Saturday March 12th, 2011- Last Day in China

This was are last day in China/ Beijing. We went to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and a huge shopping complex. We got to go off on our own, which was a bit odd since we couldn’t really do that all trip.

I kind of wish we had a tour guide for the portion of Forbidden City. I knew a little bit about its significance but not a lot. I feel like it would have meant a little more if I had someone guiding us around, because this place was HUGE!

There were different rooms for everything, changing, bathing, etc. It was insane. Also the architecture of all the rooms/ buildings was incredible as well.

After we looked around Forbidden City we went over to Tiananmen Square. They were all in one straight line, one right after another so it was pretty easy to get to; well at least we thought so. We found out later on that you couldn’t just cross the street to get places you had to go under the road like a tunnel and walk through some other place. I am guessing because the streets were so busy and there were so many people.

Tiananmen Square was really interesting. It was interesting to me because I have watched so many films about this Square itself that it was weird to be actually in it. It was just a square of pavement but its significance was HUGE!

After this we went shopping! My favorite thing to do. Elise, Abbie, and I bargained until our heads fell off basically. I got a lot of gifts for people and then some for myself as well.

The real adventure was when Elise and I were almost LOST in Beijing. We left the shopping plaza around six. We were smart and wanted to be back before dark. What Rob failed to mention was that the route we came wouldn’t be still open when we were walking back. So our intended path that we knew back was blocked. Therefore it messed our whole sense of direction up.

Elise and I wanted to get a cab back, and be done with walking for the day. We went up to two or three cops asking if they knew where we should stand to get a cab, none of them knew English. You would think they would?

So when that plan failed we went up this lady who was selling pamphlets about the Great Wall she knew English. She told us the right direction to go thank god for her. We went over to that direction and still weren’t finding a cab.

This Chinese guy came up to us speaking English and talking about how he wishes to go to the America someday. He then went on to say he does artwork and that he would love for us to see it in his shop. HE WANTED US TO GO INTO THIS BUILDING WITH HIM. Of coarse we didn’t but it totally reminded me of a line from the movie Taken. Finally Elise and I were like no but could you help us get a taxi.

Long story short we got a blue and yellow taxi back to the hotel. When we got back to the room Elise and I were so excited.

The next day we boarded a plane back Burlington VT.

Friday March 11th, 2011- Great Wall

Today was the day we hiked the Great Wall! This was by far my favorite day of the whole trip. We went to the non touristy part of the Great Wall which made it even better. However getting to the top was pretty challenging. It was a legitimate hike.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect before getting to the Great Wall. I obviously knew the significance of it but seeing it in person was still surreal to me even before I arrived.

We got there and our guide fed us breakfast. Something in a form of a cinnamon role, which was delicious then, we also got given the option of tea. We started our adventure up the mountain after breakfast.

As we got more and more to the top the view just kept getting better and better. The guide was real good about stopping to let us have breaks for rest and to take pictures. We walked all the way through.

The wall itself was real old you could tell just by the way the rocks were “cemented” together. They were put together by white rice, which I found fascinating. The views were just spectacular so hard to provide emphasis on it.

It was a beautiful day outside. Perfect day to hike a mountain. Or the Great Wall in better terms!

The way down was tough though. It was very slippery and we had to be careful. The ground was a mixture of leaves, mud and snow a bad combination when hiking. I am surprised I didn’t do a face plant.

When we got back to ground level the guide served us lunch. DUMPLINGS! Which is the best part of Chinese food in my opinion. Our group ate the plates so fast. They were so yummy.

After our journey back from the Great Wall we just rested for the night.

Thursday March 10th, 2011- Arrived in Beijing!

We got off the cruise boat pretty early. Then took an adventure for the day. We were going to be heading to Beijing later tonight. I couldn’t wait.

We got off the boat and had to hike all the way back up a tons of stairs with all of our luggage. It was a workout for me at least.

Once all of our stuff was on the bus we traveled a bit. I am guessing I was asleep for most of the travel because I tended to fall asleep a lot whenever we were on the bus. While on the bus we found out that we didn’t exactly have a hotel booked in Beijing later that night. So we had to find one, we were almost homeless for a couple of nights, but thankfully, Rob figured it out and we ended up staying at the Green Tea Inn.

One of our stops throughout the day was a shopping plaza. Abbie and I went off and shopped our little hearts out. I ended up getting Brown leather boots. It was very hard trying to ask for different shoe sizes when you didn’t know the Chinese language. When I purchased the boots they even polished them for me before putting them in the box. Also when Abbie bought a coat they dressed her. They took such great care of you in these stores it caught us off guard a little.

While walking around we noticed there was one individual couple all dressed up posing for pictures. I found out that in China, the day before your wedding day the couples go out to historical places in China and take pictures. This fact was pretty interesting to me.

After our little adventure of shopping and lunch we got back on the bus and headed to the Wuhan airport so we could go to Beijing!

The flight was just a short little flight. But a little stressful once we got off. Once we landed we all had to run to a train because it was the last train of the night. We barely made it. We got off the train and all had to take taxis to the Green Tea Inn. This part was interesting. There was 3 people to a taxi. None of us really spoke Chinese. All the taxis were supposed to follow each other to the Green Tea Inn so none of us would stray from the group. The whole way there I remember holding my breath hoping that the taxi driver would follow the rules to follow the rest of the MOJO group.

All the taxis went down this little sketchy little ally way. So narrow. And then got dropped off. It was a little scary when we fist saw it but once we got settled into our rooms I am pretty sure all of us got used to it.

These next two days would be the last leg of our trip.

Wednesday March 9th, 2011 - Cruise Trip

Our group was on the cruise ship all day. We had some time to take in the scenery and relax a little which was nice. We were supposed to see the three gorges dam but we ended up passing through it at night, which is a total bummer.

Basically are big adventure of the day was getting off the boat and going on another little boat, called a pea pod boat. We were on these little boats in groups. If we moved at all basically the boat would tip it was an experience. We had a tour guide during this adventure, named Amanda, and told us all about what we were passing along the way.

On the cruise ship we woke up by music every morning. The music would just keep getting louder and louder until it was blasting. The ironic part is, the songs were the melody of Christmas songs but without the words.

I don’t have too much to say about this day other than it was a relaxed and peaceful day. I caught up on some sleep and got to bond with the MOJO clan a little more.

Tuesday March 8th, 2011 - Water and Hiking Adventures

Today was one of my favorite days of the trip. I feel like it was a day that was sort of unplanned, but I honestly don’t know. We woke up mad early like usual and drove for about four hours by bus. Our final destination was a cruise on the Yangtze River, however we had many stops along the way.

On this journey we passed farming and lots of construction. The city was all of a sudden very rural rather than the city. There was much open land.

We got off in the middle of our journey. Half way in, 2 hours. We ate some lunch. This restaurant we ate in was probably one of the coolest restaurants I have ever seen. The restaurant looked like a cave inside, the rocks were the walls of the building. Also this restaurant was on a huge water front area, which was absolutely gorgeous.

After we ate all of us as a group hiked up a little mountain to have a better view of this water. Pictures upon pictures were taken and the higher we got the more beautiful the view got. Lots and lots of pictures were taken. In the midst of this little hike of ours it looked like there was once or still was a ropes coarse. However it looked very dangerous and unstable. Of coarse some members of our group wanted to try it out. But our tour guide Linda kept yelling no unsafe!

When we reached the top there were little stores but mainly there was this HUGE CAVE. Yes actual cave not like the restaurant. I have no pictures of this cave but it went on forever it seemed. It was amazing and all closed in. I thought it was never going to end. When a group of us made it out of the cave there was little girl running around, her mother was working at one of the little shops, at least that’s what it looked like. She was flat out adorable.

After this hike up the see the view, we climbed back down. When we got to the bottom of our hike we went on this little boat and got to take it on the water that we were awing over. It was a very short journey but was very exciting! Today was the first day we did a very lot of walking. It was also one of the first days that I began to see a lot of just stray dogs walking the streets. Made me a little sad since I am a total dog person.

Shortly after this adventure we got back on the bus for two hours and arrived to our cruise boat. I remember thinking there will be ramps to carry my luggage to the boats. Um not at all, more like there were hundreds of stairs to bring our luggage back and forth on.

We got on the boat and Elise and I got handed our room keys. They were decent rooms. Hard beds again. I was freezing at all times when on the boat. I wore leggings under armor and my coat to bed, tons of layers and was still cold. This trip was going to be a 2 day travel cruise thing. This was our first night.

This day/ night was the first time I actually felt I was bonding with everyone on the trip. It was a great night. I fell asleep pretty early though.

Monday March 7th, 2011- Education in Wuhan

Elise and I had toast and dumpling today for breakfast. It was given to us by our host families. We had to leave an hour early from the house to get there on time. Usually with no traffic it takes about 15 minutes. If that doesn’t explain how bad traffic is in Wuhan at all times then I don’t know what does. Elise and I got dropped off at there high school and met back up with our group.

After our whole group was reunited for the day we all went into a classroom and interacted with some high school students. Theses students were in the process of learning English and all hoped to go to college in America.

When we walked in we were given a scavenger hunt. There were 4 individual names we each got given we were supposed to find them and start up a conversation. It was very hard to find them for me personally, but I found that the students were very helpful in making the scavenger hunt as easy and comfortable as it could be for me. I found out during this scavenger hunt mainly was their Chinese name versus their English and their dislikes and likes about the Chinese culture. I found that everyone loved the Chinese food. Them loving the Chinese food was very surprising to me. I enjoyed the Chinese food but did not love it. Goes to show food is all about comfort and what one grows up with.

While in the classroom one could tell that the students were either very shy or overwhelmed with excitement. For this was one of their dreams to interact with Americans. It is their dream to be apart of America’s culture.

I also found it surprising that their school days are from 7:30 in the morning until 10:00 at night. They put Americans to shame, when they told me that I definitely felt like I should study more. This shows they work hard for what they receive and are so accustomed to this lifestyle they have no complaints. I can’t even imagine how this would go down in America.

Another side note these students live at their high school. We talked to our host student, Cathy, and she said that she only goes home on Sundays. She also stated how she never really misses home. Also another shocking fact is that the walls have lead in them to block cell phone signals.

After interacting with some students individually, we got to stand up in front of their entire high school. The entirety of their high school is around 4,000 people. This was a little nerve wracking. We were actually supposed to speak and introduce ourselves individually but luckily that didn’t happen. The reason why the students were outside all at once was to state the “pledge of allegiance” in our eyes. They rose up a flag and everything. When are class was looking down on all the students from the stairs, all of them were looking back at us full of smiles and excited to see Americans. Like Rob said, we would be like superstars in China. These 4,000 people were amazingly lines up in perfectly straight lines as well. Which fascinated me. I remember in middle school my teachers would make us walk in pairs down the hall, we couldn’t even follow that. It goes to show once again how strict and rule bound the Chinese lifestyle is.

Later that day we went to a college university in China. Now these students were learning Chinese. Very different from the high school. The students were from all over the world, which I found very interesting. It didn’t seem as though there was a minority. In my opinion the college wasn’t very entertaining, but I see why we went there. We went to compare the two schools, but in all honesty I just felt like I was being pitched to come to their college. However, in the class we sat in on, if I stayed I would know so much Chinese, her teaching style was brilliant.

We had dinner at the university and then headed back with our host families for our last night with them. This night was by far more fun and exciting than the first night. We stayed up for a while when we returned and had no problem talking with them this time. Elise and I taught them how to play GO FISH and they taught us how to play one of their Chinese card games. It was a nice bonding experience to teach them something and then they give something back to us in return.

After cards we swapped our house gifts. Before Elise and I went on the trip we each bought the family something. I got them Champlain chocolates, stamps from all over America, and a Boston Red Sox hat. Elise gave them chocolates and something else I can’t quite remember. In return they gave us each a fancy little decorative tea set. Which we both really wanted and loved. It was red also to signify “luckiness” Gift swapping went well they seemed to enjoy/ be thankful for our gifts. The father loved the Boston Red Sox hat, which was my goal! All in all the host families was a great cultural experience.

Sunday March 6th, 2011- Getting a Feel of the Chinese Lifestyle

Elise and I woke up around seven to be ready by 8:00AM. We came down to the lobby, by the little orange tree, with all of our luggage and loaded it onto the bus. Our travel bus, it would take us all around Wuhan for the beginning of our China adventure.

Our first stop of the day was breakfast. We got driven to a street that had many and I mean MANY food vendors. There were so many options for breakfast. I remember being so overwhelmed by all the choices I had to eat from. I ended up having some dumplings and dried noodles. My first real Chinese meal! And repeat this was for breakfast. Some of the other options were fruit, tofu, sushi, etc. It was all very different foods compared to the United States. Everything was also very cheap compared to the United States. For example to get a bottle of water in China it is only about 80 cents. Where as in the United States it averages around $1.50 to get a bottle of water.

Just randomly there was this little boy who came up to Elise, Sean and I asking us if we had a Face book. We didn’t really understand his English so I believe we just nodded and smiled. This little boy went on to talk about how he has been to America before. He then pulled out this little handheld flashlight from his pocket to show to us. He said he got it in America. This little boy was obviously very shocked to see Americans in China. Everyone on the streets was staring as we walked by because we look so different from them. Also we were not in the traveling/ vacational time to be in China.

This little boy was my first interaction in China, other than our tour guides. I feel as though this interaction helped me realize what was to come during the rest of the week up ahead. At that moment I realized that I just got to open my mind and take in the culture.

The next part of the day we went to this religion thing. No idea what it was called? Religion has never really been something I am extremely interested in. I think it is fascinating and I would love learning about it if I had more time in my life. However, I didn’t grow up being forced to go to church. Therefore, I see the importance of it and what people may get out of it, but I don’t know much about it at the same time. I wish I was more knowledgeable about the subject of religion, I really do. This trip definitely helped me understand more about it though; I wish I had more experiences like this on a day-to-day basis.

Anyways, we walked into these big archway red doors and these women were handing out three incense sticks. These sticks were then lit on fire and we were to wave them around so the flame went out. While waving the flame out we were supposed to make a wish. We walked more into this building and there were at least 3 different rooms to pray. All rooms had a different significance.

In this same location we went to find our Buddha. Our Buddha was supposed to be able to tell us how to be better people or what to improve on. This I really enjoyed. There was this huge room filled with gold sculptures (Buddha’s). Each one of us was supposed to find one that reached out to us or appealed to us. After you found one females were supposed to count to the right and males were supposed to count to the left. You count however old you are. The Buddha you land on is your Buddha. The number of my Buddha was 158. Therefore, I went up to the little stand and got a gold card of that number to see what my Buddha told me. One of our tour guides, Linda, read me what my gold card said, considering it was all in Chinese. It meant basically to never to give up on something. Linda told me that if I keep climbing a mountain I will be fine but if I go down the mountain then bad things can happen. This card really reached out to me. It made sense to my life.

After this we went to lunch and moved on to see a major park in Wuhan. This park was beautiful. It was on water and there were many figurines and statues everywhere. Lots of pictures were taken but unfortunately the weather was very foggy. Or it could have been smog. The air in China isn’t the cleanest.

At lunch was when a group of us girls used the fabulous “ squatty potty” for the first time. Basically just a hole in the ground.

Next we went to a major museum based on the history of China. At the museum there was a bell show. It was very interesting to see a form of Chinese Music. The show was very short and felt, as though it should have gone on much longer. The fact that they were hitting bells and making music was really cool to me.

After the museum we met up with our host families. This is where the trip starts to get real interesting and amazing in my personal opinion. Our student’s name that took Elise and I in was named Cathy. We drove back to her house and had dinner with her two parents and two grandparents as well. Luckily the father also spoke English as well as Cathy so that helped out a lot at the dinner table.

Eating dinner there was very interesting. Somewhat awkward. But looking back on it I am ecstatic we did these host stays. It was our first real night in Wuhan, so looking at the food right away; it wasn’t too appealing to me. For starters there was a dish of just ROOTS on the table., along with plenty of other dishes. I wasn’t eating much, but Elise was doing a great job at eating the food even though I could tell she was hesitant. The father looked specifically at me and was like “ In China if you don’t try a little of each dish it is considered rude.” Therefore, I tried to eat, but to be honest I was very nauseous just from the sight of some of the food. But honestly I don’t think it was the food it was more of the idea that the family was watching me eat. I know to them they were watching just to make sure I was happy with my meal but it made me quite uncomfortable. I felt really bad, because I am not a rude person at all but I honestly couldn’t force myself to eat it.

An interesting side note, I coughed at the table and covered my mouth. The father looks at me again, and was like oh in China we don’t cover our mouths. If someone has the flu we just all get it. Also the grampy was farting like the entire dinner and not even thinking anything of it. It is interesting to see what rude is to us Americans and what is rude to them.

Our first night with our host families was an early night in. Elise and I were exhausted still from the travel. It was an overall good night with the family, even though dinner was a little awkward. But it was a great experience.

Saturday March 5th, 2011- Arrival in Wuhan, China

We landed in Wuhan at about 7:00PM. We all wanted to go to bed so badly when we got to the hotel we were staying at for the night. We had done a full day, 24 hours of traveling. Therefore, to be honest I am confused about my days. We either gained or lost a day through travel. China is 13 hours ahead of us. I am pretty sure we lost a day in travel.

Turns out not many of those assumptions/ expectations were true once I got off the plane. No one was talking too fast because English-speaking tour guides picked us up. There weren’t nearly as many people on the streets as I thought there would be. What I noticed is how there were a lot of people but they were very spread out because the city is so huge. I wasn’t confused on where to go because I just followed my group. I WAS extremely jetlagged and the CULTURE SHOCK was very present once I stepped out of that airport.

When I arrived in Wuhan, China I honestly wasn’t even too excited. I was so freaking tired; all I wanted to do was sleep. We checked into our hotel, which by the way was another hour drive from the airport to get there. The hotel was nice but different. I have no idea what the hotel was called because the name was in Chinese. There were lion sculptures on both sides of the entrance. The architecture of the hotel was white and very detailed. When we walked in there was a red carpet to follow inside to the lobby. There were places to sit and smoke. Yes smoke inside, something we aren’t used to anymore. The person who gave Elise and I our room keys didn’t speak any English so we just nodded and smiled. The little store in the lobby was only big enough to fit one individual desk; there was also a little tiny orange tree in the lobby, which I didn’t really understand.

Elise and I took the elevator up to our room, glass elevator may I add, you could see out into the streets of Wuhan. We got into our room and were very surprised on how big the room was. Actually pretty spacious, well to us since we had been on planes all day. I remember the beds being like boards, literally could have slept on the floor and been the same amount of comfortable. The lights got turned on and off by our room key. We had to keep our room key in this slot or else there would be no lighting. The bathrooms were NORMAL like how we are USED TO. Remember this, therefore we hadn’t even seen squatty potty’s yet until our second day. However, the shower connected to the floor. For example, there was a shower curtain but no tub or lift up in the floor to keep the water in. Therefore, at all times water was ALL OVER the floor of the bathroom.

That night eve though all of us were exhausted Rob (our teacher) convinced us all to explore the city of Wuhan, the nightlife. I was not to happy about this little adventure to be honest. Like I said I jut wanted to sleep. But I went. The city was all lit up, very pretty, kind of like Times Square in New York but in China! There were stores and food all along the streets. This night was the first time I purchased something in China, yep, a bottle of water. But we also went to Starbucks and Macdonald’s to get some Americanized food. Yes first night in China, and we wanted food we were familiar with. That night we just walked around to get the feel of Wuhan.

There was music playing everywhere you went, remind you in Chinese. There were stairs to climb in order to get ANYWHERE. There were also these red lantern things that they used for lighting.

This night was the first night we experienced Wuhan traffic. Which was crazy insane! Little kids were just walking the streets around 10:00 at night by themselves. They would cross the street without looking expecting cars to just stop. We also passed a little girl, again by herself, just peeing on the sidewalk but through her pants, it was very sad to pass by. Wuhan wasn’t as clean and up to date like the United States, but you could tell they were working on a lot of things. There were construction sites everywhere.

At about 1:00AM about Elise and I got comfortable on our table beds and passed out for the night.

Friday March 4th, 2011 - Traveling Day to China!

On this exact day I was sitting in the Newark, New Jersey airport with all 20 or so students getting ready to depart on our long thirteen and a half plane ride to China. We woke up this morning to meet at the Burlington VT airport around 4:00AM and took a connecting flight to New Jersey. Throughout the trip we are flying Continental Airlines. We have a three-hour layover in New Jersey before we board our plane. The first flight was only an hour because we were flying Burlington to New Jersey this 13 and a half hour flight will be insane!

In this airport waiting for the plane to board I remember thinking how nervous but excited I was for my upcoming adventure. I had no idea what to expect or if I was even going to enjoy the trip. I am not a very outgoing person at first so I was a little afraid I wasn’t going to click with our other classmates or wasn’t going to like any of the food. Pathetically those were my two main worries. I was, by a lot, forcing myself out of my comfort zone. I knew I should push myself and experiment other things, hence why I took this class.

In my journal that I wrote in throughout the trip, I wrote about what I assumed would happen when I got off the plane.

1)Culture shock
2)An overwhelming amount of people surrounding me
3)Being confused on where to go
4)Jetlagged
5)Not understanding a word of what is said around me
6)The Chinese will probably talk insanely fast

Before I get into the details of my trip, I truly believe this trip was not only GREAT for me to do, but it changed my life and perspectives about the outside world. It helped me not only learn a lot of the Chinese culture but a lot about myself as well. Everything we did was completely new to me, the food, the family lifestyles, the education, the clothing, the hospitality, the money etc. Right about now you, the reader is going to hear all about my adventures in China! Mojo a go go!