Inner Mongolia and the Gobi Desert...

the GREAT WALL and Chengde area...

So I'm really sorry for how awful I've been about updating my blog.  We had midterms on Friday, so I spent every day this past week studying, including early 6am sessions. PAARRTTTTYY.  I've never worked harder in my life, and have never been so motivated.  It's kind of frightening how much I am enjoying my time here, it's like I'm waiting for something drastic to happen to kick me back into reality.  Life has never been this good.  I love my friends, I love learning Chinese, and I love everything about China.  Including the Great Wall and Chengde! 

 Finally I can say that I've climbed the Great Wall of China.  And let me say, Great is a drastic understatement.  I can't really explain the feeling of hiking from Jinshanling at 3:30 in the morning just in time to see the sunrise over the Great Wall.  It was the most exhilarating experience I've had in a long time, and much needed at that.  You wouldn't believe once you saw, how this wall could possibly be effectively built and how many thousands of miles (15,000, I think) it extends.  The wall is literally balanced on the converging point of the mountains, and even with modern technology I can't fathom how the laborers could possibly get up the mountains that high with stones that heavy.  The only thing I could believe was that underneath the wall are buried thousands of chinese men, who died mid-construction. But, I do have to say that the size of the wall itself, in terms of width and height is by no means as large as I expected.  But, the wall is by no means friendly to the feet, and at some points ascends at an over 45 degree angle.  I hiked on all fours at one point, no joke.  The entire hike took about 3.5 hours, and we covered over 6 miles of mountainous, looonnngg wall, ending up in Simatai.  My body had never felt so simultaneously dirty and clean by the end.  The hike  was a constant, mostly uphill battle. literally.  But it was so satisfying to look out from the peak of the last tower and see what I had just accomplished. 

Seriously, one of the greatest experiences of my life.  I've found that I've been saying that a lot lately, and I have to say, It's completely genuine each time.  That was my Sunday two weekends ago.  But before then in Chengde, we got to visit the Puning Temple (keep the dirty jokes to yourselves, please).  After seeing one or two temples in China, they all seem to blur together, but this temple was particularly memorable.  Perhaps it was the unusually clear day, or the festive, upbeat music, or maybe it was the four story high indoor buddha with around 50 arms, but something about this temple really elevated my mood.   Either way, though I cannot relate to the religion or practices, there was a definite spiritual vibe in the air that really got to me, not to mention the delicious and constant aroma of burning incense (a method of prayer, apparently).  I don't have much time to talk about our other experiences that weekend, but hopefully I'll be able to update you all later this week.  

I hope all of your guys' summers are being thoroughly enjoyed, and please do yourselves a favor and find some time to relax, take it easy, and enjoy the simple things.

First weekend out on the town...

 This weekend was too much fun!  Once again, EAP took our entire group out to a fantastic family-style dinner(they order a bunch of dishes, put it on a lazy susan in the middle of the table and everyone just digs in-BOMB).  The place was not actually a restaurant, but called the Laoshe Tea House.  And while dinner was served, we were shown an amazing shadow puppet play-doesn't sound too cool, but was actually entertaining and a nice cultural experience.  And after the dinner we went upstairs for desert and a handful other performances (contortionist, hand shadow puppets, acrobats, magic, kung-fu tea pourers- i know, right? Apparently they exist-, chinese opera, to name a few) all of which were either completely astounding or down-right hilarious.  That was our fourth of july, and a quite enjoyable one.

 

Then on Saturday I finally, with a group of friends made my way to the FORBIDDEN CITY!  This was one of the places I was most excited to see, and I have to say it was incredible how well-kept the structures were.  For structures over 600 years old, they're in tip-top condition and so rich in color and history.  Though somewhat repetitive after four hours of walking, I was completely impressed and glad to have checked it off of my list of things to have seen while I'm here. 

That night we also went on our first clubbing excursion-craazyy cheap alcohol and lots of foreign creepers-  Then on Sunday, I went to my first shang chang (indoor flea market) and whipped some of my Israeli bargaining skills into shape.  I got a pair of hiking shoes and a Jansport backpack -though probably a fake- all for like 15 bucks.  booyah!

As of now, I am in class 5 days a week for four hours, usually working another 5 hours on top of that each day.  Class is soooo challenging seeing as I'm with second year chinese students and student's whose parents spoke chinese to them when they were younger, so I'm definitely at the bottom of the class but I can tell I'll be learning soo much... 

That's pretty much it for now. I am camping out on the Great Wall overnight this weekend-so excited! I'll be coming back with fun photos and stories...

as of now, ciao!

Hou Hai...even better the second time around...

I've gotta say, EAP hooks it up!  Though I mentioned in my last post that I visited HouHai, EAP took us as a group with an official tour and everything. We got to see a lot of really interesting areas with so much history, not to mention personal group tour guides. Initially, I thought we'd be doing a walk-around tour, but with the prices being so cheap (you have NO idea, I'm living like a queen!), every two people got their own rikashaws (sp?), and we sat back as the funny chinamen -most of them drunk- transported us around the lake. 

After that, the most adorable Chinese couple, no younger than 70 opened up their house to our group in a traditional, though surprisingly clean Hutong (a word for the typical chinese neighborhood).  

So clearly, we needed a break from the EXHAUSTING trip, so we went into this garden/museum type thing that used to be the house of an insanely wealthy prince, Prince Gong. (apparently, he was 90x richer than bill gates...who knows, maybe i will bring myself home a chinaman) Anyway, the garden was beautiful, as most of the greenery here is, and the best part is that we got to partake in a traditional chinese tea ceremony where they explained how to pour the tea, clean it, drink it etc...the porcelain-ware was so beautifully detailed and there is so much history/method to the ceremony, it was truly eye-opening.  

So take that plus an amazing free dinner and a boat ride with live music, and we've got one of the most fantastic days I've had here yet.  Again, I wish you all could be here to experience this with me, but the next best thing are these really fun pics..enjoy!

oh yeah and about the whole education part of this trip...we had our first day of class!  It was really tough because there are a bunch of second-year students (i'm in the intermediate track) in my class, but I can tell I'll be learning A LOT of Chinese here.  So stoked!

Zai Jian Peng You Men!