Day 2 - Exploring Ancient Sites and Chinese Traditions

Today was a full touring day for us! We started by going to visit Beijing's Olympic Green from the 2008 Summer Olympics. It was magnificent!









(The big stadium)



(Lookin' good)



A cultural difference between here and America that Jay and I noticed is that many of the men wear pink - we started counting how many men we saw wearing pink. And they don't just wear baby pink - they loooove hot pink as well (see above example:).

Our next stop was for lunch on the famous Wangfujing Street. Our tour guide Terry (or Pong, which is his Chinese name) said that this street is comparable to the Champs Élysées in Paris. I thought it was more like Times Square because it was chock full of billboards.




(Wangfujing Street)




(And again...)



(For Rabia:)

We had hardly any time on this street. We had to find lunch ourselves - I didn't trust the Chinese fast food, especially because I don't eat pork, so I ended up in Subway with many of the other GYLC scholars. Jay, this girl Chava (from the Netherlands) and I rushed through lunch so we could actually leave the big Chinese mall which had all of the restaurants in it. We got to walk all the way down Wangfujing Street and some of the side streets. We stopped at a candy store, where the owners were very taken with us and how different we looked from all of their other customers. We also stopped at a chopstick store, where Jay bought a bag of collapse-able chopsticks. I think everyone had a pretty interesting time on Wangfujing Street - when we met back up with our group, some people brought back scorpions on a stick to eat. How adventurous...it looked disgusting, but they claimed the scorpions were actually pretty good. Interesting...

When we boarded our buses again, we headed to Tian'anmen Square (Monument to Mao Zedong, founder of the Chinese Communist Party) and the Forbidden City (where the imperial family used to live). Everything was SO beautiful but it was about 1,000 degrees outside and we were all sweating. All of the girls tied their hair up into little Chinese buns on the top of their heads (how fitting...) and the boys took off their extra shirts. We had a great time exploring, but were really happy to get back to the air conditioned bus. Check out some of the pictures I took of the architecture and the snapshots of me with my friends!




(National Museum of China at Tian'anmen Square)



(July 1st is the 90th anniversary of the founding of the communist party of the People's Republic of China)



(Monument to Mao)



(This Chinese vendor followed my friend Victoria around for about 10 minutes, trying to sell her a Chinese fan - she didn't give in though!)

THE FORBIDDEN CITY







(Hand-painted and soooo beautiful)



(With my friend Crystal)






(My friend Gafur being a model for me:)




Before we left the Forbidden City, this adorable group of Chinese kids came up to me and started asking where I was from. They were so cute, so I asked to get a picture with them. I started a group trend and soon everyone was taking pictures with them. Their English was really impressive (especially considering how small they were). Our group leader (aka our FA - faculty advisor) Zach told us on our way out to check our bags to make sure we hadn't smuggled a child with us...they were just too cute!



(Me with the kids:)

We ended the day with a traditional Peking Duck dinner. It was actually really delicious. You eat the duck with a special sauce, cucumbers, and onions wrapped in crepe-like bread. We had a final LGM before bed. Check out the Peking Duck dinner pictures below!











(Our table: top: Anna (?), Sarah, Brianna (?), Katie, Avery, Né-né bottom: Katie, Me, Jay, and Ayesha)

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The Day Without Darkness

Ni hao! Guess where I am? Beijing, China! Right now, I'm sitting in the lobby of the beautiful Beijing Friendship Hotel with my new best friend Jay (who's from Florida). I've known him for less than three days, but we recently discovered that it's impossible to spend a fourteen-hour flight sitting next to each other and talking (unlike all of the other people on the plane who watched TV or slept) without becoming inseparable.


We pulled an all-nighter on the plane not only because it helped us immediately adjust to China time, but because wherever we flew, there was no darkness. As we changed time zones, the sun followed us, so we never had an official "night-time." To keep ourselves awake, Jay and I tried to keep our plane shutter open, but this annoyed the flight attendants...oh well.


(This is Jay:)

When we arrived in Beijing, we were met by GYLC staff and took a shuttle bus to our hotel. The traffic in Beijing is ridiculous and incredibly slow, but it has taught people here to be more patient, which I definitely respect. We did some "getting to know you" games where I got to meet people from all over the world (eg. South Africa, England, Australia, China, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname to name a few), which was so cool.

We had dinner, which most of us were too jet lagged to eat and then we went to a "welcome to GYLC" lecture. We were all so happy to go to bed! My roommate's name is Muriel - she's from Germany and really, really nice.

Today, we had to get up at 6:30 for breakfast, which was tough. The food ranged from squid to cornflakes (I stuck with the cornflakes...;). We had a LGM (leadership group meeting) session before two speakers who came to talk to us about Chinese culture. It was really interesting - I learned that China is a culture that is all about respect; respect for elders and other people in general. Americans should embrace this a little bit more...

After this, we had an extravagant lunch at the hotel which was actually really good. I really like this egg dish with a Chinese tomato sauce - everything else is mostly pork, so I don't eat it.

Next, we finally left the hotel to visit the summer palace and the Beijing Zoo. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...I bought panda earmuffs, which are awesome. We had a traditional Chinese dinner in a noodle house before returning to the hotel room for a final LGM session. I'm having so much fun! More later...

SUMMER PALACE


























(Me and Jay)



(Wish we could've gone on the paddle boats)



(This is the longest hand-painted corridor in the world!)



(Isn't the staff's uniform adorable?)

Next stop...BEIJING ZOO











(Giant Panda!)



(Too cute!)



(Another panda)




(Best. Giftshop. Ever)




(Me, Jay, and Chris in complete panda gear - earmuffs, umbrella, and slippers!)


(Awwwww)








(Sarah from my LGM in a panda hat)

NOODLE HOUSE







(Gettin' artsy with the cucumbers)




(And again...)




(Jordan from my LGM with Chinese Sprite!)



(Check out those mad chopstick skills!)




(Last shot of the noodle house)

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Tomorrow's the Day!

It's official. Tomorrow at noon I will be China bound! I've had a very exciting weekend already though. Because I'm flying to Beijing on a group flight from Newark, Dad decided to take me on a mini-vacation to the Big Apple. It's been a while since I last came to NYC, so I was very eager to come back.









(me and Dad at Rockefeller Center)

Over these past two days, I've rediscovered that New York has it all - bright lights, crazy tourists, and people with skin color in every possible shade (literally - today I saw a man covered head to toe in tattoos - he was green and looked like a reptile). I've definitely come across some interesting blokes over here. I even experienced a hobo swearing at people to get money - I don't think this was a very effective tactic...

Anyway, today Dad and I braved the crowds in Times Square to stand in line for discount Broadway tickets. I was dying to see "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," starring Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette. We got our tickets after waiting with the masses for over an hour, and spent time in Central Park until the show.









(can you guess where this is?)

We arrived almost an hour early and eagerly stood outside the stage door, hoping to catch a glimpse of Dan Rad. We didn't see him before the show, but enjoyed his brilliant performance, and waited outside the stage door once again after the show. This time though, there were policeman and bodyguards and barriers. People who didn't even go see the show were hanging around outside! It was madness, but I got a glimpse of Daniel (and a lovely picture of the back of his head, which I have displayed for your convenience). At one point, he was only 5 feet away. How exciting! I wish I could have talked to him, but at least I got to see him up close.








(if you can't spot him, Daniel Radcliffe is the one in the green hat)

Another funny thing happened after that - Dad and I saw Dan Rad's co-star John Larroquette walking the streets near Central Park with his wife. I got his autograph and got to talk with him. What are the odds of that?








(check out my signed program!)

Anyway, I've had a lovely time here in NYC with Dad and I even feel comfortable with the city now. I'm ready to try a new place - Beijing, here I come! It will be weird being a foreigner after seeing so many foreigners here in NYC - it must be tough to not understand the country's language. Although, the foreigners here speak fairly English fairly well - my Chinese skills are nonexistent. Oh well - I'm sure everything will be okay. I'll be surrounded by GYLC "scholars" who all speak English, so we'll manage together. And Mom bought me some phrasebooks, which will hopefully get me by.

Overall though, I'm so excited! I'd better get some rest before my big day - I can't believe that this time tomorrow I'll be on a plane to China!!!! More to come...:)

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Test

Just testing this out from my iPad, which I will be using in China...