Back in the US

From China's east coast to my home east coast - I'm back from my trip. My sleep cycle isn't entirely restored (some adjustment has happened, but I'm still not feeling sleepy until around 4 or 5am, and then sleeping until about 11:30am each morning), I'm not used to seeing so many waiguoren and not hearing Chinese everywhere, and my stomach is still getting used to DC cuisine. What is DC cuisine? It's a menagerie of everything, a smorgasbord of international diets. In only the last week, I have had Thai, Mexican, Americanized Chinese, Indian, as well as pizza, sandwiches, oatmeal, and shredded mini wheats. I just realized how much I actually love sandwiches! Sounds strange, but when you don't have them for a month, you really miss 'em!

Switching back entirely to English is interesting. The environment makes it a smooth transition, because of course I have grown up speaking only English in this area, around the same people, so it's simply picking up where I left off; I can simply think and speak, instead of think, translate, and speak. I'm concerned for my spoken Chinese though -- my difficulty with learning Chinese has been largely due to my rare actual usage of it. As I saw in Tianjin, what you learn in a classroom and from a textbook isn't necessarily what you use in day-to-day conversation. I'll have to really try to stay in tune with Chinese news, podcasts, tv/movies, and other media to at least keep my listening comprehension in practice.

Things I miss about China:
the prices,
our Nankai teachers (language, tai chi, etc.), and our new friend Zhao!,
being outside every day (you can get away with staying inside virtually all day here),
the crowds of people,
the ridiculous extravagance of the KTV industry,
"gangster clubs,"
E-mart,
taxi rides (hair-raising but fun and convenient, esp when the drivers are chatty!)

Things I do NOT miss about China:
the lack of toilet paper in public facilities,
the standards of "sanitation" in public facilities,
spitting,
risking my life in traffic on foot or inside a bus/taxi,
the option of only Chinese or "American" food,
the lack of diversity within the population,
mosquitoes, (although I tried doing tai chi in the backyard the other day, and my ankles were definitely bitten by other equally-enthusiastic insects)
the laundry facilities (I love dryers like I love sandwiches)

It's great to see friends and family again, and now that I've been back, my trip to China feels like it was months ago. The purpose of the trip was to expose us to as much of the different parts of China as possible, which it did. From here on, it's up to me to individually start to pursue the rest of it.

Thanks for reading, those of you who've kept up with my blogs! Stay tuned...who knows, maybe there will be a RobynInChina2009.com!!

再见!!

I was Shanghai'd!

So our last weekend trip from Tianjin was to Shanghai, via train. This train ride (10 hrs) was definitely more comfortable than the ride from Xi'an back to Tianjin (almost 20 hrs), but the experience of waking up and having that feeling of travel grunge just can't be avoided. I slept on the top bunk (of 3), and this is the aerial view I had of the Go game happening on the bottom bunk:

Shanghai is definitely more condensed a city than Tianjin, and the famous skyline was quite impressive.

Aside from the skyscrapers everywhere, I actually was not as blown away as I thought I would have been. Shanghai is featured in hundreds of films, travel reviews, novels, etc. as this exotic hub of Asia that is the epitome of style and modernity, but I couldn't help feeling underwhelmed. It definitely had a more modern feel to it than the other cities we visited this trip, but I suppose I was expecting an environment similar to Tokyo or Hong Kong (the Tsim Sha Tsui district), and comparatively, I didn't feel it measured up.

The night scene is definitely a treat; these pictures were taken at The Bund (I'm still not sure what a "bund" is, but I'm guessing it's a strip of vendors next to a river) around 9:30, 10 at night. Every five minutes a different ferry sails by, and many buildings have intricate electric light designs rotating through the various patterns. The real sight that evening was the memorial commemorating the Chinese civil war between the Kuo Ming Tang and the Communists:

<-- This one is from underneath in the direct center, looking up

This one is from the front, at the base -->

Granted, we weren't able to spend a considerable amount of time in Shanghai, so perhaps my perceptions are skewed, and the city is actually everything I have heard it is. That's definitely possible, and I do know there is no way you can accurately grasp the concept and magnitude of any city in two days. Every city has so many aspects to it that many people who themselves live there never see everything there is to see. I'll just have to go back and do my own investigating :)

Outside the city, we visited an international school, and were able to sit in on a few elementary and middle school-level classes. One part of the student population is made up of Chinese children taking English classes for the summer, the other part is comprised of non-Chinese children learning Chinese (many students' parents have moved to China for work/business). All the children learn in classroom environments, and have a full day of Chinese (for all children), art, math, English (for the Chinese children), and sports. I think we all learned something new just sitting in on the Chinese classes!

During the weekend, we were also lucky enough to see a temple in Shanghai (although it started raining halfway through), a river cruise with some gorgeous scenery and fish ponds, and Dr. Chen's brother's factory in neighboring Hangzhou.

Another whirlwind weekend, so much to see and do, but we managed to fit in one last kareoke night!!

Terracotta Soldiers!!

I have a new favorite Chinese city: Xi'an. Xi'an was NOTHING like what I expected it to be. I was expecting a smaller, relatively rural and remote town with mostly tourists, and what I got was nothing of the sort. Although it is technically smaller than Tianjin, Xi'an is much more densely arranged, with both people and buildings. It's a really interesting setup - it's an ancient city with historic architectural sites, but around and within it has sprung a busy and vibrant city. See the picture on the right, the ancient bell tower acts as the center of a traffic roundabout, with a huge shopping mall in the background.

This is a view from inside the drum tower, which was used originally to signal the time of day, and then also for announcing weather forecasts (I may have that wather part incorrect...). Both the bell and drum towers had some interesting exhibits, and I was debating picking up various souvenirs, but I kept deciding not to, since everything is so mass-produced. I figure my pictures are the most authentic items I left Xi'an with.

It's the most fascinating blend of old and new I've seen. The city is still surrounded by a moat and a large wall, which originally shut at the end of each day and opened the next morning. One of the more fun parts of the trip this weekend was renting bikes for an hour to ride on top of the wall, which was much more physically demanding than I expected, haha. But, I'm excited that I have ridden a bike in China! Only not with hundreds of other bikes and traffic, which we have seen in so many movie scenes in America. Actually the other day, my classmates and I were riding in a taxi and we saw a woman on a bike who had been hit by taxi and was laying on the ground. Traffic is so dangerous here...

The highlight of the weekend for me was visiting the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the Emperor of the Qin dynasty. Seeing the excavation sites in person and all the

terracotta and bronze sculptures was amazing, truly breathtaking. It's funny, since there's so much to see, we are always told "meet back in 45 minutes" or "alright you have 15 minutes, that should be plenty of time," but I could honestly spent countless hours at each location. I would love to return to these sites for research in the future. There was no excavation happening while we were there, but there were sites set up and in progress. The actual location of the Emperor's body has not been opened yet, as there has not been a method yet created to preserve the integrity of the artifacts inside; it will be extremely interesting and historic when the tomb is finally excavated.

After visiting the soldiers, we went to a palace that the emperor had created especially for Dowager Cixi. It is quite large, and very peaceful. Every evening there is a light show and a performance, which likens the location to the World Showcase events at Epcot Center at Disney World (Orlando, FL). Also, we visited a mosque and the cultural street of the local Muslim population.

The Chinese population is 95% Han ethnicity, and the remaining minority ethnicities seem to all cluster together in various neighborhoods. Xi'an happened to have a dense community of Muslims, and we saw an "ethnic minorities neighborhood" in Beijing. It would be interesting to do a socialogical study of the various groups in China, and learn the different norms and taboos; apparently intermixing of ethnicities is not common, as the 5% has not been absorbed by the overwhelming majority thus far.

It's the last few days of my experience in China this year, so I'm going to try and make the best of it!! I'm excited to go back to the U.S., but I've really grown accustomed to my daily routine here. There are always pro's and con's, a significant CON would be the usage of trains between cities! We traveled via rail from Xi'an back to Tianjin, which took around 19 or so hours. It is mostly huge masses of people being herded from one area to another in sweltering conditions, and heaven help you if you are either physically disabled or have more than an airplane carry-on-sized roller suitcase, and you should just forget travelling altogether if you are both disabled and have luggage.

(Sidebar: I'm really not sure how the handicapped population of China gets anywhere -- every site we have visited has been non-wheelchair-equipped. I wonder if there are government efforts to install thousands, probably millions are needed, of handicap ramps and railings in preparation for the Olympics??)

Anyway, the train was certainly an experience, and we take another to Shanghai this weekend, but I have heard that it will be more comfortable and cleaner. Let me tell you, waking up in the middle of the night in a shoebox that has been mounted onto the wall, with five other shoeboxes around you, with your skin sticking to the wall, searching around you for your shoes in the dark, climbing down a metal ladder without kicking anyone in the face, all to go pee into a hole in the floor of a shaking railway car and making sure you don't slip on who knows what on the floor surrounding said hole, and then reversing the process to get back into your shoebox is NOT the rail equivalent of "flying the friendly skies." When we first boarded the train, it was cute. "Yay for bunk beds and trains and long sleepover trips" quickly turned into "let's play how many diseases do I think I have contracted?" But, as my classmate said about biking the wall of Xi'an, it builds character. We should all be the most character-laden people you'll ever see once we get back. :)

Got to run, but hope you all are doing well!! See you soon!

Zaijian!

Beijing Opera!

Da jia hao!

The highlight of today was above all, our second culture class this trip of Beijing Opera, with Li Laoshi. We watched two clips of CCTV interviews he was in, and then he taught us to sing, and then the best part, we were able to dress up in traditional Beijing costume. It would have been great just to sing, but to actually get involved with the dress and makeup was just amazing. We were each famous characters, each with different roles. I was a goddess that descends from heaven spreading flowers and travels across the world, others were famous emperors, army generals, empresses, etc.

This is me:

The amount of preparation is really incredible, and there was an extremely efficient team. Makeup was used to create facial features that are actually exaggerated to the point of being artificial (see: my eyebrows.), all the hair you see consists of several pieces, all flowers and jewels around the front are added individually, and then the clothing is all puieced together by about three people. The downside was that everything from the neck up was tied together with many straps of cloth, so several of us were getting headaches, and actually getting a bit dizzy by the end. I can't imagine having to perform an entire opera in all the gear, especially when singing and acrobatics are added!

This is our whole class, in final dress:

One of my favorite aspects of this trip is the series of culture classes we have. We really are lucky to be able not only to learn about the subjects covered (t'ai ch'i, wushu, calligraphy, Chinese painting, Beijing Opera, etc.), but also to be taught by professionals. I have learned a great deal, and it is an opportunity we may not have again.

To the left is Li Laoshi, teaching us (or trying to, haha) to sing Beijing Opera.

Tomorrow it's off to Xi'an to see the Qin Emperor's terracotta army and a martial arts school!

I'll write later on, hi to everyone!!

Miss you!

~Robyn