Today, my Hanyu class went to Beijing Botanical Garden. Only 8 students – including me – and the professor went but I think overall we had a lot of fun. We met up at the South East Gate at 8:30 AM and left for the bus stop around 9 AM. After an hour bus ride we arrived at Beijing Botanical Garden. The admission fee was only 2.50RMB for students!
提到童年对我的影响，我认为最重要的是，给了我独立的个性。我六岁从中国去了美国。到了美国，我父母一直很努力工作。他们两个都在同一尖的服装工厂打工。为了我和我两个姐姐的将来，他们没有时间照顾我们。从小都是保姆还有别的亲戚照顾我们。所以我们的性格很独立。有时候我觉得很奇怪，平时没有父母管理的孩子很淘气。但是我和我的姐姐还很听父母的话。我跟我姐姐谈过，我们觉得缘故是我们看到父母为了我们这样辛苦地打工。工厂工作很繁重，赚钱很难而且工资又低。他们常很晚回家，周末也不休息，我们也很懂事。 不经常见父母，我和我姐姐的关系很亲，尤其我和我双胞胎姐姐。小的时侯我们什么都是一起做的。我是个执拗人，跟她吵架的时候，她都会让我赢得每次争执。如果我有什么困难她都会支持我或是帮我解决。
虽然我往往不看见父母，但是他们对我的学习很有兴趣，总是比较我和我姐姐的成绩。我记得我很讨厌这个压力，但是我也要感谢他们。没有他们给我压力，我应该不会这么认真学习。有一次，六年级，我在写作竞赛获得优胜，得到了一张奖状和25美金的奖励。我父母工作太忙，不可以陪我去。一个图书馆员代替我父母参加颁奖仪式。坐车回家的时侯，她跟我说：“你父母一定是很骄傲你的成就，他们会认为你长大了，这晚上他们一定会让你洗碗。”听到她的话，我觉得很有趣。从小我和我姐姐已经承担很多家务，洗衣服，洗碗，做饭，拖地，什么的。对我来说，洗碗已经是家常便饭。
后来，我父母 仍然不是很看重我的成就。在我初中毕业的时候，因为我成绩优秀，获得了初中毕业致辞的荣誉。很少孩子可以得到这样的荣誉，通常他们的父母会很愿意地去参加他们的毕业仪式。但是我父母说：“只是初中毕业，不是太重要。我们等到你高中毕业才参加你的仪式。”听以他们的话，我终于醒悟我不是为了获得他们的称赞才学习，唯独是为了自己的学术发展。
我不懊悔我的童年。缘故是我知道中国父母习惯严厉的爱，不经常展示他们的感觉。我明百我父母是无意让我们难过。好在我有我的姐姐，觉得父母太严的时候可以依赖他们安慰。而且，这样长大，我变成一个很坚韧，很强壮的人。我不会逃避困难也不会听信别人说我可以做什么或者不可一做什么。结果是我现在可以新颜我自己的能力，对问题给出我集资的解答。
The topic of this essay is how my childhood influence me.
On Sunday, we had the day to ourselves. My sister had visited Nanjing in the summer and recommended that I visit the Nanjing Massacre Museum, Confucius Temple (夫子庙), and Xuanwu Lake (玄武湖). Bryan, Taylor, Martin, Peiyi, Colin, Stephanie, and I decided to go visit Nanjing Musuem in the morning, then Residential Palace, and the Lake in the evening.
Nanjing Massacre Museum is by far one of my favorite museum. The architecture of the building is constructed so that it gives the visitors a melancholic feeling. The museum has a rectangular shape and surrounding it are statues that recreates what the Nanjing residents went through. There is a baby lying on top of his mother’s breast, unaware that his mother is already frozen to death. There is a grandfather holding his 3-month old grandson. And these statues are placed in a trench-like structure, made of black marble with a thin layer of water. There is also a giant bell in front of a wall that says 300,000 victims in several different languages.
Inside the museum, I spent a long time looking over every exhibit because the subject interests me and all the displays were portrayed really well. There were two floors, the first floor shows how Japan viewed China during the war. A lot of exhibits had Japanese weapons, texts from Chinese survivors, matrons, etc. The second floor is supposed to represent “victory.” There was also a memorial hall for the victims. According to the statistics, one Nanjing resident died every 12 seconds. Therefore, in this hall you hear time ticking and every 12 seconds there would be a water drop (to represent a tear drop) and a picture on the wall (there were many pictures of the victims) would light up. All in all, it was a very moving experience.
Afterwards, we went to the Presidential Palace.
Hi all,
Sorry for the long hiatus but the last two weeks have been super busy for me. I have lots to update you guys on, I’ll work backward – starting with the first Beijing snowfall! As crazy as it sounds, Beijing snowed on Sunday! A big snowfall, but gorgeous! It’s still too early for Beijing to start snowing, according to my tutor and other professors at school. It’s the first time in 22 years that it snowed this early and this much. Below are some pictures.
I also went bungee jumping on Saturday – my way of celebrating Halloween. I went with Taylor, Martin, their friends Yan and Slyvia to 十渡, which took four hours to get there! We actually got off the wrong bus stop, the tour guide book Yan found the bungee jumping event in said to get off at 十渡 but we actually should’ve gotten off at 九渡. So when we got to 十渡, all we saw was a huge lake and a great mountain. We decided to hike through the mountain in order to go bungee jumping. And so we hiked for two hours, endured a whole lot of thorn bushes, and beautiful scenic views before we arrived at 九渡. We actually arrived at the perfect timing because the company was closing in two days for winter. It cost 180RMB to jump and 65RMB for the video they take of you jumping. The quaity of the cmera was not too great so we bargained down the price to 150RMB between four people. I don’t have any pictures of jumping but Sylvia does and hopefully I will get those pictures from her soon. But below are pictures from hiking/exploring.
I just finished my big paper for my Reading in Chinese class so I guess this will be my first Chinese post! The assignment was to write a story about an event that unexpectedly changed another person’s life.
在毕业的时候，玉见在找工作时偶然得到了新的启示。玉见从小就是一个很懂事的人。进了小学的时候她已经知道她长大会做什么。她的父母是很明智的人。他们两个都有各自的很成功的公司。他们常跟玉见说：“如果你想做一个成功的人，你一定要一个计划。虽然我们的生活相当好，但你不知道将来会变成真么样。你不可以用我们的成就找借口。你要有你自己的希望，信念，和心愿。”
别人听到这句话可能会觉得玉见的父母很严，玉见这么小就要肩负这么大的职责。但是玉见明白她父母的道理。不想辜负父母的期望，她做什么都要做的要成功。如果是上课，每班的成绩都得到第一名。如果是组织活动，每个活动的结果都是最好的。很多人有问过玉见：“你的秘密是什么？是努力，好运，还是魔术？为什么你做什么都会有最好的结果？你将来一定会变成一个很成功的人。”玉见听到这样的问题只能以微笑表示回答：“我没有什么秘密，我只是有一个计划。我跟我自己做了一个承诺，做什么都要做的最好。给我自己这样的压力就让我有怎么好的结果。”
因为这计划玉见整个生活一帆风顺。她大学选财政专业。她的想法是现在经济好加上她的计划，她不可能失败，一定会找到工作。但是毕业以后，玉见找不到工作。她去面试的时候，每个主考官都跟她说她很合格，她符合他们公司的要求。遗憾地他们现在没有职位。去了三四个公司都听到一样的话，玉见没心思去找工作。她没想到她会有这样的处境，没想到她会有这样的恐惧。不知道怎么挨过这样的痛苦，觉得压力太大，很窒息，玉见去了酒吧安慰自己。低声地哭泣问自己：“我做错了什么让我不能实现我的计划？”她自言自语三十多分钟，不知道旁边有一个默默无闻的人在听到她的话。他听够了就说：“你的问题不是你不能实现自己的计划，是你太有计划！你只跟这一个计划较劲得没想到利用别的明显的机会。”在黯淡的酒吧里玉见找不到谁说这句话。但是她开始思考那句话的意思。她记得有几个朋友跟她说过，如果她改变她的兴趣，不找财政的工作可以找他们。他们工作的公司一定会雇她，应为她专心聪明。
休息了祭天，玉见给她朋友打个电话。他的工作是报告新闻的。听到玉见的境遇，他帮玉见设置面试。虽然玉见对报告新闻没经验，主考官喜欢她的态度和热心，就雇了她。
那一次偶然的相遇改变了玉见的一生。
Translation-
玉见 knew at a young age what she will do in the future. Both her parents are very successful business owners and wanted 玉见 to learn about the importance of having her own ambition, desire, and beliefs. They did not want her to rely on their success as an excuse to not work hard. They taught their daughter that the only way to succeed in life is to have a plan.
玉见 took their words to the heart and aimed to be number one in everything that she does. She put pressure on herself to excel, whether it is having the highest grades in class or ensuring the activities that she plans have a good result. People would often ask her how she is always able to have the best result. They would constantly tell her that she will be a very successful person in the future.
This plan worked for 玉见. She grew accustomed to having good results. In college, she selected Finance as her major, figuring that the economy was doing well and with her plan, there would be no way she would not succeed. However, after graduation, 玉见 could not find a job. In each interview, she would be told that she possess all the qualities that the company is looking for. Regrettably, they were not hiring anyone at the moment. After hearing the same words over 3-4 times, 玉见 lost the desire to look for a job. She had never expected to feel so dejected, so scared. She decide to go to a bar to comfort her pain. Crying quietly in the bar, she asked herself, “What did I do wrong that I am unable to achieve my plan?” As she is asking herself such questions, there is a person sitting next to her, quietly listening to her unravel her life story and questioning her own actions. After a while, he said loudly, “Your problem is not that you are unable to achieve your plan, but that you have too much of a plan. By only focusing on your plan, you prevent yourself from utilizing other opportunities.” In the dark bar, 玉见 was not able to see who said such words. But she started to think about the meaning of his words. She remembers in college a few friends had told her, if she ever changed her interest and is no longer looking for a Finance career, she should contact them because their company would love to hire someone with her tenacity and dedication.
After resting for a few days, 玉见 called up a good friend of hers in the news reporting industry. She had an interview with the manager who liked 玉见’s positive attitude . Although 玉见 does not have any experience with working in the news reporting industry, she was hired after that one interview.
That one incident at the bar changed 玉见’s life.
–
What do you guys think? It’s a rough translation (even though it’s my own work) but you get the idea.
After another complementary breakfast, we boarded a 3.5 hour bus to Manzhouli. We found our hotel (we had already booked the rooms), dropped off our luggage, and set out to find lunch. Unfortunately the area we were in has mostly clothing shops and very few restaurants (that’s how some places in China is set up, there are specific streets for restaurants and shopping areas). We decided to go straight to 国门 (borderline to Russia) and tried to find some place to eat before going to the border. But the taxi driver recommended this other local restaurant and we had lunch there before heading to 国门. 国门 is a site where you pay 30RMB to go to the border between Manzhuli and Russia and can take pictures and buy small items. We ended up not going through the border because three of our group were not Chinese and foreigners were not allowed to go through (although technically we are all foreigners since we have an American passport) because they were worried about spies (?).
Statue in front of our hotel in Manzhuli
Where you would buy admission into 国门
The train Mao rode through Manzhouli
Group picture with the train!
We went to this giant dollhouse place instead and bought some Russian dolls and took more pictures.
Entrance to an art musuem
They had statues of zodiac - snake people minus me
China!!
Afterward, we could not decide where to go since most places were closed or did not have activities. We planned to go to this area with a big lake the next day but the taxi driver since it would not take the whole day. We ended up going there that evening and watched the sunset and moon rise again.
By the Big River
Sunset!
We went to this hotel near our hotel for dinner because they have Russian cuisine (most of Manzhuli’s residents can speak fluent Russian) and because there was supposed to be a performance.
We were too early for the performance but the hotel has a bowling alley and we bowled one and a half game (100RMB/hour).
The bowling alley - pretty nice too!
One of the team, minus Nancy
The other team, minus Nancy again..
Celebrating
Leaving the bowling alley we saw an acrobatic show in the hotel. After the performance they had a disco dance floor (which ironically Nancy has been wanting to do all day) and we danced for about 15 minutes. Colin (and it also happened to be his birthday) was very popular on the dance floor – this Chinese woman (who speaks fluent Russian) kept trying to take off his shirt, very amusing. And to continue our nightly event from Hailaer we went into a convenience store before returning to the hotel.
Taking pictures while on the dance floor
Group picture!
The next day we took a plane (only 2 hours as compared to the 30 hour train ride!) back to Beijing but we landed in the middle of nowhere (a part of Beijing we are not familiar with) and had to take a 1 hour shuttle bus to Sidan and then another 40 minute train ride back to Beida. All in all it was an adventure for the whole trip and very rewarding experience.
After complementary breakfast – buffet style – at our hotel, we set off for the National Forest Park near our hotel, recommended by the 服务员 by the front desk. On our way we saw a bunch of cow heads on the street and a dead dog in the grass…very pleasant sights indeed.
...They had to...
But after buying our tickets (student discount -15RMB instead of 30RMB) the view was a lot better, for the most part.
Our communist pose
China flag outside the National Park
Group picture before entering Park
Group picture by this giant Rat (?) head's skull in the Park
There was an animal zoo but all the animals looked so depressed (like the bear that was sitting in front of his own waste) and some were in really small cages (like this eagle that could not fully open it’s wings). There was no zoo keeper in sight…
This one is actually sleeping..
We also visited a bird cage, at least they look happier since they could fly/swim freely.
Inside the bird cage/nest
Peacock!
Then we visited this part of the forest that had stories behind the trees, like the King Tree – older than 500 years old and believed to extend your life if you take a picture with it, and the Watch Pine – two pair of twins that did not want to be separated from each other and became pine trees so they can always watch each other.
John by the entrance of the forest area
Jenny, Steph, and John
Me with the Longevity Tree - yes! I increased my lifespan by 10 years!
Then we wandered off the main road and explored some abandoned houses. I was really scared and kept begging everyone to leave but they ignored my cries…
The girls inside the abandoned house
John..sneaking in
Zack (top), Ben, and John (bottom)
The girls again
Leaving the abandoned house..finally!
We finally left the National Forest Park after that (more than four hours already passed) and found another local restaurant for lunch. After eating and putting on more clothes (it’s pretty cold in Mongolia but even colder at night), we set off for the Grasslands to ride horses and watch the sunset. We wanted to spend the night in yurts but since we came at a time pass tourist season, there was no night activities and we would’ve spend many hours in the freezing cold witth nothing to do. We settled for just the horseback riding and sunset watching. Unfortunately, we did not get to ride the horses because you can only go in groups of four and with eight people, it would not have been fair to make one group wait for the other group to finish riding the horses then for the other group to wait as well. So we ended up walking to the river and exploring the grassland on our own – meanwhile avoiding as much horse excrement as possible. The nice thing about watching the sunset was that we saw the moon rise less than 10 minutes after the sunset. Just being in that serene location with the beautiful view was definitely worth the trip.
Grassland! Horses!
Scenic view at the grassland
Jenny blowing dandelions
Having fun...
The moon! But horrible quality...
After the grassland we went to the hotpot restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet (trust Lonely Planet!) where the food was much cheaper, more filling, and better tasting. After eating we went convenience store hopping again before returning to our hotel rooms.
Hi all,
I am back! Well I came back yesterday around 3PM-ish, but didn’t have the time to post until now. I actually came back a day early (was supposed to come back today) because I had booked the wrong plane tickets back home and everyone on the trip ended up changing their flights to mine because we visited when most tourist events were over and did not have as much things to do as anticipated. But nonetheless it was still a really great and eye-opening experience. I have so much to tell and my post will be really long so I’m going to break up my trip to Inner Mongolia in three posts.
We took a 30-hour train ride from Beijing to Hailaer, which left on Saturday morning 9AM and and arrived on Sunday around noon. I slept most of the ride and tried unsuccessfully to do some homework. I did take a lot of scenic pictures throughout the train ride not only because the view is so it was so different but also because it was so breathtakingly beautiful.
One of the many scenic views from the trainride
"Doing work" on the train...
Stephanie on the beds we sleep/sit on for the 30 hour ride
More scenic pictures!
...As we approach Hailiaer
And we're here!
After finding our hotel (which had a wedding in the lobby, making it very difficult for us to find a 服务员 to book our rooms), we set out to get some “Mongolian” specialty that was recommended by Lonely Planet. The specialty turned out to be a lamb dish but all the food in general tasted really good and for a decent price. After eating we took a taxi to the Underground Japanese Fortress and the taxi drivers helped us get our admission tickets for half the price (30RMB instead of 60RMB). The admission tickets not only gave us access to the fortress but also provided a tour guide who explained the history behind the fortress. Unfortunately, she spoke in rapid Mandarin and I was not able to keep up with her enough to share the story. Hopefully the pictures I secretly took (you were not allowed to take pictures for half the tour) will shed light for you readers.
Crashing a wedding as soon as we arrive to Inner Mongolia
Japanese fortress!
Our tourguide with a digital book that you can flip with the motion of your hands (how cool, right?!)
So begins the pictures I snuck...
Map of Hailaier when Japanese hid in Inner Mongolia (this was under us with a glass pane)
"Pants worn during the imprisonment camps"...
Bones!
Group picture as we go underground
Pictures down a dark alley - bad quality because of the dark
After touring the underground fortress we also toured the area surrounding the fortress, which was mostly a grassland area. As you can see by the pictures, we were very silly and had a lot of fun.
Jenny, Steph, Me, Nancy
Haha..John being "Zoolander"
Failed attempt at a "jumping" picture
99% success - I jumped too early 
Ben, Zack, John, and Colin
Exploring outside -- look over there!
We found sheeps and a cow outside..
Our battle-field playing ground
The taxi drivers waited for us at the fortress to drive us back to our hotels (most taxi drivers offer to do this and some would add a small fee for waiting). One tax driver recommended this restaurant after hearing about our intention to go to this hot pot restaurant recommended by lonely planet. It turned out that he has a deal with the restaurant owner where she would give tourists a menu that was double the price of the original menu – yes, they went through the trouble of preparing a separate menu for tourists. The menu was also laminated. That experience was a shocker but it also forced us to realize that there will always be people trying to rip us off and we should definitely not trust taxi drivers, especially when the taxi driver LEAD us into the restaurant himself… The only reason we found out about the separate menu is because after ordering and consuming all the food we ate (which was pretty expensive in itself: 182RMB for a small plate of beef, lamb, winter melon, cabbage, and noodle) and not feeling full, John went to look for our waitress (the owner of the restaurant). Not able to find her he asked another waitress for the menu and she did not realize we were tourists (since John is Chinese and speaks Chinese fluently), she gave us the menu that all the other customers have been using, which has the same food but is much, much cheaper than the menu we were using. John went to ask the waitress why our prices is significantly higher and the owner of the restaurant said the menu with the cheaper prices is for children. When John tried to ask the other customers, the owner started getting nasty with us and snatched the menu away from John, saying that we were disturbing the other customers. She also said that when she saw us she thought were were locals and wanted to experience the true taste of hotpot so the more expensive menu was more appropriate – which is a blatant lie because three of our friends are non-Asian and clearly not locals. So even after getting caught in her own lie, she did not have the courage to confess and admit her wrong. We spent about an hour there arguing with her and trying to get her to charge us the original price but she would not budge. That experience really brought all eight of us together and opened our eyes. Afterwards we went to another local restaurant for a second dinner and went convenience store hopping – the highlight of our nights in Hailaer because there is absolutely NO nightlife. We finished dinner around 8PM and just about everything was closed, except for the convenience store. After convenience store hopping we went back to our hotel rooms and that was the end of Hailaer Day 1.
Not sure what technical problems I’m having but in the last post, only one picture showed up despite my many attempts to edit them. I am reposting the pictures here. Read the post below about National Day.
Decorated dining hal
Around campus
The theater
October 1, National Day.
In 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established. Typically, this day is celebrated with parades, festivals, and concerts at places such as Tian’anmen in Beijing. This year marks the 60th anniversary of National Day and is by far the most exciting and celebrated year. Security within Beijing is even tigher than during the Olympics. Zhang Yi Mu, director of the Opening Ceremony of Beijing Olympics, directed a movie called “Founding of a Republic” specificially for the 60th Anniversary of the National Day – explaining the history of China. One hundred seventy-two of China’s most famous actors and actresses volunteered for this movie, proof of their nationalism and pride. I have not been able to get tickets for this movie yet, hopefully tomorrow.
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