Happy Thanksgiving

Something that I have learned is there is always some price to pay in the pursuit of your dreams. For me it's valued time with my family. While I'm young and motivated I want to travel and experience as much as I can. Almost three years ago, it was giving it a try to live in a different country: Germany. Now, it's a study abroad semester in China. I am so happy and grateful for these experiences but it has come at a price. This year marks the third year in a row where I was unable to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. For those non-Americans out there I will now provide you with a little Thanksgiving tale:

Once upon a time, some Pilgrims traveled to America to escape religious persecution from an evil Europe (dun dun dun!). When they came to America; however, they struggled to gain substance from the land. Fortunately, they met some Indians who taught them how to plant and grow. When the harvest came that year, both Pilgrims and Indians came together to celebrate their gratitude and thankfulness. It wasn't until President Lincoln, that Thanksgiving actually became a public holiday. Now in the States, typically every person gets Thursday and Friday off so that families can get together and have a grand meal Thursday night...there's turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, bread, and PIE! Of course, all this consumption of food (and usually alcohol) puts most Americans into a food coma which they have to recover from and thus---the Friday off!

In my first two years away from home, I was lucky to celebrate Thanksgiving with some American friends in Berlin. First year it was vegetarian (to which I was highly skeptical but it turned out good!) and the second year Lauren and co. outdid themselves...I think we almost amounted to 20 people gathered together on a long table with an actual Turkey. This year, I was worried and a bit sad since I had no idea with whom or where to celebrate. But, turns out my American friend Becca had got invited to go dive bar's Thanksgiving dinner and she kindly asked me along! The bar is owned by a sweet Chinese woman who had gone through the effort to organize something authentic, of course, there was still a bit of Chinese flair. We actually had a REAL turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes. It was delicious! We were also served some Chinese vegetables and I think one of them was dragon root and the other some sort of bean? It was definitely an interesting mix-up for me. In the end, the owners said the meal was on them and we should just spend our money at the bar. I think everyone was thankful for that statement! As for as me, I'm thankful to meet great people from all over the world and still be able to celebrate those special holidays from my culture. And of course, I'm thankful that despite distances and absences, that I have a loving and supporting family whom I miss dearly but know that I will see in no time at all!

 

Beijing

My time in China is limited. I'm only here for 4 months and already 2.5 months have passed. Originally I planned to do a lot of traveling in January but plans changed and I will now be flying back to Hamburg on January 1st. With such limited time, I really had to narrow down the things I hoped to see. At the very top of my list was to see the Great Wall. I mean, you can't go to China and not see the Great Wall right? It's like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. Well I finally got to scratch it off on my list one weekend ago. Anne and I went for 4 days and we managed to see everything we wanted.

We arrived on a Saturday morning to dismal weather. It's much colder in Beijing than Shanghai and we overestimated our level of comfort "nah, we don't need the heavy winter jacket, let's just go out with a light jacket!" Well, with the rain and the poor quality of our shoes, our feet were soaked through in a matter of minutes. But hey, that's okay, that's what added to the ambiance...especially since we went to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Since there was the 18th National People's Congress being held on the following Monday, security all over Beijing had been increased so that we actually had to get checked before entering the square. Strangely enough, they basically waved Anne and I through while keeping a strong eye on all Chinese. The square itself is rather big and plain. For me, the coolest part was at the north side: the entrance to the Forbidden City where the famous Mao pictures hangs. The Forbidden City was different that what I was expecting. Basically you enter, walk through a square, up stairs to where there is some sort of "harmony room" then you go down the stairs, walk through a square, go up stairs, where there is a "harmony and peace" room and then you repeat this process about 5x. Then at the end there is a rock garden and some statues and more "harmony" rooms and that's about! I bet back in the days, the emperor got pretty bored. Hence the number of concubines and special ceremonies to keep him entertained!

After all of the walking and rain, we were exhausted and had to take cover in Hagen Dasz in order to rejuvenate ourselves with some hot chocolate. This became a recurring theme during our Beijing trip. Last year I battled the cold with Glühwein, but hot chocolate has become an adequate substitute. In the evening we decided to treat ourselves to some famous Peking Duck and it.was.so.good! We went to a popular restaurant where the Chef himself comes out to cut your duck. Anne and I thought half a duck would suffice, but to be honest, it was so good I could have ate half a duck myself! It's served with a thin pancake in which you add sweet sauce and green shallots. You roll it up like a burrito and eat it with chopsticks...a somewhat difficult task!

On Sunday we took a trip to the Summer Palace....and now that is what I call a Palace! We got the recommendation to not miss the summer palace and I would pass along that advice as well. When we first entered there was a colorful village along water. Before us was a temple upon a hill. Up there gave you a sense of being away from the city, it was really peaceful with only the sounds of dangling bells from the temple roof. Once you got to the other side of the temple, you saw the view of the lake. We made our way down and took a stroll around the lake to the island in the middle. It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Afterwards we took a cab to get a look of the Bird's Nest Stadium. By then it had got pretty windy and the cold was getting to be pretty rough, so we only snapped a few touristy pictures and then headed back to the hostel to get some rest before heading to the Great Wall the next day.

On Monday, we woke early and made our way to the Great Wall. We booked a trip through our hostel and it was money well paid. We were given a hearty American breakfast, provided transportation via bus, and even had a funny tour guide. When we got the wall; however, we decided to break off from the group. We spent 3.5 hours walking along the wall and the whole time I just had to think to myself "I'm walking on the GREAT WALL!" We were lucky to have a sunny day with a bright blue sky. November is considered off-season so there weren't so many tourists. Everywhere you looked, you could see the Wall winding up the mountain. What really impressed me about the Wall was not the Wall necessarily in itself, but the fact that these ancient Chinese built the Wall on a mountain! Sometimes when I see such extraordinary achievement, I really start to think the existence of aliens could be possible. Anyways, on our way down we actually took a toboggan slide. Whosoever idea it was to build a slide for tourists to come back down should receive a medal because that slide is much fun! You just have a simple lever to either push forward (to go) or to pull back (to stop). Admittedly, I wasn't too great with the whole break function and the lady in front of me received a shoe print on her backpack as a result...whoops! When we got back down, we were treated to a typical Chinese lunch as part of our package. After 3.5 hours of walking up and down, Anne and I wolfed down the delicious meal.

In the evening, we visit "Ghost Street" for dinner. Actually know as Gui Jie , its simply a road full of restaurants. But the neat thing is there are lanterns everywhere.

On Tuesday, we checked off the last place of our sight-seeing list with a visit the Temple of Heaven. It actually covers an area larger than the Forbidden City. Like most Chinese architecture, a lot of thought went into the design. For example, the "Heaven" part is circular and raised above the square "Earth" part to show that Heaven lies above Earth. The Temple of Heaven has also witness many historical events from communists processions with Mao as well as the Olympics. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed our Beijing trip. I think four days is enough to see all the main sights, but of course, I'm sure there's tons more to Beijing that we missed. Foreigners have commented that people in Beijing can be rude, but I'd like to point out that we had good experience with the locals. One taxi driver even sang along with me during my ritual of "practice all the Chinese words you know without annoying the taxi driver.". The best part of the trip was being on the Great Wall. It's something I'll never forget and would recommend as one of those "must-sees" before you die.

Sleeping Chinese

When I am describing the US to people, the word "convenience" always comes to mind. You want to do your grocery shopping at 1am, go for it! Most grocery stores are open until 2am. You want to do some banking on Saturday, no problem! Banks are now also open on Saturdays as an extra service.

When I describe Germany, the word "complicated" always comes to mind. I had to get used to the fact that offices (for instance, the customer service for the metro) are open only during specific hours and days, like Tuesday 11am-12:30 and Friday 4:00-6pm. I had to learn to always have a frozen pizza handy should I forget to go grocery shopping before Sunday.

Now, I've had to get use to a different style in Shanghai. If I could think up of a word to describe the life of Shanghainese it might be "work-a-holic". I mean take the Chinese MBA students for example who, after a long 40+ hour work week, have classes Friday night and Saturday from 8am-9:40pm.  And remember, most of them describe the MBA program as a "hobby". The "stick-guy" (as I call him) or in proper English, the street food vendor, is there on the corner to 2am. You often see business suits walking around on Saturdays. And if for some reason you happened to be out at 4am, you would see the occasional jogger. Who is going running at 4am?? After observing all of this, I have been wondering the whole time, "How do they do it?" Is there some drug in the milk tea that keeps all these Chinese going??? Well, I have finally discovered their secret.

The Chinese sleep when they can, where they can. Whether it be on the metro after work, on the bus to work, in McDonald's on their lunch break, on a couch outside of a club during the wee hours, the Chinese have been harden to sleep in any position on any surface. And of course, I have collected pictures to demonstrated their amazing sleeping skills.

I have titled this collection: "Sleeping Chinese"

On the Bus

At the Metro station

On a hotel sofa

In the Subway

At McDonald's

In Class

*Disclaimer* Okay so the last two pictures are technically not of Chinese people, but I wanted to cut the Chinese some slack and make the point that foreigners do it too! The exhilarating topic of Chinese Business Law seems to get the best of us.

Tibet

Last night, I went to Tibet with Mike and Alejandro. Okay not really, it was more like a Tibetan restaurant at the Indoor Stadium nearby to where we live. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but it turned out to be quite the experience. First of all we were greeted by a traditionally dressed Tibetan male dancer who had hair like Fabio. He enthusiastically ushered us inside and dawned us all with a traditional white Tibetan shawl. The restaurant was pretty crowded with many tables and colorful decorations all over the place. Our menu was given to us on an iPad. We had no idea what to order and just selected two different types of meat: lamb rack ribs and yak steak. I thought Yaks were an extinct species. What, you say? I'm confusing it with Mammoths? Well don't they look similar?! Anyways, I asked the boys if there was a possibility of ordering vegetables since our meal was looking pretty "man-ish" with just meat and rice but Mike said the Tibetans are't really big fans of vegetables.  So meat and rice it was. Alejandro and I were so excited that we were able to apply today's Chinese lesson and order "3 bowls of rice" that we even had to "high-five" afterwards (to Mike's amusement). The Chinese typically have dinner early around 6pm or 7pm…so by the time that we arrived (8:30pm) it seemed like most people were done eating and getting prepared to enjoy the show. Yes that's right, this restaurant had a stage. First, the MC sang a traditional Tibetan song. Next, beautifully costumed Tibetan girls danced. And finally, the MC grabbed lucky (or not so lucky) members for the audience to participate in a group dance on stage. Naturally, I ditched the meat mid-meal and went on the stage to join. The first dance was going around in a circle and extending your arm every 4th step. The dancer in front of me sometimes mixed it up and and extended her arm in a quick 2-step motion. She always turned behind to look at me and when I copied her exact motion she laughed and then said something in rapid Chinese to the other dancers. I'm still not quite sure if that was good or bad. Perhaps she was saying to the others "ha ha it's only one arm extend, but I can make the dumb foreign girl behind believe it's two!" Afterwards there was one dance to go which was a Tibetan Can-Can. I have to say, that one I could definitely do right and the dancer girl seemed to approve as well. In the end, we did pay more than we expected to what I felt was a minimum meal…perhaps we managed to the house's most special dishes. But hey, it was an experience and now I wish I could go and visit the real Tibet.

We received chopsticks, a spoon, a wet napkin, and gloves!

Left: Yak Steak ;  Right: Lamb Rack

The Tibetan singer with Fabio-like hair

Lady dancers

The group dance with the arm-extensions

The Tibetan Can-Can

My dance mentor

Mike, I, and Alejandro in Tibet

Once upon a time a long long long time ago...

Xi'an. One of the oldest cities in China and home of the incredible discovery of the Terracotta Warriors. These statue warriors were discovered in 1974 by a Chinese farmer and date back to 3rd century B.C. That's before Jesus! And for that simple mind-blowing fact, a visit to Xi'an was on the top of my list. I went last weekend with my Mexican roommate, Pamela, and her 4 Mexican friends. I think I stressed Pamela a little out because I told her "everyone better be speaking English or else you better give me some Tequila so I can start speaking Spanish" but in the end, everyone did speak English and we had a really good time together. We flew by plane and had exactly 48 hours to see the city and visit the Terracotta Army, which is 40 km outside the city. On our first day we did our sight-seeing all over the city. We first saw the Bell and Drum tower. They are exactly what they sound like.

Bell Tower

Drum Tower

Afterwards, we went for a stroll through the Muslim district. Yes! There is such a thing as Chinese Muslims. I really liked the area: there were tons of colorful things to buy, tasty new foods to try, and lots of people-watching. Eventually, we ended up at the city Mosque. It really looked liked a mix of a Chinese temple and Mosque...but actually more like a temple than a Mosque. We got to witness the call to prayer and I also managed to make some new Muslim friends. Okay, so actually they just wanted a picture with the Blond girl. But that's find, because I wanted a picture of my own with them too!

My new girlfriends

The group!

We ended our day by going to the ancient wall surrounding the city. This was my favorite part of the day. You know those travel moments that happen spontaneously and treat you to something you weren't expect? Well I love those moments. So here we are on this ancient city wall and the sun is setting. We see people riding tandem bikes and spontaneously decided that the six of us just have to rent some bikes as well! We split into 3 groups of 2. I pair up with Pamela and although the bike is a bit wobbly and we are slightly fearing for our lives, we put the pedal to the metal and even the challenge the others to a race....until the back gear fell off. As the sky got darker and darker the wall started to light up. It was just beautiful.

On Saturday, we took a 1 hour long bus ride east of the city to the location where the Terracotta Warriors were buried. We hired a guide for about 2.5€ a person. She was a professional guide, a nice Chinese lady by the name of Sally. While her English was sometimes difficult to understand, I managed to learn a lot. One interesting fact was that the warriors were made according to the height and features of a typical Chinese soldier. The tallest statue stands at 1.9 meters and the shortest at 1.7. That's considerably taller than today's Chinese society. I asked Sally, "What happened!?" She just laughed and said "maybe it's genes." Inside the Terracotta Army museum there are three pits. Pit 1 is the largest with 2,000 warriors unearthed. Sally said they think there's about another 4,000 warriors still buried. All these warriors are standing in a typical battle formation. Pit two has actual war chariots as well as cavalry and infantry units. It is thought to represent a military guard. In pit three, the warriors are standing facing each other and thus believe to have been the headquarters/command post. Although it's just a bunch of statues in a pit, it was really cool to be present at an archeological site which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site as well. And who knows, maybe I will return some day when better technology allows archeologists to excavate more warriors. Would I recommend a trip to Xi'an and the Terracotta Army? YES.