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Published: April 25th 2013
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Leifeng pagoda
Ruins from the original pagoda Hangzhou is beautiful! Im so happy to be here a whole month! It is pricey but very modern and westernized. We got in too early for check it at our dorms, and i was cranky from the train ride and lack of sleep. Since i have already roomed with joohee and pamela, and they hadnt roomed with each other yet, i got my own room (i would call that instant good karma =p). It is nice having my own space. I slept from 8 ish to 11 30 and was woken by my teacher for lunch. I felt much better after my nap. Lunch was tasty and we then headed to leifeng pagoda on the south side of the westlake. It is home to the story of the white snake and the scholar. It is a very famous love story in china.. I would go into the story but my thumb hurts from typing so many words on my ipod (i would recommend looking up a version of the story its good!). We split up from the group and i went off by myself to enjoy some alone time. I found a great trail along side the pagoda that had no
one on it! I wondered through the dense forrest pondering what it would have been like 1000s of years ago.. No cement or car noises, just the world at the tip of your fingers where anything could be possible. I also hiked up many flights of stairs to the top to get a nice view. I ran into my teacher and i mentioned to him how i wish it was clearer out so i could see far into the mountains.. He turned to me and said a witty quote about admiring the mystic and mysterious fog and how it makes it even more beautiful (i wish i could remember the exact words he used) and i began to see the foggy view differently.. It was beautiful, in a non traditional way. We went back to the hotel and for dinner joohee, pamela and i went out for coffee! Yes, reallllllllll espresso coffee! It cost 35 yuan but it was sooooo good! The cafe also charges more because it gives internet access (i have none in the dorm, lame). There was an english speaking foreigner who told us where to find the nearest pizza joint and i was stoked! Real coffee
AND real cheese in one day! I felt so spoiled! We skipped lunch at the dorm hotel cafeteria and went straight for pizza! It was amazing! I got a whole pizza to myself! It was just as expensive as the coffee, go figure! After dinner we met back up with our class to meet with the future entrepreneurs club of Zhejiang university (thats where i will be staying
until may 3rd studying chinese and philosophy). It was a great meeting and i will be attending some of their meetings these next few weeks. I was exhausted and passed out as soon as we got back to the dorm. This morning i woke up early and showered, then went to the internet cafe to do research about my remainder trip here in china. I was supposed to stay here
until june 26th.. But i have very exciting news for everyone..
On june 5th i will be flying out of china to meet nick in SWITZERLAND! I bought my ticket this morning! He will be traveling Europe for over 9 months and his first stop is switzerland. We have been throwing around the idea of me possibly meeting up with him for the last week or so. Switzerland
REAL coffee!
Oh the simple things.. has been on my bucket list since i can remember but now it is really happening!!! I have been so fascinated by my cultural experiences here in china and im looking forward to having the opportunity to see and experience the culture in switzerland. From what i know they (as in the whole country) have their s#*& together and i want to learn more about their economy and lifestyle. One of my papers this quarter will be on comparing usa, china, and switzerland in different aspects of culture, use of language, and business practices. Im so flippin excited its hard to bare. I am so grateful for this opportunity and my journey so far has been amazing. My classmates leave in 2 days, im excited to be on my own but kind of nervous as well. I feel comfortable with knowing the do's and donts of china and im staying positive that my last month in china will be even more eye opening then the last. So after that, we went to a free tea museum. I wondered around the fields and sat next to a creek and relaxed. I bought a tea strainer and some samples of local tea.
CHEESE
And pizza.. Haha Yumyum! After the tea museum we got back on the bus and headed to the largest buddhist academy in china. It was so peaceful and beautiful. It was awkward seeing all the monks with an iphone 5. How does that work? It was quite silly, in their robes and monk attire, but then playing on an iphone, how do they afford it, and isnt that somewhat hippo critical? I thought buddha was about being detached from materials and the artificial world..?? Anyways, we had dinner in their dinner hall, we were not aloud to talk and joohee and i (for some reason) had a bad case of the giggles. It was my favorite meal in china so far! It was yummmmmmy, i finished mine and then polished off the remainders of joohee's. afterward we played badmittin and basketball with the monks. Monks won, but it was fun! Then they threw us a tea party, it was so cute! It was the best tea party i have ever been to, and i got to give a few of them english names! The one monk pouring my tea had a snoopy phone case so i gave him the name Charlie, haha. Also
Pictures from home
Late night reading. I miss my family and boyfriend! Pictures help the homesickness named another one Jimmy and Sam. They walked us to the gate to get our taxi's, they were polite and i got to practice a lot of my chinese. The moon was almost full and a purpley orange, i hadnt seen it for days. It was so beautiful it almost made me cry 😊.
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matha white
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What part of Switzerland will you be? Perry and I had part of our honeymoon in Switzerland, Lazerne. It was wonderful. We have some friends living in Switzerland and if it happens to be the same area, I will contact them and see if you could spend a wee bit of time with them.????? Your time in China is almost as exciting for me and it is for you. Enjoy every minute and stay away from the bird flu....... love u nanny