Beijing Again

The skies are also blue today. Compared with the recent pollution in Xi'an, it's a relief, even though the air has been cold and the sun set early.

We walked the hutongs and saw the Temple of Heaven. It was a nice, quiet last hurrah. Then we played mahjong at our hostel. Mary and Malcolm left a few hours ago. Shelby and Daniel leave in a couple. I want to grab a shower, but they're not around much longer.

The last time I was here, I didn't know how to say hardly anything. I relied heavily on Shelby for help feeding myself. Now, I can chat with the cab driver and read some street signs.

The night before that last Chinese final (which was surprisingly easy), I deleted that old phasebook app on my phone. I remember when it was so hard to try to remember how to say a phrase correctly. Now I know the words, how to say them, what they mean, and how to write them. I could make those sentences on my own. Some of them currently come a little more easily than my English.

It's hard to believe it's almost over. I've been in this place with these people so long that I can hardly believe this departure doesn't mean a break. It'll be interesting to see what going home feels like.

I've done so much more in China than I ever imagined. Especially at the end there, my experiences started to get through to me in ways I can't quite explain yet.

I'm ready to go home. I want Christmas and friends and family. But I also want to see these friends again someday. And come back to visit China.

I'm not sure that I'll have another chance to post from China. I might send something from my phone in Chicago. It'll be weird that Facebook and Blogger will work on my phone again, let alone texting and phone calls!

I guess all I can say now is, "再见，中国！"

To Beijing

I took my last Chinese test this morning.

This week, I've had my Silk Road test, oral exam, exit exam, literature final, literature paper, Capstone project, and Chinese final. In addition to packing. But it's all done now.

I'm getting ready to go to lunch here soon. It's our chance to say goodbye. We've made a family here. I honestly wasn't expecting to. I've been here for four months without going home. It's the longest I've been away. And it's the longest I've been someplace I may never go back to. I hope I get to someday.

I got a little bit emotional when I was working on my Chinese final today. Last time in that classroom. Last walk back to my dorm.

At our little closing ceremony, we're going to show the video we made on the Silk Road trip, which I hope to be able to post at some point, if we get it working. I don't know whether I'm going to laugh or cry. Maybe both.

I'm taking the train tonight with Shelby, Mary, Malcolm, Daniel, and Joey. It'll be nice to have one last day. I wish we could have taken more with us, though.

It's so weird that the flight I booked forever ago is almost upon me.

I should be able to post again in Beijing.

For now, 再见!

Last Afternoon Out

I'm supposed to be doing my homework, but instead, I'm feeling the end sink in.

Today, I took a study break with Shelby and Mary to go to the Muslim Quarter one last time. There were a couple of t-shirts that we wanted to look at (it's so touristy of us, but we wanted something that wasn't a qipao, something we could wear on a normal day), and I didn't get persimmon cakes or pomegranate juice the last time I was there, and I wanted to have them one more time.

Here are some pictures from my last couple of trips:

Biang biang mian - one long noodle! "Biang" is the most complicated character in the Chinese language.

I wanted to type in the character for you, but I can't. Nor can I copy and paste it from anywhere.

In fact, it can't be entered into computers at all.

Have a picture from Wikipedia:

A new paper store opened up recently with a lot of postcards and buttons and things specific to Xi'an. Here's one gem:

Elizabeth contemplates a purchase.

I loved the way these were set up.

I commissioned her to write my Chinese name in calligraphy today. Her work is lovely. Also, she was wonderful to talk to and kind enough to let me take this picture.

These past couple of days, I've done the last of my hand-washing (in the washer and by hand), packed most of my stuff, done most of my last-minute shopping, studied my last new material, wrote my last Chinese essay, done my last worksheets, written a paper for literature, taken my Silk Road class final, worked on my Capstone, and studied for my Chinese final. I'm getting everything done ahead of schedule, but when I consider that I have three nights left in Xi'an (COUNTING tonight, and it's almost 11:00), I don't feel too on-top of things.

At this point, there's still so much I want to see and do and learn, still so many friends to spend time with, so many things to try, that my new catchphrase is "I'll sleep on the plane." Don't worry - I'm still getting healthy amounts of sleep. And I've managed to wake up at a consistent time all semester! But I'm not going to stress out over time. I'm going to do my work.

Last Class

Well, not quite. But it was my last class with new material.

My last dictation assignment.

I guess I should be glad that it's time to buckle down and study, that I don't have anything new to cram in before the final test on Friday, but I'm kind of sad about it. I love my Chinese class. I've learned so much this semester.

I've made plans to continue studying Chinese next semester. It's a class a bit above my level, but I'll have all of the resources I need to succeed. And it'll push me to get better.

I'm excited for Christmas, and I'm excited to see my family and eat certain American foods (although I'm currently in a moment where the cravings have subsided), but I'm also pretty sad.

Holidays!

I'm taking a much-deserved break from studying, cleaning, and packing. Yes, packing. I leave Xi'an on Friday.

The program just kept going by faster and faster. And this last week is going to be super short. Mostly because I don't have a full week left in one place.

So, in the midst of all of the chaos, I'm going to talk about the holidays!

Our group is incredibly lucky because we have someone named Emily. The same Emily who pushed me to dance with everyone for the Mid-Autumn Festival. She saw to it that we had a Halloween party, and she also made sure that we had a Christmas party. Alliance provided Thanksgiving.

Our "cranberry sauce" which we had with pizza and Chinese food.

At our Christmas party (which we rented an apartment for and cooked for and invited our roommates and teachers to), Orion opened his present.

Hugging the calligrapher.

Did I mention that we did Secret Santa? We totally did. My Secret Santa was Daniel, who got me the notebook he caught me admiring. I was Shelby's Secret Santa. How perfect is that?

Look at Joey and Emily having fun.

We played games and made food (including mashed sweet potatoes and grilled cheese and taco salad and anything else we could make without an oven), and it was pretty awesome. Our group is really close now. Riding camels and getting sick one after the other will do that to you.

It's so weird to be leaving. Today marks the end of my last weekend in Xi'an. I have a lot to do to wrap up and not a lot of time to do it. We're planning our last meals here and everything. And trying to cram in things like "One last trip to the Muslim Quarter - I forgot to have a persimmon cake last time!" and "We need to watch another movie all together!"

A big part of reverse culture shock will come from the breaking of our Fellowship (Allianceship?) here. We're so used to speaking weird combinations of Chinese and English together. And being a short elevator ride away from even the farthest person.

I'm currently previewing my last new lesson for the semester. It's the second part of Chapter 21 in the second book. It's not all that far, but it's a long way from knowing nothing at all!

I'm going to stop myself from getting too reflective here because I have a couple of essays that need written before our study party tonight. The internet has been finicky, but I should be able to post more throughout my last week here.

This time next week, I'll be boarding my plane.

Silk Road, Part 3: Xinjiang

At long last! You know, I've only been back for a month and a half...

First stop was Urumqi! It's the capital of Xinjiang Province. For those of you who don't know, Xinjiang Province is the huge northwestern province that is also sometimes known as the Uyghur Autonomous Region. Urumqi has a lot of Han (the people we normally think of as "Chinese") people, but in general Xinjiang is home to a lot of people of the Uyghur nationality.

We didn't stay in Urumqi long. Just one night. I was feeling a little ill (still due to dehydration - DON'T BE ME), so I mostly read. We took it as something of a rest day before we went to Kashgar.

And boy, did we need it. Xinjiang was where we did most of our hiking.

Here is some sort of reservoir scenic spot:

But just look at how pretty.

Mary and Elizabeth! And yes - that's snow!

And we hiked to Shipton's Arch:

You stand on this hill that you just climbed. There's the arch. You look ahead. Through the arch, the world falls away.

We also saw a glacier. My first glacier!

More snow! Such a pretty hike.

And that's a glacier.

Shelby is from Texas. She couldn't stop making snowballs.

In Kashgar (which is nearly as far west as one can go in China), we met some Uyghur students and cooked with them. My knife skills were appreciated, but they were so much better! One of the girls belonged on the Food Network.

Gotta fan those kebabs.

Our new friends!

They know the Lizzie McGuire Movie, it seems. And we somehow remembered the words to that song from the finale. It was quite the bonding experience.

The whole Silk Road Trip was quite the bonding experience. Afterwards, we found ourselves missing group meals and spending all of our time together. We started throwing parties. We've had Halloween and Thanksgiving so far. Our Christmas party is Saturday. We invited our roommates and our teachers, and we're going to cook a little American food to show them.

I have a little over two weeks left in China. It's hard to believe.

I'm going to start working on some more reflective posts about the end of my time here, and I'm also going to see if I can put some things together about Calligraphy Street and Xi'an traditional crafts. Stay tuned for those and for a more in-depth post about Chengdu!

Twenty-Five Days Remain

I love China.

I'm not sure when that happened. For the first month, I thought that I would never fit in. Thought that there was just so much Chinese to learn that I would never make progress. Thought that I wouldn't meet people and see the real China.

But at some point, I got through enough of the language barrier to function. To make friends. To learn how to walk through crowds and cross streets. I've built routines and made friends and found a place here.

Twenty-five days remain.

Part of me thought that I would be more regretful, approaching the end, but the homesickness has come back. Anyway, I've gotten so much out of the experience that there is little for me to regret. I've visited nine cities in four provinces, seen some amazing scenery and historical sites, and done a lot of crazy things.

I don't know what kind of restlessness I'm feeling. Maybe it's the restlessness of wanting to go home and see everyone I love. Maybe it's the restlessness of wanting to see as much of Xi'an - of China - as I can before I go. Maybe it's both.

My first post for this blog was written a very long time ago, back when the countdown was for departure, not return. A lot has changed since then. I think I've grown up a bit.

I don't quite know how I'm going to feel when I board in Beijing. I'll be fresh off of a day of fun with some of my Alliance friends. Some of whom will slip off to the airport in the middle of the night. I say "slip off" but I don't know how much we'll sleep. I hope that I'm tired on the plane.

I knew, objectively, that I was going to miss China. But now, I get it.

不好意思！

With tests and party coordinating and choreographing, I've been so busy since returning from Chengdu.

I'll be posting a lot to make up for it!

Food Cravings

I'm not partial to American food. When I was a baby, the first thing I ate was jiaozi, a kind of Chinese dumpling. I have trouble answering questions about "traditional American food" because hamburgers are German, pizza is Italian, and fries are from Belgium. Our versions of those foods are distinct, but the foods themselves are not American.

Chili and barbecue are the closest I can come to "American" foods.

Speaking of which...

I am craving both.

The cravings didn't hit until my 50th day in China, which feels like it was just yesterday. I was sitting in the airport in Urumqi talking about barbecue and nachos and I'm not sure what else.

I miss everything from quinoa (my staple food back in the States) to grilled cheese, which I rarely crave. Last night, we Alliance Xi'an girls had a night in together and got a little bit emotional over Pizza Rolls and Bagel Bites, neither of which I have had for years.

I'll be sick of American food within a week of getting back, and I'll miss Chinese food before I even leave the country. Real Chinese food. Things like this:

It's a Xi'an street food - a sandwich made on Zha Mo - fried Mo bread.

Pick what you want. Whatever you want. Give it to the nice couple. They will fry it for you. Then grill it. Cover it in spicy sauce if you so desire (and you do; who needs tastebuds?) and put it all on the bread with more spicy sauce.

There are four or five places right on Shi Da Lu, the street by my school.

There are also my favorite dumpling and noodle places. The Sichuanese food. Hot pot.

Now I'm thinking obsessively about what to get for dinner. Right now, I'm not longing for my mom's homemade soup or for macaroni and cheese. I just want something furiously spicy and distinctively Chinese.

Lesson to be learned here: Take cooking classes when you're in China. And have a kitchen while you're here.

Chengdu Sneak Peek...

I know that Part III of the Silk Road trip isn't up yet, but a lot has been happening. Including a trip to Chengdu! I'm not going to post much at the moment but here's a preview:

(It was a great trip for photography.)

Hot pot. Basically best thing ever.

The Leshan Buddha. I'm so insanely pleased with this picture.

Chengdu at night.

Tea!

Pandas

BABY PANDAS!

The Silk Road, Part 2: Dunhuang

Sorry it's taken me so long to get to Part II! We had midterms on Friday (which I fortunately did well on! It was tough going from the trip to the test in four days - there was absolutely no time to study), and now we're preparing for our huge presentations this Friday. On top of that, we're preparing for Halloween, and I'm a little sick. More on all of that in another post.

Before we went to Dunhuang, we stopped again in Linxia and Lanzhou (as we had to take a train in Lanzhou). In Linxia, we had the famous beef noodles (niu rou la mian) and visited a mosque.

Can I just be a food photographer? That would be an awesome job.

The mosque was interesting because it showed us a distinctive blend of Chinese culture with Islam.

From architecture...

... to incense...

... to silk...

... to art.

In Lanzhou, we got lunch (whoops it was KFC) and visited the Yellow River.

Here's a bridge!

We took the train overnight from Lanzhou to Dunhuang. This one was a hard sleeper. The cots are a bit smaller and less comfortable (I found out later that the middle and top ones are so short that you can't sit up) and there are no doors. I was a bit worried, but it was absolutely no big deal. Soft sleeper isn't really worth the extra money.

Yeah, I took this one on my phone. Sorry about that.

It looks exactly like what it is: A little train station in a little desert town.

We arrived the next morning in Dunhuang. It was the first outdoor train station I saw (other than outside my window), and it looked so much like the kind you see in movies or in certain black-and-white Oscar-winning animated short films.

Something about Dunhuang struck me as American. It was about the size of an American city (reminded me a little bit of Tulsa but smaller), and the buildings sometimes had space between them and weren't built very high.

I've never seen giant dunes outside my window in America, though.

The first thing we did was visit the Mogao Grottoes. They're famous caves carved out by travelers who wanted to make places to worship. People used to pray here when about to cross the desert or after they had safely made the journey. The caves have influences from China, India, and Greece. It's absolutely fascinating to see. You'll have to look up pictures of the insides elsewhere, as photography is not permitted inside.

The paintings are delicate, so the grottoes will actually be closing some time next year, as visitors damage them just by breathing.

The gardens were beautiful as well. Here stand the

Prophets of Feipanism: Daniel and Joey. (Yeah, we founded a religion during our trip. Who doesn't?)

We went to dinner by the Night Market. It was a really interesting experience. There was this courtyard full of tables with men and women urging you to sit down. You would order from their menu (every couple of tables had a different owner), and they would run around the market buying you food.

Emily and Mary (the other Alliance bloggers!) and Daniel

Elizabeth, Joey, and Allison

Lena and Shelby

Donkey meat (on the plate with the cilantro) and some rather tasty noodles.

Donkey meat is famous in Dunhuang. Unfortunately, another group of students ate at a different table and got donkey meat from a different restaurant. It appeared to make them sick, although that's awfully quick work for food poisoning!

There was this really cool stage with light-up ads behind it (which you can see in one of my pictures), and I made the mistake of mentioning out loud how cool it would look if someone were to go up there and dance.

Emily loves to push me into doing things, and this time she had Joey to help her.

Yep.

The courtyard was packed with locals, many of whom started filming or taking pictures. There was also, coincidentally, live music. A lot of people tried to talk to me after.

After my little adventure, we decided to walk around the Dunhuang Night Market.

So pretty.

Typical fare.

There were a lot of people who did crafts like wood carving. One guy in particular caught our eye.

He was kind enough to let me take his picture.

He hand-painted the inside of glass bottles using a traditional painting style. His work was exceptionally beautiful.

The next day, we went to see the Gobi Desert.

These trees are tough. Not only do they live in the desert, but they also live for a thousand years.

And then take another thousand to fall. 

And then another thousand to break.

This is the Jade Gate - a famous pass along the Silk Road.

The original Great Wall, built way before the famous one! It's from the Ming Dynasty.

That night was a real adventure.

We rode camels!

Look at us. Look at those dunes.

We rode the camels to the dunes and then scrambled up. Once we got to the top, we scrambled up even higher, up to a peak. It was quite the struggle because the sand was so soft.

You know me. Have to dance everywhere.

... Even if the sand disagrees!

One of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Sun setting over the dunes.

Running back down. See where we left the camels?

The next day was our last in Dunhuang. We packed up and checked out, and then we went to our guide (Wangjie)'s in-law's family farm.

Cotton is a major industry in Dunhuang.

Picturesque

We helped pick cotton; they made the most delicious lunch. Oh man were we spoiled.

Picking cotton was surprisingly satisfying.

I started to say that Dunhuang was the most adventurous part of the trip, but that isn't quite true. You'll see pictures from a lot of hikes in beautiful scenery in my next post!

At this point, I was feeling a bit ill, which prompts me to give you all a piece of advice that seems obvious:
When you're in dry climates, drink a lot of water! I fell a little bit behind, and boy, did I regret it.

Stay tuned for Part III, the final chapter in the great journey!