Monday-my first bicycle ride

So today was a beautiful Monday. A bit chilly and nice and clear. Mondays I only have one class at 12:30 so i got up late, and talked to my family and matt on skype.
I decided today I wanted to try and ride my families bike to school (they said i could use it) It takes me 30 minutes to get to school by bicycle. On a good day it takes 15 minutes to walk to the bus stop and 15 minutes by bus to my school. So in a way, i may almost save time biking to school. Anyway. The bike is a little short for me (not only am i considered very tall in china, they also dont even make or sell my shoe size) so biking was made a little difficult, but not too bad. Biking in china is like playing Frogger and Dodgeball simultaneously. While bikers have their vary own lane, most drivers ignore this and use it as a passing lane. OR people park their cars in it. So after dadging parked cars, moving cars, other cyclists and motorbikes, one also has to navigate bus stops and intersections. I was pedling along, minding my own, when a motorcyle/moped zooms around and in front of me and I swerved to aviod him, but a car was coming at the same exact time. I swerved into the side of the car and grazed my leg, probably only a small bruise now. But it was still a little shocking. The moped man sped away and the car guy yelled something and drove away, and I continued on. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened today. I bought a new meal card because i had lost my old one on the subway. I met and tutored a chinese MBA graduate in english (for free because i have to explain everything in Chinese so its helping me too) and i got an early dinner by myself because i didnt want to spend money and go out to eat and shop with my friends. no fun, but cheap.
Im off to finish my HW and go to bed.
ming tian kan jian
A.

temple pictures

Here are more pictures from two weekends ago. After we climbed the great wall we went to a museum/ temple. and after that to dinner. (JP and sarah are posing with the bell) (the painted squares are the ceiling)

Im Back

miss me? i know, its ok... im sorry i was gone for so long. So much has happened in these last two weeks. Much to much to talk about. But i've been so busy that i haven't had any time to sit down at my computer at all! This is in part due to the fact that i live very far away from everything.
So, lets try and recap ashleys last two weeks.
I now have a job as a tutor 3 hours a week making a little bit of money. I have two language exchange partners nither of whom speak very good english, In fact, i would even hazard to say my chinese is better then both of there english. I climbed a mountain last weekend and bought my halloween costume. I and 4 of my friends are going as 5 of the 7 deady sins. I am greed so I got to buy a great gold and silver sequined dress:) Its getting nippy out now adays so regular attire requires a jacket or my fabulous pink puffy vest. It was our friends birthday last weekend so the Dickinson kids rolled out in style to Hooters (yes there is a Hooters in China and no none of them are bigger then an A cup) to celebrate his 21st. We then went to an amazing club called Banana, where the floor is on hydrolics, very cool. Last Thursday I took my frist set of 3 very big exams in 2 of my classes. I did miserably on one, and I havent gotten the other back yet, but im pretty sure I passed with flying colors. For my month long vacation my friend JP and I have decided to to take the trans-sibiran railway all the way to europe and then travel from moscow to berlin, from berlin to london, from london to Toulouse and then to Florence and Amsterdam, and then back to Beijing. All and all the total travel expense (tickets) costs 1000$. not bad for my first whirl wind adventure around the world. Im really excided for this may be the only time Im going to be able to see so much of europe. JP says im ging to have to buy a very large backpack, for we will be traveling out of it the entire month.
Ta Ta for now. More detailed updates coming soon
love
A.

Saturdays Pictures

A Long Saturday with a Long Wall

Saturdays Schedule: Great wall, Lunch, Temple, Massage, Dinner, Clubs.
My very long day started at 6:45 as I rolled out of bed with 4 hours of sleep under my belt and, with toast in mouth, marched out the door to the bus. The kids from Dickinson were about to have our first field trip of the year. I met up with the group at 北大西门 (Bei Da north gate). We crammed into a tiny mini bus and Gao passed out breakfast. When I say breakfast please dont mistake that for toast, eggs and ham, or a crossant and butter, oh no my friends, oh no. Goa thought it a good idea to give us what looks decievingly like capri sun, but then ends up to be grape jello in a pouch that you sip through a straw, fruit rollup like stripped of dried fruit COATED in sugar, a strange object that looked like a doughnut, but it was a lie. It was probably once doughnut like until some genius was like, "hey, lets deep fry this doughnut in liquid sugar so its like one big kind of soggy kind of stale oil stick" ><(
It was an hour long bus ride to the section of the wall we went to visit. And when we got there we found out that this portion of the wall was actually a circle. some one back in the day thought to build a portion of the great wall (that was supposed to keep people out) in a circle. Thats the chinese for you. And so we walked it, or half of it. And it was steep. I have included some pictures but they dont really do the height justice. Some portions of the wall you could almost climb up hand and foot they were so steep. And the height of the stairs differed. There was no average height, so every step was different. Afer a nice 2 hour romp around the wall, and a short picture shoot dressed up in costumes at one of the towers, we went back to the bus. I stopped breifly to look at souveneirs, and when I turned around everyone was gone! I called JP and he told me to walk along the highway under a bridge, and then past a toll booth and then I would find them. What he didnt know was that there were two highways running parallel on either side of this complex, so I walked one, and after 15 inutes I called him again to say I was still very lost. It took me half and hour to walk to where the group was. bu hao yisi (not good). After the great wall we went out for lunch where, well, lets say Gao bought some very high class drinks for group and we toasted all afternoon long. After this we went to a temple that explained the history of bells in China. It might have just been me, but I am tired of seeing reconstructions of history. Nothing is real. Everything is a repoduction because most of these things had been destroyed during the cultural revolution. But anyway. We went, I took pictures. It was nice.
After this the group was taken to a massage parlor where we got to lie on comfy chairs and have the crap beaten out of us in a good way. After this there was a group dinner. This was not so merry as the last meal. In fact, the food was aweful. The group had planned to go clubbing together that night, and so I went home and took a nap. But when I woke up, i didnt feel like clubbing. In fact, I felt extremely happy as I was, so I called up my friend and told him I would be enjoying sleep that night and then did just that.
If youve finished reading all this then your a trooper.
A.

Friday Oh Friday

Friday started out miserably. After a friend called around 1 waking me up, i realized I had to get my visa fixed on Friday. So I woke up at 6:30, got up, dressed, had breakfast, and made my bed. American Medical forms are not legitimate in China, and so i had to retake several tests on monday at this clinic 20 minutes from the school. Friday morning I planned to pick them up and then go to school to get another form, and then class, lunch and then to the police station with JP. But this was not to be. After checking my form I found out that I could only pick up my forms between 1 and 3, so I had gotten up 4 hours earlier then I needed to. So I went online and checked my mail and facebook and went on skype where matt consoled me with pictures of beautiful Long Beach Island. As I walked to school my spirits were lifted a little by the fact that it was another gorgeous day out. I got to class, took my quiz, and enjoyed reading my friends TIME magazine during the short break. After class I was supposed to tutor, but my tutee called in sick so low and behold, I got to go to the clinic at 1:00 and got back to school in prefect time around 2:00 an hour before the office closed to have them evaluate my collection of formes and then give me another (the amount of red tape in this country is discusting). And then suddenly they asked me for 460 kuai! Usually they give you 2 options. Go all the way to the police station and wait for HOURS and get your forms varified for free, or do it at school. I had planned to do it for free, because my friend JP had gone to the police station at 12:30 to get 2 line tickets and at 2:30 our numbers still hadent been called. But This time they didnt give me that option and finished all the forms at school, which I was both miffed and relieved about. I hadnt wanted to spend 4 hours at the police station, but i really hadnt wanted to spend 460 kuai either.
I went to the police station anyway to keep poor JP company as he waited in line. (the police station is several subway stoppes away from school and half way across the city) Finally, JPs number was called and we rejoiced outside the station afterwards singing made up "im so happy my visa is fixed" songs so loudly it made people turn. And thus, tired but triumpant we returned to wudaokou and had a celebratory lunch at a completely empty Pyro, enjoying pizza and motzarella sticks and talking for 2 hours about our favorite memories.
I went home until 10 when I met up with JP again and we went to a cozy bar/ club and danced the night away with fellow 外国人 (foreigers).
Visa Problem Free and happy as a bee,
A.

picture 1 is a colom on Bei Da campus which is on every other oplympic advertisment and I dont know why
picture 2 is JP outside the police station with his new found friend the cleaning man

Wednesday Thursday

Wednesday turned out to be beautiful. It was like stepping into a New England October. While there were no vibrant fall colors, the sun was shining, the wind was light, and the leaves were falling. I had my first class and ended up going home and taking a nap with all the time i had. I came back early to have lunch with 2 new friends and then we sat in the sun for an hour and studies for our impending 40 word quiz, which i think i did fine on. After class I called up sarah and we bought shirts to screen print (havent finished them yet though). I met up with kaitlin for dinner and when home to prepare for my 6 hours of class on Thursday.
Thurday was gray and cold, quite the opposite of what the forcast had told me. Classes were long and as usual and I looked forward to friday. After classes JP Sarah and I found the dong men (south gate) bus stop, its a little far away, but from there we found a bus that went to Wudaokou. At wudaokou we went to tous le jours, a pastry shop, and gorged on yummy foods with cream fillings:) After this, JP and I decided it was shopping time. And because i only had one class the next day, we set out on an adventure to find Halloween costumes. We went to the train station and picked a random stop and went there. We went to 2 Malls with no avail, and were soar and tired from hours of walking. Luckily we had spotted an Irish Pub while we were taking a taxi to the second mall. We underestimated the distance, and ended up walking a half an hour to get to this place. With a toast to a very long, not so good day, we enjoyed our very expensive sandwiches and beer and then returned home wet, cold and happy with plans for a picnic on friday.
A.

Another day in China

Its getting cold out.
I wore my fleece today. I had 6 hours of classes today. Tuesdays are long and I always end up spacing out in my last class. I had a quiz today in the second class, i did ok. There's no time for lunch on Tuesdays so I just run to one of the dining halls and grab red bean buns and eat them on the way back to class. Nothing fun happened today either. Just got up, had class, ran to get buns, had class, had my last class. Tried to get a student ID card but the place had JUST closed. Had an early dinner at 5 by myself, took the bus home. Now im studying. I have WAY too much to memorize. i have 60 words to memorize by tomorrow, all assigned today. The day after that I have 30 NEW words to memorize in my other class. All very boring, mind numbing and repititious.
Tomorrow I have an 830 class, and then i dont have class untill 2:30. Theres this big gap in the middle and i dont have enought to do to fill it. I have to study, try and get this ID and then have lunch with a friend, that leaves 2 hours to kick around with and i have no money this week so this leaves me with very few options. If i were to clasify today as a color, I would say today was a grey day. Hopfully there are more colorfull days to come.
Hanging in there,
A.

ps. the pics are from Tian Jin

A day mis-spent

Today was the opposite of last night. No fun at all.
I woke up, talked to matt, and ran for the bus. Traffic was horrible and I was late meeting up with JP at the visa place. At the visa place where Gao told us to meet, no one was there, including Gao laoshi. So I went in and sat down for the third time to have my visa fixed when they told me my American health forms werent valid in China. Thats right, 100 US dollars later, their not valid. Thank you Dickinson for being prett much useless on this trip. So i missed class to go to a Foreigners Hospital to get blood drawn and x-rays taken and blood pressure and paper work and an ecg. And of course, to give the chinese government more money. All and all, I have spent 1000 to 1500 kuai MORE then Dickinson origionally told us about, and I am sorely dissapointed in their ability to oversee this trip. I found out that this China trip only costs about HALF of what we pay the school, and the rest of it goes to subsidize other Dickinson abroad programs. Anyway, after all this, i had the choice of going to the last 3rd of my class or getting lunch, and lunch won. JP and I hopped in a Taxi and asked the driver to take us to his favorite Hot Pot restaurant, and so he did. And it was pretty good, and a little expensive. After this I went to back to Bei Da to try and get a student ID so I could use the library (after being told that the library card I had applied for actually didnt work without getting a student ID first) but i got lost. So i went to the cafe on campus and studied for a while. I ran into sarah and we bought shirts at the campus store (were going to personalize them, everyone from Dickinson is getting one) and then dinner, home on a VERY overcrowded bus (that would not be legal in America) and now blogging. Im off to do HW, wish me luck for tomorrow, 6 hours of class back to back to back starting at 830.
lots of love
A.

Catch up day

So, the other post was too long. This post is about the weekend after.
I got home from Tianjin and was TIRED and BROKE (but satisfied). I have spent most of my money for this coming week on my vacation, which is ok, it just means I have to stay in this week. Sarah came over last night and we bought dinner at the small pastry place around the corner and watched the highlights of the VP political debate. My host sisters were full of energy that night. I still have beads and barbies scattered all over my floor. I finally got to talk to matt and my parents this morning, which was nice. Today I tutured! thats right! Every week 2 hours a week I tuture a girl my age at Bei Da. Her english is passable already, but for 70 kuai an hour we talk and I help her with new worlds, grammer patterns and coloqialisms. After that we met up with JP and sarah for lunch, and then JP and I went on an adventure to find DVDS. I was still tired and i really wanted to be happy. Its getting cold and yucky here, and I craved hot chocolate, PJs, a movie, a couch and a blanket. So JP and I search high and low until a really scetchy man on a corner led us into a big electronics mall (7 stories of electronics) and showed us a booth were i purchased Enchanted and JP found LOTR. (The old man obviously got a cut of the price.) So then I went home. Finally figured out how to take a hot shower, climbed into PJs, ate some of my munsons chocolate and popped in my movie. Tonight, hopfully I will talk to matt again and then head off to bed. A good end to a good night.
OH! and Im getting a package! YAY! I have recently come to realize what I had already secretly known, the Chinese have very small feet, and do not, i repeat DO NOT have anything NEAR my shoe size. So i am getting a package with shoes and a sweater, and I am very very happy.
the end.
A.

Grand Adventures

I have been having grand adventures. So many so i am afraid we will have to skip ahead to the recent ones.
As you diligent readers all know, i have been sick. no fun. But none the less determined to have fun, i agreed to go with some friends to Tianjin for our 5 day (including weekend) break. So Sarah, John Frankin, Dan, Jen and I all took one of Beijing fantastic new trains on a 30 minute ride to Tianjin, the 3rd biggest port city in China. There we met up with JP Stevenson and our new found Austrian friend Max. Upon arrival, both Jen and I realized that we had forgotten our passports! At first the group tried to check into the only hostel in the area, which had said the night before that it had 10 free beds, and found that they now only had 4. For a group of 8, this was not so great.But four hotels later we found a suitable arrangment. Not having a Visa means you cant legally stay anywhere in a City, and you especially cant purchase a room in a hotel. So 6 friends purchased 3 bedrooms with twin beds, and brought everyones things up to the rooms while Jen and I sat in the lobby. We went on to have dinner and explore the Gulou, or culture street, which, it turns out, was built around 1995 and was purly a venders market decorated to look traditional. I bought a hat, its an awesome hat, ill post a picture of it. Later on we went back and I bought a candy dragon, and AWESOME andy dragon. Again ill post a picture. That night Jen and i snuck in with the group when the night shift came in. It was like playing robin hood or being a fugitive. The next day was a little hectic. JP and Max woke us up early and we all went to see a temple, but it was under construction, and then we tried to go to a museaum, but it was closed. with reason (China doesnt ned reasons to do what it does apparently) But we did stumble upon a tiny Church hidden down a back ally which was a fantastic find! Religion in China is so very interesting and controversial. Later JP max and I went out for lunch, got lost, wondered around, booked a new hotel for the night after being turned away from the hostal AGAIN, and went exploring. Everyone but Sarah, Max, JP and I went back to Beijing and our small group went to find dinner. On our fruitless attempt to find culture we stumbled upon an Italian fetival in the old Austrian quarters o Tianjin. We ordered pizza spagetti and wine and settled in under the canopy of ivy to watch the preformences...which turned out to be kareoke, soprano sax, American pop music, Chinese pop music, and some horribly played Motzart. But all in all it was a good night.
Conclusion. China has too much paperwork. China has whitewashed and re-written its culture to the point where even its people do know what real history is.
A.