Xi'an

So on a rainy day in Xi'an we visited Lou Guan Tai. It's a Taoist temple where it is said Laozi wrote the Dao De Jing, the bible of the Taoist religion.



It was pouring rain, so the only people at this temple were some beggars, our group, and three nice monks.



This monk was awesome. He gave me a copy of the Dao De Jing, signed it, and told me to send him this picture.



So then we walked a mile in the fog, rain, and mud to find the Da Qin Pagoda.



It was total National Geographic since the rain kept all the other tourists away.



Built in 640, the Da Qin Pagoda is the oldest surviving remnant of the Christian church in China. It was great.

We were meant to leave for Qinghai the following day, but unrest in Tibetan areas kept us from traveling.
I'm back in Xiamen now just hanging out, taking Chinese 2 and Tai Chi class. Tomorrow we'll be heading to our week-long home stays with real live Chinese families!

Tour of China!

We have been on our study tour of China for just about a week. I'll do a very short recap:

Stop number one was Shanghai... My kind of city.


Then on to Beijing where I got to hang out with this handsome fella...



...and climb this big wall.


And now I'm in Xi'an getting ready to head out to Qinghai province.

In Shanghai!

Ni hao from Shanghai! This is the first stop on our two-week trip across the country. We're leaving Shanghai tonight and then headed to Beijing, Xi'an, and Qinghai province.
More later...

Bus Story

I thought this was a story worth repeating. Sorry that I'm so lazy I can't even re-write this e-mail excerpt.

"okay, so its me, sammy, susanna,
sisi, and her roommate jodie. and the bus is just packed. like
sardines. most crowded i've been on a bus in china. so we're just chit
chatting and all of the sudden JOLT! the bus just screeeches to a halt
and everyone goes flying all over each other. and i hear a dull THUD.
and i'm like oh man fender bender. but then everyone starts talking a
mile a minute and rushing out of the bus and i'm all what. so i push my
way to the front and see that the bus has actually HIT A KID!!! and
everyone is all gathered around in a circle and people are stopping to
gawk. so since i'm not very short in china i could see over and see a
shoe under the bus and i'm like omg this is gonna be gross. but it
wasn't. his mom was squatting on the ground cradling her five year old
son and he's just real quiet. but there was no blood, so we decided it
was all good. and he wasn't crying. we think he got a concussion and
blacked out so he was just coming to. but there was a huge
argument/discussion going on, and we were in a rush, so we grabbed a
cab to sisi's house."
Intense.

The Wedding

This past Monday was "The Wedding". I promised I would report how it went, so here goes... I first said that we were going to be saying a short blessing in the wedding, but as more and more details were given to us, it turned out that we were actually going to be partially emceeing this wedding... in Chinese.

3:30ish- Sam and I scrounged around for some decent clothes, took some pictures, and then met our wonderful Chinese friend, Sisi. She was our guide and translator, and had been in communication with the wedding planner all week.
4-5 We arrived at the hotel, and spent time practicing and cutting out parts from our script.
5-6 A whole lot of sitting around and watching people set up.
6-7 Boooooorrrrrred, sitting around.
7.30 The thing started and we were put in the back sound room.
7.30-8.30ish... Total nervousness... So scared. The other emcee, a professional Chinese wedding performer controlled the show up to this point. He was awesome.
8.30-8.50 Our parts. I said some kind words followed by Sam welcoming in the bride and groom. I said some kind words and invited them to light the candles. Sam said some kind words and invited them to pour the champagne. I finished up by saying some more kind words, and that was it. A Chinese wedding is more like a cross between a ceremony and a reception, so while people pay attention to what's happening, they are also busy stuffing their face, chit-chatting, and chain-smoking. But, people seemed to respond well to what they could understand of what we said.
9-10 Standing around just watching the rest of the wedding.
10ish We were informed that our pay was actually not available, and food for us was "maybe" in the works. So we hit the road and hit up a late-night McD's.
As you can see from the pictures, the wedding decor was a cross between a
game show, a wedding, a pay by the hour motel, and a reception. Weird.
Fog machine, bubble maker, even indoor fireworks. Intense.
Photos

Turtles and a Wedding!

So Tuesday evening my roommate, Sam, and I are leaving the cafeteria to go buy some turtles when we're stopped by a group of three Chinese asking "Can you help me?". Since we're such helpful young men, we stopped and tried our hardest to pick up any key words presented to us in their mile-a-minute then word-a-minute Chinese. Nothing stood out except "you", "Monday", and "please". After several failed clarifications in both English and Chinese, they were able to find another Chinese guy to interpret for us.
The one girl was a wedding planner, and her clients were hoping to have a foreigner say some blessings during their wedding this coming Monday... she was asking if we would be willing to do so... in Chinese... for "about" ten minutes... for some cash. Not wanting to turn down a fun cultural experience, an opportunity to make a fool of myself during a complete stranger's wedding, and of course the chance to make some cold, hard RMB... I said "yes". I'll let you know how it goes.

Back to the turtles... We bought two little pet turtles for a dollar each. We named them after our favorite figures in Chinese history- Zheng He and Zheng Chonggong. It is with a heavy heart and a slight chuckle that I have to inform you that Zheng Chonggong has gone to doggie heaven as of 7.52 this morning. R.I.P. buddy.


The late Zheng Chonggong.

Spring?

Finally, Spring Festival is over! Campus is filling up again, and it's great to have restaurants, cafeterias, stores, and the library back in function after three weeks. Having food within a three minute's walk is golden compared to the fifteen that it's been. And, after four straight days of sunshine, I'm beginning to think that spring is arriving. Yesssss.
Other than that, it's business as usual here. Last Saturday a Chinese friend took a couple of us to the ever-popular Gu Lang Yu, a small tourist island off the coast of Xiamen. Last night we hit up the Latern festival. Amazing. This past week I also went to a Chinese friend's birthday party. Events like that are constant reminders of how lame I am for only speaking one language fluently. It makes for hilarious interactions, and I think the term "Ugly American" should be replaced with "Awkwardly Funny American". But, I keep meeting Europeans and Asians and Africans who are studying their third, fourth, or fifth language, and I can't help but be frustrated with American education. Are we really foolish enough to believe that two semesters of Spanish/French will suffice? Hmm...