Chinese New Year
Wow! The weeks between Christmas and Chinese New Year went by quickly! Chinese New Year was welcomed with the sounds of fireworks going off for many hours! You can buy fireworks- BIG fireworks (Brian, this would be a good time for you to come to China with Megan!) on just about every street corner. The first firework show was a week before the actual new year, it is appropriately called " Little New Year." On the big day we had the privelege of having a front row view of the firework show... fireworks were being set off just outside my window! The show makes our 4th of July fireworks seem very small! Often the fireworks began as soon as it was dark and would continue until about 3am! Only to begin again early the next morning!

For the Chinese New Year I took Christy, a student teacher from Columbia International University to Beijing to see the sites. We left for Beijing at 5am on a Sunday morning and spent a little more than a week in the capital city. While we were there we were able to go to the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace (Yi He Yuan),Pearl Market, IKEA (!!!!), and spend time with old and new friends!

We were met at the airport by Dr. Phil Basset and went straight to fellowship... we made it in time for S.S. Afterwards, we had a few hours to relax and get unpacked. For dinner we were invited over to Shelley and Gary's. I met Shelley and Gary at PFO in Houghton, NY last summer. They just arrived in BJ at the beginning of January. Shelley is in charge of member care and Gary is a GM. Shelley cooked lasagna (mmmm! So good!) We also got to know Jeremy and Jacquelyn, a young couple who are teaching the office's children.

On Monday, which was freezing cold, we set out early for the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. Dr. Basset arranged for a driver to take us to both places. When we got there, I had to buy a ticket for the chair lift and the alpine slide. I was trying to figure out where and how to purchase it and while I was trying to listen to one lady, the other vendor was yellig "hello, hello, hello, not the same thing, hello, hello, hello.....etc" It was so hard to think! We eventually got the correct ticket and were on our way...We hiked around the Great Wall and took a lot of pictures- even did some "off trail" hiking... not too far off the trail, just a few poses beside signs that said: Non tourist section please donot pass!""Non-tourist section. No admission!," Dangerous section, pay your attention!" and "visitors stops walking." (I know that some are not spelled correctly or grammatically incorrect, but this is how it was spelled on the sign!) After taking many pictures we headed back down to check out the vendors and meet our driver. The vendors were all shouting at us and jumping in front of us to show us what they were selling. I made the mistake of actually going "inside" and looking... the lady blocked me in so that I could not exit her place without buying something. Meanwhile, Christy was trying to purchase something and was yelling for me to come and help... so i purchased 2 tshirts so that the lady would move and allow me to go to Christy- I wanted the 2 shirts, but would have liked to have gotten them a little cheaper! We left with our purchases and met our driver. We then went to a jaozi restaurant. ( I learned how to make jaozi today!! More on that later! :)

After lunch it was off to the Summer Palace. (Yi He Yuan)

We got lost in the Summer Palace!!!! The Summer Palace is HUGE! There are a ton of buildings that look the same and we didn't actually find the palace until the end of our time. When we exited the palace, we somehow got turned around and went in the opposite direction of our gate. We needed to exit out of the East Gate... so with my limited Chinese vocabulary ( I only know how to say the word North for directional words) we found a tour group (easy to identify b/c the guide carries a flag and often they are all wearing the same color hat) and asked East zai nar? (Where is East) To get them to understand east I said Bei (north) and then pointed in all directions and saying the english words... somehow one of the tourists figured out what I needed and pointed us in the general area! We climbed a lot of stairs... more stairs! We decided that WE LOVE STAIRS! We ended up being an hour late for meeting our driver and were 2 tired girls at the end of the day!

Tuesday- 2 tired girls= 1 Lazy Day! Tuesday was spent watching movies, reading books, studying Chinese, and just lying around!
We met 2 Teachers from Chengdu, had pizza at Gary and Shelley's home with the carmen's, Dr. Bassat, Matthew. We also watched Napolean Dynamite!

Wednesday-
Dr. Bassat took us out. We learned how to use public transportation, rode bikes on the ice...


Thursday- Italian Art

Thursday we headed out to use the public transportation all by ourselves! Our first stop was the museum to see the art show that had come to beijing. We were able to see one by Da Vinci and a few other well known artist. There was also some Chinese art such as sculptures, kites, and papercutting on another floor of the museum. sorry- no pics allowed inside the italian art exhibit, but I do have a few from inside the museum....

I also got to try Peking Duck for the first time! I am not sure if I actually like it, but it was a good experience... something to check off my things to do in China list! :) Jeremy, Jacqulyn, Gary, Shelley, Christy, and I all went out together:) Afterwards we went back to the Carmen's for dessert (reese cup dessert) and played a card game called hand and foot. Definitely a fun night! Unfortunately, all pictures of this day are on Christy's camera so I will have to post them later...

Friday- Pearl Market!! IKEA!!!

Girls shopping trip!

I got to go to IKEA! I love that store! There were so many fun things to buy for our apartment. I bought a few small things that would be easy to pack in my suitcase. Then it was off to the Pearl Market!!! This market was a lot nicer than the one in Qingdao. It was actually inside and somewhat heated. I bought North Face jackets for all of my family. (We actually call them North Fake jackets:) and a few other small gifts to take back to my beloved Hannah and Sam!

Dinner was at Shelley's again... very good ai yi cooking!

Saturday- another lazy day! I finished the book I was reading and watched a lot of movies- Favorites of the day were: Cinderalla Man and Memoires of a Geisha

Sunday

Sunday was Shelley's birthday!! We got to go out to eat with everyone for lunch and made plans to have dinner together that night. Shelley made us some really good chilie and then she was surprised with a cake and singing of happy birthday! After dessert we all played a fun game of catch phrase. Boys vs Girls... sorry to say that I think the boys actually won!

On Monday I woke up early to watch the SUPERBOWL!!! It was a very different experience then when I have watched it at home. Everything, except the Half Time Show, was in Chinese! The only word I understood was "piaoliang!" which means beautiful! I could see the ref's mouth move in English, but the chinese broadcasters were talking over it, explaining it in Chinese! It was fun to be watching something the same time as all of my friends... I was sad with the ending... I was rooting for the Seattle Seahawks!

The other thing that was exciting on Monday was that it snowed!!! For our last day, "the girls" went out for lunch at Ms. Shannon's, a small restaurant that serves BAGELS!!! I bought 6 home to share with Christy:) and then we went to an import store where I was able to find a lot of groceries that are hard to find here in Qingdao! I wish I had had more money so thatI could have brought more back with me... maybe next time!