Expat Bookwyrm: Journey In China

Dorothy's famous words are resounding in my head as I sit on the green couch my mother bought a few years ago. Yes, I'm finally home, and it feels surreal to be here again and to know that my China adventure is finally over. 

After a long flight on Delta's Beijing-Detroit connection, I have to admit I'm so excited to be back in the US where I feel like I'm home. Of course, the truth is: I am home. And it's a truth that I love. 

The Delta flight from Beijing to Detroit is almost 14 hours long, and if that's not a long time in flight, I don't know what is. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the attitude of the flight attendants on Delta's long flight. Several of them seemed really frustrated, and they took their frustration out on the Chinese passengers. 

Don't get me wrong: I'm glad to be leaving China. But there's no call for flight attendants to be rude, sarcastic, and downright mean to Chinese customers just because they don't speak the language or understand the insult. I felt embarrassed for them when the flight attendants used patronizing, saccharine sweet voices to mockingly tell them they should have their seat belts fastened. Yes, they should realize these things and be observant, and yes, it seems to be a very Chinese thing to ignore little details like that, but it wouldn't be a big deal to just tell them in a no-nonsense tone of voice that they need to obey the posted signs, including the fasten seat belt sign. 

For the duration of the flight, there were four rather disgruntled women who spent their time mocking the Chinese while they spoke in slightly more respectful tones of voice to the English-speakers. I noticed they were brusque with the American citizens on board because we clearly could tell their sarcasm from their direction, while they seemed to be taking out some unknown frustration on the Chinese. 

Either way, the flight was long. But they could have been a little more pleasant about doing their jobs. 

It's interesting the feeling you get when you get on a plane to go a long distance that you haven't been in a long time. You begin feeling as though things are changing too rapidly for you to take in, and that's what happened when I got checked in for my flight at the Beijing airport. 

Though, before I even left Beijing, I was already praying for my life. That's very sarcastic, but it's true. I left my hostel at 3:00 a.m. to head to the airport, and the people at the hostel were nice enough to call a taxi for me. What they didn't tell me was that leaving that early in the morning practically guaranteed I would be riding with a sleepy taxi driver. 

Lo and behold, I sat next to a man who seemed to be nodding off at the wheel the closer we got to the airport. It doesn't really help that the airport expressway in Beijing is just a long, long road that seemed rather uninhabited at that odd hour of the morning. 

The driver was awake through the beginning of the ride, but once we made it to the expressway, he seemed to go on autopilot. I noticed it about a third of the way down the road when he nodded sleepily and opened the window and stuck his hand outside. That's when I started getting nervous. 

We paid the toll and headed towards terminal two when he suddenly decided it would be better to speed up. I'm glad now that I'm not math-inclined as I saw the kilometers-per-hour creep up to 100 and more. I think I might have been freaking out had I realized my sleepy taxi driver was taking the road at 80 mph. 

At least he got us there in one piece. 

It does amaze me how different airports around the world are. At Beijing airport, you go through security like any other airport, and then you find yourself in a huge area where you walk around to find your gate. The airport is one of the largest in Asia, so you can imagine just how much space you have to cover to get to your gate; luckily my flight was an early enough one that we didn't have to walk far. 

Once they started boarding (in no semblance of order besides first-come, first-serve), we all realized they were doing a second check of our carry-on luggage. Clearly we all had managed to buy explosives in the duty free area and were going to light them on the plane (to our deaths). What was frustrating was that we couldn't take drinks on the plane, so after buying a 5 RMB bottle of water and taking one sip, the little security dude snatched it from my bag and said, "No water." That was it. Clearly they sell booby-trapped bottles of water in the vending machines past the security gate. 

Ah well, I'm just being overly nit-picky about the whole thing. I didn't get any sleep the night before the flight in the hopes I could be able to sleep on the long flight and start readjusting to EST before I got home. No such luck. I might have managed an hour of sleep on the plane, but that's about it. Instead, I watched lots of movies and generally paid attention to what the flight attendants were saying to the other customers. 

Detroit airport is actually not a bad airport to go into for international customers. I've heard horror stories about JFK and have my own horror story about international entry into O'Hare (an airport I will avoid like the plague), but Detroit has so far served me well. It's interesting that they don't stamp your passport upon entry to the States, though. I have no idea if they stamp international customers' passports or not. But if you think about it, they aren't really saying that I've re-entered the US. 

It was great boarding the flight to Knoxville, but I have to admit that last flight is always the worst. It's a short flight, but I'm exhausted and just want to be done since I've made it back to the home of the brave and the land of the free (or is that the other way around?). The hour long flight wasn't terrible, but it's long enough that I'm bored but short enough that I don't want to get things out of my bag to keep me occupied. 

This second trip home from China was nice, but I wasn't as emotional as I was when I came back in December. So when I saw mom and dad waiting for me at the airport, I sped up, but I didn't cry. I gave them huge hugs and got some beautiful, vibrant daisies from mom that are now in a vase on my dresser. 

Since I got home so early in the afternoon, we went to a late lunch at Cheddar's, which is actually a pretty delicious place to eat, and then we went to visit my grandparents. I showed them pictures and videos, and I did my best not to fall asleep. It worked until I got home and laid downstairs on the couch while Harry Potter played on TV. I never knew how cozy that couch was before! Needless to say, my first day back was quite comfortable, and while I'm still adjusting to being back in this timezone, I am enjoying the chance to relax at home. 

And Dorothy's right: there's no place like home. 

I'll post some pictures later (I think) and write a post about reverse culture shock since it's always fun to deal with (not really!), but other than that, this blog might possibly be coming to an end. 

Thanks for sticking with me through all the craziness of China. I know some of you had problems figuring out how to post comments here, so I appreciate your kindness in keeping up with my ramblings. And please know that your support has helped me so much! 

- Rae

It's the epitome of duckdom, the most succulent, sinful bit of roast duck I've ever encountered in my life. It's exquisite, delightful, and certainly something I never would have expected to find so close to the Happy Dragon Hostel in Beijing. 

This is Beijing duck. It's the way duck is supposed to be, and I give serious props to the chef, who trained with the best of them to roast a duck to such a degree that every bite is pure pleasure. 

Before I came to Beijing, I checked out my guidebook for information about where to go for great food, and I came up with a few suggestions for Beijing duck. According to the guidebook, the places to go were Da Dong's Duck Restaurant and Made In China, both of which receive high reviews on The Beijinger, an English-language magazine that reviews restaurants and other things around town. 

I managed to find Da Dong's the other night when I was out with Jana, a Missouri native who teaches in South Korea, and Rob. Da Dong's is super classy and definitely not the place we should have walked in with capris and t-shirts. But it's also ridiculously expensive. We were able to get hold of the wine list, and its extensive menu of thousand-kuai wines was enough to make you feel ill. I read that the restaurant itself had a 180-page food menu, which is just insane. Full ducks start at 199 kuai, and then you have to buy drinks (and let's just assume buying water here is no 1-kuai expense) and side items since you won't be just purchasing the duck. 

Needless to say, it's a swanky place and one I was afraid I couldn't afford. 

This is not to say that I wouldn't pay premium dollar for good duck, but I didn't want it that badly. And the place almost requires reservations unless you don't mind a thirty-minute to one hour wait. So my vote was no to Da Dong's. 

Made In China, the other restaurant listed in my guidebook gets even higher ratings on The Beijinger for slightly cheaper fare. Even so, I don't think I need the reservations that much. I can probably find a good duck somewhere in this city, right? 

Last night, we went out for duck. I was with Rob and an Iranian who lives in Sweden and who has a name that's rather impossible for me to pronounce. He was very nice, though, and it was cool to meet someone new again. We were originally going to follow the suggestions of David, one of the Happy Dragon employees, who told us about a nearby duck place we should try. 

We found the right street and were walking along. I have no idea if we actually found the correct restaurant or not because I'm hopeless when it comes to reading Chinese characters. We did, however, find a very pretty, tasteful restaurant that seemed a bit higher-end than the rest of the places we'd seen on the street. Feeling adventurous, we walked in and sat down. 

The menu was pretty par for the course. They had everything from roast duck (clearly a must!) to duck giblets to mustard duck feet to chicken with walnuts to mutton. It was a meat-lover's paradise. And to be fair, they also offered a decent selection of vegetables as well, including one of my favorites from Wuhan: hand-shredded cabbage. The menu was a ridiculous number of pages long, and it took at least five minutes to go through the whole thing. 

The place had decent prices for duck, and I think it was around 158 kuai for a duck. So we ordered one duck, one set of pancakes, two sets of duck condiments, one order of chicken with walnuts, and one sauce plus drinks. Not a bad order and plenty of food to fill up three people very easily. 

We received the chicken with walnuts first, and as is par for the course here, we waited for about 30 minutes before seeing hide nor hair of the duck. The chicken with walnuts is definitely one of my new favorite dishes here in China, and we demolished that by the time the duck was almost finished roasting. 

Eventually the chef came out with the full duck on a platter. It was a crispy golden color with the head turned modestly down as if the duck were ashamed to be seen naked. The chef showed the duck to us, almost as if asking if it looked okay, and we all heartily agreed. Then he went off to one side and began slicing the duck into little bite-sized pieces. 

By the time all the food was laid out before us, we had two plates of succulent duck meat, one bowl of steaming pancakes, two condiment platters, a basket of greens, and a basket of crispy, thin rolls. Our eyes were a bit larger than our stomachs in hindsight, but we valiantly sallied forth and began eating our duck. 

Our waitress was kind enough to show us how to roll our Beijing duck pancakes and what to include with each pancake. The condiment platters had minced garlic, thick plum sauce, sugar, two kinds of minced pickled vegetables (one of which was pickled radishes), cucumber slices, onion slivers, and jelly-like vegetables that reminded me a bit of cranberry sauce. 

Another waitress pointed out that we were supposed to eat the duck meat pieces with the garlic and plum sauce while we were supposed to dip the skin and fat pieces in the sugar. I tried a piece of the fat in the sugar immediately after she pointed it out, and suddenly I found myself in duck heaven. 

I have no idea how this chef learned to make such delectable, tender, delightful duck, but the fat literally melted in your mouth. I don't know how else to describe it. There was no need to chew because the fat and skin pieces just became a delicious goo that melted into your mouth, and when you put them in sugar, it was even more delicious. Even after they cooled off, the fat still seemed to just disappear, almost the way cotton candy dissolves into sweet nothingness. 

But duck this incredible has to be terrible for you. 

I don't care. 

The meat pieces that he cut for us were also incredibly tender and excellent when paired with almost any of the condiments. Making the pancakes is a fun experiment, but honestly, I would just eat the duck with the condiments alone.

Either way, I have to say that if that's the last truly Chinese meal I have in China, I am perfectly happy with it. I would go back in a heartbeat to this place and pay bookus of bucks to get them to make me duck again, but I am happy enough just living with having had this experience.

And now, sooner than ever, I get on a plane to fly home. Tomorrow morning at 6:55 a.m. my flight leaves Beijing for Detroit, and then it will only be a matter of time before I'm back on home soil. I think I've had a full trip, and I'm really happy that I came, but I'm also happy to go home.

There will be a few more posts before I end this blog to wrap up loose ends. And then I'll be home and a new adventure will be starting.

Here's to China and the best Beijing duck I've ever had!

- Rae 

After watching all the people in China enter the Forbidden City (and yes, that's a gross exaggeration), I have to say that the Emperor would not approve.

That said, the Forbidden City makes for an impressive home, and I can certainly understand why someone would want to build an awesome palace the size of the Chinese Emperor's. For reference sake, the palace area covers two Chinese city blocks, which like most things here, are much larger than a normal city block. In fact, these blocks take about twenty to thirty minutes to walk if you decided to walk straight down the block.

So as you can probably imagine, the palace itself is a sight to behold. Though, I have to admit to some disappointment because I never expected it to just be a concrete paradise. Sure, there's the Emperor's Garden, and there are areas where you see a lone tree around, but the majority of the area is lots of concrete followed by red buildings with gold tiling.

It's definitely impressive. You can walk into the city through one gate and through a second gate for free. Then you pay 60 RMB to get entrance to the "real" city where the emperor seemed to enjoy his life.

Once again, I was running around the city with Rob, and we weren't too interested in the Forbidden City. Sure, it's a piece of history that few Westerners get the opportunity to see, and yeah, it's pretty amazing when you walk in and realize you're in a city surrounded by multiple walls that seem to hide what's a vast network of buildings where the emperor and his concubines chilled out. But when it's all said and done, it's just a palace, a home, a pad that even royalty needs at times.

I'm glad I went if only because now I can say I've seen it. But with the clear blue skies after last night's rain and the sun beating down onto the concrete, it was scorching outside. I can't imagine why you'd want a house that big with no trees or shade, but apparently the emperor did.

The sheer force of the crowds around the sight was impressive. It seems the majority of the tour groups I saw consisted of Chinese people, which was rather amusing to me. I remember going to Italy and seeing a majority of foreigner tour groups at the Vatican City, including the tour group I was a part of. But the majority of the foreigners I saw going in to the city either chose to go it alone, purchase an audio tour complete with earbuds, or pay for the services of a private tour guide.

The Forbidden City became a sea of umbrellas as the sun shone in the sky, and it was impossible not to get jostled, hit or bumped by women wielding parasols to shield themselves from the sun. I can say the emperor would not approve because it's clear these people are not important enough to be in his home. Then again, neither am I.

Also funny and ironic in the Forbidden City were the sheer number of people wielding all kinds of souvenir items and water bottles for sale. I had several people shove things in my face trying to get me to buy them. No offense, but that's not the kind of tactic I find helpful for making sales. And even in the emperor's palace, people don't seem to care enough to clean up after themselves. Areas blocked off for viewing had empty water bottles, popsicle sticks and wrappers tossed in, and the cleaning ladies had work upon work to do.

If you go to the Forbidden City with the intention of seeing it all, I'd recommend not going on a sunny, clear day where the crowds will grow in size and swell through the doors and onto the spaces where they can find shade. It amazed me because it was clear some families came with the intention of eating lunch in the city. In addition, it's not a good idea to try to see the whole thing in one day unless you go early in the morning. It's definitely a day trip that will last a few hours.

Rob and I strolled along, taking pictures here and there, and we made it through, from front to back with very little variance to turn to the side, in around two hours. And then we had to hike around the side of the building and walk all the way back those two city blocks because there is no subway location convenient to the exit of the Forbidden City. It was a lovely thirty minute jaunt down the road, and after walking all that way, I think we were both tired.

It's clear why I never saw a rickshaw until I got to the exit of the Forbidden City, though. If you intend to go to the subway from there, you can only backtrack. And there are a number of rickshaw drivers who will gladly take you back to the subway... for a fee. These aren't even traditional rickshaws where the guy is running or pedaling a bike as you sit in the back. No, they drive motorcycles attached to double-seats at the end of the contraption. Honestly, it would be worth it if I was paying a guy to actually do some work, but I wouldn't be, and they'd rip you off.

Rob and I saw a German couple walking down the street when a rickshaw driver hailed them. "Where you going?" The man responded, which is often a mistake, and before I could even say "That's a bad idea," the man was telling his wife they should take the rickshaw. To be fair, the driver said he would charge them 3 RMB, but I doubt that's what they ended up paying.

I've realized the easiest way of being in China is to simply ignore the people shoving things in your face. I wish I were a faster thinker, though... at one point, a man selling hami melons on a stick shoved one right in front of my mouth. After I brushed past him, I wished I'd taken a bite and kept on walking; though, he likely would have harassed me over that till I paid him for it.

And I just heard a woman in the hostel bar asking someone who Mao was. I realize some people don't know who he is, but it does seem a little absurd to go to China, where you likely know at least a little of history (at least recent history), and be in doubt about who Mao was. His face is on every bill in China, no matter what the denomination. And that's exactly how the man explained who Mao was to the woman: he pulled out a 100 RMB bill and showed it to her.

Anyway, my day has been successful, and I'm ready to relax a bit. I may go out in a bit to see the Olympic Park where I'll be able to take photos of the Water Cube and Bird's Nest. At least I watched some of the 2008 Olympics, so it's a worthwhile trip to see something in person that I saw on TV all the time during the Olympics. According to my guidebook, you, too, can swim in the Water Cube. You must pay 50 kuai, pass a 100 meter swim test, wear a swim cap, do not pass Go, and do not collect $200.

I think I'll pass.

But I will take pretty pictures, thanks.

And that's my day today. I'm trying to keep this blog updated since it's become a pretty full few days. I knew it would, but tomorrow I'm planning to sleep in and relax before I get on a 14 hour flight home. So today's the last day where I'll be running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

With luck, I can end this trip entirely satisfied with what I've accomplished and seen.

- Rae

They say everything in Texas is bigger. Well, Texas, meet Beijing, your bigger, badder, bolder partner in crime to the east.

So my first few days in Beijing have been an adventure to say the least. I mentioned I'm staying in a hostel, and while I'm staying in a private room by myself, I've already had the chance to meet several new people. 

Yesterday, I met Taz, Steve, and Rachel, three Aussies from Melbourne. Taz and Steve are traveling to an exchange program in Europe and taking the long route via China. Rachel, Taz's sister, is traveling from China through Russia and all over Europe before going home to start university this fall. Doesn't sound like a bad bit of business if you ask me.
I also met Rob, a London-native, amateur photographer, who's become my own partner in crime here in Beijing. Rob's a lone traveler like myself, and he came from Japan to China and will be heading on to Shanghai and Hong Kong on his "gap year" of exploring the world. He's going all over, from Australia to the US, you name it, he'll probably see it.

Rob and I became partners in crime when we realized we were alone in this enormous city and hadn't seen a bit of it yet. So we set out yesterday to explore a few things that I had on my list of things to-see in Beijing. And, that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the adventure starts.

We started out on the subway headed to the Hongqiao (Pearl) Market. It's near the Temple of Heaven, for those of you who know the area, and it's enormous. This so-called Pearl Market does, indeed, sell pearls, but if you have even an inkling of a shopping bone in your body, this is the place for you. The Pearl Market is five floors of shopping, from electronics (think iPods, webcams, headphones, cameras, etc.) to clothing (here's your "I Went To Beijing!" souvenir t-shirts and knock-off silk Chinese dresses) to jewelry (featuring an amazing assortment of fresh-water pearls and jade pieces) to trinkets. If you want to buy a Beijing t-shirt, Chinese sword, pearls for grandma, and a sweet pair of headphones, this place if where it's at.
I went with a plan, however. I was in search of a pair of Beats by Dr. Dre red Monster headphones. My co-worker Madson found a pair here, so I wanted to get one as well.

Within five minutes of entering the Pearl Market, I was bargaining with a stall owner who sells the Beats headphones. His price started ridiculously high, upwards of 600 yuan (for those of you keeping track, that's US $92). I wanted the headphones but not for that price. I told him how much Madson paid for his headphones, and the two people there stared at me as if I was crazy.

Madson paid 300 yuan for his. I should have stuck to my guns and run off to the next vendor, but I didn't. I paid 350 for mine. It's still an absolute deal in my eyes.

Rob and I were in awe of the Pearl Market's sheer level of stuff to buy, so we meandered around. On one floor, I was accosted by the women selling fake purses, shoes, and other fun knock-offs. If I were in the mood to buy clothes, I would have been all over that one. However, I already got my souvenir, and I didn't want to buy anything.

"Hey lady, buy a purse? Hey lady! Hey lady! Beautiful purse for you!"

I realize that's what they do, but as I was shaking my head no and turning away from the area to move on, one of them reached out and grabbed my arm with surprising force. Before I knew what was happening, she dragged me over to her stall. I'm not kidding. I even pulled back and tried to get away, but this chick was strong!

Without warning, she shoved a Coach knock-off in my face and was telling me all the wonderful qualities of it and how it was real leather. She even went so far as to show me what great quality it was by putting a flame to the leather to prove it was real. Yes, of course I'd be interested... if I hadn't already made a big purchase downstairs. I tried to tell her no, but she was already shoving a calculator in my face to tell me the price.

"Oh, look, normally this price!" [540 yuan] "But I make special price for you! Special price for my friend!" [140 yuan] I shook my head no. "No? Is good quality! Trust me! Look, I give you better deal!" [110 yuan] I shook my head again, still trying to pry my arm loose from her iron grip. "No? Look, is so pretty! It looks so good on you!" [80 yuan] At this point, I told her repeatedly to let me go and that I didn't want it.

I managed to get her off my arm and yanked free only to have her come after me as I started to walk away. I have to give her points for persistence, but still... I didn't want the bag. As I was walking away, I heard her yelling, "Okay, 50 RMB! No? 30! Fine... free!" And that was when she gave up and turned back to try and wrangle some other person into buying her wares. I did crack up when she said it was free. That's the first time I've had anyone be that forceful with me here, so it was definitely different.

Eventually Rob and I left the Pearl Market (which has a huge pearl and oyster display outside in case you weren't sure where you were) and headed back to the subway to hit up Tian'anmen Square.

We made our way to the square, which has two subway stops, and we got to ground level only to feel the need to check our eyes. I knew the square was big, honest, I did. But I had no idea how big. You can only do so much describing before experience is necessary, and in this case, experience proved that Tian'anmen is most definitely huge.

Walking from one end to the next is a real treat. There are people everywhere. And in the center of the square is Mao's Mausoleum, where you can go see the big guy himself in all his gussied-up glory. It's apparently a very short and sweet tour. You go inside, file through, look at the Chairman, and get out. Well, much as I'm interested (I'm not) in seeing Mao, I don't think I'll be indulging that particular fan sight.

Even without the mausoleum, Tian'anmen is a sight to behold. You really get the feeling you're just a lowly, lowly peon standing in the midst of all these people in this gigantic square that seems to be known around the world.

After we finished at Tian'anmen, we went back to the hostel to meet up with the Aussies for dinner. We headed out to go grab some Beijing (Peking) duck somewhere. It sounds easy enough, right? I'm in Beijing, home of the delicacy known round the world, so it should be on every corner. Welllllll... not quite.

We did finally make our way all the way to Wangfujing Dajie, the shopping street (complete with Armani, Gucci, Hugo Boss, and other brand name dealers), where we discovered the Night Market, a line of stalls along one side of the street selling all kinds of things. We were offered, among other things: dumplings (so tame!), roast leg of lamb, fried ice cream (I should really try that!), testicles (of what? I don't want to know.), snake (um... no.), starfish, and scorpion on a stick.
At the end of the day, though, we gave up hope of finding a great restaurant and went to one that we found near the Night Market. It turned out to be quite a good decision. They had an excellent--if small--Beijing duck as well as some incredible walnut chicken that we all thoroughly enjoyed. We never got our full meal that we ordered, but with the night market right outside, it didn't seem to matter.

Now, today, too, I discovered some other big things in China: namely the Mutianyu Great Wall. I went on a tour with the hostel, which was a great choice because the tour includes a tour guide (not too much of a guide, but that was fine by me), breakfast, lunch, entry tickets, and transportation. The only thing this tour did not include was the water bottles that I drank along the way and the cable car ride up the wall followed by the toboggan back down the wall.

Mutianyu is popular but not as overcrowded as Badaling, and there aren't massive amounts of people selling things along the wall itself. There are 23 towers that are open to the public on Mutianyu, and when you take the initial cable car up, you find yourself on top of tower 4. From there, you can go to the right and visit towers 1 through 3 or to the left and tackle the rest of the towers.

I'm betting you can guess what route I chose.

I was very proud of myself, though. I managed to get to tower 2, which is apparently the harder trek from what I was told. And even though I thought I was going to die or fall down the ridiculously steep sets of stairs I climbed, I still tackled the Great Wall and have the pictures to show for it.

No, I didn't go as far on the wall as I could. Rob, who went on the same tour, made it from tower 1 to 14. But as far as I'm concerned, this is my trip, and I had fun. I was proud of myself for getting to the place I managed to find, and honestly, it's worth it to me to have accomplished what I did.

Word to the wise: if you go to Mutianyu in the summer, take some sunscreen. I didn't, and now I've got red arms, chest, and face to show for it. Pollution apparently does not filter our UV rays. There was smog everywhere up on the Wall, but that was okay; you could still see parts of the wall in the distance, which made for some interesting pictures.

I met a Mongolian who was selling water on the stairs near the second tower. He's cute, older, and clearly out to gut travelers. Close to the wall entrance you can buy water bottles for 5 yuan. If you get to the wall with no water, that should be your starting point, and you should most definitely stock up. Mongolia man was selling his bottles of water for 20 yuan.
Just saying.

Don't buy water at the ends of the wall because the further you get from the wall entrance, the more expensive the water is.
Hiking along the wall is exhausting work. I don't know how the Chinese do it. I was huffing and puffing the whole way. Technically that's my own fault for being so out of shape, and I should take this as a reminder to work on that. That said, I think I accomplished what I set out to see. I climbed from tower 2 to tower 6, and that was good enough for me.

And for those of you who want even more reason to check out Mutianyu, here's my favorite reason to go: toboggans. From the sixth tower, you can toboggan back down to the ground level. These toboggans are similar to the ones you see at Obergatlinberg in Pigeon Forge/Gatlingberg, TN, but they're longer and more fun, provided the person in front of you isn't afraid to go fast. Unfortunately for Rob and I, the couple ahead of us in line seemed determined to go slow.

So what could have been a 3 minute ride turned into a 6 minute ride. But either way, it was awesome fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also have the 6-minute video to prove it where you can watch my tobogganing self riding down the mountains.

Either way, my first two full days here have been full and fun, and I'm enjoying being a tourist in Beijing. Tomorrow I plan to explore the Forbidden City and see what I can see. And after that, I'll go out to the Olympics Park and visit the Water Cube and Bird's Nest that were featured so heavily on TV during the 2008 Olympics.

For now, I'm going to chill out and maybe get some more Beijing duck with Rob for dinner tonight before I pass out in my little hostel room and get some much-deserved rest.

- Rae

It's finally here. I can't believe my time in Wuhan is wrapping up, but it is. I have two more days including today before I leave Monday for Beijing. And what am I doing now? 

So far I've been mildly cleaning the apartment and washing clothes. I've got to get the apartment cleaned up before I leave so that I can check out and get the rest of my airfare reimbursement money. It's going to be interesting because the apartment wasn't in that great of shape when I first arrived. 

However, I figure if I just make sure the dishes are washed and put up and most of the floors have been swept up all nice and clean it will be fine. I've had a few issues with the apartment, like my kitchen flooding while I was home in January and my bathroom sink leaking into the floor, but that kind of thing was taken care of when I requested they help me. (Granted, the bathroom sink still leaks... it just doesn't leak as badly, so I don't worry about it most of the time.) 

When people are in the upstairs apartment working on remodeling, plaster falls onto the floor of my front room from where it's crumbling off the ceiling. I've had to sweep it up and throw it out on multiple occasions. 

I've written lots of little notes I'm going to tuck in different areas around the apartment for the next resident. They're short and sweet and to the point. If the new resident is a foreign teacher, they'll probably find that my notes give them good pointers about dealing with problems in the apartment. I mentioned the bathroom sink and the way the kitchen windows leak when it rains and other little things that I've noticed while I've been here. 

It's amazing how attached you get to a place when you live there for a year. This little apartment has really become my home away from home. It's cozy and nicely sized for me. Even though it's not the same size as apartments back home, it's still almost too much space because I realize I've collected a lot of things while I've been here! 

It is a comfortable little space that I've made my own, and now as I'm taking it all apart so that I can pack up, I almost feel a little sad that I'm leaving. 

There will be lots of books and clothing left behind because I really don't have space for it all in my luggage. But that's been kind of freeing for me. It feels a bit like I'm cleaning out some of the things in my life that were holding me back and making room for something new. 

Over the past week, I've said goodbye to a lot of people. I never stayed in a dorm in college, but I imagine saying goodbye to these people I've met is a lot like saying goodbye to roommates. When you live abroad, you grow very close to the foreigners around you very quickly, and it becomes your own exclusive club of friends who "understand" you and your culture. 

Even so, I think I included Charlotte in that exclusive club as well. Charlotte has quickly become like a sister to me, and she is one of the sweetest people I've ever met in my life. I'm so happy for her, too, because she graduated with her masters degree and has now moved to Hangzhou. She's working for Otis, the elevator company, and hoping she'll be able to save money and travel to the States one day. I plan to keep in touch with her and see how things go for her. 

Ian, my across the hall friend, left on Tuesday for the States. He was across from my 501 apartment in room 502, and he's helped me with ordering Chinese dishes and several other things. We said goodbye Monday night. 

Justin and Erin, the couple downstairs, took off on Thursday, leaving the majority of the things they've collected in China over the last three years behind. Following that, we saw Andy, Stephanie, and Madson leave yesterday. So it appears everyone's leaving before me. 

Now all that are left are me, Big Mike, and Sebastian. Mike leaves tomorrow, and I leave Monday. Time is running out on all of us. 

I've grown close to these people in ways I never expected. Saying goodbye feels a little like saying goodbye to distant family relations. We became our own little family here in Wuhan, and it's strange to think I may never see these people again. 

At the same time, my life is taking a new direction now. I'm going to Beijing for a week and then flying back home to Tennessee. I'll be trying to find a job and spending as much time with family as I can. It's going to be interesting to see what things come my way in the next few months. 

There are still things to be done around the apartment before I check out tomorrow afternoon and have only a night before I leave this city for good. My anticipation is growing, and I'm getting nervous, to boot. It'll be good for me to have a new mini-adventure traveling Beijing by myself. 

I'm staying in a hostel near the Forbidden City, and it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm going to visit the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and a few other places during my week in Beijing before I go home. I fly out of Beijing on Saturday, July 9th for Knoxville. So now my time is looking more and more like a whirlwind. 

With so little time to really plan and pack and prepare, I suppose I should end this short post. I leave Monday morning for Beijing and will try to post a few more blogs before I leave Beijing. For now, though, I'm learning to say goodbye to a city that's been "home" for the last school year. It's a strange mix of sadness and anticipation, but I am very happy that I'll soon be back on home soil again. 

To that end, I'll leave you with this thought: there has to be a certain amount of irony in my flying to Beijing on the Fourth of July... don't you think so? 

- Rae 

I would like to say that teaching has brought me many joyful memories. I'm not so sure that I can say the majority of them were joyful; however, we did end the year on a happy note, sort of. For what it's worth, it's not often that I get to watch college students perform on a makeshift stage a play that's absurdly ridiculous. 

That being said... I'm so glad it's over. 

Today was the last day of classes officially. After stressing out about all kinds of issues that have clearly never been worked out before this year, I got up this morning and went to Yangguang (Sunshine) Campus for the last time today. 

But let's rewind a bit. 

Remember how we had to do these silly dramas with our students? Well, yesterday brought all kinds of random things to a head, and I found out that I was in charge. Strange how being in charge here feels a lot like being completely out of control. 

I told my students what time our performance would be. Freeman, the Chinese English teacher in charge, scheduled the performance for 10 a.m. in one of the rooms in Building 7 where we teach. No big deal, right? We had already rehearsed in the reserved room and were thoroughly prepared. 

My students were immediately in an uproar. Not a loud one, but definitely an uproar. How could we have scheduled a play for the time when they would all be leaving to go home? How dare we! Well, considering none of the foreign teachers wanted to do this in the first place, I suppose it's more accurate to say "how dare they." 

In any event, my students told me in no uncertain terms that a majority of them had to leave by 10 a.m. Well, that's helpful. 

I called supervisor Van, whose patronizing emails have grated on my nerves over the last few weeks, only to be informed that I am in charge and am allowed to change things. If that's the case, why can't I cancel the play? Oh, that's right. Because it's required. We're not sure who it's required by, just that it's compulsory. I have a sneaking suspicion that's the line she's been given to keep us working, personally. In other words, no, you can't cancel the play. You can, however, reschedule it to 8 a.m. What a fantastic idea! 

So we told our students the news, changed the time, and attempted to organize the play earlier in the morning. Of course, at this point, nothing can go completely smoothly, so some of the students complained that it wasn't fair that the teachers had decided to do an arbitrary order. They demanded we allow them to draw class names from a hat to determine order. So we did. 

Ironically, my students, who weren't complaining about order at all, were first to perform this morning. 

We also found out last night that Freeman was able to reserve a different room in the library where we would be in air conditioned glory. Clearly air conditioning here means fans because my little fan fluttering up and down in front of my face was my version of air conditioning in the stifling, dirty room we were put into for the play. Not to mention it was tiny and couldn't comfortably seat 90 students and 4 teachers at a time. But who am I to complain? Just a lowly laowai teacher. 

My students and I figured out how to navigate the logistics of this new room, pulled props together, and got ready. I was the one who walked up on the makeshift stage and had to get the attention of 90 talking students. No easy task. But I've learned that when my voice won't carry, the beauty of wooden podiums will. After banging my palms in a resounding tattoo against the wood, the students got quiet long enough for us to start the play. 

Technical difficulties, confused lines, and other things abounded, but the play went on. My students did an excellent job at performing "The Man Without." I was so proud of them! They worked hard, memorized their lines well, and were able to keep the attention of 90 of their peers for most of the play. (And, trust me when I say to keep that many students' attention here is no small feat! Even if it's only a 12 minute play!) 

Following my students, the rest of the classes performed. We had one class do two class-written scripts. One was based on the movie "Identity." Though that was a bit strange if you ask me. The second of that class's plays was based on a Chinese traditional story, and they changed the ending so that it wasn't a sad ending. It would have been rather odd if both stories had depressing endings, I guess. 

The third class to perform utilized all the students in the class to do a Chinese dating show. They have an obsession for these shows like Americans have obsessions with reality TV. It was very creative, though. They even broke it into three segments that were "paused" for various commercial breaks. I enjoyed it, even if it did run long. (To be fair, my class's play ran short, so I suppose we're even.) 

The last class performed the play "Twelve Angry Pigs" based off of "Twelve Angry Men." It's a cute, silly play about a jury of 12 pigs who are deciding whether to convict the Big Bad Wolf in the case of the Three Little Pigs and their broken down houses. Featuring characters like Little Boy Blue, Little Red Riding Hood, and, of course, Big Bad, the play was adorable. I think my favorite part was the 12 students walking out with their homemade pig snouts tied round their heads. 

Luckily the plays didn't last overly long, and the results were that we were able to get out of the campus by 10 a.m. 

I'm still disappointed and offended that no one else came to see these students perform. After forcing them to stay two weeks late and work on some ridiculous play, it's only fair for the teachers who brought it upon them to come and watch. But they didn't, and I think it's more than a little offensive to myself as a teacher and the students as performers. It's just rude. 

Then again, this school hasn't worried about being rude before, so why bother now? 

Either way, I'm just glad it's over. I'm still incredibly proud of my students and have included pictures from the play. I was told I could get a copy of the video of the play; though, I really doubt that's going to happen. 

And now I can focus on more important matters, like getting out of Wuhan. 

I fly to Beijing on Monday, so I have three days to clean my apartment and pack everything up to leave. I'm not too worried since I already have a large chunk of my clothes packed into one suitcase. I've wiped down surfaces around my apartment with Mr. Muscle (China's version of Mr. Clean - made by P&G, too!) and washed dishes, cleaned out cabinets, and mopped the kitchen floor. 

My main concern right now is how I'm going to navigate Beijing, but I guess I'll have a crash course in that on Monday. Until then, I'm going to focus on the tasks at hand. I have a few places left in Wuhan I want to go back to, mainly places around GuangGu where I want to take a few pictures before I leave. Other than that, I don't think I'll have any regrets once my feet have left the ground. 

Soon and very soon, I'll be coming home! I can't wait! But I hope you enjoy the photos! I'll do my best to update at least once or twice either before I leave or when I'm in Beijing. And now, I'm off to grab some baozi and jiaozi for dinner. 

- Rae 

Not the most creative of titles, I know, but I'm adapting from the movie My Dog Skip that came out a long time ago. Of course, the name Bartok is also stolen as well. 

Why am I writing about a bat? 

Simple. I went into the kitchen this afternoon to grab a hard-boiled egg to munch on and found Bartok. He was wedged in between the outside kitchen window and the wall, which looks like no easy feat to me. He's a very small bat, and he was actually kind of cute sleeping there like that. The top of his back brushed against the window, and you could see his fur smashing up against the glass. 

At first I was a little worried that he was dead since I'd made a lot of noise when I was banging around the kitchen. He never moved, which surprised me. But perhaps he was just dead tired from helping rid the world of more mosquitoes (a noble endeavor if ever I've seen one!) and had passed out until night fell. I found out that he was alive after I went back to the kitchen an hour or so later. He somehow managed to wedge himself further into the crevice. 

Now that I've checked the kitchen again, Bartok has officially flown the coop. I suppose he's out on his mission to rid the world of mosquitoes. 

As far as I'm concerned, Bartok can stay at my place as often as he likes because he and I share similar goals. World mosquito extinction, anyone? 

Personally I think the school needs to invest in a team of bats that they set loose in the school buildings at night. Those bats would be gluttons given the sheer number of mosquitoes that live in those rooms. It's definitely not healthy if you ask me. Teaching in a mosquito-infested classroom is like painting a target on the white girl that says, "Fresh blood! Come and get it!"

For those of you wondering about the name Bartok, I'll explain. And if you already know where the name comes from, then kudos to you! Bartok is the name of the bat in the movie Anastasia that came out in 1997. It was one of my favorite animated films, and I just adored Bartok. He was so cute for a villain sidekick! 

One of my favorite lines in the movie is when Bartok says, "Oh sure, blame the bat! What the heck? We're easy targets."

Well, with bats as cute and furry as my Bartok, I don't think I could blame them for anything. (Unless it's mosquito extinction, which would take the form of high praise instead of blame!) In any event, I just wanted to share a little bit about the bat because he made my day. I hope you'll enjoy the photos (and marvel with me at his wedging skills since that's a tight space), and feel free to leave a few comments! 

- Rae 

...it goes on and on, my friends. 

It's Friday, and the biggest blessing of the day is that I didn't have to wake up at dark-thirty in the morning and go to a mosquito-infested classroom with 26 unmotivated students to attempt to get them to practice a play. 

That being said, next week will bring more of that thrilling adventure before their performance on Thursday morning. 

So far it's definitely been interesting. If I knew ahead of time that coming to China would mean a crash course in being a theater teacher, I don't think I would have signed up. I have more respect for Mr. Ellington from high school now and everything he had to deal with as he put together musicals like Fiddler on the Roof and Oklahoma! each year. 

I love theater. In high school, I had lots of fun doing auditions and rehearsals with my friends. But in high school this wasn't a compulsory class. I think that's part of the problem with the way the school has organized this drama thing for our students. 

There are four classes of sophomore English majors who have been compelled to stay in town and do this two-week drama program that's been sloppily organized. Of those, the only way two of the other teachers have been able to motivate their classes to get on the ball was to threaten them with the idea of public humiliation. Yes, it's a good motivator in some instances, but I don't know that it's going to create instant actors out of the students. 

I tried talking to my students about the play. I explained the advantage of just getting it done to no avail. I explained that they were going to be the ones on stage, which meant they faced possible embarrassment if they didn't do things right. Even that didn't motivate them. 

It's probably because they're supposed to be on summer break right now. 

I'd be bored and unmotivated, too, even with the added threat of getting bad grades. Though, most of the teachers have agreed that since we don't want to be doing this the students aren't going to get bad grades from us. 

So what on earth would motivate my students to do a play they find as ridiculous as I do? 

Apparently prop-making. 

For the first time, I had a productive class. It was such an awesome feeling. Yesterday my students brought in mounds of art supplies to make the props for the play, and that's what we did for the entire class. 

To give you an idea of what we're looking at for a play, I picked out a short skit that I did one year in high school for theater class. It's cute, easy, and takes only a few minutes to organize. The name of the official skit is "The King, the Queen, and the Gate," but it's also known as "The Man Without." Click the link to see the script that I'm using; the script on that website is not quite the same as what my students are doing, but I adapted from that one. 

"The Man Without" is basically a silly skit about an errant knight who goes to the king because he wants to marry the princess. The main characters are the knight, page, king, queen, and princess. There's an announcer in the play as well. And I added in a few extra characters to give more of my students stage time, so now there are a town crier, a chorus (think old-school Shakespearean plays), and a group of "understudies" to the main characters who are on strike and march on stage with signs that talk about wanting to act, too.

I thought it would be cute and silly to add in some extra zaniness to the play.

Now, you can imagine what kinds of props my students need for this play. When I got to class yesterday, they had several cardboard packing boxes, lots of colorful poster board, silver and gold ribbon, packing tape, double-sided tape, glue, scissors, and a very long stick. That was one of the first things I noticed. When I asked them what the stick was for, they told me it was the sword. I was a little unenthusiastic about that until we got down to business.

Once I let them start working on props, all I had to do was step out of the way. But I like cutesy creative projects like that, too, so I asked them if I could help by working on the knight's shield. The girls all agreed, so I took one of the boxes, snagged the knight (consequently the only guy left in the class who shows up), and we got to work.

We came up with a design for a shield that Charles, my knight, liked, and I traced a basic outline in the box. Once we got it cut out sufficiently, Charles and I decided to cover the outside with white poster board to have something to put a design on. We worked on that together for a while, and honestly, I was pretty impressed once it was done. One of the girls wrapped several strands of thick yarn someone brought in together and taped it in a wrist-sized band onto the back of the shield for Charles to use to hold the shield. No one could decide how to decorate it, so we decided to wait for a while on that.

Meanwhile, the other girls in the class were going to town on the sword. They used the stick as the base for it and cut out cardboard in the shape of a sword blade that they taped around the stick. I noticed they had several pieces of styrofoam that they were playing around with. Eventually, they took a piece that was in the shape of a triangle (almost pyramid-like) and poked a hole through the top of it. This became the sword hilt (I think that's what you call it), and they covered it in brown poster board. The end of the stick was all that was left, but they even covered this, as well. They took a thinner piece of foam and slipped it on the end of the stick to serve as the handle. Then to make the blade more steel-like, two of them wrapped the silver ribbon all around the cardboard blade and taped it down with packing tape that ended up giving it a shiny effect.

To say that I was impressed by their creativity would be an understatement.

They had decided that the town crier would be a smoker, and originally Ian had promised to bring in a cigarette for the town crier to pretend to smoke. But that wouldn't do for these students. Instead they created an enormous cigarette out of cardboard and poster board. They made crowns for the king, queen, and princess. They made a helmet for the knight. There were so many things they created, and it was all very nice.

This is the first time I've seen them excited about something. They were working together, arguing about this or that, and basically coming up with great ideas for things to make.

I'm very hopeful they'll be more inclined to "act" now that they don't feel like they're just memorizing something for another test. Having props is always more fun.

Now that I've seen their awesome creativity, I'm going to take my camera in next week for rehearsals and snap some photos of them with the props. I'll probably even try to film some of the official play when they do it on Thursday because it might be a fun memory to have.

Sometimes I think that the reason my students aren't enthusiastic about English is just because they have no reason to be English majors. Some of these kids are ridiculously intelligent, but they aren't challenged by English because they aren't interested in it. I talked with my knight, Charles, yesterday, and he admitted that the students are overwhelmed by American culture because they get it so often from the foreign teachers the school brings in; perhaps if the school had more targeted curriculums, the students would learn more. It would mean more work for the foreign teachers, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if the students show interest.

In any event, I was really proud of my students yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you because I think they're pretty awesome kids. I'm really hoping they'll rally to get through this play and maybe even have some fun in the process.

And to that end, I'm also hoping I can rally to the cause of finishing the semester well and getting done with all my preparations for leaving China. I've been taking everything a day at a time, and I'm slowly finishing up the tasks that need to be finished in order to relax before I go to Beijing. And with everything I finish, I breathe a little easier.

It's only one more week before I get to leave. I think I can handle that, don't you?

- Rae  

Do you know that feeling you get when you realize you're leaving town in a day or two to go on vacation at the beach? Do you know how that feeling of panic bubbles up when you realize you haven't washed all your clothes, cleaned the house, or packed anything yet? 

Well, I'm not quite there yet. I'm getting awfully close, though. 

We're down to less than 10 days before my contract at Wuhan Textile University ends. These last ten days are probably the most stressful I've had all semester simply because the university decided at the end of last month that the foreign teachers needed to teach through the entire month of June simply because our contracts demanded it of us. Now, I wouldn't complain if this was par for the course. But it's not. 

There are technically 20 weeks in the semester at this school. During week 17, all undergraduate students take their final exams. By week 18, most of those same students are gone, off to enjoy their summer breaks. Guess which week we're in now... 

Oh, yes, that's right. We're in week 18. Next week is week 19. And we are currently in the process of teaching a two-week class for the sophomore English majors. This is where it gets interesting: we're teaching drama classes. 

The breakdown for this is simple: we've been split into two teams of three teachers each. Two teachers from each team tackle morning classes on Monday through Thursday from 8-11:35 a.m. Then in the afternoon, the remaining teachers tackles classes Monday through Friday from 2-4:30 p.m. The idea is that on June 30th the four classes will perform a 15-minute play. 

Now, I like drama and theater; I did it all through high school. I like being on stage and acting like a fool in front of audiences just to get a laugh or a smile. But none of my students are actors. None of them are interested in stage plays. That, of course, means that none of them are inspired to do a play two weeks after they've finished their final exams. 

I could have predicted that response. And in fact, I did predict that response multiple times to my supervisor. That resulted in rather annoyed responses about how I should not question the dean because I don't understand the ways of China. 

Doesn't matter. I was right. She was wrong. End of story. My students have been about as motivated as a sloth in a cozy tree is to get up and exercise. Even comments about how the students will be performing on stage and could potentially be laughed at by their peers have been met with blank stares and resigned faces. 

Well, no one can say I haven't tried. I've acted in front of the class to give them ideas, tried to encourage them to think about this as something to get done sooner rather than later, and it's all to no avail. At this point, I'm unmotivated myself and don't really care whether they get on stage and act out the play we have or just sit there and stare at people. 

To be fair, they aren't performing this for anyone special. In fact, the dean informed my supervisor that there was "no audience available" (her words, not mine), so the only audience our classes would have would be... each other. Oh, and the foreign teachers, of course. Honestly, if I heard that news as a student, I wouldn't care about the play either. 

That said, I really don't have time to be playing daycare keeper to students who should be at home enjoying their summer break right now. It's the last two weeks of school, the last two weeks of my contract, and there are a million things to do! If you've ever lived abroad for longer than six months, you probably know what I mean. 

So far, I've got many of the biggest items out of the way: I've booked my plane ticket back to the good ole' US of A, and I submitted my ticket information to my boss. I received the majority of my airfare reimbursement already as well as the last of my pay. I've figured out tentative plans for what I want to do before I leave China and am in the process of finalizing those travel plans. 

It's the packing that has me stressing right now. 

I have one suitcase filled almost to capacity with clothes that are too warm for these hot summer months. I also have three boxes packed to the brim with things I want to ship home. The only problem is figuring out how to get those boxes shipped. 

China is apparently a country with a severe fear of illegal exportation of goods. Given its status as probably the largest manufacturing country in the world, I can see why that fear would persist. It's obvious that people have used personal reasons to ship large amounts of things overseas and then resell the items at a huge markup. 

That being said, when I went to China Post with Charlotte today to ship a box home, not only did I not ship it, I had the woman tell me I'd be much better off packing everything. Yes, well, I would do that if it didn't mean packing three bags and lugging them around during my travels. It was hard enough to maneuver me, a backpack, a laptop bag, and two rolling suitcases around airports when I arrived. I can't imagine adding another bag to the mix. Not to mention the increased fees that would take all the joy out of flying home. 

According to the China Post lady, if I try to ship my own clothes home, I run the risk of some Chinese customs officials going through and ripping them to shreds before continuing to ship the remains of my box home. As there's no way to prove my garments are really my personal, worn-by-me-before clothing, the apparent response of Chinese customs people is: assume guilt and destroy all cloth. 

Another odd law in China? Thou shalt not ship coffee presses inside the country or internationally from the country! No idea why, but it's illegal. Guess the USPS never got that memo since my mom shipped me the coffee press in the first place. 

Now my options are down to FedEx where my Chinese teacher has a few friends working who get serious employee discounts. It's still going to be expensive, but it's infinitely cheaper than the normal price, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get my items shipped via FedEx... even if I have to be so detailed as to describe each item in this manner: 1 women's long-sleeved, 98% cotton/2% spandex, sewn, button-down blouse, made in China.

Yes, that's exactly how detailed they expect you to be.

And I have to prove I'm not an illegal exporter to boot. Given the limited ways of doing this, I'm down to emailing FedEx my passport copy and my plane ticket receipt for the trip home.

How many more hoops do I have to jump through before I'm able to relax and just enjoy the last of my time in China? Who knows?

Right now the stress levels are at an increased but manageable level if I keep getting a few little things accomplished one day at a time. Here's to taking it a day at a time and getting back to America!

- Rae -