Happy National Day everyone! Or I guess week is more like it. I’ll be honest, I am very sad to be here in Shanghai. Not that I wish I were in the states, then I would be even more sad, but because I am no longer in Hangzhou. It will be difficult to describe in words how much I loved this past weekend, but I will try. This is going to be a very long blog with lots of details and pictures because it is doubling for my journal and I don’t want to forget details. I’ll break it down into days, but still...prepare yourself.
But I guess I should start off with the few days of work before we went to Hangzhou. First of all, my books and packet arrived! Yay! I’ve been trying to do online classes but the materials weren’t available online so mom had to ship them to me. They arrived late, and completely torn open and riffled through, but it was all there. My co-workers got defensive when I complained and claimed it’s for protection, in case it was a bomb or something. I know that they know it’s not a bomb, the government just wants to make sure it’s not any sort of materials that say or teach anything they don’t want the people to know...crazy strict stuff like that. So I’ve spent the past few days (days in Hangzhou included) getting as much of that done as possible, and surprisingly enough, I think I will be completely caught up for my Communications class by the end of the week! Cool! As for my other class, there is no time line so once I’m caught up in this one, I’ll start worrying about my American Heritage. I only worked one and a half days last week (of classes) before I got to have vacation time, so it was hard to concentrate and stay focused. I felt like I was working hard and being productive those days, but I still wasn’t able to get everything done that I needed to. Christine had me working with William a lot on his homework for training next month as well as his T&D (Theory & Development) knowledge. I was trying to get things ready for the next week because we wouldn’t have a prep day like normal and all four of the difference class programs were rotating the next week, so there was a lot to get done for those. I put less important things first and regretted it when I found myself at 6:15 Wednesday evening, being kicked out of the office, and still trying to get my Music class prepared. Then, while on vacation, I remembered that since Yo yo is out of town, I will also be covering her Music classes tomorrow, so I teach three classes in a row and have no time to prepare in the morning before class. So you better believe I’ll be going into work early tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll be able to pull something together...ugh, but I’ll let you know how it goes. But on to Hangzhou.... :)
Thursday I had a slow day in Shanghai just cleaning, packing, doing homework, and waiting for Chen Chen (Sara) to get off work so we could head out. A Do (Michael) came and met me at my apartment around 5:00 and we then headed to the train station.
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| Shanghai Train Station |
There we bought tickets, got situation, and I did more homework as we waited for Chen Chen and Lincoln to arrive. After only an hour train ride, we hoped in a taxi to our hostel. At the train station there was a big line to get taxi’s, but Chen Chen (being the feisty little woman that she is) decided we didn’t need to wait an hour in that ridiculous line. She pushed us to the front as men were yelling in the boys faces, and she just responded with, “I know it’s rude, but I don’t care. I mean...I care, but, I don’t want to wait.” Haha I love that girl. So we quickly got a taxi and arrived at the hostel in a short time. Let me just tell you about my hostel...so awesome. I loved it! Michael found it and it was so sweet. It was very hippsteresque/old traditional Chinese style. Very cool. We all shared a room with four bunk beds, very small, but besides for sleeping and getting ready, we spent most of the time at the hostel in the living area downstairs. They had internet, a big TV, couches, a small library, a broken foosball table, a small restaurant/cafe, and a beautiful little red lounge area, which was our favorite. It was raining when we arrived and we were pretty tired, so we had dinner at the hostel and spent the evening there (and I did more homework).
I didn’t sleep very well the first night (not sure why) so I when I woke up early the next morning, I just decided to stay up because sleeping just wasn’t happening for me. We had not taken towels, not realizing that hostels do not provide anything more than a bed, so I decided to walk to a store to buy some towels and soap so I could take a shower later. I asked the girl at the front desk where there was a store near by and the directions she gave me weren’t too great I guess. I guess the shopping area is only about a 15 minute walk from our hostel, but with the directions she gave me, I ended up on the other side of the mountain, 45 minutes later, but I was still able to buy a towel and soap, so all was well. I enjoyed the long morning walk by myself and took some fun pictures (it was still raining by the way).
When I got back, we had breakfast and talked about what we wanted to do for the day. We got our umbrellas and walked across the street and down not even half a block and arrived at the lake. So close, I know. (Oh, by the way, the reason Hangzhou is a tourist attraction is for the big beautiful West Lake that the city is built around.) We spent the afternoon walking in the rain, taking pictures, and enjoying the lake and beautiful trees.
There is a tree in Hangzhou which is like the official tree for the city and I love it! Chen Chen and I fell in love with this tree, not for the beauty of it, but because of the amazing smell of the flowers! It’s a very light, sweet smell, and it fills the air because these trees are everywhere you go. Mhmmm! Just makes you want to breath as deeply as possible all the time!
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| This is the tree/flower that smells so amazing! |
The difference between Hangzhou and Shanghai is that when you see a tree in Shanghai, you know it was planted and it’s in a small boxed area on the sidewalk and the rest of what you see is cement – cement everything. In Hangzhou, everything is built around the trees and the beautiful green and the gorgeous lake. It’s so natural and green! After a few hours of walking around the lake, we stopped to get lunch. We were a little tired so we rested and Chen Chen took a nap in the restaurant. They had bread that reminded me of Ocongate, Peru bread, so I was getting a little nostalgic, but was too excited about being in Hangzhou for it to distract me too much. After lunch we kept walking but diverged from the lake and went into the town a big. We went to some stores and the mall, where Chen Chen and Lincoln bought matching shoes, because their matching sweaters just weren’t enough I guess :) They’re so darling. It was crazy inside the mall with lots of people for the holiday and crazy good sales. They got the shoes for half off, only 400 Yuan, not too bad for a really nice brand. After the mall, while walking, we stopped and bought some Bamboo. They sell it in a big stick, then a guy comes and shaves it and chops it up for you. You big it, chew it up, suck out thee juice, and spit out the tree. It's so interesting, but very good and very sweet. Yum!
It had stopped raining so we headed to, well I’m not really sure, we took some buses and maybe a taxi to...someplace. It’s like an old Chinese town on the mountain that they turned into a big shopping area.
There I bought some Christmas gifts for family as well as some pants for myself. I love these pants! Coolest pants ever! I wore them everyday the rest of the trip, so I’m sure you’ll see them in pictures. As we were walking to find the toilet, some guy started yelling at me in Spanish. Yes Spanish, so I was obviously intrigued and went to talk to him. He thought I was from Spain so he was trying to talk to me in Spanish, but his English was better so we switched to that. He was a guy from Tunisia, Africa (which I had never heard of) but he and his wife had a shop there selling things like plates, drums, decorations, perfumes, rocks, etc. A Do, being all musical and stuff, was really intrigued by the drum playing and wanted to have a try.
The Tunisian guy somehow convinced me to dance while he laid down a beat and it attracted quite a crowd. He was then giving A Do drum lessons and showing him how to make the different sounds with the drum. A Do picked it up real fast and really liked the drums, but he’s pretty broke right now. The guy trying to sell him the drum was really cool so I was honest with him and told him that sorry, he just doesn’t have a steady job right now and doesn’t have the money. As we tried to sneak away (you have to do that with pushy salesmen) A Do was real honest and said that he wanted the drum but only had 100 Yuan. So what do you know, this awesome Tunisian man sold him the drum for 100 Yuan which was worth about 400, at least. What a cool guy! So of course, we got a picture with him.
After shopping, we found this awesome little food court (Japanese style I guess) which was just a long hallway outside with shops that couldn’t have been more than 5x6ft big, selling whatever food they had room to cook in there. And in the middle of these shops were little picnic tables. It was so dirty and so crowded and so awesome. There were hobos grabbing people’s uneaten food and digging in the trash, which was more depressing than awesome, but still all part of the experience, right? We got some food and we managed to grab some seats that were all relatively close to each other. I found some creepy men starring at me a lot throughout this area, so I stayed close to A Do.
Also, some young people we were sitting by wanted to talk to me in English and get a picture with me. I’m having to get used to being an unknown celebrity and getting my picture taken with strangers. After food, we kept walking in this Traditional Chinese shopping area and wandered into a store selling collectable swords. I saw a little white boy wearing a shirt with the American flag on it so I was a little confused because there were no other white people around. The women pushed him to come talk to me, even though he was so shy. Turns he’s half Chinese (though you could hardly tell) and he was there with his mom who owned the shop with her sister. They and the dad had just moved from Minnesota a few months ago for the dad’s work and so that Paul (the little boy) could learn Chinese. Man, I forget how much bigger American kids are than Chinese kids. He was only 6 but I would’ve guessed 8 or 9. Chinese kids are just so much smaller I guess. He was darling and liked talking to me but was too shy to look at me, so he starred at the wall as he told me that he liked swords and didn’t know what state he came from but he liked China, haha. Chen Chen thought he was just adorable and wanted lots of pictures with him! She had the pictures though, so I’ll have to steal them from her later.
We finished the evening a little early, being tired from a long day of walking and shopping and headed back to the hostel around 7:30. We hung out and rested, I did more homework, and just enjoyed relaxing. Chris (the other Gymboree intern) called me because he was also in Hangzhou this weekend and wanted to know if we wanted to hang out that evening. I told him we were tired and we could hang out the next day. I stayed up way to late that night talking with A Do down in the living area and didn’t get to bed until late. He is a yoga teacher and showed me some ways to help my back, as it hurts almost all of the time. But eventually, we headed back to the room and went to sleep....
...that ends Day 1. Here are some more pictures from our first day in the beautiful city of Hangzhou!
It had stopped raining so we headed to, well I’m not really sure, we took some buses and maybe a taxi to...someplace. It’s like an old Chinese town on the mountain that they turned into a big shopping area.
There I bought some Christmas gifts for family as well as some pants for myself. I love these pants! Coolest pants ever! I wore them everyday the rest of the trip, so I’m sure you’ll see them in pictures. As we were walking to find the toilet, some guy started yelling at me in Spanish. Yes Spanish, so I was obviously intrigued and went to talk to him. He thought I was from Spain so he was trying to talk to me in Spanish, but his English was better so we switched to that. He was a guy from Tunisia, Africa (which I had never heard of) but he and his wife had a shop there selling things like plates, drums, decorations, perfumes, rocks, etc. A Do, being all musical and stuff, was really intrigued by the drum playing and wanted to have a try.
The Tunisian guy somehow convinced me to dance while he laid down a beat and it attracted quite a crowd. He was then giving A Do drum lessons and showing him how to make the different sounds with the drum. A Do picked it up real fast and really liked the drums, but he’s pretty broke right now. The guy trying to sell him the drum was really cool so I was honest with him and told him that sorry, he just doesn’t have a steady job right now and doesn’t have the money. As we tried to sneak away (you have to do that with pushy salesmen) A Do was real honest and said that he wanted the drum but only had 100 Yuan. So what do you know, this awesome Tunisian man sold him the drum for 100 Yuan which was worth about 400, at least. What a cool guy! So of course, we got a picture with him.
After shopping, we found this awesome little food court (Japanese style I guess) which was just a long hallway outside with shops that couldn’t have been more than 5x6ft big, selling whatever food they had room to cook in there. And in the middle of these shops were little picnic tables. It was so dirty and so crowded and so awesome. There were hobos grabbing people’s uneaten food and digging in the trash, which was more depressing than awesome, but still all part of the experience, right? We got some food and we managed to grab some seats that were all relatively close to each other. I found some creepy men starring at me a lot throughout this area, so I stayed close to A Do.
Also, some young people we were sitting by wanted to talk to me in English and get a picture with me. I’m having to get used to being an unknown celebrity and getting my picture taken with strangers. After food, we kept walking in this Traditional Chinese shopping area and wandered into a store selling collectable swords. I saw a little white boy wearing a shirt with the American flag on it so I was a little confused because there were no other white people around. The women pushed him to come talk to me, even though he was so shy. Turns he’s half Chinese (though you could hardly tell) and he was there with his mom who owned the shop with her sister. They and the dad had just moved from Minnesota a few months ago for the dad’s work and so that Paul (the little boy) could learn Chinese. Man, I forget how much bigger American kids are than Chinese kids. He was only 6 but I would’ve guessed 8 or 9. Chinese kids are just so much smaller I guess. He was darling and liked talking to me but was too shy to look at me, so he starred at the wall as he told me that he liked swords and didn’t know what state he came from but he liked China, haha. Chen Chen thought he was just adorable and wanted lots of pictures with him! She had the pictures though, so I’ll have to steal them from her later.
We finished the evening a little early, being tired from a long day of walking and shopping and headed back to the hostel around 7:30. We hung out and rested, I did more homework, and just enjoyed relaxing. Chris (the other Gymboree intern) called me because he was also in Hangzhou this weekend and wanted to know if we wanted to hang out that evening. I told him we were tired and we could hang out the next day. I stayed up way to late that night talking with A Do down in the living area and didn’t get to bed until late. He is a yoga teacher and showed me some ways to help my back, as it hurts almost all of the time. But eventually, we headed back to the room and went to sleep....
...that ends Day 1. Here are some more pictures from our first day in the beautiful city of Hangzhou!
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| Lotus Flower |
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| Chen Chen :) |
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| Can you find Chen Chen across the way? |
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| Oldest hospital in the province |
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