an over view of China

I spent a grand total of three weeks in China, and loved, every moment if it. From the people to my group to my classes to just everything in general, except maybe the smell, and never having clean clothes. It was the longest shortest three weeks of my life and i cant believe it is over. We toured Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. We traveled to each of these places via train, the first ride was 12 hours and the second was 22 hours. We experianced China sleeping cars. it really makes the travel time fly when you can sleep. you know when you are sure you have learned many life lessons in an area but when you go to write it you just cant put it into words. that is where i am right now. China was an amazing experiance and i would love to be able to say everything that it has taught me but i dont know if i can. i can say it has taught me patience but i don:t know how, and it has taught me that i am stronger than i know, but i cant tell you why. it is really just a jumble in my mind and i can:t get it out. but i want to be able to share what i know and what i have learned. so lets just try and tell some of my expericances that may have contributed.

Beijing was totally amazing i saw and expericanced so much in 10 days i took classes so i learned from the Chinese people what they think that americans should know (they didn:t know that they were talking to a canadian too). we had a tour guide that was a pain in the royal butt. she liked to take us to tourist traps that we couldn:t afford. In the end we ended up with gifts from the travel agency as an apology for having to deal with these situations. I love walking in the rain and got to experiance that a few times in a unfamiliar city it was amazing. i went to lunch with these Chinese girls that wanted to practice their english and make new friends, i didn:t notice the smell as much in Beijing as much as Xian but i am leaning that it is not the smell that makes it different it is the cleanliness that goes with it or lack there of. i found that street vendors make really good breakfast even if you don:t know what you are ordering. Ordering is a completley different thing than North America. we all noticed that as soon as you walk into a restraunt youd better know what you want to eat because they will linger over you until you are ready to order. sometimes pointing is not the best option especially with the drink menu because you can end up with things you don:t want to drink. same with ordering supper though because you will end up with different things that you dont know what are like cows tongue. very chewy. you will sometimes end up with things that you didn:t know that you ever wanted to try and it isn:t too bad. Beijing was a good place for us to start because it offered us some time to get use to the difference in　culture.

by the time we got to Xian we were somewhat used to China, well as use to it as you can get. we were accepting of our tour guide but it also helped that she was like 100 times better than the last, and didn:t sink into her seat and cry every other day, NOTE we didn:t to anything to make her cry. we were so tired that we just wanted to sleep but we had full days of activities that we had to just keep going and not worry about what we really wanted. we went around the city wall on bicycles, we saw the warriors we went to the wild goose pagoda. and to this place that had alot of water things. funny story acutally, we were suppose to be watching this water show where the fountains would dance to the music and well we couldn:t see the water so one of the guys in my group started to do interperative dancing he drew a crowd of 250plus people and this was just the way we deal with things. xian was also alot dirtier than beijing and acutally it was more what i expected to see when i thought of China. it is one of those places you loved and hated all at the same time. from xian　we also went to a farming villiage (not a village) and we stayed with families there. my roommates and i didn:t get to really know our family because of the language barrier but we really enjoyed our stay. we got to go to a school and spend half an hour with the little grade one students, this was by far my favorite part of my trip so far. i think people really started to understand why my major is what it is. and that night we were invited to the villiage dance, where i met Hamama, a seven year old angel. i had so much fun with her. when we got back to xian we sent some mail and picked up our laundry that we had done and well i don:t think the laundry place believed in a dryer so they put our wet clothes in bags and by the time we opened each bag our laundry stunk. so taht was a waste of money booo.

We left for Shaghai, this is the largest city in the world and i feel like i could wander it and not really get lost or if i do i could find where i am fairly quickly. this is the place where everyone started to really get sick. there were a few cases before hand but over all shanghai was the worst to start getting sick. our sponser Ryan ended up getting a feavor that lasted 5 days and he still doesn:t look the greatest. and another guy Skyler, developed a pancreatic attack once we got on the plane to kyoto he is still in the hopsital in kyoto while the rest of us have gone on to toyko. Keep him in your prayers.

All in all i loved China but i am sick of the food and i am glad to be gone. i think that we are just too tired to really respond greatly to china right now but when we look back later it will be an awesome part of our overall trip. i think that i am one of the most optomistic people in the group regarding the overall feel of china. i am glad i went and i want to go back but i think i need to do some exploring of the places myself, i need to really get to know the people, this is what our group really feels was lacking in our time in china, we all would have really liked to be able to communicate with the people and get to know them. i also think i need to see more of the world to fully appreciate what i have seen there. i need to know that every place is different and i need to feel like i have made a difference. i really want to do that. making a difference in one persons life would have been great but if i didn:t get a chance to really talk to any one than how can i make a difference. maybe i can change that in the future and since i know that i want to change that then maybe the rest of my trip will be more fruitful. i would not trade the time i had in china for anything on earth and i think that is why i have become a stronger person i know what i want to get out of the rest of my trip, relationships with the people of the countries i visit. WOW!!! i didn:t know that is what i wanted until i wrote it.

Xi'an

I fell in love with a little girl the other night. i really wanted to put her in my suitcase and bring her home. she was this little 5-7 year old i am not totally sure but her english was amazing. we were in a little villiage, as small as a chinese villiage can be so actually really big but where we were looked smaller, because it was on the edge of the village and was gated. we each stayed with families four of us to one family. it is a government run thing but it was really cool. we got to go and be in a classroom with a bunch of grade one students which was amazing, and i really wanted to stay longer. i met the little girl that night at the dance they put on for us she came up to me and wanted to know who i was and if i wanted to play i made her dance and then we played a game i still can't play the game and we worked on if for like an hour. she and i would take turns blaming the other who's fault it was that we failed yet again. the last few days had been so full but i really loved it. we finally had a good tourguide that didn't take us to all these tourist traps that none of us can afford. we ended up at one but she told us that we didn't have to feel like we had to buy anything but if we did it was half price cause we are students. she took us there so we could see how the tarocotta warriors were made (for replica use). so that was not so bad as our old one, who took us everwhere to make us spend money. we saw the acutal tarocotta warriors that was pretty cool it is hard for me to imagine a guy to spent 40 years creating his tomb and making others make it for him. it was remarkable. i am in shanghai right now and since there was so much to rememeber and i can't remember it right now it will have to wait till later i know i said that last time about beijing but maybe i will actually tell you some day. just ask for more post and i may write more.
love you all, and miss you.

So i have been in Xi'an for 2 days now and i have so much to say about the remainder of Beijing and the beginning of Xi'an but the end of Xi'an. we leave for the country side tomorrow, which is exciting we are going to a farming community and we get to stay with some families. i think 4 to a house so that should be fun, and very interesting with the language barrier.
Last monday we went to the Hutongs which are the houses everyone hears about that are many families to very little space. it was interesting. we first went to a couples apartment he is a art professor at a university and she is retired they are 4th generation dwellers which is amazing. after that we went to some other peoples houses and they served us supper it was pretty good or at least the house i went to apparently the other house wasn't as good. we got to go through the area on rickshaws so that was fun. That night i downloaded pictures so you can all see those at http://photos.oc.edu then go to international studies abroad and then pac rim find my name and there are my pictures.
on tuesday i went to the gardens and well i don't know exactly what we did that day i can't remember we have been so busy that i feel like i have been here for months but then again it has been so short. it is a weird feeling. but i do know that that night we went to hard rock cafe, and ended up soaked. we got on the bus and someone said that it was our stop so we got off in the pouring rain and it wasn't our stop we were only half way there (to the subway) so we walked in the rain. i must say that i love walking in the rain anywhere. in the countryside in small towns in the big city even Beijing. it is just the freshness of the air that i love. it really make you appreciate where you are. even in beijing it cools off and takes away the smell that you n0 longer smell. you just feel the freshness. OH wait i remember. we went to Fragrant hill. Cassie and i went up on this ski lift thingy and it was amazing i could see things but taking pictures doesn't do it justice because of all the low hanging clouds. I don't think it was smog this time.
on wednesday we had our last class FINALLY. they were informative but boring. we had the afternoon free so some of us went to the silk market it was fun to barter with people.
Thursday we left Beijing on the night train and slept all the way to Xian.
we hit the ground running that morning and saw too many things to remember. but it was amazing i will have to bring my journal to tell you all i have done in the last couple of days but i did see the terracotta warriors and that really makes you think and we bicycled the wall of Xian today that is 8.79 miles long we did it in about an hour it was a very uneven ride and the first bit i could have sworn that i was getting shaken baby syndrome.
i am running out of time so i will try and post again soon. love you all.

BATHROOMS

So this is mainly for my family who will think this is funny if it insults you in anyway i am sorry but my family will understand my humor.
My take on Chinese bathrooms or any bathroom related topics.
#1. the slits in Chinese babies pants. I know you have all hear of it before but to see it is completely different. you will be walking down the street and you will see a toddler with a stream of water coming from his bottom and it is totally normal. another thing which is more interesting is the 7 year old who just dropped his pants and started peeing. i just looked out my window on the bus and there he was wanting the whole world to see. you really have to watch for the peeing babies or you will step in their pee and you will need to change your shoes some of those babies have a huge bladder.
#2. The lack of toilet paper ANYWHERE!!! i understand the lack of toilets (though every once in awhile you will find one) but there is no Toilet paper. they expect everyone who needs to pee will have their own and therefore there is no need to have some in the stalls. i started carrying a whole role where ever i go. but when i forget it is really annoying and really gross. The dorm at Capitol Normal didn't even have any.
#3. When you do find TP or when everyone brings their own, you don't flush the toilet paper you throw it in the garbage. Not exactly what i want to see someone else's crap in the garbage. ewwwwww. if you do flush toilet paper it plugs very easily. The poor maids at the university would have to unplug everyday.
#4. The smell of the public toilets. well as you can imagine from the description atop YUCK!!!
#5. off the topics of toilets. The lack of walls in the shower. one would imagine that there would be something to stop the flow of water from getting all over the bathroom floor. But there is not, well at least not at our dorm we are now in a 4 star hotel that has a nice bathroom and almost comfortable beds but at the dorm we had a little problem with water getting everywhere. with no ledge to stop the water from getting all over the floor and the shower head having a leak my roommates accused me of doing the Canadian rain dance because the whole bathroom would be totally soaked. Erin was accused of plugging the toilet i was blamed for the water everywhere though it wasn't totally me.
#6. back to toilets. the public ones are nasty like i said above but i would like to elaborate. if you find the toilets the Chinese don't know how to use them. there is always pee on the seats yuck.
#7. according to one guy on my trip there is going to be an out break of the black plague in China soon. today there was crap all over the floor and there were no doors on the squaty pottys. interesting.
#8. the lack of soap in the public restrooms. you would think that with the risk of black plague so high that there would be soap everywhere to slowdown the inevitability. but no. most places you find will either be completely out or none to begin with. kinda worry some if you ask me.
This is what i have found so far but i am sure that there will be more and i may elaborate during different points of my trip.

PICTURES

I have pictures up i couldn't put them all up as my battery in my camera died so i only have 176 i will try and get some more up in the next couple of days. i hope this wets the whistle for the rest of my trip. check them out at photos.oc.edu

Finally getting a chance to write

So I have been in Beijing for just over a week and wow!!! It feels like we have been here a month. This place is amazing and beautiful in a weird way. It is full of people, very kind people who are always trying to help. For example 6 of us went to supper the other night and we don't speak Mandarin and the people working there don't speak English, this is my life here it is a game of charades, we were trying to understand what was on the menu and they were trying to help us they go out to the other costumers to find someone to speak to us and a lady named Juliet came and helped. we ended up with an amazing meal yummy. i have decided that i love Chinese food. So far i have climbed the Great Wall, i am still feeling it, I have seen temples and palaces they are all so beautiful but they all look the same. i will have pictures when i get back but don't ask what they are to cause i will not know. hhaha. i don't even really know how to describe this place except it has a smell of Bourbon street in New Orleans. I love it here and i can't imagine leaving.
The other day i had a one of the guys on my trip really make my day. . . we were on the back side of the temple of heaven and we saw these ladies ribbon dancing, with the really wide ribbons, he said that he would dance if only he had a ribbon. i dared him and he told me that if i could find a ribbon and buy it for him he would dance. i found the ribbon and bought it so he held up his end of the dare and danced with the ladies. it was amazing cause i couldn't stop laughing. later told me that he was really embarrassed with doing it but he did it anyway.
all the places we go i really find that the back side of the palaces or temples are the most beautiful. they have this air to them that make it special. either it is not as well done up as the front or there are people there playing cards of dancing or playing music. these are the special places that i hope to always remember because it really shows the people and the carefree life they have. it is amazing. there is one place that is really cool it is on the back side of the summer palace, it has this walkway that goes down to a kinda shopping area that is a tourist trap yes but it has this mote thing there and it was a overcast day so the reflections were amazing it was just beautiful.
on friday we went to the zoo that was fun i was left b myself for awhile because of the stupid tour guide asking me stupid questions but i will not get into my strong dislike for tour guides. but anyway i got to go around the zoo myself for an hour and it was a nice walk even though i was one of the attractions. i was looked at and people took pictures of me it was weird but whatever. it was nice to be alone in a city of 18million. that night we ate Peking duck it's pretty good what is amazing is what comes with it. there were 10 of us at a table and we could not eat all the food. these people really know how to fill americans up. so much good food i think i will gain 20 pounds before i leave China let alone the rest of my trip.
yesterday we went to the three self church and a house church that was cool though i was really tired and fell asleep a couple of times. we ate with the people and it was good too again a lot of food. then most of us crashed in an apartment for the afternoon most in the living room on top of each other. last night we went to the Chinese acrobatics show WOW it is amazing i swear those people were the gymnasts in the Olympics.
about the olympics i went to see wheelchair basketball it was germany against great britian. GB
won. then we saw some of the team in Mcdonalds after so we got our tickets signed it was pretty cool. the water cube is really amazing. it is textured and it changes colour. i will try and get pictures up soon. the birds nest is cool too. honestly during the olympics i wasn't too impressed with it but seeing it up close it is really cool.
i have ridden the subway the bus a taxi and it is amazing but i have decided that i will never drive here it is crazy traffic and only half the cars are allowed to drive each day until the olympics are over it is crazy traffic and i am amazed i haven't seen an accident thought there have been close calls. really close calls. i had better get off now but i hope all is well. love you all andrea

Leaving

So right now I am sitting in IT waiting for my I touch to sync with my computer after I was unable to open windows for week. The colour of the print is roughly the colour of my Pac Rim t-shirt that I am wearing right now. I decided that this would be the perfect time to reflect on my trip!!! I am leaving TOMORROW!!! It seems so soon and suddenly it hits me that maybe I am not ready to leave. Don't get me wrong I am so excited but at the same time I have my apprehensions because of all the things I am going to miss this semester. I will miss my friends and my family, and I feel overwhelmed. At the same time I am so excited because I am getting to know new people and discovering that I am going to have an awesome time getting to know these people. I am traveling around the world being as far away from home as humanly possible (well at least on Earth), with 25 other people most of whom I didn't know existed 8 months before. I am going to get to know more of God's creation than any other member of my family. WOW!!! I know that this semester I am going to grow mentally and spiritually and I am going to get to grow with other people and see where they are growing. I am hoping that with God's help and the help of the other people that I will be able to show His light to others who do not know Him, and even to those who do but maybe are a little down. In chapel today the speaker was talking about how each one of us is going to be someone that is needed for someone else. (ok so I don't say it quite as gracefully as the speaker did but it was a very good point). This kind of makes me wonder what God has planned for me and whose life I am going to be affecting. This makes me happy but scared because I want to be the best influence that I can to others and maybe that means that I have to step outside of my comfort zone and become more than I know I am capable of being. Maybe it will be one of my host families, I am going to have one in China, Japan and New Zealand, or maybe it will just be one of the members of my team. There are so many unknowns that scare me but this semester I am going on the most incredible ride that I just need to have faith that God will guide me where I need to be. There is so much that I need to do today but I know that it will not be done but it is okay, it is not all that important to get done well I really do have to do one thing but it will not take long so I am not too worried. Sorry for the rambling but this is what came to my head in no logical order. I know that this will be an amazing trip and I am anxious to get going. If you want to stay on my journey with me I will try and update often.