"Books are so much fun!"

happy birthday matt and dad!

So 2 thursdays ago was our midterm. It was much easier than we thought it was going to be; i did well enough. After our midterm we went to Xi'an, a city about 12 hours away via sleeper train. The sleeper train was a lot of fun & so nice. well, the beds were just a lot better than our beds at school. I actually loved traveling by train; it was very comforting. Xi'an is a very historical city & our main attraction there was the tombs of the terracotta warriors. This was soo cool, Wiki it and keep a look out for pictures on facbeook.. later. After this, we saw the Tang Dynasty Music and Dance show. This was kind of boring compared to the acrobatic show. Our hotel was amazing; sooo nice and the beds were heaven. The next day we went to Xi'an's city wall, called the Ming Great Wall. It wasn't nearly as difficult as the Great Wall; there was just one flight of stairs and the rest was just walking. It was very pretty though, the view was awesome. I've encountered this a lot, like a thousand+ year old historic site in the middle of such a modern, bustling city. Just about every place we've been to is like this actually. We then went to the Museum of Stone Tablets. This I didn't really understand. I just know I was looking at like thousands year old character writing engraved in... stone tablets. All the sites very interesting, although i didnt always understand what i was looking at. Gump (our Xi'an tour guide, as in Forrest Gump) wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Stone (as in Rolling Stone).

This past friday we went to keroke with our teacher and the TA, lulu, who's coming to OU in the fall to help teach. I was shy at first, like always, but with some Baijiu (pinyin sp?) I let loose and later sang my heart out, unfortunately. No it was fun, we had a great time, and got to like my teacher even more- a very funny guy, without trying. We had to get up super early the next day so we just went home after. Saturday was a busy day, guided by Jason (no good explanation). We first went to the Forbidden City. I had been there before but its like a mile walk before you even get to the entrance of the actual Forbidden part. So today we started on the opposite side and got right i. It was veryy cool; I can't really describe what I saw without making it sound boring or making no sense so I'm not bothering. Actually when we first got there we got to see a little stone room thing where the Emperor would choose his like 3000 concubines. And then we saw the concubines living quarters. Tienanmen was right across the street so we saw all that. Here is where about 4 Chinese families asked me to take pictures with them and their kids, no idea how many didn't bother asking. We then went to the Temple of Heaven, and then a restaurant famous for their roast duck. Amazing. I then spent too much money at the Pearl Market, we went to dinner, and Beijing Opera- weird! very weird. It was mostly music and karate moves, I wish I had heard more singing.

A couple of us went to the Silk Market on Sunday, a big shopping center where you can bargain everything you buy, where the purses are fake and such. I think I've used my Chinese the most here, even though they all know English. Its just fun. Its hilarious because you literally fight and yell with the sellers. They grab you and chase you and have no problem hitting you. Repeating "you crazy person!" "you kill me!" "you leave now!" You want them to be angry though because you know you're getting a good price. Everyone here loves bargaining but I honestly prefer just to buy things at a set price; bargaining is exhausting.

So the trip is officially more than half over. It didn't feel as though it was going fast at the time, but it really did fly by. I would love to write more, mainly about the people here with me but I don't think its appropriate. I probably wouldn't be able to really convey what i want to say without offending someone. Probably. Its funny because I mentioned how great everyone seemed to get along in the beginning, and it was SUCH a lie! We are probably the most argumentative group to ever travel in China. Almost everyone has something bad to say about almost everyone lol. And I laugh because although everyone argues and criticizes all the time, its in a kind of... loving way. Its strange and I can't explain it without sounding super.. lame.

To note on the education, I do feel I am learning so much. Yes, the culture is an education itself, but learning the language is also very stimulating. When i hear my teachers speak to each other, or other natives talk, i listen SO hard and I just get this helpless feeling that I will never be able to understand or speak this language. It comes & goes. One of my favorite moments here was just the other day when a waitress spoke to us, she soon realized she had to speak slowly, but we managed to answer her questions about how long we were here and why we were here. It made us feel really good to actually speak & be understood, have a conversation outside the classroom. No, doesn't happen often. Today, however, my language partner made me soo happy! He said "Ni de Hanyu shou tigao le." My Chinese has improved! I knew he meant it because we were in like mid-conversation about something else. Wo hen gaoxing.

Being on this trip definitely begs the question- when the hell am i going to use this? Ehh.




"Why are you wearing a sweatshirt in China?"

"A sword and a qipao. They go together."

"And you like survive with that stupid sandwich."

"Why don't you just put it on your ass!?" (about a pastry)

"You need different coins to wash your food."


There's more than this but I can't remember atm!