Busy Weekend

Saturday
It was the first day that I can think of that I've been able to sleep in since I got here, so that was nice. After rolling out of bed and straight into lunch, I joined a few friends to go see the mosque in the Muslim quarter. It is one of the oldest and most renowned mosques in China. It was constructed during the Tang Dynasty (685-762) and has only Chinese architecture. It was a warm, but remarkably sunny day (a rarity), so it was beautiful to walk around. The blend of dragons, Arabic calligraphy, and Chinese architecture was quite interesting.

Sunday
Unfortunately, I had to get up early. We drove about an hour outside of the city to see the Terracotta Warriors. Although they were created 2,200 years ago, they were not discovered until 1974 when a farmer went to dig a well and stumbled across the largest of the pits. There were rows and rows of soldiers--each unique. The largest pit was enclosed/covered by a structure that can most accurately be described as a large airplane hangar. You could see the different ranking officers, their horses, and the soldiers who had been treated less kindly by time. Apparently the emperor who constructed this afterlife body guard was not too popular or endeared to his people, so later in the (Qing) Dynasty they burned most of the structure. This caused the wooden structure under which the soldiers were buried to collapse, breaking most of them. In the last 30 years, archeologists have been working to rebuild, restore, and preserve the soldiers, which were unearthed still painted. We walked around between the different pits for a few hours, looking at all of the remains and admiring the soldiers that had been so carefully restored.

After returning home and getting lunch, a few of us went to the temple of the Eight Immortals. It was constructed during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and is a central place to Chinese Taoism. This temple was not as large as the one we had visited in Chengdu, but it was beautiful. The cross beams within the shrines were painted bright teals, purples and blues, with golden dragons and Chinese calligraphy. The shrines had amazing murals of the Eight Immortals and their accomplishments and travels. Monks wandered around the grounds acting as caretakers, while visitors burned incense and prayed at the shrines.

We split up after visiting the temple. Three of us took motorcycles a couple of miles (for less than US$1) to get some traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Unfortunately, the doctor who we'd planned on seeing for acupuncture was not in, so we only got cupping. Cupping, or fire cupping, is a practice where glass bulbs/bowls are applied to a patient's back by creating a vaccuum and thereby ridding the patient of "bad chi". This is used as treatment for colds, pneumonia, and bronchitis. We lay on massage tables and glass bulbs were brought in. They looked like softball-sized fishbowls. A flaming cotton ball was held (using tweezers) inside the bulb to remove the air, then the bulb was quickly placed on your back. They did not feel hot at all, but the suction sensation was wild. You could quite clearly feel a two-inch circle of your skin being sucked into this bulb. They left us to meditate or contemplate the meaning of life for about 10 minutes before returning to remove the bulbs. Our backs are now adorned with nine large purple circles of various darkness. One of the staff at home told us that our chi is quite good, because the circles are not very dark--indeed, some are already fading. For some reason, however, my left shoulder must have poor chi, because it is by far the darkest circle.

Two more weeks in Xi'an and time is flying.

The Past Week

Teaching:

So somehow it's already Friday and a whole week of the new Summer English Camp has gone by. This group is significantly better behaved than the previous one (meaning I haven't been bitten or hit or screamed at). This camp is at a different place, too. It's in a community center of sorts just within the South Wall of the old city, so it's much closer than the old camp. We have about 22 kids ranging in age from 7 to 15. Their English-speaking abilities vary just as much as their ages. I read them a Dr. Seuss book yesterday, but apparently they weren't too thrilled by it--they wanted a "fairy tale" rather than One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Today we played some games. We divided the class into four teams, but since there were only 22 today and not 24 I had to join a team. We did a three-legged race, holding a balloon between your backs, and a toilet paper mummy event. I tied my leg to a boy named Kevin, who does the most incredible impersonation of a horse. Needless to say it was a bit of a challenge for us to walk together. What was even more entertaining was when Katie, this shy, 8 year old girl, and I had to hold a balloon behind our backs. She was, obviously, about half as tall as I am--so it was a sight.

Miscellaneous Fun Facts:

Wednesday night we had a guest speaker on traditional Chinese medicine. Via translator he spoke about acupuncture and the value of the 365 pressure points on the body. Following the lecture we had the opportunity to have needles placed in some of the more inconsequential pressure points. Naturally, my hand shot up to volunteer. The first one went in my lower leg, which apparently--if applied frequently--helps you gain weight. We had heard that you could get needles in the head, so I signed up for that one too. I thought that it would be in the top of my head somewhere, but he came at my face and I was a little frightened. It went right in my forehead...just at the hair line. It didn't bother me until he took it out--when it felt like my forehead was coming with the needle. I think we're going to try to get a real appointment for acupuncture and cupping some time this weekend/early next week.

The other night a fellow volunteer, who is from South Korea, wanted to take us out for dinner at a Korean Restuarant. More than a dozen of us went to a Korean bbq place and had a delicious dinner. As we thought we were finishing, someone found "dog" on the menu. The question was quickly passed around as to whether we wanted to try it. Despite being conflicted about eating a dog, who just as easily might have been my own, we decided that when in Rome...The plate arrived and several of us shared the dish. Although it was tender and succulent and tasted like lamb, many of us could not help but feel horrible. Apparently the dogs used are mutts that are raised for this purpose, but that still has not helped me get over it--and this was Wednesday night.

Yesterday afternoon there was an earthquake in Sichuan Province...where I'd been last weekend. Apparently it was only a small aftershock from May's devastating earthquake, but it was felt here in Xi'an. I was completely unconscious on a couch in one of the apartments, so I knew nothing of it until someone told me about it. It was very, very small, so please don't freak out about it--nothing to worry about.

Last night (Thursday) we were returning from going out and were trying to find enough rickshaws to bring the group back, but were not being successful. We stumbled across a group of men with scooters (think Vespa fueled by a battery...and significantly less glamorous), who agreed to take us back to the apartment for 8 kuai (a little more than US$1). Being A) a ridiculously great deal, and B) an awesome way to get back home, we hopped on and were on our way. I had not been on a scooter yet, but it was very fun and entertaining. Thankfully it was late enough that traffic was significantly lighter...otherwise it would've been slightly unnerving. Even more exciting: when we got back you could see the MOON! I hadn't seen the moon in Xi'an once since I arrived, and had only seen it once in China--when we were in Chengdu. A bright, half moon was a nice touch to a great, entertaining night out.

I'm not sure what this weekend's plans are, so hopefully I'll have some stories come Monday. Only 2 more weeks in Xi'an...I can't believe I've been here for 3 already.

Chengdu (成都)

This weekend a small group of us flew to Chengdu, which is in the Sichuan Province. Although it seems more metropolitan than Xi'an, it manages to have a much more traditional style of architecture than Xi'an--many more buildings feature the traditional Chinese architecture. The first night out we marveled at how we could actually see the moon...the pollution/smog seemd to be significantly less severe in Chengdu than in Xi'an. However, being much closer to the sea, its climate was much more humid.

On Saturday we were, unfortunately, unable to make it to the Buddah further outside of the city. We did, however, explore much of the city. We first stumbled upon a large park that had trails lined with trees and bushes and rocks to climb, as well as a large pond with koi...koi by the score. For a couple kuai we could feed them, which created an absolute feeding frenzy. After wandering around the park a bit longer we made our way to the Taoist Temple. It was filled with gardens and smaller pagodas with sanctuaries. Each sanctuary had enormous sculptures of patriarchs and murals of Taoist history. The gardens had stone sculptures of dragons, lions, and Chinese zodiacs, all of which were beautiful. When we left the temple a friend and I agreed that we felt significantly more relaxed than when we had left.

From the temple we made our way into the center of the city to where a very large statue of Chairman Mao watches over a square and the main promenade. It had begun to rain lightly, but it soon stopped. The square was very modern and surrounded by Western influence. We grabbed a cold drink and a break inside a Starbucks...which was right next to a McDonald's. It certainly felt like I was back home walking into the Starbucks, but it also is rather weird to have such glaring American/Western influences within eyesight of Mao's statue. I feel as though he would not be too thrilled by it.

Sunday (today) we woke up early to go to the Chengdu Giant Panda Reserve. It is a little outside of the city and was mildly effected by the earthquake in Sichuan earlier this year. Apparently the pandas were flown to Beijing temporarily. We walked around for only a little while before we came to the first habitat. Surprisingly, the first creatures we came aross were peacocks--just walking down the path. Soon thereafter we saw two pandas chowing down on a healthy pile of bamboo shoots. They certainly are slow and lazy creatures, but they are magnificent. Each habitat had several pandas. Some would be eating bamboo, others walking around, some monkeying about on the trees and play areas. Surprisingly, pandas can climb straight up trees and posts with some speed--not what you'd expect when they usually just sit around eating.

After marveling for a while, a couple of us got to hold a panda cub. We went into a building where they are held and fed and we sat on a bench, one at a time, and got to have a cub sit on our lap. We had to don gloves and a smock of sorts, and had a 1.5-year old Giant Panda sit on our lap. It was absolutely incredible. It looked like it was going to crush us, but was surprisingly light. So furry, so completely unmoved by it's surroundings...just muching on the apple they gave it. At one point it dropped the apple right into my hand, so I fed it--which was awesome. A moment later it dropped its free paw right into my hand. A high five from a panda! It was such an amazing experience. I was, obviously, sad to let the panda go...we wanted to smuggle a couple cubs out with us and take them home. Nevermind that they grow to 300+ pounds. They were adorable and fluffy and amazing.

Once we got back from the reserve we checked out of the hostel, grabbed a bite to eat, then headed to the airport to go back to Xi'an, which is beginning to feel like home.

English Corner

Today was busy, but great. After camp and lunch, a few of us went and played badmiton at a gym. I hadn't played badmiton since...freshman year of high school? It was a a workout, but fun.

After a shower and dinner we left for English Corner. English Corner is when we go to a local university and talk to the students in English about absolutely anything. It was really interesting and a great way to spend 2 hours. People asked about American universities, hobbies, music, and movies. When one guy found out that I was American (and I guess because I'm taller than just about all of the Chinese) he said, "oh, you must be very good at basketball." They were surprised to hear that I'm absolutely horrible at it. Another student who came by thought I was Spanish. No idea why.

One of the biggest surprises was when one guy replied to a question about TV shows and had a British accent. He'd learned English in England and had an Australian roommate...and of course was extremely friendly and we agreed to meet again next week and talk more. A young Chinese man saying, "cheers, mate," just blew our minds. Everyone was very friendly and encouraged us to contact them if we had questions about anything or if we wanted to go out.

This weekend I think we're going to Chengdu this weekend. The panda reserve is there as is an enormous Buddah carved into the side of a mountain. It's in the neighboring province of Sichuan. It should be a good time.

End of Week 2

Week 2 is almost done, and it is hard to believe. Camp will end this week, so we're going to perform Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes at the talent show on Friday. The kids seem to have an increasingly short attention span, so new concepts are a bit difficult to present.

The other afternoon a few of us went back to the Muslim quarter to do some shopping and looking around. Bargaining, as I may have mentioned earlier, is absolutely fantastic. There are few things more entertaining than to argue with a shopkeeper about how they are trying to rip you off and you're trying to put them out on the street. Collectively, we made a killing...and a few of us are now friends with half of the street's merchants.

This afternoon a few of us went down the street for massages. We got a full body massage for 110 minutes for 65 kuai...just shy of $10. It was quite excellent. We came back, regrouped, and went out for dinner at a great sushi place. There was actually a sign near the establishment that read, "No Japanese." After dinner we went back the quarter at night. Lights that arch across the street are lit and it is bustling. We swung by the "souvenier street" and managed to find some of our friendly merchants, who were more than eager to drag us physically into their shops and try to push more merchandise on us. We took a motorcycle rickshaw back again this evening, which is always an adventure. Dodging traffic, horns honking, and waving to passing motorists...excellent.

We came back from out adventures and played a good 90 minutes of majiang. Tomorrow is badmitton, which should be fantastic.

Hua Shan

Ok, so as a preface, this was the most amazing thing I have ever done.

Hua Shan is the steepest mountain in China, and possibly the world (I can't find a confirmation on that). The summit is only 2100m in elevation, but once you stray from the peak you just go straight down.

We took a bus from Xi'an yesterday afternoon at 6 and arrived in Hua Shan around 8. After a lengthy lecture in safety and possib le opporunities for death, all of which was in Chinese...meaning that I understood about 6 words, we started to walk up towards the mountain. Even in the increasing darkness, you could still see this enormous mountains shooting up out of the ground. We started our adventure at 8:30PM. The first hour or so was paths that wound up the small foothills and into the valleys created by the mountains, which are right on top of each other. There were countless checkpoints along the way--little stands that sold water, gatorade, Chinese Red Bull, beer, watermelon, food, etc. After about 90 minutes or so we switched to stairs--and never looked back. We stopped around 10:30 at a rather large check point and were informed that we were nearly half way to the top...rather significantly ahead of schedule. We spent an hour at that check point and a friend and I ended up playing a couple games of majiang with some Chinese people that we met. I almost won, but they just laughed at me. It seems to be the cool thing to do here: laugh at the White Devils when you try to talk to them, or stare at them as they walk by.

We soldiered on and soon began to encounter some sets of stairs that were not for the faint of heart. Each side of the "stairway" (sometimes better referred to as "ladder") had a large chainlink rope to hold onto as you hauled yourself up. We took regular breaks as we encountered checkpoints, but otherwise made great time. We could see a string of lights far above us, knowing that we were eventually going to get there, but had no idea when or how. The stairs were endless--any of the pictures you'll see don't do justice to how vertical they were. Stairs went to stairs, which went to stairs, which went to...more stairs. Apparently just between the North Peak (last real check point) and the East Peak (finish line) there are 3,000 stairs. We hung out at the North Peak for a couple hours--from 1AM to 3AM to eat, rest a bit, and kill time. Then we got back to climbing the endless flights of stairs.

The last hump to get to the East Peak wasn't a stairway. It was a stone wall with "steps" carved into it. there was a chain rope going down the middle, which you used to pull yourself up while walking up the wall. It was a blast. You almost forgot that it was after 4AM and that you hadn't slept since 10AM the day before.

We made it to the East Peak at 4:30--8 hours after we started--and it was packed. We found a spot near the edge...I'd be lying if I said that being that close to a 2100m drop didn't freak me out a bit. We killed an hour until it began to become light. People began to stand up and as dawn approached we could begind to see the surrounding landscape. It was absolutely incredible. Steep, sheer mountains everywhere, surrounded by clouds. As it became light and the sun came through the clouds...wow.

We began our descent and could finally see everything that we had climbed through during the night. There really aren't enough words to describe how breath-taking the sights were. And the photos will not do it justice. Just absolutely amazing.

We made it back to the North Peak an hour later to grab the gondola to go back to the bottom--we were not about to trek all the way back down. When we got on the bus to return to Xi'an, all I wanted to do was pass out and go to sleep. BUT, this Chinese man who was working with the bus company sits down across from me and we end up talking for about 15 minutes (in interpretive Chinese) about why he thought America is better than China, how he served in the PLA, why America doesn't like France, and why the female friend that was with us was not my girlfriend. Once he left and we got moving, I went to sleep and woke up as we were approaching the station in Xi'an. We arrived back at the apartment just before 11:30AM...just in time for the most amazing shower of all time and lunch. I will most certainly be going to bed early this evening.

Bottom line: absolutely amazing experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Quick Update

Yesterday afternoon I went into the city with a friend in search of my very own set of majiang. It was much more of an adventure than we had anticipated. The cab driver didn't exactly drop us off at the precise place, so we had to wander and I had to use broken Chinese to find where to go (unfortunately I have not yet learned directions). We finally found the place and after a long conversation with the owner, who had very stale cigarette breath, we made our purchases and were on our way. I'm brining the set home, obviously, so everyone is going to have to learn how to play it. It is quite fun and very, very addicting. My first afternoon I didn't understand it, but by that evening I was already playing. This evening a few of us are taking a bus out to the Hua Shan Mountains (see last entry). It should be great. I'll write about it when we get back.

The Old City

The internet has been squirrely recently, so here's an account of the last couple of days.

Yesterday we went into the Muslim Quarter, which is in the old city. There are streets and winding alleys lined with shops/stands of merchants selling every conceivable item. For some reason, they're big on selling underwear and belts. We were solicited several times as to whether we wanted underwear. Go figure. From Mao watches and his Little Red Book, to Swords, to Olympic t-shirts, to every other knick knack...you could find it all there. I had my first experience with haggling. It is a theatrical production. The merchant names a price, which is obviously absurdly too high. You name a counter offer, which is offensively low, and proceed to work the seller down from there. If you pretend to walk away enough times, you can get said trinket for the offensively low price that you originally offered. It's a blast. Knowing some Chinese was helpful in this venture...and has been invaluable in getting around thus far. I honestly don't know how I would have managed without knowing the small bit of Chinese that I do.

We had finished in the shop-filed alleys and were on one of the streets looking at some small birds in a cage on a sidewalk when this man approached us and started talking to us. His English was quite good and after a few minutes of talking with him he asked us if we wanted to see an art exhibition. We agreed and he led us into a nearby store and upstairs to this room filled with artwork. Calligraphy, landscapes, several "beautiful concubines", dragons, horses and the Chinese Robin Hood were only some of the pieces that he showed us. We spent nearly an hour in there talking to him and looking at the artwork. We promised to return the next day (today) and get a few pieces.

Today:

Day three of teaching. I'm finally beginning to learn more of the kids' names--not just the troublemakers. Their attention span is quite, quite short, but the ones who really seem to care do really well. There is one boy who seems content to chew on the top of his water bottle, so we've decided to just let him do his own thing.

After lunch and a desperately needed power nap a few of us returned to the Muslim quarter to rendezvous with the man from the art exhibition (David) and bike along the old city wall. We'd just gotten out of the cab when we decided to take a ride on a motorized rickshaw around the quarter just because. Four of us squeezed into this tiny compartment and had a thoroughly entertaining time as we thundered down streets and back alleys avoiding pedestrians, cyclists, and head on collisions with taxis. The way people drive here...and the narrowness of the streets...I'm not quite sure how we made it past a taxi this afternoon without dying. We finally decided we'd had enough richshawing and were conveniently right outside of David's place. We got out and were walking towards the door when he popped up and took us inside. Again, he talked to us about each piece, explaining the significance, the meaning of words, and talking to us about the U.S. Once we left David's we made our way to the South Gate of the old city wall. The walls are somewhere between 40 and 60 feet high and create a large square enclosure around the oldest part of the city. You can go up on top of the walls and rent bikes and ride around, so that's what we did. It was 4 in the afternoon and the wall, in total is 8 miles long, so needless to say we worked up a sweat. Barely 20 minutes into the adventure we lost our shirts, turned them into Lawrence of Arabia-style headwear, and continued onward. This fashion would get us countless looks from passing visitors and quite a few photographs. The path along the wall was easily 50 feet wide and many of the stones creating the ground had eroded over time, so the ride was a bit jarring at times. It was incredible how big it was and you, at times, could not even see the next corner (partially due to air pollution that limited visibility). The lazier visitors could get rides in little Smart-like gocarts, and we raced quite a few of them. We even ventured to tell the drivers--in Chinese--that we thought they were too slow. After a little over an hour and after races, water breaks, and many photographs we completed the loop. We snagged a cab ride back--with beautiful, beautiful air conditioning--just in time for dinner.

After a quick and amazing shower we had a lecture/lesson in Chinese calligraphy. I'd done calligraphy once before in class, so I notionally knew what to do, but it is an art--meaning that my characters still looked pretty mediocre. We entertained ourselves with how bad some of our peers were at writing the characters with brushes.

This weekend a few of us are planning on heading east to the Hua Shan mountains to hike. We'll leave Friday evening and make the two-hour trip out there, eat dinner, then start hiking...for the next 6-8 hours If you hike through the night you can make it up to the summit by sunrise, which is supposed to be incredible. Hopefully that will work out. That's all for now.

Teaching: Day 1

Today was the first day of teaching at the Summer English Camp. It's run through a hospital about 20 minutes or so north of our apartment. We take vans to the school, which means that every turn is a harrowing one--traffic/driving in Xi'an is absolutely ridiculous. No turn signals, few traffic lights, copious amounts of honking...in short: chaos. We were sitting at a corner waiting to turn into more traffic, sitting about 18 inches away from the curb, when the van went boom--because some guy thought he could fit his car between us and the curb. Of course, we had only minutes before remarked how surprising it was to have not yet seen any accidents. We spoke too soon.

We walked the last two blocks to the school with our Chinese volunteers, who had met us at the scene of the crash (fenderbender). There was a small opening ceremony where we all introduced ourselves to the students and parents, then broke into the three different age groups. Originally, I had been told I would be working with kids ages 9-12...then it was 7-10. This morning I found out that they were 6-8...none of the above. There were about 20 kids and five volunteers--two Americans and three Chinese. The kids were really cute, made impressive efforts to make sure that you knew exactly what their age was, their favorite color, animal, the works. Getting name tags made with Chinese and English names took quite a while, but we finally got started. We played some pictionary, asked questions, and taught them a few songs...Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes was an absolute hit. This afternoon we made flashcards to teach the kids more English tomorrow...apple, dog, panda, airplane, bicycle, etc.

This afternoon I had a tai chi lesson with a few other people. We put on music outside the apartment and went through all of the poses. A few people watched us from their window for a solid 15 minutes and a couple clapped when we finished. Even though it doesn't move quickly, it's still pretty challenging.

1st full day

Today we had orientation and met all of the new volunteers. People are from all over, but somehow there are still two who live only 10 minutes from home. Small world. We went around the old city--through the art street with every conceivable art and craft, then down a few major streets and into the Muslim quarter where the old mosque is. The tour was more informative than leisurely, so I'll certainly be going back.

Another part of the orientation was to break up into groups and go on a scavenger hunt of sorts in the city to help us learn our way around. We had to go to the Wild Goose Pagoda and find a sculpture garden, grab a menu from an Indian restuarant (which is supposed to be quite tasty), and exchange a 100 Yuan bill for smaller ones. Today's temperature reached 100, so it was rather toasty as we spent an hour and a half walking around the city. After we got back we met the Chinese volunteers who will be working with us in the classroom. I'll be teaching kids ages 7 to 10.

This evening I walked around the city with a couple of other people who've been here a bit longer. There a big fountain show with music at the Pagoda every night, so we came by that as it was going on. You get a lot of stares and indiscreet looks, but apparently you just get used to it. Work starts tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it.

Xi'an

Making it to Xi'an was a bit of an adventure. The flight to Beijing was just shy of 13 hours, but there weren't too many friendly people, so I had to entertain myself. And the movies were mediocre at best. We made it to Beijing in the early afternoon and I got my first glimpse of the smog...they weren't lying when they said that it hangs in the air and really limits visibility.

I took a bus over to the brand new terminal, which is enormous. 1 million square meters is rather large. When I finally got to the gate for the flight to Xi'an (after ping-ponging back and forth between four or five ticket counters) it'd started raining, which soon turned into a monsoon...that didn't stop for the next five hours. Flights became delayed and, in short, I spent the entire night in the terminal making friends with Chinese baristas and other travelers who didn't speak much Enligsh. After learning that "losing my mind" literally means "hit people" It was almost time to get on the 7:00AM flight...only 13 hours after the one I was supposed to have been on. I'd became friends with a few Chinese guys in the cafe earlier in the morning, and we coincidentally were seated next to each other on the flight. The real bombshell dropped when we arrived in Xi'an: our bags had been put on a different plane and, therefore, were not in Xi'an. Needless to say, people weren't thrilled. We made it to the home base after picking up a few other volunteers from other flights and met the other volunteers who had already been here for a few weeks. We'll start work on Monday, so between now and then it's just getting used to the routine...and waiting for my bag to turn up.