I'm leaving this Thursday. This weekend wasn't anything new. We went
to the temple of heaven on Saturday. Saturday was also Army Day, a
national holiday, and people were celebrating in the park. People here
do a lot more in their parks, tai chi, music, and stuff like that.
Elders are a lot more active here too. Pictures from the temple of
heaven are coming soon. This wednesday, we're going to be allowed for
the first and only time to do something we want to do without being
followed by chaperones. I'm planning on going shopping, going to
lunch, and renting a bike if I can. This picture is from the forbidden
city last weekend.
03 August 2009
27 July 2009
Day 26
This weekend I went to the forbidden city. Also, I went to the Beijing Capital Museum with people from 百年, whom I've now known for 3 weeks and seen occasionally (it's important to note tthat I have no control over my schedule, APSA tells me what to do and when and I do it.) I saw some things and met some people, but all of that is on my camera and I can't get to it from here.
The forbidden city was really cool. The way we went through it, there weren't any opportunities to take a picture of the entire thing including 天安门(TianAnMen), but I still saw a lot of the place and took a lot of pictures.
There's only about a week and a half left of my stay here now. I'm going to enter a drawing to travel to Inner Mongolia (still in china) to work with an environmentalist effort for a few days before I come home.
The forbidden city was really cool. The way we went through it, there weren't any opportunities to take a picture of the entire thing including 天安门(TianAnMen), but I still saw a lot of the place and took a lot of pictures.
There's only about a week and a half left of my stay here now. I'm going to enter a drawing to travel to Inner Mongolia (still in china) to work with an environmentalist effort for a few days before I come home.
24 July 2009
Day 25
Yesterday we went to a shopping center literally across the street
from the temple of heaven. This is a panoramic shot from the balcony
on the building. Yesterday in brief was a long day, by the end of it I
was ready to go home. Today, after all, I'm still enjoying china.
Sleep helps.
from the temple of heaven. This is a panoramic shot from the balcony
on the building. Yesterday in brief was a long day, by the end of it I
was ready to go home. Today, after all, I'm still enjoying china.
Sleep helps.
23 July 2009
Day 22
Here's a picture of yesterday's smog, some of the worst I've seen in
Beijing so far. The lunar eclipse happened, but of course it was
invisible There was a huge rainstorm afterwards. After the rains
Beijing is a lot cleaner; that night the sky was a dark blue color for
a change. Today it's back to normal. You can't see stars at night
here unless you're in the country.
Beijing so far. The lunar eclipse happened, but of course it was
invisible There was a huge rainstorm afterwards. After the rains
Beijing is a lot cleaner; that night the sky was a dark blue color for
a change. Today it's back to normal. You can't see stars at night
here unless you're in the country.
Day 5 repost
I'm not sure if I sent this yet because I found it in my drafts folder, so I wanted to make sure.
Today was my first day of classes. I haven't written in a while so I'll cover the last weekend up until today.
On Saturday, we went as a group to Chaoyang park. We met migrant students whose parents are migrant workers in China -- workers who move from the countryside to bigger cities to get a better job -- and played typical games with them, except without much communication. It's interesting that I know more Mandarin than 4 of the chaperones and one of the program directors, all of whom were the administrators of the event. Despite this, they managed it very well and we as a group made lots of new friends. Personally, I met a guy whose american name was Johnny. He was from Guangdong in southern China, northeast of Hong Kong. I talked to him and his friend about my life in the US. They were interested to know about a lot of topics, such as city life, what work was like in big cities (i.e. the difference between Atlanta and NYC). Additionally, public transit, cars, driver's licenses (I showed them mine and we talked about the bad driving habits in the US and
Beijing) sports, computer games and video game addicts, and the higher-ups in corporations who are in part causing the global economic breakdown. We took pictures and he had a pretty nice camera phone for a migrant. After they left we Americans went to play basketball. In China, you pay for everything - we had to pay 5 yuan ($0.85) to get into the park and more money to rent a basketball court. So after sweating off about 10 pounds we walked around some more and left as a group. The park as well as the rest of the city was looking very smoggy that day, and has been getting worse ever since.
On Sunday, we went to TianAnMen square. TianAnMen roughly translates as "gate of the peaceful gods." It's famous for the 1989 protest incident. While we were there, we saw the famous tomb of Mao, as well as the iconic end of the square with his huge portrait looking down. As we took pictures in front of it (5 of us, 3 from Atlanta, 2 from other schools, and a chaperone) people started gathering to take pictures, also, and to get into the picture. After fewer than 3 minutes, there were about 40 people gathered around, taking pictures and posing in ours. Apparently Americans are a rarity, even at TianAnMen square. After leaving, we went through some shopping roads to meet for lunch at a place called Brothers Jiang, which is like a Chinese McDonald's (with Chinese food.) You get a plate of raw vegetables and meat and a raw egg first. On this plate there were also things I didn't recognize as well as a bowl of yellow flower petals. I stared at this plate and
tried to eat the raw things before they handed us a boiling pot of soup and rice noodles. So we poured the vegetables, egg, and meats into the soup and stirred it - eventually it was pretty good. Everyone sweated a lot over their soup and it began to get very hot in the restaurant - it was in a basement, anyway, and badly ventilated. Later, we went to the Beijing City Planning Museum. It was mostly boring except for the scale model of Beijing spread across an entire room, and various models of the olympic facilities and important city districts.
Today, Monday, was my first day of class. The placement test we took on Sunday helped the administrators the assign us spots in various classes - I was placed in the third class with one other student from the program. The rest of the students in my class were college-age and older, and they were all American, or Indonesian, or French. The entire program was split into four classes - a level 1 class, with about 8 people, a level 2 class, with about 9 people, and a
Today was my first day of classes. I haven't written in a while so I'll cover the last weekend up until today.
On Saturday, we went as a group to Chaoyang park. We met migrant students whose parents are migrant workers in China -- workers who move from the countryside to bigger cities to get a better job -- and played typical games with them, except without much communication. It's interesting that I know more Mandarin than 4 of the chaperones and one of the program directors, all of whom were the administrators of the event. Despite this, they managed it very well and we as a group made lots of new friends. Personally, I met a guy whose american name was Johnny. He was from Guangdong in southern China, northeast of Hong Kong. I talked to him and his friend about my life in the US. They were interested to know about a lot of topics, such as city life, what work was like in big cities (i.e. the difference between Atlanta and NYC). Additionally, public transit, cars, driver's licenses (I showed them mine and we talked about the bad driving habits in the US and
Beijing) sports, computer games and video game addicts, and the higher-ups in corporations who are in part causing the global economic breakdown. We took pictures and he had a pretty nice camera phone for a migrant. After they left we Americans went to play basketball. In China, you pay for everything - we had to pay 5 yuan ($0.85) to get into the park and more money to rent a basketball court. So after sweating off about 10 pounds we walked around some more and left as a group. The park as well as the rest of the city was looking very smoggy that day, and has been getting worse ever since.
On Sunday, we went to TianAnMen square. TianAnMen roughly translates as "gate of the peaceful gods." It's famous for the 1989 protest incident. While we were there, we saw the famous tomb of Mao, as well as the iconic end of the square with his huge portrait looking down. As we took pictures in front of it (5 of us, 3 from Atlanta, 2 from other schools, and a chaperone) people started gathering to take pictures, also, and to get into the picture. After fewer than 3 minutes, there were about 40 people gathered around, taking pictures and posing in ours. Apparently Americans are a rarity, even at TianAnMen square. After leaving, we went through some shopping roads to meet for lunch at a place called Brothers Jiang, which is like a Chinese McDonald's (with Chinese food.) You get a plate of raw vegetables and meat and a raw egg first. On this plate there were also things I didn't recognize as well as a bowl of yellow flower petals. I stared at this plate and
tried to eat the raw things before they handed us a boiling pot of soup and rice noodles. So we poured the vegetables, egg, and meats into the soup and stirred it - eventually it was pretty good. Everyone sweated a lot over their soup and it began to get very hot in the restaurant - it was in a basement, anyway, and badly ventilated. Later, we went to the Beijing City Planning Museum. It was mostly boring except for the scale model of Beijing spread across an entire room, and various models of the olympic facilities and important city districts.
Today, Monday, was my first day of class. The placement test we took on Sunday helped the administrators the assign us spots in various classes - I was placed in the third class with one other student from the program. The rest of the students in my class were college-age and older, and they were all American, or Indonesian, or French. The entire program was split into four classes - a level 1 class, with about 8 people, a level 2 class, with about 9 people, and a
21 July 2009
Day ??
I lost count of the days, for some reason. Recently I was away from home and in a suburban Beijing community, and it was hard to keep track of the days there. I was sick yesterday. I woke up in the middle of the night shivering really violently, I've never done that before. I slept most of the day on monday and I felt much better. This weekend we went to a different migrant school for middle school students. It was a really different experience. These kids have nothing. The school is a nonprofit so they can go there for free. Here's a picture of the classroom where I taught English over the weekend (we spent the night there)
17 July 2009
Friday - Day 16
Today was a good day. I took my midterm (I think I did well) and went to a shopping districts and bought 东西。(stuff). Now, I'm at the apple store listening to Kanye west and writing about my day. Now, there isn't much more time to write, but I'll say what I can. This weekend I'm going to the dandelion school, a school for middle-school age migrant workers' children outside Beijing, to spend the night and do community service. Tonight I'm going to finally decide on my own what I want to do (almost) with the other people from my city- we'll go and have dinner as well as talk to one of the major sponsors of the program about our impressions of Beijing and the program so far. I've almost been here for two weeks: Beijing put simply is hot, crowded, dirty, glowing, and noisy. A perfect chinese word for this is 热闹 (rénaó).
Hear from me soon.
P.S. I bought a router for $10 (cheap stuff in beijing, apparently.) Hopefully I'll install wireless networks in the place I'm staying by the end of this weekend.
Hear from me soon.
P.S. I bought a router for $10 (cheap stuff in beijing, apparently.) Hopefully I'll install wireless networks in the place I'm staying by the end of this weekend.
15 July 2009
12 July 2009
Day 11
Today, Sunday, we went to the great wall. Yesterday, saturday, we went to WangFuJing. Also, we saw our migrant friends again ( whom we originally met at Chaoyang park.) That was the weekend in brief. Also this week, we had our first week of classes and moved from Boya, a 4-star hotel, to the Beijing Seniors Activity center, a hotel across the street with fewer amenities. Not that I'm complaining. A hotel is still far from most of the real beijing anyway. The schedule, at this point, is really packed and we don't have much down time, s so we don't stay at the hotel very often anyway.
On saturday morning, we visited the migrant high school where the students we met last week go to school. They learn vocational skills like mechanics, and stuff. Anyway, we did teambuliding and I made new friends. It' would've been nice if they had given us more time just to chat, because I made a lot more friends and learned a lot more about these people just from talking.
That afternoon, we visited a park not far from there. We had a great lunch at a restaurant and then explored the park. It turns out the park is in the middle of the russiatown of Beijing- bizzarely, more signs i couldn't read everywhere, but this time, in Russian. The first picture (001) is from a big courtyard in that park that I was standing in the middle of.
Later that day we went to WangFuJing, a huge commercial district like Times swuare. pictures 002 and 003 are from there. At one point (002) a huge crowd gathered to watch a friend of mine rap - over 100 people. He's good with the rhymes, but not that good. People were just excited to see americans. Then they took our picture (you can see people with cameras.) We also went to the night market and tried crazy kinds of food - squid, octopus, sheep, snake. Plus weird anatomy. I also bought a bunch of cool stuff at the market center of wangfujing, where you can change prices by walking away.
Today (sunday) we went to the great wall. It's a really tough climb. To get up, there are over 1000 stairs just to get up to the wall, before you evevn got onto the wall. Then, there are hundreds more steps to get to tower 20 (the highest tower that it's safe to go onto.) I took pictures there, too. After going to tower 20 and feeling clouds flowing past my head, i ran almost all the way downhill (on the wall) to tower 6 - about 2-3 miles. From there I rode a toboggan kind of sled down a metal flume to the bottom of the mountain. There's so much more to say about these things, but not enough time. I took lots of pictures. Clearly, 004 is from the great wall.
That's all I have time for now. Check later for more on this life.
On saturday morning, we visited the migrant high school where the students we met last week go to school. They learn vocational skills like mechanics, and stuff. Anyway, we did teambuliding and I made new friends. It' would've been nice if they had given us more time just to chat, because I made a lot more friends and learned a lot more about these people just from talking.
That afternoon, we visited a park not far from there. We had a great lunch at a restaurant and then explored the park. It turns out the park is in the middle of the russiatown of Beijing- bizzarely, more signs i couldn't read everywhere, but this time, in Russian. The first picture (001) is from a big courtyard in that park that I was standing in the middle of.
Later that day we went to WangFuJing, a huge commercial district like Times swuare. pictures 002 and 003 are from there. At one point (002) a huge crowd gathered to watch a friend of mine rap - over 100 people. He's good with the rhymes, but not that good. People were just excited to see americans. Then they took our picture (you can see people with cameras.) We also went to the night market and tried crazy kinds of food - squid, octopus, sheep, snake. Plus weird anatomy. I also bought a bunch of cool stuff at the market center of wangfujing, where you can change prices by walking away.
Today (sunday) we went to the great wall. It's a really tough climb. To get up, there are over 1000 stairs just to get up to the wall, before you evevn got onto the wall. Then, there are hundreds more steps to get to tower 20 (the highest tower that it's safe to go onto.) I took pictures there, too. After going to tower 20 and feeling clouds flowing past my head, i ran almost all the way downhill (on the wall) to tower 6 - about 2-3 miles. From there I rode a toboggan kind of sled down a metal flume to the bottom of the mountain. There's so much more to say about these things, but not enough time. I took lots of pictures. Clearly, 004 is from the great wall.
That's all I have time for now. Check later for more on this life.
06 July 2009
Day 5
Today was my first day of classes. I haven't written in a while so I'll cover the last weekend up until today.
On Saturday, we went as a group to Chaoyang park. We met migrant students whose parents are migrant workers in China -- workers who move from the countryside to bigger cities to get a better job -- and played typical games with them, except without much communication. It's interesting that I know more Mandarin than 4 of the chaperones and one of the program directors, all of whom were the administrators of the event. Despite this, they managed it very well and we as a group made lots of new friends. Personally, I met a guy whose american name was Johnny.. He was from Guangdong in southern China, northeast of Hong Kong. I talked to him and his friend about my life in the US. They were interested to know about a lot of topics, such as city life, what work was like in big cities (i.e. the difference between Atlanta and NYC). Additionally, public transit, cars, driver's licenses (I showed them mine and we talked about the bad driving habits in the US and
Beijing) sports, computer games and video game addicts, and the higher-ups in corporations who are in part causing the global economic breakdown. We took pictures and he had a pretty nice camera phone for a migrant. After they left we Americans went to play basketball. In China, you pay for everything - we had to pay 5 yuan ($0.85) to get into the park and more money to rent a basketball court. So after sweating off about 10 pounds we walked around some more and left as a group. The park as well as the rest of the city was looking very smoggy that day, and has been getting worse ever since.
On Sunday, we went to TianAnMen square. TianAnMen roughly translates as "gate of the peaceful gods." It's famous for the 1989 protest incident.. While we were there, we saw the famous tomb of Mao, as well as the iconic end of the square with his huge portrait looking down. As we took pictures in front of it (5 of us, 3 from Atlanta, 2 from other schools, and a chaperone) people started gathering to take pictures, also, and to get into the picture. After fewer than 3 minutes, there were about 40 people gathered around, taking pictures and posing in ours. Apparently Americans are a rarity, even at TianAnMen square. After leaving, we went through some shopping roads to meet for lunch at a place called Brothers Jiang, which is like a Chinese McDonald's (with Chinese food.) You get a plate of raw vegetables and meat and a raw egg first. On this plate there were also things I didn't recognize as well as a bowl of yellow flower petals. I stared at this plate and
tried to eat the raw things before they handed us a boiling pot of soup and rice noodles. So we poured the vegetables, egg, and meats into the soup and stirred it - eventually it was pretty good. Everyone sweated a lot over their soup and it began to get very hot in the restaurant - it was in a basement, anyway, and badly ventilated. Later, we went to the Beijing City Planning Museum. It was mostly boring except for the scale model of Beijing spread across an entire room, and various models of the olympic facilities and important city districts.
Today, Monday, was my first day of class. The placement test we took on Sunday helped the administrators the assign us spots in various classes - I was placed in the third class with one other student from the program. The rest of the students in my class were college-age and older, and they were all American, or Indonesian, or French. The entire program was split into four classes - a level 1 class, with about 8 people, a level 2 class, with about 9 people, a level 3 class with me and one other person, and a level 4 class with one person. To my credit, the person I'm in class with and the person who's in level 4 are both Chinese. The class went well - I met my teacher, classmates, and started dialogues and did homework. Instead of being close to the top of my class, I'm now almost at the bottom of my class in reading, and at about the middle in speaking. Hopefully that'll change.
Today, also, I went onto American soil for a day at the American Embassy. It was ok, although they talked a lot, even though they had interesting things to say about careers in foreign affairs and general precautions about the city life. Although I won't openly oppose APSA or my sponsors, it seems that much of the information given (precautions about the subway, cabs, being alone, buying things) won't be an issue as long as we aren't allowed to go anywhere outside of our rigid schedule.
There's nothing else today. I just finished my homework- to write 10 sentences about Beijing - and now I'm writing about it. Later I'll go hang out with friends and then go to bed.
PS - The sun rises at about 4 AM every day here. It's bizzare. Also, when we got here it was possible to see they sky and your surroundings. Now, the smog obscures seeing more than ~6 blocks in any direction. Also, it rained yesterday. That's all.
On Saturday, we went as a group to Chaoyang park. We met migrant students whose parents are migrant workers in China -- workers who move from the countryside to bigger cities to get a better job -- and played typical games with them, except without much communication. It's interesting that I know more Mandarin than 4 of the chaperones and one of the program directors, all of whom were the administrators of the event. Despite this, they managed it very well and we as a group made lots of new friends. Personally, I met a guy whose american name was Johnny.. He was from Guangdong in southern China, northeast of Hong Kong. I talked to him and his friend about my life in the US. They were interested to know about a lot of topics, such as city life, what work was like in big cities (i.e. the difference between Atlanta and NYC). Additionally, public transit, cars, driver's licenses (I showed them mine and we talked about the bad driving habits in the US and
Beijing) sports, computer games and video game addicts, and the higher-ups in corporations who are in part causing the global economic breakdown. We took pictures and he had a pretty nice camera phone for a migrant. After they left we Americans went to play basketball. In China, you pay for everything - we had to pay 5 yuan ($0.85) to get into the park and more money to rent a basketball court. So after sweating off about 10 pounds we walked around some more and left as a group. The park as well as the rest of the city was looking very smoggy that day, and has been getting worse ever since.
On Sunday, we went to TianAnMen square. TianAnMen roughly translates as "gate of the peaceful gods." It's famous for the 1989 protest incident.. While we were there, we saw the famous tomb of Mao, as well as the iconic end of the square with his huge portrait looking down. As we took pictures in front of it (5 of us, 3 from Atlanta, 2 from other schools, and a chaperone) people started gathering to take pictures, also, and to get into the picture. After fewer than 3 minutes, there were about 40 people gathered around, taking pictures and posing in ours. Apparently Americans are a rarity, even at TianAnMen square. After leaving, we went through some shopping roads to meet for lunch at a place called Brothers Jiang, which is like a Chinese McDonald's (with Chinese food.) You get a plate of raw vegetables and meat and a raw egg first. On this plate there were also things I didn't recognize as well as a bowl of yellow flower petals. I stared at this plate and
tried to eat the raw things before they handed us a boiling pot of soup and rice noodles. So we poured the vegetables, egg, and meats into the soup and stirred it - eventually it was pretty good. Everyone sweated a lot over their soup and it began to get very hot in the restaurant - it was in a basement, anyway, and badly ventilated. Later, we went to the Beijing City Planning Museum. It was mostly boring except for the scale model of Beijing spread across an entire room, and various models of the olympic facilities and important city districts.
Today, Monday, was my first day of class. The placement test we took on Sunday helped the administrators the assign us spots in various classes - I was placed in the third class with one other student from the program. The rest of the students in my class were college-age and older, and they were all American, or Indonesian, or French. The entire program was split into four classes - a level 1 class, with about 8 people, a level 2 class, with about 9 people, a level 3 class with me and one other person, and a level 4 class with one person. To my credit, the person I'm in class with and the person who's in level 4 are both Chinese. The class went well - I met my teacher, classmates, and started dialogues and did homework. Instead of being close to the top of my class, I'm now almost at the bottom of my class in reading, and at about the middle in speaking. Hopefully that'll change.
Today, also, I went onto American soil for a day at the American Embassy. It was ok, although they talked a lot, even though they had interesting things to say about careers in foreign affairs and general precautions about the city life. Although I won't openly oppose APSA or my sponsors, it seems that much of the information given (precautions about the subway, cabs, being alone, buying things) won't be an issue as long as we aren't allowed to go anywhere outside of our rigid schedule.
There's nothing else today. I just finished my homework- to write 10 sentences about Beijing - and now I'm writing about it. Later I'll go hang out with friends and then go to bed.
PS - The sun rises at about 4 AM every day here. It's bizzare. Also, when we got here it was possible to see they sky and your surroundings. Now, the smog obscures seeing more than ~6 blocks in any direction. Also, it rained yesterday. That's all.
02 July 2009
Day 1
Toxay's my first day in 北京. I got here about 4 hours ago after an
excruciating plane trip. I've been awake for 22 hours and counting.
This is the view from my hotel room where I'm staying for the next
week. Because they have free wi-fi I can update my blog daily until we
move at the end of the week. We're watching TV; so far, the acting and
camera work is pretty lame. Next we're going to dinner and
orientations at the high school where we're studying this summer. My
first impressions of Beijing are suburban, lots of bicycles, and nicer
and more modern cars than I expected, a nice but very tourist-y hotel.
I was also able to negate many obvious American misconceptions, such
as that of the unlivable air quality and deadly criminals etc. The
streets were cleaner than American streets, from what I saw anyway.
Hear from me when the dinner and orientation is over.
excruciating plane trip. I've been awake for 22 hours and counting.
This is the view from my hotel room where I'm staying for the next
week. Because they have free wi-fi I can update my blog daily until we
move at the end of the week. We're watching TV; so far, the acting and
camera work is pretty lame. Next we're going to dinner and
orientations at the high school where we're studying this summer. My
first impressions of Beijing are suburban, lots of bicycles, and nicer
and more modern cars than I expected, a nice but very tourist-y hotel.
I was also able to negate many obvious American misconceptions, such
as that of the unlivable air quality and deadly criminals etc. The
streets were cleaner than American streets, from what I saw anyway.
Hear from me when the dinner and orientation is over.
photo.jpg
Yesterday was our last night in DC. This afternoon I'm sitting on the
plane and writing this as we finish boarding and prepare to taxi.. This
is a direct 12-hour flight to Beijing; from now on my timestamps will
make sense in context. I'm texting people and listening ti the flight
attendants make announcements in Chinese. Yesterday we visited the
residence of the Chinese ambassador to the US. This is a picture with
him and the group from Atlanta as well as qi mei ran. Presently
they're telling everyone on the plane to stow their electronic
devices; the next time I write will be in 北京. As a last minute
decision, they're placing us in a 4-star hotel for the first week,
necessitating more unpacking and packing, but the amenities will ve
nice. They told us not to complain when we get to the final
destination, also, which is kind of funny. Here on the plane, they
just distributed the 21st Century Business Herald in Chinese. I got
one and we'll see what I can see. You'll hear from me in Beijing.
plane and writing this as we finish boarding and prepare to taxi.. This
is a direct 12-hour flight to Beijing; from now on my timestamps will
make sense in context. I'm texting people and listening ti the flight
attendants make announcements in Chinese. Yesterday we visited the
residence of the Chinese ambassador to the US. This is a picture with
him and the group from Atlanta as well as qi mei ran. Presently
they're telling everyone on the plane to stow their electronic
devices; the next time I write will be in 北京. As a last minute
decision, they're placing us in a 4-star hotel for the first week,
necessitating more unpacking and packing, but the amenities will ve
nice. They told us not to complain when we get to the final
destination, also, which is kind of funny. Here on the plane, they
just distributed the 21st Century Business Herald in Chinese. I got
one and we'll see what I can see. You'll hear from me in Beijing.
30 June 2009
First days in DC
I'm writing this on today the second day in DC, but I've been very
busy. They seem to keep us constantly occupied. That day after landing
I took a very long shuttle ride from Dulles to downtown and to GWU
(George Washington University). I rode with students from Rochester
and learned that some of them were in the same program as me,
International Baccalaureate. Which means I can find help with my
summer work for AP calc that I don't understand. We dropped off our
luggage and were dismissed until later (so I went to the white house).
For the rest of the day, we attended meetings with the coordinators
and did teambuilding, during which I did my Barack Obama impression.
On the second day, we had a lighter schedule. We reviewed Chinese
history since 35,000 BCE in the morning as well as ancient Chinese
culture at the Freer Museum. Then we had 3 hours to spend in Chinatown
for lunch -- we had burritos. Later that day we met Chinese elders and
talked to them about their lives in DC -- they only spoke Mandarin. I
saw the Asian liason police substation in Chinatown-- they don't have
liason offices in Atlanta, to my knowledge, and there's no chinatown,
either. At dinner I also met interns from the DC Mayor's office OAPIA
(Asian & Pacific Islander Affairs). They served as interpreters and
worked at that office to pursue careers in international affairs. We
had a traditional Chinese dinner on the third floor of a restaurant--
in a private room with a stage. Very nice. More pics soon.
busy. They seem to keep us constantly occupied. That day after landing
I took a very long shuttle ride from Dulles to downtown and to GWU
(George Washington University). I rode with students from Rochester
and learned that some of them were in the same program as me,
International Baccalaureate. Which means I can find help with my
summer work for AP calc that I don't understand. We dropped off our
luggage and were dismissed until later (so I went to the white house).
For the rest of the day, we attended meetings with the coordinators
and did teambuilding, during which I did my Barack Obama impression.
On the second day, we had a lighter schedule. We reviewed Chinese
history since 35,000 BCE in the morning as well as ancient Chinese
culture at the Freer Museum. Then we had 3 hours to spend in Chinatown
for lunch -- we had burritos. Later that day we met Chinese elders and
talked to them about their lives in DC -- they only spoke Mandarin. I
saw the Asian liason police substation in Chinatown-- they don't have
liason offices in Atlanta, to my knowledge, and there's no chinatown,
either. At dinner I also met interns from the DC Mayor's office OAPIA
(Asian & Pacific Islander Affairs). They served as interpreters and
worked at that office to pursue careers in international affairs. We
had a traditional Chinese dinner on the third floor of a restaurant--
in a private room with a stage. Very nice. More pics soon.
28 June 2009
At the airport
8:24 am. I woke up at 6, got in the car at 7, getting on the plane at
9:30. Now I'm waiting with my group for one more person who was in
morning traffic on the highway. My family is embarassing me at the
airport and my bag is almost 50 lbs.; typical traveler stuff. We're
going to be waiting indefinitely for the last person -- we only have
an hour to clear security and be at the gate now. I can hear my
friend, Raven, on the phone with the last person. Apparently she's
trying to park. 5 more minutes or so I guess.
9:30. Now I'm waiting with my group for one more person who was in
morning traffic on the highway. My family is embarassing me at the
airport and my bag is almost 50 lbs.; typical traveler stuff. We're
going to be waiting indefinitely for the last person -- we only have
an hour to clear security and be at the gate now. I can hear my
friend, Raven, on the phone with the last person. Apparently she's
trying to park. 5 more minutes or so I guess.
26 June 2009
flight info!
Yesterday i got waivers that i need in order to be able to go - something like "thou shalt not collaborate with the chinese to plot global armageddon" and a media release form. I'm supposed to turn them in when I get to DC. Today I'm going to go shopping for the rest of the stuff I need. I'm planning on packing a suitcase inside my suitcase, so I can fill it up with as many souvenirs as i can carry and bring it back to the states as an extra checked bag.
Also, I got my flight information. Which is really exciting. My itinerary is:
Sun, 28 June 9:31am: Depart ATL (Hartsfield-Jackson International, Atlanta, GA)
11:20am: Arrive at IAD (Dulles, Washington, D.C.)
Wed, 1 July 12:22pm: Depart IAD
Thurs, 2 July 2:20pm: Arrive at PEK(Beijing International)
The flight is going to be 13 long hours. And I'm going +12 hours ahead of Atlanta and the east coast time-wise. So I'll be on the plan for 13 hours, but it'll only be mid-afternoon by the time i arrive (almost the same time as when i left, if that makes sense.)
23 June 2009
oral test and 5 days to go
Today I took a proficiency test in mandarin. It was lame. They asked two questions and asked me to reply to them in Mandarin Chinese in 5 minutes' time. The two questions were:
1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Describe a book you read or movie you watched recently.
It's notable that the first question is the same as the admission essay question for Columbia University, my first choice college that i'll apply to this fall. I answered it something like:
我的名字叫安祖。我十七岁。我是高中学生在北呀特蓝特高中学。我一起和我弟弟妹妹驻在呀特蓝
My name is Andrew. I'm 17 years old. I'm a student at North Atlanta High School. I live in Atlanta with my younger brother and sister.
特。我们每天起床，吃早餐，看电视， 和休息。我喜欢学习中国，上网，和做饭...
Every day we get up and eat breakfast, watch tv, and rest. (It's summer vacation.) Personally, I like studying China, surfing the internet, and cooking...
The other question was a lot harder; I didn't know how to express it well. I talked about Pelham 123, which I had seen last Saturday - it was a great movie, except that I didn't know how to say "terrorist", "hostage", or "train" in Chinese. So I went about explaining the movie sans this crucial vocabulary. I think I mostly messed that question up. If this were a test, I'd pass, but just barely.
The proctor told me that I'd get results back when i took another test in August after I come back. We'll see. Maybe someday this week i'll finish packing. The suitcase remains untouched and the saga continues.
22 June 2009
Let the packing begin.
Happy father's day. Today i started packing; just clothes so far. I decided I want to pack as lightly as possible so I have a maximum of space for souvenirs and stuff like that. So I'm bringing 5 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of shorts, about 12 shirts, and miscellaneous socks and underwear, as well as two ties and belts. I still have to get:
-a bigger memory card for my camera
-a power adapter for chinese outlets
-socks
-suggestions?
Also, i researched bringing my iPhone 3G yesterday. It looks like it can't be unlocked to use other SIM cards (typical apple) but I'm going to bring it just in case. I'm also bringing an unlocked Motorola SLVR L6 as a backup.
20 June 2009
8 Days Left
Time to get excited. Only 8 more days before I leave Atlanta for my
orientation in DC. I'll spend about 3 days there, and then head out to
Beijing around the 1st of July. This weekend I've been shopping and
packing the essentials-- such as adapters, clothes, toiletries, and
acessories. I'm also taking a language test for placement in a Chinese
class this Monday. Plus, I'm getting my spending money together. It's
a lot less than you'd think I need, as the price of everything in
china is much lower, but it's still some money. The good news that
this is all I have to pay for this whole experience. The rest is free!
I'm getting excited now.
orientation in DC. I'll spend about 3 days there, and then head out to
Beijing around the 1st of July. This weekend I've been shopping and
packing the essentials-- such as adapters, clothes, toiletries, and
acessories. I'm also taking a language test for placement in a Chinese
class this Monday. Plus, I'm getting my spending money together. It's
a lot less than you'd think I need, as the price of everything in
china is much lower, but it's still some money. The good news that
this is all I have to pay for this whole experience. The rest is free!
I'm getting excited now.
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