And Back in Canada again...

So I am now officially back in the same time zone as my home. Having started my blog entries in Vancouver, Canada, I decided it would be best to finish with one last blog from Vancouver. It is currently 3pm and hopefully I will be back in Seattle by 7:30pm.

The last two weeks in China were crazy. I was super busy with Thanksgiving, finals, good byes, and doing all the China things I had been meaning to do all semester. These two weeks were also plagued with negative events. My camera, cell phone and bike were all stolen (3 separate events). I really missed these three essentials, but was able to make do with out them for a few weeks. My dad has already replaced my camera and I will get it as soon as I get off the plane in Seattle (For those of you have seen me with my camera, you know it is a very well loved essential in my life. Living without it has been frustrating and difficult). Another damper in the last two weeks was a stomach bug that attacked my last 4 days in Chengdu. This made packing and visiting all my favorite restaurants one last time very difficult. I was bummed that I did not get one last opportunity to see all my favorite places, but also was relieved that I got rid of the bug and was healthy enough to see all the sights in Beijing.

The last 4 days have been spent in Beijing. Wow! It is a city full of history and amazing sights! We arrived on Saturday and immediately jumped right into the tourist scene. We went to the forbidden city and tian'anmen square. Some how our timing was perfect and we were able to see the guards march out to lower the flag in the square. However, Tyler, Troy and I were a little slower than the rest of the group and actually ended up getting stuck in the Forbidden City for the whole process, while the rest of the group waited, freezing to death, in the square. Saturday night concluded with a visit to a Beijing Acrobatic show-Think Cirque De Solei, but not quite as fancy.

Sunday we visited the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. Both places had elaborate architecture and intricate painting on the rafters. We really enjoyed all the photo opportunities (Dylan and Troy became my official camera buddies and helped me capture all the Beijing photos I wanted). The day ended with a trip to the Beijing Opera. The show we saw consisted of two parts. The first was a short story about an emperor and his wife, while the second story was about a monkey who did all sorts of awesome cool fighting moves.

Monday was my favorite day! We went to the Great Wall. We climbed and climbed and climbed straight up. I thought I was going to die! It was the most exercise I had gotten in months. It was so exhilarating! The wall itself was amazing and the view was beautiful. Once again we took many many pictures. Monday night we didn't have any group plans so we decided to check out the local bar street. It was more of a bar loop that circled a nice lake. However, it was sooo cold so we were only there for a few minutes.

Tuesday was another great day. We were allowed to do whatever we wanted so a group of us decided to go to Olympic Park. We went to both the Water Cube and the Birds Nest. Both places were awesome designs and it was so cool to be somewhere I had seen on TV.

So that brings us today. This day that has gone on for over 24 hours. It is now finally the same day and time that we left China. It is crazy how this time change thing works. Well, hopefully I will be getting on a flight to Seattle soon, but with the current storm we will just have to wait and see...

Fundraising the Chinese way!

Over the past month I have had the opportunity to be a part of the planning team for a Fundraiser Dinner, Auction, and Variety Show for 200 people. Not only has it been a fun and exciting process, it has also been a challenge since 95% of the planning team speaks only Chinese. I rely heavily on the one Chinese English speaker to translate the things I need to know and even with that I feel like I am always missing things. I was also planning for a culture I still don't know everything about. A culture where it is OK to make last minute changes. A culture where the master schedule will be changed 20 times right up until the event starts and maybe changed two more times during the event. However, in the end the event was a success and I can now say I have planned a large scale event in a foreign country!

The evening started with a 100 yuan a head dinner with 50% of the profits going to help earthquake victims in Dujiangyan. Last week I learned the money will be specifically used to buy children there warm winter clothes. After dinner was the Variety show. This was my baby. I recruited people from our group to preform eight different acts. There was everything from singing to dancing to skits. I made sure everyone was prepared and had all the appropriate items on stage for their acts. Along with our eight acts were eight Chinese acts. One of them included these adorable children carrying candles (only in China!) and then doing sign language to a song.

My favorite act of the night was five guys from PLU (self entitled Pespect after a miss spelled hat one of them owns) doing a choreographed dance to 'Nsync's "It's Gonna Be Me". Not only did I enjoy watching this dance, but I recruited the 5 guys and the choreographer (my lovely roommate Erin) and scheduled and ran hour long evening practices. The guys blew me out of the water with their ability to learn and perfect an entire dance in only four days! They also had alot of fun along the way and made me laugh as I watched them turn into snooty, little divas. The night of the performance they did great and bounced back from a skip in the music right at the beginning. They made me sooo proud! They now have intentions to preform their dance on the Great Wall in Beijing. We will see how that goes over!

We ended the evening with a celebration for all November birthday (like me!). We had three cakes and everyone with November birthdays came on stage and blew out the candles as others sang Happy Birthday in Chinese and English.

The entire night was a huge success and we made almost $3000 USD total. That will go along way in helping Children in the earthquake zone!

Birthday Video, try 2!

My birthday video! Didn't upload with the last blog so here it is!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

I had an amazing 21st Birthday in China celebrating with all my amazing friends on the trip. I also loved all the Birthday wishes and cards I recieved from home!

The day kicked off with half our group pulling themselves out of bed and stubbling into my room for mid- day mimosas--China style-very sweet orange juice and barely alcoholic sparking wine. I then preceeded to get ready for the day before a few of the girls and I headed out to get our hair and make up done. We found this great little hole in the wall place that did our hair and make up for only 20 yuan (a mere $3USD)! Of course it was all in the bright eye shadow, thick eye liner china style, but we all looked fabulous regardless. We then headed back to the dorm where we all applied temporary tattoos, got dressed, and met up with the rest of the group to go to dinner.

We went to dinner at what I like to refer to as the "Rain Forest Cafe" of China. It is a giant fun, lively, Chinese chain. From the minute we walked into the restuarant I knew it would be a fun night as I observed the giant fake trees covering the ceiling and the singing and dancing staff. Before our food arrived there was a small Birthday cake (my first of 3 I recieved throughout the weekend-shown below) on the table and the singing and dancing moved over to our table. They pulled me up and sang "Happy Birthday" to me in both chinese and english (see video) and then perceeded to get the whole group up and dancing around the restuarant. They played american pop songs on their guitars and drums as we fearlessly danced. They even brought out a bar to do the limbo with. It was a fabulous dinner

After dinner some of the group decided to carry on the dancing at some local dance clubs near our dorm and danced the night away!

It was a fabulous birthday in China and I couldn't have asked for more! Thanks to everyone who helped make my special day really special!

Asia Styled Reunion

They say it is not about where you are, but rather who you are with. That was the case a couple weekends ago when I was able to meet up with my best childhood friend Christy in Hong Kong.

We spent allllloooonnnngg time trying to pick a location to meet. We thought about here in Chengdu, in Taiwan (where she is studying), Shanghai, or Hong Kong, but in the end it came down to a location that was easiest for us both to get too.

Just because I got to spend the weekend with her it was AMAZING (Hong Kong did have some pretty cool things to do too). It is so crazy how we both ended up studying in Asia the same semester. Year ago we talked about studying in Australia together our junior year, but that was just a far out idea. Then during a phone conversation this past spring we discovered we actually would be studying in the same part of the world this fall. How crazy is that!?!? So it was immediately decided we would do whatever it took to have an Asia styled reunion.

Lucky for us the weather in Hong Kong was HOT!! We spent the first day at the beach on Hong Kong Island. It was hot and sunny and the water was perfect for wading in. Christy's friend Camille joined us for the weekend too! The unfortunate thing about the timing of our trip was I broke my toe the night before I left for HK so I was limping around all weekend and unable to do any of my favorite jumping pictures!

The food in HK was DELICIOUS!! Since it is an international city you can get all different kinds of food. It was a great break from the sichuan food I eat everyday. I enjoyed eating cantonese food (wontons and dim sum), bubble waffles, sushi, and lots of thai styled noodles. Christy and I compared chopstick skills and competed to see who was the messiest! I won by having at least five whole noodles dropped on the table by the end of the meal. I really am good at using Chopsticks, I just drop things...often.

Christy had a friend from OSU, Erik, studying in Hong Kong that we meet up with. He even let us stay at one of his friend's apartments for two nights, which was a great break from the teeny tiney hostel room we spent the first two nights in. We went to the new James Bond movie with Erik and all his friends. He introduced us to his roommate Micheal (pictured above) who we hung out with several times though out the weekend. As we were in Hong Kong one week before my birthday and three days before Camille's birthday we went out dancing to celebrate. Christy and I bought little black dresses to wear and Micheal showed us all the hot night life spots!

On our last day in HK we took a ride on a giant cable car. This was a big deal for Christy who is usually not a fan of any type of rides, but we went on it and actually enjoyed it!! From our car we saw the ocean, the airport, gorgeous green hills, and the largest outdoor bronze sitting Buddha in the world. When we got to the top we planned on walking up to see the Buddha close up, but the weather suddenly turned cold on us. So we only had time to get a few vegetarian dishes for lunch (it was the vegetarian world food festival---How perfect!) and a hot drink before we froze and had to head back down the mountain. We bundled up and spent the last evening doing last minute shopping at the Ladies Market, watching High School Musical 3, and talking on the roof of our apartment. It was a great last night and it was soo hard to say bye the next morning. We made plans to meet up over Christmas break and know we will be talking about the weekend we spent in HK together for the rest of our lives!

The Poncho Wearing, Bike Riding Locals

Unlike us Northwesterners, the Chinese are not as fond as pulling out the goretex rain jackets, rain boots and water resistant pants. In fact, since I have been here I haven't seen any rain boots and very few quality rain jackets. The Chinese prefer the umbrella, for which they have created contraptions to connect to their bikes in order to stay dry while riding. The Chinese also are quite fond of the poncho, but not normal sized ponchos, ridiculously large ponchos that are designed to fit over one's entire bicycle. Underneath these rain barriers people dress as they would for any other day. I see people dressed in suits, high heels, and dresses all braving the rain under their umbrellas or ponchos. This is the way of the Chinese when it rains. I remember experiencing these behaviors during our first rain in China, thinking these people were crazy as I ran around in my flipflops and tank tops, thinking I would never join these poncho wearing, umbrella carrying locals...
Well, today that all changed! After biking through multiple rains over the past week and sitting through several meals in wet, soggy jeans, I decided this gigantic poncho thing might actually make sense. So today after waking up to rain yet again, I mounted my bike and headed down to the corner store to buy a beautiful burgandy poncho.
I have already gotten my moneys worth out of it by cycling all over campus and all the way through town to the PSB. I am now a proud member of the poncho wearing, bike riding locals.

Today also brought the good news that I will be able to get a Visa (hence me biking across town) in time to meet Christy in Hong Kong next Wednesday! WOOHOO!

Embaressing moment of the day: Every once and a while I mix up my Chinese phrase, but todays case was probably the worst. While shopping and not paying attention to my surrounding I ran into a chinese girl who was quite startled by the intrution to her personal space bubble. In tending to quickly apologize I blurted out "Duoshoa qian?" (How much does it cost?) rather than "Dubuqi!" (I am sorry). This created a more awkward situation with nasty glares. Although I was rather startled at the time, I have been laughing about this incident all day long!

Things to Know When Traveling China

(The World's Largest Buddha in Leshan)

Things to Know When Visiting Leshan and Mt. Emei

(Or Any Chinese Tourist Destination)

• Do not expect the sunny weather you see in the pictures in guide books or on TV shows. These destinations are in fog all but a few days of the year.
  
• Be prepared for crowds and do not hesitate to shove your way through them. In order to see the Giant Buddha at Leshan you had to get in a line and then queue down a set of stairs. If I wasn't fallowing the crowd quick enough, the people behind me would quickly shove their way in front of me.


• Bring Toilet paper and be prepared for nasty, smelling, squatter style bathrooms. We have gotten used to the squatter styled toilets here, but some of the most horrendous bathrooms we come across are during our travels around the country and NONE of them ever have toilet paper.
• Always walk clockwise around Buddhist temples, stupas, and alters. It is important to know local customs such as this to be respectful to the local people and their traditions.


• Tour buses are TINY. Be prepared to have NO leg room.
  
• Take snacks with you. Locals can get by with selling snack foods for 3 times their actually price at these tour destinations because there is no competition. Also on an organized tour there is minimal control over choice of restaurant and food so you never know what or how much you will be served. Luckily, as a vegetarian, they always brought out an extra vegetarian dish for me so I was satisfied after most meals.
  
• "Wild" monkeys are actually quite tame. Beware, they will attack you even if they think you have food. They have no problem jumping out of no where onto your arm or climbing up your body just to get a tiny piece of food you may hold in your hand. I was never personally attacked, but my roommate Erin was climbed by a Monkey the instant we entered the monkey area. Fortunately she was not physically injured, just a bit traumatized. As long as you hold the food out to them and don't tease them, they should leave you alone.

(Blurry, but gets the idea across)



• As a white person you are a celebrity. People will constantly be coming up to you asking to get a picture taken with you. Just smile, stand next to them and put the peace sign up and they will be happy and grateful.

• While you are photographing the monkeys (or any tourist attraction) Chinese will be photographing you. Sometimes they are discrete about it, sometimes they are not. Some Chinese love taking pictures of groups of white people and will not necessary ask for your permission.


• Travel in a group for packing purposes. I only brought one light jacket for a very cold destination. However, I was always warm because there was always someone who was too hot that would give me his or her jacket, hat, mittens, etc. I must have had three different outfits on throughout the day.


• Know the phrase "Bu Yao!" This means "I don't want!" This should be said to all the vendors that will constantly be pestering you to buy their products. Saying this usually gets them to leave you alone.


• Jumping Pictures must be taken at every single stop along the tour. You also must be creative with this and do a pose in the air that relates to the current attraction. At the stupa on the top of Mt. Emei we did our "Enlightened Buddha" pose mid-air.



• Lastly, use every moment of freetime to explore your surroundings. You never know what you might find. On our free night in Leshan we went exploring and found a fountain full of half naked women...hmmm...the things they have in China!