My Favorite Place in Xi'an

Today has been a very long day, but we don't really have homework besides studying for the final so I finally have time to write.  Today was the dreaded final speech.  Everyone on the NSLI-Y scholarship needs to give a 5-7 minute. You can easily go over.  Mine was only short enough because I cut my favorite two paragraphs, but they would have needed a lot of editing anyway.  

 

How did I know they needed editing?  Because last night my host mother and I sat down and went bit by bit through my speech. I definitely had a lot of grammar errors that I hadn't even thought about.  I'm so happy we did it.  My two favorite paragraphs comparing the Gao Kao  (my topic, the college entrance exam) with the Tang dynasty Civil Service Exams (Oh Mr. Bolin wouldn't you be proud?) didn't translate right.  Instead of spending the extra time trying to fix them, I just cut them, and it was a good thing I did, because I was well within the time limit. 

 

Despite being a bundle of nerves all day, I think the speech went well.  Well, definitely better than I hoped and my classmates seemed to like it.  This final speech was a big deal.  Throughout our stay here, we've had to interview locals and write it.  Sometimes the speeches are even recorded and placed in our State Department file.  Yes I have a State Department file.  I'm officially a civilian Ambassador and represent the United States abroad.  (That's almost a word for word quote from Pre-Departure Orientation).

 

So with all the pressure on the speech, I was beyond nervous.  I was ready to throw up all over my carefully written notecards.  I was seriously considering skipping lunch and just practicing continuously.  I didn't because a) I don't have that much of the gourmet Chinese cafeteria food left and b) Wei Lao Shi would probably drag me to the cafeteria to eat anyway.   I was also running on less sleep than normal.  During break, I almost fell asleep curled up on the spare desks in the back of the room. 

 

I basically walked up to the podium hoping to not completely disgrace myself.  I can't even quite remember in those six and a half minutes.  I know I messed up a quite a few times.  I know I got through most of the first two paragraphs with only a glance at my notes.  I know that I had to stopped a few times and take a deep breath before continuing.  I also know that when it was over, I was unbelievably happy and just done. 

 

The others students liked it.  Or at least they were more then willing to offer me complements. Although I'm not sure if that was because my speech was actually decent or because I was a complete nervous wreck. They seemed most shocked that my speech was "memorized".  It wasn't, not for lack of trying, but it still wasn't memorized at least not all the way. During my last paragraph I was clinging to my notecards like a drowning man.  I guess I have to thank my years of theatre training.  I most not have looked as nervous as I felt. 

 

In other news, I owe everyone a very long post over not one, but two weekends.  I'll start with my favorite place in Xi'an.  And by favorite place I mean favorite places, because I still can't decide. 

 

On Friday the 25^th, my class went to Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan on our afternoon excursion.  Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan (or it's weird English name Tang Paradise, which has nothing to do with it's Chinese name) used to be the summer palace of the Emperor but now it's this huge garden surrounding a massive lake.  It also has different buildings that were built to look like they're from the Tang dynasty.  Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan is incredibly breathtaking. 

 

You might be wondering why I keep writing the fairly long Chinese name.  It's actually a funny story.  A long time ago on our scavenger hunt around the Da Yan Ta (Wild Goose Pagoda, I think the post is a week of firsts), Noah ran into this old man and asked for directions.  Instead of answering normally (or even properly answering), the man yelled back "Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan".  A strange man yelling an unrelated place name wouldn't have landed the Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan so deeply in the hearts of the NSLI students.  What made the place so everlasting to us was the fact, Noah yelled back and effectively got into a shouting match where only the words "Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan" were said.   From that day forward we always spoke "Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan" in a very aggressive manor with a slight Chinese accent.  Aaron's really the best at it.  Our Chinese teachers laugh whenever we do it, so I don't really think they disapprove. 

 

Once we finally got to the fabled place, we were stuck just inside the doors.  There always seems to be an issue whenever we want student tickets.  We of course took the time to take photos.  Mainly of Aaron as he did this fan dance thing in the middle of the courtyard. 

 

Then we went on a tour of the park.  It's so much larger than it appears on a map.  It has interesting things though.  We stood on a map of China and the Silk Road with our feet on Chang'an, the ancient name for Xi'an.  We watched a lion dance in China.  We watched Chinese acrobats and played Chinese drums.  We climbed on a famous sculpture that had poetry carved into it.    All of things were amazing to witness, but they still weren't my favorite part. 

 

After the group left, I stayed in the park.  I was going to walk to the Grandparents house from there.  I wasn't sure if there was electricity and I wanted to explore more of the park.  It was really luck that I found it.  I had spent a long time sitting between a misting waterfall and a snack cart.  I actually bought some Sui Man Tang (sweet fruit drink that's incredibly common and I think really helps with the heat) and just sat there. Well sat there and took a few Wai Guo Ren pictures.  Eventually though I left, I just walked down a path I knew I hadn't been down yet and hoped for the best.  I definitely got it.  There was a bridge and a little footpath that led to a beautiful little hideaway area.  With hardly anyone there and the soft bubbling of the creek and waterfall, it was so peaceful.  I sat there and I just wrote in my notebook.  I was disappointed when I finally had to leave. 

 

I really got lucky that I even have pictures of this little hideaway.  My camera died halfway through the tour (since I charge it once a week, the Thursday before excursions and I couldn't for obvious reasons).  I decided that I might be able to get more photos if I took out the battery for a few seconds.  I was able to trick my camera into taking just a few more pictures. 

 

Thankfully that night we had electricity. 

 

My other favorite place I discovered this Sunday (the 3^rd).  As it was our second to last weekend in Xi'an (but really basically the last because this upcoming weekend will mostly be spent packing), we all decided we wanted to do something big. 

 

I ignored what the group was doing on Saturday in favor of making Jiao zi with my family and playing Ping-Pong.  Making Jiao zi was a lot of fun. It was also amusing because while mine weren't that bad, Katie's managed to be almost double the size of everyone else's.  A remarkable feat when you realize we all used the same amount of dough and she often put less stuffing in then everyone else. In the pictures that go along with this I can attach the game "Guess which Jiao zi was made by an American?" 

 

I'm also surprisingly good at Ping-Pong.  We played it a few times in Middle School, but I hardly ever got to actually play.  There weren't quite enough spots for everyone to play at once so I just watched most of the time.  Because I couldn't explain this, I told my family I had never played it before.  I'll do that occasionally.  They won't completely understand the point I'm trying to make but they understand enough of it.  I do the same thing with Chinese so I think it's a pretty even trade off.  (They also think I share a room with Melissa.  I tried to say when I was little, but they think I still share a room.  Now that I do know how to explain the idea, I don't want to go back and correct myself.  It's easier sometimes to just let things slide.)  

 

The special Chinese way to hold a paddle is really weird.  I had the hardest time getting it at first.  Candy would literally have to position my hand on the paddle.  The other people playing with us (my host mother's friends from college and their son) were all using the western grip (that actually made sense).  I'm probably better using the traditional or "right" grip, as Candy would say.  I'm actually better at Ping-Pong than Candy is, which I find really funny.  I mean there are Ping-Pong tables everywhere in China.  Aaron did his presentation on the elderly of Xi'an and he has so many pictures of eighty something year old people playing Ping-Pong, because it's good for their bodies ("shen ti hen hào"). 

 

Okay, I know I set the framework for this post by talking about my favorite places and then took my sweet time getting to the point.  My other favorite place was a little calligraphy store in Hui Ming Jie (Muslim quarter).   The Muslim Quarter is amazing in its own right but this one little shop took the cake.  The Muslim Quarter has the best food and all of the best bargaining in Xi'an.  It's basically a really good place to spend all your money.  I spent more in one morning there than I did on the first four weeks of the program, which really wasn't that hard and it was totally worth it.  (It was a good thing that basically all I did on Sunday the 27^th was exchange money).

 

I went with a group of my friends.  I'm sure the only reason my host family let me go was because we would have adult supervision.  Makea's grandmother lives in Beijing and her mother was a Chinese immigrant.  They both decided to come visit her in Xi'an.  She wanted to show them the highlights of the city. It really worked out nicely. 

 

The five other students and I took a bus and the subway to the Muslim Quarter.  It was kind of hard for Makea's grandmother to walk so they took a taxi.  I absolutely love the subway.  It's actually so easy.  All the machines are self-service and they also have an English setting, which I'm proud to say I didn't have to use.  The metro lines also have the bus stops written in pinyin below the characters so you always know where you are.  It's just incredibly easy to use when the ticket machine doesn't break down on you (but that's a story for later). 

 

We met Makea's family at the McDonalds by the Drum Tower.  The Mai Dong Lao was interesting.  We must have looked so incredibly American but it was still good to see.  I didn't buy anything.  Everything was pretty similar to their US prices, which of course made everything look outrageously expensive.  The place did smell good though.  I've decided that one of the first things I want to eat when I'm back home is a hot fudge malt and onion rings from Annie's.  

 

I had been to the Muslim quarter before although I hadn't realized it.  We had eaten there once for dinner.  We just hadn't ventured down the bargaining street.  Street is a generous term.  It's more of an alley.  An alley crowded with merchants that pesky motorcycles will occasionally drive down.

 

I'm not all that great at bargaining.  Especially at the beginning of the day.  I'll be honest I was pretty awful.  I bought a silk scarf for 80 Yuan. I thought I did decently. I mean I did lower the price almost 50 Yuan.  To prove a point, Alex then found another merchant selling scarfs and the starting price was 20 kuai lower than the other scarf's final.  We bargained it down to 30. 

 

You have to make some mistakes to get better though.  The first time Alex bargained he bought a fancy chopstick set for 100 kuai.  (Kuai and Yuan are the same thing.  It's just you say kuai and you write Yuan.  I may alternate between the two because with each item I had to bargain the price down using the word kuai, but I'm writing this so I should probably use Yuan.)  I've seen more Wai Guo Ren here than anywhere else, well except Bing ma yong (the Terracotta Warriors) but that doesn't really count.  Most of them have no idea how to bargain.  They just point at something.  The merchant types the price on a calculator.  The wai guo ren gapes at the price and sets the thing down.  They then turn to walk away and the merchant shouts in odd English then, absolutely determined to make a sale.  It's no wonder why one of the first discounts they always give is because "you speak good Chinese".

 

Part of the problem I have with bargaining is that you have to be mean about it.  You can't hesitate for a second.  You have to continue to push your absolutely outrageous price until they crack.   If you stop to consider their price, you might as well just walk away, because then you're done you can't get it any lower.  The merchants try to give you sob stories about how they're never going to be able to survive on this money and that you're breaking your heart.  You can't let any of this deter you though.  You just have to continue to push. 

 

Because of this relationship with the vendor, you don't really get to really communicate with them about anything besides prices.  That is except for at my favorite place.  It's a little shop closer to the end of the alley.  It's run by a woman named Helen.  Helen is a phenomenal woman.  She does all the calligraphy and painting in the shop herself.  She also wants her art to be affordable to as many people as possible so she offers good prices without the need to bargain.  That's an incredibly good thing, because I wouldn't be able to bargain for these masterpieces.  I wouldn't be able to degrade her work at all. 

 

Also, Helen is such an incredible person.  Alex, Katie and I talked to her for almost two hours.  Helen can speak pretty good English, but we mainly spoke in Chinese.  She would just clarify trickier things in English after we gave her blank stares.  She would then teach us how to say the word that gave us trouble.  Helen has been running her little calligraphy shop for almost ten years, since her father died of cancer.  He was her inspiration although he didn't finish teaching her.  She is also a strong Christian.  One side of her shop is calligraphy bible phrases.  She also gave us all "Pray for China" calligraphy sheets because she had enjoyed talking to us so much. 

 

I'm sorry if this section sounded a little odd.  I literally fell asleep on my computer midway through.  Tuesday was definitely a long day.  But I did love Helen and her shop.  It was especially interesting to watch her write right in front of us.  Alex wanted one that said, "Knowledge is Power."  We all walked out of their with our wallets considerably lighter and our bags full of calligraphy. 

 

I'm only going to go into detail about the piece I got for myself.  I had searched the store top to bottom trying to figure out what I liked best (an incredibly difficult prospect).  I finally did find one at the very back.  The image is of two ibises playing in the snow.  There are all these blue pine trees behind them.  The verse is John 3:16.  What's really special about the scroll was something after I bought it.  Helen's father made the scroll right before he died.  It was one of the last ones he finished.  Helen actually kept it to herself for nine of those ten years.  She eventually put it back out for sale but put it at the back so a special person could find it.  I guess I'm that special person.  The scroll was a thing of beauty by itself but with the story it's an absolute treasure. 

 

After our adventure in the calligraphy store, Katie and I shared a bowl of Biang Biang Mian, the signature noodle of Xi'an. The noodle is famous because it is the most complex character in the entire Chinese language.  I'm not sure why though; Biang essentially translates to wide.  The bowl was absolutely huge and we comfortably ate our fill.  We sat across from a Chinese teacher on vacation from a province by Sichuan (the extremely spicy food province).  We had an interesting conversation about China.  It was incredibly satisfying to be able to have a complete conversation in Chinese and really understand. 

 

On the way back from the Muslim Quarter, we experienced some problems.   It was very busy at the metro station (not nearly as busy as Wednesdays at 6:30 but that's a different story).  The lines surrounding the self-service machines stretched on endlessly.  When Katie and I finally got to the front of the line, the machine broke, keeping my 10-Yuan locked inside. Thankfully as if summoned by our distress, Olivia, Makea and Jonathon showed up.  This was really a miracle because we had left them almost four hours earlier.  They also speak much better Chinese than we do.  Jonathon was able to help us get the help of an officer and the officer got us tickets back to Xiao Zhai.  While this happened Olivia and Makea ended up just buying us tickets as well, so I have an extra ticket for a scrapbook or something. 

 

We then walked for about two hours to get home.  We couldn't find a taxi and we're still incapable of reading the bus signs.  I easily navigated us home using the Da Yan Ta and the Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan as landmarks.  It just took a really long time.  We were disgustingly sweaty when we got home. 

 

I know I haven't quite covered everything (I had so much to cover, I just started with an intriguing subject and worked from there) but I need to study.  So here's a condensed version. 

 

Friday 7/25: Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan

 

Saturday 7/26: My host Mom, Candy, Katie and I went to Da Ming Gong, an ancient palace, that has different activities like pottery and mock archeological digs to help you feel more connected. We had a really awesome tour guide for the first part.  When she didn't know the word for something, she would make a pop culture reference.  That's how I learned that phoenix was feng.  We also watched this really weird video where two men competed for the heart of the princess.  We came in halfway through.  The weirdest part was after when Candy and my host mom were asking which man was handsome by western values.  Neither.  They both were very hairy and their faces were set in grimaces almost the entire movie.  Neither also ever cared what the princess actually wanted. 

 

Sunday 7/27: I literally relaxed around the house and worked on my speech.  I also changed some US money.  The exchange rate is so good that I could make it rain. 

 

Friday 8/1:  Tourists galore at Bing ma yong.  Bing ma yong while cool isn't all it's cracked up to be.  I might just have been when we went.  The place was crowded and unbelievably hot (and I'm talking unbelievable after four straight days over 102.)  You also are pretty far away from the statues.  I've seen them better at the MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art) or the Shaanxi History Museum (Shaanxi li wu bo wu guan).  Amanda joked that it would be worth becoming president just to be able to walk among the soldiers.  She was referencing First Lady Michelle Obama's recent visit.  (There are so many better reasons to one for President)  We did accomplish one of Michal's goals.  We took selfies with the Terracotta warriors.  Also as much as I'm complaining, they were still pretty cool, just because of the sheer size of the operation.  They're still not done excavating. 

 

I think I've covered Saturday and Sunday decently. 

 

Friday night I'll try to post about this week.  I've been busy.  Monday, I went to a Buddhist Temple and back to the bookstore.  Today, I went back to the Muslim Quarter and visited the Great Mosque.  I was there when the alarm sounded for sunset prayers so I got to watch those too.  Friday is the Final. So I'll be offline until Friday. 

 

 

 

Corresponding Pictures for Not Letting the Wind Instrument Win

So I think it's safest to just give you the pictures separately as whenever I do that they seem to actually show up.  

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Orchestra Hall

The view from the stage (because I'm a star!)

The Chamber Hall

Pop Music Hall 

Pop Music Hall's brightly colored seats and Jade and Sarah

Zhuang Lao Shi, the di zi and the absolutely perfect in every way Bass in the corner

Wednesday games.  Jade and Aaron giving Zhuang Lao Shi a difficult time.

The Kindergarten.  This kid was not mentioned in the text of the other post, but she was friendly.  You can see the Christmas decorations and my special friend in the background.

Not Letting the Wind Instrument Win

This week, I realized a few very important things.

1) My stay in China is coming to a close soon. Today was our last normal Friday. Next week we have our final and then we leave the following Monday.
2) Although our system isn't perfect, I'm satisfied with the way we treat people with disabilities in the United States.
3) My love of Harry Potter cannot be dampened by any distance.
4) I really am so isolated from the rest of the world while I'm here in China.
5) The Chinese people really like the movie, Titanic.
6) I miss music. I miss my cello and my piano. I miss being able to just sit down and play a song with no one listening just because I could. I miss hearing music anywhere and everywhere. And understanding the music.
7) I can't play a wind instrument to save my life.

I'll start with the last point. All week we've been at the Xi'an Concert Hall. I had walked past the building quite a few times and really wanted to see something there. It seems I got my wish in a round about way.

On Monday, we had a tour of the Hall. There was Orchestra Hall, which I can honestly say was slightly different from any Concert Hall I've ever been in. My Orchestra went on a road trip this year so I've seen my share. I'm not sure if the difference was because this was a Chinese Concert Hall or a Xi'an specific thing. I know a lot of the concerts they had were for Chinese traditional instruments, not Western instruments.

I loved the Chamber Hall. There were these bubble like structures on the wall and the entire room was white. I could have stayed in there a very long time, except we were rushed out of it.

We almost skipped the Pop Music Hall (Yes they had a pop music hall. This place was interesting.) They were setting up for a concert but they still let us in. There were drums and music stands everywhere. The seats were bright red and yellow.

Then we were taken to a room and four musicians played the traditional instruments for us. I recorded them so if you want to hear them I can show them to you. I'm pretty sure I can't post video on here.

After that a lady began speaking at the front of the classroom. She said the words er hu (the awesome and only stringed instrument) and then suddenly people were raising their hands and leaving the room. By the time I figured out what was going on, there were already enough er du students. So I picked the di zi, an instrument that had sounded incredibly pretty and was easy to transport. I figured if I really liked it, I could buy a cheap di zi and put it in my suitcase to take back to the U.S.

I'm going to try and buy a di zi, but not because I liked it. I hate the instrument with a burning passion. I just can't let the stubborn thing win.

The di zi is a very particular instrument. You have to position it under your bottom lip, but still fairly high and it has to be turned at a very precise angle. I was either able to play incredibly loudly or get no sound at all. The teacher would try and help, but he didn't seem to understand so he kept trying to "fix" my fingerings by singing do, rei and mi over and over again. I understand the notes (and by the way it's c, d and e not do, rei mi). I got a headache everyday because everyone was so off. I understand the philosophy. I just can't position the instrument correctly.

The best part of di zi lessons was the fact for four days straight, I got to see a beautiful double bass. I even played it a little when the teacher had to leave the room one day to take a phone call. One of my best friends plays the bass. Before orchestra, he teaches me the bass and I teach him the cello. I could actually play Mary had a little lamb on the bass (and the er hu. I played it one day during our breaks at school. It's literally a d and a string. I actually really enjoyed it and it sounded like music and not screeching).

On the day of the final performance (because this is China and you can never do anything without having a test of some type.) I was just hoping I could actually get sound. I did and then I lost it. In that split second, I looked at He Lao Shi and Noah. They were in the back and both making incredibly funny faces. My performance decreased from there (not that it was much of one anyway) because I couldn't stop laughing hysterically. I finished the song barely.

On Monday and Tuesday after music class, we did Tai chi. Let's just say there's a reason why I swim. I have no sense of balance. I fell over a lot and the fact that tai chi is incredibly slow didn't help.

On Monday, Katie wanted to stay a little longer. I took the time to take advantage of the piano in the room. Makea played it the first day we did Tai chi. I didn't want to play with everyone because a) from then on everyone would compare the two of us and b) I can't memorize things to save my life so anything I played would be very simplistic. With everyone gone though, I had free reign of the piano. There was even some spare music and although I had no idea what it was called. I could read the actual notes, after all music is universal.

On Wednesday, I had my first proper bubble tea (zheng zhu nai cha). Aaron (or An You Fu I can't remember what I call him on here. I'm just so used to calling him An You Fu his English name doesn't sound quite right.), Amanda, Michal and I walked to the supermarket by the school. I had gotten drinks from Coco's the little drink place in the store once or twice before, but those had been fruity and didn't have the tapioca balls. It's actually so good. I'm never getting s fruity drink again. I also ordered it by speaking instead of just pointing at the menu. That in itself was a real confidence booster.

Katie was interviewing Michal's host sister about Chinese Kung Fu for her final project. The interview was scheduled to start at 5. We were running a bit late (Aaron and I wanted to buy flash drives. The girls wanted to buy bread.) So we took one of these cart things. Okay maybe cart isn't the best way to describe them. I'm actually really surprised I don't have a picture of one somewhere. I guess I'll just have to take one. The five of us (and our large backpacks) squeezed into the tiny enclosed space. There are two benches inside. There are also no doors or seatbelts so it was definitely an interesting ride. The ride was also a fairly short one. The walk is almost twenty minutes but the ride was only about three. Definitely worth Michal's ten kuai (about $1.50).

We had our final drafts for our NSLI-Y speech due Wednesday, which of course meant that there was a hoard of exhausted students that day. Sure we've had a lot of time to work, but at the same time we haven't. We already have an insane workload and just interacting with our host families takes up so much of our time. (Luckily I had Sunday a bit more to myself.)

Our teachers seemed to realize that. Tong Lao Shi and Zhuang Lao Shi decided that we could play games for a lot of the time. One of them was very entertaining. One person would be blindfolded and they would have try and guess who was standing in front of them, to the left, to the right and behind them. We, of course, made things difficult by changing our hairstyles, our heights and other distinguishing features. My glasses got passed around a few times. By the end, we were standing sideways in groups. It wasn't against the rules of the game, but I doubt it's what our teachers expected.

That afternoon, our di zi teacher played "My Heart will go on" to tune all the instruments. It was kind of weird though. I mean, I never thought of Titanic as a Chinese movie, but it's so incredibly popular here. I started singing along with him at one point because Egg didn't recognize the song. (I mean I understand Titanic is kind of a girly movie, and by that I mean it's a romance) Then some of the Chinese teachers came into the room like bees to honey. They made me try and sing the song with the di zi accompanying me. It was a really awkward key. But it was still definitely better than my di zi playing.

Thursday was July 31st. Now for some people, that date doesn't mean anything. To me however, it's almost like a mini-holiday. July 31st is the birthday of Harry Potter. It's also J.K. Rowling's birthday. I started reading the Harry Potter books at a very young age. My mom started reading them to me when I was 3. So it's safe to say the wizarding world has been a large part of my childhood.

Thursday was also the day I was scheduled to give a presentation for the class. I chose my topic a week ago. I had decided to cover Harry Potter without even knowing the significance of the date. I had already covered music and swimming. I wanted to talk about something I really cared about.

I almost changed my topic too. Saturday is Chinese Valentine's day. It isn't a real big holiday here. Couples celebrate it but not really anyone else. I decided against switching and only then did I realize the date.

After that I worked relentlessly on my presentation Wednesday night. We thankfully didn't have any homework besides learning a few songs to teach to the kids at the orphanage (more on that later) so I had all the time in the world to perfect my PowerPoint. It was definitely the best presentation I've given in China. I started the slide show asking if anyone knew whose birthday was today. I then used "Lumos" to start my PowerPoint. I coordinated all my information to different backgrounds in house colors. Information on Harry, Hermione, Ron and Hogwarts was on the Gryffindor colored slide. Information of J.K. Rowling was on the Ravenclaw colored slide. Plot information was on the Slytherin slide. And favorite character stuff (Tonks) was on the Hufflepuff slide. More information was on a slide with the Hogwarts crest. I ended the presentation with "Nox". All in all, I was so proud of it. I really couldn't get rid of the smile on my face.

After lunch and my atrocious di zi performance, our host siblings joined us on the bus to go to a children's home. I'm still not entirely sure what to call the place. Our schedule said Kindergarten and the Chinese word our teachers gave us translated to kindergarten, but it was definitely not a kindergarten. Wei Lao Shi and He Lao Shi called it an orphanage, but that isn't quite right either. The children in this home for the most all had parents. All the children in the home had a disability of some kind, and therefore all lived at the "kindergarten." The inhabitants ranged from around three to middle aged.

I'm still not sure what to think about this. In hindsight, it makes sense. The only person I've seen that was "different" here in China was a woman with an amputated arm begging on the street. (Later note: I saw a few people with wheel chairs today at the Terracotta soldiers but that was also a tourist site.) The building all the children were living in was unbearably hot. There was no air conditioning. I almost felt like passing out. Everything was dirty too. And the kids were covered in layers of sweat and grime. There were Christmas decorations hanging on the wall still. A part of me wondered if that was because we were the first Wai Guo Ren to visit since Christmas or if the workers were too busy with all their charges to take down the Santa posters.

I can understand why they would be too busy. The whole operation is run by a handful of women and a couple men. They're at the kindergarten all the time, helping so many children who can't comprehend Chinese or any form or instructions for the most part. The kids range from being blind to a mental disability that makes them not understand the concept of pain to being mute. They don't just help them. They try to understand them and they play with them. They give them medicine and force them to eat in the middle of a temper tantrum. These women do incredible things everyday without single break. They live in the same conditions as their charges. And by the looks of the new beds being built and crowded into one of the rooms upstairs, that number is going to grow.

To prepare for our trip to the orphanage, the NSLI kids split ourselves into three groups: a sing/dance group, a paper hearts (origami) group and a duck duck goose group. Each group was supposed to teach the kids their specialty. I had been so nervous that I wouldn't be able to really communicate with the kids. I learned the songs though and although I was nervous I knew with certainty I could teach at least one of them. The other song was a song called Xiao Ping Guo meaning little apple. The song was wildly popular because it had been in the end credits of the Chinese version of Despicable Me, which is also a big hit here. Either way I now have a couple of songs I could teach my Junior Girl Scouts that I'm sure they've never heard before. (They're my little sister's troop that I help lead.)

We ended up just performing the songs with them along with some very simple English songs like "If you're happy and you know it" "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Tows" and the "Hockey-Pokey", just some very simple songs with lots of movement.

We also watched them dance for us. Many of the children just stood there. One kid actually broke away in the middle of the performance and started climbing on the jungle gym equipment. The ones that did try though were absolutely adorable.

After the performance, we were taken to small rooms downstairs. There were three rooms so we divided ourselves up again. The plan had been to help them make paper hearts but that plan was shot almost immediately. We began making paper airplanes for them and then flying them around making airplane noises and saying "kan dao le fei ji". The children would then grab the planes and then unfold them or rip them. One little boy ripped up all of his planes and placed the pieces in an empty water bottle. The kids were destroying our creations faster than we could make them.

My paper folding is fairly subpar so I left the table to try and interact with one of the other children. I carried a little boy around on my back for a while before he got bored and wanted to be carried around by Aaron. I think it's just a Chinese culture thing but every single one of the children preferred boys to girls. The same thing happened later with a boy who was about my age. He was determined I sit and talk to him. He even pulled up a broken stool I could sit on, but then Alex came by. He, of course, needed to talk to Alex instead.

I also talked to a teenager. He couldn't really speak. He made different noises and howled a lot, but he couldn't speak or really understand Mandarin. He grabbed my hand and instantly began squeezing as hard as he could. He dug his thumb into the back of my hand and kept squeezing. I just let him. I didn't know how to communicate with the kid at all and he didn't really know what he was doing. Then he started yanking on my shirt, so I walked away. I definitely have so much respect for the women who work here every day. I know I wouldn't be able to handle it.

My favorite child was a little girl in a white patterned dress. She had been standing by herself against the wall the entire time. She also looked like she was going to burst into tears any second.

I went over to her knelt in front of her and asked the standard "Ni Hào Ma?" She automatically grabbed both of my hands and positioned herself so that she was standing in front of me and leaning against me. We stood like that for the rest of the time. She only dropped my hand once so she could reach up and wipe the sweat from her brow. She was incredibly cute.

I wasn't the only one who made a friend at the home. Amanda took so many selfies with a couple of the boys. They would automatically smile when they saw themselves on camera. Makea also had a blind boy that absolutely adored her. She made him a paper heart and he wouldn't accept it because he wanted to hold her hand instead.

After the kindergarten, we went to dinner at the grandparents. They always have the television going dinner, but typically I understand none of it. They also typically watch this auction show. It's really weird. From what I can tell, it's like a mix of antique road show, Shark Tank and Deal or No Deal. Most of the time, I tune it out. Almost every artifact the person tries to convince them "This thing is from the _______ dynasty" and then the inspector person goes "This is a fake. A very good fake." Most of the time that's really all I understand.

I do really like one show though. The English name is Joy Street. Even if I don't understand everything it's still really funny. The closest comparison I can make is with Who's Line is it Anyway? There are four regular actors (although each episode only features 3 of them), an announcer and the celebrity of the week. It's an improv show. All the actors have earpieces that are connected to the announcer. The announcer can change the situation at any point. She also tells the others when to enter or exit. The three actors are told the bare minimum about the situation. They know what they do when they first enter. They do not know what anyone else is doing. They also have no idea who the celebrity is. It's a show you can watch and still understand even if I don't quite get everything. The show on today was where two actors were trying to get the third ready for a date. The third was an utter tomboy who was just cleaning up the house and suddenly she's being forced into a wig and this awful pink fluffy dress. So I understand the basic plot and the slapstick comedy. It's enough. Next time I come to Shaanxi Province, I want to be a part of the Live Studio Audience. Hopefully by then I'll be fluent. I want to try and find some DVDs of the show so I can watch it in America.

Okay but now I'm off topic. On Thursday, I watched the news. Now that would be impressive on it's own, or it would be if Chinese news wasn't completely focused on China. There's an Ebola outbreak in Africa, A Palestinian Massacre going on in the Gaza Strip and the whole Russia/Ukraine situation. Is any of that on the Chinese news I've seen? The answer to that prior to Thursday was no. Instead they've talked about the Nanjing Children's Olympics and things like that. So what was so special about Thursday and how on earth do I know what's going on in the world if none of it is on the news?

Thursday's news was in beautiful English. It was still CCTV news but it was in English. It covered world events and even had a culture segment on Once Upon a Time. It was unbelievable and so unexpected. I was able to understand everything for once. The Chinese anchor spoke proper English, with no accent whatsoever. It was just incredibly refreshing.

And then I had to study incredibly hard for our last normal test of the trip. I still can't believe all we have left is the final. I'm so close to home yet still so far away at the same time.

The terracotta warriors, our excursion on Friday, are going to be their own separate post because
a) I have almost 200 pictures
b) the terracotta warriors are the huge tourist draw of Xi'an (although cool, I think there are so many better things to come to Xi'an for like yang rou pao mo, Hui Ming Jie, Hua Shan and Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan)
c) I began writing this post on the bus ride to the destination so I want to honor the timing of that.

I know I haven't really covered last weekend yet. I'll try to do that soon even if it's just a short little post. Here's the summary: On Friday, we went to Da Tong Fu Rong Yuan. I also discovered my favorite place in the whole city. On Saturday, Candy, Katie, my host mom and I went to Da Ming Gong, this palace thing. It's more like the remains of a palace from the Tang Dynasty. On Sunday, I had a relaxing day. I made breakfast since it was just Katie, Candy and I in the apartment (and I can actually cook). And that was basically the high light of the day. I read some of summer reading books and I did Chinese homework.

This weekend as it is our last weekend, all my classmates and I are trying to do something incredibly interesting. They had something big planned but Katie and I opted out of most of today's activities. Our family taught us to make Jiao zi instead. We might go to a night market later with the group. Katie and Michal's sister are performing Kung Fu at the closing ceremony so later we're going to the school so they can practice. I'm coming too. Candy and I will probably play Ping-Pong while they try to figure something out. Tomorrow, we're getting up bright and early and taking the subway over to Hui Ming Jie (The Muslim Quarter). They have the best bargaining and food in the city. I haven't really bought any souvenirs yet so tomorrow is my big shopping day.

I'll try to update later today if I can. I would like to be caught up for once.

The Pictures from the Pursuit of Happiness Post

Here are the pictures that should have shown up but didn't from my Pursuit of Happiness post. 

Horse Candy from the year of the horse

Summer and I and Candy's hat

Colleen and the majestic Mountains

Love Locks

"Real" Hamburgers

The Bus ride up Hua Shan.  Tong Lao Shi is in the green.  

Makea being a rebel

The beauty that is nan gua bing

Not everyone likes pictures as much as I do

Actually making jiao zi 

Flour warfare 

Maybe not the prettiest thing, but still delicious

Some of these pictures are much better quality in reality, I just have to limit them slightly so that they actually show up. 

On the Runway

I realized I never (attempted we're just going to add attempted when photos are concerned now) posted photos from our fashion show Wednesday. Traditional Chinese costumes are definitely impressive. 

First the group photo.  

Then our lovely emperor and empress, Jonathan and Jade.

They're the perfect example of NSLI-Y kids, boring and stuck-up.  

Just kidding! Actually everyone on this trip is incredibly vibrant and the variety of backgrounds makes for interesting conversations. 

Egg also tried on the emperor costume.  His height and bright blue shoes made it kind of amusing.  

Be a man! Olivia and Alex showing off some soldier garb.

The costumes were excruciatingly hot so some of us just settled for the wigs.  In the photo left to right Summer, Colleen and Me

I mean I did dress up.  It was just a long afternoon.  

That's Katie in the photo with me.  

For some of us (*cough*Makea*cough*) the afternoon was so unbearably long, that we started doing Gollum impressions.  

I have some 200 photos of Fashion Show stuff so this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Also side note with the photos, in China people take a lot of oddly posed pictures.  I mean there is a peace sign in almost every picture.  We're copying the locals so there are peace signs and hand hearts and just in general a whole lot more goofy pictures.  We are also taking so many more selfies, although most of those are instigated by our teachers. 

Summer and Deng Lao Shi (the hipster teacher)

Tong Lao Shi (my teacher) is in the blue

Hopefully these work.  I'm collecting the ones from my previous post to post again.  If these don't go through I might have to do a test post to find the proper method.  

The Pursuit of Happiness

Last Sunday (the 20^th yes I'm that far behind), my host mother, Candy, Katie, Dian Dian and I went for a walk in the awesome part nearby our house.  The park is named Nan Hu Gong Yuan by the way.  I just learned that yesterday but I figured it was important.  It was a fairly standard thing.  Candy and I always go on a walk after dinner.  The sky for some reason was really pretty.  Candy has a fascination with the sky that in this case I was thankful for because otherwise I would have missed it (We had a real in depth conversation one day about our favorite nature things.  Mine were the stars, clouds and lakes/rivers.)

 

There was a movie playing in the courtyard of the apartment complex when we got back.  I was expecting some Chinese movie.  It definitely wasn't a Chinese movie.  The movie was dubbed so all the characters were speaking Chinese but it still seemed like an odd choice.  The movie was The Pursuit of Happiness.  Right when we walked in they were at the part where Will Smith was questioning how Thomas Jefferson knew to put the phrase "the pursuit of happiness" instead of just happiness.  (In actuality, Jefferson didn't come up with the phrase.  He had something similar but Benjamin Franklin changed it because pursuit of happiness sounded better.  Jefferson was always bitter about that and from then on whenever someone asked he would send two copies of the Declaration of Independence, his and the final.)  For some reason, this touched me.  I stopped and thought for the first time in a long time if I was really happy.   I mean I'm in a completely different culture, only understanding things a very limited portion of the time and I was now sharing my host family with another student. 

 

It didn't take long to realize, that although at times I may be frantic and confused I was happy here in China.  I really love Xi'an.  It's the type of place that after I'm fluent I would come to happily.  It's also a quiet enough city that I could almost imagine myself living here at some point.  (And plus I'm not sure I'll be able to give up some of the food.)  I also know that I've had so many marvelous experiences here.  I've eaten a Chinese sugar candy horse during the year of the horse.  I've watched a Chinese Lion Dance in China.  I've played two traditional Chinese musical instruments.  I've made dumplings and climbed one of the most dangerous mountains in the world. 

 

Okay, I'll amend that. I've climbed part of one of the most dangerous mountains in the world.  Hua Shan really is incredible.  Our day started bright and early with the bus leaving at 6:50.  I was absolutely exhausted.  Besides the whole getting next to no sleep before midterms, I was up later than I wanted to be Friday night.  First Katie and Wei Lao Shi were there.  Wei Lao Shi stayed a long time, and I couldn't very well go to bed with her there.  And then I had to empty out some of the drawers to make room for Katie.  In my room, there was a wardrobe and two bedside tables.  Katie's room is traditional Chinese style, which meant the bed is rock hard and there are no drawers.  So I cleared all my stuff out of the two bedside tables.  It isn't like I'm messy (although Wei Lao Shi might have a slightly different impression as I was cleaning out my backpack when she came into my room.  I might be messy at home but everything here is very specific.  The house is spotless and I'm still a guest). It's just everything has gotten very spread out in the three weeks that I've been here.  So it was a late-frustrated night. 

 

Dian Dian really cheered me up on the car ride to school.  It took her a while to warm up to me, but Saturday she got in the car and hopped right on my lap so she could stick her head out the window.  Katie looked slightly jealous.  She's an only child but has two sheep dogs. I'll admit it, at the time, I felt a little smug.  It had taken Dian Dian forever to warm up to the idea of me, but now I was part of the family and Katie was the outsider. 

 

I like being around Dian Dian.  She doesn't expect anything except someone to rub her tummy.  She doesn't care if I mix up verbs or forget how to say certain vegetables.  She just accepts it.  Of course I still have to speak to her in Chinese if I want her to listen to me, but I'm more than happy to do that. 

 

On the two-hour bus ride, I talked a little bit to Summer, but mainly I slept.   When we finally got to the mountain.  There was a bit of confusion.  There was a mix up with our tickets and so we needed to give them all our IDs.  I had a photocopy of my passport but others didn't have nearly as much.  We were lucky everyone was able to pull out at least a school ID.  (Lucky because we were specifically told to always have our passport photocopy on us but never any other American identification.)

 

After that fiasco, we got on our second bus of the day.  It was a small little bus and the driver drove like a maniac up the narrow mountain roads.  It was like our own personal roller coaster.  There was lots of screaming and a few kids thought they were going to be sick.  I actually really liked it. These drivers drive up the road roughly 30 times a day every day and there aren't any accidents I can see.  It's fairly safe.  I even tried to videotape the ride back, but that driver was very calm.  The footage of the mountains is still good though. 

 

My teacher, Tong Lao Shi is the one in the green jacket.

 

Then we took a cable car up to one of the lower peaks of the mountain.  It was really an amazing ride.  Roughly eight minutes to take in the scenery.  This mountain looks like something out of a movie.  He Lao Shi (she was my group's chaperone) agreed that it easily could have been the site of some Kung Fu movie with warriors running along the bamboo at the base of the mountain. You could also use the eight minutes to see all the stairs you would have needed to climb if you started at the bottom.  There are some 4,000 stairs in total.  Summer and I agreed that one day we want to come back and start from the bottom.  

 

Another thing about the stairs.  All my teachers kept saying we went "mountain climbing." I have to disagree.  We climbed up a whole bunch of stairs.  Everything was just stairs.  While I'm not entirely complaining, it still didn't quite feel like a hike. 

 

Summer and I at the top of Hua Shan.  The hat is my host sister's. I've sort of claimed it.  The sun is so hot and it's not frilly like a lot of the hats sold here.  Plus it's really grown on me.

 

 

Colleen on Hua Shan.  These are just a few of the 125 pictures I took on the mountain.  It was really breathtaking. 

 

The mountain also has a lot of those locks, like the kind where lovers will lock them on bridges (I think it started on a special bridge in France). 

 

 

We were at Hua Shan most of the day, which meant we had to bring a sack lunch.  I wasn't really expecting much.  I had gone with Candy to buy some "hamburgers" from KFC.  I include the quotation marks because in China, hamburger really means chicken sandwich.  To my utter joy, I actually had a cheeseburger for lunch and not only that it had something that tasted like bacon on it.  (I'm not going to go as far as to call it bacon but it tasted decent.)  I never realized how much I missed a good old American hamburger until that moment.  I was so happy, I did the unspeakable.  I took a selfie.  So here it is, folks, Katie, Myself and our beautiful cheeseburgers. 

 

Okay, I've spent a lot of time on Hua Shan and I have an entire week to cover, but it was an incredible trip.  I do however have one last story that I'm going to post here because otherwise I'm afraid I'll forget.  You may have noticed from my pictures, but all the NSLI students are wearing matching t-shirts.  They have English written right on them.  I mention this because one of my classmates, Aaron, saw a very attractive person at Hua Shan and he pretended to be Chinese so he could take a selfie with them.  Aaron looks Chinese and he spoke in painfully awful English.  Chinese people like to take selfies with wai guo ren anyway, so his scheme worked and he walked away before the poor foreigner could realize what had happened.

 

After we got back from Hua Shan, Katie and I went to dinner and had my favorite food, yang rou pao mou. We also took the time that was just us to work through our issues in English and explain everything.  It was definitely much needed. 

 

Sunday, we went to one of my favorite places in Xi'an, the Quchang Hotel Swimming Pool. I think it's a little sad how much I love this pool, but it is a really nice pool.  I was actually there for some three and a half hours.  Candy had to leave for school and Katie had to go pick up her things from her old host family.  It was either stay at the apartment by myself in the unbearable heat or stay at the pool.  Needless to say, I stayed at the pool.  I had some fun too.  Besides swimming laps (and trust me I swam a lot of laps), I had a few conversations with the locals.  The least interesting one was in English with a guy who had studied in England.  He was surprised to see foreigners at the pool.  Katie and I were apparently the first he had seen.  I found that really weird since this is a very nice hotel that even has a Western style buffet.  Shouldn't that attract tourists? 

 

My favorite conversation (and the only one I initiated) was with an older woman in my lane.  It was about kickboards.  I asked what it was called and where I could find one. I walked away from the conversation with some new vocabulary and a kickboard to borrow. 

 

I also had a "conversation" with a bunch of Chinese men.   I understand they were complementing my swimming but not much else.  They didn't speak the standard dialect, so I was slightly more lost than I normally was. 

 

I spoke with an adorable little 7-year-old boy.  He was so nervous about talking to me.  His encouraged him.  I had seen the boy watching me for some time so it was interesting to finally be able to talk to him.  We spoke a mixture of Chinese and English.  I could understand most of what he was saying, but he decided to repeat things in English for some reason.  But really absolutely adorable.  He likes to swim but he won't ever be as good as me (his words not mine.  I rejected the complement and told him that with practice I'm sure he'll be incredibly fast.)  He also likes Ping-Pong, the color red and beef. 

 

After swimming, we went out for hot pot.  Then we went on the walk I mentioned earlier.  All in all, it was a good weekend. 

 

On Monday, we all went to a Chinese restaurant for a tea ceremony.  It was really cool.  It also fed my tea infatuation.  We tried six different types of tea.  We drank really small glasses of each.  You're supposed to drain the cup in three sips (well not quite drain, you're supposed to leave just a little left, so that you're not rude). 

 

They also gave us food and not just the traditional watermelon either.  I say traditional because watermelon is eaten all the time.  Watermelon is the solution to everything.  You're hot.  Eat Watermelon.  You're thirsty.  Eat watermelon.  You're visiting today.  Eat Watermelon. 

 

We had bao zi and nan guo bing.  Nan guo bing is a type of pumpkin pastry.  They're so good.  They taste a little like a donut but not as greasy. 

I also tried Chinese hazelnuts for the first time.  I'm telling you now; one of the things hidden in the depths of my checked bag is going to be a back of Chinese hazelnuts.  They taste so different from American hazelnuts.  They're sweeter with a richer taste.  I've always liked hazelnut chocolate, but I could eat Chinese hazelnuts for desert every night and probably never complain. 

 

And now because I feel like I've gone on and on about the glorious food, here's a picture of the actual tea ceremony. 

 

Nothing much happened Tuesday.  It was 108 degrees and so we didn't do much of anything.  That was a bit disappointing because we were scheduled to do an activity at a bookstore.  I was looking forward to going back there and I had enough money to buy the Chronicles of Narnia book with the awesome cover too.  The power was out at our apartment so we stayed at the school.  When we got home the power was thankfully back.  Later in the week, we wouldn't be nearly as lucky. 

 

You've already heard about Wednesday.  So I will take the time to mention someone who should have shown up on this blog much earlier.  The NSLI-Y program has a rule for not touching any of the stray animals.  The rule however was not designed with a specific cat in mind.  There's one cat that has sort of adopted all the NSLI kids. He'll come up to us on the way to lunch and affectionately rub himself against our legs.   Makea started out by calling him Mr. Meow Meow.  This is a rather vocal cat so the name made sense. Later, we found out the cat's name was actually Meow Meow from one of the teachers.  So yeah, Makea's psychic.  Recently though, the cat had another name change.  He is now Chairman Meow. It was going to happen at some point.  There are pictures of Chairman Mao everywhere and he's on all the money.  

 

 

Makea being a rebel and petting Chairman Meow.  

Thursday, our class made jiao zi (dumplings).  It was really fun.  Some of mine looked fine, but a few were really lopsided.  I was working at a table with Alex, Olivia and Makea.  Let's just say they weren't so happy with me taking pictures. 

  

 

The jiao zi making process eventually turned into a flour war.  Despite the fact that the room was full of teenagers, it was actually Deng Lao Shi who started it.  Pretty soon the only ones who were flour free were the ones sitting at Wei Lao Shi's table. 

 

Summer hit Alex particularly hard. 

 

I wear my war paint with pride.

 

Michal and Aaron and their flour faces. 

 

The winner of the war would have to be Michal.  She ended up putting flour handprints on the back of Alex's shirt.

We didn't just spend all our time goofing around though.  We still made some delicious jiao zi. 

 

 

Nothing taste better than what you make yourself, even if it's not nearly as pretty as it could be. 

 

When we got home after this exciting day, we realized our power was out again.    This time it did not come on until the next evening around eight.  We got home when it was fairly dark already and there were no candles in the apartment.  Katie and I were home alone because Candy had English class and our host father had some business thing.  I used my computer as a light to study as long as I could.  But finally, I gave up and went to bed.   All things considered I actually did really well on that test.  I even got a dragon fan because I've been improving. 

 

Okay, now I have a favor to ask.  Katie and I are trying to come up with a way to thank our host family.  We were thinking of cooking a big American dinner, because they liked the spaghetti so much and they made mashed potatoes again the other day. (Side note: When I come home, I might want to eat mashed potatoes with chopsticks all the time.  It's so much fun.)  I need some ideas though.  I literally only have a stove with two burners.  We have to plan pretty far in advance if we want to find the right ingredients. If anyone has any ideas (preferably including recipes), please leave a comment. 

 

Also I might be able to get my hands on the recipe for bao zi.  I'm not entirely sure though.