The Great [Invisible] Wall... Not of China, but Surrounding China

I haven't written a post in a while because I have a new business English class so that has kept me super busy. I do have a lot to write about, including one of us getting lost and drunkenly ending up at a police station, traveling back in time (when I go back to the US I will leave from China, but since I am 12 hours ahead, it will be like traveling back in time!!!), China vs. The West, Chinese calendar animal years, and so on. First I would like to say that this month I am going to Hong Kong (next week) to change my VISA to a work VISA and I get to stay for 3 days and miss work, and get paid! I will also go to Macau with Lily and to Zhuhai where her friend lives, AND Taiwan with Josie! Busy summer so far! And maybe even Japan if I'm lucky... I wrote down that I wanted to write some things before I begin. (A jumble of information) Chinese love karaoke, because they are such good singers and pride themselves on it (at least this is my theory). Lily loves to sing, Chinese guys love to sing (and aren't afraid to admit it), and people are proud of this...so why not go to karaoke where you can show off your skills to your friends? Here, at KTV, you rent out a private room with all your friends and you do karaoke in there, instead of in front of a room full of strangers. I haven't been to KTV yet (surprisingly, because there are a ton of them all over GuangZhou and even in the town next to Beijiao), but we are all going on Saturday night, so that should be fun. If anyone wants to see where I live, on GoogleMaps it's called Beijiaozhen, Foshan, Guangdong, China... I tried this yesterday and it worked!

I had a funny experience at work two days ago...I was on Facebook (hehehheh) and one of my students and coworkers (who is probably around my age) walked by me, then stood behind me for 15 seconds until I turned around and smiled... and he made a noise, "hmmm..." then started walking away. Well he turned back around and said to me, "But in China we can't use Facebook". I said, "Oh really? For some reason I can" then I thought about it and replied quickly, "OH! This isn't the REAL Facebook, it's something SIMILAR to Facebook" and he's like, "Ok..." and walked away. STOP SPYING on me people! Actually I think he was just curious how I got on Facebook, probably nothing to do with getting me in trouble, but I'm pretty naive sometimes, so hopefully he doesn't tell my manager that I have been breaking the law AND slacking off at work. Actually my students told me that some of them just use "wall climbing" software, as they call it, to look at banned sites anyway, so it's not that uncommon here just not spoken about (oooh interestingly, WALL CLIMBING could refer to the Great Wall of China, OR as my blog title says and something that I came up with myself, the Wall that the Chinese government has made around China to block certain Western influences).

One other thing before I start writing about life here are the relationships in China. I know I've briefly touched on this subject in previous posts, but I must admit I like many relationships I have with Chinese. I really DO like feeling special and people make me feel like they LIKE doing things for me which they actually don't need to. I really respect and like this in the Chinese culture (although there are many things I don't like) As wrong as it is, and believe me I know it's not right, I do like being treated like a Westerner and I love getting special treatment. Why should I though? Just because I have big eyes and olive colored skin, and wavy hair and a nose that doesn't look like a Chinese nose? I shouldn't, but still do get special treatment. I KNOW Chinese people are not the same towards people of their respective nationality. I have seen this many times, and I have seen people who are incredibly nice to me, be so-so towards other Chinese, who might even be closer with them than I am. I shouldn't have so many expectations for people here, but now, I hate to say it, I've gotten used to it. I hate that, but at the same time, it makes my life so much easier. Only people who have been to China for a while can begin to understand this, because you need to experience what it is like to be in a new place and NOT be a Westerner, and come here and then be treated like a Westerner to get the full effect.

I cannot even try to fully get across the aspect of exactly HOW DIFFERENT China is in every possible way...at least where I live. Many people have traveled Europe and Latin America, but China is a country completely peculiar and contrasting. This just makes me want to travel to more countries that I do not know much about... that are so incredibly distant from the West in every way possible. This is how I came up with the title of this post. I believe the Chinese government has tried to make an invisible wall around China that turns away certain Western influences, and this is particularly evident throughout history. The province in which I live, GuangDong, was a trading port and one location of the earliest entrance to China. During the 17th century, the British arrived with ships from the East India Company wanting to establish trade with China. The Qing dynasty (which ruled at that moment in time) was so against all the foreign inhabitance that they sent them all away to an island nearby, Shamian. This was the time where something we have learned about occurred: The Opium Wars. Basically the British felt that the Qing dinasty was harming trade and so they dumped opium into the Chinese market, which would create addicts who later would pay inflated prices to acquire more of the drug. The Qing would then try to cease the British opium trade, leading to the Wars which the British won due to their much advanced weaponry. And this was how Hong Kong was forced away from the Chinese, to become a British territory. There are much more details and rebellions that I will not go into about this time in history, but it's worthy to note that the Qing dynasty was the last dynasty to rule China.

My point is that where I live, life is different than in many parts of China. Like I said, the locals here speak Cantonese which is a different language than Chinese Mandarin. The food here varies compared to other parts of China, and the people are also different. I have to admit, the more I learn about GuangDong, the history and the culture, the more I become a fan of this province...this is my hometown province now! Still it is pretty incredibly how the government has kept the West from penetrating Chinese borders in ways such as censorship. In many parts of China, you wonder how it can be so backwards and developing at such a high rate at the same time. In many aspects of life and culture, the West, and globalization in general, has LITERALLY NO effect on China.

...Now onto topics I have been meaning to write about in the last two weeks and haven't gotten the chance...

So many children!

Gross...and food

Audre gets lost and we learn a lesson

Kids

Chinese people love kids, so it's interesting that most can only have ONE. When I walk to the building where I teach in after work...I pass by a courtyard with a huge water fountain. There I always smile and take my time walking because I see so many grandmas with their grandchildren. Little chubby Chinese children who can barely walk, wearing little squeaky sandals running around with their fat tushies hanging out of their pants. Poor grandmas, because these kids waddle around all over and of course, grandma has to chase her grandchild down. I have been wanting to bring my camera with me, but I always keep forgetting...next week. Nevertheless, there are children everywhere here! I feel like this town must only have young couples who have just had babies, and grandmas to take care of them! (This would actually make sense because people who work for Midea are usually young and right out of college, and when they get older, they move to other companies who have less requirements but more pay...)

Eating

UGH! So yesterday I was so hungry after work and so before class, I went to my favorite HotPot restaurant and ordered the best cucumber salad ever. As I was eating I noticed that there was a fly in my food... GREAT. And you know what I did? Threw the fly away, and kept eating. Now that I think about it, it IS pretty gross, BUT I mean this is China people, and not some FIVE STAR restaurant in Chicago...I thought about what my options were; make a scene and yell in English where no one one understand and they would just think I'm crazy or over reacting (and I would be embarrassed to ever come back again), I could have just left (and still had to pay) and then embarrassed the owners of the restaurant which I DID not want to do (considering how happy they always are when I walk in there), or suck it up and just finish the food and not make a big deal of it. So I chose the third option... And this is an example of what China is doing to me.

On that note, I'd like to say that I have seen, and heard that some Chinese people cannot even use chopsticks well. I don't really understand how this is possible considering I see mothers feeding little babies with chopsticks, but I guess that's the reality of it. I've been really opposed to eating with a fork, so I may have only once or twice so far, and that is because the restaurant served food only with a fork (or noodles that I bought in the store maybe came with a tiny fork and I was too lazy to do my dishes, so I used it)

Audre gets lost

We went to Babyface two weekends ago, had a great time...did the usual...sat in VIP, got free drinks, etc etc. Well Audre got drunk and decided since she felt sick, she would go to the bathroom and throw up...or rest. From what she said (hahahahhah Audre I know you're reading this, and hopefully your BF is not since YOU left some details out when you told him this story) she thought it would be a good idea to just sit in the stall and "rest" so she felt better. That rest turned into a nap which lasted until the club closed. All of us were pretty drunk and looked EVERYWHERE, or so we thought, for Audre and couldn't find her. Somehow we assumed she went back to Katia's apartment (which is where we stay every time we go to Guangzhou), so we went home. I slept throughout the cab ride and when we got back to the apartment I passed out. Audre wasn't there, so Lily called the police (thank God Lily came to GZ with us this weekend because she was the only one who is Chinese). Two hours later the police called back and said Audre was there, so we had to pick her up. Katia and Lily went alllll the way back to the club in a cab and got Audre who was completely shaken up...understandingly (the bounders found her and took her to the police station around 5am when the club closed. They told her they were going to "policy" and this was the way they thought POLICE was pronounced. She didn't have her phone, her camera, any money (she gave it to Alex to hold when she was dancing) and none of us speak Chinese of course, and neither does she! She tried to tell the police the area where Katia lives...but of course they didn't understand, and assumed she was either drunk OR crazy. We learned that we need to carry around the address of where we are staying at all times, and that we need to learn Chinese because if this ever happens to occur again, we might not be so lucky next time.

We actually went back to Babyface last weekend and got invited to sit with the owner in VIP and I must say it was great! We had a girl's night (Katia, Audre and I) and first went to Bound, which was a club with all Westerners. There were a lot of Russian looking, tall, skinny girls...who gave us dirty looks so we left and came to Babyface. Usually there are not a lot of "posh" (as Audre calls it ) Westerners at Babyface, so we love it there because we can party and have fun without people totally staring and giving us looks (funny that it was actually "Westerners" who were staring at us this time, and not Chinese! Regardless, Babyface was great! We drank Moet and Hennessey (well actually Audre and I dumped our shots before pretending to drink them because we didn't want to get too drunk)...and we chit chatted and had a great time with awesome Chinese people!

I'm getting bored and have work to do, so I did have more to write about, but it will have to wait until after the weekend!

Holy SHIT! I'm in CHINA!!!!!

Once in a while, this thought pops into my head...and today it hit me while I was teaching class. I am in a Communist country where people can't utter, even under their breath, that they are dissatisfied with their government; where many people around me live on less than $200 per month; where factory workers go to work for 7 days a week and get paid 1000Yuan (about $200) a month; where one particular student of mine works in the factory all day and is still excited and energetic about learning English for 2 hours (and has to pay for it)... AND in addition to that, I am literally half way across the world from the people that I care about most.

I have to keep reminding myself, over and over, to step back, take it all in. Time is seriously ticking away SO QUICKLY! I've been here for 2.5 months and it feels like only a few weeks. I can't complain because that means I'm busy, but I believe have adjusted to this life a little too much. I don't even notice things that I would from my "American eyes" because now I have a more Chinese view. While speaking with Ugo on Skype today he told me that I have just quickly adapted and become versatile, but I really JUST realized how...well...American I am, I guess (as much as it kind of pains me to say that). I thought that living in Poland, visiting Poland and traveling has made me more understanding of the world, but China really is becoming more and more of an experience that is irreplaceable and so important to me. Something that is pretty much priceless and worth more than I can explain. I hope that when I get back to the US, I won't take in the luxury and work ethic some Americans have (like I have just adapted to China)...but that China will change me for the better... in more ways than one. That I can really analyze and think about my experiences, not just as an experience, but something that really benefits me from within.

1000¥

Today I got paid, but I decided I will try to live off 1000 (yuán [元]) this whole month. In dollars that is around $150. I wonder if this is possible... That means I will not go out to eat much and won't buy unnecessary things...but I want to try it anyway! Usually when I see something I want I buy it... but China=change, so I will challenge myself to this (the only thing I will not forbid myself to buy are tickets somewhere to travel, because what other time will I get to travel China? Probably NEVER in this way).

Moving onto a lighter topic, NOT...(but before let me mention that this is what Lily wrote to me in one e-mail "You and I are the best friends and sisters all the time and forever!" I think it's super cute and nice that she is SO amazing to me, and now I understand that she considers me to be like the sister she never had. A couple of days ago she even invited me to her hometown for The Spring Festival (the biggest holiday in China) and she told her parents that I might come, and they were so excited! It still amazes me how nice and kind and warm-hearted people that don't even know you can be! Lily said her dad would even take off of work to drive me around anywhere I wanted so that I could go sight seeing! He has already started planning excursions for me and one of the activities Lily told me about is called PiaoLiu which is a game that involves river rafting (someone steers the boat while the other people sit...it's a race) Unfortunately the Chinese New Year (AKA Spring Festival) is right before I leave to come back to the US next year, so I wonder how I will feel then...will I want to desperately leave China or will I want to spend more time here?

As I mentioned two posts back, we went to Lily's to cook this past weekend. We cooked so much food and pictures are on facebook! I won't go into too much detail about cooking because we cooked for about three hours and then eventually ate and left! The point is that Lily has been super kind to us, but actually we found out her roommates dislike us. She has two roommates: Charlene and some girl that speaks no English, but Japanese. Well after our cooking party and after we left (which her roommates did NOT join in on) Lily said they were cold and ignoring her...finally Charlene (whom I actually met the first time I ate dinner at Lily's and she seemed pretty nice to me...and spoke English pretty well) told her that she didn't like us and that she doesn't want us in their apartment anymore...ummmm?!??!? All of us are wondering what we did and we asked Lily BUT she said we didn't do anything! Literally, NOTHING. We also found out that Charlene called us "Ill educated" (translated by google translate from a word Lily didn't even want to repeat!). And I thought ALL Chinese girls were...well, not like this. So Lily has to honor the wishes of her roommates and never bring us over again, weird. She did also mention to me that before she went to English classes, she used to buy food, make dinner AND clean the whole apartment ALMOST EVERYDAY (???) for herself and her roommates. One time she asked them why they don't help her with the cleaning (including cleaning their shared bathroom, the kitchen, the living room) and they said, "We don't know how to use a mop". Literally. I would have given them a piece of my mind, but Lily said she just cleaned from then on and never asked them for help again! I asked her why she didn't just ask them to help her since it's a shared area, and she said it was because they are like her family, so she likes doing things for them... But what I don't understand is how you can do things for someone over and over and over, and spend your leisure time cleaning and cooking while they are relaxing in their rooms and disrespecting her? And that is where taking advantage of someone comes into play...





Anyway, that just shows me how important relationships are in China. It's like it never even occurred to Lily that maybe her roommates just didn't want to do work and expected her to do it all because she's so kind. If someone was like that to me, I would WANT to help because I would feel like I were using that person especially since it's clear she was doing it out of the kindness of her heart.


This makes me then think about 关系 (GuanXi). Anyone who has learned about business in China knows what GuanXi describes... it is basically the relationship you form with a person, more on a networking level. This is so important here and I have heard this word and description many times. The idea of "face" is part of GuanXi and this describes how you portray yourself to the public...it is the perception, for example, that Media gives off by having me, an American, working for them. I also know that in the Chinese government, GuanXi is very important...so many times, workers bribe those above them with presents to get to a higher position. When I say bribe...to us it is a bribe, but to them it is a gift showing kindness and maybe even an act to show respect and friendship... I guess it depends on which way you look at it. Since I'm in China, I will begin to look at it from the Chinese point of view. I don't know enough about this yet, and have not experienced enough, but surely soon I will be able to explain this better from experience (I have already heard of one thing that happened in Midea having to do with GuanXi, but I will save it for another day because I am too lazy to write about it now).


Until next time! Today I am going to GuangZhou and I can't wait because Alex wants to party hard tonight and I haven't in a while...sooooo GUANGZHOU HERE I COME!

A Beautiful Description (WARNING about the pictures)

"Polish by birth yet Chicago raised, you got the feeling she way soon take over the world yet her laughing eyes and her force of will would make you accept it quite willingly."

Some people don't like compliments, and I am one of those people. I mean don't get me wrong, who doesn't love a compliment here and there, but when it gets to be too much, it's just TOO MUCH (if you know what I mean)...but sometimes you get a compliment that seriously makes you want to be a better person because you want to live up to that idea that someone has of you. Well this week I received a compliment like that (the one above). Kevin from Shanghai wrote this on his blog about me, so special shout out to you Kevin! One of the greatest quotes about me EVER. I am looking forward to hanging out with you guys when I come to Shanghai :)

Next on the agenda: my pain. I am literally in a massive amount of pain right now. Yesterday, I decided to be me and push myself to try something new. I can't say it was a bad idea, but I do believe it was... a painful one. I have been wanting to get a massage in Beijiao since I came here, so finally the girls (Lily, Kianie and Audre and I) went to get one! I finished teaching class early and we took a motorcycle to the place. There were so many private rooms and we were seated in one. The woman asked if we wanted a guy or girl to massage us, and of course all of us said a guy for the sole reason that they are typically stronger and can get the knots out... well there was only one guy, so three girls would have to do. Of course we were served tea and slices of watermelon. The massage girls came in and we discussed what type of massage we would get. At first I wanted to do something crazy, but then Lily said we would need to reserve a room in advance, so I went with the simple back, shoulders and arms massage... Then Kianie blurted out that she would get the Thai massage (something that I looked up online before we went to the salon, and they described it as bending and stretching you, without you having to really do anything but relax). I thought I would get the Thai massage next time...well then I wanted to also get it if it was possible, and it was ( นวดแผนโบราณ). Well at first it was fine... it started with a head massage, then a scalp massage, then shoulders, then arms, then legs...and then THE FUN STARTED! She started twisting me in positions and arching my back and it was somewhat painful, especially for my lower back. Supposedly a Thai massage is a "lazy man's yoga". Eventually the masseuse left and went to get the dangerous weapons...by that I mean that with the Thai massage, they included what is called Fire Cupping OR Gua Sha (we thought we could get both but it was either or). Gua Sha is scraping the skin in a rhythmic pattern while Fire Cupping is taking glass bulbs (as big as 4 or 5 shot glasses) and spraying oil in them, lighting the oil of fire and applying it to your back. This cup then sucks your skin and muscle into it and is smoothly (with oil) circulated on your back (like a suction cup). I chose the Fire Cupping because Lily said it includes scraping somewhat... I must describe this in detail because at points, the pain was unbearable. Other times, on my shoulders for example, it was a pleasant pain--because I knew my knots were being relaxed with the bulb. Audre and Lily said my back was super black (and Lily made some noises that made me feel uncomfortable), and I'm not surprised since it hurt SO MUCH! I am surprised I didn't cry, because it was so painful. The closer she got to the spine, the more and more it hurt. If you are sensitive, I am warning you now when I post pictures, do not even glance at them. After she was done rubbing my back, she put 2 bulbs on each side on my spinal cord down my back. She started at the bottom and went up to as close as she could to my neck, and covered my shoulders and my upper arms. I looked like a turtle with a glass shell!!! (Audre took pictures of this with her phone of Kianie and I) This was left on for 10minutes and it was painful, but less painful than the running the glass bulb over my back. When she sucked my back from these bulbs I was so happy. This was not something I could do again, but I'll see how I feel in a few days. I looked at my back in the mirror and took a picture, and I must say...pretty damn disguising. It looks like someone beat me with the end of a baseball bat....up and down my back. Yesterday I couldn't sleep on my back and it was hard for me to fall asleep because my back hurt so much, and still does hurt. It aches, but hopefully this will go away soon. For now I must give in to taking an Advil (from the US of course) because this pain is irritating at work. I have purple/dark red bruises in weather that feels like summer, and I can't even wear a tank top because it looks so gross. That is all for this entry, tomorrow I will write another one that doesn't consist of the description of my pain.

凉拌黄瓜

In 3 days, it will be my 2 month anniversary in China. Time is actually going by pretty quickly, considering all I do is work and travel and sleep. I try to travel a lot and stay busy so that I don't get bored but sometimes I just need some rest! I feel as if it's hard for me to just take a step back and take it all in, because I'm running around all the time. This upcoming weekend Audre, Kianie and I are going to Lily's and she is going to teach us how to cook some Chinese dishes (Ayman I know you're so excited that I'll get to cook you some Chinese food!) I am planning on having a big dinner when I come back to Vernon Hills, and making only Chinese dishes and using ONLY chopsticks! I'm really glad I met Lily and that she is one of my students because she has helped me out with a lot of things here (haircut, finding buses, learning about Chinese Ethnicities AND she will start to teach me Chinese probably next week!!!) She told me yesterday that she considers me more to be her little sister rather than just a friend (hence where my Chinese name came from). I have to admit she is one of the nicest people I have met in my life. She goes out of her way to do things for me, and she has already given me 3 gifts...so I need some ideas of what to get her from the US (EVERYTHING is made in China anyway). Yesterday she gave be a comb, made from a horn of an animal that is supposed to be good for your hair. I feel like it's somewhat of a weapon too! She also gave me a Tibetan silver bracelet with two fish kissing a flower on it. It is supposed to symbolize luck...

Actually in Feng Shui double fish, in addition to being good omens, in general are considered good luck charms. They say since fish swim in pairs, they symbolize unity and togetherness. In nature, fish are known to have a long period of courtship. So the dual fish represent the love and happiness wished to all married couples, as well as the successful birth of children and overall abundance of wealth. In this case, it can mean friendship or wishing luck in the relationships that you hold. Funny because her boyfriend gave me the chopsticks with the Beijing ducks, which are meant to wish someone togetherness with their significant other. In fact in China, these symbols are very valuable and represent something deeper than just two fish or two ducks. The gifts seem to be planned out and carefully thought about based on what is wished for a person.

Nevertheless, Lily went to see her boyfriend this weekend in ChengDu (where they went to college), whom she has not seen in about 6 months! They started dating in college, and will get married in 2 years (when he's 25 because if you're in the army, you cannot be married before then). I can't believe they go so long without seeing each other, but are so in love! He is a "soldier" as she puts it, and writes articles for a newspaper about the army. She says he's always busy. I have to dedicate some of my post to her, because honestly she offers to help me from the bottom of her heart, not because she has to in any way. She also comes to all my classes (well all 3 levels) and I must admit, her English is getting excellent! I met her my second day here because she went to dinner with my manager and friends, but she would not speak any English at all (too shy and embarrassed). Anyway, I took her out to dinner yesterday and we talked a lot about family, her boyfriend (who is moving even further away for who knows how long ), her parents and aunts and uncles, and subjects like these.

So this weekend, along with cooking this Saturday, we're going to lunch together and shopping for food in the market. I am going to write down prices and items I want to buy in Chinese for future reference. On Sunday we are going to visit a beautiful temple in DaLiang which is pretty close to here, and then we're having dinner at a restaurant where they have amazing tea! I am skipping out on going to Guangzhou this weekend because for one weekend, I just need to take it easy... and I can do that here in Beijiao. So with that said, I have a lot to write about...

To Ashley
Last weekend (in Shenzhen)
Ethnic Minorities
Buddhist Temples
Food

Ash

I went to a few pharmacies on Friday after work to look for some medicinal Chinese herbs for you. One of my students took me, but it is actually hard to find something that would be good for you. What would be BEST is if you came to China and we could go to a Chinese traditional medicinal doctor together, and he would tell you what to buy for your allergies. I'll do my best though, because I am planning on buying lots of herbs and spices before I leave here!

Weekend in Shēnzhèn (深圳)

We wanted to go to a beach for the weekend, but if we went to Hainan (an island to the south of China) travel time would be too long, and it would end up being very expensive. We decided we would go to Shenzhen, which is a city that borders Hong Kong. Allow me to start at the beginning...we woke up around 6 or so, and walked to the bus station. We stopped at McDonald's for coffee (right next to the bus station) and it turned out Audre forgot her passport! So I went back with her to her apartment, and we took a motorbike there and back. It's pretty funny if you don't know Chinese to tell the driver that he needs to wait on the street so we can run in and grab something! Anyway, we didn't make it back to the bus station in time, and we missed our bus, and took the next one to another station in Shenzhen (not the one we originally planned on going to).

The bus stations in China are an experience in itself. People are smoking inside, the people over the loud speakers are loud and obnoxious, and at the same time, everyone stares. The "managers" really couldn't care less whether you get a ticket for your bus or not...and out of 8 ticket windows, 2 are open... I managed to sneak into the front of the line once we got our tickets because I just smiled and pretended to not know ANYTHING going on around me (this also happened at the pool in Shenzhen--it was only for hotel guests, but we went in and pretended not to know anything...and once the manager realized we were foreign, he just let us stay)

I slept the whole 3 hours on the bus and once we got to the bus station it took us a while to find the subway but eventually we did. It would have been so easy to just go to Hong Kong... people come from HK to Shenzhen to buy cheaper products and get massages, go to the spa, and get manicures.

We then took the subway to the hostel and we met an American, two French people and a Chinese guy all from Shanghai! We ended up making new friends and we all went to the beach together. It was predicted to rain, but actually the weather was lovely! It was hot and sunny. The bus to the beach took forever, but thank God we had Charlie with us (the Chinese guy from Shanghai) because he clearly did all the talking. I'm not sure Kianie, Audre and I could have figured out how to get to the beach by ourselves... the bus ride alone lasted 1.5 hours. The beach was an experience...people kept taking pictures of us, and when I wanted JUMP AROUND pictures the girls wanted to jump in theirs also...so we took some and noticed a photographer took pictures of us and he told us what newspaper he worked for, and our picture would be in it the next day. We checked, and there we were!

(Our walk after the beach, overlooking Hong Kong)

We also had the most revealing bathing suits out of all the girls on the beach, but that's because the girls here dress very conservatively on a day to day basis. We also swam really far into the water (which by the way was salt water and when it got into my mouth it was gross!) where there were a few guys hanging on the divider of where to swim and where not to swim... I guess not many Chinese girls like to swim. We walked around the beach a little and actually met some older man from Chicago! (Sidenote: if you see foreigners in China in smaller cities you're bound to talk to each other because there are NOT MANY of us here) What a small world. After the beach we went to eat and then played drinking games in the hostel (our own version of circle of death). Oh I forgot to mention I pretty much got trampled on the bus, I got smooshed, and all sorts of other things...too many people in Shenzhen over the holiday, especially at the beach!

The second day Audre, Kianie, Stephen (guy from Australia) and I went to the "Spa Resort". This place looked like it had seen it's fair share of visitors. We took another long bus to get there and after a few misses and fails we FINALLY walked into basically what looked like a semi-abandoned tourist area. A lot of the buildings were locked and looked worn out. We eventually walked around enough to find the spa we paid for, and once we saw the hot tubs, milk tubs and such, we were feeling better. This place looked kind of like a stereotypical Chinese garden, but it had a bunch of tiny pools for people to soak in. Some cool ones were: a milk pool, a flower pool (had a bag of flower petals in it and it smelled good), a waterfall with lukewarm water, some tubs that has HOTTTTT water, and a big pool to swim in and lastly, a tub with little fish in it that ate your skin (or the bacteria off your skin). We had to pay extra for that one but it was cool! The fish biting tickled me, so I couldn't keep still for too long. Audre sat in there for a while though!

(Chinese women laying in the fish pool)

After that pool I went to the salt pool where you scrub yourself with sea salt. The weather outside was so nice, so the really hot pools were a little too hot for me and I only dipped in them and got out. One pool that I really enjoyed was the one with cool water in it with a waterfall that came down to an area where you could sit or lay, and it massaged you. I sat under it for quite a while, but I get bored easily...so that didn't last too long either! Nevertheless, the natural hot spring spa was a great experience. I guess some of the pools had natural hot spring water in them... When it was time to go, we were so hungry! We met at the hostel with our new friends (Charlie, Kevin, Clemont, Sandra) and went to dinner! We ate at a pretty pricey restaurant, but we didn't order like Chinese do--too much food that half gets thrown away at the end because everyone is full. Instead we ordered what we would eat and after we went to get coffee and tea. I'd like to mention that I am getting very used to drinking tea with every meal now. It feels good to wash your food down with warm flavored tea...Maybe it helps digestion even (and women always take a walk here after a meal)! Afterwards everyone was so tired that we just hung out in the hostel, walked around town, and went to sleep.

The following day (Monday) we went to a botanical garden (which I found online before the trip)which was also a pain to get to unfortunately. It involved a lot of walking uphill and up stairs, but it was cool! The sun was shining and we went to a temple where I got free Buddhism hymnals along with a CD. I also think I found a treasure! Where the books were laying, there was an old hymnal that looked worn but so beautiful! I took it, but before I did I asked the person sitting behind the window if I could, and he signaled yes, and gave me some other books. This is something I will definitely hold on to. People were probably thinking, "Why would she want some old Buddhist hymn book?"

(Not the old hymn book I'm talking about, but another one that was still cool)

(We climbed up the pagoda and this was the view from the top)

(The candles people lit in the temple. They are in honor of the gods or their ancestors)

We also went to a garden with trees that were really old...They weren't growing anymore and they had been petrified: turned into stone. Literally. By that time we were so tired that we took a "Green Car" down to the exit and went to the hostel to grab our things and headed to the bus station.

(Petrified Trees)

Getting a ticket home was also an adventure because no one really understood us, we went to the wrong part of the bus station, etc etc. I had no patience by that time because people were either ignoring us or shouting. I can't fail to mention that now in touristy cities, I expect people to speak English, but that is really not the case here. I need to lower my expectations a LOT! Eventually we found the station, bought tickets, and made it safely on the bus. But wait! For a while we didn't know if we were on the right bus. I must admit I was nervous. At 9PM, stranded on some bus that is going to somewhere...and we don't speak Chinese. It turned out the bus made it back to Beijiao (not to BeiZhen like I saw a sign for) and we again, walked home. Of course I still didn't have internet in my room (after a week minus one day), so that was great to come home to. I had been out of touch with the world for about 5 days... Nevertheless I ate noodles, went to sleep and then to work in the morning!

Ethnic Minorities

The Ethnic groups in China are incredible! Of course Lily sent me pictures of each ethnic group in China, in their traditional wear...but it's astounding how they vary so much! Some ethnic groups use a completely different language and different writing! Before I came to China, I thought Chinese was just Chinese (well I knew there was Mandarin and Cantonese), but that is not the case at all. It's just that a high majority (around 92%) are Han, so that is what most people think of as the typical "Chinese", but every area is different here. I'm very excited to learn about these minorities and their cultures.

Buddhist Temple

As I've mentioned, we went to yet another temple. We were invited to see the highest Monk of the temple, but in order to do that we had to bow to him...I have to say I don't really feel right bowing to someone because I don't really know much about the religion, and to me it's like as if I were bowing to another god, besides the one I believe in. So we stood in line, changed our minds, and left. I asked Lily about all the statues in the temples, and all temples are different. There are different statues to pray to depending on what you are praying for. For example, the most famous deity is Guānyīn (觀音), the goddess of mercy [originated from Avalokiteśvara(अवलोकितेश्वर) from Sanskrit], but we saw a statue of Qian shou guan yin... which is Guānyīn with 1000 arms. The story behind this is that Guānyīn could never rest until all people had seen mercy, so Amitābha (another deity) granted her more heads so she could cope with the suffering of the people. When she wanted to help people, she was granted 1000 arms by Amitābha again to reach out to everyone who needed her. Basically, it is said that each arm/hand has a purpose. This deity is pretty interesting because if you need money, you can ask it, if you want fertility or love, that can also be prayed for. Buddhism and Daoism (道教) are some things I need to read and learn more about while in China. It owuld be nice to speak to an English speaking monk...

(A picture I took in the temple on Sunday)

Food

Two of my favorite vegetable dishes: 凉拌土豆丝 and 凉拌黄瓜. Search on google images, because those who are lucky enough will get to taste these when I come back to the States. YUM, I could eat these everyday! Next time I order them I will take lots of pictures so I can post them on my blog (some of my facebook pictures do have these dishes in them). I also tried lotus root a few weeks ago, which tasted interesting...unlike anything I've ever tasted before (凉拌藕) It had a spicy flavor to it but when you bit into it, it tasted a little raw. The root itself is the size of a person's palm, and it has holes in it. I've never seen it in the US, but I know that trying it one time is enough, because it's not a flavor you can eat over and over. The same night, I also ate 地瓜丸 which were DELICIOUS! The literal translation is "sweet potato balls", but the inside was warm and purple, so I think it was taro. The outside was fried and so good...I could also eat those everyday! All this food talk is now making me hungry...luckily I have leftovers in my fridge that I'll actually eat!