My Summer Vacation

My summer vacation can be summed up into one post. Which is one of the reasons I haven't posted about my summer at all yet. The reason is mostly because my life just isn't as interesting as it was when I first got here last August when everything was new and exciting. That being said, I can easily say that this has been one of the happiest and best summers of my life thus far.... in going with the theme that this has easily been the best and happiest year of my life. So this summer, when I'm not sleeping or eating, I'm:

1. Teaching English- this takes up most of my time, mostly because I have to prepare lesson plans and commute on the bus to each place and it takes up a good part of my day. I'm teaching government officials who are preparing for the Youth Olympics in 2014, a class of 6 year-old kids at a day camp, and a 14 year-old girl, three 35 year-olds, four 10 year-olds and four 9 year olds at their respective homes. Usually I just look up some lesson plans on the ESL internet websites, print them out, and then teach them. The worst thing is the classes are so long, all of them are at least a straight 2 hours and some of them are up to 4 hours.

2. Studying Chinese- I try to study for 2 hours a day... usually I just end up reading fashion magazines or watch TV and call it a day, but I also study from my textbook and short stories.

3. Going out with my friends- Especially now that I'm leaving so soon, I've been hanging out with my friends a lot, usually either cooking together, getting a cup of coffee or going out to eat together. Also, I have one word for you: Tequila.

4. Exercising- I usually go running around campus or on the track around the soccer field a couple times a week, and I go to Kung fu class around twice a week. Kungfu is particularly entertaining because not only am I the only white person, but I'm also the only female. It's pretty funny when newcomers join the class because they spend the first 15 minutes staring at me and saying things like, "Do you think she can speak Chinese? I wonder if she's Russian. Is she strong? You should say Hello. But I don't want to say Hello." ect, ect, ect. until they hear me talking to someone in Chinese and then they stop talking about me so blatantly and obviously.

5. Applying for stuff for my future. Since I get asked the question "What are you doing with your life slash what are you going to do with your Chinese?" about twenty times a day, I will post my current future plans here.

-Fulbright Grant (if I get it, I can come back to Nanjing University and do research for 1 year)
-Johns Hopkins University at Nanjing University (where I would get a Master's Degree in International Relations)
-Flagship program at Ohio State University (where I would get a Master's Degree in Chinese Language and Literature；be a graduate student at Ohio State University for a year and at Nanjing University for one year)

For the Fall 2010 Semester applying for internships at:
-The United States Peace Institute
-The Hudson Institute
- U.S.-China Policy Foundation

That's about it.......... any questions?????

Family Comes to China Part 3: Shanghai

After Nanjing, my aunt and uncle left and my parents and sister went back to Shanghai together. It was a lot of fun; we ate expensive ice cream at Hagaan Dazs and in the morning we had breakfast with the perfect view of the Bund. Here is a picture of my mom and dad with the expensive ice cream and the four of us at the restaurant on the Bund.

After my parents left for the US, my sister came back to Nanjing with me and we hung out for 3 days together in Nanjing with my friends. On Monday, June 28th she went to Shanghai and got a plane to go back to Spain and had a layover in Beijing. Somehow, probably because her flight from Shanghai was delayed, she missed her flight from Beijing to Europe. So she had to spend 4 days in Beijing by herself! Also, for some reason, every time she called my cell phone it didn't go through, and every time I called her hotel, it said that it was the wrong number. Plus I didn't have internet access at the time, so I didn't even get her email until she'd been in Beijing for 2 days. And one day she went to a tea house and they charged her 800 RMB (or something ridiculous like that) for a pot of tea! I don't know how much money they ended up getting out of her, but I was furious, and sad, that those horrible cheats did that to my sister. :-(

Family Comes to China Part 2: Nanjing

After taking a 6-hour train from Huangshan to Nanjing, we arrived in Nanjing on Monday morning. We took taxis to our hotel, and I set my family up with lunch while I went to teach class. After the first hour and a half of class (which is all reading from the textbook), I invited my family to come to class and talk with my students. It was nice because my students were ecstatic and also my family said it was one of their favorite parts of their trip as well. The next few days we saw the sights in Nanjing, including the Ming Tombs, the city wall, a park, the massacre museum, and other touristy places. We went out to dinner with my friends, Xiaohu and Tangle, as well as Pingping, Roger and Fangfang. On the last night, one of my students took us out to dinner and we had a blast. I kind of forgot to tell my parents about toasting culture in China before we got there, so I had to give them a quick rundown of how to make a toast, of which there are a lot of during a Chinese dinner. So it was pretty funny, I thought. Also, my aunt, mom and my student sang a couple of songs for us, which was very nice.

Family Comes to China Part 1- pictures from Huangshan "Yellow Mountain"

Family Comes to China Part 1: Huangshan continued

After staying overnight on top of the mountain, the next day we took a 6-hour hike around the area. The first picture is of the four hikers that day- my sister, aunt, uncle and me. These pictures don't do the place justice- this was legitimately one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to, tying with Yunnan and Guangxi.

Family Comes to China Part 1: Huangshan 黄山

Actually my adventure with my family started in Shanghai. My parents, aunt and uncle arrived in the Shanghai Pudong International airport on Monday, June 14 around 3:00 pm. That night we went out to dinner with my friends Nathan and Vince, and the next day we went to the World Expo. On the third day, we went to a park in the morning where my parents went to town doing tai chi with the locals and I took Vince to the airport that afternoon to say goodbye. On Thursday, June 17th, my sister Ruth arrived from Spain and we immediately left on the train for Huangshan ("Yellow Mountain"). I don't have any pictures from Shanghai except for pictures of Eric, Vince and I watching the World Cup, so I'm just going to start with Huangshan pictures.

After taking a 13-hour overnight train to Huangshan, we arrived around 9:00 am on Friday. We put our excess luggage in a hotel and took a 1-hour long bus ride to the base of the mountain. My Mom took the luggage up with her in the cable car, and my Dad, sister, aunt, uncle and I started the 2-hour climb up to the top of the mountain. The first picture, with my sister and my Dad, is during the hike, and the picture with my aunt and sister is at the top of the mountain.

p.s. I added some cute pictures to the Lanzhou post, a previous post from the Gansu trip. Check them out!

Trip to Gansu Part 5- Xiahe continued 2

More pictures from "Summer Lake"

Trip to Gansu Part 5- Xiahe continued

Trip to Gansu Part 5- Xiahe 夏河

Xiahe is also a Tibetan autonomous region, not far from Langmu Monastery in Gansu. It means "Summer Lake" and it was there that we rode horses, sang and danced with some Tibetans, celebrated my friend Jess's birthday, froze to death, and toured a few temples. It was gorgeous! Check out some of the scenery in my pictures! The first picture here is of me and my friend Fangfang, Pingping's old classmate who came with us on the trip.

We returned to Lanzhou on the evening of Friday, June 11th, and just as the opening ceremony for the World Cup started, our plane took off and arrived in Nanjing at midnight. That night I pulled an all-nighter finishing up my thesis. On Sunday night, I watched the World Cup with my friends and we stayed up late talking and saying goodbye. On the morning Monday, June 13th, Vince and I said our final goodbye to our friends, and with me crying in the cab ride all the way to the train station, Vince and I took a train to Shanghai, where I would meet my parents at the airport.

Trip to Gansu Part 4 continued- Langmu Monastery 浪木寺

Here are some more pictures from the Tibetan Buddhist Langmu Monastery region.

Trip to Gansu Part 4- Langmu Monastery 浪木寺

Langmu Monastery is not just a temple, but an entire village area. It's politically a Tibetan Autonomous Region, where the Tibetan have semi-autonomous political rule over the area. It is located on the borders of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, the autonomous region actually straddles these 3 separate provincial governments. It was absolutely beautiful and we got to see monks doing many of their daily rituals, including prayer, chanting, exercises and making mandalas.

Trip to Gansu Part 3- Lanzhou 兰州

After riding camels in Dunhuang, we took a 12-hour overnight train together to Lanzhou 兰州, the capital of Gansu. In Lanzhou, we ate Lanzhou Noodles, which are a famous specialty from the region. That day we went to a lecture about minorities in China, specifically the minorities found in the Northwest of China and in the Gansu region (including, for example, you may have heard of Tibetans and Uyghurs, just two of the 56 minorities that live in China).

The next day my friends Sean, Vince, Eitan, Josh, Nate and Chris hiked to a temple at a pagoda on the top of a mountain. I don't know how I always end up in situations where I'm the only girl. It was an awesome view and we could see the whole city. We joked that the river looked like chocolate milk. At 5:00 pm, we heard the Islamic call to prayer coming from a mosque in the city. We climbed back down the mountain and went to a bustling street market, sampling as many snacks as we could, especially the Islamic food. At night we went to a bar across the street from our hotel and chatted together for a few hours over a couple beers.

This was one of my favorite days in China.

Trip to Gansu Part 2- Dunhuang

These pictures are from Dunhuang 敦煌, a city in Gansu 甘肃, where we rode camels. I also went there last semester (October 2009) for my Fall Break trip and it's one of my favorite cities in China. The largest sand dunes in Asia are located there, as well as the world's largest collection of Buddhist art (which we obviously were not allowed to take pictures of).

End of the Semester Trip to Gansu Part 1- Jiayuguan 嘉峪关

I haven't posted in so long! I have been crazy busy. Hopefully you guys are still checking up on my blog; I will post more in the next 3 weeks before I leave China on Monday, August 9th. Since the last post, I've gone on a couple trips so I'm going to post the pictures now. Today I will post some pictures from my trip to Gansu 甘肃, which is a province in China partially located in the Gobi Desert. I went on a trip to Gansu from June 4 to June 12th. The pictures shown on this post are from Jiayuguan 嘉峪关, an ancient city in the Gobi Desert, where we climbed the Great Wall. The picture of me is me on the Great Wall.