I love theme parks. Roller coasters are my thing. This theme park wasn't huge but they had some pretty great rides. We went on a flying coaster, which we got front seats for. Then they had one just like Elitch Gardens in Denver. The Mind Eraser. Almost an exact replica of that one. We went on another spinning one that moved like a pendulum. We had a great time. Admission was $24 and all worth it. It was really expensive though. A bottle of water was Y5. Ridiculous. We usually pay Y2 ($0.30). I took a lot of pictures. The park was divided into 5 different worlds. Atlantis, Greece, Mayan Ruins, Shangri-la, and Ant Kingdom (Kiddie land). We rode a few rides in each part and just enjoyed the day. Camera #2 is still doing alright too.
We're all still getting used to our new surroundings. We're meeting some cool people and a few of us went out last night. We're all pretty stoked for the two week Silk Road trip we're about to go on. Here's the deal, what I know so far at least. There are 120 students at TBC this semester. We're split into two groups. I'm in Group B, which travels from West to East. This means I start in the Gobi Desert. We go to the very end of the Great Wall, and leave the very last gate. It was here that people were exiled. Once they exited the gate, which was underground, they looked ahead of them at the Gobi. There was, and still is, no life on this desert. They looked behind them and the gate would just be a stone wall. Most of the exiled chose to die at the gate, and it is said their bodies still haunt this gate. We are starting our trip here. We are going to go on camels at 4am to watch the sunrise over the sand dunes. Then we begin our journey to Xi'an. It is here that the famous terracotta warriors are. We are unable to go to Tibet on this trip so instead we are going to the Shaolin Monastery also known as the Shaolin Temple. Many of the major martial arts have evolved from this very temple. Here we will watch the monks practice their arts. They recruit boys as young as 8 years old to begin training. On our Silk Road trip we'll be travelling to inner Mongolia and staying in traditional huts with locals. This will not be our only time camping out. In Mongolia, we will watch them race horses and participate in local Mongolian wrestling. I have never ridden a horse and really hope I get to ride one here. That would be an experience. Besides seeing the local Mongolian's customs and rituals, we will be living in their round tents (forget the name) and living with them for a few nights. Our other home stays will be indoors but we will be completely submerged in the real China. If this trip doesn't get me to the belly of the dragon, I don't know what I'll have to do.

Along this trip, I will try and update here, but if I can't I'll be posting pictures up when I return. I probably won't have the time (or the will) to write about every day, so I'll take extra pictures. I will have my Chinese mobile phone, so you can call me on that. To call me from the US you must first dial 011-86-10 Which is the international code for Chinese phone numbers. After dialing that code, you can then dial my cell phone number, which is 13671373273. Make sure you get a calling card if anyone wants to call me. (Probably not but hey, I want to think I have some fans)

Here are some pictures for you to catch up on.

The Great Wall

Track & Field

I forgot to talk about a dinner I went to a few days ago. It the was our orientation day and we had a few host students take me and my neighbor Ryan on a tour around campus. We met up with Jimmy and his host student and we all went out to get some stuff for the room. We got pots and pans and a few packages of instant noodles. Since we're leaving on the Silk Road trip we can't really stock up on bacon and eggs and stuff because it will all spoil. We went out to dinner to a really cool restaurant where we ate like kings. They even had a free show of multiple traditional dances and performances. It started with some girls doing a traditional dance, followed by a mask dance, and ending with a small portion of the Beijing Opera performed by a young lady. The mask dance was awesome. The guy would change his mask within the half second it took for his hand and sleeve to pass over his face. Literally instantaneously. It was amazing. The opera singer was good? I had to ask my host student if the woman was performing well and she said yes. I probably just don't have the ear for opera. Well, I'm already hard of hearing as it is so I know I don't have the ear for it. We had some of the best Beijing Roast Duck I've had out here. They had some cool stuff on the menu that sounded really good. There was this eel pasta dish that looked really delicious but we didn't order it. This bone marrow drink that had bones with straws in the middle looked interesting to try but we didn't. I took a picture. Also, we did order some shrimp rolls dipped in pink cream cheese type sauce. That was delicious. Ryan wanted to try the duck head but we didn't get that so we got some dumplings, broccoli and a fish that was really meaty and tasted awesome.

I have more pictures from dinner, the amusement park, and my new dorm are going to be posted sometime soon.

Hello Goodbye

RIP Camera #1. I got a call from the service center telling me that my camera would take 1-3 weeks (more expensive to get it done in 1 week) and would cost at least Y1000. I was pretty disappointed to hear the news. I actually had to give my phone to another person to translate for me, so I was mad when they told me the news. I had to go pick up my old camera at the service center and I put the wounded camera to rest. Since this was many people in my group's last night in Beijing, we were all planning a dinner and going out party for them. Before I went back to our new apartment, I decided to browse around for a camera. I went to one camera store and found my exact same camera. This time it was Y2980. That is about $435. No way was I about to pay that much for Camera #2. Especially because I feel really bad that my old one already broke. I talked with the camera man and I told him that a store by my apartment has the camera for Y2300. He immediately told me OK OK, I give you cheap price. Y2300. I knew right away that I was going to be able to bargain my camera down to the price I wanted to pay. So then I began to pull the guilt card and I explained to him that I'm a student and that someone broke my camera and I don't have a lot of money and that my parents told me I can't spend more than this amount of money and the whole works. I wasn't about to get teary eyed over this, but I have to say my skills worked pretty well and I got him down to Y1600. That is almost half the original price. But I was still feeling greedy so I pulled the "walk away" card, where you begin to walk away and they usually lower it a little bit more. Well, I shouldn't push my luck because he let me go. I went into another camera store and did basically the same thing and got it down to Y1600. They wouldn't go any lower though. I tried the walk away and they didn't buy it. I knew that that was probably the lowest any of them would go. I tried a third place and after much haggling, I still couldn't get it below Y1600. I figured I've reached the lowest I could have gone. Camera #2 is now being safely hauled around in my camera bag that I wear like a tourist around my neck. It's pretty sweet and the ladies love it. I think I look like my dad.
I had to jet back to my apartment and shower before dinner and we headed out. We went to a noodle place that made the noodles in front of you. It was pretty good dinnertime TV watching the chefs in the back toss yards and yards of noodles across the kitchen into the pans. They were slicing balls of dough with sharp knives and chopping thin strips of dough into wide noodles. Pretty cool and great tasting food. We went out to Sanlitun Bar District afterwards where we had a great going away party for the girls. They had to catch an early flight out so they left a little bit earlier. The night ended with me, Jim and Adam sometime in the early hours of the morning.
Having such a late night, moving in the next morning was glorious. I had about 4 hours of sleep and hadn't even finished packing. Kirt, a CYCAN leader, helped move me out. Jim and Devon had arranged to move in in the afternoon, but I knew how long moving in can take, so I figured I'd rather get moved in early. I'm pretty lucky I opted for the early move in because Kirt was a fearless warrior. Had it not been for him, I'm pretty sure moving in would have been hell. First things first, my luggage. I already have hoards of junk to squeeze into to suitcases, not to mention all of the stuff I took from our apartment. These items include: toilet paper, shampoo, body wash, laundry basket, tupperware, iced tea, water, instant noodles, powerstrips, converters and other random stuff. Kirt and I were able to get it down in one trip. When we got to my university, it was pretty hard to find building 5 because none of the buildings have numbers on the sides. But Kirt speaks Chinese, so he figured it out after asking a few people. Then, when I was registering, they couldn't find my name in the computer, but Kirt figured that problem out too. I'm also on the 6th floor of my elevator-less building. See first item. (luggage).
All in all, moving in wasn't tough, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without the CYCAN leader. Also, our apartments are awesome. Imagine hotel room with kitchen. The bathroom is a little bit tight. It is very small, a sink and a toilet. The shower nozzle sticks out from the wall right in the middle of the two, so the water pretty much drains through the sink and gets all over the toilet seat. It isn't as bad as it looks or sounds. The beds are extremely comfortable and we have our own patio outside that we can dry our clothes on. I'm really glad I moved in early because when Jimmy and Devon moved in, I was able to get them moved in fairly quick. We had a TBC dinner that night, and it poured on the way over. We got to meet a lot of people and right now we're just trying to remember names. There are a lot of kids from St. Louis Univ., Loyola Chicago, Loyola Maryland, Loyola Marymount (LA), Fordham, Gonzaga, and a few from Marquette and other schools. The Beijing Center is a great program and we keep finding out more and more details about what we're doing for our Silk Road trip. I'll probably write more about that in the next post. After dinner, Jim, Devon, Devon's roommate Brittany, and I went out to get to know a few more people. A lot of our classmates arrived yesterday so they are all jetlagged and tired. I'm really glad I've been here for 22 days because I couldn't imagine getting here and having to leave soon. Our Silk Road trip leaves at 5AM on Sunday, which is 3PM MST on Saturday. I had orientation today too but I dont have time to write about it now. I'll let you know tomorrow what I've learned.

Links to Log

If anyone was interested, here are a few links that can give you more information about my volunteer program, my study abroad program, and the Olympic Games.

• CC International: China Program


• The Beijing Center of Chinese Studies


• Olympic Games Schedule