Update on School and Such

OMG! Now that I finally forced myself to finish the China blogs (today is a test day at school, so I have nothing else to do, haha), here is an update on School:

~Eun-Su is no longer my co-teacher, she didn't even bother to tell me, I called her a few days before school started back up to see why my paycheck was late and she was really confused as to why I was calling her, I was to have a new co-teacher....OKAY....

~I come to school...surprise...Shinsook is my new co-teacher. I thought she was leaving Korea to get married and live in the Netherlands, she is, but not until June/July... OKAY....

~I find out half the preperations I did over break are worthless, I am only teaching 5th and 6th grades now.... CHECK....

~I tell my school I refuse to teach the 3rd-6th grade extra class because they screwed me over last term, they aren't happy but accept it... CHECK...

~I tell them I am doing online distance classes for kods with no Native teachers in small areas... not happy with me, but they don't say much... Check

~Classes aren't too bad yet, I changed the reward system from stars to fruit and put a fighting ban in my classroom, period....OKAY....

~We have confiscated 3 cell phones, yelled because of 6 swear instances and yelled at one kid for doing a double-fingered flip-off... Not too bad yet...

~I've started to get more and more frusterated with my school on many small things... I'm not feeling like staying a second year right now....

~I found out I have a $2,000 budget for my wedding, maybe $4,000, but I have to plan on $2000... GREAT, NOT REALLY....

~The orphanage is going good, but my two boys are way too rowdy and I can't control them very well... GRRR

~My school computer was upgraded to english, then had the memory upgraded because the programs took up too much memory, then the power source died and had to be replaced... they should just replace this thing...

~Online classes seem ok, but really confusing and hard, but easy at the same time... confusing? I know...

~I'm almost 25, My birthday party was on Saturday, and it was really fun. We had Galbi, went to Japanese Bar for some fruit Soju and birthday songs, then we went to the Noraebang! Cody got me a new Nintendo DS Lite for my birthday, I love it.

~For the first time I was able to send money home with an Ok exchange and have about $450 to spare! I put $300 in savings... that's the most I have had there in a LONG time...

~I am enjoying my friends and activities here a lot

~Finally:

I am trying to plan a wedding while trying to decide whetehr to extend my contract or not if my school asks me.

China - Day 9

So, finally, I am almost done with these China blogs... I've been too lazy since we came back... obviously....

So it was Tuesday. We had a great week, although my ankle was still killing me. Cody and I got up early, packed up and cleaned our hostel room so that we could get our 100 yuan deposit back. We then checked out, but asked the hostel to watch our stuff, and headed to the Silk Market to spend our remaining money.

We walked in, and we were immediately accosted with stalls EVERYWHERE selling all manner of fakes and goods, people grabbing at us and shouting prices. "I have Prada, you want Prada bag? Gucci? 100% silk scarf! Very cheap!"

It was insane, and I had a headache almost immediately, but we were ready to jump in. We quickly bought another mask, cheaper than the other ones I had bought this time, but not by much, Cody picked up a tie, and I bought one "silk" scarf for 30 yuan, then bought two more, this time the "45"% Pashminas (So better than the last one, thicker as well), for only 50 yuan. By the time I was done arguing and bargaining, the lady breathed hard and said "You are a very hard bargainer!" I could have probably gotten it lower, but maybe not, she was very adamant about not going to 50, but I got her there!

After spending all the money we had, except enough to get us to the hostel and airport and a little for food, we headed back to the hostel, got our stuff and said goodbye, and then headed to the Airport again.

At the airport, we got stuck behind yet another tour group, this time an older group and at the check-in counter (I don't know if I mentioned, but when arriving, we got stuck in customs behind a huge Korean tour group made up of high school kids). It was really annoying, and really slowed the line down because theyw eren't prepared for check in (both groups weren't prepared...) and had a ton of bags, but we finally got checked in and through security without incident.

We ended up in a downstairs terminal and waiting for our plane and a shuttle bus to take us to our plane (as we had to enter the plane from the tarmac. Yea for tarmac experience dos!), which ended up being about a 1/2 hour late, adn then the bus took about a 1/2 hour to shuttle us to the opposite side of the airport.

It was long and slightly frusterating, but we dinally took off without further incident, and made it to Seoul. BEcause it was so late, we ended up staying in Seoul at the Paradise Hotel (the love motel we stayed at with Fallon in january) and eating late night Burger King and Street food. We also took turns soaking the China dirt away in the big Jacuzzi tub there.

The next day we got up early, lugged our stuff to Outback Steak house, had a nice steak, and then went back to Mokpo on the train.

All in all, our trip was really good, if a bit smog-filled. Cody and I deperately tried to find China Cola there (Also known as Future Cola), but it turns out they don't sell it in cities. Dang them, only marketing to small towns! Ah well, maybe if we ever make it back to China...

China -Day 8

On Monday, we were again busy. We grabbed some street vendor food in the morning, and made our way to the Beijing Zoo.

Wow, all I have to say is, even though we were prepared, we really weren't. We went to see the Giant Pandas first, and they had a nice exhibit. It was bit and pretty clean, and about average with a large Gorilla enclosure back home, but that's where decent-sized cages ended. From then on, we saw dirty enclosures that were too small, and had no toys or entertainment for the animals.

The Lions and Tigers were all in Enclosures slightly bigger than a large jail cell, and the outside was not much bigger.

About halfway through the Zoo we took a break and went to the Aquarium. This was much better. All the fish had clean, nice tanks, and everything was really nice. There was a big Sea Turtle in an open tank and you could sit and watch it. If you felt like breaking the rules, as most of the visitors did (me too, I'll admit), you could easily put your hand down and touch the turtle without being too obvious about it.

The Aquarium ended way too soon for us, but we made our way back to the Zoo for more depressing sights. We saw the Zebras in a big pen, but with low walls so that you could easily pet them. You weren't supposed too, but people did anyway. I did, carefully, and it was pretty cool, like petting a mule actually, with a little more of a propensity for trying to bite you when you were near their mouths. One got bobbed on the rump with a toy someone had, and he wasn't too happy, but looked kind of used to it. We walked through the "deer park," which was just a huge section of pens, where you could easily pet half the animals if they were close enough, and we did. We saw a kid feeding a people snack to a big wild goat, and that was bad. We looked in the children's zoo and saw a Camel in a too-small enclosure, a small hut just filled with cats, and a bunch of pens packed with a ton of different dogs. Finally, we saw the penguins and reptile house. The Penguin's tank was too small, and in the reptile house all the snakes were either in the wrong cages, or not in their tanks.

So my opinion: The Aquarium was cool, the Zoo was not (Except the Giant Pandas, they are so cute), although it was nice to pet some animals, hehe. China is definitely not nice to their animals at the Zoo. I definitely will not visit the Zoo if I ever go back, maybe the Aquarium, but not the Zoo.

After the Zoo we made our way to Beihai Park, and the island in the middle of it so that we could have our Valentines dinner at Fangshan. Fangshan means "Imitation Imperial Cuisine." Basically, some of the cooks who last worked for the Emporer decided to open a resteraunt on the island in Beihai park so that they could still make imperial cuisine. The Emperor allowed it, but stated that it was not imperial cuisine. It could onyl be imperial if made in the imperial palace, so it was subbed imitation imperial cuisine, even though it was the same food. The last Dowager Princess, Cixi, likes to visit Beihai Park, and whenever she did, she would take her lunch at Fangshan. These days, it's a pretty expensive resteraunt (by Chinese Standards) that served set course menues ranging from 295 yuan to 1200 yuan.

We made our way to the resteraunt and were greeted by servers all dressed very traditionally, and by very gold decor. Everything was gold or yellow. We took a look at the menu and picked one of the two cheapest meals for 295, only about $50 for a 12 course meal!

Over the next two hours we got so many things; little cakes, smoked duck, ham, and chicken, Mandarin fish, Camel hump meat, pork buns, tea, fruit, scallops, more cakes/buns, and a couple more that I can't remember right now, but posted pictures of on my website.

Finally, about two hours later, we were very full and made our way out and took some pictures of Beihai Park at sunset. Although we were full, we decided we wanted something sweet, and made the 1/2 hour walk to Grandmas Kitchen. I had left Cody's gloves there, and we decided to go back for them and some delicious sundays.

On the way there, all the tea I had drank at Fangshan caught up with me, and I had to find a public bathroom. Luckily we found one about halfway to Grandma's Kitchen. Unfortunately for me, I walk in and realize all of the toilets have no doors, and there's a lady using the squatter right in front of me! There was on western toilet, right next to the door, where someone could just peek in and see me, but I sucked it up and just did it. It was insane. I never thought "public restroom" would be so public, none of the other ones were, but I guess if you gotta go, you gotta go.

We finally made it to Grandma's Kitchen, recovered the gloves and had some really delicious sundays. So yummy. We then made our way back to the hostel, found some room and strength for a beer and chat in the hotel bar, and then went to bed for our last sleep in China.

China - Day 7

Sunday dawned, and we decided to take it easy yet again because of my ankle, but also because we were kind of running out of things to do, so we decided to go check out the Qianmen market streets.

Qianmen is insane, but cool, there are so many people and shops down there, and they are opening up more very soon, adding another street to the chaos. What will be the main street is new and doesn't have much on it yet, but the current main street is bustling. We didn't buy much there because we were seeing the same things over and over again, but I did buy a scarf, a "30%" silk Pashmina, a little cheap looking, but nice.

After the main strip, we crossed and started exploring the smaller hutongs. We took in the small shops, bought a couple of Chinese masks to add to my new mask collection, bought yet more scrolls to add to our growing pile, and just took in the scenery. There were tons of electric/cable/telephone wires hanging in the sky, drying fish, and garbage everywhere. It was truly wonderful. We even saw a couple of butchers with curing sausage hanging from the ceiling.

We meandered, watching street vendors make their food, and even succumbing to trying a few things.

At around 2 or so, we wandered back to our hostel, ate yet another meal at the nearby resteraunt (and yes we had cashew chicken every time, except once), and just chilled out at the hostel, drinking and talking to some of the people we had met.

China - Day 6

Saturday dawned and it was Valentines Day. We made plans to go to dinner Monday, but for today, we still wanted to do some things.

First, we headed to the Panjiayuan Dirt Market. This is a market that's open all week, but on the weekend people travel from all over china to bring their "antiques," fakes, jewelry, and art to sell. On the way there, we picked up some street food, little bread disks topped with lettuce, spicy sauces, egg, and chicken, and folded ike a taco. It was so yummy, but the spicy disagreed with Cody a little bit later.

Once we made it to the market, we were overwhelmed. We had meen smart and saved the majority of our money for this day, but there was so much STUFF. It was crazy, aisles and aisled of stuff spead on the ground, stalls, and shops. I ended up doing a lot of haggling, most specifically to get a large Buddah picture down from 800 yuan to 300 yuan, so about $50 (and I could have gone lower maybe, but she was a hard bargainer, and buying two Buddhas, one for 260 yuan (He originally asked 700), so about $43, and another one down from 600 yuan to 200, so $34.

It was a really cool place though, and we got quite a few things. I probably spent too much there, but that's ok. And one of the Buddhas was actually Cody's Valentines Day present, so that was really good.

After the Panjiayuan Dirt Market, we headed back to the hostel for some food, rest, and to we meet up with some of the other people at the hostel because we were going to a Kung-Fu Show. I was so excited because I had never seen one before, and it was pretty amazing, and in English too! We even bought some luggage there. I know, it's strange, but we needed luggage and they
had some nice stuff there. We ended up getting taken advantage of a little bit, but it was worth it I think. We now have Kung Fu luggage, LOL!

The Kung Fu show was really amazing, and it was in ENGLISH! There were Chinese subtitles, but I was amazed. I don't think the actors/athletes spoke English, I think most of the speaking, except singing, was recorded, but still. It was a nice surprise. The show was also different from what I expected, I thought it was just going to be a bunch of flips, kicks, and such, but it wasn't. It was actually almost a play with Kung Fu in it. They did a lot of the acrobatics and kicks and feats, but it was all worked into the story. It was really cool.

After the Kung-Fu show, and narrowly avoiding buying nun chucks from the souvenir stand, we headed back to the hostel for a couple drinks and bed.

China - Day 5

Friday: Military Museum, Olympic Green

On Friday, we kept things pretty laid back. First thing, we went to the Forbidden City and walked up to a restaurant called Grandma's Kitchen, where we were told we would get the first American Breakfasts we had had in a restaurant in months. We were not disappointed, it was fabulous.

After breakfast, we started walking to a nearby park to hike to some more temples, but we had to scrap that idea last minute because my ankle was killing me, and we didn't want to risk me getting more injured than I already was.

After breakfast and vetoing the hike idea, we made our way to the Military Museum. It's all about China's history and winning free of Japan and other "evil" countries. It was pretty cool, and all the displays were really good, but it was full of propaganda and lies, most of which were in Chinese so we wouldn't understand them, but some were actually in English. My favorite part was the Hall of Presents. It contained a lot of the presents that other countries have presented to China over the years. Cody's favorite was a gold plated AK-57.

Directly after the military museum, we went to have lunch at the restaurant near our hostel again, and then we made our way to the Olympic Village again. This time we made it to be able to walk on the strip, and even caught the very end of a figure skating show. Unfortunately, we were too late to take a tour of the Bird's Nest, but we took a lot of pictures, and it was still really cool.

That was about it for Friday, unfortunately because of my ankle, we had to take it kind of easy.


Oh, we also had a dumpling making party at the hostel that night, we made them, then ate them...yum. It was great, in fact, we couldn't even finish them, hehe.

China -Day 4

Ok, so on to day four. It rained. It was the only day it decided to rain, but it was raining all day, and steadily. We braved it though, went and bought some Chinese umbrellas and set out.

First, we headed to the Temple of Heaven early and spent a few hours there. It was really nice, and huge, but only Cody could take very many pictures, while I held the umbrella, so that wasn't very nice. It was interesting that there were so many people there. There were doing everything from playing card games under cover, to selling trinkets, to dancing and performing some martial arts everywhere we looked throughout the park surrounding all the temples and palaces. It was a lot of fun.

After the Temple of Heaven, we headed out to check out the ancient observatory. It didn't take us long because it was small, but it was really cool to check out all of the old astronomy equipment.

After the Observatory, we headed back to the hostel for awhile to dry off and catch lunch at a local restaurant. I still dream of this place with their huge bowls of soup, fried rice, and best cashew nut chicken I have ever had... so delicious!

After lunch, we hung out at our hostel for awhile to rest. This was good because somewhere along the way I mulled a muscle or tendon in my ankle and it was really starting to hurt. After a little while, Cody and headed out to check out the Olympic Village because it was going to be dark soon and we were told that the Olympic Village would be lit up. Unfortunately, we got there at about 7:30 and the park had closed at 7. We could tell that the buildings were lit up, but it was really hazy and rainy, so we couldn't see much. We left, but we hoped that we could make it back before we left China.

Before heading back to the hostel, we made our way back to Wangfujing market so that we could check out the long line of food stalls they had there. We ended up eating a bunch of dumplings, and noodles, and candy-coated strawberries and pineapple. The fruit was the best, and I thought a genius idea. They basically made a basic hard candy and dipped the fruit in the boiling hot sugar while it was still liquid, and then the candy would harden into a thin delicious shell over the fruit. We didn't buy anything strange or exotic, but they had everything from dog and scorpions on a stick to sea snake and bird's nest soup.

We left the market and went back to the hostel to have some cheap beer with some of the other people staying there, very happy with the food we had just eaten.

China Day 3

Up early to catch the free hostel breakfast included in the Great Wall tour, we were tired but ready to go. Cody requested the Swedish plate, which was fruit, scrambles eggs, a slice of processed cheese, homemade yogurt and toast. I ordered the English plate and had fruit, toast, eggs, and my first ever breakfast baked beans. Norman also joined us for the tour, and he ordered the Swedish plate as well. Thus fortified, and with some snacks we had procured the day before, we all piled into the hostel's van and started the 1 1/2 hour ride to the Great Wall.

Once we arrived to the parking lot area (about a mile below the wall itself), we made our way past the souvenir stands, and to the ticket counter. Before giving us out tickets, our "guide" (really just the guy driving us there and back) told us to be back by 1:00, giving us about 3 hours to get to the wall and back. We all then made our way up the 40 minute hike to the wall itself, which was brutal for me, as it was all uphill, on a very steep incline. About 10 minutes into our hike, we thought we should have paid the extra 40 yuan for the lift, but we didn't and I miraculously didn't have a heart attack or aneurysm on the way up (I was close though, having dressed warm in preparation for the cold weather, but it turned out to be a mild day, grrr).

After making it up, we were assailed by one of about 5 vendors that made it up their witht heir cokes and cookies, but we ignored them and began our 2 hour hike and picture spree of the wall.

It was amazing, and while I did lag behind Cody and Norman most of the time, I did make it as far as them. We got some incredible pictures, and we even had a snack break. I am now proud to say I ate an Apple, some cashews, and dried pineapple on the Great Wall of China. I really cannot even describe the views and the feelings it gave me. Check out my pictures on:

http://web.me.com/cwgabel/Desiree/Welcome.html

Hopefully that will give you an idea of my experience.

At the end of our time, we made our way back, but instead of hiking down, to save time and for fun, we took the toboggan down. That's right, they had a toboggan there, and it was 40 yuan. It was so fun, but someone a few people before us crashed, so as I came around one corner, there was a back up of people. It turned out that he went too fast around the corner and didn't lean the right way, so he flipped his toboggan off the track. After that, Cody and Norman were a little annoyed with me because I still went fast, but slowed down a lot around the corners because the side of the track were really rocky and steep, and I refused to crash and get hurt only three days into my vacation. We did make it to the bottom unscathed though, and it was very fun.

We only had to wait 15 minutes to leave, and unlike Cody and some others, I actually managed to avoid buying anything at the Souvenir stand, as they were selling all the same things as any other souvenir stand I had seen so far.

We headed out, and actually made it back to the hostel around 2:30. Cody and I ditched some of our stuff, and we decided to head out to try and catch the Lama Temple again. On the way I grabbed some soba noodles that looked much like Yakisoba, and they were SO good! They were slightly spicy, a little too oily, but ton die for! Anyway, this time we made it to the temple , and it was pretty cool. We couldn't take pictures inside the temple for some reason, but there were a ton of people burning incense and bowing and praying to the many Buddhas there. We even saw the largest Buddha ever carved out of one piece of wood. He stood about 3 stories high and was huge. Even if we were allowed to take pictures, we couldn't have captured a good one of him because he was so huge.

Everything there was so pretty and smelled so good because of the hundreds of sticks of incense being burned outside. We also made sure to buy a few strands of prayer beads and some other things.

Later that night, we met up with our other friends again and attempted to find this bar that was supposed to have good food and around 45 home-brewed Belgian beers. We were so excited, but unfortunately we were having a ridiculously hard time finding it, so we wandered around the area and found a American food diner where we ordered anything from macaroni and cheese to deep-fried catfish. Everything had a twist on it to make it seem upscale though, and some of the food didn't end up to be too good, but it was still fun. After dinner, we all realized we were very tired and parted ways. Cody and I decided to take another trip into the Wangfujing market though, and we ended up wandering around and buying candy-coated strawberries before going back to the hostel. they were fabulous!

China - Day 2

The second day of China was busy form the start. We woke up at 5:30 in order to be at Tiananmen Square by 7:00 to meet up with Norman for the dawn flag raising. It was interesting to watch, everyone who was watching had to line up a certain distance from the flagpole, and couldn't go any closer until the ceremony was over. They played some music, and a double line of Korean police/soldiers marched from The forbidden city, crossed the busy street they temporarily blocked, and surrounded the flag pole. They then slowly raised the flag to music. It was really interesting to watch.

After the flag raising, we wandered around the square, taking pictures and looking for some friends we were to meet, we found out later that they had made a last minute decision to sleep in. After not finding them, we decided to head over to see Mao's Memorial. It turned out, they don't allow you to bring in any bags or anything, so we had to walk across the street to pay to have our bags stored for us. Since The memorial itself was free to get into, I believe that this is how they made there money because they charged per bag, and also per camera. It was 9 yuan for my purse and camera and only slightly more for Cody's backpack and camera. Granted, 10 yuan was less than $2, but still...

After dropping our bags off, we headed over to Mao's Memorial. We were immediately subjected to the fourth security check of the morning, and ushered towards the memorial. On the way, we were allowed to purchase yellow carnations for 3 yuan, which Cody did, because he decided he wanted to honor Mao. We entered the building and immediately formed 2 lines, one with carnations, and one without. The people with flowers were able to go close to a statue of Mao and place them on a huge table covered with flowers (we found out later, yet another money-making ploy, as they re-used the same flowers throughout the day). Then, warned by signs to keep quiet, we paraded past the crystal tomb. Under the lid, we could see Mao lying there, looking waxy because of how he has been preserved. It was kind of cool, yet creepy to be in there. After looking at Mao, we walked around a corner and were bombarded with souvenir stands. I couldn't believe it. One minute we are being quiet and respectful, the next, we are getting harassed to buy everything you could imagine with Mao's picture on it.

After making our way out, and only buying one or two Mao souvenirs, we made out way to the Forbidden City and spent the next three or four hours wandering the labyrinthine halls and palaces. It was pretty amazing, and we didn't see a third or so of it because we had a hard time getting out of the North West section, and were really tired once we had made it.

After the Forbidden City, we attempted to head to the Lama Temple. We were really excited because it's an actual working temple, rather than a pure tourist trap. Unfortunately, we didn't make it. We located the temple only five minutes after ticket sales had ended. Discouraged, but resolving to go another day, Norman headed to his hotel, while Cody and I went to our hostel to freshen up. After that, we met at the Wangfujing Market Street and headed to a restaurant to try our first ever Peking Duck. It was fabulous, and fatty. You definitely should not eat it too often, but it was delicious.

We were really excited because we ran into our friends who we were supposed to meet that morning at the restaurant. We hung out a little bit, and made plans to meet the next night for dinner.

After we parted ways, Norman, Cody, and I headed into the Wangfujing market again to do some shopping. I grabbed a Starbucks, while Cody and Norman had some Blizzards from the Dairy Queen we found there, and we wandered through a side alley where they were selling everything and everything. This is when I first tried my hand at bargaining. I chose a little chess set that I decided wasn't worth more than 15 dollars, as you could tell it was made from poured resin. The lady immediately claimed it was ox bone pieces and said it was 650 yuan (about $130). I laughed and said no, no more than 10 yuan, she went to 500, and we went from there. I stopped at 50 yuan, refusing to budge from there. After much arguing and me walking away many times, she finally accepted my offer of 50 yuan, less than $12. It felt good winning and not getting taken advantage of too much.

After my acquisition, we all decided to part ways for the night, and Cody and I headed back for the hostel for some much-needed nights sleep, as we were leaving the hostel at 7:30 am to visit the Mutianyu Section of the Great Wall of China!

China - Day 1

Beijing was wonderful in many ways, but in many ways it really made me miss Korea.

Day1:

After heading to our hostel and checking in and dropping off our packs, we immediately headed out to meet a fellow teacher from Korea, Norman, so that we could go see the Summer Palace together. After meeting Norman as one of the subway transfer stations, we immediately made off to the palace. It wasn't too dicfficult getting there either. After leaving the subway, we caught a taxi who took up straight there. The cab fare was only 10 yuan, which was less than $2. After paying our 40 yuan entrance fee (less than $7), we were free to wander most of the premises with the other tourists and locals who were checking out the palace next to it's frozen lake. I do have to say it was beautiful, even in the middle of winter, and I had a good idea of why the emporer would have wanted to stay there in the summer (other than the fact that the forbidden city is a veritable maze).

After the Summer Palace, we decided to hit up a popular western-style mall with a huge food court. I know, you are wondering why we went to a food court, well the food court at this mall consisted of at least 15 full resteraunts, all carrying a different style of Chinese food, and even many Korean resteraunts. We avoided the Korean, since we eat Korean every day, and headed to one of the Szechuan resturaunts. I was really excited because Cody and I watched the old Iron Chef all the time, and we had never had Szechuan food before. Cody went with a chicken dish, and Norman chose a non-spicy chicken dish (most Szechuan dishes are spicy and laden with Szechuan peppers). I decided I wanted to try something new and went with the Szechuan Bullfrog. Now, I've had frog before (At a Asian buffet back home), but the frog was always overcooked and deepfried. This was a whole bull frog chopped into pieces and stewed with Szechuan peppers and garlic and chili oil I believe and served in a big bowl with all the peppers and oil and such. I was immediately scared because I was starting to be afraid that I ordered something unbearably spicy. It turned out to be really good. The peppers were spicy, but not horribly so, and very flavorful. I had the strangest sensation of knowing the food was spicy, but my mouth not being affexted and my lips going really numb and tingly from the spice. It was delicious, and only 75 yuan ($12.50!), a little on the mid range/expensive side for China, but still really cheap!

After dinner, we stumbled on a Dairy Queen, and could not resist buying some blizzards for 35 yuan (less than $6), and then we made our way down to Tiananmen Square and the front of the Forbidden City to see them and night and to see fireworks because it was the Lantern Festival (the last day of Chinese New Year). It was fabulous lit up, and everyone in Beijing was crowding the sidewalks buying things, and going to blow up a firework or ten. You actually couldn't see too many fireworks in the sky because of the tall buildings and smog and smoke, but it sounded like we were in the middle of a war zone with bombs going off everywhere. The ground was constantly booming, and it was very loud.

We were actually lucky to avoid any street firecrackers because when we went back to our hostel, we could tell by the amount of firecracker papers that walking in the street there would have been hazardous while they were going off. There was even a newly constructed hotel that burned down that night, and not far from us, because of all the fireworks going off next to it.

We headed to bed around 10:30 pm that night to finally get some sleep, only to get up at 5:30 am the next day....

China - On our Way

Cody and I finally set out on our journey to China on Sunday, the 8th of February in the evening. We had eaten some Kimbap at the local Kimbap Nara in order to save money until we got to China, but when we reached Gwangju Bus terminal around 10:00 pm and realized that we had until 12:30 am until the direct bus to Incheon International airport, we inevitably got hungry for junk food. We admirably didn’t head for the stands full of Pringles and Powerade like usual, but then any good that did went right out the window when we decided to visit the bus terminal’s TGIF’s and grab some fries and a brownie covered in ice cream. Whoops, bad us, but it was worth it.

After the food, we settled down to await our bus with some books we purchased from the tiny English section of the bus terminal’s bookstore. Cody settled into some Sherlock Holmes, and I started my random pick The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a story about an Autistic boy researching into a dog’s murder.

The bus finally showed up, and we hopped on the bus, hoping to be able to sleep for about 4 1/2 hours. Unfortunately, what with being keyed up from the brownie and the trip, it took me about an hour to fall asleep. I had only been sleeping fitfully for about 2 hours when, surprise, we arrive at the Incheon International airport about an hour and a half earlier than planned. We are there at about 3 am, the check in desk does not even open until 6:30, so what do we do? We attempt, and fail, to sleep on the uncomfortable benches near the check-in counters. 6 hours later, after almost getting lost in the airport, and splurging on McDonalds, we finally were on our 2 hour flight to Beijing.

My first view of Beijing through the window? Smog. Oh, and Brown landscape. I realize it was winter, but this was ridiculous in anything but a desert. It turns out it wasn't quite as bad as I first thought, but it was a startling sight.

The last thing I will include in this slightly boring blog is disembarking the plane. For the first time in my life, I was startled to discover that we has to climb down stairs out of the plane! I was the first time I've ever been on the tarmac, and it was strange, and yet exciting.

That about ends how I made my way to China, now on to describing my time there...