Longqing Gorges

On a Saturday morning at 8:30am we were supposed to load the bus. I set my alarm clock for 8:10 but kept sleeping. I finally woke up at 8:29! Ha, I made it down there at 8:35 and was just on time. I slept the whole three hours it took us to get there because of all the traffic. When we finally arrived we took a walked through the entrance which looked like an amusement park and then took a boat to the part where we could climb and have a view of the landscape. The boat ride was about 20 minutes; it was really beautiful. You might notice that in some of the pictures it looks foggy - like some type of romantic mist. Nope! That's pollution. Even a few hours outside of Beijing you still have that wonderful thing that clogs yours lungs and makes you cough like crazy called pollution... a beautiful thing really. Well, the boat ride was pleasant because the water looked turquoise and clean and I wanted to go swimming. When we finally arrived we had instant noodles and lucky us that we were under a roof eating lunch because it started to pour. We waited it out and the walked around. We actually only had two and a half hours to see the place. I walked around the area with some friends, other students actually bungee jumped. Overall, we spent more time on the bus then in the actual place. It was exhausting. I'm really glad I went though because it was nice to get out of the center of Beijing and see some nature even if it’s polluted. I couldn't see the blue sky but at least I saw the water and the mountains and thought I could breathe somewhat “fresher” air.

Datong

On Thursday night (7/19) after taking our midterm exam, we went to the train station to go on our weekend excursion to Datong. The fieldtrip marked the end of one semester at ACC (one month is equivalent to one semester of Chinese at college). So at 9:30pm we took the bus to the main train station in Beijing. Like everything else in this city, it looked like both a zoo and flea market. People were sleeping on the floor, people were pushing you, it smelled bad, it was crowded, etc etc. welcome to China! Our train was delayed by an hour so we ended up leaving Beijing at around midnight on Thursday. It took us about 6 hours to get to Datong... here we go the TRAIN: I've ridden on many trains before, but never like this one. It was - gross! Each compartment had 6 beds - two sets of bunk beds on each side. Of course when I drew out of the hat whether I would get top, middle, or bottom, I got top. It was pretty high, I was actually scared of falling but nothing happened. So the train - the Chinese were very thoughtful and provided us with two pillows and a blanket. As soon as I saw the pillows and blanket I thought 1) I'm going to get lice 2) how many people have slept on those things 3) have they ever been washed. I threw them aside and slept directly on top of the mattress.... not comfortable but at least I survived and did not get lice. Six hours later we finally arrived at Datong where the weather was much cooler than in Beijing. When we arrived we went to the hotel to check in, drop off our luggage, and eat breakfast. The rooms were big and comfortable. The breakfast gave me a stomach ache the whole day. Need I say more, six uncomfortable hours on a train and then a breakfast (fried rice, dumplings) that made me sick all day. Yes, it was rough but Datong was worth it. We visited Datong a la Chinese style - take a three hour bus ride to spend one hour at a place. Chinese mentality - As long as you've seen it that's what counts; it doesn't really matter if you spend a lot of time touring. You’ve seen it move on! It was fast, but at least we got to go on a fieldtrip.

Friday (Day one)

Hanging Monastery (悬空寺 Xuankong si)
The monastery was built on the cliff of the Golden Dragon Canyon at the foot of Heng Mountain. It has a history of more than 1400 years. Basically, you are in a monastery hanging off a cliff. You lean over the railing and you see the ground. It's an incredible feeling. I actually felt surprisingly safe despite it being an ancient building and having a ton of people on it. The steps on the stairs had elaborate metal designs. The sculptures inside the monastery were painted in bright colors. The building itself was very pretty and all the small details added up and made this monastery breathtaking.

Heng Mountain (恒山 Hengshan)
I think the best part of climbing this mountain was the view. My friend and I decided to walk up the mountain instead of take the cable cart and every time we stopped we had an amazing view of the landscape - the mountains, a river, and of course the still polluted sky. Once we reached the top there were antique buildings and temples. We walked around them and went inside some of them too.

Wooden Pagoda (应县木塔 Yingxian muta)
One of the highlights of being in China. During the spring semester I took a course on Chinese Modern Art and the World. One of the topics was architecture, and we actually studied this exact pagoda. I studied the floor plans and cross sections of this pagoda in the States, and now I'm actually standing in front of it. It was quite a feeling. This pagoda is one of the oldest wooden buildings in the world. Not a single nails was used in the construction of it, although I saw some nails while I was there (I guess its okay to use them during renovations.) When you walk inside you see a huge Buddha surrounded by paintings. The paintings on the wall are now fading and there is no light in the hall to preserve the images. Then you walk up very narrow stairs and reach the second level (there are nine levels in total but you are only allowed to visit the first and second levels). In the middle of the second level there are more religious sculptures and as you walk around you feel that the whole building is slanted and curving in because of the structure. I loved it, but I was disappointed with the maintenance of the building because one of the wooden doors from the 11th century was just lying on the ground as if it was trash. The pagoda is actually in a monastery complex so there are other buildings surrounding the pagoda. I was thrilled to visit this wooden pagoda!

After all the sight seeing we had dinner at a local Chinese restaurant - on the sticky tables, where flies are flying around, and people spit on the restaurant floor. I had noodles with tomato and egg. It was very yummy and I didn't get sick. Then we all went to bed at around 10 or 11 because we had another adventure filled day Saturday.

Saturday (Day two)

The Yungang Grottoes ( 云冈石窟 Yungang shiku)
What a site! The Yungang Grottoes are the largest Buddha statue complex preserved in China. In AD 460, five grottoes were excavated and within the following 60+ years the immense project was completes. The Buddha statue complex stretched 15 km; now it only stretches 1 km from east to west. Luckily, more than 1100 grottoes (there are 53 major grottoes) with about 51000 statues have been preserved. It was so beautiful. You could go into some of the grottoes and admire the statues in the middle and the carvings on the walls. In other cases, you could only lean on the railings and peak inside. Some of the statues were huge, others were the size of my pinky. It really was impressive.
Huayuan Monastery (华严寺 Huayan si)
We literally spent 15 minutes here. I'm not sure if it was enough, but we saw the main attraction: the main hall. The main hall is the largest Buddhist hall that still exists in China. Inside the hall, there are five huge, gilded, seated Buddha statues on lotus throngs. The surrounding walls have murals; the main hall was very colorful. What shocked me the most was that this place still exists. During the Cultural Revolution many historic places were destroyed, but luckily this one still stands.

Nine Dragon Screen (九龙壁 Jiulong bi)
You said it, it is a screen wall. This screen was built over 600 years ago and remains the largest and oldest glazed screen in China today. Datong is known as the “Home of Dragon Walls.” During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, five dragon screens were built and still stand. The Nine dragon screen was originally a screen wall in front of the gate of the palace of Prince Dai, the thirteenth son of the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It is 8 meters high and 45.5meters long. The colors are still very fresh, and the dragon figures remind you of the typical and traditional Chinese dragon. I hear Beihai Park in Beijing also has a screen, but it is much smaller.

Overall, the trip was similar to cramming for an exam - you do everything at a very fast pace. I wish we would have had more time to really sightsee. On Saturday we actually only did half a day of sightseeing, which was a waste of the second half of the day because they wanted to give us free time but there is not much to do in Datong so my roommate and I just slept half of the afternoon. We ended up leaving Saturday night at around 11ish and got back to Beijing Sunday morning. ACC wanted to make sure that we had at least one day to prepare for our classes on Monday. Ridiculous, we should have done some sightseeing on Sunday as well. Oh well, at least I got a taste of what it's like to be a Chinese tourists and see some amazing sights.

Yungang Grottoes








Huayuan Monastery


Nine Dragon Screen














Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

Heng Mountain

Hanging Monastery

ps. Every week we have to write an essay. When we got back from Datong I wrote my essay on our fieldtrip. I actually wrote the best essay in level four and they posted what I wrote outside on the bulletin board. I thought that was pretty cool :)

Beijing at the Beginning

The blog we’ve all been waiting for – including myself. I finally wrote it and hopefully you can see it! I’m having a great time in Beijing so far. I love it here.

ACC (Associated Colleges in China) I thought I’d describe the structure of the program in. In addition to just being amazing, the best part of ACC is its location. I’m about 15 minutes away from the best bar/club district in Beijing…ummm. ACC is associated with Hamilton College and is a very intense, well structured program. We have classes from 8-12 or 1 depending on what time you have your tutorial. I placed into level four (the highest level). Sometimes its tough, but I’m getting a lot out of it. From eight to noon we have da ban ke (or large class) six to seven students go over the lesson with a teacher. We review what the story was about and cover main sentence patterns. Then from 9:10-9:50 we have xiao ban ke (or small class) where about four students go over important sentence patterns with a teacher. Then from 10:10-11:00 we have dui hua ke (or dialogue class) where two students and one teacher debate/discuss the controversial issues regarding the lesson we just read. Then either from 11:10 to noon or from 12:10 to 1pm you have a one-on-one with the teacher. In level four there are 18 students, and 11 teachers. Plus, the teachers are available in the afternoons to answer questions and on weeknights they have office hours. They are really here to help us succeed. So far I feel okay about the program. Even though I feel that I’m not learning that much because all I do is prepare the 100+ words I need to now for the dictation for the next day, I am learning a lot. So far four weeks into the program I’m listening to the news and reading the newspaper. I feel more and more comfortable with the language and you know you know the language when you know the meaning of the work in Chinese but not in English. By the end of the program in August my Chinese will be amazing (fingers crossed). The program is intense, after lunch I usually nap and start my homework. It’s very demanding but you get a lot out it. It’s rewarding to know you can talk about current events and controversial issues in Chinese. So from Monday to Thursday I have class and then on Friday mornings I have a test. After the test, all of fourth grade goes on a field trip. So far we’ve been to two places: 798 and Lu Xun’s home.

Friday Fieldtrips

798 is the artsy district in Beijing. They call it the Soho of Beijing. Basically, the artists took over the factories and transformed the area into their work area and galleries. There are many modern art galleries and furniture galleries. I’m a big art fan so I enjoyed it. There are a lot of exhibitions in 798 so there is always something new to see.

Lu Xun’s house – Lu Xun is a famous Chinese writer. We are actually reading some of his stories in class. Lu Xun lived in different areas in China, but one of his homes was in Beijing. We went to see the Lu Xun museum and then saw his house. It was really interesting to learn about one of China’s most prominent writers and see where he actually lived. You can only see the rooms from outside but you can peak in through the windows and see his desk, bed, and other belongings. You can see a picture of me standing in front of Lu Xun’s house; I’m wearing a red shirt and black pants.

Silk Market

Talk about a bargain! This is a seven story building just full of cheap stuff. On the first floor you can buy shoes, bags and belts – of course all knock offs. Then you can find anything: clothes, traditional Chinese items, rugs, tea, statues, paintings, jewelry, video games, and sun glasses. You name it, they have it. This market is different then the market in Shanghai because it’s an actual building with air conditioning. I’ve been to the market already a few times. Each time I go with my list or else I would probably buy the whole market. You really have to bargain because these people are intense. Some of them push you if you don’t buy their goods or just tell you to get out – not polite at all, but welcome to China.

ACC extracurriculars

Jingshan Park and Tiananmen ACC organizes a lot of activities for us. The first weekend we were here they took us to see Tiananmen Square and Jingshan Park. The park is now a public park, but during the era of the dynasties, it was the emperor’s park. This is the park where one of the emperors committed suicide by hanging himself; the tree is actually still there (kind of spooky). Jingshan Park on the weekends is very lively. There all types of activities going on: dancing, singing, writing calligraphy, playing games, and lots of strollers. I really liked it. If you climb up Prospect Hill you can see the Forbidden City. Unfortunately the pollution problems in Beijing are pretty serious and I couldn’t really see the Forbidden City but it was quiet a hike, good exercise. Pictures: towards the bottom – people jumping, me in front of red walls, a cloudy view of the Forbidden City. You can also see pictures of Tiananmen Square – No, my camera is not dirty, it’s just the Beijing air. If you see I took a picture of this kid with hole in his pants (the kids in China don’t wear diapers – their pants have slits in them so they can just squat). Also side note: the two pictures towards the bottom of a lake are not of Jingshan Park. Those are pictures of Beijing University where I will be studying in the fall.

Lectures and Performances We’ve had a lecture on tea drinking. I tasted all different teas and even though I already know green tea is my favorite, the lecture confirmed it. We had some flower teas that weren’t as good, but at least I tried them. Then last week we had a concert on traditional Chinese music. We heard some the pipa, erhu, yanqin, and guzhen. I attached a picture of the musicians with their instruments. We also had a lady from the Department of US Commerce come and talk to us about US-China economic and trade relations. In addition to telling us facts and statistics she gave us two views about the future of China: great and not so good. Civil war, internal chaos, pollution problems, traffic control, water shortages, etc. OR China as the superpower. It was a really interesting lecture that made me think about the future of China. I'm happy that I'll be in Beijing this year so I can watch the city transform as it hosts next year's Olympic games, but I think after the Olympics will also be an interesting period for China.

Acrobatics Show ACC also arranged for us to see an acrobatic show on Friday, July 13. The music was incredibly tacky but the show was amazing. It does make you wonder how they do it. They rode bicycles, spun plates, juggled balls with their feet… I have to upload pictures.

Chinese Family and Language Partner

I have both a Chinese family and a language partner. My Chinese family is super nice. My “mama” works at the university so in case I need anything she is just one building away. My “baba” is a pediatrician – lucky me. Then I have a younger brother or “didi” who is just brilliant. He is seven years old and can already recite the Declaration of Independence in English by heart. Very impressive. At the same time, it makes you realize how fortunate you are that most of us don’t have parents who force us to memorize important documents at the age of seven. It seems like Chinese children really don’t have a childhood because they don’t go outside and play, instead they stay in their homes memorizing and reciting. When are the Chinese parents going to understand that their children are just kids and need to play instead of memorize speeches all day. It’s incredible that he can recite such documents, but it’s also really sad because he is not the only one. Most Chinese kids are like him and just don’t know what playtime is. I guess both educational systems/methods had their advantages and disadvantages but I’m grateful that I had a lot of playtime when I was younger. Also, I “share” my Chinese family with another ACC student. The other student is Bo Fei; she was here last semester and is super helpful when it comes to eating and going out. She is also like my “jiejie” or Chinese sister. Overall, I really like the concept of having a Chinese Family. On July 8th, Bo Fei and I went to our Chinese family’s home for lunch. It was so nice to have a home-cooked meal. The Chinese do like their chicken feet – I’m not sure if I’ll try it but it’s tempting (I included a pix of a chicken head and feet. I bought a chicken breast at the supermarket and below the meat was the head and the feet –gross!). Most meals include chicken feet. After lunch we went to the Capital Museum with the family. The museum was really well done – it’s about the history of Beijing. There are displays on Hutongs (the typical Beijing homes), marriage rituals, bronze vessels, porcelain pieces, and Chinese customs. You can see a picture of me with my Chinese family at the museum. The picture above the picture of my family is the actual museum. I've been to Chinese family's house twice for lunch and towards the end of the program they took us out for hotpot and gave us books. They are really very kind and after ACC I hope to stay in touch with them because I'll still be in Beijing. In addition to a Chinese family I have a language partner who I meet with once a week to practice Chinese. My partner is a graduate student who is studying film/directing and is currently writing TV show scripts. She’s is very nice and helps me with my homework :). ACC requires that we meet with our language partners once a week, but I only ended up meeting with mine two times because of our schedules.

Cooking classes

Brace yourselves – I’m taking cooking classes. Since I was about four, I wanted to be a chef, when I became a teenager my dreams of being a chef stopped. When I was 18 I almost burnt down my house because I put pasta on fire and put bread in the oven on fire. Need I say more? I’m not quite a kitchen person. BUT I’m taking cooking classes every Monday afternoon. It’s going very well – so far I haven’t heard anybody or burned down the building. We cook typical Chinese dishes and then enjoy them. Very yummy! The ironies of life – I’ve never cooked in my life and the first type of food that I learn how to cook is Chinese. Side note regarding food: when I went to Wal-Mart I found an MSG aisle. Yes, everything and I mean everything in China has MSG.

The Great Wall

The Great Wall I know you’re going to say duh, but I have to say the Great Wall is quite GREAT. I’ve been to the Great Wall before but I had forgotten how huge it is. We left at around 8:30am on Saturday and got there at around 10ish. The Great Wall has many different sections – we went to Mutianyu (the touristy wall that is climbable). Once we got to the Wall we walked up the mountain (even though there was a cable cart we walked up the mountain until we reached the Great Wall). It was spectacular. The view of the mountains, the wall that doesn’t seem to have an end, the blue sky, everything!!! The Great Wall is amazing. I want to go again and again… maybe not in the summer though because it was way too hot. I did include pictures of the Great Wall and the picture of me in a yellow tank top is inside one of the guard stations on the Wall.