UMD LSBE Study-in-China 2009

Today I walked around Tianjin and visited the University with the chinese students, Angel and Pass. I was surprised by the employee housing set ups. I saw a small brick home with chickens feeding on the grass in front of their home. Angel just said that this is the home of someone who works at the University. Later that evening we went to the roof of our hotel and find people's clothes hanging up there drying. Again I thought maybe some guest needed more drying space, until employees kept coming up and changing ina shed like place. This was definitely different. As the night went on we came to realize that someone actually was living on the roof of the hotel, we assume it is an employee. They were watching TV and just hanging out in a little shed on the roof. I am still surprised by the housing conditions of people in the city. Pass took a student up to the boy's dormitory and it held six beds in the size of a room smaller then what would be seen on a typical American public University.

Angel and I discussed dating in China. She said dating does not really occur. If you decide to start a relationship you should expect it to last about 3 years at the least. The only interaction prior to dating is done in class. I imagine it is hard to get to know someone in China of the opposite sex. She enjoyed hearing about school dances in middle school and how we stood on opposite sides of the room. She said that they never had dances in high school either.

Posted by vaudr001 at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Never thought a 40-years-old Chinese guy can still have jump shot.

At Beijing Unversity, our group played basketball games against Chinese students from Beijing University. One team with a majority of Chinese students was defeated so badly (5 vs. 0) that Dr. Li was not willing to wait courtside. Thanks two or three assists from Alex, Dr. Li shot 4 out of 5 and beat the winner of the first game 5-2. See how the old guy is stepping up and shooting!

Posted by Dahui Li at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a relatively short day however I did learn a valuable lesion. Chicken stomach is way better than cow intestine! We started out by visiting the Harvard of China, Peking University. This college was in many ways similar to colleges from the states except for a few differences. On major one was that they have four people to a dorm that is often smaller than those found back home. Another difference was that they can only take their college entrance exam once so it is much more stressful for youth of china. There were however many similarities such as they did seem to love to take breaks from studying and play sports such as basketball. They also seemed to like to socialize outside of class like many Americans.

After the university we went to the zoo. It was like many zoos in America except that they had a multitude of pandas. The pandas were in there cages and habitats enjoying the sunny day. an interesting observation was that the guard rails were small and easy to bypass making watching kids who might have a naive idea even more important. The big cats were also really cool to see including the white tiger. For dinner I went to a lower class restaurant for some food that average Chinese person would eat. A lot of it was really good but the cow intestines weren’t that great.

Posted by houl0072 at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

On Sunday, we visited the Beijing Zoo. We were all pretty excited to see the Pandas and large cats. The zoo sits on a beautiful green space that is well manicured. The Beijing zoo originally opened to the public in 1908. Its age shows, given the condition of some of the attractions. Many sections have buildings that are in poor condition. I am more concerned about the conditions for the animals as opposed to the visitors. I was a little disappointed in the small cages, especially those that house the large cats. This section of the zoo definitely needs to be updated. Large cats need a more natural environment to thrive in, especially when living in captivity. The enclosures were smaller than an average hotel room and did not appear to have water. In addition, there seemed to be quite a bit of trash and foreign objects in some of the enclosures. This can be dangerous and poses a hazard for the animals, if ingested. I did not observe many employees and zookeepers at the zoo. The Panda enclosure is the main attraction and seemed to be set up well. I would guess that the Panda enclosure had been remodeled within the last ten years. There was a larger, more natural environment for the Pandas. It appeared that the Pandas could go inside or outside as they pleased.

Posted by jopk0002 at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Saturday we visited Wal-Mart in Beijing. It was a unique experience, much different than in the United States. I am not a big fan of Wal-Mart in the United States in the first place. However, I found this visit to be both entertaining and educational. There were employees standing in the aisles to help, sometimes three to four an aisle in the cosmetics department. I was amazed because in the US, there are about five employees working in the entire Wal-Mart Supercenter! The store was at least three or four floors with escalators connecting the floors. There were quite a number of people in there, but it hardly seemed like it because of the sheer size of the building. The layout was much the same as in the US. I had a little trouble finding some of the things I needed because everything is in Chinese. For instance, I found the Tide detergent just fine, but was not sure which kind to get (i.e. with or without bleach, etc.). I was a little flabbergasted when at check-out the cashier charged me for a plastic bag. I asked her to take it off and carried my purchase. I assume they do this to cut down on waste? Another highlight for me was the Dairy Queen Blizzard that I purchased in the Wal-Mart. I miss the sweets!!!

Posted by jopk0002 at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today we went to visit the Peiking University. It is so nice and big. And they have a lake in there. Then we also played basketball there. But I didn't go play, because I am suck in basketball. Next, we went to the zoo and watch the pandas. When I went to see the panda, many people around me were yelling at the panda about the damn panda do not move an inch even it climbed on the tree.

At night, Jun went to take a hair cut after dinner. And after more than one hour's work. He looks like just got hijacked.

Posted by liang106 at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today for one of our activities we visited the zoo in Beijing. The highlight of the zoo for me was seeing the pandas. These pandas were used during the Olympic games in Beijing last year. Even though the adult pandas were sleeping and did not move much the young pandas were hilarious. The young pandas were playing right in front of the glass or eating bamboo. They also had bags you could lift to see how much a panda weighs when they were a new born, six months old, one year old, and two years old. The pandas were not the only exotic animal at the zoo. They had many different species of birds from all over the country. These birds were looked quite different than those in the states. Many of them had bright colored feathers and were very pheasant like from my perspective. Another highlight was seeing both orange and white tigers. These animals were magnificent beast that we were able to see up close. The one problem with the tigers and leopard was the cages they were in. These cages were dirty and no bigger than 20 by 20. The leopard seemed very agitated and was pacing in its cage. The conditions the animals lived in were poor in my mind in places. Other than the cages the lion and tiger pit were covered with bottles and trash which I assume were thrown in by spectators. I would say that the zoo here was very similar to ones I have visited in the states. The Beijing zoo had more variety of species and it was cool to see animals I would never see otherwise. The type of families at both zoos were also very similar with families bringing there young children. It was a cool experience, but I wish could have visited the aquarium we didn’t though because of the extra cost. For how exotic the other land animals are I am sure the marine wildlife would be just as interesting.

Posted by hackw001 at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This evening when we were at pizza hut we were given a little slip with a number on it while we waited for a table to be set for us. Later we read the bottom of the ticket and it stated something on the lines on you will be sat based on whether your elderly, have kids, or are disabled. I was very surprised to see that because back home it defiantly doesn’t matter. The only way you can get sat first is if you have reservations, many people would get very angry if someone got sat before them back home. I also was under the impression that here they kind of look down on disabled people, so seeing that they would get to be sat right away was interesting as well. People get very angry over very simple things back home, and here everyone seems to be more laid back and less uptight.

Posted by walte275 at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was our last full day in Beijing; tomorrow morning we catch a train for Tianjin. Today we visited two more places in Beijing, the first was Peking University, and the second was the Beijing zoo. I thought because of China’s one child law that there wouldn’t be that many children running around, I was wrong. There are children everywhere, especially at the zoo. The children are running all over the place, bumping into you and their parents have little control. They are usually just smiling as they chase after their kid who is yelling while they run through crowds of hundreds of people. Along these same lines is children safety in China. Kids are on the back of motorcycles weaving through heavy traffic during rush hour wearing no helmets and are not even strapped in. I have also seen a few cases where children are on their parents’ laps in cars while driving. At the zoo where it is very crowded American parents will be very strict on how far their child can wander or go, in China the kids were running all over the place. There really aren’t any strollers, the kids are typically being carried by a parent or are walking. Today we were at the elephant exhibit and a little boy climbed under the first of only 2 fences and was just running around in front of the elephants while the father just stayed on the other side of the fence kind of paying attention. In America if a child snuck under a fence and got close to an elephant parents and even bystanders would have sprung into action trying to save the child. One reason for the lack of safety in China is that they have a naturally take lower levels of risk. Americans love taking chances and risk whereas the Chinese are more comfortable playing it safe. One other factor contributing to the lower level of safety precautions is that the concept of suing someone isn’t as prevalent as it is in the US. Many laws and rules in America are set in place to protect companies and individuals from getting sued later on.

Posted by sett0070 at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am going to blog about the driving I have seen in my first week. The driving here is more uncontrolled than back in the United States. There seems to be very few rules. They seem to not have a sense of what a lane is. They sometimes will stay in their lane and sometimes just drive in the middle of both lanes. They weave in and out without looking over their shoulder; they only use their mirrors to switch lanes. I don't know how they cannot check over their shoulder because there are so many cars in the streets and people seem to be riding most of the time in your blind spot. They also can pull U-turns right in the middle of the street. Most of the time they just pull out onto the road without even an opening. They just push themselves out there and hope for the best. People are constantly crossing the streets and they seem not to stop for anyone. You pretty much have to get out of the way of a driver otherwise you may be hit. Today I saw something very interesting on our way home from Pizza Hut. We were in the taxi and we were going to turn left onto a street. The car in front of us was also taking a left. Our driver pulled right around him from the front and took the left before him. I could not believe this. It was probably one of the more scary things I have been involved in. This type of driving would not be allowed in the United States. You could be fined or even lose your license for awhile. I don't know how they get away with it, but it honestly blows my mind.

Posted by charl094 at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we went to the Peking University. I was really surprised on how big the campus was. Not only was it big but it was also really pretty. Interesting to see how many bikes there were around. I also really like how there is lake right on campus to.

We also went to the Bejing Zoo. This zoo was huge. I thought it was really weird to see the tigers in such small cages for how big they are. Another thing that was really surprising was seeing how it was very handicap accessable. There was even signs that was pointing out where the handicap places were.

Posted by lauxx106 at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One thing that I have noticed here in Beijing being a diabetic is that many of the restaurants and even some stores do not have diet or light cola, and sometimes do not even have water. When I was at KFC a few days ago I couldn't get anything but regular pop, because they did not have bottled water or diet pop. I am curious as to how many diabetics there are in a city such as this, and having dificulty obtaining low or no carbohydrate items for meals. I have seen coca-cola light but only at the larger grocery stores; the small markets and restaurants do not seem to carry such an item. I am quite excited for the bullet train and the trip to Tianjin tommorow.

Posted by stra0532 at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today, we went to Peking University and the zoo. The zoo was amazing and seeing the Panda Bears definitely made my day. The cultural differences that I noticed was the upkeep of the outdoor animal cages. I saw multiple water bottles that had to of been purposefully thrown into the cage. Back home I wouldn't say that the animals are taken care of perfectly but my goodness the cages were gross and small. The other differences that I saw were how parents let there children run around more. Do they not fear kidnapping? We also saw a boat ride that was just whipping people and looked really dangerous. Is it because of all the people here that they avoid safety regulations and don't mind the idea of thining the numbers through accidental deaths.

Posted by vaudr001 at 5:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beijing University is a gorgeous campus covered in nature. I guess I was quite surprised to see how spacious and nice the campus is. I thought a University Campus in Beijing would be similar to that in the US: lots of traffic, buildings everywhere, no real defined space that campus can cover, and somewhat ugly. I was expecting Peking University to blend in to the city, but it really has its own defined space. I really liked that it has an entry gate so that no unnecessary traffic can come into the campus. The campus buildings all looked fairly nice and I liked that some were historical buildings. The amount of space allowed for nature on campus was the part that really surprised me. The campus has ponds and trees and walks through park-like spaces. I was, however, surprised to hear how many people have to share a room. At four people to a room, there isn’t much space to study or for privacy. I think the generous amount of nature maybe partially makes up for this lack of personal space.

Posted by fergu222 at 4:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning we hit the bus right after breakfast and headed for Peking University in Beijing here. While remaining on the bus, we took a tour around the campus. We got off the bus to go shoot some hoops at the outdoor courts. A few group members ended up playing a game of basketball with students who attend Peking University. After that we went to the Beijing Zoo. It was interesting to see the Pandas, which symbolize peace and good fortune in Chinese culture.

Continue reading "Day 6: The Zoo & Peking University" »

Posted by mcdon419 at 2:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I am going to talk about dinner. Dinner was one of the better parts of the day today for me. We went to a local restaurant and Dahui helped us get all set-up. They make you put money on a card and then they just deduct from that card what you ordered. After your meal is over they give you cash for the remaining balance on the card. This was a new style of business I have never seen and thought it was a great idea. Now talking more about the food. We were all sitting around table with burners in front of us. You ordered a certain type of soup that you wanted. They poured it into your pot and made it start boiling. Next, they came around with a choice of meat you could order. The options were chicken, beef, shrimp, and lamb. All three were very good. Finally, they had a big plate of vegetables which even included Duck Blood. The Duck Blood was very gross I could not eat that. So with all of this food you throw it into the pot and let it cook for a minute. After it was done cooking you fished it out with chopsticks. This was kind of a workout trying to get the food out of there. Most of it was very slippery and tough to get with the chopsticks but after awhile you were able to do it.

Posted by charl094 at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Capital museum was extremely interesting. My favorite aspect to learn about a society is anything related to marriage and family. Chinese I have realized are extremely superstious and traditional. When a wedding occurs both the groom and the bride are carried in a square room by four people. the groom's room is definitely lass decorated then the bride's. The part that intrigued me was the meal that is had after the husband and wife have after their first night together. It is dumplings, dates, peanuts, and walnuts. This is a very superstious meal the dumplings are to bring them luck on having a male child first. The walnuts i believe were to have longjevity and the dates are am not completely certain were to deal with fertility and when they were to begin there family. Peanuts i thought was great because it means to have various genders. So to have one of each gender. With the one child policy are ppeanuts even necessary?

Posted by vaudr001 at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we went to Walmart. It was interesting to see that in China Walmarts are set up the same. But the set up is different then the States. In the States, I have never seen a two story Walmart. Where as in China it seems to be a common thing to have 2 stories. Another thing that is different is the way they get up and down the floors in China. They have an escalto except the thing has no stairs and its either going straight up or down. You can put your shopping cart on it and it would not even move or anything. The reason being is it probable has some magnetic thing on the escaltor.

Another place we went today was to the Capitol Museum. What amazed me the most was how handicap acceisable it was. Every floor I went on there was a handicap sign everywhere. I thought this is really interesting. This is showing how China is maybe slowly but surely trying to make there public things handicap accesiable.

Today, while we were walking, I noticed here and there, there are trash cans but they look like they are not used very often. Or at least some look like that while the others are really full of garbage. Then today was the first time I notice that there was a guy pulling around a blue thing with his bike. The blue thing is for putting garbage in. I think this is interesting to see this is because its already been the fifth day and this is the first time seeing it, especally since Beijing has so many people that it could have alot of trash and I was expecting to see more of those kind of carts. Another thing I noticed is how alot of the bikes are not locked up. I think this is interesting considering that back in the hometown, my family said everybody steals everything so we always got towatch out. But the bikes were not locked up. So this is interesting because I wonder if people get afriad that somebody might steal it at all.

Posted by lauxx106 at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, we went to visit two museums. In the first, we watched a 3-D movie there. The movie was very nice and the seat is so comfortable. So I felt asleep. Thanks for the nap I had during the movie time. So I had energy to visit the second museum. I thought the second one is more interesting than the first one. Because I had learned many history. For examples, people in the ancient China cannot ride on a sedan no matter how rich you are, unless you are the official. So they just can ride on a car. Although sedans are not really comfortable, but it stands for power. But on the day of marriage, the wife can ride on a sedan. One interested is, at the past, if a man want to married a woman, he and his family are not allow to see girl what does she look like. They only get the information from the matchmaker. So the husband never know what does her wife look like until the day they get married.

At the afternoon, we went to Wal Mart for a walk to see the differences between U.S. I think the biggest difference is Chinese Wal Mart has two levels.

At night, I went out for dinner by myself. When I got to the restaurant, I suddenly realize here is Xi Dan, the place we skipped to go today. I felt very happy, so I decided to check there around before I went to dinner. And I found out this place is totally at a different level compare to the other shopping areas we have gone to. No matter the price, quality, types, and the sale's education are much higher. But still, there are a lot of teenagers are going there shopping. After I finished my dinner, then I decided to take a taxi back to the hotel. But it took me at least a half hour to wait for a empty taxi! Because there are so many people at there.

Posted by liang106 at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we got some great information about Beijing, the history of the city and future for the city as well as a look at its historical artifacts. There city unlike most American cities was original built around the theories of Feng Shui as well as having a location that made it more defendable, backed up against mountains. Beijing also has had many emperors grace its streets, with the first dynasty gracing back two thousand years. Beijing has a strong cultural heritage it seeks to preserve as it progresses forward. The museum we went to today was a lot like the ones in the states but with a focus on Chinese culture. It was a beautiful building with stunning architecture.

We also made a spur of the moment stop at a Wal-Mart. There Wal-Mart was way different than the ones in America. They had a lot of shops with it such as DQ. Wal-Mart here also had two levels with an awesome conveyer that people would bring shopping carts on to go from one level to the next. The meat department, by far bigger than the ones in the US, had all sorts of fresh meat and butchers on hand to cut it up for you. It seemed like freshness was key here as many produce and fresh meat stretched over half the second level. There was not so much prepackaged meals. I think this is due largely to the Chinese culture placing so much emphasis on home cooked meals. Socializing seems to be largely done at the dinner table so it would make sense that food plays a big role. I also bought a bar of tide so I can wash my cloths in the bathtub. In china hand washing clothes is still a big thing. So big in fact they had an entire isle and some end capes devoted to hand soap. I am looking forward to trying it out!

Dinner tonight was also unique, for about 6 American dollars we got a plate of meat and probably 2 pounds of vegetables. We then had a heating pad boiling soup that we dunked our food in to cook it, kind of like fondue. I felt bad because we got so much food that I was only able to eat MAYBE half and in china where resources are scarce and many people live in severe poverty, and I was an American wasting so much food. It’s a theme we all try to keep with while we are in china, not wasting anything.

Posted by houl0072 at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, we were sitting around the table at lunch and I commented how nice it was to not have my cell phone constantly ringing at my side. That made me watch for cell phone use here in Beijing. From my quick survey of the people on the street, it seems cell phones are not as big of an addiction in China as they are in the USA. In the US, everywhere you look you see people on cell phones; walking down the street, riding on buses, driving their cars, etc. People in the US cannot stand it if their cell phones are not attached to their ear or, at the very least, to their hip. I have noticed that the people in China do not do this. Sure, I occasionally see people on their phones while driving or walking, but the abundance of this is much less than the USA. It seems that China is catching up to the US in many areas, but cell phone use still has a long way to go to become an addiction! I wonder how long it will take!!

Posted by fergu222 at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today after visiting the Beijing city planning exhibition we went to a Wal-Mart. Let me say that the atmosphere in Wal-Marts in China are much different than the Wal-Marts in the United States. Having spent a lot of time in Wal-Mart in Hibbing, MN during my senior year in high school (Not much else to do besides stay home or go to a movie) I noticed many things that were different between the countries super-super markets such as Wal-Mart.

The first thing I noticed upon entering the Wal-Mart here is there is a lot of smaller shops. Whether or not they are owned by Wal-Mart, I do not know. The next difference I noticed is that there are 2-4 employees standing in every aisle of the store with the exception of the food section. From a business standpoint this makes me wonder how much each employee is paid, having so many, what seemed to be, idle workers. Another difference I noticed is that their deli is strictly comprised of different meats. There is very little if any salads, pastas, or other dishes. Also in the food section, the meat is chopped and hung unwrapped out in the open unlike in the United States where everything is wrapped up tightly or behind glass. The last main difference that I noticed is their is very minimal "impulse buy" sections in the store. The first one I noticed was on the escalator going down into the personal care/cosmetics section, which had various products along the sides of the railing going down and up the escalator. I figure that this only gives the shopper a few seconds to choose whether he or she will want to buy the product or not and I assume the majority of the time that human impulse behavior will allow the person to buy the product more often than not. The next impulse buy section was at the checkout and guess what was on it ... American candy and gum. The racks were very small too, I assume this is set somewhat proportionally to the number of Americans that shop at the store. And of course ... many of us couldn't resist the temptations of Snickers and Skittles.

Posted by mcdon419 at 5:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we visited the local Wal-Mart in Beijing. Their Wal-Mart is very different from the stores in the U.S. The first thing I noticed is that there were numerous stores within the store that sold different products. The most surprising thing about it is how they have all their raw meet sitting in the open. This was surprising since I have to assume that it cannot be clean or last long while being in the open like that. There was also a butcher cutting portions of meet for people in the middle of the isles, which was pretty cool. They also sold what looked to be dried meat of various animals which is not sold like that in the U.S. They also sold a lot of food from other countries unlike in the U.S. They had candy from all over the world for example. It also had two stories where three escalators taking people up and down. It was a cool to see what there normal retail stores look like. I prefer the set up in states because of the cleanliness, organization, and less craziness than the Wal-Mart in Beijing.

Posted by hackw001 at 5:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was our fifth day in Beijing and we continue to have beautiful weather. The most interesting thing we did today for me was visit a Chinese Wal-Mart. Because I am a marketing major I have learned about Wal-Mart in many of my classes and how they have had to adapt their image in different countries. From my observations I was able to identify a few key differences. The first thing I noticed was the different products that are sold, for instance, the Chinese Wal-Mart sold a much wider variety of food products. They had produce, a Deli, and other food departments typically not found in their American counterpart. Also, this Wal-Mart was two floors which is a difference. Customers still shopped using carts however when they wanted to change floors there was a slanted moving walk-way which was shopping cart accessible. The Third thing that I noticed was that these Wal-Marts are much cleaner, friendlier, and have wider aisle. The clutter in the Beijing was nowhere close to the clutter found in many American Wal-Marts. I also was told that the main customers of Wal-Mart are different between the two countries. In America Wal-Mart customers typically are on the lower end of the income spectrum. Wal-Mart shoppers shop there because it is all they can afford and do not typically shop at other large retail stores like Target. In China it is the middle class who are the primary shoppers and go there for convenience. One final difference between the two are the physical locations of the two stores. In American Wal-Mart is typically all by itself, away from other retailers and large urban areas. The Beijing Wal-Mart was smack dab in the middle of city.

There were also many similarities between the two countries stores. Both emphasis low prices and have the smiley face as a mascot. They promote rolling back prices as well. Also both stores have similar layouts related to floor plans and lighting.

Posted by sett0070 at 5:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was the first day that not all of our group was with us on our regular class outing. We went to Wal-Mart which was quite interesting in China. The escalators there had some form of magnetism which allowed you to bring your carts up and down them and were also sloped instead of having actual stairs like back in the United States. Also Wal-Mart had multiple levels unlike in the U.S. which so far that I've seen only have a single level. Also here in China the Wal-Mart had multiple employees in a single aisle such as in the shampoo section. There were also many representatives here in China from different vendors such as Huggies, Nestle, etc advertising their products and offering samples. I had my picture taken with one of the Huggies girls, which was quite fun. Another thing I noticed about some of the products here in China is that they will package them with a free item, but unlike the United States that item can be completely unrelated to the product itself. For example I saw batteries which came with a free spoon; usually in the United States the product will have some relationship with the free item, but here it seems that it can be completely unrelated to the item in question. I can't wait until we take the high speed train to Tianjin!

Posted by stra0532 at 5:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday, we went to the Great Wall of China and climbed to the top of one part and became SUPERMAN!! I didnt expect that ther would be a million stairs that the Chinese had to climb. It seems as though there wouldnt be enough time to set up an attack if it were a surprise attack. The soldiers were probably wearing some sort of heavy equipment or armor on them and would make them tired real easily. They must have been in some great shape. I was worn out before we even got to the wall. But, once we got to the top, it was stunning. The views in every direction were beautiful. The mountains in the background will be great background pictures on my laptop. To end of my evening, we ate some more delicious street food and then I was off to my full body massage. It was my first massage so I thought that it was amazing. Last night, after the masseuse, I could hardly move because my body felt so good. Now, I am looking forward to my next massage!

Posted by benn0326 at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am going to blog about the Great Wall. This was definitely one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The hike up there was really tough. I could really tell that I was out of shape and hadn’t done much for a workout since high school. Once we got to the top, you had an amazing view of everything. I just stood there in shock looking at the great view there was and I thought about how back over 2,000 years ago, that these ancient people were able to build such a massive structure. I was amazed by everything it was really cool. Next, we walked around on the wall. We went to the highest point we could. The walk was long and hard but we made it. This part was really cool because they had said you shouldn’t go pass this point but we kept going and we saw just an amazing scene from the top. It is very hard to describe how it looked; pictures would only do the justice. On our way down we took a chute which was really fun, but it didn’t last long enough. This was a slide basically that you drove a cart down on. You could go faster or slower by either pushing a stick forward to go faster, or pulling it back to go slower. You had to lean into your turns and if you didn’t you had a good chance of falling. We had one person fall, Kevin, because he was coming up to somebody really fast and almost took them out so he had to bail off of his cart. He was the only one to fall from the whole ride, but that’s fine. It was very cool day and I can’t wait for today, to see what else there is to offer.

Posted by charl094 at 7:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The great wall was an experience of a lifetime. Compared to any trip I have made in my lifetime, this was a day I will never forget. The hike feels like a never ending trek that had only compared to long practices in track in high school. It was interesting to see how well of shape the Chinese keep the wall in places. I truly understand why they do not maintain the entire wall since its over 6000 miles long and probably impossible to maintain. Since we climbed up the wall, we were able to slide down. These tracks were comparable to alpine slides but the tracks were metal. During my run I unfortunately saw Kevin slide an entire turn which looked like it hurt bad. He was able to bail correctly to avoid serious injury and got back on the sled like nothing happen. After we trekked the Great Wall, we ate at a restaurant in Beijing. This was a meal I wouldn’t forget because I felt I was on fire from within because it was the spiciest meal ever! Besides there very good lamb skewers, my first bite of chicken and broccoli contained the special red peppers. This kept my face flushed, heart burning, and what seem to be everything burning. It did bring be to try other foods such as chicken stomach which was very good and stemmed peanuts which hit the spot. The journey at the Great Wall was an experience I will truly not forget, and I look forward to encourage everybody to make a visit out here.

Posted by hackw001 at 6:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last nights dinner was so great. I loved the slow cook scewers. I'm not sure which was favorite but trying blood was definitely a new taste for me. It tasted fine and I am not sure what to compare the flavor to. The thing that surprised about the dinner was that this was the medium heat bowl. American food does not even have anything remotely that spicy. Also at the restaurant I noticed another child with the open hole bottoms. I asked June why they do that and I believe that he said it was easier way for the kids to go number two. So that was a huge culture expectational difference. Women have problems with feeding their children in public but here they can have their kids being openly potty trained. Are women able to breast feed in public places here?

Posted by vaudr001 at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was an awesome day. We went to climb the Great Wall. Beside, the temperature was not high. It was very good for hiking. It took me about three hours to walk to two towers away from the top. It was a shame that I can't hike to the top, but it was a very good experience though. One reason I can't go farther is because of the time, and another major reason is, the government haven't develop for the last part of the Great Wall. So the road are cover by many trees and grasses, and also very steepness and slippery.On my way back, I felt very tired and thirsty. So I bought a bottle of water from a woman who selling drinks at almost the top of the Great Wall. And she told me that she walked two hours to get here everyday. At night, I went out to have dinner with Christina. We went to a restaurant called "Lu Gang Xiao Zhen". Although it was kind of expensive, but the restaurant is very pretty and their desserts are fantastic!. And there are many fancy bars and clubs near by this restaurant. And I saw that many teens are going there.

Posted by liang106 at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today was one of my favorite days so far. The food at the farmer's restaurant after seeing the Great Wall was amazing, probably only second to the lunch we had on the first day. I was surprised by how many foreigners were at the Great Wall; I had thought that it would be mostly locals due to the economic crisis, and people not having the money to visit the Great Wall. You could speak English there and at least half of the people you met would understand what you were saying. I was surprised how so many of the Chinese people lived in villages such as the one we visited today. Before that I had thought that the majority of them lived in cities such as Beijing which is what made the cities themselves so large. One house that we visited only had a concrete slab on one side of the room with a blanket over it for bedding; I don’t know if I could imagine having to sleep on a concrete slab myself.

Posted by stra0532 at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today’s travels brought us to the Great Wall. Originally built (started) around 200 B.C., this structure is an engineering marvel. Many parts have been rebuilt since then, but that doesn’t take away any of the aura surrounding it. In fact, the majority of the rebuilt areas are still hundreds of years old. It took millions of men to build and also took the lives of thousands due to intense working conditions and lack of food. After climbing to the top, which was longer and harder than it sounds, the views were absolutely amazing!!!

Unfortunately, many sections of the Great Wall are falling into disrepair. Not many people realize this due to the fact that the grand majority of the Wall is very rural. Incidentally, the sections we observed and presumably other more reachable sections are kept in good condition, considering the age of the structure and importance to the tourism industry. The challenge is to what extent the wall can be (or should be saved). At 6,000 miles in length, it would be nearly impossible to keep the entire section in average (and safe) condition. Surely, it would cost billions and require the manpower of thousands of people.

Posted by jopk0002 at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was our fourth day in Beijing and we got to finally see the Great Wall of China! As we spend more and more time in Beijing I am starting to notice the lack of animals, more specifically, dogs. I didn’t see a dog at all in Beijing the first day or so but since then I have begun to see small dogs on the streets. I was wondering why there seemed to be such a low dog population. One explanation could be is that dogs can be expensive and many people to not have the disposable income to support and care for a dog/pet. Another possible reason is that the culture itself is focused on dogs or pet ownership unlike in America where a common phrase is “dogs are man’s best friend”. One final explanation for the low dog population is that here in China people eat dog. I hope this isn’t the case. Even though I have begun to see more dogs in the city they are all small dogs, like Chihuahuas or other small mutts.
Another thing I have noticed around the city related to animals is that they are often not taken very good care off. As a dog lover it is hard to see a lonely dog wandering the street or a dog tied to a chain lying in dirt by itself. Also these dogs are not as well trained as their American counterparts. We were advice not to try to approach or pet them, which is also hard for me. Many of the dogs are poorly groomed and have shaggy, dirty, nappy coats. There doesn’t seem to be a leash law in Beijing which makes it difficult to identify a domestic pet with a stray on the street. One positive thing I have noticed is that there seems to be no dogs dressed up in clothes, an annoying hobby of American dog owners. Also I have yet to see any dogs being carried around in purses or designer dog bags.

Posted by sett0070 at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Day four ended with Dahui Li trying to kill half the group with spice! But in all honesty it was amazing. I would never be able to get that kind of food in the states or as spicy; chicken stomach, not bad.

Today we climbed the great wall which was great, except when we got to the top there was a gondola that brings people up and a freaking alpine slide to get to the bottom. The say in china that climbing the wall makes you a man, so wanting to prove myself, I climbed it to become a man. After I had proven I was a man I decided that since the Chinese don’t say anything about climbing down the wall that the alpine slide was probably most efficient way to get down. Want to make sure this didn’t lessen the magnitude of what I was on or the history behind the wall on the way down I decided to let out the famous words of the great Mongolian Leader Genghis Kahn, Weeee…

After the wall we got a nice slice of humble pie, we stopped in a village that apparently shows how close to 70-80% of people live in the country. They had stick fences and little running water. There was refuse scattered around and a bed that was no more than a pillow and a sheet on top of cement slab. This was way different than anything in the states, and made me wonder how they do it in the winter with little more than a sheet as there front door. After the typical village we stopped at the art district in Beijing I have to say that unlike the village, it reminded me a lot of back in Minneapolis. The art studios were modern along with many coffee shops which is unusual in a country that drinks tea.

Posted by houl0072 at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Has anyone noticed the lack of homeless people (or just people begging) on the street in China? It has been a few days in Beijing and I have only seen about 4 people begging on the street. In a city this size, I was expecting there to be a lot more homeless people on the streets. What I have noticed is that Beijing has lots of jobs that maybe we wouldn’t consider necessary in the USA. For instance, when we were at KFC yesterday we actually left our trays at the table without clearing them. In the US, we have been taught to do this ourselves to save the food provider money. Another example was a women actually walking the streets sweeping along the curb. I have seen street sweeper trucks in Beijing, but in the US we would never have people wasting their time when a machine could do the work. Also, the amount of markets and vendors everywhere is just crazy. I have to wonder if some of these people are homeless or starving only we cannot tell because it looks as though they have a job and are making money. How many homeless or starving people are there in this country?

Posted by fergu222 at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we went to the Great Wall. Even though it was my second time to the wall, it still amazes me how the wow is so interesting. Of course it was still hard work going up and scary for me to come down. I was really surprise coming down on the slide things. I was expecting it to be scary but then I realized that it was alot of fun. One thing I did notice is that there was not as much tourist around. Last year on the part that I went on, there was always somebody a few steps ahead of me. Today there was a lot of open spaces that was in front of me.

Another thing we did was go to see where the majority of the population lived. I thought it was interesting how everyone reacted to the way of the living. For me it is just natrual to see the places. The reason being is that my grandparents use to live in a place like that down in the South. To me this is not unusual to see things like the glass on top of the walls or see the places look like mini efficencys.

Posted by lauxx106 at 6:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we got to visit the Great Wall and it was absolutely breath taking; very tiring to say the least but well worth it. When we finally got to what we thought to be as far as we could go we saw people farther ahead of us. There was a sign saying no one was allowed past but we assumed it would be ok if there were other people there. Now back in the states there would have most likely been security standing there making sure no one actually went by, but here the sign was all the warning. When we went out there we assumed the reason they didn’t want us there was because they hadn’t kept that part of the wall as maintained as the rest. We were just careful but it’s funny to think they expected only a sign to keep people away. Also, towards the end of our stay at the Great Wall we took a slide down to the bottom instead of walking. They may have something like this back home but it would be much more regulated. First of all there would be no way they would have the sleds built to go as fast as these ones, they would have been set at a much slower pace. They would have also most likely been on a sturdy track so they weren’t able to tip over. I wouldn’t be surprised either if back home we were required to sign a waiver saying we are at our own risk when riding down and they cannot be sued. There are also many things here in China in general that don’t seem as strict and regulated as back home.

Posted by walte275 at 6:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is a very excited day to me, Because we went to the Expo., where we can see the newest technology in China. In the Expo. most companies are from China, and we can see many famous international Chinese companies like Lenovo and Haier. In the Expo. I found something interesting, it is a alcohol mixer and pouring machine which made by a Chinese university. That is very creative, and I think it is very nice to have that little thing in our home. According to my personal experience, Chinese technology is always a step behind the world, but after I visited this Expo. it totally changed my mind. What an impression! There is TV company called Changhong, is starting to produce plasma TV, which there are not much companies are producing in the world. And the quality is very high. Also I found out there are many companies are planing to be public, so that they could spread their market to other countries. Before we left the Expo. our team just cough a product show from Lenovo showing their newest laptops. The laptops are very attractive. But according to what I see, many people are to come for the laptops, but the show girls.

Posted by liang106 at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My lunch experience at KFC was pretty intereseting. First I go to use the Toilet and as i am about to enter the las stall a woman comes up and pushes me aside and takes my stall. It felt like how the traffic works here you are responsible for always being on your toes and if you are not quick enough you lose your spot. After I used the toilet I went to wash my hands and a man was there cleaning his dentures. i was fine by this but as a side question What are the dental plans in China? Now I am on my way to order some food. The pointing menu system helped a lot but again 3 people cut right in front me when I went to make my order. I dont know if I am supposed to say something or just except defeat. When I watch people in there cars honking they do not seem angry just stoic. americans get so angry when it comes to being on the road but so far I have heard honks but no real sign of anyone being upset. So back to line cuts, my first reaction was very American to get angry and want to fight back. Then I thought that maybe the Chinese understand that getting angry is silly and instead just be quicker and be responsible for paying attention cause otherwise you will be cut off.

Posted by vaudr001 at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Time pass so fast, having a very good REM (deep) sleep is awesome, but the wakeup call is awful.
Ah, I just kitting. With a very nice day and temperature is cool today; I think is a pretty good day to go out. My mood does not stay long when I heard that we need to do a group project. Our temper just went down immediately from heaven to hell.

Today, we go to China international exhibition center. There are many company join in this exhibition. Those companies are trying to show their most professional product to those people who interested in it. I think this product show would some kind will affect company’s profit, because there might be many people try to seek product for sell or make a partnership. We need to write a group project paper for this show. So, I am better not tell much here and let you guy to enjoin our group paper more.

After we visit the china international exhibition center, we went to a market. It is in the area of Sanlitun bar street. The market is just like the day we went to the Hong Qiao market. Everything you can low price, but I have a little sick of it. So, I design to go out and seek for some interesting stuff. And I actually find it a when nice market just like a fashion mall. There is so many branch of store like Nike, Adidas, Izzue, b+2a Apple and BMW are very famous store in china. The place is so nice that I would rather go to this mall instead of that kind of market. Maybe some people like go begging for price. Sometimes I feel good to do it, but I would rather choose to shop in a fancy mall.
We also go to temple ofheaven. If I get the information right, this temple consider for someone who want to go to heaven. In the old Asia, there may be just the king could went to the temple and have a ceremony to help the king go to heaven. The design of the whole temple is from button to the top. The road to the temple is quite flat but it’s a little of step in true. It is mean form earth to heaven. We are so tire at the time that we are climbing to the temple. So, I did not pay so much attention in that part. it is fun to go all kind of those places, but it just quite a busy for a day to visit so much places.

Many of group goes to watch a GongFu show after lunch but I did not. May be I do not have the mood to see on today. So, by stay on bus and waiting for those guy coming out; I and my brother go to a place that you can get online. It’s just next to the GongFu show. With a internet, a hour pass very fast. And more fast I am in my hotel room now.
I do not have pose any picture, hopefully i can get my picture tomorrow and going to upload.

Posted by liang133 at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The influence of the Western world is apparent in many ways in modern day China. “Western toilets” are the first thing that comes to mind. Many of the modern facilities accommodate Westerners by offering these “creature comforts” that we take for granted every day. In addition, Western music seems to be relatively popular in China. I was amused by the people taking our picture and videotaping us today while at the Tech Expo. We had people following us (our group) around snapping multiple pictures at a time. I assume this was because we are Americans. Either that or I am really funny looking. I guess it could be a combination of both. It also appears that Chinese clothing is designed to look like Western wear. There seems to be many imitation brands to either look like American brands or that are a blatant copy. Sometimes the copies are rather noticeable, with the name brands spelled incorrectly, or some other mismatch with the logo.

Posted by jopk0002 at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was another great day in Beijing. We attended an expo that had just about everything you could think of in consumer electronics as well as renewable “green” energy. My group chose two companies to write a report about: Yeil Electronics (yeilelec.com) and VR Vision. Yeil Electronics has a brand new type of headphones. It sounds like you are listening to 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound with a subwoofer. If you put the headphones on a table and play music, the headphones will move around because they are vibrating from the bass. I don’t know how safe it is for your ears, but they sound great with techno and rap. They also had a pair that was able to go under water. Since Apple has not developed a waterproof iPod, I chose not to purchase that set of headphones. Well I am writing this post, I am listening to the headphones and love the sound quality of them. Since I purchased them at the expo, they were only $15 compared to open market where they are $45+. VR Vision is a Chinese company that developed a touch screen surface that is similar to Microsoft Surface but not as advanced. It only has touch screen technology and nothing to do with Bluetooth for your cell phone or able to swipe a credit card for payment. It also costs a lot less than Microsoft Surface so it would be more feasible for the common person or business to purchase.

Posted by benn0326 at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, I noticed how that majority of the signs I seen were all pictures. Like for example like all the road signs, there was no words on them just pictures. At the expo today I noticed the fire extinguisher had a big picture over it instead of a sign just stating that there is a fire extinguiser. Or like how where it saids there is no smoking, they have a sign that is with a cigarette that is crossed out. For no photography there is a sign with a camera crossed out. Another one is if there is no cars allowed then there would be a car crossed out. This is interesting because I am so used to looking at the signs and then there are words for you to read.

Another thing I noticed is that everyday since I been in Beijing I have seen at least two different people in wheel chairs. The past times I have come back to China I rarely see any handicap people let alone even seeing any one at all. To me to see that there are actually handicap people coming out is a good thing. It is good to see people are starting to come out regardless of their disablilty. I am happy to see that even though China is still not handicap accessable, people are actually coming out to see the world.

Posted by lauxx106 at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I would like to take a look at our evening activity which was the Kung Fu. It was an awesome experience and I want to compare it to other shows I have seen at the Ordway in St. Paul. I have seen a variety of shows there over the years, and there are both similarities and differences. Both kind of shows have been very professional and have entertained me. I want to first start with the differences. First, shows at the Ordway are usually longer so they usually last 3 hours with an intermission in between. Also there is a lot more singing involved with Ordway performances. Also they actually sing the songs unlike the Kung Fu which mouth it which I only believe its that way because of the amount of performances they have. The Kung Fu also gave an action packed performance that kept you on the edge of your seat wondering what would happen next. Unlike the Ordway which usually perform stories you have heard of before so you know the general direction that the play is going. Finally, you were allowed to bring in beer which wouldn’t happen at a Ordway show. There were a variety of similarities between the two as well. First, the use of the same actors/actresses, throughout the show performing a variety of different roles. Also there were a lot of quick costume changes and scene changes throughout the performance. They both also provided a clear storyline that you could follow during the performance. Overall I prefer the Kung Fu performance more because it provided a lot more excitement, action, and was shorter than previous shows I have seen.

Posted by hackw001 at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today was quite an interesting day, I especially enjoyed the Kungfu show. There are a couple of aspects of the Chinese culture that can be relatively annoying if you are not used to them. The first is how lines do not seem to mean anything to any of the people in China (at least in Beijing). Today at the KFC restaurant I was waiting in line to order my food, and had just gotten up to the cashier, when a man who was next to me (not even in the line I was in) started to order from the cashier in front of me (and of course his order was huge). This took about 10 minutes out of my time while I had to wait for him to get his order and finally order myself. You can also see this aspect when you see the traffic on the street. People will switch lanes right in front of you and honk their horn if you don't back off. The second aspect is how people will walk right in front of you when you are trying to take a picture. In the United States most people will back off and go around or wait for you to finish with your photograph, in China some of the people will do this, but a lot of them will walk right out in front of you as you are trying to take your picture.

Posted by stra0532 at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today we did a lot of fun activities. But the one that really stuck out to me was the Chun Yi the Legend of Kungfu. It consisted of many different aged Chinese dancing, singing, and doing kungfu moves. My favorite part of the show was when they did the acrobatics and the girl was hanging from the guys neck swinging around in a circle. It was crazy to see them doing this because they where very high of the ground and it must have taken a lot of strength and practice to make sure that she would fall. I also liked when the guy laid on the swords and had the nails and the guy with the concrete lay on top of him while another guy smashed the concrete with a slug hammer. This was crazy because he showed us before hand that the swords were real by smashing a concrete block with it. I found it amazing that he didn't get hurt or he wasn't in pain. This was just one of the many fun things we have done so far and i can't wait for the rest of the trip.

Posted by ritt0123 at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the first day we arrived in Beijing we have all noticed how crazy the roads are; and I don’t mean the structure I mean the drivers. From the busses to the cars and bikes it still amazes me we haven’t seen an accident. Busses are always pulling out in front of one another and not letting each other in, and the cars just have to watch out because the busses would pummel them. A few people have also been to Mexico and compared the driving saying they never thought it could get worse than it was there. We have now actually found worse drivers. I can’t even imagine having to drive here, if you have any amount of road rage you would probably find yourself squished in between two busses, because you wouldn’t have a clear mind to think about what to do. Even walking across the street is a scary experience that most people would like to avoid.

Posted by walte275 at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I kept a close eye out today for people wearing flip-flops and just as Professor Li had told us, no one was wearing flip-flops with the exception of a couple girls walking around the Temple of Heaven.

What interested me today was learning about the socializing in China. Where I grew up in northern Minnesota, a lot of the retired people would socialize in cafe's over a cup of coffee or bars. For certain retired people in Beijing it is common for them to purchase a year pass to the Temple of Heaven for 100 Yuan and meet with other retired people toward the exit of the tour and play cards. We noticed many people (who Lisa said) were all retired and gather to play cards every morning, go home for lunch, then return later in the afternoon. Obviously this isn't true for the majority of retired people in Beijing otherwise the place would be much too crowded, but they do certainly have their own sub-culture of retired people.

Posted by mcdon419 at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our third day in Beijing was just as exciting and exhausting as our previous two. We did a little more sightseeing as well as visiting the 12th Annual High Tech Expo. A strange thing I have been observing is that there are little parks spread out all throughout Beijing, They are located sidewalks on streets or in courtyards. They are painted blue and yellow, similar to the park equipment in the US. The major difference is that I have never seen a child use the parks and equipment; it is always adults, typically men. You will see grown men in suites doing crunches and pull-ups in these little parks/gym areas. Kids aren’t even present. I’m not sure if they are bored or seriously trying to get a work out during one of their breaks. There are typically three to five different pieces of gym equipment and they are usually lined up on the sidewalk. I haven’t been able to figure out if these parks were intended for children use and they just get commonly used by adults instead or if the city built them as cheap work out centers for the city’s population of 15 million. The city isn’t overweight by any means; in fact, Beijing is the largest biking city in the world. Also traffic is crazy here so many people choose to walk instead of drive cars or take other forms of transportations like the 500 bus routes the city of Beijing currently offers.

Posted by sett0070 at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, I realized again that Beijing is a beautiful city. I find the city to be very well taken care of. The bushes are always manicured, the lawns are always watered and cut, the flowers are always weed free and beautiful, and the streets are always clean. We were walking through the Temple of Heaven today and I saw the first bit of litter I have seen since we arrived in Beijing. The thing that I find most odd about how well the flowers are taken care of and how well the lawns are manicured is that no one ever sits on the grass. I noticed today that when Americans would be lying in the grass or playing games in the grass, the Chinese are sitting or standing on the concrete doing the same. I have noticed that there isn’t that much grass in Beijing, and what is there is it’s only for show, not for use. Is there some special belief or superstition about sitting or walking on the grass in China?

Posted by fergu222 at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was another sweet day in Beijing. I am going to talk a little bit about the expo. The expo was really neat. It was sweet to see all of the new and improved technology out there. The one thing I really would like to describe is the electronic/T.V. projected book. This book was really fascinating to me. It was projected down onto a podium. The projector is like the projected big screen T.V.'s. So you load the textbook, probably by DVD or something of that sort, and it loads onto the podium. You can read it clearly and to flip the page you just move your finger over it. I couldn't believe someone had come up with that. It was really sweet.

Posted by charl094 at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Its only the second day in Beijing, and I am already all conjested up. It is amazing how poluted Beijing is where as in the States I never get conjested unless I am sick. The sad thing is that because of the pollution you cannot even see that far, where as in the States you can see as far as your eye sight lets you.

I have noticed on this trip that all of the places we go to eat the waiters and waitresses are very nice. I feel this way because I remember last year when I went to China, I always had to ask for things on my own where as here I don't even have to move for anything except to grab food.

I really enjoyed the Silk Market. I thought it was so awsome to be to learn about how all the silk thngs are made. It took me forever but I finally decided to buy the blanket. I am really excited about my purchase cause I just figured out that I only spent like 83 dollars and I can use it for a long time. Where as in the states I buy at least a new blanket every 4 months for the same price and the qualitly not that great.

Posted by lauxx106 at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cruise on Kunming Lake in Summer Palace around the temperature of 85F
Lunch at Dai Nationality Restaurant with nobody knowling how to correctly eat fried and seasoned shrimp (this group people peeled off the shell)

TianAnmen (Missing Dan, Kevin and Dr. Li)

Lunch at Dai Nationality Restaurant (with Dai People Performing HuLuSi which is a traditional Chinese music instrument)

Luck and Fortune Red String from Dai People(righhand for female, left hand for male, donot flip over)
Team USA of Frisbee (or Flying Pan in Chinese) at National Olympic Stadium

Excellent job at Making Silk from Silkworm Cocoon (The manager would like to hire the group to replace their current Chinese employees because we made the silk so quickly)

Tasting Tea at Dr. Tea's Teahouse (End up purchases magic teasets and teapots that change colors into pictures of Great Wall and Panda, and miniature baby boys that pee after putting in hot water

Posted by Dahui Li at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After our second exhausting day, I’ve noticed numerous examples of something that concerns me. There seems to be a disregard for human safety in China. For example, a very small percentage of bicyclists wear helmets. I think I could count on one hand the number of people that I have observed helmets being worn. Some of these bicyclists have motorized propulsion, which generally leads to higher levels of speed that is more sustained than on a traditional pedal bike, increasing the risk of injury. In the United States, I believe numerous municipalities have enacted legislation requiring head protection, sometimes only on children under a certain age. At the very least, head gear is highly recommended and many police/fire departments hold clinics and/or seminars on the benefits of such practices.
While at the Summer Palace, we went for a short boat ride in which I did not see a single personal floatation device. If this were in the United States, not only would there be a PFD for every individual on board, detailed instructions for use would be distributed before departure. Granted the risk for someone falling overboard or collision with another vessel may be low, I was still a little surprised to see not so much as a throw ring.
There does not seem to be any enforced capacity on public transportation. I’ve seen a number of buses with so many people on them, there are people standing in the aisles. This can be hazardous, especially if a sudden maneuver is required to avoid a traffic accident. Sudden maneuvers seem to be required on every city block with the amount of traffic on the roads, greatly increasing the risk of bodily injury.
I am not sure if the lack of safety features is seen as a major inconvenience, a cost-saving measure, or just plain laziness; the point is that many injuries and surely some fatalities could be prevented with simple safety measures. Even such things like buckling the seat belt while travelling in an automobile are quick, easy, and free; but do not seem to be practiced by a very large percentage on a normal basis.

Posted by jopk0002 at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I woke up this morning at eight when the alarm went off and had a great night sleep with a little help from my buddy Yanjing. I was looking forward to getting some breakfast but not looking forward to the hot milk and water. To my surprise, Dahui had asked the hotel staff for cold water, milk, and juice. After breakfast, we headed to Summer Palace which was a lot of fun. I ran to the top of the hill where the Emperor lived. If the Summer Palace was the Emperor’s summer home and he also had the Forbidden City, I wish I would have been him! We were able to catch the last couple minutes of the Lakers-Nuggets game on a very large TV outside. This will probably be one of the only times we are able to watch American sports. I am still amazed by the way people drive, walk, and bike. It feels like we are going to get in an accident every five minutes. I may have to change my driving habits when I get back in the states. If I have the bigger car, I have the right away. I am still amazed that our group was able to walk on the field of the “Birds Nest” aka the Olympic Stadium. I will never forget being on the field and will have a mental image in the head for years.

Posted by benn0326 at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 20th, this is the second day that we are in Beijing city. With a nice and sticky lovely morning call, we are going out with the same time as yesterday. The “Summer Palace” is the first places we are go to visit. It’s three times bigger than Forbidden City, I heard from Lisa. There is a huge lake in the summer palace. I imaging maybe as huge as UMD. One of the most interesting find that I love in the summer palace is a show of professional painting by some Chinese professor. Those painting are very shooting me up, I watch it and I just want to take it away! I love art in personal and I got art design as my minor. Looking at those professional painting gives me a though that painting can be create by this way.


this is summer palace,

the upper two painting are neat~!

i remember i saw this guy's painting before, but i just cannot get his name out of my mind

this painting would be my favorite, use very simple like to create woman's texture, couple line makes the painting alive. it looks so ~~~! if i got money, i will go for and buy it!

I am moving very quick. So we are after lunch by now. Next place is Bird’s Nest, where the Olympus ceremony takes place in china last year. This building would be my one of favorite. Bu just looking at the design, I cannot imagine how those guy build up a building like this. As you go inside the Bird’s Nest, it is other huge place that I have see for today so far. It is fun to see, and we play some out door sport today, so nice! And the water cube is good, but we do not get a chance to look inside. That is sad.

Then, we go to a tea house, it is a cool place. Those lady makes free sample tea for us to taste, and teach us to drink a typical tea with a typical way. Also we go to sew house, I just fell that sew is so comfortable, and I buy a very special type for one of my high school teach.

Posted by liang133 at 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Going to the Bird's Nest today was one of my favorite events. Being in the location of the 2008 Olympic Games was a very fun thing to experience. I can't believe that the Chinese people invested so much in a stadium that basically had only one purpose and that was to host the Olympic Games for 2008. I can't imagine how much money and time went into constructing the Bird's Nest, but I suppose now they are receiving revenue from tourists such as ourselves. Also playing frisbee with most of the class members in the middle of the arena was quite enjoyable. While we were at the Bird's Nest I was also asked to take a picture with the mother of one of the Chinese ladies who was touring the arena. This to me seems very different from the United States where you wouldn't usually ask a foreign stranger to take a photograph with you. The Chinese people seem a lot more friendly and upfront than most of Americans when you meet them for the first time, even if they are strangers.

Posted by stra0532 at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we went to visited Yi He Yuan, the Summer Palace. Then we went to a very special restaurant for lunch. I said it is special, because there are performers performing shows like singing and dancing,to the people who come to eat. It is very interesting, because I never seen this kind of restaurant in American. Then we went to a Chinese electronic market. In this market, you can almost find every product make from every company. Through these two days' experience, I found out some good thing about Chinese market. It is you can always find the same thing you want to buy from many sellers and you can compare the price between them and find the best price, service and coverage. Also you might found out it was kind of noisy when every sales is asking you to buy something. But I think is understandable, because there are so many competitors in the same place and selling the same things.

Posted by liang106 at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We did a lot of fun and memorable things today. The place I want to talk about was our visit to Dr. Tea. It is interesting that Chinese people when they get thirsty choose to drink tea while Americans of course drink water. The reason why the Chinese do this is because tea is very healthy for the body. I found the presentation very interesting from the pee pee boy to the taste testing of different teas. They made it interesting with funny presentations, taste tests, and a variety of information about tea. The different teas had a specific way of drinking the tea for maximum taste and should take three sips to finish. Also males and females were to drink there tea in a different way, with there thumb and index finger on the sides and middle finger on bottom. The difference between the sexes is male’s hands are closed and females are more open. Examples of how the tea helps the body are: Dispel effects of alcohol and nicotine, regulate blood pressure, lower cholesterol, lose weight, help the skin, good for digestion, restore energy, and relieve headaches. I thought this was an interesting presentation that gave me a better understanding of tea in the Chinese culture. I have always associated tea with either the Chinese or Western European cultures.

Posted by hackw001 at 7:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Bird’s Nest is everything I expected and more. I never would have thought they would let us down on the main grounds and especially allow us to play and goof around. It was so much fun taking pictures and playing Frisbee. I was expecting someone to come up and tell us we had to stop but that never happened. It was weird looking under the turf and seeing sand, I expected it to be cement for sure. The seats in the Bird’s Nest were very interesting. If you looked closely you would notice they started out mainly red seats with a few white seats scattered among them. Then it was about half and half as it got higher up, and at the very top it was mostly white seats with a few red ones scattered in. We asked Professor Li why they were like that because there was no significant pattern to them that we could see. He explained to us that they did that so if they didn’t sell many seats when you looked the white seats made it look fuller. They didn’t want to be embarrassed by having it look like no one attended the event that was being held, so the white seats helped with that problem. That’s why they were scattered all around. The gift shops were ok there was no reason to have more than one though seeing they both carried the same exact souvenirs. I really enjoyed being at and seeing the Bird’s Nest, and how many people can say they played Frisbee in there other than us!

Posted by walte275 at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was our second day in Beijing and we continued to do many touristy activities. My favorite thing we saw was the Birds Nests which was one of the Olympic Stadiums for the summer 2009 games. The attached picture is of me in front of the stadium. One thing I am beginning to learn is that there is not a lot of social order when it comes to large public gatherics. People push, budge, cut lines, and bump into one another constantly. As an American I have a hard time not getting upset when people bump into me without saying sorry or excuse me. There are just so many people where ever you go that often times the only way to get to where you want to go is by pushing people. Even though I still get a little upset when someone bumps into me I am getting better. I am also beginning to be a little more proactive and push back. It's a crazy environment to be in at times and sometimes you got to just push your way through.

Posted by sett0070 at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well this morning, once again, I did not expect to have so much packed into one day. We started this morning out like yesterday, with breakfast at the hotel. When nine o'clock rolled around everyone met for the bus to take us to the Summer Palace 颐和园 on Kunming lake. The breeze off the lake was a nice change from the hot weather yesterday. After taking many pictures by the entry point the group decided to hike up the stairs to the top of the palace. It was an amazing view from the top. It was also incredible to be able to enjoy the heritage and learn the history of the building.

Similar to yesterday (and I suspect the rest of the trip to be the same), many Chinese nationals would blatantly stare with wonder and curiosity at the group. I did find out though that these stares are not stares with any negativity, but probably that they do not see many foreigners or are very curious. I also found out that with a brief "你好“ and a smile, they quickly return the greeting with a Ni Hao and an even bigger smile.

Today there was a man at the Summer Palace entry who was writing Chinese calligraphy on the walkways with a water brush. He talked to Professor Li and Professor Li told me he wanted to know my name. I said to him "我名字 Dylan" and he shook my hand and laughed, then drew the characters for my name on the walkway. He also did this for Ashley and Troy.

After the Summer Palace we had lunch (which was excellent by the way) then went to visit the Birds Nest, where the group ended up playing frisbee on half of the field. Many people were taking our pictures as we were playing and even a couple people came and wanted to play briefly. After visiting the stadium we got to walk through the electronics market in downtown Beijing and also experience a tea ceremony at Dr. Tea's Tea house. Bringing my camera into the electronics market was a mistake I soon found out. The sales people in the market noticed my camera noticed my camera and flocked me wanting to sell me either a new camera, a laptop, or lenses for my camera. After the market and tea house we went to tour the Silk Road museum.

All in all this was another great day to focus in on the culture and differences between American and Chinese culture. One thing I noticed that is quite different is at the restaurant the waiters and waitresses would stand and watch as you eat your food. After eating we were socializing quite a bit and as we were talking I was also wondering if the waiters and waitresses were getting angry with us, because the more we talked the longer they had to stand.

Continue reading "Day 2: Palace-Frisbee-Tea-Food" »

Posted by mcdon419 at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I thought I would blog about construction and safety. Between yesterday and today I have noticed that there is construction happening everywhere in this city. The neighborhood that we visited for lunch yesterday was alive with the hustle and bustle of construction crews, the Forbidden City had many workers that were working on scaffolding trying to restore the buildings, and while in the downtown sky cranes are almost always visible. The thought of all this construction brought to mind what the working conditions are in China, and then while we were in the Summer Palace, Professor Li pointed out a man working on scaffolding without safety equipment.

Safety, the thing that every US company strives for, can be taken for granted and it has been apparent to me in China today. First was the man working on the scaffolding in the Summer Palace without any harness to keep him from falling and without any other workers with him. If he were to have fallen or become unstable on the scaffolding, there is no thing or person there to help him The next thing that I saw that bothered me was that the boat we rode on at the Summer Palace had no life vests for either the workers or the customers. The vessels were still constructed of wood and susceptible to damage, but no life boats in case of sinking or crashing into another vessel. The workers got on and off the boat stepping over the water, without bumpers large enough for them not to get squished if they fell in the water. Scary!! The last thing that I noticed different from the US, and maybe Duluth in particular, is that a street sweeper did not have a crew protecting them along with. In Duluth, every street sweeper is followed either by a truck with lights flashing or with another street sweeper or even cones or signs if it is a big job. The street sweeper I saw today was all on its lonesome and didn’t have a single warning sign on it for its protection. Not to say that there aren’t any safety precautions taken here, but they are hard to spot. I did see today some window washers that were hanging from the top of the building but must have been attached to the line suspending them. I was surprised that they didn’t have a platform to stand on, however. I also noticed that workers standing next to the road, like grass waterers, did have on orange reflective vests so that they were slightly protected. Steps in the right direction!!

Posted by fergu222 at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The second day here in Beijing was amazing. We got up early and went to the “Summer Palace.” That was very cool. We were able to climb up to the top and have an amazing view over the whole palace. Next, we took a boat ride over to the other side. On this side, I took a picture with very good looking Chinese girl. Her family told me I had to pay 10 U.S. dollars but they were only joking. We saw that there was a big screen T.V. right in the middle of the park. They had the Western Conference Finals game on between the L.A. Lakers and the Denver Nuggets. That was cool to watch some basketball in the U.S. here in China. Next, we went to a electronic store. This was interesting. We saw a variety of things. I learned that many companies contract with each other and rent out a space in the building. They all compete between one another. This is the reason there is so many people there and over 10 sections of the same thing. After that, we went out to lunch. This was very exciting for me. They had dancers who danced during lunch. They were very good looking Chinese women and wore very revealing clothes. You could definitely tell that there are more guys than girls on this trip because all of the guys started taking pictures and really getting into it. The food was very good and I enjoyed it a lot. After lunch, we went to the Olympic Stadiums. This by far has been the most exciting thing I have done so far. We were able to go to the “Birds Nest,” which was really amazing. We got to play Frisbee right on the Olympic Stadium floor. All I could think about was how this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and how many great athletes were on this floor. We saw the “Water Cube,” which is where Michael Phelps set many records. Everything we saw there was amazing. After that, we went to a tea shop and silk museum. This was interesting but really didn’t excite me that much. Finally, we went to dinner at an amazing restaurant. This meal is by far the 2nd best meal I have had. There was plenty of food and spicy food to go around. I don’t think I can eat anymore for awhile. Overall, today was good, it just became really long and tiresome due to the heat, walking, and the nonstop moving. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store.

Posted by charl094 at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today is a excited day, I have many first time experiences. I first time had Chinese breakfast buffet, I first time went to the Tian An Men square, and so on. It was a very good experience to have a meal in traditional Beijing House, a Four-side unite court. Also, the food is very good too. Then we went to the Hu Tong for a walk. In the Hu Tong, there are many interested stores and many bars. At night, we went to Quan Ju De to eat Beijing Duck, it was very delicious. Now we will never feel shame to leave Beijing.

Posted by liang106 at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our first day in Beijing was great! We started out with a breakfast were I drank hot milk and ate fried chicken. The milk wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated; it tasted sugary like warm creamer. We boarded our tour bus and set out for Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City and in the process nearly killed at least 5 people on bikes. The Square was much larger than I had expected, and our visit happened to fall on the 20th anniversary of the riots 1989. After entering the Forbidden City I was also amazed by how big that place was. The amount of history present was almost overwhelming and this combined with the fact that the place was restored to as good of a condition as it is made the trip a once in a lifetime event; unfortunately, my camera died half way through. I think the best part of the day came after the Forbidden City however; it was when we went for lunch. We all got into rickshaws and traveled through the side streets of Beijing. It was here that we saw a more true representation of life in the city.

We saw all sorts of houses in serious need of renovation as well as shop fronts that were at this time nothing more that piles of refuse. We ended this initial ride through these streets at what appeared to be more of an alleyway. We followed our great guide Lisa through a serious of turns through some more traditional houses into the courtyard of a traditional family house in Beijing. We were then led into a room with two tables and proceeded to sit down in this building complex that was by American standards, rundown and lacking of basic amenities. What awaited us was a big surprise to us all as plate after plate of the most delicious Chinese food we have ever eaten was brought in. It was simple home cooking but the blend of traditional ingredients and spices makes me wonder if I will ever be able to each Chinese food back in the states again. This meal far surpassed my expectations and even beat out our dinner tonight of peaking duck as the best Chinese cuisine I have eaten.

After dinner we went to the markets to try our hand at bartering for goods. I was not prepared for how abrasive these markets are. Many times we were grabbed at and even blocked by sales people trying to sell you every counterfeit product under the sun, which today gave me an unfortunate sunburn. From fake Rolexes to knockoff Diesel Shoes everything was there. While it was a bit abrasive and at times draining, there were deals to be had. My greatest accomplishment was talking down an item from 800 Yuan to a mere 110 Yuan or about $16.92. While I did buy a few items customs will not be hearing about suck as a pair of Foakleys, overall I tried to stay away from knockoffs.

After the markets we went to a fancy restaurant where we were all way underdressed and brought into a back room with two tables again. While this might have been to separate us from all the finely dressed patrons, it was nice to have our own room to experience the new food together. The peaking duck and many other foods we tried were great. Probably one of the better meals I have had but surprisingly still didn’t beat out the other meal we had in the back alleys of Beijing.

Continue reading "Cord Houle: Day 1" »

Posted by houl0072 at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I never imagined we would be doing so many different things today. From going to the Forbidden City to eating a meal in a Chinese family setting to shopping at some local markets and bartering for items to finally having dinner at the Peking Duck Restaurant. Today was very fun and filled with many different things, but it was also quite exhausting going to so many different places.

The first place we went today was to the Forbidden City, where we learned many different things even though it was sometimes difficult to understand what Lisa was saying at times. At first it was quite fun seeing all the things in the Forbidden City, but it was getting tiresome to walk around for extended periods of time in the heat so I'm glad we left when we did.

After the Forbidden City we rode rickshaws to attend a family style meal at a local family's home. The food there was amazing; it was one of the most delicious meals I've had in a long time. The hostess was very nice and allowed us to look around the areas of her housing unit.

Then we headed for one of the local markets where we purchased many different things. I bought a digital picture frame and a converter for my laptop's power cord (which I still can't get to work), I'll have to buy a new power cord tomorrow or something. I also purchased a set of nice chopsticks (hopefully when we're done I'll have mastered the use of them).

Beijing is an amazing location, I'm surprised to see so many bicycles piled up in one area and how much construction is actually happening even during this time of a worldwide economic recession. Hopefully there will be more interesting things to experience tomorrow and during the course of the rest of this trip.

Posted by stra0532 at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The seven o’clock in the morning with a nice and hot weather, but I just fell tire when I weak up. I am in Beijing now, but we suppose be in Tianjin city for now because the H1N1 that our study aboard group have to stay in Beijing for seven days, just for sure we don’t carry any of H1N1. I and my roommate went for a breakfast at around seven thirty. Those foods are good for my type, but I don’t very sure everyone does.

bike is one of the major transportation in beijing, even in other city is the same~

tree is everywhere in beijing, looks nice and heathy~

After we done our breakfast, we met Lisa, who is our leader for Beijing city trip. We fallow Lisa and went to “Tian An Men Square”. We saw many interested things and huge amount of people walking there. Also, we went to the Forbidden City of Beijing. Things are changed, I said. Once I had been to Beijing but it's totally different that I see today compare to what I remember when I was ten. When we finish the tour of Forbidden City, everyone seems hungry and tire. So, Lisa leads us we to have lunch at a very traditional type of family. We are almost shock by what we saw of the rough road, pretty old of house and the smiles of everywhere. When we first taste those Chinese traditional foods, it would be another talking. It is taste very good.

very busy traffic in Beijing city

KFC in Beijing~~yeah!!

"Tian an Men square" and the center point of beijing city~! Mao always seems cool to me~~lol
the forbidden city is super huge and so lot people ~!

we found a 4 stars bathroom inside the Forbidden city, Nice!!

inside the man bathroom have a very interesting pose, it said keep close to toilet it is better for everyone, some kind like this meaning, i do not know very much~~~lol

The most interesting part for today was we went to Hong Qiao for shopping. We heard that we should dealing with the price. Every seller sells its product at a super high price at the beginning, but we knew that is not possible. So, we need to dueling with those sellers and trying to get a good duel. For me, I think I did not do a very good job at first. I bought a USB charger for my PSP for twenty yuan. Although I just pay five yuan less than their ask price, but I fell too bad to get the as low as you want. The Hong Qiao market sells a lot of thing, the mp3, game, t-shirt, and bag are the most main product in Hong Qiao market. It is a very interesting place to go if you are like to dueling with price.


a tee i bought for 25yuan, i think was a pretty good dual, those are written by hand, also,you can ask the boss to add any letter you want to appear on the tee...!

e~~~not much to say about with my USB~~i pay 20yuan for than,maybe is a little bit too hit, or maybe the seller is pretty,i just pay for it 囧~~~~！！！！！
The end of the day, we went to a restaurant to eat duck for our dinner. It was taste super good but I cannot eat a lot of them. Once you finished couple of them, you will begin sick of it. I do not know dose anyone has the feeling as me. Actually, the duck is very delicious and feel tire as you approaching to finish. And now, I just want to take a shower and go to have a dream. Then I would be ok to ready for tomorrow.

Posted by liang133 at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today had more adventures packed into it than I had/could have expected. After the great breakfast provided by the hotel this morning, we took off for Tiananmen Square. This was an incredible experience to be able to walk through the gates and into the Forbidden City, something that would not have been possible in it's time. After touring The Forbidden City we went to visit a local home for lunch.

Among instances that varied from my initial expectations included transportation and the markets. I did not expect transportation to be so ... competitive I guess you could say. Another instance included the food. The food greatly surpassed my expectations, the food at the home we visited today was especially delicious. The hosts were incredibly nice. The markets were very interactive places to practice the little bit of Chinese I know. I found many market workers surprised even by the few things I could manage to say in Chinese.

Everything is still very surreal and I feel as if I'm walking around the city with my jaw hanging down. I expect this to continue, as we will be experiencing more and more things throughout the next 4 weeks.

Posted by mcdon419 at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was our first day in Beijing! Weather was great! Food was great. Couldnt have asked for better. Today we went to the tianmen square then we went to the forbidden city then we went to a little mini town, then we went to 2 different markets to buy stuff. For the tianmen square I got to stand in the middle of the Beijing city which I thought was pretty cool. At the little mini town we got to ride in a thing with a guy riding a bicycle pulling us around. This was pretty tight considering I was so tired and the wind felt great. Too bad I couldn't have someone pull me around every where. At the first market I bought a pearl necklace.

Posted by lauxx106 at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What an amazing first day! After an exhausting trip over here, we were greeted with extremely warm sunshine for our first adventures in Beijing. We started the day at Tiananmen Square, moving on to the Forbidden City. There is quite a bit of history here and we jumped right in on day one. The architecture is truly spectacular, and I have around 120 pictures to prove it.

I have to say that the food is absolutley amazing. After thinking that I was going to starve by my lack of ability with chopsticks, that has all but disappeared (they really aren't that hard to use...). We had dinner at the home of a family here in Beijing that was absolutely tremendous. We wrapped up the night with Peking Duck at a local restaurant. All was very good, I am happy to report.

I am amazed at the mass movement of people in Beijing. Many use bicycles and other forms of public transportation. It is interesting to me that someone will think nothing of riding their bike in front of a multitude of buses and other vehicles. We observed dozens of "near misses" of people nearly being run over, or buses nearly colliding.

That's it for now...More to come later.

Posted by jopk0002 at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What an amazing and busy day in Beijing. The Forbidden City was surprising in how large it ended up being. When we first went into the city I was not expecting the city to keep going and going as it did. I loved everything the arcitecture was so intricate but my favorite area in the city was the ancient trees I loved that they were clearly old by looking at the leaves and the trunk. After visiting the city I had no idea what to expect by a traditional chinese family lunch. I cannot even explain how much I loved every kind of food that were given. everything was absolutely perfect and i think that experience will be my favorite part of being here in China. I know that the shopping will not be my favorite. Between the bartering and constantly being chased and never able to just browse it was just too overwhelming. Overall all this was an amazing first day

Posted by vaudr001 at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, our first day in Beijing, I want to write about the things that I noticed throughout the day that either took me by surprise or was just different than our culture. The first thing that I noticed about Beijing is that there are a lot of trees throughout the city. I was expecting a city like Minneapolis where there are no trees and everything is covered with asphalt or concrete. I really like that Beijing has a lot of plant life because it makes it feel more like home, maybe more welcoming. The second thing I noticed, while we were in the Forbidden City, was that there is no abundance of children at tourist areas. In America, it seems that if you go to any attraction for tourists that there are a lot of kids with their families. I am not positive of the reason for the lack of children in tourist areas in China, but my inkling is that it has something to do with the single child family. It could also be that we were there during the week and that was the reason for a lack of kids. Thirdly, I wanted to point out was the lack of animals I saw on the street. It seems strange to me not to see people walking their dogs or playing fetch with their dogs in the park. Even in New York City there are dogs everywhere. I did notice that as the day went on I saw more and more dogs (a lot more once dark came), but was still taken aback at the lack of pets. Lastly, the whole people vs. bikes vs. cars thing was hard to get over. It seems to be that bikes rule the road here, but are not afraid to speed up to get in their way. People have no fear when it comes to traffic. I can’t imagine standing in the middle of merging traffic, but I have seen it done a couple of times today. The combination of all of these factors really had me intrigued throughout the day. I am sure that I will get used to these things throughout our stay!!

Posted by fergu222 at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I woke up this morning on a piece of plywood (more or less) which they call a bed over here. Went to breakfast and didnt use the chopsticks like Dahui wanted us to do, I said since he wasnt around, I could get away with it. We went to the Forbidden City, which was cool, then off to probably the best Chinese meal in my life. There was beef, pork, dumplings, cucumbers in some great sauce, and a couple other delicious dishes. I did use the chopsticks at lunch and it was pretty easy after a couple tries. We went to a couple markets, but the only thing that I could find was a couple good beers. We had a decent dinner at Peking Duck and now looking forward to some sleep!

Posted by benn0326 at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was, are first full day of activities in Beijing. I first want to start off talking about the flight over from Minneapolis. The thing that stuck out to me was the quarantine checks that were administered to us by both Japan and China airports. They checked us for symptoms of fevers. The Japanese used a video that I presumed was checking our thermal energy and the Chinese used a device that checked our temperature through a gun by our forehead. The Chinese method was easier and took far less time. For today’s activities we went to the Forbidden City, 2 markets, home cooked meal, and dinner. Forbidden City was amazing in many ways. The size of it was unbelievable and seemed never ending. The architecture was also amazing with the hand paintings and way it was set up. The amazing about it was that it was completed in only 16 years from 1406-1420. There were two dynasties that ruled both of which lasted around 300 years. That was an unforgettable experience, but so was the home cooked meal. For this we ate at a traditional Chinese home and was served a traditional Chinese meal. This was honestly the best Chinese food I have ever had and probably ever will. There was such a variety of meats and veggies. There was so much food we couldn’t even finish. It also was a cool experience seeing a traditional Beijing home and well as side streets. This was only the first day and I cant wait to see what is ahead in our next 28 days!

Posted by hackw001 at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today was our first full day in Beijing. We got up early this morning which was hard to do since we had arrived at the hotel at 1am that morning. We did a lot of basic "tourist" activities on our first day. My favorite experience of the day however was the food. We got to eat at an authentic Beijing home and the family prepared a traditional meal. We were all very hungry because we had just finished a long trek through the Forbidden City. Also, it is about 95 degrees here so my Duluth body hasn't adapted yet. I'm still learning to eat with chopsticks, I refuse to use a fork and let the chopsticks win. One other thing if found interesting was the driving and traffic situation here in Beijing. There are bikes everywhere and there is definitely no rule stating pedestrians have the right of way. There is continuous honking and near misses between cars and bicycles. There is no "Minnesota Nice" here in Beijing when it comes to driving.

Posted by sett0070 at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a long but very eventful day. We First started off by going to the forbidden city. This was very interesting because I have always wanted to see this because I have been told many great things about it. It was awesome to see all of the different buildings and there architecture. We learned that it took 14 years to build and over a million people to do it. We also went to the markets to go shopping which was a fun time. It was overwhelming at first but then it was a great time bargaining with them to see how low you could get the price. Then to end the day we had a great meal at the Peking duck where we got to sit VIP which was pretty fun. Overall it was a great first day in China.

Posted by ritt0123 at 7:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow we ate a lot of cool stuff today. A lot of stuff I never imagined I’d ever eat. For starters breakfast was a very weird combination of things; eggs to fried chicken to cake? It was really good though, but I was a bit thrown when I couldn’t hold on to my glass of milk because it was so hot. That was my least favorite part of breakfast, but starting to use the chopsticks was pretty neat. I definitely thought it would be a lot more difficutlt that it was. Then on to lunch...plain and simple that was bomb!!! When we got there right away I looked at the food and thought there was no way I was going to try some of the stuff there, but I tried it all and it was amazing. I really loved the potatoes! I think we all started to feel more comfortable with the chopsticks as well, until we went to dinner and had to use slippery ones! The duck wraps were amazing, plus everything thing else. Lunch just set such a high standard it's going to be hard to beat. It’s weird to think we tried this much new food in one day, I can't wait to see when else comes our way. I'm still waiting for the dog!

Posted by walte275 at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today was a very interesting day. We got up early after a long day at the airport the previous day. We flew into Beijing around 11:00 p.m. and got to the hotel around 12:30. We had to get up very early and start touring Beijing. We first saw Tianemen Square. We were going to see Mao's body but we didn't have our passports. We than went and looked at the Forbidden City. This was very cool. It was built back in 1420 for the emperors. The architecture there was very cool and was one of the most interesting things I saw today. We than had lunch at a lady's home. It was very good and I learned how to eat with chopsticks at this lunch. My favorite thing was the green round things, I forget what they are called. We then went on a tour where people on bikes droves us around. Later, we went shopping and did some bargain shopping. This was very interesting to see how they would bargain with you. They constantly kept bugging you. I bought a couple things but not to much. Finally, we had dinner at Peking Duck. This was very good as well. It is the first time I have ate duck. I will definitely try it again. So as far as day 1 goes, it went pretty well and I am excited to see what else this program has to offer.

Posted by charl094 at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)