Adventures in Chinaland

Hope anyone knows what lyrics those are.

So I landed in San Fran prior to going on to the east coast. If anyone has seen Dave Chappelle Live at the Filmore, you will know where this comes from. It’s like China said, “Bye, thanks for coming, come back again, we’re having a sale on Birkenstocks,” and then the US said, “Welcome to the United States of America, Bitch.” Nice. The security was such dicks. Take off your belt, shoes, and jacket unless you are old. Oh great. Now some old asshole is going to cause trouble with a bomb or some shit. Oh wait, they have x-ray machines and such…Why the f*** do I have to take anything off?? How about I take off all that and they tell me what I ate for lunch? Just saying, traveling in the US sucks so damn bad. They don’t even do it with a smile and are so very rude.

So after all that, I went on to Boston where my friend Kate and Ryan picked me up from the airport and we drove back to Providence. The next am, she took us to the beach. I passed by sand and we drove further. We ended up on this rocky looking beach. I didn’t see sand, but thought it was around, the rocks looking just like Pacific City rocks. Nearly exactly. She sat and chatted with Ryan. I looked around, taking in everything having just been on land for the first time since China. There are slimy rocks there where their slime doesn’t look green. The dangerous rocks look exactly like any others. I thought to myself, “I’ve never touched North East ocean. I’m gonna do it!” I stepped towards the ocean rolling up the rocks, slipped on slime, slid down the rocks to the ocean. At this point I realized that there was no sand like at Pacific City and I was in real trouble. There were a few barnacles on the rocks that cut me to bits. My butt being the worst. I screamed. My friend Ryan thought I saw something cool like Dolphins. He knowing me thought I was all nature freaked and in awe. They couldn’t see from where they sat what trouble I was in. Luckily he is like 6’4 or taller and stood up, saw my panicked face, heard my help help help, and came running. I thought for a second, then said, “NOOOO! Stop!” He didn’t. I knew that he could be in the same death trap as I was. I thought we both would die now. He ran, slipped on the same slime rock, but with his tallness, held on to some none slime and plucked me from the water. The waves came up and pulled me down further as there was nothing to climb up that wasn’t slimy and only barnacles to cling to, which I did. Water causing you to float doesn’t let you cling to anything. There was only about a foot of me still above the rocks and the rest of me in the water. He saved my life. As I was exploring, pre-slip, Kate was telling Ryan that 5-6 people every year on those rocks die cause they don’t see the slime. One slips in, and one or two try to save them, and they all die. The rocks there come to a drop off 80 feet under water. There are caverns dug out by the water hitting so many times at different places so when people fall in, the under tow takes them down, shoves them into a cavern, and they drown. The cuts on my *ss still hurt, but I am alive thanks to Ryan. I joke that I only have 4 or 5 lives left assuming I had 9 in the first place. My life flashed before my eyes and I thought, “My family is going to be so pissed!”

The couple days after this I went to Maine to visit Andy’s family. His mom is so beautiful and lovely! She is a gem and I miss her so much. I can’t wait to see her again. Andy’s dad is exactly how I thought he’d be. Awesome, smart, and a serious golfer. Shhh…. lol!!! I would love to bring some basketball fans to a golf match… hahahhahah Met his Uncle David too. Great guy. Funny too. We visited Fort Knox Maine and explored. Spooky and fascinating! On the way we stopped at the coolest and one of the smallest flea markets. Found awesome treasures! I am collecting license plates for my garage decor. Anybody that wants to donate any to me, AWESOME! =D

Now home. My dog sounded like a girl when he saw me. Lasted at least 15 mins too. My cat Miko missed me and purred in my face just before smashing his face into mine, bad cat breath in all…Love. Kissed my kids in bed. House could have looked ten times better. Exhaustion kicked in after an hour and felt so unbelievably tired. Best night sleep ever!!! Glad to be home. I can’t wait to go back to school and see all my favorite professors. Have only seen a few friends so far and look forward to seeing more. My first stop after getting home that night, Winco for some good old Oregon brew! Oh how I missed you! Who has the best beer? OREGON! Sorry Maine, eat your heart out. Oregon’s got ya! muuhahahha~!

What a fantastic summer I had! I got a 90 on my last test. I feel I learned so much while I was there, but with a better program, could have learned so much more. The best thing that came out of going was the good friends I met along the way. All will not be forgotten, and some will be a part of my life forever.

First things first. I went with a program called INTO China. Would I suggest anyone use this program? Heck no. The first 4 weeks seemed ok. Then when the next 4 weeks came, there was no level 2 and they didn’t teach any Chinese characters and attempted to place us in a class of about 13 Japanese students who had been studying for 4-6 months already. Nobody within the program, who worked for them, bothered to pay any attention on what we were learning and what we would need to know in order to join the next 4 weeks course. They offered to place us back in the class we had just finished. What a waste of money!!! I am a fast learner and had they been organized, I definitely would know more Chinese than I do right now. I will study on my own and tell every person I can not to use their program. So very unorganized. The price of the program verse what you can get in China without them, like a whole term at one of Beijing’s top universities is only $2000 US dollars. I paid well over that for one month with boarding. Just doesn’t pan out and isn’t worth any students time or money.

For the good stuff. I spent a little over a week visiting with my friends I made in Beijing before leaving back to the states. I had a great time and can’t wait to go back. I have thought about what I will do with my life and where I want it to go. I’ve decided that China needs me much more than the US ever will. There is plenty of help here and the poorest person in the states still lives better than someone in poverty there. I will return to China as soon as I have my degree from OSU. Perhaps sooner in the summer if all goes well. I want to teach there. Teach English, save money, and then go to small villages and teach anything they would like to know, math, English, art, anything I can offer that will help. The schooling system in China is much different. Everyone doesn’t get a chance to go; only the rich have that opportunity. I want to give back to the human population and feel good about what I do and in China, in the small villages away from any big cities, is where I will give.

I’ve found that the Chinese people are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I cried through the airport to my plane and halfway home. Even typing this brings tears to my eyes. Oh how I miss Zhongguo. China for those of you that don’t read pin yin, the Chinese letters not characters. The history is so vast and land so beautiful. I say that China is the US 50 years ago. What does that mean? They have changed a whole lot and every month I’m sure it will be different to the one previous. Much development is happening there. I would love to be a person to help in a positive way. To all of you trouble makers, that doesn’t mean I have any desire to change their government or their way of life. It isn’t my place, or yours, unless you are Chinese born in China. I mind my own business. I have my hands full with the morons running for president, except Ron Paul. And with our governors, state reps, and so on. Those guys are more important to worry about than your president anyways. Who has more power? Learn about our country and what each of the 3 do and then talk to me why the president isn’t a magician and can’t fix everything.

My friend Stacy gave me a card with a gift when I was leaving Dalian. It made me cry. Her Chinese name is Xinyu which is close to the Chinese word for star, xing. Those who know what tattoos I have, stars are wonderful things to me. She gave me a silver book mark with a star dangling at the end so I would think of xing and remember her, Xinyu. How could I ever forget and I can’t wait to see her again. The time change really sucks. She is a student and studying being her priority, we don’t talk much now that I am in my time zone ={

My other friend from Dalian will always be in my heart and hope to hear from her as well. Her name is Crystal or Siqi in Chinese. She reminds me of tuzi, which is rabbit in Chinese. I won’t tell the story, but she is adorable and I can’t wait to see and talk to her again as well.

My Beijing friends include Uri, Kathy, and Taylor. Kathy and Taylor bring me to tears so very much. I miss them so much. I want to plan coffee with Kathy on Mondays where she gets buy on get one free at Starbucks. To hear her stories is priceless. Her humor and her stories sound like she is American rather than Chinese. She is a strong woman and I am all so lucky to have met her and become such close friends. Taylor, he is an amazing Chinese man who introduced me to Kathy. He is much different than the typical Chinese man as well. I couldn’t forget him ever and can’t wait for us all to go out for hot pot again so they can feed me things without telling me what they are till afterwards. hahahahha It’s the best way for me and by my request.

My next post will tell you how coming home has been. Stay tuned ^_^

I’m shocked and saddened I have waited this long to post. My apologies. I get caught up in the whole thing and lose track of things. I will fill you in as best as I can =]

The weekend after Stacy and I went to the exhibition center, we traveled to a city north of Dalian called Shenyang. We took a train which was 4 and half hours or more to get to our destination. It had been raining a lot during the pre-days before our departure and many of the small villages we saw along the way were flooded horribly. Some of the streets were about 3-4 feet flooded. To tall people that doesn’t seem like much, these people are not that tall and the worst is to think of children who might get washed away. It was an interesting experience riding the train.We sat in seats that had a small table between opposing seats. On the other side sat a lady and two young boys, probably 8-11 in age. They were so cute. They spoke a little English. I saw one of the boys sitting closest to the window bend down and drop a carrot from his lunch in a small shopping bag. I pondered for a moment why he would do such a thing and then asked. He said his mouse was hungry. Shocked he had a mouse in a paper shopping bag, I asked to see the mouse. When I looked down inside, it wasn’t a mouse at all! It was a guinea pig. So cute. Her name was tu. Tu is the word for rabbit in Chinese. She sat on the ground under the table. I peeked down at her throughout the trip and said hello =]

Shenyang does not have the greenery that Dalian has, nor does it have any Russians. What does that mean? I was one of very few white people in the city. That also means many would stare in amazement. One police officer watched me walk down a street, elbowed his buddy to look, and then laughed when I looked back and smiled. Most times when people stare at me, on  daily basis, I say hello in Chinese to them. I figure if you are going to stare at me, I am going to say hello and wait for a response back ^_^ There were tons of shopping malls everywhere in this city. We shopped and then went to the many massage places there. We had a 2 hour full body massage for 150 kuai. How much is that? Divide that by 6.369 and that is the American dollar. It was worth every penny! So wonderful. We also found a restaurant who specialized in porridge. They had 30 or more varieties offered. The porridge here is rice based not oatmeal like Europe. We loved it so much, we went back there for breakfast the next morning ^_^ BTW the hotel we stayed at said it was 4 star, but really it was 2 at best. Horrible. I’d never recommend anyone to stay there.

The next 4 weeks began with new students arriving. I was happy to get rid of the old and get some new. I was hoping they would be more open minded than the last group. They are in a way, but also very young which translates to immature and not taking the courses, culture, people, the experience as seriously. The group from Europe stick together like sticky rice. My new roommate is from Oregon. She is better than the last one, but still only 21 and seems to have many experiences ahead of her.

I will say she is a lot of fun. We went out the first weekend she was here and had a whole lot of fun. It was great! Also this same night, my camera was stolen. We checked our bags at a club, as do many in many clubs. When I got my purse back, it wasn’t there. Sadly my purse only had a button to seal it shut and must have made the contents too tempting to not take.

Thursday we visited a company that manufacture water pumps. The other students didn’t take it seriously and were rather rude laughing and talking while the company rep was giving her presentation. There were many employees present in the beginning. One of the students asked how the  pumps worked. What a stupid question! Half the employees left after that one by one. Saturday we went to a Russian soviet memorial place. Probably my least favorite visit. They have a giant statue of Stalin in the city, as well as, many museums that include that sick f***. I asked my mentor friend Stacy why and she said we have differing opinions on some things. I asked did she really think it right to commemorate a man who was responsible for many innocent lost lives. She agreed that was awful. After the excursion, some of the students wanted to bungee jump. We all went, not all jumped. Me personally, hell no. I prefer two chutes to one stretchy cord.

I look forward to graduating Thursday and heading out Friday =] I will have earned 12 credits this summer. This will boost my GPA for sure! I got a 95 on my last exam and hoping for the same or better on this one.

As always, I am still accepting donations. I’ve suffered quite a few losses on this trip here and at home and any help would still be greatly appreciated. I thought I’d be able to raise much more than $50 this summer. Thank you to my boyfriends family for that contribution =] My plane back to Oregon won’t be until Sept. 19 so the funds would be still be used for my fabulous summer adventure! =D

I’ve made it to Wednesday! Why is that so imperative? It seems either every day or every other day, my tummy doesn’t fancy what I eat. It’s to be expected and I’ve just gotten used to it. That doesn’t stop me from trying more food from various places.

Sunday was a really fun day! I went to the exhibition center here in Dalian with a sweet mentor named Stacey. The signs outside said fishing and outdoor exhibits, and she wasn’t that excited but insisted we go in. The signs were wrong, thankfully. It was filled with old items from Chinese history. Some were Japanese, Russian, German, and Chinese. I learned the characters for these countries because most tags were not in English and Stacey taught me how to tell who brought the technology to China. There were cameras, typewriters, cooking items, and vases to name a few. Dalian has special history because at one time the Russians occupied it, then the Japanese. You can see the Russian influence on some of their buildings in the city having that odd shaped top like the top of a fancy ice cream. After the exhibition center we went on to IKEA. She had fun and it looked exactly the same! We took the bus there and back to save kuai. It only cost 1 kuai to ride the bus. That’s 1/6 of a dollar. The second to last bus we were on had nearly no shocks left and it was the most fun ride ever! We went over a big bump and the bus shook up and down like a roller coaster! I burst out laughing and everyone at the back of the bus looked at me and Stacey began to laugh with me. The Chinese are not used to somebody having fun on a bus ride. As usual, I don’t really care what people think if it makes me happy ^_^

Monday was a bit drab except for ping pong lessons. I advanced from really bad to not too shabby =] Tuesday was divine! Every Tuesday we have what is called Mentor Dinner where we go in a group of 5-6 including mentors to a local restaurant and try new Chinese cuisine. This week we went to a very nice restaurant. When you order seafood here, it is alive in a tank and you can choose which fishy you want to have prepared. I wish the states would do this. So much fresher and less chance of having nasty bad fish. We chose to try something very new to us. We ordered sting ray. The Chinese call it Lǎobǎn which translate to “boss”. I don’t know the reasoning but they refer to this small little sting ray as the boss =D It was delicious! It is like a cross between Halibut and snow crab! At first I didn’t want to eat it cause I think the ray is a cute animal, but then I thought of the sappy people in the other group that don’t eat much more than McDonalds and sweet n sour dishes. I quickly took some ray and ate it. I’d eat it many more times. So delicious. Doesn’t have bones like other fish so it’s easier to eat without choking. If I had known how yummy this creature was, I wouldn’t of had my mom throw them back when she worked on an oyster boat when I was younger. Much better than an oyster any day!

Many deaths in Beijing from flooding. Lots of children and a few old people aside from other ages. Very sad. I am on the coast and not affected by their weather. My friends that are there seem to be unaffected which is a relief. The other students in Beijing should be getting internet back today as the flooding washed it out, so I’ve heard. I send all my positive energy to the families dealing with loss of members and loss of homes. These people are such good people and I hate to see them have such hard times =[

This week felt long. Getting up early 6 days a week and not getting a lot of free time to complete various tasks is rather tiring. Thursday afternoon we learned how to make jiaozi,or as the Chinese call it in English, dumplings. I can’t wait to make these delicious  bits of Chinese cuisine for my family and friends in the states. I would love to make my Chinese friends here some American cuisine, but the store doesn’t carry the same items that I’d find at home. My classmates and I wanted to make them some burritos or tacos, but they don’t sell tortillas here. We could make them, but we don’t have the right equipment to make that happen. I also wanted to make them my yummy German meatballs, but they don’t sell an herb that I need to make them taste appropriate. We’ve decided the only dish we could possibly share is pancakes. We can make them the full breakfast spread. The only exception is, I haven’t seen any maple anything here so the syrup would have to be made Oregon style; simmered sweet fruit made into a syrup. Sadly, they don’t sell marion berries here =[

Friday night I tested the night life by joining some friends and heading to a dance club. You can be any age here to go into a bar. Kind of not fun in that respect as there were so many teenaged boys and gals there. A Russian family, mom and dad, even brought there approx 10 year old daughter and approx 7 year old son inside. Keep in mind this is a thumping loud music, chicks dressed in not a lot, and a whole lot of drunk people kind of club. My friends had much more fun than I did as this kind of place with all the ages present is not my style at all. I prefer adults to spend time around rather than a bunch of kids. Furthermore, the establishment here is not a place you go with friends to have a good time. It more resembles a place you go to shop for a night partner. I know lots of clubs are like this in the states, but you can go there without that intention as well where here, it really is about who is going home with who.

Saturday, we went to visit a Buddhist temple. They played lovely music, had fish and turtles in a large pond, and beautiful statues everywhere. At the top, there was a huge golden statue of Buddha. In front of the statue was a large area in which you could purchase incense, light them, and place them for burning. These were the biggest incense I've ever seen. One mentor joked that a man must have been very naughty the night before because he bought one of the largest incense they sold. They gave away CDs of the music and brochures, one containing songs with legible words not just the Chinese characters. Of course I grabbed some and can't wait to hear them when I return home. My netbook doesn't have a disc drive =[

I may have to take down some of the photos so others can be posted. I'm only allowed 100 mb on here. Such a small space! =]

Tomorrow I’ll be adventuring with one of the mentors who has become a good friend. Her English name is Stacey. We will be traveling by bus to the IKEA in Dalian and stopping wherever we want in between. She has never been and is very excited to go. I’d love to see what a different IKEA looks like and look forward to stopping and seeing cool things a long the way.

I surely miss my family and friends and wish them well in my absence.

I thought Beijing was a wonderful city. A bit polluted, but awesome! Now in Dalian, I see another beautiful nook in China. Dalian has a smaller population at approx. 7-9 million, whereas Beijing is at 22-25 million. Yes the population I was told in the US was inaccurate. The air here is much fresher and I’ve regained my voice back. I did lose it in Beijing. I would guess it was the pollution. The temps are cooler here staying between 70-85 F constantly. Very nice. Almost like home! The dorm rooms here are fairly nice. I am on the fourth floor very close to my beaver friends. I did have a roommate, but we didn’t mesh well so now we both have our own rooms. Dalian is a coastal city which helps keep the air so fresh. This city has been called the garden city because there is greenery everywhere. The DUFE campus is very beautiful. They have landscaped shrubs and trees all over. I’ve seen two major birds here; the Magpie and a little brown bird. The same I see in Oregon but a little smaller. Odd the Magpie is huge and the brown bird is small. They have large insects that resemble a common house fly but much much larger. I’d guess 3 inches long, at least. It moves its hind quarters and makes a loud sound. They wake you up in the early morning and continue until late evening. Thank goodness they sleep at night. The spiders are fairly large and their legs look like they work out. They make webs everywhere. They have a pine looking tree that has pine cones that grow upwards and are light bright green. They are a bit large. I’d guess 6-8 inches tall and pudgy around. They have the usual caterpillars and silk worms hanging from the trees. I saw what looked like a wasp, but was dressed in mostly black. I saw a black ant that looked like he had been super sized. Quite huge.

We had a tour of the coastal part of Dalian. The beach is very pretty. The men here where speedo material shorts that resemble a girls boyshort panty cut. Interesting. And when the men get hot here, they lift there shirts up exposing their bellies. No, not all Chinese are thin so there was a lot of prego men showing off ahhahah We learned about Tai Chi yesterday and Kung Fu today. In Tai Chi, you move like the wind and act like the water. Very graceful. Kung Fu, very different. Graceful then deadly! My group was invited to Shi Fu’s work out area on Tuesdays and Thursdays for more training for free! Not many will take advantage, but I will for sure! I think he rather liked our group. We all were trying our best to do the moves as perfectly as he wanted. His teeth were filed in the middle of each tooth so he looked extra deadly. Later this week we’ll learn how to cook dumplings, or said in Chinese “jiaozi”. This is my favorite here. It is similar to fried won tons, but ten times better. I can speak a fair amount of Chinese already, but no where near enough to carry a conversation without breaking into english. I can order food so I won’t go hungry now lol

The food is different here. Our stomachs aren’t used to the food and most of us experience frequent potty breaks. We’ve learned if we drink a little alcohol throughout the day, we don’t get as sick. I don’t mean we get drunk or even close, just enough to kill anything that’s planning an assault on our system. And as much as I hate to drink bottled water, I can’t drink the tap water. Not even the people who live here drink it. They don’t live in houses in this part of China. Most live in apartments with many levels like 20 or more. The toilets here are much different. They truly are a hole in the ground surrounded by porcelain. You are the toilet one Chinese woman told me. You do carry your own toilet paper if you want to wipe. It’s really not that bad.

I went shopping yesterday with one of my mentors named Crystal. She and I took a taxi, then a trolly, and then a bus. It was a lot of fun. I got to see more of Dalian and got some really cute clothes. I didn’t spend that much at all. I’d say a fraction of what I would have spent in the states. It’s so funny that we pay so much more in the states for stuff that came from here in the first place.

The people in Beijing and Dalian are so very welcoming and nice. I’ve never experienced people like this and so many of them in one place. I wish our country had this same value. Don’t get me wrong, some aren’t nice at all. Some try to pick-pocket you and rip you off, but in the end, I still say there are plenty more nice people than naughty.

That is all I’ll report for now. I’ll post more often as to not have such lengthy posts ^_^

Also, if any would like to message chat with me or voice chat my skype ID is rikiyork.

Let me go back to when I first arrived in China. The airport was empty besides the passengers exiting the plane with me. After a long walk, I found myself at a checkpoint with passport in hand. The nice lady that sat next to me on the plane said, “This is where we part ways. Good luck and go over there cause now you’re the foreigner!” followed by laughter. I made it through the checkpoint to find myself walking towards stairs going down. I had no idea where I was supposed to go. Luckily one of the airport employees spoke little english and pointed me to a glass door that would take me on a fast train to another section of the airport for baggage claim, or so I thought. It takes you out and around, but drops you under where I got on. Odd, but it works for them. I found my baggage and began to head to where I thought the exit was. I stopped at the duty free to purchase, what else, alcohol. I like scotch and it was super inexpensive there. I found the fella that was holding a sign with my name on it. He didn’t speak english and I only knew “hello”. He was very nice and made sure I was with him at all times. We got to the car and he opened my door. So polite! The car ride began.

Here in China, the rules are, there are no rules. The driving is much different. I was glad I didn’t need a clean pair of chonies after arriving at my hotel. You go where you can whether you’re in a lane or not. Much honking happens here. When you cross the road, they don’t stop for you. They honk and don’t even slow. Better make it fast. I’ve been told of you’re hit by a car, there are no consequences to the car that hit you, even if you die. Be quick little frog!

You don’t tip anywhere here unless you’re at a 5 star hotel and they carry your heavy luggage up to your room for you. I arrived in my room at about 11 pm, Tuesday. Weird. I was very tired yet hungry. Airplane food is the worst food I’ve ever experienced. Although hungry, I wasn’t brave enough to walk the streets of Beijing not knowing any mandarin. The next day, I woke, got dressed, and hit the street. I traveled the wrong direction attempting to shop at the only store around, Walmart. Got new directions and headed in the right direction. Frog hopped across a very busy street and found the Walmart only to find that I couldn’t read anything I wanted to buy. So I asked for help. They didn’t speak english but called another worker to come help me. She shopped with me for about an hour helping me get toothpaste, deodorant, and a few other items I can’t believe I forgot. After that, I went back to my room for a rest. Left at 10 am and got back at 330 pm. One hell of an adventure! I readied myself again and headed to a huge mall. The largest mall I think I’ve ever seen! Got seriously lost inside. Saw a coffee shop, which  is rare here, and ran over and hoped they would know what I said in english. One of the fellas working there spoke english and helped me. We talked and talked. He wanted to practice his english and I wanted to learn more madarin. We became fast friends and sat there at the coffee shop for 3 hours. After the first hour, his girlfriend joined us. I love those two! We exchanged numbers and had dinner together the next day. That night, I went back to the room, readied myself for a night out. I went to an Irish bar called The Stumble Inn. Typical Irish bar! They had Rogue Dead Guy for me. I was in heaven. I met a waiter there who knew english and again became fast friends. I got a lil tipsy and when he got off work, we walked down to another bar and sat for it began raining hard. In Beijing, you don’t hang out in the rain. It’s filled with pollution from the sky. So we waited for it to stop. In that time I found some great guys, who were gay and Russian. One asked if I wanted to smoke, ya not cigarettes. I of course said no way! Prison and expulsion doesn’t sound fun at all. When the rain stopped, we walked for a cab, and that’s when we saw some hookers. Oh they looked yucky. You’d have to be pretty damn desperate to pay them for any service. I call it renting a girl. You don’t actually buy it cause that suggests ownership hahahah :D

The next day I walked the streets again, learning and looking at everything I could. The next day I was picked up by INTO and taken to the BFSU hotel where I’d wait the weekend before taking a plane to Dalian. I met a few Beavers there who are now good friends. It was nice to have people around that spoke my language and was from my same school and state. A little comfort there. We all headed to one room and relaxed together.

The last night we were in Beijing, a sunday, we went to a place called hao hi. It was pretty crazy. It’s always happy hour and the prices were so good. 100 kuai for 10 shots. That’s 15$. We ended up staying at a bar that had the best live music I’ve ever heard. It was a reggae bar with comfy seating and a wonderful atmosphere. In the time we were enjoying ourselves, it began to pour, and I mean pour. There was half to a foot of water everywhere with more coming down! There were 7 of us out. We got some crappy umbrellas, which helped a little. No cab would give us a ride. The last one, we offered 200 kuai to take all 7 of us for we were worried no one else would come for the others. He said yes. Lap on lap we piled in. The driver was ok till the car went through foot or more water down some streets. We thought he was going to poop his pants. We quickly showered after getting back to the hotel. The rain burns. I’m sensitive anyways, but this rain was vicious.

Another unfavorable characteristic of Beijing was how much people really wanted to rip you off cause you were a foreigner.

We also visited the forbidden city and the temple of heaven. Both are lovely, but the forbidden city is my favorite! So beautiful.

Monday comes with two speakers; one regarding China and their economy; the other regarding technology. After this, lunch, and a plane ride to Dalian.

I packed my things, checking double and triple times being sure I’ve included all the necessities. I anxiously arrived at PDX. I’ll miss my family very much so. I flew with United and the first flight from Portland to San Fran was delayed by 2 hours. Would have just made it on my connecting flight, but low and behold, that one is delayed by 4 hours!! All I want to do is get on a plane and sleep :P I was too fearful that I wouldn’t wake in time for such an early flight. I’m very excited to get to my final destination.

I had my travel appointment and did receive 3 shots. The prick wasn’t bad, but the body aches were :( I’ll be sending away for my Chinese visa early next week, which consists of paying a hefty fee of approx $160 and mailing my passport to San Fran to have somebody from a trusted business take it in person to have the visa added to my passport. I’ve been counting down the days to departure but it makes me miss my family while I’m still here.

I’ve added a PayPal fundraising widget to my blog. The remaining costs I’ll be responsible for is $5000. Whatever I don’t raise, I’ll have to take student loans for. This amount doesn’t include spending money for all those wonderful souvenirs for my favorite people here in the States :D Any donations will go right into my bank account so if I receive a donation mid July or August, I can still use it in China :)

This begins my trek to China. First and foremost, I obtained my passport. This week will include obtaining my Chinese Visa, no not a charge card although that’d be nice, giving me permission to be in the country while studying. I have my REI backpack ready and a water bottle that includes a UV light to kill any diseases, bacteria, or viruses before drinking. My travel appointment is June 6th where I’m sure I’ll be stuck with a needle :P I’d rather be safe than sick and sorry. Departing July 2nd to arrive the next day after 3 in the afternoon. Long flight, but snoozing on the plane shouldn’t be a problem, especially after some anti-anxiety medicine from the airport bar :D I don’t fear flying. I don’t fancy breathing recycled air with a bunch of people in a metal box. I’ve been skydiving after all :)