大/小 熊猫 & etc

Sorry for the infrequency of posts lately; we've settled into a day-to-day routine and there is not much to report!

It's the rainy season here in China, and while there hasn't been much in the way of torrential downpours, we had pretty steady rain today. It's pretty discouraging to head out to class in, but we still managed to make it to our 2 favorite street vendors for food for lunch. I'm really going to miss that when I return to America.

Pete passed this article on to me this morning about Transformers and film propaganda in China. First off, Transformers definitely will be released here; we saw a poster advertising it at the cinema only yesterday. Its release date has been pushed back several weeks, however, and we are far from Beijing, so perhaps that has something to do with it. There are metallic Transformers icons on countless cars in this city, so it's obviously very popular here.

Also, I haven't really noticed much propaganda here, and I've been sort of surprised by that. I have seen a lot of rather scary fervor among a few 12 year old students I met awhile back, but the students in their 20s don't seem the same way. Our professors also have been very open minded, global thinkers - though perhaps their travel has something to do with it. And all of the subversion you hear about in articles like this ("May 35th" terminology) hasn't been very clear here, either. Again, we're not in Beijing, and I think things are different out here by Tibet. But it's still interesting.

Anyway, last Saturday was our trip to the Panda Research Center! I am not as obsessed with pandas as many of my friends are, but it was still a fun time. It was also my first time seeing the "red pandas," which I must say I liked much better - they're an adorable, fluffy cross between a fox and a raccoon. I mean, come on!

Unfortunately, my camera's batteries died at this part. I attempted a whole bunch of great shots of the red pandas, but my camera shut down as I took each one. I'll get the pics from a friend and add them later. :)

Finally, a pic of Reid and I at our Canadian friend Harry's house last Friday! His dad is a geologist for Shell (and therefore makes shit tons of money), and they live in an incredibly nice house here with a maid and driver on hand. I'll take pictures if we go back, it's unbelievable and nicer than many houses I've been to in the States.

We went there to go swimming on Friday - the weather was absolutely perfect, as was the water; after a nice relaxing swim (well, Aaron, Duncan, Reid, Harry and I swam; no one else wanted to for some reason) we headed back to Harry's for cheese and crackers (cheese and crackers!!!) and wine and watermelon and pasta and Fight Club and all sorts of deliciousness. Let me tell you, after an immensely relaxing pool endeavor, cheese and crackers and a few glasses of wine on a Friday night - especially when you haven't had cheese!! and crackers in such a long time - is simply sublime.

It may take you a moment to figure out exactly whose legs are whose, but I was a few glasses in by this point. Don't judge. :) (Here you go, Katie - your two favorite people! :P)

Being cozy with some wine on the window sill (This one's for you, Katie! <3)

Sick Snowfox at Emei Mountain (part 2 of 2)

The trip to Emei Shan ("euh-may") was the one I had been most looking forward to about this program -- I'm sad to say it was highly disappointing. :(

First of all, we were told that we would spend Saturday night in a monastery on the mountain. Apparently that translates to "in a nice hostel in Emei City about 30 minutes from the mountain." I was expecting to climb the mountain on Saturday, spend the night on a straw pallet in a mountain monastery, get up early to see some kung fu in the morning, and finish the hike on Sunday. Emei is one of the four holy Buddhist mountains (it is also infamous for its "friendly" monkeys), and several members of my Shaolin Kung Fu family have trained with the monks on the mountain. That is sort of what I was expecting.

Unfortunately, that was not at all our experience. After a surprisingly nice hot spring trip, we spent a sleepless night in the hostel and woke up at 330 am to go to a monastery to "watch the monks' morning class." We walked there in the pitch dark, humid rainy morning (I still felt quite queasy and sick), and were greeted by a confused-looking door guard; yawning monks were chanting at one of the altars and old visiting women were staring and saying Laowai, laowai; then suddenly we were leaving. We were there for maybe 5 minutes of their chanting and 20ish minutes overall. We ended up back at the hostel, watching the lightning and trying to catch one more hour of sleep before heading to a breakfast I felt far too sick to eat.

We then took a terrifying (though gorgeous) bus ride up the mountain, swaying and swerving around hairpin bends and attempting to pass people without being flattened by oncoming traffic. Once we had all arrived, we navigated our way up the stairs in a sea of people and umbrellas, climbing a short way to the gondola that would take us most of the way to the "Golden Summit." After waiting in a line for at least an hour and a half (while attempting to prevent shameless Chinese families from cutting in ahead of us and learning how to say "Damn it" in Chinese), we piled into a 100-person gondola with an excellent view of the fog, and then completed the rest of our climb in the rain until we reached the top. Wait, were we at the top? There was some vague shape ahead . . . oh whoa, it was a huge golden statue! Right? Maybe? Where did it go?

Apparently, Emei Shan looks like this:

 

But this was our experience:

I can't help laughing in a despairing sort of way every time I see these pics.

If there were other buildings on the top (I know there were at least 2 more), I did not see them anywhere. The inside of the statue is a really beautiful temple, though:

And we also, thankfully, did get the chance to see some of the infamous Emei monkeys.

Our 2.5-3 hour bus ride home, however, took 5 hours -- we fell victim to the classic Chinese traffic jam and spent 6:30-9pm in bumper to bumper traffic (there were only 3 lanes painted on the ground, but there were somehow at least 4 lanes of cars...). As we got closer to central Chengdu, we were also halted by flash flooding. We were all bored and starving and exhausted (and still a bit soaked). We were also perplexed by the proposed "saftey exit" strategy:

And how exactly would we do that?

All in all, it was a weekend full of valuable experiences, but it was certainly not what I had hoped for.

Hopefully we'll have better luck with the pandas this Saturday!

In Which I Discuss Freedom; or, "It's Funny Because It's True"

Belated 4th of July regards to you all! I hope you had a fantastic holiday back home and saw some fireworks for me. That's my favorite part of the holiday, though I might attempt to find one of my guilty pleasure movies* (alright, it's National Treasure, don't judge) to celebrate later.

Here's your Chinese lesson for the day:
 
烟花[yānhuā] is the Chinese word for fireworks. It literally means "smoke flower."
独立日[dúlì rì] means "Independence Day," or literally, "Standing Alone Day."

Several of our group members went out drinking, but besides trying the infamous Chinese alcohol known as baijiu (not as bad as I was led to believe, but I certainly wouldn't drink it for fun), I abstained and instead watched 12 Angry Men with a few other group mates. This sinus infection has not really inspired me to great heights in terms of patriotic celebrations, I'm afraid.

And, finally, a funny (and sadly relevant) e-card from someecards for your enjoyment:

Don't worry; "Part Two: Sick Snowfox in Emei" is in progress and will be posted later this evening! Happy belated Fourth to you all. And as our group is fond of saying while here: 'Merica, $%@# yeah!!

*Not only am I ashamed because it's really not that great of a movie, I also am far from a Nic Cage fan. But . . . but the movie's so much fun . . .

Sick Snowfox at Leshan (part 1 of 2)

Ahoy!

The bad news: I have a sinus infection and cannot breathe through my nose or hear through my left ear, and I have sporadically been getting sore throats and sinus pressure headaches as well.

The other bad news: The weekend trip was fairly disappointing.

The good news: Parts of the trip were still pretty awesome!

The other good news: I have mostly recovered from my recent and semi-metaphorical physical and emotional mauling, so to speak, as a result of continued soul searching and strange Chinese medicinal herbs. The sinus infection still has a hold, but my spirits have recovered. :)

On Saturday we took a nice 2 hour coach bus ride to Leshan, where we boarded a small boat and waited in the thick humidity for departure while glaring at the Chinese tourists blatantly snapping pictures, filming us, and pointing and saying, "Laowai!" or "Waiguoren!" We were told that we must wear a life jacket, but besides the fact that if you were to fall in the river, you were unlikely to escape without a fifth limb, the life jackets seemed liable to encourage, rather than prevent, drowning. Aaron showed us all the way you really wear a life vest:

He's a waterskier - must be legit.

The day was far too hazy for pictures.

 After the boat got going, I began to feel much better. They'd told us how "cold" the mountain would be (60*F? Sounds perfect to me!), so I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Well, what I did not realize was that Leshan would be intensely humid - the air was the heaviest it has been so far, and I was absolutely suffocating in my jeans. My sinus infection was also settling in, so I was pretty miserable - but I absolutely love boats/being on the water, and so I cheered up after that (while giving the smokers some nasty glares).

Suddenly, as we drew closer to the cliffside, we passed....

...the Leshan Buddha, (now) the tallest sitting Buddha in the world at over 200ft! It was incredible. We also climbed up part of the cliff later (still sweltering in jeans) and got much closer:

Look at all that pollution :(

Reid, Aaron, Harry, and Alex modeling the vests

Despite the unbearable humidity and my worsening health, the hike was beautiful:

We all rubbed his belly for good luck :)

These were throwing off intense heat!

Stay tuned for part two: Sick[er] Snowfox at Emei!

Field Trip

Just a quick update, as I have to pack -

This weekend is our first overnight field trip to Mt Emei and the Leshan Buddha. I am running out of batteries for my camera, but if it dies, I will definitely get pictures from my other group members!

I have also been sick for the past few days - sore throat, congestion, and sometimes sinus headache/queasiness. I haven't been getting enough sleep and my immune system is low. I can still function, but I do not feel at all well :(

Have a good 4th of July weekend, everyone! Do some celebrating for me and I'll update with pictures and stories when I return.

青城山

Mt. Qingcheng, our Sunday excursion, was absolutely gorgeous. It's said to be one of the major birthplaces of Taoism, as well as the region that inspired scenery for Kung Fu Panda!

We left at 7am sharp and walked a ways to take the subway (an incredibly pleasant experience, surprisingly) to the train station, arriving at 8am. We then waited in line for an hour to purchase our train tickets. We'd obviously missed the 8:15 and 9:02, and the 9:30 was sold out . . . and the next one wasn't until 11:53. So much for an early departure! I was also having stomach cramps, and it was raining buckets out. However, I did successfully ask the woman behind us in line if we were in the correct line (there were about 15 lines), and while I didn't understand the entirety of her response, I did gather that we could be in that line. (I even remembered how to say "form a line"!) I'm still super proud of myself for that. I won't even ask strangers for directions in the States! :D

We got really good jiaozi (dumplings) across the street, but I was feeling so sick I only had 3. :( We then went to go wait at the train station - I curled up on 2 seats and tried not to think sick thoughts. I was thankfully feeling better by the time we got on the train.

The train, while very nice, did not have the greatest scenery at first. It was all sketchy-looking high-rise apartments and rubble/debris (perhaps from the 2008 earthquake?). However, as we got up to 200km/hr, we started to get out of the city reaches and into the countryside. That was much, much better, even if it was accompanied by a little kid running around and either screaming or shrieking "One, two, three, four, five!" in Chinese. And then . . .

Our first view of the mountains from the train

Stepping off of that train was like stepping into a whole new world. We were in the middle of nowhere, with only a few short buildings in sight - and the mountains. The air was so fresh. After two weeks of intense city smog, we could finally breathe deeply again.

We took a small shuttle part of the way, and then instead of catching a bus, we walked up the rain-drenched wooden sidewalk through a misty green paradise. We decided the day was already worth it, right there. We took our time - none of us could stop saying, "Guys, this is so awesome" and breathing as deeply as we possibly could. We passed a hotel and instantly started thinking about staying the night . . .

A riverside pavilion on the way to the mountain

An awesome tree in the sidewalk

I found a praying mantis! Where's the rest of the Kung Fu Panda crew? :P

When we finally arrived at the "gate" to the mountain, we discovered that the student price for admission was only half with a student ID -- 45RMB instead of 90. A few group members went to get their tickets. I do not have my student IDs with me in China, as I didn't think I'd need them, but I figured they wouldn't know what a driver's license was, and I am a student, so I wasn't ripping them off. I flashed my license, said "我要一个学生票[Wǒ yào yīgè xuéshēng piào]," which was the closest I could come up with for "I would like a student ticket," and she asked for 45. Success!

The climb was great, though exhausting -- I may still have some of those kung fu/crossfit muscles, but I have never had a lot of cardiovascular strength, and it proved to be intensely challenging for me, as I had feared. I was bringing up the rear, as I always do on excursions like this, but I was much more comfortable (until the very end) with going my own pace and not trying to kill myself. I am not used to any elevation, and besides 3 dumplings and a few handfuls of peanuts (and a coffee flavored Chinese Chips Ahoy! cookie, which was sort of gross), I hadn't eaten anything. So, I rather cheerfully brought up the rear.

I honestly am quite proud of myself for not complaining at all - I complain halfheartedly about many things by nature, but I was especially determined not to this time because I had struggled a lot on the 3rd day of my backpacking trip in freshman year. I am older, in (at least a bit!) better shape, and didn't have a pack as big as myself on my back, so I'd be damned if I was going to complain about it this time. Those of you who know me well will understand what an accomplishment it was for me to remain truly positive (I didn't even have to pretend!) while climbing uneven, slippery, twisting stone stairs straight up for 3.5 hours. All of the Chinese people we encountered on the hike seemed to be doing just fine (one laughing guy on his way down even took my picture as I was struggling up one of the steepest parts towards the end of the climb; I will never forgive him) -- and in fact, many of the girls were still in heels. WTF?!

The strenuousness of the climb aside, I was still keeping a good relaxed-but-progressing pace and feeling good (though of course tired and a bit lightheaded) right up until the very end, when it became much steeper and nausea set in. I actually stopped for a long rest at a temple pavilion, not realizing that the last few flights of stairs to the top was right around the corner. When I finally struggled to my feet, saying I could go on as long as we went slowly and praying I wasn't about to throw up in a temple, we rounded the corner and saw the pavilion at the top. ("Oh . . . " I thought, feeling rather stupid. "Let's do this.")

I unfortunately was feeling a touch too ill to remember to get a picture of myself at the top, but I did get pictures from the top. In fact, I have a ton of pictures, mostly of stairs and temples, but here's a few, including the lovely lake we passed after the gondola ride that took us halfway down:

We found another purple jade stall at the bottom!

Victory! (We're not even halfway up, but shh...)

I'm not sure what exactly is going on with my arm here...

The mountain had so many Taoist compounds along the way. This one was my favorite.

It may look steep, but this is nothing compared to some of the hike.

View from the "almost at the top" pavilion...!

View from the top!!!

Pavilion/temple at the top

Lake on the way down

Exhaustion and all, it was an absolutely gorgeous and rewarding day. We desperately wanted to stay the night and skip Monday's classes, but we made it back in time for the last train, and reluctantly left the fresh air behind. All of us are back to our sore-throat, congested selves now that we're back in the city. :( 

Here's one last pic of me, grateful for the change in environment:

Only in China

Sunday was incredible, but stories and pictures will have to wait, as I am not feeling particularly inspired right now.

I just attempted to withdraw money from the ATM, as I am down to 100RMB (which will last me awhile, but is not a comfortable amount to have available to me indefinitely). While I used the exact same machine that I used last time, this time as I was entering my PIN, a Windows error message popped up and the entire system crashed. I waited as it slowly rebooted . . . and waited . . . and waited. While it was back up and running, the reboot had caused the machine to forget that a card was already inside it. There was no way to get it back.

After nearly an hour of waiting for assistance, we were told that every 2 weeks (I think?) someone comes around to "collect the cards" and that I could go to a different ICBC branch next week Tuesday, July 5th to reclaim my card from them. So, until then, I just have to walk away, leaving my card somewhere in the machine -- and I hate to imagine just how complicated it is going to be to attempt to reclaim my card next week, if it is even there. I can't believe they couldn't just send someone out today to unlock it for us.

Keep in mind, too, that this is all taking place in an absolute hotbox of a tiny room with a single sliding glass door and absolutely no ventilation. I have friends who can spot me if I run out of money (which I absolutely will, as we have more big trips coming up this weekend), but I am still immensely frustrated and upset.

I tried to call M&I through Skype (which costs $0.02 per minute, I believe), but my connection was not good enough for the man on the other end to understand me. I emailed them asking them to temporarily freeze or just monitor my account. The problem is that I need Pete to deposit my rent check to Claire before July 1st; I also need to pay my tuition bill to the U of M by the 5th. Both of those don't normally require me/my card to do (I pay my tuition bill online and the account is already set up with my information), but if they freeze my account, then I assume those time-sensitive transactions won't work. I tried to pay my tuition bill now, but of course the internet refuses to load that page. I don't even know if M&I can even authorize an account freeze if I am merely contacting them via email. . .

Also, Hayley broke our shower yesterday morning. The showerhead is adjustable, and she was pulling it up to make it taller when the flexible pipe/cable connecting it to the faucet snapped. So we now have no shower on top of everything else. I went next door to use Duncan & Alex's shower yesterday morning, and took a bath this morning (which I refuse to continue doing), but the last thing I want to do right now is try to communicate in Chinese that our shower is broken and we need it fixed, oh, yesterday.

The only other things I want to say aren't terribly appropriate for this blog.

Tourists, Languages, (Lack Of) Seatbelts, and Humidity

We've had a very full, touristy-but-rewarding Saturday!

Morning: "We Take Care of Our Own"
The morning started with a very typical driving excursion: The ASU and UDub students were going along as well (people who live in the same building but from different programs/in a more advanced language class); they piled into a coach bus while our ten trusty group members got into our usual van.

However, as we approached the West Gate, the bus stopped and we suddenly turned around. Turns out either ASU (Arizona) or UW (Washington) left without one of their members, but since the van was easier to maneuver, we were the ones who got sent back. Our bus driver somehow got lost and took us in a big circle back to the dorm; we scoffed at how we would never leave one of our own. He also got lost on the way back - he went out the South Gate, turned around, came back in, and meandered back to the West Gate. Heh. Oh - there surprisingly were a few functioning seatbelts in the van, however. (I have yet to wear a seatbelt in this country...I was convinced they didn't exist!)

We arrived at a rather ugly building (below) for a "tea art show," which no one was very excited for due in part to the "early" departure. We'd been slated to leave at 9am, but hadn't really left campus until after 10, of course. However, it was fantastic. We were first treated to a beautiful dance performance, and then separated into groups to be served several kinds of tea in a traditional ceremony. It was an absolutely fantastic way to start the day:

You would never know a beautiful tea house was inside.

Apologies for the backlit nature of this photo - our attendant was gorgeous!

We were continuously served a few sips of different teas at a time.

While my camera is terrible (and I am not the greatest photographer, anyway), I did manage to get a video of both the first and second dance. Below (in simply awful quality, and from the side) is the first dance, gracefully performed with very long-spouted tea kettles:

It may be difficult to see, but they are pouring (tea? plain water?) from their kettles into the various cups on the table with surprising accuracy! The second performance included all of the girls and was set to a faster song. They were both beautiful. I wish I could've gotten a better quality video!

We then headed to the Chengdu Shu Brocade and Embroidery Museum:

An embroidered screen

If I had $2750USD... This would have come home with me. That "painting" is entirely embroidered.

One of the crazy looms!

And, finally, our group went to a lunch paid for by AsiaLearn (so, by our program fees, ha) at a beautiful Tibetan bar/restaurant. Both the ambiance and the food were incredible! I have never liked vegetables as much as I liked both the garlic broccoli and (spinach?); I also had my first several watermelon slices of the season. (Now it truly is summer!)

Blurry, but hopefully gives you a feel for the atmosphere

We were seated on couches!

Afternoon: "It'd be great if it weren't for the crowds..." (or, "Is the humidity at death-inducing levels, or is it just summer in Chengdu?")

After lunch, we traveled to Wuhou "Temple." It was beautiful, but incredibly crowded, and the hordes of Chinese people do not seem to be very aware when people are trying to make their way through them -- interesting, considering their incredible traffic-navigating skills. (Good thing I'm good at weaving through crowds and saying "Dui bu qi"!) I was also approached by 3 Chinese men who wanted to take a picture with me while I was wandering by myself. I did not expect them to put their arms around my shoulders, but I probably should have. (Unfortunately, I do not have that particular picture for you.)

It was practically in a forest! I also had to work really hard to keep people out of the pictures.

This is for all you Year of the Roosters out there. :P

I was taking this picture when I was approached by those guys

That's a lot of incense!

After an hour or so, we then went to "Dufu Thatched Cottage," the home (estate?) of the famous Chinese poet. By this point I was rather exhausted, although it was lovely. The humidity was also well beyond tolerable levels - it actually hasn't been too bad on this trip so far, but it made up for that today. Let's just say I didn't know what true humidity was until today.

At the end of the hour or so we spent wandering in the jungle - er, estate - we came upon a goldfish/coi(?) pond which was absolutely full of swarming fish. I rather snarkily remarked that the fish swam like the Chinese drive - on top of each other in huge crowds, all going in a different direction. (Hey, I get less politically correct at the end of a long, hot day, alright?) But no, they really do. >_> We saw fish literally jumping out of the water and landing on top of each other, trying to get the falling bread crumbs.

There were at least two more clusters of fish like this throughout the pond!

And that brings us up to now - waiting in the wonderfully air conditioned (yet still rather sticky) dorm for our Chinese pizza order to be delivered. Last night we went to "English Corner" after dinner - a gathering of Chinese students of all ages who want to practice English by the flags near the South Gate. I made friends with a nice girl, was intimidated by highly politically intense 12 year olds, was made uncomfortable by the questionable advances of a few Chinese guys, and was complimented on my Chinese pronunciation. :)

I also bought an erhu!! :D I am a little concerned both about how terrible my first attempts will be to play it (I haven't had the chance to try it out yet) as well as the instrument's quality... prices ranged from 220RMB to over 2000. Alex and I bought the two that were available for 220; we got a deal for buying them together, so it was 180 apiece . . . also known as just under $28, baby. (I think they retail for a grand or more in the States.) I am totally looking forward to playing it (maybe I can learn the song from the Tea Ceremony video that I currently have stuck in my head!). The only problem is, it will not fit in my suitcase. I have to decide if I want to ship it home (and how to properly package it...) or figure out a new carryon situation. Suggestions welcome!

Tonight we met a guy from the States who's been living here for a few years. He actually graduated from UMN-TC in 2009, just as I was finishing my freshman year - we both think the other looks familiar, but I don't think we've met. He had some pretty great/crazy/awful stories about his experiences here so far (he hasn't been home since February 2010!). He says he wakes up every morning going "...Why am I still here?!" :P I can sympathize. I'm really starting to enjoy it here, but spending years here sounds awfully daunting.

Oh, and per popular request, here is a picture of me at Wuhou:

Next time I'll do the Asian peace sign.

Tomorrow we are leaving at 7am sharp to go to Qingcheng Shan, the mountain where Taoism is said to have started. It also inspired the scenery for Kung Fu Panda!! I can't wait. :D