The Chinese are probably the friendliest people who always sound angry.

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So here is another blog but I will try and make it less novel like...but I am journaling and writing logs so I feel like by the end of the trip I could compile a book! But I have decided to cut down on the blog length a bit (or at least try to) I have journaled before writing. I was just so darn excited last time because I really miss all of you!

Last week some pretty cool things happened. Mandarin class continued MOnday through THursday but Friday was a national holiday and we had school off. We are slowly learning the sounds. It is interesting since we are only learning how to speak, not write. It is like we are in kindergarten again because we just recite charts of vowel and consanant sounds (soo tricky, for real!). We sound like funny machines and it gets a little monotonous. The fun part is actually being able to practice out in the city. This usually happens mostly at meals, when we dont have menus with pictures so we can just point.

We have really been doing our fair share of tourist activities. We have visited about four temples: two taoist, one confucius, and one llama which has nothing to do with the animal They are so beautiful and peaceful. The architecture is gorgeous and so symbolic. They usually consist of many buildings and courtyards. There are trees and benches and it can be quite relaxing. THe llama temple was the coolest. It had all these rooms that represented 52 versions of hell. It wasnt as scary as that sounds. Just cool. The confucius temple had a huge Buddha carved from one 26m wide sandalwood tree. It was gilded and housed inside this building but we couldnt take pictures. I have a postcard though to show. We have also visited the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden city. These were on the weekend so it was very busy but still beautiful. The temple of heaven had everything built in squares and circles, as squares represent earth and circles heaven. There is also sections of the walk way, with the middle of a smoother, raised stone that only the emperor could walk on. The Forbidden was built for the emperor and is intricate and has many rooms and gardens. There is also this huge moat. we also went to Beihei park and rented a boat on a lake and ran over a dead fish and it sliced it with our motor. It was quite hilarious actually. Another wuick note - we went up the bell and drum towers that overlooked and protected the forbidden city. it had a pretty view of the city!

The other night we went to see Chinses acrobats! It was like cirque du solei asian style. The strength and the way they bent themselves was just incredible. Then we took a bus over to the main Olympic spot. We saw the main stadium which is shaped like a bird's nest. It is right by one of the swimming venues that is built of this special bubbly glass. We also had our first tai chi class. We all got up early and had an hour class in the courtyard outside our hotel. I have to say it was fun to watch all these macho, football guys slowly doing stretching graceful moods. But John kept trying to translate it for them in "Pretend a guy just attacked you and you are going to retaliate and smack them down."

We have also experienced the extreme Chinese shopping of bargaining. We went to Silk Row and later in the week the Pearl Market. Silk Tow was so intimidating. It was packed with vendors and buyers in 5 floors. They will shout and grab you calling you "pretty lady". Talk about haggling! If you are interested in something you cant show it. Always keep a steady pace and only move your eyes slowly. If you want something they will say an outrageous price of 1350 yuan and then you say 30 yuan and then you keep going back and forth for a while until you are satisfied. Sometimes you do the pretend walk away. It gets the price lower. The Pearl Market had a lot of the same merchandise but is more relaxed, which we all enjoyed. I had way too much fun shopping for jewelry. And I want to go back. Uh-oh.

Oh yeah! We did this awesome thing where some of us dressed up in emperor and empress garb!!

We also held church for the few Christian Scientists in the city. It turned out to be fun and they are a great resource for me. I met this one lady who started her own NGO here five years ago. Since I am doing a reseach project on NGOs I got sooooo excited. I might even be able to go out and help with a project. It finally got me excited to start this project! She is also going to take us to her favorite massage place!

The group is good. We are still figuring out some cultural senstivity things and group dynamics but it is fun and I really like everyone. Since there are a lot of people I didnt know welll it had been fun trying to get to know them. We are also making Chinese friends. The coolest things happen in China! Everyone wants to talk to you and be your friend. People on the streets, on buses, anywhere. They will come and talk to you and share things. It is these little moments that are my favorite about China.

The food it fine. I eat a lot of rice and veggies. They surprisingly dont have a lot of seafood. Or maybe we dont eat a lot of it because all the boys are all like "We want beef and chicken!" Oh but the other day we were out and with this Chinese friend and we had the famous Chinese duck and DOG. It grossed a lot of people out thinking about it but I hear it was good. I have not eaten any other meat by accident either. I also love public transportation. Easy and cheap.

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