Journal Day 10: June 16th

Journal Day 10: June 16^th

What did we do today?

v Woke up, finished packing, got ready to go L

v Breakfast

v Headed to the airport

v At the airport during our free time I did some last minute shopping and finished my previous journals

v Flight home: long, hard to sleep… I listened to a lot of music, and watched some movies.

v Got to O’Hare, got luggage

v Got on a bus to go home… It was weird we started to recognize where we were…

v Had a wonderful trip!! J

Prompt: Compare your initial response to the article “Why We Travel”, to your new one.

Re-reading my thoughts on why we travel showed me that I had a pretty good grasp of what traveling meant to me. Traveling is done to open your horizons, to widen your gaze, to explore your creativity. Before I left I knew all that. And that was the reason I was going. Sure I knew, just like Pico Iyer said “abroad is the place where we stay up late, follow impulse and find ourselves as wide open as when we are in love. We live without a past or future, for a moment at least, and are ourselves up for grabs and open to interpretation.” I did believe this before I left, but now I’m starting to question how well I knew it. Being spontaneous. When it comes right down to it, I’ve found I like to stay in my comfort zone. Being spontaneous or getting involved is sometimes difficult for me. However being spontaneous is a huge part of traveling. I found this out first hand on my trip, and now I know exactly what Iyer was talking about.

A memorable moment for me in Xian was going to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda at night with Shags, Ms. T, Natalie, Megan, Lexa, and Brandon. The Pagoda was beautiful in the daylight, but at night it was all lit up, some fireworks went off, and big movie-star lights were shining everywhere. There was a dancing fountain as well… We started taking pictures underneath the squirting water… and then went full out in the middle of it, getting soaked, splashing around, laughing our heads off. As we looked at the water, lights, and the Pagoda, Mr. Schagrin turns to us and yells over the music and the roaring water in our ears “THIS IS WHY WE TRAVEL!!” And at that moment I realized he is absolutely right. Yes, we travel to see the sights and to see the monuments. But the real reason is for the fun of it! Traveling is the time to make memories, to be goofy and crazy, and to be spontaneous. Most importantly, we travel for the ADVENTURE. That night was an adventure for sure. It involved running in the middle of a fountain, taking pictures with complete strangers, riding in a possibly illegal taxi, karaoke at the top of our lungs, a pagoda, and enough smiles to last a lifetime. And I loved every minute of it!

We travel for the little things just as much as we travel for the big ones. This was the life lesson I learned that night. To stay excited on a trip, or even in life, you need to be spontaneous. You will have more fun! My lesson: Live your life. If I hadn’t jumped in that fountain that night, what would have happened? I would have sat on the sidelines, in my comfort zone, wondering for the rest of my life what that moment would have felt like. I don’t want to spend my life in wonder. I want to live. Why do I travel? I travel for the adventure. You only get a short amount of time on this Earth, how will you spend it?

Journal Day 9: June 15th

Journal Day 9: June 15^th

What did we do today?

v Woke up… Got ready

v Started early at the Flower Market

v Went to the Bird Market

v Went to the “Ladies’ Market” (not just for ladies… it’s just called that)

v Lunch

v Qianshui Bay (swimming!)

v Went to Victoria Peak

v Dinner

v Back to hotel to swim in the pool

Prompt: Top 10: Experiences, learning moments, funny moments, realizations/ revelations/ discoveries

*Not in any specific order… I couldn’t pick an order… I had too much fun on this trip!!*

Top 10 Experiences~

v Seeing the Great Wall

v Terra Cotta Warriors

v Acrobat show

v Repulse Bay

v Big Wild Goose Pagoda

v Yu Yuan Gardens

v Strange foods… not knowing what it is

v Bartering

v Forbidden City

v Markets

Top 10 Learning Moments~

v Haggling

v Learning some Chinese words

v Chinese home visit

v The Great Wall is held together by sticky rice paste

v Legend of the dragon and his sons

v Traveling to a new country

v Getting around the language barrier

v Truly learning why we travel (See Journal Day 10)

v Tea ceremony

v 15 layers of brick in the Forbidden City

Top 10 Funniest moments~

v Jumping into the fountain at the Pagoda at night

v Tyler having to pee on the bus

v Illegal taxi ride

v Crazy food… on multiple occasions

v Hotel room party

v Swimming at the beach/ pool

v Karaoke

v Singing in the taxi

v Mimicking the poster at the Huaging Hot Springs

v Being laughed at and with, at the Chinese school in Beijing

Top 10 Realizations/ Revelations/ Discoveries~

v Long trips fly by quickly. But… No matter how long you stay at a place, you cannot experience everything.

v Traveling is one giant leap of faith. We don’t know what we’re getting into, but we jump into it for the adventure.

v I wasn’t a picky eater until I didn’t know what I was eating. It’s hard to trust new foods.

v I love flying, but I hate busy airports.

v Currency in other countries is really cool.

v It’s hard to get accustomed to a new culture.

v No matter how much water you drink, when you’re in the hot sun and walking miles on end, you will get dehydrated.

v We take advantage of everyone understanding the same language; whereas in China there are so many dialects it’s hard for the people to understand each other. Since we take advantage of this, we don’t normally have to overcome language barriers. Discovery: Key words, gestures, and pictures are very helpful to helping people understand you.

v The Great Wall is very hard to climb. There are sections that go up on steep, uneven steps. A whole lot more vertical than I expected.

v No matter how much you miss home and your comfort zone, the experience is always worth it.

Alright… this is more than 10… but these two are my favorites.

v While traveling there will be some rough spots, but in our memories we edit out those parts. Keep only the good ones.

v We travel for the little things. They are just as important as the big things.

Journal Day 8: June 14th

Journal Day 8: June 14^th

Prompt: Free Write!

What did we do today?

A lot! This morning we slept in a bit, and then went downstairs before breakfast. We went out by our bus and David began teaching us Taiji. This was very difficult because we didn’t know the complex movements, and it was difficult for David to show us all at the same time. It was still fun though. After that David taught us all how to play a game. It was a mix of hacky sack, monkey in the middle, and dodge ball. There are two teams, one in the middle, and the other broken in half on either side of Team 1. Team 2 (the team on the outside) tries to throw the ball at the people in the middle. If they get hit they’re out, but if they catch it, then they can bring back a lost member of their team. The goal for Team 1 is to stay in the game as long as possible, and the goal for Team 2 is to get them out quickly. The game is a race against the clock. It was a lot of fun! I liked that game… even though we lost… badly… J

After this we went back to our rooms to finish packing and getting ready. We left for the airport about an hour later. Our flight took us over Repulse Bay when it landed in Hong Kong… and it was so pretty. We had some free time at the hotel then; to get settled in, take showers, etc. It’s really hot and humid here in Hong Kong. The humidity must be close to 99%. As we would walk down the street, water would collect on our arms, not from sweat, but from the pure moisture in the air! Our hotel cranked the air conditioning up really high, which was nice… but it was funny when I walked outside, because as soon as I did my glasses would fog up and I couldn’t see anything! Our tour guide; Jennifer, took us to a quick restaurant in the mall. Well what we thought to be a quick and easy meal didn’t exactly turn out that way. She only got food for one table. She said she wanted to make sure everyone would like it… but she only gave it to one table? So we waited there for what felt like 30 min. to an hour, and we still hadn’t even gotten our drinks yet. I don’t know why it was taking so long. Also, our friend Sammy was sitting at our table… she’s a vegetarian. When she told this to Jennifer, our tour guide couldn’t find her any vegetables like all of our other tour guides could… nope she took her to a bakery and was trying to convince Sammy into getting a cake. Sammy just stared at her and said, “Ahh, yeahh… This is my dinner. Cake doesn’t exactly qualify as dinner.” I don’t know. Anyway… We got our food and had to eat quickly because Jennifer came running around franticly telling us that if we didn’t leave now we would miss the light show downtown. So we all ran to the bus station (We took a double-decker). After the hour long bus ride, we got to the show late and missed some of it. It was really cool, but very hard to get pictures of. We were all frustrated with Jennifer because of all the confusion, and misplanning. We ahhh… left… Jennifer in the city. J But then we had to take the bus back, another hour drive. The show was definitely worth it, if you were doing something else in the city as well. It was hard for us to enjoy because we were so hot, tired, and dehydrated.

The night was still fun though, and I’m not complaining. Tonight was a good experience, even though it was hot and stressful.

Journal Day 7: June 13th

Journal Day 7: June 13^th

What did we do today?

v Got ready

v Got on bus, went to YuYuan Gardens

v Went to the markets outside of the Gardens

v Took the bus to the Jade Buddha Temple (oldest coy fish there: 158 years old!)

v Lunch (I’m finally getting more acclimated to the food!)

v Shopping on Nanjing Street (I got a dress and a purse… I’m getting better at haggling too!)

v Dinner (desert: dough-ball with sesame seeds on the outside; the inside is like a sticky rice gelatin type thing?)

v Lots of free time tonight… so we had a party!! (Went to Jacy’s room… we played games, and ate fruit we got from the market. We had 12 people in the tiny, paper walled hotel room J It was a lot of fun!!)

Prompt: Talk about Gardens + Temple (culture), talk about Bartering being a part of the culture, what did we do today?

We saw a lot of culture today. At the YuYuan Gardens, we saw the development of Chinese architecture. The buildings were beautiful and in the ancient style à which I love! We got to see how the ancient Chinese culture is still a part of its present culture. Everywhere you looked in the Gardens there were intricate carvings and beautiful flowers. Mirroring other aspects of the Chinese culture, everything in the Gardens had a meaning; each carving, every building. Etc. The meanings for why this building is here, that pond is there, why and where the tunnels lead, the mythical creatures depicted, are all intertwined with the culture of China.

The Jade Buddha Temple was the same way; intricate and full of meaning. Even just how the Jade Buddhas got there shows a lot about the development of Shanghai. The man who had them made had traveled on the Silk Road, and landed in Shanghai, China. He wanted to take them back to Europe with him, but they were too large and heavy to place on a boat. As a result he decided to leave them behind, donating them to the city. Ever since then, the Buddhas have become a cultural and religious piece in the history belonging to the city.

Bartering is also a huge piece of China’s culture. Every non-Western store, shop, or vender haggles to try and get the largest amount of money out of people. All of these shop owners make a living out of selling their products. As a result, like any good business owner, they want to make the most money they possibly can. On the other hand, many department stores are government owned. The workers there are going to earn the same amount of money no matter how much they sell. Their income doesn’t depend on haggling. Often people in department stores do not barter for things, and will not lower their prices, unless they really want to sell their product to you (ex: need to make a quota). Bartering is an interesting branch of the culture here. It has become a daily operation for the people living in China. Since Shanghai is a port city, trading and haggling are essential to the city.

We did a lot of shopping at markets today. It was a lot of fun! When I walked into this one store I was looking for a dress… just looking… and I found this one that I liked. And before I knew it the lady was bargaining with me. You have to make quick decisions in markets because the venders there deal with tourists every day, and are very good at making quick sales and making sure you get ripped off. So anyway I started haggling for this silk dress (I had her prove it was real silk… I think its European). The lady asked for 850 Yuan at first. And I was like, “No. 50.” “Ha! Ha! What? Girl you must be joking. This dress real silk. Good buy. Best quality. Your price impossible.” (It’s funny and insulting when they laugh at your original price) So we haggled some more; back and forth, the price up and down. Finally I told her “100. Final offer.” She said no, so I started walking away. Then… “Okay… Girl! Girl! 250! 220! 150! Girl! 120! Alright fine! 100!” (Yes! Ha! Ha!) So I bought it for 100 Yuan. When I left the lady was really mad, which made me happy because I know I got a good deal. Haggling is such a rush! J

(When I got home I looked it up… a similar dress here costs $155 to $295 U.S. dollars! I got it for about $16!!)

Some people in our group got really good at haggling… I still need some practice but I thought today was pretty amazing!

Journal Day 6: June 12th

Journal Day 6: June 12^th

What did we do today?

v Out of hotel in Xian

v On bus to airport

v Land, got bags

v Lunch

v Went to the Bund… saw the Expo across the river

v Went to a retirement village, we got to go into these ladies’ homes

v Market… strange food ~ lots of fish… many we could not identify

v Acrobatic show J very cool! (I actually had seen this show perform at Navy Pier a few years ago! It was awesome to see them again, and in China too!)

v Dinner

v Hotel

Prompt: Initial Impressions of Shanghai, Where do you see elements of East meets West?, Reactions to the market and the family visit.

When we flew to Shanghai this morning, we were in the outskirts of the city. The land was relatively flat and the buildings were close to the ground. When I saw this, I thought the city was going to be smaller than the other two we had been to. My view began to change when our local tour guide showed us the bullet train. Only beaten in speed by the bullet trains in Japan, the magnet powered train here in Shanghai goes on average zippy 250 mph. The buildings kept getting bigger and bigger the closer we got to the city. Soon they were towering above us; huge fully-grown skyscrapers.

I found it interesting how the city of Shanghai got its name. To shanghai means “to induce or compel (someone) to do something, especially by fraud or force”. However shanghai usually refers specifically to kidnapping a man for compulsory service aboard a ship, especially after drugging him. In this city many people were hijacked, stolen and put on ships for labor. This began in the 1920’s and continued until 1949 (Mao Zedong stepped in). They shanghaied them into service, hence the name given to the city.

Along with the World Expo came new buildings and thousands of people, but it also increased the pollution level. (The line to get into the Expo daily is over a 2 hour wait! That was the longest line I have ever seen in my life.) It was hard to see some things behind all of the smog; but it was beautiful none-the-less.

I see the elements of the Eastern ideas meeting the Western ideas in many areas. Firstly, Shanghai Dialect is different than the languages used in other regions in China. It is apparently very different from Mandarin as well. There are some words in the Shanghai Dialect that are the same in English (ex: “stick” is the same word in both languages). I thought this was very interesting, because you could directly see where the culture of Shanghai was affected by being a port city, and how it was influenced by Western cultures.

The buildings here are different than the rest of China. There are ancient and modern buildings like the other cities, however there are many more houses here. These houses have a distinct European style. Many of them look German. I was pretty shocked to see this. I had no idea there would be so much of a Western influence in Shanghai.

I thought the family visit was really fun! It was really nice of those ladies to invite us into their home. They were very welcoming. I liked being able to see how these people live every day. It was a small house, but it was homey. They had 2 (maybe 3?) bedrooms, a living/dining area, kitchen, and a bathroom. The ladies were retired and lived in a retirement community. The government gave them money for their rent and their daily food supplies. I thought this was interesting... What are the positives and negatives of having this option? … … … We were all asking questions to the ladies; I ask her if she liked to listen to music. She said she didn’t, but maybe she thought I meant American music, because later she showed us her piano… hmmm… so, I don’t know.

The market was cool to see. There were dead fish guts, eels, frogs, and a mixture of spices, fruits, and vegetables. In the end it all equaled out into a strange assorted flavor. It was really crazy, made me dizzy, and made me lose my appetite, but it was still fun!

All-in-all it was another wonderful day in China! Wow ~ How often do you get to say that?!

Journal Day 5: June 11th

Journal Day 5: June 11^th

What did we do today?

v Woke up and got ready, downstairs for breakfast

v Took the bus to the site of the ancient Banpo Village (river valley village about 6,000 years old!)

v Went to the Terra Cotta Warrior making Factory

v Went to the Huaging Hot Springs (The former Tang Dynasty Palace)

o Favorite location for the locals

o We took the cable car up to the top of the mountain behind the springs

v Lunch

v Terra Cotta Warriors!!

o All 3 Pits and the museum

v Dinner: Hot Pot

v Big Wild Goose Pagoda at night adventure

v Hotel

Prompt: Compare Beijing and Xian (food, history, culture), describe the food, history, and culture, what was the most memorable?

Today was incredible! The Terra Cotta Warriors were beautiful. They looked so lifelike; the detailing on each one is intricate, and each warrior is uniquely different. Each one had different faces and different styles of uniforms. You could tell the higher ranking officers by height. You could also tell them apart by the way their hair is styled. The soldiers have one round ponytail, and the generals have one square ponytail. All of the ranking men in between them have different hair styles (one has two ponytails, etc). The First Pit had most of the Warriors in it. There were hundreds. I was amazed at how many soldiers are still being excavated. The entire middle section of Pit 1 was mostly covered in tarps; areas where archeologists are continuing to find new artifacts. There was a table where you could see a few archeologists restoring and identifying the objects (Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures of the archeologists’ table L ). The Third Pit had more broken statues, and ancient building structures. The Second Pit was really dark, making it hard to see things. It had mostly the same as the Third Pit. I loved the Terra Cotta Warriors, and would love to spend more time there. This is definitely going be one of my greatest memories of Xian.

I actually liked the food a lot better in Xian than in Beijing. Initially, I completely expected the opposite. I thought, that since Xian is a more of a recent city (was more rural… the city is a lot more industrialized than I expected), the food was going to be ‘crazier’ (for a lack of a better word), but it wasn’t. I was really happy, since I was still getting used to the food there. The food wasn’t in too much sauce; which had been a problem for me in Beijing (if you don’t like the sauce and there’s a lot of it… not the best meal). There were also a lot of noodle dishes. We had the famous Xian noodle: a very long, wide noodle. One noodle is served on a plate; it was long enough for everyone at our table to try it (about 8 people). I am a lot happier with the food here.

The culture here is a lot different than in Beijing. I think it’s because Xian is a smaller city. There people here seem more connected. In Beijing, the people with blond hair in our group, myself included, got our pictures taken a lot with people on the street. They would just come up to us and ask to take a picture of us. I suppose they really have a fascination with blond hair. (We felt like rock stars in a land that’s foreign to us!) Well… in Xian people still came up to us to take pictures with our group, but it didn’t seem like as many were, as the amount in Beijing. Also since Xian was the ancient capital of China for some 6 Dynasties, there is more ancient history in Xian, than in Beijing; Beijing is mostly made of recent history. (The history of China seems to be either old or new… the middle history is really lost)

Our adventure at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda at night!! Lexa, Brandon, Natalie, Megan, Ms. T, Mr. Schagrin, David, and me!