Pictures galore (some even with blue sky)

I haven't been able to update a lot because I've been so busy with school (3-week classes are intense). Anyway, here are a couple of pictures.

The first is my street (Chungfu Lu) on a sunny day:
Starbucks! It's called "Shing ba kuh" in Chinese, although I always pronounce it wrong because they have a sound we don't have in English (a voiceless alveopalatal fricative).


I also got a picture published on the BBC. See it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7494999.stm
(picture 8 is mine, it's of a bunch of people on stairs with umbrellas).

The weather has definitely improved recently (and by weather I mean smog), so I'm not too worried about my health yet. Anyway, I'll try to post again soon!

Edit: In case the BBC ever takes my picture down, here's a screen shot:

A truly beautiful day in Beijing + Bookworm

This weekend I was starting to become resigned to the fact that I would not directly see the sun nor blue sky for the entire month, except maybe when I left the city. However, I was pleasantly surprised when Sunday ended up being a simply gorgeous day! As soon as I can, I will upload a picture (and one with the regular sky color to contrast them). The sun was out, there was blue sky and definition between cloud and sky. I don't know what happened to make it so wonderful, but thank goodness for whatever the Chinese are doing to prepare for the games because I can only attribute it to that.

In other news, me and Kathryn went to a really cute bookshop/cafe/restaurant called Bookworm on Saturday to study. We splurged on a really nice lunch (my first fish in a long time) and spent the day there alternately reading for class and browsing their lending library of books. I've read that you need to donate 3 books to participate in the lending library aspect, which is kind of cool. We've decided that we need to get out of our district at least on the weekends and will be spending at least one of those days there.

Well, until next time...

Old Summer Palace

The newest pictures are from the Old Summer Palace, where I wandered around one afternoon. It is a very large place and I got lost a couple of times on the way there and on the way back (thank goodness a taxi ride back was only $1.50).

This picture is from a zig-zag bridge. It was really long and slippery, but I managed to get across it without any mishaps.This second picture I took after following some ooo's and ahh's from the crowd. Right off of a dock where they were taking people around in boats (you can see one in the background) were two beautiful birds. I could have asked someone what kind of bird it was, but I would probably either have gotten another Chinese word or a blank stare. But they were gorgeous.

This was another interesting bridge. It was the tallest one I saw by far.

And that concludes the Old Summer Palace. This blog took me a little under an hour to completely upload, so there won't be very many pictures in the future... But plenty of stories! Until next time.

An amusing tale...

Ni hao! I don't have much time, but I wanted to post a humorous story, or at least after a few days it seems much more humorous and Kathryn told me I had to post it...

So, I was meeting my group one afternoon/evening and was trying to catch a bus to the university around rush hour. The buses were jam packed, but a bus finally came that would take me to the right place, so I rushed to get on. I was the last one and was trying to make sure that I would get on, so I put my foot up on the step, thinking they wouldn't close the door with my foot there. Oh was I wrong... All of a sudden the doors shut close with my foot in the door. I pulled out my foot, but my sandal didn't quite make it and the bus immediately started moving with my shoe attached! Thank goodness for the crazy Beijing traffic (I will never say that again) because the bus stopped about 10 feet later to merge into traffic and I grabbed my shoe back.

That's right, a bus tried to steal my shoe. Thank goodness that is the closest I've come to anything of mine being stolen yet, which is much better than my trip to Barcelona...

Happy 4th everyone!

Some pictures!

Here's me in front of the forbidden city, just hanging with Mao. And of course some Chinese girls in the background... Oh well. And this is my vegetarian meal (imitation Peking duck and Jasmine tea - delicious!). I'll upload more pictures when I have a better internet connection.

Class time + my adventures as an English speaker in China

So, the real reason I came to Beijing wasn't to wander around the city all day but to take a linguistics class. Today was our third day of classes and it hasn't exactly been easy. I think I am the only one in the class who does not speak Chinese, so when they're trying to explain something they use Chinese because it's easier for everyone else to understand. But that tends to leave me a little clueless as to what is happening in the class. I've learned to sit there and keep busy while things are discussed in Chinese and wait until a break when I can ask what just happened. That happens to me a lot, especially with my "study group".

The class is split up in groups of 3. Each study group has one Beijing University student, one student from another university in Beijing, and one student not from Beijing. Guess which one I am. So while my group members speak English, Chinese is much easier for them, so most logistical plans are made in Chinese. I'll be involved and then all of a sudden one says something in Chinese to the other and they go off chattering while I am sitting there utterly confused and waiting until they're done. Usually they forget to tell me what has just happened so most of the time I have to ask. But I'm getting by, mostly by trying to speak slowly and pointing at things. And this way most decisions are made for me, which is rather nice considering I've only scratched the surface of this city. And one of them introduced himself, saying "My name is [insert a very Chinese name] but you can call me Larry." It took all of my energy not to laugh.

The number of things I can say and understand has vastly improved. I can now say: Hello, how are you?, 10 bucks, numbers 1-4, the name of my bus stop, thank you, Starbucks (very important), no, and the name for the Chinese dollar. I can understand the name of my school's bus stop (it's far too long to say), the Old Summer Palace, and the Summer Palace. Of course all of this took a week to learn and I've only got 3.5 weeks left. So maybe by then I'll be able to have a very short conversation, talk about the weather or money or something. My favorite translation of an English word into a conglomeration of Chinese words is the word for cell phone: literally it's "hand machine". And the word for Starbucks is the Chinese word for star + what sounds like "bucks".

Well, I shall try to post again soon (and maybe add some pictures...), but now I have to go read 100 pages about phonology and do some homework. This class definitely will not be easy...

Sightseeing

I've had a fun the last few days exploring on my own. Since my language skills don't help a ton here, I've had to do most of it with pointing and nodding, but somehow I've survived. My first full day I went wandering around the hutong, little alleyway neighborhoods that are quickly disappearing. The ones I was wandering in are northeast of the Forbidden City. The streets are barely big enough for a car, which makes it interesting when a car, a bikerider, and a pedestrian meet on the street... But anyway, I found what I think is one of the only vegetarian restaurants and had some delicious imitation Peking duck and bamboo shoots with jasmine tea. Then I walked around some more before going back to where I'm staying. Then I fell asleep at about 7pm, no joke.

The next day I decided to visit Tienamen Square and the Forbidden City. I probably should have given myself more time because after wandering around the subway station looking for the square for about half an hour, then actually walking through the square (it's not small) and walking through the first gate of the city, it was already 4pm. What I didn't realize was that it closed at 5... So I got a taste of the Forbidden City, then went home using a different subway stop. Then I tried to stay up late but went to sleep at 8.

Then came yesterday. It was absolutely beautiful outside (which in Beijing terms means that it's overcast but not gloomy), so I found a Japanese restaurant and had the cheapest sushi meal I've ever had, then hopped a bus to the Summer Palace. Knowing my luck, I accidentally went the wrong direction and had to switch buses. Then, to make matters worse, I started walking in the wrong direction and then it began to pour! I ended up huddled in a little shop for a bit while it let up, then I found the Old Summer Palace (which was probably better considering the Summer Palace closes at 5 and the Old Summer Palace doesn't close until 7). I walked around for hours and hours until I decided it was time to leave. Then began my journey to find the exit, which took at least another hour. Once I got there, I couldn't for the life of me find the bus stop, so I took a taxi back, which ended up being less than $2. Again I tried to stay awake, especially because Kathryn (another student I'm rooming with here) was arriving that night, but I fell asleep at about 9.

Today is looking kinda gloomy, so we'll see what happens. I'll update again )hopefully with pictures) when I can

I made it!

Hello from Beijing! I got here yesterday and I have to say I don't think I've ever gotten more sleep in one day in my life. I think the key to getting time change right is to get no sleep so all you want to do is sleep and eventually it'll work itself out. But I could be wrong... Well, I haven't done much outside of the youth hostel I'm staying at. I tried walking around last night, but could not get my bearings, so I just came back and read. Today hopefully I'll do some sightseeing, but if I can't navigate the subway system in Chinese, that might not happen until Kathryn comes in on Saturday. Well, I'll update again soon!

Here I go again on my own...

The time has finally come for my trip to Beijing. I will be taking a course in phonology at the Michigan-Peking University Joint Institute. That is PHONology, not PHRENology - that is, I will be studying sounds, not the bumps on people's skulls. (I've had to explain that more than once...) Anyway, I'm packed and ready to get on my over 13 hour flight direct from Chicago to Beijing. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to the youth hostel I'm staying at without any trouble before immediately passing out.
Anyway, I'll try to update this periodically in China, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to access the site there... If not, I will figure out some way of keeping in touch with everyone and telling you all about my month in Beijing. Talk to you all soon!

Lauren

Belated Barcelona post

I was just going back through my blog and realized I never put up pictures from my time in Barcelona. Of course, those who know what happened to me (I had my purse stolen, including my camera...) might understand this, but it's about time I put something up. My friend Supraja was also there and took these pictures (I had disposable cameras, which should have some additional pictures, come to think of it...). So, here's the view from Katherine's place (where we were staying):
And I was staying like 5 feet from the Boquería (the most incredible market I've ever been to):

We were starved for bagels (Paris has none, I swear), so for 3 euro, we got bagels with cream cheese:After our first chocolate and churro dessert, me and Supraja have decided to form a religion based on their fattening goodness:


No trip to Barcelona would be complete without some Gaudi buildings, so here's one we happened upon:
Next was the Gaudi Park, which is the trippiest park you'll ever go to. I felt like I was in the Hansel and Gretel fairytale:



Those Barcelonans really know their chocolate! We had to stop by the chocolate museum, which was filled with statues made of chocolate of various things, like famous Barcelona buildings and Disney characters:



We found our way to the water and walked along the boardwalk:


And then we headed to Portugal... (to be continued)