Last weekend our class went to Xi'an, one of the oldest cities in China. The top site here is the hall of the Terra-cotta Warriors (sometimes called the 8th wonder of the world). The warriors are made of terra-cotta clay that is supposedly hard as bronze. Each one is unique and was created in the image of a real warrior of the time (I think there are over 2,000). The emperor of the time chose the best soldiers to be models for these clay warriors and wanted a strong material so that these terra-cotta warriors could protect the emperor after his [View Full Entry]

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I forgot to post pictures of Leshan and Emei! In Leshan we took a boat out on the water and saw a giant Buddha statue, but unfortunately we didn't get to stand at the foot of it, or even get off the boat. Leshan is known for the Giant Buddha and for being able to stand at the feet, so it was kind of a let down. In Emei we saw some impressive Buddhist temples, but unfortunately there are no photos allowed inside (that goes for any Buddhist temple here), so I'll just have to tell you about it when I [View Full Entry]

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My family took me there this last weekend. The scenery is beautiful and the water is an amazing blue color. Enjoy the photos! [View Full Entry]

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So far in Beijing I've seen the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Tienanmen Square, the Bird's Nest, an acrobatic show, and a temple overlooking the city. Now that I'm in Chengdu, I've been super busy with school because we complete three language classes in one semester, plus any other classes students want to take on top of that. Actually speaking is a lot easier than I thought it would be, but reading and especially writing the characters takes a lot of time. I start my day early, eating breakfast with my mother and Sem, and sometimes my [View Full Entry]

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Just to give a quick update, I'm now in Chengdu living with my host family. Their family friend, Sem, has also decided to live with us to practice his English and to help me with Chinese. They have been extremely welcoming and treat me like a son. When they found out that I didn't have a Chinese name, they gave me one, "Huan Xiao" (Huan is the family name and Xiao means brave). Sem actually rode the bus with me the first day and came to school to ride the bus back with me so that I didn't have to go [View Full Entry]

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The beds are really low to the ground and the mattresses are really hard, so you wake up in the middle of the night all stiff and out of sorts and have to turn over. Even sleeping on your back requires some turns early in the morning. I awoke around 5:30 to a beautiful Beijing sunrise (smog and mist). Everyone’s time is really messed up and we are all morning people now. I seem to get tired at 8:00 like I'm 90 years old. It's also so humid and misty here, more than I’ve ever felt in my life. This makes [View Full Entry]

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The 12-hour flight comprised mostly of no sleep (drifting in and out for micro sleeps), weird psudo-Asian meals (like fish biscuit cup-a-noodle), and watching Chinese people with no English skills attempt to make coffee and choose a meal. The man next to me couldn't read his ticket to make sure he had the correct seat, couldn't choose between a sandwich and noodles for lunch, and put salt in his coffee instead of sugar. So weird. Arriving at the airport, I noticed that there was actually a lot of English around, probably due to tourists flying into Beijing and the fact that [View Full Entry]

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