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Published: January 8th 2016
Hey everyone!
Wow it’s true what they say: time really does fly when you’re having fun! I honestly meant to write this post on time, but due to the need to wake up at a decent time for lots of days in a row, seemed to have run out of time every day for about a week. Oops! First of all, the trip to the orphanage was really cool, if a little underwhelming. While everyone there was very nice, and the kids were adorable, apparently somewhere along the way communication did not happen, so they didn’t actually know that we were coming. It was also pretty awkward because the woman who ended up showing us around was super surprised that we didn’t bring a translator of any sort. Just me, trying to translate as best I could for everyone else. That part actually ended up working out, because although I know for a fact that I definitely missed a lot of what she was saying, I’m pretty sure I was able to get the general gist, and to translate what my parents were saying into coherent, if not perfect, Chinese. None of the 阿姨 (Āyí, aunts/caretakers) who were there when
I was remained at the orphanage, so I think that was a major factor in it being a bit more underwhelming than I was expecting. It definitely wasn’t a bad experience, and I don’t regret going and getting to see what it looked like and meet the kids, but it just wasn’t as monumental as I was hoping.
On Thursday we traveled to Beijing, where we spent the rest of the trip. We made it to most of the touristy places: Tiananmen Square, Dashalan, shopping at bargain markets, the Olympic Park, the Great Wall, and Temple of Heaven. My family also got to meet my host family, who treated us to dinner on Saturday. We had 烤鴨 (kǎoyā, Peking duck), which Sarah decided she is not a fan of, and afterwards all hung out for a while at my host family’s home. It was super nice of them to treat us, and they seemed to get along very well with my family, which was cool! And between Dad’s limited Chinese and my host parents’ limited English, they all managed to communicate quite well! Meanwhile, my host sister was her adorable self, and although Sarah was shy in the beginning,
they quickly hit it off and by the end we were all playing cards together. I’m really glad they all got along, and hope to keep in touch with my host family in the future.
While Beijing was frigidly cold the entire time we were there, the wind meant that by Monday the smog had cleared enough for us to have blue skies while we were on the Wall and at the Temple of Heaven. And not a moment too soon either; the smog over the weekend was pretty bad, especially for my family who were not used to the smog. Also, one of the interesting things that we have learned about China is that most nicer hotels have a policy stating that only two or three people are allowed in a room. This is not really regulated, but pro tip: if you plan on going to China with a group or as a family of four, be sure not to mention to the people at the front desk how many people you plan to have in the room.
On Wednesday, I woke up super early in the morning (4am, which is earlier than I go to bed,
some nights), and navigated my way to the airport, where I got on a plane and flew to Japan. Yep, Japan. So now I’m here with my two best friends, Natanya and Sabrina, and I get to spend a whole week with them. Sorry for boasting, but my life is actually amazing.
So I’ve been here for about two days now (including the day I arrived), and have officially already been to both the Pokemon center and the Ghibli museum. My nerdy self is in heaven. The Pokemon center has so many cute things that I honestly just want to buy all of it. I’m definitely going to have to show some serious self control when I go there to actually buy souvenirs… Speaking of which, when we went on Wednesday, there was a large group of guys, all speaking English (American English, but with a definite Asian accent - maybe they were from somewhere like Singapore or something?), who were all buying a crapton of things. I’m not even kidding, I think there were about six of them, and the person who bought the least amount of stuff spent a little over $100. The guy in front of
us in line (because Sabrina wanted to buy a new subway pass holder) spent a little over $400. I wish I had that much money to spend on Pokemon plushies! Or on anything, for that matter! I was definitely judging them, because as amazing as the store is, that is a lot of money to be spending on things that are more about the aesthetic than are of any use. Like, wow.
Today we went to the Ghibli museum, and for those of you who don’t know, Ghibli is the animation studio that is best known for producing Hayao Miyazaki films, such as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and many others. While unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside of the museum, you will just have to believe me when I say the inside was BEAUTIFUL. Stained glass windows throughout the building depicted iconic characters, while an entire section was dedicated to sketches done during the making of the films. They also had some of the original landscape paintings, which were amazing, to the point where sometimes it’s hard to remember that someone painted them by hand; that they’re not pictures. For anyone who
likes animation, I would definitely recommend visiting the Ghibli museum!
Overall, so far Japan has been amazing! (If you couldn’t tell). The one thing that I am quickly realizing is that Tokyo is super expensive. And after spending most of the year in the East Asian countries where things (food especially) tend to be super cheap, getting used to spending over $10 on a meal is a difficult adjustment. For a bit of perspective, in China I would expect a $5-7 meal to be a pretty large portion or to be very good food. And $15 in China would serve to feed four people pretty easily in most restaurants (except American fast food places, because they tend to be equivalent to American prices and therefore pretty pricy in terms of Chinese food). On the other hand, the cheapest meal I have found in Japan has been about $5, and I’ve also managed to spend about $15 on a pretty simple meal. So if you are wanting to travel on a budget, Japan is definitely not for you. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a beautiful place, and the people are very nice (the bowing is difficult to get used to),
but it is very expensive, and I am secretly glad that I decided to focus more on Chinese than Japanese, because I can’t imagine ever being able to afford spending a year in Japan. The stingy Chinese part of me is cringing at how much money I have already spent, as well as how much I will probably end up spending this week.My bank account is weeping. But other than that, I am having a total blast, and am so so so so excited to get to hang out with my friends! It’s awesome because they have been here for long enough that they know all of the good places to go, so I get to see the best of Tokyo with the best people!
Anyways, that’s all I have for now! The next time I post I will already be back home, which is something to look forward to! Until then!
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