Beach Weekend!

My adventures continue as I headed to the beach over the weekend! I started off by taking a very Chinese slow train out to the sea. The train was very interesting. Contained squat toilet restrooms and people carrying a huge kettle of steaming hot water to give to passenger for their tea and cup of noodles. The town we were headed to was only two and half hours east of Beijing. It is called Beidaihe.

After arriving at the train station, all these people starting yelling at us asking us if we wanted a taxi. There were people holding signs with pictures of their hotel and restaurant signs. Easily we got a taxi that took us to our hotel. Our hotel was very Chinese. It only cost us 116 rmb a night (22 usd). The room was very dusty and dirty. We found random nuts on the ground. The shower head was literally over the toilet and we couldn't even imagine putting paper in the toilet! We had to wear our shoes the entire time we were in the room. But for three girls sharing a room it was fine, we were hardly in it!

Beidaihe is a beach resort town. It resembled any other beach town that I have been to. One of the main expectation to this was it was a beach resort town catered to the Russians and Chinese. There were Russian signs everywhere, and all the Chinese people tried speaking Russian to us! They got angry at us when we started speaking Chinese to them. Eventually we told them we were American and that seemed to do the trick! I think we were the only Americans in the town.

The beach was beautiful! Right before going, I had horror stories of green water and trashy sand. The beach was the complete opposite of it! The skies were blue and the water was gorgeous! I loved being by the ocean!

 We were bordering the Bohai Sea.

 It was a great day for a swim! The water was so calm! There were barely any waves!

 While we were in Beidaihe was decided to travel north to Shanguian to see Old Dragon's Head. That is where the Great Wall meets the sea! This was my fourth time the wall and I was just as excited to see it the fourth time as I was the first time! Where the wall meets the sea was very impressive. The literally built the wall up into the edge of the sea. This part of the wall was built in a military complex. It had at one time been a castle. It is the only part of the Great Wall that was built in a palace. Pretty awesome.

This section of the wall goes into the Bohai Sea (which feeds into the Pacific Ocean)

 I will be going back to Beidaihe in the future! It was a relaxing weekend away from a big bustling city!

Thief in the Night

Yesterday I thought to myself I would write a blog post about my latest adventure in China. I had gone to this beautiful gorge called Dragon's gorge. Nestled right outside of Beijing are serene mountains with a beautiful lake in the middle. They have all types of outdoor activities such as bungee jumping, water gun fights, tabaggon, walk across a zip line and you can go canoeing. It was a beautiful day, followed by dinner and drinks.

Then last night something insane happened. Around 10 oclock in the evening a security guard buzzes at our door. Not thinking twice we open the door. He starts montioning in Chinese something about delivery. I decided to call my friend Emma to translate. He tells her someone smelled gas and he wants to come and look. So we let him  in. Meanwhile in the hallway you can here other security guards on their walkie talkies. He comes in, he checks the stove. I call my other friend. He tells her oh he has to check the box. (What box we wanted to know, but figured it was a translation issue). He looks around smelling the electric outlets (which was just weird, gas doesn't come from outlets!) He leaves. An hour later my room mate is like hey I can't find my phone can you call the phone. So we call it and its turned off. That is a sign your phone has been stolen in China. We tear apart the apartment, no phone. The security guard stole her phone!

So we get are other room mate and march down stairs to find the guy. We run into this guy who happens to help out in the building with translating. He helps us. We call the police and decide to search the compounds for the guy. We find him. We start yelling at him, you stole the phone. All the guys looked sheepishly and say no he didn't. My room mate persisted, about five minutes later the security guard pulls out the phone out of his pocket. He then is like oh sorry sorry. (in Chinese). At this point the police have already been called. We want the guy fired, they just want to let it go.

The police show up, we are showed into this little office and have to wait for a good 30 minutes. Then we find out the boy is only 14 years old and he was kicked out of school for bad grades and his dad found him a position as  security guard. He can't be arrested because he is so young, he is a minor so he is protected. The security guard is now crying, his dad is full of shame. He comes and apologizes. The dad apologize and the manager of the guards apologize.

The biggest thing of all that irked all of us is that he came into our apartment and stole something. And all the other security guards just wanted to let it go. They wanted him to save face, and not own up to it. They all knew he took the phone. Its better for him no to admit he stole the phone then own up to it. Meanwhile a 14 year old boy should not be working as a security guard of an apartment complex. We also think that is was some kind of initiate thing for the guard. We heard other guys in the building, the whole situation was just out of ordinary. Honestly the whole thing I could have seen being on an episode of cops, Beijing style.

Parks

One thing that I find amazing in Beijing are the parks! When you first think of Beijing parks do not come to mind. One of my first discoveries upon moving here was the amount of parks. The second day I was here I went and explored the parks. The parks here are amazing! They have pagodas that people can sit in, beautiful lakes, grassy lands with trees.

When friends get together back home, they usually go to each others houses. They hang out in the background and BBQ. You usually play games, talk or do other activities together. Here in Beijing people live in small apartments and have no backyards. The parks are the backyard of Beijing. People meet at the park and do all of these things! While they don't bbq they eat steamed buns, weird food in bags, corn on the cob and sausages on a stick. I have seen the Beijing matchmaking at work in the park. (Parents meet and try to find prospective brides and grooms for their children). Woman knit and gossip about the day affairs. Men sit around chess boards playing Chinese Checkers (it is literally called that!)

 A beautiful lake surrounded by trees in the middle of the park. People like to sit near the lake and take in the view!

 One of the many pagodas that people will sit in. As you see below people sit in the pagodas doing various activities!

The community feel in Beijing is inspiring. I love going to parks here, people back home need to go out and enjoy each other. Too often we see neighbors where the streets are quiet, no one is outside playing with each other. Instead people should gather at a local park and just hang out. Its a nice feeling. Its nice coming home at night and seeing people gather outside. They just enjoy being with each. Parks provide that opportunity for me. I love parks, they are one of my new favorite things!

Crazy May!

So the month of May has been absolutely crazy! So much has happen in the past two weeks!

First off my sister Emily came to visit me! I had such a great time with her! I took her on the grand old tour of Beijing! We went to the Summer Palace, The Great Wall, the Lama Temple, Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, Miaost Temple, Confucius Temple, Pearl Market, Temple of Heaven, Silk Market, and the Olympic Parks! She was here for five full days and we manged to squeeze it all in!

Above are some pictures of the trip!
During her visit we had our picture taken about 100 times by random Chinese people. They must have thought it rare to see two beautiful American girls that look alike!
We ate all kind food from the Asian region! Emily got a taste of tofu and greasy eggplant! It was so nice to have family in town! Its the comforts of home and just being able to be yourself!

After Emily left life returned back to normal. Back to work and the drama that ensures there. Then this past Wednesday I took part in something truly awesome! Disney has this program called Voluntears. I took part in cleaning up a part of the great wall. This part of the wall is in its natural state. It was built in the 1300 and hasn't been restored. It is called the Wild part of the wall! 60 of us went out to the wall. On the way we stopped at a farmhouse and had lunch there. We had traditional chinese food for lunch cooked by the farmer. Then we had to pick up trash along the path and up on the wall itself. We were split into three groups. I was team Goofy. Naturally my team had the most trash to pick upon the bottom part of the trail. The big bosses got to clean up the actual wall. Then after we picked up the trash they allowed us to hike up this steep hill and go see the un restored part of the wall! It was so awe inspiring. Words can't describe how awesome the Great Wall is in its natural state! It was a once in a life time opportunity!

Hutong and Dumplings

These past two days I have made up for all the lounging around my apartment. I decide to be adventurous and explore Beijing a bit.

On Tuesday I went to the park that is north of the Olympic Stadium. Its a nice little park with walking path and it claims to be eco friendly and leading the way for Beijing to green. (I like to see that happen...) It was very cute. There was actual wildlife- birds, ducks, flowers, trees and fish. In the actual city I see very little birds. I almost never seen flowers. It was nice for a change! After going to the Olympic park I traveled south to the hutongs.

At the hutongs I walked around and explored with some friends. Hutongs are areas that people live in. Back in the day people would live in houses called Hutongs. So imagine walking down a busy highway street in modern Beijing. Then you turn right and bam there is a tiny alleyway. You are transported back to Old Beijing. The hutongs are ancient residence that people use to live in. People continue to live in them to this day. The outside of the buildings are lined with shops, restaurants and little snacks. All along are little doorways. Each doorway leads to a different section. Each section has a courtyard and then little livings areas surrounding the hutong. Several families live in each courtyard. They will share bathroom and kitchen areas.

 This is a doorway. Walk inside the door way is an entry way. There are a bunch of names listed in Chinese with numbers. Further back is a little walkway you go down and there are a bunch of small living areas. Laundry is hanging up, bowls and brooms are scattered about.

 Inside a tiny walkway. The area is very narrow. You can see there are several doors as well as areas on the second floor.

Outside of the residences are people selling goods. These people are selling vegetables. Further down were little shops where people were serving steamed dumplings, meat on a stick (char), and cigarettes .







Inside one of the courtyards, this one contains a large table to eat at. Each courtyard is walled into its own section. This particular hutong courtyard is owned by one person. Typically many people live in one courtyard.

The next day I explored Beijing a bit. I found a Texas BBQ place and walked all over the place. I found a Russian district, where signs were written in Russian and Chinese. I went to a beautiful park that I could have sat there for hours just taking in the beauty. Then at the end of the afternoon I went and learned how to make dumplings!

Making dumplings is not an easy task. There are very precise directions on how to do it. After doing it once I am confident I can do it again! The outside of the dumpling is very simple it just made from flour and water. But the process of getting that dough ready is very tricky. After the dough is made, then the filling is made. One of the most important things to remember is that the filling needs to be finely chopped. That is the key to a successful dumpling. In addition the meat is cooked inside the dumpling. You don't want to cook the meat first because the dumpling will not be juicy inside. Another important aspect to dumpling make is the folding. There are several ways to fold the dumpling. Once the dumplings are ready we learned how to either boil them or pan fry them. Each process is not simple! I never realized how much work and effort needs to go into making dumpling. It was a lot of fun learning to make dumplings and I will be making them in the future!

I had an amazing past two days in Beijing! Now that the weather is warmer except more adventures!

Pass me the...

Food, a necessity of life. Before I moved here eight months ago,  I was a bit fearful about what I would be eating in China. Would I be able to have my precious toast and cereal, would I be able to eat fries, donuts, chips, chez its. I was also concerned I would only find Chinese food at every place, in little hole in the wall places. No more salads, no more fresh fruit. I would have to eat canned everything. Those were my thoughts..

Now let's step into reality. Fact I have lost about ten pounds since living here. Thats not to say that my precious food that I loved back home is not here, it is. Its just overpriced and honestly not that good. I can buy six pieces of bread and it costs roughly 1.25. Not to mention, the bread doesn't taste like home made delicious bread. It just is blah. There are no chez its here or donuts really. (They have fake donuts but they aren't dunkin donuts). There are plenty of chips here but odd flavors. Cheesy lobster, chicken wing, tomato, cucumber, seaweed, and hot fish soup.

I do not eat the same as I ate home. I have had to change my eating habits. Instead of eating cereal for breakfast (a normal sized box of cereal cost about  7 dollars) I eat oatmeal. I only buy toast for myself as a treat. I find myself cooking at home frequently just so I can eat home cooked American food. There are plenty of restaurants here that offer Western food. But I still haven't found a decent burger, fries are a bit sketchy cause they don't change the oil here. They will use the same oil for days and let it sit out over night. (Really gross).  Pizza is ok, but not great. I also have had some decent pancakes but aside from that it just isn't great. I rather cook western food at home.


The international food such as Korean, Thai and Japanese food is really good. I also enjoy eating dumplings. I am not a huge fan of rice (which is bad considering I live here) so I don't enjoy eating rice dishes. I've had some decent eggplant and chinese vegetables. I also enjoy duck. The beef and pork dishes have limited amounts of meat it them. I find if I get a dish it has a few shreds of beef or pork in it. They love garlic and put it in everything!

Korean food, very delicious!

 Bowsa, steamed buns filled with pork and some kind of liquid.

Dumplings are one of my favorite foods!                                                   
















Now I still eat fresh vegetables and fruit here.  I wash everything carefully and then dry it. And honestly the little bit of water used to  clean it doesn't bother me. I do buy the vegetables that are grown organically not the ones that are piled into heaps in bins at the store. I refuse to buy dirt covered potatoes.

Eating here is quite an adventure. I have had to adapt but I certainly have not gone to bed hungry!

Disney

I realized last night that I actually haven't wrote about the actual reason I came to China. The thing that takes up part of my time! That is Disney English! I have been in China for a little over seven months and it has been quite interesting. Disney is something completely different than what I expected but I enjoy working for the mouse!
 

For those of you who don't know, Disney English is a program created by the Walt Disney Company to teach English to children in China. I teach children between the ages of 2 to 12 years old on a daily basis. I have nine different classes that meet once or twice a week. In these classes they learn the foundations of English. The youngest learners learn colors, shapes and basic phrases. After that children learn sentences such as I want, I like, I have. The older learners begin learning past tense (difficult because there is no past tense in Chinese) and begin to learn more conversational English.  All the content is created by Disney and is presented by various Disney characters. They have created songs themed to the specific topic we are teaching that day. It is a lot of fun for both the children and the staff!

The children I work with are amazing! They are so good and very cute! Compared to the children I used to work with these children are amazing! They listen but are very spoiled.  They are very funny as well. If the children know English songs or phrases they are very excited to share. I had two boys singing Rain Rain go away. I then proceeded to teach them London Bridge including the whole dance that goes with it! They are very loving and love to give you hugs and give you little candies or even tomatoes! (one little girl gave me a tomato last night!) They give me chestnuts because they call me Leeza, which means chestnut in Chinese! (which they think is soo funny and see Leeze chifan..which mean Liz I want to eat you!)

The other day I was discussing with a co worker the signs that you have been at Disney for a while. Number one, you begin singing songs down the hall randomly. Number two you begin to feel more magical and act upon it. Number three you will dance in front of a waiting room full of parents so they feel the magic, and number four when you talk to the new people very relaxed they look at you like what!? number five you get your nails done the same color as a magic token (the reward system used in the classroom that gets the children awesome prizes)

Working for Disney is a lot of fun. The only down size is that you are in China. As much as I love my current experience, come October I will be ready to leave China. China is an interesting country and I can't see myself here another year.

Working for the mouse is a lot of fun. And naturally one of the best perks is getting into Disneyland for free and getting all kinds of cool Disney gifts along the way!